they had no Vote which sate on Woolsacks that as the Clergy in Spiritualties so the Judges of the Law in things of the Law were to advise and determine when any difficulty did arise That what Laws should be Enacted might be answerable to the Will of God and not repugnable to the Customs of the Land And in our latter times all Acts of Parliament though made by the King have this style By the consent of Lords and Commons notwithstanding the Civill Law saith Quod Principi placuit Legis habet vigorem The will of the King is the power of the Law The End of Honor. The Analysis of Armory I Have with as much brevity as so copious a Theam would admit run through all the distinctions of Honor. In the next place I shall with as great a contraction lay down the emblems of those distinctions and atchievements due to Nobility and the reward of virtue in the methodicall rules of Armory Bearing of Arms at this time being the only externall distinction of degrees and qualities amongst all civill Societies and Common-wealths From whence we received this custom is uncertain if especially we look to the producing of it into rule and form As it is from imitation Sir John Fern is of opinion that we did borrow it from the Egyptians meaning from their Hieroglyphicks Others will have that the first institution of these honorable differences was amongst the Israelites but however it is not much material to this discourse to be too inquisitive of the originall in that kind since succession of time hath converted it into another custom which may be for ought I know in imitation of the Romans who were accustomed upon triumphs or festivalls to produce the Statues of their Ancestors as the pedigree of their Generous race Which Statues were not as some may imagine erected from the voluntary phansie of the parties represented as is the leaving our Pictures behind us when we dye to our progeny so might every phlegmatick mechanick do but they were such as were for some Heroick act allowed as a publick reward of virtue which was customary amongst them And truly although every good Subject ought to be alwayes prepared alike to offer his body and mind unto the service of the Common-wealth without hope or expectation of mercenary reward honor or glory yet is honor a necessary perquisite to a Crown and Common-wealth being in it self a true spur to generosity Out of which respect the Romans joyned the two Temples of Honor and Virtue in such a manner that no man could enter into that of Honor without first passing through the other of Virtue Sir John Ferns opinion is that the first that imployed these Ensignes in this nature was Alexander the Great so to distinguish those that had done any memorable Acts that they might urge an emulation in their fellow Souldiers It is said of Epaminondas and Othraydes that being ready to dye they wrote their glorious exployts upon their shields themselves to give 〈◊〉 to others to follow their 〈◊〉 when they were dead 〈◊〉 believes that Charls the Great was the first that put them into this methodicall order which doubtlesse could not be if as Sir John Fern saith also that Julius Caesar constituted an office of Feciales But I find it in another Author to be instituted by Numa when he made warre upon the Fidenates a people of Latium However it is a generall opinion amongst our most judicious Heralds that the bearing of Arms as a badge of honor amongst us was not till about the time of Henry the third although many coats have been 〈◊〉 in some Writers of much longer standing as that of Hugh Lupus Earl of Chester in the time of the Conqueror a Woolfs head errased of Gilbert de Gaunt Earl of Kime long before Barry of 6. Or Az. over all a bend Gule Which are 〈◊〉 of by Sir John Fern But how authentick his Authority might have been to him to cause his insertion or his to others I know not but I shall be bold to insert one which may chance carry some weight with it which I shall raise from a Noble Family in the North the family of the Hiltons whose antiquity not only by an ancient pedegree which I have seen taken out of the Office but by the Records of the Tower doth produce the noblest descent that I know any Family in England the pedegree is too large to be inserted in this place else I would do it however shall extract some notes from it that may signifie as much The first that I find recorded of the Family was Sir William Hilton Knight who marrying the daughter of Sir John Grisly Knight a Family long since I think extinct had issue Adam Hilton Which Adam living in the time of King Athelstan gave to the Monastery of Hartlepool a Pix or Crucifix which was in weight twenty five ounces of Silver and caused his Armes to be engraven on it Arg. two barres Azure which are yet seen upon the Gate of Hilton Castle in the Bishopr of Dur. where they lived with a Moses head for Creast the Gate and the Chappel which is very stately for its structure and bignesse are the only parts remaining of the ancient building He gave unto the same Monastery a Cope Vestment with the Stole and the like gift unto the two Monasteries of Whitby and Gisbrough with fifty seven ounces of silver to make Censors They were five descents before the Conquest and hath now the nine and twentieth descent surviving In which line were twenty four Knights eighteen whereof were in a continued succession But I leave this nicety to more criticall judgments to determine the thing having for authority custom sufficient to make it a law within it self without the derivation of any originall institution Former ages having esteemed the Laws of Heraldry with as great a veneration as any in the Nation as indeed it ought still to be and more especially in these and all such times as ours the Court of Heraldry being not onely the Law-giver to Honor but the best record of Families and Inheritances though the Gentry of this Land are too dull to know it since Coat-Armor hath been hereditary as it hath ever since the time of Lewis Le-grosse according to the account of Sir John Fern and Guillim As by one instance I shall declare If a man being an Orphan and by such times as ours have been the Records of what Estate did rightly belong to him and from his Ancestors may be burnt plundered or otherwise embeselled and by such spirits as such times do plentifully afford have been obtruded from his right and hath nothing to plead for it this Office being the just Record of his Pedigree would produce an Evidence sufficient though from many generations his misfortunes have descended More particularly of the Office in another place As for the progresse of Armory I have pitcht upon the most methodicall course I could disposing it into
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-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
summoning of the Commons was in the 49. year of Henry the third The style of the Statutes running after this manner The King hath Ordained and Established these Acts underwritten c. First The King willeth and commandeth that c. Signifying the power of enacting to force and penalty was derived from the Volumus of the King not the Vote of the Lords and Commons their consent only making it of more vigour against themselves If it were an Act of Indulgence or relief to the Common-wealth it run thus Our Lord the King of his speciall Grace and for the affection that he bears unto his Prelates Earls and Barons and others of his Realm hath granted that c. And sometimes Our Soveraign Lord the King hath granted and commanded at the Instance of the Nobles of this Realm c. No mention at all being made of the consent of the Lords and Commons Then afterwards thus they run Our Lord the King by the Counsel of his Prelats Earls Barons other great men Nobles of his Kingdom in his Parliament hath Ordained 〈◊〉 c. An. 33. Edward the first 1307. and so along in other Statutes the Commons not at all mentioned in the enacting any Statute but as thus in the beginning of Edward the third At the request of the Commons of this Realm by their Petition made before him and his Councel in the Parliament by the assent of the Prelates Earls and Barons c. Untill the 23. of this Kings reign in a Statute of Labourers I find the Commons not mentioned and then the power of Ordination given to the Statute still by the King as thus It is ordered by our Lord the King by the assent of the Prelates Farls Barons and other great men and all the Commons of the Realm summoned to this Parliament c. And in one Act of the same King the style runs thus The King of his own will without motion of the Great men or Commons hath granted and Ordained in ease of his people c. And then to signifie the Constitution of the Commons in Parliament See the 37. of Edward the third where the Statute runs thus The King at his Parliament c. at the request of the Commons and by the assent of the Prelates Dukes Earls and Barons and other Great men there assembled hath Ordained c. and at the prayer of the Commons c. In which style most of the Statutes run untill Henry the eight And for provision of the choyce of the Commons in a Statute of the 23. of Hen. 6. is set down the form of Writ by which they are summoned where it is also enacted That the Knights of the Shires for Parliament hereafter to be chosen shall be naturall Knights or otherwise such naturall Esquires or Gentlemen of the same County as shall be 〈◊〉 to be Knights And every Knight that is elected ought to be a resident of the place for which he is elected and every man that is an Elector ought to have forty shillings of free-hold within the said County and for the security of it the Sheriffe hath power to put them to an Oath upon the Evangelist and the Election ought to be betwixt the hours of eight and nine in the Forenoon and so of Burgesses The form of the Writ is this Rex Vic' c. Salutem Quia nostri 〈◊〉 pro quibusdam arduis ur gentibus negotiis nos statum defensionem regni nostri Angliae Ecclesiae Anglicanae concernent ' quoddam Parliamentum nostrum Westm. 