Charters

The earliest charter known to have been granted to the Borough of Oxford is from Henry 1. This no longer exists but is known because it is recited in the charter of his grandson, Henry 11. The charter of Henry 11 probably no longer exists but its words have been preserved. This charter, of about 1160, gave to Oxford ‘all liberties, and customs and laws and quittances which they had in the time of King Henry, my grandfather, and especially their gild merchant, with all liberties and customs, in lands and in woods, pastures and other accessories… and they are to have all other customs and liberties and laws of their own which they have in common with my citizens of London’. It confirmed to the burgesses and their Gild Merchant, their freedom from toll and passage, which were tributes paid for the right of way by land and water, and their rights of Sac, Soc, Tol, Theam, and Infangetheof which, generally, were the rights of feudal Lords. The King, in accepting the Gild’s offer of £63.Os.5d per annum in return for the fee-farm, that they may ‘hold the town of Oxford’, meant that the burgesses, the Freemen, now had self-government of the town. The Gild became more powerful and could, now exclude anyone who was not a member of the Gild from trading within the precincts of the town. The charter of King John, which was granted on 14 June 1199, confirmed the previous charters. Soon, a new office of ‘Mayor’ was created with other offices of the Gild continuing as before. The business of the Gild had been carried out at premises in Queen Street, known in the Middle Ages as the ‘Old Yeld Hall’, but in February 1229, the burgesses bought a large building, running behind several houses in High Street, for use as their Gild Hall. With the Gild Merchant, through its Council, taking over the local government of the town, it administered law and order and regulated trade. Only Freemen were allowed to trade within the City and those tradesmen who were not members of the Gild had to carry on their business outside the City boundaries. Each trade had its own gild with its own rules but, in general, these had to be approved by the Gild Merchant. Photo: Chairman, Howard Crapper, with the femur of the unknown Freeman.