Courts I come now to the chiefest next to that of the Great Council of the Kingdom viz. that which was called Curia Domini Regis Because oftentimes as Sir Wil. Dugdale informs us the King himself sate here in Person having several Justices à latere suo residentes as Bracton expresseth it and in his Absence the Ealdorman or Chief Justiciary of all England supplied his Place CONCERNING this Court tho we have not many Memorials left of it before the Conquest yet it was certainly at that Time in Being since it seems to have been then the Great Court of all Appeals as well Criminal as Civil long after the Conquest before the Court of Common-Pleas was taken out of it for here it was that K. Alfred is supposed to have re-heard and examined the false Judgments of his inferior Judges in the Hundred and County-Courts and here it was also that he condemned above forty of them to be executed in one Year for their erroneous Sentences in Matters of Life and Death as you will find in the Mirror of Justices I need say no more of this Great Court whose Power now resides in that of the King's-Bench and Common-Pleas neither the Chancery nor Exchequer having then any Being the former of which commenc'd long after the Conquest and the latter was erected by King William the First I have but two Observations to make concerning our Antient English Saxon Courts of Justice the FIRST of which is that strict Union there then was as well in the Folk-mote and county-County-Court as in the hundred-Hundred-Court between the Ecclesiastical and Civil State in both which the Bishop and the Sheriff sitting together all Causes both Spiritual and Secular were equally and at one time dispatched to the great Ease and Satisfaction of the Subject who were taught by the Bishop in the Folk-mote what was their Duty towards God and the Church as they were by the Ealdorman or Sheriff what Common Laws they were bound to observe in order to their Honest and Peaceable Living one among another a Custom which when reading of Books was not generally in use among the Laiety was absolutely necessary for the acquainting them with their Duty in imitation of which I suppose our Common Charges at Assizes and Sessions are continued to this Day THE SECOND is the great Ease the Subject must needs find in having Justice administred to him in smaller Actions in the Court of Decenary or Tything even at their own Doors or else in Appeals and greater Actions at the Court of the Trihing or Lathe from whence they might remove it to the County-Court and if they thought themselves aggrieved there then they might bring it before the King himself or his chief Justiciary in the Great Court abovementioned An Admirable and an Excellent Constitution this whilst the Laws of England were few easy and plain before the Partiality and Corruption of Countrey Juries came in and the bandying and Factions of Rich and Powerful Men in the Countrey against each other together with the vast varieties of Determinations of Cases in Law had rendered those inferior Courts not only perplexed but unsafe and vexatious to the Subject I come now to the Supream Court of the whole Kingdom called in Saxon the Wittena-Gemot or Mycel-Synoth in Latin Magnum or Commune Concilium Regni the Great or Common-Council of the Kingdom consisting of the King and the three Estates which we now call our Parliament which Court the Author of the Mirror of Justices expresly tells us That King Alfred ordained for a perpetual Custom that twice in the Year or oftner in Time of Peace if Business so required they should assemble at London to treat of the good Government of God's People and how Folks should be restrained from Offending and live in Quiet and should receive Right by certain Antient Usages and Judgments c. From whence you may observe that in this Author's Time viz. that of Edward I. it was held for Law That the great Council of the Kingdom antiently met of Course twice in the Year without any express Summons from the King and this it seems was afterwards altered to thrice in the Year viz. at the three great Feasts of Christmass Easter and Whitsontide when the King met his Estates with great Solemnity wearing his Crown upon all solemn Days of Entertainment and when the Feasting was over they fell to dispatch the publick Affairs as Sir H. Spelman well observes THESE stated Councils which were then held ex More as our Historians term it i. e. according to antient Custom continued long after the Conquest as shall be farther shewn hereafter but if this Council happened to meet at any other extraordinary Time then the King 's special Summons was requisite as you may find in Ingulf under Anno Dom. 948. where he tells us King Edred summoned the Arch-bishops Bishops and all the Proceres and Optimates i. e. Chief Men of the Kingdom to meet him at London at the Purification of the Virgin Mary Whence we may observe that this Summons was thus issued because this Council was extraordinary as not being held ex more at any of the usual great Feasts abovementioned CONCERNING the Original of this great Assembly since Sir Robert Filmer in all his Works and particularly in his Patriarcha and Dr. Johnston in his Excellency of Monarchical Government Would have this as well as all our other Liberties and Privileges to have been only Royal Abatements of Power and gracious Indulgences and Condescensions of our Kings for the Benefit and Security of the Subject who were pleased to condescend to call some Persons of each of the three Estates it being left to their Discretion whom to summon and whom not and tho many of our Kings have made use of such great Assemblies to consult about important Affairs of State and by their Consent and Approbation to make Laws as well as at their Prayers and Petitions to redress their just Grievances yet they owed their being to our first Monarchs since till about the time of the Conquest there could be no General Assembly of the Estates of the whole Kingdom because till those Times we cannot learn it was entirely united into one but it was either divided into several Kingdoms or governed by several Laws I confess this looks at first like a specious Hypothesis and may serve perhaps to prevail upon some ignorant and unwary Readers who will not or cannot give themselves the trouble of searching to the Bottom to find out the Truth of things But I desire the Favour of those who believe and maintain this Opinion to answer me these few Queries FIRST How it came to pass that in all the Kingdoms of Europe erected out of the Ruines of the Roman Empire as well as those that were not but yet had been constituted according to the same Gothick Model the like General or Great Council of Estates consisting of the same Degrees
of the Lands and Privileges of Croyland Monastery in a Great Council Id. p. 254. Of King Berthwulf to the Abbey of Croyland confirmed under the Rule of St. Benedict in a Great Council of the Kingdom at Kingsbury Id. p. 261. Of King Edgar about his subduing the greatest part of Ireland with the City of Dublin and to be Lord of all the Isles as far as Norway doubtless fictitious l. 6. p. 12. By an Extract from King Cnute's Charter preserved in the Evidences of that Church the Port of Sandwich is given to Christ-Church in Canterbury with all the Issues c. Id. p. 54. Of King Cnute's to the Monastery of St. Edmundsbury grants and confirms all its Lands and Privileges The Beginning of it somewhat remarkable Ibid. Of the Foundation of the Monastery of Coventry ratified by the Charter of King Edward and a Bull of Pope Alexander Id. p. 72. Of Edward the Confessor to confirm the Foundation of Waltham-Abbey Id. p. 89. The Curia or Great Council of the Kingdom confirm his Charter of Endowment of the Monastery of Westminster part of which is there set down Id. p. 94. Charters and other Writings when they began to be made after the French way Id. p. 98. Chastity Queen Etheldrith though twice married yet would not suffer either of her Husbands to know her l. 4. p. 198 199. An Heroick Example of it in the Abbess of Coldingham Nunnery in Yorkshire l. 5. p. 269. King Edgar perhaps loved it in others though he did not mucâ— practise it himself l. 6. p. 11. Edward the Confessor highly extols his Wife for her Chastity Id. p. 96. Cherbury in Shropshire anciently called Cyricbyrig l. 5. p. 