EVENTS LEADING TO THE MAGNA CHARTA (1214).
Source.—Roger of Wendover, Vol. II., Annal 1214. Bohn's Libraries. G. Bell & Sons.
On the 25th of August in the same year, Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury, with the bishops, abbots, priors, deacons, and barons of the kingdom assembled at St. Paul's in the City of London, and there the archbishop granted permission to the Conventual Churches, as well as to the secular priests, to chant the services of the church in a low voice, in the hearing of their parishioners. At this conference, as report asserts, the said archbishop called some of the nobles aside to him, and conversed privately with them to the following effect: "Did you hear," said he, "how, when I absolved the King at Winchester, I made him swear that he would do away with unjust laws, and would recall good laws, such as those of King Edward, and cause them to be observed by all in the kingdom; a Charter of Henry Ist of England has just now been found, by which you may, if you wish it, recall your long-lost rights and your former condition."
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On the Monday next after the octaves of Easter, the said barons assembled in the town of Brackley, and when the King learned this, he sent the archbishop of Canterbury, and William Marshal earl of Pembroke, with some other prudent men, to them to enquire what the laws and liberties were which they demanded. The barons then delivered to the messengers a paper, containing in great measure the laws and ancient customs of the kingdom, and declared that, unless the King immediately granted them and confirmed them under his own seal, they would, by taking possession of his fortresses, force him to give them sufficient satisfaction as to their before-named demands. The archbishop with his fellow messengers then carried the paper to the King, and read to him the heads of the paper one by one throughout.
The King when he heard the purport of these heads, derisively said, with the greatest indignation, "Why, amongst these unjust demands, did not the barons ask for my kingdom also? Their demands are vain and visionary, and are unsupported by any plea of reason whatever." And at length he angrily declared with an oath, that he would never grant them such liberties as would render him their slave. The principal of these laws and liberties, which the nobles required to be confirmed to them, are partly described above in the Charter of King Henry, and partly extracted from the old laws of King Edward as the following history will show in due time.