enforce what I already have said I shall conclude my Discourse at present with a very memorable and studied Speech of a Person of great Learning and Abilities in his Time collected out of a large Original Manuscript which I have seen of Sir Roger Owen a very great Antiquary that lived in the Time of King Iames and one who as appears by that Book was a Man not only of wonderful Knowledg and admirable Observation in the Records and Histories of his own Nation but also in those of Foreign Countries This was a Speech of the then Lord Whitlock in Novemb. 1650. upon the House's long and smart Debate touching the Act for putting all the Books of Law and the Process and Proceedings in Courts of Iustice into the English Tongue In which Debate some spake in derogation and dishonour of the Laws of England For some vindication whereof and for satisfying some Mistakes he delivered his Opinion in the House to this effect It is now newly printed in Mr. Whitlock's MEMORIALS OF THE ENGLISH AFFAIRS c. and is here truly transcribed Mr. Speaker THe Question upon which your present Debate ariseth is of no small moment nor is it easily or speedily to be determined for it comprehends no less than a total Alteration of the Frame and Course of Proceedings of our Law which have been established and continued for so many Years I should not have troubled you with any of my weak Discourse but that I apprehend some Mistakes and dishonour to the Law of England if passed by without any Answer may be of ill consequence and having attended to hear them answered by others who are not pleased to do it I held my self the more engaged in the duty of my Profession to offer to your Judgment to which I shall always submit what I have met with and do suppose not to be impertinent for the rectifying of some Mistakes which are amongst us A worthy Gentleman was pleased to affirm with much confidence as he brought it in upon this Debate That the Laws of England were introduced by William the Conqueror as among other Arguments he asserted might appear by their being written in the French Tongue In his first Assertion that our Laws were introduced by William the Conqueror out of France I shall acknowledg that he hath several both Forreign and Domestick Authors whom he may follow therein The Forreign Authors are Iovius AEmilius Bodine Hottoman Dynothus Volateran Berault Berkley Choppinus Vspargensis Malines and Polidore who affirm this erroneous piece of Doctrine but the less to be regarded from them because they were strangers to our Laws and took up upon trust what they published in this Point Of our own Country-men they have Paris Malmesbury Matthew Westminster Fox Cosins Twyne Heyward Milles Fulbeck Cowell Ridley Brown Speed Martyn and some others All of them affirm That the Laws of England were introduced by William the Conqueror But their Errors are refuted by Sir Roger Owen in his Manuscript who saith That Roger Wendover and Matthew Paris were the first Monks that hatched these addle Eggs. I shall endeavour to shew you That the Original of our Laws is not from the French that they were not introduced by William the Conqueror out of Normandy And I shall humbly offer to you my Answer to some of their Arguments who are of a contrary opinion Polydore Hist. Angl. l. 9. affirmeth That William the Conqueror first appointed Sheriffs and Iustices of the Peace erected Tenâ—res brought in Trials by twelve Men and several other Particulars of our Laws For Sheriffs their name Scire Reeve shews them to be of the Saxon Institution And our Histories mention the division of Shires by King Alphred but in truth it was much more ancient And it is apparent by our Books and Records some whereof are in the Hustings of London and in the Tower that the same things were in use here long before the Time of King Will. I. Sir Roger Owen shews at large That Livery of Seisin Licenses or Fines for Alienation Daughters to inherit Trials by Iuries Abjurations Utlaries Coroners disposing of Lands by Will Escheats Gaols Writs Wrecks Warranties Catalla Fellonum and many other parts of our Law and the Forms of our Parliaments themselves were here in being before the Time of Duke William Agreeing hereunto are many of our Historians and learned Antiquaries But it is objected That in the Grand Custumary of Normandy the Laws are almost all the same with ours of England and the form of their Parliaments the same with ours That the Writer of the Preface to that Book saith It contains only the Laws and Customs which were made by the Princes of Normandy by the Councel of their Prelats Earls Barons and other Wise Men which shews the forms of their Parliaments to be the same with ours and the Laws in that Book to be the proper Laws of Normandy and ours to be the same therefore they argue that our Laws were introduced from thence by William the Conqueror This will be fully answered if that Grand Custumary of Normandy was composed in our King Edw. 1. his Time as good Authors hold it was then it cannot be That our Laws or Parliaments could be derived from thence These Learned Men say That this Custumary was a meer Translation of our Law-Book Glanvill as the Book of Regia Majestas of the Laws of Scotland is and the like of the Laws of Burgundy They farther add That the first establishing of the Custumary of Normandy was in Hen. 1. his Time and afterwards again about the beginning of Edw. 2. his Time If the Laws in the Custumary were introduced there from England it will then be granted that the Laws of England were not introduced here by William the Conqueror But I think it very clear that their Laws were brought to them out of England and then you will all agree to the conclusion Our King Hen. 1. conquered Normandy from his Brother Robert and was a Learned King as his Name Beauclerke testifies whom Ivo calls an especial Establisher of Iustice. Sequerius relates That this King established the English Laws in Normandy Herewith do agree Gulielmus Brito Armoricus Rutclurius and other French Writers who mention also That the Laws in the Custumary of Normandy are the same with the Laws collected by our English King Edward the Confessor who was before the Conqueror An additional Testimony hereof is out of William de Alenso Revile who in his Comment upon the Custumary saith That all the Laws of Normandy came from the English Laws and Nation In the Custumary there is a Chapter of Nampes or Distresses and decreed That one should not bring his Action upon any Seisure but from the Time of the Coronation of King Richard and this must be our King Richard the first because no King of France was in that Time of that Name and the words Nampes and Withernams were Saxon words taken out of the English Laws signifying a Pawn
of the Realm This Law of the Realm Cited in White 's Sacred Laws p. 69. or Land was looked upon in the judgment of these Parliaments as * 27. E. 1. the Law of Ancient Time †25. E. 3. of old Time used and * 42. E. 3. the Old Law whose Age made it the more venerable and gave an addition of honour to it Well having thus shewn you the Coronation of King William the First and given you the Solemn Oath he at the same time took even before his Consecration that so he might give all possible satisfaction to the English of his resolving to rule accordingly and also having made it plain that it was the same in substance with that the Ancient Saxons took before him I shall now descend briefly to set before you some of his own Charters as likewise some of William the Second's and of Henry the First 's his Children and succeeding Kings and from them evidence to you I hope demonstrably that it was not so much his Conquest he relied upon when he was setled in this Imperial Throne as his claim to the Crown of England Iure Hereditario by Right of Inheritance And for the proof of this be pleased to accept of these ensuing Instances 1. In Nomine Patris Carta Antiqua litera D. N. 4. Filii Spiritus Sancti Amen Ego Willielmus Dei Gratia Rex Anglorum Haereditario Iure Factus 2. In Nomine Patris Carta 4. E. 4. m. 27. per Inspex Filii Spiritus Sancti Amen Ego Willielmus Rex Anglorum Haereditario Iure Factus 3. In nomine Sanctae individuae Trinitatis Monast. Anglican Vol. 1. fol. 317. Ego Willielmus Dei Gratia Rex Anglorum notum facio omnibus tam posteris quam praesentibus Archiepiscopis Episcopis Abbatibus Comitibus Baronibus omnibus â—idelibus Francis Anglis Quod cum in Angliam venissem in sinibus Hasting cum excercitu applicuisâ—em contra hostes meos qui mihi Regnum Angliae injustè conabatur auferre 4. In ore gladii saith William the First 's Charter Carta Westmper Inspex 1. E. 4. parte septima m. 26. Mr. Seld. Review p. 483. Regnum adeptus sum Anglorum devicto Haroldo Rege cum suis Complicibus qui mihi Regnum cum providentia Dei destinatum beneficio concessionis Domini Cognati mei gloriosi Regis Edwardi concessum conati sunt auferre c. Come we now to his Second Son William Rufus 5. Willielmus Rex Anglorum Carta Regis Willielmi Rusi vide Monast. Anglican Vol. 1. fol. 352. Willielmo Vicecomiti Filio Baldewini omnibus Baronibus suis Ministris qui habitant in Devonescira Salutem Notifico vobis quod mea condonatione Ecclesia beati Olavi Regis Martyris à Monachis belli aedificata in honore beati Nicholai quam cum omni terra quae pertinet ad Ecclesiam suprascripti Martyris meo privilegio videlicet Literis Sigillo liberam facio ita liberam quietam per omnia cum saca soca thol theam infangenetheof warpeni murdro omnibus consuetudinibus operibus auxiliis sicut Pater meus liberam fecit Ecclesiam Sancti Martini de bello ubi hostem devicit ubi Coronam Regni haereditariam sibi bellando adquisivit T. Walchelino Wintoniensi Episcopo Rogero Bigot apud Wintoniam From William Rufus proceed we to his Brother Henry the First And saith he 6. In Nomine Sanctae Individuae Trinitatis Ex Hist. Eliensis Eccles. M. S. in Bibl. Bodleana inter Codices Cant. I. 58. lib. 3 fol 2. a. Monast. Anglican Vol 1. fol. 95. Patris Filii Spiritus Sancti Anno Incarnationis Dominicae MCVIII Indictione ... Anno vero Pontificatus Domini Paschalis Papae secundi ✚ Regni quoque mei similiter ✚ Ego Henricus providente divina clementia Rex Anglorum Normannorum Dux Willielmi Magni Regis Filius qui Edwardo Regi Haereditario Iure successit in Regnum c. 7. Again Monast. Anglican Vol. 2. fol 845. Ego Henricus Dei Gratia Rex Anglorum Filius Magni Regis Willielmi qui beatae memoriae Edwardo in Regnum Successit 8. To give you one Charter more Ex MS. Domini Rogeri Owen Equit. Aurati The words of that of Henry the First to the Abby of Westminster are Pro memoria Edwardi Cognati mei qui Patrem meum liberosque illius in Regnum suum adoptivos haeredes instituit And thus have I given you as it were a three-fold Cord not easily to be snapt asunder to bind hard my Assertion and to convince those who will not suffer themselves to be over-run by an obstinate Prejudice or captivated by a byass'd Interest that our first William when he came in gained not such an absolute Uictory as is pretended over this Nation for when he came in he had not subdued the fifth part of it but came to the Crown by the Election and Consent of the Clergy and People And foedus pepigit he made a Solemn Covenant with the English to observe and keep those Laws which were bonae approbatae antiquae Leges Regni And this Sir is what I shall endeavour clearly to make out to you in my Answer to your Second Question The Second Question Whether this first William did abolish all the English Laws Quest. 