And all the ill-will, hatreds, and bitterness that have arisen between us and our men, clergy and lay, from the date of the quarrel, we have completely remitted and pardoned to everyone. Moreover, all trespasses occasioned by the said quarrel, from Easter in the sixteenth year of our reign till the restoration of peace, we have fully remitted to all, both clergy and laymen, and completely forgiven, as far as pertains to us. And, on this head, we have caused to be made out to them letters patent of Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, Henry, archbishop of Dublin, the bishops aforesaid, and master Pandulf, as evidences of this clause of security and of the foresaid concessions.
The clauses which follow the forma securitatis are entirely of a formal nature, adding nothing to the substance of Magna Carta. The present chapter, after making a well-meant declaration that bygones should be bygones, and that perfect peace and goodwill should everywhere prevail—a pious aspiration doomed to speedy disillusion—proceeds to authorize the prelates to issue under their seals certified copies of the terms of the Great Charter. Such letters were actually issued, and their terms are preserved in the Red Book of the Exchequer.[1091]
1091. See folio 234. The text which is reproduced by Bémont, Chartres, p. 35, runs as follows: "Omnibus Christi fidelibus ad quos presens scriptum pervenerit, Stephanus Dei gratia Cantuariensis archiepiscopus, tocius Anglie primas et sancte romane ecclesie cardinalis, Henricus, eadem gratia Dublinensis archiepiscopus, Willelmus Londoniensis, Petrus Wintoniensis, Joscelinus, Bathoniensis et Glastoniensis, Hugo Lincolniensis, Walterus Wigorniensis, Willelmus Coventriensis et Benedictus Roffensis, divina miseracione episcopi, et magister Pandulfus domini pape subdiaconus et familiaris, salutem in Domino. Sciatis nos inspexisse cartam quam dominus noster Johannes illustris rex Anglie fecit comitibus, baronibus et liberis hominibus suis Anglie de libertate sancte ecclesie et libertatibus et liberis consuetudinibus suis eisdem ab eo concessis sub hac forma....
Et ne huic forme predicte aliquid possit addi vel ab eadem aliquid possit subtrahi vel minui, huic scripto sigilla nostra apposuimus."
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE.
Quare volumus et firmiter precipimus quod Anglicana ecclesia libera sit et quod homines in regno nostro habeant et teneant omnes prefatas libertates, jura, et concessiones, bene et in pace, libere et quiete, plene et integre sibi et heredibus suis, de nobis et heredibus nostris, in omnibus rebus et locis, in perpetuum, sicut predictum est. Juratum est autem tam ex parte nostra quam ex parte baronum, quod hec omnia supradicta bona fide et sine malo ingenio observabuntur. Testibus supradictis et multis aliis. Data per manum nostram in prato quod vocatur Ronimede, inter Windlesoram et Stanes, quinto decimo die Junii, anno regni nostri decimo septimo.
Wherefore it is our will, and we firmly enjoin, that the English Church be free, and that the men in our kingdom have and hold all the aforesaid liberties, rights, and concessions, well and peaceably, freely and quietly, fully and wholly, for themselves and their heirs, of us and our heirs, in all respects and in all places for ever, as is aforesaid. An oath, moreover, has been taken, as well on our part as on the part of the barons, that all these conditions aforesaid shall be kept in good faith and without evil intent. Given under our hand—the above-named and many others being witnesses—in the meadow which is called Runnymede, between Windsor and Staines, on the fifteenth day of June, in the seventeenth year of our reign.
This last of the sixty-three chapters into which Magna Carta has been divided for purposes of convenience, not by its framers, but by modern commentators, contains little that calls for special comment. Beginning with a repetition of the declarations already made in chapter one that the English church should be free (omitting, however, any second reference to canonical election) and that homines in regno nostro should have and hold all of the aforesaid liberties, rights and concessions, it went on to record the fact that both parties had taken oath to observe its contents in good faith.[1092] The magnates named in the preamble were thereafter, along with many others who were not named, referred to collectively as witnesses. The Charter concludes with the declaration that it has been “given by our hand,” the place and date being specified, so as to conform to the formalities required in legal documents. The actual giving by John’s hand was effected by the impress of his great seal.[1093]
1092. Cf. supra, 125.
1093. There are no signatures to the document. The frequent references to “the signing of the Great Charter” (e.g. Medley, Const. Hist., 127) are thus inaccurate, if “signing” is taken in its modern sense of “subscribing,” but may perhaps be justified by a reference to signum in its original meaning of “a seal.” To imprint a seal was, in a sense, “to sign.” That Magna Carta, in spite of its mention of its own date as 15th June, was actually sealed on the 19th has already been asserted, supra, 48–49. To the proofs there adduced should be added the testimony of the Annals of Dunstable, III. 43, which report that peace was made between king and barons at Runnymede “die Gervasii et Protasii.”