that has not a Fore-head of Brass For the Presence not of the Kings only but of the Duces Principes Satrapae Populus Terrae c. shews sufficiently that neither the Kings and the Clergy without the concurrent Authority of the same Persons that enacted Temporal Laws could prescribe General Laws in Matters of Religion I do not dispute what Orders of Men among the Saxons were described by Duces Principes c. but sure I am that they were Lay-men and as sure that they assented to and confirmed those Laws without whose Assent they were no Laws so that the Kings of those Times had no greater Legislative Power in Ecclesiastical Matters than in Temporal THE tearing the Ecclesiastical Power from the Temporal was the great Root of the Papacy It was that mounted it to this heighth those Powers never were distinct in England nor most other Nations till that See got the Ascendant And it is strange Inconsistency to argue one while that whatever the Pope de facto formerly did by the Canon Law that of Right belongs to our Kings and another while that the several Acts that restore the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction to the Crown are but declarative It shews how little the Supremacy is understood by Modern Assertors of it and how little they are acquainted with the Antient Government of England THE third Period of Time to be considered shall be from the uniting of the several Kingdoms of the Saxons under one Monarchy to the Norman Conquest IN this Division we find a Letter from Pope Formosus to King Edward the Elder wherein the Pope complains that the Country of the West-Saxons had wanted Bishops for seven whole Years Upon the Receipt of this Letter the King calls Synodum Senatorum Gentis Anglorum who being assembled singulis tribubus Gewisiorum i. e. West-Saxonum singulos constituerunt Episcopos quod olìm duo habuerunt in quinque divisêrunt THE Ecclesiastical Laws of King Edward the Elder and Guthrun the Dane begin with this Proemium Haec sunt Senatus-consulta ac Instituta quae primò Aluredus Guthrunus Reges deindè Edwardus Guthrunus Reges illis ipsis temporibus tulêre cum pacis foedus Daci Angli ferierunt Quaeque posteà à sapìentibus Tha Witan saepiùs recitata átque ad Communem Regni utilitatem aucta átque amplificata sunt The Titles of some of these Laws are De Apostatis De Correctione Ordinatorum i. e. Sacris Initiatorum De Incestu De Jejuniis c. all of Ecclesiastical Cognizance or at least of after-times so reputed These are called Senatus-consulta than which a more apposite word could scarce have been used for Acts of Parliament and were assented to by the Witen from which word the Saxon Term for Parliaments Witena-Gemot is derived A Concilium celebre was held under King Athelstan in quo Leges plurimae tùm Civiles tùm Ecclesiasticae statuebantur It 's true the Civil Laws are omitted and Sir Henry Spelman gives us an Account only of the Ecclesiastical Laws made at this Assembly which conclude Decreta Actaque haec sunt in celebri Gratanleano Concilio cui Wulfelmus interfuit Archiepiscopus cùm eo Optimates Sapientes ab Athelstano evocati frequentissimi KING Edmund held a Council Anno 944. where many Ecclesiastical as well as Secular Laws were made as De Vitae castitate eorum qui sacris initiantur De Fani instauratione De pejerantibus De iis qui barbara factitarunt Sacrificia c. And this Council is expressed to have been Conventus tà m Ecclesiasticorum quà m Laicorum celebris tà m Ecclesiasticorum quà m Laicorum frequentia I will give no more Instances before the Conquest tho numbers are to be had which lie scattered up and down in the Monkish Histories which being compared with one another will sufficiently disclose what I assert For sometimes Laws that concert Temporal Affairs as well as Ecclesiastical are said to have been made by such a King in one Author which very Laws another Historian tells us were made in the Great Council for which yet they have no uniform appropriated Expression Term or Denomination Just as we in common Parlance say King Edward the Third or King Henry the Seventh made such a Law which yet every Man understands to have been made in Parliament because else it were not a Law SO far have I made bold with the words of this Learned Gentleman I shall now by way of Confirmation to what he hath said observe from Mr. Lambard's Edition of his English-Saxon Laws which was a different Copy from that from whence Sir Henry Spelman published his Councils that our Saxon Laws both Ecclesiastical and Civil were made by one and the same Authority as appears by the Preface to the Laws of King Edmund which we find runs thus Aedmundus Rex ipso solemni Paschatis Festo frequentem Londini tà m Ecclesiasticorum quà m Laicorum Coetum celebravit c. So likewise in the Laws of King Edgar the Preface of which is thus Leges quas Edgarus Rex frequenti Senatu ad Dei Gloriam Reipublicae utilitatem sancivit In the Saxon Original thus MID HIS WITENA GEHEAHTE GERAED that is with the Council of his Wise-men he established The Laws of King Cnute likewise begin thus Consultum quod Canutus Anglorum Dacorum Norwegiorum Rex ex Sapientûm Concilio sancivit Note the words in the Saxon are the same as above I could illustrate this further by several more Instances out of the same Volume were I not afraid of having already trespassed too much upon you only I desire you would please to take notice that in each Body of these above-mentioned Laws the Ecclesiastical precede and then the Civil or Temporal follow tho being both made at the same time in the same Council and by the joint Authority of the same Parties BUT now to add one thing more from the said Author Mr. Washington which is That Bishopricks and other Ecclesiastical Dignities were in the Saxon Times commonly conferred in Parliament we have the Testimony of Ingulphus who was Abbot of Crowland in King William the Conqueror's Reign à multis annis retroactis nulla erat Electio Praelatorum merè libera Canonica sed omnes Dignitates tà m Episcoporum quà m Abbatum Regis Curia pro suâ complacentiâ conferebat that is says he that for many Years past there was no Election of Prelates absolutely free and Canonical But all Dignities both of Bishops and Abbots were conferred by the King's Court i. e. the Great Council of the Kingdom as I shall prove by and by according to their good Pleasure AFTER which the Person so elected being first consecrated the King invested him with the Temporalties per traditionem Baculi Annuli as you will find in the same Author AND that this Custom was very antient will appear by the Election of Wilfrid to be Bishop of Hagulstade Anno
Plunder and Spoil But of this we shall speak more in due time and shall now proceed in our History where we left off in our last Book Egbert the only surviving Prince of the Blood-Royal of the West Saxon Kings as great Nephew to Ina by his Brother Inegilds being arrived in England was now ordained King as Ethelwerd expressly terms his Election But since Asser in his Annals places this King 's coming to the Crown under Anno 802. as does Simeon of Durham and also Roger Howden from an Ancient piece of Saxon Chronologie inserted at the beginning of the first Book of his first part and this account being also proved by that great Master in Chronology the now Lord Bishop of Litchfield to be truer then that of the Saxon Annals or Ethelwerd by divers Proofs too long to be here Inserted I have made bold to put this King 's coming to the Crown two Years backwarder then it is in the last Book thô I confess the former Account in the Saxon Annals would have made a more exact Epocha Also about this time as appears from the ancient Register of St. Leonard's Abbey in York cited in Monast. Anglican viz. ' That Anno Dom. 800 Egbert King of all Britain in a Parliament at Winchester by the consent of his People changed the Name of this Kingdom and commanded it to be called England Now thô by the word Parliament here used it is certain that this Register was writ long after the Conquest yet it might be transcribed from some more ancient Monument since Will. of Malmesbury tells us of this King tho' without setting down the time that by the greatness of his Mind he reduced all the Varieties of the English Saxon Kingdoms to one uniform Empire or Dominion which he called England though others perhaps more truly refer it towards the latter end of his Reign as you will find when we come to it This Year Eardulf King of the Northumbers led his Army against Kenwulf King of Mercia for harbouring his Enemies who also gathering together a great Army they approached to each other when by the Advice of the Bishops and Noblemen of England as also by the Intercession of the chief King of the English by whom is meant King Egbert who then passed under that Title They agreed upon a lasting Peace which was also confirmed by Oath on both sides This we find in Simeon of Durham's History of that Church and in no other Authour About this time also St. Alburhe Sister to King Egbert founded a Benedictine Nunnery at Wilton which