Surrey 23. King Edgar's Charter of donation of certain Thane-lands 19. Another Charter granted by him to the Monastery of Hide near Winchester 20. By whose advice his Laws were made 61. King Edward the elder how he propos'd his Laws 61. The first that prohibited Law business on Festivals 77. King Edward the Confessor's Charter of donation to Thola 20. Several priviledges granted to the Cinque-Ports 26. His Laws by whom collected 61. His Constitution touching Festivals 79. Edward Earl of Norfolk and Marshal of England 168. Dyed in his minority ibid. Edwin son of Othulf gave certain lands to Arch-bishop Odo 29. Elfere a Saxon bequeath'd Snodland to the Church of St. Andrews 128. Publish'd his Will before Odo Arch-bishop of Canterbury c. 130. Elfstane Bishop of Rochester 130. Elfsy Priest of Croyden 130. Ellingham 161. Elmham 150. Erpingham 151. Erpingham Tho. Commissioner for executing the Office of Earl Marshal of England 169. Escheats the signification of the word 37. No feodal Escheats among the Saxons 37 38. Escuage what in the Empire 36. Neither its name nor rules us'd by the Saxons 37. Essoyning the manner of it not in use before the Conquest 27. King Ethelbald's Charter to the Monks of Croyland 22. Ethelbert the first Christian King of the Saxons 8. He causes his Laws to be put in writing ibid. He took somewhat from the Roman law 102 Etheldreda daughter of K. Alfred her dowry 8. King Etheldred ordain'd every eight Hides of land to find a man for the naval Expedition 17. His Charter of donation to Aethelwold 19. Another Charter granted by him to his Thane Sealwyne ibid. King Ethelstane whom he consulted in making his Laws 61. King Ethelwulfs Charter of priviledges 23. He divided his lands by Will among his three sons 128. Euricus King of the Goths 102. Exauctoratio Militis 185. Expeditio what it signifies in Latin 17. F Fakenham 150. Fasti or Law days among the Romans why so nam d. 72. Seldom two Fasti together 75. Fasti proprie ibid. Fasti intercisi ibid. Fasti Comitiales ibid. All the Fasti not apply'd to Judicature ibid. Fealty the definition of it 35. No Fealty but for a fee. 36. What manner of Fealty among the Saxons ibid. Felbrig 152. Felewell 161. Feodal words none among the Saxons 7 8 9. Feorme what it signifies in the Saxon tongue 15 Ferdwite 37. Festa majora vel principalia 91. Festivals how exempted from Law days 76. The differences of them 91. The Festivals of St. Peter and Paul 92. Of St. George 93. Of Gun-powder Treason ibid. A Feud what it is 1. It s general and particular definition 2. Feuds among the Jews ibid. Among the Gauls 3 Their original 4. Made perpetual and hereditary 5. When and how they became so ibid. Especially in England ibid. The difference between them and Benefices 6 9. The great growth of them ibid. No proper Feuds before the Conquest ibid. Feudal-law generally receiv'd in every Kingdom 5. It s youth infancy and full age 9. Where it had its original ibid. Feudatarii 9. Feudum militare nobile 4. Rusticum ignobile ibid. Feuda majora regalia ibid. The word Feudum or Feodum not us'd in K. Beorredus's days 9. Fideles who 4. Fidelity what 59. Fines for Licence of alienation 33. The Thane-lands free from them ibid. Not in use among the Saxons 34. Fitz-Alan Jo. Lord Maltravers Marshal of England 168. Fitz-Osborn Will. Lord Marshal to King William the Conquerour 165. Flegg 154. Flitcham 145. Flitchamburrough 52 145. Folcland what 12. Not alienated without licence 33 34. Free from homage 35. Ford-Park 110. Forests belong to the King alone 118. Subjects can have 'em only in custody ibid. Fouldage 162. Franc-almoin 2 7. Frank-tenements 12. Freeborgs or Tithings 51. Frekenham 153. G Garbulsham 158. Gavelkind what and why so call'd 12. Observ'd throughout all Kent 43. At first the general Law of all Nations ibid. Germans their Customs and Tenures carry'd into several Countries 