Peers made this memorable Petition and Remonstrance of their Privileges to the King The humble Remonstrance and Petition of the Peers MAy it please your Majestie we the Peers of this Realm now assembled in Parliament finding the Earl of Arundel absent from his place amongst us his presence was therefore called for But thereupon a message was delivered us from your Majestie by the Lord Keeper That the Earl of Arundel was restrained for a misdemeanor which was personal to your Majesty and lay in the proper knowledge of your Majesty and had no relation to matter of Parliament This Message occasioned us to inquire into the Acts of our Ancestors and what in like cases they had done that so we might not erre in a dutifull respect to your Majesty and yet preserve our right and privileges of Parliament And after diligent search made both of all Stories Statutes and Records that might inform us in this case we find iâ— to be an undoubted Right and constant Privilege of Parliament That no Lord of Parliament sitting in Parliament or within the usual time of Privilege of Parliament is to be imprisoned or restrained without sentence or order of the House unlesse it be â—or Treason or Felony or for refusing to give surety for the Peace And to satisfie our selves the better we have heard all that could be aleged by your Majesties learned Counsel at Law that might any way infringe or weaken this claim of the Peers and to all that can be shewed or alleged so full satisfaction hath been given as that all the Peers in Parliament upon the question made of this Privilege have una voce consented that this is the undoubted right of the Peers and hath been inviolably enjoyed by them Wherefore we your Majesties loyal Subjects and humble Servants the whole body of the Peers in Parliament assembled most humbly beseech your Majesty that the Earl of Arundel a Member of this Body may presently be admitted by your gracious favour to come sit and serve your Majesty and the Commonwealth in the great affairs of this Parliament And we shall pray c. Upon which Remonstrance and Petition the King refusing to inlarge him thereupon the Lords to maintain their Privilege adjourned themselves on the 25 and 26 of May without doing any thing and upon the Kings refusal to release him they adjourned from May 26 till June 2. refusing to sit and so the Parliament dissolved in discontent his imprisonment in this case being a breach of privilege contrary to Magna Charta In this very Parliament the Lord Digby Earl of Bristol being omitted out of the summons of Parliament upon complaint to the Lords House was by order admitted to set therein as his Birthright from which he might not be debarred for want of Summons which ought to have been sent unto him ex debito Iustitiae as Sir Edward Cook in his 4 Institutes p. 1. The Act for ttriennial Parliaments and King John great Charter resolve And not long after the beginning of this Parliament upon the Kings accusation and impeachment of the Lord Kimbolton and the five Members of the Commons House both Houses adjourned and sate not as Houses till they had received satisfaction and restitution of those Members as the Journals of both Houses manifest it being an high breach of their Privileges contrary to the Great Charter If then the Kings bare not summoning of some Pears to Parliament who ought to sit there by their right of Perage or impeaching or imprisoning any Peer unjustly to disable them to sit personally in Parl. be a breach of Privilege of the fundamental Laws of the Realm and Magna Charta it self confirmed in above 40 successive Parliaments then the Lords right to sit vote and judge in Parliament is as firm and indisputable as Magna Charta can make it and consented to confirmed by all the Commons people and Parliaments of England that ever consented to Magna Charta though they be not eligible every Parliament by the Freeholders people as Knights and Burgesses ought to be and to deny this birthright and privilege of theits is to deny Magna Charta it self and this present Parliaments Declarations proceedings in the case of the Lord Kimbolton a Member of the House of Peers Fifthly The Treatise intituled The manner of holding Parliaments in England in Edward the Confessors time befose the Conquest rehearsed afterwards before William the Conquerour by the discreet men of the Kingdom and by himself approved and used in his time and in the times of his successors Kings of England if the Title be true and the Treatise so antient as Sir Edward Cook others now take it to be When as its mention of the Bishop of Carlisles usual place in Parliaments which Bishoprick was not founded till the year of our Lord 1132. or 1134. as Matthew Paris Matthew Westminster Roger Hoveden Godwin and others attest in the later end of Henry the first his reign Its menâ—ion of the Mayors of London other Cities and writs usually directed to them to elect two Citizens to serve in Parliament whereas London it self had no Mayor before the year 1208. being the 9. year of King John nor other Cities Mayors til divers years after nor can any Writs for electing Knights of Shires Citizens or Burgesses to serve in Parliament which it oft times writes of be produced before 49 H. 3. nor any Writs to levy their expences or wages for their Service in Parliaments which it recites be produced before the reign of King Edward the 1. Nor was the name of Parliament which it mentions and writes of so much as used by any Author before the later end of King Henry the 3. his reign after whose reign this Modus was certainly compiled towards the end of K. Richard the 2. or after as other passages in it evidence beyond all contradiction This magnified Treatise be it genuine or spurious determines thus of the Kings and Lords rights to be personally present in all Parliaments The King is bound by all means possible to be present at the Parliament unless he be detained or let there from by bodily sickness and then he may keep his Chamber yet so that he lye not without the Manour or Town 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 EARLS two BARONS two Knights of the Shire two Burgesses and two Citizens to look upon his person to testifie and witness his estate and in their presence he ought to make a Commission and give Authority to the Archbishop of the Place the Steward of England and Chief Justice that they joyntly and severally should begin the Parliament and continue the same in his name express mention being made in that Commission of the cause of his absence thence which ought to suffice and admonish the OTHER NOBLES
this King who as some erroniously assert first summoned Knights Citizens and Burgesses to our Parliaments In the Parliamentary Councel at Clarindon under King H. the 2. An. 1164. Jo. de Oxonia by the Kings command there present sate President Presentibus etiam Archiepâ—scopis Episcopis Abbatibus Prioribus Comitibus Baronibus et Proceribus regni wherein they made a Recognition of the customs and liberties of his Grandfather King Henry the 1. and other his Ancestors which ought to be observed by all persons within the Realm by reason of the discords often happening between the Clergy and temporal Justices and great men of the Realm These they reduced to 16 Articles very much ecclipsing the Popes and Bishops ecclesiastical Jurisdiction This Recognition the Archbishops Bâ—shops Abbots Priors Clergy cum Comitibus Proceribus et Baronibus cunctis una voce firmly promised in the word of truth bona fide to observe and keep to the King and his heirs for ever without male engin The 11 of these Articles runs thus Archiepiscopi et Episcopi sicut caeteri Barones debent interesse Iudiciis Curiae to wit of Parliament cum Baronibus quousque perveniatur in judicio ad dâ—minutioneÌ„ membrorum vel ad mortem Which proves the judicial power of Parliaments to be then only in the Lords and Barons In the year 1170. the 16 of Henry â— on the Feast of St. Bernard Rex magnum celebravit Concilium Londoniis cum Principibus et Magnatibus curiae suae de coronatione Henrici filii sui So Hoveden Anno 1172. Rex Angliae Henricus convocatis regui Primoribus apud Northamptoniam renoveâ—unt Assisâ—m Clarindoniae eamque praecepit observari In the year 1175. King Henry the second and his son held a great Council at York where the agreement between him and the King of Scots there present with most of his Bishops Abbots and Nobles was read and confirmed before the King and his Son the Arehbishop of York the Bishop of Durham Comitibus Baronibus Angliae The sâ—me year Rex magnum congregavit coneslium â—pud Windeshores in octavis Sancti Michaelis praesentibus Rege filio Richardo Cant. Archiepiscopo Episcopis Angliae Laurentâ—o Dubliâ—ensi Archiepiscopo Praesentibus eâ—iâ—m Comitibus et Baronibus Angliae In which some controversies in Ireland were ceâ—cided In the year 1176. King Henry coming to Noâ—ingham on the feast of Sr. Pauls conversion ibi celebravit Magnum Concilium de statute regni sui et coram rege filio suâ— Archiepiscopis Episcopis Comitibus et Baronibus Regnâ— sui Communi omnium Concilio divisit regnum suum in sex partes per quarum singuâ—aâ— tres Justiciarios itinerantes constituit whose names Commissions and Articles are there at large recorded And the same year this King held another Great Council at London in which the King Consilio universorum Episcoporum Comitum et Baronum Regni concessit Regi Siciliae filiam suam In the year 1177. King Henry the 2. summoned a Great Councâ—l to determin the great Controversy between Sanctius King of Navarr and Alphonsus King of Castile whose Advocates propounding and debating their cases in the presence of the King and of his Bishops Earls and Barons the King habito cum Episcopis Comitibus et Baronibus nostris cum deiiberatione consilio drew up by their advice an award between them under his great Seal recorded at large in Hoveden who writes Comites et Barones Regalis Curiae Angliae adjudicaverunt plenariam utrique parti supradictae quae in jure petita fuerâ—nt fieri restitutionem The like they did in the Council of Northampton in other cases held the same year Anno 1188. King Henry the 2. on the 3d of February held a Parliamentary Council at Gaintington about 8 or 10. miles from Northampton where convenerunt unà cum Rege PRAESULES ET PRINCIPES REGNI de defensione sacrosanctae terrae Jerosolymae tractaturi where after long debate they made 8. Statutes concerning that voyage The very same year the Kings of England and France on the 10. of February came to a conference about their Voyage to Jerusalem cum Archiepiscopis Comitibus et Baronibus Regnorum suorum as they had formerly done in the same manner and place An. 1173. and as they did afterwards An. 1189. Cum Archiepiscopis Episcopis et Baronibus suis So as during King Henry the seconds whole reign we read of no Knights Citizens and Burgesses electcted by the people present in our Parliamentary Councils but only the King Prelates Earls Barons and Nobles alwaies mentioned by name and Judges in them Only I find this one expression in Hoveden An. 1188. Rex statim apud Gaintington congregavit Magnum Concilium Episcoporum Abbatum Comitum et Baronum et aliorum multorum tam Clericorum quam Laicorum but that these were Knights Citizens and Burgesses elected by the people and not persons particularly summoned and nominated by the King himself to be Assessors Collectors of the Tenths there to receive their instructions for it which is most probable cannot be thence inferred ubi in publica audientia recitari fecit omnia supradicta capitula quae constituerat de Cruce capienda et tunc Dominus Rex misit servientes suos Clericos Laicos per singulos Comitatus Angliae ad Decim as colligendas most likely the aliorum muliorum tam Clericorum quam Laicorum present at this great Council secundum praedictam Ordinationem in terris suis transmarinis constitutam to wit at Cenomanum ubi consilio suorum to wit of the Archbishops Bishops Earls and Barons there with him ordinavit quod unusquisque decimam redditorum et mobilium suorum in eleemo sinam dabit ad subventionem terrae Jerosolymitanae hoc anno exceptis armis equis vestibus militum c. Sed de singulis urbibus totius Angliae fecit elegi omnes ditiores videlicet de Londonio 200 de Eboraco 100 de aliis Urbibus secundum quantitatem numerum eorum fecit omnes sibi praesentari diebus locis statutis de quibus caepit Decimam mobilium suorum secundum aestimationem virorum fidelium qui noverant redditus et mobilia eorum Si quos autem invenisset rebelles statim fecit eos in carcerari et in vinculis teneri donec ultimum quadrantem persolverent similiter fecit de Judaeis terrae suae unde inaestimabilem sibi acquisivit pecuniam Andrew Horn in his Mirrour of Justices in the reign of King Edward the first writes That our Saxon Kings divided the Realm of England after it was turned into an heritage into 38 Counties over which they set so many Counts or Earls and although the King ought to have no Peers in his land yet for that if the King should do wrong to or offend any of his people neither he nor any of his Commissaries ought to
