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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59386	Rights of the kingdom, or, Customs of our ancestors touching the duty, power, election, or succession of our Kings and Parliaments, our true liberty, due allegiance, three estates, their legislative power, original, judicial, and executive, with the militia freely discussed through the British, Saxon, Norman laws and histories, with an occasional discourse of great changes yet expected in the world.	Sadler, John, 1615-1674.	1682 (1682)	Wing S279; ESTC R11835	136,787	326

Henry the first the Descent of divers Nations of Europe from the Trojans in Huntingdon and Hoveden But it may be considered what this State and Parliament hath oft owned of Brute and the Trojan Story not only in the grand Moot of the Dependance of Scotland on England ever since King Brute which beside all Records in the Exchequer is at large in Walsinghams Edward the first and the Survey of Normandy as also in the Laws of the Confessor cap. 35. To which I might add the Trojan Reliques Statues Tablets and Pictures in all the Brittish Danish Saxon English Wars found here in Cornwall Wales and other Parts besides our Troy Novant or new Troy the old Trojan Roman name of this Famous City of the Troinovantes in the Roman Writers Trinobantes now London since the time of Lud's building a Gate and changing this Cities Name But for leaving out the Name of Troy some were so much offended that it came to a great Contest and Quarrel couched in Verse from others by the old Gildas and translated by the Famous Nennius of Bangor escaping that bloody Massacre Who hath also left us an old History yet to be seen in MS. collected as himself saith from the Brittish and Scottish Records and from the old Roman Annals which were then found relating the Pedigree of Brute or Britto some will have him Brotos and some Brutus from Aeneas to Rome and his bringing some Trojan Reliques hither by the way of Gaul where he also saith he built the City of Turons or Tours much as Monmouth and others have the Story though I could never find it in Homer or any of the Ancients by them cited for Turons Yet I find the same Nennius confessing that the Brittish Annals had another descent of their Brute or Britto from Japhet obtaining Europe for his Portion with the Brittish Isles of which Noahs Will in Eusebius or other old Fragments came alone from whence the Almans and Francks besides our Britto Father to the Brittains whose Genealogy through twenty Descents to Noah and Adam he saith he had from the Tradition of those who lived here in Primis Britanniae Temporibus So that if we may not believe Taliessin the British Bard of Trojans coming hither with their Brute yet we may peruse his Scholar or the Merlin that foretold the Name of Brute should come again upon this Island whether in the Scottish Union or in the Welsh returning to their Lost Dominions I dispute not nor how this Island came so like to Somothrace so near a Kin to Troy in Rites of Worship or in other Customs as of old some did observe especially in those concerning Ceres or Proserpina so famous here that in the old Argonauts the Brittish Isles are stiled the Court or Palace of Ceres and yet this might be for other Reasons But although I cannot deny some Trojan customs among us yet I know not why I should grant that Trojan Succession to the Crown which so many do assert when as themselves do yield the same Trojans to be Brittans and those Brittans of whom we spake before And besides the Brittish Gavelkinde and all before themselves do also relate their own Brute parting his Kingdom among his three Sons and again the Crown parted between the two Sons of Madan two of Gorbodio two of Molmutius two of Lud so near a Kin to him that Caesar found Elected King by Common-Council And I must believe those who assert the Trojan Crown to go by Succession yet I know not why I may not also believe so many good or better Writers of the Trojan Common-Council or Parliament and their Power in Peace and War with all things else that might concern the King or Kingdom which great Council did consist of Princes or Nobles and Elders of the People Of which Trojan Parliament we read in Apuleius Socrates Daemon and in Homer Virgil Dictys and most ancient Dares who lived also in our Britain if good Bale deceive us not which yet is not so certain as that he was Translated or Paraphrased in Latin Verse by Ioseph of Exon or Iscan our Countrey-Man as many of his Verses speak although that Elegant Poem be ascribed to Cornelius Nepos as by him Dedicated to Salust in the times of the great Commerce between Rome and Britain which produced so many famous Brittish Romans beside Constantine Helen and the modest Claudia of whom St. Paul speaketh and Martial in several places maketh her a British Woman I will not insist upon their Election of Emperors or Generals by a kind of Lot in Dictys nor will I deny but the Trojans were