Chapter V · (continued 2)

“The king, &c., to all the archbishops, bishops, barons, &c. &c., to whom these presents shall come, salvation through the Lord. Be it known to you that we have granted and confirmed to God and the blessed Mary, and the brethren of the chivalry of the Temple of Solomon, all reasonable donations of lands, men, and eleemosynary gifts, bestowed on them by our predecessors, or by others in times past, or by ourselves at this present period, or which may be hereafter conferred on them by kings or by the liberality of subjects, or may be acquired, or be about to be acquired in any other manner, as well churches as worldly goods and possessions; wherefore we will and firmly command that the aforesaid brethren and their men may have and hold all their possessions and eleemosynary donations with all liberties and free customs and immunities, in wood and plain, in meadow and pasture, in water and water-mills, on highways and byeways, in ponds and running streams, in marshes and fisheries, in granges and broad acres, within burgh and without the burgh, with soc and sac, tol and theam, infangenethef and unfangenethef, and hamsoc and grithbrich, and blodwit and fictwit, and flictwit and ferdwite, and hengewite and lierwite, and flemenefrith, murder, robbery, forstall, ordel, oreste, in season and out of season, at all times and in all places, &c.

“We ordain, likewise, that the aforesaid brethren shall for ever hereafter be freed from royal aids, and sheriff’s aids, and officer’s aids, and from hidage and carucage, and danegeld and hornegeld, and from military and wapentake services, and scutages and lastages and stallages, shires and hundreds, pleas and quarrels, ward and wardpeny, and averpeni and hundredspeni, and borethalpeni and thethingepeni, and from the works of castles, parks, bridges, and inclosures; and from the duty of providing carriages and beasts of burthen, boats, and vessels, and from the building of royal houses, and all other works. And we prohibit all persons from taking timber from their woods and forests for such works, or for any other purposes whatever: neither shall their corn, nor the corn of their men, nor any of their goods, nor the goods of any belonging to them, be taken to fortify castles. We will also that they shall have free and full liberty to cut and fell timber whenever they please, in all their woods, for the use of their fraternity, without any let or hindrance whatever; and for doing so they shall not incur forfeiture or waste, or in any way be punishable by law. And all their lands, and the ground which they or their men have cleared of wood, and recovered from the forest, or which they may clear in time to come, with the assent of the king, we make quit and free for ever hereafter from waste regard, and view of foresters, and from all other customs. And we concede also to the aforesaid brethren the privilege of cutting down trees in all the woods they possess at present within the forest boundaries, and of clearing and bringing the land into cultivation without any license from our bailiffs, so that they may never at any time hereafter be in any way called to account by ourselves, or our heirs, or any of our bailiffs.

“We ordain, moreover, that the aforesaid brethren and their men shall be quit and free from every kind of toll in all markets and fairs, and upon crossing bridges, roads, and ferries, throughout the whole of our kingdom, and throughout all lands in which we are able to grant liberties; and all their markets, and the markets of their men, shall in like manner be quit and free from all toll. We grant and confirm also to the aforesaid brethren, that if any of their men be condemned to lose life or limb for crime, or shall have fled from justice, or have committed any offence for which he hath incurred forfeiture of his goods and chattels, the goods and chattels so forfeited shall belong to the aforesaid brethren, whether the cognizance of the offence belongeth to our court or to any other inferior court; and it shall be lawful for the aforesaid brethren, under such circumstances and in such cases, to put themselves in possession of the aforesaid goods and chattels at such time as our bailiffs would or ought to have seized them into our hands, had such goods and chattels belonged to ourselves, without the molestation or hindrance of the sheriffs or bailiffs, or any other persons whatever.

“We concede also to the aforesaid brethren, that animals called waif, lost by their owners, and found within the feud of the Templars, shall belong to the aforesaid brethren, unless they are followed by some one able and willing to prove that they are his own, and unless they shall be sought after and taken possession of by the owner within a moderate period of time, according to the custom of the country. And if any of the tenants of the aforesaid brethren shall happen to have incurred a forfeiture of his feud, it shall be lawful for the said brethren to take possession of the said feud, and hold the same, notwithstanding the law which concedes to ourselves the possession of the feud of fugitives and criminals, for the space of a year and a day. In like manner, if any of the men of the aforesaid brethren shall have incurred a fine to be paid to ourselves or to any of our bailiffs, under any process, or for any crime, or any other matter, the amercements of money shall be collected and brought in a purse to our exchequer, and there handed over to the aforesaid brethren; judgment of death and limb being always reserved to the royal authority.

“We moreover ordain, that if any of the liberties and privileges contained in this our charter shall happen to have been disused for a length of time, such disuse shall in no respect prejudice the right, but such liberty or privilege may be again exercised without contradiction, notwithstanding that it may have been discontinued and disused as aforesaid. And all the aforesaid things, and all other secular services and customs which are not included in this present writing, we, through love of God, and for the good of the soul of the lord king John, our father, and for the good of the souls of all our predecessors and successors, grant and confirm to them, as a perpetual alms-gift, with all liberties and free customs, as fully, freely, and effectually as the royal power can confer them upon any religious house. And we prohibit all persons, on pain of forfeiture, from proceeding against them or their men contrary to this our charter, for we have taken the aforesaid brethren, and all their goods, and possessions, and all their men, under our especial guardianship and protection. As witness the king, at Westminster, the 9th day of February, in the eleventh year of our reign.”[114]

By the royal grant of soc and sac, tol and theam, &c. &c., the Templars were clothed with the power of holding courts to impose and levy fines and amerciaments upon their tenants, to judge and punish their villeins and vassals—to take cognizance of quarrels and controversies that arose amongst them—to try thieves and malefactors belonging to their manors, and all foreign thieves taken within the precincts thereof—to try and punish trespasses and breaches of the peace, and all unlawful entries into the houses of their tenants—to impose and levy amerciaments for cutting and maiming, and for bloodshed—to judge and punish by fine or imprisonment the seducers of their bond women, and all persons who committed adultery and fornication within their manors. They had the power of trying criminals by ordeal, or the terrible test of fire and water; and they had, lastly, the tremendous privilege of pit or gallows, i. e. the power of putting convicted thieves to death, by hanging them if they were men, and drowning them if they were women! By the royal charter, the Templars were, in the next place, freed from the fine of right payable to the king for the hanging of thieves without a formal trial and judgment according to law; they were exempted from the taxes on pasture-lands, and plough-lands, and horned cattle; from the Danish tribute, and from all military services, and from all the ordinary feudal burthens.[115]