been intended or implied by that Statute that there was or could be any other King besides the King for the time being For 1. To take it in that sense would be to make the Statute fight against it self and not only to admit that he were but a King not the King but to require the Subjects to fight for and against one and the same Person 4. H. 7. And his Parliament could not be thought to admit that he was an Usurper or a King contrary to Law or Right But H. 7. certainly intended to provide for the indempnity of those that should pay Allegiance to him as well as of those that should pay Allegiance to future Kings for the time being And indeed upon some of the Words it may seem doubtful whether the enacting part was intended to reach beyond his time and whether any other Sovereign Lord for the time being was intended but he who was at that time But if in relation to the King whose Parliament passed this Act the King for the time being was supposed to be the only Lawful and Rightful King it must be so taken in relation to all other Kings for the time being if either the enacting Part or the Preamble extend to ' em 5. If this Act should carry a plain implication that some other besides the King for the time being was the King of Right this would be so far from being for the Security of the King for the time being as must have been then intended as well as the indemnity of his Subjects that it must needs have the like effect with their Discourses who will have it that the present Government is not Rightful but yet that a sort of Allegiance is due to it because of God's Authority tho' contrary to Right Whenever these Men speak out it appears that they allow no Authority to the King for the time being but what is derived from the Tacit or implied Consent of their King of Right But this Jesuitism was not thought of at the making of that Statute 6. I desire to know what Person besides H. 7. was so much as imagined to be Rightful King or Queen of England when that Act was made However whether it can be thought that in the Judgment of that Parliament any Person besides H. 7. had Right to the Crown after a former Parliament had Ordained Established and Enacted that the Inheritance of the Crown of England and France should be stand and remain in King H. 7. and the Heirs of his Body and in no other Person That they held this Settlement to have been duely and righfully made and that without any relation to his marrying the supposed Heiress to the Crown appears by three other Acts of the same Parliament One of which attaints R. 3. for traiterously conspiring against their Sovereign Leige Lord H. 7. Another indempnifies Men for Trespass or taking Goods in maintenance of the Title of H. 7. for the time that his Banner was displaied against Richard late Duke of Gloucester Usurper of the Realm Another goes farther and indemnifies them who came from beyond-Sea with H. 7. or were in Sanctuary or Hidel for his Quarrel and Title and speaks of the Battle against his Enemies in recovering and obtaining his Just Title and Right to his Realm of England Wherein H. 7 ths Right and R. 3 ds Usurpation consisted shall afterwards be considered 7. When the Parliament 11 H. 7. speaks only of the King or Prince or Sovereign Lord for the time being without giving any discription whereby it should be known who is the Prince unless what relates particularly to H. 7. It must be presumed that no King is intended but he that was the Sovereign or Leige Lord in the Eye and Reputation of Law which as appears by the Case of R. 3. an Usurper continuing so was not then taken to be But who ever was in the Possession of the Throne without Usurpation was always lawful and rightful King 8. It cannot be thought the Parliament 11 H. 7. would have made an Act directly contrary to three others of the same Reign but they would have expresly repealed the former Acts or have offered some reason to palliate or colour their Proceedings to the contrary But take the Statute of 11 H. 7. in this Lawyers Sense only with an Exception that as to the Matter in Question it was a Declaratory Law as the words plainly shew and it will farther appear and it is evident that the Statutes against R. 3. and indemnifying them that acted for H. 7. before the displaying his Banner as well as after while R. 3. was in Possession of the Throne were contrary to this Lawyer 's Sense of the Statute 11 H. 7. according to which they who assisted H. 7. must have acted contrary to their Duty of Allegiance to the King for the time being Wherefore it plainly follows that R. 3. was not King for the time being according to the true meaning of the Statute 11 H. 7. and yet H. 6. who was of the younger House was in his time the only King for the time being in the Judgment of that very Parliament which supposes R. 3. not to have been so as appears by their reversing the Attainder of H. 6. and declaring