that none should be put to further trouble unless the King 's own necessity or the common good of the Kingdom required it Therefore the Bishops Earls Sheriffs Heretoches or Marshals of Armies Trithingreves Leidgreves Lieutenants Hundredors Aldermen Magistrates Reves Barons Vavasors Thungreves and other Lords of land must be all diligently attending at these Assemblies lest that the lewdness of offenders the misdemeanor Gravionum i. of Sheriffs and the ordinary corruption of Judges escaping unpunished make a miserable spoil of the people First let the laws of true Christianity which we call the Ecclesiastical be fully executed with due satisfaction then let the pleas concerning the King be dealt with and lastly those between party and party and whomsoever the Church-Synod shall find at variance let them either make an accord between them in love or sequester them by their sentence of excommunication c. Whereby it appeareth that Ecclesiastical causes were at that time under the cognizance of this Court But I take them to be such Ecclesiastical causes as were grounded upon the Ecclesiastical laws made by the Kings themselves for the government of the Church for many such there were almost in every King's time and not for matters rising out of the Roman Canons which haply were determinable only before the Bishop and his Ministers To proceed Before they entered into any causes as it is commanded in the Laws of Canutus which we mentioned par 2. ca. 17. the Bishop to use the term of our time which from hence taketh the original gave a solemn charge unto the people touching Ecclesiastical matters opening unto them the rights and reverence of the Church and their duty therein towards God and the King according to the word of God and Divinity Then the Alderman in like manner related unto them the Laws of the land and their duty towards God the King and Common-wealth according to the rule and tenure thereof Of all which because I find a notable precedent in a Synodal Edict made by Carolus Calvus Emperour and King of France in Concil Carissiaco An. Dom. 856. I will here add it not to shew that our Saxons took their form of government from the French but that both the French and they as brethren descending from one parent the German kept the rights and laws of their natural Country Episcopi quinque in suis parochiis Missi in illorum Missaticis Comitesque in eorum Comitatibus pariter placita teneant quo omnes Reipub. Ministri Vassi Dominici omnesque quicunque vel quorumcunque homines in iisdem parochiis Comitatibus sine ulla personaram acceptione excusatione aut dilatione conveniant c. That is The Bishops in their parishes or Diocesses and the Justices Itinerant or Aldermen in their Circuits and the Earls in their Counties shall hold their pleas together whereunto all Ministers and Officers of the Common-wealth all the King's Barons and all other whatsoever they be or whose Tenants soever they be within the same parishes or Counties without any respect of persons excuse or delay shall assemble together And the Bishop of that parish or Diocess having briefly noted sentences touching the matter out of the Evangelists Apostles and Prophets shall read them to the people and also the decrees Apostolick and Canons of the Church and in open and plain terms shall instruct them all what manner and how great a sin it is to violate or spoil the Church and what and how great pennance and what merciless and severe punishment it requireth with other accustomed necessary and profitable admonishments The Aldermen also or Justices shall note down such sentences of law as they call to mind and shall publish unto them the Constitutions of us and our predecessors Kings and Emperours gathered together touching this matter And the Bishops by the Authority of God and the Apostles and the Aldermen or Justices and Earls under the penalty of the King's Laws shall with all the care they can prohibit every man of the Kingdom from making any prey or spoil of the Church c. OF PARLIAMENTS WHEN States are departed from their original Constitution and that original by tract of time worn out of memory the succeeding Ages viewing what is past by the present conceive the former to have been like to that they live in and framing thereupon erroneous propositions do likewise make thereon erroneous inferences and Conclusions I would not pry too boldly into this ark of secrets but having seen more Parliaments miscarry yea suffer shipwrack within these sixteen years past than in many hundred heretofore I desire for my understanding's sake to take a view of the beginning and nature of Parliaments not meddling with them of our time which may displease both Court and Country but with those of old which now are like the siege of Troy matters only of story and discourse Because none shall go beyond me in this argument I will begin with the foundation of Kingdoms which of necessity must be more ancient than Parliaments for that a Parliament is the grand Council of the Kingdom assembled at the commandment of the King for advice in matters of State Our first labour is then to see what this Grand-Council was originally It is confest on all hands that the King is universal Lord of his whole Territories and that no man possesseth any part thereof but deriv'd from him either mediately or immediately This derivation thus proceeded The King in the beginning divided his whole territory into two parts one to be manured by his own Tenants and Husbandmen then call'd Socmen For the Kings of England us'd in those days to stock their grounds themselves like the Kings of Israel and by the profits thereof especially to maintain their Hospitality their Court and Estate having in every Mannour Officers and Servants for that purpose This part was Sacrum Patrimonium the inseperable inheritance of the Crown call'd in Doomsday Terra Regis and in Law the Ancient Demaine And because it belong'd to the husbandry of the King all that manur'd or held any part of this land were said to be Tenants in Socage and might not be drawn into the wars of which nature as touching their Tenure they continue at this day The other part of his whole territory he portioned out to Military men which tho' the other was the more profitable yet this was always held for the more honourable and therefore so divided this among his Nobles and chief servants and followers for supportation in his wars and Royal Estate To some in greater measure to others in less according to their merit and qualities Provinces to Dukes Counties to Earls Castles and Signiories unto Barons rendring unto him not ex pacto vel condicto for that was but cautela superabundans but of common right and by the Law of Nations for so I may term the Feodal-law then to be in our Western Orb all Feodal duties and services due from the Donees and their
to all these was the Tenant by Knights-service ty'd by his oath of Fealty swearing to be feal and leal As the oath was at those times interpreted as well by Divines and Canonists as by Feodists and Lawyers And as these were inherent to this Tenure of Common right so was there many other grievous exactions impos'd by the Lords upon their Tenants some by custom of the Mannour some by Composition upon granting the Fee and many by Signioral Authority as tho' the Lord besides his Legal Power might do some things like the King by Prerogative By Custom when the Lord or Lady came into the Mannour the Bailiff was to present them 18 oras denar and every of their servants 10s. with some summs of mony as gratuities ut essent laeti animo That the Tenants should pay 32d. for every daughter they married It was an ordinary custom that Lords might take not only of their Tenants but of all the Country thereabout Victuals and all other necessaries for furnishing their Castles which how grievous it was may well enough be conceiv'd tho' the Statute that restrain'd it did not testifie it So other Lords took provision for their houshold and hospitality within their Mannours By Composition as to have their Tenants attend them with horse and man in their journies whom they call'd Road-knights To present them yearly at times Horses Hawks and other things of profit and pleasure By Signioral Authority as to lye and feast themselves and followers call'd Coshering at their Tenants houses and when any matter of extraordinary charge fell upon them then to extort the same amongst their Tenants which the Irish about fourty years since of my own knowledge still continu'd calling it Cuttings according to our old word Tallagium But among us it was taken away by the Magna Charta of King John I speak not of the innumerable Carriages Angaries and Vexations with which they otherwise harrowed if not plagued their Tenants Yet must I not let that pass which every where was then in use for Lords of Castles to imprison men at pleasure to hold and keep distresses there against common justice and to do many outrages all about them Wherein the Lords of Mannours imitating them would also imprison their Tenants and followers which Custom I saw also yet not laid down in Ireland fourty years since For a Meane-Lord would ordinarily say upon offence taken against a Churle c. Take him and put him in bolts But let Matthew Paris who liv'd long after many of these oppressions were abolish'd tell you the fashions of those times Every Lord having this authority over his Tenant the Superiour as comprehending them all and holding in Capite was tyed to the King to see all under his tenure to be of good Government good behaviour and forth-coming whensoever they should be demanded to answer any misdemeanour This appeareth by the Laws of Edward the Confessor where it is said Archiepiscopi Episcopi Comites Barones omnes qui habuerint Sacam Socam c. milites proprios servientes sc dapiferos pincernas c. sub suo friburgo habeant That is sub sua fide-jussione de se bene gerendo By reason whereof whatsoever those their Lords agreed or disagreed unto in matters of the State and Common-wealth it did bind every of them their inferiors Unto whom they themselves might then also appoint Laws and Ordinances in their own Courts And this is that which Tacitus affirmeth to have been the ancient manner of the Germans our Ancestors Agricolis suis jus dicere where under the word Agricolis he intendeth all them whom we call Tenants Hence then it comes to pass that in making Laws of the Kingdom the common people were not consulted with but only the Barons and those which held in Capite who then were call'd Consilium Regni And the common people being as I said by way