5. They receiv'd the Roman Law 127. Gey-wood 143. Gilbert the third son of William the King's Marshal 166. Made Marshal of England ibid. Kill'd in a Tournament ibid. Gimmingham 152. Goths carry the German Laws into Spain Greece c. 5. They were the first that put their Laws in writing 102. Trusted Priests with the passing of wills 130 Government the ancient Government of England 49. c. 53. Grand-days in France and England 92. Grand Serjeanty 2. Grantesmale Hugh Marshal under K. William I. 165. Greeks from whom they had much of their ancient Rites 74 127. Gresham 152. Gressenhall 150. Grey Rad. de exauctoratur 185. Guthrun the Dane 61 77. H Hales 156. Harkela Andr. de exauctoratur 185. Harleston ibid. Hartlebury-park 110. Hawkins Pet Keeper of Bramsil-park wounded by Arch-bishop Abbot 109 c. Hengham 157. King Henry I. imprison'd the Bishop of Durham 62. His Constitution about Festivals and Law-days 81. King Henry II. ratify'd the Laws of Edw. the Confess and Will the Conquerour 81. Henry Bishop of Winchester conven'd K. Stephen to his Synod 132. Heribannum what 17. Heriots paid after the death of great Men. 31 32 To whom forgiven 32. The difference between them and Reliefs 32 33. By whom and when first ordain'd 32. What the word Heriot signifies ibid. Heriots and Reliefs issuing out of the same lands 33. No badge of lands held by Knight-service ibid. Heydon 151. High Courts see Court of Justice Hikifricus Pugil quidam Norfolciensis 138. Hilary-Term its ancient bounds 82 83. The end of it sometimes held in Septuagesima 95. Hockwold 161. Holkham 149. Holland Tho Marshal of England 168. Holland Tho. Earl of Kent Duke of Norfolk 169. Made Earl Marshal of England ibid. Holland Tho. Farl Marshal of England during the minority of John Mowbray 165. Holme in Norfolk 147 152 Homage by whom first instituted 5. Feodal homage 34. Of two sorts ibid. When begun in France and England ibid. The reason of it 34 35. Who are to do it 35. Usual in Soccage-tenure 35. As well a personal as a praedial duty ibid. Homines commendati 35. Hominium homagium what 34. Homagium ligeum ibid Feodale aut praediale ibid. Hoveden Roger when he wrote 31. Howard Sir John Kt. created Duke of Norfolk and Earl Marshal of England 17â— Slain in Bosworth-field ibid. Howard Tho. the son of the former Earl of Surrey 170. Imprison'd in the Tower ibid. Defeated the Scotch under K. Henry VII ibid Made Lord Treasurer of England and restor'd to his fathers dignities ibid. Kill'd James IV. K. of Scotland in battel ib. Sent Ambassadour into France ibid. Made Vice-Roy of England ibid. Where he dy'd ibid. Howard Tho. the fourth Duke of Norfolk of that name and Earl Marshal of England 1â—1 Howard Tho. the Grand-son of the former Earl of Arundel and Surrey ibid. The first Earl of England ibid. Made Earl Marshal for life ibid. Hugh Bishop of Coventry exercis'd the Sheriffs place 116. Excommunicated ibid. De Humâ—z
in Shoe-lane by a Lease from the Bishop of that See temp Edw. VI. yeilding some Rose or other small or not valuable Rent 19. The Bishop of LINCOLN'S Place was Southampton-house in Holborn convey'd temp Edw. VI. to the Lord Writoheseley then Lord Chancellor in fee for which the Bishop hath no other house in or near London as is thought 20. The Bishop of CHICHESTERS Place or Palace as Matthew Paris in his Chronicle calleth it reciting the story of the Lord Arch-bishop of Canterbury visiting St. Bartholomews did at that time lye in that house which was in Chancery-lane where Sir Richard Read sometime a Master of the Chancery and Mr. Atkinson the Counsellor at Law and others dwelt and dwell in and is said to be in Lease from the Bishop's Predecessors for divers years What the Rents reserv'd yearly be the Lease will shew the same 21. The Bishop of St. ASAPH never had Place at or near London that I can learn of neither in the valuation of the See where