Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	abandon_v	france_n	know_v	25	3	3.2429	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A12533	De republica Anglorum The maner of gouernement or policie of the realme of England, compiled by the honorable man Thomas Smyth, Doctor of the ciuil lawes, knight, and principall secretarie vnto the two most worthie princes, King Edwarde the sixt, and Queene Elizabeth. Seene and allowed.; Common-wealth of England	Smith, Thomas, Sir, 1513-1577.	1583 (1583)	STC 22857; ESTC S117628	79,409	124

both their owne liuing and parte of their maisters by these meanes doe come to such wealth that they are able and daily doe buy the landes of vnthriftie gentlemen and after setting their sonnes to the schoole at the Uniuersities to the lawe of the Realme or otherwise leauing them sufficient landes whereon they may liue without labour doe make their saide sonnes by those meanes gentlemen These be not called masters for that as I saide pertaineth to gentlemen onely But to their surnames men adde goodman as if the Surname be Luter Finch White Browne they are called goodman Luter goodman White goodman Finch goodman Browne amongest their neighbours I meane not in matters of importance or in lawe But in matters of lawe and for distinction if one were a knight they would write him for example sake sir Iohn Finch knight so if he be an esquier Iohn Finch esquier or gentleman if he be no gentleman Iohn Finch yeoman For amongest the gentlemen they which claime no higher degrée and yet be to be exempted out of the number of the lowest sort thereof be written esquiers So amongest the husbandmen labourers lowest and rascall sort of the people such as be exempted out of the number of the rascabilitie of the popular bee called and written yeomen as in the degrée next vnto gentlemen These are they which olde Cato calleth Aratores and optimos ciues in Republica and such as of whom the writers of cōmon wealthes praise to haue manie in it Aristoteles namely reciteth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these tende their owne businesse come not to meddle in publike matters and iudgements but when they are called and gladde when they are delivered thereof are obedient to the gentlemen and rulers and in warre can abide trauaile and labour as men vsed to it yet within it soone at an ende that they might come home liue of their owne When they are foorth they fight for their Lordes of whom they hold their landes for their wiues and children for their countrey and nation for praise and honour against they come home and to haue the loue of their Lorde and his children to be continued towardes them and their children which have aduentured their liues to and with him and his These are they which in the old world gat that honour to Englande not that either for witte conduction or for power they are or were euer to be compared to the gentlemen but because they be so manie in number so obedient at the Lordes call so strong of bodie so heard to endure paine so couragious to aduenture with their Lorde or Captaine going with or before them for else they be not hastie nor neuer were as making no prosession of knowledge of warre These were the good archers in times past and the stable troupe of footemen that affaide all France that would rather die all than once abandon the knight or gentleman their Captaine who at those daies commonly was their Lorde and whose tenauntes they were readie besides perpetuall shame to be in danger of vndoing of them selues all theirs if they should showe any signe of cowardise or abandon the Lorde Knight or Gentlemen of whom they helde their liuing And this they haue amongest them from their forefathers tolde one to an other The gentlemen of France and the yeoman of Englande are renowned because in battle of horsemen Fraunce was many times too good for vs as we againe alway for them on foote And gentlemen for the most part be men at armes and horsemen and yeomen commonlie on foote howesoeuer it was yet the gentlemen had alwaies the conduction of the yeomen and as their captaines were either a foote or vppon a little nagge with them and the Kinges of Englande in foughten battles remaining alwaies among the footemen as the French Kinges amongst their horsemen Each Prince therby as a man may gesse did shew where he thought his strength did consist What a yeoman is I haue declared but from whence the worde is deriued it is hard to say it cannot be thought that yeomen should be said a young man for commonly wee doe not call any a yeoman till he be married and haue children and as it were haue authoritie among his neighbours Yonker in lowe dutch betokeneth a meane gentleman or a gay fellowe Possible our yeomen not beeing so bolde as to name themselues gentlemen when they came home were content when they had heard by frequentation with lowe dutchmen of some small gentleman but yet that would be counted so to be called amongest them yonker man the calling so in warres by mockage or in sport thone an other when they come home yonker man and so yeoman which worde now signifieth among vs a man well at ease and hauing honestlie to liue and