of tenure under one or other of them did then by him that was their chief Lord as by their Tribune or Procurator and as now by the Knights of the Shire consent or dissent in Law-making and are not therefore nam'd in the title of any ancient Law Look Doomsday-book and there ye shall see the whole Kingdom divided only among the Barons and great Persons and the whole Commons of the Kingdom distributed and plac'd under some of them tho' not by name yet by number in their several qualities Let us then see how the practice of those ancient ages agreed with this Theoreme King Ina made his Laws by the advice of Kenred his father and as he saith himself Heddis Erkenwaldi Episcoporum meorum omnium Aldermannorum i. e. Procerum meorum seniorum sapientum Regni mei multa aggregatione servorum Dei which is of Church-men as I take it Alured briefly Consilio sapientum meorum Edward the Elder proposeth his Laws not as Senatus-consultum but as Edictum Principis viz. Ego Edouardus Rex iis omnibus qui Reipub. praesunt etiam atque etiam mando ut c. And after by the absolute words Praecipio Statuimus Volo Yet those wherein he and Guthrun the Dane joyned are call'd Senatus-consulta Ethelstane made his Ex prudenti Vlfhelmae Archiepiscopi aliorumque Episcoporum suorum consilio nec-non omnium Optimatum sapientum mandato suo congregatorum Edmund in a great Assembly Tam Ecclesiasticorum quà m Laicorum cui interfuerunt Oda Wulstanus Archiep. plurimique alii Episcopi Edgar In frequenti sapientum Senatu Ethelred In sapientum Concilio Canuius saith Sapientum adhibito Consilio per omnem Angliam observari praecipio As for Edward the Confessor his Laws come not to us as they were composed by himself but as the Paragraphs of them were collected by the Conqueror and augmented afterward In which collection there is no mention made of the manner of their Institution But reciting of a passage of St. Austens touching Tithes it is spoken as of former time that Haec concessa sunt à Rege Baronibus populo meaning the several kinds of Tithes there mention'd But whether these words extend to a concession of them by Parlament as we now call it or by a voluntary contribution of them yeilded unto by the King the Barons and the people according to the Canons of the Church I leave to others to determine To come to times of the Conquerour wherein Novus seclorum nascitur ordo and from whence as from a new period we must now take all our projections The great establishment of his own and of Edward the Confessor's Laws is said in the title to be that which Gulielmus Rex Anglorum cum Principibus suis constituit post conquisitionem Angliae Other Authors instead of Principibus have Barones And tho' all his Laws for the most part were ordain'd by his Charter in his own name only yet they seem to be made by the
Richard Tribunus Regis or Marshal to King Henry II. 166. Hundradors 51. Hundreds their original 50. Hundred Courts 51. Hunting forbidden to Clergy-men 109 112 113 114 115. Hydes what 17. When disus'd 4â— I Ibreneys Rad. de 190. Iceni 135. Eorum nomina derivatio ibid. Icenia 135. Ejusdem termini ibid. Coelum solum 13â— Ina King of the West Saxons adjusted the quantity of Rent for every Plough-land 15. By whose advice he made his Laws 61. Made a strict Law against working on Sundays 57. Ingolsthorp 146. Inland what 12. Intwood 157. K. John's Magna Charta 63. John Marshal to King Henry I. 165. Irregularity of Clergy-men wherein it consists 109 112. I se fluvius unde dictus 135. Ejusdem aestus 139. Islepe Sim Arch-bishop of Canterbury 90. Jury taken out of several Hundreds in a County 53. Jurours prohibited to have meat c. till agreed of their Verdict 89. Jus Gentium 2. Justices of Evre when instituted 27. Justinian the Emperor when he flourish'd 129. He prohibited Clergy-men to take cognizance of Wills ibid. Justitium what 72. K Keninghall 158. Kent the custom of Gavelkind in that County 43. Kettringham 15â— The King the fountain of all Feuds and Tenures 1â— The King to have his Tenants lands till the heir has done homage 3â— The King universal Lord of his whole Territories 37. Anciently granted Churches to Lay-men 115 Knight what among the Saxons 51 58. Why there are but two Knights of the Shire for a County 64. Knight's-fees 3 4 51 58. When introduc'd 45. The number of them ibid. The value of a Knights-fee ibid. Knight-service 2 7. Kymberley 158. S Sacha Soca what in the Saxon tongue 51. Saliques bring the German feodal Rights into France 5. Sall in Norfolk 151. Sandringham 146. Sanhadrim when and where the Judges of it sate 75. Satrapies among the Saxons 50. Saxons the first planters of the German Rites in Great Britain 5. Their Charters translated 7. The manner of making their conveyances 8 Distinction of persons among them 11. How many degrees of Honour they had 16. How they held their lands 40. What oblig'd 'em to so many kinds of services ibid. Saxons very much given to drunkenness 89. When they took possession of England 100. They swept away the Roman Laws there 101 Yet took somewhat from them 102. Why their Laws were not at first put in writing ibid. When they had written Laws ibid. The use of wills unknown to the ancient Saxons 127. Our Saxons observ'd the Civil Law in their wills 128. Scutagium 36 37. Sedgeford 146. Segrave Nicholas Marshal of England 167. Seignory wherein it consists 2. Services how many sorts of 'em upon lands 17. Personal services 40. Praedial ibid. Alodial ibid. Beneficiary ibid. Colonical ibid. Servitia militaria what 46. The difference between them and Servitutes militares ibid Seymour Edward Duke of Somerset Nephew of King Edw. VI. 169. Made Lord Treasurer and Earl Marshal of England ibid. Shardlow Joh Justice of Oyer had a licence to hear causes on a Festival 95 96. Sharnburn 146. History of the Family 189 c. Shelton 156. Shouldham 142. Shyre gemot what 53. Signioral authority what 6â— Snetsham 146 189 190 c. Socage 3 7 33 43. Socmen 1â— 15 57. Sprowston 153. Stanchow 146 19â— Star chamber Court 94 95. Stigand Arch-bishop of Canterbury depos'd 119. Stock-Chappel 146. Stow-Bardolfe 140. Strangbow Gilb Earl of Pembroke and Marshal of the King's Palace 165. Suiters of the Hundred 51. When and by whom call'd at this day ibid. Summons the manner of it in the Empire 36. Sunday how exempted from Law Suits 76. Sustenance what 59. Swasham 141. Swainmote-Courts 85. Syndici who 63 64. Synod of Eanham when held 78. T Talbot George Earl of Shrewsbury 171. Executed the Office of Lord High Steward of England ibid. Tallagium 60. Tasburg 156. Tassilo Duke of Bavaria did homage to King Pipin 34. Tenant lands of how many sorts 4. Tenants by Knight-service 4. Tenant in capite 10. Tenant in menalty ibid. Tenant Paraval ibid. Tenant's land or the Tenancy 12. Tenants what they were in ancient time 51. Tenants in Socage 57. Tenants forc'd to pay a fine upon the marriage of a Daughter 60. To furnish their Lords with provisions ibid. To present them with gratuities ibid. Tenure in capite 2. By Knight-service 4 7. The Original of Tenures 4. Tenure in Socage 4 7. Tenures for Life ibid. What tenures were in use among the Saxons 7. When first us'd ibid. No tenures in capite among the Saxons 10. Tenure in capite of two sorts ibid. The fruits of feodal tenures 24. The name of tenures not us'd by the Saxons 40. Terminus what it signifies 71. When the word became frequent ibid. Terms their definition and etymology 71. Several acceptations of the word 70. Full term and Puisne term ibid. The Original of Terms 73 77. Two Terms among the Welch 74. The Terms laid out according to the ancient Laws 82. The ancient bounds of Hilary-Term 82 83. Of Easter-Term 83. Of Trinity-Term 84 85. Of Michaelmass-Term 85 86. How Trinity Term was alter'd 87. Michaelmass-Term how abbreviated 88. Why the Terms are sometime extended into the Vacation 95. Terra Regis 57. Terrae testamentales 12. Terrington 138. Tertium denarium 14. Testaments and last wills not in use among the ancient Hebrews 127. Not found in Scripture before Christ's time ibid. Expresly mention'd by St. Paul ibid. Not us'd by the Saxons or Normans ibid. The custom of making wills from whom taken up ibid. How many witnesses to a will requir'd by the Civil Law 128. Thane or Theoden who 10 11. Their several kinds 16. Not properly a title of Dignity ibid. The Etymology of their name ibid. The quality of their Persons ibid. The nature of their Land 17. The word Thane has no relation to war 21. A Thane's Heriot 31. Thane-lands not subject to feodal service 18. Charters of Thane-lands granted by Saxon Kings 19 20. The occasion of granting them 21. Thane-lands alienated ibid. Devised by will 22. Granted to women ibid. No service upon 'em but what was express'd ibid. Dispos d of at the pleasure of the owner 23. Charged with a Rent ibid. Might be restrain'd from alienation ibid. Thane-lands and Reveland what 38. Thani majores minores 16. Thani Regis ibid. Theinge 50. His jurisdiction ibid. Theowes and Esnes who 11. Thetford 158. Thokus Dominus de Sharnburn 189. Thola the widow of Ore had a grant of certain lands of K. Edw. the Confessour 20. Obtain'd a Licence to devise her Lands and Goods 34. Thrimsa what 15. Thrithingreves or Leidgerevâ—s their Office and Authority 52. What causes were usually brought before ' em ibid. Tribunus militum rei militaris aut exercitus 165. Tribute 59. Trimarcesia what 3. Trinity-term its ancient bounds 84 85. How it was alter'd and shortned 87. Trinodis necessitas 17 43. Trithings or Lathes 50. Why so call'd 52. Turfs why so call'd 139 140. Tydd
