for him though the Princes the heads of the Assembly were against him This Controversie is adjourned to the Curia on Whitsontide which still was no ordinary one Anselm was celebrating a Curia by himself when he should have attended at the King 's according to the adjournment but it seems he expected special Summons which he has accordingly by word of mouth no formal Writ but Messenger The King tenuit Curiam suam in ipsâ festivitate apud Windlesoram and there were Proceres et coadunata multitudo a very Solemn Convention The Authority cited by Sir Hen. Spelman says that the Clergy was not at the Council at Roch. in quo fermè totius regni nobilitas praeter Episcopos Clerum convenitur so that it would seem a President for that Parliament in the time of Edward the First taken notice of by Bishop Jewel of which he says our publick Monuments that is Records have it Haâ—ito Rex cum suis Baronibus Parliamento et Clero id est Arch. et Ep. excluso statutum est There it seems the Lords and Commons who undoubtedly came at that time without relation to Tenure are Barones sui But whether the Council at Roch. had the Clergy present or no the Bishops and Barons tell Anselm at another Great Council how much soever he thought the Assembly on his side that placitum habitum est contra se his pretences were over ruled totius regni adunatione Yet notwithstanding their sense then delivered they gave a farther day till Whitsontide so that in effect 't was Judgment nisi then indeed Anselm with a side Wind got an Advantage of the King he cunningly waves the question whether he might swear Obedience to the King and puts it only whether the Pall were to be received from the Pope or the King and carried that Point that it belonged to the singular Authority of Saint Peter This was a General Council on the Feast day Adquievit Multitudo Omnis unde cum omnes silentio pressi conticuissent Statutum est It seems till the Multitude rested satisfied the Law could not pass But two years after on Whitsontide was held no more than the Ordinary Curia Cum igitur in Pentecoste festivitatis gratiâ Regiae Curiae se presentasset peractis igitur festivioribus diebus diversorum negotiorum causae in medium duci ex more coeperunt That 't was usual when the height of the feasting was over to go to the Tryals of Causes or Matters of Ordinary Judicature In August following is held a Great Council the King being de Statu Regni acturus Then he sends out a General Summons In sequenti autem mense Augusto cum de Statu Regni acturus Rex Episcopos Abbates quosque Regni Proceres in unum praecepti sui sanctione egisset dispositis his quae adunationis illius causae fuerant c. Anselm asks leave to go to Rome but is denied it In October following there was a General Council at Winchester Wintoniae ad Regem ex condicto venimus Eadmerus was there himself The first day the Tumult from the vast multitude was so great that they could do nothing and therefore broke up the Court and adjourned to the next day Orta est igitur ex his quaedam magna tempestas diversis diversae parti acclamantibus the sense of the Assembly was that Anselm should observe the King's Laws upon which he departs the Realm in a pett 'T was pity Eadmerus went with him so that we loose the account of what passed in his absence I think however we have enough to prove that there were then no less nay greater Assemblies than what now compose our Parliaments nay the very word Parliament was not unknown in that time Parliamentum dixêre Croylandenses Caenobitae sub Tempore Willielmi Secundi For farther proof 't is observable that this King stood upon it that Malcolm King of Scots Secundum Judicium tantum Baronum suorum in Curiâ suâ Rectitudinem ei faceret That is was to do him right or answer his demands according to the Judgment of his Curia or Ordinary Court of Justice Malcolm pleads that 't was to be in the confines of both Kingdoms Secundum Judicium Primorum utriusque Regni that is according to the Judgment of a Great or General Council of both Kingdoms united and who were the Primores that constituted the Great Council of Scotland even till the 23. of James the First is evident by his Act of Alteration or recommendation of a Change which has it that the small Barrons and Fee-Tenants or Freeholders need not to come to Parliaments nor General Councils without Election which shews that till then they did And how they came here in this King's time I leave any body to think as they please sure I am here were more than Tenants in Chief There was one Council in his Reign which had no Addition to it the Author says only