escheated honors. Matilda was learned
and a literary patron. She founded an important literary and
scholastic center. Her compassion was great and her charities
extensive. In London she founded several almshouses and a
caregiving infirmary for lepers. These were next to small monastic
communities. She also had new roads and bridges built.

Henry issued charters restoring customs which had been
subordinated to royal impositions by previous Kings, which set a
precedent for later Kings. His coronation charter describes
certain property rights he restored after the oppressive reign of
his brother.

"Henry, King of the English, to Samson the bishop, and Urse of
Abbetot, and to all his barons and faithful vassals, both French
and English, in Worcestershire, greeting.

[1.] Know that by the mercy of God and by the common
counsel of the barons of the whole kingdom of England I have
been crowned king of this realm. And because the kingdom has
been oppressed by unjust exactions, I now, being moved by
reverence towards God and by the love I bear you all, make
free the Church of God; so that I will neither sell nor
lease its property; nor on the death of an archbishop or a
bishop or an abbot will I take anything from the demesne of
the Church or from its vassals during the period which
elapses before a successor is installed. I abolish all the
evil customs by which the kingdom of England has been
unjustly oppressed. Some of those evil customs are here set
forth.

[2.] If any of my barons or of my earls or of any other of
my tenants shall die his heir shall not redeem his land as
he was wont to do in the time of my brother [William II
(Rufus)], but he shall henceforth redeem it by means of a
just and lawful 'relief`. Similarly the men of my barons
shall redeem their lands from their lords by means of a just
and lawful 'relief`.

[3.] If any of my barons or of my tenants shall wish to give
in marriage his daughter or his sister or his niece or his
cousin, he shall consult me about the matter; but I will
neither seek payment for my consent, nor will I refuse my
permission, unless he wishes to give her in marriage to one
of my enemies. And if, on the death of one of my barons or
of one of my tenants, a daughter should be his heir, I will
dispose of her in marriage and of her