was long after rebuilt by King Alfred and augmented by King Edgar for Twenty Six Nuns and an Abbess The same Year the Moon was Eclipsed on the 13 Kal. Jan. and ' Beormod was Consecrated Bishop of Rochester About this time in Obedience to a Letter from Pope Leo III. who at the desire of Kenwulf King of the Mercians had Two Years since restored the See of Canterbury to its ancient Primacy was held the Third Synod at Cloveshoe by â—rch bishop Ethelward and 12 Bishops of his Province whereby the See of Canterbury was not only restored to all its ancient Rights and Priviledges but it was also forbid for all times to come upon Pain of Damnation if not repented of for any Man to violate the Rights of that ancient See and thereby to destroy the Unity of Christ's Holy Church then follow the Subscriptions of the Arch-bishop of Canterbury and of 12 other Bishops of his Province together with those of many Abbots and Presbyters who never Subscribed before but without the Subcriptions of the King or any of the Lay Nobility Which plainly shews it to have been a meer Ecclesiastical Synod and no great Council of the Kingdom as you may see at large in Sir H. Spelman's 1 Vol of Councils the Decree of which Synod also shews that the Church of England did not then conceive the Authority of the People alone sufficient to disanul what had been solemnly Decreed in a great Council of the Kingdom as was the Removal of the Primacy from Canterbury to Litchfield The next Year According to our Annals Ethelheard Arch-bishop of Canterbury deceased and Wulfred was consecrated Arch-bishop in his stead and Forther the Abbot dyed The same Year also Deceased Higbald Bishop of Lindisfarne 8 o Kal Julii and Eegbert was Consecrated to that See 3 o Ides Junii ' This Year Wulfred the Arch bishop received his Pall. Cuthred King of Kent deceased as did also Ceolburh the Abbess and Heabyrnt the Ealdorman This Cuthred here mentioned was as Will. of Malmesbury informs us he whom Kenulph King of the Mercians hath made King of Kent instead of Ethelbert called Pren. This Year the Moon was Eclipsed on the Kal. of September and Eardwulf King of the Northumbers was driven from his Kingdom and Eanbryth Bishop of Hagulstad Deceased Also this Year 2 o Non Junii the sign of the Cross was seen in the Moon upon Wednesday in the Morning and the same Year on the Third Kal. Septemb. a wonderful Circle was seen round the Sun This Eardwulf above-mentioned is related by Simeon of Durham to have been the Son of Eardulf the first of that Name King of Northumberland and after Ten Years Reign to have been driven out by one Aelfwold who Reigned Two Years in his stead During these Confusions in the Northumbrian Kingdom Arch-Bishop Usher with great probability supposes in his Antiquitat Britan. Eccles. that the Picts and Scots Conquered the Countries of Galloway and Lothian as also those Countries called the Lowlands of Scotland as far as the Friths of Dunbritain and Edenburgh And that this City was also in the possession of the English Saxons about an Hundred Years after this I shall shew in due order of time and that our Kings did long after maintain their claim to Lothian shall be further shewn when I come to it But that all the Lowlands of Scotland as far as the English Saxon Tongue was spoken were anciently part of the Bernician Kingdom the English Language as well as the Names of places which are all English Saxon and neither Scotish nor Pictish do sufficiently make out The Sun was Eclipsed on the 7th Kal. of August about the Fifth Hour of the Day This Year as Sigebert in his Chronicle relates King Eardulph above-mentioned being expelled his Kingdom and coming for Refuge to the Emperour Charles the Great was by his Assistance restored thereunto but since neither the Saxon Annals nor Florence nor yet any of our English Historians do mention it I much doubt the Truth of this Relation thô it must be also acknowledged that it is inserted in the ancient French Annals of that time and recited that this King's Restitution was procured by the Intercession of the Pope's and Emperour's Legates who were sent into England for that purpose This Year according to Mat. Westminster Egbert King of the West
who instead of Rector Rex stiled himself totius Albionis Basileus in divers Charters but this proceeded from the corrupt Stile of that Time or else the particular Fancy of the Clerk or Monk who drew the Charter And tho instead of this word Basileus King Ethelred his Son again made use of Rex yet the rest of the Title remained the same and was also continued by King Knut however he sometimes stiled himself Rex totius Albionis Insulae aliarum Nationum plurimarum What Titles his Sons had I do not find because I have not seen any of their Charters only we may here observe that several Kings before Cnute stiled themselves Kings not only of Albion or Britain but of several other Nations round about by which could only be meant that Superiority they assumed at that time over the Kings of Scotland Wales and Northumberland before that Country was reduced into the form of a Province and was governed by Earls I now come in the next place to give you an Account of the chief Powers and Prerogatives of our English-Saxon Kings some of which I find set down in our Saxon Annals at the end of the Year 693 at the Council of Becanceld where the Arch-bishop of Canterbury thus defines them in his Decree at the Conclusion of that Council Regum est says he constituere Comites Duces Vice-Comites Judites it is the Office of Kings to constitute Earls Ealdormen Sheriffs and Judges TO which we may also add the Power of Coining Money which being then the Prerogative of the Crown was granted by Charter to the Arch-bishops of Canterbury and York as likewise to the Abbots of Medeshamsted or Peterborough and to several other Abbies as may be seen in Monasticon Anglicanum as well as in the Annals themselves Some Instances of which I have given you in the ensuing History not omitting some of the Coins which are still preserved in Cabinets some of whose Figures are to be found in the Collection of Saxon Coins before King Alfred's Life as also before the new Edition of Camden's Britannia BUT that any of those Kings had Power by their own Royal Prerogative to enhance or debase the intrinsick Value of the Money coined either in their own or other Mints I can no ways believe since such a Prerogative would have highly tended to the Loss and Defrauding of the Subject for which that Power was never designed nor do I find our Kings ever assumed this Prerogative to themselves till later Ages And in Confirmation of this the Mirror of Justices recites it as an old Law of the Saxon Times that no King of this Realm could change embase or enhance his Money or make other Coin than of Silver san's l'assent de touts ses Counties i. e. without the Assent of Parliament as Sir Edward Coke in his second Institutes hath on very good grounds interpreted this Expression in that Author Andrew Horne who lived in the Reign of King Edward I. TO these we may further add that of pardoning Offendors their Lives in several Cases such as striking in the King's Palace c. which he might also take in Case of Homicides but still reserving the Wiregilds or Compensations that were to be made to the Friends or Relations of the Parties slain which it was not in his Power to release as appears by several Passages in our Saxon Laws some of which I have inserted in this Volume whence I suppose are derived the Appeals of the Wife Son or Brother in Cases of Murder at this day BUT as for the Power of making War or Peace since I find little said of it in our Histories I shall not be positive in asserting any thing concerning it only shall observe that in every Peace made by the King upon Payment of Money the Consent of the Estates of the Kingdom was required for Taxes could not be raised without it as you will find in our Annals under the Years 994 1002 1006 1011 when that extraordinary Tax of Danegelt was raised to be paid to the Danes for purchasing a Peace of them And as for the Power of making Foreign War that could also signify little since those Kings had not the Prerogative of raising Money without the Consent of their People any more than our Kings have at this day nor were their Revenues so much in Money as in Provisions for their Houshold NOR can I omit here taking notice that the English Saxon Kings wanted one great Prerogative which ours exercise at this day viz. the power of granting away the Demesnes of the Crown even to pious Uses without the Consent to the great Council of their Kingdoms and of this we find a remarkable Instance in Sir H. Spelman's first Vol. of Councils where Baldred King of Kent had given the Mannor of Mallings to Christ-Church in Canterbury but because the chief Men of his Kingdom i. e. the Great Council had not consented to it it was revoked until K. Egbert afterwards by the Consent of his WITTENA GEMOT made a new Grant thereof and this was also the reason why the Foundations and Infeodations