Carew Contrary to a perswasion very common now adays That Philosophy Oratory Poetry and the other Exercises which take up the first four years in our Universities are altogether foreign to the business of Lawyers and that the study of them is so much loss of time to Gentlemen design'd for that honourable Profession After he had continu'd at home about a twelve-month he was sent to study the Law at Lincoln's-Inn either with a design to practise it or which is more likely as a necessary accomplishment of an English Gentleman There he stay'd almost three years but was then unhappily remov'd when we may imagine he began to relish the Law and in some measure to conquer the difficulties of it Many years after we find him complaining of his hard Fortune in the Preface to his Glossary and he concludes his complaint with a character of the Common-Law which I will here transcribe for the honour of the Profession Excussit me interea è Clientela sua speaking of the Law gratiae potestatis dignitatis immensaeque apud nos largitrix opulentiae Illa inquam vestitu simplici inculto sed jurium omnium Municipalium absit dictis invidia nobilissima domina omni utpote justitia moderamine prudentia sublimique acumine temere licet eam perstrinxerit Hottomannus refertissima He was about twenty years of Age and retiring into the Countrey married the eldest Daughter and Coheir of John Le Strange a Gentleman of an ancient Family in Norfolk By this match he became Guardian to Sir Hamon Le Strange during whose Minority he liv'd at Hunstanton the Seat of that Family and was High Sheriff of Norfolk By degrees he begun to be taken notice of for his great Prudence and Abilities and was accordingly three several times sent by the King into Ireland upon publick business At home he was appointed one of the Commissioners To enquire into the oppression of exacted Fees in all the Courts and Offices of England as well Ecclesiastical as Civil which a late Author calls A noble Examination and full of Justice To this business he gave his constant attendance for many years together with great integrity and application and the Government was so sensible of his good services that the Council procur'd his Majesties Writt of Privy Seal for 300l. to be presented to him not as a full Recompence for so they declar'd but only as an occasional Remembrance till they should have an opportunity of doing something for him that might be a more suitable consideration for his diligence in that and other publick Affairs This attendance made him neglect his own private business to the great prejudice of his Family as he himself seems to complain in his Preface to the Glossary And his eldest Son Sir John Spelman represented to the Privy Councel how much his Father's Estate had suffer'd by it appealing for a proof of his great pains therein to the knowledge of several of their Lordships to the Journals of that Commission and to his papers and collections relating to the same I cannot give any particular account of the other publick Services wherein he was employ'd He was Knighted by K. James who had a particular esteem for him as well on account of his known capacity for business as his great Learning in many kinds more especially in the Laws and Antiquities of our Nation These for a good part of his Life he seems to have study'd for the service of his Prince and his own diversion but not with an eye to any particular design When he was about 50. years of Age he resolv'd to draw his affairs into as narrow a compass as might be with a full design to bestow the remainder of his time among Books and Learned Men. With this resolution he sold his Stock let his Estate quitted the Countrey and settl'd in London with his wife and family His next business was as he himself tells us to get together all such Books and Manuscripts as concern'd the subject of Antiquities whether foreign or domestick For in these Enquiries he had ever had a particular delight and now being in a good measure free'd from the daily disturbances he was before exposed to it was natural for him to fall into a study to which his own genius had always led him It is likely he had then a good understanding of the Laws and Customs of the Kingdom I mean the Modern part of them such as is commonly us'd in the ordinary practice of it But such a general knowledge could not satisfie a Mind so curious and a Judgement so solid as his appears to have been in all his Writings These inclin'd him to search into the Reasons and Foundations of the Law which he knew were not to be learnt but from the Customs and Histories of our Nation in all Ages nor these Usages to be trac'd out but by a strict examination of the most ancient Records and Manuscripts And as his own inclination led him to this Enquiry so not troubling himself with the Practice of the Law but content to live quietly upon his own Estate he was perfectly at leasure to pursue it And indeed as the best things in this world are attended with inconveniences it is very much to the disadvantage of the Law that those of the Long Robe who are best qualified to improve the knowledge of it from original Records are so much taken up with the business of their Profession that they have little time to bestow upon those matters As on the other hand Men who are born to Leasure and Estates however inclinable they may be to the more polite parts of Learning do seldom care to engage in a study which at first sight seems to be so rough and tedious Thus the one wants Leasure and the other Resolution and so the Monuments of our Fore-fathers being neglected we are depriv'd of a great deal of useful knowledge that might be drawn from them It was the happiness of Sir Henry Spelman and much more of the English Nation that he had both time and inclination to do it I mean to examine the ancient Laws and Monuments not only of our own but also of most other Northern Kingdoms Particularly he was very well versed in the old Feudal law and has shewn us in a Discourse upon that head how most of the Tenures here in England have their foundation from thence This near relation between their Customs and our Constitutions made him many times marvel that my Lord Cooke adorning our Law with so many flowers of Antiquity and foreign learning should not turn aside into this field from whence so many roots of our Law have of old been taken and transplanted And I wish so he goes on some worthy Lawyer would read them diligently and shew the several heads from whence these of ours are taken They beyond the seas are not only diligent but very curious in this kind but we
seqq a name not well agreeing with Feodal servitudes But it seemeth by divers Abby-books that some Estates for life which we call Frank tenements were also put in writing especially among the latter Saxons Yet were not these accounted bocland for they were laden commonly with many feodal and ministerial services whereas bocland as I said was free from all services not holden of any Lord the very same that Allodium descendable according to the common course of Nations and of Nature unto all the sons and therefore called Gavelkind not restrain'd to the eldest son as feodal lands were not at first but devisable also by will and thereupon called Terrae testamentales as the Thane that possessed them was said to be testamento dignus Folcland was terra vulgi the land of the vulgar people who had no estate therein but held the same under such rents and services as were accustomed or agreed of at the will only of their Lord the Thane and it was therefore not put in writing but accounted proedium rusticum ignobile But both the greater and the lesser Thanes which possessed Bocland or hereditary lands divided them according to the proportion of their estates into two sorts i. e. into Inland and Outland The Inland was that which lay next or most convenient for the Lord's Mansion-house as within the view thereof and therefore they kept that part in their own hands for supportation of their family and Hospitality The Normans afterwards called these lands terras dominicales the Demains or Lord's lands The Germans terras indominicatas lands in the Lord 's own use The Feudists terras curtiles or intra curtem lands appropriate to the Court or House of the Lord. Outland was that which lay beyond or out from among the Inlands or Demeans and was not granted out to any Tenant hereditarily but like our Copy-holds of ancient time having their original from thence meerly at the pleasure of the Lord. Cujacius speaking of this kind of land calleth it proprium feudum that is to say such land as was properly assigned for Feodal lands Proprium feudum est saith he extra curtem consistit in praediis As if he should say That land properly is a Feud or Feudal land which lyeth without the Demains of the Mannour and consisteth in land not in houses We now call this Outland the Tenants land or the Tenancy and so it is translated out of Biritrick's will in the Saxon tongue This Outland they subdivided into two parts whereof one part they disposed among such as attended on their persons either in war or peace called Theodens or lesser Thanes after the manner of Knights Fees but much differing from them of our time as by that which followeth shall appear The other part they allotted to their Husbandmen whom they termed Ceorls that is Carles or Churles And of them we shall speak farther by and by when we consider all the degrees aforesaid beginning with the Earl CHAP. VI. Of Earls among our Saxons AN Earl in the signification of Comes was not originally a degree of dignity as it is with us at this day but of Office and Judicature in some City or portion of the Country circumscribed anciently with the bounds of the Bishoprick of that Diocess for that the Bishop and the Earl then sat together in one Court and heard jointly the causes of Church and Common-wealth as they yet do in Parliament But in process of time the Earl grew to have the government commonly of the chief City and Castle of his Territory and withal a third part of the King's profits arising by the Courts of Justice Fines Forfeitures Escheats c. annexed to the office of his Earldom Yet all this not otherwise than at the pleasure of the King which commonly was upon good behaviour and but during life at most This is apparent by the severe injunction of King Alfred the Great labouring to plant literature and knowledge amongst the ignorant Earls and Sheriffs of his Kingdom imposed upon them That they should forthwith in all diligence apply themselves to the study of wisdom and knowledge or else forgoe their Office Herewith saith Asser Menevensis who lived at that time and was great with the King the Earls and Sheriffs were so affrighted that they rather choose insuetam disciplinam quam laboriose discere quam potestatum ministeria dimittere that is To go at last to the School of knowledge how painful soever rather than to lose their offices of Authority and degrees of Honour which Alfred there also declareth that they had not by Inheritance but by God's gift and his Dei saith he dono meo sapientium ministeria gradus usurpatis This is manifest by divers other authorities and examples in my Glossary in verbo Comes as the Reader if he please may there see Some conjecture that Deira and Bernicia in Northumberland and Mercia in the midst of England were Feudal and hereditary Earldoms in the Saxon times Those of Northumberland presently after their first arrival under Hengistus about the year 447. that of Mercia by the gift of Alfred the Great about the year 900. to Ethelredus a man of power in way of marriage with his daughter