THE SECOND PART OF A BRIEF REGISTER AND SURVEY Of the several Kinds and Forms of Parliamentary VVrits COMPRISING The several Varieties and Forms of Writs for electing Knights Citizens and Burgesses for Parliaments and Great Councils issued to Sheriffs of Counties only with the antientest Returns of these Writs by Sheriffs yet extant on Record from 49 H. 3. til 22 E. 4. amongst the Records in the Tower intermixed with other rare Writs pertinent to this subject and some Writs of Prorogation and Re-sommons with special usefull Annotations and Observations on them after most of these Writs recitals for the Readers information Wherein the Original of the Commons House and elections of Knights Citizens Burgesses and Barons of Ports to sit in Parliament is infallibly evidenced to be no antienter than 40 H. 3. the Presidents and Objections to the contrarie answered The Original of antient Boroughs and how many they were under King Edward the 1. 2 3. discovered The power of the Kings of England in creating new Boroughs by Charters or Writs augmenting diminishing the number of Knights Burgesses Members of the Commons House and altering the Forms of Writs of Summons without a Parliament The inability of the Commons House to eject or censure any one of their Members much less the major part as now without the King or House of Lords concurrence and Judicature and the inconsistency of force and armed Gards with Parliaments freedom are fully evidenced Some grosse mistakes touching Parliament Writs and Members refuted with many other Rarities concerning Parliaments By William Prynne Esquire a Bencher of Lincolns-Inne Jer. 6 16. Thus saith the Lord stand ye in the waies and see and ask for the old paths where is the good way and walk therein and ye shall find rest for your Sou's but they said We will not walk therein LONDON Printed by T. Childe and L. Parry and are to be sold by Edward Thomas at the Adam and Eve in Little Britain 1660. To the Reader Courteous Reader LEt it seem neither strange nor injurious nor unreasonable or unseasonable to thee that I now publisâ—… only one single Section and Fragment of the severaâ—… Forms of Writs for electing Members of the Commons House in Parliament without the remaining Sections I at first intended to accompany it to make it compleat when as a very small Fragment of the old Commons House not the full Tenth part of it after theiâ—… own double forcible dissipation by the Army haâ—… by their own special command forcibly excluded all tâ—… old secluded Members being above 200. by armâ—… Gards not only out of the House but Lobby too Dâ—…cemb 27. and voted them quite out of the House tâ—… 5th of January 1659. without the least accusation 〈◊〉 hearing behind their backs though ready to justifâ—… themselves face to face against all Objections contrary 〈◊〉 all Laws of God Nations and the Land whiâ—… judge and disfranchise no man how criminal or vâ—… soever before he be heard have his Accusers faâ—… to face and have license to answer for himself coâ—…cerning the crimes laid against him It seemiâ—… unreasonable even in the judgments of mere Paganâ—… to imprison or condemn any person and not withâ—… to signifie the crimes laid against him The only groâ—… of this their Unparliamentary bruitish Vote withâ—… any crime cause or particular Members names exprâ—…sed in it is our voting the Kings Concessions upâ—… the Propositions to be a Ground for the House proceed upon for the settlement of the peace of tâ—… Kingdom according to our Trusts Judgements Câ—… sciences after 3. daies and one nights debate without 〈◊〉 viding the House when there were above 300. Members present for which Vote alone Decemb. 5. as it now appears they then gave secret Orders to the Army Osficers to secure 45. and seclude above 200. more Members Dec. 6 7. 1648. and since that to re-sâ—…clude them May 7 9. and Decemb. 27 1659. placing trâ—…ble Gards at the door January 5. when they passed their vote to discharge disable them from sitting to keep them out if they then attempted to enter Had this bin only a sin of Ignorance or private Injury we should with patience and Christian charity have pretermitted and remitted it with our Saviors prayer Father forgive them for they know not what they do but being a wilsull malicious unatural crime against not only their Fellow-Members contrary to all rules of Iustice Nature and the Gospel it self resolving That there should be no Schism in the Body of the House or Parliament no more than in the natural Body but that the Members should have the same care one of another and whether one Member suffer all the Members suffer with it but also the highest injury and affront to all those Counties Cities and Boroughs they represent and a new kind of Gupowder-Treason to blow up all English Parliaments foundations Rights Privileges Members and the fundamental Government Laws and Liberties of the people in succeeding generations if connived at not fâ—…lly viâ—…dicated being 6. several times or more impenitently perpetrated by them the last after their own late double dissipations by divine retaliation which they so highly resented as Treasonable and Flagition in Cromwell and Lambert seconded with an old and new Engagement and Oath of Abjuration which some of them have already taken intend to obtrude upon the Consciences of our 3. Nations to send them down quick into Hell if taken or ruine them in their Liberties Properties if denied I cannot but look upon it as a kind of sin against the Holy Ghost which I fear some of these desperadoes have wellnigh arived unto which shall never be forgiven to men neither in this world nor in that which is to come The rather because they arrogate to themselves the Name Power and Judicature of THE PARLIAMENT no lesse than 5. times in this short Nonsence Vote when as they are not the Tithe of a Commons House and no Parliament at all without the King and House of Lords have not the least legal Jurisdiction to seclude or vote out any one Member without the Kings or Lords concurence whom they have engaged against abjured secluded against the very Act by which they pretend to sit who were a Parliament alwaies without a Comons house til 49H 3. without whom they can now Enact Vote Order nothing that is valid or Obligatory to the secluded Members or people as this and the former part of my Register and Plea for the Lords will inform those Ignoramusses in Parliamentary proceedings who think they may act enact and vote what they please against all rules of Justice the Laws of God and the Land and our whole Nation the reason and end of its present publication If they or any others shall receive any New-light from these new unknow Antiquities to reduce the over-swelling House of Commons within its antient bounds of loyalty and sobriety for the peace and
