1607 -1699 Women. Religion, & Society in the Virginia Colony

 

1607 -1699  Women. Religion, & Society in the Virginia Colony 

Introduction

An Analysis of Religious Influence, Settler Origins, and Women's Roles

When English settlers founded Jamestown in 1607, they established the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. Initially driven by the pursuit of profit through tobacco cultivation, the Virginia Colony also experienced the shaping force of religion on its social structure and governance. Between 1607 and 1699, the Anglican Church became the dominant religious force, significantly influencing the roles and expectations of settlers, especially women. This essay examines the dominant religion in the Virginia Colony during this period, the origins of its settlers, the expectations that the religious framework placed on women, and the roles women held in governance.

Dominant Religion in Virginia (1607-1699)

From 1607 to 1699, the Church of England, or Anglicanism, dominated the religious landscape of the Virginia Colony. After the English Reformation, the settlers brought Anglicanism with them as the established state religion. The colonial government reinforced Anglican dominance by mandating church attendance and requiring public officials to swear allegiance to the Church of England. Local vestries and parish councils played crucial roles in community governance, reflecting the hierarchical structure of the church. In 1642, Governor Sir William Berkeley enacted laws that solidified the Church of England’s authority, making it the legally established church and requiring all inhabitants to conform to its practices.

Origins of the Settlers

Between 1607 and 1699, most settlers in Virginia came from England. Drawn by opportunities for economic advancement, land ownership, and a new life in the New World, they included gentlemen, laborers, artisans, and indentured servants. The promise of land ownership and the booming tobacco economy attracted many to Virginia. Over time, African slaves were forcibly brought to work on the tobacco plantations, and smaller groups of European immigrants from Scotland, Ireland, and Germany also arrived. However, the English remained the dominant cultural and social group throughout this period.

Religious Expectations of Women (1607-1699)

The Anglican Church’s religious framework profoundly shaped the expectations placed on women in the Virginia Colony. Religious and social structures reinforced patriarchal norms, emphasizing that women should be submissive to their husbands, modest in behavior, and dedicated to the domestic sphere. Anglican doctrine emphasized a woman’s role as a wife and mother, responsible for maintaining the household, raising children, and supporting her husband’s endeavors. The legal doctrine of coverture, derived from English common law, subsumed a woman’s identity under her husband’s upon marriage, reflecting her subordinate position within the household and society.

Women actively participated in the religious life of the community by attending church services regularly and engaging in parish activities. However, their roles were limited to those that aligned with their perceived moral and nurturing nature, such as charitable work, teaching children, and assisting the sick. The religious culture in Virginia did not encourage women to seek roles outside the home or in public life.

Women's Roles in Governance (1607-1699)

Between 1607 and 1699, women in the Virginia Colony had no formal role in governance. The colony’s government mirrored English structures, concentrating political power in the hands of men. The House of Burgesses, established in 1619 as the first representative assembly in the Americas, consisted entirely of male landowners. Only free men, particularly those who owned property, could vote or hold political office. Women, regardless of their social status, were excluded from voting, holding office, or participating in legislative decision-making.

The patriarchal structure extended to religious institutions, where men dominated leadership roles within the Church of England. Vestries, which governed local parishes and influenced community affairs, were composed solely of men. Although women could exert some influence indirectly through their relationships with male relatives or as members of prominent families, their lack of formal power meant that their voices were largely marginalized in public and political life.

Conclusion

Between 1607 and 1699, the Virginia Colony was shaped by the dominant influence of the Anglican Church, the majority of English settlers, and a patriarchal social structure that enforced strict gender roles. The Church of England’s religious doctrine reinforced the expectation that women remain submissive, focus on domestic duties, and avoid public life. As a result, women held no formal role in the colony’s governance, with political and religious power firmly in the hands of men. The intersection of religion, gender, and governance in early Virginia reveals the deeply entrenched patriarchal norms that shaped the colony’s development and the lives of its inhabitants..

Bibliography

Books:

Breen, T. H. Tobacco Culture: The Mentality of the Great Tidewater Planters on the Eve of Revolution. Princeton University Press, 2001.

Butler, Jon. Awash in a Sea of Faith: Christianizing the American People. Harvard University Press, 1990.

Gundersen, Joan R. To Be Useful to the World: Women in Revolutionary America, 1740-1790. University of North Carolina Press, 2006.

Isaac, Rhys. The Transformation of Virginia, 1740-1790. University of North Carolina Press, 1999.

Morgan, Edmund S. American Slavery, American Freedom: The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia. W. W. Norton & Company, 1975.

Norton, Mary Beth. Founding Mothers & Fathers: Gendered Power and the Forming of American Society. Knopf, 1996.

Articles:

Brown, Kathleen M. "Gender and the Genesis of a Race and Class System in Virginia, 1630-1750." The William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 54, no. 2, 1997, pp. 239-268.

Heyrman, Christine Leigh. "The Episcopal Church and Women in the Southern Colonies." Journal of Religious History, vol. 24, no. 3, 2000, pp. 217-235.

Horn, James. "Adapting to a New World: English Society in the Seventeenth-Century Chesapeake." Colonial Williamsburg Journal, vol. 22, no. 3, 2000, pp. 32-55.

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Salinger, Sharon V. "To Serve Well and Faithfully: Labor and Indentured Servants in Pennsylvania and Virginia, 1682-1782." Labor History, vol. 32, no. 1, 1991, pp. 40-56.

Salmon, Marylynn. "The Legal Status of Women in Early America: A Reappraisal." Law and History Review, vol. 1, no. 1, 1983, pp. 129-151.

Walsh, Lorena S. "Servitude and Opportunity in Colonial Virginia." Agricultural History, vol. 52, no. 2, 1978, pp. 335-350.

Zacek, Natalie. "Voices and Silences: The Laboring Poor and the Anglican Church in Virginia, 1680-1776." Historical Journal, vol. 40, no. 3, 1997, pp. 639-667.

1636-1699 Women & The Law in Connecticut

 

Laws Concerning Women in Connecticut, 1600-1699

The legal status & rights of women in the Connecticut Colony during the 17th century were shaped by a combination of English common law, Puritan religious beliefs, & the specific needs of a developing colonial society. Women’s rights regarding land ownership, business, & behavior were significantly constrained, reflecting broader societal norms that prioritized male authority & control. However, Connecticut’s laws also provided certain protections % outlined specific roles for women, particularly within the family structure.

Women & Land Ownership

In 17th-century Connecticut, the ability of women to own land was severely restricted. Under English common law, which heavily influenced Connecticut’s legal system, married women (known as femes covert) were largely unable to own property independently of their husbands. When a woman married, her legal identity was subsumed under that of her husband, meaning that all property she brought into the marriage became her husband’s. This principle was reflected in Connecticut’s legal practices, where land & property ownership were typically reserved for men.

However, widows (femes sole) had more autonomy. They could inherit & manage property, but even this right was limited by customary practices. Widows were often entitled to only a third of their deceased husband’s estate, known as a “dower,” with the remainder passing to the male heirs. This legal structure ensured that land remained within male-dominated family lines, maintaining patriarchal control over property & wealth.

Women & Business Ownership

Business ownership for women in Connecticut was similarly constrained. Women’s involvement in business was typically tied to their marital status. Married women were generally not allowed to engage in business independently, as their economic activities were legally considered part of their husband’s domain. However, widows & single women (particularly those without male guardians) could & did engage in trade & business, often running inns, shops, or other small enterprises. These activities, though limited in scope, provided some economic agency to women who were not under the direct control of a husband or father.

Laws Concerning Women’s Behavior

The Puritanical foundation of Connecticut’s society meant that laws governing morality & behavior were particularly stringent, especially for women. Adultery was considered a grave sin & a crime punishable by severe penalties. In Connecticut, the 1642 Code of Laws explicitly stated that adultery was a capital offense, reflecting the colony’s commitment to maintaining strict moral order. Women accused of adultery faced not only legal repercussions but also social ostracism & public humiliation. The law also targeted other behaviors deemed immoral or improper, such as fornication, which was also punishable by fines, whipping, or forced public confessions.

Women’s behavior in general was closely monitored, with laws emphasizing obedience to husbands, modesty, & religious piety. The Puritan belief system viewed women as naturally weaker & more susceptible to sin than men, necessitating legal & social controls to maintain their virtue. These laws & societal expectations were designed to reinforce the patriarchal structure of the family & community, ensuring that women’s roles remained confined to the domestic sphere & under male authority.

In 17th-century Connecticut, the legal framework surrounding women’s rights & behavior was firmly rooted in the patriarchal & religious values of the time. Women’s legal rights concerning land & business ownership were limited, primarily dependent on their marital status, with single & widowed women enjoying slightly more autonomy. Strict moral codes governed women’s behavior, with harsh penalties for transgressions such as adultery, reflecting the colony’s commitment to maintaining a disciplined & pious society. These laws provide insight into the broader cultural & social dynamics of early Connecticut, where the control of women’s property & behavior was central to upholding the colonial order.