Celebravit Concilium and this I take it was no more than an Ordinary Curia especially it being Octabis Epiphaniae And there was a Legal Tryal by Duel and by Judgment of the Court the Party conquered had his eyes pull'd out and his stones cut off That besides the Great Council this King above mentioned held the Ordinary Curia Sive de more we have clear Authority Cum gloriosè patrio honore Curiam tenuisset ad Natale apud Glocester ad Pascha apud Winchester ad Pentecosten apud Londoniam By the foregoing Instances we may see notwithstanding Virgil's suppressing as much as in him lay the MSs. which might take from the Authority of his History how many rise up in Judgment against his Assertion in the time of King H. 1. Illud oppositè habeo dicere Reges ante haec tempora non consuevisse populi conventum consultandi causâ nisi perrarò facere adeò ut ab Henrico id institutum Jure Manâsse dici possit And it seems the great Mr. Lambert who possibly was the first that after the Ages in which the word Baronagium was used and known to express the full Great Council or Parliament received its true Notion viz. that both the Nobility and Commonalty of the Realm were meant under these words the Barons of the Realm this Great Man it seems had not met with those MSs. which since have offered their Light to the World otherwise he would not have subscribed to the foregoing opinion of Polydore Virgil however Polydore himself as far as his Authority goeth gives us to believe the frequency of such Solemn Councils from this King's time downwards This Prince was so pleased with his People and they so much at ease under his gentle Reign there was that mutual confidence in each other that 't is a question whether he ever held a Solitary Curia of Tenants and Officers only we find Tota Nobilitas cum populi
ex parte Episcopi Wign ’ Com. Leicester Gloucester ac quorundam aliorum Procerum Regni nostri vocati sunt tres de singulis Comitatibus nostris quod sint coram ipsis ad Sanctum Albanum secum tractaturi super communibus negotiis regni nostri Here the Lords of the Council exceeded their Power and as if the King were a Cypher in the Government would have the Knights from the several Shires come before them the King not without reason jealous of his Honour commands That they which had been summoned to St. Albans should come to him at Windsor Nobiscum super premissis colloquium habituros Venerab Pater G. Eboracensis Arch. Angliae Primas et alii Praelati Magnates Milites liberè tenentes et omnes alii de regno nostro servitium fecerunt et auxilium ultra quā tēporibus retractis in aliis sūmonitionibus exercitus nostri facere consueverunt This the King promises should not be drawn into consequence upon an extraordinary occasion they that were not accustomed to perform Military Service did it then and they that did owe Services did more than they were oblig'd to by their Tenure all as well those that held not of the King in Chief as those which did joyn'd together and made a general charge upon the Kingdom of Subsidium et auxilium In the 48th of this King there was a right Understanding between him and his People the Record sayes Haec est forma pacis a Domino Rege et Domino Edwardo filio suo Praelatis et Proceribus omnibus et Communitate regni Angliae communiter et concorditer approbata c. Amongst other things 't was agreed Ad reformac'onem status regni Angliae That they should chuse 3 men who should have power from the King to name Nine that should be the Kings standing Council and if any of the three displeas'd the Community si videatur Communitati Prelatorum et Baronum one or more was to be plac'd in their room per consilium Communitatis Praelatorumet Baronum And the Record concludes Haec autem Ordinatio facta fuit apud London de consensu voluntate et praecepto Domini Regis necnon Praelatorum Baronum ac etiam Communitatis tunc ibi praesentium The Council so chose as aforesaid were to advise the King in hiis quae spectant ad Regimen Curiae et regni And at that time or immediately upon it Rex Statuit et ordinavit as Mr. Camden tells us whose authority I shall enforce That none of the multitude of Barons should come to Parliament but they to whom the King vouchsaf'd to send his Special Summons or were chose by the People in pursuance of the alia illa Brevia What I have already drawn from the bowels of Antiquity makes me think that Mr. Selden was arriv'd to this maturity of Judgment when he put out the first Edition of his Titles of Honour wherein he received without doubting the Testimony of the learned Clarenceulx Mr. Camden concerning the new modelling of