2. and changed the whole frame and Constitution of the Government ANd doubtless not for as my Lord Coke saith Lord Coke's Preface to his 8th Report The Grounds of our Common Laws at this day are beyond the Memory or Register of any beginning Ex vitâ Abbatis Sancti Albani and the same which the Norman Conqueror then found within this Realm of England And those Laws he swore to observe which were good approved and ancient Now that these were only his Norwegian Laws sure none can or ought to believe after they have throughly examined these plain Truths which I shall here offer to their fair perusal 1. If they please to consider what was the Title of the Laws called the Laws of King William the First published by Mr. Selden with his learned Notes upon Eadmer and since with the Saxon Laws Why truly the Title was plainly this These are the Laws and Customs which William the King granted to the whole People of England after the Conquest of the Land â—elden ad Eadmerum fol. 173. These were those which the Kingâ— Edward his Cousin held before him Ce sont les Leis les Custumes que li Reis William grantut a tut le Peuple de Engleterre apres le Conquest de la Terre Ice les meâ—smes que le Reis Edward sun Cosin tint devant luy In these Laws recited by Hoveden in the Life of King Henry the Second King Edward's Laws are confirmed in these words This we command That
ancient Rights of the English Men. Besides that the Laws that were continued and confirmed were the old Saxon Laws and the Additional Laws were made for the Benefit and Advantage of the English not Normans And those Laws of Saint Edward which the English were so fond of this William solemnly swore before God Angels and Men for ever inviolably to keep and observe But before I leave this your Second Question Sir I think it will be no ways improper to give you the signification of the word Conquest and in what sence Historians and learned Antiquaries have understood it 1. Matthew Paris Mat. Paris fol. 941. hath it thus Rex Angliae ex Conquestu dicitur tamen quod beatus Edwardus eo quòd haerede caruit Regnum legavit Willielmo Bastardo Duci Normannorum 2. Sir Henry Spelman Spelm. Gloss. tit Conquestus fol. 145. in his Glossary says Willielmus Primus Conquestor dicitur quia Angliam conquisivit id est acquisivit purchased non quod subegit not that he subdued it 3. Sir Iohn Skene Skene p. 39. Clark of the Register Council and Rolls to King Iames in Scotland in his Book De Verborum significatione tells us That Conquestus signifies Lands quhilk ony Person acquiris and possessis privato jure vel singulari titulo veluti donatione vel singulari aliquo contractu 4. And it seems to me not improbable that the Title of Conqueror rather than of Victor was assumed by him as being a word more mild and originally signifying as it does in Scotland a Purchaser which is he that cometh to a real Estate not by hereditary Descent but by Bargain or Gift c. Mr. Skene de Verbórum signific verâ—o Conquestus Conquestus dicitur ratione primi Conquestoris cum transmittitur ad ejus haeredem exuit naturam Conquestus induit naturam Haereditatis 5. And that the word Conquestus did signify what the Historians say it did we have Records to justify their Exposition whereof I shall produce one and that is above 480 Years ago It says Robertus Filius Nigelli petit versus Richardum Battail Capitale Messuagium c. Ricardus venit dicit quod pater c. fuit persona Ecclesiae de Conquestu suo c. dedit c. Placita de terris Mich. 2. Iohan. penes Camerar Scaccar remanen Now surely none can make the word Conquestus here to signify that the Father of Battel got the Advowson by Conquest in our modern sense but that he had it by his own purchase 6. Sir Roger Twisden in his Preface before King William's Laws and he well enough understood the full meaning of the word Conquestus says Non existimo Willielmum primum de omnium Anglorum terris ad voluntatem suam pro libitu in modum absolutae dominationis disposuisse Apud Lambardum in Prefac 1550 I do not in the least imagine that William the first had the disposition of the Lands of all the English according to his own Arbitrary Will and Pleasure and after the manner of an Absolute Conquest Now Sir by these several Explanations of the word I think it is very obvious to any impartial Considerer that however we construe and interpret it now being either urged by Flattery or Interest so to do it never did even in that Age it self import or signifie such an absolute and entire Conquest as to carry along with it the enslaving of the whole English Nation after William's Victory over Harold Nay tho' every Body will acknowledg that this Harold came to the Imperial Crown of England a totius Anglie Primatibus ad Regale Culmen electus Abâ—ev Chron. Rad. de dicâ—ro fo 479. by a general Election of the Chief of the Nation yet there is an Ancient Author calls him Conqueror And what then shall we think of the signification of the word but that it was an Acquest at most and that too by the Voice and Suffrage of the People saith he MS. ex Bib. Domini Wild defuncti Heraldus strenuus Dux Conquestor Angliae But Sir this is not all I must beg your patience and leave for the better illustration of the word Conquest and to disabuse the World in this Point to present you with this following Summary SERIES Of the Stiles of our several descendant Kings from this William the First inclusively to the Great King Edward the Third and therein make an Observation which perhaps as yet hath scarcely been taken notice of The Stiles of the Kings 1. WIllielmus W. 1. Rex Anglorum c. and sometimes Willielmus Cognomento Bastardus Rex Anglorum c. 2. Willielmus W. 2. Rufus Rex Anglorum c. and sometimes Willielmus Dei Gratia Rex Anglorum c. 3. Henricus H. 1. Rex Anglorum c. and sometimes Henricus Willielmi Magni Regis Filius 4. Stephanus Steph. Rex Anglorum c. and sometimes Stephanus Dei Gratia Rex Anglorum c. 5. Henricus H. 2. omitted Dei Gratia and used this Stile Henricus Rex Angliae c. and sometimes Henricus Filius Imperatricis Matildae Rex Angliae c. 6. Richardus R. 1. Rex Angliae c. 7. Johannes Iohn Rex Angliae c. and added this Dominus Hiberniae 8. Henricus H. 3. Filius Johannis Rex Angliae c. 9. Edwardus E. 1. Rex Angliae c. 10. Edwardus E. 2. Filius Edwardi primi Rex Angliae c. And now we are come to the great Epocha of Time when the Stile of our Kings altered Edward the Third in the beginning of his Reign in several Records writ himself Edwardus Filius Edwardi Filii Edwardi that is Edward the Son of Edward the Second the Son of Edward the First But this distinction not being well approved of and having considered that before the Conquest there had been two King Edwards he in all Fines and in general Records writ himself Edwardus Rex Angliae c. tertius post Conquestum which was done in the second Year of his Reign Anno Dom. 1328. which Rule was followed by Richard 2. Hen. 4. Hen. 5. Hen. 6. and so to succeeding Kings downwards And Sir to give you a further proof that King William did not Cancel and Abolish all the English Laws nor change as is so much affirmed the whole Frame and Constitution of the Government be pleased to hear the Judgment of Mr. Selden and the Opinion of Sir Winston Churchill and I hope they are such unquestionable Authorities as may sufficiently ballance if not totally depress the fiercest of Gain-sayers I shall begin with the great and ever famous Selden for whose Memory as truly deserving I have the highest regards and shall transcribe his words at large which may not only serve for a good Solution to this your Second Question but indeed may possibly fully satisfy you as to your other three His words are The Laws
a form of Combination as he himself could not desire to introduce a better and if any thing look'd like Absolute 't was his disarming them when he found them thus Law-bound hand and foot From this Authority Sir I think it is very plain and obvious That I. Here was no Absolute Conquest II. That neither were all the Saxon Laws cancelled and abolished by the coming in of this Conqueror I. That here was no Absolute Conquest because 1. Tho' here was an invading England yet it was upon pretence of a Donation of the Soveraignty from Edward the Confessor confirmed by his last Will and that in the presence of most of the English Nobility And so it was only an endeavour to get his own upon the Claim of an alledged just Title which shewed he had at least more reason to demand than Harold who at best was an Usurper to detain the Crown And so the Quarrel to be more Personal than National 2. The Conquest could not be Absolute for tho' he was by a happy success over Harold possessor of the English Throne yet saith my Author The Nation continued nescia vinci so that whenever he was Tyrannical and Arbitrary they were continually vexing him with their Revolts 3. This Conquest could not be absolute because then the English must have been perfect Slaves and Vassals to his uncontroulable Beck but alas here Sir Winston tells you the Norman Conqueror could find them no such easy Beasts of Burthen their Necks would not bear the Yokes of his Severity for they were several times up in Arms against him and that after they had submitted to him so that at most this could be but a submission upon terms 4. He was so far from being in love with the gawdy name of Conqueror that when some that designed to preoccupate the Grace of Servitude gave him that ungrateful Title he esteemed