his Heirs and if he should die without Issue Vt reciperent Comitem Johannem fratrem Richardi Regis in Regem Dominum That they would receive Earl John the Brother of King Richard for their King and Lord and swore Fealty to him against all Men saving their Fealty to his Brother King Richard Two Years afterward confederating with the King of France against his Brother and being assisted by him he returned into England and brought many Strangers with him and coming to London demanded the Kingdom of the Arch-Bishop of Roven who was then Justiciary and the other Justiciaries of England Fidelitates Hominum Angliae affirming the King of England his Brother was dead But not believing him they and the other great Men of the Kingdom rejected him Then swelling with Fury he fortified his Castles and places of Strength and seized the Crown-Lands Many came in unto him but being deceived they were punished according to their deserts And for these and other Treasons committed the Year following as combining with the King of France and offering great Sums of Money to the Emperor to keep King Richard in Prison and making new Disturbances in the Nation Per Commune Consilium Regni Definitum est quod Comes Johannes dissaifiretur de omnibus Tenementis suis in Anglia By the Common Council of the Kingdom it was decreed he should be disseized of all he held of the King in England And presently all his Castles were besieged and taken from him Yet for all this the next Year King Richard pardoned his Brother John and restored to him the Earldom of Moreton or Mortaigne the Honour of Eye and Earldom of Glocester except the Castles and for his other Earldoms and Lands allowed him Yearly eight thousand Pounds of Anjou-Money And in the last Year of his Reign Cum Rex de vita desperaret divisit Johanni fratri suo Regnum Angliae omnes alias terras suas fecit fieri praedicto Johanni fidelitates ab illis qui aderant praecepit ut traderentur ei Castella sua tres partes Thesauris sui When the King despaired of Life he devised to his Brother John the Kingdom of England and all other his Lands and made all present swear Fealty to him and commanded that his Castles and three parts of his Treasure should be delivered to him Richard being dead John stayed in Normandy where by Walter Arch-Bishop of Roven he was girt with the Sword of that Dutchy April 25. on St. Mark 's Day and sent Hubert Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and the Pope's Legat and William Marshal Earl of Strigvil into England to keep the Peace together with Jeffrey Fitz-Peter Justitiary of England and other Barons of the Kingdom Qui fecerunt homines regni tam de Civitatibus quem de Burgis Comites Barones libere tenentes jurare fidelitatem pacem Johanni Normannorum Duci filii Henrici Regis filii Matildis Imperatricis contra omnes homines Who made the Homagers of England as well of Cities as Burroughs and Earls Barons and free Tenants to swear Fealty and Peace to John Duke of Normandy the Son of King Henry the Son of Maud the Empress against all Men. Notwithstanding this all the Bishops Earls and Barons which had Castles Manned Victualled and stored them with Arms. But Hubert the Arch-Bishops William Marshal and Jeffrey Fitz-Peter Justiciary of England met at Northampton and called before them those which they most doubted David Brother to the King of Scots Richard Earl of Clare Ranulph Earl of Chester William Earl of Tutesbury and Walran Earl of Warwick Roger Constable of Chester William de Mowbray and many other Earls and Barons to whom they promised and engaged that John Duke of Normandy should restore to every Man his Right if they would keep Faith and Peace with him Súb hac igitur Conventione supradicti Comites c. According to this Agreement the said Earls and Barons swore Fealty and faithful Service to John Duke of Normandy against all Men. This was done while he was in Normandy On the 25th of May following Duke John crossed the Seas from Normandy into England and the next day came to London and there were convened in Expectation of him Hubert Arch-Bishop of Canterbury John Arch-Bishop of Dublin William Bishop of London Gilbert of Rochester John of Norwich Hugh of Lincoln Eustace of Ely Godfrid of Winchester Henry of Exeter Sefrid of Chichester Jeffrey of Coventry Savaric of Bath Herbert of Salisbury Philip of Durham Roger of St. Andrews in Scotland Henry of Landaff Bishops Robert Earl of Leicester Richard Earl of Glare William of Tutesbury Hamelin de Warenn William of Salisbury William de Strigvil Walran of Warwick Roger Bigot William de Arundell Ranulph de Cestre Earls and many Barons And then Hubert Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Consecrated and Crowned the said