laid upon the Kingdom but by the Common-Council of the Kingdom unless it be to redeem the King's Person or to make his eldest Son a Knight or to marry his eldest Daughter once and for these a reasonable Aid shall be given That it be in like manner with respect to Tallages and Aids from the City of London and other Cities that have Priviledges therein And that the City of London may fully enjoy her ancient Liberties and free Customs as well by Water as by Land. That it shall be lawful for any Man to go out of the Kingdom and to return saving his Allegiance to the King unless it be in time of War for a short time for the common profit of the Realm If any borrow Money of a Jew be it more or less and die before the Debt be paid no Interest shall be paid for the same so long as the Heir is under age of whomsoever he hold And if the Debt become due to the King the King shall take no more than what is contain'd in the Charter If any Man die and owe Money to the Jews his Wife shall have her Dower and if he left Children Necessaries shall be provided them according to the quantity of the Freehold and the residue shall go to pay off the Debt saving the Services due to the Lords The like shall be observed in case of other Debts and when the Heir comes of age his Guardian shall restore him his Land as well stockt as he could reasonably afford out of the Profits of the Land coming in by the Plough and the Cart. If any Man hold of any Escheat as of the Honour of Wallingford and Nottingham Bonon and Lancaster or of other Escheats which are in the King's Hand and are Baronies and die his Heir shall pay no other Relief nor perform any other Service then he should have paid and perform'd to the Baron and that the King shall hold such Escheats as the Barons held them That Fines made for Dowers Marriages Inheritances and Amercements wrongfully and contrary to the Law of the Land be freely remitted or ordered by the Judgment of the Five and twenty Barons or of the major part of them together with the Archbishop and such as he shall call to him Provided that if one or more of the Five and twenty have themselves any like complaint that then he or they shall be removed and others put in their rooms by the residue of the Five and twenty That the Hostages and Deeds be restored which were deliver'd to the King for his Security That they that live out of the Forest be not obliged to come before the Justices of the Forest by common Summons unless they be Parties or Pledges And that the Evil Customs of the Forests and Foresters Warrens and Sheriffs and Ponds be redress'd by twelve Knights of each County who shall be chosen by the Good Men of the County That the King remove wholly from their Bayliff-wick the Kindred and whole Dependance of Gerard de Aties that hereafter they have no Bayliffwick to wit Engeland Andr ' Peter ' Gigo de Cances Gigo de Cygon Matthew de Martino and his Brethren and Gelfrid his Nephew and Phillip de Mark. And that the King put away the Foreign Soldiers Stipendaries Slingers and Troopers and their Servants who came with Horses and Arms to the Nusance of the Realm That the King make Justitiars Constables Sheriffs and Bayliffs of Men that know the Law of the Land and will cause it to be well observed That Barons who have founded Abbies for which they have Charters of Kings or ancient Tenure shall have the Custody of them when they are vacant If the King have disseiz'd the Welsh men or esloyn'd them from Lands or Liberties or of other things in England or in Wales let them presently be restored to them without Plea and if they have been disseiz'd or esloin'd from their English Tenements by the King's Father or his Brother without Judgment of their Peers the King shall without delay do them Justice as he does Justice to Englishmen of their English Tenements according to the Law of England and of Welsh Tenements according to the Law of Wales and of Tenements in the Marches according to the Law of the Marches In like manner the Welshman shall do to the King and his Subjects That the King restore Lewelin's Son and all the Welsh Hostages and the Deeds that were delivered to him for security of the Peace That the King do Right to the King of Scotland concerning restoring of Hostages and his Liberties and Right according to the Form of the Agreement with his Barons of England unless it ought to be otherwise by vertue of some Deeds which the King has by the Judgment of the Archbishop and others whom he shall think fit to call to him That all Forests that have been afforested by the King in his own time be disafforested and so of Banks which by the King himself have been put in defence All these Customs and Liberties which the King has granted to the Kingdom to hold and keep for his own part towards his Men all Clerks and Lay-men of the Kingdom shall observe and keep for their parts towards their Men. This is the Form of the security for keeping Peace and the Liberties betwixt the King and the Kingdom The Barons shall chuse Five and twenty Barons of the Realm whom they will themselves upon whom it shall be encumbent that with all their might they observe and keep and cause to be observ'd and kept the Peace and Liberties which the King has granted to them and confirm'd by his Charter to wit That if the King or his Justices or Bayliffs or any of his Ministers offend any Person contrary to any of the said Articles or transgress any Article of this Peace and Security And that such offence be made known to four of the said Five and Twenty Barons those four Barons shall go to the King or to his Justitiar if the King be out of the Realm declaring to him that such an abuse is committed and shall desire him to cause it speedily to be redressed And if the King or if he be out of the Realm his Justitiar do not redress it those four Barons shall within a reasonable time to be limited in the Charter refer the matter to the residue of the Five and twenty Barons And those Five and twenty with the Commonalty of all the Land shall distress the King all the ways they can to wit by seizing his Castles his Lands and Possessions and by what other means they can till it be redrest according to their good likeing saving the Person of our Lord the King and of the Queen and of their Children And when it is redrest they shall be subject to the King as before And whoever will may swear to put these things in Execution viz. To obey the Commands of the said Five and twenty Barons and to distress the King
