certain Cases vouched to that purpose the first concerning the Legiance of Children to Parents which cometh not to this case because it is a Legiance of Nature and this Legiance whereof we speak is yet under a litigious Title And I suppose will in the conclusion be found to rest onely upon a Civil constitution therefore I leave that The second is That a man attainted and outlawed is nevertheless within the King's protection for this saith the Reporter is a Law of Nature Indelebilis immutabilis and neither Parliament nor Statue can take this power away fol. 13. b. 14. a. And therefore the Reporter concludes That as well the Legiance of the Subject as the Protection of him by the King are both of them from the Law of Nature An opinion that speaks much mercy yet it seems strange considering the Pen for if it be a Law of Nature and immutable for the King to protect persons attainted then must no such person suffer for if he be under the King's protection that being by a Law of Nature cannot be changed by any positive Law as the Reporter saith nor can the King be so bound by any such Statute but by a non obstante be can set himself at liberty when he pleaseth and then the issue will be this The King hath a natural power to protect the persons of Law-breakers from the power of the Law therefore much more their Estates and then farewel all Law but this of the Kings natural Protection I say that these are of a high strain considering what the Reporter speaketh elsewhere But to pursue his instance he saith That the King hath power to protect an attainted person That if any man kill him without warrant he is a Man-slayer and yet this person attainted hath lost the legal protection It is true yet not to all intents for by the Sentence of the Law his life is bound up under the Law of that Sentence viz. That he must not suffer in other manner than the Sentence determineth nor before Warrant of Execution issue forth to that end And notwithstanding the Sentence yet the Law leaveth him a liberty of Purchase or Inheritance though to the use of the Crown and therefore in some respects the Law protects his person so long as he lives and the King 's natural Protection is in vain in such cases Lastly suppose the King hath a power of Non ohstante if the same be allowed to him in a limited way by the Law it is no Argument to prove the King's natural power which is driven at under natural Legiance much less if it cannot be made forth that the Law doth allow any such power of Non obstante at all but by the iniquity of the times permitteth the same to subsist onely to avoid Contention as it came into this Kingdom by way of Usurpation And thus I have onely discovered the Foundation of this first Qualification which I shall onely leave naked supposing that no man seeing it will build at all thereupon The second Property that cometh to be considered is That English Legiance is absolute fol. 5. b. fol. 7. a. which is a word of a vast extent serving rather to amaze men's apprehensions than to enlighten them And therefore the Reporter did well not to trouble himself or the Reader in the clearing or proof thereof but lest the point rather to be believed than understood nor shall I in the Negative For God himself can have no other Legiance from an Englishman than absolute Legiance and Kings being as other men subject to erre especially in this point of Prerogative are much rather subject thereto being misled by such Doctrines as these are The Scripture determines this point and cuts the knot in sunder The third property of English Legiance which the Reporter insisteth upon is that it is indefinite which he explaineth to be Proprium quarto modo so as it is both Vniversal and Immutable fol. 5. b. fol. 12. and neither defined by Time Place or Person As touching the Time and Person the Reporter enlarged not at all therefore I shall onely leave the Reader to chew upon the point supposing himself in the first times of Edward the Fourth when Henry the Sixth was then alive and let him resolve to which of them his Legiance had been due considering them both in their natural capacity as the Reporter would have it But as touching the place it is reported that English Legiance is not onely due from an English man to an English King in England but in all places of the Kings Dominions though otherwise Forem as to the power of the Law of England Yea saith the Reporter as far as the Kings power of protection doth extend And yet this had not been enough if the Premises be granted For if this Legiance whereof we speak be absolute and omni soli semper then it is due to the King from an English man ubivis Gentium Nevertheless to take the Reporter in a moderate sence it is worth consideration whether English Legiance in the days of Edward the Third extended as far as the Kings power of Protection whenas he had the Crown of France in a Forein right to that of England In this the Reporter is extreamly positive upon many grounds which he insisteth upon First he saith that Verus and Fidelis are qualities of the mind and cannot be circumscribed within the predicament of Vbi and upon this ground he might conclude that this Legiance is due to the King from an English man all the world over as well as in all the King's Dominions But concerning the ground it may be denied for though simply in it self considered as a notion Verity or Fedility are not circumscribed in place yet being qualities of the Soul and that being in the Body in relation thereunto it may be in the predicament of Vbi for where-ever that Body and Soul is there is Faith and Truth according to its model which though not absolute and indefinite yet if according to the Laws of the place wherein the man is he is truly said to be Verus Fidelis Secondly The Reporter argueth that the King's Protection is not local or included within the bounds of England therefore also is not the Legiance for Protectio trahit Legiantiam Legiantia Protectionem Had this reason been formed into a Syllogisim it had appeared less valuable for the Protection of an English King qua talis of an English man is local and included within the bounds of the Kingdom But if the same King be also King of France or Duke of Aquitane and an English man shall travel into those parts he is still under the same King's protection yet not as King of England but as King of France or Duke of Aquitane Otherwise let the party be of France or Aquitane or England all is one he must be whether French or English under an unlimited absolute Protection without regard had
