From another point of view the charter is a criticism on the administration of Rufus (and to some extent also of the Conqueror), combined with a promise of amendment. Henry thus posed as a reformer, and forswore the evil customs of his father and brother. The great value of the charter, however, lies in this, that it is the first formal acceptance (published under seal and in proper legal shape) of the old law of Anglo-Saxon England by a ruler of the new alien dynasty; yet in this Henry was only completing what his father had begun. These considerations help to account for the almost exaggerated importance attached to Henry’s charter during the reign of John.
If all efforts made to defeat Henry’s succession failed, the succession of his daughter Matilda was disputed triumphantly. Stephen, taking advantage of his cousin’s absence and of her personal unpopularity, made a rapid descent on England with the spasmodic energy which characterized him, and successfully snatched the Crown. Trained in English ways on English soil, he was quickly on the spot and very popular. These features in his favour, however, did not render his position entirely secure as against the daughter and heiress of so strong a King as Henry I., to whom, indeed, Stephen himself, with all the magnates of England, had already thrice sworn allegiance. He was only one of two competitors for the Crown, with chances nearly equal. From the moment of the old King’s death, “the Norman barons treated the succession as an open question.” In these words of Bishop Stubbs,[[171]] Mr. J. H. Round finds[[172]] the keynote of the reign. Stephen was never secure on his throne, and had to make indiscriminate promises first to obtain, and afterwards to retain, his position. He was thus prepared to bid much higher for support than Henry had felt compelled to do. Adherents had to be gained painfully, one by one, by the grant of special favours to every individual whose support was worth the buying.
Bargains were struck with the Londoners, with Stephen’s brother Henry of Blois (Bishop of Winchester), with the Keepers of the King’s Treasure, with the Archbishop of Canterbury, and with the Justiciar (Bishop Roger of Salisbury). The support of the two last mentioned carried with it the support of the Church and of the administrative staff of the late king, but was only gained by wide concessions. Thus Stephen, like William of Orange, five centuries later, agreed to become “king upon conditions.” A Charter of Liberties and a solemn oath securing "the liberty of the Church"—a vague phrase, it is true, but none the less dangerous on that account—together formed the price of Stephen’s consecration; and this price was not perhaps too high when we remember that "election was a matter of opinion, coronation a matter of fact"—a solemn sacrament that could hardly be undone.[[173]]
Even this important ceremony, however, left Stephen’s throne a tottering one; he was compelled to buy the adherence of powerful magnates by lavish concessions of land and franchises; and various charters in favour of individual nobles still exist as witnesses to such bribes. The process by which he built up a title to the Crown seems to have culminated in the Easter of 1136, when he secured the support of Matilda’s half-brother Robert, Earl of Gloucester, whose lead was quickly followed by other influential nobles. All of these new adherents, however, performed homage to the King under an important reservation, namely, that their future loyalty would be strictly conditional on the treatment extended to them by Stephen. That unfortunate monarch accordingly, by tolerating such conditional allegiance, was compelled to acknowledge the inherent weakness of his position even in the moment of his nominal triumph.[[174]]
These important transactions took place apparently at Oxford,[[175]] and at the same time the King issued his second or Oxford Charter, which embodied and expanded the contents of earlier charters and oaths. This Oxford Charter, the date of which has been proved to be early in April,[[176]] is noteworthy alike for the circumstances in which it was granted, placing as it did the copestone on the gradual process by which Stephen was “elected” king, and also for its contents, which combined the earlier oath to the Church and the vague, unsatisfactory earlier charter to the people, with the new conditions extorted by Earl Robert and his followers.
The opening words, in which Stephen describes himself as “King of the English,” may be read as a laboured attempt to set forth a valid title to the throne. All reference to predecessors is carefully avoided, and the usurper declares himself to be king "by appointment of the clergy and people, by consecration of the archbishop and papal legate, and by the Pope’s confirmation."[[177]]
Perhaps its chief provisions are those in favour of the Church, supplementing a vague declaration that the Church should be “free” by specific promises that the bishops should have exclusive jurisdiction and power over churchmen and their goods, along with the sole right to superintend their distribution after death. Here was a clear confirmation of the right of the Courts Christian to a monopoly of all pleas affecting the clergy or their property. It is the first distinct enunciation in England of the principle afterwards known as "benefit of clergy"—and that, too, in a form more sweeping than was ever afterwards repeated. Stephen also explicitly renounced all rights inherent in the Crown to wardship over Church lands during vacancies—a surrender never dreamed of by either Henry I. or Henry II.
Grants to the people at large followed. A general clause promising peace and justice was again supplemented by specific concessions of more practical value, namely, a promise to extirpate all exactions, unjust practices, and “miskennings” by sheriffs and others, and to observe good, ancient, and just customs in respect of murder-fines, pleas, and other causes.
Strangely enough, there is only one provision specially benefiting feudal magnates, the King’s disclaimer of all tracts of land afforested since the time of the two Williams. The omission of further feudal concessions must not be attributed either to Stephen’s strength, or to any spirit of moderation or self-sacrifice in the magnates. Each baron of sufficient importance had already extorted a special charter in his own favour, more emphatic and binding from its personal nature, and accordingly more valued than a mere general provision in favour of all and sundry. Such private grants generally included a confirmation of the grantee’s right to maintain his own feudal stronghold, thus placing him in a position of practical independence.
It is instructive to compare these wide promises of Stephen with the meagre words of the charter granted by Henry of Anjou at or soon after his Coronation.[[178]] Henry II. carefully omits all mention of Stephen and his charters, not, as is sometimes supposed, because he did not wish to acknowledge the existence of a usurper, but because of that usurper’s lavish grants to the Church. Henry had no intention either to confirm “benefit of clergy” in so sweeping a form as Stephen had done, or to renounce wardship over the lands of vacant sees.