“I solemnly declare that I will be good and true to our Sovereign lady Queen Victoria, that I will be obedient to the Mayor of this City, that I will maintain the franchises and customs thereof, and will keep this City harmless in that which in me is; that I will also keep the Queen’s peace in my own person, that I will know no gatherings nor conspiracies made against the Queen’s peace, but I will warn the Mayor thereof or hinder it to my power; and that all these points and articles I will well and truly keep according to the laws and customs of this City to my power.” The obligations of allegiance to the Sovereign, of obedience to the Mayor, and of keeping the King’s peace against all attempts to disturb it, remain, it will be seen, in force. * * * * * On the importance, in many aspects, of this unique document it is hardly necessary to dwell. Its _formulæ_ deserve to be carefully compared with the oaths of allegiance and of the peace; but here one must restrict attention to its bearing on the _commune_ of London. For the first time we learn that the government of the city was then in the hands of a Mayor and _échevins_ (_skivini_). Of these latter officers no one, hitherto, had even suspected the existence. Dr. Gross, indeed, the chief specialist on English municipal institutions, appears to consider these officers a purely continental institution.[493] But in this document the Mayor and _échevins_ do not exhaust the governing body. Of Aldermen, indeed, we hear nothing; but we read of “alii probi homines” as associated with the Mayor and _échevins_. For these we may turn to another document, fortunately preserved in this volume, which shows us a body of “twenty-four” connected with the government of London some twelve years later (1205–6). * * * * * “_Sacramentum xxiiij^{or} factum anno regni regis Johannis vij^{o}._ Quod legaliter intendent ad consulendum secundum suam consuetudinem juri domini regis quod ad illos spectat in civitate Lond[onie] salva libertate civitatis et quod de nullo homine qui in placito sit ad civitatem spectante aliquod premium ad suam conscientiam reciperent. Et si aliquis illorum donum aut promissum dum in placitum fatiat illud nunquam recipient, neque aliquis per ipsos vel pro ipsis. Et quod illi nullum modum premii accipient, nec aliquis per ipsos vel pro ipsis, pro injuria allevanda vel pro jure sternendo. Et concessum est inter ipsos quod si aliquis inde attinctus vel convictus fuerit, libertatem civitatis et eorum societatem amittet.”[494] * * * * * Of a body of twenty-_four_ councillors, nothing has hitherto been known. To a body of twenty-_five_ there is this one reference: Hoc anno fuerunt xxv electi de discretioribus civitatis, et jurati pro consulendo civitatem una cum Maiore.[495]