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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59100	Tracts written by John Selden of the Inner-Temple, Esquire ; the first entituled, Jani Anglorvm facies altera, rendred into English, with large notes thereupon, by Redman Westcot, Gent. ; the second, England's epinomis ; the third, Of the original of ecclesiastical jurisdictions of testaments ; the fourth, Of the disposition or administration of intestates goods ; the three last never before extant.; Selections. 1683	Selden, John, 1584-1654.; Littleton, Adam, 1627-1694.; White, Robert, 1645-1703.; Selden, John, 1584-1654. Jani Anglorum facies altera. English.; Selden, John, 1584-1654. England's epinomis.; Selden, John, 1584-1654. Of the original of ecclesiastical jurisdiction of testaments.	1683 (1683)	Wing S2441; ESTC R14343	196,477	246

or Borough and before lawful men he cannot deny it afterwards before the Justices And if the same person without Seisin with Seisin in this place is the same as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we commonly say in our Language taken with the manner shall recognize or acknowledge any thing of this nature before them this also in like manner he shall not be able to deny before the Justices 70. If any one shall dye holding in Frank Pledge i. e. having a free Tenure let his heirs remain in such Seisin as their Father had on the day he was alive and dyed of his fee and let them have his Chattels out of which they may make also the devise or partition of the deceased that is the sharing of his goods according to his will and afterwards may require of their Lord and do for their relief and other things which they ought to do as touching their Fee i. e. in order to their entring upon the estate 71. If the heir be under age let the Lord of the Fee take his homage and have him in custody or keeping for as long time as he ought let the other Lords if there be more of them take his homage and let him do to them that which he ought to do 72. Let the Wife of the deceased have her Dowry and that part of his Chattels which of right comes to her In former times peradventure it was a like generally practised by the English that the Wife and Children should have each their lawful Thirds of the estate each of them I say if they were in being but half to the Wife if there were no issue and as much to the Children if the Wife did not survive her Husband as it was practised by the Romans of old according to the Falcidian Law and of later time by the Novells of Justinian that they should have their Quarter-part For I see that those of Normandy of Arras of Ireland people that lay round about them had the same custom Of this you are to see Glanvill Bracton the Register of Briefs or Writs and William Lindwood beside the Records or yearly Reports of our Law 73. Let the Justices take the Fealties of our Lord the King before the close of Easter and at furthest before the close of Pentecost namely of all Earls Barons Knights and Free-holders and even of Rusticks or Vassals such as have a mind to stay in the Realm and he who will not do fealty let him be taken into custody as an enemy of our Lord the King 74. The Justices have also this to give in charge that all those who have not as yet done their homage and allegiance to our Lord the King do at a term of time which they shall name to them come in and do homage and allegiance to the King as to their Liege Lord. 75. Let the Justices do all acts of Justice and rights belonging to our Lord the King by a Writ of our Lord the King or of them who shall be in his place or stead as to a half-Knights fee and under a Knights fee in an old Book which pretends to more antiquity by far than it ought concerning the manner of holding Parliaments is said to be twenty pounds worth of Land in yearly revenue but the number prefixt before the Red Book of the Exchequer goes at the rate of Six Hundred and Eighty Acres unless the complaint be of that great concern that it cannot be determined without our Lord the King or of that nature that the Justices by reason of their own doubting refer it to him or to those who shall be in his place and stead Nevertheless let them to the utmost of their ability intend and endeavour the service and advantage of our Lord the King 76. Let the Justices provide and take care that the Castles already demolisht be utterly demolished and that those that are to be demolished be well levelled to the ground And if they shall not do this our Lord the King may please to have the judgement of his Court against them as against those who shew contempt of his Precept 77. A Thief or Robber as soon as he is taken let him be put into the Sheriffs hands to be kept in safe custody and if the Sheriff shall be out of the way let him be carried or brought to the next Constable of a Castle and let him have him in custody until he deliver him up to the Sheriff 78. Let the Justices according to the custom of the