[CHAPTER III]
JOHN
John granted five Charters to the City.
By the first of these Charters, June 17, 1199, he confirmed the City in the liberties which they had enjoyed under King Henry II.
KING JOHN (1167(?)-1216)
From the effigy in Worcester Cathedral.
By the third Charter, July 5, 1199, he went farther: he gave back to the citizens the rights they had obtained from Henry I., viz. the farm of Middlesex for a payment of £300 sterling every year, and the right of electing their own sheriffs. This seemed a great concession, but was not in reality very great, for the existence of a Mayor somewhat lessened the importance of the Sheriffs.
The second Charter confirmed previous laws as to the conservation of the Thames and its Fisheries.
The fourth Charter, March 20, 1202, disfranchised the Weavers’ Guild.
The fifth Charter, May 9, 1215, granted the right of the City to appoint a Mayor. Now there had been already a Mayor for many years, but he had not been formally recognised by the King, and this Charter recognised his existence. The right involved the establishment of the Commune, that is to say, the association of all the burghers alike for the purpose of protecting their common interests. It was no longer, for instance, the Merchant Guild which regulated trade as a whole; nor an association of Trade Guilds: nor was it an association of City Barons: nor was it a tribunal of Justice: it was simply the association of the burghers as a body.