his game in that Country another plays King by your leave in this and steps into the Throne teaching the King thereby this Lesson though too late That Non-residency is dangerous for a Priest but unto a Prince fatal unless his Subjects be fast to him when he is loose to them CHAP. XIII A View of the Summary Courses of Henry the Fourth Henry the Fifth and Henry the Sixth in their several Reigns HE that played this prank was the banished Duke of Hertford Son of John of Gaunt and by his death now become Duke of Lancaster by Title and as the Times then were it proved not hard to get more For in uncertain Commonwealths it is an easie thing for a man of opinion that hath less than his due to get more than he ought As Son of John of Gaunt this Duke had the peoples good wishes he a wise and a brave man and under oppression gained the more upon the people by how much they love brave men and compassionate such as suffer wrong especially from such persons from whom they all found the like measure All these concurring with the King's absence invited the Duke to adventure himself upon the influence of the peoples favour to gain his own right and what more the people would allow him and if no more yet his Honour is saved he came for his own and attained his end Thus then he comes over without Army or Foreign Power or other help saving the advice and interest of Archbishop Arundel who was his Companion in suffering Partner in the Cause and no less welcome to the Clergie than the Duke himself was to the people and so gained power to the Duke though he brought none Upon their arrival the Aspects of all are benign the Dukedom waits for him and in that as in a Mirrour he beholds the way fair and easie yet further it pities him to see the Kingdom so torn in pieces and spoiled The people knew him able and hoped him willing to amend all they offered him their Service which he accepts and therewith the Crown So hard a thing it is for to put a stop to a Conquerour in his career By this time was the Duke of Hertford thus become Duke of Lancaster and King of England under the name of Henry the Fourth by a design that in the proof was more easie than commendable and which being effected cost more skill to make that seem fair which was so foul than to accomplish the thing He therefore first heaps together Titles enough to have buried the clamour of Usurpation if it would have succeeded Conquest was a Title freest from Dispute whilst Power holds but it looks better from a Foreign Enemy than one sworn to the English Crown and therefore after that had served his turn he disclaimed it as that which was though meet enough to have yet unmeet to hold His right by Designation from his Predecessor he glanced upon but durst not adventure it too deep into the peoples consideration whose Ancestors had formerly over-ruled the Case against King John. He then stayed upon a concealed Title from a concealed Son of Henry the Third of whom they who listed might be perswaded but few believed the thing nor did himself but thence takes his slight up to a Jus Divinum or some hidden Fate that called him to the work but even there his Wings failed him and so he falls flat upon the Peoples Election De bene esse Some of these or all together might make Title enough for a great Man that resolved to hold by hook what he had got by crook and therefore trussing them up all together he enters his claim to the Crown As coming from the Bloud Royal from King Henry and through the Right that God his Grace hath sent me with the help of my Kin and Friends to recover the same which was in point to be undone for want of good Governance and due Justice The extract of all is that he was chosen by the People and Parliament then sitting And albeit that by the Resignation of Richard the Second the Parliament might seem in strict construction of Law to be expired together with the Kings power who called them together yet did not that Parliament so apprehend the matter but proceeded not onely to definitive Sentence of deposing him but declared themselves by their Commissaries to be the Three States and Representative of the People of England maintaining thereby their subsistency by the consistence of the Members together although their Chief was for the present like a head in a Trance till they had chosen Henry the Fourth to succeed in the Throne by this means preventing the conceit of discontinuance in the very Bud of the Notion Much like his entry was his continuance a continual tide of Foreign and Domestick War and Conspiracy enough to exercise his great Courage although he was more wise than warlike being loth to take up Arms for well he knew that a sick Title never sleeps but in a Bed of Peace and more loth to lay them down For besides Victory whereby he gained upon his Enemies in time of War he knew how to make advantage of them in time of Peace to secure his Friends to keep others in awe to enforce such Laws as stood with reason of State and the present posture of Affairs and where Laws failed to fill up the period with Dictates of his own Will. And upon this account the Product was a Government full of Ulcers of Bloudshed without regard of persons whether of the Lay or Religious Order without Legal Trial or priviledge of Clerk. So was Archbishop Walden dethroned Archbishop Scroop put to death and Dukes were dismounted without Conviction or Imputation saving of the Kings displeasure Taxes multiplied although begotten they were upon the Parliament like some monstrous Births shewn to the World to let it know what could be done but concealed by Historians to let it know what may not be done Yea the Priviledges of Parliament invaded in point of Election A thing that none of his Predecessors ever exemplified to him nor none of his Successors ever imitated him in Nor had he purposed it but that he was loth the People should know more of the Government than needs must To keep off Foreign Troubles he made Peace with France for longer time than he lived yet was ever infested with the Sword of St. Paul in behalf of Richard the Second's Queen and with the Factions between the Houses of Orleans and Burgundy in which he had interested himself to preserve the Foreign Neighbourhood in Parties one against another that himself might attend his own security at home He would have moved the Scots but they were already under English Banners nor could he reach so far having so many Enemies even in his own bosom The Welsh were big with Antiquity and Mountains of Defence they begin to bethink themselves of their Antient Principality hold the Kings Arms at hard duty
