their Tenures were altered viz. Baronia as appeareth in Matthew Paris A. 1070. fol. 66. and of that Tenure have continued ever since as you may read by the Constitutions of Clarendon in the Reign of Henry the Second and in Glanvile and Bracton But the Tenures of all Abbots and Priors were extinguished by the uniting and coming of them to the Crown by the Statute of Dissolution of Monasteries For though the Nobility of England differ in Titles and certain Ceremonies yet a Baron enjoyeth the same priviledges And by experience it is found That Dukes and all other degrees of Nobility in Cases Criminal are tryed by Barons together with Marquisses Earls and Viscounts as their Peers and Peers of the Realm Nobilitas generally is of the word Nosco signifying in common phrases of speech Men of Generosity of Blood and Degree and therefore it is said Vir nobilis idem est quod notus per omnia or a vulgatus But especially it is applyed and used to express the reward of Vertue in honourable measure Ageneris claritate which being in part of distributive Justice remaineth with the highest Soveraign annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm For as Vertue is the gift of none but of God so the reward thereof with Honour cannot be the gift of any but the Supreme Governour being God's Vicegerent on Earth But when Honour and Arms be bestowed upon any if there shall arise contention between Competitors for the same the ancient policy of this Realm hath ordained a Special Court the Judges whereof in all times having been Right Honourable Personages viz. the Lord High Constable and the Earl Marshal and in latter times the Judge thereof only the Earl Marshal The Jurisdiction of the Court consisâ—eth in the Execution of that part of distributive Justice which concerneth the advancement and support of Vertue Nevertheless some men there are not duly considering of what principle and parts the Laws of this Realm do consist have laboured to prove that the Questions and Controversies of Nobility and Arms should not be determined by the Laws of the Realm but by the Civil Law framing to themselves many Arguments to prove the same but being of small value I pass them over The Common Laws as also the Laws of Charity used in the Marshals Court do prohibit any Subject of this Realm to receive Titles of Honour and Dignity by gift or donation from a Forreign Prince King or Emperor for it is a thing greatly touching the Majesty of the King and State of his Kingdom Est vis Majestatis inter insignia summae potestatis And if a man shall bring an Action and in the Writ is styled by such a Forreign Title the Defendant may plead in Abatement of his Writ That he is no Duke Marquis Earl or Baron whereupon if the Plaintiff as demanded take Issue the Issue shall not be tryed by the Jury but by the Records of Parliament wherein he faileth And if any English man be created Earl of the Empire or of any other Forreign Nation and the King also do create him into any Title of Honour in England he shall be named in all Judicial proceedings only by such Name and Title as he hath received from the King of this Realm whose Subject he is And if by the King of England he be not advanced to Title of Honour then he shall bear the name only of his Baptism and Surname unless he be a Knight For experience teacheth that Kings joyned in League together by certain mutual and as it were natural power of Monarchies according to the Laws of Nations have dismissed one anothers Subjects and Ambassadors graced with the Dignity of Knighthood A Duke of Spain or of another Forreign Nation cometh into England by the King 's safe Conduct in which also the King doth style him Duke according to his Creation nevertheless in all proceedings in the King's Courts he shall not be so stiled by his Title of Dignity And although the said Noble person be also by the King's Letters Patents and by his Forreign Name and Title of Dignity made Denizon for that is the right Name so called because his Legitimation is given to him Or if he be naturalized by Authority of Parliament wherein he seemeth to be in all things made as a Subject born yet shall he not be styled by his Foreign Titles of Dignity And so it is if a Nobleman of France or elsewhere come into England as Ambassador and by lawful Marriage hath a Son and the Father dieth the Son is by Birth a Natural Englishman yet he shall not bear the Title of Honour of his Father and the reason thereof is because that Title of Nobility had its Original by a French King and not by any natural Operation which thing is well proved both by Authority of Law and Experience in these days If a Postnaâ—us of Scotland or Ireland who in these days is a Natural Subject to the King of England or if any of his Posterity be the Heirs of a Nobleman of Scotland or Ireland yet he is none of the Nobility of England But if that Alien or Stranger born a Scot be summoned by the King 's Writ to Parliament and therein is styled by his Foreign or other Title whereunto he is invested within England by the King 's Grant then and from thenceforth he is a Peer of this Realm and in all Judicial and Legal Proceedings he ought to be so styled and by no other Name And it was the Case of Gilbert Humfrevile Earl of Angus in Scotland of it appertaineth to the Royal Prerogative of the King to call and admit an Alien born to have place and voice in his Parliament at his pleasure although it is put in practice very rarely and that for great and weighty Considerations of State And if after such Parliamentary Summons of such a Stranger born question do arise and the Issue be whether he is of that Title or no it may well be tryed by the Record which is the only lawful tryal in that Case But there is a Diversity worthy of Observation for the highest and lowest Degrees are universal and therefore a Knight Engglish or Stranger born is a Knight in all Nations in what place soever he received his Title and Dignity and so ought of right and by Law to be named in the King's Courts as aforesaid Also if the Emperor the King of Denmark or other Foreign King come into this Realm by safe conduct as he ought for a Monarch or absolute Prince though he be in League cannot come without the King's Licence and safe Conduct but any Subject to such a Foreign King in League may come without Licence In this Case he shall sue and be sued by the Name of Emperor or King or else the Writ shall abate There is a notable President cited out of Fleta where treating of the Jurisdiction of the King's Court of Marshalsea it is said And these things he might
Realm to do Justice shew Mercy keep Peace and Unity c. The King is enabled to perform this great and weighty Office by certain extraordinary powers and priviledges which he holds by the Law of Nations by the Common Law of England or by Statutes The Regalia were anciently called Sacra Sacrorum as his Lands are called in Law Patrimoniâ—â— Sâ—câ—â—â— now commonly Royal Prerogaâ—ives The King being Principium Capâ—â— â—inis Parliâ—menti may of his meer will and pleasure Convoke Adjourn Remove and Dissolve Parliaments He may to any Bill that is passed by both Houses of Parliament refuse to give his Royal Assent without rendring a Reason and without his Assent a Bill is as a â—ody without a Soul He may at his pleasure encrease the number of the Members of both Houses by creating more Peers of the Realm and besâ—owing priviledges upon any other Towns to send Burgelles by Writ to Parliament and he may refuse to send his Writ to some others that have sate in former Parliaments He hath alone the choice and nomination of all Commanders and Officers for Land and Sea-service the choice and election of all Magistrates Counsellors and Officers of State of all Bishops and other Ecclesiastick Dignities also the bestowing and conferring of Honours and the power of determining Rewards and Punishments By Letters Patent his Majesty may erect new Counties Universities Bishopricks Cities Boroughs Colledges Hospitals Schools Fairs Markets Courts of Judicature Forests Chases Free Warrens c. The King by his Prerogative hath power to enfranchise an Alien and make him a Denison whereby he is enabled to purchase Lands and Houses and to bear Offices He hath the power to grant Letters of Mart or Reprisal to grant safe Conducts c. He hath at all times had the right of Purveyance or Preemption of all sorts of Victuals within the Verge viz. Twelve miles round of the Court and to take Horses Carts Ships or Boats for the Carriage of his Goods at reasonable rates Also by Proclamation to set reasonable rates and prices upon Flesh Fish Fowl Oats Hay c. sold within the limits of the Verge of the Court in the time of his Progress Debts due to the King are in the first place to be satisfied in case of Executorship and Administratorship and until the King's Debts be satisfied he may protect the Debtor from the Arrest of other Creditors He may disâ—rein for the whole Rent upon one Tenant that holdeth not the whole Land He may require the Ancestors Debt of the Heir though not especially bound He is not obliged to demand his Rent according to the Custome of Landlords He may distrein where he pleaseth and sue in any of his Courts No Proclamation can be made but by the King No protection for a Defendant to obstruct the course of the Law against him if he be not one of his Majesties Menial Servants In case of loss by Fire or otherwise his Majesty granteth Patents to receive the Charitable Benevolences of the people No Forest Chase or Park to be made nor Castle Fort or Tower to be built without his Majesties especial Licence Where the King hath granted a Fair with Toll to be paid yet his Goods shall be there exempted from the said Duties of Toll His Servants in Ordinary are priviledged from serving in any Offices that require their Attendance as Sheriff Constable Church-warden or the like All Receivers of Money for the King or Accomptants to him for any of his Revenues their Persons Lands Goods Heirs Executors and Administrators are at all times chargeable for the same for Nullum tempus occurrit Regi His Debtor hath a kind of Prerogative Remedy by a Quo minus in the Exchequer against all other Debtors or against whom they have any cause of personal Action supposing that he is thereby disabled to pay the King and in this Suit the King's Debtor being Plaintiff hath some priviledges above others In doubtful Cases semper praesumitur pro Rege no Statute restraineth the King except he be especially named therein The quality of his Person alters the descent of Gavelkind the Rules of joynt Tenancy No Estoppel can bind him nor Judgment final in a Writ of Right Judgments entred against the King's Title are entred with Salvo Iure Domini Regis That if at any time the King's Counsel at Law can make out his Title better that Jugment shall not prejudice him which is not permitted the Subject The King by his Prerogative may demand reasonable Ayd-money of his Subjects for the Knighting his Eldest Son at the Age of Fifteen years and to marry his eldest Daughter at the Age of Seven years which Ayd is 20 s. for every Knights Fee and as much for every 20 l. per annum in Soccage Moreover if the King be taken prisoner Ayd-money is to be paid by the Subjects for his Redemption The King upon reasonable Causes him thereunto moving may protect any of his Subjects from Suits of Law c. In all Cases where the King is party his Officers with an Arrest by force of a Process at Law may enter and if any entrance be denied may break open the House of any man by force A Benefice or Spiritual Living is not full against the King by Institution only without Induction although it be so against a Subject None but the King can hold Plea of false Judgments in the Courts of his Tenants The King by his Prerogative is Summus Regui Custos and hath the Custody of the Persons and Estates of such as for want of understanding cannot govern themselves or serve the King that of Ideots to his own use and that of Lunaticks to the use of the next Heir So the Custody or Wardships of all such Infants whose Ancestors held their Lands by Tenure in Capite or Knights Service were ever since the Conquest in the King to the great honour and benefit of the King and Kingdom But abuses which too often happened made the people complain thereof which was the cause of its laying aside His Majesty is Vlâ—imus Haeres Regni and is as the great Ocean is of small Rivers the Receptacle of all Estates for want of Heirs or by Forfeiture Revert or Escheat to the King All Spiritual Benefices for want of presentation in due time by the Bishop are elapsed to the King All Treasure Trove that is Money or Gold and Silver plate or Bullion found and the owners unknown belongs to the King So doth all Waifs Strays Wrecks not granted away by him or any former Kings All waste Ground or Land recovered from the Sea All Lands of Aliens dying before Naturalization or Denization and all other things whereof the property is not known All Gold and Silver Mines in whose Ground soever they are found Royal Fish as Whales Sturgeons Dolphins c. Royal Fowl as Swans not mark't and swimming at Liberty on the River belong to the King In the Church the King's prerogative and power is
those ancient Fees in the time of Henry the Third and Edward the Fourth at this day do amount unto most men are not unskilful in Coke's seventh part 33. And in Cases of Decay of Ability and Estate as Senatores Romani amoti Senatu so sometimes they are not admitted to the Upper House of Parliament though they still keep their Title and Dignity Sir Thomas Smith de Republica Aâ—glorum 22. and by the Statute made 31 Hen. 8. cap. 10. the Lords have their places prescribed after this manner as followeth viz. These four the Lord Chancellor the Lord Treasurer the Lord President of the Council and the Lord Privy Seal being Persons of the Degree of a Baron or above are in the same Act appointed to sit in Parliament and in all Assemblies and Councils above all Dukes not being of the Blood Royal viz. the King's Uncle Brother and Nephew And these six viz. the Lord Great Chamberlain of England the Lord High Constable of England the Lord Marshal of England the Lord Admiral of England the Lord High Steward of his Majesties Houshold and the Lord Chamberlain also of his Mâ—jesties Houshold by that Act are to be placed in all Assemblies of Council after the Lord Privy Seal according to their Degrees So that if he be a Baron than he is to sit above all Barons or if an Earl above all Earls And so likewise the King's Secretaries being Barons or Earls have place above all Barons or Earls PRIVILEDGES Incident to the NOBILITY According to the Laws of England CHAP. XIII WHEN a Peer of the Realm and Lord of the Parliament is to be Arraigned upon any Trespass or Felony whereof he is indicted and whereupon he hath pleaded Not Guilty the King by his Letters Patens shall assign some great and sage Lord of the Parliament to be High Steward of England for the day of his Arraignment who before the said day shall make a Precept to his Serjeant at Arms that is appointed to serve him during the time of his Commission to warn to appear before him Eighteen or Twenty Lords of the Parliament or Twelve at the least upon the same day And then at the time appointed when the High Steward shall be set under the Cloth of Estate upon the Arraignment of the Prisoner and having caused the Commission to be read the same Serjeant shall return his Precept and thereupon the Lords shall be called and when they have appeared and are set in their places the Conâ—â—able of the Tower shall be called to bring his Prisoner to the Barr and the High Steward shall declare to the Prisoner the cause why the King hath assembled thither those Lords and himself and perswade him to answer without fear and then he shall call the Clerk of the Crown to read his Indictment unto him and to ask him if he be Guilty or not whereunto when he hath answered Not Guilty the Clerk of the Crown shall ask him How he will be tryed and then he will say By God and his Peers Then the King's Serjeant and Attorney will give Evidence against him whereunto when the Prisoner hath made answer the Constable shall be commanded to receive the Prisoner from the Barr to some other place whilst the Lords do secretly confer together in the Court and then the Lords shall rise out of their places and consult amongst themselves and what they affirm shall be done upon their Honour without any Oath to be ministred upon them And when all or the greatest part of them shall be agreed they shall retire to their places and sit down Then the High Steward shall ask of the youngest Lord by himself if he that is Arraigned be Guilty or not of the Offence whereof he is Arraigned and then the youngest next him and so of the residue one by one until he hath asked them all and every Lord shall answer by himself And then the Steward shall send for the Prisoner again who shall be led to the Barr to whom the High Steward shall rehearse the Verdict of the Peers and give Judgment accordingly The Antiquity and Original of this kind of Tryal by the opinion of several Authors is grounded from the Statute of Magna Charta so called not in respect of the quantity but of the weight of it Coke to the Reader before his eight part fol. 2. cap. 29. beginning thus Millus liber homo c. nec super eum ibimus nec super eum mittemus nisi per legale judicium parium suorum But I take it to be more ancient than the time of Henry the Third as brought into the Realm with the Conqueror being answerable to the Norman and French Laws and agreeable with the Custom Feudale where almost all Controversies arising between the Sovereign and the Vassal are tryed per Iudicium parium suorum And if a Peer of the Realm upon his Arraignment of Treason do stand mute or will not answer directly Judgment shall be given against him as a Traytor Convict and he shall not be prest to death and thereby save the forfeiture of his Lands for Treason is out of the Statute of Westminster 1. chap. 12. 15. Ed. 4. 33. Dyer 205. But if he be Arraigned upon Indictment of Felony he may be mute This priviledge hath some restraint as well in regard of the person as in the manner of proceeding As touching the person first the Archbishops and Bishops of this Realm although they be Lords of the Parliament if they be impeached of such offence they shall not be tryed by the Peers of the Realm but by a Jury of Knights and other substantial Persons upon their Oaths the reason thereof alledged is so much as Archbishops and Bishops cannot pass in the like cases upon Peers for that they are prohibited by the Common and Ecclesiastical Laws to be judged of Life and Blood Reason would that the other Peers should not try them for this Tryal should be mutual forasmuch as it is performed upon their Honours without any Oath taken And so by the way you may see the great respect the Law hath to a Peer of the Realm when he speaketh upon his Honour even in a case concerning the life of a man and that of a Peer and therefore ought they much more to keep their Words and Promises in smaller matters when they engage their Honour for any just cause or consideration Secondly as touching these persons no Temporal Lords but they that are Lords of the Parliament shall have this kind of Tryal and therefore out of this are excluded the eldest Son and Heir apparent of a Duke in the life of his Father though he be called an Earl And it was the case of Henry Howard Earl of Surrey Son and Heir apparent to Thomas Duke of Norfolk in 38 Hen. 8. which is in Brook's Abridgment Treason 2. Likewise the Son and Heir apparent of an Earl though he be called a Lord. And all the younger Sons of Kings are Earls
Honour deported themselves after the manner of Military Knights of those days To look further back ancient Histories do take notice of the Amazons of old whose Fame in Arms is sufficiently known Although Noble women may not sit in Parliament in respect of their Sex yet they are in Law Peers of the Realm and all or most of the prerogatives before mentioned which to the Noblemen are belonging do appertain unto them But the Opinion of some men have been That a Countess Baronness and other women of great Estate cannot maintain an Action upon the Statute de Scandalis magnatum because the Statute 2 Rich. 2. speaketh but of Prelates Dukes Earls Barons and of the Chancellor Treasurer Privy Seal Steward of the King's Houshold and other Nobles great Officers of the Realm by which words they conceive that the meanings of the Makers of that Statute was only to provide in that case for Noblemen and not for Noble women Also if any of the King's Servants within the Check-Roll do conspire the death of any Noble woman it is not Felony within the compass of the Statute 3 Hen. 7. 18. Honourable women as before noted are of three sorts by Creation by Descent and by Marriage And the King may create any woman into any Title of Honour at his pleasure and the King by his Letters Patents openly read in Parliament without any other Investure did create Mary Fane Widow the sole Daughter of Baron of Aburgaveny Baronness de le Spencer Noble women by Descent are either those to whom the Lands holden by such Dignity do descend as Heir and they are said to be Honourable by Tenure or by whose worthy Ancestors to whom they were Heirs was seized of an Estate descendable to them in their Titles of Dukedoms Earldoms or Baronies or those whose Ancestors were summoned to Parliament for hereby also Inheritance doth accrew to their Posterities Noble women are also those who do take to their Husbands any Lord or Peer of the Realm although they themselves were not of any degree of Nobility Question and doubt hath been made Whether if a man be summoned to Parliament and afterwards die without Issue Male the Dignity and Title of Honour may descend to the Heir Female And many Arguments have been pro contra in that case which at this time I purposely omit because I have before discoursed thereof in the Chapter of Barons Concerning the Title of Honour descendable to the Heir Female by reason of a Tenure of her Ancestors there needs no more doubt to be made than of Offices of Honour the which do much support the publick wealth and being of Estate of Inheritance do descend to the Heir Female if there be no nearer Heir Male As the Office of High Constableship of England challenged in the time of Henry the Eighth by the Duke of Buckingham and adjudged by the Advise and Resolution of the Judges as by a note of that Case extant whereof Dyer in his Reports hath a memorial 205. b. Kelway the Sixth of Henry the Eighth 170. b. which descended to the Daughter of Humphrey de Bohune Earl of Hereford and Essex as before is declared The Office of the Lord Steward descended to Blaunch Daughter of Henry Earl of Lancaster in whose right Iohn of Gaunt her Husband enjoyed the same The like may be said of the Office of Earl-Marshal which descended by an Heir Female unto the House of Norfolk All which Offices are as unfit to be exercised by a Woman as for a Woman of Honour to be summoned to the Parliament And when a Title of Honour doth descend to a Woman if question in Law do arise between the said Noble woman and any other person whether she be of that Degree of Nobleness or no the Issue shall be tried by the Record thereof and by the King 's Writ it shall be certified and not by a Jury of twelve Men even as it should have been in case her Ancestor had been party Although the Laws of the Realm regularly do make all the Daughters where there are no Sons equally to inherit Lands and Tenements and to be but one Heir to their Ancestor yet it is not so in the descent of Dignity and Titles of Honour for Inheritances concerning matter of Honour being things in their nature participating of Superiority and Eminency are not partable amongst many and therefore must of necessity descend unto one and that is to the eldest Daughter Sister Aunt or Cosin Female and inheritable where there is no Heirs Males that may lawfully challenge the same And so in this point is the Civil Law Nevertheless there was a Judgment in the time of Henry the Third touching the descent of the Earldom of Chester after the death of the Earl who died without Issue his Sisters being his Heirs which Judgment was That the said Earldom should be divided amongst the said Copartners as the other Lands and that the eldest should not have it alone But this Judgment was holden Erroneous even in those times wherein it was given For Bracton a Learned Judge who lived in that Age writeth thereof treating of partition between Copartners lib. 2. Case 24. by which it is evident That Baronies and Dignities of Honour do by the Laws of this Realm descend unto the eldest Copartner and the Judgment given once to the contrary thereof Bracton doth rightly account to be unjust His Reason is notable Forasmuch as the Honour of the Chivalry of this Realm doth chiefly consist in the Nobility Reason would not that such Dignity should be divided amongst Copartners whereby through multitude of partitions the reputation of Honour in such Succession and so divided might be impaired or the strenght of the Realm being drawn into many hands with decrease of livelyhood by such partition should be infeebled In which Resolution Britton the Learned Bishop of Hereford who compiled his Book of the Laws of this Realm by the Commandment and in the Name of Edward the First accordeth Britton 187. And therefore howsoever the Judgment was given or whensoever it is nevertheless very evident that it was soon redressed For if it were given upon the death of Ralph the last of that Name Earl of Chester who died about the Seventh of Henry the Third without Issue the Writers of that time do testifie that the Earldom of Chester came wholly unto Iohn Scott the Son of David Earl of Huntington and Auguish and Maud the eldest Sisters of the said Ralph if it were given upon the death of the said Iohn Scott who died about the Four and twentieth of Henry the Third without Issue yet notwithstanding the said Judgment stood in force for that the said King assumed the Earldom into his own Hands upon other satisfaction made to the said Sisters Copartners of the said Iohn Scottâ— Ne tanta haereditas inter colos deduceretur Matth. Paris Monaster Sancti Allane in Crompton fol. 366. b. Nevertheless you may read in this Treatise of
knowing of the Felony doth receive him he is Accessory Also when the King doth Summon his Parliament Writs shall be sent to the Sheriff to make choice of Knights of every Shire in this form Rex Vicecom N. Salutem quia de avisamento asseâ—su nostri Concilii pro quibusdam arduis urgentibus negotiis nos statum defensionem Regni nostri Angliae Ecclesiae Anglicanae concernentibus quoddam Parliamentum nostrum apud Civitatem nostram Westm. duodecimo die Novembris proxime futuro teneri ordinavimus ibidem cum Praelatis magnatibus proceribus dicti Regni nostri colloquium habere tractare tibi praecipimus firmiter injungentes quod facta Proclamatione in prox Comit. tuo post receptionem hujus brevis nostri tenendi die loco praed duos Milites gladiis cinctos Magisidouers Discretos Com. praed c. electionem partes sub sigillo tuo sub sigillis eorum qui electioni illi interfuerunt nobis in Cancellaria nostra ad dictum diem locum certifices indilate See the Statute 23 Hen. 6. cap. 15. where amongst other things it is enacted That the Knights of the Shires for Parliaments hereafter to be chosen shall be notable Knights of the same Counties for the which they shall be chosen or else such notable Esquires or Gentlemen being of the same Counties as shall be able to be Knights Peers of the Realm are by intendment of Law sufficient of Freehold and that is one of the Reasons wherefore no Capias or Exigit liethâ— against them for Debt or Trespass But the Law hath not that Opinion of the Knights sufficiency of Freehold for he may be a Knight without Land therefore and then he is not to be returned of any Jury or Inquest howsoever he may be worthy and sufficient to serve the Commonwealth in Marshal Affairs The Wives and Widows of Knights in Legal Proceedings and in Courts of Justice have not the Title of Lady as the Wives or Widows of Noblemen have yet by the Courtesie of England that Title is given them And if in any action they be not called Ladies for that cause the Writ shall not abate for that Surplusage because Domina is general to Women as Domini to Men. So where Women after Fourteen years of Age are called Dominae for Ladies or Dames and with us anciently marriageable Women were called Dominae and in our old English Leets Dames First Dominae is often used for Women generally as a special Honour for that Sex being not out of fashion at this day nor with the French as also amongst the Italians Domina for them is familiar But if she be named Comitessa or Baronessa whereas she is no Countess or Baroness in Law then without question the naming of her so shall abate the Writ By the Statute of Magna Charta chap. 21. Knights are freed from Cart-taking that no Demesne Cart of them shall be taken By the Statute 1 Iacobi cap. 27. it seemeth that Knights Sons may keep Greyhounds and Setting-Dogs and Nets to take Pheasants and Partridges in though they cannot expend Ten pounds per Annum nor be worth Two hundred pounds for by the express words of the Statute all the Sons of Knights are excepted Observations concerning Knights Batchelors A Baronet cannot claim the Priviledge that Knights have from Cart-taking by Magna Charta 23. A Baronet's Son cannot keep a Grey-hound c. because he is not within the Statute of 1 Iac. 27. unless he hath Ten pounds per Annum tamen quâ—re See the said Statute and Statute 22 23 Car. 2. Quaere whether the Baronets Addition doth abate any Action If one be Knighted in the life time of his Father it frees him from Wardship but contra of a Baronet Knights are excused from attendance at Leets which Baronets are not Note That by the Statute 12 Car. 2. chap. 24. the Court of Wards Tenures in Capite Liveries Ouster le maines and other dependance upon the Court is taken away and then was repealed the Statute 32 Hen. 8. chap. 6. 33 Car. 22. A Knight Batchelor is a Title as before noted borrowed from Horsmanship and therefore ought to be represented by the Efâ—igies of a Captain of a Troop of Horse I shall here set down the manner of making Knights about the year of Christ 500 near which time King Arthur Reigned in England as I find it in Sir William Segar's Book of Honour Military and Civil page 53. where he saith That a Prince being minded to make a Knight commanded a Stage or Scaffold to be erected in some Cathedral Church in his Kingdom or some spacious place near unto it to which place the Gentleman was brought to receive that Honour and being come was forthwith placed on a silver Chair adorned with green Silk Then it was demanded of him if he were of a healthy Body and able to undergo the Travel required in a Souldier also whether he were a man of honest conversation and what credible Witnesses he could produce to affirm the same Then the Bishop or chief Prelate of the Church took the Bible and holding it open before the Knight in presence of the King and all others spake these words Sir you that desire to receive the Order of Knighthood swear before God and by this Holy Book that you shall not fight against this mighty and excellent Prince that now bestoweth the Order of Knighthood upon you unless you shall be commanded so to do in the service of your own King for in that case having first yielded up the Collar Device and other Ensigns of Honour now received it shall be lawful for you to serve against him without reproach or offence to all other Companions in Arms. But otherwise doing you shall incur Infamy and being taken in War shall be subject to the pains of death You shall also swear with all your force and power to maintain and defend all Ladies Gentlewomen Widows Orphans and distressed Women and you shall shun no adventure of your person in any War wherein you shall happen to be My Author further saith That this Oath being taken two of the chief Lords led him to the King who presently drew forth his Sword and laid it upon his Head saying God and St. George or what other Saint the King pleaseth to name make thee a good Knight Then came to the Knight seven Noble Ladies attired in white and begirt a Sword unto his side which being done four Honourable Knights put on his Spurs These Ceremonies being past the Queen took him by the right Arm and a Dutchess by the left and led him to a rich Seat placed on an Ascent where they seated him the King sitting on his right hand and the Queen on his left then the Lords and Ladies also sate down upon other Seats three Descents under the King And being all thus seated they were entertained with a Delicate Banquet or Collation and so the
