of Wales and the said regions. * We will at once return
the son of Llywelyn, all Welsh hostages, and the charters
delivered to us as security for the peace. * With
regard to the return of the sisters and hostages of
Alexander, king of Scotland, his liberties and his
rights, we will treat him in the same way as our other
barons of England, unless it appears from the charters
that we hold from his father William, formerly king
of Scotland, that he should be treated otherwise.
This matter shall be resolved by the judgement of his
equals in our court. * All these customs and liberties
that we have granted shall be observed in our kingdom
in so far as concerns our own relations with our subjects.
Let all men of our kingdom, whether clergy or laymen,
observe them similarly in their relations with their
own men. ***Strange characters may have ended here.
Since we have granted all
these things for God, for the better ordering
of our kingdom, and to allay the discord that has arisen
between us and our barons, and since we desire that
they shall be enjoyed in their entirety, with lasting
strength, for ever, we give and grant to the barons
the following security: * The barons shall elect
twenty-five of their number to keep, and cause to
be observed with all their might, the peace and liberties
granted and confirmed to them by this charter. * If
we, our chief justice, our officials, or any of our
servants offend in any respect against any man, or
transgress any of the articles of the peace or of
this security, and the offence is made known to four
of the said twenty-five barons, they shall come to
us — or in our absence from the kingdom to the
chief justice — to declare it and claim immediate
redress. If we, or in our absence abroad the
chief justice, make no redress within forty days,
reckoning from the day on which the offence was declared
to us or to him, the four barons shall refer the matter
to the rest of the twenty-five barons, who may distrain
upon and assail us in every way possible, with the
support of the whole community of the land, by seizing
our castles, lands, possessions, or anything else
saving only our own person and those of the queen and
our children, until they have secured such redress
as they have determined upon. Having secured
the redress, they may then resume their normal obedience
to us. * Any man who so desires may take an oath to
obey the commands of the twenty-five barons for the
achievement of these ends, and to join with them in
assailing us to the utmost of his power. We give
public and free permission to take this oath to any
man who so desires, and at no time will we prohibit
any man from taking it. Indeed, we will compel
any of our subjects who are unwilling to take it to
swear it at our command. * If-one of the twenty-five
barons dies or leaves the country, or is prevented
in any other way from discharging his duties, the rest
of them shall choose another baron in his place, at