Edward by the grace of God King of England, lord of Ireland and duke of Aquitaine sends greetings
to all to whom the present letters come. We have inspected the great charter of the lord Henry, late
King of England, our father, concerning the liberties of England in these words:
Henry by the grace of God King of England, lord of Ireland, duke of Normandy and Aquitaine and
count of Anjou sends greetings to his archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, earls, barons, sheriffs,
reeves, ministers and all his bailiffs and faithful men inspecting the present charter. Know that we, at
the prompting of God and for the health of our soul and the souls of our ancestors and successors, for
the glory of holy Church and the improvement of our realm, freely and out of our good will have
given and granted to the archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, earls, barons and all of our realm these
liberties written below to hold in our realm of England in perpetuity.
(1) In the first place we grant to God and confirm by this our present charter for ourselves and our
heirs in perpetuity that the English Church is to be free and to have all its rights fully and its liberties
entirely. We furthermore grant and give to all the freemen of our realm for ourselves and our heirs in
perpetuity the liberties written below to have and to hold to them and their heirs from us and our
heirs in perpetuity.
(2) If any of our earls or barons, or anyone else holding from us in chief by military service should
die, and should his heir be of full age and owe relief, the heir is to have his inheritance for the ancient
relief, namely the heir or heirs of an earl for a whole county £100, the heir or heirs of a baron for a
whole barony 100 marks, the heir or heirs of a knight for a whole knight’s fee 100 shillings at most,
and he who owes less will give less, according to the ancient custom of (knights’) fees.
(3) If, however, the heir of such a person is under age, his lord is not to have custody of him and his
land until he has taken homage from the heir, and after such an heir has been in custody, when he
comes of age, namely at twenty-one years old, he is to have his inheritance without relief and without
fine, saving that if, whilst under age, he is made a knight, his land will nonetheless remain in the
custody of his lords until the aforesaid term.
(4) The keeper of the land of such an heir who is under age is only to take reasonable receipts from
the heir’s land and reasonable customs and reasonable services, and this without destruction or waste
of men or things. And if we assign custody of any such land to a sheriff or to anyone else who
should answer to us for the issues, and such a person should commit destruction or waste, we will
take recompense from him and the land will be assigned to two law-worthy and discreet men of that
fee who will answer to us or to the person to whom we assign such land for the land’s issues. And if
we give or sell to anyone custody of any such land and that person commits destruction or waste, he
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is to lose custody and the land is to be assigned to two law-worthy and discreet men of that fee who
similarly will answer to us as is aforesaid.
(5) The keeper, for as long as he has the custody of the land of such (an heir), is to maintain the
houses, parks, fishponds, ponds, mills and other things pertaining to that land from the issues of the
same land, and he will restore to the heir, when the heir comes to full age, all his land stocked with
ploughs and all other things in at least the same condition as when he received it. All these things are
to be observed in the custodies of archbishoprics, bishoprics, abbeys, priories, churches and vacant
offices which pertain to us, save that such custodies ought not to be sold.
(6) Heirs are to be married without disparagement.
(7) A widow, after the death of her husband, is immediately and without any difficulty to have her
marriage portion and her inheritance, nor is she to pay anything for her dower or her marriage portion
or for her inheritance which her husband and she held on the day of her husband’s death, and she
shall remain in the chief dwelling place of her husband for forty days after her husband’s death,
within which time dower will be assigned her if it has not already been assigned, unless that house is
a castle, and if it is a castle which she leaves, then a suitable house will immediately be provided for
her in which she may properly dwell until her dower is assigned to her in accordance with what is
aforesaid, and in the meantime she is to have her reasonable necessities (estoverium) from the
common property. As dower she will be assigned the third part of all the lands of her husband which
were his during his lifetime, save when she was dowered with less at the church door. No widow
shall be distrained to marry for so long as she wishes to live without a husband, provided that she
gives surety that she will not marry without our assent if she holds of us, or without the assent of her
lord, if she holds of another.
(8) Neither we nor our bailiffs will seize any land or rent for any debt, as long as the existing chattels
of the debtor suffice for the payment of the debt and as long as the debtor is ready to pay the debt,
nor will the debtor’s guarantors be distrained for so long as the principal debtor is able to pay the
debt; and should the principal debtor default in his payment of the debt, not having the means to
repay it, or should he refuse to pay it despite being able to do so, the guarantors will answer for the
debt and, if they wish, they are to have the lands and rents of the debtor until they are repaid the debt
that previously they paid on behalf of the debtor, unless the principal debtor can show that he is quit
in respect to these guarantors.
(9) The city of London is to have all its ancient liberties and customs. Moreover we wish and grant
that all other cities and boroughs and vills and the barons of the Cinque Ports and all ports are to have
all their liberties and free customs.
(10) No-one is to be distrained to do more service for a knight’s fee or for any other free tenement
than is due from it.
(11) Common pleas are not to follow our court but are to be held in a certain fixed place.
(12) Recognisances of novel disseisin and of mort d’ancestor are not to be taken save in their
particular counties and in the following way. We or, should we be outside the realm, our chief
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justiciar, will send our justices once a year to each county, so that, together with the knights of the
counties, that may take the aforesaid assizes in the counties; and those assizes which cannot be
completed in that visitation of the county by our aforesaid justices assigned to take the said assizes
are to be completed elsewhere by the justices in their visitation; and those which cannot be
completed by them on account of the difficulty of various articles (of law) are to be referred to our
justices of the Bench and completed there.
(13) Assizes of darrein presentment are always to be taken before our justices of the Bench and are to
be completed there.
(14) A freeman is not to be amerced for a small offence save in accordance with the manner of the
offence, and for a major offence according to its magnitude, saving his sufficiency (salvo
contenemento suo), and a merchant likewise, saving his merchandise, and any villain other than one
of our own is to be amerced in the same way, saving his necessity (salvo waynagio) should he fall
into our mercy, and none of the aforesaid amercements is to be imposed save by the oath of honest
and law-worthy men of the neighbourhood. Earls and barons are not to be amerced save by their
peers and only in accordance with the manner of their offence.
(15) No town or free man is to be d