and her Nephew Robert Or as king Edward the third in the Right of the said Crown of France determined of the Controversie betwixt Iohn Earl of Montford and Charles of Bluis for the Dukedom of Bretaigne 3. By the Confession and acknowledgement of Prelats Peers and others the Estates of Scotland subscribed by all their hands and seals in the Roll of Ragman wherein they did acknowledge the Superiority of the kings of England not only in regard of such Advantages as the sword had given him but as his original and undoubted Right Which Roll was treacherously delivered into the hands of the Scots by Roger Mortimer Earl of March in the begining of the Reign of king Edward the third 4. By the tacite Confession of the kings themselves who in their Coyns Commissions and publick Instruments assume not to themselves the Title of kings of Scotland but of Reges Scotorum or the kings of the Scots and thereby imitating that though they are kings of the Nation yet there is some Superiour Lord king Paramount as we may call him who hath the Royalty of the Land 5. By the Judgements Arrests of the Courts of England not only in the times of king Edward the first but in sometimes since For â—hen William Wallace a Scotsman by birth and the best Souldier of that Country was taken prisoner and brought to London he was adjudged to suffer Death as a Traitor which had been illegal and unrighteous judgement had he been a prisoner of War and not lookt upon by the Judges as subject to the Crown of England The like done in the case of Simeon Fraâ—â—ll another of that kingdom in the same kings Reign In like manner in the time of king Edward the third it was resolved in the Court in the Lord Beaumonts case when it was objected That one of the Witnesses was a Scot and therefore as an Alien not to give his evidence that his Testimony was to be allowed because the Scots in the Law of England did not go for Aliens And when one indicted for a Rape in the thirteenth year of Queen Elizabeths Reign desired a medietatem linguae because he was a Scots-man and so an Alien it was denyed him by the Court because the Scots were not reputed here as Aliens but as Subjects rather So also when Robert Vmsramville Lord of Kyme was summoned to the Parliament of England in the Reign of king Edward the third by the name of Robert Earl of Angus which is a Dignity in Scotland and after in a Writ against him was called by his own name of Vmsramville without any Addition of that Honour the Writ was adjudged to abate which I conceive the Learned Judges had not done if Scotland had not been reputed to be under the Vassalage of the kings of England 6. And lastly by a Charter of Lands and Arms which I have in my Custody granted by king Edward the first in the last year of his Reign to Peter Dodge of Stopworth in the Countie of Chester one of the Ancestors of my mother In which it is exprest that the said Lands and Arms were conferred upon him by that king for his eminent Services encontre son grand enemi rebel Baliol king of Scotland and Vassal of England In Answer to these Objections founded upon the Reign of Brutus I need say no more save that Cambden and the other Learned English Writers do look upon the same as a meer fiction And for proving the Crown of Scotland to hold of England there must be authentick Documents in Writ produced as has been formerly debated And this does sufficiently answer all that is said of Bellinus king Arthur c. But to refute these Fictions and to show how much of Cheat is in all these Contrivances I need only cite a passage from the Learned Aylet Sammes in his Britannia antiqua pag. 159. whose words are That which gave some Authotity to this Fiction was the use king Edward the first made of it in vindicating his Title to Scotland against the pretence of Pope Boniface and the Church of Rome who laid claim to that kingdom by ancient Right as part of St. Peters Patrimony and that Churches Demesne It appears that the Monks and Friers had a great hand in making out this Title by Brute which story was now new vampt and from all parts sent out of these shops where at first it had been forged and hammered out And this doth more evidently appear if we consider many other parts of the same Letter as it is found in the Records cited by Mr. Prin but especially that miracle of king