the City of London â—â—â—â—â—e his Coronation which was on Monday tâ—e 22 th of April 1661. First the Duke of York's Horse Guard Messengers of the Chambers in their Coats with the King's Arms before and behind Esquires to the Knights of the Bath in number 140. Knight Harbinger and Serjeant Porter Sewers of the Chamber Gentlemen Ushers Quarter Waiters in Cloaks Clerks of the Chancery 6. Clerks of the Signet 4. Clerks of the Privy Seal in Gowns Clerks of the Council 4. in Cloaks Clerks of the Parliament 2. Clerks of the Crown 2. in Gowns Chaplains having Dignities 10. in Gowns and square Caps The King's Advocate The King's Remembrancer Masters of the Chancery The King's Counsel at Law 2. in Gowns The King's puisne Serjeants 2. The King's Attorney The King's Solicitor The King's eldest Serjeants 2. in Gowns Two Secretaries of the French and Latin Tongue in Gowns Gentlemen Ushers Daily Waiters in Cloaks Sewers in Ordinary in Cloaks Carvers in Ordinary in Cloaks Cup-bearers in Ordinary in Cloaks Esquires of the Body 4. The Effigies of the Right honble Heneage Lord Finch Baron of Daventry Lord High Chancellor of England one of the Lords of the most honble Privy Councell to King Charles ye. second Anno DnÌ„i 1676. The Effigies of the Right honble Anthony Earle of Shaftsbury Baron Ashley of Wimbourne St Giles Ld. Cooper of Pawlet Ld. High Chancellor of England Ld. Leiutenant of the County of Dorset and â—one of the Lords of ye. most honble Privy Councellâ— to King Charles yâ— 2d. Anno Domini â—673 Masters of standing Offices Tents 1. in Cloaks Masters of standing Offices Revels 1. in Cloaks Masters of standing Offices Ceremonies 1. in Cloaks Masters of standing Offices Armory 1. in Cloaks Masters of standing Offices Wardrobe 1. in Cloaks Masters of standing Offices Ordnance 1. in Cloaks Masters of the Requests 4. Chamberlains of the Exchequer 2. in Gowns Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber in Cloaks Knights of the Bath 68. in long Mantles with Hats and Feathers The Knight Marshal in a rich Coat Treasurer of the Chamber Master of the Jewel House in Cloaks Barons younger Sons Viscounts younger Sons Barons of the Exchequer 3. in Robes and Caps Justices of the King's Bench and Common Pleas 6. in Robes Caps and Collars Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in Robes Caps and Collars Master of the Rolls in a Gown Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench in his Robe Cap and Collar Knights of the Privy Council in Cloaks Barons eldest Sons Earls younger Sons Viscounts eldest Sons Kettle Drums The King's Trumpeters in rich Coats The Serjeant Trumpeter with his Mace Two Pursuevants at Arms in their Coats of Arms. Barons 51. in Cloaks Marquisses younger sons Earls eldest Sons Two Pursuevants at Arms in their Coats of Arms. Viscounts 7. Dukes younger Sons Marquisses eldest Sons Two Heralds in their Coats with Collars of SS Earls 32. in Cloaks Lord Chamberlain of the King's Houshold with his white Staff Dukes eldest Sons Two Heralds in Coats with Collars of SS Two Marquisses in Cloaks Two Heralds in Coats with Collars of SS The Duke of Buckingham Clarencieux King at Arms in Coats with Collars of SS Norroy King at Arms in Coats with Collars of SS The Lord Treasurer with his white Staff The Lord Chancellor with the Purse The Lord High Steward with his white Staff Two Persons one representing the Duke of Aquitain and the other the Duke of Normandy in broad Caps and Robes of Ermyn The Gentleman Usher with the black Rod on the right hand bareheaded in a rich Cloak Garter King of Arms bareheaded in his Coat and Collar of SS The Lord Mayor of London carrying the City Scepter on the left hand bareheaded The Duke of York Serjeants at Arms with their Maces 8 on a side from the Sword forwards in rich Cloaks The Lord Great Chamberlain on the right hand The Sword born by the Earl of Suffolk Marshal pro tempore The Earl of Northumberland Lord Constable of England pro tempore on the left hand Gentlemen Pensioners with Pole-Axes The King Gentlemen Pensioners with their Pole-Axes Esquires Footmen The Master of the Horse leading a spare Horse The Vice Chamberlain Captain of the Pensioners Captain of the Guard The Lieutenant of the Pensioners the King's Horse Guard The Lord General 's Horse Guard As in Man's Body for the preservation of the whole divers Functions and Offices of Members are required even so in all well governed Common-wealths a distinction of persons is necessary and the policy of this Realm of England for the Government and Maintainance of the Common-wealth hath made a threefold Division of persons that is to say First the King our Soveraign Monarch under which Name also a Soveraign Queen is comprised as it is declared by the Statute made in the first of Queen Mary cap. 1. Parliam 2. Secondly the Nobles which comprehend the Prince Dukes Marquisses Earls Viscounts and Lords Spiritual and Temporal Thirdly the Commons by which general word is understood Baronets Knights Esquires Gentlemen Yeomen Artificers and Labourers It is observed that our Law calleth none Noble under the Degree of a Baron and not as men of Forreign Countries do use to speak with whom every man of Gentle Birth is counted Noble For we daily see that both Gentlemen and Knights do serve in Parliament as Members of the Commonalty Neither do these words the Nobles the high and great men in the Realm imply the Person and Majesty of the King but with the Civilians the King is reckoned among the Nobility The Nobility are known by the general Name of Peers of the Realm or Barons of England for Dukes Marquisses Earls and Viscounts did anciently sit together in the King 's great Council of Parliament as Barons and in right only of their Baronies And therefore by the general Name of Barons of the Realm and for the Baronage thereof we underâ—â—and the whole Body of the Nobility the Parliament Robes of the Dukes differing nothing from the Barons but that they wear the Guards upon their Shoulders three or four folds For though Dukes Marquisses Earls and Viscounts in their Creations are attired with Ornaments of Silk and Velvet yet in Parliament they use the same that Barons do made of Scarlet with divers differences of white Fur set as Fringes or Edgings on their Shoulders and although they sit in right of their Baronies yet they take their places according to their degrees of Dignity And hence it is that those bloody Civil Wars concerning the Liberties granted in the Great Charter both in the time of King Iohn and Henry the Third his Son prosecuted by all the Nobility some few excepted are called in our Histories the Barons Wars Neither have the Spiritual Lords any other Title to that preheminence but by their ancient Baronies For although originally all the possessions of Bishops Abbots and Priors were given and holden in Frank Almoign most of
extraordinary great He only hath the patronage of all Bishopricks none can be chosen but by his Conge d'Esâ—ire whom he hath first nominated none can be consecrated Bishop or take possession of the Revenues of the Bishoprick without the King 's special Writ or Assent He is Guardian or Nursing Father of the Church which our Kings of England did so reckon amongst their principal Cares as in the Three and twentieth year of King Edward the First it was alledged in a pleading and allowed The King hath power to call a National or Provincial Synod and with the advice and consent thereof to make Canons Orders Ordinances and Consâ—itutions to introduce into the Church what Ceremonies he shall think sit to reâ—orm and correct all Heresies Schisms and pâ—nish Contempts c The King hath power not only to unite consolidate separate inlarge or contract the limits of any old Bishoprick or other Ecclesiastical Benefice But also by his Letters Patents may erect new Bishopricks as Henry the Eighth did Six at one time and the late King Charles the Martyr intended to do at St. Albans for the Honour of the first Martyr of England and for the contracting the too large extent of the Bishoprick of Lincoln In the 28. of Eliz. when the House of Commons would have passed Bills touching Bishops granting Faculties conferring Holy Orders Ecclesiastical Censures the Oath Ex Officio Non-Residency c. The Queen being much incensed forbade them to meddle in any Ecclesiastical Affairs for that it belonged to her prerogative His Majesty hath also power of Coynage of Money of pardoning all Criminals of dispensing with all Statutes made by him or his Predecessors which are Malum prohibitum and not Malum in se. The diversity between these terms is set down in the Statute made Term. Mich. Anno 11 H. 7. 11. Thus where the Statute doth prohibit a man to coyn Money if he do he shall be hanged this is Malum prohibitum for before the said Statute it was lawful but not after and for this Evil the King may dispense But Malum in se neither the King nor any other can dispense with As if the King would give leave to rob on the High-ways c. this is void yet after the Fact done the King may pardon it So it is in Ecclesiastical Laws for conformity to the Liturgy c. which are Malum prohibitum and the King may by his Prerogative Royal as well dispense with all those penal Statutes as with Merchants to transport Silver Wooll and other prohibited Commodities by Act of Parliament The King cannot devest himself or his Successors of any part of his Royal Power Prerogative and Authority inherent and annext to the Crown nor bar his Heir of the Succession no not by Act of Parliament for such an Act is void by Law These Prerogatives do of right belong to the Crown of England which I have collected out of the most Authentick Modern Authors And to compleat this Chapter I shall proceed to his Superiority and Precedency The King of England acknowledgeth no Superior but God alone not the Emperor Omnem potestatem Rex Angliae in Regno suo quam Imperator vendicat in Imperio yet he giveth Precedency to the Emperor Eo quod antiquitate Imperium omnia regna superare creditur Touching our King's Supremacy before any other these Reasons are offered First Lucius King of this Land was the first Christian King in the World as also Constantine our Country-man the first Emperor that publickly planted Christianity Secondly The King of England is anoynted as no other King is but France Sicily and Ierusalem Thirdly He is crowned which honour the Kings of Spain Portugal Navarr and divers other Princes have not The honour of Precedency amongst Christian Kings is often disputed by their Ambassadors and Commissioners representative at General Councils Diets publick Treaties and other Honourable Assemblies at Coronations Congratulations in Foreign Countries c. which by the best Information I can get is thus stated As to England next to the Imperial Ministers the French take place as being the largest Realm in Christendom and most Noble since Charles le mayne their King obtained the Imperial Diadem the second place in the Western Empire was undisputably the right of our English Kings so enjoyed for hundreds of years 'till Spain grown rich and proud by the addition of the Indies claimed the priority yet could not gain it till their Charles the Fifth was Elected Emperor but after his Resignation the Controversie renewed upon the Treaty of Peace between Queen Elizabeth and Philip the Third King of Spain at â—oloign in France Anno 1600. Our Ambassadors were Sir Henry Nevil Iohn Harbert and Thomas Edmonds Esquires and for Spain Balthazer de Coniga Ferdinando Carillo Io. Ricardett and Lewis Varreyken The English challenged precedency as due to them before the Emperor Charles his time as doth appear by Volatteram in the time of our Henry the Seventh when the like difference being in question 't was joyntly referred to the Pope who adjudged to England the most Honourable place But the Spaniards refusing to stand to that old Award or to admit of an equality the Treaty of Peace broke up neither hath any certain Resolution been hitherto taken in the matter as ever I heard of OF THE PRINCE CHAP. III. THE King 's Eldest Son and Heir apparent from the Day of his Birth is entituled Prince of the Latin word quasi Principalis post Regem The first that we read of in England was Edward eldest Son to King Henry the Third since which time the eldest Son of the King hath been by Patent and other Ceremonies created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester and Flint By Patent also Edward the Third in the Eleventh year of his Reign added the Dukedom of Cornwal to the Principality of Wales and Anno Regni 36. he makes his eldest Son Edward the Black Prince Prince of Aquitain for which he did Fealty and Homage at Westminster Sed tamen Principatum Walliae Ducatum Cornubiae Comitatum Cestriae Cantii non reliquit Walsing fol. 172. Since the Union of England and Scotland his Title hath been Magnae Britanniae Princeps but ordinarily Prince of Wales As eldest Son to the King of Scotland he is Duke of Rothsay and Seneschal of Scotland from his Birth And so long as Normandy remained in the possession of the English he had always the style of Duke of Normandy At his Creation he is presented before the King in Princely Robes who putteth a Coronet upon his Head a Ring on his middle Finger a Verge of Gold in his Hand and his Letters Patents after they are reaâ— His Mantle which he wears in â—arliament is once more doubled upon the shoâ—â—â—â—rs than a Dukes his Cap of State indenteâ—â—nd his Coronet formerly of Crosses and Flower de lis mixed But since the happy Restauration of his Majesty it was solemnly ordered that the Son and Heir apparent
to the Crown of England shall bear his Coronet of Crosses and Flower de lis with one Arch and in the midst a Ball and Cross as hath the Royal Diadem That his Royal Highness the Duke of York and all the immediate Sons and Brothers of the Kings of England shall use and bear their Coronets composed of Crosses and Flower de lis only But all their Sons respectively having the Title of Dukes shall bear and use their Coronets composed of Leaves only as the Coronets of Dukes not being of the Royal Blood Note That by Order not Creation our present King was admitted Prince of Wales had the Principality with the Earldom of Chester c. confirmed to him by Patent and was allowed to hold his Court apart from the Kings The Prince by the Common Law is reputed as the same Person with the King and so declared by Statute temp Hen. 8. The Civilians say the King 's eldest Son during his Fathers life may be styled King by the Law of Nations because of his so near Relation to the Crown that if the Father die he is ipso momento Rex though he be not crowned A usual custome in Spain and once allowed here to Henry Son of King Henry the Second yet he holdeth his Seigniories and Principalities of the King as Subject to him and giveth the same respect to him as other Subjects do He hath certain priviledges above other persons To him it was permitted by the Statute 24 Hen. 8. cap. 13. to wear Silk of the colour of Purple and cloth of Gold of Tissue in his Apparel or upon his Horse And by the Statute 24 Ed. 3. ca. 2. Takings shall not be from henceforth made by others than the Purveyors of the King of the Queen and of the Prince their eldest Son And that if any mans Purveyor make such takings it shall be done of them as of those that do without Warrant and the Deed adjudged as a thing done against the Peace and the Law of the Land and such as do not in manner aforesaid shall be duly punished To eschew Maintenance and nourish Peace and Amity in all parts of the Realm many Statutes have been made in the Reign of King Henry the Fourth prohibiting the giving of Signs or Liveries to any but Menials nevertheless by the Statute 2 Hen. 4. cap. 21. it is provided that the Prince may give his honourable Liveries or Sign to the Lords or to his Menial Gentlemen and that the same Lords may wear the same as if they were the King's Liveries and that the Menials of the Prince may also wear the same as the King's Menials But afterwards by occasion of divers other Statutes made by sundry Kings for the suppressing oâ— that enormity of Maintenance and of the general word in them that priviledge of the Prince was abridged or rather taken away therefore the Statute 12 Ed. 4. cap. 4. was made By the Statute 21 H. 8. cap. 13. the Prince may retain as many Chaplains as he pleaseth although all other of the Nobility except those of the Blood Royal are constrained to a certain number and they or any of them may purchase Licence and Dispensation and take and retain two Parsonages or Benefices with Cure of Souls By the Order of the Common Law the King may Levy a reasonable Ayd of all his Tenants as well of those that did hold their Lands of him by Knights Service as in Soccage pur faire fitz Chevalier pur File marrier and the sum of Money was not in certainty Note that the Ayd is not to be recovered before the Son be of the Age of Fifteen years and the Daughter accomplish the Age of Seven years Fitz. Natur. B. 28.6 But in the King's pleasure till by the Statute in the 25 Ed. 3. cap. 11. it was Enacted That for the Knighting his eldest Son and marrying his eldest Daughter as aforesaid the Ayd following shall be demanded and levied viz. of every Knight so holden of the King without mean 20 s. and no more and of every 20. l. of Land holden of the King without mean in Soccage 20 s. and no more And so after this rate for the Lands in Soccage and for Land in Tenure of Chivalry according to the quantity of the Fee By another Statute made in the said 25 th of Edward the Third cap. 2. amongst other things it is declared That to compass or imagine the death of the King 's eldest Son and Heir is Crimen laesae Majestatis or if a man do violate the Wife of the King 's eldest Son and Heir it is High Treason And so the Statute 26 Hen. 8. cap. 13. doth declate And so was the ancient Common Law of this Realm and not a new Law made by the Statute Coke 8. part 28. b. but this Statute is a Manifestation and Application of the ancient Common Law in this Case Because the people were in ambiguity Whether Children born in parts beyond the Sea and out of the King's Dominions should be able to demand any Inheritance within his said Dominions or not It was declared at a Parliament holden at Westminster in the Seventeenth of King Iames for the removing of those doubts That les Enfants du Roy the Children of the Kings of England in whatsoever parts they are born in are able and ought to bear the Inheritance after the death of their Ancestors Read the Statute in Coke's Seventh Part 8. a. where you shall see that though generally the Birth-place is observed yet many times Legiance and Obedience without any place in the King's Dominions may make a Subject born For we see by Experience almost in every Parliament that Ambassadors Merchants and the King's Souldiers do sue therein in such Cases to have their Children Naturalized or made Denisons And in the Articles confirmed by Parliament touching the Marriage between Philip King of Spain and Queen Mary Anno primo Parliamenti 2. cap. 2. a special Proviso was to bar him from being Tenant by the Courtesie of the Crown in case he should have Issue by her and survive which was superfluous because the Common Law would have denied it For this last point see the Lord Chancellor's Speech in the Case Postnati f. 36. But note If an Alien Enemy come into this Realm and his Wife English or Stanger be here delivered of a Child this Child notwithstanding his Birth-place is an Alien born for want of Allegiance in the Parents ibid. King Henry the Third did create Edward his eldest Son the first Prine of Wales and did give unto him the Dominion and Dignity thereof to be holden of him and his Heirs Kings of England And after that time the eldest Sons of the Kings of England have been Princes of Wales and as incident to the State and Dignity of a Prince did and might make Laws and Statutes and use Jurisdiction and Authority as amply as any King of that Nation could do for Wales was a Kingdom in ancient
disinherited imprisoned and murthered by their cruel Uncle the Duke of Glocester who being both a Tyrant and Usurper was justly encountred by King Henry the Seventh in the Field So infallible is the Law of Justice in revenging Cruelties and Injuries not always observing the present time wherein they are done but often calling them into reckoning when the Offenders retain least memory of them But as the saying is Ex malis moribus bonae leges oriuntur so their Tragical and Miserable Combustions have occasioned that the Law hath established more certain Resolutions in all these cases and pretences against the right Heir to the Crown than before For first though a common Opinion was conceived that a Conqueror might freely dispose of the Succession of that Estate which he had obtained by the purchase of his Sword which was the Title pretended for William Rufus yet now in our Books this difference is taken for Law viz. between the Conquest of a Kingdom from a Christian King and the Conquest of a Kingdom from an Infidel For if a King come to a Christian Kingdom by Conquest seeing he hath Vitae necis potestatem he may at his pleasure alter and change the Laws of that Kingdom but until he doth make an alteration thereof the ancient Laws do stand and therefore the case of Rufus the ancient Law of this Realm being That the eldest Son should inherit and that a King in possession cannot devise the same by his last Will or by other Act therefore the said William Rufus was no other than a Usurper But if a Christian King should Conquer a Kingdom from an Infidel and being then under his subjection there ipso facto the Laws of the Infidels are abrogated for that they be not only against Christianity but against the Law of God and Nature mentioned in the Decalogue and in that case until certain Laws be established amongst them the King by himself and such Judges as he shall appoint shall judge them and their causes according to natural Equity in such sort as Kings in ancient times did within their Kingdoms before any certain municipal Laws were given And if a King have a Kingdom by Title of Descent there seeing by the Laws of that Kingdom he doth inherit the Kingdom he cannot change those Laws of himself without consent of Parliament Also if a King have a Christian Kingdom by Conquest as King Henry the Second had Ireland after that King Iohn had given unto them being under his Obedience and Subjection the Laws of England for the Government of that Country no succeeding King could alter the same without Parliament In Succession of Kings a question hath been Whether the King who hath had Sons both before and after he came to the Crown which of them should succeed he that was born before as having the prerogative of his Birthright or he that was born after And for each Reasons and Examples have not been wanting For Xerxes the Son of Darius King of Persia being the eldest Son after the enthroning his Father carried away the Empire from his Brother Arthemones or Artobazanes who was born before his Father came to the Royal Possession thereof So Arceses the Son of another Darius born in the time of his Fathers Empire carried away the Garland from his Brother Cyrus born before his Father came to the Empire So Lewis Duke of Millain born after his Father was Duke was preferred to the Dukedom before his Brother Galiasius born before the Dukedom But notwithstanding these Examples and the Opinion of sundry Doctors to the contrary common use of Succession in these latter days hath been to the contrary and that not without good reason for that it is not meet that any that hath right to any Succession by the prerogative of their Birthright such as all elder Brothers have should be put by the same And this was the pretence of Henry the First against Robert his eldest Brother Also sundry Contentions have risen in Kingdoms between the Issue of the eldest Son of the King dying before his Father and the second Brother surviving who should Reign after the death of the Father the Nephew challenging the same unto him by the Title of his Fathers Birthright and by way of Representation Cok. part 3. cap. 4. the other claiming as eldest Son to his Father at the time of his death Upon which Title in old time there grew a Controversie between Arcus the Son of Arrotatus eldest Son of Cleomenes King of Lacedemonia and Cleomenes second Son of Cleomenes Uncle to the said Arcus But upon debate of the matter the Senate gave their Sentence for Arcus against Cleomenes Besides Enominus King of Lacedemon having two Sons Polydectes and Licurgius Poyldectes dying without Children Licurgius succeeded in the Kingdom but after he had understood that Polydectes Widow had a Child he yielded the Crown to him wherein he dealt far more religiously than either did King Iohn or King Richard the Third For King Iohn upon the like pretence not only put by Arthur Plantaginet his eldest Brother's Son from the Succession of the Kingdom but also most unnaturally took away his life And King Richard the Third to come to the Crown did most barbarously not only slay his two innocent Nephews but also defamed his Mother in publishing to the World that the late King his Brother was a Bastard Our Stories do obscurely note that Controversie of like matter had like to have grown between King Richard the Second and Iohn of Gaunt his Uncle and that he had procured the Counsel fo sundry great Learned Men to this purpose but that he found the hearts of divers Noblemen of this Kingdom and especially the Citizens of London to be against him whereupon he desisted from his intended purpose and acknowledged his Nephews Right And the reason of the Common Law of England is notable in this point and may be collected out of the ancient Authors of the same Glanvile lib. 7. cap. 1. Bracton lib. 7. c. 30. and by Brittan fol. 119. For they say Whosoever is Heir to another aut est haeres jure proprietatis as the eldest Son shall inherit only before his Brothers aut jure representationis as where the eldest Son dieth in the life of his Father his Issue shall inherit before the youngest Son for though the youngest sit magis propinquus yet jure representationis the Issue of the eldest Son shall inherit for that he doth represent the person of his Father And as Bracton saith jus proprietatis which his Father had by his Birthright doth descend unto him aut jure propinquitatis ut propinqui jus excludit remotum remotus remotiorem aut jure sanguinis And yet Glanvile Lord Chief Justice under King Henry the Second seemeth to make this questionable here in England Who should be preferred the Uncle or the Nephew Also it hath been resolved for Law That the possession of the Crown purgeth all defects
