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V. The inquisition, or view for lawing* of dogs, which are kept within the forest, for the future shall be when the view is made, that is, every three years, and then shall be done by the view and testimony of lawful men, and not otherwise; and he whose dogs, at such time, shall be found unlawed, shall be fined three shillings; and for the future no ox shall be taken for lawing, and such lawing shall be according to the common assize, namely, the three claws of the dog's fore-foot shall be cut off, or the ball of the foot taken out. And, from henceforward, dogs shall not be lawed, unless in such places where they were wont to be lawed in the time of King Henry, our grandfather.

VI. No forester or bedel,† for the future, shall make any aleshots, or collect sheaves of corn or oats, or other grain, or lambs or pigs, nor shall make any gathering whatsoever, but by the view and oath of twelve inspectors; and when they make their view, so many foresters shall be appointed to keep the forest as they shall reasonably keep sufficient.

VII. No swainmote, for the time to come, shall be holden in our kingdom oftener than thrice a year; that is to say, in the beginning of fifteen days before Michaelmas, when the agisters come to agist the demesne woods; and about the feast of St. Martin, when our agisters are to receive their pannage ;§ and in these two swainmotes, the foresters, verderers, and agisters shall meet, and no other, by compulsion or distress; and the third swainmote shall be holden fifteen days before the feast of St. John the Baptist, concerning the fawning of our does; and at this swainmote shall meet the foresters and verderers, and no other shall be compelled to be there.

VIII. And furthermore, every forty days throughout the year, the verderers and foresters shall meet to view the attachments of the forests, as well of vert as venison, by presentment of the foresters themselves; and they who committed the offences shall be forced to appear before them: but the aforesaid swainmotes shall be holden but in such counties as they were wont to be holden.

IX. Every freeman shall agist¶ his wood in the forest at his pleasure, and shall receive his pannage.

X. We grant, also, that every freeman may drive his hogs through our demesne roads freely and without impediment, and may agist them in his own woods or elsewhere, as he will; and if the hogs of any freeman shall remain one night in our forest, he shall not be troubled, so as to lose any thing for it.

XI. No man, for the time to come, shall lose life or limb for taking our venison; but if any one be seized and convicted of taking venison, he shall be grievously fined, if he hath wherewithal to pay; and if he hath not, he shall lie in our prison a year and a day; and if after that time he can find securities, he shall be released; if not, he shall abjure our realm of England.

XII. It shall be lawful for every archbishop, bishop, earl or baron, coming to us by our command, and passing through our forest, to take one or two deer by view of the forester, if present: if not, he shall cause a horn to be sounded, lest he should seem to steal them. Also, on their return it shall be lawful for them to do the same thing.

XIII. Every freeman, for the future, may erect a mill in his own wood, or

* Lawing of Dogs-Cutting off their claws, &c.

+ Bedel-Bailiff of the forest.

Shall make any Ale-shots-That is, taking ale-shots to execute the offender.

§ Pannage-Money for feeding hogs, with masts in the king's forests.

Vert as Venison-That is, the offences which were committed in cutting wood or killing deer. Agist-Take in his neighbour's cattle to feed.

upon his own land, which he hath in the forest, or make a warren, or pond, a marl-pit, or ditch, or turn it into arable, without the covert in arable land, so as it be not to the detriment of his neighbour.

XIV. Every freeman may have in his woods, the avyries of hawks, of sparhawks, falcons, eagles, and herons; and they shall likewise have the honey found in their woods.

XV. No forester, for the future, who is not a forester in fee, paying us rent for his office, shall take cheminage ;* that is to say, for every cart two-pence, for half a year, and for the other half year, two-pence; and for a horse that carries burden, for half a year, a half-penny, and for the other half year, a half-penny; and then only, of those who come as buyer, out of their bailiwick, to buy underwood, timber, bark, or charcoal, to carry it to sell in other places, where they will; and for the time to come, there shall be no cheminage taken, for any other cart or carriage horse, unless in those places where anciently it was wont, and ought to be taken; but they who carry wood, bark, or coal, upon their backs to sell, though they get their livelihood by it, shall for the future pay no cheminage for passage through the woods of other men. No cheminage shall be given to our foresters, but only in our woods.

XVI. All persons outlawed for offences committed in our forests, from the time of Henry, our father, until our first coronation, may reverse their outlawries without impediment, but shall find pledges, that for the future they will not forfeit to us, in our forests.

XVII. No castellan or other person, shall hold pleas of the forest, whether concerning vert or venison; but every forester in fee shall attach pleas of the forest, as well concerning vert as venison, and shall present the pleas or offences to the verderers of the several counties; and when they shall be enrolled and sealed under the seals of the verderers, they shall be presented to the chief forester, when he comes into those parts, to hold pleas of the forest, and shall be determined before him.

XVIII. And all the customs and liberties aforesaid, which we have granted to be holden in the kingdom; as much as belongs to us towards our vassels, all of our kingdom, as well laicks as clerks, shall observe as much as belongs to them, towards their vassals.

Note.-There is no original of this charter extant, nor any copy older than the 1st of Henry III.

* Cheminage-Fees for passing through the forest.

May seize the body or goods of the offenders to make them appear.

THE

ROLL OF BATTEL ABBEY,*

FROM HOLINGSHED.

THE Table containing the following names, was formerly suspended in the Abbey of Battel, in Sussex, with this inscription;

Dicitur a bello, bellum locus hic, quia bello
Angligenæ victi, sunt hic in morte relicti:
Martyris in Christi festo cecidere Calixti:
Sexagenus erat sextus millessimus annus

Cum pereunt Angli, stella monstrante cometâ.

The authority of this celebrated document cannot, however, be much relied upon. "There are," says Sir William Dugdale, "great errors, or rather falsifications, in most of the copies of it; by attributing the derivation of many from the French, who were not all of such extraction, but merely English. For such hath been the subtilty of some monks of old, that, finding it acceptable unto most to be reputed descendants to those who were companions with Duke William in his expedition, therefore to gratify them, they inserted their names into that ancient catalogue."

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* BATTEL ABBEY. WILLIAM ordered the foundations of a monastery to be laid on the spot where he gained the victory over Harold; from which circumstance it was called BATTEL ABBEY. AS it was there he won the crown, he wished the new establishment to enjoy all the privileges of the royal chapel, and having obtained the consent of the metropolitan, and of the bishop of the diocese, declared it in a full assembly of prelates and barons, exempt "from all episcopal rule and exactions." It became in the language of later times nullus diocesis.

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