place of Comes the ceremony of Creation much at one and the title hereditary the annuity money in their Patent is forty marks And here by the way I cannot but observe one note of Mr. Seldens that John Beaufort Earl of Somerset modestly refused to be made Marquesse of Dorset by Henry the fourth because the title was then so strange and new in the Kingdome The Marquesse is honored with a Coronet of gold flurred the points and flowers of equall height whereas of the Earls the pearled points are much longer then the flowers His Mantle also doubled Ermine as is the Earls also but the Earls is but of four and the Marquesses is of five the doubling of the Viscount is to be understood to be but of Miniver or plain white Fur so is the Barons the Barons of two the Vice-counts of three doublings Of the Duke The Creation Robe of a Duke Where by the way one note is proper to be understood that as he was here created without any Ceremony except the girding with a Sword so in all other degrees of honor where a lesser degree is conferred on a person of a greater there needs nothing but meer Patent without any ceremony of creation But John son to Edward the third being created Duke of Lancaster had a Cap of furre added to the ceremony and succeeding times have had the Sword Crownet and Verge of Gold a Surcoat Mantle and Hood and a Ducal cap doubled Ermin but not indented and is honored with the style of Gratious and Excellent These if they be of Royall line are reputed as Arch-dukes It is also allowed that a Duke tantum shall take place before any Lord that is both Marquesse and Earl but a Duke that is Marquesse or Earl besides shall precede him The Duke Marquesse and Earl at their creation have a sword put over their shoulders which the Vice-count and Baron have not Of the Arch-Duke THis title is of neer relation to the other but not found in any place save in the house of Austria the addition of which word Arch is from the Greek word Archos which is as much as Princeps in Latin So he taketh place of all other Dukes and he is allowed a Surcoat a Mantle and a Hood of Crimson Velvet at his Creation He hath also a Chapeau or Ducal Cap doubled Ermin indented with a Coronet about the same and an arch of Gold with an Orbe and Verge of Gold Of these titles the Duke Marquesse and Earl are esteemed Princely especially the two last These also are allowed to bear their Crests with Helmets the Beaver directly forward whereas a Gentleman Knight and Baron bare them with half the Beaver seen The Creation Robe of the Prince of Wales The Prince THe next and first immediately subordinate to the Crown amongst these radiant Stars is The Prince who in England onely is the Prince of Wales the first-born of the King These in the Saxons time were called Clitons and clitunculi from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Illustrious But since it hath been a title of creation for honor to the rising sun there were none created in the Nation but the King 's eldest son who are in all Nations honored above all other subjects and amongst some as in Spain have been called King 's during the life of their Fathers because of his so neer a relation to the Crown that if the Father dye he is ipso 〈◊〉 Rex there being no interregnum though he be not crowned In a Statute of the second of Henry the fourth it is provided that the Prince may give his honorable Liveries of signes to the Lords or to his meniall Gentry and that the said Lords may wear the same as they wear the Kings Livery and that the Menials of the Prince may wear the same as the King's menials but this hath been since abridged So likewise by a Statute of the 25. of Edward the third chap. 2. it is declared that to compasse or imagine the death of the Kings eldest son and heir is Crimen laesae Majestatis high Treason as also to violate the wife of the King 's eldest son And again see Coke 8. part 28. The Prince shineth with the beams of his Father and is holden to be one person with him Yet doth he acknowledge a reverence not only as to a Father but Soveraign and to that purpose continues that Motto which the Black Prince took up Ick dien I serve He is called Princeps quia principalis in strenuitate post regem saith Sir William Segar The first that we read of in England was Edward eldest son of Henry the third and after him the eldest son of the King hath been ever by Patent and Ceremonies of Instalment created Prince of Wales Earl of Chester and Flint being born Duke of Cornwall The Prince or first born of the King in France is called the Dauphin in Spain l' Infanta There are in other Countries Princes by Creation as the Prince of Piemont the Prince of Orange and many others but these are also now become hereditary and in some Countries all the Royall line are styled Princes When he is created he is presented before the King in Princely