all his Possession and Jurisdictions be valu'd in the First-fruit-office is there mention of any such Place neither doth the now Bishop of that See know the same 22. The Bishop of the ISLE OF MAN call'd Sodorensis Episcopus altho' the same be an ancient Bishoprick yet was he never Lord of the Parliament of England having no Chapter or other Clergy but only an Archdeacon and all the Incumbents of the several Parishes of that Isle And before the said Statute of 33. Hen. VIII was neither a Suffragan of the Province of Were wont in former times to ride on Mares or Mules 119. Prohibited to take cognizance of Wills 129. Blackney Harbour 151. Blicking 151. The birth place of Q. Anna Bullen ibid. Bocland what 12. Not subject to Homage 35. Bond-men anciently not valu'd or rated 15. Reputed only as part of their Master's substance 11 15. Boors who 14. Bouthorpe 157. Bramsil 108 109. Brancaster 147 148. Breakspear Nich. converted Norway 139. Made Cardinal and Pope ibid. Breclys 161. Brennus a Britain invades Greece 3. His attendants ibid. Brictrick a Saxon Thane 22. Britains none of 'em remaining after Cadwallador's departure 100. Their Laws alter'd by the Romans 101. Bronholm 152. Brotherton Tho. Earl of Norfolk and Earl Marshal of England 167. When he dy'd 168. Buckenham 158. Burg-Castle 155. Burghesses of old not call'd to consult of State-matters 64 65. Burghbote and Brugbote 17 22 40. Burnham in Norfolk 149. Burnham-East in Com. Bucks 23. By what it signifies 3. 154. By-laws 3 154. C Cadwallader Prince of the Britains fled into Armorica 100. Calthorp 151. King Canutus how he publish'd his Laws 61. His Constitution touching Festivals 79. Capet Hugh usurpt the Kingdom of France 5 He grants his Nobility a perpetual enjoyment of their Feuds and Honours ibid. 14. Capitales plagii 52. Capitanei Regis regni 58. Caput feodi aut Capitaneus feodi 11. Carbrook 161. Carolus Calvus Emperour and King of France his Synodical Edict 54 55. Carolus Magnus or Charlemaigne divided his Territories between his three Sons 128. Castle-acre 141. Castle-rising in Norfolk the Parson has the Probate of Wills in that Town 130. Caston 151. Castor 155 156. Ceorls who 12. Of two sorts 14. The chiefest part of their profits redounded to their Lords ibid. Their service no bondage ibid. Their valuation and priviledges ibid. Not capable of a Knights Fee ibid. Champain in France 128. Chancery-Court 94. Charta de Foresta 109 114. Charter the first by whom made and where kept 8. Saxon Charters usually writ in that Language ibid. Charters of Thane-lands granted by several Kings 19 20. Chichley Henr. Arch-bishop of Canterbury canoniz'd St. George's day 93. The occasion of that Constitution ibid. Chindavintus King of the western Goths his Law concerning Wills 130. Cingulum quo sensu accipiendum 185. Cinque-Ports priviledges granted to them by King Edward the Confessour c. 26. Clacklose-Hundred 139. Clergy-men forbidden to use hunting 109 112 113. seq When they took upon them to prove Wills 129. Prohibited by Justinian to meddle with those matters ibid. Cley harbour 151. De Clifford Rob. Marshal of England 167. K. Canute's Charter of donation to the Thane Orc. 20. Coin of England in Q. Elisabeth's time 203 c. Colloquia 65. Comites who and why so call'd 3. Commendati 35. Congham 145. Conradus Salicus made a Constitution touching Feuds 4 5. Consecration a strange one of Eadmer a Monk of Canterbury 119. Consilium regni 60. Controversies among the ancient Britains by whom judg'd 74. Conveyance of lands how made by the Saxons 8. Cosshering what 60. Cossey 157. Counties in England 5. County-Courts how often kept 54. Were proclaim'd a sennight beforehand ib. Earl's County and Bishop's Diocess had but one limit 130 131. Ecclesiastical and Secular causes there decided 131. Court-Baron 4. It s Original 51. Court-Leet 51. Sometimes granted to the Lords of