J. C. Holt, Magna Carta [second edition], pp. 67-69

The vigorous search for and defence of administrative liberties is typical of local English society at this time. The evidence of it crops up in unexpected places. In 1207 Peter de Brus, lord of Danby and Skelton, bought the wapentake of Langbargh in Cleveland for 400 m., promising the annual render of the ancient farm and an increment of l20. The proffer appears on the rolls as a straightforward offer for an individual privilege, no different from hundreds of others. But the survival of the following charter, issued by Peter de Brus between 1207 and Michaelmas 1209, gives it much greater significance.

Know that I have granted and confirmed by this my present charter to the knights and free-tenants of Cleveland and their men that none of them shall be summoned or impleaded in the Wapentake of Langbargh except by consideration of the Wapentake or through a reasonable 'sacrabar', nor shall they be troubled by pretence of a plea; and if any of them incurs a forfeiture it shall be assessed according to his chattels and according to the offence for which he incurred it. I also grant to them that my sergeants in the Wapentake shall swear to observe and maintain these liberties faithfully according to the tenor of my charter; and if any of them is condemned for this, he shall be removed by me or my heirs and be replaced by another. I also concede to them that the chief sergeant of the Wapentake shall have no more than three horses and three mounted sergeants under him, namely two in Cleveland and one in Whitbystrand. And in return for these liberties the same knights and free-tenants have conceded that if the sergeant of the Wapentake of Langbargh can show by a reasonable account that he cannot make up the farm of the lord king, namely 40 m., and his reasonable expenses from the issues of the Wapentake, then the same knights and free-tenants will pay the residue of the due farm of 40 m., allowing for the reasonable expenses of the chief sergeant as testified by me and my stewards. I concede all the aforesaid liberties to the knights and free-tenants of Cleveland and their heirs to be held of me and my heirs in perpetuity. Witness Roger, constable of Chester, Robert de Ros, Eustace de Vescy, Robert Walensis, then sheriff of Yorkshire, Walter de Fauconberg, Ruald, constable of Richmond, Brian fitz Alan, John of Birkin, William fitz Ralph, Walter of Boynton and many others.

Peter de Brus was a leading figure in the rebellion in the northern counties at the end of John's reign. Among the witnesses who were still alive, Ruald, constable of Richmond, Brian fitz Alan and John of Birkin were all rebels; Robert de Ros and Eustace de Vescy were among the most important figures in the rebellion; both were members of the court of Twenty-Five. In short, men who were closely concerned with the liberties of 1215 are here shown applying closely related liberties in northern Yorkshire at least six years earlier. Here, as at Runnymede, the agreement was embodied in a charter. While the Great Charter was a grant in favour of all free men of the realm, Peter's was in favour of the knights, free-tenants and their men of Cleveland. While the Great Charter forbade that men should have to answer allegations based on unsupported complaint of a bailiff, Peter promised that men should only be 'impleaded by the consideration of the Wapentake or through reasonable sacrabar'. Peter's officers, like John's men in 1215, had to swear to observe the agreement, and both documents show the same desire to avoid burdensome government by local officials. The Cleveland charter, like the Great Charter, laid down that monetary penalties were to be assessed with reference to the nature of the offence and the wealth of the offender. The first of these limitations also appears in the charter of Henry I. Indeed Peter's charter differs from the two royal charters at this point no more than they differ from each other. Finally, like Magna Carta, the liberties or Langbargh were granted in perpetuum.

These are the liberties displayed on the surface of local politics. The witness-list, containing as it does the sheriff of Yorkshire, Roger de Lacy constable of Chester, and his deputy, Robert Walensis, two great barons of the county, Robert de Ros and Eustace de Vescy, major tenants of the honor of Richmond, and, in Walter of Boynton, the treasurer of the abbey of St. Mary's, York, indicates that it was promulgated in the county court. That the charter survives in the cartulary of the priory of Guisborough, a Brus foundation, suggests that the knights and freemen of Langbargh deposited their charter in the local monastery. Where better to find a treasury for their wapentake.