Authority of Parliament made in the Eleventh of King Edward aforesaid and therefore to supply that defect in the Fifth of Edward the Third he was created Duke of Cornwall by special Charter Elizabeth eldest Daughter of King Edward the Fourth was not a Dutchess of Cornwall although she was the Firstbegotten Daughter of Edward the Fourth for the Limitation is to the First-begotten Son Henry the Eighth was not in the life of his Father King Henry the Seventh after the death of his eldest Brother Arthur Duke of Cornwall by force of the said Creation for although he was sole Heir apparent yet he was not his eldest begotten Son And the Opinion of Stamford a Learned Judge hath been That he shall have within his Dukedom of Cornwall the King's Prerogative because it is not severed from the Crown after the form as it is given for none shall be Inheritor thereof but the King 's of the Realm For example whereas by Common Law if a man hold divers Mannors or other Lands or Tenements of divers Lords all by Knights Service some part by Priority and ancient Feoffment and other Land by Posterity and a later Feoffment and the Tenant so seized dieth and his Son and Heir within Age in this case the custody and wardship of the Body and his marriage may not be divided amongst all the Lords but one of them only shall have right unto it because the Body of a man is intire And therefore the Law doth say That the Lord of whom some part of those Lands are holden by Priority and by the same Tenure of Chivalry shall have it except the King be any of the Lords for then though the Tenant did purchase that Land last yet after his death the King shall be preferred before any of the other Lords of whom the Tenant did hold the Priority And so shall the Duke of Cornwall in the same Case have the Prerogative if his Tenant die holding of him but by posterity of Feoffment for any Tenure of his Dutchy of Cornwall although the same Duke is not seized of any particular Estate whereof the Reversion remaineth in the King for the Prince is seized in Fee of his Dukedom as beforesaid Iohn of Gaunt the fourth Son of King Edward the Third took to Wife Blanch Daughter and Heir of Henry Duke of Lancaster who had Issue Henry King of England so that the said Dutchy of Lancaster did come unto the said Henry by descent from the party of his Mother and being a Subject he was to observe the Common Law of the Realm in all things concerning his Dutchy For if he would depart in Fee with any thereof he must have made Livery and Seisin or if he had made a Lease for life reserving Rent with a Re-entry for default of payment and the Rent happen to be behind the Duke might not enter without making his Demand or if he had alienated any part thereof whilst he was within Age he might defeat the Purchaser for that Cause and if he would grant a Reversion of an Estate for life or years in being there must also be Attornment or else the Grant doth not take effect But after that he had deposed King Richard the Second and did assume the Royal Estate and so had conjoyned his Natural Body in the Body Politick of the King of this Realm and so was become King then the possession of the Dutchy of Lancaster was in him as King but not as Duke which degree of Dignity was swallowed up in that of the King for the lesser must always give place to the greater And likewise the Name of the Dutchy and the Franchises Liberties and Jurisdictions thereof when in the King's Hands were by the Common Law extinct and after that time the possessions of the Dutchy of Lancaster could not pass from Henry the Fourth by Livery of Seisin but by his Letters Patents under the Great Seal without Livery of Seisin and with Attornment And if he make a Lease for Life being Duke reserving a Rent with a Re-entry for default of payment and after his Assumption of the Crown his Rent happen to be unpaid he might Re-enter without Demand for the King is not bound to such personal Ceremonies as his Subjects are Therefore to have the said Dutchy to be still a Dutchy with the Liberties to the same as it was beâ—ore and to alter the order and degree of the Lands of the Dutchy from the Crown the said King Henry the Fourth made a Charter by Authority of Parliament which is entituled Charta Regis Hen. 4. de separatione Lancastriae à corona authoritate Parliamenti Anno Regni sui primo as by the Tenor thereof may appear And so by Authority of that Parliament the said Dutchy with all the Franchises and Liberties was meerly resigned from the Crown and from the Ministers and Officers thereof and from the Order to pass by such Conveyance which the Law did require in the possessions of the Crown But now the possessions of the Dutchy by force of the said Statute stood divided from the Crown and ought to be demeaned and ordered and pass as they did before Henry the Fourth was King yet there is no Clause in the Charter which doth make the person of the King who hath the Dutchy in any other Degree than it was before But things concerning his pleasure shall be in the same estate as they were before such separation insomuch as if the Law before the Charter by Authority of Parliament adjudged the person of the King always of full Age having regard unto his Gifts as well of the Lands which he doth inherit in the right of his Crown or Body Politick it shall be so adjudged for the Dutchy Land after the said Statute for the Statute doth go and reach unto the Estate Order and Condition of the Lands of the Dutchy but doth not extend unto the person of the King who hath the Lands in points touching his person Neither doth that distinguish or alter the preheminences which the Law doth give to the person of the King For if King Henry the Fourth after the said Act had made a Lease or other Grant of parcel of the Dutchy by the Name of Henry Duke of Lancaster only it had been void for it should have been made in the Name of Henry the Fourth King of England And thus stood the Dutchy of Lancaster severed from the Crown all the Reign of Henry the Fourth Henry the Fifth and Henry the Sixth being politickly made for the upholding of the Dutchy of Lancaster their true and ancient Inheritance however the right Heir to the Crown might in future time obtain his right thereunto as it happened in King Edward the Fourth's time but after the said King Edward obtained his right unto the Crown in Parliament he attainted Henry the Sixth and appropriated and annexed the said Dutchy again to the Crown as by the Statute thereof made in the first of the King's Reign
by birth though they have no other Creation but shall not be partaker of these or other Priviledges incident to the Lords of the Parliament Thirdly Those that are Barons and of the Nobility of Scotland or Ireland if upon the like Offence committed in England they be apprehended in England they shall not have this Tryal by Peers no though they were born in England for they received their Dignity from a King of England of other Nations But if the King of England do at this day create one of his Subjects of Scotland or Ireland an Earl Viscount Baron or other Peer of this Realm or by his ordinary Writ of Summons under his Great Seal do call him to the Upper House of Parliament and assign him a place and to have Voice free amongst the Lords and Peers there assembled he shall be partaker with them in all priviledges And thus much concerning the restraint of the Priviledges in respect of the persons 39 Ed. 3. And touching the manner of proceeding it appeareth by the said Statute of Magna Charta chap. 29. That a Peer of the Realm shall be tryed by his Peers only in case where he is indicted at the King's Suit of Treason or Felony for the words of the Statute be Nec super eum ibimus c. But if any Appeal of Murther of Felony be sued by any common person against a Peer of the Realm he shall be tryed by common persons and not by his Peers And so was Fines Lord Dacres tryed in Appeal of Murther The Nobility of this Realm do enjoy this priviledge That they are not to be impannelled on any Jury or Inquest to make tryal or inquiry upon their Corporal Oaths between party and party for they may have a Writ for their Discharge to the Sheriff But it is a Rule in Law Vigilantibus non dormientibus subveniant jura For if the Sheriff have not received any such Writ and the Sheriff have returned any such Lord on Juries or in Assize c. and they thereupon do appear they shall be sworn if they do not appear they shall lose their Issues 35 Hen. 6. and in such case they must purchase a Writ out of the Chancery reciting their priviledges directed to the Justices before whom such Noble persons are so impannelled commanding to dismiss him or them that were so impannelled out of the said Pannel F.N.B. 165. This priviledge hath in two causes not been allowed or taken place 1. If the enquiry concern the King and the Common-wealth in any necessary and important degree or business of the Realm And therefore divers Barons of the Marshes of Wales were impannelled before the Bishop of Ely and other Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer to enquire of a notable outrage committed by Gilbert de Clare Earl of Glocester against Humphrey de Bohun Earl of Hereford and Essex and his Tenants in Wales in the Twelfth year of Edward the First where Iohn de Hastings Edmond de Mortimer Theobald Beardmoe and other Barons of the Marshes challenged their priviledges aforesaid and much insisted upon the same But it was afterwards answered by the Court as by the words in the Record appeareth The Barons aforesaid did persist in the Challenge and in the end both the said Earls between whom the said outrage had been perpetrated submitted themselves to the King's Grace and made their Fines Secondly This priviledge hath no place in case of necessity where the truth of the case cannot otherwise come to light for the words in the Writ in the Register are Nisi sua praesentia ob aliquam causam specialiter exigatur c. If any Nobleman do bring an Action of Debt upon Account in case where the Plaintiff is to be examined which is always intended to be upon Oath upon the truth of his cause by vertue of the Statute of the fifth of Henry the Fourth chap. 8. it shall suffice to examine his Attorney and not himself upon his Oath And this priviledge the Law hath given to the Nobility That they are not Arrested upon any Warrant of a Justice of Peace for their good behaviour or breach of Peace nor by a Supplicavit out of Chancery or from the King's Bench For such an Opinion hath the Law conceived of the peaceable disposition of Noblemen that it hath been thought enough to take their promise upon their Honour in that behalf And as in Civil Causes the like Rule doth the Court of Equity observe in Cases of Conscience for if the Defendant be a Peer of the Realm in the Star-Chamber or Court of Chancery a Subpaena shall not be awarded but a Letter from the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper in lieu thereof And if he do not appear no Attachment shall go out against him For in the Fourteenth year of Queen Elizabeth this Order and Rule was declared in the Parliament Chamber That an Attachment is not awarded by Common Law Custome or President against any Lord of Parliament And if he do appear and make his Bill of Complaint upon his Honour only he is not compelled to be sworn But by the Statute 5 Eliz. cap. 1. it is enacted That all Knights and Burgesses of Parliament shall take the Oath of Supremacy and so shall Citizens and Barons of the Cinque Ports being returned of the Parliament before they enter into the Parliament House which Oath shall be according to the tenor effect and form of the same as is set forth in the Statutue of 1 Eliz. Provided always that forasmuch as the Queens Majesty is otherwise sufficiently assured of the Faith and Loyalty of the Temporal Lords of her High Court of Parliament therefore this Act nor any thing therein contained shall not extend to compel any Temporal person of or above the Degree of a Baron of this Realm to take the said Oath nor to incur any penalty limited by the said Act for not taking the same If a Peer be sued in the Common Pleas in an Action of Debt or Trespass and Process be awarded by Capias or Exigit against him then he may sue out a Certiorari in the Chancery directed to the Justices of the Common Pleas testifying that he is a Peer of the Realm For unless the Court be certified by the King 's Writ out of the Chancery that the Defendant is a Peer of Parliament if a Capias or Exigit issue forth against him it is no Error neither is it punishable in the Sheriff his Bailiffs or Officers if they execute the said Process and arrest the body of such a Noble person for it appertaineth not to them to argue or dispute the Authority of the Court But if the Court be thereof certified as aforesaid they will award a Supersedeas which is in the Books of Entries in the Title of Error Sect. 20. And there are two Reasons or Causes wherefore no Capias or Exigit lieth against any Peer one because of the dignity of their persons and the other by intendment of Law
but afterwards the Lord upon such dislike or other cause do discharge any of them from their attendance or service the Lord in this case cannot retain other thereby to give them priviledge during the life of them so retained and discharged And the reason thereof is because the first Chaplains were lawfully retained and by virtue thereof during their lives might purchase Dispensations to have advantage according to the Statute and therefore if the discharge of their service and attendance might give liberty to the Lord to retain others by such means he might advance Chaplains without number by which the Statute might be defrauded And the said Statute must be strictly construed Non-residents Pluralities as a thing prejudicial to the service of God and the ordinary instruction of the people of God By the Statute 3 Hen. 7. cap. 4. it is enactect as followeth Forasmuch as by quarrels made to such as have been in great Authority Office and of Council with the King 's of this Realm hath ensued the destruction of the Kings and therefore the undoing of this Realm so as it hath evidently appeared when the compassing of the death of such as were of the King 's true Subjects was had the destruction of the Prince was imagined thereby and for the most part it hath grown and been occasioned by malice of the King 's own Houshold Servants and for that by the Laws of this Land if actual deeds were not there was no remedy for such false compassing imaginations and confederacies had against any Lord or any of the King's Council or great Officers in his Houshold and so great inconveniences did ensue because such ungodly demeanours were not strictly punished before that any actual deed was done for remedy whereof it was by the said Statute ordained That the Steward Treasurer or Comptroller of the King's Houshold for the time being or one of them shall have full authority to enquire by twelve discreet persons of the Check Roll of the King 's honourable Houshold if any person admitted and sworn the King's Servant and his name put in the Check Roll in any quality or degree whatsoever under the state of a Lord do make any Confederacies or Conspiracies with any person or persons to destroy or murther the King or any Lord of this Realm or any other person sworn to the King's Council Steward Treasurer or Comptroller of the King's Houshold that if it be found before the said Steward for the time being by the said twelve men that any such of the King's Servants as aforesaid hath confederated or conspired as abovesaid that he so found by the enquiry be put thereupon to answer and the Steward Treasurer or Comptroller or two of them have power to determine the said matter according to Law And if he put in trial that then he be tried by Oath of twelve discreet men of the same Houshold and that such Misdoers have no challenge but for maliace And if such Misdoers be found Guilty by confession or otherwise that the said Offence is adjudged Felony and they to have Judgment and Execution as Felons attainted ought to have by the Common Law By the Statute made in the second of King Henry the First cap. 8. Authority is given to the Sheriffs and other the King's Justices for the better suppressing of Riots to raise posse Comitatus and the same liberty doth in Common Law guide in many other cases Nevertheless the Sheriff may not by such Authority command the person of any Nobleman to attend the Service But if the Sheriff upon a Supplicavit against a Nobleman in that case do return that he is so puissant that he cannot nor dare not arrest him the Sheriff shall be grievously amerced for such his return For by the Writ under the Great Seal of England the King's Command is to all Archbishops Bishops Earls Counts and Barons and to all Leigemen of the County to be aiding unto him in that which to his Office appertaineth and therefore no person whatsoever can respit the execution of the said Writ of the King 's Also the Sheriff at his discretion may levy three hundred men if need be to aid him in that behalf The words of the great Charter of the Forest in the eleventh Chapter are as followeth To every Archbishop Bishop Earl or Baron coming to us and passing by our Forest it shall be lawful for him to take one Beast or two by the view of the Forest if he be present or else he shall cause one to blow a Horn for him that he seem not to steal our Deer Although the Statute doth speak but of Bishops Earls and Barons yet if a Duke Marquiss or Viscount which are Lords of the Parliament be coming towards the King by his command they also shall have the benefit of this Article So if the King send to any of the Lords aforesaid to come to his Parliament or send for him by Writ of Subpoena to appear in the Chancery or by Privy Seal to appear before his Council or send for him by Letters Missive or by Messenger or Serjeant at Arms in all these cases he shall have the benefit of this Statute because that they come at the King's command The same Law is if a Scire Facias go out of the Chancery or Kings Bench to a Lord of Parliament But if such Process go forth against a Lord to appear before the Justices of the Common Pleas or the Barons of the Exchequer and he cometh upon the same he shall not have the benefit of the Statute for he doth not come unto the King and the words of the Statute are Veniens ad nos And all the Process which are made out of the Chancery and King's Bench are Quod sit coram nobis and so are the Process out of the Star-Chamber Also Lords which come to visit the new King after the death of his Father though not sent for shall have the same priviledge And so that this Statute is a Warrant dormant to such Lords which also is to be understood as well of their returning homeward as of their coming to the King And note that this Statute doth extend to give Licence to kill or hunt in the King's Parks though the Letter of the Statute be Transiens per Forestam nostram The Oath of Supremacy is not imposed on the Peers of the Realm A Peer shall for his first Offence of Felony though he cannot read have the benefit of his Clergy and without burning If any person shall divulge false and scandalous Reports of any Lord of Parliament the Offender is to be imprisoned until he bring forth the Author In personal Actions the Plaintiff may pray a day of Grace but against a Lord of Parliament it shall not be allowed him It is Actionable for any to deface the Coat Armour c. of any Nobleman or Gentleman that is placed in a Church or Window Certain Cases wherein a Lord of the Parliament hath no
and is equal in power to a King as before noted She is her Husband 's Sovereign and he her Subject in England although he were an Emperor So was King Philip of Spain to Queen Mary and her Authority is included in the foregoing Chapter of Monarchy and therefore need not to be here repeated The second in Honour is the Queen Consort and the third the Queen Dowager or Queen Mother As from the benign influence of the glorious Planet the Sun all Creatures by God's decree in the order of Nature receive life and motion so from the King God's Vicegerent on earth all degrees of Nobility take their advance and dignity 'T is therefore requisite the King should as far excel his Subjects in Majesty and Splendor as doth the Sun the other Planets And as the Moon is the mirror of the Sun representing his Glory by Night so the Queen Consort the Counterpart of the Royal Majesty shines amongst us for whom and for whose Posterity the Nation is bound to send up their Prayers to God The Queen of England during the life of the King hath as high prerogatives and priviledges and liveth in as great state as any Queen in Europe She is reputed the second person in the Kingdom and the Law setteth so high a value upon her as to make it High Treason to conspire her death or to violate her Chastity She is allowed Regal Robes Ornaments and a Crown of the same form as an absolute Queen weareth and may be as formerly they were crowned with Royal Solemnity the performance of which Office properly belongeth to the Archbishop of York And although their Coronations of late have been disused yet they have as much honour and enjoy the same priviledges as if that Ceremony had been done And the manner and solemnity at the Coronation of a Queen is at large set down in most of our Chronicles and in particular in Holinshead and Stow upon the splendid Coronation of Anna Bulloign in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth to which I refer the Reader The Queen is permitted to sit in state by the King and to keep a distinct Court from the King 's although she be the Daughter of a Nobless and hath her Courtiers in every Office as hath the King though not altogether so many and hath her Yeomen of her Guard to attend her on foot and within doors and her Lifeguard of Horse for her state and security when she goeth abroad She hath her Attorney Solicitor and Counsel for the management of her Law concerns who have great respect shewed them being placed within the Barr with the King's Counsel in all Courts of Judicature Although she be an Alien and a Feme covert during the King's Life yet without any Act of Parliament for Naturalization or Letters Patents for her Denization she may purchase Lands in Feesimple make Leases in her own Name without the King hath power to give to sue and to contract Debts which by the Law is denied any other Feme Covert she may not be impleaded till first petitioned nor is the formality of fifteen days Summons to the Defendant needful if she be Plaintiff nor can she be amerced if she be Nonsuited in any Action she may present by her self to a Spiritual Benefice Anciently the Queens had a Revenue called Aurum Reginae that is the Queen's Gold which was the tenth part of what came to the King by the name of Oblata upon Pardons Gifts c. but of late they keep to their Dowry viz. Forty thousand pounds per Annum besides fines upon the renewing of Leases which said Dowry is as large as any Queens in Christendome The like honour and respect that is due to the King is exhibited to the Queen as well by Foreigners as by the King's Subjects as is also to the Queen Dowager who looseth not her Dignity or Reverence although she should marry a private Gentleman as did Queen Kathâ—rine Widow to King Henry the Fifth who after she was married to Owen Teudor Esquire maintained her Action at Law as Queen of England The present Queen Consort is the thrice Illustrious Donna Katherina Infanta Portuguesa whose vertue and true piety ought to be taken notice of in all Histories â—or succeeding Queens to trace her Noble footsteps whom God preserve The Queen Dowager takes place next to the Queen Consort and in the absence of the King her Son or in his minority is sometimes made Queen Regent or Protectress but this trust is usually by the King 's own command or at the request of the three States assembled in Parliament to prevent the danger of an usurpation of the Crown the like trust is sometimes imposed upon the Queen Consort in her Husband's absence as by King Henry the Eighth twice during his Wars in France Note That during the minority of the King of England whatsoever Laws are enacted in Parliament under a Queen Regent or a Protectress are no longer binding than till the King attains to full age after which he may revoke and make void by his Letters Patents under the Great Seal The Daughters of the Kings of England are all styled Princeâ—â—es The eldest is called the Princess Royal and hath an aid or certain rate of money paid by every Tenant in Capite Knights Service and Soccage towards her marriage Portion as was levied by K. Iames when he married the Princess Elizabeth and to violate her Chaâ—â—ity is by the Law adjudged High Treason Of Noble VVomen WOmen in England according to their Husbands Qualities are either Honourable and Noble or Ignoble Their Honourable Dignities are Princesses Dutchesses Marchionesses Countesses Viscountesses and Baronesses The Nobless as the French call them are all Knights Ladies who in all writings are styled Dames all Esquires and Gentlemens wives only Gentlewomen The third sort comprehends the Plebeans and are commonly called Goodwives Noble women are so by Creation Descent or Marriage Of women honourable by Creation are divers Examples of which the first as I remember that we read of was Margaret Countess of Norfolk created by Richard the Second Dutchess of Norfolk And many of them had their Honours granted by Patents to themselves and the Heirs Males of their Bodies to be begotten with special Clauses that their Heirs Male shall have voices in Parliament Creation money their Mothers Titles as if a Dutchess he a Duke and if a Countess he an Earl with the Ceremony of Mantle Surcoat Coronet c. The like Grant was to Anna Bulloign when she was created Marchioness of Pembroke by Henry the Eighth Of a later date was the Lady Finch made Countess of Winchelsey who had all the said priviledges granted to her and her Heirs Male The Dutchess of Buckingham also in the time of King Iames. And in our Age we have divers Noble Ladies advanced to degrees of Honour viz. the Countess of Guilford Groom of the Stool to the Queen Mother and a faithful Servant to her in her banishment being
Heraldry written by Iohn Guillim about fol. 18. That Sisters are allowed no differences of Badges in their Coat-Armour by reason that by them the name of the House cannot be preserved but are admitted to the Inheritance equally and are adjudged but one Heir to all intents and purposes whatsoever And the knowledge of this point in these days is worthy to be enquired into for this is to be observed out of Presidents and to be acknowledged of every dutiful Subject that the King can advance to Honour whom he pleaseth And therefore whereas Radulph Cromwell being a Baron by Writ died without Issue having two Sisters and Coheirs Elizabeth the eldest married unto Sir Thomas Nevill Knight and Ioan the younger married to Sir Humphrey Bowcher who was called to Parliament as Lord Cromwell and not the said Sir Thomas Nevill who married the eldest Sister And Hugh Lupus the first and greatest Earl of Chester Habendum sibi haeredibus adeo libere per gladium sicut iple Rex tenuit Angliam per tenorem Hugh died without Issue and the Inheritance of his Earldom was divided amongst his four Sisters and the eldest had not the Seigniory entire unto herself If a Woman be Noble by Birth or Descent with whomsoever she doth marry although her Husband be under her Degree yet she doth remain Noble for Birth-right est Character indelebilis Other Women are enobled by Marriage and the Text saith thus viz. Women ennobled with the Honour of their Husbands and with the Kindred of their Husbands we worship them in the Court we decree matters to pass in the Names of their Husbands and into the House and Surname of their Husbands do we translate them But if afterwards a Woman do marry with a Man of a baser Degree then she loseth her former Dignity and followeth the condition of her latter Husband And concerning the second disparaged Marriage as aforesaid many other Books of the Law do agree for these be Rules conceived in those Cases Si mulier nobilis nupserit ignobili desinit esse nobilis eodem modo quo quid constituitur dissolvitur It was the Case of Ralph Howard Esq who took to Wife Anne the widow of the Lord Powes they brought an Action against the Duke of Suffolk by the Name of Ralph Howard Esq and the Lady Anne Powes his Wife and exception was taken for mis-naming of her because she ought to have been named of her Husband's Name and not otherwise and the Exception was by the Court allowed For said they by the Law of God she is Sub potestate viri and by our Law her Name of Dignity shall be changed according to the Degrees of her Husband notwithstanding the Courtesie of the Ladies of Honour and Court Dyer 79. And the like is also in Queen Maries Reign when the Dutchess of Suffolk took to her Husband Adrian Brook Title Brief 54. 6. And many other Presidents have been of later times And herewith agreeth the Civil Law Digest lib. 1. title q. lege 1. In this Case of acquired Nobility by marriage if question in Law be whereupon an Issue is taken between the Parties that is to say Dutchesses are not Dutchesses Countesses are not Countesses and Baronesses are not Baronesses the Trial whereof shall not be by Record as in the former Case but by a Jury of Twelve men and the reason of the diversity is because in this Case the Dignity is accrued unto her by her Marriage which the Lawyers term Matter in Fact and not by any Record But a Noble Woman by marriage though she take to her second Husband a man of mean Degree yet she may keep two Chaplains according to the Proviso in the Statute of 11. Hen. 8. Case 13. for and in respect of the Honour which once she had viz. at the time of the Retainer And every such Chaplain may purchase Licence and Dispensation c. And Chaplains may not be Non-residents afterwards And forasmuch as the retaining of Chaplains by Ladies of great Estate is ordinary and nevertheless some questions in Law have been concerning the true understanding of the said Statute Law I think it not impertinent to set down subsequent Resolutions of the Judges touching such matters So long as the Wife of a Duke is called Dutchess or of an Earl a Countess and have the fruition of the Honour appertaining to their Estate with kneeling tasting serving so long shall a Baron's Widow be saluted Lady as is also a Knight's Wife by the courtesie of England quamdiâ— matrimonium aut viduitas uxoris durant except she happen to clope with an Adulterer for as the Laws of this Kingdom do adjudge that a Woman shall lose her Dowry in that as unto Lands Tenements and Justice so doth the Laws of Gentry and Nobleness give Sentence against such a Woman advanced to Titles of Dignity by the Husband to be unworthy to enjoy the same when she putting her Husband out of her mind subjects her self unto another If a Lady which is married come through the Forest she shall not take any thing but a Dutchess Marchioness or Countess shall have advantage of the Statute de Charta Forest. 12 Artic. during the time that she is unmarried This is a Rule in the Civil Law Si filia Regis nubat alicui Duci vel Comiti ducetur tamen semper regalis As amongst Noble Women there is a difference of Degrees so according to their distinct Excellencies the Law doth give special priviledges as followeth By the Statute 25 Edw. 3. cap. 1. it is High Treason to compass or imagine the death of the Queen or to violate the King's Companion The King's Response is a sole person except by the Common Law and she may purchase in Feesimple or make Leases or Grants with the King she may plead and be impleaded which no other married Woman can do without her Husband All Acts of Parliament for any cause which any way may concern the Queen are such Statutes whereof the Judges ought to take Recognizances as of general Statutes though the matter doth only concern the capacity of the Queen yet it doth also concern all the Subjects of the Realm for every Subject hath interest in the King and none of his Subjects within his Laws are divided from the King who is Head and Sovereign so that his business concerns all the Realm and as the Realm hath interest in the King so and for the same Reason is the Queen being his Wife A man seized of divers Lands in Fee holden by Knight's Service some by Priority that is by ancient Feoffment holden of others and some other part holden of the King in posteriority the King granteth his Seigniory to the Queen during her life and afterwards the Tenant dieth his Son within Age in this case he shall have the Wardship of the Body and have the Prerogative even as the King himself should have had The Queen Consort or Dowager shall not be amerced if she be Nonsuited