316. Chertsey in Surrey anciently called Ceortesige l. 6. p. 6. Chester anciently called Legions l. 4. p. 164. Legacester l. 5. p. 301. l. 6. p. 8. Concacestre l. 5. p. 286. Called also Caerlegion l. 5. p. 315. And Cunaeceaster l. 6. p. 26. The Place where the Danes took up their Quarters against King Alfred's Forces which made them suffer great extremities l. 5. p. 301. Repaired by the Command of Earl Ethelred and his Wife Ethelfleda Id. p. 315. The Heads of Leofred a Dane and Gryffyth ap Madoc set up on the top of the Tower there Id. p. 321. The Province much spoiled and ruined by the Norwegian Pyrates l. 6. p. 20. Chichester the Bishop's See was formerly at Selsey l. 4. p. 198. Anciently Cisseancester in Sussex where the Danes carried their Prey from Alfred l. 5. p. 300. The Bishoprick was called that of the South-Saxons l. 6. p. 88. Chiltern the Woody Countrey of Bucks and Oxfordshire anciently called Clytern l. 6. p. 34. Chipnam Vid. Cippenham Choisy anciently Cazii signifies a Royal Village it is in France l. 5. p. 290. Christianity first preached in this Island when and by whom l. 2. p. 51 52. When and by whom first preach'd in Germany l. 4. p. 211. Christ-Church in Canterbury had the Port in Sandwich given to it by King Cnute with all the Issues and Profits c. l. 6. p. 54. Chrysanthius the Son of Marcian a Novatian Bishop supposed to be sent into Britain by Theodosius as his Lieutenant l. 2. p. 97. Church Pope Gregory's Determination concerning the Customs of the Church l. 4. p. 156. When their Dues ought to be brought in and the Punishment for Non-Payment of them A Sanctuary to those that fly to it who are guilty of a Capital Crime The Punishment those are to undergo that fight in a Church Id. p. 208. Withred's great care of the Churches in Kent Id. p. 210 211. Are freed from all Publick Payments and Tributes whatsoever Id. p. 212. With how bright a Lustre Religion shined in the Primitive Church l. 5. p. 24â— Alfred's Law entituled The Immunity of the Church Id. p. 292 296 297. The Forfeiture for stealing any thing from thence Id. p. 297. How necessary it was in ancient times for Princes themselves to be blindly obedient to the Discipline of it l. 6. p. 3. Edgar's Law concerning the Immunities of the Church l. 6. p. 13. When Churches in Wales began to acknowledge the Superiority of the Archbishops of Canterbury Id. p. 21. The Original of Coat-Armour its being hung up in Churches from whence supposed Id. p. 57. In all Courts of Civil Pleas Causes concerning Holy Church were to be first determined Id. p. 99. Those that hold of the Church not to be compelled to plead out of the Ecclesiastical Courts unless Justice be wanting there Ibid. The Law concerning those who violate the Peace of it Ibid. When the Church was not excused from paying of Danegelt Id. p. 100. In what cases the Church was to have one Moiety of Treasure-trove Id. p. 101. Cimbric Chersonese now called Jutland l. 3. p. 121. Cimerii and Cimbri derived from Gomer by whom the Ancient Gallia waâ— first inhabited l. 1. p. 4. Cippenham now Chipnam in Wiltshire l. 5. p. 262 283. Cirencester the City besieged taken and burnt and by whom l. 3. p. 148. Civilis sent for by Theodosius to govern Britain as Vice-Praefect l. 2. p. 93. Civil War between Cartismandua and Venutius l. 2. p. 45 46. Between Otho and Vitellius Id. p. 53. Claudia Rufina Wife of Pudens a Senator of Rome l. 2. p. 66. Vid. Rufina Claudian his Verses in De Bello Getico supposed to be designed for the second Departure of the Roman Legions l. 2. p. 101. Claudius the Emperor as he was coming to invade the Britains had twice like to have been cast away by Foul Weather but at last obtains a Victory over them and at his Return to Rome the Senate decree him a Triumph and Annual Games with two Triumphal Arches l. 2. p. 39 40. Lived about three years after his sending Aulus Didius into Britain His Death supposed of Poyson given him by his Wife Agrippina Id. p. 45. A Temple dedicated to him looked on as a Badge of their Eternal Slavery Id. p. 47. Claudius Marc. Aurel. Flav. elected Emperor Gallienus being slain performed several great Actions and dies suddenly l. 2. p. 82. Clergy the British Gildas his Character and Reproof of them l. 3. p. 140. May marry if out of Holy Orders and that they cannot otherwise contain Great care was to be had of their Stipends to make them more diligent in Service And of their Hospitality l. 4. p. 155. To receive no Reward for baptizing or for the other Sacraments Id. p. 225. Several Constitutions made against their committing Offences l. 5. p. 284 285. Their Goods and Possessions established to them by Edward the Confessor's Laws l. 6. p. 99. Chlodius Balbinus Vid. Balbinus Chlorus Constantius adopted Caesar by Maximinian is sent by him against Carausius l. 2. p. 83. Fires his own Ships that so his Soldiers might have no hopes left them of Safety but in Victory Id. p. 84. Chuses the Empire of the Western Provinces whereof Britain was one and puts a stop to the Persecution here raised
and Orders of Men were to be found in every one of those Kingdoms To begin with Sweden and Denmark and then go on to the Kingdom of Germany now called the Empire and so into France and from thence into Spain among all the petty Kingdoms that then composed that Monarchy taking Portugal if you please into the Account you will find that the Estates of all those Kingdoms as representing the whole Body of the same consisted of the Clergy Nobility and Deputies of Cities and great Towns which is briefly comprized by this single Verse of Gonterus an old German Poet concerning the Estate of the Empire in his Time Praelati Proceres missisque potentibus Vrbes SECONDLY How it happened that in all the Kingdoms of the English-Saxon Heptarchy the first Founders of which came out of Frizeland Westphalia Holstein and Jutland the like Great Councils consisting of the King the Clergy and Nobility came to be instituted in each of them For as to the Representatives of Cities and Towns in England since the Framers of the abovementioned Hypothesis deny their appearance here I shall say nothing as yet THIRDLY Whether it be probable that without a General Agreement of Laws and Manners with those People of Germany from whence these English-Saxons came they should by a sort of Natural and Unaccountable Sympathy fall of themselves into the very same Political Form and Constitution FOVRTHLY Whether Princes were above a thousand Years ago so much more Ignorant of the Arts of Government and so little Ambitious of Riches and Power that they should all agree within a Century of Years to set up one uniform Model of Government and admit the People into a share of their Power especially into that Grand Prerogative of laying Taxes which most Princes now do all they can to perform by their own absolute Will FOR as to that of understanding their Subjects Grievances they might either not take notice of them at all or else if they would might have found out a more easy Method to come to the Knowledg of them than by Summoning the Clergy Nobility and People of a whole Kingdom at once to acquaint them therewith FIFTHLY How it came to pass that in all those Countries so long as they continued Elective the States exercised the same Power of Deposing their Kings for Tyranny or Male-Administration Does this look like a precarious and dependent Power And LASTLY Whence happen'd it that in France and England and I believe I could shew the same in other Countries too the Estates of the Kingdom met twice in the Year according to Custom at a certain Time and Place without any Summons from the King NOW when the Gentlemen who maintain the Hypothesis above-mentioned shall return a fair and satisfactory Answer to these Queries I shall not only willingly submit to their Judgments but give them my Thanks for their better Information but till then I think it is much more agreeable to good Sense as well as Matter of Fact to maintain that those Orders and Degrees of Men that did constitute the Great Councils were more Antient than Kingly Government nay Christianity it self among them as appears by those Testimonies I have produced out of Bede and other Authors from all whom it plainly appears that the first Princes in all those Governments were originally Elected of which I hope I have given undeniable Instances