John was resident at the Temple when he was compelled by the barons of England to sign MAGNA CHARTA. Matthew Paris tells us that the barons came to him, whilst he was residing in the New Temple at London, "in a very resolute manner, clothed in their military dresses, and demanded the liberties and laws of king Edward, with others for themselves, the kingdom, and the church of England."[254] King John was a considerable benefactor to the order. He granted to the fraternity the Isle of Lundy, at the mouth of the river Severn; all his land at Radenach and at Harewood, in the county of Hereford; and he conferred on the Templars numerous privileges.[255] [Sidenote: WILLIAM DE CHARTRES. A. D. 1217.] The Grand Master Philip Duplessies was succeeded by Brother WILLIAM DE CHARTRES, as appears from the following letter to the Pope: "To the very reverend father in Christ, the Lord Honorius, by the providence of God chief pontiff of the Holy Roman Church, William de Chartres, humble Master of the poor chivalry of the Temple, proffereth all due obedience and reverence, with the kiss of the foot. "By these our letters we hasten to inform your paternity of the state of that Holy Land which the Lord hath consecrated with his own blood. Know that, at the period of the departure of these letters, an immense number of pilgrims, both knights and foot soldiers, marked with the emblem of the life-giving cross, arrived at Acre from Germany and other parts of Europe. Saphadin, the great sultan of Egypt, hath remained closely within the confines of his own dominions, not daring in any way to molest us. The arrival of the king of Hungary, and of the dukes of Austria and Moravia, together with the intelligence just received of the near approach of the fleet of the Friths, has not a little alarmed him. Never do we recollect the power of the Pagans so low as at the present time; and may the omnipotent God, O holy father, make it grow weaker and weaker day by day. But we must inform you that in these parts corn and barley, and all the necessaries of life, have become extraordinarily dear. This year the harvest has utterly disappointed the expectations of our husbandmen, and has almost totally failed. The natives, indeed, now depend for support altogether upon the corn imported from the West, but as yet very little foreign grain has been received; and to increase our uneasiness, nearly all our knights are dismounted, and we cannot procure horses to supply the places of those that have perished. It is therefore of the utmost importance, O holy father, to advertise all who design to assume the cross of the above scarcity, that they may furnish themselves with plentiful supplies of grain and horses.