Forget Magna Barpha what you really want is industrious
liberty.
“Henry,
by the grace of God, king of England, lord of Ireland, duke of Normandy,
Aquitaine, and count of Anjou, to the archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors,
earls, barons, justices, foresters,
sheriffs, stewards, servants, and to all his bailiffs and faithful subjects,
greeting. Know that out of reverence for God and for the salvation of our soul
and the souls of our ancestors and successors, for the exaltation of holy
church and the reform of our realm, we have granted and by this present charter
confirmed for us and our heirs for ever, on the advice of our venerable father,
the lord Gualo, cardinal priest of St Martin and legate of the apostolic see,
of the lord Walter archbishop of York, William bishop of London and the other
bishops of England and of William Marshal earl of Pembroke, ruler of us and of
our kingdom, and our other faithful earls and barons of England, these
liberties written below to be held in our kingdom of England for ever.
[1] In
the first place, all the forests
which king Henry our grandfather made forest shall be viewed by good and
law-worthy men, and if he made forest any wood that was not his demesne to the
injury of him whose wood it was, it shall be disafforested.
And if he made his own wood forest, it shall remain forest, saving common
of pasture and other things in that forest to those who were accustomed to have
them previously.
[2] Men
who live outside the forest need not henceforth come before our justices of the forest upon a general summons, unless they
are impleaded or are sureties for any person or persons who are attached
for forest offences.
[3] All
woods made forest by king Richard our uncle, or by king John our father, up to
the time of our first coronation shall be immediately disafforested unless it
be our demesne wood.
[4] Archbishops,
bishops, abbots, priors, earls, barons, knights and freeholders who have woods
within forests shall have them as they had them at the time of the first
coronation of the aforesaid king Henry our grandfather, so that they shall be
quit forever[1]
in respect of all purprestures,
wastes
and assarts made in those woods between that time and the
beginning of the second year of our coronation. And those who in future make
waste, purpresture or assart in them without licence from us shall answer for
wastes, purprestures[2]
and assarts.
[5] Our regarders
shall go through the forests making the regard as it used to be made at
the time of the first coronation of the aforesaid king Henry our grandfather,
and not otherwise.
[6] The
inquest or view of the expeditating
of dogs in the forest shall henceforth be made when the regard ought to be
made, namely every third year, and then made by the view and testimony of
law-worthy men and not otherwise. And he whose dog is then found not
expeditated shall give as amercement three shillings, and in future no ox shall
be seized for failure to expeditate. The manner, moreover, of expeditating by
the assize shall generally be that three claws of the forefoot are to be cut
off, but not the ball. Nor shall dogs henceforth be expeditated except in
places where it was customary to expeditate them at the time of the first
coronation of king Henry our grandfather.
[7] No
forester or beadle shall henceforth make scotale or levy sheaves of corn, or
oats or other grain or lambs or piglets or make any other levy. And by the view
and oath of twelve regarders when they make the regard as many foresters are to
be set to keep the forests as shall seem to them reasonably sufficient for
keeping them.
[8] No
swanimote shall henceforth be held in our kingdom except
three times a year, namely a fortnight before the feast of St Michael, when the agisters
meet to agist our demesne woods, and about the feast of St Martin, when our agisters ought to receive our pannage-dues;
and at these two swanimotes foresters, verderers
and agisters shall appear but no one else shall be compelled to do so; and the
third swanimote shall be held a fortnight before the feast of St John the Baptist for the fawning
of our beasts, and for holding this swanimote foresters and verderers shall
come but no others shall be compelled to do so. And in addition every forty
days throughout the year the verderers and foresters shall meet to view attachments
of the forest both of the vert
and of the venison on the presentment of those foresters and with the
attached present. The aforesaid swanimotes however shall only be held in
counties in which they were wont to be held.
[9] Every
free man shall agist his wood in the forest as he wishes and have his pannage.