right duty to be personally present in Parl. and ever have been so as well as the Commons and neither of them to be excluded since they all make up but one Parliament that no Lords Commons ought to depart from it without special leave under pain of amercement and other penalties That no binding Law can be passed without their joynt consents And that the Commons alone are no more a Parliament of themselves without the King and Lords than the Common Councel of London are an intire City or Corporation without the L. Mayor and Aldermen or the Covent without the Abbot the Chapter without the Dean or the legs or belly a perfect man without the head neck and heart Sixthly The antient and constant form of endorsing Bills in Parliament began in the Commons house in all Parliaments since the House of Commons unanswerably demonstrates the Commons of Englands acknowledgement of the Lords right to sit vote assent or dis-assent to Bills in Parliament viz. Soit Bayle a Seigneurs let it be delivered or sent up to the Lords Yea the Commons constant sending up of their own Members with Messages to the Lords their receiving Messages from them and entertaining frequent conferences with them in matters wherein their opinions differ in which conferences the Lords usually adhere to their dissents unlesse the Commons give them satisfaction and convince them and the Lords oft times convince the Commons so far as to consent to their alterations of Bills Ordinances Votes and to lay them quite aside is an unquestionable argument of their Right to sit and vote in Parliament and of their Negative voice too All which would prove but a meer absurdity superfluity if the Commons in all ages and now too were not convinced that the Lords had as good right to sit and vote in Parliament and a Negative dissenting voice as well as they never once questioned nor doubted till within this year or two by some seditious disciples of Lilburns and Overtons tutoring who endeavoured to evade their justice on them Seventhly This just right of the Lords is expresly and notably confirmed by all the Commons of England in the Parliament of 31 H. 8. c. 10. concerning the placing and sitting of the Lords and great Officers of State in the Parliament House made by the Commons consent it being in vain to make such a Law continuing still till this very day both in force and use if they had no lawfull right to sit and vote in Parliament because they are not elective as Knights and Burgesses are And likewise by the Statute of 39 H. 6. c. 1. made at the Commons own Petition to repeal the Parliament held at Coventry the year before and all procedings of it by practice of some seditious persons of purpose to destroy some of the great Nobles faithfull and lawfull Lords and Estates meerly out of malice and greedy and unsatiable covetousness to possesse themselves of their Lands possessions offices and goods whereby many great injuries Enormities and Inconveniences well nigh to the ruine decay and universal subversion of the kingdom ensued The very design of our Lilburnists Sectaries and Levellers now out of particular malice and covetousness to share the Lords and all rich Commoners lands and estates between them being poor indigent covetous people for the most part scarce forty of them worth one groat at least before these times and wars 8ly This apparent Right of theirs is undeniably ratified acknowledged by the very words of the Kings writs in all ages by which the Lords themselves are summoned to the Parliament running in this form Carolus c. Charissimo consaguineo suo Edwardo Com. Oxon. salutem Quia de advisamento consensu consilii nostri pro quibusdam arduis et urgentibus negotiis Nos statum et defensionem Regni nostri Angliae Ecclesiae Angli canae concernentibus quoddam Parliamentum nostrum apud Civitatem nostram Westmonasterium 12 die Novemb. prox futuro tenere ordinavimus et ibidem vobiscum cum Praelatis Magnatibus et Proceribus dicti regni nostri colloquium havere ettractare Vobis sub fide ligeantiis quibus nobis teneamur firmiter injungendo Mandamus quod consideratis dictorum negotiorum arduitate periculis minentibus cessante excusatione quacunque dictis die et loco personaliter inter sitis Nobiscum ac cum Praelatis Magnatibus Proceribus praedictis super dictis negotiis tractaturus vestrumque consilium impensurus sicut Nos et honorem nostrum ac salvationem et defensionem Regni et Ecclesiae praedictorum expeditionem que dictorum negotiorum diligitis nullatenus omittatis Teste c. Which writs firmly require and command their personal presence counsel and advise in all Parliaments without any excuse and that by the faith and allegiance which they owe to the King and as they doe tender the King and his honour the salvation and defence of the Realm and Church of England and the dispatch of the arduous and urgent businesses which concern them Which is likewise seconded expressed in the very words of all the writs for election of Knights and Burgesses the form and substance whereof are antient and can recive no alteration nor addition but by Act of Parliament as Sir Edward Cook resolves By this Writ the Prelates Great men Nobles of the Realm are summoned to the Parliament there to treat and confer with the King of the arduous and urgent affairs and defence of the King Realm and Church of England as the first Clause of the writ Carolus c. quia c. pro quibusdam arduis et urgentibus negotiis Nos Statum defensionem Regni nostri Angliae Ecclesiae Anglicanae concernent quoddam Parliamentum nostrum c. teneri ordinavimus ibidem cum Praelatis Magnatibus Proceribus dicti Regni nostri colloquium haberet tractare Tibi praecipimus And the Commons are summoned to perform and consent to those things which shall there happen to be ordained by this Common Council of the Kindom c. And if they are thus summoned not to treat amongst themselves as an independent intire Parliament but to confirm and consent to what the King Prelates Great men and Peers the Common Council of the Realm shall ordain about such affairs as they must of necessity admit the King Lords and Peers to be altogether as essential yea more principal eminent Members of Parliament though not elective as the Knights and Burgesses who are but summoned to consent to and perform what shall happen there by their common advise to be ordained or at least to consult and advise with them as their inferiours not to over-rule them as their superiours and the only Supream power authority in the Kingdom So if they will totally exclude either King or Lords from the Parliament who are distinct principal and essential Members of it as well as the Commons and have always been so reputed until now
ad ipsum Regem confirmationem omnium istorum sub sigillo suo tanquam ab eo qui 〈…〉 â—tus erat cedendum malitiae temporis censuit obtinuerunt Pro eonfirmatione et harum rerum omnium dedit populus Anglicanus Regi denarium nonum bonorum suorum Clerus vero Cantuariensis Decimum et Clerus Eboracensis Quintum qui propiordamno fuit So Walsingham truly relates the History of this transaction These Statutes thus obtained by the Earls and Barons from the King are printed in our Statutes at large with the excommunication of the Prelates then denounced against the infringers of them in Rastals Abridgement of Statutes Sir Edward Cooks 2 Institut p. 527. to 537. being thus intituled Confirmationes Chartarum de Libertatibus Angliae et Forestae et Statutum de Tallagio non concedondo made both in the 25 year of Edward 1. not in the 34 as our Statute books and Sir Edward Cook misdate the latter of rhem The differences between the King these Earls and Nobles touching these liberties with his confirmation of them and the aid granted him for the same are likewise recorded in the Patent Roll of 25 Ed. 2. par 2. m. 6 7 9. And Claus 25 E. 1. m. 2.5.14.18.76 dors there are sundry Writs and Proclamations sent to all the Sherifs for the keeping of Magna Charta in all its articies and to the Bishops to excommunicate the Infringers of them agreeing with Walsinghams relation Anno 1299. the 26 of King Edward the first the king holding a Parliament at York the foresaid Earls because the Confirmation of the Charters forementioned was made in a forein land requested that for their greater security they might be again confirmed by the King in England which the Bishop of Durham and three Earls engaged he should doe upon his return out of Scotland with victory Whereupon this King the next year being the 27 of his reign holding a Parâ—iament at London Ubi rogatus a Comitibus saepe dictis ut Chartarum confirmationem renovaret secundum quod in Scotia promiserat post aliquas dilationes instantiae eorum acquievit hac additione Salvo jure Coronae nostrae infine adjecta Quam cum audissent Comites cum displicentia ad propria recesserunt sed revocatis ipsis ad quindenam Paschae ad votum eorum absolute omnia sunt Concessa And thereupon the Statutes intituled Articuli super Chartas 28 E. 1. in our printed Statutes and Cooks 2 Institutes whereas it should rather be 27. were then made and published by these Earls and Nobles procurement and Writs sent to all the Sherifs De quibusdam Articulis in MAGNA CHARTA contentis Chartae de Foresta Henrici Patris nostrae observandis Rot. Claus 27. E. 1 m. 17. And Pat. 28 E. 1. m. 14. Commissions are sent into all Counties de Artic. in mag Chart. content Stat. Regis apud Winton edita observandis and that whosoever did not observe every Article should be punished per imprisonamentum redemptionem vel amerciamentum secundum quod transgressio exigeret there being no certain way of punishment before ordained And Claus 28 E. m. 7 8. There are Writs sent to every Sherif to read proclaim magna Charta in his County 4 times every year to proclaim Articulos super Chartas à Rege populo concessos But the Execution of the Articles of the Forest being deferred notwithstanding these Proclamations thereupon King Edward held a Parliament at Stanford the 29 year of his reign ad quod convenerunt Comites et Barones cum eqnis et armis eo prout dicebatur proposito ut executionem Chartae de Foresta hactenus dilatam extorquerent ad plenum Rex autem eorum instamiam importunitatem attendens eorum voluntati in omnibus condescendit To omit all other Presidens these forecited abundantly evidence the gallantry stoutness heroical courage care vigilancy of the Lords in all our Parliamentary Councils to maintain and defend the fundamental Liberties Properties Great Charters of the Realm and to perpetuate them to posterity without the least violation to vindicate re-establish them when infringed and to withstand oppose all unjust aids taxes subsidies when either demanded levied exacted by our Kings though in cases of pretented or real necessity to supply their wants maintain their wars and protect the Realm from forein enemies I shall only produce three of four Historical Presidents more demonstrating what great Curbs Remoraes Obstacles some particular potent Noblemen of great estates alliance publike spirits have been to the exorbitant arbitrary wills power proceedings of our Kings who most endeavoured openly to subvert or cunningly to undermine our publike Laws and Liberties Mat. Paris speaking of the death of Geoffry Fitz-Peeter one of the greatest Peers of that age writes thus of him This year Anno 1218. Geoffry Fitz-Peeter Chief Justice of all England a man of great power and authority TO THE GREATEST DETRIMENT OF THE KINGDOM ended his dayes the 2. day of Octob. ERAT autem FIRMISSIMA REGNI COLUMNA for he was the most firm pillar of the Kingdom as being a Nobleman expert in the Laws furnished with treasures rents and all sort of goods and confederated to all the great men of England by blood or friendship whence the King without love did fear him above all men for he governed the reigns of the Kingdom Whereupon after his death England was become like a ship in a storm without an helm The beginning of which tempest was the death of Hubert Archbishop of Canterbury a magnificent and faithfull man neither could England breath again after the death of these two When K. John heard of Fitz-Peeters death turning to those who sate about him He said By Gods feet now am I first King and Lord of England He had therefore from thenceforth more free power to break his Oaths and Covenants which he had made with the said Geoffry for the peoples Liberty and Kingdoms peace Such Pillars and Staies are great and stout Peers to a Kingdom and Curbs to tyrannical Kings which caused Vortigern the British Kingâ— who usurped the Crown with the treacherous murder of his Soveraign Nobiles deprimere et moribus et sanguine ignobiles extollere quod maximè regiae honestati contrarium est to secure his throne thereby against their predominant power as other Usurpers and Tyrants since have done Therfore of meer Right they ought to have a place and voice in Parliaments for the very Kingdoms safety and welfare without the peoples election William Duke of Normandy having slain the Usurper King Harold with many thousands of Englishmen in the field routed his whole Army and caused the City of London and most parts of England to subject themselves unto him as their Soveraign out of base fear thereupon Stigand Archbishop of Canterbury and Eglesine Abbot of St. Augustine chief Peers of the Realm and Lords and Governors of Kent to preserve themselves their Country Laws and
seriose nobis fecit exponi Quibus auditis diligenter intellectis ita sensibus admiranda quam hactenus inaudita in eis audivimus contineri Scimus enim Pater sanctissime et notorium in partibus nostris ac nonnullis aliis non ignotum quod à prima institutione Regni Angliae Reges ejusdem regni tam temporibus Britonum quam Anglorum superius directum Dominium regni Scotiae habuerunt in possessione vel capitanei superioritatis et recti Dominii ipsius Scotiae successivis temporibus habuerunt nec ullis temporibus ipsum regnum in temporalibus pertinuit vel pertinet quovismodo ad Ecclesiam supradictam Quinimo idem Regnum Scotiae dicti Regni nostri Regibus Angliae atque sibi faeodale extitit ab antâ—quo Nec etiam Reges Scotorum Regnum aliis quam Regibus Angliae subfuerunt vel subjici consueverunt neque Reges Angliae super juribus suis in regno praedicto aut aliis suis temporalibus coram aliquo judice ecclesiastico vel saeculari ex Praeeminentia status suae Regiae dignitatis et consuetudinis cunctis temporibus irrefragabiliter observatae responderunt aut respondere debebant Vnde habito tractatu et deliberatione diligenti super contentis in Literis vestris memoratis communis concors unanimus omnium nostrum et singulorum consensus fuit et erit inconcusse Deo propitio in futurum quod praefatus Dominus noster Rex super juribus Regni Scotiae aut aliis suis temporalibus nullatenus respondeat judicialiter coram Vobis nec judicium subeat quoquo modo aut jura sua praedicta in dubium quaestionis deducat nec ad praesentiam vestram Procuratores aut nuncios ad hoc mittat praecipue cum praemissa cederent manifeste in exhaeredationem juris coronae Regni Angliae et Regiae dignitatis ac subversionem Status ejusdem Regni notoriam necnon ad praejudicium Libertatis Consuetudinum et Legum paternarum ad quarum obfervationem et defensionem debito praestiti juramenti astringimux et quae manutenebimus toto posse totisque viribus cum Dei auxilio defendemus Nec enim permittimus nec aliqualiter permittemus sicut non possumus praemissa tam insolita tam indebita praejudicialia alias inaudita praelibatum dominum regem etiam si vellet facere seu modo quolibet attemptare Quapropter sanctitati vestrae humiliter supplicamus quatenus eundem nostrum dominum Regem qui inter alios Principes orbis terrae Catholicum se exhibet et Romanae Ecclesiae devotum jura sua Libertates et Consuetudines et leges praedictas abique diminutione et inquietudine pacifics pofâ—idere as illibata persistere benignius permittatis A most noble heroical loyal magnanimous Resolution of all the English Peers to their King and Country even against the Popes incroachments on them though then their Ghostly Father Anno 1307. King Edward the 1. held a Parliament ar Carlisle in quae per Majores regni graves deposita sunt querimoniae de oppressionibus Ecclesiarum et Monasteriorum multiplicibus extortionibus pecuniarum per Clericum Domini Papae Magistrum Gulihelmum de Testa noviter in regnum inductis praeceptumque est eidem clerico DE ASSENSU COMITUM BARONUM ne de caetero talia exequatur Ordinatum etiam erat quod pro remedio super hiis obtinendo ad dominum Papam assignati mitterentur