To the Kings most excellent Maiestie THE HVMBLE PETITION OF TWO SISTERS THE CHVRCH AND Common-wealth For the restoring of their ancient Commons and liberties which late Inclosure with depopulation vncharitably hath taken away Containing seuen reasons as euidences for the same PROV 14. 28. In the multitude of the people is the honour of a King and for the want of people commeth the destruction of the Prince LONDINI Impensis GEORGII BISHOP 1604. TENEZ LE VRAY Exlibris Bibliothecoe Domesticoe RICHARDI TOWNELEY de Tonmeley In Agro Lancastrensi Armigeri Anno Aetatis 73 Domin 〈…〉 702 TO THE MOST HIGH AND MIGHTIE PRINCE IAMES BY the grace of God King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. THat saying of Queene Hester to the most famous King Ahashuerosh most dread Soueraigne doth as it were enforce me to make this my humble Petition to your Highnesse If we were sold to bee bondslaues or handmaides saith shee I would haue held my tongue although the aduersary could neuer recompence the King this losse But let my life be giuen me at my request and my peoples There is a mightie Thorne sprung vp of late in diuers places of this Realme like to that cruell Haman which doeth not onely goe about to impouerish your Maiesties Subiects but quite to roote them out I meane Inclosure of Fields and Commons whereas the Lords of Manours and Freeholders will haue all their landes which haue heeretofore lien open and in Common so that the poore might enter Common with them now laid together in seuerall And hereby the poore cannot enioy their ancient Commons and liberties And this cankred Thorne also deuoureth Gods people which is his inheritance as the Psalme teacheth vs Aske ofme saith God I will giue thee the people for thine inheritance c. and the vttermost parts of the earth for thy possession Inclosers to maintaine their owne inheritances doe make no conscience to impaire this inheritance Where God hath beene praised with many mouthes there now shreeking Owles and other vncleane birds make their nestes It dishonoreth also your Maiesty and weakeneth your Highnesse power For in the multitude of people is the honour of a King saith Salomon and for want of people commeth the destruction of the Prince But this Inclosure where it commeth dispeoples Townes as common experience lamentably teacheth And whereas your Maiestie might haue had great choice of Souldiers and able men for seruice in warre if neede required now there is almost none to be had but a Sheepheard and his dogge This Inclosure also hurteth the commonwealth For where no oxen are there the cribbe is emptie saith Salomon but much increase commeth by the strength of the oxe But inclosure decareth Tellage and turneth good arable land to Pasture These Inclosers thinke that the gaine of their Pastures eaten with sheepe commeth more easily to them than being tilled and therefore they will neither plowe nor sowe themselues nor let their land to such as would till it and so by this meanes they bring a dearth upon this Land which is one of Gods plagues Yea the Cities and Townes Corporate are maintained by the Countrey For the plowe maintaines all trades as Mercers Grocers Tanners shooemakers Glouers Smiths Taylors Ioyners Carpenters c. But since Inclosure began all these Artificers prooue by experience that they cannot haue such vtterance and returne for their wares as heretofore because that husbandmen were wont to maintaine many seruants which did yeerely buy their wares of them which multitude of seruants inclosure needes not Oh Inclosure then to be hated of all Gods children which deuoureth their fathers inheritance and to be detested of all your Maiesties faithfull subiects which dishonoureth your Highnes by diminishing the people of your land and procureth your Maiesties destruction as saith Salomon and to be abhorred of all true harted English men which bringeth afamine one of Gods plagues vpon this our Common wealth Nay which goeth about to impouerish our Grand mothers and most famous Cities I knowe Inclosers can vrge many plausible reasons for themselues but their reasons are humane and not grounded on the word of God These dangerous and desperate effects so apparantly spreading both into the hart of Gods Church and of the Common-wealth inforceth me humbly to present this my Petition to your most sacred Maiestie with these reasons against Inclosure Least by holding my peace and suffering the Lords inheritance to be impaired I should be condemned at that day as an vniust Steward and seeing your Maiesties power to be diminished and not giuing warning I should be reputed a faithlesse subiect to your Highnesse and perceiuing the Common wealth hereby to be damnified and halfe beggered I should be esteemed an vnnaturall childe to this my most louing mother I am also incouraged with confidence of your Gracious acceptance of this my humble suite with that Mashall your Maiesties godly and golden saying to your Princely sonne that hee should bee the poore mans King The cure of this canker and the rooting out of this thorne will make glad your poore subiects hearts For as we