his Heir and adopted me to Rule over this Nation In his Charter dated 1088. of the Liberties of St. Martins the Great in the Manuscript thereof are these words In Example of Moses who built the Tabernable and of Solomon who built the Temple Ego Guilielmus Dei dispositione consanguinitatis Haereditate Anglorum Basileus c. The Charter of Hen. 1. his Son to this Abby in honour of Edward my Kinsman who adopted my Father and his Children to be Heirs to this Kingdom c. In another Charter of Hen. 1. in the Book of Ely he calls himself the Son of King William the Great who by Hereditary Right succeeded King Edward It is true as to his pretence of Title by the Will of the Confessor Mathew Paris objecteth That the Devise was void being without the consent of the Barons To which may be answered That probably the Law might be so in Hen. 3. Time when Paris wrote and was so taken to be in the Statute of Carlisle and in the Case of King John. But at the time of Duke William's Invasion the Law was taken to be That a Kingdom might be transferred by Will. So was that of Sixtus Rufus and Asia came to the Romans by the Will of King Attalus the words by Annaeus Florus are Populus Romanus Bonorum meorum HAERES esto Bithinia came to the Romans by the last Will of their King Nicomedes which is remembred by Vtropius together with that of Libia Cicero in his Oration tells us That the Kingdom of Alexandria by the last Will of their King was devolved to Rome And Prasutagus Rex Icenorum in England upon his Death-bed gave his Kingdom to the Emperor Nero. As to Examples in this Point at Home This King William the first by his Will gave England to his younger Son William Rufus King Stephen claimed by the Will of Henry the first King Henry the eight had Power by Act of Parliament to order the Succession of the Crown as he pleased by Will. And the Lords of the Council in Queen Mary's Time wrote to her That the Lady Iane's Title to the Crown was by the Will and Letters of Edward the sixth As the case of Hen. 8. was by Act of Parliament so Duke William after he had conquered Harold was by the general consent of the Barons and People of England accepted for their King and so his Title by Will confirmed And he both claimed and governned the Kingdom as an Heir and Successor confirmed their Antient Laws and ruled according to them This appears by Chronica Chronicorum speaking of William the Bastard King of England and Duke of Normandy he saith That whereas as St. Edward had no Heir of England William having conquered Harold the Vsurper obtained the Crown under this Condition That he should inviolably observe those Laws given by the said Edward It is testified likewise by many of our Historians That the Ancient Laws of England were confirmed by Duke VVilliam Jornalensis saith That out of the Merchen-Lage West-Saxon-Lage and Dane-Lage the Confessor composed the Common Law which remains to this day Malmesbury who lived in Duke William's Time saith That the Kings were sworn to observe the Laws of the Confessor so called saith he because he observed them most religiously But to make this Point clear out of Ingulphus he saith in the end of his Chronicle I Ingulphus brought with me from London into my Monastery Crowland the Laws of the most Righteous King Edward which my Lord King William did command by his Proclamation to be Authentick and Perpetual and to be observed throughout the whole Kingdom of England upon pain of most heinous punishment The Lieger-Book of the Abby of Waltham commends Duke William for restoring the Laws of the English-men out of the Customs of their Country Radburn follows this Opinion and these Laws of Edward the Confessor are the same in part which are continued in our GREAT CHARTER of LIBERTIES A Manuscript entituled De Gestis Anglorum saith That at a Parliament at London 4. W. 1. the Lawyers also present that the King might hear their Laws he established Saint Edward's Laws they being formerly used in King Edgar's Time. There is also mention of the twelve Men out of every County to deliver truly the Estate of their Laws The same is remembred by Selden's History of Tythes and Titles of Honour and in a Manuscript Chronicle bound with the Book of Ely in Cotton's Library One of the worthy Gentlemen from whom I differ in Opinion was pleased to say That if William the Conqueror did not introduce the Laws of Normandy into England yet he conceives our Laws to be brought out of France hither in the time of some other of our Kings who had large Territories in France and brought in their Laws hither else he wonders how our Laws should be in French. Sir I shall endeavour to satisfy