Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	duke_n	earl_n	lancaster_n	2,889	5	11.4132	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62230	Summus angliæ seneschallus, or, A survey of the Lord High-Steward of England his office, dignity, and jurisdiction, particularly the manner of arraigning a peer indicted of treason, or felony : in a letter to the Lords in the Tower ...	Saunders, Edmund, Sir, d. 1683.	1680 (1680)	Wing S745; ESTC R9936	19,870	38

Summus Angliae Seneschallus OR A SURVEY OF THE Lord High-steward OF ENGLAND HIS Office Dignity and Jurisdiction Particularly the manner of Arraigning a Peer INDICTED OF TREASON or FELONY In a Letter to the LORDS in the TOWER with Resolutions to certain QUERIES made by their Lordships relating to Trayterous and Seditious Practices Written at their Lordships Request Funesta Securis Regni Securitas London Printed in the Year 1680. THE NATURE of the OFFICE OF A L. HIGH-STEWARD c. My Lords I Shall not entertain your Lordships with any Preliminary Discourse but presently let you into the main Building As the Royal Power and Soveraignty of the King of England is a repleat compacted Body and impartible even so the Attributes thereof are as Jurists speaks so indivisible in themselves naturally and intrinsecally inherent in the Crown that they cannot be made away or so communicated to the Subject as to divest himself of them to the lessening Soveraign Majesty yet by Trust and Delegate Power the Execution may be transferred to others to ease him of a troublesome burthen Now among those several Ministers or Officers of Law that are by his Most Excellent Majesty substituted to ease him of labour but not to deprive him of Power the Lord High-Steward of England is one of the first Magnitude the Nature of whose Office will the better be comprehended by your Lordships if you vouchsafe to consider the particulars following 1. The Etymology of the words Steward and Seneschallus 2. His Lordships Stile and the Antiquity of his Office 3. How this great Office was formerly holden and how at this time 4. The Extent of his Jurisdiction and Power and the Rules he ought to judge by 5. The Order and manner of Arraigning a Peer of the Realm before this Great Officer For the derivation of the words Steward and Seneschallus Cok. Litt. 61. a. some say the first is derived of Stewe i. e. a Place and Ward which signifieth a Keeper Warden or Governour Others say that it comes from Steda a Saxon word which signifies a place also Lib. 9. Le Counter de Salop 's Case 48. b. and Ward as it were the Keeper or Governour of that place 't is a word diversly used in this Kingdom in the first acception 't is taken for the Lord High-Steward out of which Magistracy lower Officers have their rise as Seneschal de l' Hostel de Roy the Steward of the Kings most Honourable Houshold Anno 24. H. 8. c. 13. whose Title was changed to that of Great Master Plomd Com. f. 152. Anno 32. H. 8. c. 39. but this Stat. was repealed by that of 1 Mar. 2 Parl. c. 4. and the Office of the Lord Steward revived There is also a Steward of the Marshalsea Anno 33. H. 8. c. 12. and likewise a Steward of a Mannour Lib. 2. c. 71. whom Fleta fully describes To be short this word is of so great diversity that there is no Corporation of any Account or House of any Honour through the Realm but it shall have an Officer belonging to it of this Name But I proceed to the word Seneschallus Seneschal is a French word Minshaeus the Italians call it Seniscalco dict a Schalk i. e. Servus aut Officialis gesind i. e. familia but here 't is taken for the High-Steward of England Some derive it of Sein a House or Place and Schale an Officer others say Sen is an ancient word for Justice so that most naturally it signifies Officiarius Justitiae and this agreeth well with his Authority and Duty to proceed secundum Leges consuetudinis Angliae In the next place I am to consider his Lordships Stile which in Latin is Seneschallus Angliae and his Court is Intituled Placita Coronae coram Seneschallo Angliae and when he sitteth by force of his Office he sitteth under a Cloth of Estate and such as direct themselves to him say Please your Grace my Lord High-Steward of England Co. 4. Inst 59. As to the Antiquity of the Office 't is very ancient and was before the Conquest For Sir Ed. Coke tells us that he himself hath read an Authentical Manuscript intituled Authoritas Seneschalli Angliae which