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A56211 The soveraigne povver of parliaments and kingdomes divided into foure partsĀ· Together with an appendix: wherein the superiority of our owne, and most other foraine parliaments, states, kingdomes, magistrates, (collectively considered,) over and above their lawfull emperours, kings, princes, is abundantly evidenced, confirmed by pregnant reasons, resolutions, precedents, histories, authorities of all sorts; the contrary objections re-felled: the treachery and disloyalty of papists to their soveraignes, with their present plots to extirpate the Protestant religion demonstrated; and all materiall objections, calumnies, of the King, his counsell, royallists, malignants, delinquents, papists, against the present Parliaments proceedings, (pretended to be exceeding derogatory to the Kings supremacy, and subjects liberty) satisfactorily answered, refuted, dissipated in all particulars. By William Prynne, utter-barrester, of Lincolnes Inne. It is on this second day of August, 1643. ordered ... that this booke ... be printed by Michael Sparke ...; Soveraigne power of parliaments and kingdomes Prynne, William, 1600-1669. 1643 (1643) Wing P4087A; ESTC R203193 824,021 610

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concluded to crave ayd from all Christian Princes and a Crossado from the Pope against the Moores and made divers Lawes to restrain the superfluities of the Realm in feasts apparell and other things Iames the 8. King of Arragon being young at the time of his Fathers death it was thereupon after ordained in the assemblies of the Estates of Mencon and Lirida that Don Sancho Earl of Roussilon should govern the Realm during the Kings minority but they gave him limitation The Kings person they recommended to Frier William of Moncedon Mr. of the Templers After which An. 1220. this yong kings Vncles seeking to wrest the Realme from him instead of governing it by the fidelity of the Estates and their authority his interest was preserved and three Governours with a superintendent of his Provinces were appointed by them and to prevent the continuall practises of the Earles of Roussillon and Fernand the king Uncles the states and justice of Arragon declared the King of full age when he was but ten yeeres old and caused the Earle of Roussillon to quit the Regencie the authority of the justice of Arragon being then great for the defence of the publike liberty An. 1214. Asphonso the Noble king of Castile dying his sonne Henry being but 11. yeer old the Prelates Nobles and Commons assembled at Burgon having declared him king and taken the oath made Queen Eleonorahis Mother Governesse of his Person and Realms after whose death the custody of him was committed to the hands of the Lords of Lara This king afterwards playing with other yong children of Noble Hous●s at Palenca in the Bishops Palace one of them cast a tyle from the top of a Tower which falling on the covering of an house heat down another tyle which fell on the young kings head wherewith he was so grievously hurt that hee dyed the eleventh day after An. 1217 yet this his casuall death for ought I finde was neither r●puted Felony nor Treason in the child that was the cause of it After whose death Fernand the 3. was proc●aimed and made King by the States of Castile to prevent the pretentions of the French after which his Mother Queen Berenguela in the presence of the Estates renouncing all her right to the Crown resigned it up t● her sonne Fernand About this time the Moor●s in Spain rejected the Miralumims of A●rick and created them severall Kings and Kingdomes in Spain being never more united under one Crown after this division which they thought it lawfull for them to make An. 1228. the Estates of Arragon assembling at Barcelona they consenting and requiring it according to the custome of the Arragonians and Cattelans these Estates having authority to make Warre and Peace and Leagues awarre was resolved against the King of the Moores and Majorkins Anno 1231. the Realm of Navarre being very ill governed by reason their King Sancho retired to his chamber did not speak with any man but his Houshold servants and would not heare of any publike affaires thereupon the State began to think of electing a Regent to govern the Realm during his retirednesse to prevent which Sancho made an unjust accord with the king of Navarre and confederated with Iames King of Arragon by the assents of the states of the Realm to leave his Kingdome to him if he survived him yet after his death Thibault Earle of Champaigne was by the states of Navarre elected and proclaimed King And anno 1236. The Estates of Arragon and Cateloigne assembled at Moncon for the continuance of the warre with the Moores and conquest of Valentia without whom it was not lawfull for the King to undertake any matter of importance For maintenance of this warre a custome called Marebetine and an exaction of impost for cattell was by the Estates imposed on the People it was likewise decreed that all peeces of Gold and silver coyned should be of one goodnesse and weight to the observation of which Edict for coynes all were bound to sweare that were above 18. yeers of age Anno 1236. Iames King of Arragon revealing to his Confessor