the Great Council of England which Mr. Camden tells us he has out of an Author old enough to know the truth of his Assertion upon this authority Mr. Selden took it then pro concesso that the alteration was as is there shewn and began in the 48th of Hen. the Third and that the first Summons accordingly was the 49th which he illustrates by the like many years after in Scotland Item The King with the Consent of the hail Council generally hes Statute and Ordained That the small Baronnes and free Tennentes neid not to come to Parliaments nor General Councels swa that of ilk Shirefdome their be send chosen at the head Court of the Shirefdome twa or maa wise men after the largeness of the Shirefdome All Bishops Abbots Priors Dukes Earls Lords of Parliament and Banrets the quhilks the King will be received and summon'd to Council and Parliament be his Special Precept This I conceive is an illustration of Mr. Camden's Authority Ad summum honorem pertinet speaking of the word Baro. Ex quo Rex Henricus ex tantâ multitudine quae seditiosa et turbulenta fuit optimos quosque rescripto ad Comitia Parlamentaria evocaverit ille enim ex satis antiquo authore loquor post magnas perturbationes et enormes vexationes inter ipsum Regem et Simonem de Monte forti alios Barones motas sopitas statuit ordinavit quod omnes illi Comites Barones Regni Angliae quibus ipse Rex dignatus est brevia summonitionis dirigere venirent ad Parlament ’ suum non alii nisi forte Dominus Rex alia illa brevia dirigere voluisset sed quod ille paulo ante obitum incepit Ed. 1. ejusque Successores constanter observarunt unde illi soli Regni Barones censebantur qui ejusmodi summonitionum ut vocant rescriptis ad Comitia evocaverant donec R. 2. Joannem de Beauchamp de Holt Baronem de Kiderminster diplomate dato 10. Octob. anno nostri sui 11. creaverit The substance of this is that the word Baro was applicable to the whole people the Body of Free-holders especially as assembled in Parliament till the King confer'd particular Honour upon some by his especial Writs of Summons and none other came but in pursuance of the aliae illa brevia that is the Writs for Elections in Counties Cities and Boroughs that this was begun to prevent those Tumults of which both the King and the Barons had Fatal experience That this was Enacted in due form of Law though the Form is not express'd yet 't is imply'd under the Statuit ordinavit being words of Legislation and for confirmation that it was so it has been followed ever since And that the Barons by Creation who have ever since their Creation had Right to sit as of the higher Order previous to their sitting or express Summons came not in till the 11th of Richard the Second Against this Mr. Selden whose insight into Records and MS's made him take it ill that any should escape his view has rais'd these objections 1. In all occurrences that I meet with since the Grand Charter of King John I find no mention of any interest that those other Tenants in Chief eo nomine had in Parliament who doubtless were the Persons that were excluded from it when soever such Law was made Tanti viri pace This objection comes not nigh the point it not being prov'd at least that King John's Charter gives the Form of a Parliament or General Council or of any other than a Council of the Kings Tenants for matters belonging to their Tenure and this sense Mr. Selden himself confirms when he says that he finds not that the Minores Barones in Chief or those other Tenants in Chief eo nomine had any interest in Parliament now not having any peculiar interest what need of a
their consent was required things were carried by the Majority of voyces amongst them that were present upon his Summons which sometimes were very few as when he held his Court at Westminster in the fifteenth of his Reign on Christmass the chief time 't was cum pauco admodum Militum Comitatu there arose a very great inconvenience and a few Tenants called together at a time when the rest could not attend as in Harvest or the like might ruine the rest therefore this seperate Court of Tenants is wholly taken away in the Reign of Edward the First and he promises that no Tallage or Aid without any reservation should be leavied for the future without the consent of a full settled Parliament not that it was incumbent upon all that came to Parliament to pay either Tallage or Escuage but as they were the Great Council of the Nation they should advise him when or in what proportion to talliate his Demeasns or lay Escuage upon his Tenants by Knights Service And when the King's Tenants paid Escuage by Authority