learned Bodin of the Clergy the Nobility and the Commissioners of the Provinces and antient Cities 3. The Portugal Cortes or Parliament consists of the Bishops and Prelats the Nobiles majores minores and two Procurators or Burgesses from every City who have a deliberative voice which they call definitive 4. In Denmark Pontanus saith the Bishops the Nobility Civitatum Delegati the Deputies or Commissioners of Towns and Cities made up their General Council 5. For Sweden it does not much differ from the Government and form of Denmark their Common Council consisting of the same Estates and degrees of people that is to say Proceres Nobiles the greater and the less Nobility Episcopi Ecclesiastici Civitates Universitates the Cities Boroughs and Villages I might here if it were needful shew how great a share and interest the Hanze or free Towns in Germany have by their Deputies in all Ages had in the Diet or General Council of the Empire 6. But now at last we are come to Scotland Sir John Skene in his Epistle Dedicatory to King James before his Scottish Laws writes thus Intelligo tuas tuorumque Majorum Leges quae cum Legibus Regni tui Angliae magna ex parte consentiunt and then in his Book shews that Willielmus cognominatus Leo who as is said begun to Reign in 1105. and reigned 49. Years so as he was King of Scotland 5 10 of our Henry the first held his Assise or Parliament at Perth where several Laws were ordained to the observance whereof Episcopi Abbates Comites Barones Thani tota Communitas Regni tenere firmiter juraverunt King Alexander began to Reign Anno 1214. which was the sixteenth Year of our King John and Reigned 35. Years so as he died an 38 H. 3. he made his Laws de Consilio assensu venerabilium Patrum Episcoporum Abbatum Baronum ac proborum hominum suorum Scotiae And what the Communitas Regni in King William's Statutes and the probâ— homines in King Alexanders were the League made between the French King and the Crown of Scotland Anno 28 E. 1. clearly shews being ratified and confirmed in their Parliament per Johannem de Balliolo then King ac Praelatos Nobiles Universitates Communitates Civitatum Villarum dicti Regni Scotiae and the constant practice ever since hath been that the Cities and Boroughs have sent their Proxies or Representatives to the Parliaments of that Kingdom It may therefore seem very strange that when the Cities and Boroughs in all the Kingdoms of Europe de jure and de facto were ab antiquis temporibus even in times coeval with the Government an essential part of their Common Councils or Parliaments that England should not be under the same constitution being but descendants from Gaul or the more Northern Countries if so 1. Was it because in the Britton Saxon and Norman times there were no Cities or Boroughs or if there were were they so poor and inconsiderable as they deserved no observation in the eye of the State or 2. Was it because by a strange and unheard of fate peculiar and proper only to them they were not fit or capable to give or hear reason as well as the Delegates or Representatives of the Cities and Boroughs of France Spain Portugal Denmark Sweden and Scotland or 3. Had they no property or right in their Estates Certainly in my opinion none of these Objections can be admitted allowed or proved for In the Brittons time venerable Bede tells us Erat Britannia viginti octo Civitatibus quondam Nobilissimis insignita praeter Castella innumera quae ipsa muris turribus portis ac seris erant instructa firmissimis Nor were they of less reputation in the Saxon or Norman times when they were thought so necessary and proper for the safety of the Govern ment preservation and defence of the Laws that it was ordained by William the First and the Common Council of the Kingdom That no Market or Fair should be permitted to be held nisi in Civitatibus Regni nostri in Burgis ubi consuetudines Regni Jus Commune dignitates Coronae nostrae deperiri non possunt nec defraudari nec violari sed omnia recte in aperto per Judicium Justitiam fieri debent c. ad tuitionem gentium populorum regni ad defensionem Regni And if in the Brittons times the Nation was so strong in Cities and Castles surely it cannot be imagined but that in the Saxon and Norman times when the Nation became to be more civilized and considerable in the World the Estates or Degrees of the Inhabitants would easily part with these Liberties and Priviledges which their Ancestors though less knowing and powerful did claim and enjoy Having thus concluded my Arguments against the Position of 49 H. 3. I have thought it not altogether impertinent to add some