the Bishop of Girone that before his marriage with Queen Yolant he had passed a matrimoniall promise to Theresa of Bidame she sued him thereupon before the Pope who gave sentence against her for want of sufficient witnesse notwithstanding his Confessors testimony The King hereupon grew so angry with the Bishop for revealing his secrets that sending for him to his chamber he caused his tongue to be cut out For which out-rage committed on the Bishop though faulty the Pope in the Councell of Lions complained and in the end interdicted all the Realme of Arragon and excommunicated the king Hereupon to take off this interdiction and excommunication the king sent the Bishop of Valentia with his excuse and humiliation to the Pope wherewith he being some what pacified sent two Legates into Arragon who having assembled a Synod of Bishops at Lerida they caused the King to come thither and to confesse his fault upon his knees before these fathers with great submission and teares who gave him absolution upon condition he should cause the Monastery of Boneface to be built and endowed with an hundred and forty pounds of silver of annuall rent endow an Hospitall for the poore with foure hundred pounds silver per annum and give a Prebendary in the great Church of G●rone for the maintenance of a Masse-priest About which time the Moors in Spain erected many new Kings and Kingdoms by mutuall consent and Mahumad Aben Alamar for his valour was by the Inhabitants of Mariona elected and made first King of Granado Anno 1243. all was in combustion in Portugall by the negllgence and basenesse of their king Don Sancho Capello who was wholly given to his wives humours hated of the Portugales and himselfe disliked for her sake for many Malefactors and insolent persons were supported by her who grew daily more audacious in their excesse without feare of Iustice which was trodden under foot for their respect For these considerations and her barrennesse too all the Noblemen of the kingdome desired to have the Queen called Mencia separated and sent out of Portugall for effecting whereof they made a great instance at Rome but neither exhortation admonition nor commandment nor censure could prevaile the king so doting on her that he would not leave her Which the Portugals perceiving some of them presumed to seize on her in the City of Coimbra and conducted her into Gāllicia from whence she never more returned into Portugall Not content herewith they sought to depose the King from his Royall dignity too for his ill government and to advance his Brother Don Alphonso to the Regall Throne in his place whom the Estates assembled made Regent of Portugall leaving only the Title of King to his brother which fact of the Estates the Pope in the Councell of Lions authorized by his Apostolicke power with which the King being displeased abandoned his Realme and retired into
Conquest tendered to and approved by the Conquerour himselfe newly Printed 1641. which in the Section Touching the Kings absence from Parliament resolves thus The King is BOUND by all meanes possible TO BE PRESENT AT THE PARLIAMENT unlesse he be detained or let therefrom by bodily sicknesse and then he may keepe his Chamber yet so as he lye not without the Manour or Towne at the least where the Parliament is held and then he ought to send for twelve persons of the greatest and best of them that are summoned to the Parliament that is two Bishops two Earles two Barons two Knights of the shire two Burgesses and two Citizens to looke upon his person to testifie and witnesse his estate and give Authority to the Arch-bishop of the place the Steward of England and chiefe Iustice that they joyntly and severally should begin the Parliament and continue the same in his name See 8 H. 5. c. 1. Cromptons Iurisdiction f. 13. a. 17. b. according herewith expresse mention being made in that Commission of the cause of his absence there which ought to suffice The reason is because there was w●nt to be a cry and murmure in the Parliament for the Kings absence because his absence is hurtfull and dangerous to the whole commonalty of the Parliament neither indeed OUGHT OR MAY HE BE ABSENT BUT ONELY IN THE CASE AFORESAID And whereas Malignants clamour that most of the Lords are absent as well as the King and therefore this can be no lawfull Parliament The same Authour will informe them That if the Lords be once summoned to Parliament and then appeare not or absent themselves the King may hold the Parliament with the Commonalty and Commons of the kingdome every of which hath a greater voyce in Parliament then the greatest Earle in England because he represents a whole County Towne or City the other himselfe alone without Bishops Earles or Barons because in times past before there was either Bishop Earle or Baron yet even then Kings kept their Parliaments but on the contrary no Parliament can be kept by the King and Peeres if all the Commons for the Kings misgovernment or such like cause should absent themselves This is the judgement of Master Iohn Vowel too who writes in this manner Yet neverthelesse if the King in due order have summoned all his Lords and Barons and they will not come or if they come they will not yet appeare or if they come and appeare yet will not doe or yeeld to any