of Parliament the Tenants by Knights Service of inferiour Lords were obliged to pay to their Lords Lit. Sect. 100. the Statute is thus Nullum tallagium vel auxilium per nos vel haeredes nostros in Regno nostro ponatur seu levetur sine voluntate assensu Arch. Ep. Comitum Baronum Militum Burgensium aliorum liberoum hominum de Regno nostro Pursuant to this the very same year is a Record of a Summons for a Parliament to consider of an Aid to make his Eldest Son Knight for which before he need not have consulted his Parliament nor the Council of the Tenants de jure Coronae nostrae in hujusmodi casu auxilium fieri nobis debet says the Record and yet he had tied up his hands from raising it without consent of Parliament However King John had in some measure redressed their grievance giving them assurance that there should always be the general consent of Tenants for what was not payable of right and custom without any consent of theirs and for the assessing those sums to which consent was made necessary there should be a convenient notice that none might complain of the injustice of the charge But all these things so manifestly relate to Tenure both the cases excepted and the cases provided for that no other sense can be tolerable for where the King reserves three incidents to Tenure and the particulars within the provision are appendant to Tenure and none but Tenants are mentioned shall we believe that something Forreign is intended by the very same words though we may well believe that all Aids whatever were intended by the Statute of Edw. 1. because the consent of all People Tenants and others is required Thus far I think I am warranted by very good Authorities I take leave to observe farther that it should seem that before this Charter the King might have charged his geldable or talliable Lands that is those Lands which were held of his Demeasn in Socage at his own discretion but could not charge them that held by Knights Service without their consent and so this part take it barely to the consenting is for the advantage and relief of the Socage Tenants only The Charter of Henry the First which exempts the King's Tenants by Knights Service ab omnibus geldis that is tribute or forced payments beyond ordinary Services leaves the King a Power of charging his other Tenants by meaner Services though not those which held by Serjeanty pro omni servitio Militibus qui per loricas terras suas deserviunt terras dominicarum carucarum suarum quietas ab omnibus geldis ab omni opere proprio dono meo concedo ut sicut tam magno gravamine alleviati sunt ita equis armis se bene instruant ut apti sint parati ad servitium suum ad defensionem Regni But then as the consent is qualified upon such notice and summons to a certain place herein the Tenants by Knights Service are eased in relation to part of their Service They were obliged to attend the King's Court either in his Wars his administration of Justice or for the assessing of Escuage upon those that made default in their Personal Services for the first there could not be any time of summons or place of attendance ascertained because occasion and necessity was to determine that for the second they could not claim it as a priviledge the administration of Justice being within the King 's Ordinary Power and his Ministers and Justices were sufficient assistants But in the last there was a grievance in which 't was proper for the King 's extraordinary Justice to relieve them Et ad habendum Commune Consilium Regni de scutagiis assidendis for the assessing of Escuage which was part of the work of the Curia they should be summoned as is therby provided Even before the Normans coming the Kings used to celebrate Feast-days with great solemnity and at those days they chose habere colloquium to consult with their People So King Eldred summoned all the Magnates of the Kingdom to meet him at London on our Lady-day In festo Nativitatis B. Mariae universi Magnates Regni per Regium Edictum summoniti c. Londoniis convenerunt ad tractandum de negotiis publicis totius Regni so King Edgar had a Great Assembly and called it Curiam suam at Christmass Cum in natali Dominico omnes Majores totius Regni mei tam Ecclesiasticae Personae quam seculares ad Curiam meam celebrandae mecum festivitatis gratiâ convenissent coram totâ Curiâ meâ corroboravi That the Curia Regis then consisted not of the King's Tenants only I could shew more particularly by a discourse of the Feudal Law and of what prevalence it was here before the Normans time But I think there is enough to this purpose here from one Piece of Antiquity