same in the custody of the prior of the monastery or house, and
four of the most worthy and discreet men of the convent of the
same house, to be laid up in safe keeping under the private seal
of the abbot of the same house ; so that the abbot, or superior of
the house which he doth govern, shall by no means be able of
himself to establish any contract or obligation, as heretofore he
hath used to. And if it fortune hereafter, that writings obligatory
of donations, purchases, sales, alienations, or of any other contracts,
be found sealed with any other seal than such a common seal kept
as is aforesaid, they shall be adjudged void and of no force in law.
But it is not the meaning of our lord the king to exclude the
abbots, priors, and other religious, aliens, by the ordinances and
statutes aforesaid, from executing their office of visitation in his
kingdom and dominion ; but they may visit at their pleasures, by
themselves or others, the monasteries and other places in his king-
dom and dominion in subjection unto them, according to the duty
of their office, in those things only that belong to regular observa-
tion and the discipline of their order. Provided, that they which
shall execute this office of visitation, shall carry, or cause to be
carried out of his kingdom and dominion, none of the goods or
things of such monasteries, priories, and houses, saving only their
reasonable and competent charges.
And though the publication and open notice of the ordinances
and statutes aforesaid was stayed in suspense, for certain causes,
since the last parliament, until this present parliament holden at
Carlisle in the octaves of Saint Hilary, in the five and thirtieth year
of the reign of the same king Edward, and to the intent that they
might proceed with greater deliberation and advice ; our lord the
king, after full conference and debate had with his earls, barons,
nobles, and other great men and the commons of his kingdom,
touching the premises, by their whole consent and agreement hath
ordained and enacted, that the ordinances and statutes aforesaid,
gl English Constitutional Documents
under the manner, form, and conditions aforesaid, from the first
day of May next ensuing, shall henceforward be inviolably observed
and available for ever, and the offenders of them shall thenceforth
be subjected to the pains prescribed.
51. The New Ordinances
(October, 1311. French text and translation, i S. R. 157. 2 Stubbs, 344.
The original ordinances form the first six articles of the New Ordinances.)
EDWARD by the grace of God, king of England, lord of Ire-
land, and duke of Aquitaine, to all to whom these letters shall
come, Greeting. Know ye that whereas on the sixteenth day of
March, in the third year of our reign, to the honor of God, and for
the weal of us and of our realm, we did grant of our free will by
our letters patent to the prelates, earls, and barons of our said
realm, that they might choose certain persons of the prelates, earls,
and barons, whom they should see fit to call unto them ; and we
did also grant, by the same letters, to those who should be chosen,
whosoever they should be, by the said prelates, earls, and barons,
full power to order the state of our household, and of our realm be-
fore mentioned, * * * : and the honorable father in God Robert,
by the grace of God archbishop of Canterbury, primate of all Eng-
land, the bishops, earls, and barons thereunto chosen, by virtue
of our said letters, have ordained upon the said matters in the
form which followeth :
Forasmuch as by bad and deceitfull counsel our lord the king
and all his subjects, are dishonored in all lands ; and moreover the
crown hath been in many points abased and dismembered, and his
lands of Gascony, Ireland, and Scotland on the point of being lost,
if God do not give amendment ; and his realm of England upon
the point of rising, on account of oppressions, prises, and destruc-
tions ; the which things being known and shown, our lord the king,
of his free will hath granted to the prelates, earls, and barons, and
to the other good people of his realm, that certain persons should be
chosen to order and establish the state of his household and of his
realm, as more fully appears by the commission of our lord the king
thereof made : Wherefore we, Robert, by the grace of God arch-
bishop of Canterbury, primate of all England, the bishops, earls,
and barons chosen by virtue of the said commission, do ordain, to
The New Ordinances 93
the honor of God and of holy Church, and to the honor of the
king and of his realm, in the manner which followeth :
4. Moreover, it is ordained, that the customs of the realm be
kept and received by people of the realm, and not by aliens; and
that the issues and profits of the same customs, together with all
other issues and profits of the realm arising from any matters
whatsoever, shall come entirely to the king's exchequer, and by
the treasurer and the chamberlains shall be delivered, to main-
tain the household of the king, and otherwise to his profit, so that
the king may live of his own, without taking prises other than
those anciently due and accustomed; and all others shall cease.
