to my self that our seri Nepotes some others hereafter walking recto tramite in the like search and path of truth as I have done might add more assistance thereunto and may be permitted to say as St. Paul in another case did of himself that if I have had in so long an age and perambulation of time any acquaintance or conversation at all with my self mine own heart and Actions which many that have known me so long in my various careful and sorrowful passages of life occasioned by many the ingratitudes and ill dealings of some great families and others that should have dealt better with me in may testify my always constant and adventurous Loyalty to my Soveraigns without any the least fainting or haesitation will or may believe that I have neither lied or sought for preferment or any thing that could look otherwise than the sincerity of my heart and an unshaken and unbiassed love to Truth and Loyalty to my King and Countrey And can truly say and aver with many witnesses to confirm it that my long observations ever since the year 1628. until now compleating almost full 46 years of the said persecutions disloyalties misusages and sufferings of King Charles the Martyr in order and design to his Murder and the many Plots afterwards intended against his late Royal Majesty King Charles the second and his now Sacred Majesty and my Researches into the Records and Antiquities of this and other Nations concerning the Just Rights and Praerogatives of our Kings and Princes for the publick good and the avoiding the manifold miseries and damage that attend the Witchcraft and Madness of Rebellion and to the end that I might recal into the right way of truth those very many Noble learned grave and pious men that perfectly hated Rebellion and yet by fear or force going along with the Tide to secure themselves and Estates as well as they could and with the Vulgus and Rabble that had cut the reformed Church of England into no less than 160 Sects or new fashioned Religions and so far strayed from their Mother the reformed Church of England as they ran out of their Wits as much as their Religion so that they could not stop themselves in that their mad Career until they came to an opinion that it was Religion to be Rebellious and that Rebellion or Sedition for any thing called Religion was or at least ought to be warrantable by some or other word of God when by his new light they should be enabled to discover it hath given me like old Barzillai no quiet until I had done my duty unto God my King and my Countrey and posterity and brought what help I could unto our much injured and persecuted David in these now published Truths wherein I have as carefully as I could without the purchase of other mens Writings or Manuscripts at Auctions as too many our Lurching yet Learned enough Authors have done weighed all particulars in the Ballance of Truth Law and Right Reason and without any opiniatrete have left my self to the Judicious throughly impartial Readers and Tryers of those my carefully considered Labours wherein I shall be willing to rectify and submit to any truths when justly and rationally proved and be ashamed in the least to imitate those impudent Contrariants of truth and Right reason our Laws Annals and Records who although in their Books and Writings against our ever maintainable truths whilst they are in the acting and perpetrating the greatest Injuries imaginable unto them can offer to forsake their evil Impostures grounded Fancies and Opinions yet can after they have been publickly examined tryed and convicted of several gross Impostures and falsifications by the undeniable evidence of the Records themselves which they cited and referred themselves unto not like to those better men of Confessions and Retractations but being unwilling it seems either to perform their promises to their Readers or imitate the more honest examples of better men have thought it to be more correspondent unto their evil designs not to discourage their Disciples to persist in their egregious falshoods and unlearned foolish reasonless senseless and inconsequential arguments because they have wickedly made it their Interest and business to advocate the Devils cause by his and their evil Methods and Impostures And may find that they have by a Factious and Seditious Ignorance and over-bold adventure enticed many good men and Lawyers out of the paths of truth into an horrid Confusion and Rebellion for which they may suffer in the next World unless they can furnish their gross mistakes with some invisible or misinterpreted Record that every man may fancy and frame a new and better Government of the Kingdom and carve and make his own Religion and Idocize and propagate their own vain imaginations and selflreated ignorant Fancies instead of Laws and Records And should do better to stand and consider that the advice of the Prophet Jeremy that should not be thought to have spoken vain untrue or foolish Councel to stand upon the old ways and enquire after the ways of truth was not to do what you can to blind or sophisticate truth put her into disguises and transform her into as many shapes as may consort with the ugly designs of Faction and Rebellion and call to mind better than they do how diffusive and infectious the sin of Rebellion is that every of our evil Examples Doctrines or Perswasions tending thereunto such an evil especially as Sedition or Rebellion are by God chargeable also upon their accompt And that at the great Audit before an all knowing God there will be a multitude of consequential Evils besides their own particular sins which may be enough charged upon them when it will be too late to say one unto another as St. Paul did to his Innovators O ye foolish Galathians who hath bewitched you And amongst those many motives and obligations of Duty and Loyalty Oaths of Allegeance and Supremacy to my Soveraign and compassion unto those multitudes that have erred and gone astray to the end that I might give an accompt of the trust reposed in me particularly and solely by his late Majesty under his sign Manual bearing date the 30th day of September in the 28th year of his Raign with full power and Authority to search and take Copies of all or any might be found concerning his Royal Rights which was seconded by an order of the Right Honourable Arthur Earl of Anglesey then Lord Privy Seal Mr. Henry Coventry and Sir Joseph Williamson his then Secretaries of State and Sir George Carteret being all of his Majesties Privy Council who did by their order dated the 3d. of July 1677. direct and authorize Sir William Dugdale since Garter King at Arms Elias Asbmole Esquire and my self in pursuance of his Majesties Order dated the 23. of February 1675. authorizing the aforesaid Lords of his Councel to examine the State and Condition of the Records in the Tower of London and consider what is
Canterbury in the behalf of the State of his Oath made and taken by others for him upon the Peace made with Lewis for confirmation of the Liberties of the Kingdom for which the War was begun with his Father without which the whole State would again fall assunder and they would have him to know it betimes to avoid those miserable inconveniencies which might happen William Brewere a Councellor urging it to have been acted by constraint and therefore not to be performed Notwithstanding which it was at that time being the 7th year of his Reign promised by the King to be ratified and a Commission was granted by Writs unto Twelve Knights in every Shire to examine What were the Laws and Liberties which the Kingdom enjoyed under his Grandfather and return the same by a certain day which saith the learned and judicious Sir Henry Spelman were never returned or could not be found In the mean time the Earls of Albemarl Chester and divers of the Nobility assemble together at Leicester with intent to remove from the King Hubert de Burgh Chief-Justiciar and other Officers that hindred their motion but the Archbishop of Canterbury by his Spiritual Power and the rest of the Nobility being careful to preserve the Peace of the Kingdom stood to the King and would not suffer them to proceed therein so as they were constrained to come in and submit themselves And the King in Parliament resumed such alienations as had been made of the Lands appertaining to the Crown by any of his Ancestors to the end he might live of his own and not be chargable to the People The next year after being the 8th year of his Reign another Parliament was holden at Westminster where the King required the Fiftieth part of all the movables both of the Clergy and Laity but Mat. Paris more probably saith the Fifteenth for the recovering of those parts in France which had been held from the Crown being one and the same which is said in Magna Charta to have been granted as a grateful acknowledgment for the grant of their Liberties which though it concerned the Estates of most of the Nobility that had Lands therein would not be yielded unto but upon confirmation of their Liberties atque his in hunc diem prosecutis Archiepiscopus concilio tota Episcoporum Comitum Priorum habita deliberatione Regi dedere responsum quod Regis petitionibus gratunter ad quiescerent si illas diu petitas libertates concedere voluisset annuit itaque Rex cupiditate ductus quod petebant Magnates Chartisque protinus conscriptis Regis sigillo munitis in the next year after for the Charters themselves bear date in the 9th year of his Reign And the several Charters or Copies thereof were sent to the Sheriffs of every County and Twelve Knights were out of every County chosen to divide the Old Forests from the New and lay open all such as had been afforested since the first Coronation of King Henry II. Although at the same time or a little before or after it some of the Nobility who had formerly crowned Lewis of France King and had been the cause of King John's death for which they were banished the Realm endeavouring to return into England and to set up again the French King's Interest and domineer over the King and his faithful Councellors by circumventing Pope Honorius Hubert de Burgh Chief-Justice of England the Earl of Chester and seven other of the King's Councellors sent an Epistle to the Pope desiring him to assist the King and them and prevent those dangerous Plots and Designs And the King having sent also his Proctors to Rome upon the like occasion they returned him an account of a new Confederacy betwixt his discontented Barons and the French King to invade England and dispossess him of the Crown thereof adding thereunto quod Gallici praedicabant omnibus quod majores Angliae obsides offerebant de reddendo siâ—i terram â—um primo venire curaret ad illam adjicientes Si aâ—iquid in curia Romana contra voluntatem Regis Franciae attemptaretur incontmenter Rex transfretaret in Angliam Nor could any such authority accrue to them in or by those Charters called Magna Charta and Charta Forestae granted by King Henry III. his Son which were in very many things but the exmeplaria or patterns of that of King John in the like method and tenour containing very many Liberties and great Priviledges which were by King Henry III. as those Charters do declare of his own free accord granted and confirmed in the 9th year of his Reign to his Subjects and People of England Liberis hominibus Free-men or Free-holders for otherwise it would have comprehended those multitudes of Villains Bondmen and Bond-women which the Nation did then and long after employ and make use of and those very many men accounted by the Laws of England to be as dead men viz. Monks Fryers Priors and Abbots to be holden to Them and their Heirs of Him and his Heirs for ever But in those Charters or his confirmation of them in the 21st and 28th year of his Reign could not procure to be inserted or recorded those clauses which they had by their terrours gained from his Father in these words viz. Nullum scutagium vel auxilium ponam in Regno nostro nisi per commune consilium Regni nostri ad corpis nostrum redimendum ad primogenitum filium nostrum militem faciendum ad primogenitam filiam nostram semel maritandam ad hoc non fiet nisi rationabile auxilium simili modo fiat de auxiliis de Civitate Londinensi quod omnes aliae Civitates Burgi Villae Barones de quinque portubus omnes portus habeant omnes libertates omnes liberas consuetudines suas Et ad habendum commune concilium Regni de auxiliis assidendis aliter quam in tribus casibus praedictis scutagiis assidendis submoneri faciemus Archiepiscopos Episcopos Abbates Comites majores Barones Regni singillatim per literas nostras Et praetereà faciemus submoneri in generali per Vicecomites Ballivos nostros omnes alios qui in capite tenent de nobis ad certum diem scilicet ad terminum quadraginta dierum ad minus ad certum locum in omnibus literis submonitionis illius causam submonitionis illius exponemus sic facta submonitione negotium procedat ad diem assignatum secundum consilium eorum qui praesentes fuerint quamvis non omnes submoniti Nos non concedimus de caetero alicui quod capiat auxilium de liberis hominibus suis nisi ad corpus suum redimendum ad faciendum primogenitum filium suum militem ad primogenitam filiam suam semel maritandam ad hoc non fiat nisi rationabile auxilium but were constrained to omit altogether and forgo those clauses and provisions which
being crowded into King John's Charter were never either granted or confirmed by King Henry III. Edward I. or any of our succeeding Kings nor as Sir Henry Spelman repeating the same omissions saith is therein that of paying the Debts of the Deceased probably of those that died leaving their Heirs in Ward to the Jews and others although Matthew Paris so much mistakes as to affirm that those Charters of King John and his Son Henry III. were in nullo dissimiles Which well-interpreted could signifie no more than that King John in his great necessities and troubles pressing upon his Tenants in capite the great Lords and others by taxing them proportionably according to their Knights Fees they endeavoured by those Charters all that they could to restrain him from any such Assesments which should go further then a reasonable aid unless in the cases there excepted and aim'd at no more then that a Common-Councel which was not then called a Parliament should be summon'd not annually of all Archbishops Bishops Abbots Earls and greater Barons and all the Tenants in capite being those that were most concerned therein nor as our Parliaments now but only as to their aids and services as Tenants in capite were upon forty days notice to appear at the same time and place given in general by the King's Sheriffs and Bailiffs sic factâ submonitione negotium procedat ad diem assignatam secundum consilium eorum qui prae sentes fuerint quamvis non omnes submoniti venerint and could not be intended of our now House of Commons in Parliament many years after first of all and never before introduced or constituted that praefiction of Forty days probably first creating that opinion which can never arrive unto any more then that every summons of such a Councel or Meeting was to be upon so many days notice or warning which Mr. Pryn upon an exact observation of succeeding Parliaments hath found to be otherwise much of the boisterousness haughty and long after unquiet minds of some of those unruly Barons being to be attributed to the over-strained promises and obligations of William the Conquerour before he was so to his Normans and other Nations that adventured with him upon an agreement and Ordinance made in Normandy before his putting to Sea which the King of France had in the mean time upon charges and great allowances made unto him undertaken to guard and long after by the command of King Edward III. then warring in France in the 20th year of his Reign was by Sir Barth Burghersh and others sent from thence in the presence of the Keeper or Guardian of England and the whole Estate declared in Parliament as a matter of new discovery and designs of the French happened in the traverse and success of those wars which probably might make the Posterity of some of them although the Ancestors of most of them had been abundantly recompenced by large shares of the Conquest Gifts and Honours granted by the Conquerour to a more than competent satiety extended to the then lower Ranks of his Servants Souldiers or Followers as that to de Ferrariis the Head afterwards and chief of a greater Estate and Family in England than they had in Normandy and might be the occasion of that over-lofty answer of John de Warrennis Earl of Surrey in his answer to some of the Justices in Eyre in the Reign of King Edward I. when demanded by what warrant he did hold some of his Lands and Liberties he drawing out a rusty Sword which he did either wear or had brought with him for that purpose said By that which he helped William the Conquerour to subdue England so greatly to mistake themselves as to think which the Lineage of the famous Strongbow Earl of Pembroke and some eminent Families of Wales in the after-Conquest of Ireland never adventured to do that the Ancestors of them and others that left their lesser Estates in Nòrmandy to gain a greater in England to be added thereunto had not come as Subjects to their Duke and Leige-Lord but Fellow-sharers and Partners with him which they durst not ever after claim in his life-time or the life of any of his Successors before in the greatest advantages they had of them or the many Storms and Tempests of State which befel them but might be well content as the words of the Ordinance it self do express That they and their Progenies should acknowledge a Sovereignty unto the Conquerour their Duke and King and yield an Obedience unto him and his far-fam'd Posterity as their first and continued Benefactors And those their Liberties and Priviledges freely granted by those Charters and not otherwise to be claimed were so welcome and greatly to be esteemed by the then Subjects of England as they returned him their gratitude and thankfulness for them in a contribution of the fifteenth part of all their Moveables with an Attestation and Testimony of the Wiser more Noble and Powerful part of the Kingdom viz. the Archbishop of Canterbury Eleven other Bishops Nineteen Abbots Hubert de Burgh Chief-Justice Ten Earls John Constable of Chester and Twenty-one Barons men of Might and great Estates amongst which there were of the contending and opposite Party Robert Fitz Walter who had been General of the Army raised and fighting against his Father the Earls of Warren Hereford Derby Warwick Chester and Albemarl the Barons of Vipont and Lisle William de Brewere and Gilbert de Clare Earl of Gloucester and Hertford who afterwards fought against that King and helped to take him Prisoner That those Charters were given and granted unto them and other his Subjects the Free-men of his Kingdom of his own free will and accord And as to that of being not condemned without Answer or Tryal which in the infancy of the World was by the Creator of all Mankind recommended to its imitation as the most excellent Rule and Pattern of Justice in the Tryal and Sentence of Adam and Eve in Paradise are not to be found enacted or granted in King Edward the Confessor's Laws or the Charters or Laws of King Henry I. the people of England having no or little reason much to value or relie upon the aforesaid Charters of King John gained indirectly by force about two years after his as aforesaid constrained Resignation of his Kingdom of England and Dominion of Ireland to hold of the Pope and Church of Rome by an yearly Tribute being not much above Thirty years before and not then gone out of memory SECT V. Of the continued unhappy Iealousies Troubles and Discords betwixt the discontented and ambitious Barons and King Henry III. after the granting of his Magna Charta and Charta de Forestâ ALmost two years after which the King in a Parliament at Oxford declaring himself to be of full age and free to dispose of the affairs of the Kingdom cancelled and annulled the Charter of the Forests as granted in his
bearing the Sword before him to the Church where they Crowned him and after a Frown of Fortune did stoutly by the help of the Lancastrian Party give Battle to King Edward the Fourth at Barnet-field where but for a Mistake of Oxford's and Warwick's Soldiers and their Banners and Badges fighting one against the other in a Mist instead of King Edward the Fourth's Men they had in all Probability prevailed against him And the Interest Alliance and Estate of that Earl of Oxford was so great notwithstanding shortly after in the Kingdom as although he had very much adventured suffered and done for King Henry the Seventh led the Vanguard for him at Bosworth field against King Richard the Third and eminently deserved of him as the Numbers and Equipage of his Servants Reteiners Dependants and Followers did so asfright that King and muster up his Fears and Jealousies as being sumptuously Feasted by him at Hedingham Castle in Essex where he beheld the vast Numbers goodly Array and Order of them he could not forbear at his Departure telling him That he thankt him for his good Cheer but could not endure to see his Laws broken in his Sight and would therefore cause his Attorney General to speak with him which was in such a manner as that magnificent and causelesly dreadful Gallantry did afterwards by Fine or Composition cost that Earl Fifteen-Thousand Marks Did notwithstanding their great Hospitalities Magnificent manner of Living founding of Abbies Monasteries and Priories many and large Donations of Lands to Religious Uses and building of strong and stately Castles and Palaces make no small addition to their former Grandeurs which thorough the Barons Wars and long lasting and bloody Controversies betwixt the two Royal Houses of York and Lancaster did in a great Veneration Love and Awe of the Common People their Tenants Reteiners and Dependants continue in those their grand Estates Powers and Authorities until the Raign of King Edward the Fourth when by the Fiction of common Recoveries and the Misapplied use of Fines and more then formerly Riches of many of the common People gathered out after the middle of the Raign of King Henry the Eighth by the spoil of the Abbey and religiously devoted Lands in which many of the Nobility by Guifts and Grants of King Henry the Eighth King Edward the Sixth and Queen Elizabeth in Fee or Fee-tail had very great shares brought those great Estates of our famous English Baronage to a lower condition than ever their great Ancestors could believe their Posterities should meet with and made the Common People that were wont to stand in the outward Courts of the Temple of Honour and glad but to look in thereat fondly imagine themselves to have arrived to a greater degree of Equality than they should claim or can tell how to deserve And might amongst very many of their barbarously neglecting Gratitudes remember that in the times in and after the Norman Conquest when Escuage was a principal way or manner of the Peoples Aides especially those that did hold in Capite or of Mesne Lords under them to their Soveraign for publick Affairs or Defence the Lords Spiritual and Temporal being then the only parts of the Parliament under their Soveraign the sole Grand Councel of the Kingdom under him did not only Assess in Parliament and cause to be leavied the Escuage but bear the greatest part of the Burden thereof themselves that which the common People did in after times in certain proportions of their Moveables and other Estates or in the Ninth Sheaf of Wheat and the Ninth Lamb being until the Dissolution of the Abbies and Monasteries in the latter end of the Raign of King Henry the Eighth when they were greatly enriched by it did not bear so great a part of the Burdens Aides or Taxes or much or comparable to that which lay upon the far greater Estates of the Nobility there having been in former Times very great and frequent Wars in France and Scotland no Escuage saith Sir Edward Coke hath been Assessed by Parliament since the 8th Year of the Raign of King Edward the Second Howsoever the Commons and Common People of England for all are not certainly comprehended under that Notion their Ancestors before them and their Posterities and Generations to come after them lying under so great and continued Obligations and bonds of an eternal Gratitude and Acknowledgement to the Baronage and Lords Spiritual and Temporal of England and Wales for such Liberties and Priviledges as have been granted unto them with those also which at their Requests and Pursuits have been Indulged or Permitted unto them by our and their Kings and Princes successively will never be able to find and produce any Earlier or other Original for the Commons of England to have any Knights Citizens or Burgesses admitted into our Kings and Princes great Councels in Parliament until the aforesaid imprisonment of King Henry the Third in the 48th and 49th Year of his Raign and the force which was put upon him by Symon Montfort Earl of Leicester and his Party of Rebels SECT XII That the asoresaid Writ of Summons made in that King's Name to Elect a certain Number of Knights Citizens and Burgesses and the Probos homines good and honest Men or Barons of the Cinque Ports to appear for or represent some part of the Commons of England in Parliament being enforced from King Henry the Third in the 48th and 49th Year of his Raign when he was a Prisoner to Symon de Montfort Earl of Leicester and under the Power of him and his Party of rebellious Barons was never before used in any Wittenagemots Mikel-gemots or great Councels of our Kings or Princes of England FOr saith the very learned and industrious Sir William Dugdale Knight Garter King of Armes unto whom that Observation by the dates of those Writs is only and before all other Men to be for the punctual particular express and undeniable Evidence thereof justly ascribed which were not entered in the Rolls as all or most of that sort have since been done but two of them three saith Mr. William Pryn instead of more in Schedules tacked or sowed thereunto For although Mr. Henry Elsing sometimes Clerk to the Honourable House of Commons in Parliament in his Book Entituled The ancient and present manner of holding Parliaments in England Printed in the Year 1663. but Written long before his Death when he would declare by what Warrants the Writs for the Election of the Commons assembled in Parliament and the Writ of Summons of the Lords in Parliament were procured saith That King Henry the Third in the 49th Year of his Raign when those Writs were made was a Prisoner to Symon de Montfort and could not but acknowledge that it did not appear unto him by the first Record of the Writs of Summons now extant by what Warrant the Lord Chancellor had in the 49th Year of the Raign of that King caused
those Writs of Summons to Parliaments to be made Howbeit most certain it is saith Sir William Dugdale That those Writs of Election made in the Name of King Henry the Third to send Knights and Burgesses to the Parliament were by a Force put upon his Great Seal of England as much as upon himself when they had him as a Prisoner of War in their Custody and kept him so as our Chronicles Historians and Annals have Recorded it for an Year and a quarter carrying him about with them to countenance their rebellious Actions for the Battle of Lewis wherein he was made a Prisoner was upon the 14th of May in the 48th and that of Evesham which released him the 4th day of August in the 49th Year of his Raign And there is no Testimony or Record to be found of any other the like Writ of Election made afterwards untill the 22d Year of King Edward the First although there were several Parliaments or Magna Concilia convocated and held in the mean time and if our Ancestors had not been so misled and abused by the Rebels in the Raign of King John and his Son King Henry the Third there are enough yet alive who can sadly remember how a more transcendantly wicked hypocritical Party have since adventured to make out and frame until they had Murthered him counterfeit Writs Commissions and Summons of Parliament in the Name of our Religious King CHARLES the Martyr and make as much as they could His Royal Authority to Fight against His Person And there is no Certainty or pregnant Evidence saith Mr. William Pryn who being a Lawyer and a long and ancient Member of the House of Commons in Parliament did so much adore the Power and Preheminence thereof as adventuring the Loss of his Estate Body and Soul with them therein could find no better a Foundation or Pedigree to bestow upon them than the Captivity and Imprisonment of a distressed unfortunate King but saith That there were not any Knights Citizens Burgesses or House of Commons in the Confessors or Conquerors Raigns or any of our Saxon or Danish Kings nor before the latter end of King Henry the Third's Raign for although Polydore Virgill and others do refer the Original of our Parliaments to the Council holden at Salisbury in the 16th Year of King Henry the First there is not one Syllable in any of our ancient Historians concerning Knights Citizens and Burgesses present in that Councel as saith the Learned Sir Henry Spelman in these words viz. Rex perindè qui totius regni Dominus est Supremus regnumque universum tà m in personis Baronum suorum quà m è subditorum Ligeancia ex jure Coronae suae subjectum habet Concilio assensu Baronum suorum Leges olim imposuit universo regno consentire inferior quisque visus est in persona Domini sui Capitalis prout bodiè per Procuratores Comitatûs vel Burgi quos in Parliamento Knights and Burgesses appellamus Habes morem veteram quem Mutâsse ferunt Henricum Primum Anno regni sui sextodecimo plebe ad concilium Sarisberiense tunc accitâ haec vulgaris opinio quam typis primus sparsit Polydorus Virgilius acceptam subsequentes Chronâ—graphi nos ad authores illius seculi prouocamus And refuting that Opinion by Neubrigensis who lived about that time and relates the purpose of that Great Councel in these words Facto concilio eidem Filiae suae susceptis vel suscipiendis ex eis nepotibus ab Episcopis Comitibus Barombus omnibus qui alicujus videbantur esse momenti and likewise by Florentius Wigorniensis Eadmerus and Huntington further saith Ludunt qui Parliamenta nostra in his quaerunt sine ut sodes dicam collegisse mecentenas reor conciliorum coitiones tenoresque ipsos plurimorum ab ingressu Gulielmi 1 mi ad excessum Henrici 3 i existentium nec in tanta multitudine de plebe uspiam reperisse aliquid ni in his delituer it Seniores sapientes populi which he conceives to be only Aldermanni Sapientes or Barones Magnates regni not the Commons And it hath been well observed by the learned Author of the Notae Adversaria in historiam Mathaei Parisiensis That in the ancient Synods before the subduing of England by William Duke of Normandy conficiebantur chartae donationum publicae de gravaminibus Reipublicae brevitèr inter Regem Magnates Episcopos Abbates consultabatur id enim tunc dierum erat Synodus quod nunc ferè Parliamentum nisi quod non rogabantur leges per plebiscita nec sanciebantur Canones per suffragia minoris Cleri And was as novel and new as it was unexpected no such Writ having ever before been framed or made use of to such or any the like purpose And Mr. Selden likewise saith That the Earls and Barons mentioned or directed by those compelled then Writs of Summons to come to that pretended Parliament were only the Earls of Leicester Gloucester Oxford Derby Norfolk Roger de Sancto Johannis Hugh le Despencer Justiciar ' Angliae Nicholas de Segrave John de Vescy Robert Basset G. de Lucy and Gilbert de Gaunt Of which the Earls of Leicester Gloucester Norfolk Oxford and Derby were notoriously known to have been in open Armes and Hostility against the King The whole Number of the Temporal Lords therein named not amounting unto more than Twenty-Three with a Blank left for the Names of other Earls and Barons which have not been yet inserted or filled up And all the other which were in that constrained Writ of Summons particularly and expresly named were no other than H. de le Spencer Justicar ' Angliae John Fitz-John Nicholas de Segrave John de Vescy Rafe Basset de Drayton Henry de Hastings Geffery de Lucie Robert de Roos Adam de Novo Mercato Walter de Colvill and Robert Basset de Sapcott which together with the then Bishops of London and Worcester Symon de Montfort Earl of Leicester and Steward of England H. de Boun juvenis Peter de Monteforti S. de Monteforti juvenes Baldwin Wake William le Blond William Marescallus Rafe de Gray William Bardolff Richard de Tany or Tony and Robert de Veteri Ponte made up the Number of the opposite Party to that King in the aforesaid Reference to the King of France And Mr. Selden hath observed That the Preambles of the ancient Parliament-Writs for the Snmmoning of the Baronage sometimes so varied that some eminent occasions of the calling of the Parliament were inserted in the Writs to the Spiritual Barons that were not in those to the Temporal and often times no more than a general and short Narrative of our King's Occasion of having a Parliament with much variation in the Writs of that nature with many differences of slighter Moment expressed and sometimes in all a Clause Against coming attended with Armes and that until the middle of the
Raign of King Richard the Second when the Dukes Earls and Barons were Created by Letters Patents of our Kings the Names of the Barons to be Summoned in Parliament were Written from the King 's own Mouth at his Direction and Command and in that agreeth with Mr. Elsing who saith It was ad libitum Regis for surely none but the King can Summon a Parliament and that was the reason that Henry the Fourth having taken King Richard the Second his Leige and Lord Prisoner the 20th day of August in the 21st Year of his Raign did cause the Writ of Summons for the Parliament wherein he obtained the Crown to bear Date the 19th day of the same Month for the Warrant was Per ipsum Regem Concilium and himself to be Summoned by the Name of Henry Duke of Lancaster SECT XIII That the Majores Barones regni and Spiritual and Temporal Lords with their Assistants were until the 49th Year of the Raign of King Henry the Third and the constrained Writs issued out for the Election of Knights Citizens and Burgesses whilst he was a Prisoner in the Camp or Army of his Rebellious Subjects the only great Councel of our Kings FOr the Barons of England viz. the Lords Spiritual and Temporal with some other wise and selected Men which our Kings did anciently and upon Occasions call into that Assembly were the Great Council of the Kingdom and before and from the Conquest until a great part of the Raign of King Henry the Third in whose dayes saith Mr. Elsing it is thought the Writs for Election of Knights and Burgesses were framed made the Great Councel of the Kingdom and under the name of Barons not only the Earls but the Bishops also were comprehended for the Conqueror Summoned the Bishops to those great Councels as Barons and in the Writ of Summons made as aforesaid in the Captivity and Troubles of King Henry the Third we find the Bishops and Lords with some Abbots and Pryors to be the Councellors and the Commons only called to do perform and consent unto what should be ordained And Mr. Selden and Sir Henry Spelman have by divers Instances and warrantable Proofs declared unto us That the Bishops and Lords only were admitted into the Wittenagemots or great Councels which were wont in and after the Raigns of the Saxon Kings to be kept at the three great Festivals in the Year viz. Easter Whitsontide and Christmass when the Earls and Barons came to pay their Respects and Reverence to their Soveraign and give an Account of what was done or necessary to be known or done in their several Provinces and Charges and what was fit to be Consulted thereupon and were then accustomed to meet and Assist their Kings and Soveraigns with their Advice and Counsel Which was so constantly true as Antecessores Comitis Arundel solebant tenere manerium de Bylsington in com' Kanc. quod valet per Annum 30. l. per Serjeantiam essendi Pincernam Domini Regis in die Pentecostes Ela Comitissa Warwick tenuit manerium de Hoke Norton in com Oxon quod est de Baronia de Oyley de Domino Rege in capite per Serjeantiam scindendi coram domino Rege die Natalis Domini habere Cultellum domini Regis de quo scindit Roger de Britolio Farl of Heresord being in Armes and open Rebellion against King William the Conqueror taken Prisoner and Condemned to perpetual Imprisonment wherein though he frequently used many scornsul and contumelious words towards the King yet he was pleased at the Celebration of Faster in a solemn manner as then was usual to send to the said Earl Roger then in Prison his Royal Robes who so disdained the Favour that he forth with caused a great Fire to be made and the Mantle the inner Surcoate of Silk and the upper Garment lined with precious Furs to be Burnt which being made known to the King he became displeased and said Certainly he is a very proud Man who hath thus abused me but by the Brightness of God he shall never come out of Prison as long as I live which was fulfilled In Anno 1078 William Rufus tenuit curiam in natali domini apud London Rex Anglorum Willielmus cognomento Rufus gloriose curiam suam tenuit ad Natale apud Gloverniam ad Pascham apud Wintoniam apud Londonias ad Pentecosten Et hic Concessus Ordinum regni saith Sir John Spelman Sive totius regni Repraesentatio quod intelligere convenit ab Alfredo certis quidem vicibus ijs ordinariis non quasi ejusdem formae celebritatis esset cujus hodierna Comitia quae Parliamentum vulgò dicuntur sed ut quantum est in Anglia terrarum tunc aut unum omninò Regis erat aut Comitun ejus atque Baronum qui sub illis agros colerent eos Clientelari atque precario jure possederint ut qui toti ab nutu dominorum penderent ità quicquid ab isto tempore ab Rege Comitibus ejus atque Baronibus constitutum est toto regno sancitum erat velut ab ijs transactum quibus in caeteros suprema absoluta potestas esset adeoque reliquorum seu clientium mancipiorum jura includeret Episcopos quod attinet hi magnis hisce Concilijs nunquam non intersuerunt suisque suffragijs leges sanxerunt nam praetereà illud quod ob seculares fundos Barones vel ob ipsum sacerdotis honorem sacrosancti censebantur eâ infuper sapientiâ plerumque praestabant ut non tantùm suffi agia Procerum aequiparârint sed actis omnibus venerationem atque pondus addiderint ab hoc Regis instituto manavit uti videtur mos ille posteris Saxonibus non inusitatus ut concilia Episcoporum atque Magnatum tèr quotannis celebrarentur nempe ad Domini Natales Pascha atque Pentecosten ad consultandum de arduis regni negotijs neque id uno semper eodemque loco sed ubicunque res posceret licet ferè ubi Rex cum Aulicis ageret praesens And in our Parliaments as well Modern as Ancient had a deliberative Power as the most Learned Selden hath informed us in advising their Kings in Matters of State and giving their Assent in the making of Laws and a judicial subordinate Power to their Kings in giving of Judgment in Suits or Complaints brought before them in the House of Lords or that Magna Curia Universitas regni as Bracton stiles it and whither in his time Causes were for difficulty adjourned from the other Courts of the Kingdom unto which no Remedies could otherwise be given and saith Mr. Elsing All Judgments are given by the Lords as aforesaid and not by the Commons And that very ancient long experimented and well approved Custom appeareth not to have been discontinued or forgotten when in the Parliament holden in the first Year of the Raign of King Henry the
Fourth the Commons shewing to the King that Comme les Juggements du Parlement appurteignont seulement au Roy as Seigneurs nient as Commones si noun en case que sil plest au Roy de sa grace especile leur monstrer ses ditz Juggements pur ease d' eux que nul record soit fait en Parlement encontre les ditz Communes que sont ou serrent partyes as escunes Juggementz donez ou adonees ou apres en Parlement A quoi leur feust respondu per l' Ercevesque de Canterbire de commandement du Roy 〈…〉 ment mesmes les Commones sont Petitioners demandeurs que le Roy les Seigneurs de tout temps ont eves averont de droit les Juggementz en Parlement en manere come mesme les Comones ount Monstrez sauvez quen Statutz Affaires ou en Grauntez subsides ou tiel choses Affaires pur comon profit du Royalme le Roy voit avoir especialment leur Advys Assent que cel ordre de fait soit tenuz gardez en tout temps adveniz And the Earls and Temporal Barons were by vertue of their Tenures and Summons of Parliament since the beginning of the Raign of King Richard the Second said to be Conciliarij nati of the King and Kingdom and the Bishops to sit there then and long before by reason of their Baronies which no Member of the House of Commons is or can claim to be in our King 's great Councels or Parliament until the framing of that aforesaid novel Writ to Elect Knights Citizens and Burgesses in the time of the Imprisonment of King Henry the Third and after his Release was discontinued and no more made use of until the 22d Year of the Raign of King Edward the First his Son and the Heirs by ancient Customes of that Court under and by the Kings Authority do exercise in Causes and Complaints brought before them a judicial and decisive Power And in the preceding Times and Ages until that new Writ of Elections was contrived and imposed upon that distressed and much injured Prince Certissimum est saith that learned and judicious Antiquary Sir henry Spelman that the Nobility and Barons which did hold immediately of the King in Capite judicijs praefuêre Aulae Regiae did usually sit and determine Causes or Controversies in the King's Court or Palace as the Barons of the Coife in the Exchequer who were heretofore Earls and Barons do at this day judge and determine of Matters touching the King's Revenues And as the Lords of Mannors in their Courts Barons do admit none to be Judges in those their little Courts but their Tenants who are Free-holders and do hold of them and being stiled and said to be of the Homage do subserviently manage the Affairs of their Lords therein who did very anciently use to act therein Concilio prudentum hominum militum suorum by their Presentments Advice and Judgements and are therein not much differing from the Customs and Laws of the Longobards where their Emperor commanded that Nullus Miles nobiscum saith Sir Henry Spelman Liber homo sine certâ convictâ culpâ suum beneficium perdat nisi secundum consuetudinem Antecessorum nostrorum et judicium Parium suorum In which saith Sir Henry Spelman Th 〈…〉 is an Idea of our Magna Charta the Free-holders in the Hundred Courts being thither also called Conformable to the League made by King Alfred with Guthrun the Dane wherein Homicide sive de crimine alio quod quatuor marcas excederet postularetur per duodecim ex paribus reliquos autem subditos per 11 Pares unumque ex Baronibus Regis fore judicandos And to the Laws of our King Henry the First wherein it was ordained That Unusquisque per Pares judicandus est si quis in Curia sua vel in quibuslibet agendorum locis placitum tractandum habet convocet Pares vicinos suos si inter compares vicinos sint querelae conveniant ad divisas terrarum suarum qui prior queremoniam fecerit prior rectum habeat si alias ire oporteat in Curiam domini sui eant si unum dominum habeant Soca sit ejus illic eos amicitia congreget aut sequestret judicium And may seem to be derived from the Laws and Customs of the Germans where by the Court of Peers are understood Causarum feudalium Judices à Caefare constituti qui sine provocatione cognoscebant to be Judges appointed by the Emperor to hear and determine without appeal Matters concerning their Lands and Territories where the like usage and term of Peers in their Judicatures Great Councels or Diets is at this day used the Princes of the Empire being Paribus cu 〈…〉 ae and such are those of our House of Peers in Parliament being the highest Court of the Kingdom of England where none were admitted or did administer Justice Nisi qui proximi essent à Rege ipsique arctioris fidei homagij vinculo conjuncti but such as were near unto the King and held of him in Capite which kind of Tenures howsoever they were most unhappily Dissolved by a late Act of Parliament in His now Majesties Raign for converting Tenures in Capite into free and common Socage were by an Exception and Proviso in the said Act of Parliament as to the Rights and Priviledges of the Peers in Parliament specially saved and reserved unto them who were heretofore Capitanei regni as Sir Henry Spelman saith Captains of the Kingdom and Peers obliged and bound unto their Kings by Homage and Fealty in that highest and most honourable Court of the Kingdom wherein the Judicative Power of Parliament under their King their Head and chief Resides which high and honourable Assembly reverencing and taking Care for their Head and Soveraign the only under God Protector of themselves the Church and all their worldly Concernments and Liberties Was so much used in France as saith Conringius Proceres temporibus Francorum temporibus antiquissimis Concilio interfuisse plurimis quidem testimonijs in proclivi est and cites a Book written per Theganum Chorepiscopum Trevirensem de gestis Ludovici Imper ' Ca. 6. ubi de Carolo Magno Imperatore legitur Cùm intellexisset appropinquare sibi diem obitus sui vocavit filium Ludovicum ad se Episcopis Abbatibus Comitibus loco positis habuit grande colloquium cum ijs Aquisgravi eodem spectat procul dubiò Hinckmari who was a Bishop and Councellor of Charlesmaynes illud concilium Lodovico Baldo datum epistolam ut rempublicam administret ex Procerum aut Principum consensu nusquam Plebis mentione factâ unde epistolam illam claudens Ca. 10. Scribit de generalibus Ecclesiae Regni negotijs fine generali Procerum regni consensu concilio secretum dare concilium nefas etiam
of King Edward the Fourth with the allowance of Sir Edward Coke his justly adoring Commentator hath taught us That Tenures in Capite do draw and bring along with them as incidents thereunto Homage which is the most humble and honourable Service and Reverence that a Tenant can do unto his Lord when upon his Knees with his Sword ungirt and his Head uncovered holding his hands between the Hands of his Lord he sweareth and professeth to be his Man of Life and Limb and earthly Worship and to bear him Faith for the Lands and Tenements which he holdeth of him saving the Faith which he holdeth to his Soveraign Lord the King together with Fealty Service in War or instead thereof Escuage Socage Franck Almoigne Homage Auncestrel Grand Serjeanty Petit Serjeanty Tenures in Burgage and Villeinage and then the Lord so sitting Kisseth him And where the Service is not done by the Tenant in Capite or by Knight-Service in Person the Escuage Money or Fine that is to be paid in recompence thereof is to be Assessed by Parliament and if any Controversy do arise whether the Service were done personally or not it shall be tryed saith Littleton by the Certificate of the Marshal of the King in Writing And Tenant saith Sir Edward Coke is derived from the word Tenere and all the Lands in England in the hands of Subjects are holden of the King immediately or mediately for in the Law of England we have not properly any Alodium that is any Subjects Lands that are not Holden unless saith he you will take Allodium for a Tenant in Fee Simple as it is often taken in the Book of Dooms-Day and Tenants in Fee Simple are there called Alodii or Alodiales and he is called a Tenant because he holdeth his Lands of some Superior Lord by some Service and therefore the King in this Sence cannot be said to be a Tenant because he hath no Superior but God Almighty and Praedium domini Regis est directum Dominium cujus nullus est Author nisi Deus And Alodiarius Alode seu Alodium saith Sir Henry Spelman est Praedium liberum nulli Servituti obnoxium but were never so free as to be no Subjects or exempt from Obedience to our Kings in whose Land and Dominion they lived Ideoque Feudo oppositum quod hoc semper alicui subiacet servituti Feuda enim antiquò dicuntur Servitii Fidelitatis gratia proprietate feudi penes dantem remanente usu fructu tantummodo in accipientem transeunte ut ex C. de feud cogn ' collegit Barat ca ' 1. Quamobrem nec vendi olim poterant invito Domino nec ad haeredes Vassalli transiunt nisi de ipsis nominatim dictum esset sed laesa fidelitate adimerentur dicitur à Saxon ' Leod quasi populare dicitur Alodium ab à Privitiva Leed Gallicè Leud pro Vassallo quasi sine Vassallagio sine Onere quod Angli hodie Load appellant Alodium feudo opponitur in antiqua versione LL Canuti ca ' 73. Ubi Sax ' Bocland dicitur quod in Aluredi LL ca ' 36. tota Haereditas vocatur idem esse videtur quod hodiè Fee Simple Dicitur etiam Alodium terra libera quam quis à nemine tenet nec recognoscit licet sit in alieno Districtu Jurisdictione Ita quod solum est sub Domino districtus quoad Protectionem Jurisdictionem And believes the Aloarii mentioned in Dooms-Day Book do signify no more than our Sockmanni or Socage Tenants Cum Germanis Liberos Gallis Nobiles qui militiam ex arbitrio tractantes nullius domini Imperio evocati nulloque sendali gravamine Coerciti sui Juris homines non Feudales seil qui dominium tamen agnoscerent ut locus ille e Domesday citatus plane evincit qui fidelitatem apud nos Jurarent Censum quantulumcunque augebunt siâ—t etiam qui de nomine eos tenâ—isse asserunt ac si Hunnoniorum more adeo sole suum accepissent patrimonium And du Fresue Etymologizing the word Alodiarias saith It is Praedium etiam domino obnoxium possidet tenens Domesday quando moritur Alodiarius Rex inde habet Alleniationem terrae a releife excepta terra sanctae Trinitatis Gulielmus Gemeticensis Lib. 3. Ca. 8. Abbatique locum cum tota villa quam ab Alodiariis auro redemit Thomas Walsinghamus p. 419. Et in definitione Alodialis which he saith is Idem quod Tenens mentioneth Chartam Gulielmi ducis Normanniae p. 1042. In Monasticon Anglicanum Tom. 2. p. 959. Dedi etiam Ecclesiam Radulphi villae umon Allodialem in ipsa villa dedi quoque unum Allodialem in Amundevilla quietam ab omni Consuetudine Bignenius dicit quod significat Haereditatem paternam Terram Et Dominicus de Prorogat ' Allodiorum dictum oppinatur quasi Alo Leuden id est sine Subjectione a voce Leuden quae Germanis paâ—i subire fignificat sicut subjectionem servitium Spelmannus derivat a Leod populare Saxonice Ita ut Aleod sit idem quod Praedium populare oppositum Feudo quod est Praedium dominicale And the Learned du Fresne amongst the various Opinions mustred up by him Concludeth with a Deniquè plerique è doctioribus existimant vocem esse primogeniam Gallicam vel Francicam quae Praedium ac rem proprietario Jure possessum denotat Feudum novum absque domini Concensu alienatum revocari potest a Domino Decis 14. Feudum in dubio praesumitur esse haereditarium non ex pacto providentia Decis 30. n. 22. Feudum antiquum absque concensu domini alienatum ex communi D. l. sententia a filio revocari potest n. 11. And the Tenures in Capite and by Knight-Service were of so high an Esteem and Value amongst the English whereby to do unto their Kings and Country that Honor and Service which was due and might be expected from them in their several Degrees and Stations as the great Lords and other Men of Note did many times purchase or obtain of each other the Homages and Servitia of so many Men or parts of Knights Fees by Deeds or Charters and so much beyond any Money or other kinds of Estate Lands or Offices as Robert Earl of Leicester's Ancestor having at the Coronation of King John agreed to pay unto Roger Bigot Earl of Norfolk's Ancestor Ten Knight's Fees for the Purchase of that great Office of High Steward of England of which Seven and an half were paid and a Controversy arising afterwards betwixt the said Earls for the Satisfaction of the Remainder in the 31st Year of the Raign of King Henry the Third the King undertaking to make an Accord betwixt them adjudged Simon Montfort who afterwards ill requited him to have and execute the said Office of High Steward and that Roger Bigot Earl of Norfolk who afterwards joyned in the
of Wards and Liveries with other the Premises And all Tenures of any Lands holden of the King or any others shall be turned into free and Common Socage and be discharged of all Homage Escuage Voiages Royal Wardships and Aide Pour file marier pour faire fitz Chivaler livery ouster le maine all Statutes repealed concerning the same all Tenures hereafter to be created by the King his Heirs or Successors shall be in free and Common Socage Provided that that Act extend not to take away Rents certain Herriots or Suits of Court belong ing to any other Tenures taken away or altered by that Act or other Services incident to common Socage or any Releifes due and payable in cases of free and common Socage or of any Fines for Alienations holden of the King by any particular Customes of Lands and Places other then of Lands holden immediately of the King in Capite Nor extend unto any Tenures in Franck Almoigne or by Copy of Court Roll honorary Services by grand Serjeanty other then what are before dissolved or taken away Provided that this Act nor any thing therein contained shall infringe or hurt any Title of Honour feodal or other by which any person hath or may have right to sit in the Lords House in Parliament as to his or their Title of Honour or Sitting in Parliament and the Priviledges belonging to them as Peers And that that Act extend not to any the Rights and Priviledges of His Majesty in his Tynn Mines in Cornewal In recompence whereof the King shall have the Excise of Ale Beer Perry and Syder Strong and Distilled Waters setled by that or some other Act of Parliament touching the Excise upon the King during his Life and a Moyety only after his death to His Heirs and Successors And are by Sir Henry Spelman said to be non solùm jure positivo Sed Gentium quodammodo Naturae not only by positive but the Laws of Nations and Nature Especially when it was not to arise from any compulsory incertain way or involuntary Contribution or out of any personal or movable Estate cases of Relief only excepted but to fix and go along with the Lands as an easy and beneficial Obligation and Perpetuity upon it and was so incorporate and inherent as it was upon the matter a Co-existence or Being with it Glanvil and Bracton being of Opinion with the Emperour Justiniam that the King must have Armes as well as Laws to govern by and not depend ex aliorum Arbitrio and therefore the Prelates Earles and Commonalty of the Realm did in a Parliament in the 7th Year of the Raign of King Edward the 1st declare it to be necessarily belonging unto him and to none other Judge Hutton in his Argument in the case of the Shipmony in the Raign of King Charles the Martyr and diverse other Learned Judges and Lawyers have declared Tenures in Capite and by Knight Service to be so inseparable from the Crown as not to be aliened or dissolved by any Act or Authority of Parliament Some of whom could not forget that a Design having been presented and offered unto King James when the Scots had by their importunityes much enfeebled the Royal Revenue by some who neither understood our Fundamental Laws or the Constitution of our Government and having considerable Estates in the County of York and Bishoprick of Durham and being Members of the House of Commons in Parliament and mischievous enough in the long Rebellious Parliament a Revenue of Two hundred thousand pound per Annum to dissolve his Courts of Wards and Liveries and release his Tenures in Capite and by Knights Service and the King liked so well of those Hopes of augmenting his overwasted Revenue as he with Promises of great Rewards to the Designers ordered a Table to be purposely kept at White-Hall for them untill they had brought their undertakings to perfection unto which the Reverend Judges being summoned by the King to deliberate and give their Opinions could find neither Law or right Reason for the taking away of those Tenures with their incidents even by an Act of Parliament Insomuch as the Design and Table were laid down and no more thought of until the unhappy Fate and Misery of forsaking and destroying Fundamentals did so drive it on afterwards as it hath done by our abandoning the old ways and the Truths thereof into those very many Misfortunes which it hath brought us into already and will more and more into the Prophet Jeremiah's Lamentations And so greatly resembled that very antient way of the great Councels or Parliaments in France drawn and derived from their Ancestors the Francks and other their Northern Progenitors in and of that Kingdom long before there inhabiting until the miseries brought by the English Conquests and their own Divisions upon that people by those Warrs and their seeking in the interim to govern their Kings and Domineer over them in the midst of their Troubles Necessities and Disabilities to protect them had constrained some of their after Kings as Lewis the 11th one of their Kings to find the way to govern so Arbitrarily as they have since done with a continual so limited Parliament as it signifieth little more than an extraordinary Court of Justice and verify the Edicts of his prerogative Power with a car tel est nostre plaisir Insomuch as those kind of Tenures and beneficial Mutualites might not improbably have been here introduced by the Saxons from one and the same or a like Radix or Original before the Normans Atcheivements and Acquests either here or in France or by what they had learned or practised of the Feudal Laws in the Empire or after the Normans had brought England their long before Compatriots into subjection and in the Reigns of some of their after Kings continued Masters of Normandy Aniou Aquitaine Mayne and Poicteau and of so many other great parts and Provinces of the French Dominions as in process of time they gained a full Possession of the residue and in a short time after lost them all by our own Domestick Ambitions and Discords So as one Egg of the same kind cannot commonly be more like in it's external Form and Likeness to an other then the antient and ever-to-be-approved Method of our and their former great Councels or Parliaments were Wherein may warrantably without any suspicion of an Arbitrary Government be vouched and called the learned Sieur du Fresne a man of vast Reading and Litterature and not only Learned in all the Roman and Northern Antiquities but in our Old English Saxon Laws and the allowed classical and veritable Authors and Writers of our Nation and to whom the Learned Works of our Glanvil Bracton Littleton Fortescue Coke Stamford Spelman and Selden were no Strangers when in his Glossary or Comment upon the word Pares he represents unto us the Figure or lively Picture of our own ancient Customes and Usages in our great Councels
Domesticis illis vell Senescallis illis Cubiculariis illo Comite Palatii vel reliquis quam pluribus Nostris fidelibus resideremus ibique veniens ille illum interpellavit cum diceret c. Upon which words viz. Una cum Dominis Patribus Nostris Episcopis the Learned Bignonius Commenting saith Hi enim in Iudiciis Regi assidebant ut etiam notavit Tillius qui rectè Curiae seu Parliamenti originem hinc deducit illudque ita durasse usque ad Philippi Vallesy tempora qui amplissimum Parisiensem Senatum à Comitatu Consistorio Principis separatum edicto constituit Hujus quoque Judicii Episcopis Proceribus adstantibus forma refertur Antiquitatum Fuldentium Lib. 1. Anno Dominicae Incarnationis 838. Jnd. 1. 18. K L. Julii facta est Contentio Gozboldi Hrabani Abbatii coram Imperatore Ludovico filiis ejus Ludovico Carolo necnon Principibus ejus in Palatio apud Niomagum oppidum constituto de Captura c. Presentibus Trugone Archiepiscopo Otgario Archiepiscopo Radolto Episcopo c. Adalberto Comite Helphrico Comite Albrico Comite Popone Comite Gobavuino Comite Palatii Ruadharto similiter Comite Palatii Innumerabilibus Vassallis Dominicis So did the Referendarii Masters of Requests or Chancery the Senescallus Palatii the Cubicularii And Bignonius moreover declareth Domestica dignitas fuit non Contemnenda sub prima secunda Regum nostrorum familia nam inter praecipuos Regni Ministros Domesticisaepe enumerantur in praefatione Leg ' Burgundion ' Sciant itaque Optimates Comites Consiliarii domestici Majores domus nostrae cum munera in Judicio accipere prohibeantur eos quoque Judicasse dici potest sic Leg ' Ribuar ' tit Go. Ut optimates Majores domus domestici Comites Grafiones Cancellarii vel quibuslibet gradibus sublimati in provincia Ribuaria in Judicio residentes munera ad Iudicium per vertendum non recipiant Hos etiam Regi Judicanti adsedisse probat Marculfus ipse lib. 4. dum inter Ministros officiales qui Regi adsiderent domesticos recenset Neither were the Writs of Summons to the Peers and Lords Spiritual and Temporal in that fatal 49th Year of the Raign of that unfortunate Prince King Henry the Third though many Ages before Accustomed to be Summoned to their Soveraign's great Councells framed upon any better Foundation than Force and Partiality when a Rebellious part of the Baronage of England had by the Success of their Rebellion made him and the Prince his Son his Brother Richard Earl of Cornewall King of the Romans and his Son with many of the Loyal Baronage and other his faithful Subjects Prisoners on purpose to create an Oligarchy in Symon de Montfort Earl of Leicester Gilbert de Clare Earl of Gloucester and some few others of their triumphant and seduced Party and fix in themselves a Conservatorship and domineering Power over the rest of the Peers and Nobility and their fellow Subjects especially the Commons left in a full assurance of Slavery and hopeless of any thing more than to be Assistant to the everlasting Ambition and variable Designs of others SECT XIV That those enforced Writs of Summons to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal accompanied with that then newly devised Engine or Writ to elect Knights Citizens and Burgesses to be present in Parliament were not in the usual and accustomed Form for the Summoning the Lords Spirituall and Temporal to the Parliament FOR the eminently Learned Selden hath informed Us That the most ancient Writ of Summons that he hath seen was no Elder than the 6th Year of the Raign of King John directed to the Bishop of Salisbury Commanding him to come and Summon all the Abbots and Convential Priors in his Diocess to do the like viz. Mandamus vobis rogantes quatenus omni occasione dilatione post positâ sicut Nos honorem Nostrum diligitis sitis ad nos apud London die Dominicâ proximé ante Ascensionem Domini Nobiscum tractaturi de magnis arduis negotiis nostris communi Regni utilitate Quin super his quae a Rege Franciae per Nuntios Nostros suos Nobis mandata sunt unde per Dei gratiam bonum sperare vestrum expedit habere concilium aliorum Magnatum terrae nostrae quos ad diem illum locum fecimus convocari vos etiam ex parte Nostrâ vestrâ Abbates Priores conventuales totius Diocesis citari faciatis ut concilio praedicto interfint sicut diligunt Nos communem Regni utilitatem T. c. The Roll that hath this Writ hath no Note of Consimile to the rest of the Barons as is usual in other close Rolls of Summons to Parliament but it appears in the Body of it that the rest were Summoned and that there was a Parliament in the same year And another close Roll in the Raign of the same King and in the same year hath a Writ in these words viz. Rex Henrico Mandavimus tibi quod in fide quam Nobis debes sicut Nos Corpus honorem nostrum diligis omni occasione dilatione postpositis sis ad Nos apud Northampton die dominica prox ' ante Pentecosten parat ' cum equis armis aliis necessariis ad Movendum nobis cum Corpore nostro standum nobiscum ad Minus per duos quadrag ' ità quod infrà terminum illum à Nobis non recedas ut te in perpetuum in grates Scire debeam T. R. c. And out of a close Roll of the 26th Year of King Henry the Third cites a Writ of Summons in these words Henricus c. Reverendo in Christo Patri Waltero Eboracensi Archiepiscopo Mandamus vobis quatenùs ficut Nos honorem nostrum pariter vestrum diligitis in fide quâ Nobis tenemini omnibus aliis negotiis omissis sitis ad Nos apud London à die sancti Hillarii in quindecim dies ad tractandum Nobiscum unà cum caeteris Magnatibus nostris quos similiter fecimus convocari de arduis negotiis nostris statum nostrum Totius Regni nostri specialiter tangentibus hoc nullatenus omittatis T. Meipso apud Windlesorum 14. die Decembris Subscribed with Eodem modo Scribitur omnibus Episcopis Abbatibus Comitibus Baronibus And that the First that he found accompanied with the other circumstances of a Summons to Parliament as well for the Commons as the Lords is in the 49 h. Year of the Reign of King Henry the Third in the Form before-mentioned which by the Dates of the Writs were by Sir William Dugdale first of all Discovered or taken notice of to be during the said King's Imprisonment by which he calls both the Earls and Barons to Westminster no such words as the Commons being called appearing either in the Exemplar or Transcription of the former
mentioned in King Johns extorted Charter aâ— Runingmede whether then newly gained as the learned Sir Henry Spelman believed or only put in practice by Edward the first a better defender of his Crown-Rights then his Father or Grandfather as others have with good probability conceived may receive the better entertainment amongst all the friends and well-willers of truth and reason when it shall be considered how much it corresponds with that more antient custome amongst the Hebrews in a government ordained by God himself where the Princes of the 12. Tribes of Israell Summo Magistratui assidebant Nobilium ordo pro seminario munerum praecipuorum quia saith Besoldus liberaliter educati sapientiores esse censentur and therefore Comites or Earls being antiently in the Reign of Charlemaine which was in Anno Christi 806. if not long before Perfecti Provinciarum qui Provincias administrabant were with Dukes also and Barons not only in France about those times but in Germany also whereas Bodin saith they did so spirare libertatem as they 〈◊〉 it on Earth to be the utmost of their wishes and d 〈…〉 to obtain as much as they could of it inserted and put in 〈…〉 the Maâ—ricula or Roll of the States of the Empire Et in Comi 〈…〉 us suffragii habuerunt and Arumaeus as well as many other 〈…〉 hentick Authors are of opinion that it was pars libertaâ—is a great part of the peoples liberty and for their good that deliberatio ordinum concilio et authoritate quorum periculores agitur suscipitur Et qui apud principem et jura Comitiorum uâ—a perpetua privativa est mediata subjectio qua qui infectus est nec Comitiorum particeps esse potest it being a Rule or Law in such Assemblies that they that sit there or are to have voice or suffrage therein were to hold immediately of the Empire and the reason of the first institution of the Parliament of France composed of the ancient Nobility by the ancient Kings of France Pepyn was as Pasquier that learned King Advocate of France observeth inpartem solicitudinis to assist their Kings in the better management of their Government who did thereby communicate les affaiâ—es publiques a leurs premier grandes Seigneurs come si avec la Monarchie ils eussent entre mesler l' ordre d' une Aristocratie gouvernement de plusieurs personages d' honneur ne se mettre en haine des grands seigneurs Potentats and not draw upon them the envy of their great and mighty men Et estans les grands Seigneurs ainsi lors uni se composa un corps general de toutes les princes gouverneurs par l' adois desquels se vinderoint non seslement les differeuts qui se presenteroient entre le Roy eux mais entre le Roy ses Subjects And the great Lords being so united composed and made one generall body of all the Princes and Governours of Provinces by whose advice and councell not only the differences which should happen between the King and them but betwixt his Subjects and were to be in extraordinary concernments of the Kingdom determined Et estoit l' usance de antiens Roys telle qu'es lieux ou la necessite les summomot se uvidoient ordinairement les affaires par assemblees generals des Barons and accordingly by the direction of right reason or of that or the more Ancient government of the Greeks in their great Councel of Amphiction or of the Romans in their Empire where in suis constitutionibus prohibitum fuit ne portae dignitatis vilibus personis paterent quas ipsa remana respublica plebeis cum sui destructione aperuit ut in ipsos Senatores imo tandem Consules insurgerent particularia Jura plebiscita pro plebe formarent tandem sibi summam potestatem sub tribintia authoritate arrogarent factionibus in contrarium motis rempublicam perderent and our Saxon Kings could neither think they wronged themselves or their subjects to call to their Assemblies and great Councells for the redressing of Grievances and Enacting of Laws their regni Scientissimos Aldermannos Governours of Provinces so as they which have had any Conversation with Tyraquel Nolden de nobilitate Cassanaei catalogus gloriae mundi L'Oyseau in his books de Seigneuries de droit des offices Du Fresue's glossar our Seldens titles of Honour Sr John Ferues glory of generosity Sr Henry Spelmans glossary may find as L'Oyseau saith that there are simple Nobles hautes grauds moindres seigueurs publicquees et privees And they may loose more credit then they are likely to get in making such a stir to metamorphose Pigmies into Gyants and Gyants into Pigmies procure their Proselites or fellow-Undertakers if they can to believe that all the world hath been since the creation therof greatly mistaken beside themselves Howsoever if that will not accomodate their levelling humors and designs they will make an essay to entice others to invade their Sovereigns Rights and Authority although they themselves should miss of their mark or aim intended by putting the Majores Barones in mind that they have a co-ordinate or compulsive power in their Kings great Councells more then deliberative or subordinately Judiciall when there will be evidence enough against it and the Parliament-Rolls and Records will if well observed afford ensuing plentifull proofs and instances thereof Principes Comites Barones Imperii alique ordines non tantum minora cum provinciis et territoriis sibi in feudum datis sed et ex majoribus illis quae re haud Innania capiunt as our William the Conqueror did in his Grant of the Earldome of Chester teneud ' Ita tibere per gladium ut Rex tenet Angliam per gladium and that Earl and his heirs had diverse Barrons under him of their own Creation And one of the said Earls granted the Earldom of Lincoln to his Sister Hawisa and her heirs the Bishoprick of Durham as a County Palatine aver Justice haute Basse subordinate to the King and in like manner was the Dutchy of Lancaster granted by our King Edward the 3. § 10. Incorporales res apud omnes quoque gentes in feudum dari receptum et Jura appellantur haec res Immobilium Jure censentur arg l. 2. de servis idque plenius planuis Intelligi potest sect proced n 4. 5. Similiter venatio quoque expresse in feudum dari potest as our free-warren tunc licet fuudus in venatione non consistat id est propter eam non habeatur venari potest vasallus quod teperit ipsius erit l. 9. sect 5. l. 62. F. de usufr. Successio etiam alia ex testamento alia ab Intestato liberis deficientibus e latere conjuncti veniunt whence proceeded the power of the Tenant in Capite granted King Henry the
Year of the Reign of King Henry the 3. and for many ages past and are and should be no more then as Sr Edward Coke saith a Grand Enquest as men that were most Cognisant that best knew the grievances of their Countries with what might be their proper remedies and their abilities or disabilities to aid their Sovereign and assist the publick good being the truest most intelligent and most considerate Judges of their own Interest and the right and only use of their being Elected appeareth by the use and reason thereof to be no other in Parliaments then Informers of grievances and are to be Petitioners for Laws or Remedies When it is Judicis Officium that is to say the Suprema potestas which in England was never yet proved or rightly understood to reside in the People or any other then the King and in valde dubiis opinionibus in quibus non appareat quae sit magis communis rationes quae ex utraque parte efficaces adducuntur Trutinare non est dubitare de iis quae lege vel apertaratione monstrantur Qua propter opinio quaelibet contralegem veram rationem vana est And if any should be so wild or gone out of their reason as to endeavour to make an Assent to be aequivalent or as much as an innate Authority or any Effect of a Superiority or so much as a resemblance thereof they may as well undertake to assert that the Prelates Earls Barons and Commonalty of Engl. had power to create Edward the black-Prince Son and heir apparent of King Edward the 3d Prince of Wales and to give him the Principality thereof because that great and victorious King in the 11th year of his Reign did grant it unto him concilio et concensu Praelatorum Comitum Baronum Communitatum Regni sui non suorum Angliae in generali Parliamento when in the preamble thereof he declared that he did it de serenitate Regalis praeeminencia and the Commons in Parliament in the 50th year of the Reign of that King after that the Archbishop of Canterbury had spoken much in the commendation of Richard de Burdeaux Son and heir of Edward late Prince of Wales Son and heir apparent of the Realm did with one voice pray the Lords so ignorant were they then of their own supposed co-ordination and so over-valuing the power of the Lords that they would make him Prince of Wales as his father was Who answered that it lay not in them but in the King so to do but promised to be Mediators for him So as they who would pretend to such a large representation of the people are to remember that they can give no power but such as they are themselves justly and by law entitled unto as Subjects obeying in their Elections the words intention and true meaning of their Sovereign who did cause them to be Elected to come unto his Parliament with a consenting performing and obeying power only but not an equall coordinate or Superior and that it hath been a ruled and allowed case thorough all the Nations of the World and the Ages thereof that nemo plus juris dare potest quam in se ipso habet And however that prudent Prince King Edward the 1st did for the avoiding of some troubles which a remnant of his and his fathers unquiet Barons would have put upon him and his people whom he was bound to protect condescend to that Act of Parliament that no Tallage or aid should be granted without the consent of the Archbishops Bishops Earls and Barons Knights Citizens Burgesses and Freeholders of the land put himself and them under the frailty of the good and kind will and intentions of a part of his subjects yet he could not find either any cause or reason to doubt or suspect that they or any of their posterity should so little follow the conduct or manage of their understanding the care of their self-preservation and the prevention of the ruine of their private in the publick as not to submit to that known and almost every where approved rule or Aphorisme of wisdom that Publica privatis anteponenda sunt and that of the Poet Tunc tuares agitur paries cum proximus ardet Or that any if not an enemy to himself his posterity and his Country as much as a Traytor to his King would in a case of publick necessity when every man was as greatly concerned to defend themselues their King Country and posterities by a giving giving a timely aid and assistance ai if it had been pro Aris focis and Hannibal had been at Porta's have been either forward or backward to gard and relieve themselves their King and Country and not make hast to imitate the Romans who at other times Factious and Seditions enough would not suffer the more prudent Fabious the preserver of his and their Country even in the mioest of their discontents and murmurings that he made no more hast to fight and beat the enemy to want their help either with men or money When as Bornitius saith Quicquid boni homo Civisque habet possidet quod vivit libere vivit quod bene quod Beate omniumque rerum bonorum usu interdum etiam copia ad voluptatem utitur fruitur totum hoc beneficium Reipublicae civilique ordini acceptum est reserendum And that omnis homo res singularum in Republica conservari nequeant nifi conservetur Respub sive communis adeoque singuli sui causa impendere videntur qnicquid conferunt in publicum usum And St Chrysostome was of the same opinion when he said that ab antiquis temporibus communi omnium sententia principes a nobis sustinere debere visum est ob id quod sua ipsorum negligentes communes res curare universumque suum otium adeo impendunt quibus non solum ipsi sed quae nostra sunt salvantur And Zechius saith Regi competunt ratione excellentiae ejus dignitatis quae Regalia dicuntur and that multa adjumenta sunt ei necessaria ut dominium totum externa tueri valeat With whom accordeth Bodin informing us that Sine majestatis contemptu fieri non potest ea res enim peregrinos ad principem aspernandum subditos ad deficiendum excitare consuevit For surely it was never rightly understood that their Membership of the House of Commons in Parliaments did abridge or lessen the Superiority of their Sovereign as may be evidenced by the procedures and affairs of all the Parliaments of England from the beginning of their admission thereunto untill the late unhappy distempers thereof It having been by long experience Tried and found to be in Government a Policy as successfull as prudentiall to gain in the making of Laws the approbation and good-liking as much as may be of those that are to obey and be guided by them to the end that they may the more
unarbitrary in their procedures is so always ready to succour the Complaints of People as it never willingly makes it self to be the cause of it And cannot misrepresent the House of Peers to the King and his People in the Case of Mr. Fitz Harris or any others when that honourable Assembly takes so much care as it doth to repress Arbitrary Power and doth all it can to protect the whole Nation from it and many of the House of Commons Impeachments have been disallowed by the King and his House of Peers in Parliament without any ground or cause of fear of Arbitrary Power which can no where be so mischievously placed as in the giddy multitude whose Impeachments would be worse than the Ostracisme at Athens and so often overturn and tire all the wise men and good men in the Nation as there would be none but such as deserve not to be so stiled to manage the Affairs of the Government subordinate to their King and Soveraign To all which may be added if the former Presidents cited to assert the Kings Power of Pardoning as well after an Impeachment made by the Commons in Parliament as before and after an Impeachment made by the Commons and received by the Lords in Parliament or made both by the Lords and Commons in Parliament be not not sufficient that of Hugh le Despenser Son of Hugh le Despenser the younger a Lord of a great Estate which is thus entred in the Parliament Roll of the fifth year of the Raign of King Edward the Third ought surely to satisfie that the Laws and reasonable Customs of England will warrant it Anno 5 E. 3. Sir Eubule le Strange and eleven other Mainprisers being to bring forth the Body of Hugh the Son of Hugh le Despenser the younger saith the Record A respondre au prochein Parlement de ester au droit affaire ce de liu en conseil soit ordine mesuerent le Corps le dit Hugh devant nostre Seigneur le Roi Countes Barons autres Grantz en mesme le Parlement monstrent les L'res Patents du Roi de Pardon al dit Hugh forisfacturam vite membrorum sectam pacis homicidia roborias Felonias omnes transgressiones c. Dated 20 Martii anno primo Regni sui Et priant a n're Seigneur le Roi quil le vousist delivrer de las Mainprise faire audit Hugh sa grace n're Seigneur le Roi eiant regard a ses dites L'res voilant uttroier a la Priere le dit Mons'r Eble autres Main pernors avant dit auxint de les Prelatz qui prierent molt especialment pur lui si ad comande de sa grace sa delivrance Et voet que ses Menpernors avant ditz chescun d'eux soient dischargez de leur Mainprise auxint le dit Hugh soit quit delivrers de Prisone de garde yssint si ho'me trove cause devors lui autre nest uncore trove quil estoise au droit And the English Translator or Abridger of the Parliament Records hath observed that the old usage was that when any Person being in the Kings displeasure was thereof acquitted by Tryal or Pardon yet notwithstanding he was to put in twelve of his Peers to be his Sureties for his good Behaviour at the Kings pleasure And may be accompanied by the Case of Richard Earl of Arundel in the 22 year of the Raign of King Richard the Second being Appealed by the Lords Appellant and they requiring the King that such Persons Appealed that were under Arrest might come to their Tryal it was commanded to Ralph Lord Nevil Constable of the Tower of London to bring forth the said Richard Earl of Arundel then in his custody whom the said Constable brought into the Parliament at which time the Lords Appellants came also in their proper Persons To the which Earl the Duke of Lancaster who was then hatching the Treason which afterwards in Storms of State and Blood came to effect against the King by the Kings Coommandment and Assent of the Lords declared the whole circumstances after the reading and declaring whereof the Earl of Arundel who in Anno 11 of that Kings Raign had been one of the Appellants together with Henry Earl of Derby Son of the said Duke of Lancaster and afterwards the usurping King Henry the Fourth against Robert de Vere Duke of Ireland and Earl of Oxford and some other Ministers of State under King Richard the Second alledged that he had one Pardon granted in the Eleventh year of the Raign of King Richard the Second and another Pardon granted but six years before that present time And prays that they might be allowed To which the Duke answered that for as much as they were unlawfully made the present Parliament had revoked them And the said Earl therefore was willed to say further for himself at his peril whereupon Sir Walter Clopton Chief Justice by the Kings Commandment declared to the said Earl that if he said no other thing the Law would adjudge him guilty of all the Actions against him The which Earl notwithstanding would say no other thing but required allowance of his Pardons And thereupon the Lords Appellant in their proper Persons desired that Judgment might be given against the said Earl as Convict of the Treason aforesaid Whereupon the Duke of Lancaster by the Assent of the King Bishops and Lords adjudged the said Earl to be Convict of all the Articles aforesaid and thereby a Traytor to the King and Realm and that he should be hanged drawn and quartered and forfeit all his Lands in Fee or Fee-tail as he had the nineteenth day of September in the tenth year of the Kings Raign together with all his Goods and Chattels But for that the said Earl was come of noble Blood and House the King pardoned the hanging drawing and quartering and granted that he should be beheaded which was done accordingly But Anno 1 Hen. 4. the Commons do pray the reversal of that Judgment given against him and restoration of Thomas the Son and Heir of the said Richard Earl of Arundel Unto which the King answered he hath shewed favour to Thomas now Earl and to others as doth appear The Commons do notwithstanding pray that the Records touching the Inheritance of the said Richard Earl of Arundel late imbezelled may be searched for and restored Unto which was answered the King willeth And their noble Predecessors in that Honourable House of Peers the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament long before that videlicet in the fifth year of the Raign of King Edward the Third made no scruple or moat point or question in Law whether the power of pardoning was valid and solely in the King after an Impeachment of the Lords in Parliament when in the Case of Edmond Mortimer the Son of Roger Mortimer Earl of March a Peer of great Nobility and Estate the
themselves they with a parcel of conscience not of God did treat with the particular Lenders of the Money to King James and for ten l. or a very little in every hundred comed and took up their Privy Seals but were unwilling to trouble the King with the thoughtâ—s thereof to the damage of him and disherision of the Crown of England and being taken notice of and complained of a Commission was granted unto the Lord ottington Sir Henry Vane and Sir Charles Harbord the Kings Surveyor to enquire thereof and certify the King thereof wherein they were so kind hearted and the matters so managed as noâ—hing more was heard thereof but the City of London continueth in possession of the said Manors and Lands or have spent the same in assisting the late horrid Rebellion against him and together with it the CityOrphans Mony for which it hath been reported they are willing to pay them by composition after the rate of 6d per. ponnd caused a Bill to be exhibited by his Attorney General in his Court of Starr Chamber against John Earl of Clare and Mr. Selden for having only in their Custody two Books or Manuscripts directed unto him by Sir Robert Dudley an Englishman living in Florence and stiling himself a Titular Duke of that Countrey endeavouring to instruct him in the method of raising Money by a Tax upon all the Paper and Parchment to be used in England caused Sir Giles Allington to be fined in the High Commission Court for Incest and the Lord Audley Earl of Castlehaven to be arraigned in the Court of Kings Bench for Sodomy whereupon after Tryal by his Peers he was Condemned and Beheaded suffered a great Arcanum Imperii in his Praerogative in taxing or requiring an Aid of Ship Money or for setting out a Navy of Ships when the Kingdom was in danger to be disputed in the Exchecquer Chamber by Lawyers and Judges which King Henry the fourth of France by a constant Rule in State Policy would never yeild to have done imitated by Queen Elizabeth who in some of her Charters or Letters Patents as unto Martin Forbisher a great Sea-Captain declared de qua disputari nolumus upon the case or question of 10 s. charged upon Mr. Hamdens Estate in Buckinghamshire of 4000 l. p. Annum wherein all that could be raked out of or by the Records of this Kingdom was put together by Mr. Oliver St. John and Mr. Robert Holborn theformer being after made Cheif Justice of the Court of Common Pleas by Hambden and the Rebel party and the later taking Arms for the King faithfully adhered unto him whereupon that cause coming to be heard all that could be argued for the not paying or paying of it of twelve Judges that carefully considered the Arguments and gave their opinions there were ten concurred in giving Judgment for the King and only two viz. Justice Hatton and Justice Crooke who having before under their hands concurred with all the other and suffered their subscriptions to be publickly inrolled in their several Courts at Westminster could find the way to be over-instrumental in setting our Troy Town all in Flames whilst that pious Prince being overburdened with his own more than common necessities did not omit any part of the Office of a Parens Patriae but taking more care for his People than for himself too many of whom proved basely and wickedly ingrateful called to accompt Lionel Cranfield whom he had made Earl of Middlesex and Lord Treasurer of England fined him in vast sums of money ordered him during his life never more to sit in the House of Peers in Parliament received a considerable part of his Fine and acquitted him of the residue And being desirous as his Father was to unite the Kingdom of Scotland in their Reformed Religion as the more happy Church of England was both as unto Episcopacy and its Liturgy that attempt so failed his expectation as a mutiny hapned in the Cathedral Church of Edenburgh and an old Wife sitting upon a Stool or Crock crying out that she smelt a Pape at her Arse threw it at the Ministers Head whereupon a great mutiny began and after that an Insurrection which to pacify the King raised a gallant Army of Gentry and Nobility with all manner of warlike provision and marched unto the Borders but found them so ill provided for defence as they appeared despicable yet the almost numberless Treacheries fatally encompassing that pious King persuading him not to beat or vanquish them when he might so easily have done it he returned home disbanding his Army and a close Favourite of Scotland was after sent to pacify them but left them far more unruly than before shortly after which Philip Nye a Factious Minister that should have been of the Church of England but was not with some other as wicked Persons were from England delegated to Scotland to make a Coâ—enant of Brotherly Rebellion against the King and accordingly the Scots being well assured that their Confederates in England would not hurt them marched into England with a ragged Army with Petitions to the King and Declarations of Brotherly Love unto too many of their Confederates seised by the cowardise or carelesness of the Inhabitants the Town of Newcastle upon Tine notwithstanding a small Army ill ordered was sent to defend it better than they did so as the Scotch Petitioning Army quartering there and in the Northern parts the King hastening thitherwards with Forces was persuaded to summon at Rippon a great Council of many of his Nobility whither too many of them that came being more affected to the Scotch Army that came like the Gibeonites with old Shoes and mouldy Bread were allowed to be free-quartered and a Parliament suddenly to be summoned at London whereby to raise money for the discharge of their Quarters Army charges in the mean time the Scotch their Commissioners with their Apostle Alexander Henderson have license to visit London where they are lamented feasted and visited and almost adored as much as St. Paul was amongst the Macedonians or the Brethren who cryed up their holy Covenant and Religion to be the best the Church of England with her Ceremonies Common Prayers and Potage not to be compared unto it the Parliament would help all and the Scots Commissioners were so popular and in request as they seemed for that time to govern both the City of London and Parliament and by their peace pride and plenty had generated Sedition and Faction and that combustible matter in England burst into a Fire which could not be quenched the Kings Privy Council could not please the five Members nor Kimboltons Ambition and Envy be satisfied without being made a great Officer of State but proved after to be a general of some associated Counties against the King God might be worshipped with a thriving Conscience and the people taken care for by plundering Sequestration Decimation Killing Slaying or Impoverishing the Common Wealth or Weal Publick Pym
pour contempt upon our Kings and Princes and not cause them to wander in the Wilderness where there is no way but offer up our daily Prayers unto God to send help to our Jacob in all his many difficulties Elenchus Capitum OR THE CONTENTS Of the Sections or Chapters § 1. THat our Kings of England in their voluntary summoning to their Great Councils and Parliaments some of the more Wise Noble and Better part of their Subjects to give their Advice and Consent in matters touching the publick good and extraordinary concernment did not thereby create or by any Assent express or tacite give unto them an Authority Coordination Equality or share in the Legislative power or were elected by them page 1 § 2. Of the Indignities Troubles and Necessities which were put upon King John in the enforcing of his Charters by the Pope and his then domineering Clergy of England joyned with the Disobedience and Rebellion of some of the Barons encouraged and assisted by them p. 7 § 3. Of the succeeding Iealousies Animosities Troubles and Contests betwixt King John and his over-jealous Barons after the granting of his Charters and his other transactions and agreements with them at their tumultuous meeting at Running Mede with the ill usages which he had before received of them during all the time of his Raign p. 26 § 4. The many Affronts Insolencies and ill Usages suffered by King Henry 3. until the granting of his Magna Charta Charta de Foresta p. 29 § 5. Of the continued unhappy Jealousies Troubles and Discords betwixt the Discontented and Ambitious Barons and King Henry 3. after the granting of his Magna Charta Charta de Foresta p. 36. § 6. That the Exceptions mentioned in the King of France's Award of the Charter granted by King John could not invalidate the whole Award or justify the provisions made at Oxford which was the principal matter referred unto him p. 58 § 7. Of the evil Actions and Proceedings of Symon de Montfort and his Rebellious partners in the name of the King whilst they kept him and his Son Prince Edward and divers of the Loyal Nobility Prisoners from the 14th of May in the 48th year of his Raign until his and their delivery by the more fortunate Battle at Evesham the â—th day of August in the 49th year of his tormented Raign p. 66 § 8. Of the Actions of the Prince after his Escape his success at the Battle of Evesham Release of the King his Father and restoring him to his Rights p. 98 § 9. Of the proceedings of King Henry 3. after his Release and Restauration until his death p. 100 § 10. That these new contrived Writs of Summons made by undue means upon such a disturbed occasion could neither obtain a proper or quiet sitting in Parliament or the pretended ends and purposes of the Framers thereof and that such an hasty and undigested constitution could never be intended to erect a third Estate in the Kingdom equal in power with the King and his great Councel the House of Peers or consistent with the pretended Conservatorships or to be coordinate with the King and his Great Councel of Peers or to be a Curb to any of them or themselves or upon any other design than to procure some money to wade through that their dangerous Success p. 108 § 11. Of the great Power Authority Command and Influence which the Praelates Barons and Nobility of England had in or about the 49th year of the Raign of King Henry 3. when he was a Prisoner to Symon Montfort â—d these Writs of Election of some of the Commons to Parliament were first devised and sent to summon them And the great power and Estate which they afterwards had to create and contain an Influence upon them p. 122 § 12. That the aforesaid Writ of Summons made in that Kings name to elect a certain number of Knights Citizens and Burgesses the probos homines good honest men or Barons of the Cinque Ports to appear for or represent some part of the Commons of England in Parliament being enforced from King Henry 3. in the 48th and 49th year of his Raign when he was a Prisoner to Symon de Montfort Earl of Leicester and under the power of him and his party of Rebellious Barons was never before used in any Wittenagemots Mikel-gemots or great Councels of our Kings or Princes of England p. 147 § 13. That the Majores Barones Regni and Spiritual and Temporal Lords with their Assistants were until the 49th year of the Raign of King Henry 3. and the constrained Writs issued out for the election of Knights Citizens and Burgesses whilst he was a Prisoner in the Camp or Army of his Rebellious Subjects the only great Councels of our Kngs. p. 151 § 14. That these enforced Writs of Summons to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal accompanied with that then newly devised Engine or Writ to Elect Knights Citizens and Burgesses to be present in Parliament were not in the usual and accustomed form for the summoning the Lords Spiritual and Temporal to the Parliament p. 204 § 15. That the Majores Barones or better sort of the Tenants in Capite Iustly and Legally by some of our Ancient Kings and Princes but not by any positive Law that of the enforced Charter from King John at Running Mede being not accounted to be such a Law were distinguished and separated from the Minores or lesser sort of the Tenants in Capite p. 207 § 16. That the General Councels or Courts mentioned before the Rebellious meeting of some of the English Baronage and the constraint put upon King John at Running Mede or before the 49th of Henry 3. were not the Magna Consilia or generale Consilium Colloquium or Communia Consilia now called Parliaments wherein some of the Commons as Tenants in Capite were admitted but only truly and properly Curiae Militum a Court summoning those that hold of the King in Capite to acknowledge Record and perform their Services do their Homage and pay their Releifs c. And the Writ of summons mentied in the Close Rolls of the 15th year of the Raign of King John was not then for the summoning of a great Councel or Parliament but for other purposes viz. Military Aids and Offices p. 218 § 17. That the Comites or Earls have in Parliament or out of Parliament Power to compel their Kings or Soveraign Princes to yield unto their â—onsults Votes or Advices will make them like the Spartan Ephori and amount to no more than a Conclusion without praemisses or any thing of Truth Law or Right Reason to support it p. 229. § 18. Of the methods and courses which King Edward the first held and took in the Reformation and Cure of the former State Diseases and Distempers p. 286. § 19. That the Sheriffs are by the Tenor and Command of the Writs for the Elections of the Knights of the Shires and Burgesses of
non deberetis etsi alii timeant scilicet Praelati Ecclesiae trepidare avidiores caeteris deberetis jura Regni resposcere contra injuriantes Martia certamina potentèr experiri nostram partem solidare consolari tenetur jus nostrum quod habemus quâ fronte poteritis dominum vestrum ad tà m arduum negotium Reipublicae procinctum relinquere pauperem desolatum cum tenear promissa de transitu meo adimplere jurejurando strictius obligatus All which proving ineffectual made the King to be more angry insomuch as jurans cum sanctorum attestatione quod nullo revocaretur terrore nullis verborum ambagibus circumventus ab incepto proposito revocaretur quin ' in Octavis Paschae naves ascendens fortunam belli in partibus transmarinis contrà Francos imperteritus experiretur sic solutum est concilium utrobique reposita sed occulta mentis indignatione Dispositis igitur navalibus armamentis commendataque Regni custodia Archiepiscopo Eboracensi Idus Maii dispositis legionum suarum agminibus repletis triginta Cadis desideratissimis Esterlingis Comitante Regina fratreque suo Richardo Comite cum aliis septem Comitibus 300 Circiter militibus Naves ascendens versus Burdegalinos iter direxit prosperè velificando After which and many other troubles and distresses accumulated and thronging in upon him one after another he did in the 34th year of his Reign send his Precept to the City of London requiring them with all their Families even to a Child of 12 years old to come upon the Sunday next after the Feast Sanctorum perpetuae felicitatis unto him in the great Hall of his Palace of Westminster where appeared such a multitude as the Hall and Yard were wonderfully crowded Quibus congregatis Dominus Rex humilitèr quasi lachrymis abortis did supplicate them that every one of them would with heart and mouth pardon the anger and ill will which they had against him confessed that He and his Ministers had often wronged them in their Goods Estates and Liberties and prayed them to pardon him Which wrought so much compassion for the time in them as although they had no restitution they did not think fit to repeat their Sufferings that Design availing the King as little as the pity of the Men Women and Children of London did when those that were fit and able to bear Arms did not long after fight as well as they could against him at the Battel of Lewes where he was taken Prisoner and suffered him to be carried a year and a quarter together by an Army of Rebels to London and Westminster and to several other parts of the Kingdom and never offered to Relieve or Rescue Him In or about the 35th year of the Reign of King Henry III. Henry de Bathenia miles literatus legum terrae peritissimus Regis Justiciarius Conciliarius specialis being in Parliament diffamatus graviter accusatus quod sibi unimim amicus quod in unum annum Domini Regis subdolus supplantatur in officio Justiciario sibi commisso crumenas aliorum suas impregnatas non erubuit nec formidavit hinc inde delinquentes recipere ambidexter In brevi ita illico ditabatur in redditibus maneriis auro argento ut nulli Justiciariorum secundus videretur and grew so haughty in the strength and assistance of the Families of the Bassets and mâ—fords as he almost scorned and despised every man insomuch as the King being very angry with any that interceded for him answered John Mansel Clerk much employed and favoured by him who had offered to be his Bail that he should stare Justiciae that non oportet aliquem Clericum pro eo fide-jussorem in tali Casu reputans causam hanc esse crimen laesae Majestatis accedente igitur Episcopo Londinensi quamplurimis intercessoribus admissus est custodiae plegio viginti quatuor militum qui pro ipso Henrico responsionem justificationem ritè justè facerent dato termino factorum Whereupon the said Henry de Bathenia vafer circumspectus making all the Friends he could to pacifie the King and finding nothing could prevail made an Address to the Earl of Cornwal the King's Brother who not prevailing was heard to say unto some of his friends Non possumus deesse Nobilibus in jure suo nec paci Regni turbantis After all which in the same year by adjournment the business of Henry de Bathe coming again into question in Parliament and debate Rex persequebatur undique graviter ab adversariis suis fuerat impetitus accusatus Rex autem ira maxima accensus contra eum qui venerat multò stipatus milite de genere Uxoris suae amicis suis propriis accusavit ipsum gravius caeteris imponens eidem inter caetera quod totum Regnum perturbavit barnagium universum contra ipsum Regem exasperavit unde seditio generalis imminebat fecit igitur acclamari voce praeconia Londini in Curia ut si quis aliquid haberet actionis vel querelae adversus Henr ' de Bathenia veniret ad Curiam ante Regis praesentiam ubi plenè exaudiretur Insurrexerunt igitur multi queruli contra eum ita quod unus etiam sociorum suorum scilicet Iusticiarius palam protestaretur quod unum faconirosum Convictum incarceratum abire permisit impunitum sine judicio opinus respectus muneribus quod factum est in Regis praejudicium justiciariorum Comitum suorum periculum discrimen Rex igitur magis inde provocatus ascendit superius exclamavitque dicens si quis Henricum de Bathenia occiderit quietus sit à morte ejus quietum eum protestor sic properè recessit Rex Et fuerunt ibi multi qui in ipsum Henricum irruissent nisi Domini Johannis Mansel prudentia eorum impetum temperans refrenasset Dixit enim Domini mei amici non est necesse quod in ira prepropere dicitur prosequamur paenitebit enim fortè Dominum nostrum jam elapso irae tempore haec jutonuisse praeterea si aliquid violentiae ipsi Henrico intuleritis ecce Episcopus Londinensis qui spiritualem alii amici ejus militares qui vindictam exercebunt materialem sic in magna parte cessavit Extunc igitur procurante efficaciter Comite Richardo Episcopo memorato nutius actum est cum eo dictum enim est Domino Regi secretius quod mirum est quod aliquis ei curet servire cum eis post ministerium etiam mortem mittitur inferre promissa igitur quadam pecunia summa à mortis discrimine recessit liberatus Which the King was so unwilling to be cozen'd of as he took a care to have paid in this manner as the Record thereof will evidence viz. Rex omnibus c. universitas vestra noverit nos de bono corde penitus remisisse dilecto fideli nostro Henr ' de
correction or explicacation mad therein So as that meeting and re-referrence proved to be only an essay for a pacification For that haughty Earl Montfort hated the King and endeavouring all he could his destruction so thwarted all his actions and domineer'd over him as the King told him openly That he feared him more than any Thunder or Tempest in the world Being not pleased with what had been proposed at that revisionary Treaty for what concerned his own particular interest and satisfaction would rather bleed and embroil the Nation than acquiesce in those excellent Laws and Liberties which the King had granted in his Magna Charta and Charta de Foresta which like two Jewels of inestimable price in her ears did help to bless secure and adorn our BRITANNIA whilst She sate upon Her Promontory viewing and guarding Her British-Seas and did therefore draw and entice as many as he could to go along with his envy malice ambition and designs With which Ordination Sentence and Award of the King of France against the Barons many were notwithstanding so well satisfied with the King and so ill with Symon Montfort's proud and insolent demeanour as they withdrew themselves from the rebellious part of the Barons and although some for a while staggered in their Opinions and Loyalty because though the King of France condemned the provisions made at Oxford yet he allowed King John's Charter whereby he left as they pretended the matter as he found it for that these Provisions as those Barons alledged were grounded upon that Charter But a better consideration made many to dispence with their ill-taken Oaths and return to their Loyalty as Henry Son of the Earl of Cornwall Roger de Clifford Roger de Leybourne Hamo L'Estrange and others And it is worthy a more than ordinary remarque that that King of France and his Councel upon view and hearing of so many Controversies and Tronsactions betwixt our King Henry III. and his rebellious Barons could not be strangers to the former and latter attempts ill-doings and designs of that Party of the English Baronage did so little approve thereof and of their Parliamentary Insolencies and Oxford Provisions as his Grand-child or Successor Philip le Bel King of France who reigned in the time of our Edward I. did within less than forty years after Pour oster saith l'Oyseau a very learned French Author de la suitte le Parlement qui lors estoit le conseil ordinaire des Roys voir leur faisoit Teste bien sauvent luy oster doucement la cognossance des affaires d'Estat to the no great happiness as it afterwards proved of the French Nation erigea un cour ordinaire le rendit sedentaire a Paris dont encore il a retenu ce teste de son ancienne institution qu'il verifie homologue les Edicts du Roy. And now the doors of Janus Temple flew quite open the Prince with Lewellin Prince of Wales Mortimer and others invade and enter upon the Lands of Gilbert de Clare Earl of Gloucester and some of the opposite Nobility and the Earl of Leicester was as busie on the other side in seizing Gloucester and Worcester Whereupon the King doubting Montfort's approach to London being not yet ready for him works so as a mediation of Peace was assay'd upon condition that all the Castles of the King should be delivered to the keeping of the Barons the provisions of Oxford inviolably observed all strangers by a certain time should avoid the Kingdom except such as by a general consent should be held faithful and profitable for the same Here saith the Historian was a little pause which seemed but a breathing in order unto a greater rage The Prince fortifies victuals and garrisons Windsor Castle And the King to get time summoned a Parliament at London where he won many Lords to his party and with them Richard Earl of Cornwal his Brother King of Almaine Henry his Son William Valence with the rest of his Brethren marches to Oxford whither divers Lords of Scotland repair unto him as Iohn Comyn Iohn Baliol Lords of Galloway Robert Bruce and others with many English Barons Clifford Percy Basset c. from thence with all his Forces went to Northampton took Prisoner young Symon Montfort with fourteen other principal men thence to Nottingham spoiling the Possessions appertaining to the Barons in those parts The Earl of Leicester draws towards London to recover and make good that part of his greatest importance and seeks to secure Kent and the Ports which hastens the King to stop his proceedings and to succour the Castle of Rochester which he besieged whereby Success and Authority growing strong on the King's side the Earls of Leicester and Gloucester in behalf of themselves and their Party write unto the King humbly protesting their Loyalty alledge that they opposed only against such as were enemies to Him annd the Kingdom and had bely'd them unto which the King returned answer that Themselves were the perturbers of him and his State enemies to his Person and sought His and the Kingdoms destruction and therefore defy'd them the Prince and the Earl of Cornwal sending likewise their Letters of defyance unto them who doubting the hazard of a Battel send the Bishops of London and Worcester their former encouragers unto the King with an offer of 30000 Marks for damage done in those Wars so as the Provisions of Oxford might be observed Which not being condescended unto or thought fit to be allowed Montfort with his Partners seeing no other means but to put all to the hazard of a Battel made himself more ready than was expected placed on the side of an Hill near Lewis where the Battel was to be fought certain Ensigns without men which seemed afar off to be Squadrons ready to second his men whom he caused all to wear White Crosses both for their own notice and signification of the candour and innocency of his cause which he desired to have believed to be only for Justice And as Rebels first assaulting their King unexpectedly began to charge his Forces who were divided into three parts The first whereof was commanded by Prince Edward the King's Son William de Valence Earl of Pembroke and John Warren Earl of Surrey and Sussex the second by the King of Almaine and his Son Henry and the third by the King himself The Forces of the Barons ranged in four parts whereof the first was led by Henry de Montfort and the Earl of Hereford the second by Gilbert de Clare Earl of Gloucester and Hertford Iohn Fitz-John and William of Mount-Chency the third by the Londoners and Richard Segrave and the fourth by Symon de Montfort Earl of Leicester himself and Thomas de Pelvesion And both sides fighting with as great manhood as fury the Prince and his Batalion cum tanto impetu in hostes irruil so beat and routed those that stood against him as he made them give back many