of Abbies were always confirmed and attested by all the Estates as well Spiritual as Temporal as you will find by most of their Charters in Monast. Anglican of which I have inserted some Examples in the History it self so that I shall leave it to the Reader 's Consideration whether those Princes that could not dispose of their Crown-Lands without the Consent of the Great Council of the Kingdom could without the like Consent dispose of the Crown it self as they pleased as Dr. Brady in his History of the Succession c. asserts tho without any just Grounds as hath been already proved BUT those Kings great Prerogative chiefly consisted in giving their Sanction to all Laws that were made as well relating to Civil as Ecclesiastical Matters that did not concern Doctrines of Faith but this is still to be so understood that this Prerogative could never be exerted without the Advice and Consent of the Mycel-Gemot or Great Council of the Realm at which tho they were often first drawn up into Form and then proposed by the King yet was their Authority also necessary for the enacting of those Laws without which they could no ways oblige the Subject as shall be further shewn towards the end of this Discourse BUT since I have given you so large an Account how our Kings then obtained the Crown it may perhaps be expected I should say somewhat now concerning the manner of their losing it sometimes by other ways than Death IN order to this I desire the Reader would observe that not only in England but in all the Kingdoms of Europe that were raised upon the Ruins of the Roman Empire after the Gothic Model the same mix'd manner of Succession partly by Testament partly by Election did in those days chiefly prevail Of which Monsieur Mezeray himself is so sensible that in his
Courts I come now to the chiefest next to that of the Great Council of the Kingdom viz. that which was called Curia Domini Regis Because oftentimes as Sir Wil. Dugdale informs us the King himself sate here in Person having several Justices à latere suo residentes as Bracton expresseth it and in his Absence the Ealdorman or Chief Justiciary of all England supplied his Place CONCERNING this Court tho we have not many Memorials left of it before the Conquest yet it was certainly at that Time in Being since it seems to have been then the Great Court of all Appeals as well Criminal as Civil long after the Conquest before the Court of Common-Pleas was taken out of it for here it was that K. Alfred is supposed to have re-heard and examined the false Judgments of his inferior Judges in the Hundred and County-Courts and here it was also that he condemned above forty of them to be executed in one Year for their erroneous Sentences in Matters of Life and Death as you will find in the Mirror of Justices I need say no more of this Great Court whose Power now resides in that of the King's-Bench and Common-Pleas neither the Chancery nor Exchequer having then any Being the former of which commenc'd long after the Conquest and the latter was erected by King William the First I have but two Observations to make concerning our Antient English Saxon Courts of Justice the FIRST of which is that strict Union there then was as well in the Folk-mote and County-Court as in the Hundred-Court between the Ecclesiastical and Civil State in both which the Bishop and the Sheriff sitting together all Causes both Spiritual and Secular were equally and at one time dispatched to the great Ease and Satisfaction of the Subject who were taught by the Bishop in the Folk-mote what was their Duty towards God and the Church as they were by the Ealdorman or Sheriff what Common Laws they were bound to observe in order to their Honest and Peaceable Living one among another a Custom which when reading of Books was not generally in use among the Laiety was absolutely necessary for the acquainting them with their Duty in imitation of which I suppose our Common Charges at Assizes and Sessions are continued to this Day THE SECOND is the great Ease the Subject must needs find in having Justice administred to him in smaller Actions in the Court of Decenary or Tything even at their own Doors or else in Appeals and greater Actions at the Court of the Trihing or Lathe from whence they might remove it to the County-Court and if they thought themselves aggrieved there then they might bring it before the King himself or his chief Justiciary in the Great Court abovementioned An Admirable and an Excellent Constitution this whilst the Laws of England were few easy and plain before the Partiality and Corruption of Countrey Juries came in and the bandying and Factions of Rich and Powerful Men in the Countrey against each other together with the vast varieties of Determinations of Cases in Law had rendered those inferior Courts not only perplexed but unsafe and vexatious to the Subject I come now to the Supream Court of the whole Kingdom called in Saxon the Wittena-Gemot or Mycel-Synoth in Latin Magnum or Commune Concilium Regni the Great or Common-Council of the Kingdom consisting of the King and the three Estates which we now call our Parliament which Court the Author of the Mirror of Justices expresly tells us That King Alfred ordained for a perpetual Custom that twice in the Year or oftner in Time of Peace if Business so required they should assemble at London to treat of the good Government of God's People and how Folks should be restrained from Offending and live in Quiet and should receive Right by certain Antient Usages and Judgments c. From whence you may observe that in this Author's Time viz. that of Edward I. it was held for Law That the great Council of the Kingdom antiently met of Course twice in the Year without any express Summons from the King and this it seems was afterwards altered to thrice in the Year viz. at the three great Feasts of Christmass Easter and Whitsontide when the King met his Estates with great Solemnity wearing his Crown upon all solemn Days of Entertainment and when the Feasting was over they fell to dispatch the publick Affairs as Sir H. Spelman well observes THESE stated Councils which were then held ex More as our Historians term it i. e. according to antient Custom continued long after the Conquest as shall be farther shewn hereafter but if this Council happened to meet at any other extraordinary Time then the King 's special Summons was requisite as you may find in Ingulf under Anno Dom. 948. where he tells us King Edred summoned the Arch-bishops Bishops and all the Proceres and Optimates i. e. Chief Men of the Kingdom to meet him at London at the Purification of the Virgin Mary Whence we may observe that this Summons was thus issued because this Council was extraordinary as not being held ex more at any of the usual great Feasts abovementioned CONCERNING the Original of this great Assembly since Sir Robert Filmer in all his Works and particularly in his Patriarcha and Dr. Johnston in his Excellency of Monarchical Government Would have this as well as all our other Liberties and Privileges to have been only Royal Abatements of Power and gracious Indulgences and Condescensions of our Kings for the Benefit and Security of the Subject who were pleased to condescend to call some Persons of each of the three Estates it being left to their Discretion whom to summon and whom not and tho many of our Kings have made use of such great Assemblies to consult about important Affairs of State and by their Consent and Approbation to make Laws as well as at their Prayers and Petitions to redress their just Grievances yet they owed their being to our first Monarchs since till about the time of the Conquest there could be no General Assembly of the Estates of the whole Kingdom because till those Times we cannot learn it was entirely united into one but it was either divided into several Kingdoms or governed by several Laws I confess this looks at first like a specious Hypothesis and may serve perhaps to prevail upon some ignorant and unwary Readers who will not or cannot give themselves the trouble of searching to the Bottom to find out the Truth of things But I desire the Favour of those who believe and maintain this Opinion to answer me these few Queries FIRST How it came to pass that in all the Kingdoms of Europe erected out of the Ruines of the Roman Empire as well as those that were not but yet had been constituted according to the same Gothick Model the like General or Great Council of Estates consisting of the same Degrees