12. die Novemb. proxim ' futur ' teneri Ordinavimus ibidem 〈◊〉 Magnatibus Proceribus domus regni nostri colloquium habere tractare Tibi praecipimus firmiter injungentes quod facta Proclamatione in proximo tuo post receptionem hujus literis nostris tenend ' die loco predicto duos milites gladiis cinctis magis idoneos discret ' Com' praedict ' c. electionem illam in distincte apertè sigillo tuo sub sigillis eorum qui electioni illi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bis in Cancellaria nostra locum certisices 〈◊〉 And still before they came up to the House they signed Indentures to be true and faithfull to their King and Country and the service thereof upon a penalty even to the last long Parliament of eternall infamy And in the third of Queen Elizabeth it was enacted in full Parliament for the safety of the Queen's Majesty her Heirs and Successors and the dignity of the Imperiall Crown of England for the avoiding both of such hurts perills dishonor and inconveniencies as have before time befallen that not only all persons should take the Oath of Supremacy upon divers penalties in that Act specified But also every Knight Citizen and Burgesse of the Parliament should take the said Oath before he entred into the said House or had any voyce there else he should be deemed no Knight Citizen or Burgesse for that Parliament nor have any voyce but shall be to all intents constructions and purposes as if he had never been Returned nor Elected for that Parliament and shall suffer all pains and penalties as if he had presumed to sit in the same without Election Return or Authority And by King James the Oath of Allegiance was added Yet notwithstanding all this limitation upon the Commonalty Parliaments in England were ever esteemed since Magna Charta the greatest liberty of the Subject none else indeed being dreamt of And as it is as great a flower of the Crown to summon Parliaments as foedera bellum indicere to make War and Leagues which is so absolute that it is resolved by all the Judges of the Land that the King may before he is Crowned if by descent the Crown be his right summon a Parliament or within age as was seen in King Henry the sixth who summoned divers Parliaments in his 1 2 3 4 5 6. years of his reign yet was not Crowned till the eighth He being then essentially King without any Ceremony or Act ex post facto and Coronation but a Royall Ornament So the priviledges of Parliament and of the Common-wealth by Parliament are as great for though we thus see the great Prerogative of a King yet many things there are which a King in his own Kingdome cannot do without a Parliament by the Laws by which he hath bound himself as the making any man hereditable or the altering the Common Law or Customs of the Realm though by his absolute authority he may commit any man to Prison during his pleasure Therefore every Parliament-man during the time of the Parliament is priviledged from all disturbance of arrest for debt or the like and the servants of any Parliament man as much as the Kings are And to this Parliament for the further security of the good of the Common-wealth were ever admitted certain Judges of the Land though
said the Inner Temple hath lately assumed to themselves a Pegasus whereof in particular I spare to relate any more for the same is vulgarly known to all To the Inner House was also appropriated divers learned Legists from time to time which in number continuance and gifts of Nature did exceed every other of the said Innes of Court And therefore was anciently tearmed Inner Temple Boun Pleader Which continueth to this very day and it is withall much esteemed of beautified and graced with a special Garden plot famous for its situation neatnesse and nearnesse of the River The Ensign is Azure a Pegasus Argent Lincolns Inne This House owning a right to the Arms as well as name of the Lacyes Earls of Lincolne have set up over the Gate the Lyon Rampant purpure committing a great mistake in that if Sir John Fern's account of that Familie of the Lacyes be true which hath passed for authentick for he tels us that Or a Lyon Rampant purpure was his right but it was only a quartering and not the paternall Coat for his first and principall bearing was party per Crosse Gules 〈◊〉 a bend Sables over all a file or three Labels Arg. and this was the proper Coat of those Lacyes the other was the Coat of the Lord Nigeld or Neal Baron of Halton This Society of Lincolnes Inne the next for antiquity and ancient Ally to the Middle Tenple is situate in a Street or Lane known formerly by the name of New-street and now Chancery lane being once the Mansion-house of a Gentleman called William de Havershall Treasurer to King Henry the third who for disloyalty to his Soveraign was by the said King attainted of Treason so that thereby his house and lands became annext to the Crown And thereupon the King gave this house to Ralph de Nova villa vulgo Nevill Chancellor of England as appeareth by an ancient Record Who also was Bishop of Chichester and kept his habitation or place of abode in that place This House came afterwards to the hands of Henry Lacy Earl of Lincoln by reason whereof it was called Lincolns Inne and keepeth the style to this day This Earl Henry deceased in that house about the year of our Lord 1310. Neverthelesse this house did afterwards continue to the Bishops of Chichester untill the 〈◊〉 of King Henry the eighth and the interest thereof came by conveyance to Justice Gullyard and other Feoffees who during his life and after him his posterity held it untill the reign of the late Queen Elizabeth and then Sir Edw. Gullyard Knight to whom the same did successively descend by Inheritance sold the same with the Inheritance thereof to the Benchers and Society thereof There is no memory of any florishing Estates of the Students and professors of the Common Lawes resident in this Colledge until the reign of King Henry the sixth when it appeareth by the Rolls and remembrances of that house that the same became somewhat to be famous But now of late time this house hath been much enlarged and beautified with ranks of goodly Edifices and also with a fair and goodly Chappel The first of the chiefest buildings thereof was begun at the cost of Sir Thomas Lovell Knight then or before a fellow of that Society who erected that fair Gate-house into Chancery lane of brick and free stone whereupon is engraven the Arms of Lacy Earl of Lincoln together with his own The said Chancery lane is so called for that King Edward the third in the fifteenth year of his reign annexed the house of Covents by Patent to the Office of Chancery now called the Rolls Grays Inne Beareth Sables a Griffin Rampant Or. This house was sometimes the abiding Mansion of the Noble Family of Gray from whence the name of the house is deduced It is situate within the Mannor Poorpoole a Prebendary antiently belonging to the Cathedral Church of St. Paul London In the reign of King Edward the third the Gentlemen Students of that Society as is confidently affirmed took a Grant of this house from the said Baron Gray who lived in those dayes And it is held probable that the Grayes Armes have been anciently by this fellowship maintained and are still taken up and kept as the proper and peculiar Ensigne of that Colledge or house and thus the same is found portraited Barry of six Arg. Azure a bordure quarterly Or and of the second But now of late yeares this honorable Society have assumed for their proper Coat Armor or Ensign of honor A Griffin Or in a field Sables Thavies Inne Beareth Azure two Garbes Or on a bend Gules On a Chief Sable a letter T. Arg. Hereafter ensue the inferior Hostels ordained for Students that professe the practice of the Common Law of this Realm to the end they may the better obtain unto themselves the understanding of the Principles grounds of the same Laws and be thereby the better prepared for to manage the causes of the Subjects in the severall Courts of Justice within the Dominions whether at Westminster or elsewhere and also by their labour and Industry to become graduates and be the better enabled to be entred into the Innes of Court These inferior Courts being Nurseries and are entituled Inns of Chancery And first for this Thavies Inne It is probable that the house by all conjecture is the most ancient of all others of that nature and it doth in that regard challenge the precedency in this rank This house was in the raigne of King Edward the third as is by 〈◊〉 to be found the dwelling and mansion house of one John Thavye Citizen and Armourer of London and was by the then Apprentices of the Law held of him at a certain Rent annual as by a Record yet to be seen in the Husting Courts of London doth appeare and may be verified for antiquity But since that time the House hath been purchased by the Benchers or the Antients of Lincolns Inne which about the raign of King Henry the seventh to the end that there might be entertained in that place a Society of Students practisers and Professors of the Common Laws of this Realm And this house still retaineth the name of the said Thavies who was the first owner of it as is before mentioned Furnivals Inne Beareth Arg. a bend betwixt six Martlets within a bordure Azure This house was sometime the Mansion of Sir William Furnivall in the raign of King Richard the second as by Record appeareth He was afterwards Lord Furnival his heir general married to Sir John Talbot created Earl of Shrewsbury by King Henry the sixth by reason whereof this Mansion house came to the family of the 〈◊〉 Earls of Salop and afterwards of later years in the raign of Queen Elizabeth the same house was by the Benchers or the Ancients of Lincolns Inne purchased for the serting into the same a Society of Students of the Common Lawes from George Lord Talbot Earl of Salop as by sundry
Chancery are only handled and discust Cursitors Inne Beareth Gules on a chief Arg. two Mullets Sables within a bordure Compone Or and Azure This Edifice was in 〈◊〉 dayes of Queen Elizabeth of famous memory built by the Right Honourable and Grave Counsellor of State Sir Nicholas Bacon Knight Lord keeper of the Great Seal of England for the benefit and decency of a new contrived Office now called Cursitors therein to lodge and to keep their severall Offices These Cursitors have the making of all Originall Writs according to the Register which are sued out and taken forth in causes commenced by the Students at the common Law In times past the chiefe Officer of the Court of Chancery was ever a Bishop and termed Cancellarius because he sat in Cancellis that is to say in Chancels or places letticed after the manner of Chancels in Churches as Petrus 〈◊〉 a learned writer hath left to posterity The Masters of this Court were for the most part Doctors of Divinity and had Prebendaries in Churches and other dignities and promotions The Cursitors or rather the Choristers as it befitteth a Chorus there being no honourable Cathedrall or Collegiate Church la Esglise which can be vvell without them And in former dayes both antient and modern the Ghostly Fathers or Confessors were examiners in Chancery as men held most conscionable and thereupon fittest for that function But fince in those dayes all the former Ecclesiasticall persons are become meerly lay-men and yet no doubt held to be as Godly Conscionable and Honest as any provided ever that they be men of skill persons who are of great Integrity and able of understanding Nam ad pietatem