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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A91237	The opening of the great seale of England. Containing certain brief historicall and legall observations, touching the originall, antiquity, progresse, vse, necessity of the great seal of the kings and kingdoms, of England, in respect of charters, patents, writs, commissions, and other processe. Together with the kings, kingdoms, Parliaments severall interests in, and power over the same, and over the Lord Chancellour, and the lords and keepers of it, both in regard of its new-making, custody, admi nistration [sic] for the better execution of publike justice, the republique necessary safety, and vtility. Occasioned by the over-rash censures of such who inveigh against the Parliament, for ordering a new great seale to be engraven, to supply the wilfull absence, defects, abuses of the old, unduely withdrawne and detained from them. / By William Prynne, Utter-Barrester of Lincolns Inne. ...	Prynne, William, 1600-1669.	1643 (1643)	Wing P4026; Thomason E251_2; ESTC R234376	44,104	39

all and in their default or neglect the Free-holders and Citizens of each County City and Borough are enabled to elect Knights Citizens and Burgesses without any Writ at all and the Election and Parliament to be as effectuall as if summoned under the great Seale of England If then a Parliament may be thus summoned by the Lord Keeper himselfe by a Writ under the great Seale without the Kings privity or contrary to his Command or by a Writ under the Lords Seals only or without any Writ at all in some cases and that by expresse provision of an Act made this Parliament why this Parliament may not by as good or like reason now it is assembled and perpetuated by another Act make a new great Seale to seale Writs of Election or grant out their Writs without the great Seale by an Ordinance of Parliament onely to compleat the Houses now the great Seale hath beene so long absent and such Writs refused to be issued under it though oft desired without any danger of Treason or derogation to the Kings Prerogatives I cannot yet dicerne It being farre lesse for a sitting Parliament in this case to make a new great Seale or issue out Writs of Election without the Kings privity now in Armes against it to recrute it s own Members then for the Chancellour Keeper Lords or Commons themselves out of Parliament thus either with or without Writ to summon and hold a Parliament without yea against the Kings assent his Proclamations or Inhibitions to the contrary And those fundamentall principles of Law State-policy with that soveraigne power of the Parliament and Kingdome above our Kings which induced both Houses thus to make and his Majestie readily to assent to this late Act for the common benefit and safety of the Realm in case of His Owne or the Lord Keepers wilfull neglect or refusall to doe their duties will doubtlesse inable the Houses now sitting to make a new great Seale or issue out Writs of Election Errour and the like either under it or without it during the voluntary absence of the King Lord Keeper and great Seale from the Parliament contrary to Law Custome Duty Oath of purpose to compleat the Houses and expedite publike Justice obstructed by their absence And the rather may the Parliament doe it in case of Writs of Election because such Writs with the Elections made by vertue of them have usually beene ordered formed issued our determined judged onely by the Parliament and Writs for new Elections by reason of death or removall have constantly issued out of course by Order or Warrant from the Speaker or Commons House onely without speciall Warrant from the King himselfe without refusall or deniall as is evident by the Statutes of 5 Rich. 2. cap. 4. 7 Hen. 4. cap. 15. 11 Hen. 4. cap. 1. 8 Hen. 5. cap. 1. 6 Hen. 6. cap. 4. 8 Hen. 6. cap. 7. 10 Hen. 6. cap. 2. 23 Hen. 6. cap. 11. 32 Hen. 6. cap. 15. 8 Hen. 8. cap. 16. 