disobliging unto any of them was to fall foul or out of the favour of all their great Alliances Friends Kindred numberless Tenants Servants Retainers Dependants and well-Wishers many of which being their own Relations Friends or Kindred might either help on and bring upon them a most certain and inevitable Ruine or put their small and fainting Estates into a languishing Condition when any the least Offences taken or given would be sure to effect it in the Displeasure of those who until the Reign of King Edward the First and some Ages after were so high and potent As that Ferrers Earl of Darby an Opposite to King Henry the Third in the Baron's Wars had Twenty Lordships in Barkeshire Three in Wiltshire in Essex Five in Oxfordshire Seven in Warwickshire Six in Lincolnshire Two in Buckinghamshire Two in Gloucestershire One Herefordshire Two Hantshire Three Nottinghamshire Three Leicestershire Thirty-Five Derbyshire One Hundred and Fourteen Staffordshire Seven of which was Chedley a parcel whereunto that part of Staffordshire appertained and besides had the Castle and Borough of Tudbury in that County together with many Advowsons Patronages c. and Knights Fees holding of him in those and other parts of England An Ancestor of Gilbert de Gaunt a partaker of the Norman Conquest another Opposite of King Henry the Third had in the Conquerors Survey One Lordship in Barkshire Three in Yorkshire Six in Cambridgeshire Two in Buckinghamshire One in Huntingtonshire Five in Northamptonshire One in Rutland One in Leicestershire One in Warwickshire Eighteen in Nottinghamshire One Hundred and Thirteen in Lincolnshire with Folkingham which was the Head of his Barony besides Knights Fees of those that held of him Patronages and Advowsons Fairs Markets Assize of Bread and Beer Pillory and Tumbrel c. Symon de Montfort Earl of Leicester was in the right of Amicia one of the Sisters and Co-heirs of Robert Fitz Parnel a Norman Earl of Leicester Lord high Steward of England in Fee an Office of Large Authority and Esteem had in Warwickshire Sixty-Four Lordships in Leicestershire Sixteen in Wiltshire Seven in Northamptonshire Three in Gloucestershire One besides many Knights Fees of those that held of him Advowsons Patronages Fairs Markets and the priviledges of Pillory Tumbrel and the Assize of Bread and Beer The Earl of Gloucester and Hartford had Thirty-Eight Lordships in Surrey Thirty-Five in Essex Three in Cambridgeshire Halling and Bermeling Castle in Kent Haresfeild in Middlesex Sudtime in Wiltshire Leviston in Devonshire Ninety-Five in Suffolke besides Thirteen Burgages in or near Ipswich of which Clare was one from whence that Family took their Surname or it from them had the Town and Castle of Tunbridge in Kent the Castle of Brianels in the County of Gloucester and whilst the King and his Son Edward were Prisoners at Lewis obtained a Grant under the Great Seal of all the Lands and large Possessions of Iohn Warren Earl of Surrey to hold at the King's Pleasure except the Castles of Rigate and Lewis was one of the Chief that extorted a Commission from the King authorizing Stephen Bishop of Chichester Symon Montfort and himself to nominate Nine as well Prelates as Barons to manage all things according to the Laws and Customes of the Kingdom until the Determinations should be made at Lewis and others which they better liked should take Effect Awbrey de Vere in the general Survey of William the Conqueror had Cheviston now Kensington Geling and Emingford in com Hunt Nine Lordships in Suffolk Fourteen in Essex whereof Colne Hengham and Bentley were part in Warwickshire Six in Leicestershire Fourteen in Northamptonshire Six in Oxfordshire Two and in Wiltshire Ten a Descendant of whom had in the Raign of King Stephen together with Richard Basset Justice of England custodiam Comitatus and executed the Sheriffs Offices of Surrey Cambridge Huntington Essex Hartford Northampton Leicester Norfolk Suffolk Buckingham and Bedford had by the Grant of Maud the Empress and King Henry the Second her Son by inheritance the Earldom of Oxford granted unto him and his Heirs and Mannor and Castle of Caufeild in the County of Essex and the Office of Lord Great Chamberlain of England in Fee with the Castles of Hengham or Hedingham and Campes to be holden by that Service and divers other Lands and Possession of a great yearly Value had before the Fourth Year of the Raign of King Henry the Third by the Marriage of the Daughter and Heir of the Lord Bulbeck many Mannors and Lands in the Counties of Buckingham and Cambridge and by the Marriage of the Daughter and Heir of Gilbert Lord Sanford the Inheritance of divers Mannors and Lands in the Counties of Essex and Hartford and a Grant in Fee to be Chamberlain to the Queen die Coronationis suae with divers Priviledges and One Hundred Knights Fees holden of them one whereof was by the Heirs of Mordaunt for Lands in Essex to come compleatly Armed as Champion to the Heir of the Family and Earls of Oxford in the great Hall of Hedingham Castle upon the day of his Nuptials to defy and fight with any that should deny him to be Earl of Oxford and another for the Mannor of Horseth in the County of Cambridge holden by the Family of Allington now the Lord Allington of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Service of holding the Earl of Oxford's Stirrop die nuptiarum which was actually performed in the Raign of Queen Elizabeth the day of the Marriage of Edward Earl of Oxford with the Daughter of the Lord Burghley Roger Bygod in the Conquerors Time did possess Six Lordships in Essex and One Hundred Seventeen in Suffolk had a Grant in the Raign of King Henry the Second of the Mannors of Ersham Walsham Alvergate and Aclay and the Honour of Eye in the County of Suffolk the Custody of the Castle of Norwich and a Grant of the Office of high Steward of England to hold and enjoy in as ample manner as Roger Bygod his Father had held it in the time of King Henry the First was Earl Marshal of England by Inheritance and had thereby a great Command and Authority in the King's Armies and all his Martial Affairs registred in his Marshals Rolls those many Thousands who as Tenants in Capite came into the Army to perform their Service by which also they were enabled to receive Escuage after of those that were their Under-tenants and held of them and did not come to do their Service was in times of Peace as in War to appease Tumults to Guard the King's Palace distribute Liveries and Allowances to the Officers thereof attend at the doing of Homages have a Fee of every Baron made a Knight and to receive of every Earl doing Homage a Palfry and Furniture Hugh de Montfort Ancestor of Peter de Montfort one of the Twenty-Four enforced Conservators for the Kingdom in the said Raign of King Henry the Third had in the general Survey Twenty-Eight
Mannors in Kent besides a large proportion of Rumney Marsh Sixteen in Essex Fifty-one in Suffolk and Nineteen in Norfolk a Descendant of whom had in 12. Henry the Second holden of him Ten Knights Fees and a Fourth part de veteri feoffamento and was seized of the Mannor of Wellesborne in com Leic which Peter had in 12 Henry the Third the Mannor of Beldesert in Comitat ' Stafford in Anno 35 Henry the Third was Governor of Horeston Castle in Derbyshire in Forty-One Warden of the Marches of Wales towards Montgomery and also of the Castles of Salop and Bruges was Sheriff of the Counties of Salop and Stafford and so likewise for the next ensuing Year had the Custody of the Castles of Bruges and Ellesmere in Anno 47. Henry the Third was Governor of the Castles of Corff and Shirburne and of the Castle and Mannor of Seggewick and was in Anno 49. Eiusdem Regis made by that King 's Imprisoned Seal Governor of Whittenton Castle in Shropshire Gilbert de Segrave the Son of Hereward held the Mannor of Segrave in Com' Leic ' with the Fourth part of a Knight's Fee had a Grant of the King of the Lands of Stephen de Gaunt in the Counties of Lincolne and Leicester in the 5th of Henry the Third was Sheriff of the Counties of Essex and Hartford and the Two next ensuing Years in the 6th of Lincolnshire for Three parts of the Year and to the 8th in 11th Henry the Third Sheriff of Buckingham and Bedfordshire and continued until the 18th in the 10th of Henry the Third was a Justice itinerant for Nottingham and Derby-shires purchased Mount Sorrel in the County of Leicester in the 16th Henry the Third had the Custody of the Castle of Northampton and of the Counties of Buckingham Bedford Warwick and Leicester for the term of his Life taking the whole Profits of all those Counties for his Support in that Service excepting the ancient Farms which had been usually paid in the Exchequer with the Encrease which in King Henry the Seconds time had been answered for them was Chief Justice of the Court of Common-Pleas in 2d Henry the Third when upon the removal of Hubert de Burgh he was made Cheif Justice of England and had likewise the Mannor of Almonsbury in com' Huntington Hugh Despencer was in the Eighth Year of the Raign of King Henry the Third constituted Sheriff of the Counties of Salop and Stafford Governor of the Castles of Salop and Bridgenorth in the 10th of Henry the Third Sheriff of Berkshire and Governor of Wallingford Castle and in the 17th of Bolsoner Castle in com' Derby in 44th was by the rebellious Barons made Chief Justice of England after the Battle of Lewes Governour of Oxford Castle in Suffolk the Devises in Wiltshire Oxford and Nottingham Castle Bernard in the Bishoprick of Durham and one of the Twenty-Four Conservators for managing the Affairs of the Realm was seized of the Mannor of Ryhal in com' Rotel ' Leghere and Wykes in com' Essex Bernewell in com' Northampton Wycomb in com' Buck ' Soham in com' Cant ' Berewick Winterborne Basset in com' Wilts Speke in com' Berk whose Grand-child Hugh le Despencer in the Raign of King Edward the Second was possessed of no less than Fifty-Nine Lordships in several Counties Twenty-Eight-Thousand Sheep One Thousand Oxen and Steers Twelve Hundred Kine with their Calves Sixty Mares with their Colts Two Years old One Hundred Sixty draught Horses Two Thousand Hogs Three Hundred Bullocks Sixty Tuns of Wine Six Hundred Bacons Eighty Carkases of Martilmas Beef Six Hundred Muttons in the Larder Ten Tuns of Cider with Armes Plate Jewels and ready Money to the value of Ten Thousand Pounds Thirty-Six Sacks of Wool besides a Library of Books Humfrey de Bohun whose Descendant joyned with the Barons against King Henry the Third had in Anno 12. Henry the Second Thirty and a half Knights Fees de veteri feoffamento and Nine and a half de novo was Earl of Hereford and Constable of England by descent from his Mother his Son Henry de Bohun answered Fifty Marks and a Palfreâ— to the King for Twenty Knights Fees belonging to the Honor of Huntington had the Earldom of Essex and a very great Estate of Lands belonging thereunto descended unto him by Maud Countess of Essex his Mother together with a great Estate of Lands which came unto her from Isabel third Daughter and Co-heir of William Earl of Gloucester had likewise Lands in Haresfeild in com' Glouc ' holden by the service of Constable of England the Mannors of Shudham and Wâ—tnorst Kineton in com' Hunt ' and Walden in com' Essex Vescy one of the Barons against King Henry the third was at the time of the Norman Conquest seized of one Mannor in com' Northtamp ' two in Warwickshire seven in the County of Lincoln nine in Leic ' the Castles and Baronies of Alnewick in com' Northumberland and Multon in com' Eboru ' had besides vast Possessions bestowed on him by King Henry the first the Mills of Warner Bodele and Spilsham with eleven Mannors divers Lands and Tenements in the City of York and whatsoever he held of David King of Scotland and Henry his Son the Arch-Bishop of York Bishop of Duresme of the Earl of Richmond Geffry Estcland and Richard fitz Paine Roger de Moubray William Fossard William Paganell the Earl of Albemarle Roger de Clare Gilbert de Gant Roger de Beauchampe Henry de Campaine Ralph the Son of Bogan the Earl of Chester Abbess of Berking William de Sailley and of all the Fee of Thurstane the Son of Robert de Mansfeild had likewise the Mannors of Ellerton and Cansfeild and was Governour of the Castle of Bamburgh in com' Northum ' seized of the Mannors of Brentune Propertime Pecheston and Sornneston Burgh and Knaresburgh in the County of York Barony of Halton and Constabulary of Chester a Descendant whereof had in the Raign of King Henry the Second twenty Knights Fees de veteri feoffamento and many de novo that held of him had in 32d Henry the third in the Right of Agnes his Wife one of the Daughters of William de Ferrers Earl of Derby partition of the Lands in Ireland which did belong to William Marshal Earl of Pembroke Whose Ancestor had in the 2d Henry the Second Lands of a great Yearly value in Westcombe Marleburgh and Criâ—l in com' Wilts ' given unto him by the King with the Office of Earl Marshal and all other Lands holden of him in England or else-where had a Grant of the Mannor of Boseham in com' Suff ' with the Lastage and Hundred the Lordships of Westive and Bodewin with the Hundred of Bodewin all the Lands which the Earl of Eureux held in England except the Mannor of Marlow all the Lands of Hugh de Gournay lying in the Counties of Norfolk and Suff ' Kaule and Castre and all the Lands of Hugh
de Ayer in com' Norf ' the Office of Marshal of Ireland in Fee with the Cantred within which the Town of Kildman was Scituate was Warden of the Marches of Wales Sheriff of Lincolnshire and Governour of the Castles of Oswastre and Shrawardine had the Mannor of Hengham in com' Norf ' with the Advowsons of the Church thereof in Anno 16th of King John executed the Office of Sheriff of Lincolnshire for three parts of that Year and likewise in the 17th in which he was associated with John fitz Robert of the Counties of Norfolk and Suffolk as also in the Custody of the Castles of Norwich Oxford and Dorchester was Sheriff of Warwickshire and Governour of the Castle of Worcester in the time of the Barons Wars in the first Year of the Raign of King Henry the third made Sheriff of Hantshire and Governour of the Castle of Devizes in com' Wilts ' had a Grant of all the Lands of William de St. John who in the 49th Year of Henry the third took part with the rebellious Barons William de Percy descended from Manfred a Dane coming out of Denmark with the fierce and famous Rollo into Normandy and thence with William the Conqueror into England and much beloved by him had granted unto him by him vast Possessions in the Realm as appeareth by the General Survey in Dooms-day Book viz. Ambledune in Hanshire divers Lordships in Lincolnshire and in Yorkshire eighty-six whereof Topoline in the North Riding was one and Spofford in the West Riding another Camois a Baron against King Henry the Third was in Anno 26th of his Raign for that half Year Sheriff of the Counties of Surrey and Sussex and from that time until the one half Year of the 30th of his Raign seized of the Mannor of Wodeton in the County of Surrey Ditton in com' Cantabr ' Burwel in com' Oxon ' Torpel in com' Northamp ' and of divers Knights Fees in other Counties D'Eynill was in 41. and 44. Henry the third Justice or Warden of all the Forrests beyond Trent in Anno 47. Governour of the Castle of York and in 48. of the Castle of Scarborough from Michaelmas 48. was Sheriff of Yorkshire until the Battle of Evesham where he was against the King Monchensey was one of the rebellious Barons at the Battle of Lewes had great Possessions in the Counties of Essex Norfolk Glou ' Kent and Northampton The Lord Lovetot one of the rebellious Barons was in the last half Year of 39th Henry the third Sheriff of the Counties of Nottingham and Derby and Governour of Bolsaver Castle Henry Hastings sideing with the Barons was in the 48. Year of the Raign of Henry the third made Governour of the Castle of Scarborough in com' Eborum and of the Castle of Winchester Bobert de Roos had great Possessions amongst others the Castle and Barony of Helmesley or Hamlake in Yorkshire the Castle and Barony of Warke in Northumberland and the Barony of Trusbut being of the part of the rebellious Barons was for some time Governour of Hereford Castle when Prince Edward was there detained Prisoner in 42. Henry the third answered for four Knights Fees and an half and an eighth part in Lincolnshire fifty-two Thirds a twelfth and a twentieth in Yorkshire ten for his Barony of Trusbut four and a fourth and third part of Warter Adam de Novo Mercato descended from Bernard de Newmarch one of the followers of William the Conqueror subdued to himself three Cantreds being the most part if not the whole of the Country of Brecknock in Wales had in 8th Henry the third the Barony of Bayeux and in the 47th and 48th divers Lands in the County of Lincolne and the Mannor of Wilmaresly Campshall Thorne Bentley and Archley in com' Ebor ' Colvile was seized in the Raign of King Henry the third against whom he took Arms of the Castle of Bitham in the County of Lincolne and of his Purparty of fifteen Knights Fees in the said County Roger Bertram had the Castle and Barony of Mitford with thirty-three Mannors belonging unto it in the County of Northumberland and was in rebellion against King Henry the third Robert de Nevil a great Baron and Lord of Raby in the Bishoprick of Durham was Sheriff of Norfolke in 2d Henry the second Captain General of the King's Forces beyond Trent in 47. Henry the third Sheriff of the County of York Governour of the Castle thereof and of the strong Castle of the Devises in the County of Wilts and in 48th Henry the third Warden of all the Forrests beyond Trent and Governour of the Castle of York was against the King at the Battle of Lewes Fitz Alan of Clun from whom the Earles of Arundel descended enjoyed a great Estate and was against the King at the Battle of Lewes Robert de Vipont one of the rebellious Barons of King Henry the third had by the Grant of King John the Castles of Appleby and Burgh in the County of Cumberland together with the Baylewick or Shrievalty of the County of Westmorland to him and the Heirs of his then Wife unto which Barony belonged the said Mannors of Appleby and Burgh under Stanemore Flaxbridge-Park Forrests and Chases of Winefell and Mallerstang Brougham Castle with fifty-seven Mannors more in the County of Cumberland and Westmoreland in the first second and sixth Year of the Raign of King Henry the third was Sheriff of Cumberland and Governour of Caerlisle in the tenth one of the Justices itinerant in the County of York and in the eleventh one of the Justices of the Court of Common-Pleas Henry de Neuburgh in Normandy a younger Son of Roger de Bellomont Earl of Mellent had the Castle and Borough of Warwick bestowed upon him by William the Conqueror with the large Possessions of Turketill de VVarwick who had the Reputation of Earl of VVarwick although he was but in the nature of a Lieutenant to the Earl of Mercia had Wedgenock Park with the Castle of Warwick Mannors of Tamworth Claverdon and Manton Mauduit in com' Warr ' the Mannors of Gretham and Cotes-more in com' Rotel ' with some Lands in the County of Worcester the Mannor of Chadworth in com' Glou ' in 12. or 13. Regis Johannis Henry Earl of Warwick certified one hundred and two Knights Fees with a third part of a Knights Fee and had by the Gift of that King the Seigneury of Gowerland in Wales which an Ancestor of his is long before said to have Conquered was Owner of the Castle Mannor and Priory of Kenilworth in com' Warwick gave to Geoffry de Clinton the Sherivalty of the County of Warwick to him and his Heirs to be holden of him and his Heirs and in Anno 25. Henry the third Earl Thomas gave a Fine of a hundred and eighty Marks to the King over and above his Scutage that he might be discharged from his Attendance upon him in his
other Mannors Lands and vast Possessions in the Right of Alice Daughter and Heir of Lacy Earl of Lincolne appertaining to that Earldom gave costly Liveries of Furrs and Purple to Barons Knights and Esquires attending in his House or place of Residence and paid in the 7th Year of the Raign of King Edward the Second Six Hundred Twenty-Three Pounds Sixteen Shillings Six Pence when a little Money went as far as a great deal now to divers Earls Barons Knights and Esquires for Fees and being in great Discord with King Edward the Second his Nephew concerning Gaveston the two Despencers Father and Son his Favourites and some Grievances of the Nation complained of and the Pope having sent two Cardinals into England to endeavour a Pacification betwixt them they with the King Queen Arch-Bishop of Canterbury all the Bishops Cum Comitibus Baronibus Magnatibus Regni went to Leicester to have an Enterview and Treaty with the said Thomas Earl of Lancaster whither the King being come saith the Historian Occurrit ei Thomas Comes Lancaster die ei ex hac parte praefixo apud Sotisbrig stipatus pulcherrimâ multitudine hominum cum equis quod non occurrit quempiam retroactis temporibus vidisse aliquem Comitem duxisse tà m pulchram multitudinem hominum cum equis sic benè arraitorum scilicet 18. mille cùmque Rex Comes obviarent sine magna difficultate osculati sunt facti sunt chari Amici quòad intuitum circùm astantium In Anno 46. Henry the Third the King granted to John Earl of Richmond the Honor and Rape of Hastings in com' Sussex and in Anno 29. the Honor of Eagle and Castle of Pevensey in com' Sussex to whose Ancestors William the Conqueror had before granted all the Northern part of the County of York called Richmond being formerly the Possessions of Earl Edwyn a Saxon. Percy a great Baron in Northumberland and the Northern parts had thirty-two Lordships in Lincolneshire in Yorkshire eighty-six besides Advowsons Knights Fees free Warrens c. and was on the King's part at the Battle of Lewes Richard Earl of Cornewall had in the 11th of Henry the Third a Grant of the whole County of Rutland in Anno 15. of the Castle and Honor of Wallingford with the Appurtenances and the Mannor of Watlington all the Lands in England which Queen Isabell the King's Mother held in Dower the whole County of Cornewall with the Stanneries and Mines the Castle and Honor of Knaresburgh in the County of York the Castle of Lidford and Forrest of Dertmore the Castle of Barkhamsteed with the Appurtenances in the County of Hartford with many Knights Fees Advowsons free Warrens Liberties c. In the Raign of Henry the Third William de Valence afterwards Earl of Pembroke was seized of the Castle of Hartford with the Appurtenances of the Mannors of Morton and Wardon in com' Glouc ' Cherdisle and Policote in com' Buck ' Compton in com' Dors ' Sapworth Colingborow Swindon Jutebeach and Boxford in com' Wilts ' Sutton and Braborne in com' Kanc ' and of divers Mannors and Lands in the Counties of Surrey and Sussex Robert de Todeney Father of William de Albini built the Castle of Belvoir and had seventy-nine Mannors with large Immunities and Priviledges thereunto belonging Beauchamp of Elmeley of whom the Earls of Warwick of that Name were descended had by the Grant of King Henry the First bestowed upon him all the Lands of Roger de Wircester with many Priviledges to those Lands belonging and likewise the Shrievalty of Worcestershire to hold as freely as any of his Ancestors had done had the Castle of Worcester by Inheritance from Emelin de Ubtot the Mannors of Beckford Weston and Luffenham in com' Rutland executed the Shrievalty of Warwickshire in 2d Henry the Second so also in Gloucestershire from the 3d. to the 9th Inclusive for Herefordshire from the 8th to the 16th certified his Knights Fees to be in number Fifteen had by Marriage and his Inheritance the Honor and Castle of Warwick with Wedgenock Park and all those vast Possessions of the Earldom of Warwick enjoyed by Earl Walleran or Mauduit Baron of Hanslap his Heir Bolebeck of the County of Buckingham at the time of William the Conqueror's Survey was seized of Ricote in com' Oxon ' Waltine in com' Hunt ' and of Missedene Elmodesham Cesteham Medeinham Broch Cetedone Wedon Culoreton Linford Herulfmede and Wavendon in com' Buck ' and in 11th Henry the Third one of that Family certified his Knights Fees holden of the King to be eight of the Earl of Buckingham twenty Another of the same Name and Family in the County of Northumberland was enfeoffed of divers Lordships by King Henry the First one of whose Descendants in 12. Henry the Second certified his Knights Fees de veteri feoffamento to be four and a half and three and two Thirds de novo and left Issue by Margaret his Wife one of the Sisters and Coheirs of Richard de Montfichet a great Baron of Essex Hugh de Bolebeck who in 4. Henry the Third was Sheriff of Northumberland and possessed of twenty-seven Mannors in that County with the Grange of Newton and the Moyety of Bywell The Lord Clifford and his Descendants was then and not long after seized of the Borough of Hartlepole in the Bishoprick of Durham three Mannors in Oxfordshire three in Wiltshire Frampton and part of Lece in com' Glouc ' seven in com' Heref ' Corfham Culminton and three other Mannors in com' Salop ' the Castle of Clifford in com' Heref ' Mannor of Temedsbury or Tenbury and five other Mannors in com' VVigorn ' Castle and Mannor of Skipton in Craven Forrest of Berden the Chase of Holesdon the Towns of Sylesdon and Skieldon with the Hamlets of Swarthowe and Bromiac third part of the Mannor and Priory of Bolton in com' Eborum ' Mannors of Elwick Stranton and Brorton in com' Northum ' Castles and Mannor of Apleby Burgh Pendragon and Bureham the Wood of Quintel twenty-four Mannors and the Moiety of the Mannor of Maltby in the County of Cumberland the Mannor of Duston and eighteen other Mannors in the County of VVestmoreland together with the Shrievalty of that County to him and his Heirs descended unto him from the Baron of Vipont VVilliam de Peverell an illegitimate Son of VVilliam the Conqueror had in the 2d Year of his Raign when all places of Trust and Strength were committed to the King 's chiefest Friends and Allies the Castle of Nottingham then newly Built given unto him and with it or soon after divers Lands in several Counties of a large Extent for by the general Survey it appears that he had then forty four Lordships in Northamptonshire two in Essex two in Oxfordshire in Bedfordshire two in Buckinghamshire nine in Nottinghamshire fifty-five with forty-eight Trades-Mens Houses in Nottingham at Thirty-Six Shillings Rent per Annum seven Knights Houses and Bordars of
which the Honor of Peverell did consist in Derbyshire fourteen and six in Leicestershire Roger de Montgomery Earl of Shrewsbury had in the Reigns of VVilliam the Conqueror and his Son VVilliam Rufus besides great Possessions in Normandy in VViltshire three Lordships in Surrey four in Hantshire nine in Middlesex eight in Cambridgeshire eleven in Hartfordshire one in Gloucestershire one in Worcestershire two in Warwickshire eleven in Staffordshire thirty in Sussex seventy-seven with the City of Chichester and Castle of Arundell and in Shropshire very many near all that County with the Castle and Town of Shrewsbury Odo Earl of Albermarle and Holderness had shortly after the Conquest given him by William the Conqueror the large Territory of Holderness with fifteen Mannors or Lordships in other Counties that would bear Wheat because he alledged that of Holderness would bear only Oates and had in the Raign of King Henry the Third the Barony of Skipton in Craven with sixteen Knight-Fees a Moyety of the Forrest of Allerdale Caldebec with the Mannor of Cockermouth in the County of Cumberland the Bond Service of the Tenants in Freston a Member of Brustwick in Holderness and in the right of Isabell his Wife the Castle of Carisbrooke and Isle of Wight Robert de Stafford was shortly after the Conquest seized of two Lordships in Suffolk one in Worcestershire one in Northamptonshire twenty in Lincolneshire twenty-six in Warwickshire with eighty-one in Staffordshire Walter de Eureux had shortly after the Conquest two Lordships in Dorsetshire three in Somersetshire one in Surrey one in Middlesex two in Hantshire two in Hartfordshire two in Buckinghamshire and thirty-one besides the Mannors of Saresbury and Ambresbury in Wiltshire and as Sheriff of that County received in Rent one hundred and thirty Hogs thirty-two Bacons two bushels and sixteen gallons of Wheat and as much in Barley bushells and eight gallons of Oates thirty-two gallons of Honey or sixteen Shillings four hundred and forty-eight Hens one thousand and sixty Eggs one hundred Cheeses fifty-two Lambs two hundred Fleeces of Wool having likewise one hundred and sixty-two Acres of arable Lands and amongst the Reves Lands to the value of Forty Pounds per Annum Baldwin de Molis second Son to Gilbert Crispin Earl of Beton Son of Godfrey Earl of Eu natural Son of Richard Duke of Normandy great Grand-Father to William the Conqueror was one of the principal Persons of the Laity that won much Fame at the Conquest and Marrying Aldreda a Neice of the Conqueror had shortly after the Castle of Exeter granted unto him and besides Mola and Sappo had given unto him Werne in Dorsetshire Apely Portlock and Mundeford in Somersetshire one hundred and fifty-nine Lordships in Devonshire and nineteen Houses in Exeter To whose eldest Son Richard was also given the whole Honor and Barony of Okehampton with the Shrievalty of the County of Devon Geffry Mandeville had given him by the Conqueror in Barkshire four Mannors in Sussex twenty-six in Middlesex seven in Surrey one in Oxfordshire three in Cambridgeshire nine in Hertfordshire nineteen in Northamptonshire seven in Warwickshire two in Essex forty with Hurley and the Woods in Barkshire Alan Sirnamed Rufus or Fergaint Son of an Earl of Britany in France had given him by William the Conqueror the Northern part of the County of York called Richmond which with what he had in Yorkshire made one hundred and sixty-six Lordships besides the Castle of Richmond one called the Devises in Wiltshire in Essex eight in Hartfordshire two in Cambridgeshire sixty-three with ten Burgages in Cambridge in Herefordshire twelve Mannors in Northamptonshire one in Nottinghamshire seven in Norfolk eighty-one and in Lincolneshire one hundred and one Together with many others of the Norman Nobility and Adventurers who had great quantities of Lands and Possessions given unto them by that Conquerour of England And some of our English Nobility were so Great Magnanimous and Munificent as at the Coronation of King Edward the First when Alexander King of Scotland his Brother-in-Law came from thence to Westminster to be present and do him Homage Sir Edmond Earl of Kent the King's Brother the Earls of Cornewall Gloucester Pembroke and Earl Warren each of them by themselves Led on their Hands one hundred Knights disguise in their Armes and whame they weren alyght of theyr Horse they let them goo whedyr they wolde and they that cowd them take had them stylle at their own lyking The great Ancestors of whom as well as those that stood with or against King Henry the Third or were but as sad Spectators of those tragick Wars had in their Hospitalities and huge quantities of Lands holden of them as may appear by their Certificates of Knights Fees recorded in one part of the Book called the Red-Book of the Exchequer happily preserved from the Conflagration or great London Fire several Forrests Parks and Chases with multitudes of Castles in some of their Possessions had been the Procurers of many of their own and the common peoples Liberties and Priviledges in the often confirmed Magna Charta and Charta de Foresta with divers great Priviledges Fairs and Markets and had given unto them large Commons of Pasture and Estovers and by their Grants of Markets and Fairs and likewise by their very many Advowsons and Patronages of Churches of a great part of which they had been the Founders Builders and glebe Endowers had to their Spiritual Estates laid upon the Commonalty as great Obligations of Gratitude as they had in the before-recited Temporal Favors and Benefits besides their granting of Leases of part of their demesne Lands at small Rents with reservation of some Service in permitting their Charity and good Will in Copy-hold Lands to Tenants or Servants or their Widdows or Children which at the first was but at the Will of the Lord or for Life or Years to continue and breed into a custom of Inheritance Secundum consuetudinent manerii and enfranchised and made many of them Free-holders permitted many Copy-hold Fines incertain to be made certain where they had been anciently at the Will of the Lord and to be limited by the Chancery or Courts of Justice to the Rent of two Years improved Value and when they do in these later times demise any part of their demesne Lands to a Tenant for twenty-one Years now that the legal Usury or Interest for Money is but six per cent for ten Years purchase do take as many Landlords do now Money before hand at a chargeable Interest and next to the manifold reiterated Blessings of the God of Heaven and Earth together with the favours and benefits of the Elements and superior Regions and astral Influences by and under the divine Providence were as much Blest and Happy under their Kings Princes Bishops and Nobility as any Nation or common People of the World could be or expect to be in their Properties Liberties Protection and Priviledges whom those
great Barons and Lords Spiritual and Temporal could not imagine would ever be able either to forget the Good which they and their Fore-Fathers had received and they and their after-Generations were like to enjoy under them or get loose from those many great Ties and Obligations of a never-to-be-forgotten Gratitude which they had upon them but thought themselves very secure from any danger that might happen by any of their Incroachments or Usurpations by placing any Power or but a Semblance of Authority for once in the lower Ranks of the People nor could have believed that the common People of England after their solemn Protestations to preserve them and the Government could after the Murder of their King in their last horrid Rebellion have Voted them to be useless and dangerous and being unwilling to leave any of the Divels their Masters business unfinished did solemnly enforce the deluded Seditious People under as many severe Penalties as they could lay upon them not any more to submit to any Government by a King and House of Lords to whom our Kings had given no Power to make their own Choice but lodged and onely entrusted it in the Sheriffs many of which the rebellious Barons had by Usurpation of the King's Authority provided before hand to be at this present of their own Party or were like to be so or under their Awe and Guidance wherein they were perceived by the King some Years before upon their ill-gained Provisions at Oxford to have been very diligent in making Sheriffs of their own Party those great Offices being in those times and many Years before and some few Years after alwayes put into the Hands and Trust of the Baronage or Men of great Estate and Power Whose Number by Tenures and Summons by Writs to our King 's great Councels or Parliaments Creations or Descents accounted in the Raign of King Henry the Third to be no less than Two Hundred and Forty if not many more and like the tall and stately Cedars of our Nation might well deserve the Titles of Proceres and Magnates especially when many or most of them were in their Greatness Goodness and Authority in their several Stations like the Tree which Nebuchadnezzar saw in his Vision high and strong The height whereof reached to the Heaven the leaves were fair and the fruit thereof much the beasts of the field had shadow under it and the fowles of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof and as ex pede Herculem the Length and Greatness of Hercules's Foot declared the vast Proportion and Magnitude of the residue of his Body it was easy to compute how little were then the Common People how great the Nobility whom the Brittaines ancient Inhabitants of our Isle as the Learned Francis Junius the Son of the no less Learned Francis Junius hath observed justly stiled them Lhafords Lords and their Wives Lhafdies Ladies because they usually gave Bread and Sustenance to those that wanted it gave License of Marriage to the Widdows of their Thanks by Knight Service punished their Tenants so holding their Lands by Writ Cessavit per Biennium and a Forfeiture if not redeemed was Entituled to a Writ of Contra formam Collationis for not performing the Duties and Offices of their Endowments and the large Revenues and Emoluments appropriated thereunto And with the many Accessions and Devolutions of other Mannors Lands Revenues Estates Baronies Titles of Honour and Offices of State by Marriages Descents in Fee or remainders in Fee-tail munificent Guifts and Grants of their Kings and Princes upon Merit and great Services done for them and their Country or by Purchases guarded by the strength of the Statute De donis Conditionalibus made in the 13th Year of the Raign of King Edward the First with the Tye and Obligation of their Tenures and the Restraints of Alienation made them to be such Grantz Magnates as the common People did in their Disseisins Intrusions and Outrages done one unto another which in the elder times were very frequent colour and Shelter those Injuries by or under some Title or Conveyances made unto some of the Nobility or great Men of the Kingdom which caused some of our Kings to grant out Commissions of Ottroy le Baston vulgarly called Trail Baston to find out and punish such Evil doings and by the making of some of our later Laws to restrain the giving of Liveries so as until the Writs of Summons granted by King Edward the First in the 22d Year of his Raign to Elect some Knights of the Shires Citizens and Burgesses to give their Assent in Parliaments to such Laws and Things as by the advice of his Lords Spiritual and Temporal should advise should by him be ordained there having been an Intermission of those or the like kind of Writs of Summons from the first Contrivance thereof in the time of the Imprisonment of King Henry the Third in the 49th Year of his Raign it was and ought to be believed as a matter or thing agreeable to Truth right Reason and the Laws and Records of the Kingdom that the Commons and Freeholders of England were long before and for many Ages past as ancient as the British Empire and Monarchy were to be no part of our Great Councels or Parliaments were never Summoned or Elected to come thither but had their Votes and Estates and well Being as to those great Councels included in the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and as to their assent or dissent good or ill liking represented by them and retaining their well deserved Greatness were so potent and considerable as Gilbert de Clare Earl of Gloucester could after the Battle of Evesham where he had Fought for the King March with a formidable Army composed for the most part of his own Servants Tenants Reteiners and Dependants from the Borders of Wales to London quarrel and capitulate with his King that had been but a little before extraordinary Victorious and with John Warren Earl of Surrey did after the Death of King Henry the Third before the Return of his Son Prince Edward from the Wars in the Holy-Land to take the Crown upon him at the Solemnization of the Funeral of the deceased King in the Abbey-Church of Westminster with the Clergy and People there Assembled without their License and Election go up to the high Altar and swear their Fealty to the absent King Edward the First his Son So beloved feared and followed as the great Earl of Warwick was said in some of our Histories to have been the Puller down and Setter up of Kings could with the Earl of Oxford in the dire Contests betwixt King Henry the Sixth and Edward the Fourth for the Crown of England rescue and take by force King Henry the Sixth out of the Tower of London where he was kept a Prisoner attend him in a stately and numerous Procession to the Cathedral Church of St. Paul the one carrying up his Train and the other
quod ministeriales praedicti de hospitio Domini Regis debent interesse in Curiâ Domini Regis cum Paribus Franciae ad judicandum Pares tunc praedicti Ministeriales judicaverant praedictam Comitissam Flandriae cum Paribus Franciae Wherein our Ancestors without any Arrest or Decree of Parliament did rather give than take the Pattern when their Bishops as Chancellors of our Kings very often and in a continued Series from the Raign of King Edward the Confessor who was not without his Reinbaldus Regiae dignitatis Vice-Câ—ncellarius when Maurice Bishop of London was Chancellor to William the Conqueror in the first Year of his Raign and other Bishops have in that high and great Office severally from thence succeeded unto the 29th of Edward the First and not a few of the other Bishops have been Treasurers and Secretaries of State and by that Right alone besides their Spiritual Rights and Temporal Baronies did sit as Peers in that great Assembly together with the Lord Privy-Seal Constable Marshal and Great Chamberlain of England Lord Steward Chamberlain of the Houshold with the Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons of England which do Illustrate that greatest of our Kings Councels attended with such of the Judges and other Assistants as their Soveraigns shall be pleased to call or permit to Sit therein Neither could those grand Officers claim a Right to be accounted by them or any others Equal or Co-ordinate with them or their Superiours or to have any Vote in the House of Peers in Parliament by their sitting there it being in the Act of Parliament made in the 31st Year of the Raign of King Henry the Eighth Entituled How the Lords in Parliament shall be placed wherein it being expressed That it appertained to his Prerâ—gative Royal to give such Honor Reputation and Place to his Câ—uncellors and other his Subjects as shall be seeming to his excellent Wisdome It was specially mentioned That the Lord Chancellor Lord Treasurer Lord President of the King's Councel Lord Privy-Seal or Chief Secretary that shall be under the degree of a Baron of the Parliament are to give no Assent or Dissent in the Parliament And it is likewise remarkable That in the Title of that Act of Parliament and all along and thorough the Body thereof the House of Peers is only stiled the Parliament and no mention is therein at all made of the House of Commons in Parliament nor any Care or Order taken for their Degrees or sitting in Parliament Neither do any of our Parliament Rolls Records or Authentick ancient Historians mention that our Kings were in those their great Councels limited or accustomed to call all their Barons thereunto Nor until the latter end of the Raign of King Richard the Second had voluntarily obliged themselves to Summon thither the Dukes Marquesses Earls and Viscounts unto those their great Councels And when it hath been truly said that Omne Majus continet in se Minus it will not be easy to believe That the Minus doth or should Continere in se Majus For in Anno 23 Edward the First there were but Sixty-three Earls and Barons Summoned and in the same Year upon another Summons but 45. King Edward the Second did not Summon all the Earls and Barons In the 6 E. 3. the like M. 22 E. 3. 6 R. 2. 11 R. 2. the like King Edward the 3d. in the 9th Year of his Raign Summoned but five Earls and Eleven Barons In the 10th E. 3. the Parliament Writs of Summons were directed but unto Fourteen of the Temporal Barons with a Memorandum entred that Brevia istis Magnatibus immediatè praescriptis directa essendi ad Parliamentum praedictum remissa fuerint concilio Regis pro eò quòd quidam ex eis in partibus Scotiae quidam ex eis in partibus transmarinis existant adnullanda 15 E. 3. there were Summoned but 26 of all sorts 16 E. 3. But a very few 21 E. 3. but 22. 45 E. 3. but thirteen Earls and Barons and not many to diverse Parliaments after the great Commune Generale Concilium rightly understood being but Synonyma's of the word Parliament and of latter times they which were in the King's Displeasure have had their Summons but with a Letter from the Lord Chancellour or Lord Keeper commanded not to come but to send a Proxy In Anno 46 E. 3. and diverse years in the Raign of King Henry the 5th few Earls and Barons were Summoned for that many of them were then busied in the Warrs of France But in the Parliament in the Raign of King Charles the Martyr John Earl of Bristol being denyed his Writ petitioned to the House of Peers for it whereupon he had it without any intercession of the House of Peers but withal a Letter from the Lord Keeper signifying his Majesties Pleasure that he should send his Proxy and forbear to come whereupon he petitioned the Parliament again shewing That that Letter could not discharge him from coming for that the Writ commanded him to come upon his Allegiance but that point was not then debated for the said Earl was presently sent for as a Delinquent and charged with High Treason the Majores Barones being men of the best Estate Extraction and Abilities and better sort of the Tenants in Capite by antient Law and Custome of the Kingdom being to be only Summoned according to the very old custome of the Romans probably learnt from thence who as Sigonius writes did in legenâ—o Senatores make choise of them according to their Birth Age Estate and Magistracy well exercised and performed And could be no less then well warranted by a constant well experimented long approved and applauded Usage thereof for more than fourteen hundred Years attested by the industrious Labours of Mr. William Pryn and others and for the times before the Conquest and the Learned Collections of Sir Robert Filmer and others since the Norman Invasion fortified by such Records which in themselves are never found to lie as the teeth of devouring Time hath left us seconded by unquestionable antient authentick classical Authors which might silence those disputes Factious and Foolish opinions and cavils which in the latter part of this last unquiet Century or age have been stirred up against that very Antient and Honourable Assembly or House of Peers which all the former ages neither durst or did lift an hand or heel against or so much as maligne or bark at So greatly are our most degenerate wickedly hypocritical worser Times altered from what they were or should be and the only Recital of whose long and Antient Successions through their so many several gradations may abundantly satisfie any that are not before so prepossessed as to resolve never to be satisfied with any thing that looks but like Truth or Reason if they shall but read as they ought to do the ensuing Series or Catalogue Wherein they may find that in the Bud or Blossom of
Christianity in this our British Isle whither with divers good Authors we believe that King Lucius who is said to lie buried at Winchester did in the year 156 after the Birth of our Redeemer or in the year 185 186 or 187. write his Letter to Pope Eleutherius to transmit unto him the Roman Laws it is allowed by Sir Henry Spelman to have been written Rege Proceribus Regni Britanniae and that Faganus and Dervianus two Doctors being sent by Eleutherius to King Lucius Baptized him cum regulis populum Baptizant Clerum ordidinant 3. Metropolitanos 28. Episcopos instituunt Rex Ambrosius Aurelius ut memoriale Procerum Britanniae quos Hengistus Saxonesque sui complices nefanda proditione in monte Ambrosij qui nunc vulgò Stohenge dicitur trucidaverant 480. Consul ' Barones aeternum fieret praegrandes Lapides qui ibidem in borum memoriam usque in praesens positi sunt ab Hybernia cum magna manu Germano suo Uther illuc transmisso deportari fecit qui câ—â—n allati fuissent congregati sunt in monte Ambrosij edicto Regis magnates eum Clero cum magno honore dictorum nobilium sepulturam prepararent In the Charter of King Aethelbert confirming his Grant of the Land given to the Church of St. Pancrase in the Year 605. It is mentioned to have been done consensu venerabilis Augustini Archiepiscopi ac Principum suorum Et Decreta judiciorum ordinavit juxta exempla Romanorum concilio sapientum and when Edwin King of Northumberland was perswaded to be a Christian it is said that he consulted cum principibus conciliariis suis. Anno Dominicae incarnationis Aethelbertus Rex in fide roboratus Catholica unà cum beata regina filioque ipsorumque Eadbaldo ac Reverendissimo praesule Augustino caeterisque Optimatibus terrae solemnitatem natalis Domini celebravit Cantuariae convocato igitur ibidem communi concilio tà m Cleri quà m populi In Anno Domini 673. a Parliamentary Councel was holden at Hertford presentibus Episcopis ac Regibus Magnatibus universis but not any Knights Citizens Burgesses or Commons as we read of saith Mr. Pryn. A great Councel or Parliament was held at Becanfeld where Wythred King of Kent was present Anno 694. In like manner where none but the Peers were present The like Anno 710. at Worcester but without any Commons The like in the Councel at Cliff Anno 747. holden by Ethelbaldus King of Mercia omnibus Regni sui principibus ducibus being present but not one Knight or Burgess mentioned The like in Anno 787. at Colchuth coram Offa Rege suis magnatibus convenerunt omnes principes tà m Ecclesiastici quà m seculares Anno Domini 793. King Offa held a Councel at Verulam wherein the King suorum Magnatum acquiescens concilio took a journey to Rome Anno 794. after his return Celebrated two Councels the one at Colchyth where were present nine Kings twenty-five Bishops twenty Dukes but no House of Commons the other at Verolam Congregato apud Verolamium Episcoporum Optimatum concilio About the year 796. Cynewolf King of West Sex held a Councel where he wrote to Lullus Bishop of Mentz touching matters of Religion unà cum Episcopis suis nec non cum caterva Satraparum Anno 800. Kenulf King of Mercia called to the Councel at Clovesha omnes Regni sui Episcopos Duces Abbates cujuscunque dignitatis viros where there was no mention of any Commons Anno 816. at the Councel of Colechyth Caenulf King of Mercia was present cum suis principibus ducibus optimatibus but not a Syllable of Knights or Burgesses present About the year 822. in the Councel of Cloveshâ— where Beornulf King of Mercia Wilfred Archbishop Omniumque dignltatum optimates Ecclesiasticarum Secularium were present but no Knights of Counties or Burgesses Anno 824. another Councel was held by the same King at the same place assidentibus Episcopis Abbatibus Principibus Merciorum universis but no Commons for ought appears the King Archbishops Bishops and Dukes Subscribing their Names to the decrees there made About the same time a Councel called Pan-Anglicum or for all England was holden at London Praesentibus Egberto Rege West Saxonum Withlasio Rege Merciorum utroque Archiepiscopo caeterisque Angliae Magnatibus who Subscribed it Anno Domini 838. a Concilium Pan-Anglicum was holden at Kingston where King Egbert and his Son Ethelwolph were present cum Episcopis Optimatibus but not a word mentioned of the Commons Assent or Dissent Anno 850. A Councel was holden at Beningdon Praelatis proceribus Regni Merciae under King Bertulf when Lands were Setled and Confirmed by them to the Abbey of Crowland without the Assent or Mention of any Commons Anno Domini 851. In a Councel held at Kingsbury under King Bertulf Praesentibus Ceolnotho Archiepiscopo Doroberniae caeterisque Regni Merciae Episcopis Magnatibus without Knights or Burgesses Anno 855. There was a Councel or Parliament of all England held at Winchester where Ethelulf King of West-Sex Beorred King of Mercia and Edmond King of East-Sex were present together with the Arch-Bishops of Canterbury and York Caeterisque Angliae Episcopis Magnatibus wherein King Ethelwolf Omnium praelatorum principum suorum gratuito concilio without any Knights or Burgesses gave the Tithes of all the Lands and Goods within his Dominions a matter of no small Concernment to all his Subjects in their Estates and Proprieties to God and the Church which hath continued ever since in Force through all England Betwixt the Year 871. which was the beginning of King Alureds Raign and the end of which was in Anno Christi Domini 900. that excellent and prudent Prince Collected and Corrected divers Laws made by the Saxon Kings his Predecessors omitting others consulto sapientum Prudentissimorume suis consiliis usus edicit eorum observationem which was probably so done in a great Councel or Councels which were afterwards called Parliaments which in that so generally an unlearned age cannot be understood to be less than the Magnates of the Kingdom Bishops and Barons And the like is to be said of the Prudentum concilium given to Edoard who began his Reign in Anno 900. and ended it in Anno 924 and as much is to be believed of the Councel or Parliament of King Aethelstan who began his Raign in Anno 924 and ended it in the year 940. who besides what is mentioned in the making of his Laws that he did it prudenti Ulfheline Archiepiscopi aliorumque Episcoporum suorum concilio did about the year of our Lord 930. by his Charter give divers Lands to the Abby of Malmesbury in one of which Charters or Grants there was a Postscript or Subscription in these words Sciant sapientes Regionis Nostrae non has prefatas terras me injustè rapuisse rapinas Deo dedisse
the King's Court being then the Parliament without Commons Anno 31. Henry the Third Rex cum Magnatibus tractatum habuit diligentem per plures concilium urgens dies Medio Quadragesimae edicto Regio convocata convenit ad Parliamentum generalissimum Anglicani totius nobilitatis Londini videlicet Prelatorum tà m Abbatum Priorum quà m Episcoporum Comitum quoque Baronum ut de Statu Regni jam vacillantis efficacitèr prout exegit urgens necessitas contrectarent Upon further troubles and concernments of the Kingdom Convenêrunt ad Parliamentum memoratum totius regni Magnates no Commons imprimis aggressus est Dominus Rex ore proprio Episcopos per se postea verò Comites Barones deinde Abbates Priores Afterwards in the same Year Habitum est magnum Concilium inter Regem regni Magnates apud Wintoniam super multiplici Regni totius maximè totius Ecclesiae desolatione wherein upon the hopeless Account given by William de Powic and Henry de la Mare two of the Procurators sent to Rome of the Popes obstinacy to continue his Pilling and Polling of the Kingdom It is said Haec autem cùm audisset dominus Rex cum Magnatibus suis not the Commons commotus est vehementèr meritò praecepitque voce Praeconis in omnibus Comitatibus per omnes villas loca congregationes that no Man should pay any of the Popes Exactions And in the 31. Henry the Third Rex cum Magnatibus tractatum habuit diligentem per plures concilium urgens dies protelavit Per idem tempus Dominus Rex comperiens regnum suum enormitèr periclitari jussit omnem totius regni Nobilitatem convocari ut de Statu ipsius manifestè periclitantis Oxoniis diligentèr contrectarent Praelatis autem maximè ad hoc Parliamentum vocavit arctius 32. Henry the Third at the Quindena of St. John Baptist covenit Londinum totâ—â—s Angliae Nobilitas venientibus in unum omnâ—bâ—s regni Primatibus in a great expectation of the King 's redressing of Grievances Anno 33. Henry the Third Rex congregavit omnes regni Nobiles ut â—â—rum consensum flecteret ad auxilium dandum sent his Letters by Symon Pasleu to the Sheriffs of every County to Collect what they could of them Anâ—o 35. Henry the Third 13 Calendarum Martij habitum est Parliamentum magnum Londini sicut fu rat praelocutum praefixum where Henricus de Bathonia Justiciarius Regis being greatly accused by the Commons not any Commons Elected to come in Parliament was afterwards for a Fine or great Sum of Money pardoned by the King when he was hugely incensed against him yet there was enough to manifest that there were none of the Commons Eodem Anno instante Paschali solennitate fecit dominus Rex convocari Londini omnes Magnates Angliae cruce signatos ut infra Quindenam Paschae ibidem convenerent super nâ—gotio Terrae sanctae eujus honor enormiter vacillare videbatur diligentèr contrectarent Adhuc autem non terminato Parliemento where the King was said to be inexorabilis factus omni petenti saltem breves inducias debitoribus suis non concessit graviter Comes Lâ—griae in cuâ—ia Regis accusatus and when the King magnâ irâ had commanded Richard Earl of Cornewall his Brother to deliver up his Patent or Commission of the Covernment of Gascoâ—gne which the Earl refused and charged the Citizens of Bourdeaux to apprehend him which they denyed it is said that Noluit autem Rex hoc praecipere Magnatibus Angliae certus quòd hoc nullatenùs facerent siue maximâ consideratione Rex igitur nè viderentur quidam Magnates qui jam illuc advenerant inanitèr suisse convocati districtè tractatum suscitavit Soli to igitur cum Regis Cleri Magnatum indignatione c. Convocatis denuò dommus Rex Optimatibus suis c. Anno 37. Henry the Third in Quindena Paschae tota edicto Regio convocata Angliae Nobilitas no Commons convenit Londini de arduis regni negotiis simul cum Rege tractaturi extiterunt igitur ibidem cum Comitibus Baronibus quamplurimis Archiepiscopus Cantuariensis Bonifacius Episcopi Angliae fere omnes Where when the King pressing for Aid and Supplies could not upon the Bishops unwillingness forbear to remember them how he had in particular advanced many of them beyond their deserts they had no better answer to return him than Domine Rex non facimus de praeteritis mentionem sed Sermonem extendimus ad sutura after many long Debates a Tenth was granted by the Clergy towards the Wars of the Holy-Land per visum Magnatum not of the Commons cum iter ad Hierusalem arriperet à militibus Scutigeris illo Anno ad scutum tres Marcae was perswaded by Fear or the desire of the Money by no Order or Ordinance of Parliament to which not any of the Commons though greatly concerned therein were Parties to give his Consent and walk with many of the Nobility and Bishops through Westminster-Hall in that direful Procession with burning Torches pronouncing Curses and wishing Damnation and the fiery Torments of Hell upon the Infringers of the Charters of their and the Peoples Liberties 38. Henry the Third Convenissent universi ferè Angliae Magnates viz. Comes Mareschallus R. Bigod Gilbertusque de Segrave speciales domini Regis Nuntij ad Parliamentum venientes ex parte ejus propositum suum praecordiale Universitati Angliae fortè seducti nuntiantes aderant autem illuc Comes Richardus frater Domini Regis Comes Cornubiae Comes Wintoniensis cum domind Regina no Commons omnes Episcopi Angliae exceptis duntaxat Cantuariensis Eboracensis Archiepiscopis Dunelmensi Bathoniensi Episcopis qui cum Rege in Gasconia fuerunt where after the necessities of the King shewed and the danger of Hostilities from the King of Castile respondit Universitas they did not believe there could be any such danger sic igitur solutum fuit Concilium cassum inane Eodem Anno Congregati sunt iterum Angliae Magnates quibus significabat Rex quòd pecunia indigebat viribus amplioribus ad repellendum violentiam magni hostis supervenientis but they alleadging former great Taxes denyed it Anno 39. Henry the Third Edicto Regio convocata convenit Magnatum numerosa multitudo anno vero sub eodem ad sestum sancti Edwardi fuerunt apud Westmonasterium omnes ferè Angliae Magnates ubi Rex petebat auxilium pecuniare Anno 41. Henry the Third veniunt Londini ad dominum Regem qui multos sibi cum Comite Richardo ibi Magnates congregârat quidam de Primatibus Alemanniae concerning the Election of the said Earl Richard to be King of Almaine Eodem Anno in media Quadragesima factum est magnum Parliamentum where the Controversy betwixt the Bishop of Lincoln and
interests from domestick disturbances and forreign invasions or Injuries Howsoever rather then want a Shift or that which they would have to be called Truth and Reason when it can be neither of them they think something may for their purpose be picked out of old Bracton to help in a Case of necessity it were a pity that the best Cause of God as they call'd it should be lost for want of a little help to Support it therfore rather then suffer it to sink and perish every one that was well affected and a well-willer thereunto should make use of all the Contrivances imaginable and do all that they can to perswade and believe otherwise it will Conduce to little purpose SECT XVII That the Comites or Earls have in Parliament or out of Parliament Power to Compell their Kings or Sovereign Princes to yeild unto their Consults Votes or Advices will make them like the Spartan Ephori and amount to no more then a Conclusion without Premises or any thing of Truth Law or Right Reason to Support it BUt the straw and stubble upon which the late long Parliament-Rebellion hath built a great part of their wicked and godless pretences by misusing and ill understanding of a piece of our learned Bracton snatched and torn from the true and genuine meaning and Intention of the Author will deceive their expectations and hopes in relying upon it if where he saith Item nec factum Regis nec Chartam potest quis Judicare Ita quod factum Domini Regis irritetur sed dicere potuit quis quod Rex Justitiam bene et si hoc eadem ratione quod male Ita imponere ei quod injuriam emendet ne incidat Rex Justic. in Judicium viventis Dei propter Injuriam Rex autem habet Superiorem Deum scilicet item legem per quam factus est rex Item Curiam suam viz. Comites Barones quia Comites dicuntur quasi socii Regis Wherein if the word Superiorem should relate or be intended by Bracton to the Law and the Kings Court of Parliament It would be as a little Grammer as good Latin Law or Right Reason and the Authors meaning who lived in the Time of the Imprisonment of King Henry the 3d. by Simon de Montfort and other his Rebellious Earls and Barons and by some Citations in his book may be believed to have then or after Written it his aforesaid book cannot be rationally thought by the Intire and whole Context thereof to have any design to incourage so Wicked and long continued a Rebellion or intend to render the King Inferior to the Law in Contradiction unto his own assertions that Rex parem non habet Rex facit Legem and make his Curia Court or Parliament whom he can call Continue Prorogue Dissolve wherein he hath a negative voice and as Sr Edward Coke saith is Principum Caput finis and as it were the Anima or Soul thereof And to suppose him to be Inferiour to a Court of his own Calling or disposing kept in his own house or Palace and composed of many of his especiall domestiques is and would be beyond the fancies of little Children or the reach of the silliest sort of Imagination And need not be afraid of their Earls and Barons supposed bridling of them in Parliament when the Barons may be Called or Summoned as our Kings pleased and the Earls and Greater Nobility also before the Reign of King Richard the 2. And our Kings have both before since always had as much liberty to Summon the Lords Spirituall and Temporall as they had before that Time 〈◊〉 not to Summon the Praelates or as they had before or since the Reign of King Richard the 2. to dispence both with the not Coming of the Spirituall and Temporall Lords by an allowance of their Proxies given to Members of their own house Et qui habet socium habet magistrum ideo si rex fuerit sine fraeno id est fine lege debent ei fraenum ponere nisi ipsimet fuerint cum Rege sine fraeno Et tunc clamabant subditi dicent Domine Jesu Christi c. It shall be rightly considered that however the word Magistrum and the word Socii by some inadvertency of the Author may unto those who would be willing to have it to seem to give a power to the Comites Barones which the later never either in their use or institution claimed or practised It may recieve a more genuine or proper interpretation to be no more then an Advisor or Instructor and more agreeable to the mind of the Author For the Comites were in the Roman Empire very antiently stiled Consules Comites and after in that and the Eastern Empire and all its limbs and branches rent and divided from it and in this Nation enjoyed the name or title of Consul a Consulendo and Comes only a Comitando or being in Comitatu Principis Comitatum ipsam Aulam familiam Principis which in Tacitus's time was called a Cohors Cortis or Curtis or Court and not Seldom by our old Historians as Odericus Vitalis Hoveden c. Ealdermen in the Saxon times and sometimes Comes which saith our Learned Selden were but at the first officiary dignities both here and in the Empire and Governed as Praefecti Comitatus Provinciarum and the Counties were in Edward the Confessors Laws called Consulatus some Vestigia or intimations whereof may be perceived in the grant or confirmation of the Earldom of Oxford to Alberick de Vere by the tertium denarium Comitatus the 3d penny of the fines and amerciaments of that County And were neither in England or the Western or Eastern Empire or any of their Historians or by any of our or their Antiquaries or Enquirers into the Secrets or Cabinets of time and its forsaken memorialls ever accompted to be either as Socii or Magistri or so recorded in any of their or our Records Annals or Histories And therefore we may without calling up the Ghost of our old Henry de Bracton who had in the Reign of King Henry the Third made his enquiries into all the ancient Laws and Customs of England and searched the vetera judicia mentioned divers cases and precedents formerly adjudged in the perusall of his Learned Works meet with his own expositions of what he there Wrote or could be thought to have been any of his Intentions For he in the words immediately proceeding not only saith that de Chartis vero Regis factis Regum non debent nec possunt Justiciarii nec privata persona disputare nec etiam si in illo dubitatio oriatur possunt enim interpretari in dubiis obscuris vel si aliqua dictio duos contineat intellectus Domini Regis erit expectanda voluntas interpretatio cum ejus sit interpretari
therefore those many Testimonies before-recited of Bractons contrary meaning if he may be as certainly he ought to be allowed to be his own Expositor may free and vindicate him from being either a Presbyterian or a Conventicler or Republican and make him to be the better believed for that he wrote that book after the 20th Year of King Henry the 3d. as will appear by his citations therein flagranti Seditione when the times were full of danger and Suspicion there were great thoughts of heart and commotions of mind and the Regall Authority was endeavoured to be depressed Lived after the 21st Year of the Reign of that King when the jealousies of that part of his Nobility which shortly after took Arms entred into an open War Rebellion against him had made him walk in that dreadfull Procession with burning Torches through Westminster-Hall to the Abbey Church or Cathedrall cursing the infringers of Magna Charta and Charta de Forestis and being a Judge Itinerant in the 51d Year of that Kings Reign was believed to have written that Book in the beginning of the Reign of King Edward the First could not be ignorant of what had been done and Transacted in the 42d Year of the Reign of King Henry the 3. in the aforesaid Provisions at a Parliament so called holden at Oxford and in the 49th Year of the Reign of King Henry the 3d during his Imprisonment by an unruly part of the Nobility But if the Earls could have been said to have been tanquam Socii fraena in Power and Authority with the King which they never were that could not Entitle the Barons who in the language of our Laws Records and Histories forreign or domestique were never called Comites or Socii of their Sovereigns But as Earls had surely something else to do and were not as Fraenas use to be Superior to Horses whose much greater strength could not otherwise be subdued by mankind to govern and rule their Sovereign as the greatly abused words of Bracton would have it when their ordinaria potestas in King Aelfreds and those elder times now very near 800. Years agoe was in Comitiis Comitativis praesidere in bellis sui Comitatus militibus imperandi in Curiasine Comitarâ— Regis conciliis publicis suorumque negotiis attendendi mandata Regia subditis suis Communicandi Rex enim ipsi Comiti in Curia sua plerunque residenti mandata detulit ille Vicecomiti his Centurionibus Centuriones decurionibus maxima cum expeditione pertulerunt And neither the Earls or Barons were or claimed to be Consortes Imperii or like the Spartan Ephori Or if the Title of Comites did or could give such a Right or Privilege unto them which may with great Evidence be utterly denied and the contrary as easily Justified the Commons or universality of the People will untill they can be so mad as to think themselves to be Earls Socii or Comites of their Kings and Princes or Barons be little the better for that mischievously overscrewed Text or words of Bracton Or The Earls or Barons being not likely in their honourable Assembly of Peers to claim or have more then a deliberative and consultive Power in matters only concerning the King and his Monarchicall Government but where it was inter Pares or amongst themselves or by his speciall licence when at the first Coronation of King Richard the 1st the Comites Barones serviebant in Domo Regis prout dignitates eorum exigebant Die Coronationis suae Johannes Rex accinxit Willielmum Marescallum gladio Comitatus de Striguil Gaufridum filium Petri gladio Comitatus de Essex qui licet antea vocati essent Comites administrationem suorum Comitatuum habebant tamen non accincti erant gladio Comitatus ipsi illo die servierunt ad mensum Regis accincti gladiis And therein Mr Selden that Monarch of learning and Dictator of Reason is to be so interpreted as it may consist with Reason and Truth when he declared that the Lords in their deliberative or judiciall Power in the Court or House of Peers in Parliament had a Power to give or pass judgement for or against their Sovereign for that in the precedent cited by him of King Edward thr Confessors appeal or accusation of Earl Godwin in the great Councell or Parliament of that King for the death of his Brother Alfred to whom he as well as the King had appealed for Justice as the words of the judgment thereupon given against Earl Godwin and the opinion of the Lords not contradicted there mentioned as Malmesbury Hoveden Huntington Brompton and Florentius do testify was that Comes nec Baro nec aliquis Regi subditus bellum battail or single combat saith the margin a kind of tryall then much in use amongst contending private Persons where other Evidence failed contra Regem in appellatione sua de lege potest vadiare sed in toto ponere in misericordia sua emendas offerre competentes whereupon it was advised that ipsimet filius suus duodecim Comites amici consanguinei sui essent coram Rege humiliter procederent onerati cum tantum auri argenti quantum inter brachia quilibet poterit bajulare illud sibi pro suo transgresso offerendo deprecando ut ipse male volentiam suam rancorem iram Comiti condonet accepto homagio suo fidelitate terras suas sibi integre restituat retradat illi autem omnes sub ista forma thesauro se onerantes ad Regem accedentes seriem modum considerantes locum eorum sibi demonstrabant Quorum considerationi Rex contradicere nolens quicquam judicaverant ratificavit wherein the utmost use that can be made of that Action and precedent to confine the Kings judicative Power in Parliament to that of the Peers and Lords Spirituall and Temporall is that the King upon Earl Godwins answer to the Kings accusing him for the Death of Alfrred his Brother and the Earls eaecusing himself with a Domine mi Rex salva reverentia gratia vestra pace dominatione fratrem vestrum nunquam prodidi nec occidi unde super hoc pono me in consideratione Curiae vestrae was not willing to be a Judge or giue Sentence in an appeal of his own and such a Concernment as the Death of his Brother for which one of the Peers was to be Arraigned and fitter to be tryed as the Lâ—w required by his Peers which by the Ancient Custom like Trialls might be done without any derogation from the Kings higher and supreme Authority and therefore gave a leave or licence to them in that single particular or extraordidinary case to do it And our Kings and Princes to avoid the imputation of Tyranny Oppression or Partiality may be the more willing to indulge the like in all cases and matters of Attainders and forfeitures of
magnanimous and hardy Times wherein they disdained to tarry for the effects of Stratagems Bribery and Treacheries then little or not at all but now altogether or too much practised but universally and absolutely it being as unsafe for a King as his People and Kingdome to undertake to foretell the period of an Intestine Rebellion the power and malice of a Forreign Enemy or the sad and often Changes and events of War and to leave a King without the Power of a King and aid of his Subjects and be a King only for Forty Days and upon every Occasion or mischance of War arising from Forreign Princes or his Subjects either by Sea or Land be no longer a King then for so short a Time as if the Subjects Loyalty were to be put under such a limitation and if in that Time he cannot gain the Victory must run into an hole and hide himself in an hourly expectation of Death and a worse Destiny then that of the once mighty King Nebuchadonozers being changed into an Ox and put to grass untill the King of Kings not his Subjects or People should be pleased to restore him to his former shape and dignity which could never be understood to be the meaning of our William the Conqueror And if praxis be as it should be de Jure Gentium accompted to have been optimus legum Interpres our Tenures in Capite and by Knight service however our very learned Littleton a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas who is by Sr Edward Coke his Commentator believed to have written his book of Tenures in or about the 14th Year of King Edward the 4th and Sr Edward Coke without giving us any Record Authority or positive Law to warrant or build up their opinion for any such limitation yet it doth not appear but needeth some further Confirmation For the learned Sr Robert Cottons Collection out of the book of Doomesday hath taught us that Oxoniae Civitas tempore Regis Edwardi Confessoris geldebat nisi quando Londonium Eboracum Wintonia geldebant hoc erat dimidia marci argenti ad opus mil quando expeditio ibat per terram aut per mare serviebat haec Civitas quantum 5. hydae terrae Barnestaple vero Lydeford Totendis serviebant quantum ipsa Civitas Quando Rex ibat in expiditione Burgenses 20. ibant pro omnibus aliis vel 20. libras dabant Regi ut omnes essent liberi Omnes mansiones quae vocantur murales tempore Regis E. libera erant ab omni expeditione muri reparatione propterea vocantur murales Mansiones quia si quis fuerit Rex praeceperit murum reficerit Civitas Lodocestria tempore Regis Edwardi reddebat per Annum Regi 30. libras ad numerum de 20. merae 15. Sextarios mellis quando Rex ibat in Exercitu per terram de ipso Burgo 12. Burgenses ibant cum eo Si vero per mare in hostem eat mittebant ei 4. equos de eodem Burgo usque Londouium ad comportanda Arma vel alia quae opus essent for that great Conqueror as Sr Roger Twisden hath rightly and Judiciously observed had 3 things after that his Conquest in his purpose Cares and intention 1. ut prospicetur Regno de necessariis ad bellum 2. ut Satisfaceret Gallis periculorum suorum laborum Sociis Ita tamen ne Anglis ea occasione praeberetur Justa offensionis causa qua reddi possent ad insurrectionem seu rebellionem paratiores 3. ne Coloni utpote sine quibus Agricultura exerceri non poterit William Rufus and King Henry the First his Sons kept and established the same without any lessening or alteration as to the Time or ways King Stephen Henry the 2. and Richard the First did the like and King Richard the 1. wanted not an aid and money for his redemption out of his Captivity so did King John in his generall muster and array of all the Forces of England sub poena Culvertagii of Shame and Reproch like Deborahs Curse ye Meroz against the feared Invasion of the French King neither was it altered by King He. the 3. who mandavit vice Comitibus Wiggon Staff Salox Warr. quod venire fac ad ipsum Regem in exercitu suo usque Bery in Wallia desingulis duabus Hydis Terrae Com. suorum unum Hominem cum una bona securi c. habentem secum victualia pro â—s Diebus Edward the first did not understand himself to be manacled as unto Time and Wages when he told Roger Bigod Earl of Norfolk Earl Marshall of England refusing to go with him to War into Flanders he should go or be hanged and afterwards seised the great Estates of Bohun Earl of Hereford and Essex Constable of England and Gilbert Earl of Gloucester and Hertford and made them glad to accept his Pardon and in the 7th Year of his Reign the Praelates Earls Barons and Commonalty of this Realm did in Parliament Declare that they are bound to aid their King at all Seasons no Time or Manner at all limited King Edward the 2. left it as he found it and in hte 3. Year of the Reign of King Edward 3. it was in Parliament declared that uone shall by any Writing bebe bound to come Armed to the King for that every Subject is to be at his Commandment that in his busy Reign of gathering Triumphant Lawrells a Proclamation was made in singulis Com. Angliae quod omnes homines habentes literas Regis de pardon felon c. causa guerrae Scotiae ad Regem veniant and our Kings Richard the 2. Henry the 4th 5th and 6th Edward the 4th and Richard the 3. continued them nothing being ordered to enervate that Constitution or Law of William the Conqueror it was by an Act of Parliament made in the 11th Year of the Reign of King Henry the 7th ordained that none that shall attend upon the King and do him true Service shall be attainted or forfeit any thing by attending upon the King in his own Person and to him true and faithfull Allegiance or in any other place by his Commandment within the Land or without shall do and Perform And in the 19th Year of the said Kings Reign by an Act of Parliament it was ordained declared enacted by the advice of the Lords Spirituall and Temporall in Parliament assembled no Commons therein mentioned by Authority of the Same who shall forfeit that doth not attend the King being in his own Person in his Wars either within the Kingdom or without or depaâ—t from his said Service without the Kings Licence in Writing under his sign Manuall or Signet or Great or Privy Seal or generall Proclamation there having been no Repeal or limitation afterwards of that especiall Service either in the Reign of that King or of King Henry the 8th Edward the 6th Queen Mary Queen
Train in the way of his Progress rather then fail to offer hasten to the River and bring as much water as he could in his hands and with a Cheerfull Countenance Wishes and Prayers for his health present it unto him Nor was so altogether appropriate to those Eastern Countries where God speaks first unto his people and the Sun of his righteousness did arise but was long ago practised in England where the custom was as Gervasius Tilburiensis who wrote in the Reign of K. Henry the 2. informs us that in the Reign of King Henry the 1. upon all addresses to the King quaedam in rem quaedam in spem offerre to present the King with some or other presents either upon the granting of any thing or the hopes that he would do it afterwards and so usually as there were Oblata Rolls or Memorialls kept of it in the Reign of King John and some other the succeeding Kings and Queens who seldom escaped the tender of those Gratitudes of Aurum Reginae Mony or Gold presented unto them as well as unto their Kings and was a Custom not infrequent in the Saxon Times as appeareth by our Doomesday Book the most exact and generall survey of all the Kingdom and so little afterwards neglected as it was paid upon every pardon of life or member and so carefully collected as it was long after in the Reign of King Henry the 3d by an Inquisition taken after the Death of Gilbert de Samford who was by Inheritance Chamberlain to the Queens of England found that he had amongst many other Fees and Profits due unto him and his Heirs by reason of his said office Six pence per Diem allowed for a Clark in the Court of Exchequer to Collect and gather that oblation or duty For if there were no Damage to a Prince in his Dignity and Sovereignty as it must needs be of no small concern it can be of no small Importance in matters of profit and other Necessaries appertaining to his Regality and the necessary protection and defence of himself and his people as hath been truly calculated and made demonstrable And when Homage hath been defined by our Learned Lawyers Littleton and Sr Edward Coke to signify no more then Ieo deveigne vostre home Et mutua debet esse dominii homagii fidelitatis Connexio Ita quod quantum homo Domino ex Homagio tenentis tantum illi debet Dominus ex Dominio praeter solam reverentiam and Sr Edward Coke citing a part out of the Red book of the Exchequer saith omnis homo debet esse sub Domino de vita memibris suis terrenio honore observatione consilii sui per honestum utile comprehended in the words Foyall Loyall salva fide deo terrae Principi and servicium is by him defined in Liege Angliae regulariter quod pro tenemento suo debetur ratione feodi sui and the manner of doing homage and fealty declared or appointed to be taken in 17 King Edward the 2 was that he should hold his hands together between the hands of his Lord our Littleton long after writing his book saith he shall be ungirt his head uncovered his Lord shall sit and he shall kneel before him upon both his knees and hold his hands Joyntly together betwixt the hands of his Lord and say I become your man from this day forward of life and limbs and earthly worship and shall owe you my faith for the Lands which I hold of you saving the faith which I owe unto my Lord the King and to mine other Lords Et homo Homagium saith Sr Henry Spelman sunt verba feudaliam in fundamentis Juris illius and after the Osculum or kiss of the Lord received ariseth and taketh the Oath of Fidelity to be faithfull and true unto him and saith Bracton homage becometh to be ex parte Domini protectio defensio Warrantia ex parte Tenentis reverentia Subjectio And our Littleton defining fealty as it is amongst the Feudists a fidelitate saith that it is to be true and faithfull to his Lord for the Lands which he holdeth of him and shall faithfully do unto him the service which he ought to do And Gervasius Tilburiensis cited by Sr Edward Coke might have added to the definition of homage on the King or Lords part something more from the Tenant or Homager then reverence and subjection and not have omitted the greatest Tie and Obligation which was gratitude for the Lands at the first given to his Father and Ancestor for that only Service The Tenant holding his lands services under a forfeiture but the King or Lord not simili modo but reteyning and holding his propriety directum dominium without any limitation the utile dominium appertaineth unto the Tenant untill he forfeits and then the Lord may enter upon the utile and annex it unto his directum and dispose of it as he pleaseth And Sr Henry Spelman saith licet non Juratum est in homagio sed in fidelitate Intelligendum est quod fidelitatis praestatio individue sequitur homagium Et in nostro Jure fidelitas est de Essentia Homagii nam si quis fidelitatem remiserit cassum facit ipsum Homagium And in the language of our Old Records Writs and rescripts of our Kings and Princes Homage and fealty do so often go together as they may be seem to be adjuncts each unto the other and are in effect as to the Subjection and service but Synonimous and Consignificant differing only in the Ceremonies as our Littleton saith in doing the same which in the direction and stile of our Kings mandates unto one that hath actually done his homage the Word Fidelis is many times used without any mention of Homage dilecto fideli suo as comprehending Homage fidelitas autem particularis apud Anglos individue comitatur omnes Tenuras etiam dimissiones ad brevissimum tempus nunc dierum quamvis nunc dierum parcius exigitur relaxari tamen nullo modo potest sine tenurae interitu And Homage and Fealty being such inseparable Concomitants as not to be separated Homage in the Capite and Knight Service conjoyning unto it Fealty which is the reality effect and service thereof and Homage in those Tenures the only Ceremoniall part thereof which would be to little purpose without the faith fidelity and service which can subsist and perform its services without it And was so understood by our Kings and Princes in their Writs of Summons to their Baronage to their Parliaments when making no mention of Homage which is often respited commands them infide qua nobis tenemini to appear and be present For howsoever amongst Kings and Princes those great concerns of them and their Subjects may be allowed to insist upon punctilio's of Honour and very necessary Concernments which might be consequentiall thereunto which caused our great
the States of Holland West-Freisland did by a Publique Decree order that omnia Instrumenta Feudalia publica Feudalia Scrinia should be searched put kept in order And in his Epistle Ded. unto the Estates aforesaid Judges of the said Feudal Court Dated no longer ago then in the Month of Sept. 1665. from Alemar saith likewise that de qua Intromissa saepissime quaerebatur denuo instaurata fuisset adeo ut vos the Estates qui hoc tempore ejusdem reminiscentis Feudalis Curiae Senatores sive pares estis negligereaut aliis postponere non posse And yet they do think Themselves at this day to be as free a people as any in the World with an high and mighty Hoghen Moghen into the bargain And the Framers and Voters of that overturning as much as it could of our ancient Monarchy many of whom as House of Commons Members in that Parliament were Knights Baronetts Knights of the Bath and Knights Batchelors might have been something more cautious then they were and taken more care of the fatall Consequences that might and would inevitably happen yea more then by Chance by an unavoidable necessity or for the liberties of 10000 manors in England and Wales and a great many of manors liberties in Ireland which had no other originall or Foundation then Monarchy or the unrebellious Feudall Laws and it and their continuance for what could they imagine but Confusion and Villany would follow in the order of Baronetts Created by King James in the 9th Year of his Reign limited at the first unto the number of 200. now supernumerated unto almost 1500. to hold by the tenure of maintayning 30. foot-Soldiers at 8d per diem for 3 Years for the regaining of the Province of Ulster in Ireland what for any of the Honourable Knights of the Garter that have no priviledge of Peers in Parliament what for the Knights of the Bath that are to be made at the Creation of every Prince of Wales being the King of Englands eldest Son what for such as our Kings have honoured or shall be pleased to Dignify with the honor of Knighthood or the Sword or to be an Eques Auratus what care was taken in that levelling Act in the effect of turning the Tenures in Capite and by Knight Service into free and Common Socage for the honour and degree of Knighthood or of that more meritorious extraordinary one of Knight Banneretts Was it ever intended they should go all to Plow with some ill brewed Ale to wet their Whistles with their sword and guilt spurrs promiscuously some with blew or red Garters or ribbons and the rest without and could there be no Exception or proviso's inserted in that Act for those Honourable degrees which appertained so only to the Sovereign or a power derived from them as our Queens Regent in their Incapacities of wearing or brandishing a sword or personal fighting are by themselves or others commissionated by them only to grant or give those Priviledges which are not a Few and can have no other derivation or reason for their Commencement then a Militando not as Common Soldiers but ex strenua continuata militia tantum adipiscatur honor when by the Imperiall Laws Knights ex Jure concessione principis prescriptione consue 〈…〉 dine were anciently at the receiving of that honourable o 〈…〉 to swear not to reveal any thing by solemn Oath or Vow 〈◊〉 concerneth his Sovereign or his Countrey never to put on Armour against his Prince never to forsake his Generall never to fly the field of his Enemy c. had Jus Annulorum as the Equestris Ordo were amongst the Roman Knights used to be honoured with when at the Battle and overthrow of them at Cannes there were gathered amongst the slain 2 Bushell of Rings in England and other Northern Kingdoms had jus Imaginum Coate Armorius and besides what Sr Edward Coke cannot deny to be an ancient priviledge due unto Knighthood as hath been before said to be free ab omni Tallagio a Knight is not to have his Equitature or Horse distrained and taken in Execution although it be for the Kings Debt a Knight accused of any Crime Treason shall not be examined but before his Competent Judge against a Knight in warr no prescription runneth neither shall he be compelled to be Guardian to Children except they be the Children of Knights shall not suffer any Ignominious Corporall Punishment as hanging upon a Gibbet unless first Degraded nor be set at any ransome but such as he shall be able after to maintain his Degree And in time of peace hath been so much valued and esteemed as 3 Knights Associated in the Kings Commission of Oyer and Terminer might hear and determine forcible Entries and outrages in the same Country or Province A Coroner formerly an especiall officer of the Crown was to be a Knight a Sheriffs Certificate and return of the Tallies of the Kings Creditors and Monies paid as due unto them is to be accompanied with the hands of 2 Knights a Sheriff cannot remove a plaint out of an Inferiour into a Superior Court without the testimony of 4 Knights Knights and no other are to be sent by the Sheriffs to make the View de malo lecti the Knights of the shires elected to be members of the House of Commons in Parliament ought to be gladiis cincti and the Commons have in Parliament Petitioned the King and obteyned a grant that it might not be otherwise Ou autrement tiel notables Esquiers Gentilhomes del nation des mesmes les Counties come soyent ables d'estre Chivalier noul home destre tiel Chivaler que estoite enles degrees de vadlet ou Varlet saith Mr Selden de south an Infant holding his Lands in Capite or by Knight Service shall not be in Ward after he is Knighted a Knight inhabiting in any City or town Corporate shall not be Impannelled in a Jury for the Tayal of a Criminall in a Civil Action for Debt or the like wherein any of the Nobility are plaintiffs or defendents 2 Knights are to be Impannelled on the Jury A Knight shall not be distrained to serve in person for Castle guard although he do hold Lands by that Tenure A certain number of Knights are to elect a Jury in a Writ of grand Assize and none but a Knight should be permitted to wear a Coller of S. S. or Golden or Guilt Spurrs And the Dignity of Chivaler or Knight hath been in England so honorable as Earls besides their Greater Titles would many times use the Title of Chivaler only and at other times desire to receive the Honour of Knighthood from the King after they were Earls and our Kings have sometimes sent their Eldest Sons to be Knighted by other Kings And a Villain which Sr Edward Coke stileth a Sokeman or one that holdeth in Socage is not by the Law of Nations and Arms to
very great was the power command and influence of the Nobility and dignified Clergy as they could from time to time as the Winds and Tydes do usually agitate and blow upon the unruly waves of the Ocean make them lacquey after their good-will and pleasure and attend their ambitions and advantages which began but to peep out and câ—awl in the later end of the Reign of King E. the 2d when Roger de Mortimer Earl of March was in a Parliament holden in the Reign of King Edward 3. Accused of Treason and accroaching to himself Royal power by procuring certain Knights of the Shires attending in the House of Commons in Parliament to give their consent to an aid to the King for his Wars in Gascoigny and the humours and interests of the Common people were so governed and influenced by the grandeur of the English Nobility and principal Clergy enticing them thereunto more by their own respects and desires to please and humour then by any particular motive or impulse of their own as in an Election of Members for the House of Commons in Parliament in the 13th year of the Reign of King Henry the 4th the Archbishop of York and Sundry Earls Barons and Ladies being said to be Suitors in the County-Court of York were by their Attorneys the sole Electors of the Knights of the Shire of that County namely by William Holgate Attorny for Ralph Earl of Westmorland William de Killington for Lucy Countess of Kent William Hesham for the Lord Peter de Malo lacu William de Barton for William Lord Roos Robert de Evedale for the Baron of Graistock William de Feston for Alexander de Metham Chivaler and Henry de Preston for Henry de Percy Chivaler who was then a Baron Earles and Barons in those times being well contented to make use of that then no disparaging Title Sectatorum communium com no other electors being then named in the Indentures betwixt the Sheriff and the County of York upon that Election and in the 2d Year of King Henry the 5th with little variation except for the persons for whom the Electors were Attorneys as namely in Yorkshire William Mauleverer Attorney for Henry Archbishop of York William Feutores for Ralph Earl of Westmorland William Archer for John Earl Marshal William Rillington for Henry le Scrop Chivaler Domino de Masham William Heshum for Peter de Malo lacu William Postham for Alexander de Metham Chivaler William Housam for Robert Roos Robert Barry for Margaret the Wife of Henry Vavasour Chivaler and Robert Davinson Attorney for Henry Percy sectatorum communium pro com Eborum No other suitors or electors being in that Election and Sheriffs Indenture then mentioned the like upon Writs for Election of Knights issued to the Sheriffs of Yorkshire were found by Indentures hereupon And in Annis 8. and 9. H. 5. And in 1. 2. 3. 5. and 7. Henry 6. the Attorneys only of Nobles Barons Lords Ladies and Knights were made the suitors who made the election of the Knights of Yorkshire and sealed the Indentures untill 25. of King Henry 6. when that undue course and way ceased and the Election and Indentures were made by the Freeholders and being Elected were not at that instant enabled by them or at any time after to act or do any thing otherwise then according to the Intent Tenor and Purport of their said Writs of Elections untill some farther Requisites were to be by them performed and done in order to the Trusts reposed in them by their King and Fellow-Subjects SECT XXII Of the Actions and other Requisites by the Law to be done by those that are or shall be Elected Knights Citizens and Burgesses to attend our King in their great Councells or Parliaments precedent and preparatory to their admission therein FOr the Sheriffs and people of the Counties were at the first so punctuall in the due performance of their Kings aforesaid Writs and Mandates in all and every the clauses and particnlars thereof and so carefull in their Elections of such as were to be trusted by and for them in affairs of so high and more then ordinary concernment as the States well-being and defence of the King the Church the Kingdom Themselves and their Posterities not only for their personal appearance but performance of the trust reposed in them and not to do less or more too short or beyond the bounds of their Commissions or Authority granted by the King as they that were elected were constrained at the same time to give pledges and main-pernors and sometimes four securities but never under two that they should not omitt what was commanded by the Tenor of those Writs insomuch as in the 30th Year of the Reign of King Edward the first John de Chetwood and William de Samtresden being elected Knights of the Shire for the County of Buckingham gave four manucaptors and the like did Robert de Hoo and Roger de Brien elected Knights of the Shire in the same Year for the County of Bedford and in that Year Andrew Trolesks and Hugh de Ferrers Elected Knights of the Shire for the County of Devon were districti per terras catalla quia Pleg invenire noluerunt And in Anno 8. E. 2. a Sheriff of Gloucester Bristow at that time being neither City or County made his return on the dorse of the Writ of Summons that the Custos libertatis villae Bristol respond quod elegi fec Robertum Wildemersh Thomam L'Espicer ad essend ad Parliamentum apud Westminster in Octavis Sancti Hillarii qui manucaptores ad essendi ad diem locum praedictos invenire recusarunt per quod propter eorum vim malitiam resistentiam executione istius mandati ulterius facienda intromittere non potuit And a Writ appeareth in that Year to have been returned for the County of Midd. that William de Brooks and Richard le Rous milites electi fuerunt per communitatem Comitatus praedict essendi coram concilio Domini Regis ad diem locum in brevi content qui potestatem habent ad faciend quod de eodem concilio Secundum brevis tenorem ordinabitur after which followed the names of their Manucaptors or sureties and was a caution in those times believed to be so necessary as in the 15th Year of the Reign of King Edward 2d when Thomas Gamel one of the Citizens of Lincoln being returned with 2 manucaptors a burgess for the Parliament and not vouchsafing to attend the Mayor and Commonalty of Lincoln they elected Alain de Hodolston in his place and desired Sr William Ermyn then Keeper of the Great Seal that he being so elected by them might be received with the other Citizen first elected with Gamel as their Busgess for that Parliament and sent that their Certificate and return under their City-Seal affixed to the Writ of Election that very ancient and necessary usage of giving Manucaptors upon Parliamentary Elections being used in
the King that some of the Lords might be sent to confert with them at all their conferences with them do stand uncovered whilst the Lords dosit covered when any of their Members are by the King's grace and favour created Barons or Earls and called into the House of Peers are to receive others to be Elected in their places cannot of or by themselves redress undue Elections could not go home without licence of the King nor have their Wages levied and paid by their countrys without his Order and Writs And being with those requisites and precautions come unto the Parliament to do and consent unto such things as by the King and the Lords Spirituall and temporall should be in Parliament ordained did not Certainly sit in one Room Chamber or Place together But whither they did sit in one and the same house or Place or not will but little contribute to the extravagant fancies of our now State-Moulders SECT XXIII That the Members of the House of Commons being Elected and come to the Parliament as aforesaid did not by Virtue of those Writs of Election sit together with the King and the Lords Spirituall and Temporall in one and the same room or place and that if any such thing were as it never was or is likely to be proved it cannot conclude or inferr that they were or are cor-ordinate or had or have an equall power in their Suffrages and decisions WHich they may dream of from the beginning of the World unto the End thereof and never be able to Evidence and if it had been so will be such an ill Shaped argument that the Members of the House of Commons in Parliament are thereby to be believed to be co-ordinate with the King and House of Peers or superior unto either of them as any one that was but within a little of a madman would be ashamed to propound or put it to the decision of the over-circumspect inhabitants of Gotham For who but such disciples or proselites can find the way to imagine or believe that when King William Rufus dined at his Marble table where the Court of King's-hencb now sitteth in his large Westminster-Hall and his Nobility and many of his Court attendants sat at their meat at their many lower table in the same hall could perswade themselves or others to suppose an equality in degrees and Power or that the King because they did all sit but in one room or House was no more then co-ordinate with them For in the grand feasts of the Inns of Courts Houses Colleges or Societies for the study of our Law the Judges Benchers Barristers and utter Barristers are not so ill used as to be in danger of any the like argument because one Common hall or room contained them all and the honor of the King or his Privy Councel are not diminished because there are greater or lesser degrees amongst them sitting in one and the same Councell Chamber Howsoever if they will keep their words and promise to acquiesce in proofs that are negative to what they are so willing to affirm and should be sufficient to convince their insane conclusions they need not want them when Mr Pryn and many good Anthors will give us large and abundant evidences to manifest the errors of such their fond and reasonless assertions For in the very many Councels or Parliaments of our Kings reckoned by Mr Pryn from Anno Domini 673. unto the 1st Year of King John there were no Knights Citizens or Burgesses for the Commons as he positively and confidently affirmed either Summoned Elected to those many Councells or Parliaments or present at any of them and being not there at all there needs not to have been any question or controversy whether they Sate in one House or Room together And when King John in the 17th Year of his Reign at the Meeting and Rebellious Convention at Running-Mede of some of his unruly Baronage which some of the Liberty Coyners would imagine to be a Parliament where those Barons were in the head of a mighty Army of their own Party and the King had but a very few unarmed attendants with him Mathew Paris saith they did in that conference or treaty for a Peace seorsim considere and notwithstanding that Sr Edward Coke hath without any good Warrant averred that the Lords and Commons in Parliament Sate together and that the surest mark of the division of both Houses was when the House of Commons had at the first a continual Speaker which he mistakenly refers to Ro. Parl. 50. E. 3. m. 8. wherein a Loyal Learned Gentleman hathâ— against his will by misinformation been led into an Error that our three Estates the King excepted as they have been sometimes and but sometimes called in our Records State together and that our Records bear Witness that they according to the French custom have sate in one House or Room that is to say the Lords Spirituall and Temporall within the Barrand the Commons without for Mr Pryn in his Animadversions upon that and other of his Errors saith that the King's Writs to Summon the Prelates and Peers interesse nobiscum cum caeteris Praelatis Magnatibus Proceribus Regni sui did not intend the Commons Knights or Burgesses tractaturi vestrumque concilium impensuri neither did in all probability direct or intend that the Commons should joyn or sit with them as both the Writs and practice have ever since evidenced and that all that that Roll of 50. E. 3. doth import is but that the Commons came to the Lords House and had sometimes conference with them but that they sate or debated together is no way proved but contsadicted by many Parliament Rolls as Parl. 5. E. 3. Nu. 5. compared with Nu. 6. E. 3. Si aleront mesme les Praelats Procurators de Clergy par eux mesmes les ditz Counties Barons Grauntz par eux mesmes whose report being drawn up and then read before the King les Prelatz Chivalers de Counties les gentz des Commun furent pleysantz a eux touz par nostre Seigneur le Roy Prelatz Countes Barons autres Grauntz auxuit par les Chivalers des Countes Gentz des Commun furent pleinement assentuz accordez at a Parliament in the 6th Year of the said King he requiring the advice of his Parliament touching the French affairs and his voyage thither they treated and deliberated C'est assavoir les Prelatz par eux mesmes les ditz Countes Barones autres grauntz par eux mesmes auxuit les Chivalers des Countes par eux mesmes and then gave their advice so in the Parliament reassembled at York in the Utas of St Hillary in the same Year the Prelates Earls Barons and great men by themselves et les Chevalers des Countes Gentz des communs par eux mesmes treated of the business propounded unto them and in the Parliament holden at York
by them for that the Soldiers and Mariners were not paid And to appoint one honest man out of every County to come along with them to see and examine their accounts 37. E. 3. The cause of the Summons was first declared before the names of the Receivers and Tryers were published according to the use at this day and of all Parliaments since 29. E. 3. And it is said in the end of the shewing the cause of the Summons Et outre le dit Roy volt que si nul se sent greever mett avent son petition en ce Parlement ci ne avoir convenable report sur ce ad assignee ascuns de ses Clercks en le Chancellarie Recevoirs des ditzpetitions In eodem Anno Proclamation was made in Westminster Hall by the Kings command that all the Prelates Lords and Commons who were come to the Parliament should withdraw themselves to the painted Chamber and afterwards on the sâ—m◠〈◊〉 there being in the same chamber the Chancellor Treasurer 〈◊〉 some of the Prelates Lords and Commons Sr Henry Greeâ— the Kings Chief Justice told them in English much of the French Language being then made use of in the Parliament-Rolls and Petitions that the King was ready to begin the Parliament but that many of the Prelates Lords and Commons who were Summoned were not yet come wherefore he willeth that they should depart and take their ease untill Monday Anno 40. E. 3. The Lord Chancellor concluded his speech touching the Summons The Kings will is que chescun que ce sont grievez mett devant sa petition a ces sont assignez per lui de ces recevoir aussi de les triers Six days were not seldom allowed for receiving and trying petitions which were sometimes prolonged two or three days ex gratia Regis and the reason supposed for such short prefixions was because the sitting of Parliaments in former times continued not many days Toriton a Town in Devonshire was exempted from sending of Burgesses to Parliament and so was Colchester in 6. R. 2. in respect of new making the walls and fortifying that Town for Five Years In divers Writs of Summons of King Edward 3. He denied to accept of proxies ea vice 6. 27. And 39. E. 3. Proxies were absolutely denied ista vice 6. R. 2. And 11. R. 2. The like with a clause in every of those Writs of Summons legitimo cessante impedimento Anno 45. E. 3. Ista vice being omitted a clause was added Scientes quod propter arduitatem negotiorum Procuratores seu excusationem aliquam legittimo cessante impedimento pro vobis admittere nolumus and thereupon the Lords that could not come obtained the Kings License and made their proxies and although at other times they did make Proxies without the Kings License yet in such cases an Affidavit was made of their sickness or some other Lawfull impediment as in 3. 6. 26. And 28. H. 8. The antient form and way of such Licenses in 22d E. 3. being in French and under the Kings Privy-Seal as Mr Elsing hath declared and therein the Abbot of Selby's Servant was so carefull as he procured a Constat or Testimoniall under the Kings Privy-seal of his allowance of the said procuration and another was granted to the said Abbot in 2. H. 4. under the signet only Eodem Anno The Parliament having granted the King an ayd of 22 s. and 3 d. out of every parish in England supposing it would fully amount to Fifty Thousand Pounds but the King and his Councell after the Parliament dismissed finding upon an examination that the rate upon every parish would fall short of the summ of mony proposed for that supply did by his Writs command the Sheriffs of every County to Summon only one Knight for every County and one Citizen and Burgess for every City and Borough that had served in the said Parliament for the avoiding of troubles and expences to appear at a Councell to be holden at Winchester to advise how to raise the intended summ of money Anno 46. E. 3. An ordinance being made that neither Lawyer or Sheriff should be returned Knights of the shire the Writs received an addition touching the Sheriff only which continues to this day viz. Nolumus autem quod tu vel aliquis alius Vicecomes shall be Elected but the King willeth that Knights and Serjeants of the best esteem of the County be hereafter returned Knights in the Parliament Eodem Anno There was no Judges Summoned to the Parliament In Anno 50. Some particular Knights were specially commanded by the King to continue in London 7 days longer then others after the Parliament ended to dispatch some publique affairs ordained by Parliament and had wages allowed for those 7 days to be paid by their Countries Some being sent from Ireland to attend the Parliament a Writ was sent by the King to James Boteler Justice of Ireland to leavy their expences upon the Commonalty of that Kingdom which varied from those for England After the bill which in the usuall language and meaning of those times signified no more then a petition delivered the Chancellour willed the Commons to sue out their Writs for their fees according to the custom after which the Bishops did arise and take their leaves of the King and so the Parliament ended Anno 51. E. 3. the Prince of Wales representing the King in Parliament Sate in the Chair of State in Parliaments after the cause of Summons declared by the Lord Chancellour or by any others whom the King appointeth he concludes his speech with the Kings Commandment to the House of Commons to choose their Speaker who being attended by all the House of Commons and presented by them unto sitting in his Chair of Estate environed by the Lords Spirituall and Temporall hath after his allowance and at his retorn and not before one of the Kings maces with the Royall armes thereupon allowed to be carried before him at all time dureing the Parliament with one of the Kings Serjeants at armes to bear it before him and to attend him during the time of his Speakership Anno 1. Richardi 2. The Parliament beginning the 13th of October was from time to time continued untill the 28th of November then next ensuing and the petitions read before the King who after answers given fist bonement remercier les Prelats Seigneurs Countes de leur bones graundez diligences faitz entouz l'Esploit de dites besognes requestes y faitzpur commun profit de leur bien liberal done au liu grantez en defens De tout le Roialme commandant as Chivaliers de Contes Citizens des Citeos Burgeys des Burghs quils facent leur suites pour briefs avoir pour leurs gages de Parlement en manere accustumes Et leur donast congie de departir In a Parliament of 5. R. 〈◊〉 there were severall adjournments and the Knights and
House of Commons in Parliament being in his coming to Parliament beaten and wounded by one John Savage the Record declareth that videtur cur quod non est necesse quod Inquiratur per patriam quae dampna praedictus Richardus Chedder qui venit ad Parliamentum in Comitiva c. Et verberatus vulneratus fuit per Johannem Savage sustinuit occasione verberationis set magis cadit in discretionem Justic Ideo per discretionem cur consideratum est quod dictus Richardus recuperet dampna sua ad centum marc similiter centum marc And though he was a Servant to a Member of the House of Commons in Parliament was committed to the Marshal quousque sinem faciat cum Domino Rege per minatoriis datis Juratoribus appunctuat ad inquirend And if there had been any Priviledge due to the Members of the House of Commons in Parliament besides and other than that which their Speakers do at their admittance by our Kings and Princes claim in their behalf being no more than freedom of Access to their Persons and from arrest of their Persons and moenial Servants ever since or in the 22 year of the Raign of King Edward the first for in the 49th year of the Raign of King Henry the third when that King was a Prisoner to Simon Montfort and his Partner Rebels those few that were sent as Members of that not to be called a Parliament claimed not any Priviledges from the beginning of our verily long lasting Monarchy until that their distempered and unhappy framed Writ for the Election of Knights Citizens and Burgesses to come to Parliament in 49 H. 3. nor can it be made appear that any of the Commons were before ever Elected to come as Members of Parliament the Writs ex gratia Regis allowed for the Levying of their Wages being no Priviledge given by the King but rather the Gift and Wages of the Counties and Places that Elected them And the Priviledges of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal besides those of the Earls and higher Degrees of the Nobility whose Patents and Charters about the Raign of King Richard the 2d gave them their Priviledges of having vocem locum sedem in Parliamento concilio generali Regis and before had their Titles of Earls by a Charter of the third penny or part of the Fines and Amerciaments of the County of Oxford as the Creation of Alberick de vere Earl of Oxford by King Henry the 2d hath demonstrated and some Authentick Historians have told us that King John made two Earls per Investituram cincturae gladii who waited upon him immediately after as he sate at dinner gladiis cincti and by reason of the Grandeur and Honour of their Estates and Priviledge to advise their King needed no protection from Arrests and their Ladies and Dowagers do enjoy the like Priviedges and when they should in extraordinary affairs be summoned to Parliament to be advised withal by our Kings whereunto when they were travelling through any of his Forrests they might kill a Deer so as they or any of them gave some of the Keepers notice thereof by blowing of an Horn and leaving a piece thereof hanging upon a Tree A Baron may speak twice to a Bill in Parliament in one day when a Member of the House of Commons can but once they neither need or choose any Speaker for the Chancellor or the Keeper of the Kings great Seal of England is the only Speaker of that House where the King doth not do it himself or commissionates some other to officiate in the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keepers place or time of sickness Every Baron or other Lord of Parliament in any Action where the Defendant pleadeth he is no Baron it shall not be tryed at the Common Law or by Jury nor by Witnesses but by Record their Bodies shall not be arrested and neither Capias or Exigent shall be awarded against them and their bodies are not subject to torture in causa laesae Majestatis Are not to be sworn in Assises Juries or Inquests if any Servant of the King in Checque Roll compass the Death of a Baron or any of the Kings Privy Councel it is Felony in any Action against a Baron in the Court of Common Pleas or any of the Courts of Justice two Knights are to be impannelled of the Jury he shall have a day of grace shall not be tryed in cases of Treason or Felony or misprision of Treason but by their Peers and such as are of the Nobility who are not sworn but give their verdict only upon their honour super fidem ligeantiam domino Regi debitam and by an Act of Parliament made by Queen Elizabeth are exempt from the taking of the Oath of Supremacy which the Members of the House of Commons are ordained to take before their admittance the Writs of Summons to a Parliament are directed only to themselves who are not Elected as the Members of the House of Commons who are but as the Attorneys and Procurators for those that sent them ad faciendum consentiendum to do and obey what the Lords shall ordain who sub fide ligeancia Domino Regi debita do represent only for themselves and the cause saith Sir Edward Coke of the Kings giving the Nobility so many great Priviledges is because all Honour and Nobility is derived from the King who is the true fountain of Honour and Honours the Nobility also two was as 1. Ad consulendum and anciently gives them Robes 2dly A Sword Ad defendendum Regem Regnum and the Oath of Allegiance is and ought to be imprinted in the heart of every Subject scil Ego verus fidelis ero veritatem praestabo Domino Regi de vita membro de terreno honore vivendum moriendum contra omnes gentes c. Et si cognoscam aut audiam de aliquo damno aut malo quod domino Regi evenire poterit revelabo c. And their Wives and Dowagers enjoy the same Priviledges in the time of Parliament and without and their Sons and Daughters a praecedency which those of the House of Commons have not the Lords can in case of Absence by the Kings License make their proxy but the Members of the House of Commons cannot the Lords at any conference with the Members of the House of Commons do sit covered but the Commons do all the while stand uncovered the Lords have a certain number of Chaplains in time of Parliament and with a Priviledge of enjoying more than one Benefice but the Members of the House of Commons none the Lords in the case of breach of Priviledge by arresting any of their Moenial Servants in the time of Parliament do by their own order punish the offenders which the House of Commons should not without the assistance of the King by his Writ out of his Court of Chancery the Lords and some others