Adelstane who in perpetuam rei memoriam to give an evident signe of his Right to Scotland with his sword struck a blow upon a Rock near Dumbar that he Cleft it at least an Elne wide As to the Homage made by king Malcome to William the Conquerour it is answered That the matter of Fact is absolutely denyed And not only do our Historians and the Historians of Forreigners mention no such submission but they do on the contrair relate That William the Conquerour having come with a Designe to conquer Scotland he was forced by Malcome king of Scotland to a Peace very Honourable and Advantagious for Scotland one Article whereof was That William the Conquerour should restore such of the English Nobility as had fled to Scotland for shelter to their Estates and Honours And how can it be imagined that Scotland being then very Unite and living under a most warlike Prince would have submitted to a king who had too much to do at home or that King Malcome would have submitted to him whom he forced to restore even the English who had Rebelled against him And as the Constitution of Vassalage requires Writ so if any such Vassalage had been acknowledged he had accepted of a Charter holding of the Conquerour as all the other Vassals did As to King Williams Homage to Henry the second it is Answered That William having been treacherously made Prisoner he was forced by a long and tedious Imprisonment to make this Homage and consequently the Homage it self was null being extorted by Force and made by a person who was not sui juris being in prison It being certain by the Laws of all Nations That Deeds done by Prisoners are null but especially in this case where the Deed was such as that it would have been null however For even the most absolute Kings are so far from being able to alienate their Kingdom or enslave it that by so doing as some say they forfeit their own Right and make the Throne void for the next Successour who is not obliged by what they have done And if any such Act as this were binding then England by the same Argument had remained a Feu of the Empyre since Richard the first their King did Homage to Henry the Emperour for England and King Iohn his brother did the like Homage to the Pope and offered to hold England in
capite of Murmelius a Sarazen King Edgar's being rowed over the Dee by Kenneth king of Scotland is taken off by the former Answer though it were true as it is not nor can it be made appear by a Chronological Computation if the Enquiry were worth our pains The great Instance founded upon the Homage made by the Baliol is as weak since it is known that King Robert the Bruce refused to do Homage to King Edward choosing rather to want a Crown then to be a Vassal for it But Iohn Baliol the other Competitor preferring his Ambition to his Native Country was therefore justly disowned by the Nobility who as Duchesne a Stranger to us observes sent Ambassadours to King Edward to show him that they did Revoke and Disown the Homage made by the Baliol and asserted their primitive Liberty And so hateful an Act was this esteemed in him that he losed the Crown by it whereas had this pretence of England been founded upon any Justice it could never have been so severly either opposed or punished But though Baliol had been a lawful King as he was not King Robert the Bruce's Title being preferable in Law yet could not the Baliol have subjected the Kingdom in Vassalage to England since by the Feudal Law a Superiour cannot superinduce or interpose another Superiour nec sine Vassalli consensu alienare jus suum directum c. 1. § ex eodem descendit de Leg. Lotharii And though some debate that by such Alienations of the Superiority the Superiour forfeits his Right yet all agree that the Alienation is null nulla irrita D. D. in cap. imperialem § praeterea de prohibit alien per Fredric Curt. p. 16. num 3. latissime Rosenth cap. 9. conclus 62. Whereas it is pretended That the Parliament of Scotland consented It is Answered That any Parliamentary Consent is altogether denyed For though we have exact Records of all our Parliaments yet there is not so much as Mention made amongst all our Statutes or Books of any Parliament held by Iohn Baliol. And albeit Prin has published all the Records which the English have upon this Subject yet he dares not so much as assert much