putting an Example of his Authority saith Sicut accidit Godwino Comiti Kanciae tempore Regis Edwardi Antecessoris Willielmi Ducis Normandiae pro bujusmodi male gestis consiliis suis per Seneschallum Angliae adjudicatus foris fecit Comitivam suam In the time of William the Conquerour William Fitz-Eustace was Steward of England Next come we to consider how this Great Office was formerly holden and how at this time This Magistracy was formerly of Inheritance and belonged to the Earldome of Leicester as appeareth by a Record produced by Sir Ed. Coke Seneschalcia Angliae pertinet ad Comitivam de Leicester pertinuit ab antiquo Other Records testifie that it belong'd to the Barony of Hinckley and my Lord Coke tells us that in the Reign of William Rufus and H. 1. Hugh Grant semenel Baron of Hinckley held that Barony by the said Office so that there seems a diversity between these Records but we shall reconcile it thus Hinckley was parsel of the Possessions of the E. of Leicester for Robert Bellamont E. of Leicester in the Reign of H. 2. married with Petronil Daughter and Heir of the said Hugh Grant semenel Baron of Hinckley and Lord Steward of England and so it continued till by the forfeiture of Simon Montford it came to King H. 3. who in the fiftieth year of his Reign created Edmond his second Son Earl of Leicester Baron of Hinckley and High-Steward of England which continued in his Line until Henry of Bullingbrook Son and Heir of John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster who was the last that had any Estate of Inheritance in the Office of the Steward of England Since the time of H. of Bullingbrook this great Office was never granted to any Subject but only hac Vice and the reason was for that the Power of this Officer is so transcendent that it was not holden fit to be in any Subjects hands For a Record saith Et setendum est quod ejus Officium est supervidere regnare sub Rege immediate post Regom totum Regnum Angliae omnes Ministros Legum infra idem Regnum temporibus pacis guerrarum c. and proceedeth particularly with divers high Powers and Authorities It is a Place of that Transcendency and Heighth Ephori 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Magistratus quidam Lacedemoniorum oppositi Regibus qui inspiciebant ea quae ad Rempub. pertinebant that it might in some sort match the Ephori among the Latedemonians The custom of our Commonwealth hath upon great consideration and policy brought it to pass that this Officer is of no great duration but only for the dispatch of some special business as the Arraignment of some Noble-man in case of Treason c.

which once ended his Commission expireth so that we may describe him thus Magistratus est Excelsus qui pro uno die a Rego ordinatur cum aliquis ex Proceribus Regni in Judicium vocatur de noxa Capitali Now we are to take a Prospect of the Extent of his Lordships Jurisdiction and Power and the Rules he ought to judge by Although the Power and Authority of the Lord High-Steward hath been since the Reign of King H. 4. but hac Vice yet is the hac Vice limited and appointed as when a Lord of Parliament is Indicted of Treason or Felony then the Grant of this Office under the Great Seal of England is to a Lord of Parliament reciting the Indictment Nos considerantes quod Justitia est virtus Excellens Altissimo complacens eaque prae omnibus uti volentes ac pro co quod Officium Seneschalli Angliae cujus prasentia pro administratione Justitiae Executione ejusdem in hac parte faciend Requiritur ut accepimus jam valeat de fidelitate Strenuitate provida Circumspectione Industria Vestric plurimum confidentes Ordinavimus Constituimus Vos ex hac causa causis Seneschallum Nostrum Angliae ad Officium illud cum omnibus eidem Officie in hac parte debitis pertinentibus hac vice gerend accipiend exercend Dante 's concedentes vobis tenore praesentium plenam sufficientem Rotestatem Authoritatem ac Mandatum speciale Indictamentum praedict c. So that this Great Officer is wholly restrained to proceed only upon the recited Indictment At every Coronation he hath a Commission under the Great Seal hac Vice Cok's Litt. 79. a. b. 4 Inst 59. to hear and determine the Claims for Grand Serjeanties and other Honourable Services to be done at the Coronation for the solemnizing thereof for which purpose he holds his Court some convenient time before the Coronation The first Person that was created hac Vice for