dicitur convocati i. e. Besides many other very Eminent Persons and Chief Men of the Kingdom of divers Orders being omitted who with most pious Affection were Witnesses and Approvers to this Confirmation and these were summoned at that Time by the Royal Authority from divers Provinces and Cities to the General Synod held at the Famous Abby of Westminster for the hearing and determining of the Causes of each Christian Church THIS is an Authority which seemed so convincing that Sir William Dugdale hath made use of it in his Origines Juridiciales to prove the Antiquity of the Commons of England in Parliament yet Dr. Brady in the Conclusion of his Answer to Mr. Cook 's Argumentum Antinormanicum accuses that Gentleman of being both Ignorant and Mistaken in the meaning of Cities and Provinces and the Persons that came from them whom he indeed would have to be not any Representatives of Counties and Cities but only Deans Arch-Deacons and other dignified Persons and Church-Officers as well of the Laity as Clergy who were summoned by the King to this Synod from Provinces and Cities to advise and inform the King of the Conveniency of the Places whither the Bishops Sees then about to be removed from Villages to Cities were to be transferred BUT since there is not one word in this Charter said of any such Thing and that Sir Henry Spelman in his Glossary renders the word Provincia for a County and not a Bishop's See I my self not now having leisure to pursue such Niceties shall refer the Curious for their farther Satisfaction to the eighth Dialogue of Bibliotheca Politica where they may read whatsoever he has said against it sufficiently answered THESE are the only Authorities I shall make use of at this Time to prove that the Cities and Boroughs had then their Delegates or Representatives in the Saxon Witena-Gemotes I will now conclude this Point with the Judgment of that Learned Antiquary Mr. Lambard who certainly understood the Constitution of this Antient Government as well at least if not better than Dr. Brady and he tells us THAT whereas in the beginning of each Law viz. those made by the Saxon Kings he there mentions all the Acts are said to pass from the King and his Wise Men both of the Clergy and Laity in the Body of the Laws each Statute being thus And it is the Advice of our Lord and his Wise-Men So as it appears that it was then a received Form of Speech to signify both the Spirituality and the Laity that is to say the greater Nobility and the less or Commons by this one word Witan i. e. Wise-men NOW as those written Authorities do undoubtedly confirm our Assertion of the Continuance of this manner of Parliament so is there also unwritten Law or Prescription that doth no less infallibly uphold the same For it is well known that in every Quarter of the Realm a great many Boroughs do yet send Burgesses to the Parliament which are nevertheless so antient and so long since decayed and gone to nought that it cannot be shewed that they have been of any Reputation at any time since the Conquest and much less that they have obtained this Privilege by the Grant of any King succeeding the same So that the Interest which they have in Parliament groweth by an antient Usage before the Conquest whereof they cannot shew any beginning which thing is also confirmed by a contrary Usage in the self-same thing for it is likewise known that they of Antient Demesne do prescribe in not sending to the Parliament for which reason also they are neither Contributors to the Wages of the Knights of Shires neither are they bound by sundry Acts of Parliament tho the same be generally penn'd and do make no Exceptions of them But there is no antient Demesne saving that only which is described in the Book of Doomsday under the Title of Terra Regis which of necessity must be such as either was in the Hands of the Conqueror himself who made the Book or of Edward the Confessor that was before him And so again if they of antient Demesnes have ever since the Conquest prescribed not to elect Burgesses to Parliament then no doubt there was a Parliament before the Conquest to the which they of other Places did send their Burgesses I shall here crave leave to add one Record tho after the Conquest in Confirmation of what Mr. Lambard hath here learnedly asserted for that several Boroughs claimed to send Members to Parliament by Prescription in the beginning of the Reign of Edward the Third appears by a Petition put in to that King An. 17 Edw. 3. wherein the Burgesses of the Town of Barnstaple in Devonshire set forth that it being a free Borough had by Charter from King Athelstan among other Privileges a right of sending two Burgesses to all Parliaments for the said Borough upon which the King and his Council ordered a Writ of Inquiry which certainly would never have been done if Dr. Brady's Notion were true that the Cities and Boroughs never sent any Representatives to Parliament but once in the 49 th of Hen. 3. and then no more till the 18 th of Edward the First which was but a little above 50 Years to the time of this Petition which being within the Memory of so many then living the King and his Council would never have ordered a Writ of Inquiry about such a vain and idle Pretence FROM all which I think it may safely be concluded that this Learned Antiquary above-mentioned I mean Mr. Lambard did not without good Authority believe that not only the Great Lords or Peers but also the Inferiour Nobility and Representatives of Cities and Towns were included under the word Witan and likewise that those Places claimed that Privilege by Prescription I shall therefore desire the Doctor that when he writes next upon this Subject he will please to crave in Aid some Gentlemen of the Long Robe of his Opinion to help him to answer this Argument of Mr. Lambard from general Prescription as also what hath been already said concerning this matter in the same Dialogue of Bibliotheca Politica above-mentioned beginning at pag. 483 and ending at pag. 593 inclusively and if he can then with his Assistances prove all our antient Lawyers to have been mistaken in this memorable Point I shall own my self to have been so too But I desire this may be taken notice of that no Prescription whatsoever in Law can be laid of later Date than the first Year of King Richard the First which began almost fourscore Years before the 49 th of Hen. 3. when he fancies the Commons were first summoned to Parliament BUT that I may be as brief as I can I shall reduce what I have further to say upon this Head to a few Queries As FIRST Whether in all the Kingdoms of Europe of the Gothic Model beginning with Sweden and Denmark and ending with Scotland there can
Book at a certain rate and not arbitrary 127 Folcland what it was 118-120 Folcmote the same with the County-Court 83 Fornication its Punishment 125 Franc Pledg what 8 France its antient Kings the manner of their Succession 69 Friburg or Tithing-Court its Institution and Business 80 81 G. GAvelkind 118 119 General of the King's Forces his Antiquity 72 Antient German Laws 35 c. Government of Britain before the arrival of Jul. Caesar very uncertain 29. During the time of the Romans 31-34 Vnder the Saxons 34 c. Of the Antient English Saxons rather Aristocratical than Monarchical pag. 39 H. HAgulstad Richard an account of him and his History 15 Heir its antient Signification 53 54. His Right to Lands and Goods 122 Saxon Heptarchy vid. Kingdoms Heretoch what that Office was 74 Heriots to whom due 122 Higden Ranulph his Polychronicon 17. Our Historians in English a brief Censure of them 5 6 7 Historians in Latin an Account and Censure of their Works 7-18 The Holde what 74 Homage from the Scotish Kings to those of England how far to be credited 19 20 Hoveden Roger an Account of his Works 16 Dr. Howel his Mistake in making the first Saxon Kings absolute Monarchs 39 Hundred-Court what 80 Huntingdon Henry an Account of him 16 I. INtestates their Goods how antiently to be divided 121 122 Introduction its Design 127 Joseph of Arimathea his preaching the Gospel in England fabulous 24 Judgments inflicted for several Offences 125 126 Grand-Juries how antient 123 Jury-men their Number to be Twelve in the English-Saxon Times 123 Jus Haereditarium its Signification 53 K. KEntish Kings their Succession 42 43 Kings of Britain not despotic but often elected 30 Kings at first no better than Generals in War in Peace they had little or no Power pag. 38 Saxon Kings not absolute or by Conquest 39 40 Kings of the Saxons at first elected 39-41 The manner of their Succession to the Crown ib. 66. Their losing their Crowns otherways sometimes than by Death 68 c. The King in what sense he is said to make Laws 108 English Saxon Kings what kind of Supremacy they exercised in Ecclesiastical Affairs 108 c. Kingdoms of the English-Saxons how many erected in this Island 34 35 L. LAnds in England all held under the three great Services called in Latin Trinoda necessitas 120 Lathes what 80 Laws British 29 German 35-38 Ecclesiastical by whom 108-113 Saxon Customary Laws their Original and how many sorts of them 117 118. Reduced into one Body by ◠Edward the Confessor ib. Their Civil Laws concerning Lands 118 Legislative Power in whom it resided under the English Saxon Kings 105-108 M. MAiming c. how punishable antiently 126 Malmesbury William his Character 15 Manslaughter and Murder their distinction ibid. Mercian Kings their Succession 45 Milites what sort of Men 90 Monasteries how far taken notice of in the ensuing History 24 Monmouth Geoffery a Censure of his Work 7 Mulcts