This charter, which was to play a fundamental role in the collective consciousness and imagination of the Normans, ascended to the status of myth to become the very symbol of Norman protest, even as it was regularly violated and, over the centuries, Normans forgot its content altogether. It provided the province with guarantees in legal, fiscal, and judicial matters and will be regularly brandished during times of crisis, particularly when it came to opposing Norman's specificity to royal centralism. Rarely turned against the power itself, protest was more likely to be directed against its manifestations. The charter of 1315, and then that of 1339, guaranteed them the right to never be summoned before a jurisdiction other than that of their province. When a royal ordinance violated any provision thereof, the express reservation added to it recalled the existence of this right, even when it was infringed upon: Notwithstanding the
clameur de haro and the Norman charter. The first two articles of the charter concern monetary issues. Since the 11th century, all Normans paid the "monnéage" to the duke, a
direct tax of twelve deniers per household every three years. In return, the duke waived his right to
change the currency. Article 2 relates to the
hearth tax. Article 4 deals with the "
ost." Article 13 deals with the
right of shipwreck; Article 20, with
feudal and lineal withdrawals. Article 15 limits the use of
torture. Article 16 regulates lawyers remuneration. it regains its status as a
French ancien parliament, with its
judgments no longer subject to appeal before the
Parlement of Paris. Article 22 concerns the
taxation issue. It recognizes the king's right to collect customary aids, first documented in 1190 and known in the 13th century as the "three feudal aids," the "three capital aids," or the "three aids of Normandy." The king renounces the levying of new taxes "except in cases of great necessity." == Confirmations ==