Ethelfleda but for ought I see it is neither proved by the succession of those Earldoms nor our Authors of Antiquity For my own part I think it not strange that there was not at the entry of the Saxons a Feudal and Hereditary Earldom in all Christendom As for this our Britain the misery of it then was such as it rather seemed an Anarchy and Chaos than in any form of Government Little better even in Alfred's days through the fury of the Danes tho' he at last subdued them for his time How soever three or four examples in five hundred years before the Conquest differing from the common use is no inference to overthrow it especially in times unsettled and tumultuous The noble Earldom of Arundel in our days of peace differeth in constitution from all the other Earldoms of England yet that impeacheth not their common manner of succession Loyseau and Pasquier learned Frenchmen speaking of the Dukes and Earls of France which England ordinarily followeth and sometimes too near the heels justifie at large what I have said shewing the Dukes and Earls in the Roman Empire from whose example others every where were derived were like the Proconsuls and Presidents of Provinces simple Officers who for their entertainment had nothing else but certain rights and customs raised from the people which we in England called Tertium denarium And that the Dukes and Earls of France were Officers in like manner but had the Seigneurie of their territory annexed to their Office so that they were Officers and Vassals both at once that is to say Officers by way of Judicature and Vassals whom we call Feodal tenants for their Seignories of Dukedoms and
every feodal Lord and not begun in France 'till Feuds were there made hereditary by Hugh Capet nor in England till William the Conqueror did the like as before appears The reason of it was to preserve the memory of the Tenure and of the duty of the Tenant by making every new Tenant at his entry to recognize the interest of his Lord lest that the Feud being now hereditary and new heirs continually succeeding into it they might by little and little forget their duty and substracting the services deny at last the Tenure it self We see at this day frequent examples of it for by neglecting of doing homage and those services Tenures usually are forgotten and so revolv'd to the King by Ignoramus to the great evil of their posterity that neglect it But the Saxons having only two kind of lands Bocland and Folcland neither of them could be subject unto homage for the Bocland which belong'd properly to their greater Thanes tho' it were hereditary yet was it alodium and libera ab omni seculari gravedine as before is shewed and thereby free from homage And the Folcland being not otherwise granted by the King or his Thanes than at will or for years or for life the tenant of it was not to do any homage for it For Justice Littleton biddeth us note that none shall do homage but such as have an estate in fee simple or fee taile c. For saith he 't is a maxim in law that he which hath an estate but for term of life shall neither do homage nor take homage But admit the Saxons had the ceremony of doing homage among them yet was it not a certain mark of Knights-service for it was usual also in Socage-Tenure And in elder ages as well a personal duty as a praedial that is done to Princes and great Men either by compulsion for subjection or voluntary for their protection without receiving any feud or other grant of land or benefit from them And he or they which in this manner put themselves into the homage of another for protection sake were then called homines sui and said commendare se in manus ejus or commendare se illi and were thereupon sometimes called homines ejus commendati and sometimes commendati without homines as in Doomsday often Tho' we have lost the meaning of the phrase yet we use it even to this day Commend me unto such a man which importeth as much as our new compliment taken up from beyond the Seas let him know that I am his servant See the quotations here annexed and note that tho' the Saxons did as we at this day call their servants and followers homines suos their men yet we no where find the word Tenure or the ceremony of homage among them nor any speech of doing or of respiting homage CHAP. XXI What manner of Fealty among the Saxons SO for Fealty if we shall apply every oath sworn by Servants and Vassals for fidelity to their Lord to belong unto Fealty we may bring it from that which Abraham imposed upon his servant put thy hand under my thigh and swear c. For the Saxons abounded with oaths in this kind following therein their Ancestors the Germans who as Tacitus saith took praecipuum Sacramentum a principal oath to defend the Lord of the Territory under whom they lived and to ascribe their own valour to his glory So likewise the homines commendati before mention'd yea the famuli ministeriales and houshold servants of Noble persons were in ancient times and within the memory of our fathers sworn to be faithful to their Lords These and such other were anciently the oaths of Fealty but illud postremo observandum saith Bignonius a learned French-man of the King 's great Council fidelitatem hodie quidem feudi causa tantum praestari shewing farther that Fealty was first made to Princes by the Commendati and Fideles without any feud given unto them and that the Princes afterwards did many times grant unto them feuda vacantia as to their servants but whether the oath of fealty were so brought in upon feodal tenants or were in use before he doth not determine In the mean time it hereby appeareth that fealty in those days was personal as well as feodal or praedial which imposeth a necessity upon them of the contrary part in the Report that if they meet with fealty among the Saxons they must shew it to be feodal and not personal for otherwise it maintaineth not their assertion I will help them with a pattern of fealty in those times where Oswald Bishop of Worcester granting the lands of his Bishoprick to many and sundry persons for three lives reserv'd a multitude of services to be done by them and bound them to swear That as long as they held those lands they should continue in the commandments of the Bishop with all subjection I take this to be an oath of Fealty but we must consider whether it be personal or praedial If personal it nothing then concerneth Tenures and consequently not our question If praedial then must it be inherent to the land which here it seemeth not to be but to arise by way of contract And being praedial must either be feodal as for land holden by Knight-service or Colonical as for lands in Socage If we say it is feodal then must there be homage also as well as fealty for homage is inseperable from a feud by Knight-service but the estates here granted by Oswald being no greater than for life the Grantees must not as we have shewed either make or take homage And being lastly but Colonical or in Socage it is no fruit of a Tenure in Capite by Knight-service nor belonging therefore to our question So that if fealty be found among the Saxons yet can it not be found to be a fruit of Knight-service in Capite as the Report pretendeth it See Fidelitas in my Glossary CHAP. XXII No Escuage among the Saxons What in the Empire THe word Scutagium and that of Escuage is of such novelty beyond the Seas as I find it not among the feudists no not among the French or Normans themselves much less among the Saxons Yet I meet with an ancient law in the Novella of Constantine Porphyrogenita Emperour of Greece in the year 780. that gives a specimen of it tho' not the name Quaedam esse praedia militaria quibus cohaereat onus Militiae ita ut possessorem necesse sit se ad militiam comparare domino indicante delectum vel si nolit aut non possit se ad delectum exhibere certam eo nomine pecuniam fisco dependere quae feudorum omnium lex est c. This tells us that there were certain lands to which the burden of warfare was so adherent that every owner of them was tyed upon summons made by his Lord to make his appearance therein or else to pay certain money by way
heirs upon every gift grant and alienation tho' no word were spoken of them It appeareth by the Feodal-law from whence all that part of our Common-law that concerneth Tee and Tenures hath original and which our Common-law also affirmeth that there was always due ..... Those that thus receiv'd their Territories from the King were said to hold them in Capite for that the King is Caput Regni and were thereupon call'd Capitanei Regis and Capitanei Regni otherwise Barones Regis the King's men Tenants or Vassals who having all the land divided amongst them saving that which the King reserv'd to himself as Sacrum Patrimonium were also call'd Pares Regni and were always upon commandment about the person of the King to defend him and his Territories in war and to counsel and advise him in peace either Judicially in matters of Law brought before the King in his Palace which in those days was the only place of Royal justice or Politically in the great affairs of the Kingdom Hereupon they were not only call'd Praetorianum consilium as belonging to the King's Palace but Magnum concilium Regis and Magnum concilium Regni For that in those times it belonged only to them to consult with the King on State-matters and matters of the Kingdom insomuch as no other in the Kingdom possessed any thing but under them And therefore as in Despotical Government the agreement or disagreement of the Master of the Family concluded the menial and the whole Family so the agreement and disagreement of the chief Lord or him that held in Capite concluded all that depended on him or claimed under him in any matter touching his Fee or Tenure To this purpose seemeth that in the Laws of Edward the Confessor ratified by the Conqueror Debet etiam Rex omnia ritè facere in regno per judicium procâ—rum regni These great Lords according to this Archetype of Government set them by the King divided their lands in like manner among their Tenants and followers First they assign'd a portion ad victum vestitum suum which they committed over to their Socmen and Husbandmen to furnish them with Corn Victuals and Provision for Hospitality and briefly all things necessary to their domestical and civil part of life The residue they divided into as many shares or portions as might well maintain so many Military men whom then they call'd their Knights and thereupon the shares themselves Knights-fees i. e. stipendia militaria And these Fees they granted over to each of their principal followers