The St Albans Chroniclers and Magna Carta1

J.C. Holt

doi:10.2307/3678944

The St Albans Chroniclers and Magna Carta1

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 February 2009

J.C. Holt

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J.C. Holt: Affiliation:
Department of History, The University, Nottingham.

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The St Albans chroniclers, Roger of Wendover and Matthew Paris, present a unique version of the documents of 1215. This, as it appears in Wendover's chronicle, consists, first, of a text of Magna Carta drawn from the 1215 version for its introduction and first clause, and thereafter from the re-issues of 1217 and 1225; secondly, of a text of the Charter of the Forest based on the versions of 1217 and 1225, and in the St Albans version falsely attributed to King John; finally, of a version of the forma securitatis of 1215 which includes sections found nowhere else, either in record or in chronicle. It is, in short, a complete muddle, and it was not improved by Matthew Paris, for he copied it into his Chronica Majora and then later proceeded to patch it with sections drawn from the 1215 text.

Type: Research Article
Information: Transactions of the Royal Historical Society , Volume 14 , December 1964 , pp. 67 - 88

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3678944 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Royal Historical Society 1964

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^{page 67 note 2} For Cotton's acquisition of the originals in 1629–30, see Collins, A.J., ‘The Documents of the Great Charter of 1215’, Proceedings of the British Academy, xxxiv (1948), pp. 260–61.Google Scholar

^{page 67 note 3} Leges Anglo-Saxonicae, ed. Wilkins, D. (London, 1721), pp. 367–73.Google Scholar Spelman also copied the Letters Testimonial from the Red Book of the Exchequer and made some attempt to collate this text of the 1215 charter with the St Albans version (ibid., pp. 373–76).

^{page 68 note 1} Blackstone, W., Law Tracts (Oxford, 1762), pp. xxxv,Google Scholar Ixix. Many earlier commentators referred solely to the re-issue of 1225 or later versions of this re-issue. See Butterfield, H., The Englishman and his History (Cambridge, 1944), pp. 25–30, 54–56.Google Scholar

^{page 68 note 2} [Matthei Parisiensis] Chron[ica] Maj[ora], ed. H. R. Luard (R[olls]S[eries], 1874), ii, p. xxxiv.

^{page 68 note 3} Ibid., pp. 259–60. Cf. McKechnie, W.S., Magna Carta (Glasgow, 1914), p. 176.Google Scholar

^{page 68 note 4} Vaughan, R., Matthew Paris (Cambridge, 1958), p. 134n.Google Scholar

^{page 68 note 5} Galbraith, V.H., Roger Wendover and Matthew Paris (Glasgow, 1944), p. 19.Google Scholar

^{page 69 note 1} There is no record that an original was sent to Hertfordshire in 1215 (Rot. Litt. Pat., p. 180^b), nor does the St Albans evidence support the view that a copy was deposited at the abbey at that time. Cf. Collins, op. cit., pp. 259–60, 277–78.

^{page 69 note 2} Wendover's chronicle has been edited twice: by Coxe, H.O., for the English Historical Society, 4 vols (1841–1844)Google Scholar, and by Hewlett, H.G., for the Rolls Series, 3 vols (1886–1889).Google Scholar For comments on the editions, see Hewlett's introduction, op. cit., i, pp. viii–x, and V. H. Galbraith, op. cit., pp. 20–21.

^{page 69 note 3} Ed. H. R. Luard, 7 vols (R.S., 1872–83). All references below to the work of Wendover and Paris are to this edition.

^{page 69 note 4} Vaughan, op. cit., p. 29.

^{page 70 note 1} Vaughan, op. cit., pp. 115 ff.

^{page 70 note 2} Fos 93^v–97^r.

^{page 70 note 3} Fos 99^r–101^v.

^{page 70 note 4} Fos 98^r–99^r.

^{page 70 note 5} It is obvious at a glance that the b and V1 texts are closely associated. V2 contains fewer errors, but still shares nearly half its minor textual variants with b and V1.

^{page 70 note 6} Cap. 4, 1.8, committatur; committetur, 1225; cap. 7, 1.6, om. ipsius; cap. 8, I.3, sufficiunt; sufficiant, 1225; cap. 8, l.10, solverint; solverunt, 1225; cap. 27, 1.8, vel; nec, 1225; cap. 31, 1.5, ila; ipsa, 1225; cap. 36, 1.4, eam illi; illam ei, 1225; cap. 37, l.1, consuevit; solebat, 1225. All references to Magna Carta are to the texts in Bémont, C., Chartes des libertés anglaises (Paris, 1892)Google Scholar, unless otherwise noted.