Truth We need only to lay open the nature and antient Power of the States General with the manner of their Behaviour towards those Kings who abused the Power committed to them to make it evident that the French Monarchy is limited in its Constitution Under the first and second Race of the Kings of France there was no mention of any Assembly of the States General but only of the Franks that is to say the Nobles and Prelats who were used to meet together on the first of May in the open Field where they deliberated with the King concerning matters of Peace and War and took Resolutions of what was to be done all the Year after After the breaking up of this Assembly the Court of the Royal Palace otherwise called the Court of France composed of the Prelats and Great Barons that is to say the immediate Vassals of the Crown met together five or six times a Year to take care of the Execution of what had been resolv'd upon in the General Assembly to deliberate about publick Affairs that offer'd themselves and to determine as Judges the most important matters of private Persons Under the declination of the 2d Race the Governours of Cities and Provinces having made themselves Hereditary Lords of the places of their respective Governments under the Title of Counties and Dutchies cut themselves large Portions out of the Soveraign's Lands by which means the Court of France was no more frequented by the Lords except only when they were obliged to do Hommage and take the Oath of Fidelity or when an Enemy invaded France for then they presented themselves before the King to advise about the present necessity This Disorder continued until the Reign of Philip Augustus who having conquer'd Normandy and the Counties of Tourain Anjou Maine from John without Land King of England and the Country of Vermandois from the Earl of Flanders restored in some manner the Royal Authority and forced the Barons to frequent his Court and to be present at the Assemblies he called for the Affairs and Necessities of State. Nevertheless those Assemblies consisted only of the Prelats and Barons and this till the Reign of King John some Authors say of St. Lewis who being taken at the Battle of Poictiers and carried to England they were forc'd to raise a great Sum of Money for his Ransom and to this End they appli'd themselves to the Merchants and other Inhabitants of Cities who were then the richest Men of the Kingdom who agreed to pay the King's Ransom upon condition that they might be received into the Charges and Offices as well of Peace as of War and be allowed to have a Place and deliberative Voice in the States-General which was accordingly granted to them The Power and Prerogative of the States-General was such that the Kings of France could not make any new Levies of Mony without them Which continued so till the Reign of Charles VII as is acknowledged by Philip de Commines Lib. 6 c. 7. Neither could they make any new Ordinances nor repeal or suppress the old without the consent of the said States as is owned by Davila lib. 2 de li Guerri Civili Under the First and second Race of the French Kings the Ordinances were likewise made in the Assembly of the Prelats and Barons which constituted the Soveraign Court of France 't was there the Treaties of Peace were made between the Kings of France and Foreign Princes and Nations the Portions of the Children of France were there regulated there they treated of their Marriages and generally of all that concern'd the Affairs of State of the King's Houshold and the Children of France The Ordinances that were made in the said Assemblies in the Name of the Kings of France were conceived in these Terms Nos de consilio consensu Procerum nostrorum statuimus c. We with the Advice and Consent of our Lords do ordain And from hence is derived the Custome observed at this Day of verifying the Royal Edicts in the Parliament of Paris which in some sort represents the Assembly of the Prelats and Barons who composed as we have said the Soveraign Court of France In the Treasury of the French Kings at Chartres are found several Treaties between King Philip Augustus and Richard and John without Land Kings of England at the bottom of which are the Seals of the Prelats and Barons by whose Consent and Approbation the said Treaties had been made And Pope Innocent VI having sent to entreat St. Lewis that he would be pleas'd to permit him to retire into France to secure himself from the attempts of Frederick II. the said King answered the Popes Nuncio that he would communicate the Matter to his Parliament without whose Consent the Kings of France could do nothing of Importance This is related by Matthew Paris in the Life of Henry the III. King of England ad Annum 1244. We find also the manner how the States determined all Affairs respecting the Crown and Succession as for Example the Process which was between Philip de Valois and King Edward In this Assembly of the States saith the Chancellor de l' Hospital was Tried and Debated the most Noble Cause that ever was viz. To whom the Crown of France did belong after the Death of Charles the Fair to Philip of Valois his Cousin or to Edward King of England King Philip not presiding in that Assembly because he was not yet King and besides was a Party It appears clearly from the Power of the States General That the Power of the King of France is bounded by Law indeed this is a Truth whereof we cannot make the least doubt forasmuch as we find it acknowledged by Lewis XI the most unbridled Monarch that ever was See what he writes in the Rosary of War composed by him a little before his Death for the use of Charles VIII his Son. When Kings or Princes saith he have no respect to the Law they take from the People what they ought to leave them possest of and do not give them what they ought to have and in so doing they make their People Slaves and thereby lose the name of a King. For no body can be called a King but he that rules and has Dominion over Free-men This thing was so notorious even to Strangers themselves that Machiavel maintained that the Stability of the Monarchy of France was owing to this because the Kings there were obliged to a great number of Laws which proved the Security and Safe-guard of all their Subjects Lib. 1 di Discorsi c. 16. Messire Claudius de Seissel in his Treatise of the French Monarchy part 2. chap. 12. dedicated to Francis I. maintains upon this account That the Monarchy of France does partake of Aristocrasy which makes it both more perfect and durable Yea he asserts that it was also in part Democratical and expresly maintains that an absolute Monarchy is no other than true Tyranny when it is made use of
