More numerous than straight copies of the 1217  Charter are copies which embody elements from both 1217 and 1225.  The hybrid versions take different forms, but the most common  seem to have a  text of 1217  into which, at the start, the  king making the concessions of his own spontaneous and free will has been inserted from 1225.  At the end, as a minimum,  included from 1225 is the concession of the Charter in return for a tax. The regular inclusion of these elements shows how important they were thought to be, the concession  in return for the tax being the proof that the king had indeed acted spontaneously.   A large number of the hybrids, despite having the concession of the tax as in 1225, and leaving out the sealing clause from 1217, are given by Richard Marsh on 6 November 1217. They presumably derive from a text of the 1217 Charter, either an engrossment or more likely a draft, given by Richard Marsh, which has been annotated  with the new features from 1225. If initially these were in the margin, a later copyist might well incorporate them into the main text. In one example below (British Library Harley MS 746, below p.57), a clerk actually notes what he has included from 1225. Hybrids also worked the other way round with a 1225 text being annotated, as in the Cerne abbey copy of the 1225 text, with what had been left out from 1217 (below pp.63-4).1

The copy in the chronicle of Walter of Guisborough: The Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough, ed. H. Rothwell (Camden Society, 89, 1957), pp.162-9.

 I have placed this first as a printed example of a hybrid text. (Guisborough’s chronicle was written in the late thirteenth, early fourteenth century.) It has the 1217 preamble but with the king acting on his own spontaneous and free will. In chapter 2, the earl is to owe a £100 relief ‘de comitatu integro’ and the baronial relief is put at 100 marks. The writ precipe (chapter 24 in 1225 and 30 in 1217)  is called the writ ‘precipe in capite’.  The end of the Charter is 1225 not 1217 so the chapter about the destruction of unauthorized castles built in the war and the statement that the Charter has been sealed by the legate and William Marshal is omitted.  The saving clause is in the 1225 not the 1217 place (see below pp.60-1),  the concessions are made in return for the tax, and the king promises to seek nothing to overturn the concessions.  The  Charter is given by Richard Marsh but the date is not the usual 6 November 1217 but 11 February 1225, the date of the 1225 Charter. (In the surviving engrossments of the 1225 Charter no ‘giver’ is named.) The Charter of the Forest which follows (pp.169-73) has the same characteristics, but ends, as do none of the engrossments, with it being witnessed by the king.

The Black Book of Christ Church Dublin: Dublin, Representative Church Body Library, C.6. 1.1, fos.165-166v.2

The copy here is analysed in  H.J. Lawlor, ‘An unnoticed charter of Henry III, 1217’, English Historical Review, 22 (1907), pp.514-8.  The preamble is  that of the 1217 Charter  but with the king acting on his free and  spontaneous will. The end is as the 1225 Charter, so it includes the tax and has nothing about adulterine castles. The Charter is given by Richard Marsh on 6 November 1217. The text of Magna Carta is followed by a similarly hybrid version of the Forest Charter but without date and giving clause.

A cartulary of Luffield priory: Cambridge, University Library, Ee. I. I., fos.157-158.3

This is the 1217 Charter but with the tax and other variants from 1225. It is given by Richard Marsh, styled archbishop of Dublin rather than bishop of Durham, on 6 November 1217.  

A cartulary of Pipewell abbey: London, British Library, Additional 37022, fos.135v-137v.4  

This copy has Henry acting of his own spontaneous and free will at the start and does not refer to the legate and William Marshal. However, it retains the end of the 1217 Charter, so has nothing about the tax and includes the chapter on adulterine castles. It concludes by stating the Charter is sealed by the legate and William Marshal, and there is no ‘giving’ clause with Richard Marsh.  There is also (between fos.137v-138v) a copy of the Charter of the Forest, which has no reference to the legate and William Marshal, to  the king acting on his spontaneous will,  or to the tax.

Wells Cathedral ‘Liber Albus’: Wells, Cathedral Archives, DC/CF/2/1.5

I have not looked at the copy here  but judging from the report in HMC Wells, I, ix, 256 it is  the Charter of 1217 with some additions, including the tax, from 1225. It is given by Richard Marsh on 6 November 1217. An undated copy of the Charter of the Forest follows.