Nuncii I shall close up this point with one memorable example more Anno 1312. there being a great difference between King Edward the 2. and his Nobles about his recalling Peter Gaverston after a double exile by sentence of the Lords in parliament who took up arms to expell him by force and desired the King to confirm and execute certain Ordinances they had made else they would by strong hand compell him thereunto hereupon the Popes two Legates then in England came with the rest of the Prelats of England and Earl of Glocester to St. Albans to mediate a Peace between the King and Lords from whence they sent their Clerks to Warhamstede where the Barons then lay with their Army cum Literis summi Pontificis eis pro pace roganda directis Magnates audientes extraneos eis Literas apportate ipsos quidem pacifice receperunt sed literas recipere noluerunt dicentes se non esse literatos sed armis militia exercitatos et ideo videre literas non curarunt Tunc qui missi fuerant requisierunt si placeret eis habere colloquium cum Dominis suis Domini Papae nunciis qui pro pace reformanda personaliter accedere cupiebant Ad haec PROCERES responderunt Se in regno multos habere probos literatos Episcopos quorum consiliis uti volebant et non exâ—rancorum quibus non esset cognita causa commotionis suae praeciseque dixerunt se nullo modo permissuros ut aliquis alienigena vel forensis intromitteret de factis suis aut quibuscunque negotiis eos tangentibus infra Regnum So much did the Lords then slight the Popes Letters and Legates Nuncii Domini Papae tali modo perterriti in crastino summo manè iter versus Londonias maturarunt qui apud Sanctum Albanum loci commoditate illecti moram traxisse per Mensem vel amplius cogitaverant And so intermedled no more therein The same year Henry de Lacy Earl of Lincoln lying upon his death-bed used this Speech to Thomas Earl of Lancaster his Son-in-law heir to 5. Earldoms Quomodo Deus eum prae cunctis in regno ditaverit honoraverit gloriae fecerat abundare Quapropter ait et Deum diligere te et honorare prae caeteris obligaris Cernis Sanctam Ecclesiam Anglicanam honorabilem quondam et liberam per Romanorum Oppressiones Regum hujus regni injustas Exactiones proh dolor ancillatam Vides plebem regni Tributis Tallagiis apporiatam de conditione Libertatis in servitutem actam a true character of our times after all our wars for Liberty and Property Cernis regni Nobilitatem quandoque toti Christianitati venerabilem jam ab alienigenis in terra propria vilipensam Adjuro te igitur per nomen Christi ut virum induas exurgas et eriges te ad honorem Dei Ecclesiae et patriae liberationem adhibeasque tibi virum strenuum nobilem prudentem Guidonem Warwicensem Comitem cum necesse fuerit de regni tractare negotiis qui consilio praeeminet et maturitate pollet Non verearis insurgentes adversantes tibi dimicaturo pro veritate Si his meis monitis acquieveris in aeternum honorem gloriam consequeris Whereupon this Earl pro relevanda sanctae matris Ecclesiae oppressione et recuperanda regni debita libertate confederated with divers other Earls and Nobles who electing him for their General regni Nobilium communi decreti sententia Then they sent Messengers to the K. to
assembled a Council of the Nobles of his Realm at whose inteaty he granted him Christian burial but for this his Treason they confiscated all his Lands great and small to the King who by their consent granted them all to the Abbey of Malmsbury by his Charter wherein he recites Elfreds Treason death and the judgement given against him by the Nobles adding Sciant Sapientes regionis nostrae non has praefatas terras me in iuste rapuisse rapinamque Deo dedicasse sed sic eas accepi quemadmodum judicaverunt omnes Optimates regni Anglorum et sic adjudicata est mihi tota possessio ejus in Magnis et Modicis Here we have a direct judgement given against Elfred after his death by all the Nobles of the Realm assembled in a Parliamentary Council for Treason against the King for which they adjudged he should forfeit all his Lands to the King whose seisure of them by this legal judgement was no rapine but a just and legal perquisite which he in gratitude dedicated unto God Anno 985. as some or 986. as others relate King Ethelred banished Alfric Duke of Mercia out of the Realm the cause and manner thereof not expressed by our Historians is thus recited in King Ethelreds Charter to the Abbot of Abingdon in the Leiger book of Abingdon f. 91. that Alfric had forcibly ravished and taken away Willemetrant and Syrene from a widdow named Eadfeild for which he was banished after which being recalled and made one of the Kings Admirals against the Danes Anno 992· he played the Traytor and revolted to the Danes as our Historians record for which Treason as that Charter recites quia cum Ducatu suo contra Regem Ethelredum reus exstitit omnes possessiones ejus Regis ditioni subactae sunt and that by the Lords judgement given in a COUNCIL at CIRENCESTER stiled Synodale Concilium ad quod omnes Optimates mei simul in unum convenerint et eundem Aâ—fricun Majestatis reum de hâ—c patria profugum expuâ—erunt by whose Judgement as he seised his Dukedom and Lands there adjudged to be forfeited for his Treason it is likewise probable he caused the Eyes of Algarus son of this Traytor Alfric to be put out Anâ—o 993. when this Council at Cirencester was held as I conjecture In a great Parliamentary Council held at Oxford Anno 1015. King Ethelred caused some Nobles of the Danish race whereof Sygeforth and Morcar were chief to be suddenly and secreâ—ly slain and put to death as being noted and accused of Treason and Perfidiousness towards the King who thereupon seised upon their Earldoms Lands and Goods King Cnute Anno 1017. by his precepts assembled all the Bishops Dukes Princes and Nobles of the English Nation in a Great Parliamentary Council at London where they all swore allegeance and homage to Cnute as their King totally rejected abjured Edmond Ironsides Sons and Brothers right heirs to the Crown against their former Oaths of Allegiance to them and by wicked advice adâ—udged Prince Edwin to be banished the Realm and Edmond Ironsides Sons to be sent beyond the seas to be slain by the Barbarians for which by divine retaliation â—he chiefest of them within one year after were slain or banished the Realm by King Cnute whom they endeavoured to ingratiate and secure by this their unjust sentence The Chronicle of Bromton Caxton in his Chronicle and Mr. Selden record this memorable proceeding in an Appeal of Treason against Earl Godwin in a Parliamentary Council held about the year 1043. Godwin Earl of Kent being enforced to fly into Denmark to preserve his life for the murder of Prince Alfred Brother to King Edward the Confessor hearing of Edwards piety and mercy resolved to return into England humbly to implore his mercy and grace that he might regain his lands then confiscated for it having provided all things for his journy he put to Sea arived in England and posted to London where the King then held a Parliamentary Council wiâ—h all his Nobles Comes Godwinus usque Londonias ubi Rex et omnes regni Magnates ad Parliamentum tunc fuerant properavit rogans ibi et petens amicos consanguineos suos qui post Regem majores terrae fuerunt ut gratiam et amicitiam à Rege sibi perquirere studerent Qui super hoc consilio inter eos deliberato ipsum coram Rege pro gratâ—a obtinenda secum duxerunt Sed statim cum Rex eum intuitus esset De proditione et morte Alfredi fratris sui ipsum appellavit in haec verba Proditor Godwine ego te appello de morte Alfredi fratris mei quem proditionaliter occidisti Cui Godwinus se excusando respondit Domine mi Rex salva reverentia et gratia vestra pace dominatione fratrem vestrum unnquam prodidi veloccidi unde super hoc pono me in consideratione Curiae vestrae Tunc dâ—xit Rex Karissimi Domini Comites et Barones terrae qui estâ—s homines meâ— liget modo hic congregaâ—â— appelâ—um meum responsumque Godwini audistiâ— Volo quod inter nos in ista appellatione rectum judiciam decernatis et debitam justitiam faciatis Comitibus vero et Baronibus super hoc ad in vicem tractantibus quidâ—m inter eos de justo judicio faciendo diversimodo sentiebant Alii enim aâ—cebant Quod nunquam per homagium servitium seu fidelitatem Godwinus Regi exstitit alligatus et ideo Proditor suus non fuit quod ipsum etiam manibus fuis non occiderat Alii vero dixerunt Quod Comes nec Baro nec aliquis Regi subditus bellum contra Regem in appellatione sua-de Lege potest vadiare sed in toto ponere in misericordia suâ— et emendas sibi ofâ—erâ—e competentes Tunc Leofricus Consul Cestriae probus homo quoad Deum seculum dixit Comes Godwinus post Regem homo melioris parentelae totius Angliae et dedicere non potest quin per consilium suum Alfredus frater Regis interemptus fuit unde per me considero qúod ipsemet filius suus et nos omnes 12. Comites qui amici et consanguinei sui sumuâ— coram Rege humiliter procedamus onerati cum tanto auro et argento quantum inter brachia sua quilibet nostrum poterit bajulare illud sibi pro suâ— transgresin afferendo et suppliciter deprecando ut ipse malevolentiam suam rancorem et iram Comiâ—i con onet et acceâ— t is homagio suo fidelitate terras suas sibi integre restituat eâ— retradat Illi auâ—em omnes sub ista forma thesauro se onerantes et ad Regem accedâ—ntes seriem modum considerationis eorum sibi demonstrâ—bant Quorum considerationi Rex contradâ—cere nolens quicquid judicaverant per omnia ratificavit Concordia igitur sub isto modo inter eos facta Comes statim reobtinuit integreterras
kingdom being ad omne scelus paratus Anno Dom. 1102. There was a GENERAL Council held in the Church of St. Peters in Westminster on the Westside of London Communi assensu Episcoporum et Abbatum et Principum totius regni huic conventui affuerunt Anselmo Archiepiscopo petente a Rege PRIMATES REGNI quatenus quicquid ejusdem Concilii auctoritate dâ—cerneretur VTRIUSQUE ORDINIS concordi cura sollicitudine tatum servaretur sic enim necesse erat Iâ— this Council the Sin of Symony was first of all condemned by the authority of the holy Fathers and Wido Abbot of Pescore Wimundus of Tavestock and Baldwin of Ramsy Godric of Burgh Haymo of Cernel Egelric of Midleton being therein convicted of Simony were removed and deposed for it by this Council and Richard Abbot of Ely Robert of St Edmonds and the Abbot of Miscelen deposed for other particular crimes and offenceâ— Aâ—oâ— which the King being much incensed against Anselm and other Bishops for refusing to consecrate those Bishops whom the King invested with a staff and ring the King and Anselm having a hot contest about it at Canterbury Ne ipse perdendo suorum jura Anâ—ecessorum ipsis vilior esset Anselm requested the King â— deferr â—he business till Easter ut audâ—to Episcoporum Regniâ—ue Primatum Concilio qui modo non assunt respondeâ—m hiâ— which the â—ing consenting to at Easter communis Concilit vocem unam accepit that he should goe to Rome to the Pope to procure a repeal of the Canon made against investiâ—ures and that as the Kings Embassador Regis preces Regnique negotia Apostolicis auribus expositurus Anselm undertaking the journey to Rome like an Arch-Traytor so incensed the Pope against investitures and the King That William Warenast the kings Embassador telling him Hâ— knâ—w the King would rather lose his Crown than this Privilege of Investitures The Pope thereto replyed Yea let him lose his head also if he will whilst I live he shall never appoint any Bishop in his Realm but I will resist hâ—m what I may The King hereupon by the advise of his Nobles prohibited Anselm to return into England and seised all his Temporalties and â—oods moveable and unmoveable into his hands keeping him in exile for 9 years space after which he was conditionally restored at the mediation of the Kings Sister Adela Anno 1106. Robert Duke of Normandy was first adjudged to a shamefull cruel death and after that to have his eyes pulled out and he kept perpetual Prisoner and Earl Morton with others adjudged to perpetual prison BY THE PEERS for taking up arms against King Henry the 1. King Stephen having against his own the Bishops and Nobles Oaths to King Henry and Maude usurped the Crown Anno 1199. There were divers rumours spread abroad that Robert Earl of Normandy and Mawde would invade England and that Roger Bishop of Salisbury and Alexander his Nephew Bishop of Lincoln who were very powerfull wealthy and had built fortified and furnished divers strong and stately Castles would upon the Empress landing surrender them to her and revolt from Stephen to her party Paternorum scilicet beneficiorum memoria inducti being both advanced and inriched by her father Whereupon the Nobles oft times wished Stephen to compell them speedily to resign their Castles to him least he repented too late for not doing it when they were in the Enemies power Thereupon the King on the 8 of July apud Oxenford FACTO CONVENTU MAGNATUM summoned both these Bishops to this Parliamentary Assembly to which Bishop Roger was very unwilling to come having a great reluctancy in his mind against it whereupon he excused his coming by reason of his age and infirmity but that would not be admitted come he must and did When these Bishops came to Oxford there fell out a sudden quarrel between the servants of the Bishops and the servants of Alan Earl of Britain as they sate together at the Table the Bishops men quarrelling with the Earls and falling first a fighting with one another with their fists and at last with their swords a sore fray was made divers being wounded on either side and one slain the Earls servants being put to slight by the Bishops The K. taking this occasion Conveniri jussit Episcopis ut Curiae suae satisfacerent de hoc quod homines eorum pacem ipsius exturbassent Modus fatisfactionis foret ut claves castellorum suorum quasi fidei vadis traderent The Bishops said they were ready to give the King satisfaction but delaying the surrendring of their Castles he commanded them to be more strictly watched lest they should depart and the king carrying the Bishop of Salisbury with him besieged his Castles till they were surrendred to him by composition This act of the king was variously interpreted and very iâ—l resented by all the Bishops who thereupon revolted from him first in their affections and then by their actions to Mande when she arived and elected declared her right heir to the Crown Henry Bishop of Winchester the Popes Legat though King Stephens own Brother publikely to the Kings face as well as privately affirmed Si Episâ—opi tramitem Justitiae in aliquo transgrederentur non esse Regis sed Canonum judicium sine publico et Ecclesiastico Concilio illos nulla possessione privare debuisse Regem id non ex rectitudinis zelo sed commodi sui compendio fecisse qui Castella non Ecclesiis ex quarum sumptibus et in quarum terris constructa erat reddiderâ—t sed Laicis eisdemque parum religiosis contradiderit c. Quapropter vigorem Canonum experiendum ratus CONCILIIO quod quarto Calend Septembris celebraturus erat Wintoniae fratrem Stephanum incunctanter adesse praecepit Dicto die omnes fere Episcopi Angliae cum Theobaldo ARCHIEPISCOPO Cantuariensis venerunt Wintoniam In which Councâ—l the Bp. of Winchester first reading his Legats Commission in England granted him by the Pope and then relating the great indignity done by King Stephen to those Bishops by imprisoning their persons and seising their Castles against the Canons demanded the Archbishops and Bishops advice what to do therein concluding Se ad executionem Concilii nec pro Regis amicitia qui sibi frater erat nec pro damno possessionum nec etiam pro capitis periculo defuturum Rex causae suae non diffâ—sus Comites in Concilium misit quaerens cur vocatus esset Responsum est à Legato in compendio Non debere illum qui se Christi fidei subjectum meminisset indignari si à ministris Christi ad satisfactioneÌ„ vocatus esset tanti reatus conscius quantum nostra secula nunquam vidissent c. Consulte vero in praesentiarum Rex faceret si rationem facti sui redderet vel Canonicum judicium subiret Ex debito etiam oportere ut Ecclesiae faveret cujus sinu exceptus non manu militum in regnum promotus fuisset