yet not a gentleman whatsoeuer that worde yonker man yonke man or yeoman doth more or lesse signifie to the dutch men Of the fourth sort of men which doe not rule CHAP. 24. THe fourth sort or classe amongest vs is of those which the olde Romans called capite censij proletarij or operae day labourers poore husbandmen yea marcantes or retailers which haue no frée lande copiholders and all artificers as Taylers Shoomakers Carpenters Brickemakers Bricklayers Masons c. These haue no voice nor authoritie in our common wealth and no account is made of them but onelie to be ruled not to rule other and yet they be not altogether neglected For in cities and corporate townes for default of yeomen enquests and Iuries are impaneled of such manner of people And in villages they be commonly made Churchwardens alecunners and manie times Constables which office toucheth more the common wealth and at the first was not imployed vppon such lowe and base persons Wherefore generally to speake of the common wealth or policie of Englande it is gouerned administred manured by thrée sortes of persons the Prince Monarch and head gouerner which is called the king or if the crowne fall to a woman the Quéene absolute as I haue héeretofore saide In whose name and by whose authoritie all things are administred The gentlemen which be diuided into two partes the Baronie or estate of Lordes conteyning barons and all that bee aboue the degrée of a baron as I haue declared before and those which be no Lords as Knightes Esquires and simplely gentlemen The thirde and last sorte of persons is named the yeomanrie each of these hath his part and administration in indgementes corrections of defaultes in election of offices in appointing and collection of tributes and subsidies or in making lawes as shall appeare héereafter THE SECOND booke Of the Parliament and the authoritie thereof CHAP. 1. THe most high and absolute power of the realme of Englande consisteth in the Parliament For as in warre where the king himselfe in person the nobilitie the rest of the gentilitie and the yeomanrie are is y e force and power of Englande so in peace consultation where the Prince is

necessarie so in time of peace the same is verie daungerous aswell to him that doth vse it and much more to the people vpon whom it is vsed whereof the cause is the frailtie of mans nature which as Plato saith cannot abide or beare long that absolute and vncontrowled authoritie without swelling into too much pride and insolencie And therefore the Romances did wisely who woulde not suffer any man to keepe the Dictatorship aboue fire monethes because the Dictators for that time had this absolute power which some Greekes named a lawfull tyrannie for a time As I remember Aristotle who of all writers hath most absolutely methodically treated of the diuision and natures of common wealthes maketh this sort of gouernmēt to be one kind of kings But all commeth to one effect for at the first all kinges ruled absolutely as they who were either the heades most ancient of their families deriued out of their own bodies as Adam Noa Abraham Iacob Esau reigning absolutely ouer their owne children and bondmen as reason was or else in the rude world amongest barbarous ignorant people some one then whom God had endewed with singular wisedome to inuent thinges necessary for the nourishing and defence of the multitude and to administer iustice did so farre excell other that all the rest were but beastes in comparison of him and for that excellencio willingly had this authoritie giuen him of the multitude and of the Gentils when he was dead almost when he was yet lyuing was taken for a God of others for a Prophet Such among the Iewes were Moses Iosua the other iudges as Samuel c. Romulus Numa amongest the Romances Lycurgus and Solon diuerse other among the Greekes Zamolxis among the Thracians Mahomet among the Arabians And this kinde of rule among the Greekes is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which of it selfe at the first was not a name odious But because they who had such rule at the first did for the most part abuse the same wared insolent proude vniust and not regarding the common wealth committed such actes as were horrible and odious as killing mē without cause abusing their wives daughters taking and spoyling all mens goods at their pleasures and were not shepheardes as they ought to be but rather robbers and deuourers of the people wherof some were contēners of God as Dionysius other while they lyued like diuils and would yet be adored accompted for Gods as Caius Caligula and Domitian that kind of administration and maner also at the first not euill hath taken the signification definition of the vice of the abusers so that now both in Greeke Latine and English a tyrant is counted he who is an euill king who hath no regard to the wealth of his people but seeketh onely to magnifie himselfe and his and to satisfie his vicious and cruell appetite without respect of God of right or of the law because that for the most part they who haue had that absolute power haue beene such Of the name king thadministration of England CHAP. 9. THat which we