It was a miracle that the heir of the King of France, after having come to England with so great a number of armed men, and having obtained possession of so large a part of the kingdom, departed, or, I should rather say, was expelled, so speedily with all his men, and without hope of recovery. The reason is clear—that the hand of God was not with him, since he came in defiance of the prohibition of the Roman Church, and remained here under the ban of its anathema.
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.