paying Relief or making fine The Guardian of an Heirs Land shall take the reasonable Issues Customs and Services without destruction or waste of his Men or Goods And if such Guardian make destruction and waste he shall lose the Wardship and the Guardian shall keep in repair the Houses Parks Ponds Pools Mills and other Appurtenances to the Estate out of the Profits of the Land. And shall take care that the Heirs be married without disparagement and by the Advice of their near Kindred That a Widow shall give nothing for her Dower or Marriage after the death of her Husband but shall be suffered to dwell in her Husband's House Ninety days after his death within which time her Dower shall be assigned her and she shall immediately have her Marriage and her Inheritance The King nor his Bayliff shall not seize any Land for debt if the Debtors Goods be sufficient nor shall the Debtors Sureties be distrain'd upon when the Debtor himself is able to pay the Debt But if the Debtor fail of payment the Sureties if they will may have the Debtors Lands till the Debt be fully satisfied unless the Principal Debtor can shew that he is quit against his Sureties The King shall not allow any Baron to take Aide of his free Tenants but for the Redemption of his Person for the making his Eldest Son a Knight and towards the Marriage of his Eldest Daughter once and hereunto he shall have but a Reasonable Aid That none shall do more Service for a Knights Fee than is due for the same That Common Pleas shall not follow the King's Court but shall be holden in some certain Place And that Recognitions be taken in their proper Counties and after this manner viz. That the King shall send two Justices four times a year who together with four Knights of the same Shire chosen by the Shire shall take Assizes of Novel disseisin Mordancester and Darrein presentment nor shall any be summoned hereunto but the Jurors and the two Parties That a Freeman shall be amerced for a small fault after the manner of the fault and for a great fault according to the Greatness of the fault saving his Contenement A Villain also shall be amerced saving his Wainage and in like manner a Merchant saving his Merchandise by the Oath of good Men of the Vicinage That a Clerk shall be amerced according to his Lay-see in manner aforesaid and not according to his Ecclesiastical Benefice That no Town be amerced for not making Bridges nor Banks but where they have been of old time and of Right ought to be That the measure of Wine of Corn and the breadth of Cloth and the like be rectified and so of Weights That Assizes of Novel Disseizin and Mordancester be abbreviated and so of other Assizes That no Sheriff shall entermeddle with Pleas of the Crown without the Coroners and that Counties and Hundreds shall be at the ancient Farms without any Encrease except the King 's own Demesn Mannors If any Tenant of the King die the Sheriff or other the Kings Bayliff may seize and enroll his Goods and Chattels by the view of lawful Men but yet so as that nothing thereof be taken away till it be fully known whether he owe any clear debt to the King and then the Kings Debt shall be paid and the Residue shall remain to the Executors to perform the Testament of the Dead And if nothing be owing to the King all the Goods shall go to the use of the dead If any Free-man dye Intestate his Goods shall be distributed by his nearest Kindred and Friends and by the view of the Church Widows shall not be distrain'd to marry if they are minded to live unmarried provided they find Sureties that they will not marry without the King's Assent if they hold of the King or without the Consent of their Lords of whom they hold No Constable or other Bayliff shall take any Man's Corn or other Chattels but he shall forthwith pay for the same unless he may have respit by consent of the Seller That no Constable shall distrain any Knight to give Money for the keeping of his Castle if he himself will do it in his own proper Person or by another sufficient man if he may not do it himself for a reasonable Cause And if the King lead him in his Army he shall be discharged of Castleward for the time No Sheriff or Bayliff of the King nor any other person shall take the Horses or Carts of any Free-man to make carriage without his leave The King nor his Bayliffs shall not take any Man's Wood for Castles or other Occasions but by License of him whose the Wood is That the King do not hold the Lands of them that be convicted of Felony longer then a year and a day after which they shall be delivered to the Lord of the Fee. That all Wears from henceforth be utterly put down in Thames and Medway and throughout all England That the Writ called Precipe be not from henceforth granted to any person of any Freehold whereby a Freeman may lose his Court. If any be disseiz'd or delay'd by the King without Judgment of Lands Liberties or other his Right he shall forthwith have restitution and if any Dispute arise upon it it shall be determin'd by the Judgment of the Five and twenty Barons And such as have been disseiz'd by the King's Father or his Brother shall have Right immediately by the Judgment of their Peers in the King's Court. And if the