his Wonder therein by and by but first with your leave I shall offer to you some Probabilities out of the History That the Laws of England were by some of those Kings carried into France rather than the Laws of France brought hither This is expresly affirmed by Paulus Jovius who writes That when the English Kings reigned in a great part of France they taught the French their Laws Sabellicus a Venetian Historian writes That the Normans in their Manners and Customs and Laws followed the English Polydore Virgil contradicting himself in another place than before cited relates That in our King Hen. 6. Time the Duke of Bedford called together the Chief Men of all the Cities in Normandy and delivered in his Oration to them the many Benefits that the English afforded them especially in that the English gave to them their Customs and Laws By the Chronicle of Eltham H. 5. sent to Cane in Normandy not only Divines but English Common Lawyers by the agreement at Troys So there is much more probability that the Laws of England were introduced into France and Normandy than that the Laws of Normandy or any other part of France were introduced into England If the Normans had been Conquerors of England as they were not but their Duke was only a Conqueror of Harold and received as Hereditary King of England yet is it not probable they would have changed our Laws and have introduced theirs because they did not use to do so upon other Conquests The Normans conquered the Isles of Guernsey and Jersey yet altered not their Laws which in their local Customs are like unto ours The like they did in Sicily Naples and Apulia where they were Conquerors yet the Ancient Laws of those Countries were continued I hope Mr. Speaker I have by this time given some satisfaction to the Worthy Gentlemen who differed from me that the Laws of England were not imposed upon us by the Conqueror nor brought over hither either out of Normandy or any other part of France but are our Ancient Native Laws I must now come to indeavour
A Seasonable Treatise Wherein is proved That KING WILLIAM commonly call'd The CONQUEROR Did not get the Imperial Crown of England by the Sword but by the Election and Consent of the People To whom he swore to observe the Original Contract between King and People The Norman swore to Laws by which we 're free Laws here more His than Our Security LONDON Printed for J. Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-yard 1689. An Explanation of the Frontispiece warranted by the Authorities cited in the following Argument NO sooner had the * King Harold victorious over the K. of Denmark Tosta Harold ' s Brother at York Valiant HAROLD conquered the Danish King and his own Brother the daring TOSTA but news was brought him †William D. of Normandy at the same time lands in Sussex That the NORMAN Duke was arrived at Pemsey in Sussex whereupon with haste he went to meet him and at * Harold meets him at Hastings where they fight Hastings gave the NORMAN battel which proved fatal to him For he was as you may see * Haroid slain slain between the NORMAN Long-Bows and ENGLISH Spears leaving the Duke VICTOR in the Field WILLIAM proud with this Success The D. comes up to London marches with all speed up to Berkhamstead near LONDON The Rest of the ENGLISH if they had look'd upon his coming as a Design to conquer the Nation and not to assert his pretended legal Title against HAROLD were then able to have driven him back to his own Country or at least found him a Tumulary in this for there was not a fifth part of the Strength of the Nation that felt the Force of his Arms Enters into Compact with the English to make him King. but Duke WILLIAM and the ENGLISH soon came to an Agreement and the latter entred into solemn Compact to make him King. Thereupon BRITANNIA Britan. gives him the Scepter holds forth to him the Scepter with one Hand And With the other shews him the excellent And St. Edward ' s Laws to keep and most famous Laws of St. EDWARD As also at the same Time a Noble A Bishop tenders the Coronation Oath Prelat tenders him the Coronation-Oath The ENGLISH first being asked by the Bishop If they would assent to have the Duke their KING and if he should then be crowned To which they all with an unanimous consent answered Yea Yea The Oath VVilliam took at his Coronation Whereupon he takes the Coronation-Oath the sence of which take as follows This Scepter Fairest Queen I most Sacramentum Willielmi Senioris Ante Altare S. Petri Apostoli coram Clero Populo jurejurando Promisit se velle Sanctas Dei Ecclesias ac Rectores earum defendere necnon cunctum Populum sibi subjectum juste ac