it the greatest misfortune his good Fortune had brought upon him And 5. The Conquest surely could not be absolute for then it would have been very idle and ridiculous for any one to say what Sir Winston no doubt but upon good and mature consideration hath thought fit to say of him that if any thing look'd like absolute and hereby you may plainly take notice that he seems to wonder how any Man can pretend to make him an absolute Conqueror when he could hardly find so much as any thing to look like it But II. I shall observe to you that neither were all the Saxon Laws cancelled and abolished by the coming in of this Conqueror 1. If King William might have done despotically whatsoever he had a mind to then what necessity was there for such a moderation of his Mind as the Author hints to us 2. Because he found the People were not to be galled with any New he chose rather but it was a choice upon Necessity to bind them stricter to him by the Old Laws that is in plain down-right English they would not yield to him nor to his Government unless he resolved to circumscribe his ruling of them within the bounds of the good Old Laws in which they were born and bred and make his French and Normans come over and buckle to them 3. He suffered himself to be so far conquered by them as to let them have their Old Laws and it was with a kind of good satisfaction too For 4. The Book tells you He contentedly bound himself up by those which they called St. Edward's Laws And was there not do ye think very good Reason for his so doing when thereby 5. He understood at length that it was a guarding his Prerogative to keep within that Cittadel of the Burrough Law 6. And lastly We cannot rationally think he would after he had thereby throughly looked into them cancel and abolish them since those Laws were such as it is said he himself could not desire to introduce a better I hope Sir all these Deductions arise naturally from the words themselves without any force or strain upon the sence and what I have said may be sufficient to convince you that King William still kept to the Saxon Laws and did not change the whole Frame and Constitution of the Government as you say is very strenuously and with heat asserted by several of our Modern Authors I shall yet make bold with your Patience Sir and shew you what Florentius Wigorniensis a famous Historian in King Stephen's Time and Brompton from him say upon this Point and so conclude my Argument Henricus primus omnes malas consuetudines injustas exactiones quibus Regnum Angliae injustè opprimebatur abstulit â—oren Wig. fol. 650. pacem firmam in toto Regno suo posuit teneri praecepit Legem Regis Edwardi omnibus in commune reddidit cum illis emendationibus quibus Pater suus illam emendavit Brompton's words are the same In Hen. 1. fol. 997 998. and therefore I shall content my self with only referring you to the Book without repeating them to you And Sir from hence we may learn 1. That this King Henry's Father William the First was so far from cancelling and abolishing K. Edward's Laws that he made them to be the Common standing Laws of the Land to be equally and inviolably observed as well by the Normans as the English for he says omnibus cam in commune reddidit unless you will understand the word Omnibus to be a particular Universal and so only to include the Normans And if so then it follows likewise That instead of the Normans giving to the English their Laws the English Laws were imposed upon the Normans 2. And whereas there were 't is confest some Additional Laws made in his Time yet you may plainly observe hence that they were grounded upon and but a better Improvement and Melioration of the Confessor's Laws and they were for the Sake Benefit and Advantage of the English as you will find hereafter 3. Henry the First Son to this Conqueror William took away omnes malas consuetudines injustas exactiones c. by which England had been sorely oppressed under his Brother William Rufus and restored the English to their former Rights and Liberties and he renewed and confirmed the Ancient Saxon Laws as his Father had done before him as it is well noted in the continuation of the History of Bede Bede Histor. lib. 3. cap. 30. fol. 347. In Concilio peritorum proborum virorum Regni Angliae 4. But if there had been no Freemen but the Normans if the Normans had all the Estates of the English given them if there were none but Normans in the Common Councils of the Kingdom how is it possible to be supposed by any that will allow themselves the free use of their Reason that Henry the First would ever make such a Grant or if he did that the Normans would ever submit to it or what is much more unlikely give their consent to out themselves of all their new-gotten Possessions
Mannors he had and as appears in Hampshire he had at least two Mannors Cerdeford and Eschetune from his Ancestors before William's Entrance And even this is a ground to believe he was a great Man that he had a Sir-name or Addition Because if we believe the Great Antiquary Camb. Rem p. 136. Mr. Cambden Sir-names were not setled among the Common People fully till about the Time of Edw. 2. 2. The Earl of Moreton a very powerful Prince â—pse Comes â—enuit Estreham T.R.E. as I may call him held Estreham in Tenrige Hundred in the Time of King Edward He enjoyed several other great Possessions of the Gift of King William I doubt not indeed but he was Norman born yet he was here before the entrance of the Norman Duke and might not improbably be in Favour with King Edward the Confessor Camb. Rem â— p. 136. who was all Frenchified He to be sure had some Lands within the Kingdom of England which he enjoyed not from William's Division Pag. 176. Hampshire 3. Ralph Mortimer held several Possessions some of which he had Iure Haereditario from before the Reputed Conquest Ipse Radulphus tenet Ordie This Mannor T.R.E. extra Ecclesiam emptum fuit eo pacto conventione ut post tertium haeredem cum omni pecunia Manerium Ecclesia Sancti Petri de Episcopatu recuperet nunc qui tenet Radulphus est tertius haeres Dorsetshire Dorsete 4. Ten Thains hold Chimedecome Ipsi tenuerunt T. R. E. pro. 1. Manerio Omnes qui has terras tenuerunt T. R. E. potuerunt ire ad quem Dominum volebant Staffordshire Statfordscire 5. Alric holds Stagrisgeshowe And Aswold holds Chrochesdene And 14. more hold Lands of Titles Ipsi has Terras renuerunt T. R. E. Prior to King William's amongst which the Earls Hugh de Ferriers and Alberic de Vere the first of which held St. Warburgh of Chester in the Time of the Confessor 6. And lastly Vctred held several Lands in the Time of King Edward as in the Time of William the First Besides several dispossessed who have their Titles allowed I think these six Instances are enough referring the more curious to Mr. Attwood's Book before mentioned or to the great Survey it self to bear out my Assertion That the English had Estates and Fortunes still in their hands which they held in King Edward's Time and did not derive under King William's Title Having now given you these six Individuals I shall offer you three more and they are from the Charters of King William the one to the Dean of St. Pauls confirming to him the Lands c. belonging to that Church and this was upon the day of his Coronation too The other is to the Abby of Westminster and the third to the City of London granting to them the Liberties and Franchises which they enjoyed in the Time of Edward the Confessor To begin with that made to the Dean of St. Pauls 1. Ego Willielmus Dei Gratia Rex Anglorum Carta Regis Williel Conquestor in Appendice in Histor Eccles. Cathedr S. Pauli By Sir Will. Dugdale fol. 190. unà cum Mathilda Reginâ Principibusque meis coram conventu Sacerdotum Dei Reverendis scilicet Archiepiscopis Aldredo Stigando caeterisque Episcopis Abbatibus hujus Patriae terras Monasterii Sancti Pauli quae in tempore Antecessorum meorum à quibuslibet hominibus ablatae fuerant injustè detentae omnes in die primi Diadematis Coronationis meae Deo ejusque Apostolo Paulo in Lundonia eorum servitoribus in perpetuùm possidendas restitui eas ex omni parte liberas esse concessi 2. William the first gives the Church of Westminster Cartae Antiq. C. C. n. 31. decimam de Wic de eadem parte quae ad me pertinebat atque iterùm reddidi eandem partem eis injustè ablatam quà m Rex Edwardus antea dederat So that we see that as on the one hand William the First gave them the Tithes of that part which was his right so likewise he restored the Tithes of that part which was unjustly taken from that Church and which Edward the Confessor had before given And no Conquest was here pretended but the Precedent proves the quite contrary viz. that there was none insisted on 3. And now I come to that respecting the City of London Williem King grets Williem Bisceop and Godfred * Porteregravan portgrave Saxonicè Porterefan ealle ya Burghwarn binnen London Frencise Englise frendlice Hollinshead's 3 d Vol. fol. 15. 2. Col. n. 21 IC kiden eoy yeet IC wille yeet git ben ealra weera la gayweord ye get weeran on Eadwerds daege Kings And IC wille yeet aelc child by his Fader yrfnume aefter his Faders daege And IC nelle ge Wolian yeet adnig man eoy aenis wrang beode God eoy heald Willielmus Rex Salutat Willielmum Episcopum Goffridum Portegrefium omnem Burghware infra London Frans. Angl. amicabilitèr Et vobis notum faeio quòd ego volo quòd vos sitis omni lege illa digni qua fuistis Edwardi diebus Regis Et volo quod omnis Fuer sit Patris sui haeres post diem Patris sui Et ego nolo pati quòd aliquis homo aliquam injuriam vobis inferat Dens vos salvet Englished in Stow's Survey of London Stow 's Survey of London fol. 740. thus William King grete William Bishop and Godfrey Porters and al the Burgeis within London Frensh and English And I grant you that I wyll that yee be all your Lawe worth that ye were in Edwardis dayes the King And I wyl that ich Childe be his Faders Eyer And I nyl suffur that ony Man you any wrongys beed And God you kepe Now 't is evident from this Charter 1. That it was made immediately upon or after the Coronation of William because you see he stiles himself King 2. This may seem to justify not only what the Historians who lived nearest his Time as Pictaviensâ—s c. but what his own Laws do likewise declare viz. That he was crowned King by compact with the English and at the same time swore inviolably to observe King Edwards Laws which he confirmed to them 3. With this further That he denounced a severe Prohibition that no Man should offer any affront or do any wrong to the Citizens of London 4. And for a compleat assurance of all this his Love and Kindness to the City he concludes with a Prayer to Heaven That God would keep and bless them But by the way give me leave to shew you though I think likewise it does not a little contribute to the strength and validity of my Argument the Greatness and Power of the City of London in those early Times I shall transcribe the words of a Learned Writer concerning it and so leave it to your more serious consideration William Stephanides
