his Subjects Untill in that much mistaken Erroneous Act of Parliament said to have been made in Feb. 1645. by some of the Lords Commons of that which should not have been called a Parliament when they made War had like strange Subjects and Advisors beaten away their King neither had there been any design of abrogating the Tenures in Capite or of that kind in all the Brittish Roman Saxon Danish or Normam times to annull or dissolve so strong and solid a Foundation as our Feudall Laws nothing in the Rebellion Force and strange unkingly restrictions Articles and agreements put upon King John at Running Mede no grievance by the Tenures in Capite or by Knight-service certified upon any the Writs sent by King Henry the 3. unto all the Sheriffs of the Counties and Cities of England and Wales to Elect 4 Knights of every County and City to certify to the King and his Baronage their Grievances nothing in the forced Parliament and Oaths upon King Henry the 3. and his Son Prince Edward in the 42. Year of his Reign nothing in his direfull procession and waâ—king with his Parliament of Praelates and Nobility throuâ—h Westminster Hall unto that Abby Church with burning Tapers Curses and Anathema's against the Infringers of Magna Charta and Charta de Forresta then and yet holden in Capite with many of our Liberties Fundamentall and Feudall Laws therein contained nothing desired or ordered to be taken away of them or any of them no mention of them in the arbitration or award made by the King of France betwixt that King and his Rebell Barons or when Simon Montfort and his Partners kept him in their powerfull Army a Prisoner about a Year or a Quarter no Complaints or grievances against those Tenures in Capite in all those multitudes of other supposed grievances nothing in the Petition of Right and 30 times confirmation of Magna Charta and Charta de Foresta as if they could never have enough of them nor Reformation desired in and through all the Clownish Rebellions and Insurrections in England in the Times of Wat Tiler John Ball Jack Cade Ket and others And therefore whilst these Underminers of our long lived Monarchy and in that their own happiness have gratified their fond feavourish fancies in procuring a Dissolution of as many as they could of our Tenures in Capite for all if any they could not with the Costly expence of 48. Millions sterling in mony besides an uncomptable and unvalued damage of four hundred thousand Men Women and Children slain or Massacred whole families ruined or for ever Crpled Heaven angry and incensed Hell gaping Religion torn in more then one hundred pieces and all for want of the Care Provision and Protection that the despised Mother Church of England like the Voice that was heard in Ramah Rachel mourning for her Children that they were not our Shames Published in the Streets of Gath and Askalon in the Time of its peace and the Sins of Rebellion and Witchcraft have as the Egiptian Locusts covered overspread the face of our heretofore fruitfull Island And the Protection and Provision usually made by our Tenures in Capite for Younger Children as well as the Eldest affords them no better a care then to leave them when the Mother is after the Fathers Death by some Debaucht Rooking or Gamiug Coxcomb made a fool of and Married again as very often they will are like Lambs left as a Prey unto the Wolves or Foxes the Second Husbands who if the Mother have Children by him will be as too many are well content to help to Fricasse the first husbands Children to make Portions or Estates for the Second so as if it be Enquired where is now the Court of Wards and Liveries which hath been so pretendedly without any Just Cause at all complained of they may find every where a Court of Wards and Liveries lamentably governed by the Fathers in Law of England Wales and Ireland They might do well to make more hast then they have done to repentance consider how much more then nothing at all the Nation was beholding to those overtures as much as they could of the Monarchy Tenures in Capite have been to those Commonwealth Erecters have deserved of the People and those whom they pretended to represent in Parliament when instead of bread they have given them Stones and of Fishes Scorpions and to shew the profoundness of their wisdom did as wisely as those that attempâ—ed to drown the Eel when upon a great serious consult they may Easily discover no better effects or fruit of their overchargeable expences enforced upon the people to their own great and Villanous gain and the ruin spoil and inestimable damage of our 3 before that most happy flourishing redoubtable Kingdoms When that Act of Parliament for taking away the Tenures in Capite doth but as much as it could convert them into Free and Common Socage without any mention of pro omnibus servitiis and the Law made by King Ina who Reigned here from the year of our Savior 923. untill after some part of the Year 940. which is not specially repealed by that Act of destroying as much as it was able the Tenures in Capite and by Knight Service did ordain that Scutarorum nullus ex pelle ovina Scutafabricatur qui secus fecerit 30 solides mulctator pro singulo quoque aratrobinos alat quisque ornatos atque instructos Equites and in a Tenure in Free and Common Socage Fealty is a duty and service inseparable as Littleton saith and signifieth although as he putteth the Case is in the Ceremony of the doing thereof sometimes different from homage for when the Tenant doth fealty unto his Lord he shall hold his hand upon a Book and shall Swear that he shall be faithfull and true to his Lord and shall bear him faith for the Lands which he holdeth of him and fealty is derived a fidelitate Feltman bestowing upon an originall of the like nature a fide and Escuage draweth unto it homage and Homage draweth unto it fealty for fealty is incident to every manner of Service unless it be in the Tenure of Franck-Almoigne and the Tenures in Capite and by Knights Service some only excepted being transferred into Free and Common Socage without saying per fidelitatem tantum pro omnibus servitiis may notwithstanding the forebidding or rejection of of Homage and all other Incidents of Tenures in Capite and by Knights Service render the fealty incident unto free and Common Socage by our Laws to amount unto as much as that which the framer of that Act of Parliament hoped to extinguish by Converting those Tenures in Capite as much as he could into Tenures in pede which should have been beleived to have been very fundamental and dangerous to alter when the wisdom of the English and Scottish Commissioners authoris'd by an Act of Parliament in the Reign of King James
