“I William, etc.... grant, and by my royal authority for ever corroborate and confirm to God and the Church of the blessed Martin, situate within the walls of London, which the aforesaid Ingelric and Girard his brother, from their own revenues, and in atonement of their faults, honourable built to the praise of God, and for the Canonical Rule therein to be held and observed for ever. Now these are the names of the lands, Estre in Essex, with the Berewic of Maissebery and Norton, and Stanford, and Fobbinge, and Benedict, and Christehal, and Tolesfunte, and Rowenhal, and Angre, together with their appendages, the meadows, pastures, woods, mills, and all to them belonging; and in Benefleot one hide, and in Hoddesdon one hide, also the church of Mealdon with two hides of Land, and the tithes and all things to it appertaining. Moreover also, on my own part, I give and grant to the said Church, for the redemption of the souls of my father and mother, all the land and moor without the postern, which is called Cripelesgate on either side of the postern, to wit, from the Northern angle of the City wall, where a rivulet of springs, near thereto flowing, marks it out (_i.e._ the moor) from the wall, as far as the running-water which enters the City. I grant to it besides all the Churches and all the tithes, lands also and houses, which the faithful in Christ have already given to it within and without London, or shall in future bestow.... This Charter was renewed or confirmed by Henry the First and by Stephen. Among the various historical points connected with St. Martin’s, the following may be noted as the most important. Henry the Second granted to the Canons a free court of all their men and tenants: they were not to be impleaded out of it except before the King and the Chief Justice. The Saddlers’ Guild became connected with the Church of St. Martin’s—a fact which shows that the college was not wholly regarded as a sanctuary for criminals. In 1235 Henry the Third upheld the Canons’ Court against the City. The erection of St. Leonard’s Parish Church on the confines of the Precinct in 1236 points to a restriction of St. Martin’s Church to the College or sanctuary. But there are other instances, _e.g._ that of St. Catherine Cree, in which a parish church was, for convenience, built outside the Monastic Precinct. The buildings of St. Martin’s were improved and rebuilt by its Dean, William de Wykeham, about 1367. Pope Innocent the Third exempted the Royal Chapels from Excommunication or Interdict. [Illustration: THE SANCTUARY OF ST. MARTIN’S-LE-GRAND From Strype’s _Stow_, 1754 edition.] Edward the First forbade Cardinals sent from Rome to receive procuration from St. Martin’s. In 14 Edw. II. the College, under a _Quo Warranto_ heard at the Tower, relinquished any claim to receive toll within the City.