furnishing them with so many Knights for the wars These Grantees that receiv'd their Estates from the Barons or Capitanei and not from the King were called Valvasores a degree above Knights and were unto their Lords the Capitanei or Barones Regis as they the Capitanei were unto the King and did in like manner subdivide their lands among their Socmen and Military followers who in old time were call'd Valvasini whom I take to be the same at this day that are the Lords of every Mannour if not those themselves that we call Knights as owners of a Knights-Fee For in this the Feodal-law it self is doubtful and various as of a thing lost by Antiquity or made uncertain by the differing manners of several Nations Insomuch that Valvasores and Valvasini grew to be confounded and both of them at last to be out of use and no other Military Tenures to be known amongst us than tenere pâ—r Baroniam and tenere per feodum militare But in a Charter of Henr. I. it is said Si exurgat Placitum de divisione Terrarum si interest Barones meos Dominicos tractetur in Curia mea si inter Vavassores duorum Dominorum tractetur in Comitatu c. Where the Valvasores were also and the Barons themselves Suitors and Attendants Bracton mentioneth them in Henry III's time to be Viri magnae dignitatis Nor was their memory clean gone in Richard II's days as appeareth by Chaucer Yet do I not find in any of our ancient Laws or Monuments that they stood in any classick kind of Tenure other than that we may account the Baron Vavasor and Knight to be as our Lawyers at this day term them the Chief Lord Mesne and Tenant But herein the Feodal-law of our Country differ'd from that of Milan and other parts For there the Valvasini could invest which we call infeosse none under them in fee that is to hold of them by Knights-service And with us every Tenant Par aval might in infinitum till the Statute of Quia Emptores Terrarum enfeoffe another by Knight-service and to do all the services unto him that he did to his Mesne Lord. So that by this means a line of Knights-services might be created of a dozen yea twenty Mean-Lords and Tenants wherein every of them might have his prochine Tenant obliged unto him in the duties and services that his Lord Paramont which held of the King was to do and yeild unto the King himself for the same lands viz. Honour Ward Sustenance   Safety Marriage  give keep  Attendance Relief Counsel to Aid Defence of his Person Tribute Fidelity  Defence of his Patrimony     All which in ancient time while the Feodal-law flourished were well understood to be comprehended under the profession of Homage and the oath of Fidelity which every Feodal Tenant or as others call him Vassal usually did unto his Lord. Honour promis'd by the Tenant upon his knees in doing Homage which tho' it be the greatest and most submiss service that a Freeman can do unto his Lord yet the profession of it to the meanest subject is as ample and submiss yea in the very same words that to the King himself Attendance to follow and attend him in the war at his own charge and in peace with suite of Court Therefore Tacitus calleth them Comites Defence of his person for if he forsook his Lord being in danger it was forfeiture of life land and all he had Defence of his Signiory that nothing of his lands rents or services were withholden or withdrawn Profit by Ward Marriage and Relief as they fell Tribute by way of Aid to make his eldest son a Knight to marry his eldest daughter ransom himself being taken prisoner yea in some places to be an hostage for his Lord. Sustenance that being faln into poverty according to that in the Canon law spoken of a Patron Alatur egenus Counsel and Advice in which respect the Tenant was bound ordinarily once in every three weeks to come to his Lord's Court and there as a Judge with other of his Peers to censure the causes of his Signiory and to direct his Lord as the cause occurrent did require and always to keep his counsel This to the meanest Lord was in the nature of the King 's Great Court or Counsel call'd afterward a Parlyment Fidelity for
Towns call'd Burgesses and the Barons of the Cinque-ports The first sort are to appear personally or by particular Proxies for the words as touching them are Summoniri faciemus sigillatim but as touching the others it is Summoniri faciemus generaliter c. not that all should come confusedly but that they should send their Advocates which commonly are but two to speak for them These the French in their Parliaments call Ambasiatores and Syndicos In the first rank the Earls and greater Barons have their place in this Council for that they hold of the King in Capite by a Baronie And the Bishops and Abbots with them of the second rank so likewise for that it was declared and ordained in the Council of Clarendon that they should have their possessions of the King as a Barony and should be suiters and sit in the King's Court in judgements as other Barons till it came to the diminution of Members or matter of death But this Council of Clarendon did rather affirm than give them their priviledge For the Prelates of the Church were in all ages the prime part of these great Councils In the third rank the Burgesses and Barons of the Cinque-ports have their place not so much in respect of Tenure for they were not conceived to be owners of lands but for that in Taxes and Tallages touching their goods and matter of Trade they might have some to speak for them as well as other Members of the Kingdom But here then ariseth a question how it cometh to pass that every poor Burrough of England how little soever it be two excepted have two to speak for them in this great Council when the greatest Counties have no more It seemeth that those of the Counties whom we call Knights served not in ancient time for all the Free-holders of the County as at this day they do but were only chosen in the behalf of them that held of the King in Capite and were not Barones majores Barons of the Realm For all Freeholders besides them had their Lord Paramount which held in capite to speak for them as I have shewed before and these only had no body for that themselves held immediately of the King Therefore King John by his Charter did agree to summon them only and no other Freeholders howbeit those other Freeholders because they could not always be certainly distinguish'd from them that held in capite which encreased daily grew by little and little to have voices in election of the Knights of the Shire and at last to be confirm'd therein by the Stat. 7. Henr. IV. and 8. Henr. VI. But to come to our question why there are but two Knights for a County It may well seem to be for that in those times of old there were very few besides the Barons that held in capite as appeareth by that we have already spoken and that two therefore might seem sufficient for these few as well as two for the greatest Burroughs or City of England except London And it may be that of the four which serve for London two of them be for it as it is a City and two other as it is a County tho' elsewhere it be not so But when two came first to be chosen or appointed for the rest of the Burrough or County I cannot find It seemeth by those Synods that were holden in the times of the Saxon Kings and by some after the Conquest that great numbers of the common people flowed thither For it is said in An. 1021. Cum quamplurimis gregariis militibus ac cum populi multitudine copiosa And An. 1126. Innumeraque Cleri populi multitudine and so likewise in An. 1138. and other Synods and Councils By what order or limitation this innumera populi multitudo came to these Assemblies it appeareth not Bartol that famous Civilian and Hottoman according with him thus expoundeth it in other places Nota quod Praesides Provinciarum coadunant universale Parlamentum Provinciae quod intellige non quod omnes de Provincia debent ad illud ire sed de omnibus Civitatibus deputantur Ambasiatores qui Civitatem repraesentant And Johan de Platea likewise saith Vbi super aliquo providendum est pro utilitate totius Provinciae debet congregari generale Concilium seu Parlamentum non quod omnes de Provincia vadant sed de qualibet Civitate aliqui Ambasiatores vel Syndici qui totam Civitatem repraesentent In quo Concilio seu Parlamento petitur proponi sanum ac utile consilium But our Burgesses as it seemeth in time of old were not call'd to consult of State matters being unproper to their Education otherwise than in matter of Aide and Subsidy For King John granteth no more unto them than ad habendum commune consilium regni de auxiliis assidâ—ndis if his Charter be so pointed that this clause belong to that of the Liberties granted to them which is very doubtful and seemeth rather to belong to that which followeth otherwise there are no words at all for calling them unto the great Councils or Parlaments if you so will term them of that time And yet further it is to be noted that this whole branch of his Charter touching the manner of his summoning a great Council was not comprised in the Articles between him and his Barons whereupon the Charter was grounded but gain'd from him as it seemeth afterward And that may be a reason why it is left out in the Magna Charta of Henry III. confirm'd after by Edward I. in such manner as now we have it The Charter of these Articles I have seen under his own Seal After the death of King John I find many of these great Councils holden and to be often named by the Authors of that time Colloquia after the French word Parlament but no mention in any of them of Burgesses saving that in An. Dom. 1225. Regis 10. it is said that the King held his Christmass at Westminster Praesentibus clero populo cum Magnatibus regionis and that the solemnity being ended Hugh de Burgo the King's Justice propounded to the Arch-Bishop Bishops Earls Barons aliis universis the losses the King had received in France requiring of them one XV th And in the year 1229. the King summoneth to Westminster Archiepiscopos Episcopos Abbates Priores Templarios Hospitalarios Comites Barones Ecclesiarum Rectores qui de se tenebant in capite about the granting a tenth to the Pope wherein those that held in capite are call'd as in Henr. II. to the Council of Clarendon and as the Charter of King John purporteth but no mention is here made of Burgesses THE ORIGINAL OF THE FOUR TERMS Of the Year By Sir HENRY SPELMAN Kt. Printed in the Year 1684. from a very uncorrect and imperfect Copy Now Publish'd from the Original Manuscript in the BODLEIAN Library Sir William Dugdale in his Origines Juridiciales Chap. 32.