sulemnizing the Coronation of H. 4. was Thomas his second Son and upon the Arraignment of Thomas Holland Earl of Huntingdon the first that was created Steward of England hac Vice was Edward Earl of Devon Lastly The Order and manner of Arraigning a Peer of the Realm before this Great Officer is to be consider'd As the Peers of the Realm who are Tryers are not sworn so the Lord High-Steward being Judge is not sworn likewise yet ought he to proceed according to his Letters-Patents Secundum Legem consuetudinem Angliae Co. Litt. 142. a. 4 Inst f. 60. for all Commissions and Charters for Execution of Justice are facturi quod ad Justitiam pertinet secundum Legem consuetudinem Angliae But admit the Commission should be Secundum sanas Discretiones vestras How then I answer Discretio est discernere per Legem quid sit Justum that is to discern by the right Line of Law and not the warpt measure of private Opinion Si a Jure discedas vagus cris erunt omnia incerta 'T is certain he that out-runs the Law hastens to his own destruction Commissions then that Authorise proceeding secundum sanas discretiones c. in sense are secundum Legem c. The Earl of Huntingdon was Indicted of High-Treason in London 1 H. 4. f. 1. a. by a Commission before the Mayor and Justices for that he with other persons agreed to go a Mumming which the French call Masquerade on the Night of Epiphany in which they intended to kill the King then at Windsor And after the King granted a Commission to the Earl of Derby reciting That whereas George E of H. was Indicted of High-Treason and that he would that right should be done and because the Office of the Steward of England is now void he grants it to the said E. of Derby to do Justice to the said E. of Huntingdon commanding by the same Commission all the Lords to be attendant upon him and Precept was likewise given by the same to the Constable of the Tower to be attendant on him and to bring the Prisoner viz. the E. of H. before the said E. of D. on the day appointed whereupon the E. of D. the same day sat in Westminster-Hall under a Cloth of Estate by himself and the E. of Westmerland and other Earls and Barons sat at a considerable distance and all the Justices and Barons of the Exchequer sat round a Table and after three O Yes's made and the Commission read the Justices deliver'd the Indictment to the Lord Steward which was deliver'd to the Clerk of the Crown who read it to the said E. of H. which he confessed whereupon Hill the King's Serjeant prayed Judgment which the Lord Steward after he had rehearsed the whole matter pronounced in this manner That the E. of H. should be taken back to the Tower of London and from thence be drawn to the Gallows and there hanged and being yet alive cut down and his Entrails drawn out of his body and burnt and that he should be beheaded and quartered Et sic Deus propitiatur Animae suae The Justices then said that if the E. of H. had deny'd the Treason the Lord Steward should have demanded of every Lord in open Court what they thought in their Consciences beginning with the Puisny Lord and if the greater number said Guilty then the Judgment to be given as above I refer your Lordships to Cambden's Annals of Q. Eliz for the manner of the Tryal of Tho. Howard Duke of Norfolk before George Talbot E. of Shrewabury Lord High-Steward upon that occasion Sir Ed. Coke describes the manner how a Peer is to be tryed in case of Treason c. before the Lord High-Steward of England He must be Indicted before Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer or in the King's Bench if the Treason or misprision Felony or misprision of Felony be committed in that County where the King 's Bench sit when he is Indicted then the King by his Commission under the Great Seal of England constitutes some Peer of the Realm to be hac Vice Steward of England who is Judg in this case The Commission recites the Judgment generally as 't is found and Power given to the Lord Steward to receive the Indictment c. and to proceed secundum Legem consuetudinem Angliae A Commandment is also given by the same to the Peers of the Realm to be attendant and obedient unto him as also to the Lieutenant of the Tower to bring the Prisoner before his Lordship Then a Certiorari is awarded out of Chancery to remove the Indictment it self before the Lord Steward which may either bear date the same day of the Stewards Commission or any day after The Lord Steward directs his Precept under his Seal to the Commissioners to certifie the Indictment such a day and place He also makes two other Precepts one to the Constable or Lieutenant of the Tower to bring the Body of the Prisoner before him at

