by a County or a Barony are summoned by Writ to come to the Parliament and the King bears their expences of their remaining and aboad and all the other Deanes Arch-Deacons and Persons are summoned to appear by two sufficient Proctors which come with a duplicate of their Procurations whereof one part remaineth with the Clerk of the Parliament and the other with the Proctors 2. The summons of the Laity as Earls Barons and their Peers which hold Lands and rents to the value of a County or of a Barony viz. 20. Knights Fees every Fee being accompted at 20. l. per annum which make 400. l. or 23. Knights Fees and a half which makes 400. Marks per annum and none of the Laity of lesser condition are namely and particularly called by Writ except their presence be necessary for some special and extraordionary cause 3. Next the King sends his VVrits to the Cinque Ports to chuse Barons to answer alleadge and do for their Baronies as if all were present a VVrit under the great Seal for the VVarden for their expences 20. s. 4. Next the King sendeth his VVrits to the Sheriff of every Shire to chuse two Knights of every Shire a Mark for their expences 5. Then the King sends his VVrits to the Cities of London and Yorke or other Cities that are Counties to chuse two grave Citizens and they must also have a Mark for their expences 6. And then the Kings VVrit goeth to the Bailiffs of Boroughs to chuse two Burgesses There must be two principal Clerks of the Parliament and they must sit in the midst of the Justices to enrole all the Pleas and businesses of the Parliament not being Clerks to the Justices for there is no Justice in England hath any power or Jurisdiction in the Parliament but that the King calleth them thither to assist the Lords and to hear and determine petitions for the two Clerks are immediately subject to the King except the King assigne some of the Justices to examine their Rolls These Clerks enrole all the Judgments given in the Parliament and before the end of the Parliament they deliver them over to the Treasurer keeping a Transcript or Counter-roll to themselves their wages a Mark a day Other Clerks were assigned by the King to the Bishops and others to the Proctours of the Clergy another to the Earls and Barons another to the Knights another also to the Citizens and Burgesses these set down all doubts and answers and are present in their Counsels and being at leisure they assist the two principal Clerks to enrole the Acts of Parliament If a matter of difficulty either concerning Peace or War be moved in Parliament the King wil enjoyn all the several degrees or tribes of the Parliament the Bishops the Proctours the Barons c. to go apart into several places and the case is to be delivered to their several Clerks whereupon they are to debate amongst themselves and to advise and if all or the greatest part do not agree then the Lord Steward the Lord Constable and the Lord Marshal are to chuse thirty five out of the number two Bishops three Proctors two Earls three Barons five Knights five Citizens and five Burgesses and these thirty five men may chuse twelve and these may descend to six these six to three and these three to two and these two to one and so one person may determine a cause except the King gainsay it which he may do during the Parliament otherwise nor There be three Degrees of businesses in the Parliament 1. Wars or matters touching the Kings person the Queen and the Kings children 2. The publick businesses of the Commonwealth 3. The private and particular matters yet these are to be handled as the Bills come in by priority The principal Cryer of the Parliament the Chancellour Treasurer and Barons of the Exchequer shall record the defaults of all those that are summoned A Sermon before the Parliament must be provided by the Arch-Bishop in whose diocess it is holden Proclamation must be made in the Hall or Monastery where it is holden and in the City or Town that all men by a certain day bring in their petitions c. The Chancellor or the chief Justice of England is to declare the cause of the Summons of the Parliament The King in state ever to be present in the Parliament if he be not sick if he be sick to send for twelve persons of the house to see his person and to satisfie the house of the cause of his absence For the session the King sits alone The Arch-Bishop of Canterbury on his right hand Yorke on his left hand and so every man in his degree and the Lord Steward is to see that every man sit amongst his Peers The Ushers of the Parliament stand within the door of the house and the Cryer stands without the door and the Kings guard stands a good way without the door to keep tumults and crowds of people from about the door All sit except he that speaks who must stand to speak that all may hear None is to go in or out of the house but at one door onely The King never requires aide but for war or to make his Son a Knight or to marry his Daughter and that in full Parliament Two Knights of the Shire are greater then any one Earle or Baron and two Proctours then any one Arch-Bishop or Bishop and the King can hold his Parliament without any Arch-Bishop Bishop Earle or Baron with the Commons alone for there was a Parliament before there was any Barons but if