or Common Freeholder or the Widdows or Feme Soles of any of them resides or is incorporate in that one Knight of a Shire or how much in the other Knight of the Shire when by the Kings Writs there were to be no more than two and by Oliver Cromwels the Usurpers Writs there was as many as six and when in his Time of Villany two English Earls Knights of the Kings Honourable Order of the Garter sate as Members of that which was miscalled the House of Commons in Parliament although it might well deserve the Question of what Nation they were or Riddle my Riddle what is this how much of them were Earls or Commons or what Epiccen or Hermophrodite kind of men they were or whom if not very Rebels they did then and there represent Or whether the Knights and Burgesses of England and Wales as they were admitted into the House of Commons from the 48th and 49th year of the Raign of King Henry 3. until the Raign of King Henry the 7th did or could represent for Ireland Gastoign the Isles and other Dominions of our Kings and sometime Scotland for which until then there were Receivers and Triers of Petitions particularly appointed for those other Dominions and places or who did represent for Wales the Bishoprick of Durham before there were Knights of the Shires and Burgesses allowed by our Kings or for the Town of Newark upon Trent so lately priviledged by his now Majesty or whether they do in one entire and complexed Body represent for all the Commons of England when as the Journals Parliament Rolls and Memoriols can inform us that sometimes the City of London as also other particular places have separately petitioned the King and not at all Times in a generality name and behalf of all the Commons of England Servants Mechanicks and Labourers c. which being no Freeholders or Electors can never be understood to have given any of the Members of the House of Commons any procurations jointly or separately to give any consent or represent for them in Parliament So that whatsoever hath or shall be done or acted in Parliament either for Lease or Copyholders villani Bordarii Mechanicks Labourers Servants c. Neither is or can be obliging to those multitudes otherwise than by the Soveraign power of the King when by the Energy and Vertue of his Royal Assent that which was before but an Embrio comes to be aminated and have as it were a Life and a Soul breathed or put into it by his sanction or giving it the force of a Law by his and no others Act of Parliament further than the advice of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Assent or Approbation of the Commons in Parliament assembled Or how they can by or with any Law Right Reason Construction propriety of Speech or Grammar be said or believed to represent those of the Commons of England whom they have many times accused and take upon them to imprison or punish When our Parliaments have been or should be founded upon the Feudal Laws our Monarchick best of Governments and there could be no Election of Members of the House of Commons to come to Parliament ad faciendum consentiendum iis which the King by the advise of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal should there ordain not in omnibus in all matters for that was the proper care and business of our Kings and Princes and their private Councel by whose advice the Writs of Summons issued out under the Kings great Seal of England to Summon the Lords Spiritual and Temporal to a Parliament to consult not de omnibus or de omnibus arduis but de quibusdam arduis and until the 49th of King Henry 3. when Simon Montforts Rebellious Parliament and his Counterfeit Writs of Election of Members to be a then endeavoured to be constituted House of Commons in Parliament received its first foundation and gave the occasion and encouragement to many Rebellions and Mischiefs afterward and from the 21 and 22 E. 1. until that gave it some rectifyed allowance unto such a kind of Election and Convention of Members in an House of Commons in Parliament to be assembled the so Elected Members of Commons of Parliament could neither meet or assemble until there were Writs of Summons issued out to assemble the Lords Spiritual and Temporal as Peers not unto the King but one unto the other in Parliament for when the Lords Spiritual and Temporal are not to be assembled by the Kings Writs of Summons the Commons cannot be Elected to attend the King and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal for to meet without so much as unto Markets or Fairs or Indulgent allowance of our Kings would be a breach of the Kings Peace which should be so sacred and ever was accompted to be of so great a concernment unto him and his people as when he pardoned any of his offending Subjects against his Laws the ancient forms of our Kings pardons were only without enumerating or particular specification of the Crimes damus concedimus pacem nostram and gives us the reason that all our Parliaments as well relating either to the upper or lower House do specially except Treason Felony or breach of Peace which seemeth certainly to be no other than a necessary Clause added by our Kings in their priviledges of Parliament And otherwise it would be an unread unheard unintelligible mixture of a Supremacy or Soveraignty that a King deriving his Soveraignty only from God and his People and Subjects sworn unto him by their Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and obliged unto him for their Estates and Self-preservation at the same time be invested with a Soveraignty which is to be certainly placed amongst the most puzling Riddles of Madam Sphinx and none of the over-turning Republicans can give us no manner of solution until all the Vulgus or Rabble multitude of the World can be persuaded to be of one mind and for many years continue therein and all impossibles come to be possible And there cannot be a greater absurdity offered to the Common Intellect or understanding of mankind than to endeavour to perswade them that there is a plurality of Soveraigns and that all the Subjects of England do or can represent the King and are his Soveraigns or that he is the Subject or general Servant of so many Millions of people as he is rightfully King of and are sworn unto him by the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy but are conditionally only his Subjects until some fair opportunity to Arraign him at the suit of his own Subjects cut off his head and extirpe him and his Illustrious Family by no other Warrant than to set up the Kingdom of Jesus Christ who never yet gave them any Order or Authority to attempt any such egregious Villany And should not have been so locked up in their Morphaeus commonly erring wandring dreams or imaginations as to think that two or three necessary priviledges only
upon less overt-acts and Praesumptions have been accompted and punished as High Treason § 27. That no Impeachment by all or any of the Members of the House of Commons in Parliament or of the House of Peers in Parliament hath or ever had any Authority to invalidate hinder or take away the power force or effect of any the pardons of our Kings or Princes by their Letters Patents or otherwise for High Treason or Felony Breach of the Peace or any other crime or supposed delinquency whatsoever FOR if Monarchy hath been by God himself and the Experience of above 5000 years and the longest Ages of the World approved as it hath to have been the best and most desirable form of Government And the Kingdom of England as it hath been for more than 1000 years a well tempered Monarchy and the Sword and Power thereof was given to our Kings only by God that ruleth the Hearts of them The means thereunto which should be the Power of Punishment and Reward can no way permit that they should be without the Liberty and Prerogative of Pardoning which was no Stranger in England long before the Conquest in the Raign of King Athelstane who did thereby free the Nation from four-footed Wolves by ordaining Pardons to such Out-Laws as would help to free themselves and others from such villanous Neighbours the Laws of Canutus also making it a great part of their business to enjoyn a moderation in punishments ad divinam clementiam temperata to be observed in Magistracy and never to be wanting in the most Superior none being so proper to acquit the offence as they that by our Laws are to take benefit by the Fines and Forfeitures arising thereby and Edward the Confessors Laws would not have Rex Regni sub cujus protectione pace degunt universi to be without it when amongst his Laws which the People of England held so sacred as they did hide them under his Shrine and afterwards precibus fletibus obtained of the Conqueror that they should be observed and procured the observation of them especially to be inserted in the Coronation-Oaths of our succeeding Kings inviolably to be kept And it is under the Title of misericordia Regis Pardonatio declared That Si quispiam forisfactus which the Margin interpreteth rei Capitalis reus poposcerit Regiam misericordiam pro forisfacto suo timidus mortis vel membrorum per dendorum potest Rex ei lege suae dignitatis condonare si velit etiam mortem promeritam ipse tamen malafactor rectum faciat in quantumcunque poterit quibus forisfecit tradat fidejussores de pace legalitate tenenda si vero fidejussores defecerint exulabitur a Patria For the pardoning of Treason Murder breach of the Peace c. saith King Henry the First in his Laws so much esteemed by the Barons and Contenders for our Magna Charta as they solemnly swore they would live and die in the defence thereof do solely belong unto him super omnes homines in terra sua In the fifth year of the Raign of King Edward the Second Peirce Gaveston Earl of Cornwal being banished by the King in Parliament and all his Lands and Estate seized into the Kings hands the King granted his Pardons remitted the Seizures and caused the Pardon and Discharges to be written and Sealed in his Presence And howsoever he was shortly after upon his return into England taken by the Earl of Warwick and beheaded without Process or Judgment at Law yet he and his Complices thought themselves not to be in any safety until they had by two Acts of Parliament in the seventh year of that Kings Raign obtained a Pardon Ne quis occasionetur pro reditu morte Petri de Gaveston the power of pardoning being always so annexed to the King and his Crown and Dignity And the Acts of Parliament of 2 E. 3. ca. 2. 10 E. 3. ca. 15. 13 R. 2. ca. 1. and 16 R. 2. ca. 6. seeking by the Kings Leave and Licence in some things to qualifie it are in that of 13 R. 2. ca 1. content to allow the Power of Pardoning to belong to the Liberty of the King and a Regality used heretofore by his Progenitors Hubert de Burgh Earl of Kent Chief Justiciar of England in the Raign of King Henry the third laden with Envy and as many deep Accusations as any Minister of State could lie under in two several Charges in several Parliaments then without an House of Commons had the happiness notwithstanding all the hate and extremities Put upon him by an incensed Party to receive two several Pardons of his and their King and dye acquitted in the Estate which he had gained Henry de Bathoina a Chief Justice of England being in that Kings Raign accused in Parliament of Extortion and taking of Bribes was by the King pardoned In the fifieth year of the Reign of King Henry the third the Commons in Parliament petitioning the King that no Officer of the Kings or any man high or low that was impeached by them should enjoy his Place or be of the Kings Council The King only answered he would do as he pleased With which they were so well satisfied as the next year after in Parliament upon better consideration they petitioned him that Richard Lyons John Pechie and lice Pierce whom they had largely accused and believed guilty might be pardoned And that King was so unwilling to bereave himself of that one especial Flower in his Crown as in a Grant or Commission made in the same year to James Botiller Earl of Ormond of the Office of Chief Justiciar of Ireland giving him power under the Seal of that Kingdom to pardon all Trespasses Felonies Murders Treasons c he did especially except and reserve to himself the power of pardoning Prelates â—arls and Barons In the first year of the Raign of King Henry the fourth the King in the Case of the Duke of Albemarle and others declared in Parliament that Mercy and Grace belongeth to Him and his Royal Estate and therefore reserved it to himself and would that no man entitle himself thereunto And many have been since granted by our succeeding Kings in Parliament at the request of the Commons the People of England in Worldly and Civil Affairs as well ever since as before not knowing unto whom else to apply themselves for it So as no fraud or indirect dealings being made use of in the obtaining of a Pardon it ought not to be shaken or invalidated whether it were before a Charge or Accusation in Parliament or after or where there is no Charge or Indictment ant cedent The Pardon of the King to Richard Lyons at the request of the Commons in Parliament as the Parliament Rolls do mention although it was not inserted in the Pardon was declared to be after a charge against him by the Commons in Parliament and in the perclose
said to be per Dominum Regem And a second of the same date and tenor with a perclose said to have been per Dominum Regem magnum Concilium John Pechies pardon for whom that House of Commons in Parliament was said to intercede only mentioneth that it was precibus aliquorum Magnatum 15 E. 3. The Archbishop of Canterbury before the King and Lords humbling himself before the King desired that where he was defamed through the Realm he might be arraigned before his Peers in open Parliament Unto which the King answered that he would attend the Common Affairs and afterward hear others 5 H. 4. The King at the request of the Commons affirmeth the Archbishop of Canterbury the Duke of York the Earl of Northumberland and other Lords which were suspected to be of the confederacy of Henry Percy to be his true Leige-men and that they nor any of them should be impeached therefore by the King or his Heirs in any time ensuing 9 H. 4. The Speaker of the House of Commons presented a Bill on the behalf of Thomas Brooke against William Widecombe and required Judgment against him which Bill was received and the said William Widecombe was notwithstanding bound in a 1000 pound to hear his Judgment in Chancery And the many restorations in blood and estate in 13 H. 4. and by King E. 4. and of many of our Kings may inform us how necessary and beneficial the pardons and mercy of our Kings and Princes have been to their People and Posterities The Commons accuse the Lord Stanley in sundry particulars for being confederate with the Duke of York and pray that he may be committed to prison To which the King answered he will be advised And Pardons before Indictments or prosecution have not been rejected for that they did anticipate any troubles which might afterwards happen For so was the Earl of Shrewsburys in the Raign of Queen Elizabeth for fear of being troubled by his ill-willers for a sudden raising of men without a warrant to suppress an insurrection of Rebels Lionell Cranfeild Earl of Middlesex Lord Treasurer of England being about the 18th year of King James accused by the Lords and Commons in Parliament for great offences and misdemeanours fined by the King in Parliament to be displaced pay 50000 l. and never more to sit in Parliament was in the 2d year of the Reign of King Charles the Martyr upon his Submission to the King and payment of 20000 l. only pardoned of all Crimes Offences and Misdemeanors whatsoever any Sentence Act or Order of Parliament or the said Sentence to the contrary notwithstanding For whether the accusation be for Treason wherein the King is immediately and most especially concerned or for lesser Offences where the people may have some concernment but nothing near so much or equivalent to that of the Kings being the supreme Magistrate the King may certainly pardon and in many pardons as of Outlaries Felonies c. there have been conditions annexed Ita quod stent recto si quis versos eos loqui voluerit So the Lord Keeper Coventry in the Raign of King Charles the Martyr to prevent any dangerous questions touching the receiving of Fines and other Proceedings in Chancery sued out his Pardon The many Acts of Oblivion or general Pardon granted by many of our Kings and Princes to the great comfort and quiet of their Subjects but great diminution of the Crown Revenue did not make them guilty that afterwards protected themselves thereby from unjust and malicious Adversaries And where there is not such a clause it is always implyed by Law in particular mens cases and until the Soveraignty can be found by Law to be in the People neither the King or his people who by their Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy are to be subordinate unto him are to be deprived of his haute ex basse Justice and are not to be locked up or restrained by any Petition Charge or Surmise which is not to be accompted infallible or a truth before it be proved to the King and his Council of Peers in Parliament and our Kings that gave the Lords of Mannors Powers of Soke and Sake Infangtheif and Outfangtheif in their Court Barons and sometimes as large as Fossarum Furcarum and the incident Power of Pardons and Remissions of Fine and Forfeitures which many do at this day without contradiction of their other Tenants enjoy should not be bereaved of as much liberty in their primitive and supream Estates as they gave them in their derivatives And though there have been Revocations of Patents during pleasure of Protections and Presentations and Revocations of Revocations quibusdam certis de causis yet never was there any Revocation of any Pardon 's granted where the King was not abused or deceived in the granting thereof For in Letters Patents for other matters Reversals were not to be accounted legal where they were not upon just causes proved upon Writs of Scire facias issuing out of the Chancery and one of the Articles for the deposing of King Richard 2d being that he revoked some of his Pardons The recepi's of Patents of Pardon or other things were ordained so to signifie the time when they were first brought to the Chancellour as to prevent controversies concerning priority or delays made use of in the Sealing of them to the detriment of those that first obtained them And the various forms in the drawing or passing of Pardons as long ago His testibus afterwards per manum of the Chancellour or per Regem alone per nostre Main vel per manum Regis or per Regem Concilium or authoritate Parliamenti per Regem Principem per Breve de privat sigillo or per immediate Warrant being never able to hinder the energy and true meaning thereof And need not certainly be pleaded in any subordinate Court of Justice without an occasion or to purchase their allowance who are not to controul such an Act of their Sovereign Doctor Manwaring in the fourth of sixth Year of the Raign of King Charles the Martyr being grievously fined by both Houses of Parliament and made incapable of any place or Imployment was afterwards pardoned and made Bishop of St. Asaph with a non obstante of any Order or Act of Parliament So they that would have Attainders pass by Bill or Act of Parliament to make that to be Treason which by the Law and antient and reasonable Customs of England was never so before to be believed or adjudged or to Accumulate Trespasses and Misdemeanors to make that a Treason which singly could never be so either in truth Law right reason or Justice May be pleased to admit and take into their serious consideration that Arguments a posse ad esse or ab uno ad plures are neither usual or allowable and that such a way of proceeding will be as much against the Rules of Law Honour and Justice as of Equity and good
deny but be above it And would make the King by some scattered or distorted parts of that Answer mangled and torn from the whole context and purpose of it to give away those undoubted Rights of his Crown for which and the preservation of the Liberties of his People he died a Martyr the Author and his Party endeavouring all they can to translate the Assent of the Commons required in the Levying of Money into that of the power of pardoning and jumbling the Words and Sense of that Royal Answer cements and puts together others of their own to fortifie and make out their unjust purposes omitting every thing that might be understood against them or give any disturbance thereunto And with this resolution the Author proceedeth to do as well as he can and saith that After the enumeration of which and other his Prerogatives his said Majesty adds thus Again as if it related to the matter of pardoning which it doth not at all but only and properly to the Levying of Money wherein that Misinterpreter can afford to leave out his said Majesties Parenthesis which is the Sinews as well of Peace as War that the Prince may not make use of this high and perpetual Power to the hurt of those for whose good he hath it and of Publick Necessity which clearly evidenceth that his late Majesty thereby only intended that part of his Answer to relate to the levying of Money for the gain of his private Favourites and Followers to the detriment of his People Whither being come our Man of Art or putter of his Matters together finds some words which will not at all serve is turn inclosed in a Royal Parenthesis of his late Majestâ— viz. An excellent Conserver of Liberty but never intended for any share in Government or the choosing of them that should govern but looked like a deep and dangerous Ditch which might Sowse him over head and ears if not drown him and spoil all his inventions and therefore well bethinks himself retires a little begins at An excellent Conserver of Liberty makes that plural adds c. which is not in the Original fetches his feeze and leaps quite over all the rest of the Parenthesis as being a Noli me tangere dangerous words and of evil consequence and having got over goeth on untill he came to some just and considerable expostulations of his late Majesty and then as if he had been in some Lincolnshire Fens and Marshes is again enforced to leap until he come to Therefore the Power legally placed in both Houses is more than sufficient to prevent and restrain the Power of Tyranny But not liking the subsequent words of his late Majesty viz. And without the Power which is now asked from Us we shall not be able to discharge that Trust which is the end of Monarchy since that would be a total subversion of the Fundamental Laws and that excellent Constitution of this Kingdom which hath made this Nation for many years both famous and happy to a great degree of envy is glad to take his leave with an c. and meddle no more with such Edge-Tools wherewith that Royal Answer was abundantly furnished But looks back and betakes himself to an Argument framed out of some Melancholick or Feverish Fears and Jealousies that until the Commons of England have right done unto them against that Plea of Pardon they may justly apprehend that the whole Justice of the Kingdom in the Case of the five Lords may be obstructed and deseated by Pardons of a like nature As if the pardoning of one must of Necessity amount to many or all in offences of a different nature committed at several times by several persons which is yet to be learned and the Justice of the Nation which hath been safe and flourished for many Ages notwithstanding some necessary Pardons granted by our Princes can be obstructed or defeated in a well constituted Government under our Kings and Laws so it may everlastingly be wondred upon what such jealousies should now be founded or by what Law or Reason to be satisfied if it shall thus be suffered to run wild or mad For Canutus in his Laws ordained that there should be in all Punishments a moderata misericordia and that there should be a misericordia in judicio exhibenda which all our Laws as well those in the Saxon and Danish times as since have ever intended and it was wont to be a parcel of good Divinity that Gods Mercy is over all his Works who not seldom qualifies and abates the Rigour of his Justice When Trissilian Chief Justice and Brambre Major of London were by Judgment of the Parliament of the Eleventh of King Richard the second Hanged and Executed the Duke of Ireland banished some others not so much punished and many of their Complices pardoned the People that did not know how soon they might want Pardons for themselves did not afflict themselves or their Soveraign with Complaints and Murmurings that all were not Hanged and put to the extremities of Punishment nor was Richard Earl of Arundel one of the fierce Appellants in that Matter vexed at the pardoning of others when he in a Revolution and Storm of State was within ten years after glad to make use of a Pardon for himself King James was assured by his Councel that he might pardon Sir Walter Rawleigh the Lord Cobham Sir Griffin Markham with many others then guilty of Treason and the Earl of Somerset and his Lady for the Murder of Sir Thomas Overbury without any commotion in the Brains of the rest of his Subjects some of whom were much disturbed that he after caused Sir Walter Rawleigh to be executed for a second Offence upon the Score of the former not at all pardoned but reprieved or only respited And therefore whilest we cry out and wonder quantum mutantur tempora may seek and never find what ever was or can be any necessary cause or consequence that the five Lords accused of High Treason and a design of killing the King will be sure to have a Pardon if that the Pardon of the Earl of Danby whose design must be understood by all men rather to preserve him shall be allowed Nor doth an Impeachment of the House of Commons virtually or ever can from the first Constitution of it be proved or appear to be the voice of every particular Subject of the Kingdom for if we may believe Mr. William Pryn one of their greatest Champions and the Records of the Nation and Parliaments the Commons in Parliament do not or ever did Represent or are Procurators for the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and their numerous Tenants and ancient Baronies that hold in Capite nor for the many Tenants that should be of the Kings ancient Demesne and Revenues nor for the Clergy the multitude of Copy-holders heretofore as much as the fourth part of the Kingdom neither the great number of Lease-holders Cottagers c. that are not Free-holders
Prelats Counts Barons autres gentz du Parlement did in full Parliament as the Record it self will evidence Petition the King to restore the said Edmond Mortimer to his Blood and Estate which were to remain unto him after the death of his said Father to whom it was answered by the King in these words Et sur ce nostre Seigneur le Roi charge a les ditz Prelats Countes Barons en leur foies ligeance queux ils lui devoient de puis ce que le Piere nostre Seigneur le Roi que ore est estoit murdre per le dit Counte de la Marche person procurement a ce quil avoit mesmes comdevant sa mort que eux eant regarda le Roi en tiel cas lui consilassent ce quil devoit faire de reson audit Esmon filz le dit Counte les queux Prelats Countes Barons autres avys trete entre eux respondirent a nostre Seigneur le Roi de Common assent que en regard a fi horrible fait comme de murdre de terre leur Seigneur lige quen faist unques ne avoient devant en leur temps ne nes devant venir en le eyde de dieu quils ne scavoient uncore Juger ne conseiller ceque seroit affaire en tiel cas Et sur ce prierent a nostre Seigneur le Roi quils poierent ent aver avisement tanque au proche in Parlement la quelle priere le Roi ottroia sur ce prierent outre que nostre Siegneur le Roi feist au dit Esmon sa bone grace a quoi il respond quil lui voloit faire mes cella grace vendroit de lui mesmes Sir Thomas de Berkeley who Sir William Dugdale in his Book of the Baronage of England found and believes to have been a Baron being called to account by the King for the murder of his Father King Edward the Second to whose custody at his Castle of Barkeley he was committed not claiming his Peerage but pleading that he was at the same time sick almost to death at Bradely some miles distant and had committed the custody and care of the King unto Thomas de Gourney William de Ocle ad eum salvo custodiendi and was not guilty of the murder of the King or any ways assenting thereunto Et de illo posuit se super Patriam had a Jury of twelve Knights sworn and impannelled in Parliament who acquitted him thereof but finding that he had committed the custody of the King to the aforesaid Thomas de Gournay William de Ocle and that the King extitit murderatus a further day was given to the said Sir Thomas de Berkeley de audiendo Judicio suo in prox Parliamento and he was in the interim committed to the custody of Ralph de Nevil Steward of the Kings Houshold At which next Parliament Prierent les Prelatz Countes Barons a nostre Seigneur le Roi on the behalf of the said Sir Thomas de Berkeley that he would free him of his Baylor Mainprize whereupon the King charging the said Prelats Counts and Barons to give him their advice therein Le quel priere fust ottroia puis granta nostre Seigneur le Roi de rechef a leur requeste que le dit Mons'r Thomas ses Mainpernors fusseient delivres discharges de lure mainprise si estoit Jour donne a dit Thomas de estre en prochein Parlement which proved to be a clear Dismission for no more afterwards appeareth of that matter Neither after a fierce Impeachment in the said Parliament of 21 R. 2. against Thomas Arundel Archbishop of Canterbury and Chancellor of England of High Treason upon which he was by that injured Prince condemned and banished when as the Record saith Les dits Countz prierent au Roi ordenir tiel Jugement vers le dit Ercevesque come le cas demande le Roi sur ceo Recorda en le dit Parlement que le dit Ercevesque avoit este devant lui en presence de certeines Seigneurs confessor que en la use de la dite Commission il sey mesprise lui mist en la grace du Roi surquoi the Judgment was given against the said Archbishop that he should be banished and forfeit all his Lands Goods and Estate when in the first year of the Raign of the usurping King H. 4. that Archbishop not tarrying long in Exile the minds of the Commons became so setled on the prevailing side that there was so small or no opposition made by them against him as the Duke of York and Earl of Northumberland and others of the Blood of the said Archbishop of Canterbury did in Parliament pray the King that the said Archbishop might have his recovery against Roger Walden for sundry Wasts and Spoils done by him in the Lands of the said Archbishoprick which the King granted and thanked them for their motion The Bishop of Exeter Chancellor of England at the assembling of the Parliament taking his Text out of the Prophecy of Ezekiel Rexerit unus omnibus alledging the power that ought to be in Soveraign Kings and Princes whereby to govern and the Obedience in Subjects to obey and that all alienations of his Kingly Priviledges and Prerogatives were reassumable and to be Repealed by his Coronation-Oath Pour quoi le Roi ad fut assembler le Estatz de Parlement a cest faire pour estre enformer si ascun droitz de sa Corone soient sustretz ou amemuser a sin que par leur bon advis discretion tiel remedie puisse estre mis que le Roi puisse esteer en sa libertie ou poir Comme ses Progenitors ont este devant lui duissent de droit non obstante ascun ordinance au contraire ainsi le Roi as Tener Et les governera whereupon the Commons made their Protestation and prayed the King that it might be Inrolled that it was not their intente ou volunte to Impeach or Accuse any Person in that Parliament sans congie du Roi And thereupon the Chancellor by the Kings command likewise declared That Nostre Seigneur le Roi considerant coment plusieurs hautes offenses mesfaits on t estre faitz par le People de son Roialme en contre leur ligeance l' Estat nostre Seigneur le Roi la loie de la terre devant ces heures dont son People estiet en grant perill danger de leie leur corps biens voullant sur ce de sa royalle benignite monstre fair grace a son dit People a fyn quilz ayent le greindre corage volonte de bien faire de leure mieux porter devors le Roi entemps avenir si voet grante de faire ease quiete salvation de son dit People une generalle Pardon a ces liges forspries
hath been before mentioned there are only these which their Speaker petitioned for for since the Dream of the men of St. Albans in Anno 8. E. 2. expounded and managed as Mr. William Petitt could think or imagine for his best advantage not knowing where it was run away from him and not finding it and the bold Petitions of some of the House of Commons in Parliament in the second year of the Raign of King Henry the 5th perceiving that he could get no assurance or confirmation of it by the Kings Answer thereunto as their Champion hoped that his Argument might prove as good as that of the good men of St. Albans and smite the Nail on the Head therefore was enforced when he saw the Kings answer in the same Record to silence it rather than his admirers should understand it and these claims of fancied Priviledges were so little believed to accord to those their unhappy designs as there was no more demand or news afterward of them in all our Kings and Princes Raigns until the Parliament in the Scottish League and Covenant with a factious party of our English in the years of our Lord 1637 1638 and 1639. when Philip Nye a busy factious Minister and Arch contriver and propagator of Rebellion and some other special Commissioners were secretly sent from England to prepare the intended united Rebellion of England and Scotland and put the management thereof into a Method most agreeable to the vizard of their counterfeit Religion and at the first a kind of supplicating Rebellion with Petitions and Remonstrances in their hands as well as Arms Amunition and all other Warlike Offensive and Defensive Provisions And if our English Parliaments had any such Stock of Liberties or Priviledges proper for Members of an House of Commons to demand it can be no less than a wonder extraordinary where those invisible Liberties or Priviledges have lurked or lain hid for more than 1000 years ever since Parliaments or Great Councels have been holden or kept in England under our Brittish Saxon Danish and Norman Kings and the long succession of our many Kings and Princes until that horrid long lasting Rebellion that had its rise in the years aforesaid and with great store of miseries and desolations continued until now being about 49 years and that none of the many Speakers other than Sir John Tibetot in the Raign of Henry 4. which gave occasion to all the Speakers afterwards to crave pardon of the King if they should demand any thing more than was befitting them allowed by our Kings and entrusted by the House of Commons in Parliament in matters of so great weight and concernment as is pretended for the publick good should so much neglect it since the 21 E. 1. or the times since succeeding as at their admission by our Kings and Princes to demand but two Priviledges when they ought to have asked very many as their well-willers but no friends unto either Loyalty or true Religion do without any grounds of Reason and Truth desire to have allowed who could hear Queen Elizabeth give a charge to some of the Speakers to inform the Members of the House of Commons that she would not have them intermedle with matters of Church and commanded the Speakers not to receive any such Bills if they should be offered and their then learned Speaker Sir Edward Coke durst not adventure to object unto her his too much at other times adored Fictions and Fables of the modus tenendi Parliamenta and the mirrour of Justice and a very great misfortune it must needs be to our Kings and Princes especially that ever since Jack Cades Rebellion in the later end of the Raign of King Henry the sixth they should be only troubled with the discords and troubles in their Councels which should be most helpful unto them which their neighbour Kings and Princes have not met withal in their like Methods and Rules of Government The Kings of Israel were commanded to read the Law which was not then non-scripta often References were made to the Book of the Chronicles The Decalogue was written as God had dreadfully pronounced by Moses and being afterward broken were wrtten again by the Almighty's own Finger the blessed Words Commands and Examples of our Saviour were written by the Evangelists St. Pauls Epistles have happily come unto us not by being not written but by having been written the twelve Tables fetched from Athens and Sparta and brought unto Rome were there hung up Aeneis Tabulis and their Sibylline Books were of great value our Bede Lambard and Somner have found our Saxon and Danish Laws to have been written and St. Edward the Confessors Laws were written before they were hid under his Shrine being not different from those that have been afterwards sworn unto by our successive Kings and Princes at their Coronation some Laws forced from King John were reduced into his Charter at Running Mede our Magna Charta Charta de Foresta freely granted by our King Henry the third and after thirty times confirmed in several Parliaments and ordered to be preserved in all our Cathedral Churches did certainly deserve the Title of Jura scripta When they might upon a sober and the strictest not Fanatick Rebellious Enquiry be well assured that those necessary Priviledges of Parliament were not to punish by their power but the Kings the Infringers of those Priviledges and that those which by a wicked or unheard of Antipolitiques or their Impostuting Champions or men at Arms would have by a new Art or trick of Jugling the Liberties and Properties of the people to be Priviledges of Parliament may find that the words Privilegium proprietates libertates never did or can signify any more than such Liberties Priviledges and Properties in and unto those their own Liberties and Estates which for a great part of them had been gained by the Favour and Indulgence of their Kings and Princes And should rather acknowledge that there is and ought to be no small difference betwixt Privilegium and beneficium and that privilegium in alterius praejudicium many times happens to be beneficium nec in Juris communis detrimentum nec in alterius damnum conceditur as that certainly was of the admittance of some of the Common people to be Members of the House of Commons in Parliament in 21 or 22. E. 1. to be made privy unto the making of such Laws wherein they might be concerned and have an opportunity to Petition their Kings for redress of any grievances happened unto them And that concessio Privilegiorum partim est expressa partim Tacita Expressa quae per concedentem verbis expressis tribuuntur qualia sunt illa quae a Principe peculiari rescripto vel aquovis alio magistratu vel superiore dantur vel in volumen Legum redacta ut Exempli gratia Privilegia Minorum faeminarum filiorum familias similia Tacita sunt quae praescriptione consuetudine vel per sententiam
upon their Soveraign at his Court at the three great Feasts of the year viz. Christmas Easter and Whitsontide as the excellently Learned Sir John Spelman hath informed us where the Bishops might give an accompt as in so many Parliaments which needed no Summons Prorogations or Adjournments for it was not to be doubted but that almost every man might understand when those Grand Feasts or Solemnities began or ended what had been done or was to be done in their several Diocesses and the Earls within their several Counties and Provinces of which Anciently they had a Subordinate Government and were to render accompts thereof When though not praecisely the very same in number as to the Festivals of the year wherein our Old King Alfred and many of our succeeding Kings and Princes used to be yearly attended by their Bishops Earls and Nobility whereby they might the better often understand the Circumvolutions and various Accidents in their Kingdom in every year might have some resemblance with that of the great Charles or Charlemain the hugely as Eginard who was his principal Secretary witnesseth powerful valiant and vertuous King of France which Kings Daughter Bertha our Saxon King Ethelbert is said to have married and at her Instance upon the preaching of Augustine the Monk to have converted himself and all his Subjects to the Christian Faith and Religion and celebrated with great Solemnity and Magnificence the great Festivals of Christmas and Easter which with the addition of another being the Feast of Pentiost was never omitted to be sumptuously kept by all our succeeding Kings until the latter end of the Raign of our K. H. the 3d. The French with great Solemnity holding their Parl. or great Coun at their 2 great Festivals of Christmas Easter Unless any other great Affairs caused them to summon those their great Councels at other times which coming after the Raign of 〈…〉 H. 3. to be 10 laid aside by reason of their many voyages into Normandy long lasting often Wars with France or Scotland troubles discords at home as Parliaments especially when after the 48th year of the Raign of King Henry the third the attendance upon Parliaments was much more troublesom to the Commons in Parliament after their admissions into that great assembly though they had their charges and expences in going tarrying and returning allowed them by King Edward the first which was first begun 〈◊〉 mon Montfort and his rebellious partners only in 〈◊〉 H. 3. When the King was their Prisoner in the 〈◊〉 two Knights of the Shire for the County of York wh 〈…〉 those that were afterwards permitted to be present by 〈◊〉 Edward 1. in the 22 year of his Raign and in the Raign of our succeeding Kings did esteem it to be a damage to to them in their other employments affairs and loss of time better becoming their capacities until the impressions and effassinations of Pride Fear Flattery Ambition and Self-Interest had within a small time after their aforesaid admission into Parliament incited or inticed them to be packt by Roger Mortimer Earl of March in the Raign of King E. 2. to Grant Aids to help to advance his wicked and accursed purposes as is expressed in one of the Articles and Charges against the said Earl in the 4th year of the Raign of King E. 3. or to set up for a Trade or Factory for themselves or their Friends or such as they could purchase as a lamentable experience hath of late years told us And we find no such Doings or Factorings before that or 49. of King Henry the 3d. For King Athelstone held a Parliament at Exeter and the succeeding Saxon and Danish Kings Summoned and held their Parliaments at several places and Dissolved and Met again as their occasions and the more weighty and extraordinary Affairs of the Kingdom required The Norman Conquerour and William Rufus and Henry the 1. other than at their aforesaid Grand Festivals did neither restrain themselves to certain times or places either as to the Summoning Continuing Proroguing or Adjourning of their more than common or ordinary business which requiring short Councels and an hasty Prosecution or putting into Actions what their deliberate Advices had resolved upon could necessarily produce no long continuances but were not seldom without Prorogations or Adjournments as Mr. Pryn and all our Ancient and Contemporary Writers and Historians have plentifully testified In the 9th year of the Raign of King Henry the 2d A Parliament was called at Westminster where by reason of the frowardness of the Archbishop Becket and his Suffragan Bishops the King was displeased and the Parliament ended In the 20th year of the Raign of that King he called a general Assembly of the Bishops and Nobility at Clarendon where John of Oxford the Kings Clerk was President of that Councel and a charge was given for the King that they should call to memory the Laws Ecclesiastical of his Grandfather King Henry the 1st and to reduce them to writing which was done the Archbishop and Bishops putting their Seals thereunto and taking much against the Arch-bishops will their Oaths to observe them In the 33th year of his Raign a Councel of Bishops Abbots Earls Barons both of the Clergy and Laity was holden at Gaynington sub Elemosinae titulo vitium rapacitatis included therein saith Walsingham requiring Aid towards the Wars of Jerusalem the Kings of England and France resolving to go thither in Person the King of England taking upon him and wearing the white Cross. A Parliament was called at Nottingham by King Richard the first after his return from his Captivity which continued but four days a Parliament in 7. Johannis a great Councel or Parliament was holden at London and Adjourned to Reading whither the King not coming at the day appointed it was three days after Adjourned to Wallingford In the Raign of King Henry the 3d. His Great Councels or Parliaments were many times Prorogued or Adjourned in whose Raign the Popes Nuncio Summoning the Praelates of England to give an Aid to the Pope they excused themselves and alledged that the King was sick and the Arch-bishops and Bishops were absent and that sine iis respondere non possunt nec debent whereupon the Nuncio endeavouring to adjourn that Convocation they refused to come again after Summons without the Kings License in 6 H. 3. a Parliament 7. a Parliament in 8. a 3. Anno 10. a 4th Anno 11. a 5th a Parliament in 16. another in 17. Anno 19. a Parliament Anno 21. a Parliament Anno 22. a Parliament Anno 25. a Parliament Anno 28. 2 Parliaments Anno 35. a Parliament 36. a Parliament 37. a Parliament in 38. another being called in Easter Term which by reason of the absence of some Lords who pretended they were not Summoned according to Magna Charta was Prorogued to Michaelmas following Anno 42. another Parliament at London
Status pro Stallo Monachorum Cannnicorum in Ecclesia Galbertus in vita Caroli Com. Flandr n. 72. Status simul sedes Fratrum dejectae sunt Idem n. 98. Inter columnas quippe solarii specula Status suos ex scriniorum aggoribus cumulis scamnorum prostituerant Stephanus Tornacensis Epist. 12. Assignetis ei statum in Choro sicut habere solet sedem in Capitulo Locum in Refectorio statutum de Installatione Canonicorum Bononiensium in Morinis Assignaturque sibi status in Choro secundum qualitatem capacitatem recepti locus in Capituli For they must have no small influence upon the minds and reason of mankind as well as that which they designed to have upon the Estates of those that would be so credulously foolish as to believe them to be a third Estate to be added unto the former two very ancient Estates in times of Parliament viz. The Lords Spiritual and Temporal and it must be a strong and strange kind of delusion as much or more enchanting than the Magicians or Southsayers of Egypt that could not expound the meaning of Pharaohs dreams or far exceed the Art of the Painter that made Zeuxis Grapes so very semblable or like unto them as the Birds were made Fools and essayed to eat them or how should or would be self created Estates think themselves to be such Estates when if any such could have been or ever had been they must rather have been the Estates or such Estates that sent them but not to be such Estates but only as their Procurators Attorneys or Deputies or what an efficacious strange Art must it be that could when miracles have been long ago ceased make a shadow pass for a Substance those that are at home no such Estates but they that were only sent are no sooner once admitted in Parliament but suddenly and ex se they become parts of that they would call the third Estate when they that sent and helped to make them Members of Parliament know of no such Grandeur or title bestowed upon them how or by whom when they were in Drink or Fudled at the time of the Election or Drinking Cheating day of various and senseless bribing bargaining partialities shamefully exercised in those our late times of Rebellion and Confusion when some that were Electors the Sheriff of the County being not himself to be Elected but commanded to cause the Election fairly to be made of Burgesses for Cities or Towns justly sending Knights of the Shires Citizens or Burgesses to Parliament not having a freehold Estate under forty shillings per Annum is at the same time thrashing in another Mans Barn or at Plow or at some dayly servile labour and neither he or his High-Crown-Hatted-Wife knew of any such honour fallen upon them or how such an hic or ubique Estateship vested in him or how he that is represented should be less in degree or honour than he that sent and helped him to be Elected and it will be difficulty enough for the third Estate Asserters to assail them from Perjury and Treason in their endeavouring to usurp upon their Soveraign and to be coordinate with him or to free them from the forfeiture of their Lands and Estates unto their Mesne Lords And it is very probable that King Henry the third in the 52 year of his Raign and his Parliament did not intend to make the Common sort of People or smaller part of the Nation to be equal with the Archbishops Bishops Abbots Priors Earls Barons and Religious Men and Women who were by that Statute exempt from coming to the Sheriffs turn or being ranked with them as Estates the Sheriffs turns being as Sr. Edward Coke saith ordinarily composed of the Bayliffs of Lords of Manors Servants and other Common sort of people that Court having no Jurisdiction to try any Action other than under forty Shillings value And there could not certainly be a greater parcel of wickedness credulity and ignorance hardly to be decerned or distinguished how they or any of their Adherents can harbour or give any entertainment to the least Embrio or parcel of opinion that all or any of the Members in the House of Commons in Parliament are a third Estate when they themselves did so little believe it as in their frequent Petitions in Parliament unto their Kings they could give themselves no greater a Title than your Pauvrez Communs your Leiges and being asked their advice in Parliament touching some especial matters denied to give it themselves but referred it unto the Councel of his Lords Spiritual and Temporal at another time refused because they had no Skill or knowledge in the affairs of Peace or War the principal parts of government and in the 13th year of the Raign of King Edward the third upon that Kings demand of an unusual Tax upon the Common people as they thought prayed leave to go into their several Counties to consult those that sent and returned again with an Assent and Answer And when King Henry the fourth appeared to be offended with them came sorrowfully before him and humbly begged his pardon could not as it appears in several of our Parliament Records when the protection of themselves their Posterities and Estates were deeply concerned give their Kings and Princes any Aids or Subsidies without the consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal that in the Raign of King Henry the fourth could not protect Sir Thomas Hexey one of their Members from an Accusation and Punishment by the King that in the Raign of King Henry the sixth could not support their own Clerk and in the Raigns of several of our Kings have been enforced to pray Aid of them by their Writs out of their Chancery to protect themselves and Moenial Servants in time of Parliaments That Queen Mary caused 39. of their Members to be indicted in the Court of Kings Bench for being absent from Parliament wherein none of them though Plowden a very learned Lawyer was one durst adventure to plead or insist upon any their pretended Soveraignty of Parliament or that they were a third Estate or part thereof That Queen Elizabeth one of the greatest and most vertuous of Princess that ever weilded a Scepter and sate in our English Throne could upon no greater an offence of Bromley and Welsh two of the Knights of the Shire for the County of Worcester then endeavouring to Petition the House of the Lords to joyn with them to supplicate her Majesty to declare her Successor did forbid them to go to the Parliament but keep their Chambers and shortly after committed them Prisoners in the Tower of London and did not long after sitting the Parliament Arraign and try in her Court of Kings-Bench for High Treason Doctor Parry a Member of Parliament and caused him to be drawn hanged and quartered and may read that in 16 R. 2. in an Act of Parliament made against Provisions at Rome under a Penalty of
Durham Earls of Northampton Arundel Warwick Oxford Suffolk and Hugh le Despenser Lord of Glamorgan to the whole so misnamed Estate of Parliament when the King could not be one of them not at all being present purporting that whereas the King at his Arrival at Hoges in Normandy had made his Eldest Son the Prince of Wales Knight he ought to have of the Realm forty Shillings for every Knights Fee which they all granted and took Order for the speedy levying thereof 25 E. 3. Sir John Matravers pardon was confirmed by the whole missettled Estates whereof the King could not be accompted any of them for he granted the pardon 28 E. 3. Richard Earl of Arundel by Petition to the King praying to have the Attainder of Edmond Earl of Arundel his Father reversed and himself restored to his Lands and Possessions upon the view of the Record and and the said Richard Earl of Arundels Allegation that his Father was wrongfully put to death and was never heard the whole Estates saith that ill Translator adjudged he was wrongfully put to Death and Restored the said Earl to the benefit of the Law which none could do but the King who was petitioned and having the sole interest in the forfeiture was none of those which were wrongfully called the whole Estates 37 E. 3. Where it is said that at the end of the Parliament the Chancellor in the presence of the King shewed that the King meant to execute the Statute of Apparel and therefore charged every State to further the same the King could not be understood to charge himself After which he demanded of the whole Estates so as before mistaken whether they would have such things as they agreed on to be by way of Ordinance or of Statute they answered by way of Ordinance for that they being to take benefit thereby might amend the same at their pleasure And so the King having given thanks to all the as aforesaid miscloped Estates for their pains taken licensed them to depart which should be enough to demonstrate that the Granter and Grantees were not alone or conjoynt and that the King giving thanks to the Estates did not give it to himself 42 E. 3. The Archbishop of Canterbury on the Kings behalf gave thanks to the whole in the like manner mis-termed Estate for their Aids and Subsidies granted unto the King wherein assuredly the Archbishop of Canterbury did not understand the King to be any part of the whole Estate which the King gave thanks unto The Commons by their Speaker desiring a full declaration of the Kings necessity require him to have consideration of the Commons poor Estate The King declared to the Commons that it was as necessary to provide for the safety of the Kings Estate as for the Common-wealth Anno 6. Regis Richardi 2. after Receivers and Triers of Petitions named Commandment was given that all persons and Estates which imported no more being rightly understood than conditions or sorts of men miscalled as aforesaid should the next day have the cause of summoning the Parliament declared 11 R. 2. The Parliament was said to have been adjourned by the common Assent of the whole Estates the first time of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal being called the Estates without or with the Commons joyned with them no such names or words appellations or Titles were either known or in use nor any such words or Titles as Estates being to be found in the Originals or Parliament Rolls before Anno 11 R. 2. for no more appeareth in the Original than in and under these expressions viz. Et mesme le vendredi auxint a cause ce fest solempnite de pasch estoit a progeno ii coveient le Roi les Seigneurs tautx autres entendre a devotion le Parlement coe assent le toutz Estats le Parlement estoit continez del dit vendredi tanque Lindy lendemain de la equinziesme de Pasch adonquez prochem ensuent commandez per le Roy a toutz les Seigneurs Communs du dit Parlement Quils seroient a Westminster le dimengo en la dite quinzieme de pascha a plustaid sur ceo noevelles briefs furent â—aiots a toutz les Seigneurs somons au dit parlement de yestre a la dite quinzieme sur certaine peine a limiter per les Seiguro qui seroient presents en dit Parlement a la quinzieme avant dite le quel Limdy le dit Parlement fust recommence tenat son cours selont la request des Communs grant de nostre Seigur le Roi avant ditz And then but the inconsiderate hasty new created word of the Clerks in a distracted time when the great Ministers of State in two contrary Factions to the ruin of the King and many of themselves as it afterwards sadly happened were quarrelling with each other and all the Bishops so affrighted as they were enforced to make their Protestation against any proceedings to be made in that so disturbed a Parliament In Anno 21. R. 2. The Bishop of Exeter Chancellor of England taking his Theme or Text out of Ezechiel Rex unius omnibus erat proved by many Authors that by any other means than by one sole King no Realm could be well governed For which cause the King had assembled the Estates in Parliament to be informed of the rights of his Crown withheld which Oration afterwards was to the same effect seconded by Sir John Bussey Knight Speaker of the House of Commons King Richard the second being as a Prisoner in the Tower of London made the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Hereford his Procurators to publish his Rem 〈…〉 of the Kingdom to the whole Estates Which whether at at that time distinguished or divided into three doth not appear viz. into Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons could not comprehend the King who was not to be present but gave the direction and authority to his said Procurators and could never have been understood to have been present or one of them himself or to have made such a prosecution against or for himself After the claim made unto the Crown of England in Parliament by Henry Duke of Lancaster and a consultation had amongst the Lords and Estates not expressing that the Commons were a 3d. or any part thereof it being then altogether improbable that King Richard the 2d or any other representing for him was there present and to make one of the said pretended Estates as much out of the reach of probability that King Richard himself was one or a Person then acting against himself the Duke of Lancaster himself then affirming that the Kingdom was vacant And when the Usurping King Henry the 4th openly gave thanks to the whole Estates wherein is plainly evidenced that himself neither was or could be understood to be then or at any other time one of the said Estates The first day of the Parliament the Bishop of London
of a contrived Parliament to govern the King when that gentle fictitious modus is content to allow the King a Salvo dom Regi et ejus Consilio quod ipsi hujusmodi Ordinaciones of 6. 3. or 1. of the Committee Postquam scripta fuerint examinare emendare valeant si hoc facere sciant valeant Ita quod hoc fiat tunc ibidem in pleno Parliamento de assensu Parliamenti Et non retro Parliamentum which last clause saith Mr. Pryn quite spoils Altars and contradicts what the Community of twelve six or three had ordained And King Edward the confessor whom the many foregoing and after ages have justly and truly reported and esteemed to be neither Oliver Cromwel or the mistaken Sir Edward Coke with their several modi tenendi Parliamenta did not find either of them in his Recherches amongst all the Laws of the Mulumtians Mercian Saxon and Danish Laws and other ancient Customs used in England in his time when he was Monarch thereof and Vicarius Summi Regis ordained Laws concilio Baronum Angliae leges 68 Annos sopitas excitavit excitatas reparavit reparatas decoravit decoratas confirmavis confirmatas vero vocantur Leges Edwardi Regis non quod ipse primo eas adinvenisse dicitur sed cum praetermissa fuissent oblivioni penitus dedita a diebus avi sui Edgari qui 17 Annis regnavit ipse Edwardus quia Justa erant honesta a profunda Abyssu extravit as if he had pulled them out of some Holes Vauts or Cranyes eas revocavit ut suas observandas contradidit wherein there is nothing at all that may be subservient to the wildest kind of Interpretation of a modus tenendi Parliamentum which in the case of so great Rational and Fundamental general Councel as a Parliament could not be beleived to be omitted in the making and framing K. Edward the Confessors Laws nor can they be conceived or believed to be made at one time but at several times during his Raign and in these although there are extant a very great commendation of the usefulness of the Law of Friborghs or Tithings there is not a word or any thing to be understood of the Members of the House of Commons in Parliament being a third Estate For it appears in Anno 1244 in a Parliament holden at London the King consulted with the Bishops apart the Earls and Barons apart and the Abbots and Priors apart about the Popes not performing his promise concerning his removal of the grievances of the Kingdom where were none of the Common people either as a third Estate or otherwise which was before his imprisonment in the 48th year of his Raign by some of his Rebellious Barons and in all his Raign before there is often mention of his Bishops Earls and Barons Magnates and Grand Conseil but nothing at all of Commons or a formed House of Commons until the 49th year of his Raign and not long before at a Parliament assembled totam Nobilitatem Angliae For before the 42 year of that Kings Raign Nobiles Angliae tam viri Ecclesiastici quam seculares met in a Parliament at London Ita quod nunquam tam populosa multitudo ibi antea visa fuit where the King informing them of his necessities and requiring an aid they not any Commons but the Lords Spiritual and Temporal began to be very querelous and remembring old grievances as they called them demanded the Justiciary Chancellor and Treasurer might be chosen by the Common Councel of the Kingdom which by the Records and Annalists was never understood to be any other than the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament summoned to give their advice to the King as the greatest men of wisdom and Estates in whom that and the obedience of the Common people were Justly included the choice of which great Offices of State Sir Edward Cokes modus tenendi Parliamentum having not then peeped into the World to help to disturb it the Lords Spiritual and Temporal then alledged to appertain unto them not unto the Vulgar or Common people and had been Justly and anciently due unto them ab antiquo Justum consuetum which had no longer a date than the enforced Charter of King John at Running Mede and the collateral strange security at the same time given for the 25 Conservators of the Liberties of the people to maintain its antiquity than something less than 42 years before which propositions the King denying that Councel was dissolved without any Claim of the common peoples third Estateship or being an Essential or constituent part of the Parliament or to have votum decisivum therein There was no such Modus tenendi Senatum or Parliamentum then so stiled when the Roman Empire began its rise for shortly after though their Stile or Title was Senatus populusque Romanus yet their Historians tell us that they had their Patritii and Menenius Agrippa when the Rabble Vulgus or Common people had made an Insurrection or mutiny and gone tumultuously into the Mount Aventine knew better how to bring them again into their Wits by a pleasant well understood fable or Apologue of the head Members Belly and Paunch in their Bodies natural and our Republican 3 Estate men might read and understand that those Common peoples Votes or Dictates were able to reach no further than their Plebiscita and never could arrive unto a Senatus consultum that when Julius Caesar came into our Brittain before the Incarnation of our Redeemer and that Nation had planted Colonies here they left us no Modus tenendi Senatum neither did Agricola Governor here for the Roman Colonies who had taught our Nation the use of the Roman Gown and Civilities teach them the modus tenendi Parliamentum or Senatum which Sir Edward Coke dreamed of or inform them that the Common people were a third Estate or had an inhaerent Soveraignty in them In all the Laws of Dunwallo Mulumtius there was no mention of Law for a modus tenendi Parliamentum or in those of Mercia Regina Britonum or in the time of the Heptarchy of the Saxon Kings or of King Ethelbert who raigned here in the year after Christ 568. Neither in the Laws of King Ina who raigned in England about the year 712. Or in the Laws of King Alured who began his Raign in Anno 871. and ended in Anno 900. and declares that he had ordained collected and put them together Atque easdem literis mandavit quorum bonam certe partem Majores sui religiose coluerunt mulâ—a etiam sibi digna videntur quae sibi observari melius commoda videbantur ea consulto sapientum partim antiquanda partino Innovanda videbantur curavit At quoniam temeritatis videatur ex suis ipsius decretis quenquam literarum monumentis consignare tum etiam se quidem apud posteros Justitiae suae fidem quae se magni fecerit
the horrible Murder and Cruel death of my Lord and Father my Brother Rutland and my Cosen of Salisbury and others And I thank you right heartily and I shall be unto you by the grace of Almighty God as Good and Gracious a Soveraign Lord as ever was any my noble progenitors to their Subjects and Leigement and for the faithful and loving hearts and also the great labour that you have born and sustained towards me in the recovering of my Right and Title which I now possess I thank God with all my heart and if I had any better to reward you withal than my Body you should have it the which shall alwaies be ready for your defence neither sparing nor letting for no Jeopardy praying you also of your hearty assistance and continuance as I shall be unto you very righteous and loving Leige Lord. And the bloody Wars betwixt the two great contending Families of York and Lancaster those Factions tired on both sides and the Attainders and Confiscations on both sides in the Raign of King Edward the fourth with the Marriage of King Henry the seventh with the Daughter and heir of King Edward the fourth his two Sons being Murdered by their Uncle Richard the third who died without Issue and King Henry the eight his quarrelling with the Pope and confiscating the monasteries and Abbies gratifying many of the Nobility with much of their Lands and much obliging them thereby and enriching many of the Tenents and making them and their families to be Gentlemen that durst not own or approach that Title before and the short Raigns of King Edward 6. and Q Mary busied by the one in the setting up of the Protestant Religion and the other in reducing Popery to its former Station gave a long tranquility from State disturbances augmented by Q. Elizabeths 44 years glorious peaceable Raign not only in the propagation defence of it here but in many other parts of Christendom and gave a peaceable entrance to King James her next Heir and Successor who met with two Grand Assaults of Treason the one of Sr. Walter Rawleigh and others who fetching that Lawless Doctrine and Peice of Law some hundreds of years before set up that allegiance is due to the Crown and not to the person of the King long before condemned in Parliament in the example of Hugh le Despencer in the Raign of King Edward the third and the other being the Gunpowder Treason was miraculously discover ed almost in the very instant of executing thereof and although villainously Wicked and Horrid fell much short of our last long Rebellion both as unto the length of time and Hypocrisy shedding of Blood Massacres abuse of God and the Holy Scriptures and the levelling and utter destruction of a most Ancient and Glorious Monarchy King James in the 22th year of his Raign over England departing this life not by taking an ill advised Medicine to expel an Ague as was villainously reported but upon a careful examination could never be proved to have been other than Innocent though recommended by the Earl of Warwick then as it after appeared none of our Monarchy Favorites King Charles the first his Son succeeding shortly after espoused the Lady Henrietta Mary Daughter of Henry the fourth King of France made a League Offensive and Defensive with the States of the United Provinces and besides two well exercised Regiments under English Commanders paid by the Dutch sent unto them four gallant Regiments more under the several Commands of the Earls of Oxford Essex and Southampton and Lord Willoughby of Eresby and a well Rig'd and Furnished Fleet against the King of Spain landed at Cales whence without doing the business designed they returned home The Duke of Buckingham and the Earl of Bristol in the mean time accusing in Parliament each other of Treason and Misdemeanors acted whilst the King as Prince was in Spain the one for the promoting the Marriage with the Infanta of Spain the other for hindering of it whereupon followed the imprisonment of the Earl of Bristol in the To wer of London and the King being put to great charges in his sending Embassadors and mediation in the obtaining a considerable part of the last Palatinate to be restored to his Brother in Law and to be made an eighth Elector to be joyned with the former seven and with the yearly payment of giving great pensions to the distressed King and Queen of Bohemia his four Nephews and two Neices under the burden of great Debts and Necessities much augmented by the costly furnishing out a Fleet of Ships and a gallant Army to invade the Isle of Ree in France to divert the King of France from subduing of Rochel the Inhabitants whereof had supplicated him for Aid which produced none other effect but the loss of all his hopes therein by the ill conduct of the Admiral to the loss of some gallant men yet was so unwilling to forsake those oppressed Protestants as he after sent two if not three other Fleets strongly furnished Ships with Men Arms and Ammunition to relieve them under more Skilful Commanders who endeavouring all that men could do were constrained to return home and leave those Protestants to the over-powering forces by Land of the King of France and in the midst of his own pressures and great wants of Money having no more of his own Royal Revenue to support these expences than about 800000 l. sterling per Annum for his Revenue much whereof by the usual Lickings and Cheats of his Trustees Officers and Receivers could never find the way to his Coffers And had been so incessant in his desires to help those oppressed Protestants of France as to procure Money to assist them in that his last attempt he sending to the Citizens of London to lend him 100000 l. They answered they could not for that they had heretofore lent unto his Father King James as much upon Privy Seals which had not been yet repaid although it was but lent by several Citizens to make up that some of Money but if his Majesty would give them a security by some of his own Revenues in Land to pay the first hundred thousand pounds with interest for it they would lend him another hundred thousand pounds and the particular mens names that lent the Moneys to make up the first 100000 pounds were expressed in a Schedule which done as will appear by the said Schedule which I have seen 12000 l. per Annum of old Rents of Assise in Richmondshire or in the County of York were by the King conveyed and granted absolutely unto some Citizens in trust for the City of London for the payment of the said two hundred thousand pounds with the Interest as aforesaid for the said one hundred thousand pounds lent unto King James the Wood and Timber only growing thereupon amounting unto as much as the aforesaid Sums of Money lent with the Interest which over-profitable bargain made by the City of London for
who had been Receiver of the Kings Money and had not accounted for it in Twenty years was once endeavoured to be pleased by being made Chancellor of the Exchequer Hollis one of the Secretaries of State Sir Arthur Haselrig and William Strode were to be put into great places one to be Governour of the Prince and the other as a Secretary and there being no special Office for the Lord Kimbolton the hopes of their being better Subjects and Councellors than the former begat their after Rebellion for which three Kingdoms and the ruin and desolation thereof with the life of the Blessed Martyr King Charles the first might have been spared if that Treason had been punished by Law the King having been informed that some of the well-willers to the Scotish Rebellion had before hand conveyed away their Estates the next care to be taken being to take away the Life of Thomas Earl of Strafford who was General of the Army of the King in the North against the Scots who coming up to London to accuse Pym and the rest of the five Members so called found as he was knocking at the door of the House of Peers Mr. Pym gotten in accusing him of High Treason upon which he being Arraigned was Acquitted when he was guilty of no Treason but they of abundance but that not giving satisfaction to their wicked designs they invented a way to have him again Arraigned upon a Bill in Parliament at the Suit of the Commons of England which was the first Bill in Parliament of that kind in writing that ever was before to Interest and proclaim the House of Commons to be Co-ordinate and a third Estate including the King to be in or ex se one of them many of the Preachers were found fault with for Arminianism and other Doctrines by those that understood them as little as they did the Word of God that they preacht up the Kings Power and Prerogative and Doctor Manwarring voted by the House of Commons in Parliament to be punished and sequestred whom the King afterwards made a Bishop Mr. William Pryn Mr. Henry Burton and Dr. Bastwick justly sentenced in the Court of Star Chamber the first having his Ears nailed unto the Pillory and all of them severally imprisoned in remote places were insolently voted out of Prison an attempt never before adventured upon by an House of Commons in Parliament and no such things as previous votings in order to the fixing or carrying on evil designs were ever before used to be made in any of our Kings or Princes Raigns and were by multitudes of factious Londoners of the most Common sort intermingled brought in a seditious procession on Horseback through the Streets with Rosemary in their Hats or Hands Mr. Pryn shortly after made a busy and fiery Member of Parliament the two former whereof were fanatically reported to have had miracles or visions seen upon the occasion of that they called their sufferings Bills were put upon the Corners of the Streets in London to invite People to give a meeting upon a certain day at Grocers Hall in London to some Members of the House of Commons in Parliament to prepare Petitions unto themselves some Troops of Factious Ministers made themselves the Conductors out of several Counties of many a simple Innovator with Papers in their Hats signifying no more than something they knew not what against Popery the Porters of London must put on their Sunday Cloaths and carry to the House of Commons printed Petitions against the Kings enjoying the Militia where they were only informed that it was against Watermen of London's carriying of Trunks all the Boys in a Free School at Stamford in Lincolnshire enticed by the naughty School-Master to subscribe their names to a Petition against Bishops with other numberless Cheats and trciks to make fears and jealousies and breed a Rebellion which might proceed as much as it could to break in peices never as they hoped to be repaired again our Ancient and flourishing Monarchy the King maketh a progress into his Kingdom of Scotland where they beg and importune him for the small Demesne Crown Lands which he had left and when he would have reserved enough to have defrayed the charge of his house keeping whilst he remained there they would not trust him with the Money for fear he should provide Arms with it when in the mean time a Rebellion was begun in Ireland with a Massacre from whence when he returned to London he was received by all the Citizens with the Hosanna of a Great seeming Joy but suddenly after ill managed by some Lords and Commons in Parliament their then too great Idol in a most Hypocritical way of a Remonstrance bearing Date the 14th day of December 1641. at Hampton Court wherein with all zeal and faithfulness unto His Majesty acknowledging his Royal favour and Protection to be a great blessing and security unto them for the enjoying of all these publick and private Priviledges and Liberties and whensoever any of them shall be invaded or broken And because the Rights and Priviledges of Parliament are the Birthright and Inheritance not only of themselves but the Kingdom but every one of his Subjects is interessed that is as to his protection only whilst they are his Subjects do honour and obey him are so simpliciter but not secundum quid the maintenance and preservation whereof doth very highly conduce unto the publick peace and prosperity of His Majesty and all His People they conceive themselves more especially obliged with all humbleness and care and constancy of Resolution to endeavour to maintain and defend the same as in an easie to be conceived manner of threatning Amongst other the Priviledges of Parliament they do declare that it is their undoubted Right that His Majesty ought not to take notice of any matter in agitation and debate in either Houses of Parliament but by their Information which would not only contradict but overturn the Reason Constitution Records and Annals of all our Nation And that he ought not to propound any condition provision or limitation in any Bill or Act in debate or preparation in either of both Houses of Parliament or to manifest or declare his consent or dislike of the same before it be presented to His Majesty in the course of Parliament so as they would have their King to be as a Mute until they shall have finished all they would for otherwise one Interval might thwart another how shall such a King be Master of a Judgment or have any or was God to be prayed unto to give his Judgment to the King or unto the People or by what Rule of Right Reason should the King being of full age and sanity of mind not be permitted the right use of the Faculties of his Soul And that the King ought not to conceive displeasure against any man for such Opinions and Propositions as shall be delivered in such debate it belonging to the several Houses of Parliament
respectively which had their Original contradistinct Powers and Customs to judge and determine such Errours and Offences in Words or Actions that shall be committed by any of their Members in the handling or debating any matter depending which was contradicted by Queen Elizabeth when she charged the Members of the House of Commons in Parliament not to intermeddle in matters of Church or State or receive any Bills of that nature and severely punished some Members that attempted to do otherwise Yet they complained in their so strange a claim of those their never to be found Priviledges that they were to their great grievance broken by the Kings endeavouring to put a Salvo Jury to their Bill or Act of Parliament forbiding the pressing of Souldiers at that instant when there was so great an occasion for the Wars in Ireland and went much higher than the great Earls the Constable and Earl Marshal of England and Gilbert de Clare Earl of Gloucester did when in a Parliament of King Edward the first they denyed him his accustomed Salvo Jure where he or his Privy Councel or Councel at Law adjudged it necessary And therefore humbly intreated his Majesty by his Royal Power and Authority whereof it may 〈◊〉 they would leave him as little as possibly they couldâ— to protect them in those and all other their Priviledges of Parliament And for the time to come would not interrupt the same and that they may not suffer in his Majesties favour when he should be so greatly obliged unto his Subjects as to restore again to his knowledge and Judgment after the end of such a Parliament never before known in England or any other Nation of the Christian World such a kind of Priviledge neither being possible to be found or heard of on Earth or amongst the Antipodes or in the discovery which Gonzagua's Geese made of the Countrey of the Moon where the Servants are reported to govern the Masters and the Children their Parents And that his Majesty would be pleased to nominate those that have been his Advisers that they may receive such condign Judgment as may appertain unto Justice And this his most faithful Councel shall advise and desire as that which will not only be a comfort to themselves but of great advantage to his Majesty by procuring such a confidence between him and his People as may be a Foundation of honour safety and happiness to his Person and Throne And probably had never adventured to fly so high a pitch if some of the Lords and Commons in Parliament had not upon the Scotch petitioning Rebellion and entring into England borrowed 150000 l. upon their several personal securities to pay their quarters whilst they were here which Parliament Manacles of their King would have amounted to more than the aforesaid Sir Edward Cokes figment of a modus tenendi Parliamentum used as he beleived in Edward the Confessors time And in the absence of Parliaments might have the Name and Title of King until they should make an occasion to Print a Remonstrance against him or arraign him And as a Prologue to their intended Remonstrance the next day they seeming not a little to congratulate his safe coming from Scotland did beseech him to give more Life and Power to the faithful Councel of his Parliament and being necessitated to make a Declaration of their grievances and the corruption of some of his Bishops especially such as are in a near trust and employment about him and were divers of them of his Privy Councel and about the Prince his Son and have thereby a dangerous operation in his Councel and Government in this time of a preparation for War betwixt his Kingdoms of Scotland and Ireland which was then but procured and fomented by confederacy Insurrection of the Papists and Bloody Affairs in Ireland for prevention whereof they have ingaged themselves and their Estates in the sum of 150000 l. Sterling or thereabouts for the necessary supply of his Majesty in his dangerous Affairs therefore they prayed 1. That he would concur with the desires of his Parliament for the depriving the Bishops of their Votes in Parliament which was the one half of that grand Fundamental of the Laws and Government of England in the House of Peers in Parliament and abridge their immoderate power usurped over the Clergy to the hazard and prejudice of the Laws Liberty and Religion of his Subjects and the taking away oppression in Church Government and Discipline punishing such Loyal Subjects as join together in Fundamental Truths against the Papists and by the oppressions of unnecessary Ceremonies 2. Remove from his Councel all the promoters thereof and to imploy such persons in his great Affairs and trust as his Parliament may conside in which was to govern him both in times of Parliament and without when he hath at his Coronation taken his Oath to govern according to his Laws not any of the Peoples 3 That he would not alienate any of the forfeited Irish Lands which begot good bargains for some of the ungodly contrivers when they after purchased their Rebel perjured Soldiers arrears for xvj d. per pound Which being fulfilled they his most great and faithful Councel upon these conditions â—â—all by the blessing of God as they would have it cheerfully undergo the expence of the War and apply themselves to such other means and Councels as shall support him and make him glorious both at home and abroad In order whereunto the contrary way they did the 15th day of December 1641. notwithstanding his earnest request unto them print and publish it wherein besides some of their own or their instigators unquiet Spirits ambitious or evil designs to misuse and Govern their Soveraign plainly appearing may be seen and the many greivances of their own making in the oppressing of each other and undertaking to determine of matters and Mysteries of State and the Arcana's and necessities of State of which they could not possibly without necessary Praecognita's be competent Judgâ—s they made a great addition to that prologue to their subsequent Rebellion and abominable consequence of the murder of that excellently pious Prince insomuch is it may be over and over again a wonder to be ranked amongst the greatest in what untrodden or dark inaccessible Caverns of the Earth these unknown and never accustomed Priviledges of the Parliaments of England could lurk or lye hidden when in all the Conservatorships of liberties devised at Running Mede forced upon King John the â—ovisions made at Oxford in the Raign of King Henry the 3d. neither any thing in the Raigns of King Edward the 2d 3. 4. and Richard 2d Henry 4 5 6. Richard the 3d the Usurper Henry the 7th King Henry 8. E. 6. Queen Mary Queen Elizabeth and and King James had never such shackles desired or claimed to be put upon any of them unto which those Parliament Remonstrants were the more incouraged by that oppressed Princes having his three Kingdoms
Thames Arrested and carried Prisoner to the Tower of London and the Wind and Tyde of fear and self-preservation did then so impetuously drive Sir Edward Littleton the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England who some years before when he was a young Man made it a part of his Praise or Olympick Game to prove by Law that the King had no Law to destrain men esse Milites and Sir John Banckes Knight Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas that they joyned with the then Illegal concurrent Votes of too many of the House of Peers that the Militia which was the Right and Power of the Sword and Jus divinum gladii and the totum aggregatum and support of the Government was in the People when our Learned Bracton hath truly informed us that in Rege qui recte regit necessaria sunt duo Arma videlicet Leges quibus utrumqne bellorum pacis recto possit gubernari utrumque enim istorum alterius indiget auxilio quo tam Res militaris possit esse in tuto quam ipsae Leges usu Armorum praesidio possent esse servatae si autem Arma defecerint contra hostes Rebelles Inimicos sic erit Regnum indefensum si autem Leges sic exterminabitur justitia nec erit qui justum faciet Following therein that opinion of Justinian the Emperour in his Institutes And did declare not like men that had taken the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy before they were admitted into that House that if any Person whatsoever wherein the King or his Command ought to have been excepted shall offer to arrest or detain the Person of any Member of that House without first acquainting their House or receiving further Order from that House that it is Lawful for any such Member or any Person to assist him and to stand upon his and their guard and defence and to make resistance according to the protestation taken to defend the Priviledges of Parliament which was neither to commit or maintain Treason or make that without the Kings Authority to be Treason that never was their intollerable haughty Priviledges so incompatible and inconsistent with Monarchy demanded by the Petition of the Lords and Commons in Parliament the 14th day of December 1641. can never be able to withstand the dint and force of the Law and Right Reason if a Quo Warranto should be brought against them Whereupon the King the 4th day of January 1641. coming into the House of Commons in Person no such Company attending with Pistols at the Door as was untruly reported and being sate in the Speakers Chair said he was sorry for the occasion of coming unto them Yesterday he had sent a Serjeant at Arms to apprehend some that were accused of High Treason whereunto he expected Obedience and not a Message and that he must declare unto them that in case of High Treason no Person hath a Priviledge And therefore he was come to know if any of these Persons accused were here for so long as those Persons accused for no slight crime but for Treason were there he could not expect that that House could be in the Right way which he heartily wishes and therefore he came to tell the House that he must have them wheresoever he can find them but since he sees the Birds are flown he doth expect from them that they should send them unto him as soon as they return thither But assures them in the word of a King he never did intend any force but shall proceed against them in a legal and fair way for he never meant any other which they might easily have done when they had his own Serjeant at Arms attending that Honse for no other than such like purposes The next day being the 5th day of January 1641. notwithstanding that Treason Felony and Breach of the Peace were always by the Laws of England and Customs of their Parliaments exempt and never accompted to be within the Circuit of any Parliament Priviledge for otherwise Parliaments and great Assemblies well Affected or ill Affected would be dangerous unto Kings they declare the Kings coming thither in Person to be an high breach of the Rights and Priviledge of Parliament and inconsistent with the Liberty and Freedom thereof and therefore adjourned their sitting to the Guildhall in London which they should not have done without the Kings Order that a special Committee of 24 should sit there also concerning the Irish Affairs of which number was Sir Ralph Hopton that after got out of their wicked errors and fought and won sundry glorious Battels for the King against those Parliament Rebels and some few more of that their Committee deserted their Party And the Writ sent by King Edward the first to the Justices of his Bench by Mr. Pulton stiled a Statute made in the 7th year of his Raign might have sufficiently informed them and all that were of the profession of the Law in the House of Commons in Parliament that in a Parliament at Westminster the Prelates Earls Barons and Commonalty of the Realm have said that to the King it belongeth and his part is through his Royal Seignory streightly to defend force of Arms and all other force against his Peace at all times which shall please him and to punish them which shall do contrary according to the Laws and Usages of the Realm and therefore they are bound to aid him as their Soveraign Lord at all times when need shall be and therefore commanded the Justices to cause those things to be read before them in the said Bench and there Inrolled The before confederated national Covenant betwixt England and Scotland being by Ordinance of Parliament for so they were pleased to call their no Laws confirmed under a penalty that no man should enjoy any Office or Place in the Commonwealth of Engl. and Ireland that did not Attest and Swear it which the King prohibiting by his Proclamation sent unto London the bringer whereof was hanged the King certainly informed of the traiterous practices and other misdeameanors of the Lord Kimbolton and his aforesaid Associates did as privately as possible with the Prince Elector Palatine his Nephew and no extraordinary attendance go in person to the House of Commons to seize them because his Serjeants at Arms durst not adventure to do it who having notice of it by the Countess of Carlisles over-hearing his whispering to the Queen and suddenly sending them notice thereof were sure to be absent wherein he being disappointed did afterwards by his Attorney General exhibit Articles of High Treason and other Misdemeanors against them 1. That they had traiterously endeavoured to subvert the Fundamental Laws and Government of the Kingdom and deprive the King of his Legal Power and place on Subjects an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Power which shortly after proved wofully true and for many years after so continued 2. That they have endeavoured by many foul aspersions upon his Majesty
the hands or clutches of their Wolves Foxes and Harpies Birds or Beasts of prey mean while the King labouring by many Princely Answers to their Messages Letters and Proclamations to keep them from the Witchcraft of Rebellion the more they galloped into it and nominate the Earl of Essex to be their General and a great contribution of Plate and Money as before hath been mentioned to bring the King home to his Parliament who might have been more ready than they had he not been encompassed without any cause or provocation with as many Treasons Plots Falsehoods and Treacheries as he had Hairs upon his Head and Beard with no small want of Money and Friends in the midst of his three once flourishing Kingdoms flaming and on fire about his Ears which could not otherwise have brought such an accumulation of evils upon him And being somewhat supplied by many of his Exchecquer Receivers who brought unto him Remainders of Moneys upon their Accompts John Pym excepted that was the Kings and his Fathers Receiver in Arrear about 22 years and could not be at leisure lest he should thereby hinder the managing of his Treason against the King and so would have made a trusty Chancellor of the Exchecquer for the King marched as well as he could toward his Loyal Subjects of Wales whither to hinder and distress him the Earl of Essex with his Army of Rebels way-laying him at Edge-hill in Warwickshire where Loyalty and Rebellion fighting a bloody Battel and Robert Earl of Lindsey the Kings General being hurt and carried away Prisoner to Warwick Castle shortly after died his Son the Lord Willoughby offering himself an Hostage being not according to the Laws of War accepted and the Rebels Cannons levelled against the brow of the Hill where the King and the Prince sat but being disappointed left the Field and retired to Warwick and the King keeping it all that night the next day marched to Banbury and took it from thence fixed himself at Oxford to which very many Parliament Men that were Loyal retired and kept a true Parliament howsoever the Rebels made shift to get by parcels to London where they Publish how near they were to gain the Victor◠of which they could have given a greater eertainty of the Lord Wharton had not hid himself in a Saw-pit and Stephen Marshal a Factious Minister had not mistaken himself when in his Parish Pulpit at Finching field in Essex he had related an impudent Lye in the hearing of one that had been in that Battel that he had pickt up Bullets in his Velvet Cap to help the Rebels Souldiers when a Souldier that heard him so preach could have proved that he at another time had confessed that he was so affrighted that he had run away four or five Miles from the place where the Battel had been before he knew where he was after which they were so unwilling to forsake their Treasonable hopes as they rallyed and ingaged all the Friends the Devil could help them unto insomuch as the War grew more and more fierce as at the Kings Besieging of Gloucester the effascinated Citizens of Londons Trained Bands came to raise the Siege a sharp Fight was at Newbury where they were beaten and Weemes a Scotish Cannoneer taken Prisoner whilst he was levelling at the Person of the King in a Bloody Fight at Copreby Bridge where the Rebels had the worst and yet Weemes was pardoned and left to do more mischief when all he could say was in Gude Faith his Heart was to the King And the King was from place to place so victorious as he drove the Parliament Rebels by the help of his Nephews Prince Rupert and Prince Maurice and the gallant Conduct of Sir Ralph Hopton and the Greenviles and the courage of the Cornish men for which they had the Kings thanks publickly read and Registred in the Churches the Earl of Essex and his Rebel Parliamentarians were so driven and penn'd up at Lestichiel in Cornwal as their whole Army Cannon and Amunition Bag and Baggage were seized and the Earl of Essex and some other Commanders enforced to shift and save themselves in a Cock-boat Sir William Balfour getting away with some of the Horse notwithstanding all which and that that over-tender hearted Prince had experimented more than once their Rebellion was inexorable and that neither his Protestation upon the Sacrament nor the word stamped upon his Coyn for Religion and the Priviledges of Parliament could make them forsake their Rebellious Principles could not forbear to bring them if possible out of that sin of Witchcraft but when he might with a victorious Army have beaten them at Bramford did by some that were hired to betray 〈◊〉 Councels for by that time they had as much lea 〈…〉 the Art of Bribery as they had the glosses of Rebellion rouse their obdurate and feared Souls with Messages for Peace and divers Royal Ministers and Citizens of London had petitioned them to make Peace with the King who sent the Earls of Southampton and Dorset unto their then called House of Peers who were answered and received uncivilly enough as to their own Persons and the King their Master that sent them Printed and Published intercepted Letters betwixt the King and the Queen and relying more upon their confederating Brethren of Scotland than upon their God and the King his Vicegerent in all hast sent to invite them to come unto their Aid which they did and before they went home had 300000 l. Sterling paid unto them for their Rebel Assistance which putting a stop to the Kings Victories especially in that unfortunate Battel at Naseby and afterwards at Marston Moore by a misintelligence at the later betwixt Prince Rupert and the Earl of Newcastle the King condescended to a Treaty by Commissioners at Uxbridge where no other reason could be accepted but as if the King had been a Subject and they his Soveraign they appeared willing to transfer unto their Scotish Brethren a great part if not all of the Kingdom of Ireland every attempt and self-defence of the King and his Loyal Party bringing no better comfort than dispair he gave license to his good Subjects to retire into the Parliament Quarters or unjust Dominion and compound for their supposed forfeitures which much encreased their Treasure and Power for fighting against the King when they fought for him against his Rebels as if the King and they had been but one Incorporation and themselves the head and the King could be a Rebel to himself and them at the same time and Wat Tyler or Jack Cade or the late Massinello had Authority to make themselves Soveraigns which they had not impudence enough to adventure for it must needs appear to all Mankind to be a Gipsy jugling trick or Proteisme never before heard of in any part of the World The Noble Earl of Scarsdale refusing to compound but retiring home did ever after cloath himself in Sackcloth and every day to his death make a
maintenance thereof against all designs and attempts of the Pope and his Adhaerents to subvert and suppress it whereby his Majesty will be much incouraged and enabled in a Parliamentory way for his aid and assistance in restoring his Royal Sister and her Princely Issue to those Dignities and Dominions which belong unto them and relieving the other distressed Protestant Princes who have suffered in the same cause 18. That his Majesty would be pleased by Act of Parliament to clear the Lord Kimbolton and the 5 Members of the House of Commons in such manner that future Parliaments may be secured from the consequence of that evil president 19 That his Majesty would be graciously pleased to pass a Bill for restraining Peers from sitting or voting in Parliament unless they be admitted thereunto with the consent of both Houses of Parliament which would have made him such a King as never was or can be found in any Christian or Heathen Kingdom or Nation and themselves such Subjects as until they could agree the matter amongst themselves or they should be couzened by some Republicans and those publick Plunderers by some Cromwel cheat those kind of extraordinary mad Men and Fools of both Sexes must have been all Kings Queens and Princes and that which they would have called their King to be but as a shadow or semblance or none at all which would have restrained the King from all power that other â—ings and Princes had to reward men of merit when as Joseph had the Honour done him by Pharaoh that they should make him ride them second Chariot and cry before him Bow the Knee and as Mordecai who had preserved King Ahashuerus Life was Arrayed with the Royal Apparel and rode upon the Horse on which the King used to ride with the Crown Royal on his Head and the Horse to be led by one oâ— his greatest Princes through the Street of the City who sh 〈…〉 Proclaim before him Thus shall it be done to the man whom the King delighteth to Honour All those or which their humble desires being granted by his Majesty they should faithfully apply themselves to regulate his present Revenue in such sort as may be for his best advantage and likewise to settle such an ordinary and constant increase of it as shall be sufficient to support his Royal Dignity in Honour and Plenty beyond the proportion of any former Grants of his Subjects of the Kingdom of his Majesties Royal Predecessors And what he owed to himself his Posterity People Prudence Honour and Dignity as to have granted what they desired they would too easily have obtained their advantages of bereaving him of his Monarchy by such their Propositions not fit to be advised and Petitions neither to be made or granted more than Pepin the Mayor of the Palace at Paris ever had when he perswaded the last King of the Merovignian Line to indulge his ease leave all his Affairs of State to his care manage which brought that Prince within a short time after to be shaved and put into a Monastery and the great Charles or Charlemain Son of Pepin established King of France or the like opportunities which Hugh Capet the Ancestor of the now King of France had by his getting the Rule and Reins of the Government into his own hands which did the like to the Family of that Great Charles and placed himself and his ever since flourishing Lineage in that Throne And would make him as small a King as Arise Evans a Fanatick Taylor in Black Fryers in London had proposed when Sir James Harrington had modelled his Government of Oceana Mr. Henry Nevil his Plato Redivivus and Mr. Charles George Cock his Houshold of God upon Earth and every one would be busy as he could in shooting of his bolt That a King should be Elected out of the Poorest sort of Men and have an 100 l. per Annum for his care and pains to be taken in the Government which would have been much better than the aforesaid 19 careful manackling Propositions when the Parliament must have been the King and the King only executive and as the Subject and the Parliament from time to time impowered to make Laws contrary to those which he and his predecessors had made and governed by and when they please is to execute quite contrary and procure a pardon when he can of God Almighty for it And having by the help of their Seditions and Rebellion gained as they hoped a new Magna Charta for themselves as representatives for the people their next care and industry were employed not only to guard and keep what they had thought themselves possessed of but to add as many more advantages unto them as the pressures and necessities of their King might join unto them and therefore when the Noble General Monke after Duke of Albemarle had by Gods mercy to King Charles the 2d under the mask of a Commonwealth by his wary conduct in almost a miraculous manner reduced the King to his Kingdoms Dominions and Monarchick Rights without as the Parliament Rebels would have perswaded him the taking of the Rebellious Covenant or the abstracting of any of his Regal Rights they did so contrive their matters as in an Act of general pardon larger than ever was granted by any of our Kings of England with some small exceptions prepared by two Serjeants at Law that had Sailed along with the Wind and Tide of that long lasting Rebellion they had bestowed upon it an especial praeamble That whereas divers Rebellions and Insurrections had been by vertue of divers Commissions of the King and of the Parliament as if any could be guilty of High Treason or other Misdemeanors or could forfeit that acted by the Kings Authority the King had pardoned all Treasons Felonies c. And as if they had nothing more to incroach upon the Monarchy did take it to be a breach of they knew not what Priviledge for their murdered King to send for a Printing-press from London to York or Oxford and the Members of the House of Commons in Parliament after that huge pardon granted by King Charles the 2d of the forfeiture of all the Lands in England which were in the Rebels possessions with all their rich Goods and Chattels together with another Act to unbastardize their Children and unadulterate their Fathers and Mothers fastened and entailed upon them by a new Fanatical way of Marriage before Justices of Peace as if they were only to part a fray or keep them from fighting for which they seemed not to be at any rest or quiet with themselves until every County City Burrough Market Town and Corporation or Company of Trade had attended his Majesty with Addresses of huge protestations of Loyalty and Obedience and the expence of their Blood Lives and Fortunes and all that could be dear unto them yet too many of them could after make their counterfeit Loyalty with promises to live and dye with him to
eventibus Anglia a Men. Knight l. 2. inter histor antiq scriptur Anglic. 245 246. b l. 2. ff de except c l. 1. labeo scribit ff de fluminibus l. Tiriae text ' pr'ff de legat ' Bart ' in lib. 1. ff de except ' l. de aetat ' nihil interest ff de interrog ' d Pat. 48. 〈◊〉 3. m. 4. dorso e Pryn's 2 tome of the History of King John and Henry 3. f Pat. 48 H. 3. m. 13. juxtus g Daniels hist. in the life of K. Henry III. h Charles l'Oyseau des ordres Romains c. 2. 24 i Daniel 179. k Daniel 180. l Walsingham ypodigma Neustriae 469 470. m Sir Richard Baker's Chronicle n Mar. Paris 996. o Ro. Paten 48 H. 3. m. 22. p Ro. claus 48 H. 3 in 4 in Dorso q Ro. claus 48. H. 3. in 4 Dorso 48 H. 3. m. 3. s Ro. Pat. 48 H. 3. m. 2. dorso t Ro. claus 49. H. 3. m. 12. dorso u Ro. claus 49. H. 3. m. 12. in dorso w Elsings Antient and Present manner of holding Parliaments in England 7 and 9. Ro. claus 49. H. 3. in dors in Schedul x Mat. Paris 995. 996. and 255. Dugdales Origenes juridiciales tit Parliament 1â— y Ro. Pat. 49 H. 3. m. 26. z Ro. Claus. 49 H 3. m. 11. dorso a Pryn's Brev. Parliamentaria Rediviva 242. b Ro. claus 49 H. 3. m. 10. Dorso c Speeds Hist. of Engl. in the life of H. 3. 638 d Ro Claus. 49 H 3. m. 10. dorso e Ro claus 49 H. 3. m. 10. dorso s Anno 49 H. 3. m. 23. Ro. claus g Ro. claus 49. H. 3. m. 9. h Ro. claus 49. H. 3. m. 9. i Ro. claus 49 H. 3. m. 8. k Ro. clans 49 H. 3. m. 7. l Ro. claus 49. H. 3. m. 8. m Ro. claus 49 H. 3. m. 5. n Ro. claus 49 H. 3. m. 6. o Ro. Claus. 49 H 3. m. 5. p Ro. Pat. 49 Hi 3. m. 4. q Ro. Pat. H. 〈◊〉 49. m. 4. r Ro. Pat. 49 H. 3. m. 4. s t Ro. claus 49 H. 3. u Ro. Pat. 49 H. 3. m. 4. w Ro. claus â—0 H. 3. m. 〈◊〉 x Ro. claus 49. H. 3. m. 3. x Dugdales Baronage in Tit. Petri de Montfort 407 408. 409. Clifford 337. y Mat Westminster 1263 z Dugdale's Baronage tit Mortimer 142. Monastic Anglic vol. 2. 223. an 40. 50. 60. 223. b. m. S. Oxon ' in bibl Bod. med 20. 120. b. a Ibidem 223. n. 10. b Hen. Knighton de Evenâ—ibâ—s Angliae c Ro. claus 4â— H. 3. in dorso d Du 〈…〉 es Baronage Tit. Simon de Montfort Earl of Leicester 757. â— Mat We 〈…〉 f Mat. Pariâ— f g Ro. claus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in dorso Ro. Pa◠〈 ◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 h Mâ—t. Paris 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—â—â—0 i Mat. Paris k Ro. Pat. 49 H. 3. l Daniel in the life of Hen. 3. 182 and 183 184. m 〈◊〉 Paris 10. 2. n Danoel's History in the life of King H. 3 and Matthew Paris 1002. 1003. o Dictum de Kinilworth anno 51. H. 3. r Mat. Paris 1003 1004. s Mat. Paris 1005. r Mat. Paris 1005 1006. s Ro. Pat. 56 H. 〈◊〉 m. 29. intus t Mat. Paris 1009 1009. and peed's Hist. of England u Ro. Paâ— 55 H. 3. intus w Ro. claus 5â— H. 3. m. 8. intus x Mat Westminster de anno 〈◊〉 1270. 26 H. 8. 26. 34 H. 8. ca. 13 35 H. 8. 11. â—7 H. 〈◊〉 26. 〈◊〉 H. 〈◊〉 11. â—4 H. 8. 1â— 25. Car. 2. y Sam Daniel in the Life and Reign of King Henry 3d. 180. 181. z Spelman's diatriba de Baronibus a Placita apud Northamptou coram Galfrido le Scroope sociis juis Justie itener ' An. 3. E. 3. b a Sir John Ferne's Glory of Generosity c Littleton's Tenuries Cokes 1. Instit. super Littleton d Barn Brisson in Basilic Lib. 6. Tit. 23. e 21. E. 3. 2â— 45. E. 3. 21. f Dugdales Baronage Tit. 〈◊〉 and Petri 〈◊〉 Montfort Hen. 〈◊〉 Daniel in Life of h Cokes 1 Institutes Tit. escuage i Ro. pat claus 48 40. H. 3. k Exact Collection of all Remonstrances Petitions Messages Declarations Answers betwixt the King and Parliament from the 1st of Decemb. 1642. until 24 March 1652. Ordered by the Commons Assembled in Parliament to be printed l 〈◊〉 L Edwardi Confessor 〈◊〉 m Sir 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chronicle n Ro. claus 48 H. 3. Parte uniâ—a m. 6. in dors Schedulâ— o Dugdaâ—eâ— preface in his Survey of Warwick shire Liber censualis vocat Dooms-day Lib. rub in Sâ—â—c p Dugdale ' s Minas tum Anglicanum 12. 3. Tom. q York and Vincent Catalogue of Nobility r Job ca. 29. s Sir Edward Cokes 1 part Institutes tit Escuage 51â— Et Ordericus Vitalis t Dugdale ' s Baronage 1 Tom. 257. u Dugdale ' s Baronage 1 Tom. 83. w Idem 207. 213 214. Claus 2 part 48 H. 3. m. 10. x Dugdale ' s Baronage 1 Tom. 188. y Spelman ' s Glossard in libro rubro de Scac. z Dugdale ' s Baronage 1 Tom. 407. 408. 409. a Dugdale's Baronage 1 Tom. 671. and 672. b idem ibidem 389. 〈◊〉 â—9â— and â—â—7 c ibid. 180. and 181. d ibid 89. and 90. e ibid. 599. Dugdale's Baronage Tom 1. 269. f ibid 59â— g ibid. 561. h ibid 57â— i ibid. 575. k ibid 545. l ibid. 435. and 436. m ibid. 626. n ibid. 544. o ibid. 2â—7 p ibid 315. q ibid 347. r Dugdale's Baronage 1 Tom. tit Warwick 72. s Dugdale's Baronage 1 Tom 44. t Dugdale's Baronage 1 Tom 32 and 34. u Dugdale's Baronage 1 Tom. 24. 72. w Seldens Titles of honour x Daniel Hist. in the Life of King R 1. y Dugdales Baronage 1 Tom. 74. z ibid. 139. 142. a Heary 〈◊〉 Knighton 〈◊〉 eventibus Angliae Lib. 〈◊〉 p. 23â—â— and 25â—4 b Dugdale's Baronage 1 Tom. 45. 50 and 51. c Ibid. p 269 272. d Ibid. 262. 76â— e Ibid. 111. f Ibid. 225. and 999. g Ibid. 451 and 452. h Dugdale ' s Baronage Tom. 1. 340. i Dugdale ' s Baronage 26. 1 Tom. k Dugdale's Baronage 60. and 64. 68. 1 Tom. l Ibid. 156. m Ibid. 174. n Ibid. 254. o Ibid. 260. p Ibid. 46. q Weavers Funeral Mon. 456. ex veteri M. S. r Ro. Pat. 45. H. 3. M. 3. and 8. s Prophet Daniel 4. ver 11. and 1â— t 13. E. 1. u Daniel 200. Sir Richard Bakers Chronicle 211. w Mathew Westminster Ro. Claus. 1. E. 1. M. 1. x Sir Francis Bacon's History of King H. 7. 211. y Coke 1. Institut Lib. 2. Cap. 3. Tit. Escuage Mat. Paris z Dugdale's Origenes juridiciales 13. cap. 4 and 5. Pryn's Animadversions upon Sir Edward Cokes 4. part of the Institutes a Elsing's ancient and present manner of holding Parliaments of England b Sir Richard Bakers Chronicle 96. Sam. Daniel Hist.