Land cause inquiry to be made of those who have departed or gone out of the Realm And if they shall refuse to return within a term of time that shall be named and to stand to right in the Kings Court i. e. to make their appearance and there to answer if any thing shall be brought in against them let them after that be outlawed and the names of the Outlaws be brought at Easter and at the Feast of St. Michael to the Exchequer and from thence be sent to our Lord the King These Laws were agreed upon at Northampton CHAP. XVIII Some Laws in favour of the Clergy Of forfeitures on the account of Forest or hunting Of Knights fees Who to bear Arms and what Arms. Arms not to be alienated No Jew to bear Arms. Arms not to be carryed out of England Rich men under suspicion to clear themselves by Oath Who allowed to swear against a Free-man Timber for building of Ships not to be carryed out of England None but Free-men to bear Arms. Free-men who Rusticks or Villains not such 79. THat henceforth a Clergy-man be not dragg'd and drawn before a Secular Judge personally for any crime or transgression unless it be for Forest or a Lay-fee out of which a Lay-service is due to the King or to some other Secular Lord. This priviledge of the Clergy the King granted to Hugh the Popes Cardinal Legate by the Title of S. Michael à Petra who arrived here on purpose to advance the Popish interest 80. Furthermore that Arch-Bishopricks Bishopricks or Abbacies be not held in the Kings hand above a year unless there be an evident cause or an urgent necessity for it 81. That the Murderers or Slayers of Clergy-men being convicted or having confest before a Justice or Judge of the Realm be punished in the presence of the Bishop 82. That Clergy-men be not obliged to make Duel i. e. not to clear themselves as others upon some occasion did by single combat 83. He ordained at Woodstock we transcribe these words out of Hoveden that whosoever should make a forfeit to him concerning his Forest or his hunting once he should be tyed to find safe Pledges or Sureties and if he should make a second forfeit in like manner safe Pledges should be taken of him but if the same person should forfeit the third time then for his third forfeit no pledges should be taken but the proper body of him who made the forfeit Moreover

we meet with these Military Laws or Laws of Knights fees made for Tenants and other people of the common sort 84. He who hath one Knights fee 't is the aforesaid Hoveden speaks let him have an Habergeon or Coat of Male and a Helmet or Head-piece and a Buckler or Target and a Lance and let every Knight have so many Habergeons and Helmets and Targets and Lances as he shall have Knights fees in his demeans 85. Whatsoever Free-holder that is a Lay-man shall have in Chattel or in Rent and Revenue to the value of Sixteen Marks let him have a Coat of Male and a Head-piece and a Buckler and a Lance. 86. Whatsoever Lay-person being a Free-man shall have in Chattel to the value of Ten Marks let him have a little Habergeon or Coat of Male and a Capelet of Iron and a Lance. 87. Let all Burghers or Towns-men of a Corporation and the whole Communities of Free-men have a Wambais and a Capelet of Iron and a Lance. 88. Let no one after he hath once had these Arms sell them nor pawn them nor lend them nor by any other way alienate them from himself or part with them nor let his Lord alienate them by any manner of way from his man i. e. his Tenant that holds under him neither by forfeit nor by gift nor by pledge nor by any other way 89. If any one shall dye having these Arms let them remain to his heir and if the heir be not of such estate or age that he may use the Arms if there shall be need let that person who shall have them the heir in custody have likewise the keeping of the Arms and let him find a man who may use the Arms in the service of our Lord the King if there shall be need until the heir shall be of such estate that he may bear Arms and then let him have them 90. Whatsoever Burgher shall have more Arms than it shall behove him to have according to this Assize let him sell them or give them away or so dispose of them from himself to some other man who may retain them in England in the service of our Lord the King 91. Let no one of them keep by him more Arms than it shall behove him according to this Assize to have 92. Let no Jew keep in his possession a Coat of Male or an Habergeon but let him sell them or give them or in some other manner put them away in that wise that they may remain in the service of the King of England 93. Let no man bear or carry Arms out of England unless it be by special order of our Lord the King nor let any one sell Arms to any one who may carry them from England nor let Merchant or other carry or convey them from England 94. They who are suspected by reason of their wealth or great estate do free or acquit themselves by giving their Oaths The Justices have Power or Jurisdiction given them in the case