noster terreri seu dicta negotia nostra retardari valeant quovis modo Teste Rege apud Eborum 5 die Marcii Eodem modo mandatum est singulis Vic. per Angliam From which Writ I shall observe 1. That the Writs of Summons to Parliaments may be altered and enlarged with necessary Prologues and clauses according to the times and emergent occasions by the King and his Counsel without consent or Act of Parliament 2ly That the absence of some Prelates Lords and Great men from the Parliament is a just cause to adjourn or dissolve it 3ly That no weighty affairs ought to be concluded but in a full Parliament when all the Lords and Members are present and not in an empty House when any considerable number of Lords and other Members are absent or secluded 4ly That no Lords nor other persons whatsoever though summoned as Members ought to come to Parliaments with a tumultuous multitude of people followers and armed men it being inconsistent with the freedom and privileges of Parliaments a grand disturbance to their proceedings touching the weighty affairs of the King and Kingdom therein propounded and a great terror and oppression to the people in those places where the Parliaments are held Much less then ought Petitioners or those who are no Members to draw up whole Troops Regiments of armed Souldiers to terrifie force seclude secure dissolve the very Lords Members Houses and Parliaments themselves 5ly That the King and his Counsil alone may by publick Writs and Proclamations lawfully prohibit the resort of any persons of what condition soever to Parliaments with any tumultuous multitude or armed men under the pain of forseiting all they have and that by the antient Common-law of England as well as by the Statute of 7 E. 1. Rastal Armer 1. it being a chief branch of the Kings antient royal Prerogative and Office as the Act declares 6ly That they may insert this Prohibition and Proclamation into the very Writs of Summons themselves when there is just occasion as there was never so much cause as now to do it after so many unparallel'd eumults and violences offered to Members and raised against Parliaments themselves by tumultuous wultitudes of rude people and whole Troops Regiments Armies of Sword-men raised for their defence to the total if not final subversion of the antient Rights Liberties and constitution of our English Parliaments In the Parliaments of 5 E. 2. some Noblemen and Earls by reason of dissentions between them and other fears and jealousies intended to resort to those Parliaments with a great number of armed men of their friends and retainers which the King being informed of thereupon issued these memorable writs unto them expressing the manifold mischiefs and inconveniences thence ensuing and prohibiting them to come to these Parliaments with any arms horses of warr or multitudes of people or to disturb the peace affright the people of the Realm or hinder the publike affairs of Parliament in any kinde under pain of forfeiting all their lands tenements and whatever else they might forfeit to him worthy the consideration and imitation of present and future ages upon the like occasions Clause 5 E. 2. dors 31. Rex dilecto et fideli sno Nicho de Segrave falutem Datum est nobis intelligi quod vos occasione quarundam dissensionum inter vos et dilectum fidelem nostrum Willielmum Mareschal nuper subortarum ad arma vos paratis amicos confederatos vesttos se parare similiter procuratis quodque ad Parliamentum nostrum quod apud London die Dominica proxima post festum Sti. Laurentii proximo futur fecimus summoneri accedere intenditis cum multitudine armatorum unde in immensum non immerito commovemur Et quia accessus bujusmodi si fieret in nostri contemptum et expeditionis negotiorum nostrorum impedimentum ac terrorem populi regni nostri et lesionem pacis nostrae cederet manifestè Uobis mandamus in fide et bomagio quibus Nobis tenemini sub forisfactura terrarum ac tenementorum ac omnium aliorum quae Nobis forisfacere poteritis districtè inhibentes ne ad dictum Parliamentum cum armis seu alio modo quam tempore clarae memoriae Domini E. quondam Regis Angl. patris nostri consuevit accedere aut aliqua alia per quae expeditio negotiorum nostrorum in dicto Parliamento retardari aut pax nostra turbari seu populus dicti regni nostri quovis modo terreri valeat facere praesumatis Consimilia mandata et Inhibitionem fecimus praefato Willielmo super negotio antedicto Teste Rege apud Berwic super Twed. 20 die Julii Eodem modo mandatum est praefato Willielmo de Mareschal T. ut supra Cl. 5 E. 2. dors 22. Rex dilecto et fideli suo Gilberto de Clare Comiti Glouc. Hereford salutem Intelleximus quod ad praesens Parliamentum nostrum apud Westm. continuatum estis cum equis et armis more non debito venientes unde admiramur non immerito et turbamur praesertim cum per hujusmodi accessum vestrum ibidem expeditio negotiorum Nos et statum regni nostri tangentium in dicto Parliamento nostro tractandorum impediri et populus partirum illarum ac alibl in regno nostro terreri posset non modicum et pax nostra turbari Vobis igitur mandamus in fide et homagio quibus Nobis tenemini firmiter injungedtes quod ad dictum Parliamentum nostrum ad tractandum Nobiscum et cum Praelatis ac Magnatibus de regno nostro super dictis negotiis veniatis prout tempore clarae memoriae Domini E. quondam Regis Angl. patris nostri fieri consuevit equis pro armis vobiscum ibidem nullatenus adducentes nec aliquid aliud attemptantes per quod pax nostra turbari aut populus noster terreri valeat quovis modo T. apud Westm. 28 die Novemb Per ipsum Regem Eodem modo mandatum subscriptis viz. Thomae Comiti Lancastr Humfr. de Bohun Comiti Heref. Essex Adamaro de Ualenc Com Pembroke Guidoni de Bello-Campo Com Warr. Edmundo Com. Arundell It seems notwithstanding those Writs there were some forces raised by these Earls and Nobles principally against Peter Gaveston which produced these ill effects 1. It terrified most of the Knights Citizens and Burgesses and caused them to depart home and desert the Parliament so as the King was enforced to issue out new Writs to resummon them and to command the Sheriff to elect others in their places in case they would not or could not come as is evident by the Writs in dorse 26 of Cl. 5. E. 2. forecited p. 73. 2ly It frighted away most of the Kings Justices and Counsil from the Parliament so that he was constrained to resummon and command them not to depart from the Parliament during its continuance without his special license as appears by this ensuing memorable Writ Cl. 5 E. 2.