delivered to the said Archbishop Bishops and Monks of Canterbury 8000 l. Sterling in part of Restitution of what had been taken from them and pay their Debts and Charges in returning to England that is unto Stephen Archbishop of Canterbury 2500 l. William Bishop of London 750 l. Eustace Bishop of Ely as much Iosceline Bishop of Bath and Hubert Bishop of Lincoln the like several Sums of Money and to the Prior and Monks of Canterbury 1000 l. That as soon as the Peace should be allowed and accepted by them he should restore unto them all the Moveables which he had taken from them publickly revoke the Interdict or Outlamry so called made and pronounced against Ecclesiastical Persons and protest that it did not at all belong unto him so to do And that therefore he should not do it but revoke the Outlawing of any of the Laity that had taken their part and remit all that he had received from any Ecclesiastical man praeter Regni consuetudinem Ecclesiae libertatem and that if any questions should arise concerning the Damages done it should be determined upon proofs by the Legate or Delegate of the Pope All which being done the Popes Sentence and Interdict should be taken off and discharged And if any doubts should arise touching any other parts of the Articles of Agreement and any which were material or substential should happen that could not be determined by the Legate or Delegates of the Pope by the Peoples consent they should be referred to the Popes Arbitration and that whatsoever he should Decree might be observed Dated 13 die Maii apud Doveram Rebus sic expeditis and the matter so ended and agreed upon convenerunt iterum Rex Anglorum Pandulphus cum ' proceribus Regni apud domum militum Templi juxta Doveram decimo quinto dâ—e Maii in vigilia Dominica Ascensionis ubi idem Rex juxta quod Romae fuerat sententiarum resignavit Coronam suam cum Regiis Angliae Hiberniae in manu Domini Papae cujus vices tum gerebat Pandulphus memortus factâ autem resignatione dedit Papae et ejus Successoribus Regna praedicta quae Charta confirmavit in these words viz. Johannes Dei gratiâ Rex Angliae c. omnibus Christi fidelibus hanc Chartam inspecturis salutem in Domino Universitate vestrae per hanc Chartam sigillo nostro munitam volumus esse notum quòd cùm Deum Matrem nostram sanctam Ecclesiam offenderimus in multis perindè divinâ misericordiâ plurimùm indigeamus nec quid dignè offerre possimus pro satisfactione Deo Ecclesiae debita facienda nisi nosmet ipsos humiliemus Regna nostra volentes nos ipsos humiliare pro illo qui se pro nobis humiliavit usque ad mortem gratiâ sancti spiritûs inspirante non vi interdicti nec timore coacti sed nostrâ bonâ spontaneâque voluntate ac communi consilio Baronum nostrorum conferimus liberè concedimus Deo sanctis Apostolis ejus Petro Paulo sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Matronae nostrae ac Domino Papae Innocentio ejusque Catholicis successoribus totum Regnum Angliae totum Regnum Hiberniae cum omni jure pertinentiis suis pro remissione omnium peccatorum nostrorum totius generis nostri tà m pro vivis quà m pro defunctis amodò illa ab eo Ecclesia Romana tanquam secundarius recipientes tenentes in praesentiâ prudentis viri Pandulphi Domini Papae Subdiaconi familiaris Exindè praedicto Domino Papae Innocentio ejusque Catholicis Successoribus Ecclesiae Romanae secundum subscriptam formam fecimus juravimus homagium ligium in praesentiâ Pandulphi Si coram Domino Papa esse poterimus eidem faciemus Successores nostros Haeredes de Uxore nostrâ in perpetuum obligantes ut simili modo summo Pontifici qui pro tempore fuerit Ecclesiae Romanae sine contradictione debeant sidelitatem praestare homagium recognoscere Ad indicium autem hujus nostrae perpetuae obligationis concessionis volumus stabilimus ut de propriis specialibus redditibus nostris praedictorum Regnorum pro omni servito consuetudine quae pro ipsis facere debemus salvis por omnia denariis beati Petri Ecclesia Romana mille marcas Esterlingorum percipiat annuatim in Festo scilicet Sancti Michaelis quingentas marcas in Pascha quingentas septingentas scilicet pro Regno Angliae trecentas pro Regno Hiberniae Salvis Nobis Heredibus Nostris Iustitiis Libertatibus Regalibus Nostris Que omnia sicut superscripta sunt rata esse volentes atque firma obligamus Nos Successores Nostros câ—ntra non venire st Nos vel aliquis successorum Nastrorum contra hec attentare presumpserit quicunque ille fuerit nisi rite commoâ—itus resipuerit cadat à jure Regni Et hee charta obligationis concessionis Nostre Teste meipso apud domum militum Templi juxta Doveram coram H. Dublinensi Archiepiscopo Johanni Norwicensi Episcopo Galfrido filto Petri W. Comite Sarisberiae Willielmo Comite Penbroke R. Comite Bononiae W. Comite Warenne S. Comite Winton W. Comite Arundel W. Comite de Ferrariis W. Briwere Petro filio Hereberti Warino filio Geroldi 15 o die Maii anno Regni Nostri quarto decimo Charta itaque Regis in scriptum ut dictum est redacta tradidit eam Rex Pandulpho Romam Papae Innocentio deferendam continuò cunctis videntibus homagium fecit subscriptum Ego Johannes Dei gratia Rex Angliae Dominus Hiberniae ab hac hora in anteà fidelis ero Deo beato Petro Ecclesiae Romanae Domino meo Papae Domino Innocentio ejusque successoribus Catholicè intrantibus non ero in facto in dicto consensu vel consilio ut vitam perdant vel membra vel mala captione capiantur eorum damnum si sic vero impediam remanere faciam si potero alioquin eis quam citus potero intimabo vel tali personae dicam quam eis credam pro certo dicturam Consilium quod mihi crediderint per se vel per nuntios suos seu literas suas secretum tenebo ad eorum damnum nulli pandam me sciente Patrimonium beati Petri specialiter Regnum Angliae Regnum Hiberniae adjutor ero ad tenendum defendendum contrà omnes homines pro posse meo Sic meo adjuvet Deus haec sancta Evangelia Amen Acta autem sunt haec ut praedictum est in vigilia Dominicae Ascencionis praesentibus Episcopis Comitibus Magnatibus supradictis Pandulphus autem pecuniam quam in Arrham subjectionis Rex contulerat sub pede sua conculcavit Archiepiscopo dolente reclamantis After which the Nobility refuse to aid the King in his wars to assist the Earl of Flanders against the King
in curia sua per Pares eorum secundum Regni consuetudinem atque Leges mota deberet discordia Barones ipsi sua non expectata responsa should not presume contra Dominum suum arma movere temeritate nefaria seeing the King had taken upon him the Cross for the recovery of the Holy-Land so as it might seem quod conspirationem inhierint detestandam ut eum taliter de Regno possint ejicere violare their homage and fidelity sworn to the King quod quà m crudele sit actu horrendum auditu cum pernitiosi materia sit causa suis temporibus in audita manifestè cognoscit quicunque judicis utitur ratione and therefore as he ought to make peace for the King of England who was his Vassal and specially needed his protection commanded the Bishops and their Suffragans that unless the said Barons and their Adherents should within eight days after the receipt of his Bull or Letters omni cavillatione postposità surcease their doings they should excommunicate them omni appellatione remota interdict their Lands Churches and Estates and every Sunday publish and declare it nè igitur propter quosdam perversos universitatis sinceritas corrumpatur commanded and exhorted them in remissionem peccatorum injungentes quatenus praefato Regi adversus perversores hujusmodi they should give all fitting aid and favour scientes pro certo quòd si Rex ipse remissus esset aut tepidus in ea parte nos i. e. Papa Regnum Angliae non pateremur in tantam ignominiam deduci cùm sciamus per Dei gratiam possumus talem insolentiam castigare But the Quarrels going on more and more the King sent his Procurator or Agent to Rome and the discontented Barons theirs who did urge saith John Mauclerc the King 's trusty Agent in a Letter written from thence unto him that the Magnates Angliae scilicet Boreales ut praedicti Nuntii dicunt Papae omnes Barones Angliae instantèr supplicant quòd cùm ipse sit Dominus Angliae he should diligently admonish and if need should be compel him to observe the ancient Liberties grantted by Him and his Ancestors Charters and confirmed by his Oath and did likewise alledge quòd cùm ille à praedictis Baronibus inde requisitus fuisset in Epiphaniâ Domino apud London spreto proprio juramento non tantum libertates suas antiquas consuetas eis concedere contemptuously refused unless they would promise etiam per Chartas suas darent quod nunquam de caetero tales libertates from Him vel Successoribus suis exigerent quòd omnes Barones praeter Dominum Winthon Comitem Cestriae Willielmum Brewere hoc facere renuerent Supplicaverunt autem Domino Papae quòd ipse super his eis provideret cùm satis constet ei quòd ipsi audactèr pro libertate Ecclesiae ad mandatum suum would oppose the King quod he had granted an annum redditum Domino Papae Ecclesiae Romanae and exhibited and done alios honores ei Romanae Ecclesiae non sponte nec ex Devotione imò ex timore coactione who thus perplexed assayed all he could to pacifie Pope Innocent by his Letter written unto him complaining that the Barons of England who were devoted unto him before he had surrendred and subjected his Realm unto him had since for that very reason as they publickly alledged when it mentioned it to have been done Consilio Baronum suorum and many of the principal of them had been witnesses to that dishonourable Grant taken Arms against him as he expressed it in these words cum Comites Barones Angliae nobis devoti essent antequam nos nostram terram Dominio vestro subjicere curassemus extunc in nos specialiter ab hoc sicut publice dicunt violenter insurgent earnestly desired his protection aid and assistance and sent his Agents unto him to confirm his Charters granted to Queen Berengaria Widow of King Richard I. not to deliver or grant any new Charter of the Kingdom of England wherein Samuel Daniel may be understood to have been mistaken for Mr. Pryn in his late Historical Collections of that King's Reign and Matthew Paris do give no such account of it whereupon Nicholas Bishop of Tusculan being sent into England congregavit consilium in urbe Londinensi apud Sanctum Paulum ubi congregatis Archiepiscopis Episcopis Abbatibus Prioribus Comitibus Baronibus aliis ad interdicti negotium spectantibus Forty Thousand Marks were agreed to be paid to the Archbishops and Monks of Canterbury and the rest of the exiled Clergy and the Bishops of Winchester and Norwich Sureties for Thirteen Thousand Marks of it remaining unpaid The King being absolved the Interdict which had continued six years three months and fourteen days to the great damage and loss of the Church and Clergy was discharged and taken off The Barons notwithstanding that Clergy-pacification assembled themselves at St. Edmundsbury where they consulted of the late produced Charter of King Henry I. and swore upon the High-Altar That if the King refused to confirm and restore unto them their Liberties they would make war upon him until he had satisfied them therein agreed that after Christmas they would petition him for the same and in the mean time would provide themselves of Horse and Arms to be ready if he should start from his Oath made at his Absolution for the confirmation of those Liberties and compel him to satisfiee their demands After which time they came in a Military manner to the King lying at the New-Temple urgeing their desires with great vehemency who seeing their inclinations and resolution answered he would take consideration thereof until Easter following Howsoever these Lords continued their resolution mustered their Forces at Stamford wherein were said to have been 2000 Knights besides Esquires with those that served on foot and from thence marched towards Oxford From whence the King sending unto them the Archbishop of Canterbury William Marescal Earl of Pembroke to demand of them What were those Laws and Liberties which they required whereof a Schedule being shewed and by the Commissioners delivered to the King he after the reading thereof in great indignation asked Why the Barons likewise did not demand the Kingdom and swore that he never would grant those Liberties whereby to make himself a Servant Upon which answer returned those Barons seizing some of his Castles march'd towards Northampton which they besieged constituted Robert Fitz-Walter their General whom they stiled Marshal of the Army of God and Holy Church took the Castle of Bedford whither the Londoners sent their private Messengers with offers to joyn with them and deliver up the City to be guarded by them unto which they repairing were joyfully received and had it delivered unto them ubi Baronibus favebans divites pauperis obloqui saith Matthew Paris metuebant from whence daily encreasing in
the number of their Confederates à Civibus accepta securitate they sent their Lettess to all the Earls Barons and Knights which yet adhered to the King exhorting and threatning them as they loved Themselves their Lives and Estates they should forsake a perjured King and joyn with them to obtain their Liberties otherwise they would take them for publick Enemies turn their Arms against them destroy their Castles burn their Houses and spoil their Lands and Estates The greatest part whereof upon those threatnings did so think it to be their safer way to forsake Him and their Loyalty as they joyned with them The King finding himself fere derelictum ab omnibus and but seven Knights ex omni multitudine Regia abiding by him timuit valdè lest the Barons in castra sua impetum facientes illa sine difficultate sibi subjugarent especially when they should find nothing to hinder them sent William Marescal Earl of Pembroke and others to treat with them being then at London for a Peace with an offer to grant the Laws and Liberties demanded and thereupon statuerunt Regi diem ad colloquium in pratum inter Stains Windleshores 15o. die Junii where Rex Magnates being met and treating concerning the Liberties and a lasting Peace there being with the King besides Pandulphus and Stephen Archbishop of Canterbury his double-dealing Friends and some few others in all but Twenty-five tandem cum in varia sorte tractassent the King vires suas Baronum viribus impares intelligens sine difficultate Leges Libertates coneessit Charta sua confirmavit data per manum suam in prato quod vocatur Running-Mead inter Stains Windleshores decimo quinto die Junii anno Regni sui decimo septimo Which as Matthew Paris a Monk of St. Albans living not only at the same time but being Historiographer unto King Henry III. his Son privy to many of his affairs and wrote in the 57th year of his Reign hath faithfully related those passages and proceedings was as to the preamble thereof the exact and full tenor thereof being with it truly mentioned in his Book in these words Intuitu Dei pro salute animae meae Antecessorum omnium Haeredum suorum ad honorem Dei exaltationem sanctae Ecclesiae emendationem Regni sui per concilium Stephani Archiepiscopi Cantuarensis who prepared them and had incited the Pope and Barons against him aliorum Episcoporum ibi nominat Pandulphi Domini Papae Subdiaconi familiaris Willielmi Marescali Comitis Pembrochiae Willielmi Comitis Sarisberiensis Willielmi Comitis Warrenniae c. aliorum fidelium mera spontanea voluntate pro Me Haeredibus meis Deo liberis hominibus Angliae habendas tenendas eis Haeredibus suis de Me Haeredibus meis which our Laws no other tenure being specified will interpret to be in capite And more at length as Matthew Paris hath recorded it with a salvis Archiepiscopis Episcopis Abbatibus Prioribus Templariis Hospitalariis Comitibus Baronibus Militibus omnibus aliis tà m Ecclesiasticis personis quà m Secularibus Libertatibus Liberis consuetudinibus quas prius habuerant which gave them a better security in their former Liberties than they could claim by the forced and indirect gaining of the latter and concluding in the perclose with his Testibus c. hath these words subjoyned Libertates vero de Foresta liberae consuetudines quas cum libertatibus praescriptis in una schedula pro sua capacitate continere nequiverimus in Charta subscripta continentur saith Matthew Paris In which not in the modern Language and stile of our Acts of Parliament but as Charters in the dictates of Regal Authority as that of William the Conquerour to the Citizens of London and that of dividing the Temporal and Spiritual Jurisdictions and those of King Henry I. King Stephen and Henry II. and all the Charters of Liberties and Priviledges granted by our Kings before and since to Cities Boroughs Corporations and Lords of Manors as the Charter of King Edward I. to the Citizens of London in the 6th year of his Reign and of King Edward III. in the 14th year of his Reign to all the people of England to be governed by the English Laws in case he should obtain his Right to the Kingdom of France and all our preceding Laws have used to be He granted away many of the ancient Rights of the Crown made and ordained new Laws as that amongst others of Communia placita nan sequantur Curiam nostram sed teneantur in certo loco and that of recovering the King's Debts c. Enlarged some abrogated others and gave unto the people greater Liberties and Immunities then the Laws of King Edward the Confessor and the Charter of King Henry I. put altogether had allowed them the Original whereof or the Magna Charta of King Henry III. remaining in the Library of the Archbishops of Canterbury at Lambeth at the time of the Imprisonment of that martyred great Anti-Papist William Laud Archbishop of that See and the ransacking of it preceding his Murder in the Reign of that Blessed Martyr King CHARLES I. by Hugh Peters Mr. Pryn and some others thereunto appointed by their Rebellious Masters the then miscalled Parliament was never after found and by it self in a distinct paragraph did follow as it were a Bond or Security given by King John in these words Cùm autem pro Deo ademendationem Regni nostri ad melius sapiendam discordiam inter nos Barones haec omnia concessimus volentes in integra firma stabilitate gauderi facimus concedimus securieatem subscriptam viz. That the Barons should elect Twenty-five Barons of the Realm who should be Conservators thereof pro totis viribur suis observare tenere facere observari pacem libertates quas eis concessimus and correct the King's defaults in Government Of which number Gilbert de Clare Earl of Gloucester and Hertford was one with a power that if the King or his Chief-Justiciar should trangress in any Articles of the Laws it should be lawful for any Four of them after Forty days notice given to Him or his Chief-Justiciar and no amendment to complain to the rest and joyning with Them and the People to distrain and compel him with a salvâ Personâ Regis only Reginae liberorum suorum Et isti 25o. Barones juraverunt in animabus suis Rege hoc disponente quod omni instantia his obsequerentur Regem cogerent si fortè rescipisci vellet tenere sequentes and the Earls of Gloucester Arundel and Warren with Thirty-four other Barons and great men juraverunt to obey the commands of the Twenty-five Barons and all that would might swear to assist them and the people cùm communia totius terrae might gravare eum cum eis and to that end those Conservators should have
themselves to the service of their Countrey-men But he was not yet so forsaken for that he had power enough to infest though not to subdue his enemies and some faith was found amongst many of his Subjects that well executed their trusts Dover Castle with a small company held out against all the Force which Lewis could bring against it Windsor Castle did the like against the Barons Nottingham and Lincoln Castles made resolute resistance The most fertil places of the Kingdom as about Gloucester the Marches of Wales Lincolnshire Cambridgeshire Norfolk Suffolk Essex Kent and all about London were the stages of the War and the Ruins of the Kingdom were every where heard and felt which continuing all that Summer about the latter-end of October then next following that distressed King oppressed with as many sorrows as enemies and a grief conceived for the loss of his Carriages and other necessaries of War sunk in the Sands passing the Washes betwixt Lyn and Boston fell sick of a burning Feaver taken as some writers have recorded it by a surfeit of eating Peaches and drinking new Ale out of a Cup with the Venom prick'd out of a Toad put into it given him by a Monk at Swinsted Abbey in Lincolnshire who after leave given by the Abbot and assoiled or absolved from the doing thereof was content to poyson himself as he did and bringing the Cup unto the King sitting at meat said Wassail for never in all your lyfe drancke yee of so goode a Cuppe To whom the King said drincke Monch which he doing and the King having drunk a great draught did set down the Cup. The Monk retired into the Infirmatory where his Bowels brake assunder The King finding himself ill at ease and his Belly beginning to swell and being told that the Monk was dead commanded the Table to be taken away and a Truss to be provided for him of which vulgata fama Ranulphus Cestrensis Henry de Knighton the Book of St. Albans printed by Caxton in the year 1502. in his Chronicle and Mr. William Pryn in his late History of the Pope's Usurpations in England in the Reign of King John have given a probable account though many of the Monks and the then Romish Clergy fatned and grown great by the Pope's and their extravagant and never-to-be-proved Authority over Kings and Kingdoms were so unwilling to acknowledge it as they did all they could to stifle and over-cast with Lies the Truth of it Whence in great weakness he who was so little enclined to Paganism or the Religion of Miramolin King of Africk Morocco and Spain or guilty of sending Embassadors unto him after or before the surrender of his Kingdoms to the Pope with an offer to be his Tributary and of his Religion of which saith Mr. Pryn upon a most diligent search no vestigia or manner of evidence is to be found amongst the Records of this Kingdom it being a meer scandal and slanderous invective forged against him to make him odious was conveyed to Newark where after he had received the Eucharist and taken order for the succession of his Son Henry he departed this life and was buried at Worcester and such a care was taken by the Abbot of Swinsted for the safety of the poysoning Monk's Soul as five Monks until the dissolution of that Abbey which was 300 years after were from time to time stipended to sing a Requiem for it SECT IV. The many Affronts Insolencies and ill usages suffered by King Henry III. until the granting of his Magna Charta and Charta de Forestae WHich tragical end of King John although it much altered the state of the Kingdom yet not as to the miseries and troubles thereof for King Henry his Son being solemnly crowned as a King by Succession and not Election was committed to the care and tutelage of Marescal Earl of Pembroke as Good and Wise as he was Great a main Pillar of the Father and a Preserver of the Crown to his Son who with Guallo the Pope's Legate the Bishops of Winchester Bath and Worcester did work all means to bring the Barons to an accord excommunicated Lewis and his adhaerents and caused great satisfaction in the minds of some who before were disgusted with the insolency of the French and the more upon the confession of one of the Nobility of France who upon his death-bed touch'd with compunction revealed the intention of Lewis to enslave or extinguish the English Nation whom he thought not fit to be trusted in regard that they had forsaken their Sovereign Lord which wrought so great an aversion in the English as they who before were afraid for the shame of inconstancy and the danger of their Sons and Pledges carried into France and there remaining did now resolve to relinquish their Homage and sworn Fidelity and forsake him and made as much hast to send him out of England as they did to call him into it So as after a years trouble with his Wars and Depraedations and all the help the City of London could give him he was enforced to come to an accord quit the Kingdom take 15000 Marks for the charges of his Voyage abjure his claim to the Kingdom promise by Oath to procure as far as in him lay his Father to restore all such Provinces in France as appertained to the Crown of England and when he came to be King to resign them in a peaceable manner King Henry taking an Oath and for him the Legate and Protector to restore to the Barons and other his Subjects all their Rights and Heritages with their Liberties for which the Discords began between the late King and his People whereupon a general Pardon was granted and all Prisoners freed on both sides Lewis after so long abode with his Army in England being honourably attended to Dover departed the Kingdom and about Michaelmas after upon the death of his Father was received and crowned King of France and Guallo the Legate well paid for his Negotiation returning to Rome carried with him 12000 Marks a great sum of money in those times And no sooner had that provident Protector of the Kingdom the Earl of Pembroke quieted the many troubles of the Nation but as much wanted as greatly lamented by the People he dyed The Bishop of Winchester with many other great Councellors being made Protectors of the young King and his Kingdoms but the King of France being after requested to make restitution of what he had usurped answered That what he had gotten by the forfeiture of King John upon an accusation of murdering his Nephew Arthur right Heir to the Crown of England he would hold Howsoever Peace being made with Scotland to whose King the King's Sister being married Wales revolted and an Insurrection being made in Ireland did put the King to much trouble and charge who being come to some years of understanding was in a Parliament holden at London put in mind by the Archbishop of
Non-age when he had no power of Himself or his Seal and therefore of no validity caused a Proclamation to be made that both the Clergy and Laity that would enjoy their Liberties should renew their Charters and have them confirmed under his new Seal paying for them according to the will of Hubert de Burgh his Chief-Justiciar upon whom was laid the blame of that matter and shortly after the King and his Brother Richard Earl of Cornwal being at discord about the Castle of Barkhamstead which the Earl claimed to belong to his Earldom and the Earl being threatned to be arrested fled to Marlborough where the discontented Lords joyning unto him did cause an Insurrection and required restitution to be made without delay of the Liberties of the Forests cancelled at Oxford otherwise he should be thereunto constrained by the Sword In anno 12o. of his Reign a Parliament was assembled at Northampton where an agreement was made and the Lands of the Earls of Britain and Bologne restored unto them In the 16th year of his Reign although he put out Hubert de Burgh Chief-Justice of England in which Office much of the business of the Lord Treasurer were in those times concentered and severely called him to an account for Debts due to him and his Father Rents and Profits of all his demesne Lands since the death of William Marescal Earl of Pembroke in England Wales Ireland and Poicteau of the Liberties of Forests Warrens County-Courts and other places qualitèr custodiae sint vel alienatae de priis factis pro jure suo relaxando tam in terris quà m in Nobilibus of wasts made sine commodo ipsius Regis tam per guerram quam alio modo of Liberties given unto him Bishopricks and Custodies without Warrant quae pertinent ad Dominum Regem of wrongs and damages done to the Pope's Legates and Clarks contra voluntatem Domini Regis per auctoritatem ipsius Huberti tunc Iusticiarii qui nullum concilium voluit apponere ut illa corrigerentur quod facere tenebatur ratione officii sui de pace Regis qualiter sit custodita as well concerning homines terrae suae Angliae Hyberniae Gasconiae Pictaviae quà m alios extraneos de scutagiis carucagiis donis xeniis sive custodiarum exitibus spectantibus ad Coronam de maritagiis which he had by grant of King John the day that he dyed de aliis maritagis sibi traditis tempore suo de ipsis quae ipse Rex amisit per negligentiam ipsius Huberti And so fiercely prosecuted him as he caused him by force to be dragged from the Altar in the Sanctuary Imprisoned and as Sir Henry Spelman saith did afterwards charge Stephen Segrave with many of the like and displaced him Yet the Lords threatned not to come to his Councel unless he would reform his errors And in the 17th year of his Reign a Parliament was summon'd at Oxford whither they likewise refused to come because they were despised by Strangers whereupon it was decreed that they should be a second or third time summon'd to try if they would come After which those refractory Lords were summoned to come to a Parliament at Westminster whither they denyed also to come unless he would remove the Bishop of Winchester and the Poictovins from his Court otherwise by the Common-Councel of the Kingdom they sent him express word they would expel Him and his evil Councellors out of the Land and deal for the creation of a new King whereupon Pledges being required of the Nobility for security of their Allegiance no Act passed in that Parliament though divers Lords came thither as the Earls of Cornwal Lincoln Ferrers and others But in regard that the Earl-Marshal the Lord Gilbert Basset and others were not present Writs were sent to all that held by Knights-Service to repair to the King at Gloucester by a certain day whither the Earl-Marshal and his Associates refusing to come the King without the Judgment of their Peers caused them to be proclaimed Outlaws Anno 19o. of his Reign after two years troubles and misery a Parliament was assembled at Westminster where the King consented to call back the dis-herited Lords upon the Bishops threatning to excommunicate Him and his evil Councellors Anno 20o. Henry III. a Parliament was assembled at London which the King would have there to be holden but the Barons would not come unless it might be another place whereupon a place of more freedom was propounded where many things were proposed and order taken that all Sheriffs should be removed from their Offices upon complaint of corruption and others of more Integrity put in their rooms upon their Oaths not to take any gifts When the King offering to take away the great Seal of England from the Bishop of Chichester he refused to deliver it saying He received it by the Common-Councel of the Kingdom and without their assent he would not resign it A Parliament was held at London anno 21o. Henry III. wherein he required the Thirtieth part of the Movables as well of the Laity as Clergy But it was alledged that the people were unwilling to have it given to Aliens whereupon the King promiseth never more to injure the Nobility so that they would relieve him at the present for that his Treasure was exhausted To which they plainly answer That the same was done without their counsel neither ought they to be partakers of the punishment who were free from the fault Howsoever after four days consultation the King promising to use the counsel of his natural-born Subjects and freely granting the inviolable observation of their Liberties under pain of Excommunication had yielded to him the Thirtieth part of all their Movables reserving their ready Coyn Horse and Armour to be employ'd for the defence of the Commonwealth which was ordained to be collected by four Knights of every Shire who should upon their Oaths receive and deliver the same into some Abbey or Castle there to be reserved that if the King should not perform his promises it might be again restored upon condition often annexed That the King should leave the counsel of Aliens and only make use of his natural Subjects Yet although he caused the Earls Warren and Ferrers and John Fitz-Geffry to be sworn of his Councel that could not reach to a satisfaction of those that were not so willing as they ought to be satisfied when the King also in performance of his promise to the Bishops and Nobles had in that Parliament for the salvation of his Soul and exaltation of the Church being of full age re-confirm'd the great Charter of the Liberties of the Forests attested by twelve Bishops eight Earls and Symon de Montford and William Longspee twenty-six Barons and great Men notwithstanding they were granted during his minority complaints were made of the wast and profusion of his Treasure and great sums of money raised in his time and
that the Orders concluded in Parliament were not observed in the levying and disposing of the Subsidy and over-strict courses had been taken in the valuation of mens Estates William Valence the Queens Uncle was grown the only man with him and nothing was done without him the Earl of Provence his Father a poor Prince was invited to come into England to participate of the Treasure and Riches thereof Symon de Montfort a French man born banished out of France by Queen Blanch was entertained in England preferred secretly in marriage with the King's Sister Widow of William Earl of Pembroke the great Marshal made Earl of Leicester and Steward of England in the right of his Mother Amice Daughter of Blanchmains Earl of Leicester Which incensing many of the Nobility and in them not a few of the common people did begin to raise a Commotion wherein they procured Richard Earl of Cornwal Brother to the King and Heir-apparent the King having then no Child to head their Party and manage their Grievances which amongst many pretended were That he despised the counsel of his natural Subjects and followed that of the Pope's Legate as if he had been the Pope's Feudatory Upon which harsh Remonstrance the King having sent to sound the affections of the Londoners found them to be against him Summoned a Parliament in the 22d year of his Reign at London whither the Lords came armed both for their own Safety and to constrain him if he refused to the keeping of his promises and reformation of his courses wherein after many debatements the King taking his Oath to refer the business according to the order of certain grave men of the Kingdom Articles were drawn sealed and publickly set up under the Seals of the Legate and divers great Men But before any thing could be effected Symon Montfort working a Peace for himself with the Earls of Cornwal and Lincoln with whom he and the other Barons had been before displeased the Earl grew cold in the business which the other Lords perceiving nothing more was at that time done Symon Norman called Master of the King's Seal and said to be Governour of the affairs of the Kingdom had the Seal taken from him and some others whom the Nobility maligned displaced And in the same year an Assassinate attempting to kill the King as he was in Bed instigated thereunto by William de Marisco the Son of Jeffrey de Marisco was for the Fact drawn in pieces with Horses and afterwards hang'd and quarter'd And some years after the King having a Son born his Brother the Earl of Cornwal having likewise Issue did by permission of the State which before he could not obtain undertake the Cross and with him the Earl of Salisbury and many other Noblemen The Earl of March the Queen-Mother and certain Lords of Poicteau incited the King to make a War with France to which some of the English who claimed Estates therein were very willing but the matter being moved in Parliament a general opposition was made against it the great expences thereof and the ill suceess it lately had and it was vehemently urged That it was unlawful to break the Truce made with the King of France who was now too strong for them notwithstanding many of the Peers in the hopes of recovering their Estates so prevailed as an Aid demanded for the same was granted but so ill resented by others as all the King's supplies from the beginning of his Reign were particularly and opprobriously remembred as the Thirteenth Fifteenth Sixteenth Thirtieth and Fortieth part of all mens Movables besides Carucage Hydage Escuage Escheats Amerciaments and the like which would as they said be enough to fill his Coffers in which considerations also and reckonings with the Pope's continual exactions and the infinite charge of those who undertook the Holy War were not omitted besides it was declared how the Thirtieth lately levyed being ordered to be kept in certain Castles and not to be issued but by the allowance of some of the Peers was yet unspent the King no necessary occasion for it for the use of the Commonwealth for which it was granted and therefore resolutely denyed to grant any more whereupon he came himself to the Parliament and in a submissive manner craving their aid urged the Popes Letter to perswade them thereunto but by a vow made unto each other all that was said was not able to remove their resolutions insomuch as he was driven to get what he could of particular men by Gifts or Loans and took so great a care of his poorer Subjects at or about the same time as he did by his Writ in the 23d year of his Reign command William de Haverhul and Edward Fitz-Odo That upon Friday next after the Feast of St. Matthias being the Anniversary of Eleanor Queen of Scotland his Sister they should cause to be fed as many Poor as might be entertained in the greater Hall of Westminster and did in the same year by another Writ command the said William de Haverhull to feed 15000 Poor at St. Peters in London on the Feast-day of the Conversion of St. Peter and 4000 Poor upon Monday next after the Feast of St. Lucie the Virgin in the great Hall at Westminster And for quiet at home whilst he should be absent in France contracted a marriage betwixt his youngest Daughter Margaret and Alexander eldest Son of Alexander III. King of Scotland but his expedition in France not succeeding his Treasure consumed upon Strangers the English Nobility discontented and by the Poictovins deceiving his Trust in their not supplying him with money he was after more than a years stay the Lords of England leaving him constrained to make a dishonourable Truce with the King of France and to return having been relieved with much Provisions out of England and Impositions for Escuage a Parliament was in the 28th year of his Reign assembled at Westminster wherein his Wars the revolt of Wales and Scotland who joyned together and the present occasions of the necessary defence of the Kingdom being pressed nothing could be effected without the assurance of Reformation and the due execution of Laws whereupon he came again himself in person and pleaded his own necessities but that produced no more than a desire of theirs to have ordained that four of the most grave and discreet Peers should be chosen as Conservators of the Kingdom and sworn of the Kings Council both to see Justice observed and the Treasure issued and ever attend about him or at least three or two of them That the Lord Chief-Justiciar and Lord Chancellor should be chosen by the general voices of the States assembled or else be of the number of those four and that there might be two Justices of the Benches two Barons of the Exchequer and one Justice for the Jews and those likewise to be chosen by Parliament that as their Function was publick so should also be their Election At which time the
Pope sending his Legate with a large power to exact money for himself his Agent was disgracefully returned with an answer That the Kingdom was poor the Church in debt and it was of a dangerous consequence to the State to be exposed to the will of the Pope and therefore seeing a General Councel was shortly to be held at Lyons if the Church would be relieved it were fit to be done by a general consent of that Councel And the Emperour Frederick at the same time by his Letters to the King which were openly read desiring as he had often before That the Pope might have no supplies ou of England for that therewith he did oppress him by seizing upon his Castles and Cities appertaining to the Empire notwithstanding his often submissions desire of Peace and offers to refer the cause to the arbitration of the Kings of England and France and the Baronage of both Kingdoms and entreating that he might not receive a detriment whence as a Brother and Friend he expected a favour added that if the King would be advised by him he would by power free the Kingdom from that unjust Tribute which Pope Innocent III. and other Popes had laid upon it Which pleasing the Assembly the business took up so much time as the design of a share in the Government something like if not worse then a Co-ordination meeting with no concessions or effect they only granted an Aid to the King for the Marriage of his Daughter 20 s. of every Knights Fee not without much ado and repetition of all his former Aids although at the same or much about that time they could not be ignorant that he had by his Writ commanded Hugh Gifford and William le Brun that upon Friday next after the Epiphany they should cause to be fed in the Hall at Windsor ad bonum focum omnes pueros pauperes egenos quos invenire poterint ita quod aula impleatur si tot inveniantur The Charters were again ratified which confirmation is printed in the perclose or latter-end of those in the 9th year of that persecuted Prince after a proposal of Conservators and election of Judges and Lord Chancellors rejected which was urged and much insisted upon After which and his return from an expedition with great charges into Scotland a Parliament was summoned where he moved for an Aid against an Insurrection in Wales and for money to supply his wants and pay his Debts which were so great as he could not stir out of his Chamber for the clamour of those to whom he ow'd money for Wine Wax and other necessaries of House-keeping which wrought so little as to his face they denied to grant him any thing and enquiry being made what Revenues the Romans and Italians had in England they found them to have been annually 60000 Marks which being notified to the General Councel at Lyons the Pope was so vexed therewith as he was said to have uttered these words The King begins to Frederize it is fit that we make an end with the Emperour that we might crush these pety Kings for the Dragon once destroyed these lesser Snakes will soon be trodden down In the 32d year of his Reign a Parliament being convoked he was upon requiring another aid sharply reproved for his breach of promises and it was alledged that his Judges were sent in Circuit under pretence of Justice to fleece the people that his needless expences amounted to above 800000 l. and advising him to recal the old Lands of the Crown and pull them from his Favourites enriched with the Treasure of the Kingdom told him of his Oath made at his Coronation Complained that the Chief-Justiciar Chancellor and Treasurer were not made by the Common-Councel of the Kingdom according as there were in the time of his Magnificent Predecessors although they could not at the same time deny him that Right which was justly due unto him that he had by his Writs commanded the said William de Haverhul and Edward of Westminster quod singulis diebus à die natalis domini usque ad diem circumcisionis computatis illis duobus diebus impleri faciant magnam aulam Regis de pauperibus and in the same year by his Writ commanded William de Haverhul his Treasurer and Edward Fidz-Odo to feed upon the day of Edward the Confessor pauperes in magna aula Westmonasterium sicut fieri consueverunt ipsis Monachis Pittanciam eodem die sicut consueverunt faciant The King promised redress but nothing was effected so that after sundry meetings and much debate the Parliament was prorogued until Midsummer following and at the next Session he tells them that they were not to impose a servile condition upon him or deny him that which every one of them might do to use whom they pleased as Counsel Every Master of a Family might place or displace what Servants he pleased Servants were not to judge their Masters nor Subjects their Prince or hold them to their conditions and that he that should so encline to their pleasures should not be their King but as their Servant And being constrained to furnish his wants with the sale of his Plate and Jewels his Crown of Gold and Edward the Confessor's Shrine and with great loss received money for them enquired who had bought them whereunto answer being made that the City of London had bought them That City said he is an inexhaustible Gulf if Octavius ' s Treasure were to be sold they would surely buy it Howsoever being besides constrained to borrow 20000 l. of the City of London he wrote to every Noble-man and Prelate apart to borrow money but got little the Abbot of Ramsay lent him 100 l. but the Abbot of Burgh could not spare him so much although the King told him It was more Alms to give unto him than to a beggar that went from door to door The Lords in the 4th year of his Reign assembled again at London and pressed him with his promises that the Chief-Justiciar Chancellor and Treasurer should be constituted by the general Councel of the Kingdom but by reason of the absence of the Earl of Cornwal nothing was done therein The King demanding aid of his Prelates and Nobility assembled in Parliament they by agreement amongst themselves stoutly denied it which greatly troubling him he shewed them the Note or Roll what moneys some few Abbots had lent unto him with an Ecce how little it was with which not being able to remove their fixed resolutions he with some anger expostulating told them Ero nè perjurus juravi sacramento intransgressibili transfretans jura mea in brachio extento à Rege Francorum reposcam quod sine capioso thesauro qui à vestra liberalitate procedere debet nequaquam valeo and that not prevailing called aliquos sibi familiares affatus eos dit quid perniciosius exemplum aliis praebetis vos qui Comites Barones Milites strenui estis
praefatae sententiae ligentur omnes venientes contrà libertates contentas in ehartis communium libertatum Angliae de foresta omnes qui libertates Ecclesiae Angicanae temporibus Domini Regis Praedecessorum suorum Regum Angliae optentas usitatas scienter malitiosè violaverint aut infringere praesumpserint omnes illi qui pacem Domini Regis Regni perturbaverint similiter omnes qui jura libertates Domini Regis Regni diminuere infringere seu immutare praesumpserint quòd omnes venientes contrà praemissa vel eorum aliqua ignoranter legitimè moniti infra quindenam post monitionem praemissam dictam transgressionem non emendaverint ex tunc praedictae sententiae excommunicationis subjacebunt ità tamen quod Dominus Rex transgressionem illam per considerationem curiae suae faciat emendari sciendum autem quod si in scriptis super eadem sententia à quibuscunque confectis seu conficiendis aliud vel alitèr appositum vel adjectum fuerit aut articuli aliqui alii in eis contenti inveniantur Dominus Rex praedicti Magnates omnes communicatas populi protestantur publicè in praesentiâ venerabilium patrum B. Dei Gratiâ Cantuariensis Archiepiscopi totius Angliae Primatis nec non Episcoporum omnium in eodem colloquio existentium quòd in ea nunquam consenserunt nec consentiunt sed de plano eis contradicunt praetere à praefatus Dominus Rex in prolatione praefat ' sententiae omnes libertates consuetudines Regni sui autiquas usitates Dignitates jura Coronae suae ore proprio specialiter sibi Regno suo salvavit excepit In cujus rei memoriam in posterum veritatis testimonium tà m Dominus Rex quam praedicti Comites ad instantiam aliorum Magnatum Populi praesenti scripto sigilla sua apposuerunt Gascoign a great Province in France having been before the King had any Son granted by him by the counsel of the Lords to his Brother Richard Earl of Cornwal who was there received as their Lord and so continued until the King had Issue of his own after which revoking his Grant and conferring it upon his Son Edward the Earl though he were deprived of his Possession not being willing to forgo his Right the King in great displeasure commanded him to resign his Charter which he refusing to do the Citizens of Burdeaux were commanded to take and imprison but would not adventure thereon Notwithstanding money being offered and like to effect more than his command the Earl in danger to be surprized came over into England whereupon the King assembled the Nobility of Gascoign promised them 30000 Marks to renounce their homage and fealty to his Brother which being not accepted he sent Symon Montfort Earl of Leicester a rough and martial man in revenge thereof to be their Governour under him for six years and furnished him with 1000 Marks in order thereto whom Montfort by a stern Government so discontented as they and the Archbishop of Burdeaux accused him of heinous Crimes which was a cause of Montford s sending for over And the King resolute in maintaining the Gascoigners that sturdy Earl Montfort who had forgotten that he was an Alien himself and had received of the King large Gifts Preferments and Honours both in France and England unto whom the Earl of Cornwal with the discontented part of the English Baronage joyning complained as much of the Aliens viz. William of Valence Earl of Pembroke Guy de Lusignan the King's half-brothers by his Mother and the many French and Poictovins that over-much governed him and his Counsels as they did again complain of the breach of the Great Charter which was seldom omitted out of the Reer of their grievances which at last came to such an undutiful contest as Montfort upbraiding the King with his expenceful service wherein he alledged he had utterly consumed his Estate and said that he had broken his word with him the King in great rage told him That no promise was to be observed with an unworthy Traytor wherewith Montfort rose up and protested that he lyed in that word and were he not protected by his Royal Dignity he would make him repent it The King commanded his Servants to lay hold of him which the Lords would not permit wherewith Montfort growing more audacious the King told him He never repented of any thing so much as to have permitted him to enter into his Kingdom and to have honoured and instated him as he had done But shortly after the Gascoigns being again encouraged by the King against Montfort and that Province given to his Son Edward and Montfort sent thither a Governour again though with clipt wings grows enflamed as much as the Gascoigns were one against another but Montfort by his great Alliance with France overcame them who in the 38th year of the King's Reign being discharged of the Government retired from thence and refusing an offered entertainment by the French King returned into England where the King besides Gascoigny having given Ireland Wales Bristol Stamford and Grantham to the Prince and consumed all that ever he could get in that and the former expeditions which he had made which was reckoned to have cost him Twenty seven hundred thousand pounds which were said to have been more than the Lands endeavoured to have been regained were worth if they were to be sold. A Parliament was called in Easter-Term following which brought a return of grievances and complaints of the breach of Charters and a demand for former pretended rights in electing the Justiciar Chancellor and Treasurer whereupon after much debate to no purpose the Parliament was prorogued until Michaelmas next after when likewise the King's motion for money was disappointed by reason of the absence of many Peers being not as was alledged summoned according to Magna Charta In the mean time the Pope to destroy Manfred Son to the Emperour Frederick who was in possession of the Kingdom of Sicily and Apulia sent the Bishop of Bononia with a Ring of investiture of the Kindom of Sicily to Edmond the King's second Son with the hopes of which his Praedecessor Innocent IV. had before deluded the King himself And the King being offered to be absolved from his Oath of undertaking the holy Wars so as he would help to destroy Manfred the Emperour Frederick's Son who being Victorious had no mind to be so ill used The Legate returned with great gifts and a Prebendary of York but could not obtain his design of collecting the Tenths in England Scotland and Ireland to the use of the Pope and the King for that the Clergy growing jealous m that the 〈…〉 g and the Pope were confederate therein protested rather to lose their Lives and Livings than to be made a prey to either the Pope in the mean time having upon that vain hope cunningly wrapt him in an obligation of 15000 Marks Upon
complaint of the Gascoigns who were under the Government of the Prince that their Wines were taken away by the King's Officers without due satisfaction and the Prince thereupon addressing himself to his Father in their behalf and the Officers in excuse of themselves informing the King that the Prince took upon him to do Justice therein when it belonged not to him the King was put in a great rage and said Behold my Son and my Brother are bent to afflict me as my Grand-father King Henry II. was And being put to his shifts to supply his necessities came himself into his Exchequer and with his own mouth pronounced and made Orders for the better bringing in of his Revenues Farms and Amerciaments under severe penalties that every Sheriff which appeared not yearly there in the Octaves of St. Michael with his money as well of his Farms and Amerciaments as other dues for the first day should be amerced five Marks for the second ten for the third fifteen and for the fourth should be redeemed at the King's pleasure all Cities and Freedoms to be amerced in the same manner and the fourth day making default were to lose their Freedoms the Sheriffs amerced five Marks for not distraining upon every man that having 20 l. Lands per annum came not to be made Knight unless he had before been freed by the King And by examinations of measures of Ale and Wine Bushels and Weights got some small sums of money and about the time of Richard Earl of Cornwal's going to Germany where he was by the privity and approbation of the Councel of State in England elected King of the Romans called a Parliament where bringing his Son Edmond clad in an Apuleian-habit he said Behold my Son Edmond whom God hath called to the dignity of Regal Excellency how fitting and worthy is he of your favour and how inhumane were it in so important a necessity to deny him counsel and aid and shewed them how by the advice and benignity of the Pope and the Church of England he had for the obtaining of the Kingdom of Sicily bound himself under the penalty or covenant of losing the Kingdom of England in the sum of 150000 Marks and had obtained the Tenth of the Clergy of all their Benefices for three years according to the new rates without deduction of expences besides their first-fruits for three years whereupon after many excuses of poverty they promised upon the usual condition of confirmation of Magna Charta to give him 32000 Marks But that not satisfying The next year another Parliament was holden at London where he pressing them again for money to pay his debts the Lords told him plainly They would not yield to give him any thing and if he unadvisedly bought the Kingdom of â—icilly and was deceived in it he was to blame himself therein And repeating their old grievances the breach of his promise contempt of the power of the Church and the Charter which he had solemnly sworn to observe with the insolency of Strangers especially of William de Valence who most reproachfully had given the lye to the Earl of Leicester for which he could not upon complaint to the King have right done him how they abounded in Riches and himself so poor as he could not repress an Insurrection of the Welsh The King thereupon promised by his Oath taken upon the Tomb of St. Edward to reform all his errours But the Lords in regard the business was difficult got the Parliament to be adjourned to Oxford and in the mean time the Earls of Gloucester Hereford the Earl Marshal Bigod Spencer and other great men confederated and provided by strength to effect their desires The King driven into necessities did the better to appease those often-complain'd-of grievances when his own were burthen enough by his Writs or Commissions sent into every County of England appoint quatuor milites qui considerarent quot quantis gravaminibus simpliciores à fortioribus opprimuntur inquirent diligenter de singulis querelis injuriis à quocunque factis vel à quibuscunque illatis à multis retroactis temporibus omnia requisita sub sigillis suis se cùm Baronagio ad tempus sibi per breve praefixum certificent which by any Record or History do not appear saith Sir Henry Spelman to have been ever certified And to obtain money procured the Abbot of Westminster to get his Convent to joyn with him as his surety in a Bond for 300 marks sent Simon Paslieu his trusty Councellor with Letters to other Monasteries to do the like but they refused And the Prince participating in the wants of his Father was for want of money constrained to mortgage the Towns of Stanford Benham and other Lands to William de Valence So that upon the aforesaid adjournment and meeting of the Parliament at Oxford in the 42d year of his Reign brake out those great discontents which had been so long in gathering whither the Lords brought with them great numbers of their Tenants by Knights-Service which were many followers dependants and adhaerents upon a pretence of aiding the King and going against the Welsh where after they had secured the Ports to prevent Foreign aids and the Gates of the City of London with their oaths and hands given to each other not to desist until they had obtain their ends began to expostulate their former Liberties and require the performance according to the Oaths and Orders formerly made the Chief-Iusticiar Chancellor and Treasurer to be ordained by publick choice the twenty four Conservators of the Kingdom to be confirmed twelve by the election of the Lords and twelve by the King with whatsoever else might be advantageous for their own security Whereupon the King seeing their strength and in what manner they required those things did swear again solemnly to the confirmation of them and caused the Prince to take the same Oath Of which Treasonable Contrivances Matthew of Westminster an ancient English Historian of good credit hath recorded his opinion in these words Haec de provisionibus imò de proditionibus Oxon dicta sufficiant And here yet they would not rest the King's Brethren the Poictovins and all other strangers were to be presently removed the Kingdom cleared of them and all the Peers of the Land sworn to see it done The Earl of Cornwal's eldest Son refusing to take the Oath without leave of his Father was plainly told That if his Father would not consent with the Baronage in that Case he should not hold a Furrow of Land in England In the end the King's Brethren and their followers were despoiled of all their fortunes and banished by order under his own hand with a charge not to pass with any Money Arms or Ornaments other than such as the Earls of Hereford and Surrey should allow and appoint with an injunction to the City of Bristol or any other Ports not to permit any strangers or Kinsmen of
his to come into England but such only as the King and the Lords should like The Poictovins landing at Boloign had much-a-do to gain passage into their own Countreys by reason that Henry de Montfort Son to the Earl of Leicester whose power was very great in France had followed them thither Rumours were spread amongst the people in England that the Earl of Gloucester was attempted to have been poyson'd and one of his Servants executed upon no other proof but presumption and every one that would complain of the Poictovins wanted no encouragement Richard Gray whom the Lords had made Captain of the Castle of Dover intercepted as much as he could of what the Poictovins carried over and enriched himself thereby The new Chief-Justice Hugh Bigod Brother to the Earl Marshal being chosen in the last Parliament by publick voice procured an order that four Knights in every Shire should enquire of the poor oppressed by great men and certifie the same to the Baronage under their hands and seals which were never found to have been certified And made an Order that no man should give any thing besides Provisions for Justice or to hinder the same and that both the corrupter and corrupted should be grievously punished Notwithstanding which pretended care the Lords enforceing the service of the King's Tenants which dwelt near unto them were as totidem Tyranni furnished the especial Fortresses of the Kingdom with Garrisons of their own sworn to the common State and took the like assurance of all Sheriffs Bailiffs Coroners and other publick Ministers with strict Commissions upon Oath to examine their behaviour And to make the King and his actions the more odious and their own more popular it was rumoured that the King's necessities must be repaired out of the Estates of his people and he must not want whilst they had it Whereupon the King to defend himself from such scandals was constrained to publish his Declaration to desire the people to give no credit to such false suggestions for that he was ready to defend all Rights and Customs due unto them Howsoever Montfort Gloucester and Spencer who had by the late constitution of the twenty-four Conservators drawn the entire managing of the Kingdom into their hands enforced the King to call a Parliament at London where the authority of the twenty-four Conservators was placed in themselves and order taken that three at the least should attend at the Court to dispose of the custody of Castles and other business of the Kingdom of the Chancellor Chief-Justiciar Treasurer and all other Officers great and small and bound the King to release to them their legal Obedience whensoever he infringed his Charter In the mean time the Earl of Cornwal King of the Romans being dispossest of that Kingdom or not well liking it returning into England the Barons send to know the cause of his coming and require of him an Oath before he should land not to prejudice their late established Orders of the Kingdom which he sternly refused saying He had no Peer in England being the Son and Brother of a King and was above their power and if they would have reformed the Kingdom they ought first to have sent for him and not so presumptuously have attempted a business of so high a nature The Lords upon return of such an answer sent to guard the Ports came strongly to the Coast prepared to encounter him and the King Queen and their Son Edmond in a more loving manner go to Dover to receive him but neither they nor the Earl of Cornwal were by them permitted to enter into the Castle for that it was the chief Fortress of the Kingdom But finding the Earl of Cornwal's Train small they suffered him to land and did upon his promise to take the propounded Oath bring him and the King into the Chapter-house at Canterbury where the Earl of Gloucester standing forth in the midst in the presence of the King called forth the Earl not by the name of King but Earl of Cornwal who in reverend manner coming forth took his Oath That he would be faithful and diligent with the Barons to reform the Kingdom by the counsel of wicked persons over-much disordered and to be an effectual Coadjutor to expel Rebels and disturbers of the same under pain of losing all the Lands which he held in England After which both parties strengthening themselves all they could the King for the assurance of the King of France ex praecepto consilio Domini Regis Angliae totius Baronagii sent the Earls of Gloucester Leicester Peter de Subaudia John Mansel and Robert Walerand to the Parliament of Paris de arduis negotiis Regna Angliae Franciae contingentibus carrying with them a resignation of the Dutchy of Normandy and the Earldoms of Anjou Poicteau Turaine and Mayne for which the King of France was to give him three hundred thousand pounds with a grant of all Guyen beyond the River of Garonna all the River of Xantoigne to the River of Charente and the Counties of Limosin and Quercy to him and his Successors dong his Homage and Fealty to the Crown of France as a Duke of Aquitain and a Peer of that Kingdom After whose return Montfort as he had incensed others so had he those that animated him against the King as Walter Bishop of Worcester and Robert Bishop of Lincoln who enjoyned him upon the remission of his sins to prosecute the cause unto death affirming that the peace of the Church of England would never be established but by the Sword But the people being oppressed and tired at length with those commotions part-takings and discords which by the provisions wrested from the King at Oxford and so many mischiefs and inconveniencies had harassed and almost ruined them and did help to increase rather than decrease those troubles and controversies which afflicted the Nation it having never been easie to bring those that were to be governed to rule with any modesty or moderation those that had enjoyed a governing power in authority established and appointed by God in a well-temper'd Monarchy and succession for many Ages or those that were to govern to obey the giddy and unjust dictates of those who were to obey them or to unite in any contenting harmony the various ambitions envies revenges hatreds partialities self-interests and designs of many or a multitude or such enforcements and contrivances to be lasting durable or pleasing and that all could not well rule or agree how to do it The King and Queen keeping their Christmas in the Tower of London cum suis consiliariis saith Matthew Paris elaboratum fuit tam à Regni Angliae pontificibus quam à Regni Franciae ut pax reformaretur inter Regem Angliae Barones ventumque est ad illud ut Rex Proceres se submiserunt ordinationi Regis Franciae in praemissis provisionibus Oxoniae nec non pro depraedationibus damnis utrobique
illatis who had been so good a friend to the rebellious Barons and so great a favourer of them as after his expulsion out of England whither they had invited him toaid and assist them against K. John and an agreement made with K. Henry III. his Son to restore unto him the Dutchy of Normandy and the other Provinces which he had from him in France as he denied to re-deliver them until the Liberties claimed by the English Barons his old Friends should be confirmed unto them by whose Quarrels with their Sovereigns he had gained many great advantages to the wrong and damage of the Crown of England And was all the while a very great enemy both to the King and his Father who notwithstanding was with the Prince his Son Richard Earl of Cornwal King of the Romans with others of the Loyal Nobility of the Kings part and the contending Rebellious Lords of the other side by mutual Oaths tactis sacrosanctis Evangeliis in the 47th year of his Reign did undertake to perform and abide by his award so as it were made and pronounced betwixt that and the Feast of Pentecost then next ensuing unto which none of the Commons of England do appear to have been parties Whereupon the King of France taking upon him the said arbitration congregato in crastino sancti Vincentii Ambiomis populo penè innumerabili coram Episcopis Comitibus aliisque Francorum proceribus solemniter dedit sententiam pro Rege Angliae contra Barones Statutis Oxoniae provisionibus ordinationibus ac obligationibus penitus annullatis hoc excepto quod antiquas Chartas Regis Johannis Angliae universitati concessas per illam sententiam in nullo intendebat penitùs derogare And made his award accordingly in writing an exemplification or authentick Copy whereof is yet to be seen amongst the Records in His now Majesty's Treasury at Westminster Quae quidem exceptio Comitem Leicestriae coeteros qui habebunt sensus exercitatos saith Matthew Paris compulit in praeposito tenere firmitèr Statuta Oxoniae que fundata fuerant super illam Chartam Et eo tempore redierint à Francia qui Parliamento Regis Francia interfuerant Rex videlicet Angliae Henricus Regina Eleanora Archiepiscopus Cantuariensis Bonifacius Petrus Herefordensis Episcopus Johannes Mansel qui Baronibus saith that Monk of St. Albans mala quanta potuerunt non cessabant machinari Which exception could neither absolve them from their Oaths so solemnly taken to perform the award which the King of France had made or purge them from their former and after Rebellions against King Henry III. or their ill usage of him SECT VI. That the Exceptions mentioned in the King of France's award of the Charter granted by King John could not invalidate the whole award or justifie the provisions made at Oxford which was the principal matter referred unto him FOr that the contrivance of the twenty-four Conservators and what else was added thereunto by the aforesaid Provisions and constrained Ordinances made at Oxford was never any part of the Magna Charta or the Charta de Foresta enforced from King John but a security seperate and collateral thereunto framed and devised at the same time for the better observation and performance of those Charters which the preamble of that security of which Matthew Paris hath at large left unto posterity an exemplar may abundantly evidence in the words following viz. Cum autem pro Deo ad emendationem Regni nostri ad melius sopiendam discordiam inter nos Barones nostros haec omnia concessimus volentes ea integra firma stabilitate gaudere facimus concedimus eis securitatem subscriptam viz. quod Barones eligant viginti quinque Barones de Regno nostros quos voluerint c. and doth greatly differ both in the material and formal parts thereof from the provisions afterwards enforced at Oxford as by a just collation and comparison of that collateral security with those provisions may appear where care is taken but for twenty-four Conservators twelve to be chosen by the King and twelve by those factious Lords who would likewise engross to themselves and their party the nomination of the Chancellor Treasurer two Chief-Justices two of the Justices of both the Benches and Barons of the Exchequer and have the making of the Chief-Justice of the Iews to which the King and his Son the Prince were sworn but to the Running-Mead unkingly shackles or security the King and those masterly Barons were only sworn and that not thought sufficient without some principal Castles of the Kings were to be put into hands of those Conservators and that upon complaint made to the King or his Chief-Justice if reformation were not made within a time limited the Conservators and the common people were to distrain gravere eum which would amount to a licensed Rebellion with a salvis personis only of the King and his Queen and Children all the great men of the Kingdom and the common people and as many as would being also to take their Oaths to be aiding and assisting to those Conservators in a kind or much resembling the late ASSOCIATION who were themselves to take their Oaths well and truly to execute their multiplied Kingships and clip as much as they could the more just Authority and Rights of their Sovereign But in those of Oxford there was so much kindness shewed to themselves and care taken of their own tender consciences as not to be sworn at all and must needs be an excellent contrivance for the invisible good of the Kingdom and a rare performance of their Homage Fealty and Oaths of Allegiance to take the power and authority from a King which should enable him to perform his Magna Charta and Charta de Foresta freely granted unto them and put it into their own hands to break those Charters and his Oaths and to protect and do Justice unto his people as oft as their malice ambitious envies avarice revenge interests designs corruptions or domineering passions of themselves and their Wives being not a few in number and their numerous adhaerents should incite or persuade them unto and were so confident of their over-ruling party no provision being at all made in those which were made at Oxford if any discords should arise in the election of the one twelve or the other or in the continuance of their agreements together shares or parts in the Government of their King and fellow-Subjects as believing that the power of the twelve Barons chosen by themselves would be either praedominant over the twelve which were to be named by the King or their newly-usurped authority would be so complaisant and well-pleasing unto all the twenty-four as flattery fear or interest would so quiet any to be supposed discords as they should not need to fall out at a Feast or divide disturb or destroy themselves by Factions the security given at Running-Mead ordaining only twenty-five
Conservators without any election of a part or moity of them by the King and to be upon occasion of any breach or offence done by the King or his Justiciar ergà aliquem in aliquo vel aliquem articulorum pacis vel securitatis which clearly divides the security or Conservatorships from the Articles of Peace and Charters compelled at Running-Mead as far asunder as a disjunctive or matters of another nature sense or purpose could effect reduced to four and that which was referred to the King of France neither King John's Charter nor the collateral enforced security by the power of a Rebellious and unruly Army when he had but seven Knights to stand by him and was over-aw'd by a Clergy claiming to be independant of him and out of the power and coertion of his Laws had the Pope's Legate at their elbow and his afrighting pretence of God-like Omnipotency with their threatning to excommunicate him and his Councellors and all that should adhere unto him And as if that had not been enough practising and plotting with a discontented powerful party of the Barons against him But singly and seperately that which was the present Controversie cardo quaestionis were the provisions made at Oxford where per mensem integrum persistebant consilits armis of which and the reference to the French King thereupon Henry Knighton an Author much enclin'd to the contending part of the Baronage gives us an account in these words Publicatis Statutis executioni demandatis displicuerunt multa Regi paenituit eum sic jurâsse sed quia resistere non potuit ex arrupto dissimulavit ad tempus cùmque elapso anno non videret se ut promiserant à debitis relevari which Henry Knighton affirmeth they promised sed magis Onerari in multum condoluit missis ad Papam Nuntiis quoad sacramentum praestitum absolutionis beneficium consecutus est quoad se suos omnes absolvit etâ—am Papa indifferenter omnes ab eodem juramento ut citiùs inter se in vinculo pacis unirent siatimque absolutione opteniâ resilivit Rex à praemissis convocato Parliamento suo Oxoniae quaestionem movit magnatibus suis se quantùm ad provisiones tenendas callidè quidem inductum seductum in super quod ad sacramentum praestitum pro se suis universalitèr omnibus absolutionis benificium generalitèr impetrâsse unde petiit se ad omnia restituti sicut antiquitùs esse consuevit At illi qui convenerant Comes scilicet Leicestrensis Symon de Montforti Comes Gloucestriae Gilbertus de Clara Humfridus de Boun juvenis Comes Ferarensis Barones etiam quam plurimi scilicet Dominus filius Johannis Dominus Henricus de Hastinges Dominus Galfridus de Lucy Johannes de Vescy juvenis Dominus Nicholaus de Segrave Hugo le Spencer Robertus de Vesponte no Commons pro se siquidem suis sequacibus unanimitèr respenderunt quòd provisiones ad quas juramento astricti fuerant usque in finem vitae tenere voluerunt eò quòd pro utilitate Regis Regni communiter editae fuerant confirmatae Dumque vota sua sic mutassent in varia impacata recedere voluissent quidam Episcopi aderant qui interposuerunt partes suas ità quòd ipsis aliis amicis communibus sic cum difficuliate mediantibus compromiserunt partes utrimque se velle stare in omnibus arbitrio Regis Franciae Qui quidem Rix auditis hinc inde propositis diligenter ponderatis decrevit in fine Regi Angliae exhaereditationem fieri manifestam unde Statuta eorum quasi omnia reprobavit eidem Regi statum pristinum restitui imponens aliis silentium quantum ad jura Regalia ordinanda Motique Magnates indignantes necesserunt stare nolentes ejus arbitrio â—ò quòd pro Rege omnia Rex ipse adjudicavit Wherein the Charters of King John either as to the Forests or concerning the other Lands Liberties and Estates of the Bishops Abbots Priors Earls Barons and Free-men of England or any the controversies raised thereupon do not appear to be any part of the matters referred to the King of France's arbitration neither are in his award thereupon mentioned in the transcript thereof remaining amongst His Majesty's Records or declared by Matthew Paris or Henry Knighton to be any parcel of the controversies referred unto him or inducing the same for the Charter of King John therein by Matthew Paris said to be excepted is in the singular number and distinguishable from that of the Forests and cannot howsoever in any probability be intended to be the aforesaid collateral over-binding security nor could that be comprehended under that notion for the Charters granted by King John have nothing therein of the after-provisions made at Oxford which were not in his said Charters mentioned nor can be accounted the same when they were not then existent but were framed hatched and brought forth forty-three years after the Charters gain d at Running Mead which were not the same with that seperate and collateral bond or unfitting security wherein the King besides those Charters did covenant to expell all aliens and strangers out of the Kingdom omnes ruptarios breakers of the peace thereof some of which were therein particularly named qui sunt ad nocumentum Regni granted a general pardon omnibus Clericis Laicis of all offences committed by reason of the said troubles and discords from Easter before which was in the â—6th year of his Reign to the making of that pacification and moreover gave unto them the Letters Testimonials and Patents of the Archbishops of Canterbury and Dublin Pandulphus the Pope's Legate and other Bishops super securitate ista concessionibus praedictis the Charters being only a grant of the King 's to to the Bishops Earls and Barons and the rest of the Freemen and Subjects of England not as if they were before free and exempt from the just Monarchical and Regal Government but contra-distinguished from Bond-men and Bond-women Copy-holders Servants c. which needed no Oaths from the Grantees or those which might be glad to receive the Benefits and Liberties granted thereby For the contrivance of that fatal and too-long-lasting Seminary of Sedition and Discord betwixt the King and those Barons and that unfitting security to pacifie their unbecoming jealousies being no part of the Charters granted by King John were but as covenants and promises extorted from an over affrighted and distressed Prince and were not the same upon which the provisions of Oxford were founded nor incorporate in them So that the provisions made at Oxford must needs be those and none other which the King of France and his Parliament and great Council upon so grand and deliberate a hearing declared to be null and void as derogatory to Kingly Government and amounting to a total dis-herison of the King therein and if they were not those provisions the maintainers
of any such opinion are to shew what other provisions made at Oxford in the Reign of King Henry III. were referred unto him or condemned by him It being not to be understood by any that will not make their ignorance self-conceitedness designs and evil purposes to be the rules of their reason that the exception of King John's Charter was to be extended to the collateral security and when they have sweat and laboured at it beyond any the rules of Reason and Learning will never be able to entice or draw any religious good wise or learned men to subscribe to such a paradox That twenty-five Conservatorships should be intended or understood to be only Twenty-four and those subcommitted to Four that the King 's putting into his rebellious Barons hands four of the strongest Castles which he had as pledges and security with power for all that would to take Oaths to distrain and take arms and set the common people upon him were or are within the true meaning or construction of that Magna Charta or that it was ever within the meaning intention or words of that Magna Charta granted by him unto his Subjects to be holden of him and his heirs in capite that the word or notion of Liberties mentioned therein should or could beget a Law Rule or Custom that those that were the Grantees and to be governed should rule their Governours which no where appeareth to be consonant to that Reason Iustice and Order which God Himself praescribed and gave as a rule for the better ordering of the Sons of men and all their Generation or that the granter of those Liberties in those Charters did thereby ever intend or so express or understand that by the grant of those Liberties and Benefits the Subjects of England were entituled to a Right or Authority to govern their King and if he do not therein behave himself according to the Interests or Votes of a giddy multitude who are as seldom to be pleased as they are to be brought into one and the same opinion humour interest or design should be vested with a power or authority to compel him When no Histories Annals or Records of the Nation or Writer new or old except such as had been fooled and infatuated by Jesuitical Principles fitted and dress'd up for some wickedly silly Presbyters and Fanaticks in the time of that popular Frenzy in England betwixt the years 1640 and 1661 and drank deep of that Circaean Cup and intoxicated themselves with the ungodly gains of Rebellion against their Sovereign by Murder Plunder and Sequestration of Him and their more loyal and honest fellow-Subjects can tell us any News of such Rights and Liberties or inform us where any such were granted duly registred or authenticated other than in or by the Records or Memorials of Wat Tyler Jack Cade Ket and their Rabble-rout Nor was it probable that so great a Council of wise or learned men should in the penning or wording the King of France's aforesaid decree or award in or with the exception of King John's Charter so much err if they had understood that it had made void the whole award or that the Pope would have confirmed a nothing or such an award as should signifie no more or that the opposite Barons would have taken it so ill or believed that it had been so much against them as Henry Knighton related it That the King of France had awarded all for the King if they had not understood the aforesaid provisions made at Oxford to have been ipso facto null and void neither can it by any men of Law Reason or Learning be adjudged that that award could be as to the whole a nullity by reason of that exception when the civil or Caesarean Law that excellent method of universal reason by which the greatest part of the world was then before and ever since contented to be guided hath taught us that exceptii est quaedam exclusio quae interponi actioni cujusque rei solet ad excludendum id quod in intentionem condemnationem vè deductum est For excipere propriè est detrahere exceptio est quae partem aliquam de universo Actoris jure detrahat And these Laws have declared that exceptio obscura nihil est momenti obscurè excipere est nihil excipere And our English Laws and reasonable Customs have allowed us to say and believe that exceptio firmat regulam in casibus non exceptis that a matter or thing not excepted is the more strengthened and confirmed by what is excepted and severed from it But it seems saith Mr. Pryn that that award of the King of France was not full and satisfactory to all parties although the King's permission thereupon afterwards made chargeth the dissatisfaction on the Barons part whom to content as well as he could he and the Barons by mutual consent did by their Letters Patents submit as he said that award to H. Bishop of London H. le Despencer Justiciar of England Bartholomew Earl of Anjou Cousin-jerman to the King of France and the Abbot of Beck to amend or correct by way of addition or detraction in or to the said award whatever they should judge meet for the settling and securing of Peace And the King was so great a lover of Peace and well-wisher of the good of his people as after he had granted unto them more Liberties than they could claim and in modesty could ask of a Sovereign that would preserve that Superiority and those Rights which God had given Him for His own and the Peoples good which can never be without an Obedience of Subjects and a care of a Prince to protect them by doing justice to Himself as well as to Them and was so willing to give them satisfaction in any thing just or reasonable to be desired as he was content to wave and lay aside the advantage which he fairly gained by the aforesaid award or ordinance of the King of France in defence and maintenance of his own just Rights and therein of his means to govern and protect them which no Prince in Christendom at that time would have done and at the same time adventure the censure or ill will of a neighbour Potent Prince that would not take it kindly to have an award made with so much Justice Judgment and care to be reviewed by a part of his People and such as were no friends to the Rights of Kings and had been long in opposition to their King and encouraged a long and lasting Rebellion against him and by such a new reference or review subjecting himself to the Excommunication and Ecclesiastical Censures of the Pope's Legate by which He and his Kingdom had already so greatly suffered Yet in that so great a Storm and Tempest of State would not so much injure Himself his Dignity and occasional or necessary emergent affairs of Government as not to provide that they should not so much as speak treat or
ordain any thing circa emendationem ordinationis seu pacis praedictae per quod Regnum Angliae per alios quà m indigenas gubernetur nec castrorum custodia seu alia balliva Regno praedicto aliis quà m indigenis fidelibus non suspectis committetur which with a clause next following might also probably be inserted to please the Earl of Leicester and to secure him from after or former objections that he was himself an Alien or that such allegations might not be any hinderance to him or William de Valence to have the custody of any of the King's Castles who had yet some Provinces in France and was not without Subjects that as to England were Aliens as the ensuing Commission or Letters Patents in order thereunto will demonstrate Rex Angliae S. de Monteforti Comes Leicestr ' Gilbertus de Clare Comes Gloucestr ' Hereford ' Johannes filius Johannis Johannes de Burgo senior Willielmus de Monte Canisio Henricus de Hastings Gilbertus de Gaunt caeteri Barones Magnates Angliae no COMMONS universis Christi fidelibus ad quos praesentes literae pervenerint salutem in Domino cum super praeteritis guerrarum discriminibus in Regno Angliae subortis quaedam ordinatio seu forma pacis de nostro Praelatorum totius communitatis Regni praedicti unanimi voluntate assensu provida deliberatione inita fuerit quam nuper Domino Regi Franciae fecimus praesentari quam Deo gratam nobis Regno nostro credimus opportunam ac quidam ut intelleximus facti veritatem minus plene intelligentes ordinationem ipsam seu pacis formam minus sufficientem asserentes de quibusdam articulis in eddem insertis non fuerint contenti Nos ad pacem tranquilitatem Regni praedicti totis vi 〈…〉 us sicut tenemur laborare volentes ut justitia nostra fac 〈…〉 ritas patefaceat singulis plenius innotescat plenam damus poâ—estatem venerabili Patri H. London ' Episcopo Nobili viro Hugoni le Despencer Iustic ' Angliae Nobilibus viris Bartho ' Com' Audeg praedicti Regis Franc ' germano Abbati de Beccon inspiciendi examinandi formam ordinationis seu pacis praedictae addendi detrahendi eidem emendandi si quid addendum detrahendum seu corrigendum viderint providendi omnem securitatem quam viderint opportunam ea omnia quae ordinanda seu statuenda duxerint firmiter observandi Nos autem omnia singula quae ipsi ad emendationem observationem pacis ejusdem ordinaverint rata habebimus accepta subjiciendo nos jurisdictioni coertioni venerabilis Patris G. Sabin ' Episcopi Apostolicae sedis Legati ut ipse per sententiam excommunicationis omne genus censurae Ecclesiasticae nos omnes fingulos compellere possit si forte ordinationem praedictorum in aliquo praesumpserimus contrahere si praedictus Com' Audeg ' praesens non fuerit vel negotium istud in se assumere noluerit volumus quod Dominus de Neele vel Dominus Petrus de Camberleng ' loco ejusdem Com' subrogetur quod si praedicti quatuor in aliquo articulo pacis praedictae discordes fuerint judicio majoris partis eorundem stetur si Pares in discordia fuerint volumus ut venerabilis pater Archiepiscopus Rothomag ' eis associetur quod à majori parte eorundem quinque concorditer fuerit ordinatum firmiter obâ—â—rvetur Nolumus autem quod aliquid liceat eis dicere ordinare seu statuere circa emendationem ordinationis seu pacis praedictae per quod Regnum Angliae per alios quam per indigenas gubernetur nec castrorum custodia seu alia balliva in Regno praedicto aliis quam indigenis fidelibus non suspectis committetur volumus etiam modis omnibus quod pax inter nos Regem Angliae praefatum Com Leicestr ' super personalibus specialibus Querelis questionibus contentionibus quas contra eundem Comitem habemus ipse adversus nos de quibus posuimus nos in praedictum Regem Franc ' fiat assecuretur antequam pax seu ordinatio praedicta finaliter compleatur In cujus rei testimonium huic scripto nos Rex Angliae Com Leicestr ' Gloucestr ' Jo. Johannes Willielmus Henr ' Egidius pro nobis caeteris Baronibus communitate Regni Angliae sigilla nostra apposuimus Dat' apud Cantuar ' die Jovis prox ' post festum Nativ ' beatae Virginis an' Dom ' 1263. In assistance whereof saith Mr. Pryn the King and the Barons having by common consent entred into Articles of agreement under their hands concerning the reformation of the Realm of England and referred themselves therein to the determination of the King of France and the Pope's Legate he did constitute three Procurators to conclude and consent on his behalf to whatsoever should be therein agreed with submission to the Legate's Ecclesiastical Censures and Excommunications to compel him to the performance thereof in these words following viz. Rex Angliae omnibus ad quos c. salutem Noverint universitas vestra quod nos ordinamus constituimus venerabiles Patres W. Wygorn ' J. Winton ' Episcopos Nobilem virum Petrum de Monteforti Procuratores Nuntios nostros solempnes dantes eis potestatem tractandi in praesentiâ magnifici principis Domini L. Dei gratiâ Regis Franc ' illustris venerabilis Patris G. Sabin ' Episcopi Apostolicae Legati vel alterius eorum super reforma tione status Regni Angliae quod in hâc parte provisum fverit acceptandi firmandi seu etiam compromittendi super hoc in certas personas si viderint expedire ac omnem securitatem faciendi quam negotii qualitas requirit quam nobis seu Regno praedicto viderint optimum dantes in super praefato Petro potestatem jurandi in animam nostram quòd nos quicquid ipsi tres in praemissis nomine nostro duxerint faciendum ratum habebimus acceptum subjiciendo nos jurisdictioni coertioni praedicti Legati ut ipse per sententiam excemmunicationis omne genus censurae Ecclesiasticae nos compellere possit ad observatlonem praemissorum In cujus c. Dat' apud Cantuar ' die Jovis praedicta anno praedicto Wherein iâ—â—s to be observed that that was but upon the matter a re-referrence to the King of France the change being only in the assistant Councel the most part whereof were French under his obeysance and it was to be but as an emendation correction or altering of some part not all of the award which was made before which was not by this latter referrence found or declared to be void or so much as contradicted in any of the particulars of the provisions made at Oxford adjudged against the Barons or any thing to be defective or redundant nor was there any addition
were slain and drowned and the Londoners put to flight whom the Prince over-charging and pursuing by the space of four miles and putting many of them to the Sword was so out of sight and far gone from the King's Army as made them weaker than otherwise they would have been but at his return instead of a Victory found about 5000 of his Fathers Army slain the King of Almaine Robert de Bruce and John Comyn who had brought many Scots to the King's aid taken Prisoners with twenty-five Barons and Bannerets on the King's party and the King himself having his Horse killed under him made a Prisoner and shut up in the Priory Ita reversus Edwardus gravi praelio excipitur So as the Prince at his return was freshly set upon by the prevailing party The Earl Warren William de Valence and Guy de Lusignan and Hugh Bigod with forty armed Knights fled to Pevensey And the Prince when he was returned to the Town of Lewis sought his Father in the Castle but not finding him there went to the Priory where he found him In the mean time the conquering Barons assault the Castle which they that were within so stoutly defended as the besiegers withdrew which heartned the Prince so as he recollectis suis voluit iterum praeliari recollecting his Forces had a mind to try his and his Fathers fortune again and fight it out quo cognito miserunt Barones mediatones pacis which the Barons understanding sent unto him mediators to treat of a Peace promising the next morning to do it with effect at which time the Fryers Minors and Praedicants passing and labouring betwixt both parties the matters were adjourned until feria sexta some days after when Prince Edward and Henry the King of Almaine's Son were given as Hostages for their Fathers the Kings of England and Almain and sub spe pacis quietis delivered to Earl Symon de Montfort in the hopes of a peace and agreement ita ut cum deliberatione tractaretur quae Provisionum Statutorum essent pro utilitate Regni tenenda quae delenda so as they might at leisure and with deliberation treat and consider what Provisions and Statutes probably those which had been made at Oxford the Darlings of their designs were for the good of the Kingdom to be kept or what Laws were to be abrogated such in all likelyhood as might clip the King's Regalities and make them to be as much if not more King then Himself And that in the mean time the Prisoners on both sides should without any Ransom be set at liberty Insomuch as the Sunday following all that had been taken on both sides were licensed to go to their own habitations and the King as the said Symon de Montfort had directed him did write to those which were in the Castle of Tunbridge in Kent to deliver it up to Earl Symon which they did very unwillingly SECT VII Of the evil actions and proceedings of Symon de Montfort and his rebellious partners in the name of the King whilst they kept Him and his Son Prince Edward and divers of the Loyal Nobility Prisoners from the 14 th of May in the 48 th year of his Reign until His and Their delivery by the more fortunate Battel at Evesham the 4 th day of August in the 49 th year of his tormented Reign THe old Lyon thus taken and imprisoned by the misfortune of his gallant Whelp 's over-chasing and pursuing of a part of his enemies in the day and extremity of the Battel his Rebels when they had him were at a stand what to do with him They durst not let him loose for that would but restore him to his strength and power which his liberty might have regained If they should have murdered him that would have been so wide from a fix'd accomplishment of their wickedness as though it might have gained them a quiet or for some time continued possession of a Kingdom yet it was not at all likely to have been settled to them and their heirs whilst there was so wise and valiant a Prince and so many descendents of the Royal Line in remainder which would have been always wrestling and contending for it by the aid and assistance of a numerous Loyal and Potent Nobility and the common people who would be able easily to distinguish betwixt right and wrong would be more likely to love the former hate and bend all their forces and ill wishes against the latter and mock and take all opportunities of revenge in the redemption of an immured Sovereign his Crown Dignity and Lineage And therefore it would better suit with their wickedly-begun enterprizes and already-gotten advantages to make use of crafts and policy and render his own power the means the faster to ensnare and entangle him by putting Him and his friends in hope of a peace which they would not be very hasty in until they had gotten his Castles and Strength into their hands and drawn unto their party that part of his Subjects that had not intermeddled in the quarrels betwixt them but like men amazed stood at a gaze wondring at it and might well distrust and be jealous of their former pretences and promises when the Prince that had made himself a Pledge and Hostage for his Father that he might have his liberty found it was never intended but to keep him with all his hopes and fortunes as much a Prisoner as himself And by those and other arts and contrivances with their rebellious Army not disbanded but kept on foot to serve themselves and their Prisoners carried the King about with them from place to place to countenance against his will their evil designs and actions the people not of their party not daring to come either unto Him or Them without Letters of safe conduct which in the King's name whilst they play'd Rex with it and his Seal they could grant and write what they pleased in the language of their own design with which the Patent and Close Rolls of that year and the next with their Dates and Teste when they had him in their custody are well stor'd and in the mean time made it to be a great part of their care and business to cause to be delivered up unto them such Castles and places of strength as either they feared or had not in their Possession as Windsor Notingham Bamburgh Carlisle cum multis aliis c. Of which amongst many one to to Drugo Barentyn who had then in Windsor-Castle the custody of Peter de Moutfort taken in Arms against the King may serve for instance viz. Rex Drugoni de Barentyn Constabular castri de Windsor salutem quia specialia negotia vobis communicanda habemus vobis mandamus in fide quâ nobis tenemini firmitèr injungentes quatenus omnibus aliis praetermissis sitis ad nos London hoc instante die Mercurii ad ultimum nobisnm locutum hoc nullatènus omittatis nos enim
ad alios amicos nostros in partibus illis ad tractandum de Reformatione Pace status Regni nostri destinavimus quibus eundo illata fuerunt enormia Dampna de quibus anxiati with some indiscernable grief fuistis ut intellexerimus propter quod alii periculis huiusmodi se committere minus ausi sunt Serenitatem vestram recipimus affectione quâ possumus ampliori quatenùs Nuntiis nostris Baronum nostrorum ad praesentiam vestram ad Legatum supradictum nec non ad alios amieos nostros partium illarum in brevi destinand ' pro negoâ—â—is antedictis Salvum Securum Conductum vestrum in eundo ibidem morando inde recedendo concedere velitis Literas vestras inde patentes per latorem praesâ—ntium Nobis si placet transmittentes ad ipsos tutiùs conducendos aliquos de fidelibus v stris usque Witsand in Octabis instantis sancti Martini obviam nostro amore sibi mittatis Teste Rege apud Westminster tricesimo die Octobris Anno Regni nostri quadragesimo nono The 3 d. day of December in the Year aforesaid they being in want of Money to maintain and keep their Army together carry on their Designes and their Royal Prisoner caused a Writ to be sent to the Bishop of Norwich for some Supply Sub hac formâ Rex Norwicensi Episcopo Salutem Cùm per Praelatos Magnates Regni Nostri provisum esset unanimitèr concâ—ssâ—m quòd Decimae proventuum omnium beneficiorum in Regno Nostro darentur ad communem utilitatem eiusdem Regni Ecclesiae Anglicanae quòd huiusmodi Decimae per locorum Episcopos levarentur ad Nos mitterentur tunc vobis mandaverimus quòd juxta Provisionem praedictam in vestra Diocesi de beneficiis Ecclesiasticis huiusmodi Decimas levari ad Nos mitti faceretis indilatè convertendas in communem Utilitatem Regni Nostri Ecclesiae praedictae quod huc usque facere distulistis de quo miramur quà m plurimum movemur vobis iteratò mandamus firmiter injungentes quatenus huiusmodi Decimas sine omni dilatione levari eas usque London modis omnibus transmitti faciatis liberand ' venerabilibus Patribus H. London W. Wygorne Episcopis quibus injunximus quòd eas recipiant salvo custodiant donec aliud inde preceperimus ità quòd cas habeant in vigilia Epiphaniae Domini proxime futuri ad ultimum hoc sicut vos honorem vestrum diligitis nullo modo omittatis scituri quòd nisi feceritis mandavimus Vicecomiti nostro Norff. Suff. quòd usque ad septingentas Marcas A Mandate which the Bishops of London and Worcester would not have been content with if the King had been at liberty and had not been as then he was a Prisoner to their Rebellious Party in partem Solutionis praedictae de Bonis catallis vestris in Comitatibus praedictis sine dilatione levari ad Nos mitti faciat sine merâ per Rad ' de Camois Egidium de Argen ' Londini Wigorniae Episcopos Teste Rege apud Oxon 3o. die Decembris The 14 th day of that December next following having carried him in their victorious Army to Worcester they caused a Writ to be made in his Name and under his Seal directed to the Bishop of Durham in these words viz. Henricus Dei gratiâ Rex Angliae Dominus Hiberniae Dux Aquitaniae venerabili in Christo Patri R. eadem gratiâ Episcopo Dunelmensi salutem Cùm post gravia turbationum discriminum dudùm habita Regno Charissimus filius Edwardus primogenitus noster pro pace in Regno Nostro assecuranda firmanda Obses traditus exstitisset jam sedatâ benedictus sit Deus turbatione × praedictâ super deliberatione ejusdem salubritèr providendâ plenâ securitate tranquillitate pacis ad honorem Dei utilitatem totius Regni Nostri firmandâ totalitèr complendâ ac super quibusdam aliis Regni Nostri negotiis quae sine concilio vestro aliorum Praelatorum Magnatum nostrorum nolumus expediri cum iisdem Tractatum habere Nos oportet vobis rogantes in fide dilectione quibus Nobis tenemini quòd omni excusatione postposita negotiis aliis praetermissis sitis ad Nos London in Octabis sancti Hillarii proximi futuri Nobiscum cum praedictis Praelatis Magnatibus nostris quos ibidem vocari fecimus super praemissis tractaturi concilium impensuri hoc sicut Nos Honorem nostrum vestrum nec non communem Regni Nostri Tranquillitatem diligitis nullatenùs omittatis Teste Meipso 14. Decembr ' Anno Regni Nostri 49o. In formâ praedictâ subscribitur Episcopis Abbatibus Prioribus subscriptis c. In formâ praedictâ mandatum est Comitibus nostris aliis subscriptis Dat. apud Woodstock 24o. die Decembris praedicti viz. Comiti Leicester Comiti Glouc. Comiti Norff. Marescallo Angliae Comiti Oxon Comiti Derby Rogero de Sancto Johannis Hugo de Spencer Justiciar ' Angliae Nicholao de Segrave Johanni de Vescy Roberto Basset G. de Lucie Gilbert de Gaunt which were notoriously known to be of their Party and like Inclinations in number 25 or 23 a Blank yet remaining upon the Record for the names of those more Loyal that were not of their Conspiracy which were very many the Writ it self to Simon Montfort Earl of Leicester and his Consorts in that ungodly Enterprise being not to be found at all entred And of the same date sent out Writs in the Kings Name and under his Seal directed to all the Sheriffs of the Realm wherein signifying the Kingdom to be then in peace and quiet and the King's desire to establish the same to the honour of God and benefit to his People to send to the Parliament which was to be holden at London in the Octaves of Saint Hillary then next ensuing two Knights Elected for each County and of the Cityes and Boroughs two Citizens or Burgesses to treat with the King Praelates and Barons and give their Counsel Which Writs of Summons in the framing whereof their VVits could not be at leisure to think of an Election of Burgesses or Procurators for the two Universities of Oxford and Cambridge as if those Seminaries of Learning had been incapacitated and merited a procul ite prophani made in and by the Name of a captive King whilst he was a Prisoner of War not taken by Surprise or Ambuscado but Fighting in a Battle against a mighty Army of Rebels that should have been his Subjects had it seems no other effect than an Attempt to summon their contrived new-fashioned Parliament for that by a general Disturbance none of the many Boroughs in Cornwal being then likely to come for that the Earl of Cornwal was on the King's Party and a Prisoner and Commotion of the Kingdom
of the said Earl of Leicester's actions and courses a Writ was sent unto him in the King's Name as followeth Rex Gilberto de Clare Comiti Gloucestr ' Hertford ' salutem Cùm hac instante die Jovis in Crastino Cinerum super liberatione Edwardi Primogeniti Nostri finalem habere velimus tractatum vobis mandamus in fide homag dilectione quibus Nobis tenemini firmitèr injungentes Quòd omnibus aliis praetermissis sitis ad Nos die Jovis praedictâ Nobiscum super hoc tractaturi consilium vestrum impensuri ne retardatio liberationis ipsius vobis per moram absentiam vestram ad diem illum meritò possit vel debeat imputari quòd nullatenùs velle deberetis hoc sicut Nos Honorem nostrum vestrum ac tranquillitatem Regni Nostri noc non praedicti filii Nostri Liberationem diligitis nullo modo omittatis Teste Rege apud Westmonasterium decimo sexto die Februarii The 25 th day of that February a Memorandum was entred in the form following viz. Die Mercurii prox post festum S â—i Petri ad Cathedram recepit Dominus Rex sigillum suum à Magistro Johanne de Chishull Archidiacono London illud commisit Thomae de Cantilup sicut continetur in Rotulo patentium hujus anni Teste Rege apud Westm ' 25. die Februarii The 3 d of March next following Roger de Mortuomari for a small time pretending to submit ad pacem Domini Regis as they that had disturbed it would have it to be believed had Writs to the Subjects of Herefordshire and Shropshire not to molest him or his Tenants viz. Rex Vicecom ' Heref. salutem Cùm Rogerus de Mortuomari nuper ad pacem nostram venerit propter hoc hominibus suis in guerra in Regno Nostro super mota secum existentibus gratiam sacere velimus tibi praecipimus quòd omnes homines praedictos quos pro eo quòd in guerrâ praedictâ cum ipso fuerunt capi vel attachiari fecisti sine dilatione deliberari fac Nec ipsos de caetero ob causam praedictam occasionari fae nisi ipsos pro aliquo delicto ante Guerram vel post Guerram praedictam seu pacem Nostram proclamatam ab eisdem commisso ccperis vel attachiari feceris pro quo secundum consuetudinem Regni Nostri deliberari non debeant Teste Rege apud Westm ' tertio die Martii Eodem modo mandatum est Vicecomiti Salop. pro hominibus ejusdem Rogeri Per Regem consilium Robert de Ferrers Earl of Darbie a man of great Power and Revenue not keeping pace with their designes but falling roughly upon some of his Tenants that adhered unto them Ada de Tybetot complaining had by the King concilio Baronum the Mannor of Thorpe in Leicestershire restored unto her for that it was never the Intention of the Barons as they said that any Women especially Widows not being guilty should suffer in that Warr by a Writ sent unto Nicholas de Hastings who held the Lands of the said Earl of Darby upon seizure and sequestration sub hac forma of the date aforesaid viz. Rex Nicho. de Hastings Custodi terrarum Roberti de Farrar Com. Derb. salutem Monstravit nobis Ada de Tibetot gravitèr conquerendo quòd praefat ' Com. occasione Turbationis habitae in regno Nostro Manerium praedictae Adae de Thorp cum suis pertinentiis in Com. Leic. occupavit sibi detinuit ad ejus grave dampnum jacturam manifestam quod quidem Manerium unà cum aliis terris praefat ' Com. nunc est in manu Nostra ut dicitur quia verò Nostrae nunquam extitit intentionis aut Baronum nostrorum quòd aliquae Mulieres praecipuè Viduae dampnum aliquod vel jacturam incurrere deberent occasione Turbationis praedictae nisi illae quae turbationis illius Participes extiterint vobis de Concilio Baronum praedictorum mandamus quòd inquisita super hoc plenius veritate si praefatam Viduam de Manerio suo praedicto per eundem Com. ejectam inveneritis ut praedictum est si ipsa de praedicta turbatione in nullo culpabilis extiterit tunc eidem Viduae de eodem Manerio cum suis pertinentiis Sesinam suam rehabere fac Teste Rege apud Westm ' 3. die Martii per Iustic P. de Monteforti R. de S ti Johanne Adam de Novo Mercato The 5 th day of that March the like Writ was sent to the said Nicholas Hastings to restore the Princess Elianor Wise to the Prince the Mannor of Ashford in the Peake which being assigned to her the said Earl had entred upon for that it was never the King 's and the Barons intentions that Women not guilty should suffer by these Wars in which they had not offended in the form following Rex Nicho ' de Hastings Custodi suo terrarum Roberti de Ferrar Comitis Derb. Salutem Cùm Edwardus filius noster karissimus dudum ante turbationem habitam in Regno Nostro Manerium suum de Arkeford in Pecco cum pertinentiis Elianor ' Consorti suae ad cameram suam assignaverit quod quidem manerium praefatus Comes occasione turbationis praedictae nuper occupavit ac Nostrae nunquam extitit Intentionis vel Baronum nostrorum quòd Mulieres quae participes non extiterint praedictae turbationis dampnum vel jacturam aliquam debeant incurrere cùmque praedicta Elianora in nullo culpabilis sit de turbatione praedicta vobis de Consilio praedictorum Baronum mandamus quòd eidem Elianorae de Manerio praedicto quod unà cum praedictis terris praefati Comitis nunc est in manu Nostra ut dicitur Seisinam suam rehabere fac Teste Rege apud Westmonasterium quinto die Martii Per Consilium The 16 th day of that March Mandates were sent by the King to Roger de Shurland Guncelin de Badylmer Simon de Crey quibusdam aliis to come to him upon Palm-Sunday wheresoever he should then be in England viz. Mandatum est Rogero de Shirland in fide dilectione quibus Regi tenetur firmitèr injungendo quòd modis omnibus sine omni dilatione veniat ad Regem it à quòd sit ad R. die Lunae prox ante instantem diem dominicam Palmar ' ad ultimum ubicunque tunc Rex fuerit in Anglia cum Rege locutur ' hoc nullo modo omitt Teste Rege apud Westmon ' 16. Martii Eodem modo mandatum est Gunselmo de Badilmer Simoni de Crey quibusdam aliis Roger de Mortuo Mari and other Lords of the Marches of Wales being by the King at his being at Worcester de Consilio Baronum qui sunt de consilio Regis ordered to go into Ireland at Christmas next following according to the Instructions given by the King and his Barons which time was afterwards Prorogued until Mid-Lent and
from thence until Eight dayes after Easter the King commanded them all business laid aside to be at Chester ready to go thither as the Writt ensueing required viz. Rex Regero de Mortuomari Salutem Cum nobis nuper existen ' apud Wigorn ' de Concilio Baronum qui sunt de Concilio Nostro prefixerimus vobis aliis Commarchionibus vestris vicesimum diem post Festum natale Domini Annoque c. 49. ad transfretand ' in Hibernia in forma per Nos Barones Nostros vos provisa ibidem ob certas causas terminum illum postmodum prorogaverimus de gratia nostra speciali usque ad mediam quadragesimam proximo sequentem similiter terminum dictae mediae quadragesim ' prorogavimus usque ad Octabis Paschae prox ' futur ' ità tamen quòd tunc parati sitis proficisci ad partes Hiberniae informa supradicta Nos hijs quae honorem commodum vestrum contingunt prospicere cupientes in hâc parte vobis mandamus firmitèr in jungentes quòd omnibus negotiis praetermissis modis omnibus sitis apud Cestr ' in Octabis praedictis parati proficisci ad partes Hiberniae in forma supradicta hoc sicut honorem vestrum diligitis nullo modo omittatis Teste R. apud Westm ' 190. die Martii Per totum Concilium John the eldest Son of the Duke of Britain having Married the Kings Daughter and sent his Ambassadours unto him upon some Propositions made unto the King an Answer was returned thereunto That as the King intended to shew unto him all Affection and Favour that could be expected from him in which Resolution terrae suae Magnates were willing to be consenting so as he would manifest himself Faithful in its defence cum Magnatibus praedictis which will require his presence which was much desired with a safe Conduct or otherwise that he would send his Procurators sufficiently instructed to that end as the Writ declared Rex J. Primogenito Duci Britan ' salutem Auditis pleniùs intellectis hijs quae Nuntij vestri nuper cum Literis vestris de Credentia ad praesentiam Nostram destinati ex parte vestra proponere voluerunt coram Nobis supere isdem cum Magnatibus terrae Nostrae deliberatum concilium tractatum habuimus diligentem porrò in hoc Nostra resedit deliberatio ut Nos qui promissa Nostra seu conventiones vobiscum habitas irritas facere non intendimus non solum in hiis quae juris vestri sunt vestra cum affectu exaudiamus desideria sed ultra cùm facultas se optulerit etiam de proprio gratiam vobis facere debeatis specialem ad quae per filiae Nostrae copulam affinitas dudum inter Nos contracta nec non vestra merita Probitatis specialitèr Nos inducunt in quo etiam affectionis Nostrae proposito praedictos terrae Nostrae Magnates Nobiscum consentientes invenimus concordes dum tamen Regni Nostri fidelem vos exhibere ad ejusdem defensionem cum Magnatibus Nostris praedictis manum virilitèr extendere volueritis adjutricem sicut praedicti Nuntii vestri vobis plenius referre poterunt unâ voce quod negotium consummandum simul roborandum vestram prout citius hoc commode facere poteritis desideramus praesentiam Nostras de securo Conductu vobis Literas transmittentes quòd si quo minus personalitèr hoc facere possitis quod nollemus casu aliquo fueritis impediti tales tà m sufficientèr instructos loco vestro Procuratores transmittatis qui in omnibus quae negotium requirit eandem quam si ibi praesentes essetis à vobis habeant potestatem T. R. apud Westm ' 27 die Martii Per Regem totum Concilium Idem J. habet Literas de Conductu prout patet in rotulo Patentium sub eadem Data Henry de Boreham a Judge being Excommunicated by the Bishop of London the King by the Writ following commanded him not to intermeddle in any business untill he should be absolved Rex Henrico de Boreham Salutem Quia Nobis esset verecundum et vobis minimè tutum si alicui ministerio quod ad regiam Dignitatem vel Regimen regni Nostri pertineat immisceritis ad praesens cum ad denuntiationem venerabilis Patris H. London Episc. intellexerimus quòd meritis vestris exigentibus sententia Excommunicationis estis innoditi vòbis mandamus quòd ad prudentiùs quod poteritis vos ab hujusmodi ministeriis substrahatis donec beneficium Absolutions obtinueritis T. R. apud Gloucest 20 Die Aprilis Per Justic. et al' de Consilio apud Gloucest The Castle of Bamburgh with other Castles being as Pledges for Prince Edwards true Imprisonment put into the custody of Gilbert de Clare Earl of Gloucester and Hertford and Robert de Neville and the said Earl having promised to deliver up the said Castle and to cause the said Robert de Neville to appear in the Kings Court and answer his not doing it and the Earl being afterwards commanded to deliver up the said Castle returned answer That he could not do it for that he was in Wales defending his own Lands and Estate against his Enemies the King notwithstanding commanded him to come unto him and render the Castle or give order to some that might do it as the Writ bearing date the 6 th day of April in the year aforesaid directed Rex dilecto fideli suo Gilberto de Clare Comiti Gloucest Hertford Salutem Cùm vos Robertus de Nevill eui Castrum Nostrum de Bamburgh dudum commissimus quod Edwardo primogenito Nostro unà cum quibusdam aliis Castris Nostris jam commisimus tradenda in Ostagium tà m pro ipso quà m pro Pace in regno nostro tenenda prout in forma inter Nos Praefatum Filium nostrum Barones praedictos provisa concessa pleniùs continetur in praesentiâ Nostrâ Magnatum nostrorum qui sunt de Consilio Nostro bona fide super omnia quae in Regno Nostro tenetis permiseritis reddere nobis castrum praedictum habere praefatum Robertum coram Nobis ad standum recto in Curiâ Nostrâ sicut vos ipsi plenius nostis per quod vobis nuper mandavimus quod omnibus negotiis praetermissis aliquem de vestris plenam potestatem habentem reddendi Nobis Castrum praedictum ad Nos indilatè mitteretis jam Nobis rescripseritis quod hoc facere nequivistis propter Moram vestram in partibus Walliae ad defensionem terrarum vestrar ' contra Wallen ' inimicos vestros Nos excusationem illam minus sufficientem reputantes maximè cum aliquem de vestris qui ad arma non intendit ad Nos misisse potuissetis qui nomine vestro praesati Roberti plenam haberet potestatem reddendi Nobis Castrum praedictum vobis iteratò mandamus in fide dilectione quibus
