ABSTRACT
The bishops alone, with the exception of two courtier prelates, left the kingdom to escape submission. All the property of the Church was confiscated and the clergy lived on allocations. A schism could have been achieved in time if John had not lost his head. He assumed the habits of a despot, allowed his officials to abuse their power more than ever, and personally offended some of his barons. Philip Augustus watched events carefully. He gladly responded to the overtures made to him. One of the richest lords of the London area, Robert Fitz Walter, fled to France in 1212 2 and finally, in 1213, Philip Augustus accepted the Pope’s offer when he deposed John Lackland and invited the King of France to take possession of the vacant realm. John ran a great risk of being dethroned but he was advised that Innocent III despite his obligations to Philip Augustus was ready to pardon him on condition of a complete humiliation. He accordingly humiliated himself and, on 16th May, 1213, he agreed to pay the Holy See an annual tribute of a thousand marks sterling as the dues of a vassal for the kingdoms of England and Ireland. Here is the beginning of the Deed of Submission addressed to all the faithful in Christ :—
and he tried to reduce them by force. It was in these circum stances that, on 25th August, 1213, Stephen Langton brought together a considerable number of barons and prelates at the church of St. Paul’s in London and asked them to swear to fight to obtain the liberties formulated in a charter the text of which was read and explained to them. It is probable that this text is the one which scholars have called “ An Unknown Charter of English liberties ” which, for reasons about which we can only make hypotheses, is preserved in the French Tresor des Chartes. It is a shapeless draft, hastily drawn up and undoubtedly representing concessions wrung from John some time previously which he refused to uphold. The text opens with a reproduction of the Charter of Henry I. Stephen Langton had good reason for basing himself on this famous charter in which Henry declared “ First, for the free dom of God’s Holy Church ” . Next come some dozen articles on the maintenance of rights and customs in matters of justice, relief and wardship of fiefs, the jointure and dowry of widows, marriage of heiresses, debts of minors, military service in France, scutage : the Forest Laws are to be modified. It is a very interesting draft, for the provisions are taken from it and developed later in the Baron’s Petition of 1215 and the Great Charter. We can note that it is scarcely concerned with anything but concessions to the nobility, and even in the Great Charter they remained the essential feature.1