requiritur Scientia The Colledge called Doctors Commons Beareth Gules on a bend Argent three treefoils within a bordure Vert. The Professors of the Civil Law or the Imperial being also in some sort Canonists and professors of the Laws 〈◊〉 have their Hostels or residing place upon St. Bennets hill neer Pauls Chain This house was by the industry and cost of Mr. Henry Harvey Doctor of the Civil or Canon Law and at that time Master 〈◊〉 Trinity 〈◊〉 in Cambridge and Dean of the Arches instituted for the Company and Society of the said Doctors professors of the same study Gresham Colledge Beareth Argent a 〈◊〉 Erminoys between three Mullets Sables This famous work and most worthy Colledge scituate in Bishopsgate street had its foundation laid by that worthy Merchant Sir Thomas Gresham Knight about the year of our Lord 1579. who ordained therein seven Lectures of seven severall Arts to be there publickly read 〈◊〉 Divinity Civill Law Phyfick Rhetorick Astronomy Geometry Musick And this to be performed by seven severall persons learned professors thereof only in the time of the Terms at Westminster The annual stipendary to every Lecturer is 50. l. by annual pay and each of the Lecturers hath a convenient lodging provided for his use there in the same Colledge The Office of the Remembrancers of the Exchequer at Westminster Beareth Or a Cheveron Gules and a Canton Ermin in a bordure Compony Argent and Azure This house wherein now the Kings Remembrancer keepeth his Office was sometimes antiently the Inne belonging to the Barons of Stafford was in former time called Staffords Inne which said house and that other in Ivie-lane where Mr. Osborn the King's Remembrancer keepeth his Office or rather the Lord Treasurers Remembrancer and the house called Hospitium Johannis de 〈◊〉 Laurentio wherein 〈◊〉 Brainthwait Serjeant at the Law 〈◊〉 his abode and dwelling in Amen-Corner the Bishop of Elyes house now Stationers-hall the Three Tuns Tavern the Bull-head Tavern the Chamber belonging to Diana the next house to Doctors Commons called the old Camera 〈◊〉 were of antient times the lodging for the Residents and Canons and Prebends of St. Pauls who belonged unto that famous Cathedrall Church of St. Paul St. Katherine's Hospitall Beareth party per fesse Gules and Azure in 〈◊〉 a Sword bar-wise Argent pomelled and hilt Or in poynt a demy Catharine wheel of the fourth By the Licence of the Prior of the Covent and the Society of holy Trinity in London the said Hospitall called St. Katherines was founded by Queen Matilda wife to King Stephen The ground whereon this Hospitall is 〈◊〉 was then the proper inheritance of the said Prior and Covent and the said Hospitall was after enlarged by Queen Elianor Wife to Edward the first and after Philippa Wife to Edward the third founded there a Chancery and it hath been of late a free Chappell or Hospital for poor sisters FINIS ERRATA Page 41. l. 4. a mistake in the last quarter of the cut p. 52. a mistake in the cut the eighth quarter should have been the last Fern. Glo. Gen. p. 4. Seg. Hon. mil. civ l. 4. c. 5. Bartol de Dig. l. 12. Seld. 〈◊〉 of Hon. c. 〈◊〉 p. 4. Drus. observat lib. 3. cap. 19. Psal. 49. 2. Fern. l. gen p. 9. Pro. 17. 6. Fern p. 13 Fern. Selden p. 856 Aristot. l. 4. de pol. Fern. p. 14 Segar l 4. p. 226. Bart. l. 1. cap. de dig 12. Seg. p. 〈◊〉 Ibid. Fern p. 1. Noble by Merit Nobility mixt Sir J. Fern. Segar l. 4 c. 15. Seld. Tit. of Hon. c. 8 p. 853. p. 832. Rot. Vasco 24 Hen. 6. M. 7. N. 3. Sel. p. 870. C. Theod. l. 6. 〈◊〉 21. l. 1. Sir J. 〈◊〉 Form l. 3. p. 382. Edit Rom. 1621. Seld. Tit. of Hon. c. 〈◊〉 f. 858. Seld. Tit. of Hon. pag. 862. pag. 864. Ibid. p. 865. Sir John 〈◊〉 p. 37 Ibid. p. 36. Aug. de Civ Dei lib. 4. cap. 4 Cypr. lib. de 12. Abusionibus Sir John Fern. Ibid. Poetrie Ibid. Painting Vid. Paul Lomazzo p. 14. History Sir John 〈◊〉 Ferne. Ibid. Sir John Ferne. p. 61. Ibid. Bart. in l. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. li. de capitu Ferne p. 86. 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 Vid. Fortescue de laud. Ang. cap. 49. Sir John Feine p. 95. M. Seld. Tit. of Ho. p. 555. * Cam. fol. 176. †lib. 4. p. 507. Ad 〈◊〉 Brit. Art 88. Verst p. 322. Sir Tho. Smith de Rep. Aug. * p. 667. 〈◊〉 Sir John Ferne. p. 100. Camb. de Ordin p. 117. de reliquiis p. 23. Spel. Glos. p. 51. Segar p. 224. ibid. Spelm. p. 10. c. 2. ibid. Segar Ferne. Spel. p. 51. Segar l. 4. p. 246. Seld. Tit. Ho. p. 769. Camb. Brit. p. 170. Segar ch 1 p. 51. Will. of Malmsb. de gest Reg. l. 〈◊〉 c. 6. Seld. 〈◊〉 of Hon. p. 773. p. 778 Ibid. p. 779 Bract. 〈◊〉 36. Cook 5. Jacobi part 6. Selden p. 772. Mat. Patis Sir 10. Fern Glo. of Genere Cam. Brit. p. 74. pag. 175. Vid. Stat. de An. 23. H. 6. c. 15. Seg. lib. 2. lin 2. Vid. Mills fol. S 〈◊〉 4 Ed 4. 20 See Stow in Anal. p. 693. 694. edit vet in 4. Dor. Cl. 〈◊〉 20 Hen 7. 20 Sep. For K. of the Bath see Far. f. 65. 5 Book Mr. Seld. fol. 790.
I am so confident as to believe every man understands that knows any thing But I shall take up this conclusion as that from them as a true Fountain these Rivers must flow for there is such a connexion and chain of affinity in these virtues that none may be severed from the rest and that man may be truly said to be virtuous though Like as the body is conserved by the nourishment of the four Elements or Complexions so that the extinguishment of any one of them is destruction to the body yet the constitution of that body is generally tearmed from the predominancy of some one of them that is most erninent in him So the vertues of a man may be esteemed from the paticular discovery of someone more eminent But if we will make any difference in the merits of Atchievment it may be best done in short by taking notice onely of Prudence and Fortitude from whence that generall opinion of the world that Merit was onely by the Pike or Pen is derived And though it has ever been a dispute to which of these the precedency should be allowed yet I think a little reason will decide it For though there hath been so much of Honor allowed in all Ages to Prudence yet we ever found the first succession of Honor was from the atchievments of Fortitude as in the example of the Roman Statues and at this day the publick example of the Shield whereon all both Civill and Military do illustrate their atchievments which should be enough to end that controversie though some have been very violent in a dispute to prefer the Doctor to be before the Knight To obtain estate of Gentility by learning and discovering the secrets of Heaven is very honorable certainly but to atchieve it by service in his Soveraign's Wars the defence of the Church King and Country is of all most excellent and worthy In which case War is permitted by the Law of God taught us by the Law of Nature and commanded by the Laws of all Nations Sir William Segar when he speaketh of the Nobility allowed to Prudence disposeth it in the second Place And Sir John Fern speaking of learning gives it the same onely of all under that genus when the degree of the Doctor of Divinity differenceth he saith It excelleth all other degrees in Learning in four respects first the excellency of the subject it treateth of secondly for the dignity of the matter treating of things beyond reason of Philosophy or the reach of Human Wisdom thirdly the excellency of the end whereunto it is ordained lastly the worthinesse of the Author's authority receiving it not from mortall men as all other Sciences but from the Spirit of God Now a man may be ennobled by Leters Patent from his Prince though he have not the Superior Titles added as by the example of Jo. de King ston who was by Patent from K. Richard the second receiv'd into the state of a Gentleman as you may see at large in Mr. Selden's Titles of Honor. As also in another example of Hen. 6. 〈◊〉 by the word Nobilitamus creates Bernard Angeuin a Burdelois a Gentleman and a latter of K. James to a Hollander Which examples makes him divide Honor into Nativa and Dativa There were Codicilli 〈◊〉 in the Empire by which men were entitled to the Honors of Nobles And there have been Edicts made in France for the like ennobling of Centry the form whereof Mr. Selden's Book sets forth at large There is a whole Title De honorariis condicilliis in Theodosius his Code and some Laws concerning them as antient as Constantine There is another kind of Nobility and that is called Nobilitas adoptiva a Gentility arising from adoption when a Gentleman of Blood and Coat-armour for some speciall affection though neither allyed to his Blood or a Gentleman otherways adopteth a stranger to be his son and constituteth him to succeed as well in his Estate of Gentry as to his Name and Possessions An example of the like also of great Antiquity in Salustius Tiberius à 〈◊〉 his formulari where the greatest part of a Gentle Family assembling do by consent adopt a stranger that hath well deserved of them to be of their Family as if he were descended of a Male from among them creating him a Gentleman to be reputed De domo agnatione ipsorum and granted him also their Arms and limited the whole honour to him and the Heirs of his body But this creation cannot make him a Gentleman by birth as it is in Spain a proverb The King cannot make an Hidal go he may be Nobilis but not Generosus which Mr. Selden defines to be qui bono genere ortus non degenerat which the Dutch have the word 〈◊〉 for which is well-born in English But this word Generosus hath been in use amongst us but since the time of Hen. 8. since when it hath bin constantly used for a Gentleman of what sort soever if he had no title above it the word Gentleman being before generally used in the like nature in Writs Pleadings and the like though they were Latine This word Gentleman did first rise from the word Gens or Gentes which the Christians in the Primitive times used for all such as were neither Jews nor Christians which our English Translators turn Gentiles as the French Payens for Pagans the Dutch Heyden or Heydenen for Heathen So afterward the same word and Gentiles was used in the Empire for all such as were not Cives Romani or Provincials But it is more reasonably resolved that the word Gentleman is derived from this origination That the Northern Nations framing their words out of Latin to make up their Provincial or Roman Tongues so esteemed the word Gentilis by which they found themselves styled in the Latine that they now made it in those Tongues a distinction or note of Honor for such of them as were of more eminent quality ambitious it seems to be honored with that very name with which the Romans had before in scorn expressed them By which means Gentil-hommes became generally a word amongst the Provincialls for Nobiles So that from the word Gentil homme 〈◊〉 Gentilhombre which we received from the French for till the Normans we had it not we made out this word Gentleman which was before called AEdel This Nobilis or Gentleman as before we find is a generall denomination for all that come under the notions of Honor for indeed it is our vulgar genus for those also that are distinguished by higher Titles but to those that are not more properly the Species whereof I shall a little further look into Of the Doctor of Divinity I spake before the next is the Doctor of Law which hath also held a dispute of precedency with the Knight but to lesse purpose than the other the same reason that held in the major must of necessity in the minor