Scotch Kings to our gracious Soveraign Charles the Second into whose Veins all those several streams of Royal Blood are conjoyned to unite those jarring Nations into one Body under a Head unto which each one may justly claim an interest God hath thus restored our ancient Government and seated our Soveraign in the Throne of his Ancestors giving him a power just and absolute as well to preserve as curb his people being not only Major singulis but Major universis and his power is super totam Rempublicam which I thus prove Either the whole power of the Commonwealth is in one or not if not then he is no absolute King or Monarch but if he be as all must yield a Monarch I ask if there be a power in the Commonwealth which is not in him Is it subordinate to his power or not If subordinate than his power is above that power and so super totam Rempublicam Major universis if it be not then there are a simul semel to Supream Civil Powers in the same individual Kingdom and Gubernation and yet divided against it self which is most absurd and impossible This in Answer to a monstrous Pamphlet which the lasciviousness of our late unhappy Wars produced which asserted Rex minor universis But the Divine Providence hath I hope put a period to all such Trayterous Tenents and concluded such Disputes by Acts of Parliament so that no person for the future shall dare to question who hath the right of making Peace or War the power of Militia by Land and Sea all strong Holds and Forts c. being the inherent right of the English Monarchs by their Prerogative Royal. The King is God's Vicegerent and ought to be obeyed accordingly If good he is a blessing if bad a judgment and then against whom we are to use no other weapons but prayers and tears for his amendment He is styled Pater Patriae Caput Reâ—publicae and because the protection of his Subjects belongs to his care and office the Militia is annext to his Crown that the Sword as well as the Scepter may be in his hand The Parliament then all Roman Catholicks in the behalf of Henry the Eighth writ to the Pope declaring that his Royal Majesty is the Head and the very Soul of us all his 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 Camden in his Britannia fol. 100. calls the King the most excellent part of the Commonwealth next unto God He is under no Vassuage he takes his Investure from no man Rex non habet Superiorem nisi Deum satìs habet ad poenam quod Deum expectat ultorem In England France Spain c. Kings are styled Dei Gratia c. and as the French King is said to be Rex Francorum Christianissimus the most Christian King of France The King of Spain the most Catholick The Emperour the Defender of the Church So the Kings of England by a Bull from Pope Leo the Tenth sent to King Henry the Eighth for a Book of Controversie written by him against Luther have the Title of Defenders of the Faith and by Act of Parliament he is declared Supream Head of the Church of England It is the manner also for Kings to write in the plural Number which is God's own style Mandamus Volumus c. and in the Scripture we find them called Gods in which sense they may be styled Divi or Dii quia Dei Vicarii Dei voce judicant Our Lawyers also say Rex est persona mixta cum Sacerdote habet Ecclesiasticam Spiritualem Iurisdictionem This shews the King's power in Ecclesiastical Causes being anoynted with Oyl as the Priests and afterwards the Kings of Israel were which signifies his person to be both Sacred and Spiritual And therefore at the Coronation hath put upon him a Priest's Garment called the Dalmatica or Colobium and other such Vests And before the Reformation the King as a Spiritual person received the Sacrament in both kinds He is capable of holding Tithes all Extra-Parochial Tithes some Proxies and other Spiritual profits belong to the King The Ceremonies at the Coronation of the King are many and with us in England more than in many other Countries As the Anoynting with Oyl which is proved by Mr. Selden to be of above one thousand years standing the Crown set upon his Head with many Religious Ceremonies besides the Ensigns of Regality which are a Ring to signiâ—ie his Faitâ—fulnes a Bracelet for Good Works a Scepter for Justice a Sword for Vengeance Purple Robes to attract Reverence and a Diadem triumphant to blazon his Glory It was the saying of Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury Inunguntur Reges in Capiâ—e etiam pectâ—re brachâ—is quod significat gloriam sanctitatem forâ—â—nâ— inâ—â—n King's are Anoynted on the Head to signiâ—â—e their Glory on the Breast to Emblematize their Sanctity and on their Arms to declare their power He is crowned with an Imperial Crown the Crown set on his Head by the Arch-bishop of Canterbury a prerogative belonging to that See as it is in Spain to Toledo in France to Rheims and in Sueden to Vpsalia But this Imperial Crown hath not been long in use amongst us though our Kings have had Imperial Commands as over Scotland Ireland Man and other Isles being in a manner like that of an Earls now Neither is it found that any such thing as a Diadem was at all in use until the tune of Constantine the Great For before the distinction was some kind of Chaplet or rather a white silk Fillet about the Head which was an ordinary way to distinguish them And we read that Alexander the Great took off his white Diadem to cure the madness of Seleucus The first King that was crowned with this Imperial Crown floried and arched was Henry the Third but some say Henry the First and indeed it is left in dispute However it is very probable and plain That the ancientest Ensign of Regal Authority was the Scepter which is every where spoken of both in Scripture and Prophane History There is another Ensign of their Authority which is a Globe or Mound with a Cross which hath been in use amongst us ever since Edward the Confessor's time which is placed in the left hand as is seen in most of their Coyns The Cross denoting his Faith the Globe his Empire by Sea and Land as 't is said of Iustinian the Emperor who was the first that ever used it The Office of the King of England according to Fortescue Pugnare bella populi sui eos rectissime judicare to fight the Battels of his people and to see Right and Justice done unto them or more particularly as is promised at the Coronation to preserve the Rights and Priviledges of Holy Church the Royal Prerogatives belonging to the Crown the Laws and Customs of the
time but by a Statute made the Twelfth of Edward the First Wales was incorporated and united to England and became part thereof Also by another Statute made 27 Hen. 8. c. 24. a general resumption of many Liberties and Franchises heretofore granted or taken from the Crown as the Authority to pardon Treasons Murder Manslaughter and Felony also power to make Justices in Oyer Justices of Assize Justices of the Peace Goal deliveries and such like so that from thenceforth the King 's eldest Son hath only the Name and Style of Prince of Wales but no other Jurisdiction than at the King's pleasure is permitted and granted him by his Letters Patents as by the tenor thereof here following made by King Henry the Eighth to Edward his Son and Heir apparent may appear HENRY by the Grace of God King of England and of France Lord of Ireland c. To all Archbishops Bishops Abbots Priors Dukes Earls Barons Iustices Viscounts Governors Ministers and to all our Bayliffs and faithful Subjects Greeting Out of the Excellency of Royal Preheminence like leaves from the Sun so do inferior humours proceed neither doth the integrity of Royal Lustre and Brightness by the natural disposition of the Light affording Light feel any loss or detriment by such borrowed Lights yea the Royal Scepter is also much the more extolled and the Royal Throne exalted by how much the more Nobleness Preheminencies and Honours are under the power and command thereof And this worthy Consideration allureth and induceth us with desire to increase the Name and Honour of our Firstbegotten and best Beloved Son Edward in whom we behold and see our self to be honoured and our Royal House also and our people subject to us hoping by the grace of God by conjecture taken of his gracious future proceedings to be the more honourably strengthened that we may with honour prevent and with abundant grace prosecute him who in reputation of us is deemed the same with us Wherefore by the counsel and consent of the Prelates Dukes Earls Viscounts and Barons of our Kingdom being in our present Parliament We have made and created and by these Presents do make and create him the said Edward Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester And unto the same Edward do give and grant and by this Charter have confirmed the Name Style Title State Dignity and Honour of the said Principality and Connty that he may therein in Governing Rule and in Ruling direct and defend we say by a Garland upon his Head by a Ring of Gold upon his Finger and a Verge of Gold have according to the manner invested him to have and to hold to him and his Heirs the Kings of England for ever Wherefore we will and command for us and our Heirs that Edward our Son aforesaid shall have the Name Style Title State Dignity and Honour of the Principality of Wales and of the County of Chester aforesaid unto him and his Heirs the Kings of England for ever These being Witnesses the Reverend Father John Cardinal and Archbishop of Canterbury Primate of England our Chancellor and William Archbishop of York Primate of England Thomas Bishop of London John Bishop of Lincoln William Bishop of Norwich our most well beloved Cosins Richard Earl of Warwick Richard Earl of Salisbury John Earl of Wiltshire and our well beloved and faithful Ralph Cromwel Chamberlain of our House William Falconbridge and John Stourton Knights Dated at our Palace at Westminster the 15th day of March and in the year of our Reign 32. And here by the way may be observed That in ancient time and in the time of the English-Saxon Kings the use was as well in pennings of the Acts of Parliament as of the King's Letters Patents when any Lands Franchises or Hereditaments did pass from the King of any Estate of Inheritance as also in the Creations of any man unto Honour and Dignity the Conclusion was with the sign of the Cross in form aforesaid his testibus c. But long since that form hath been discontinued so that at this day and many years past the King's Patents for Lands Franchises and Hereditaments do conclude with Teste me ipso Nevertheless in all Creations of Honour and Dignity of Letters Patents the ancient form of concluding His testibus is used at this day And it hath been resolved by the Judges of all Acts of Parliament and Statutes which do concern the Prince who is the Firstbegotten Son of the King and Heir apparent to the Crown for the time being perpetuis futuris temporibus be such Acts whereof the Judges and all the Realm must take Cognizance as of General Statutes For every Subject hath interest in the King and none of his Subjects who are within his Laws be divided from him being he is Head and Sovereign so that the business and things of the King do concern all the Realm and namely when it doth concern the Prince the Firstbegotten Son of the King and Heir apparent to the Crown Although the Prince by express words hath no priviledge by the Great Charter of the Forestâ— 9 Hen. 3. cap. 11. for hunting in the King's Forests or Parks passing by them and sent for by the King's Command yet the Prince is to take the benefit and advantage thereby as well as the Earls Bishops or Barons who are expressed Crompton's Courts des Iustices de Forest 167. In the Parliament 31 Hen. 8. cap. 10. an Act concerning the placing of King's Children and Lords in the Parliament and other Assemblies was amongst other things made as followeth That no person or persons of what degree estate or condition soever his or they be of except only the King's Children shall at any time hereafter attempt to sit or have place on any side of the Cloth of Estate in the Parliament Chamber whether his Majesty be there personally present or absent The Prince shall not find Pledges for the prosecution of any Action and therefore shall not be amerced no more than the King or Queen should be The Prince is a distinct person from the King he is a Subject and holdeth his Principalities and Seigniories of the King and subject to the Law of the Land as a Subject And in token of the Prince's subjection he doth not upon his Posie in his Arms disdain the old Saxon words Ich Dieu I serve And there is a Case that Glascoine Chief Justice of England in the time of Henry the Fourth did commit the Prince who would have taken a Prisoner from their Bar in the King's Bench And the Prince did humbly submit himself and go at his Command And this did much rejoyce the King to see that he had a Judge so bold to administer Justice upon his Son and that he had a Son so gracious as to obey his Laws The Exercises befitting Princes whilst they are young are Chivalry and Feats of Arms and to adjoyn therewith the knowledge of the Law and God For it is the Duty and
Office of a King to fight the Battels of his people and rightly to judge them 1 Kings 8. And the Prophet David saith Be ye learned you that judge the Earth Whereto if they also would endeavour to have knowledge in the Principles and Grounds of the Laws of their own Country which they in due time inherit they shall be much the more enabled to govern their Subjects and it is a point of Wisdom in such to acknowledge that Rex datur propter Regnum non Regnum propter Regem And to move the Princes to these things there is an excellent Book Dialogue-wise between a Prince a King's Son of this Realm and Sir Iohn Fortescue a Judge entituled De laudibus Legum Angliae Many that have been Heirs apparent to the Crown of England ever since the Norman Conquest have been taken away either by their natural deaths or by violence during the life of their Ancestors so that they have not attained to the Crown William the only Son of Henry the First was drowned in his passage from Normandy his Father reigning Eustace King Stephen's only Son died mad to the great grief of the King his Father William the eldest Son of King Henry the Second died in the Fourth year of his Age and in the Third year of his Fathers Reign King Henry the Second's Son called Curt-Mantel was in his Father's life time crowned King by the Name of King Henry the younger but died in the life time of his Father Geffrey the fourth Son of the said King died during the Reign of Richard Coeur de Leon his third Brother which King Richard had no Son and so Geffrey was Heir apparent to the Crown King Edward the First had Issue Iohn Henry and Alphons but all three died in their Childhood in their Father's life Edward the Black Prince of famous memory eldest Son to King Edward the Third died before his Father Richard the Third had Issue only one Son named Edward who died without Issue Arthur the eldest Son and Heir apparent to King Henry the Seventh died in the life time of his Father Henry Prince of Wales eldest Son to King Iames also left the World before his Father These Examples may serve as a Mirror for all succeeding Princes and others to see how transitory the Glory of this World is whereof the saying of the Princely Prophet David may never be out of remembrance Psal. 82. I have said ye are Gods and ye are all the Children of the most High but ye shall die like men and ye Princes like others Also divers other Heirs apparent and those that have been in possession of their Crowns have been defeated by Usurpers And namely Robert Duke of Normandy eldest Son to William the Conqueror was defeated of his Birth-right by his two younger Brethren William Rufus and Henry successively one after another and after Six and twenty years Imprisonment having both his Eyes put out died in the Reign of his Brother Henry Maud the sole Daughter of the said King Henry was defeated of her Birth-right to the Crown by Stephen the Son of her Fathers Sister Arthur the only Son and Heir of Geffrey the fourth Son to Henry the Second was next Heir to the Crown after the death of his Uncle Richard the first King of that Name who died without Issue his Father being dead before but his Uncle Iohn Son to the said Henry the Second defeated him not only of his right to the Kingdom but also of his Life and that by starving him King Edward the Second was deposed by his eldest Son who in the life time of his Father took upon him to be the King of England Richard the only Son to Edward the black Prince and next Heir to the Crown after the death of his Grandfather King Edward the Third was defeated both of his Crown and Life by Henry of Lancaster Son to Iohn of Gaunt who was but the fourth Son of King Edward the Third yea although Lionel the third Son of the said King Edward had Issue Philip his only Daughter who by consequence was next to the Crown before the Issue of Iohn of Gaunt which Philip was married to Edward Mortimer Earl of March from whom the House of York by the name of Edward the Fourth are lineally descended For William of Hatfield second Son to King Edward the Third died young without Issue King Henry the Sixth having but one Son named Edward he was slain in the life time of his Father and the King himself deposed by Edward the Fourth and murthered in the Tower So the Act of Parliament made between them for an indented Peace exemplified in our Books of Law Edward and Richard the two only Sons to Edward the Fourth after the descent of the Crown and before the Coronation of Prince Edward were both of them murthered in the Tower by their Uncle Richard Duke of Glocester who thereupon took upon him the Crown although there were remaining alive divers Daughters of the late King Edward the Fourth During these troublesome and tragical times each of the Kings prevailing attainted the other their Adversary of High Treason by Act of Parliament intending utterly to disable them and make them to be incapable by the Law of the Crown And it is a matter worthy of Observation how the Hand of God did not forget to pursue Revenge in these Cases for William Rufus died without Issue Henry his Brother had a Son and one Daughter but his Son died an Infant and his only Daughter Maud was defeated of her Birthright by Stephen King Iohn who defeated Arthur his Nephew of his Birthright and Life lived in continual Wars never enjoyed Peace but was driven to submit himself and subject his Kingdom to the Pope In his time Normandy which King William the First brought with him and which in five Descents continued in actual Obedience of the Kings of England was in the sixth year of his Reign lost until King Henry the Fifth recovered it again and left it to King Henry the Sixth who again lost it in the Eight and twentieth year of his Reign as doth appear both in our Chronicles and in our Books of Law Concerning the violence done to King Henry the Second albeit Edward his Son enjoyed a long and prosperous Reign yet his Successor King Richard was in the like violent manner imprisoned deprived and put to death King Henry the Fourth by whom King Richard was deposed did exercise the chiefest Acts of his Reign in executing those who conspired with him against King Richard His Son had his Vertue well seconded by Felicity during whose Reign by the means of Wars in France the humour against him was otherwise imployed But his next Successor King Henry the Sixth was in the very like manner deprived and together with his young Son Edward imprisoned and put to death by King Edward the Fourth This Eward died not without suspicion of poyson and after his death his two Sons were likewise
Hen. 1. fol. 3. and so doth Vlpian the Civilian determine And this is one of the three Reasons alledged wherefore by the policy of our Law the King is a Body Politick thereby to avoid the attainder of him that had right to the Crown Coke's seventh part 12. a. lest in the interim there should be an interregnum which the Law will not suffer because of the manifold Incumbrances thereof For it hath been clearly resolved by all the Judges of the Land That presently by the descent of the Crown the next Heir is compleatly and absolutely King without any essential Ceremony or Act to be done ex postfacto And that Coronation is but a Royal Ornament and outward Solemnization of the Descent And this appeareth evidently by abundance of Presidents and Book-Cases Let us take one or two Examples in a Case so clear for all King Henry the Sixth was not crowned till the Eighth year of his Reign and yet divers men before his Coronation were attainted of Treason Felony and the like Crimes and he was as absolute and compleat a King for matters of Judicature Grants c. before his Coronation as he was after Queen Mary reigned three moneths before she was crowned in which space the Duke of Northumberland and others were condemned and executed for Treason which they had committed before she was Queen And upon this reason there is a Maxim in the Common Law Rex nunquam moritur in respect of his ever living and never dying politique capacity In France also the same Custome hath been observed and for more assurance it was expresly enacted under Charles the Fifth That after the death of any King his eldest Son should immediately succeed for which cause the Parliament Court of Paris doth accompany the Funeral Obsequies of those that have been their Kings not in mourning attire but in Scarlet the true Ensign of the never dying Majesty of the Crown Nevertheless certain Cities in France not long since alledged for themselves that because they had not reputed Henry the Fourth for their King and professed Allegiance unto him they were not to be adjudged Rebels Whereupon the chief Lawyers of our Age did resolve That forasmuch as they were original Subjects even Subjects by Birth they were Rebels in bearing Arms against their King although they had never professed Allegiance unto him To conclude this Chapter I shall give you a View of the Ceremonies of the Creation of Henry Prince of Wales which began on the Thirtieth of May 1610. as followeth The Prince accompanied with divers young Noblemen together with his own Servants rode from his Court at St. Iames's to Richmond where he reposed that night on the next day the Lord Mayor Aldermen with the several Companies in their Barges attended his Highness about Barn Elmes where he was entertained with a Banquet and in other places with Speeches by a Neptune upon a Dolphin and a Sea Goddess upon a Whale c. His Highness landing at Whitehall was received by the Officers of his Majesties Houshold according to order viz. by the Knight Marshal and the Serjeant Porter In the Hall by the Treasurer and Comptroller of the Houshold in the great Chamber by the Captain of the Guard and in the presence Chamber by the Lord Chamberlain from whence he went into the Privy Chamber where the King and Queen met him the Saturday after was taken up with the usual Ceremonies of making Knights of the Bath to attend his Highness at his Creation which were Five and twenty in number Upon Monday following these Knights of the Bath met in the Queens Closet where they put on long Purple Satten Robes lined with white Taffata and a Hood like a Batchelor of Law about their Necks and in a Barge prepared for them went before the Prince to Westminster Palace where his Highness landed and proceeded to his Creation thus First the Heralds Next the Knights of the Bath Then the Lords that were imployed in several Services Garter King at Arms bearing the Letters Patents The Earl of Sussex the Robes of Purple Velvet The Earl of Huntington the Train The Earl of Cumberland the Sword The Earl of Rutland the Ring The Earl of Derby the Rod. The Earl of Shrewsbury the Cap and Coronet The Earl of Nottingham and Privy Seal supported his Highness being in his Surcoat only and bareheaded to the Parliament Chamber The King was already set with all the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in their Robes of State all the Knights and Burgesses of the lower House present as also the Foreign Ambassadors the great Ladies of the Realm and the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London seated upon Scaffolds The Procession entring in manner aforesaid made three several low Reverencies to his Majesty and when they came to the Throne Garter King at Arms kist the Letters Patents and gave them to the Lord Chamberlain who presented them to the King who delivered them to the Earl of Salisbury Principal Secretary of State who read them the Prince kneeling all the while before the King and at the words accustomed the King put on the Robe the Sword the Cap and Coronet the Rod and the Ring The Patent being read the King kist him on the Cheek and the Earl Marshal with the Lord Chamberlain placed him in his Parliament Seat viz. on the left hand of the King which Ceremony being ended they returned to the Palace Bridge in manner as followeth First the Masters of the Chancery the King's Council and others then the Officers of Arms the Knights of the Bath next twenty Trumpets before them then the Judges and after them all the Members of Parliament in order the Barons Viscounts Earls and Marquisses having Coronets on their Heads then Norroy and Clarenceaux King at Arms going next before the Lord Treasurer and the Lord Chancellor then Garter next before the Sword and then the Prince and King They took Barge at the Palace Stairs and landed at Whitehall Bridge where the Officers at Arms the Members of Parliament and the Lords being first landed attended the King and Prince and went before into the Hall and so into his Majestie 's Presence Chamber whence the Prince descended again into the Hall to Dinner himself seated at the upper end of a Table accompanied with the Lords that attended him at his Creation who sate on both sides of the Table with him At another Table on the left hand sate the Knights of the Bath in their Robes along one side attended by the King's Servants At the second Course Garter with the Heralds came to the Prince's Table and after due reverence proclaimed the King's Style with three Largesses viz. King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. And then proclaimed the Prince's Titles viz. Prince of Wales Duke of Cornwall and Rothsay Earl of Rothsay Earl of Chester and Knight of the Garter with two Largesses Then with Feasting Masques and all sort of Courtly Gallantry that joyful
of Nature which he hath vouchsafed unto us because in truth in the Succession of Children a mortal man is made as it were immortal neither unto any mortal men at leastwise unto Princes not acknowledging Superiors can any thing happen in worldly causes more happy and acceptable than that their Children should become notable in all vertuous Goodness Manners and Increase of Dignity so as they which excel other men in Nobleness and Dignity endowments of Nature might not be thought of others to be exceeded Hence it is that we that great goodness of God which is shewed unto us in our felicity not to pass in silence or to be thought not to satisfie the Law of Nature whereby we are chiefly provoked to be well affected and liberal to those in whom we behold our Blood to begin to flourish coveting with great and fatherly affection that the perpetual memory of our Blood with Honour and increase of Dignity and all praise may be affected our well beloved Son Charles Duke of Albony Marquis of Ormond Count of Ross and Lord of Ardmannoth our second begotten Son in whom the Regal form and beauty worthy Honour and other gifts of Vertue do now in the best hopes shine in his tender years We erect create make and ordain and to him the Name Style State Title and Dignity and Authority and Honour of the Duke of York do give to him that Name with the Honour to the same belonging and annexed by the girding of the Sword Cap and Cirtlet of Gold put upon his Head and the delivery of a Golden Verge we do really invest To have and to hold the same Name Style State Dignity Authority and Honour of the Duke of York unto the aforesaid Charles our second begotten Son and to the Heirs male of his Body lawfully begotten for ever And that the aforesaid Charles our second begotten Son according to the decency and state of the said Name of Duke of York may more honourably carry himself we have given and granted and by this our present Charter we confirm for us and our Heirs unto the aforesaid Duke and his Heirs for ever out of Farms Issues Profits and other Commodities whatsoever coming out of the County of York by the hands of the Sheriff of the said County for the time being at the times of Easter and Michaelmas by even portions For that express mention of other Gifts and Grants by us unto the said Duke before time made in these Presents doth not appear notwithstanding these being Witnesses The most excellent and most beloved Henry our Firstbegotten Son Ulrick Duke of Hellet Brother of the Queen our beloved Wife and the Reverend Father in Christ Richard Archbishop of Canterbury Primate and Metropolitan of all England and also our beloved and faithful Counsellor Thomas Lord Elsmere our Chancellor of England Thomas Earl of Suffolk Chamberlain of our Houshold and our dear Cosin Thomas Earl of Arundel our welbeloved Cosins and Counsellors Henry Earl of Northumberland Edward Earl of Worcester Master of our Horse George Earl of Cumberland and also our welbeloved Cosins Henry Earl of Southampton William Earl of Pembroke and also our welbeloved Cosins and Counsellors Charles Earl of Devonshire Master of our Ordinance Henry Earl of Northampton Warden of the Cinque Ports John Earl of Warwick Robert Viscount Cranborne our Principal Secretary and our well-beloved and faithful Counsellor Edward Lord Zouch President of our Council within the Principality and Marches of Wales and also our welbeloved and trusty Robert Lord Willoughby of Eresby William Lord Mounteagle Gray Lord Chandois William Lord Compton Francis Lord Norris Robert Lord Sidney our welbeloved and faithful Counsellor William Lord Knowles Treasurer of our Houshold and our welbeloved and faithful Counsellor George Dunbar Lord of Barwick Chancellor of our Exchequer Edward Bruce of Kinloss Master of the Rolls of our Chancery and also our welbeloved and faithful Thomas Eareskine of Birketon Captain of our Guard James Lord Barmermoth and others Given by our Hand at our Palace at Westminster in the Second year of our Reign of England c. King Edward the Third in the third year of his Reign by his Charter in Parliament and by Authority of Parliament did create Edward his eldest Son called the black Prince Duke of Cornwal not only in Title but cum feodo with the Dutchy of Cornwal as by the Letters Patents may appear in Coke's Eighth Part in the Pleadings Habendum tenendum eidem Duci ipsius haeredum suorum Regum Angliae filiis Primogenitis dicti loci Ducibus in Regno Angliae ei haereditarie successuris So that he who is hereditable must be Heir apparent to the King of England and of such a King who is Heir to the said Prince Edward and such a one shall inherit the said Dukedom which manner of limitation of Estate was short and excellent varying from the ordinary Rules of the Common Law touching the framing of any Estate of Inheritance in Fee-simple or Fee-tayl and nevertheless by the Authority of Parliament a special Fee-simple is in that case only made as by Judgment may appear in the Book aforesaid fol. 27. and 27 Ed. 3.41 b. And ever since that Creation the said Dukedom of Cornwall hath been the peculiar Inheritance of the King 's eldest Son during the life of the King his Father so that he is ever Dux natus non creatus and the Duke at the very time of his Birth is taken to be of full and perfect Age so that he may send that day for his Livery of the said Dukedom And the said black Prince was the first Duke of England after the Conquest For though Bracton who made his Book in the Reign of King Henry the Third saith sunt sub rege Duces as appeareth that place is to be understood of the ancient Kings before the Conquest For in Magna Charta which was made in the Ninth of King Henry the Third we find not the name Duke amongst the Peers and Nobles there mentioned for seeing the Norman Kings themselves were Dukes of Normandy for a great while they adorned none with this Honour And the eldest Son of every King after his Creation was Duke of Cornwall as for example Henry of Monmouth eldest Son of King Henry the Fourth Henry of Windsor eldest Son of King Henry the Fifth Edward of Westminster eldest Son of King Edward the Fourth Arthur of Winchester eldest son of King Henry the Seventh and Edward of Hampton first Son of King Henry the Eighth But Richard of Burdeaux who was the first Son of Edward the black Prince was not Duke of Cornwall by force of the said Creation For albeit after the death of his Father he was Heir apparent to the Crown yet because he was not the Firstbegotten Son of a King for his Father died in the life of King Edward the Third the said Richard was not within the limitation of the Grant and Creation by