35 Hen. 8. cap. 11. Br. Parliament 7. Dyer f. 60. Cromptons Iurisdiction of Courts f. 3 4 16. Neither can they be denied o● the Houses kept incompleat against their wills by his refusall without apparent breach of the priviledge of Parliament yea of Magna Charta it selfe as the Lords resolved An. 1256. in Henry the third his reigne and the whole Parliament since 1 Hen. 4. Rot. Parl. num 21 22. as I have * elsewhere proved From all which Authorities I humbly conceive the Parliament may lawfully in the case fore-stated both make a new broad Seale and Keeper of it to fill up the Houses and redresse the obstructions of Justice of Parliamentary proceedings occasioned by the great Seales absence To these authorities I shall annex the ensuing Reasons both of Law and State First the Parliament the supreame power and Judicature in England having the chiefe interest and propriety in the GREAT SEALE OF ENGLAND in respect of ●●s publike use may lawfully new make and use that Seale which is it own in respect of property and use and the Kings only as their publike Minister Secondly that the Parliament being the chiefe State-physician of the Realme may and ought by Law to redresse all publike grievances therefore the grievances and obstructions of Justice occasioned by the old great Seale and Lord Keepers absence or abuse by making new Thirdly the Parliament may and ought to supply all defects defaults of State Officers Laws Affairs prejudiciall to the Realme Hence it alwayes hath supplied the Minority Detage or Absence of our Kings by constituting a Vice-Roy of their own election to exercise all royall Authority the absence of the Lord Keeper or Speaker of the lower House when sicke by substituting others to supply their places the defects of the Common Law by new Statute-Laws and providing new Laws Courts Seale against new mischiefs not remediable by old Acts. This appeares most lively by the Act for Trieniall Parliaments forecited wherein the wilfulnesse and negligence of the King is ordered to be supplied by the Lord Keeper the Lord Keepers by the Lords the Lords by the Sheriffs of Counties Majors and Bailiffs and theirs by the Freeholders Citizens and Burgesses The Councell of Basil and others * forecited are to like purpose and the Statute of 25. Hen. 8. c. 21. which Law abolishing the Popes authority enables the Archbishop of Canterbury to grant all Ecclesiasticall Licences and Dispensations here which the Pope alone formerly granted at Rome and then provides that in case the Archibishop should wilfully and obstinately refuse to grant such Licences and Dispensations to those who demanded them without a just and reasonable cause that then an Injunction should issue out of the Chancery under the great Seale to him commanding him to grant them and if he then wilfully refused to doe it that then the King upon every such default and wilfulnesse should grant a Commission under the great Seale to any two Prelates or spirituall persons that would grant them by an instrument in writing under THEIR SEALES The Parliament therefore now summoned and sitting by like reason lawfully may and is bound in duty to supply the present wilfull absence of the Lord Keeper and great Seale treacherously carried from it beyond expectation contrary to promise and so long detained thence by constituting New ones in their places It was one principall Article preferred by * the Parliament against Cardinall Wolsey That when he was sent Ambassadour into Flanders to the Emperour he carried the Great Seale with him without the Kings consent for which he was displaced and fined Much more then may the Parliament displace the Lord Keeper for carrying away the great Seale the onely Seale of this high Court in a surreptitious manner from them contrary to his duty without and against their consents and make a new great Seale and Keeper in lieu of the old Fourthly the Parliament is bound to take care That publike Justice according to *

and Albert Atque ut in memoria Romane Ecclesiae sirmiter habeatur SIGILLVM VESTRVM PRAECIPISTIS APPONI q Anno Dom. 1177. Sancho King of Navarre and Alphonso King of Castile being at variance about breaches of Articles in a former truce referred their differences to the determination of King Henry the second who calling his Nobles and Parliament together made these kings Embassadors to put their differences in writing and then to sweare to stand to his and his Councels arbiterment which done he made a Charter of his award subscribed with the names of many Bishops Nobles Clerks Laymen as you may read at large in Hoveden which Charter questionlesse was sealed with his seal though it be not expressed r The same year on the 7 day of October K. Lewis of France and king Hen. 2. made a finall concord and league for mutuall offence and defence which was put into writing sworn to subscribed by many witnesses of note and SEALED witnesse the words of Hoveden who records it at large Et ut hoc statut● firmiter teneatur ratum permaneat scripto commendari ET SIGILLI SVI AVCTORITATE CONFIRMARI FECIT And the same yeare Audebert Earl of March selling his Earldom to King Henry made a Charter thereof registerd in ſ Hoveden which concludes thus Ne autem haec mea venditi● solemniter