Besides admit the great benefit and necessity of Laws in a Common-weal for the preserving of peace yet we must acknowledge that the peace which produced those Laws was the effect of the Sword and neither is Peace able to protect those Daws nor those Laws Peace without the assistance of Military Authority And so necessary is the profession of Arms that no Common-wealth no City no publick Society can subsist without it Aristotle when he speaketh of the constitution of a well-govern'd City in the first place calleth Soldiers the true Citizens And at the same time faith Ea Respublica tyrannidem 〈◊〉 quae fortes saptentes minimè honorat Plato in the institution of his Common-wealth appoints one sort of men far more excellent then the rest whose office should be the taking up of Arms for the defence of the other Citizens to which he allowed many privileges and that they should be more honorable than any other state of people Sir John Fern determines thus In artibus militaribus vel in actu indiffer enti data paritate Militum Doctorum c. semper praefertur 〈◊〉 Miles Doctori sic de singulis de gradu in gradum And the same Author understands this rule to extend also to the Serjeant at Law as to the Doctor at Law Neither can I any way derogate in other respects from the honor due to a Doctor at Law for they are to be preferred in the second place below a Knight that is next the Doctor of Divinity out of the respect due to the Law it self And what respect hath always bin given to it you may see by these of the Fathers Quid enim sunt regna nisi latrocinia remotâ 〈◊〉 quae est legum effectus And again Justitia regentis est utilior 〈◊〉 fertilitas 〈◊〉 solatium pauperum haereditas filiorum sibimetipsi spes futurae beatitudinis This Doctor as well as the Doctor of Divinity hath for his honor many Ceremonies and Tokens of Honor appropriated to his Creation or Commencement As first a Book in token of his Learning Secondly a Habit which is called Biretrum 〈◊〉 bis rectum Thirdly a Ring to shew how he is espoused to Philosophy and Science Fourthly in token he is a Doctor he must sit in a Chair which hath been thus described It ought to be four-square in the forepart should be painted a Young-man of great strength noting labor and love to work and to finish on the hinder part two Virgins called Care and Vigilancy on the right side a Young-man well girded carrying in his arms things of small value to signifie the mean estate of wealth and on the left a man running away to shew that the study of Science requires a volunary exile from all relations The fifth Ensigne is a Girdle about his loyns with these words Take this Girdle and gird thy loyns with a bond of Faith so that thy body may be adorned with all vertues that thou mayst seem before God and man perfect in thy degree Lastly a Kiss with these words Take the Kiss of Peace in token thou shalt ever seek to preserve the bonds of Concord in thy Faculty The next place amongst these honors is due to the Doctor of Physick which being the very perfection of naturall Philosophy and from the necessity of it in a Common-wealth is allowed the name of Liberall and not Mechanicall Science To this Profession also is admitted the bearing of Arms but in that case the Herauld ought always to be carefull to have regard in the designment to the 〈◊〉 Which bearing of Arms is the 〈◊〉 badge of all Honor as in its due place shall be set forth Neither are the rest of the Liberall Sciences debarred from the like priviledges according to the excellency of the Professors To which is adjoyned Poetry which among Antients hath been honored with the style of Sacred and Poets called Prophets by the title of Vates St. Austine give them this character Poetae Theologi dicti fuerunt cùm de diis immortalibus multa scriberent quales Orpheus Musaeus Linus How they have been honoured of Princes is evident in every Chronologie amongst which that of Alexander is most 〈◊〉 With Homer will I sleep with Honor will I wake Homer is a fit companion for Alexander The Ensigne usually given to a Poet Laureat is the Swan signifying pureness of style the Bird of Venus and consecrated to the Muses and sometimes a Pegasus as to Michael Drayton See his tombe in Westminster To this I must joyn and indeed should give the precedency to that sister-Art of Painting than which none hath received more honour in the World though too Mechanically slighted amongst us which hath been the reason we have not arrived to that excellency that some other Kingdoms have done in it For 〈◊〉 is the true spurre to perfection This hath been for its sublimity reckoned with much honour among the liberall Sciences by many Princes nay Pliny calls it plainly a liberall art whose reasons not his own onely but modern times have approved much reason there is to give it that honour since its performance is by the exact engagement of Geometry Arithmetick Perspective and indeed all points and species of natural Philosophy besides the remembrance of the great estimation it was in amongst the Grecians whose Kings many of them were proud in professing the Art And then the law amongst the Romans that no man should undertake it but such as were Gentlemen because the brain of a clown must be too durty and muddy to arrive at excellency in it They were also to be of estate that the labouring for a lively-hood might not take them off from industrious study for perfection Other examples that Princes have given of their delight in it is declared in the Ingenuity of Francis and Emanuel Kings of France and many Germane Princes since Under which genus I wish the Ingenuity of our Nations like as others would also comprize that species of Graving an art too noble to be so much slighted as it is amongst ingenuous men History also being esteemed a witnesse of time a light of truth a mistris of life and a messenger of antiquity deserves from its Country the gratefull return and reward of its merits In generall if any person be advanced by lawfull commission of his Prince to any office dignity or publique administration be it either ecclesiasticall military or civill so that the said Office comprehends in it dignitatem vel dignitatis titulum he ought to be matriculated into the rank of Gentility In the State Ecclesiasticall are Patriarchs Primates Archbishops and Bishops all which by custom of the Realme and Royall grants of 〈◊〉 Princes are invested Barons and admitted to the high Court of Parliament But more of that in its due place Also are admitted to the state of Gentility Vicars Generals Guardians of Spiritualties Deans of Cathedralls
Arch-Deacons called 〈◊〉 Episcopi Chancellours Treasurers and Chauntors in every Episcopall Sea so Sir John Ferne as also Doctors Provosts Deans and Governours of all Collegiate Assemblies In the Military or Marshall Government the high Constable Lievtenant-General Marshall Admiral Major General Quartermaster-General Treasurer of the Army Guardians of Frontiers the Master of the Horsemen or grand Essquire the Master of Artillery the Colonel Serjeant-Major Captain and Provost and indeed all that receive Commission from their Prince In the Civill or Politicall estate the Chancellour President Treasurer Judges Justices Chief-officers of the Pallace-Royall Secretaries of State Mayors Provosts and Baylifs of Incorporate Cities and Towns And since from the seat of Royalty and Majesty all honours do flow it is no reason this Fountain should by any restriction be limited neither is it for as before in the discourse of Gentility by Patent it is signified so there is another sort of Gentility made by the Prince which as it is by Patent ought to have taken place there but being by purchase only and not of merit is esteemed of all the most inferior and therefore to be set in the lowest degree The King saith Sir John Ferne may also create a Gentleman and give him Coat-Armour to bear although he be unworthy of the same but saith he again est haec quaedam fucata Nobilitas non ver a nec essentialis it is but a counterfeit Nobility so that this Gentility brings the purchaser little more then the shadow of Honour to shroud him from the name of Plebeian and these Gentlemen by the strictnesse of the Laws of Honour are excluded from the priviledges of Gentility Then saith Sir Wil. Segar a simple subject being 〈◊〉 a Gentleman by the Prince's grant and does not exercise the qualities beseeming that dignity ought to be deprived of his Title This consideration made Sigismond the Emperour answer one soliciting for such honour I can said he make thee rich or exempted with priviledges But without virtue or noble desert it lieth not in Caesar's power to make a Gentleman And the retort of a Gentleman to a Knight which my self knew was not amisse being to the same purpose who said It was more honour to be a Gentleman and no Knight then to be a Knight and no Centleman the Knight being then a Knight meerly by purchase without any desert at all in him too many whereof are 〈◊〉 in our Nation Privileges due to Gentility NOw since others as Sir Jo. Fern and Sir Wil. Segar have been so punctuall in discoursing the priviledges due to Gentility I cannot but touch upon it a little before I passe to the next degree of Noblenesse which is the Esquire The priviledges as they have laid them down are these 1. Pro honore sustinendo if a Churl alias Pesant do detract from the Honour of a Gentleman he hath a remedy in law actione injuriarum but if by one Gentleman to another anciently combate was allowed 2. In crimes of equall constitution a 〈◊〉 shall be punished with more favour then a common person provided the 〈◊〉 be not Heresie Treason or excessive Contumacy 3. The many observances and ceremonious respects that a Gentleman is and ought to be Honoured with by the ungentle 4. In giving evidence a Gentlemans attestestation is to precede a Clown's 5. In election of Magistrates and Officers by vote the suffrage of a Gentleman shall take place of an ignoble person 6. A Gentleman ought to be excused from base services impositions and duties both reall and personall 7. A Gentleman