out of our own as well as Foreign Histories and certainly that which gives Being to a Thing must be prior in Nature to that which is produced from it HAVING now done with the Original I shall next proceed to the Constituent Parts of this Mycel-Synoth or Wittena-Gemot the last of which words is derived from the Saxon word Wites or Witen i.e. Sapientes or Wise-Men and tho Dr. Brady in his Glossary will have this word mostly to signify Noblemen or Great Lawyers yet I do not find he brings any good Authority for his so doing For granting it is true Wite signifies a Wise-Man however it no ways proves that all Wisemen must be Lawyers much less that those Lawyers were Noblemen and since he himself does not extend this Wisdom only to Knowledg in the Laws I need not say any more to it AS for the rest of his Authorities in this Page whereby he would prove that divers things were done by the Decrees of these Wisemen or Lawyers they sufficiently answer themselves since it appears even by his own shewing that these Sapientes were the Bishops Abbots Aldermen and Thanes and when he makes it out that every one of these Orders of Men were Noblemen or Lawyers I shall come over to his Opinion AS for what he says in the next Page where he gives us the Interpretation of those words of Bede Principibus Consiliariis by Ealdormannum and Witum they are yet less to the purpose since a Man might be a very good Counsellor and yet at the same Time no great Lawyer BUT the Author's seeming stabbing Proof is out of Asser in his Life of King Alfred Who admiring the Ignorance of his Earls and Praefects commanded them either forthwith to lay down their Places of Judicature or else to apply themselves SAPIENTIAE Studiis to the Study of Knowledg or of the Law Here we see again says he who had the Title of SAPIENTES namely the Judges that is the COMITES PRAEPOSITI MINISTRI or Thegnes for these last were the Seminary of Nobility or Great Officers Civil Military and Ecclesiastick amongst the Saxons NOW I desire the Reader to observe that admitting we should take the word Studia SAPIENTIAE here for the Knowledg of the Law does it therefore follow that all that studied it must be Lawyers by Profession when it is very certain that the Study of the Law was not then nor long after a Trade as it is now since all the Freeholders or Thegnes afterwards called Barons were as well as Ealdormen required to have a competent Knowledg of the Laws of their Country or else how could they either plead their own or try each others Causes in the Hundred and county-County-Courts as they are in the Laws of K. Henry 1. recited to have done before the Profession of Counsellors came up Or how could they sit and judg Causes in the County-Court or Folc-mote when every Thegne or Gentleman in the County was capable of being chosen Sheriff and of sitting Judg in those Courts many Ages before the Office of an Vnder-Sheriff was heard of AND as for the Auctuary to the 35 th Law of Edward the Confessor wherein the HERETOCHS are called BARONES NOBILES insignes SAPIENTES there can be nothing urged less to purpose for then according to the Doctor they must have had all great Titles and have been chosen Generals in War and Leaders of Armies and Pray why because they were SAPIENTES i. e. Great Lawyers But the Doctor had the good luck to find once in his Life that Studia Sapientiae
Great Lords or Senators then presently he is with the Doctor a trifling old Monk very little curious in observing the Constituent Parts or Members of our Saxon Great Councils HAVING thus shewn some of Dr. Brady's erroneous and inconsiderate Glosses concerning the English-Saxon Nobility before the Conquest which he vainly supposes to have been the same as it is at this day I shall now endeavour to settle some truer Notions relating to those Great Councils which as to the Lay-Members besides the Ealdormen above-mentioned I conceive consisted of the whole Body of Thanes or Free-holders who were then all Gentlemen either by Birth or Estates for I have already proved from the Laws of King Athelstan that a meer Ceorl's Man if he had purchased five Hides of Thane Land did thereby become equal in all respects to a Thane NOW if the word Thane before the Conquest signified the same with the word Baro which came into common use after that time as Sir Henry Spelman and Mr. Selden both grant it did and Mr. Camden in his Introduction to his first Edition of his Britannia in 4 o is yet more express as to this word Baro as you may see by this remarkable Passage Verùm Baro ex illis nominibus videatur quae tempus paulatìm meliora molliora reddidit nam longò post tempore non milites sed qui LIBERI erant DOMINI Thani Saxonibus dicebantur Barones vocari coeperunt nec dum magni honoris erant paulò autem posteà viz. some time after the Conquest eò honoris pervenit ut nomine Baronagii Angliae omnes quodammodo Regni Ordines continuerentur tho it must be confest that Mr. Camden because he found this Passage had given some Offence to the higher Nobility he in his next Edition in Folio restrained it by adding the word Superiores before Ordines as if none but the higher Barons might be thought to have once made part of the Baronage of the Kingdom And likewise Sir Henry Spelman in his Glossary under the Title of Barones Comitatus i. e. the Barons of Counties who are frequently mentioned in the Laws of our first Norman Kings has this remarkable Passage and he being so great a Man I shall not offer to abridg it HOC Nomine scilicet Barones Comitatus saith he contineri videtur Antiquis paginis omnis Baronum feodalium species in uno quovis Comitatu degentium Proceres nempè Maneriorum Domini nec non liberè quique Tenentes hoc est fundorum proprietarii Anglicè FREEHOLDERS Notandum autèm est liberè hos Tenentes nec tà m exiles olìm fuisse nec tà m Vulgares ut hodiè deprehenduntur nam Villas Dominia in minutas haereditates nondùm distrahebant Nobiles sed ut vidimus in Hiberniâ penès se retinentes agros per precarios excolebant adscriptitios Vid. LL. Edw. Confess cap. 15. Quod per Hundredum colligerentur 46 Marcae Sigillo alicujus Baronum Comitatus sigillarentur ad Thesaurum Regis deportarentur In Domesd. habiti sun◠Barones Comitatus Magnates Nobiles qui in Curiis praesunt Comitatuum hoc est ipsarum Curiarum Judices quos Hen. 1. LL. suarum cap. 30. esse liberè Tenentes Comitatûs demonstrat Regis inquit Judices sunt Barones Comitatus qui liberas in eis terras habent per quos debent causae singulorum alterna prosecutione tractari Which I shall give you thus in English Under this Title of Barones Comitatus seems to be contained in our antient Writers all sorts of Feudal Barons dwelling in any one County viz. the chief Men and Lords of Mannors as also all free Tenants that is Proprietors of Lands in English FREE-HOLDERS And it is also to be considered that these free Tenants were not antiently so mean and pitiful as they are accounted at this day For Gentlemen had not as yet parcell'd out their Townships and Lordships into small Estates but as we see in Ireland keeping them themselves by their hired Servants and Villains husbanded their own Lands In the Laws of Edward the Confessor cap. 15. it is appointed that 46 Marks should be collected out of the Hundred and sealed up with the Seal of one of the Barons of the County and be lodged in the King's Treasury In Dooms-day Book those Noblemen and Gentlemen are called Barons of the County who presided in county-County-Courts that is who were Judges of those Courts whom Hen. 1. in the 30 th Chapter of his Laws shews to be the free Tenants of the County The King's Judges says he are the Barons of the County who have Freehold Lands in them by whom the Causes of each of them ought to be tried and adjudged in their respective turns AND there also immediately follows in the same Law of Henry the First another Clause whereby Villains and all such mean and beggarly Fellows called there Cocsetti or Perdingi are not to be reckoned amongst the Judges of the Laws for they neither in the Hundred nor in the County forfeit their own Money nor that of their Masters THIS I think is sufficient to prove that all such base and indigent People such as Dr. Brady calls Tag Rag and Bobtaile were excluded from having any thing to do in these inferior Courts and if so then much more to be sure