committed to the Tower of London The 7 day of February the Commons by William Trussel their Speaker brought up and presented to the King and Lords in the Lords House a Bill against the said Duke containing an impeachment of several High Treasons committed by him against the King requiring of the Lords all their Articles therein to be enacted with prosecution therein The 9. of March they exhibited new articles of complaint against the Duke comprising sundry misdemeanors against the king and other persons which they require might be enrolled and that the Duke might answer to them The 9. of March the Duke was brought by the kings writ from the Tower into the Parliament Chamber before the King and Lords where the Articles were rehearsed to him who desired Copies of them which was granted And he for more ready answer was committed to certain Esquires to be kept in the Tower within the kings palace The 14 of March the Duke appeared before the K. Lords where on his knees he denied as untrue the 8 Articles of Treason and the same offered to prove as the King shall appoint The Chief Justice thereupon by the kings command asked this Question of the Lords what advise they would give the King what is to do further in this matter which advise was deferred till Monday then next following whereon nothing was done in that matter On Tuesday the 17 of March the king sent for all the Lords Spiritual and Temporal then being in Town being 24 in all into his Inner Chamber within his Palace of Westminster where when they were all assembled he then sent for the Duke thither who coming into the Kings presence kneeled down and continued kneeling till the Chancellor of England had delivered the kings command to him and demanded of him what he said to the Commons Articles not having put himself upon his Peerage Whereupon the Duke denied all the Articles touching the kings Person and state of the Realm as false and scandalous And so not departing from his said Answers submitted himself to the kings Rule and Governance without putting himself upon his Peerage Where thus the Chancellor told him That as touching the great and horrible crimes contained in the first Bill the king holdeth him neither declared nor charged And as touching the second Bill containing misprisions which are not criminal the king by force of his submission by his own advice and not reporting him to the advice of the Lords nor by way of judgement for he is not in place of judgement putteth you to his Rule and Governance that before the first of May next coming he should absent himself out of the kingdom of England and all other his Dominions in France or elsewhere and that he nor no man for him should shew or wait any malice nor hate to any person of what degree soever of the Commons in the Parliament in no manner of wise for any thing done to him in this Parliament or elsewhere And forthwith Viscount Beaumont in behalf of the said LORDS both spiritual and Temporal and by their advice assent and desire said and declared to the Kings Highness That this that so was decreed and done by his Excellency concerning the person of the said Duke proceeded not by their advice and Counsels but was done by the Kings own demeanoir and rule Wherefore they besought the King that this their saying might be enacted in the Parliament Roll for their more declaration hereafter with this protestation that it should not be nor turn in prejudice nor derogation of them their heirs ne of their successors in time coming but that they may have and enjoy their liberty as they or any of their Ancestors and Predecessors had and enjoyed before this time This is the sum of this large Record which makes nothing to the purpose for which Sir Edward Cook cites it in his 4 Institutes p. 25. That it is ERROR when both Houses joyn not in the Judgement For first here is nothing but an impeachment only by the Commons of a Peer who ought to be tryed judged only by his Peers not by Commoners Secondly there was no judgement given in Parliament in this case but only a private Award made by the King out of the Parliament House in his own Chamber in presence of the Lords Thirdly the Lords entred a special protestation against it as not made by their advice or consent Fourthly they enter a special claim in the Parliament Roll for the preservation of their Right and Freedom of Peerage for hereafter both of being tried and judged only by their Peers in Parliament and so an express resolution that the Peers in Parliament are and ought to be Judges especially of Peers not the Commons These Records of these cited at large lest Sir Edward Cooks brief quotation and mis-recital of them should deceive the credulous or ignorant Readers In the Parliament of 31 H. 6. rot Parl. n. 28. Thomas Earl of Devonshire was accused of Treason tried for and acquitted thereof by his Peers before Humfrey Duke of Buckingham Steward of England for the time being And for that the Duke of York thought the loyalty of the said Earl to be touched thereupon the said Earl protesting his Loyalty referred himself to further Trial as a Knight should doe upon which declaration THE LORDS in Parliament acquitted him as a loyal Subject Edward Duke of York with the Earls of March Warwick Salisbury Rutland John Lord Clinton and others were impeached and attainted by Judgement of the Lords in Parliament of High Treason for raising forces and levying war against King Henry the 6. and afterwards attainted by Bill in the Parliament of 38 H. 6. n. 7. to 26. In the Paâ—liamenr of 1 E. 4. n. 17. to 71. The Duke of Exeter Viscount Beamont the Earls of Pembroke Wilts and Devonshire the Lords Nevil Roos Gray Dacre Hungerford and others were first attainted and condemned of High Treason by THE LORDS and after by Bill for levying warr against King Edward the fourth The Duke of Somerset and others in the Parliament of 4 E. 4. n. 28. to 39. and John Vere Earl of Oxford with others in the Parliament of 14 E. 4. n. 34. to 41. were in the same manner for the same offence attainted of High Treason and their Lands forfeited To pretermit all other Attainders of this Nature in cases of High Treason in the reigns of Henry the 8. Edward the 6. Queen Mary Queen Elizabeth and King James both in our English and Irish Parliaments formerly touched p. 196 197 198 199. In the Parliaments of 18 21 Jacobi Sir Francis Bacon Viscount St. Alban Lord Chancellor of England and the Earl of Middlesex Lord Treasurer of England were impeached accused convicted of Bribery Corruption and other misdemeanors removed from their places fined Middlesex 50000 l. imprisoned made uncapable of any Office and thus censured by Iudgement of the Lords house as the Journals of those Parliaments
dominum nostrum jam elapso irae tempore haec innotuisse Praeterea si aliquid â—iolentiae ipsi Henrico intuleritis ecce Episcopus Londinonsis qui spiritualem et alii amici ejus militares qui vindictam exercebunt materialem et sic in magna parte cessavit Extunc igitur procurante efficaciter Comite Richardo et Episcopâ— memorato mitius actum est cum eo Dictum enim est domino Regi secretius quod mirum est quod aliquis ei curat servire cum eis post ministerium etiam mortem nititur inferre Promissa igitur quadam pecuniae summa a mortis discrimine recessit liberatus After which he paying to the King 2000 marks for a fine and being reconciled to the King ad Curiam est reversus immemor laqueorum quos evaserat Here we have 1. A corrupt Judge accused of bribery by others and by the King of rebellion and sedition and that before the Lords in Parliament 2ly A Proclamation for all that were grieved to complain against him 3ly A rash unjust sentence given against him by the King himself for any man that would to kill him with impunity 4ly the Lords opposition and contradiction of this sentence and its execution as unjust and dangerous 5ly A remission of his sentence by the Lords mediation and a fine imposed and paid to the King for his offences In the 49 year of King Henry the 3. at the Parliament held at Winchester divers Commoners as well as Lords were attainted and condemned of High Treason for levying war against the King their persons imprisoned their lands and goods confiscated and the liberties of the City of London forfeited by judgement of the Lords Anno â—290 King Edward the 1. held a Parliament at London at which time Rex auditis multorum queremoniâ—â— fere Justiciarios omnes de falsitate deprehensos a suo Officio deposuit puniens eos juxta demerita grâ—vi mâ—a by the advice of his Lords in Parliament It appears by the Clause Roll of 5 E. 2. m. 22. dorso and Rot. Finium 5 E. 2. m. 11. in Schedula that in a Parliament held at Stamford 3 E. 2. the Commons of England exhibited sundry Articles of complaint to the King Amongst others that they were not used as they ought to be by THE GREAT CHARTER in taking Prises and Purveyances without mony c. That the King by his Ministers took ijs of every Tun of wine and ijs a cloth from Merchants aliens and 3 d. pur aver de poys to the damage of his people and hinderance of trade which new Impositions being against Law the King promised to redress for the future and to content himself with the Prises and Customs antiently due They likewise complained of the abuses oppressions and extravagances of Purveyors Constables of Castles and Escheators and abuses of Protections and Pardons granted by the King to Murderers and other Malefactors to their incouragement whereto redress was promised In their 6. Article they complained That the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of Parliament came up with divers Petitions for matters not remediable at the Common Law and could not finde to whom to deliver them Whereunto was answered The King willed that in his Parliaments for time to come certain persons should be appointed to receive Petitions and that they should be delivered TO HIS COUNCIL as was used in the time of his Father and examined and answered by him with their advice Whence we find in all our Parliament Rolls ever since in the beginning of every Parliament certain persons nominated by the King and Lords being Members or Assistants of the Lords house to receive the several Petitions of England Ireland Scotland Gascoigne Iersey Gernsey Alderney and other Isles and other persons of the LORDS House appointed to trie examin and answer them in the Kings name and behalf as he by their advice shall think meet and sundry Petitions of Grievances of all kinds presented to them and answered accordingly by the King and Lords in every Parliament as well by the whole house of Commons as by particular Counties Cities Corporations and private Persons a most clear Evidence that the King and Lords are the sole Judges of all criminal and civil causes and Grievances of the Commons in Parliament since they thus constantly petition them for redress and that the Commoners are only Petitioners not Judges as the Parliament roll of 1 H. 4. n. 79. resolves in direct terms Claus 8 E. 2. m. 7. dors The Chaplains of the House of Converts exhibited a Petition in Parliament against Adam de Osgodby the Keeper thereof for putting them out of their lodgings and placing his Clerks therein they being founded by King H. 3. to pray and sing Masses for his and his ancestors Souls and not to lodge the Clerks of the Chancery Upon consideration of the Petition by the Lords and Councel in Parliament it was referred to the Chancellor to examin and determine tanquam principali Custodi omnium Hospitalium et Domorum de eleemosyna Domini Regis fundatorum ut ipfe inde faceret quod de jure esset faciendum He sends a Commission to the House to inquire the truth of the complaint and finds the Complaint unjust and that the Keeper of the House was falsly charged and that especially by William de Okelines being one of the Chaplins Whereupon consideratum est per Cancellarium quod Willielmus idem nihil haberet de contentis in petitione sua praedicta sed quod committeretur ad custodiam suam pro falsâ— querela sua castigandus juxta discretionem dicti custodis Pasch 8 E. 2. Norfolk The Archdeacon of Norfolk was accused for citing the Countess of Warren being the Kings Neece and divorced from her husband to the damage of the King 2000 l. and it was adjudged by the Lords in Parliament against the Archdeacon quod nec citatio nec summonitio fieri debet versus eot qui sunt de sanguine Regis quia illis Major reverentia debita est and therefore he was fined About the year 1316. when the Northumberland Soldiers like some in this age raised against the Scots de tyronâ—bus facti sunt Tyranni de defensoribus destructores de propugnatoribus proditores c. one John Tanner said openly that he was heir of England Therefore at Northampton before the King and Lords he was proved false and hanged and drawn See more of him in Fabians Chronicle part 7. Anno 1314. p. 169. who relates that he reported he was son to King Edward the 1. but was stoln out of his cradle by a false nurse and Edward who was anothers son laid in the cradle for him and that he had a Fiend in form of a Câ—t whom he served 3. years which assured him he should be King of England In the Parliament of 18. E. 1. the Prior of Trinity in London and Bago de Clare were attached brought into the Parliament there
