Selected quad for the lemma: parliament_n
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A90787
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The natural history of Oxford-shire, being an essay toward the natural history of England. / By Robert Plot ...
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Plot, Robert, 1640-1696.
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1677
(1677)
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Wing P2585; ESTC R231542
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322,508
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394
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sweet and healthful Air they live in Whereas the Inhabitants of fenny and boggy Countries whose spirits are clogg'd with perpetual Exhalations are generally of a more stupid and unpleasant conversation 3. That the qualities of Waters and Soyls together with the situations of places so the respective Quarters of the World make them more or less healthy according to the great b Id. ibid. Hippocrates there is no doubt But to these I must beg the favor of adding not only more swasive but more irrefragable proof I mean the great age and constant health of persons that have been lately and are now living here Richard Clifford not long since of Bolscot in this County died at 114 years of age Brian Stephens born at Cherlbury but Inhabitant of Woodstock dyed last year at 103. Where also there now lives one George Green but born at Ensham in his hundredth year at Kidlington one Mris Hill was born and lived there above an hundred years and at Oxford there is living beside several near it a Woman commonly called Mother George now in her hundredth year current The pleasant situation of which City is such and so answerable to the great Reputation it ever had in this respect that it must not by any means be past by in silence 4. Seated it is on a rising Ground in the midst of a pleasant and fruitful Valley of a large extent at the confluence and extended between the two Rivers of Isis and Cherwell with which it is encompass'd on the East West and South as also with a ridge of Hills at a miles or somwhat more distance in the form of a Bow touching more then the East and West points with the ends so that the whole lies in form of a Theater In the Area stands the City mounted on a small hill adorned with so many Towers Spires and Pinnacles and the sides of the neighboring Hills so sprinkled with Trees and Villa's that no place I have yet seen has equall'd the Prospect * Ab amoenitate situs Bellositum dictum 'T was the sweetness and commodiousness of the place that no question first invited the great and judicious King Alfred to select it for The Muses Seat and the Kings of England ever since especially when at any time forc'd from London by War Plague or other inconveniencies so frequently to remove hither not only their Royal Courts but the Houses of Parliament and Courts of Judicature Many Synods and Convocations of the Clergy have been also for the same reason held here of which as they have promiscuously happened in order of time take the following Catalogue A Catalogue of Parliaments Councils and Terms that have been held at Oxford A Parliament held at Oxford in the time of King Ethelred anno 1002. A Parliament at Oxford under King Canutus an 1018. A Parliament at Oxford under King Harold Harefoot anno 1036. A Conference at Oxford under King William Rufus an 1088. A Conference at Oxford in the time of King Stephen A Council at Oxford held against the Waldenses temp Hen. 2. an 1160. A Council at Oxford under King Hen. 2. temp Tho. Becket Archiep. Cant. an 1166. A general Council at Oxford at which King Hen. 2. made his Son John King of Ireland an 1177. A Parliament at Oxford called Parliamentum magnum temp H. 2. an 1185. A Council at Oxford temp Rich. 1. A Conference at Oxford in the time of King John A Parliament held at Oxford temp Hen. 3. an 1218. which first gave occasion to the Barons Wars A Council at Oxford under Steph. Langton Arch-Bishop of Canterbury an 1222. A Council at Oxford an 1227. A Council at Oxford under Stephen Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and his Suffragans an 1230. 