condemned to death ought not to be hanged but beheaded and his examination taken without torture 8. To take down the Coat-Armor of any Gentleman deface his monument or offer violence to 〈◊〉 Ensigne of the deceased Noble is as to lay buffits on the face of him alive and punishment is due accordingly 9. The Clown may not challenge a Gentleman to Combat quia conditione impares Many others there are but it would be too tedious to insert them I referr the Reader to Sir John Ferne his Glory of Generosity For the protection and defence also of this civill dignity they have discover'd three Lawes provided the first Jus Agnitionis the right or Lawes of Discent for the kindred of the Father's side the second Jus Stirpis for the whole Family the third Jus Gentilitatis a Law for the descents in Noble Families Which Tully esteemed the most excllent of which Law a Gentleman of blood and Coat-Armor perfect possessing virtue was only priviledged To the making of which Gentleman perfect in his blood was required a lineall descent on the part of his Fathers side from Atavus Abavus Proavus Avus and Pater and as much on his Mothers line then is he not only a Gentleman of blood perfect but of ancestors too The obscurity and neglect of which Laws hath introduced other sorts of Gentlemen amongst us which are men taking the style of Gentleman being neither of blood nor Coat-Armor which style only serves to hurry them to an unruly pride when indeed it is but rude and false Honour and is by Sir John Ferne termed apocryphate and debarred of all priviledges of Gentility These Gentlemen nomine non re he calls such of the Students of the Law Grooms of the Soveraign Palace sons of Churls made Priests or Cannons c. and such as have received degrees in the Schools or born office in the City so that by that they are styled by the title of Master yet have no right to Coat-Armor As to the Student of the Law Sir John Fern allowes him the best assurance of his Title of Gentleman of all these irregular and untriall Gentlemen as he terms them for so much as in some Acts of Parliament he is named with the Title of Gentleman yet he saith that he is also debarred from all honor and priviledge of the Law of Armes But those Students were antiently by customs of the Inns of Court as I shewed before to be weeded out of the Societies if by chance any were crept in and none to be admitted but Gentlemen of Coat-Armour by which excellent Rule the younger sonns of Gentlemen would have the priviledges and benefit of that study to maintain and support them as it is in the Empire of Russia and many other Nations when as now every Clown that can but pick up so much money at the plough tayle as shall fit his son up for that study receives the benefit and the Gentry of the Nation frustrated of that support which causes so much decay amongst them that younger sons of Gentlemen being thus destitute of imployment are commonly the objects of much pity either for the suffering or doing much evill and the Common-wealth in generall much prejudiced by the insultancy of such mungrell spirits in eminent preferments which they too often come to more by insinuated favour than reall desert And indeed not in that case
only but in Church preferments also and by this means is it that so much corruption and abuse is the daily leprosie both of the Civill and Ecclesiasticall State The Romans were so carefull of the preservation of Honor that they had a custom by which the children of noble Persons unprovided for should be maintained out of the common treasury which custom though all ages have most infinitely applauded our Nation hath so absolutely exploded that the Gentry are in all cases hindred as much as may be of all preferments that should give it them without burthen to the Common-wealth But it is to be hoped succeeding times will produce better manners Of the Esquire THe division of these Dignities of Honour was antiently but into twelve parts but the addition of Knight Baronet hath made them thirteen The six first only Noble as the Gentleman Esquire Knight Bacheler Knight Banneret Knight Baronet and Baron The other seven Princely and are allowed Crowns and Coronets as the Viscount Earl Marquesse Duke Prince King and Emperour Sir John Ferne placeth the Viscount in the first division but I think improperly in regard of his Coronet Of the lowest of these enough is said the next is the Esquire according to my intended method The Esquire or Escuyer is called in Latine Armiger but more antiently Scutiger from the office of bearing a Shield as an attendant upon a Knight and were militaris ordinis candidati in the field because they served not as Knights Bachelers nor Bachelers which was then a distinction The etymology of the word will something signifie as much being from Scutum in Latin and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek which is a Shield from the antient way of making it in leather Armiger nuncupatus est qui Domini sui 〈◊〉 bajulat ipsisque 〈◊〉 cingit saith Sir Henry Spelman in his Glossarium p. 50. Neither came this title in honorary amongst us till the reign of Richard the second though the Title as to office was much antienter amongst us yet the antientest mention of it is in Order Vitalis speaking of William Fitz-Osberne Earl of Hereford and Odo Earl of Kent in the time of the Conqueror Nam Armigeros suos immodicas praedas c. facientes Dr. Argentre President of the Parliament of Rhemes speaks thus of them Esquires are Qui scutums Ducibus aut Patronis praeferebant posteriùs et Strateres qui Dominos in equos tolleren equos regerent Is qui primus inter coeteros gradus Nobilitatis And Verstegen tells us the Teutonick word was Scyld-knapae which is a Shield-serviture but some have since gotten another distinction for the title which is that they are Gentlemen bearing Arms and Armories in testimony of Nobility or race from whence they are come Sir Edward Cook in his Exposition upon the Statute of 1 Hen. 3. chap. 5. of Additions saith that the word Esquire Armiger or Scutiger in legal understanding is derived ab armis quae clypeis gentilitiis honoris insignia gestant In which sense as a name of estate and degree it was used in divers Acts of Parliament before the making of that Statute and after also But by this the Honour of the title is lost and every Gentleman of Coat-Armor shall have as great a share in it as themselves which in truth hath not been since the dividing the Gentility into these two divisions when this title of Esquire was made a legall and appropriated addition Of these there are four sorts By Creation by Birth by Dignity and by Office Esquires by Creation are sometimes made by Patent as one Jo. de Kingston was by King Richard as I mentioned before being received into the state of a Gentleman and made an Esquire and sometimes by the giving of a collar of SS by the King as an ensigne of the title Eúmve saith Sir Henry Spelman argentatis calcaribus donaverit Which silver Spurs were given by the King as the Gold was to the Knight to difference the Honor from whence they are called White-spurs There is commonly given to him also an addition to his paternall Coat or a new Coat if he owned none before which is due to the descendents onely of his body not related to any of his line besides and the eldest son of that Coat-Armor is ever an Esquire Esquires by birth are the eldest sons of Knights and their eldest sons successively Sir John Ferne and Sir Henry Spelman call all Esquires that being the sons of Lords are not allowed the title of Lords but Sir Henry Spelman again Propriè natalitio jure Armigeri dicuntur Equitum auratorum filii primogeniti ex ipsis haeredes inperpetuum masculi Those by Office are such as bearing high Offices in the Commonwealth or Kings Palace have not the augmentation of Knighthood or Lordship Such are the Sergeants at Law Sheriffs Escheators the Sergeant of every Office in the Court But these are only the possessors of that dignity it dying with them And not only so but if he lose his Office that is a Gentleman by Office he lo seth his Gentility also And this ennobling by Office was also among the Saxons and hath so continued among them saith Mr. Lambert If a Churle so thrived that he had fully five Hides of Land of his own a Church and a Kitchen a Bell-house and a Gate a Seat a severall Office in the Kings Hall then was he the Theynes right worthy Amongst which sort of Esq those four of the Kings body are the principall which he saith are to be esteemed above the elder sons of Knights And indeed in all processions of State they go before the Master of the Jewell-house all Judges or Sergeants at the Law Of Knighthood in generall and of the Knight Bacheler OF the distinctions by Knighthood there are many in other parts of the World but in England only these Knights Batchelers Knights of the Bath Knights Bannerets and Knights Baronets and Knights of the Garter The word Knight as Mr. Selden saith coming from the Saxon 〈◊〉 which signified puer or servus as Dienaknecht is yet among the Dutch for a man-servant So Tenants by Knights service were called Milites or Chivalers because their service was military Knights saith Mr. Cambden who of our English Lawyers are termed also in Latin Milites and in all Nations almost besides took their name of Horses The Italians call them Cavalari the French Chevaliers the Germans Kutters and our Britans in Wales Margagh all of Riding Englishmen only term them Knights by a word that in old English-language as also of the German signifieth indifferently a Servitour or Minister and a lusty young man Hereupon it cometh that in the old written Gospels translated into the Saxon we read for Christs disciples Christs leorning knights And elsewhere for Client or Vassal 〈◊〉 And Bracton our ancient civill Lawyer maketh mention of Rad Cnyhts that is
