The Charter granted by Henry the Second, though apparently full, contained certain omissions which are significant and important. Round has arranged this Charter side by side with that of Henry the First, dividing their contents into numbered clauses, italicising the points of difference (Geoffrey de Mandeville, pp. 368-369).
| Henry the First | Henry the Second |
|---|---|
| (1) Cives non placitabunt extra muros civitatis pro ullo placito. | (1) Nullus eorum placitet extra muros civitatis Londoniarum de ullo placito praeter placita de tenuris exterioribus, exceptis monetariis et ministris meis. |
| (2) Sint quieti de schot et de loth de Danegildo et de murdro, et nullus eorum faciat bellum. | (2) Concessi etiam eis quietanciam murdri, [et] infra urbem et Portsokna, et quod nullus faciat bellum. |
| (3) Et si quis civium de placitis coronæ implacitatus fuerit, per sacramentum quod judicatum fuerit in civitate, se disrationet homo Londoniarum. | (3) De placitis ad coronam [spectantibus] se possunt disrationare secundum antiquam consuetudinem civitatis. |
| (4) Et infra muros civitatis nullus hospitetur, neque de mea familia, neque de alia, nisi alicui hospitium liberetur. | (4) Infra muros nemo capiat hospitium per vim vel per liberationem Marescalli. |
| (5) Et omnes homines Londoniarum sint quieti et liberi, et omnes res eorum, et per totam Angliam et per portus maris, de thelonio et passagio et lestagio et omnibus aliis consuetudinibus. | (5) Omnes cives Londoniarum sint quieti de theloneo et lestagio per totam Angliam et per portum maris. |
| (6) Et ecclesiæ et barones et cives teneant et habeant bene et in pace socnas suas cum omnibus consuetudinibus ita quod hospites qui in soccis suis hospitantur nulli dent consuetudines suas, nisi illi cujus socca fuerit, vel ministro suo quem ibi posuerit. | (This clause is wholly omitted). |
| (7) Et homo Londoniarum non judicetur in misericordia pecuniæ nisi ad suam were, scilicet ad c solidos, dico de placito quod ad pecuniam pertineat. | (7) Nullus de misericordia pecuniæ judicetur nisi secundum legem civitatis quam habuerunt tempore Henrici regis avi mei. |
| (8) Et amplius non sit miskenninga in hustenge, neque in folkesmote, neque in aliis placitis infra civitatem; et husteng sedeat semel in hebdomada, videlicet die Lunae. | (8) In civitate in nullo placito sit miskenninga; et quod Hustengus semel tantum in hebdomada teneatur. |
| (9) Et terras suas et wardemotum et debita civibus meis habere faciam infra civitatem et extra. | (9) Terras suas et tenuras et vadimonia et debita omnia juste habeant, quicunque eis debeat. |
| (10) Et de terris de quibus ad me clamaverint rectum eis tenebo lege civitatis. | (10) De terris suis et tenuris quæ infra urbem sunt, rectum eis teneatur secundum legem civitatis; et de omnibus debitis suis quae accomodata fuerint apud Londonias, et de vadimoniis ibidem factis, placita [? sint] apud Londoniam. |
| (11) Et si quis thelonium vel consuetudinem a civibus Londoniarum ceperit, cives Londoniarum capiant de burgo vel de villa ubi theloneum vel consuetudo capta fuit, quantam homo Londoniarum pro theloneo dedit, et proinde de damno caperit. | (11) Et si quis in tota Anglia theloneum et consuetudinem ab hominibus Londoniarum ceperit, postquam ipse a recto defecerit Vicecomes Londoniarum namium inde apud Londonias capiat. |
| (12) Et omnes debitores qui civibus debita debent eis reddant vel in Londoniis se disrationent quod non debent. Quod si reddere noluerint, neque ad disrationandum venire, tunc cives quibus debita sua debent capiant intra civitatem namia sua, vel de comitatu in quo manet qui debitum debet. | (12) Habeant fugationes suas, ubicumque habuerunt tempore Regis Henrici avi mei. |
| (13) Et cives habeant fugationes suas ad fugandum sicut melius et plenius habuerunt antecessores eorum, scilicet Chiltre et Middlesex et Sureie. | (13) Insuper etiam, ad emendationem civitatis, eis concessi quod sint quieti de Brudtolle, et de Childewite, et de Yaresive, et de Scotale; ita quod Vicecomes meus (sic) London[iarum] vel aliquis alius ballivus Scotalla non faciat. |
The text of the first is that of Stubbs’s Select Charters; that of the second is taken from the transcript in the Liber Custumarum (collated with the Liber Rubeus).
One very curious mistake was discovered by Round in the first. In clause 9 the word wardemotum is used. This, by comparison with the corresponding clause in the second Henry’s Charter, should be vadimonia: in other words, both Charters confirmed to the citizens “the property mortgaged to them and the debts due to them.”
To consider the differences:—
(1) No citizens are to plead without the walls. The second Charter adds “except in pleas for exterior tenures, my moneyers and servants excepted.”
By the second clause the citizens are freed from Scot and Lot and Danegeld and Murder. Henry the Second substitutes acquittance of murder within the City and Portsoken.
(6) Clause 6 is omitted in the second Charter.
(9) Clause 9. I have already shown the error discovered by Round in the word wardemotum.
(10) Here is a limitation, “quæ infra urbem sunt,” which are within the City.
(11) The clause concerning debtors omitted in the second Charter.
(12) About taking toll or any other custom from the citizens: for the “citizens” is substituted the Sheriff.
(13) Observe that Henry the Second does not speak of the Sheriff of London, but of my Sheriff.
The most important omission, however, in the second Charter is that which gives the citizens the right to hold Middlesex on the firma of £300 a year, and the right to elect their own Justiciar and Sheriff.