^{page 70 note 7} Cap. 7, 1.5, tenuerunt; tenuerint, 1217; cap. 14, 1.7, sacramentum (sacrament', V2); sacramenta, 1217; cap. 18, l.11, et pueris suis; om. 1217; cap. 36, 1.4, recepit; receperit, 1217.

^{page 70 note 8} Cap. 2, l.1, om. vero; cap. 3, 1.I, fuerunt; fuerint, 1225; cap. 4, 1.4, predicti; om. 1225, (cropped in V); cap. 4, I.7, vastum, purpresturam vel assartum; vastum vel purpresturam, 1225; cap. 8, 1.3, om. nostri; cap. 9, l.I, om. quern habet; cap. 9,1.8, ita quod; unde, 1225; cap. 16, l.I, vel alms; om. 1225; cap. 16, 1.6, om. nostro; cap. 17,1.9, tam clerici quam laici; om. 1225. In contrast there is:— cap. 4, I.9, de vastis purpresturis et assartis, as in 1225, (de vastis et essartis et purpresturis, V); de vastis et assartis, 1217.

^{page 71 note 1} …venlens ad nos ad mandatum nostrum … Idem liceat eis in redeundo facere sicut predictum est. V sad OW follow this exactly; B reads liceat in redeundo eis facere.

^{page 71 note 2} It ends with Hits testibus ut infra, the reference being to the V2 version of Magna Carta which follows immediately.

^{page 71 note 3} At this point the saving clause and the confirmation of liberties appear in a different order in the 1217 and 1225 versions. The B texts follow 1217, V2 1225.

^{page 72 note 1} O, W and B om. per eadetn loca et eosdem terminos sicut esse consueverunt tempore suo.

^{page 72 note 2} O, W and B om. qui de exhibits … duobus legalibus et discretis hominibus de feodo illo.

^{page 72 note 3} O and W, nee aliquid det pro dote sua vel pro homagio suo. Cf. maritagio suo, 1217, 1225. Matthew Paris gives the correct reading over an erasure in B.

^{page 72 note 4} O, W and B, Nec vicecomes aliquis vel ballivus suus faciat terminum suum. Cf. faciat turnum suum, 1217, 1225.

^{page 72 note 5} O and W, sacratnentum proborum et legalium hominum de visneto comitatus. Et barones … Cf. B, comitatus, comites et barones … Cf. visneto. Comites et barones, 1217, 1225.

^{page 73 note 1} Cap. 4, 1.8, b and V2, committatur, as in 1217 but not 1225; cap. 7, I.4, b and V2. om. pro; cap. 7, 1.8, b and V2, fuerit castrum.

^{page 73 note 2} It makes the same omissions as b, in cc. 4 and 16. Matthew Paris amended the V1 text of cap. 14 to conform to the reading in B.

^{page 73 note 3} In cap. 1, V1 reads correctly ante discordiam inter nos et bar ones nostros motam, a phrase into which b inserts the word manifeste. In cap. 15, V1 reads correctly debet for b's reading debent.

^{page 73 note 4} The Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough, ed. Rothwell, Harry (Camden, 3rd Series, lxxxix, 1957), pp. 162–72.Google Scholar

^{page 74 note 1} In cap. 31,1.5, this version has baronia for the illa of the a text. See p. 70, n. 6, above.

^{page 74 note 2} The Guisborough version incorporates a full introduction which is abbreviated in V2. and replaced by the 1215 text in b and V1. It also has Datum per manum venerabilis patris nostri domini R. Dunelmensis episcopi, cancellarii nostri, which does not figure in any of the St Albans versions. The b, V2 and Guisborough versions of the conclusion of the Great Charter, and the introduction and conclusion of the Charter of the Forest each embody the 1217 and 1225 texts in different proportions, although even in these sections there are common variants.

^{page 75 note 1} V2 has none of these amendments. It has no introduction except for the king's name and title—Henricus dei gratia rex Anglie etc. In primis concessimus …, and it uses the 1217 version of cap. 1 (distinguishable from 1225 only by the omission of omnia in 1.3).

^{page 75 note 2} Chron. Maj., ii, pp. 589, 590.

^{page 75 note 3} Selected Letters of Pope Innocent III, ed. Cheney, C.R. and Semple, W.H. (Nelson's Med. Texts, 1953), pp. 211n., 188n., 207n.Google Scholar

^{page 75 note 4} Chron. Maj., ii, p. 550. See Davis, H.W.C., ‘The St Albans Council of 1213’, Eng[lish] Historical] Rev[iew], xx (1905), pp. 289 ff.;CrossRef Google Scholar Turner, G.J., ‘The St Albans Council of 1213’, Eng. Hist. Rev., xxi (1906), pp. 297 ff.CrossRef Google Scholar

^{page 76 note 1} Chron. Maj., iii, p. 92: … cartae utrorumque regum in nullo inveniuntur dissimiles.

