A Source Book of Mediaeval History Part 37

=61.= And whereas, for the honor of G.o.d and the amendment of our kingdom, and for the better quieting the discord that has arisen between us and our barons, we have granted all these things aforesaid. Willing to render them firm and lasting, we do give and grant our subjects the underwritten security, namely, that the barons may choose five and twenty barons of the kingdom, whom they think convenient, who shall take care, with all their might, to hold and observe, and cause to be observed, the peace and liberties we have granted them, and by this our present Charter confirmed....[445]

=63.= ... It is also sworn, as well on our part as on the part of the barons, that all the things aforesaid shall be observed in good faith, and without evil duplicity. Given under our hand, in the presence of the witnesses above named, and many others, in the meadow called Runnymede, between Windsor and Staines, the 15th day of June, in the 17th year of our reign.

FOOTNOTES:

[408] The barons attended the meeting under the pretense of making a religious pilgrimage.

[409] This charter, granted at the coronation of Henry I. in 1100, contained a renunciation of the evil practices which had marked the government of William the Conqueror and William Rufus. It was from this doc.u.ment mainly that the barons in 1215 drew their const.i.tutional programme.

[410] The Knights Templars, having purchased all that part of the banks of the Thames lying between Whitefriars and Ess.e.x Street, erected on it a magnificent structure which was known as the New Temple, in distinction from the Old Temple on the south side of Holborn. Meetings of Parliament and of the king's council were frequently held in the New Temple; here also were kept the crown jewels. Ultimately, after the suppression of the Templars by Edward II., the Temple became one of England's most celebrated schools of law.

[411] This refers to the king's absolution at the hands of Stephen Langton, archbishop of Canterbury, July 20, 1213, after his submission to the papacy. At that time John took an oath on the Bible to the effect that he would restore the good laws of his forefathers and render to all men their rights.

[412] The exact day upon which John took the crusader's vow is uncertain. It was probably Ash Wednesday (March 4), 1215. The king's object was in part to get the personal protection which the sanct.i.ty of the vow carried with it and in part to enlist the sympathies of the Pope and make it appear that the barons were guilty of interfering with a crusade.

[413] On the southern border of Lincolns.h.i.+re.

[414] On the Thames in Oxfords.h.i.+re. This statement of the chronicler is incorrect. John was yet in London.

[415] Octave means the period of eight days following a religious festival. This Monday was April 27.

[416] Brackley is about twenty-two miles north of Oxford.

[417] Henry I.'s charter, 1100.

[418] Edward the Confessor, king from 1042 to 1066.

[419] In the county of Northampton, in central England.

[420] Engines for hurling stones.

[421] About twenty miles southeast of Northampton.

[422] The commander of Bedford Castle.

[423] The loss of London by the king was a turning point in the contest. Thereafter the barons' party gained rapidly and its complete success was only a question of time.

[424] Runnymede, on the Thames.

[425] The charter referred to, in which the liberties of the Church were confirmed, was granted in November, 1214, and renewed in January, 1215. It was in the nature of a bribe offered the clergy by the king in the hope of winning their support in his struggle with the barons. The liberty granted was particularly that of "canonical election," i.e., the privilege of the cathedral chapters to elect bishops without being dominated in their choice by the king. Henry I.'s charter (1100) contained a similar provision, but it had not been observed in practice.

[426] Tenants _in capite_, i.e., men holding land directly from the king on condition of military service.

[427] The object of this chapter is, in general, to prevent the exaction of excessive reliefs. The provision of Henry I.'s charter that reliefs should be just and reasonable had become a dead letter.

[428] During the heir's minority the king received the profits of the estate; in consequence of this the payment of relief by such an heir was to be remitted.

[429] Scutage (from _scutum_, s.h.i.+eld) was payment made to the king by persons who owed military service but preferred to give money instead.

Scutage levied by John had been excessively heavy.

[430] The General, or Great, Council was a feudal body made up of the king's tenants-in-chief, both greater and lesser lords. This chapter puts a definite, even though not very far-reaching, limitation upon the royal power of taxation, and so looks forward in a way to the later regime of taxation by Parliament.

[431] London had helped the barons secure the charter and was rewarded by being specifically included in its provisions.

[432] Here we have a definite statement as to the composition of the Great Council. The distinction between greater and lesser barons is mentioned as early as the times of Henry I. (1100-1135). In a general way it may be said that the greater barons (together with the greater clergy) developed into the House of Lords and the lesser ones, along with the ordinary free-holders, became the "knights of the s.h.i.+re," who so long made up the backbone of the Commons. In the thirteenth century comparatively few of the lesser barons attended the meetings of the Council. Attendance was expensive and they were not greatly interested in the body's proceedings. It should be noted that the Great Council was in no sense a legislative a.s.sembly.

[433] It is significant that the provisions of the charter which prohibit feudal exactions were made by the barons to apply to themselves as well as to the king.