thing then the Kings with the consent of his Commons may ordaine and establish any acts or Lawes which are as good sufficient and effectuall as if the Lords had given their consents But on the contrary If the Commons be summoned and will not come or comming will not appeare or appearing will not consent to doe any thing illedging some just weighty and great cause the King in these cases cannot with his Lords devise make or establish any Law The reasons are these When Parliaments were first begun and ordained there were no Prelates or Barons of the Parliament and the temporall Lords were very few or none and then the King and his Commons did make a full Parliament which Authority was never hitherto abridged Againe every Baron in Parliament doth represent but his owne person and speaketh in the behalfe of himselfe alone But in the Knights Citizens and Burgesses are represented the Commons of the whole Realme and every of these giveth not consent onely for himselfe but for all those also for whom be is sent And the King with the consent of his Commons had ever a sufficient and full authority to make ordaine and establish good and wholesome Lawes for the Commonwealth of his Realme Wherefore the Lords being lawfully summoned and yet refusing to come sit or consent in Parliament cannot by their folly abridge the King and the Gommons of their lawfull proccedings in Parliament Thus and more Iohn Vowel in his Order and Vsage how to keepe a Parliament Printed Cum Privilegio And Sir Edward Cooke in his Institutes on Magna Charta proves that the Lords and Peeres in many Charters and Acts are included under the name of the Commons and Commonalty of England But we need not retire to this last doubtfull refuge the Honourable faithfull Lords now present though not so many as could be desired are the intire House of Peeres in judgement of Law as those present at the election of Knights of the Shire or Burgesses though the major part be negligently or wilfully absent are the whole Shire or Burrough and the wilfull absence of the residue though the greater number being contrary to Law contrary to the Priviledges of Parliament and their late Protestations tending to the very subversion of Parliaments for which high contempt they and their Posterities too may justly be disabled for ever to sit as members of that House which they have so dishonourably if not treacherously deserted even as well as Knights and Burgesses whose personall attendance is so necessary that if during the Parliament they absent themselves from it about any businesses of their owne without leave of the House or be so sicke or elected Mayors of a Towne or any other judiciall Officers so as they cannot attend the service of the House they may thereupon be lawfully expelled the House and a new Writ expressing the cause of their removall shall issue for a new election of others in their places to make the House compleat as was resolved by the Commons House 38 H. 8. Br. Parliament 7. can no more disable those now present from being a true and lawfull House of Peeres than the multitudes departing from the true Church of God to the fa●se disprove it to be the true Church of Christ whose true flocke is but little In a word divers Parliaments have beene kept and held and Acts made without Bishops or Abbots heretofore even while they were reputed members of the Lords House and one of the three Estates in Parliament therefore this Parliament which hath taken away Bishops Votes for ever may be lawfully held notwithstanding any Lords or Commons wilfull absence from it in person who yet as long as they are members of the Parliament shall still be adjudged legally present whether they will or no. One puny Judge in the Courts of Westminster may and doth usually give judgement and make binding Orders though the Chiefe Justice and his fellowes be negligently or wilfully absent Much more then may the Lords and Commons now present doe the like in case of the Kings and other Members wilfull absence of purpose to ruine both Parliament and Kingdome against which they are now in armes and have levyed open warre Sixthly it is most apparent both by Scripture the verdict of all Politicians and writers of note the Statutes of our Realmes and Lawyers that kingdomes Subjects and Parliaments were not created by God for the
that they be sworne to fore my Lord of Glocester and all the Lords of the Counsell that for no friendship they shall make no man privy but the Lords of the Counsell what the King hath in his Treasorie Numb 32. Item that the Clark of the Counsell be charged and sworne to truely enact and write daily the names of all the Loras that shall be present from time to time to see what how and by whom any thing passeth Numb 33. And after that all the Lords aforesaid had read before them the said Articles in Parliament and had well considered of them and fully assented and accorded to them the scedule of paper by certaine of the Honorable Lords of Parliament on behalfe of the King and all the Lords in Parliament was sent and delivered to the Commons to bee ascertained of their intent whereupon after the said Commons had advised the said Lords repeated in the said Parliament that the Commons thanked all the Lords and that THEY WERE WELL CONTENTED with all there