the Act of Attainder to have been contrary to the Allegiance of the Subject against all right wiseness honour nature and duty inordinate seditious and slanderous and reversing the Attainders of others for their true and faithful Allegiance and Service to Hen. 6. and yet those Attainders were in a Parliament of a King by many supposed to be the only Person that had Right to be King and that after his being formally recognized by the States and then in Possession of the Power of the Kingdom Obj. But it may be objected if the Act 11 H. 7. was made only to indemnifie them that paid Allegiance to Rightful Kings there was no manner of need of it Answ 1. Many needless Statutes have been made in affirmance of the Common-Law out of abundant caution 2. It could not be needless to obviate mens fears upon pretences which might be set up against the King for the time being by removing the supposal that Allegiance could be due to any body else 3. The enacting part extends to indemnifie Men for what they out of Loyalty should do in time of War against the mind and will of the Prince for which the caution was but reasonable Effectually to prove that the Judgment of Hen. 7 ths Parliament That there could be but one Rightful King at a time except where they were Partners in Power is according to the fix'd and known Constitution of this Monarchy and that this manifests His present Majesty to be our only lawful and rightful Sovereign Lord and that the late King neither is nor of Right ought to be King I shall as briefly as well as I can give an Abstract of what will appear to any
might afterwards sail out of abundant care for his Son Henry had him Crowned in his life time which through French Counsels put the Son upon insisting on the Rights of Kingship to the great clamity of the Nation tho' the Subjects swore Allegiance to him with an express Salvo for the Allegiance due to his Father Which whatever some have thought or affirm'd was the only Salvo in the Scotch Kings homage according to ancient custom for the Crown of Scotland To H. 2. succeeded his eldest surviving Son Richard but was not accounted King upon the death of his Father Authors say he was to be promoted to be King by Hereditary Right which is far from being King by Hereditary Right But as the former usage explains such words he deserved to be elected and made King in which sense one of the Authors who lived at the time immediately explains himself mentioning his Coronation Oath after the solemn and due election as well of the Clergy as People Before this he was at first only Earl of Poictou and then Duke of Normandy but not till he had been solemnly invested with the Sword of that Dukedom And Bromton informs us that he accepted the Crown upon condition of keeping his Coronation Oath without undertaking which the Archbishop charged him not to assume the Royal Dignity He going to the holy Wars after his being Crown'd his Brother John would have seiz'd the Government as vacant but had no tollerable pretence the War having been carried on with a National Consent Upon this it was adjudged by a Common-Council of the Kingdom that John should be disseiz'd of all that he held in England which might extend to such right or expectancy as he had in the Crown Notwithstanding which upon Richard's death the great Question came upon the Stage whether the Crown ought ordinarily to go according to the right of Proximity or of Representation The right of Proximity was in John Brother to King Richard this was the Right which the English seem'd to think most agreeable to the Constitution of this Monarchy and is according to the Custom of Normandy for Succession to that Dukedom and as Cujacius supposes of most Nations Foreigners were for Arthur of Brittain as having the right of Representation being the Son of John's elder Brother and this was the Right according to the custom of Brittain in France But as to the Law of England it appears by Glanvil's account of the Law as it was taken in the time of H. 2. that even for the Descent of private Inheritances it was doubtful whether they ought to go to the Grandson by the eldest Son who died in the Father's life time or to his next surviving Son If indeed the eldest Son had in the Father's life time done homage to the Chief Lord for his Father's Inheritance this was held to remove the doubt And Glanvil afterwards says upon the Question between Uncle and Nephew that the condition of the Possessor is the better According to which King John having obtained Possession of the Crown had it rightfully and Arthur had no right to turn him out John being beyond-sea at his Brother's death sent over the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Earl Marshal of England to sollicit for his being admitted to the Throne These Great Men with the assistance of the Chief Justice of England prevailed upon many to swear Allegiance to John and in