King must have the Term of others that had taken upon them the Cross for the Holy Land the Archbishop and Bishops shall give Judgment therein at a certain day to be prefixt without Appeal That nothing be given for a Writ of Inquisition of Life or Member but that it be freely granted without price and be not denyed If any hold of the King by Fee-farm by Socage or Burgage and of any other by Knight's Service the King shall not have the Custody of the Heir nor of his Lands that are holden of the Fee of another by reason of such Burgage Socage or Fee-farm Nor ought the King to have the Custody of such Burgage Socage or Fee-farm and no Freeman shall lose his Degree of Knighthood by reason of petty Serjeanties as when a Man holds Lands rendring therefore a Knife an Arrow or the like No Bayliff shall put any man to his Law upon his own bare saying without faithful Witnesses That the Body of a Free-man be not taken nor imprisoned nor that he be disseiz'd nor Out-law'd nor Exil'd nor any way destroyed Nor that the King pass upon him or imprison him by force but only by the Judgment of his Peers or by the Law of the Land. That Right be not sold nor delay'd nor denyed That Merchants have liberty to go and come safely to buy and sell without any manner of Evil Tolls by the Old and Lawful Customs That no Escuage or Aid be
to none out of any Tenement whereby a Free-man may lose his Court. One Measure of Wine shall be used throughout our Kingdom and one Measure of Ale and one Measure of Corn to wit the London Quart. And there shall be one breadth of dyed Cloth Russets and Haubergets to wit two Ells within the Lists And concerning Weights it shall be in like manner as of Measures Nothing shall be given or taken henceforth for a Writ of Enquisition of Life or Member but it shall be granted freely and shall not be denyed If any hold of us by Fee-farm or by Socage and hold likewise Land of others by Knight-Service we will not have the Custody of the Heir nor of the Land which is of the Fee of another by reason of such Fee-farm Socage or Burgage unless such Fee-farm owe Knight-Service We will not have the Wardship of the Heir nor of the Land of any Person which he holds of another by Knight-Service by reason of any Petit Serjeanty by which he holds of us as by the Service of giving us Arrows Knives or such like No Bayliff for the time to come shall put any Man to his Law upon his bare word without good Witnesses produced No free man shall be taken nor imprisoned nor disseised nor outlawed nor exil'd nor destroy'd in any manner nor we will not pass upon him nor condemn him but by the Lawful Judgment of his Peers or by the Law of the Land. We will sell to none we will deny nor delay to none Right and Justice All Merchants may with safety and security go out of England and come into England and stay and pass through England by Land and Water to buy and sell without any Evil Tolls paying the Ancient and Rightful Duties except in time of War and then they that are of the Country with whom we are at War and are found here at the begining of the War shall be attach't but without injury to their Bodies or Goods till it be known to us or to our Chief-Justice how our Merchants are entreated which are found in our Enemies Country and if ours be safe there they shall be safe in our Land. It shall be Lawful for all men in time to come to go out of our Kingdom and to return safely and securely by Land and by Water saving their Faith due to us except it be in time of War for some short time for the profit of the Realm But out of this Article are excepted Persons in Prison Persons out-law'd according to the Law of the Land and Persons of the Country with whom we are at War concerning Merchants what is abovesaid shall hold as to them If any hold of any Escheat as of the Honour of Wallingford Nottingham Boloin Lancaster or of other Escheats which are in our hand and are Baronies and dye his Heirs shall owe us no other relief nor do us any other Service then was due to the Baron of such Barony when it was in his hand and we will hold the same in like manner as the Baron held it Men that dwell out of the Forest shall not appear before our Justices of the Forest by common Summons unless they be in suit themselves or Bail for others who are attach't for the Forest We will not make Sheriffs Justices nor Bayliffs but of such as know the Law of the Land and will keep it All that have founded Abbies whereof they have Charters from Kings of England or ancient Tenure shall have the custody thereof whilst they are vacant as they ought to have All the Forests that have been Afforested in our time shall instantly be Disafforested in like manner be it of Rivers that in our time and by us have been put in defence All evil Customs of Forests and Warens and of Foresters and Warenners of Sheriffs and their Ministers of Rivers and of Guarding them shall forthwith be enquired of in every County by twelve Knights sworn of the same County who must be chosen by good Men of the same County And within forty days after they have made such Inquisition the said evil Customs shall be utterly abolished by those same Knights so as never to be revived provided they be first made known to us or to our Chief Justice if we be out of the Realm We will forthwith restore all the Hostages and all the Deeds which have been delivered to us by the English for surety of the Peace or of faithful Service We will wholly put out of Bayliffwicks the Kindred of Gerard de Aties so that from henceforth they shall not have a Bayliffwick in England and Engeland de Cygoigni Peron Guyon Andrew de Chanceas Gyon de Cygoigni Geffry de Martigni and his Brothers Philip Mark and his Brothers Geffray his Nephew and all their Train And presently after the Peace shall be reform'd we will put out of the Realm all Knights Foreigners Slingers Serjeants and Soldiers who came with Horse or Arms to the nusance of the Realm If any be disseiz'd or esloyn'd by us without Lawful Judgement of his Peers of Lands Chattels Franchises or of any Right we will forthwith restore the same and if any difference arise upon it