It would clearly be inadvisable to found any conclusions upon the terms of a document, the nature and authenticity of which form the subject of so many rival theories; but even if further investigation proves it to be a forgery, a forgery of contemporary date may throw light on otherwise obscure passages in genuine charters. One or two instances of this will be found in the sequel. II. Previous Editions and Commentaries. Every general history of England and almost every book which has ever appeared on English law has had something to say by way of commentary on Magna Carta. It is perhaps for this very reason that exceedingly few treatises have been devoted exclusively to its elucidation. While edition after edition of the text of the Charter, or of its re-issues, have appeared, few of these have been accompanied by explanations however brief. The paucity of attempts to explain the meaning of the Charter is almost more remarkable than the frequency with which the text has been reproduced. Magna Carta is a document often printed, but seldom explained. I. _Printed Editions of the Text of Magna Carta._ Previous to 1759 even the best informed writers on English history laboured under much confusion in regard to the various charters of liberties. Few of them seem to have been aware that fundamental differences existed between the original charter granted by John and the re-issues of Henry III. Much of the blame for this confusion must be borne by Roger of Wendover, who, in his account of the transactions at Runnymede, incorporated, in place of John’s Charter, the text of the two charters granted by Henry.[310] ----- Footnote 310: R. Wendover, III. 302-318. ----- The early historians were content to rely either on this version or on that contained in the _Inspeximus_ of Edward I. Thus, in all early printed collections of statutes, the text which professes to represent the original Charter follows in reality the words of Henry’s third re-issue. The very earliest printed edition of Magna Carta seems to have been that published on 9th October, 1499, by Richard Pynson, the King’s printer,[311] and a contemporary of Wynkyn de Worde. This was not, of course, John’s Charter, but followed Edward’s _Inspeximus_ of Henry’s Charter of 1225. ----- Footnote 311: This date is given by Bémont, _Chartes_, lxxi., but Robert Watt in his _Bibliotheca Britannica_, Thomson, _Magna Charta_, 450, and Lowndes, _Bibliographer’s Manual_, 1449, all give the date of the earliest edition as 1514. Bémont, lxxi., and Thomson, 450–460, Watt, and Lowndes furnish details of the various editions of Pynson, Redman, Berthelet, Tottel, Marshe, and Wight, from 1499 to 1618. All of these are now superseded by the _Statutes of the Realm_, published by the Record Commission in 1810. -----