call in one syllable king in english the olde english men and the Saxons from whom our tōgue is deriued to this day calleth in two syllabes cyning which whether it commeth of cen or ken which betokeneth to know vnderstād or can which betokeneth to be able or to haue power I can not tell The participle absolute of thone we vse yet as when we say a cūning man Vir prudens aut sciens the verbe of thother as I can do this possum hoc facere By olde and auncient histories that I haue red I do not vnderstand that our nation hath vsed any other generall authoritie in this realme neither Aristocraticall nor Democraticall but onely the royall and kingly maiestie which at the first was diuided into many and sundrie kinges ech absolutely reigning in his countrie not vnder the subiectiō of other till by fighting thone with thother the ouercommed alwayes falling to the augmentation of the vanquisher and ouercommer at the last the realme of England grew into one Monarchie Neither any one of those kinges neither he who first had all tooke any inuestiture at the hād of Themperour of Rome or of any other superiour or forraine prince but helde of God to himselfe and by his sword his people and crowne acknowledging no prince in earth his superiour and so it is kept holden at this day Although king Iohn by the rebellion of the nobilitie ayded with the daulphin of Fraunce his power to appease the Pope who at that time possessing the consciences of his subiectes was thē also his enemy and his most greeuous torment as some histories do write did resigne the crowne to his legate Pandulphus and tooke it againe from him as from the Pope by faith and homage and a certaine tribute yearly But that act being neither approoued by his people nor established by act of parliament was forthwith and euer sithens taken for nothing either to binde the king his successors or subiectes VVhat is a common wealth and the partes thereof CHAP. 10. TO be better vnderstood hereafter it is necessarie yet to make a third diuision of the common wealth by the partes thereof A common wealth is called a society or common doing of a multitude of free men collected together and vnited by common accord couenauntes among themselues for the conseruation of themselues aswell in peace as in warre For properly an host of mē is not called a common wealth but abusiuely because they are collected but for a time and for a fact which done ech diuideth himselfe from others as they were before And if one man had as some of the olde Romanes had if it be true that is written v. thousande or x. thousande bondmen whom he ruled well though they dwelled all in one citie or were distributed into diuerse villages yet that were no common wealth for the bōdman hath no communion with his master the wealth of the Lord is onely sought for and not the profit of the slaue or bondman For as they who write of these thinges haue defined a bondman or a slaue is as it were sauing life and humane reason but the instrumēt of his Lord as the axe the saw the chessyll and goluge is of the charpenter Truth it is the charpenter looketh diligently to saue correct and amend all these but it is for his owne profit and in consideration of him selfe not for the instrumentes sake And as these be instruments of the carpenter so the plow the cart the horse oxe or asse be instrumentes of the husbandman and though one husbandman had a great number of all those and looked well to them it made no common wealth nor could not so be called For the priuate wealth of the husbandman is onely regarded and there is no mutuall societie or portion no law or pleading betweene thone and

those haue force and be kept according to the firmitie and strength in which they are made And this is ynough of wiues and mariage Of Children CHAP. 7. OUr children be not in potestate parentum as the children of the Romans were but as soone as they be puberes which we call the age of discretion before that time nature doth tell they be but as it were partes parentum That which is theirs they may giue or sell purchase to themselues either landes and other moueables the father hauing nothing to doe therewith And therefore emancipatio is cleane superfluous we knowe not what it is Likewise sui heredes complaints de in-officioso testamento or praeteritorum liberorum non emancipatorum haue no effect nor vse in our lawe nor wee haue no manner to make lawefull children but by mariage and therefore we knowe not what is adoptio nor arrogatio The testator disposeth in his last will his moueable goods fréely as he thinketh méete and conuenient without controlement of wife or children And our testamentes for goods moueable be not subiect to the ceremonies of the ciuill lawe but made with all libertie and fréedome and iure militari Of landes as ye haue vnderstoode before there is difference for when the owner dieth his lande discendeth onely to his eldest sonne all the rest both sonnes daughters haue nothing by the common lawe but must serue their eldest brother if they will or make what other shift they can to liue except that the father in life time doe make some conueiance and estates of part of his land to their vse