Treaty of Paris (1303)

Treaty of Perpetual Peace and Friendship

between the Kings of England and France

Confirmed and Sworn

1. To All those, who will see & hear these words, Johan, by the sufferance of God, Bishop of Wyncestre, Amez Count of Sauvoie, Henri de Lacy Count of Nicole, & Ottes de Grauntzon Knight, Envoys & Representatives of the most high Prince Edward, by the Grace of God, King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Acquitaigne, give praise to our Lord.

We make it known that, as for the restoration of peace between our said Lord the King of England on the one side, & the most excellent Prince Phelippe, by the same grace, King of France on the other side, in the discords, & the wars, fought between them, us, & certain other Envoys & Representatives of our said Lord the King of England, have been several times, & in various places assembled, together with the Envoys & Representatives of the said King of France in his name & for him on the other side, in connection with the restoration of the peace said above;

Those who were negotiating, due to certain obstacles, had not come the effect & end desired:

To that very end of our Lord the King of England said above,

Considering & regarding the Kinship & the closeness of lineage that is between him & the King of France, & the great affinity & the alliance newly made between them through marriages; like what was made between him and the father of the said King of France: & what is due to be done with his eldest son & daughter of the said King of France:

And so that the alliance & the love of the one & the other are firmer, & that the King of France is to our Lord the King of England more bound & tied, & better friends, & helpful:

And so to put aside the anger & the scandals, that come from war; & for the common benefit of all Christianity; & the good & swift help of the Holy land:

We have newly sent & especially established, to pursue & finalize the said treaty, together with Milord Loeys son of the King of France Count of Eurieus, Robert of Burgoigne, & Johan of Bretaigne, Dukes, & Milord Pierre Lord of Chambly, & Chamberlain the said King of France, Envoys & Representatives of the said King of France:

Between these which Envoys & Representatives of the said King of France, for him & in his name, & us, for our said Lord the King of England, & in the name of him,

Is now made & affirmed certain full, complete, & established peace, to last perpetually for all days, for them, for their heirs, & for their successors; & are all Grievances, insults, ill-wishes, & hatreds abandoned, absolved, & forgiven from start to finish on one side & the other.

2. And it is agreed, by making this peace, that the King of France is due to return, from now on, & restore, by speech, & in writing, to our said Lord the King of England, or to his Representatives, in the name of him, & to men, & subjects of our said Lord the King of England, & to Himself, all the Cities, Castles, Towns, Villages, Lands, Rents, Fiefs, Homages, Allegiances, & Lordships, & all other manners of Powers, Tenancies, & Rights, & other immovable things, similar to those which are named, which have been granted by the King of France, or by his people, in the name of him, to our Lord the King of England said above, or to His: or which were taken by the King of France, or his Ministers, or his men, or his allies, in war, in the Duchy of Acquitaign in whatsoever manner in which they were taken, or occupied, or otherwise came, or departed the King of France, or His, & which our Lord the King of England, or His are owed, or should come, or are due; as if these lands of the Duchy of Acquitaigne had remained in the hand of our said Lord the King of England, or His; this saving what is now in his hand, & other things will be according to the shape, which follows from this current agreement.

3. Item, the Representatives & Envoys of the said King of England, as stated, in the name of him, & for him, as for the Duke of Acquitagne & Peer of France, for the said Duchy, will come to enter henceforth in faith & allegiance to the King of France, for the said lands, purely, simply, & without condition; in making an oath of fealty on the soul of our said Lord the King of England:

And hearing the said Representative of our Lord the King of England, from the King of France letters of restitution, & of investiture of the lands said above, in accordance with the shape of this current agreement:

And the said Envoys will come to give written statements of fealty, made to the King of France according to the shape of this agreement:

4. And, to grant & in fact deliver the Cities, Castles, Villages, Lands, & all other things said above fully & entirely, & to put aside all obstacles there may be, created by privileges, or by gift, that the King of France made in them, or gave in the land, or otherwise, it will be as follows,

The King of France will send the honorable Pierre and of Pierre, by the said grace, Bishop of Anceurre, Milord Robert Duke of Borgoigne, & two, or three other great men, good & capable, whom the King of France will name, before the fifteenth of the upcoming Pentecost, who will go hastily to the parts of said Duchy, & will work loyally, in good faith, to put aside from start to finish the said obstacles:

And by all this, what they will be able to put aside, & all the places where there is no bit of obstacle, they will deliver it, & will deliver it entirely, shortly, & without delay, to our said Lord the King of England, or to his person for him:

And by the whole, or they shall carry them out, & all the places, or he shall not have impurities, they shall deliver, & have delivered entirely, briefly, & without delay, to our Lord the King of England, or to his pure people:

And they shall quit & absolve, in the name of said King of France, by special request & instruction, which they shall have over these, Cities, Castles, Villages, & Men, of whatever estate, dignity, or condition which they might be, from oaths, fealties, & homages, which they have made to the King of France, or to his people in the name of him:

And they shall be commanded that they should make homages, fealties & oaths, & should be obedient to our said Lord the King of England, & to his heirs, just as to their rightful Lord, & should aid his men, to whom the lands will be returned; save the Sovereignty of the said King of France.

5. And, if any of the Privileges are seen not to return to our said Lord the King of England, they shall use diligence & effort, to their utmost, loyally & in good faith, that these return:

And if this is not able to be done, the said King of France will grant & deliver in tenure, for these said Privileges, to our said Lord the King of England, or to his people, for him, suitable places, Castles, Villages, lands, fiefs, homages, rents, & other tenures better, & more profitable, all things & condition regarded, so sufficiently, that all will be able to clearly see, that the King of France has the will & desire to complete the deliverance, & the restoration, & to deliver to our said Lord the King of England that which might have failed to be delivered by the said obstacles: And that it might not have been by the grace the King of France so entirely, that they might have or return to the hand & allegiance of the King of England, with the damage that they might have.

The which tenures our said Lord the King of England & his Heirs, & Successors will have & hold peacefully & fully, with all the profits, until the said privileges are fully returned to allegiance to our said Lord the King of England.

And no less the said King of France, his Heir, & his Successor, shall be held to work & buy, in good faith, as much as they can, than so the privileges said above, return to the Lordship, & allegiance to our said Lord the King of England, to his heirs, & to his Successors, just as was said above.

And after these said privileges are returned to the hand of our said Lord the King of England, or to his people, just as was said above, the said tenures, which are granted from the King of France to our Lord the King of England, for the said privileges, they will return, & be due to return to the said King of France, & his Successors; this is held all for all, part for part.

6. And it is agreed that the King of France will render, to those who are held of the party of the King of England, that which they might have been given, or otherwise lost, in any manner that it might be, of their inheritances, & of their lands, if he cannot otherwise appease them:

And else he will return, & deliver the gifts, & the other things, lost, by him, or in the name of him, or the Domain of the Duchy of Acquitaigne.

7. And the said people of the King of France, sent to the Duchy of Acquitaigne, shall not depart from that Land, until the said things are complete, & fulfilled, fully & entirely, regarding the return of the lands, & the grant of tenures; just as was said above.

8. And the people affirmed here, for our said Lord the King of England, to obtain the return of the said lands; that is, us, Amez of Sauvoie, Henry of Nichole, Counts: And Ottes de Grauntzon, Knight; as said; who shall work loyally & in good faith, however much we may need, to put aside the said obstacles:

And this, or man we offer with reason, according to the shape of this current agreement, we will take him, & receive willingly, & without delay, loyally & in good faith:

And, if any of the said figures, from one side, or from the other, might be obstructed by death, or by illness, the other for this will not allow a whit less effort than before, to complete & fulfill the things before said, in the manner said above.

9. And the said Bishop of Anceurre, the Duke of Burgoigne swear this: And the other, which the said King will name, will swear on the soul of the King of France, by his special commandment; & they shall also swear, on their own souls, on the Holy Evangels, that all these things before said they will fully deliver, assign, & complete, in the manner before said, loyally & in good faith.

10. And also the people of our said Lord the King of England swear, on the soul of this our Lord the King of England, & on our own souls; that is, we, Amez Count of Savoie, Henri Count of Nicole, & Ottes de Grantzon, Knight, above said, that we will complete, & accomplish all and each of the said things, in the manner above said, loyally & in good faith.

