petition us to cause it to be redressed without delay. And if we, or our justiciary if we be not in the kingdom, do not redress the wrong within the term of forty days, to be reckoned from the time when we were notified thereof, or when our justiciary was notified, if we were not within the kingdom, the aforesaid four barons shall lay the cause before the residue of the five and twenty barons; and they, the five and twenty barons, with the community of the whole land, shall harass and distress us in whatever ways they shall be able, by the capture of our castles, lands, and possessions, and by any other means they can, until the injury have been redressed according to their judgment: saving harmless our own person and the persons of our queen and children: and when the wrong hath been redressed, they shall behave to us as they have done before. And whoever of our land shall please, may swear that he will obey the commands of the aforesaid five and twenty barons in accomplishing all these aforesaid things, and that, together with them, he will harass us according to his power. And we do publicly and freely grant, to every man who chooses, leave to take this oath, nor will we ever forbid any man to take it. But all men of our land, who, of themselves and of their own choice, shall be unwilling to swear to the five and twenty barons to distress and harass us, together with them, we will compel by our command to swear as is aforesaid. And if any of the five and twenty barons shall die, or leave the country, or in any other way be hindered from the execution of the things aforesaid, then the rest of the aforesaid five and twenty barons shall, at their pleasure, choose another in his stead, who shall be sworn in the same manner as the rest. Now, in all the things which are intrusted to be executed by these five and twenty barons, if it happen that the five and twenty shall be present, and shall disagree concerning any matter; or if some of them, having been summoned, be unwil ling or unable to attend, that which the greater part of those who may be present shall determine or decree, shall be held as firm and valid as if all the twenty-five had been agreed therein; and the aforesaid five and twenty men shall swear that they will faithfully observe all the aforesaid things, and to the utmost of their power cause them to be observed. And neither by ourself nor through another will we obtain anything from any man, through which any of these grants and liberties may be revoked or lessened. And if any such thing shall have been obtained, it

shall be null and void; and we will never use it, through ourself or through another.

62. And to all men we have fully remitted and pardoned all the ill wills, resentments, and rancors, which have arisen between us and our subjects, lay and clerical, from the commencement of our disagreement. Moreover, we have fully remitted, and so far as in us lies, have fully pardoned to all the clergy and laity, all transgressions, committed by occasion of the same disagreement, from the Easter of the sixteenth year of our reign to the conclusion of the peace. And further, we have caused testimonial letters patent to be made for them concerning this security and the aforesaid grants from the lord Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, the lord Henry, archbishop of Dublin, and from Master Pandulph.

63. Wherefore we do will and firmly do command that the Church of England be free; and that all men in our kingdom have and hold all the aforesaid liberties, and rights, and grants, well and in peace, freely and quietly, fully and wholly, as aforesaid, to them and

their heirs, from us and our heirs forever. It is also sworn, as well on our part as on that of the barons, that all the things aforesaid shall be observed in good faith and without evil intention. Witnessed by the above and many others. Given by our own hand, in the mead called Runnymede, between Windsor and Staines, this fifteenth day of June, in the seventeenth year of our reign.

COVENANT OF SECURITY.

THIS

HIS is the covenant made between our lord John, king of England, on the one part, and Robert Fitzwalter, elected marshal of GOD and of the Holy Church in England, and Richard earl of Clare, Geoffrey earl of Essex and Gloucester, Roger Bigod earl of Norfolk and Suffolk, Saher earl of Winchester, Robert earl of Oxford, Henry earl of Hereford, and the barons underwritten that is to say, William Marshall the younger, Eustace de Vescy, William de Mowbray, John Fitz Robert, Robert de Mont-Begon, William de Lauvalay, and other earls and barons and freemen of the whole kingdom, on the other part namely, That they, the earls and barons, and others before written, shall hold the custody of the city of London in bail from our lord the king; saving that they shall clearly render all the debts and revenues within the same to our lord the king, until the term of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the seventeenth year of his reign.

And the lord of Canterbury shall hold, in like manner of bail, from our lord the king, the custody of the tower of London, to the aforesaid term: saving to the city of London its liberties and free customs, and taking his oath, in the keeping of the said tower, that our lord the king shall, in the meanwhile, not place a guard, or other forces, in the aforesaid city, nor in the tower of London.

And that, also, within the aforesaid term, the oaths to the twenty-five barons be tendered throughout all England, as it is tendered in the charter granted concerning the liberties and security of the kingdom, or to the attorneys of the twenty-five barons, as it is contained in the letters, granted concerning the election of twelve knights for abolishing evil customs of the forests, and others. And moreover, within the said term, all the other demands which the earls, barons, and other freemen do ask of our lord the king, which he himself has declared to be granted to them, or which by the twenty-five barons, or by the

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greater part of them, shall be judged proper to be granted, are to be given according to the tenor of the said charter. And if these things shall be done, or if our lord the king, on his part, shall agree to do them within the term limited, then the city and tower of London shall, at the same term, be delivered up to our lord the king; saving always to the aforesaid city its liberties and free customs, as it is before written. And if these things shall not be done, and if our lord the king shall not agree to do them within the period aforesaid, the barons shall hold the aforesaid city, and the lord archbishop the tower of London, until the aforesaid deed shall be completed. And in the meanwhile, all of both parts shall recover the castles, lands, and towns which have been taken in the beginning of the war that has arisen between our lord the king and the barons.