A fourteenth-century volume of largely ecclesiastical statutes: Cambridge,  Peterhouse, 51 ii, deposited at Cambridge University Library, fos.129v-131. 

Although the name of the king is given as ‘Edward’, this has the preamble of the 1217 Charter, but with the king acting on his spontaneous and free will. It also has  the 1225 tax at the end. It is given by Richard Marsh at St Paul’s on 6 November 1217.  The Charter of the Forest which follows (fos.131-131v) is in Henry’s name.

A late thirteenth, early fourteenth-century statute book: Glasgow, University Library, Gen. 336.

This is the 1217 text with the king acting of his own spontaneous and free will and with the tax at the end. It is given by Richard Marsh at  St. Paul’s on 6 November 1217.6

A late thirteenth century statute book:  San Marino (CA), Huntington Library, 25782,  fos.17-20v.

 This copy (in the same volume from which Galbraith’s 1215 copy came) has the 1217 preamble without any reference to free and spontaneous will.  The earl’s relief is ‘de comitatu integro’. The baronial relief is 100 marks. The end is as the 1225 Charter, so there is nothing on adulterine castles. The  saving clause is in the 1225 position, there is the tax, and the promise not to seek anything to overturn the concessions. There is one witness, namely Stephen archbishop of Canterbury, and no giving clause and date.

A statute book from the reign of Edward I associated with Hugh de Cressingham: London, The National Archives, E 164/ 9, fos.xvi-xviii.

The book's copy of the 1215 Charter has been described above (p.28).  Copied here is the 1225 Charter but it is  given by Richard Marsh at St Paul’s on 6 November 1217. Underneath this, however, a smaller cursive hand notes that it was given at Westminster on 11 February 1225. A hand has also made small corrections in the body of the Charter. The chapters are numbered 1 to 33 and are described in a table of contents. The earl's relief is 'de baronia comitis integra' but a later hand has crossed out the 'baronia'. The baron's relief is 100 marks. The Forest Charter follows between fos.xviiiv-xix (see above note 111).

A late thirteenth-century statute book: London, British Library, Additional 38821, fos.86-88v.

This is a copy in French.  The preamble is as 1225. The earl owes his relief 'de baronie conte enter'. The baronial relief is 100 marks. At the end, the saving clause comes in the 1217 position. There are no witnesses or dating clause but the Forest Charter which follows combines a 1225 start with the Charter being given by the legate and the Marshal on 6 November 1217: 'Done per les mains le Legat e le Mareschal a Sein Pol de Londres le Witisme Ide de Novembre en lan de nostre regne secund'.  The Forest Charter is followed by a French text of the Statute of Merton.

A single sheet hybrid of the Charters of 1217 and 1225 with a dating clause in 1252:  London, British Library,  Cotton Augustus ii. 51.

This extraordinary concoction is described by Nicholas Vincent in his Magna Origins and Legacy, 268 no.38.7 It begins as 1225 with the king issuing the Charter of his spontaneous and free will and granting its liberties to everyone. Then it moves over to 1217 for the counselors on whose advice Henry is acting. The end is as 1225 with the position of the saving clause and the tax. The Charter is said to be given on 11 February at Westminster but in the thirty-sixth year of Henry's reign not the ninth, so February 1252.  The hand is compatible with a date of around then. The first witness is made Boniface of Savoy, archbishop of Canterbury while R. bishop of Lincoln could stand for Robert Grosseteste. The other bishops, however, have  names or inititials not matching up with anyone in post in 1252.8 Since the text was written on imperfect parchment it was no serious attempt at forgery.  Whatever the precise motive,  this  effort to bring the Charter up to date, however crude,  shows its importance in the year before the great confirmation of 1253.  The feelings of the scribe are revealed in the way he inserts  'pravus' before 'ballivus'  in chapter 28 - 'nullus pravus ballivus' is to make accusations on his own unsupported testimony.9    

A late thirteenth-century, early fourteenth-century statute book:  London, British Library, Harley 493A, fos.41v-45.