brief Observations for the better understanding of antient Records and Historians in their various Lections and different expressions I shall therefore consider 1. The different application of the words Commune Communitas or Plebs 2. The several Denominations by which our antient General or Common Council or Parliaments were expressed 3. The various acceptation of the word Baro and that under the Phrase of Baronagium Angliae both Lords and Commons were comprehended Observation I. The different application of the words Commune Communitas or Plebs THere lies a main Objection against me for some Authors say that the words Commons Communitas or Plebs is not to be met withal in any antient Authors or Records ab ingressu Willielmi Primi usque ad excessum H. 3. and therefore conclude they were never a part of the Commune Concilium or Parliament before 49 H. 3. because not mentioned eo nomine Admitting the Objection true which I conceive otherwise yet it is no Conclusive Argument for before the Statute An. 3 R. 2. cap. 3. I cannot find the appellation of Lords Temporal nor before the 13 th of that King cap. 2. the phrase Lords Spiritual and Temporal in our Printed Statute Books Ergo from thence it follows by a necessary consequence according to their Argument that they were not any part of the Generale Concilium or Parliament before those times because not expressed by that name I suppose this Conclusion will not be admitted true But as I am well satisfied that the Archbishops Bishops Abbots and Priors who were often expressed by and comprehended in the word Praelati and who in after times constituted the Lords Spiritual and the Earls and Barons as now differenced the Lords Temporal were ab antiquo undoubtedly a part of the Commune Concilium Regni or Parliament so it may be proved if insisted upon That the Milites and libere tenentes de Regno or Angliae the Knights and Gentlemen or
made Ecclesiastical Laws concerning Marriages c. and did other things ad concordiam publicam promovendam per Commune Concilium assensum omnium Episcoporum Principum Procerum Comitum omnium sapientum seniorum populorum totius Regni 3. And we read elsewhere that the grand League and Union between the Brittons Saxons and Picts was concluded and confirmed Per Commune Concilium assensum omnium Episcoporum Procerum Comitum omnium Sapientum seniorum populorum per praeceptum Regis Inae 4. Anno Dom. 905. Plegmundus Cantuar. Archiepiscopus unacum Rege magnifico cognominato Edwardo Seniore Concilium magnum Episcoporum Abbatum Fidelium Procerum Populorum in Provincia Gewisorum in illa parte Angliae quae in plaga australi sita est Fluminis Thamesis convocant c. unde salubriter constitutum est in hac Synodo ut pro duobus Episcopis quorum unus Wintoniae alter Sireburniae sedem habuit quinque crearentur antistites ne grex Domini pastorum cura orbatus luporum lanienae voracitati subjicerentur and there were several other Laws then made William of Malmsbury expresseth the Saxon Wittena Gemott thus Generalis Senatus Populi Conventus Edictum Sir Henry Spelman Convenere Regni Principes tam Episcopi quam Magistratus liberique homines consulitur de communi salute de pace bello de utilitate publica promovenda Camden thus Quod Saxones olim Wittena Gemot nos Parliamentum Pananglicum recte dici possit summamque sacrosanctam authoritatem habet in Legibus ferendis confirmandis antiquandis interpretandis in omnibus quae ad Reipublicae salutem spectant And so we find Edward the Confessor reforming and confirming the antient Saxon Laws and making new ones and that done à Rege Baronibus Populo as particularly in the Law de Apibus how Tythes ought to be paid of them and other things Hence it is apparent and past all contradiction that the Commons in those Ages were an essential part of the Legislative power in making and ordaining Laws by which themselves and their posterity were to be governed and that the Law was then the golden metwand and rule which measured out and allowed the Prerogative of the Prince and Liberty of the Subject and when obstructed or denied to either made the Kingdom deformed and leprous That great Monarch Aethelstan in his Prologue to his Laws made per Commune Concilium Regni thus declared and admitted Ea mihi vos tantummodo comparatis velim quae juste ac legitime parare possitis Neque enim mihi ad vitae usum quicquam injuste acquiri cupiverim Etenim cum ea ego vobis lege vestra omnia benigne largitus sim ut mea mihi vos itidem concedatis I have past over the Danish Government because I do not find that there was any great mutation either of the Council or Laws of the