prospicere volueritis nullo modo omittatis Nos enim hoc idem caeteris Praelatis duxerimus injungendum T. R. apud Heref. 12. die Junii Eodem modo mandatum est Episcopis Lincoln Winton Cestr ' Elyen ' Sarum Coventry Litchfield Bathon ' Wellen ' cum adjectione subscripta quia tantam eorundem Malitiam sub fictae veritatis colore per diversas partes praedicari faciunt ad comâ—â—ovenda corda populorum vestrum s 〈…〉 o cordis affectu peroptamus adventum ut nostro vestro aliorum Praelatorum medianti Testimonio veritas praevalere possit evidenter pateat non Nos sed praefatos Rebelles nostros subortis jam dissentionibus clà m praefecisse ut igitur ad honorem Dei nostram vestram communem Regni Utilitatem vestro mediante Consilio quo uti intendimus possint ipsa negotia procedere gressus vestros in quantum poteritis versus Nos maturetis nè per moras dictas dissentiones augeri contingat ut sic exitium consequantur duriorem But whilst that great Rebell Montfort Brother-in-law to his King and one of the God-Fathers to the Prince his Son taking himself to be too great to be a Subject and not being able to contain himself within the limits of Gratitude and Allegiance or to resist the Intreagues of the King of France a long before dangerous and profest Enemy to his KING and Soveraign and altogether unwilling to lose the Opportunity of a Factious and discontented part of the English Baronage driving his Charriot furiously like Jehu though not with so good an Authority impowered as he thought to make every one come behind him and believing himself to be in so firme a league with his Fortune and Security and assisted by Lewelline Prince of Wales who had confederated with him to raise a Disturbance upon the Lands and Estates of Mortimer Clifford the Earl of Gloucester and other Barons Marchers so as they might not be in a condition to Aid or Relieve the King and he needed not dread any danger of losing the Prey which he had gained but might make what use he would of his haughty and domineering Spirit give Laws to his Assisting Partners and not be obliged to keep his Agreement with Gilbert de Clare Earl of Gloucester and Hertford about the Dividend of the spoil or share of the Regal Power became Taxed for doing more for his own Particular than the Publick Good usurping the Redemption of Prisoners at his pleasure and to prolong the business did not to use the means of a Parliament to end it his Sons also and Peter de Montfort his Kinsman presuming upon his Success and Greatness growing Insolent which made the Earl of Gloucester to desert him and his Party and the more Loyal Barons not well pleased to have their King led about Captive and those who had so deeply engaged with Montfort for the Provisions extorted from the King at Oxford could not well digest so great an Affront put upon him and themselves and to have the King and Kingdom governed at the Discretion of Twenty-four Conservators after reduced to a much lesser number into which every one could not be admitted calmely considering the great Confusions Envies and Ambitions which would happen by so like to be so dangerous and unquiet an Innovation were content and propounded That those Ordinances or Provisions should be made void and the King restored to his former Rights and Condition but Peter de Montfort a Principal Rebel as well as a near Kinsman of Symon de Montfort's with four others opposed it and was made Governour of Hereford not long before the Prince's escape from his Imprisonment there Which was principally contrived by the means of Roger de Mortimer who seeing His Soveraign in so great a distress and nothing but Ruine and Misery attending himself and all other the King 's Loyal Subjects could take no rest until he had by his Intelligence and Correspondency held with Gilbert de Clare Earl of Gloucester William de Valence Earl of Pembroke newly returned into England the Lord Clifford and other the Loyal Barons Marchers wrought some way for the Deliverance of the Prince in order to that of the King Which was in this manner effected A swift Horse was sent as a Present to the Prince then Prisoner in the Castle of Hereford whither the Army had afterwards brought the King in no better a condition with intimation that he should obtain leave to ride out for a Tryal or for Recreation into a place called Widmersh and that upon sight of a Person mounted upon a White Horse at the foot of Culington Hill and waving his Bonnet which was as it was said the Lord of Croft an Ancestor of the now Bishop of Hereford of that Sir-name and Ancient Family he should hast towards him with all possible speed which being so accordingly done as he though all the Country thereabouts were thither called to prevent his Escape setting spurs to that Horse out-rid them all and being come to the Park of Culington was met by Roger de Mortimer with five hundred armed men who turning upon the many Pursuers chased them back with a great slaughter to the Gates of Hereford but by Henry Knighton and others it is related that Roger de Mortimer having sent the Prince a swift Horse for that purpose which he obtaining leave of Peter de Montfort to try if he were of use for the great Saddle first wearied out other Horses and then got on the swift Horse a Boy with two Swords whom the said Roger de Mortimer had sent being near with another Horse and turning himself to Robert de Ross then his Keeper and to others By-Standers said I have been in your Custody for a time but now I bid you farewel and so rode away the said Roger de Mortimer with his banner displayed receiving him at a little Hill called Dinmore conveyed him safe to his Castle at Wigmore Which did put Montfort and his Fellow-Rebels into such a Consternation and Care of themselves and the Custody of their Royal Prisoner as besides their many Cautions to watch his motions and stop the Princes passage into the parts beyond the Seas a Writ was sent to the Sheriff of Herefordshire in the King's Name commanding the most of the Gentry of that County amongst whom Hugo de Croft was mentioned to come Cum equis armis toto posse suo ad desensionem villae de Hereford and to the King wheresoever he should be under the pain of Forfeiture of all that they had and for ever to be disherited SECT VIII Of the Actions of the Prince after his Escape his Success at the Battle of Evesham Release of the King his Father and Restoring him to his Rights PRince Edward being thus at liberty did by the help of Mortimer Clare Earl of Gloucester the Earl Warren William de Valence Earl of Pembroke the Lord Clifford and
other the Lords Marchers soon raise a powerful Army multitudes of the Counties of Hereford Worcester Salop and Chester coming to his aid took the Castle and City of Worcester had the Castle of Monmouth delivered unto him which he demolished surprized the Town of Kenilworth in Warwickshire whither young Simon de Montfort had brought up many of the Northern Barons of that Party to the number of 20 Banners took no less than Thirteen of the chief of them young Simon and others escaping into the Castle In the mean time the said Symon Earl of Leicester carrying the King along with him as his Prisoner upon Lammas day being the first day of August receiving intelligence that the Prince was at Worcester and not knowing that Kenilworth was taken marched towards Evesham about break of the day on purpose to meet with those Barons which his Son had brought out of the North of which the Prince being advertised advanced speedily after him and got betwixt him and Kenilworth Mortimer and the Earl of Gloucester so disposing the Forces which they commanded as that he was almost invironed Seeing himself therefore in that streight he forthwith drew out his men and prepared for Battell it being then the Nones of August and ascending the Hill discovered Prince Edward and his Army on the top thereof which was divided into three parts the first led by Himself the second by the Earl of Gloucester the third by Mortimer the business being so ordered that no other Colours appeared then the Banner of young Symon and the rest taken at Kenilworth which caused the Earl to suppose that many of them had been of his own Party but upon further View he understood the contrary for the Prince afterwards took down those Colours and instead of them erected his own and the Earl of Gloucesters Banners on the one side and Mortimers towards the West which unexpected sight caused such a Discouragement in the Army of the Barons as that the Welsh betook themselves to flight and the rest being over-powerd were totally routed so that few escaped the Slaughter Of those who were Slain and not taken Prisoners were as to the Principal Persons Symon de Monfort Earl of Leicester himself whose Head Hands and Feet being cut off were sent to the Lady Mortimer then at Wigmore Castle Henry de Montfort his Eldest Son Hugh le Dispencer then Justice of England Ralph Basset of Drayton Thomas de Astely Peter de Montfort William de Mandeville John de Beauchamp of Bedford Guy de Baliol and divers other persons of Quality with a multitude of the common Sort Of those that were wounded and taken Prisoners the Chief were Guy de Montfort a younger Son of the said Symon de Montfort John Fitz-John Humphry de Bohun the younger John de Vescy Peter de Monfort Junior and Nicholas de Segrave And it was said that when the Earl of Leicester discerned the Form of the Princes Battalia he swore by the Arm of St. James his usual Oath they have done discreetly but this they have learned of me let us therefore commend our Souls to God because our Bodies are theirs and encouraging his men told them they were to Fight for the Law of the Land yea the Cause of God and Justice and advising Hugh le Despencer Ralph Basset and some others to flie and reserve themselves for better times they refused so to do but rather chose to die with him Who although he was an Arch-Rebell and in that a Pest or Plague unto the Nation yet the deluded People could not think it enough to honour and follow him in his Life time but would in the Fame of his supposed Miracles have worshipped him for a Saint after his Death if the King had not prohibited them SECT IX Of the Proceedings of King Henry the Third after his Release and Restauration until his Death THE long imprisoned and sadly misused King thus happily released out of his Thraldome but yet with the Loss of some of his Own as well as too much of his Subjects Blood by a Wound casually received in the battle was now rid of his Jaylor whom he feared and hated as he said himself more than any man living and he that before was forced to write and speak as Montfort and the rebellious Barons would dictate unto him obey their Orders as soon as they were proposed declare his Son and Loyal Subjects Rebels and the Rebels his most faithful Councel could like a Bird out of the Snare of the Fowler when he was at liberty and had escaped their Tyranny give them their proper Names and Titles call their whole business a Rebellion and made them glad to receive their Pardons under the Character of his Enemies as in the Pardons of John Fitz-John Basset and others and with the Victorious Prince the Redeemer of him and the Kingdom went to Winchester where a Parliament being convoked all who adhered to Simon de Montfort were disinherited and their Estates conferred upon others at the King's pleasure the Liberties of London forfeited and taken from them in which year that valiant Prince his Son as Mat. Paris hath recorded it fought a single Combat with Adam de Goâ—rdon the Out-law near Farneham where finding him in the Woods and personally engaging with him the fight continued so long and with such Animosity and Courage on both sides as they as well as the Spectators marvailing at each others extraordinary unwearied Valour the sturdy Out-law was at last content upon the Prince's offer to procure his Pardon to throw down his Arms and was restored to Favour and his former Estate And the King notwithstanding the Success at the Battle of Evesham and his Advantages gained thereby continuing his Endeavours to free his Kingdom from the Danger Damage and Disturbance of any further Rebellion having gathered together a formidable Army treated upon Hostages given with young Simon de Montfort for a Peace to be granted unto him as to his own particular and for the delivering up of the Castle of Kenilworth wherein he had despitefully behaved himself by cutting off the hand of one of his Courriers whom he had intercepted and sending it unto him in a ridiculous jeeâ—ing manner not only from himself but some of his Complices that were forfeited and disherited But they that were in the Castle denying to surrender it either to the King or Symon in regard that they were intrusted by the Countess of Leicester who was beyond the Seas and without her Order they would not do it In the mean time whilst the King besieged Killingworth Castle which held out half a year a great Party of those that were disherited growing desperate retired to the Isle of Ely which they did begin to fortifie and from thence making Incursions into the adjacent parts did great Mischief Which to repress â—aith Mathew Paris citantur Communium Communes ad â—os vallandos eorum egressum impediendum which in great numbers
they endeavoured to doe but were over-reached by the Military Arts and Stratagems of the Montfortian Party the King having the Castle of Kenilworth surrendred unto him Symon and Guy de Montfort Sons to the Earl of Leicester with the disinherited Barons who escaped from the Battel of Evesham defending the Isle of Ely the King and the Prince going with an Army against them streightly besieged them and tendred them afterwards gentle Conditions wherein the King 's Privy Councel were divided for that Mortimer having the whole Earldom Honor and great Estate of the Earl of Oxford after the battle of Evesham granted unto him and many others who had great Quantities of the disherited Parties Lands given unto them were unwilling to forgo what the King had for their Valour and Fidelity bestowed upon them and therefore would hold what they had but Gloucester and the Twelve Ordained to deal for the Peace of the State and other their Friends which were many stood stifly for a Restoration Which raised new Displeasures so as Gloucester retired from the Court and sent a Messenger to require the King to remove Strangers from his Court and observe the Provisions made at Oxford according to his last Promise made at Evesham otherwise he should not marvel if himself did what he thought fit whereupon in the one and fiftieth year of his Raigne at S t. Edmunds-Bury was a Parliament summoned unto which were cited Comites Barones Archiepiscopi Episcopi Abbates and all who held by Knights Service were to appear with Horse and Armour for the vanquishing of those disherited Persons who contrary to the Peace of the Kingdom held the Isle of Ely John de Warren Earl of Surrey and William de Valentia were sent to the Earl of Gloucester who had leavied an Army upon the Borders of Wales to come in a fair manner to that Parliament which he refused to do but gave it under his hand that he would never bear Arms against the King or his Son Edward but to defend himself and pursue Roger Mortimer and other his Enemies for which he pretended to have taken Armes The first Demand in that Parliament which was made by the King and the Legat was That the Clergy should grant a Tenth for three Years to come and for the Years past so much as they gave the Barons for defending the Coasts against the Invasion of Strangers Whereto they answred That the War was begun by unjust Desires which yet continued and it was more necessary to treat of the Peace of the Kingdom to make use of the Parliament for the benefit thereof and not to extort Moneys considering the Land had been so much destroy'd by the War as it would never be recovered When it was required That the Clergy might be taxed by Laymen according to the just Value They answer It was neither Reason nor Justice that they should intermeddle in collecting the 10 th which they would never consent unto but would have the Antient Taxation to stand It was desired That they would give the 10 th of their Baronies and Lay-fees according to their utmost values They answered That they were impoverished in attending the King in his Expeditions and their Lands lay untilled by reason of the Wars It was moved That in liev of a 10 th they should give among them 30000 Marks to discharge the King's Debts contracted concerning the Kingdom of Sicily They answered They would give nothing in regard that all those Taxations and Extortions formerly made by the King were never converted to his own Use or the Benefit of the Kingdom Demand being made That all the Clergy-men which held Baronies or other Lay-fees should personally serve in the Wars They answer They were not to sight with the Material Sword but the Spiritual and that their Baronies were given of mere Almes Being required to discharge the 9000â— which the Bishops of Rochester Bath and the Abbot of Westminster stood bound to the Pope's Merchants for the King's Service at their being at the Court of Rome They answered That they never consented to pay such Loan and therefore were not bound to discharge it Then the Legate from the Pope required That without delay Praedication should be made throughout the Kingdom to incite men to take the Cross for the Recovery of the Holy Land Whereunto Answer was made That the greatest part of the People were already consumed by the Sword and that if they should undertake that Action there would be none left to defend the Kingdom and the Legate seemed to desire to extirpate the Nation and introduce Strangers Lastly when it was urged That the Praelates were bound to yield to all the Kings Demands by their Oath at Coventry where they did Swear to aid him by all means possible they could They answered that when they took that Oath they understood no other Aids than Spiritual and wholsome Councell So nothing but Denyals being obteyned in that Parliament the Legat imployed some to Sollicite the disherited Lords that held the Isle of Ely to leave off their Robberies and return to the Peace of the King the Faith and Unity of the Church according to the Form provided by the Dictum de Kenilworth made by a Commission of the King no Dict or Act of Parliament to 12 of the Peers for the Redemption of their Inheritances given away by the King for Five say some other Seven years Profits They who had no Lands were to give their Oaths and to find Sureties for their Peaceable Behaviour and make such Satisfaction and undergo such Penances as the Church should appoint they who were Tenants should lose their right to their Farmes saving the right of their Lords they who did instigate any to Fight against the King should forfeit the Profit of their Lands for two years and if any Person should refuse those Conditions they should be de Exhereditatis and have no power of recovering their Estates in which Composition or Dictum some Persons and particularly Symon de Montfort himself and his Heirs were excluded To which they answered That they hold the Faith received from their Catholick Fathers and their Obedience to the Roman Church as the Head of all Christianity but not to the Avarice and wilful Exactions of those who ought to Govern the same And that their Praedecessors and Ancestors whose Heirs they were having Conquered the Land by the Sword they held themselves to be unjustly disherited and that it was against the Popes Mandate they should be so dealt withal That they had formerly taken their Oaths to defend the Kingdom and Holy Church all the Prelates thundring the Sentence of Excommunication against such as withstood the same and according to that Oath they were prepared to spend their Lives and seeing they Warred for the benefit of the Kingdom and Holy Church they were to sustain their Lives by the Goods of those that detained their Lands which the Legat ought to cause to be
restored to them Besides they declared to the Legat That they had irreverently ejected out of the Kingdom the Bishops of Winchester London and Chester whereby the Councell of the Kingdom was in great part weakned willed that they might be restored to their Lands without Redemption that the Provisions of Oxford might be observed and that they might have Hostages delivered unto them into the Island to hold the same peaceably for five years to come until they might perceive how the King would perform his Promises But this Stubbornness so exasperated the King as the next year following with a mighty Army he did so beset the Isle as he shut them up and Prince Edward with Bridges made on boats entred the same in diverse places and constrained them to yeild And in the 52d year of his Raign devastavit saith Matthew Paris per totum Regnum de Comitatu in Comitatum qui stabilem contravenientibus intentarent ut videlicet si quid Possessiones alienas sive Ovium vel Boum vel aliquid usurparet injustè subiret Sententiam capitalem In the mean time the Earl of Gloucester with his Army marched to London where by the Citizens he was received But the Legat residing in the Tower so prevailed with him as he rendred himself to the King and was shortly after reconciled by the Mediation of the King of the Romans and the Lord Philip Basset upon the forfeiture of 12000 Marks if he should ever raise any Commotion Which being effected the King went with an Army into Wales against Lewellin their Prince for ayding Simon Montfort and the Earl of Gloucester against him but his Wrath being for 32000 l. Sterling appeased a Peace was concluded betwixt them and four Cantreds which had been taken from him by right of Warr restored Whereby those bloody long and ruining Controversies betwixt that unfortunate Prince King Henry the Third and a great ill disposed part of his Subjects led and managed by some of his overgrown Nobility and haereditary great Officers of his Crown and Estate which had in and from his Infant age to Fifty-Seven vexed and disquieted him and his Government were drawing towards an end And whilst â—e laboured to repress those Disorders which the Warrs had produced issued out his Writs to all the Sheriffs and Justices Itinerants to leavy 400â— with all speed out of the extract Rolls of Fines and Americaments to be paid into the Exchequer for the expences of William de Beverlaco Prince Edwards Chaplain sent to Rome about his Affairs And in the same year beholding with tears the Ruines of the burnt and deformed Church of Norwich after the Bishops Excommunication of all that had consented unto it And Trivet the Judg punishing the Offenders he fined the City in 3000 Marks of Silver towards the repairing of that Church and a Cup of Gold of the value of one hundred pounds In the 54 th year of his Raign Parliamentum tenuit apud Marleburgh in quo de Assensu Comitum Baronum no mention at all being made of the Commonalty as well high as low in the Record but is justly to be charged as a fault or mistake upon Mr. Pulton's Translation of our Statutes into English edita sunt statuta The Legat Ottobon signed with the Croysado both the King's Sons Edward and Edmond the Earl of Gloucester and divers other Noble men undertaking a War for the Recovery of the Holy Land Prince Edward in that long and Perillous Journey carrying with him his beloved Consort Elianor then young with Child and Mortgaging Gascony to the King of France for 30000 Marks who was also personally engaged in the same Expedition and left his aged Father the King broken with the cares and toyles of War and Imprisonment who after his Son Prince Edward's departure being in the Fifty-fifth year of his Raign having borrowed Moneys of his Brother Richard King of Almaine to help to set forward his Son Edward and falling desperately sick and past all hopes of Recovery assigned unto his said Brother all the Revenues of the Crown except Wardships Marriages Releifes Escheats of the Counties Eyres of the Justices and the Juries which he retained in his own hands to his own use A Nostre soustenance as the words of the Record are de Nostre Reyne e de Nos mesnees e a Nos de Nos dettes aleger And shortly after being doubtful of his Recovery from that sickness whilst Prince Edward his Son and Heir to the Crown was engaged in that so called Holy War Wrote his Letter of Advice unto him speedily to return into England upon his Fatherly Blessing notwithstanding his Vow and Engagement in that affair in such manner as might be most for his Honour in these words viz. Rex Edwardo Primogenito suo karissimo salutem paternam Benedictionem Tenore Literarum vestrarum Nobis super vestro Comitivae Vestrae statu prospero jocundo benedictus Deus transmissarum audito pleniùs intellecto laeti efficiebomur hilares in immensum ettam ante receptionem ipsarum Literarum tanta tam gravi infirmitate detinebamur quòd onmes singult existentes Physici alii de vita Nostra commâ—â—iter desperabant nec tempore quo later praesentium à Nobis recessit de Nostra Convaltscentia spes aliqua habebatur verùm tamen prout Altissimo de statu Nostro placuerit ordinare vos indè per Nostros Nuntios reddemus frequentiùs certiores undè cùm vos in Haereditatem not by Election Regni Nostri tanquam Primogenitus Haeres Noster post Nos succedere debeatis vos post receptionem praesentium ad partes remotiores nullatenùs transferatis antè qùam de statu Nostro certitudinem habueritis pleniorem tùm quia si Papa crearetur mandaret charissimo fratri nostro Regi Alem illustri Avunculo vestro cui custodia Regni praedicti de concilio vestro commissa fuit oporteat ipsum pro statu sui Regni Alem ' ad Curiam Romanam modis omnibus personaliter accedere ità quòd ad depressionem quorundam male volorum infra Regnum Nostrum existentium sicut nostis intendere non posset ut expediret tà m quia si occasione mortis Nostrae quod absit vos oporteat ad propria remeare causa Regiminis Regni praedicti recipiendi cum Rege Franciae qui ad partes Franciae in brevi reversurus est ut dicitur honestè redire poteritis decentèr super quibus omnibus tale concilum habeatis quale vobis honori Vestro ac ipsi Regno paci tranquillitati ejusdem Magis videritis expedire hoc sub obtentu paternae Benedictionis nullatenùs omittatis ut vobis de voluntate Nostra constet in praemissis consulimus bonâ fide quòd ad propria redeatis sine morâ quià vestris Regni praedicti Negotiis ad votum ordinatis dispositis poteritis cum
praefato Rege Franciae redire versus Terram Sanctam in subsidium ejusdem prout MÃ gis noveritis convenire Teste Rege apud Westm ' 6 o die Februarii And tired with the many Troubles with which the Rebellious and unquiet Spirits of too many of his Subjects had from his Infancy never ceased to torment him exchanged his earthly Habitation for a better before his Son could hear of his Death or return to take possession of his Kingdom and Inheritance And although he against his Will left behind him the first Original or Draught of a Constitution or Design of an House or Convocation now called an House of Commons in Parliament which can claim no better an Extraction then it's Birth and first Procreation from a Force and Duress of Imprisonment put by a Rebellious Army upon their vanquished Soveraign whilst he was in dread of the life of Himself and his Son and his Brother and his Son for more than a year and a quarter and led about and made to say and do and yeild unto every thing which they would have him That afflicted Prince did not after the battle of Evesham during all the Time of his Raign which continued about Eight years after make use of that kind of Writs of Summons or of that Form for the Election of Knights Citizens and Burgesses to let in the Tide of the Vulgar with their Ignorance upon his highest and greatest Councel And those new-contrived Writs of Summons could not in all probability obtain a quiet Sitting or accommodate the pretended Ends and Purposes of the Framers thereof neither be intended to erect a third Estate nor agree with the constrained Conservatorships or other their Designs otherwise than to maintain those Rebellious Barons in the Powers that they had usurped SECT X. That those new contrived Writs of Summons made by undue Means upon such a disturbed Occasion could neither obtain a proper or quiet Sitting in Parliament or the pretended Ends and Purposes of the Framers thereof and that such an hasty and indigested Constitution could never be intended to erect a third Estate in the Kingdom equal in power with the KING and his great Councel the House of Peers or consistent with the pretended Conservatorships or to be co-ordinate with the KING and his great Councel of Peers or to be a curb to any of them or themselves or upon any other design then to procure some Money to wade through that their dangerous Success IN regard that very many of the Counties and a great part of England as most of the Northern much of Wales and the Marches thereof under the Influence and Power of Valence Earl of Pembroke Mortimer Clare Earl of Gloucester Clifford Le Strange and other Welsh Lords Marchers and of John Balioll and other of the Northern Barons joyned to the Power and Influence of Gilbert de Clare Earl of Gloucester after his forsaking of Montfort neither could or were like to come unto that so packed Parliament for Richard Earl of Cornewall had very many Borough Towns in that County Wales and its thirteen Shires and the largely priviledged Earldom of Chester sent no Knights or Burgesses to sit in the House of Commons in Parliament either then or before or since until by an Act of Parliament made in the later end of the Raign of King Henry the Eighth they were Authorised to be Elected for that Purpose Warren Earl of Surrey and Sussex was not in those Counties destitute of many Ferrers Earl of Darby falling off from Montfort could not but in the large extent of his Estate drew away very many of their well-Wishers Followers Friends Allies Tenants or Dependants and such as held of them by Knights Service and in Soccage or Burgage and many Knights Citizens and Burgesses to be so elected except those in London and Westminster if any did then appear to have been chosen as not dareing to come to that kind of New Parliament without a Convoy Although the Power of the Earl of Oxford one of their Associates in the County of Essex was then very great whilst they were almost daily and hourly haunted and tormented in their minds and Estates with Jealousies Fears and Dangers and the often sad and dolorous tidings of Devastations Slaughters Plunders and Sequestrations that misused King himself not being able to have any of his Servants or Subjects that he had sent for to come unto him without a Convoy to defend them from Spoil and Pillage And the exactest Search that hath been or can be made cannot find any formal or certain Sitting of a Parliament any Writs or Indentures returned any Session Act or thing done in that so newly framed Parliament when the minds of the Rebels themselves were so tormented and distracted with Fears and Cares to preserve themselves and their Royal Booty as they could neither be safe in keeping of him or restoring him to his Liberty for that the abused Lyon patient for a while against his Will once let loose might remember past Injuries and tear them in Peices and no Act or Memorial can be seen of any more than the Petition of two of the Knights Elected for the County of York and their Allowance of Wages where the Rebellious Party seemed to be most powerful no Burgesses of the many Towns and Boroughs in that large County at all it seems then Appearing or Petitioning by a Tax or Levy made upon that County which created the first President or Custom of giving Wages unto Knights of the Shires no other Knights of the Shires or Burgesses of Townes if there were or had been any Elected then demanding the like Allowance and that which was allowed the said Yorkshire Knights was partly for Expences supposed in their helping to guard the maritime parts to keep out Strangers or the Kings own Subjects in his several Provinces of France from coming from the parts beyond the Seas to assist him no Journal or Record of any Petitions made or Grievances exhibited Conferences Debates Decisions Acts Orders or Ordinances and that one that was made was only to engage and cozen as many as they could of the Bishops and Clergy into their own Design And therein none of the Commons or men of that Election do seem at all to trouble their Heads or be named as Actors or Consenters therein for it is expresly said to be provided Per Commun assentement du Roy des Prelaz des Contes des Barons de la tere a fermete en tesmoinaunce le Roy les hauz Hommes de la tere ont mis leur Seus neither doth there appear to to have been any Prorogation or Adiournment thereof And there was like to have been no small want of Money when Symon de Montfort and his Partners especially after the Earl of Gloucester's Sullennes and Departure from them to maintain and keep together so instable a People and so great a number for the guard of their Royal Prisoners and their own
commanded them to send unto him Ten or Twelve of their most honest and discreet Citizens to satisfie the rest of the City that He had been privy unto all that had been done in His Name and to the end that they might be better informed of his Will and Pleasure if there had been any Members of Parliament for the City there already with him Elected or Attending For certainly they that had strugled so much and contended to blood for a Twenty-four Conservatorships reduced during the Kings Imprisonment to Nine after to Four of the more special Rebellious Undertakers would be loath to part with that Power and false Authority which they had so desperately gained And the business for which the Knights and Burgesses were desired by them to be elected and called together to treat with the Prelates and Nobles of the Kingdom whom the King as they would have it believed had caused to be summoned and called to a Parliament which was to be holden in Octabis S ti Hillarii then next coming as well concerning the Delivery of his Son Prince Edward out of Prison where he remained a Pledge or Hostage for the King as for other matters touching the common Good of the Kingdom in which the presence of them and other Loyal men as the Writ said was requisite and were in fide dilectione in which they were bound unto the King to be there to treat of such things as the King by the Advice of his Prelates and Barons should for the common Profit of the Kingdom ordain as they tendered his and their Honours a word by the Customes and Curialities of England not in these or many ages after usual or appropriate to the Commons Burgesses or Tradesmen of England And was an Import beyond the understanding and reach of the Capacity of the Vulgar and if it could have been thought to have been fitting or necessary for that instant Emergency could not with any Reason or true Judgment be supposed to have been proper Advisers for any afterward Matters of State weighty or grave Deliberations upon which the Safety and Welfare of the whole Nation was to have any dependance as if that Prince Edward or any other Prince our Kings Eldest Son had for all Ages to come been supposed to be Prisoners or Hostages for their Father Neither could such a device be in any Probability long or any thing near everlastingin the very Design it self or Meaning of the Contrivers for that even after they were to a Despair utterly overthrown at the battle of Evesham and the Dictum Pardons and Compositions made at Kenelworth the Earl of Gloucester upon a renewed Discontent raised Forces and demanded the Observation of the Provisions made at Oxford which amongst other things for the Conservatorships which he alledged the King had promised at the Battle of Evesham and very likely if at all after the battel ended and some of the disherited Lords that had fled to the Isle of Ely and forcibly withheld the possession thereof from the King did amongst other their Demands make it to be one of their Propositions that the Provisions of Oxford might be observed And that kind of Summons made in and by the Name of a Captive King when He was a Prisoner could not by any Rule of Law or Reason have been then added to our ancient fundamental Laws and made to be a fundamental Law as ancient as the Government upon which the House of Peers and a great part of the Monarchy was built nor such a third Estate or Constitution of a different Nature and after so long an Interval of time made to be co-ordinate with it which the Provisions at the forced Parliament at Oxford if any such thing as a Co-ordination in a House or Society of Elected Commons had then been in Actu or rerum natura or in any Being or Existence before the framing of those Provisions did annihilate and seem never to intend And if such a Novel great Councel Parliament or Convocation could have met with any Success which in regard of Discords Rebellions Hostilities Jealousies and Fears then busying and disturbing the Kingdom was every where embarassed and incumbred with Dangers and Troubles the King and His Brother the Prince His Son with many of the Loyal part of the Baronage imprisoned and the remaining part of them either Fled or under the power of their and the Kingdomes Enemies could have taken Root or gained any Fixation no small Contests and Dissentions arising betwixt the Earls of Leicester and Gloucester and their several Adherents two of the greatest Supports of the Faction as it usually happeneth saith Daniel in Confederacies where all must be pleased or all the knot will break about their Dividends private and particular Agreements It could not easily or at all receive any Entertainment in the Reason or Understanding of Mankind or which is much less any colour of it or less than that in any Man's Imagination or Conjecture not mad or distempered that such a numerous part of the Commons as to the Burgesses to be elected out of the vulgar rude rash giddy and apt-to-be-partial and easily misled affrighted or flattered sort of the People should produce any good Effect either to themselves or the publick when too many of them were or would be likely to be most commonly altogether illiterate and of such as could escape that unhappy Character but few that had ever looked in at the Threshold or Door of good Learning and Policy and fewer that had spent any or much of their time in it but addicted themselves or imployed most of their Thoughts upon the Cares of managing their own Estates Husbandry Trade or other necessaries of Livelihood more proper for the common and inferior Ranks of the People upon whom very many sad and often Experiments have for many Ages and Centuries before deservedly fixed and imposed the indeleble Marks of Mobile prosanum scelestum Vulgus and given Us a lamentable Account of many of their mad and reasonless Advices willful and head-long Actions to the Destruction not only of their Superiours and those that would or should guide them but of themselves and all that have had to do with them or any ill governed Assembly Sr let-loose Multitude of Men. Which without good Accidents and much Difficulty to boot are seldom Governed or brought within the bounds or compass of well digested Reason and Prudence especially if they sit for any long time to hatch or brood Factions or Partialities Envies Ammosities Self-interests over-strained Liberties Authorities Priviledges and taking too much upon them And there could not be any or much good Event expected to happen to the Councels of Princes or the Weal publick either as to the Secrecy the life of Councels Consultive or Active part of them Or to those rebellious Lords themselves who as the Case then stood with them were concerned to order the business as much as they could for their own Preservation and
and that long after both by the Feudal and common Laws of this Kingdom the Lords Spiritual and Temporal were in Parliament to Assess a proportionable Escuage upon such of their Tenants who held any Capite Lands and did not go with them in Person to serve their King and Country and were not to be their own Assessors but submit unto what they should in those great Councels subordinate to their King 's determine and as they anciently were used to do when Taxes were laid upon Knights Fees when the Common People that were to pay them were not all present or any for them Or never to intend to introduce such a Party of the Common People into a Co-ordination or Fellowship with them in a Subordination to their Soveraign which might as they did afterwards entice them to encroach and believe that a License of Petitioning for Redress of any Grievances which might happen and a Liberty to give an Approbation and Obedience to what should be there ordained by the King by the Advice of his Lords Spiritual and Temporal for the publick Good should be in or unto them or their Successors an Authority or original Power to controul what their Kings by the Counsel of their Lords Spiritual and Temporal should there find necessary to Enact when they could not forget that even in the time of the Imprisonment of King Henry the Third they did in his Letters Rescripts Writs and Edicts written and sent about the Kingdom in his Name amounting to no fewer than Sixteen mention that his said Orders Acts and Commands were done by the Counsel and Advice Procerum Magnatum suorum and in some of them his Prelates Barons hautes hommes but nothing at all of the Commons And that Rebellious part of the Baronage might the easier be led into that they never meant when they had some reason to think or assure themselves that such an Election of Members or the parts of the common People would much advance the fixing and setling their Designes when they could not but acknowledge that they owed much of their Liberties and happiness under their Kings and Princes unto them and their Ancestors as in particular unto an Earl of Oxford in procuring of the King Three Hundreds in the County of Essex to be diaforrested and might be glad to entail and perpetuate their Assistances Dependencies Hospitalities Priviledges and Favours upon their Posterity and after Generations and rather return a submissive Compliance unto them well accepted than to endeavour to prejudice or in the least to make themselves equal unto them or Mastors of them but would be content to be ruled by them and not endeavour to govern or domineer over them With which doth accord that well founded Opinion and Answer of that excellent Prince and very Martyr King Charles the First our late gracious and pious Soveraign in his Answer to the haughty and undutiful Nineteen Propositions sent unto Him by the rebellious and misled Parliament the Second Day of June One Thousand Six Hundred Forty Two That the House of Commons was never intended for any share in the Government or the Choosing of them that should Govern and were not likely in those early and troublesome times to get any Root or Foundation for such an unwarrantable Pretence And might have believed that the Prelates and Baronage of England had heretofore Power and Influence sufficient to have kept them in a better Order both towards them and their Sovereign SECT II. Of the great Power Authority Command and Influence which the Prelates Barons and Nobility of England had in or about the Forty-Ninth Year of the Raign of King Henry the Third when he was a Prisoner to Symon de Monfort and those Writs of Election of some of the Commons to Parliament were first devised and sâ—nt to Summon them And the great Power and Estates which they afterwards had to create and continue an Influence upon them WHen the then Prelates by the Papal great and exorbitant Power over the Bodies and Souls of the People of England as well high as low rich or poor their Power of certifying Illegitimations Bastardy or Ne unques loyalment accouplis en Matrimony with their Fulminations Excommunications Curses Interdictions Confessions Absolutions Pardons and Dispensations Denial of Christian burial Affrights of Purgatory undenyable Commands over the inferiour Clergy and they over the People together with the great Authority which their Episcopal Function and Dignity inseparably conjoynt with their Temporal Baronies had given unto them in the Parliaments of England the greatest and highest Councels and Assembly of the Nation were in the time of King Henry the Third's Imprisonment so much allured and drawn by some of their factious and naughty Incitements to Symon de Montfort's Party by a kind of Ordinance and Agreement before mentioned of the then over-ruling-Power of the rebellious Victors as there was an undertaking to preserve from Plunder and Spoil all the Lands and Estates of the Holy-Church affirm their Authorities and all that they should have reasonable Order for amends should be performed and full Power granted unto them by the King or Generality of the Earls Barons and great Men of the Land to provide things profitable for the bettering the Estate of the Holy-Church to the Honor of God And with their temporal Baronies unto which many Mannors of a great Extent and yearly Value were annext and some other Barons holding of them and had their many Milites for service of War and Multitudes of Tenants by Tenure Lease and Copy-holding of them And the regular and monastick part of the Clergy of England many of whose Abbots and Priors were admitted to sit amongst the Peers in Parliament were so envied for their great Revenues and Estates as the Commons in a Parliament in the Raign of King Henry the Fourth wherein Lawyers were prohibited to be elected Members and therefore stiled indoctum Parliamentum did petition the King to confiscate and take into his own Revenue all their Lands which they had calculated to be sufficient to maintain One Hundred and Fifty Earls no small Estate in those times being enough to satisfy the honourable Yearly expences of one Earl and his numerous Retinue after the rate of their then living One Thousand Five Hundred Knights Six Thousand Two Hundred Esquires and erect Two Hundred Hospitals for the Relief of maimed Souldiers And in that new Frame of a great Council or Parliament wherein a part of the Commons of England were to be Assembled which can find no other Original than the Fate of that unhappy King in the battle of Lewis as the close Roll of the Forty Eight of that King will tell us there were no fewer of the then well-wishing Clergy to Symon de Mortfort Summoned unto that new modelled Parliament than One Arch-Bishop Fourteen Bishops Thirty-Five Abbots Two Priors their good Friends and Confederates and for Companies sake in such an hopeful and popular
Project Four Abbesses to help them to Cordials in that languishing State of Loyalty they then were in The Earls and Barons were then and long after Great and Noble by Descent Birth Extraction Lands Estate Alliance Command Power and Authority not a few of them by Consanguinity or Affinity deriving their Progeny from the lines of several of their Kings and Princes and much of their Honors and Support from their Bounty and Munificence as they were pleased to dispence them by their influence favors or bounty for great and heroick Actions and Services done for them and the Weal publick and their Authority could not be small either in the Fear or Force of it when at the time of the Norman Conquest all the Lands and Services thereunto belonging of the Kingdom were either the Kings in Demesne or in the Possession of those Great Men and Commanders unto whom he had granted them and that again distributed by them to their Servants Friends or Followers to hold by Knights Service Soccage Copy-hold Leases for Years or Villenage with some Services imposed as going in Person to War to defend them and their Soveraign Castle-guard Carre and Manuopara and the consented unto Reservations or willing Oblations of doing much of their works of Husbandry in the hopes of their Justice in their little Courts or petit Soveraignties Protection and Assistance against the injuries and oppression of wrong Doers and the Comfort of a large and free Hospitality and Charitable uses together with the Foundation and Endowments of many Abbies Priories and religious Houses which obliged both the secular and regular Clergy to love and honour them and the liberi homines or Freeholders were as unto many of them only such as had been manumissed and had from the condition of Servants or Villaines attained unto the degrees of libertini or ingenui or so fortunate as to have some small Parcells of Lands in Fee simple or Tail or for life by Gift Purchase Marriage or Copy-hold granted and given by them most of the Saxon race being so unhappy as to be content to become Tenants to the Conquerours of their own Lands whilst the Nobility and Great Men being more desirous of Service than Money or Rents granted the Service of Men or Tenants that held by Knights Fees or Service or parts thereof one unto another which in those times were in so high Esteem and of such a Value as Ten Knights Fees were reckoned a Satisfaction for a Release of the Claim of that great Office of High Steward of England in Fee by Roger Bygott Earl of Norfolk and his Heirs to Symon de Montfort Earl of Leicester Seven and a half whereof being paid King Henry the Third upon a Reference of the Controversy betwixt the said Earles unto him made his Award That the said Symon should Execute the said Office of High Steward and the said Roger should bring his Action for the other Two Knights Fees and a half and the English Nobility having all the great offices and places of Honour of the Kingdom and about the Persons of their Kings with their Influence Power and Authority in their great Councels or Parliaments and thereby the Opportunities of pleasing and displeasing hurting or helping whom they would were as to many of them and not a few of the common People like the righteous Job in his Prosperity when they came out to the Gates of the City the Eares that heard them blessed them the Eyes that saw them gave Witness unto them they delivered the Poor that cryed and the Fatherless and them that had none to help them the Blessing of those that were ready to perish came upon them they caused the Widdows hearts to sing for joy were Eyes to the blind Feet to the lame and Fathers to the poor brake the Jawes of the Wicked and pluckt the Spoyl out of their Mouths their Root was spread out by the Waters and the Dew lay all night upon their Branches they gave ear unto them waited and kept silence at their Councel And could not be slighted or taken to be Benefits of a small size or esteem but to be very great and worthy the seeking and obtaining when Threescore and Ten Thousand Knights Fees every one of which being then no small Estate either as to the extent of the Lands or the Value thereof as Ordericus Vitalis who lived in the time of the Conqueror hath numbred them or but about Thirty two Thousand as Mr. Selden believeth were given by William the Conqueror to his Nobility Great Men and Followers to be holden of him his Heirs and Successors in Capite and all the other Lands of the Kingdom except those large quantities which were King Edward the Confessor as appertaining to the Crown of England and what else he kept in his own Possession and Demesne and besides what he endowed and founded divers Abbys Monasteries Priories and Nunneries withal to hold of him and his Heirs and Successors in Capite and by Knights Service were again as unto a great part thereof distributed and granted by his Nobility great Men and Followers to their Dependants Servants Tenants and Friends to hold of them by Knight-Service Which drawing to it by the Feudal Laws part of the fundamental Laws of England and incorporated therein Wardships no Slavery Burden or Grievance if rightly used or understood but a Protection Comfort and Benefit as well publick as private Reliefs Education Protection and Marriage of their Heirs in their Minority which was the greatest Concernment of their Families did put and render the Commonalty under the Patronage and Tutelage of the Nobility and great Men Subordinate to the King their Soveraign and common Parent which many other Nations and the greatest Pretenders and Enjoyers of Liberties in the Christian World have not onely deemed but experimented to be an Happiness Insomuch as if it were to be tryed by the Suffrage and Experience of our English Ancestors if they could from the Dead be produced and heard to speak in the Affairs and Case of England and a due Consideration had of the Security had and long enjoyed by the Northern parts thereof by the Tenures by Cornage assisted by that of Knight-Service and Capite and the Residence of the Baronage of those Countryes against the dayly and nightly Incursions and Spoil of their then ill Neighbours the Picts and Scots which amounted unto as much or more than the costly Wall and Fortifications which the Romans built and provided against them together with the Safety and Guard which a great part of England hath been often defended by the Lords Marchers against the Hostilities and Unquietness of the Welch it 's former Owners would bring us in a verdict of O felices bona si sua nôrint Which must needs attract the Love good Will Fear Awe and Obedience of the People who so well understood their own conditions and that of the Nobility as to believe that to quarrel or be
Expedition into Gascoigne and that he might levy the like upon his Tenants gave One Hundred Twenty Pounds more And of no less Power and Authority with and over the Common People were the rest of our English Nobility which took up Armes with the King or stood Neutrals or at a Gaze until they saw what would become of him witness that of the Earl of Chester who executed the Office of Sheriff by his Deputies for the Counties of Salop and Stafford in the 2d 3d 4th 5th 7th and part of the 8th of Henry the third for the County of Lancaster in the 3d. 4th 5th 6th and the latter end of the 16th was seized of the whole County and Lands of Chester with Royal Jurisdiction Tenenda per Gladiune it à liberè sicut Rex ipse tenebat Angliam per Coronam at the time of the general Survey of the Conqueror was Count Palatine thereof had nine Mannors in Barkshire in Devonshire two in Yorkshire seven in Wiltsshire six in Dorsetshire ten in Somersetshire four in Suffolk thirty-two in Norfolk twelve in Hantshire one in Oxfordshire five in Buckinghamshire three in Gloucestershire four in Huntingtonshire two in Nottinghamshire four in Warwickshire one in Leicestershire twenty-two fifteen great Men of Estate in Cheshire his Barons holding Lands of him and his Heirs as Willielmus Malbane Gislebertus de Venables Rad Venator c. and was seized of that Mountainous part of Yorkshire and Westmoreland called Stanemore Unto one of whose Descendants or Family King Stephen gave the City and Castle of Lincolne with License to Fortify the Town thereof and to enjoy it until he rendred unto him the Castle of Tickhil in Yorkshire granted likewise unto him the Castle of Belvoir with all the Lands thereunto belonging all the Lands of William de Albini Grantham with all its Soke thereunto belonging Newcastle in Staffordshire with the Soke of Roely in com' Leic ' Corkeley in Lincolnshire the Town of Derby with the appurtenances Mansfield in com' Nott ' Stonely in Warwickshire with their appurtenances the Wapentake of Oswardbeck in com' Nott ' and all the Lands of Roger de Busty with the Honour of Blythe and all the Lands of Roger de Poictou from Northamptom to Scotland excepting that which belonged to Roger de Montbegon in Lincolnshire all the Lands betwixt the Rivers of Ribble and Merse in Lancashire the Lands which he had in Demesne in the Mannor of Grimsby in com' Lincolne and all the Lands which the Earl of Gloucester had in Demesne in that Mannor the Honour of Eye Nottingham Barony and Castle Stafford and the whole County of Stafford except the Fees of the Bishop of Chester Earl Robert Ferrers Hugh de Mortimer Gervase Paganel and the Forrest of Canoc the Fees of Alan de Lincolne Ernise de Burun Hugh de Scoteny Robert de Chalz Rafe Fitz Oates Norman de Verdun and Robert de Staford Odo Bishop of Baieux William the Conquerors half Brother had one hundred eighty-four Mannors given him in Kent thirty-nine in Essex thirty-two in Oxfordshire in Hartfordshire thirty-three in Buckingham thirty in Worcestershire two in Bedfordshire eight Northamptonshire twelve in Nottinghamshire five in Norfolk twenty-two in Warwickshire six in Lincolnshire seventy-six amounting in the whole to Five Hundred Forty-Nine whereof two hundred eighty he gave saith Mr. Selden to his Nephew de Molbraio Earl John afterwards King of England had in the Life time of King Richard the First his Brother the Earldomes of Cornwall Dorset Somerset Nottingham Derby and Lancaster with the then large Possessions thereof and had in Marriage with Isabel Daughter and Heir to the Earl of Gloucester that Earldom together with the Castles of Marleburgh Ludgersel Honours of Wallingford Tickhil and Eye John Earl of Surrey and Sussex had in Yorkshire the great Lordship of Connigsburgh in the Soke whereof were near twenty-eight Towns and Hamlets Westtune in Shropshire in Essex twenty-one Lordships in Suffolk eighteen in Oxfordshire Maple Durham and Gaddington in Hantshire Frehinton in Cambridgeshire seven in Buckinghamshire Brotone and Cauretelle in Huntingtonshire Chevevaltone with three other Lordships in Bedfordshire four and in Norfolk one hundred thirty-nine and the Castle of Rigate in Surrey Yale and Bromfeild with their large Extents in Shropshire and was at the Battle of Lewes on the King's part Ralph de Mortimer had given him by the Conqueror in Berkshire five Mannors in Yorkshire eighteen besides divers Hamlets in Wiltshire ten in Hantshire thirteen in Oxfordshire one in Worcestershire four in Warwickshire one in Lincolnshire seven in Leicestershire one in Shropshire fifty in Herefordshire nineteen besides the Castle of Wigmore And Roger de Mortimer Earl of March a Descendant of the same House and Family was in the Raigns of King Edward the First and Second besides their former large Estates in Lands seized of the Town of Droitwick and Chace of Malverne in com' Wigorn ' the Chase of Cors in com' Glou ' the Castle of Trym in Ireland with its large Territory and Appurtenance and in VVales the Castles of Kentlies Dominion of Melenith and Comott of Duder Castle of Radnor with the Territory of VVarthre and Mannors of Prestmede or Presteigne and Kineton Castles of Ruecklas and Pulith Castles and Lordships of Bledleveny and Bulkedinas Castle and Mannor of Nerberth Comots of Amgeid and Pennewick Castles and Dominions of Montgomery and Bulkedinas Mannor and Hundred of Cherbury Castle of Dolvaren and Territory of Redevaugh Town and Territory of Ewyas Castles of Kery and Rodewin Castle of Dynebegh Castle and Cantred of Buelch Comots of Ros Rowenock Konuegh and Diomam and in Somersetshire the Castle of Brugwater with three Mannors Bayliwick of the Forrests of North Pederton Exmore Noreech Chich Mendip and Warren of Somerton three Mannors in Kent one in com' Buck ' and one in Staffordshire and kept in his House a constant Table in imitation of King Arthurs Round Table for one hundred Knights King Henry the Third after the Battle of Evesham gave unto his Son Edmond to hold to him and the Heirs of his Body the Earldom Honour and Lands of Leicester and Stewardship of England the Earldom Honour and Lands with the Castles Mannors and Lands of Robert de Ferrers Earl of Derby and Nicholas de Segrave the Custody of the Castles of Caermarden and Cardigan and Isie of Lundy the Castle of Sherborne in com' Dors ' the Castle of Kenilworth in com' VVarwick with all the Lands thereunto belonging the Honour Earldom Castle and Town of Lancaster and was Count Palatine thereof with their Appurtenances together with the Castle of Tutbury with its great Appurtenances in the County of Stafford the Honour and Castle of Monmouth the Honour Town and Castle of Leicester with all the Lands and Knights Fees which Symon de Montfort had Whose Son and Heir Thomas Earl of Lancaster having as an addition to the great Estates in Lands remaining unto him after his Father divers
Rebellion with Montfort against him should bring his Action for the other Two Knight's Fees and an half From which most necessary and excellent Feudal Laws have proceeded those grand Honors fixed and appurtenant to our ancient Monarchy of England in our Kings and Princes Grant to several great Families in England in Fee or Fee-Tayl as to be Constable of England Earl Marshal of England Lord Steward of England Lord Great Chamberlain of England Chamberlain of the Queens of England Die Coronationis suae Butler to our Kings at their Coronations c. And likewise the Statute de Donis or Entailes the neglect whereof in leaving all the ruined Families of the Nobility Gentry and better sort of the English Nation to feigned Recoveries introduced about the Raign of King Edward the Fourth by an unhappy and unjust Trick of Law to make the Losers believe that they shall recover the Value of their Lands so Lost amounting in the whole unto the greatest part of all the Lands in England of the Bagbearer of the Court of Common-Pleas who in the Conclusion is only Vouchee to Warrants and to make it good out of his own Land and by the small Fees and Profits of his Office was never yet known to Inherit or to have been a Purchaser of ten Acres of Land yet walks about and is never molested or called to Account for those vast Sums of Money or his Land if he ever had or was re vera intended to have had any was to be liable by his being a Common Vouchee in all the Common Recoveries which are suffered in that Court It being in those more Obedient and Loyal Times esteemed no small Honour to serve our Kings or hold Lands by such a Kind of Tenure as it may be believed to have occasioned that Adage or Common saying in England before the ever to be lamented taking away of Tenures in Capite and by Knight-Service and Pourveyance No Fishing to the Sea no Service to the King and those Royal Services affixed unto Lands and Territories have been so immutable amongst other our Neighbor Nations as in the Aurea Bulla fastned upon the Empire of Germany about the 30th Year of the Raign of our King Edward the Third the Three Spiritual Electors viz. the Arch-Bishops of Mentz Cologne and Triers or Trevers do hold their Lands and Territories by their several Tenures of being Arch-Chancellors the First of Germany the Second of Italy and the Third of France the King of Bohemia to be Archipincerna Duke of Bavaria or Count Palatine of the Rhine Archidapifer Duke of Saxony Archimariscallus Duke or Marquess of Brandenburgh Archicamerarius of that Empire and might be with or amongst them exampled from our Pattern which was long before as also from the Scots who have to this day some of the like official Dignities annexed to their Lands and Estates and as in the Raign of our King Henry the First Count Tankervile was by Inheritance and Tenure of his Lands Chamberlain of Normandy And although not so ancient as the Customs of the Patroni and Clientes in the beginning of the flourishing of the vast Roman Empire which was so greatly advantageous both unto the greater and lesser part of the People the Patroni in their Popularities and Ambitions to gain and please them in their way of Advancements to Annual Magistracies not seldom exercising their Eloquence in pleading their Causes or Suits in Law before the Lawyers had for another kind of Advantages by the Gratifications of Fees and Rewards made it to be the greatest part of their Profession which before were principally employed upon seldom Occasions in matters of Difficulty in Jurisconsults and Decisions some of the more eminent sorts of them having about the Raign of the Emperor Augustus Caesar obtained Licenses of him ad respondendum Yet after the Irruption of the Goths Vandals Longobards and Hunnes with other Northern Nations into that Empire they found it to be more beneficial to do as the Germans and many other Northern Nations have done to be Feudalists and to have Lands given unto them and their Heirs to hold by Service of War and other necessaries under those grand Obligations of Interests Oaths Gratitude Homage and Fealty which proved to be better more certain and beneficial both for the Patroni and Clientes the poorer sort of the People alwayes or very often wanting the Aid and Protection of the greater from Wrongs and Oppressions like to be put upon them And the Patroni and Greater procuring to themselves thereby a more constant Observance of Duty Honour and Additions to their former Grandeur the greater and lesser thereby mutually supporting and assisting each other which in the Consequence was as it did likely to prove much better than the charge and trouble the Patroni were used to be as in the frequent courting and Humoring of the common People with their costly Epulae's and Ludi's not only to gain their own Preferments in their Annual poursuites of Offices of Magistracy but to keep the popular Votings from Mutiny and ruining them as much as themselves And howsoever that they with us in England by a great infelicity to our languishing Monarchical Government after an horrid Rebellion and murder of our late King Anno. 12. Car. 2. by an Act of Parliament made upon his now Majesties happy Restoration for the taking away the Court of Wards and Liveries Tenures in Capite and by Knight service and Pourveyance and for settling a Revenue upon His Majesty in lieu of a great part of the lands of England and Wales which the Rebels besides their great Estates had forfeited unto him which they were willing to retain to themselves and thank him as fast as they could with a more detestable Rebellion the Praeamble mentioning most unfortunately for want of a right Information and understanding thereof That the said Court of Wards and Liveries Tenures by Knight service in Capite holden of the King or others and Socage in Capite have been by consequence more praejudicial then beneficial to the Kingdome as if the Nerves and Ligaments of the Crown of England and the ancient Support and Defence of the Honour and glory thereof for more then one thousand years could any way deserve to be so Charactered and that after the Intromission of the said Court which hath been since the 24 th day of February 1645. when the Divel and his Reformation had made a large progress in the chasing Religion out of the Kingdom and washing over in blood the Blessed Martyr King Charles the first 3 Kingdomes of England Scotland and Ireland many Persons could not by their Will or otherwise dispose of their Lands by Knight Service whereby many Questions might possibly arise unless some seasonable remedy be taken to prevent the same Our Soveraign Lord by the Assent of the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled and by the Authority of the same did enact the taking away of the said Court
sed sic eas accepi quemadmodum judicaverunt omnes Optimates Regni Anglorum to wit in a full Parliament which then consisted only of the King and his Nobility Anno Domini 944. King Edmond granted many large liberties and the Mannor of Glastonbury to the Abby thereof cum concilio consensu Optimatum suorum made it seems saith Mr. Pryns in Parliament and a clear evidence that the Nobles of that age were the Kings great Councel and Parliament without any Knights Citizens or Burgesses of which he found no mention in History or Charters Anno 948. there was a Parliament or Councel holden at London under King Edred Cùm universi Magnates Angliae per Regium edictum Summoniti tà m Archiepiscopi Episcopi Abbates quà m caeteri totius Angliae Proceres Optimates Londini convenissent ad tractandum de negotiis publicis totius Regni in which Parliament no Knights Citizens or Burgesses are said to have been present Anno 965 or 970. King Edgar with his Mother Clito his Successor the King of Scots both the Archbishops caeterisque Episcopis omnibus Regni proceribus Subscribed his Charter granted to the Abby of Glastonbury communi Episcoporum Abbatum Primorumque concilio generali assensu Pontificum Abbatum Optimatum suorum concilio omnium Primatum suorum without any Commons present assistants and attendants only excepted Anno 975. King Edgar and his Queen Elferus Prince of Mercia Ethelinus Duke of the East-Angles Elfwold his Kinsman Arch-Bishop Dunstan cum caeteris Episcopis Abbatibus Bricknotho Comite cum Nobilitate totius Regni held a Councel at Winchester without any Commons Anno 977. in the Councel of Calne under King Edward omnes Anglorum Optimates were present together with the Bishops and Clergy but no Knights or Burgesses for ought is Recorded Anno Christi 1009. by King Ethelreds Edict Universi Anglorum Optimates at Eanham acciti sunt convenire not the Commons A Parliament was Summoned by King Edward the Confessor concerning Earl Godwyn at Gloucester where Totius Regni Proceres etiam Northumbriae Comites tunc famosissimi Sywardus Leofricus omnisque Anglorum Nobilitas convenêre Et Anno 1052. at London Rex omnes Regni Magnates ad Parliamentum apud London tunc fuerunt Mr. Pryn declaring his Opinion That the former and ancient Parliaments consisted of our Kings and their Spiritual and Temporal Lords without any Knights Citizens or Burgesses Summoned to Assist or Advise with them or to Assent unto what they Enacted or Ordained In the 25th Year of his Raign granted Lands and Liberties to Saint Peters Church at Westminster Cum concilio decreto Archiepiscoporum Episcoporum Comitum aliorumque suorum Optimatum And from the Conquest until that forced something like but not to be accounted a Parliament in the 49th Year of the Raign of King Henry the Third divers Learned good Authors Summae incorruptae fidei no diminishing or additional Record-makers have assured and given Posterity and after Ages such an exact Account of our Parliaments as will leave no ground or foundation of Truth or Reason for any to believe That an Elected part of the Commons were before that Imprisonment of King Henry the Third in the 49th Year of his Raign made or Summoned to be a part of our English great Councels or Parliaments The Charter of William the Conqueror to the Abby of Battel was made Assensu Lanfranci Archiepiscopi Cantuariensis Stigandi Episcopi Cicestrensis Concilio etiam Episcoporum Baronum suorum And that great Conqueror had in the 4th Year of his Raign Concilium Baronum suorum confirmavit Leges Edwardi Confessoris posteaque Decreta sua cum Principibus constituit In the 10th or 11th Year of his Raign Episcopi Comites Barones Regni Regiâ potestate ad universalem Synodum pro causis audiendis tractandis convocati fuerunt Separated the Courts Temporal from the Spiritual and Ecclesiastical Communi concilio concilio Archiepiscoporum suorum caeterorum Episcoporum Abbatum omnium Regni sui and in the Register of Winchelsey Arch-Bishop of Canterbury it is Recorded That Rex Angliae Gulielmus Conquestor in concilio Archiepiscoporum Abbatum omnium Procerum Regni did forbid the Leges Episcopales to be used in any Hundred or other secular Courts And in the 21st Year of the Raign of King Edward the Third Mr. Selden saith There is mention made of a Great Councel holden under the said King William wherein all the Bishops of the Land Earls and Barons made an Ordinance touching the Exemption of the Abby of Bury from the Bishops of Norwich In that great and notable Pleading for three Dayes together at Pynnendon in Kent in the Raign of King William the Conqueror who as Mr. Selden repeats it out of the Leiger Book or Register of the Church of Rochester Anglorum regnum armis conquisivit suis ditionibus subiugavit in the great Controversy betwixt Lanfranc Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and Odo Bishop of Baieux and Earl of Kent the Conquerors half Brother for many great Mannors Lands and Liberties of a great yearly Value which Lanfranc claimed to appertain to his Arch-Bishoprick of which that potent Norman Bishop and Earl had injustly disseized him the King commanded the whole County without any delay to Assemble together as well French as English and more especially such as were well Skilled and Learned in the ancient Laws and Customs of England as Gosfridus Episcopus Constantiensis qui in loco Regis fuit justitiam illam tenuit Elnothus Episcopus de Rovercestria Aegelricus Episcopus de Cicestria Vir antiquissimus legum terrae Sapientissimus qui ex praecepto Regis advectus suit ad ipsas antiquas legum Consuetudines discutiendas edocendas in una Quadrigâ Ricardus de Tonebregge Hugo de Monte Forti Gulielmus de Acres Haymo Vicecomes alij multi Barones Regis ipsius Archiepiscopi aliorum Episcoporum homines multi whose Decisions made by many Witnesses Evidences and Reasons being certified to the King Laudavit laudans cum consensu omnium Principum suorum confirmavit ut deinceps perseveraret firmitèr praecepit Upon a Rebellion of Rafe de Guader a Norman made Earl of Norfolk by the Conqueror Confederating with some discontented English whilst he was absent in Normandy upon Notice thereof given hasted into England where omnes ad Curiam suam Regni Proceres convocavit legitimos Heroes in fide probatos Unto which may be added That in the Agreement betwixt King William Rufus and Robert Duke of Normandy his elder Brother touching his Claim to the Kingdom of England being of great Concern to the People wherein the King assured to the Duke All that he could Claim from his Father except England it is said Pactum juramento confirmârunt duodecim Principes nomine Regis and 12. Barones nomine Ducis In the 2d Year
of King William the Second there was a great Councel De cunctis Regni principibus and another which had all the Peers of the Kingdom In the 7th Year of his Raign was a great Councel or Parliament so called at Rockingham Castle in Northamptonshire Episcopis Abbatibus cunctisque Regni Principibus coeuntibus and a Year or two after the same King De statu Regni acturus called thither by his Command his Bishops Abbots and Peers of the Kingdom Anno 1106. Robert Duke of Normandy coming into England and seeking to be reconciled to his Brother King Henry the First which could not at Northampton be effected Magnatibus regni ob hoc Londonium edicto Regis convocatis the King by fair Words and Promises so frustrated the Dukes designs as Omnium corda sibi inclinavit ut pro ipso contra quemlibet usque ad capitis expositionem dimicarent Dux in Normanniam iratus perrexit Rex ipsum secutus est usque in Herchebrai Castellum trahens secum omnes ferè Proceres Normanniae Andegaviae robur Angliae Britanniae ut ipsum debellaret The Emperour having sent Ambassadors unto him to request his Daughter Maud in Marriage Tenuit ità que Rex apud Westmonasterium in Pentecosten Curiam suam quâ nunquam tenuerat splendidiorem wherein the Marriage was concluded Anno Domini 1114. Rex Anglorum Henricus fecit omnes suae potestatis Magnates as if there were no need of Commons which were then believed to be included in them fidelitatem jurare Willielmo filio suo At the Coronation of which King who had usurped his said elder Brothers Kingdom and stood in fear of his better Title it was said That all the People of the Kingdom of England were present but the Laws and Charter then made were Per commune concilium Baronum suorum confirmed and that Charter was attested by Mauritio Londoniensi Episcopo Willielmo Wintoniensi electo Odoardo Herefordiensi Episcopo Henrico Comite Simone Comite Waltero Gifford Comite Robert de Monti forti Rogero Bigod aliis multis Et factae sunt tot Chartae quot sunt Comitatus in Anglia Rege jubente positae in Abbatiis singulorum Comitatuum ad Monumentum In the 3d. Year of his Raign the Peers of the Kingdome were called without any mention of the Commons and Orders were at another great Councel made Consensu Comitum Baronum Florentius Wigorniensis saith that Lagam Edwardi Regis reddidit cum illis emendationibus quibus eam Pater suus emendavit concilio Baronum suorum After whose Death King Stephen having Usurped the Crown of England which did not at all belong unto him and Fought stoutly to keep it Concilium congregavit de statu Reipublicae cum Proceribus suis tractare studuit Anno Domini 1153 Justitiâ de Caelo prospiciente diligentiâ Theobaldi Archiepiscopi Cantuar ' aliorum Episcoporum regni King Stephen having no Issue Facta est concordia betwixt him and Henry Duke of Normandy after King Henry the Second who was by King Stephen acknowledged In conventu Episcoporum allorum Optimatum wherein it was accorded That Duke Henry saith Mathew Paris should Succeed him in the Kingdom Stephen only enjoying it for his Life if he should have no Children ex concessione Ducis Henrici ità tamen confirmata est pax quòd ipse Rex Episcopi praesentes cum caeteris Optimatibus regni no Commons jurarent quòd Dux post mortem Regis si ipsum superviveret Regnum fine contradictione aliqua obtineret King Henry the Second in the 10th year of his Raign held a great Councel or Parliament at Clarendon where some of the Customes and Constitutions of the Kingdom were Recognized which was an Assembly only of Prelates and Peers Anno 1118. in a Peace or League made betwixt him and Philip King of France it was agreed That in any Matters of Difference afterwards ariseing betwixt them they should abide by the Award of three Bishops and three Barons to be Elected on the King of France his part and the like on the King of Englands Anno Gratiae 1272. Venit Oxenford in generali Concilio ibidem celebrato constituit Johannem filium suum Regem in Hybernia concessione confirmatione Alexandri summi Pontificis in eodem concilio venerunt ad Regem Resus filius Gryphini Regulus de South-Wales David filius Owini Regulus de North-Wales qui Sororem ejusdem Regis Angliae in uxorem duxerat Cadwallanus Regulus de Delmain Owanus de Kavillian Griffinus de Bromfeld Madacus filius Gerverog alii multi de Nobilioribus Gualliae omnes devenêrunt homines Regis Angliae patris fidelitatem ei contra omnes homines pacem sibi regno servandam juraverunt In eodem concilio dedit Dominus Rex Angliae praedicto Reso filio Griffini terram de Merionith David filio Owani terram de Ellismore Deditque Hugoni de Lasci ut supradictum est in Hybernia totam Midam cum-pertinentiis pro servitio centum militum de ipso Johanne filio suo Chartam suam ei inde fecit And being to return an Answer to the Popes Letter inviting him to take upon him the Croysado and succour the Holy Land assembled a Parliament at London ubi dominus Rex Patriarcha Jerusalem Episcopi Abbates Comites Barones Angliae but no Knights Citizens or Burgesses thereof saith Mr. Pryn Willielmus Rex Scotiae David frater ejus cum Comitibus Baronibus terrae suae convenerunt Anno Domini 1162. without leave of Parliament or People Fecit jurare fidelitatem Henrico filio suo de haereditate suâ inter omnes Magnates Regni Thomas Cancellarius primus fidelitatem juravit salvâ fide Regi patri quamdiù viveret regno praeesse vellet In the 22d Year of his Raign held a great Councel at Nottingham by Archbishops Bishops Earls and Barons At Windsor Communi concilio with Bishops Earls and Barons And the like afterwards at Northampton King Richard the 1st held shortly after his Coronation upon the invitation of the King of France and his undertaking to do the like a great Councel or Parliament cum Comitibus Baronibus suis qui Crucem susceperant in generali Concilio constituti apud Londonias taking their Oaths for the recovery of the Holy Land hasting thither and passing into Normandy Elianor Regina mater Richardi Regis with whom he had left the care of the Kingdom and Alays Soror Phillippi Regis Franciae Baldwin Archbishop of Canterbury the Bishops of Norwich Durham Winchester Ely Salisbury Chester Geffry the Kings Brother elected Archbishop of York and John Earl of Morton the Kings Brother shortly after transfretârunt de Anglia in Normanniam per mandatum Domini Regis habito cum illis concilio Dominus Rex statuit Willielmum Episcopum Eliensem Cancellarium
them were the common People or that the Nobility were intended to be a part of them but rather that their Wills and Actions were wholly submitted to the Peerage reformare voluissent Regnum deformatum me deberent primùm accersire In Crastino post ejus adventum in Angliam intraverunt Magnates Capitulum Cantuariense so great a Power had they then over their Tenants and the Common People ducentesque reverenter Reges Angliae Alemanniae the Earl of Gloucester stans in medio called out the King of Almaine by the name of the Earl of Cornewall to take the Oath for a general Reformation of the Kingdom Eodem Anno being 43. Henry the Third Congregati sunt Nobiles Angliae Londini prout inter se prius condixerant whither came quidam de secreto Regis Francorum concilio Decanus Bituricensis ubi non modicè tractatum fuit de negotio inter duos Reges Franciae Angliae quid in partibus transmarinis actum fuerit exinde probatum After which a Monk of St. Albans ex parte Regis Reginae Magnatibus Angliae finding the King Queen Magnatibus Scotiae in their Parliament and informing them of the cause of his coming ex parte Regis Reginae Baronum Angliae requested that the King and Queen would not fail to come into England to treat of Matters of great Concernment and Secrecy with much difficulty obtained Letters Patents from the King Queen and Nobility of Scotland Communitèr sigillatas tà m sigillo Regis quà m omnium Magnatum Scotiae ad Regem Angliae totam communitatem wherein they granted their Request dummodo se facerent Rex Angliae Magnates which explains the extent and true meaning of the preceding words Tota Communitas Angliae de scripto suo sibi prius promisso securos and returned by him Domino Regi Angliae Reginae Magnatibus terrae Literas commendatorias and did shortly after send the Earl of Bochan and other honourable Commissioners to Treat with the King of England ejus Concilio who at their coming speaking with the said Monk Nullam in publico super expeditione negotij erga Regem Regni communitatem which may in this place well be understood to intend the Baronage reliquerunt redeuntes Certificationem Eodem Anno ex concilio domini Regis Franciae Angliae totius Baronagij the Earls of Clare and Leicester John Mansell Peter de Sabaudia and Robert Wallerand were sent ad Parliamentum Magnum Regis Francorum pro pluribus negotiis regna Franciae Angliae contingentibus carrying with them a Charter or Resignation from their King to the King of France and Letters of Credence to compose with that King and his Councell super negotiis without the Commons or their Consents inter eosdem Reges eorum regna diu agitatis but for that the Countess of Leicester refused to resign that part which she held or claimed in Normandy infecto negotio cachinnantibus Francis redierunt In the mean time the Almaines perceiving how little their King elected was respected in England returned home saying Ex quo compatriotae sui ipsum non venerantur nos ipsum quomodo honoribus prosequemur And in his Absence elected another Eodem Anno King Henry the Third in Franciam transfretavit and required Restitution to be made of the Provinces in France unjustly taken away from his Father King John and detained from him unto which the French answered That the Donation of Normandy was not free but by force extorted by Rollo so as the King if he had a mind to regain it having not Money to raise an Army and especially when he did see his own Subjects ready to make War against him was enforced to yield to a Peace that pro 300000 Turonensibus parvis restitutione terrarum in France unto him ad valorem 20000 librarum in Gasconia the King was to resign and release to the King of France his Dutchy of Normandy and County of Anjou ex tunc literarum suarum abbreviavit titulum ut nec Ducem Normanniae nec Comitem Andegaviae se vocaret And fearing that he had committed Perjury in taking the Oath to observe the Provisions enforced from him at Oxford sent secretly to the Pope for an Absolution Eo tempore Symon de Monte Forti Comes Legriae Richardus de Clare Comes Gloverniae Nicholaus filius Johannis Johannes filius Galfridi multique Nobiles ipsis adhaerentes convenerunt Oxoniae equis armis sufficientèr instructi finalitèr Staâ—uentes aut mori pro pace patriae aut pacis eliminare Patriae turbatores whither came also the Bishop Elect of Winchester William de Valentia and the rest of the Poictovins stipati Magna caterva satellitum fautorum but when they understood that the English Nobility intended eos vocare standum judicio pro suis nequam factis simul communitèr jurandum cum eis ad observandum provisiones they fled to the Castle of Whitesey whither the Barons pursued them and fearing that the Bishop Elect of Winchester would carry his Complaints to Rome against them sent four Knights as their Agents to Rome with Letters under their Hands and Seals not of the Commons to complain of the Injuries which the Bishop had done to the Kingdom and the Justices itinerant of the King were at Hereford prohibited to proceed for that as was alleadged it was against the Provisions made at Oxford Anno 45. Henry the Third the King retired to the Tower of London and caused all the Citizens of London above the Age of Twelve Years to Swear unto him Fealty and made Proclamation that all that would come as Souldiers to serve him should be paid the Barons came with great Forces to the Walls of the Tower lodging in the City the Absolution being come and Prince Edward not accepting it which the Magnates not the Multitude or Commons taking notice of missis Nuntiis humilitèr rogabant ut communitèr juramentum praestitum inviolabilitèr observare vellet si quid displiceret eisdem ostenderet ad emendandum Qui nequaquam acquiescens durè minacitèr respondens dicens quòd eis à Conventione deficientibus non amplius adquiesceret sed unusquisque deinceps propriis defensionibus provideret tandèm quibusdam mediantibus it was agreed that Two should be chosen on the King's part and Two on the Barons no Commons mentioned and the Arbitrators were if they could not agree to choose a Third but by reason of Prince Edwards late return from beyond the Seas and that being returned and informed what strange Councels had been given his Father was so Angry as he absented himself from him and adhering to the Barons saith the Continuator of Matthew Paris in hac parte prout juraverat fitque conjuratio inter eos quòd malos Conciliarios eorum fautores adquirerent à Rege pro viribus alongarent which the King understanding betakes
himself again to the Tower of London Cum suis Conciliariis Edwardo filio suo cum Magnatibus foris remanente sed tandem interveniente Regina vix quibusdam concordati Magnatibus in pacis anplexibus invicem sunt suscepti and the King relying upon the Popes Absolution and the promise of the King of France unà cum suis Magnatibus sibi se velle succurrere manu forti coming to Winchester displaced the Chancellor and Justice made by the Baronage novos creavit pro suo beneplacito In the 47th Year of his Raign keeping his Christmass with the Queen in the Tower of London Elaboratum est tà m à Regni Angliae Pontificibus quà m à Praelatis Regni Franciae that there might be a Peace betwixt the King of England and his Barons Ventumque est ad illud ut Rex Proceres not the Commons se ordinationi Regis Franciae in praemissis provisionibus Oxoniae submitterent Whereupon in Crastino sancti Vincentij congregato Ambianis populo penè innumerabili Rex Franciae Lodovicus coram Episcopis Comitibus aliisque Francorum proceribus the King of England and his Queen Boniface Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Peter Bishop of Hereford and all or most of the Magnates of England before named no Commons which submitted to the reference on both sides Solennitèr dixit sententiam pro Rege Angliae contra Barones statutis Oxoniae provisionibus ordinatioâ—ibus obligationibus penitùs annullatis hoc excepto quòd antiquae Chartae Regis Johannis Angliae universitati concessae per illam sententiam in nullo intendebat penitùs derogare which Award both Parties having solemnly bound themselves by Oath to abide by Simon Earl of Leicester and his Complices refused to obey it for that as they pretended the Provisions made at Oxford were founded upon that Charter of King John So as the troubles and discontents continuing and breaking out into open Wars betwixt the King and his never to-be-contented Barons the Battel of Lewes shortly after followed wherein the King was taken and for a long time detained Prisoner the King of France and his Barons after a great part of his Design satisfied by getting a Release of the Dutchy of Normandy giving him no manner of Aid at all nor after the more successful Battle of Evesham had by the Escape and Valour of his Son the Prince reinvested him in his Kingly Rights that King of France and his Father before him playing the Foxes betwixt the King and his Father King John in their Troubles with their unruly and rebellious Barons for their French advantages Anno 50. of his Raign kept his Christmass at Northampton with his Queen the King of Almaine and Ottobone the Popes Legate cum exercitu formidabili Anno 51. kept his Christmass at Oxford with the Queen and the Popes Legate multisque Magnatibus ubi after the ancient course of our English Kings at that and the other Two great Festivals of the Year to hold their great Councels diligentèr tractatum est de pace reformanda inter Comitem Gloverniae Rogerum de Mortuo Mari Circa tempus istud Rex citari fecit Comites Barones Archiepiscopos Episcopos Abbates omnes qui communitèr militare servitium sibi debentes ut apud Sanctum Edmundum cum equis armis sufficientèr instructi convenirent ad impetendum eos qui contrà pacem Regiam occupaverunt insulam Elyensem but the Earl of Gloucester refusing to come the Earl of Warren and William de Valentia were sent unto him qui illum ad Parliamentum venire moverent ab adunatis qui ad Parliamentum citati fuerunt praeter rebelles where primò principalitèr Rex Legatus required the Bishops to consent to the Articles or Demands before recited Anno 54. of his Raign the King and Queen cum Regni principibus kept their Christmas at Eltham So as that honourable Title of Barons and those that have a just Claim or Right thereunto is not to be trampled upon and thrown amongst the Community but contra distinguished from them when Baro saith The largely Learned Du Fresne a French Man Sieur or Baron du Cange was in Persius time amongst the Romans of no greater esteem than Servus militum and by Isidorus were termed or no better stiled than Ministri mercenarii qui serviunt acceptâ mercede yet apud Graecos nominantur Barones quòd sint fortes in laboribus Barus enim dicitur gravis quód sit fortis Glossae M. S. Baro Gr ' Lat ' vir fortis unde Barones Barones igitur Ministri appellati non modo Persii Isidori aevis sed etiam longè postea siquidem Barones regios Ministros vocatos qui ex Regis familia erant unde non mirum si traductam hanc vocem ad viros Magnates passim legamus qui principibus ipsis obsequia ministeria sua praestabant seu ex officii ratione seu ex beneficio ac feudis quae ad ejusmodi obsequia impendenda iis indidem conferri solebant Quinetiam ab ipsa Augustini tempestate Barones dicti videntur viri nobiles Principum obsequiis servitio addicti vel certè viri Militares qui primos tenebant locos in aulis Regum as those Words of his do Evidence where he saith Vbinam est Caesaris corpus praeclarum ubi caterva Baronum ubi Principes aut Barones Quibus in locis ij fortè fuerunt qui in obsequiis Principum versabantur ità ut numerosum eorum ac Nobilem famulatum indicare voluerit Augustinus Quemadmodum autem famulos homines vulgò appellabant Ita Franci omnes Boreales populi postquam Galliam invasêre vel Italiam Barones quosvis viros nominârunt as their Salique Ripuar Aleman and Longobard Laws Constitutiones Sicul. Capitulars of Charlemaine and Hinckmarus in his Epistles have informed us The Barones Regum Angliae were the Magnates qui de domo familia Regis sunt vel certè majores Regis Vassalli qui de illo praedia sua nudè tenent Adelwaldus was one of King Edward the Confessors which Florentius Wigornensis and the Book of Ramdsey do stile Minister Regis The Barons of Almaigne from which Nation our Saxon Ancestors being descended brought unto us many of their Customs made a two-fold difference amongst their Barons Alii dicuntur simplices Barones alii semper Barones semper Baro is esse fertur qui à nullo horum feudum habet sed alii ab ipso adeòque liber est ut nulli ad fidelitatis astringitur juramentum insomuch as it was a very ancient Custome and Observance amongst the Germans not to allow the Title or Dignity of Baron unto any that were not Born of such a Frey Heeren Father and Mother but those who were on the Mothers part descended from an ordinary Tenant holding by Military Service of others they would by no means call Barons but Debaronized them which in time might have
introduced amongst us that Distinction long after about the Raign of our King John of the Barones majores those that were Ministri Regis and held great Possessions only of the King for long before the Conquest they were called Thaines Barons or Lords who were Honorary and the Minores middle Thaines or Valvasores who were only feudal and held all or much of others or lesser parts of the King and by Canutus's Laws there appears to have been in those times Thani infimae conditionis In Germany saith Schwederus there are two sorts The First that do hold of the Empire immediately The Second mediately of others and that in the diversity of Opinions amongst the Learned whether the word Baron be derived from the Hebrew Greek Latine Spanish or French the Germans have been content with theit own word or original Baar which signifieth Frey or liber homo Barones are liberi Domini Frey Heeren Et Baro signifieth virum dignitate praecellentem So as that exquisitely Learned Du Fresne in his Gloss upon the words Barones Parliamenti saith In Anglia Scotia qui vulgò Lords of Parliament vocantur ij sunt ex Majoribus Baronibus qui à Rege undè pendent ad Parliamentum sive concilium publicum diplomatibus Regiis evocantur nam constat in Anglia ut in Francia non omnes qui à Rege praedia sua immediatè tenebant ad Parliamenta admissos nam nimius esset numerus eorum sed illos tantum qui proximi essent a Rege dignitate vassallorum numero caeteros anteirent prout etiam in ipsis Baronum feudis factitatum And defining a Barony saith it is Praedium à Rege nudé pendens vel maius praedium vel feudum Cassanaeus taketh it to be Quaedam dignitas habens quandam praeeminentiam inter solos simplices Nobiles Tiraquel by good Authority of rectified experimented Reason Laws and ancient Customs saith Leges sanciri debent a Principibus etiam Nobilium concilio quod plane ostendit Virgilius de Aceste Rege loquens Gaudet regno Treianus Acestes Indicitque forum Patribus dat Jura vocatis Id est Leges sancit Jura distribuit vocatis ad id Patribus id est Senatoribus L'Oyseau defining Seigneuries saith they are Publique ou prives and that les droits praerogatives des grandes Seigneuries a scavoir les Duchez Marquisats Comtez Principautez dont le premier est qu'elles ne relevent que du Roy encore que de leur nature elles deuvoient relever immediatement de la Couronne C'est pourquoi les Feudistes les appellent Feuda regalia ou Regales dignitates tit ' de Feud encore non tant pour ce qu'elles participent aux honeurs des souverainetez que de leur d'autant qu'elles sont vrays Fieffs du Roiaume ne pouvant relever d' autre Seigneurie Et tout ainsi que ces Capitaines s' aydoient de leurs vassaux en la guerre aussi faisoient ils en les Justices principalement aux causes d' importance qu' ils Iugoient par leur advis pour ceste raison ils les appelloient Pairs Cour C'est a dire Pairs au Compaignons de leur Cour de Justice Saith le Seigneurie privee n' induit point de puissance publique and concludeth and proveth it to be un Erreur d' penser qu' aux livres de Fieffes Valvasores Regni seu Majores valvasores fussent ceux qui tenoient leurs Fieffs a Capitaneis Regni nempe a ducibus Marchionitibus And were had in such a Veneration and Respect as when in the first Year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth an Act of Parliament was made that every Member of the House of Commons should before the Lord Steward of the King Queen or her Successors Houshold or his Deputy for the time being before they sit or be admitted by his Oath taken upon the Holy Evangelists testify and declare That the Queens Majesty is the only Supreme Governour of this Realm and of all other Her Highnesses Dominions and Countries as well in all Spiritual and Ecclesiastical things or causes as Temporal and renounce all Foreign Jurisdiction of any Foreign Prelate Prince or Potentate whatsoever And promise that from henceforth I shall bear Faith and true Allegiance to the Queens Highness her Heirs and Lawful Successors and to my Power shall assist and defend all Jurisdictions Priviledges Preheminences and Authorities granted or belonging to the Queens Highness her Heirs and Successors or United and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm From the taking of which Oath the Lords Temporal and all of or above the degree of a Baron were by that Act of Parliament of 5. Eliz. exempted for that the Queens Majesty is otherwise sufficiently assured of the Faith and Loyalty of the Temporal Lords of her High Court of Parliament Although of that High and Honourable Assembly of the House of Peers all that hold Offices under our Kings as the Lords Chancellour Treasurer Steward great Chamberlain and Chamberlain of the Houshold Constable Earl Marshal Lord Privy-Seal Secretaries of State and all that receive Creation-Money of him as Earls Viscounts Marquesses and Dukes and all the Assistants as Judges Masters of Chancery and the Barons in that high Court of Judicature Subordinate to the King may find themselves comprized and obliged in and by that Act of Primo Eliz. ca. 1. as the Arch-Bishops and Bishops are For it may everlastingly with great assurance of Certainty and Truth be affirmed That our Parliaments or great Councells have in their Constitutions Formes Customes and Usages altogether or for the most part followed and imitated those of the Almans Saxons and Ancient Francks when Marculfus who lived in the Year after the Incarnation of our Blessed Saviour Jesus Christ Six Hundred and Sixty now something more than One Thousand Years when Clodouaeus the Son of Dagobert of the Merovignian and first Race of the Kings of France ruled as it will be Evident by the Writ of Summons thereunto Entituled Prologus de Regis Judicio cum de Magna re duo causantur simul in the form or words ensuing or the cause of Summoning or Calling the Parliament as our Kings have many Times done in their Writs of Summons to their Parliaments Viz. Cui Dominus regendi curam Committit cunctorum Jurgia diligenter examinatione cum rimari oportet ut juxta propositionum vel responsionum alloquia inter alterutrum salubris donetur sententia quo fiat ut nodos causarum vivacis mentis acumen coerceat ubi praelucet Justitia illuc gressum deliberationis imponat Ergo nos in Dei nomine ibi in Palatio nostro ad universorum Causas recto Judicio terminandas una cum Dominis Patribus nostris Episcopis vel cum plurimis Optimatibus Nostris patribus illis Referendariis illis
Writs or in that which Mr. Elsing hath left unto the World In formâ praedictâ subscribitur Abbatibus Prioribus subscriptis c. without any Christian Names or Additions formerly used Sub data apud Woodstock 14. die Decembris In formâ praedictâ mandatum est Comitibus aliis Subscriptis dat' apud Woodstock viz. Comiti Leicester Comiti Glou ' Comiti Norff ' Marescal ' Angliae Comiti Oxon ' Comiti Derby Rogero de sancto Johannis Hugo de Spencer Justiciar ' Angliae Nich ' de Segrave Johanni de Vescy Robert Basset G de Lucie Gilbert de Gaunt of which the Earls of Leicester Gloucester Norfolk Oxford and Derby were notoriously known to be in open Armes and Hostility against the King the whole number of the Temporal Lords therein named not amounting unto more than Twenty-Three with a Blanck left for the names of other Earls and Barons which have not been yet inserted or filled up And all the other which were in that constrained Writ of Summons particularly and expressly named were no other than H de le Spencer Justiciar ' Angliae John Fitz John Nicholaus de Segrave John de Vescy Rafe Basset de Drayton Henry de Hastings Geffery de Lucy Robert de Roos Adam de novo Mercato Walter de Câ—lvill and Robert Basset de Sapcott those which together with the then Bishops of London and Worcester Symon de Montfort Earl of Leicester and Steward of England H. de Boun Juvenis Peter de Monte forti S. de Monte forti Juvenes Baldwin Wake William le Blond William Marescallus Rafe de Gray Will ' Bardoff ' Richard de Tany or Tony Robert de â—â—teri Ponte made up the Number of the opposite Party to the King in the aforesaid Reference to the King of France And Mr. Selden hath observed That the Preambles sometimes so varied that some eminent Occasions of the calling of the Parliament were inserted in the Writs to the Spiritual Barons that were not in those to the Temporal and oftentimes no more than a general and a short Narrative of the Resolution of having a Parliament with much variation in the Writs of that nature with many Differences of slighter Moment sometimes against making of Proxies and at other times a Licence to make them and sometimes in all a Clause against coming attended with Armes and saith That until the middle of the Raign of King Richard the Second when Dukes Earles and Barons were created by Letters Patents of our Kings that the names of the Barons to be Summoned to Parliament were Written from the King's Mouth at his Direction and Command and in that agreeth with Mr. Eâ—sing who saith it was ad libitum Regis for surely none but the King can Summon a Parliament and that is the Reason that Henry the Fourth having taken King Richard the Second his Leige Lord Prisoner the Twentieth of August in the 21st Year of his Raign did cause the Writ of Summons for the Parliament wherein he obtained the Crown to bear Date the Nineteenth day of the same Month and the Warrant to be per ipsum Regem Concilium and himself to be Summoned by the name of Henry Duke of Lancaster And the Warrants have been divers sometimes per breve de privato sigillo but commonly per ipsum Regem or per ipsum Regem Concilium SECT XV. That the Majores Barones or better sort of the Tenants in Capite Justly and Legally by some of our Ancient Kings and Princes but not by any positive Law that of the enforced Charter from King John at Running Mede being not accounted to be such a Law were distinguished and separated from the Minores or lesser sort of the Tenants in Capite FOR it could be no design in the Framers or Contrivers of his Charter to make any distinction betwixt the Majores or Minores Barones of the Kingdom or to leave to Posterity a definition of either of them or a Rule for after Ages for that would have unpolitickly very much disturbed and distracted that rebellious Assembly at Running Mede or could be likely to obtain any more thereby as to their meeting in our Kings great Councels the word Parliament being not then in use amongst us than to have a Common Councel shortly called to settle the manner of Assessment of Aides upon Knights Fees and to that only end to Summon the Tenants in Capite which were not all of that sort being not the Majores or Magnates then and yet understood by our Nation to be the Barons long before and ever since at the good Will and Pleasure of our Kings usually Called and Summoned by them to their Great Councels upon urgent Occasions the Majores Barones being to be there present to advise thereupon Which for after Assemblies of that nature constantly to be holden would have been very Numerous Troublesom Chargeable and Dangerous if the Tenants in Capite had been Threescore Thousand as Ordericus Vitalis hath Recorded them or but Thirty Two Thousand as our great Selden hath more probably estimated them And although the Learned Sir Henry Spelman was enclined to believe that the distinction betwixt the greater and lesser Baronage had its Foundation in that Charter and the Learned Cambden from a very good Authority as he thought asserted That King Henry the Third Post Magnas perturbationes enormes vexationes inter ipsum Symonem de Monte forti ex tanta multitudine quae seditiofa turbulenta fuit Optimates quosque rescripto ad Comitia evocaverit yet Mr. Selden saith That in all that he hath met with since the making of that Charter he found no mention of any Interest which those other Tenants in Chief eo nomine had in our Kings Great Councels or Parliaments who doubtless were the Persons that were excluded from it and was perswaded to give little Credit unto the Author cited by Mr. Cambden but rather to conclude That not long after that grand Charter of King John like enough in that time some Law was made that induced the utter Exclusion of all Tenants in Chief from Parliaments besides the Ancient and Great Barons and Baronies which Mathew Paris saith King Henry the Third reckoned to be Two Hundred and Fifty and such other as the King should in like sort Summon and that there were Barons by Writ as well as Barons by Tenure cites a Testimony out of Mathew Paris who speaking of King Henry the Third saith That in the Twenty Nineth Year of his Raign Rex edicto publicè proposito de submonitione generaliter factâ fecit certificari per totam Angliam ut quilibet Baro tenens ex Rege in Capite haberet prompta parata Regali praecepto omnia servitia Militaria quae ei debentur tam Episcopi Abbates quà m Laici Barones Barons holding in Capite as if some held not so which must be such as were Barons by Writ only
The Tenants in Chief being by those Differences distinguished in their Titles Possessions and Reliefs were so much less in Honor than the greater Barons who had several Writs at every Summons and all the ancient Circumstances of the Title of Baron still remaining to them It was the less difficult for those greater Barons to Exclude the rest wholly at length from having any Interest in the Parliaments of that Time under the name of Tenants in Chief only And although in somewhat a different and much inferiour manner to the Majores Barones their Number Greatness of Provinces and Estates or near Alliance in Blood unto the Crown is not much unlike the distinction made in France of the Douze Pairs not exclusively to the other Baronage which our Mathew Paris and their own Authors will Evidence were not only before but are there to this day continued as a Degree of Honor different from the Barones Minores or the Vulgus or Common People much inferior to that lesser Baronage yet the Annalls and Records of France are not yet accorded of the precise time of the first Institution of their twelve Pairs lately Augmented to a much greater number For Du Fresne is of Opinion That in the Year 1179. which was the 25th Year of the Raign of our King Henry the Second there was no certain number of the Peers of France Narrat quippe Rogerus Hovedenus Willielmum Archiepiscopum Remensem eundem Regem unxisse Remis ministrantibus ei in illo officio Willielmo Turonensi Biturocensi Senonensi Archiepiscopis fere omnibus Episcopis regni Henricum vero Regem Angliae de jure ducatus Normanniae coronam auream qua coronandus erat Philippus Philippum Comitem Flandriae gladium regni praetulisse alios vero Duces Comites Barones praeivisse Secutos diversos diversis deputatos officiis according to the long before used custom of the English at the Coronation of their Kings where divers of the greatest Officiary and Nobility as the Constable Marshall Steward and Great Chamberlain of England cum multis aliis One Nation learning of Another their Customs and Usages did conceive it to be an Honour fixt in their Families by Grand Serjeanty Et Rigordus eandem Coronationem peractam ait astante Henrico Rege Angliae ex una parte coronam super caput Regis Franciae ex debita subjectione humiliter portante cum omnibus Archiepiscopis Episcopis caeterisque regni principibus ex quibus patet saith Du Fresne caeteros Episcopos qui pro Franciae Paribus habentur ea quae hodie non assecutos ministeria in ea Solemnitate Proinde hand improbanda forte sententia qui Parium Francicorum duodecim virorum definitum fuisse tradunt a S. Ludovico Rege quos inter est Iohannes a Leidis lib. 22. ca. 7. itaque Sanctus Ludovicus Rex Franciae ordinavit in regno Franciae constituens inde collegium seu capitulum qui haberent ardua regni tractare Scilicet 6 Duces 6 Comites de Ducibus sunt tres Episcopi de Comitibus sunt etiam tres Episcopi And L'Oiseau a Learned French-man giveth us an account of the Erection of the 12 Pairs of France in these Words ils furent choisis selon la plus vray semblable opinion par Loys le Ieune du tout a la maniere des anciens Pairs de fief dont parlent les livres de fieffs et ont aussi toutes les mesmes charges qu' eux a Scavoir d' assister leRoy en Son investiture qui est son sacre coronement et de juger avec luiles differens des vassaux du Royame ont les uns les autres este ainsi appellez non pas pour estre agaux a leur seigneur mais pour estre Pairs compagnons entr ' eux seulement come l' explique un ancien Arrest donne contre le Comte de Flandres au Parlement de Toussaints 1295. rappâ—rte par du Tillet Ce fut pourtant un trait non de ieune mais de sage Roy lors que les Duc's Com'tes de France avoient usurpe le souverainete presque entiere pour empescher qu' ils ne se separassent tout a faict du Royaume d'en choisir douze des plus mauvais les faire Officiers principaux commemembres inseperables de la couronne a fin de les ingager par un interest particulier a la maintenir en son integriâ—e mesmea empescher la des union des autres moindres qu' eux moyen que les Allemans ont aussi tenu pour la conservation de l' Empire par la creation des 7 Electeurs Which in process of Time being long afterwards done by the Aurea Bulla might not improbably have been instituted in some imitation of the douze Pairs du France And in Anno 1226. being the 30th year of the Reign of our Henry the 3d the Earl of Flanders and the Earl of Boloigne complaining that their Lands had been Seized and taken away without the judgement of the 12 Peers as by the Laws of France they as was alledged ought and when those their greivances were redressed they would attend at the Coronation howsoever Blanch the Queen Regent although the Duke of Burgundy Earl of Champaigne St Paul Britain fere omnes nobiles ad Coronam who may probably be understood such as more particularly did hold by some grand Serjeanties to be performed at the Inauguration of their Kings did by the Counsell of the Popes Legat cause her Son Lewis to be Crowned without them And when St. Lewis the French King so called whose Saintship in our Barons wars had cost England very dear could in a seeming friendly Entertainment of our King Henry the 3d at Paris wish with an Outinam duodecim Pares Franciae had not done as they did in the forfeiture of Normandy mihi consentirent certe amica essemus indissolubiles but did at the same time adde Baronagium and might have understood that that judgment against King John denyed by the English to have any justice in it was not given by the 1â— Peers against him as Duke of Normandy for he was one of the principall of them himself and was neither present or heard But whither that or their Offices to be performed at the Coronation of their Kings gave the rise or ground of that especiall Peerage the time when being something uncertain for Du Fresne doubting of it declareth that quando the Pairs of France redacti fuerunt ad duodenarium numerum non omnino constaet inter Scriptores sane in confesso esse debat ab ipso seudorum origino vassallorum Coronae Franciae controversias a Paribus suis fuisse judicatas Anno. 1216. which was the 17th year of the Raign of our King John numerus Parium Franciae non fuit definitus And that distinction of the Majores Barones Minores Barones
8. by Act of Parliament to dispose of 2 parts of his lands reserving a 3 part to the Heir and Administrations de bonis Intestati were anciently as Mr Selden saith granted by our Kings or Lords of Manors Derivatively from them 13. E. 1. Quia Emptores terr the statute 1. E. 1. compelling men of 20 l. per Annum to take the honour of the Knighthood 17. E. 2. de homagio faciendo cum multis aliis And those together with the before-mentioned Feudall Laws have been so fundamentall to our Laws and Customs of England and which hath been called our Common Law as it hath been rightly said to be velut ossa Carnibus and so Incorporate in the body thereof as it runneth like the life-blood through the veins arteries and every part thereof circulating to the heart the primo vivens ultimo moriens of our heretofore for many ages past in our very ancient body-politick and Monarchick attested and every where plainly and visibly to be met with seen and understood not only in and by our Glanvill Bracton Britton and Fleta together with our Annalls Historians and Records the latter of which as unto matter of fact do never lye or speak false but is and hath been written said and practised by in and amongst the most of Europaean Nations of Germany France and Spain if we reade and consider well the books of their learned Lawyers when too many of our now effassinated nation will not take the pains to look into former ages or if at all beyond our Inexpiated late Rebellious Age beginning at the year 1641. but scorn at Solomons large Just and Well-deserved Commendations of Wisdom and esteem the Prophet Jeremy inspired by God to be no other in his Councel or Advice State Supervias antiquas inquire veritatem then a fopp or a grave thinking Coxcomb and to be told to his face as the Prophet Jeremy was say what thou wilt we will not hear thee And it may be to our sorrow be made an Addition to our heretofore seven wonders of England that our Littleton and Sir Edward Coke his adoring Commentator should draw the water and have so little or no acquaintance with the Fountain from whence it Came and all our Year-books and Law-Reports should allow of so many of our Feudall Laws and not cite or quote or tell us from whence their Originall came in Insomuch as Littleton as Sir Edward Coke relateth speaketh of the Kings Prerogative but in 2 places in all his book viz. § 125. 128. and in both places saith it is by the Law of England And Sr Edward Coke that gave in some of his books that good and wholesome advice petere fontes non Sectari Rivules should not as he fondly did have built Altars Sacrificed his otherwise to be well esteemed abilities to the reasonless and notoriously false and vain figments of his so much adored modus tenendi Parliamentum and the mirrour of Justice and it can be no less then a marvail that so learned a Councell at Law and State as that great and Excellent Queen Elizabeth was so blest with should permit her to afflict and torment her mind in the taking away the life of her Cousin Mary Queen of Scotland for Treason who had fled unto her for protection against the persecution of her Rebellious Subjects who had driven her out of her own Kingdom and was by some Ill-affected English made use of in some of their plots and Conspiracies which were then made or Contrived by the advantage of her being here against their Sovereign and her Royall Government upon a designed Marriage betwixt her and the Duke of Norfolk and to endure the menaces and threatnings of some forreign Kings and Princes her Allies to avenge her death as a Common Concernment which his now Majestie and his blessed Father the Royall Martyr for his people could not in all their many distresses find any amongst their great Allies and kindred that would do any thing more then to make their own unjust advantages by an Early Complying with their Adversaries when the Justice of that her unwilling action in the Silence of our best and most learned Annalists and Historians who brobably might in that and other matters of our Laws think our Feudall Laws to be as unnecessary to be proclaimed in England as that there is a God when every one should believe it might have easily proved demonstrated the sentence condemnation of that unfortunate Queen being a Feudatory of our Queen Elizabeth and holding her Kingdom of Scotland of her by ancient Tenure in Capite homage and fealty of and under her Crown of England to have been agreeable unto those Laws although very unhappy unto the necessity of the one in the causing and the other in her Suffering under it and that so many of the Kings Council in the Law that should be more than the Carved Lyons about Solomons Throne if they would but read the learned Bâ—oks that have been written by some Learned Gentlemen and Divines in the defence of the Kings Just Rights from the Bars of our Courts of Justice to the Bench and from the Bench to the Bar should take so little notice of those our fundamentall Laws as only to entitle the Kings ancient Monarchick Rights to no better a Foundation and Originall then that which the miserable seduced and infatuated Common people shall be pleased to call Prerogative as if it were some new word or term of Usurpation or Tyranny to be maligned bawled and bayted at by the silly rabble or as if the name of Prerogative made every thing unjust that the King or his Ministers have either done or shall do and some of the Causes for reason amongst many of the effascinations which like the Egyptian darkness hath almost Covered all our Land of Egypt is a word too good for it may be the mischeivous quarrell betwixt our Common Lawyers and Civill or Caesarean Lawyers not reading or understanding so much as they should do the venerable mother of that which they would call the Common Laws when at the same time they can be content to make use of their Excellent Rules and Maximes in many of their Pleas Arguments Books and Reports as so many faithfull Guides and Directions And for further satisfaction unto and as far as a demonstration from what original the most of our fundamental and Principal Laws tanquam a fonte purissimo the purest fountain of Right Reason have proceeded been fixt and continued amongst us the particulars of the Feudal Laws following not before mentioned will if rightly considered abundantly Illustrate and Declare when the Feudists or Fendal Lawyers may assure us that the Feudal Laws being as a Jus gentium of all the Northern Nation of Europe from or out of which England Scotland and Ireland with their adjacent Isles and Territories are not or ever yet were to be excluded In the company whereof attended also as the