John Duke of Normandy King of England in the Church of St. Peter at Westminster on the 27th of May being Ascension Day Not one word here of any Election by but only a Submission from the Barons Spiritual and Temporal to King John and a Recognition that he was their King And all this related by Hoveden in all probability an Eye-witness of this Translation Indeed Matthew Paris who died Anno Dom. 1259. was then either unborn or so young as not with Judgment to take sufficient notice of this Affair relates it thus Congregatis in adventu ejus Archiepiscopis Episcopis Comitibus Baronibus atque aliis omnibus qui ejus Coronationi interesse debuerant Archiepiscopus stans in medio omnium dixit audite universi noverit discretio vestra quod nullus proevia ratione alii succedere habet Regnum nisi ab universitate Regni unanimiter invocata Spiritus Gratia electus secundum morum suorum eminentiam praeelectus ad exemplum fimilitudinis Saul primi Regis inuncti quem praeposuit Dominus populo suo non Regis filium nec de Regali stirpe procreatum similiter post eum David Jesse silium Hunc quia strenuum aptum Dignitati Regiae illum quia sanctum humilem ut sic qui cunctos in regno supereminet strenuitate omnibus praefit potestate regimine verum si quis ex stirpe Regis defuncti aliis prepolleret pronius promptius in electionem ejus est consentiendum Haec idcirco diximus pro inclyto Comite Johanne qui praesens est frater illustrissimi nameri Richardi jam defuncti qui haerede caruit ab eo egrediente qui providus strenuus manifeste nobilis quem nos invocata Spiritus Sancti Gratia ratione tam meritorum quom Sanguinis Regii unanimiter elegimus universi nec ausi erant alii super his adhuc ambigere scientes quod Archiepiscopus sine causa hoc non sic diffiniverat verum Comes Johannes omnes hoc
was impeached in Parliament for divers Felonies and Treasons for assuming to himself Royal Power making Dissention between King Edward the Second and his Queen and for murdering of him and many other great Treasons and adjudged to be Drawn and Hanged and was executed accordingly And the Earl Marshal was commanded to do the Execution and the Mayor Aldermen and Sheriffs of London and Constable of the Tower to guard and assist him Many of his Accomplices had the same Judgment In the Fiftieth of Edward the Third the Parliament do acknowledge Richard the Second to be very Heir to the Crown as Son to Edward the Black Prince very Heir to the Crown and petition the King his Father being dead to make him Prince of Wales Who after his Grandfather's death was immediately by all people the Londoners especially acknowledged owned and addressed to as King and not long after Crowned with great Solemnity He lived continually in Tumults and by his Great Uncles his Reign was made uneasie and at length was deposed and murdered by a Potent Faction The Author of the Brief History of Succession fol. 7. recommends to his Readers the thirty three Articles drawn up against Richard the Second as well deserving to be read with hope and design as easily may be guessed to make them believe and think he was justly deposed and murdered But Mr. Hollingshed a moderate Writer who hath truly related these Articles and all the Transactions of his Deposition and Murder tells us y that whatsoever Writers do report touching the state of the time and doings of this King yet if he might boldly speak what he thought He was a Prince the most unthankfully used of his Subjects of any one of whom ye shall lightly read For although through Frailty of Youth he demeaned himself more dissolutely than seemed convenient for his Royal Estate and made choice of such Counsellors as were not favoured of the People whereby he was the less favoured himself Yet in no King's days were the Commons in greater Wealth if they could have perceived their happy State Neither in any other time were the Nobles and Gentlemen more cherished nor Church-men less wronged But such was their Ingratitude towards their bountiful and loving Sovereign that those whom he had chiefly advanced were readiest to control him for that they might not rule all things at their Will and remove from him such as they misliked and place in their rooms whom they thought good and that rather by strong Hand than by gentle and courteous means Which stirred such malice betwixt him and them The chief Instruments in deposing this King were Henry Duke of Lancaster late Earl of Derby and Thomas Arundel Arch-Bishop of Canterbury who assisted by others reduced the unfortunate King to so great Straits as he was weary of his Government They having him in their power kept him safe in the Tower of London until a Parliament was called which was suddainly done by directing Writs in