The inequalities between men & women in 17th-century Connecticut are indeed revealing of the broader social & cultural dynamics of the time. Below are more precise examples & details about the laws & societal norms concerning women’s behavior, especially focusing on what was considered improper or immoral, & how these laws also applied to men.

 Laws Governing Women’s Behavior

Adultery Law

Law: In Connecticut, adultery was a capital offense according to the "Code of Laws" adopted in 1642. The law stated, "If any man be found to have committed adultery with a married or espoused wife, both of them shall be put to death." This law applied equally to men & women, reflecting the Puritan emphasis on maintaining marital fidelity & social order. However, in practice, women often faced harsher social consequences than men.

Case Example: In 1662, Mary Johnson was convicted of "unclean practices" (interpreted as adultery & fornication). She was publicly whipped & humiliated, while the men involved often received lighter sentences or were not pursued as aggressively.

Fornication Law

Law: Unmarried women who engaged in premarital sexual relations (fornication) were subject to punishment, which could include fines, whipping, or public humiliation. Men involved in such cases were also punished, but women, especially if they became pregnant, faced more severe social stigma.

Case Example: In 1650, Sarah Whelpley was fined & whipped for fornication after becoming pregnant outside of marriage. The father of her child, John Kirby, was also fined, but the community’s focus was largely on Sarah’s behavior, which was seen as a greater moral failing.

Witchcraft Law: 

The Connecticut "Code of Laws" of 1642 also made witchcraft a capital crime, reflecting the widespread fear of women who were perceived as threats to the Puritan social order. Women were disproportionately accused of witchcraft compared to men, often due to their nonconformity, poverty, or outspoken nature.

Case Example: Mary Sanford, one of the "Hartford Witches," was executed in 1662 for witchcraft. Her case, like many others, involved accusations based on her behavior & reputation, with little concrete evidence. Men were also accused of witchcraft, but women were more frequently targeted & convicted.

Gossip & Slander Law: 

Women were often prosecuted for slander or "scandalous speech," particularly if their words were seen as undermining male authority. This law targeted women who spoke out against male leaders or engaged in gossip, which was viewed as disruptive to social harmony.

Case Example: In 1644, Dorothy Talbye was executed in Massachusetts (neighboring Connecticut) for the murder of her child, which was partially motivated by her perceived "scandalous speech" & "disobedience" to her husband. Though not a direct Connecticut case, it illustrates the broader New England context where women’s speech was heavily policed.

Public Behavior & Dress Law: 

Connecticut’s laws also prescribed modest dress & behavior for women, reflecting the Puritan concern with outward displays of piety. Women who dressed immodestly or acted in ways deemed inappropriate for their gender were subject to fines or other punishments.

Cultural Norms: 

Women were expected to be modest, obedient, & silent in public affairs. Deviations from these norms could lead to social ostracism or legal action. For example, women who questioned male authority, whether in the household or community, could be charged with insubordination.

Inequalities Between the Sexes

While some laws technically applied to both men & women, the enforcement & social consequences often differed significantly. Women’s behavior was more closely monitored, & their punishments were often harsher, particularly in cases involving sexuality or speech. This disparity reflected the broader belief in women’s inherent moral & spiritual weakness, which justified their subjugation under male authority.

For instance, adultery laws targeted both men & women, but women bore the brunt of the social stigma. A man caught in an adulterous affair might face legal consequences, but he could often rehabilitate his reputation more easily than a woman. Similarly, in cases of fornication, women were more likely to suffer public punishment & lifelong shame, particularly if pregnancy was involved.

The unequal treatment of women in the legal system also extended to property rights. While widows had some ability to manage property, married women were legally dependent on their husbands. This dependency was a reflection of the broader societal view that women were less capable of independent action & needed male guardianship.

The laws & societal norms in 17th-century Connecticut clearly illustrate the deep-seated inequalities between men & women. While some laws applied equally to both sexes, the reality was that women faced greater scrutiny & harsher punishments for moral & social transgressions. These legal practices were rooted in a cultural belief in women’s inherent inferiority & the need to control their behavior to maintain social order. These laws promote a deeper understanding of the gender dynamics that shaped early colonial society & the long-lasting impact of these inequalities on women’s lives.

Are Women mentioned in each Colony's Charter?

Were Women Important Enough to be mentioned In Each Colony's Charter/

Virginia (1606)

The Virginia Charter of 1606 does not explicitly mention women.

Massachusetts Bay (1629)

The Massachusetts Bay Charter of 1629 does not explicitly mention women.

Maryland (1632)

The Maryland Charter of 1632 does not explicitly mention women.

Connecticut (1636)

The Connecticut Charter of 1636 does not explicitly mention women.

Rhode Island (1636)

The Rhode Island Charter of 1636 does not explicitly mention women.

New Hampshire (1639)

The New Hampshire Charter of 1639 does not explicitly mention women.

North Carolina (1663)

The North Carolina Charter of 1663 or of 1729) does not explicitly mention women.

South Carolina (1663)

The South Carolina Charter of 1663 or of 1729  does not explicitly mention women.

New York (1664)

The New York Charter of 1664 does not explicitly mention women.

New Jersey (1664)

The New Jersey Charter of 1664 does not explicitly mention women.

New Hampshire (1679)

The New Hampshire Charter of 1679 does not explicitly mention women.

Pennsylvania (1681)

The Pennsylvania Charter of 1681 mentions women as follows:

"...to make Ordinances for the good of government and peace of the said province... so as they be not repugnant to Law, and provided that no person be molested or prejudiced in his or her Person or Estate, or in the liberty of his or her Conscience, in their religious profession or worship... No person shall be molested for his or her lawful endeavors... nor shall any person, in any wise molested for matters of conscience, provided he or she be willing to submit to the civil government and legal protection of the province... That no child, servant, man or woman, or others, be taken or detained unlawfully from their parents, guardians, or masters."

Delaware (1704)

The Delaware Charter of 1704 makes the same reference to women as Pennsylvania.

Georgia (1732)

The Georgia Charter of 1732 does not explicitly mention women.

Women in America Timeline 1607-1620

Timeline Of Events Directly Affecting Women

England became a colonial power in the 1580s, after setting up a colony at Roanoke in the present-day state of North Carolina, establishing it to rival Spanish control of the New World. The Anglo-Spanish War of the 1580s-1600s raged violently, as English privateers such as Francis Drake, John Hawkins, & Martin Frobisher raided Spanish shipping. Although the Roanoke colony failed, in 1607 the English set up the Jamestown colony in Virginia, & the Plymouth colony in Massachusetts in 1622. English expansion in the New World gave them most of the Atlantic coast of colonial North America.

Copies of complete documents may be found by clicking on highlighted descriptions.

1606
The First Charter of Virginia; April 10 Here

1607
Virginia. The British establish their first American colony at Jamestown named for King James I, who ascended to the throne only four years earlier. Virginia was named for the virgin Queen Elizabeth, who never married. England was financially pressed following years of war with Spain. To raise funds to explore the New World, to bring back gold and other riches, and to seek the Northwest Passage to the Middle East and India, James I grants a proprietary charter for the Chesapeake region to two competing branches of the Virginia Company, which were supported by private investors--the Plymouth Company and the London Company. Of the original 105 settlers, only 32 survived the first year.

1607 
Cape Henry, Virginia, 1st Anglican (Episcopal) church in the American colonies was established.
as yhe Protestant Episcopal parish was established in Jamestown, Virginia.

1608
First English women arrive at Jamestown contributing to Jamestown's ultimate survival. Lord Bacon, a member of His Majesty's Council for Virginia, stated about 1620 that "When a plantation grows to strength, then it is time to plant with women as well as with men; that the plantation may spread into generations, and not be ever pieced from without."

Anne Burras came to Jamestown in 1608 married John Laydon three months after her arrival becoming the first Jamestown wedding. Anne and John raised four daughters in the new Virginia wilderness.

John Smith (1580-1631) claims (some 24 years later & 7 years after her death) that Pocahontas saves him from execution by Algonquian Chief Powhatan who was her faher.

1609
The Dutch East India Company sends Henry Hudson on a seven month voyage to explore the area around present-day New York City and the river north to Albany, which bears his name. The Dutch claimed the land.

Temperance Flowerdew, arrived at Jamestown with 400 ill-fated settlers in the fall of 1609. The following winter, dubbed the "Starving Time," saw over 80 percent of Jamestown succumb to sickness, disease and starvation. Temperance survived but soon returned to England. By 1619, Temperance returned to Jamestown with her new husband, Governor George Yeardley. After his death in 1627, she married Governor Francis West and remained in Virginia until her death in 1628.

The Second Charter of Virginia; May 23

1609-1612
Tobacco cultivation is introduced in Virginia and within a decade becomes the colony's chief source of revenue.

1611
Authorized version of King James Bible published

The Third Charter of Virginia; March 12 Here

1613
Pocahontas is taken hostage by Jamestown colonists in the first Anglo-Powhatan war.
A Dutch trading post is set up on lower Manhattan island.