contained in the said scedule WITH THIS that to the first of the said Articles there should be added one clause of purveiu which the said Lords repeated on the behalfe of the said Commons who delivered it to them in Parliament in one parchment scedule written in French the tenour whereof ensueth Provided alwayes that the Lords and other persons and Officers which have estate and authoritie some of inheritance some for terme of life and otherwise to make and institute by vertue of their offices deputy Officers and Ministers which appertaine to them to make of right and as annexed to them and to their offices of ancient time accustomed and used shall not be restrained nor prejudiced of that which appertaines to them by colour of this Ordinance or appointment To which parchment scedule and the contents thereof read before the Lords in Parliament the said Lords well agreed and fully consented Numb 44. The Queen Mothers dower formerly agreed appointed and sworne to buy all the three estates in Parliament in 9. H. 5. was now againe upon her Petition confirmed and setled by this Parliament after her husbands decease And Numb 41. Pet. 2. The Commons petitioned that it might then be enacted that no man nor woman should thenceforth be compelled nor bound to answer before the Counsell or Chancery of the King nor elsewhere at the suit or complaint of any person for any matter for which remedy by way of Action was provided by the Common law and that no privie Seale nor subpoena should issue thence before a Bill were first there exhibited and also fully allowed by two Iudges of the one Bench and other that the complainant for matters and grievances in the said Bill could have no action nor remedy at all by the common law c. A good Law to prevent the Arbitrary proceedings of these Courts which are now too frequent in subverting of the Common law Lo here in this Parliament we have a Lord Protector Chancellor Treasurer Keeper of the privie Seale Chamberlaine Privie Counsellors Constables of Castles and most other Officers of the King elected by Parliament yea a Commission for calling and holding this Parliament confirmed by this Parliament when met the Kings owne publike feales altered and new made a new stile conferred on the King a Kings last Will and a Queenes Dower when fallen confirmed by the Parliament and the privie Councell Court of Request and Chancery limited by it without any dimininution of the Kings prerogative royall what injury or disparagement then can it be to his Majesties royalties to have his great Officers Counsellers and Judges thus nominated and regulated in and by Parliament at this present surely none at all In the Parliament Rolls of 4. H. 6. num 8. I finde a Commission granted to John Earle of Bedford under the great Seale which was read in Parliament to supply the Kings place and power in this Parliament and to doe all that the King himselfe either might or ought to doe therein because the King by reason of his minoritie could not there personally attend to doe it Numb 10. The Commons by a Petition lamentably complained of the great discords and divisions betweene certaine great Lords and privie Counsellors of the Kingdome and more especially betweene the Duke of Glocester Lord Protector and the Bishop of Winchester Lord Chanceilor by which divers inconveniences might happen to the Realme if not speedily accommodated desiring the Duke of Bedford and other Lords to accord them Vpon which the Lord tooke a solemne Oath to reconcile them and made an accord betweene them which you may read at large in Hall Holinshed and other our Historians and in the Parliament Rolls Numb 12. 13. On the 13. day of March Numb 14. The Bishop of Winchester Lord Chancellor of England for certaine causes declared before the Lords in Parliament instantly desired to be discharged of his Office which causes they considering of and allowing he was by the Lords discharged from his said Office and the same day in like manner the Bishop of Bathe Treasurer of England requested to be freed from his Office which was that day done accordingly Numb 14. On the eighteenth day of March Iohn Bishop of Bathe and Wells late Treasurer of England by vertue of a privie seale directed to him brought the Kings great golden seale sealed up in a leather Bagge into the Parliament and really delivered it to the Earle of Bedford the Kings Commissary who receiving it of the said Bishop caused it to be taken out of the Bagge and to be seene of all and then to be put into the Bagge againe who sealing the Bagge with his signet he delivered it to be kept to the Bishop of London then CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND BY ADVICE and ASSENT of the Lords spirituall and temporall in that Parliament Numb 18. The King by the advise of the Lords spirituall and temporall and by the assent of the Commons in Parliament makes an exchange of Lewes de Bu●bon Earle of Vandosme taken prisoner at the battell of Agencourt for the Earle of Huntingdon taken prisoner by the French releasing the said Earle Vandosme of his Ransome and Oath Numb 19. The Duke of Bedford Constable of the Castle of Berwicke petitioned that the King BY AVTHORITY OF PARLIAMENT in regard of his absence from that charge by reason of his continuall imployments in the Kings service in France and elsewhere might license him to make a Lieutenant under him to guard that Castle safely Vpon which Petition the Lords spirituall and temporall granted him power to make a s●fficient Lieutenant such as the Kings Counsell should allow of so as the said Lieutenant should finde such reasonable sureties for the safe keeping of the said Castle as the Kings counsell should approve And in this Parliament BY ASSENT OF THE THREE ESTATES OF ENGLAND Richard Beauchamp Earle of Warwicke was ordained to be Governour of the young King in like