severe enough to all Traitors whose dead Bodies also were denyed Burial if we may believe all from the Illiads but the Odysses may also afford us the very same Punishment for Tyrants whom they hated as much as the Grecians Nor will the Patrons of Succession or Prerogative find more encouragement among the Grecians than among the Trojans though I cannot deny but they do rightly observe many Grecian Customs among the Britains nor will I deny to our Ancestors both Greek Philosophers and Greek Schools besides Bladud's at Stamford and other Places I could easily believe these Islands to be known to the Grecians long before the Romans of whom Lucretius is the first that I yet know speaking of Britain but it was described by Polibius though our great Herald seem to forget it who might learn it from the Carthaginians trading hither and by Eratosthenes Dicaearcus Pithaeas and Artemidorus if I be not deceived from Strabo that I say nothing of the old Argonauts ascribed to Orpheus naming Ireland and describing Britain or of the Book of the World in Aristotles Works where Albion and Ferne are Brittish Isles mentioned also in Dyonisius and very famous for their Mines of Tin or Lead whence the name of Cassiterides of which Herodotus and others of the Ancients What was the Grecian Genius towards their Kings doth not only appear in their Supercilious Ephori Eye-brows or the Left eye of Greece but in the Right Eye or Athens of which much might be spoken from all the Greek Historians besides their Laws or Politicks of Plato and his Schollars long before the Attick Laws Collected by Petitus that I say nothing of Aristophanes or any of their Poets But how much our Ancestors owed to the Grecians I do not find expressed by any most of our Plays much of our Works and somewhat of our Laws seemeth to be Grecian The Genius of a State is seen in Plays some think rather than in Work they are Passions and as Lovers Pulses which do shew the Soul much quicker than do Words or Actions and the Greek Scenes were Passions or Sufferings of Princes rather than their Actions and a Tyrants blood was thought the Richest and fattest Sacrifice to please the People and appease their Gods but Interludes must be Corrected much and then they may both Moralize and Methodize the best Historians and may be

the Subscriptions to that Charter but from Bede or other old Authors that use the Phrase Majores of such Officers or Magistrates as Mayors in Cities now seem to be Of which I might give divers Examples It is worth observing how in these Danish storms all Historians make the Counts or great Shireeves to be Generals or Commanders of the Militia And of these I know none more famous than Dorsetshire Reeve Ethelhem in the great Battel of Hampton or in that about Port of which so many write at the Danes first landing thereabouts Danigeld is scarce so ancient Yet this also was granted for provision against Danish Pirates as St. Edward's Laws affirm Who first remitted this Tax but it came up again about forty years after it had been diverted from its first institution and paid as Tribute to the Danes But this was also by Parliament Of which Ingulph and Hoveden with all about Etheldred and Edward I must not digress to the Parliament of Winchester in King Egbert's Sons in which Tenths of Lands as other Tythes were confirmed for Church-Glebe Of which the Saxon Chronologie with Ethelward Hoveden the Abbot of Croyland the Monk of Malmsbury and Matthew of Westminster with divers others before Polydore To which we may adde King Edgar's Oration to St. Dunstan which is known enough As also the Wednesday Masses one for the King and the other pro Ducibus c. Consentientibus The Charter being subscribed by the King Archbishops Dukes Earls and Procerum totius Terrae Aliorumque fidelium infinita Multitudine I should not omit the Parliaments confirming Rome-Scot much mistaken by divers It was granted by King Ina then by Offa and again by King Ethelwoolf not to the Pope as it is generally thought but to the English School or Alms-house for Pilgrims at Rome Yet it was called Peter-pence because fixed on Peters-day A famous day in our Law as may appear by the second of Westminster and other Parliaments But it might be called Peter-pence from King Ina whom at his Baptism in Rome the Pope name Peter as the Saxon Chronicles others Or there might be as much reason for Peter-pence as there was for Peterburg which was Medhamsted but Vows might be performed or absolved here as well as at St. Peter's Threshold in Rome And hence the name of Peterburg But of Peter-pence before Polydore we read in much older Historians especially the Author of King Offa's Life now printed with Matthew Paris Beside the Laws of King Edgar Canutus Edmund and the Confessor where it is called Eleemosynae Regis But in the Saxon Chronology 't is Kynninges and West Seaxena Almessan And in King Alfred's Life by Asser Menevensis Eleemosynae Regis and Anglo-Saxonum Being confirmed by common