the King's Name to those who of Right ought to be there All things were prepared for the Resignation of his Crown against the time of the meeting of the Parliament He was by certain Commissioners appointed by it deposed or had rather a Resignation of the Crown extorted from him though he seemed willing and forward to do it And then the Duke of Lancaster claimed the Crown in Parliament and challenged the Realm AL 's DESCENDIT BE RYGHT LYNE OF THE BLODE COMEYNGE FRO THE GUDE LORD HENRY THERDE Postquam quidem vindicationem clameum tam Domini Spirituales quam Temporales omnes status ibidem praesentes singillatim communiter interrogati quid de illa vindicatione clameo sentiebant Iidem status cum toto populo absque quacunque difficultate vel mora ut Dux praefatus super eos regnaret unanimitur consenserunt After which Claim and Challenge as well the Lords Spiritual as Temporal and all States there present being severally asked what they thought of that Challenge and Claim the same States with all the People without difficulty or delay consented the aforesaid Duke should reign over him And then shewing to the States the Signet of King Richard which he gave him as token of his desire to have him succeed him The Arch-Bishop taking him by the Right Hand placed him in the Throne Here we see the Foundation of the Parliament's Consent that Henry should be King was a pretended Right of Blood and the desire of King Richard that it might be so Henry the Fourth was Son to John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster fourth Son to Edward the Third by Blanch his Wife Daughter and Heir of Henry Duke of Lancaster Son of Henry Earl of Lancaster Brother and Heir to Thomas Earl of Lancaster eldest Son to Edmund called Crouch-Back the First Earl of Lancaster Second Son to King Henry the Third Upon Consideration had of this Title it was conceived to be insufficient and that it would pass for a Blind and Pretence only And therefore king Henry upon the day of his Coronation caused to be proclaimed That he claimed the Kingdom of England First By Right of Conquest Secondly Because King Richard had resigned his Estate and designed him for his Successor And Lastly Because he was of the Blood-Royal and NEXT HEIR MALE UNTO KING RICHARD In this Claim he takes no notice of any Election by the People nor doth own the least Right in them to elect him but founds his Title upon Conquest and Proximity of Male-Blood and Donation of Richard the Second Henry the Fourth Fifth and Sixth held the Crown by Vsurpation without much disturbance until the thirty ninth Year of Henry the Sixth when Richard Duke of York put in his Claim as Hein to Philippa Daughter and Heir to Lionel the third gotten Son of King Edward the Third to whom the Right Title Dignity Royal and Estate o the Crowns of the Realms of England and of France and of the Lordship and Land of Ireland of Right and Law and Custom appertaineth and belongeth before any Issue of John of Gaunt the fourth gotten Son of the same King Edward The Lords Spiritual and Temporal the Question being put what they thought of the Duke's Claim answer that The Matier was so high and of such wyght that it was not to any of the King's Subjects to enter into Communication thereof without his high Commandment Agreement and Consent had thereto The Duke pressing for an Answer all the Lords went unto the King and opened the Claim by the Mouth of the Chancellor of England and it pleased him to pray and command all the said Lords that they should search as much as in them was to find all such things as might be object and leyde against the Cleym and Title of the Due Whereupon in the Morning October 18. the Lords sent for the King's Justices to defend his Title against the Claim of
commanded that King Edward's Laws should be observed with such Amendments as his Father had amended them And further says that very many great Men sent for Duke Robert over and promised him the Crown and Kingdom and coming they did some of them adhere to him and others dissembling their Kindness and Affection stayed with King William until they had an opportunity of shewing it But the Bishops the Common Soldiers and English stuck close to King Henry by whose means he raised a very great Army and were ready to fight for him when they came to an Agreement by the Mediation of the wise Men of both Parties Eadmer tells us that most of the great Men either did or were ready to revolt from King Henry but Anselm Arch-Bishop of Canterbury who had given him great Assistance in raising his Army upon great Promises made that all the Church-Affairs should be left to his direction and disposing and that he would for ever after obey the Decrees and Commands of the