66 Holingshed calls this a cloked pilgrimage," in which, “at the abbey of Burie, they uttered their complaint of the King's tyrannical manners." "The chief cause that moved the lords to this conspiracy," continues our old chronicler, rose by reason the King demanded scutage of them that refused to go with him to Poictou; and they, on the other hand, maintained that they were not bound to pay it. . . . Finally, it was determined that shortly after Christmas they should go to the King, and require of him that they might have those laws restored which he had promised to them." The King did not return until October, when he concluded an ignominious peace with Philip of France. At Christmas-time he went to Worcester, but eventually hurried to London, and shut himself up in the Temple, where, on the 6th of January, on the Feast of the Epiphany, the barons assembled to present to him their demands. The King at first attempted to "ride the high horse," and endeavoured to insist upon the barons with drawing their claims, and one or two even consented. But the majority decidedly refused; and then John temporized, promising to give an answer at Easter; and he used this interval to the greatest advantage in endeavouring to explode the conspiracy by concessions, and to break up the confederation of the barons. "You must grant me time till Easter, that with due deliberation I may be able to do justice to myself, and satisfy the dignity of the crown." Many of the barons knew quite well from experience the use which the perfidious and crafty King would make of the time allotted to him; but when Langton and the Earl of Pembroke consented to be surety that the King would redeem his promises, the barons agreed to the respite, and retired until the great festival time should call them forth again. The King immediately cast about to revenge himself, and adopted a measure which he believed would serve his turn. His first efforts were directed to the conciliation of the Church, in whose favour he at once renounced certain privileges, one of which he had formerly strongly insisted upon, viz., the election of bishops and abbots. By this concession he fancied he could win the clergy to his side; and then he turned to the populace. If he could only succeed in gaining the people and the clergy, the barons would have no chance with him, so the subtle monarch ordered his sheriff to assemble the freemen, and tender them a new oath of allegiance; and then as a checkmate he complained to the Pope of the conduct of his vassals the barons, who also sent a messenger to Innocent; but the Pope soon made it evident in his reply to Archbishop Langton that he considered John was right; and Innocent hoped by these means to stifle the agitation. But the thunders of the Church were unnoticed under the circumstances. Langton took no heed of the Pope's letter; and then John, putting himself under the protection of the Cross, fancied his person and possessions were secure under its shadow. Easter arrived, and the barons assembled in great array at Stamford. The King was at Oxford. From Stamford the malcontents marched to Brackley, near the University city, where they met a deputation from King John, Langton being at the head of it. The barons at once handed to the deputation the parchment containing the details of the privileges they desired. "These are our claims," they said, "and if they are not instantly granted our arms shall do us justice." Langton with the others withdrew, and put the proposal of the barons before the King. John flew into a terrible rage when he had perused the conditions, and swore his favourite oath that he would not grant them. "And why do not they demand my crown also?" he cried in a fury. "I will not grant them liberties which will make me a slave." But he immediately endeavoured to win the opposite side by vague concessions and evasive offers, while Pandulph, the legate or nuncio, wished the barons to be excommunicated en masse. But this friendly suggestion Cardinal Langton declined to carry out; and the barons appealed to arms, proclaiming themselves "the army of God and of the Holy Church." They disclaimed all allegiance to the King at Wallingford, and were absolved from their allegiance. Robert FitzWalter was chosen as their commander, and the discontented bands marched to attack Northampton castle. Robert FitzWalter was a very powerful noble, and lord of Baynard's castle. His daughter had been wooed dishonourably by the King, whose advances the maiden, called Maude the Fair, had contemptuously repelled. When the lady died-which she did soon after her refusal of the King's attentions-there were not wanting reports to the effect that John had caused her to be poisoned for the rejection of his suit. Under such circumstances did the King stir up the wrath and indignation of the nobles. His despotism and lust were unbridled. Yet with all this he had "a strange gift of attracting friends and of winning the love of women." The barons met with no success at Northampton, and after a vain attempt to subdue the castle they quitted it for Bedford, where the governor was one of their own order. Here they were received; and as they were in consultation, a deputation was received from London. The malcontents immediately set out; and continuing their march all through the summer night, the barons reached London early on the morning of Sunday the 24th of May, when they found the gates open and a majority of the inhabitants at church. Everything had gone well. The barons entered London by Aldgate unmolested and quite unknown to the royalists. The incomers at once took possession of the gates before the Court in the Tower were aware of their