Assent or Parliament I must omit the Parliament at Kingsbury where among other divers matters a great Charter was confirmed to Crowland Vnanimi Consensu totius Concilii pro Regni Negotiis Congregati Subscribed by the King of Mercia Archbishops Bishops Earls c. And among others by Off●at who was Pincerna Regis Ethelwoolphi Legatus Ipsius filiorum Nomine Illorum Omnium West-Saxonum as we are told by the old Abbot who knew it well I might pass over King Alfred's Parliaments so the famous in all Historians and Lawyers But in none I know clearer than in the old Mirrour Of which before for Alfred and his Parliaments twice every year in London With which we may compare one passage in the Confessors Laws touching this great and old City But of this hereafter This was the learned King who perused all the old Trojan Grecian British Molmutian Mercian Danish and Saxon Laws especially those of Ina Offa and King Ethelbert Cum consulto Sapientum partim innovanda curavit as himself speaketh And his Laws were established by Parliaments by his Witan or Witena Atque eis omnibus placuit edici eorum Observatione As learned Lambert translateth the Saxon. But I may not omit King Alfred's Doomsday-book made by such Common Council the great Roll of Winchester which was again renewed by the Confessor and then again by King William the First and then also called the Roll of Winchester and Doomsday as before Of which old Ingulph with Natura Brevium Yet it seemeth that before King Alfred's time there was such a doom-Doom-book made by Ethelwoolf at the time of the Church-Glebe of which Book the Saxon Chronology at the year 854. But this might rather be a land-Land-book whence the Phrase of Booeland See King Alfred's Will annexed to Asser. But we also find an ancient Doom-book for their Laws and matters Iudicial Of which Doom-book we read in several places of the Laws of Edward the Senior strictly charging all the Judges and Magistrates to be just and equitable Nec quicquam formident quin jus Communae audacter libereque dicant according to the Doom-book And again in Edgar's Laws we find the Doom-book for Tythes and the famous Kyricseat These succeeded King Alfred But long before his time among the Dooms of Withred made about the year 697. by the King and Bishops Cum caeteris Ordinibus and Military-men or Milites at Berghamsted a Fine is set upon a Commander found in Adultery Spretta Sententia Regis Episcopi Boec●-Doom I could believe King Ethelbert's Parliaments were Authors to this Doom-book Of which the Roll of Rochester tha Doomas dhe Athelbirth Cyning with Rihtra Dooma in the fore-cited place of Ethelbert in the Saxon Bede of King Alfred How severe his Dooms were to the Counts old Shireeves and Iudges we find in Asser more in Horn and his Kirk-dooms in his Laws which do also speak of Kiric-Ealdor a Church-Elder But again to the Saxon Militia In Alfred's time there was a League made with the Danes Then the Title was Foedus quod Aluredus Guthrunus Regis ferierunt ex Sapientum Anglorum consulto confirmed by Act of Parliament And the Saxon Chronologer addeth That the Dane swore to the Peace and promised to be baptized as he also was and King Alfred was his Godfather naming him Ethelstane Some adde a Daughter of King Alfred's for his Wife which may be worth enquiring more than now may seem The Articles of this League were again renewed and enlarged by Parliament in Edward the Elder A Sapientibus recitata sapius atque ad Communem Regni Vtilitatem Aucta atque Amplificata In the Preface to those Statutes In this Edward's Reign there was an Insurrection and Ethelwald seized on Winborn c. whose Charge and Crimes was this That he did such an Act without permission of the King and Parliament but an tdes Kynings leafe ac his Witena So the Saxon. And Malmsbury addeth That à Proceribus in Exilium trusus Piratus adduxerat But the King summons a Parliament at Exon and there Mid his Witan consulted how the Kingdoms Peace might be restored and preserved Orabat vehementer obtestabatur such was his Mean to the Parliament hoc unum Curent ne

It cannot be expected that I should shew the Original of all Changes or Distempers in this Kingdom It is work enough to shew our first Mould or Constitution yet for this also it cannot be doubted but the Barons Wars and Power might gain upon the Commons more than on the King he had such Bounds before that he could hardly be obliged more or capable of granting much but what was due before to all his People But it might be easie for the Potent Lords to grow upon the Commons in the Name of Barons In that Name I say for I cannot determine but the old Barons being the great Freeholders and the Lords of all the Manors that have left their Names in our Courts Baron had by Law and Reason much more Power than had the Kings Patentees Created Barons by Patent or Writ But this new Creation did but multiply the Iudges or the Kings Councellors for by so taking their Commission from the King they were only