Stephen Proclamations in United Kingdom

This issue under the Ruling of Stephen of England

Royal Charters and Writs of Proclamation

Stephen Proclamations and Medieval Law

Stephen Proclamations and Legal History

Legal Materials

(Compiled by the University of South Caroline Gould School of Law) Ballard, Adolphus, ed. British Borough Charters, 1042-1216. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1913.

Abstract: Contains 330 charters and documents dated before the death of King John. It is arranged as an “analytic digest of charters granted to burgesses of boroughs in the British Isles, and of a large selection of writs of similar import.” Follows the arrangement borrowed from Maitland’s chapter on the English borough in the thirteenth century. Chief source for the documents listed is the Charter Rolls in the PRO, using the printed calendar and indexes. Later volumes cover the years 1216-1307 (1923) and 1307-1660 (1943).

Barraclough, Geoffrey, ed. The Charters of the Anglo-Norman Earls of Chester, C. 1071-1237. Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire Series, 126. Chester: Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, 1988.

Abstract: Text in Latin.

Bemont, Charles. Chartes Des Libertes Anglaises (1100-1303) . Paris: A. Picard, 1892.

Abstract: Latin text. Contains critical texts of the charters of Henry I, Stephen, Henry II, and John,the articles of the barons, the Charter of the Forest of 1217, the Magna Carta, Henry III’s confirmation of 1225, and Edward I’s confirmations.

Bemont, Charles. Chartes Des Libertes Anglaises (1100-1303) . Paris: A. Picard, 1892.

Abstract: Latin text. Contains critical texts of the charters of Henry I, Stephen, Henry II, and John,the articles of the barons, the Charter of the Forest of 1217, the Magna Carta, Henry III’s confirmation of 1225, and Edward I’s confirmations..

Davis, H. W. Carless, Robert J. Whitwell, Charles Johnson, and H. A. Cronne, eds. Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066-1154. 4 Vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913-1969.

Notes: Also available online in KEMBLE at https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/chartwww/charthome.htmlAbstract: Vol. 1, Regesta Willelmi Conquistoris et Wilhelmi Rufi, edited by H.W. Davis, provides a calendar of documents, chronologically arranged and critically annotated, of the royal acts of the period. An appendix gives ninety-two charters in full, including forty-seven of William II.

Vol. 2, Regesta Henrici Primi, 1066-1135, edited by Charles Johnson and H. A. Cronne, also provides a calendar of documents, chronologically arranged and critically annotated, of the royal acts of the period.

Vol. 3, Regesta Regis Stephani ac Mathildis Imperatricis ac Gaufridi et Henrici Ducum Normannorum, 1135-1154, edited by H. A. Cronne and R. H. C. David, includes the texts of the charters in full, arranged by beneficiary, rather than chronologically.

Vol. 4, contains facsimiles of original charters and writs of King Stephen, the Empress Matilda, and Dukes Geoffrey and Henry, 1135-1154, edited by H. A. Cronne and R. H. C. Davis.

Denholm-Young, Noel, ed. Magna Carta and Other Charters of English Liberties. London: Guyon House Press , 1938.

Abstract: Contents: The coronation charter of Henry I, AD 1100; The charter of Stephen, AD 1135; The coronation charter of Henry II, AD 1154; The unknown charter of liberties, AD 1214; The Great Charter of 1215; Charter of the Forest of 1217, AD 1217; The great charter of AD 1225.

Farrer, William, and Charles T. Clay, ed. Early Yorkshire Charters: Being a Collection of Documents Anterior to the Thirteenth Century Made From the Public Records, Monastic Chartularies, Roger Dodsworth’s Manuscripts and Other Available Sources. 10 Vols. Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series, Extra Series, 1-3, 5- ed. Edinburgh: Ballantyne, Hanson & Co., 1914-1952.

Bibliographies of English Law History

• Maxwell, William H. A Legal Bibliography of the British Commonwealth of Nations. Volume 1: English Law to 1800. London: Sweet and Maxwell, 1955-
• Beale, Joseph H. A Bibliography of Early English Law Books. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1926.
• Winfield, Percy H. The Chief Sources of English Legal History. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1925.

Resources

See Also

• Family Settlements (in this legal Encyclopedia)
• Negligence (in this legal Encyclopedia)
• Medieval Law Enforcement (in this legal Encyclopedia)
• Ecclesiastical Law (in this legal Encyclopedia)