the Commons do not appear there can be no Parliament though all the great Peeres of the Realm were present with the King for the Proctours Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the Realm do represent the whole Commons of the Realm but the great Peers of the Realm are present onely for themselves and for no others The Parliament ought not to be dissolved as long as any Bill remaines undiscussed if it be the King is perjured and publick Proclamation is to be made in the Parliament and in the Palace that if any have any petition he ought to come in and if no answer be made it is to be intended that all men are satisfied Any man that will may have a Transcript or Copie of the Acts before they be printed paying for the same 10. l. 5. s. or 10 l. 08 s. 01 d. And the Parliament may be holden in any place where it shall please the King viz. at Oxford at Kennelworth at Marlborough at Gloucester at Acton-Burnel at Leicester at the Blackfryers c. 14 H. 8. DODDRIDGE Of the Antiquity of the Parliament of England THe Ancient and first Parliament that I have read of is that in Polydore Virgil in the reign of H. 1. in the 16 year which was about the year of our Lord 1116. And this was held at Salisbury as he saith where were assembled with the King all the
obeyed not those general designes Before the Romans arrived in this Island Causibulan who before Communi Consilio Chieftain of the Britaines forces Summa enim imperii Bellique Administrandi Communi Consilio permissa est Causibulano The Ancient Laws of the Britaines which to the honor of our common Laws have their use to this day were composed in their common Counsels the multitude at that time as possessed of nothing had neither voice nor place Usury Tribute and greatness having made them servile to their betters And thus stood the State till by conquest it was made a Province So before our Britaines learned the Laws of their Victours they held their common Counsels Tacitus seemeth to ascribe much to the prosperous proceedings of the Romans against the Britaines quod non in Communi Consuluerunt After the entry of the Romans who with their people brought their Laws their Counsels were Comitia as Parliaments compounded of the three degrees Senatores Equestres Plebei and termed either Curiata Centuriata or Tributa so called for that the people were divided per Curias in which Assembly Populus Suffragia tenebat distinguished by Seats summoned by the Lictour held in the City had power to consult of Peace and War and to dispose of lesser publique Offices Romulus was founder hereof and called it lex Curiata and Centuriata for the nobler people were divided per Centurias for this the Counsel fore-sent by Edict Quis Dies Comitiis Centuriatis futurus est summoned per Corniciem Assembled in Campo Martio because all in Armes In this were disposed the greater Magistracies and affairs of that Hostilius was the institutor Tully gloried in that he was called lege Centuriata Tributa For in this the people Assembled by their Tribunes much ageeing with that of Curiata And the leges peculiares were general Jussu populi regnante Magistratu but not in force as Laws until their Promulgation for which cause the Country-Tribunes repaired to certain Faires where Proclamation was made of their new Laws and holding it aequum ut quisquam non obligaretur ad id quod sine culpa sua ignorat But these freedoms of the people expited and vanished as the Empire grew obsolete And when the State declined we as other enfranchised Countries began to give Laws unto our selves Therefore the Britains told Augustine Se non posse absque suorum Consensu licentia priscis abdicare moribus And thus it stood in Britaine until the coming in of the Saxons Now that substance and forme of Parliamentary Assemblies went all along the Saxon age held during the Incursion of the Danes and was continued by the Conquerour in part and when the Assembly of the three Estates formed the Parliament as now we keep it it shall by clear proof and presidents appear The story of the Saxons and their Laws do shew that they were of the same minde transplanted hither as Tacitus saith the Germanes were Nec Regibus infinita potestas de Minoribus Rebus principes consultant de majoribus omnes Rex Edwinus saith Beda lib. 2. cap. 13. quod antequam fidem susciperit dixit secum amicis principibus Consiliariis suis collaturum In a Charter of king Etheldred it appeareth Hist Esiensis Lib. 2. quod ad synodale Consilium apud Cirenchester universi Optimates simul convenerunt Affricum Majestatem rerum affectantem de hac patria profugum expulerunt Bertulphius held a Councel at Knisbury pro Regni Negotiis Congregat ' to the which the west-Saxon King and people sent their Legat. Ingulphus hath many places of clear proof but I will move but one In festo nativitatis beatae Mariae cum universi Magnates Regni per Regium edictum summoniti tam Archiepiscopi Episcopi Abbates Clerici quam totius Regni Proceres Optimates London convenerunt ad tractandum de negotiis publicis totius Regni consummatis omnibus Rex Eldredus coram Universis Domino Turketillo Abbati Monachisque suis Accersitis dedit Monasterium de Crowland c. Here you may see the sampler of our Parliament But to come nearer when King Jua establish'd