celebrata aliqua posset in posterum malignitate divelli EAM SIGILLO MEO MVNIVI after which many Bishops and other witnesses subscribed it In this Kings reigne it is apparent that the great Seale remained in the custody of the Chancelor for I read t that this king making his Chancelor Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury he thereupon An. Dom. 1162. contrary to the kings good liking and expectation who was then in Normandy sent messengers over with the Seal Cancellariae renuntians ET SIGILLVM RESIGNANS renouncing the Chancellorship and resigning up the Seal unto him Because he could not attend the Court and Church at once so as the Chancellor then kept the seale of England with him here when the King was absent in Normandy for the better execution of publike justice This will yet more plainly appeare by the ensuing passage of u Hoveden and Writ of King Richard the first Richardus Dei Gratia Rex Angliae c. Willielmo de Sancta Mariae Ecclesia Nugont Baro●lpho salutem sciatis quod didicimus quod in morte Patris nostri sine praecepto suo conscientiae habuerunt literas DE SIGILLO SVO Gaufrdtus de Mu camp de habendo Archidiaconatu de Cliveland Willielmus de Stigandebi Magister Erardus de praebendis habendis in Ecclesia Eboracensi quae tum vacabat erat in mann nostra Et ideo praecipimus quod praefatos ab Archidiaconatu Praebendit dictis sine mora dissaisietis repetentes ab eis quicquid ex inde perceperunt postquam illos redditus ita fraudulenter per surreptionem sunt adepti Teste m●ipso tertio die Novembris apud Mamerz Proh pudor Turpe est doctori cum culpa redargu●t ipsum Idem enim * Archiepiscopus dum adhuc esset CANCELLARIUS REGIS Patris sui SIGILLVM ILLVD IN CVSTODIA HABVIT per quod praefatus Archidiaconatus praebendae illae datae fuerant praenominatis personis By which passage and writ it is apparent First That the Chancellour in Henry the seconds Reigne had the custody of the great Seale Secondly That presentations to Churches Archdeaconries and Prebendaries were then granted under the Great Seale Thirdly That Chancellours did sometimes fraudulently grant and seale Patents without the Kings privity and that these Patents when discovered were reputed fraudulent and voyd Fourthly That writs at Common Law were usuall in Henry the second his Reigne which appeares most plentifully and irrefagably by Ranulphus de Glanvilla chiefe Insticiar under this King his Tractatus de Legibus consuetudinibus Regni Angliae tempore Regis Henrici secundi compositus wherein most Originall Writs of the Common Law and the Proceedings upon them yet in use are collected and registerd for the benefit of posterity In this Kings time I conceive our Writs of Law were reduced by this Ralph Glanvill and his fellow Iustices into a set forme and began to issue forth under the Kings Seale to avoyd forgery but whether under the Great Seale or speciall Seale of every Court as Sir Edward Cooke in his Institutes on Magna Charta pag. 554 555 556. conjectures I cannot certainly define In his Reigne I first finde that the connterfeiting of the Kings Charter was reputed Treason as Glanv●ll expresly declares it lib. 1. cap. 2. lib. 14. cap. 7. Illud tamen notandum quod si quis convictus fuerit de Charta falsa distinguendum est Vtrum fuerit CHARTA REGIS an privata Quod si CHARTA REGIA tunc is qui super hoc convincitur condemnandus est TANQVAM DE CRIMINE LESAE MAIESTATIS Si vero fuerit charta privata tunc cum convicto mitius agendum est Now that which he tearmes counterfeiting the Kings Charter y Bracton z Britton and the Statute of 25. E. 3. of Treasons stile counterfeiting the Great Seale or Privy Seale of the King and therefore this of Glanvill relates principally to the counterseting of the Kings Seale annexed to his Charter I finde in a Roger Hoveden a Charter of William King of Sicily which hee made to Ioan daughter of King Henry touching her Dower dated Anno Domini 1177. Mense Februarii Indicti decima subscribed with the names of divers witnesses Subjects to King William and among others Ego Mattheus Domini Regis VICE-CANCELLARIVS Which Charter concludes thus Ad hujus antem donationis concessionis nostra memoriam inviolabile firmamentum privilegium praesens per man●● Alexandri notarij nostri scribi ET BVLLA AVREA NOSTRO TYPARIO IMPRESSA ROBORATVM NOSTRO SIGILLO jussimus decorari In quo familiares nostri aliae personae pr●ecepto nostro se scripserunt hoc modo the Forme of which Kings great Seale you may behold ingraven in Hoveden p. 553. In fine this Henry the second being b chosen King of Hierusalem which Kingdome was wholly elective and earnestly importuned by Heraclius Patriarch of that City the Christians there and by Pope Lucius his Letters to accept that Honour An. 1185. c He thereupon summoned a Parliament as London on the 10. of April wherein hee charged all his Subjects with many adjurations to advise and resolve him what was best to be done in this case for the salvation of his sense and that hee was resolved by all meanes to follow their advice herein Whereupon the Parliament conferring on the premises resolved that it was much more wholesome for the Kings soule that he sholud govern his owne Kingdome with due moderation and defend it from the eruptions of the Barbarous