Pope procured the great Men to assemble and then so wheedled and cajoled them and their Army that he altered theit Intentions And it was from his Fidelity and Industry that Henry lost not the Kingdom This King Henry was a plain right down Usurper he had no pretence of Donation no Testamentary Right from his Father and therefore as Malmsbury shews us more particularly he was advanced by a Faction there being only five great Men Robert Fitz-Haymon Richard de Redvers Roger Bigot Henry Earl of Warwick and Robert Earl of Mellent his Brother all Normans that favoured him and by the contrivance of Henry Earl of Warwick he was elected King All others sent privately to Duke Robert to come and be their King or openly reproached Henry This was an excellent Election made by a Faction and an Army and perhaps with a bawling multitude after them and indeed there could be no other Election than such an one as this for Rufus was slain in New Forest on the 2d of August being Thursday and Henry was Crowned on the 5th of August being Sunday So that it was impossible for all that were or ought to be concerned in such an Election all the Kingdom over to have notice meet and dispatch that Business in two days time These Historians lived at the very time these things were done It is true he says in his own Charter That he was Crowned King by the Common Council of the Barons of England Sciatis me misericordia Dei Communi Concilio Baronum Regni Angliae ejusdem Regni Regem Coronatum esse And he must say this or nothing for no other Pretence or Title he could have and there never was any other Usurper in his Circumstances but must say so or some other thing to make out a Title King Stephen in his Charter of Liberties says He was elected A Clero Populo King John in his Charter of Fees of the Seal affirmed himself right Heir to the Crown when Arthur Duke of Britain and his Sister Eleanor Son and Daughter to his Elder Brother Jeffrey were then living and they were both vain Affirmations as will appear in their several stories Some later Historians than these as Matthew Paris who wrote above an hundred Years after them Mat. Westminster and Hen. de Knighton and Brompton who wrote at least two hundred and fifty Years after them all say he was elected But only Knighton amongst them all tells us the most considerable reason why Robert his elder Brother was rejected Robertus says he semper contrarius adeo innaturalis extiterat Baronibus Regni Angliae quod plenario consensu consilio totius Communitatis Regni IMPOSUERUNT EI ILLEGITIMITATEM QUOD NON FUERAT PROCREATUS DE LEGITIMO THORO WILLIELMI CONQUESTORIS UNDE UNANIMI assensu suo ipsum refutaverunt pro rege omnino recusaverunt Hen. frem in Regem erexerunt Robert was always averse and so harsh to the Barons of England that they by full Consent and Advice voted him Illegitimate because he was not begotten lawfully by William the Conqueror and for that reason by unanimous Assent they refused him and set up Henry his Brother to be their King From this Passage of Knighton we see the Community or Baronage of all England fixed the Right of Succession in the Legitimate Right of Blood and therefore this King his two elder Brothers being dead without Issue desired to secure the Succession unto his Lawful Issue by Right of Blood To that end all Freemen of England and Normandy of what Order and Dignity soever and of whatsoever Lord they held or were Fendataries to were forced to do Homage and swear Fealty to his Son William then but twelve Years old And in the twenty seventh of his Reign he caused all the great Men of England after the death of his Sons William and Richard to recognize Maud the Empress his Daughter Queen to whom the only Lawful Succession was due from her Grandfather Uncle and Father that were Kings and from her Mother many Generations In the thirty first of King Henry he and his Daughter coming into England at a great Meeting of the Nobility or Parliament at Northampton those which before had sworn Fealty renewed their Oaths to her and those which had not done it before then did it Paris tells us that the Clergy and Great or Noble Men made Conditions with Henry who promised them what is before related and in that gave them satisfaction But as all Usurpers ever did so he changed his Mind and his Canting Speech had no other effects than to enslave them for with a seared and cahterized Conscience he had obtained the Kingdom and usurped upon his Brother Robert who had manifest Right impudently violating the Laws and Promises by which he had drawn in all Men to serve him and afterward taking him Prisoner caused his Eyes to be pulled out and kept him in Prison twenty four Years until he died King Henry having thus