reason alledged by some how truly let others judge is forasmuch as Archbishops and Bishops cannot pass in like cases upon the tryal of any other of the Peers their Lordships being prohibited by the Common and Ecclesiastical Laws to be Judges of Life and Death and this Tryal ought to be Mutual since the performance of it is upon their Honours without any Oath taken And hone by the way your Lordships may take notice how great regard the Law hath to the word of a Peer when spoken upon his Honour I need say no more upon this Topick I since your Lordships in that Excellent Poem A PARADOX against Liberty have exprest your thoughts so extremely well No Temporal Lord but only Lords of Parliament shall have this kind of Tryal and therefore the Eldest Son and Heir Apparent of a Duke in the life of his Father though he be called an Earl is excluded And this was the Case of Henry Howard Earl of Surrey Son and Heir Apparent of Thomas Duke of Suffolk in the 38. of H. 8. Likewise the Son and Heir Apparent of an Earl though he be called Lord or Baron and all the younger Sons of Kings are Earls by Birth though they have no other Creation yet shall they not be partakers of this or other Priviledges incident to the Lords of Parliament Those that are Barons of Ireland of Scotland Cok. Litt. 16. b. 3 Inst f. 30. 2 Inst f. 48. committing Treason c. in England shall not have their Tryal by Peers though they were born in England for they receive their Dignity from a King of their Nations If a Duke or other Noble man of France Spain Co. L. 7. Calvin's Case c. comes into England by the King 's safe Conduct in which the King stiles him Duke according to his Creation nevertheless in all proceedings in the King's Courts he shall not be stiled by his Name of Dignity much less a partaker of the Priviledge of this Tryal by Peers But if the King of England at this day create one of his Subjects of Scotland to be Viscount within England or by ordinary Summons under his Great Seal call him to the Upper House of Parliament and assign him a Place and to Vote there in his Great Council he shall be thereby a Peer of this Realm and enjoy all their Priviledges QUERY IV. What Witnesses are required in Indictments and Tryals of Treason or misprision of Treason SOL. By the Ancient Common Law one Witness or Accuser was not sufficient to Convict any person of High-Treason for in that case it was to be tryed before the Constable and Marshal by Combat but they have no Jurisdiction to hold Plea of any thing which may be determined by Common Law And that two Witnesses are requisite appears by the Books of Law and the Common Law herein is grounded upon the Law of God Mirr cap. 3. Ordin de Attaint Brad. L. 5. f. 354. 48 Ed. 3.30 35 H. 6.46 Fortescue c. 32. expressed both in the Old and New Testament Deut. 17. v. 6. Numb 35. v. 30. Deut. 19. v. 15. Matth. 18. v. 16. 2 Cor. 13. v. 1. and this seemeth more clear in the Tryal by Peers because they come not de aliquo Vicineto whereby they may take notice of the Fact in respect of Vicinity as other Jurors may do By the Stat. of 1 E. 6. c. 12. none shall be Indicted Arraigned Condemned or Convicted for any Treason c. for which the Offender shall suffer pains of Death Imprisonment loss or forfeiture of his Goods Chattels Lands or Tenements unless he be accused by two sufficient and lawful Witnesses or shall willingly without violence confess the Fact The same provision is made by 5 E. 6. wherein I must observe to your Lordships that two lawful Accusers in this Act are taken for two lawful Witnesses for by two lawful Accusers and accused by two lawful Witnesses as 't is in 1 E. 6. are Identical which word Accusers was used because two Witnesses ought directly to accuse that is charge the Prisoner for the Common Law respects none else and therefore lawful Accusers must be such as are allowed by Laws And thus 't was resolved by the Justices in the Case of the Lord Lumley Hill 14. El. for if they should not be taken according to the meaning aforesaid then there must be two Accusers by 5 E. 6. and two Witnesses Dyer f. 99. W. Thomas his Case by 1 E. 6. and the strange conceipt in 2 Mar. that one may be an Accuser by Hear-say was utterly