There are few more suggestive passages in the chronicles of Stephen's reign than that which describes, in the _Gesta_, his "pactio" with the citizens of London. This, because of the striking resemblance between the "pactio ... mutuo juramento" there described and the similar practice in those foreign towns which enjoyed the rights of a "communa." Thus at Bazas, in Aquitaine, "quum dominus rex venit apud Vasatum, omnes cives Vasatenses jurant ei fidelitatem et obedientiam ... similiter et rex et senescallus jurant dictis civibus Vasatensibus quod sit bonus dominus eis et teneat consuetudines, et custodiat eos de omni injuria de se et aliis pro posse suo." At Issigeac, in the Perigord, it was (as was usual) the lord who had to swear first before the citizens would do so: "en aital manieira que'l seinher reis ... cant requerra et queste sagrament ...; deu jurar a lor premeirament qu'il los defendra de si et d'autrui de tot domnage, et las bonas custumas que il ont et que il auront lor gardet et lor amelhoret, à bona fe, ... et que las males lor oste et lor tolha de tot. Et en après, li prohome deven li far lo sagrament sobredich, que'l garderon son corps et sas gentz qui par lui esseron et sas dreituras de tort et de forsa," etc., etc. At Bourg-sur-Mer, in Gascony, the clause runs: "Dum dominus rex venit primo in Vasconia, juratur ab eo, dum est sistens et coram senescallo suo (vel a senescallo suo, dum ipse non est præsens, qui pro tempore veniet) quod villam et jus custodiet et defendet et de se et de alio ab omni injuria, et quod servabit foros et consuetudines suas. Nos juramus ei et senescallo fidelitatem." So too at Bayonne, when the Great Seneschal of Aquitaine, as representing the king, first arrived, he was called upon to swear by all the saints that he would be a good and loyal lord; that he would protect the citizens from all wrong and violence, either from himself or from others; that he would preserve all their rights, customs, and privileges, as granted them by the Kings of England and Dukes of Guyenne, to the utmost of his power, so long as he held the office, saving his fealty to the king.[746] When he had done so, the mayor and jurats swore in their turn to him:— "By those saints, will we be good, faithful, loyal, and obedient to you; your life and limbs we will guard; good and loyal counsel will we give you to the best of our power, and your secrets will we keep."[747] These examples, which could be widely paralleled, not only in municipalities, but also in the rural commonwealths of the Pyrenean valleys, illustrate the principle and uniform character of this "mutuum juramentum."