less produce the Copy of any such Act of Parliament And certainly if there had been such an Act of Parliament not only the Records of that Parliament but that particular Act had been carefully preserved and published and that this Parliament and Statute is a meer Fiction appears not only by our own but Forreigne Historians And it is not imaginable that the greater part of the Nobility and Kingdom having immediatly disowned the Baliol for acknowledging this Subjection that they would themselves have ratified it in a free Parliament But though this were true as it is not yet there is not any Kingdom so Loyal Happy or Invincible but some few Cowards or Rogues may be found in it who may assume the name of a Parliament and disown the true Interest of the Kingdom without any Warrand from the People for that effect And I would very willingly know if England remains still Vassal to the Pope because a Monk prevailed with King Iohn to hold his Crown of him or if Portugal should not be acknowledged a free Crown because Spain did once elicite from them a National Consent by Force of Arms Or if these three or four pretended English Parliaments who acknowledged Oliver Cromwel the Usurper did settle a Legal Right upon him by their Concourse Nor did Prescription Supply here the Original illegality of that Consent for the Scots did immediatly reclame and did within much fewer years than Prescription requires restore themselves to their Liberty under the Conduct of that Glorious Prince King Robert the Bruce for whom GOD did so Miraculous things as did Convince the World how much the LORD of Hosts detasted the Bribry and Cruelty of King Edward the first Et ita res facile redeunt ad suam naturam quae mox rediit divertisse non videtur But to show how great Aversion even that Generation had for any such Submission to the English Monarchy I have set down the Copy of a Letter yet extant under all the Seals of our Nobility directed to Pope Iohn in anno 1320. Wherein they Declare that if their King should offer to submit to England they would disown him and chuse another Not that the power of Electing Kings was ever thought to Reside in our Nobility But because it was represented to them as the Opinion of all Lawyers that a King could not alienat his Kingdom or submit himself by his sole Consent to a Forreigne Prince Since by that Alienation and Submission he does Forfeit his Right to the Crown As to which Letter likewise I think fit to observe to prevent any Mistake as to the Calculation of the number of our Kings that the Writers thereof have as is usual with us numbred amongst our Kings such of the Royal Family as were for the time Regents or Viceroys The Letter follows SAnctissimo Patri in CHRISTO ac Domino Domino Ioanni Divina Providentia Sacrosanctae Romanae Vniversalis Ecclesiae summo Pontifici Filii sui humiles devoti Duncanus Comes de Fyfe Thomas Ranulphi Comes Moraviae Dominus Manniae Vallis Anandiae Patricius de Dumbar Comes Marchiae Malisius Comes de Strathern Malcolmus Comes de Levenox Willielmus Comes de Ross Magnus Comes Cathaniae Orcadiae Willielmus Comes Sutherlandiae Walterus Senescallus Scotiae Willielmus de Soules Buttelarius Scotiae Iacobus dominus de Dowglas Rogerus de Moubray David dominus de Brechine David de Grahame Ingelramus de Vmsravile Ioannes de Meneteith Custos Comitatus de Meneteith Alexander Frazer Gilbertus de Haia Constabularius Scotiae Robertus de Keith Mariscallus Scotiae Henricus de Sanctoclaro Ioannes de Grahame David de Lindesey Willielmus Olifant Patricius de Grahame Ioannes de Fenton Willielmus de Abernethie David de Weyms Willielmus de Monte fixo Fergusius de Ardrosan Eustachius de Maxwell Willielmus de Ramsay Willielmus de Monte alto Alanus de Moravia Douenaldus Campbell Ioannes Camburn Reginaldus le Chen Alexander de Seton Andreas de Lescelyne Alexander de Straton caeterique Barones Libere-tenentes ac tota Communitas Regni Scotiae omnimodam Reverentiam filiolem cum devotis pedum osculis beatorum Scimus sanctissime Pater Domine ex antiquorum Gestis Libris colligimus quod inter caeteras Nationes egregias nostra sciz Scotorum Natio multis Praeconiis fuerit insignita Quae de majori Scythia per mare Tirenum Columnas Herculis transiens in Hispania inter ferocissimos per multa temporum Curricula residens a nullis quantumcunque Barbaricis poterat alicubi subjugari Indeque veniens post mille ducentos annos a transitu populi Israelitici sibi sedes in Occidente quas nunc obtinent expulsis Britonibus Pictis omnino deletis
