The division of Magna Carta into a preamble and sixty-three chapters is a modern device, for convenience of reference, for which there is no warrant in the Charter itself. Cf. _supra_, 200. No title or heading precedes the substance of the deed in any one of the four known originals, but on the back of the Lincoln one (cf. _supra_, 197) these words are endorsed;—“_Concordia inter Regem Johannem et Barones pro concessione libertatum ecclesie et regni Anglie_.” The form of the document is discussed _supra_, 123-9. The text is taken from that issued by the Trustees of the British Museum founded on the Cottonian version No. 2. Cf. _supra_, 196. John, by the grace of God, king of England, lord of Ireland, duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and count of Anjou, to the archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justiciars, foresters, sheriffs, stewards, servants, and to all his bailiffs and liege subjects, greeting. Know that, looking to God and for the salvation of our soul, and those of all our ancestors and heirs, and unto the honour of God and the advancement of holy Church, and for the reform of our realm, [we have granted as underwritten][323] by advice of our venerable fathers, Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, primate of all England and cardinal of the holy Roman Church, Henry archbishop of Dublin, William of London, Peter of Winchester, Jocelyn of Bath and Glastonbury, Hugh of Lincoln, Walter of Worcester, William of Coventry, Benedict of Rochester, bishops; of master Pandulf, subdeacon and member of the household of our lord the Pope, of brother Aymeric (master of the Knights of the Temple in England), and of the illustrious men,[324] William Marshall, earl of Pembroke, William, earl of Salisbury, William, earl Warenne, William, earl of Arundel, Alan of Galloway, (constable of Scotland), Waren Fitz Gerald, Peter Fitz Herbert, Hubert de Burgh (seneschal of Poitou), Hugh de Neville, Matthew Fitz Herbert, Thomas Basset, Alan Basset, Philip of Albini, Robert of Ropesle, John Marshall, John Fitz Hugh, and others, our liegemen. ----- Footnote 323: The sentence is concluded in chapter one (see _infra_)—the usual division, here followed, being a purely arbitrary one. Footnote 324: The phrase “_nobiles viri_” was not used here in any technical sense; the modern conception of a distinct class of “noblemen” did not take shape until long after 1215. Cf. what is said of “peerage” under cc. 14 and 39. ----- The Great Charter of John opens, in the form common to all royal charters of the period, with a greeting from the sovereign to his magnates, his officials, and his faithful subjects, and announces, in the pious legal formula used by impious and pious kings alike, that he had made certain grants by the advice of those counsellors whom he names. Three features of this preamble call for comment.