in this that one had the threefold concurrent assent of the King Lords and Commons the other not c. as he there affirms I utterly deny and have elsewhere at large resuted by unanswerable evidences and above an hundred Acts of Parliament which make them both one and the same they having both this threefold concurrent assent to make them Acts or Ordinances without which they are neither and himself confesseth it in his 2. Institutes p. 101. 645 646. elsewhere The reason for secluding practising Lawyers from being elected whiles they actually continued to plead and prosecute Suites in the Kings Courts for others are expressed in the Ordinance now fit to be revived that so the Lawyers elected may totally attend the publick businesses of the Kingdom and Parliament in the House and not neglect them which if they do faithfully and conscienciously execute with publick spirits there are no Members whatsoever more usefull necessary beneficial to the publick than they both forthe penning of good laws debating all businesses of law examining all complaints'and grievances whence none but Lawyers for the most part in antient or late times have been chosen Speakers of the Commons House few else but they imployed as Chair-men in most Committees After this upon the making of the Statutes of 7 H. 4. c. 15. 11 H. 4. c. 1. upon the Commons petition as appears by 1 H. 4. rot parl num 83. 139. 11 H. 4. n. 54. for regulating former abuses in the elections of Knights of Shires to serve in Parliaments the antâ—…ent form for the VVrits for electing Knights was somewhat altered and enlarged as is evident by the next ensuing VVrits of Clause 8 H. 4. dors 2. cl 11 H. 4. dors 32. cl 12 H. 4. dors 2. cl 14 H. 4. dors 22. cl 1 H. 5. dors 9. 37. agreeing all in one form and differing only in the prologues dates and places of the Parliaments I shall therefore present you only with a Transcript of the last of them Rex Vic. Kanc. salutem Quia de avisamento Consilii nostri c. as in the former VVrits Tibi praecipimus sirmiter injungentes Quod facta proclamatione in proximo Comitatu tuo post receptionem hujus brevis tenendo de die loco Parliamenti praedictis duos Milites gladiis cinctos magis idoneos discretos de Com. praedict c. libere et indifferenter per illos qui proclamationi hujusmodi interfuerint juxta formam Statuti inde editi et provist eligi nomina eorum Militum Civinm Burgensium sic â—…eligendorum in quibusdam Indenturis inter te illos qui hujusmodi electioni interfuerint inde constituend licet hujusmodi eligendi praesentes vel absentes fuerint inseri eosque ad dictos diem locum venire facias Ita quod c. as in former writs Nolumus autem quod tu vel seu aliquis alius Vicecomes Regni nostri praedicti aiiqualiter sit electus Et electionem tuam in pleno Comitatu tuo distinctè apertè factam sub sigillo tuo sigillis eorum qui electioni illi interfuerint Nobis in Cancellaria nostra ad dictos diem locum certifices indilatè Remittend Nobis aliam partem Indenturarum praedictarum praesentibus consutam una cum hoc breve Teste Rege apud Westm. 22 die Maii. The like writs then issued to all other Sheriffs of Counties and this form with little or no variation continued from 1 H. 4. to all Sheriffs of particular Cities and Boroughs made Counties within themselves as Lincoln York Bristol Coventre Norwich Notyngham Newcastle upon Tyne Kingstone upon Hull and Southampton mutatis mutandis till the Statute of 8 H. 6. c. 7. concerning Elections was made as the Clause Rolls assure us where the writs of Summons are recorded only the writs to the Sheriffs of London were to elect Quaâ—…uor Cives de discretioribus magis sufficienâ—…ibus the writs to the Sheriffs of other Cities that were Counties to elect Duos Cives and to those Boroughs which were Counties to choose Duos Burgenses The bundle of those original writs which issued in 1 H. 5 is yet extant together with the several retorns and Indentures of the Sheriffs and names of the Knights Citizens and Burgesses then elected and retorned the major number of them having Manucaptors retorned for their appearance at the day and place of the Parliament which others of them have not The Statutes of 7 H. 4. c. 15. 11 H. 4. c. 1. enacting all Sheriffs to make their Retorns of the Knights elected by Indentures between the Sheriffs and Electors under their respective Seals never in use before thereupon the forms of their Retorns were accordingly altered and made by Indentures wherein the names of the Knights elected and of their Electors were retorned some inserting more some fewer names of the Electors with general clauses for the rest on the dorse of many of which Indentures the names of the Knights Manucaptors and sometimes of the Citizens and Burgesses and their Manucaptors are entred and others of them on the dorses only of the Writs These Indentures are somewhat various and different in their forms and words but for the most part they accord in substance All those from 7 H 4. to the end of his Reign being not extant but lost or mislayd I shall present you with some few of the first of them yet extant in 1 H. 5. upon the retorn of the last forecited writ that year Executio istius brevis patet in quadam Cedula in quadam Indentura huic brevi consuta Haec Indentura facta apud Lostwythiel 24 die Aprilis Anno Regni Regis Henrici quinti post conquestum Angliae primo in pleno Com. ibidem tent inter Johannem Arundel Vic. Com. praedicti Johan Whalesbrew Willum Grynevile and 32. more there named plures alios de dicto Com. ibidem tunc praesentes secundum Proclamationem dicti Dom. Regis de Militibus pro Parliamento in dicto brevi specificato eligendis factam Qui tunc ibidem unanimi assensu et consensu eligerunt Johan Wibbury Johan Trelonny Milites qui habent plenam sufficieutem potestatem pro se communitate Com. praedicti ad faciend con sentiend prout breve praedictum in se exegit requirit In cujus rei testimonium huic parti Indenturae huic breve consut proedictus Johannes Whalesbrew caeteri omnes praenominati sigilla sua apposuerunt Et alteri parti Indentur praedictarum Vic. sigillum suum apposuit Dat. die loco anno supradictis Nomina Militum electorum pro Parliamento in brevi huic Cedulae consut Those named in the Indenture having each two Manucaptors Nulla est Civitas in Com. praedicto Nomina Burgensium pro Parliamento in Com. praedicto Dounhevedburgh 2. Bodmyn Burgh 2. Helston Burg. 2. Lostwithiel Burg. 2. Truru Burg.