denied in the Lord Lumley's Case And here since your Lordships did not make it a Query I shall not so strictly consider it whether the Testimony of a Forreigner may be admitted in case of Treason The Duke of Norfolk at his Arraignment said that nothing which was yet produced was of any moment against him save only the Bishop of Ross his Testimony and that by Opinion of Bracton was not to be admitted because he was a Forreigner to which Callin Lord Chief Justice answer'd that in such Causes as this the Testimony of Forreigners is of force and it lies in the Peers to attribute to Camb. El. A. 1572. or derogate from such Testimony as they shall think fit Where Bract. saith that an Alien born cannot be a Witness it is to be understood of an Alien Infidel for the Bishop of Ross being a Scot born was admitted to be a Witness and sworn 14 El. by Opinion of all the Justices Assistants If a person be accused by one Witness touching one fact and by another concerning another fact the one committed in Middlesex the other in Surrey he that swears the fact done in London joyned to the other Witness that swears to the fact done in Surrey shall be esteemed two sufficient Witnesses in case of Treason and so was it ruled by the Judges at the Old-Baily upon the Tryal of the Five Jesuits whitebread Harcourt Turner Fenwick and Gaven according to the Resolution in Sir H. Vane's Case at the King's-B Bar where one Witness prov'd the levying War in one County and the other prov'd the levying War in another County and so though they were but single Witnesses of single facts yet both coming up to the Indictment they were adjudged two sufficient Witnesses to maintain it QUERY V. Whether a Noble-man being Arraigned own challenge his Peers SOL. If the party an aigned says Coke be a Lord of Parliament and a Peer of the Realm and is to be tryed by his Peers he shall not challenge any of them for they are not sworn as other Jurors be but find the party guilty or not guilty upon their Paith or Allegiance to the King Cok 's Litt. 156. b. and they are Judges of the fact and every of them doth separately give his judgment beginning at the lowest Again Cok 's Litt. 294. a. he tells us that the four Knights Electors of the Grand Assize are not

to be challenged for that in Law they be Judges to that purpose and Judges cannot be challenged and that is the reason why Noblemen cannot be challenged for Mag. Charta saith Per Judicium Parium suorum Cap. 29. and not Veredictum When the Peers that were to be Tryers at the Arraignment of the Ealls of Essex and Southampton were called by name Camb. Eliz. A. 1601. the Earl of Essex demanded whether it were not lawful for them as the use is to private men to except against some of their Peers The Judges answer'd that such was the Credit and Estimation of the Peers of England that they are neither compelled to an Oath in Arraignments nor subjected to Exceptions QUERY IV. Whether the Lord High-Steward can collect the Evidence against the Prisoner or conser with the Lords touching the same in the Prisoners absence SOL. To this I answer negatively for after the King 's Learned Counsel have produc'd all their Evidence the Prisoner ought to be present at all Conferences touching the same and therefore it shall be necessary for all Prisoners after Evidence given against them before departure from the Bar to require Justice of the Lord High-Steward and of the other Lords and that no Question be demanded or conference had by any with the Lords but in open Court in their own hearing otherwise such Prisoners shall take no advantage thereof after Verdict and Judgment given QUERY VII If the Lords be equally divided between guilty and not guilty whether the party tryed shall be acquitted or condemned SOL. In an Information in the Court of Star-Chamber by the Attorney against Sir Stephen Proctor and others for conspiracy against and scandal of the Earl of Northampton Co. 4. Inst f. 64. and Edward Lord Wootten two of his Majesties most Honourable Privy Council at the hearing of which Cause there sat eight in Court whereof four condemned the Defendants and the other four viz. the Lord Chancellour two Bishops and the Chancellour of the Exchequer acquitted them the Question was according as your Lordships have propos'd it Whether the Defendants should be condemned or not And here it was moved by the King 's Learned Counsel that when the Voices are equal that in