people in the due subjection To th●s the Pope answered and wrote back to Pipin that he was best worthy and most profitable for the Realme to be admitted for King that ruled well the Commonalty by justice and prudence and the enemies thereof defended and subdued by his policie and manhood Aventine relates his answer more largely in these words I finde saith Zachary in the Story of Divine Scripture that the people fell away from their wretchlesse and lascivious king that despised the counsell of the wise men of the Realme and created a sufficient man one of themselves King God himselfe allowing their doings All Power and Rule belongs to God Princes are his Ministers in their Kingdomes And Rulers are therefore chosen for the people that they should follow the will of God the chiefe Ruler in all thing● and not do what they life● He is a true King that guideth the people committed to his charge according to the Prescript and Line of Gods Law all that he hath as power glory riches favour and dignitie HE RECEIVETH OF THE PEOPLE and the people MAY WHEN THE CAVSE REQVIRETH FORSAKE THEIR KING It is therefore LAVFVLL for the Franks and Germanes refusing this unkindly Monster Childericke to chuse some such as shall be able in warre and peace by his wisdome to protect and keep in safetie their Wives Children Parents Goods and Lives Which answer of the Pope recited and approved in our owne King Edward the Confessors Lawes and Childerickes deposition likewise Chap. 17. being declared to the Lords Barons and Commons of the Realme whom this Pope likewise wholly absolved from their allegiance to Childericke soone after they of one assent and minde proceeded and deposed and put downe their King and Governour Childericke being a Sott a foole abeast and one unfit to governe and closed him in a Monastery after he had reigned ten yeares in the Kings room by name onely which done they unanimously elected and crowned Pipin for their King By meanes whereof the Royall Line of Moroveus after 17 discents ended and the Crown was translated to Pipins blood Which act in point of policie is determined lawfull by Polybius who Writes That the reason why some Kingdomes became hereditary was onely this because their first Kings being vertuous and worthy men they were perswaded their Children would prove like them but if at any time they degenerat and prove otherwise and the posteritie of the first Kings displease the subjects they thenceforth make the Kingdome elective chusing Kings not according to their strength of body and mindes attempting great things but according to the difference of their will and reason manifested by their actions And by Aristotle who informes us That in Kingdomes confirmed in succession of blood this is to be numbred among the causes of their ruine that the Kingdomes descend to many contemptible and slothfull persons who although they obtaine no tyrannicall but Royall dignitie yet they live lustfully and proudly and so the Kingdome easily falls to ground and becomes a tyrannie the people being unwilling that such should rule over them and so either wholly alter the forme of government or make choice of a fitter King for the necessary preservation of the State yea this election in poi●t of Policie and Divinity too is justified and proved lawfull by Buchanan in his Book de Iure Regni apud Scotos by Iohn Mariana de Rege Regis Instit. l. 1. c. 3 5. by Pope Zachary in his forecited Epistle by King Edward the Confessor in his Laws c. 17. by a generall Councell of all the Peers and Prelates of France Convocato enim Principum et Senatorum Concilio de COMMVNI SENSV ET VOLVNTATE OMNIVN Childericum solo nomine Regem à regni fastigio deponunt c. ac OMNIBVS GAVDEN●IBVS ET VOLENTIBVS Pipinum super Francos REGNARE FACIVNT writes Antoninus and in a word our Bishop Bilson himselfe an Anti-Puritane and great Royalist affirmes That if the King be a naturall foole distracted and altogether unable to governe as Childericke was any Realme by publicke consent and advice may choose another to govern them of which more before Pipin deceasing Charlemain and Charles the great his sons reigned joyntly over the Frenchmen by their joyous admittance Having now two Kings instead of one Lewes sirnamed the godly sonne of Charles the great a pious yet unfortunate Prince by meanes of his sonne Lothair was first imprisoned and then by a Councell and Parliament held at Compaygne by authority of the spirituall and temporall Lords and of that Parliament discharged of all rule and dominion as well of the Empire as of the Realme of France after that shorne a Monke and thrust into the Monastery of Saint Marke where he was strictly guarded and when some of the Nobles and people