before all other Bannerets as the younger sons of Viscounts and Barons as also before all Baronets but not otherwise And this Order was of so great estimation that divers Knights Bachelers and Esquires served under them which Title it seems in many antient Writs hath been mis-writ Barronets as in a Patent to Sir Ralph Fane a Knight Banneret under Edward the sixt he is called Barronettus for Bannerettus which Title of Baronet was not amongst us till King James Of Baronet THe Title of Baronet was erected by King James in the ninth year of his Reign He made diverse on the 22 day of May whose Patents were all of one form without any difference at all the 〈◊〉 or Argument being for the propagating a Plantation in Ulster in Ireland to which the aid of these Knights was ordained the words run thus 〈◊〉 ex certa scientia mero 〈◊〉 nostris Ordinavimus ereximus constituimus creavimus quendam statum gradum dignitatem nomen titulum Baronetti Anglice of a Baronet infra hoc Regnum nostrum Angliae perpetuis temporibus duraturum Their aid was the maintenance of thirty Soldiers in that Province for three years Their Titles were to descend to the heirs male of their body and to take place before all Knights Bachelers Knights of the Bath and Knights Bannerets the other Degree before specified being afterward made and that the name of Baronet in all Writs Commissions and Style should be added to his Surname and that the addition of Sir should precede in all mentionings of his name as the Title of Lady and Madam to the Wives of them and their Successors and that they should take place according to the priority of the date of their Patents inter se and so to their successors In which Patents also the King did engage for himself and successors that there should be but two hundred of them made and that there should be never any degree of Honor established that should take place between the Baronet and Baron and if for want of heirs male the Title in any should fall there should never be any created in their room but that the Title should diminish to the honour of them remaining and be by that means reduced to a 〈◊〉 number And afterward a Commission was ordained under the great Seal for filling up the number who had instructions also enacted among which they that desired to be admitted into the dignity of Baronets must maintain the number of thirty Foot-Soldiers in Ireland for three years after the rate of eight-pence sterling a day and a years pay to be paid in at the passing of the Patent to the Exchequer And again That they must be of good reputation and descended of a Grand-father at least by the father's side that bare Arms and have also a certain yearly revenue of one thousand pounds de claro They were to take bond also for the true payment of that maintenance and to appoint one particular Treasurer for it that it might not come into the King's Exchequer After this many being made it was also ordained by the King That they and their descendents being of full age should be Knighted and that they should in a Canton or Inescutcheon as they pleased bear the Arms of Ulster which is Argent a sinister hand and Gules There are many other Orders of Knighthood almost in every Nation some appropriated to the Country and some of more excellency as is that of the Garter whereof in another place I shall speak with the rest but these Titles have an estimated honor due to them greater or lesse according to the quality of the creator for the Knight made by the King shall be preferred before a Knight made by a Prince of meaner title So all Emperors Kings and Princes acknowledging no lawfull Superior may make Knights as also some Common-wealths as the State of Venice and Genoa The Popes also sometimes do make Knights calling them after their own names as Chevaleri de San Pedro San Paulo 〈◊〉 c. And so much for Knights may serve in this place Of Barons THis word Baron is very variously interpreted as first that it comes from the word Baria in Greek which signifies Authoritas gravis Bracton interprets it Robur belli Again saith Sir Henry Spelman the word Baro is the same in Latine with Vir whose derivation is from Vi Force and from thence Sunt alii potentes sub rege qui dicuntur Barones id est robur belli And taking of it in that sense we now understand it Sir Henry Spelman calls him Cliens feodalis and Vassallus capitalis Hujusmodi sunt saith he qui Pagos Urbes Castra vel eximiam ruris portionem cum jurisdictione acceperunt à Rege The Creation Robe of a Baron This word is a generall notion in England to all Lords of the Great Council of Parliament as it is in Naples and Lumbardy where all those Lords that are called Titulati are in generall styled Barons thus dignitas Baronalis stat ut genus This word was used by the Danes in the stead of Thane which was among the Saxons a Title of Honor and being next the King he was called the King's Thane And in the Laws of William the first instead of the Earl King's Thane and middle Thane of the Saxons times the title of Count or Earl of Baron and of Valvasor are used By which we understand it to have been though not in the same name yet notion a Feodall honor of great antiquity Sir Henry Spelman says they were such as had not onely Castles Towns or great parts of Countries in their jurisdiction but they had their Valvasores Minores I conceive for there were then Valvasores Majores Minores Milites libere tenentes Which should signifie an honor of command in the Common-wealth In France Germany and Italy Baronem vocant qui merum mistumque Imperium habet in aliquo Castro ex concessione 〈◊〉 And it hath been a common opinion that every Earldom in times past had under it ten Barons and every Barony ten Knights Fees holden of him But those Knights Fees say other Authors were uncertain for number However we find many Barons created in the times after the comming in of the Normans that held both of Knights service and of the Crown in chief which were either Spiritual or Temporall and it is certain that all honorary Barons from the Conquest till the latter time of King John were onely Barons by tenure These Spirituall Barons were distinguished from the Temporall Thane in the time of the Saxons by holding their lands free from all secular service excepting trinoda necessitas as it was called which was assistance in War in building of Bridges and Castles Which continued till the fourth year of William the first who then made the Bishopricks and Abbies subject to Knights service in chief by creation of new tenures and so
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
Bordures here is exemplified nine distinct In the first is a Bordure counter-compounded Or and Gules the second a Bordure Purflew of Vayre the third quarterly composed of Ermin and Checky Or and Azure the fourth Gobbonated Or and Sables the fifth Sables Entoyre of eight Bezants the sixth Or a Bordure Gules charged with three Bendlets Sables the seventh Azure Enaleuron of eight Martlets Or the eighth quarterly the first Gules Enurney of three Lyoncels passant guardant Or the second Azure Verdoy of as many Flowerdelis the third as the second the fourth as the first which with a Field Argent was the Coat-Armor of Henry Courtney Earl of Devonshire Marquesse of Exon. This may be blazoned short by England and France The ninth is a Bordure Gules Diapred Entoyre Enurney Enaleuron and Verdoy This kind of Bordure may be of any two or other set number of these also Now to the intent that Coat-Armor might descend to the Posterity with safety and free from dissention of strife Distinctions were invented which I have here set down to the number Nine By which differences the Bearer is understood of what degree or line of Consanguinity he is if he be of the second third or fourth House and what brother of that House by charging his Coat with the difference appertaining and if a younger brother of a younger House then by charging the difference of the House with difference of Line of Fraternity There being so much care taken for the preserving the honor of the entire Coats that the eldest son of the first House during the life of his father so of the rest cannot bear it without his distinction and for this reason hath the Nephew of the first the father being dead been always preferred before the Uncle of the second c. and taketh place before him By the way also we are to take notice that if all the brethren die without issue and leave sisters behind as they are co-inheritors of the Lands and Estare so shall they be of the Coat-Armor also without any distinction at all to either of them because by them the name of the House cannot be preserved they being all reckoned but as one Heir Again if they be not heirs they are not admitted to the bearing of the Coat-Armor for saith Sir John Fern Arma non transeunt ad agnatos affines Yet their husbands are admitted to adjoyn the Arms of their wives families in the sinister side of their Escutcheons with their own but if they have none of their own then not at all Now there is none of those signs but are sometimes born in Arms as Charges of the Coat but when they are distinctions it is easily known by their singularity either of place position or diminutive proportion A The Dexter chief B The precise middle chief C The Sinister chief D The Honor point E The Fesse point F TheNombril point G The Dexter Base H The precise middle Base I The Sinister Base 1 Invecked 2 Ingrayled 3 Wavy 4 Nebule 5 Embattaild or Crenelle 6 Indented 7 Dancette Of these lines the two first differ onely in this that the points of the ingrailed line are turned into the field and the other contrary into the ordinary that those lines do make The two last are both one secundùm quale onely differing secundùm quantum the one being onely wider and deeper then the other And when any of these Ordinaries are drawn withthese lines the Blazoner is to say A Bend Chief Pale or what it is Invecked Ingrayled Wavy or the like But if plain then onely to name the Ordinary with its colours according to the following examples 1 A Crosse. 2 A Chief 3 A Pale 4 A Bend. 5 a Fesse 6 An Inescutcheon 7 A Cheveron 8 A Saltyr 9 A Barre The last of which Ordinaries may easily be mistaken for the same or at least a diminutive of the fifth but it is not and they are distinguished by the space they possesse in the field and also by this difference the Barre hath liberty all over the field with its diminutions the Fesse onely one proper place These Ordinaries according to Leigh do possesse these proportions of the field Crosse containeth uncharged the fifth part but charged the third the Chief the third part the Pale the third part the Bend the fifth uncharged but charged the third the Fesse the third part the Innescut the fifth part the Chever the fifth part the Saltyr the fifth uncharged but charged the third the Barre the fifth part Of these Ordinaries some have their diminutives as the Barre a Closset a Barralet the Bend both Dexter and Sinister the Dexter hath a Bendlet Garter single and double Cottises and a Ribbon the Sinister Bend a Scarp and a 〈◊〉 a Cheveron hath its Cheveronels And here now I shall desire to be excused for digressing from the method of other men especially Mr. Guillim and first to take notice of some other forms near relating to the Ordinaries for their shape and proportion on which are oftentimes rewards and additions of Honor placed in Coats as also the abatements of Honor for misdemeanor and dishonorable actions that afterwards I may not have any thing to interrupt a methodicall proceeding in the rest The first of which are those on which most commonly additions are given which are these The first is a Bordure spoken of before The second a Quarter The third a Canton The fourth a Gyron The fifth a Pile The sixth two Flasques The seventh two Flanches The eighth two Voyders which saith Leigh is the way of bearing a reward given to a Woman The ninth is Ernoin an Inescutcheon Gules named also a Scutcheon of Pretence On any of these may an addition of Honor be placed according to the pleasure of the Prince or the fancy of the Herald that is left to the designing Which reward remains to the posterity of the Atchiever and none of the descendants of his family but his own line may bear it In which manner I have seen the Arms of a Kingdom given to a private Subject nay and sometimes to a Stranger as in the example of Sir Henry St. George Norroy King of Arms who upon an Embassie into Sweden was honored by the King of the Swethes with the addition of the Arms of Swethen in a Canton The Marquesse of Exeter gave the Arms of England in a Bordure as in the Escutcheon of Bordures is seen in the eighth quarter being given him by Henry the eighth Now the Laws of honor having by a continued succession of time maintained and refined these rules of Nobility for the encouragement of brave and generous spirits So foreseeing the pronenesse of all men being apter to fall and decline from the vertues and bravenesse of their Ancestors and to bury the honor of the deceased Purchasers in the dust than to improve the Talent of Renown Time hath entrusted them with as a correction to such dunghill-spirits there is provided a method
