Great Britain -- History -- Henry III, 1216-1272; Henry III, King of England, 1207-1272
creditors against the heirs of deceased debtors, liberty of ingress
into and egress from the realm, the regulation of forests and warrens,
the customs of the shires, and the river-enclosures and their
keepers--the fourth was left to be dealt with in a separate Charter
of the Forest; to three others as many new articles were devoted. No
river-enclosures are henceforth to be kept up save those which were
in existence in the time of Henry II.[394] Respecting the “customs
of the shires,” the provision in the twenty-fifth chapter of Magna
Charta (to which the words on that subject in the closing paragraph
of Henry’s first Charter must refer), that all shires and other local
jurisdictions except those on the royal domains shall be at their “old
ferm” without increment, is not renewed; but in its stead there is a
clause regulating the holding of the county courts and the sheriff’s
tourn. The shire court is to be held not oftener than once a month, and
at longer intervals where such have been customary. No sheriff or his
bailiff is to make his tourn in the hundred except twice a year--after
Easter and after Michaelmas--and only in the proper and accustomed
place. View of frankpledge is to be made at Michaelmas term, in such
a manner “that every man shall have the liberties which he used to
have in the time of our grandfather King Henry, or which he has since
acquired, and so that our peace shall be kept, and the tithing shall be
complete as it was wont to be; and the sheriff is to seek no occasions,
and is to be content with what the sheriff used to have for holding his
view in King Henry’s time.”[395] Concerning the once crucial question
which had furnished the original pretext for the rising of the barons
against John, the guardians could now venture to reassert the rights
of the Crown; and they did so, but in terms carefully chosen so as
to avoid all reference to the late troubles: “Scutage shall be taken
henceforth as it used to be taken in the time of our grandfather King
Henry.”[396] Two other new articles were added, whose connexion with
the scutage clause is not difficult to see. The one enacted that
henceforth no free man should either give away or sell so much of his
land as that the residue should be insufficient to furnish the service
due to the lord of the fief;[397] the other forbade that any man should
give his land to a religious house for the purpose of receiving it
back again to hold of that house, and enacted that if any man were
convicted of so doing, his donation should be void, and his land
forfeited to the lord.[398] The other omissions were disposed of, for
the moment, by a general saving clause: “Reserving to the archbishops,
bishops, abbots, priors, Templars, Hospitallers, earls, barons, and
all other persons both ecclesiastical and secular, the liberties and
free customs which they had before.”[399] Lastly, it was ordained also
“by common consent of the whole realm” that all adulterine castles,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account