English Nation It is true King Knute obtained the Diadem or Dominion of England but 't is as true he did not govern more Victoris as may evidently be proved 1. From the form of penning his Laws they being ordained and confirmed Cum consilio Decreto Archiepiscoporum Episcoporum Abbatum Comitum aliorumque omnium fidelium words of a large comprehension 2. From his general Law or Declaration of Right to the English thus delivered to us by a faithful Historian William of Malmesbury who lived near those times Obtestor praecipio meis Consiliariis quibus Regni Consilia credidi ne ullo modo aut propter meum timorem aut alicujus potentis personae favorem aliquam injustitiam amodò consentiant vel faciant pullulare in omni Regno meo Praecipio etiam omnibus Vicecomitibus Praepositis universis Regni mei sicut meam volunt habere amicitiam aut suam salutem ut nulli homini nec diviti vel pauperi vim injustam inferant sed omnibus tam Nobilibus quam ignobilibus sit fas justa lege potiundi à qua nec propter favorem Regium nec propter alicujus potentis personam nec propter mihi congerendam pecuniam ullo modo deviant quia nulla mihi necessitas est ut iniqua exactione pecunia mihi congeratur After which the Historian sayes Omnes enim leges ab antiquis Regibus maxime ab Antecessore suo Ethelredo latas sub interminatione Regiae mulctae perpetuis temporibus observari praecepit in quarum custodia etiam nunc tempore bonorum sub nomine Regis Edwardi juratur non quod ille statuerit sed quod observaverit 3. Under the Normans King William the First THough William the Conqueror got the Imperial Crown of England and introduced several Arbitrary Laws as new tenures c. yet did he never make such an absolute Conquest nor did the Kingdom receive so universal a change as our English modern Authors as it were by a general Consederacy without examination of truth have published to the World who father upon this revolution all the alterations which their conceits or fancies can imagine and suppose Thucydides saith Men receive the report of things though of their own Country if done before their time all alike from one as from another without any examination In like manner have those our Historians been mistaken by transcribing and patching out their Histories one from another so that in conclusion with their own additions or comments truth in many things is utterly lost 1. The word Conquestor or Conqueror did not in that Age import or signifie what our late Authors by flattery have since made it nor did it carry with it the enslaving of the Nation after that William had obtained the Victory against Harold there being no more in the Denomination of Conqueror than that after William had made claim to the Crown from King Edward the Confessor and Harold opposed him he was forced to get his right by Battel against King Harold and as to the word Conquestus or Conquest Mat. Paris writes Rex Angliae ex Conquestu dicitur tamen quod beatus Edwardus eo quod haerede caruit Regnum legavit Willielmo Bastardo Duci Normannorum Sir Henry Spelman in his Glossary sayes Willielmus primus Conquestor dicitur quia Angliam conquisivit i. e. acquisivit purchased non quod subegit And Sir John Skene Clerk of the Register Council and Rolls to King James in Scotland in his Book De verborum significatione pag. 39. writes Conquestus signifies Lands quhilk ony person acquiris and possessis privato jure vel singulari titulo vel donatione vel singulari aliquo contractu And therefore the learned Knight Sir Roger Twiâ—den who well understood the force of the word Conquestus in his Preface before that Kings Laws sayes Non existimo Willielmum primum de omnium Anglorum terris ad voluntatem suam pro libitu in
many of the great Clergy and Temporal Nobility instead of Cum multis aliis hath these words multis praeterea illustrissimis virorum personis Regum Principibus diversi Ordinis omissis qui similiter huic confirmationi piissimo affectu testes fautores fuerunt Hii autem illo tempore à Regia potestate diversis Provinciis Urbibus ad universalem Synodum pro causis cujustibet Christianae Ecclesiae audiendis tractandis ad praescriptum celeberrimum Synodum quod Westmonasterium dicitur convocati c. In the margine of the Book I find writ this note Nota hic hos omnes convocari à Rege sua auctoritate ad causas Religionis tractandas tam Nobiles de Clero quam Principes Regni cum aliis inferioris gradus Conventio quorum videtur esse Parliamentum And in the year-Year-Book of E. 3. above 330. years since in a Case touching the exemption of the Abbey of Bury from the Bishops of Norwich we have mention of a Parliament held