his Lawes he saith I Jua King of the West-Saxons have called all my Fatherhood Aldermen and my wisest Commons with the godly men of my Kingdom to consult of great and weighty Matters Here is represented in King Jua the Kings Royal person The Fatherhood in those ancient dayes were those whom we call Bishops and therefore were termed Reverend Fathers By Aldermen the Nobility is meant so honorable was the word Alderman of old times that onely Noble Men were called Aldermen By the Wisest Commons is signified the Knights and Burgesses and so is the Kings Writ at this day De discretioribus majus sufficientibus By godly Men is meant the Convocation-house for that it onely eonsisteth of Religious men To consult of great and weighty Matters so is the Kings Writ at this day Pro quibusdam arduis urgentibus negotiis nos Statum defensionem Regni nostri Angliae Ecclesiae Anglicanae Concernentibus The like was in King Alphreds dayes where the King sancta Episcopi sapientes laici Statuerunt leges Calling the Statute-books libri synodales All their Lawes going by way of Suffrage general according to the Right of our Parliament Wherefore King Offa having gathered Consilia sapientum and viewing the best Lawes of Jua Alured and Etheldred would not publish them until such time as the Text saith ostendenda haec omnibus sapientibus nostris dixerunt omnes placet Custodire ea But howsoever the government was by sundry Kings and they continually attent to warre The Saxon time held hardly one Forme of this great Assembly or Councel yet in Canutus his dayes he having Conquered all and reduced that Heptarchie into a Monarchie so that he could say Sub Uno Rege sub Unae lege Universum Angliae Regnum regeretur It is plain that he held a Parliament though not then so stiled yet truly so to be accompted and since that it hath all parts of our Parliament we might rightly call it so In the Preamble to his Lawes thus he saith Convocato Itaque Communi procerum comitatu Episcoporum Abbatum ceterorum Nobilium Nec non ceterae Nobilitatis sapientiaeque totius Angliae concilio satagebat communia decreta ut in quantum humana ratio Voluit stabiliret After this Pious King Edward the Confessor in a Charter made to Westminster Abbey sealed and signed the same at a Parliament for thus he saith Hanc Igitur Chartam Donationis libertatis in Dedicatione predictae Ecclesiae recitare jussi Coram Episcopis Abbatibus Comitibus omnibus Optimatibus Angliae omnique populo audiente vidente But now to come to the Normans time after the Conquest The two first Kings the Conquerour and his son William Rufus reigned with their swords in their hands absolutely of themselves not
admitting the former general Assemblies of the States but permitting onely Provincial-Synods of the Clergy for compounding of the Ecclesiastical causes where nevertheless they sate as Presidents and the Conquerour himself did not challenge to himself so absolute a conquest but the Laws that he made have this Title Hic Intimatur quod Gulielmus Rex cum principibus suit Constitutam And in giving Laws to this Nation fecit summoniri per universos Consultatus Angliae Anglos nobiles sapientes sua lege eruditos ut eorum jura Consuetudines ab ipsis Archiepiscopis Episcopis audiret And often doth he and his Son William call together Archiepiscopos Episcopos Abbates Comites Barones Vicecomites cum suis Militibus ad Consulendum And likewise oftentimes afterwards until the time of Henry first we find that there was Conventus Episcoporum Abbatum Procerum Regni Londini in Palatio Regis VVherefore Polydore Virgil and Paladine are much deceived if they thought that Henry the first held the first Parliament within this Realm Neither do they seem to be of that Opinion their words being that Regis ante tempora Henrici primi non Consue verunt populi conventum Consultandi causa nisi pro raro facere Therefore they might hold some though not so often as did their successors or agreeing with the Manuscript of Canterbury that the first Parliament wherein the Commons were called aswel as the Peeres and Nobles was 16 H. 1. For it is true that after the Conquest until this time the Commons were not called and so at this time they will have it first called by the name of a Parliament Indeed if the policy of the time be noted that may yeeld some difference The Conqueror and his Son William being strangers had no way to make permanent their victory but by adding other Laws and plucking up the old Roots of Families they found and to plant them in themselves as in new grounds So for that age it was their Wisdome to Rule and not to advise with the people But Henry the first a new bud of the old stock being a natural Englishman himself born at Selly in Lincolnshire in love of the English Nation by whom he sought his strength The Normans at that time standing at terms of revolt from him in savour of his Brother Robert Duke of Normandy he well understanding the love of his people called them to those great Counsels and setling the Authority of his Court of Parliament so established his Throne that neither Britaine Dane nor Saxon could ever after till this day disturbe either him or his posterity from the possession of this Land The making of his Laws were by Act of Parliament The Marriage of