1614
Pocahontas is baptized a Christian and marries John Rolfe, one of the Jamestown colonists.

General Charter for Those who Discover Any New Passages, Havens, Countries, or Places; March 27 Here

Grant of Exclusive Trade to New Netherland by the States-General of the United Netherlands; October 11 Here

1616
Pocahontas and John Rolfe departed for England, where she met King James I. Pocahontas and Rolfe were awarded funds to return to the colony to establish a college to Christianize the Powhatan Indians, but on beginning the trip home she died unexpectedly, in March 1617, at Gravesend, England, where she is buried.

John Smith writes A Description of New England.

1619
Virginia settlers were first granted their own personal property, the acreage dependent on the time and situation of their arrival. This was the beginning of private property for Virginia men. The men, however, asked that land also be allotted for their wives who were just as deserving "...because that in a newe plantation it is not knowen whether man or woman be the most necessary." The Virginia Company of London hoped to anchor their discontented bachelors to the soil of Virginia by using women as a stabilizing factor. They ordered that "...a fit hundredth might be sent of women, maids young and uncorrupt, to make wives to the inhabitants and by that means to make the men there more settled and less movable...." Ninety arrived in 1620 and the company records reported in May of 1622 that, "57 young maids have been sent to make wives for the planters, divers of which were well married before the coming away of the ships."

The first session of the first legislative assembly in America occurs as the Virginia House of Burgesses convenes in Jamestown. It consists of 22 burgesses, all men, representing 11 plantations.

Twenty Africans, 17 men & 3 women, are brought by a Dutch ship to Jamestown for sale as indentured servants, marking the beginning of slavery in Colonial America.

Petition for a Charter of New England by the Northern Company of Adventurers; March 3 Here

July 22, 1620
Under John Robinson, English Separatists began to emigrate to North America - eventually, they came to be known as the Pilgrims.

September 16, 1620

The Mayflower left Plymouth, England with 102 Pilgrims aboard. The ship arrived at Provincetown on November 21st & at Plymouth on December 26th.

1620
Massachusetts. A group of 101 Puritan Separatists frustrated in their attempts to achieve reform within the Church of England sail on board the Mayflower to America and establish Plymouth Colony on Cape Cod in New England. When 41 men from the group set up the the Mayflower Compact establishing a form of local government in which the colonists agree to abide by majority rule and to cooperate for the general good of the colony, later colonies us it as a model as they set up governments. Plymouth was absorbed by Massachusetts Bay Colony with the issuance of the Massachusetts Bay charter of 1691.

Charter of New England; November 3 Here

Mayflower Compact; November 11 Here

The first public library in the colonies is organized in Virginia with books donated by landowners

See:
Yale Law School, The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History, and Diplomacy. New Haven, CT.

Burt, Daniel S., editor. THE CHRONOLOGY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE: AMERICA'S LITERARY ACHIEVEMENTS FROM THE COLONIAL ERA TO MODERN TIMES. Houghton Mifflin Internet.

HISTORY MATTERS. American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning (Graduate Center, CUNY) and the Center for History and New Media (George Mason University). Internet.

The Lost Colony & 16C Awareness of Potential Medicinal & Profit Possibilities of New World Plants like Sassafras

Probably the first ever illustration of Sassafras albidum - in Historia medicinal (1574).  Historia medicinal de las cosas que se traen de nuestras Indias Occidentales ("Medical study of the products imported from our West Indian possessions") is the standard title for the survey by Nicolás Monardes (1493–1588), Spanish physician & botanist. It appeared in successive editions under varying titles, gradually enlarged, in 1565, 1569 & 1574, followed by an unchanged reprint in 1580.

In 1552, during the early years of Spanish rule of "New Spain" (which covered Mexico, Central America, much of the Southwestern & Central United States, the Spanish West Indies & Spanish Florida) two Native American students at the College of Santa Cruz in Tlaltilulco, a physician Martinus de la Cruz & Juannes Badianus, compiled a list of herbs that had been used as medicines for centuries by the native populations. Martinus wrote, & probably illustrated, the original Aztec text, & Badianus translated the work into Latin. Today their work, Libellus de Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis which is Latin for “Little Book of the Medicinal Herbs of the Indians” is commonly called the Badianus Manuscript. Presently housed in the Vatican Library, The Badianus Manuscript is the oldest known American herbal.

The Badianus Manuscript of 1552 is the first illustrated & descriptive scientific text illustrating sassafras as a component of Nahua medicine & botany produced in the Americas. The original text was produced in Nahuatl & translated to Latin for European readers.

It is a significant text in the history of botany & the history of medicine. Badianus Codex was written in Nhuatl by the Aztec physician Martinus de la Cruz, translated by Juannes Badianus (latin), presented to the son of the first Viceroy of New Spain in 1552.  The manuscript was compiled 1552 by a young Aztec doctor, Martin de la Cruz “taught by no formal reasonings, but educated by experiments only” & describes a number of ailments suffered by the native people, together with recommended treatments.

This was the oldest known herbal which originated from the Americas.  The indigenous populations of the Americas had already developed very considerable botanical & medical knowledge by the time they were 'discovered' by Europeans. The native peoples of North & South America also used medicinal herbs. Over thousands of years, the people of North & South Americans accumulated a vast store of botanical & medical knowledge, a fact that surprised many European explorers when they began their conquest of the Americas in the 16C.

Escaping to America - To Evade the Anti-Catholic Fate of William Tyndale & John Rogers

The 1555 Burning of Master John Rogers. Engraving from John Fox, The Third Volume of the Ecclesiastical History containing the Acts and Monuments of Martyrs. 

John Rogers the Martyr was the first Protestant to be burned at the stake during the reign of "Bloody Queen Mary." because he believed the need to reform "THE CHURCH" (the Roman Catholic Church). This woodcut illustrates the burning of John Rogers which took place in Smithfield (Southeast corner on the grounds of the Tower of London.)

Martyrdom of John Rogers

John Rogers (1500-1555) was a Catholic priest who converted to Protestantism in the 1530s under the influence of William Tyndale and assisted in the publication of Tyndale's English translations of the Bible. Burned alive at Smithfield on February 4, 1555, Rogers became the "first Protestant martyr" executed by England's Catholic Queen Mary. He was charged with heresy, including denial of the real presence of Christ in the sacrament of communion.

John Rogers burned to death at a stake at Smithfield, England on this Monday morning, February 4, 1555.  Born about 1500, Rogers was educated at Cambridge. He became a Catholic priest & accepted a position in the church at the time that the Protestant Reformation was in full swing. He moved to Antwerp, Holland, where he ministered to English merchants.

William Tyndale (c.1494-1536) who translated the Bible from the original Hebrew and Greek into English.

In Holland, Rogers became friends with William Tyndale (1494-1536), a reformer who was translating the Bible into English. Tyndale converted Rogers to Protestant views & Rogers married. Nine months later, Tyndale went to prison; he would be executed as a heretic. But Tyndale left a precious manuscript in John Rogers's keeping. This was his English translation of the books from Joshua to Chronicles which had not yet been printed.  Rogers was determined to see that Tyndale's valuable work was not lost. For the next twelve months he labored to put together a complete Bible. Its text was based on Tyndale & Coverdale, & its two thousand notes were borrowed from the writings of dozens of different reformers who were active on the Continent.  Tyndale had been declared a heretic, & his name could not go on the Bible. Rogers could not honestly claim the work as his own, & so he used a pseudonym--Thomas Matthews. When Bishop Cranmer saw a copy of the new Bible, he was so excited that he asked Chancellor Thomas Cromwell to see if the king would license it. Henry VIII did, & the Matthew Bible became the first officially authorized version in the English language.

After only 5 years as priest in the Roman Catholic Church, in 1526 William Tyndale had been first to bring holy scriptures to the common man all in English. He was quoted as saying: "I defy the Pope & all his laws. If God spare my life, ​ere many years I will cause a boy who drives the plow to know more of the scriptures than you do!"

Tyndale, before being strangled and burned at the stake, cried out, "Lord, open the King of England's eyes". Woodcut from Foxe's Book of Martyrs (1563).

While William Tyndale was held for 18 months in the castle dungeon before his trial for heresy for printing the Latin Bible to English; he wrote a letter stating the following:​
"First, faith alone justifies.
"Second, to believe in the forgiveness of sins, & to embrace the mercy offered in the gospel, was enough for salvation.
"Third, human traditions cannot bind the conscience, except where their neglect might occasion scandal.
"Fourth, he denied the freedom of the will.
"Fifth, he denied that there is any purgatory.
"Sixth, neither the Virgin nor the Saints pray for us in their own person.
"Seventh, neither the Virgin nor the Saints should be invoked by us." ​

In August 1536, AD William had been convicted as being a heretic at a pageant of casting him out of the Church. In the town square a crowd gathered. The great doctors & dignitaries assembled in due pomp & array taking ​their seats on the high platform. Tyndale was led out, wearing his priest's robes. He was made to kneel & his hands were scraped with a knife or a piece of glass as a symbol of having lost the benefits of the anointing oil with which he was consecrated to the priesthood, he was tied to a stake & burned.

