John, on his part, would naturally try a policy of evasions and delays; and, when these were clearly useless, would then endeavour to secure modifications of the terms offered. These tactics met with no success. His opponents demanded a plain acceptance of their plainly expressed demands. Before nightfall, John, overawed by their firmness and by the numbers of the armed force behind them, was constrained to surrender. Leaving minor points of detail to be subsequently adjusted, he provisionally accepted the substance of the long list of reforms put before him by the barons, on the understanding that they would renew their allegiance and give him some security that they would keep the peace. In proof of this bargain, the heads of the agreement were rapidly engrossed on parchment to the number of forty-nine, and the great seal was impressed on the wax of the label, where it may still be seen.[[36]]
The parchment containing these Articles of the Barons may have been the identical Schedule actually prepared by the rebel leaders previous to the meeting; but, more probably, it was written out at Runnymede during the conference on the 15th (or between two conferences on that day) by one of the clerks of the royal Chancery. This is more in keeping with its heading (written in the same hand, and apparently at the same time as the body of the deed), Ista sunt capitula quae barones petunt et dominus rex concedit.
Likely enough, it followed closely the words of the baronial Schedule; but it may have contained some slight modifications in favour of the Crown. One such, at least, was inserted, apparently as an afterthought (on the intervention of the King perhaps, or one of his friends); articles 45 and 46, as originally conceived, have been subsequently connected by a rude bracket, and a qualifying proviso added which practically bestowed on the Archbishop the powers of an arbitrator to determine whether both articles should be altered in favour of the Crown or no.[[37]] The entire document is in a running hand, and appears to have been rapidly though carefully written. Its engrossment upon parchment with a quill pen must have occupied several hours; but a diligent copyist would not find it beyond his powers to complete the task in one day.
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were consumed in further negotiations as to matters of detail; in reducing the heads of agreement already accepted to the more binding form of a feudal charter; and in engrossing several copies for greater security. Everything was, however, ready for a final settlement on Friday the 19th. At the conference held on that day the conclusion of the final concord probably included several steps; among others, the nomination by the opposition, with the King’s tacit acquiescence, of twenty-five barons to act as Executors under chapter 61,[[38]] the solemn sealing and delivery of several original copies of the Great Charter in its final form, the taking of an oath by all parties to abide by its provisions, and the issue of the first batch of writs of instructions to the sheriffs.
Blackstone[[39]] thinks that the barons on that day renewed their oaths of fealty and homage. It is more probable that, until John had actually carried out the more pressing reforms promised in Magna Carta, they refused formally to swear allegiance, undertaking, however, in the hearing of the two archbishops and other prelates, that they would keep the peace and furnish security to that effect in any form that John might name, except only by delivery of their castles or of hostages.[[40]]
The statement that Friday, 19th June, was the day on which peace was finally concluded rests on unmistakable evidence. On 21st June, John wrote from Windsor to William of Cantilupe, one of his captains, instructing him not to enforce payment of any unpaid balances of “tenseries”[[41]] demanded since the preceding Friday, “on which day peace was made between the King and his barons.”[[42]]
It has been taken for granted by many historians that the peace was finally concluded, and the Great Charter actually sealed and issued on the 15th, not on the 19th.[[43]] The fact that all four copies of Magna Carta still extant bear this date seems to have been regarded as absolutely conclusive on this point. Experts in diplomatics, however, have long been aware that elaborate charters and other documents, which occupied a considerable time in preparation, usually bore the date, not of their actual execution, but of the day on which were concluded the transactions of which they form the record. Legal instruments were thus commonly ante-dated (as it would be reckoned according to modern legal practice). Thus it is far from safe to infer from Magna Carta’s mention of its own date that the great seal was actually adhibited on the 15th June.
Such presumption as exists points the other way. The Great Charter is a lengthy and elaborate document, and it is barely possible that any one of the four originals known to us could have been engrossed (to say nothing of the adjustment of the substance and form) within one day. Not only is it much longer than the Articles on which it is founded; but even the most casual comparison will convince any unbiassed mind of the slower rate of engrossment of the Charter. All four copies show marks of great deliberation, while those at Lincoln and Salisbury in particular are exquisite models of leisurely and elaborate penmanship. The highly finished initial letters of the first line and other ornamental features may be instructively compared with the plain, business-like, rapid hand of the Articles. How many additional copies now lost were once in existence bearing the same date, it is impossible to say; but each of those still extant may well have occupied four days in the writing.[[44]]
A comparison between the two documents shows few changes of importance in the tenor.[[45]]
The one outstanding addition is the insertion, in an emphatic form, both at the beginning and at the end of the Charter, of a general declaration in favour of the freedom and rights of the Church. The inference seems to be that a new influence was brought to bear, between the preparation of the draft and that of the Charter. It was the Archbishop of Canterbury and his friends who thus converted the original baronial manifesto into something more nearly resembling a declaration of rights for the nation at large. One or two minor alterations seem slightly to benefit the Crown,[[46]] while several others, rightly viewed, suggest an influence at work unfavourable to the towns and trading classes.[[47]]