pag. 89. concerning this Treatise I shall here briefly exhibit some particulars which I acknowledge to have gather'd from an ample and most judicious discourse on this Subject written by the Learned Sir Henry Spelman Knight in 1614. very well worthy to be made publick THE Occasion of this Discourse ABout fourty two years since divers Gentlemen in London studious of Antiquities fram'd themselves into a College or Society of Antiquaries appointing to meet every Friday weekly in the Term at a place agreed of and for Learning sake to confer upon some questions in that Faculty and to sup together The place after a meeting or two became certain at Darby-house where the Herald's-Office is kept and two Questions were propounded at every meeting to be handled at the next that followed so that every man had a sennight's respite to advise upon them and then to deliver his opinion That which seem'd most material was by one of the company chosen for the purpose to be enter'd in a book that so it might remain unto posterity The Society increased daily many persons of great worth as well noble as other learned joyning themselves unto it Thus it continu'd divers years but as all good uses commonly decline so many of the chief Supporters hereof either dying or withdrawing themselves from London into the Country this among the rest grew for twenty years to be discontinu'd But it then came again into the mind of divers principal Gentlemen to revive it and for that purpose upon the day of in the year 1614. there met at the same place Sir James Ley Knight then Attorney of the Court of Wards since Earl of Marleborough and Lord Treasurer of England Sir Robert Cotton Knight and Baronett Sir John Davies his Majestie 's Attorney for Ireland Sir Richard St. George Knt. then Norrey Mr. Hackwell the Queen's Solicitor Mr. Camden then Clarentieux my self and some others Of these the Lord Treasurer Sir Robert Cotton Mr. Camden and my self had been of the original Foundation and to my knowledge were all then living of that sort saving Sir John Doderidge Knight Justice of the King 's Bench. We held it sufficient for that time to revive the meeting and only conceiv'd some rules of Government and limitation to be observ'd amongst us whereof this was one That for avoid offence we should neither meddle with matters of State nor of Religion And agreeing of two Questions for the next meeting we chose Mr. Hackwell to be our Register and the Convocator of our Assemblies for the present and supping together so departed One of the Questions was touching the Original of the Terms about which as being obscure and generally mistaken I bestow'd some extraordinary pains that coming short of others in understanding I might equal them if I could in diligence But before our next meeting we had notice that his Majesty took a little mislike of our Society not being enform'd that we had resolv'd to decline all matters of State Yet hereupon we forbare to meet again and so all our labours lost But mine lying by me and having been often desir'd of me by some of my Friends I thought good upon a review and augmentation to let it creep abroad in the form you see it wishing it might be rectify'd by some better judgement SECT I. Of the Terms in general AS our Law books have nothing to my knowledge touching the original of the Terms so were it much better if our Chronicles had as little For tho' it be little they have in that kind yet is that little very untrue affirming that William the Conquerour did first institute them It is not worth the examining who was Author of the errour but it seemeth Polydore Virgil an Alien in our Common-wealth and not well endenized in our Antiquities spread it first in Print I purpose not to take it upon any man's word but searching for the fountain will if I can deduce them from thence beginning with their definition The Terms be certain portions of the year in which only the King's Justices hold plea in the high Temporal Courts of causes belonging to their Jurisdiction in the places thereto assigned according to the ancient Rites and Customs of the Kingdom The definition divides it self and offers these parts to be consider'd 1. The Names they bear 2. The Original they come from 3. The Time they continue 4. The Persons they are held by 5. The Causes they deal with 6. The Place they are kept in 7. The Rites they are performed with The parts minister matter for a Book at large but my purpose upon the occasion impos'd being to deal only with the Institution of the Terms I will travel no farther than the three first stages of my division that is touching their Name their Original and their Time of continuance SECT II. Of the Names of the Terms THe word Terminus is of the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth the Bound End or Limit of a thing here particularly of the time for Law matters In the Civil Law it also signifieth a day set to the Defendant and in that sense doth Bracton Glanvil and others sometimes use it Mat. Paris calleth the Sheriff's Turn Terminum Vicecomitis and in the addition to the MSS. Laws of King Inas Terminus is applied to the Hundred-Court as also in a Charter of Hen. I. prescribing the time of holding the Court. And we ordinarily use it for any set portion of Time as of Life Years Lease c. The space between the Terms is named Vacation à Vacando as being leasure from Law business by Latinists Justitium à jure stando because the Law is now at a stop or stand The Civilians and Canonists call Term-time Dies Juridicos Law-days the Vacation Dies Feriales days of leasure or intermission Festival-days as being indeed sequester'd from troublesome affairs of humane business and devoted properly to the service of God and his Church According to this our Saxon and Norman Ancestors divided the year also between God and the King calling those days and parts that were assigned to God Dies pacis Ecclesiae the residue alloted to the King Dies or tempus pacis Regis Divisum Imperium cum Jove Caesar habet Other names I find none anciently among us nor the word Terminus to be frequent till the age of Henry II. wherein Gervasius Tilburiensis and Ranulphus de Glanvilla if those books be theirs do continually use it for Dies pacis Regis The ancient Romans in like manner divided their year between their Gods and their Common-wealth naming their Law-days or Term-time Fastos because their Praetor or Judge might then Fari that is speak freely their Vacation or days of Intermission as appointed to the service of their Gods they called Nefastos for that the Praetor might ne fari not speak in them judicially Ovid Fastorum lib. 1. thus expresseth it Ille Nefastus erat per quem tria verba silentur Fastus erat per
inter manus habens alicubi retinetur ibi purgetur vel sordidetur si solum inculpatio plegiis si opus est datis ubi justum fuerit terminanda revertatur CHAP. XII The Terms laid out according to these ancient Laws TO lay out now the bounds of the Terms according to these Canons and Constitutions especially that ancient Law of Edward the Confessour it thus appeareth viz. Hilary-Term began then certainly at Octabis Epiphaniae that is the thirteenth day of January seven days before the first Return it now hath and nine days before our Term beginneth and ended at the Saturday next before Septuagesima which being moveable made this Term longer in some years than in others Florentius Wigorniensis and Walsingham in his Hypodigma Neustriae saith Anno 1096. In Octabis Epiphaniae apud Sarisburiam Rex Gulielmus Rufus tenuit Consilium in quo jussit Gulielmi de Anco in duâ—llo victi oculos eruere testiculos abscindere Dapiferum illius Gulielmum de Alderi filium amitae illius suspendi c. proceeding also judicially against others Tho' Walsingham calleth this Consilium with an s a Counsel and Wigorniensis Concilium with a c an Assembly the word Term perhaps not being in use under William Rufus yet it seemeth to be no other than an Assembly of the Barons in the King's house or Court of State which was then the ordinary place of Justice for crimes of this nature For the Barons of the Land were at that time Judges of all causes which we call Pleas of the Crown and of all other belonging to the Court of the King The proceeding also against these offenders seemeth meerly Legal and not Parliamentary or ex arbitrio For the tryal was according to Law by Battel and the judgement after the manner of the time by putting out the eyes and mutilation of the privy members As for putting men to death I confess that it was not at this time ordinary For William the Conquerour had made a Law Interdico nequis occidatur vel suspendatur pro aliqua culpa sed eruantur oculi abscindantur testiculi But as himself observ'd it not so his Son made not nice in breaking of it And I think the Barons of that time did in many things especially crimes of Treason ex arbitrio judicare Besides this if it had been other than an ordinary course of justice they would not have call'd it Consilium or Concilium simply but magnum Concilium or commune Concilium Regni as the phrase then was for Parliaments Lastly tho' it had been a Parliament yet they could not or at least they would not break the Constitutions of the Church by medling with tryals of crime and blood in diebus pacis Ecclesiae and therefore we must conceive it to be done in Term-time diebus pacis Regis as the Canons alledg'd and assign'd it I meet also with a precedent to this purpose in Radevicus under the year 1160. whereby it appears that they began their Term or Law-day likwise beyond the Seas at Octabis Epiphaniae Curia says he quae in Octavis Epiphaniae Papiae fuerat indicta usque in sextam feriam proxime ante caput jejunii quia in destructione Cremae dominus Imperator detinebatur est dilata The Norman Custumary sheweth also expresly that this Term began at Octabis Epiphaniae in saying that their Law-days began and went out with the times of celebrating Marriage which in this part of the year as we shewed before came in at Octab. Epiphaniae and went out at Septuagesima as it still doth And the Court of the Arches doth still hold the same beginning The Exchequer also being brought out of Normandy seemeth to retain at this day the steps of the Norman Custume For in that it openeth eight days before the beginning of the Term it openeth upon the matter at Octabis Epiphaniae By which it appeareth that it was then no Vacation and that the Term was begun at Octabis Epiphaniae whereby it is the likelyer also that it ended at Septuagesima lest beginning it as we now do it might fall out some years to have no Hilary-Term at all as shall anon appear And this our ancient use of ending the Term at Septuagesima is some inducement to think the Council of Erpford is depraved and that the word there Quinquagesima should be Septuagesima as the gloss there reporteth it to be in some other place And as well Gratian