as other Judges in Inferiour Courts and so did really lose their great Power of Iudging which was proper only to those who were the Kingdoms Peers and Iudges So that these Lords did justly admit the Commons or rather were admitted by the Commons into the grand Iudicature and it may be that as the Barons did communicate their Power Iudicial so the Commons might communicate their Legislative unto those who had the Name but little of the Nature of the old Barons by Tenure yet by so doing they might bring Confusion or an harsh Discord into Natures Harmony But the main occasion seemed thus the King was tyed by his Coronation Oath to hold keep and defend the just Laws and Customs chosen by the Commons Iustas Leges consuetudines quas vulgus elegerit and this Limitation of Iust seemed to admit of reason or debate so much as might convince the Laws required to be Just for else I know not that the King was ever tyed to them And because he was or might be an Infant he had still a great Council about him to discuss the Laws proposed by the Commons and for this Cause he did and by reason might Summon the Lords or any other Wise and good Man he knew to come and give him Counsel as the Writ speaketh to the Lords and Iudges c. De quibusdam arduis nobiscum tractaturi Concilium impensuri So we find the old Acts passed per Consilium Baronum as we might shew in all Ages And because he used to demurr at Bills till he had the Advice of his great Council hence it may be for more Compendium the Bill was sent up first to the Lords as the Kings Counsellors and if they Counselled him against it then he answered Le Roy s'avisera The King will yet be farther Advised for he did not and I think he could not give a denyal nor of old perhaps Demurred till the Lords advised him against it I dispute not how much the Commons might oblige the Commons without assent of Lords or King Nor have I yet said that in the Coronation Oath the Commons Just Acts are called Laws and to Mould them may be works distinct enough and the plain truth is his Oath is to hold and to keep and to defend the Commons Laws à Tenir Gardir Les Defenderer per se tenendas protegendas as well as to Grant or to Confirm However I do not see either by Reason or Law That the King was so obliged to the Judgment of his own created Lords and there be few or none others left in England that he might not be convinced by the Reason of the Commons either without or against the Lords And beside divers Ordinances without any of the Lords it cannot be denyed but in Divers ages there were Acts of Parliament made without or against all the Lords Spiritual which yet often were the Major part of the Lords House and had as good it may be better Votes as Barons by Tenure than had all the other Lords by Writ and Patent only which might make them Judges or Councellors much rather than Law-makers I should still be far from desiring to obtrude my own Fancies or Opinions upon any least of all to the wrong of others Therefore if any can produce a better Title my Petition is they may be heard and may receive their Just Rights and Priviledges But if this be true which I now only propose and submit to better Thoughts and Judgments then had the Lords of late but a Right Consultative of making Laws And besides all that was said before this seemeth one Reason why our Ancestors did so willingly follow the Vice of Nature in placing the Power Legislative Iudicial and Executive in three distinct Estates as in Animals Aerials Etherials or Celestials three Regions and three Principles in Naturals that so they might be forced to consult often and much in all they did And if this frequent Consultation were retained and observed still it might not only occasion good Reviews but also prevent That which to the Common-wealth I fear and not Alone to private Persons may be sometimes prejudicial in a sudden Vote or Act of one House or one Body and yet one may be better much than Many if they be not good It must be granted that in Bodies of the Best Complexion and Composure here below there may be such Distemper and such Gangrene in some Members that it may be more than fit to cut it off Nay what was best may come to be the worst in Putrefaction That it may be meer Necessity to bury it although it were as Dear as Sarah was to Abraham or set on high by him that raised up the Brazen Serpent which see e're long lye buryed with this Epitaph Nehushtan And to all that is truly Just the Commons of England will not need to plead a bare Necessity for by Law and Reason too it may be said and proved I believe That both the King himself who chooseth by his Writ and All the Lords by several Votes have left the Legislative power so to the House of Commons that they had a Legal Right to do what all the Kingdom and Common-wealth of England Justly could But They are Men and therefore may be much unjust Nay where the Thing they do is Iust They may be much or most unjust I have neither Calling nor Ability to Judge them Nor may I act with force against them for whate're I think Unjust No not if I should think they did Usurp the Crown For if the Law Reports and Books deceive me not it hath been Judged Treason and so is for Private Men to rise conspire or Levy War against one that Usurps the Crown and Rights thereof except it rightly were declared Usurpation or that others should or might oppose him that did so Usurp Of which the Reasons may be Great and obvious Let me then suppose any one Man of all the Commons in Parliament for I will not

