Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	church_n	old_a	receive_v	2,582	5	5.9562	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A64308	An introduction to the history of England by Sir William Temple, Baronet.	Temple, William, Sir, 1628-1699.	1695 (1695)	Wing T638; ESTC R14678	83,602	334

between the Accuser and Accused and were usual in Actions both real and criminal where no evident Proof of Fact appeared from Witnesses or other Circumstances The Victor was acquitted and the Vanquished if not killed upon the Field was condemned These were performed with great Solemnities and either in Presence of the King who granted the Combat or of certain Judges by him appointed for that particular Case Both these Sorts of Trials this King abolished as unchristian and unjust and reduced all Causes to the Judgment of Equals or of a Jury of twelve Neighbours and by legal Forms Yet the last was some few times used in succeeding Reigns In the Beginnings of his Reign the Kingdom had been much infested by Outlaws and by Robbers and many Normans were secretly murthered by the Hatred of the English as they passed alone upon the Ways or the Fields especially in the Night To remedy this last Mischief he imposed a heavy Fine upon the Hundred where the Body of any Norman should be found slain whether any Discovery were made or no of the Author or Complices of the Fact For all Rapes and Robberies he caused them to be punished so severely by cruel Mutilations of Members and Hardships of Labour as left them miserable Spectacles or Warnings of their Crimes during the rest of their Lives By the Rigour of these Courses and cutting off the chief Cause of such Offences which grow from Idleness and Expences he reduced the whole Realm to such Security that 't is recorded in his Time how a fair Maiden with a Purse of Gold in her Hand might have travelled through the Realm without any Danger offered to her Honour or her Money Besides to prevent any Crimes that might be committed by Favour or Encouragement of the Night He ordered a Bell to be rung in each Parish at eight a Clock in the Winter and nine in the Summer after which every Man was to cover his Fire and stir no more abroad that Night And this was for that Reason called the Corfew or Couvrefew Bell. For the Safety of his State he erected several Castles in many Places most convenient of the Kingdom among which was the Tower of London and New-Castle upon Tyne either built or by this King much enlarged and garrisoned them by Norman or English Soldiers but all such as he most trusted and who were ready in Arms upon all Occasions Yet these Forts were look'd upon by the English as unnecessary in the Times of Peace and as Bridles upon the Liberties of the People rather than Preventions of Dangers of the Crown After these Institutions he applied himself to the Increase Order and Establishment of his Revenue and having as he believed satisfied the People in general by the Confirmation of their ancient and beloved Laws he thought he might be bolder with the Clergy whom he knew to be generally his Enemies and whose Clamours he the less feared from his own known Piety in frequenting Divine Worship in building and endowing several Monasteries in Presents to many Churches both in England and Normandy but especially in great Treasures which he sent frequently to Rome Therefore upon Pretence of his Enemies in the two last Revolts and such as were designed to be their Complices having conveyed their Plate Money and Jewels into the several Monasteries throughout the Kingdom he caused all the rich Abbies to be searched their Money Plate and Jewels which were not necessary or of common Use in Divine Service to be seized and thereby brought at once a mighty Treasure into his Coffers but an inveterate Hatred of the Clergy upon his Person and Reign and this was the last of those Actions that by the envenomed Pens of the Monkish Writers of that Age left such a Charge upon the Memory of this Prince by the Imputation of Cruelty Oppression Violence Exaction and the Breach or Change of Laws of the Kingdom either Human or Divine though the same Authors little consider how ill this agrees with the high Characters they themselves give of his Personal Qualities and Virtues Nor is it probable that so vicious Actions should proceed from so virtuous Dispositions or that so noble and excellent Qualities of any Prince should be esteemed by the present Age or celebrated to Posterity which had been accompanied by cruel infamous or depraved Actions during his Life Having with these Spoils of the Clergy as well as by the many Forfeitures of the revolted Nobles replenished his Coffers for the present he extended the Care of his Revenue not only to what might arrive in his own Life but also in the Times of succeeding Kings To this End he sent Commissioners into all the several Counties of the whole Realm who took an exact Survey and described in a Censual Roll or Book all the Lands Titles and Tenures throughout the whole Kingdom In this were distinctly set down not only every Barony each Knight's Fee every Plow-land but also what Owners by what Tenures at what Rents or Duties they held and what Stock they were possessed of and how many Villans upon their respective Estates All Lands that held anciently of the Crown or were by this King disposed upon Forfeitures he subjected to the usual Tenures of Baronies or Knight's Fees reserving in all the Dominion in chief to himself some Quitrents or Fines upon Death and Alienation and likewise the Custody of all Heirs of such Lands as were left under Age and the Disposal of their Fortunes besides what was assigned for their Maintenance till they came to Years of disposing their Estates and themselves This Book was composed after two old Examples of the same kind in the Times of Ethelbert and Alfred and was laid up as sacred in the Church of Winchester and for that Reason as graver Authors say was called Liber Domus Dei and by Abbreviation Domesday Book The vulgar Account is that the Name was derived from the Nature and so called because every Man was to receive his Doom by that Book upon any Dispute about the Value Tenure Payments or Services of his Lands upon Collection of the King 's ordinary Revenue or the raising of any extraordinary Taxes or Impositions And to make a President for the future or to satisfie the great Expences the King had been at for the compiling this great Roll of the Kingdom six Shillings was raised upon every Plow-land which made the Design of it less agreeable to the People though every Man's Right thereby received a new Evidence and no Injustice was complained of in the Digestion of so difficult a Work and of so various a Nature By this means the King came to an easie and exact Knowledge of his whole constant Revenue and so proportioned it to his Expences and the necessary Cares of having always a Fond or Reserve of present Treasure in his Coffers that after this Time we never find him plunged in any Difficulties for want of Money to supply many great Occasions that ensued in his