were they shut out of the most August Assembly of the Kingdom the Wittena-Gemot Mycel-Synoth or what we now call the Parliament AND this I have brought to shew that I do as much disown the Thoughts of introducing any Degrees or Orders of Men less than those of Quality or Estates into the Great Councils of those Times as the Doctor himself does BUT in the first part of his Compleat History he asserts that not only the King's Thanes but also all the Middle and Lesser Thanes were both after as well as before the Conquest Military Men who held their Lands by Military or Knight's Service which he would prove from the Heregeat or Heriots that by the Laws of King Cnute were to be paid to their Lords by their Heirs in Horses and Money and certain Arms. Well let this for once be admitted but I would then have the Doctor never to urge Military or Knight-Service as a Badg of the Norman Conquest any more and in the next Treatise which he shall please to publish I would desire him to make it out that none but the King's Thanes who were all one with his Tenants in Capite after the Conquest had any Place in the Great Council of the Kingdom for without this he does nothing yet thus much I must say for him that in the beginning of his Answer to Mr. Petyt he seems to be somewhat more good-natured making the Saxon Wittena Gemotes more large and diffusive for in them he owns were Arch-Bishops Bishops Masse-Thegnes or Dignified and Great Clergy-Men Aldermen or Comites King's Gereves or Praepositi King 's Thegnes Thanes or Ministers his Counsellors
his Son-in-Law whom he denotes by this Title Ethelredo Principi meae Militiae THE other viz. the Great Civil Officer was that of Chancellour so called from the barbarous Latin word Cancellare from his cancelling or striking out what he pleased in Men's Grants and Petitions And as for his Power we find it thus expressed in Ingulf upon K. Edward the Elder 's having made his Cousin Turketule Chancellor Quaecúnque negotia temporalia vel spiritualia Regis Judicium expectabant illius consilio tam sanctae fidei tam profundi ingenii tenebatur omnia tractarentur tractata irrefragabilem sententiam sortirentur from whence we may observe that the King did not only in that Age determine Civil but Spiritual Causes too in his own Person and had his Chancellor for his Assistant in his Judgments which being so given irrefragabilem sententiam sortirentur i.e. they obtained an uncontroulable Sentence beyond which there then lay no Appeal and this I suppose was done in that great Court we now call the King's Bench for as for the Court of Chancery in Causes relating to Equity Sir Edward Coke tells us in his 4 th Institutes that there are no Precedents of it before the Reign of King Henry VI. BUT that it was the business of the Chancellor to draw up the King's Charters and also to sign them before the Conquest you will find at the end of the last Charter of King Edward the Confessor to the Abbey of Westminster in the first Volume of Sir H. Spelman's Councils where Aelfgeat a Notary signs it vice Reynbaldi Regis Edwardi Cancellarii THE next Degree was that of Ealdorman which was not only Titular as to the Person but an Office and signified as you will find all along in our Annals those great Magistrates under the King who being called in Latin Subreguli Principes Consules in some of our Antient Charters and sometimes in Saxon Cynings i.e. petty Kings had the subordinate Government of Cities Counties and often too of whole Provinces in all Affairs both Civil and Military and were of much greater Power before King Alfred's Reign than afterwards for whereas before his Time they had the chief Authority in all Places belonging to their Jurisdiction they seem after the word Eorle came in use with the Danes to have lost much of their Power tho they still retained the Title And it is observed by Sir Henry Spelman in his Glossary that he who was called the Ealdorman of the County signified in the Laws of King Athelstane something between the Earl and the Sheriff and therefore seems to have been him who under the Earl governed the County or Province and was his Deputy or Judg in the County Court in his Absence For in those Laws the Value of an Arch-bishop and Earl's Head is set at fifteen thousand Thrimsaes whereas the Bishop's and Ealdorman's was but at eight thousand YET notwithstanding this Title did not cease to be esteemed very honourable many Years after that Time for we find in Camden's Britannia that the Tomb of Ailwin founder of the Abby of Ramsey was inscribed with the Title of Ealdorman of all England which as Mr. Selden says could only mean that he was somewhat like the Antient Chief Justiciary of England or Chief Director of the Affairs of the whole Kingdom or Viceroy Regiae dignitatis consors nominis or half Cyning as the Book of Ramsey has it NOT but that this word was also of a much more inferior Signification seeing we find frequent mention in the Laws of Edward the Confessor as well as in those Kings immediately after the Conquest of Aldermannus Hundredi seu Wapentachii as also of Aldermannus Civitatis vel Burgi whence the Title of our present Aldermen of Cities and great Towns are derived tho of a far different Signification as well as a much later Institution and this I suppose happened by reason of the Paucity of words in the Saxon Tongue which called Grave Men distinguished by any Office or Dignity by the Title of Ealdormen because they were at first bestowed on Men of elder Years tho afterwards as the Auctuary to King Edward's Laws informs us they were not so stiled propter senectutem cum quidam Adolescentes essent sed propter sapientiam Therefore I cannot forbear taking notice that whereas Bede speaking of K. Oswald's sending ad Majores natu Scotorum to the Elders of the Scots for Bishops King Alfred in his Translation of Bede calls them the Ealdormen of the Scots that is the Great or Chief Men of that Nation I must here beg the Reader 's Pardon for a Mistake I have committed in the rendring of that Passage into English in the ensuing History for not having the Saxon Version by me but only a Latin Copy when I wrote it nor having then consulted Mr. Selden to whom I confess my self much beholden for this Criticism I have there translated the words Majores Natu Scotish Bishops because I thought it most proper for them to be sent to about an Affair concerning Religion I have no more to say on this Head only that I have left this word Ealdorman so often used in our Annals untranslated for tho I grant he is frequently stiled Dux or Comes in Latin yet it would not bear being rendred Duke or Earl in English because that those Titles are not only very different but were unknown in our Saxon Tongue till many Years after that Government was setled in England I come now to the Title Earl or Eorle which being altogether Danish was not commonly used here till the Reign of King Cnute tho we now and then find it mentioned in our Annals before his Time but as for its Power and Authority it being much what the same with that of Ealdorman abovementioned I think I need say no more of it only that neither of them were then Hereditary nor descended to Sons or Brothers tho they often continued in the same Family when the King was pleased so to confer it And both the Title and the Office were liable to be forfeited upon any great Male-Administration as you will find in divers Instances in this Book THE next Title and Office I shall mention is that of Heretoch which was wholly Military and as Sir Henry Spelman in his Glossary supposes was the same with that of the Holde or Commander in War mentioned in the Laws of King Athelstan because his Wiregild is made equal to that of a High-Gerife viz. four thousand Thrymsa's THIS Heretoch seems to have been somewhat like our Lord-Lieutenant of a County at this Day and was chosen for some extraordinary Occasion as upon a sudden Invasion or Expedition against the Scots or Welshmen Which being over their Commission also ceased but they themselves were still had in high Esteem and Honour if they had prudently and couragiously discharged that great Trust. And as the
