Disastrous 14th Century Giovanni Boccaccio and Bubonic Plague Discussion Question Read Primary Source Readings: Topic Me.07- Medieval Europe V, Outsiders

Disastrous 14th Century Giovanni Boccaccio and Bubonic Plague Discussion Question Read Primary Source Readings:

Topic Me.07- Medieval Europe V, Outsiders

Topic Me.08- Norsemen & Iceland

Topic Me.09- The Disastrous 14th Century

your answer to his single question on the “Disastrous 14th Century” readings

The question comes from your understanding of Primary Source Readings Me.09, “Disastrous 14th Century.”

“What did writer Giovanni Boccaccio of Florence do to escape the bubonic plague in the “Plague Year” of 1348?”

NO MORE THAN 50 WORDS THREE SENTENCES,,, Topic Me.07-Medieval Europe V,
Outside the System- Trade, Towns, Universities
I have called these documents and events “outside the system” because they were not a
part of the traditional feudal and manorial relationships that governed most political and
economic relations in the European Middle Ages. Similarly, I have included Universities in this
list because, although nearly all were founded by the Catholic Church, most quickly became
self-governing places where a reasonably free exchange of ideas and knowledge took place.
A-Roots of Constitutional Government and Local Self-Government
To people raised in the Anglo-American legal system, the document known as Magna
Carta (“Great Charter”) is viewed as the starting point for the evolution of democracy and free
court justice. Although it would take centuries for the concept of government “by the people
and for the people” to emerge, Magna Carta, in which King John of England surrendered
certain rights and freedoms to the people and clearly defined other rights and privileges, was
the first time since the days of the Athenian democracy and the Roman Republic when a ruler
recognised the limits of his power over the populace, both elite and ordinary. It established
the principle that no one, including the king or a lawmaker, is above the law. The granting of
this charter was but one step in the breaking of feudal restraints on governance, economics
and education. The emergence of towns as places independent of local lords or even kings
began shortly after the First Crusade, stimulated by the rise of economic activity on regional
and international levels. The newly-powerful cities wanted freedoms to control their own
activities (both legal and economic) and wanted some control over tax payments.
—000–Reading Me.07.01:
Magna Carta [excerpts], concatenated from the documents issued in 1215 and 1297 C.E.1
Magna Carta is an English charter, originally issued in the year 1215 and reissued
later in modified versions, which included direct challenges to the monarch’s authority. The
1215 Charter required King John of England to proclaim certain liberties, and accept that his
will was not arbitrary, for example by explicitly accepting that no “freeman” (in the sense of
non-serf) could be punished except through the law of the land, a right which is still in
existence today.
The Magna Carta was issued in 1215, reissued in 1216, again in 1225, and finally in
1297, when its provisions became statute law; each reissue was a confirmation by a new
This translation is taken from “Medieval Internet History Sourcebook,” < http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/ magnacarta.asp> accessed October 3, 2011.
1
monarch. The text of the original Magna Carta of 1215 bears many traces of haste, and is
clearly the product of much bargaining and many hands. Most of its clauses deal with
specific, and often long-standing, grievances rather than with general principles of law. The
Charter of 1297, reissued by King Edward I of England, is the most important version as it
became part of the “statute law” of the kingdom. This is the version which remains in Statute
(“on the law books”) today, albeit with most articles now replaced by modernised laws. Only
three clauses (1, 9, and 29/39) of the 1215/1297 charters are still in force today; see footnotes
in the text below. Much more importantly, references in Magna Carta to the “commune of the
realm” and the “common counsel of the kingdom” showed that England was already regarded
as a political community independent of (and possibly superior to) the king who ruled it.
Although Magna Carta did nothing directly for the villeins (serfs) who made up the mass of
England’s population, it was not simply a treaty of peace between king and barons to settle
feudal squabbles. By embedding comprehensive principles in the protection of specific rights,
Magna Carta formed the basis for the development of constitutional safeguards of the
individual from the government, and thus is an important part of the extensive historical
process that led to the rule of constitutional law in the English-speaking world. This
particular granting of liberties survived to become a “sacred text” fundamental to the concept
of constitutional law. In practice, Magna Carta in the medieval period did not in general limit
the power of kings, but by the time of the English Civil War it had become an important