11. Item, it is agreed that, the said things first accomplished, as to the delivery of the lands, & the grant of the tenures, just as was said above, the Kings above said will meet personally at Amyens, on the Feast of the Nativity of our Lady of the upcoming September, to affirm, confirm, & swear the things said above:

And then will our said Lord, the King of England, make liege homage to the King of France simply, without condition, as Duke of Acquitaigne & Peer of France, for the said Duchy:

And our said Lord, the King of England, cannot delay, nor neglect to make the said homage, in the manner above said, for any circumstance, for any reason, nor for any obligation: Not for any thing that may come, nor might come: He cannot excuse himself from coming then personally, not for any excuse, nor obstacle, whatever it might be; nor for any obstacle of illness of his own body, loyally & in good faith; or for obstacle of the sea, or for other legal obstacle or hinderance, so apparent, & so notorious, that all will see that there was neither fraud nor deception:

And, if the said obstacle did occur (which I do not wish) Milord Edward his son would be bound to come there in his own person, with full & sufficient authority & power to make the said fealty, in the name of our said Lord the King of England, & to do, & to complete all the other things said above, in the name of that King, & like his Representative to establish it sufficiently:

And none the less, the said obstacle ceasing, our said Lord the King of England would be bound, to come personally, as soon as he was well able, to do, complete, & accomplish all the things said above.

12. Item, it is agreed that all imprisoned & held hostage will be delivered & freed, & that all manner of letters & written obligations of hostagehood, on the one side & the other; & all other letters, including the return of the Duchy of Aquitaine, made by the King of England, in the hand of the King of France, will be returned, those, which can be found, & the others annulled on the one side & the other.

13. Item, it is agreed that all lands & rents, taken, occupied, or held back, by reason of the war of the King said above, by the King of France, or by his, of men & subjects of the King of England, be it of the Church, or other persons, they will be henceforth, fully & entirely, returned:

And also the lands & the rents, taken, occupied, or held by our said Lord the King of England, or by his, of men & subjects of the King of France, be it of the Church, or other persons, whoever they may be, they will be henceforth, fully & entirely, returned to them, to whom they belonged before.

14. Item, it is agreed that those of the Duchy of Acquitaigne, who have been on the side of the King of France in the war, return in good will, & to the grace of our Lord the King of England:

And just so those, of the said Duchy, who have been on the side of our Lord the King of England in the war, will return henceforth in good will, & to the grace of the King of France.

15. Moreover, it is agreed that the King of France will have his profit from the waters, the fields, and the additions, which he has made in the land, while it was held in his hand, in granting it to our said Lord the King of England, holding sufficient condition; save that, of labor, of manors, & of additions, of buildings, returned, there will be no recompensation.

16. And, so that all manners of discord are appeased, & that no manner of dissension mightn't continue, by reason of passing time, between the said Kings; it is agreed that the ancient Peace, made & held between the said Kings, & their Ancestors, will be firm & settled: And we have affirmed this, & confirmed in the names of the said Kings on this side & on that.

17. Moreover, it is agreed that those, who will go to the Duchy of Acquitaigne, for the said Kings, on this side & on that, just as was said above, will have the power to prolong, & set aside, by common agreement, the said date of the Nativity of Our Lady (if they see that it is needful, or that the profit of the task requires it) to another date, that they see will be good.

18. The which things, & each of them, just as they are devised & written above, we agree, will, concur & pronounce, loyally & in good faith, as Envoy & Representative of our said Lord the King of England, for him, & in the name of him, & for his heirs & for his Successors, to keep, hold & accomplish them, firmly & loyally, for all days; without reservation of any reason whatsoever, or cause in times to come.

19. And that we will have them ratified, & approved by our said Lord, the King of England: And sworn on his soul; & this done in plain writing, containing all the things said above.

20. And all these things we have done, & given, in the name of our said Lord, the King of England, & on the soul of him, a bodily oath, on the Holy Evangels, in the presence of the said Envoys & Representatives of the King of France.

In testimony to which things we have placed, on this present document, our own seals.

Given at Paris on the twentieth day of May, the year of grace one thousand, three hundreds, & three.