Aldermannus venit ad Ely infrà Cimeterium ad Aquilonalem portam Monasterii tenuit placitum cum toto Hundredo And the Witness of Contracts and Purchases then were Testimonio Hundredi Here not only Temporal Causes but Ecclesiastical were handled the Alderman or principal Judg being such a one as Dei Leges hominum jura studebat promovere who studied to promote the Laws of God and Man the Bishop or Arch-Deacon sitting therein with the said Alderman Which Jurisdiction so continued until the beginning of William the Conqueror's Reign that he by a special Precept did inhibit Quod nec Episcopus net Archidiaconus de Legibus Episcopalibus amplius in Hundredo placitum teneat BUT the lowest of these Inferior Courts was that of the Decennary or Tything which yet was the greatest Bridle upon the Inferiour sort of People For by virtue of this Law of King Alfred every English Freeman as Ingulph tells us ought to be in some Hundred or Tything I mean whosoever was of full twelve Years of Age and if any one should be suspected of Larceny or Theft he might in his own Hundred or Ward being either condemned or giving Security in some Manuscripts it is being acquitted either incur or avoid the deserved Penalty William of Malmesbury adds to this That he that could not find Security was afraid of the Severity of the Laws and if any guilty Person either before his giving Security or after should make his Escape all of that Hundred and Tything should incur the King's Fine HERE we have the Original of Decennaries or Fribourgs in which every Man was to be bound for others as well as himself viz. Masters for their Servants Husbands for their Wives and Children before they had attained the Age of Fourteen as also the Housholder for his Guests All which ten Persons being thus bound one for another were united under one Head called a Tythingman and in some places a Borsholder for BORGH signifies a Surety or Pledg and FRI is all one as Free From whence comes our word NEIGHBOVRS that is those that are Near-Pledges BUT that this Law concerning the Decennaries or Tythings was not only made for the meer Vulgar or ordinary sort of People but that the Chiefest of the Nobility and even the Arch-Bishops and Bishops themselves were alike subject to it will appear by that Law of Edward the Confessor confirmed by King William I. whereby all Arch-Bishops Bishops Earls and Barons and all those that had Courts of Sac. Soc. and Theam c. swore to keep their Knights and all other Servants there mentioned in their Frithborg i. e. Franc-pledg for whom these Lords or Masters themselves were to be Sureties so that if any of them offended their Lords were obliged to do right in their Courts And by the Laws of Cnute every Thane or Gentleman of Estate was to have his Family under his own Pledg and if any of them were accused he was to answer for him in the Hundred Court i. e. was to compel him to appear And the Lord was also to be answerable for him if he escaped so that all the Privilege that Noblemen and Gentlemen had above the common Men was that they were not bound one for another so as to be part of any Decennary or Tithing but each of them was Head of his own Friburgh and his Family was as it were a distinct Tithing of it self I observe this to let the Reader understand that how severe soever this Law was it was no Badg of Slavery or Subjection upon the common People for even the best Men in the Kingdom were alike subject to it Neither was it brought in or increased in Rigour by the Norman Conquest as some with greater Prejudice than Truth have maintained since the Normans as well as the English were all under one and the same Law as to this Point THE Laws of this Court of the Tithing were these FIRST That if any one offended and failed to appear the other Sureties were bound to have him forth-coming to Justice SECONDLY But if the guilty Party fled he should not be any where received without a Testimonial from the Tithing from whence he came So that a Man being out of any Tithing if he were received in any Town the whole Town was in the King's Mercy But by the Laws of King Edward the Decennary was allowed one and thirty Days to bring the Offender to Justice that so he might make Satisfaction either by his Goods or Body THE third was that if he could not be found then the Tithingman or Borsholder taking with him two of the best of his own FRIBVRGH and of the three neighbouring FRIBVRGHS nine to wit of each the chief Tithingman and two others of the best Note and there before the King's Justice if he could he was to purge himself by Oath of the Offence and Flight of the Criminal But if he could not he with his own FRIBVRGH was to restore the Loss out of the Goods of the Party if they were sufficient or otherwise out of his own and those of his FRIBVRGH LASTLY If the Neighbouring FRIBOVRGS would not be their Compurgators then they were to swear for themselves that they were therein no ways Guilty and that so soon as ever they could find him they would bring the Offender to Justice or else discover where he was THERE were many other particulars concerning this Matter which I pass over that I may not be thought too prolix but these are the most material BUT besides this Caution concerning Pledges they were also the first Foundation of Court-Barons who were under the Thane or Baron i. e the Lord of the Mannor as their Head and he was to undertake for every one of his Tenants and to satisfy for the Offences of each Man BY these Friburghs or Pledges together with their Borsholders were all Civil Actions as of Debt Trespass Detinue or the like which arose betwixt any of their Township determined but when there was a Cause that concerned Men residing in several Seigniories then it was transmitted to the next superior Jurisdiction viz. the Hundred-Court in some Places called the Wapentake THERE still remain behind two very considerable Courts both held by the Sheriff The former of which was antiently called Sciremote i. e. the meeting of the Inhabitants of the Shire and was held twice in the Year long before the Norman Conquest as appeareth from sundry Testimonies but since that the Shireeve's Turn from the French word Tour in Latin Vice and in English Turn Herein sate together the Bishop of the Diocess and the Earl or Eolderman in Shires that had Eoldermen and the Bishop and Shireeves in such Counties as were committed to Shireeves for many Ages in the Saxons Times as from these Laws from King Edgar to Canutus cited in the Margin doth appear to the end they might determine as well of what concerned Ecclesiastical as
Names of his Kings and their Course of Succession in many Places but also referring them in particular to the Years of the World in which he supposes them to have Reigned adding also the Years of their Reigns where-ever he thought Geoffrey to be deficient but without vouchsafing to give us the Names of any Authors from whence he took them So that since we have indeed no better Authorities than Geoffrey himself I shall not go about to Confute the Faults that might be found in the Chronology which Mr. White has given us of these Kings Reigns though it were no hard Matter to shew diverse Absurdities in it But this much is evident from the disagreement of these Authors about the Names of their Kings and the Years of their Reigns that they had nothing but their own Fancies to rely upon for what they wrote whence proceeds so great a Confusion in this part of their British History that no Body can certainly conclude any thing from hence unless that they were all mistaken Nor is it only the uncertainty of Kings Names and Successions that we here find fault with but the great Improbability I might say Impossibility of divers Matters of Fact related by Geoffrey of Monmouth in this History of the British Kings As for Instance that of King Ebrane's sending his Thirty Daughters to find Husbands in Italy which Story plainly took its rise from the Sabines denying their Daughters to those People which Romulus many Years after got together Not to mention the Story of Morindus's being devoured by a Sea-Monster whereas neither our Seas nor Rivers do now or ever did afford any such noxious Creatures divers other more improbable Relations because I would not tire the Reader with such Fooleries I have here omitted Besides all which the very Names of many of these Kings such as Jaco which is the same with James in English Molmutius Morindus as also Archigallo Gorbonian Ennianus Geruntius Fulgentius Androgeus Archimalus