afterwards desired Lothair to release and restore him to his former dignity he answered them That the deposing of him was done by the whole Authority of the Land wherefore if he should be againe restored it must be by the same Authority and not by him onely After which by the Lords assents hee was restored Lewes and Charles after Lewes Balbus their fathers death were joynt Kings of France and being very young by a Parliament held at Meaux Lewes the Emperour their Vncle was declared to be more apt to rule the Kingdome of France then these Infants or Barnard their Guardian and these Children held by some illegitimate Whereupon by the greater number of voyces an Ambassadour was sent to the Emperour to come and take upon him the Rule of middle France which he comming to doe his Nephewes friends compounded with him and then caused these Infants to be c●owned and proclaimed Kings Charles the simple at his Fathers death Anno 895. being too yong to take upon him the charge of the Realme the Lords of France put him under good and convenient guiding and of assent they chose Eudo a man of great fame and worth to be King of the Land for the terme of his life and to guide the Land till Charles should come to his lawfull age whom they put under Eudo his tuition making him King in his stead who was crowned of Walter then Archbishop of Senys After which when Eudo knew he should dye he called before him the Lords and Nobles of France charging them by solemne Oath that after his death they should immediately crowne Charles for their King whom he had brought up with diligence in learning and all Princely vertues being then of age to governe Charles comming to the Crowne the Danes miserably wasted ●is Kingdomes Whereupon his Nobles and people assembled themselves in sundry companies and w●nt to the King shewing their misery and blaming his fearfulnesse and negligence that he no more for him resisted the Danes cruelty Whereupon he out of feare belike lest they should chuse another King to protect them compounded with Rollo chiefe Commander of the Danes giving him all Normandy
King Iames his owne Tutor in his Booke De Iure Regni apud Scotos and his Rerum Scoticarum Historia Where this their Soveraigne power is so largely vindicated debated demonstrated and the chiefe objections against it cleared so abundantly that I shall not adde one syllable to it but present you with some Historicall examples which confirme it Fergusius the first King of Scotland dying and leaving two sons infants unable to governe the Realme the Scots thereupon considering what dangers might befall them both at home and abroad during their infancy at last concluded after much debate and setled this for a standing law that when any King died leaving his son under age and unfit to governe the next of their kinred who should be esteemed fittest to raigne should enjoy the soveraigne power and that he being dead then the succession of the Crowne should returne to the children of the deceased King being of age to rule which Law continued constantly for many hundred yeeres untill the reigne of Kenreth the third By this Law Feritharis brother to Fergusius abtained the Crowne and reigned fifteene yeeres with much justice and modesty after which his Nephew Ferleg desiring to raigne demanded his Fathers Kingdome of his Uncle who being willing to resigne it to him called an assembly of the estates made an Oration in praise of Ferleg profered to resigne the Crowne unto him But such was all the assemblies love to Feritharis and hatred to Ferleg for this his preposterous affectation of the Crowne that they detested the act and denied the motion both with frownes and verball reprehentions Whereupon Ferleg conspired his Uncles death which being discovered they thought him worthy of death but for Fergusius his fathers sake his life was spared and he onely imprisoned after which making an escape he fled first to the Pi●ts then to the Britons and in the meane time Feritharis dying by the treachery of Ferleg as was suspected Ferleg by the unanimus sentence of all was condemned and put from his Crowne being absent and his brother Mainus created King Dornadilla the fourth King of Scotland dying leaving Reuther his sonne under age and unfit to raigne the people made Notatus his brother King who playing the tyrant banishing murthering and opp●essing the people Donald of Galloway raised an Army against him expostulated with him for his tyranny and wished him to resigne the Crown to Reuther which he refusing to do any justifying his tyranny hereupon Donald gave him batte●l slew him and made Reuther King without the peoples suffrages Upon which the Nobles being offended because the power of the Parliament was by this meanes abolished and the election of the supreame Magistrate made onely by one man tooke up Armes both against Ruther and Donald gave them battell twice in one day and tooke Ruther their new King prisoner who afterwards dying and leaving There his sonne an infant scarce ten yeeres old they according to the Law formerly made and received in this case made his unkle Ruther King who after seventeene yeeres reigne voluntarily resigned his Crowne to his Nephew There in whose commendation he made an Oration the people hardly permitting it There soone after growing