mistakes this as he hath done the Council it self attributing it to Ephesus a City of Ionia instead of Erpford a Town in Germany where Burchard before him and Binius since do now place it It comes here to my mind what I have heard an old Chequer-man many years ago report that this Term and Trinity-Term were in ancient time either no Terms at all or but as reliques of Michaelmass and Easter-Terms rather than just Terms of themselves Some courses of the Chequer yet encline to it And we were both of the mind that want of business which no doubt in those days was very little by reason Suits were then for the most part determined in inferiour Courts might be the cause thereof But I since observe another cause viz. That Septuagesima or Church-time one while trode so near upon the heels of Octabis Epiphaniae I mean came so soon after it as it left not a whole week for Hilary-Term and again another while Trinity Sunday fell out so late in the year that the common necessity of Hay-seed and Harvest made that Term very little and unfrequented For insomuch as Easter which is the Clavis as well to shut up Hilary-Term as to open Trinity-Term may according to the general Council of Nice holden in the year 322. fall upon any day between the 21 st of March exclusively which then was the Aequinoctium and the 25. of April inclusively as the farthest day that the Sunday following the Vernal Full-Moon can happen upon Septuagesima may sometimes be upon the eighteenth of January and then could they in ancient time not have above four days Term and we at this day no Term at all because we begin it not till the 23 d. of January which may be six days after Septuagesima and within the time of Church-Vacation But what Hilary-Term hath now lost at the beginning of it it hath gained at the latter ending Of Trinity-Term I shall speak more by and by CHAP. XIII Easter-Term EAster-Term which now beginneth two days after Quindena Paschae began then as the Law of Edward the Confessour appointed it at Octabis This is verified by Glanvil who maketh one of his Writs returnable thus Rex c. Summone per bonos summonitores quatuor legales milites de vicineto de Stock quod sint ad Clausum Paschae coram me vel Justiciis meis apud Westmonasterium ad eligendum supra sacramentum suum duodecim legales milites But as it began then nine days
the others lost their priviledge and came to be Term-days I cannot find it sufficeth that Custome hath repealed them by confession of the Canonists Yet it seemeth to me there is matter for it in the Constitutions of our Church under Islepe Arch-bishop of Canterbury in the time of Edward III. For tho' many ancient Laws and the Decretals of Gregory IX had ordained Judicialem strepitum diebus conquiescere feriatis yet in a Synod then holden wherein all the holy-days are appointed and particularly recited no restraint of Judicature or Forensis strepitus is imposed but a cessation only ab universis servilibus operibus etiam Reipublicae utilibus Which tho' it be in the phrase that God himself useth touching many great Feasts viz. Omne servile opus non facietis in iis yet it is not in that wherein he instituteth the seventh day to be the Sabbath Non facies omne opus in eo without servile Thou shalt do no manner of work therein Now the Act of Judicature and of hearing and determining Controversies is not opus servile but honoratum plane Regium and so not within the prohibition of this our Canon which being the latter seemeth to qualifie all the former Yea the Canonists and Casuists themselves not only expound opus servile of corporal and mechanick labour but admit twenty six several cases where even in that very kind dispensation lieth against the Canons and by much more reason then with this in question It may be said that this Canon consequently giveth liberty to hold plea and Courts upon other Festivals in the Vacations I confess that so it seemeth but this Canon hath no power to alter the bounds and course of the Terms which before were settled by the Statutes of the Land so that in that point it wrought nothing But here ariseth another question how it chanceth that the Courts sit in Easter-Term upon the Rogation-days it being expresly forbidden by the Council of Medard and by the intention of divers other Constitutions It seemeth that it never was so used in England or at least not for many ages especially since Gregory IX insomuch that among the days wherein he prohibiteth Forensem strepitum clamourous pleading c. he nameth them not And tho' he did yet the Glossographers say that a Nation may by Custom erect a Feast that is not commanded by the Canons of the Church Et eodem modo posset ex consuetudine introduci quod aliqua quae sunt de praecepto non essent de praecepto sicut de tribus diebus Rogationum c. To be short I find no such priviledge for them in our Courts as that they should be exempt from suits tho' we admit them other Church rites and ceremonies We must now if we can shew why the Courts sitting upon so many Ferial and holy-days do forbear to sit upon some others which before I mention'd the Purification Ascension St. John Baptist All-Saints c. For in the Synod under Islepe before mention'd no prerogative is given to them above the rest that fall in the Terms as namely St. Mark and St. Philip and Jacob when they do fall in Easter-Term St. Peter in Trinity-Term St. Luke and SS Simon and Jude in Michaelmass-Term It may be said that although the Synod did only prohibit Opera servilia to be done on Festival-days as the offence most in use at that time yet did it not give licence to do any Act that was formerly prohibited by any Law or Canon And therefore if by colour thereof or any former use which is like enough the Courts did sit on lesser Festivals yet they never did it on the greater among which as majoris cautelae gratia those Opera servilia are there also prohibited to be done on Easter-day Pentecost and the Sunday it self Let us then see which are the greater Feasts and by what merit they obtain the priviledge that the Courts of Justice sit not on them As for Sunday we shall not need to speak of it being canonized by God himself As for Easter and Whitsunday they fall not in the Terms yet I find a Parliament held or at least begun on Whitsunday But touching Feasts in general it is to be understood that the Canonists and such as write De Divinis Officiis divide them into three sorts viz. Festa in totum duplicia simpliciter duplicia semiduplicia And they call them duplicia or double Feasts for that all or some parts of the service on those days were begun Voce Duplici that is by two singing-men whereas on other days all was done by one Our Cathedral Churches do yet observe it I mean not to stay upon it look the Rationale which Feasts were of every of these kinds The ordinary Apostles were of the last and therefore our Courts made bold with them But the Purification Ascension St. John Baptist with some others that fall not in the Term were of the first and because of this and some other prerogatives were also called Festa Majora Festa Principalia dies novem Lectionum ordinarily double Feasts and Grand days Mention is made of them in an Ordinance 8. Edw. III. That Writs were ordained to the Bishops to accurse all and every of the perturbers of the Church c. every Sunday and double Feast c. But we must needs shew why they were called Dies novem Lectionum for so our old Pica de Sarum styleth them and therein lyeth their greatest priviledge After the Arian Heresie against the Trinity was by the Fathers of that time most powerfully confuted and suppressed the Church in memory of that most blessed victory and for better establishing of the Orthodox Faith in that point did ordain that upon divers Festival-days in the year a particular Lesson touching the nature of the Trinity besides the other eight should be read in their service with rejoycing and thanksgiving to God for suppressing that horrible Heresie And for the greater solemnity some Bishop or the chiefest Clergy-man present did perform that duty Thus came these days to their styles aforesaid and to be honoured with extraordinary Musick Church-service Robes Apparel Feasting c. with a particular exemption from Law-Tryals amongst the Normans who therefore kept them the more respectively here in England Festa enim Trinitatis saith Belethus digniori cultu sunt celebrandi In France they have two sorts of Grand days both differing from ours First they call them Les Grand jours wherein an extraordinary Sessions is holden in any Circuit by virtue of the King's Commission directed to certain Judges of Parliament Secondly those in which the Peers of France hold once or twice a year their Courts of Haught Justice all other Courts being in the mean time silent See touching these Loyseau De Seigneures To come back to England and our own Grand days I see some difference in accounting of them
the Canon led him no further being only De Clerico de Transgressione Forestae aut Parci alicujus diffamato and made to no other intent than to aggravate the censure of the Ecclesiastical Law which before was not sharp enough against Offenders in that kind But Johannes de Athon as great a Canonist and somewhat elder whom Linwood often citeth and relyeth upon as one well understanding the Ecclesiastical Constitutions and the Laws of England hath apparently condemned it in the place by me recited Yet is it to be noted that neither Athon nor Linwood intended to Gloss upon all the Constitutions of the Church of England but Athon only upon those of Otho and Othobon and Linwood beginning where Athon left upon those of Stephen Arch-bishop of Canterbury and his Successors There are therefore a great number of Canons and Constitutions of the Church of England which neither of these Canonists have either meddled with or so much as touched as also there be many Statutes in force which are no where mentioned in any of the Abridgements But Jo. de Burgo another English Canonist and Chancellour of Cambridge who wrote in Richard the Second's time taketh notice of this Canon and that Hunting was thereby forbidden to our Clergy-men as appeareth in his Pupilla Oculi part 7. ca. 10. m To go on The Apology saith That the Arch-bishop of Canterbury had formerly more than twenty Parks and Chases to use at his pleasure and by Charter hath Free-warren in all his lands Habutsse lugubre it seemeth the Wisdom of the latter times the more pâ—ty dissented from the former yet did not the former approve that Bishops should use them at their pleasure but as the Laws and Canons of the Church permitted For as they had many Parks and Warrens so had they many Castles and Fortresses and might for their safety dwell in them but as they might not be Souldiers in the one so might they not be Huntsmen in the other In like sort the Abbat and Monks of St. Alban's as Mat. Paris reporteth the case in An. 1240. pa. 