provided for the Security of his Daughter Maud being asked in his Sickness by Robert Duke of Gloucester and the Noble Men that then were with him about a Successor Filiae omnem terram suam citra ultra mate Legitima perenni successione adjucavit Adjudged his Daughter his Lawful Successor in all his Territories Radulphus de Diceto Dean of Saint Paul's who died Anno Dom. 1210. says that Hath Bigot Steward of the King's Houshold made speed out of Normandy where the King died into England and made Oath before the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury that King Henry upon his Death-bed upon some differences which happened between him and his Daughter the Empress did dis-inherit her and made Stephen Earl of Boloign his Heir Whereupon William Arch-Bishop of Canterbury giving too much credit to the words of the Steward consecratcd Stephen Earl of Mortaigne King at Westminster If this story
State and Subjects of the Realm which thing all dutiful faithful and loving Subjects ought and will with all careful Study and Zeal consider foresee and provide for By the neglecting and passing over whereof with winking Eyes there might happen to grow the Subversion and Ruine of the Quiet and most happy State and present Government of this Realm which God defend Therefore it was Enacted Declared and Established That if any Person or Persons whatsoever within the Realm or without should compass imagine invent devise or intend the Death or Destruction or any Bodily harm tending to Death Destruction Maym or Wounding of the Person of Queen Elizabeth or to Deprive or Depose her of or from the Stile Honour or Kingly Name c. or to levy War against her Majestie within the Realm or without or to move or stir any Forreigners or Strangers with Force to Invade this Realm or if any Person of Persons whatsoever shall maliciously and advisedly declare and publish That Queen Elizabeth during her Life is not or ought not to be Queen of England c. or That any other Person or Persons ought of Right to be King or Queen of the said Realm or That shall maliciously and advisedly set forth and affirm That Queen Elizabeth is an Heretick Schismatick Tyrant Infidel or Vsurper That then all and every such said Offence and Offences shall be taken deemed and declared by the Authority of this Act and Parliament to be High Treason And be it also Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That all and every Person and Persons of what Degree Condition Place Nation or Estate whatsoever they be which shall at any time in the Life of Queen Elizabeth in any wiâ—e claim pretendi utter declare affirm or publish themselves or any of them or any other than Queen Elizabeth to have Right or Title to have and enjoy the Crown of England during or in her Life-time or shall usurp the same Crown or Royal Style Title and Dignity during or in her Life-time or shall hold and affirm That she had not Right to hold and enjoy the said Crown or shall not after demand effectually acknowledge her to be in Right true and lawful Queen They and every of them so offending shall be utterly disabled during their Natural Lives onely to have or enjoy the Crown or Realm of England or the Style Title or Dignity thereof at any time in Succession Inheritance or otherwise after the Decease of the Queen as if such Person were naturally dead Any Law Custom Pretence or Matter whatsoever to the contrary notwithstanding And be it further Enacted That if any Person shall during the Queens Majesties Life maintain hold and affirm any Right in Succession Inheritance or Possibility in or to the Crown or Realm of England or the Rights thereof to be in any such Claimer Pretender Vtterer Declarer Affirmer Vsurper Publisher or Not-acknowledger shall be a High Traytor and suffer and forfeit as in Cases of High Treason And for the Confirmation and making good what had in this Law been hitherto Enacted as much as might be it was further Enacted That if any Person should in any wise hold and affirm or maintain That the Common Laws of this Realm not altered by Parliament ought not to direct the Right of the Crown of England or That our Sovereign Lady Queen Elizabeth with and by Authority of the Parliament of England is not able to make Laws and Statutes of sufficient force and validity to limit and bind the Crown of this Realm and the Descent Limitation Inheritance and Government thereof or That this present Statute or any part thereof or any other Statute to be made by the Authority of the Parliament of England with the Royal Assent of the Queen for Limitting of the Crown or any Statute for Recognizing the Right of the said Crown and Realm to be justly and lawfully in the most Royal Person of the Queen is not are