^{page 76 note 2} These additions were made in Matthew Paris' current hand, probably some time before his main additions of 1215 material in the margins of B.

^{page 76 note 3} Vaughan, op. cit., pp. 132–33; Cheney and Semple, op. cit., pp. 1–2.

^{page 77 note 1} See below, p. 81.

^{page 77 note 2} Galbraith, , Roger Wendover and Matthew Paris, p. 20.Google Scholar

^{page 77 note 3} See above, pp. 73–74.

^{page 77 note 4} Lawlor, H.J., ‘An Unnoticed Charter of Henry III, 1217’, Eng. Hist. Rev., xxii (1907), pp. 514–18.CrossRef Google Scholar See also Professor Rothwell's comments, The Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough, p. 162n.

^{page 78 note 1} Statutes of the Realm, i, pp. 28–31.

^{page 78 note 2} Chartes des libertes anglaises, p. xxxin. Poole, R.L., in contrast, did not question its authenticity (Eng. Hist. Rev., xxviii (1913), p. 452).Google Scholar

^{page 78 note 3} Chron. Map., iii, p. 31. Cf. the annals of Waverley, Annales Monastici, ii, pp. 290, 291.

^{page 78 note 4} Chron. Maj., iii, p. 76; incorrectly dated 1223. See Norgate, Kate, The Minority of Henry III (London, 1912), pp. 215–16.Google Scholar

^{page 78 note 5} Chron. Maj., iii, pp. 31, 76, 92, 122, 125.

^{page 78 note 6} Flores Historiarum, ed. Hewlett, ii, p. 188. Cf. his comments on the re-issue of 1225, ibid., ii, p. 182, and Chron. Maj., iii, p. 92.

^{page 79 note 1} Chron. Maj., ii, pp. 620, 637, 645, 646–47.

^{page 79 note 2} Historia Anglorum, ed. Madden, F. (R.S., 1866–1869), ii, p. 152.Google Scholar Cf. Chron. Maj., ii, p. 647.

^{page 79 note 3} Chron. Maj., ii, p. 669n.

^{page 79 note 4} Chron. Maj., ii, pp. 637, 645, 647.

^{page 79 note 5} Ibid., v, p. 327.

^{page 79 note 6} Ibid., v, p. 360.

^{page 80 note 1} Chron. Maj., v, p. 378.

^{page 80 note 2} Ibid., v. p. 443.

^{page 80 note 3} Historia Anglorum, ii, p. 193.

^{page 80 note 4} Chron. Maj., ii, pp. 588, 613, 614. Cf. Historia Anglorum, ii, pp. 157, 158.

^{page 80 note 5} Chron. Maj., ii, pp. 610–12.

^{page 80 note 6} Ibid., iii, p. 382.

^{page 80 note 7} Ibid., iv, pp. 186, 187, 362–63.

^{page 80 note 8} Ibid., v, p. 375.

^{page 81 note 1} Ibid., v, pp. 451, 500–1, 623.

^{page 81 note 2} The apparently exceptional references under the year 1242 are to Henry's ‘parva carta’ of 1237 (ibid., iv, pp. 186, 187).

^{page 81 note 3} For 1244, Chron. Maj., v, pp. 362^63, 373; Historia Anglorum, ii, p. 491. For 1252, Historia Anglorum, iii, pp. 125-26. For 1253, Chron. Maj., v, pp. 377, 449. For 1255, ibid., v, pp. 500–1. For 1256, ibid., v, pp. 540–41. For 1258, ibid., v, p. 696.

^{page 81 note 4} Compare Chron. Maj., v, pp. 377, 449, with Henry's letters included in the Liber Additamentorum (ibid., vi, pp. 249–50).

^{page 81 note 5} Chron. Maj., vi, p. 523.

^{page 82 note 1} Cotton MS. Vitellius A.xx, fo. 94^V. In B, in contrast, he added the reference to the assize of darrein presentment from the 1215 text, but did nothing about the more important issue of the interval between circuits.

^{page 82 note 2} The relevant points are noted by Luard as a change of hand (Chron. Maj., ii, pp. 592n, 595n.).

^{page 83 note 1} He also amended the text of cap. 13 which incorporates both the tam per terras quam per aquas of 1215 and the barones de Quinque Portubus et omnes of 1217 and 1225.

^{page 83 note 2} Cap. 6, Paris adds in the margin ita tamen … ipsius heredis; cap. 7, Paris corrects homagio to maritagio partly over an erasure, partly in the margin; cap. 20, Paris cancels per and puts propter in the margin; cap. 27, Paris writes Nos non tenebimus over erasure; cap. 29, Paris adds aut exulet in the margin; cap. 30, Paris inserts et morari et ire tam in the margin; cap. 31, 1.5, Paris interlines baronia; cap. 33, Paris adds antiquam in the margin; cap. 35, lines 12–13, Paris adds et quod.… consuevit in the margin.