And thus the Free-men yielded up their liberty of Election to the Free-holders possibly not knowing what they did nevertheless the Parliament well knew what they did this change was no less good than great For first These times were no times for any great measure of Civility The Preface of the Statute shews That the meanest held himself as good a man as the greatest in the Country and this tended to Parties Tumults and Bloudshed Secondly Where the Multitude prevail the meaner sort are upon the upper hand and these generally ignorant cannot judge of persons nor times but being for the most part led by Faction or Affection rather than by right Understanding make their Elections and thereby the general Council of this Nation less generous and noble Thirdly There is no less equity in the change than policy For what can be more reasonable than that those men onely should have their Votes in Election of the Common-Council of the Kindom whose Estates are chargeable with the publick Taxes and Assessments and with the Wages of those persons that are chosen for the publick Service But above all the rest this advancing of the Free-holders in this manner of Election was beneficial to the Free-men of England although perchance they considered not thereof and this will more clearly appear in the consideration of these three particulars First It abated the power of the Lords and great Men who held the inferiour sort at their Devotion and much of what they had by their Vote Secondly It rendred the Body of the People more brave for the advancing of the Free-holder above the Free-man raiseth the spirit of the meaner sort to publick regards and under a kind of Ambition to aspire unto the degree of a Free-holder that they may be somewhat in the Commonwealth And thus leaving the meanest rank sifted to the very bran they become less considerable and more subject to the Coercive power whilst in the mean time the Free-holder now advanced unto the degree of a Yeoman becomes no less careful to maintain correspondency with the Laws than he was industrious in the attaining of his degree Thirdly But this means now the Law makes a separation of the inferiour Clergie and Cloistered people from this service wherein they might serve particular ends much but Rome much more For nothing appeareth but that these dead persons in Law were nevertheless Free-men in Fact and lost not the liberty of their Birth-right by entring into Religion to become thereby either Bond or no Free Members of the people of England Lastly As a binding Plaister above the rest First a Negative Law is made that the persons elected in the County must not be of the degree of a Yeoman but of the most noted Knights Esquires or Gentlemen of the County which tacitly implies that it was too common to advance those of the meaner sort Whether by reason of the former wasting times Knights and Esquires were grown scant in number or by reason of their rudeness in account or it may be the Yeomanry grew now to feel their strength and meant not to be further Underlings to the great Men than they are to their Feathers to wear them no longer than they will make them brave Secondly the person thus agreed upon his Entertainment must be accordingly and therefore the manner of taxing in full County and levying the rate of Wages for their maintenance is reformed and settled And Lastly their persons are put under the protection of the Law in an especial manner for as their work is full of reflection so formerly they had met with many sad influences for their labour And therefore a penal Law is made against force to be made upon the persons of those Workmen of State either in their going to that Service or attending thereupon making such Delinquents liable to Fine and Imprisonment and double damages And thus however the times were full of Confusions yet a foundation was laid of a more uniform Government in future times than England hitherto had seen CHAP. XV. Of the Custos or Protector Regni KIngs though they have vast Dimensions yet are not infinite nor greater than the bounds of one Kingdom wherein if present they are in all places present if otherwise they are like the Sun gone down and must rule by reflexion as the Moon in the night In a mixt Commonwealth they are integral Members and therefore regularly must act Per deputatum when their persons are absent in another Legialty and cannot act Per se Partly because their Lustre is somewhat eclipsed by another Horizon and partly by common intendment they cannot take notice of things done in their absence It hath therefore been the ancient course of Kings of this Nation to constitute Vice-gerents in their absence giving them several Titles and several Powers according as the necessity of Affairs required Sometimes they are called Lord Warden or Lord Keeper of the Kingdom and have therewith the gegeral power of a King as it was with John Warren Earl of Surrey appointed thereunto by Edward the First who had not onely power to command but to grant and this power extended both to England and Scotland And Peter Gaveston though a Foreigner had the like power given him by Edward the Second over England to the reproach of the English Nobility which also they revenged afterward Sometimes these Vice-gerents are called Lieutenants which seemeth to confer onely the King's power in the Militia as a Lieutenant general in an Army And thus Richard the Second made Edmund Duke of York his Lieutenant of the Kingdom of England to oppose the entry of the Duke of Hertford afterwards called Henry the Fourth into England during the King's absence in Ireland And in the mean while the other part of the Royalty which concerned the Revenues of the Crown was betrusted to the Earl of Wiltshire Sir John Bush Sir James Baggot and Sir Henry Green unto whom men say The King put his Kingdom to farm But more ordinarily the Kings power was delegated unto one under both the Titles of Lord Guardian of the Kingdom and Lieutenant within the same such was the Title of Henry Lacy Earl of Lincoln and of Gilbert de Clare Earl of Gloucester and of Audomar de Valentia Earl of Pembrooke all of them at several times so constituted by Edward the Second as by the Patent-Rolls appeareth So likewise did Edward the Third make his Brother John of Eltham twice and the Black Prince thrice and Lionel Duke of Clarence and his Brother Thomas each of them once in the several passages of Edward the Third beyond the Sea in the third fifth twelfth fourteenth sixteenth nineteenth and thirty third years of his Reign concerning which see the Patent-Rolls of those years And Henry the Fifth gave likewise the same Title and Authority to the Duke of Bedford upon the King's Voyage into France and afterward that Duke being sent over to second the King
