PREFACE. IN undertaking to penetrate the foggy atmosphere of the Magna Charta period of English history, I had in view the opening out of a very obscure, benighted period of our national existence. I had often heard of the "old Barons of Runnemead" and “the glorious sheet-anchor of our liberties," &c. &c. &c.; but I wished to investigate for myself whether the Barons were old,' and also whether the sheet-anchor were really as 'glorious' as what it was pretended to be. I wished to know what a 'libere tenens' or freeholder in England was, and also what a copyholder was. I wished to compare the two, and judge for myself which was which. I did not know the value of the forty-shilling freeholdlimitation Act of Henry VI., and the foundation on which it stood. I wished to know this; yea, I was desirous of examining the concreted rock-work of that foundation for myself. I have done this, and my book gives the result. In seeking information, I began with the Chronicles of the thirteenth century, and I read them all, but to very little purpose; for I soon found that, from the death of 422818 the truthful chaplain of Henry II.,—Roger de Hoveden, —in the year A.D. 1201, we have not one Chronicler of the early Plantagenet period who can be relied upon. Breaking down completely in History, (so-called,) I turned my attention to the Tower Records; and from them I learned that the extant history on the Magna Charta period was not only doubtful, but flagrantly and maliciously false, and that the writers were, to a man, Benedictine monks and priests, who wrote their mendacities and frivolities to serve the cause of the Church of Rome, as opposed to the Civil Power in England. I respectfully invite attention to what I have presented; and perhaps my comments on the facts, real and alleged, may interest a few. Not Cromwell, not any one of the great leaders of "The Commonwealth," has been more misrepresented than King John. I hope that I furnish a contribution at any rate, toward casting off the immense guano-piles of slander and caricature, bigotries and prejudices, that have for centuries lain upon his illustrious memory. If in any degree I do so, I shall be abundantly rewarded for much unthankful toil. Contigimus portum, quo mihi cursus erat. ARKSEY, DONCASTER, Feb. 18, 1865. WILLIAM CHADWICK. By an oversight in numbering the Chapters, Chap. XIII. has been missed. It will be understood that it is merely in the heading, not in the matter.-C. |