en temps de W. Conqueror à son Parlement King William the Second KIng William the First being dead William his second Son then living succeeded him in the Kingdom who designing to prevent his elder Brother Robert of the Crown finding Lanfranc Archbishop of Canterbury not altogether consenting with him therein to the compleating his desire and fearing lest the delay of his Consecration might prejudice his desired honor he begun by giving large gifts and rewards to the people and as well by himself as all others whom he could engage fide sacramentoque Lanfranco promittere by his Faith and Oath to promise unto Lanfranc Si Rex foret Justitiam aequitatem misericordiam se per totum Regnum in omni negotio servaturum he would in all actions observe and keep Justice Equity and Mercy through the whole Kingdom that he would defend the Peace Liberty and safety of the Church against all men and also that he would in and through all things obey the Precepts and Counsels of the Arch-Prelate thereupon in Regem eligitur consecratur But not long after Odo Bishop of Baiox Earl of Kent Geffrey Bishop of Constance Robert Earl of Morton Roger Earl of Shrewsbury and the greatest part of all the Norman Prelates and Nobility in England entred into a Conspiracy to make Robert King and to deliver King William to his Brother alive or dead and thereupon they took Arms the King hearing these things and foreseeing his inevitable ruine if the English power did not preserve him caused the English to be assembled together and shewed them the Treason of the Normans and intreats and begs them to help and defend him upon this condition that if they would be faithful to him in that his necessity and distress he would grant them better Laws which they should chuse and would forbid or interdict all unjust Scotts Taxes or Tallages and grant to all persons their Woods and Hunting Upon which assurance and promise the English did faithfully assist him and by thier power valiantly overthrew the Normans and preserved and fixed the Crown upon Williams head But whatsoever he promised he kept but a short time the words of the Author are His auditis Rex fecit congregari Anglos ostendit eis traditionem Normannorum rogavit ut sibi auxilio essent eo tenore ut si in hac necessitate sibi fideles existerent meliorem legem quam vellent eligere eis concederet omnem injustum Scottâ—m interdixit concessit omnibus sylvas suas venationem Sed quicquid promisit parvo tempore custodivit Angli tunc fideliter eum juvabant 'T is therefore evident from hence that William the Second did not claim the Crown jure gladii by the power of the Sword nor did he affirm that he had a despotical right to make or change Laws ad libitum suum sine assensu Regni or Parliament And 't is a great observation to me that from the pretended Conquest to this day I never read of any King of England that declared and publickly owned any such prerogative or right but only that miserable and unfortunate Prince Richard the Second which the Parliament Roll thus expresseth Item Idem Rex nolens justas leges consuetudines Regni sui servare seu protegere sed secundum suae arbitrium voluntatis facere quicquid desideriis ejus occurreret quandoque frequentius quando sibi expositae declaratae fuerant leges regni sui per Justiciarios alios de Concilio suo secundum leges illas petentibus justitiam exhiberet dixit expresse vultu austero protervo quod leges suae erant in ore suo aliquotiens in pectore suo quod ipse solus possit mutare condere leges regni sui opinione illa seductus quampluribus de ligeis suis justitiam fieri non permisit sed per minas terrores quamplures à prosecutione communis justitiae cessare coegit But far different were the sentiments and Judgment of his Grandfather Great Edward the third who tells us Because that by divers Complaints made to us we have perceived that the Law of the Land which we by our Oath are bound to maintain is the less well kept and the Execution of the same disturbed many times by maintenance and procurement as well in the Court as in the Country We greatly moved of Conscience in this matter and for this cause desiring as much for the pleasure of God and ease and quietness of our Subjects as to our Conscience and for to save and keep our said Oath We have ordained c. And wise King James saith That not only the Royal Prerogative but the Peoples security of Lands Livings and Priviledges were preserved and maintained by the antient fundamental Laws Priviledges and Customs of this Realm and that by the abolishing or altering of them it was impossible but that present confusion will fall upon