INJUSTA AB OMNI TALLAGIO ita quod nihil ab eis exigatur vel capiatur nisi SERVITIUM SUUM LIBERUM quod de Iure nobis facere debent facere tenentur prout STATUTUM est eis illis à nobis datum et concessum JURE HaeREDITARIO in perpetuum PER COMMUNE CONCILIUM TOTIUS REGNI NOSTRI praedicti The Second Branch is 2. Hoc quoque praecipimus Id c. 63. UT OMNES HABEANT ET TENEANT LEGES EDWARDI REGIS in omnibus rebus adauctis hiis quas constituimus AD UTILITATEM ANGLORUM Sir I think by these two Branches you may plainly see King William when he came in was so far from forcibly taking away the Lands and Possessions of the English and sharing them among his Normans that he doth if possible more strongly establish their Esâ—ates to them by confirming the good and ancient Laws of Edward the Confessor which were their best security of all they enjoyed before his entrance and not only so but by freeing them from all unjust Taxes and Exactions excepting only their free Service which of right was owing to him and which they were to do as it was agreed on by themselves and granted by him to them by hereditary Right for ever and that by the Common Council of the whole Kingdom and this was done too wholly for the sake and benefit of the English I shall trouble you Sir with one more very memorable Record as late as to the 26. Hen. 3. which shews That from before the coming in of this Norman Conqueror down to that Time the English had a Property continued to them and so then this MIGHTY MAN of VICTORY did not govern them as an entire and absolute Conqueror what-ever our late Writers have been pleased to publish to the World The words of the Record are Pro Iacobo Archamgere Communia de Term. â—â—nct Mich. 35. sin An. 36. incipien H. 3. Roâ— pr. penes Remem dom Thes. Rex Baronibus Jus Anglorum ab Antiq. p. 112 113. Serjantia tempore Edwardi Confes. Mandamus vobis quod occasione arrentationis Serjantiarum assessae per Robertum Passelewe non distringas Jacobum de Archamgere per 2. Marc. dimid de Tenemento quod de nobis tenet per Serjantiam in Archamgere in Comitatu Southampton c. per Chartam Beati Regis Edwardi Antecessoribus ipsius Jacobi super hoc confectam sed ipsum Jacobum de praedictis 2. Marcis dimid ' quietum esse faciatis in perpetuum quia Chartam praefati beati Edwardi confirmavimus ipsam volumus inviolabiliter observari Breve est in forulo Marescalli Mandatum est Vicecomiti South-hampton comparat die Iovis die 15. Ian. Anno Domini c. The English of it is this For Iacob Archamgere The King to the Barons We command you that by the occasion of the Rent of Serjanties assessed by Robert Passelewe you shall not distrain Iacob of Archamgere by two Marks and an half for the Tenement which he holds of us by Serjantie in Archamgere in the County of Southampton and granted by the Charter of the Blessed King Edward to the Ancestors of this Iacob but he the said Iacob shall for ever be freed from the aforesaid two Marks and an half because we have confirmed the Charter of the aforementioned St. Edward and we will have it to be inviolably observed I shall make no Remarks upon this Charter because it is obvious to every intelligent Reader the thing I drive at is to prove That the English were not violently dispossessed of their Properties which they quietly held and enjoyed in the Time of Edward the Confessor but that they still enjoyed them as before notwithstanding all the vain pretences to the contrary And now Sir I shall close up this third Point with a remarkable Passage or two out of Ordericus Uitalis a famous Historian who lived and writ in the latter end of the Reign of H. 1. and beginning of K. Stephen and for that reason must needs be admitted next to a Testis Ocularis for a Testimony beyond all exceptions His words are Omnia disponente Deo in spatio trium mensium per Angliam pacata sunt cunctique Orderic Vitalis Eccles Hist. lib. 3. fol. 503. Praesules Regnique Proceres cum Willielmo concordiam fecerunt ac ut Diadema Regium sumeret sicut Mos Anglici Principatus exigit oraverunt Hoc summoperè flagitabant Normanni qui pro fasce Regali nanciscendo suo Principi subierunt ingens discrimen maris Praelii Hoc etiam divino Nutu subacti optabant Indigenae Regni qui nisi coronato Regi servire hactenus erant soliti The next Paragraph but one to this goes on thus Denique Anno ab incarnatione Domini MLXVII Indictione V. in die Natalis Domini Angli Lundoniae ad Ordinandum Regem convenerunt Normannorum Turmae circa Monasterium in armis equis nè quid doli seditionis oriretur praesidio dispositae fuerunt Adelredus itaque Archiepiscopus in Basilica Sancti Petri Apostolorum Principis quae Westmonasterium nuncupatur ubi Edwardus Rex venerabiliter humatus quiescit in praesentia Praesulum Abbatum Procerumque totius Regni Albionis Gulielmum Ducem Normannorum in Regem Anglorum consecravit Diadema Regium capiti ejus imposuit Gulielmus Rex multa Lundoniae postquam coronatus est prudentèr Id. lib. IV. fol. 505 506. justè clementerque disposuit quaedam ad ipsius Civitatis commoda vel dignitatem alia quae genti proficerent Universae Nonnulla quibus consuleretur Ecclesiis terrae Jura quaecumque dictavit optimis rationibus sanxit Judicium Rectum nulla persona nequicquam ab eo postulavit Neminem nisi quem non damnare iniquum foret damnavit Suis quoque Primatibus digna se gravitate praecepit diligenter aequitatem suasit Esse jugiter in Oculis habendum aeternum Regem cujus vicerint praesidio Nimium opprimi victos non opportere victoribus professione Christianâ pares nè quos justè subegerint injuriis ad rebellandum cogerent Seditiones interdixit caedem omnem rapinam fraenans ut Populos armis ita legibus Arma. Tributis cunctis rebus ad Regium siscum reddendis modum qui non gravaret imposuit Latrociniis Invasionibus Malesiciis locum omnem intra suos terminos denegavit Portus quaelibet itinera Negotiatoribus patere nullam injuriam fieri jussit Sic omnino proba ejus in regnando initia fuere incrementa probitatum ad utilitatem Subditorum liquidò fulsere que in bonis perseverantia laudabilisque finis evidentibus signis confirmavere The sence of which is King William having sworn inviolably to observe the Laws of Edward the Confessor as I have already acquainted you and being crowned King the whole English Nation in three months time quietly submitted to him which the Historian observes to be
Iani Anglorum Facies Nova And his Ius Anglorum ab Antiquo You would likewise I suppose be extreamly pleased in the perusal of another Learned and Modest Book written by an Anonymous Anthor entituled Patriarcha non Monarcha Authors for whose Names Posterity will have a greater respect than we at present have and that for their discovery of Truth and refuting so many Vulgar Errors I am SIR Your most Faithful Servant c. FINIS The Appendix ABbas de Middleton tenet in Capite de Domino Rege Mannerium de Middleton c. ex Feoffâ—menti Regis AEthelstani nullum servitium fecit nisi Orationes In Rotulo de Inquisitionibus Dominicorum Dorseâ—shire Anâ— 4to R. H. Fil. R. I. Here we see that King AEthelstan who reigned above 740 Years agoe infeoffed the Abbey of Middleton of the Mannor of Middleton and that by virtue thereof the Abbot held it in Capite 4. H. 3. and did no Service for it but only to pray for the Souls of him and other succeeding Kings and all this you see found by Inquisition in the Fourth Year of Hen. 3. Rot. Cartar 19. H. 6. Nu. 16. m. 27. per Inspex Pro Decano Capitulo Sancti Martini Magni London per Inspeximus Inspeximus Cartam quam celebris Memoriae Dominus Willielmus quondam Rex Angl. progenitor ' nostri fecit Deo Ecclesiae Sancti Martini Magni London in hec verba QUia inter multa bona opera quae fideles Christi pro animarum suarum salute operantur hoc precipun estimatur tenetur Quod institution edification Sanctae Matris Eccte devota mente impenditur in qua suorum Dei supplicationibus peccata a pio Deo diluuntur quod Moises in mystici Tabernaculi constructione pmonstravit quod etiam Salomonis industria pfiguravit dum Templum Dno Artificiosum honorabile edificaret suturam significans Eccleam summo a fidelibus debere honore decorari quorum vidlt exemplo in nomine Dm nri Iesu Christi Ego Willus Dei dispositione consanguinitatis haereditate Anglorum Basileus Normannorumque Dux Rector eujusdam fidelis mei Ingelrici scilicet petitioni acquiescens Archiepiscoporum Episcoporum Abbatuum Comitum Vniversorum procerum meorum Sacro Consilio parens omnes possessiones terrarum quas tempore venerabilis ac dilectissimi cognati predecessoris mei Regis Edwardi Idem Ingelricus acquisierat ê™ ipsius insignissimi Regis Animae Salute necnon peccatorum meorum Remissione concedo Regia auctoritate imppm corroboro confirmo Deo Eccle Beati Martini quam infra muros London sitam pfatus Ingelricus Erardus Frat ejus de propriis suis Redditibus in delictorum suorum Remediun honorabiliter ad Dei laudem Canonicalem Regulam imppm servand tenend construxerunt Sunt igitur haec terrarum nomina c. Et si quas alias libtates vel consuetudines aliqua Ecclearum Regni mei Angl meliores het si quis vero hoc in aliud quam concessimus transferre psumpferit cum Juda Proditore Dei hâ—eâ—edibas luat penas Scripta est haec Chartula An ab Incarnatione Dm M. LX. VIII scilicet secundo Anno Regni mei pacta vero est haec Donatio die Nataliâ— Dm postmodum in die Pentecost confirmat quando Matil conjux mea in Basilica Sancti Petri Westm in Reginam divino nutu est consecrata c. Ego Willus Rex Anglorum Dux Normannorum sub Sigillo Sancte ✚ quas indeclinabiliter consensi atque ✚ rol oravi Ego Matil Regina consensum prebui Ego Ricus Regis Fil annui Ego Stigandus Archiepiscopus subscripsi Ego Aldredus Archiepiscopus confirmavi Ego Willus Lond Episcopus infra cujus muros pfatum Monasterium situm est signaculo Sancte Crucis subarravi libtatem omnimodam quantumcumque mee ê‘tinet possibilitati concessi Ego Odo Baiocensis Episcopus concessi Ego Hugo