Rodianus sufficiently betray some a Phoenician some a Grecian and some a Roman Original and could never be derived from the British Oâ—iginals Lastly There is great difference between this part of the British History especially from Elidure to Lud and all other Histories for whereas these commonly are barren of particular Transactions in their beginning and afterwards enlarge themselves still more and more the further they proceed This History is quite contrary and the farther we go the more confused we find the Succession of their Kings and the less there is Recorded of their Actions for from Elidure to Lud there are Nine and Twenty Kings of whom nothing almost is Recorded but their bare Names and which is also very remarkable from this Elidure Geoffrey makes no mention of the Years of their Reigns What we find of this kind hath been added by those that writ long after him who have done it very preposterously allowing not above Ten Years one with another to Thirty Kings which are supposed to have Reign'd in about Two Hundred Years so that if there were any Truth in this History it seems more rational to believe these Kings not to have succeeded each other but many of them to have bin Contemporary Rulers of particular Provinces of this Island I shall therefore conclude this Part of the History with Mr. Milton's Words concerning these Kings Thus far have we gone relying upon the Credit of Geoffrey of Monmouth and his Assertors though for the Reasons above-mentioned I have not thought it beside my Purpose to relate what I have found whereto I neither oblige the Belief of other Persons nor shall over-hastily subscribe my own Yet granting these things not to have been true but invented by the Author above-mentioned yet since even Romances as well as true Histories may furnish us with Observations sufficient to Instruct us not only in the Humours and Passions of Mankind but also in the Causes as well as Effects of human Actions And since Ambition Lust and the Desire of Revenge are commonly in their turns the Motives that incite Princes as well as private Men to Transgress the Laws of Reason let us look back and survey some of the most remarkable Actions of those Princes whose History we have here cited From those frequent Divisions we here read to have been made of the Kingdom between several Brothers we may learn that the Britains had no Notion of any Right in the Eldest Brother to Command over all the Rest no not after they became Christians the Welch Princes still dividing their Territories among all their Sons alike though we may see the Inconvenience of this Course by their making War upon each other about their particular Shares Whence we may conclude that Sovereignty ought to be left undivided and the more Shares there are in it the more Causes there are of Civil Wars and Divisions nor have any prov'd more fatal than those among Brothers of which we have sufficient Examples not only in this but other Histories From so many Kings being depos'd for their Tyranny we may observe that the ancient Britains though under a Monarchy yet did not think themselves oblig'd to suffer their Kings by becoming Tyrants to make their People Slaves but knew how to cast off that Yoke when it grew insupportable Lastly from Cassibelan's being made a King by the People for his Valour and Worth it plainly appears that if the Kingdom were then Hereditary yet the Estates did then reserve a Power to themselves during the Minority of the Right Heir to place in the Throne that Prince of the Blood-Royal who was like to prove most able to defend them either against Foreign or Domestick Enemies as this Prince in the War with Caesar evidenced to the World I have made bold to add these few political Observations that the Reader as well as my self may profit somewhat by Reading a History otherwise so dry and uninstructive THE General History OF BRITAIN NOW CALLED ENGLAND As well Ecclesiastical as Civil BOOK II. Containing the Annals of ENGLAND from the First Landing of JULIUS CAESAR to the Romans Total Desertion thereof being about Four Hundred and Ninety Years HAVING in the former Book deduced the Succession of British Kings as well as I was able from Brute to the Beginning of the Reign of Cassibelan in whose Time Caesar Landed in Britain and having hitherto wandred through divers Ages of Fictions or Uncertainties at best like a Man in a dark Night who knows not well whether he is in or out of his Road yet is still forced to Travel on till Day-light overtake him So we having hitherto gone forward though in the dark are at last arrived at a Period which will give us a more certain Light into our British History though no Roman or Greek Historian did ever undertake to write a History on purpose concerning this Island during all the time that the Roman Emperors govern'd here either in Person or by their Lieutenants For those Authors that are
any other Writer and the Age also being become very Corrupt and Ignorant during the frequent Wars and Revolutions that happen'd in this part of the Island It is not to be expected that we should be able to set down the Names of any Bishops or others Remarkable in this last Age for Piety or Learning So having given as good an Account as I am able and as the broken History of those Times will allow of the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire in Britain and the State of Affairs as well Ecclesiastical as Civil during the space of near 490 Years that the Romans had to do here I shall in the next Book give you a Prospect of the lamentable State of this part of Britain after the departure of the Romans and that the Britains had set up Princes of their own Nation The End of the Second Book THE General History OF BRITAIN NOW CALLED ENGLAND As well Ecclesiastical as Civil BOOK III. From its Desertion by the Romans to the Preaching of Christianity by AUGUSTINE the Monk being One hundred Sixty two Years BEING now come to the Third Period of this First Volume it is fit we say somewhat by way of Introduction before so great a Change as you will here find to have followed the Desertion of Britain by the Romans For with the Roman Empire fell also what before were chiefly Roman Learning Valour Eloquence and Civility and consequently History too which is but the Product of these all which at first encreasing by means of the Roman Power and Encouragement did also diminish and decline upon its Departure till it was at last quite extinct by the coming in of the Pagan Saxons and the long cruel Wars they made upon the Britains as you may observe from the barbarous Latin of Gildas and Nennius which are the only Authentick British Historians that are now extant As for the English Saxons they were at first so illiterate that it is much doubted whether they had the use of Letters and Writing among them or not since we have no Histories or Annals of their Times elder than their receiving Christianity for thô there are some few Stones to be found in England inscribed with the ancient Runick Characters as appears from the late English Edition of Mr. Camden's Britannia yet that they are wholly Danish Monuments and made after the time of their Conversion I need only refer you to the Inscriptions themselves as they are to be found in the said Britannia with the Additions that follow it so that it ought not to seem strange that the Saxon Annals are so short and obscure in many places and that the Relations of Things done before the entrance of Christianity among them are contradictory to each other in point of Time and other Circumstances since they were only delivered by Memory and Tradition which must be acknowledged for a very uncertain Guide in Matters of Fact as well as of Doctrine Nor is this Uncertainty to be found only in the Saxon Chronicles but also in those of the Britains of that Age since from the Reign of King Vortigern to that of Cadwalladar is indeed the darkest and most confused part of all the British or Welsh History Hence it is that we are forced in this Period not only to make use of Authors who lived long after the Things they treat of were done but also are otherwise of no great Credit such as Nennius and Geoffery of Monmouth whom we sometimes make use of for want of those of better Authority As for the English Saxon History we have nothing more ancient than Bede and