in the French Wars the Duke of Gloucester obtained the same power and place But Henry the Sixth added a further Title of Protector and Defender of the Kingdom and Church of England this was first given to the Duke of Bedford and afterwards he being made Regent of France it was conferred upon the Duke of Gloucester And towards the latter time of Henry the Sixth it was granted by him to Richard Duke of York This Title carried along with it a power different from that of a King onely in honour and the person so adorned may be said to sway the Scepter but not to wear the Crown And therefore in the minority of Henry the Sixth whenas the Government was ordered by the Parliament and to that end a Protector was made and he well guarded with a Privy Council and they provided with Instructions one of them was That in all matters not to be transacted ordinarily but by the King 's express consent the Privy Council should advise with the Protector But this is not so needful in regard that it concerneth the power of executing of Laws which by right of the liberty of the Subject is the known duty of the Scepter in whose hands soever it is holden And therefore I shall pass to the Legislative Power wherein it is evident that the Protector 's power was no whit inferiour to the King's power For First the Protector Ex Officio by advice of the Council did summon Parliaments by Writs even as the Kings themselves under their own Test and if they did not bear the Royal Assent yet did they direct the same and received Petitions in Parliament to them directed as to Kings and every way supplied the room of a King in order to the perfecting publishing and enforcing of Law to Execution Secondly the Parliaments holden by Protectors and Laws therein made are no whit inferiour to those by the King whether for Honour or Power And therefore if a Parliament be holden by the Lord Warden and sitting the Parliament the King in person shall arrive and be there present neither is the Parliament interrupted thereby nor the power thereof changed at all though the power and place of the Wardenship of the Kingdom doth utterly vanish by the personal access of the King because in all places where the King is subservient to the Kingdom or the Commonwealth the Lord Warden in his absence is conservient unto him being in his stead and not under him for the very place supposeth him as not because not present And this was by a Law declaratively published at such time as Henry the Fifth was Regent of France and therefore by common presumption was likely to have much occasion of residence in that Kingdom aâ—â— it holdeth in equal force with all other Laws of the highest size which is the rather to be noted because it is though under a Protector obligatory to the King and makes his personal presence no more considerable than the presence of his shadow For the King spent three whole years in the French Wars and during that time never saw England where nevertheless in that interim three Parliaments had been holden one by the Duke of Bedford and two by the Duke of Gloucester in the last of which this Law was made And in truth if we look upon this Title of the Kingdoms Guardianship in its bare Lineaments without lights and shadows it will appear little better than a Crown of Feathers worn onely for bravery and in nothing adding to the real ability of the governing part of this Nation Neither were the persons of these Magnificoes so well deserving nor did the Nation expect any such matter from them Edward the First was a wise King and yet in his absence chose Edward the Second to hold that place he being then not above fourteen years of age Afterwards Edward the Second's Queen and the Lords of her party were wise enough in their way and yet they chose Edward the Third to be their Custos Regni then not fourteen years old his Father in the mean time being neither absent from the Kingdom nor deposed but onely dismissed from acting in the administration of the Government Edward the Third follows the same example he first makes his Brother John of Eltham Custos Regni and this he did at two several times once when he was but Eleven years old afterwards when he was about Fourteen Then he made his Son the Black Prince upon several occasions three times Lord-Warden of the Kingdom once he being about Nine years old and again when he was Eleven years old and once when about Fourteen years old Lastly Edward the Third appointed his Son Lionel Duke of Clarence unto this place of Custos Regni when as he was scarce Eight years old all which will appear upon the comparing their Ages with the several Rolls of 25 E. 1. 3 5 12 14 26. 19 E. 3. If therefore the work of a Custos Regni be such as may be as well done by the Infants of Kings as by the wisest Counsellor or most valiant man it is in my opinion manifest that the place is of little other use to this Commonwealth than to serve as an attire to a comely person to make it seem more fair because it is in fashion nor doth it advance the value of a King one grain above what his Personal endowments do deserve Hitherto of the Title and Power the next consideration will be of the original Fountain from whence it is derived wherein the Precedents are clear and plain that ordinarily they are the next and immediate Off-spring of Kings if they be present within the four Seas to be by them enabled by Letters-Patents or Commission But whether present or absent the Parliament when it sate did ever peruse their Authority and if it saw need changed enlarged or abridged both it and them Thus was the Duke of Gloucester made Lord Warden in the time of Henry the Fifth he being then in France in the room of the Duke of Bedford The like also in Henry the Sixth's time when as the King was young for then the Parliament made the Duke of Bedford Lord Warden and added unto that Title the Title of Protector Afterward at the Duke's going over into France they committed that service to the Duke of Gloucester if I forget not the nature of the Roll during the Duke of Bedford's absence and with a Salvo of his right Not unlike hereunto was the course that was taken by the Parliament in these sullen later times of Henry the Sixth whereof more hereafter in the next Paragraph Lastly The limitation of this high power and Title is different according to the occasion for the Guardianship of the Kingdom by common intendment is to endure no longer than the King is absent from the Helm either by voluntary deserting the work or employment in Foreign parts though united they be under the Government of the same King together