it shall be determined by the Judgement of the Five and twenty Barons of whom mention is made hereafter in the security for the Peace As to all things whereof any have been disseiz'd or esloyn'd without Lawful Judgement of their Peers by King Henry our Father or by King Richard our Brother which we have in our hands or which any other has to whom we are bound to warrant the same we will have respit to the common Term of them that are crost for the Holy Land except such things for which Suits were commenced or Enquest taken by our Order before we took upon us the Cross And if we return from the Pilgrimage or perhaps forbear going we will do full Right therein The same Respit we will have and the same Right we will do in manner aforesaid as to the Disafforesting of Forests or letting them remain Forests which the Kings Henry our Father or Richard our Brother have Afforested and and as to Custodies of Lands which are of the Fee of other Persons which we have held till now by reason of other Men's Fees who held of us by Knight-Service and of Abbies that are founded in other Men's Fees in which the Lords of the Fees claim a Right And when we shall be returned from our Pilgrimage or if we forbear going we will immediately do full Right to all that shall complain None shall be taken nor imprisoned upon the Appeal of a Woman for the death of any other than her Husband All the Fines and all the Amercements that are imposed for our use wrongfully and contrary to the Law of the Land shall be Pardoned or else they shall be determined by the Judgment of the Five and twenty Barons of whom hereafter or by the Judgement of the greater number of them that
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kings or Emperors believing that the Name of Kings left them in some dependence upon the Empire of the East this obliged the Emperors of the West to take upon them the Title of Emperor to intimate their independency upon the Princes of the East Which Title the Emperors of the West having afterwards made use of as a pretence to raise themselves above the rest of the Princes of Europe the Western Kings did the same which the Emperors of the West had done before to assert their Independency For not only the Kings of England but some other Western Kings have taken upon them the Title of Emperors Alphonsus VI King of Spain took upon him this Title by a Concession from Pope Vrban II because he had suppressed the Mosorabick-Office Alphonsus VII and VIII assum'd the same Titles and Alphonsus VIII was Crowned in that quality by Raymond Arch-Bishop of Toledo in the Church of Lions with the consent of Pope Innocent II as is reported by Garibay lib. 8. hist cap. 4. We find that Peter de Clugny writes to this Alphonsus as Emperor of Spain Epist 8. And long time before these Princes it is certain that the Kings of the Goths since Richaredus had taken to themselves the Title of Flavians in imitation of the Roman Emperors as may be seen in the Councils of Toledo Yet Philip II having demanded this Title in 1564 of Pope Pius IV it was refused him The Kings of Lombardy had assum'd the Title of Flavians even since Autlaric according to the Account given us by Paul Diacon lib. 3. cap. 8 which they did to shew that they were Emperors in their own Lands and Territories and that they acknowledged no Soveraign or Superior And it seems that in Process of Time some Western Kings affected that Title for the same reason and were the rather perswaded so to do because some Canonists and Lawyers have impudently maintained That the Kings of Spain France and England were Subjects of the Emperors of the West Glossa in cap. Venerabil de Elect. in verbo transtulit in caput Venerabil qui filii sint legitimi Bartolus in caput hostes ff de captivis Alciat lib. 2 disjunct c. 22. Baldus in cap. 1 de Pace juramento fervando in usibus Feudorum Tho he contradict himself by asserting elsewhere That the King of France is not subject to the Emperor And thus much for the first Illusion some make use of to perswade us that the Kings of England possess the same Rights as the Emperors A second which seems to have some more Ground is this They say that as the Emperors that were after Vespasian had the Right to divide the Empire and to settle it by their Wills on their Heirs the Kings of England having done the like it appears thereby they were in Possession of the same Right the Emperors had to this purpose they alledge the last Will of William the Conqueror in favor of his Son William Rufus But nothing can be more vain than this Objection 1. We cannot deny but that the Election of Kings took Place during the Reign of the Saxons not that they did it with that Freeness as to prefer the Uncle before his Nephew that was under Age ' tho the Kings Son and the youngest Brother before the Eldest 2ly It is true that William the Conqueror did act in an extraordinary manner in disposing of his Kingdom in Favor of William Rufus in the same way as one disposeth of a Conquest and this in prejudice to Robert his Eldest Son as was also done by William Rufus But these two Princes dying without Heirs Henry who had Married the Daughter of King Alexander of Scotland who had the Rights of the Saxon Kings and who in Consideration of that Marriage renounced the Rights he might pretend to England as heir Presumptive of the Saxon Kings having obtain'd the Government by the Right of his Wife the Laws recovered their Strength and Things returned to their antient Channel as they were in the time of the Saxons So that it appears that it is Folly for any one to imagine that the Kings of England may alienate their Estates as a private Person can alienate his Inheritance This was evident in the case of King John who was opposed by the whole State for pretending to subject the Crown of England to Pope Innocent III. And indeed if we consider the Thing in it self and according to the unanimous Opinion of all Lawyers these last Wills can really be of no Force without the consent of the States to authorize them as we find that the same did intervene in both the fore-mentioned Cases The reason whereof is