EDWARD I (1239-1307), King of England, Lord of Ireland and Duke of Aquitaine. Letters patent, inspeximus of a charter of Henry III confirming the grant of the borough of Wycombe to its burgesses, Westminster, 12 June 1285.

EDWARD I (1239-1307), King of England, Lord of Ireland and Duke of Aquitaine. Letters patent, inspeximus of a charter of Henry III confirming the grant of the borough of Wycombe to its burgesses, Westminster, 12 June 1285.

In Latin. On vellum, 30 lines on one membrane, 325 x 435mm, space intended for a decorated initial letter left blank, contemporary docket on fold-up 'Duplicatur p[er] Cancellar[ium]' (light soiling and creasing, slight green spotting, probably from the seal). Great seal of Edward I in green wax pendant on green and brown cords (the seal somewhat worn around edges). Provenance: Sotheby's, 13 December 1965, lot 192; bought by H. Knill.

Confirmation of the foundation grant of the free borough of High Wycombe. Edward's charter is an inspeximus (recitation and confirmation) of a grant made by his father, Henry III, in 1237, which itself was an inspeximus of a final concord in the curia regis in 1226, settling a dispute between the burgesses of Wycombe and Alan Basset, Lord of Wycombe: under the terms of the concord, Alan granted the burgesses the whole borough of Wycombe with its rents, markets and fairs and with 'all other things belonging to the free borough', together with all of Alan's improvements and purchases including the buildings of the 'Cnaventhorn' [moot hall], except for Alan's demesnes, his forinsec farms and his mills, to be held in perpetual fee farm from Alan, paying yearly 30 pounds and one mark; Alan is to acquit the burgesses of the farm of 20 pounds to the king and the due feudal service of one knight; it is noted that the cattle fair is to continue yearly in Alan's field where it was before, and Alan is to retain the rights to dung found in the streets of Wycombe.

Alan Basset had been granted the lordship of Wycombe by King John in 1203, and the agreement to which this charter refers was the culmination of a prolonged conflict in which the burgesses of Wycombe attempted to maintain their freedoms in the face of Alan's attempts to constrain and profit from them.

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