very vitious and flagitious slaying the Nooles and filling the Realme with robberies the Governours pi●tying the deplorable state of the Realme resolved to punish him for it of which he being informed fled to the Brittains where he spent his daies in contempt and ignominy not daring to returne Conan a prudent and discreet man being elected Viceroy in the meane time which office he held almost twelve yeeres till the death of There In the reigne of Finnan the tenth King of Scotland that the roots of tyranny might be cut off it was decreed That Kings should command nothing of greater moment to be done but by the authority of the publique Councell Durstus the eleventh King giving himselfe to all deboistnesse first banished his fathers friends from him as the troublesome reprehenders of his pleasures and sending for the most vitious young men to be his familiar companions gave himselfe wholly to luxury and venery He prostituted his wife daughter to the King of Britains to his companions and then banished her At last the Nobles conspiring against him he awaking as it were cut out of sleepe considering that he should finde no place of safety neither at home nor abroad being equally hated of strangers and subjects thought best to counterfeit repentance of his former li●e for so he might retaine both his Crowne and in time inflict punishments on his enemies Wherefore recalling his wife from exile he first of all endeavoured to reconcile him selfe to the Britains then calling the chiefest of his subjects to him he ratified with a most solemne oath the oblivion of his former courses he committed every most wicked person to prison as if he reserved them for punishment and religiously promised that he would doe nothing hereafter but by the advice of his Nobles When by these things he had given assurance of his sincere mind he celebrated the agreement with pastimes banquets and other signes of publique gladnesse and now all mens minds being taken up with joy he called most of the Nobility to a supper where when he had shut them up improvident and unarmed in one roome sending in his assasinates he slew them every one This calamity not so much terrifying as exasperating the minds of the rest with new flames of anger they gathered a great army together all men conspiring to take away this detested monster whom they slew in battell together with his wicked confederates After whose slaughter the Nobles putting by Durstus sonnes lest they should imitate their fathers vices elected his brother Even King with unanimous consent who hating Durstus his tyranny had voluntarily banished himselfe among the Picts Even dying leaving a bastard sonne called Gillo he procured himselfe to be elected Viceroy till a new King should be chosen and got the Kingdome confirmed to him but yet not deeming himselfe secure as long as any of Durstus his family remained he treacherously slew Durstus his two eldest sonnes with all his kindred and familiars With which the Nobles being much discontented and fearing worser things privily raised an Army against him who finding himself generally deserted but by a few flagicious persons who feared punishment He was forced to flie in a Fisherboat into Ireland whereupon the Scots created Cadvallus their Vice-roy and after that created Even their King who conquering Gillo in Ireland he was forced to fly into a Cave where he was taken and his head cut off King Even the third not content with an hundred Concubines of the Nobility made a Law That it should be lawfull for every one to marry as many Wives as he could keepe and that the King should have the mayd●n-head of Noble women and the Nobles of the Plebeans before they were married and that the common peoples Wives should be common for the Nobles Be●ides
Senate he held the Empire onely by force and power Wherefore Caesar although he invaded the Empire by force yet that he might cosen the people at least with some p●etext of Law would seem to have received the Empire from the Senate and people But Augustus although he was adopted by Caesar yet he never bare himselfe as heire of the Empire by divise but rather received it as from the Senate and people as did also Caligula Tiberius Claudius whereas Nero who first invaded the Empire by force and wickednesse without any colour of Law was condemned by the Senate Since then no man could be born an absolute King no man can be a King by himselfe no man can reigne without the people Whereas on the contrary the people may both be and are by themselvs and are in time before a King it most certainly appears that all Kings were first constituted by the people Now albeit that from the time that Sons or Nephews imitated the vertues of their parents they seem to have made kingdomes as it were hereditary to themselves in certain Countries where the free power of Election may seem in some sort to have ceased yet that custome hath continued in all well constituted kingdomes that the children of the deceased kings should not succeed untill they were as de n●no newly constituted by the people nor should not be acknowledged as heir●s to their Fathers but should onely then at length be reputed kings when they had as it were received investiture of the Realme from those who represent the Majesty of the people by a