Forty years in which time he created eight Barons and had Iura Regalia within the County Of Earls not Palatine which is as ancient as the Conquest there have been principally two kinds but either of them subdivided into several Branches for they either take name of a place or hold their Title without any place Those that take their Name of a place are of two kinds for either the place is the County as the Earl of Devonshire Kent Middlesex or the like or else some Town Castle or Honour as the Earldom of Richmond in Yorkshire Clarence in Suffolk Arundel in Suffex Bathe and Bridgwater in Somersetshire and so forth And those Earldoms which have their Titles without any place are likewise of two kinds either in respect of Office or by Birth By Office as the Earl-Marshal of England called in Latin Comes Marascallus Angliae and is an Office not only of great power being in the Vacancy of the Lord High Constable of England the King's Lieutenant General in all Marshal Affairs but of as great Honour taking place of all Earls except the Lord Great Chamberlain of England and is likewise endowed with many honourable priviledges This Title of Earl-Marshal was by K. Richard the Second first given to Thomas Mowbray Earl of Nottingham whereas before they were simply styled Marshals and after the Banishment of Mowbray he granted it to Thomas Holland Duke of Surrey and that he should carry a Rod or Verge of Gold enammeled black at both ends whereas before they used one of Wood This Office is now by his present Majesty restored to the ancient Family of the Howards Hereditary for ever and is enjoyed by the Right Honourable Henry Howard Earl of Norwich Baron Howard of Castle-Rising in Norfolk and Heir apparent to his Grace the Duke of Norfolk The other sort of Earls are by Birth and so are all the Sons of the Kings of England if they have no other Dignity bestowed upon them And therefore it was said that Iohn afterwards King of England in the life time of his Father Henry the Second was Comites sans terre Earls as other Degrees of Nobility are Offices of great Trust being created by Patent for two principal purposes one ad consulendum Regi in tempore pacis the other ad defendendum Regem Patriam in tempore belli And therefore Antiquity hath given them two Ensigns to resemble both the said Duties For first the Head is adorned with a Cap of Honour and a Coronet of Gold which for distinction is pyramidal pointed and pearled between each pyramid a Flower much shorter thâ—n the pyramid And the Body is adorned with Robes viz. a Hood Surcoat and Mantle of State with three guards of Fur upon the Shoulders which Robe is an emblem of Counsel and they are begirt with a Sword in resemblance of that they must be faithful and true to defend their Prince and Country An Earl had formerly the Title of Prince but now it is Most Potent and Noble Lord as also The Right Honourable and truly Noble Out of his Superiors presence he may have a Cloth of Estate fringed without pendants and his Countess may have her Train born up by an Esquire's Wife But to the King 's high Council of Parliament no man ought to presume to come before he hath received the King 's Writ of Summons This Constitution was first made by King Henry the Third after the Barons War was appeas'd and by King Edward the Third and his Successors it hath been carefully observed The form of a Writ of Summons to an Earl is as followeth REX c. Vnto his welbeloved Cosin John Earl of Greeting Because by the advice and assent of our Council for certain weighty and urgent businesses concerning us the state and defence of our Kingdom and Church we have ordained to be holden a certain Parliament at our City of Westminster the day of next coming and there together with you and with the Prelates and Great and Noble Men of our said Kingdom to have confidence and treaty commanding and firmly injoyning you upon your Faith and Allegiance whereby you are holden unto us that the dangers and perils imminent of that business considered and all Excuses set apart you be present at the said day in the same place with us and with the Prelates and Noblemen aforesaid to treat and give counsel upon the aforesaid business and hereof fail not as you tender our honour and the safegard and defence of our Kingdom and Church aforesaid Witness our self at Westminster the day of in the year of our Reign In this Writ an Earl is saluted by the Kâ—ng by the Name of Cosin although no Kin and the Writ of Summons to him or any other Peer is particularly directed to himself and not unto the Sheriff of the Country as the general Summons are to Knights and Burgesses of Parliament After a man is created an Earl Viscount or any other Title of Honour above his Title it is become parcel of his Name and not an addition only but in all legal Proceedings he ought to be styled by that his Dignity In the first of King Edward the Third fol. 151. a Writ of Formedon was brought against Richard Son of Alleyn late Earl of Arundel and did demand the Mannor of C. with the Appurtenances c. The Tenant by his Learned Counsel did plead that he was Earl of Arundel and was at the day of the Writ purchased and demanded Judgment of the Writ because he was not named in the Writ according to his Dignity and Title of Honour To which the Demandant saith That at that time when he did purchase the Writ the Tenant was not known nor taken to be an Earl and it is severe Justice if the Writ shall abate without any default in the Plaintiff nevertheless because the truth of the matter was so that the Earldom did descend unto him before the Plaintiff had commenced his Action and purchased his Writ against him therefore by Judgment his Writ was abated although the Tenant was not at that time known to be an Earl But if a Baron be Plaintiff or Defendant it is not of necessity to name him Baron 8 Hen. 6. 10. yet see a distinction of Barons concerning this matter here following And so Reginald Gray was reputed Esquire after the Earldom descended unto him till at last it was published and declared by the Queen and the Heralds that he was Earl of Kent in Right and by Descent although he was not reputed or named Earl before that time But an addition may be used or omitted at pleasure except in special Cases where Processes of style of Supremum Caput Ecclesiae Anglicanae which by Act of Parliament in the 26 th of Hen. 8. cap. 1. and in the 35 th of Hen. 8. cap. 3. was annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm It is no part of the King's style so that it may be omitted in the Summons of Parliament
of the most noble order of the Garter c â— The Right Reverend Father in God Henry Compton by Divine permission Lord Bishop of London Deane of his matys Chappel and one of the Lords of his most honble privy Councell brother to the Rt. honble Iames Earle of Northampton The Right Reverend Father in God Nathaniel Crew by divine permission Lord Bishop of Durham Clerk of the Closetâ— to his Maty and one of the Lords of his most honble privy Councell son to the Rt. honble Iohn Ld. Crew Baron of Steane The Right Reverend Father in God Iohn Pearson by Divine permission Lord Bishop of Chester The Right Reverend Father in God Peter Gunning by Divine permission Lord Bishop of Ely OF THE Lords Spiritual CHAP. VIII ACCORDING to the Laws and Customes of this Realm many are the Ecclesiastical Dignities and Priviledges belonging to the Bishops and Clergymen who in all succeeding Ages have been reverenced with the greatest observance imaginable as being acknowleded by all good Christians to be those Messengers sent and particularly appointed by God to take care of our Souls The Subjects of England are either Clergy or Laymen both which are subdivided into Nobility and Commons Thus we find in our Parliament the Lords Spiritual and Temporal make the Upper House the Commons Spiritual viz. the Clergy elected to sit in Convocation who once had place and suffrage in the Lower House of Parliament and the Commons Temporal viz. the Knights and Burgesses make the Commons Most evident it is by the Consent of all the Councils Fathers Histories and Universal Tradition That for the first Fifteen hundred years continuance of Christianity there is no Example to be found of any Church governed by any Authority Ecclesiastick but that of Episcopacy they were ordained by the Apostles themselves to be their Successors in Christ's Church to have a vigilant eye over the Pastors and Teachers under them as to their Lives and Doctrine for the preservation of Truth and Peace the prevention of Scandal suppression of Heresie and Schism and to have a care of their Flock to bring them to Salvation 'T is not therefore without reason that in all times they have been the first of the two Divisions of the people the Clergy and Laity and as Spiritual Barons take place of Temporal they take their name from the Saxon word Biscoep a Super-intendent or Overseer They are three ways Barons of the Realm viz. by Writ Patent and Consecration They precede all under the Degree of Viscounts and are always placed upon the King 's right hand in the Parliament House They have the Title of Lords and Right Reverend Fathers in God And their Sees by the piety of former times are endowed with fair Revenues for the due administration of what belongs to their places And to keep them from corrupt and sinister affections the King 's most Noble Progenitors and the Ancestors of the Nobility and Gentry have sufficiently endowed the Church with Honour and Possessions Many Priviledges and Immunities were likewise granted to them and the Clergy by the Saxon and Danish Kings as coyning of Money conferring the Order of Knighthood c. which hath been long since appropriate to the Crown Thus Laufranck Archbishop of Canterbury made William the Second Knight in the life time of his Father Of Priviledges remaining some belong to to the Archbishops some to the Bishops as they are so and some to them and all other of the Clergy We read of three Archbishopricks in England before the Saxons came amongst us viz. that of London York and Carleon upon Vske But Christianity being thence expelled by the Pagans the succession of those Sees ceased till it pleased God to restore the Light of his Gospel to the blind Saxons which in this Kingdom had planted themselves by the Ministration of St. Augustin who first preached Salvation to them at Canterbury and was there buried for whose sake they removed the Episcopal See from London unto Canterbury and in process of time placed another Archbishop at â—ork which two Provinces included England and Wales and have Five and twenty Bishops under them Six and twenty Deans of Cathedrals and Collegiate Churches Sixty Arch-Deacons Five hundred forty four Prebendaries many rural Deans and about Ten thousand Rectors and Vicars of Parishes The Archbishop of Canterbury was anciently the Metropolitan of England Scotland Ireland and the Isles adjacent and was therefore sometime styled a Patriarch and had several Archbishops under him His style was Alterius orbis Papa orbis Britannici Pontifex The Date of Records in Ecclesiastical Affairs ran thus Anno Pontificatus nostri primo c. He was Legatus Natus which power was annexed to that See near One thousand years ago whereby no other Legat or Nuntio from Rome could exercise any Legantive power without the King 's special Licence In General Councils he had place before all other Archbishops at the Pope's right Foot Nor was he respected less at home than abroad being according to the practise of most other Christian States reputed the second person in the Kingdom and named and ranked before the Princes of the Blood By the favour of our present King he still enjoys divers considerable preheminences as Primate and Metropolitan of all England hath power to summon the Arch-bishop of York and the Bishops of his Province to a National Synod is primus par Regni preceding not only Dukes but all the Great Officers of the Crown next to the Royal Family He is styled by the King Dei Gratia Archiopiscopus Cantuarii Writes himself Divina Providentia as doth the Archbishop of York other Bishops write Divina permissione and hath the Title of Grace given him as it is to Dukes and Most Reverend Father in God His Office is to Crown the King and wheresoever the Court shall happen to be 't is said the King and Queen are Speciales Domestici Parochiani Domini Archiepisc. Cant. The Bishop of London is accounted his Provincial Dean the Bishop of Winchester his Chancellor and the Bishop of Rochester his Chaplain He hath the power of all the probate of Wills and granting Letters of Administration where the party hath bona notabilia that is Five pounds worth or above out of the Diocess wherein he dieth or Ten pounds worth within the Diocess of London By Statute of Hen. 8. 25. he hath power to grant Licences Dispensations c. and holds divers Courts of Judicature viz. his Courts of Arches of Audience his Prerogative Court and his Court of Peculiars And he may retain and qualifie eight Chaplains which is more by two than a Duke can do The Arch-bishop of York was also Legatus Natus and had that Authority annexed to his See He had all the Bishopricks of Scotland under his Province till the year 1470. He hath the place and precedency of all Dukes not of the Royal Blood and of all great Officers except only the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper
He hath the Title of Grace and Most Reverend Father in God He hath the Honour to Crown the Queen and to be her perpetual Chaplain He is also styled Primate of England and Metropolitan of his Province He hath the Rights of a County Palatine over Hexamshire in Northumberland He may qualifie Chaplains and hath divers other Prerogatives which the Archbishop of Canterbury hath within his own Province but Durham being one hath in many things a peculiar Jurisdiction exempted from the Archbishop Priviledges belonging to the Bishops are as followeth IN their own Court they have power to judge and pass Sentence alone without any Colleague which is not done in any other Court And therefore the Bishops send sorth their Citations in their own Names not in the King 's as the Writs in other Courts run They may depute their Authority to another as doth the King either to their Suffragan-Bishops their Chancellors Commissaries or other Officers which none of the King's Judges can do In whatever Prince's Dominions they come their Episcopal Dignity and Degree is owned they may confer Orders c. whereas no Lay-lord is acknowledged but in the King's Dominions who gave him the Title None of them can be Indicted of any Crime before a Temporal Judge without especial Licence from the King A severe penalty to be inflicted on them that raise any Scandal or false Report In a Tryal where a Bishop is Plaintiff or Defendant the Bishop may as well as any Lay-lord challenge the Array if one Knight at least be not returned upon the Jury In Criminal Tryals for life all Bishops are to be tryed by their Peers who are Barons and none under that Degree to be impanelled but anciently they were exempted from any Tryal by Temporal Judges In Parliament they may Vote in any thing but in sentence for Life or loss of Member they being by Common Law to absent themselves and by Common Law to make Proxies to Vote for them They are freed from all Arrests Outlawries Distresses c. They have liberty to hunt in any of the King's Forests or Parks to take one or two Deer coming or going from the King's Presence and to have Wine free from Impost c. Their Persons may not be seized for Contempt but their Temporalities only and their word only is to be taken and their Certificate allowed in the Tryal of Bastardy Heresie c. And such respect has been shewed their Persons that an Offence by a Clergyman to his Bishop is called Episcopicide and punished as Paracide equal to petty Treason Every Bishop may qualifie as many Chaplains as a Duke They are all Barons and Peers of the Realm and have place in the upper House of Parliament as afore noted and take place according to Seniority of their Consecration except London Durham and Winchester who precede by Statute made in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth It will not be amiss to speak somewhat of the Immunities common to all Ecclesiasticks as well Commons as Lords Spiritual as followeth All Suffragan Bishops Deans Archdeacons Prebends Rectors and Vicars have priviledge some by themselves others by proxy to sit and vote in the lower House of Convocation No Subsidy or other Tax can be imposed upon them without their own consent No Clergyman may be compelled to undergo any personal Service in the Commonwealth nor to serve in the Wars or to bear any servile Office They are free from the King's Purveyors Carriers Posts c. for which they may demand a protection from the King cum clausula nolumus They are not obliged to appear at the Sheriffs Turns or Views of Frank pledge nor are impanelled to serve upon Inquests at Assizes or elsewhere If a Clergyman acknowledge a Statute his Body shall not be taken thereupon for the Writ runs Si Laicus sit c. Their Goods are discharged from Tolls and Customs si non exerceant Merchandizas de eisdem but they must have the King 's Writ to discharge them As the Clergymen are exempted from the Wars being by reason of their Function they are prohibited the wearing a Sword so every man in the order of Priesthood is debarred the Order of Knighthood of the Sword cum eorum militia sit contra mundum carnem diabolum saith Sir Iohn Fern yet laying aside their Cures and also lying themselves to a secular life they have been admitted Dei natalin saith Matth. Paris Iohannem de Gatesden clericum multis ditâ—atum beneficiis sed omnibus resignatis quia sic oportuit Baltheo cinxit militari These and many other Rights Liberties and Priviledges belong to the Clergy of England all which the King at his Coronation solemnly swears to preserve to them And they have been confirmed by above Thirty Parliaments and if any Act be made to the contrary it is said to be Null by the Statute of the 4 th of Edward the Third OF BARONS CHAP. IX AMONGST the Nobles and Honourable Persons Barons have the next place And first of the Dignity and Degrees of a Baron in general Secondly of the Etymology of the Name Thirdly of the Antiquity thereof and of the divers uses in former Ages Fourthly of the Division and the consideration of the several kinds of Barons And lastly a Declaration of the divers and sundry Priviledges allowed them and the rest of the Nobles by the Laws of this Realm The Definition or Description of a Baron IT is a certain Rule in Law Definitiones in jure sunt periculosissimae earum est enim 〈◊〉 non subverti possunt and therefore I do not often find any Definition or Description of a Baron delivered by Writers nevertheless in this our Kingdom it is my Opinion that a Baron may be described in a generality answerable unto every special kind thereof in this manner A Baron is a Dignity of Nobility and Honour next unto the Viscount And the Books of Law do make a difference between Dukes Marquisses Earls and Viscounts which are allowed Names of Dignity and the Baron for they affirm That such a Baron need not to be named Lord or Baron by his Writ but the Duke Marquiss Earl or Viscount ought to be named by their Names of Dignity Cambden fol. 1692. saith That our Common Laws do not allow a Baron one of the Degrees of Nobility But I take it to be understood of Barons by Tenure or Barons by Writ only For the Title of a Baron by Patent is in his Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England adorned by the name of Status Gradus Dignitas and therefore is requisite to be named And such Dignities are a parcel of the Name of the Pohenor as well as the Title and Style of a Duke Marquiss Earl or Viscount And although there may be conceived this Difference last mentioned between the Baron by Tenure or Writ and the Baron by Patent yet they being all Members of the higher House of Parliament they are thereby equally made Noble
as many have made the like then may such Isâ—ue Male together with the Barony be it Caâ—â—e Honour or Mannor so holdâ—n hold and lawâ—ully enjoy the Name Style Title and Dignity of a baron Moreover concerning the second Objection It is very true that many ancient Mannors which were in times past holden by Barony are now in the hands of Gentlemen mean and ignoble by blood who neither do or may claim any Nobility or Honour thereby But there hath been some former Gifts made by the King's Progenitors to such as they honoured in augmentation and support of their Honour and for honourable Services should thus come to the hands of mean personages are twosold First For that such Mannors have been aliened by Licence unto such persons before spoken of whom such Possessions alone cannot make Noble Secondly And that was usually such Mannors as were in ancient time holden by Barony that have upon divers occasions come to the Crown were extinct and after the same Lands were given or conveyed to others reserving other Services than those which at the first were due â—or the same so that it was no marvel that some Mannors anciently holden by Barony or other honourable Service should now be holden in Soccage or by other mean Tenure As to that which was thirdly Objected That some ancient Barons there are which have aliened and sold away those Castles and Mannors of which they have and do bear the Name and Dignity and yet still themselves do retain and lawfully keep the Dignity and Degree of a Baron and have been and are called to Parliament notwithstanding such alienation To that I Answer That it is true but it proveth nothing against the former Resolution and therefore for better satisfaction of this point it is to be considered that either such Barons are original Barons by Writ or Barons by Tenure Barons by Writ in this respect now in hand are of two kinds for either in such Writ whereby they are or their Ancestors were first summoned they were only named by their own Names or else there was addition given them of the principal place of their abode which was done for distinction sake either to sever them from some honourable person of the same Name or else to give them such honourable Title by addition of the place which place notwithstanding was not holden by Barony And therefore if such a Baron do alien away that place which was antiently his Seat he may nevertheless retain his honourable Title no respect had of such place But if a Baron by Tenure do alien away the Honour Castle or Mannor holden by Barony unto a mean person not capable of Honour and by sufficient Licence so to do and after the Alienor which made such Alienation be called by Writ to Parliament under the Title or as a Baron to such Honour Castle or Mannor so aliened that away which he held by Barony But thenceforth after such Writ of Summons he is become a Baron by Writ such Alienation notwithstanding forasmuch as the Writ directeth at the pleasure of the Prince doth give unto him that Addition of Name and Dignity And thus much touching the Resolution of the said Question and satisfaction of the said Objections and of Barons by Tenure CHAP. XI Barons by VVrit which is the second kind of Barons mentioned in the former Division of Barons A Baron by Writ is he unto whom a Writ of Summons in the Name of the King is directed to come to the Parliament appointed at a certain time and place to be holden and there with his Majesty the Prelates and Nobility to treat and advise about the weighty affairs of the Nation which Writ is much to the effect of the aforementioned Writ in the Title of Earl and which kind of Writ is as well directed to the Barons of Tenure as by Creation by Patents But those that are not Barons by Tenure nor by Patent and have only such Writs after the receipt of such Writ and place taken in Parliament accordingly ought to enjoy the Name and Dignity of Barons Touching the Antiquity of Barons by Writ only and the first institution thereof I find little or no mention before the Reign of King Henry the Third and therefore I conceive that either the first or at least the first frequent use of such Barons was had and devised 49 Hen. 3. in case of necessity and upon a commendable occasion For in the disorder between the King and his Nobility in those troublesome Wars where Seditions and Rebellions were stirred up by them against the said King there were many great Battels fought to the effusion of much Blood of which said Rebellions the Right Honourable Simon Earl of Exeter was Ring-leader for the Defence of their Liberties as pretended granted by Magna Charta and Charter of the Forest which are even to this day the principal Grounds of the positive Law and are the most ancient Statutes now in use amongst us And for the defence of other Constitutions and Ordinances then made at Oxford And after divers Fields sought betwixt them at Northampton Rochester Lewes and other places last of all was the Catastrophe of that Tragedy finished at Eveshalm or Easam in Worcestershire where the said Earl was slain the King gained the Victory and the rebellious Barons received their overthrow Upon which presently ensued the Parliament holden at Winchester in Hantshire and afterwards at Westminster where such of the Barons as were slain in the Field against the King and such others of them as were taken Prisoners or made their escape by flight were to be attainted and disinherited of their Estates And the Number of Barons who had continued faithful unto their Soveraign being small it was deemed a necessary policy to supply the number of the diminished Barons with other persons of known worth wisdom and repute by reason whereof there were called at those Parliaments the Abbots and Priors of the Realm as well those that held not by Barons as others and divers others of the most worthy Laity not holding by Barony and these by means thereof were thenceforth Barons by Writ but certain of the said Abbots and Priors which held not by Barony and thought it a burthen to their Houses got themselves upon Petition afterwards to be exempted as by divers Records thereof remaining in the Chancery may appear This moreover is to be noted concerning the Writ of Summons to Parliament that those Writs in form of their directions are divers some directed by special Name of Barons as Rex c. Edmundo Baroni de Stafford Iohanni Baroni de Graystock Iohanni Baroni de Dudley Edwardo Nevill Baroni Abergaveny as it was in the Reign of King Iames. Some other are summoned by Name of the party with addition of the place as Iohanni Strange de Knocking Militi Edwardo Gray de Groby Militi Iohanni le Scroop de Masham Militi Willielmo Souch de Harringworth Militi the chief Castle or Mannor of such