Luxoniensis Episcopus intersui Ego Goiffridus Episcopus corroboravi Ego Hermannus Episcopus concessi Ego Leouricus Episcopus concessi Ego Giso Episcopus concessi Ego Edwinus Abbas Ego Wolwaldus Abbas Ego Baldwinus Abbas Ego Agelsinus Abbas Ego Turstinus Abbas Ego Brand Abbas Ego Alswinus Abbas Ego Sithricus Abbas Ego Wills Fil Osbti Comes Ego Robtus Frat Regis Comes Ego Edwinus Comes Ego Robtus Comes Ego Marchere Comes Ego Waldeof Comes Ego Rogerus de Monte Goverii Comes Ego Ricus Fil Gislebti Princeps Ego Wills Malet Princeps Ego Arfastus Regis Cancellarius Ego Michael Regis Capellanus Ego Gislbtus Capellanus Ego Osbinus Capellanus Ego Wills Capellanus Ego Thomas Capellanus Ego Bernardus Capellanus Ego Walterus Capellanus Ego Robtus Capellanus Ego Johes Sancte Romane Ecclie Cardinalis Presbit per Gallias Angl concedente Papa Alexandro vices Apostolicas gerens huic constitutioni interfui quantum Aposto ✚ lice Sedi ê‘tinuit libtatem Ecclie psenti Signo confirmavi Ego Peâ—rus Sancte Romane Ecclie similit Cardinalis Presbit Cancellarius ab eodem Papa in Angl ele ✚ gatus huic Constitutioni acquiescens propria Manu subscripsi I give you this Charter Sir as a further Proof and Evidence for me in these Particulars viz. 1. You may observe by these words Consanguinitatis haereditate Anglorum Basileus that here King William made an absolute disclaimer of Conquest in the second Year of his Reign and only insisted on what he knew full well was his surer hold his claim by Hereditary Right 2. And this is so much the more considerable as it was done in his Great Council of Arch-bishops Bishops Abbots Earls Vniversorum procerum suorum a word of a large signification as well in Historians as in Ancient Records for under the word Proceres were comprehended Principes Civium vel Civitatis And the former Instances I have given you of other General Councils and the Parts thereof in this King's Reign fully agree with this Interpretation 3. The Claim and Protestation of the Commons made the Parl. 2d H. 5. Rot. Parl. 2. H. 5. Pars secunda N. 10. which says That so as hit hath ever be their Liberte and Freedom that thar should no Statute ne Law be made of lasse then they yaffe thereto their assent considering that the Commune of your Lond the which that is and ever hath be a Membre of your Parliament been as well Assentirs as Petitioners And which was ratified and confirmed by the King and Lords and so became an Act of Parliament was but an Affirmation and Declaration of the Ancient Law of the Land And the same Right cannot be denied by any Man to the Lords 4. And that he confirmed as the Custom of succeeding Kings have done to this day all the Possessions of those Lands to the Church of St. Martins le Grand which they had in the Time of EDWARD the CONFESSOR Now if this fond Notion of William's
Argumentum Anti-Normannicum OR AN ARGUMENT PROVING From Ancient Histories and Records THAT William Duke of Normandy Made no absolute Conquest of England by the Sword in the sense of our Modern Writers Being an Answer to these four Questions VIZ. I. Whether William the First made an Absolute Conquest of this Nation at his first Entrance II. Whether he cancelled and abolished all the Confessor 's Laws III. Whether He divided all our Estates and Fortunes between himself and his Nobles IV. Whether it be not a grand Error to affirm That there were no English-men in the Common Council of the whole Kingdom London Printed by I. D. for Mat. Keinton Ionath Robinson Sam. Sprint 1682. An Explanation of the Frontispiece warranted by the Authorities cited in the following Argument NO sooner had the * King Harold victorious over the K. of Denmark Tosta Harold's Brother at York Valiant HAROLD conquered the Danish King and his own Brother the daring TOSTA but news was brought him †William D. of Normandy at the same time lands in Sussex That the NORMAN Duke was arrived at Pemsey in Sussex whereupon with haste he went to meet him and at * Harold meets him at Hastings where they â—ight Hastings gave the NORMAN battel which proved fatal to him For he was as you may see * Harold slain slain between the NORMAN Long-Bows and ENGLISH Spears leaving the Duke VICTOR in the Field WILLIAM proud with this Success marches with all speed up to Berkhamstead near LONDON The D. oomes up to London The Rest of the ENGLISH if they had look'd upon his coming as a Design to conquer the Nation and not to assert his pretended legal Title against HAROLD were then able to have driven him back to his own Country or at least found him a Tumulary in this for there was not a fifth part of the Strength of the Nation that felt the Force of the Arms but Duke WILLIAM and the ENGLISH soon came to an Agreement and the latter entred into solemn Compact to make him King Enters into Compact with the English to make him King Thereupon BRITANNIA holds forth to him the Scepter with one Hand Britan. gives him the Scepter And With the other shews him the excellent and most famous Laws of St. EDWARD And St. Edward's Laws to keep As also at the same Time a Noble Prelat tenders him the Coronation-Oath †A Bishop tenders the Coronation Oath The ENGLISH first being asked by the Bishop If they would assent to have the Duke their KING and if he should then be crowned To which they all with an unanimous consent answered Yea Yea Whereupon he takes the Coronation-Oath The VVilliam took at his Coronation the sence of which take as follows This Scepter Fairest Queen I most thankfully receive Sacramentum Willielmi Seâ—â—oris Ante â—â—stare S. Petri Apostoli coram Clero Populo jurejurando Promisit se velle Sanctas Dei Ecclesias ac Rectores earum defendere necnon cunctom Populum sibi subjectum justè ac Regali providentia regere rectam Legem Statuere tenere rapinas in justaque judicia penitùs interdicere Hoveden pars Prior. fol. 258. l. 14. Exacto prius coram omni Populo jurejurando quod se modestè erga subjectos ageret aequo sure Anglos quo Francos tractaret Malmsb. lib. 3. fol. 154. b. l. 8. Rex pro bono pacis juravit super omnes Reliquias Ecclesiae Sancti Albani Tactisque Sacrosanctis â—vangeliâ—s bonas approbatas Antiquas Regni Leges quas Sancti ac pii Angliae Reges ejus Antecessores Maxime Rex Edwardus Statuit inviolabiliter observare Mat. Paris Vitae Viginti trium Sancti Albani Abbatuum fol. 48. l. 37. and with it do solemnly Promise and Swear to govern both Church and State in Peace And I vow to Rule my Subjects with that Iustice and prudent Care as becomes a good King I will with the Advice and Consent of my Great Council enact right Law Which done * The Invocation be Witness all ye Saints that to the utmost of my Power I will my self religiously keep and observe it For what can be more vain and inconsistent with the common Reason of all Mankind than for a Prince publickly and solemnly to ordain a Law and the next moment after to break and abrogate it in his Closet All Rapines I will forbid and all false Judgments no illegal or ARBITRARY ACTS under pretence of the Preragative-Royal will I suffer or permit to the oppression of my ENGLISH Subjects between whom and my Normans I will administer EQUAL RIGHT And that God Angels my NORMANS and You O Sacred Queen may all be Witnesses and Parties to the sincerity of my Heart That I will not take the English-men's Inheritances by Injustice or thrust them out of their Paternal Possessions by wrong That I have not nor will pretend to any Absolute or Despotical Power over their Lives Liberties and Estates nor violate break or aâ—ter the Fundamental Rights of the Kingdom as Tyrants do who only design to enslave their People I do here solemnly promise and swear in the presence of all Ye mighty Powers inviolably to observe and keep the Sacred Laws of St. Edward my Kinsman Which said the Arch-bishop of York sets the Imperial Crown upon WILLIAM's Head and thus of a Duke of NORMANDY he was created KING of ENGLAND TO MY Worthy FRIEND The Learned Author of Argumentum Anti-Normannicum GReat Britain fairest Queen of all the Isles Inrich'd at Home with bounteous Natures smiles Thou such a self-sufficiency dost own All Countries need thy Stores but thou want'st none Divided from the World Thou to thy self art one The Sea and Continent proclaim Thee Great Proud Monarchs have lain Captives at thy Feet The Scales of th' Western World are in thy Hand Each Kingdom 's Fate depends on thy Command Where e're thy Friendship and thy Force combine Against that State in vain the Rest design To Thee no Ills from Forreign Foes can come The basest and more dangerous are at Home No Desert Beasts of Prey thy Land does bear But yet worse Beasts within thy Bowels are Who would thy Rights and Ancient Glories tear Those having lost their Liberty of Mind From vanquish'd Sires a weak excuse would find Are these thy Sons Or Marks of thy disgrace Who own themselves a slavish conquer'd Race The Norman Duke on Terms receiv'd the Crown Swore He 'd by Edward's Laws support his Throne Which sure no absolute Uictor would have done That Title which his Great Successor hath Came from the Pact not from the Breach of Faith That gives the Bounds to all incroaching Might And sets the Banks about the Subjects Right Who pulls them down le ts in a raging Sea Which drowns and swallows up all Property Who e're attempt to let that Torrent in At their own Houses may the Waste begin Let them for others Till