affection or now much less finding his Body diseased and his Mind lingering after unlawful game On the other side the King not finding that content in her Person especially after her supposed Conception that he expected looked to his own Interest apart from hers and thereby taught her to do the like And this she thought cost England the loss of Callis and he Spain the loss of many advantages that might have been obtained and was expected from this Conjunction Thus by the several Interests between the King Regnant and the Queen Regent the Government of England became like a Knot dissolving neither fast nor loose Towards the People she might well be reserved if not rigid for she knew her entry was not very acceptable though accepted and that her Design was contrary to her Engagements and therefore it was vain to think to please her self and pleasure them Nor did she much busie her thoughts therewith that abominated trick of Impost upon Merchandize she brought into fashion which had by many publick Acts been damned for the space of two hundred years This was done without either shame or fear for if the People turned head she knew she had a good reserve from Spain and the People might very well consider of that though for her part she desired not much to improve that Foreign Interest because she might well see that Spain designed to keep England so far beneath that France might not get above And that Philip neither loved the double Crown of England no nor the Triple Crown at Rome otherwise than in order to that of Spain This distance between her and her King wrought her to a more nigh dependency upon her Council and English Nobility and so became less discerned in her Government although questionless she did much and wanted not Wisdom or Courage to have done more but that she was not wholly her own Woman All men do agree that she was devout in her kind of Profession and therein as deeply engaged as her Brother Edward had been in his though it may be he out of tenderness of Conscience but she out of a Spanish kind of gravity that endures not change and whereunto she was well aided by her Clergie who were her beloved for her Mothers sake and now also so much the more sowre by how much the nigher to the bottom It is the less wonder therefore if the Zeal of these times burnt into a flame that at length consumed even those that kindled it In one thing more above all the rest she acted the part of her Sex rather than that of her Place and the same contrary to the advice of her Ghostly Fathers and all Rules of Policy and the Agreement between her King and self upon Marriage which was the engaging of England in the War at St. Quintins against the French contrary to the National League formerly made Nevertheless the Issue was but suitable for though the English obtained their part of the Honour of that day yet in the consequence they lost Callis the last foot that the English had in France henceforth England must be content with a bare Title As this was deserved so was it also reserved by the Queen to make the world believe that she died for grief therefore as a Mother of her Country although her bodily Disease contracted by a Conception wherein she beguiled both her self and the world concurred thereto In sum the worst that can be said of her is this That she was ill-principled and the best That she acted according to her Principles And so lived an uncomfortable Life shaped a bloudy Reign and had but a dim Conclusion The Night was now spent and Queen Elizabeth like the Morning-Star rising into the Throne sent forth the benignant Influence of both her Predecessors and many ways excelled them both She was begotten in a heat against Rome wherein also she was born and trained up by her Father and Brother Edward's Order and saw enough in her Sisters course to confirm her therein for Queen Mary was not very Catholick in her Throne though she was in her Oratory Nevertheless Queen Elizabeth's course hereunto was very strange and might seem in outward respects to lead her quite wide for her youth was under a continual yoke her Mother dead whiles she was at the breast her Father owning her no further than as his Child born of a rebellious woman never intending her for the Crown so long as any hope was left of any other With her age the Yoke grew more heavy her Brother Edward being but of the half-bloud except in point of Religion might respect her at a distance beyond his Mothers Family But this lasted not long her Sister Mary comes next of a stranger bloud to her than her Brother was looking ever back upon her as one too nigh her heel and more ready to tread upon her Train than support it The difference in Religion between them two added yet further Leven and this occasioned from her Sister to her many sowre reflections bitter words harsh usage concluding with Imprisonment and not without danger of Death All which Queen Elizabeth saw well made the less noise in Religion walked warily and resolved with patience to endure the brunt For she might perceive by her Father's Will that her way to the Crown if ever she arrived at the end must be through a Field of Bloud and though she knew her change of Religion might make the way more plain yet God kept her in a patient waiting until the set time was come Thus passing over her Minority with little experience of youthful Pleasures she had the happiness to have the less sense of youthful Lusts which meeting with natural Endowments of the larger size rendred her the goodliest Mirrour of a Queen Regent that ever the Sun shone upon God adding thereto both Honour and Continuance above all that ever sate in that Throne Her entrance was with more joy to others than her self for she kept her pace as treading amongst Thorns and was still somewhat reserved even in matters of Religion though she was known to be devout She had observed that the hasty pace both of her Brother and Sister brought early Troubles before either of them were well setled in their Throne And therefore whereas her Sister first set up the Mass and then endeavoured to settle it by Disputes she contrarily first caused the point to be debated and thereby gained liking to lay it aside It is true the Moderatorship in that Dispute was imposed upon a Lay-man as their term is but his work being to hold the Disputants to order in debate and not to determine the point in Controversie which thing was left to the Auditory might therefore more rationally be done by him than censured by an Historian that shall undertake to judge them all The first step thus made one made way for another till the whole became levened Her proceedings against Opposers were with much lenity rather overlooking than
