charter was false because this could not be proved; by the unanimous consent of the whole court, judgment was given that, to the abbot and church of Saint Martin of Battle restitution shoulda made of everything which he demanded on the testimony of the charter. cewenst 13. Constitutions of Clarendon (1164. Latin text, Stubbs, S. C. 137. Translation, G. and H. 68. 1 Stubbs, 501.) IN the year 1164 from our Lord's Incarnation, the fourth of the pontificate of Alexander, the tenth of Henry II., most illustrious king of the English, in the presence of the same king, was made this remembrance or acknowledgment of a certain part of the customs, liberties, and dignities of his ancestors, that is of King Henry his grandfather, and of others, which ought to be observed and held in the realm. And owing to strifes and dissensions which had taken place between the clergy and justices of the lord the king and the barons of the realm, in respect of customs and dignities of the realm, this recognition was made before the archbishops and bishops and clergy, and the earls and barons and nobles of the realm. And these same customs recognized by the archbishops and bishops, and earls and barons, and by those of high rank and age in the realm, Thomas archbishop of Canterbury, and Roger archbishop of York, and Gilbert bishop of London, and Henry bishop of Winchester, and Nigel bishop of Ely, and William bishop of Norwich, and Robert bishop of Lincoln, and Hilary bishop of Chichester, and Jocelyn bishop of Salisbury, and Richard bishop of Chester, and Bartholomew bishop of Exeter, and Robert bishop of Hereford, and David bishop of Saint David's, and Roger elect of Worcester, conceded, and by word of mouth steadfastly promised on the word of truth, to the lord the king and his heirs, should be kept and observed in good faith and without evil intent, these being present: Robert earl of Leicester, Reginald earl of Cornwall, Conan earl of Brittany, John earl of Eu, Roger earl of Clare, earl Geoffrey de Mandeville, Hugh earl of Chester, William earl of Arundel, earl Patrick, William earl of Ferrers, Richard de Luci, Reginald de St. Valery, Roger Bigod, Reginald de Warenne, Richer de Aquila, William de Braose, Richard de Camville, Nigel de Mowbray, Simon de Beauchamp, Humphry de Bohun, Matthew de Hereford, Walter de Mayenne, Manser Biset the steward, William Malet, William de Courcy, Robert de Dunstanville, Jocelyn de Baillol, William de Lanvallei, William de Caisnet, Geoffrey de Vere, William de Hastings, Hugh de Moreville, Alan de Neville, Simon son of Peter, William Maudit the chamberlain, John Maudit, John Marshall, Peter de Mara, and many other magnates and nobles of the realm, as well clerical as lay. Now of the acknowledged customs and dignities, of the realm a certain part is contained in the present document, of which part these are the chapters : 1. If controversy shall arise between laymen, or clergy and laymen, or clergy, regarding advowson and presentation to churches, let it be treated or concluded in the court of the lord the king. 2. Churches belonging to the fee of the lord the king cannot be granted in perpetuity without his own assent and grant. 3. Clerks cited and accused of any matter shall, when summoned by the king's justice, come into his own court to answer there conderning what it shall seem to the king's court should be answered there, and in the church court for what it shall seem should be answered there; yet so that the king's justice shall send into the court of holy Church to see in what way the matter is there treated. And if the clerk be convicted, or shall confess, the Church must not any longer protect him. 4. Archbishops, bishops, and persons of the realm are not allowed to leave the kingdom without licence of the lord the king; and if they do leave, they shall, if the king so please, give security that neither in going nor in staying, nor in returning, will they seek the ill or damage of the lord the king or realm. 5. Excommunicate persons are not to give pledge for the future, nor to take oath, but only to give security and pledge of abiding by the church's judgment that they may be absolved. 6. Laymen are not to be accused save by proper and legal accusers and witnesses in the presence of the bishop, so that the archdeacon do not lose his right nor anything due to him thence. And if the accused be such that no one wills or dares to accuse them, the sheriff, when requested by the bishop, shall cause twelve lawful men from the neighborhood or the town to swear before the bishop that they will show the truth in the matter according to their conscience. 7. No one who holds of the king in chief, and none of his demesne officers are to be excommunicated, nor the lands of any one of them to be put under an interdiet unless first the lord the king, if he be in the country, or his justiciar if he be outside the kingdom, be applied to, in order that he may do right for him; and so that what shall appertain to the royal court be concluded there, and that what shall belong to the church court be sent to the same to be treated there. current of last appeal 8. In regard to appeals, if they shall occur, they must proceed from the archdeacon to the bishop, and from the bishop to the archbishop. And if the archbishop fail in showing justice, they must come at last to the lord the king, that by his command the dispute be concluded in the archbishop's court, so that it must not go further without the assent of the lord the king. 9. If a dispute shall arise between a clerk and a layman, or between a layman and a clerk, in respect of any tenement which remaine the clerk wishes to bring to frank-almoign, but the layman to a lay... fee, it shall be concluded by the consideration of the king's chief justice on the award of twelve lawful men, whether the tenement belong to frank-almoign or to lay fee, before the king's justiciar himself. And if the award be that it belongs to frank-almoign it shall be pleaded in the church court, but if to the lay fee, unless both claim under the same bishop or baron, it shall be pleaded in the king's court. But if both appeal concerning this fee to the same bishop or baron, it shall be pleaded in his own court, so that for making the award he who was first seised, lose not his seisin until the matter be settled by the plea. 10. If any one of a city, or castle, or borough, or a demesne manor of the lord the king, be cited by archdeacon or bishop for any offence for which he ought to answer them, and refuse to give satisfaction at their citations, it is well lawful to place him under interdict; but he must not be excommunicated before the chief officer of the lord the king of that town be applied to, in order that he may adjudge him to come for satisfaction. And if the king's officer fail in this, he shall be at the king's mercy, and thereafter the bishop shall be able to restrain the accused by ecclesiastical justice. 