symbol for those who wished to show that the King was bound by the law. In such form it
influenced the early settlers in New England and inspired later constitutional documents,
including the United States Constitution.
(In the charter itself the clauses are not numbered, and the text reads continuously.
The translation offered here sets out to convey the sense rather than the precise wording of
the original Latin.)
John, by the grace of God king of England, lord of Ireland, . . . to his archbishops,
bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justiciars, foresters, sheriffs, reeves, ministers, and all his
bailiffs and faithful men, greeting. Know that, through the inspiration of God, for the health
of our soul and [the souls] of all our ancestors and heirs, for the honor of God and the
exaltation of Holy Church, and for the betterment of our realm, by the counsel of our
venerable fathers [11 named ecclesiastics], of our nobles [16 named nobles], and of our
other faithful men:
1. We have granted to God, and by this our present Charter have confirmed, for Us and our
Heirs forever, that the Church of England shall be free, and shall have all her whole Rights
and Liberties inviolable. We have granted also, and given to all the Freemen of our Realm,
for Us and our Heirs forever, these Liberties under-written, to have and to hold to them and
their Heirs, of Us and our Heirs forever.2
This clause originally was intended to prevent the king from interfering with the operation of the Catholic
Church in England but was later used to justify separation of the English Church from Catholicism, and still
later to establish the separation between church and state.
2
2. If any one of our earls or barons or other men holding of us in chief dies, and if when he
dies his heir is of full age and owes relief, [that heir] shall have his inheritance for the
ancient relief: namely, the heir or heirs of an earl [100 pounds sterling] for the whole
barony of an earl; the heir or heirs of a baron [100 pounds sterling] for a whole barony; the
heir or heirs of a knight [100 shillings] at most for a whole knight’s fee. And let whoever
owes less give less, according to the ancient custom of fees.
3. If, however, the heir of any such person is under age and is in wardship, he shall, when
he comes of age, have his inheritance without relief and without fine.3
4. The guardian of the land of such an heir who is under age shall not take from the land of
the heir more than reasonable issues and reasonable customs and reasonable services, and
this without destruction and waste of men or things. And if we entrust the wardship of any
such land to a sheriff or to any one else who is to answer to us for its issues, and if he
causes destruction or waste of the wardship, we will exact compensation from him . . . .
7. A widow shall have her marriage portion and inheritance immediately after the death of
her husband and without difficulty; nor shall she give anything for her dower or for her
marriage portion or for her inheritance — which inheritance she and her husband were
holding on the day of that husband’s death. And after his death she shall remain in the
house of her husband for forty days, within which her dower shall be assigned to her.
8. No widow shall be forced to marry so long as she wishes to live without a husband; yet
so that she shall give security against marrying without our consent if she holds of us, or
without the consent of her lord if she holds of another.
9. The City of London shall have all the old Liberties and Customs which it hath been used
to have. Moreover, We will and grant, that all other Cities, Boroughs, Towns, and the
Barons of the Five Ports, as with all other Ports, shall have all their Liberties and free
Customs. . . .4
12. No `scutage’ or `aid’ may be levied in our kingdom without its general consent. . . .5
16. No one shall be distrained to render greater service from a knight’s fee, or from any
other tenement, than is thence owed.
17. Common pleas shall not follow our court, but shall be held in some definite place.
Clauses 2 and 3 marked the origin of limits on arbitrary taxation.
This is the basis of the right of self-government by municipalities; also, by recognizing the rights of
merchants and boroughs (towns) and restricting port customs, this clause acknowledges the importance of
trade to the English economy.
5 Scutage and aid were types of taxes, and this clause is interpreted to mean that no taxes– except certain
specified feudal dues– were to be levied, except by the consent of the Great Council, or Parliament. Although
no longer one of the clauses in force verbatim, it has been used over the years to justify the right of
Parliament to levy taxes, and by Americans to call for “no taxation without representation.”
3
4
18. Assizes of novel disseisin, of mort d’ancestor, and of darrein presentment shall be held
only in their counties [of origin] and in this way: we, or our chief justice if we are out of the
kingdom, will send two justices through each county four times a year; and they, together
with four knights of each county elected by the county court, shall hold the aforesaid