not or shall not or ought not to be for ever of good and sufficient force and validity to bind limit restrain and govern all Persons their Rights and Titles that in any wise may or might claim any Interest or Possibility in or to the Crown of England in Possession Remainder Inheritance Succession or otherwise howsoever Every such Person so holding affirming or mainteining during the Life of the Queens Majesty shall be judged a High Traytor c. And every Person so holding affirming and mainteining after the Decease of the Queen shall forfeit all his Goods and Chattels This Statute was a peculiar Law made for the Preservation of Queen Elizabeths Person and Title and this last Enacting Clause and Paragraph was made to strengthen and confirm the former part of the Statute which was a Provision and Security against such Pretences and Practices as were ennumerated in the preceding Historical Account And if we consider how much if not altogether her Title to the Crown depended upon Statute-Law and how Questionable her Birth-right was generally reputed to be no man can much wonder if for her own advantage and safety she attributed more to an Act of Parliament than otherwise she would have done She was necessitated to take this course to establish her self against the Pretences of the Queen of Scots when her Birth-right could not do it it being very doubtful whether she was Legitimate considering the Proceedings in the Divorce of Queen Katherine Marriage of her Mother and her Mothers Confession to Archbishop Cranmer when the Statute was made for the declaring the Marriage null and void between Henry the Eighth and Anne Bolein by which Statute she was also solemnly Bastardized And although Queen Elizabeth at the entrance upon her Government was acknowledged to be rightly lineally and lawfully Descended from the Blood Royal of this Realm which if true had been a sufficient Title She being then the only remaining Issue of Henry the Eighth yet her right was recognized as depending upon the Lawes and Statutes of the Realm and by express mention of and reference to the Thirty fifth of Henry the eighth by which Statute the Crown was settled upon her and the Heirs of her Body lawfully begotten in several places whereof she is by the King her Father implicitly reputed and declared illegitimate and the settlement in that Act is made to her as not being lawfully begotten or having right to inherit In the first of her Reign before cited when the Crown was declared to be vested in her and that Declaration and Recognition as also the Limitation and Declaration of the Succession of the Imperial Crown of this Realm mentioned and conteined in the Act of 35 Hen. 8. were to stand remain and be the Law of this Land for ever Which notwithstanding when Mary Queen of Scots had claimed the Crown by right of Inheritance and had spread abroad that Title unto it and also the Title of the House of Suffolk and other
and that her Majesty minded not by any Implication or drawing of Words to have the Scotish Queen either inabled or disinabled to or from any manner of Title to the Crown of England and willed That the Bill be drawn and penned by her Learned Counsel before the same be treated of in the House and that in the mean time of bringing in of that Bill the House enter not into any Speeches or Arguments of that Matter With the Journal agrees a Passage in the Lord Burleigh's Letter to Sir Francis Walsingham the Queens Embassador in France July 2. 1572. two days after the Parliament was Prorogued Now for our Parliament I cannot write patiently All that we laboured for and had with full Consent brought to fashion I mean a Law to make the Scotish Queen unable and unworthy of Succession of the Crown was by her Majesty neither assented to nor rejected but deferred until the Feast of All Saints But what all other good and wise Men may think thereof you may guess Some here have it seemeth abused their Favour about her Majesty to make her self her most Enemy God amend them I will not write to you who were suspected I am sorry for them and so would you also if you thought the suspicion to be true Your assured Loving Friend Will. Burleigh This Parliament did not meet again until the Eighth of February in the Eighteenth year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth unless there be any better Authority than Mr. Pulton's in his Statutes to make it appear that it did And although there never was greater fear and danger of the Introduction of Popery and Arbitrary Power by reason of the Queen of Scots Religion her Pretences and Practices and the expectation of great Assistance from abroad and at home than at this time yet we find not those that were suspected to have