homages or pay for the respite of them and to give the Lord to understand what alienations had been made of the lands holden of him whereby to Entitle him and those that did hold of him to the benefit of the Statute of Quia Emptores terrarum And altogether dissimular to that of the Parliament first begun with those few of the Commons which adventured to come unto it in Anno. 49. H. 3. when he was a Prisoner in the custody of Montfert Earl of Leicester a powerful rebell discontinued and interrupted as rebellious designs ought to be after his release untill King Edw. the 1. found it convenient to make use of that kind of writ of Summons to ballance the then swelling power of some of his over-Unweildy Baronage For in the former or those great Councells or Parliaments that were before the 49th Year of the Reign of King H. 3d. the Lords Spiritual and Temporall took upon them the care charge of the Commons as included in themselves as their Subjects they being by that then first kind of Writ only Elected to consent yield Obedience to such things as the Lords not themselves should ordain for had it been as it never was otherwise it would have been altogether ungatory and ridicule to allow a power to the Commons to ordain when they were impowred only to assent unto and obey and cannot at all be understood to obey and be subservient to that which themselves had Decreed the Lords Spirituall and Temporall untill the King had given unto what was advised by them his Royall sanction and assent being not at all obliged to any Obedience thereunto And untill the statute de Tallagio non concedendo without the Assent of the Lords Spirituall and Temporall and the Commons in Parliament Assembled was by King E. 1. assented unto had nothing to do in the granting of ayds and subsidies in Parliament Concurrently with the Lords Spirituall and Temporall in the aforesaid Writ of 18. H. 3. is said to be for to supply their own necessities as well as the Kings But in the Military Courts which were as aforesaid Summoned by King John or any other of our Kings before 49. H. 3. the Knights or those that held in Capite or Knights-Service that should fail to do their Services was to forfeit their Lands so holden and be in the Kings Mercy or pay Escuage which though it were to be assessed by Parliament was not then Understood to be a Parliament Composed of an House of Commons but a Parliament after the Ancient way consisting only of the Lords Spirituall and Temporall the Kings Great Officers of State Judges and Councell Which our Kings and their Councell both generall and speciall were not ignorant of either as to its right use or necessity for publique good or preservation When King John being rightly informed and in fear enough of an Invasion intended by the King of France his profest and known enemy et de omnibus quae in transmarinis partibus agebatur edoctus did not only inbreviare omnes naves universis portubus totius Angliae per brevia sua sed alias literas universis Vicecomitibus regni sui misit et direxit sub hac forma Johannes Dei gratia Rex Angliae c. Summone per bonos Summonitores omnes Barones Milites omnes liberos homines servientes vel quicunque sint vel de quocunque teneant qui arma habere debent vel arma habere possint qui homagium nobis vel ligeantiam fecerunt quod sicut nos seipsos omnia sua diligunt sint apud Doveram ad Instans clausum Paschae bene parati cum equis armis cum toto posse suo ad defendendum caput nostrum capita sua terram Angliae quod nullus remaneat qui arma portare possit sub nomine Culvertagii perpetuae servitatis when both in England and France nihil magis quam opprobrium significavit Et unusquisque sequatur dominum suum qui terram non habent arma habere possint illuc veniant ad capiendum solidatas nostras tu omnem attractum victualium omnia mercata ballivarum tuarum venire facias ut sequantur Exercitum nostrum Ita quod nullum mercatum de ballivis tuis alibi teneatur tuipse tunc sis ibi cum predictis Summonitoribus scias quod scire volumus quomodo venerint de ballivis tuis qui venerint qui non videas quod tu Ita efforciate venias cu 〈…〉 equis armis haec Ita exequatis ut inde ad corpus tuum nos capere debeamus tu inde habeas rotulum tuum ad nos certificandum qui remanserunt Whereupon saith that Historian his ergo literis per Angliam divulgatis convenerunt ad maritima in locis diversis homines diversae conditionis et aetatis sed cum per dies pauces tantae multitudini victus defuisset remiserunt ad propria principes militiae ex inormi vulgo copiosam Multitudinem milites solummodo servientes liberos homines cum Balistariis sagittariis juxta maritima retinentes omnibus igitur congregati ad pugnam aestimati sunt in exercitu apud Barham dâ—nam inter milites electos servientes strenuos bene armatos sexaginta millium virorum fortium quibus si er ga Regem Angliae defensionem patriae cor fuisset anima una non fuisset princeps sub coelo contra quem regnum Angliae se non defenderet And it was no mervail to the people of England who then had not learned to be affraid or make Bug-bears of publique good or kick and winch at every thing that tended that way when King Edward the first in the 24th Year of his Reign Citari fecit omnes qui sibi servitium debebant caeterosque omnes qui viginti libratas terrae amplias tenebant ut parati essent Londoniis in festo sancti Petri ad vincula cum equis armis transfretaturi cum eo Regis stipendiis militaturi And do very much differ from a Writ to Summon the Lords Spirituall and Temporall to Parliament as ad colloquium or consulendum does from coming parati cum equis armis which the Ancient cares and usage of Parliaments since that over-powerfull and unhappy designs of some unruly Barons coming in Arms to the Parliament at Oxford in the 42. Year of the Reign of King Henry the 3. and the sad consequences thereof taught our Kings to take heed of it ever after by prohibiting the coming to Parliaments with Arms and differs no less from the purpose tenour or purport of the Writs or Commissions to elect Knights of the Shires Citizens and Burgesses which had their first Originall and Commencement to come to our Parliaments in Anno. 49. of King Henry the 3. when that King was a Prisoner to an Army of Rebells was not
lands and Estates where our Laws do give unto them the benefit accrewing And the honourable Peers and Judges in that Court subordinate unto the King may as to matters therein determinable be the better content therewith for that not being Sworn nor punishable as Judges in other Courts are and in what they do advise therein they neither are or can be punishable in a judicio colloquiale wherein as Paulus Screrbic hath said in his Statua Poloniae Judex in colloquiis aut Regis praesentia judicans argui de male judicato non potest And the word KUPIA as Sir Henry Spelman saith with the Greeks and Romans signifying potestas dominium and the Lord or owner of it qui potestate fretus est judiciumque exercet and the place habitaculum domini the residence or Court of the Lord or Superior ubi sana rei narratio placitum forenses vocant dicebatur autem Curia primo de Regia palatio principis inde de familia judiciis in ea habitis ritu veterrimo or the place where Kings did administer Justice surely Kings were not therein to be co-ordinate or any less then Superior And the very Learned Sir John Spelman the Son of that Excellent Learned Father writing the Life of King Alured or Alfred hath together with the unquestionable historical part and truth of the relation given us the observation that Et Comitum potestatem ad huc minuebat nam neque iis integra restabat negotiorum bellicorum tractatio Horum enim magna pars Heretochiis sive Ducibus inferioribus a plebe in Comitiis suis Electis Committebatur Hi enim recensionibus meditationibis armorumque lustrationibus praefuerunt milites in Centuriis suis coeuntes ad locum toti exercitui destinatum deducebant in bellis demum Ducum inferiorum officiis fungebantur Prout e legibus boni Edwardi aliisque locis facile colligitur Haec institutio cum a populo non Comitibus Ductores hi eligebantur non parum e Comitum potentia abstulit Comitibus ergo quorum potentia Regibus semper maxime formidabilis relinquebatur ordinaria potestas in Comitiis Comitativis praefidendi in bellis sui Comitatus militibus imperandi in Curia sive Comitatu Regis conciliis publicis suo rumque negotiis attendendi mandata Regia subditis suis communicandi quod mira celcritate post novam hanc imperii institutionem factum est Et quidem si Aelfredi nostri vestigiis posteriores Regis institissent neque tot Seditiones ortae neque tantum Sanguinis in bellis Civilibus exhaustum neque Regis ipsi toties temporibus subsequentibus periclitati fuissent Sed tam bene constituta partim bella Civilia quae statim post ejus obitum recrudescentia pene omnibus legibus executionem impediebant videantur Edvardi senioris querelae lege quarta Danique post renovatas invasiones sub canuto victores maxime vero Normanni labefactarunt Gulielmus enim sive ut Magnates in invasione regni hujus maxima momenta pro meritis pactis etiam remuneraret sive ut Anglos dominio suo efficacius subderet nobilibus suis Normannis maximam potentiam que postea tot malorum origo indulsit Henricus vero primus quantum potuit leges Aelfredi nostri instituta revocavit sed tempora consuetudinesque perversae omnia quae expedire poterant inferri non patiebantur And the authority of our Kings in Parliament were not only in the Ages before but in King Alfreds or Alureds time Superior and Super-eminent in his great Councells over his Subjects as Asser Menevensis living in his Court and Writing his Life after his Death saith that Saepissimo in concionibus Comitum praepositorum ubi pertinacissime inter se dissentiebant ita ut pene nullus eorum quicquid a Comitibus praepositis judicatum fuisset verum esse concederet qui pertinaci dissensione obstinatissimo compulsi Regis subire judicium singuli subarrabant and when Appeals and Writs of Error came before him from his Earls or Ealdermen saith Mr. Selden out of Asser Menevensis when he found Error and Injustice committed by them would Sharply reprove them For in our Monarchicall Government with the ancient long continued and well-experimented existence and constitution of the House of Peers and Peerage in the Kingdom of England the Common People were so subordinate to the Baronage and Peers as the Commons were allways understood by our Kings and our Laws and the Lords Spirituall and Temporall and by the Common People themselves to be comprehended in and under the Baronage who did for them and as they were included in them very often in our great Councells and Parliaments grant or deny aids or Subsidies and in their behalf without the Commons themselves speaking or advising alledge their poverty and disability and the Popes and Forreign Neighbour Princes in their letters and rescripts understanding it no otherwise of which Mathew Paris and Thomas of Walsingham authors of great credit living in the Reign of King Henry the 3d. and King Edward the 1st his Son have afforded us plentiful instances And all things rightly observed or Considered could not give any one the least of reason or colour of it for if our Comites Burones Bracton not mentioning the Bishops who then had great power if not too much over our Kings and Princes there then being no Dukes Marquisses and Viscounts whom our Kings then used not to create though there were many Dukes or said to be in the time of the Saxons before the Norman Conquest who by our fundamentall Laws enjoyed all their authority Subordinate unto their Parliaments and Great Councells might forfeit their Lives Estates and Lands holden of them in Capite which was the only Measure of punishment in England before the Act of Parliament in the 25th Year of the Reign of King Edward the 3d. was made which did at the request of the Lords and Commons the Bishops not mentioned declare what should afterwards be attempted and punished as High Treason against him and his Heirs or for Counterfeiting his Great Seal which did or should bear record of the Laws and Actions and Kingly Government of our Kings Princes there having not been in that Act of Parliament or any Act of Parliament or Laws of our Brittish Saxon Danish or Norman before or since tacitly or expressly for the abolishing or taking away our Feudall Laws and Customs or that ever to be wailed unhappy Act of Parliament made by his now Majesty King Charles the 2. for the taking away of the Court of Wards and Liveries by reason of his tenures in Capite and of all homage and fealty drawn and prepared by a Learned Lawyer and a Member of that House of Commons in Parliament Dreaming of a Common-Wealth untill their man of Sin Oliver Cromwell was pleased to awake them who was in his profession well known to have been eminently skilled in
unto the now Duke of Beaufort and by men leavyed and sent unto him from Wales in his Majesties March as far as Shrowsbury towards him the better to enjoy and be near the great assistance which he promised and performed without which and the Ancient and Legall aid and help of his tenures in Capite and by Knight-service he could not have made any defence for Himself or his Loyal Subjects but might have been taken and Imprisoned by the Sheriffes of every shire or County thorough which he was to pass in his Journey to York with his eldest Son the Prince whom they would likewise have seised upon when he was by the Faction and their Hunters driven and pursued as it were thither for Refuge as a Partridge hunted upon the Mountains from his Parliament when he had no Provision of Arms Men or Money And the Rebell-Party of that Parliament had formed and beforehand made ready a great and powerfull Army without any manner of want of Money and a seduced party of his People to march against him And our Feudall Laws were so little despised unknown or unusuall in this Kingdom as our Magna-Charta and Charta de Foresta more then 30 times confirmed by Acts of Parliament and the Petition so called of Right will appear to have no other source or Fountain as to the most of the many parts thereof then the Feudall Laws And they must be little Conversant in the reading practice and usage thereof demonstrable in and through our Records and Authentique Annalls and Historians that will not confess and believe it when they shall so manifestly almost every where see the vestigia and tracks thereof and our Saxon Laws faithfully translated and rendred unto us by the labours and industry of our learned Lambard and Abraham Whelock Arabick professor in the University of Cambridge and the glossary of our Learned Sr Henry Spelman may aboundantly be found to declare that they had for the most part no other Progenitors And could not be understood to amount unto no less then the greatest and strongest Fortifications that any Kingdom could have though not so guarded by the Sea as our Islands of Great Brittain are and have been when Seventy Thousand Horsmen gravi Armatura or not meanly Armed should as the manner of those Times were without much disturbance to their other affairs be sodainly ready upon any Emergencies of Wars Intestine or Forreign without Pay or Wages under the greatest obligations Divine and Humane to defend their Kings themselves and their Estates which in more valiant and plain dealing Times did in no longer part of time commonly determine the fate or fortune of a Kingdom as to a great part of the Event or success of a War And was so necessary to the Defence of the King and People as our William the Conqueror that did not bring but found the Feudall Laws here in England may be thought to have been very willing to have strengthend his Conquests here when he distributed amongst his great Officers in the Army his Soldiers as much of his Conquered Lands as Ordericus Vitalis hath related it Seventy Thousand Knights Fees who in regard of their service for the defence of the King had a Privilege by the Kings Writ for them and their Tenants to be free ab omni Talagio from all Taxes which priviledge or acquittal saith Sr Edward Coke discontinued Of which our Feudall Laws the Brittains the more ancient Inhabitants of England as well as the Brittains in America in France now known by the name of the Duchy of Brittain cannot be believed to have been Ignorant when the Father of our Victorious Arthur King of Brittain was a Beneficiarius and held his Lands in Cornwall of the King in Capite unto whose Kingdom were appendant the large Dominions of Norway and the Islands ultra Scanriam Islandiam Ireland Curland Dacia Semeland Winland Finland Wareland Currelam Flanders omnes alias terras Insulas Orientalis Oceani usque Russiam Et iu Luppo etiam posuit orientalem metam Regni Brittania multas alias Insulas usque Scotiam usque in Septentrione quae sunt de appendicis Scaniae quae Noricena dicitur and that Kingdom of Brittain had so large an Extent and the King of Brittain such a directum Dominium therein that upon an exact Search and inquiry into the Memorialls Antiquities Annalls and Historians thereof it was evident that in the Times of Ely and Samuel after the Siege and Destruction of Troy Brute came into this Island called it by his name and divided his Kingdom to his 3 Sons Loegria now called England to his Eldest Albania since called Scotland came to the 2 and Cambria or Wales unto his 3 Son Camber after whom was Arthurus Rex Britonium famosissimus Who subdued a great part of France and those his Noble Acts were not unknown unto some of the Roman Poets and Historians and the Laws used here in his Time may with great reason be understood to have been the same which the English or Saxons our later Ancestors Fletibus Precibus with supplications washed in Tears obtained of the Norman Conqueror to be left unto them as King Edward the Confessors Laws for his Justice and Holiness reputed to have been a Saint and together with the Mercenlage or Laws made by Mercia a Queen of Mercia or the Borders or Confines of Wales ought to be esteemed the same aggregate Laws which K. William the Conqueror of the Brittains Saxons and Normans after they had began to Intermarrie and were become as it were Populus unus Gens una were certified by the greatest most universall and most Solemn Jury and verdict that ever was Impannelled or made use of in England and under the strictest and severest Charge not by Judges delegate but by the King himself and a Conquering King that had omnia Jura et terras in manu sua which he did Consilio Baronum suorum in Anno quarto Regni sui cause to be Summoned through all the Shires Counties of England of out of the Nobiles sapientes et in Lege cendites ut eorum Leges et Jura et Consuetudines ab ipsis audiret Whereupon in singulis totius patriae Comitatibus a Jury of 12 men qualified as aforesaid Jure Jurando coram ipso Rege before the King himself no ordinary Judge but the Highest under God quo ad possent recto tramite incidentes neither turning on the Right hand nor the Left legum suarum Consuetudinum suarum patefacerent neither omitting or adding any thing by fraud or praevarication yet the King seeming better to approve of his Norway and Danish Laws which in many things affinitate Saxonum seemed to be the same with the Norway Laws except in some small difference in the heightning of the Fines and Forfeitures which when the King had heard read unto him maxime appreciutus est proecepit ut Obsequerentur per
totum Regnum for he said that his Ancestors omnium Baronum fere Normannorum Antecesseres Norwigenses exticissent Et quod de Norwicis olim venissent Et hac Authoritate leges eorum cum profundioses honestiores omnibus aliis essent prae caeteris Regni sui Legibus asserebat se debere sequi observare and the Saxon Laws being in the Saxon language and he and his Normans for some Generations past alltogether speaking French written in another Idiome and manner could not be thought so soon well to understand Quippe cum aliaerum legibus Nationum Britonum scilicet Anglorum Pictorum Scotorum praeponderassent as if he or his Normans having so lately Conquered the Kingdom of England and he had after some time returned into Normandy whether he had Carried some of the most Potent of the English Nobility as Pledges and Hostages And after some tarrying there and time expended in the setling of his Affairs returned into England where he found some Mutinies and Rebellions might not in a mind wholly imployed in the Study of War Glory be allowed some parcell of Ignorance or so much as to make him his Norman Adventurers mistake not understand that the Feudall Laws and those of Norway were the same for the most part with the Laws of the Saxons or their Praedecessors or their often invading and contending neighbors the Picts and Scots or the Saxons so impoverished and affrighted as not to be able to declare unto him that the Laws of St Edward the Confessor were the same which the Conquerers Compatriots the Norwigians were governed by or might not so well as they should have understood their own Laws or the Feudal Laws which their Northern or German Ancestors had so much affected to be ruled and governed by more especially when those Laws so Sacred of St Edward the Confessor had by reason of some discords in England layne as it were hid and asleep about Sixty Eight yeares from the Reign of King Edgar untill the Reign of King Edward the Confessor Which the Conqueror himself had then only as the learned Sr Roger Twisden saith ut melius unicuique administraret Anglicam locutiorem Saâ—egit ediscere Et in perceptione hujus durior aetas illum compescebat endeavoured to learn which Verdict or Carefull Enquiry in the poor Conquered Englishman's greatest Concernments in this world next unto their greatest in the next being presented to him he Concilio habito precatu Baronum granted their Petition Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury and Maurice Bishop of London Scripserunt propriis manibus omnia ista praedicta per praeceptum praedicti domini Regis Gulielmi Et ex illo igitur die multa Authoritate veneratae et per universum regnum Corroboratae et Observatae sunt prae ceteris patriae legibus leges Edwardi Regis Sancti Insomuch as King William the Conqueror upon a better understanding that those Laws of St Edward were one and the same or very near of kindred unto the Norway or Danish Laws had not only given and distributed amongst his great Officers and Soldiers Seventy Thousand Knights Fees in lands of a great value to be holden of him his Heirs and Successors in Capite but in his own Laws afterwards made other Feudall Laws as additions thereunto as de Clientari seu Feudorum Jure Ingenuorum Immunitate Ca. 55. de Clientum seu vassallorum praestationibus Ca. 58. nequis Dominio suo debitas suas praestationes substrahat Ca. 34. de foemina granida quae capitali supplicio damnatur Ca. 35. which was a Law either before or since brought hither by the Phenitians or Roman Colonies de relevio eorum qui Clientes pendent c. 40. And in the decretis made by him it is mentioned that cum principibus suis constituit post Conquisitionem Angliae not Constituerunt that next unto the Reverence of God and Faith in Christ he would have inviolably observed and kept pacem securitatem Concordiam Judicium Justiciam inter Anglos Normannos similiter inter Francigenes Britones Walliae Cornubiae Pithos Scotos Albaniae Similiter Francas Insulicolas omnium Insularum provinciarum quae pertinent ad Coronam dignitatem ad defensionem observationem ad honorem Regis infra omnes sibi subjectos per universam Regni Britania firmiter inviolabiliter Statuimus etiam ut omnes liberi homines fide Sacramento affirment quod intra extra universum Regnum quod olim vocabatur Regnum Britanniae Willielmo Regi Domino suo fideles esse volunt Terras et Honores suos omni sidelitate ubique servare cum eo contra Inimicos Alienigenas defendere volumus Et hoc firmiter precipimus Concedimus ut omnes liberi homines totius Monarchiae Regni nostri praedicti habeant teneant terras suas possessiones bene in pace ab omni exactione injusta ab omni tallagio Ita quod nihil ab eis exigatur vel capiatur nisi servitium suum liberum quod de Jure nobis facere debent facere teneantur prout Statutum est eis illas a nobis datum Concessum Jure Haereditario in perpetuum per Comune Concilium totius Regni nostri Statuimus firmiter praecipimus ut omnes Comites Barones milites servientes universi liberi homines totius Regni nostri praedicti habeant teneant se semper bene in armis equis ut decet oportet quod sint semper prompti parati ad servitium suum integrum nobis explendum et peragendum cum semper opus abfuerit secundum quod nobis debent in feodis tementis suis sicut illis statuimus per Commune Concilium Regni nostri praedicti illis dedimus Concedimus in feudis Jure haereditario hoc praeceptum non sit violatum ullo modo super forisfacturam plenam statuimus etiam firmiter praecipimus ut omnes liberi homines totius Regni praedicti which could not be understood to have been any other then his Norman Commanders and Nobility for the most part if any English sint fratres conjurati ad Monarchiam nostram ad Regnum nostrum pro viribus suis facult atibus contra omnes pro posse suo defendendum viribus servandum pacem dignitatem nostram Coronae nostrae integrum observandum ad Judicium rectum Justitiam constanter modis omnibus pro posse suo sine dolo sine dilatione faciendum Which being made at London was without any limitation or restraint as to the number of Days wherein the Service was to be performed or how long to be at their own Wages or their Kings was not at all expressed in that Kings originall Grant Law or Constitution for although the Fortune or Fate of a War in those bold
Elizabeth King James and King Charles the 1. And our Annalls Historians and Records can appaâ—ently evidence that Queen Elizabeth in the designed Invasion of England by the King of Spain with a formidable Navy and Army in the Year 1588. did not by any of her Councells Judges Delegates or Lawyers great or small limit in the raising of Forces either by Land or Sea the Numbers Time of Continuance or Wages and it hath been a part of the Jus Gentium or Law of Nations not to contradict but allow the Seizing of Ships of Merchants and Strangers in the Potts or Havens of a Prince like to be Assailed and in Danger of War when every man ought to fight tanquam pro Aris Focis And that magnanimous great and wise Princess could not without that Power inhaerent in her Monarchy have aided with Men and Arms the great Henry King of France and the distressed Belgick Provinces checked the Papall Powers and Plots and Planted and Supported the Protestant Religion in most of the parts of Christendom holding by a steddy hand the Ballance thereof and so well understood her own Rights and the true methods of Government as she blaming some of the House of Commons for flying from their Houses near the Sea Coasts in the affright of the Spanish Invasion did Swear by the Almighty God that if she knew whom in particular she would punish and make them Examples of being the Deserters of their Prince and Countrey King James asked no leave of his Subjects in Parliament to Raise and Send Men and Arms into the Palatinate being his Son in Law 's Inheritance for the Defence thereof under the Command of Sr Horatio Vere and an Army for the same purpose also under the Command of Count Mansfelt a German Prince King Charles that blessed Martyr by a Company of accursed Rebells furnished to Sea 3. severall Armies and Navies in aid of the distressed Protestants at Rochell in France in whose Reign all the Judges of England subscribed to their Opinions that the King was to prevent a danger impending upon the Commonwealth might impose a Tax for the furnishing out of Ships and was to be the sole Judge thereof which had but a little before been inrolled in all the Courts of Justice in Westminster and in the Chancery as the opinion of all the Judges of England under their hands which in the leavying but of Ten Shillings being Cavilled at by Mr Hamden a man of 3 or 4000 l. per Annum one of the grand Sedition-Mongers who as a Member of the House of Commons in Parliament had by an Execrable Rebellion almost Ruined destroyed England Scotland and Ireland to pacify which that Pious Prince being willing to satisfie their scruples as much as the Laws and Constitutions of the Kingdom as he hoped might Allow and being a Principall part of the Monarchy the Arcana's whereof Queen Elizabeth believed not fit to be sacrâ—ficed unto Vulgar and Publick disputes and hammered upon the Anvills of Lawyers arguments tending unto more what could then should be sayd and therefore did in some of her grants or rescripts insert the words as King James afterwards did de quo disputari nolumus a maxima which the great Henry the Fourth of France in his Government strictly observed and which every Sea or Land Captain hath through many Ages and traverses of the world ever experimented to be necessary and usefull Insomuch as licence was given to frame a Case or question thereupon that never was before done in England through all its Changes of our Monarchs under the Brittish Roman Saxon Danish and Norman Races or in all the Empires and Kingdoms of the habitable World for amongst the Israelites there was an outward Court for the Common People there was a Sanctum Sanctorum there was no dispute suffer'd about their Urim and Thummim or the dreadfuly delivered Decalogue and the Ancilia and vestall fire at Rome were not to be pried into by the Common People neither would the vast Ottoman Empire suffer the secrets of Mahomets Pidgeon or the laying the Foundations of their Religion or Alcoran vast Empire to be disputed or exposed unto vulgar Capacities that would sooner mistake or abuse then assent unto truth or the most certified reason In the way unto which our fatality and ever to be lamented sad Consequences that followed the late long Parliament Rebellion Mr Oliver St John and Mr Rober Holborne two young Lawyers affecting a Contrariety to the approved sence and Interpretation of our most known and best old Laws and to Criticise and put doubtfull Interpretations upon the ever to be reverenced and wholsome Laws and Constitutions of the Kingdom did to that end expend much Time in the search of all the Records of the Kingdom The first of which laboured to propagate his design of Ruining the Kings Power of taxing Ship Mony and leavying it in Case of necessity for the defence of his Kingdom and Subjects but Mr Holbornes better opinion after all could not but leave him an earnest Assertor of the Kings Rights and Power therein So as of the 12 Judges upon the debates of the Kings learned Councell and the Peoples Lawyer Mr St John and others dispute arguing Pro and Contra One against the Other Ten of the Judges giving their Judgements therein against the said Mr Hamden that that unhappy aforesaid Ten Shillings ought to be leavyed upon him Notwithstanding Justice Hattons and Justice Crokes dissenting opinions who did afterwards forsake that begun and after long continued paths of Rebellion And that good and great man that prepared the Act of Parliament for the Converting Tenures in Capite into free and Common Socage that took away the strength of our Israel and worse then the folly or ill managed love of old Pelias Daughters to make their aged Father young again whether misled by his friend Oliver St John or overmuch in love of the well poysed temper of his so much admired the Roman Pomponius Atticus needed not to have been so over Severe in the astringent penalties nailed and fastned upon that Act of Parliament and the breaking of that Socage Act by adding to that much better of the tenures in Capite no less then the affrightfull penalty of that of a Praemunire when it was not likely to be so great a Stranger to his memory that the Learned Judges of the Kingdom had at severall times in the Reigns of King James and King Charles the Martyr declared their well weighed opinions that the Tenures in Capite were so fundamentall a part of our Laws as no Act of Parliament could be able or have force to repeal change or take them away And that in all the Icarian attempts and high Flights of the long called Parliament Rebellion and even in their Hogen Mogen unparaleld Nineteen Propositions made unto their King which if granted had taken away from him all the Power of a King and a Father or to govern or defend
Nerves Sinews and Ligaments of the Crown and head of our body Politick and in the doing thereof also might have bereaved the Nation of the ancient and honourable assistance of the House of Peers in Parliament which of Ancient and long time Immemoriall have been as they should ought to be the firm strong pillars supports of our Monarchick Government had not the Earls of Oxford and Strafford Magnanimously as a Prologue to its Restauration come to the House then called the House of Commons in Parliament wherein that great Monck that Unus homo nobis qui cunctando restituit rem was then admitted a member guarded with his own so warily conducted Army out of Scotland before his Majesties happy Restauration and the way had been prepared for it and calling him unto the Door of that house demanded as Peers their Rights and priviledges to have their house of Peers doors opened which upon his Majesties Blessed Father's murther that so misnamed house of Commons in Parliament had shut up and Voted to be Useless and Dangerous which he instantly of himself Ordered to be opened without any Act Order or Vote of Parliament into which they went and sat untill they gained more of their Loyall Party to help to fill their House again which by Degrees was shortly after especially after his Majesties Landing and Coming to London Replenished and Restored as their King and Sovereign was And the Nation had notwithstanding by that Framer of that aforesaid ever to be deplored Act of Parliament been deprived of that only part of our Parliament Subordinate unto their King from the beginning of our very ancient Monarchy and as it ought ever to be till the 49th Year of K. Henry the 3. when he was a Prisoner unto Simon Montfort and his Army of Rebells and not before When some Commons were in that Rebellion Elected to be as a part of Parliament and to sit in a Seperate Lower House ad faciendum consentiendum iis which the King and Lords should think fit or necessary to Ordain had it not been rescued and prevented by the Care of the Lord Viscount Stafford and the Barons of Abergavenny and Dudley awakened by the Book a little before Printed and Published entituled Tenenda non Tollenda who caused a Proviso to be inserted in the said Act of Parliament that nothing therein contained should be extended or prejudiciall to the Rights and Priviledges and Honours of the Peers in Parliament or any that held by Grand Serjeanty c. And having by their good will left as few Spears or Swords as they could in our Israel to help to protect or defend it could notwithstanding readily find the way to that Ingratefull River Lethe and Sin of unthankfullness which God and all good men do not only Abhorr but the most fierce and Savage Beasts of the Field and Fowls of the Air do detest and could not be fully satisfied untill they could add unto the Kings evil Bargain the taking away of the Royal Pourveyance which amounted unto no Smaller a damage unto him then Ninety or One Hundred Thousand Pounds per Ann. it being in the 35th Year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth Estimated in the Saving of the houshold expences 25000 l. per Ann. communibus Annis in the 3. Year of the Reign of King James 40000 l. per Ann. And in the Reign of King Charles the Martyr at the most not above 50000 l. per Ann. Communibus Annis But whether more or less is not to be found in the receipt or Yearly Income of the Moyety of the dayly ceasing pretended Recompence by the Excise arising unto no more then one Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds deducting the no little charges in the Collection thereof and in taking away of that 50 l. per Ann. for the Royall Pourveyance brought upon the King no less a Damage then One Hundred Thousand Pounds per Ann. And cannot by the most Foolish of the People Lunaticks out of their Intervalls Ideots very small Infants and Children only excepted be with any manner of Colour or Shadow of reason believed to be any thing near a Compensation singly for the Pourveyance and a great deal less for that inestimable Jewell of the Crown the Tenures in Capite and by Knight Service the later a principall part of the support of the Sovereignty and the former of the Crown For that the Power Might and Majesty that resideth therein is unvaluable and not to be Ballanced by any thing that is not as much the Pourveyance being in the Fourth Year of the Reign of King James held to be such an Inseparable adjunct of the Crown and Imperiall Dignity and some few Years after believed by the Incomparable Sr Francis Bacon Lord Chancellor of England to be a necessary support both in Law and Politiques in other Nations as well as our own hath told us is such a Sacra Sacrorum as Baldus and Individua as Cynus termeth them which Jurisconsultorum Communi quodam decreto by an uncontroverted opinion of all Lawyers nec cedi nec distrahi nec abalienari a Summo Principe cannot as Bodin saith be granted or released nor by any manner of way aliened or witholden from the Sovereign Prince nec ulla quidem temporis dinternitate praescribi posse nor by any length of time prescribed against him and therefore by Besoldus called Imperii Majestatis Jura bona Regni conjuncta incorporate seu Coronae unita quae princeps alienare non potest the Rights and Empire of Majesty and the goods and part of the Crown so Incorporate and annexed unto it as the Prince cannot alien which for the Subjects to attempt would not be much different from an endeavour to restrain a Prince by Law against the Law of God bonos more 's which by the opinion of the Learned Bacon the Lord Chief Justice Hobart and Judge Hutton would be Void and of none Effect for the presents and good will of Inferiors to their Superiors is one of the most ancient and Noble Customs which mankind hath ever practised and began so with the Beginning and Youth of the world as we find the Patriarch Jacob sending his Sons to his then unknown Son Joseph besides the Mony which he gave them to buy Corn a Present of the best Fruits of the Country a little Balm a little Honey Spices Mirrh Nutts and Almonds The Persians in their Kings Progresses did munera offerre neque vilia neque exilia neque nimis pretiosa nec magnifica bring them Presents neither Pretious nor Contemptible from which etiam Agricolae Opifices Workmen and Plowmen were not freed in the bringing Wine Oxen Fruits and Cheeses and the first Fruits of what the Earth brought forth quae non tributa sed doni loco consebantur which were not accompted to be given as tributes but oblations and free Gifts which made the poor Persian Synetas when he met with Artaxerxes and his
pertineaut And that great King was so more then ordinarily carefull of the rights and Honor of his Crown and Regall authority which had been too much depressed and misused by the Rebellion of Simon Montfort and some Rebellious Barons and his fathers Imprisonment with the Wars and Hardships put upon them did so well provide against any the like troubles and Convulsions of State as in his return through France and abode for some time in Aquitain where he was Sumptuously feasted by the King of France he took an especiall care when he did Homage to him for Aquitain and some other Dominions he held of him in that Kingdom to limit it only unto them and except Normandy where he expended much time in the Setling of his affairs But howsoever Summus ille viz our Mr Selden was of opinion that so remarkable a provision and Monarchical Resolution of our King Edward the first and so many Emperors and Christian Kings and Princes to conserve the rights of their Crowns reported by Fleta was Prodigious and taken too much upon trust and an over facile credulity of our Carceratus Fleta as he termed him because resumptions of the Sacred Patrimonies aliened had been used here in England long before and not used at or about the same Time by Rodulphus primus the Emperor of Germany when he granted to Pope Gregory the 10th Bononia in Italy et latifunda circum quaque amplissima quae ante Imperii Romani pars insignis and permitted to be aliened to the Pope who was not then so easy to be resisted and that Choppinus and those many great and learned Doctors of the Law that had written and argued so much concerning those kind of alienations and our own Historians had been altogether silent therein yet that Decus Anglorum gentis might in his great recherches of our English Records Laws and Annalls have found that our King Edward might have been believed to have taken such Councel either from his former calamities in his his fathers Time or by a generall Consult with some or all of those Christian Princes or their Legates for that he was no sooner arrived in his own Kingdom and Dominions but he began to busy himself as much as his other great Cares and Variety of troubles would Suffer him to do in the allaying the Unquietness of the Disturbances which Humfrey do Bohun Constable of England Rigor Bigod Earl Marshall of England Gilbert de Clare Earl of Glocester and many other the remains of his fathers more then Cammon Distresses and in his Wars with Scotland and annexing the Rights and Superiority of it to his Crown of England in the placing displacing of the Kings and Heirs thereof a Regality Superlative not to be neglected and an effect pertinent enough to that Monarchick Universall consult when in the fourth year of his Reign an Enquiry was made of all the Manors and Lands Tenements Parks Buildings Woods Tenants Commons Pastures Pawnage Honey Herbage and all other profits of Forrests Waters Moors Marshes Heaths Turbury and Wasts and how much it was worth by the year Mills Fishings Common and severall Freeholders and Copyholders by what Service they did hold their Land by Knight Service or in Socage and what reliefs what Customary Tenants and by what works or Service they did hold what rents of Assise what Cotages and Curtilages and what rents they do pay by the Year what pleas and exquisites of the Counties and of the Forrests and what they were worth by the Year what Churches of what Yearly value and who was the Patron with the yearly value of Herriotts Fairs Markets Escheats Customes Services fore Time Works and Customs and w 〈…〉 tâ—e pleas and perquisites of Courts Fines all other Casualties were worth by the Year or may fall by any of those things an Inquisition much resembling that of the Norman villains enquest in the Book of Domesday or that which long before preceded it called the Roll of Winchester and in his elaborate recherches of all the Ancient Records Annalls Historians Manuscripts and Memorialls of the Brittish Saxon Scotish and English Nations for the clear Evidence and manifestation of his Undoubted Right to Jus Superioritatis oftke Kingdom of Scotland And in the same Year what things a Coroner should enquire of purprestures or usurpation upon any of the Kings Lands and that they should be reseised A Statute of the Exchecquer touching the recovery of the Kings Debts made in Anno 10. E. 1. A Cessavit per Biennium to be brought by the Chief Lord with a forfeiture upon him that neglecteth to do his service by the space of 2 Years In Anno 17. Fined 10 of 12 of his Judges accused and indicted of taking Bribes and very great summs of Mony Statute of quia Emptores terrarum that the Feoffs shall hold his lands of the Chief Lord and not of the Feoffer And afterwards caused the Judges at their return out of their Circuits to rectify in rolls of Parchment all Fines and amercements due unto him and ordered them to receive only their then small Wages thereout curbed the Clergy that denied to give him Aids and forbad them to come to his Parliament which was holden untill their Submission with a Clero Excluso and granted his Writs contra Impugnatores Jurium Regis made 2 Statutes of Quo Warranto in 18. E. 1. that every man should shew cause how he claimed or held his Liberties Ordinatio de libertatibus perquirendis 27. E. 1. Statute of Wards and Reliefs Anno. 28. E. 1. Another Statute of Quo Warranto Anno. 30. E. 1. Ordinatio Forrestae Anno. 33. E. 1. So that pace tanti viri with all the honor and reverence that can or ought to be given to Mr Selden that Dictator of Universal Solid Learning it may be said that our Fleta which was by him so well esteemed as to have been published and caused to be printed with his learned dissertations and Comment thereupon might well have escaped his scruples and distrust when in that great Kings travail from Hierusalem or out of Aba homewards he was royally feasted by the King of Sicily one of the aforesaid Confederate Christian Kings the Pope and divers Princes of Italy And when the Pope had afterwards demanded 8 Years arrears of him for an Yearly tribute of 1000. Marks for the Kingdom of England and Ireland enforced from King John did by his letter answer that the Parliament was dissolved before his letter came unto his hands and that sine Praelatis Proceribus no Commons therein mentioned comunicato Concilio sanctitati suae super praemissis non potuit respondere Jurejurando in Coronatio sua prestita fuit astrictus quod Jurat regni sui servabit illibata nec aliquid quod Diadema tangit regni ejusdem no such Oath or Promise being in the Coronation Oath ut nihil abusque illorum requisito Concilio
faceret And that greatly learned man could not but acknowledge that there were afterwards resumptions of Crown-Lands in the Reign of King Henry the 2. the alienation of some of the Crown-Lands severely charged upon King Richard the 2d Anno. 33. H 6. by an Act of Parliament and in the reign of King Edward the 4th at the request and upon the Petition of the Commons and were much more needfull then those that had been before in the Reign of King Henry the 2. made Leoline Prince of Wales to come and do him Homage and Baliel King of Scotland attending in our Pâ—rliament to arise from his State placed by the Kings and Stand at the Bar of the House of Peers whilst a cause was pleaded against him And it might not be improbable that that League betwixt that King and the aforesaid Christian Princes might be entred not amongst the Common Rolls and records of England but of Gascoigne where it was most proper and that some Vestigia of his great Actions might be there found of it as well as that of the 22th Year of his Reign of a Summons of divers English Barons to come to his great Councell or Parliament in England and it could not be unknown to that great man of learning that as Authors and Writers have learned and Writ one out of another so have many Wrote that singly and alone which many of the Contemporaries have either not been Informed of or did not think fit to Mention the dreadfull plagues of Egipt and the most remarkable that ever were in so short a Time inflicted by God upon any Nation of the Earth since the universall Deluge destroying all but the Righteous Noah his Family the several Kinds of Creatures perserved with him the passage of Moses thorough the Red-Sea in his conduct of the People of Israel into the land of Canaan were not to be thrown out of the belief of Christians all others Venerating the Sacred Scriptures because Plato or Pythagoras travailing into Egypt in the inquest of learning have given us no particular accompts thereof and it will ever be as truly said as it hath been that Bernardus non videt omnia the ancient institution rites ceremonies of the most Honourable Garter is not to be suspected because our Law and Statute books have not made such Discoveries Recherches or a worthy and most elaborate Record thereof as the learned and Judicious Mr Elias Ashmole hath lately done or our Glauviles Book de legibus Consuetudinibus Angliae is not to fall under the question whether he was the Lord Chief Justice of England that Wrote it because there hath not been so much heed taken of him as ought to be by our Common-Law Year-Books or Memorialls of Cases adjudged in our Courts of Justice and later Law Books when the learned Pancirollo in his Book de deperditis Ac etiam de novis repertis and the exquisitely learned Salmuthius in his Comment or Annotations thereupon or the learned Pasquier in his Recherches and our ever to be honored Mr Selden in his rescuing from the Injuries of Time those many before hidden truths which he in his history of Tithes Jauus Anglorum Analett Brittanniae Titles of honor de Synedriis Judeorum uâ—or Jus naturae Gentium Historia Ead mei cum multis aliis and those very many discoveries of learning and Truth which the world must ever confess ought to be attributed to his walking in unknown paths nullius ante trita pede have very Justly escaped any such suspicions and that long and Eminent Treaty for Peace at Nimiguen for divers Years last past managed by most of the Monarchs of Europe and their concerns wherein the care and mediation of our King in the charge of his Plenipotentiaries have not wanted gratefull Testimonialls of the many very much concerned Kings and Princes in the putting a stop to the Warrs effusion of Blood and devastation of so great a part of Christendom is not or ought to be placed amongst the non liquets or Doubtings of after Ages because which by some Incuria or neglect of our Recording of it amongst our Archives which the more is to be pittied is not much unlikely to happen it is not to be met with amongst our Records or Historians When the so much Deservedly admired speculations and Experiments of the excelently Learned Sr Francis Bacon Lord Verulam in his Philosophy more then Aristotle and many others had made those Discoveries of des Cartes Depths and Investigations of our Sr Kenelme Digby into the most abstruse parts of Learning and that great addition now every where allowed to be true to that most necessary and usefull Art or Faculty of Physick of the circulation of the Blood in the Bodies of men first Discovered and made apparent by our late Learned Doctor Harvey though the Egiptian Arabian and Grecian Doctors and the greatly Famed Galen and Hypocrates had in all their labors knowledge and Practice not so much as taken notice of it were never the worse but rather much the better that former ages and men in the length of Art and the short Curriculum of their lives often intermitted with Sickness and the Cares and Troubles of the World had no sooner communicated it neither ought the Truth and value of our allways highly to be esteemed Seldens Labours in the vindication of our Kings Sovereignty in our Brittish Seas suffer any abate because no Englishman before had undertaken it or of his learned Observations and Comments upon Sr John Fortescues Book de laudibus Legum Angliae because he did not mention or had Discovered that that over-tossed and turmoiled worthy and learned Chancellor was after the Expulsion of the 3 Henrys 4. 5. 6th of the House of Lancaster under the later of whom he had Faithfully served from the Inheritance of the Crown of England by King Edward the Fourth with his better Title enforced publickly to beg his Pardon and with much ado and by Writing and delivering unto him a Book contradicting the Title of those former Kings and asserting that of his own which appeareth in that Act of Parliament in the 13th Year of that King for the Reversall of his Attainder And those disturbers and misuses of our Fundamental Laws might do well to sit down and consider that our uncontrolled every where in England venerable Littleton can certify us that if a man hold Land of his Lord by Fealty only for all manner of service it behoveth that he ought to do some service to his Lord for if the Tenant ought to do no manner of service to his Lord or his Heirs then by long Continuance of time it would grow out of memory whether the Land were holden of the Lord or his Heirs and thereupon the Lord may loose his Escheat of the Land or some other Forfeiture so it is reason that the Lord and his Heirs have some service done unto them to prove
and testify that the Land is holden of them and that without taking away the Fealty and repealing the Oaths of Allegeance and Supremacy the Duty and Oaths of the Subjects remained as they did whilst they held their Land in Capite and by Knight Service Which probably as may sadly be lamented could never have hapned if the later men of the Law in England had not by the space of something more then Forty Years last past leaped over as it may be feared they have overmuch done the successive learned labours and Books in a long process of Time in the Reign of our Regnant Kings and Princes divers Judges and Sages of our Laws Recording from Time to Time Cases Judgments Decrees and Dicisions maturely and Deliberately adjudged therein But too much neglected those guidings better guides and faithfull Directors the Civill and Feudall Laws and suffred their Studies and practice to be imployed and incouraged in the Factious Seâ—iâ—ious Rebellious principles of those Times by following the gross Mistakes of Sr Edward Coke in his Discontent malevolence and Ill will unto the necessary and legall Regalities of the Crown and Idolizing as he did those grand parcells of forgery and Imposture entitled the Mirrour of Justice and the Modus tenendi Parliamentum and their neglecting the readings of Glanvile Bracton and Britton and other good Authors And the Civil Law was the Parent and Mother of many of the maximes and principles of that which is now called our Common Law And those men of the Law who without Books subsistence or Estates when they went beyond the Seas with their Sovereign and had not there the opportunities of the Knowledge or help of the Records of the Kingdom that might have been their best Instructers were for the most part but Young Gentlemen Born and Bred in the times of our Distempered Parliaments as those were that Tarried here who walked along with the Rebellion too much adhered unto them and came Weather-beaten again with his Majesty had understood as they might have done the Originall Foundation and Continuance of our Monarchick Government But King Edward the 1. who had passed over and overcome so many Hardships Difficulties Misfortunes and Storms of State was so unwilling to be afraid of a part of his Unquiet Baronage or to Humour the popularity and ignorance of any of the Common People or to be in fear of them or of any their Factious or Seditious Machinations making what hast his affairs would permit to return into England where his father having by his Death escaped the restless conflicts of a long and troublesome Reign and his Exequies and Ceremonies of buriall performed Róbertus Kilwarby Cantuariensis Archiepiscopus Gilbertus de Claro Comes Gloverinae a man that had been in Armes and opposite enough against his father and himself in the former convulsions of State and John Warren Earl of Surrey saith Samuel Daniel went up to the High Altar cum aliis Praelatis ac Regni proceribus Londiniis apud novnm Templum convenerunt Edwardum absentem Dominum suum Ligeam recognoverunt paternique Successorem honoris ordinaverunt assensu Reginae non Populi and before his return into England John Earl Warren and Gilbert de Clare Earl of Gloucester in the Abby Church of Westminster sware unto him Fealty without asking leave of the People and proclaimed him King although they knew not whether he were Living or Dead caused a new great Seal to be made and appointed six Commissioners for the Custody of his Treasure and Peace whilst he remained in Palastine where by an Assassin feigning to Deliver Letters unto him he received 3 Dangerous Wounds with a poysoned knife then said and believed to have been cured by the Love of his Lady that Paragon of Wives and Women who sucked the Poyson out of the Wound when others refused the adventure and after 3 Years Travail from the time of his setting forth many conflicts and Disappointments of his aids and Ends left Acon well fortified and manned and returned homewards in which as he travailed he was Royally feasted by the Pope and princes of Italy whence he came towards Burgundy where he was at the foot of the Alpes met by Divers of the English Nobility and being Challenged to a Tournament by the Earl of Chalboun a man of extraordinary Renown Successfully hazarded his Person to manifest his valour thence came again into England with the great advantages of his Wisdom Courage and Reputation assisted by the memory of the fortunate Battle at Evesham and his Actions in the East SECT XVIII Of the Methods and Courses which King Edward the 1. held and took in the Reformation and Cure of the Former State Diseases and Distempers KIng Edward the 1st was together with his Queen Crowned at Westminster by Robert Archbishop of Canterbury Alexander King of Scotland and John Duke of Britanny attending that Solemnity which being finished he shortly after forced Leoline Prince of Wales who had taken part with Montfort against his Father King Henry the third to do him Homage and after a Revolt imprisoned and beheaded him did the like to his brother David and United Wales as a Province to England made the Statute of Snowden considered and perused their Laws allowed some repealed others collected some and added new as he well might there do for the Prince or King which Governed Wales had always used so to do and appointed one to give his assent to the Election of Bishops and Abbots And when The Pope demanded 8 yeares arreares for the rent or tribute of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland enforced from King John did by his letter answer that his Parliament was dissolved before it came and that sine Praelatis et Proceribus communicato concilio sanctitati suae super praemissa non potuit respondere et Jurejurando in coronatione suam praestito fuit obstrictus quod jura Regni sui servabit illibata nec aliquod quod diadema tangat Regni ejusdem no such clause or promise being in the Coronation Oath ut nihil absque illorum requisito concilio faceret Sent to Franciscus Accursius Docto of laws resident at Bononia in Italy the son of the famous Accursius the Civil lawyer to come with his wife family into England by his writ to the Sheriff of Oxfordshire commanded him to deliver unto the said Doctor Accursius the King 's manor house and castle of Oxford then no mean place for him and his wife to Inhabit Did so imitate the wisdom and providence of the Roman and Caesarean laws as Augustus Caesar and other of the Succeeding Emperours had done as he gave unto men learned in the laws which was more for the peoples good then in their suits and actions at law to court and live under the protection and humours of their popular Patroni's libertatem respondendi to give councell and advice to their clients in their concernments at law and
incepit a quarto die Aprilis Anno. Regni dicti patris nostri 48 quando vexillis explicatis exivit cum exercitu suo ab Oxonia versus Northt duravit continue usque Sextum decimum diem Septembris Anno Regni dicti patris nostri xl nono quando apud Wyntouiam pacem suam post bellum de Evesham in presentia Baronum suorum qui ibidem convenerant firmari fecit clamari no Commons or Knights or Burgesses representing for them Provisium fuit etiam ne aliquis amittteret vitam vel membra pro Roberiis aut homicidiis aut aliis commissis sub specie guerrae per illos qui contradictum patrem nostrum erant a quarto die Junii Anno Regni ejusdem patris nostri xlvii quando illi vexillis explicatis primo per terram suam incedentes roberias homicidia incarceraciones tam personis Ecclesiasticis quam secularibus fecerunt usque ad predictum tempus quo ab Oxonia versus Northt cum exercitu suo recessit De aliis autem quae tempore illo sub specie guerrae non fiebant haberetur tempus illus velnd tempus pacis A tempore autem supradicto quo apud Winton pacem suam firmari fecit clamari curreret Lex pro ut tempore pacis currere consuevit Ita tamen quod illi qui fuerint apud Axeholm sive apud Kenill vel Insula Elyens vel apud Cestrefeld vel postmodum apud Suwerk observaretur plene pax sua prout eam habere deberent sive per dictum de Kenileworth sive per privilegia sua de pace sua sibi concessa De illis autem qui cum Com. Gloverniae in ultima turbatione fuerunt observaretur pax facta inter dictum patrem nostrum ipsum Com. Ita quod a tempore quo dicto Comes recessit a Wall versus London usque ad diem quo recessit a Civitate praedict non procederent Justic. contra ipsum vel eos qui erant in parte sua Et hoc de illis tantummodo intelligeretur De depredationibus autem utrobique factis tempore praedicto observaretur hoc quod pace inter dictum patrem nostrum ipsum Comitem facta continetur Et ideo vobis mandamus quod hec omnia in prefato Itinere diligenter observari faciatis T. R. apud Kickleton xix die Marc. 6. E. 1. He commanded the Sheriffs to distrain every man that had 20 l. per Annum in Land or a whole Knights Fee of the liâ—e value and hold of him in Capite milites esse debent ad arma militaria within such a Time a nobis suscipiend which was like a Nursery for military affairs for the continuance of those gallant necessaries for publique Defence in and by the obligations of their Tenures wherein a great part of our Fundamentall Laws Oaths of Allegeance Loyalty and Duties of Subjects do subsist And by an Inquisition taken in the same Year at Launceston in Cornwall by a Commission out of his Court of Exchecquer it was found by a Jury that Dominus ratione Regiae dignitatis Coronae suae habet privilegium quod nullus in Regno suo aliquo qui sit de Regno Angliae alieni homagium sine fidelitatem facere debeat vel aliquis hujusmodi homagium vel fidelitatem ab aliquo recepire debeat nisi facta mentione de fidelitate domino Regi debita eidem Dominus Regi observanda Episcopus Exon adfuit contrarium c. Et in contemptu c. Et le Evesque mis a respond And like a second Justitian did cause John le Breton one of the Justices of the King's-bench Or as others have written Bishop of Hereford to compile in his name a Book of the Laws and Customs of England wherein the King directring the Book to all the People which were under his protection par la Soufrance de Dieu saith for that peace could not be without Laws he had caused those which had been heretofore used in his Realm to be put in Writing which he Willed and Commanded should be Observed in all England and Ireland en toutz pointz Sauve a nous de repealer de eunoiter d' amander a toutz les faitz que nous verron que bon a nous serra par l'assent de nos Countes de nos Barons autres de nostre Conceil Sauve les usages a ceux que prescription de temps oul autrement use en taint que leur usages soyent mys discordants a droiture in which Book and the Droits de Roy there is no mention made of the Election and Summoning of Knights of the Shires Citizens and Burgesses to Parliament By his Edict or Proclamation prohibited the burning of Seacole in London and the Suburbs thereof for avoiding its noysom Smoak and without any Act of Parliament divided Wales into Shires and ordained Sheriffs there as was used in England caused some London Bakers not making their bread as they ought to be drawn upon Hurdles and 3 men for rescuing a prisoner arrested by an Officer to have their right hands cut off by the Wrists Fined without advice or assent of Parliament which might well be so understood to have been so upon the Act of Parliament in Anno 3 of his Reign ordained that such offenders should be ransomed and Punished at the Kings Will and Pleasure Sr Ralph Hengham Chief Justice of his Bench 7000 Marks Sr John Lovetot Chief Justice of the Common Pleas 3000 Marks Sr William Brompton 6000 Marks Sr Solomon Rochester or Roffey 4000 Marks Sr Richard Boyland as much Sr Thomas Sodenton 2000 Marks Sr William Saham 3000 Marks Roobert Littlebury Clark Master of the Rolls 1000 Marks Roger Leicester no less Henry Bray Escheator and Justice of the Jews 1000 Marks Sr Adam Stratton Chief Baron of the Exchequer 34000 Marks and Thomas de Weyland being the greatest delinquent and of the greatest substance could not be so easily excused but was Banished and had all his Goods and Estate Confiscate to the King only John de Metingham Elias de Beckingham two of the itinerant Judges to their eternall honour saith Henry Spelman appearing Guiltless and Righteous in that severe and Kingly examination and Justice purged his Courts of Justice and the Officers and clarks thereof from Bribery and extortion banished the usury of the Jews hanged 297. of them for abusing the Coyn and Money of the Kingdom curbed the pretended Independent power of the Clergy Clipped their Jurisdictions and upon their refusall to pay Tallage towards his Wars Seized many of their Temporallities put them out of the protection of his Laws and Justice and caused them to be excluded out of one of his Parliaments untill their Submission whom he had by wofull experience understood to have had too great an Influence upon some of the unquiet Nobility Made himself the Arbitrator and Umpire betwixt the many great Pretenders to
the Crown of Scotland amongst which was Erick King of Norway and received the homage of the King thereof and in his Claim to the Superiority strongly Asserted it when the Pope had by his Letter unto him mediated on the behalf of the King of Scotland and claimed that Kingdom And was so watchfull over his own Rights and what belonged to his Crown and Dignity as upon an appeal from John Baliol King of Scotland and his Parliament to the Parliament and Court of the K. of England unto which when he was Summoned personally to appear before him appearing sate with him in Parliament was Suffered no longer to sit by him but untill the Cause came to be heard when he was cited by an Officer to leave his Seat and Commanded to stand at the Barr appointed for pleading which he having no mind to do craved leave to answer by his procurator but was denied and as a Feudatory made to arise and descend to the Barr and defend his own Cause before him as his Superiour Which by the Ancient feudall Fundamentall Laws of England without the assistance of any other of our Laws concerning Treason might have excused and Justified our excellently virtuous Queen Elizabeth in her unwilling Tryall Condemning Beheading and putting to Death Mary Queen of Scotland her Feudatory not only for Usurping the Arms and Title of the Crown of England but plotting after her flying for Refuge unto her and her Kingdom of Scotlands Superior for Resuge to bereave her of her Kingdom of England and the Dominions thereof by her intended Marriage of the Duke of Norfolk for which he was likewise condemned and Executed for Treason In the same Year by his Writ commanded to be arrested Susurrones publicos predicatores contra personam Regis In the 7th year of his reign upon occasion of false rumours sent his Commissioners into severall Counties of the Kingdom ad inquirendum qui dicebant Regem inhibuisse ne quis blada sua meteret vel prata sua falcaret quod omnes tales sine dilatione in prisona custodiantur douec authores suos invenerint tunc liberent authores in prisona custodiant donec pro deliberatione corum mandatum habuerint Speciale In the 13th Year of his Reign for a fine of 20 Marks paid by W. gave him a respite de se militem faciendo Et a pres il fut amerce per les Justices itinerant parceo q'il ne leur monstre son Charter In the 10th Year of his Reign granted authority to Signify his assent to a future Abbot And in the same year impowred Edmond Earl of Cornwall to admitt in his name the Mayor of Oxon when the commonalty of the town should present him and the like for the Mayor and Sheriffs of London In the 12th Year of his Reign granted to the Citizens of London power to make Sheriffs of London and Middlesex In the 13th Year of his Reign directed his Writts to the Sheriffs in the words ensuing cum de consuetudine regni qui habent 20 libratas terrae vel feodum militis valens 20 libratas terrae vel feodum militis valens 20 libratas per annum distringerentur ad arma militaria suscipiendum nos ob servitium c. in Wallia a communitate regni nostri volumus quod non habentes tantas libratas terrae non distringantur Ordained that in Parliament certain Bishops Lords and Other their Assistants should be named of that Honourable Assembly of Parliament at the very beginning thereof which for many Ages after hath been duly observed to be receivers and tryers of the Petitions Complaints and Desires of his People to be exhibited therin whether properly to be there determined or in the Courts of Justice in Westminster-Hall or other inferior Courts In the 14th and 16 Years of his Reign made his cousin Edmund Earl of Cornwall custos regni Spared not in his Court of Kings-bench Robert the Son of William de Glanvile and Reginald the Clark of the said William for delivering at Norwich a Panell of the Kings Writs which the King 's Coroner ought to have brought Banished his Son Prince Edward from his Court Presence for 6 Months for giving reproachfull words to a great Officer of his Court or Houshold Caused the Prior of the Holy Trinity in London and Bogo de Clare a man of great power and reputation to be arrested at his suit by Peter de Chanet Steward of his houshold and Walter de Fancourt Marshall of the King for citing Edmond Earle of Cornewall to appear before the Archbishop of Canterbury as he was passing thorough Westminster-Hall to the Parliament whereupon the Prior and Bogo after some pleadings in the said case submitting themselves uuto the King's Grace Will and Pleasure were committed to the Tower of London there to remain during his Will and Pleasure and being afterwards Bailed the said Bogo paid to the King a Fine of 2000 Marks and gave security to the Earl for 1000. which by the interposition of the Bishop of Durham and others of the King's Councell was afterwards remitted unto 100 l. and the Prior was left to the Judgment and process of the Court of Exchecquer In the 20th Year of his Reign praecepit singulis vice Comitibus per Angliam Justic. Cestr. quod proclamari facerent quod omnes qui habent 40. libratas terrae in feodo haereditate sumerent militaria arma In that and the Year following seized the Lands of those that would not take that Degree and made speciall respites to some during their lives Caused his Justices to certify into the Exchecquer at the return out of their Circuits by particular Rolls under their own Names the Fines and amerciaments set imposed and forfeited upon Actions of trespass rescous deceit attaints non est factum or salse Pleas untrue avowries appeals of Murder felony manslaughter meyheim Contempts and attachments upon process out of any of his Courts of Justice abuse of the Law Fictitious actions and vexatious Suits Non-suits in Actions reall and personall or when but part was found for the Plaintiff or Defendant which were in those Days as much for the advance and well ordering of Justice as they were for the Kings profit who took such a care not to have it neglected as by his Writ without an Act of Parliament he prefixt his Justices certain times for the causing the said Monies to be levied when their own then little Wages or Salaries were to be paid out of it which made them to be so exact therein as there was no fault deserving a Just Punishment could escape the Eyes and Ears apprensions and Watch of his regulated Justices insomuch as Offenders were Fined or amerced pro falso clamore or quia non invenerunt pleg for Deceipts Sheriffs for not returning of Writs Jurors for not appearing or pro falsa appretiatione or giving verdicts before
encouraging and rewarding merit and Service for the good of the publick greatly and too much wasted and exhausted ever have been perswaded to have released so much as was done of the Tenures in Capite by a factious part of the people who designed to undermine the Monarchical Estate of the Government Or by some of the more Loyall advisers who either by ignorance or otherwise did not well understand Monarchy and the Government Or the sad and ever to be lamented Consequences and Effects that have already followed and will hereafter fatally ensue the change of the Tenure in Capite and by Knight Service to release and turn those Nerves and Sinews of the Government ligaments and ties of the Crown the Chariots and Horsmen of our Israels Glory Strength and support of it and the Loadstone of the Subjects obedience into free and common Soccage Wherein much more heed was to have been taken then formerly for that the Militia and the Sovereignty and Power of our Kings much whereof were lodged and incorporated therein were founded and built upon the Tenures in Capite and by Knights Service the Basis Foundation Life Blood Animall Spirits Soul Essence and support thereof and had not long before been by an Horrid and Hypocritical Rebellion wrested out of the hands of the late blessed Martyr King Charles the 1st by abuse and misconstruction of the Laws false arguments and the fear and flagging of some of his most Eminent Justices and Lawyers who were too little acquainted with the Feudall Laws and Laws of Nations the Records Annalls and Histories of the Kingdom and the Monarchicall Government thereof Which too much encouraged and assisted the Rebellion against him together with the murder and destruction of him and many Thousands of his Loyall and more Dutifull Subjects that fought for him Notwithstanding all which the aforesaid cares condescensions of that prudent Prince King Edward the 1. hoping for the best and not suspecting the worst In the 25th Year of his Reign requiring Bohun Earl of Hereford and Constable of England and other the Barons to go with him to the Wars in Gascoigny and Bygod Earl Marshall of England likewise refusing unless the King himself would go in Person the King swears ye shall go or Hang and the Earl answered he would neither go nor Hang and so without leave departed the King notwithstanding proceeded in his Voyage to Flanders the two Earls of Hereford and Norfolk assemble many Noblemen and other their friends to the number of 30 Bannerets so as they were 1500 men at Arms and stood upon their Guard and the King being ready to take Ship the Archbishops Bishops Earls Barons and Commons sent him a Roll of the Grievances of his Subjects in Taxes Subsidies and other imposicions with his seeking to force their services by unlawfull courses to which the King answered that he could not alter any thing without the advice of his Councell who were not now about him and therefore required them that seeing they would not attend him in his journy which they absolutely refused to do though he went in person unless it were into France and Scotland that they would yet do nothing in his absence prejudiciall to the Crown promising at his return to set all things in good order but being afterwards enforced to send for more Supplies of Mony ordained a Parliament to be held at York and to the End he might not be disappointed of aid condesended to all such Articles as were demanded concerning the great Charter promising from thenceforth never to charge his Subjects otherwise then by their consent in Parliament Seized the moneys in the Popes Bankers hands to relieve his and the publick necessities gave protections from arrest and troubles in their Estates to them that should have paid it otherwise and notwithstanding the Popes Anger and Threats not in those days easily to be adventured upon did not pay and refund it within 2 or 3 Years after Seized also and took at his own price the Wools which the Merchants then had in the Ports ready to be transported and all the Lands and Great Estates of Bohun Earl of Hereford and Clare Earl of Gloucester and upon the Marriage of his Daughter the Lady Elizabeth to the first with a Gift in Tayl to them the reversion in the Crown and the like to Gilbert de Clare Earl of Gloucester and Hertford by Marriage of his Daughter the Lady Joan restored them in tail as aforesaid unto them and made not only the said Humfrey de Bohun Roger Bygod Earl Marshall whom upon second failings he afterward confiscated and all others who had joined with him in refusing to serve him in his warrs according to the tenure of their lands to be glad and well content with his generall pardon In the same year granted to Hugh Kent de Galvy in Ireland and the Heirs Males of his body the liberty of enjoying the benefit of the English laws in terra sua Hyberniae as the writ ensuing wlll evidence viz. Rex omnibus ballivis fidelibus suis in Hybernia ad quos c. Salutem volentes Hugoni Kent de Galvy Hyberniae gratia facere specialem concedimus ei pro nobis haeredibus nostris quod ipse liberi sui de corpore ipsius Hugonis legitime procreati procreandi hanc habeant libertatem quod ipsi posteri eorum de extero in terra nostra Hyberniae tam in morte quam in vita legibus consuetudinibus utantur Auglicanis firmiter inhibentes ne quis eos contra hanc concessionem nostram injuste vexet in aliquo vel perturbet in cujus c. Teste Rege apud Gillingham 25 die Martii per ipsum Regem And by his letters patents constituted Johannem de Breton Custos or Warden of the City of London as followeth viz. Rex omnibus ballivis fidelibus suis ad quod c. sciatis quod dilectum fidelem nostrum Johannem le Breton constituimus custodem civitatis London ad amerciandos Aldermannos alios quoscunque de civitate praedicta qui ad rationabilem praemonitionem Seu Summonitionem custodis ejusdem pro negotiis nos Civitatem illam tangentibus venire contempserent etiam ad Vicecomites Civitatis praedict ipsorum Clericos ac ministros mercedem sui Officii capientes cum super hoc modo debito convicti fuerint juxta quantitatem delictorum suorum castigandos puniendos quantum necesse fuerit quatenus sua discretio de jure viderit faciendum specialem tenore praesentium committimus potestatem quam diu nos placuerit durando in cujus c. Having before in the 13 or 14th Year of his Reign fined Gregory de Rokesly Mayor of London for that he renounced the Mayoralty and delivered the Common Seal of the Mayoralty or City to Stephen de Ashren aliis de Communitate London sine licencia ipsius Regis for which he
was glad to receive his Pardon In the 25th Year of his Reign directed his Writ Custodi Northwallia mentientes falsos rumores contra Regem castigand The like to punish conventus conventicula Another to respite the King's Debts aliorum dum in obsequio Regis With a Proclamation for the confirmation of Magna Charta Charta de Foresta and to Command that two discreet Knights be chosen in every County to Attend Prince Edward the King's Son his Lieutenant in England during the Kings absence in partibus transmarinis to procure the King's Letters-Parents for confirmation of the Peoples Liberties In the 27th Year of his Reign a Parliament being called at Westminster wherein the two Charters were confirmed with the allowance of what Deafforestation had been formerly made but with ommission of the clause Salvo jure Coronae nostrae which the King laboured to have inserted being a small return and Civility to a Sovereign whose Royall progenitors had freely granted those Liberties and Priviledges and himself willing to confirm them but by no means it would be agreed unto Was so incensed at the revolt of the Scots and so fixt in his resolution of subduing them as going to fight a battle with them whose army much exceeded his own when he was with one foot in the Stirrop getting on horseback the horse upon some great noise or shout in the Scottish army who were Marching on to engage him Started and throwing him to the ground with his hinder foot Strake him so on one side as he brake two of his Ribbs which could not so hinder either his Courage or Resolution but he again remounted the same Horse and charged with good Success as he wan the field and slew as some of their Historians mention about 60 thousand of them In the 30th Year of his Reign the Constable of Dover having upon an Order or Sentence of the Court of Sheppey which was the Magna Curia of the Cincque-Ports arrested the Abbot of Feversham pro quibusdam transgressionibus per ipsum perpetratis in laesionem Coronae regiae dignitatis was cited and excommunicated by the Archbishop of Canterbury the King thereupon as the record mentioneth nolentes nobis super Statu regio nostro aliqualiter derogari aut ministros nostros pro hiis quae judicialiter fuerint indebite fatigari commanded the Archbishop in fide qua sibi tenetur firmiter injungentes quod hujusmodi citationibus of the Constable or his Ministers ea de causa faciendis supersedeat sententias praedictas in ipsos per ipsum ut praemittitur fulminatas faciat sine dilatione aliqua revocari ita quod non operteat nos ad hoc aliter apponere manum nostram In the claim which he made and deduced to the Pope of his right to the Superiority of the Kingdom of Scotland attested by an hundred hands and seals of the Earls and Baronage of England in a Parliament holden at Lincoln when he gave an answer to a letter of the Pope mediating in the behalf of the King of Scotland and claiming that Kingdom to belong to the Church of Rome wherein he had desired him to send his procurators and evidence to be heard and determined at Rome the historian and our records have informed us in these words that quoniam vero ad hoc quod Papa petivit quod si Rex Angliae jus haberet in regno Scotiae vel aliqua ejus parte procurators instructos mitteret fieret eis justitiae complementum Rex per se noluit respondere sed hoc commisit Comitibus aliisque terrae Baronibus who gave him a choaking and flatly denying answer on the behalf of their King And pursuing his Victories against that Nation took out of Edenburgh the Crown Scepter and Cloth of Estate with the Marble Chair wherein the King 's of Scotland used to Sit whilst they were Crowned wherein according to an old Scotch Prophecy the fate of that Kingdom so resided as wheresoever it should be the Rule and Government of that Nation should follow and offered up the same at St Edwards shrine at Westminster intending to unite the Kingdom of Scotland to England imprisoned the King of Scotland in the Tower of London where he long detained him subdued Malcolmus King of Man and the Kings of the Other Isles and was so unalterable in those his purposes as he ordered that his bones should after his death be carried along with such English Armies as should afterwards be employed against that Nation Did in the 31st year of his Reign treat with the foreign Merchants and by his Charta mercatoria without the trouble advice or assent of his great Councel or Parliament relinquish unto them his former kind of customs called Prises upon their granting unto him 3d of the pound now called the Petit Customs out of all foreign Merchandises imported except wines for every sack of wool to be exported 40d for every 300 woolfells the like and for every last of leather a demy mark over and above the duties payable by Denizens for the same commodities which grant being by the Merchants of several nations not incorporate into a body-politick of no force by the rules of the common Law the Kings Charter only made it good and maintained it untill it was confirmed by Act of Parliament in Anno. 17. E. 3. which was 50 Years after which Charter being made in England by that great and valiant Prince was afterwards by him exemplyfied and transmitted into Ireland with a speciall Writ to the Officers of the Customes there to leavy the 3d penny in the Pound and other duties mentioned in that Charter as appeareth in the Records of the Exchequer of Ireland by virtue of which writ without any Act of Parliament there the 3d penny in the pound with the other duties were ever after leavied in that Kingdom and paid to the Crown In the 32d year of his Reign he was so little afraid of his potent Nobility under whose greatness and power many of common people sheltered their Oppressions of one another by wrongfull disseisins and making themselves Tenants to their greater Landlords for those Lands which they had no right unto as he made severe Laws for the regulation thereof And in Declaratione Juris Regis in regno Scotiae protestavit se jus Coronae suae usque ad effusionem sanguinis defensarum ab quem Rex illo Anno omnia Monasteria Angliae Scotiae Walliae perscrutari faceret ad dignoscendum quale jus posset sibi competere in hac parte repertum est in Chronias mariani Scoti Willielmi de Malmesburia Rogero Hoveden Henrici de Huntingdon Radulphi de Luzeto or diceto quod Anno Domini non gentesimo decimo Rex Edwardus subegit sibi Regis Scotorum Cambrorum Item ibidem que Anno domini non gentesimo vicesimo primo praedictae gantes Eligerunt sibi Edwardum praedictum in Domium
commandeth that such things be no more done from henceforth And if any Officer of Fee doth it his Office shall be taken into the Kings hands It is provided and agreed that the King of his Office shall from henceforth grant attaints upon Enquest in Plea of Land or Freehold In the several limitations of prescription in severall Writs which might be to many very prejudicial it was in like manner provided that in a Writ of right none should presume to declare of the seisin of his Ancestor further or beyond the time of King Richard the 1st Writs of Partition and Novell Desseisin of the first voyage of King Henry Father of the King into Gascoigne Writs of Mort d' Auncestor of Cosinage Ayel et Nuper obiit of the Coronation of the sâ—id King Henry and not before That one plea shall be decided by the Justices of the King's Bench before another be commenced it is provided also and commanded by the King In an Act touching the Tenants plea in a Writ of Dower and at what time Assizes shall be taken it was declared that forasmuch as the King hath ordained those things unto the honor of God and Holy Church and for the Common-Wealth and remedy of such as be grieved he would not that at any other time it should turn into prejudice of himself or of his Crown but that such right as appertains unto him should be saved in all points and forasmuch as it is great Charity to do right unto all men at all times when need should be it was provided by the assent of the Praelates that Assizes of Novell Disseisin Mortd auncestor and Darrein presentment should be taken in Advent Septuagesima and Lent even as well as Enquests may be taken and that at the Speciall request of the King made unto the Bishops In the 4th Year of his Reign caused an Eatenta Maneriorum or Survey as to his particular Royal Revenue much like unto that of William the Conquerors of his Castles Houses Buildings Demesne-Lands Copyhold Commons Parks Forests Woods Asserts Tenants Cottages Pleas and Perquisites of the Counties Churches and the values thereof and of Heriots Fairs Markets Escheats Customs Rents Services Fishings Freeholders Woods Rents of Assize Tenures in Soccage or by Knights-Service Forreign Works and Customes Perquisites of Courts Fines and all other Casualties Declared by a Statute de Officio Coronatoris the Duties of a Coroner and enquiries to be made by them In the matter of Bigamy published and declared certain constitutions before him and his Councel and commanded them to be stedfastly Observed in the presence of certain Reverend Fathers Bishops of England and others of the Kings Councel to which the Justices as all the Kings Councel did agree Cap. 1. In what Cases aid shall be granted of the King in what not it is said that it is agreed by the Justices and other Learned men of the Kings Councel of the Realm which heretofore have had the rule and practise of Judgments that where a Feoffment was made by the King with a Deed thereupon if another person by a like Feoffment and Deed be bound to Warranty the Justices could not heretofore have proceeded any further neither yet do proceed without the Kings Command And it seemeth also they could not proceed in other cases wherefore they shall not surcease by occasion of any Grant Confirmation or Surrender but after advertisement made thereof to the King they shall proceed without delay Ca. 4. Concerning purprestures upon the Kings Lands to be reseised If any do complain of such Reseisins he shall be heard as right requireth 6. E. 1. In an Act concerning a man killing another in his own defence or by misfortune it is said the King commanded In Ca. 10. that the husband and wife being impleaded shall not fourch by Essoin that act of Parliament is said to be the Statute of the King In the same year an Exposition and alteration of the Statute of Gloucester in divers articles and points was made by the King and his Justices by the Kings Letters-Patents dated at Gloucester In the foregoing statutes or Articles whereof videlicet ca. 1. it is said to have been provided in ca. 3. Established the like in Ca. 4. in 5. and 6. provided and the like in the 8. and the offenders shall be greivously amerced to the King In the Statute of Gloucester ca. 14. where it is ordained that a Citizen of London shall recover in an Assize damages with the land it is said the King of his speciall grace granteth and the Barons of the Exchequer and Treasuâ—er shall be commanded And in severall statutes and Articles there made did afterwards by the advice of his Justices make in some of them divers expositions alterations and additions in several materiall parts or Points 7. E. 1. by his Writ directed to the Justices of his Bench Signified that it was accorded that at the next Parliament by the councell and assent of the Prelats Earls and Barons provision should be made that none should come to Parliaments Treaties or Assemblies with force and arms and in the next Parliament after the said Treaty the Prelates Earles Barons and the Commonalty of the Realm Comprised in the Votes and suffrages of the Prelats Earls and Barons there assembled to take order of that business have said that to the King it belongeth and on his part it is through his Royall Seigneury Strictly to defend by force of armour and all other force against his peace at all times when it shall please him and to punish those which shall do contrary according to the Laws and Usages of the Realm and hereunto they are bound to aid him as their Sovcreign Lord at all seasons as need should be and commanded the same to be read before him in his Bench and there enrolled In the Statute of Mortmaine made in the same Year that no Lands should be aliened in Mortmaine upon pain of the forfeiture thereof it is mentioned that the King for the profit of his Realm minding to provide a convenient remedy by the advice of his Prelates Earls Barons and others of his Subjects being of his Councel hath provided and ordained c. 10. E. 1. in the Statute of the Exchecquer touching the recovery of the Kings Debts the King by his Writ directed to the Treasurer Barons and Chamberlains of the Exchecquer for the Indempnity of him and his People Willed and Provided Anno. 1â— E. 1. in the Statute of Acton Burnell made for recovery of Debts the King for himself and by his Councel hath Ordained and Established In the Statute of Entails that the Will of the Donor should in all things be performed Ca. 1. which was of a grand Concern to all the Nobility Gentry and Freeholders of England in their Dignities Families Lands and Estates and the transmitting them to Posterity it is said wherefore our Lord the King perceiving how necessary and expedient it should be
instance of the great men of the Realm hath granted provided and ordained that the Feoffees or Alienees shall hold of the chief Lord of whom the Lords were holden Ca. 2. If part of the lands be sold it is to be apportioned and it is to wit that this Statute extendeth but only to lands holden in fee simple and for the time coming and is to take effect at the Feast of St. Andrew next In the Statute of Quo Warranto liberties are holden our Lord the King of his especial grace and for the affection which he beareth unto his Prelates Earls and Barons and other of his Realm hath granted In a 2d Statute of Quo Warranto to the same Effect hath Established In the Statute de modo levandi fines it is to be noted that the order of the Laws will not suffer a finall accord to be leavyed in the Kings Court without a Writ Original In the Statute of Vouchers made in the 20th Year of his Reign Our Lord the King by his Common-Councell hath ordained In another of the same year concerning wast committed by Tenant for life Our Lord the King hath ordained In the Statute de defensione juris Hath ordained and from henceforth commanded In a Statute de non ponendis in Assisis made in the 21st year of his Reign Our Lord the King hath ordained By an Act of Parliament made in the same year de malefactoribus in parcis Our Lord the King hath granted and commanded In the Statute or Act of Parliament de Consultatione made in the 24th Year of his Reign Willeth and commandeth In the Confirmation of the great Charter and the Charter of the Forest in the 25th Year of his Reign Granteth and Willeth In Ca. 2. That Judgements given against them should be void it is said We will The like in Ca. 3 and 4. In Ca. 5. We have granted In Ca. 6. That the King or his Heirs will for no business whatsoever take aids or prizes but by consent of the Realm and for the Common profit thereof saving the Ancient aids and prizes due and accustomed it is said Moreover we have granted In Ca. 7. for a release of Toll taken by the King for Wool without consent as aforesaid saving the custom of Wools Hides and Leather granted by the Commonalty it is said that the King at their request hath clearly released and granted The King hasting into Flanders to aid his Confederate the Earl thereof against the Continued envy malice and designs of the King of France his malignant Neighbour constituted without License of Parliament his Son Edward then being under age the Custos or Guardian of the Kingdom and appointed Richard Bishop of London William Earl of Warwick nec non milites Reginaldum de Gray Johannem Gifford Alanum Plukenet viros emeritae militae providos discretos to be his Assistants and Councellors who in the Kings absence with much ado and with nullam aliam sentire vellent obtained a Peace to be made with the Earl of Hereford and Earl Marshal that the King should confirm the great Charters with the aforesaid Articles added in the 2. 3. 4. and 5. of that Parliament and to the 6. of Nullum Tallagium but by the consent of the Realm and for the Common profit thereof saving ut supra releasing the Tolls of Wool Which being sent unto the King were returned sub sigillo suo tanquam saith the Historian ab eo qui in Arcto positus erat cedendum malitiae temporis censuit upon the confirmation whereof the populus Anglicanus concessit denarium nonum bonorum suorum But the King being returned in the 26th Year of his Reign was pressed in Parliament by the aforesaid Earls the Constable Marshal because the Charters were confirmed in a Forreign Country to do it again for that the Bishop of Durham and the Earls of Surrey Warwick and Gloucester had promised that obtenta victoria against the Scots he should post ejus reditum do it and in the 27th Year of his Reign being again in a Parliament holden in London urged by the said Earls to do it post aliquas dilationes was willing to do it with an addition of Salvo jure Coronae with which the Earls being displeased and leaving the Parliament revocatis ipsis ad quindenam Paschae ad votum eorum absolute omnia sunt concessa Which begot the Statute said in the printed book of Statutes published by Mr Poulton to be incerti temporis E. 1. but it is to be beleived for the Reasons aforesaid to have been made in the 27th year of his Reign in those only words that no Tallage or Aid shall be taken or leavied by us or our heirs in our Realm without the good-will and assent of Arch-Bishops Earls Barons Knights Burgesses and other Freemen of the Land In the Statute of Wards and Reliefs 28. E. 1. Who shall be in ward and pay relief which seemeth to be a declaration of the King alone being for the most part of matters concerning himself and his undoubted casuall revenue it is to Wit when in the Statute immediately following touching persons appealed it is said the King hath granted ordained and provided In the Statute called Articuli super Chartas ca. 1. in the confirmation of the great Charter and the Charter of the Forest in the later end and close thereof are these words viz. And besides these things granted upon the Articles of the Charters aforesaid the King of his especial grace for redress of the grievances which his people hath sustained by reason of his Wars and for the amendment of their Estate and to the intent that they may be the more ready to do him service and the more willing to assist him in the time of need hath granted certain Articles the which he supposeth shall not only be observed of his Leige People but also shall be as much profitable or more then the Articles heretofore granted That none shall take prices but the Kings Purveiors or their Deputies it is said to be Ordained with a Nevertheless the King and his Councell do not intend by reason of this Estatute to diminish the Kings right for the ancient prizes due and accustomed as of Wines and other goods but that his rights shall be saved unto him whole and in all points Declaring of of what things only the Marshall of the King's House shall hold plea c. It is Ordained And in Another Act Entituled Common Pleas shall not be holden in the Exchequer it is said moreover no Common Pleas shall from henceforth be holden in the Exchequer contrary to the form of the Great Charter That no Writ concerning the Common Law shall be award under any Petit Seal The authority of the Constable of the Castle of Dover touching hold pleas and distresses That the Inhabitants of every County shall make choice of their Sheriff being not of Fee it is said that the King hath granted
be no pardon or protection granted of those Felonies which shall be hereafter committed without the Special Commandment of us our selves In the Ordinatio Forestae made in the 34th Year of his Reign the King ordained The like in Ca. 2. That an Officer dying or being absent another shall be put in his place That no Forester should be put in any Assize or Jury the King willeth The like touching the punishment of Officers surcharging the Forest. The like for Grounds disafforested Touching Commons in Forests and that the Justices of the Forest in the presence of the King's Treasurer and by his assent may take fines and amerciaments it is said the King willeth In the Statute de Asportatis Religiosorum it being recited that it came to the knowlege of our Lord the King by the grievous Complaints of the honourable persons Lords and other Noblemen of this Realm that Monasteries and other Religious Houses founded by the King and his Royal Progenitors and by the said Noblemen and their Ancestors and endowed with great portions of Lands that the Abbots and Priors especially certain aliens Priors c. have letten the said lands and laid great impositions and tallages thereupon our Lord the King by the Councell of his Earles Barons great men and other Nobles of his Kingdom no Commons in his Parliament hath ordained and enacted That Religious persons shall send nothing to their Superiors beyond the Seas That no Impositions shall be Taxed by Priors Aliens it is said moreover our aforesaid Lord the King doth inhibit it By whom the Common Seal of the Abbys shall be kept and how used it is said and further our Lord the King hath ordained and established And though the publication and open notice of the ordinances and Statutes aforesaid were in suspence for certain causes since the last Parliament until this present Parliament holden at Caerlisle the Octaves of St Hilary in the 35 Year of the Reign of the said King to the intent they might proceed with greater deliberation and advice our Lord the King after full conference and debate had with the Earls Barons Noblemen and other great men of his Kingdom no Commons touching the premisses by their whole consent and agreement hath ordained and enacted that the ordinances and Statutes aforesaid under the manner form and conditions aforesaid from the 1st day of May next ensuing shall be inviolably observed for ever and the offenders of them shall be punished as is aforesaid And so well did he and the Lawyers of that age understand the Originall Benefit and use of the Feudall Laws the Ancient Honour Glory and Safety of the English Nation their Kings Princes and People as he did as the Learned and Judicious Dr. Brady hath asserted in and by the right of the Feudal Laws and their original grant of the Fees without assent or advice of Parliament give license to their Tenants to Talliate Tax and take Scutage for ayd of performing the Knight or Military Service incident or chargeable upon their Lands and likewise to Tenants otherwise employed by the King in Capite though not in the Army to charge their Tenants with Scutage warranted by the Writ following in the 10th Year of his Reign directed to the Sheriff of Worcester in these words Rex Vicecomiti Wigorn. salutem Quia dilectus fidelis noster Hugo le dispencer per praeceptum nostrum fuit cum dilecto consanguineo fideli nostro Edmundo Com. Cornub. qui moam traxit in Anglia pro conservatione pacis nostrae Anno regni nostri decimo nobis tunc existentibus in Guerra nostra Walliae Tibi praecipimus quod eidem Hugoni facias habere scutagium suum in feodis militum quae de eo tenentur in balliva tua videlicet quadraginta solidos de Scuto pro exercitu nostro praedicto hoc nuâ—latenus omittas T. Edmundo Comite Cornubiae Consanguine Regis apud Westm. 13 die Aprilis Et Consimiles literae diriguntur vicecomitibus Leicest Eborum Lincoln Suff. Wilts South Surr. Buck. Essex North. Oxon Berk. Norff. Staff Rotel Justic. Cestr. And a Writ on the behalf of Henry de Lacy Earl of Lincoln directed the Sheriff of York in the Words Quia delectus fidelis noster Henry de Lacy Comes Lincoln non sine magnis sumptibus expensis ad Communem utilitatem regni nostri in obsequium nostrum per praeceptum nostrum in partibus Franciae pro reformatione patis inter nos Regem Franciae tempore quo Eramus in Guerra nostra Scociae Anno videlicet Segni nostri 31. Quod quidem obsequium loco servitii sui quod tunc nobis fecisse debuerat Acceptamus tibi praecipimus quod eidem Comiti haberi facias scutagium suum de feodis militum quae de eo teneantur in balliva cua videlicet Quadraginta solidos de scuto pro Exercitu nostro praedicto Et hoc nullatenus omittas Teste Rege apud Westm. 6. die Aprilis Consimiles literas habet idem Comes direct Vicecomitibus Warr. Bedford Buck. Somerset Dorset Glouc. Norff. Suff. Hereford Leic. Lenc Notting Derby Northampton Midd. Cantabr Oxon. Berk. Another on the behalf of Henry de Percy in the form ensuing videlicet Rexvicecomiti Eborum salutem Quia dilectus fidelis noster Henricus de Percy fuit nobiscum per praeceptum nostrum in exercitu nostro Scotiae Anno Regni nostri 31. Tibi praecipimus quod eidem Henrico haberi facias Scutagium suum de feodis militum que de eo tenentur in balliva tua videlicet quadraginta solides de Scuto pro Exercitu nostro praedicto hoc nullatenus omitas teste Rege c. Consimiles literas habet idem Henricus Vicecomitibus Lincoln Derb. Notting Cant. Hunt Norff. Suff. Salop. Stafford Consimiles literas habent Executores testamenti Johannis de Watrenna quondam Comitis Surr. defuncti probably the same man that being called to an account Quo Warranto he held many of his Liberties is said over Sturdily to have drawn out or unsheathed an old broad Rusty Sword and shewing unto the Justices Itinerants instead of his Plea answered by this which helped William the Conqueror to Subdue England which so much incensed the King as he afterwards as some of our English Annalists have reported at his return home caused him to be Besieged in his Castle at Rigate untill in a better obedience to his Laws he had put in a more Loyall and Legall Plea Had the like letters de Habend Scutag de feod militum quae de ipso Comite tenebantur die quo obiit in guerra Regis speciale direct Vicecomitibus Surr. Sussex Essex Hereff. Buck. Lincoln Northampton Ebor. by writ of privy seal Consimiles literas habuit prior de Coventry qui finem fecit c. direct Vicecomitibus Warr. Liec Northt Glouc. Wigorn. Abissa Shafton qui fecit finem c. Habet Scutagium suum But
if aids and Scutage were assessed by Parliament the military Tenants were to be the only Collectors thereof 35. E. 1. In the Statute Ne rector prosternat arbores in Caemiterio it is said that because we do understand that Controversies do oftentimes grow between Parsons of Churches and their Parishioners concerning Trees growing in the Church-yards both of them pretending that they do belong unto themselves we have thought it good rather to decide the controversy by writing then by Statute and declaring them to be parts of the goods of the Church the King did Prohibit the Parsons of rhe Church that they do not presume unadvisedly to fell them but when the Chancel or the body of the Church wanted necessary reparations in which cases the Parsons of their Charity shall do well to relieve the Parishioners with bestowing upon them the same Trees which he will not command to be done but will commend it when it is done So happy and ready was the obedience better Wisdom of the Subjects of this Kingdom in the ancient and former Ages when an agreement made before the King or his word was adjudged to have the power force of a Fine any one of his Writs or Edicts wanted not the operation and efficacy in many things of an Act of Parliament or Statute and so degenerate and unhappy are our present times as to suffer our interest and wrangling peevish disputes to disobey or lay aside not only the King's mandates and edicts in the ordinary and necessary course of his Government but in extraordinary and his Supream power in Parliament Who was as well furnished with Common as he was with Civil Lawyers which as a militia togata were as strong and impregnable forts and bulwarks to help to guard his Crown and Dignity namely Henry de Bracton John de Breton the sincere and upright John de Metingham Elias de Beckingham together with Accursius Doctor utriusque Juris Civil and Canon Gilbert de Thorneton first his Attorney general afterwards Chief Justice ad placita cor am Rege Gilbert de Rowbery Roger Brabazon and William Howard a Justice of the Court of Common Pleas cum multis in legibus eruditis side dignis as to this day it appeareth in the steddy and unarbitrary pleadings and Records of his glorious Reign In whose Time it was not denied to be Law and Right Reason that that verificatio patriae Contra Chartam Regis non est admittenda And did in the making of his Laws but imitate his great Ancestors For King Ina who Reigned in Anno Domini 712. Conredi patris sui Heddae Ercenwaldi Episcoporum suorum omnium senatorum suorum natu majorum sapientum populi sui in magna servorum Dei frequentia who in his making of his Laws did believe it necessary in his Imprimis to use the word precipimus King Alured who began his Reign in Anno Domini 871. made his Laws with a Proposuimus esto and in those which were published by Johannes Brompâ—on with a Praecipimus King Aethelstan who Reigned in the Year 930. made his Laws prudenti Ulfhelmi Archiepiscopi aliorumque Episcoporum suorum concilio with a Signif 〈…〉 Decrevimus Statuimus omnibus clare significat and saith Brompton Mandat praepositis suis and declared many of his Laws with a Volo diximus Ediximus Placuit nobis King Edmund that began his Reign in Anno 940. made his Laws solemni Paschatis Festo frequentem Londini tam Ecclesiasticorum quam Laicorum coetum celebravit cui inter fuerunt Odo Wolstanus Archipraesul plurimique alii Episcopi with an Ego Edmundus Rex omnibus qui in ditione ac potestate mea sunt clare significo Decrevimus Edwardus Rex saith Brompton made his Laws with a mandit Praecipit omnibus praefectis amicis ut justa judicia judicent injudiciali libro stant quod unum quodque placitum terminum habeat King Edgar who began his Reign in Anno 959. made his Laws frequenti senatu with a Sancivit Porro autem has populo who were not then understood to be Law-makers quas servet proponimus leges publici juris beneficio quisque fruitor and like his Predecessors made them short and imperative and his Canons in Ecclesiastical Affairs with a Docemus King Ethelredus who began his Reign in Anno Domini 979 made his Laws sapientum concilio habito Woodstoci Merciae quae legibus Anglorum gubernatur solely imperatively with an Esto Canutus Anglorum Dacorum Norweglorum beginning his Reign here in England in Anno Domini 1016 made his Ecclesiastical Laws solely and imperatively with an Imperimus sapientum concilio ad natale Domini And his humanae politica sapientum concilio with an Omnibus observari praecipio Edocemus Esto and touching his Dominions of Mercia with an Haec eadem in Mercia pro suis vendicat praeterea praecipimus and an Esto Satisfacto poenas dependito Compensato Castigetur Exterminetur in potestatem detur Plectitor Mulctator mando Invitus cogatur Habetor omnibus singulis in Dei nomine obtestor praecipio Gulielmus Rex Anglorum cum Principibus suis constituit post conquisitionem Angliae quâ—dam decreta with a Volumus firmiter praecipimus Statuimus Decretum est Interdicimus Prohibimus when the English had in the 4th Year of his Reign fletibus precibus by the assistance of his Norman Subjects also obtained of him a confirmation of King Edward the Confessors Laws and to be governed by them it is said to have been concilio Baronum after an enquiry throughout all England and Certificate returned per universae Angliae consulatus Anglos nobiles sapientes suâ— lege eruditos what those Laws and Customs were Et cum Rex quae audisset cum aliis sui regni legibus maxime appretiatus est praecepit ut observaretur per totum regnum And they that will peruse the laborious Collections of my ever honoured friend Mr Edward Falconbergh one of the Deputy Chamberlains of the Exchecquer the truest lover and carefullest preserver of the Records entrusted to his Charge that ever come into that place the very ancient Gervasius Tilburiensis Mr Agard Scipio le Squier many other learned men in the revolution of more then in that Office 600 Years last past not excepted of the proceedings upon the very many Quo Warranto's brought before the Justices Itinerant in their several Circuits throughout all the parts of the Kingdom in the Reign of King Edward the first as well High as Low Lords Spiritual and Temporal Abbots and Priors Great or Small therein sparing not his own Brother Edmond Earl of Kent may have premisses enough to conclude that that Stout and Magnanimous Prince did as our Common English saying is lay about him and had a mind to let his friends the Kings and Princes at the
of Attorney which the after Clause Ira pro defiatu potestatis doth Intimate to be a thing so necessary as without it they might be rejected if it should be Insisted upon for surely the King that by his Writ for the Election gives the power and license to his Sheriffs to Elect Knights and Burgesses to come unto the Parliament is to have so much Controll and Power over it as to examine whether they were duly Elected and upon occasions of death undue Elections or other Incapacities to Cause new Elections to be made wherein although the House of Commons have in this our Century or an hundred years last past been willing to save the King and his Ministers of State a labour and upon the death or removall of a Member have usually sent their Warrant or Certificate to the Lord Chancellor or Keeper of the Great Seal of England or the Clark of the Crown for the Election of others the learned Lord Chancellor or Keeper Egerton scrupling such a kind of proceeding wished it might be otherwise and the President of Simon de Monforts Rebellious first institution of an House of Commons in his new unexampled kind of Parliament in the 49th year of the Reign of King Henry the 3 cannot be so racked or strained as to Warrant any such proceeding for even then when he was those Rebells prisoner for an Year and a Quarter they could not tell how to adventure upon such a kind of new and self authority yet it hath been by the permission and Indulgence of our Princes who have thereby too much given them the opportunity and advantage of making one evil action to be a Custom for all that have been but a little acquainted with our Laws and Records may without derogation to that part of the honourable Court of Parliament of which it hath been well observed and said in the Earl of Leicesters Case No man ought to Speak or think dishonourably of them believe that it is a matter particularly and especially only appropriate and belonging to the King and his Supreme authority and dignity and the Elections are so entrusted by the King to the care of the Sheriffs his Officers as in the Choice or election of Coroners or Verduters de assensu Comitatus by the assent or good likeing of the Common People of the County there is in the Conclusion of the Writ a Speciall Clause to Certifie the name of whom they had Chosen which if the King were not therein to give his allowance or refusall would be altogether Insignificant and to no Purpose And by his Sovereign power notwithstanding his approbation in such an Election it was never denyed to be lawfull and for the weal Publique that the King upon Information that the Coroner so Chosen was aliis detentus negotiis and could not attend the duty and employment of that office or was Surprized with a dead palsie or had not Laws Sufficient in the County or lived in the further part thereof so that he could not conveniently execute the said office or was elected Sheriff or a Verdurer in a forrest or that Quidam R. who was elected by the Sheriff de assensu ejusdem Comitatus was not a Knight as the statutes concerning the making or electing of Coroners directed and had not 5l per Annum Land of Freehold yet the Sheriff had elected him into that office to Command the Sheriff to chuse another in his Place de assensu Comitatus qui melius Scire possit ad illus intendere quod nomen ejus Scire faceret c. or when a Verdurer was adeo languidus semo confectus as he could not attend the execution of the office another should be elected in his place de assensu Comitatus nomen ejus scire faceret And it is not like to be any disparagement to the Judgement or knowledge of any man of the Law to acknowledge that the Writ of Conge de Eslire granted by the King to a Pryor and Covent to elect an Abbot or Dean and Chapter of a Diocess to elect a Bishop when the King hath before hand nominated the man by an especiall Clause takes care that he be regno Regi utilis fidelis and that after his election and the formality of the election by the Dean and Chapter dispatched there is a Writ de Regio assensu to Confirm that election followed by another to the Escheator to restore unto him the temporalities in the form following Rex dilecto fideli suo J. Justiciario suo Hiberniae salutem Cum dilecti nobis in Christo Decanas Capitulum Ecclesiae de B. vacante nuper Ecclesia sua praedicta per mortem bonae memoriae Lucae nuper Episcopi loci illius dilectum nobis in Christo M. J. Decanum Ecclesiae predictae in suum Episcopum elegerunt pastorem nobis per suas patentes literas Supplicaverunt ut Electioni Regium assensum adhibere dignaremur Nos licet idem Decanus Capitulum prius a nobis eligendi licentiam non postuleverint ut est moris volentes tamen eis hac vice gratiam facere specialem eidem Electioni Regium assensum Duxerimus adhibendum nolentes quod quamvis ipsi hujusmodi licentiam mini ne 〈…〉 runt molestentur in aliquo seu graventer volentes insuper eidem Electo ut ipsius parentur laboribus expensis gratiam facere uberiorem vobis dedimus potestatem quod si Contingat Electionem hujusmodi per loci Metropolitanum Canonicum Confirmari vobis inde per literas patentes loci ipsius Metropolitam nobis inde directas constiterit tunc fidelitatem ipsius Electi nobis debitam in hoc parte nostro nomine recipiatis ei temporalia Episcopatus illius prout moris est restitui faciatis vice nostra receptis prius ab Episcopo Electo literis suis factis Sigillo suo sigillo Capituli sui Signatis quod gratia nostra quam eidem Electo ad praesens ex mera liberalitate nostra fecimus nobis vel haeredibus nostris non Cedat in praejudicium c. T. c. And may remember that when the Papall Clergy were Culminated in their highest Zenith under the domineering power and Insolency of the Popes their Incouragers and Protectors and so high as upon the vacancy of Bishopricks or other dignified Ecclesiastick preferments they that sought for those places would hasten to Rome nd get Bulls of investiture from the Pope upon the Kings unwilling recommendation which though a politick fear had made King Henry the 8. for a Time to Condiscend unto yet he was Carefull to make the party so preferred to appear at his return before him either in person or by proxy and renounce every Clause in the Popes Letters or Bulls that might prove derogatory to his Crown and Prerogative or the Law of the Land and Swear Fealty and Allegeance unto him and thereupon Writs were ordered to be
