“In addition to the early Registers, or Letter-Books, from A to K inclusive (the respective dates of which are given at the conclusion of this volume), the Record-room at Guildhall contains the following compilations:—Journals and Repertories of the Courts of Aldermen and Common Council from A.D. 1417 down to the present time. Liber de Antiquis Legibus, a Latin Chronicle of the City transactions from A.D. 1178 to 1274, the only one of the records hitherto published. Liber Horn, a miscellaneous collection, date 1311, and compiled probably by its original owner, Andrew Horn. Liber Custumarum, a compilation of a similar nature, date about 1320, and put together probably under the supervision of the same Andrew Horn. Liber Albus. Liber Dunthorn, a compilation in Latin, Anglo-French, and English, prepared between A.D. 1461 and 1490. Liber Legum, a collection of laws from A.D. 1342 to 1590. Liber Ordinationum de Itinere, compiled temp. Edward I.: in addition to which, there are the Assisa Panis, commencing in 1284; Liber Memorandorum, date 1298, and several other manuscript volumes of inferior note and value.
Among the books which are known to have formerly belonged to the Corporation of London, but are now lost, are the following:—Liber Niger Major, and Liber Niger Minor, both quoted in Liber Albus, Speculum, Recordatorium, possibly identical with the Liber Regum Antiquorum, also lost; Magnus Liber de Chartis et Libertatibus Civitatis; Liber Rubeus, and Liber de Heretochiis, both mentioned in the Letter-Books, according to M. Delpit, as formerly in existence. It is not improbable that these volumes may have disappeared on the disastrous occasion when, in the reign of Edward VI., the Lord Protector Somerset borrowed three cartloads of books from the Library at Guildhall, none of which were ever returned.”—Riley’s Introduction to Liber Albus.
Since this list was prepared, the Corporation have undertaken the publication of Riley’s Memorials of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Centuries; Sharpe’s Calendar of Wills; the Calendar of Letters; Sharpe’s London and the Kingdom; Price’s Descriptive Account of the Guildhall; Agas’s “Map of London”; Riley’s Chronicles of Old London. In addition to these volumes, one must not omit Arnold’s Chronicle of Customs, published in 1811; the publications of the Camden Society, which include many documents invaluable to the student of City history; other Chronicles translation has made accessible, such as the “Dialogue de Scaccario,” published in full in Stubbs’s Select Charters.
CHAPTER II
THE CHARTER OF HENRY THE SECOND
The Charter granted by Henry the Second, though apparently full, contained certain omissions which are significant and important. Round has arranged this Charter side by side with that of Henry the First, dividing their contents into numbered clauses, italicising the points of difference (Geoffrey de Mandeville, pp. 368-369).
| Henry the First | Henry the Second |
|---|---|
| (1) Cives non placitabunt extra muros civitatis pro ullo placito. | (1) Nullus eorum placitet extra muros civitatis Londoniarum de ullo placito praeter placita de tenuris exterioribus, exceptis monetariis et ministris meis. |
| (2) Sint quieti de schot et de loth de Danegildo et de murdro, et nullus eorum faciat bellum. | (2) Concessi etiam eis quietanciam murdri, [et] infra urbem et Portsokna, et quod nullus faciat bellum. |
| (3) Et si quis civium de placitis coronæ implacitatus fuerit, per sacramentum quod judicatum fuerit in civitate, se disrationet homo Londoniarum. | (3) De placitis ad coronam [spectantibus] se possunt disrationare secundum antiquam consuetudinem civitatis. |
| (4) Et infra muros civitatis nullus hospitetur, neque de mea familia, neque de alia, nisi alicui hospitium liberetur. | (4) Infra muros nemo capiat hospitium per vim vel per liberationem Marescalli. |
| (5) Et omnes homines Londoniarum sint quieti et liberi, et omnes res eorum, et per totam Angliam et per portus maris, de thelonio et passagio et lestagio et omnibus aliis consuetudinibus. | (5) Omnes cives Londoniarum sint quieti de theloneo et lestagio per totam Angliam et per portum maris. |
| (6) Et ecclesiæ et barones et cives teneant et habeant bene et in pace socnas suas cum omnibus consuetudinibus ita quod hospites qui in soccis suis hospitantur nulli dent consuetudines suas, nisi illi cujus socca fuerit, vel ministro suo quem ibi posuerit. | (This clause is wholly omitted). |
| (7) Et homo Londoniarum non judicetur in misericordia pecuniæ nisi ad suam were, scilicet ad c solidos, dico de placito quod ad pecuniam pertineat. | (7) Nullus de misericordia pecuniæ judicetur nisi secundum legem civitatis quam habuerunt tempore Henrici regis avi mei. |
| (8) Et amplius non sit miskenninga in hustenge, neque in folkesmote, neque in aliis placitis infra civitatem; et husteng sedeat semel in hebdomada, videlicet die Lunae. | (8) In civitate in nullo placito sit miskenninga; et quod Hustengus semel tantum in hebdomada teneatur. |
| (9) Et terras suas et wardemotum et debita civibus meis habere faciam infra civitatem et extra. | (9) Terras suas et tenuras et vadimonia et debita omnia juste habeant, quicunque eis debeat. |
| (10) Et de terris de quibus ad me clamaverint rectum eis tenebo lege civitatis. | (10) De terris suis et tenuris quæ infra urbem sunt, rectum eis teneatur secundum legem civitatis; et de omnibus debitis suis quae accomodata fuerint apud Londonias, et de vadimoniis ibidem factis, placita [? sint] apud Londoniam. |
| (11) Et si quis thelonium vel consuetudinem a civibus Londoniarum ceperit, cives Londoniarum capiant de burgo vel de villa ubi theloneum vel consuetudo capta fuit, quantam homo Londoniarum pro theloneo dedit, et proinde de damno caperit. | (11) Et si quis in tota Anglia theloneum et consuetudinem ab hominibus Londoniarum ceperit, postquam ipse a recto defecerit Vicecomes Londoniarum namium inde apud Londonias capiat. |
| (12) Et omnes debitores qui civibus debita debent eis reddant vel in Londoniis se disrationent quod non debent. Quod si reddere noluerint, neque ad disrationandum venire, tunc cives quibus debita sua debent capiant intra civitatem namia sua, vel de comitatu in quo manet qui debitum debet. | (12) Habeant fugationes suas, ubicumque habuerunt tempore Regis Henrici avi mei. |
| (13) Et cives habeant fugationes suas ad fugandum sicut melius et plenius habuerunt antecessores eorum, scilicet Chiltre et Middlesex et Sureie. | (13) Insuper etiam, ad emendationem civitatis, eis concessi quod sint quieti de Brudtolle, et de Childewite, et de Yaresive, et de Scotale; ita quod Vicecomes meus (sic) London[iarum] vel aliquis alius ballivus Scotalla non faciat. |
The text of the first is that of Stubbs’s Select Charters; that of the second is taken from the transcript in the Liber Custumarum (collated with the Liber Rubeus).
One very curious mistake was discovered by Round in the first. In clause 9 the word wardemotum is used. This, by comparison with the corresponding clause in the second Henry’s Charter, should be vadimonia: in other words, both Charters confirmed to the citizens “the property mortgaged to them and the debts due to them.”
To consider the differences:—