Читать книгу Magna Carta: A Commentary on the Great Charter of King John. With an Historical Introduction онлайн

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This was of vital moment, because limits were thereby placed, in theory at least, on prerogatives that threatened in practice to become absolute. Undoubtedly the power of the Norman kings was very great, and might almost be described as irresponsible despotism, tempered by the fear of rebellion. Three forces indeed acted as curbs: the practical necessity for consulting the Curia Regis (or assembly of crown vassals) before any vital step was taken; the restraining influence of the national Church, backed by the spiritual powers of Rome; and the growth, in a vague form, it is true, of a body of public opinion confined as yet to the upper classes.

All these elements counted for something, but failed to restrain sufficiently even an average king; while they were powerless against a strong ruler like William I. The only moment at which the Crown might be taken at a clear disadvantage was during the interregnum which followed the death of the last occupant of the throne. Two or more rival heirs might aspire to the high position, and would be eager to make promises in return for support. Thus, William Rufus, at his father’s death, anxious to prevent his elder brother, Duke Robert, from making good his claim to the English throne, succeeded chiefly through the friendship of Lanfranc. To gain this, he was compelled to make promises of good government, and to follow his father’s precedent by taking the oath in the ancient form, in which it had been administered by Dunstan to Ethelred. In the same reign began the practice of supplementing verbal promises by sealed charters, which in some respects must be regarded simply as the old coronation oath confirmed, expanded, and reduced to writing. No such charter was indeed issued either by Rufus or by his father when they were crowned; but the younger William, at a critical period later in his reign, seems to have granted a short Charter of Liberties, the exact contents of which have not come down to us. At the death of Rufus, his younger brother, Henry I., found himself hard pressed in the competition for the English Crown by Duke Robert (the Conqueror’s eldest son). By a treaty made at Caen in 1091, Duke Robert and Rufus had agreed that each should constitute the other his heir. Thus Henry was, in a sense, a usurper, and this circumstance made it necessary for him to bid high for influential support.^[165] It is to this doubtful title, coupled with the knowledge of widespread disaffection, that Englishmen owe the origin of the first Charter of Liberties that has come down to us.^[166]