assizes in the county, on the day and at the place of the county court. 6
20. A freeman shall be amerced [fined] for a small offence only according to the degree of
the offence . . . .
21. Earls and barons shall be amerced only by their peers, and only according to the degree
of the misdeed.
32. We will hold the lands of those convicted of felony only for a year and a day, and the
lands shall then be given to the lords of the fees.
33. All fish-weirs shall henceforth be entirely removed from the Thames and the Medway
and throughout all England except along the sea-coasts.
34. Henceforth the writ called precipe shall not be issued for any one concerning any
tenement whereby a freeman may lose his court.
36. Nothing henceforth shall be taken or given for the writ of inquisition concerning life
and limbs, but it shall be issued gratis and shall not be denied.
38. No bailiff shall henceforth put any one to his law by merely bringing suit [against him]
without trustworthy witnesses presented for this purpose.
39. No freeman shall be captured or imprisoned or disseised or outlawed or exiled or in
any way destroyed, nor will we go against him or send against him, except by the lawful
judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.7
40. To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay right or justice.
41. All merchants may enter or leave England unharmed and without fear, and may stay or
travel within it, by land or water, for purposes of trade, free from all illegal exactions, in
accordance with ancient and lawful customs. This, however, does not apply in time of war
to merchants from a country that is at war with us. Any such merchants found in our
country at the outbreak of war shall be detained without injury to their persons or
This turned out to be impractical. The circuit justices held their own court separate from the county courts
for the holding of the assizes. In the early United States justice system, this was used to justify the functioning
of travelling “circuit courts.”
7 This clause, 29 in the 1215 version and 39 in the 1297, along with the following clause 40 are interpreted as
a right to due process of law, which led to Trial by Jury. Trial by Jury was just being introduced in England in
1215, to replace the far crueler (and less accurate) Trial by Ordeal.
6
property, until we or our chief justice have discovered how our own merchants are being
treated in the country at war with us. If our own merchants are safe they shall be safe too.8
[Clauses 50 through 60 specifically pertain to the resolution of property issues between the
king and his barons.]
61. Since moreover for God, for the improvement of our kingdom, and for the better
allayment of the conflict that has arisen between us and our barons, we have granted all
these [liberties] aforesaid, wishing them to enjoy those [liberties] by full and firm
establishment forever, we have made and granted them the following security: namely, that
the barons shall elect twenty-five barons of the kingdom, whomsoever they please, who to
the best of their ability should observe, hold, and cause to be observed the peace and
liberties that we have granted to them and have confirmed by this our present charter; so
that, specifically, if we or our justiciar or our bailiffs or any of our ministers are in any
respect delinquent toward any one or transgress any article of the peace or the security,
and if the delinquency is shown to four barons of the aforesaid twenty-five barons, those
four barons shall come to us, or to our justiciar if we are out of the kingdom, to explain to
us the wrong, asking that without delay we cause this wrong to be redressed. And if within
a period of forty days, counted from the time that notification is made to us, or to our
justiciar if we are out of the kingdom, we do not redress the wrong, or, if we are out of the
kingdom, our justiciar does not redress it, the four barons aforesaid shall refer that case to
the rest of the twenty-five barons, and those twenty-five barons, together with the
community of the entire country, shall distrain and distress us in every way they can,
namely, by seizing castles, lands, possessions, and in such other ways as they can, saving
our person and the persons of our queen and our children, until, in their opinion, amends
have been made; and when amends have been made, they shall obey us as they did before.
And let anyone in the country who wishes to do so take an oath to obey the orders of the
said twenty-five barons for the execution of all the aforesaid matters, and with them to
distress us as much as he can, and we publicly and freely give anyone leave to take the oath
who wishes to take it and we will never prohibit anyone from taking it. Indeed, all those in
the land who are unwilling themselves and of their own accord to take an oath to the
twenty-five barons to help distrain and distress us, we will make them take the oath as
aforesaid at our command. And if any of the twenty-five barons dies or leaves the country
or is in any other way prevented from carrying out the things aforesaid, the remainder of