the Opponents Instances which King called a Council stiled Commune Concilium tam Cleri quam Populi and in the conclusion of the same a Law is made upon the like occasion Si Rex Populum Convocaverit c. In both which it is evident that in those times there were Councils holden by the People as well as by the Magnates or Optimates His next instance is in the year 694 which is of a Council holden by the Great men but no mention of the Commons and this he will have to be a Parliament albeit that he might have found both Abbatesses or Women and Presbyters to be Members of that Assembly and for default of better attested the Conclusions of the same notwithstanding the Canon Nemo militans Deo c. But I must also mind him that the same Author reciteth a Council holden by King Ina Suasu omnium Aldermannorum Seniorum Sapientum Regni and it is very probable that all the Wise men of the Kingdom were not included within the Lordly Dignity The third instance can have no better success unless he will have the Pope to be allowed power to call a Parliament or allow the Archbishop power to do that service by the Pope's command for by that Authority this whatever it be was called if we give credit to the Relations of Sir Henry Spelman who also reciteth another Council within three leaves foregoing this called by Withered at Barkhamstead unto which the Clergie were summoned Qui cum viris utique militaribus communi omnium assensu has leges decrevere So as it seemeth in those times Souldiers or Knights were in the Common Councils as well as other Great Men. In the next place he bringeth in a Council holden in the year 747 which if the Archbishop were then therein President as it is said in the presence of the King was no Parliament but a Church-mote and all the Conclusions in the same do testifie no less they being every one concerning Ecclesiastical matters And furthermore before this time the Author out of whom he citeth this Council mentioneth another Council holden by Ina the Saxon-King in the presence of the Bishops Princes Lords Earls and all the wise old men and People of the Kingdom all of them concluding of the intermarriage between the Brittons Picts and Saxons which formerly as it seemeth was not allowed And the same King by his Charter mentioned by the same Penman noteth that his endowment of the Monastery of Glastenbury was made not onely in the presence of the Great Men but Cumpraesentia populationis and he saith that Omnes confirmaverunt which I do not mention as a work necessary to be done by the Parliament yet such an one as was holden expedient as the case then stood Forty years after he meeteth with another Council which he supposeth to be a Parliament also but was none unless he will allow the Pope's Legate power to summon a Parliament It was holden in the year 787 and had he duly considered the return made by the Pope's Legate of the Acts of that Council which is also published by the same Author he might have found that the Legate saith That they were propounded in publick Council before the King Archbishop and all the Bishops and Abbots of the Kingdom Senators Dukes or Captains and People of the Land and they all consented to keep the same Then he brings in a Council holden in the year 792. which he would never have set down in the List of Parliaments if he had considered how improper it is to construe Provinciale tenuit Concilium for a Parliament and therefore I shall need no further to trouble the Reader therewith The two next are supposed to be but one and the same and it is said to be holden Anno 974 before nine Kings fifteen Bishops twenty Dukes c. which for ought appears may comprehend all England and Scotland and is no Parliament of one Nation but a Party of some Nations for some great matter no doubt yet nothing in particular mentioned but the solemn laying the Foundation of the Monastery of Saint Albans What manner of Council the next was appeareth not and therefore nothing can be concluded therefrom but that it was holden in the year 797. That Council which is next produced and in the year 800 and is called in great Letters Concilium Provinciale which he cannot Grammatically construe to be a Parliament yet in the Preface it is said that there were Viri cujuscunque dignitatis and the King in his Letters to the Pope saith concerning it Visum est cunctis gentis Nostrae sapientibus so as it seemeth by this and other Examples of this nature that though the Church-motes invented the particular conclusions yet it was left to the Wittagenmote to judge and conclude them There can be no question but the next three Precedents brought by the Opponent were all of them Church-mates For the first of them which is said to be holden in the year 816 is called a Synod and both Priests and Deacons were there present which are no Members of Parliament consisting onely of the House of Lords and they all of them did Pariter tractare de necessariis utilitatibus Ecclesiarum The second of them is called a Synodal Council holden Anno 822 and yet there were then present Omnium dignitatum Optimates which cannot be understood onely of those of the House of Lords because they ought all to be personally present and therefore there is no Optimacy amongst them The last of these three is called Synodale Conciliabulum a petty Synod in great Letters and besides there were with the Bishops and Abbots many wise men and in all these respects it cannot be a Parliament onely of the great Lords The next Council said to be holden in the year 823 cannot also be called properly a Parliament but onely a Consultation between two Kings and their Council to prevent the invasion of the Danes and the attests of the Kings Chaplain and his Scribe do shew also that they were not all Members of the House of Lords The Council cited by the Opponent in the next place was holden Anno 838 being onely in nature of a Council for Law or Judicature to determine the validity of the King 's Grant made to the Church of Canterbury which is no proper work for a Parliament unless it befal during the sitting of the same The next is but a bare title of a Council supposed to be holden Anno 850 and not worth its room for it neither sheweth whether any thing was concluded nor what the Conclusions were The work of the next Council alleadged to be holden Anno 851 was to confirm the Charter of the Monastery of Croyland and to determine concerning affairs belonging to the Mercians and if it had been a Parliament for that people it might be worthy of enquiry how regularly the Archbishop of Canterbury and the