After sickly Edward VI became king of England, John Rogers returned from the continent, fetching his wife to England. He was given high positions in the Church of England.  Edward VI died. Mary, a Roman Catholic, became queen. John Rogers preached a stirring message, urging his congregation to remain loyal to Reformation principles. Mary's Catholic bishops questioned him about this sermon, but he answered well & was released.  However, when a Catholic was appointed to speak at Paul's Cross, churchgoers rioted. The Mayor was present & could not restore order.  The mob attacked Bishop Bonner, an eminent supporter of Queen Mary. Rogers shouted to the crowd to calm down & helped hustle Bonner to safety. Although no harm was done, the Queen's council was upset. They instructed the Mayor to prove he could keep order, or said he must give up his office. The Mayor arrested Rogers, the one who had saved Bonner's life. Rogers spent over a year in prison, questioned several times about his beliefs by Lord Chancellor Stephen Gardiner.

According to Foxe's Book of Martyrs, when the sentence of death was passed, Rogers begged Gardiner to let him speak a few words to his wife. Gardiner refused, telling Rogers he was not legally married because he had once been a priest. However, as Rogers walked to the stake, singing psalms, he saw his wife at the roadside, holding their youngest baby, whom he had never met.  At the stake, Rogers was offered a pardon if only he would recant his beliefs & return to the Catholic church. He refused. The fire was lit & Rogers washed his hands in the flames as though he did not feel them. He was the first of many martyrs in Mary's reign.

Two centuries after John Rogers's execution, his ordeal, with depictions of his wife and ten children added to increase the pathos, became a staple of The New England Primer. The Primer supplemented the picture of Rogers' immolation with a long, versified speech, said to be the dying martyr's advice to his children, which urged them to "Keep always God before your Eyes" and to "Abhor the arrant Whore of Rome, and all her Blasphemies." This recommendation, read by generations of young New Englanders, doubtless helped to fuel the anti-Catholic prejudice that flourished in that region well into the nineteenth century.

Mr. John Rogers. Woodblock print from The New-England Primer Improved Boston: A. Ellison, 1773. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress

Declaring All Men & Women in Spanish Americas Catholic - Alexander IV Papal Bull 1493

Unless women are included as "residents and inhabitants," there is no obvious mention of them in this document.

The Papal bull Inter Caetera Alexander VI May 4 1493

Alexander VI Alexander, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to the illustrious sovereigns, our very dear son in Christ, Ferdinand, king, and our very dear daughter in Christ, Isabella, queen of Castile

....We have indeed learned that you, who for a long time had intended to seek out and discover certain islands and mainlands remote and unknown and not hitherto discovered by others, to the end that you might bring to the worship of our Redeemer and the profession of the Catholic faith their residents and inhabitants, having been up to the present time greatly engaged in the siege and recovery of the kingdom itself of Granada were unable to accomplish this holy and praiseworthy purpose; but the said kingdom having at length been regained, as was pleasing to the Lord, with a wish to fulfill your desire, chose our beloved son, Christopher Columbus...whom you furnished with ships and men equipped for like designs, not without the greatest hardships, dangers, and expenses, to make diligent quest for these remote and unknown mainlands and islands through the sea, where hitherto no one had sailed; and they at length with divine aid and with the utmost diligence sailing in the ocean sea, discovered certain very remote islands and even mainlands that hitherto had not been discovered by others; wherein dwell very many peoples living in peace, and, as reported, going unclothed, and not eating flesh...Wherefore, as becomes Catholic kings and princes...you have purposed...to bring under your sway the said mainlands and islands...And in order that you may enter upon so great an undertaking with greater readiness and heartiness endowed with the benefit of our apostolic favor, we, of our own accord, not at your instance nor the request of anyone else in your regard, but out of our own sole largess and certain knowledge and out of the fullness of our apostolic power, by the authority of Almighty God conferred upon us in blessed Peter and of the vicarship of Jesus Christ, which we hold on earth, do by tenor of these presents, should any of said islands have been found by your envoys and captains, give, grant, and assign to you and your heirs and successors, kings of Castile and Leon, forever, together with all their dominions, cities, camps, places, and villages, and all rights, jurisdictions, and appurtenances, all islands and mainlands found and to be found, discovered and to be discovered towards the west and the south, by drawing and establishing a line from the Arctic pole, namely the north, to the Antarctic pole, namely the south, no matter whether the said mainlands and islands are found and to be found in the direction of India or towards any other quarter, the said line to be distant one hundred leagues towards the west and south from any of the islands commonly known as the Azores and Cape Verde. With this proviso, however, that none of the islands and mainlands, found and to be found, discovered and to be discovered, beyond that said line towards the west and south, be in the actual possession of any Christian king or prince up to the birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ just past from which the present year 1493 begins...Furthermore, under penalty of excommunication late sententie to be incurred ipso facto, should anyone thus contravene, we strictly forbid all persons of whatsoever rank, even imperial and royal, or of whatsoever estate, degree, order, or condition, to dare without your special permit or that of your aforesaid heirs and successors, to go for the purpose of trade or any other reason to the islands or mainlands...apostolic constitutions and ordinances and other decrees whatsoever to the contrary notwithstanding...Let no one therefore, infringe, or with rash boldness contravene, this our recommendation, exhortation, requisition, gift, grant, assignment, constitution, deputation, decree, mandate, prohibition, and will. Should anyone presume to attempt this, be it known to him that he will incur the wrath of Almighty God and of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul.

Given at Rome, at St. Peter's, in the year of the incarnation of our Lord 1493, the fourth of May, and the first year of our pontificate.

Colonizing The Americas - Privileges & Prerogatives for Columbus April 30 1492

Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile married in 1469 and ten years later became joint sovereigns of a confederation of kingdoms that laid the basis for modern Spain. Except for Isabella, there are not other references to women.

Privileges & Prerogatives granted to Columbus April 30 1492:

For as much of you, Christopher Columbus, are going by our command, with some of our vessels and men, to discover and subdue some Islands and Continent in the ocean, and it is hoped that by God's assistance, some of the said Islands and Continent in the ocean will be discovered and conquered by your means and conduct, therefore it is but just and reasonable, that since you expose yourself to such danger to serve us, you should be rewarded for it. And we being willing to honour and favour you for the reasons aforesaid; Our will is, That you, Christopher Columbus, after discovering and conquering the said Islands and Continent in the said ocean, or any of them, shall be our Admiral of the said Islands and Continent you shall so discover and conquer; and that you be our Admiral, Vice-Roy, and Governour in them, and that for the future, you may call and stile yourself, D. Christopher Columbus, and that your sons and successors in the said employment, may call themselves Dons, Admirals, Vice-Roys, and Governours of them; and that you may exercise the office of Admiral, with the charge of Vice-Roy and Governour of the said Islands and Continent, which you and your Lieutenants shall conquer, and freely decide all causes, civil and criminal, appertaining to the said employment of Admiral, ViceRoy, and Governour, as you shall think fit in justice, and as the Admirals of our kingdoms use to do; and that you have power to punish offenders; and you and your Lieutenants exercise the employments of Admiral, Vice-Roy, and Governour, in all things belonging to the said offices, or any of them; and that you enjoy the perquisites and salaries belonging to the said employments, and to each of them, in the same manner as the High Admiral of our kingdoms does. And by this our letter, or a copy of it signed by a Public Notary: We command Prince John, our most dearly beloved Son, the Infants, Dukes, Prelates, Marquesses, Great Masters and Military Orders, Priors, Commendaries, our Counsellors, judges, and other Officers of justice whatsoever, belonging to our Household, Courts, and Chancery, and Constables of Castles, Strong Houses, and others, and all Corporations, Bayliffs, Governours, judges, Commanders, Sea Officers; and the Aldermen, Common Council, Officers, and Good People of all Cities, Lands, and Places in our Kingdoms and Dominions, and in those you shall conquer and subdue, and the captains, masters, mates, and other officers and sailors, our natural subjects now being, or that shall be for the time to come, and any of them, that when you shall have discovered the said Islands and Continent in the ocean; and you, or any that shall have your commission, shall have taken the usual oath in such cases, that they for the future, look Won you as Ing as you live, and after you, your son and heir, and so from one heir to another forever, as our Admiral on our said Ocean, and as Vice-Roy and Governour of the said Islands and Continent, by you, Christopher Columbus, discovered and conquered; and that they treat you and your Lieutenants, by you appointed, for executing the employments of Admiral, Vice-Roy, and Governour, as such in all respects, and give you all the prerequisites and other things belonging and appertaining to the said offices; and allow, and cause to be allowed you, all the honours, graces, concessions, prehaminences, prerogatives, immunities, and other things, or any of them which are due to you, by virtue of your commands of Admiral, Vice-Roy, and Governour, and to be observed completely, so that nothing be diminished; and that they make no objection to this, or any part of it, nor suffer it to be made; forasmuch as we from this time forward, by this our letter, bestow on you the employments of Admiral, Vice-Roy, and perpetual Governour forever; and we put you into possession of the said offices, and of every of them, and full power to use and exercise them, and to receive the perquisites and salaries belonging to them, or any of them, as was said above. Concerning all which things, if it be requisite, and you shall desire it, We command our Chancellour, Notaries, and other Officers, to pass, seal, and deliver to you, our Letter of Privilege, in such form and legal manner, as you shall require or stand in need of. And that none of them presume to do any thing to the contrary, upon pain of our displeasure, and fortfeiture of 30 ducats for each offence. And we command him, who shall show them this our Letter, that be summon them to appear before us at our Court, where we shall then be, within fifteen days after such summons, under the said penalty. Under which same, we also command any Public Notary whatsoever, that he give to him that shows it him, a certificate under his seal, that we may know how our command is obeyed.