We grant also that every free man can conduct his pigs through our demesne wood
freely and without impediment to agist them in his own woods or anywhere else
he wishes. And if the pigs of any free man shall spend one night in our forest
he shall not on that account be so prosecuted that he loses anything of his
own.
[10] No
one shall henceforth lose life or limb because of our venison, but if anyone
has been arrested and convicted of taking venison he shall be fined heavily if
he has the means; and if he has not the means, he shall lie in our prison for a
year and a day; and if after a year and a day he can find pledges he may leave
prison; but if not, he shall abjure the realm of England.
[11]
Any archbishop, bishop, earl or baron whatever who passes through our
forest shall be allowed to take one or two beasts under the supervision of the
forester, if he is to hand; but if not, let him have the horn blown, lest he seem to be doing it furtively.
[12] Every
free man may henceforth without being prosecuted make in his wood or in land he
has in the forest a mill, a preserve, a pond, a marl-pit, a ditch, or arable
outside the covert in arable land, on condition that it does not
harm any neighbour.
[13] Every
free man shall have the eyries
of hawks,
sparrowhawks, falcons,
eagles
and herons in his woods, and likewise honey
found in his woods.
[14] No
forester henceforth who is not a forester-in-fee
rendering us a farm for his bailiwick
may exact any chiminage’[3]
in his bailiwick; but a forester-in-fee rendering us a farm for his bailiwick
may exact chiminage, namely for a cart for half a year 2d and for the
other half year 2d, and for a horse with a load for half a year 1/2d and
for the other half year 1/2d, and only from those who come from outside
his bailiwick as merchants with his permission into his bailiwick to buy wood,
timber, bark, or charcoal
and take them elsewhere to sell where they wish; and from no other cart or load
shall any chiminage be exacted, and chiminage shall only be exacted in places
where it used to be exacted of old and ought to have been exacted.
Those, on the other hand, who carry wood, bark, or charcoal on their backs for
sale, although they get their living by it, shall not in future pay
chiminage. In respect of the woods of others no chiminage shall be given to our
foresters beyond [that given] in respect of our own2[4]
woods.3[5]
[15] All
who from the time of king Henry our grandfather up to our first coronation have
been outlawed for a forest offence only shall be released from their outlawry
without legal proceedings and shall find reliable pledges that they will not do
wrong to us in the future in respect of our forest.
[16] No
castellan or other person may hold forest pleas either of the vert or the
venison but each forester-in-fee shall attach forest pleas of both the vert and
the venison and present them to the verderers of the districts[6]
and when they have been enrolled and closed under the seals of the verderers
they shall be presented to the head forester when he arrives in those parts to
hold forest pleas and be determined before him.
[17] These
liberties concerning the forests we have granted to everybody, saving to
archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, earls, barons, knights, and other
persons, ecclesiastical and secular, Templars and Hospitallers, the liberties
and free customs, in forests and outside, in warrens
and other things, which they had previously. All these aforesaid customs and
liberties which we have granted to be observed in our kingdom as far as it
pertains to us towards our men, all of our kingdom, clerks as well as laymen,
shall observe as far as it pertains to them towards their men. Because we have
not yet a seal we have had the present charter sealed with the seals of our
venerable father the lord Gualo cardinal priest of St
Martin, legate of the apostolic see, and William Marshal earl of
Pembroke, ruler of us and of our kingdom. Witness the aforenamed and many
others. Given by the hands of the aforesaid lord, the legate, and of William
Marshal at St Paul’s, London, on the sixth day of November in the
second year of our reign.
Footnotes
[1] i.e. of payments at
the Exchequer
[2] purprestures:
required by the context, an accidental omission, supplied from the Forest
Charter of 1225
[3] A toll levied on
transport in the forest.
[4] literally, demesne
[5] An obscure Latin
sentence, not found in the 1225 or later reissues of the Forest Charter. This
would seem to be its meaning.
Or perhaps you'd prefer Aaron of Lincoln's 21st Century gynusury mates?
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Voyoy cheeky, leave us a deadletteredroped..