Mr. J. H. Round (_Geoffrey de Mandeville_, 3), speaking of Stephen’s “oath” to restore the church her “liberty,” describes this as “a phrase the meaning of which is well known.” If “well” known, it was known chiefly as something vague, something which baffled definition, because churchmen and laymen could never agree as to its contents, while it tended also to vary from reign to reign. Mr. Round attempts no definition. Sir James Ramsay (_Angevin Empire_, p. 475), writing of the phrase as used in John’s Charter, is less prudent. "It would relieve the clergy of all lay control, and of all liability to contribute to the needs of the State beyond the occasional scutages due from the higher clergy for their knights’ fees." This definition assuredly would not have satisfied Henry I., as a legitimate interpretation of the words as used by him in his Charter of Liberties. (2) _Canonical election._ A separate charter to the national church had been granted on 21st November, 1214, and re-issued on 15th January, 1215.[346] Its tenor may be given in three words, “freedom of election.” In all cathedral and conventual churches and monasteries, the appointment of prelates was to be free from royal intervention for the future, provided always that licence to fill the vacancy had first been asked of the king. Now, _in words_, this was no new concession, but merely a confirmation of the Concordat arrived at long before between Henry I. and archbishop Anselm as a solution of the rival claims of Church and State in the election of bishops and abbots.[347] The essence of that arrangement had been to vest solely in the canons of the chapter of the vacant diocese the nominal right to appoint the new bishop, subject, however, to the actual election taking place in the royal court or chapel—so that the king, being present, might endeavour to prevent the appointment of any churchman he objected to. The result had not been what Anselm and the papal court expected; Henry I. and his successors strenuously used or abused the influence thus reserved to them: none but royal favourites were ever appointed, and the nominally free canonical election became a sham. Churchmen had long desired to remedy this: Langton saw his opportunity, and on 21st November, 1214, secured from King John, so far as mere words could secure anything, that the right of election by the canons of the chapter should henceforth be transformed from a pretence into a reality. The bishops present at Runnymede used their influence to have a distinct confirmation of this recent concession inserted in the very forefront of Magna Carta. ----- Footnote 346: Cf. _supra_, p. 39. The text will be found in _Statutes of the Realm_, I. 5, and in _New Rymer_, I. 126-7. It was confirmed by Innocent on 30th March, 1215. See Potthast, _Regesta pontificum romanorum_, No. 4963. Footnote 347: Cf. _supra_, p. 22. -----