[489]. E.g. the removal of obstacles to free navigation in Thames and Medway. Cf. infra, c. 33.
[490]. John Lackland, 228.
[491]. From this date the list of mayors shows frequent, sometimes annual, changes. Thus Serlo the mercer was Mayor in May, 1215, when London opened its gates to the insurgents, while William Hardell had succeeded him before 2nd June, 1216, when he headed the citizens who welcomed Louis to make London his headquarters.
[492]. Both words are discussed infra, c. 39.
[493]. The Charter mentions neither mayor nor commune, but probably by implication confirmed both. Prof. G. B. Adams finds such confirmation, not in c. 13, but in c. 12 (by its application of the word auxilium to London); and maintains that with the omission of this word from subsequent charters "London’s legal right to a commune fell to the ground." Engl. Hist. Rev., XIX. 706.
[495]. See infra, c. 61.
[496]. Cf. Pollock and Maitland, I. 447-8.