that case of which part the Lord Chancellour was on that side it should be determin'd without regard either to Plaintiff or Defendant And it was resolved that regularly and de communi Jure in respect of the equality of Voices that no sentence could be given as it holdeth in the High Court of Parliament and all other Courts according to the old rule Paribus sententiis Reus absolvitur And sentence was never given against Sir Stephen Proctor agreeable to the general rule in other Courts In this point the Civil Law concurs with the Common Inter Pares Numero Judices si dissonae sententiae proferantur in liberalibus quidem causis secundum quod a Divo Pio constitutum est pro libertate statutum obtinet in alits autem causis pro Ree quod in Judiciis publicis obtinere oportet Vid. Grot. lib. 2. c. 5. uu 18. de Jure Belli c. Reus sententiis paribus absolvitur semper quicquid dubium est humanit as milinat in melius Alter Judex damnat alter absolvit inter dispares sententias milior viniat I shall here take leave to make a little digression from the Query and consider if a person that is forth-coming can by Parliament be attainted of High-Treason and never call'd to answer This seems as much worth the inquiry as other your Lordships Queries and though omitted by you I shall not let it pass without some notice By the 2. of H. 6. we find a great Peer condemned without Arraignment or Answer Co. 4. Inst f. 37 38. the like in 32 H. 8. one Attainted though living and forth-coming of High-Treason without ever being called to Judgment The legality whereof was scrupled and demanded of the Judges whether the Act were void or not with some pause they adjudged it perillous and of bad example to the Inferiour Courts but 't was agreed if condemned by Parliament to be indisputable though Cap. 29. 5 E. 3. c. 9. 28 E. 3. c. 5. of Mag. Char. affirms that no man ought to be condemned without Answer without a Quid fecisti and all due proceedings at Law Senec. in Loco Qui statuit aliquid parte inaudita altera licet aequum statuerit hand aequus sucrit With the Municipal Laws agree those of the Romans Divi Severi Antonini Magni rescriptum est D. 48.17 ne quis absens primatur hoc jure utimur ne Absentes damnentur neque enim inaudita causa quemquam damnari aequitatis ratio patitur Acts 25. v. 16. It is not the manner of the Romans to deliver any man to death before the accused have his accusers face to face and license to answer for himself QUERY VIII Whether the King and one of the Houses alone or both without the King can declare a Treason within the Stat. of 25 E. 3. cap. 2 SOL. John Duke of Groyen and Lancaster Steward of England and Thomas Duke of Glocester Constable of England the King's Uncles complained to the King that Thomas Talbot Knight with others his Adherents conspired the death of the said Dukes as the same was confessed and well known and prayed that the Parliament might judge of the fault which Petition was just and according to the Branch of the Stat. of 25 E. 3. but the Record saith further that the King and Lords in Parliament adjudged the same fact to be High-Treason which Judgment wanting the assent of the Commons was no Declaration within the said Stat. which is attended with this restriction That if any other case supposed to be Treason should happen before any Justices the Justices should tarry without going to judment of the Treason till the Case be shewed before the King and his Parliament consisting of Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons whether it ought to be adjudged Treason or Felony QUERY IX Whether the Subjects of another Prince Confederate with the King of England can be held for the King's Enemies SOL. It was objected against the Duke of Norfolk concerning his relieving of the Scots the Queens Enemies which was proved by Letters and Banister's confession c. whereupon the Duke asked the Judges Whether the Subjects of another Prince Camb. Eliz. A. 1572. Confederate with the Queen of England were to be holden for the Queens Enemies Calelin Chief Justice answer'd that they were and that the Queen of England might make War with any Duke of France and yet in the interim keep peace with the French King And here 't is to be noted that the Judges ought not to deliver their Opinions before-hand in any criminal case that may come before them judicially In the Case of Humphrey Stafford that Arch Traytor Hussey Chief Justice besought King H. 7.