declaration declaring Charters or Writs not sealed with the great Seale to be voyd in Law for ought I finde before this project unlesse that forementioned touching the Conqueror passe for a Law and judgement in this particular Fourthly that the Chancellour in this Kings raigne had the custody of the Great Seale the indiscreet use and abuse whereof was good ground in Law to deprive him of its custody What the Office and dignity of the Chancellour really was in that age appeares by this description of it written in or neere that time o Cancellarii dignitas est ut SECUNDUS A REGE in Regno habeatur ut ALTERA PARTE SIGILLI REGII QUOD ET AD EIUS PERTINET CUSTODIAM PROPRIA SIGNET MANDATA Vt capella Regia in illius fit dispositione cura Vt vacantes Archiepiscopatus Episcopatus Abbatias Baronias cadentes in manum Regis ipse suscipiat conservet Vt omnibus Regiis assit consilis etiam non vocatus accedat Vt omnia SIGILLIFERI CLERICI REGII sua manu signentur Item ut suffragantibus ex Dei gratia vitae meritis non moriatur nisi Archiepiscopus vel Episcepus si voluerit And by the blacke Booke of the Exchequer attributed to Gervasius Talburiensis par 1. c. 5. Cancellarius ficut in Curia sic ad Scaccarium MAGNUS est adeo ut sine ejus consensu vel consilio nihil magnum fiat vel fieri debeat Verùm hoc habet officium dum residet ad Scaccarium ADIPSUM PERTINET CUSTODIA SIGILLI REGII quod est in Thesauro sed inde non recedit nisi cum praecepto * Justiciae ab inferiori ad superius Scaccarium à Thesaurario vel Camerario defertur ad explenda solum negotia scaccarii Quibus peractis in loculum mittitur loculus à Cancellario consignatur sic Thesaurario traditur custodiendus c. The custody therefore of the great Seale was then reputed an unseparable part of the Chancellors Office and honour King Iohn succeeding his brother Richard by the Nobles and peoples election rather then by discent as p Matthew Paris with others observe had both a great Seale and q Chancellors who kept it with which he sealed divers Charters Among others one Letters Parents SIGILLO NOSRO MUNITAS to the Archbishop of Canterbury Monkes and other Prelates persecuted by him r restoring them to their liberties and possessions which was dated the 13. day of May in the 14. yeere of his reigne Another dated 〈◊〉 15. of the same moneth at the house of the Templars neere Dover Chartam SIGILLO NOSTRO MUNITAM of his most detestable resignation of the Kingdome and Crowne of England to the Pope delivered to Pandulph the Popes Legate to whom he did homage for England and Ireland after this surrender which Charter first sealed with Wax and after delivered to Pandulph was the same yeere afterwards in the Cathedrall Church of Saint Paul before the high Altar in the presence of the Clergie and people AURO BULLATA EST sealed with gold and delivered to Nicholas Bishop of Tusculan the Popes Legate to the use of the Pope and Church of Rome to whom he then did homage to his eternall infamy which so much discontented his Nobles Prelates and people that they tooke up Armes against him and inforced him in an Assembly and Treaty at Running-mead to grant them the great Charter of their Liberties and Charter of the Forest ratified with his SEALE Oath Witnesses Subscriptions the Bishops Excommunications and Popes Bull and then sent his Letters Patents to all the Counties of England commanding the Sheriffs to sweare all the men within their Bailywicks to observe the said Lawes and Liberties thus granted and ratified in the 17. yeere of his reigne In briefe the Charter of the truce betweene King Iohn and King Philip of France registred in ſ Hoveden was sealed with his Seale concluding thus Qua ut perpetuum robur obtineant prae sentem Chartam authoritate SIGILLI NOSTRI corrobora●●● Anno 1200. mense Maii. In this Kings raigne the Chancellors place through the benefit of the Seale became so gainefull t that Walter de Gray afterward Archbishop of York profered