Adversaries in this manner viz. The Writ of Summons to the Parliament whereby the Baron by Writ hath his Original is to call that Honourable and Worthy Person so summoned to the number of that Right High and Honourable Assembly and to be a Judge to sit hear and determine Life and Member Plea and right of Land if there shall come occasion likewise to give Counsel and Advise in the most mighty Affairs of the Realm But these things are convenient for the quality and condition of men unfitting and altogether unbeseeming the Sex of women Ergo having respect unto the scope and final purpose of such Writs such Inheritances should only descend unto the Heir Female The Second Argument contra Secondly If it shall be answered That although the Heir Female to whom such Inheritance is descended be unfit in her own person for the accomplishing of these things yet she may marry with one sufficiently able for her and in her behalf to execute the same This Answer will neither satisfie nor salve the inconveniences For admit that such an Heir Female were at full Age at the death of her Ancestor unmarried for it doth lye in her own choice then whom shall be her Husband The Third Argument contra Thirdly If such Husband shall be called by the right of his Wife the Writ shall make some mention thereof for otherwise it may well be taken that the Husband was chosen in his own person and in behalf of himself and not in regard of his wife or such pretended Dignity descended unto him But there was never such a Writ of Summons seen wherein the wife was mentioned And if the husband of such a wife have been called to the Parliament which is always by General Writ not mentioning his wife he is thereby made a Baron of himself by virtue of the said Writ Having thus heard both sides to dispute place it doth now require to interpose Opinion to compound the Controversie This point in queâ—tion is somewhat perplexed by means of difficult Presidents For first it is observed That some Presidents do prove that Baronies by Writ have descended unto Heirs Female whose husbands have been called to Parliament whether in regard of themselves or in respect of their wives right it maketh no matter but since it is that the marriage of such Ladies gave that occasion to be summoned and such husbands and their Poâ—â—erity have and do lawfully bear the same Title of Dignity which the Ancestors of such a wife did before rightfully bear For by this Controversie theâ—e is no purpose to call the right of such Noble Houses into question Howbeit Secondly this is to be observed out of the Presidents and to be acknowledged of every dutiful Subject That the King's Majesty is nevertheless at liberty to call to his High Council of Parliament whom he shall in his Princely Wisdom think fit which by his Majestie 's Noble Progenitors have in former Ages likewise observed And therefore whereas Ralph Lord Cromwell being a Baron by Writ died without Issue having two Sisters and Coheirs Elizabeth the eldest who married Sir Thomas Nevile Knight and Ioan the younger who married Sir Humphrey Butcher Knight who was called to Parliament as Lord Cromwell and not the said Sir Thomas Thirdly It is to be observed That if a Baron by Writ die without Heir Male having his Daughter Sister or other Collateral Heir Male that can challenge the Land of the said Baron deceased by any ancient entail or otherwise the Title of such an Heir Female hath heretofore been allowed as by the honourable Opinions and Relations of the Right Honourable the late Commissioners in the Office of Earl-Marshal signified unto the late Queen upon Petition of the Sister and Heir of Gregory Lord Dacres deceased may appear Moreover in the same Pedigree of the Lord Dacres it was expressed That Thomas sometimes Lord Dacres had issue Thomas his eldest Son Ralph his Second and Humphrey his third Thomas the eldest died in the life of his Father having issue Ioan Daughter and Heir who was married to Sir Richard Fines Knight and after Thomas Lord Dacres his Grandfather and Father to the said Ralph and Humphrey died after whose death Henry the Sixth by his Letters Patents bearing date at Westminster the Seventh of November in the Seventh year of his Reign reciting the said Pedigree and Marriage doth by his said Letters Patents accept declare and repute the said Richard Fines to be Lord Dacres and one of the Barons of the Realm But afterwards in the time of Edward the Fourth the said Humphrey Dacres after the attainder of the said Ralph and himself by an Act of Parliament which was the first of Edward the Fourth And after the death of the said Ralph and the Reversal of the said Act by another Act in the Twelfth of Edward the Fourth the said Humphrey made challenge unto the said Barony and unto divers Lands of the said Thomas his Father whereupon both parties after their Title had been considered of in Parliament submitted themselves to the Arbitrement of King Edward the Fourth and entred into Bond each to other for the performance thereof whereupon the said King in his Award under his Privy Seal bearing date at Westminster the Eighth of April Anno Regni sui decimo tertio did Award that the said Richard Fines in the right of Ioan his wife and the Heirs of his body by the said Ioan begotten should keep have and use the same Seat and Place in every Parliament as the said Thomas Dacres Knight Lord Dacres had used and kept and that the Heirs of the body of the said Thomas Dacres Knight then late Lord Dacres begotten should have and hold to them and to their Heirs the Mannor of Holbeach And further That the said King Edward did Award on the other part that the said Humphrey Dacres Knight and the Heirs Males of the said Thomas late Lord Dacres should be reputed had named and called the Lord Dacres of Gillesland and that he and the Heirs Males of the body of the said Thomas then late Lord Dacres should have use and keep the place in Parliament next adjoyning beneath the said place which the said Richard Fines Knight Lord Dacres then had and occupied And that the Heirs of the body of the said Ioan his wife shall have and enjoy and that the Heirs Males of the said Thomas Dacres late Lord Dacres should have to them and the Heirs Males of their bodies begotten the Mannor of Iothington c. And so note that the name of the ancient Barony namely Gillesland remained unto the Heir Male to whom the Land was entailed Moreover this is specially observed If any Baron by Writ do die having no other Issue than Female and that by some special entail or other assurance there be an Heir Male which doth enjoy all or great part of the Lands Possessions and Inheritances of such Baron deceased the Kings have used to call to the
Parliament by Writ as Baron such Heir Male omitting the Husband of the Issue of such Heir Female And this also appeareth by a notable Controversie in the time of Henry the Seventh between Sir Robert Willoughby Lord Brook and Richard Lord Lattimer for the Barony of Lattimer which in effect was The said Lord Brook did challenge the Barony of Lattimer as Coâ—in and Heir of Elizabeth his Great-grandmother who was Sister and Heir of Iohn Nevill Lord Lattimer who died without Issue And hereupon exhibited a Petition to Henry the Seventh in Parliament whereunto Richard Lord Lattimer was called to answer because he then enjoyed the said Title and Dignity The said Richard Lord Lattimer did by his Answer shew That after the death of the said Iohn Nevill Lord Lattimer without Issue the said Elizabeth was his Sister and next Heir and married unto Thomas Willoughby Knight second Son of the Lord Willoughby But Henry the Sixth for that the said Iohn Nevill Lord Lattimer was dead without Issue and that the next Heir was Female did therefore call to the Parliament George Nevill Knight second Son of Henry Earl of Westmoreland to be Lord Lattimer as Cosin and next Heir Male of the said Iohn Nevill Lord Lattimer which George was Grandfather of the said Richard Lord Lattimer Father of the said Richard In debate of which cause the Question now in hand namely Whether a Barony by Writ may descend to the Heirs Female was advisedly considered of by the King and his Nobility in Parliament and in the end adjudged with the said Richard Lord Lattimer which President doth afford us two Judgments in this point And in the time of Henry the Sixth when the Writ was directed to the said Sir George Nevill Knight whereby he was summoned as Lord Lattimer to the Parliament and as Heir Male and not the said Thomas Willoughby Knight husband of the said Elizabeth Heir Female And the second Judgment was given in the time of Henry the Seventh whereby the said Barony was adjudged to the said Richard Lord Lattimer coming out of the special Heir Male against the Lord Brook descended of the general Heir Male. But here in this President before remembred of the Barony of Dacres may be objected to encounter this Conclusion for there was an Heir Female married unto Sir Richard Fines who by the Declaration of King Henry the Sixth was Baron of Dacres in right of his wife And there was also Ralph and Humphrey the Heirs Males before whom the Heir Female was preferred by the censure of Henry the Sixth and Edward the Fourth This Objection is easily answered for although Henry the Sixth through the Princely favour which he bore unto Sir Richard Fines had declared him to be Lord Dacres in right of his wife yet notwithstanding did Ralph Dacres being Heir Male then unto the Lord Dacres and by that name was attainted in Parliament Anno primo Hen. 4. Wherefore the reason why the Heir Male could not be regarded was the said Attainder of the said Raâ—ph and Humphrey his brother and therefore when Humphrey in the 12 th of Edward the Fourth laboured to have the said Attainder Reversed he submitted himself to the Arbitrement of the King who to satisfie both Competitors both having deserved of him after he had admitted them to his favour he allowed one to be Lord Dacres and the other to be the Lord Dacres of Gillesland And thus much concerning the second Point Whether a Barony by Writ may descend unto the Heir Female The third Point As concerning the third Point admitting such Descent to be to the Heir Female when there is no Heir Male that may claim the same for then doth this Question take place Whether the husband of such an Heir Female shall enjoy the Dignity in right of his wife or no Wherein we are to rest upon a Resolution had and given to this special Question which was in this manner In the time of Henry the Eighth when Mr. Winby took upon him the style of Lord Talbois in right of his wife having no Issue by her The said King assisted both by Civil and Temporal Lawyers gave Sentence That no husband of a Baroness in her right should use that Style and Dignity until he had by her a Child whereby she should become Tenant by Courtesie unto her Inheritance The special Reasons that occasioned this Sentence were two First It should be convenient for her husband this day to be a Baron and a Peer of the Realm and to morrow by the death of his wife to become none and without the default of the party Secondly If he had Issue by wife and were entituled to be Tenant by the Courtesie of England of his wives Lands if he shall not also bear the Style and Dignity of his Wives Barony then should the Son after the death of his mother dying in the life time of his father be a Baron and Lord without Land for so the father should have the Land as Tenant by Courtesie and the Son the Lordship without Land And thus much said concerning the Nature Quality and Estate of a Baron by Writ and for the Resolution of the several points and Articles of the Question proposed may suffice CHAP. XII Barons by Patent which is the third kind of Barons mentioned in the former Division of Barons THere is also a fourth means of Creation viz. by Act of Parliament but the first two mentioned and this other by Patent is most usual for the Honour of the King for thereby the Donation doth proceed from his Majesty only as from the Fountain of Honour But when the Creation is by Parliament the King ever is one and may be said to be Donor A Baron therefore by Creation by reason of Letters Patents is that noble Person whom the King or any of his Progenitors Kings of this Realm have created Baron by such their Letters Patents began in the Reign of King Richard the Second This kind of Dignity of a Baron shall be of such continuance in Descent or otherwise as shall be limited in the Habendum in such Letters Patents contained for it may be but for the life of him to whom it is given or for term vanter vie as some hold Opinion in the 32 of Hen. 6. for cujus est dare est disponere It may be in special in our general Tayl and this kind of Tayl was usual before the Statute made decimo tertio of Edw. 1. by which Estate Tayl of Lands and Tenements was created as appeareth by the Patent whereby Hubert de Burgo was made Earl of Kent in the time of Henry the Third by these words Habendum sibi haeredibus suis de corpore Margaretae uxoris sui sorors Alexandri Regis Scotiae procreatis pro defectu talis exitus remanere in directis haeredibus dicti Huberti And that Estates intayl are at this Day of Titles of Honour by the said Statute of Westminster the second Question If a
There is none of the Nobility but have sufficient Freehold which the Plaintiffs may extend for their payment or satisfaction But a Capias or Exigit lieth against a Knight for the Law hath not that Opinion of his Freehold And if any of the Nobility happen to be so wilful and not to appear the Court will compel the Sheriff to return great Issues against him and so at every default to encrease the issues as lately against the Earl of Lincoln hath been in practice By the ancient Laws of this Realm before the coming of William the Conqueror many good Laws were made for keeping the Peace and amongst others That all above the age of twelve years should be sworn to the King which we in remembrance thereof do keep at this day in the view of Frank Pledge or the Court Leet But Noblemen of all sorts are neither bound to attend the Court Leet nor to take the Oath as appeareth by Britan. c. 29. treating of the Court called the Sheriffs Tourn out of which the Leet to be extracted And agreeable thereunto is the Statute of Marlbridge cap. 10. See the Lord Chancellor's Speech in the case of Postnati fol. 78. If a Writ of Error be brought in Parliament upon a Judgment given in the King's Bench the Lords of the higher House alone without the Commons are to examine the Errors ibid. fol. 22. In the 11 th of Henry the Fourth fol. 26. in a Case concerning a Distress taken for Expences and Fees the Knights of the Parliament are not contributary for such Lands as are parcel of their ancient Lordships and Baronies but for other Lands they are But there is a Question made If one which is no Baron but ignoble do purchase any ancient Barony whether he shall be discharged of such Expences and Fees or not Which is not worthy the questioning For as Land holden by Villainous Service doth not make him a Villain or Bondman which being free doth purchase the same although by his Tenure he shall be bound to do such Villainous Service So on the other side Land that is holden by Barony doth not make the Villain or Ignoble which purchaseth the same to be Noble although the charge of such Tenure do lye upon him in respect of the Service of the Realm It is said in our Books That a day of Grace or by the favour of the Court is not to be granted to the Plaintiff in any Suit or Action whereby a Nobleman is Defendant because thereby a Nobleman should be longer delayed than the ordinary course of the Court is and such a Lord is to have expedition of Justice in respect that he is to attend the person of the King and the Service of the Commonwealth But if there be no Noble person to the Suit the Judges do and may at their discretion upon a motion grant a day more of Grace otherwise than by the strict course of the Law the Plaintiff may challenge Cambden f. 169. writing upon this Subject saith Where a Nobleman is Demandant the Defendant may not be assoyned for the delay and cause aforesaid To which I could also subscribe but that the Book in the fifth of Hen. 4. 15. b. is otherwise adjudged There the King brought a Quare Impedit against a common person and the Defendant was essoyned by a Rule of Court If any Peer of the Realm be Plaintiff or Defendant in any Action real or personal a-against any other whereupon any Issue is to be tryed by a Jury the Sheriff must return one Knight at the least to be of the Inquest otherwise upon challenge made the whole pannel shall be quashed Which by order of the Law is appointed to be done for honour and reverence due to the person of that degree For when a Peer of the Realm is party it is otherwise than when the Suit is between private persons F. N. B. Title Challenge 115. 13. Edward the Third in a Quare Impedit against a Bishop adjudged But the Earl of Kent in the fourteenth year of the late Queen's Reign and the parties did plead to an Issue the Venire Facias is awarded which the Sheriff did return â—â—rved and a pannel returned accordingly in which is no Knight named The truth of which Case was that after the return made the Demand is published and demanded by the Queen and the Heralds to be Earl of Kent in right and discent although he had not been so reputed or named before and also after that time that is to say at the then last Parliament the Tenant is made a Baron by Writ of Parliament and then the Jury doth appear in the Court of Common Pleas and the Earl of Kent did challenge the Array because no Knight was returned but it was not allowed him by the Court for the admittance of both parties is to the contrary and no default can be laid to the Sheriff for he had no notice of the honourable Esâ—ate of either of the parties the Demandant not being then known or reputed to be an Earl by descent or of the Tenant then also being no Baron How much the Common Law hath always prohibited perpetuity in Lands and Tenements you may see in Corbet's Case in the first part of Coke's Book fol. 48. and in many other Cases in the rest of his Books As also Littleton fol. 145. saith it is a principle in the Law that every Land in Feesimple may be charged with a Rent But if the King's Majesty upon a Creation of any Peer of the Realm of what degree soever do as the manner is by Letters Patent give unto any such new created Nobleman an Annuity or Rent for the support of his degree which they call Creation-money this is so annexed to the dignity that by no Grant Assurance or any manner of Alienation it can be given from the Lord but is still incident and a support of the same Creation In all Cases wherein is any Suit a Baron or Peer of the Realm is to be amerced no less than five pounds but the amercement of a Duke is One hundred pounds Although the Statute of Magna Charta chap. 14. be in the Negative viz. Comites Barones non amercientur nisi per pares suos non nisi secundum modum delicti yet use hath reduced it into a certainty As also by the same Statute it appeareth that such Amercements should be assessed per pares suos but that it were troublesome to assemble Barons for so small a matter such Amercements in times past have been assessed by the Barons of the Exchequer who sometime were Barons of the Realm as is already taken notice of and so writeth Bracton lib. 3. tract cap. 1. fol. 116.8 Whereas by Statute 32 Hen. 8. cap. 16. it is enacted That the Subjects of this Realm shall not keep in their Houses or Families above the number of four Strangers born nevertheless by a Proviso in the same Act every Lord of the Parliament hath this
priviledge allowed unto him to keep in his Family the number of six born Strangers By the Statute 14 Hen. 8. cap. 13. a priviledge was granted to the Nobility according to their degrees concerning Apparel but because by a Statute made in the first of the King that now is chap. 15. all Laws and Statutes concerning Apparel are taken away Whereas by the Statute 2 Hen. 5. Parl. 2. cap. 1. it is ordained That the Justices of the Peace in every County named of the Quorum shall be resident in the Shires wherein they are Justices there is a Proviso whereby the Lords and Peers of the Realm named in such Commissions are excepted By the Statute 1 Edw. 6. cap. 12. amongst other things it is enacted That in all and every Case and Cases where any of the King's Subjects shall and may upon his prayer have the priviledge of the Clergy as a Clark Convict that may make purgation in all the Cases and every of them and also in all and every Cases of Felony wherein the priviledge or benefit of Clergy is taken away by this Statute wilful Murther and poysoning only excepted the Lords and Peers of the Realm having place and voice in Parliament shall by vertue of this Act of Common Grace upon his or their requests and prayer alledging that he is a Lord or Peer of this Realm claiming the benefit of this Act though he cannot read without burning in the Hand loss of Inheritance or corruption of Blood be adjudged taken and used for the first time only to all constructions intents and purposes as a Clark Convict which may make purgations without any other benefit of Clergy to any such Lord or Peer from thenceforth at any time after for any cause to be allowed adjudged or admitted any Law Custome Statute or other thing to the contrary notwithstanding By this Statute a Lord of the Parliament shall have the benefit of his Clergy where a common person shall not viz. for breaking open an House by day or night or for robbing any on the High-way and in all other Cases excepted saving in wilful Murther and Poysoning but in all other Cases wherein Clergy is taken away by any Statute made since the said Statute of 1 Edw. 6. he is in the same degree that a common and inferiour person but the Court will not give him the benefit of this Statute if he doth not require it If a Lord of the Parliament do confess his Offence upon his Arraignment or doth abjure or is Outlawed for Felony it seemeth that in these Cases he may have the benefit of this Statute viz. his Clergy for that by the Statute 18 Eliz. cap. 18. he nor any other need to make his purgation but shall be forthwith delivered out of Prison by the Justices By the Imperial Constitutions Nobiles non torquentur Nobiles non suspendentur sed decapitantur and so it is almost grown into a Custome of England by the favour of the Prince for it is rare to have a Nobleman executed in other form Yet Thomas Fines Lord Dacres of the South in the 23 th of Henry the Sixth and the Lord Sturton in the fourth of Queen Mary were hanged At the Common Law it was lawful for any man Noble or Ignoble to retain as many Chaplains as they pleased for their instruction in Religion But by a Statute made 21 Hen. 8. cap. 13. a restraint was made and a certain number only allowed the Nobility And such Chaplains for their attendance have Immunities as by the Statute at large may appear viz. every Archbishop and Duke may have six Chaplains whereof every one may have and purchase Licence of Dispensation and take receive and keep two Parsonages or Benefices with Cure of Souls and that every Marquiss and Earl may have five Chaplains every Viscount or other Bishop four Chaplains and every Baron and Knight of the Garter may have three Chaplains whereof every one of them may purchase License of Dispensation and take receive and keep two Benefices with Cure of Souls And forasmuch as the retaining of Chaplains by Lords and Peers of the Realm is ordinary and nevertheless some questions have been concerning the true understanding of the said Statute Law I think it not unnecessary to set down some subsequent Resolutions of the Judges touching some matters If a Bishop be translated to an Archbishoprick or a Baron be created an Earl yet in this case they can have but only so many Chaplains as an Archbishop or an Earl might have for although he hath divers Dignities yet he is still but one person to whom the attendance and service should be done So if a Baron be made a Knight of the Garter or Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports he shall have in all but three Chaplains sic de similibus And if such an Officer allowed by the Statute to have one two or more Chaplains do retain accordingly and after he is removed from his Office in this case he cannot be now Nonresident nor accept a second Benefice of his Complement which was not full before his removing and in that case it behoveth the Chaplain to procure a Non obstante otherwise he may be punished for his Nonresidence So if any Earl or Baron do retain a Chaplain and before his advancement his Lord is Attainted of Treason as it was in the Case of the Earl of Westmoreland after the said Attainder such a Chaplain cannot except a second Benefice for though his Lord be still living according to Nature yet after the Attainder he is a dead person by the Law and therefore out of the case to have priviledge for himself or for his Chaplains If a Baron have three Chaplains and every of them have two Benefices and after the Baron dieth they shall enjoy those Benefices with Cure which were lawfully settled in them before But in this case although the said Chaplains be resident upon one of his Benefices yet now he is become punishable for being resident upon the other for Cessante causa cessat effectus The same Law is if the Baron be attainted of Treason or Felony or if any Officer be removed from his Office sic de similibus So if a Lord do one time retain more Chaplains than are allowed by the Law the lawful number only shall have priviledge and in this case which of them be first promoted shall have priviledge and the rest are excluded for aequali jure melior est conditio possidentis If a Nobleman doth retain Chaplains above his number at several times if any of his Chaplains die the next that was retained shall not succeed for his first retainer was void and therefore in this case it behoveth him to have a new retaining after the death of the predecessor and before his advancement for quod ab initio non valet in tractu temporis non convalescit If a Noble person retain such a number of Chaplains as is by the law allowed him
priviledge THE Statute of Westminster 2. cap. 39◠saith If the Sheriff return that he cannot execute the Kings precept propter resistentiam alicujus magnatis if it be true he shall punish the resisters by Imprisonment from whence they shall not be delivered without the Kings special commandment In 11 Hen. 4. 15. in homine replegiando against Dame Spencer a Peer of the Realm viz. a Baroness born a Capias was granted because it was an high injury to the person whom she eloigned and in some other cases of great contempt a Capias may be awarded against a Peer An Abbot which was a Lord of the Parliament was impleaded and he did pray priviledge to appear by an Attorney and by the Rule of the Court he could not because the Statute is general and against it but by a special Writ out of Chancery he might and so in case where he doth pray to be received For if a Lord of the Parliament holding Lands of another in Feesimple doth forbear and withhold to do and pay his Service to his Landlord and that by the space of two years whereupon he bringeth a Writ of Cessment which is his Remedy given by Law thereby to recover the Inheritance of the Land But the said Lord for the saving of Tenancy being minded to pay all the Arrearages before Judgment given against him as by the Law he ought to do in this case he must come in proper person and not by an Attorney If a Nobleman be indicted and cannot be found Process of Outlary shall be awarded against him per legem terrae and he shall be outlawed per judicium Coronatorum but he shall be tried per judicium parium suorum when he appeals and pleads to issue If any Lord did depart this Realm as Ambassador and otherwise by the Kings Licence or without Licence and do not return at the King's command or upon the Kings Writ upon his privy Signet the King may seize his Goods and Chattels If a Lord arrested upon a Supplicavit for the peace do refuse to obey the Arrest and make Rescous and the Sheriff do return the Rescous upon such return shall issue an Attachment against the said Lord for his contempt to take his Body and this is a way to obtain the peace against any Lord of the Parliament whereas the party could not have an Attachment against him if the Subpoena had been duly served and peaceably accepted of although the said Lord had not appeared thereupon All Lords are compellable to take the Oath mentioned in the Statute of the 7 th of King Iames chap. 4. And see the Statute of the 7 th of King Iames chap. 6. who have Authority to minister the said Oath unto them If a Baron that holdeth by Baron Tenure have his absence excused by Essoyn he which casteth his Essoyn or Excuse ought to find Surety that the said Essoyn is true But in case of common persons it shall rest upon the Credit and Integrity of the Essoyner wherein a Lord hath lesser priviledge than a common person And whereas the Amercements should be offered per pares the use is to refer them to the Barons of the Exchequer When a Peer of the Realm is Arraigned in any Appeal of Felony he shall not have that priviledge to be tried by his Peers as in case of Indictment but must undergo the ordinary Trial of Twelve men Also in case of Indictment the Defendant though a Peer may not challenge any of his Triers And the Judgment to be given against any Lord of Parliament in cases of Felony or Treason shall be no other than according to the usual Judgment given against common persons And their Execution through the special Grace and Favour of the King is beheading By Attainder of Felony or Treason is corruption of Blood so that their Children may not be Heirs unto them nor to any other Ancestor And if he were a Nobleman before he is by the Attainder made Ignoble not only himself but all his Children having regard unto the Nobility which they had by their Birth And this corruption is so strong and high that it cannot be salved by the King's pardon or otherwise than by Authority of Parliament But here is to be observed That Nobility is not a thing substantial but mere accidental for it may be present or absent without corruption of the Subject whereof it doth depend for experience sheweth That the passing of honourable Titles are restrained by exorbitant Crimes when as Nature in the mean while cannot be thrust away Wherefore though the Lawyers do call Extinguishment of Nobility which happeneth by such hainous Offences committed by corruption of Blood nevertheless they use not this manner of phrase as though Nobility were naturally and essentially in the Honour of Blood more than any other hereditary Faculty but because the right of Inheritance which is by degrees of communication of Blood directed is by that means determined and also in regard of the hatred and detestation of the Crime it is called corruption of Blood And here a Question may arise Whether by Attainder of the Father the Blood be so corrupted that the Son shall also be barred his Mother's Inheritance who hath not transgressed or no They that maintain the Affirmative say That forasmuch as none can be procreated or ingendred according to the course of Nature but of a Father and Mother and must have in him two Bloods viz. the Fathers and Mothers therefore the Law also faith Those Bloods commixt in the person of a man in lawful Marriage do constitute and make him an Heir and that none can be Heir unto any unless he hath both Bloods in him to whom he doth convey himself to be Heir And therefore the Heir of the half Blood shall not inherit because he doth want one of the Bloods which should make him inheritable And upon this reason Britan. chap. 5. saith If a man be attainted of Felony by Iudgment the Heirs ingendred after the Attainder are precluded from all manner of succession in the Heritage as well of the part of the Mother as of the Father for ex leproso parente leprosus generatur filius And when the Father is attainted of Treason or Felony the Blood in respect whereof he is Inheritable being corrupted the same hath but half his Blood that is the Blood of his Mother in him without corruption And with this doth agree Bracton lib. 3. cap. 13. Non valebit felonis generatio nec ad haereditatem paternam nec maternam si autem ante feloniam generationem fecerit talis generatio succedit in haereditatem patris vel matris à quo non fuerit felonia perpetrata Because at the time of his Birth he had two lawful Bloods commixt in him which could not be corrupted by the Attainder subsequent but only as unto that party who did offend But on the Negative part it is said That the Law is not so penal against the innocent Child as