licet per Norwegienses Danos Anglos saepius impugnata fuerit multis sibi Victoriis Laboribus quamplurimis adquisivit ipsasque ab omni servitute liberas ut priscorum testantur historiae semper tenuit In quorum Regno centam tresdecem Reges de ipsorum Regali Prosapia nullo alienigena interveniente regnaverunt Quorum Nobilitates merita licet ex aliis non clarerent satis tamen patenter effulgent ex eo quod Rex Regum Dominus IESVS CHRISTVS post Passionem Resurrectionem suam ipsos in ultimis Terrae finibus constitutos quasi primos ad suam Fidem sanctissimam convocavit Nec eos per quemlibet in dicta fide confirmari voluit sed per suum primum Apostolum quamvis Ordine secundum vel tertium sanctum Andream meritissimum beati Petri Germanum quem semper ipsis praeesse voluit ut Patronum Haec autem sanctissimi Patres Praedecessores vestri solicita mente pensantes ipsum Regnum Populum ut beati Petri Germani peculium multis favoribus privilegiis quamplurimis muniverunt Itaque Gens nostra sub ipsorum protectione libera hactenus deguit quieta donec ille Princeps Magnificus Rex Anglorum Edwardus Pater istius qui nunc est Regnum nostrum Acephalum Populumque nullius mali aut doli conscium nec Bellis aut Insultibus tunc assuetum sub amici confoederati specie innumerabiliter infestavit Cujus Iujurias Caedes violentias Praedationes Incendia Prelatorum Incarcerationes Monasteriorum Combustiones Religiosorum Spoliationes Occisiones alia quoque enormia quae in dicto populo exercuit nulli parcens Aetati aut Sexui Religioni aut Ordini nullus scriberet nec ad plenum intelligeret nisi quem Experientia informaret A quibus malis innumeris ipso juvante qui post vulnera medetur sanat Liberati sumus per serenissimum Principem Regem Dominum nostrum Dominum Robertum qui pro Populo Haereditate suis de Manibus inimicorum liberandis quasi alter Maccabaeus aut Josue Labores Taedia Inedias Pericula Laeto sustinuit Animo Quem etiam Divina Dispositio juxta Leges Consuetudines nostras quas usque ad mortem sustinere volumus juris Successio debitus nostrorum Consensus Assensus nostrum fecerunt Principem atque Regem Cui tanquam illi per quem salus in Populo facta est pro nostra Libertate tuenda tam Iure quam Meritis tenemur volumus in omnibus adhaerere Quem si ab inceptis desistet Regi Anglorum aut Anglicis nos aut Regnum nostrum volens subjicere tanquam inimicum nostrum sui nostrique Iuris Subversorem statim expellere niteremur alium Regem nostrum qui ad defensionem nostram sufficiet faciemus Quia quamdiu Centum vivi remanserint nunquam Anglorum dominio aliquatenus volumus sebjugari Non enim propter Gloriam Divitias aut Honores pugnamus sed propter Libertatem Solummodo quam nemo bonus nisi simul eum vita amittit Hinc est Reverende Pater ac Domine quod Sanctitatem vestram cum omni Praecum instantia Genu flexis Cordibus exoramus Quatenus sincero corde menteque pia recensentes quod apud eum cujus vices in terris geritis non sic pondus pondus nec distinctio Iudei Graeci Scoti aut Anglici tribulationes angustias nobis Ecclesiae DEI illatas ab Anglicis paternis occulis intuentes Regem Anglorum cui sufficere debet quod possidet eum olim Anglia septem aut pluribus solebat sufficere Regibus monere exhortari dignemini ut nos Scotos in exili degentes Scotia ultra quam habitatio non est nihilque nisi nostrum cupientes in pace dimittet Cui pro nostra procuranda quiete quicquid possumus ad statum nostrum respectu habito hoc facere volumus cum effectu Vestra enim interest Sancte Pater hoc facere qui Paganorum feritatem Christianorum culpis exigentibus in Christianos saevientem aspicitis Christianorum terminos arctari indies Quare ne quid vestrae Sanctitatis memoriae derogat si quod absit Ecclesia in aliqua sui parte vestris temporibus patiatur Ecclipsin aut Scandalum vos videritis Exhortet igitur Christianos Principes qui non causam ut causam ponentes se singunt in subsidium Terrae sanctae propter guerras quas habent cum proximis ire non posse Cujus impedimenti causa est vereor quod in minoribus proximis debellandis utilitas proprior resistentia debilior aestimantur Sic quam laeto corde dictus Dominus Rex noster