Regali providentia regere rectam Legem Statuere tenere rapinas injustaque judicia penitùs interdicere Hoveden pars Prior. fol. 258. l. 14. Exacto prius coram omni Populo jurejurando quod se modesse erga subjectos ageret aequo Jure Anglos quo Francos tractaret Malmsb. lib. 3. fol. 154. b. l. 8. Rex pro bono pacis juravit super omnes Reliquias Ecclesiae Sancti Albani Tactisque Sacro sanctis Evangeliis bonas approbatas Antiquas Regni Leges quas Sancti ac pii Angliae Reges ejus Antecessores Maxime Rex Edwardus Statuit inviolabiliter observare Mat. Paris Vitae Viginti trium Sancti Albani Abbatuum fol. 48. l. 37. thankfully receive and with it do solemnly Promise and Swear to govern both Church and State in Peace And I vow to Rule my Subjects with that Iustice and prudent Care as becomes a good King. I will with the Advice and Consent of my Great Council enact right Law Which done * The Invocation be Witness all ye Saints that to the utmost of my Power I will my self religiously keep and observe it For what can be more vain and inconsistent with the common Reason of all Mankind than for a Prince publickly and solemnly to ordain a Law and the next moment after to break and abrogate it in his Closet All Rapines I will forbid and all false Judgments no illegal or ARBITRARY ACTS under pretence of the Prerogative-Royal will I suffer or permit to the oppression of my ENGLISH Subjects between whom and my Normans I will administer EQUAL RIGHT And that God Angels my NORMANS and You O Sacred Queen may all be Witnesses and Parties to the sincerity of my Heart That I will not take the English-men's Inheritances by Injustice or thrust them out of their Paternal Possessions by wrong That I have not nor will pretend to any Absolute or Despotical Power over their Lives Liberties and Estates nor violate break or alter the Fundamental Rights of the Kingdom as Tyrants do who only design to enslave their People I do here solemnly promise and swear in the presence of all Ye mighty Powers inviolably to observe and keep the Sacred Laws of St. Edward my Kinsman Which said the Arch-bishop of York sets the Imperial Crown upon WILLIAM's Head and thus of a Duke of NORMANDY he was created KING of ENGLAND TO MY Worthy FRIEND The Learned Author of Argumentum Anti-Normannicum GReat Britain fairest Queen of all the Isles Inrich'd at Home with bounteous Natures smiles Thou such a self-sufficiency dost own All Countries need thy Stores but thou want'st none Divided from the World Thou to thy self art one The Sea and Continent proclaim Thee Great Proud Monarchs have lain Captives at thy Feet The Scales of th' Western World are in thy Hand Each Kingdom 's Fate depends on thy Command Where e're thy Friendship and thy Force combine Against that State in vain the Rest design To Thee no Ills from Forreign Foes can come The basest and more dangerous are at Home No Desert Beasts of Prey thy Land does bear But yet worse Beasts within thy Bowels are Who would thy Rights and Ancient Glories tear Those having lost their Liberty of Mind From vanquish'd Sires a weak excuse would find Are these thy Sons Or Marks of thy disgrace Who own themselves a slavish conquer'd Race The Norman Duke on Terms receiv'd the Crown Swore He 'd by Edward's Laws support his Throne Which sure no absolute Victor would have done That Title which his Great Successor hath Came from the Pact not from the Breach of Faith. That gives the Bounds to all incroaching Might And sets the Banks about the Subjects Right Who pulls them down le ts in a raging Sea Which drowns and swallows up all Property Who e're attempt to let that Torrent in At their own Houses may the Waste begin Let them for others Till their proper Land Or under some base Favourites Command May they whilst others riot with their Stores Without Relief beg at their Native Doors Vnder their Countries Curse their Tyrant's Scorn May they with never-ceasing Pangs be
also to satisfy the Wonder If they were not brought out of Normandy or some other part of France how come they then to be written in the French Language Sir It is to me an Argument That because they are written in French therefore they were not brought in by Duke William the Norman for the French Tongue was not the Language of Duke William and the Normans They had not been then in Duke William's Time past four descents in that part of France and it is improbable that they in so short a Time should lose their Native Tongue and take up and use the Language of another Countrey which was conquered by them The Normans came from Sweden Gothland Norway and Denmark between whose Languages and with the High-Dutch their Neighbours