Does Henry III's 1227 Templar letter still exist, and does it match Addison's quotes?
Research question: Does the original text of Henry III's 9 February 1227 Templar charter survive in the Charter Rolls or Patent Rolls, and how closely does its wording match Addison's quoted exemptions from aids, hidage, carucage, danegeld, hornegeld and tolls?
The Patent Rolls for 1225 to 1232 are said to include the date of the 1227 Templar charter 1, and Latin transcripts of those rolls are available online 2. The facts do not confirm that the charter's original text appears in those rolls, and the only translation mentioned is by Walter de Gray Birch, whose record is dated to a 20 April 1227 charter rather than 9 February 8. Addison says the charter confirmed earlier donations and exempted the Templars from hidage, carucage, danegeld and hornegeld 910, but the facts do not supply his wording on aids or tolls, so no close word-level comparison is possible. A 1290 renewal exempted the Templars from aids, tallage, lastage, carucage and tolls 45, and a 2022 study says the 1227 charter was the first to mention tallage 11, which suggests the lists differ but does not settle how closely the wording matches. The newest fact is from 2022 11, about four years before October 2026.
Sources
"v. 1. A.D. 1216-1225 -- v. 2 A.D. 1225-1232"Patent rolls of the reign of Henry III preserved in the Public Record ...
"Patent Rolls of the Reign of Henry III ... A.D. 1225-1232 (1903) (Internet Archive - Text Archive) Latin transcripts."Medieval source material on the internet: Chancery rolls
"Patent Rolls of the Reign of Henry III ... A.D. 1216-1225 (1901) (Internet Archive - Text Archive) Latin transcripts."Medieval source material on the internet: Chancery rolls
"Edward I, himself a crusader, had in 1290 renewed and amplified a charter of Henry III which exempted the Templars from almost every kind of secular taxation, in addition to guaranteeing such valuable rights and immunities as they already held by authority of the Pope."www.cambridge.org
"in addition they were quit of scot and geld, feudal aids, tallage and lastage and carucage, and of all tolls, charges, and payments connected with fairs throughout the land."www.cambridge.org
"They paid no tax on the export of wool, which their northern estates produced in abundance; in 1390 it was claimed that this privilege, in the counties of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire alone, accounted for more than half the income of the London Temple."www.cambridge.org
"They were exempt too from forest law, and could create assarts at pleasure; nor need they cut the claws of their dogs."www.cambridge.org
"Translated by Walter de Gray Birch"Charter of King Henry III. 20 April, 11th year, 1227 (2010)
"he confirmed to them all the donations of"The History of The Knights Templars, the Temple Church, and the Temple, by Charles G. Addison—A Project Gutenberg eBook
"from hidage, carucage, danegeld and hornegeld"The History of The Knights Templars, the Temple Church, and the Temple, by Charles G. Addison—A Project Gutenberg eBook
"Henry III’s charter to the Templars mentions tallage for the first time"Kennedy, Ross Stewart (2022) The practice of ‘exemption’ in Late-Medieval