nos si Rex Anglorum nos in pace dimittet illuc iremus qui nihil ignoret satis novit Quod CHRISTI Vicario totique Christianitati ostendimus testamur Quibus si Sanctitas vestra Anglorum relatibus nimis credula fidem sinceram non adhibet aut ipsis in nostram confusionem favere non desinat corporum excidia animarum exitia caetera quae sequentur incommoda quae ipsi in nobis nos in ipsis fecerimus vobis ab altissimo croâ—imus imputanda Ex quo sumus erimus in his quae tenemur tanquam obedientiae filii vobis tanquam ipsius Vicario in omnibus complacere ipsique tanquam summo Regi Iudici causam nostram tuendam committimus Cogitatum nostrum jactantes in ipso sperantesque finem quod in nobis virtutem faciet ad nihilum rediget hostes nostros Serenitatem Sanctitatem vestram conservet altissimus Ecclesiae suae sanctae per tempora diuturna Datum apud Monasterium de Aberbrothock in Scotia sexto die Aprilis Anno Gratiae milesimo trescentesimo vicesimo Anno vero Regni Regis nostri supra dicti quintodecimo This answers likewise Ragmans Roll nor are we to consider who consented to Slavery Since it is known that not only the Dowglass the Grahame and Wallace but Thousands of others never yeilded even to that short Impression And their Country preserved its Priviledges by their Loyalty it being an undoubted Principle in Law That in re pari potior est conditio prohibentis in re communi nemo dominorum juri quicquam facere potest invito altero l. subimus ff ad exhibendum To that Argument by which it is urged That our Kings did never assume the Title of Kings of Scotland but called themselves only Kings of Scots It is Answered That the Argument is very Ridiculous for first it is founded upon a false Supposition it being most evident from our Writs in the Reign of King David the Maiden that our King was entituled Rex Scotiae but in the Confirmation of the Abbacy of Aberbrothick King William is called Rex Scotiae and his Queen Regina Scotiae Like as in that Register there is a Charter granted by King Iohn of England wherein ad
petitionem Willielmi Regis Scotiae he grants a Liberty to the Monks of Aberbrothick to Transport their Goods through England free from Custome And Matth. Par. in many Treatises related by him gives them that Title And Pope Innocent the third in an express Rescript in the body of the Canon Law cap. 4. decret de immunit Eccles. writes Innocentius III. Illustri Regi Scotiae which behoved to be to King William who did reign in that Popes time Nor is this Argument from the Designation concluding since it is not convertible For even Feudatory Kings did and do assume their Designation from the Kingdom they hold as the Kings of Naples Sicily c. Which evinces that it follows not necessarly that the Kings of these Kingdoms are Feudatory Kings because they were designed Reges Scotorum and not Scotiae And in many places of his History Matth. Paris calls the Kings of England Reges Anglorum as in the whole Lives of King Iohn Henry the third It appears also by the former Transaction betwixt Edward the first and the Governours of Scotland that Margaret is even by the King of England constantly Designed Regina ac Domina Scotiae And I observe that in the Contract of Marriage betwixt Henry the VII for his Daughter Queen Margaret and Iames the IV. that sometimes the King of Scotland is called Rex Scotorum and sometimes Rex Scotiae in the same paper and the Commission granted by the King of Scotland for compleating that Marriage is called Commissio regis Scotiae pro matrimonio in all which Contract the King of Scotland is called Charissimus noster frater a Title never granted to a Feudatory King by his Superiour and the people of Scotland are there called Subditi Regis Scotiae whereas if the King of Scotland had been only a Feudatory Prince we had been Subjects to the King of England and not to the King of Scotland And there needs no other Argument against Heylen to prove that the Kings of Scotland were oft-times called reges Scotiae than the instance brought by himself of the Charter granted by King Edward the first to Peter Dodge wherein Baliol is confessed by himself to be called Roy de Escosse King of Scotland And this proves that the said Heylen layes down Grounds which are not only false but inconsistent But secondly though this were true yet it proves