his Daughter Mawde and the entayling of the Crown to her were done by Act of Parliament The accord between Stephen and him was made by Parliament And consequently all the succeeding Kings since have ever concluded grandia Regni onely in the Parliament Yet all the times since have not kept the said Form of the Assembling of the three Estates for sometimes the Principal of the Nobility were onely called and they at the end of the Parliament were to impart to the other Barons and their Country what was done in the Parliament Afterwards King John ordained that all the Barons of England should come in their proper persons to the Parliament being Summoned 20 Knights Fees after 20 l. a Fee going to the value of an entire County 15 Knights Fees making an entire Baron by which they sate But King H. 3. after that he had smarted by the tumultuation of the Barons their multitudes bringing confusion ordained that those Earles and Barons onely to whom he directed his Writs should come unto the Parliament and none else And this which Hen. 3. began his son Edw. 1. the Founder of our civil estate calling the Barons and appointing the Knights and Burgesses to be elected and of the Barons selected the wisest and such as pleased him and did omit them and their children which did not equal them and their parents in wisdom and vertue so held it on until the time of Edward the Third there being a Writ then in use de Admittendo fide dignas ad Colloquium Some also at that time being called as William Earl of Nottingham to attend upon the King with one hundred and twenty men at armes Lawrence de Hastings Earl of Pembrook with fifty men at armes and William Clinton Earl of Huntington with sixty men at armes and so divers others The calling was with distinction The Bishops and Barons de Negotiis tractaturum Consilium impensuri The Knights and Burgesses ad faciendum Consentiendum Those times had certain Ordinances besides Estatutes for whatsoever the Lords and Commons agreed upon was presently an Ordinance and whatsoever the King gave his Royal Assent unto it then became an Estatute But if after the Parliament the King did Assent unto any Ordinance it then became an Estatute for the Kings answer is no more but le Roy le veult ou le Roy se avisera And before the Printing of Acts was used they were always engrossed and sealed with the great Seal of England and proclaimed in every Shire which use was continued from the time of H. 3. until H. 7. his days and the form was thus The King by the advice of his Lords Spiritual and Temporal at the special instance of the Commons Assembled in Parliament hath made and established these Ordinances and Statutes to the honor of God the good of the King and Realm In which words you may observe a summary of this great Counsel First the Persons the three Estates Secondly the Ends for which the Parliament was called viz. for the honour of God c. Thirdly the Means by Counsel and consent Each duty of the three degrees is insinuated in these three things viz. Request of the Commons Advise of the Lords and Establishment of the King The first expressing the suitours for the Royal Assent is never prayed by the Lords but by the Speaker the Mouth of the Commons The second distinguishing the house The King hearing the causes debated onely by the Lords The third intimating that no Bill receiveth life until the Royal Assent be given So by looking back it is easie to see the great Antiquity of this high Court delivered as you see from before the Romans but never so dignified as since Queen Elizabeths time Now for the Nature of a Parliament it is Consilium and it is Curia the power of it in matters hereditary and personal the proceedings of it in causes criminal and civil the priviledges of it sedentibus servientibus The Offices Officers and Order we leave to a further discourse thus much onely touching the Antiquity of Parliaments in England Temps Edw. le Confessor le sommons doit estre 40. Jours devant le session THe Summons of the Clergy Arch-Bishops Bishops Abbots and Priours that hold
Prelates Nobles and Commons to consult for the publick Weale and as he thinketh before that day the King never called the people to consult and make Laws and he deriveth the name from the French word Parler There is an ancient Roll in some mens hands which describeth the whole State and order of the Parliament and the Title of it is De modo tenendi Parliamentum And it is further described Parliamentum Regis Angliae Angles summoneri tenebatur temporibus Regis Edwardi filii Ethelredi qui modus Recitatus fuit Coram Willielmo Duce Normaniae Conquestore Rege Angliae per ipsum approbatum By this it should seem that Parliaments as they are described in that Roll were held in the time of Edward the holy for he was the Son of Etheldred for Edward the elder was the Son of Alphred and this Edward the holy lived about the year 1043. And by this it should also seem that the Conqueror held a Parliament In this it is first set down what Clergy-men were called which were not onely Bishops but Abbots and Priors that held per Baroniam by which I gather that they came not to that place as they were spiritual men but by reason of the temporal honours they enjoy in the Commonwealth for they have a place in the