any election of Knights by any of your seid Shires made or done by vertue of your seid Writ or Writs to every of your seid Beseechers direct And that your seid Beseechers and their Under-Sheriffs and Clarks and every of them be quite and discharged against your Liege-people of the penalties and forfeitures that they or eny of them be fellyn or may be chargeable by force of a Statute made the 23 year of your noble Reign as for occupying or exercising their seid Office longer than a year for every maner elections of Knights as well by force of your Writs as by force of your letters of Privy-seal as otherwise and for retorns of the same and for all maner retorns of Citizens and Burgesses in their several Shires for this present Parliament by every of them retorned before the last day of this present Parliament Provided alway that by this Act they nor none of them be excused or discharged of eny other offence or thing done by them in eny of their seyd Offices Alway forseyn that no man be amerced for eny suyt begon by him against eny of your seyd Beseechers to recover the seyd penalties for eny occupation of the seyd Office for the premises Le Roy le voet The occasion of this Petition and Act then passed is thus expressed in the printed Statute of 39 H. 6. c. 1. That divers Knights of Counties Citizens and Burgesses were named retorned accepted in this Parliament of 38 H. 6. some of them without any due or free election others without any election at all against the course of the Kings Laws and the liberties of the Commons of this Realm by vertue of the Kings Letters of Privyâ—…eal without any free election and that by the means labours of divers seditious and evil-disposed Persons only to destroy certain of the great faithfull Lords and Nobles and other faithfull Liege-people of the Realm out of hatred malice greedy unsatiable covetousness to gain their Lands Inheritances Offices and Estates For which undue elections the Sheriffs being purposely kept longer in their Offices than they otherwise should have been and fearing to be exemplarily punished by Actions upon the Statute brought against them thereupon they petitioned the King and procured this Act of Parl. for them and their Under-sheriffs present and future indemnities for these illegal Elections and retorns of persons unduly elected or nominated by the King alone without any election by the people for which misdemeanor of theirs this whole Parliament and all Acts made therein were repealed and made void the very next year and Parliament following 39 H. 6. c. 1. from whence I shall observe 1. That no Sheriffs or Officers can be secured in dempnified against undue elections and retorns of Knights Citizens and Burgesses nominated to them by the King or any others but only by Act of Parliament 2. That such undue elections retorns as these are usually made by the procurement and labour of seditious and evil-disposed persons out of malice hatred or insatiable covetousness and for pernitious ends and designs 3ly That Parliaments unduly elected and packed by policy or power prove alwaies abortive and are repealed as void and pernitious in conclusion of which we have seen pregnant instances in this and other late Parliaments worthy our saddest considerations Vsefull Observations in and from the precedent Section FRom these recited Writs I conceive it to be most clearly and satisfactorily evidenced 1. That there were no Knights Citizens or Burgesses elected and summoned by Writs to our Great Councils and Parliaments before 49 H. 3. which I shall here further demonstrate by these punctual irrefragable Testimonies Presidents and Records under his Reign till this very year Anno 1221. the 5 of Henry 3d. Convenerunt Magnates Angliae ad Regem apud Westmonasterium ut de negotiis regni tractarent After which the King having suppressed the Welsh the same year and built a strong Castle at Montgomery disbanded his Army Concedentibus Magnatibus de quolibet scuto duo marcas argenti Anno 1223. the 7th of his Reign Rex Henricus in Octavis Epiphaniae apud Londonias veniens cum Baronibus ad Colloquium requisitus est ab Archiepiscopo Cantuariensi Magnatibus aliis ut libertates liberas consuetudines pro quibus guerra mota suit contra patrom suum confirmaret Anno 1224. 8 H. 3. Per idem tempus convenerunt ad Colloquium in Octavis sanctae Trinitatis apud Norâ—…amptonam Rex cum Archiepiscopis Episcopis Comitibus Baronibus aliis multis Lords Peers and others of his Counsel de regni negotiis tractaturi voluit enim Rex uti Consilio Magnatum suorum de terris transmarinis quas Rex Francorum paulatim occupaverat Anno 1229. 9 H. 3. the King demanding advice and an ayd of the fifteenth part of his peoples Goods to recover his forrein Territories Archiepiscopus Concio tota apud Westm. Episcoporum Comitum et Baronum Abbatum Priorum habita deliberatione Regi dedere responsum quod regiis petitioibus gratanter adquiescerent si illis diu petitas libertates concedere voluisset Whereupon he granted and confirmed the great Charter The same year Martio mense convenerunt apud Westmonasterium ad Colloquium Rex Angliae cum Magnatibus suis ubi Rex sententialiter jussit diffinire quid de proditore suo Falcatio suit agendum Proceres vero in hoc pariter consenserunt eo quod patri suo multis fideliter servierat annis ne de vita periclitaretur vel membris sed ut Angliam aeternaliter abjuraret omnes communiter addixerunt which was accordingly executed forthwith Anno 1226. 10 H. 3. venit interea terminus Concilii ad festum sancti Hillarii apud Westm. praesixus ubi Rex cum Clero Magnatibus Regni comparere debuerat ut Domini Papae mandatum audiret c. They meeting again the same year after Easter Rex convocatis seorsum Praelatis quibusdam Magnatibus hoc Archiepiscopo dedit responsum c. Anno 1229. 13 H. 3. fecit Rex conveniâ—… apud Westm. Dominica qua contatur misericordia Domini Archiepiscopos Episcopos Abbates Priores Templarios Hospitilarios Comites Barones Ecclesiarum rectores et qui de eo tenebant in capite but no Knights of Counties Citizens and Burgesses we read of ut audirent negotia memorata of Stephenâ—…ho â—…ho Popes Chaplain and Nuncio demanding an ayd against the Emperour from England Et de rerum exigentiis communiter tractarent ibidem h Anno 1231. 15 H. 3. convenerunt ad Colloquium apud Westm. Rex cum Praelatis et aliis Magnatibus Regni c. The King this year intending to mary the King of Scots Daughter indignantibus Comitibus et Baronibus suis unmersis because Hubert who was chief Iustice had maried the eldest Daughter he thereupon desisted from his purpose Anno 1232. convenerunt
Burgensium levandis sued to them or the Sheriffs aâ—…ter most Parliaments ended by many Burgesses of Boroughs as well as by Knights of Shires and Citizens of Cities as I shall if God say Amen demonstrate at large in its due place and shall hereno further insist upon 4ly That of late times some of these antient long-discontinued Boroughs have been revived and new Writs or Warrants for electing Burgesses sent unto them sometimes upon their own Petitions now and then upon some Courtiers Petition to the King in hopes by Letters from the Court and Feasting or Bribing the Burgesses to be elected and retorned Burgesses for the revived Boroughs sometimes by motion or order of some Members of the Commons House who had a design to bring in some Burgesses and made sure of the Burgesses Voyces before hand the Burgesses being now very willing to have their Boroughs revived because many times instead of giving wages to their Burgesses for their service in Parliament as of old they receive not only thanks Feasts but Rewards and Boons if not underhand Bribes for their Voyces from their elected Burgesses who assure them before their choyce they will neither expect nor exact any expences from them which many of them scarce deserve since they do neither them nor their