a Convention at Northampton those Persons were Sponsors for John's doing right to all men upon which condition or in confidence of his performing what had been undertaken in his name the Earls and Barons swore Fidelity to him against all Men yet after this he was formally elected in a full Convention of the States where the Archbishop declares it as matter known to 'em all that no man ought to succeed an other to the Kingdom upon any previous reason unless unanimously elected by the whole Realm c. But if any one of the Royal Stock was more deserving than others his election ought to be consented to the more promptly and readily Notwithstanding what had pass'd in favour of John in the Convention the Archbishop at the time of the Coronation calls him but Earl King John not only took the Oath appointed by the standing Ritual which declares every King of England to be elected but assumed the Royal Dignity as his Predecessor did with the express condition of keeping his Oath Having broken this Contract and notoriously departed from that end for which according to the Confessors Law expresly sworn to by him he had been constituted or created King in making War upon his People with Foreign Forces with which he exercis'd inhuman barbarities and as much as in him lay alienating his Imperial Crown to the Pope he in the Judgment of the Court of France as well as of the States and People of England fell from his Royal Dignity the Throne was become vacant and during the vacancy the Administration devolved upon the States whereupon they resolved to elect a new King and sent a solemn Embassy to the King of France to send over his Son Lewis to be King of England whose wife was John's Sisters Daughter But the chief inducement to this Election seems to have been that expectation in which they were not deceived that the Foreigners would desert John for Lewis Tho they promised to Crown him King they seeing great grounds to dislike his French Temper and Conduct kept him upon his good behaviour without a Crown And having found by the dying Confession of one of his confederates that he had sworn if he came to be once Crowned King he would treat the English as Rebels to their former Prince they soon sent this Probationer packing yet did not hold John to be King After John's death many of the greatest interest in England while Lewis was here and Elianor Prince Arthur's Sister alive in Bristol Castle who according to the vulgar notion ought to have been Queen John's Son but were far from thinking him King upon the death of his Father or from repenting of what they had done to the Father but they thought it adviseable to cut off Lewis his expectation of the Crown to which end the Martial of England Summons a Convention to Glocester where he tells the States that tho' they had justly prosecuted the Father for his evil deeds yet that Infant was innocent because he is the Son of a King and our future Lord and Successer of the Kingdom let us Constitute him our King At last all as with one voice cried thrice let him be made King Here 't is evident that he was not accounted King till Constituted or made and was but a future Lord and agreeably to this Matthew Paris
true lawful and undoubted Heir and Universal Successor to the Crown and Kingdoms of England and France and all the King's Dominions whatsoever and wheresoever beyond the Sea and also has right of universally succeeding the King in the said Crown Kingdoms and Dominions To have to him and the Heirs Male of his Body and in default of such Issue so in remainder to his Brothers In an other Charter pass'd in that Parliament the Inheritance or Hereditation of the Crown is entail'd upon the King and the Heirs Male of his Body then to his four Sons and the Heirs Male of their Bodies successively It seems the next year some doubts arose upon these different Settlements that 5o. then remaining upon Record therefore they cancel and make void the Letters Patent of the Entail 5o. and change and amend that Settlement which they seem to have thought defective 1. In only declaring the Prince Heir Apparent and Inheritable to the Crown which was no more than to declare him before others qualified to succeed if the States should Elect him 2. In declaring him Inheritable only to the Crown of England without mentioning its appurtenances seeming to think that in Grants of this Nature nothing would pass by implication But to prevent all ambiguities they being as is said in that Record met in a Parliament according to the Custom of the Kingdom for divers Matters and Things concerning the King and his Kingdom The King with common Consent of the Kingdom Enacts That a new Patent be Sealed constituting Prince Henry Heir Apparent to succeed the King in his Crown Realms and Dominions to have them with all their appurtenances after the King's Decease to him and the Heirs of his Body and so in remainder to his