9. Forasmuch as the king ought not to undertake deed of war
against any one, nor to go out of his realm, but by common
assent of his baronage, for the many perils that may happen to
him and his realm, we do ordain, that the king henceforth shall
not go out of his realm, nor undertake against any one deed of
war, without the common assent of his baronage, and that in par-
liament. And if he otherwise do, and upon such enterprise cause
to be summoned his service, such summons shall be for none;
and if it happen that the king undertake deed of war against any
one, or go out of the realm, with the assent of his said baronage,
and it be necessary that he appoint a guardian in his realm, then
he shall appoint him with the common assent of his baronage,
and that in parliament.
1 1 . Also, new customs have been levied, and the old enhanced,
as upon wools, cloths, wines, avoir de pots, and other things,
whereby the merchants come more seldom, and bring fewer good
into the land, and the foreign merchants abide longer than they
were wont to do, by which abiding things become more dear than
they were wont to be, to the damage of the king and his people;
we do ordain, that all manner of customs and imposts levied
since the coronation of king Edward, son of king Henry, be
entirely put out, and altogether extinguished for ever, notwith-
standing the charter which the said king Edward made to the
merchants aliens, because the same was made contrary to the
Great Charter and the franchise of the city of London, and with-
out the assent of the baronage; and if any, of whatsoever con-
dition he be, do take or levy any thing beyond the ancient
94 English Constitutional Documents
customs due and rightful, or make disturbance, whereby the
merchants cannot of their goods do their will, and therof be
attainted, there shall be awarded to the plaintiffs their damages,
having regard to the purchase, to the suit, to the costs and losses
which they shall have had, and to the violation of the Great
Charter; and the trespasser shall be imprisoned according to the
quantity of the trespass, and according to the discretion of the
justices, and he shall never be in the king's service; saving
nevertheless to the king the customs of wools, woolfells, and
leather; that is to say, for each sack of wool, half a mark, and
for three hundred woolfells, half a mark, and for a last of leather,
one mark, if the goods be liable thereto : and henceforth mer-
chants strangers shall come, abide, and go according to the ancient
customs, and according to that which of old they were wont to do.
14. And forasmuch as many evils have come to pass by such
counsellors and such ministers, we do ordain that the king do
make the chancellor, chief justice of the one bench and the other,
the treasurer, the chancellor and chief baron of the exchequer,
the steward of his household, the keeper of his wardrobe, and
comptroller and a fit clerk to keep the privy seal, a chief keeper
of the forests on this side of Trent, and another on the other side
of Trent, and also an escheator on this side of Trent and another
on the other side of Trent, and the chief clerk of the king in the
common bench, by the counsel and assent of his baronage, and
that in parliament; and if it happen by any chance, that it be
expedient to appoint any of the said ministers before there be a
parliament, then the king shall appoint thereto by the good coun-
sel which he shall have near him, until the parliament. And so
it shall henceforth be done of such ministers when need shall be.
17. Moreover we do ordain, that the sheriffs be from hence-
forth appointed by the chancellor, the treasurer, and the others
of the council who shall be present; and if the chancellor be not
present, they shall be appointed by the treasurer and barons of
the exchequer, and by the justices of the bench, and that such be
appointed and made who are fit and sufficient and who have lands
and tenements whereof they can answer to the king and to the
people for their deeds, and that no other than such be appointed,
and that they have their commission under the great seal.
Articuli Cleri
95
29. * * : We do ordain, that the king shall hold a parlia-
ment once in the year, or twice, if need be, and that in a
convenient place : * * *
32. Forasmuch as the law of the land and common right are
often delayed, by letters issued under the king's privy seal, to
the great grievance of the people, we do ordain, that from hence-
forth the law of the land and common right be not delayed nor
disturbed by letters of the said seal; and if any thing be done in
any of the places of the court of our lord the king, or elsewhere,
by such letters issued under the privy seal against right or the
law of the land, it shall avail nothing, and be holden for none.