advised the Queen this great Affair to have been branded by Publick Vote as Betrayers of the Queen the Protestant Religion and the Kingdom of England Promoters of the Scottish Interest and Pensioners to Scotland This is a faithful Relation of the Succession Whether I have fairly or partially cited the Records and Histories I have used any Man if he please may inform himself Whether it be expedient just or lawful to go about to interrupt the lawful Succession by Birth-right or to endeavour to break or vacate the Laws and Customs of the Nation by which it is Established and Governed without any Motion Sollicitation Procurement or Intention of the present true and lawful King by Birth-right for and upon the Suggestions in the Bill mentioned I leave to the Consideration of Wiser Men than my self In smaller Matters than this it was said Nolumus Leges Angliae mutare A Paralel or Comparison between some Citations in the Author of the Brief History of Succession c. And the Words of the Authors themselves Author of the Brief Hist fol. 1. in the Margin EDwardum Elegerunt Electum consecraverunt in Regem unxerunt Sim. Dunelm An. 975. f. 160. Fol. 3. in the Margin Hic Robertus semper contrarius adeo innaturalis extiterat Baronibus Regni Angliae quod plenario consensu Consilio totius Comunitatis Regni ipsum refutaverunt pre Rege omnino recusaverunt Henricum fratrem in Regem erexerunt Hen. de Knighton c. 8. 2374. Fol. 4. In the Notes in the middle of the Folio In Conventu Episcoporium aliorum de Regno optimatum Mat. Westm f. 246. an 1153. Fol. 4. In the Margin Convenerunt interim die Statuto ex Mandato Regis ad Londoniam totius Angliae Episcopi Abbates Comites Barones Vice-Comites Praepositi Aldermanni cum Fidejussoribus Gervas Hen. 2 fol. 1412. And fol. 4. in the Body of his History says This was a Parliament in which Henry the Second procured his Son Henry to he declared King together with himself by their consent Brief History fol. 5. in the Margin Post tam Cleri quam Populi solennem debitam electionem Rad. de Diceto fol. 647. Ibid. f. 5. In the Body of the History King John applies himself to the People for a more sure Title d who being summoned together chose him King Ibid. in the Margin d Praelatorum Comitum aliorum Nobilium infinita a multitudine Brompt 1281. Fol. 10. in the Body of the History Please it your Grace to understand the Consideration Election and Petition of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons c. Cot. Rec. fol. 709. This is all considerable which he cites out of this Record Fol. 11. in the Body of the History In the 25th Year of Henry the Eighth an Act passed wherein the Parliament in the Preamble say They were BOUNDEN to provide for the perfect Surety of the Succession They did not certainly reckon themselves bound to do a thing that was not in their Power Stat. 25 H. 8. c. 22. Sim. Dunelm Anno 975. col 160. n. 40. EDwardum UT PATER SUUS PRAECEPERAT Elegerunt Electum consecraverunt in Regem unxerunt Hen. de Knighton col 2374. c. 8. n. 10. Iste Robertus semper contrarius adeo innaturalis extiterat Baronibus Regni Angliae quod plenario Consensu Consilio totius Comunitatis Regni IMPOSUERUNT EI ILLEGITIMITATEM QUOD NON FUERAT PROCREATUS DE LEGITIMO THORO WILLIELMI CONQUESTORIS UNDE UNANIMI ASSENSU SUO ipsum refutaverunt pro Rege omnino recusaverunt Henricum fratrem ejus in Regem erexerunt Mat. Westm f. 246. an 1153. n. 10. Rex Stephanus omni haerede viduatus praeter solumodo Henricum Ducem recognovit in Conventu Episcoporum aliorum de Regno optimatum Quod Dux Henricus jus haereditarium in Regnum Angliae habebat Dux benigne concessit ut Rex Stephanus tota vita sua suum Regnum pacifice possideret Chronica Gervasii col 1412. lin 4. Convenerunt interim die Statuto ex Mandato Regis ad Londoniam totius Angliae Episcopi Abbates Comites Barones Vice-Comites praepositi Aldermani cum Fidejussoribus suis timentes valde omnes Quisque juxta conscientiam suam metuebat nesciebunt enim Quid Rex statuere decrevisset ipsa die Henricum filium suum qui eadem septimana de Normannia venerat militem fecit statimque eum stupentibus cunctis mirantibus in Regem ungi praecepit coronari Not one word here or in all this story of this Author of their declaring him King Rad. de Diceto Imagines historiarum col 647. n. 40. Comes Itaque Pictavorum Ricardus HAEREDITARIO JURE PRAEMOVENDUS IN REGEM post tam Cleri quam Populi solempnem debitam electionem c. Chron. Johan Brompt col 1281. n. 40 50. Johannes ab Huberto Archiepiscopo Cantuariensi in Ecclesia B. Petri Westmonasterii INUNGITUR ET IN REGEM ANGLIAE CORONATUR ASSISTENT Prelatorum Comitum BARONUM aliorum Nobilium infinita multitudine Exact Abridgment of Records in the Tower fol 709 710 711