LEGISLATION ANTERIOR TO " CHARTA FORESTA." 211 



they remained in this state even when of trees there were 

 none, the laws being executed with the right of forestage, 

 and with all the privileges pertaining to royal forests and 

 the laws of Canute. Mr M'William writes : 



" The laws of Canute were afterward confirmed by divers 

 succeeding kings, though in practice they generally appear 

 to have been little if anything more than the will of the 

 crown. Yet during the time of Canute, and several 

 of his successors, they affected the purse only : but the 

 clergy, barons, and others, felt the severity of Henry II., 

 and the far greater of Richard I. ; for the last king 

 directed, that whoever was convicted of killing bird or 

 beast, or royal game, within the royal forests, should lose 

 his eyes and testicles. For carrying this command into 

 effect he appointed Hugh Neuill, Hugh Waly, and 

 Hernisius Neuill, commissioners : yet notwithstanding all 

 this, it is pretty clear that an overstretch of power, 

 exercised by King John towards the higher classes, was 

 the principal cause of curtailing the authority of the crown 

 in the matter of forests. The fact was this. In the year 

 1209 he made war upon the King of Scotland, because 

 that monarch had married his daughter to the Earl of 

 Bullen without his consent. On his return with his army 

 he overthrew and destroyed a great number of parks, 

 warrens, &c., of which some belonged to his barons, but by 

 far the greater part to the abbots and prelates. For, 

 hearing the complaints of the people on his march, he 

 swore with an oath that he would not suffer wild beasts to 

 feed on the fat of his soil and see the people perish for 

 want of food. 



" Whatever might have been his real motive, the clergy 

 and their adherents ascribed this act to an intention to 

 spoil the property of those that opposed him, and to 

 impoverish and bring the northern part of the kingdom to 

 destruction, because he had been refused assistance by it 

 in his expedition against Scotland.* This appears to have 



* Holinshed, p. 206. 