GIVEN at Granada, on the 30th of April, in the year of our Lord, 1492-

I, THE KING, I, THE QUEEN.

Christopher Columbus, Journal (1492) - A European look at the North American Atlantic World before colonization

A look at the North American Atlantic World before colonization, a bit of social, cultural, & political influences from the first contact between indigenous & colonizing cultures.

... This present year of 1492, after Your Highnesses had brought to an end the war with the Moors who ruled in Europe and had concluded the war in the very great city of Granada, where this present year on the second day of the month of January I saw the Royal Standards of Your Highnesses placed by force of arms on the towers of the Alhambra, which is the fortress of the said city; and I saw the Moorish King come out to the gates of the city and kiss the Royal Hands of Your Highnesses and of the Prince my Lord; and later in that same month, because of the report that I had given to Your Highnesses about the lands of India and about a prince who is called "Grand Khan," which means in our Spanish language "King of Kings"; how, many times, he and his predecessors had sent to Rome to ask for men learned in our Holy Faith in order that they might instruct him in it and how the Holy Father had never provided them; and thus so many peoples were lost, falling into idolatry and accepting false and harmful religions; and Your Highnesses, as Catholic Christians and Princes, lovers and promoters of the Holy Christian Faith, and enemies of the false doctrine of Mahomet and of all idolatries and heresies, you thought of sending me, Christobal Colon, to the said regions of India to see the said princes and the peoples and the lands, and the characteristics of the lands and of everything and to see how their conversion to our Holy Faith might be undertaken. And you commanded that I should not go to the East by land, by which way it is customary to go, but by the route to the West, by which route we do not know for certain that anyone previously has passed. So, after having expelled all the Jews from all of your Kingdoms and Dominions, in the same month of January Your Highnesses commanded me to go, with a suitable fleet, to the said regions of India. And for that you granted me great favors and ennobled me so that from then on I might call myself "Don" and would be Grand Admiral of the Ocean Sea and Viceroy and perpetual Governor of all the islands and lands that I might discover and gain and [that] from now on might be discovered and gained in the Ocean Sea; and likewise my eldest son would succeed me and his son him, from generation to generation forever. And I left the city of Granada on the twelfth day of May in the same year of 1492 on Saturday, and I came to the town of Palos, which is a seaport, where I fitted out three vessels very well suited for such exploits; and I left the said port, very well provided with supplies and with many seamen, on the third day of August of the said year, on a Friday, half an hour before sunrise; and I took the route to Your Highnesses' Canary Islands, which are in the said Ocean Sea, in order from there to take my course and sail so far that I would reach the Indies and give Your Highnesses' message to those princes and thus carry out that which you had commanded me to do. And for this purpose I thought of writing on this whole voyage, very diligently, all that I would do and see and experience, as will be seen further along....

Thursday I I October
He [sometimes Columbus refers to himself in the third person] steered west-southwest. They took much water aboard, more than they had taken in the whole voyage. They saw petrels and a green bulrush near the ship. The men of the caravel Pinta saw a cane and a stick, and took on board another small stick that appeared to have been worked with iron, and a piece of cane, and other vegetation originating on land, and a small plank. The men of the caravel Nina also saw other signs of land and a small stick loaded with barnacles. With these signs everyone breathed more easily and cheered up. On this day, up to sunset, they made 27 leagues.

After sunset he steered on his former course to the west. They made about 12 miles each hour and, until two hours after midnight, made about 90 miles, which is twenty-two leagues and a half. And because the caravel Pinta was a better sailor and went ahead of the Admiral it found land and made the signals that the Admiral had ordered. A sailor named Rodrigo de Triana saw this land first, although the Admiral, at the tenth hour of the night, while he was on the sterncastle saw a light, although it was something so faint that he did not wish to affirm that it was land. But he called Pero Gutierrez, the steward of the king's dais, and told him that there seemed to be a light, and for him to look: and thus he did and saw it. He also told Rodrigo Sanchez de Segovia, whom the king and queen were sending as veedor of the fleet, who saw nothing because he was not in a place where he could see it. After the Admiral said it, it was seen once or twice; and it was like a small wax candle that rose and lifted up, which to few seemed to be an indication of land. But the Admiral was certain that they were near land, because of which when they recited the salve, which sailors in their own way are accustomed to recite and sing, all being present, the Admiral entreated and admonished them to keep a good lookout on the forecastle and to watch carefully for land; and that to the man who first told him that he saw land he would later give a silk jacket in addition to the other rewards that the sovereigns had promised, which were ten thousand maravedis as an annuity to whoever should see it first. At two hours after midnight the land appeared, from which they were about two leagues distant. They hauled down all the sails and kept only the treo, which is the mainsail without bonnets, and jogged on and off, passing time until daylight Friday, when they reached an islet of the Lucayas, which was called Guanaham in the language of the Indians. Soon they saw naked people; and the Admiral went ashore in the armed launch, and Martin Alonso Pinzon and his brother Vicente Anes, who was captain of the Nina The Admiral brought out the royal banner and the captains two flags with the green cross, which the Admiral carried on all the ships as a standard, with an F and a Y, and over each letter a crown, one on one side and the other on the other. Thus put ashore they saw very green trees and many ponds and fruits of various kinds. The Admiral called to the two captains and to the others who had jumped ashore and to Rodrigo Descobedo, the escrivano of the whole fleet, and to Rodrigo Sanchez de Segovia; and he said that they should be witnesses that, in the presence of all, he would take, as in fact he did take, possession of the said island for the king and for the queen his lords, making the declarations that were required, and which at more length are contained in the testimonials made there in writing. Soon many people of the island gathered there.

What follows are the very words of the Admiral in his book about his first voyage to, and discovery of, these Indies. 1, he says, in order that they would be friendly to us -- because I recognized that they were people who would be better freed and converted to our Holy Faith by love than by force -- to some of them I gave red caps, and glass beads which they put on their chests, and many other things of small value, in which they took so much pleasure and became so much our friends that it was a marvel. Later they came swimming to the ships' launches where we were and brought us parrots and cotton thread in balls and javelins and many other things, and they traded them to us for other things which we gave them, such as small glass beads and bells. In sum, they took everything and gave of what they had very willingly. But it seemed to me that they were a people very poor in everything. All of them go around as naked as their mothers bore them; and the women also, although I did not see more than one quite young girl. And all those that I saw were young people, for none did I see of more than 30 years of age. They are very well formed, with handsome bodies and good faces. Their hair coarse -- almost like the tail of a horse-and short. They wear their hair down over their eyebrows except for a little in the back which they wear long and never cut. Some of them paint themselves with black, and they are of the color of the Canarians, neither black nor white; and some of them paint themselves with white, and some of them with red, and some of them with whatever they find. And some of them paint their faces, and some of them the whole body, and some of them only the eyes, and some of them only the nose. They do not carry arms nor are they acquainted with them, because I showed them swords and they took them by the edge and through ignorance cut themselves. They have no iron.

Their javelins are shafts without iron and some of them have at the end a fish tooth.... All of them alike are of good-sized stature and carry themselves well. I saw some who had marks of wounds on their bodies and I made signs to them asking what they were; and they showed me how people from other islands nearby came there and tried to take them, and how they defended themselves; and I believed and believe that -- they come here from tierrafirme to take them captive. They should be good and intelligent servants, for I see that they say very quickly everything that is said to them; and I believe that they would become Christians very easily, for it seemed to me that they had no religion. Our Lord pleasing, at the time of my departure I will take six of them from here to Your Highnesses in order that they may learn to speak...

. . . They came to the ship with dugouts that are made from the trunk of one tree, like a long boat, and all of one piece, and worked marvelously in the fashion of the land, and so big that in some of them 40 and 45 men came. And others smaller, down to some in which came one man alone. They row with a paddle like that of a baker and go marvelously. And if it capsizes on them they then throw themselves in the water, and they right and empty it with calabashes that they carry. They brought balls of spun cotton and parrots and javelins and other little things that it would be tiresome to write down, and they gave everything for anything that was given to them. I was attentive and labored to find out if there was any gold; and I saw that some of them wore a little piece hung in a hole that they have in their noses. And by signs I was able to understand that, going to the south or rounding the island to the south, there was there a king who had large vessels of it and had very much gold.... This island is quite big and very flat and with very green trees a I and much water and a very large lake in the middle and without any mountains; and all of it so green that it is a pleasure to look at it. And these people are very gentle, and because of their desire to have some of our things and believing that nothing will be given to them without their giving something, and not having anything, they take what they can and then throw themselves into the water to swim....