the whole state and frame of this Kingdom And his late Majesty of ever blessed memory was of the same mind and opinion when he said The Law is the Inheritance of every Subject and the only security he can have for his Life or Estate and the which being neglected or dis-esteemed under what specious shew soever a great measure of infelicity if not an irreparable confusion must without doubt fall upon them Henry the First AFter the Death of King William the Magnates Angliae not knowing what was become of Robert Duke of Normandy Eldest Brother of the deceased King the said Duke having been absent for five years in a Voyage to the Holy Land were afraid to be long without a King which Henricus fratrum ultimus juvenis sapientissimus cum callide cognovisset congregato Londoniis Clero Angliae Populo universo promisit emendationem legum quibus oppressa fuit Anglia tempore patris sui fratris
two Houses of Parliament and that the Knights Citizens and Burgesses did not sit with the Lords the Prelates having so great advantage of the Temporal Lords in their Votes were very unkind to the Crown they made not use of their over-ballance for the delivery of the King and Prince then said to be in Custody 3. Nor have I yet met with any reasons given why when the Government of the whole Kingdom was at this Parliament of 49 H. 3. to be setled after so long and bloody a War the Barons being then so victorious and numerous as our modern Authors say they would by their absence hazard and endanger the loss of all by entrusting the Prelates and Commons with the over-ballance Many remarkable observations might be raised upon this Record both as to the Lords and Commons but I will now pass to my eight Argument concluding this with M r Pryâ—â—s opinion how the Parliament Rolls before E. 3. came to be lost or destroyed I will use his own words That there are no Records at all in the Tower except some few antient Charters or Exemplifications of them antienter than the first year of King John all the rest from William the first his Reign till then except some few in the Exchequer not relating to Parliaments being utterly lost the first Parliament Rolls yet remaining are these 5 8 9 and 19 th of King E. 2. the Statute Roll of H. 3. E. 1. E. 2. containing some Statutes made in their Reigns a Parchment Book of some Pleas in Parliament during the Reigns of King E. 1. and 2. and a few Bundles of Petitions in the Parliaments of 6 E. 1. and 1 2 3 and 4 E. 3. none of which are here abridged viz. in the Abridgment by him published only I find in the Clause Patent Charter and Fine Rolls of King John H. 3. E. 1 and 2. some Writs of Summons and some memorials of Acts Ordinances made and Aids Subsidies Dismes Quindisms Customs granted in Parliaments held during their Reigns the Rolls whereof are perished and quite lost either through the negligence of the Record Keepers or the Injury Iniquity of the times during the Civil Wars between the King and Barons in the Reigns of King John and H. 3. and betwixt the two Houses of Lancaster and York for the Title of the Crown wherein it is very probable the prevailing King's parties by their Instruments imbezled suppressed such Parliamentary Records and Proceedings as made most against their Interests Power Prerogatives Titles or through the default of our Kings great Officers and Attornies who sending for the Parliament Rolls out of the Tower upon special occasions never returned them again for reasons best known to themselves by means whereof those Parliament Rolls being no where to be found their defects must be supplied only out of such fragments and memorials of them as are extant in our other Records and antient Historians especially in Matthew Paris Matthew Westm. William of Malmesbury Henry Arch-Deacon of Huntingdon Roger de Hoveden Simeon Dunelmensis The Chronicle of Brompton Radulphus de Diceto Ranulphus Cestrensis and Thomas of Walsingham who give us some accompts of their proceedings and transactions which else had been utterly buried in oblivion as well as their Rolls wherein they were at large Recorded as is evident by the Parliament Rolls yet extant The EIGHTH ARGUMENT From the various opinions of the learned men in and since H. 8. who never dreamed of any such origine nor was it ever heard of till of late IT would be tedious to set down the various and wandring opinions and reasons of our modern Authors in English touching the beginning of our Parliaments and constituent parts thereof especially of the Commons as now called and comprehended in the Knights Citizens and Burgesses in Parliament I will but instance in a few