de Wileby Miles de Com. Leic. qui manucapt fuit per Johannem Clerke Johannem Russell Johannem Peche mil. de Com. War per manucapt Johannem Walkere Willielmo peniter For although it hath been said and sometime taken for a Rule in our Laws as well as in others in some cases that qui facit peo alium facit per se yet such trusts as those are as little transferrable as that of a MemberShip of the house of Commons in Parliament to one that was never elected and the Sheriffs are not to trust either Ignorant or Factious men by packing and juggling one with another to choose Boys or Youths under the age of 21. of which sort as Mr Pryn hath publiquely declared there have been above Twenty at a time in the House of Commons in some of our late unhappy Parliaments or Debauches Hereticks or Anti-Trinitarians as one was in one of Oliver Cromwells mock-Parliaments and ejected for it or an Atheist in regard that besides some particular clauses of their Writs mentioned it is allways expressed that the business for which the Parliament was likewise to be Assembled was pro defensione Regni Ecclesiae Anglicanae which do manifestly declare the Intention of the King and his Writs to be that the Madheaded people led by Drink Ignorance Interest Bribes Fear or Flattery are not to be suffered by Sheriffs to chuse Papists Fanatiques or Rigid Presbyterians the greatest or most Inveterate Enemies to the Church and Kingdom or the Sons of such as Sate in the Horrid Convention that murdered their King and when they should make their Election de prudentioribus Discretioribus let Fools Knaves and Drunkards chuse one another for howsoever the House of Commons have been heretofore filled with some or moulded otherwise then they should be yet the Intention of the Writs was never ro Introduce such Fiery Tempers or Granadiers as should do what they Could to Fire all within and without and Elect all the new-fangled untryed Innovations they Can and encourage others thereunto before they know how to Understand them make Remonstrances and Harangues and print and publish them to the people against the Government Fundamental Laws and the just rights of their Sovereign and their Succession the former and later of which the Politiques of former Ages and Queen Elizabeths blessed Reign would never think sit to be there disputed and the perclose or later part of those Writs that one part of the Indentures should be retorned to the King in his Chancery may evidence that the Intention of those Writs and of him that gave them their breath and authority was that the approbation and allowance of the Elections should ultimately reside in the Sovereign which gave occasion to Oliver Cromwell in his Usurped Kingship under the Counterfeit title of Protector of his Fellow-Rebells in an Instrument of his own making to reserve to himself and his Privy Councell the power of allowing and disallowing such as should be Chosen to be Members of the House of Commons in Parliament For by Law it is intended that the King should have the approbation of the men elected and therefore to that end one pair of the Indentures are to be retorned to the Clark of the Crown in Chancery our Kings in their Parliaments that Succeeded the 21th Year of the Reign of King Edward the first as well as the tenor purport of the Writs did provide that the Sheriffs who are the Kings Officers not the Peoples should according to the Kings Writs be Judges of the fitness or unfitness of the persons Elected or to be Elected and did therefore to prevent the defaults of due Elections ordain Penalties to be laid upon them for making false retorns or doing wrong therein and give directions unto them how in many things to manage the affairs in such Elections as in 7. H. 4. 15. where it was Complained that the Sheriffs made the Elections according to affections or otherwise 11. H. 4. that undue Elections should be enquired of by Justices of Assize who should have power to enquire of false retornes made and to examine and Fine the Sheriffs making default at 100 l. and the Knights unduly retorned were to lose their Wages of old time accustomed and by an Act of Parliament made in the 6th year of the Reign of King Henry the 6th the said Sheriffs and Knights were to be admitted to their answers and traverse to such enquests taken which must be understood to be either in the Kings Court of Chancery or Kings-Bench where the King himself is supposed by Law to be present and the Knights should not be endamaged to the King his Heirs and Successors by any such enquest untill they should thereof be Convict according to the form of the Statute of the 1. of H. 5. 1. Knights and Burgesses should be Chosen of such as be resiant 8. H. 6. ca. 7. The People that were to Chose or rather to assent were to have 40 s. per Annum Freehold and none to be Chosen Knights of the Shires that have not above and the Sheriffs were Impowered to examine upon Oath how much every one in giving his Vote or Consent to theâ— Election might expend by the Year And by the Statute of 23. H. 6. 15. the Sheriffs is to make his Precepts to the Mayor or Bayliff of Cities and Parliament Burgess Towns who were to take Care of due Elections and retorne the Indentures to the Sheriffs and the Penalties given to the King and they that should be mischosen and Sit in Parliament are to forfeit 100 l. to the King and as much to the Party duly Elected or to them that will Sue for the same wherein no wager of Law or Essoyne is to be allowed but such process as are to be awarded as in trespass at the Common Law and Brooker a Sheriff of Wiltshire was in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth prosecuted in the Court of Starr-Chamber upon an Information for perjury at the Queens Suit for a false Retorne made of Sr John Thyn to be Knight of the Shire for the said County in Parliament whereas in truth Penruddock was Chosen by the greater number of the Freeholders in the said County in deceit of the County and of the whole Realm And the Sheriffs and the Chief Magistrates of every City and Burgess town every Knight of the Shire and Burgess of Parliament ought by the mandate and tenor of the Writs and as the Indentures which are not made betwixt the Electors and the Elected but betwixt the Electors and the Sheriff do ordain to take Care that the Knights should have plenam sufficientem potestatem pro se Comunitate Comitatus and the Burgesses Chosen for every City and Burgess town ad faciend Consentiend c. which in a Just formality of Law ought to be signified to the King in his Chancery by their Indentures as an Instrument or Deed of procuration or letter