coming; and when they had full possession of the city they began to massacre the Jews. John was in the Tower of London and greatly chosen by the barons not because it was so convenient for the King at Windsor, but because it was an usual place for conferences to be holden. The spot is now familiar to all who travel on the Thames, and Magna Charta Island is an extremely picturesque bit of scenery viewed from the Berkshire shore. On that day, the 15th of June, 1215, it wore a very different aspect. From Windsor came the King with his sadly reduced retinue across the royal park to the Thames bank, and opposite could be perceived a great crowd of knights in chain alarmed. The Earl of Pembroke offered to go as mediator, and the King sent a message saying he was prepared to grant all their demands. Let them appoint a time and place for a conference. The nobles went, and Fitz Walter's reply was concise and to the point: "We appoint the 15th of June and for the place Runymede." THE TRYST AT RUNYMEDE. Runymede on the Thames was the spot *The Runing or Running Mede, as some say. Races were once held there, and meetings were armour, accompanied by pages bearing their shields. Mitred bishops and holy abbots, crowned king and regal state mingled with helm and spear and shield to keep the tryst at Runymede on the 15th of June. Beyond the intervening trees stood Windsor Castle on its height, while Cooper Hill rose close by, and the chalk downs of Bucks in the distance over the forest. Boats and barges, citizens and soldiers, men, women, and children, came out from Staines and London to behold the sight-a memorable one indeed frequently appointed at the spot, hence the AngloSaxon Rune-Mead. -which was to be seen on the Rune-Mead or Council Meadow, bounded by the silver Thames. "Here was that Charter sealed, wherein the Crown Tuesday in Whitsun week, the 9th of June, had been the day originally suggested by the King for the meeting with the barons. He came up from Odiham to Merton for the purpose, and granted "sure conduct" to the rebellious vassals. But circumstances deferred the assembly until the following Monday, the 15th, when John had proceeded to Windsor. This was "Trinity Monday;" and on that day the barons with their attendants, and accompanied by a numerous concourse of citizens, arrived at the Council Meadow. The opposing bands encamped separately; and, according to Sir William Blackstone, the conference lasted several days. The con trast between the retinue of the King and the numbers of his enemies must have been sufficient to prove to John that his despotic power had come to an end. These were no mere suppliants; they had come to demand concessions, and were, moreover, in a position to enforce their demands. On one bank of the Thames the small array of force-about seventy adherents surrounded the King. In the meadows opposite, on the Surrey side, were the armed host of the disaffected. Between them lay a small island or islet, which was destined to be known for all time as the Magna Charta eyot. Preliminaries were entered into, and the serious business of the hour was gradually led up to by unmeaning discussion. The King knew he had no escape; the barons, with the populace, were equally aware of it; and after some fencing the articles were drawn up, to be afterwards embodied in the form of a charter. To these articles the King affixed his signature, the Royal Seal; and Magna Charta, the Great Charter of English liberties, was an accomplished fact. He During all the transactions the wily monarch had fully borne out his character for dissimulation. His manner, always good, was studiously polite and even cheerful. conversed freely with the barons; he made voluntary promises, and agreed to the promulgation of the articles with apparent goodwill and readiness. But when he returned to Windsor and the assembly had dissolved, when the deed had been done, and only the remembrance of his unlimited power remained to him, he behaved like a madman. His rage is described as awful. He cursed the day he was born, rolled about wildly, THE GREAT CHARTER. The original of Magna Charta, though in a mutilated condition, is still in existence in the National Museum. It will be sufficient for us to comment upon the principal clauses, with passing reference to the state of things at the time which gave rise to the articles in the charter, and which called so loudly for remedy. The privileges were granted by the King on the understanding that he thereby secured the adherence of all estates in the realm. The articles were "written upon parchment," says Sir William Blackstone in his introductory preface to the Charters, "ten inches and three quarters broad, and twentyone and a half in length, including the fold for receiving the label." The King's seal is affixed. There was also an agreement delivering the custody of the city and Tower of London to the barons till the charter was carried into execution. The Great Charter contains sixty-three clauses in addition to the preamble, and its first clause declares the freedom of the English Church. We can now examine, by the help of the various ancient and modern authorities at hand, the amount of the liberties granted by the Charter, and those, for convenience' sake, may be divided into four separate groups or classes : (1) We have, in the first place, certain privileges granted to the clergy and the Church. (2) Secondly, there are concessions made to the barons and other nobles "who held of the King, in capite." (3) We have the clauses more directly applying to the citizens, merchants, and others in the cities and towns of the kingdom, for the encouragement and benefit of trade. (4) The