Robes who putteth about his neck a Sword bend-wise a Cap and Coronet over his head a Ring on his middle finger a Verge of gold in his hand and his Letters Patents after they are read His Mantle is once more doubled then the Dukes and his Coronet of Crosses and Flowers de Luce and his Cap of State doubled indented The King THe King is the next and in our Nations the highest being subordinate to no sublunary power as those of Spain Portugall and other Kingdoms of Europe and other parts of the world are He is the true Fountain from whence all these Rivulets and swelling Streams of Honor spring He is called Rex from whence the word Rego came and King amongst us from the Saxon word Koning and Kuning To say any thing of the Originall of the Government here were in vain for it is unknown onely I may say that none can produce any thing to assure any Government before it and what I spake in the beginning concerning the first institution of it universally is sufficient Besides these times have said enough to that purpose He hath ever bin of great reverence amongst these Kingdoms of Europe the very Title carrying Divinity in it being of Heavenly institution ordained by God himself the Bond of Peace and the Sword of Justice He is God's Vicegerent and to be obeyed accordingly both in Church and State If good he is a blessing if bad a judgment He is styled Pater Patriae Caput Reipub and for that the protection of his Subjects lies in his breast the Militia is annexed to his Crown and the Sword as well as Scepter put into his hand He hath power of pardoning where the Law
a condition above him For example whereof a case is cited of one Ralph Hayward Esquire and the Lady Anne Powes widow of the Lord Powes But I am of opinion that being onely an acception in Court by the Adversary of the Party this is not to be understood but in case the person such a Noble woman shall marry be no Gentleman and that she hath received the Honor she enjoyed before from the right of a former husband and not by descent of Ancestors for the words of Judge Coke run thus Si mulier nobilis nupserit ignobili desinit esse nobilis eodem modo quo quidem constituitur dissolvitur That is If a Noble-woman shall marry an ignoble husband she ceases to be Noble and in the same manner her honor was constituted it is dissolved So as by the Laws of the Nation an Adulteresse forfeiteth her Dower so also her honor of Nobility if she commit adultery either as a wife or widow or else having received honor from her deceased husband and shall so put him out of her mind as to subject her self to another by which act she wipeth both the name and memory of the former from her she hath the sentence of forfeiture against her So Sir John Fern in his Glory of Generosity fol. 62. Yet the Law is thus curious in preserving the memory of Vertue in the honor of its reward that if a woman of noble blood do marry a Churl or Clown and have issue by him she being an heir that issue shall have liberty of bearing her Coat-Armor But Sir John Fern says onely for life and that on a Lozenge Shield which is the feminine bearing with the difference of a Cinque-foile One note more I think proper in this place which is If a French Spanish or German woman be married to any Peer of this Realm or other Gentleman and be not denizoned by the Laws of the Nation she cannot claim the priviledges or titles of her husband nor have Dower or Joynter from him And thus much I think sufficient in this place as to the honor of Women and if I have said too little I wish I could have said more if too much I beg their pardons but refer my self to the Law In the next place I should proceed to the display of Armory by which the infinite number of persons are distinguisht by an innumerable variety of different Ensignes that do illustrate and appropriate their dignity and honor But by the way I have stumbled on another Theam which though it be not so much concerned in honor yet the Kingdom is much concerned in it as a Power and though I need not say much yet I cannot passe by it and say nothing Of a Parliament SOme not altogether knowing of that true constitution of a Parliament may be apt to think that its Authority is onely Supream in this Nation But let such understand that from this Argument if there were none other it is disproved That nothing can be made greater or more excellent than the thing that makes it Propter quod unumquodque tale est illud majus tale And such creatures as shall aim at a Superiority to their Creator are to be esteemed like those Angels that by the same spirit attempting the same pride precipitated themselves from everlasting liberty to eternall chains This great Council did arise from the antient custom of not onely the Saxons but all Nations in the world almost who have had examples of their King 's summoning the chief Peers and Nobles