" Thereupon
it was agreed "that the said John had no franchise within the liberties
of the City aforesaid, nor was he in future to intermeddle with any
pleas holden in the Guildhall of London or with any matters touching the
liberties of the City."
Probably this resolution served as a quietus of the efforts of the
Fitzwalters to establish or re-establish the right of jurisdiction over
the citizens of London. It seems likely that these were endeavours to
reinstitute ancient privileges rather than to create new. The document
in the "Liber Custumarum," used in support of the claims of Robert
Fitzwalter in 1303, contains a reference to the Friars Preachers, which
would lead to the supposition that it was drawn up at the time; but
Riley believes that it was remodelled, perhaps only to the extent of
this interpolation, and that otherwise it was a copy of an earlier
pronouncement pertaining to the days of the first Robert Fitzwalter, who
would have been the actual owner of Baynard Castle.
This has an important bearing on the reality of the dual or reciprocal
obligations, which were apparently embodied in a compact between the
Mayor and Citizens of London on the one part, and their military chief
or champion on the other. Thus it will be necessary to glance at the
personal history of the elder Robert Fitzwalter, on which something has
been already said. According to the Chronicle of Dunmow and other early
records, the principal reason of Fitzwalter's insatiable hatred of King
John was that the monarch had attempted the chastity of Matilda,
Robert's fair daughter, who, by the way, is identified by Anthony Munday
and other Elizabethan playwrights with the Maid Marian of Robin Hood.
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