[434] This is an important legal enactment whose purpose is to prevent prolonged imprisonment, without trial, of persons accused of serious crime. A person accused of murder, for example, could not be set at liberty under bail, but he could apply for a writ _de odio et atia_ ("concerning hatred and malice") which directed the sheriff to make inquest by jury as to whether the accusation had been brought by reason of hatred and malice. If the jury decided that the accusation had been so brought, the accused person could be admitted to bail until the time for his regular trial. This will occur to one as being very similar to the principle of _habeas corpus_. John had been charging heavy fees for these writs _de odio et atia_, or "writs of inquisition of life and limb," as they are called in the charter; henceforth they were to be issued freely.

[435] To disseise a person is to dispossess him of his freehold rights.

[436] Henceforth a person could be outlawed, i.e., declared out of the protection of the law, only by the regular courts.

[437] That is, use force upon him, as John had frequently done.

[438] The term "peers," as here used, means simply equals in rank. The present clause does not yet imply trial by jury in the modern sense.

It comprises simply a narrow, feudal demand of the n.o.bles to be judged by other n.o.bles, rather than by lawyers or clerks. Jury trial was increasingly common in the thirteenth century, but it was not guaranteed in the Great Charter.

[439] This chapter is commonly regarded as the most important in the charter. It undertakes to prevent arbitrary imprisonment and to protect private property by laying down a fundamental principle of government which John had been constantly violating and which very clearly marked the line of distinction between a limited and an absolute monarchy.

[440] The principle is here a.s.serted that justice in the courts should be open to all, and without the payment of money to get judgment hastened or delayed. Extortions of this character did not cease in 1215, but they became less exorbitant and arbitrary.

[441] The object of this chapter is to encourage commerce by guaranteeing foreign merchants the same treatment that English merchants received in foreign countries. The tolls imposed on traders by the cities, however, were not affected and they continued a serious obstacle for some centuries.

[442] This chapter provides that, except under the special circ.u.mstances of war, any law-abiding Englishman might go abroad freely, provided only he should remain loyal to the English crown. The rule thus established continued in effect until 1382, when it was enacted that such privileges should belong only to lords, merchants, and soldiers.

[443] During the struggle with the barons, John had brought in a number of foreign mercenary soldiers or "stipendiaries." All cla.s.ses of Englishmen resented this policy and the barons improved the opportunity offered by the charter to get a promise from the king to dispense with his continental mercenaries as quickly as possible.

[444] This chapter provides that the charter's regulation of feudal customs should apply to the barons just as to the king. The barons'

tenants were to be protected from oppression precisely as were the barons themselves. These tenants had helped in the winning of the charter and were thus rewarded for their services.

[445] The chapter goes on at considerable length to specify the manner in which, if the king should violate the terms of the charter, the commission of twenty-five barons should proceed to bring him to account. Even the right of making war was given them, in case it should become necessary to resort to such an extreme measure.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE REIGN OF SAINT LOUIS

56. The Character and Deeds of the King as Described by Joinville

Louis IX., or St. Louis, as he is commonly called, was the eldest son of Louis VIII. and a grandson of Philip Augustus. He was born in 1214 and upon the death of his father in 1226 he succeeded to the throne of France while yet but a boy of twelve. The recent reign of Philip Augustus (1180-1223) had been a period marked by a great increase in the royal power and by a corresponding lessening of the independent authority of the feudal magnates. The accession of a boy-king was therefore hailed by the discontented n.o.bles as an opportunity to recover something at least of their lost privileges. It would doubtless have been such but for the vigilance, ability, and masculine aggressiveness of the young king's mother, Blanche of Castile. Aided by the clergy and the loyal party among the n.o.bles, she, in the capacity of regent, successfully defended her son's interests against a succession of plots and uprisings, with the result that when Louis gradually a.s.sumed control of affairs in his own name, about 1236, the realm was in good order and the dangers which once had been so threatening had all but disappeared. The king's education and moral training had been well attended to, and he arrived at manhood with an equipment quite unusual among princes of his day. His reign extended to 1270 and became in some respects the most notable in all French history. In fact, whether viewed from the standpoint of his personal character or his practical achievements, St. Louis is generally admitted to have been one of the most remarkable sovereigns of mediaeval Europe. He was famous throughout Christendom for his piety, justice, wisdom, and ability, being recognized as at once a devoted monk, a brave knight, and a capable king. In him were blended two qualities--vigorous activity and p.r.o.neness to austere meditation--rarely combined in such measure in one person. His character may be summed up by saying that he had all the virtues of his age and few of its vices. No less cynical a critic than Voltaire has declared that he went as far in goodness as it is possible for a man to go.

Saint Louis being thus so interesting a character in himself, it is very fortunate that we have an excellent contemporary biography of him, from the hand of a friend and companion who knew him well. Sire de Joinville's _Histoire de Saint Louis_ is a cla.s.sic of French literature and in most respects the best piece of biographical writing that has come down to us from the Middle Ages. Joinville, or more properly John, lord of Joinville, was born in Champagne, in northern France, probably in 1225. His family was one of the most distinguished in Champagne and he himself had all the advantages that could come from being brought up at the refined court of the count of this favored district. In 1248, when St. Louis set out on his first crusading expedition, Joinville, only recently become of age, took the cross and became a follower of the king, joining him in Cyprus and there first definitely entering his service. During the next six years the two were inseparable companions, and even after Joinville, in 1254, retired from the king's service in order to manage his estates in Champagne he long continued to make frequent visits of a social character to the court.