for this purpose If there shall be any who shall not comply with them the Justices the King shall take himself to the members or limbs of such persons and shall by no means take from them their Lands or Chattels 95. Let no one swear upon lawful and free-men i. e. in any matter against or concerning them who hath not to the value of Sixteen or Ten Marks in Chattel 96. Let no one as he loves himself and all that he hath buy or sell any Ship to be brought from England nor let any one carry or cause to be carryed out of England Timber for the building of Ships 97. Let no one be received or admitted to the Oath of bearing Arms ' but a Free-man To bring once for all something concerning a Free-man that may not be beside the purpose The ancient Law of England bestowed that name only upon such persons as many as either being honoured by the Nobility of their Ancestors or else out of the Commonalty being of ingenuous Birth to wit of the Yeomanry did not hold that rustick fee or Tenure of Villenage dedicated to Stercutius the God of Dunghils and necessarily charged and burthened with the Plough tail the Wain and the Dray which are the hard Countrey-folks Arms and Implements To this purpose makes the term of Rustick or Countrey-man above mentioned in the Statutes of Clarendon and the place of Glanvill cited in the Tryal of Ordeal That the business may be more clearly asserted a Suit of Law being waged in the time of Edward the First betwixt John Levin Plaintiff and the Prior of Bernwell Defendant I have taken the Story out of an old Manuscript and the Reports of our Law and the Collection or Body of the Royal Rescripts do agree to it it was then after several disputes bandied to and fro and with earnestness enough decided by the judgement of the Court that those Tenants which hold in fee from the ancient Domain of the Crown as they call it are by no means comprehended under the title of free-men as those who driving their labour around throughout the year pay their daily Vows to Ceres the Goddess of Corn to Pales the Goddess of Shepherds and to Triptolemus the Inventer of Husbandry or Tillage and keep a quarter with their Gee Hoes about their Chattel And now death hath put an end to King Henry's Reign And I also having made an end of his Laws so far as Histories do help me out do at the last muster and arm my Bands for the guard of my Frontiers I wish they may be of force enough against Back-biters CHAP. XIX Of Law-makers Our Kings not Monarchs at first Several of them in the same County The Druids meeting-place where Under the Saxons Laws made in a general Assembly of the States Several instances This Assembly under the Normans called Parliament The thing taken from a custome of the ancient Germans Who had right to sit in Parliament The harmony of the Three Estates BUt however Laws are not without their Makers and their Guardians or they are to no purpose It remaineth therefore that we say somewhat in general of them They are made either by Use and Custom for things that are approved by long Use do obtain the force of Law or by the Sanction and Authority of Law-givers Of ancient time the Semnothei the Kings and the Druids were Law-givers amongst the Britans I mean Concerning the Semnothei whatsoever doth occurr you had before The Kings were neither Monarchs of the whole Island nor so much as of that part of Brittany that belonged to the Angles For there were at the same time over the single County of Kent four Kings to wit Cyngetorix Carvilius Taximagulus and Segonax and at the same rate in other Counties Wherefore we have no reason to make any question but that part wherein we live now called England was governed by several persons and was subject to an Aristocracy according to what Polydore Virgil John Twine

came in his way as he was passing by holding up their Ploughshares in token that their Husbandry was running to decay for they were put to a world of trouble upon occasion of the provisions which they carried from their own quarters through several parts of the Kingdom Thereupon the King being moved with their complaints did by the resolved advice of his Lords appoint throughout the Kingdom such persons as he knew were for their prudence and discretion fit for the service These persons going about and that they might believe their own eyes taking a view of the several Lands having made an estimate of the provisions which were paid out of them they reduced it into a sum of pence But for the total sum which arose out of all the Lands in one County they ordered that the Sheriff of that County should be bound to the Exchequer Adding this withal that he should pay it at the Scale Now the manner of paying the tryal of the weight and of the metal by Chymical operation the Melter or Coyner and the surveyor of the Mint are more largely handled and explained by my self in some other work of mine 13. That he might the more firmly retain Kent to himself that being accounted as it were the Key of England 