promiſed before his coronation, whereby he freed both clergy and laity from all their grievances wherewith they had been oppreſſed, and confirmed it by his oath in full parliament: where likewiſe, ſays Daniel, the biſhops ſwore fealty unto him, but with this condition, “So long as he obſerved the tenor of this charter.” Now it ſeems this clauſe of abundant cautelouſneſs was not in the oath of the earls and barons, neither needed it: for if K. Stephen broke with his people, of courſe their fealty ceaſed. This we have again expreſſed in words at length, in the ſolemn charter of the ſame King, wherein by conſent of parliament he adopted and made Henry II. his heir, and gave him and his heirs the realm of England[1].
Their duty to him ceaſed till he mended his fault, and returned again to keep his covenant; Quoſque errata corrigat, & ad predictam pactionem obſervandam redeat. Paulo infra. There is no
- ↑ Comites etiam & barones mei ligium homagium duci fecerunt ſalva mea fidelitate, quamdiu vixero & regnum tenuero: ſimili lege quod ſi ego a predictis recederem, omnino a ſervitio meo ceſſarent quouſque errata corrigerem. Brompton, Col. 1038.