invincible forasmuch as all States do not consider their Kings as Proprietors of their Kingdoms but only as publick Ministers who are intrusted with a Jurisdiction and Administration for the Good of the publick And this is the Title by which even Conquerors themselves are at last obliged to hold their Authority They tell us in the 3d place that the Kings of England entitling themselves Kings by the Grace of God it appears that their Power being come from God cannot be limited by their Subjects over whom God has set them A wonderful way of arguing and never known till these our Times at least it is evident that he who has defended Nicholas de Lyra against Burgensis hath made a very different use of these words Dei Gratia by the Grace of God wherewith the Kings of the North prefac◠their Titles from what some now a days make of it For he maintains that it is the Character of a limited and temper'd Government see how he expresseth himself upon the 8. ch of the 1 Book of Kings Titulus Imperatoris modo regendi vitiato that is to say illimitato as he expresses himself before contradicit nam titulus ejus est N. Dei gratia Romanorum Rex semper Augustus hoc est Reipublicae non privatae accommodus Ita aliorum Regum Protestationes sunt sub Dei gratia quae vitiatum Principatum non admittit The very Title of the Emperor saith he is a Contradiction to an Arbitrary and Unlimited kind of Government for his Title is N. by the Grace of God King of the Romans always Augustus that is enlarger of the Empire which implies that his Government is accommodate to the Common good and not his Private Interest So likewise we find that the Protestations of other Kings are under Dei Gratia the Grace of God which doth not admit of Arbitrary Government There remain but two difficulties more the first is this Several Members of the Church of England having perswaded the People that a necessity was laid upon them to suffer all from the Hands of their Kings The Kings of England have accordingly usurped those Rights and were actually in possession of them when the same began to oppose themselves to King James this is that they call a right of Prescription They consider the
of Henry I. and partly were gathered out of the Old Laws of King Edward The Historian speaketh of these very Articles here Printed 5. 'T is observable That in these Articles there is no care taken for the Liberties of the Church The reason of which I conceive to be this The Church-men mostly then held with the King. And the Hand of the King was most heavy upon the Laity who framed these Articles without the Clergy 6. These Articles provide nothing concerning the Summons and holding of the Common Council of the Realm The reason whereof probably was this The Barons of that time had introduced a Practice of themselves to appoint the Time and Place of the Meeting of the Common Council of the Nation At the granting of these very Articles King John sent to the Barons Vt diem locum providerent congruum ad haec omnia prosequenda That they the Barons would appoint Time and Place for the concluding that matter In the time of Henry III. in whose Charter the Article de communi concilio habendo was omitted and in whose time the Barons begun again to War we find that the Lords came unto the King and said He must ordain and see for the Welfare of the Realm and then set the King a Day to meet at Oxenford and there to hold a Parliament So the English Chronicle However this grand Affair as also that of the Church were provided for in the Magna Charta of King John. Whereby it further appears That these Articles were but the Rudiments of that Charter after further enlarged upon further deliberation I COME now in the second place to say a few things concerning the Perfect and Compleat Magna Charta of King John here printed in French. 1. It was the Custom of old Times to make three several Copies of Publick Acts and Charters Of the Magna Charta we have one in Latin in Matthew Paris This in French or old Norman Language was kept in the Records of France and thence Published some years past by Luke Dachery in his Spicilegium That in English was sent into all Counties but as yet no Copy in this Language appeareth Thus also the Laws of Canute and the Provisions of Oxford to mention no more made in the time of Hen. III. were Publisht in three Languages 2. The very same Charter Publisht in Latin by Matthew Paris is also extant in the History of Rad. Niger almost word for word and also in two several Manuscripts in the Cottonian Library where also about twenty years past the very Original was to be seen 3. The Magna Charta of King John is not extant in any Record in the Tower or elsewhere as several affirm nor the Magna Charta of H. III. but only by Inspeximus in the time of Edw. I. A thing much to be wondered at Rudburne writeth of the Charters of Hen. I. Sublatae sunt omnes variis fallaciis exceptis tribus All but three were embezel'd 4. The Magna Charta of King John and that of Hen. III. are said to be the very same where as they do exceedingly differ as Mr. Selden in his Epinomis hath partly observed and may further appear to any that will compare them Matthew Paris pag. 323. The Tenor of these Charters is fully set down above where our History treateth of King John So as the Charters of King John and Hen. III. are not found to differ in any thing These words are not the words of Matthew Paris but of Roger VVendover whom Matthew Paris often transcribeth very hastily in whose History the Charter entred as King John's is exactly the same with that Charter of Henry the Third 5. As to that remarkable Article Et ad habendum commune concilium Regni And to the holding the Commune Council of the Realm c. I shall briefly say 1. That it hath been left out of all the Charters after King John's time but is found in several Copys very Authentick and particularly in the French Copy now here printed 2. That this Article doth not as some have written give the Original to our Parliaments for such Parliaments or communia concilia were held before this time King Richard the First after his return from the Holy VVar summon'd