which shews what in Ancient time made a Churl or Pesant become a Theyn or Noble and that so Anciently that in a Saxon MS. supposed to be wrote in the Saxon time it is spoke of as antiquated That was five hides of his own Land a Church and a Kitchin a Bell-house and a Burrough-gate with a Seat and any distinct Office in the Kings Court This Churle is in an Ancient MS. cited by Mr. Selden called Villanus so that if a man were not Free-born if he could make such an acquisition he became ipso facto a Thane a Free-man as they were often used the one for the other which I think is easily to be collected from several places in Doomsday Book and as at that time such circumstances with a place in the King's Court made a Thane or Free-man so a Thane or Freeman had a place in the Great Court as we see Edgar's Curia had all the Majores totius Regni without any qualification
to the Judgement But of this the great Council at Westminster in the year 1175. is the best Interpreter And if the Clergy-men neither before the constitution of Clarendon nor by it were excluded from medling in these causes they are by the last in full Parliament the testimony of which is transmitted by us by no less an Author than Gervase of Dover who liv'd in the very time and whose credit this learned Person supports by following him rather than Matthew Paris In hoc concilio he tells us ad emendationem Anglicanae Ecclesiae assensu Domini Regis primorum omnium Regni haec subscripta promulgata sunt Capitula amongst which the third is this Hiis qui in sacris ordinibus constituti sunt Judicium Sanguinis agitare non licet unde prohibemus ne aut per se membrorum truncationes faciant aut inferendas judicent c. this is almost the same in words with that of Toledo and by the concession of the Learned Author of the Gr. Question that of Toledo was then produced by Richard Arch-bishop of Canterbury the same we find in Hoveden said in the Margent to be ex concilio Toletano Judicium sanguinis agitare non licet surely comes up to the preliminaries and I cannot understand the coherence of saying to this effect It is a received Maxime that Clergy-men ought not so much as to vote in preliminarys relating to capital cases and therefore to give the final Judgement is only unlawful by the Canon which declares that to vote even in preliminarys is unlawful In Richard the second 's time the Bishops understood not this nice reasoning and therefore they enter their formal Protestation on Record Agitur de nonnullis Materiis that is Capital causes in quibus non licet nobis aut alicui eorum juxta Sacrorum canonum Instituta quomodolibet personaliter interesse 'T was not so much because 't was in Parliament as because matter of Blood was in question And indeed the Canons mentioning Judicia Sanguinis that is Ordinary Judgements such as were agitated in the Kings Ordinary Court of Justice and the constitution of Clarendon referring only to that Court it appears that these Constitutions were received in Parliament in the Reign of Edw. the first When the King ty'd up his hands from giving Clergy-men Power even so much as by his special Commissions to sit upon the tryals of such causes We for the Utility of our Realm and for the more assured conservation of our peace have provided and ordained that Justices assigned to take Assizes in every County where they do take as they be appointed Assizes incontinent after the Assizes taken in the Shires shall remain both together if they be Lay. And if one of them be a Clerk then one of the most discreet Knights of the Shire being Associate to him that is a Lay-man by our Writ shall deliver the Gaoles of the Shires Hereby it appears that if one of the Judges were a Clergy-man he was not so much as to sit with the other upon the delivery of the Gaol that is the tryal of capital Causes but another Lay-man should be commission'd for that purpose And agreeable to this we find in the Records of the Tower that when two have been Commissioned as Judges for the same Circuit whereof one has been a Clergy-man the other Lay the Clergy-man has had only Common-Pleas in his Commission the other both Common-Pleas and Pleas of the Crown nor is it material that some Rolls may be found out purporting as if Pleas had been held before two whereof one hapned to be a Clerk for it is to be taken reddendo singula singulis 2. This were enough to settle the 2d point viz. of what force such prohibition as I have shewn is at this day but I take leave to offer farther what as I conceive may give yet clearer satisfaction which is that the difference of an Ecclesiastical Synod