several by distance of place yet held to be but one entire Society or Confraternity by the name of Brethren The Arms of these two Innes of Judges and Serjeants First Gules two Garbs in Saltyre Or bands Azure The Second Or an Ibis proper which is a bird neer the colour of a Jay Next to the two Serjeants Innes in order are the four Innes of Court that is to say Inner Temple Middle Temple Lyncolns Inne Grayes Innne And first of the two houses or Societies which are called by the name of Temples or the Templars Inne The Middle Temple beareth for distinction Argent on a plain crosse Gules the holy Lamb 〈◊〉 The said two Temples or the Templars Inne are of any other of the Innes of Court the the most renowned and famous for antiquity They were at the prime and in their original but one entire foundationand body But in processe of time became divided at first founded by a religious and devout Order of Souldiers called Templarii that is to say Templars Which Knights within the Kingdome of England purchased to themselves certain Lands in Fleetstreet bordering upon the shore of the River Thames and thereon wit hin a short time built a large Edifice and withall a round Synagogue like unto a Chappel or Temple as it is now standing and was by Heraclius Patriarch of Jerusalem Anno Dom. 1185. dedicated to the service of God In which place these Templars by the space of one hundred years lived in great honor and opulency enjoying large possessions and those situate in the best places of the Realm the like they had in other places the Prelate of which Order was ever a Baron of England Now after the suppression of these Knights Templars their Colledge or Hostel came to the hands of Thomas Plantagenet Earl of Lancaster who being attainted for Disloyalty and Treason the same became invested to the Crown And afterwards the Earls Hugo le Dispencer Earl of Chester obtained the possession of the same house who for the like transgression was justly attained also and then it came to Damare de Valence Earl of Pembrook the Lusignian family in France who lodged therein but for a small season so that in the reign of Edward the third the Sages and worthy professors of the Common Laws of this Realm obtained a long lease of this house for 10. l. per annum A third part whereof called the outward Temple one Doctor Stapleton Bishop of Exeter in the dayes of King Edward the second procured for a residing Mansion to him and his successors Bishops of that See and it was called Exeter Inne And so continued untill the dayes of Queen Mary when the Lord Paget her principal Secretary of State and obtained the said third part called Exeter house to him and his heirs and did re-edifie the same After whom the said house or the third part of the said Templars house came to Thomas late Duke of Norfolk and was by him conveyed to Sir Robert Dudley Knight al. Sutton Earl of Lieoester who bequeathed the same to Sir Robert Dudley Knight his Son and lately came by purchase to Robert Devoreux late Earl of Essex that dyed in the reign of the late Queen Elizabeth and it is called to this day Essex house And not to omit what is written touching the antiquity of the Coat of Arms belonging to this house it is warranted by the same was and yet is to be seen purtraicted in an old Manuscript written many years since concerning the foundation of that Order and which Manuscript now is or of late was in the custody of the Right Honorable Lord William Howard a lover of Nobility and honorable Arms. It is to be understood that before the Order of Knight Templars assumed to themselves the said Coat Armour they now wear that they did embrace as to them appropriate this Ensign A Horse galloping with two Men on his back The which Ensign was usually engraven on their Signet or Common Seal It hath been conjectured that the significancy thereof was that the Originall of this Order began in poverty and want So that when they were to undertake any expedition of Christian service they were enforced for want of ability to ride two of them upon one horse But it is more truly conceited that the same was rather an 〈◊〉 of Love and Charity and was a true Hieroglyphick of an ingenious disposition and of a 〈◊〉 kindnesse used amongst noble and free-hearted Souldiers whereof none were of greater note then this Order Who being professed 〈◊〉 and honorable spirits when they should come to the rescue of a Christian Souldier who might happen to be wounded or sick and comfortlesse in the field they would relieve him and set him behinde one of them upon his own horse and by that means conveigh him to some place of safety where they should likewise take some speedy course for his relief Neither was this work of Chariy only practised by the Christian Knights in those ages but it was used by the very Infidels and Pagans who also usually were exercised in the same works of Charity as may be observed and read out of the famous and renowned Poet Ariosto who relates that Reginaldo and Fernand two Knights Charlemaine did fight together and each of them was mortally wounded and therefore they agreed to adjourne the Combate till another day And that during the space of the Parly Reginaldo's Palfrey strayed away and could not be found whereupon Fer nand proffered Reginaldo a part of his horse to ride upon and willed him to mount up behind him with assurance he would convey him safe to the place he desired which Reginaldo accepted and Fernand performed This History is writ by Ariosto in the Italian language and not unworthy observation to this intent The Knights Templars took their originall about the year of Grace 〈◊〉 and upon this occasion many Noble men who were religiously bent obliged themselves by speciall vows to serve Christ as regular Cannons in Chastity and Obedience and to renounce their own proper will for ever The first of that Order was Hugo Paganus and Godfrido de Sancto Hadomaro Their habit was prescribed by Pope Honorius to be a white habit and after by order from Pope Eugenio these Knights had their first habitation appointed them by Baldwin King of Jerusalem neer unto the holy Temple there they were ever after saluted by the names of Knights Templars This Order in processe of time did grow so universally great that many great 〈◊〉 and Townes of Christendome received their Order of the Knights Templars as well in this our Nation as in other parts where they enjoyed fair revenewes and large possessions for in England this University called the Temple was the feat and habitation of divers Knights of that Order But it hath of late by the Princely donation of King James our late Soveraign been confirmed to the professors of the Common Law under the great Seal of England The Society of
deeds in the possession of the late right honorable Gilbert Earl of Shrewbury doth appear Bernards Inne Beareth party per pale indented Ermin and Sab. a Cheveron Gul. fretty This house was in the thirteenth year of the reign of King Henry the sixth a messuage belonging to one John Mackworth then Dean of the Cathedral Church of Lincoln and in that time in the holding of one Lyonel Bernard who next before the conversion thereof into an Inne of Chancery dwelt there And it hath ever since retained the name of Bernards Inne or Bernards house Staple Inne Port de vert un pacquet de doyne Arg. This House was sometimes belonging to the English Merchants of the Staple as it hath been by ancient Tradition held It is of late adorned with a convenient large Garden-plot to walk in and is at this day rightly esteemed for the most ample and beautifull Inne of Chancery within this Academy Clifford's Inne Reareth Checky Or Azure of fesse Gul. within a bordure of the third charged with a Bezanet This House albeit it followeth in an after rank from the former yet it is worthy to be reputed amongst the formest as being in reputation with the best both for conveniency and quiet situation thereof as for worth and good government It was also sometime the dwelling house of Maccoln de Hersey and came to the King for debts and was after sometimes the house of the Lord Clifford as by Inquisition which was taken that year and remaining on Record doth appeare which hath these words Isabella quae fuit Roberti Clifford 〈◊〉 cum pertinent quod Robertus habuit in parochia Sancti Dunstani West ' in suburb Londini c. tenuit illud demisit post mortem dicti Roberti 〈◊〉 de Bancho pro 〈◊〉 l. per annum c. ut pat per Inquisitionem cap. 18. Edwardi 3. post mortem dict Roberti Clifford This House at this day is the Inheritance of that antient and right honorable family of Cliffords Earls of Cumberland for which there is an annual Rent still rendered to the Earles of Cumberland for the time being Clements Inne Beareth Argent Anchor without a stock in pale proper entertaining a C. for Clement into the body thereof This House sometimes was a messuage belonging to the Parish Church of St. Clement Danes from whence it took its denomination neer to this house is that Fountain which is called Clements Well This Anchor is engraven in stone over the gate of the first entrance into the house and is an Hieroglyphick figuring thereby that Pope Clement as he was Pope was reputed Caput Ecclesiae