Mannours ibid. Court-Christian or Ecclesiastical when it sprung up 131 132. High Courts of Justice why they sit not in the Afternoons 89 90. Why they sit not all some days 90 91. Why they sit on the Rogation days ibid. Why on some Festivals and not on others 91 The Admiralty-Court why always open 94. Chancery-Court said to be always open ib. Cowshil 153. Creak 149. Cromer 152. Crostwick 153. Crowner's Office not before the Conquest 27. D Dane-blood 149. Dane-law 45. Danes not capable of devising lands by will 22 David I. King of Scotland and Earl of Huntingdon 11 131. Dean his Office and Functions 50. The priviledges of a Bishop's Dean ibid. Deerham West 140. Defensor Plebis 129. Degradatio Militis 185. Deira a Province 13. Demains or Demesne what 12. Ancient Demesnes had not any lands by Knight-service 44 57. D'Evreux Robert Earl of Essex Viscount Bourchier c. 171. Sent into Spain with an army ibid. Storm'd Cadiz ibid. Created Marshal of England ibid. Made Lord Deputy of Ireland ibid. When beheaded ibid. Dies juridici 72 73. Dies feriales 72. Dies pacis Ecclesiae ibid. 79. 82. Dies pacis Regis ibib 82. Dies novem Lectionum 91. Dies feriati repentini 93. Dower why judg'd to belong to the Ecclesiastical Court 132. Downham 140. Druides who 74. The sole Judges of controversies among the old Britains 74. Suppos'd to have us'd the Greek tongue 103 Had no knowledge of the Latin ibid. Dudley John Duke of Northumberland and Earl Marshal of England 170. E Eadmere a Monk of Canterbury made Arch-bishop of St. Andrews in Scotland 119. King Eadwigus's Charter of Thane-lands granted to Aelswine 19. Earl Marshals of England 169 170 171. Earl of a County see Alderman Earldoms not hereditary in ancient times 13. Earldoms in France ibid. 14. Earls among the Saxons 13 14. Earl no title of dignity anciently 13. Their Office depended on the King's pleasure ibid. An Earls Heriot 31. Easter-Term how limited anciently 83. Easter-week when exempted from Law business 76. Ebsam in
Richard Tribunus Regis or Marshal to King Henry II. 166. Hundradors 51. Hundreds their original 50. Hundred Courts 51. Hunting forbidden to Clergy-men 109 112 113 114 115. Hydes what 17. When disus'd 4â— I Ibreneys Rad. de 190. Iceni 135. Eorum nomina derivatio ibid. Icenia 135. Ejusdem termini ibid. Coelum solum 13â— Ina King of the West Saxons adjusted the quantity of Rent for every Plough-land 15. By whose advice he made his Laws 61. Made a strict Law against working on Sundays 57. Ingolsthorp 146. Inland what 12. Intwood 157. K. John's Magna Charta 63. John Marshal to King Henry I. 165. Irregularity of Clergy-men wherein it consists 109 112. I se fluvius unde dictus 135. Ejusdem aestus 139. Islepe Sim Arch-bishop of Canterbury 90. Jury taken out of several Hundreds in a County 53. Jurours prohibited to have meat c. till agreed of their Verdict 89. Jus Gentium 2. Justices of Evre when instituted 27. Justinian the Emperor when he flourish'd 129. He prohibited Clergy-men to take cognizance of Wills ibid. Justitium what 72. K Keninghall 158. Kent the custom of Gavelkind in that County 43. Kettringham 15â— The King the fountain of all Feuds and Tenures 1â— The King to have his Tenants lands till the heir has done homage 3â— The King universal Lord of his whole Territories 37. Anciently granted Churches to Lay-men 115 Knight what among the Saxons 51 58. Why there are but two Knights of the Shire for a County 64. Knight's-fees 3 4 51 58. When introduc'd 45. The number of them ibid. The value of a Knights-fee ibid. Knight-service 2 7. Kymberley 158. S Sacha Soca what in the Saxon tongue 51. Saliques bring the German feodal Rights into France 5. Sall in Norfolk 151. Sandringham 146. Sanhadrim when and where the Judges of it sate 75. Satrapies among the Saxons 50. Saxons the first planters of the German Rites in Great Britain 5. Their Charters translated 