Scepter and Diadem In Christian kingdomes which at this day are said to be conferd by succession there are extant most evident footsteps of this thing For the kings of France Spain England and others are wont to be inaugurated and as it were put into possession of the Realm by the States Senators Nobles and great men of the Realm who represent the universality of the people in the same manner as the Emperours of Germany are by the Electors and the kings of Poland by the Vayuods or Palatines where the intire right is onely by election neither is royall Honour yeelded to them in the Cities of the kingdomes before they have been duly inaugurated Neither also heretofore did they compute the time of the reigne but from the day of the inauguration which computation was accurately observed in France And that we may not be deceived by reason of any continued stories of succession even in those very kingdoms the States of the Realme have oft times preferred a kinsman before a sonne the second sonne before the eldest as in France Lewis the brother before Robert Earl of Dreux also Henry the second brother before Robert Capet the Nephew with others elsewhere Yea and the same kingdome by Authority of the People hath been translated from one Nation and Family to another whiles there were lawfull heires extant from the Merouingi to the Carlingi from the Carlingi to the Capets which hath been likewise done in other Realms as it sufficiently appears out of the truest Histories And that we may not recede from the kingdome of France which hath ever been reputed the pattern of the rest in which I say succession seemes to have obtained greatest strength We read that Pharamond was elected Anno 419. Pipen An. 751. Pipens sonnes Charles the great and Charlemain 768. not having respect of the Father Charlemain being at last taken away 771. the Brothers part did not immediatly accrue to Charls the Great as is usually done in inheritances but by the determination of the people and publike Councell and by them Ludovicus pius was elected An. 812 although he were the sonne of Charles the great Yea in the very Testament o● Charles which is extant in Nauclerus he Intreats the People by the Common Councell of the Realm to elect one of his nephews whō they pleased as for hi Vncles he bids thē rest satisfied with the Decréc of the people Whence Charles the bald Nephew by Lewis the godly and Iudith professeth himselfe An elected King in Aimoinius the Historiographer In summe all kings whatsoever from the beginning were Elective and those who at this day strive to come to the kingdome by succession must of necessity be First ordained by the people Finally albeit the people by reason of certain egregious merits hath in certain Realmes used to chuse kings out of the same stock yet they chuse the stock it self nor the branch neither do they so chuse it but if it degenerates They may elect another But even those who are neerest of that stock are not so much born as made kings are not so much accounted kings as the Attendants of kings which Franciscus Hotomanus in his Franco-Gallia cap. 6. 7. 10. prosecutes more at large and manifests by sundry pertinent Presidents and Authorities Secondly that it is apparant by all the premised Histories That in all Empires Monarchies the whole Empire State Kingdome with the Parliaments Senates States Diets publike Officers and generall Assemblies which represent them are the Supreamest Soveraign power superiour to the Emperours Kings and Princes themselves who are subordinate Ministers and servants to them elected created by them for their common good and not absolute Soveraign Lords or Proprietors to rule domineer over them at their pleasure Which conclusion you shall find abundantly ratified and pro●essedly maintained by Marius Salamonius de Principatu in six severall Books by Iohn Mariana de Rege Regis Instit. t. 1 c. 8. Stephanus Iunius Brutus his Vindicia contra Tyrannos throughout especially p. 91. to 110. the Treatise De Iure Magistratus in Subditos throughout Iustus Eccardus de Lege Regia Henricus Ranz●vius Commentarii Bellici lib. 1. c. 3. and elsewhere Georgius Obrechtus an eminent Civill Lawyer Disputationes Iuridicae de Principiis Belli sect 115. to 200. where he thus resolves The inferiour Magistrates as in Germany the Electors Princes Earles Imperiall Cities in France the Peers of France in Poland the Vayuodes or Palatines and in other Kingdomes the Nobles Senators and Delegates of the Estates as they are severally inferiour to the Emperour or King Ita Univers● Superiores existunt so collectively They are superiour to them as a Generall Councell is above the Pope the Chapter above the Bishop the Vniversity above the Chancellor The Prince saith Pliny the second even the greatest is obliged to the Commonwealth by an Oath as its servant ac ipsa Republica seu Regno Minor est and is lesse then the Republike or Kingdome it selfe by Franciscus Hotomanus a learned French Lawyer in his Franco-Gallia c. 6 7. 10 11. 14 15 16 18 20. Aquinas de Regimine Principum c. 6. by Hemingius Arnisaeus De Auctoritate Principum in populum c. and De Iure Majestatis Sebastianus Foxius De Regni Regisque Institutione Vasquius Controvers Illustrium passim Cavarnuius Contr. Illustr T. 2. 505. n. I. 399. n. 6.