Country any service at all in Parl. promoting only their own private interests or ends or their friends Finally though I shall readily subscribe to Mr. Littletons opinions Section 194. That the antient Towns called Boroughs be the most antient Towns that be within England For the Towns that now be Cities or Counties in old time were Boroughs and called Boroughs for of such old Towns called Boroughs come the Burgesses of the Parliament to the Parliament when the King hath summoned his Parliament which I shall further clear in the next Sections yet I can by no means assent to Mr. William Lambard of Lincolns Inne his Judgement though a learned Antiquary or some others inferences thence who thus argues Now as those written Authorities do undoubtedly confirm Our assertion of this manner of Parliament so is there also an unwritten Law or Prescription that doth no less infallibly uphold the same For it is well known that ln everie quarter of the Realmâ—… a great many of Boroughs do send their Burgesses to the Parliament which are neverthelesse so antient and so long since decayed and gone to nought that it cannot be shewed that they have been of any reputation at any time since the Conquest and much lesse that they haue obtained the Privileges by the Grant of any King succeeding the same so that the interest which they have in Parliament groweth by an antient usage before the Conquest whereof they cannot shew any begining Which thing is also confirmed by contrarie usage in the self same thing For it is likewise known that they of antient Demesn do prescribe in not sending to the Parliament For which reason also they are neither Contributors to the Wages of Knights there neither are they bound to sundry Acts of Parliament though the same be generally penned and do make no exception of them But there is no antient Demesn saving that only which is described in the Book of Domesday under the Title of Terra Regis which of necessity must be such as either was in the hands of the Conqueror himself who made the Book or of Edw. the Confessor that was before him And so again if they of Antient Demesne have ever since the Conquest prescribed not to send Burgesses to Parliament then no doubt there was a Parliament before the Conquest to the vhich they of other places did send their Burgesses To which I answer that this Argument is fallacious and no waies conclusive For 1. these antient decayod Burroughs that now in many places send Burgesses to the Parliament were in no such great reputation at all at or before the Conquest as is insâ—…uated for ought appears by the Book of Dooms-day or any other Record or Historie but as mean and inconsiderable as now they are 2ly There is no Historie or Record that any of these Boroughs whether decayed or not decayed yea though much enlarged enrichd since the Conquest did ever send Burgesses to any one Parliament either before or after the Conquest till 49 H. 3. And I challenge all the Antiquaries in England to demonstrate the contrarie by History or Records 3ly It is irrefragable by the forementioned returns of Sheriffs that all or most of those poor or decayed Boroughs in Cornwall Devonshire Wiltshire Southampton Sussex and some other Counties did in 26 E. 1. and some years after send no Burgesses at all to our Parliament as Camelford Foway Grantpount St. Germins St. Ives St. Maries or Maws St. Michael Portlow Saltash Trebonny Tregony in Cornwall Bearalston in Devon Christchurch Newport Newtown Stockbridge Whitechurch Yermouth in the Countie of Southampton Midhurst and Horsham in Sussex Crickland Henden Old Sarum Heytesbury Westbury Wotton Basset in Wiltshire with others in other Counties as the precedent Table clearly demonstrates all or most of them being enabled to send Burgesses to Parliament since the reign of Edw. the 1. and not before much less by prescription before the Conquest as M. Lambard and others conceit and that percliance not by any special Charters of our Kings creating them Boroughs or Corporations but by private directions of the King and Counsil to the Sheriffs of Counties wherein they were to issue out Precepts to them to elect and retorn Burgesses when they saw any just cause not by antient usage or prescription before the Conquest which none of these Boroughs ever yet pretended or insisted on for ought I can find upon my best inquiry after their Original 3ly The antientest writs for Knights wages extant are those of 28 E. 1. Rot. Claus. dors 3 12 cl 29 E. 1. dors 17. 32 E. 1. dors 3. and no Records Histories or Law-books I have seen derive their original higher than the Reign of King Edward the first The first Statute concerning them is that of 12 R. 2. c. 12. on which the writ in the Register is grounded which enacts only That the levying of the expences of Knights shall be as hath been used before this time the next Statute of 11 H. 4. c. 1. enacts That Knights of Shires unduly retorned shall lose their wages of the Parliament of old time accustomed not at or before the Conquest accustomed The first printed case concerning them in our Lawbooks is but in M. 12 H. 4. f. 3. a. Fitzh Avowry 52. Br. 42. and the first Petitions in Parliament concerning them are those of 28 51 E. 3. Yea no man can prove there were any Knights for Counties elected and sent to Parliaments by the Kings Writs before 49 H. 3. Therefore the prescription to be discharged from contributing to their wages cannot be extended higher than 49 H. 3. not to the Reign of the Conqueror or before the Conquest
nisi ab inceptis celerius desisterit omnes qui versus quempiam ante relaxationem interdicti hostiliter arma gesserunt praeter ipsum solum anathematis vinculo innodaret Sicque ab inceptis Regem revocans Archiepiscopus non prius abe recessit donec Diem conipetentem ad Curiam Regis veniendi et ibidem Iuri parendi Baronibus impetrasset The 8. of September following the Archbishop Bishops Abbots Priors and Barons of the Realm assembling together at Pauls the Archbishop calling some of the Barons to him apart from the rest secretly acquainted them with the Kings forecited Oath taken at his absolution and produced before them the Charter of Liberties granted by King Henry the first by which they might if they would reduce their long lost Liberties to their pristine estate At which the Barons greatly rejoycing juraverunt omnes in praesentia Archiepiscopi quod viso tempore congruo pro hiis libertatibus si necesse fuerit decertabunt usque ad mortem Archiepiscopus autem promisit eis fidelissimum auxilium suum pro posse suo Et sic confoederatione facta inter eos Colloquium solutum est The King hereupon as I conjecture issued out the precedent writ the 3. of November following whereon it bears date to all the Sheriffs of England consisting of 3. distinct parts sutable to that time and occasion The first is to new summon Omnes Milites all who held of him by Knight-service with those Souldiers not knights or knights of Shires in their respective Bailiwicks they had formerly summoned by some such writ as this to repair to Oxford to come to the Kings person ad Nos without naming any certain place 15 daies after All Souls day cum armis with their arms the usual form and clause in precedent and subsequent writs of Summons of an Army and forces to aid the King not to a Parliament or Great Council of State and that to defend and assist him against the precedent confederacy of the Archbishop Bishops Abbots Priors and Barons then newly entred into at London against whom he had raised a great Army by like Writs but a few Monethâ—… before to reduce these Rebels to obedience which Armie the Archbishop caused him to dissolve as Matthew Paris relates The 2. Clause is Corpora vero Baronum singulariter sine armis to summon and bring to the King the Bodies of the Barons in their respective Counties apart one from another without arms as in the said writ not