* * Given at London, the fifth day of October, in the fifth
year of our reign.
52. Articuli Cleri
( November, 1316. Latin text and translation, I S. R. 171. 2 Stubbs, 356.)
T^HE king to all to whom, &c., Greeting.
A Understand ye, that whereas * * * : and of late in our
parliament holden at Lincoln, the ninth year of our reign, we
caused the articles underwritten, with certain answers made to
some of them heretofore, to be rehearsed before our council, and
made certain answers to be corrected; and to the residue of the
articles underwritten, answers were made by us and our council;
of which said articles, with the answers of the same, the tenors
here ensue.
6. Also if any cause or matter, the knowledge whereof belong-
eth to a court spiritual, and shall be definitively determined before
a spiritual judge, so that it pass into a judgment, nor was not in
suspense by an appeal; and after, if upon the same thing a ques-
tion is moved before a temporal judge between the same parties,
and it be proved by witness or instruments, such an exception
is not to be admitted in a temporal court. The answer. When
any one case upon different grounds, is debated before judges
spiritual and temporal, as above appeareth upon the case of
laying violent hands on a clerk, they say, that notwithstanding
96 English Constitutional Documents
the spiritual judgment, the king's court shall discuss the same
matter according as it may seem expedient to that court.
7. Also the king's letter is used to be directed unto ordinaries,
that have wrapped those that be in subjection unto them in the
sentence of excommunication, that they should absolve them by
a certain day, or else that they do appear, and show wherefore
they have excommunicated them : the answer. The king decre-
eth, that hereafter no such letters shall be suffered to go forth,
but in case where it is found that the king's liberty is prejudiced
by the excommunication.
Witness the king at York, the twenty-fourth day of Novem-
ber, in the tenth year of the reign of king Edward, the son of
king Edward.
53. Revocation of the New Ordinances
(May, 1322. French text and translation, i S. K. 189. 2 Stubbs, 369.)
WHEREAS our lord king Edward, son of king Edward, on
the sixteenth day of March in the third year of his reign,
to the honor of God, and for the weal of himself and his realm,
did grant unto the prelates, earls, and barons of his realm, that
they might choose certain persons of the prelates, earls, and
barons, and of other lawful men whom they should deem suffi-
cient to be called unto them, for the ordaining and establishing
the estate of the household of our said lord the king, and of his
realm according to right and reason, and in such manner that
their ordinances should be made to the honor of God, and to the
honor and profit of holy Church, and to the honor of the said
king, and to his profit and to the profit of his people, according
to right and reason, and to the oath which our said lord the king
made at his coronation : and the archbishop of Canterbury, pri-
mate of all England, the bishop, earls, and barons thereunto
chosen, did make certain ordinances which begin thus:
" Edward by the grace of God, king of England, lord of Ire-
land, and duke of Aquitaine, to all to whom these letters shall
come, Greeting. Know ye that whereas on the sixteenth day of
March in the third year of our reign, to the honor of God, &c."
and which end thus, " Given at London the fifth day of October
in the fifth year of our reign."
Revocation of the New Ordinances 97
The which ordinances our said lord the king, at his parliament
at York, in three weeks from Easter in the fifteenth year of his
reign, did, by the prelates, earls, and barons, among whom were
the more part of the said Ordainers who were then living, and by
the commonalty of his realm, there by his command assembled,
cause to be rehearsed and examined : and forasmuch as upon that
examination it was found, in the said parliament, that by the
matters so ordained the royal power of our said lord the king was
restrained in divers things, contrary to what ought to be, to the
blemishing of his royal sovereignty, and against the estate of the
crown; and also, forasmuch as, in time past, by such ordinances
and provisions, made by subjects against the royal power of the
ancestors of our lord the king, troubles and wars have happened
in the realm, whereby the land hath been in peril, it is accorded
and established, at the said parliament, by our lord the king, and
by the said prelates, earls, and barons, and the whole com-
monalty of the realm, at this parliament assembled, that all the
things, by the said ordainers ordained and contained in the said
ordinances, shall from henceforth for the time to come cease and
shall lose their name, force, virtue, and effect for ever; the stat-
utes and establishments duly made by our lord the king and his
ancestors, before the said ordinances, abiding in their force : and
that forever hereafter, all manner of ordinances or provisions,
made by the subjects of our lord the king or of his heirs, by any
power or authority whatsoever, concerning the royal power of our
lord the king or of his heirs, or against the estate of our said lord
the king or of his heirs, or against the estate of the crown, shall
be void and of no avail or force whatever; but the matters which
are to be established for the estate of our lord the king and of his
heirs, and for the estate of the realm and of the people, shall be
treated, accorded and established in parliaments, by our lord the
king, and by the assent of the prelates, earls, and barons, and the
commonalty of the realm; according as it hath been heretofore
accustomed.
