De omnibus autem illis de quibus aliquis Walensium disseisitus fuerit vel elongatus sine legali judicio parium suorum per Henricum regem patrem nostrum vel Ricardum regem fratrem nostrum, que nos in manu nostra habemus, vel que alii tenent que nos oporteat warantizare, respectum habebimus usque ad communem terminum crucesignatorum, illis exceptis de quibus placitum motum fuit vel inquisicio facta per preceptum nostrum ante suscepcionem crucis nostre: cum autem redierimus, vel si forte remanserimus a peregrinacione nostra, statim eis inde plenam justiciam exhibebimus, secundum leges Walensium et partes predictas.
Further, for all those possessions from which any Welshman has, without the lawful judgment of his peers, been disseised or removed by King Henry our father, or King Richard our brother, and which we retain in our hand (or which are possessed by others, to whom we are bound to warrant them) we shall have respite until the usual term of crusaders; excepting those things about which a plea has been raised or an inquest made by our order before we took the cross; but as soon as we return, (or if perchance we desist from our expedition), we will immediately grant full justice in accordance with the laws of the Welsh and in relation to the foresaid regions.
The provisions here made for restoring to Welshmen estates of which they had been unjustly dispossessed by Henry or Richard are expressed in terms identical with the similar provisions made in the latter part of chapter 52 for Englishmen in like case, except for the last words, “in accordance with the laws of the Welsh in relation to the aforesaid districts,” indicating the three systems of law referred to in the previous chapter. No machinery is here specified for declaring or applying that law; the need for this indeed had been rendered remote by John’s success before the arbitrators who determined that a crusader’s privilege should be accorded him.[[1041]]
The Articles of the Barons had, however, mentioned the procedure to be adopted; and a comparison of the terms of articles 25 and 44 with those of chapter 57 of the Charter suggests the antithesis between “per judicium parium suorum in curia regis” for Englishmen in such cases, and “in marchia per judicium parium suorum” for Welshmen.
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT.
Nos reddemus filium Lewelini statim, et omnes obsides de Wallia, et cartas que nobis liberate fuerunt in securitatem pacis.
We will immediately give up the son of Llywelyn and all the hostages of Wales, and the charters delivered to us as security for the peace.
The treatment of hostages in general and Welsh hostages in particular has already been fully illustrated.[[1042]] The patent and close rolls of the reign show a constant coming and going of these living pledges of the peace. A writ of 18th December, 1214, for example, bade Engelard de Cygony restore three Welsh nobles to Llywelyn.[[1043]] Since then, new hostages, including Llywelyn’s own son, had been handed over; and charters also had apparently been pledged. John now promised unconditionally to restore all of these; and the Welsh Prince must have breathed more freely when this was fulfilled, allowing him, his son by his side, with a light heart to prepare for the hostilities against the English Crown, long seen to be inevitable and now to be resumed in alliance with the disaffected English barons.