THE CHARTER OF THE FOREST (1217).
Source.—Statutes of the Realm-Charters of Liberties, pp. 20-21.
Henry, by the grace of God, King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and Earl of Anjou, to the archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, earls, barons, justiciars, foresters, sheriffs, reeves, officers, and all his bailiffs and loyal subjects, greeting.
Know that, looking to God and for the salvation of our soul, and the souls of our ancestors and successors, for the good of Holy Church, and the betterment of our kingdom, we have granted and by this our present charter confirmed ... the under-mentioned liberties to be observed in our kingdom of England for ever:
(1) First, all the forests created by King Henry our grandfather are to be inspected by good and lawful men, and if he shall be found to have made into a forest any woods other than those of his own demesne, to the detriment of the owner thereof, they shall be disforested. And if he has made his own demesne into a forest, let it remain so, saving common of herbage[1] and other rights in such a forest to those accustomed to enjoy them.
(2) Men dwelling outside a forest shall not for the future appear before our forest justiciars on a common summons, except they be impleaded, or be pledges for someone attached for forest offences.
(3) All woods made into forest by King Richard our uncle or King John our father up to the day of our first coronation, are to be immediately disforested, except our demesne woods.
(4) Archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, earls, barons, knights, and freeholders, who have woods in our forests shall hold them as they held them at the time of the first coronation of King Henry our grandfather, so that they shall be quit for ever of purprestures,[2] wastes, and assarts,[3] made in these woods from that date up to the beginning of the second year after our coronation. And those who for the future shall make purprestures, wastes, and assarts, shall answer to us for them.
(5) Our reguardors shall perambulate the forests to make the reguard[4] as they were accustomed to do in the time of the aforesaid King Henry our grandfather and not otherwise.
(6) An inquisition or view of the expeditation of dogs in the forests shall for the future take place at the same time as the reguard—i.e., every third year; and then the inquisition shall be made by view and testimony of lawful men and not otherwise. And he whose dog shall be found without the claws cut shall pay as a penalty three shillings; and for the future no oxen shall be taken as a fine. And the expeditation shall be such that three toes shall be removed from the forefeet without injuring the ball of the foot; nor shall dogs have their claws cut except in those places where it was customary at the time of the first coronation of King Henry our grandfather.
(7) No forester or bailiff shall for the future make a forced contribution, or seize any corn or hay, or lambs or pigs, or make any levy; and by the view and oath of the twelve reguardors when they make the reguard, a reasonable number of foresters shall be appointed to keep the forests.
(8) No swanimote shall be held for the future in our kingdom save three times in the year—viz., a fortnight before Michaelmas when the agistors meet to agist[5] our demesne woods; at Martinmas when our agistors receive our pannage; and to these two swanimotes shall come foresters, verderers,[6] and agistors, and no others by distraint; and the third swanimote shall be held a fortnight before the feast of S. John the Baptist, before the period of the fawning of the deer, and to that swanimote shall come foresters and verderers and no others by distraint. Further, the verderers and foresters shall meet every forty days throughout the whole year to review the forest attachments, both of venison and of vert,[7] on the presentation of the foresters themselves and in the presence of those attached. And the aforesaid swanimotes shall not be held except in the accustomed counties.
(9) Every freeman may agist his own woods in the forest and have his own pannage.[8] We grant further that every freeman may take his own swine through our demesne woods, freely and without hindrance, to agist them in his own woods or where else he will. And if the swine of any freeman remain one night in our forest, the freeman shall not be accused thereof to his detriment.
(10) No one for the future shall lose life or limb on account of our hunting, but if any one be arrested and convicted of the taking of venison he shall pay heavily therefor, if he have whence he may pay; if he have not whence he may pay, let him lie in our prison for a year and a day; and if after a year and a day he can find pledges, let him depart from prison; but if not, let him abjure the kingdom of England.
(11) Any archbishop, bishop, earl, or baron passing through our forest, may take one or two beasts, in presence of the forester, if he should be at hand; if not, let a horn be blown, lest he should seem to take the beasts by stealth.
(12) Every freeman for the future may freely make in his own woods or in any land he has in the forest, mills, places for live stock, ponds, limepits, ditches, or ploughland outside the covert on the arable land, provided it be not to the hurt of any neighbour.
(13) Every person may have in his woods eyries for hawks, sparrows, falcons, and eagles, and heronries; he may likewise have any honey he finds in his woods.
(14) Henceforth, no forester who is not a forester of fee[9] paying us a ferm for his office, shall take any cheminage[10] in his bailiwick; but a forester of fee paying us a ferm for his office may take cheminage as follows:—for every cart, twopence per half year; for a horse bearing a burden, one halfpenny per half year; and only from those such as merchants, who come from outside his bailiwick into his bailiwick by his licence to buy brushwood, timber, bark, or coal, and to take and sell these articles in another place; and from no other load shall any cheminage be taken; nor shall cheminage be taken except in accustomed and due places. Those who carry on their backs brushwood, bark, or coal, to sell, although by this they make a living, shall pay no cheminage. Cheminage shall not be taken by our foresters save in our demesne woods.
(15) All outlaws for forest offences, from the time of King Henry our grandfather up to the time of our first coronation, may come freely into our peace, and find pledges that for the future they transgress not our forest laws.
(16) No castellan or any other shall hold forest pleas, whether of venison or of vert, but every forester of fee may attach forest pleas both of venison and of vert, and present them to the verderers of the district, and when they have been enrolled and enclosed under the seals of the verderers, they shall be presented to the chief forester when he comes into these parts to hold the pleas of the forest, and before him they shall be determined....
Given at Saint Paul's, London, on the sixth day of November, in the second year of our reign.
[1] Right of pasture.
[2] Encroachments.
[3] Clearings made by cutting down trees.
[4] "The chapters of the reguard" concerned all encroachments on the royal rights.
[5] Admit cattle for a defined time into the woods.
[6] Officials who made preliminary inquiry into forest offences.
[7] "Venison" covered the taking of game; "vert" destruction of woods, etc.
[8] Payment made for the liberty of pasturing swine.
[9] A forester who held his office on condition of feudal homage.
[10] Toll for liberty of passage through a forest.