the aforesaid twenty-five barons shall choose as they think fit another one in his place, and
he shall take the oath like the rest. In all matters the execution of which is committed to
these twenty-five barons, if it should happen that these twenty-five are present yet
disagree among themselves about anything, or if some of those summoned will not or
cannot be present, that shall be held as fixed and established which the majority of those
present ordained or commanded, exactly as if all the twenty-five had consented to it; and
the said twenty-five shall swear that they will faithfully observe all the things aforesaid and
will do all they can to get them observed. And we will procure nothing from anyone, either
personally or through any one else, whereby any of these concessions and liberties might
be revoked or diminished; and if any such thing be procured let it be void and null, and we
8
This clause also recognizes the importance of trade to the economy of England.
will never use it either personally or through another. And we have fully remitted and
pardoned to everyone all the ill-will, anger and rancour that have arisen between us and
our men, clergy and laity, and as far as pertains to us have completely forgiven all
trespasses occasioned by the same quarrel between Easter in the sixteenth year of our
reign and the restoration of peace. And, besides, we have caused to be made for them
letters testimonial patent of the lord Stephen archbishop of Canterbury, of the lord Henry
archbishop of Dublin and of the aforementioned bishops and of Master Pandulf about this
security and the aforementioned concessions.
Wherefore we wish and firmly enjoin that the English church shall be free, and that
the men in our kingdom shall have and hold all the aforesaid liberties, rights and
concessions well and peacefully, freely and quietly, fully and completely for themselves and
their heirs from us and our heirs, in all matters and in all places for ever, as is aforesaid. An
oath, moreover, has been taken, as well on our part as on the part of the barons, that all
these things aforesaid shall be observed in good faith and without evil disposition.
Witness the abovementioned and many others. Given by our hand in the meadow
which is called Runnymede between Windsor and Staines on the fifteenth day of June, in
the seventeenth year of our reign [1215 C.E.].
—– 000 —-Reading Me.07.02:
The Charter of Ipswich, dated May 25, 1200 C.E.9
Today it’s hard to understand the importance of a royal charter, but in the early 1200s
they would have been considered far more valuable. Town charters in the Middle Ages usually
made the inhabitants ‘free’ by way of lifting them out of the feudal system as opposed to those
who lived in the countryside and villages as serfs, a form of bondage close to slavery. Prior to
this charter, the king was the sole lord of Ipswich. The town’s ability to govern itself was
premised on his charter dated May 25, 1200, which gave the townsmen control over collection
and payment to the Royal government of Ipswich’s “fee farm” (a tax on land and property) of
£40. The charter also gives a broad grant of all liberties and customs that the king’s “free
boroughs” in England had, excepting only those special to London. A number of specific rights
were spelled out in the charter, including:
•
•
•
the right of a town court to hear most cases to which townsmen were party, including
pleas of related to debts, mortgages and real estate;
quittance from having to pay tolls on merchandise taken anywhere in the realm (with the
heavy fine of £10 on anyone exacting tolls from Ipswich men);
the right to have a Merchant Guild;
Translation from Latin from the Borough of Ipswich, via accessed October 11, 2017.
9
•
•
the right to “elect, by decision of the community of the town, two of those townsmen who
are law-abiding and of sound judgement” as bailiffs (in effect, city managers) who could
not be removed from office if they performed their duties well, except by a common
decision of the burgesses (the city council);
the right to elect four coroners to deal with crown pleas outside the jurisdiction of the
borough court, as well as to ensure that the bailiffs dealt impartial justice to poor and rich
alike.
Ipswich’s Royal charter is one of the oldest royal town charters in England’s history, it even
precedes the Magna Carta by fifteen years.
John, by the grace of God king, etc. Know that we have granted and by our present
charter have confirmed to our burgesses of Ipswich our borough of Ipswich, with all its
appurtenances and with all its liberties and free customs, to be held of us and our heirs by
them and their heirs in hereditary right, paying to our exchequer every year at Michaelmas
term, by the hand of the reeve of Ipswich, the just and accustomed farm and, at the same
time, the increment of 100s. sterling by tale that they used to pay.
We have also granted that all burgesses of Ipswich are to be quit of toll, stallage,
lastage, pontage, and all other customs throughout all our land and throughout the ports of
the sea. We have granted to them that, with the ex…
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