Mannors in Kent besides a large proportion of Rumney Marsh Sixteen in Essex Fifty-one in Suffolk and Nineteen in Norfolk a Descendant of whom had in 12. Henry the Second holden of him Ten Knights Fees and a Fourth part de veteri feoffamento and was seized of the Mannor of Wellesborne in com Leic which Peter had in 12 Henry the Third the Mannor of Beldesert in Comitat ' Stafford in Anno 35 Henry the Third was Governor of Horeston Castle in Derbyshire in Forty-One Warden of the Marches of Wales towards Montgomery and also of the Castles of Salop and Bruges was Sheriff of the Counties of Salop and Stafford and so likewise for the next ensuing Year had the Custody of the Castles of Bruges and Ellesmere in Anno 47. Henry the Third was Governor of the Castles of Corff and Shirburne and of the Castle and Mannor of Seggewick and was in Anno 49. Eiusdem Regis made by that King 's Imprisoned Seal Governor of Whittenton Castle in Shropshire Gilbert de Segrave the Son of Hereward held the Mannor of Segrave in Com' Leic ' with the Fourth part of a Knight's Fee had a Grant of the King of the Lands of Stephen de Gaunt in the Counties of Lincolne and Leicester in the 5th of Henry the Third was Sheriff of the Counties of Essex and Hartford and the Two next ensuing Years in the 6th of Lincolnshire for Three parts of the Year and to the 8th in 11th Henry the Third Sheriff of Buckingham and Bedfordshire and continued until the 18th in the 10th of Henry the Third was a Justice itinerant for Nottingham and Derby-shires purchased Mount Sorrel in the County of Leicester in the 16th Henry the Third had the Custody of the Castle of Northampton and of the Counties of Buckingham Bedford Warwick and Leicester for the term of his Life taking the whole Profits of all those Counties for his Support in that Service excepting the ancient Farms which had been usually paid in the Exchequer with the Encrease which in King Henry the Seconds time had been answered for them was Chief Justice of the Court of Common-Pleas in 2d Henry the Third when upon the removal of Hubert de Burgh he was made Cheif Justice of England and had likewise the Mannor of Almonsbury in com' Huntington Hugh Despencer was in the Eighth Year of the Raign of King Henry the Third constituted Sheriff of the Counties of Salop and Stafford Governor of the Castles of Salop and Bridgenorth in the 10th of Henry the Third Sheriff of Berkshire and Governor of Wallingford Castle and in the 17th of Bolsoner Castle in com' Derby in 44th was by the rebellious Barons made Chief Justice of England after the Battle of Lewes Governour of Oxford Castle in Suffolk the Devises in Wiltshire Oxford and Nottingham Castle Bernard in the Bishoprick of Durham and one of the Twenty-Four Conservators for managing the Affairs of the Realm was seized of the Mannor of Ryhal in com' Rotel ' Leghere and Wykes in com' Essex Bernewell in com' Northampton Wycomb in com' Buck ' Soham in com' Cant ' Berewick Winterborne Basset in com' Wilts Speke in com' Berk whose Grand-child Hugh le Despencer in the Raign of King Edward the Second was possessed of no less than Fifty-Nine Lordships in several Counties Twenty-Eight-Thousand Sheep One Thousand Oxen and Steers Twelve Hundred Kine with their Calves Sixty Mares with their Colts Two Years old One Hundred Sixty draught Horses Two Thousand Hogs Three Hundred Bullocks Sixty Tuns of Wine Six Hundred Bacons Eighty Carkases of Martilmas Beef Six Hundred Muttons in the Larder Ten Tuns of Cider with Armes Plate Jewels and ready Money to the value of Ten Thousand Pounds Thirty-Six Sacks of Wool besides a Library of Books Humfrey de Bohun whose Descendant joyned with the Barons against King Henry the Third had in Anno 12. Henry the Second Thirty and a half Knights Fees de veteri feoffamento and Nine and a half de novo was Earl of Hereford and Constable of England by descent from his Mother his Son Henry de Bohun answered Fifty Marks and a Palfreâ— to the King for Twenty Knights Fees belonging to the Honor of Huntington had the Earldom of Essex and a very great Estate of Lands belonging thereunto descended unto him by Maud Countess of Essex his Mother together with a great Estate of Lands which came unto her from Isabel third Daughter and Co-heir of William Earl of Gloucester had likewise Lands in Haresfeild in com' Glouc ' holden by the service of Constable of England the Mannors of Shudham and Wâ—tnorst Kineton in com' Hunt ' and Walden in com' Essex Vescy one of the Barons against King Henry the third was at the time of the Norman Conquest seized of one Mannor in com' Northtamp ' two in Warwickshire seven in the County of Lincoln nine in Leic ' the Castles and Baronies of Alnewick in com' Northumberland and Multon in com' Eboru ' had besides vast Possessions bestowed on him by King Henry the first the Mills of Warner Bodele and Spilsham with eleven Mannors divers Lands and Tenements in the City of York and whatsoever he held of David King of Scotland and Henry his Son the Arch-Bishop of York Bishop of Duresme of the Earl of Richmond Geffry Estcland and Richard fitz Paine Roger de Moubray William Fossard William Paganell the Earl of Albemarle Roger de Clare Gilbert de Gant Roger de Beauchampe Henry de Campaine Ralph the Son of Bogan the Earl of Chester Abbess of Berking William de Sailley and of all the Fee of Thurstane the Son of Robert de Mansfeild had likewise the Mannors of Ellerton and Cansfeild and was Governour of the Castle of Bamburgh in com' Northum ' seized of the Mannors of Brentune Propertime Pecheston and Sornneston Burgh and Knaresburgh in the County of York Barony of Halton and Constabulary of Chester a Descendant whereof had in the Raign of King Henry the Second twenty Knights Fees de veteri feoffamento and many de novo that held of him had in 32d Henry the third in the Right of Agnes his Wife one of the Daughters of William de Ferrers Earl of Derby partition of the Lands in Ireland which did belong to William Marshal Earl of Pembroke Whose Ancestor had in the 2d Henry the Second Lands of a great Yearly value in Westcombe Marleburgh and Criâ—l in com' Wilts ' given unto him by the King with the Office of Earl Marshal and all other Lands holden of him in England or else-where had a Grant of the Mannor of Boseham in com' Suff ' with the Lastage and Hundred the Lordships of Westive and Bodewin with the Hundred of Bodewin all the Lands which the Earl of Eureux held in England except the Mannor of Marlow all the Lands of Hugh de Gournay lying in the Counties of Norfolk and Suff ' Kaule and Castre and all the Lands of Hugh
