Читать книгу Magna Carta: A Commentary on the Great Charter of King John. With an Historical Introduction онлайн
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ssss1. The Great Charter, p. vii.
ssss1. Several of the most often-repeated charges of personal wrongs inflicted by King John upon the wives and daughters of his barons have been in recent years refuted. See Miss Norgate, John Lackland, p. 289.
ssss1. See infra the two sections (II. and III.) immediately following.
ssss1. Stubbs, Select Charters, 270.
II. The Crown and Feudal Obligations.
ssss1
Among the many evils calling loudly for redress in England at the commencement of the thirteenth century, none spoke with more insistent voice than those connected with feudal abuses. The objection of the northern barons to pay the scutage demanded on 26th May, 1214, was the spark that fired the mine. The most prominent feature of the Charter is the solicitude everywhere displayed to define the exact extent of feudal services and dues, and to prevent these from being arbitrarily increased. A somewhat detailed knowledge of feudalism and feudal obligations forms a necessary preliminary to any exact study of Magna Carta.