Malmsbury durst not follow Ingulph in this of Shires as he doth in Hundreds which yet as Wapentakes were elder much if we may credit Tacitus Old Ethelward and the Author of both the Offa's with Huntingdon among Historians and the Lawyers old Horn-book the Mirrour do find or make Counties and Counts before King Alfred And we may go higher much if we may trust to Alfreds Saxon Bede now printed with an old Saxon Chronologie by Mr. Wheelock In both which we read so much of Eorl Eolderman Shire-Alderman and Bishops-shire besides Shire-born that is his Parish For this was the old Diocess before the Novel Division of Parishes And before Alfred as high as King Ina. His Laws now extant tell us of Shire-men that were Iudges also as the old 〈…〉 nts and Shireeves and of Ealdermen that were to forfeit their Shires if they let Thieves escape I might adde the old Writs of Assize in St. Edmund's time on which the great Judge buildeth in two or three Books of Reports for Sheriffs Tryal by Twelve and other things which might have other clearer Proofs If any would also assert such Division among the old Britains he might have much from Nature in Rivers or such Partitions to most of our Shires besides the names in Cesar Tacitus Strabo Ptolomy and besides that which Virgil himself will admit of Molmutius Laws assigning the Ways and Plows for every County which is in others besides Monmouth or Virunnius For Polydore addeth in this which is to be marked besides St. Edward's Laws This Disgression may be the more tolerable as that which maketh way to such Elections as we might assert in the Parliaments of those times also were this the proper place But to return to the Militia We have found it moulded by Common Consent and by it also committed to Shireeves and other Officers known sworn and chosen by the People We shall now step a little higher that we may see how in elder times the great work of War as well as Peace was managed And this also we shall find entrusted to a Common Council I do not deny but the King himself hath sometimes been General of a great Army and that legally also for it was by Consent of the People or Parliament So it was when the Romans came into this Island Cassibelan was King and chief Commander in War But it was by Consent of a great Common Council as Caesar himself observeth and reporteth Summa belli Communi Coneilio Cassibelano traditur Nor can it be wondered at when their Druyds grand Maxime of State was this Ne loqui de Republica nisi per Coneilium Not so much as to speak of a matter of State but in or by a Council These were they that sent Caesar word they had as good Bloud as lie and from the same Fountain having been so long acquainted with Liberty that they knew not the meaning of Tribute or Slavery The British Druyds moulded the Gauls Cesar reporteth it with the Brag of one of them saying That he could call or appeal to such a great Common Council that all the World could not resist it But there were others also besides Kings chosen by the Britains to be Generals such as old Authors call Principes Militiae a Phrase given to divers two I remember Bolinus and Levisham as now he might be called in the time of Kimbolinus acting by Common Council as all may find that read those Histories Which we may now assert by better Authors than old Monmouth though he be better also much better than Polydore or others would perswade us It was this great Council with the King that treated with and against the Romans in all times and that sought their aid at length against the Picts and Scots And when the Romans could not attend the Britains Tears it was this Council that called in their Neighbours first and Friends the Britains from Armorica the Gaulish Britain and that before King Arthur's time Of which so many Authors write that Convocato Clero and Primatibus Communi tandem assensu mittuntur in Armoricam Nuncii c. A Parliament clear enough yet not so clear as any man acquainted with those times might prove beyond dispute But I now must attend the Militia A Parliament it was that called in the Saxons not the King alone but Parliament of Lords and Commons also if besides the Crowd of all in the Road I be not deceived by the Saxon Chronologie and Gildas himself whose very words almost are used by Monmouth and others and by the famous Nennius of Bangor who yet liveth in Manuscript He is clear enough for divers things we doubt in British Stories And for Parliaments also