7. The manner of making their conveyances 8 Distinction of persons among them 11. How many degrees of Honour they had 16. How they held their lands 40. What oblig'd 'em to so many kinds of services ibid. Saxons very much given to drunkenness 89. When they took possession of England 100. They swept away the Roman Laws there 101 Yet took somewhat from them 102. Why their Laws were not at first put in writing ibid. When they had written Laws ibid. The use of wills unknown to the ancient Saxons 127. Our Saxons observ'd the Civil Law in their wills 128. Scutagium 36 37. Sedgeford 146. Segrave Nicholas Marshal of England 167. Seignory wherein it consists 2. Services how many sorts of 'em upon lands 17. Personal services 40. Praedial ibid. Alodial ibid. Beneficiary ibid. Colonical ibid. Servitia militaria what 46. The difference between them and Servitutes militares ibid Seymour Edward Duke of Somerset Nephew of King Edw. VI. 169. Made Lord Treasurer and Earl Marshal of England ibid. Shardlow Joh Justice of Oyer had a licence to hear causes on a Festival 95 96. Sharnburn 146. History of the Family 189 c. Shelton 156. Shouldham 142. Shyre gemot what 53. Signioral authority what 6â— Snetsham 146 189 190 c. Socage 3 7 33 43. Socmen 1â— 15 57. Sprowston 153. Stanchow 146 19â— Star chamber Court 94 95. Stigand Arch-bishop of Canterbury depos'd 119. Stock-Chappel 146. Stow-Bardolfe 140. Strangbow Gilb Earl of Pembroke and Marshal of the King's Palace 165. Suiters of the Hundred 51. When and by whom call'd at this day ibid. Summons the manner of it in the Empire 36. Sunday how exempted from Law Suits 76. Sustenance what 59. Swasham 141. Swainmote-Courts 85. Syndici who 63 64. Synod of Eanham when held 78. T Talbot George Earl of Shrewsbury 171. Executed the Office of Lord High Steward of England ibid. Tallagium 60. Tasburg 156. Tassilo Duke of Bavaria did homage to King Pipin 34. Tenant lands of how many sorts 4. Tenants by Knight-service 4. Tenant in capite 10. Tenant in menalty ibid. Tenant Paraval ibid. Tenant's land or the Tenancy 12. Tenants what they were in ancient time 51. Tenants in Socage 57. Tenants forc'd to pay a fine upon the marriage of a Daughter 60. To furnish their Lords with provisions ibid. To present them with gratuities ibid. Tenure in capite 2. By Knight-service 4 7. The Original of Tenures 4. Tenure in Socage 4 7. Tenures for Life ibid. What tenures were in use among the Saxons 7. When first us'd ibid. No tenures in capite among the Saxons 10. Tenure in capite of two sorts ibid. The fruits of feodal tenures 24. The name of tenures not us'd by the Saxons 40. Terminus what it signifies 71. When the word became frequent ibid. Terms their definition and etymology 71. Several acceptations of the word 70. Full term and Puisne term ibid. The Original of Terms 73 77. Two Terms among the Welch 74. The Terms laid out according to the ancient Laws 82. The ancient bounds of Hilary-Term 82 83. Of Easter-Term 83. Of Trinity-Term 84 85. Of Michaelmass-Term 85 86. How Trinity Term was alter'd 87. Michaelmass-Term how abbreviated 88. Why the Terms are sometime extended into the Vacation 95. Terra Regis 57. Terrae testamentales 12. Terrington 138. Tertium denarium 14. Testaments and last wills not in use among the ancient Hebrews 127. Not found in Scripture before Christ's time ibid. Expresly mention'd by St. Paul ibid. Not us'd by the Saxons or Normans ibid. The custom of making wills from whom taken up ibid. How many witnesses to a will requir'd by the Civil Law 128. Thane or Theoden who 10 11. Their several kinds 16. Not properly a title of Dignity ibid. The Etymology of their name ibid. The quality of their Persons ibid. The nature of their Land 17. The word Thane has no relation to war 21. A Thane's Heriot 31. Thane-lands not subject to feodal service 18. Charters of Thane-lands granted by Saxon