Expedition into Gascoigne and that he might levy the like upon his Tenants gave One Hundred Twenty Pounds more And of no less Power and Authority with and over the Common People were the rest of our English Nobility which took up Armes with the King or stood Neutrals or at a Gaze until they saw what would become of him witness that of the Earl of Chester who executed the Office of Sheriff by his Deputies for the Counties of Salop and Stafford in the 2d 3d 4th 5th 7th and part of the 8th of Henry the third for the County of Lancaster in the 3d. 4th 5th 6th and the latter end of the 16th was seized of the whole County and Lands of Chester with Royal Jurisdiction Tenenda per Gladiune it à liberè sicut Rex ipse tenebat Angliam per Coronam at the time of the general Survey of the Conqueror was Count Palatine thereof had nine Mannors in Barkshire in Devonshire two in Yorkshire seven in Wiltsshire six in Dorsetshire ten in Somersetshire four in Suffolk thirty-two in Norfolk twelve in Hantshire one in Oxfordshire five in Buckinghamshire three in Gloucestershire four in Huntingtonshire two in Nottinghamshire four in Warwickshire one in Leicestershire twenty-two fifteen great Men of Estate in Cheshire his Barons holding Lands of him and his Heirs as Willielmus Malbane Gislebertus de Venables Rad Venator c. and was seized of that Mountainous part of Yorkshire and Westmoreland called Stanemore Unto one of whose Descendants or Family King Stephen gave the City and Castle of Lincolne with License to Fortify the Town thereof and to enjoy it until he rendred unto him the Castle of Tickhil in Yorkshire granted likewise unto him the Castle of Belvoir with all the Lands thereunto belonging all the Lands of William de Albini Grantham with all its Soke thereunto belonging Newcastle in Staffordshire with the Soke of Roely in com' Leic ' Corkeley in Lincolnshire the Town of Derby with the appurtenances Mansfield in com' Nott ' Stonely in Warwickshire with their appurtenances the Wapentake of Oswardbeck in com' Nott ' and all the Lands of Roger de Busty with the Honour of Blythe and all the Lands of Roger de Poictou from Northamptom to Scotland excepting that which belonged to Roger de Montbegon in Lincolnshire all the Lands betwixt the Rivers of Ribble and Merse in Lancashire the Lands which he had in Demesne in the Mannor of Grimsby in com' Lincolne and all the Lands which the Earl of Gloucester had in Demesne in that Mannor the Honour of Eye Nottingham Barony and Castle Stafford and the whole County of Stafford except the Fees of the Bishop of Chester Earl Robert Ferrers Hugh de Mortimer Gervase Paganel and the Forrest of Canoc the Fees of Alan de Lincolne Ernise de Burun Hugh de Scoteny Robert de Chalz Rafe Fitz Oates Norman de Verdun and Robert de Staford Odo Bishop of Baieux William the Conquerors half Brother had one hundred eighty-four Mannors given him in Kent thirty-nine in Essex thirty-two in Oxfordshire in Hartfordshire thirty-three in Buckingham thirty in Worcestershire two in Bedfordshire eight Northamptonshire twelve in Nottinghamshire five in Norfolk twenty-two in Warwickshire six in Lincolnshire seventy-six amounting in the whole to Five Hundred Forty-Nine whereof two hundred eighty he gave saith Mr. Selden to his Nephew de Molbraio Earl John afterwards King of England had in the Life time of King Richard the First his Brother the Earldomes of Cornwall Dorset Somerset Nottingham Derby and Lancaster with the then large Possessions thereof and had in Marriage with Isabel Daughter and Heir to the Earl of Gloucester that Earldom together with the Castles of Marleburgh Ludgersel Honours of Wallingford Tickhil and Eye John Earl of Surrey and Sussex had in Yorkshire the great Lordship of Connigsburgh in the Soke whereof were near twenty-eight Towns and Hamlets Westtune in Shropshire in Essex twenty-one Lordships in Suffolk eighteen in Oxfordshire Maple Durham and Gaddington in Hantshire Frehinton in Cambridgeshire seven in Buckinghamshire Brotone and Cauretelle in Huntingtonshire Chevevaltone with three other Lordships in Bedfordshire four and in Norfolk one hundred thirty-nine and the Castle of Rigate in Surrey Yale and Bromfeild with their large Extents in Shropshire and was at the Battle of Lewes on the King's part Ralph de Mortimer had given him by the Conqueror in Berkshire five Mannors in Yorkshire eighteen besides divers Hamlets in Wiltshire ten in Hantshire thirteen in Oxfordshire one in Worcestershire four in Warwickshire one in Lincolnshire seven in Leicestershire one in Shropshire fifty in Herefordshire nineteen besides the Castle of Wigmore And Roger de Mortimer Earl of March a Descendant of the same House and Family was in the Raigns of King Edward the First and Second besides their former large Estates in Lands seized of the Town of Droitwick and Chace of Malverne in com' Wigorn ' the Chase of Cors in com' Glou ' the Castle of Trym in Ireland with its large Territory and Appurtenance and in VVales the Castles of Kentlies Dominion of Melenith and Comott of Duder Castle of Radnor with the Territory of VVarthre and Mannors of Prestmede or Presteigne and Kineton Castles of Ruecklas and Pulith Castles and Lordships of Bledleveny and Bulkedinas Castle and Mannor of Nerberth Comots of Amgeid and Pennewick Castles and Dominions of Montgomery and Bulkedinas Mannor and Hundred of Cherbury Castle of Dolvaren and Territory of Redevaugh Town and Territory of Ewyas Castles of Kery and Rodewin Castle of Dynebegh Castle and Cantred of Buelch Comots of Ros Rowenock Konuegh and Diomam and in Somersetshire the Castle of Brugwater with three Mannors Bayliwick of the Forrests of North Pederton Exmore Noreech Chich Mendip and Warren of Somerton three Mannors in Kent one in com' Buck ' and one in Staffordshire and kept in his House a constant Table in imitation of King Arthurs Round Table for one hundred Knights King Henry the Third after the Battle of Evesham gave unto his Son Edmond to hold to him and the Heirs of his Body the Earldom Honour and Lands of Leicester and Stewardship of England the Earldom Honour and Lands with the Castles Mannors and Lands of Robert de Ferrers Earl of Derby and Nicholas de Segrave the Custody of the Castles of Caermarden and Cardigan and Isie of Lundy the Castle of Sherborne in com' Dors ' the Castle of Kenilworth in com' VVarwick with all the Lands thereunto belonging the Honour Earldom Castle and Town of Lancaster and was Count Palatine thereof with their Appurtenances together with the Castle of Tutbury with its great Appurtenances in the County of Stafford the Honour and Castle of Monmouth the Honour Town and Castle of Leicester with all the Lands and Knights Fees which Symon de Montfort had Whose Son and Heir Thomas Earl of Lancaster having as an addition to the great Estates in Lands remaining unto him after his Father divers