it was shewed to the said John Lord of Gomynes by the said Steward how the said LORDS had assembled and considered of his answer and THAT IT SEEMED TO THE LORDS sitting in full Parliament that without duresse or default of victuals or other necessaries for the defence of the Town Castle of Arde and without the Kings Command he had evilly delivered and surrendred them to the Kings Enemies by his own default against all appearance of right or reason contrary to his undertaking safely to keep the same Wherefore THE LORDS aforesaid here in full Parlia-ADJUDGE YOU TO DEATH And because you are a Gentleman and a Baronet and have served the Kings Grandfather in his wars and are no Liege man of our Lord the King you shall be beheaded without having OTHER JUDGEMENT And because that our Lord the King is not yet informed of the manner of this Judgement the execution thereof shall be put in respite until our Lord the King be informed thereof Loe here two express Judgements given in Parliament by the LORDS alone without King or Commons in case of Treason even against Commoners themselves And an express acknowledgement by the Commons of the Lords right to award Iudgement in these cases without the King or them than which a fuller and clearer proof cannot be desired In the Parliament of 2 R. 2. n. 34 35. Sir Robert Howard knight was committed prisoner to the Tower upon the complaint of the Lady Nevil by the Lords in Parliament for a forcible imprisonment of her daughter to which he was accessory that she might not prosecute a divorce in Court Christian In the 50 year of King Edward the 3. in the Parliament called the good Parliament Sir John Anneslee Knight accused Thomas Katrington Esquire of Treason for selling the Castle of St. Saviour in the Isle of Constantine to the French for an inestimable sum of money cum nec defensio sibi nec victualia defuissent whereupon he was taken and imprisoned but in King Edwards sickness enlarged by the Lord Latymers means as was reported In the Parliament held at London Anno 1380. the 3. of R n. 2. he was again accused by Sir John Anneslee and there resolved that being a Treason done beyond Sea not in England it ought to be tried by duel before the Constable or Marshal of the Realm Whereupon a day of battel was appointed in the Court at Westminster the 7. of June and lists set up On which day in the morning they fought the battel in the presence of the KING Nobles and Commons of the Realm which Walsingham at large describes till both of them were tyred and lay tumbling on the ground where the Esquire got upon the Knight as if he had conquered him Others said the Knight would rise again and vanquish the Esquire Interea Rex pacem clamari prâ—cepit et militem erigâ— The Knight refused to be lifted up as the Esquire was desiring he might be laid upon him again for he was well and would gain the victory if he were laid upon him again When he could not obtain his request being lifted up he went chearfully to the King without help when as the Esquire could neither stand nor go but as two held him up and thereupon was set in a chair to rest himself The Knight when he came before the King rogavis Eum et Proceres ut sibi illam concederunt gratiam ut itâ—rum in loco quo prius posset reponi et armiger super eum Rex vero et Proceres cum vidissent miliâ—em tam animose â—am vivide bellum repetere et insuper magnam summam auri offerre publice ut id posset effici decreverunt eum iterum reponendum armigerum super eum modo universaliter servato quo â—acuerant ante prostrati But the Esquire in the mean time in a swoun fell out of the chair as dead between the hands of those who stood by him Whereupon many running to him chafed him with wine and water but could not recover him till they pulled off his arms Quod factum et Militem victorem probavit Arm gerum esse victum After some space the Esquire reviving opened his eyes and began to lift up his head and to look terribly on every one that stood round about him which the knight being informed of went presently to him in his arms which he never put off and speaking to him et Proditorem et falsum appellans quaerit si iterum audeat Duellum repetere Ille verò nec sensum nec spiritum habente respondendi â—lamatum est pugnam finitam et ut quisque ad propria remearet The Squire was carried to his bed senceless and died the next morning Here we have a Duel ordered by Parliament and the King and Lords Iudges in it not the Commons for a Treason done beyond the Seas not triable here by Law In the Parliament of 4 R. 2. n. 17. to 26. Sir Ralph Ferrers being arested for suspition of Treason on the borders of Scotland was brought into the Parliament before the Lords to answer the same where divers Letters under his hand and Seal as was pretended were produced and read against him sent to the Lord Admiral of France and other French Officers informing them that he in the behalf of the French had made a League and alliance with the Scots and desiring them to make payment of the monies promised him and of his own fee and inviting the French to invade England c. with discoveries of the Kings designs against the French and answers to them Sir Ralph desired Counsel in this case which was denied him These Letters were found by a beggar besides London divers of his familiars were called into the Parliament house before the Lords and likewise the beggar and the whole matter strictly examined The Letters sent by Sir Ralph to the parties beyond Seas and certain Letters sent by them in answer to his were all sealed together and all of one hand and the Seal larger than the Seal of the said Sir Ralph whereupon they seemed to be forged by some of his Enemies for his overthrow himself being once or twice urged to answer Whether the Letters were his or no answered that he did not remember they were his own Letters and that he was ready to approve as the Lords should think fit having formerly offered combate with any that would justifie it from which he was put In conclusion the Lords thought him to be innocent whereupon he was delivered to 4. Earls and 2. Lords who became pledges body for body to answer when he should be called between that and the next Parliament and so he was inlarged The Letters and his Seal were delivered to Sir John Cavendish Chief Justice of England and the beggar being thought privy to this falshood was committed to prison by THE LORDS In the Parliament of 5 R. 2. n. 44 45. Richard Clindow Esquire exhibited a Bill to
the Prior of Coventry the King granteth by Assent of the Bishops and Lords that no man do break the head of their Conduit nor cast any filth into their water called Sherbouâ—n on pain of ten pound and treble dammages to the Prior. In the Parliament of 9. H. 5. n. 12. Upon long debates of the Lords and Iustices it was resolved by them that the Abbot of Ramsy should have no prohibition against Walter Cook parson of Somersham who sued for Tithes of a Meadow called Crowland Mead in the hands of the Abbots Tenants In the great case of Precedency between the Earl Marshall and Earle of Warwick in the Parliament of 3. H. 6. n. 10 11. c. The Lords being to bee Iudges of the same suspended both of them from sitting in the house till their case was fully heard and they all voluntarily swore on the Gospel that they would uprightly judge the case leaving all affection In the Parliament of 11. H. 6. n. 32 33 34 35. Upon a Petition the King and Lords in Parliament adjudged the Dignity Seigniory Earledome of Arundel and the Castle and Lands thereunto belonging to John Earle of Arundel who proved his Title thereto by a deed of Entayle against the Title of John Duke of Norfolck who layed claim thereunto And in the Parliament of 39 H. 6. n. 10. to 33. The claime of the Duke of York and his Title to the Crown of England against the Title of King Henry the 6 th was exhibited to the Lords in full Parliament the Lords upon consultation willed it to be read amongst them but not to bee answered without the King The Lords upon long consultation declared this Title to the King who willed them to call his Justices Sergeants and Attorney to answer the same Who being called accordingly utterly refused to answer the same Order thereupon was taken That every Lord might therein freely utter his conceit without any impeachment to him In the end there were five objections made against the Dukes Title who put in an answer to every of them which done the Lords upon debate made this order and agreement between the King and Duke That the King should injoy the Crown of England during his life and the Duke and his heirs to succeed after him That the Duke and his two sons should bee sworne by no means to shorten the dayes or impaire the preheminence of the King during his life That the said Duke from thenceforth shall be reputed and stiled to bee the very Heir apparent to the Crown and shall injoy the same after the death or resignation of the said King That the said Duke shall have hereditaments allotted to him and his sons of the annual value of ten thousand marks That the compassing of the death of the said Duke shall bee Treason That all the Bishops and Lords in full Parliament shall swear to the Duke and to his heirs in forme aforesaid That the said Duke and his two sons shall swear to defend the Lords for this agreement The King by Assent of the Lords without the Commons agreeth to all the Ordinances and accords aforesaid and by the Assent of the Lords utterly repealeth the statute of intayle of the Crown made in 1. H. 4. so alwaies as hereafter there be no better Title proved for the defeating of their Title and this agreement by the King After all which the said Duke and the two Earles his sonnes came into the Parliament Chamber before the King and LORDS and sware to performe the award aforesaid with protestation if the King for his part duly observed the same the which the King promised to do All which was inrolled in the Parliament Rolls Lo here the Lords alone without the Commons judge and make an award between King Henry the 6th and the Duke of York in the highest point of right and title that could come in question before them even the right and title to the Crown of England then controverted and decided the King and Duke both submitting and assenting to their award and promising swearing mutually to perform it which award when made was confirmed by an Act passed that Parliament to which the Commons assented as they did to other Acts and Bills And here I cannot but take special notice of Gods admirable Providence and retaliating Justice in the translation of the Crown of England from one head family of the royal blood to another by blood force war treason and countenance of the Authority of the temporal and spiritual LORDS and COMMONS in Parliament in the two most signal presidents of King Edward and King Richard the 2 d. which some insist on to prove the Commons Copartnership with the Lords in the power of Judicature in our Parliaments the Histories of whose Resignations of their Regal Authority and subsequent depositions by Parliament I shall truly relate Anno 1326. the 19. of Ed. 2d Queen Isabel returning with her Son Prince Edward and some armed forces from beyond the Seas into England most of the Earles and Barons out of hatred to the Spencers and Kingâ— repaired to them and made up a very great army The King thereupon proclaimed that every man should resist oppose kill them except the Queen Prince and Earle of Kent which they should take prisoners if they could and neither hold any correspondency with them nor administer victuals nor any other assistance to them under pain of forfeiting their bodies estates But they prevailing and the King being deserted by most hee fled into Wales for shelter Whereupon Proclamation was made in the Queens army every day that the King should return and receive his Kingdome again if hee would conforme himself to his Leiges Quo non comparente Magnasâ—es Regni Hereâ—ordiae Concilium injeâ—unt in quo filius Regis Edwardus factus est Cusâ—os Angliae communi Decreto cui cuncti tanquam Regni custodi fidelitatem fecerunt per fidei sacramentum Deinde Episcopum Norwicensem fecerunt Cancellarium Episcopum vero Wintoniensem regni Thesaururium statuerunt Soon after the King himself with most of his evil Counsellors were taken prisoners being betrayed by the Welch in whom they most confided Hagh Spencer Simon Reding Baldoik and others of the Kings party being executed at Hereford Anno 1327. the King came to London about the feast of Epiphany where they were received with great joy and presents Then they held a Parliament wherein they all agreed the King was unworthy of the Crown and fit to be deposed for which end there were certain Articles drawn up against him which Adam de Orleton Bishop of Winchester thus relates in his Apology i Ea autem quae de Consilio et assensu omnium Praelatorum Comitum et Baronum et totius Communitatis dicti Regni concordata ordinata fuerunt contra dictum regem ad amotionem suam a regimine regni contenta sunt in instrumentis publicis Reverendo patre domino J. Dei