there is a great affinity but between these Languages and the French there is none at all Vlphilus holds that the Dutch Tongue came from the Goths Jornandus saith The Goth's Tongue came from the Dutch. All agree That between those Languages and the French there is no affinity It is so improbable that Duke William should cause our Laws to be in French that when he proclaimed them as Ingulphus testifies he commanded that they should be used in the same Language they were written in English to his Justices and gives the Reason Lest by Ignonorance we should happen to break them But it hath been further objected If Duke William did not cause our Laws to be written in French what then should be the Reason that the Grand Custumary of his Norman Laws were written in the French Tongue The Reason thereof is given That the Normans being a Rough and Martial People had few Clerks amongst them but made use of those French amongst whom they then lived and whose Language they then began to be acquainted with and to understand But when they were in England they had not so much use of those Clerks and that Language but more of the English And probably it might be that the Confessor had been so long in France that he was more Master of that Language than the Normans and that the Normans understood that Language better than the English and thereupon the Custumary was written in the French Tongue But it doth not therefore follow that Duke William must cause the English Laws to be written in the French Tongue but it is more likely that he might cause them to be continued in their Native Idiom which was much nearer in affinity to his own Northern Language than the French was That the French Tongue was not introduced as to our Laws and other things by Duke William into England appears in that the French was in great use with us here both before and some-time after his Invasion Beda affirms That in Anno 640 it was the Custom of England to send their Daughters into the Monasteries of France to be brought up there and that Ethelbert Ethelwulf Ethelred and other Saxon Kings married into the Royal Blood of France Glabor notes That before the Time of Duke William the Normans and English did so link together that they were a Terror to Forreign Nations Ingulphus saith That the Saxon Hand was used until the Time of King Alfred long before the Time of Duke William and that he being brought up by French Teachers used the French Hand And he notes many Charters of Edward and Edgar written in the French Hand and some Saxon mixt with it as in the Book of Dooms-day That Edward the Confessor by reason of his long being in France was turned into the French Fashion and all England with him But that William the first commanded our Laws to be written in the English Tongue because most Men understood it and that there be many of his Patents in the Saxon Tongue I suppose we may be satisfied that William the first did not cause our Laws to be written in French though the French Language was much in use here before his Time. And if he did not introduce the French Language into England the Argument falls That because they are written in French therefore he brought them in But Sir I shall offer you some Conjectures how it came that our Laws were written in French which I suppose might be begun in the Time of our K. Hen. 2. who was a Frenchman born and had large Territories and Relations in France and with French-men of whom great Numbers came into England and they and the English matched and lived together both here and in some parts of France Hence it came to pass as Giraldus Cambrensis notes that the English Tongue was in great use in Burdeaux and in other parts of France where the English-men were resident and conversant the like was when the French-men were so conversant in England Mathew Westminster writes That he was in hazard of losing his Living because he understood not the French Tongue and that in King Hen. 2. and King Stephen's Time who had large Dominions in France their Native Country and the Number of French and of Matches with them was so great that one could hardly know who was French and who English Gervasius Tilsberiensis observes the same And Brackland writes That in Rich. 1. Time preaching in England was in the French Tongue Probably Pleading might be so likewise and in King Iohn's Time French was accounted as the Mother Tongue There are scarce any Deeds of our Kings in French before Hen. 2. his Time the most are in Ed. 1. and Ed. 2. their Time. That our Laws were pleaded and written in French before Edw. 3. his Time appears by the Stat. 36. Edw. 3. c. 15. which recites the