Her compassion was great and her charities
extensive. In London she founded several almshouses and a care-
giving 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.
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