11. Archbishops, bishops, and all persons of the realm who fus hold of the king in chief, have their possessions from the lord the making as barony, and are answerable therefor to the king's justices and ministers, and follow and do all royal rights and customs, and like all other barons, have to be present at the trials of the court' of the lord the king with the barons until it comes to a judgment of loss of limb, or death. 12. When an archbishopric or bishopric is vacant, or any abbey or priory of the king's demesne, it must be in his own hand, and from it he shall receive all revenues and rents as demesne. And when they come to provide for the church, the lord the king must cite the chief persons of the church, and the election must take place in the chapel of the lord the king himself, with the assent of the lord the king, and the advice of the persons of the realm whom he shall have summoned to do this. And the person elected shall there do homage and fealty to the lord the king as to his liege lord for his life and limbs and earthly honor, saving his order, before he be consecrated. 13. If any of the nobles of the realm forcibly prevent the archbishop or bishop or archdeacon from doing justice in regard of himself or his people, the lord the king must bring them to justice. And if perchance any one should deforce the lord the king, the archbishops and bishops and archdeacons must judge him, so that he gives satisfaction to the lord the king. 14. The goods of those who are under forfeit of the king, no church or cemetery is to detain against the king's justice, because they belong to the king himself, whether they be found inside churches or outside. 15. Pleas of debt due under pledge of faith or without pledge of faith are to be in the king's justice. 16. Sons of villeins ought not to be ordained without the assent of the lord on whose land they are known to have been born. Now the record of the aforesaid royal customs and dignities was made by the said archbishops and bishops, and earls and barons, and the nobles and elders of the realm, at Clarendon, on the fourth day before the purification of the Blessed Mary, ever Virgin, the lord Henry the king's son, with his father the lord the king being present there. There are moreover many other great customs and dignities of holy Mother Church and the lord the king and the barons of the realm, which are not contained in this writing. And let them be safe for holy Church and the lord the king and his heirs and the barons of the realm, and be inviolably observed. 14. Assize of Clarendon (1166. Latin text, Stubbs, S. C. 143. ERE begins the HERE I Stubbs, 505, 662.) Translation, Cheyney, 22. Assize of Clarendon, made by King Henry II. with the assent of the archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls and barons of all England. 1. In the first place, the aforesaid King Henry, with the consent of all his barons, for the preservation of the peace and the keng of justice, has enacted that inquiry should be made through al counties and through the several hundreds, by twelve Assize of Clarendon 15 of the most legal men of the hundred and by four of the most legal men of each vill, upon their oath that they will tell the truth, whether there is in their hundred or in their vill, any man who has been accused or publicly suspected of himself being a robber, or murderer, or thief, or of being a receiver of robbers, or murderers, or thieves, since the lord king has been king. And let the justices make this inquiry before themselves, and before themselves. the sheriffs 2. And let any one who has been found by the oath of the aforesaid, to have been accused or publicly suspected of having been a robber, or murderer, or thief, or a receiver of them, since the lord king has been king, be arrested and go to the ordeal of water and let him swear that he has not been a robber, or murderer, or thief, or receiver of them since the lord king has been king, to the value of five shillings, so far as he knows. 3. And if the lord of the man who has been arrested or his steward or his men shall have claimed him, with a pledge, within the third day after he has been seised, let him be given up and his chattels until he himself makes his law. qu to come. 4. And when a robber, or murderer, or thief, or receiver of them shall have been seised through the above-mentioned oath, if the justices are not to come very soon into that county where they have been arrested, let the sheriffs send word to the nearest justice by some intelligent man that they have arrested such men, and the justices will send back word to the sheriffs where they wish that these should be brought before them; and the sheriffs shall bring them before the justices; and along with these they shall bring from the hundred and the vill where they have been arrested, two legal men to carry the record of the county and of the hundred as to why they were seised, and there before the justice let them make their law. 5. And in the case of those who have been arrested through the aforesaid oath of this assize, no one shall have court, or judgment, or chattels, except the lord king in his court before his justices, and the lord king shall have all their chattels. In the case of those, however, who have been arrested, otherwise than through" this oath, let it be as it has been accustomed and ought to be. 6. And the sheriffs who have arrested them shall bring such before the justice without any other summons than they have from him. And when robbers, or murderers, or thieves, or receivers of them, who have been arrested through the oath or otherwise, are handed over to the sheriffs they also must receive them immediately without delay. |