Henry’s new policy seems to have been endorsed by the magnates present, and on 21st January, 1227, he issued by their “common counsel” a series of “letters close” directing that all recipients of Crown charters must apply for their renewal—a ceremony requiring, of course, to be handsomely paid for. On 9th February a second series of “letters close” was issued, resulting in the extension of many forests to their old boundaries once more.[[280]]
Fears, apparently unfounded, that the Great Charter was in danger, seem to have been rife. If Henry really entertained any intention of setting aside Magna Carta, it is fortunate that the attack upon it, suggested to the King by William Briwere in January, 1223, was not seriously attempted until four years later. The delay was of supreme importance, since there had intervened the third re-issue of the Charter containing the declaration that the King had acted voluntarily, and fortified by the facts that Honorius had previously declared him of full age for such purposes, and that he had accepted a price for the confirmation of the Charter. Henry could not now repudiate the papal dispensation which he had gladly accepted and acted upon four years earlier. In this way the re-issue of both charters in 1225 had gone far to secure the national liberties. Henry shrank from any open infringement of the Great Charter; and, although he was partially successful in restoring the forests to their old wider boundaries, thus undoing many reforms of his minority, he proceeded without violating the letter of the Forest Charter. Henceforward, Henry’s attitude towards the charters was a settled one, and easily understood. He confirmed them with a light heart whenever he could obtain money in return, and thereafter acted as though they did not exist.
Henceforth history is concerned not with re-issues but with confirmations of the Great Charter. Of these the number is considerable, beginning with that granted at Westminster on 28th January, 1237;[[281]] but it forms no part of the scheme of this Historical Introduction to describe these in detail.[[282]] One of them, the so-called Confirmatio Cartarum of 5th November, 1297, is specially important, not because it is a confirmation, but because it is something more. It contains new clauses which impose restrictions on the taxing power of the Crown; and these, to some extent, take the places of those chapters (12 and 14) of the original grant of John, which had been omitted in all intervening re-issues and confirmations.
A Statute of 1369 (42 Edward III. c. 1), requires special notice, since it commands that “the Great Charter and the Charter of the Forest be holden and kept in all points, and if any statute be made to the contrary that shall be holden for none.” Parliament in 1369 thus sought to deprive future Parliaments of the power to effect any alterations upon the terms of Magna Carta. Yet, if Parliament in that year had the power to add anything by a new legislative enactment to the ancient binding force of the Great Charter, it follows that succeeding Parliaments, in possession of equal powers, might readily undo by a second statute what the earlier statute had sought to effect. If Parliament had power to alter the sacred terms of Magna Carta itself, it had equal power to alter the less sacred statute of 1369 which declared it unalterable. The terms of that statute, however, are interesting as perhaps the earliest example on record of the illogical theory (frequently reiterated in later years) that the English Parliament might use its present legislative supremacy in such a manner as to limit the legislative supremacy of other Parliaments in the future.
[238]. See Annals of Waverley, p. 286, and Stubbs, Const. Hist., II. 18.
[239]. The cause for wonder is rather how few changes required to be made. “It is, however, by no means the least curious feature of the history, that so few changes were needed to transform a treaty won at the point of the sword into a manifesto of peace and sound government.” Stubbs, Const. Hist., II. 21.
[240]. This classification takes no account of such alterations as seem to be merely verbal or inserted to remove ambiguities, e.g. upon chapters 22, 28, and 30 of the original Charter.
[241]. These alterations show traces of some influence at work hostile to the national Church. Not only is the promise of canonical election withdrawn, but the omissions of the clauses regulating intestate succession and guaranteeing freedom to leave the kingdom (a privilege highly valued by the clergy) seem to prejudice the interests of English churchmen. Now the papal legate was an active supporter of the re-issue of this Charter in 1216; whereas Rome, in the crisis of June, 1215, had been bitterly opposed to the original grant of Magna Carta. The inference is that Rome did not protest against these omissions to the prejudice of the English Church. Why was this? The explanation probably lies in the divergence of the interests of the national Church from those of the Church universal. Canonical election, for example, was nothing to Rome; successive Popes made provision for their favourites more readily in England by bringing pressure to bear on the King than on the monks of the various chapters. Henry III. habitually acted on the omission; creating wide-felt discontent by filling the English sees partly with his own foreign favourites, and partly with ecclesiastics nominated by the Roman Curia. The King and the Pope thus entered into a tacit partnership for their mutual benefit at the expense of the English national Church.
[242]. It is notable that it failed to find a place in the Charter of 1225, which was paid for by the nation at the price of one-fifteenth of moveables.