_Geoffrey de Mandeville_, 356. ----- Henry II., indeed, granted a charter to the citizens in 1155, which is usually interpreted as a full confirmation of all the concessions of the earlier Henry.[482] Mr. Round has conclusively proved the error of this opinion.[483] The charter of 1155 restricted, rather than enlarged, the privileges of London, being couched in cautious and somewhat grudging terms. The main concessions of the earlier charter were completely omitted: the citizens no longer elected their own sheriffs or their own justiciar; the reduction of the _firma_ to £300 was not confirmed; and subsequent pipe rolls show that Henry doubled that amount, although the Londoners protested, arguing for the lower rate. ----- Footnote 482: See _e.g._ Miss Norgate, _Angevin Kings_, II. 471. Footnote 483: _Geoffrey_, 367. ----- The next crisis came early in Richard’s reign. Then it was that London first obtained its municipal constitution. Then also it regained and secured on a permanent basis the privileges precariously held for a few years under Henry I. and Stephen. The form in which the constitution came at last was borrowed from France, and was neither more nor less than the _Commune_, so well known on the Continent in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The commune of London was possibly modelled upon the commune of Rouen; the chief cities of England and Normandy respectively must have had intimate relations. Mr. Round[484] has shown that these concessions were not, as has sometimes been supposed, voluntarily granted in 1189 by Richard I., but were extorted from his younger brother John, when that ambitious prince was bidding high for powerful allies to support his claim to act as Regent. London really got its first constitution on 8th October, 1191, under picturesque and memorable circumstances. While Richard tarried in the Holy Land, a scramble took place at home for the right to represent him. The Chancellor Longchamp had been appointed Regent; but John, wily and unscrupulous, successfully ousted him, with the help of the men of London. At the critical moment the metropolis had offered its support on conditions, which included the restoration of all the short-lived privileges conferred by the charter of Henry I., and, in addition, a municipal constitution of its own in the form of a commune of the continental type. ----- Footnote 484: _Commune of London_, 222. -----