Yoke is easie and Burthen light But their motion proved so irregular as God was pleased to reduce them by another way CHAP. XLIV Of the Norman entrance THus was England become a goodly Farm The Britons were the Owners the Saxons the Occupants having no better title than a possession upon a forcible entry with a continuando for the space of Four hundred years seldom quiet either from the claim and disturbances of the restless Britons or invading Danes who not onely got footing in the Country but setled in the Throne and after gave over the same to the use as it proved of another people sprung from the wilde stock of Norway and thence transplanted into a milder Climate yet scarcely civilized That in one Isle the glory of God's bounty might shine forth to all the barbarism of Europe in making a beautiful Church out of the refuse of Nations These were the Normans out of the continent of France that in their first view appeared like the Pillar of the Cloud with terrour of Revenge upon the Danish pride the Saxon cruelty and Idolatry of both people But after some distance shewed like the Pillar of fire clearing God's providence for the good of this Island to be enjoyed by the succeeding generations Nor was this done by Revelation or Vision but by over-ruling the aspiring mind of Duke William of Normandy to be a scourge unto Harold for his usurpation and unto the people for their causless deserting the Royal Stem Yet because the haughtiest spirit is still under fame and opinion and cannot rest without pretence or colour of Right and Justice the Duke first armed himself with Titles which were too many to make one good claim and served rather to busie mens mindes with musing whilst he catcheth the prey than settle their judgements in approving of his way First he was Cousin-german to the Confessor and he childless and thus the Duke was nigh though there were nigher than he but the worst point in the case was that the Duke was a Bastard and so by the Saxon Law without the line nor was there other salve thereto but the Norman custom that made no difference so as the Duke had a colour to frame a Title though England had no Law to allow it And this was the best flower of his Garland when he meant to solace himself with the English as may appear by what his Son Henry the first sets forth to the World in his Charter whereby he advanced the Abbey of Ely into the degree of a Bishoprick and wherein amongst his other titles he calls himself Son of William the great Qui Edwardo Regi successit in regnum jure haereditario But if that came short he had the bequest of the Confessor who had designed the Duke to be his Successor and this was confirmed by the consent of the Nobility and principally of Harold himself who in assurance thereof promised his Sister to the Duke in marriage This countenanced a double Title one by Legacy the other by Election and might be sufficient if not to make the Duke's title just yet Harold's the more unjust and to ground that quarrel that in the conclusion laid the Duke's way open to the Crown And for the better varnish the Duke would not be his own Judge he refers his Title to be discussed at the Court of Rome and so flattered the Pope with a judicatory power amongst Princes a trick of the new stamp whereby he obtained sentence in his own behalf from the infallible Chair The Pope glad hereof laid up this amongst his Treasures as an Estoppel to Kings for times to come And the King made no less benefit of Estoppel against the English Clergie that otherwise might have opposed him and of assurance of those to him that were his friends and of advantage against Harold that had gotten the Crown sine Ecclesiastica authoritate and by that means had made Pope Alexander and all the Prelates of England his Enemies But if all failed yet the Duke had now a just cause of quarrel against Harold for breach of Oath and Covenant wherein if Harold chanced to be vanquished and the Crown offered it self fair he might without breach of conscience or modesty accept thereof and be accounted happy in the finding and wise in the receiving rather than unjustly hardy in the forcing thereof And this might occasion the Duke to challenge Harold to single Combat as if he would let all the World know that the quarrel was Personal and not National But this mask soon fell off by the death of Harold and the Duke must now explain himself that it was the value of the English Crown and not the Title that brought him over For though he might seem as it were in the heat of the chase to be drawn to London where the Crown was and that he rather sought after his Enemies than it yet assoon as he perceived the Crown in his power he disputed not the right although that was Edgar's but possessed himself of the long-desired prey and yet he did it in a mannerly way as if he saw in it somewhat more than Gold and precious Stones for though he might have taken it by ravishment yet he chose the way of wooing by a kind of mutual agreement Thus this mighty Conqueror suffered himself to be conquered and stooping under the Law of a Saxon King he became a King by lieve wisely foreseeing that a Title gotten by Election is more certain than that which is gotten by Power CHAP. XLV That the Title of the Norman Kings to the English Crown was by Election SOme there are that build their opinion upon passionate notes of angry Writers and do conclude that the Duke's way and Title was wholly by Conquest and thence infer strange aphorisms of State destructive to the Government of this Kingdom Let the Reader please to peruse the ensuing particulars and thence conclude as he shall see cause It will easily be granted that the Title of Conquest was never further than the King's thoughts if it ever entred therein else wherefore did he pretend other Titles to the world But because it may be thought that his wisdom would not suffer him to pretend what he intended and yet in practice intended not what he did pretend it will be the skill of the Reader to consider the manner of the first William's Coronation and his succeeding Government His Coronation questionless was the same with that of the ancient Saxon Kings for he was crowned in the Abbey of Westminster by the Archbishop of York because he of Canterbury was not Canonical At his Coronation he made a solemn Covenant to observe those Laws which were bonae approbatae antiquae legis Regni to defend the Church and Church-men to govern all the people justly to make and maintain righteous Laws and to inhibit all spoil and unjust judgements The people also entred into Covenant with him That as well within the