't is the famous Mr. Camden tells the Story he set a Constable over Dover-Castle and made the same person Warden of the Cinque Ports according to the old usage of the Romans Those are Hastings Dover Hith Rumney and Sandwich to which are joyned Winchelsey and Rye as Principals and other little Towns as Members 14. To put the last hand to William I add out of the Archives this Law not to be accounted among the last or least of his William by the Grace of God King of the English to all Counts or Earls Viscounts or Sheriffs and to all French born and English men who have Lands in the Bishoprick of Remigius greeting This Remigius was the first who translated the Episcopal See from Dorchester to Lincoln Be it known unto you all and the rest of my Liege Subjects who abide in England that I by the common advice of my Arch-Bishops and the rest of the Bishops and Abbots and all the Princes of my Kingdom have thought fit to order the amendment of the Episcopal Laws which have been down to my time in the Kingdom of the Angles not well nor according to the Precepts of the holy Canons ordained or administred Wherefore I do command and by my Royal Authority strictly charge that no Bishop or Arch-deacon do henceforth hold Pleas in the Hundred concerning Episcopal Laws nor bring any cause which belongs to the Government of Souls i.e. to spiritual affairs to the judgment of secular men but that whosoever according to the Episcopal Laws shall for what cause or fault soever be summoned shall come to a place which the Bishop shall chuse and name for this purpose and there make answer concerning his cause and do right to God and his Bishop not according to the Hundred but according to the Canons and Episcopal Laws For in the time of the Saxon Empire there were wont to be present at those Country Meetings the Hundred Courts an Alderman and a Bishop the one for Spirituals the other for Temporals as appears by King Edgar's Laws CHAP. V. William Rufus succeeds Annats now paid to the King Why claimed by the Pope No one to go out of the Land without leave Hunting of Deer made Felony AFter the death of William his second Son WILLIAM sirnamed RVFVS succeeded in his room All Justice of Laws as Florentius of Worcester tells us was now husht in silence and Causes being put under a Vacation without hearing money alone bore sway among the great ones Ipsaque majestas auro corrupta jacebat that is And Majesty it self being brib'd with gold Lay as a prostitute expos'd to th' bold 15. The right or duty of First-Fruits or as they are commonly called the Annats which our Kings claimed from vacant Abbies and Bishopricks Polydor Virgil will have to have had its first original from Rufus Now the Popes of Rome laid claim to them anciently a sort of Tribute which upon what right it was grounded the Council of Basil will inform us and by what opinion and resolution of Divines and Lawyers confirmed Francis Duarenus in his Sacred Offices of the Church will instruct us 'T is certain that Chronologers make mention that at his death the Bishopricks of Canterbury Winchester and Salisbury and twelve Monasteries beside being without Prelates and Abbots paid in their Revenues to the Exchequer 16. He forbad by publick Edict or Proclamation sayes the same Author that any one should go out of England without his leave and Passport We read that he forbad Anselm the Arch-Bishop that he should not go to wait upon Pope Vrban but that he comprehended all Subjects whatsoever in this his Royal order I confess I have not met with any where in my reading but in Polydor. 17. He did so severely forbid hunting of Deer saith William of Malmesbury that it was Felony and a hanging matter to have taken a Stag or Buck. CHAP. VI. Henry the First why called Beauclerk His Letters of Repeal An Order for the Relief of Lands What a Hereot was Of the Marriage of the Kings Homagers Daughter c. Of an Orphans Marriage Of the Widows Dowry Of other Homagers the like Coynage-money remitted Of the disposal of Estates The Goods of those that dye Intestate now and long since in the Churches Jurisdiction as also the business of Wills Of Forfeitures Of Misdemeanors Of Forests Of the Fee de Hauberk King Edward's Law restored WIlliam who had by direful Fates been shewn to the World was followed by his Brother Henry who for his singular Learning which was to him instead of a Royal Name was called Beau-clerk He took care of the Common-wealth by amending and making good what had slipt far aside from the bounds of Justice and by softning with wholsome remedies those new unheard of and most grievous injuries which Ralph afterwards Bishop of Durham being Lord Chief Justice of the whole Kingdom plagued the people with He sends Letters of Repeal to the High Sheriffs to the intent that the Citizens and people might enjoy their liberty and free rights again See here a Copy of them as they are set down in Matthew Paris HENRY by the Grace of God King of England to Hugh of Bockland High Sheriff and to all his Liege people as well French as English in Herefordshire Greeting Know ye that I through the mercy of God and by the common advice of the Barons of the Kingdom of England have been crowned King And because the Kingdom was opprest with unjust exactions I out of regard to God and that love which I bear towards you all do make the holy Church of God free so that I will neither sell it nor will I put it to farm