205. had Free-warren at St. Alban's c. by grant of the Kings and recovered damages against many that enter'd into the same and Hunted for the having of it was lawful as appeareth in the Clementines Tit. de Statu Monast § Porro a Venatoribus But it is there expresly forbidden that either they should Hunt in it themselves or be present when others do Hunt or that they should keep Canes venaticos aut infra monasteria seu domus quas inhabitant aut eorum clausuras pa. 207. Radulphus de Diceto in An. 1189. saith That the Bishops of that time affected to get into their hands Comitatus Vice-Comitatus vel Castellarias Counties Sheriffwicks and Constable-ships of Castles but shall we think they either did or might use them in their own Persons as with Banners display'd to lead forth the Souldiers of their County or with Sword and Target to defend the walls of their Castles or with a white wand to collect the King's Revenues c. It is true that Walter Bishop of Durham having bought the County of Northumberland of William the Conquerour would needs sit himself in the County-Court but he paid dearly for it for his Country-men furiously slew him even sitting there Matt. Paris in An. 1075. So Hugh Bishop of Coventry exercised the Sheriff's place but was excommunicate for it as contra dignitatem Episc and so acknowledged his error Dicet in An. 1190. But every one will say It was a common thing in old time for Bishops to be Judges in secular Courts I confess it and think it godly and lawful as it was used at the first For the Bishop and the Earl sat together in the County-Court the Bishop as Chancellor to deliver Dei rectum and populum doâ—ere the Earl as Secular Judge to deliver rectum seculi and populum coercere as is manifest by the Laws of King Edgar and others But when the Bishops began to supply both places and to be meer Judges of Secular Courts then were they prohibited by many Canons And therefore Roger Bishop of Salisbury being importuned by the King to be his Justice would by no means accept it till he had obtained Dispensation not only from his Metropolitan the Arch-bishop of Canterbury but from the Pope himself as Dicetus affirmeth in An. 1190. and no doubt but others of wisdom did the like In those things therefore that Bishops did against Canons we must take no example to follow them for tho' their publick actions be manifest yet their dispensations and matter of excuse is for the most part secret Neither doth every thing done against a Canon produce Irregularity if some criminous mischance follow not thereon For the Record that relateth that the Bishop of Rochester was at his death to render to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury his kennel of Hounds as a mortuary and that the Law takes notice of it for the King sede vacante under the name of Muta canum and Mulctura I must as they say in the Law demand Oyer of the Record we shall otherwise spend many words in vain But that Dogs should be given for a Mortuary is against all likelyhood For a Mortuary is as an offering given by him that dieth unto the Church in recompence of his Tithes forgotten and it is a plain Text Deuter. 28. 18. Non offeres mercedem prostibuli nec pretium canis in domo Domini But if there be no other word to signify a kennel of Hounds than Muta canum and Mulctura the exposition may be doubtful tho' it come somewhat near it Freder II. Emp. in the Prologue to his second Book de Venatione speaking of an Hawks-mue saith Domicula quae dicitur Muta following the Italian Vulgar which cometh à mutando because the Hawk doth there change her coat And for the affinity between Dogs and Hawks it may be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 transferred to a Dog-kennel and whether to the Hounds themselves or no it is not much material For no doubt they that may have Parks and Warrens may have Dogs and Hounds for Hunting but every body that may have Hounds may not use them themselves as appeareth by that which I said before out of the Clementines and by the opinion of Justice Brudnel with the rest of the Judges 12. Henr. VIII fol. 5. where it is said a man may keep Hounds notwithstanding the Statute of 13. Ric. II. but he must not Hunt as he may keep Apparel of Cloth of Gold notwithstanding the Statute of Apparel but he must not wear it Besides Religious persons in ancient times were driven to have Dog-kennels for the King's Hounds for Rad. Niger in An. ..... saith that King Henry II. Abbates hypodromos canum custodes fecit After all this his Lordship is defended with the perpetual use of Hunting by Bishops in their Parks and by the particular examples of some eminent men his Predecessors
139. Tylney 138. Tylney-smeeth ibid. V Vacation what 72. A particular Vacation appointed by the Longobards 84. Valvasini 58. Valvasor 16 17 58. Vassalagium what 34. Vassalli 3 9. Venatio clamosa quieta aut modesta 109 114. Villanus what it signifies in Latin 14. W De Waceio Radulphus Princeps militiae Normannorum 165. Wallington 14â— Walpole 138. Walsham 153. Walsingham 149. Walsoke 138. Walter Arch-deacon of Oxenford 100. Walter Bishop of Durham bought Northumberland 116. Sate himself in the County Court ibid. By whom kill'd ibid. Walter Marshal of England the fourth son of William the King's Marshal 166. When he dy'd ibid. Walton 138. Walworth Sir Will Lord Mayor of London 168. Wapentakes 50. Watton 161. Waxham 153. Wardship no profits arising from it in the Saxons time 25. The original of its name ibid. Wardship in Scotland 27. Warenna Guil. de 19â— Were or Weregild what 15. West-acre 141. West Saxon-Law 49. Wic what it signifies in the Saxon tongue 156. Wichingham 151. Wigenhall 138. William the Conquerour transfer'd his Country customs into Ireland 5. Makes Feuds and Tenures hereditary there ibid. Priviledges granted by him to the Cinque-Ports 26. Gave certain lands to Baldwin Abbot of St. Edmund s-bury 45. His Laws made by the consent of the Bishops and Barons 61. His Constitution concerning Festivals and Law days 8â— Made a Law that no man should be put to death for any crime 82. Laws of Scotland Reg. Maj. 131 Laws Saxon in the King's Library MS. 17. Lind. Cland. Despons 80. Littleton Justice 6. His Tenures 35. Longobard-laws 89 131. Loyseau de Seigneurs 13 92. Ludovici Pii Exauctoratio 185. Vita 185. Lyndwood 109. M Major Joh. 27. An ancient Manuscript of Saxon Laws in the King's Library 17. Marculphus 9 128 129. Matthew Paris 11 62 71 116 118 12â— 138 151 152 166 167. Merula 5. N Neapolitan and Sicilian Constitutions 10 80. Norman Customs 30 80. Novella of Constantine Porphyrogenneta 36. O Osbertus 99. Oswald Bishop of Worcester 4 P Pancirollus 148 154 Pasquier 13. Paulus Diaconus 84. Pausanias 3. Philo Judaeus 75. Placita Coronae 60. de Platea Joh. 64. Plinius 138. Polydorus Virgilius 62 71. Prosper 93. R Radevicus de Gest Frid. I. 82. Radulphus Niger 90 117. Ramsey-Abbey MS 29 53 128 139 140 146. Rastal 86. S Selden 26. Sigonius 127. Skeneus 28. Smith Sir Tho. 6 75. Soto 109 112. Spelman's Glossary 1 3 12 15 Codex legum 96. Spelmans Concilia Britannica 8 17 18 23. Sprott a Monk of Canterbury 45. Statius 84. Stow. 147 154 168 186 213. Suarez 109. Suecus Gravius 3. Synod of Eanham 78. T Tabienus 90 91. Tacitus 3 4 15 35 51 59 74 127 149. V Vegetius 147. Vincent 168 169. Virgilius 93. W Walsingham Hypodigma Neustriae 82 92 151 167. Waraeus 140. K. William I's Laws 82 84. William of Malmsbury 119 145. Y York Herald 168 169. FINIS 1 Pag. 188. 2 Pag. 208. 3 Pag. 212. Durham-house Birth 1 Praef. ad Gloss Edit 1687 by J. A. Education 2 Praef. ad Gloss 3 Letter against Impropriations printed among the Treatises publisht by Jer. Stephens 1647. 4tâ— Sent to Lincoln's Inn. Marriage 1 2 Jac. 1 Employments 2 Hacket Life of Bishop Williams Part 2. pag 93. Knighted Came to live in London 1 Pref. to the Gloss Study of our ancient Historians 1 Law-Terms Chap. 8 in MS. Oxon Glossary 1 Praef. ad Gloss 2 Brady Answ to Mr. Petit pag. 229. The second part of the Glossary 1 Mr. Petit's Jani Anglorum facies Nova p. 219. 265. And the answer to it by Dr. Brady pag. 229. 1 Brady pag. 229. Councils 1 Praef. ad Concil Vol. I. 〈…〉 Councils 1 〈…〉 Council The second Volume of the Councils 1 Life of Mr. Somner 2 Mr. Nicolsons English Library part 2. pag. 43. 1 〈…〉 Asâ—mol Oxon 〈…〉 1 Pag â—24 Larger Work of Tithes The History and Fate of Sacriledge MS 2 Ath. Oxon p. 230. Part 2. Codex Legum Veterum MS. De Sepultura Aspilogia Book of Abbreviations 〈…〉 1 Pref. to that Book 〈…〉 〈…〉 1 Dedicat. ad Tho. Adamsium ante Bedam Acquaintance Children 3 Praef. ad Concil T. 1. 2 Camd. Ep. 226. 〈◊〉 Spelman Clement Spelman 1 Wood At h Oxon. p. 511. part 2. 〈…〉 〈…〉 dâ—finitâ—â—n of a 〈◊〉 Th◠〈…〉 1 Cujac in praefat ad lib. 1. feud p. 10. seq 2 Cujac ad lib. 3. feud tit 1. p. 178. Instances of Feuds among the 〈◊〉 3 1 Chron. â—hap 23 2â— 4 Ibid. Cap. 23. 5 Cap. 27. 1 Num. 21. 14. 1 Kings 13. 17. 2 Lib. de Phocid p. 118. Among the Gauls 3 Bell. Gall. lib. 6. p. 118. Ambactâ— 4 Bell. Gall. p. 184. 5 Ibid. p. 124. 6 Genes 14. 14. 7 Germ. Mor. p. 129. 8 Cujac ad Constit Lotharii feud lib. 5. p. 284. 9 Bell. Gall. lib. 6. p. 120. 10 Germ. Mor. 11 Bell. Gall. p. 121. 12 In Epist ad Bon. Vulcan Vid. Bellagines in Glossario nostro 1 Cujac in prâ—â— aâ— lib. p. 1. 2 Cujac ad liâ— 1. feud p. 21. 3 Vid infra Chap. â—6 Tenuâ—eâ—â—â—r Liâ—e How Feuds became hereditary Feuds hereditary in England 1 Comment in consuet Fâ—â—d Cap. 1. 2 Rex Mediolan lib. 3. 3 Gunt p. 409. 1 Aâ— lib. 1. Feud Tit. 1. p. 21. The great growth of 〈◊〉 â—s to title 2 Cujac Feud lib. 3. p. 180. 3 Ibid. 4 Lib. 1. p. 7. 5 Feud lib. 1. p. 5. 6 〈◊〉 3. â— 5. 〈◊〉 437. No proper Feuds before the Conquest What Tenures were in use among the Saxons Tenures when first used Translation of Saxon Charters No Feodal words among the Saxons The charter of Beorredus examined 1 Hist Lib. 2. c. 5. Saxon Charters in the Saxon tonguâ— 2 Concil Brit. p. 378. 1 In praesatione illius Libri Feudum not in use in Beorredus's days 2 Chap. 20. 21. 3 Ad Marculâ— p. 470. 4 P. 550. 5 Prooem ad lib. Feud p. 7. Feuda and Beneficia 1 Lib. 1. Tit. 65. c. 2 Lib. 3. Tit. 21. c. 3 Norm Reform p. 4. 4 In Gul. Rege No Tenures in Capite among the Saxons Tenure in Capite of two sorts 1 Lib. Ramsey f. 42. d. §. 279. 2 Pap. 157. Distinction of persons among the Saxons Lands among the Saxons Bocland 1 Vid. Gloss in Verb. Foresta Folcland Inland 2 Ing. Sax. p. 864. Outland 3 Praef. ad libr. Fend p. 12. 4 Itinerar Cant. p. 495. Earl no title of dignity anciently 1 Asser de gest Alfredi p. 21. 2 Ibid. No Earldoms hereditary Earldoms in France 3 Loyseau â—e Seignier c. 5. p. 106. lin â—lt Ceorls 1 Cap. 70. Ceorls 2 P. 116. 3 De Mor. Germ. p. 132. 4 Cap. 65. 5 Fol. 55. C. 6 Cap. de Weregild 7 Ll. Aethelst ibid. Earls capable of Knight's-Fees Thane what Thâ— quality of Thanes 1 Hist Seâ—â— Lib. 6. 2 Itâ—n Cant. p. 502. 1 Cap. de dignitate hominum f. 163.