Sunday 14 October
As soon as it dawned I ordered the ship's boat and the launches of the caravels made ready and went north-northeast along the island in order to see what there was in the other part, which was the eastern part. And also to see the villages, and I soon saw two or three, as well as people, who all came to the beach calling to us and giving thanks to God. Some of them brought us water; others, other things to eat; others, when they saw that I did not care to go ashore, threw themselves into the sea swimming and came to us, and we understood that they were asking us if we had come from the heavens. And one old man got into the ship's boat, and others in loud voices called to all the men and women: Come see the men who came from the heavens. Bring them something to eat and drink. Many men came, and many women, each one with something, giving thanks to God, throwing themselves on the ground; and they raised their hands to heaven, and afterward they called to us in loud voices to come ashore. ... And I saw a piece of land formed like an island, although it was not one, on which there were six houses. This piece of land might in two days be cut off to make an island, although I do not see this to be necessary since these people are very naive about weapons, as Your Highnesses will see from seven that I caused to be taken in order to carry them away to you and to learn our language and to return them. Except that, whenever Your Highnesses may command, all of them can be taken to Castile or held captive in this same island; because with 50 men all of them could be held in subjection and can be made to do whatever one might wish. And later [I noticed], near the said islet, groves of trees, the most beautiful that I saw and with their leaves as green as those of Castile in the months of April and May, and lots of water. I looked over the whole of that harbor and afterward returned to the ship and set sail, and I saw so many islands that I did not know how to decide which one I would go to first. And those men whom I had taken told me by signs that they were so very many that they were numberless. And they named by their names more than a hundred. Finally I looked for the largest and to that one I decided to go and so I am doing. It is about five leagues distant from this island of San Salvador, and tile others of them some more, some less. All are very flat without mountains and very fertile and all populated and they make war on one another, even though these men are very simple and very handsome in body...

Sunday 4 November
... The Admiral showed cinnamon and pepper to a few of the Indians of that place (it seems from the samples that he was bringing from Castile) and he says that they recognized it; and they said by signs that nearby to the southeast there was a lot of it. He showed them gold and pearls, and certain old men answered that in a place that they called Bohio there was a vast amount and that they wore it on neck and in ears and on arms and legs; and also pearls. Moreover, he understood that they said that there were big ships and much trade and that all of this was to the southeast. He understood also that, far from there, there were one-eyed men, and others, with snouts of dogs, who ate men, and that as soon as one was taken they cut his throat and drank his blood and cut off his genitals. The Admiral decided to return to the ship to wait for the two men whom he had sent and to decide whether to leave and seek those lands, unless the two men brought good news of that which they desired....

Tuesday 6 November
... They saw many kinds of trees and plants and fragrant flowers; they saw birds of many kinds, different from those of Spain, except partridges and nightingales, which sang, and geese, for of these there are a great many there. Four-footed beasts they did not see, except dogs that did not bark. The earth was very fertile and planted with those manes and bean varieties very different from ours, and with that same millet. And they saw a large quantity of cotton collected and spun and worked; and in a single house they had seen more than five hundred arrobas; and that one might get there each year four thousand quintales . The Admiral says that it seemed to him that they did not sow it and that it produces fruit [i.e., cotton] all year. It is very fine and has a large boll. Everything that those people have, he says, they would give for a very paltry price, and that they would give a large basket of cotton for the tip of a lacing or anything else given to them. They are people, says the Admiral, quite lacking in evil and not warlike; all of them, men and women naked as their mothers bore them. It is true that the women wear a thing of cotton only so big as to cover their genitals and no more. And they are very respectful and not very black, less so than Canarians. I truly believe, most Serene Princes (the Admiral says here), that, given devout religious persons knowing thoroughly the language that they use, soon all of them would become Christian. And so I hope in Our Lord that Your Highnesses, with much diligence, will decide to send such persons in order to bring to the Church such great nations and to convert them, just as you have destroyed those that (lid not want to confess the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and that after your days (for all of us are mortal) you will leave your kingdoms in a tranquil state, free of heresy and evil, and will be well received before the Eternal Creator, may it please Whom to give you long life and great increase of your kingdoms and dominions and the will and disposition to increase the Holy Christian Religion, as up to now you have done, amen. Today I pulled the ship off the beach and made ready to leave on Thursday, in the name of God, and to go to the southeast to seek gold and spices and to explore land. All these are the Admiral's words. He intended to leave on Thursday, but because a contrary wind came up he could not leave until the twelfth of November...

Source: E. G. Bourne, ed., The Northmen, Columbus and Cabot (New York, 1906).

1215 England's Magna Carta -- A Hint of Women & "By The People"

Magna Carta 1215 "(the) Great Charter") agreed to by 

King John of England at Runnymede near Windsor on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the Archbishop of Canterburyto make peace between the unpopular King and a group of rebel barons it promised the protection of church rights, protection for the barons from illegal imprisonment, access to swift justice, and limitations on feudal payments to the Crown to be implemented through a council of 25 barons. 

Preamble:
John, by the grace of God, king of England, lord of Ireland, duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and count of Anjou, to the archbishop, bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justiciaries, foresters, sheriffs, stewards, servants, and to all his bailiffs and liege subjects, greetings. Know that, having regard to God and for the salvation of our soul, and those of all our ancestors and heirs, and unto the honor of God and the advancement of his holy Church and for the rectifying of our realm, we have granted as underwritten by advice of our venerable fathers, Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, primate of all England and cardinal of the holy Roman Church, Henry, archbishop of Dublin, William of London, Peter of Winchester, Jocelyn of Bath and Glastonbury, Hugh of Lincoln, Walter of Worcester, William of Coventry, Benedict of Rochester, bishops; of Master Pandulf, subdeacon and member of the household of our lord the Pope, of brother Aymeric (master of the Knights of the Temple in England), and of the illustrious men William Marshal, earl of Pembroke, William, earl of Salisbury, William, earl of Warenne, William, earl of Arundel, Alan of Galloway (constable of Scotland), Waren Fitz Gerold, Peter Fitz Herbert, Hubert De Burgh (seneschal of Poitou), Hugh de Neville, Matthew Fitz Herbert, Thomas Basset, Alan Basset, Philip d'Aubigny, Robert of Roppesley, John Marshal, John Fitz Hugh, and others, our liegemen.

King John I 1199-1216 at the National Portrait Gallery London

1. In the first place we have granted to God, and by this our present charter confirmed for us and our heirs forever that the English Church shall be free, and shall have her rights entire, and her liberties inviolate; and we will that it be thus observed; which is apparent from this that the freedom of elections, which is reckoned most important and very essential to the English Church, we, of our pure and unconstrained will, did grant, and did by our charter confirm and did obtain the ratification of the same from our lord, Pope Innocent III, before the quarrel arose between us and our barons: and this we will observe, and our will is that it be observed in good faith by our heirs forever. We have also granted to all freemen of our kingdom, for us and our heirs forever, all the underwritten liberties, to be had and held by them and their heirs, of us and our heirs forever.

2. If any of our earls or barons, or others holding of us in chief by military service shall have died, and at the time of his death his heir shall be full of age and owe "relief", he shall have his inheritance by the old relief, to wit, the heir or heirs of an earl, for the whole baroncy of an earl by L100; the heir or heirs of a baron, L100 for a whole barony; the heir or heirs of a knight, 100s, at most, and whoever owes less let him give less, according to the ancient custom of fees.

3. If, however, the heir of any one of the aforesaid has been under age and in wardship, let him have his inheritance without relief and without fine when he comes of age.

4. The guardian of the land of an heir who is thus under age, shall take from the land of the heir nothing but reasonable produce, reasonable customs, and reasonable services, and that without destruction or waste of men or goods; and if we have committed the wardship of the lands of any such minor to the sheriff, or to any other who is responsible to us for its issues, and he has made destruction or waster of what he holds in wardship, we will take of him amends, and the land shall be committed to two lawful and discreet men of that fee, who shall be responsible for the issues to us or to him to whom we shall assign them; and if we have given or sold the wardship of any such land to anyone and he has therein made destruction or waste, he shall lose that wardship, and it shall be transferred to two lawful and discreet men of that fief, who shall be responsible to us in like manner as aforesaid.

5. The guardian, moreover, so long as he has the wardship of the land, shall keep up the houses, parks, fishponds, stanks, mills, and other things pertaining to the land, out of the issues of the same land; and he shall restore to the heir, when he has come to full age, all his land, stocked with ploughs and wainage, according as the season of husbandry shall require, and the issues of the land can reasonable bear.

6. ***Heirs shall be married without disparagement, yet so that before the marriage takes place the nearest in blood to that heir shall have notice.

7. ***A widow, after the death of her husband, shall forthwith and without difficulty have her marriage portion and inheritance; nor shall she give anything for her dower, or for her marriage portion, or for the inheritance which her husband and she held on the day of the death of that husband; and she may remain in the house of her husband for forty days after his death, within which time her dower shall be assigned to her.

8. ***No widow shall be compelled to marry, so long as she prefers to live without a husband; provided always that she gives security not to marry without our consent, if she holds of us, or without the consent of the lord of whom she holds, if she holds of another.