Mischief of the Law being in French and enacts That the Law shall thereafter be pleaded in English and enrolled in Latin. This is one ground of the mistaken Opinion of Lambard Polydore Speed and others That Duke William brought in hither both the Norman Laws and Language which I apprehend to be fully answered and the contrary manifested by what I have said before on this Subject Polydores Mistake may appear the more when he asserts that by the Stat. 36. Edw. 3. Matters are to be enrolled in English which is contrary to the express Words that they are to be enrolled in Latin. Many of our Law-Books were written in Latin before the Norman Invasion as appears by the Ancient Rolls of Mannors and Court Barons and our Old Authors Glanvill Bracton Tilsbury Hengham Fleta the Register and the Book of Entries The Records at Westminster and the Tower and other Records yet extant are in Latin and many Books of our Law in Latin were translated into English about Edw. 3. his Time. Most of our Statutes from Edw. 1. his Time till about the middle of Hen. 7. his Reign are enrolled in French notwithstanding this Stat. 36. Edw. 3. except the Stat. 6. R. 2. some others in Latin R. 2. H. 4. H. 5. and H. 6. used to write their Letters in French and some of our Fleadings
25. E. 3. of old Time used and * 42. E. 3. the Old Law whose Age made it the more venerable and gave an addition of honour to it Well having thus shewn you the Coronation of King William the First and given you the Solemn Oath he at the same time took even before his Consecration that so he might give all possible satisfaction to the English of his resolving to rule accordingly and also having made it plain that it was the same in substance with that the Ancient Saxons took before him I shall now descend briefly to set before you some of his own Charters as likewise some of William the Second's and of Henry the First 's his Children and succeeding Kings and from them evidence to you I hope demonstrably that it was not so much his Conquest he relied upon when he was setled in this Imperial Throne as his claim to the Crown of England Jure Hereditario by Right of Inheritance And for the proof of this be pleased to accept of these ensuing Instances 1. In Nomine Patris Filii Carta Antiqua litera D. N. 4. Spiritus Sancti Amen Ego Willielmus Dei Gratia Rex Anglorum Haereditario Jure Factus 2. In Nomine Patris Filii Carta 4. E. 4. m. 27. per Inspex Spiritus Sancti Amen Ego Willielmus Rex Anglorum Haereditario Jure Factus 3. In nomine Sanctae individuae Monast Anglican Vol. 1. fol. 317. Trinitatis Ego Willielmus Dei Gratia Rex Anglorum notum facio omnibus tam posteris quam praesentibus Archiepiscopis Episcopis Abbatibus Comitibus Baronibus omnibus fidelibus Francis Anglis Quod cum in Angliam venissem in finibus Hasting cum excercitu applicuissem contra hostes meos qui mihi Regnum Angliae injustè conabatur auferre 4. In ore gladii saith William the Carra Westm per Inspex 1. E. 4. parte septima m. 26. Mr. Seld. Review p. 483. First 's Charter Regnum adeptus sum Anglorum devicto Haroldo Rege cum suis Complicibus qui mihi Regnum cum providentia Dei destinatum beneficio concessionis Domini Cognati mei gloriosi Regis Edwardi concessum conati sunt auferre c. Come we now to his Second Son William Rufus 5. Willielmus Rex Anglorum Willielmo Carta Regis Willielmi Rufi vide Monast Anglican Vol. 1. fol. 352. Vicecomiti Filio Baldewini omnibus Baronibus suis Ministris qui habitant in Devonescira Salutem Notifico vobis quod mea condonatione Ecclesia beati Olavi Regis Martyris à Monachis belli aedificata in honore beati Nicholai quam cum omni terra quae pertinet ad Ecclesiam suprascripti Martyris meo privilegio videlicet Literis Sigillo liberam facio ita liberam quietam per omâ—ia cum saca soca thol theam infangenetheof warpeni murdro omnibus consuetudinibus operibus auxiliis sicut Pater meus liberam fecit Ecclesiam Sancti Martini de bello ubi hostem devicit ubi Coronam Regni haereditariam sibi bellando adquisivit T. Walchelino Wintoniensi Episcopo Rogero Bigot apud Wintoniam From William Rufus proceed we to his Brother Henry the First And saith he 6. In Nomine Sanctae Individuae Ex Hist Eliensis Eccles M. S. in Bibl. Bodleana inter Codices Cant. l. 58. lib. 3. fol 2. a. Monast Anglican Vol. 1. fol. 95. Trinitatis Patris Filii Spiritus Sancti Anno Incarnationis Dominicae MCVIII Indictione ....... Anno vero Pontificatus Domini Paschalis Papae secundi ✚ Regni quoque mei similiter ✚ Ego Henricus providente divina clementia Rex Anglorum Normannorum Dux Willielmi Magni Regis Filius qui Edwardo Regi Haereditario Jure successit in Regnum