14. Hen. 3. A Council at Oxford temp Hen. 3. an 1233. A Council at Oxford under Edmund Arch-Bishop of Cant. A Council held at Oxford by the Bishops temp Hen. 3. an 1241. A Term kept at Oxford 31 Hen. 3. A Council at Oxford temp Hen. 3. an 1247. A Council held by the Bishops at Oxford an 1250. A Parliament held at Oxford called Parliamentum insanum 41 Hen. 3. A Council at Oxford an 1258. A Parliament at Oxford an 1261. A Parliament at Oxford an 1264. A Council at Oxford under John Peckham Arch-Bishop of Canterbury an 1271. A Council held at Oxford under Robert Winchilsea Arch-Bishop of Canterbury an 1290. A Parliament summon'd at Oxford 4 Edw. 3. A Parliament at Oxford 19 Novemb. an 1382. A Parliament at Oxford 6 Rich. 2. A Term kept at Oxford 11 Rich. 2. A Term kept at Oxford 16 Rich. 2. A Convocation of the Clergy at Oxford by Tho. Arundel Arch-Bishop of Canterbury an 1395. A Parliament at Oxford 1 Car. 1. 1625. A Parliament summon'd at Oxford temp Car. 1. an 1644. The Terms kept at Oxford eodem temp it being the Kings Head-Quarters in the late Civil War A Parliament at Oxford 13 Car. 2. an 1665. The Term kept at Oxford eodem temp the Plague being then at London 5. Of these there is an imperfect List in a MSS. c MSS. fol. C. p. 173. in Corpus Christi College Library Oxon. in which there are also mentioned three Synods held in St. Maries Church A Provincial Chapter of the Fryars Preachers and a Council held at Oxon. whose Votes were written by Abraham Woodhall There is also a Provincial Council at Oxford mention'd in the Catalogue set before the Decrees of Gratian. But these bearing no date and in all likelyhood the same with some of the afore-mentioned I pass on to another Parliament which though not at Oxford yet was held in this County and therefore I suppose not improper for this place However I shall rather venture the danger of impropriety and misplacing then omit the taking notice of so considerable a Meeting it being the first Parliament held in the County and doubtless in England called it was at Shifford now a small Village in the Parish of Bampton and shewing now nothing adequate to so great an Assembly 6. There is a MSS. in Sir Robert Cottons Library that gives an account of this Parliament which it saies consisted of the chief of all Orders of the Kingdom and was called at Sifford now Shifford in Oxford-shire by King Alfred where the King as Head consulted with the Clergy Nobles and others about the maners and government of the people where he delivered some grave admonitions concerning the same The words of the MSS. are these At Sifford seten Dancr manie fele Biscops et fele Boclered Erles prude et Cnihtes egloche ðer ƿas Erle Elfricof ðe lage smuth ƿise ec Alfred Englehird Engle derling on England he ƿas Cyng hem he gan leren sƿo hi heren mihten hu hi here lif leden scolden i. e. There sate at Shifford many Thanes many Bishops and many learned Men wise Earls and awful Knights there was Earl Elfrick very learned in the Law and Alfred Englands Herds-man Englands Darling he was King of England
a Royal Seat there as in all probability likewise at Heddington near Oxford for though Tradition now goes that it was but the Nursery of the Kings Children whereof there remains yet upon the place some signs of foundations in a Field near the Town called Court-close yet it is plain that King Aethelred did somtimes at least reside there himself for he concludes a Charter or some such like Instrument wherein he grants Privileges to the Monastery of St. Frideswide here in Oxon. of his own Restoration in English thus This privilege was idith at Hedinton and after in Latin Scripta fuit haec Cedula jussu praefati Regis in villa Regia quae ...... appellatur die octavarum beati Andreae Apostoli his consencientibus p ...... qui subtus notati videntur Ego Aethelredus Rex hoc privilegium c k Monasticon Anglican Vol. 1. inter adde 〈…〉 129. Beside these the Kings of England had several other seats within this County not to mention again that Woodstock was one or that old Alcester was the seat of Alectus such as Beaumont just without the suburbs of Oxford the Birth-place of the valiant King Richard the First Langley upon the edge of the Forest of Whichwood a seat as Tradition has deliver'd it down to us of the unhappy King John who perhaps during the time of his Residence here might indeed build the Castle of Bampton which also Tradition informs us was of his foundation And Ewelm built indeed by William De la Pool Duke of Suffolk who marrying Alice the daughter and heir of Thomas Chaucer had a fair Estate hereabout but after upon the attaindure of John Earl of Lincoln and Edmund his brother Grand-children to the Duke it came to the Crown in the days of King Henr. 7. and was afterward made an Honor by laying unto it the Manor of Wallengford and several others by King Hen. 8. All which houses are mark'd out in the Map by the addition of a small Imperial Crown placed somwhere near them 130. As all places that gave title to ancient Barons most of whose Families long since have been extinguish'd are mark'd with a Coronet such are 1. The Baronies by ancient Tenure which were certain Territories held of the King who still reserved the Tenure in chief to himself whereof the ancientest in this County were those of Oxford and St. Valeric the head of the latter being the Town of Hoke-Norton e Camd. Britan. in Com. Oxon. both given by the Conqueror to Robert D'Oyly who accompanied him out of Normandy f Monasticon Angl. vol. 2. p. 2. The Barony of Arsic belonging to Manasser Arsic who florish'd An. 1103. 