from a Temporal Great Council was not taken from the persons present in either but the matters of which they treated and the parties which managed there according to the different matters if Ecclesiastical Affairs 't was a Synod if temporal it had some other name as Commune Concilium Regni Angliae or the like to distinguish it by The great Jewel hath long since given Authority to this Assertion about Ecclesiastical Synods which he calls concilia Episcopalia Ab Episcopis nomen concilia invenisse fateor eoque dicta fuisse Episcopalia quod Episcoporum judicio prudentiâ omnia constituerentur Sed tune idcirco concilia haec nihil ad principem attinuisse colliges As the Ecclesiastical Laws were supposed to lay a more immediate Obligation upon the conscience and were for the most part enforc't by Ecclesiastical censures they were call'd Canons or Rules not having that outward coertion and penalties annext which others had but yet they were no less Laws The Statute of Henry the 8th which provides That no Canons Constitutions or Ordinance shall be made or put in Execution within this Realme by Authority of the Convocation of the Clergy does not in the least Abrogate or Condemn those which were made by the Authority of the King the Clergy and the Laity As I will not say all Ecclesiastical constitutions were from the time of William 1. to the above-mentioned Synod at Westminster it is enough if that alone were so And then if that be not repugnant to some Law since made I conceive it is still in force having had full Legal sanction For the clearing this 't will be necessary to shew something of the nature of the Ecclesiastical Councils according to the Modus establisht anciently in Engl. I must confess that several Historians when they mention concilium totius Angliae speaking of an Ecclesiastical Council add frequently Episcoporum viz. Abbatum nec non multarum religiosi ordinis personarum or to that effect But Bishop Jewel has well Interpreted such Expressions and therefore we need not wonder when we find another say Lanfrancus Cant. Arch. totius Angliae Primas diversa in diversis locis Angliae celebravit concilia Though to be sure the King were sometimes jubens praesens as at the Council at Winchester But it appears even by their own modus tenendi synodos in Angliâ primaevis temporibus which I take it was the same that was agreed on in Lanfranc's time of whom Malmsbury sayes quaesivit à senioribus Episcopis qui esset ordo sedendi in concilio Antiquo more statutus c. By their antient Modus I say it appears that the Laity were to be present in their Ecclesiastical Councils for when it mentions the Clergy in order it adds Exinde introducantur Laici bonae conversationis that is probi homines vel qui electione conjugali interesse meruerint every Lay-man of good conversation probus homo or
particularly nam'd But for this a resolution by all the Judges of England in the Reign of Hen. the 8th is a full Authority where 'T is adjudged that the King may hold his Parliament without such Lords as come onely upon the account of their Possessions The same in effect Mr. Selden tells us in in his Notes upon Eadmerus Neque eos speaking of Barones duntaxat ut hodie significare quibus peculiaris ordinum Comitiis locus est sed universos qui saltem beatiores regia munificentia c. Latifundia possidebant So that he was of opinion here that there were several who had great Estates of the immediate grant of the Crown who yet had no Seat in the House of Lords I would not be thought to assert any thing dogmatically I onely offer by way of learning some thing which perhaps will be look'd on as Paradoxes at the least I divide not my matter into Heads and Positions because I run counter to the sense of many great names and the direct opposing such in Thesi would be invidious and gain a disadvantage to the authorities I produce If any body will take the pains to shew me by authentick proofs and warrantable reasons that all or most of the Records or Histories by me cited or others not occurring to me ought to be taken in a sense contrary to what has appeared to me I shall thankfully receive and acknowledg his instructions but till then I must crave pardon if I cannot swallow or digest any Learned Modern Antiquarie's bare ipse dixit where I find the best of our Historians and a Series of Records in my Judgment diametrically opposing and contradicting their Positions and Assertions I am aware that besides the many slips of an hasty Pen and the weakness perhaps of several of the inferences which amongst some avocations may have pass'd neglected There is a