to prejudice him touching his Mothers Inheritance who also did not offend or contrariwise especially in case where the Mother was seized of an Estate in Feesimple either in Lands or Tenements or Title of Honour And this was the case if I be not mistaken of Philip late Earl of Arundel notwithstanding the Attainder of Thomas Duke of Norfolk his Father for he had that Earldom in right of his Mother But they do agree That if the Lands or Tenements or a Title of Honour be given to a man and to his wife in tayl who hath Issue The Father is attainted of Treason and executed though this forfeiture of the Husband shall be no barr to the Wife concerning her interest by Survivorship yet their Issue is barred by the Statute 26 Hen. 8. cap. 13. and his Blood corrupted For in that case the Heir must necessarily make himself Heir as well of the Body of the one as of the other And yet the words of the Statute 32 Hen. 8. cap. 28. are That no Fine Feofâ—ment or other Act or Acts hereafter to be made or suffered by the Husband only of any Mannors Lands Tenements or Hereditaments being the Inheritance or Freehold of his Wife during the Coverture between them shall in any wise be or make any discontinuance or be prejudicial to the said Wife or to her Heirs or to such as shall have right title or interest to the same by the death of such Wife or Wives but the same Wife or her Heirs and such other to whom such right shall appertain after her decease shall or may then lawfully enter into all such Mannors Lands Tenements and Hereditaments according to their Rights and Titles therein For there is Adversity taken and agreed for Law between a discontinuance which doth imply a wrong and a lawful Baron which doth imply a right And therefore if Land be given to the Husband and the Wife and to the Heirs of their Bodies begotten and the Husband levies a Fine with Proclamation or do commit High Treason and dieth and the Wife before or after Entry dieth the Issue is barred and the Comisee for the King hath right unto the Lands because the Issue cannot claim as Heir unto both And with this doth agree Dyer 351. b. adjudged vide 5 Hen. 7. 32. Cott's Assize Coke's eighth part 27. where it is resolved That the Statute 32 Hen. 8. doth extend only unto Discontinuances although the Act hath general words or be prejudicial to the Wife or her Heirs c. but the conclusion if she shall lawfully enter c. according to their right and title therein which they cannot do when they be barred and have no right title and interest And this Statute doth give advantage unto the Wife c. so long as she hath right but it doth not extend to take away a future barr Although the Statute doth give Entry without limitation of any time nevertheless the Entry must attend upon the right and therefore if the Wife be seized in Feesimple and her Husband levy a Fine with Proclamation unto another and dieth now the Wife may enter by force of the Statute for as yet that Fine is not any barr unto her but her right doth remain which she may continue by Entry but if she do surcease her time and the five years do pass without Entry c. now by force of the Fine with Proclamation and five years past after the death of her Husband she is barred of her right and by consequence she cannot enter And the Statute doth speak of Fine only and not of Fine with Proclamation If there be Father and Son and the Father be seized of Lands holden in Capite or otherwise by Knight's Service the King doth create the Son Duke Earl or other Degree of Nobility and afterwards the Father dieth his Son being within the Age of One and twenty years he shall be no Ward but if the King had made him Knight in the life of his Father he should not have been in Ward after the death of his Father neither for the Lands descended nor for his Marriage though he be within Age. NOBILITY AND LORDS IN REPUTATION ONLY CHAP. XIV THERE are also other Lords in Reputation and Appellation who nevertheless are not de jure neither can they enjoy the priviledges of those of the Nobility that are Lords of the Parliament The Son and Heir of a Duke during his Father's life is only in courtesie of Speech and Honour called an Earl and the eldest Son of a Marquiss or an Earl a Lord but not so in legal proceedings or in the King's Courts of Judicature But the King may at his pleasure create them in the life of their Ancestors into any Degree of Lords of the Parliament And according to the German Custom all the younger Sons of Dukes and Marquisses are called Lords but by courtesie only which Title descends not to their Heirs A Duke or other of the Nobility of a Foreign Nation doth come into this Land by the King 's safe Conduct in which said Letters of safe Conduct he is named a Duke according to his Creation yet that Appellation maketh him not a Duke c. to sue or be sued by that name within this Realm but is only so by Reputation But if the King of Denmark or other Sovereign King come into England under safe Conduct he during his abode here ought to be styled by the name of King and to retain his Honour although not his Regal Command and Power And in this case may be observed by the way That no Sovereign King may enter into this Realm without licence though he be in League All the younger Sons of the Kings of England are of the Nobility of England and Earls by their Birth without any other Creation And if an Englishman be created Earl of the Empire or some other Title of Honour by the Emperor or other Monarch he shall not bear that Dignity in England but is only an Earl in Reputation A Lord or Peer of Scotland or Ireland is not of the Nobility or Peerage of England in all Courts of Justice although he is commonly reputed a Lord and hath priviledge as a Peer OF THE QUEEN CONSORT AND OF NOBLE WOMEN CHAP. XV. A QUEEN so called from the Sâ—xon word Cuningine as the King from Cuning by variation of Gender only as was their manner signifieth Power and Knowledge and thereby denotes the Sovereignty due unto them which they enjoyed in those days and do now in most Nations being capable of the Royal Diadem by the common right of Inheritance for want of Heirs Male But in France by the Salique Law the Sex is excluded from their Inheritance by which they debarred the English Title to their Crown There are three kinds of persons capable of the Title and Dignity of Queen amongst us and each of them different in Power and Priviledge The first is a Queen Sovereign to whom the Crown descends by Birth-right
in any Action or otherwise in which case any other Subject of what degree soever shall be amerced for in that case the Queen shall participate of the King's Prerogative But the Queen shall not in all cases have the same prerogative as the King as for Example Petition is all the remedy the Subject hath when the King seizeth his Lands or taketh away his Goods from him having no Title by order of Law so to do contrary to the Opinion of some ancient Books as you may see Stamford's Prerogative Case 19. But no such Suit shall be made to the Queen but Actions as against other Lieges of the King according as the Case shall require For by the same Reason that the Queen may be Plaintiff or Demandant in Actions without the King by the same Reason she shall be Defendant without the part taking of such Prerogatives as do appertain to the King Against the King by his Prerogative nullum tempus occurrit but it is not so with the Queen 18 Edw. 3. 2. a. And plenarily by six months is a good Plea in a Quare Impedit brought by Philip Regina Anglia ibidem fol. 1. 13. b. Stamford's Prerogative Case 18. prope finem In the 22 Edw. 3. 6. it is thus to be read Note that a Protection was sued forth against the Queen in a Writ which she brought and it was allowed though she be a person exempt Nevertheless by this short Case following may be observed That the Justices do not easily suffer any proceedings in Law against the Queen Wife or Widow but will hold with their Immunities so much as by Law they may A Writ of Dower was brought against Isabel Queen of England and Mother to the then King and the Court said to the Plaintiff The Queen is a person of Dignity and Excellency and we are of Opinion that she shall not answer to the Writ but that she should be sued unto by Petition And thereupon the Demandant dixit gratis and she prayed the Court to grant a Continuance of Action until another day so that in the mean time she might speak with the Queen But the Court would not agree to make a Continuance but said That upon her request they might give day prae re pertin and so it was done for the Queen's Counsel would not agree to a Continuance for thereby the Queen shall be accepted as answerable Neither do I suppose that I have digressed from any former purpose for making mention in those Cases concerning the Queen Consort For notwithstanding the intermarriage with the Sovereign King yet she is no other than a King 's Subject whether she be of a Foreign Nation or a Native born and though she be by the favour of the King solemnly crowned Queen yet that is but a Royal Ceremony and no essential Exception whereby she may not from henceforth be accounted in the rank of Noble Women And this hath been proved by the effect in the Reign of King Henry the Sixth when some of the Wives crowned Queens have been Arraigned of High Treason and therefore put to Trial by the Nobles of the Realm as her Peers The Wife of the King 's eldest Son hath also some Prerogatives in regard of the Excellency of her Husband which the Wives of other Noblemen have not For by the Statute of the Thrteenth of Edward the Third it is High Treason to violate the Wife of the King 's eldest Son and Heir Dutchesses and Countesses have special Honours appertaining to their Estates as Kneeling Tasting c. which things are more appertaining properly to the Heralds than to be here treated of Ladies in Reputation THE Wife or Widow of the Son and Heir of a Duke or Earl in the life time of his Father is a Lady by Courtesie of Speech and Honour and taketh place according as in ancient time hath been permitted by the Sovereign Prince and allowance of the Heralds but in legal proceedings they are not Priviledged nor to be named according to such Names of Dignity But the King may at his pleasure create such Men in the life of their Ancestors unto degrees of Lord's of his Parliament and then the Law is otherwise If a Noble Woman of Spain come into this Realm by safe Conduct or otherwise though in the Letters of safe Conduct by the King she be styled by such her Sovereign Title yet in the King's Courts of Justice she shall not be named by such Title though in common Speech she is styled a Lady An English Woman born doth taken to her Husband a French or Spanish Duke though he be made a Denizen yet she shall not bear his Title of Dignity in Legal Proceedings A German Woman is married to a Peer of the Realm and unless she be made a Denizen she cannot lawfully claim the Priviledges or Titles of her Husband no more than she can to have Dower or Joynture from him An English Woman doth take to her Husband an Irish Earl or if a Lord of Scotland though he be a Postnatus take an English Woman to his Wife their Wives shall not participate of their Husbands Titles of Dignity But if the King do create one of his Subjects of Scotland or Ireland a Peer of this Realm then shall he and his Wife enjoy all the Priviledges of a Nobleman But if an English man by the Emperor be made an Earl of the Empire his Wife shall not bear that Title of Honour All the Daughters of Dukes Marquisses and Earls are by the ancient Custome of the Realm styled Ladies and have precedency according to the Degrees of their Parents And of this Custome the Laws do take notice and give allowance for Honour and Decency But nevertheless in the King's Courts of Justice they bear not those Titles of Honour no more than the Sons of such Noble persons may do So in this point the Law is one way and the Honour and Courtesie of Ladies another And as a Civilian in like Case saith Aliud est jus aliud privilegium nevertheless the Books of our Law do make mention thereof and allow of it as a Courtesie though not as a Law Thus much of Women If I have been too large upon this Subject I crave their pardons and if too short I wish I had been more large for their Honour Yet let them compare their Conditions with that of their Neighbouring Nations and 't is believed they have reason to judge themselves the happiest Women in the World but Nemo sua sorte contentus None truly value what they do possess Birth Beauty Titles Riches in excess Are all a Plague if ought else we desire The loss of that makes all our joys on fire The Right Noble Frances Stewart dutchess dowager of Richmond and Lenox ◠a. The Rt. honble Ann Stuart Baroness of Castle Stuart in ye. Kingdome of Ireland Relict of the Rt. honble Iosias Baron of Castle Stuart and Daughter of Iohn Maddē of Rousky Castle in ye. County of
personal Installation of a Knight in seven Sections 1. That Installation gives the Title of Founder 2. Of the time and place appointed for Installation 3. Of Commissions for Installation 4. Of Letters of Summons 5. Of Warrants for the Livery of the Order 6. The removal of Atchievements and Plates And 7. preparations made by Knights Elect. Chap. XII Treats of the personal Installation of a Knight-Subject in eleven Sections 1. Of the Cavalcade to Windsor 2. The Offerings in the Chappel on the Eve of the Installation 3. The Supper on the Eve 4. The order in proceeding to the Chapter-house 5. The Ceremonies performed in the Chapter-house 6. The proceeding into the Choire 7. The Ceremonies of Installation 8. The order observed when two or more Knights are installed in one day 9. The Offerings of Gold and Silver 10. The grand Dinner at the Installation And 11. of setting up the Knight's Atchievements Chap. XIII Treats of the Installation of a Knight-Subject by proxy in nine Sections 1. The original cause of making Proxies 2. Letters of Procuration 3. Qualifications of a Proxy 4. Preparations for Installations 5. Proceeding to the Chapter-house 6. Transactions in it 7. Proceeding to the Choire 8. Ceremonies performed there And 9. the grand Dinner Chap. XIV Treats of the signification of Election to Strangers in five Sections 1. In what time and manner Certificate is made for their Election 2. Of notice given of an Election before sending the Habit 3. Notice of Election sent with the Habit 4. Certificate of acceptation And 5. of an Election not accepted of Chap. XV. Treats of the Investiture of Strangers with the Habit and Ensigns of the Order in four Sections 1. The time for sending the Habit and Ensigns unlimited 2. Preparations made for the Legation 3. The Ceremonies of Investiture And 4. Certificates of having received the Habit and Ensigns of the Order Chap. XVI Treats of the Installation of a Stranger by Proxy in thirteen Sections 1. Touching the choice and nomination of a Proxy 2. The Proctor's qualifications 3. His Letters of Procuration 4. Of the Proctor's Reception 5. The preparations for Installation 6. The Proctor's Cavalcade to Windsor 7. Supper after his arrival there 8. Of the proceeding to the Chapter-house 9. The Ceremonies performed therein 10. Of the proceeding to the Choire 11. The Ceremonies of Installation 12. The Proctor's Offerings And 13. the Dinner Chap. XVII Treats of the Duties and Fees payable by the Knights-Companions at their Installations in four Sections 1. Concerning the Fees due to the Colledge of Windsor 2. Fees due to the Register Garter Black Rod and Officers of Arms 3. Fees belonging to others of the Sovereign's Servants And 4. Fees payable for Strangers Chap. XVIII Treats of the Grand Feast of the Order in ten Sections 1. The Grand Feast appointed to be annually kept on St. George's day 2. The Anniversary of St. George fixed by the Church unto the Three and twentieth of April 3. St. George's day made Festum duplex 4. The place for celebrating the Grand Feast assigned to Windsor Castle 5. St. George's day kept apart from the Grand Feast and how then observed 6. The Grand Feast neglected by King Edward the Sixth 7. Removed from Windsor by Queen Elizabeth 8. Of prorogation of the Grand Feast 9. Of Commissions for prorogation And 10. that the Grand Feast ought to be celebrated once every year Chap. XIX Of preparations for the Grand Feast of the Order in eight Sections 1. Of Letters giving notice of the time and place 2. Of Dispensations for not attending at the Grand Feast 3. Of Commissions of Lieutenancy and Assistance 4. Warrants for the Removal of Atchievements 5. Scutcheons of Arms and Styles 6. Of adorning the Chappel 7. The furnishing of St. George's Hall And 8. Officers and Servants appointed to attend at the Grand Feast Chap. XX. Treats of the order of the Ceremonies on the Eve of the Grand Feast in seven Sections 1. Of the beginning of the Grand Feast 2. Of setting the proceeding in order 3. Of proceeding to the Chapter-house 4. Of the opening of the Chapter 5. Transactions in the Chapter held before the first Vespers 6. The Ceremonies relating to the first Vespers And 7. the Supper on the Eve Chap. XXI Treats of the Order of the Ceremonies on the Feast day in nine Sections 1. The proceeding to the Chappel in the morning 2. The proceeding to the second Service 3. Of the Grand Procession 4. The order of the said Service 5. The Offering of Gold and Silver 6. The return to the presence 7. Of the Dinner on the Feast-day 8. The Ceremonies belonging to the second Vespers And 9. of the Supper on the Evening of the Feast-day Chap. XXII Treats of the Ceremonies observed on the last day of the Feast in four Sections 1. Of proceeding to the Chapter-house in the morning 2. Of the elect Knights proceeding into the Choire 3. Of the Ceremonies performed at Divine Service And 4. the Diets at some of the Grand Feasts Chap. XXIII Treats of the Observations of the Grand Feast by absent Knights in five Sections 1. Absent Knights enjoyned to observe the Grand Feast 2. More particular directions for their observation thereof 3. How to be observed in case of Sickness 4. In what manner the Feast hath been observed by absent Knights And 5. Dispensation for absence granted during life Chap. XXIV Treats of Degradation of a Knight-Companion in three Sections 1. Of the Degradation of a Knight Batchelor 2. The manner of Degrading a Knight-Companion of the Garter And 3. of Restauration into the Order after Degrading Chap. XXV Treats of Honors paid to deceased Knights-Companions in four Sections 1. Of the celebration formerly of Masses for defunct Knights-Companions 2. Of fixing on the Stalls Plates of their Arms and Styles 3. The Offering of Atchievements And 4. of depositing the deceased Knights Mantles in the Chapter-house Chap. XXVI Treats of the Founder the first Knights-Companions and their Successors in four Sections 1. Of what number they consisted 2. A short view of the Founder's Wars 3. Some account of the first Five and twenty Knights-Companions And 4. a Catalogue of their Successors OF Knights Bannerets CHAP. XVIII THIS Degree of Knighthood called by some Equites Vexillarii or Chevaliers a Banier is a most ancient Order having been used in England ever since King Edward the First and hath been always conferred on most deserving persons for their signal Valour as I shall anon take occasion to speak of 'T is the Judgment of some Antiquaries that these Bannerets were once used as a part of the three States of the Realm and that it was the Custome of Kings hertofore to summon by Writ the Lords Spiritual and Temporal with such other worthy persons of this Order as they thought fit to call to consult about the Publick Affairs of the Kingdom which persons thus assembled were then called a Parliament And that those Bannerets often serving their King
Domini sui ei conferet maritagium suum c. which words cannot be understood when he is out of Ward and Custody no more than when he is married after the Age of One and twenty years Note hereby that the King may prevent his Grantee or other Lords of the double value by Knighthood Yet in such case presently after the Heir is made a Knight after the death of his Ancestor the Lord may have a Writ de valore maritagii for the single Also by the ancient Common Law of this Realm if a Villain be made a Knight he is immediately infranchised And if a Ribald or a man of base birth and condition had struck a Knight by the ancient Law he should have lost his hand wherewith he offended But in France it was anciently adjudged that when the Lord of a Villain had Knighted his Villain being a Gentleman he became free and had his Honour lawâ—ully but if another Lord had Knighted him nothing had been wrought by it for none could manumit him but his Lord and till Manumission or Knighthood he had civil freedom for his ground but was not capable of it except by the King only It was enacted by Parliament in the sixth year of the Reign of King Iohn in haec verba Rex Vicecom c. Sciatis quod consensum est cum assensu Archiepiscoporum Comitum Baronum omnium fidelium nostrorum Angliae quod novem Milites per totam Angliam invenient decuriam Militum bene paratorum aequis armis ad defensionem Regni nostri There hath ever been and still is great use of the Services of Knights even in Civil Affairs and concerning matters of Justice as in a Writ of Right which is the highest Writ in Law for trial of Titles touching the Inheritance of Lands the Tenant is at his Election to have his Trial by great Assize or else by Battel if by the great Assize the Writ De magna Assiza eligenda shall be thus viz. Rex Vicecomiti salutem c. Summone as per bonos summonitores quatuor legales Milites de Comitatu tuo quod sint coram Iusticiariis nostris ad primam Assizam cum in partes illas venerint ad eligendum super sacramentum suum 12 de militibus de visum de N. qui melius sciant velint dicere veritatem adfaciendam recognitionem magnae assurae inter A. petent B. tenent de uno messuagio cum pertinentiis in N. unde idem B. qui tenens est posuit secum magnam Ass. nostram petit recognitionem fieri utrum eorum habent jus in messuagium praed B. qui tunc sit ibi auditurus illam electionem habeas ibi nomina praed milit ad hoc breve c. And upon the Return of this Writ those four Knights must appear gladiis cuncti Dier 79. fol. 103. If the Tenant make his Election by Battel each parties are to choose their Champions and the Court shall award the Battel and the Champions shall be at Mainprize and sworn to perform the Battel at a certain day in the Term and idem dies shall be given to the parties at which day and place a List shall be made in an even and plain Ground there quadrant that is to say every way sixty foot square and the Place or Court for the Justices of the Common Pleas without and upon the Lists furnished with the same Clothes which belong to their Court at Westminster and a Barr shall be there made for the Serjeants at Law and the Robes of the Justices and Serjeants shall be of Scarlet with their Coifs on as it was the Thirteenth of Eliz. and then was made Proclamation with three O Yes And the Demandant first was solemnly demanded and did not appear whereupon the Manuperors of the Champion were demanded to bring forth the Champion of the Demandant who came into the place apparelled with red Sandals upon his black Armour bare legged from the Knee downwards and bare headed and bare Arms to the Elbows being brought in by a Knight namely Sir Ierom Bowes who carried a red Battoon of an ell long tipped with horn and a Yeoman carrying the Target made of double Leather and they were brought in at the North side of the Lists and went about the sides of the Lists until they came to the midst of the Lists and then came towards the Barr before the Justices with three solemn Congies and there was he made to stand on the South side of the place being the right side of the Court And after that the other Champion was brought in in like manner at the South side of the Lists with like Congies by the hands of Sir Henry Chequie Kt. c. and was placed on the North side of the Barr and two Serjeants being of the Counsel of each part in the midst between them This done the Demandant was solemnly called again and appeared not but made default Bowham Serjeant for the Tenant prayed the Court to record the Nonsuit quod factum fuit And then Dyer Chief Justice reciting the Writ and Content and Issue joyned upon the Battel and the other of the Champions to perform it and the prefiction of this day and place did give final Judgment against the Demandant and that the Tenant should have the Land to him and to his Heirs for ever and the Demandant and his Pledges de prosequendo in misericordia Reginae And afterwards solemn Proclamation was made that the Champions and all others there present which were by estimation above Four thousand persons might depart every man in the peace of God and the Queen sic fecerunt cum magno clamore vivat Regina Also if false Judgment be given in the Country which is the Sheriffs Court then the Writ shall be thus Henricus c. Vicecomiti Lincoln salutem Si A. fecerit c. tum in pleno Comitatu tuo per breve nostrum de recto inter Iohannem L. petentem Will B. tenentem de uno messuagio centum acris terrae cum pertinentiis in C. unde idem I. L. queritur falsum sibi factum fuisse Iudicium in eodem Record illud habeas coram Iusticiariis Iuris apud Westminsterium tali die sub sigillo tuo per quatuor legales Milites ejusdem comitatus illos qui Recordo illi interfuerunt summoneas per bonos summonitores praedictum B. quod tunc sit ibi auditurus Recordum illud habeas ibi sua nomina quatuor militum hoc breve Fitz. Nat. Brev. itidem E. And those four must be Knights indeed Also the Justices upon consideration of the usual words in every Writ of Venire Facias Coram c. Duodecim tum Milites quam alios liberos legales homines c. say that these words tum Milites were not at the first put into the Writ without effect Plowden 117. b. For it seemeth that in diebus