and reduce themselves back to this notorious Dilemma viz. either to live Uassals and Slaves under the English or else vertere solum return to Normandy from whence they came There is one thing more which I cannot but mention and that is The inconsiderateness of those Men who so mightily cry up the absolute Conquest of William the First over the English as if they were utterly broken and crushed and all their Laws and Customs destroyed when as it is demonstrably manifest Sim. Dunelm An. 1088. fol. 214. Angli cum fideliter juvabant that at the Time of Robert and his Normans Treason and Conspiracy against William Rufus then King and his Brother to cut off him and make Robert King in his room I say then the Interest of the English was so great and powerful that it kept the Crown upon Rufus's Head maugre all the Power of the Normans who universally joined with Robert But Sir now I will consider the import of your next Question The Third Question III. Whether it be true The Anonimous Author against Mr. Petyr p. 43. That the English had neither Estates nor Fortunes left but all was divided between the King and his Normans THough it be confessed that this first William obtained the Imperial Crown of England yet I think I have clearly made it out to you Sir that it was by a Reception upon Terms and not by Right of Conquest and it is no less obvious that the Laws in general which were after such his Acquisition ratified and confirmed and which continued in full force and power were the old Saxon Laws and though it cannot be denied but that he did introduce some new Laws of his own yet those quas constituimus you have heard were made ad utilitatem Anglorum for the Benefit and Advantage of the English without the least mention either of the French or Normans And observable too it is that those Laws were made per Commune Concilium totius Regni Apud Lambard inter Leges Guliel primi fol. 170. de Statut. 55. 1. And if so Sir me-thinks this seems as one strong Argument that the English could not have all their Estates Fortunes violently ravished from them nor the King and his Normans at their coming in could not absolutely sweep away all the Stakes because the good Old Law was still in its full being and virtue * Co. 12. Report fol. 65. which was the Metwâ—nd and Measure to try the Causes of the Subjects and †In his first Speech to his first Parliament in Engl. Stat. 1. Jac. c. 2. fol. 1157. by which saith the wise King Iames the People's security of Lands Livings and Priviledges were preserved and maintained and which also is * K. Charl. 1. Declaration to all his Loving Subjects published with the Advice of his Privy Council Exact Collect. c. p 28. the Inheritance of every Subject and the only security he can have for his Life or Estate And then they could not lose all they had at this rate but it must be by a manifest wrong to the Priviledg as well as well-being of the People and no doubt if the Law had its due course as I have made that plain it had but that their Native Rights were easily recoverable and the ravaging Normans could not keep them in spight of all Justice for that were a total abolishing of the Law 2. But in the next place Sir I make no question but that I shall convince you that the English at least those who lived in Peace before and at his coming to the possession of the English Throne did quietly and peaceably enjoy their Inheritances and their Titles and Claims to them from their Saxon Ancestors were held good and allowed which to be sure they never could have done had this Kingdom received such an universal Change and Revolution as so many of our late Learned Authors would needs have us firmly to believe Saith Sir Richard Baker Sir Ric. Baker's Chronic. fol. 23. in his Chronicle of this King's Life and Reign Though he hath had the Name of Conqueror yet he used not the Kingdom as gotten by Conquest for he took no Man's living from him nor dispossessed any of their Goods but such only whose demerit made them unworthy to hold them as appears by his Act to one Warren a Norman to whom he had given the Castle of Sherborne in Norfolk The Story is faithfully this as you may find in Cambden's Britannia The King it seems had given away Sherborne to Warren a Norman and one that was his great Favourite which Edwinus de Sherborne perceiving who was the true Owner of the Castle and an English Man demands before the King his right in open Court tells him it did de jure belong to him upon this Reason of Law for that he never had took up Arms against the King either before his coming in or since whereupon the King Mr. Petyr's Ancient Right of the Commons of England asserted Pref. p. 24. vinculo juramenti astrictus gave Judgment of Right against the Norman and Sherborne recovered the Lordship Sir Henry Spelman tells you the Story which he hath taken out of an Ancient Manuscript concerning the Family of the Sharborns thus Spelm. Gloss. verbo Drenches p. 184. Edwinus de Sharborne quidam alii qui ejecti fuerunt è terris suis abierunt ad Conquestorem dixerunt ei quod nunquam ante Conquestum nec in Conquestu suo nec post fuerunt contra ipsum Regem in Consilio Auxilio sed tenuerunt so in pace Et hoc parati sunt probare quomodo ipse Rex vellet ordinare Per quod idem Rex fecit inquiri per totam Angliam si ita fuit quod quidem probatum fuit propâ—er quod idem Rex praecepit ut omnes illi qui sic tenuerunt se in pace in forma praedicta quod ipsi rehaborent omnes terras donationes suas adeo integrè in pace ut unquam habuerunt vel tenâ—erunt ante Conquestum suum That is Edwin of Sharborn and several others that were ejected out of their Estates and Possessions went to the Conqueror and told him that they never either before or in or after the Conquest were against him the said King either by their Advice or any other Aid but kept themselves peaceably and quietly And this they were ready to make out which way soever the King pleased to appoint Whereupon the said King ordered an Inquisition to be made throughout all England whether it were so or no which was plainly proved Therefore he presently commanded that all those who so kept themselves peaceably in manner aforesaid as these had done should be repossessed of all their Estates and Inheritances as fully amply and quietly as ever they had or held them before his Conquest This is a Case so full to the Point and so plain to every common Understanding in its self that it
Stephanid Descriptio Nobilissimae Civitatis Londoniae in Stow 's Survey c. fol. 704. de sitâ— ejusdem a Monk of Canterbury born as Stow saith in his fore-cited Book of Worshipful Parents in the City of London and who lived in the Reign of King Stephen in his description of it hath these words Inter Nobiles Vrbes Orbis quas fama celebrat Civitas Londonia Regni Anglorum sedes una est quae famam sui latiùs diffundit opes merces longiùs transmittit caput altius extollit Foelix est aëris salubritate Christianâ Religione firmitate munitionum naturâ sitûs honore Civium pudicitiâ matronali ludis etiám quà m jucunda Nobilium foecunda virorum Vrbs ista viris est honorata Id. fol. 705. armis decorata multo habitatore populosa ut tempore Bellicae cladis sub Rege Stephano bello apti ex eâ— exeuntes ostentatui haberentur 20000 Armatorum Equitum 60 mille Peditum aestimarentur Cives Londoniae ubicunque locorum prae omnibus aliis Civibus ornatu morum vestium mensae locutione spectabiles noti habentur Which in English is thus Of all the celebrated Cities in the World this of London is the Metropolis of England a City of a very extensive Fame in its self but much more honourable by the Native Treasure and Commodities which she exporteth Happy is she in the temperature of her Climate in the soundness of her Doctrine strength of her Forts agreeableness of her Situation in the Credit and Reputation of her Citizens the unblemish'd Chastity of the Female Sex innocently pleasant even in her Recreations and honoured with a numerous Train of Nobility The Grandeur of this City chiefly consists in the Properness and Valour of her Men in the bravery of her Armour the multitude of her Inhabitants so that in the fatal Wars in King Stephen's Reign there appeared on a Muster 20000 Horse and 60000 Foot all armed Souldiers The Citizens of London are known and esteemed beyond all other Persons wheresoever they travel for their gentile Deportment their good Apparel their Table and Discourse So that we see from hence that in the Reign of King Stephen who was Nephew to King William the First from whose Death to King Stephen's Reign there were not fifty Years the City of London was very great and powerful but had the English Citizens been all destroyed and had all their Estates and Fortunes been as is so positively affirmed taken away from them by William the First it had been impossible in so short a Time for them to have risen again to that degree of Fame and Renown through all this part of the World as the Historian who was an Eye-Witness of it so credibly assures us My next design is to shew you That from the General Direction of the Writs and Charters in King William the First his Time it is plainly demonstrable that William the pretended Conqueror did not divide all the Lands of England amongst his Norman followers to hold of him 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rob. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dugdal Hist. of St. Pauls in the Appendix fol. 196. ealle his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id est 1. W. Rex Saluto Osmundum Episcopum Saresburiensem Nota Here are English Sheriffs and other English Officers as well as French â— Robertum de Ely Petrum de Valoniis omnesque praefectos suos et fideles Francos et Anglos amicè 2. Willem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mines b'pes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chart. Antique I. Willem gret mines Bishops Here were Engl. Thains Thahi Appellatione viâ—i interdum Nobiles interdum liberae Conditionis Homines interdum Magistratus atque saepenumeâ—o Ministri notantur Gloss. in sin Lambard de pâ—is Angl leg fol. 223. Col. 1. tic Thanus and mind Eorles and ealle mind Thegnes Freneisse and Englisce 3. W. Rex Anglorum Monast. Angl. Vol. 1. fo 185. O. Episcopo Sarisburiensi et L. Abbati Glastoniensi et A. Vicecomiti omnibusque Baronibus Francigenis et Anglis de Sumerseta et de Wiltunscire Salutem 4. Willielmus Rex Angliae Archiepiscopo T. Eboraci Id. fol. 397. et Iusticiariis et Vicecomitibus et omnibus Baronibus Fidelibus suis Francis et Anglis de Eboraciscire et de Carleoli Salutem 5. Willielmus Rex Anglorum Walterio Vicecomiti Id. sol 29. et omnibus Baronibus suis Francigenis et Anglis de Comitatu de Glocestre Salutem 6. Willielmus Dei Gratia Rex Anglorum Id. ibid. Fidelibus suis Francigenis et Anglis Salutem 7. Willielmus Rex Anglorum Episcopo de Suthsexa et Vicecomiti Id. ibid. et caeteris Baronibus suis Francigenis et Anglis Salutem 8. Willielmus Rex Angliae Id. Vol. 2. so 845. G. Vicecom ' et Baronibus suis de Caerleil Salutem 9. Willielmus Rex Angliae Thomae Archiepiscopo et Bertramo de Verdun Id. fol. 845. et Baronibus suis Francis et Anglis de Everwicscire Salutem 10. Henricus Rex Angliae Richardo Episcopo London Cart. Antiq. N et Vic' et Praeposito et omnibus Baronibus et Fidelibus suis Francis et Anglis de London et Middlesex Salutem 11. Henricus Rex Angliae Vic' et Baronibus London Id. Ibid. 12. Henricus Dei Gratia Rex Angliae Dugdal Hist. of St. Pauls in the Appendix fol. 197. Archiepiscopis et Episcopis et Comitibus Angliae et Hugoni de Boclande et omnibus Baronibus fidelibus suis Francis et Anglis de Lundonia et de Middlesexa et de tota Anglia Salutem By these Writs and Charters Sir though many more of the like nature might easily be given I think with submission my Argument is firmly maintained and the plain English of them all is no more than this That in William the first 's Time there were English Barons as well as French Barons in Somersetshire and Wiltshire in York-shire and Carlisle in Gloucestershire and in Sussex and the direction of the Writs and Charters is equally given to them both without any difference of Power or Authority mentioned otherwise than that the French Barons had the precedency of the English in those Writs and Charters * As is assersed by the said Anonimus Author against Mr. Petyt p. 151. With what force of truth then can it be defended That the Norman Nobility were at that time the only Nobility I appeal to the World But I pray now hear two Branches of his MAGNA CHARTA or Great Charter which he granted to the English and they run thus 1. Volumus etiam ac firmiter praecipimus concedimus Apud Cl. Lambard LL. Will. pâ—im fol. 170. c. 55. ut omnes liberi homines totius Monarchiae Regni nostri praedicti habeant teneant terras suas possessiones suas bene in pace liberè AB OMNI EXACTIONE