the difference betwixt this word and Fines 126 127 Murder its Punishment in the English-Saxon Times pag. 126 N. NObiles Angli who they antiently were 91 Northumbrian Kings their Succession 44 O. OFfences of several sorts with their Penalties 125 126 Optimates who they were 92 Ordeal what and what the Trial 123 124 Ordinaries at first had nothing to do in Administrations 122 Ordinary People how they were called in the Saxon Times 121 Original of the first English Saxon Kings 38-41 Original Contract 70 c. Osbern Author of the Lives of St. Dunstan and St. Alphege 14 P. PArliament the Original of this Great Assembly 86. The same with the antient Witena-Gemots and Mycel Synoth 86. which met thrice every Year ex more ibid. Perjury Saxons utter Enemies to it and their Punishment of it 126 127 Plebs Vulgus their Signification 99 100 Populus Populi must signify the Commons in the Saxon Laws and Charters ibid. to 102 Portgereses or Port Reves their Antiquity 96 The antient Prerogatives of our English Kings 67 68. to pardon 67 127. They could not debase the Money nor give away their Crown-Lands without the Consent of the Common Council of the Kingdom 126 127 Primates Principes Proceres what they were 90 92 Probate of Wills 122. how long a matter of Civil Cognizance 122 123 Procuratores Patriae who they wer◠pag. 95 Punishments among the English Saxons their several sorts 125 126 Q. SEveral Questions for Dr. Brady to answer 99 100 R. DE Rationabili parte Bonorum the Writ grounded at Common Law and on what Custom 122 Robbery how punishable 126 Romans their Government in Britain 31-33 S. SAbaoth-breaking its Punishment 125 Sacrilege its Punishment 125 Sapientes who they were 96 Saxons not at first govern'd by Kings 38 English Saxons whence deriv'd 35. Their Government rather Aristocratrical than Monarchical 39 South-Saxons their Kingdom 34 43 Saxon-Tenures 121 Scandal how punishable 126 Senatores Gentis Anglorum who they were 92 93 The Scire-mote or Sheriffs-tourn what 82 83 Sheriff his antient Office 75 Sithcundman what 78 Slaves or Servants among the English-Saxons and what Power their Lords had over them 79 80 Free Socmen what they were with their Privileges 78 Studia Sapientiae sometimes tho rarely taken for the Study of the Law 88 Succession of the English-Saxon Kings whether hereditary or elective 38-65 Swearing and Cursing rarely known in the Saxon Times 125 Mycel Synoth what 86 T. TEnants in England how many sorts under the Saxon-Kings 118 119. In antient Demesne who 121 Thane his Title and Dignity 75 76 136. Their several sorts ibid. Thanes of London who 96 Trinoda necessitas what 120 Thefts small ones their Punishments 126 The Tourn of the Sheriff 83 Trespasses upon Lands and Goods how punishable 126 A Tithing or Decennary what 81 Tithes granted à Rege Baronibus Populo 100 Treason its Punishment 125 126 Trials the several sorts among the English-Saxons 123 124 125 The Trihing Court what it was 80 V. VIcarius Britanniae what he was 32 Villanus its Signification 120 121 Voyer dire what 125 W. WAllingford John an Account of him 17 Mr. Washington's Observations on the King's Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction 108-113 West-Saxon Kings their Succession 47-65 The Form of their Crowns and Titles 66 67. Often deposed 69 70 Witena Gemote or Great Council by what other Names it is called in our antient Histories 90 Wites or Witan among the English-Saxons its Signification did not mean only Lawyers 88. For what they were established in the Great Councils 41 War or Peace in whom the Power 68 Will the antientest observed before the Conquest when 122 Wiregilds what 67 68 126 Worcester Florence his Character and an Account of his Chronicle 17 ERRATA In the Preface PAge 5. line 5. for be would read would be P. 17. l. 4. f. Greshams r. Gresham Ibid. l. 45. del in P. 23. l. 3. f. Ilcombil r. Ilcombkil P. 23. l. 14. f. that r. whither ib. f.
this Table do not always follow the Printed Text of the Saxon Annâ—â— since the Copies often differ sometimes one year and sometimes more and then I have always followed that which I thought to be the best Account The Succession of British Kings is accâ—â—â—ing to the Account I received from the Most Reverend Father in God Humphrey Lord Bishop of Bangor Anno Dom. Kings of Kent Anno Dom. Kings of the South-Saxons Anno Dom. Kings of the West-Saxons Anno Dom. Kings of the East-Saxons Kâ—â—gs of Northumberland in the Provinces called Anno Dom. Kings of the East-Angles Anno Dom. Kings of Mercia Anno Dom. Kings of the Britains         〈…〉 Bernicia Anno Dom. Deira       457 Hengist reigned 31 years               445 Vortiger                 454 Vortimer his Son his Father being Deposed 488 Aesk or Oric his Son 24 years 491 Aella reigned 24 years             458 Vortiger again restored after the Death of his Son 512 Otha or Oisc his Son 20 years               465 Aurelius Ambrosius made General of the Britains Vortiger still living 532 Ermenric his Son 29 years 515 Cissa reigned uncertain how many years 519 Cerdic reigned 15 years 527 Erkenwin or Escwin 〈◊〉 Ida Son of Eoppa reigned over both Kingdoms 12 years       481 Aurelius chosen King after the Death of Vortiger     534 Cynric his Son reigned 26 years  Sigebert 〈◊〉 Adda or Odda his Son reigned 5 years 559 Aella the Son of Yffi reigned near 30 years          After whom reigned divers Kings whose Names are not to be found in our Annals or Historians   535 Swithelm 〈◊〉 Clappa 7 years    Uffa reigned uncertain how long   508 Nazaleod or Nathanleod Chief King of the Britains who whether he was not the same with Aurelius Ambrosius is doubtful 561 Ethelbert his Son   560 Ceawlin his Son 31 years   〈◊〉 Theodwulf 1 year                 〈◊〉 Freothwulf 7 years   578 Titylus or Tytila his Son reigned uncertain too how long           587 Sledda 9 years 〈◊〉 Theodoric 7 years     585 Crida or Creoda how long he reigned is uncertain  Here follows an Inter-regnum of about six years         〈◊〉 Aethelric 2 years                 These two last were Sons of Ida and rul'd here whilst Aella reigned in Deira 589 Edwin his Son who being soon expell'd by Aethelfrid King of Bernicia reigned over both Kingdoms 14 years till Edwin was again restored     515 K. Arthur reigned twenty seven years     591 Ceolric his Kinsman 5 years    This Aethelric last mention'd began also to reign over both these Kingdoms after the death of Aella and reigned in all 5 years      Wippa or Pybba his Son the like 542 After whose Death followed Nine years Interregnum            593 Redwald his Son   551 Mailgwin Gwined was elected King of all the Britains     597 Ceolwulf 14 years 596 Seaber◠〈◊〉 Aethelfred his Son reigned 24 over both Kingdoms      Ceorl the like 586 Mailgwin died after whom was a 17 years Interregnum THE General History OF BRITAIN NOW CALLED ENGLAND As well Ecclesiastical as Civil BOOK IV. From the Preaching of the Christian Religion by AUGUSTINE the Monk to ECBERT the first Chief or Supreme King of ENGLAND containing Two Hundred and Three Years THIS Fourth Period will give us a new and more pleasant Prospect of the Affairs of Britain For as the Gospel of Christ did now dispel that Egyptian Darkness of Paganism under which it had so long laboured so together with Christianity Human Learning and consequently the Art of composing Histories or Annals entred also with it the Monasteries which were not long after founded being then the only Universities in which the Liberal Arts and Sciences were in those times chiefly taught and professed which though it was not without a great mixture of that Gothic Barbarism that had then overspread all Europe and even Italy it self yet was it sufficient in some measure to instruct men not only in Divine but Civil Knowledge the Monks of that Age possessing the greatest share of Learning and being almost the only Historians as well as Divines Therefore we must be beholding to them for what Accounts we have not only of the Ecclesiastical but Civil Affairs of those Times for Bede our first English Historian was himself a Monk And the Saxon Annals which we here give you were first collected and written in divers Monasteries of England and to which is to be ascribed that difference which is found between the Copies of that Chronicle as to the Dates of Years and other Matters for before there was scarce any thing remembred by Tradition but the great Wars and Battels fought by the Saxon Kings against the Britains so after the Monks came to commit things to writing they began to make us understand somewhat of their Civil Constitutions and the Acts of Peace as well as War tho it must be confessed they are not so exact in the former as they might and ought to have been minding more the relating of Visions and Miracles which they supposed to have happen'd and been done in those times for the Confirmation of some new Doctrines then not fully received Yet however I doubt not but from those Remains they have left us both the Constitution of their Governmâ—nt and the manner of the Succession of their Kings may be clearly made out of both which in the former Period we were wholly ignorant But for this we are chiefly beholding to those English-Saxon Laws that are left us which were made by the Sâ—preme Aâ—thority of each Kingdom â—n their Wittenâ— Geâ—ot Myceâ— Gemot or great Counâ—il which we now caâ—â— a Parliament from which times most of the Laws made in those Councils were carefully preserv'd and would have been convey'd to us more entire had it not been for the loss of so many curious Monuments of Antiquity at the suppression of Monasteries in the Reign of King Henry VIII But since it must be confessed that it was to the Learning which Christianity brought in that we owe