two or more of them together with their arms and armed attendants to prevent all dangers tumults insurrections and intended rebellions if they should come armed to his Court being now thus summoned to appear before him not to treat and advise with him and the rest of the Prelates Earls and Nobles of any urgent affairs concerning the King or Realm of which there is no mention at all in this writ in relation to the Barons as there is in all Writs of Summons to Parliaments or Great Councils issued to them extant in our Records But rather according to the Archbishops engagement to the King at Nottingham a little before this writ to submit themselves to the Iustice of his Court and a legal trial concerning the crimes he should there object against them upon their appearance on the day prefixed in the writ the same I conceive the King and Archbishop had formerly agreed upon at Notingham And that this was the reason why they were to appear without armour is evident by the like Summons hertofore to Earl Godwin and his Sons to appear in the Kings Court to answer the Kings charge against them attended only with 〈◊〉 men without any force or arms by the subsequent Statutes of 7 E. 1. Rastal Armour 1 2 E. 3. c 3. expresly resolving that in all Assemblies which should be made within the Realm of England for ever every man should come without all force and armour well and peaceably And that no man Great or Small of whatsoever condition he be except the Kings Servants in his presence and his Ministers and their Assistants in executing his precepts or their Office or upon a cry made for arms to keep the peace in such places where such acts happen should be so hardy to come before the King or his Iustices or other his Ministers doing their office with force and arms nor bring no force in â—…ffray of Peace Which was but the antient Common and Statute Law of England The 3. Clause of the Writ which only hath some resemblance of a writ of Summons is to summon not two but quatuor Discretos Milites de Comitatu tuo being more than we read summoned in succeeding Rolls out of every County as Knights of Shires to our Parliament and those not to come to any Parliament or Great Council at any certain place of which there is no mention at all in this Writ but ad Nos to the King himself at the time there specified and that only Ad loquendum Nobiscum de negotiis regni nostri not ad tractandum Nobiscum et cum Praelatis Proceribus or Magnatibus or aliis or caeteris fidelibus regni nostri de arduis et urgentissimis negotiis Nos et statum Regni nostri contingentibus or ad faciendum et consentiendum hiis quae tunc ibidem de Communi Consilio regni nostri Deo propitio contigerit ordinari the usual Clauses in all Writs of Summons of Barons or Knights of Counties to Parliaments and Great Parliamentary Councils Therefore certainly this Writ was no Summons of Knights of Shires to a Parliament or Great Council the rather because there is no clause in it for electing these 4. knights nor yet of any Citizens or Burgesses as is usual in the Writs for electing Knights of Counties and because no Writs of Summons ever prescribed the Summons of Barous and Knights together like this Upon all which considerations I conceive this ad loquendum Nobiscum de negotiis regni nostri for which these 4. Knights were summoned was the very same or the like business for which Matthew Paris relates the King some few Moneths before sent Letters to the Sherifs of every County throughout England to cause Quatuor legales homines the same with those this Writ stiles Quatuor Discretos Milites out of every of their Counties to come to St. Albanes the 8. of August following to inquire of and inform the King what dammages and losses any of the Bishops had sustained by the King and his Officers during the Interdict and their banishments and what was due to every one of them that so he might satisfie them according to his premised Oath as Chart. 16 Iohann Regis m. 9. n. 67. the next year after this compared with Pat. 15 Iohan. Regis nu 3. De Interdicto relaxando c. clearly intimate if not resolve This I am fully perswaded was the true scope nature and intention of this Writ which hath
Militare in Balliva tua ad reddendum ei de singulis feodis Wardis duas Marcas ad praedictum Auxilium Nobis per manum suam reddendum in terminis praedictis Sic scribitur pro aliis Episcopis Abbatibus Prioribus et Magnatibus to the number of 23. And dors 6. of the former Roll there is the like Writ for other Temporal Barons By which it is apparent that in this Kings reign as well as in succeeding ages all Publike Aydes granted in Parliamentarie Councils were granted by the common consent of the Archbishops Bishops Abbots Priors Earls Barons and others who held of the King in Capite by Act of Parliament according to the forecited Clause of the Great Charter of King John and the subsequent Statutes of 25 E. 1. c. 5 6. De Tallagio non concedendo 14 E. 3. c. 21. Stat. 2. c. 1. the Petition of Right 3 Caroli and other Acts Therefore this Ayde which these Knights were chosen and summoned to grant for their respective Counties without the Archbishops Bishops Abbots Priors Earls Barons and Great men of the Realm or without any Citizens or Burgesses summoned together with them was doubtless no Parliamentary Ayde but a voluntarie free Contribution of their own without common consent in Parliament and so this Writ no Writ of Summons or election to a Parliament though not impertinent to my Theam and worthy observation The 4th sort of Writs I have found in my search which have any Analogie to a Summons of Knights to a Parliamentary Council is this memorable Writ of Claus. 45 H. 3 â—…m 6. dorso not taken notice of by others Rex Vic. Norff. Suff. salutem Cum ex parte Episcopi Wigorn Comitem Leic. et Glouo ac quorundam aliorum Procerum Regni nostri vocati sunt tres Milites de singulis Comitatibus nostris quod sint coram ipsis ad Sanctum Albanum in instanti festo Sancti Matthaei Apostoll secum Tractaturi super communibus Negotiis Regni Nostri Et Nos praedicti Proceres nostri in eundem diem apud Windesore convenimus ad Tractandum de Pace inter Nos et ipsos Tibi praecipimus quod illis Militlbus de Balliva tua qui vocati sunt coram ets ad diem praedictum firmiter injungentes ex parte nostra ut omni occasione postposita ad Nos die praedicto veniant apud Windesore et eis etiam districte inhibeas ne dicto die alibi quam ad Nos accedant sed eos modis omnibus venire fac coram Nobis ad diem praedict Nobiscum super praemissis Colloquium habituros ut ipsi per effectum operis videant et intelligant quod nihil attemptare proponimus nisi quod honori atque utilitati Regni nostri tendere noverimus querere T. Rege apud Windesor xi die Septemb. Eodem modo mandatum est singulis Vicomitibus citra Trentam Our Historians relate that a little before this writ there fell out a Great Difference between King Henry and his Barons concerning the Provisions made at Oxford and his Oath for their Observation from which he held himself absolved because it was compulsory The King and his partie objected against the Barons who pretended the profit of the Realm that they sought only their own bonor and gain contrary to their pretences and decrees They on the other side spread abroad rumors among the people that the King intended to introduce forein forces and impose Taxes at his pleasure c. to the subversion of the State of the Realm and oppression of the people Which the King by his Proclamations protested against as false and scandalous to undeceive his seduced Subjects whose affections and assistance the Barons by these false suggestions endeavoured to alienate from him as Claus. 45 H. 3. pars 1. d. 15. and Claus. 