Kings 19 20. The occasion of granting them 21. Thane-lands alienated ibid. Devised by will 22. Granted to women ibid. No service upon 'em but what was express'd ibid. Dispos d of at the pleasure of the owner 23. Charged with a Rent ibid. Might be restrain'd from alienation ibid. Thane-lands and Reveland what 38. Thani majores minores 16. Thani Regis ibid. Theinge 50. His jurisdiction ibid. Theowes and Esnes who 11. Thetford 158. Thokus Dominus de Sharnburn 189. Thola the widow of Ore had a grant of certain lands of K. Edw. the Confessour 20. Obtain'd a Licence to devise her Lands and Goods 34. Thrimsa what 15. Thrithingreves or Leidgerevâ—s their Office and Authority 52. What causes were usually brought before ' em ibid. Tribunus militum rei militaris aut exercitus 165. Tribute 59. Trimarcesia what 3. Trinity-term its ancient bounds 84 85. How it was alter'd and shortned 87. Trinodis necessitas 17 43. Trithings or Lathes 50. Why so call'd 52. Turfs why so call'd 139 140. Tydd
103. Camden in Bark-shire Selden in Eadmer p. 154. That Wardships were then in use and not brought in by the Normans as Camden in his Britt 178. Nor by Hen. III. as Randolph Higden in his Polichronicon and others not understanding him would perswade Vid. Seldens Notes on Fortescue 51. Among the priviledges granted by Edward the Confessor to the Cinque-ports we meet with this that their heirs shall shall not be in Ward Lambards Perambulat of Kent 101. And in the Customs of Kent which are in the Magna Charta of Tottels Edition and in Lambards Perambulation There is a Rule for the Wardship of the heir in Gavelkind and that he shall not be marryed by the Lord. And those Customs say of themselves that they were Devant le Conquest en le Conquest For the Antiquity of Wardships in England and Scotland see also Hect. Boet. lib. 11. Buchanan rerum Scot. lib. 6. and the Laws of Malcolm II. which prove the Antiquity of Wardships in Scotland and therefore in England before the Norman Conquest for in those times it is probable the Laws of both Nations did not much differ as for the times after it appears they did not by comparing their Regiam Majestatem and our Glanvil Neither is the bare conjecture of Sir Henry Spelman sufficient to take away the force of those Laws Vid. Spelman Glossar verbo Feudum Upon this amongst other reasons they did conclude That upon consideration of the Authority given and Grant thereupon made the reservation of the Tenure cannot be said to be Aliud So. a separate and distinct thing from the Authority of Granting the Land but rather included within it And that the Reservation of the Tenure though it be not Ipsa concessio the Grant it self yet it is Modus concessionis and a part of the Grant and that therefore the Authority being not pursued in that the whole Grant is void These were their Arguments for Tenures among the Saxons as they are set down in the Case it self drawn up and Printed by Order of the Lord Deputie Sir Henry Spelman has severally consider'd both the Truth and Force of them not strictly confining himself to their Reasons and Reflections but taking occasion from thence to write a very elaborate Treatise of the Nature and Original of Feuds and Tenures The two discourses Of the ancient Government of England and Of Parliaments are both of them publisht from the Original Manuscripts in the hands of Mr. Charles Spelman of Congham in Norfolk son of Sir John Spelman and Grandson to Sir Henry That concerning the Original of the four Terms was publisht in the Year 1684. from a very uncorrect and imperfect Copy which probably had been taken when the Author first wrote the Discourse The Original Manuscript with very many Additions and Corrections that Sir Henry afterwards made in it is preserv'd in the Bodleian Library from whence the Work is now printed entire The Apology for Arch-bishop Abbot by an unknown