which the Honor of Peverell did consist in Derbyshire fourteen and six in Leicestershire Roger de Montgomery Earl of Shrewsbury had in the Reigns of VVilliam the Conqueror and his Son VVilliam Rufus besides great Possessions in Normandy in VViltshire three Lordships in Surrey four in Hantshire nine in Middlesex eight in Cambridgeshire eleven in Hartfordshire one in Gloucestershire one in Worcestershire two in Warwickshire eleven in Staffordshire thirty in Sussex seventy-seven with the City of Chichester and Castle of Arundell and in Shropshire very many near all that County with the Castle and Town of Shrewsbury Odo Earl of Albermarle and Holderness had shortly after the Conquest given him by William the Conqueror the large Territory of Holderness with fifteen Mannors or Lordships in other Counties that would bear Wheat because he alledged that of Holderness would bear only Oates and had in the Raign of King Henry the Third the Barony of Skipton in Craven with sixteen Knight-Fees a Moyety of the Forrest of Allerdale Caldebec with the Mannor of Cockermouth in the County of Cumberland the Bond Service of the Tenants in Freston a Member of Brustwick in Holderness and in the right of Isabell his Wife the Castle of Carisbrooke and Isle of Wight Robert de Stafford was shortly after the Conquest seized of two Lordships in Suffolk one in Worcestershire one in Northamptonshire twenty in Lincolneshire twenty-six in Warwickshire with eighty-one in Staffordshire Walter de Eureux had shortly after the Conquest two Lordships in Dorsetshire three in Somersetshire one in Surrey one in Middlesex two in Hantshire two in Hartfordshire two in Buckinghamshire and thirty-one besides the Mannors of Saresbury and Ambresbury in Wiltshire and as Sheriff of that County received in Rent one hundred and thirty Hogs thirty-two Bacons two bushels and sixteen gallons of Wheat and as much in Barley bushells and eight gallons of Oates thirty-two gallons of Honey or sixteen Shillings four hundred and forty-eight Hens one thousand and sixty Eggs one hundred Cheeses fifty-two Lambs two hundred Fleeces of Wool having likewise one hundred and sixty-two Acres of arable Lands and amongst the Reves Lands to the value of Forty Pounds per Annum Baldwin de Molis second Son to Gilbert Crispin Earl of Beton Son of Godfrey Earl of Eu natural Son of Richard Duke of Normandy great Grand-Father to William the Conqueror was one of the principal Persons of the Laity that won much Fame at the Conquest and Marrying Aldreda a Neice of the Conqueror had shortly after the Castle of Exeter granted unto him and besides Mola and Sappo had given unto him Werne in Dorsetshire Apely Portlock and Mundeford in Somersetshire one hundred and fifty-nine Lordships in Devonshire and nineteen Houses in Exeter To whose eldest Son Richard was also given the whole Honor and Barony of Okehampton with the Shrievalty of the County of Devon Geffry Mandeville had given him by the Conqueror in Barkshire four Mannors in Sussex twenty-six in Middlesex seven in Surrey one in Oxfordshire three in Cambridgeshire nine in Hertfordshire nineteen in Northamptonshire seven in Warwickshire two in Essex forty with Hurley and the Woods in Barkshire Alan Sirnamed Rufus or Fergaint Son of an Earl of Britany in France had given him by William the Conqueror the Northern part of the County of York called Richmond which with what he had in Yorkshire made one hundred and sixty-six Lordships besides the Castle of Richmond one called the Devises in Wiltshire in Essex eight in Hartfordshire two in Cambridgeshire sixty-three with ten Burgages in Cambridge in Herefordshire twelve Mannors in Northamptonshire one in Nottinghamshire seven in Norfolk eighty-one and in Lincolneshire one hundred and one Together with many others of the Norman Nobility and Adventurers who had great quantities of Lands and Possessions given unto them by that Conquerour of England And some of our English Nobility were so Great Magnanimous and Munificent as at the Coronation of King Edward the First when Alexander King of Scotland his Brother-in-Law came from thence to Westminster to be present and do him Homage Sir Edmond Earl of Kent the King's Brother the Earls of Cornewall Gloucester Pembroke and Earl Warren each of them by themselves Led on their Hands one hundred Knights disguise in their Armes and whame they weren alyght of theyr Horse they let them goo whedyr they wolde and they that cowd them take had them stylle at their own lyking The great Ancestors of whom as well as those that stood with or against King Henry the Third or were but as sad Spectators of those tragick Wars had in their Hospitalities and huge quantities of Lands holden of them as may appear by their Certificates of Knights Fees recorded in one part of the Book called the Red-Book of the Exchequer happily preserved from the Conflagration or great London Fire several Forrests Parks and Chases with multitudes of Castles in some of their Possessions had been the Procurers of many of their own and the common peoples Liberties and Priviledges in the often confirmed Magna Charta and Charta de Foresta with divers great Priviledges Fairs and Markets and had given unto them large Commons of Pasture and Estovers and by their Grants of Markets and Fairs and likewise by their very many Advowsons and Patronages of Churches of a great part of which they had been the Founders Builders and glebe Endowers had to their Spiritual Estates laid upon the Commonalty as great Obligations of Gratitude as they had in the before-recited Temporal Favors and Benefits besides their granting of Leases of part of their demesne Lands at small Rents with reservation of some Service in permitting their Charity and good Will in Copy-hold Lands to Tenants or Servants or their Widdows or Children which at the first was but at the Will of the Lord or for Life or Years to continue and breed into a custom of Inheritance Secundum consuetudinent manerii and enfranchised and made many of them Free-holders permitted many Copy-hold Fines incertain to be made certain where they had been anciently at the Will of the Lord and to be limited by the Chancery or Courts of Justice to the Rent of two Years improved Value and when they do in these later times demise any part of their demesne Lands to a Tenant for twenty-one Years now that the legal Usury or Interest for Money is but six per cent for ten Years purchase do take as many Landlords do now Money before hand at a chargeable Interest and next to the manifold reiterated Blessings of the God of Heaven and Earth together with the favours and benefits of the Elements and superior Regions and astral Influences by and under the divine Providence were as much Blest and Happy under their Kings Princes Bishops and Nobility as any Nation or common People of the World could be or expect to be in their Properties Liberties Protection and Priviledges whom those