rules ne gouvernes per la Loy Civil that is inasmuch as the Realm of England was not before this time nor in the intention of our said Lord the King and the Lords of Parliament ever shall be ruled or governed by the Civil Law And hereupon the persons impleaded are sentenced to be banished But here is an end of Stephen He fairly dyed CHAP. X. In King Henry the Seconds time the Castles demolished A Parliament held at Clarendon Of the Advowson and Presentation of Churches Estates not to be given to Monasteries without the Kings leave Clergymen to answer in the Kings Court A Clergyman convict out of the Churches Protection None to go out of the Realm without the Kings leave This Repealed by King John Excommunicate Persons to find Surety Laymen how to be impleaded in the Ecclesiastical Court A Lay-Jury to swear there in what case No Homager or Officer of the Kings to be Excommunicated till He or his Justice be acquainted AT length though late first Henry the Son of Jeoffry Plantagenet Count of Anger 's by the Empress Mawd came to his Grandfatherrs Inheritance Having demolished and levelled to the ground the Castles which had in King Stephen's time been built to the number of eleven hundred and fifteen and having retrieved the right of Majesty into its due bounds he confirmed the Laws of his Grandfather Moreover at Clarendon in Wiltshire near Salisbury John of Oxford being President by the Kings own Mandate there being also present the Arch-Bishops Bishops Abbots Priors Earls Barons and Peers of the Realm other Laws are recognized and passed whilst at first those who were for the King on one side those who were for the Pope on the other with might and main stickle to have it go their way these latter pleading that the secular Court of Justice did not at all suit with them upon pretence that they had a priviledge of Immunity But this would not serve their turn for such kind of Constitutions as we are now setting down had the Vogue 44. If any Controversie concerning the Advowson and Presentation of Churches arise betwixt Laymen or betwixt Laymen and Clergymen or betwixt Clergymen among themselves let it be handled and determined in the Court of the Lord our King 45. The Churches which are in the Kings Fee cannot be given to perpetuity without his assent and concession Even in the Saxons times it seems it was not lawful without the Kings favour first obtained to give away Estates to Monasteries for so the old Book of Abington says A Servant of King Ethelred's called Vlfric Spot built the Abby of Burton in Staffordshire and gave to it all his Paternal Estate appraised at seven hundred pounds and that this donation might be good in Law he gave King Ethelred three hundred Marks of Gold for his confirmation of it and to every Bishop five Marks and over and above to Alfric Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the Village of Dumbleton 46. Clergymen being arighted and accused of any matter whatsoever having been summoned by the Kings Justice let them come into his Court there to make answer to that of which it shall be thought fit that there answer ought to be made So that the Kings Justice send into the Court of Holy Church to see after what manner the business there shall be handled 47. If a Clergyman shall be convicted or shall confess the Fact the Church ought not from thenceforth to give him protection 48. It is not lawful for Arch-Bishops Bishops and Persons of the Kingdom to go out of the Realm without leave of our Lord the King And if they do go out if the King please they shall give him security that neither in going nor in returning or in making stay they seek or devise any mischief or damage against our Lord the King Whether you refer that Writ we meet with in the Register or Record NE EXEAS REGNVM for Subjects not to depart the Kingdom to this time or instance or with Polydore Virgil to William Rufus or to later times is no very great matter Nor will it be worth our while curiously to handle that question For who in things of such uncertainty is able to fetch out the truth Nor will I abuse my leasure or spend time about things unapproachable An sit hic dubito sed hic tamen auguror esse Says the Poet in another case And so say I. Whether it be here or no Is a Question I confess And yet for all that I trow Here it is too as I guess Out of King John's great Charter as they call it you may also compare or make up this Repeal of that Law in part Let it be lawful henceforward for any one to go out of our Realm and to return safely and securely by Land and