before the Saxons setling here which was by Act of Parliament Dum Conventa magna Synodus Clericorum Laicorum in uno consilio cum majoribus natu Consilium fecerunt scrutati sunt quid facerent tandem Concilium omnibus fuit ut pacem facerent postea verò Conventum adduxerunt here was a Covenant also by Parliament Statutum est ut amicitia firma adjuvicemesset c. Thus Nennius after his escape from the Massacre at Bangor Come we now to the Saxons setled here by Parliament In this they may seem more considerable that by most they are made the Patrons of Chivalry or Tenures by Knights-service for it is now believ'd by no Lawyer or Historian that I know that this came in with the Normans although it was so thought by some I have somewhat to say in due place why it might look higher than the Saxons yet I must yield it had been but little room among the Britains of Gavel-kind Of which the Parliament in Henry the Eighth and more hereafter besides all the Comments upon the Statute or rather the Writ de Militibus None doubt but Tacitus speaketh of our Saxon Ancestors or rather theirs in that in their chosing Kings and Generals Reges ex nobilitate Duces ex virtute by Common Council in iisdem conciliis Eliguntur Principes de Minoribus Principes de Majoribus omnes consultant And that such Council did both mould and manage the Militia is plain enough in the same Author Who besides all matters of History telleth us their general Custom was Not to entrust any man with bearing Arms antequam Civitas suffecturum probaverit till some Common Council more or less had approved him For so I may translate it to all that know how much Vrbs and Civitas do differ The Tract of Parliaments is visible enough in all the Saxon Writings here I should be tedious in citing but one quarter of that which their Laws yet to be found and very good Authors do afford in this Some have much wondred at a Passage now found in the Confessors Laws It is about Titles which he saith were preached by Austin and granted by the King then reigning and the Barons and common People Concessa sunt à Rege Baronibus Populo A very

consilium quod Populo habeatur utilissimum And again In rem totius Patriae And that each should do as he would be done to Which it calleth the Most right Law And that the higher and greater men the Delinquents were by so much the more and heavier they should be punished Of which and of their Wergylds for all Ranks of men Again Iniqua omnia injusta quae Rex unâ cum Optimatibus exterminare decreverit abjiciantur c. That about this time Danegeld came to be paid to the Danes which was before against them is agreed by all Malmsbury is bold to ascribe it to a Decree of the Archbishop of Canterbury but Huntingdon may be his Comment telling us That Consilio infausti Siricii Archiepiscopi Edelredi 13. primum Statuerunt Angli quod ipsi Censum Dacis persolverent A clear Act of Parliament Of which also Florence of Wygorn And again Anno 1007. Rex Senatus Anglorum Dubii quid agerent quid omitterent communi deliberatione gravem Conventionem cum exercite fecerunt ad pacis observationem 30000 l. ei dederunt c. This also from Huntingdon And among the Saxon Laws we read Foedus quod Ethelredus cum exercitu Anlavi c. ex Sapientum suorum Consilio feriit And again Pacis foedus Ethelredo Regi omni Populo Leodsayre And again Socii ac foederati nostri omnes per Mare Terras in Portu extra pace fruuntor With divers other Passages of Peace and War setled by that Parliament Iornalensis addeth another Parliament in this King's time Apud habam Constituerunt omnes ut Regi suo pareant sicut Antecessores sui melius fecerunt cum eo Pariter defendant Regnum c. ut cantetur quotidie pro Rege Communiter omni Populo suo And again Prohibemus omnem Roboriam c. omnis Index Iustus Misericordiam Iudicium liberet in omnibus timeat omnis Iudex ac diligat Iudicem suum ne in die Iudicii mutus fiat humiliatus c. Nor may I forget the famous Judgment for the Bishop of Winchester by the Thanes and Ealdormen in the Witenagemote or Parliament of Eldred Quo dum Duces Principes Satrapae Rhetores Causidici ex omni parte confluxerant Of which the old Book of Ely cited by Mr. Selden in his Titles of Honour And for the Militia Roger Hoveden is very clear and full at the Danish Irruptions Qua recognità Rex Anglorum Egelredus his names are many suorum Primatum consilio classem Pedestrem congregavit exercitum And again Habito Concilio cum Regni suis Primatibus utile Duxit à Danis dextras accipere stipendium dare placabile tributum solvere And again Primatum suorum Concilio nummos ad Danos c. And again Rex Regni sui Primates ad illos Danos miserunt Legatos pacem ab iis petentes stipendium tributum eis Promittentes So is old Florence of Worcester Consilio Iussuque Regis Anglorum Aethelredi procerumque suorum de tota Angliae robustiores Lundoniae congregatae sunt naves And again Procerum suorum consilio ad eos Danos Legatos misit promittens tributum stipendium And again Omnes Angliae