Subscribes King Edward's Charter of Endowment of the Abbey of Westminster Id. p. 94. Vid. more in Tit. Edward the Confessor Edinburgh anciently called Mount-Agned built by Ebrank the Son of Manlius l. 1. p. 10. In the Possession of the English-Saxons when and how long l. 5. p. 249. Editha Daughter to King Edgar by Wilfreda whom he took out of a Cloyster at Wilton and who was afterwards Abbess of the said Nunnery l. 6. p. 3 12 20. Edmund the Martyr anointed King of the East-Angles by Bishop Humbert at fifteen years of Age at Buram then the Royal Seat l. 5. p. 265. An Account of his Pedigree Education living in Germany Return into England and Election to the Kingdom which as well as himself he submitted to the direction of Bishop Humbert his Reign Fourteen Years in Peace and his Glorious End of Martyrdom Ibid. p. 273. Fighting with the Danes they slew him and wholly conquer that Kingdom Id. p. 269 273. A particular Account both of his Life and Martyrdom Id. p. 272 273 274. Had a Church and Monastery erected to his Memory Id. p. 274 323. Edmund Prince Son to Edward the Elder the relation of his commanding part of his Father's Army with his Brother Edred cannot be true for he was but Four Years old when his Father died l. 5. p. 321. A great Benefactor to the Church built over the Tomb of King Edmund the Martyr Id. p. 323. He and his Brother Athelstan overcome the Scots about Bromrige in the North Id. p. 334. Succeeds his Brother Athelstan in the Kingdom at eighteen years of Age. Invades Mercia and forces Leicester Lincoln Nottingham Stamford and Derby all then under the Power of the Danes to submit to him The Battel he had with Anlaff and the Agreement made at last between these two Kings Id. p. 343. Conquers Anlaff expels him the Kingdom of Northumberland and adds it to his own Dominions Ibid. p. 344. Subdues the whole Countrey of Cumberland giving it to Malcolme King of Scots upon this Condition That he should assist him both by Sea and Land Id. p. 344. Sends Ambassadors to Prince Hugh of France to restore King Lewis His decease and the manner of it His Burial at Glastenbury with his great Benefaction to that Abbey He stiles himself in his Charter King of the English and Governor and Ruler of the other Nations round about Id. p. 345. The Laws he made in the Great Council he held at London Id. p. 346 347 348. The Legend of St. Edmund's Ghost stabbing King Sweyn the Dane l. 6. p. 39 40. Edmund a Son of King Alfred born before Prince Edward commonly called the Elder is crowned King by his Father 's Appointment in his Life-time but dying before him he was buried in the Abbey-Church of Winchester l. 5. p. 311. Edmund Aetheling marries the Widow of Sigeferth who was lately murthered against his Father's Will upon the Fame of her Beauty and Virtue And invades all the Countrey where her Husband's Lands lay l. 6. p. 40. His Expedition against Cnute and Aedric of little service to him and why Id. p. 41. Is Elected King by all the Great and Wise Men then at London together with the Citizens upon his Father's decease though he held it but a short time and that with great difficulty He is called Ironside for his Strength both of Body and Mind and born of a Concubine Id. p. 45. The several Battels he fought with Cnute and his Party Id. p. 45 46 47. His Prudence not to be commended though his Courage and Constancy were praise-worthy Id. p. 46. Concludes a Peace with King Cnute and the Particulars of it Id. p. 47 48. His Decease being murthered and Burial at Glastenbury with his Grandfather King Edgar Id. p. 48 49. His Children Edward and Edmund excluded from the Kingdom of the West-Saxons and by whom They were sent to the King of Sweden to be made away but he generously conveyed them to Solyman King of Hungary to be educated where Edmund died Id. p. 49. St. Edmundsbury anciently called Badricesworth where King Cnute built a Noble Monastery l. 5. p. 323. Is given by King Edmund with divers other Lands to build a Church and Monastery in Memory of St. Edmund the Martyr Id. p. 345. For ever exempt from all Jurisdiction of the Bishops and Earls of that Countrey by Parliament according to the MS. l. 6. p. 52. Edred an Abbot of Northumberland made a certain Youth sold to a Widow at Withingham whom he redeemed King and by that means the Church got all that Countrey now called the Bishoprick of Durham l. 5. p. 286. Edred Brother to King Athelstan and Edmund takes upon him the Title of First Monarch l. 5. p. 331. Is made King and the manner of his Succession Crowned at Kingston reduces all Northumberland under his Obedience and upon their relapse lays the whole Country waste Id. p. 349 350. Their continual Rebellions against him and his regaining that Kingdom Id. p. 350. The First King of England that stiled himself Rex Magnae Britanniae as appears by a Charter of his to the Abbey of Croyland Id. p. 351. Dies in the Flower of his Age of what his Character and Issue Id. p. 351 352. Edric vid. Aedric Edwal ap Meyric is received by the Inhabitants of the Isle of Anglesey for their Prince he was the right Heir of North-Wales routs Meredith in a set Battel l. 6. p. 24. But is slain in Battel by Sweyne the Son of Harold the Dane Id. p. 25. Edwal Ugel that is the Bald Succeeds his Father Anarawd and is stiled by Historians Supreme King of all Wales l. 5. p. 316. Edwal Ywrch Son of Cadwallader Prince of Wales began to Reign upon his Father's supposed Journey to Rome l. 3. p. 145. Conjectured to be Cadwallo by Dr. Powel and Mr. Vaughan l. 4. p. 205. Edward the First commonly called the Elder the Son of King Alfred when he began his Reign he was Elected by all the Chief Men of the Kingdom l. 5. p. 311. Meets with a great Disturbance at his first entrance to the Crown from Aethelwald his Cousin-German Ibid. p. 312. Builds new Towns and repairs Cities that had been before destroyed Id. p. 312. Has great Battels with the Danes but at last he overcomes them all calls a great Council though the place where is not specified but wherein Plegmund presided which appoints Bishops over each of the Western-Counties and makes Five out of Two Diocesses Id. p. 313. Subdues East-Sex East-England and Northumberland with many other Provinces which the Danes had long before been possessed of Id. p. 314 315. Very much wasts Northumberland with his Army and destroys many Danes Id. p. 315. Takes the Cities of London and Oxenford into his own hands Commands the Town of Hertford to be New Built Builds and Fortifies another Town at Witham near Maldon in Essex Id. p. 316. Confirms to the Doctors and Scholars of Cambridg by Charter all
Great Lords or Senators then presently he is with the Doctor a trifling old Monk very little curious in observing the Constituent Parts or Members of our Saxon Great Councils HAVING thus shewn some of Dr. Brady's erroneous and inconsiderate Glosses concerning the English-Saxon Nobility before the Conquest which he vainly supposes to have been the same as it is at this day I shall now endeavour to settle some truer Notions relating to those Great Councils which as to the Lay-Members besides the Ealdormen above-mentioned I conceive consisted of the whole Body of Thanes or Free-holders who were then all Gentlemen either by Birth or Estates for I have already proved from the Laws of King Athelstan that a meer Ceorl's Man if he had purchased five Hides of Thane Land did thereby become equal in all respects to a Thane NOW if the word Thane before the Conquest signified the same with the word Baro which came into common use after that time as Sir Henry Spelman and Mr. Selden both grant it did and Mr. Camden in his Introduction to his first Edition of his Britannia in 4 o is yet more express as to this word Baro as you may see by this remarkable Passage Verùm Baro ex illis nominibus videatur quae tempus paulatìm meliora molliora reddidit nam longò post tempore non milites sed qui LIBERI erant DOMINI Thani Saxonibus dicebantur Barones vocari coeperunt nec dum magni honoris erant paulò autem posteà viz. some time after the Conquest eò honoris pervenit ut nomine Baronagii Angliae omnes quodammodo Regni Ordines continuerentur tho it must be confest that Mr. Camden because he found this Passage had given some Offence to the higher Nobility he in his next Edition in Folio restrained it by adding the word Superiores before Ordines as if