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Magna Carta Translation
Translation by Professor Nicholas Vincent, Copyright Sotheby's Inc.
Edward by the grace of God King of England, lord of Ireland and duke of Aquitaine sends greetings
to all to whom the present letters come. We have inspected the great charter of the lord Henry, late
King of England, our father, concerning the liberties of England in these words:
Henry by the grace of God King of England, lord of Ireland, duke of Normandy and Aquitaine and
count of Anjou sends greetings to his archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, earls, barons, sheriffs,
reeves, ministers and all his bailiffs and faithful men inspecting the present charter. Know that we, at
the prompting of God and for the health of our soul and the souls of our ancestors and successors, for
the glory of holy Church and the improvement of our realm, freely and out of our good will have
given and granted to the archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, earls, barons and all of our realm these
liberties written below to hold in our realm of England in perpetuity.
(1) In the first place we grant to God and confirm by this our present charter for ourselves and our
heirs in perpetuity that the English Church is to be free and to have all its rights fully and its liberties
entirely. We furthermore grant and give to all the freemen of our realm for ourselves and our heirs in
perpetuity the liberties written below to have and to hold to them and their heirs from us and our
heirs in perpetuity.
(2) If any of our earls or barons, or anyone else holding from us in chief by military service should
die, and should his heir be of full age and owe relief, the heir is to have his inheritance for the ancient
relief, namely the heir or heirs of an earl for a whole county £100, the heir or heirs of a baron for a
whole barony 100 marks, the heir or heirs of a knight for a whole knight’s fee 100 shillings at most,
and he who owes less will give less, according to the ancient custom of (knights’) fees.
(3) If, however, the heir of such a person is under age, his lord is not to have custody of him and his
land until he has taken homage from the heir, and after such an heir has been in custody, when he
comes of age, namely at twenty-one years old, he is to have his inheritance without relief and without
fine, saving that if, whilst under age, he is made a knight, his land will nonetheless remain in the
custody of his lords until the aforesaid term.
(4) The keeper of the land of such an heir who is under age is only to take reasonable receipts from
the heir’s land and reasonable customs and reasonable services, and this without destruction or waste
of men or things. And if we assign custody of any such land to a sheriff or to anyone else who
should answer to us for the issues, and such a person should commit destruction or waste, we will
take recompense from him and the land will be assigned to two law-worthy and discreet men of that
fee who will answer to us or to the person to whom we assign such land for the land’s issues. And if
we give or sell to anyone custody of any such land and that person commits destruction or waste, he