by Divine Providence And they much relyed upon the force of that Solemn Dath he took and great cause they had for their doing so for Remarkable is it that in the beginning of his Reign he made a conscience to keep it and this the Historian plainly proves for so far was he from pretending to be a Conqueror or from exercising absolute Power and Soveraignty over the English that you see he denied to none right Judgment who required it of him he condemned none but those who deserved it by the condemnation of the Law he strictly commanded his great Men to whom he had given the Estates of those who had been bold in Arms against him under King Harold that they should behave themselves with all due moderation and temper and he invited them to Acts of Iustice by his Example He charged them always to have God before their Eyes by whose Arms they had so far overcome That they should nay ought not too much to oppress those they had got the better of who were Christians with them lest those whom they had justly subdued should by such their Oppressions be forced to rebel again he strictly forbad them all Violences that they should restrain themselves from all Cruelties and Rapines That as the People should be kept in Peace by his Arms so their Arms should submit to and be governed by the Laws Nor did he only give this admirable Advice Apud Lambar LL. Wil. prim fol. 170. c. 55. but he prudently governed himself and set easy Boundaries to those Services Taxes Aids quod de jure facere debent which were due to him by the Law he absolutely denied all Pardons and Grace to Robbers and all disturbers of the Publick Peace and wicked Persons He commanded all the Roads to be free and open for Travellers and that no Injuries should be done them so that the beginning of his Reign was as it were a Golden Age and his Clemency and other Acts of Goodness still shone brighter to the happiness of his Subjects which was confirmed towards the Loyal and Dutiful by his steady and commendable perseverance Where in all this is there any pretence to absolute Conquest and despotical Dominion And now to conclude I shall produce an Evidence that is omni exceptione major it is Gulielmus Pict avensis who as Ordericus Vitalis in fine litri tertii writes was Regis Gulielmi Capellanus and writ the Acts of William the First And he categorically says it That Nulli tamen Gallo datum est quod Anglo cuiquam injustè fuerit ablatum that is according to the Judgment given in Sharborn's case That those who had kept themselves unconcerned and had neither consilio vel auxilio assisted Harold against William had the full and free benefit of the Saxon Laws and had not their Estates unjustly taken from any of them and given to his French and Normans Gulielm Pictavens in Gesta Gulielm Ducis Norman Regis Anglorum fol. 208. But I will leave this Sir and now come to your fourth and last Question The Fourth Question IV. Whether it be not a Grand Error to affirm The Anonimus Author against Mr. Petyt p. 37. That there were no English Men in the Common Council of the whole Kingdom OVr Government In his Argument for the Bishops Right in judging in Capital Causes in Parliament Postscript p. 2 saith the Learned and most judicious Mr. Hunt by a King and Estates of Parliament is as ancient as any thing can be remembred of the Nation The attempt of altering it in all Ages accounted Treason and the punishment thereof reserved to the Parliament by 25. Ed. 3. The conservancy of the Government being not safely to be lodged any where but with the Government it self Offences of this Kind not pardonable by the King because it is not in his Power to change it This is Our Government and thus it is established and for Ages and immemorial Time hath thus continued a long succession of Kings have recognized it to be such This too perhaps will be granted Sir in some sence that for a long Series and Tract of Time the Government hath been so but the main pinch and stress of your Question as I apprehend it is this Whether after William the Conqueror had setled himself as well as he could on the English Throne he did admit any of the English to sit in the Great Council of the Nation and to Advise and Consult de arduis Vrgentibus negotiis Regni And I hope this I shall make plain and evident to you That the Grand Court of Parliament was in substance the same that it was before the coming in of this Conqueror and that there were English Men Members of it in the Time of the Conqueror 'T is not to be denied but that the same Courts that were in the Saxon Time for administration of Justice continued after William the first was made King and the Footsteps of them remain yet to this day I shall mention a few and so come to the main Point in Argument 1. County Courts 1. As it was their Wisdom to preserve the Ancient Land-marks LL. Hen. 1. c. 6 apud Lambard fol. 180. so was it likewise both their Wisdom and their Care to continue their due Privileges and Interests Their County Courts were still kept up and every County had its Court and every Court its wonted Jurisdiction L L. Guil. c. 42 fol. 168. no complaint must be to the King's Court if Right might be done in the County no Distress must be taken but by Warrant from the County and that must be after complaint thrice made L L. Guil. c. 6â—â— The County Court must be called as our Ancestors have appointed such as will not come as they ought shall be first summoned and in case of default distrained at the fourth default Reddatur de rebus hujus hominis quod calumpniatum est quod dicitur Ceargel insuper Regis forisfactura that is The Complainant shall be satisfied out of the Distresses so taken and the King also for his Fine These are the express Laws of the Conqueror's own establishment The last of which also was confirmed by another express Law saving that he would allow but of two Summons and two Distresses before Execution I shall give you a memorable case to prove the continuance of this Court Odo Selden 's Titles of Honour 2d Part c. 5 f. 581 â— Eadmer His. Nov. l. 1. p. 9 videsis notas ad eundem p. 197. de placito apud Pinendenem inter â—anfrancum Archiepisâ—opum Odonem Bajocensâ—m Episcopum the Conqueror's half Brother was by him made Earl of Kent and therewith had the Gift of a large Territory in Kent and taking advantage of the King's displeasure at Stigand the Arch-bishop of Canterbury possessed himself by Disseisin of divers Lands and Tenements belonging to that See Lanfrank the succeeding Arch-bishop being informed hereof petitioned
to the King that Iustice might be done him secundum Legem Ierrae and the King sends forth a Writ to summon a County Court The Debate lasted three days before the Freemen of the County of Kent in the presence of many chief Men Bishops and Lords and others skilful in the Laws and the Iudgment passed for the Arch-bishop Lanfrank upon the Uotes of the Freemen This County Court was holden by special Summons and not by adjournment as was allowable by the Saxon Law upon special occasions And this Suit was originally begun and had its final determination in the County Court And the County Courts in those days were of so great esteem that two of the greatest Peers of the Realm one a Norman the other an Italian did cast a Title in fifteen Mannors two Lordships with many Liberties upon the Uotes of the English Freeholders in a County Court and that the Sentence was allowed and commended by the King and submitted to by all But 2. Hundred Courts 2. The Hundred Courts were still continued and they were of two sorts The first whereof was holden twice a Year and all the Free-holders within the Hundred were bound to appear for the service of their Fees and was the Sheriff's Court and such appearances were called the Sheriffs Turnes where it belonged to Sheriffs to enquire of all Personal Offences and of all their Circumstances done within those Hundreds The other was the more ordinary Court belonging to the Lord of the Hundred to whom also belonged the Fines in cases there concerned This Court was to be held once in each Month and no suit to be begun in the King's Court that regularly ought to begin in the Hundred No Distringas to issue forth till three demands made in the Hundred And three Distresses then to issue forth and if upon the fourth the Party appear not execution then to be by Sale of the Distress and the Complainant to receive satisfaction 3. And so likewise were the Court Barons c. continued and the Lords held Pleas either in their own Persons or by their Stewards But not to forget Sir your Question I shall now shew you what the Soveraign Court of Parliament was and whom it consisted of in the Saxon Times and for this I think it will be needless to give you any more than one Instance which as by the way it does impregnably assert That the Commons of England were an Essential and Constituent Part of the Saxon General Councils so doth it I think fully and clearly refute and bassle that novel Erroneous Notion The Anonimous Authâ—r p. 20. in the Margin viz. That there are no Commons to be found in the Saxon great Councils Idem p. 13 14. nor any thing that tends towards the proof of theâ— Commons of those Times to have had any share in making Laws in those Councils The memorable