three Brothers successively whereby they had a larger Estate than by the Entail 7º which was to Heirs Male Thus by Virtue of one or more Settlements by Authority of Parliament H. 5. succeeded and yet it was thought a great instance of the confidence the States had in him that in a Convention or Assembly holden according to Ancient Custom in which they treated about creating a new King some of the Nobility immediately Swore Allegiance to him before he had been declared King But it is to be observed that whereas his Father died the 20th of March he is said to be created King on the 5th of April Death cutting off the course of his Glories his Infant Son H. 6. came in under the Parliamentary Entail but the Administration was held to have fallen upon the States who accordingly after having declared H. 6. King in full Parliament pass'd a Patent constituting Humfry Duke of Gloster Protecter of the Realm John Duke of Bedford Regent of France and Henry Beaufort Bishop of Winchester and Thomas Beaufort Duke of Exeter Governors of the young Prince The Death of the brave Duke of Bedford occasioned not only the loss of France but the raising the Family of York to a pretence which in all probability had been buried to this day had not H. 6ths treacherous Ministers put him upon making Richard Duke of York Regent of France after being High Constable of England and Lieutenant of Ireland With these advantages Duke Richard set up under a Mask of Popularity as if he only sought redress of grievances while himself was the only National Calamity As nothing but success could give him any colour of Title he was forced to conceal his Ambition even from his own Party till 26 H. 6 yet after that acknowledged and swore to H. 6ths Right and confirm'd it with the Sacrament which Solemnities were to be subservient to his imaginary Divine Right Tho' by his Frauds and Perjuries he often came within the prospect of a Crown 38 H. 6. he was deservedly Attainted of High-Treason and an Association with an Oath was voluntarily enter'd into by the Lords wherein every one severally acknowledges H. 6. to be his most redoubted Lord and rightwish or Rightful by Succession born to Reign over him and all the Kings Liege People that he will do his utmost for the We le and surety of the King's Person of his most Royal Estats and the very conservation and continuance of his most high Authority Preheminence and Prerogative and for the preservation of the Queen and of Prince Edward his Right redoubted Lord the Prince that after the King's Death he will take and accept the Prince for his Sovereign Lord and after him the Issue of his Body lawfully begotten for want of such Issue any other Issue of the Body of the King that he will never give Aid Assistance or Favour to any thing contrary to the premises and that he will put himself in his due undelayed devoir with his Body Goods Might Power Counsel and Advertisement to resist withstand and subdue all that should presume to do contrary to the premises or any of them This Association not being General throughout the Kingdom had no great effect not so much from any belief the Nation had of Richard's being injured as from the burdens a Treacherous Ministry induced a weak Prince to lay upon the Subjects This made the Commons of Kent invite over from abroad the Duke and his Party who had fled from Justice then the Tide turn'd and the King became wholly in the power of the Duke of York under whose awe and influence a Parliament was call'd where he laid claim to the Crown with circumstances which one would think were enough to give any Man a face of Title and yet his pretended Divine Right countenanc'd by Providence was mightily qualify'd by the courage of the Parliament and their regard to the Constitution of this Monarchy His claim was as Son to Ann Daughter to Roger Mortimer Son and Heir to Philippa Daughter and Heir to Lionel Duke of Clarence third Son to E. 3. whereas H. 6. descended from John of Gaunt the 4th and eldest surviving Son After Debate among the Lords upon this matter these Objections were agreed upon against Richard's pretence of Title 1. The Oaths they had taken to the King their Sovereign Lord. 2. Acts of Parliament made in divers Parliaments of the King's Progenitors of Authority sufficient to defeat any manner of Title to be made to any Person 3. Several Entails made to Heirs Male 4. That Richard did not bear Lionel's Arms. 5. That H. 4. took upon him the Crown not as Conqueror but right Inheritor to H 3. All that is urged materially against this for Richard is 1. That Oaths do not bind against God's Law and that requires Truth and Justice to be maintain'd but this being a Spiritual matter he refers to any Judge Spiritual 2. That there was but one Entail of the Crown 7 H. 4. but that this was void against the right Inheritor of the Crown according to God's law and all Natural laws 3. It could