276 noc.Ert OF WF.NDOVER. [k.v. 1214. The reason of /he irritation of the barons against the king. On tlio 2óth of August in the same year, Stephen arch bishop of Canterbury, with the bishops, abbats, priors,deaeons, and barons of the kingdom assembled at St. Paul's, in the city of London, and there the archbishop granted permission to the conventual churches, as well as to the secular priests, to chant the services of the church in a low voice, in the hearing of their parishioners. At this conference, as report asserts, the said archbishop called some of the nobles aside to him, and conversed privately with them to the following effect, "Did you hear," said he, "how, when I absolved the king at Winchester, I made him swear that he would do away with unjust laws, and would recall good laws, such as those of king Edward, and cause them to he observed by all in the kingdom; a charter of Henry the first king of England has just now been found, by which you may, if you wish it, recall your long-lost rights and your former condition." And placing a paper in the midst of them, be ordered it to be read aloud for all to hear, the contents of which were as follows :— " Henry by the grace of (ioti hint/ of England, In Hugh ile Borlande justiciary of England, and all his faithful subjects, as lecll Frcnrh as English, in Hertfordshire, greeting.— Know that I, by the Lord's mercy, have been crowned king by common consent of the barons of the kingdom of England ; and because the kingdom has been oppressed by unjust exactions, 1, out of respect to God, and the love which I feel towards you, in the first place constitute the holy church of God a free church, so that I will not sell it, nor farm it out, nor will I, on the death of any archbishop, bishop, or abbat, take anything from the domain of the church or its people, until his successor takes his place. Anil 1 from this time do away with all the evil practices, by which the. kingdom of England is now unjustly oppressed, and these evil practices I here in part mention. If any baron, carl, or other subject of mine, who holds possession from me, shall die, his heir shall not redeem his land, as was the cu-toni in my father's time, but shall pay a just and lawful relief for the same; and in like manner, too, the dependants of my barons shall pay