eminent Authors and leave the Croud behind The great Antiquary Mr. Lamberd holds that they were before the time of William the First and there are other learned men who give their assent to that as a great truth Mr. Prynn saith By all the ancient Presidents before the Conquest it is most apparent That all our Pristine Synods and Councils were nought else but Parliaments that our Kings Nobles Senators Aldermen Wisemen Knights and Commons were usually present and voting in them as Members and Judges Polydore Virgil Hollinshead Speed and Martin are of opinion that the Commons were first summoned at a Parliament at Salisbury An. 16 H. 1. Sir Walter Raleigh in his Treatise of the Prerogative of Parliaments thinks it was Anno 18 H. 1. My Lord Bacon in a Letter to the Duke of Buckingham asks Where were the Commons before H. 1. gave them authority to meet in Parliament Dr. Heylin finds another beginning and saith that H. 2. who was Duke of Anjou was the first Institutor of our High Court of Parliament which being an Anjovian he learned in France But I cannot find that any of those ever supposed the Commons were first introduced in Parliament 49 H. 3. by Rebellion Nor was this opinion entertained by any Author I can meet with Anno 1529. 21 H. 8. for in an answer of that great and excellent person Sir Thomas More Lord Chancellor of England in his supplication of Souls against the supplication of Beggers discoursing about King Johns making in the 14 th year of his Reign and three years before his granting Magna Charta the Realm Tributary to the Pope declares his Judgment without any doubt or hesitation and therein as I take it the universal tradition and belief of all learned men of that and precedent times That the Clergy and all the Lords and Commons of the Realm made the Parliament in the age of King John and that never could any King of England give away the Realm to the Pope or make the Land Tributary without their grant whose Book and so his opinion we find approved of and published by a grave and learned Judge of the Kingdom Mr. Justice Rastall and dedicated to Queen Mary her self An. 1557. not much above a Century ago The NINTH ARGUMENT From the comparison of the antient Generale Concilium or Parliament of Ireland instanced An. 38 H. 3. with ours in England wherein the Citizens and Burgesses were which was eleven years before the pretended beginning of the Commons here AS great a right and priviledge surely was and ought to be allowed to the English Subjects as was to the Irish before 49 H. 3. and if that be admitted and that their Commune Concilium or Parliament had its Platform from ours as I think will not be denied by any that have considered the Histories and Records touching that Land we shall find the two ensuing Records An. 38 H. 3. clearly evince that the Citizens and Burgesses were then a part of their great Council or Parliament That King being in partibus transmarinis and the Queen being left Regent
modum absolutae dominationis disposuisse All which is most plain and justified infallibly by Doomesday Book made in that Kings Reign and in other subsequent Records where the title and claim of many common persons to their own and Ancestors possessions both in his time and in the time of the Saxon Kings are clearly allowed but if King William had made an absolute and universal Conquest of the Realm in the modern sense how could such Titles have held or who would or durst have made such claim even against the King himself would he not have seized all into his own hands and granted the Conquered Lands to others and his grant could not have been avoided by any Englishman who had the inheritance and possession and lived in peace before and at his coming in and no title could be derived but from or under him at least none could have been maintained against his Grant But that the contrary was true will evidently appear if we consider 1. That it is recorded in Doomesday Book that King William had certain Lands in Demesne viz. the Lands which were in the hands of King Edward and entitled Terrae Edwardi Regis and other Lands which were forfeited to him by those who took part with Harold entitled Terrae Regis 2. William the first having given away Sharnborn in Norfolk to Warren a great Favourite one of his Normans Edwinus de Sharnborn being an Englishman and true owner of the estate demands his right in open Court before the King upon this reason of Law that he never was against the King either before or after he came in whereupon the King vinculo juramenti astrictus gave judgment of right against the Norman and Sharnborn recovered