building an house in the parish of St. Peters in Cornhill super solum Regis for which an Anachoret paid 12 d. per Annum and inclosed another part thereof with Pales 48 foot in length and 10 foot in breadth super solum Regis and John de Oxon was the now Tenant thereof who came and prayed that he might rent it at 12 d. per Annum which was granted paying the King as much the Jury finding it not to be ad nocumentum c. Ric. le Taylor and others presented for selling in the Night veteres Pannos Caligas alia mercimonia in Deceptionem ementium cum per antiquam Consuetudinem usitatum in Civitate nullum mercatum ibi teneri debint nisi post ortum solis usque ad horam nonam vesperarum die Ideo prec est vic quod venire facias And thereupon the Offenders were prohibited to do so no more and the Mayor and Sheriffs injoyned quod mercata de caetero non teneantur in London post horam vesperarum pulsatam in Ecclesia Sancti Thomae de Aconia in Civitate London Et postea Proclamatum fuit the Modern and too frequent impudent cheating Custom of false-lights purposely built in or near Shops in the street side not then held to be Godly or to fignify any more then to shew where a Knave dwelleth Presented some that had Money to pay the Kings Debts and paid but part of it retaining the residue to their own use And some of the Company of the Weavers in London for making an Order for exacting a greater rate then was due for their Works That Richard de Rofham al. fecerunt quandam Congregationem ad aulam plumbatam super Cornhil That Johanues de Wengrave dum fuit Major Civitatis London took of the Vintners of London 50 l. ut permitteret eos vendere Lagonem Vini ad 5 d. 6 d. ubi vendidisse debuissent ad 4 d. tantum ad dampnum totius populi Civitatis Ideo prec fuit vic quod venire fac And that the said John de Wengrave in the taxing of the Subsidy in the City of London ad opus Domini Regis by imploying 2 Men in every Ward ad opus voluntatem suam did cause to be Leavyed de mediocri populo Civitatis and when they were to leavy 200 l. ad opus Domini Regis did leavy de mediocri populo Civitatis 300 l. retinendo inde ad opus suum proprium 100 l. And that the said John Wengrave and his Confederates being to collect in the City of London 1650 Marks for a sine imposed for a trespass done to the King for breaking down a Wall juxta Turrim London per quosdam de Civitate praedicta retained to their own use 650 Marks in praejudicium Domini Regis dampnum ejusdem mediocris populi Ideo prec fuit vic quod venire fac eum c. Likewise that the said John Wingrave whilst he was Mayor of London did sell 15 dolia Vini in Grosso ad Retalliam pretii cujuslibet dolii 3 l. post Statutum Ideo prec fuit vic quod venire fac eum postea testatum est quod praedictus Johannes de Wingrave non est invent c. sed quod distrinxerunt eum per Exit quorundam ten ipse non ven Whereupon the King by his Writ directed unto Hervey de Stanton one of the Justices Itinerant Reciting the whole matter commanded him to certify the said presentment to the Treasurer and Barons of the Exchecquer that they might according to Law take order therein Presented that the Dean and Chapter of St Pauls in London had incroached upon a large peice of ground near that Church where the Mayor and City of London were accustomed to keep their Folkmote and also Muster and shew their Arms being solum Regis and other large peices of ground towards St. Augustines-Gate unto which they pleading divers Grants and Charters of some of the Kings Royall Progenitors the King by his Writ adjorned the process and pleading therein to be heard and determined before himself ubicunque fuit in Anglia in Quindena St. Michaelis prox commanded the Dean and Chapter there also to attend at the same time Johannes de Cumbuelle Constable of the Tower of London was presented for taking Toll Custom and Victualls of such as fish upon the River of Thames near unto the Tower who pleaded that he took it for the Kings use and had accompted for it in the Exchecquer Postea predictus Johannes recessit in Contemptum Curiae Ideo praec fuit vic quod distring eum quod habeat corpus ejus coram Thesaur Baron de Scaccario in Quindena Sancti Michaelis ad audiendum Judicium Presented William de Broy Arch-Deacon of London and others for Extortions as Officers and Clerks in the City who made falsas fictas Actiones per minas extorserunt divers great sums of Mony prec fuit vic quod venire fac who came and denied the Extortion but would not put themselves upon the Jury but the Justices declaring unto them that when they are charged in the Court for Trespass against the King Et non vellent se ponere in Jur. Patriae ad ipsos inde acquietand per quod Jur. secundum Legem Consuetudinem Regni Capiend finalis Exitus debet fieri they were otherwise to proceed Whereupon the Defendants not denying their offences but refusing to put themselves upon the Jury submiserunt se gratiae Domini Regis in ea parte ideo ad Judicium postea petunt dimitti per plevinam eis conceditur And it was moreover presented ex parte Comunitat London quod omnes Tabernarii vina vendentes ad retalliam in Civitate ista had by Confederacy amongst themselves ordained that they would not suffer any that buy Wine of them to see it drawn out of the Vessel sic predicti Tabernarii Vina sua vendunt in locis absconditis obscuris per quod plures Homines bibentes de Vinis illis aliquando gravitur infirmantur quidem ea occasione moriuntur Ideo prec fuit vic quod venire fac omnes hujusmodi Tabernarios c. Whereupon some of the Taverners their Drawers or Vadlets as they were then called came and not denying the fact were fined 20 Marks to the King unde quilibet eorum pleg alterius c. Et injunctum est iis quod de caetero permittant vina Emere volentibus videre vinum dolium de quo bibere debet quod Emptor videat ubi quando vinum extrabatur de Dolio similiter Proclamatum est quod Emptores Vinorum de caetero non impediantur ad videndum vina sicut Injunctum fuit Tabernariis c. And Juries were also Impannelled to certify who were amerced sine rationabili causa ultra quantitatem delicti non per pares c. And was so allways ready and willing in the