to consult in weighty affairs Which Councel among the Saxons was called 〈◊〉 which was a meeting of the chief Prelates and Peers to deliberate about and to consent to what laws the King should enact and advising in matters of State giving Judgement upon suits or Complaints in the same Court as is understood of the time of King Ine of West sexe about 711. years after Christ. And again of King Ethelbert his ordaining Decreta Judiciorum juxta exempla Romanorum cum consilio sapientum And when Edwin King of Northumberland was perswaded to be a Christian he consulted cum Principibus Consulariis suis. He called to Councell his Princes or Ealdermen and Counsellors And again King Eldred An. 948. In festo Nativitatis Beatae Mariae all the Nobility of the Kingdome were summoned by an Edict from the King as well Arch-bishops Bishops and Abbots as all of the rest of the Lords and Chief Counsellors Thanes and Ealdormen to come to London to a 〈◊〉 or great Councel to consult about affairs of the whole Kingdome As Ingulphus his words are And again in the time of Edward the Confessor the Parliament sate at London Rex omnes 〈◊〉 Magnates In which Parliament the King attaches Earl Godwin for that he had kil'd his Brother Alfred and upon his pleading and submission the King refers him to the Judgement of the Court who a long while debating it to no purpose at last Leofricus Consul Cestriae probus homo quoad Deum Seculum saith the Author spake thus Earl Godwin is a gallant Person and a man next the King of the best birth in the Land and it cannot be denied but by his Counsell or Design Alfred was slain therefore my opinion is that he with his son and all we twelve Earls that are his friends and kindred do present our selves humbly before the King loaden with as much Gold and Silver as every man can carry betwixt his arms to offer it up with supplication for an expiation of the crime Which being consented unto and done the King considering the reference he had made to the Court ratified their act and his pardon By which we see their meetings was at the Kings summons their power only deliberative in giving legall force by consenting to what he should think fit to make a Law and to advise de arduis Reipub not that this force given by them is to be understood otherwise than that because it was enacted by their consent it was the more binding over them their consent otherwise being no whit binding over the Soveraign's will in the enaction for it was his Volumus that made it and let their Consultations rise to never so powerfull votes and results be the thing what it would his Nolumus buried it in oblivion which custom 〈◊〉 ever continued as a true Prerogative of the Crown Nay avisera le Roy which is but The King will consider of it was enough to throw a Bill out of the House Nothing enacted by them though by a generall consent of both Houses of Lords Commons being of any force and that not only before but after the Commons were brought in which I find to be about the time of Edw. 1. his third year of Inauguration an Dom. 1273. Who in the 23. year of his reign confirmed the Magna Charta made by Henry the third though Mr. Selden is of opinion The first
first turned their possessions into Baronies and thereby made them Barons of the Kingdom by tenure That all Bishops Abbots Priors and the like that held in chief of the King had their possessions as Baronies and were accordingly to do services and to sit in judgment with the rest of the Barons in all cases but cases of Blood from which they are prohibited by the Canon-Law This Honor of Baronady is of three kinds by Tenure by Creation and by Writ Barons by Tenure are the Barons Spirituall as I said before which are reputed Peers of the Realm and were ever first in nomination and take place on the Prince's right hand in Parliament and have been capable of temporall 〈◊〉 and some of them are accounted Count Palatines in their Jurisdictions And by tenure Temporall which are such as hold their Honor Castle or Mannor as the head of their Barony per Baroniam which is Grand Serjanty By which tenure they ought to be summoned to Parliament See Bracton lib. 5. fol. 351. 357. But he is no Lord of the Parliament untill he be called by Writ to the Parliament These Barons by renure in the time of the Conqueror and after were very numerous and 〈◊〉 his time as I conceive distinguished into Majores Minores and summoned accordingly to Parliament the Majores by immediate Writ from the King the others by generall Writ from the high Sheriff at the King's command But these had also another distinction which was the first were called onely Barons by tenure then and the last Tenants in chief which were after quite excluded the Parliament as Mr. Cambden says in the reign of Henry the third by a Law made that none of the Barons should assemble in Parliament but such as were summoned by speciall Writ from the King And that King Edward the first summoned always those of antient Families that were most wise but omitted their sons after their death if they were not answerable to their parents in understanding But Mr. 