Instance is the mighty Law of Tythes which was made and ordained A Rege Baronibus Populo Lambard de priscis Augl Legibus c. â— fol. 139 By the King his Barons and his People Spelm. Concil Tom. 1. f. 621. Now William the first in that little time of Rest he had from Forreign Wars with the French King and his Neighbouring Princes to Normandy did apply both it and himself in the setting of Laws here which was done not ex plenitudine Regiae Potestatis no nor by the Norman Barons co-operating with that Power but by the joint Advice and unanimous Consent of the Grand Council of the Lords and wise Men of the Kingdom of England To prove which I shall produce the Testimony of Ancient Writers whom no Man of Historical understanding can modestly impeach of Partiality Faction or Interest in the Case in Question 1. The first shall be taken out of the Chronicle of Litchfield Lambard fol. 158. which tells us That this William in the fourth Year of his Reign at London Consilio Baronum suorum by the Advice of his Barons caused a General Meeting or Assembly to be summoned Per universos Angliae Comitatus omnes Nobiles Sapientes sud Lege eruditos ut eorum Leges consuetudines audiret i.e. of all the Nobility wise Men and such as were skilled in the Laws through all the Counties of England to hear what their Laws and Customs were And after this was done at the request of the English Community he did consent that they should be confirmed and so they were ratified and kept throughout all his Kingdom The words are Ad preces Communitatis Anglorum ex illo die Magna Authoritate veneratae per universum Regnum corroboratae conservatae sunt Leges Sancti Regis Edwardi prae caeteris Regni Legibus From this Testimony I think it will plainly appear 1. That the Barones sui here of William cannot absolutely exclude the English and only signify his Norman Barons upon those Authorities and Reasons I have already offered to prove That there were equally Barones Francigeni Angli nostri in his Time as you may see in my Argument under the third Question 2. That the King having by the Counsel of these his Barons summoned all the Nobility wise Men and those that were skilled in the Laws of the Land throughout all the Counties of England he then and there ratified and confirmed the Laws of St. Edward 3. And to prove that this general Assembly of the Nobility wise Men and able Lawyers were a PARLIAMENT I shall now give you the Judgment of Mr. Selden Selden's Tit. of Hon. f. 580. in his own words which are these viz. That William the first in the fourth Year of his Reign or MLXX. which was the Year wherein he first brought the Bishops and Abbots under the Tenure of Barony Consilio Baronum suorum saith Hoveden In Hen. 2. p. 343 E. Lond. out of a Collection of Laws written by Glanvill Fecit summoniri per universos Consulatus Angliae Anglos Nobiles Sapientes sua Lege eruditos ut eorum jura Consuetudines ab ipsis audiret And twelve were returned out of every County who shewed what the Customs of the Kingdom were which being written by the hands of Aldred Arch bishop of York and Hugo Bishop of London were with the Assent of the same Barons for the most part confirmed in that Assembly which was a Parliament of that Time And a little lower he saith This might be the same Parliament wherein the Controversy between Thomas Arch-bishop of York he was consecrated after the death of Aldred the same Year and to the same Year this Controversy is attributed and Vlstan Bishop of Worcester touching certain Possessions was determined So that from hence 't is easy to observe That 1. There were English Men in this Council by the words ANGLOS NOBILES c. And 2. Besides the Confirmation of the Laws of St. Edward here mentioned it may reasonably be supposed That the Law for bringing the Bishops and
or Distress and in the same sence are used in the Custumary That which puts it further out of scruple is That there are yet extant the Manuscripts themselves of the Saxon Laws made in the Parliamentary Councils held by them here which are in the Language and Character of those Times and contain in them many of those things which are in the Norman Custumary It is no improbable Opinion That there was a former Establishment of our Laws in Normandy before the Time of Hen. 1. and that it was by Edward the Confessor who as all Writers of our History agree was a great Collector and Compiler of our English Laws He lived a long time with his Kinsman Duke William in Normandy who was willing to please the Confessor in hopes to be appointed by him to be his Sucâ—essor wherein the Duke's Expectation did not fail him The Confessor having no Children and finding Normandy without a setled Government and wanting Laws advised with his Kinsman Duke William to receive from him the Laws of England which he had collected and to establish them in Normandy which Duke William and his Lords readily accepted for the good of their People and thereby obliged the Confessor Another proof hereof is That such Laws as the Normans had before the Time of Duke William were different from those in the Custumary and from the English Laws As their Law That the Husband should be hanged if his Wife were a Thief and he did not discover it The meaner People were as Slaves and the like and the Trial of Theft by Ordeil which then was not in England Wigorniensis reports That the Normans who came in with Queen Emma the Wife of Etheired were so hated of the English for their injustice and false Iudgment that in the Time of King Canutus they were for this cause banished and it is the less probable that they being so unjust themselves should introduce so just Laws as ours are Between the Conquest of Normandy by Rolio and the Invasion of England by Duke William there were not above 160 Years that of Normandy was about Anno 912. that of England Anno 1060. It is not then consonant to Reason that those Normans Pagans a rough Martial People descended from so many Barbarous Nations should in the time of 150 Years establish such excellent Laws among themselves and so different from the French Laws among whom they were and all parts in the World except England And such Laws which were not only fit for their Dukedom and small Territory but fit also for this Kingdom which in those days was the second in Europe for Antiquity and Worth by confession of most Forreign Historians If we will give credit to their own Authors this Point will be sufficiently evinced by them These words are in the Proem of the Custumary which is entituled Descriptio Normanniae Hucusque Normannicae CONSVETVDINES LATOREM sive Datorem SANCTVM EDWARDVM Angliae Regem c. The same is witnessed by Chronica Chronicorum That St. Edward King of England gave the Laws to the Normans when he was long harboured there And that he made both the Laws of England and Normandy appears sufficiently by the conformity of them for which he cites several Particulars as of Appeals and the Custom of England ad probandum aliquid per credentiam duodecim hominum vicinorum which he saith remained in Normandy to that day Polydore forgetting himself what he wrote in another place saith of King Henry the Seventh that when a Doubt was made upon the Proposal of Marriage of his Daughter to Scotland that thereby England might in time be subject unto Scotland The King answered No and that England as the Greater will draw it to Scotland being the less and incorporate it to the Laws of England as saith the Historian it did Normandy though the owner thereof was Conqueror of England And Sir Roger Owen in his Manuscript affirms That there is not any of our Historians that lived in the space of 200 Years immediately after the Conquest which doth describe our Laws to be taken away and the Norman Custom introduced by the Conqueror Some of them and not improbably mention the alteration of some part of them and the bringing in some Norman Customs effectual for the keeping of the Peace There is yet behind the great Argument most insisted on and often urged by the Gentlemen of another Opinion which is the Title of William who is called the Conqueror from whence they conclude That by his Conquest he changed the Laws and Government of this Nation and that his Successors reckon the beginning of their Reigns from his Conquest To this is answered That a posse ad esse non valet Argumentum the Conquering of the Land is one thing the introducing of new Laws is another thing but there is direct proof to the contrary of this Argument Duke William never Sir-named himself the Conqueror nor was so called in his life-life-time as may appear by all the Letters Pattents and Deeds that he made wherein he is called Guilielmus Rex Dux c. never Conquestor and our Ancient Historians give him the same Titles and not that of Conqueror In the Title of Nubrigensis's Book he is Sirnamed William the Bastard Malmsbury calls him William the First Hoveden William the Elder Adam de Monmoth saith That 1. Ed. 3. this word Conquest was found out to denote and distinguish the certain Edward because two of the same name were Predecessors to this King and to the Conqueror who claimed the Crown as Heir to Edward the Confessor but saith he we call him the Conqueror for that he overcame Harold Duke William himself claimed to be King of England as Successor and Adopted Heir of the Confessor by his Will and Harold's renounceing of his Title by Oath The Register of St. Albans Matth. Paris and others attest That the Barons of England did homage to him as Successor and he relied on them in his Forreign Wars and the Check given to him by the Kentish Men and the Forces gathered by the Abbot of St. Albans brought him to engage to confirm the Laws of the Confessor and as his Successor by legal Right they admitted him to be their King Volaterus writes That he was made Heir to the Confessor and was Vncle to him Another affirms That Edward by his Will left England to him Paulus AEmilius and Fulgasius are to the same purpose Pope Alexander the 11 th sent him a Banner as Witness that with a safe Conscience he might expel Harold the Tyrant because the Crown was due to him by the Confessors Will and by Harold's Oath Agreeable hereunto are Gemiticensis Walsingham Malmesbury Huntington Ingulphus Paris Pike Wendover Gaxton Gisburn and others The Antient Deeds of the Abby of Westminster which were sometime in my Custody do prove this King William in his Charter to them sets forth his own Title to the Crown thus Beneficio Concessionis Cognati mei gloriosi