that granted them and was to be vouched to warranty which was in common and ordinary matters very usual in our Laws and reasonable Customs and therefore to him only as the Grantor and Protector of their Parliament Priviledges and not to themselves the gratitude and acknowledment was only due And the House of Commons until this our present unruly Age or Century did not adventure to take upon themselves or endeavour by any pretended Authority of their own to punish any the violators of their aforesaid Priviledges but supplicated Aid of their Kings and Princes that were the donors and granters of them And therefore in the Raign of King Henry the fourth it was adjudged that as the Record witnesseth Videtur Cur. quod non For in Anno 8 H. 6. William Lark a Servant of William Wild Burgess of Parliament being arrested upon an Execution during the Parliament the Commons petitioned the King to give order for his discharge and that no Lords Knights Citizens or Burgesses nor their Servants coming to the Parliament may be Arrested during the Parliament unless it be for Treason Felony or Breach of the Peace The King granted the first part of the Petition Et quant al residue le Rei sa avisera The Commons prayed that Edmond Duke of Somerset Alice Poole the late Wife of William Poole Duke of Suffolk William Bishop of Chester Sir John Sutton Lord Dudley the Lord Hastings James de la Barre one of the Kings Secretaries and 20 or 22 Knights and Esquires particularly named amongst which was Thomas Kemp Clerk of the House of Commons which the Commons themselves and their own Clerk had not them found to be either a Liberty or Priviledge of their own to punish might be banished from the King during their Lives and not to come within twelve Miles of the Court for that the People do speak evil of them To which the King answered He is of his own meer motion contented that all shall depart unless only the Lords and a few of them whom he may not spare from his presence and they shall continue for one year to see if any can duly impeach them In Anno 31 H. 6. The Commons made a Request to the King and Lords that Thomas Thorp their Speaker and Walter Roil a member of their house who were in Prison might be set at liberty according to their Priviledges The next day after the Duke of York who was then a Rival for a long time but after a publick Competitor for the Crown and President of the Parliament came before the Lords not the Commons and shewed that in the vacation of the Parliament he had recovered damage against the said Thomas Thorp in an action of trespass by Verdict in the Exchequer for carrying away the goods of the said Duke out of Durham House for the which he remained in Execution and prayed that he might continue therein Wherein the Councel of the Judges being demanded they made Answer it was not their part to Judge of the Parliament which was Judge of the Law wherein surely they might rather have said what they should have most certainly have believed then as Sir Edward Coke did long after that the King was principium caput finis Parliamenti and only said that a general Supersedeas of Parliament there was but a special supersedeas in which case of special supersedeas every Member of the Commons House ought to enjoy the same unless in cases of Treason Felony Surety of the Peace or for a condemnation before the Parliament After which the Lords determined that the said Thomas Thorp should remain in execution and sent certain of themselves to the Commons who then had so little power to free themselves from Arrests and imprisonment as they could not deliver their own Speaker out of Prison but were glad to follow the direction of the King and Lords to chuse and present unto the King another Speaker the which they did and shortly after certain of the Commons were sent to the Lords to declare that they had in the place of the said Thomas Thorp chosen for their Speaker Thomas Charleton Esquire Walter Clark a Burgess of Chippenham in the County of Wilts being committed to the Prison of the Fleet for divers condemnations as well to the King as to others was discharged and set at Liberty at the Petition of the Commons to the King and Lords without Bail or Mainprise At the Petition of the Commons William Hill a Burgess of Chippenham aforesaid being in Execution in the Kings-Bench was delivered by a Writ of the Chancery saving the Plaintiffs right to have Execution after the Parliament ended It was enacted by the universal Vote and Judgment as well of the Commons as the Lords that John Atwil a Burgess for Exeter being condemned during the Parliament in the Exchequer upon 8 several informations at the suit of John Taylor of the same City shall have as many Supersedeas as he will until his returning home King Henry 8. in the case of Trewyniard a Burgess of Parliament imprisoned upon an Outlawry after Judgment caused him to be delivered by a Writ of Priviledge upon an Action brought against the Executors and a demurrer it was resolved by the Judges to be Legal George Ferrers Gent. servant of the King and a Burgesse of Parliament being arrested in London as he was going to the Parliament-house by a Writ out of the Court of Kings Bench in execution at the Suit of one White for the sum of 200 markes being the debt of one Walden which arrest being signifyed to Sir Tho. Moyle Knight Speaker of the House of Commons and to the Knight and Burgesses there an order was made that the Serjeant of the Mace attending the Parliament should go to the Compter and Demand the Prisoner which the Clerks and Officers refusing from stout words they fell to blows whereof ensued a fray not without hurt so as the said Serjeant was forced to defend himself with his Mace and had the Crown thereof broken off by bearing off a stroak and his Servant struck down which broil drawing thither the 2 Sheriffs of London who did not heed or value the Serjeants complaint and misusage so much as they ought but took their Officers parts so as the Serjeant returning without the Prisoner informed the Speaker of the House of Commons how rudely they had entertained him who took the same in so ill part that they all together some of whom were the Kings privy Councel as also of the Kings privy Chamber resolved to sit no longer without their Burgess but left their own house and went to the House of Peers and declared by the mouth of their Speaker before Sir Thomas Audley Knight then Lord Chancellor and all the Lords Judges there assembled the whole matter such no Estates they believed themselves to be who Judging the contempt to be very great referred the punishment thereof to