or els by deuise which word amongest our lawiers doth betoken a testament written sealed and deliuered in the life time of the testator before witnesse for without those ceremonies a bequest of landes is not auailable But by the common lawe if hee that dieth hath no sonnes but daughters the lande is equally diuided among them which portion is made by agréement or by lotte Although as I haue saide ordinarily and by the common lawe the eldest sonne inheriteth all the lands yet in some countries all the sonnes haue equall portion and that is called ganelkinde and is in many places in Kent In some places the youngest is sole heire and in some places after an other fashion But these being but particular customes of certaine places and out of the rule of the common law doe little appertain to the disputation of the policie of the whole Realme and may be infinite The common wealth is iudged by that which is most ordinarily and commonly doone through the whole Realme Of Bondage and Bondmen CHAP. 8. AFter that we haue spoken of all the sortes of frée men according to the diuersitie of their estates and persons it resteth to say somewhat of bondmen which were called serui which kinde of people the disposition of them and about them doth occupie the most part of Iustinians Digestes and Code The Romans had two kindes of bondmen the one which were called serui and they were either which were bought for money taken in warre left by succession or purchased by other kinde and lawefull acquisition or else borne of their bonde women and called vernae all those kinde of bondmen be called in our lawe villens in grosse as ye would say immediatly bonde to the person and his heires An other they had as appeareth in Iustinians time which they called adscripticij glebae or agri censiti These were not bond to the person but to the mannor or place and did followe him who had the manors in our lawe are called villaines regardants for because they be as members or belonging to the manor or place Neither of the one sort nor of the other haue we any number in England And of the first I neuer knewe any in the realme in my time of the seconde so fewe there be that it is not almost worth the speaking But our lawe doth acknowledge them in both those sortes Manumission of all kinde of villaines or bondmen in Englande is vsed and done after diuerse sortes and by other and more light and easie meanes than is prescribed in the ciuil lawe and being once manumitted he is not libertus manumittentis but simply liber howbeit sith our Realme hath receiued the Christian religion which maketh vs all in Christ brethren and in respect of God and Christ conseruos men began to haue conscience to hold in captiuitie and such extreme bondage him whome they must acknowledge to be his brother and as we vse to terme him Christian that is who looketh in Christ and by Christ to haue equall portion with them in the Gospel and saluation Vpon this scruple in continuance of time and by long succession the holie fathers Munkes and Friers in their confession and specially in their extreme deadly sicknesses burdened the consciences of them whom they had vnder their hands so that temporall men by little and litle by reason of that terror in their conscience were glad to manumit all their villaines but the said holie fathers with the Abbots and Priors did not in like sort by theirs for they had also conscience to impouerish and dispoyle the Churches so much as to manumit such as were bond to their Churches or to the mannors which the Church had gotten and so kept theirs still The same did the Bishoppes also till at the last and now of late some Bishoppes to make a péece of money manumitted theirs partly for argent partly for slaunders that they séemed more cruell than the temporaltie after the monasteries comming into temporall mens handes haue béene occasion that now they be almost all manumitted The most part of bondmen when they were yet were not vsed with vs so cruelly nor in that sort as the bondmen at the Romane ciuill law as appeareth by their Comedies nor as in Gréece as appeareth by theirs but they were suffered to enjoy coppieholde lande to gaine and get as other serues that nowe and then their Lordes might fléese them and take a péece of money of them as in France the Lords doe taile them whom they call their subiectes at their pleasure and cause them to pay such summes of money as they list to put vpon them I thinke both in France and England the chaunge of religion to a more gentle humane and more equall sort as the christian religion as in respectes of the Gentiles caused this olde kinde of seruile seruitude and slauerie to be brought into that moderation for necessitie first to villaines regardants and after to seruitude of landes and tenures and by litle and litle finding out more ciuill and gentle meanes and more equall to haue that doone which in time of heathenesse seruitude or bondage did they almost extinguished the whole For although all persons christians be brethren by baptisme in Iesu Christ and therefore may appeare equally frée yet some were and still might be christianed being bond and serue and whom as the