Romanae for the Roman Priesthood or Anchorage of Christendome figured by the Anchor and by the text C. the Sacerdotal dignity Some hold that the device of the Anchor was rather invented upon this reason of the Martyrdome of Pope Clement as Jacobus de Voragia writeth that he received his Martyrdome being bound to a great Anchor and cast into the Sea by the command of the Emperor Trajane New Inne Beareth Vert a Flower-pot Arg. maintaining Jully flowers Gules This house is so called by reason of its then late or new Creation being in the reign of King Henry the seventh therefore the same is not of late a foundation as some imagine which is that the late dissolution of Strond Inne being by the Duke of Somerset Uncle to King Edward the sixth this house in lieu thereof was instituted for the dispersed Gentlemen Professors and Students of the Common Laws of this Realm It is certain that Sir Thomas Moor Knight Lord Chancellor of England in the reign of King Henry the seventh was a fellow student of this Society and in the reign of King Henry the eighth removed his study into that of Lincolns Inne This house was sometimes called by the name of our Ladies Inne for that the Picture of our Lady was pourtraicted at the doore thereof And in the reign of King Edward the fourth was 〈◊〉 by Sir John Fyncaullxe Knight Chief Justice of England or of the Kings Bench or 6. l. per annum wherein he placed Students and practisers of the Common Lawes who before that time had a house in the 〈◊〉 Bayly called St. Georges Inne the passage thereunto was over against St. Sepulchers Church and by some is reputed to be the first and most ancient of all other Innes of Chancery but the same house at this day is converted into severall Tenements and Garden plots Lyons Inne Beareth Checkie Or and Arg a Lyon Saliant Sab. langued and armed Gules This house received its foundation of modern time and lately before the acquiring thereof it was a dwelling house known by the name of the Black Lyon and in the reign of King Henry the seventh was purchased by divers Gentlemen Students and Professors of the common Lawes The first Treasurer of this Society was one John Bidwell The greatest number of this Society are the natives of the West parts viz Devonshire and Cornwall but for the most part Devonshire Gentlemen Chesters Inne or Strond Inne Beareth Azure within a bordure Gules three garbes Or in a bend of the second In the reign of King Henry the eighth this house for that Sir Bevis St. Marrour Knight Duke of Somerset kept there his Court was an Inne of Chancery called Strond Inne and before that time belonged to the Bishop of Chester after to the Bishop of Worcester and unto the Bishop of Landaffe with the Parochiall Church of St. Maries adjoyning thereunto All which were swallowed up in An Dom. 1549. for to build an ample and spacious Edifice to the use of the said Duke the maternall Uncle to King Edward the sixth The Six Clerkes Office otherwise called Riderminster's Inne Beareth Azure two Cheveronels Or between three Bezants Arg. charged with eight pellets This House though it be not saluted by the name of an Inne of Chancery as the others are which are of like name and nature yet is the same more properly to be called an Inne of Chancery then any of the rest for that the Chancery Officers do there reside namely Attourneys commonly called the Six Clerks of the Chancery and are to this day a society of Gentlemen well learned in the Laws These were at the first Sacerdotall and therefore called Clerks And in those days when the Institution of them was first established they were all of them Church-men This house was acquired and gotten for the society by one John Riderminster Esquire a member thereof who in his time was a very skilfull and well Learned man and both faithfull and just as well to his Client as to his friend It was antiently the Inne or the Mansion of the Abbot of Norton in Lincolnshire and since that time it hath been the dwelling-house of one Andrew Hersfleet and is most proper to be called an Inne of Chancery for the Officers of Chancery only reside there the House is situate in Chancery lane where the causes appertaining to
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
condemns even Parliament-Attainder The things that belongs to Justice and Peace are annexed to the Crown nor can they be separated The Parliament in the behalf of Henry the eighth writ thus to the Pope His Royall Majesty is the Head and the very Soul of us all his Royall Majestie 's cause is the cause of us all derived from the Head upon the Members his griefs and injuries are ours we all suffer equally with him Mr. Camden speaks thus of him The King is the most excellent part of the Common-wealth next unto God he is under no vassallage he takes his investiture from no man he acknowledges no Superior but God In England France Spain Denmark and other Kingdoms they are styled Kings Dei gratia by the grace of God Which hath been an antient custom in these Nations in the same or the like words as in the style of King Ethelbald Ethelbaldus divina dispensatione Rex Merciorum An. 716. Kenulphus Dei misericordia Rex Merciorum Beoredus largiente Dei gratia Rex Merciorum Ego Edwardus Dei gratia Rex Anglorum Ego Wilielmus Dei beneficio Rex Anglorum And the Kings of England since by a Bull from Rome in the time of our obedience to the Pope have been styled Defenders of the Faith and by Act of Parliament of Henry the eighth to whom that Bull was sent had the title of Supream Head of the Church of England annexed As the King of France is styled Rex Francorum Christianissimus the King of Spain Rex Catholicus or Catholica Majestad Catholick Majesty and the Emperor Defender of the Church It is the manner of Kings also to write in the plurall number which is God's own style as Mandamus Volumus Facimus c. And indeed in the Scripture we often find them called gods and in that sense may be styled Divi or Dii quia Dei vicarii Dei voce judicant Mr. Selden speaks thus upon this subject Man as a civill creature was directed to this form of subjection As if the sole observation of Nature had necessarily led the affections of men to this kinde of state Whence it is also that while others of the most curious in Philosophy tells us of Angells and the Supream Heavens being immediately Governed by the Maker of all things of the Planets and other Stars being ruled by the Sun and the separated Souls and the Aire being subject to the Moon they add together that upon Earth Kings are in like sort of Government as if naturall reason had first ordained them on earth by an unavoidable imitation of the Creator's providence used in that institution of Government in the Ayr Starrs and Heaven Neither do the antientest Gentiles speak of those elder times than with clear supposition of Monarchy even in the Infancy of the world And though divers of the chiefest States of the old Grecians were in their most flourishing times Democracies or Optimacies yet the more antient States there were in every place Monarchies as is expresly noted by Pausanias They are honored in all salutations not onely with kissing the hand but bowing the knee also in acknowledgment of their superiority to all Some are of opinion that this kind of Salutation came first to Rome from the old customes of the Asiatick Kingdoms For when the Persians meet you may know whether they be equall or not for in salutation they kisse each other but if one be somewhat inferior they kisse onely the cheek but if one be more ignoble he falls down adoring the other and passing by one another he turns his back as unworthy to look him in the face that is so much above him in honor The Ceremonies at his Coronation are many and in England more than any other Countries As the annoynting with Oyl the sacred Consecration which is to no other Kings but France Sicily and Jerusalem and his Crown fell on his head with many Religious Ceremonies which Spain Portugall Aragon and Navar c. have not besides the Ensignes of Regality which are a Ring to signifie his faithfulnesse a Bracelet for good works a Scepter for Justice a Sword for vengeance Purple 〈◊〉 to attract reverence and a Diadem triumphant to blazon his glory The Ceremony of Anointing every one almost understands to have been an Institution as old as the Law of God almost for though we find no speciall command in the Law delivered for it yet we find examples of it in a continued succession from God's own people and that with the holy Oyl with which none by the command in the Law were to be anoynted but the Priest which Oyl never wasted And that this hath been no Innovation among us is proved by Mr. Selden who makes it appear to be of above a thousand years standing before it was either in the Empire or France Though they have had it in France a long time and they say by divine Institution 〈◊〉 upon us for their authority the Miracle of a Dove that brought a Vial of holy Oyl from Heaven to anoynt King Clovis the first about five hundred years since Christ which Oyle they say hath never wasted It was the saying of Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury Inunguntur Reges in Capite etiam Pectore Brachiis quod 〈◊〉 ficat gloriam sanctitatem fortitudinem Kings are annointed on the Head to signifie their glory on the Breast to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their sanctity on their Arms to 〈◊〉 their power He is Crowned with an Imperiall Crown the Crown set on his head by the Archbishop of Canterbury a Prerogative to that See as it is in Spain to Toledo in France to Rheims and in Swethen to Upsalia But this Imperiall Crown hath not been long in use among us though our Kings have have had Imperiall Commands as over Scotland Ireland Man and other 〈◊〉 yet of Ireland they were but Lords untill the 33 year of Henry the eighth he being notwithstanding as absolute a Monarch over it when he was but Lord of Ireland as when he was styled King The Crowns formerly were but the same in a manner with that of an Earl now Neither is it to be found that any such thing as a Diadem was in use at all till the time of Constantine 〈◊〉 Great the distinction before being some kind of Chaplet or which is most certain a white silk Fillet about the brows which was an ordinary way to distinguish them as I have my self seen Statues of the Emperor with such a kind of Fillet about the head From whence is that which we read that Alexander the Great took off his white Diadem to cure the madness of Seleucus The first that was Crowned with this kind of Imperiall Crown floryed and arched was Henry the third say some but others Henry the first and indeed it is left disputable to me so by me to others However it is very probable and plain that the antientest