98 English Constitutional Documents
54. Statute concerning the Lands of the
Templars
(March, 1324. Latin text and translation, I S. K. 194.)
* * * \/\7 HEREUPON > tne greater part of the king's coun-
VV cil, as well the justices as other lay persons being
assembled together, the said justices affirmed precisely, that our
lord the king, and other lords of the fees aforesaid, might well
and lawfully, by the laws of the realm, retain the foresaid lands
as their escheats, in regard of the ceasing and dissolution of the
order aforesaid : but because the lands and tenements aforesaid
were given to the brethren of the said order for the defence of
Christians, * * * it seemed good to our lord the king, the noble-
men, and others assembled in the same parliament, for the health
of their souls, * * * , that the foresaid lands and tenements, * * * ,
and all other things pertaining thereunto, * * * , shall be assigned
and delivered to other men of most holy religion; * * * : and
thereupon in the same parliament it is agreed, ordained and
established for law to continue for ever in this behalf, that neither
our lord the king, nor any other lords of the fees aforesaid, or
any other person, hath title or right to retain the foresaid lands
and tenements, with the appurtenances or any part thereof, in
the name of escheat, or by any other means, or hereafter to chal-
lenge the same lands in respect of the ceasing or dissolution of
the foresaid military order of Templars, whereof the brethren of
the same order were seised in their demesnes as of fee, at the
time of ceasing and dissolution aforesaid; * * * : it is agreed and
enacted in the said parliament * * * that all the lands, tene-
ments, lordships, fees, churches, advowsons of churches, and
liberties, with all things to them any way belonging, which were
the said Templar's at the time of their ceasing and dissolution,
shall be assigned and delivered to the foresaid Order of the Hos-
pital, and to the prior and brethren of the same Hospital, to
remain to them and their successors forever: * * *
Articles of Accusation against Edward II 99
55. Articles of Accusation against Edward II
(January, 1327. French text, Twysden's ffistoriae Angticanae Scriptores
Decent, 2765. Translation by Editors. 2 Stubbs, 379.)
TT has been decided that prince Edward, the eldest son of the
A king shall have the government of the realm and shall be
crowned king, for the following reasons :
1. First, because the king is incompetent to govern in person.
For throughout his reign he has been controlled and governed
by others who have given him evil counsel, to his own dis-
honor and to the destruction of holy Church and of all his people,
without his being willing to see or understand what is good or
evil or to make amendment, or his being willing to do as was
required by the great and wise men of his realm, or to allow
amendment to be made.
2. Item, throughout his reign he has not been willing to listen
to good counsel nor to adopt it nor to give himself to the good
government of his realm, but he has always given himself up to
unseemly works and occupations, neglecting to satisfy the needs
of his realm.
3. Item, through the lack of good government he has lost the
realm of Scotland and other territories and lordships in Gascony
and Ireland which his father left him in peace, and he has lost
the friendship of the king of France and of many other great
men.
4. Item, by his pride and obstinacy and by evil counsel he has
destroyed holy Church and imprisoned some of the persons of
holy Church and brought distress upon others and also many
great and noble men of his land he has put to a shameful death,
imprisoned, exiled, and disinherited.
5. Item, wherein he was bound by his oath to do justice to
all, he has not willed to do it, for his own profit and his greed
and that of the evil councillors who have been about him, nor
has he kept the other points of his oath which he made at his
coronation, as he was bound to do.