the Mazorites to understand their own Language and by creeping themselves into that which our Rebel Innovates would have called a third Estate made themselves the Governing Essential and Constituent part of the Parliament the generale Consilium or Colloquium of the Nation in arduis not in omnibus but quibusdam being the most useful wholesome and profitable in and through all the Christian World and so experimented where they are kept in their due and proper Limits and Boundaries in a due Obedience to their Kings and Soveraigns and cause as many as they can to believe them that they as representing the People who never trusted them to any or the like purpose have an Inherent Right of Soveraignty in themselves to accuse depose or murder their Kings and Elect or Choose another turn a Monarchy into a Republick or Common-wealth when there had not been in England within the memory of any true Record or impartial History any one before framed by a Factious and Unquiet Party of Rebels in Parliament under the basest of Hypocrisy that ever was practised in the World upon the pretence of setting Christ upon his Throne And could not be content until they had without any cause raised a Rebellion against their pious Prince and murdered him forced from the People to maintain those their ungodly doings by Taxes as much as amounted unto 48 Millions of Sterling Money besides the vast sums of Money and Riches gained by the extorted Fines and Compositions from the Kings Loyal Party at Goldsmiths and Haberdasher's Halls in London the one for the 20th part of their Estates and the other for compounding for their supposed forfeiture for fighting to defend their King against his Rebels and their Plunderings Sequestrations and Decimations of those with whom they had before compounded besides a Tax for six Months of every House-keeper in London and its vast Lines of Communication for as much as their weekly Diet amounted unto with Money borrowed upon that which they would call the Publick Faith which cheat brought that Godless Party into their Repository of the Guild-Hall in London abundance of Money Plate Rings Jewels Silver Bodkins and Thimbles many of whom after those villainous Wars and Rebellions something appeased being in Poverty have been the constant Attenders at the House of Commons doors in Parliament to enquire for Madam Publick Faith's Habitation but could never be able to find it and besides all these wickednesses could not think they had done enough until they had added unto their many sins that no small sin of Sacriledge by Sequestring the Orthodox Ministers Imprisoning of the Bishops and sale of their and the Deans and Chapters Prebends and Cannons Lands and their Woods and Possessions Banishing and every way Impoverishing them shutting up all or many of the Church doors in Wales upon pretence of Reforming or Propagating Religion but gathering the Tithes into their own Purses sale of the King Queen and Princes Houses and Rich Moveables and of all their Lands and Revenues the Coats of their Yeomen of the Guard and the Plate in their Royal Chappels Allen a Goldsmith and Member of that House of Commons picking out and exchanging the Jewels out of the Kings Crown and putting in counterfeit plundered and sold much of the Lands and Goods of the Nobility displaced the Masters of Colledges and Halls in both the Universities without shewing any cause more than that they would put in another of their own Party and began to gape and lick their Lips after a like Reformation of their Lands and Revenues tore up the Brass upon Monuments upon the ground and made Money of them because there was inscribed upon them Orate pro nobis and broke those Glass windows that had any Pictures or Images in them for fear of Superstition made a Stable for Horses in the Cathedral of St. Pauls in London where heaps of dung might be as high as the Roof and Sawyers seen sawing in the Grave where the Bishop of London was buried that obtained the City of Londons Charter of their Liberties from William the Conqueror for which their more grateful Successive Mayors and Aldermen at great solemnities never failed at their coming to that Cathedral in a kind of Procession to walk about it And the Othodox Clergy of the Church of England calumniated by Mr. John White a Lawyer of the late seditious Edition who being a Chairman appointed by a Committee of Parliament to relieve those that they would call plundered Ministers being the Factious Antichurch party did so order the matter as to put out all the Orthodox Ministers and taking his Notes and Examinations in Characters was able to interpret them how he pleased and upon the Accusation of a Cobler at Lambeth that the Learned Dr. Featly had Preached false Doctrine he must be turned out of his Benefice and imprisoned at Lambeth wherein besides many other if not all he or his Notes were shrewdly mistaken when one Mr. Clopham a Minister was for Adultery Ejected when it was proved that by a fall from his Horse he was so disabled in his Genitals as he could not be guilty of it And the Ecclesiastical plunder Masters were to take a more than ordinary care that when their small comcompassion had been pleased to allow the Sequestred Ministers Wives and Children a 5th part of their Husbands Benefices that they should have as little and as hardly as could be of it when after they had tired themselves with their Petitions to the upper and lower Committees they had obtained an Order for that their small pittance found no other comfort after that they had travelled forty or fifty or more miles unto one that should pay it then one who being more merciful and candid than the rest was pleased to shew a small common or private almost invisible note or mark in the Order that they should not obey it Mean while about 100 of Sequestred Ministers of the West parts of England could have no better a place provided for them than to be imprisoned at Lambeth House but a little before notoriously infected with the Plague and ordered an Alderman of London whose Son is yet living to attend them with two Culverings or small pieces of Cannon ready charged to fire upon them as they were in the Chappel serving God and hearing Doctor Featly preach unto them where they had perished if God had not in mercy provided an escape for them And if this were or could be proved or justified to be a work for such a third Estate as that modus tenendi Parliamentum was so willing to provide for our Laws having in their Subordination to Gods Laws and not opposite unto them been truly believed and said to have been derived from Right Reason yet that is always to be understood to be so when it hath received the Sanction of the King and are not agitated by the various wills interest and fancies of the People next unto madness And it might amuse and