Picardy ready to be transported into England But when it was certainly certified that King Richard was dead and that their enterprise of his deliverance was frustrate and void the Army scattered and departed asunder But when the certainty of King Richards death was declared to the Aquitaynes and Gascons the most part of the wisest men of the Country fell into a bodily fear and into a deadly dread for some lamenting the instability of the English people judged them to be spotted with perpetual infamy and brought to dishonour and loss of their antient fame and glory for committing so hainous a crime and detestable an offence against their King and Soveraign Lord. The memory whereof they thought would never be buried or extincted Others feared the loste of their goods and liberties because they imagined that by this civil dissension and intestine division the Realm of England should so be vexed and troubled that their Country if the Frenchmen should invade it should be destitute and left void of all aid and succour of the English Nation But the Citizens of Burdeaux took this matter very sore at stomach because King Richard was born and brought up in their City lamenting and crying out that since â—he beginning of the world there was never a more detestable or more villanous or hainous act committed which being sad with sorrow and inflamed with melancholy said that untrue unnatural and unmercifull people had betrayed and slain contrary to all Law and Justice and honesty a good man a just Prince and lawfull Governour beseeching God devoutly on their knees to be the revenger and punisher of that detestable offence and notorious crime 15ly The proceedings against King Richard the 2. in the Parliament of 1 H. 4. were in the Parliament of 1 E. 4. n. 9 10 11 12. condemned as illegal the Tyrannous usurpation of Henry the 4th with his hainous murdering of King Richard the 2. at large set forth his reign declared by Act of Parliament to be an intrusion and meer usurpation for which he and the heirs of his body are utterly dis inabled as unworthy to enjoy any inheritance estate or profits within the Realm of England or Dominions of the same for ever and that by this memorable Petition of the Commons wherein the pedigree of King Edward the 4th and his title to the Crown are likewise fully set forth a Record most worthy the publike view being never yet printed to my knowledge Ex Rotulo Parliamenti tenti apud Westm anno primo Edwardi Quarti n. 8. Memorandum quod quaedam Petitio exhibita fuit praefato Domino Regi in praesenti Parliamento per praefatos Communes sub eo qui sequitur tenore verborum For as much as it is notary openly and evidently known that the right noble and worthy Prince Henry King of England the third had issue Edward his furst gotten Son born at Westminster in the 15 kalende of Juyll in the vigille of Seint Marce and Marcellian the year of our Lord M. C.C.XLV the which Edw. after the death of the said King Henry his Fader entituled and called King Edward the furst had issue his furst gotten Son entituled and called after the decease of the same Edward the furst his Fader King Edward the second which had issue the right noble and honourable Prince King Edward the third true and undoubted King of Englond and of France and Lord of Irelond which Edward the third had issue Edward his furst gotten Son Prince of Wales William Hatfield secund gotten Son Leonel third gotten Son Duke of Clarence John of Gaunt fourth gotten son Duke of Lancaster Edmund Langley the fifth gotten son Duke of York Thomas Wodestoks the sixth gotten son Duke of Gloucester and William Wyndesore the seventh gotten Son And the said Edward Prince of Wales which died in the life of the said King Edward the thurd his Fader had issue Richard which after the death of the same King Edward the third as Cousin and heir to him that is to say Son to the said Edward Prince of Wales Son unto the said King Edward the third succeeded him in royal estate and dignity lawfully entituled and called King Richard the secund and died without issue William Hatfield the secund gotten Son of the said King Edward the third died without issue the said Leonel Duke of Clarence the third gotten Son of the same King Edward had issue Phelip his only daughter and died And the same Phelip wedded unto Edmund Mortimer Earl of Marche had issue by the same Edmund Roger Mortymer Earl of Marche her Son and heir which Edmund and Phelip died the same Roger Earl of March had issue Edmund Mortymer Earl of March Roger Mortymer Anne and Alianore and died And also the same Edmund and Roger sons of the foresaid Roger and the said Alianore died without Issue And the same Anne wedded unto Richard Earl of Cambridge the Son of the said Edmund Langley the fifth gotten son of the said king Edward the third as it is afore specified had issue that right noble and famous Prince of full worthy memory Richard Plantagenet Duke of York And the said Richard Earl of Cambridge and Anne his Wife died And the same Rich. Du. of York had issue the right high and mighty Prince Edward our Liege and Soveraign Lord and died to whom as Cousin and heir to the said King Richard the Crown of the Realm of England and the royal power estate dignity preheminence and governance of the same Realm and the Lordship of Ireland lawfully and of right appertaineth of the which Crown Royal power estate dignity preheminence governance and Lordship the said King Richard the second was lawfully rightfully and justly seised and possessed and the same joyed in rest and quiet without interruption or molestation unto the time that Henry late Earl of Derby son of the said Iohn of Gaunt the fourth gotten son of the said King Edward the third and younger Brother of the said Leonel temerously agenst rightwisnes and Iustice by force and Arms agenst his faith and liegeaunce rered werre at Flynte in Wales agenst the said King Richard him took and enprisoned in the Tower of London of grete violence And the same King Richard so being in prison and living usurped and intruded upon the royal power estate dignity preheminence possessions and Lordships aforesaid taking upon him usurpously the Crown and name of K. and L. of the same Realm and Lordship And not therewith satisfied or content but more grievous thing attempting wickedly of unnatural unmanly and cruel tyranny the same King Richard King anointed crowned and consecrate and his Liege and most high Lord in the Earth agenst Gods Law Mans liegeance and Oth of fidelite with uttermost punicion attormenting murdred and destroyed with most vile hainous and lamentable death whereof the heavy exclamation in the doom of every Christian man soundeth into Gods hearing in Heaven not forgotten in the Earth specially in this
rightfull Kings or their heirs or the Nobles and people of thâ—se Realm their possessions of the Crown being no expiation of their Treasons Regicides but an aggravation of them both in Law and Gospel account unable to secure their heads lives by their own Law and concession since the actual coronation unction and possession of the kings de Jure whom they murdered deposed against their Oaths allegeance duties could neither preserve their crowns persons nor lives from their violence and intrusion To omit he hanging up of Iohn of Leyden who crowned himself a king with his companions for Traytors at Munster An. 1535. with all antient domestick presidents of this kind among our British and Saxon kings it is very observable that in the Parliament of 1 E. 4. n. 17 18. Henry the 6. though king de facto together with his Queen Son Edward Prince of Wales the Duke of Somerset and sundry others were attainted of high Treason for killing Rich. Duke of York at Wakefield being only king de jure and declared heir and successor to the Crown after King Henry his death in the Pâ—rliament of 39 H. 6. n. 18. though never crowned and not to enjoy the possession of it during the reign of King Henry yet Henry the 6. his murder after his deposition was never inquired after though king de facto for sundry years and that by descent from 2. usurping ancestors nor yet reputed Treason After this king Richard the 3d. usurping the Crown and enjoying it as king de facto for 2. years 2. moneths and one day was yet slain in Bosworth field as an usurping bloudy Traytor stript naked to the skin without so much as a clout to cover his privy members all sprinkled over with mire and bloud then trussed like a Hogg or Calf behind a pursuivant and ignobly buried Sir William Catesby a Lawyer one of his Chief Counsellors with divers others were two dayes after beheaded at Leicester as Traytors notwithstanding he was king de facto and no doubt had not king Richard been slain in the field but taken alive he had been beheaded for a Traytor as well as his adherents being the principal Malefactor and they but his instruments So that his kingship and actual possession of the Crown by intrusion did neither secure himself nor his adherents from the guilt or punishment of High Treason nor yet the Act of Parliament which declared him true and lawfull King as well by inheritance and descent as election it being made by a packed Parliament of his own summoning and ratified only by his own royal assent which was so far from justifying that it did make his Treason more heinous in Gods and mens esteem it being a framing of mischief and acting Treason by a Law Psal 94.20 21. which God so much abhors that the Psalmist thence infers v. 23. And the Lord shall bring upon them their own iniquity and shall cut them off in their own wickedness yea the Lord our God shall cut them off as he did this Arch bloudy Traytor and his Complices though king de facto by a Law 9ly Since the Statute of 11 H. 7. c. 1. some clauses whereof making void any Act or Acts of future Parliaments and Legal process against it are meerly void unreasonable and nugatory as Sir Cook himself affirms of Statutes of the like nature there have been memorable Presidents Judgements in point against his and others false glosses on it in favour of Usurpers though King or Queen de facto and their Adherents against the lawfull Queen and heir to the Crown which I admire Sir Edward Cooke and other Grandees of the Law forgot or never took notice of though so late and memorable King Edward the 6. being sick and like to dye taking notice that his Sister Queen Mary was an obstinate Papist very likely to extirpate the Protestant Religion destroy that Reformation which he had established and usher in the Pope and Popery which he had totally abandoned by advice of his Council instituted and declared by his last will in writing and Charter under the Great Seal of England the Lady Jane of the bloud royal eldest Neice to King Henry the 8. a virtuous Lady and zealous Protestant without her privity or seeking to be his heir and Successor to the Crown immediately after his death for the better confirmation whereof all the Lords of his Privy Council most of the Bishops Great Officers Dukes Earls Nobles of the Realm all his Judges and Barons exept Hales the Serjeants and great Lawyers with the Mayor and Aldermen of London subscribed their Names and gave their full and free assents thereto wherupon immediately after King Edwards death July 9. 1553. Iane was publikely proclamed Qu. of this Realm with sound of trumpet by the Lords of the Council Bishops Judges Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London So as now she was a Queen de facto backed with a very colourable Title from King Edward himself his Council Nobles Judges and the other subscribers to it being likewise eldest Neece to King Henry the 8. of the bloud-royal For defence of her person and Title when proclamed Queen and to suppress Mary the right heir the Council speedily raised a great power of 8000 foot and 2000 horse of which the Duke of Suffolk was first made General being her Father but soon after the Duke of Northmberland by Commission from the whole Council in Queen Janes Name who marched with them to Cambridge and from thence to St. Edmunds Bury against the Lady Mary Queen only de jure not de facto But many of the Nobles and the generality of the people inclining to Queen Mary the right heir and resorting to her ayd to Fotheringham Castle thereupon the Council at London repenting their former doings to provide for their own safety on the 20. of June 1553. proclamed Mary Queen and the Duke of Northumberland hearing of it did the like in his Army who thereupon deserted him From which sodain alteration the Author of Rerum AnglicanaruÌ„ Annales printed Lond. 1616. l. 3. p. 106. hath this memorable observation Tali tamen constanti veneratione nos Angli legitimos Reges prosequimur ut ab eorum debito obsequio nullis fucis aut coloribus imo ne Religionis quidem obtentu nos divelli patiamur cujus rei Janae hic casus indicium poterit esse plane memorabile Quamvis enim Dominationis illius fundamenta validissima jacta fuissent cui et summa arte superstructum est quam primum tamen Regni vera et indubitata haeres se Civibus ostendit omnis haec accurata structura concidit illico quasi in ictu oculi dissipata est idque eorum praecipue opera quorum propter Religionis causam propensissimus favor Janae adfuturus sperabatur c. All the Martyrs Protestant Bishops and Ministers imprisoned and burnt by her humbly requiring and in the bowels of our Lord Jesus
A Plea for the LORDS AND HOUSE of PEERS OR A full necessary seasonable enlarged Vindication of the just antient hereditary Right of the Earls Lords Peers and Barons of this Realm to sit vote judge in all the PARLIAMENTS of ENGLAND Wherein their Right of Session and Sole Power of Judicature without the Commons House in Criminal Civil Ecclesiastical causes as well of Commons as Peers Yea in cases of Elections Breach of Privilege misdemeanors of the Commons themselves are irrefragably evidenced by solid reasons punctual Authorities memorable Presidents out of Histories and Records in all ages most of them not extant in any Writers of our Parliaments Whose Errors are here rectified the Seditious Anti-Parliamentary Pamphlets Libels of Lilbourn Overton and other Levellers against the Lords House and Right of judging Commoners fully refuted and larger Discoveries made of the Proceedings Iudgements of the Lords in Parliament in Criminal Civil causes Elections Breaches of Privilege of their Gallantry in gaining maintaining preserving the Great Charters Laws Liberties Properties of the Nation and oppugning all Regal Papal Vsurpations Exactions Oppressions illegal Ayds Taxes required or imposed and of the Commons first summons to and just Power in Parliaments than in any former Publications whatsoever By William Prynne Esquire a Bencher of Lincolnes Inne Prov. 22.28 Remove not the antient Land-mark which thy Fathers have set LONDON Printed for Henry Brome at the sign of the Gun in Ivie Lane and Edward Thomas at the Adam and Eve in Little Britain 1659. To all the truly Honourable Heroick Lords and Peers of the Realm of England who are real Patriots of Religion their Countries Fundamental Liberties Properties Great Charters Laws against all arbitrary Tyranny Encroachments illegal unnecessary Taxes and Oppressions Right Honourable THough true Nobility alwayes founded in vertue and real piety needs no other tutelar Deity or Apologie but it self amongst those ingenious Spirits who are able to discern or estimate its worth yet the iniquity of our degenerated Age and the frenzie of the intoxicated ignorant vulgar is such that it now requires the assistance of the ablest Advocates to plead its cause and vindicate the just Rights Privileges of the House of Peers against the licentious Quills Tongues of lawlesse sordid Sectaries and Mechanick Levellers who having got the Sword and reines into their hands plant all their batteries and force against them crying out like those Babylonian Levellers of old against the House of Lords Rase it Rase it even to the foundation thereof and lay it for ever â—ver with the very dust beholding all true Honor worth and Nobleness shining forth in your Honors heroick Spirits with a malignant aspect because they despair of ever enjoying the least spark therof in themselves and prosecuting you with a deadly hatred because better greater than ever they have hopes to be unless they can through Treachery and violence make themselves the onely Grandees by debasing your highest Dignity to the lowest Peasantry and making the meanest Commoners your Compears This dangerous seditious Design hath ingaged me the unablest of many out of my great affection to Royalty and real Nobility and a deep sence of the present kid tottering condition of our Kingdom Parliament the very pillars and foundations whereof are now not