by Water upon our Royal word unless in time of War for some short time for the common advantage of the Kingdom excepting those that are imprisoned and out-lawed according to the Law of the Kingdom and any People or Nation that are in actual War against us And Merchants concerning whom let such Order be taken as is afore directed I return to King Henry 49. Excommunicate Persons ought not to give suretiship for the Remainder nor to take an Oath but only to find Surety and Pledge to stand to the Judgment of the Church that they may be absolved 50. Persons of the Laity ought not to be accused or impleaded but by certain and legal Accusers and Witnesses in the presence of the Arch-Bishop or Bishop so that the Arch Deacon may not lose his right nor any thing which he ought to have therefrom 51. If they be such Persons who are in fault as no one will or dare to accuse let the Sheriff being thereunto required by him cause twelve legal men of the Voisinage or of the Village to swear before the Bishop that they will manifest or make known the truth of the matter according to their Conscience 52. Let no one who holds of the King in capite nor any one of the Kings Officers or Servants of his Domain be excommunicated nor the Lands of any of them be put under an Interdict or prohibition unless first our Lord the King if he be in the Land be spoke with or his Justice if he be out of the Land that they may do right by him And so that what shall appertain to the Kings Court may be determined there and as to what shall belong to the Ecclesiastical Court it may be sent thither and there treated of CHAP. XI Other Laws of Church affairs Concerning Appeals A Suit betwixt a Clergyman and a Layman where to be Tryed In what case one who relates to the King may be put under an Interdict The difference betwixt that and Excommunication Bishops to be present at Tryals of Criminals until Sentence of Death c. pass Profits of vacant Bishopricks c. belong to the King The next Bishop to be Chosen in

Britain to wit at York at Chester at Glocester and I doubt not but at Colchester too no less than there was one at Cullen in Germany as the very name of them both imports Colonia And that ours hath an addition of Chester to it is usual to some other Cities Colchester for Colnchester which in Latin would be Colonia Gastri or rather Coloniae Castrum the Castle or Garrison of the Colony CHAP. XVI Pag. 28. lin 11. Now you for your part are Gods Vicegerent in the Kingdom They are the words of Pope Eleutherius in his Letter to Lucy the first Christian King which was in the year of our Lord 183. From whence we may fairly conclude that in those early dayes the Pope of Rome according to his own acknowledgement had no such pretensions as now for several Ages since they have made upon the Rights of Princes to the great disturbance of the World and reproach of Christian Religion And indeed this is the more considerable in that such was the simplicity of devotion in those early Converts and such the deference which Princes who embraced the Christian Faith especially from the Missionaries of Rome had for that Holy See as appears by this one single instance that it had been no hard matter nor could be judged an unreasonable thing for them to lay claim to a right and assert a power which was so voluntarily offered Further I add that seeing the Donation of Constantine besides that it was alwayes look't upon as a piece of forgery was at best supposing it true but an Imperial Grant and Concession which would not be of authority enough to bear up the Popes Supremacy in all other Kingdoms of the earth and seeing Pope Boniface who was the first that with bare face own'd it his complyance with Phocas was so grosly wicked that none of their own Writers but are ashamed to make that transaction betwixt those two an argument for the Papal pretence Seeing I say it is so if the Pope be intitled as their Canonists pretend to an Universal Dominion by vertue of his Office and by Commission from Christ and his chief Apostle S. Peter how came it to pass that the Bishops of Rome all along till Boniface were so modest as not to challenge any such rights or powers nay upon occasion to declare against such pretences as Antichristian which if that be true that the Pope is by his Office and by a Divine Commission instated into a Supremacy was in effect no less than to betray the cause of Christ and his Church how came it to pass that Eleutherius should neglect such a seasonable and exemplary opportunity of maintaining and exercising his right and should rather chuse to return it in a complement back to the King his Convert VICARIVS verò DEI estis in Regno sayes he You are GOD's VICAR in your Kingdom which Title now the Pope doth with as much arrogance challenge to himself as here one of his Predecessors doth with modesty ascribe to the King Lin. 32. With the title of Spectabilis Towards the declension of the Roman Empire it was usual so to distinguish great Offices