reade Salomons subiects were as many in number as the sand of the Sea eating drinking and making merrie And at this marke shoulde Christian Kings aime that their subiects should doe the like But inclosure diminisheth the number of Gods people killeth their hearts and abridgeth both their mirth and maintenance And your Maiestie being a second Salomon in this our Israel I most humblie craue your gracious and tender care heereof in your sacred session and high court of Parliament for that all your afflicted subiects are ready to crie with the Prophet It is high time for thee Lord to lay to thine hand for they haue destroied thy law which is christian charitie The Lord Iesus blesse your Maiestie with a long and prosperous raigne to the glorie of his name encrease of his Church and benefit of this Common-wealth for his glorious names sake Amen Your Maiesties most humble subiect FRANCIS TRIGGE To the Reader GOod Christian Reader if any thing in this Treatise seeme to thee ouer bitter or sharpe I humbly beseech thee to consider with thy selfe that that purgation which Galen the prince of Physitions commonly vsed was called Hiera-picra that is holy-bitter And such also are Iesus Christs medicines which he applieth to our sicke soules and that this is a canker that I goe about to cure therfore as Chirurgerie teacheth lenitiues will doe no good but rather increase the venome thereof Nay I beseech thee consider that I deale with the root of all euill couetousnesse and with that noisome pestilence that raigneth now in our age as it did in the daies of Ieremie and therefore I had need of a sharpe hatchet to cut vp that root and of some forcible Mithridate to preserue frō that plague of whose effects and infection and cure Ieremy writes thus I will
that sentence also shall stand good wherein consistes one maine point next faith of our saluation Blessed are the mercifull for they shall obtaine mercy and iudgement mercilesse shall be to him that hath shewed no mercy as S. Iames teacheth vs. But Inclosers I thinke neuer remember that day if they did they would prefer prayers before payments and the harts of their tenants with that courteous Romane Curius before their heapes of golde and siluer O blind couetousnesse O blinde Inclosers more blinde than Grecians more blinde than Romanes nay more vncharitable and cruell than very Infidels Nature teacheth that the wilde figge tree if it be planted neere vnto the figge tree that it will make it more fruitfull and shall not these Heathen or Pagans who are wilde figge trées in comparison of vs Christians make vs excell in good works shall their figges be sweeter than ours O degenerate and wilde Christians God by his Prophet Ieremie saith Goe to the isles of Chittim and behold and send vnto Kedar and take diligent heede and see whether there be such things Our most gratious God compares his people of the Jewes with the Paganes And will he not much more compare vs christians with them And is it not a shame for vs to be ouercome of them in charitie towards our brethren Surely if we be in the day of iudgement they shall condemne vs. The sixt reason this Inclosure is against the Church and Common-wealth and auncient customes and liberties of England GOds Ministers may make that complaint of Inclosers that Iacob made of Laban Thou hast now changed my wages ten times So haue they changed the auncient liuings of Gods Ministers But in all their exchanges it hath fallen out as it doth commonly in casting of mettals that which hath comne in the second place hath not béen so good as was the former Their summes of money which they doe now alowe are not so good in value as were heretofore tithes in kinde and againe the money due is not so easily obtained at their hands And thus they doe not onely mussell the mouthes of Gods Oxen which doe tread out his Corne but also impouerish them yéerely more more by this their inclosure and yet for all this they will be accounted Laban that is they will séeme white and religious Hierome of couetous Patrons and laie-men which studie to get into their hands Ecclesiasticall liuings writes thus They which serue at the Altar let them be partakers of the Altar Therefore because Priests were wont to pray for all them whose almes and oblations they doe receiue with what face dare laie men either themselues eate or grant to others the oblations which Christians doe offer for their sinnes when as it becommeth not them to pray for the people For this cause O glorious Father we ought to excommunicate those presumptuous persons for euer that others might be afraid and that these things might be no more done in the Church O grieuous sinne which Hierome saith is to be excommunicated for euer And here first the poore husbandmen and cottagers may complaine vnto your Maiestie of the payments of the Subsidie inflicted vpon them that whereas there hath béene rich farmers in euery Towne to pay it now those townes inclosed being dispeopled and those rich farmers which were wont to pay it being fled away the payments thereof are imposed on poore men who being but tenants and hauing but