illis some Knights were returned upon every Venire Facias By the Statute of Magna Charta cap. 12. It is ordained that Assizes of Novel Disseison and Mortdancester should not be taken any where but within the Countries where they happen by the Justices of Assize and the Knights of the Shire vide Westminster 2. chap. 30. And by the Seven and twentieth of Edward the First chap. 30. de finibus levandis amongst other things it is enacted That for the utility of the Realm and the more assured conservation of the Peace the Justices assigned to take Assizes in all Shires where they take Assizes as it is ordained immediately after the Assizes taken in the Shires shall remain both together if they be Lay and if one of them be a Clerk then one of the most discreet Knights of the Shire being associated unto him that is a Lay-man by our Writ shall deliver the Goals of the Shires as well within the Liberties as without of all manner of Prisoners after the form of the Goal Delivery of those Shires beâ—ore time used Also in the Statute of Westminster 21. cap. 38. de non ponendis in Assizis Iuratis it is provided that the said Statute shall not extend to Grand Assizes in which it behoveth many times Knights to pass not resident in the County for the scarcity of Knights so that they have Lands in the Shire And by the Law Knights having Land may be returned upon Juries in ordinary Trials between party and party as other Freeholders may be And therefore in a Challenge to the great Assize under Edward the Third one was challenged pur ceo qu'il fait abaner or as the Abridgment hath it a Baronet but it was not allowed and the Reason is given Car s'il soit à Baner ne tient pas per Baronie il serra en l'assise Of the double parity of England that is of Barons and all Dignities above them being Peers of the Realm and all other under them are Peers amongst themselves for notwithstanding that Dignity of Knighthood they are reckoned amongst the Commons And we daily see that Knights do serve in Parliament as Members of the Commonalty Nevertheless the Sheriff in his discretion will not impannel Knights but in special and great Causes As in Cases of Indictments of a Peer of the Realm they are to be enquired and found by Knights and Esquires though their Trial shall be only by their Peers And in 38 Hen. 8. Henry Howard Earl of Surrey Son and Heir apparent of Thomas Duke of Norfolk was attainted of High Treason and was tried also by Knights Esquires and Gentlemen and not by Lords or Peers of the Realm because he was not of that Dignity by Creation Since the use of making every Earl first a Baron of some place which began as most Writers treat about the time of Henry the Eighth it hath been a Custome to style their Heirs apparent Lords and Barons with the Title of their Father's Barony when Viscounts or Baron's Heirs apparent are only styled Esquires but this is only a piece of Civility and of meer fashion yet it is allowed of in Heraldry with whom the Rule is That the eldest Son of every one of a created Degree is as of the next Degree under him which may be applied to Dukes Earls and the like But in Legal Proceedings they enjoy no such matter nor have by their being Heirs Apparent any Prerogative of the greater Nobillty And in case where a Peer of the Realm is party Plaintiff or Defendant in any Action or Suit if the Sheriff do not return one Knight at the least to be of the Jury the said Noble Person may Challenge and for that only cause quash the whole pannel By the Statute of Carlisle 15 Edw. 2. it was enacted That he who levied a Fine should appear in proper person to the intent that his Age Idiocy or other defect might be discovered by the Judges Nevertheless upon Impotency whereby he cannot come in Court two or one of the Justices by the consent of the rest of the Justices shall go unto him and take his Recognizance and if but one of them go he shall take a Knight with him and shall certifie it in the Bench of Record to the intent that all things incident to the fine be examined by them and then the fine may be levied But after this good Statute a worse Custom and Use hath come in place For by a Dedimus potestatem out of Chancery to one Knight and to a Justice of the Peace of the County in such cases is procured and directed to a Knight and two others who perhaps be neither Knights nor Justices but perhaps men of small estimation and unto two or three of them without saying Quorum the Knight shall be one and two of them without the Knight have taken the Recognizance of the Fine ibid. 101. b. But great prejudice this practise of omitting the interposing of the usual Service of Knights in this behalf hath been to many and scandalous to the Law of the Land they sometimes taking Recognizances of a Fine from a Feme Covert as if she were sole and many times acknowledged by Justices If a Tenant do lay an Essoin de morbo lecti he may have a Writ out of the Chancery to warrant it by which it shall be commanded to four Knights to view him and if they see him sick then they are to give him day to the end of a year and a day Note the Register fol. 177. b. Quod Coronator non elegatur nisi sit miles in c. juxta formam Statuti Westm. 1. cap. 10. It is a received Opinion that Knights are excused from attendance at Leets and Britton 29. 36. is cited to prove it And by a large understanding of the intent and meaning of the Statute of Marlbridge chap. 10. For the ancient Common Law had such respect to the Degree of Knighthood that they nor their eldest Sons were compelled to find Pledges in the Leet or Law-days for the Statute of Marlbridge aforesaid was not Introductiva novae Legis for it was before the Conquest And the Common Law is not by this Statute abridged And by the Book called the Mirror of Iustice mentioned in the Preface to Coke's ninth part it is said that Knights are excepted And so it appears that the practice was as well before as immediately after the making of that Statute of Marlbridge and Interpretatio Practica is a principal way and form of Interpretation of Laws The Lord Chancellor's Speech in the Case of Postnati fol. 58. And in Divinity Praxis sanctorum est interpretatio praeceptorum ibid. 66. But a Knight and all Superiors and Inferiors are bound by Law to attend the County or Sheriffs Court wherein he dwelleth and at his peril to take notice of the proceedings thereof For if a Man be Outlawed of Felony at a County Court and one of the same County not
Gouernor of Plimouth who wa◠〈◊〉 of Honor to his maty in his exile now 〈◊〉 yeâ—â—oomes of 〈◊〉 Bedchamberâ— Captaine in his Foot Guards 〈◊〉 Mariet of Whitchurch in Warwickshire of 〈◊〉 Prâ—ston in Glocestershire Esq maried one of th◠〈◊〉 and hâ—yrâ—s of Sr. Richard Brawnâ— of 〈◊〉 in the said County of Glocester Knight Walter Chetwynd of Ingestre in ye. County of Stafford Esq Samuel Pepys of Brampton in Huntinâ—â—tonshire Esq Secretary of the Admiralty his maty King Charles the Second Descendeâ— of the antient family of Pepys of Cottenham in Cambridgâ—â— â—â—hn Georges of Bawton in Glocestershire Esq a member of the Honourable house of Comons for this present Parliament 1677 descended the antient and Worthy family of the Georges of Cicester in the said County Iohn Butler D. D. Chaplain in ordinary to his 〈◊〉 King Charles the 2d. and Canon of Windsor marâ—â— Susanna one of the daughters of Sr. Edward Thomas of Lamihangle in Glamorganshire Bart. â—â—ptaine Iohn Loggan of Idbury in Oxfordshirâ— and of Bassetsbury in Comâ— Bucks Maried Mary Sole Daughter and heire of Hugh Dâ—rrell of Millend in the said County of Buckinghaâ— Gent. Henry Pilkington of Stanton in the County of Derby Esqr. George Bowen Esqr. lineally descended from and present heire unto the antient family of the Bowens of Courthouse in the seigniory of Gower in Glomorganshire Henry Gilbert son and heyre of Henry Gilbert of Lockoe in Derbyshire Esqr. by Elizabeth daughter and Coeheyre of Sr. Iohn Barnard of Abington in Northamptonshire Knight Iohn Colwall of the Inner Temple London Esqr. Samuel Sanders son heyre apparent of Thomas Sanders of Ireton in Derbyshire Esqr. which maried Margaret daughter and Coeheyre of Evers Armyne of Osgodby in the County of Lincolne Esqr. Richard Goodlad of the Citty of London Esqr. Lewis Inkledon of Buckland in the Parish of Branton in the County of Devon Esqr. Thomas Rawlins of Langarran in the County of Hereford Esqr. Colonell Titus of Bushy in the County of Herâ—ford one of the Groomes of his matys Bedchamber c. Thoâ— Dereham Esq of the antient family of Dereham at Dereham in Norfolk Servant to his Majesty King Charles the 2d. Eâ—an Seqâ— of Boverton in the County of Glaâ—morgan sergeant at Law of which Coat and family see more in the body of the Booke Section 6. Chapter â— â—ndrew Lant of Thorp vnderwood alias Thorp Billâ—â— in Northamptonshire Esq son of Robert Lant of London Merchant by Elizabeth Daughter heyre of Rich Andrews of Thorp vnderwooâ—â—â—â—resaid Gent. which said Andrew Lant is now maried to Iudith◠〈◊〉 daughter of Will Vannam of London Esq Iohn Darnall of the Middle Temple London Esqr. now maried to Mary daughter of William Bacon of St. Clements Danes in Middlesex Esqr. Gabriel Armiger of North Creakâ— in the County of Norfolk and of the Inner Temple London Esq â— William Dutton Colt Esq r son of George Colt of Colt Hall in Suffolk Esq r by Elizabeth daughter and Coheyre of Iohn Dutton of Sherbourn in Glocestershire Esqr. which said William is now maried to Lucy sole daughter of Thomas Webb of in Kent Esqr. Randolph Egerton of Betley in Staffordshire Esqr. first Leivtenant and Major of his Matâ—s owne Troop of Guards under the comand of his grace Iames Duke of Monmouth first maried to Penelope daughter of the Rt. honble Rob viscount Kilmurrey of the Kingdome of Ireland and now to Eiliz â—aughter and heyre of Henry Murrey Esq r one of the Gent of his Matis Bed-chamber to K. Charles the first by Ann now viscountess Banning Iohn Wildman of Beaucot alias Becket in the County of Berks Esqr. Nathan Knight of Ruscombe in Berkshire Esq r intermariat â—th Margaret Eldest daughter and Coheire of William Stroode of Ruscombe Aforesaid Esqr. William Petyt of the Inner Tâ—mple London Esq r and Silvester Petyt Genâ— Brother to the Sd. Wm. descâ—ndeâ—â— by Gilbert a Younger sonn of Sr. Iohn Petytâ— From â—â— Antient family of that name who were Lords of Ardever in Cornwall tempore H. â— Iohn Lamphigh of Lamplugh in Cumberland Esqr. Collonell of a foot Regiment at Marston Moore in Yorkshire under the Command of his Highâ—ness Prince Rupert of wch Family see more in the body of the Bookeâ— section 2d. Chapt â— Thomas Burton of the City of London Esq Thomas Madden of the Inner Temple London Esâ— desâ—ended of ye. Maddens Formerly of Muddenton in Milâ—shire who are now seated at Rousky Castle in 〈◊〉 County of Fermanaugh in the Kingdome of 〈◊〉 Godwin Swift of Gooderidge in the County of Hereford Esq one of the society of Graâ—s Inn descend of the Family of ye. Swists of York-shire Henry Raâ—â—sford B. D and Rector of Stanmoâ—e Magna in the County of Midd Maried Mary one of ye. Daughters of Iohn Montfort of Jewing in ye. County of Hartford D. D. Residentiary of St Pauls London Nathaniel Stoughton of St. Iohns near Warwick in Warwick shire Esq lineally descended from the antient family of the Stâ—ughtons of Stoughton in Surrey now maried to Ann daughter and heyre of Will Brough late Deane of Glocester deceased of this family see more in the body of the booke Section 6. Chap 1. Capt. Iohn Clifford of Frampton upon Severne in Glocestershire whose family have there continued ever since the Reigne of Will the Conqueror takeing its rise from Puntins a noble man of Normandy who came into England with the said Will whose second sonn Osbert held the said Frampton and from whom for want of issue it descended to Walter de Clifford the predecessor of the said Iohn of wch Coate and family see more in the body of the booke section 5. Chapter 4. Richard Booth of the Citty of London Esqr. descended from the Booth's of Witton in Warwickshire now maried to Elizabeth daughter of Iohn Hopcroft Cittizen of London Thomas Stephens Esq r only son and heyre of S. Tho. Stephens of little Sodbury in Glocestershire Kt now liveing whose Grandfather Tho Stephens was Attourney Generall to Prince Henâ— and after his decease to K. Charles the first when Prince of Wales in wch service he dyed of this family see more in the body of the booke section 3. chap. 20. William Iollife of Carswall Castle in Stafford shire Esqr. who first maried Martha eldest daughter of Thomas Foley of Witley Court in Worcestershire Esq r and now the Lady Mary Hastings daughter of the Rt. honble Ferdinando late Earle of Huntington Henry Arthington of Arthington in the west Rideing of York shire Esq â— Thomas Modyford of Easttuar in the County of Kent Esqrâ— Collonell of a Regiment of Foot at Port Royall in the Island of Iamaica sonn and heyre of Sr. Tho. Modyford Bart. late Governor of the Sd. Island Erasmus Smith alias Herâ—â— of St. Iones in the parish of Clarkenwell in Midd Esqr. sonn of Sr. Roger Smith of Edmonthorp in Leicestershire Kt. decâ—ased descended from the antient family of the Smiths of Withcock in the s â— County â—câ— S
certain Lands in Escuage like as the Knight himself did of the King by Knights Service The beginning of giving Arms in Europe amongst Christians is supposed from the Holy Wars for the Turks paint them not And so with us about Henry the Third's time they became here more firmly established And when the Prince enobled any he usually gave them the particular of his bearing in Blazon Iohn Selden in his Preface fol. 5. where you may also see an Example in King Richard the Second But now there are five distinct sorts of Esquires observed and those that have been already spoken of are now in no request Of these sorts the principal at this day are the eldest Sons of Viscounts and Lord next are all Noblemens younger Sons then are accounted those that are select Esquires for the King's Body the next are Knights eldest Sons successively in a fourth rank are reckoned those unto whom the King himself together with the Title giveth Arms or createth Esquires by putting about their Necks a Silver Collar of SS and in former times upon their Heels a pair of white silvered Spurs whereupon at this day in the Western part of the Kingdom they be called White-spurs for distinction from Knights who were wont to wear gilt Spurs and to the first begotten Sons only of these doth this Title belong In the fifth and last place be those that have any superiour publick Office in the Kingdom as high Sheriffs Justices of the Peace c. or serve the King in any worshipful Calling At the Coronation of Kings and Queens Knights of the Bath are made men of worth and honourable blood to the end that their Majesties may be accompanied in their own Honours every of which Knights having two Gentlemen to attend them in that Ceremony who are ever after by that Service enabled to be Esquires during their lives But the name of Esquire in ancient time was a name of Charge and Office and first crept in amongst other Titles of Dignity and Worship so far as ever I could observe in the Reign of King Richard the Second vide Sir Thomas Smith de Republica Anglorum fol. 26. where he saith That the Esquire is no distinct Order of the Commonwealth A Serjeant of the King's Kitchin may bear the Name and Addition of Cook or Esquire according to the Opinion of Newton But Ienne saith Such Officers of his Majestie 's Houshold would be much grieved if they should be named by their Trade or Office Peradventure in that case the Writ may be good because of the Statute viz. 1 Hen. 5. ch 5. For the Statute is That he should be named of the Town Degree State Condition or Mystery and when he was named Cook he observed the Statute for he hath named him by his own name of Mystery and yet he may be in that case an Esquire and a Cook If a man be an Esquire or Gentleman only by Office and loseth the same he loseth also that title of Gentility Note That an Esquire or Gentleman is but an Addition to satisfie the said Statute but names of Dignity are parcel of the name And thereupon if a Praecipe quod reddat be against Iohn a Stiles Yeoman and recovery is had whereas the Tenant was a Gentleman yet the Recovery is good The same Law where a Release is made to Iohn a Stiles Yeoman who is a Gentleman and where addition is given by the party where it needeth not by the Law being no Dignity it is void So if a deed be made to a Gentleman by the name of a Yeoman for there is a great difference between Deeds and Writs If an Esquire be to be Arraigned of High Treason he may and ought to be tried per probos Legales homines that may expend Forty shillings of Freehold or be worth One hundred pounds in the value of Goods And so the Statute that doth speak of men of his condition hath always been put in ure Dyer 99. b. Note a Knight hath no other priviledge by Statute or Common Law The King may make an Esquire by Patent viz. Creamus te Armigerum c. Note the Preface to the printed Book of Titles of Honour 5. b. 318. By the statute 21. Hen. 8. chap. 13. amongst other things it is enacted that the Brethren and Sons born in Wedlock of every Knight being Spiritual men may every of them purchase License or Dispensation and receive take and keep two Parsonages or Benefices with cure of souls The Son or Sons of any Knight and heir apparent of an Esquire is priviledge to keep Greyhounds setting Doggs or Nets to take Pheasants or Partridges though he cannot dispend ten pounds in his own right or in his Wives right of Estate of Inheritance or of the value of thirty pounds of Estate for life By the precedent discourse of Knights Batchelors we understand that all persons by the common Law are compellable to take the degree of Knighthood or to fine if they are possest of such an Estate as the King and his Council shall judge fit to maintain that Port in their Country And his annual Revenue deemed fit for that Dignity and the fines imposed upon such as refused we find in our Histories and Statutes to vary with the times and certainly the best Esquires or at least none under the Reputation of Gentlemen were compelled although 't was at the King's pleasure And therefore 1 Edw. 2. Stat. de Militibus the Parliament saith Sanderson more for ease of the Subject than profit of the King limited it to such as had Twenty pounds per Annum and better and afterwards 't was raised to Thirty pounds and a plentiful Revenue in those times when a Dowry of Three thousand pounds per Annum to a Queen was deemed a great impoverishment to the Crown and Kingdom but the East and Western part of the World being laid open to the Merchants money began to be more common and by consequence Land to its value so that in the reign of King Charles the First Forty pounds per Annum being the rate set for such as ought to be made Knights or to fine many Farmers Leaseholders Merchants Inholders and others were called in whereby above 100 thousand pounds was brought into the Exchequer Notwithstanding which divers persons made Friends and took the Degree of Knighthood which occasioned the extinguishment of the ancient Tax For many Esquires by birth wealth and education who bore the chiefest Offices of Honour and Trust in the Commonwealth disdained to stoop or give place to those new dubbed Knights countenanced the Complaints of the common people against the Law it self as a grievance and prevailed so far in the following Parliament to get it repeal'd as you may see 17 Car. chap. 20. Since which time the difference between the Degree of Knighthood and Dignity of an Esquire consists only in Title a double rate in the Pole Tax and priority of place which as I before noted is often
House generally twice a week and keep Courts â—or the negotiation of their Affairs The government of this Company for this present year 1678. is committed to the care of Sir Nathaniel Herne Kt. Governour Major Robert Thomson Deputy-Governour and to the Right Honourable George Lord Berkeley Sir Samuel Barnadiston Sir Iohn Banks Baronets Sir William Thomson Sir Stephen White Sir Iames Edwards Sir Iohn Moore Sir Iohn Lethulier Knights Iosia Child Iohn Iolliff Iohn Bathurst Col. Iohn Clarke Iames Houblon Samuel Moyer Charles Thorold Thomas Papillon Esquires Mr. Christopher Boone Mr. Thomas Canham Mr. Ioseph Herne Mr. Nathaniel Letton Mr. Iohn Page Mr. Edward Rudge Mr. Daniel Sheldon and Mr. Ieremy Sambrook Assistants The Levant or Turky Company of Merchants which by their Discovery made the first Trade into the Seigniory of Venice and then into the Dominions of the Grand Seignior and including the Trade of the East-Indies which as then was undiscovered to us by Sea their goods being brought upon Camels and Ass-negroes to Aleppo and other parts of Turky but since the discovery of the Indies by Sea the Trade of this Company is something eclipsed for those Commodities which are now brought us by the East-India Company The benefit that ariseth to this Nation from this Company besides the imploying so many Ships and Seamen is in the Exporting and Importing of so many rich Commodities and in particular Clothes both died and drest at the least thirty thousand pieces yearly Kersies Lead Tinn Iron Steel Wire Pewter Furrs pieces of Eight Sugar Hides Elephants-teeth Brasill red and white Lead Indico Logwood Couchaniel Callicoes Spices and several Indian Commodities And for these they Import raw Silks of Persia Damascus Tripoli c. also Camblets Grograins Grograin-yarn Mohairs of Angor Woolls Cottons Cotton-yarn of Smyrna and Cyprus Galls of Mosolo and Toccat the Coralls and Oyls of Zant Zeffalonia Morea c. the Drugs of Egypt and Arabia also Turky-Carpets Cordovants Box-wood Rhubarb Worm-seed Sena Cummin-seed with several other rich Commodities This worshipful Company of Merchants was first Incorporated in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth and since confirmed by her Successors and have ample Priviledges and Immunities granted unto them as making of Laws and Orders for the well government of the said Fellowship power of deciding Controversies which arise in the said Company as to their Trade giving Oaths imposing Fines or imprisoning of Offenders according to their discretion the using of a Publick Seal and the bearing of a Coat of Arms as is set forth in the Escocheon of Arms aforesaid And for the better management of the Affairs of this Honourable Company they are governed by a Governour Deputy-Governour and Court of Assistants consisting of 18 who in the Month of February are Annually chosen by a general Consent out of the Members of the said Company and these meet and keep Courts monthly weekly or as oft as their occasions require for the management of the concerns of the said Society as binding and making free electing and sending over Consuls Vice-Consuls Factors and Servants to Constantinople Smyrna Aleppo Cyprus and such places where their Factories are kept The management of the Affairs of this Honourable Company for this present year 1678. is committed to the care and prudent government of the Right Honourable George Lord Berkeley of Berkeley whose worthy parts and great love to Traffick makes him every way so fit for it that the Company for these several years past have by an unanimous consent elected his Lordship their Governour Iohn Buckworth Esq Deputy Mr. Iohn Harvey Treasurer Mr. Thomas Vernon Husband Sir Iohn Lethulier Kt. Charles Thorold Esq Iohn Morden Esq Mr. Thomas Pilkington Mr. Richard Poulter Mr. Henry Griffith Mr. Iohn Morice Mr. Richard Onslow Mr. Thomas Hartopp Mr. Walter Conventrey Mr. William Hedges Mr. Iasper Clotterbook Mr. Abraham Wessell Mr. Richard Nicol Mr. Bernard Saltonstall Mr. George Carew The Russia or Moscovy Company of Merchant Adventurers for discovery of new Trades was first Incorporated in the beginning of the Reign of King Philip and Queen Mary upon the Discoveries of Lands Territories Seigniories and Isles by Seas lying Northwards North-eastwards and North-westwards from England and was afterwards confirmed by Act of Parliament in the eighth year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth so that now they enjoy several Immunities and Priviledges as to raise Arms for the subduing of Countreys in the limits aforesaid and to enter thereon and set up the English Standards to make Acts and Ordinances for the good of the said Society so as they are not repugnant to the Laws of the Kingdom to punish Offenders by Fine or Imprisonment to use a Common Seal to bear a Coat of Arms c. as is here depicted The Commodities that this Company Exporteth are woollen Clothes both died and dressed of all sorts Kersies Bayes Cottons Perpetuances Fustians Norwich Stuffs Lace Thread Lead Tinn Pewter Allom Copper much defective Wines and Fruits not fit to be spent in this Kingdom with most sorts of English Goods And for these and the like they Import Pot-ashes Tarr Cordage Cable-yarn Tallow Wax Isinglass several sorts of Hides in the Hair Goat-skins undrest Cordovants tan'd Hides Hogs-brissles raw Silk Linseed Slod Bever wooll and wombs several sorts of rich Furrs Seal-skins Rhuberb Castorum Agarick Train-oyl Flax Hemp Linen Caviare Salmon Stockfish Codfish c. This worshipful Company of Merchants is governed by a Governour four Consuls and Assistants consisting of four and twenty who on the first of March are Annually chosen out of the Members of the said Society and for this present Year 1677. the management thereof is committed to the care of Iohn Iolliff Esq Governour Sir Benjamin Ayloff Baronet Samuel Moyer Esq Charles Thorold Esq Mr. Charles Carill Consuls to Mr. Edward Bell Treasurer and to Iohn Gould Esq Mr. Daniel Edwards Mr. Benjamin Glanvile Mr. Iames Young Mr. Benjamin Colds Mr. George Grove Mr. Francis Pargiter Mr. George Carew Mr. Heritage Lenten Captain Gervase Lock Mr. Edward Grace Mr. Thomas Thursby Mr. Thomas Hancox Mr. Iohn Ashby Mr. Richard Adams Mr. Edward Davenport Mr. Thomas Hawes â— Mr. George Cooks Mr. Gilbert Ward Mr. Ioseph Wolfe Mr. Iohn Porter Mr. Iohn Osborne and Mr. Iohn Penning Assistants The Eastland Company first Incorporated in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth and confirmed by King Charles the Second and by their Charter have ample Immunities and Priviledges granted to them and as large a scope to traffick in including the Trade of the Kingdoms Dominions Dukedoms Countreys Cities and Towns of Norway Swedeland and Poland with the Territories of the said Kingdoms as also in Lettow Liffland and Pomerland from the River Odera Eastwards and likewise in the Isles of Findland Eoland and Berâ—tholine within the Sound The Commodities by this Company Exported are Woollen Clothes Perpetuances Kersies Serges Norwich Stuffs Cottons Lead Tinn Pewter Stockins Hats Gloves together with several Southern and Eastern Commodities as Sattins Silks Spices
Honourable and Peers of the Realm as they are Barons without any other distinction The Etymology of the Name of Baron MAny Writers have laboured to place the Etymology and signification of this word wherein following too much their own Fantasies they have bred much variation of Opinion As for Etymology of words I agree with him that saith it is Levis fallax Effigies Illustrissimi DniÌ„ Caecilij Calvert Baronis BALTEMORE de Baltemore in Regno Hibernice Absoluti DniÌ„ et Proprietarij Provinciarum Terrae-Mariae et Avaloniae in America etc a. Abra Blotling sculp The Right Honourable George Lord Nevill Baron of Abergâ—venny in Monmouthshire â—â— The Right Honourable Iames Lord Touâ—hett Baron Audley of Hâ—leigh in England and Earle of Castle haâ—en in Ireland c a. The Right Honourable Charles Lord Weâ—â— Baron De la Ware in Hantshire The Right Honourable George Lord Berkley of Berkley c a. descended from Harding a yonger sone of one of the Danish Kings Who came in with William ye. Conquerour c a The Right Honourable Thomas Lord Parker Baron Morley and Monteaglâ— in Lancashire The Right honourable Conyers Lord D'Arcy Baron D'Arcy and Menil in Yorkshire The Right Honourable Benjamin Lord Mildmay Baron Fitzwater The Right Honourable William Lord Sturton Baron Sturton of Sturton in Wiltshire The Right Honourable Henry Lord Sandis Baron Sandis of the Vine in Hantshire The Right Honourable Thomasâ— Lord Windsor Lord Leivetenant of Worcestersh and one of the Lords of his Ma â—â—s most honble Privy Councel for the Kingdome of Ireland The Right Honourable Thomas Lord Cromwell Baron of Oakham in Rutlandsh and Earle of Arglast Viscount Lecaile in the Kingdome of Ireland The Right honble Ralph Lord Eure Baron of Wilton in the County of Northumberland ct The Right Honourable Phillip Lâ—â—â— Wharton Baron of Wharton in The County of Westmoreland The Right Honourable Iohn Lord 〈◊〉 Baron Willoughby of Parhâ—m in Lincolnshire The Right Honourable William Lorâ— Pagâ—â—◠〈◊〉 of Beaudefert in the County of Stafford The Right Honourable Charles Loâ—◠〈◊〉 of Cartlidge in ye. County of Canâ—â—râ—â—â— and Baron Grey of Roleston The Right Honourable William Lord Bruges Baron Chandois of Sudley Castle in Glocester shire The Right Honourable Iames Lord Bertue Baron Norris of Rycott in Oxford shire brother to the Right Honourable Robert Earle of Lindsey ct The Right Honourable William Petre Baron of Writtle in Essex The Right Honourable Digby Gerard Baron of Gerardsâ— Bromley in Staffordshire The Right honble Charles Lord Stanhope Baron of Harrington in the County of Northampton c a. The Right honble Henry Lord Arundell Baron of Wardure in Wiltshire and Count of the Empire The Right Honourable Christopher Lord Roper Baron Tenham of Tenham in Kent The Right Honourable Robert Grevill Baron Brook of Beauchamps Court in Warwickshire Ld. Leivtenant of Staffordshire The Right Honourable Edward Lord Montague of Boughton decended from Simon Montague of Houghton who was brother to Iohn Earle of Salisbury The Rt. honble Ralph Lord Grey Baron of Warke c â— of whose family was Sr. Iohn Grey who for his good service in France was by King Henry the 5th created Earle of Tangverville in the said Kingdome The Right Honourable Iohn Lord Roberts Baron of Truro in Cornwall and one of the Lords of his maties most Honourable Privy Councell c a. The Right Honourable Iohn Lovelace Baron of Hurley in Barkshire The Right Honourable Iohn Lord Poulet Baron of Hinton St. George in Somerset shire The Right Honourable William Maynard Baron of Estaines in Essex and Baron Maynard of Wicklow in Ireland Comptroler of his Mtys household and one of the Lords of his most Honourable privy Councell The Right Honourable George Coventry Baron of Alesborough in Worcestershire The Right Honourable Thomas Howard Baron of Escricke in Yorkshire The Right honble Charles Lord Mohun Baron Mohun of Okehampton in Devonshire the Right honble Edward Lord Herbert Baron of Cherbury in Montgomeryshire and of Castle Island in Ireland and one of the Lords of his matyâ— most honble privy Councell for the Kingdom of Irelandâ— The Right honble Thomas Lord Leigh Baron Leigh of Stoneley in Warwick-shire The Right honble Richard Lord Biron Baron of Rachdale in Lancashire The Right honble Christopher Lord Hatton Baron of Kirby in Northamptonsh Governor of the Isle of Gemsey ct The Right honble Richard Lord Vaughan Baron of Emlyn in England and Earle oâ— Carbery in Ireland and one of the Lds of his Majestys most honble Privy Councell The Right honble Francis Lord Carrington Baron of Wotton in Warwicksh Viscount Bâ—rreford in the Kingdome of Ireland The Right honble William Lord Widdrington of Widdrington Castle in Northumberland and Baron of Blackney in ye. County of Lincolne The Right Honourable Edward Lord Ward Baron of Bermingham in the County of Warwick The Right honble Thomas Lord Culpeper Baron of Thornsway in Kent The Right honble Iacob Lord Astley Baron of Reding in Berkshire The Right Honourable Charles Lord Lucas Baron of Shenfeild in the County of Essex the Right honble John Lord Belasis Baron of Worlabye in Lincolnshire the Right honble Edward Watson Baron Rockingham of Rockingham in Northamtonshire son of Lewis Lord Rockingham by the Lady Elianor sister to Iohn Earle of Rutland now living An. 1625 The Right Honourable Charles Lord Gerard Baron of Brandon in Suffolk Gentleman of his matys Bedchamber The Right honble Robert Sutton Baron Lexington of Axam in Nottingham shire The Right Honourable Charles Henry Lord Kirkhoven Baron Wotton of Wotton in Kent The Right Honourable Marmaduke Lord Langdale Baron of Holme Langdale in Westmorland The Right honble William Lord Crofts Baron of Saxham in Suffolk Oâ—e of the Gentlemen of his matys Bedchamber The Right honble Iohnâ— Lord Berhley Baron of Stratton in Somersetshire One oâ— the Lords of his Majestys most honble Privy Councell The Right honble Denzell Lord Holles Baron of Ifield in Sussex Lord high Steward of the Honors Manor s and Revenews of the Queens Custos Rotolorum of Dorset shire The Right Honourable Charles Lord Cornwallis Baron of Eye in Suffolke c a. The Rt. honble George Lord Booth Baron De la Mer of Dunham Massey in Cheshire c a. The Right Honourable Horatio Lord Townesend Baron of Linn Regis in the County of Norfolke Lord Leivetenant of the said County c a. The Right Honourable Iohn Lord Crew Baron of Stean in Northampton shire The Right Honourable Iohn Lord Frescheville Baron of Staveley in Derby shire The Right Honourable Richard Lord Arundell Baron of Trerife in Cornwall The Right honble Thomas Butler Earle of Ossâ—ry in Ireland Baron Butler of More Park in Hereford shire Eldest Son to his Grace Iames Duke of Ormond Kt of the Garter one of the Gentlemen of his matys Bedchamber and Lords of his most Honourable privy Councell c a. The Right Honorbl Hugh Lord Clifford Baron of Chudleigh