3 Hen. 1. the head of which Barony was Coggs near Witney Summerton and Hardwick in this County being other members of it 3. The Barony of Hedindon now Heddington given the 25 of Henr. 2. to Thomas Basset in Fee-farm whose Son Gilbert the Founder of Bisseter Priory in the first year of Richard the First was one of the Barons that attended at the Coronation And these are all the Baronies of ancient Tenure that were heretofore in Oxford-shire 131. In the beginning of the Reign of King Edward the First there were several other able men summon'd as Barons to Parliament that had not such Lands of ancient Tenure as those above had which were therefore stiled Barons by Writs of Summons to Parliament The first of these in Oxford-shire was William de Huntercomb whose seat still remains by the same name in the Parish of Tuffield who was summoned to Parliament by the Kings Writ bearing date the 23 of Edw. 1. The second I find was Joh. Gray of Rotherfield whose Ancestors being of a younger House of Walter Grey Arch-Bishop of York had Rotherfield given them beside many other possessions by the said Arch-Bishop He was summoned first to Parliament the 25 of Edw. 1. 132. And so was thirdly his next Neighbor Ralph Pipard of the other Rotherfield in the same year of the same King their seats having now almost quite changed their names for those of their owners one of them seldom being called otherwise than Pipard or Pepper and the other Grays Also fourthly John Baron Lovel of Minster-Lovel whose ancestors though Barons by tenure many years before as seised of the Barony of Castle-Cary in Somerset-shire yet dis-possest of that I know not by what means received summons to Parliament whil'st seated here at Minster 25 of Edw. 1. 133. The fifth of these Barons was Hen. le Tyes who having a grant of Sherbourn here in Oxford-shire from Richard Earl of Cornwall temp Henr. 3. which Sherbourn had formerly been a part of the Barony of Robert de Druis was summoned to Parliament the 28 of Edw. 1. And so was sixthly John de la Mare of Garsington the very same year To which should be added the Barons by Letters Patents of Creation so first made about the 11 of Rich. 2. But of these whose Barony is now vacant there is only seventhly the Lord Williams solemnly created Lord Williams of Thame the first of April 1 Mariae who had also summons the same time to the Parliament then sitting but his Patent it seems was never enrolled 134. For this account of these Baronies I acknowledge my self beholding to that Learned Antiquary William Dugdale Esq Norroy King at Arms in whose elaborate Volumes of the Baronage of England the Reader may receive more satisfaction concerning them Yet beside these as the people will have it the Manor of Wilcot was the head of a Barony one of the Barons whereof as tradition tells them lies buryed under a fair Monument in North-Leigh Church But the Writings of the present Proprietor my worthy Friend Mr. Cary of Woodstock whom yet I found inclined to believe some such thing being at London whereby otherwise it possibly might have been proved and the testimony of the people being too weak an evidence to build upon I have rather chosen to forbear then add a Coronet to the place 135. Beside the Saxon and Danish Fortifications above-mentioned there are others here in Oxford-shire of a later date either quite rased or in a manner useless and some of them too known but to few wherefore I have thought fit to give this short account of them To pass by therefore the Castle of Oxford so well known to be built by Robert d'Oyly who came in with the Conqueror and the Castles of Bampton and Banbury spoken of before the first that presents it self to my consideration is the old Castle of Deddington formerly Dathington g Thomas de la Moor in Hist vitae mortis Edv. 2. in principio which I take to be ancient and the very place no question to which Aymer de Valence Earl of Pembroke brought Piers de Gaveston the great Favorite of King Edward the Second and there left him to the fury of the Earls of Lancaster Warwick and Hereford who carrying him to Warwick after some time