liberties of the freedmen. In the above summary the lower classes, such as the serfs and vassals of the lords, are not distinctly mentioned, and it does not appear that the barons and their friends troubled themselves much concerning the poor "villeins" who were not free, as against the lords, though so regarded amongst their own peers. Let us look at the first group of clauses, which, as will be readily surmised, were supervised by Archbishop Langton and his ecclesiastical friends, upon whose predecessors or some of them--the Constitutions of Clarendon had pressed very heavily, and with whom they had become a byword and a reproach. But we do not find very much in the Great Charter concerning the Church. "The first article declares the Church shall be free, and have her rights entire, and her liberties unhurt;" and by this the clergy were free to choose their superiors, bishops and abbots. The twenty-second article also is favourable to the Church, respecting "amercement," which shall not be according to the quantity of his ecclesiastical benefice, but according to his lay tenement; in other words, he shall be treated as a layman, and being without lay property, is practically exempted. The forty-second article permitted free travel of the clergy, a privilege withdrawn by the Constitutions of Clarendon, for the clause allowed "anyone except prisoners, outlaws, or enemies, to leave the kingdom and return to it, by land or by water." 66 The greater portion of the advantages were gained by the barons. The clergy, having made themselves much feared, and having gained much influence, did not want so much redress as the nobles at feud with the King. So we find many articles devoted to their interests in the Charter. Though the Church took precedence, we perceive the barons well up in the second article, by which the heir, if of age, shall pay only the "ancient relief" (from the King's wardship); and this clause requires some little explanation. When an heir was a minor, the King acted as his guardian, and we may not doubt made great profit of him during the minority; and even after he had thus plundered the estate, the King demanded a sum as a relief, and this was very uncertain and arbitrary. Article II. of the Charter fixed the sums formerly paid-for an earl or baron, £100; for a knight, 100s. ; and so on in proportion. But Article III. declared "a minor who is in ward shall have his inheritance free." Often besides the robbery of funds, the estates were neglected, and in many cases went to "rack and ruin" because they were not kept up during the minority; and Articles IV. and V. refer to this abuse and provide for its removal. The disposal of the heirs in marriage, unless they paid to get off, was also a great hardship at that time and formerly. So the barons took care to insert a clause in their Charter to protect themselves according to Henry the First's Charter, referring to the marriage of heiresses. They accordingly provided in Article VI. that "heirs shall be married without disparagement, their near blood relations having notice beforehand." In those "good old times," heiresses as well as widows were greatly oppressed, and many cases could be quoted in which ladies were obliged to pay for their money and marriage. The Countess of Warwick and the Countess of Chester are two instances in which Maud and Lucia respectively paid seven hundred marks (£7,000) and five hundred marks (£5,000) to be permitted to marry whom they pleased, and not within a fixed time. The barons took care of the widows in the seventh and eighth articles of Magna Charta, by which "they were to receive their inheritance freely, and not be forced to re-marry" in any station of life. This applied to feudal lords as well as to the king. By the twelfth and fifteenth articles the levying of scutage or aids were specially limited to the ransoming of the king's person, making his eldest son a knight, and once for marrying his eldest daughter; and the king shall not empower mesne lords to exact other than the ordinary aids to ransom the lord's person, to knight his eldest son, and once to marry his eldest daughter; and these of reasonable amount." There were also some general clauses respecting the military vassals of the Crown, who were relieved from certain exactions hitherto levied upon them, and the Feudal System was modified. We now come to the third series of articles, those affecting the merchants and laity. We find in the thirteenth article of the Charter that "the city of London shall have all its ancient liberties and its free customs, as well by land as by water. Besides we will and grant that all other cities, and towns, and burghs, and seaports, shall have all their liberties and free customs." The twenty-third and thirty-third clauses deal with the questions of bridge-building and of weirs, as regards the freedom of navigation; and the Londoners had the decision of the weights and measures put into their hands by Article XXXV., while another clause made it illegal for Christians to lend money on usury. So money-lending fell into Jewish hands, though it was enacted that no Jew should be paid interest during the debtor's minority. Merchants, whether of native extraction or of foreign growth, were permitted to come and go; and Article XLI. put the case very clearly. Previously foreign merchants had been much distressed by fines and personal restrictions, and their goods liable to be seized during war. But the trade influence of England was now making itself felt; the nation of shopkeepers was born, and cried. So the barons, albeit careless of merchants, could not evade the Londoners' demand. "All merchants shall be safe and secure in |