a small flocke of cattell and perchance a great familie to maintaine are enforced to be three pound men in the Subsidie booke whereas the Lord of the mannor or Frée-holder being their Landlords liuing in other places hauing fiue hundred or a thousand shéepe in the said Lordship which they haue inclosed and improued and perchance fiftie or a hundred cattell will pay nothing towards the payment of the same Pleading for themselues that by law they are to be assessed and bound to pay but in one place which for the most part is where they inhabit And so they vsing and enioying the profits and commodities of the farmes which they haue decayed and also eating with their cattel the chiefe commoditie of the field will beare no part of that dutie with their poore tenants which makes them repine and murmur Nay that which is the last refuge if the townes inclosed be so poore that they are not able to pay the Subsidie they will vse meanes to mitigate the same and so make some townes néere adioyning helpe to beare out the burden of those townes that they haue decayed and dispeopled by their inclosure Secondly the poore also may complaine of Inclosers for taking away their Common for herein they are first impious against God and iniurious to their Auncestors and distoyall to the Kings prerogatiue royall For first God himselfe may séeme to haue giuen some Commons as appeares in Holland and in the Marsh in Lincolneshire and Holdernes in Yorkeshire and in Kent where many miles of ground haue béen added by the Sea Secondly some people of godly disposition and great possessions dying without issue haue giuen large Commons in diuers places as in Yorkeshire a great Common called Walling Fenne And lastly Kings haue giuen Commons also William Conqueror gaue Commons and other liberties so that Lords of Mannors did not appoint them and therefore at their pleasures may not take them away And they were giuen as it should seeme vpon these considerations First to maintaine the poore men that fought for him for all were not Gentlemen in that great armie of the Conqueror And as gentlemē had lordships bestowed vpon them for their seruice so no doubt the poore had Cōmons giuen to them also for the same cause that a poore man prouiding onely meate for his Cowe against winter was assured to haue her kept and fedde on the Commons all the summer for nothing and so might be the better imployed about his Maiesties warres so often as néede did require whereas now in many places the poore man is forced to pay very dearely for the summer Common or pasture for his Cowe ouer and besides his house rent which in times past he had belonging to his house for his said rents And so the care for the prouision for his family being great makes many not to be so forward to warres as they both would and ought to be Boterus Benesius writing of the estate of the whole world and strength of England which consistes on the poore Husbandman Cottager and common Souldier reports thus Although saith he the English men are able to bring into the field 2000. Launces and a great number of light horse yet the horsemen of England haue neuer wonne to themselues such credit and praise in war as the footemen haue done King Edward the third who made so many voyages into France and obtained there so many victories to declare in which of his forces he most trusted forsooke his horsemen and went on foote amongst his
common Souldiers But contrariwise the Frenchmen because they will not haue their common people giue themselues ouermuch to warlike affaires lest they should forsake and contemne their handicrafts and occupations and so by being souldiers waxe proude to which thing the Frenchmen are very much inclined put all their strength of their warres in horsemen which for the most part consists of Noble men The common Souldier heretofore hath béen for warres the glory of England as this author affirmes by him England hath won so many great victories and obtained such great glory and fame and shall he now be despised Nay shall he in some places be rooted out What is this else but to put out Samsons eyes the strength and glory of our land and to cut off his haire To doe this is not to be true Israelites but vncircumcised Philistimes What will our riches do vs good if we lacke men to kéepe them As the body cannot consist without legges armes so neither the Common-wealth without Husbandmen Labourers Souldiers Surely they which will not maintaine these armes and legs which must fight and runne for them are euill members of this Common-wealth If the legges of our bodies be weake how will we complaine or if our armes be out of ioint what speed will we make to haue them put into the ioint again and shall we not nourish bountifully these legges shall we suffer these armes to be out of ioint And here as Gods word may séeme to be the most strong ligament so in some sort these Commons may seeme to bee the sinewes of the Common-wealth For as our armes are ioyned to our bodies by sinewes and ligaments so no doubt these armes were tied in the beginning to the Common-wealth by their Commons bestowed vpon