nothing seing the Goths and Picts were a free people and yet their Kings were called Reges Pictorum Gothorum which Phrase was ordinary amongst Conquering Nations such as the Scots were whose Princes having at first no fixed Kingdom did whilst their people were spreading themselves in Collonies rather assume a Title from the people than from their Country And seing Men are Vassals and not Land it will follow according to the terms used by Feudalists that seing our Kings were reges Scotorum that therefore the men were not Vassals and so they hold not their Land of the Crown of England nor were ejus subvassalli aut Valvassores The Argument urged from many Decisions in England finding that we were punishable as Traitors in England and that we were lookt upon as Subjects and not as Aliens by their Judges deserves no other Answer then that since their Kings by their power could not make us Vassals neither could their Parliaments or Judges treat us as such And if their Gown-men could have made us such they needed not have imployed Arms to have shed so much Blood in the quarrel Nor can such Domestick Testimonies prove in a case of so great importance And yet even the English Proceedings against those of our Nation shows that their own Judicatories and Lawyers consider us not as Vassals but as the Subjects of a free and independent Kingdom And amongst many other Instances I shall only remember that of Queen Mary against whom that Nation proceeded not as a Vassal but as a person who had made her self lyable to their Jurisdiction ratione loci delicti Which is very clear by Zouch de judicio inter gentes part 2. sect 6. whose very words I have here set down to prove not only this but that the Kings of Scotland were absoluti and equal to and independent from those of England being both pares absoluti principes His words are Erant boni rerum Estimatores qui asperius cum illa actum affirmabant eo quod fuerit Princips libera absoluta in quam solius Dei sit Imperium quod in majestatem peccare non posset cui subdita non fuerit quod par in parem non habeat potestatem unde judicium Imperatoris in Robertum Siciliae regem irritum pronounciatum est quia Imperio ejus non esset subditus Alii aliter censebant illam scilicet subditam esse etsi non originariam tamen temporariam Quia duo absoluti principes quoad authoritatem in uno Regno esse non possunt parem in parem habere potestatem quoties paris judicio se submiserit vel expresse verbis vel tacite contrahendo vel delinquendo intra paris scilicet jurisdictionem Papam sententiam Imperatoris in Robertum Siculùm rescidisse quod factum in territorio Imperiali non fuerit sed Papali Denique nullum magnum extare exemplum quod non aliquid ex iniquo habeat And in the Process against the Bishop of Ross as it is related both by the Forreign Lawyers and by Cambden it clearly appears that he was proceeded against not as a Subject of England but as a meer stranger who not being subject ratione originis became subject ratione delicti as they alleadged And the Learned Author of the late jus maritimum pag. 451. having spoken of the Jurisdiction of England over Ireland has these words But in Scotland it is otherwayes for that is a Kingdom absolute and not like Ireland which is a Crown annexed by Conquest but the other is by Union And though they be United under one Prince ad fidem yet their Laws are distinct so as they had never been United and therefore the Execution of the judgements in each other must be done upon Request and that according to the Law of Nations Nor need I answer the Argument brought from the procedure against the Heroick Wallace and others for these instances show rather an excessive resentment upon present Hostilities then the Justice of those who against the Law of Nations proceeded to murther such as were indeed prisoners of War fighting for their own Native King and Country And even the English of that age by entring into Truces Ransoming of Prisoners and doing all other things which are only allowable in a just War may convince all Mankind that in this and the like Instances they succumb'd to the bitterness of their present Passion I must here also crave Leave to assert That though Vassals are not to be treated as Aliens yet we find very frequently in History that whole Nations have been Naturalized and have