only shaken but almost quite subverted voluntarily without any Fee at all to become your Honors Advocate to plead your Cause and vindicate your undoubted hereditary right of sitting voting judging in our Parliaments of which they strenuously endeavour to plunder both your Lordships and your posterities and to publish these subitane Collections to the world now enlarged with many pertinent Additions to still the madness of the seduced vulgar whom Ignoramus Lilburn Overton Walwin and their Confederates have laboured to mutinie against your Parliamentary Jurisdiction treading upon Princes as upon mortar and as the Potter treadeth the clay in their illiterate seditious Pamphlets whose Arguments Pretences Presidents Objections Allegations I have here refuted by Scripture Histories Antiquities and Parliament-Rolls the ignorance whereof joyned with their malice is the principal occasion of their error in this kind And truly were all our Parliament Rolls Pleas Iournals faithfully transcribed and published in print to the eyes of the world as most of our Statutes are by authority of both Houses of Parliament a work as worthy their undertaking and as beneficial for the publike as any I can recommend unto their care it would not only preserve them from imbezelling and the hazards of fire and warr to which they are now subject but likewise eternally silence refute the Sectaries Levellers ignorant false Allegations against your Honors Parliamentary Jurisdiction and Judicatur resolve clear all or most doubts that can arise concerning the tower jurisdiction privileges of both or either Houses keep both of them within their due bounds the exceeding whereof is dangerous grievous to the people except in cases of absolute real present urgent not pretended necessity for the saving of a Kingdom whiles that necessity continues and no longer chalk oâ—â— the â—miâ—ent regular way of proceeding in all kinds of Parliamentary affairs whatsoever whether of warr or peace Trade or Government Privileges or Taxes and in all civil or criminal causes and all matters whatsoever concerning King or Subject Natives or Foreiners over-rule reconcile most of the present differences between the King and Parliament House and House Members and Members clear many doubts rectifie some gross mistakes in our printed Statutes Law-Books and ordinary Historians add much light lustre ornament to our English Annals the Common Statute Laws and make all Lawyers all Members of both Houses far more able than now they are to manage and carry on all businesses in Parliament when they shall upon every occasion almost have former presidents ready at hand to direct them there being now very few Members in either House Lords Lawyers or others well read or versed in antient Parliament Rollâ— Pleas Iournals or Histories relating to them the ignorance whereof is a great Remora to their proceedings yea oft times a cause of dangerous incroachments of new Iurisdictions over the Subjects persons estates not usual in former Parliaments of some great mistakes and deviations from the antient methodical Rules and Tracts of parliament now almost quite forgotten and laid aside by new unexperienced ignorant Parliament Members who think they may do what they please to the publike prejudice injury of posterity and subversion of our Fundamental Laws Rights Liberties in the highest degree by new erected arbitrary Committees exercising an absolute tyrannical power over the Persons Liberties Estates Freeholds both of Lords themselves and all English Freemen Your Lordships helping hand to the speedy furthering of such a necessary publike work and your industrious magnanimous unanimous imitation of the memorable heroick presidents of your Noble progenitors in gaining regaining enlarging confirming perpetuating to posterity the successive Grand Charters of our Liberties when
3. Stat. 5. c. 4. because contrary to Magna Charta it self as he now expounds it Let him therefore unriddle assoyl this his own Dilemma or for ever hold his tongue and pen from publishing such absurdities to seduce poor people as he hath done to exasperate them to clamour against the Lords for being more favourable in their censure of him than his transcendent Libels and contempts against them deserved Fifthly This Statute is in the disjunctive by the Lawfull Judgement of his Peers OR BY THE LAW OF THE LAND which this Ignoramus observes not Now by the Law of the Land every inferiour Court of Justice may fine and imprison men for contempts or misdemeanors against them and their authority therefore the Lords in Parliament being the highest Tribunal may much more do it and have ever done it even by this express clause of Magna Charta and the Law and Custom of Parliament as well as they may give judgements in writs of Error against or for Commons without the Commons consent as himself doth grant yea and by the Kings concurrent assent declare what is Treason and what not within the Statute of 25 E. 3. c. 20. in the cases of Commoners as well as Lords without the Commons as they did in the forecited cases of William de Weston and Lord of Gomines 1 R. 2. n. 38 39 40. Of William Thorp 25 E. 3. n. 10. Of Thomas Haxey 20 R. 2. n. 15 16.23 Of Sir Thomas Talbot 13 R. 2. n. 20 21. Of Sir Robert Plesington and Henry Bowhert 22 R. 2. Plac. Coronae in Parliamento n. 27 28. Of John Hall 1 H. 4. Plac. Coronae in Parl. n. 11. to 17. Of Sir Ralph Lumley and others 4 H. 4. n. 15. 19 20 21. Of Sir John Oldcastle 5 H. 5. n. 11. and of Sir John Mortymer 2 H. 6. n. 18. as the Commons and Judges in all those Parliaments agreed without contradiction against the erronious opinion of Sir Edward Cooke to the contrary in his 3. Institutes p. 22. Sixthly It is granted by Lilburn that by this express Law No Freeman of England ought to be judged or censured but only by his Peers and that Commoners are no Peers to Nobles nor Noblemen Peers to Commoners Then by what Law or reason dared he to publish to the world That the House of Commons are the Supreme Power within this Realm and THAT BY RIGHT THEY ARE THE LORDS JUDGES certainly this is a Note beyond Ela a direct contradiction to Magna Charta in this very clause wherein he placeth his strength and subverts his very ground-work against the Lords Jurisdiction in their censure of him For if the House of Commons be by right the Lords Iudges then by Magna Charta c. 29. they are and ought to be their Peers and if the Commons be the Lords Peers then the Lords must be the Commons Peers too and if so then they may lawfully be his Judges even by Magna Charta because here he grants them to be no other than his Peers Lo the head of this great Goliah of the Philistin Levellers cut off with his own sword and Magna Charta for ever vindicated from his ignorant and sottish contradictory Glosses on it Now to convict him of his Errour in affirming the House of Commons to be by right the Lords Judges I might inform him as I have formerly proved at large that Magna Charta it self c. 14. 29. and Sir Edward Cook his chief Author in his commentary on them are express against him that in the Parliament of 15 E. 3. ch 2. in print it was enacted That whereas before this time the Peers of the Land have been arrested and imprisoned and their Temporalties Lands and Tenements Goods and Chattels seised into the Kings hands and some put to death without Iudgement of their Péers that no Peer of the Land Officer or other by reason of his office nor of things touching his office nor by other cause shall be brought in judgement to lose his Temporalties Lands Tenements Goods Chattels nor to be arrested or imprisoned outlawed exiled nor forejudged nor put to answer nor to be judged but by award of the said Péers in Parliament which privilege of theirs was both enjoyed and claimed in Parliament 4 E. 3. n. 14 15 E. 3. n. 6 8 44 49 51. 17 E. 3. n. 22. 18 E. 3. n. 7. to 16. 10 R. 2. n. 7 8. 11 R. 2. n. 7 c. and sundry other Parliament Rolls See Cook 4. Instit p. 15. 17 E. 3. 19. Cromptons Jurisdiction of Courts f. 4. 12 13. Stamford f. 151 152. This Paradox therefore of his is against all Statutes Law-Books Presidents whatsoever and Magna Charta it self And as false an assertion as that the Subjects are the Judges of their Soveraign the Servants of their Masters the children of their Parents the Wiâ—es of their Husbands the Soldiers of their General and the feet and lower members of the Head The second only Objection more of moment is this If the House of Peers may without the Commons fine and imprison Commoners then if their fine and imprisonment be unjust and illegal they shall be remediless there being no superior Court to appeal unto which will be an intollerable slavery and grievance not to be indured among free-born people I answer first That no injustice shall or ought to be presumed in the highest Court of Justice till it be apparently manifested Secondly If any such censure be given the party as in Chancery upon just grounds shewed may Petition the House of Peers for a review and new hearing of the cause which they in justice neither will nor can deny and if they do then the party grieved may petition the house of Commons to intercede in his behalf to the Peers for a rehearing but for them to discharge free any Commoner judicially censured by the Lords I have hitherto met with no president in former Parliaments nor power in the house of Commons to doe it who cannot reverse Erronious judgements in any inferiour Courts by writ of Error but the Lords alone much less then the judgements of the Higher House of Peers which is paramount them Thirdly I conceive the House of Peers being the Superior Authority and only Judicatory in Parliament may relieve or release any Commoners unjustly imprisoned or censured by the Commons house or any of their Committees and ought in justice to doe it or else there will be the same mischief or a greater in admitting the house of Commons to be Judges of Commoners if there be no appeal from them to the Lords in case their sentences be illegal or unjust Thirdly This mischief is but rare and you may object the same against a sentence given or Law made in Parliament by the King and both Houses because there is no appeal from it but only to the next or some other Parliament that shall be summoned by petition in the nature of a Writ of
Dantzick or Hamborough in France Spain Denmark or Germany within the Ward of Cheape London a suggestion never made before his time in or by any Law-Book or Record only to rob the Admiralty of its antient unquestionable right and Jurisdiction 3ly That the words of the Statute of 13 R. 2. c. 5. whereon Sir Edward Cook and other Judges ground their Prohibitions to the Admiralty That the Admirals and their deputies shall not meddle from henceforth with any thing done within the Realm of England but only of things done upon the Sea c. are clearly strained and construed by them directly against the words meaning and intent of the Law-makers and Commons Petition whereon it was made For the later clause but ONLY of things done upon the Sea is put in opposition and contradistinction to the precedent words with any thing done within the Realm of England or within the bodies of the Counties as well by land as by water as the Stat. of 15 R. 2. c. 3. 5 Eâ—l c. 5.27 Eliz. c. 11.25 E. 3. c. 2. directly interpret and explain the sense thereof And they strain and apply them to contracts made by Merchants and Mariners not within the Realm of England or bodies of the Counties thereof by land or water but beyond the seas and quite out of the Realm being no part of the Realm or within the body of any County of England or Kings Dominions Than which a greater Solecism and contradiction cannot be imagined against the scope and letter of these Statutes For by this construction they may likewise strain the very Oath of Supremacy That no foreign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction power c. Ecclesiastical or Spiritual WITHIN THIS REALM With the Statute of 13 Eliz. ch 2. for the abolishing of the usurped Iurisdiction of the Bishop and See of Rome WITHIN THIS REALM and against raising sâ—dition bringing in Bulls Agnus Dei Crosses Pictures c. WITHIN THIS REALM and other the Dominions thereof to the punishment of all such as shall avetr that any forein Prince Person Prelate State Potentate or the Pope have or ought to have any Jurisdiction power or Authority OUT OF THIS REALM or the Dominions thereof or shall raise any sedition or vent Popes Bulls c. in any forein Kingdom or Country as France Spain Italy Poland Germany out of the Realm as if they had done it within this Realm of England 4ly That by the opinion resolution agreement of the Judges of the Kings Bench 1575. and of all the Judges of England whereof Hutton and Crook were 2. 4 Febr. 1632. Hiâ— 8. Caroli the original whereof I produced subscribed with all their hands If sute he commenced in the Court of Admiralty upon Contracts made and other things personal done beyond the Seas or upon the Sea no Prohibition is to be awarded contrary to Sir Edward Cooks opinion This being the Iudgment of all our Judges in former ages wherein no record or president could be produced of any such Prohibition from Richard the 1. till the later end of Queen Elizabeths or King James his reign The Lords upon my Argument were so fully satisfied in this point of Law that they all unanimously and immediately adjudged and ordered notwithstanding Iustice Bacons and Reeves opinions upon the late presidents to the contrary that the Rule for the Prohibition in the Kings Bench should be vacated and that the Delegates should proceed to Sentence in the cause which they did And so my Client got both Judgement and Execution soon after against these Sureties I might here very fitly inform our Levellers and their Confederates That the Lords in Parliament as they did antiently so since the Commons admission unto this Great Council have made not only some Acts for the Government of London without the Commons as in 17 R. 2. n. 25 26 27. Granted Ayds for themselves to the King and likewise for the Merchants by the Merchants consents confirmed Charters Patents in Parliament reversed attainders restored persons attainted and their heirs to Lands and bloud elected the Kings Great Officers Privy Counsellers and prescribed them Laws Rules Orders appointed a Protector during the Kings Minority limited his power and discharged him from his place without the Commons confirmed an imposition upon Cloth by the King against the Commons petition to take it off Ordered a Subsidy to be paid absolutely which the Commons granted but conditionally called receivers of Subsidies and Monies to account without the Commons and opposed the Commons encroachments upon their privileges as you may see in the Parliament Rolls of 13 E. 3. n. 5 6. Parl. 1. Parl. 2. n. 8.15 E. 3. n. 41.21 E. 3. n. 16. Par. 2 R. 2. n. 22. to 27.57 5 R. 2. n. 16. 5 H. 4. n. 51. to 58. 4 H. 6. n. 22. 6 H. 6. n. 22 23. 8 H. 6. n. 13.27 28.14 H. 6. n. 10. 31 H. 6. n. 34. In Claus 50 E. 3. m. 3. 4. De essendo in Parliamento there are writs directed to particular persons in this form Sis coram Nobis et cateris Proceribus et Magnatibus regni nostri Angliae in praesenti Parliamento without mentioning the Commons apud Westm convocato hac instante diâ— Sabbatâ— proxime post futur ad informandum Nosipsos Proceres et Magnates not the Commons super quibusdam de quibus per te volumus informari c. 4. Junii Per Concilium in Parliamento And for the Nobles of Ireland I find this Record Claus 2 E. 3. m. 17. Rex dilecto et fideli suo Johanni Darcy de Nevien Justiciario suo Hyberniae salutem Ex parte quorundam hominum de Hybernia Nobis exstitit supplicatum uâ— per statutum inde faciendum concedere volumus Quod omnes Hybernici qui voluerint legibus utantur Anglicanis ita quod necesse non habeant super hoc Cartas aliquas a Nobis imperrare Nos igitur certiorari volentes si sine aliquo praejudicio praemissis annuere valeamus vobis mandamus quod voluntatem Magnatum terrae illius not of the Commons in proximo Parliamento nostro ibidem tenendo super hoc cum diligentia praesentari facias de eo quod inde inveneritis una cum vestro consilio advisamento Nos distincte aperte cum celeritate qua potestis certificetis hoc Breve nostruÌ„ Nobis remittentes c. upon which Petition the use of the English Laws was afterwards granted as appears by Clause 5 E. 3. part 1. m. 25. But I shall close up this Plea and Supplement with a few Presidents more pertinent to demonstrate the Lords undoubted Right of Judicature Council and Advice in publike affairs both in and out of Parliament In the Parliaments of 5 E. 2. n. 31.4 E. 3. c. 14.36 E. 3. c. 10.50 E. 3. n. 181.1 R. 2. n. 35.2 R. 2. n. 5. It was enacted that a Parliament