convocation-house in respect of their spiritual function and in that also they are a part in the Court of Parliament We read of a Parliament in 35 E. 1. in which were sixteen Abbots and eight Priors but how many of those were of the higher house I dare not define or rather were of the house ingeneral for I know it is not clear that there was not then a distinction of houses The first Title is De Clericis the second De Laicis the third de Militibus the fourth De Civibus the fifth De Burgensibus all other circumstances of place times orders and such like are recited which I omit to remember particularly because I know it is a thing well know to all and that it differeth from the order of that Court now used The Court of Parliament hath a double power the one to consult by way of deliberation for the good Government of the Common-wealth and so it is Consilium non Curia another power it hath as a Court in Administration of Justice The principal purpose of that Assembly seemeth to be for Consultation for the Writs are ad Consultandum deliberandum but being Assembled they may hold Plea of causes But this difference I find that in criminal causes both the upper house and lower house intermedleth therewith as in Attainders onely and the spiritual Lords do all go out of the house and give their assents by Proxie 10 E. 4.6 But in civil causes as in VVrits of Error sued there out of the Kings Bench the upper house onely medleth as is well described in the case 1 Hen. 7.19 20. in a VVrit of Error sued by one Flowerdue on a Replevin wherein Judgment was given against him in the Kings Bench. But we have an express Authority in the 4 H. 7.18 That in a criminal cause the Commons must assent for there the King and Lords did attaint one and nothing was said of the Commons therefore by the Opinion of the Justices the Act was held void and the party restored The Peeres of Scotland were wont to come to our Parliament for in 39 E. 3.35 in a VVrit of ravishment de Garde against Gilbert Umfrevil he demanded Judgment of the VVrit because he was Earle of Anguish and not so named in the VVrit Anguish saith the Plaintiff is out of the Realm I but said the Defendant I am summoned to Parliament by that name and the VVrit was abated this proveth that the Peeres of Scotland came to our Parliament for Justice but Littleton saith 20 E. 4.6 that we shall implead an Earle or Duke of France by the name of Knight onely I need not dilate of the nature of the Parliament that it is a body politique or of what parts and members it consisteth for that is very well understood of all learned men neither of the order of it at this day for most know that of their own experience the priviledges of it are great and may more safely be discussed what they are without the house in regard of others then what they are in the house for their liberties there Of the Antiquity of Parliament THat which we in English call Parliament I suppose and know to have taken the name from the French or Norman tongue sounding upon the word Parle or Parler to speak or discourse In Latine I find that it was called before the Conquest by two names the one called Synodus taken from the Greek which is used most for the Assembly of spiritual men to treat of Divine causes and so was practised when Augustine came to Canterbury where the King of Kent called Ethelbert gathered his Nobles and people to understand the message and preaching of Augustine and again it is termed Consiliatio as hereafter I shall set down and hereafter in that sence in Anno Dom. 833. Withlasias Dux Wiviorum a great Lord or Peer amongst those of the Frennes called Girrii or Girrogii in his Chapter for the foundation of the Abbey of Ramsey in which he termeth Egberte King and Ahelwolf his son to be Dominos suos he dateth his said Charter thus Datum apud Londini Civitatem ubi omnes Congregati sumus pro Consilio Capiendo Contra Danicos piratos littora Angliae assidue infestantes This mentioneth Ingulphus so as it appeareth when any imminent peril drew neer for the hurt of the Commonwealth that then there were called the Nobility and wisemen called in the History of Eli Duces Principes Satrapae Rhetores Causidici also Convenerunt Agelinum Aldermanum Episcopos Oswynum omnes meliores Concionatores de Com. c. And the same Author sheweth that Brithmothus a most Noble Duke of Northumberland was called Alderman idest senior vel Dux qui synodo magna Constantia restituit Regem Edgarem alios Monachos dicens nequaquam se ferre posse ut Monachi ejicerentur de Regno qui omnem Religionem tenuerunt coluerunt in Regno King Offa in his Charter granted to the Abbey of Chertsey hath these words Hanc libertatem omnia praedicta praefatum Monasterium pertinentia in synodali conventu in loco qui nominatur Aeccleate testes consistentes concensi subscripsi c. in historia Chertsey penes me remanen Canutus the Dane beginning his Laws sheweth plain that he made the same by the Advice and Councel of a Parliament and beginning thus Haec est Consiliatio quam Canutus Rex meditatione vel decreto suarum sapientum consiliatus est cum suis sapientibus apud Wintoniam c. When I observe an old written Copie with a Comment thereupon they are expounded thus Consiliatio id est Institutio multorum facta Consilio