made out of the Chancery for a new Election if none had been before made by the Dean and Chapter of the Diocess or afterwards for the Kings allowance of an Election to be made by the Dean and Chapter and a restitution thereupon of the Temporalities And Fitz-Herbert a learned Judge hath informed us that if a Dean and Chapter should elect a Bishop without the Kings assent and after make a Certificate thereof to the King he may assent thereunto or refuse to do it if he please and if he do assent thereunto a speciall writ is to be made to some Person to take his Fealty and to restore unto him his Temporalities in the form aforesaid And our Kings have not only done it in the Election of Coroners and Verdurers but in matters of an higher nature viz. the Election of Members of the Commons in Parliament in the Case of Sr Thomas Camois Banneret which saith Mr Elsing did not as a Baron antiently use to serve as a Member in the house of Commons in Parliament as appeareth by the Kings writ directed to the Sheriff of Surrey for a new Election in the Stead of the said Sr Thomas Camois wherein the reason is expressed in these words Nos animadvertentes quod hujusmodi Banneretti ante haec tempora in milites Comitatus ratione alicujus Parliamenti minime consueverunt eligi And was afterwards as a Baron summoned into the House of Peers in Parliament and the Kings servants have likewise had exemtions as when James Barners was discharged quia de retinentia Regis familiaris unus militum Camerae Regis The servants of the Queen and Prince enjoying also the like Priviledges For the same year there appeareth to have been an exemtion and discharge of Thomas Morvill Quia est de retinentia Charissimae Dominae matris nostrae Johannae Principissae Walliae A Verdurer being Chosen in a forrest beyond Trent and the King upon a Suggestion made in Chancery that he had not Lands and Tenements Sufficient within the Limits of the Forrest nor was resident therein having Caused another de à ssensu Comitatus to be elected did upon better Information by the Justice of that Forrest that he had Lands and Tenements sufficient and was fit for the place supersede the later Writ and Commanded that he that was formerly elected should be permitted to execute the said Office In the first year of the Reign of King Edward the 1st the King being Informed that one Matteville having been elected Coroner of Essex de assensu Comitatus officium praedictum explere non potuit sent his Writ to the Sheriff of Essex to elect per assensum Comitatus one that should be able to execute that office with a Command to Certifie the name of the party to be so elected which a King that is sui Juris and not governed by those he should govern might surely better do then a private man who is never denyed the refusall of one elected that is not fit for the ends and purposes for which he was Chosen as if a Carpenter should by a mistake of a friend or servant be hired or employed to do the work or business of a Farrier or a Farrier of an Apothecary And it should be no otherwise when all the Laws of the World where right reason and morality have any Influence or any thing to do have ordained and allowed a retorn or attempt to be given of Writs Proces Mandates or Precepts well or evill executed unto those that had authority to grant them and how they had been observed and obeyed which was the only reason end and design of such retornes and attempts to be given thereof In the yearly nomination and appointment of Sheriffs of the Counties of England and Wales the Judges of the severall Circuits do elect six whom they think fit to be Sheriffs for every County which upon Consideration had by the Lord Chancellor or Keeper of the great seal of England Lord Treasurer diverse of the Lords of the Kings Privy-Counsell some Officers of his Household and the aforesaid Justices being reduced to three for every County their names are to be presented to the King who Chooseth One for every County who is afterwards Sworn and made Sheriffs by his Letters-Patents the former being discharged and not seldom upon better Information given to the King altered and another named by him the Mayor and Sheriffs of London and the Mayor of Oxford being elected according to their Charters are to be Yearly presented and Sworn before his Barons of the Exchecquer before they can Execute or Intermeddle in their Offices and a Sheriff hath some hundred years ago been amerced and in misericordia quia retornavit elegit alios quam milites in brevi de Assiza And with the same reason and rule of Justice it hath been done in the undue and Illegall Elections of some Members of the House of Commons in Parliament upon Complaint made by remedies provided in the 36th year of the Reign of King Edward the third as may be evidenced by the view and consideration of the Records ensuing in these words viz Rex Vicecomiti Lanc. salutem quia super Electione facta de militibus pro Communitate Com. praedict pro ultimo Parliamento nostro in Com. praedict venientibus maxima alteratio facta existit nos ea de Causa volentes super electione praedicta plemius certiorari tibi praecipimus quod habita in pleno Com. tuo super electione praedict Cum militibus allis probis hominibus de Communitate dict Com. de Liberatione Informatione diligentibus utrum viz. Edwardus Laurence Mathaeus de Risheton qui in brevi nostro de Parliamento praedicto tibi directo retornati fuerunt pro militibus dicti Com. electi fuerint an alii si per deliberationem Informationem hujusmodi inveneris ipsos de Communi assensu totius Com. pro militibus dicti Com. electos fuisse tunc habere facias eisdem Edwardo Matheo decem octo libras duodecem Solid pro expensis suis veniendi ad Parliamentum praedict ibidem morando ex inde ad propria redeundo viz. pro quadraginta septem diebus utroque praedictorum Edwardi Laurentii Capiente per diem quatuor solidos si alii pro militibus ejusdem Com. electi fuerint tunc nos de nominibus eorum sub sigillo tuo in Cancellaria nostra reddas certiores hoc breve nobis remittens Teste Rege Decimo Septimo die Novembris per ipsum Regem But it seems that took no effect for Mr Pryn in his Marginall note saith that they made no retorn as they ought to have done so early did the design of a factious popularity to provide for themselves begin to take root by the calling of an intended Elected part of the Common People of England into the great Councell thereof as the Tenor of the
all the returns of the Writs of Election for the Election of Knights Citizens and Burgesses from the 21st Year of the Reign of King E. 1. during the residue of his Reign for before no Manucaptors or pledges for Knights or Burgesses elected to come to Parliament were given in for those Knights that were elected in Anno 49. H 3. for the County of York and from thence during the Reign of King E. 2. E. 3. R. 2. H. 4. and 5. and thence until after the 33. of King Henry 6. and had after their Elections actuall and formall Indentures or instruments of procuration mutually Signed and Sealed by the Sheriff and the Electors or Assentors and Elected which were with the Writs of Election returned and filed amongst the records of the King in his Chancery having their procurations or powers inserted in the perclose of the indenture made betwixt the Sheriff and the Electors some being named instead of many Dante 's Concedentes eisdem the parties Elected plenam sufficientem potestatem pro se communitate praedict ad faciend consentiend iis quae tunc ibidem de communi concilio regni Domini Regis favente Domino ordinari contigerint super negotiis in dicto brevi specificat and notwithstanding their election and one part of the Indenture with the procuration therein returned with the Writ to the King in his Chancery were not accompted members of the House of Commons in Parliament untill their admittance by the Kings Allowance and Authority as it was upon a great debate adjudged in the 35 Elizabeth in the House of Commons in Parliament in the Case of Fits-Herbert in which the two eminent Lawyers Anderson and Coke afterwards successively Lord Chief Justices of the Court of Common Pleas were as Members personally present and in a Parliament holden in the 18 Year of the Reign of King Edward 3. the King was angry that the Convocation of the Clergy appeared not and charged the Archbishop of Canterbury to punish them for their defaults and said he would do the like to the Parliament In the 5 year of the Reign of King Richard 2. Members Elected were by an Act of Parliament to appear upon Summons or be amerced or otherwise punished according as of old times hath been used to be done in the said case unless they may reasonably and honestly excuse them to the King and in 1st and 2d Philip and Mary 39 of the Members of the House of Commons saith Sr Edward Coke whereof Mr Edmond Plowdon the famous Lawyer was one who pleaded that he was continually present at that Parliament and traversed that he did not from thence depart in contempt of the King and Queen and of the said Court had an Information exhibited against them by the aforesaid King and Queen for not appearing in Parliament according as they were Summoned cannot be admitted in the House of Commons in Parliament before they shall have taken the Oaths of Allegeance and Supremacy before the Lord Steward of the King's Houshold or his Deputy under a forfeiture or penalty nor depart from the Parliament without License and when admitted are Petitioners for License to choose and present their Speaker to the King who in their behalf prayeth to be allowed access to his Majesty freedom of speech and from Arrest of themselves and their menial servants during the time of their attendance have Wages allowed them by the King to be paid by their Commonalties in eundo morando redeundo according to longer or shorter distances or abode their Speaker being by the King also allowed Five Pounds per diem besides other perquisites appertaining to his place are but Petitioners have receivers and tryers of their petitions assigned by the King or by the Lord Chancelour de per liu and days were seldom prefixt and limited for exhibiting of them which were many times rejected with a non est petitio Parliamenti endorsed for that it was more proper for inferior Courts and sometimes for their hast or Importance of the King's Affairs were ordered to be answered in Chancery are no Court of Judicature or Record were not accustomed to draw or frame Acts of Parliament which they assent unto but leave them to be formed by the Judges and the King 's learned Councel at Law and not seldom after Parliaments ended most of the former Acts of Parliament being drawn and framed upon petitions or specifying to be at the request of the Lords and Commons or of the Commons only or that the King Willed Commanded Prohibited Provided or Ordained can make no proxies and are but a grand enquest of the Kingdom are not Authorized to give or administer any Oath never did or are to do it but are to send such Witnesses as are to be sworn to take their Oaths in the House of Peers and the Members of the House of Commons or their Speaker Jointly or severally cannot administer an Oath unto any of their fellow Members or any of the Commons whom they would represent for that would be to administer it unto themselves which Juries and men Impanelled in Enquests are never permitted to do but are to receive their Oaths from a Superior Authority and none but the King or such as have been Commissionated by him are impowred to give Oaths which hath allways put a necessity upon the House of Commons when any Witnesses are to be examined before them to produce and send them first to be sworn and take their Oaths in the House of Lords and they cannot adjourn or prorogue without the King 's special order and command nor were ever Summoned by themselves legally to come to Parliament without the Lords Spiritual and Temporal but as to their Meeting and Continuance were to follow their King in his House of Lords as the Moon and the Stars those Common people of the Sky do the Sun could not punish heretofore an offence or delinquency against themselves or any of their Members without an Order first obtained from the King or his Lord Chancellor have sometimes Petitioned the Lords in Parliament to intercede with the King to remit his displeasure conceived against them in the times of Henry the 4 few Petitions were directed to the King and his Councel some were to the King alone and some to the Lords alone and some to the Commons only saith Mr. Elsing and if they were Petitions of Grace the Commons only wrote thereupon soit baile as Seigneurs per les a Roy or soit per le a Roy per les Seimurs the other were sent up to the Lords without any directions the Judges the Kings Learned Councel in the Law prepared all answers to the Petitions of the Commons all Petitions directed to the King were to be considered by the Judges and his Councel at Law and by them prepared for the Lords if need were by the Commons who sometimes Petitioned
pro nudo facto aut eo quod effectum juris post se relinquit si nudum est factum nihil aliud significat quam corporalem effectionem veluti fossam fodere Romam ire c. Quando autem effectum juris post se relinquit omnemomnino faciendi causam complectitur dandi solvendi numerandi judicandi l. verbum 218 F. de verb. sign item reddendi l. 175. eodem tit restituendi quo intellectu pro gerere reddere accipitur pro eo quod est tradere l. verbum 54. F. de verb. elig l. extat F. quod me Cod. ad l. faciend de verb. sig Hinc facere posse vel non posse in jure Civili pro Solvendo esse vel non esse sect pend de act 3. de constit per l. 14. sect 1. posse F. de re Consentire est in unam Sententiam concurrere l. 1. F. conventionis F. de pactis sic accipitur in l. consensu F. de action oblig consentire videtur qui praesens non contradicit l. 7. in fine Gothofred ad l. 2. in prin F. consentit item qui non repugnat l. 12. de spons consentire dicitur cum duorum voluntates in unam concurrunt utroque approbante sciente consensus proprie non dicitur nisi qui verbis expressus est l. 1. sect voluntatem Non qui cogitat aut loquitur proprie dicitur facere sed agere Cumtamen quicquid fiat etiam agi dicitur And it neither is or ever was intended that the Commons Assembled in Parliament were to ordain but to consent unto and obey such things as their King and Sovereign by the Councel and Advice of the Lords Spirituall and Temporall should ordain And therefore they will be foully mistaken and run over head and ears into the grossest of errors if they shall suffer themselves to be Seduced into a groundless opinion that they can and are to advise the King in the making or repealing of Laws as the Lords Spirituall and Temporall are or that they are to consider or advise with their Sovereigns or have as great an interest or charge incumbent upon them in the weal publick and that the giving their assent is to be as a causa efficiens sine qua non For if they will take the pains to consult our Old Historians and the Grants and Charters of our former Kings and Princes or great men and the subscriptions thereunto they will find the assent of all the subscribers but the Donors to signify no more then approbations or testimonies of witnesses of which Ingulphus Eadmerus with Mr. Seldens annotations thereupon and his tittles of honours Mathew Paris and Sr William Dugdales Monasticons will afford us plentifull proofs and examples and it will be beyond the reach of credulity it self that all or any of such subscribers except the Donors had any proper or just interest of their own thereunto either to promote or hinder it As in that Charter made by Witlafius King of the Mercians in Praesentia Dominorum suorum Egberti Regis West-Saxoniae Athel 〈…〉 ulphi filii ejus coram Pontificibus proceribus majoribus totius Angliae in Civitate Londonia ubi omnes congregati sumus pro concilio capiendo contra Danicos piratas littora Angliae assidue infestantes signo sanctae crucis confirmavit or in that in Anno Domini 833 the grant of great quantities of Lands to the Abby of Croyland attested by ✚ Celnothus Archiepiscopus Cantuariensis consului ✚ Ego Euboldus Archiepiscopus Eboracensis consignavi ✚ Ego Osmundus Episcopus Londinensis collaudavi ✚ Ego Helmstanus Episcopus Wintoniensis assensum praebui ✚ Ego Herewicus Episcopus Lichfieldensis consensi ✚ Ego Cedda Episcopus Herefordensis aspiravi ✚ Ego Adelstanus Shireburnensis Episcopus procuravi ✚ Ego Humbrithus Helmari Episcopus probavi ✚ Ego Wilredus Dommocensis Episcopus annui ✚ Ego Herferdus Wigornensis Episcopus gratum habui ✚ Ego Godwinus Roffen Episcopus favi ✚ Ego Hebba Abbas de Medel Hamsted ratificavi ✚ Ego Ambertus Abbas Ripadii interfui ✚ Kincuinus Abbas de Bardeine astiti Ego Egbertus Rex West-Saxoniae concessi ✚ Ego Adelwulphus filius Regis West-Saxoniae consensum dedi ✚ Ego Wulhardus dux affui ✚ Ego Athelstanus dux audivi ✚ Ego Herenbrithus dux acceptavi ✚ Ego Swithinus Presbiter Regis Egberti praesens fui ✚ Ego Rosa scriba Regis Withlasâ—i manu mea Chirographum istud scripsi And King Edgar in his Charter and confirmation to the Church of Glastenbury using the Title of Ego Edgar divina dispositione Rex Anglorum caeterarumque gentium in circuitu persistentium Gubernator Rector viz. Dunstano Dorobernensi Oswaldo Archiepiscopis adhortantibus consentiente etiam annuente Brithelmo Episcopo Fontanensi caeterisque Episcopis Abbatibus Prioribus cum sigillo sanctae Crucis confirmavit Ealfgina ejusdem Regis mater consensit Ego Kennadius Rex Albaniae adquievi followed by the consent of divers Abbots Dukes and Servants of King Edgar communi concilio Optimatum suorum in the 12th year of his Reign And the same King founding a Colledge or Abby near unto Winchester Church had the consent or approbation of Dunstan Archbishop of Canterbury with a corroboravi of Edmond and Edward Clitones or sons of that King then under age of Alfthryth the Queen with a Crucem impressi of Eadgifu the Kings grandmother with a Consolidavi of Oscytil Archbishop of York with a confirmavi of the Bishop of Winchester with a Benedixi the Bishop of London with a Consolidavi Osulf Bishop Confirmavi Oswold Bishop Consignavi Alfwold Bishop Consolidavi Byzethtlen Bishop confirmavi Alfetan Bishop consolidavi Eadelm Bishop Confirmavi Athulf Bishop consignavi Wensige Bishop confirmavi Aescwig Abbot consolidavi Osgar Abbot consignavi the confirmation of two other Abbots and the newly instituted Abbot of the foundation of Alfhere Duke followed by 5 Dukes more and 8 ministri or Thanes of the King who as Mr Selden in his comment thereupon noteth nempe plerumque ut Regius Cliens aut minister Aulicus fundum eo nomini possidebat those ages believing that consentientes et facientes pari constringuntur poena in the hindring or not performance thereof as in that grant of Aethelred Anglorum Basâ—leus of land to the Abby of St Albans in the year of our Lord 996. said to be assented unto and confirmed by the Queen 10 Bishops 8 Abbots 4 Dukes 8 Thanes or servants of the Kings who had no right or intelest in those lands and in an Original Charter of King Stephens by which he gave Sutton to the Church of Winchester in exchange for Morden after the subsigning of divers Bishops Earls and some others that were great Officers there were 17 that subscribed with the Title of Barons And when Aethelbald in the Year of the Incarnation of our Saviour Christ 730. as his Charter mentioneth
Domino donante Rex non solum Mercor sum sed omnium provinciarum quae generali nomine Angli dicuntur did grant Cumberhto 10. Cassatas terrae cui ab antiquis nomen est indicum Husmerat juxta fluvium â—tur subscribed with ✚ Ego Aethelbald Rex Britaniae propriam donationem confirmavi subscripsi ✚ Ego Unor Episcopus consensi subscripsi ✚ Ego Unilfridus Episcopus jubente Aethelbaldo Rege subscripsi ✚ Ego Aethelric subre gulus atque Comes Gloriosissimi principis Aethelbald huic donationi consensi subscripsi ✚ Ego Ibrorsi magnus Abbatis consensi subscripsi ✚ Ego Heardberht frater atque dux praefati Regis consensi subscripsi ✚ Ego Ebbella consensum accommodans subscripsi ✚ Ego Onec Comes subscripsi ✚ Ego Oba consensi subscripsi ✚ Ego Sigibrid consensi subscripsi ✚ Ego Bercot consensi subscripsi ✚ Ego Ealdoult consensi subscripsi ✚ Ego Caila consensi subscripsi ✚ Ego Pedo consensi subscripsi And the meer consent of a Tenant to his Landlords or Lords grant by Attornment doth not encrease or enlarge his former estate but is only a consent and agreement unto that grant or as an obliging taking notice thereof And where an Archdeacon Dean and Chapter are Summoned to Parliament act tractandum they neither did do or can claim any other power beyond their obedience to what should be ordained by their Superiors The choice or Election of a Verdurer in a Forrest by the Kings Writ doth not make those that did it the owners thereof and the Election of a Coroner by the like Authority to collect and take care of the Kings rights and profits did never yet truly and rationally signify that the Electors were the Masters of them neither doth the assent of the Freeholders in a Court-Baron or Leet devest the Lord of the Manor or Court-Leet of any part of his Right Propriety or Jurisdiction therein For to assent in the aforesaid enforced Statute de Tallagio non concedendo without the assent of the Prelates Earls Barons and Commons of England viz. That Tallage or Aid shall be taken or leavied by the King or his Heirs in his Realm without the assent of the Arch-Bishops Bishops Earls Barons Knights Burgesses and other Freemen of the Land which Tallages were the prises as Walsingham mentioneth taken de bobus vaccis frumentis bladis coriis purveyance taken against his preparation for Warrs in Flanders de quibus tota Communitas Angliae gravabatur but was never granted and intended either in words express or tacite to give either unto the House of Peers or Commons Jointly or severally a Negative Vote or deniall or a Legislative power but only to free themselves from those Tallages and Prises complained of which had such a force and obligation upon them and placed in them such a reverence and awfull respect to their King and head as they did subordinately not seldom obtain their Kings Leters-Patents to license or impower them Talliare Tenentes suos de dominico suo And although the Commons in Parliament in the 2 year of the Reign of King Henry the 5th had in the Advantage which they suppose they might sasely adventure upon in a Time of Usurpation assumed and arrogated to themselves a Legislative co-ordinate power in the making of Laws which other then Petitionary as Subjects to their King none of their predecessors before or since the 48th year of the Reign of King Henry the 3. ever had or obtained untill the last Horrid Rebellion in 1642. when they would make heedless and headless ordinances instead of Statutes or Acts of Parliament without their King and would not forsake their madness untill they had Murthered that Blessed Martyr King Charles the I. yet the answer of King Henry the 5th to that Petition and claim did so manifestly deny to give any allowance thereunto as one of their greatest Champions and Underminers of our Fundamental manarchick Laws could afford without prejudice to his the grounded cause to give posterity that Kings answer thereunto but concealed it as a conviction not to be devulged to their seduced Proselites For in the making of a Bishop wherein the King is acknowledged by the laws of England truth and Right reason to be the only true and proper cause of making him a Bishop and the impositions of hands by some of the Presbyters Subservient unto him in his Diocess which was but Ceremoniall and much less then the ornaments of Aarons garments in his multifarious priestly Attire and could never make or ordain him a Bishop without the King or give him Livery of the Lands appertaining to the Bishoprick neither doth any Law or right reason of any Nation or the dictates of holy Writ enable any to believe that the assent of the Woman or Wife in the holy Rites of Matrimony could or should ever entitle her unto a command and superiority over her Husband or Annihilate the Decree of Almighty God in the framing and forming of Man and Woman kind and order of the subservient government of the World And it would be an Engine mathematicall or contrivance Worth the Enquiry or finding out if it could be possible how to settle or make our most excellently composed Monarchick Government usefull in its Legislative power if the Houses of Peers and Commons in Parliament should disagree who but their King and Superior can or could be able to reconcile their discording Votes Opinions or Resolves For our Records Histories Annals and National Memorialls have never yet found or so much as mentioned any Laws Statutes or ordinances made in Parliament or out without le Roy le voult or his fiat or grant or the grant and assent of the Custos Regni or his Lieutenant Commissionated by him made by an House of Peers or Commons or party of them as it were in Parliament untill the Devil in a Religious habit taught it unto the last most horrid of incomparable Rebellions or that any House or number of Peers ever did or attempted to do any such thing or matter without the Kings le Roy le veult fiat assent or ratification or that of his Castos Regni or Lieutenant Commissionated by him Except that which was done by Symon Montfort and his Rebell partners in Annis 48. 49. Henry the 3 against that distressed over powred Prince when they had taken and kept him a prisoner for more then a Year and by fear and by force issued out Writs in his name for an Original of an House of Commons in Parliament and owned and acted what they would have him or constrained him to do in his name and as by his sole authority neither as Ego Rex meus or Senatus populus quoÌ„ Anglicanus neither can the Eyes of any far-seeing Linx or Lynceus or any Perspicuity clearness or strength of sight or the greatest of industry search or scrutiny whatsoever of our
records or Historians or even of our Neighbor nations find or make any but Fools or Knaves or Criminals of the highest nature believe that any Law was ever made in England or concerning any part of its dominions or teritories without their Kings regal Assent Will or Dictate untill that House of Commons made that most damnable ever to be abhorred wicked Vote or Order which they would have called a Law for the Murder of K. Charles the First Two of the principal Contrivers whereof Cromwell and Bradshaw have since had their Carcasses by a just Judgment of God thrown and buried under Tyburn a Common place of Execution for Theeves and Traytors the worst of Criminals and Malefactors in mankind but lest the over hast of the designs of those that would make a gain thereby should Gallop them into Errors of no small dangers or mischiess to the publique they may be pleased to take a little breath pause and consider the true meaning acceptation and extent of the words Constitute Convince Colloquium so often and necessarily used in the Writs and Mandates of our Kings and Princes in summoning or calling a part of their subjects unto their great Councels or Parliaments For Constituere convenire Significat conveniendo obligat se ad id quod jam debitum est sic constituere pecuniam est jam ante debitam absque stipulatione promittere Theophil in Sect de const non solum pro alio sed pro seipso quis recte constituat Sect. de constitut inst de act debitum autem oportet esse quod instituitur constituere possunt qui bona vel peculia habent cum libera administratione Gad. l. 182. de verb. res Signif constituimus nudo consensu eoque sufficiente ad actionem producendam Sect. 9. de just act constituere in dignitate munere Briss. ex F. C. constituere quaestionem est decernere ut judicetur Constitutio in generali nomine dicitur jus quod a principe conditur Theophil Sect. F. de jur natur Constitutum i. e. decretum Constitutus dies dies praefinitus Lex Lengobard si talis causa fuerit quam deliberare minime possit paenas constituat distringat hominem illum de judiciaria sua i. e. diem constituit lib. 1. 2. tit 21. And it was the duty and interest of the Commons Elected to come unto Parliament to consent unto such things as the Lords of whom they held their Lands and stood in great awe of to gain their loves or avoid their ill-wills should advise which with their Oath of Allegeance to the King their Superior Lord and their Homage and Fealty done to the Mesne Lord might perswade them to be as unwilling to forfeit their Lands as they would be to injure their Judgments and Consciences And though in some of the Writs for the wages of the Commons in Parliament assembled it hath by the mistaking or inadvertency of Clerks been sometimes said that they came and tarried ad consulend tractand yet the Tenor and intention of the most part of the Writs of Election for the Commons have been since the 21st Year of the Reign of King Edward the 1. as many as almost 20 for every one in the purpose Tenor and commanding part of it no more then ad faciend consentiend and sometimes ad loquendum and at another time ad audiendum faciendum upon which and no other account they came thither and were returned as Subjects not King-makers Law-makers Governours Disposers or Deposers and whilst they remained there or in veniendo redeundo and tarried at home were nor could be no otherwise then Subjects And in that and no other manner certainly did King Edward the 3d understand it when in a Parliament holden by him at Westminster in the 45th Year of his Reign there had been a great mistaking in the designed manner of levying an aid granted to the King of 22 s. and 3 d. out of every parish of England as hath been before mentioned Upon the examination whereof after the Parliament was dismissed the King and his Privy-Councel finding that that rate upon every Parish would fall much short of the summ intended and not supply the publique occasions did by an extraordinary special Writ directed to the Sheriff of every County command them to Summon only one Knight Citizen and Burgess of each County City and Borough serving in that Parliament especially named by the King in those Writs to avoid trouble and expences to appear at a Councel to be holden at Winchester to advise how to raise the intended summ of Money and directed the Sheriffs to enquire and return the number and names of all the Parishes Churches Chappell 's and Prebendaries within their respective Counties in the hands as well of Lay-men as of Clerks and Religious persons who accordingly meeting in the said Councel of Winton which continued sitting but 9 days as the Writ for the Knight of Southamton expresses and for Sussex Berks Oxon Wilts only for 11 days and to others in like proportions each of those Knights Citizens and Burgesses though they received their expences for going to tarrying at and returning from the Parliament at Westminster which granted that aid to the King and were specially again Summoned to that Councell to rectify their great mis-calculation in the aid intended and number of Parishes had their expences by the Kings Writs allowed unto them for that purpose for repairing to continuing at and going home from that Councell and in that and no other sense or manner did the Commons in that Parliament understand it Neither did the Commons in Parliament when upon the grant of the Lords in Parliament in the 13th year of the Reign of that King of the 10th Sheaf of all the corn in their demesnes except that of their bound Tenants the 1â—th fleece of wool and the â—0th lamb of their own Store to be paid in 2 years They made answer that they knew and tendred the Kings estate and were ready to aid the same only in this new device they durst not agree without further conference with their Countries and so praying respite untill another time they promised to travell their Countries think themselves to be Kings or Sovereigns over their fellow-Subjects or that they themselves were any other then Subjects And Sr Edward Coke having affirmed it to have been as it were a Law or Custom of Parliament hath likewise informed us that in the 42 year of the Reign of that King it being declared to the Parliament by the Arch-bishop of Canterbury that in a Treaty between the Kings Councel and David le Bruce of Scotland the last offer of the said David was that he was willing to have so as he might freely enjoy to him in fee the whole Realm of Scotland without any subjection or any other thing which might be accompted a perpetuall charge concerning which the Lords and Commons being willed to give their advice
Burgesses resorting to continuing at and returning diversis vicibus the Parliament was thrice adjourned from one day to another before it sate by reason that sundry Sheriffs had not returned their Writs divers of the Lords and Commons were not come and there arose a great quarrell betwixt the Duke of Lancaster and the Earl of Northumberland who came attended with many Thousand armed men of his Tenants and followers to the Parliament which caused the King to adjourn it from Monday to Tuesday thence to Wednesday and from thence to Saturday untill all were come and the quarrell being pacified betwixt those great Lords from the 8th Nov. to 15 Decemb. by reason of the approach of the feast of Christmas and the Queens arrival from beyond the Seas for her intended marriage from thence to the 24th of January many of them in the mean time returning home thence untill Monday following and from that time untill the 23d of February Before the 1st Writ of Summons could be executed a 2d came to prorogue that Parliament In 7. R. 2. a Parliament being Summoned to meet at new Sarum on the 20th day of Aprill being Fryday it was twice adjourned untill the Wednesday and Thursday following because divers of the Lords were not come and many of the Sheriffs had not returned their Writs 21. R. 2. The Parliament was adjourned from Westminster to Shrewsbury began the Monday next after the Exaltation of the Holy Cross at Westminster and at Shrewsbury the 15th of St Hillary In 1st H. 4. The Writ for the Election of Commons had this clause Nolumus autem quod tu seu aliquis alius Vicecomes Regni nostri seu aliquis alius homo ad legem aliqualiter sit electus whence it was called the Lay-mans Parliament or indoctum Parliamentum By the Statute of 7 and 8. H. 4. a clause was added in the Writ Et electionem tuam in pleno Comitatu tuo factam distincte aperte sub sigillo tuo sigillis eorum qui electioni illi interfuerunt nobis in Cancellaria nostra not into the House of Commons or House of Peers ad diem locum in brevi contentum certisices indilate The Receivers and Tryers of petitions in Parliament which were nominated in the beginning of every Parliament were Prelates Nobles and Judges and sometimes the Lord Chancellour and Treasurer and if need required antiently the Clerks of the Chancery In two Parliaments of King Henry the 6th the Chancellours place was supplied by the Kings verbal Authority In 9. H. 6. The Chancellour to whom it appertained ratione officii sui to declare the cause of the Summons of Parliament being sick the Duke of Gloucester the Kings protector appointed Dr Linwood a Doctor of Civill and Canon Law to declare the cause of the Summons of that Parliament In the Title of the Act of Parliament 18. 23. 27. 31. 33. H. 6. E. 4. And 14. E. 4. It is mentioned to be by the advice and assent of the Lords Spirituall and Temporal and the Commons and in 20. H. 6. By the advice of the Lords Spirituall and Temporall and at the request of the Commons as it had been in the 25 of H. 6. where Bristoll was exempted by a Charter of King Henry the 6th from sending any more then 2 Homines or Burgesses to Parliaments 7 or 8 Ports Summoned and in like manner admitted by the only Writ to Summon the Cinque Ports 1. H. 7. Acts of Parliament were mentioned to have been made by the assent of the Lords Spirituall and Temporall and Commons 2. H. 7. By the advice of the Lords Spirituall and Temporall and Commons In 3 4. H. 7. the like 11. H. 7. By the assent of the Lords Spirituall and Temporall and Commons Anno 12 the like 19 the like In the r. 3. 4. H. 8. Acts of Parliament were said to have been made by the assent of the Lords Spirituall and Temporall and Commons and in 5. 6. 7. 14. 15. 23. H. 8. 1. H. 8. The Abbot of Crowland was licensed to be absent by the Lord Chancellour and Lord Treasurer signifying the Kings pleasure And howsoever that the Kings verbal license was sufficient yet they that had obtained that favour had for the most part a formal license under his hand and if not ready to be produced testimonialls thereof by some Lord or others that could witness it And so continued untill 28 or 31. H. 8. But afterwards neither licenses or testimonialls were required only it satisfied that the proxies or procurations mentioned the Kings license which no man could be presumed to do unless he had had it Anno 1. Henrici 8. Ex mandato Domini Regis Quia Domini Spirituales absentes in convocatione occupati sunt continuavit Parliamentum usque in diem Crastinum the Lord Chancellor being then a Bishop and absent also and although some one or two of the Temporall Lords then sate in the House of Peers it was but to receive Bills Which continued untill 7. H. 8. In which Year the Lord Chancellour did the day before continue the Parliament unto the day after In the same Year 30 November Dominus Cancellarius propterea quod Domini Spirituales in convocatione in crastino die occupandi continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem lunae and many of the Parliament Rolls and Journalls of King Henry the 8th being not to be found And from the 17th H. 8. untill the 25th there does not appear to have been any Journalls although severall Parliaments sate in the 21. 22. 23. 24 Years of his Reign 20. H. 8. No mention was made of the advice or consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporall or Commons The like in 25 and 26. 27. 28. 31. H. 8. 25. H. 8. There is a memorandum in the Journalls of the House of Peers Decretum est quod Domini Spirituales in convocatione diebus Martis Veneris prox sequen ex tunc die Veneris donec secus melius videtur versari possent proceres sequentibus diebus sine impedimento quotidie circa dimiâ—ietat horae octavae ante meridiem in locis consuetis simul convenirent ad tractandum consulendum circa Republicae negotia And after in the same Parliament the Fryday was changed into the Wednesday in every week Eodem Anno In the Reign of H. 8. Wednesday being a Starr-Chamber day and Friday a convocation of the Bishops of the house of Peers was by the Chancellor adjourned to the Saturday following and in Queen Elizabeths days when the Starr-Chamber days were setled to be upon Wednesdays the Parliament did not sit upon those days in the Term time which was constantly observed says Mr Elsing all the time of King James untill the 18th Year of his Reign when upon Tuesday the 24th day of Aprill upon a motion made in the House of Peers that there was a great cause in the middle
of hearing to be heard in the Starr-Chamber the morrow after the Lords were content not to sit that Morning provided that it be not drawn into a precedent but that the House being the Supream Court may sit upon a Starr Chamber day notwithstanding the absence of the Lord Chancellor Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Treasurer the Lords of the Privy-Councell great Officers of State the two Lord Chief Justices and Lord Chief Baron who do use to attend that Court and the next Starr-Chamber day the other part of the Lords House did sit in the forenoon The Lords that were absent and could not appear upon Summons of Parliament were excused if they could obtain a license of the King otherwise they were amerced as in 31. H. 6. a Duke was to be amerced 100 l. an Earl 100 Marks and a Baron 40 l. If they came not upon Summons to Parliament If the King be present in person when the cause of Summons is declared the Lord Chancellour doth first remove from his place which is on the Kings Right hand behind the Chair of Estate and conferreth privately with his Majesty And that ceremony is ever to be observed by the Lord Chancellour or those that are appointed by the King to officiate in that particular for him before he speak any thing in Parliament when the King is present The cause of which ceremony saith Mr Elsing seeming to be that as none but the King can call a Parliament so none but the King can propound or declare wherefore it was called If the King be represented in Parliament by Commission the Lord Chancellor sits on the Wool-sack after the Commission read the Commissioners go to the seat prepared for them on the Right side of the Chair of Estate then the Lord Chancellour ariseth conferreth with the Commissioners returns to his place on the Wool-sack and there declareth the cause of the Summons or Commission as was done in 28 Elizabeth The Warrants of the King for the making of the Writs of Summons to Parliaments have been divers some times per breve de privato sigillo but commonly per ipsum Regem concilium Anno 32. H. 8. Acts of Parliament were said to have been enacted with the assent of the Lords Spirituall and Temporall and the Parliament was continued by divers short prorogations and was by his Graces Authority dissolved 33. H. 8. In the Acts of Parliament no mention was made of advice or assent 34. 35. H. 8. The like Proxies were in the 20th Year of the Reign of King James under the hand and seal of an absent Lord upon a lawfull impediment signifying the Kings license in the form ensuing pro se nomine suo de super quibuscunque causis exponend seu declarand tractand tractatibus quae hujusmodi mihi factis seu faciendis concilium nomine suo impendend statutisque etiam ordinationibus quae ex maturo deliberati judicio dominorum tam spiritualium quam temporalium in eodem Parliamento congregat inactitari seu ordinari contigerint nomine suo cousentiendum eisdemque si opus fuerit subscribend caeteraque omnia singula quae in praemissis necessaria fuerint seu quo modo libet requisita faciend exercend in tam amplis modo forma prout ego ipse facere possem aut deberem si praesens personaliter interessem ratum gratum habens habiturus quicquid dictus procurator statuerit aut fecerit in praemissis A proxy cannot be made to a Lord that is absent himself The Lord Latimer made his proxy which although the Clerk of the House of Peers received it was repealed by the Lord Chancellour for that the Lord Latimers deputy or procurator was absent for if he to whom the proxy is made be absent the proxy is void neither can it be transferred by the proxy to another as was adjudged in the case of the Lord Vaux 18 Jacobi Our Kings since the force put upon King Henry the 3d by some Rebellious Barons at a Parliament at Oxford in Anno 42 of his Reign at the beginning of every Parliament by publick proclamation did use to prohibit the coming with Arms. Not any of the Kings Serjeants at Law were Summoned to Parliament untill the Tenth of Edward the Third when Robert Parning William Scot and Simon Trevise Servientés Regis were Summoned by special Writs unto 2 Parliaments after which none were Summoned untill the 20th of E. 3. Robert de Sodington Capitalis Baro Scaccarii was the First and only Baron of the Exchequer who was Summoned to Parliament as one of the Kings Councell in 12. E. 3. The Kings Attorney Generalls whose Office and impolyment was as ancient as 7. E. 1. when William de Gisilham enjoyed it and Gilbert de Thorneton was in 8. E. 1. his Attorney Generall had their First Writ of Summons in the 21. 30. 36. Henrici 8. Those that succeeded them never wanting the like priviledges And the Kings Sollicitors generalls have been in like manner Summoned The Writs of Summons to the Lords are returned and delivered to the Clark of their House those with their Indentures for the Election of members for the House of Commons to the Clark of the Crown in Chancery The Clergy of the convocation in Parliament are Elected by virtue of the Kings Writs of Summons to the Bishops and their precepts but not by any from the Sheriffs The Master of the Rolls if not Elected a Member of the House of Commons in Parliament hath a Writ of Summons to attend in the House of Lords The Masters of Chancery as necessarily appertaining to the Lord Chancellour or Keeper of the Great Seal of England have neither Writ nor patent yet do there attend The Bill or Act of Parliament signed for the Beheading the Earl of Strafford much against the will of King Charles the Martyr was by Commission And divers adjournments and prorogations in the Reign of King Charles 2d have been sometimes by Commission and at other times by proclamations The Commons were never Elected to come to Parliament before the 49th Year of King H. 3. and his imprisonment and then and from the 21st Year of the Reign of King E. 1. did but as the Lesser lights follow that greater of the Sun and could not possibly be sent for or caused to be Elected without the Peers then Summoned and convened for that they were only to consent unto and do such things as the King by the advice of the Lords Spirituall and Temporall should there ordain if the Lords were not Summoned to be there at the same time or sitting The Chamberlain of the Kings Houshold was Summoned to sit in the House of Peers in 25. 27. 28. E. 3. Masters of Ships and some Scots have for advice been Summoned to attend the House of Lords Ever since the making of the Statute of 5. Eliz. every Knight Citizen Burgess and Port Baron Elected or to
custome of the House of Lords was that when any Bills or messages were sent to them the Lord Keeper and some of the Lords were to â—rise from their places and from thence to go unto the Barr and receive the said Bills or messages but contrarywise when any answer is to be delivered by the Lord Keeper in the name and behalf of the Lords the Commons sent were to stand at the Barr and the Lord Keeper is to receive the Bills or answer the messages with his head covered and all the Lords were to Keep their places with which the Lower House was satisfied and the same order hath been ever since observed accordingly Anno 39. Eliz. There being in former times a custom in the house of Commons to have a bill read before the house did arise the same could not now be done at that time because her Majesty and the upper House had adjourned the Parliament untill Saturday Sennight at Eight of the Clock in the Morning which being signified by their Speaker he said all the Members of the House might depart and so they did Eodem Anno. At the ending of the Parliament after they had given the Queen subsidies and prayed her assent to such laws as had passed both Houses she gave the Royall assent to 24 publick Acts and 19 private but refused 48 Bills which had passed both the Houses Anno 43. Eliz. John Crook Esq. Recorder of London being chosen Speaker of the House of Commons in Parliament disabling himself desired the Queen to command the House of Commons to choose another but his excuse received no allowance The Lord Chief Justice of the Queens bench and Common pleas together with the Lord Chief Baron and Attorney Generall were ordered to attend a Committee of Lords and Bishops Sr John Popham Lord Chief Justice Francis Gaudy one of the Justices of the Kings bench George Kingsmill one of the Common pleas Dr Carew and Dr Stanhop were constituted Receivers of petitions for Gascoigne and other lands beyond the Seas Sr Edmond Anderson Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common pleas Sr William Peryam Lord Chief Baron Thomas Walmisley one of the Justices of the Common pleas Dr Swale and Dr Hone. Tryers of petitions of England the Archbishop of Canterbury Marquis of Winchester Earls of Sussex Lord Marshall Lord Admirall and Steward of the Queens Houshold Earls of Nottingham and Hertford Bishops of London Durham and Winchester Lords Zouch and Cobham calling unto them the Lord Keeper Lord Treasurer and the Queens Serjeants at Law Great fault was found by many of the House of the factouring and bribing of too many of the Justices of the Peace and it was by one of the members alleadged that the five bills â—arely passed against Swearing Drunkenness and for the making of good Ale would be as much worth to those kind of Justices of the Peace as a Subsidy and two Fifteens Mr Conisby Gentleman Usher of the House of Peers complained that forasmuch upon the breach of any Priviledge of that House he only was to be employed and not the Serjeant at Arms the House ordered a Committee to consider of Presidents and settle it a motion was made by the Lord Keeper and approved of by the Lords that the Ancient course of the House might be kept by certifying the Excuses for the absence of any of the Peers by the Peers and not by others The House being offended with Sr Walter Rawleigh for some words and crying to the Barr Mr Brown a Lawyer stood up and said Mr Speaker par in parem non habet Imperium we are as members of one body and we cannot Judge one another whereupon it being put to the question it was resolved in the negative that he should not stand at the Barr. The Speaker of the House of Commons at the ending of the Parliament of 44. Eliz. humbly desired of the Queen that certain Acts may be made Laws by her Royall assent which giveth life unto them Unto which the Lord Keeper answered that as touching her Majesties pioceeding in the making of Laws and giving her Royall assent that should be as God directed her Sacred Spirit and delivered her Majesties commandement that as to the Commons proceedings in the matter of her Prerogative she is persuaded that Subjects did never more dutifully observe and that she understood they did but obiter touch her Prerogative and no otherwise but by humble petition but she well perceived that private respects are privately masked under publique pretences Admonished the Justices of the Peace some whereof might probably be of the House of Commons that they should not deserve the Epithetes of prowling Justices Justices of Quarrells who counted Champerty good Conscience Sinning Justices who did suck and consume the good of this Commonwealth and likewise all those who did lye if not all the Year yet at the least Three Quarters of the Year in the City of London Anno 43. Eliz. One Mr Leigh of the House of Commons complained that whilst the Speaker of the House of Commons was presented to the Queen he was denyed entrance into the House of Peers which the Lords excused by saying it was the ignorance of some of the Grooms or attendance in the choosing of a Speaker Mr Knolls the Comptroller alleaged that it was not for the State of the Queen to permit a confused multitude to speak unto her when it might often happen that one or some might move or speak that which another or some or many would contradict or not allow The Queen being sate in her State in the House of Lords the House of Commons were sent for to present their Speaker who in a modest pretence of disability prayed her Majesty to command the House of Commons to choose one more able but had it not allowed And she in her grant of freedom of speech gave a caution not to do it in vain matters verbosities contentions or contradictions nor to make addresses unto her but only in matters of consequence and prohibited their retaining or priviledging desperate debtors upon pain of her displeasure and desired a Law might be made to that purpose Which done the Lord Keeper said for great and weighty causes her Highness's pleasure was that the Parliament should be adjourned untill the Fryday following At which time the House of Commons did appoint a Minister every morning before the House sate to officiate and use a set form of prayer specially ordained to desire Gods blessing upon their Councells and preserve the Queen their Sovereign The Ancient usage of not coming into the House of Commons with spurs was moved by the Speaker to be observed others moved that they might not come with Boots and Rapiers but nothing was done therein Sr Robert Wroth a Member of the House of Commons did in his own particular offer 100 l. per Annum to the Wars Sr Andrew Noel Sheriff of Rutlandshire having returned himself to be a Knight of the shire for that
that nothing was done upon their Petitions and therefore prayed that they might be answered before the Parliament ended It appeareth by divers Answers to Petitions in Parliament that the Kings Councel unto whom they were committed did but report what they thought fit to be done for Answer prout Anno 15. E. 3. n. 17. where it is said our Lord the King caused the same Answers to be given to the said Petitions the which together with the Petitions were reported in full Parliament Eodem Anno it was answered Our Lord the King commanded Answers to be made the which put into writing were reported before our Lord the King and the Prelates and other Grandees Anno 17. E. 3. It seemeth to the Councel that it be done Anno 18. E. 3. Divers Petitions of the Commons being exhibited a Memorandum was entred viz. Unto which Petitions it was answered by the King and the Grandees as to the second Article Soit cestipetition granted To the third Article il plaist au Roy c. To the eight Article il plaist au Roy au Son conseil quae se soit To the eleventh il plaist au Roy c. To the 12th Article Soient les Statutes sur ceo faites tenus c. Anno eodem the Answer was It is assented by our Lord the King the Earls Barons Justices and other Sages of the Law that the things above written be done in convenable manner according to the prayer of the Commons in a long Petition of theirs against provisions from Rome whereunto the Bishops durst not assent Eodem Anno the Commons exhibited their Petitions which were answered drawn into a Statute sealed and delivered unto them Sedentibus before the Parliament ended in the same Parliament also the Parliament exhibited their Petitions which were answered sealed and delivered unto them sitting the Parliament which was not usual for the Statutes were most commonly made after the end of the Parliament The Answer to one of the Clergies Petitions in this Parliament was accord est pur assent du conceil Unto which may be added those of the 20th year of the Raign of King Edward the third which concerned the Pope to which Answers the Praelates who were of that Committee not daring to agree the opinion of the temporal Lords and the Judges were only reported viz. It seemeth to the Earls Barons and other Sages Lay-men of the Kings Councel c. Anno 21. E. 3. il Semble a conseil qu'il faut faire pour grand bien si plaist au Roy as grandes du terre Eodem Anno It seemeth unto the King the Praelates and the Grandees that the Custom stand in force the Commons having petitioned that the Custom of the Cloth made in England might be taken away Anno 25. E. 3. It seemeth to the Councel that such enquires cease if it please the King Eodem Anno It seemeth to the Councel that the Laws heretofore ordained ought to suffice for that this Petition is against the Law of the Land as well as against the holy Church It seemeth to the Councel that it ought not to be granted the Petition being that no Capias Excommunicat should issue before a Scire facias to the party Et al. hujusmodi c. Eodem Anno It was answered It is not the interest of our Lord the King nor of the Grantz Anno 28. E. 3. n. 33. It seemeth to the Lords and to the Grands that the Petition is reasonable Eodem Anno It is answered Let the Common Law used stand for the Lords will not change it Anno 30. E. 3. The Petition of the Commons touching Chaplains Wages had two answers The Archbishops and Bishops at the motion of the King and Grandees have ordained c. And therefore the King and the Grandees have ordained c. Those two Answers are recited almost ad verbum the Prelates first and then the Temporal Lords considered of the Answer Anno 47 E. 3. It was answered The King and the Lords have yet no will to change the Common Law Eodem Anno The Commons do require that every mans Petition be answered Anno 2. R. 2. apud Glocester le Roy del assent des Praelats Dukes Countz Barons de les Commons de son Royalme ad ordeigne c. The Commons having petitioned that all manner of Merchants might have free Traffick here And the like Answer was made to their Petition in Anno 3 R. 2 n. 37. 38. In 16. R. 2. Upon a Petition of Robert de Mull and his Wife touching the discharge of a Fine the King answered Soyent au Roy car ceo nest petition du Parlement In Anno 20. R. 2. Robert Mull petitioned the Commons stiling them by the title of honourable and Sage Commons in Parliament praying them to be discharged of a Fine to the King imposed upon him and supplicating them to make Relation thereof to the Parliament and alledging that his Bill or Petition had been put upon the file the last Parliament which doth prove that there was no standing Committees then appointed by the Commons in Parliament 2 H. 4. The King by Advice of the Lords in Parliament hath committed this Petition to his Councel Eodem Anno upon a Petition of the Commons for removing of Stanks and Milks generally it was answered It seemeth to the King and to the Lords that this Petition sounds in disherison of the King and of the Lords and others wherefore let the Statutes before made be held and kept Eodem Anno It is assented and accorded by the King and Lords c. Anno 2. H. 5. The King by the assent of all the Lords granteth c. Touching the Petition for taking of Tithe of great Wood contrary to the Statute of 4 E. 3. whereupon the Judges were of sundry opinions It was answered because the matter of the Petitioners demands required great and mature deliberation the King therefore would that it be adjourned and remitted to the next Parliament and that the Clerk of the Parliament cause this Article to be brought before the King and the Lords at the beginning of the next Parliament for declaration thereof to be made In the 2d year of the Raign of King Henry the sixth the King by the assent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons granted the contents of their Petition in all points Divers other Answers given do prove Debates to have been in Parliament upon Petitions betwixt the Lords and the Kings Councel And saith Mr. Noy that grand and very Attorney General to King Charle 〈…〉 the Martyr who unhappily died before his Royal 〈◊〉 had so much need as he had afterwards of his great abilities or who ever was the careful Examiner of many of the Parliament Rolls and Compiler of that Manuscript which is honoured with his name there can be no question made of those or the
be done for the shortness of time Eodem Anno Pray the Commons that where a man is attainted at the Suit of the Party for Trespass done against the Peer and the Trespasser taken and let by the Marshal and his Marshals to Mainprise or at large they be charged with the Damages To which the King answered To put an Issue to this Article in manner as they pray it would be to make a new Law the which the King is not advised yet to do The Commons do pray That the Issues and Amerciaments of the Green Wax be certainly expressed in the Estreats and that the Sheriffs be allowed in their Accompts for the Hundreds granted from the Crown which Petitions were referred to the next Parliament for that the King had no leisure or no intent to make Statutes thereof at any time The Roll of the Parliament of 34 E. 3. is lost In the 17th year of the said Kings Raign the Commons do pray the King to desire the Parliament to consider how he might gain the Arrears of the first year and be put in a way for to gain the second year of the said Aid with less grievance to the People But the Lords and Commons were so exasperated by the Excommunication threatened by the Archbishop of Canterbury against them all because the King would not admit him into the Parliament and that they required a Declaration to be first made and agreed upon that the Peers of the Land whether Officers or not be not bound to answer the Kings Suit but in Parliament and it was a whole week before the King would agree unto it All which time the Archbishop demanded entrance standing upon his right as primus Par Angliae and required to be admitted upon pain of Excommunication At the last the said Declaration being first agreed upon by a special Committee of the Lords the King granted it and presently upon the same day the Archbishop was admitted who demanded Tryal by his Peers But as touching the Aid for the King the Lords and Commons incensed by the Clergy flatly answered that if the conditions of the grant in Anno 14. were not performed they would pay none After which the Laity and the Clergy exhibited their Petitions as the manner then was severally but petitioning the one for the other as they never did since or before except in Anno 25. E. 1. when the Popish Clergy had put that great and Victorious King also to the like plunge and their Petitions being answered by the Kings Councel who were the standing Committee for that purpose but the Lords and Commons disliked thereof and obtained a Special Committee of themselves to consider of the same which being reported and well liked a Statute was made thereupon by a Committee of the Grands and Commons which being read before the King and Sealed with his great Seal and delivered to the Grands and Commons divers of the Kings Councel as the Treasurer some of the Justices of both Benches the Steward of his House and the Chamberlain were sworn upon the Cross of Canterbury to observe the same as much as to them belonged but yet the said Councellors Treasurer and Justices made their Protestation that they assented not to the making of the said Statute nor to the form thereof neither could they keep the same if they were contrary to the Laws and Usages of the Realm which they were sworn to observe which disorderly Parliament ending in May and the King intending not to suffer the said Statute to be put in Execution summoned his great Councel to meet at London in July following to Repeal the same but there were so many of the Praelates called thereunto although the Archbishop was omitted that he could not effect his desire therein wherefore he summoned another great Councel to meet at Westminster about Michaelmas following whereby the Assent of the Earls Barons and other wise men not warning any Praelates the said Statute was repealed In which Statute so Repealed there will appear to have been many inconveniences both to the King and his People if it had continued in force The 2d Chapter whereof touching Tryal by Peers swerved very much from the true meaning of Magna Charta cap. 26. Nullus liber homo c. For that appointeth his Tryal to be by his Peers but restrains it not unto any place whereas this limits the Tryals of the Peers of the Land to be in Parliament only which would be very inconvenient to the King to wait for a Parliament for every Offence and very troublesom to the Commons to be so often troubled thither and no way beneficial for the Temporal Lords for they whether in Parliament or out of Parliament were ever to be tried per Nobiles Pares The 4th Chapter had Clauses that the King should place New Officers when they fall but by accord of the Grands which shall be nearest in the Country which is directly against the dignity of the King to be thus limited in the choice of his Officers and prove as inconvenient to the Subject if those Grands should not be men of Merit That the King shall take all Offices except the Judges c. into his hands the 3d day of every Parliament and the Officers be put to answer every complaint and if they be attainted shall be judged by the Peers in Parliament and the King shall cause Execution to be pronounced and be done accordingly without dclay which is altogether unjust and against all Right and Reason and against the Law to put any man out of his place before Judgment and Conviction and against the Right and Dignity of the Crown to bind the King to Execute the judgment of the Peers And it is observable that it was not in the Petition but was added afterwards by the Committee who drew up the Answer to the same and so was the 4th Clause penned by the said Committee much more beneficial for the Subjects than was in the Petitions or Answers Which particulars well considered no man can blame the King for his dissimulation at that time and his Repeal of that Statute In the Parliament of 18 E. 3. where the King having summoned a former Parliament in the year before and therein pacified the Lords and Commons so well as they all agreed that the said Statute made in the 15th year of his Raign should be Repealed and taken away and loose the name of a Statute for as much as it is prejudicial and contrary to the Laws and Usages of the Realm and to the Rights and Praerogatives of the King But for that some Articles were comprised in the said Statute which were reasonable and according to the Law and Reason It was accorded by our Lord the King and his Commons that of such Articles and others accorded in this present Parliament a new Statute be made by the advice of the Justices and other Sages and held for ever And no Statute being made the Commons prayed
could neither give or intend for nil dat qui non habet as being never able to give them complextly or singly their diversities of Powers or Interests present or to come other than such as the intent and purport of their Writs of Election Commissions allowed when the Devil with a pair of Spectacles cannot find in their Indentures or Procurations any Commission either by the King or those that Elected them other than to do and perform such things as the King by the advice of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament should ordain but not to make War against their King and Murder him Plunder and destroy their fellow Subjects and Masters that elected and sent them for better purposes neither can they or any of their Record-massacring Champions ever be able to prove that the Lords Spiritual or Temporal did or could transfer unto them their power representative in Parliament which without the Authority of the King that gave it is not transferrable And when there were but 170 Counties Cities and Towns that sent Knights Citizens and Burgesses to Parliament in the latter end of the Raign of King Edward the First were but almost one Part of three that could be truly esteemed Representers of many of the Commons too many having been since only added by corruption of Sheriffs and otherwise it could never be intended or at all possible or so much as probable as all could be Freeholders or otherwise within the true meaning and intention of the word Representation or represent applied to the House of Commons or any particular member thereof was until our late Factious and Seditious Times never found in any of our Parliament Rolls Records or Memorials which hath lately been made to be very large and drawn into a factious and seditious extent and interpretation For the Parliament being only the Kings great Councel not of the people his Subjects upon special emergent occasions concerning the weal publick in the defence of the Kingdom and Church all offences committed against the Members of either of the Houses siting the Parliament or in their coming or returning are by Law to be prosecuted and punished in the behalf of the King and in his name and by his only Regal Authority and the Prison of the Tower of London is the Kings by a long possession but none of the peoples as it was adjudged in the Raign of Edward the 1st in the case of the priviledge of the Earl of Cornwal and long after that viz. In the latter end of the Raign of King Henry the 8th in the case of the Lord Cromwel and Tailbois and in the extraordinary forcible Riot and Trespass committed in the 12th year of the Raign of K. Richard 2. upon the Goods Lands and Servants of one of the Knights of the Shire of Cumberland sitting the Parliament whereupon that King upon his complaint directed a Writ or Commission to enquire and certify the Fact directing the Sheriff of Westmorland by a Jury of his County to attend them therein and those that were found offenders to arrest and bring coram nobis concilio nostro not the House of Commons in Parliament in Quindena sancti Michaelis with a nos talia si fuerint relinquere nolentes impunita upon which Mr. Pryn observeth that the King upon that complaint did not presently send for the Offenders in Custody by a Serjeant at Arms as the Commons of late times have done And did the more as he saith urge that Record and Precedent to rectify the late irregularities of sending for persons in Custody upon every motion and suggestion of a pretended breach of priviledge to their extraordinary vexations and expence before any legal proof or conviction of their guilt against the great Charter and all ancient precedents and proceedings in Parliament further evidenced by him to appertain only to the King by the Commons own Petitions from time to time in several Parliaments in the Raigns of Henry the 4th Henry the 6th and Edward the 4th in the cases of Chodder Atwil Dome Colyn c. And that it was expresly resolved and declared to belong only to the King by his Writs of Priviledge supersedeas habeas corpora issued out of the Court of Chancery to deliver members of Parliament or their Servants imprisoned or taken in execution against the Priviledge of Parliament for in the great Debates and Arguments in the House of Commons in the case of Fitz-Herbert in the 35th year of the Raign of Queen Elizabeth when Sir Edward Coke was Speaker it was at the last concluded that it was meet that the whole matter should be brought before them by an Habeas corpus cum causa issued out of the Chancery and there to be returned since no Writ of Habeas Corpus nor yet of priviledge could be returned into the House of Commons but only into the Chancery or Lords House as Writs of Error were whereupon the Speaker attending the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England pressed for a special Habeas Corpus with a clause to be inserted therein that Fitz-Herbert existens de Parliamento captus suit c. with a recital of the cause of priviledge who upon conference with the Judges would not Assent thereunto and resolving not to depart from the usual form issued out the Writ to the Sheriff returnable in Chancery who bringing the Body of the Prisoner and certifying the cause of his imprisonment the Lord Keeper sent the Sheriffs return of the Habeas corpus to the Commons House the Chancery men who brought it being ordered to read it which they did with the Writ thereunto annexed whereupon Mr. Dalton argued that the House had no power to deliver him he being not arrested sedente Parliamento but before it sate and that in a point of Law whether in this case he ought to be priviledged the Commons House ought not to pass any Vote therein but ought to advise with and receive instructions from the Judges of the Realm whether in this case by the Law they could grant Priviledge which being seconded by Sir Francis Bacon and thirded by Sir Edward Coke it was ordered that Fitz-Herbert should appear and be heard by his Councel the next morning and that the advice of the Judges should be had therein which being bad the Judgment of the House was that he was not to have Priviledge for three causes First because he was in Execution taken the same day of his Election Secondly because it was at the Queens suit which was the grand Reason Thirdly because he was taken neither sedente Parliamento nec eundo nec redeundo and Mr. Pryn likewise humbly conceived that in case of any Member of Parliament Arrested their only legal Means and Remedy was and is by a Writ of priviledge out of the Chancery In the Journal of the House of Commons in Parliament Anno 6. E. 6. There is an Order entred that if any Member require priviledge for him
vain Fears such as in constantem virum cadere non possunt should not be permitted to affright our better to be imployed Imaginations unless we had a mind to be as wise as a small and pleasant Courtier of King Henry the Eighths who would never endure to pass in a Boat under London-Bridge lest it should fall upon his Head because it might once happen to do so Our Magna Charta's and all our Laws which ordain no man to be condemned or punished without Tryal by his Peers do allow it where it is by Confession Outlawry c and no Verdict Did never think it fit that Publick Dangers such as Treason should tarry where Justice may as well be done otherwise without any precise Formalities to be used therein For although it may be best done by the advice of the Kings greatest Council the Parliament there is no Law or reasonable Custom of England either by Act of Parliament or without that restrains the King to do it only in the time of Parliament When the Returns Law-Days and Terms appointed and fixt have ever given place to our Kings Commissions of Oyer and Terminer Inquiries c. upon special and emergent occasions And notwithstanding it will be always adviseable that Kings should be assisted by their greatest Council when it may be had yet there is no Law or Act of Parliament extant or any right reason or consideration to bind Him from making use of His ordinary Council in a Case of great and importunate necessity For Cases of Treason Felony and Trespass being excepted out of Parliament first and last granted and indulged Priviledges by our and their Kings and Princes there can be no solid Reason or cogent Argument to perswade any man that the King cannot for the preservation of Himself and His People in the absence or interval of Parliaments punish and try Offenders in Cases of Treason without which there can be no Justice Protection or Government if the Power of the King and Supream Magistrate shall be tyed up by such or the like as may happen Obstructions So that until the Honourable House of Commons can produce some or any Law Agreement Pact Concession Liberty or Priviledge to Sit and Counsel the King whether he will or no as long as any of their Petitions remain unanswered which they never yet could or can those grand Impostors and Figments of the Modus tenendi Parliamenta and the supposed Mirror of Justice being as they ought to be rejected when the Parliament Records will witness that many Petitions have for want of time most of the ancient Parliaments not expending much of it been adjourned to be determined in other Courts as in the Case of Staunton in 14 E. 3. and days have been limited to the Commons for the exhibiting of their Petitions the Petitions of the Corbets depended all the Raigns of King Edward the First and Second until the eleventh year of Edward the Third which was about sixty six years and divers Petitions not dispatched have in the Raign of King Richard the Second been by the King referred to the Chancellor and sometimes with a direction to call to his assistance the Justices and the Kings Serjeants at Law and the Commons themselves have at other times prayed to have their Petitions determined by the Councel of the King or by the Lord Chancellor And there will be reason to believe that in Cases of urgent necessity for publick safety the King is and ought to be at liberty to try and punish great and dangerous Offenders without His Great Council of Parliament The Petitions in Parliament touching the pardoning of Richard Lyons John Peachie Alice Peirce c and a long process of William Montacute Earl of Salisbury were renewed and repeated again in the Parliament of the first of Richard the Second because the Parliament was ended before they could be answered Anno 1. of King Richard the Second John Lord of Gomenez formerly committed to the Tower for delivering up of the Town of Ardes in that Kings time of which he took upon him the safe keeping in the time of King Edward the Third and his excuse being disproved the Lords gave Judgment that he should dye but in regard he was a Gentleman and a Baronet and had otherwise well served should be beheaded but Judgment was howsoever respited until the King should be thereof fully informed and was thereupon returned again to the Tower King Henry the Second did not tarry for the assembling a Parliament to try Henry de Essex his Standard-bearer whom he disherited for throwing it down and aftrighting his Host or disheartning it 16 E. 2 Henry de bello monte a Baron refusing to come to Parliament upon Summons was by the King Lords and Council and the Judges and Barons of the Exchequer then assisting committed for his contempt to Prison Anno 3 E. 3. the Bishop of Winchester was indicted in the Kings-Bench for departing from the Parliament at Salisbury Neither did Henry the Eight forbear the beheading of His great Vicar General Cromwell upon none or a very small evidenced Treason until a Parliament should be Assembled The Duke of Somerset was Indicted of Treason and Felony the scond of December Anno 3. 4. Edwardi 6. sitting the Parliament which began the fourth day of November in the third year of His Raign and ended the first day of February in the fourth was acquitted by his Peers for Treason but found guilty of Felony for which neglecting to demand his Clergy he was put to Death In the Raign of King Philip and Queen Mary thirty nine of the House of Commons in Parliament whereof the famous Lawyer Edmond Plowden was oneâ— were Indicted in the Court of Kings-Bench for being absent without License from the Parliament Queen Elizabeth Charged and Tryed for Treason and Executed Mary Queen of Scots her Feudatory without the Advice of Parliament and did the like with Robert Earl of Essex her special Favourite for in such Cases of publick and general Dangers the shortest delays have not seldom proved to be fatally mischievous And howsoever it was in the Case of Stratford Archbishop of Canterbury in the fifteenth year of the Raign of King Edward the Third declared that the Peers de la terre ne doivent estre arestez ne mesnez en Jugement Si non en Parlement par leur Pairres yet when there is no Parliament though by the Law their Persons may not then also be Arrested at a common persons Suit they may by other ways be brought to Judgment in any other Court And Charges put in by the Commons in the House of Peers against any of the Peers have been dissolved with it For Sir Edward Coke hath declared it to be according to the Law and reasonable Customs of England followed by the modern practice that the giving any Judgment in Parliament doth not make it a Session and that such Bills as passed in either or
quod contra Communem Civilium ordinatio tenorem propter aliquam naturalis aequitatis rationem certa constituentium authoritate introductum est unde apparet saith Cicero quod Privilegium contra Jus naturae vel utilitatem publicam non magis sunt Privilegia quam Tirannis Privilegia ultra suam propriam naturam non extendi debet nec ad ea quae neutiquam prima sua origine sunt directa aliquin etiam ad incognita contra intentionem dantis extendi possent quod in Jure absurdum est Expressa Privilegia a re ex Jure proprio Majestatis superioritatis proprie privilegiorum concessio non tantum arguit superioritatem dantis inducit subjectionis speciem in persona impetrantis quidem Ita ut privilegium non subdito concessum Regulariter in contractum transeat sed soli Principi summo qui regalem dignitatem potestatem exercendi Jura principis quoad Subditos suos in suo territorio concessit competit per L. Vinc. de his qui a Princip Vac accep lib. 10. Privilegia Jus superioritatis stricte quidem Ita interpretari convenit ut semper intelligantur salvo Jure superioritatis concessa Privilegii enim Interpretatio non debet verti contra Autorem Ita quod per privilegia subditi desinant esse subditi sed quod tanto magis esse debent subditi cum Privilegia proprie non nisi subditis dantur quis dubitat eum qui Privilegium libertatis accipit leges alterius agnoscere cum privilegium non sit nisi exemptis a Jure Communi L qui singulare F. de L. And very often confirmed Priviledges that have been incroached or usurped may justly come within the compass of that Rule also of the Civil Law much allowed and made use of in our Common Law Quod ab initio non valet tractu temporis non convalescit Confirmatio ex certa Scientia quamvis det robur non tamen extenditur ad id quod in eo non includebatur secundum Bald. sing in l. 3. in fin C. Interpretatio privilegiorum ita siat necesse est nec torqueatur sed facto deserviat neque factum variare oportet ut Privilegio respondeat Privilegium debet esse observatum et clarum Michael Ant. Frances de veritigati aequivocum nihil operatur p. 564. in privilegiis mens concedentis attenditur cap. 51. n. 223. privilegium transit in contractum ex causa onerosa fieri dicitur nec revocatur cap. 30. et 294 et 304. p. 570. ex privilegiatis duobus quis sit praeferendis cap 10. p. 193. magis privilegiatus praecellere debet ratione dignitatis privilegium non extendit se ad ea quae de facili concedi non solent qualis est derogatio concilii cap. 28. n. 327. non datur res quae not sit cap. 28. 414. 415. p. 514. concessum ex causa ea cessante revocatur etiam si concedens ex alia causa ea concessisset cap. 28. n. 497. p. 510. Revocatur nova causa superveniente cap. 28. n. 428. p. 522. Non datur nisi aliquid particular concedat cap. 13. n. 26. p. 556. Privilegium Exemptio laedunt Jus Commune cap. 30. n. 17 p. 554. Privilegium ratione scandali revocatur cap. 30. n. 299. p. 570. And there were Priviledges that were more stable yet no Parliament Priviledges such as St Pauls was of being a Freeman and Citizen of Rome bought as he said with a great price and some Coloniae Mancipiae had the same Laws and Priviledges which Rome had the four great High Ways made by the Romans in Brittain to keep their Souldiers from Idleness as Watlinstreet c. had great Immunities and Priviledges as to have the persons and goods of such as travailed or dwelt therein freed from Arrest or Distress Et privilegia quae utilitati publicae sunt dannosa strictam interpretationem requirunt quia generaliter quicquid contra jus vel utilitatem publicam in quolibet negotio prefertur non valet l Jubeamus 10. C. des s. Ecclesiae 4. The Decree of the great King Ahashuerus that raigned from India to Ethiopia over 127 Provinces his Laws being holden to be irrevocable were as unto some part of them reversed for the preservation of the Jewish Nation upon the petition of Queen Esther and his holding out his golden Scepter to her And the House of Commons themselves did in a Parliament in the 21 year of the raign of King Richard the Second certainly so understand and believe it when they recommended to posterity their dutiful protestation to their King and Soveraign and request to have it specially Inrolled in these words Item les ditz Comes fierent protestation devant le Roi en plein Parlement ils vurroient monstrer declarer mesme le Jour en plein Parlement certeine matieres Articles deus queux ils fierent alors aviser entre eux accorder nient majus il fust est leur entent volunte percongie de nostre Seigneur le Roy de accuser empesther persone ou persones a tantes de foiz come leur sembleroit affaire durant le temps de cest present Parlement prierent au Roy lui pleiroit accepter leur dite protestation quil soit entrer en rolle de Parlement de record la quele chose nostre Seigneur le Roi leur ad ottroie commanda a destre fait and did think it not to be unbecoming their duty to require license of the King to charge or accuse any person or persons in that tempestuous Parliament nor did beleive that their accusations or impeachments should or ought to be so fatally mortal when in the first year of the Raign of King Henry the 4th by a patched contrivance of the Parliament in the Raign of King H. 4. the same Commons in Parliament desired that the Judgment given against the said Earl of Arundel whose Pardon but a little before had been rejected might be reversed and a restoration made of all his Lands Estate and Evidences And those their Priviledges being but personal and temporary and after they were allowed by our Kings a Speaker which was about the Raign of King R. 2. the House of Commons well knowing who was the only donor of them never fail'd at the Change Allowance of every of their Speakers to give him in charge to Petition in their behalf unto the King for the same no other Priviledges being necessary for the aforesaid Imployment Upon the violation of any whereof by any of their fellow Subjects they did so well understand the extent of those their Temporary Peculiar and Limited Priviledges with the obligations of their Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and that it neither appertained unto them nor was or could be in their power to cause or enforce a better observation thereof but it was only in the King
that granted them and was to be vouched to warranty which was in common and ordinary matters very usual in our Laws and reasonable Customs and therefore to him only as the Grantor and Protector of their Parliament Priviledges and not to themselves the gratitude and acknowledment was only due And the House of Commons until this our present unruly Age or Century did not adventure to take upon themselves or endeavour by any pretended Authority of their own to punish any the violators of their aforesaid Priviledges but supplicated Aid of their Kings and Princes that were the donors and granters of them And therefore in the Raign of King Henry the fourth it was adjudged that as the Record witnesseth Videtur Cur. quod non For in Anno 8 H. 6. William Lark a Servant of William Wild Burgess of Parliament being arrested upon an Execution during the Parliament the Commons petitioned the King to give order for his discharge and that no Lords Knights Citizens or Burgesses nor their Servants coming to the Parliament may be Arrested during the Parliament unless it be for Treason Felony or Breach of the Peace The King granted the first part of the Petition Et quant al residue le Rei sa avisera The Commons prayed that Edmond Duke of Somerset Alice Poole the late Wife of William Poole Duke of Suffolk William Bishop of Chester Sir John Sutton Lord Dudley the Lord Hastings James de la Barre one of the Kings Secretaries and 20 or 22 Knights and Esquires particularly named amongst which was Thomas Kemp Clerk of the House of Commons which the Commons themselves and their own Clerk had not them found to be either a Liberty or Priviledge of their own to punish might be banished from the King during their Lives and not to come within twelve Miles of the Court for that the People do speak evil of them To which the King answered He is of his own meer motion contented that all shall depart unless only the Lords and a few of them whom he may not spare from his presence and they shall continue for one year to see if any can duly impeach them In Anno 31 H. 6. The Commons made a Request to the King and Lords that Thomas Thorp their Speaker and Walter Roil a member of their house who were in Prison might be set at liberty according to their Priviledges The next day after the Duke of York who was then a Rival for a long time but after a publick Competitor for the Crown and President of the Parliament came before the Lords not the Commons and shewed that in the vacation of the Parliament he had recovered damage against the said Thomas Thorp in an action of trespass by Verdict in the Exchequer for carrying away the goods of the said Duke out of Durham House for the which he remained in Execution and prayed that he might continue therein Wherein the Councel of the Judges being demanded they made Answer it was not their part to Judge of the Parliament which was Judge of the Law wherein surely they might rather have said what they should have most certainly have believed then as Sir Edward Coke did long after that the King was principium caput finis Parliamenti and only said that a general Supersedeas of Parliament there was but a special supersedeas in which case of special supersedeas every Member of the Commons House ought to enjoy the same unless in cases of Treason Felony Surety of the Peace or for a condemnation before the Parliament After which the Lords determined that the said Thomas Thorp should remain in execution and sent certain of themselves to the Commons who then had so little power to free themselves from Arrests and imprisonment as they could not deliver their own Speaker out of Prison but were glad to follow the direction of the King and Lords to chuse and present unto the King another Speaker the which they did and shortly after certain of the Commons were sent to the Lords to declare that they had in the place of the said Thomas Thorp chosen for their Speaker Thomas Charleton Esquire Walter Clark a Burgess of Chippenham in the County of Wilts being committed to the Prison of the Fleet for divers condemnations as well to the King as to others was discharged and set at Liberty at the Petition of the Commons to the King and Lords without Bail or Mainprise At the Petition of the Commons William Hill a Burgess of Chippenham aforesaid being in Execution in the Kings-Bench was delivered by a Writ of the Chancery saving the Plaintiffs right to have Execution after the Parliament ended It was enacted by the universal Vote and Judgment as well of the Commons as the Lords that John Atwil a Burgess for Exeter being condemned during the Parliament in the Exchequer upon 8 several informations at the suit of John Taylor of the same City shall have as many Supersedeas as he will until his returning home King Henry 8. in the case of Trewyniard a Burgess of Parliament imprisoned upon an Outlawry after Judgment caused him to be delivered by a Writ of Priviledge upon an Action brought against the Executors and a demurrer it was resolved by the Judges to be Legal George Ferrers Gent. servant of the King and a Burgesse of Parliament being arrested in London as he was going to the Parliament-house by a Writ out of the Court of Kings Bench in execution at the Suit of one White for the sum of 200 markes being the debt of one Walden which arrest being signifyed to Sir Tho. Moyle Knight Speaker of the House of Commons and to the Knight and Burgesses there an order was made that the Serjeant of the Mace attending the Parliament should go to the Compter and Demand the Prisoner which the Clerks and Officers refusing from stout words they fell to blows whereof ensued a fray not without hurt so as the said Serjeant was forced to defend himself with his Mace and had the Crown thereof broken off by bearing off a stroak and his Servant struck down which broil drawing thither the 2 Sheriffs of London who did not heed or value the Serjeants complaint and misusage so much as they ought but took their Officers parts so as the Serjeant returning without the Prisoner informed the Speaker of the House of Commons how rudely they had entertained him who took the same in so ill part that they all together some of whom were the Kings privy Councel as also of the Kings privy Chamber resolved to sit no longer without their Burgess but left their own house and went to the House of Peers and declared by the mouth of their Speaker before Sir Thomas Audley Knight then Lord Chancellor and all the Lords Judges there assembled the whole matter such no Estates they believed themselves to be who Judging the contempt to be very great referred the punishment thereof to
without any wiser Body to regulate or take care of their Actions would deem it to be a brave Sport and Liberty to play with the Fire until they had set the whole House on fire and burnt themselves into the bargain and if after he had by his practice and study of the Common Law which was nothing but our Feudal Laws too much forgotten or unknown unto those that would be called our Common Lawyers and gaining 10000 l. per Annum Lands of Inheritance made his boast that he had destroyed the so fixed and established Deeds of Entail and the Wills and Intent of the Donors as nothing of Collusion Figments or other Devices should prejudice and no Gentleman or Lover of Honour Gentry or Families would ever have had an hand in such a destruction Levelling Clowning Citizening and Ungentlemanning all or too many of the Ancient Families of England And if he could have lived to have seen or felt the tossing plundering and washing in Blood three great and flourishing Kingdoms would have wept bitterly and lamented or with Job have cursed the hour or time of his birth that he should ever have given the occasion or been Instrumental in the promoting or being a Contributor unto those very many dire Confusions and Disasters that after happened for if he had well read and weighed the History and Records both before shortly after the gaining of that Act of Parliament de Tallagio non concedendo without the consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in Parliament Assembled and how much that great and prudent Prince King Edward the first was pressed and pinched when his important affairs caused his sudden transfrecation by the overpowering party of three of his greatest Nobility viz. Bohun Earl of Hereford and Essex Constable of England Clare Earl of Gloucester and Hertford and Bigod Earl of Norfolk Earl Marshal of England all whom and their Ancestors had been advanced to those their Grandeurs by him and his Royal Progenitors had so catched an advantage upon him and were so merciless in their demands as they not only would not allow him a saving of his Jure Regis very usual and necessary in many of our Kings and Princes grants as well in the time of Parliaments as without but enforced an Oath upon him which he took so unkindly as he was constrained shortly after to procure the Pope to absolve him of for that it had been by a force put upon him which a Protestant Pope might have had a Warrant from God Almighty so to have done but did after his return into England so remember their ill usage of him as he seized their three grand Estates and made the two former so well to be contented with the regaining of his favour as Bohun married the one of his Daughters and Clare the other without any portions with an Entail of their Lands upon the Heirs of the Bodies of their Wives the Remainder to the Crown laid so great 〈…〉 Fine and Ransom upon Bigod the Earl Marshal as he being never able to pay it afterwards forfeited and lost all his great Estate and be all of them so well satisfied with his doings therein as they were in the 34th year of his Raign glad to obtain his Pardon with a Remissimus omnem Rancorem And they and Sir Edward Coke might have believed that that very prudent Prince might with great reason and truth have believed his Regality safe enough without a Salvo Jure Regis when the Law and Government it self and the Good and Interest of every Man his Estate and Posterity was and would be always especially concerned in the necessity aid and preservation of the King their common Parent appointed by God to be the Protector of them And our singularly learned Bracton hath not informed us amiss when he concluded that Rex facit Legem in the first place Lex facit Regem in the second giveth him Authority and Power to guard that Regality which God hath given him for the protection of the People committed to his charge who are not to govern their King but to be governed by him and should certainly have the means to effect it for how should he have power to do it or procure his People to have a Commerce or Trade with their Neighbour People or Princes if he as their King had not any or a just Superiority over them c. and must not for all that have and enjoy those Duties Rights and Customs which not only all our Kings Royal Progenitors but their Neighbour Princes and even Bastard and self-making Republiques have quietly and peaceably enjoyed without the Aid and Assistance of any the Suffrage of the giddy Rabble and vulgar sort of the People controuling in their unfixt and instable Opinions those of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the wiser and more concerned part of the People of which and the Rights and Customs due and payable to our Kings and Princes Sir John Davies a learned Lawyer in the Raign of our King James the first hath given us a learned full and judicious Account which well understood might adjudge that Petition of Right to deserve no better an entertainment than the Statute of Gloucester made in 15 E. 3. which by the Opinion of the Judges and Lords Spiritual and Temporal was against the Kings Praerogative and contrary to the Laws and Customs of the Realm of England and ought not to have the force and strength of a Statute and Sir Edward Coke might have remembred that in the Raign of King Edward the Third the Commons of England did in Parliament complain that Franchises had for time past been so largely granted by the King that almost all the Land was enfranchised to the great arreirisment estenisement of the Common Law which they might have called the Feudal Law and to the great oppression of the People and prayed the King to restrain such Grants hereafter unto which was answered The Lords will take order that such Franchises as shall be granted shall be by good Advice And that if by any Statute made in the 25th year of the Raign of King Edward 3. it was ordained that no man should be compelled to make any Loan to the King against his will because such Laws were against Reason and the Franchise of the Land that Statute when it shall be found will clearly also appear to be against our Ancient Monarchick Government Fundamentally grounded upon our Feudal Laws that our Magna Charta Charta de Foresta are only some Indulgence and Qualification of some hardship or Rigour of them that the Excommunication adjudged to be by the Statute of 25 E. 1. ca. 4. And the aforesaid dire Anathema's and Curse pronounced in that Procession through Westminster-Hall to the Abbey Church of Westminster against the Infringers of those our Grand Charters are justly and truly to be charged upon the Violaters and Abusers of our Feudal Laws and
and for difficulty saith Mathew Paris Prorogued to St. Barnabas day and thence Adjourned to Oxford And thence in the same year adjourned to London in Anno 48 two Parliaments were called at London 51. a Parliament at London Anno 53. another at Marlburgh but in truth in Anno 47. as appeareth by the Parliament Roll. There was a Parliament at Westminster in the third year of the Raign of King Edward 1. another Anno 4. one at Gloucester Anno 6. another at Westminster Anno 7. one Anno 10. 13. another at Acton Burnel and one afterwards in the same year at Westminster another in that year at Winchester another afterward in the same year at Westminster Anno 18. two Parliaments were holden at Westminster the Statute of Quia Emptores terrarum Quo Warranto fines seeming to be made at several Parliaments or Sessions Statutes of Vouchers Wast and de defensione Juris made in Anno 20. E. 1. probably made in like manner Anno 21. De his qui ponendi sunt in Assisis and another ut supra de malefactoribus in Parcis the Statute of Consultation Anno 24. A Parliament in Anno 25 at London another at Bury another at Salisbury 26. At York held at another time a Parliament â—nno 27. a Parliament at Westminster and another Anno 28. for Persons appealed and a Parliament wherein were made the Articuli super Chartas Anno 30. The Statute of Quo Warranto 31. a Parliament Statutes of Conspiracy and Maintenance in Anno 33. And in the 34th year of his Raign before the Writ of Summons could be executed sent another Writ to Adjourn the Parliament and by his Writs Prorogued or Adjourned some if not many of those other Parliaments In the 5th year of the Raign of King Edward the 2d a Parliament being Summoned to be holden at Westminster it was Prorogued before they could meet and Writs were sent to signifie that they need not come In the 18th year of his Raign having Summoned the Earl Marshal to be at a Parliament to be holden at Winchester secunda dominica quadragessima prox futur and being informed by some of the Nobility that by reason of the shortness of time they could not sufficiently provide themselves Prorogued the Parliament to Octabis Paschae prox futur In the Printed Statute made at Lincoln in 9 E. 2. Mr. Pulton hath by his Modern Ph 〈…〉 mentioned that Statute to have been made by the Assent of t 〈…〉 〈◊〉 Earls Barons and other great Estates but the origiâ—â—l Record is only Prelats Countz Ba 〈…〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And in 5 E. 3. it was mistakenly 〈◊〉 by the Abridger that all the Estates in full 〈◊〉 the King being not with his Power of Pardoning 〈◊〉 other his Rights of Soveraignty comprehended 〈◊〉 that notion did agree that none of them should retain sustain or own any Felon or other Common Breaker of the Law And the whole Estate whereof the King was not likely to be one moved the King to be Gracious to Edmond Son of the late Earl of March who asked what they would have done sith King Edward the 2d was murdered by the procurement of the said Earl they Answered for certain Lands Entailed the Kings Answer was that the same should be done at his pleasure In Anno 6 E. 3. The Parliament Adjourned which was done by no other than the King because most of the Estates were not come The Archbishop of York and his Suffragans and Clergy came but the Archbishop of Canterbury and his did not by reason of the contention betwixt them for Superiority of bearing up their Crosses whereby the same was not only a loss of an opportunity for Scotland but also an insupportable charge to the whole Estate saith the Erroneous Abridger of the Parliament Records by a new Re-assembly which could not be intended of the King who then was there resident at his Palace of Westminster to which they were Summoned For the efficient Formal and Final cause of our Parliaments or great Councels being vested in our Soveraign Kings and Princes and in no other solely and incommunicably none of their Subjects did or could ever rightly understand or believe that any of those great Councels or Parliaments summoned upon great and weighty emergencies of State accidents or dangers which were to be suddenly heeded by preventing or avoiding imminent or Impendent evils by their wary and deliberate consults put into a speedy Execution could ever receive a certain and continual fixation or be obliged thereunto for that besides the fertility and growth of Hydras innumerable mischiefs and Inconveniences not long ago wofully experimented it would altogether contradict and be against the nature reason and being of our Kings and Princes summoning or calling of Parliaments according to the ancient and Laudable constitutions of our Nation It being as unusual as improper to Summon or call Parliaments pro quibusdam arduis when Hannibal is not every day ad portas but sometimes ruining himself and his Army at Capua when our Kings have their continuum Concilium private Councel and cares in a perpetual watch for the preservation of them and their people when the Ardua are but the well foreseen Accidents and Dangers likely to happen and fit to be prevented and it is not pro omnibus arduis but quibusdam and the Civil Law can inform us That Accidens appellatur quod adesse aut abesse potest preter Subjecti corruptionem de donat ante nupt Accidens is defined to be 1. Quod Accidit 2. Quod inheret Subjecto oppositum substantiae 3. Quod est extra essentiam rei ut neque intra attributa essentialia neque desinitione Essentiali exprimitur For a Fleet of well Rigged and furnished Ships doth not call a Councel or cause all the Commanders Captains and Pilots to come on board the Admiral for every little storm or quarrel of the Winds and Seas Nor our Generals of an Army at Land call a Councel of War for every small alarm or beating in of the Scouts And our Kings without Assent or Act of Parliament have appointed Terms or times for the orderly dispatch of Law affairs in the distribution of their Justice in their many other Courts of Justice And our inferior Courts Baron and Leet and Hundreds have been contented with lesser Periods And a standing perpetual Parliament either in Actu or potentia was never yet known or used in England when its Constitution Writs of Summons and Usage doth at all times and should declare the contrary And as extraordinary Accidents dangers and emergences in a Kingdom and Government and their greatest concernments are in no wife to be slighted delayed or neglected but suddenly endeavoured to be prevented escaped avoided or lessened though it be to no small charge attendance and trouble put upon the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Members summoned and caused to convene and come from several parts remote or further distant as in their
calumniate their Kings by publick calumnies or Remonstrances for who would not in the course of ordinary friendship or in the case of Children or Servants to their Parents or Master take it to be an ill piece of love or duty publickly to abuse and rail at their Kings and those which were invited for helps in Councel worse than the accursed Chams discovery of his Father Noahs Nakedness or Jobs instead of comfort better censuring friends did it in no worse expressions than Walsingham hath related viz. Archiepiscopi Episcopi Abbato Priores Comites Barones tota terrae Communitas monstrant domino nostro Regi humiliter rogant eum ut ea ad honorem suum populi sui salvationem velit corrigere emendare And when they long after found themselves as aforesaid stiled one of the 3. Estates in some of the Parliament Rolls so as aforesaid mentioned could not by any Grammar or reasonable construction or by any Rules of any truth sense or reason believe the King to be one of the 3. Estates spoken of or at all intended in the Journals or Rolls of Parliament or understood so to be by the parties speaking or spoken of or unto the Sandy and britle foundation of which ill digested opinion being not likely to get any room in any serious mans well weighed consideration Being only made use of as a Trick of Faction and Sedition to exclude the Bishops and Lords Spiritual on purpose to put the King in their place whereby to make him co-ordinate with them and the House of Peers and help to justifie as much as they could the fighting against Imprisoning Arraigning and Murder of their King And being Elected and Introduced into the House of Commons as Procurators only and representing for some part not all of the Commons under their proper limitted conditions ad faciendum consentiendum iis to such matters and things as in that greatest of Councels in the Kingdom should be ordained by the King and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal there Assembled for the good and welfare thereof under the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy did not stile themselves Estates or think they were thereunto entituled when at the Coronation of their former and succeeding Soveraign Kings and Princes they were in suo genere though with different Species Degrees Estates Capacities comprehended under the notion of the vulgus or common People for until the 11th year of the Raign of King Richard the 2d they had no Title of Estates allowed or given unto them and if they could make any Title thereunto the Lords Spiritual or Praelates were the first the Lords Temporal and Nobility the 2d under and subordinate to their King Supream Head and Governour and the Commons who were dispares to the Peers of England the 3d. who did notwithstanding long after in their Petitions in Parliament take it to be honour enough to call themselves by no higher a Title than the Commons The Kings Leiges and his pouvrez Leiges the word Estate State or one of the Estates in Parliament being by the Invention or Phraseologie of their Clerks or Registers by hasty abbreviation and in and but sometimes saving of labour in the aforesaid 11th year of the unfortunate Raign of King Richard the 2d by Use and Custom fastned upon them as men and many learned Authors have often by an Incuria done when in their writing of Ancient and Former things or times they have made use of words or expressions of the present times as more intelligible as Duel for Battle or Camp Fight Parliament for our seldom or greatest Councels hint for intimation or spoken of before the last of which being known only to have been here introduced in the late Covenanted Scotch and English Rebellion by Mr. Alexander Henderson or the late Senseless Proud False and Insignificant Titles of Honour or Respect of an Alderman assumed by such as paid a great Sum of Money as a Fine not to be an Alderman and so became revera no Alderman with as little Reason as the Citizens Wives of London as low as the Meal-man's and Bricklayer's do think themselves clownishly handled or dealt with if they be not at every word stiled Madam cum multis aliis his nugis Curialibus of the misusage and impropriety of words misapplied without any consideration had of the intention and true meaning of the Authors and the times wherein they lived and the mode and usage of the words in former and latter times made use of for the better signification and expression of mens meanings either writings reading or modus loquendi viz. by an ignorant Bellum Grammatical make Rebellion to be as necessary as Religion and Rebellion to be Religion Who could not without the Power or impulse of dreaming or some wild imagination be Estates in very deed when they took and sued for their Wages in coming to the Parliament tarrying and returning and have been told by some of our Kings in Parliament that they were but Petitioners which they then did not contradict which the higher sphered Lords in Parliament never did more than enjoy a Priviledge Anciently allowed but rarely made use of by them in the hunting and killing a Deer as they travelled through any of the Kings Forests or Parks in their way to advise and serve their Kings in those their greatest of Councels and in our Statutes and Acts of Parliament penned by the Judges and Councel of our Kings in their former and much better Usage and Custom of drawing and penning our Acts of Parliament of late left only to be framed by Sollicitors and the Prosecutors and Contrivers thereof so as the word Estates is rarely to be found therein And so little were the Parliamentary Commons of England obliged to the old approved good Writers and Historians as Asser Menevensis Ingulfus Roger Hoveden Gervasius Tilburiensis William of Malmesbury Matthew Paris Brompton Knighton and many others contemporaries to our Brittish Saxon Danish and Norman Kings and their Successors and if their Testimonies will not pass with these Reeord Scrap-mongers who would wrest and wring every thing they can meet with to their Seditions and Treason hatching by false and wicked glosses and misinterpretations the Parliament and Statute Rolls that do every where give evidence as an everlasting truth unto what that blessed Martyr King Charles the first hath so truly asserted in his Answer to the Rebel Parliament 19 Propositions when the Secretary or Sir Edward Hyde by a mistake had allowed them the Title of Estates which being decryed by the Lawyers and Loyal Members of the Loyal Parliament at Oxford then attending viz. Sir Orlando Bridgman Sir Geffry Palmer and Sir Robert Holborn had not so passed but that the post could not be recalled yet howsoever the Rebellious party at London that were so willing to catch at that as they thought advantage might have seen read in the words cohaerent in the same Paragraph an exception in the
words following in a Parenthesis viz. but never intended to have any share in the government And they that heretofore did take it for an especial honour to wear many of the Peers and Nobilities Liveries and glad to be reteyners to them were so modest as to be unwilling to assume the Title of an Estate in Parliament when in Parliament conferences passing of Bills Messages or other occasions the House of Peers sate covered that third Estate if it could be so called stood and are to stand uncovered And Mr. Pryn one of their greatest Champions that did more than he should to magnify their Customs and Priviledges was at length constrained to acknowledge that in all the Parliaments of King Edward the third Richard the second Henry the fourth fifth and sixth Edward the fourth and Richard the third the Commons in Parliament never claimed nor exercised an such Titles or Jurisdictions as of late years have been usurped by them or given unto who never until they ran mad with Rebellion who never presumed or pretended to make Print or Publish any Act Ordinance or order whatsoever relating to the People or their own Members without the King and Lords Assent and Concurrence never attempted to impose any Tax Tallage Charge Excise or Duty upon the people without the King and Lords consent never adventured to appoint any Committee or subcommittee to hear and determine any particular business or complaint without the report thereof to the whole House of Commons without the privity or Assent of the House by way of transmission or impeachment to their superior Authority and Judicature of the House of Peers never attached fined imprisoned or censured any person by their own authority without the Lords as they have hundreds of late years done And that very famous Ancient and Great Republick of Venice Crowning their Doge with an Imaginary Crown for Venice and two other real and very Crowns the one for Cyprus and the other for Candy both Kingdoms revera in their actual possession yet as the lesser in the greater bound up and captivated under a strange diversity of Forms and Cantons hath not the Priviledge to read a Letter without the Privity or overlooking of the grand Consiglio or Venetian Nobility hath besides their many great Varieties and Fragments of Magistracy Offices and Parts of Governments cut into as many Parcels as they can to give every one as much Relish and hopes as their largely extended dominions can afford are not without at the first 150 since augmented into the number of 3000 of those which they stile Nobility and makes a principal part of the first quality or concern in their government as our Bishops and Lords Temporal the former being Barons as much as the latter for their lives although not as the latter in Fee or Fee-Tail and amongst the many particles or pieces of their mangled government can allow their Doge to be the Superior and more than Co-ordinate with all or any of the Avogardoit di Communite the Pregadi that are to guide their chief affairs of Estate and consist of 120 Noblemen some whereof have their rights of the Lottery or Balloting Box their greatest Councel consists of the Doge Consiglieri the Consiglio di dioci the third Consigliera de bassa the three Lords of the Raggioni Vecchio the three Lords of the Raggioni Nuevo the Cattaveri or the Inquisitors of truth the two Censori the three Provisori delli dieci Savii or special wisemen and that which should be the wonder the Colledge of the Savii are to have no Vote in the Pregadi and they of the Pregadi can take no resolution except there be in it four Consiglieri or at least 60 of the Nobility be of the Quorum or that they do ordinarily give order to their Embassadors in all parts of the World whither they have been sent to Register and give an accompt to their State or Senate or whatever they can be called of the the several forms of government in other Nations and Kingdoms and yet omitting the Feudal the best of all governments happily experimented in the most of their Neighbour Nations and Kingdoms so pertinatiously as they do and have such an hotch potch or Gallimaufry of mixtures as we say in England as if they were again to be dislocated or taken in pieces that great republick planted betwixt the two great Empires of the West and East would in all probability be on a sudden in as great misery distress and confusion or greater than it was when they fled from the Ravage and Fury of the Huns and Vandals into the Arms and Bosom of the Gulf of the Adriatique Sea and Mr. Selden hath informed us that in England in the Saxons time and long after the middle Thanes and the Valuasers were not honorary as the greater Thegnes or Barons were And it may be worthy our observation that although Mr. Pryn in his careful recapitulation before mentioned of the Lords Spiritual the Bishops and the Earls and Barons the Lords Temporal excluding the Commons until after th 49th year of the Raign of King Henry 3. doth altogether negatively conclude that there were no Commons then present yet when he comes to rectify as he calleth it the mistakes of the abridger doth in Anno 5. E. 3. relate that the Estates in full Parliament do agree that they shall not retain sustain or avow any Felons or Breakers of Houses which the King having commanded before is truly and properly to be understood of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal And in another place of the said record mentioneth that the whole Estate prayed the King to be gracious unto Edward the Son of Roger Mortimer Earl of March which could not inforce the King to be one of the Estates or that there were any other or more Estates than the Lords Spiritual and Temporal Anno 6. E. 3. were Proclaimed the Articles agreed in the last Parliament and 1 2 3. in another Parliament intended to be at York it is said that most of the Estates were absent Sir Jeffry le Scroop by the Kings Command shewed the cause of summoning the Parliament but for that most of the Estates were absent which might consist only of Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the King ordained new Writs of Summons to be issued In a reassembly at York in the same year Articles of the last Parliament were proclaimed by the Steward and Marshal of the King and the Commons not then said Estates had license to depart and the Lords commanded to attend until the next day at which time the Parliament was dissolved In Anno 8. E. 3. It was petitioned that no pardons be granted unto outlawed persons by any Suggestions or means but only by Parliament To which the King answered the Statutes made shall be observed That all men may have their Writs out of the Chancry paying nothing but the fees for the Seals without any fine
