Selected quad for the lemma: england_n
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A61528
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The case of an oath of abjuration considered and the vote of the honourable House of Commons vindicated in a letter.
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Stillingfleet, Edward, 1635-1699.
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1693
(1693)
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Wing S5564; ESTC R19563
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23,046
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38
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know of it is from W. Malmesbury who making mention of him adds Lib. 2. pag. 25. Qui post occisionem Haroldi à quibusdam in Regem electus est vario lusu Fortunae rotatus NUNC penè decrepitum diem ignobilis Ruri agit In the same place he says that David his Sister Margaret's Son was King of Scotland which was not before the Year 1124. So that he lived at least to the Age of Seventy if we allow him to be Twelve at the Death of Harold when he was thought unfit to Reign for want of years And yet in all the Reigns of these Three Kings William the First and Second and Henry the First there was no Oath of Abjuration no Renouncing to the Rightful Title of Edgar Atheling Each of these Princes receiv'd the Oath of Fealty and Allegiance from their Subjects and looked no farther after the Exclusion of Edgar than that Oath did naturally carry them which is far enough in all Conscience when honest People take it 1087. When William the Conqueror died he left the Duchy of Normandy to his eldest Son Robert Mezeray is mistaken when he makes the Father yield up the Duchy to the Son 1077 when he was reconciled to him upon his mounting him again upon his Horse when he had ignorantly met and overthrown him and England to his second Son William Rufus and to Henry his third Son a mighty Summ of Money with a Prophetical Presage That he would One Day come to greater Matters Rufus was then with his Father and before his Funeral Exequies were performed to secure himself the better of his appointed Succession slipt over into England and got himself Crowned King by Lanfranc Archbishop of Canterbury but he was hardly warm in his Seat before a great and deep Conspiracy was form'd against him in behalf of his elder Brother Robert contriv'd and carried on especially by Odo Bishop of Baieux and Earl of Kent his Uncle Geofrey Bishop of Constance and other great Lords intending to deliver up the King and Kingdom into the Hands of Robert This so startled and amazed Rufus that he thereupon calls all the English Men together and lays before them the Danger he was in promising the Redress of many present Grievances and ample Privileges to them and theirs upon their Assistance which they consented to give and accordingly by their Help he pursued and utterly defeated his Enemies and became thereby enabled to forget his fair Promises Robert in vain attempted to invade England being repulsed with great loss by the King's Ships and Seamen and William in his Turn made over for Normandy to do as much as Robert had design'd but by the Mediation of Great Men on both sides the Brothers came to an Agreement that such and such Places should be delivered to each the other and that whichsoever of the Brothers died first without Children the other should succeed him in all his Estates And to these Covenants twelve of the most considerable Men on each side were very solemnly sworn This was done 1090 and in 1094 the Brothers disagreed again and all the Fault was laid upon the King who again prepar'd for Normandy where each of them did a great deal of Mischief to each other till very luckily the Pope engag'd Duke Robert to take upon him the Croisade who being easily persuaded thereto as one who was always a light and giddy-headed Prince he sent to the King to acquaint him with his Purpose to conclude a Peace and to borrow Money for that Expedition engaging his Dukedom for it to which the King assented readily and carried him the Money himself and took possession of his Pledge the Money came to six thousand six hundred sixty six pound of Silver And Robert behaved himself very honourably abroad where he continued till the death of King William 1100. In all these Quarrels and Conspiracies occasioned by D. Robert and his Partisans Rufus desired nor had no other Security of his Subjects than the Oath of Fealty and Allegiance which obliged them to be true to him without excluding or abjuring Robert and yet I take it Robert was a very formidable Competitor and that such an Oath was as necessary then as it ever was to this day Well this unfortunate Robert was again put by the Crown as well by his Absence as by the cunning Management of his younger Brother Henry who got so well into the good graces of the Lords and Bishops that he was crowned King before Duke Robert could return to make his Claim But see the Inconstancy of English-men Henry had made large Promises of amending all things that were amiss in the former Reigns and confirming the Liberties of the Church and a great many other good things and thereupon was received by all the Nobility and Clergy with gâ—eat Expressions ofJoy and Satisfaction and crowned by Maurice Bishop of London for Anselm had been driven away by W. Rufus But before they could have time to see whether King Henry would be as good as his Word they generally engaged in a Conspiracy to call in Robert and deliver up the Government to him some of the King's Ships went over to Robert and a great Conflux of People there was gathered to him when he landed at Portsmouth but before they came to try their Fortune in the Field of Battel an Accord was made between them by the mediation of some principal Men of both sides by which it was agreed upon that Robert should continue Duke of Normandy and Henry King of England paying his Brother yearly three thousand Marks that all Adherents to Robert should be clear'd and enjoy their Estates and that whichsoever of the two died Childless first the other should succeed in both the Kingdom and the Dutchy with some other Particulars which were all of them sworn to as before by twelve Great Men on each side This Agreement was made in 1101 and in a few years came to nothing for after many Depredations and Reprisals Skirmishes and taking and retaking of Towns in Normandy the fatal Battel was fought in 1106 where Robert was taken Prisoner and never after obtained his Liberty but having his Eyes put out a piece of Cruelty much in use in those days he lived and died at Cardiff a miserable Captive in the Year 1134 and was buried at Gloucester An unhappy Prince from the beginning to the End if we except two or three Years spent to his Honor in the Holy-Land But I have nothing to do with any thing relating to him but to remark that notwithstanding the great and continual Disturbance and Alarms he gave both William II and Henry yet neither of them took an Oath of Abjuration from the Nation and it is the more remarkable in Henry because that Robert had a Son called William a brave and noble Youth and a Prince of great Hopes and like enough to prove a strong Competitor to Henry's Children He was afterwards greatly favoured by the French King and married