the King 5000 Markes pro habenda CANCELLARIA which was then no Court but the Office of making and sealing royall Writs and Charters Domini Regis tota vita sua pro habenda inde Charta Dom. Regis which great place he then obtained or rather purchased by his money not merits King Henry the third comming to the Crown by the Lords and Commons u election rather then by discent when he was but nine yeeres and some odde moneths old in the ninth yeere of his raigne ratified x Magna Charta and the Charter of the Forest in Parliament under His hand and Seale with Witnesses thereunto subscribed and commanding as many Charters to be engrossed as there were Counties in England ET REGIO SIGILLO MUNITIS and ratified WITH THE ROYALL SEALE he sent one of the great Charters into every Shire and one Charter of the Forest into every County where there were Forests to be there reserved But this unconstant King comming to age within two yeeres after y in a Parliament at Oxford a fatall place for ill advice to our Kings through ill Councell to the great discontent of his Nobles and Commons annulled the Charter of the Forest declaring it voyd as granted in his non-age when he had no power of Himselfe NOR OF HIS SEALE and so of no validity and causing Proclamation to be made that hath the Clergie and all others if they would enjoy those Liberties should renew their Charters AND HAVE THEM CONFIRMED UNDER HIS NEW SEALE which he had then caused to be made onely by way of project to raise moneys as Richard the first had done For which they were constrained to pay not according to their ability but the will of the chiefe Iustice Hugh de Burgh to whom was laid the charge of this mischiefe which procured him the generall hate of the Kingdome and begat a new insurrection of the Lords and Commons who taking up Armes hereupon enforced the King to call a Parliament and therein to new ratifie those Charters at his full age In this Kings reigne all Patents if not Writs and Commissions too usually issued under the Great or Lesser Seale of which there are divers presidents extant in Matthew Paris and in the clause and Patent rolls of this King to which I shall referre you And such notice was then taken of the dignity and necessity of the Kings Seale to Charters and Writs that Henry de Bracton a famous Lawyer in those daies writes expresly That it was no lesse then Treason to counterfeit the Kings Scale z Est aliud genus criminis lesae Majestatis quod inter graviora numeratur quia ultimum inducit supplicium mortis occasionem scil

together with all the Officers of that Court their Oathes and Fees So 34. H. 8. c. 26. enacts that there shall be severall Originall and judiciall SEALES MADE for the severall Counties and Circuits of Wales prescribes the severall parties that shall keepe these seales what Writts and Processes they shall seale with them and what fees they shall take for them as you may read at large in the Act. In like manner the statutes of 32. H. 8. c. 45. 33. H. 8. c. 22. enact the Court of Wards Liveries to be a Court of Record and that they shall have ONE SEALE to be engravin and made after such form fashion and manner as shall be appointed by the Kings Highnesse which shal remaine and be ordered as is afterward declared in those Acts prescibing who shall keepe it how it shall be used and what Fees shall be paid for it And 32. H. 8. c. 45. ordaines a particular SEAL for the Court of first Fruites and Tenthes which it erects with the Officers that shall keepe it their Oathes and Fees for sealing with it True it is these Statutes leave the forme and fashion of these Seales last mentioned to the Kings appointment which they might have likewise prescribed as in the former Acts being is matter of no great moment but the Keepers use ordering and fees of all these Seales are punctually limited by the Parliament and not left arbitrary to the King And to trouble you with no more Acts of this nature the statute of 1. E. 6. c. 2 enacts That all Arch-Bishops and spirituall persons under the paine of a Premunire even in the Kings Ecclesiasticall Courts shall make out all their Processes in the Kings name with the Kings stile as it is in Writs originall and judiciall at the Common Law and shall from the first day of I●ly have IN THEIR SEALES OF OFFICE THE KINGS HIGHNESSE ARMES DECENTLY SET with certaine Carects under the Annes for the knowledge of the Diocesse and shall use NO OTHER SEALE OF JURISDICTION but wherein his Majesties Armes be engraven Here the expresse forme as well as use of these seales is prescribed by the Parliament and not left Arbitrary