them For benefits are the strongest bonds to binde men withall as the Heathen haue taught Secondly it may seeme they were ordained for common workes For so haue Churches béen repaired and bridges built and high waies made maintained They would lay a péece of their Common to be so wen or for meadow and with the profit thereof being solde performe any common worke and by that meanes such like workes cost the poore of the Towne very little And hereof as appeares nowe comes the ridges and furrowes in ancient Commons which proueth that for such purposes they haue béene sowne And the like good would come to the Common-wealth if that they were vsed so still Whereas now in many places where these Commons are takē away by Inclosure euery penie comes out of the poore mans purse and hauing no common stocke hardly any common worke can be brought to passe as in times past hath beene Lastly a part of these Commons were the Kings high waies which name plainely argues that Kings were the authors of thē as of all other Commons And those which are leading from one Market towne to another ought to be two hundred foote broade as appeareth by a Statute of Winchester 13. made in 1. Ed. 5. which were large and safe that your Maiestie might passe the countrey in progresse with your traine and your Subiects trauell without danger But now Inclosers haue so pinched them in by their ditches and hedges allowing but 24. for the way that your Maiestie cannot passe in their waies and lanes vnlesse they throwe open their hedges againe for that time as experience lately hath prooued Neither can your poore Subiects trauel with their weake beasts without danger the waies being thereby made straite and narrow and therefore deepe and dangerous neither without danger of their liues both by forestalling of théeues and also by opening the dangerous gates The poore Cottager had his Common allowed him also as should séeme for his paines taken in mending of these high waies which now Inclosers haue quite spoyled by pinching them in but the burthen doth remaine on poore mens backs still and they are forced to doe their common daies as before and yet their Common is taken from them But Lords of Mannours and Frée-holders who haue their Commons and should also worke their common daies and for euery plow-land they holde either in Tillage or Pasture should find one Cart or draught to leade stones and rubbish towards the repairing of high waies doe now of late in many places where Tillage is conuerted to Pasture where heretofore there hath beene thirtie draughts or Carts in a towne which did performe their common daies skant finde tenne and he that hath decayed fower or fiue draughts skant sends one to kéepe his common daies And hereof it comes that high waies in many places are not so well maintained as heretofore they haue béene Nay if these Commons had béene appointed by the Lords of Mannors then as mens natures in all ages haue béene diuers so these Commons would also in some places haue béene better and in other some worse but in all places according to the proportion of the towne they are very liberall and bountiful declaring themselues to be beames comming from the same Sunne I meane from the rich liberalitie of the Kings maiestie There was a tenure in England called Bassa tenura now called Copie hold and these had their fréedomes according to the custome of the Mannor There was another tenure called Tenure of villenage and these had neither libertie of Commons nor of their very bodies and seede And this may bee an euident argument that Kings gaue these Commons for those which had offended his Maiestie most greeuously he made them villens and depriued them of the auncient liberties which all his other people enioyed So that as this villenage was by the King inflicted vpon some So no doubt the former liberties and priuileges also were by Kings giuen and bestowed But Inclosers now for no cause of disobedience but for their owne priuate lucres take from their tenants that which Kings did not but vpon great offences committed against their person There is an auncient law in regarde that tenants complained of the Lords of Mannors for inclosing as should séeme of their Commons by which it was enacted that Lords should leaue sufficient Common for their tenants with sufficient egresse and regresse And that being performed they might as should séeme make their commoditie of the rest But if that their egresse and regresse were any thing hindred by the deforceors or that they had not sufficient pasture that thē they should recouer their seison by the view of Jewrors so that by their discretions and othes they shall haue sufficient Common and pasture with egresse and regresse and the dissesors should bée amerced and render damages This auncient statute plainely proues that Lords in euery towne should leaue to their tenants sufficient Common And therefore doe they not breake the meaning of this law which inclose leauing no Common at all These Inclosers take vpon them as though they were not Lords of Mannours but rather kings and doe make as it were a new Commonwealth and