c. 7. Again Ego Henricus Dei Gratia Monast Anglican Vol. 2. fol 845. Rex Anglorum Filius Magni Regis Willielmi qui beatae memoriae Edwardo in Regnum Successit 8. To give you one Charter more Ex MS. Domini Rogeri Owen Equit. Aurati The words of that of Henry the First to the Abby of Westminster are Pro memoria Edwardi Cognati mei qui Patrem meum liberosque illius in Regnum suum adoptivos haeredes instituit And thus have I given you as it were a three-fold Cord not easily to be snapt asunder to bind hard my Assertion and to convince those who will not suffer themselves to be over-run by an obstinate Prejudice or captivated by a byass'd Interest that our first William when he came in gained nor such an absolute Victory as is pretended over this Nation for when he came in he had not subdued the fifth part of it but came to the Crown by the Election and Consent of the Clergy and People And foedus pepigit he made a Solemn Covenant with the English to observe and keep those Laws which were bonae approbatae antiquae Leges Regni And this Sir is what I shall endeavour clearly to make out to you in my Answer to your Second Question The Second Question Whether this first William did abolish Quest 2 all the English Laws and changed the whole Frame and Constitution of the Government ANd doubtless not for as my Lord Coke saith The Grounds of Lord Coke ' s Preface to his 8th Report our Common Laws at this day are beyond the Memory or Register of any beginning and the same which the Norman Ex vitâ Abbatis Sancti Albani Conqueror then found within this Realm of England And those Laws he swore to observe which were good approved and ancient Now that these were only his Norwegian Laws sure none can or ought to believe after they have throughly examined these plain Truths which I shall here offer to their fair perusal 1. If they please to consider what was the Title of the Laws called the Laws of King William the First published by Mr. Selden with his learned Notes upon Eadmer and since with the Saxon Laws Why truly the Title was plainly this These are the Laws and Customs which William â—elden ad Endmerum fol. 173. the King granted to the Ce sont les Leis les Custumes que li Reis William grantut a tut le â—euple de Engleterre apres le Conquest de la Terre Ice les meismes que le Reis Edward sun Cosin tiht devant luy whole People of England after the Conquest of the Land. These were those which the King Edward his Cousin held before him In these Laws recited by Hoveden in the Life of King Henry the Second King Edward's Laws are confirmed in these words This we command That all Men have and hold the Law of Edward the King in all things together with those Laws which we have added for the profit of the English So that here was no abolishing of the Old
Saxon Laws that he found when he came to govern this Kingdom nor any setting up of new ones in their stead No so far was he from any such Designs of introducing new Laws which must needs be then the absolute Results of Arbitrary Will and Pleasure to shew the sad and calamitous Effects of an entire Conquest to the overthrow of those so firmly established already that you see he gives his Confirmation to King Edward's Laws which indeed generally speaking were but a Collection of those the Historian calls Bonas Leges ab antiquis Malmesb. de Gest Regn. Angl. lib. 2. fo 42. l. 21. regibus latas non quod ille statuerit sed quod observaverit not so much the Laws of his own making as those he caused to be strictly observed and put in execution From the Title of his Laws proceed we 2. To the Confirmation it self and here I shall acquaint you with the manner of it in all its necessary Particulars This William the First with his French and Normans putting many hardships upon the English which occasioned great Disorders and Convulsions in the State several of the Saxons chief Nobility betook themselves to Arms for the sake of their Avitae Consuetudines to which they bore an immutable and an immortal Love and which they feared some were endeavouring to take away and change them though on the other hand they were obstinately resolved never to part from them for they had à Majoribus Seld. Tit. of Hon. fol. 523. didicisse aut Libertatem aut Mortem and they would rather undergo the worst Calamities of a more cruel War than they would tamely quit and abandon those dear Laws and Customs to which they had so long been used and were so well acquainted with The King hereupon to keep the Ex lib. Monast de Litchfield Co. 8. Rep. in Pref. People in a greater observance of their Duty and withal not forgetting the Oath he had taken at his Coronation