48 H 3. d. 9. Pat. 48 H. 3. d. 20. record Whiles the King and Barons thus banded against each other it appears by this Writ the Barons summoned 3. Knights out of every Connty to come before them at St. Albans on St. Matthews day to treat with them concerning the common affairs of the Realm But whether these 3. Knights were elected by the Inhabitants of each County or such only as the Barons themselves nominated which is most probable appears not certainly by the Writ of which our Histories make no mention The King being informed hereof to prevent this intended Assembly at St. Albans by his writs commands these Lords and Barons to repair to him at Windsore the self-sameday on which they appointed these Knights to meet them to treat of a Peace between him and them and by this Writ commanded this and all other Sheriffs on this side Trent to whom like writs were sent to summon those very Knights the Barons had called to St. Albans to appear before him the same day at Windesore strictly prohibiting them to appear that day at any other place than before himself and to cause them by all possible means then to come before him to conferr with him about the premises to wit the peace and reconciliation between him and the Barons that so thèy might by the effect of that Treaty both see and understand that he purposed to attempt or seek nothing but what he knew was for the honor and profit of his Realnt So as these Writs in reality were no proper legal Summons of any Knights of Shires to a Parliament or Great Council but rather an inhibition to divert them from confederating and meeting with the Barons by summoning them all at the same time to appear before the King at Windsore to be witnesses of his fair proceedings and publike intentions in the Treatie of Peace then intended between him and his Barons And that which further clears it is somwhat a like Writ in the same Roll to the Barons and Bailiffs of Sandwich about 3. weeks after the precedent Writ which for its raritie I shall here insert Rex Baronibus et Ballivis suis de Sandwic salutem Cum Vos et Progenitores vestri Nobis et Progenitoribus nostris et Coronae nostrae semper extitistis prompti et fideles jam per quosdam Nobis adversarios protenus sicut audivimus quod hac die quindena post festum S. Michaelis sub specie reformandae pacis inter Vos et Barones nostros de Wincheles apud Bradhull convenire debeatis ubi in dampnum nostrum colligationes requirere et eos quos poterint à nostra fidelitate avertere proponunt Vobis mandamus sub debito fidelitatis et dilectionis quibus Nobis tenemini specialiter injungentes ne ibi aliquo modo accedatis aut animos vestros eorum suggestionibus aliquo modo inclinetis et super contentionibus inter vos et dictos Barones nostros de Wincheles subortis in pace vos habeatis usque ad festum Nativitatis Domini ut tunc ad vos Custodem Portuum nostrorum aut
H. 5. c. 1. 10 H. 6. c. 2. 23 H. 6. c. 15. being declaratory only in this point most punctually enact in precise terms And if any other persons who are no Inhabitants or Residents within or proper Members of such Counties Cities Boroughs Ports be elected or returned they may lawfully refuse to sit or serve as the Writs and these Statutes clearly evidence without the least contempt or penalty the peoples election of such contrary to the Writs and these Statutes being void in Law and unable to contradict or reverse the Writ Acts to the contrary if insisted on 4ly These usual clausâ—…s in most Writs de discretioribus et ad laborandum potentioribus seclude and exempt all infants under age Ideots Lunaticks insiâ—…m aged sickly persons unable to travell sit counsell advise and discharge their trusts from being elected Knights Citizens Burgesses or Barons of Ports and if any such be elected returned by the oversight imprudence improvidence of the electors they may and ought to be discharged by the King and Lords anâ—… others by new Writs issued elected returned in their places who are able to advise travel and discharge their duties as the writs and statutes enjoyn them Impotency sickness and inability in Members elected being as just a ground to discharge any Knight Citizen Burgess or Baron of the Ports from serving in Parliaments as to discharge the Speaker of the Commons House as is evident by the forecited Writs presidents and returns of Sheriffs in 2â—… E. 1. by the resolution of the Parliament it self in 38. H. 8. Brookâ—… Parliament 7. against Sir Edward Cooks groundless fancie to the contrary Institutes 4. p. 8. there being the self-same reason and Law too in both cases 5. That the election of anâ—… Sheriff of a Countie whiles he continues in his 〈◊〉 for a â—…night Citizen Burgesse in his own or any other County is void and illegal being against the express provision of the Ordinance of Parliament 46 E. 3. the very inhibition and words of the writs for election some presidents before that Ordinance and the * resolution of the Lords and Judges in Starchamber 5. Caroli in the case of Mr. Walter Long elected and returned a Citizen for the City of Bath in Somersetshire An. 3 Car. whiles he was Sheriff of the County of Wilts who thereupon comming forth of the County against his Oath and trust and sitting as a Member in the House during his Shrievaltie was sentenced in the Starchamber to be committed Prisoner to the Tower during â—…is Majesties pleasure to pay a Fine of 2000 marks to the King and further to make â—…is humble submission and acknowledgement of â—…is Offence both in the Court of Starchamber and to his Majesty before his enlargement â—…nce Which was accordingly executed Yet notwithstanding I sinde in the very Statute of 34 35 H. 8. ch 24. for assurance of certain Lands to John Hind Serjeant at Law and his heirs paying x l. yearly to the charges and wages of the Knights of the Parliament of Cambridgshire for the time being for ever that Edward North Knight Sheriff of the said Shire was one of the two Knights for the said Shire that very Parliament wherein this Act was passed and he and Thomas Rudsâ—…ne Esq his Companion and their Successors Knights of the said County incorporated and made one body politick together with the Sheriff of the said County for the time being by the name of Wardens of the Fees and Wages of the Knights of the Shire of Cambridge chosen for the Parl. and to have perpetual succession to implead sue for and receive the said x l. annnual rent and that he received his share therein when both Sheriff and Knight of the Shire to his own use for his fees wages that Parliament til a new election of knights of that County for the Parl. next ensuing it And Sir Edward Cooke informs us that at the Parliament holden 1 Car. Rs. the Sheriff for the County of Buckingham being then himself was chosen Knight for the County of Norfolk and reterned into the Chancery and â—…aving a Subpaena out of the Chancery served upon him at the sute of the Lady C. pendente Parliamento upon motion he had the privilege of Parl. allowed unto him by the judgement of the whole House of Com mons though I finde not that he then sate in the house during his Shrievalty 6. That amongst the writs of Summons to Parliament in Cl. 23 E. 1. dors 9. 25 E. 1. d 6. 30 E. 1. d. 12 35 E. 1 d 13. 1 E. 2. d. 8. 11. 3 E. 2. d. 17. 11 E. 3. pars 1. d. 15. 32 E 3. dors 14. There are no writs for electing Knights Citizens or Burgesses entred with the rest most likely by the negligence of the Clerks there being vacant space in some of them left for their entries And the Original Writs themselves being all or most of them retorned into the Chancery and there reserved in distinct Bundles by themselves with the Sherifs returns upon them now for the most part lost mislayed perished or imbezelled made them perchance more careless to enter them than the Writs to the Spiritual and Temporal Lords issued personally to themselves alone and not returnable by them or the Sheriffs as the writs for elections usually were which Writs as the Statutes of 5 R. 2. ch 4. 