a Common Council or Parliament at London of the Clergy and Laity where he demanded Council about his making War upon the King of France Earl Roger answered for the whole Parliament The Earls Barons and Knights will aid you O King with their Swords the Archbishops Bishops Citizens Burgesses and Ecclesiastick Persons will aid you with Money Abbates Priors and such others will aid you with their Prayers So the English Chron. And to omit others an Instance of such a Parliament is found in the Annales of Burton pag. 263. compared with page 265. King John call'd to Northampton all the Earls and Barons of England it followeth Pandulfus spake at the same time to the Earls Barons and Knights O that you c. The Clergy indeed are not here mentioned but were certainly present because the occasion of that Council was to restore Peace to the Church and Kingdom as Matthew Paris or as the Annalist of Waverly wordeth it betwixt the King and the Archbishop 3. I conceive the chief end of adding this Article was to prevent the taking of Aids commonly called Talliage or Escuage by surprize or by the consent only of a few which King John had lately done For the summoning of the Commune concilium here is plainly limited to the Sessing of Aids and Escuage But the Mirror giveth another account of the meeting of Parliaments worthy of Consideration page 225. where the Author refers us to higher times There is yet one Article more in this Charter of King John which deserveth our regards the rather because it being lately alledged in the Pastoral Letter hath much scandalized some with its suprising Novelty The words are Barones cum communia totius terrae gravabunt nos The Barons with the Community of the Land shall aggrieve or distress us c. But why should this sound uncouth to any who have with Reflection perused the Histories of this or the Neighbouring Kingdoms wherein the same Practice is frequently found Andrew King of Hungary allowed the same Liberty to his People as may be seen at large in the Decrees of the Kings of Hungary in the end of Bonfinius Like Examples occur in the French Annales and in the Annales of Waverly in the time of Hen. the Third pag. 217. If any will yet suspect that Matthew Paris in this Point hath not writ fairly or that the Articles produced by the Bishop of Salisbury are not to be relied on and some such dissatisfied People there are then let them if they can be believed desirous of satisfaction repair to the Red Book of Exchequer where fol. 234. they may find the very same VVords and Liberty granted as before Which Record cannot well be suspected of being corrupted because it
shall be present or before Stephen Archbishop of Canterbury if he can be there and those that he shall call to him and if he cannot be present Matters shall proceed notwithstanding without him so always that if one or more of the said Five and twenty Barons be concern'd in any such Complaint they shall not give Judgement thereupon but others chosen and sworn shall be put in their room to act in their stead by the residue of the said Five and twenty Barons If we have disseiz'd or esloin'd any Welshmen of Land Franchises or of other things without lawful judgment of their Peers in England or in Wales they shall forthwith be restored unto them and if Suits arise thereupon right shall be done them in the Marches by the Judgment of their Peers of English Tenements according to the Law of England and of Tenements in Wales according to the Law of Wales and Tenements in the Marches according to the Law of the Marches And in like manner shall the Welsh do to us and our Subjects As for all such things whereof any Welshmen have been disseiz'd or esloyn'd without Lawful Judgment of their Peers by King Henry our Father or by King Richard our Brother which we have in our hands or which any others have to whom we are bound to warrant the same we will have respit till the common Term be expir'd of all that crost themselves for the Holy Land those things excepted whereupon Suits were Commenced or Enquests taken by our Order before we took upon us the Cross and when we shall return from our Pilgrimage or if peradventure we forbear going we will presently cause full Right to be done therein according to the Laws of Wales and before the said Parties We will forthwith restore the Son of Lewellyn and all the Hostages of Wales and the Deeds that have been delivered to us for security of the Peace We will deal with Alexander King of Scotland as to the restoring him his Suitors and his Hostages his Franchises and Rights as we do with our other Barons of England unless it ought to be otherwise by vertue of the Charters which we have of his Father William late King of Scotland and this to be by the Judgment of his Peers in our Court. All these Customs and Franchises aforesaid which we have granted to be kept in our Kingdom so far forth as we are concerned towards our Men all Persons of the Kingdom Clerks and Lay must observe for their Parts towards their Men. And whereas we have granted all these things for God's sake and for the amendment of our Government and for the better compremising the discord arisen betwixt us and our Barons We willing that the same be firmly held and established for ever do make and grant to our Barons the scurity underwritten to wit That the Barons shall chuse Five and twenty Barons of the Realm whom they List who shall to their utmost Power keep and hold and cause to be kept the Peace and the Liberties which we have Granted and Confirmed by this our present Charter insomuch that if we or our Justice or our Bayliff or any of our Ministers act contrary to the same in any thing against any Persons or offend against any Article of this Peace and Security and such our Miscarriage be shown to four Barons of the said Five and twenty those four Barons shall come to us or to our Justice if we be out of the Realm and show us our Miscarriage and require us to amend the same without delay and if we do not amend it or if we be out of the Realm our Justice do not amend it within Forty days after the same is shown to us or to our Justice if we