according to the great Charter nulli vendemus Justitiam unto which the King answered such as be of course shall be so and such as be of grace the King will command the Chancellour to be therein gracious Neither doth it appear that the Lords Spiritual who in the Raign of King Stephen held three several Councels in Secular Affairs and of King Henry the 2d were sundry times Mediators employed by him in Treaties betwixt him and the King of France or that the Lords Temporal the other part of the House of Peers and Baronage of England subordinate under their King and Soveraign did ever take esteem or believe the Members of the House of Commons in Parliament jointly or separately to be a 3d. Estate of the Kingdom for they neither had or enjoyed that Title or supposed Power In Anno 17. of King John in the Rencounter or Rebellion at Running Mede when in a pacification there made with some of his robustious Barons it was agreed that if the Conservators none of them which were then nominated to be the Conservators of the Kingdom being then called the Estates could not obtain a just performance of that constrained agreement by a complaint made unto the King or his Chief Justice of the Kingdom populus not then dreamed to be a 3d. Estate might â—um pravare with a salvo or exception to the Persons of him his Wife and Children do it and were not so imagined to be when the Popes Legat had by his Excommunication of that King and Interdiction of the use of Christianity in the whole Nation constrained him to do Homage to the Pope by an Investiture of the Sword Crown and Scepter and an yearly Tribute of 1000 Marks for the Kingdom of England and Ireland to the Church and See of Rome that Engine or Trick of Soveraignty Inhaerent in the People or a 3d. Estate representing for them in Parliament not then being thought necessary for a ratification of those that would magnifie themselves with that Factious and Fictitious Title of a 3d. Estate which they durst not adventure to make use of or mention in our Magna Charta and Charta de Foresta freely granted by King Henry the 3d. his Son and that more than thirty times Confirmations for the first whereof they believed they had made a good bargain when they had given unto that King the 15th part of their moveables and were not a 3d. Estate or called so in the 42 year of the Raign of that King when the Derogatory Act of Parliament to Kingly Government was enforced from him at Oxford in the 42 year of his Raign Anno 13. E. 3. The Bishop of Durham and Sir Michael de la Poole came from the King with a Message to the whole Estates which probably were then none other than the Lords Spiritual and Temporal concerning his Victories atchieved in France The Lords upon the Kings want of Money grant to the King the tenth Sheaf of Corn their Bond or Bond-Tenants excepted their 〈…〉 h Fleece of Wooll and 〈…〉 h Lamb for two years the Commons then not stiled Estates require time to go into their Countries to advise with those that sent them the Commons not Estates return their Assent and make several demands with a request that the Sheriffs of every County may in the next Summons to Parliament return two Knights girt with Swords A general Proclamation was made that all Persons having Charters of Pardon should resort to the Sea-coast for the Kings Service upon pain to forfeit the same The Commons do give the King for his Relief 30000 Sacks of Wooll upon conditions expressed in a pair of Indentures whereupon the Lords promised to send to the King to know his pleasure after long Debating the Commons promise to give presently to the King 2500 Sacks of Wooll so as if the King liked the conditions aforesaid the same should run in payment if not they would freely give it to him Remembrances of things not finished in one Parliament to be done in another They granted unto the King the ninth of their Grain Wooll and Lamb for two years to be Levyed out of all Towns-men the ninth of their Goods of such as dwelled in Forests and Wasts a Fifteenth upon condition the King would grant their Petitions contained in a Schedule so willing were the Commons to obtain and get what they could from the King and so little did they think themselves to be a 3d. Estate or an entire or any part of Soveraignty Sundry Bishops Lords and Commons were appointed daily to sit until they had reduced the aforesaid Grant into the form of a Statute and was agreed upon by the King and the whole Estates which could not be expounded that the King was one of those Estates or the other any more than the Lords Spiritual and Temporal leaving the Commons to be no more than they were in suis gradibus no 3d. Estate which beginneth To the Honour of God c. And such Articles as were to continue but for a time the King exemplified under the great Seal Know ye that with our Bishops Earls c. Certain Bishops and Lords requiring to be saved harmless against the Duke of Brabant for great sums of Money wherein they stood bound for the King if the Duke of Cornwal married not the Daughter of the said Duke which was granted and all which Letters Patents were inrolled in Chancery And for that the King in his Stile was named King of France and had changed his Arms whereby The Abridger of the Parliament Rolls or Records or Mr. Pryn the Rectifier or misuser of them hath given us a curtailed Abbreviation of the Parliament Remembrances in 14 E. 3. wherein all that the Abridger or Rectifier was pleased to give us was that Subjects were no longer bound to him than as King of France the Kings Letters Patents of Indempnity were granted beginning Edwardus c. Know ye that where some people intend c. When as in the Printed Statute according to the Parliament Record for so it may better be understood to have been the Abridger or Rectifier so miscalled might have seen that the King by the Title of King of England and France and Lord of Ireland by his Letters Patents under the great Seal of England reciting that whereas some people did think that by reason the Realm of France was devolved to him as Right Heir of the same and for as much as he is King of France the Realm of England should be put in Subjection of the King and of the Realm of France in time to come he having regard to the Estate of his Realm of England and namly that it never was nor ought to be in Subjection to the obeysance of the Kings of France which for the time have been nor of the Realm of France and willing to provide for the Surety and Defence of the Realm of England and of the Leige people of the same doth will and grant
Corone soient sustretz on amemuser a sin que par lour bon advis discretion tiel remedie puisse estre mis le Roy puisse esteer en sa libertie ou poir Commune ses Progenitors out este devant lui duissent de droit non obstante ascun ordinance an contrarie anisi le Roy as Tenez les governera in which Speech of the Chancellors no man as it is sufficiently probable did then â—nderstand the King to be a part of the Estates he was speaking unto who if they could then in a time of Faction and Trouble of State that had then affrighted and disturbed the greatest part of the Nation have had any thought or imagination that their King was so comprehended in that Novel word Estates had a fair opportunity to have entred their claim to that Triumviracy or never to be proved Co-ordination or which would be beyond a lurking Soveraignty for the Common People to resort when they please and were in the same Parliament afterwards so little elated with the expression of the Clerk of the House of Peers in the entry of the Record of the Kings vacating of the Earl of Arundels Pardon par assent de touz le Estats du Parlement as they made their Protestation and prayed the King that it might be Inrolled that it was not their intent ou volunte to impeach or accuse any Person in that Parliament sans Congie du Roy and if they had been any such Estates as some of late would entitle them unto did not perceive themseves to have been then so great or in Partnership with their Soveraign or above him And thereupon the Chancellor by the Kings command likewise declared that nostre Seigneur le Roy considerant coment plusieurs hantes offenses mesfaits outestre faitz par le people de son Roialme en contre leur ligeance l' estat nostre Seigneur le Roy la loie de la terre devants ces heures dont son people esciet en grant perill danger de leie lour corps biens voullant sur ce de sa royalle benignite monstre 〈◊〉 faire grace a son dit people a fyn quils ayent le greindre corage 〈◊〉 volonte de bien faire de leur mieux porter devors le Roy en temps avenir si voet grante de faire ease quiete salvation de â—on dit people une generalle pardon a ces liges forsâ—ris certaines pointz limitez par le sonuant la suiâ—e al partie forspris cyn quont persones queux plaira au Roy nomez touz ceux qui serront Empeshez en ce present Parlement dit oustre que le dit Roy voet que plein dâ—oit Justice soyent faitz a Chastun de ses liges qui en voilent complandre en cest Parlement ad ordinez assignez Receivers Triers des Petitions en cest Parlement And did in pursuance thereof in full Parliament excuse the Duke of Yorke the Bishop of Worcester Sir Richard le Scroop then living William late Archbishop of Canterbury Alexander late Archbishop of York Thomas late Bishop of Exeter and Michael late Abbot of Walton then being dead of the â—xecution and intent of the â—ommission made in the tenth year of his Raign as being assured of their Loyalty and therefore by Parliament restored them to their good name And Sir Edward Coke might have bestowed a better gift unto the Laws and Lawyers of England and his native Countrey than that Pandoras Box or Circes inchantment in his doted upon or so much admired modus tenendi Parliamenta which he at an adventure not knowing himself from whence that Bastard came but was as a Foundling so young left in the streets as it could neither declare who was its Father or Mother and that which was something marvelous none had the luck to find it and in charity pay for the nursing of it as himself and the Name of that nurse as unknown as the Father or Mother or progenitors thereof and made himself so much assured of it as if he had been present when that Modus supposed to have been made by 〈…〉 ing Edward the Confessor was read before King William the Conqueror and approved by him could not forbear but his fourth part of the Institutes or Comment upon Littleton but he must frequently use it but transmitted into Ireland to be there observed in King Henry the seconds Raign which there as little to be found Recorded and Authenticated or Legitimated as it hath been in England as hath been before mentioned and grew so over-fond of it as he hath as he thought done no little piece of Service to after Ages to insert it as an especial part or undiscernable point or parcel of Law although he might have seen that Mr. Selden would not not oblige himself or his Readers to walk along with him in his over-credulity and all our Records both of England and Ireland and all our Historians and Annalists as well Coaeval as of nearer times as Ordericus Ingulphus Vicalis Eadmerus Malmesbury Simon Dunelmensis Hovedon Huntingdon Florentius Wigornensis Nubugensis Matthew of Westminster Matthew Paris Trevisa Chronica Johannis Brompton Walsingham Giraldus Cambrensis Matthew Parkers Antiquitates Ecclesiae Brittanicae Hollinshead Daniel Speed Fox Spelman and many others cited by Mr. Pryn in his manifest Proofs Evidence Conviction Discovery and Refutation of that modus tenendi Parliamenta to be full of Falsities Forgeries and Errors a fabulous Legend and meer Imposture to furnish out Jack Cades Rebellion in the latter end of the Raign of King Henry the 6. for the advance of Richard Duke of Yorks Title to the Crown of England and if there had been such a modus it may be more than an ordinary wonder that the Conquered and Inslaved People of England should precibus fletibus beg of the Conqueror Sir Edward the Confessors Laws whereupon he Anno quarto regni sui Angliae caused to be summoned concilio Baronum suorum per universos regni Angliaeâ— Consulatus Angliae Nobiles sapientes in sua lege eruditos ut eorum leges Jura 〈◊〉 consuetudines ab ipsis audiret Electi igitur de singulis eorum patriae Comitatibus viri duodecim Jure Jurando primum coram Rege confirmaverunt ut quoad possent recto tramice incedentes nec ad dextram nec ad sinistram divertentes legum suarum consuetudinum sancita patefacerent nihil praetermittentes nihil addentes nihil praevaritando mutantes a ligibus igitur sanctae matriis Ecclesiae sumentes exordium quantum per eam Rex et Regnum solidum subsisâ—ens haberet fundamentum leges libertates pacem ipsius confirmati sunt there never having been before or since such a solemn Jury either in the Raigns of our Brittish Roman Saxon Danish and Norman Kings or their many succeeding Kings or Princes sworn and impannelled by a
Themate suspiciant montes Pacem Colles Justiciam in quibus Rex verbis asservit quod triplex regni status potuit ut sibi videbat rationabiliter annotari several degrees or conditions of men videlicet per Montes Praelalati Proceres Magnates per Colles Milites Armigeri Mercatores in populo Cultores Artifices Vulgares used to be Elected to come to Parliaments in those days Quos quidem status enuncialius exponend asserint ser nonnulla autoritates Historias Exempla summaria demonstravit quod triplex deberet virtus politica eisdem tribus statibus specialiter pertinere videlicet Prelatis Magnatibus pax veritas vera concordia absque sictur vel dissimulatione Militibus mediocribus aequitas mera Justitia absque manutenentia pauperum expressione vulgaribus vero vel inferioribus voluntaria Regi ejus Legibus when he intended none of the three several States to be allowed the Legislative Power obedientia absque perjâ—rio manutenentia Ex quibus si in Regno Angliae â—aliter se haberent maxima de conqueacencia ac Regi Regno Commoda quam plurima fine dubio pervenirent ad providend igitur qualiter in Regno montes praedicti pacem suscipiant Colles que Justitiam vulgari populo administrant ipsi etiam populi vulgares eorum antiquis relictis perjuriis divinis legibus humanis plus solito fideliter obediant intendant prefat dominus noster Rex ex sui sani avisamento concilii dictum presens Parliamentum facerit convocari volens concedens quod praefati Magnates Comitates praedict without giving either of them the Title of Estates omnibus singulis libertatibus quietanciis eis per nobiles Progenitores ipsius domini Regis quondam Reges Angliae concessis per eundum dominum Regem confirmatis minime revocalis nec per legem Angliae revocabilibus set per eosdem Prelatos Magnates Comitatem bene rationabiliter usitatis gaudeant ut antur dedit insuper prefat Cancellarius praedict Communibus without any Title of Estates nomine Regio firmiter in mandatis quod in eorum domo Communi antiquitus uâ—â—tato in Crastino convenirent eorum prolocutorem eligerent sic Electum prefat Domino Regi 〈◊〉 ea celeritate qua commode poterant realiter presentarent Et ut Justitia conqueri volentibus possit celerius adhiberi idem dominus noster Rex certos Receptores â—riatores petitionum in praedicto Parliamento exhibend constituit assignavit Item 13. die Augusti Anno presento domino Rege tribus regni statibus in presenti Parliamento existentibus which being but a Phrase or Expression of the Clerk could reach no further than the Chancellors meaning in his before mentioned Speech relating several soâ—s or qualities of People then assembled in Parliament post gratias redditas ex parte domini Regis ejus mandato Communibus regni without any Title or Stile of Estate tunc ibidem presentibus deorum bonis diligentiis laboribus circa ea quae sibi ex parte regni injuncta fuerunt exhibitis ostensis praefat dominus Cancellarum de mandato ejusdem domini ulterius declaravit qualiter idem dominus Rex ipsorum Communitat relatione conceperat quod in Civitate London et Suburbiis gravis pestilentia ceperat oriri qualiterque prefat Communes without the appellation of Estates plenam et particularum informationem et nolitiam notarium extorsionum oppressionum manutent et aliorum defect in dicto regni habitorum unde idem dominum Rex certiorari affectabat per eosdem nullatenus habuerint attendens etiam idem dominus Rex qualiter tempus Autumpâ—ale in quo magnatibus circa suas recreationes et deductas without any Title of Estates insisquet Communibus with no Title or Estates circa suarum messium congregationem intendere competabat similiter 〈…〉 propinguabat Quibus de causis et presertim ut prefati Communes without any other Title de extorsionibus oppressionibus riotis manutentiis et aliis defectibus praedictis particulariter informari possent ac dictum dominum Regem inde plenius edoteri idem dominus Rex dictum presens Parliamentum usque xv nam post festie scilicet Michaelmis tunc proxim futurum apud Westminster voluit prorogari ac illud realiter prorogavit omnibus et singulis quorum interfuit firmiter injungendo quod apud Westminster dict xv die excusatione quacunque cessante personaliter convenirent ad tractandum comitandum et consentiendum super hiis quae tum ibidem pro pacis bono et Regis et regni commodo favente domino contigerit ordinari c. And it is not a little remarkable how a man of so great learning and practise in the Laws of England as the aforesaid Sir Edward Coke should either be so much bewitched with that modus tenendi Parliamentum and at the same time so much admire Littletons Book of Tenures as he believed many of his caetera's or abbrieviations therein to comprehend some more than common or ordinary point or special matter of Law worth the enquiry and not be able to understand that the Feudal Laws were the Fundamental Laws of England and supporters of the Ancient Monarchick Government thereof and were nearly allied to the Civil or Caesarean Laws with their Patroni or Clients and have descended unto us from the Longobards Brittains Saxons Goths and Vandals and other Northern Nations now and very anciently the Laws whereby for the most part all Christendom is and hath been Governed and that that excellent Book of Littleton who was a Judge in the Raign of King Edward the fourth now not above 219. years ago contained a Compendium Summary and Practice of our Feudal Laws those best most wholesome firm and obliging Laws in the World then and long before used in England should be so little acknowledged or beloved by Sir Edward Coke whose principal care and design hath for a long time been to disparage and bury them in Oblivion by his over-much magnifying that fatal and grand Imposture of modus tenendi Parliamentum made it to be the Machine or Engine to batter and destroy our Fortresses of Loyalty and should not have allowed his Admirers as much or more than he did his and our Littleton to believe either that Empusa or Modus to be as a Creed to a People in that Frenzy and almost national infatuity wherein to he and his beloved modus had perswaded them and by the help of the Master of all Craft and Subtlety turned our Laws out of their Ancient Inheritance and by stiling our Feudal Laws the Common Laws by the Hocus Pocus Insolence and Perjury of Parliament Rebellion now almost of fifty years continuance rendred us to be like the Jews in their seventy years Captivity who so forgot their Primitive Language as they were enforced to crave the incertain help of
ei habere facerent praeter Castella obsides they having forced him to grant them Castles as Pledges Postea vero quando dom Rex petit ab iis ut talem cartem ei facerent omnibus c. Sciatis nos astricto esse per sacramentum homagium dom nostro Johanni Regi Anglae de fide ei servanda de vita Membris terreno honore suo contra omnes homines qui vivere possint mori Et ad Jura sua heredum suorum ad regnum suum custodiend defendend ipsi ei facere nollent Et in hujus rei testimonium id ipsum per hoc scriptum protestamur Although he had been so careful and willing to perform the agreement made with them on his part as he directed his Writs unto his Subjects in every County in the words following viz. Rex c. vic Forestar viridar Custodibus Ripariorum omnibus Ballivis suis in eodem Com. saltem Sciatis pacem fâ—â—niam esse reformatam per dei gratiam inter nos Barones liberos homines regni nostri sicut audire poteritis Et inde per Cartam nostram quam inde fieri fecerimus quam etiam legi publice preceperimus per totam Ballivam vestram firmiter tenendi volentes districte praecipientes quod tu vic omnes de Balliva tua secundum formam Cartae praedictae Jurare facias 25 Baronibus de quibus mentio fit in Carta praedicta ad mandatum eorundem vel majoris partis eorum ipsis vel ad quos ad hoc attornaverint per Literas suas patentes Et ad diem locum quos ad hoc faciendum providerint praedicti Barons vel Attornati ab eis ad hoc volumus etiam praecipimus quod 12 Milites de Com. tuo qui eligentur de ipso Com. vestri primo Com. qui tenebatur post susceptione lite rarum istarum in partibus tuis de inquirendis pravas consuetudines tam de vic quam de eorum Ministris Forestis Forestariis Warrennis viridariis eorum Custodibus eis delendis sicut in ipsa Carta continetur vos igitur omnes sicut nos honorem nostrum diligitis pacem regni nostri omnia in Carta contenta inviolabiliter observatis ab omnibus observi faciatis ne pro defectu vestrum aut per excessum nostrum pacem regni nostri quod dominus avertat iterum turbari contingat Et tu vic pacem nostram per totam ballivam tuam proclamari facias firmiter teneri praecipias Et in hujus c. Vobis mittimus Teste me ipso apud Runnimed 190 die lunii Anno regni nostro 17. And a Charter thus gained and forced by Rebels not designed and desired by the King for ought appears and infringed only notwithstanding by the Rebels themselves came after to be so little valued or esteemed to be valid or worthy of a confirmation by any Parliament or approbation of any of our Kings or Princes in their very many Parliaments ever since as that of Magna Charta made in the 9th year of the Raign of King Henry the 3 granting those many Liberties of the people of England hath been 32 times confirmed and that of his Father King John being after in that grand and dire Anathemation in the later end of the Raign of King Henry the third enforced upon him was only read before them unto him and was in that our late Rebellious Parliament by the Agitators in Annis 3 4 Caroli not so much as taken notice of but altogether ecclipsed and silenced as a Charter not deserving a recommendation to posterity King Richard the second Henry the fourth having succeeded and deposed him after his said Deposition was only stiled Chevalier as the Record following will mention Inter Fines levatos tempore Henr. 4 in Com. Not. inter alia sic continetur ut Sequitur Haec est finalis concordia factu in cur Dom. Reg. H. 4. apud Westm. A die sci Martini in quindecim dies An Reg Dom. Regis Angliae Franciae primo coram Willo Thirning Willielmo Rickhill Johanne Markham Willielmo Hankford it being that William Hankford or William Thirning that notwithstanding their own Rebellions could in some of the Reports or year Books of that Kings Raign adventure to say that the Laws were never better administred then at that time Willielmo Brenkslie Justic. Et postea A die Paschae in quindecim dies Anno regni ejusdem Regis Henrici quarto ibidem conces concordat fuit coram eisdem Justic. aliis Domini Regis sidelibus tunc ibi praesentibus inter Thomam Rempson quer Richardum nup. Regen Angliae Chivaler defercient de maneriis de Bingham Clipston O the Hill Juxta plumton cum pertinentiis ac 32. messuag 34. virgat terrae 50. Acr. prati 10 s. Reddit cum pertinentiis in Clipston O the Hill Juxta Plumton Codgrave Kynalton Outhorp Newton 〈…〉 t de advocatione de Bingham unde placitum praedictum scilicet quod praedict Nuper Rex recogn praedict maneria esse Jus ipsius Thomae habend tenendi dicto Thomae haered de corpore suo de dominis feodi illius per servitia quae ad advocationem praedict pertinent in perpetuum c. Et pro hoc Recogn c. Idem Thomas dedit praedicto nuper Regi quingentas martas Argenti After the troubles of which King Henry the fourths usurpation followed the conquest of France by King Henry the 5th his Son and the troublesome raign of King Henry the 6th reviving again the Rebellion of Jack Cade managed for the Interest and by the design of the House and Family of York begun again to wake the long before laid to sleep conservatorship of Liberties which must be saith Mr. Pryn of 12 of the Nobility 6. of the Commons and so from one unto another until the conservatorship of the Liberties of the people came to take its rest in the house and Family of York that was in deed the right heir of the Crown of England and the Kings thereof the Givers and Protectors of the Liberties of the People which King Edward 4. well understood when he told Sir James Strangwaies the Speaker of the House of Commons in Parliament in these words following viz. James Strangwaies and ye that be come from the Commons of this my land for the true hearts and tender consideration they have had to my Right and Title that I and my Ancestors have had to the Crown of this Realm the which from us hath been long withheld and now thanked be almighty God of whose grace growteh all Victory by your true hearts and great assistance I am restored to that that is my Right and Title Wherefore I thank you as heartily as I can and for the tender and true hearts ye have shewed unto me and that ye have tenderly had in Remembrance the correction of
set on fire about his Ears at once that of Ireland incited by his condescensions to that of Scotland and that of England as busy as the worst but gaining more by it when the King had to pacify all given them license by an Act of Parliament to continue in Parliament without adjourning proroguing or dissolving until those great Sums of Money should be satisfied and Ireland quieted which they never intended but hindred and perplexed all they could although he offered to go thither in Person himself which they would not consent unto for fear least he should thereby get Arms and Power into his own hands to frustrate their wicked design which that Republican wicked party durst never offer to Oliver Cromwell the Protector of their supposed Liberties with any the least of those monstrous conditions by them called Priviledges but could tamely suffer him to make his own Instrument of Government alter the Course of Parliament with more or less Members of the House of Commons in Parliament pull out and imprison diverse Members of that House and shut up the Doors constitute a new House of his mechanick and ordinary Commanders instead of a House of Lords after the Republican partty had made such an Act of Parliament as they could that none should have benefit of the Laws who did not take an oath of engagement not to have any more a King or House of Lords And to be disappointed as little as they could possibly in those their intentions made all the hast they could to fire their Beacons of personal Plots and dangers against themselves the great Patriots of the Kingdom and Weal publick as they had done before against Popery and therefore incredible Plots and Conspiracies were discovered by one of their Members who had an especial faculty therein and likewise by others as a Plaister taken from the sore of a man infected therewith and brought by an Incognito in a Letter to Mr. John Pym the Lord Digby seen at Kingston upon Thames with four Horses in a Coach in a warlike manner Horses kept and trained under ground and a dangerous design to blow up the River Thames with Gunpowder whereby to drown the Parliament Houses with many the like ridiculous fopperies to affright the easy to be deluded silly Vulgar and engage them in a Rebellion and were in the mean time to be secured themselves by a guard for which they â—eâ—tioned the King who ordered the Justices of Peace to command the Constables of that division to furnish one but that would not accommodate their purposes nothing would help forward their more than ordinary designs than a guard by the Trained Bands of the City of London by turns which being granted by the King suddenly after the Citizens Wives were so afraid of the danger oâ— the Tower of London as they could not lye dry in their Beds and the Lieutenant of the Tower must be displaced and a more confiding one put in to give them content that never intended to be satisfied Which being done the Pulpits of the Prebyterian Scotized Clergy flaming and the Printing Presses Stationers and Cryers in the Streets as busy in the publishing the Harangues of the House of Commons Members in proclaiming the imaginary grievances and he was a small man at Arms that had made and published no more than one or two such Speeches mean while Protestations were ordered to be made in every Parish of England and Wales to defend the King and the Protestant Religion the King going into London in his Coach hath a Paper thrown into it with a writing thereupon To your Tents O Israel the many Rude â—eople of the adjoyning Hamlets came in droves to the Parliament crying No Bishops and for Justice and as they pass by Whitehall Gate and knock at it desire to speak with the King who sends unto the Students of the Inns of â—ourt with some Captains and Commanders to attend him as a supplemary Guard who came and had a Diet and Table provided for them the Bishops do leave the House of Peers with a protestation patterned with one in 11 R. 2. that they could not sit there in safety for which they were all made Prisoners in the Tower of London but were all afterwards released except Matthew Wren Bishop of Ely who remained there sequestred from his Bishoprick for something more than 13 years without knowing for what cause or crime until his late Majesties happy Restauration Mr. Henry Martin a Member of the House of Commons in Parliament more fearing the Anger of his Mistress than his God or King begins in Parliament to declaim against the King saying that he was not fit to Raign or Govern and moved that all the Regal Ornaments customarily lodged in the Abby of Westminster under the custody of the Dean and Chapter thereof might be seised one Mr. Parker made hast to make himself an Observator of the Rebellious way with dislocated Maximes abused and wrested out of their proper meaning and Interpretations viz. Quod efficit tale est magis tale the King is Major singulis but minor universis salus populi est suprema Lex which although Learnedly answered by the more Loyal Orthodox Party to an ample Conviction that should be could not satisfie or stop the designed Confederacy and Rebellion but the ten Judges of the twelve that gave their Opinions in the case of Mr. Hambden against him concerning the Ship-money for the King were by the Parliaments Order put out of their Offices and Places Justice Berkly one of the Justices of the Court of Kings Bench taken Prisoner as he was sitting by the Usher of the Black Rod attending the House of Peers after which Mr. Denzal Hollis came to the House of Lords and with greater boldness than assurance claimed the Militia and Power of the Sword to appertain of Right to the People and Mr. Pryn writes and Publishes his Book of the Supremaey of Parliaments seconded by Mr. John Whites Book entituled a Politick Chatechism undertaking to prove by our Laws the Resistibility and Forcing the Power of our Kings to be Vested in the People and the Judges were commanded by the Parliament without the King to declare to the People in their Circuits that the Militia is and ought to be in the Parliament as the Representative of the People which was never before done read seen or heard of in England which all the Judges obeyed but my honoured Friend the worthy Sir Thomas Mallet one of the Justices of the Court of Kings Bench who not forgetting his very Ancient and Noble discent plainly and resolutely at every place in his next Circuit declared it in all his Charges to be in Law de Jure Coronae suae in the King and for his so exemplary Loyalty was in the last place of that Circuit by Sir Richard Onslow Knight a Member of the Commons House in Parliament with a Troop of Horse as he was sitting upon the Bench at Kingston upon
and his Government to alienate the affection of his People and to make his Majesty odious unto them 3. That they have endeavoured to draw his Majesties late Army to disobedience to his Command and to side with them in their trayterous designs 4. That they have trayterously invited and incouraged a forreign Prince to invade his Majesties Kingdom of England 5. That they have trayterously endeavoured to subvert the very Rights and being of Parliaments 6. That for the compleating of their traiterous designs they have endeavoured as far as in them lay by Force and Arms to compel the Parliament to joyn with them in their traiterous designs and to that end have actually raised and countenanced Tumults against the King and Parliament 7. That they have traiterously conspired to leavy and actually have leavied War against the King Whereupon the House of Commonsin Parliament the 3d. of January 1641. did Order that if any person should seal up the Trunks or Doors of any Members of their House which in the case of the King for Treason was not certainly within the Virge of their Commission or purpose of their Election either by the King or their Countries or their Indentures or Wages allowed nor the Priviledge of Freedom from Arrest of their persons or goods whilst they are there in his important service they should require the Aid of the Constable who by his Oath of Allegiance was not to do it And in another Declaration of the 7th day of January 1641. Printed and Published which in this Kingdom or any other part of Christendom was never accustomed or allowed to be done were pleased untruly to affirm that the King having sent a Serjeant at Arms to their Speaker to demand the persons aforesaid accused and being denyed came the next day in his Royal Person to demand them with Halberts Swords and Pistols attending without at the Door who if they had been as dreadful as they would make it would have been but necessary lest he might have been Stabbed and Assassinated as Julius Caesar was unguarded in the Roman Senate Did declare that the Arresting of the said Accused Members or any other Members of Parliament by prretence or colour of any Warrant issuing from the King only as if they were assured of a Co-ordination with him is guilty of the Breach of the Liberty of the Subject and of the Priviledge of Parliament and a publick Enemy of the Common wealth and that the Arrestnig of any of the said Members or any other Member without a Legal proceeding against them is declared a publick Enemy of the Commonwealth notwithstanding they did declare that they would noâ— protect any Member that should be prosecuted by the King according to the Law of the Kingdom and the Rights and Priviledges of Parliament for Treason or any other Misdemeanor so as they which never were yet a Judicature or had ever any power to examine a Witness might be the Judges what was the Law or Treason and will be as willing that Justice be done against the Commons as to defend the just Rights and Liberties of the Subjects and Priviledges of the Parliament of England That the Priviledges of the Parliament and Liberties of the Subjects so violated and broken cannot be sufficiently vindicated a punctilio of Honour never before insisted upon by any of the Parliaments or Subjects of England to their Soveraign Kings or Princes without the delivering up unto them the names of those that advised or councelled him thereunto and the coming in his own Person the publishing of the said Articles and Printed Papers inform against the said Members to the end that such persons may receive condign punishment intending very likely to have it only left to their own lately self-erected Soveraignships The County of Buckingham Petitioned for Mr. Hambden and did adventure to say that in their Opinion his Majesties Accusation of him doth oppugne the Rights and Priviledges of Parliament which was according to the Protestation to defend the King and the Church and Commonwealth The House of Commons the 15th of January 1641. examined Sir Edward Herbert the Kings Attorney General upon several Articles concerning the Accusation for Treason against the Lord Kimbolton and the other Members and whether he would undertake or make good the said Articles or any of them if he shall be called before the Lords unto which he answered by my former expression you may discern what answer I cannot make or take to make one Title of them otherwise than as my Master hath informed me and enabled me for of my self I cannot nor will not do more than one that never heard of them Whereupon it was resolved by the House of Commons that the said Attorney General had broken the Priviledge of Parliament in praeferring the said Articles and that a Charge be sent up to the House of Lords in the name of the House of Commons against him to have satisfaction for the great scandal and injury which he hath done to the said Members unless by Thursday next he bring in and make good if he can the said Articles against the said Members or any of them The 4th of March 1641. the King from Royston in his Journey towards York being deterred from his Palace at Whitehall wrote to the Lord Chancellor commanding him to read unto the Lords the Copy of his Charge against the aforesaid Members and nominate a Committee to examine the Evidence thereof and also signified that what his Attorney General had done therein was by his command and according to his Duty But having declared that he found cause wholly to desist from prosecuting the said Members he had commanded him to proceed no further therein nor to produce or discover any proof concerning the same After many Messages and Petitions not to suffer the Queen to go with the Princess of Orange her Daughter into Holland nor to take the Prince into Yorkshire with him many Petitions and pretences to have the Militia put into their hands absolutely to secure them from their own coyned fears and jealousies and a denial of that but for a limited time they having also not failed in desiring strong Towns Castles Forts and Garrisons to be put into their Custody and voted Sir John Hotham one of their Members no Traytor after the King had Proclaimed him a Traytor for his denying him entrance when he Personally demanded it into his strong Fortified Town of Kingston upon Hull and a 2 or 3 Remonstrance over-boldly Printed and Published to Idolize themselves and inflame the silly people and made their Blockades Circumvallations Trenches and Mines about our Monarchy and too many of the deluded people ready to betray and deliver it up or gape at the spoil which might inlarge and better their formerly wicked conditions and appointed Deputy Lieuetnants and Commanders in every County and City took into their hands the Kings Navy with the profit of his Customs and all that they could by fear or fraud get into
Secretaries of State two Chief Justices and Chief Baron not being to be ranked with the Peers may always be chosen by the approbation of both Houses of Parliament the House of Commons being never before accompted equal with the House of Peers in Birth Honour Wisdom Education Alliance or Estate and in the Intervals of Parliament by the Assent of the Major part of the Councel in such manner as was before expressed in the choice of Councellors which in a matter of a much less consequence in the Government of the Kings Houshold was so little endured by the Nobility of England in the 10th year of the Raign of King Richard the 2d as it was adjudged an incroachment upon Regal Authority and high Treason and some great Lords suffered in their Persons and Estates for it and others glad to receive their Pardons for being confederate or Privy thereunto 4. That he or they unto whom the Government or Education of his Children shall be committed shall be approved by both Houses of Parliament and in the Intervals of Parliament by the Major part of his Council in such manner as was before expressed in the choice of Councellors and that all such Servants as are now about them against whom both Houses shall have any just exception shall be removed which before they had disclaimed as Mr. Rushworths Historical Collections Printed and allowed by them not long before had informed us 5. That no Marriage shall be concluded or treated for any of his Children with any Forreign Prince or any Person whatsoever abroad or at home without the consent of the Parliament under the penalty of a Praemunire unto such as shall conclude or treat any Marriage as aforesaid which they had as aforesaid disclaimed and the said penalty shall not be pardoned or dispenced with but by the consent of both Houses of Parliament that lower House never having before or since any power of pardoning or dispensation nor that higher without the Sanction or Authority of their Soveraign 6. That the Laws in force against Jesuits Priests Papists and Recusants be put in execution without any Toleration or Dispensation to the contrary and that a course may be enacted by Authority of Parliament to hinder them from making any disturbance in the State or Law by Trusts or otherwise 7. That the Votes of Popish Lords in the House of Lords may be taken away so long as they continue Papists and that his Majesty would consent to such a Bill as shall be drawn for the Education of Children of Papists by Protestants in the Protestant Religion which was to take away the Priviledge of Barons holding by Tenure without conviction for Treason and of Earls Viscounts Marquesses or Dukes which ever since the beginning of the Raign of King Richard the 2d were by that and all succeeding Kings Letters Patents to have vocem locum sedem in Parliamentis 8. That his Majesty would be pleased to consent that such a Reformation be made of the Church Government and Liturgy as both Houses of Parliament shall advise wherein they do intend to have consultation with Divines as is expressed in their Declaration to that purpose and that his Majesty will continue his best assistance unto them for raising of a sufficient maintenance for Preaching Ministers through the Kingdom when there was no want of the Orthodox more Loyal and better sort and that his Majesty would be pleased to give his consent to Laws for the taking away of Superstitions and Innovations and of pluralities and scandalous Ministers which in their accompt were only of the Church of England and Loyal 9. That his Majesty would be pleased to rest satisfied with the course that the Lords and Commons have appointed for the ordering of the Militia until the same shall be further setled by a Bill and that his Majesty would be pleased to recal his Proclamations and Declarations against the Ordinance made by the Lords and Commons concerning it which was to take away the Tenures the Power of the Sword and defence of his People 10. That the Members of either Houses of Parliament as have during the time of this present Parliament been put out of any Places or Offices may either be restored to their Place or Office or otherwise have satisfaction for the same upon the Petition of that House whereof he or they are Members 11. That all Privy Counsellors and Judges may take their Oath the form thereof to be agreed on and setled by Act of Parliament for the maintaining of the Petition of Right which was in many things more than ever they could claim or ever had or could by Law have any Right unto and of certain Statutes made by this Parliament which shall be mentioned by both Houses of Parliament as if they were in all Duty and Loyalty bound to make him a glorious King thought they could never have unking'd him enough and brought him to their murdering ever to be abhorred Tribunal and that an inquiry of all the Breaches and Violations of all those Laws may be given in charge by the Justices of the Kings Bench and by the Justices of Assize in their Circuits and Justices of the Peace at their Sessions to be presented and punished according to Law 12. That all the Judges and Officers placed by approbation of both Houses of Parliament may hold their places quam diu se bene gesserint 13. That the Justice of Parliament may pass upon all Delinquents whether they be within the Kingdom or fled out of it And that all persons cited by either House of Parliament may appear and abide the sentence of Parliament 14. That the general Pardon offered by his Majesty may be granted with such Exceptions as shall be advised by both Houses of Parliament 15. That the Forts and Castles of this Kingdom may be put under the Command and Custody of such persons as his Majesty shall appoint with the approbation of his Parliament and in the Intervals of Parliament with the Major part of the Council in such manner as is before expressed in the choice of Councellors 16. That the extraordinary Guards and Military Forces attending his Majesty may be removed and discharged and that for the future he will raise no such Guards or extraordinary Forces but according to the Law in case of Actual Rebellion or Invasion an Imposition and Vassalage was never put upon any thing that was like a King in Christendom for the Kings of Scotland whilst seperate from England and did homage to our Kings had when there was cause enough of fear and jealousie as now there was none no such unkingly Vassalage put upon him King David had 24000 men for his Guard who every Month came up to Jerusalem and our Saxon King Alured had his Guards by monthly courses 17. That his Majesty would be pleased to enter into a more strict Alliance with the States of the united Provinces and States of the Protestant Religion for the defence and
Lindenbroâ—ius in legibus eorum Hinckmarus in Epist. Du Fresne 1 Tom. 487. Selden tit honor 621. 622 623 624 625. LL Canuti Schwederus Part 2. S. 2. p. 838. Du Fresne Glossar ' 491. Cassanaeus in catalog glor ' mundi 8 parte S. 15. Tiraquel de mobilitate Virgilius Aened 5. L'Oyseau traite des Seignenries Ca. 66. Idem ibidem Ca. 1. and 6. 1 Eliz. ca. 1. Oath of Supremacy Oath of Alegiance Marculfi formulae in praefat Marculfi Lib. 1. Ca. 25. Bugnonii notae in Marculfum 510. 511 512 513 514 515 516. Idem Ibidem 586. 587. Selden tit honor 708. in dors claus 6. Johannis m. 3. Ro. claus 6. Johannis m. 2. in dorso Dors. claus 28. H. 3. m. 13. Elsings ancient and modern manner of holding Parliaments in England 7. and 9. ' Et in dors â—0 claus 49. H. 3. in sched 〈◊〉 Paris 41. 〈◊〉 P. 12â—3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—oâ—or 716. 719. dors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 23. E. 〈◊〉 dors 〈◊〉 5◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. 〈◊〉 6. E 〈…〉 〈◊〉 and present manner of holding Parliamentâ— Câ— 2. P. 22. 23 and 24. Ordericus Vitalis hist. Ecclesiast lib. 4. p. 523. b. Selden tit honor 692. 693. Spelmans Glossar ' 452. Cambden Brit. 122. Seiden tit honor 713. Selden tit honor 713. Mathew Paris 81. edict London Du Fresne in â—erbo Pares L'Oiseau tralte deâ— Seigneuries cap. 5. p. 100. Mat. Paris Favin in his Theatre of honour 181. Du Fresne in verbo Pares Idem Tom. 3. â—â—3 Sir Richard Bakers Chronicle Numbers 11. Joshua 23. Jeremiah 26. Bodin Besoldus de Comitibus imperii 117. Arumaeus de Comitiis 7 223. Pasquier dec Recherches li. 2. 72. 74 76. Livy Fenestella alii Romanae gentis Scriptores Sext. 6. p. 43. 32. H. 81. Seldans Mâ— Seldans Mâ— Livy Ro. Claus. 15. Jo. parte 2 m. 7. in dorso not parte 1. as in Seldan or his Printer hath misquoted it Daniel in the Life of King Joh. 136 137. Matt. Paris â—34 Spelmans Glossar Ro. Claus. 1. H. 3. m. 9. in dorso Sam. Daniel 167. Claus. 38. H. 3. m. 14. dors Claus. 38. H 3. m. 13. Shedula Ro. Marist Coke 1. institutes tit Escuage Sect. 102. Statute Quia Emptores terrâ—rum 18. E. 1. cap. 1. Mat. Paris 233. 234. Walsingham Hist. Angli E. 1. 69. Bracton Li. 1. de legibus conscietudinibus Anglica Bracton lib. 2 de aâ—quirendo Dominâ— ca. 16. sect 3. Coke 4th part institutes Seldens tit honr Bracton Spelmans glos in verbu Comes Pancirodo de utrisque imperiis Oâ—dericus vitalis Lib. 13. Tacitus Hist. Lib. 2. Ordericus vitalis Hoveden alii histor Angliae passim frequenter Selden tit honor cap. 1. 3. sect 5. L. L. Edwardi Confessor 12. Seldens tit of honor Bracton in proamio Bracton Lib. 2. de acquirendo Domino cap. 16. sect 3. Lib. 1. Ca. 2. sect 7. Lib. 1. ca. 2. dererum divisione sect 8. Lib. 2. de acquirendo Dominio cap. 24. sect 1. Bracton Lib. 5. cap. 8. Stamford grants of the Kings 41. Bracton Lib. 5. de defaltis cap. 3. Baronius Annalls ad An. 315. 12. 13. 14. 15. Virgills Aeneids Spelman glos in Verbo Magister Dugdales Origenes Juridiciales Seldens notes upon Hengham 239. Ro. Pat. 51. H. 3. in dorso Seldens dissertatio ad Fletam Epilogo Li. 2. de vite Aelfredi Regis Script per Johannem Spel-Kenrici Spelmani filium Hoveden parte posteriore 375. idem 451. parte posteriore Seldens tit honor 632 633. 634. Paulus Screrbic promptuar Statut Poloniae 171. Spelmanni glossar in vocibus Curia Curtis Aelfredi magni Anglorum Regis vita per Johannem Spelman Equit 〈…〉 rat Henrici f. Lib. 2. 121. sect 10. 11. 12. Asser Menevensis in Aelfredi Regis Seldens tit honor 628. Mat. Paris Thomas Walsingham 25. Ed. 3. ca. 2. Leland in assertione Arthuri 2 Reg. ca. 5. Feltman de Feudis sect 45. p. 146. 148. Littletons tenures 1. cap. Iudic. 2. 6. 7. Act of Oblivion Generall Pardon granted by his Majesty after his Happy Restauration Lindenbrogius Câ—kes 1 part institutes Comment snr Littleton ca 4. sect 101. 102. In fine L L. Edwards Regis in Praefatione L. L. Edwardi Confessioris Ordericus Vitalis degestis Gulielmi Conquestoris Sr Roger Twisdon in his Preface to William the Conqueror's Laws L. L. Gulielmi Conquestoris Boemus demosibus Gentium Decreta leges Gulielmi Conquestoris emendationes Quas posuit in Anglia quae olim vocabatur Britannia Sir Edward Coke in procmio of his Institutes or Comment upon Littletons Tenures Sr Robert Cottons Collections M. S. Sr Rog. Twisden in praefatione ad leges Gulielmi Conquestoris Henrici 1. filii ejus Gervasuis Tilburiensis Ro. claus 12. H. 3. m. 2. in dorso Sam. Daniel Hist of Edward the 1. in ro clause pate E. 1. 7. E. 1. 3. E. 3. Ro. Clause 8. E. 3. m. 17. in dorso 11. H. 7. ca. 1. 19. H. 7. Aurelius Townsend proceedings in Parliament in some of the last Years of Râ—ign of Qu. Elizabeâ—h Case of Ship-Money argued in the Exohequer Chamber Ro. Clause H. 3. L. L. In. 15. 16. Littleton tit Fealty sect 92. 93. Feltman â—rac de Feudis sect 2. Calvin's Case Cokes 7 Relat. and Lord Chancellor Ellesmeres argument upon the Postnati Reports and Register of Writs Archives Records 3 Car. primi Fabian Philipps the mistaken recompence given to the King for the release of his Tenures in Capite and Knights-Service and Pourveyance P. 49. and 50. Fabian Philips Tenenda non Tollenda Sir Francis Bacon's Ire to the Duke of Buckingham Baldus in proem feudorum in consult 274. lib 3. Cynus in l. si viva matre de bonis matris Bodin de repub lib. 1. Beseldus dissert politis Juridic de Juribus Majestatis ca. 9. Aelianus Hist. variaâ— lib. 1. Brissonius de Regno Persiae lib. 〈◊〉 17. E. 2. Littleton tit Homage Spelman glos tit homagium Bracton lib. 2. cap. 35. num 8. Spelman gloss tit homagium Spelman gloss tit fidelitas 1 Jac. ca. 26. 〈◊〉 Claus. H. 3. Spelman's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sr Henry Spelman of the Laws Terms c. Cornelius Neostadius in tract de Origine Feudi Hollandici Frisici accordat Origine Neostadius in suo Epist. dedicat Seldens tit honor Sr John Fernes glory of Generosity sect 110. 111. 117. 118. 119. Livy Bracton de Essâ—cits ca. 10. sect 1. Seldens tit Honor. ca. 5. sect 831. Sir John Fernes glory of Generosity 107. Bond 's Sermon to the House of Commons in Parliament Sir John Fernes glory of Generosity Sigonius de antiquo Jure Provinciarum Littletons tenures Cokes Comments thereupon Spelmans glos tit Laudes Livy Selden's notes upon Fortescuâ— Fleta lib. 3. ca. 6. sect 3. Scldeni dissertatio ad Fletam ca. 10. p. 249. Choppinus de antiquo Dominio â—egum Francia Fleta lib. 1. ca. 42. P. 93. Fleâ—a lib. 3. ca. 6. sect 2.
3. n. 36. 50. and 59. Ro. Parl. 22. E. 3. n. 13. Ro. Parl. 25. E. 3. n. 37. Ro. Parl. 21. E. 3. n. 21. Ro. Parl. 13. E. 3. n. 〈◊〉 Ro. Parl. 37. E. 3. n. 33. Ro. Parl. 45. E. 3. n. 29. Ro. Parl. 50. E. 3. n. 123. Ro. Parl. 51. E. 3. n 22 23. Ro. Parl. 11. H. 4. n. 28. Ro. Parl. 11. H. 4. n. 63. Ro. Parl. 15. E. 3. n. 114. 40. Ro. Parl. 21. E. 3 n. 8. 〈◊〉 9 E. 3. Ro. Parl. E. 3. Ro. Claus. 5 E. 3. m. 2. indors Ro. Parl. 21. E. 3. n. 13. Ro. Parl. 21. E. 3. n. 47. Ro. Parl. 22. E. 3. n. 20. and 21. Ro Parl. 4â— E 3. n 24 25. Ro. Parl. 18. E. 3. in dors n. 49. Ro. Parl. 4. H. 4. n. 95. Ro. Parl. 5. H. 4. n. 22. Ro. Claus. 12. E. 2. m. 5. Ro. Parl. 18. E. 3. Ro. Parl. 2. H. 4. n. 48. Ro. Parl. 25. E. 3. m. Ro. Parl. 37. E. 3. m. 34. cap. 16. Ro. Parl. 41. E. 3. 51. E. 3. m. 5. 1. R. 2. Pryns fourth part of Parliament Writs 508. 510. 512. 513. ibid. 329 330 490 491 Ro. Parl. 1 R. 2. Re 〈…〉 of Writs and Pryns fourth part of Parliament Writs 431 432. 52 H. 3. c. 10. Considerations touching Laws positive and of necessity Martinius Budaeus Ro. Pat. 12. R. 2. parte 2. in dorso Pryns Animadversions upon Cokes 4 Institutes 332 333 643 647 1199 1200. Cromptons Jurisdiction of Parliament Marsellaer de Legatis Camdens Annals of Queen Elizabeth Tempore H. 4. Selden tit honor Cromptons Jurisdiction of Courts tit Parliament Cokes twelve Reports in the Countess of Shrewsbury's Case Ob Countess of Ri in his 6th Report Ro. Parl. 13. E. 3. Cooks fourth part of Institutes tit Parl. Ll. Canuti Ll. Edwardi Co 〈…〉 or p. 19. Ll. H. 1. Rot. Claus. 5. E. 2. in dorso 〈◊〉 15 Mat. Paris Ro. Claus. 16. H 3 m 4. 3. Ro Patent 17 H 〈◊〉 m 11. 〈◊〉 Ro. Claus. 35 H 3 n. 6. â—at Paris Rot. pat 50. E. 3. Rot. pat 51. E. 3. Rot. Claus. 51. E. 3. Rot. pat 1 H. 4. Rot. pat 15. E. 3. Rot. pat 5. H. 4. Rot. pat 9. H. 4. Rot. pat 38. H. 6. Exect Collection of Remonstrances Declarations and Messages betwixt his late Majesty and the Parliament Printed by Order of the Commons in Parliament 24. March 1642. Ll. Caruti Rot. Parl. 21 R. 2. Pryns 4 part of his Register of Parliament Writs Pryns Animad upon Cokes 4 Instit. Rot. Parl. Cokes Institutes Cokes 4 part of the Institutes Tit. Parliament Rot. parl 7 E. 1. Ll. Canuti 16 Ll. Inae 6. 1 H. 4. cap. 14. Rot. Parl. 28. H. 6. n. 16 17. Rot Parl. 5. E. 3. n. 8. 22 R. 2. In the Abridgment of the Parliament Records in English said to be done by Sir Robert Cotton Rot. Parl. 1 H. 4. n. 109. 111. Rot. Parl. 5 E. 3. n. 17. Rot. Parl. 4. E. 3. n. 16. Rot Parl. 5. E. 3. Rot. parl at R. 2. Esther ca. 1 3 5 8. 1 Reg. 3. Bracton Cokes Instit. 2. 315. Tenenda non Tollenda per Fabian Philipps Miscalled Recompence per eundem Ligeancia Lugens pereundem Mr. Francis Moores Reports Richards Case 764. F. de Admin Cod. de pre imposs Cit. de Legibus different Reinoldus Curicke de privilegiis ca. 3 45. 46. ca. 4 52. 53. R. de Caricke ca privilegiis Dr. Brady in his History of England from the first Entry of the Romans until the Raign of King Henry the third and Lambart L L. Edwardi Confessor 12. Esiber cap. 1. 3. 5. 8. 8. H. 6. Elsings anuncient and modern manner of holding Parliaments in Ergland 172. 39 H. 6. 31 H. 6. Ro. Parl. Cokes 4th part Institutes tit Parliament 39 H. 6. n. 9. 12 E. 4. n. 55. 17 E. 4. Anno 28. 29. H. 8. §. 18. 34 H. 8. Comptons Jurisdiction of Courts Tit. Parliament 8 Eliz. in the Journal of the House of Commons Et Elsings Annaent and modern manner of holding Parliaments in England 199 200 201. Pryns Animadversions upon Sir Edward Cokes 4th part of the Institutes Brodon de Legibus Consuetudinibus Angliae 34 E. 1. cap. 1. Cap. 5. Sir John Davies concerning the Kings Customs and the Statute de Tallagio non concedendo Rot. Parl. 21 E. 3. Eginard en la vie de Charlemaigne 25 E. 1 ca. 4. Eginard en la vie de Charlemaine 1 R. 3. ca. 2. 3 Car. p 〈…〉 i. Perot Scalig. lib. 4. Poetic Donatuc D. lib. tit 1. 4. and in Instit. lib. 1. tit 5. L. F. de Statum bom § 1. Lib. 〈◊〉 tit 17. Leg. 4. F. de usu fruct peâ— l. 4. Seneca Mâ—â—tiâ—ii Lexicon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Du Frâ—sâ—â— Gibieâ—â— de Libertate Dei Creaturae Reynoldus Curick de Privilegiis p. 22. Iudem cap. 4. p. 52. 53. â—1 24 H. 8. ca. 10. Sir John Spelman in vita Aelferdi Regis Et Mat. Paris L. L. Canuti 9 H. 3. ca. 11. Ro. Parl. 18 E. 3. Ro. Parl. 20 E. 3. Ro. Parl. 21 E. 3. Ro. Parl 22 E. 3. Ro. Parl. 8 E. 3. Ro. Parl. 15 E. 3. Ro. Parl. 17 E. 3. Ro. Parl. 25 E. 3. Ro. Parl. 45 E. 3. 1 Reg. ca. 3. v. 6 8 9. L. L. Canuti Ro. Claus. Johannis Selden dissert ad Fletam Fleta ca. 13. 18 E. 3. L. L. Canuti 16. Pryns Collection of the Ancient Parliaments Seldeni notae in histor Eadmeri Sir John Spelman in viea â—â—redi Regis A â—ales Eginard 〈…〉 〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A 〈…〉 〈◊〉 p 〈…〉 765. 736. 64. Ro. Parl. 4. E 3. Pryns Collection of the Ancient Parliaments 9 H. 2. Daniel in the Life of King H. 2. 20 H. 2. 33 H. 2. Daniel ibidem 110. Walsingham Ypodigm Neustriae Hovedon parte posteriore Mat. Paris 247. Mat. Paris Daniel in the Life of King Henry 3. Mat. Paris 5 E. 2. 〈◊〉 17. Ro. Claus. dors 18 E. 2. Ro. Claus. in dors m. 15. Exodus ca. 12 ca. 19. Ibidem ca. 18. Elsings Ancient and Present manner of holding Parliaments in England 4. E. 3. ca. 19. 36 E. 3. ca. 10. Ro. Parl. 50. E. 3. 1 R. 2. 6 E. 3. 13 E. 3. 20 E. 3. 21 E. 3. 25 E. 3. 〈◊〉 E. 3. 〈◊〉 E. 3. 〈◊〉 E. 3. R. 2. H. 4. H. 5. H. 6. E. 4. R. 3. H. 7. H. 8. E. 6. Mar. Eliz. Jac. Car. 1. Exact Collection of Proceedings in the Parliament from the 3d. of November 1640. until the Moneth of June 1641 16 Car. 1. Spelmanni Glossar Du Fresne Glossar 52 H. 3. ca. 10 Cokes 4th part Institutes Walsingham Hypodigma Neustriae in vita E. 1. Ro. Parl. C 〈…〉 s 3d part Institutes 19 R. 2. Aitzema's Re volutions of the United Provinces Mr. William Pryn. Cokes 4th part Institutes Walsingham Hist. E. 2. p. 97. Walsingham in Histor. E. 1. 71. Cromptons Jurisdiction of Courts tit Parliament The Kings Answer to the Parliament 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 Col 〈…〉 tions Pryns Preface to the exact of the â—ecord in the Cromptons Jurisdictions of Courts and Cokes 4 Institutes Republick of Venice Seldens Titles of Honour Ro. Parl. 6. E. 3. 8. E. 3. Dr. Brady in his History of England from the Roman British Saxon Danish and Norman times until 49 H. 3. 14 E. 3. Ro. Parl. 15. E. 3. 4 R. 2. H. 4. 9. H 4. Ro. Parl. 5. H. 5. 1 H. 6. 4 H. 6. 6 H. 6. 9 H. 6. 11 H. 6. 18 H. 6. 24 H. 6. 25 H. 6. 28 H. 6. 29 H. 6. 33 H. 6. 38 H. 6. 1 E. 4 E. 4. 14 E. 4. 15 E. 3. 17 E. 3. Ro. Parl. 20. E. 3. Ro. Parl. 40. E. 3. n. 16. 42 E. 3 n. 7. 8. Ro. Parl. 4. R. 2. Ro. Parl. 6. R. 2. Chroms Litchfield L. L. Edward Confessors Rushworths Historical Collections or Pryns confuted modus 〈◊〉 Parliament Selden tit honor part 2. pag. 613. Pryns confutation of that 〈…〉 dus p. 601. Heywoâ—d Townâ—send Reports of the four last years of Queen Elizabeths Raign Ro. Parl. 11 H. 6. Ro. Parl. 11. 12 H. 6. m. 11. Declaratio Ordinum Hollandie West-Frisiâ— Printed at Leyden 1655. Spelman Glossar Dr. Brady in his History of those times Pryns confutation of the fabulous modus tenendi Parliamentum in his brief Register of Parliament Writs L. L. Edwardi Confessor Dr. Brady's compleat History of England until the end of the Raign of King Henry the third p. 594. 610. Livy Tacitus in vita Agricolae L. L. Aluredi L. L. Edwardi Regis Dr. Brady's History of England p. 610. 611. Ro. Parl. 11 R. 2. Rushworths Historical Collections Reynoldus Curick Du Fresne glossar Gibieuf de libertate dei Creatur Ro. Parl. Dr. Brady's History of England Quadilogus Plutarch in vâ—â—a Solonis Petrus Cunaeus de Republica H 〈…〉 m LL. Athelstani Dr. Brady's History of England Seldens tit Honor Mat. Paris Dr. Bradys History of England p. 457. Ro. pat 17. Johann m. 20. dors Ro. pat 17. Johannis m. 23. in Dors. Pryns 4th part of the Register of Parliamentary Writs Ro. Parl. 1 E. 4. Petition of the Lords and Commons to his Majesty at Hampton Court 14th of December 1641. Petition to the House of Commons Husbands Collections of Proceedings in Parliament Pryns Soveraignty of Parliaments John Whites Politick Catechism Henr. de Bracton in proâ—â—io 7 E. 1. The 19 Propositions sent unto the King the 2d of June 1642. Rushworths Historical Collections Genesis ca. 41. v. 43. Esther ca. 6. v. 8 9. Copy of the Bill of Exclusion in the paper seized in the Earl of Shaftsbury's Closet in Anno 1681. Animadversions on a Book called the Theory of the Earth Dr. Brady in the History of King Henry the third Hookers Ecclesiastical Policy Isaack Walton in vita â—jasdem Mat. Paris LL. Edwardi Confessor Chronicon Lâ—â—â—â—fâ—ildeâ—s Custumâ—s de Bâ—â—taigne â—n Fâ—â—ncep 136. 137. 8â— 138.
University or constitute and set up another at Northampton a Writ was as followeth sent in the Name of the King to the Mayor and Citizens of Northampton to prohibit it viz. Rex Majori Civibus suis Northampton ' salutem Cùm occasione cujusdam magnae Contentionis in villa Cantabr ' triennio jam elapso subortae nonnulli Clericorum tunc ibidem studentium unanimiter ab ipsâ villa recessissent se usque ad villam vestrum praedictani Northamp ' transferentes ibidem studiis inherendo novam construere Universitatem cupientes Nos illo tempore credentes Villam illam ex hoc posse meliorari Nobis utilitatem non modicam inde provenire votis dictorum Clericorum ad eorum requisitionem annuebamus in hac parte nunc autem ex relatu multorum fide dignorum veracitèr intellexerimus quòd ex hujusmodi Universitate si permaneret ibidem municipium nostrum Oxoniae quod ab antiquo creatum est à Progenitoribus Nostris Regibus Angliae confirmatum ac ad commoditatem Studentium communitèr approbatum non mediocritèr lederetur quod nulla ratione vellemus the rather probably for that Symon Montfort and his Partners had but a little before tasted of the seduced Friendship of that University when many of its Students under a Banner of their own came to the Seige of Northampton and Fought stoutly for them against their King maximè cum universis Episcopis terrae nostrae ad honorem Dei utilitatem Ecclesiae Anglicanae proficui Studentium videatur expedire quòd Universitas amoveatur à Villa praedicta sicut per Literas suas patentes accepimus vobis de consilio Magnatum nostrorum firmitèr inhlbemus nè in villâ vestrâ de coetero aliquam Universitatem esse nec aliquos Studentes ibidem manere permittatis alitèr quà m antè Creationem dictae Universitatis fieri consuevit Teste Rege apud Westm ' primo die Febr ' The 8 th day of that February Urianus de Sancto Petro and others of the County of Chester submitting themselves ad pacem of the King as they were willing to have that Rebellion called they did in the King's Name give order for a Restitution of his Lands and a Protection for the future in these Words viz. Rex Rogero de Lovetot salutem Cùm Urianus de Sancto Petro sicut alii de Comitatu Cestriae ad Pacem Nostram venerit per quod de consilio Magnatum nostrorum qui sunt de Consilio Nostro ipsum omnes terras tenementa sua in protectionem defensionem Nostram suscepimus jam de Consilio Nostro praedicto sit provisum quòd omnes terrae tenementa ipsius Uriani occasione turbationis in Regno Nostro uuper habitae per quoscunque occupata sibi restituantur ac vos terras tenementa praedicti Uriani in Comitatu Hunted ' occupaveritis ea detineatis occupata occasione turbationis praedictae ut accepimus vobis de Consilio nostro praedicto mandamus in fide homagio quibus Nobis tenemini firmitèr injungentes quòd omnes terras tenementa praedicta per vos vestros sic occupata sine dilatione restituatis eidem hoc nullatenùs omittatis Teste Rege apud Westmonasterium 8 o die Februarii The Fifteenth day of the same Month and Year reciting That the King had caused two of the discreetest Knights of every County of England to be at his Parliament as the Barons that kept him Prisoner were desirous to Style it ad tractandum with the King and his Council de liberatione Edwardi filii Nostri c. And being informed that two Knights for the County of York had tarried long not much above three weeks been at great Expences and paid great Loans and Taxes towards the defence of the Kingdom and Maritime parts against the Invasion of Alien Enemies the men that they so called being only the King's French subjects they did in the King's Name command That the said two Knights of that County de consilio by the Advice and Ayd of four Knights of the said County should Leavy the said Knights expences in their coming to that so called Parliament tarrying and return which was either but a few dayes before ended if it did either sit or do any thing at all in such a time of publick and general Distraction with a proviso and under a condition that the Commonalty should not be Ultrà modum oppressed thereby in words ensuing Rex Vicecomiti Eborum salutem Cùm nuper vocari secerimus duos de discretioribus Militibus singulorum Comitatuum nostrorum Angliae quòd essent ad Nos in Parliamento nostro apud London in Octabis Sancti Hillarii proximò praeteritis ad tractandum Nobiscum cùm Consilio Nostro super deliberatione Edwardi filii nostri karissimi securitate inde faciendâ nec non aliis arduis Regni Nostri negotiis ac iidem Milites moram diuturniorem quà m credebant traxerint ibidem propter quod non modicas fecerint expensas cùmque Communitates dictorum Comitatuum varias hoc anno fecerint praestationes ad defensionem Regni Nostri maximè partium maritimarum contrà hostilem adventum Alienigenarum per quod aliquantulum se minimum sentiunt gravatas tibi praecipimus quod duobus Militibus qui pro Communitate dicti Comitatûs praefato Parliamento interfuerunt de consilio quatuor legalium Militum ejusdem Comitatus rationabiles expensas suas in veniendo ad dictum Parliamentum ibidem morando inde ad partes suas redeundo provideri eas de eadem communitate levari facias Provisò quòd ipsa Communitas occasione praestationis istius ultrà modum non gravetur T. R. apud Westm ' 15 o die Februarii Which may warrant a Belief that either no other came or that new-invented kind of Parliament did not at all Sit there being upon diligent search of all the Records of that greatlytroubled Year none other to be found of that nature Wherein though no care was taken of other Countyes or of any the very many Burgesses of that County or of any other County intended to have been sent to that newly and first-of-all devised kind or manner of an English great Council or Parliament it appears to have been the first and only Writ for Parliament-men or Members of the House of Commons in Parliament that had or did bear any Resemblance with that allowance of Wages to any Members of Parliament in the House of Commons howsoever much different after a long interval of Time used for Wages allowed for Parliament-Members of the House of Commons King Henry the Third having never after his Release from that Imprisonment allowed any The 16 th day of the same Month of February in the Year aforesaid Gilbert de Clare Earl of Gloucester and Hertford absenting himself from the Army upon some Discontent in a Dislike
evil Doings marching and maintaining their Army from place to place Ungarrisoning and Garrisoning divers of the King's Castles and Places of strength together with the no small Charges of their disloyal Contrivances Envoys and Ambassadours to their good Friends the King of France and the Pope Their great Necessities appearing very demonstrable in their harshly pressing the Bishops for some Arreares of the Clergy Tenths Seizing and Sequestration of the Rents and Estates as much as they could come at of the Loyal Party to the pretended Use of the King taking away the Tax and Tallage of the Judaism or Banks of the Jews the then besides the Caursini the Popes Bankers or Brokers only Usurers of the Kingdom which had been assigned to the Prince not omitting the getting into their hands the Tolls and Profits of the Markets and Fairs appertaining to his Mannor of Stamford who untill the very instant of his Escape from the Castle of Hereford where he had long lain a quiet Prisoner under their Persecution had enjoyed them All or but some of which might have given them a Temptation and Opportunity if they had had the mind or least Inclination to it to have taken those few Commons that were with them into their Association and moulded them into a neverbefore-used Form or Figure of a Parliament ever since so mistakenly called or Constitution of a third Estate and House of Commons therein when anciently and long before our Kings great Councels or Parliaments consisted only of such Lords Spiritual and Temporal as they should please to advise withal and those Commons which they had with them do not appear to have made any Act of Parliament or Ordinance for the raising of Money to support the charges of their Rebellion But that part of the Baronage appeared to have been so unwilling to take them into their Company or give them any occasion to contemn or lift themselves above their former condition as when in the Difficulties with which they wrestled upon the Prince's denying his Consent ever to have been given to a supposed Ordinance then lately as they would have as many as they could make believe it to have been made at London by the Prelates and Barons by the unanimous Assent of the King and his Son the Prince totius Communitatis Regni concerning the setling of Peace in the Kingdom the freeing of the Prince from his Imprisonment and the Discharge of the ill Opinion which many of the People had of their Actions they were constrained to send Writs in the King's Name the 12 th of June in the same year of that imprisoned King dated at Hereford unto the Bishops of London Winchester Ely Salisbury Chester Coventry and Lichfeild Bath and Wells and the rest of the Prelates who may then be understood to have been absent to come omni festinatione to advise with him at Gloucester to assist him with their Councels and be a Means to take off those Rumours which had been raised that by the Testimony of the King himself and the rest of the Prelats the Truth might appear that it was not the King himself but the Rebels as whilest he was in their Power he was made to stile his Son the Prince and his Loyal Party But none of the Commons before summoned or designed to have been summoned had any new Writs sent unto them for that purpose to meet at Gloucester which would have been very necessary if they could have born any Testimony to that supposed Ordinance which is not in any of the Records of that year or any other year those monumenta vetustatis veritatis to be seen or if they had had any Vote in that imaginary Parliament it would not have been said in that King 's Writ dated at Westminster the first day of February in the year aforesaid and in the Close Rolls of that year That although upon some Discords arising amongst the Scholars in the University of Cambridge the King had given leave that there might be an University established at Northampton yet being informed by all the Bishops of the Kingdom that it would greatly inconvenience the University of Oxford he did de concilio magnatum strictly forbid it But if there had been any Proceedings upon those Writs for the Election of Members to constitute an House of Commons for that or any long time expended in the duration thereof few of whom either came or were willing or dared to be present at that new-fancied Parliament which could not be believed to have had any Duration or long Continuance if it had at all gained a lawful beginning or could have overcome those many Obstructions which lay before them those two Knights of the Shire sent out of Yorkshire who had obtained a Writ for their Wages or Charges in coming tarrying or returning and were possibly gone homeward or shortly going would not have made such hast to be gone It being alwayes to be remembred that although King Edward the First had so subdued Wales as to make them obedient unto such Laws as he would have them obey yet King Henry the Eighth was the first that removed the Barr and accustomed distances and Enmities that had long continued between the English and the Welsh when in the 27 th year of His Reign he did incorporate his Dominion of Wales with his Kingdom of England and ordained that All that were born or to be born in Wales should enjoy the Laws of the Realm which and no other be willed should be used in Wales and that two Knights should be chosen to be Knights as Members in the House of Commons in Parliament for the County and one Burgess for the Town of Monmouth Knights and Burgesses shall be chosen in every Shire and Borough of Wales to come unto the Parliament and have the allowance of Wages as others used to have and there should be two Knights for the County of Chester chosen and two Burgesses for the City to be Members of the House of Commons in Parliament Which rendred it to be not only improbable but impossible that any Knights or Burgesses for Wales and the Counties of Chester and Monmouth and the Boroughs thereof in that so New-created Parliament of Symon de Montfort's own framing in Anno 49 of King Henry the Third or in any other Parliaments better authorized until the aforesaid Reign of King Henry the Eighth And it is also remarkable and to be observed that the County Palatine of Durham and the Borough of Newark in the County of Nottingham had no Authority to send Burgesses to Parliament neither did untill His now Majesties Happy Restauration Or if that so would be called Parliament could by any stretch of Fancy have been supposed to have been itinerant with the Army it could never come up to any Probability that that King so governed against his Will by it would the fourth day of June by his Writ dated at Hereford directed to the Mayor and Bayliffs of Bristol have
conservandas quidem statim quid inventum fuit quod valdè cum Feudo convenit Genes ' 14. 4. 2. paralip 36. 13. Jerem. 52. 3. Xenophon Cyropaid ' l. 2. pr ' Nec tamen Feudum fuit sed Clientela res apud Turcas hodiè notissima qui non alio modo multos Reges principes sibi nexos cogunt de Germanorum moribus Predidit Tacitus lib. 1. 14. Quod principem defendere tueri praecipuum Comitum fuerit saramentum Et hi Exigunt principis sui liberalitate illum bellatorem Equum illam Cruentam victricemque frameant Feudum vetus feudum novum Vetus quod ab abscondentium aliquo Novum quod ipse ab aliquo adquisivit Caesar intelligitur apud Germanos in hoc feudo semper Exceptus 2. F. 56. apud Gallos Rex in Ligio pater non exceptus quia id datur ab eo qui Superiorem non agnoscit cui si insidiatur vasalli pater Domino subiectus crimen perduellionis Principibus comittit Vasallus Domino Reverentiam Honorem debet ejusque Commodo augere atque damna infecta avertere obligatus est In Feuda Concedendis Ordo hominum non attenditur nam Superiores ab inferioribus Feuda accipiunt Et per vicariam personam Insiurandum accipiunt inter politicos Caesar Reges Feuda dare possunt Duces Marchiones Principes Comites Barones Feuda dare possunt etiamsi Caesari aut Regi subjecti sunt Maiora sunt autem Regalia quae ad statum reipubl ' administrationem nec non summi Principis decus pertinent and à Cicerone are said to be Iura Majestatis à Livio Jura Imperij sunt autem majora Regalia Leges condere easque si dubia sint Interpretari Lib. 8. Sect. 1. C. Duces Principes Comites Barones Equites Nobiles Creare l. 5. de Dignat ' facere Notarios Doctores Comites Palatinos Spurios facere Legitimos Novel 89. 9. veniam oetatis indulgere constituere summum tribunal Justitiae à quo appellari non potest Jus vitae necis pardonare Jus Civitatis dare Monetam cudere plenissimam Tuitionem tribuere quam Sauvegard dicunt instituere Cursores publicos qui Celeriter dispositis Equis Epistolas ferunt nunc Postas vocant Bellum indicere Pacem cum hoste foedus cum Exteris pangere Academias vel Vniversitatem literarum condere Legatos mittere ad alios principes Magistratus creare eosque confirmare Jurisdictionem atque Imperium tà m merum quà m mixtum dare Comitia universorum Imperij aut reipub ' ordinum Indicere l. 1. pr ' F. Religionis Orthodoxae tuitio Concilia Synodos cogere Ecclesiae Ministros Instituere confirmare malè viventes removere indicere â—â—rias Habent etiam Regalia Minera quae sunt Commoda quae ex rebus publicis ratione Imperij capiuntur Armandia id est Potestas fabricandi arma armamentariorum cogendi viae publicae cum ratione Tuitionis contra Latrones tum ratione Refectionis tum ratione Jurisdictionis tum quoque ejus quod in illis nascitur Flumina publica navigabilia ex quibus fiunt navigabilia modo quo viae publicae ad regalia pertinent Portus vel Vectigal quod pro Ingressu in portum aut portus transitu pendunt Ripatica sive vectigalia pro riparum earumque munitione vectigalia quae hodiè Tollen Conveyen Licenten dicuntur quae praestantur pro mercibus exportandis importandis bona vacantia bona damnatorum ob Perduellionem aliudâ—e crimen ex quo hodiè publicatio eorum fit Angariae Parangariae id est Praestationes operarum Currum nec non navium quae ad usum publicum rusticis subiectis imperantur extraordinaria Collatio sive Contributio Argentariae id est auri Argentique fodinae quae in provincia sunt Piscatio in flumine publico nec non Venatio utriusque concedendi Potestas Decimae ex Carbonum lapidumque fodinis Salinarum reditus omnis Thesaurus vbique repertus Judaeos recipere Fodrum pro Exercitu principis Anergariae sive hospitium Militum Aulicorum condere Illustria Gymnasia condicere Dividitur Feudum in Ligium non Ligium illud est quando vasallus domino fidem adpromittit contra omnes nullo excepto mortali Non Ligium est si Excipiuntur nonnulli contra quos dominum adiuvare non cogitur De Jure Domini directi Dominus directus Jus ratione seudi tà m in re quà m ad rem sed amplius personam habet Vasallus operas praestare suis sumptibus debet si à Domino monitus fuerit ad Jus dominij Laudemium pertinet est honorarium quod principis dominio administris penditur All which Regalia and Prerogatives of our Kings and Soveraign Princes have been founded upon the feudal Laws attending the Monarchy of England And so greatly were our Kings and Princes in this our Monarchy of England sollicitously careful to maintain and conserve their Subjects Tenures of their Lands immediately or mediately holden of them and the Dependencies and Obedience of their Subjects unto them and therein their own as well as their Soveraigns Good and Preservation as King Henry the Second caused throughout the Kingdom a Certificate to be made not by the Hear-say or slight Information of the Neighbourhood or partialities of Juries but by the Tenants themselves in Capite or by Knight-Service whether Bishops Earls Barons and great or smaller Men by how many whole or parts of Knights Fees they held their Lands and by what other particular Services and what de veteri novo Feoffamento and caused those Certificates to be truly Recorded in the Court of Exchequer in a particular Book called the Red-Book which either as to its Original or several exact and authentick Copies thereof as Sir William Dugdale hath assured me were not burnt or lost in the dreadful Fire of London in Anno 1666. and those Tenures and Engagements of those Tenants were so heedfully taken Care of as our Kings ever since the Raign of King John had Escheators in every County the Lord Mayor of London being alwayes therein the Kings Escheator who amongst other particular Charges and Cares appertaining to their Offices have been Yearly appointed to look after them and the Bishops Earls and Barons especially since the Constitution and Election of the Court of Wards and Liveries by King Henry the Eighth were not without their Feodaries in the several Concernments of their private Estates as our Kings had in every County as to their more universal or greater which together with the respites of Homages which the Lord Treasurers Officer of the Remembrancer in the Court of Exchequer was to Record as appeareth by a Statute or Act of Parliament made in the 7th Year of the Raign of King James and our Learned and Loyal Littleton who was a Justice of the Court of Common-Pleas in the 14th Year
appointed by the King are in every Parliament Tryers of the Petitions of the Commons but they are not of any Petitions to the King and House of Lords the Commons not being to be allowed petitioning to themselves and our Kings often refusing to grant what was required where any had offended and broken the Priviledge of the House of Lords or committed any Treason or misdemeanor against the King and many times upon a charge of the House of Commons they were to receive their sentence at the Bar of the House of Lords kneeling but never in the House of Commons until the late new-fashion'd Rebellion and fancied Soveraignty of the people which God never gave them and the Devil cannot allow them after a Parliament ended and leave given by the King to depart the Commons do Petition the King for his Writs to the Counties and places that sent them to pay them their wages which the House of Peers never did And a strange representation partial much disordered and disjointed it was when 45 Members in the time of a Rebellious and Parliamentary confusion ejected 400 of their better conditioned fellow Members and have since taken upon them when their Soveraign hath with some restrictions given them proper and necessary liberty of Speech in the discussing of matters pertinent and becoming the reason and business for which they were called to deny innocent liberty to their Partners chosen and intrusted by other parts of the Nation not at all depending upon them but Elected sent and intrusted by their fellow Subjects Arraign and Murder their Pious King at the Suit of the People when they neither could or did give them any Order or Authority to do vote and make a War against him his Loyal and their fellow Subjects to the Ruine and Destruction of above two hundred thousand and punish others as their Votes shall carry it receive upon their knees their Sentence sometimes to be imprisoned in the Tower of London sent thither only by their Speakers Warrant or expelled the House with a Warrant for the Kings Writ to Elect another and no man can tell whence that power was is or could be derived unto them either by Warrant of the Laws of God Nature or Nations or the Laws and reasonable Customs of England or of any Forreign Senates or Councels to disprove approve or remove or punish one another or how they can underprop that their beloved Authority when many times the Major part of the Members were absent in person and many of those that are present and have no mind to concur were either wanting in their courage or that for which they were Elected and what with those that were absent and tarryed in their Countries or were in London and come late to the House or stayed there but a very short time there is seldom the one half or so many of them as could make a Major part of them understand to give an energy or certain establishment to what within the limits and bounds of their constitution should be agreed unto or by what Rule of Law or rectified reason any that are represented should be condemned by those that represent them not for that but for better other purposes Or how they can be said to represent the People that sent them in the matter of Parliament Priviledges when they that they represent are not to partake of their Freedom from Arrests Troubles of Suits c. for themselves and Moenial Servants or how do they represent in their properties when there is no such thing in their Writs Commissions or Procurations and they did in the 13th year of the Raign of King Edward the 3d ask leave of the King to go home to their several Countries and Places to confer with those that sent them concerning a Tax or Subsidy required or how they can be said to represent for all that sent them and call themselves one of the three Estates of the Kingdom if any can tell how to believe them when they whom they would represent are not nor ever were Estates c. If the People had a Soveraignty Vested and Inhaerent in them should be no more when they are in Parliament but as a Grand Enquest as Sir Edward Coke saith to some only purposes but to many and the most of their business but as Petitioners for Redress of Grievances or if they could by any right or construction be understood to be Soveraigns when they can do nothing there or have admittance until they shall have taken the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy to their King and Soveraign or can demonstrate how many kinds of Soveraigns there be and which is on Earth the Single and Sole Soveraign under God or when or how came all the People they would represent to be Soveraigns or how can they be Soveraigns after they have taken their Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy unto their King and Prince and his Heirs and Successors their only very not Fictitious Soveraign and how it happeneth that they have in many of their Petitions in Parliament stiled themselves your Pourez Leiges the Commons of England if they at that time had any part of Soveraignty in them and were not all Poor neither or when sometimes in the Raign of King H. 6. or in his Absence or Infancy their Petitions were directed unto them by the Title of Sages Senators tres Honourable Seignieurs or how they could as representatives of the Commons be Petitioned unto by any of the Commons For that would have been as absurd to have been Petitioners to themselves or to have been believed to be all Wise or Honourable or that all they represented could by any kind of Grammar Reason or Sense be understood to have been sent as Soveraigns or were ever so understood to be by those that Elected or sent them they should when they were to go home to those that delegated them were not to depart without the Kings License and then did not neglect to Petition the King for Writs to be paid their Wages by the Countries or Places that employed them and if any Sheriff had levied their Wages with an overplus for himself they that were so wronged have complained to the Kings Justices in Eyre and have been remedied But were never found to complain to their unintelligible Soveraigns or to have any process from them to levy their Expences or to Petition to have them paid out of the Lands Estates of those that sent them or was granted by any Order or Procurations of those that sent them Or if all the people of England who are and should be certainly to be known and Ranked according to their several degrees and qualities unless all should be levelled into a Lump informity or menstrosity Higeldy Pigheldy all Fellows at Football it might put Heraldry it self at a stand or out of its wits to distinguish how much of a Knight of a Shire is a Duke Marquess Earl Viscount Baron Knight Esquire Gentleman Yeoman
of his Aerarium or Treasury without which no King or Prince can be safe or great and protect and defend himself and his people from Injuries and Contempt which put all together may give Gods appointed watchman of our Israel besides their more weighted and occasional business in Parliament scarcely time to slumber or sleep or enjoy his natural refreshments or divertisements without the addresses and Importunities of his almost always wanting and complayning Subjects which they that will be at leisure to peruse all the orders of himself and his privy Councel and treasury References upon Petitions in the Secretary of State and Master of the Requests Books and the Reports and Returns thereof with all that are contained in the patent close Rolls fine and liberate Rolls of every year besides the Writs Remedial granted out of the Chancery from which no man as our Laws say is to return sine Remedio those of the Common or Ordinary sort in every year amounting to no smaller a number than eighty Thousand in a year which by Law were anciently intended not to have been granted but by immediate Petitions to the King howsoever are now dispatched of Course as it hath long been by his Majesties not a few subordinate Officers very much to the ease and relief of his People who have so long enjoyed those benefits and accommodations as those Writs of Course without the trouble either of our Kings or their more especial Court of Parliaments as Anciently as King Canutus Raign who began his Raign in the year of our Lord 1016. and from thence so continued until the Raign of King John wherein a Writ of Novel diseisin is noted in the Margin of a Roll to be de cursu from whence the Cursistors in Chancery have taken and do yet keep their Name not a Cursitando as Fleta who wrote about the Raign of King Edward the 2d terms them Juvenes pedites little Lads who carried and fetcht Writs to and from the Great Seal but Clerici de Cursu mentioned in the Oath ordained to be given unto them in Parliament in Anno 18. E. 3. Insomuch as when Simon de Montfort that Married the Sister of King John and either his Father or himself had about that time been the destruction of the Protestant Albigenses and Waldenses in France did in the time of the Imprisonment of King H. 3. and his Son Prince Edward whom he and his Rebellious Partners had taken Prisoners in the Battle at Lewes take an especial care that in the absence of Thomas de Cantilupo the Kings Chancellor the Kings great Seal being committed to the Trust of Ralph de Sandwich Keeper of the Kings Wardrobe assisted by Hugh le Despencer Justiciar of England and Peter de Montfort two special Rebels to be kept until the return of the Chancellor and that the said Ralph should Seal brevia de Cursu but those which were de praecepto were to be Sealed in their presence And when that Rebellion was afterwards broken and Simon de Montfort and the most of his Rebel partners were slain at the more fortunate Battle at Evesham and the King restored to his Regality and Rights of government he and his Successors afterward did in all their Parliaments enjoy the power and authority of Monarchs in their great Councels or Assemblies of Parliament wherein by reason of their great and important affairs in War a in France Scotland and Wales they could not be able to be personally present but summoned and held their no long lasting Parliaments by their Lieutenants or Guardians of the Kingdom for the short continuance thereof § 31. That our great Councels or Parliaments except Anciently at the three great Festivals viz. Christmas Easter and Pentecost being ex more summoned and called upon extraordinary emergent occasions could not either at those Grand and Chargeable Festivals or upon Necessities of State or Publick Weal and preservation ex natura rei continue long but necessarily required Prorogations Adjournments Dissolutions or Endings FOR extraordinary occasions being not common or ordinary and the Summons or calling of fit and well capacited Persons to those venerable or great Councels of Parliament for purposed sometimes especily Limitted and Declared to be for Advice and Aid not in omnibus arduis only but in quibusdam arduis concerning the defence of the King his Kingdom and the Church always howsoever declared by the King himself or such as he appointed and there being other great and little Courts enough in the Kingdom to dispatch and administer Justice it could not but put our Kings and Princes in mind not to trouble their highest Court for small and trivial Affairs but to believe that Canutus an Ancient King of this Nation who began his Raign in Anno Domini 1001. had reason by an express Law to prohibit the troubling of him or his Parliament or greatest Councel with small matters when they might with more ease less delay expences and attendance be determined at home or in their proper Courts or Places in these words videlicet neme de injuria alterius Regi quaeritur nisi quidem in Centuria Justitiam consequi aut impetrare non potest Centuria autem Cominus quisque ut quidem par est intersit aut saltem debito absentiam luat supplicio and that Law might well be said to have been made by that King sapientum Concilio which might occasion the use of Receivers and Triers of Petitions constantly appointed by the King or his House or Councel of Peers until our late times of Rebellion and Confusion that great Councel or Court never being intended by our Kings or their Laws to be a standing often or continual Court for ordinary Affairs The wisdom of our Kings and their House of Peers having often rejected and not given any Remedies to Petitioners that might more properly be relieved in Inferiour Courts For King Offa in the year 787. after the Incarnation of our Blessed Saviour Jesus Christ had a 2d Session in his great Councel And therefore as all Parliaments have had very urgent and necessary causes of Calling and Summoning them by their Kings so they were to have their continuance and duration proportionable to the Business and Affairs for which their Advice Assent or Approbation were required and even in the Ecclesiastical Councels begun as early after the Incarnation of our blessed Redeemer Jesus Christ as the year 446. The many Secular Businesses as making of Laws and redressing of Grievances in and by the Presence and Assistance of our Kings and many of the Nobility continued until the Norman Conquerour who separated the Ecclesiastical and Civil Jurisdictions one from the other and the Attendance upon Parliaments were not a little troublesom and chargeable to the Spiritual and Temporal Baronage and therefore the Ancient Custom of our Saxon Kings was more easy and less burdensom unto the Prelates and Nobility when it required their constant and annal Attendance
the Mazorites to understand their own Language and by creeping themselves into that which our Rebel Innovates would have called a third Estate made themselves the Governing Essential and Constituent part of the Parliament the generale Consilium or Colloquium of the Nation in arduis not in omnibus but quibusdam being the most useful wholesome and profitable in and through all the Christian World and so experimented where they are kept in their due and proper Limits and Boundaries in a due Obedience to their Kings and Soveraigns and cause as many as they can to believe them that they as representing the People who never trusted them to any or the like purpose have an Inherent Right of Soveraignty in themselves to accuse depose or murder their Kings and Elect or Choose another turn a Monarchy into a Republick or Common-wealth when there had not been in England within the memory of any true Record or impartial History any one before framed by a Factious and Unquiet Party of Rebels in Parliament under the basest of Hypocrisy that ever was practised in the World upon the pretence of setting Christ upon his Throne And could not be content until they had without any cause raised a Rebellion against their pious Prince and murdered him forced from the People to maintain those their ungodly doings by Taxes as much as amounted unto 48 Millions of Sterling Money besides the vast sums of Money and Riches gained by the extorted Fines and Compositions from the Kings Loyal Party at Goldsmiths and Haberdasher's Halls in London the one for the 20th part of their Estates and the other for compounding for their supposed forfeiture for fighting to defend their King against his Rebels and their Plunderings Sequestrations and Decimations of those with whom they had before compounded besides a Tax for six Months of every House-keeper in London and its vast Lines of Communication for as much as their weekly Diet amounted unto with Money borrowed upon that which they would call the Publick Faith which cheat brought that Godless Party into their Repository of the Guild-Hall in London abundance of Money Plate Rings Jewels Silver Bodkins and Thimbles many of whom after those villainous Wars and Rebellions something appeased being in Poverty have been the constant Attenders at the House of Commons doors in Parliament to enquire for Madam Publick Faith's Habitation but could never be able to find it and besides all these wickednesses could not think they had done enough until they had added unto their many sins that no small sin of Sacriledge by Sequestring the Orthodox Ministers Imprisoning of the Bishops and sale of their and the Deans and Chapters Prebends and Cannons Lands and their Woods and Possessions Banishing and every way Impoverishing them shutting up all or many of the Church doors in Wales upon pretence of Reforming or Propagating Religion but gathering the Tithes into their own Purses sale of the King Queen and Princes Houses and Rich Moveables and of all their Lands and Revenues the Coats of their Yeomen of the Guard and the Plate in their Royal Chappels Allen a Goldsmith and Member of that House of Commons picking out and exchanging the Jewels out of the Kings Crown and putting in counterfeit plundered and sold much of the Lands and Goods of the Nobility displaced the Masters of Colledges and Halls in both the Universities without shewing any cause more than that they would put in another of their own Party and began to gape and lick their Lips after a like Reformation of their Lands and Revenues tore up the Brass upon Monuments upon the ground and made Money of them because there was inscribed upon them Orate pro nobis and broke those Glass windows that had any Pictures or Images in them for fear of Superstition made a Stable for Horses in the Cathedral of St. Pauls in London where heaps of dung might be as high as the Roof and Sawyers seen sawing in the Grave where the Bishop of London was buried that obtained the City of Londons Charter of their Liberties from William the Conqueror for which their more grateful Successive Mayors and Aldermen at great solemnities never failed at their coming to that Cathedral in a kind of Procession to walk about it And the Othodox Clergy of the Church of England calumniated by Mr. John White a Lawyer of the late seditious Edition who being a Chairman appointed by a Committee of Parliament to relieve those that they would call plundered Ministers being the Factious Antichurch party did so order the matter as to put out all the Orthodox Ministers and taking his Notes and Examinations in Characters was able to interpret them how he pleased and upon the Accusation of a Cobler at Lambeth that the Learned Dr. Featly had Preached false Doctrine he must be turned out of his Benefice and imprisoned at Lambeth wherein besides many other if not all he or his Notes were shrewdly mistaken when one Mr. Clopham a Minister was for Adultery Ejected when it was proved that by a fall from his Horse he was so disabled in his Genitals as he could not be guilty of it And the Ecclesiastical plunder Masters were to take a more than ordinary care that when their small comcompassion had been pleased to allow the Sequestred Ministers Wives and Children a 5th part of their Husbands Benefices that they should have as little and as hardly as could be of it when after they had tired themselves with their Petitions to the upper and lower Committees they had obtained an Order for that their small pittance found no other comfort after that they had travelled forty or fifty or more miles unto one that should pay it then one who being more merciful and candid than the rest was pleased to shew a small common or private almost invisible note or mark in the Order that they should not obey it Mean while about 100 of Sequestred Ministers of the West parts of England could have no better a place provided for them than to be imprisoned at Lambeth House but a little before notoriously infected with the Plague and ordered an Alderman of London whose Son is yet living to attend them with two Culverings or small pieces of Cannon ready charged to fire upon them as they were in the Chappel serving God and hearing Doctor Featly preach unto them where they had perished if God had not in mercy provided an escape for them And if this were or could be proved or justified to be a work for such a third Estate as that modus tenendi Parliamentum was so willing to provide for our Laws having in their Subordination to Gods Laws and not opposite unto them been truly believed and said to have been derived from Right Reason yet that is always to be understood to be so when it hath received the Sanction of the King and are not agitated by the various wills interest and fancies of the People next unto madness And it might amuse and
amaze all the men of Law and Learning in the Kingdom of England how Sir Edward Coke that hath been attempted to be a man of so great knowledge and experience in the Law and entrusted with so many weighty Charges and Offices in our Laws as Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas and afterwards of the Court of Kings Bench and so great a Collector and Remembrancer of the cases and judgments in the Law with their various forms and entries should have so often read in his so greatly beloved Book of Littleton the Chapters of Homage and Homage Auncestrel and Escuage assessed in our Parliaments could think it to be the Common Law of England and that by which it had for many Centuries past been Governed and not to be by its true and original Name and Nation as well here as in all the other parts of the Christian World the Feudal Law and what else where those Feudal Laws used in England which our Learned Sir Henry Spelman and Dr. Zouch Mr. of Alban-Hall in Oxford so largely directly mentioned to have their beneficial Use and Residence amongst us allowed and repeated by the very learned the Sieur du Fresne a Baron of France and other good Authors and Historians And if those premises cannot be enough to satisfy us Sir Edward Coke if he were alive might do well to instruct us what Law that Homage and Escuage appertained unto And if there were any other Laws that this Kingdom was governed by when and by whom they were introduced and of how long continuance for it may be hoped that our Sons of Novelty will not be so impudent as to offer to obtrude upon the World the Follies and Villanies of Wat Tiler and Jack Cade our late pretended Rebuplicans or their cheating Instrument maker Oliver Cromwel Or upon what other Laws than Feudal are our Magna Charta and Charta de Foresta supported and as often as thirty times in several of our Parliaments confirmed when all our many English Rebellions troubles of State and Commotions either at home at abroad have left it as a quiddam Sacrum more than the safe guarded vestal fire amongst the Romans or can shew us in any of our Records Annals or holy Writ wrested or misinterpreted that the Dernier Resort or Appeal hath been or ought to be in the people unless they can make themselves or any others believe that there was something or more revealed to them than was in the Scripture or Holy Prophets for there was no third Estate under our Kings to assist their Councels in Parliaments subordinate unto them put upon them nor intended to be by the 25 Conservators enforced upon King John in the Rebellious Parliament and Battle at Running Mede afterwards reduced to four or when their Captain General Robert Fitz-Walter was stiled Mariscallus Exercitus dei Ecclesiae Anglicanae neither in Anno 42. H. 3. being over-powered by some of his Rebellious Barons where those 25 Conservators were turned into 24 the one half to be nominated by the King the other by the contending party at the Parliament at Oxford or when that afterwards adjudged derogatory Parliament to Kingly Authority was referred by King Henry the third and the Rebellious Barons unto the Arbitration of the King of France or sworn to abide it none of the Rebellious party were entituled Estates or in that after Rebellion and detaining King Henry the 3 and prince Edward his Son about a year and a quarter they would not adventure to form or imitate a general Councel in that captive Kings name those few that came were not called or intended to be a 3 Estate in an House of Commons nor in any of the many Rescripts or Mandates which Symon Montfort and his partner Rebels made in their Captive Kings name nor in any Parliament after his Release or in the Parliament of King Edward the first when he was pleased to suffer some of the Commons Elected by his Writs to attend in the House of Commons in Parliament neither had they the boldness in all his long Raign of 35 years or in the 17 or 18 years of King Edward the second or the fifty one years of King Edward the third or in the Raign of King Richard the 2 until the Title of Estates crept in as aforesaid and Mr. Pryn made himself after the Creator of them in his misused rectifying And having as they thought turned the Tables the wrong way in calling our Feudal Laws the Common Laws which indeed they are should be and a long time have been have so far put them out of their Right place Order and Station as they think they have changed our Feudal Laws which are should be the only Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom and Government thereof into a quite contrary and too many of our Lawyers have been so willing to forget them as they had rather now of late make us believe if they could the tricks of Attorneys to be our Common Laws than our more Ancient Legal Rational and Fundamental Feudal Laws Insomuch that one that thinks himself no small one hath of late been pleased to say very considerately as he thought that the Study and Knowledge of Antiquities was but like the picking up of Old Iron in the London Streets or Kennels As if the Prophet Jeremy had either mistaken or lost the Commission which our Alwise and Omniscient God had given him when he advised us Stare super vias antiquas inquirere veritatem and such Lawyers of a late Edition might find themselves hard put to it to answer the question how or from whence proceeded or were derived our Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy which have for so many ages past been legally taken and enjoyned and do and ought yet to continue if not from an ancient Fundamental Feudal Laws from what other Laws of God or man were they derived or any the various Customs or Usages of either Heathen or Christian fixt or established by by any other rational Custom or Usage or unfixt and left only to the divers Interests Occasions and Contingencies of every mans particular Interest and Affairs and can never be ascertained how long they shall continue in one and the same mind and good liking and where the Systeem of these Laws Usages or Customs are or may be found or what Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy have been sworn unto or upon them Whether upon the Old Custom of England of wrastling or choosing King and Queen at the Epiphany or Twelft Night at Christmas And if they would be a 3 governing Estate may think themselves not a little beholding unto such as can either think or believe that they are or ought to be so in love with them as to trust them as formerly they had done and could tell their Brethren of Scotland that their promises were but conditional and did very lovingly alter order their man of sin Oliver Cromwel to beat subdue and after their Laws and Religion
visit to his Tomb. The King thus vanquished by Clemency and hopes to out-reason their detestible Rebellion with all the secresie imaginable retired out of Oxford with a too much over-trusted Groom of his Bed-chamber riding out as the man with Mr. Hudson an Orthodox Loyal Minister their Journey being designed for London where the King was informed that the City Train Bands were to muster the next day after he should reach thither unto whose Protection not of the Scotch Army then quartered at Newcastle upon Tine he intended to place the safety of his Person whilst he should Treat further with his Parliament Rebels who being sufficiently infected with their Parliamentary Rebellious never to be warranted Principles would have given him as little an assistance whereof the Rebels being informed before hand by their Colonel Rainsborough that granted the King his pass and did too well understand who was the treacherous Groom of the Bed-chamber mans Master when the Loyal Party were afraid what was become of the King the Rebels could answer they would shortly hear of him who coming near unto London finding himself disappointed by the Training put off was enforced to coast about betwixt Branford and Highgate and from thence resolve to take his way to the Scotish Army and cast himself into their Protection after that he had before met with so bad an effect of their contrary Loyalty whither being come they as if they had had no manner of Intelligence of it before write their Letters to their Brother Parliament Rebels of their great amazement to see the King come unto them and desire that he may be brought home to his Parliament over which they had such an influence as they almost governed them in honour and safety who fail not to do it in promises but would have him delivered to them and sent to an house of his own at Holmby in the County of Northampton where he should not want a guard of their own whereupon the Scotish Commanders having fallen into a deeper than ordinary consideration how they could with Honour Loyalty and gude Conscience deliver their Native King into the hands of his Enemies and going to voting two great Commanders that in muckle manner had been obliged to their King for many great favours and might have ballanced the Vote with a great deal of facility in the Negative were mightily suspected to have gone privately along with them that they were certain would make up the Majority for delivering of the King up to his Parliament Adversaries but took by all means an especial care for themselves to Vote against the delivering of the King into the hands of those that would love their own ends more than any of his Rights or their Duty and a bargain came so to be made as the King was put into the mercy of the English Parliament and 200000 l. Sterling which amounted unto something more than Judas Iscariots thirty pieces of Silver for betraying Jesus Christ. And as Mickel as the 200000 l. were above the Scotch Marks or 13 d. half-penny english none or very little of it could ever after find the way to the Pockets of the Scotch Plads or blew Caps and he had not been long at Holmby but he was in a Morning betimes fetcht out of his Bed by Cornet Joice a Fanatick Tayler with some Troops of Horse sent by Cromwel and Fairfax into their Army Quarters and tossed from place to place until after 25 Treaties Letters and Messages for Peace they had from Treachery to Treachery and Villany to Villany contrived his execrable Murder The 2d of June 1642. the Lords and Commons in Parliament did offer their humble Petition and Advice having nothing in their thoughts and desires as they pretended next unto the Honour and immediate service of God more than the faithful performance of their Duty to his Majesty and this Kingdom as the most necessary and effectual means thereof to grant and accept the 19 Propositions ensuing viz. 1. That the Lords and others of his Majesties Privy Council and all such great Officers and Ministers of State either at home or abroad or beyond the Seas may be put from your Privy Council and have no Offices or Employments excepting such as shall be approved of by both Houses of Parliament and that the Persons put into their Places and Employment may be approved of by both Houses of Parliament and that Privy Councellors shall take an Oath for the due execution of their Places in such form as shall be agreed upon by both Houses of Parliament 2. That the great Affairs of the Kingdom may not be concluded or transacted by the advice of private men or by any unknown or unsworn Councellors Sir Robert Cotton a great Antiquary with a well furnished Library being often consulted with by King James and that Prince in special matters but that such matters as concern the publick and are proper for the High Court of Parliament which is his Majesties great and supream Court may be debated resolved and transacted only in Parliament which was contrary to the Fundamental Laws and Constitutions of Parliaments in this and all other the Kingdoms of the Christian World whereby the matters and business of Monarchy and the Regal Government were limited and restrained unto arduis non omnibus arduis sed quibusdam and not elsewhere and such as shall presume to do any thing to the contrary shall be reserved to the censure and judgment of Parliament and such other matters as are proper for his Majesties Privy Council shall be debated and concluded by such of the Nobility and others as shall from time to time be chosen for that place by approbation of both Houses of Parliament which would have Incorporated and Associated the House of Commons in Parliament with the House of Lords which never was nor ought to have been otherwise than inferiour unto the House of Peers in Parliament and therefore stiled the lower House of Parliament and that no publick Act concerning the Affairs of the Kingdom as are proper for his Majesties Privy Council may be esteemed of any validity as proceeding from the Royal Authority unless it be done by the Advice and Consent of the Major part of his Council Attested under their hands and that his Council may be limitted to a certain number not exceeding 25 nor under 15. And that if any Privy Councellors place happen to be void in the intervals of Parliament it shall not be supplied without the assent of the Major part of the Council which choice shall be confirmed at the next sitting of Parliament or else to be void 3. That the Lord High Steward of England Lord High Constable of England which by Marriages and Descent had been Incorporated in the Royal Line Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal Lord Treasurer Lord Privy Seal Earl Marshal Lord Admiral Warden of the Cinque Ports Governour of Ireland the Chancellor of the Exchequer Master of the Wards