the Saxon Chronicle which we shall here give you almost entire since it seems to be writ faithfully as far as it goes yet being only Annals extracted out of Bede as far as he goes they barely relate the Succession of their Kings with their chief Wars and Actions without expressing the Grounds or Causes of either or giving us any Account of their particular Laws and original Constitutions so that I confess they cannot prove so Instructive to Humane Life as is required of a just History Britain being thus deserted by the Romans as you have seen in the last Book with an intention to return no more and having caused the Britains to rebuild the Wall in the manner already related the Scots and Picts thô in Manners differing from each other yet still unanimous to rob and spoil hearing that the Roman Forces were withdrawn landed in Shoals out of their Curroghs or Leathern Vessels in which they passed over that part of the Irish Sea which lying next Britain is called by Gildas The Scythic Vale these upon the Assurance that the Romans would never return becoming more bold than ever took possession of all the Northern Parts even from the outmost Bounds of the Land as far as the Wall already mentioned in the mean time the Guards which were placed upon it to defend it being cowardly in Fight and unable to fly stood trembling on the Battlements keeping their Stations day and night to little or no purpose whilst the Enemy from below with long Hooks pluck'd them down and dashed them against the Ground thus preventing by a speedy Death those languishing Torments which attended their Country-men and Relations In short both the Wall and the Towns adjoyning to it being deserted the Inhabitants saved themselves by flight which yet could not long secure them for the Enemy pursuing them a fresh Slaughter quickly followed more bloody than the former and which was worse than all the rest being tormented with Famine to get Subsistence they fell upon and robbed each other for they who came from the North as may probably be supposed and had fled from the Enemy being unable to pay for their Quarters when they came into the Southern Parts seized what they could find from whence rose Discords and Quarrels among them and thence Civil Wars for this Nation as Gilda◠observes thô feeble in repressing Foreign Enemies yet in home-bred Quarrels was very bold and obstinate But whilst they thus for some Years wore themselves out with continual Acts of mutual Hostility the Famine grew General upon all so that those half-starved Men that remained were forced to maintain their Lives with what they could get by Hunting so that at last the miserable Remnants of this afflicted People having now no other Remedy left were constrained to write doleful Letters to Aetius then the Emperour's Lieutenant in Gaul directed To Aetius thrice Consul the Groans of the Britains wherein they thus complain The Barbarians drive us to the Sea whilst the Sea driveth us back to the Barbarians between these two sorts of Deaths we must be either slain or drown'd What Answer they received is uncertain but Gildas expresly tells us That they received no Assistance by those Letters because Aetius then expected a War with Attilla King of the Huns. And indeed about these Times a terrible
Monastery and Diocess by the Expulsion of its Bishops as he had done the Archbishop Novis our Author's Kinsman for he also tells us that both at this time and long before all the Countries on the South part of Britain did then belong to King Aelfred's Dominions Hemeid with all the Inhabitants of South Wales and Rodri with his six Sons having subjected themselves to his Empire Howel also the Son of Rice King of Gleguising Brochmail and Fermail Kings of Guent being oppressed by the Tyranny of Eadred Earl of the Mercians desired of the King that he would please to take the Dominion over them and be their Protector against their Enemies Also Helised the Son of Teudyr King of Brechonoc being kept under by the power of the said Sons of Rodri sought the Protection of the King as did Anarawd the Son of Rodi together with his Brethren who all at last forsaking the friendship of the Northumbers by which they had received no advantage but rather damage came to the King desiring his favour and were honourably received by him Prince Anarawd being enriched with many great gifts submitted himself to the King's Dominion together with all his Subjects promising to be obedient in all things to his Royal Pleasure neither did they desire the King's Friendship in vain for those who loved to encrease their power obtained it those who desired Money had it those who only sought his Friendship enjoy'd it but all of them did partake of his kindness and protection as far as the King was able to defend them Then our Author further adds That after he had been with the King Eight Months he gave him a grant of Two Monasteries called Ambresbyri in Wiltshire and Banuwelle together with all that was there adding these words That he had not now given these small things but in order to bestow greater on him for some time after he gave him also Exancester now Exeter with all the Lands that belonged to it in West Saxony and Cornwal besides other daily presents too long here to recite which he says he does not relate out of vain Glory but to set forth this King's Liberality Note That by Excester he means only the Abbey Which also as well as his Piety was very great for the King had now order'd two Monasteries to be built the one at Aethelingey the place of his Retreat above-mentioned putting Monks therein of divers Nations because he could then find no Gentlemen nor Freemen of his own Country that would undertake a Monastic Life the other Monastery he built near the East-Gate of Shaftsbury for an Habitation for Nuns over which he made his own Daughter Aethelgova Abbess placing many Noble Virgins there to serve God with her in a Monastic Life All which being finished he then considered how he might further add to what he had already done and therefore being stirred up by the Divine Grace he Commanded his Officers to divide all his Yearly Revenues into two equal parts the first of which he allotted to secular Affairs distributing it to skillful Artificers and Architects who came to him from all parts far and near whom he discreetly rewarded giving every Man according to his Merit And the other half he dedicated to God which he Commanded his Officers to divide likewise into four parts so that one part should be discreetly bestowed upon poor Men of all Nations that came to him a second part was to be reserved for the two Monasteries which he had founded a third for that School which he had made up of many considerable persons of his own Nation as well as Foreigners And which is supposed to have been the University of Oxford And the fourth part was to be sent some Years to the Monasteries in West Saxony and Mercia and other Years to the Churches and Monks serving God in Britain France Cornwall and Northumberland nay as far as into Ireland to each of them by turns according to his present Abilities Nor did he only thus dedicate one half of his Revenues but also one half of the Labours of his Body and Mind to God's Service as hath been already declared Nor was he less exact in all things else he undertook for he was the Great Patron of the Oppressed whose Cause and Defence he almost alone supported having very little assistance from others since almost all the Powerful and Great Men of that Kingdom rather addicted themselves to Secular then Divine imployments and pursued every one his own private Interest without any consideration to the Common good but the King in his Judgments studied the advantage as well of the meaner sort as of the Noble or Great the latter of which did often times in the publick Assemblies of the Ealdormen and Sheriffs pertinaciously quarrel among themselves so that none of them would scarce allow any thing that was adjudged by the said Magistrates in their Courts to be Right and by reason of these obstinate dissentions divers of them were compell'd to appeal to the King which also both sides often desired to do for they found that he diligently enquired into all the Judiciary Sentences that were given throughout his Kingdom and if he found any injustice in them he forthwith sent for