material Objection against the foundation of the whole which is the general agreement of Records and Histories that till the 48th or 49th of Henry the Third all Proprietors of Land came to the Great Council without any settled exclusion when yet we many times find that the Councils were held in Churches or Halls and yet at those times 't is said that the Populus were there as if the Great Men were the standing Representative Body of the Nation and answer'd for all the People the Freeholders of the Nation To which I answer according to the modus tenendi Synodos which I may apply to the civil Councils That the probi homines or bonae conversationis came sometimes in their own Persons and when they agreed to it which was no abridgment of their personal Right they came by representation ex electione and every one was there himself virtually by his Deputy but they often met in vast Bodies and in capacious places both in the Saxon times and after William the First obtained the Imperial Crown The whole body of Proprietors were assembled at Runemed between Stanes and Windsor at the passing of King John's Charter and if we believe Matth. Westminster it was not unusual for the Kings of England long before King John's time at that very place to meet their People to treat of the Affairs of the Kingdom Maximus Tractatus habebatur inter Regem et Barones de pace Regni inter Stanes Windsoram in prato quod dicitur Runemed quod interpretatur pratum Concilii eö quod ab antiquis temporibus ibi de pace regni saepius consilia tractabantur This shews the usual places of Assembling to have been large enough for all the people which are in so many Records and Histories Printed and in Manuscript said to have been present at the Great or General Councils I shall conclude with one Instance of the Parties present at such a Council which is deliver'd with sufficient perspicuity Anselm in one of his disputes with Henry the First desires the debate may be adjourn'd till the Easter following Differantur haec si placet usqu in Pascha ut audito Episcoporum regnique Primatum consilio qui modò non assunt respondeam hinc Upon this Anselm comes to the Court at Easter Igitur in Pascha Curiam venit regni ingenuitatem praesens consulit Communi consilii vocem accepit c. Here the Council Episcoporum et Primatum to which he referr'd himself was reciprocal with the ingenuitas regni that is as Sir Henry Spelman shews us the liberi et legales homines the good honest Freeholders some of which were no better than Plebeians And therefore this authority alone especially as 't is strengthned by those others to the same purpose which I have cited absque dolo et malo ingenio evince to me That he or they who put out the Second Part of Sir Spelman's Glossary did not do right to his Memory in representing him affirming That the plebs the ingenuitas or liberi et legales homines as he himself tells us the word ingenuus has anciently been us'd are no where amongst the several Councils which he had read of mention'd to have been there from the entrance of William the First to the end of Henry the Third The words to this purpose which I conceive are put upon him are these Sine ut sodes dicam collegisse me centenas reor comitiorum edictiones tenoresque plurimorum ab ingressu Gulielmii ad excessum Henrici 3. existentium nec in tantâ multitudine de plebe uspiam reperisse aliquid Indeed notice being taken of those Councils where were Optimates et Barones totius Angliae and of that famous Assembly at Salisbury-Plain of the Barones et Vicecomites cum suis Militibus in pursuance of the Summons of William the First the positiveness of the assertion is restrain'd with a ni in his dilituerit But what doubt can be made of those words whereby they are expresly mention'd and that according to the true Sir Henry Spelman I am not yet aware of FINIS ERRATA PAge 3. l. 16. r. Tzurick for Tours p. 5. margin r. contemporaneo p. 8. l. 12. for William read Hugh p. 9. l. 9. r. Attendance p. 10. l. 7. add laici before omnes p. 12. l. 29. joyn a to part p. 17. l. 4. r. fuerat p. 25. l 6. add est de before antiquo l. 7. dele est de p. 27. marg r. Hil. for Mich. p. 35. l. 3. add è before tota p. 40. l. 22. r. illuc l. 19. r. Knight for Knights p. 45. last l. r. antequam p. 47. l. 4. dele Comma after Sheriffs l. 15. r. vias l. 19. dele s after Knight p. 53. l. 28. make a Comma after Kings title l. 29. r. election p. 60. l. 28. add is after that p. 63. l. 18. r. of for in p. 64. l. 14. put a Comma after only p. 65. l. 15. r. 't was p. 66. l. 7. put a Comma after Nobility l. 10. after Londoners make a Comma so