none but the higher Barons might be thought to have once made part of the Baronage of the Kingdom And likewise Sir Henry Spelman in his Glossary under the Title of Barones Comitatus i. e. the Barons of Counties who are frequently mentioned in the Laws of our first Norman Kings has this remarkable Passage and he being so great a Man I shall not offer to abridg it HOC Nomine scilicet Barones Comitatus saith he contineri videtur Antiquis paginis omnis Baronum feodalium species in uno quovis Comitatu degentium Proceres nempè Maneriorum Domini nec non liberè quique Tenentes hoc est fundorum proprietarii Anglicè FREEHOLDERS Notandum autèm est liberè hos Tenentes nec tà m exiles olìm fuisse nec tà m Vulgares ut hodiè deprehenduntur nam Villas Dominia in minutas haereditates nondùm distrahebant Nobiles sed ut vidimus in Hiberniâ penès se retinentes agros per precarios excolebant adscriptitios Vid. LL. Edw. Confess cap. 15. Quod per Hundredum colligerentur 46 Marcae Sigillo alicujus Baronum Comitatus sigillarentur ad Thesaurum Regis deportarentur In Domesd. habiti sun◠Barones Comitatus Magnates Nobiles qui in Curiis praesunt Comitatuum hoc est ipsarum Curiarum Judices quos Hen. 1. LL. suarum cap. 30. esse liberè Tenentes Comitatûs demonstrat Regis inquit Judices sunt Barones Comitatus qui liberas in eis terras habent per quos debent causae singulorum alterna prosecutione tractari Which I shall give you thus in English Under this Title of Barones Comitatus seems to be contained in our antient Writers all sorts of Feudal Barons dwelling in any one County viz. the chief Men and Lords of Mannors as also all free Tenants that is Proprietors of Lands in English FREE-HOLDERS And it is also to be considered that these free Tenants were not antiently so mean and pitiful as they are accounted at this day For Gentlemen had not as yet parcell'd out their Townships and Lordships into small Estates but as we see in Ireland keeping them themselves by their hired Servants and Villains husbanded their own Lands In the Laws of Edward the Confessor cap. 15. it is appointed that 46 Marks should be collected out of the Hundred and sealed up with the Seal of one of the Barons of the County and be lodged in the King's Treasury In Dooms-day Book those Noblemen and Gentlemen are called Barons of the County who presided in County-Courts that is who were Judges of those Courts whom Hen. 1. in the 30 th Chapter of his Laws shews to be the free Tenants of the County The King's Judges says he are the Barons of the County who have Freehold Lands in them by whom the Causes of each of them ought to be tried and adjudged in their respective turns AND there also immediately follows in the same Law of Henry the First another Clause whereby Villains and all such mean and beggarly Fellows called there Cocsetti or Perdingi are not to be reckoned amongst the Judges of the Laws for they neither in the Hundred nor in the County forfeit their own Money nor that of their Masters THIS I think is sufficient to prove that all such base and indigent People such as Dr. Brady calls Tag Rag and Bobtaile were excluded from having any thing to do in these inferior Courts and if so then much more to be sure were they shut out of the most August Assembly of the Kingdom the Wittena-Gemot Mycel-Synoth or what we now call the Parliament AND this I have brought to shew that I do as much disown the Thoughts of introducing any Degrees or Orders of Men less than those of Quality or Estates into the Great Councils of those Times as the Doctor himself does BUT in the first part of his Compleat History he asserts that not only the King's Thanes but also all the Middle and Lesser Thanes were both after as well as before the Conquest Military Men who held their Lands by Military or Knight's Service which he would prove from the Heregeat or Heriots that by the Laws of King Cnute were to be paid to their Lords by their Heirs in Horses and Money and certain Arms. Well let this for once be admitted but I would then have the Doctor never to urge Military or Knight-Service as a Badg of the Norman Conquest any more and in the next Treatise which he shall please to publish I would desire him to make it out that none but the King's Thanes who were all one with his Tenants in Capite after the Conquest had any Place in the Great Council of the Kingdom for without this he does nothing yet thus much I must say for him that in the beginning of his Answer to Mr. Petyt he seems to be somewhat more good-natured making the Saxon Wittena Gemotes more large and diffusive for in them he owns were Arch-Bishops Bishops Masse-Thegnes or Dignified and Great Clergy-Men Aldermen or Comites King's Gereves or Praepositi King 's Thegnes Thanes or Ministers his Counsellors
Heptarchy into one Kingdom these Synods were commonly held in the Dominions of that King who was then most Powerful so that the lesser or weaker Princes were fain to appear therein in Person or by their Deputies but if they did not appear there nor yet send any Deputies those Councils were looked upon as to all Temporal and Ecclesiastical Matters no other than particular Synods or Councils of those Kingdoms wherein they were held or whose Kings consented to them for which I could give you several Instances were it not to avoid being tedious but for this I refer the Reader to the first Volume of Sir H. Spelman as also to divers Charters in Monast. Anglican and Ingulf some of which are taken notice of in this Introduction and the following History This I thought fit to superadd the better to explain what our Learned Author hath said upon this Point BUT notwithstanding he there further observes That the Clergy themselves both as to Doctrine Discipline and Ceremonies were bound by the Publick Laws of the Kingdom enacted in the Great Councils of the Nation concerning which he gives us these ensuing Instances IN the Year 673. Concilium Herudfordiae celebratum est sub initio primi Anni Lotharii Regis Cantiae praesidente Theodoro Cantuariae Archiepiscopo At this Council says Matthew Westminster were present Episcopi Angliae Reges Magnates Vniversi where Theodore proposed decem Capitula out of a Book of Canons before them all which were there assented to and subscribed The first was concerning the Observation of Easter the ninth that the Number of Bishops should be increased crescente Fidelium numero The rest were concerning Bishops Bishopricks Monks Marriage Fornication c. THE Presence of the Bishops and all the Magnates makes this Assembly appear to have been a Parliament of those Times What Orders of Men were comprehended under the word Magnates is not material to our present purpose The Great Councils that made the Laws and without whom no Laws were made are frequently so described by our Antient Historians BUT without all peradventure these Magnates were Laymen and that is enough for my Point THEN the same Author goes on in these words In the Year 692. Ina King oâ— the West-Saxons enacted many Constitutions for the Government of the Church as De Formula vivendi Ministrorum Dei De baptizandis Infantibus De Opere in die Dominico De Immunitate Fani c. The Preface to which Law runs thus Ego Inas Dei beneficio Occiduorum Saxonum Rex suasu Instituto Cenredi Patris mei Heddae Erkenwaldi Episcoporum meorum Omnium Senatorum meorum natu Majorum Sapientum Populi mei in magnâ Servorum Dei frequentiâ religiosè studebam tùm animorum nostrorum saluti tùm communi Regni nostri conservationi ut legitima nuptiarum foedera c. Here the King his Bishops all his Senators the Natu majores Sapientes of his People which are Descriptions of the Laity in the Parliaments of those Times and a great Number of God's Servants by which the Clergy are meant make Ecclestastical Laws This was a Parliament as appears not only by the Presence of the Laity but by many Temporal Laws enacted at the same Time IN the Year 694. Concilium Magnum Becanceldae celebratum est praesidente Withredo Rege Cantiae nec non Bertualdo Archiepiscopo Britanniae cum Tobiâ Episcopo Roffensi Abbatibus Abbatissis Presbyteris Diaconibus Ducibus Satrapis c. All these paritèr tractabant anxie examinabant de statu Ecclesiarum Dei c. Here the King 's Legislative Power in Ecclesiastical Matters exerted it self not Personally but in this Great Council They do all Enact Statuimus decernimus praecipimus For when the King himself is spoken of the singular Number is used Nullus unquà m habeat Licentiam accipere alicujus Ecclesiae vel Familiae Monasterii Dominium quae à meipso vel Antecessoribus meis c. A Council was held at Berghamstede Anno quinto Withredi Regis Cantiae i. e. Anno Christi 697. Sub Bertualdo Archiepiscopo Cantuariensi praesentibus Gysmundo Episcopo Roffensi omnibus Ordinibus Gentis illius cùm Viris quibusdam militaribus In quo de moribus cavetur ad Ecclesiae cognitionem plerúmque pertinentibus These Ordines Gentis illius seem by the Preface to these Laws to be meant of the Ordines Ecclesiastici Gentis illius but withal that they cum viris utÃque militaribus humanissimè