l. 1. p. 7. †31 H. 6. c. 1. 39 H. 6. c. 1. (e) In Eutropium l. 1 p. 67. (f) Nubtigensis l. 4. c. 14. (g) See Walsingham Holinshed Speed Stowes Survey of London Trussel Grafton (h) Sleidens Comment l. 7.11 Munsteri Cosmogr l. 3. c. 142. David Chyrraeus Chron. Saxoniae l. 12 13 14. (i) See the Animadversions on the Welsh Remonstrance and answer to Killing no Murder * As at first propounded voted and urged at several conferences See their Declarations and Papers of Feb. and March 17 and 19 1648. (l) Polydor Virgil Speed Holinshed in Anno 1216. See here p. 165. Iudge Dodderidge Mr. Agar Mr. Cambden Joseph Holland in their Treatises of the Antiquity of the Parliaments of England p. 18 19 20 40. 85 87. Sir Walter Raleigh his Prerogative of the Parliaments of England p. 2 3. The Freeholders Grand Inquest p. 13 14. (m) 4 Institutes p. 12. * See Walsingham Hist Angl. Anno 1 H. 4. p. 402. DOMINI in praesenti Parliamento Regis ASSENSU IUDICANT DECERNUNT c. ulterius DOMINI TEMPORALES REGIS ASSENSU IUDICANT DECERNUNT c. (n) Exact Collection p. 321. * Here p. 147. to 161. (2) 1 Instit f. 9 b. 10 b. See 4 Instit p. 6 7. 44 45 46. (3) Seldens Titles of Honor p. 745 746 747 748 749. (4) See my 1. Table to an Exact abridgment c the writs of summons in that abridgement (5) An Exact abridgement p. 549 558 633 636 637 639 640 640. 645 648 649 655 660 661 668. * An Exact abridgement p. 637. Seldens Titles of Honor p. 745. (6) Fitz. N. Brev. f. 165. e. †Num. 16.22 c. 27.16 * Luke 19.42 * Walsingh Trussel Hall Fabian Holinshed Grafton Speed Baker Stow and others * Gal. 3.1 c. 4.15 †Hab. 1.6 9 10 †Ezech. 2.3 to 9. * Nihil est veritatis luce dulcius Cicero Ac. Quaest l. 3. †Prov. 28.23 (c) Deut. 10.17 Psal 136.3 1 Tim. 6.15 Rev. 17.14 c. 19.8 (d) Deut. 31.4 Psal 31.5 Ier. 5.3 Isay 56.24 15. (a) A Remonstrance of many thousand Citizens to their own House of Commons p. 6. The just mans Justification p. 10. Regal Tyranny Discovered A Declaration from his Excellency the General Councel of the Army Jan. 11. 1647. p. 7. Speeches c. at a Conference newly published by Walker printed verbatim out of Dolman the Jesuit his Book condemned formerly as treasonable (b) Regal Tyranny discovered Lilburns Just Man in Bonds p. 1 2. A Pearl in a Dunghil The Free-mans Freedom vindicated An Anatomy of the Lords Tyranny his Argument and Plea before the Committee against the Lords Authority his Petition to the Commons his Letters to Henry Martin Overtons Arrow of Defiance shot into the Prerogative Bowels of the House of Lords his Petition and Appeal A Defiance against Arbitrary Vsurpation The Agreement of the People and Petitions wherein it was presented to the House of Commons An Alarum to the House of Lords See M. Edwards Gangraena part 3. p. 192. to 204. (c) Overtons Petition and Appeal to the High and Mighty States the Knights and Burgesses in Parliament assembled Englands legal Soveraign Power The Remonstrance of many thousands to their own House of Commons A printed Petition now in agitation of many Free-born people to the only Supreme Power of this Realm the Commons in Parliament assembled The Anatomy of the Lords Tyranny An Alarum to the House of Lords See M. Edwards Gangraena part 3. p. 154. to 204. * See M. Edwards Gangraena part 3. where this is fully demonstrated (d) Lilburns Letter to a friend Innocency Truth justified and his late Letters to Cromwell H. Martin Sir Thomas Fairfax and others Englands Birthright Englands lamentable Slavery Another word to the wise Comparata Comparandis Liberty against Slavery The Arraignment of Persecution The Ordinance against Tithes unmounted See M. Edwards Gangraena part 3. p. 109. to 204. (e) See the several Remonstrances from his Excellency and the Army from June til December last 1647. and since in November and January 1648. The Agreement of the people the grand Design Putney Projects (f) Overtons Defiance against all arbitrary usurpation of the House of Lords p. 5 6 15 17 18. his Arrow against all Tyrants p. 6.10 11 12. and others forecited a. b. * See my Historical Collection of the antient Parliaments and Great Councils of England (g) Epist to his 9. Report Institutes on Littleton p. 110.4 Instit c. 1. (h) M. Seldens Titles of Honour part 2. ch 5. where this is abundantly manifested Spelmanni Concil Tom. 1. Truth triumphing over Falshood Antiquity over Novelty p. 36 c. The Freeholders Grand Inquest p. 4. to 20. * See 1 Chro. 19.3 2 Chron 12. c. 6. c. 24.17 c. 32.3 Num. 10.4 Josh 9.15 c. c. 17.4 Num. 32.2 c. 21. (i) See M. Seldens Titles of Honour p. 2. ch 5. 14 E. 3. n. 35. 9 R. 2. n. 16. 20 R. 2. n. 16. 20 R 2. n. 80. 1 H. 4. n. 81. Cooks 3. Instit f. 9.16 with many more (k) 5 R. 2. Star 2. c. 4. 31 H. 8. c. 10. (l) See Litt. c. 10. Sect. 162 164. Cook Ibidem 49 Ass 8. (m) Cook 4. Instit c. 1. Cromptons Jurisdiction of Courts c. 1. * 1 R. 2. c. 4. 8 H. 4. c. 14. 8 H. 5. c. 7. 32 H. 6. c. 15. 1 H. 5. c. 3. ◠1 H. 7.12 2 H. 7.3 2. 5 H. 7. 9 H. 7. 12. 14 H. 6.12 7 E. 4.14 15 E. 15. Cook 1. Instit 250. a. Brook Tit. Parliament Corporations * Psal 47.2 6 7. Ps 95.3 Psal 98.6 Psal 103.19 (n) Exod. 3. 4. 7. (o) Deut. 3 28. Num. 27.16 to 23. Deut. 31.3 to 9.14.23 c. 34 9. Iosh 1. (p) Neh. c. 2. c. (q) 1 Sam. 9.16 c. 10.1.21 Acts 13.21 (r) Psal 78.70 71 72. 1 Sam. 16.2 Sam. 7 8. Acts 13.22 (ſ) 1 Chron. 23.1 c. 28.5 6. 2 Chr. 1.8 (t) 2 Chron. 14.1 c. 17.1 c. 28.27 c. 29. 1. Acts 13.20 21 22. * 2 Sam. 7.12 Psal 132.11 12. 2 Sam. 10.1 1 Kings 14 20.35 c. 15.8.24 c. 16.6.28 c. 22.40 2. Kings 1.17 c. 3.27 c. 8.24 c. 10.35 c. 12.21 c. 13.3.24 c. 14.16.29 c. 15 7.22.38 c. 16.20 c. 19.37 c. 20.21 c. 21.26 c. 24.6 1 Chron. 29.28 2 Chron. 12.16 c. 14.1 c. 17.1 c. 21.1 c. 22.1 c. 23.3 c. 24.27 c. 1.23 c. 27.9 c. 28.27 c. 32.33 c. 33.20.25 c. 36. 1 Jer. 22.11 Isay 19.11 c. 37.38 Matth. 2.2 (v) Num. 11.16 17 24 25 26 27. (x) 1 Chron. 18.15.16 17 c. 26.29 30 31 32. c. 27. c. 28 1. Exod. 18.25 26. 2 Chron. 19.5 to 7. * Iudg. 3.9.15 c. 2.16 Acts 13.20 Num. 27.15 to 23. Exod. 18.25 26. Num. 1.4 to 18. 1 Sam. 8.1 1 Chron. 26.30 32. 2 Chr. 19.5 to the end (y] Gen. 40.40 41 c. Exod. 18.25 Psal 105.21 Acts 8.10 (z) Esther 8. 10 [a] Dan. 2.48 49. [b]
fined a 1000 l. to Edmond Earl of Cornwal and 2000 marks to the Abbot of Westminster and committed to the Tower of London by JUDGEMENT of the King Earls Barons and Iustices in full Parliament for citing and attaching the said Earl of Cornwal in Westminster hall to appear before the Archbishop sitting the Parliament whereof he was a Peer against his Privilege and the privilege of Sanctuary granted to the Abbot of Westminst and remained prisoners there till they put in Sureties and paid the 1000 l. fine to the Earl notwithstanding their plea of ignorance of these their Privileges In the Parliament of 4 E. 3. n. 2 3 4 5 6. Sir Simon Bereford knight John Mautravers Boso de Bayons John Deverall Thomas de Gournay and William of Ocle confederates with Roger Mortimer Earl of March in all his Treasons and misdoings for which he was then impeached and condemned and guilty of the murders of King Edward the 2. after his deposition in Berkley Castle and of the Earl of Kent his Brother were attainted and condemned of High Treason by the Lords Barons Péers in Parliament as Iudges of Parliament though they were Commoners and not their Péers whom they were not at all obliged to judge as Péers adjudging them by the Kings assent as Traytors and Enemies of the King and his Realm to be drawn and hanged Whereupon Sir Simon being in Custody was executed by the Marshal and Proclamation made by the Kings writs by the Lords order to apprehend the others with promise of great rewards to those who should apprehend them that they might be executed and if they could not take them alive to bring in their heads for which thty should receive the reward of 500 l. from the King It is true indeed that after these Judgements given the Lords the same Parliament entred this special Protestation in the Parliament Roll n. 6. against being forced to give Judgement in such cases against those who were not their Peers which Sir Edward Cook stiles an Act of Parliament though it be no such thing but a voluntary Protestation of the Lords with the Kings assent It is assented and agreed by our Lord the King and all the Great men in full Parliament that albeit the said Péers as Iudges of Parliament took upon them in the presence of our Lord the King to make and render the said Judgements by assent of the King upon some of those who were not at all their Peers and that by reason of the murder of our Leige Lord and destruction of him who was so near of the bloud royal and son of a King that thereby the PEERS which now are o◠the Péers which shall be in time to come shall not be bound or charged to render Iudgements upon others who are not their Péers nor yet to doe it but upon the Péers of the Land but that they shall from henceforth be for ever acquitted thereof And that the said Iudgements now rendered shall not be drawn into example nor consequence for time to come whereby the said Peers may be charged hereafter to adjudge others than their Peers against the Law of the Land if such another case should happen which God defend From this Protestation of the Lords which Lilburn principally insists on he and some others conclude that the Peers in Parliament have no right at all to imprison fine judge or pass sentence of death against any Commoner for any offence no not for breach of their own Privileges but only the Commons To which Objection I answer First that this is no Act of Parliam as Sir E. Cook mistakes but a bare Protestation of the Lords alone assented to by the King without the Commons assent which no wayes impeacheth the Lords right of judicature Secondly that neither the House of Commons nor the Commoners then attainted of Treason and adjudged to death by the Lords ever demurred or excepted against their Jurisdiction as Lilburn and Overton doe but acknowledged and submitted to it Thirdly That in this very Protestation the Lords profess and justifie their right of BEING JVDGES in Parliament without admitting or acknowledging any Joynt or sole right of Judicature with them in the Commons Fourthly That this Protestation was meerly voluntary not in derogation but preservation of their own Honour Right Peerage and the Parliaments privileges too The substance of it is no more than this That the Lords should not be constrained against their wills by the Kings command and in his presence to give judgement of death in ordinary cases of Treason or Felony in the high Court of Parliament or elsewhere out of it against such who were no Peers who in such cases by the Law might and ought to be tried in the Kings Courts at Westminster or before the Iustices of Oyer and Terminer by a Iury of their equals but only in cases which could not well be tried elsewhere and were proper for their Judgement in Parliament they fearing that by this president in Parliament they might be sworn and impannelled on Juries in cases of Treason committed by Commoners against the Great Charter c. 29. and the Privilege of their Peerage which exempted them being sworn or put into Juries as Fitz. Nat. brev f. 165.48 E. 3. f. 30. Exemption 6.48 Ass 6.27 H. 8. f. 22. b. This is the whole summ and sence of their protestation To argue therefore from hence That they cannot pass sentence or judgement against any Commoners in any case proper for their Judicature in Parliament because they protested only against being COMPELLED to give Iudgement against such as were no Peers in cases triable elsewhere and not proper for their tribunal as the Objectors hence conclude is quite to mistake their meaning end to speak rather non-sence than reason or Law Fifthly This Protestation was made only against the Lords giving sentence in Felony and Treason and that in the Kings own presence in Parliam who usually pronounced the judgment himself or by some other with the Lords assent did not charge the Lords to pronounce it as here not against sentencing fining imprisoning any Commoner for rayling and libelling against their Persons Jurisdiction and procedings or refusing to answer and contemning their Authority to their faces at the barr or appealing from their Judicature in case of breach of Privilege of which themselves alone and no others are or can be Judges the cases of Lilburn and Overton whose commitments are warranted by hundreds of Presidents in this and former Parliaments Therefore for them to apply this Protestation to their cases with which it hath no Analogy is a manifestation of their injudiciousness and folly rather than a justification of their Libellous Invectives against the Lords injustice Sixthly The Lords gave judgement against all these persons by the Kings command in their absence without any Indictment hearing Trial witnesses heard or examined against them face to face or due process or Law against the Great Charter