This has the preamble of 1217 but with the king acting on his spontaneous and free will. At the end it has  the tax. It is given by Richard Marsh on 6 November 1217. The baronial relief is put at 100 marks. There are thirty-five numbered chapters.

A late thirteenth, early fourteenth-century statute book: London, British Library Harley, 746, fos.65v-68.

This has  the 1217 Charter but with the tax included at the end and the chapter on adulterine castles omitted.  A marginal note ‘de secunda carta’ draws attention to the fact that the tax and the promise not to revoke the concessions come from the 1225 Charter. (Evidently the 1216 Charter is forgotten). There is nothing about sealing, giving or date. In the margin,  the preamble to the 1225 Charter, with the king’s statement that he is acting of his own spontaneous and free will, is set out. A note draws attention to it: ‘in margine presentis carte continentur emendaciones facte in secunda carte Henrici regis filii regis Johannis quas concessit et proprio sigillo suo confirmavit priusquam ad etatem legitimam pervenit’. It is interesting to see this awareness that Henry III was not of full age in 1225. The book also has the Forest Charter (fos.64-65v). This is the 1217 text but with the tax. The 1225 preamble is set out in the same way in the margin. This time the Charter does have a concluding section. It is sealed by the legate and William Marshal and given by Richard Marsh at St Paul’s on 6 November 1217.  

A late thirteenth, early fourteenth-century statute book: London, British Library,  Harley 748, fos.65-8. 

This has the 1217 preamble but with the king acting on his spontaneous and free will. At the end it has the tax of 1225 and the promise not to seek anything to infringe the Charters. The saving clause is in the 1225 place. There is no sealing or giving clause and thus no date.  The Charter of the Forest which follows (fos.67-8) looks to be the text of 1225 but has likewise no date or witness list. There is a table of contents (fol.63) with a description of each chapter. The number  is thirty-five. The earl owes his relief 'de comitatu integro' and the baronial relief is 100 marks. After the Forest Charter, there is the 1253 sentence of excommunication (fol.68-68v).

A late thirteenth, early fourteenth-century statute book:  London, British Library, Harley 869, fos.7-8v.

This has both the king acting on his spontaneous and free will and the tax, but is given by Richard Marsh on 6 November 1217.  The ‘H’ in ‘Henricus’ at the start is illuminated and has an image of Henry sitting enthroned.  The Forest Charter follows (fos.8v-9v), and is said to end as Magna Carta.

A late thirteenth, early fourteenth-century statute book: London, British Library, Harley 1033, fos.14-16v.

This has the 1217 preamble although Guala’s name has been misread. The concession of freedom to the church is made not merely to God but to the blessed Mary and all the saints.  The earl's relief is ‘de comitatu integro’. The baronial relief is 100 marks.  At the end there is the tax  and the promise not to seek anything by which the concessions might be revoked.  The Charter is said to be given at Westminster on 10 February 1225. The ‘testibus prenominatis’, however, are then taken from the 1217 Charter, and after that is the statement that the Charter has been given by Richard Marsh on, however, 2 November rather than 6 November 1217.  No place is specified.

A late thirteenth, early fourteenth-century statute book: London, British Library, Harley 1120, fos.5-8.

This has the 1217 preamble but with Henry acting of his spontaneous and free will. It has the tax of 1225 at the end. The ‘testibus prenominatis’ is from the  1217 Charter. The Charter is given by Richard Marsh at St Paul’s on 6 November 1217. The Forest Charter follows (fos.8-9v) and looks to be the Charter of 1217 but for a conclusion one is just referred to the copy of Magna Carta.

A late thirteenth, early fourteenth-century statute book: London, British Library, Harley 4975, fos.17-19v.

The 1217 text  but with the king acting on his own sponatnaeous and free will and with the 1225 tax at the end. Given by Richard Marsh on 6 November 1217.  The earl's relief is 'de comitatu integro' and the baronial relief is 100 marks. The Forest Charter follows (fos.20-21v) with the statement it ends as the other Charter.