with peculiar Titles as Spectabilis Clarissimus c. so among the Italians Magnifico to a Senator of Venice Illustrissimo to any Gentleman Eminentissimo to a Cardinal So with us the term of Highness is given to a Prince of the Blood Excellence to a Vice-Roy or a Lord Lieutenant and to a General of an Army Grace to an Arch-bishop and to a Duke Honour to a Lord Worship to an Esquire c. CHAP. XVII P. 29. lin 43. Fabius Quaestor Aethelwerd Why he calls him Fabius Quaestor is at present past my understanding Did he take upon him a Roman name Was he in any such Office as Quaestor i. e. Treasurer or Receiver General wherein he behaved himself like a Fabius or did he intitle his Book by that name I am to seek CHAP. XVIII Pag. 31. lin 19. Whatsoever there was in Pandora of Good and Fair. She was a Woman made by Jupiter's own order and designed to be the pattern of female perfection to which end all the Gods contributed to the making of her several gifts one Wisdom another Beauty a third Eloquence a fourth Musick c. CHAP. XIX P. 32. lin 27. Wapentakes Which in some of our Northern Countreys is the same as we call other-where a Hundred from the Saxon word waepen i. e. arms and tac i. e. touch as one should say a touching or shaking of their Arms. For as we read it in King Edward's Laws when any one came to take upon him the Government of a Wapentake upon a day appointed all that owed suit and service to that Hundred came to meet their new Governour at the usual place of their Rendezvouz He upon his arrival lighting off his Horse set up his Lance an end a Custom used also among the Romans by the Praetor at the meetings of the Centumviri and according to custom took fealty of them The Ceremony of which was that all who were present touch't the Governours Lance with their Lances in token of a confirmation whereupon that whole meeting was called a Wapentake inasmuch as by the mutual touch of one anothers Arms they had entred into a confederacy and agreement to stand by one another This fashion they say the Saxons took up from the Macedonians their Progenitors Others will have it from tac to take and give this account of it that the Lord of the Hundred at his first entrance upon the place was used to take the Tenants Arms surrendred and delivered up to him by themselves in token of subjection by way of Homage Sir Thomas Smith differs from both these for he sayes that at the Hundred meeting there was a Muster taken of their Weapons or Arms and that those who could not find sufficient Pledges for their good abearing had their Weapons taken away so that in his sense a Wapentake is properly Armilustrium and so called from taking away their Weapons or Arms who were found unfit to be trusted with them L. 40. For the Ceremony of the Gown He alludes to the Roman Custom with whom the youth when they arrived at mans estate were then allowed to wear togam virilem to put on a Gown the habit of men whereas before that they were obliged to wear a Coat peculiar to the age of Childhood called Praetexta whence Papyrius though yet a Child being admitted into the Senate-house for his extraordinary secrecy and manly constancy was called Papyrius Praetextatus Pag. 33. lin 9. Morgangheb Or Morgingab from Morgin which in High Dutch signifies the Morning and gab a gift to wit that Present which a man makes to his Wife that morning he marries her CHAP. XX. Pag. 34. lin 3. Tityus his Liver A Gyant who for ravishing of Latona was adjudged to have his Liver after death prey'd upon continually by a Vulture which grew up again as fast as it was wasted The equity

them often or at least too great a part of them to the use either of themselves or of the Church and so defrauded those to whom by the right of natural succession they pertained For that of the Lords Bracton his noting it as a thing denyed them compared with what we find among Articles granted in the Synod of London held under Boniface Arch-bishop of Canterbury in 42 H. 3. proves it Idem quod mortuo so is the Article laico sine Testamento non capiantur bona ipsius in manus dominorum Sed inde solvantur debita ipsius residua in usus filiorum suorum proximorum indigentium pro salute animae defuncti in pios usus per Ordinarios committantur nisi quatenus fuerit domino suo obligatus Here we see by the way plainly that the distribution in pios usus was the devising them among the next of kin according to their nearness and want not an imploying them to other uses at the Ordinaries arbitrary disposition But also that the Ordinary did in this Age sometimes usurp the Goods of Intestates against the next of kin is enough proved out of that Legatine Constitution of Othobon cum mortis incerta c. where it was ordained as you see before so in the words of it that they should not dispose of them otherwise than according as that Grant was in the Grand Charter that is to the benefit of the next of blood But the Ordinaries had about this time against the intent of that Charter so abused the