^{page 83 note 3} Cc. 50, 51.

^{page 83 note 4} Cc. 49, 52, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59.

^{page 83 note 5} Cc. 44, 47, 48, 53. Opposite the appropriate point in the text where Paris could have followed cap. 31 of the 1217 and 1225 charters (cap. 43 of the 1215 charter) with cap. 44 of the 1215 charter, he added in the margin Homines qui manent extra forestam verte hoc folium this reference being to his text of the Charter of the Forest.

^{page 84 note 1} There are also additions to cap. 4, et si dederimus … de feodo illo, which is omitted in all the b versions, and to cap. 5, et waynagiis … poterunt sustinere. These are less certainly the work of Matthew Paris.

^{page 85 note 1} The Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough., p. 168n.

^{page 85 note 2} The Red Book version shares all the variants noted above, p. 70, nn. 6–7, except solverint in cap. 8. It also shares other minor features with V2 and Guisborough, e.g. cap. 1, 1.5, etlam et dedimus; cap. 12, 1.4, mittet; cap. 15, 1.2, ab antiquo; cap. 29, 1.2, om. aliquo. However, it has the correct reading centum libras in cap. 2, and contains characteristic errors of its own not shared by any of the b, V or Guisborough versions. This text is collated in Statutes of the Realm, i, pp. 22–25.

^{page 85 note 3} See Holt, J.C., The Northerners (Oxford, 1961), pp. 116–18.Google Scholar Cf. H. R. Luard in Chron. Maj., ii, pp. xxxiv–vi.

^{page 85 note 4} Vaughan, op. cit., pp. 11–18.

^{page 86 note 1} Chron. Maj., ii, pp. 604–6. These lists are in Matthew's current hand and were probably written before his amendments to the body of the text in B.

^{page 86 note 2} For Elias's career, see Powicke, F.M., Stephen Langton (Oxford, 1928);Google Scholar Major, Kathleen, ‘The Familia of Archbishop Stephen Langton’, Eng. Hist. Rev., xlviii (1933), pp. 529–53CrossRef Google Scholar, and her Acta Stephanl Langton (Oxford, 1949);Google Scholar Thompson, A. Hamilton, ‘Master Elias of Dereham and the King's Works’, The Archaeol. Journal, xcviii (1941), pp. 1–35;CrossRef Google Scholar Lawrence, C.H., St Edmund of Abingdon (Oxford, 1960), pp. 141–42;Google Scholar Russell, J.C., ‘The Many-sided Career of Master Elias of Dereham’, Speculum, v (1930), pp. 378–87.CrossRef Google Scholar

^{page 86 note 3} Rot. Litt. Pat., p. 180^b.

^{page 86 note 4} Lawrence, op. cit., pp. 141–42.

^{page 86 note 5} Chron. Maj., iv, p. 418.

^{page 86 note 6} Historia Anglorum, ii, p. 242.

^{page 86 note 7} Chron. Maj., vi, p. 465.

^{page 87 note 1} ibid.ii, pp. 454–55.

^{page 87 note 2} The handwriting of the B text of Magna Carta and of the later amendments is illustrated in Vaughan, R., ‘The Handwriting of Matthew Paris’, Trans. Cambridge Bibl. Soc., v (1953), plate xvi(c).Google Scholar

^{page 87 note 3} Liebermann, F., ‘The Text of Henry I's Coronation Charter’, Trans. Roy. Hist. Soc., New Series, viii (1894), pp. 21–48.CrossRef Google Scholar Lambeth MS. 1212 contains two copies, the earlier at pp. 187–88 and the later at pp. 17–18. Both are derived from the same text. The main difference between these and the V text is in cap. 11, where V follows the Red Book and London versions: ut sicut benignitas mea propensior est in eis, ita mihi fidehores sint. This passage is omitted in Lambeth 1212. It should be noted that the V text of this charter is different from that copied by Wendover and Paris in their chronicles.

^{page 87 note 4} Vaughan, op. cit., pp. 7–11.

^{page 87 note 5} Chron. Maj., vi, pp. 234–35, 523. It is worth noting that Hugh of Northwold was among the bishops present at Westminster on 13 May 1253, when sentence of excommunication was pronounced against transgressors of the charters (Rymer, Foedera, I.i.289). Matthew may well have derived this copy of the charter from him. Hugh died in Aug. 1254.

^{page 88 note 1} Chron. Maj., vi, pp. 252–55, 523n.

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