the Judges before whom such false Judgments were given and either by himself or else by some trusty Commissioners had those Judges examin'd to know the reason wherefore they had given such unjust Sentences and then enquired whether they had done this through Ignorance or else for Love Hatred or Fear or else for lucres sake but if the Judges protested and it was also found upon Examination that they had passed such Sentence because they were able to judge no better in the Cause then would the King with great moderation reprove their Ignorance and Unskilfulness telling them He wondred much at their presumption in taking upon them the Office of a Judge without having first duly studied the Laws and therefore enjoyned them either to lay down their Imployments or else mmediately to apply themselves to study them with more care Which when they had heard they took this reproof for sufficient punishment and betook themselves to study with all their might so that most of all the Ealdormen who were illiterate from their Youth rather desired to learn the Laws thô with labour then lay down their Imployments but if any one through Age or great incapacity could not profit in those studies he made either his Son or some near Kinsman read to him English Saxon Books when ever he had time repenting that he had not employed his Youth in those Studies and esteeming those Young Men Fortunate who could now be more happily instructed n all Liberal Arts. So far Asser hath given us a particular Account of this King's Life and Conversation both in publick and private But if Andrew Horne in his Book call'd The Mirrour of Justices a great part of which is supposed to be collected from divers ancient Saxon
little a time that he could not be solemnly Elected and Crowned King according to the Law and Custom of Succession in those times I have nothing more to add to this Reign of King Edward the Elder but only the Laws he made which since it is not specified in what year of his Reign nor in what Common-Council of the Kingdom they were enacted I thought best to refer to this place In the Preface to his Laws he strictly charges and commands his Officers that as much as in them lies they do Justice according as it stands in the Judicial Book supposed to be some Book of Presidents or Judgments and without all fear boldly dispense common Right to all men and that they set and appoint certain days for determination of the several Causes depending before them The first Law is concerning Traffick and in way of confirmation of the fourth Article of the League made betwixt his Father and the Danish King Guthrun ordains that if a man will sell any thing he shall have one to vouch and make good the sale and that no man buy any thing without the Town unless he have the Portreeve for witness or some other men worthy of Credit otherwise he shall undergo the Penalty of Contumacy against the King This Vouching or Warranty shall also proceed from one to another till it end with him who first sold it The rest of this Law containing in what cases the Buyer and likewise the Demandant shall find sufficient Testimomony or Oaths of the true buying of the Goods so bought being long I refer the Reader to the Law it self The second of King Edward's Laws ordains That whosoever denies another man his Right either in Bocland or Folcland demanding it before the King's Sheriff when as he hath no Right in either shall pay to the King for the first Offence Thirty Shillings and as much more for the second and if he offend the third time then to pay an Hundred and twenty shillings for his Contumacy against the King The third adjudges that for one who had forsworn himself or born false witness no credit should be given to him for the time to come but that he be put to Ordeal in all cases where his Oath is required The fourth declares That King Edward lying at Exeter and consulting with his Wise Men by what means he might best provide for the Publick Peace and Tranquility it then seemed to them that what he had commanded was too remissly executed therefore he now required all that will amend and reform these things and would with him enjoy common society that they would prosecute with their utmost hatred the same persons as he did both by Sea and Land and that they would take care not to do wrong or injury to any man He that doth contrary let him as was formerly ordained pay thirty shillings to the King and if he offend the second time as much more if the third an hundred and twenty shillings The fifth commands that that Reeve or Judge who doth not Justice according to the testimony of such as are summon'd pay an hundred and twenty shillings for his Contumacy against the King The sixth wills That if a Servant be accused of Theft he that recommended him to his Master or other of his Friends if he have any be Sureties for him that he discharge himself of what is deposed against him and if he have none to interpose on his behalf those that are concerned may seize his Goods but if he have neither Goods nor Friends let him be taken into custody The eighth Law enjoins that no man knowingly and voluntarily have peace with or harbour one that is condemned for any Crime he that acts contrary and thereby breaks his Oath and the Faith given by him and all the people let him undergo the Mulct prescribed in the Judiciary Book which if he refuse to pay he is to be deprived of the King's Favour and all other mens Friendship and farther forfeit all his Estate and if any afterwards relieve him let him also incur the Penalty expressed in the said Book and farther whosoever shall relieve a Fugitive either in this Countrey or in the Eastern or Northern parts of the Kingdom i. e. in East-England and Northumberland let him be punished as by the Articles of Peace is ordained The ninth provides that if one deprived of his liberty for stealing steal again so that all his Kindred forsake him and none will engage for him he is to be set to servile and hard labour as opportunity shall offer and his Kindred shall lose the valuation of his head The tenth Law forbids any man to receive another man's Servant without his leave and that he hath fully satisfied his Master he that doth otherwise shall be punished as contumacious against the King The eleventh and last commands That about every fourth Week every Sheriff or Judge hold the Gemot or Assembly and administer Justice to every man and determine all Causes at the days appointed if he do otherwise he is to be punished as was before said From all which Laws we may observe First That the Law concerning redeeming of all Crimes by Pecuniary Fines was not yet abolished nor in some Ages after but the strict Laws for vouching of Goods sold as also against Fugitives and Runaway Servants were but necessary in such licentious and turbulent times when it was so very easy for Offenders to pass out of the English Territories into those of the Danes You may also here observe the Antiquity and Power of the County-Court which was then held as now every Month but had much more Power anciently than at this day As for the Laws that follow and which are entituled in Mr. Lambard's Copy The Ecclesiastical Laws of Edward the Elder King of England and Gutherne King of the Danes in East-England which were first made by the Kings Alfred and Gutherne and were now said to be again confirmed by King Edward Son to Alfred and the same King Gutherne there must certainly be an Error in the Name of the Danish King here mentioned since it appears by our Annals that Gutherne died ten years before King Alfred therefore since we do not find any other Danish King of this Name we may rather suppose that these Laws were made by King Edward and Eoric the Danish King who succeeded Gutherne in that Kingdom but be it as it will I shall not trouble the Reader with their Recital since they relate chiefly to Ecclesiastical Affairs and are in most points but a Repetition of those things which had been before agreed upon by King Alfred and King Gutherne some years before King Edward dying after four and twenty years Reign was buried in the Monastery at Winchester which his Father had founded leaving by his Testament Athelstan his Eldest Son to succeed him who as Florence of Worcester and William of Malmesbury and most other Writers relate was not born of the Queen but of