to the King or Bishops If then our Parliaments in all these cases have thus prescribed New Seales of the Kings for his Courts and Officers together with the forme custody use and fees of them in these severall Acts why they may not likewise enjoy the making of a New broad Seal to supply the absence of the old in the cases fore-mentioned I cannot yet discover it being the Parliaments Seal and GREAT SEAL OF-ENGLAND and so commonly stiled in sundry printed statutes as well as the Kings in respect of the publike justice and affaires of the Realme of England and Parliament which represents it If the Major Bayliffes Bishop Dean President of a Colledge Mr. of a Company Abbot or Prior or chief Justice shall detaine or withdraw the common Seales of their severall Corporations or Courts the Common Counsell Aldermen Chapter Fellowes Livery-men and Courts may doubtlesse lawfully make new Seales without yea against their consents and use them too for their common affaires without injury or forgery And why the Parliament then may not in such cases make a new great Seale of England by like reason without the Kings consent when the old their onely Seal is purposely withdrawne and kept from them to hinder their proceedings I cannot yet discerne If any here object First that it is High Treason both by the Common and Statute Law to counterfeit or make the Kings great Seale without his privity or consent as is evident by Glanuil Bracton Britton here forecited 3 E. 1. c. 15. 25. E. 3. Stat. 5. C. 2. of Treasons 5. H. 4. C. 15. 27. H. 8. C. 2. 1. E. 6. C. 12. 1. Mar. Parl. 1. C. 6. Stamford L. 1. C. 1. Brooke Treason 3. 13. 17. Cromptons Iurisdiction of Courts 69. and generally all our Law-bookes Therefore for the Parliament or any else by their command to make and use a new broad Seale I answer 1 That this is true onely of private men who make a broad Seale by their owne particular Authority in deceite of the King and Kingdome not of the Parliament or any imployed to make or use it by their Authority The Parliament the Supreamest Power of all others being uncapable of Treason and out of the words and intention of the seand all Acts concerning Treason as I have a elsewhere proved at large to which I shall referre you Secondly the King hath his great Seale of England not in his owne particular but the Kingdomes and peoples right alone as their publique Minister and servant for their use and benefit the Kingdome and Parliament which represents it being the b Proprietors of this Seal which upon the Kings decease is ever surrendred to the successor King as belonging to the Kingdome as the seales of other Corporations goe to the Mayors Bishops Deanes Abbots Presidents Succesors not their Heires Executors or Administrators as other mens Seals doe The Kingdom and Parliament therefore being the true Proprietors of it as it is the publique Seal of the Kingdome not the King may lawfully give order for the new making of it even without the King in case of necessity when it is unduly withdrawn with-held Thirdly the Forging of the great Seale is high Treason onely as it is the c Kingdomes common Seale not the Kings private and particular Seale and an offence against the Kingdome and King himselfe only in his politick publike capacity as head of the Kingdome not in his private whence counterseiting of the Kings signe manual privy signet or privy Seales were no high Treason at Common Law being no publike but rather private Seales of the Kings till they were made so by 27. H. 8. c. 2. since repealed by 1. E. 6. c. 12. 1. Mariae Sest. 1. c. 1. Rastall Treason 13. and so no Treason at this day even as the compassing of the Kings death is no Treason considered onely as he is a private man but as a d publike person invested with his politick Royall capacity If then the Parliament the representative body of the Kingdome against which all treason in counterfeiting the Great Seal are principally committed the true proprietory of this seale shall order a New great Seale to be made or used for the service of it selfe and the Kingdome in this case of necessity it cannot possibly be high Treason in them or their Agents for then they should be Traytors to and against themselues and suffer for an Offence against themselves and the Realme done by their owne Votes and assents in Parliament Fourthly the counterfeiting of the Great Seale mentioned in those Law bookes and Statutes is that onely which is secret fraudulent traitorly in deceit of the King Kingdome Subjects f like to counterfeiting of false many ever joyned with it by private persons as our Law Bookes and