Primates utriusque Ordinis ante Pascha Lundoniae congregati sunt ibi tamdiu morati sunt quousque tributum Danis Promissum quod erat 48000 l Persolveretur And again Cum apud Oxonefordam magnum haberetur placitum c. eodem tempore Canutus cum magna classe c. Eadmundus Clito magnum congregavit exercitum c. So is Matthew of Westminster adding much to those before him and ascribing that bloudy Council of the Danish Massacre to one Huna Princeps Militiae qui sub Rege Regni negotia dispondenda susceperat cujus consilio misit litteras Rex in omnes Regni fines Mandans nationibus singulis universis c. Of which St. Edward's Laws But Oxoniense placitum is in Florilegus Magnum apud Oxoniam colloquium Anglorum pariter Danorum And so the old Glossary of Canterbury tenders Gemot by Placitum and Fologemot by Populi Placita So also Law-Mootes are Placita Magnum placitum the great Folo-mout or Parliament as Comitatus placita with Matth. Paris County-Courts parva placita Oxford Parvises I must not stay long on the Acts of Parliament which Angles Kynnes Witena made and established Cum Walliae Consiliariis de Monticolis Where among other things we find it enacted That Viri duo denijure consulti Angli sex Wallique totidem Anglis ac Wallis jus dicunto With which we might compare our Laws de Medietate Linguae c. But for our Trials by a Jury of Twelve we have a much clearer Law in another Parliament of Ethelred Frequenti apud Wanalingum Senatu Of which Iornalenfis and Mr. Lambards Glossary In singulis Centuriis Comitia sunto atque Liberae conditionis viri duodeni aetate Superiores una cum praeposito sacra Tenentes Iurante se adeo virum aliquem Innocentem haud Damnaturos Sontemve absoluturos An old MSS. thus Habeantur placita in Singulis Wapentakis ut exeant Seniores XII Thani praepositus cum eis Iurent super Sanctuarium quod eis dabitur in Manus quod Neminem Innocentem velint accusare vel Noxium Concelare But of more ancient Tryals by Twelve in fitter place although I must not spend time to confute the Italian who will have that terrible Custom as he thought brought in by the Conqueror The Proofs of Parliaments in Canutes time are so many and so full that they tire us altogether How he confirmed the Laws of Ethelred and other Predecessors we read in the Monk of Malmsbury who recordeth also his remarkable Letter from Rome directed to the Archbishops Bishops c. Primatibus Toti Genti Anglorum tam Nobilibus quam Plebeis As also his Charter to Glastonbury Cum Concilio Decreto Archipresulis Edelnothi simulque Cunctorum Dei Sacerdotum Consensu Optimatum Hoveden in full in this also Cujus Edmundi post Mortem Rex Canutus omnes Episcopos Duces necnon Principes cunctosque Optimates Gentis Angliae Lundoniae Congregari Iussit A clear Summons of Parliament And the very name of Parliament is found of his time in the old book of Edmunds-bury Rex Canutus anno Regni quinto c. Cunctos Regni sui Praelatos Proceresque ac Magnates ad suum convocans Parliamentum And again In suo Publico Parliamento And that it was indeed a full Parliament we may believe from the persons we find there at the Charter of that Monastery confirmed by Hardi-Canute but granted by Canute in suo Publico Parliamento praesistentibus personaliter in eodem Archiepiscop Episcopis Suffragenis Ducibus Comitibus Abbatibus cum quam plurimis gregariis Militibus Knights of Shires it seems cum Populi Multitudine Copiosâ other Commons also omnibus tum in eodem

call it and the Barons of Wars Or the time of the great Charter For since that time the Rolls and Printed Acts are every where much larger and much better than my little reading or my leasure can present them Two words have sound of horror to the People who are taught to think them both oppressions and the sins of him they call the Conqueror Dane-geld and the Book of Dooms-day Some have added Curfeu with I know not what to make poor Children quake These have been proved to be long before the Normans coming in To that of Dane-geld I may add that good King Edward did also retain it to his Coffers when the Danish Storm was over till he saw the Devil dance upon it As the Crouland Abbot doth Record But it did rise from one to three to four to six shillings on the Hide but so by Parliament as may be much collected from the 11th Chap. of King Edwards Laws compared with Florence of Worcester Hoveden Huntingdon Math. Paris and Math. of Westminster besides some others which we must produce e're long And to say nothing of eleemosyne pro Aratris of which Canute and Ethelred it is clear in King Ethelstanes Laws that single Hides or Ploughlands in England were to maintain two Horsemen with Arms by Act of Parliament And this was more it seems than ever was King Williams Hydage or Dane-geld Which may be added to King Ethelstanes Militia as also his Doom book for all Judgments in one Form of which his Laws speak to what is said of Booca Doom But to King Williams Doomsday I shall now add to what before that besides the Mirror and