be out of the Realm then the said Four Barons shall report the same to the residue of the said Five and twenty Barons and then those Five and twenty Barons with the Commonalty of all England may distress us by all the ways they can to wit by seizing on our Castles Lands and Possessions and by what other means they can till it be amended as they shall adjudge saving our own Person the Person of our Queen and the Persons of our children and when it is amended they shall be subject to us as before And whoever of the Realm will may swear that for the Performance of these things he will obey the Commands of the said Five and twenty Barons and that together with them he will distress us to his Power And we give Publick and free leave to swear to all that will swear and will never hinder any one And for all Persons of the Realm that of their own accord will swear to the said Five and twenty Barons to distress us we will issue our Precept Commanding them to swear as aforesaid And if any of the said Five and twenty Barons die or go out of the Realm or be any way hindred from acting as aforesaid the residue of the said Five and twenty Barons shall chuse another in his room according to their discretion who shall swear as the others do And as to all things which the said Five and twenty Barons are to do if peradventure they be not all present or cannot agree or in case any of those that are Summon'd cannot or will not come whatever shall be determined by the greater number of them that are present shall be good and valid as if all had been present And the said five and twenty Barons shall swear that they will faithfully observe all the matters aforesaid and cause them to be observed to their power And we will not obtain of any one for our selves or for any other any thing whereby any of these Concessions or of these Liberties may be revoked or annihilated and if any such thing be obtained it shall be null and void nor shall ever be made use of by our selves or any other And all ill will disdain and rancour which has been betwixt Us and our Subjects of the Clergy and Laity since the said discord began we do fully release and pardon to them all And moreover all Trespasses that have been committed by occasion of the said discord since Easter in the sixteenth year of our Reign to the restoring of the Peace we have fully released to all Clerks and Lay-men and so far as in us lies we have fully pardoned them And further we have caused Letters Patents to be made to them in testimony hereof witnessed by Stephen Archbishop of Canterbury Henry Archbishop of Dublin and by the aforesaid Bishops and by Mr. Pandulphus upon this Security and these Concessions Whereby we will and strictly Command that the Church of England be free and enjoy all the said Liberties and Rights and Grants well and in Peace freely and quietly fully and entirely to them and their Heirs in all things in all places and for ever as aforesaid And we and our Barons have sworn that all things above written shall be kept on our parts in good Faith without ill design The Witnesses are the Persons above-named and many others This Charter was given at the Meadow called Running-Mead betwixt Windsor and Stanes the 15th day of June in the Seventeenth Year of our Reign JOHN by the Grace of God King of England to the Sheriff of Hampshire and to the Twelve that are chosen in that County to enquire of and put away the evil customs of Sheriffs and of their Ministers of Forests and Foresters of Warrens and Warrenners of Rivers and of guarding them Greeting We command you that without delay you seize into our Hand the Lands and Tenements and the Goods of all those of the County of Southampton that will not swear to the said Five and twenty Barons according to the form exprest in our Charter of Liberties or to such as they shall have thereunto appointed and if they will not swear presently at the end of Fifteen days after their Lands and Tenements and Chattels are seized into our Hands that ye sell all their Goods and keep safely the Money that ye shall receive for the same to be employed for the Relief of the Holy Land of Jerusalem and that yeâ— keep their Lands and Tenements in our Hands till they have sworn or that Stephen Archbishop of Canterbury and the Barons of our Kingdom have given Judgment thereupon In witness whereof we direct unto you these our Letters Patents Witness our Self At Odibaam the Seven and twentieth Day of June in the Seventeenth Year of our Reign FINIS Books lately Printed for Richard Chiswell THE Case of Allegiance in our present Circumstances considered in a Letter from a Minister in the City to a Minister in the Country 4o. A Breviate of the State of Scotland in its Government Supreme Courts Officers of State Inferiour Officers Offices and Inferiour Courts Districts Jurisdictions Burroughs Royal and Free Corporations Fol. Some Considerations touching Succession and Allegiance 4o. Reflections upon the late Great Revolution Written by a Lay-hand in the Country for the satisfaction of some Neighbours The History of the Desertion or an Account of all the Publick Affairs in England from the beginning of September 1688. to the Twelfth of February following With an Answer to a Piece called The Desertion discussed in a Letter to a Country Gentleman By a Person of Quality K. William and K. Lewis wherein is set forth the inevitable necessity these Nations lie under of submitting wholly to one or other of these Kings And that the matter in Controversie is not now between K. William and K. James but between K. William and K. Lewis of France for the Government of these Nations An Examination of the Scruples of those who refuse to take the Oath of Allegiance by a Divine of the Church of England A Dialogue betwixt two Friends a Jacobite and a Williamite occasioned by the late Revolution of Affairs and the Oath of Allegiance The Case of Oaths stated 4o. A Letter from a French Lawyer to an English Gentleman upon the Present Revolution 4o. The Advantages of the Present Settlement and the great danger of a Relapse The Interest of England in the Preservation of Ireland