〈◊〉 opinion is that not long after the Grand Charter of King John the Law for excluding all Tenants in chief was made From whence came that other dignity of Barons by Writ the King summoning whom he pleased though he were but a private Gentleman or Knight as many Seculars Priors Abbots and Deacons also all which have been fince omitted that held nothing of the King in chief or Grand Tenure This title of Baron by Writ is by some esteemed onely temporary pro termino Parliamenti but that cannot be for the ceremony of his admittance signifies more than a titular or temporary Honor which is this He is first brought by the Garter-King at Arms in his Soveraign Coat to the Lord Chancellor between two of the youngest Barons who bear the Robe of a Baron there he shews his Prescript which the Chancellor reads then congratulates him as a Baron and invests him with those Robes and sends him to take his place Then the Writ is delivered to the Clerk of the Parliament and he by the Garter shewed to the Barons and placed in the House and from thence is this title allowed him as hereditary Since these two sorts of Barons in the time of Richard the second hath another been established which is Barons by Patent and indeed more usuall in our latter times than those by Writ He first created John de Beauchamp Steward of the houshold Baron of Kiderminster to him and his heirs males of his body And this comming afterwards to be the onely way of creation they had commonly creation-mony granted them as Sir Ralph Botiller who had one hundred marks granted him annuity out of the County of Lincoln Some of those Minores have yet remained to our memories as the Barons of the Cinque Ports Barons of the Exchequer c. and some others which are called Barons yet have not the honor such are those that were created by Count Palatines as the Baron of Kinderton and some few others As concerning the descent of this Honor and the extension of it it many times descends to heirs female as when there is no speciall entail on the heirs male yet then no husband of that heir female shall enjoy the style and honor in right of his wife unlesse he have issue by her as it was decreed by Henry the eighth in the case of Mr. Wimbry for the style of the Lord Talboyes Neither shall any honor of Barony by Tenure be conveyed with the 〈◊〉 of any place from whence the title is derived without licence immediate from the King but all such as shall without is absolutely forfeited and stopt and returns again into that great Fount ain of Honor the Crown Now though this dignity be not allowed the Princely distinction of a Coronet yet is he as a Lord of the Parliament reckoned among the Peers of the Realm and priviledged amongst them in all these things as first in all trialls of criminall causes he is not tried by a Jury but a Bench of Peers If for Treason he be indicted and shall stand mute he shall be convicted but not prest but if it be for Felony his standing silent shall not convict him Upon any tryall of Peers the Lords that are to give Verdict are not like a Jury put upon their Oaths but upon their Honor. A Peer of the Realm is not to be Empannelled in any Jury but what concerns the King 's Enquiry Neither are they to be arrested by any Warrant of Justice of Peace either for the peace or good behaviour Neither is he to be put upon his Oath upon any appearance he shall make in Court but his Honor to be esteemed as binding And whereas all Burgesses of the Commons House are sworn to Supremacy the Barons of the Upper-House of Parliament are not with many other priviledges But it is to be noted that by these are onely meant to Lords of the Parliament not to the sons of Dukes Marquesses or Earls during the life of their fathers Nor to any Baron of another Kingdom in this though under the same allegiance who are not triable out of their own Kingdome unlesse they enjoy some honor in this The form of creating a Baron is in this manner The King sitting in state in the Presence-Chamber First the Hetalds by two and two and their Garter Principall King alone proceed bearing in his hand the Patent of creation next to him a Baron bearing the Robes and then the Person to be created followeth betwixt two other Barons Being entred the Chamber of Presence they make their obeysance to the King three times Garter then delivereth the Patent to the Lord Chamberlain of the houshold and he to the King and the King to one of his Principall Secretaries of State who readeth it and at the word Investimus the King putteth on him the Baron's robe so soon as the Patent is read it is to be delivered to the