The Magna Carta
Contents
| The Text of Magna Carta |
| Magna Carta 1215 |
| The text of THE MAGNA CARTA |
A note from Michael Hart, preparer of the 0.1 version.
This file contains a number of versions of the Magna Carta, some of which werea little mangled in transit. I am sure our volunteers will find and correcterrors I didn’t catch, and that version 0.2 - 1.0 will have significantimprovements, as well as at least one more version in Latin.
Version 1.0 may contain a dozen different versions.
The Text of Magna Carta
JOHN, by the grace of God King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandyand Aquitaine, and Count of Anjou, to his archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls,barons, justices, foresters, sheriffs, stewards, servants, and to all hisofficials and loyal subjects, Greeting.
KNOW THAT BEFORE GOD, for the health of our soul and those of our ancestors andheirs, to the honour of God, the exaltation of the holy Church, and the betterordering of our kingdom, at the advice of our reverend fathers Stephen,archbishop of Canterbury, primate of all England, and cardinal of the holyRoman Church, Henry archbishop of Dublin, William bishop of London, Peterbishop of Winchester, Jocelin bishop of Bath and Glastonbury, Hugh bishop ofLincoln, Walter Bishop of Worcester, William bishop of Coventry, Benedictbishop of Rochester, Master Pandulf subdeacon and member of the papalhousehold, Brother Aymeric master of the knighthood of the Temple in England,William Marshal earl of Pembroke, William earl of Salisbury, William earl ofWarren, William earl of Arundel, Alan de Galloway constable of Scotland, WarinFitz Gerald, Peter Fitz Herbert, Hubert de Burgh seneschal of Poitou, Hugh deNeville, Matthew Fitz Herbert, Thomas Basset, Alan Basset, Philip Daubeny,Robert de Roppeley, John Marshal, John Fitz Hugh, and other loyal subjects:
(1) FIRST, THAT WE HAVE GRANTED TO GOD, and by this present charter haveconfirmed for us and our heirs in perpetuity, that the English Church shall befree, and shall have its rights undiminished, and its liberties unimpaired.That we wish this so to be observed, appears from the fact that of our own freewill, before the outbreak of the present dispute between us and our barons, wegranted and confirmed by charter the freedom of the Church’s elections -a right reckoned to be of the greatest necessity and importance to it - andcaused this to be confirmed by Pope Innocent III. This freedom we shall observeourselves, and desire to be observed in good faith by our heirs in perpetuity.
TO ALL FREE MEN OF OUR KINGDOM we have also granted, for us and our heirs forever, all the liberties written out below, to have and to keep for them andtheir heirs, of us and our heirs:
(2) If any earl, baron, or other person that holds lands directly of the Crown,for military service, shall die, and at his death his heir shall be of full ageand owe a ‘relief’, the heir shall have his inheritance on paymentof the ancient scale of ‘relief’. That is to say, the heir or heirsof an earl shall pay 100 for the entire earl’s barony, the heir or heirsof a knight 100s. at most for the entire knight’s ‘fee’, andany man that owes less shall pay less, in accordance with the ancient usage of‘fees’
(3) But if the heir of such a person is under age and a ward, when he comes ofage he shall have his inheritance without ‘relief’ or fine.