9. Neither we nor our bailiffs will seize any land or rent for any debt, as long as the chattels of the debtor are sufficient to repay the debt; nor shall the sureties of the debtor be distrained so long as the principal debtor is able to satisfy the debt; and if the principal debtor shall fail to pay the debt, having nothing wherewith to pay it, then the sureties shall answer for the debt; and let them have the lands and rents of the debtor, if they desire them, until they are indemnified for the debt which they have paid for him, unless the principal debtor can show proof that he is discharged thereof as against the said sureties.

10. If one who has borrowed from the Jews any sum, great or small, die before that loan be repaid, the debt shall not bear interest while the heir is under age, of whomsoever he may hold; and if the debt fall into our hands, we will not take anything except the principal sum contained in the bond.

11. ***And if anyone die indebted to the Jews, his wife shall have her dower and pay nothing of that debt; and if any children of the deceased are left under age, necessaries shall be provided for them in keeping with the holding of the deceased; and out of the residue the debt shall be paid, reserving, however, service due to feudal lords; in like manner let it be done touching debts due to others than Jews.

12. No scutage not aid shall be imposed on our kingdom, unless by common counsel of our kingdom, except for ransoming our person, for making our eldest son a knight, and for once marrying our eldest daughter; and for these there shall not be levied more than a reasonable aid. In like manner it shall be done concerning aids from the city of London.

13. And the city of London shall have all it ancient liberties and free customs, as well by land as by water; furthermore, we decree and grant that all other cities, boroughs, towns, and ports shall have all their liberties and free customs.

14. And for obtaining the common counsel of the kingdom anent the assessing of an aid (except in the three cases aforesaid) or of a scutage, we will cause to be summoned the archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, and greater barons, severally by our letters; and we will moveover cause to be summoned generally, through our sheriffs and bailiffs, and others who hold of us in chief, for a fixed date, namely, after the expiry of at least forty days, and at a fixed place; and in all letters of such summons we will specify the reason of the summons. And when the summons has thus been made, the business shall proceed on the day appointed, according to the counsel of such as are present, although not all who were summoned have come.

15. We will not for the future grant to anyone license to take an aid from his own free tenants, except to ransom his person, to make his eldest son a knight, and once to marry his eldest daughter; and on each of these occasions there shall be levied only a reasonable aid.

16. No one shall be distrained for performance of greater service for a knight's fee, or for any other free tenement, than is due therefrom.

17. Common pleas shall not follow our court, but shall be held in some fixed place.

18. Inquests of novel disseisin, of mort d'ancestor, and of darrein presentment shall not be held elsewhere than in their own county courts, and that in manner following; We, or, if we should be out of the realm, our chief justiciar, will send two justiciaries through every county four times a year, who shall alone with four knights of the county chosen by the county, hold the said assizes in the county court, on the day and in the place of meeting of that court.

19. And if any of the said assizes cannot be taken on the day of the county court, let there remain of the knights and freeholders, who were present at the county court on that day, as many as may be required for the efficient making of judgments, according as the business be more or less.

20. A freeman shall not be amerced for a slight offense, except in accordance with the degree of the offense; and for a grave offense he shall be amerced in accordance with the gravity of the offense, yet saving always his "contentment"; and a merchant in the same way, saving his "merchandise"; and a villein shall be amerced in the same way, saving his "wainage" if they have fallen into our mercy: and none of the aforesaid amercements shall be imposed except by the oath of honest men of the neighborhood.

21. Earls and barons shall not be amerced except through their peers, and only in accordance with the degree of the offense.

22. A clerk shall not be amerced in respect of his lay holding except after the manner of the others aforesaid; further, he shall not be amerced in accordance with the extent of his ecclesiastical benefice.

23. No village or individual shall be compelled to make bridges at river banks, except those who from of old were legally bound to do so.

24. No sheriff, constable, coroners, or others of our bailiffs, shall hold pleas of our Crown.

25. All counties, hundred, wapentakes, and trithings (except our demesne manors) shall remain at the old rents, and without any additional payment.

26. ***If anyone holding of us a lay fief shall die, and our sheriff or bailiff shall exhibit our letters patent of summons for a debt which the deceased owed us, it shall be lawful for our sheriff or bailiff to attach and enroll the chattels of the deceased, found upon the lay fief, to the value of that debt, at the sight of law worthy men, provided always that nothing whatever be thence removed until the debt which is evident shall be fully paid to us; and the residue shall be left to the executors to fulfill the will of the deceased; and if there be nothing due from him to us, all the chattels shall go to the deceased, saving to his wife and children their reasonable shares.

27. If any freeman shall die intestate, his chattels shall be distributed by the hands of his nearest kinsfolk and friends, under supervision of the Church, saving to every one the debts which the deceased owed to him.

28. No constable or other bailiff of ours shall take corn or other provisions from anyone without immediately tendering money therefor, unless he can have postponement thereof by permission of the seller.

29. No constable shall compel any knight to give money in lieu of castle-guard, when he is willing to perform it in his own person, or (if he himself cannot do it from any reasonable cause) then by another responsible man. Further, if we have led or sent him upon military service, he shall be relieved from guard in proportion to the time during which he has been on service because of us.

30. No sheriff or bailiff of ours, or other person, shall take the horses or carts of any freeman for transport duty, against the will of the said freeman.

31. Neither we nor our bailiffs shall take, for our castles or for any other work of ours, wood which is not ours, against the will of the owner of that wood.

32. We will not retain beyond one year and one day, the lands those who have been convicted of felony, and the lands shall thereafter be handed over to the lords of the fiefs.

33. All kydells for the future shall be removed altogether from Thames and Medway, and throughout all England, except upon the seashore.

34. The writ which is called praecipe shall not for the future be issued to anyone, regarding any tenement whereby a freeman may lose his court.

35. Let there be one measure of wine throughout our whole realm; and one measure of ale; and one measure of corn, to wit, "the London quarter"; and one width of cloth (whether dyed, or russet, or "halberget"), to wit, two ells within the selvedges; of weights also let it be as of measures.

36. Nothing in future shall be given or taken for awrit of inquisition of life or limbs, but freely it shall be granted, and never denied.

37. If anyone holds of us by fee-farm, either by socage or by burage, or of any other land by knight's service, we will not (by reason of that fee-farm, socage, or burgage), have the wardship of the heir, or of such land of his as if of the fief of that other; nor shall we have wardship of that fee-farm, socage, or burgage, unless such fee-farm owes knight's service. We will not by reason of any small serjeancy which anyone may hold of us by the service of rendering to us knives, arrows, or the like, have wardship of his heir or of the land which he holds of another lord by knight's service.

38. No bailiff for the future shall, upon his own unsupported complaint, put anyone to his "law", without credible witnesses brought for this purposes.

39. No freemen shall be taken or imprisoned or disseised or exiled or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him nor send upon him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.

40. To no one will we sell, to no one will we refuse or delay, right or justice.

41. All merchants shall have safe and secure exit from England, and entry to England, with the right to tarry there and to move about as well by land as by water, for buying and selling by the ancient and right customs, quit from all evil tolls, except (in time of war) such merchants as are of the land at war with us. And if such are found in our land at the beginning of the war, they shall be detained, without injury to their bodies or goods, until information be received by us, or by our chief justiciar, how the merchants of our land found in the land at war with us are treated; and if our men are safe there, the others shall be safe in our land.

42. It shall be lawful in future for anyone (excepting always those imprisoned or outlawed in accordance with the law of the kingdom, and natives of any country at war with us, and merchants, who shall be treated as if above provided) to leave our kingdom and to return, safe and secure by land and water, except for a short period in time of war, on grounds of public policy- reserving always the allegiance due to us.

43. If anyone holding of some escheat (such as the honor of Wallingford, Nottingham, Boulogne, Lancaster, or of other escheats which are in our hands and are baronies) shall die, his heir shall give no other relief, and perform no other service to us than he would have done to the baron if that barony had been in the baron's hand; and we shall hold it in the same manner in which the baron held it.

44. Men who dwell without the forest need not henceforth come before our justiciaries of the forest upon a general summons, unless they are in plea, or sureties of one or more, who are attached for the forest.

45. We will appoint as justices, constables, sheriffs, or bailiffs only such as know the law of the realm and mean to observe it well.

46. All barons who have founded abbeys, concerning which they hold charters from the kings of England, or of which they have long continued possession, shall have the wardship of them, when vacant, as they ought to have.

47. All forests that have been made such in our time shall forthwith be disafforsted; and a similar course shall be followed with regard to river banks that have been placed "in defense" by us in our time.

48. All evil customs connected with forests and warrens, foresters and warreners, sheriffs and their officers, river banks and their wardens, shall immediately by inquired into in each county by twelve sworn knights of the same county chosen by the honest men of the same county, and shall, within forty days of the said inquest, be utterly abolished, so as never to be restored, provided always that we previously have intimation thereof, or our justiciar, if we should not be in England.

49. We will immediately restore all hostages and charters delivered to us by Englishmen, as sureties of the peace of faithful service.