23 H. 6. c. 15. inform us Sometimes the Sheriffs have not returned but the said Writs have embesyled and moreover made no precepts to Mayors and Bailiffs for the election of Citizens and Buâ—…gesses to come to the Parliament by colour of these words conteined in the said Writs Quod in pleno Comimitatu tuo eligi facias pro Comitatu tuo duos Milites pro qualibet Civitate in Com. tuo duos Cives pro quolibet Burgo in Com. tuo duos Burgenses The reason why some of these writs are missing in some extant Bundles and some Cities and Boroughs in those returned now and then omitted in the Sheriffs returns indorsed on or annexed to them as the subsequent Table will visibly demonstrate 7ly That before the Statutes of 7 H. 4. c. 15. 11 H. 4. c. 1. 1 H. 5. c. 1. 6 H. 6. c. 4. 8 H. 6. c. 7. 10 H. 6. c. 2. 23 H. 6. c. 15. 9 H. 8. c. 16. 27 H. 8. c. 26. 34 H. 8. c. 13. 35 H. 8. c. 11. the Kings of England had a very large and absolute power in limiting prescribing in and by their Writs to Sheriffs Mayors Bay liffs and others both the respective numbers and likewise the qualifications of the Knights Citizens Burgesses and Barons of the Ports elected and returned to serve in the several Parliaments and Great Councils summoned by them sometimes commanding 4. most times only 2. Knights sometimes but one Knight to be elected in each County for the whole County sometimes prescribing the self-same Knights Citizens and Burgesses that were elected returned for
themselves are bound in Justice and prudence to reverse and revoke all such unusual illegal clauses and restraints inserted into writs for Elections which are inconsistent with the just rights and freedom of the people in their elections according to the Statutes of 3 E. 1. c. 5. 9 E. 4. c. 14. 7 H. c. 15. and this memorable President of King Riâ—…bard the 2d and that before any publick report thereof in Parliament or examination by the Commons 3ly That no Peer or Baron of the Realm may or ought to be elected a Knight of the Shire or Burgess of Parliament That the King himself may by his Writ null and declare their Elections void and command a new Election to be made before the Parliament assembles without the Commons precedent or concurrent Votes 4. That if the same person be elected Knight of the shire in two several Counties the King by his Writ may null and discharge the second election before the Parliament meets and order the election of a New Knight for the County wherein he was last elected he being uncapable to serve in both without the Commons order or privity 5ly That the Commons House or Committees in this Age were not the ludges Desciders of the lawfulness of Knights and Burgesses elections as now they make themselves but the King himself or the King and Lords House or his Counsel in Parliament without the Commons as I have elsewhere proved at large by sundry Presidents Besides the writs for elections under King Richard the 2d entred in the Clause Rolls there are five several Bundles of writs anno 3 10 11 13 16 R. 2. issued to Sheriffs for electing Knights Citizens Burgesses for the respective Parliaments held in those years having the Retorns of the Sheriffs with all the names of the knights Citizens Burgesses then elected indorsed on them or in Cedules annexed to them most of them having two Manucaptors apiece for their appearance at the day and place of the Parliament and some few of them no Manucaptors at all the forms of the Retorns agreeing for the most part with those of 26 28 E. 1. 42 E. 3. forecited upon which confideration I shall wholy pretermit them to avoid prolixity and nauseousness The original writs of Elections and their Retorns under K. Henry 4. are either mislayed or totally lost embeseled perished through negligence or casualty so as I can give you no particular account of them but only of their transcripts entred in the Clause-Rolls The first of them are enrolled in Claus. 1 H. 4. m. 37. dors claus 2 H. 4. pars 2. dors 8. cl 3 H. 4. dors 2. 17. cl 5 H. 4. pars 1. dors 28. pars 2. dors 11. agreeing all in words substance form with the usual VVrits forecited under Richard the second without any variation except in their Prologues and dates being the same with those to the Prelates Section 1. But in Cl. 5 H. 4. part 2. m. 4. dors there was an unusual new Clause inserted into the VVrits then issued prohibiting all Apprentices or any other man of Law to be elected as well as Sheriffs these Writs else agreeing in all things with the ordinary form Rex Vic. c. Jalutem c. Nolumus autem quod tu sive aliquis alius Vicecomes Regni nostri nec Apprenticius aut aliquis alius homo ad legem aliqualiter sit electus Teste Rege apud Lichefeld quinio die Augusti Thomas of Walsingham a credible Historian then living took special Notice of this extraordinary VVrit recording in his History of England direxit ergo Rex brevia Vicecomitibus ne quosquam pro Comitatibus eligerent quovismedo Milites qui in Iure regni docti fuissent vel Apprenticii sed tales omnino mitterentur ad boc negotium quos constat ignorare cujusque Iuris methodum quod et factum est But what prejudice to the Republike and people this produced by imposing new insupportable Taxes upon them he informs us in his Ypodigma Nestr p. 164. Grave Sir Edward Cook the most confident common Mistaker Mis-reporter of Records that I have hitherto read peremptorily affirms That the Historian VValsingham was herein mistaken and that there was no such Clause in the Writs then issued A clear evidence he never perused this Clause Roll or VVrit with his own eyes or most else be cites as I have done more than once for my own and others satisfaction transcribing this passage out of it with my own hand which I have also met with in sundry other transcripts as well as in the Roll it self where all may peruse it when they please And if this be not sufficient evidence our learned Antiquary Sir Henry Spelman a person of far greater judgement and learning in Antiquities than Sir Edw Cook hath assured us thereof in his Glossarium p. 44. Prohibet Rex Henrious 4 legum Apprenticios ad Parliamentaria Comitia Coventriae habita sexto die Octob. anno Regni sui sexto in Comitatibus eligendos ut non solum meminêre Annales nostri sed ipsum etiam breve Parliamentarium unicuique Vicecomitum directum datumque vigessimo quinto die Aug. anno ejusdem 5. uti patet ibidem in pede viz. Nolumus autem quod tu seu aliquis alius Vic. Regni nostri praedicti aut Apprenticius sive aliquis alius homo ad legem aliqualiter sit electus c. Hinc Parliamentum illud Laicorum dicitur indoctorunr quo jugulum Ecclesiae atrocius petebatur And Sir Edward Cook himself at unawares confesseth as much some few pages after 4 Instit. p. 48. as I have evidenced in my Plea for the Lords p. 379 380 381. and Preface to the Exact Abridgement of the Records in the Tower I find in truth that there were no less than three several writs of Summons and Elections to three distinct Parliaments in this one year of 5 H. 4. The first dated apud Leichfeld 5 die Augusti for a Parliament to be held at Coventree octavo die Octobr. entred Claus. pars 2 H. 4 dors 4. whereinto this clause was inserted omitted in most Collections of Parliamentary writs of Summons The second entred in Claus. 5 H. 4. pars 2. dors 11. Teste Johanne Duce Bedford Custode Angliae apud Westm. 5 die Octobris The third entred Clause 5 H. 4. pars 1. dors 28. for a Parliament apud Coventre tertio die Decembris Teste Rege apud VVestm 20 die Octobris in which two latter writs there is no such Clause inserted but only in the first which perchance was the ground of Sir Edward Cooks confident mistake who only saw a transcript of the latter not of the first Writs This Clause was warranted by and grounded on the forecited Ordinance of 46 E. 3. as Sir Edward Cook aâ—…tests and I subscribe to but that this was an Ordinance â—…ly of the Lords or that Ordinances differed from Acts of Parliament in those times