Form of Peace, 1265

Following discussions in the parliament of January 1265, a peace treaty between Henry III and Simon de Montfort was issued. This essentially revived the security clause in the 1215 version of Magna Carta (dropped from subsequent versions), which gave the king’s subjects legal justification to rebel (C 53/54).

Transcript

The king to all of the county of York, greeting.

Because of the wars and disturbances which recently troubled our realm, by the unanimous agreement of ourselves, and of Edward our firstborn son, and also of the prelates, earls, barons, and of the community of our realm, it is by agreement provided for the peace of the realm, for the security of which Edward and our nephew Henry, the son of the king of Germany, had been given as hostages, that a certain ordinance made at London in June in the 48th year of our reign [1264] with the unanimous assent of ourselves, the prelates, earls, and barons concerning our state and that of our realm should be observed inviolably.

We now wish you all to know that we have sworn, on the holy gospels of God, that we will observe in good faith that ordinance and peace, and will maintain the tranquillity of our realm, and will no way work against them; with this addition specially and expressly made in the said oath, that we will not proceed against or seek to blame, by reason of whatever was done in the time of the said disturbances or of the war, any of those whom we denounced as enemies, or any of their supporters, that is to say, the earls of Leicester and of Gloucester and others supporting them and our barons and citizens of London, and of the Cinque Ports, nor to any of them will we do harm or order harm to be done, or permit harm to be done to them in any way by our bailiffs.

We have sworn also that we will inviolably observe all those things which were provided for the release of our son and nephew, and which were sealed with our seal, so far as they concern us, and that we will, to the best of our power, cause them to be observed by others.

And we wish and expressly agree that if we, or Edward our son, should in any way oppose our ordinance, provision, or oath, which Heaven forbid, or should disturb the peace and tranquillity of our realm, or, on pretext of things formerly done in the time of disturbances or of war, should proceed against any one of the aforesaid whom we denounced, or of their following, or should presume to inflict any harm upon any of them or cause them to be harmed, then it shall be lawful for all our realm to rise up against us, and to lend help and labour to our discomfiture, as much as they can. And we wish that by our present command each and every one shall be bound to this, notwithstanding the fealty and homage which they have done to us, so that they shall obey us in nothing, but do all that can work to our harm, as if they were in no way bound to us, until whatever in this matter has been wrongly done or committed has been restored to its due state, according to the terms of our ordinance, provision, and oath; and only when that is done should they obey as of old.

And if anyone else of our realm should presume to oppose these orders, or to disturb the peace and tranquillity of our realm, or to give help, counsel, consent, or any manner of aid to us, or to our son Edward, or to anyone else opposing the orders or any part of them, if this became known or if anyone be, or be not, convicted of this by the judgement of our council and the magnates of our land, he and his heirs shall be perpetually disinherited, and their lands and property shall be dealt with as are the lands of those convicted of felony, according to usual practice under the laws and customs of our realm.

And further to this, by the unanimous assent and will of ourselves, of Edward our son, of the prelates, earls, barons, and community of our realm, it is in agreement provided that the ancient charters of common liberties and of the forest, formerly granted by us to the community of our realm, against the violators of which, at our petition, a sentence of excommunication was formerly proclaimed and was specially confirmed by the apostolic see, shall in future be observed inviolably; and also all the articles formerly provided by the common consent of ourselves and of the magnates of our realm, and which, when we were lately at Worcester, we sent out to all counties under our seal, for the observance of which we have, of our free will, bound ourselves by an oath taken in person on the holy gospels of God; and we will that all justices, sheriffs, and all other kinds of officials in our realm, whether our own or those of others, shall be bound by the same oath, so that no one shall be obliged to obey any official until he has taken that oath. And if anyone shall presume to oppose these charters or the articles in any way, in addition to the penalty of perjury and the sentence of excommunication which he will incur, let him also be punished severely by consideration of our court, saving in these matters, as is fitting, the privilege of clergy.

And since we will that all these orders should be faithfully and inviolably observed, we order you all, firmly enjoining and commanding, that each and every one of you shall do, keep, and inviolably observe each and every one of the things as they are written above, and shall bind yourselves by a personal oath taken on the holy gospels of God, to do and observe all these things. In testimony of which we send you the charters and ordinances, with these present letters patent, under our seal, to be kept safely, as a constant reminder of this, in our county court in the custody of trustworthy men elected for this purpose.

And so that in future no one may assert ignorance of these things, we order them to be read aloud in full county court at least twice every year, so that the first publication shall take place in the first county court after the forthcoming feast of Easter [5 April] and the second in the first county court after Michaelmas next [29 September], and so henceforth every year. And we also will that, saving all that is said above, all other articles and ordinances hitherto provided by us and our council, which can be observed to the honour of God and of the church, to our own faith and to the profit of the realm, shall be inviolably observed and kept.

And so that each and every one of the above enactments shall remain firm and unshaken, the reverend fathers, the bishops appointed to this realm, at our instance, have launched a sentence of excommunication against all who shall knowingly oppose or in effect attempt to oppose the orders or any of them, and with respect to the said things we, of our own free will, submit ourselves to their jurisdiction and coercion, entirely renouncing in these matters all our privileges obtained or to be obtained, granted or in future to be granted to us by the lord pope on his own initiative, as is more fully declared in the letters drawn up for this and deposited with the bishops.

In which matter etc. Witness the king at Westminster.

Full transcript taken from RE Treharne and I.J Sanders (eds), Documents of the Baronial Movement of Reform and Rebellion, 1258-1267 (Oxford, 1973).

Simplified transcript

The king sends greetings to all of the county of York.

Because of the wars and disturbances which recently troubled our realm, by the unanimous agreement of ourselves, and of Edward our firstborn son, and also of the bishops, earls, barons, and of the community of our realm, it is by agreement provided for the peace of the realm, that the following ordinance made at London in June in the 48th year of our reign [1264] should be observed without violation.

We now wish you all to know that we have sworn, on the holy gospels of God, that we will observe in good faith that ordinance and peace, and will maintain the tranquillity of our realm. We will not proceed against or seek to blame, by reason of whatever was done in the time of the said disturbances or of the war, any of those whom we denounced as enemies, or any of their supporters. That is to say, we will not proceed against the earls of Leicester and of Gloucester or any other people supporting them.

And we wish and expressly agree that if we, or Edward our son, should in any way oppose our ordinance, provision, or oath, which Heaven forbid, or should disturb the peace and tranquillity of our realm, or should proceed against anyone of whom we denounced in the time of the disturbances of war, or should presume to inflict any harm upon any of them or cause them to be harmed, then it shall be lawful for all our realm to rise up against us, and to lend help and labour to our discomfiture, as much as they can.

And so that in future no one may assert ignorance of these things, we order them to be read aloud in full county court at least twice every year.

And so that each and every one of the above enactments shall remain firm and unshaken, the reverend fathers, the bishops appointed to this realm, at our instance, have launched a sentence of excommunication against all who shall knowingly oppose or in effect attempt to oppose the orders or any of them.

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