the Lordship Sir Henry Spelman out of an antient Manuscript concerning the Family of the Sharnborns in Norfolk hath it thus Edwinus de Sharborne quidam alii qui ejecti fuerunt è terris suis abierunt ad Conquestorem dixerunt ei quod nunquam ante Conquestum nec in Conquestu nec post fuerunt contra ipsum Regem in consilio auxilio sed tenuerunt se in pace Et hoc parati sunt probare quo modo ipse Rex vellet ordinare Per quod idem Rex fecit inquiri per totam Angliam si ita fuit quod quidem probatum fuit propter quod idem Rex praecepit ut omnes qui sic se tenuerunt in pace in forma praedicta quod ipsi rehaberent omnes terras dominationes suas adeo integre in pace ut unquam habuerunt vel tenuerunt ante Conquestum suum This is cited almost as the only case or act of favour the Conqueror did but that is a great mistake for many other instances I could give of this nature all acts of Justice and right as appears in Doomesday Book much more may be said upon this subject I will only add the Judicious assertion of a great Lawyer and Judge in Edward the Thirds time admitted and agreed as a rule of Law and truth by the Judges and transmitted to posterity Le Conqueror saith he ne vient pas pur ouster eux qui avoient droiturell possession mes de ouster eux que de lour tort avoient occupie ascun terre en desheritance del Roy son Corone It was spoken upon an objection made in a Quo Warranto against the Abbot of Peterborough concerning a Charter granted by King Edgar to that Abbey which the Kings Council would have avoided upon this pretence for want of a better because by the Conquest all Franchises were devolved and come to the Crown 2. King William claimed the English Diadem Jure haereditario from Edward the Confessor which both his own Laws Charters and the Charters of his two Sons William and Henry do fully prove There are some indeed that mention that he obtained the Crown ore gladii but that must be understood quod jure belli contra Harolaum ipse acquisivit as a Manuscript Historian sayes 3. He did not make an actual Conquest by his Arms when he came in of the fifth part of the Nation for the Pope having sent him a consecrated Banner and a Bull of Excommunication against the Bishops and Clergy if they opposed him in adhering to King Harold and he having got the Victory at Hastings and the Clergy with several of the Nobility whom he had purchased to his part both by money and great assurances of preferment and other advantages basely and treacherously deserting Edgar Etheling a soft and weak Prince yet right Heir to the Crown at length upon Williams declaring that he would confirm the Laws of Saint Edward he was electus à Clero Populo and with all the Ceremonies and Solemnities then in use was Crowned at Westminster the whole Nation submitting to him But hear what the Historians of those times say Londoniam convenientibus Francis Anglis ad Nativitatem Domini illisque omnibus concedentibus Coronam totius Angliae Dominationem suscepit Die ordinationi decreto locutus ad Anglos condecenti sermone Eborac Archiepiscopus sapiens bonus eloquens an consentirent eum sibi Dominum coronari inquisivit Protestati sunt hilarem consensum universi minime haesitantes ac si coelitus unâ mente datâ unâque voce Anglorum voluntati quam facillime Normanni consonuerunt sermocinato apud eos a◠sententiam percunctato à Constantini Praesule sic electum consecravit Archiepiscopus imposuit ei Diadema ipsumque regio solio c. Ante Altare S. Petri Apostoli coram Ciero Populo jurejurando promittens se velle Sanctas Dei Ecclesias Rectores illarum defendere necnon cunctum Populum sibi subjectum juste regali providentia regere rectam legem statuere tenere rapinas injustaque judicia penitus interdicere Exacto prius coram omni populo jurejurando quod se modeste erga subditos ageret aequo jure Anglos Francos tractaret Pursuant to all which and to fix himself more sure in that his new-got Chair of Soveraignty he by his Magna Charta or Great Charter grants and confirms the Laws of Edward the Confessor Willielmus etiam Rex cui Sanctus Edwardus Regnum contùlit leges ipsius Sancti servandas esse concessit saith Sir Henry Spelman But now we will set down a branch of the Charter which runs thus Volumus etiam ac firmiter praecipimus concedimus ut omnes liberi homines totius Monarchiae Regni nostri praedicti habeant teneant terras suas possessiones suas bene in pace libere ab omni exactione injusta ab omni Tallagio Ita quod nihil ab eis exigatur vel capiatur nisi servitium suam liberum quod de jure nobis facere debent facere tenentur prout statutum est ets illis à nobis datum concessum jure