50. We will entirely remove from their bailiwicks, the relations of Gerard of Athee (so that in future they shall have no bailiwick in England); namely, Engelard of Cigogne, Peter, Guy, and Andrew of Chanceaux, Guy of Cigogne, Geoffrey of Martigny with his brothers, Philip Mark with his brothers and his nephew Geoffrey, and the whole brood of the same.

51. As soon as peace is restored, we will banish from the kingdom all foreign born knights, crossbowmen, serjeants, and mercenary soldiers who have come with horses and arms to the kingdom's hurt.

52. If anyone has been dispossessed or removed by us, without the legal judgment of his peers, from his lands, castles, franchises, or from his right, we will immediately restore them to him; and if a dispute arise over this, then let it be decided by the five and twenty barons of whom mention is made below in the clause for securing the peace. Moreover, for all those possessions, from which anyone has, without the lawful judgment of his peers, been disseised or removed, by our father, King Henry, or by our brother, King Richard, and which we retain in our hand (or which as possessed by others, to whom we are bound to warrant them) we shall have respite until the usual term of crusaders; excepting those things about which a plea has been raised, or an inquest made by our order, before our taking of the cross; but as soon as we return from the expedition, we will immediately grant full justice therein.

53. We shall have, moreover, the same respite and in the same manner in rendering justice concerning the disafforestation or retention of those forests which Henry our father and Richard our brother afforested, and concerning the wardship of lands which are of the fief of another (namely, such wardships as we have hitherto had by reason of a fief which anyone held of us by knight's service), and concerning abbeys founded on other fiefs than our own, in which the lord of the fee claims to have right; and when we have returned, or if we desist from our expedition, we will immediately grant full justice to all who complain of such things.

54. ***No one shall be arrested or imprisoned upon the appeal of a woman, for the death of any other than her husband.

55. All fines made with us unjustly and against the law of the land, and all amercements, imposed unjustly and against the law of the land, shall be entirely remitted, or else it shall be done concerning them according to the decision of the five and twenty barons whom mention is made below in the clause for securing the pease, or according to the judgment of the majority of the same, along with the aforesaid Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, if he can be present, and such others as he may wish to bring with him for this purpose, and if he cannot be present the business shall nevertheless proceed without him, provided always that if any one or more of the aforesaid five and twenty barons are in a similar suit, they shall be removed as far as concerns this particular judgment, others being substituted in their places after having been selected by the rest of the same five and twenty for this purpose only, and after having been sworn.

56. If we have disseised or removed Welshmen from lands or liberties, or other things, without the legal judgment of their peers in England or in Wales, they shall be immediately restored to them; and if a dispute arise over this, then let it be decided in the marches by the judgment of their peers; for the tenements in England according to the law of England, for tenements in Wales according to the law of Wales, and for tenements in the marches according to the law of the marches. Welshmen shall do the same to us and ours.

57. Further, for all those possessions from which any Welshman has, without the lawful judgment of his peers, been disseised or removed by King Henry our father, or King Richard our brother, and which we retain in our hand (or which are possessed by others, and which we ought to warrant), we will have respite until the usual term of crusaders; excepting those things about which a plea has been raised or an inquest made by our order before we took the cross; but as soon as we return (or if perchance we desist from our expedition), we will immediately grant full justice in accordance with the laws of the Welsh and in relation to the foresaid regions.

58. We will immediately give up the son of Llywelyn and all the hostages of Wales, and the charters delivered to us as security for the peace.

59. We will do towards Alexander, king of Scots, concerning the return of his sisters and his hostages, and concerning his franchises, and his right, in the same manner as we shall do towards our owher barons of England, unless it ought to be otherwise according to the charters which we hold from William his father, formerly king of Scots; and this shall be according to the judgment of his peers in our court.

60. Moreover, all these aforesaid customs and liberties, the observances of which we have granted in our kingdom as far as pertains to us towards our men, shall be observed by all of our kingdom, as well clergy as laymen, as far as pertains to them towards their men.

61. Since, moveover, for God and the amendment of our kingdom and for the better allaying of the quarrel that has arisen between us and our barons, we have granted all these concessions, desirous that they should enjoy them in complete and firm endurance forever, we give and grant to them the underwritten security, namely, that the barons choose five and twenty barons of the kingdom, whomsoever they will, who shall be bound with all their might, to observe and hold, and cause to be observed, the peace and liberties we have granted and confirmed to them by this our present Charter, so that if we, or our justiciar, or our bailiffs or any one of our officers, shall in anything be at fault towards anyone, or shall have broken any one of the articles of this peace or of this security, and the offense be notified to four barons of the foresaid five and twenty, the said four barons shall repair to us (or our justiciar, if we are out of the realm) and, laying the transgression before us, petition to have that transgression redressed without delay. And if we shall not have corrected the transgression (or, in the event of our being out of the realm, if our justiciar shall not have corrected it) within forty days, reckoning from the time it has been intimated to us (or to our justiciar, if we should be out of the realm), the four barons aforesaid shall refer that matter to the rest of the five and twenty barons, and those five and twenty barons shall, together with the community of the whole realm, distrain and distress us in all possible ways, namely, by seizing our castles, lands, possessions, and in any other way they can, until redress has been obtained as they deem fit, saving harmless our own person, and the persons of our queen and children; and when redress has been obtained, they shall resume their old relations towards us. And let whoever in the country desires it, swear to obey the orders of the said five and twenty barons for the execution of all the aforesaid matters, and along with them, to molest us to the utmost of his power; and we publicly and freely grant leave to everyone who wishes to swear, and we shall never forbid anyone to swear. All those, moveover, in the land who of themselves and of their own accord are unwilling to swear to the twenty five to help them in constraining and molesting us, we shall by our command compel the same to swear to the effect foresaid. And if any one of the five and twenty barons shall have died or departed from the land, or be incapacitated in any other manner which would prevent the foresaid provisions being carried out, those of the said twenty five barons who are left shall choose another in his place according to their own judgment, and he shall be sworn in the same way as the others. Further, in all matters, the execution of which is entrusted,to these twenty five barons, if perchance these twenty five are present and disagree about anything, or if some of them, after being summoned, are unwilling or unable to be present, that which the majority of those present ordain or command shall be held as fixed and established, exactly as if the whole twenty five had concurred in this; and the said twenty five shall swear that they will faithfully observe all that is aforesaid, and cause it to be observed with all their might. And we shall procure nothing from anyone, directly or indirectly, whereby any part of these concessions and liberties might be revoked or diminished; and if any such things has been procured, let it be void and null, and we shall never use it personally or by another.

62. And all the will, hatreds, and bitterness that have arisen between us and our men, clergy and lay, from the date of the quarrel, we have completely remitted and pardoned to everyone. Moreover, all trespasses occasioned by the said quarrel, from Easter in the sixteenth year of our reign till the restoration of peace, we have fully remitted to all, both clergy and laymen, and completely forgiven, as far as pertains to us. And on this head, 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, of the bishops aforesaid, and of Master Pandulf as touching this security and the concessions aforesaid.

63. Wherefore we will and firmly order that the English Church be free, and that the men in our kingdom have and hold all the aforesaid liberties, rights, and concessions, well and peaceably, freely and quietly, fully and wholly, for themselves and their heirs, of us and our heirs, in all respects and in all places forever, as is aforesaid. An oath, moreover, has been taken, as well on our part as on the part of the barons, that all these conditions aforesaid shall be kept in good faith and without evil intent. Given under our hand - the above named and many others being witnesses - in the meadow which is called Runnymede, between Windsor and Staines, on the fifteenth day of June, in the seventeenth year of our reign.

Bibliography on the Rights of Women in the 1215 Magna Carta

Books:

Carpenter, David A. Magna Carta. London: Penguin Books, 2015.

Vincent, Nicholas. Magna Carta: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.

Danziger, Danny, and John Gillingham. 1215: The Year of Magna Carta. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2003.

Turner, Ralph V. Magna Carta: Through the Ages. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited, 2003.

Hudson, John. The Formation of the English Common Law: Law and Society in England from the Norman Conquest to Magna Carta. London: Routledge, 2017.

Linehan, Peter. The Rights and Liberties of Women in Medieval England: A History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Helmholz, Richard H. Magna Carta and the Ius Commune. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.

Articles:

Saul, Nigel. "The Influence of Magna Carta on the Rights of Women in Medieval England." Historical Research 85, no. 228 (2012): 637-654.

Thorne, Samuel E. "Women and the Law in the Age of Magna Carta." Speculum 60, no. 4 (1985): 949-981.

Turner, Ralph V. "Magna Carta and the Women of King John's Court." Journal of British Studies 26, no. 2 (1987): 107-122.

Ward, Jennifer. "Women in England in the Age of Magna Carta." Past and Present 46, no. 2 (2015): 213-232.

Clanchy, Michael T. "Women, Legal Documents, and Literacy in England, 1150-1350." The Past and Present Society 52, no. 1 (1971): 3-37.

Hanawalt, Barbara A. "The Widow’s Mite: The Wealth and Choices of Women in Medieval London." The Medieval Review 14, no. 2 (1998): 149-168.

Sharpe, Kevin. "The Legal Rights of Women in the Magna Carta and Its Legacy." Law and History Review 24, no. 2 (2006): 299-324.