Communi Omnium Assensu has Leges decrevere So that these Ecclesiastical Laws were enacted by the Assent of the Viri Militares as well as of the King and the Clergy A Council was held at Cloveshoe sub Cuthberto Doroberniae Archiepiscopo praesentibus praetèr Episcopos Sacerdotes Ecclesiasticos quamplurimos Aedelbaldo Merciorum Rege cum suis Principibus Ducibus Anno Dom. 747. In quo decernebatur de unitate Ecclesiae de statu Christianae Religionis de Concordiâ Pace c. In the Year 787. Concilium Legatinum Pananglicum was held at Calcuith in which many Canons were made de fide primitùs susceptâ retinenda aliÃsque ad Ecclesiae regimen pertinentibus This Council was held corà m Rege Aelfwaldo Archiepiscopo Eanbaldo omnibus Episcopis Abbatibus Regionis seu Senatoribus Ducibus Populo Terrae After these Ecclesiastical Laws had been thus enacted by Aelfwald King of Northumberland the Legats carried them into the Council or Parliament of the Mercians where the glorious King Offa cum Senatoribus Terrae unà cum c. convenerat There they were read in Latin and Teutonick that all might understand and all promised to observe them and the King and his Princes the Arch-bishop and his Companions signed them with the sign of the Cross. MANY Instances of this kind might have been added as particularly that of the Council at Hatfield Anno 680 wherein the Canons of five General Councils were received which was a Witèna-Gemot a Conventus Sapientum but I spare time and am indeavouring only to open a Door BY these Instances it is apparent that the same Body of Men that enacted the Temporal Laws of the Kingdom did in the very same Councils make Laws for the Government of the Church Indeed the whole Fabrick of the English-Saxon Church was built upon Acts of Parliament nothing in which the whole Community was concern'd was enacted decreed or established but by that Authority For whoso reads impartially the Histories of those Times and compares them with one another will find that as most of those antient Councils commonly so called were no other than to speak in our Modern Language Parliaments so not any thing whatsoever in Religion obligatory to the People whether in Matters of Faith Discipline Ceremonies or any Religious Observances was imposed but in such Assemblies as no Man can deny to have been Parliaments of those times
Interest Education or Course of Life and I cannot but observe that there are a sort of Men whose Heads seem framed for such a set of Notions rather than others which make them that they cannot easily digest any thing that clashes with them BUT I do not pretend to be infallible or to propose my sense as a Rule and Standard to all others Homo sum nihil humanum à me alienum puto as the Comick Poet hath long since well observed ONE thing indeed I think I may pretend to in this Undertaking and that is Integrity for I look upon it a much viler thing either to falsify or conceal part of an Authority that makes against one and use only so much as shall serve a present Turn that it is to pick a Pocket and as it is of far more dangerous Consequence to the Publick if not found out I must say it is likewise more easily to be discovered since every Man may if he please consult the Authors that such Writers make use of and so detect the Fraud BUT for those who think they may differ from me in some things with good Reason and Authority and will please by their learned Labours to give the World any better Information and Account of these Matters than I have done I shall be so far from being displeased at them that I shall upon full Satisfaction readily own my self very much in their Debt for making the World and me so much the Wiser only I must desire to be treated as one who if I chance to be under any Error am not so wilfully nor as I think without great appearance of Reason and Authority on my side since I call God to witness that neither from a vain Ambition of Glory nor prospect of any Temporal Advantage nor design of gratifying any Party or Faction have I wrote any thing that may disgust Men of different Principles and Notions AND I thank God for this great Blessing to us that we live in a Time when we may not only think or speak but also safely write what we believe to be the Truth to which all Mankind do owe Allegiance and therefore I hope I never shall abuse that invaluable Liberty to the Prejudice of the Government or that excellent constituted Church of which I own my self a Member being fully satisfied that the main End of all our Writings ought to be for the Honour of God and the Common Good of Mankind THE TABLE to the Preface and Introduction A. ACtions on the Case how antient page 126 Adultery its Punishment 125 Aetheling the Title what it was 72 St. Albans his Sufferings most probably a Legend 24 25 26 King Alfred his Preface to Pope Gregory's Pastoral 11. His Testament with Observations upon it 51 52 Allodium Lands hâ—ld in Allodio 118 119 Annals Saxon a brief Account of them and their Translation 10 11 Antient Demesne Tenants therein 121 Antiquity of the Ordeal 124. Of the Distinction between Manslaughter and Murder 126 Arch-bishops of Canterbury and York antiently of equal Dignity and Power 116 Asser Menevensis an Account of him and his Writings 12 13 B. BAro its antient Signification 93 94. When it came first in common use 102 Barones Comitatûs what they were 96 Bede the first English Historian 10 Bishopricks and Abbeys often bestowed by the Election of the great Council of the Kingdom in the Saxon-Times 113 114 Bishops sometimes deprived by the same Councils 115 116 Blasphemy vid. Swearing and Cursing Bocland what it was 118. The same with Lands in Allodio 119 Dr. Brady his Errors concerning the English-Saxon Succession 50 51 c. Britain how divided under the Romans pag. 31 32 Bromton John an Account of the Chronicle that passes under his Name 16 Burglary how punishable 126 Burhwitan or Burhwara who they were 80 C. CAradoc of Lancarvon his Welsh Chronicle 15 Ceorl or Ceorl's Man i. e. Country-man his Privileges 77 Chancellor whence derived and the Antiquity of that Office 73 Clipping and Coining of Money its Punishment 126 Coining of Money a Prerogative of the Crown 67 Colonus its Signification 121 Combat single or Duel 125 Comes Littoris Saxonici who he was 33 Commons present in the great Councils of the Kingdom 88-101 To have been also present there in the Reign of K. William I. 97. Prov'd also to have a Right by Prescription before his time 98 Compurgators who 125 Conquests of the Danes and Normans which were no more than Invasions never altered this Government or Laws in any of its substantial parts 127 Contract or Compact Original between the first English Saxon Kings and their Subjects proved 69 70. and that more antient than the Coronation-Oath 71 72 Coronation of our Kings whence derived 16 Coronation-Oath its Form before the pretended Conquest 58 Costs recovering of Costs and Damages how antient pag. 126 Great Council of the Wites for what ends they were established 41 Great Council or Parliament its Original 86-88 The Persons of whom it consisted 87-102 These Councils often met in the open Air 104. It s Power in making Laws 105-08 Counties their Division more antient than the Reign of K. Alfred 84 The County-Court what 84 Courts of Justice in England how many they were under the Saxon Kings 80 85 Court-Barons their Original 82 Craig Sir Thomas his Objections against the Truth and Antiquity of our English Historians considered 18-23 Crown of England not bequeathable by the Testament of the English-Saxon Kings 51 52 Curia Domini Regis its Signification 85 D. DAnegelt first imposed by Authority of the King and his Wites 120 The Decennary or Tything-Court what 81 Defamation how punishable 126 Degrees of Men that constituted the Common-weal 72-80 Demesnes of the Crown could not be granted away even to pious Vses by the English-Saxon Kings without the Consent of the Great Council 68 Deprivation of English Saxon Kings 68. Of Bishops by the Great Council 115 116 Deputies of Cities and great Towns how antient 95 Disposition of Goods and Personal Estates either by Deed or last Will 121 Doom or Judgment-Book 127 Durham Simeon who he was 15 Dux Britanniae what he was 33 E. EAdmerus his History pag. 14 Ealdorman the Title 73 East-Angles the Succession of their Kings 45 East-Saxon Kings their Succession 43 Ecclesiastical Laws by whom made 108-113 Ecclesiastical Power settled at first under the two Arch-bishops of Canâ—erbury and York 116 Eddi Stephen Author of the Life of Bishop Wilfred with a brief account of him 10 Edward the Confessor the manner of his Election 61 Electus eligerunt their true Signification 55 56 Encomium Emmae 14 English-Saxons vid. Saxons Eorl 74 Ethelwerd sirnamed Quaestor an account of him and his Work 14 F. FEng to Rice the meaning of that Saxon Phrase 55 Feudal Lands what 122 Fideles who they were in the Saxon Government 107 Fidelium multitudo in the Charter of King Ethelwulf what it signified 104 105 Fines and Mulcts their difference set down in a