of Edward the Sixth Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth WE are at length come within sight of the shore where finding the Currents various and swift and the Waves rough I shall first make my course through them severally and then shall bring up the general Account of the Reigns of One King and Three Governours The King was a Youth of about Ten years old yet was older than he seemed by Eleven years for he had all the Ammunition of a wise King and in one respect beyond all his Predecessors that made him King indeed By the Grace of God. He was the onely Son of Henry the Eighth yet that was not all his Title he being the first President in the point of a young Son and two elder Daughters by several venters the eldest of whom was now thirty years old able enough to settle the Government of a distracted Nation and the Son so young as by an Act of Parliament he was disabled to settle any Government at all till he should pass the Fifteenth year of his Reign But the thing was setled in the life-time of his Father whose last Will though it speak the choce yet the Parliament made the Election and declared it The condition of this King's Person was every way tender born and sustained by extraordinary means which could never make his days many or Reign long His spirit was soft and tractable a dangerous temper in an ill air but being fixed by a higher principle than nature yielded him and the same beautified with excellent endowments of Nature and Arts and Tongues he out-went all the Kings in his time of the Christian world His Predecessors provided Apparel and Victual to this Nation but he Education and thereby fitted it to overcome a fiery Trial which soon followed his departure The Model of his Government was as tender as himself scarce induring to see his Funeral ready for every change subject to tumults and Rebellions an old trick that ever attends the beginning of Reformation like the Wind the Sun-rising The diversity of Interests in the Great men especially in point of Religion for the most part first set these into motion for some of them had been so long maintained by the Romish Law that they could never endure the Gospel and yet the different Interests in matters of State made the greater noise All was under a protector fitly composed to the Kings mind but ill matched with rugged humorous aspiring minds whereof one that should have been the Protectors great Friend became his fatal Enemy and though he were his Brother to prejudice his Interest pawned his own blood The other which was the Duke of Northumberland had his will but missed his end for having removed the Protector out of the way and gotten the chief power about the King yet could he not hold long what he had gotten for the King himself after Sixteen months decaying went into another world and left the Duke to stand or fall before some other Power which came to pass upon the entry of the next Successor The greatest trouble of his Government arose from the prosecution of a design of his Grandfather Henry the Seventh for the uniting of the two Crowns of England and Scotland by marriage and setling an enduring Peace within this Isle and unto this Work all were Aiders in both Nations but the Enemies of both But God's ways are not as Man 's it is a rare Example to find out one Marriage that did ever thrive to this end England meaned well in proffering Love but the Wooing was ill-favouredly carried on by so much Bloud Lastly As the Government was now tender so was it carried with much compliance with the People which ever gives occasion to such of them that are irregular to be more and such as are well governed to be less because though pleasing it be yet it is with less awe and spirit which renders their obedience at the best but careless and idle unless such as are very consciencious be the more careful over their own ways by how much their Superiours are the less NOT thus was Queen Mary but like a Spaniard she over-ruled all Relations and Engagements by Design she was about Forty years old and yet unmarried when she came to the Throne it may seem she wanted a mind to that course of life from natural abstinency or was loath to adventure her Feature which was not excellent to the Censure of any Prince of as high degree as she held her self to be or her value was not known so as to persons of meaner Interests she might seem too much above and to those of greater too much beneath Or possibly her Father was loath to let the world know her Title to the Crown till needs must or to raise up a Title for another man so long as he had hope of a Son of his own to succeed him and yet had formerly designed her for a Wife to Charles the Fifth and afterwards to the Dauphine of France Or it may be her self had set a command of her self not to change her Estate till she saw the course of the Crown either to or fro However the time is now come that she must marry or adventure her Womanhood upon an uncertain and troublesome state of Affairs She liked the Lord Courtnee above the Prince of Spain but feared he would not design with her She held him not unmeet for her degree for she feared he was good enough for her Sister that then also had the Title of a Kingdom waiting so nigh her person as she was an Object of Hope to her Friends and Fear to her Enemies And yet Queen Mary married the Prince of Spain It may be it ran in the Bloud to marry into their own Bloud or rather she was thereto led by reason of State partly to enable her with greater security in the resetling of her Kingdom in the Popish Religion wherein she knew she had to do with a People not easie to be reduced where Conscience pretended Reluctancy and partly to assure her Dominion against the Out-works of the French and Scotish designs And so she yielded up the Supremacy of her Person to the Prince of Spain but thanks to the Nobility the Supremacy of the Kingdom was reserved to her own use for it was once in her purpose to have given up all to the man rather than to miss of the man. And yet their condition was not much comfortable to either The Peoples dislike of the Match sounded so loud abroad that when the Prince was to come over the Emperour his Father demanded fifty Pledges for his Sons safety during his abode in this Land which was also denied When he was come over the English fear the Spanish Tyranny and the Spanish the old Saxon entertainment of the Danes So both lie at their close guards as after some time the King and Queen did no less for the Queen was either never earnest in her