Author and the Answer to it by Sir Henry Spelman are in the posâ—ession of Mr. Henry Spelman son to Mr. Clement Spelman who was Sir Henry's youngest son both written with our Author 's own hand To this Answer he refers us in his Glossary under the title Muta Canum The Letters relating to the same subject are in a Collection of Original Papers and Records deliver'd to Mr. Wharton by Arch-bishop Sancroft and now in the hands of Mr. Châ—â—wel The Treatise of the Original of Testaments and Wills and his Icenia or the description of Norfolk are both publisht from the Author 's own Copies in the Bodleian Library The latter of these is not so compleat as he had intended to make it The Catalogue of the Earls Marshal of England and the Dissertation de Milite were evidently design'd for a part of his Glossary as appears from the manner of the Composition and from several passages in them But when the Papers were deliver'd to Sir William Dugdale for the publication of the second part of that Work these two it seems had been mislaid The account of the Earls Marshal is I fear imperfect in some places but will however be of good use towards a more accurate Catalogue of them The succession of the Family of Sharnburn is a peice of Antiquity that was exceedingly valu'd by Sir Henry Spelman as appears both from his Recommendation and from the use that he has made of it in some part of his Works Having met with a Copy in Mr. Ashmole's Museum at Oxford I thought it might not be improper to publish it among his Remains The Dialogue concerning the Coin of the Kingdom and the Catalogue of the Places of the Arch-bishops and Bishops of this Realm are in the possession of Mr. Charles Spelman The first is written in a hand not unlike Sir Henry Spelman's only somewhat less which if it was really his may have been occasion'd by his writing it while he was young For it appears to have been compos'd in the 36. of Elizabeth when Sir Henry was but about thirty three years of age The Catalogue was drawn up in the time of King James I. for the use of the then Arch-bishop of Canterbury as I gather from those words in the beginning written in a different hand Pro Domino Archiepiscopo Cantuar. I dare not positively affirm that either of these is Sir Henry Spelman's but the finding them among his other Papers and the accurate knowledge of our English affairs which appears in both incline me to believe that he was really the Author of them and for that reason they are printed upon this occasion This is all I have to say concerning the Posthumous Works of Sir Henry Spelman which I was willing to make publick for the Author's reputation and the service of the World THE LIFE OF Sir Henry Spelman Kt. HENRY SPELMAN was born at Congham a Town in Norfolk near Lynn He was descended from an ancient Family of that name who about Henry the III's time were seated in Hampshire but afterwards remov'd into Suffolk and from thence into Norfolk about 200. years since His Father's name was Henry Spelman Esq as I learn from a Pedigree of the Family under Sir Henry's own hand and not John as a late Writer has told us His Mother was Frances daughter of William Sanders of Ewel in Surrey Esq After his Education at School he was sent to Trinity Colledge in Cambridge before he was quite 15. years of Age and indeed as he himself complains before he was ripe for the University He had not stay'd there two years and a half but his Father dy'd and he was call'd home to assist his Mother in the management of the Family Afterwards when he came into the World and betook himself to Writing and the study of our Laws he found the want of University Education and condoles his misfortune in that particular in a Letter to his friend Mr. Richard