right of succession that it was related for a constant truth that the Custome in Britania was that tertiae pars bonorum decedentium ab intestato in opus Ecclesiae pauperum dispensanda c. as Innocent the Fourth his words are who lived and wrote in the time of H. 3. What other ground than the Ordinaries ill dealing with the next of blood was for that tertia pars I conceive not unless the Pope had some such other Testimony touching it as we find in an old Manuscript Volume titled Statuta Synodorum written in an hand of near seven hundred years since being a Collection out of the Fathers and old Councils made as it seems by some Britain or Irish-man as we have elsewhere conjectured In that Statuta Synodorum occurrs Orig. in lib. de haeredibus pater moriens det tertiam partem filiis tertiam Caesari tertiam Ecclesiae si non habuerit Ecclesiam det pauperibus si non habuerit Caesarem nec Ecclesiam dividat inter filios pauperes But what Author this is cited out of I am equally ignorant as I know not at all who was the Author of the whole Collection or whence he had many other of his Authorities And other things that Volume hath out of some old Synod of Ireland which makes to our present purpose if the Canons of that Synod had been at all binding in this State And it was no such wonder that some such practice might be under H. 3. for since also in the time of E. 3. the Church so usurped in their Jurisdiction of Probates that they made the Executors wait on their Officials at uncertain and remote places and then also put them at times to the Ransom of the fourth or fifth part of the Testators Goods before they would give them Probate which was complained of in Parliament amongst the Grievances of the Commons CHAP. V. Of that of bona Intestatorum in manus Domini Regis capi solebant FOr that of bona Intestatorum in manus Domini Regis capi solebant for which is cited the Close Roll of 7 H. 3. Rot. 16. it is also most true if rightly apprehended All that appears in the Record is that the King wrote to the Sheriff of Lincoln that constat nobis per inquisitionem nobis missam sub sigillo Stephani de Segrave aliorum proborum legalium hominum quod Richardus filius Dunae non obiit intestatus and therefore he commands that the Sheriff should deliver all the Goods of the said Fitz-dune in manus nostras capta to the Prior of Loketon and others his Executors ad faciendum Testamentum neither are there any words that tell us of any capi solebant or that these were taken in regard of dying intestate only Indeed it appears not sufficiently in the Writ why they were taken but it is most probable that the seisure was for some debt due to the Crown from the Intestate which afterward not appearing or being satisfied or it appearing that the Executors by the taking upon them the execution of the Testament would subject themselves to the payment of it it was fit enough to amove the Kings hands and deliver all over to the Executors He that well considers the Statute of Magna Charta cap. 18. Si quis tenens and compares it with that of Bracton where he tells us that the Law was clear that if any man dyed indebted to the King the Sheriff might imbreviare attachiare cattalla defuncti will soon see the probability of this howsoever the words of the Statute are only of the Kings Tenants And it concludes also as if it were only in case of the death of a Testator in regard of relinquatur executoribus ad faciendum testamentum defuncti but plainly that ad faciendum c. hath equal reference to the Intestates as to Testators for no name of an Administrator being then usually known all were called Executors that medled with the Intestates Goods and those Executors were executores qui faciebant Testamentum that is which instead of the Intestate did take such order after his death with his Goods as they thought he would have done if he had made a Testament which may be conceived also out of the use remembred in that time wherein sick men being unable neither having time to express their meaning chose out some friends that might be super hoc expressores executores which friends appointing of Legacies as if the Intestate had given them and making disposition of Intestates Goods were as Testaments of those Intestates and they did truly as Executors facere Testamentum defuncti in which sense it might be spoken of any Executors or Administrators that intermedled in those times And many Writs occurr in the Close Roll of King John and H. 3. that have expresly in them the amoving of the Kings hands from the Goods of the dead when the seisure had been only for the debts to the Crown according to the Statute of Magna Charta which in substance is the Law at this day and Bracton by reason whereof I see not cause enough why we should understand that of 7 H. 3. to prove any such thing as a Custom of the Kings disposing or seising of the Intestates Goods especially in regard that in the passages of the Law Lawyers and Records of that time no mention