6. Item, he has stripped his realm, and done all that he could
to ruin his realm and his people, and what is worse, by his cru-
elty and lack of character he has shown himself incorrigible
without hope of amendment, which things are so notorious that
they cannot be denied.
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56. Statute of Northampton
(June, 1328. French text and translation, I S. R. 257. 2 Stubbs, 390, 613.)
2. ITEM, whereas offenders have been greatly encouraged,
because that charters of pardon have been so easily granted
in times past, of manslaughters, robberies, felonies, and other
trespasses against the peace; it is ordained and enacted, that
such charter shall not be granted, but only where the king may
do it by his oath, that is to say, where a man slayeth another in
his own defence, or by misfortune : * * *
12. Item, whereas all the counties in England were in old
time assessed to a certain ferm, and then were all the hundreds
and wapentakes in the sheriff's hands rated to this ferm; and
after were approvers sent into divers counties, which did increase
the terms of some hundreds and wapentakes; and after, the kings
at divers times have granted to many men part of the same hun-
dreds and wapentakes for the old ferms only; and now late the
sheriffs be wholly charged of the increase, which amounteth to a
great sum, to the great hurt of the people, and disherison of the
sheriffs and their heirs: it is ordained, that the hundreds and
wapentakes let to ferm by the king that now is, be it for term of
life or otherwise, which were sometime annexed to the ferms of
the counties where the sheriffs be charged, shall be joined again
to the counties; and that the sheriffs and their heirs have allow-
ance for the time that is past; and that from henceforth such
hundreds and wapentakes shall not be given nor severed from
the counties.
57. Statute concerning Justices and Sheriffs
( 1330. French text and translation, i S. X. 261. 2 Stubbs, 286, 391.)
2. ITEM, it is ordained, that good and discreet persons,
other than of the places, if they may be found sufficient, shall
be assigned in all the shires of England, to take assizes, juries,
and certifications, and to deliver the jails; and that the said
justices shall take the assizes, juries, and certifications, and
deliver the jails, at the least three times a year, and more
Statute concerning Justices and Sheriffs 101
often, if need be; also there shall be assigned good and lawful
men in every county to keep the peace; and in the said assign-
ments, mention shall be made that such as shall be indicted or
taken by the said keepers of the peace, shall not be let to main-
prise [bail] by the sheriffs, nor by none other ministers, if they be
not mainpernable by the law; nor that such as shall be indicted,
shall not be delivered but at the common law. And the justices
assigned to deliver the jails shall have power to deliver the same
jails of those that shall be indicted before the keepers of the
peace; and that the said keepers shall send their indictments
before the justices, and they shall have power to enquire of
sheriffs, jailers, and others, in whose ward such indicted persons
shall be, if they make deliverance, or let to mainprise any so
indicted, which be not mainpernable, and to punish the said
sheriffs, jailers, and others, if they do anything against this act.
13. Item, because divers charters of pardon have been granted
of felonies, robberies, and manslaughters, against the form of
the statute lately made at Northampton, containing that no man
should have such charters out of the parliament, whereby such
misdoers have been the more bold to offend; it is enacted, that
from henceforth the same statute shall be kept and maintained
in all points.
14. Item, it is accorded that a parliament shall be holden
every year once, or more often if need be.
15. Item, because sheriffs have before this time let hundreds
and wapentakes in their bailiwicks to so high ferm, that the
bailiff cannot levy the said ferm, without doing extortion and
duress to the people; it is ordained, that the sheriffs shall from
henceforth let their hundreds and wapentakes for the old ferm,
and not above; and that the justices assigned shall have power to
enquire of the said sheriffs, and punish them that shall be found
offending against this statute.
IO2 English Constitutional Documents
58. Presentment of Englishry Abolished and
Grant of a Subsidy
(April, 1340. First statute of 14 Edward III. French text and trans-
lation, S. R. 281. 2 Stubbs, 401.)
TO the honor of God and of holy Church, by the assent of the
prelates, earls, barons, and other, assembled at the parlia-
ment holden at Westminster the Wednesday next after Mid-Lent,
in the fourteenth year of the reign of our lord king Edward the