Fitz-Herberts N. B. with the old Abbot of Crouland There is enough in every segment of that Roll to make one know it was a Review and little but a Review of what was done before They do abuse us else that bid us read the T. E. R. in all that Roll Tempore Edwardi Regis plain enough sometimes without all Divination That it was also confirmed by Parliament may be clear enough from the many exemptions a servitio Regis and a Vice-comit Nay to some inferiour places as Ely and Worcester Besides old Crowland which was not exempted from such service till the latter Saxon or first Normans time though Ingulph spake of divers Ethelreds But the same Abbot will tell us that this Doom Book was now also made juxta Taxatorum fidem qui Electi de qualibet Patria c. And that his Taxors were both kind and merciful non ad verum pretium nec ad verum spatium c. So preventing future Burthens and Exactions Talem Rotulum multum similem ediderat quondam Rex Alfredus c. But Alfreds own Will seemeth to carry it higher Nor was Ingulph's favour at the Court altogether useless for by that we come to know that our Norman King even in little things proceeded by a Great Councel So that our Abbots Charters must be viewed by Parliment Coram Domino meo Rege ac universo Concilio c. Thence he brought St. Edward's Laws as was observed before Huntingdon and Matthew Paris with Matthew of Westminster spake of his Hydage and Dooms-day as done with great Advice and Justice Misit Iusticiarios per unamquamque scyram inquirere fecit per jusjurandum quot Hydae i. e. jugera uni Aratro sufficientia per annum essent in unaquaque c. Nor are they wholy silent of his Parliaments Cum de more tenuisset curiam suam in Natali ad Gloucestriam and again at Winchester the like at London in another season Tilburiensis telleth us that Mony was paid to the Crown by Cities and Castles that used no Tillage But from the Land or Farms only Victuals till Henry the first And when the Kings foreign Wars did make him press for ready Mony the people murmured offering their Plowshares Horum igitur Querelis inclinatus Rex by advice of his Great council definito magnatum Concilio he sent out discreet prudent men that upon view of all the Lands should assesse the sums which the Sheriffs were to pay into the Exchequer This Gervase lived a while after King William Florence of Worcester near his Reign he telleth us of a Great Councel at Winchester And again of another at a place called Pedred not only by the King Arch-Bishops Bishops Earls but also primatibus totius Angliae a full Parliament for which Florilegius and Walsingham Newstria may be considered with Hoveden following Wigornens That in his Reign there was an High Constable of England ceasing in Henry the Eight appeareth by the Parliament Rolls of Edward the Fourth but Alfigar in the Book of Ely was such in St. Edwards time and to Him some ascribe the Constable of Dover with the Warden and Priviledge of the Cinque Ports with their Hamlets or Circuit including Rye and Winchelsey But all this speaketh Parliament as doth also his New Church Priviledge Communi Concilio Archiep. Episcop Abbat omnium Principum Regni mei Yet to be seen not only at Sir Robert Cottons Jewel House but among the Rolls with King Richards Charters for the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln This exemption of the Church from Seculars c. is the more considerable because it came up with the Norman King at the time of Hildebrand whose Letters missive came hither ad Willielmi Regis Concilium And that this Councel was a full Parliament appeareth by the Charters as I may call them of the Arch-Bishop of York ex praecepto Papae Gregorii 7. and Confirmatione Domini Willielmi Regis sub Testimonio Universalis Anglorum Concilii c. Of which Roger Hoveden is clear telling us also that this King summoned the Arch Bishops Bishops Abbots Counts Barons Vice Comit. cum suis Militibus were these Knights of Shires To this I may add from the Continuer of the Saxon Chronology that Lanfranc came hither from Caen on the Kings call and the Popes Command primatum Regni Anglorum in Ecclesia Cant. suscepit eligentibus eum Senioribus cum Episcopis principibus clero Populo Angliae in curia Regis a very clear and full Parliament Nor may I so wrong our Common Law as to detain that antient Record which the great Judg in his Reports citeth of a Writ of Right brought by this Lanfranc against Odo Bishop of Bajeux and removed by a Toll into the County Court where the King commanded all the good Lawyers to attend the County a toto Comitatu Recordatum atque judicatum est That as the King held his Lands in His Demesn in Dominio suo so was the Arch Bishop to hold his omnino liberas quietas in Dominiquo suo which Judgment was afterward confirmed by the King and Parliament cum consensu omnium principum suorum With which Record I may compare the old Manuscrips in Bennets Coll. Cambridge telling us of a great Moot magnum placitum in loco qui dicitur Pinenden in