caused twelve of the most discreet and wise Men in every Shire throughout all England to take an Oath before himself to deal sincerely and uprightly without turning either ad dextram aut sinistram that is as my Lord Coke interprets it neither to flatter Prerogative or extend Priviledg and to declare and lay open the Constitutions of their Laws and Customs without concealing adding or in any sort varying from the Truth But finding William and his Norman Barons who were Norwegians by extraction were for introducing the Apud Lambard fol. 149. Norwegian Laws This the English thought a more killing blow than that of his Victory and therefore Vniversi Compatriotae qui Leges edixerant tristes affecti being all of them in a great Consternation they beseeched him that they might still retain Leges proprias their own Laws and enjoy Consuetudines Antiquâ—â— their Ancient Customs in which their Fathers lived ipsi in eis nati nutriti sunt quiâ— Id. Ibid. durum valde foret sibi suscipere Leges ignotas judicare de eis quas nesciebant and themselves were born and bred up in because it would be very hard to receive Laws unknown and to judg of those things they understood not And when William denied they warmly reinforced their Requests and then conjured him per Animam Regis Edwardi by the Soul of King Edward qui sibi post diem suum concesserat Coronam Regnum cujus erant Leges that he would not impose a Yoke upon them which they were not able to bear and which would only gall their Necks and make them the more fretting and unruly King William finding there was no Remedy tho' he was long resolute at last in a Common Council of his Kingdom yields and by his Magna Charta the ground-work of all those that after followed he confirmed to Apud Cl. Lambard fol. 158. them their Ancient Laws ad praeces Communitatis Anglorum Blessing it with the Seal of Security and Wish of Eternity closing it up with this Co. li. 8. in Pref. general And we further Command That all Men keep and observe duly the Laws of King Edward rearing up the Frontispiece of his Gracious Ex Libro MS. de legib antiq Work with his Glorious Stile Willielmus Dei Gratia Rex Anglorum Dux Normannorum Omnibus hominibus suis Francis Anglicis Salutem Statuinius imprimis super omnia unum Deum per totum Regnum nostrum venerari unam fidem Christi semper inviolatam custodiri pacem securitatem concordiam judicium justitiam inter Anglos Normannos Francos Britones Walliae Cornubiae Pictos Scotos Albaniae similiter inter Insulanos Provincias Patrias quae pertinent ad Coronam dignitatem defensionem observationem honorem Regni nostri inter omnes nobis Subjectos per Vniversam Monarchiam Regni Britanniae firmiter inviolabiliter observari Ingulphus Secretary to William in Normandy and afterwards made Abbot of Crowland by him is an unexceptionable Witness to prove that the English Laws were then anew confirmed and he saith †Ex Ingulpho Abbate Crowlandense fol. 519. b. l. 37. Attâ—li eadem vice mecum de Londonijs in meum Monasterium Leges aequissimi Regis Edwardi quas Dominus meus inclitus Rex Willielmus authenticas esse perpetuas per totum Regnum Angliae inviolabiliter tenendas sub poenis graviffiâ—â—is toclamâret suis Justitiarils commendâret eodem idiomate quo editae sunt I brought this time with me from London where he had been about the business of his House to my Monastery the Laws of the most just King Edward which my Lord William the renowned King of England had proclaimed authentick and perpetual all England over to be kept under most grievous Penalties and commended to his Justice in the same Tongue they were set forth And this Proclamation was not all to allay the Storms which perhaps the violation of these Laws had raised For the good of Peace saith an ancient Monk he swears upon all the Reliques of the Church of Saint Albane touching the Holy Gospel Abbot Fredrick ministring the Oath * Mat. Paris in vit Fretherici Abbatis S. Albani fol. 48. l. 39. Bonas approbatas antiquas Regni Leges quas Sancti Pii Angliae Reges ejus Antecessores maximè Rex Edwardus statuit inviolabiliter observare the good and approved ancient Laws of the Realm which the Holy and Pious Kings of England his Ancestors and especially King Edward set forth inviolably to keep Thus we see the Mighty Conqueror is himself conquered and solemnly renouncing all Arbitrary Will and Power submits his Will to be regulated and governed by Justice and the ancient Rights of the English Men. Besides that the Laws that were continued and confirmed were the old Saxon Laws and the Additional Laws were made for the Benefit and Advantage of the English not Normans And those