A document recording grants of land; also rights or privileges given e.g. by the monarch to a person, town, or borough; the document noting permission for the establishment of a town or a market in a town. A charter also recorded the grant of liberty to a serf; this was known as a *'charter of franchise'. The purpose of such a grant for a town was to gain independence from a lord or even the king. For instance, London paid King John £2,000 for its charter - then, a vast sum of money. Charters recorded a grant previously made; they were not the grant itself. Hence the Latin phrase sciato me dedisse et hac carta confirmasse, i.e. 'know that I have given and by this charter confirmed'. [< Lat. charta = a record, a book]
Cf. Coram populo
Dictionary of Medieval Terms and Phrases. Christopher Coredon with Ann Williams.