Dom. 1627. With the Imprimatur of Sir John Bramston July 6. 1640. Many Instruments in this Collection are printed in the Second Volume of his Councils and it might be much improv'd from some Historians that have been publisht since his time In the Year 1641. there came out a Discourse de Sepultura by Sir Henry Spelman concerning the Fees for Burials 'T is likely that it was compos'd on occasion of his being one of the Commissioners for regulating the Fees in our Civil and Ecclesiastical Courts The Treatise consists of five sheets in 4 to so that I wonder why J. A. in his Preface to the Glossary should tell us that is was no more than two leaves His Latin Treatise entitled Aspilogia was next publish'd with Notes by Sir Edw. Bish Anno 1654. in Folio In this tho' it was one of his first Pieces he discourses with great variety of Learning concerning the Original and different kinds of those Marks of Honour since call'd Arms. He also drew up a scheme of the Abbreviations and such other obsolete forms of writing as occur in our old Manuscripts to facilitate the reading of ancient Books and Records There are several Copies of it in Manuscript as one in the Bodleian Library another in the Library of the late Dr. Plot a third in the possession of Mr. Worsley of Lincolns-Inn and 't is probable there may be more of em abroad in other hands Two other things he was concern'd in which I shall but just mention The Villare Anglicum or a view of the Towns in England publisht in the Year 1656. was collected By the appointment at the charge and for the use of that worthy Antiquary Sir Henry Spelman And Mr. Speed in his Description of Great Britain acknowledges that he receiv'd the account of Norfolk from the same Learned Knight As for his Posthumous Works which are publisht together on this occasion I shall give a more particular account of 'em in the Preface and in this place shall only add an instance or two of his Encouragement to Learning and Learned Men. It was he who first advis'd Dr. Wats to the study of Antiquities and when he had arriv'd to a good skill in those matters put him upon a new Edition of Matthew Paris The Doctor in the Preface to that excellent Work makes this grateful mention of his Friend and Patron Tertium Manuscriptum accommodavit Nobilis ille Doctissimusque Dominus Henricus Spelmannus Eques Auratus Eruditionis reconditioris Judicii acerrimi Vir nostrae Britanniae Lumen Gloriaque Amicus insupermeus singularis in studiis adjutor praecipuus qui me primus ad Antiquitates eruendas tam verbo quam exemplo aliquoties stimulavit erudivitque He was likewise a great Favourer of Sir William Dugdale who had been recommended to him by Sir Simon Archer a Gentleman of Warwickshire very well versed in Heraldry and the affairs of our own Nation At that time Mr. Dodsworth who was much assisted and encouraged by Sir Henry Spelman had got together a vast collection of Records relating to the Foundation of Monasteries in the Northern parts of England Sir Henry thought that these might be very well improv'd into a Monasticon Anglicanum and lest the design should miscarry by Mr. Dodsworth's death he prevail'd upon Mr. Dugdale to join him in so commendable a Work promising to communicate all his Transcripts of Foundation Charters belonging to several Monasteries in Norfolk and Suffolk For his further encouragement he recommended him to Thomas Earl of Arundel then Earl Marshal of England as a person very well qualify'd to serve the King in the Office of Arms. Accordingly upon his character of him seconded by the importunity of Sir Christopher Hatton he was settl'd in the Heralds-office which gave him an opportunity to fix in London and from the many assistances there to compile the laborious Volumes which he afterwards publisht His revival of the old Saxon Tongue ought to be reckon'd a good piece of service to the study of Antiquities He had found the excellent use of that Language in the whole course of his Studies and very much lamented the neglect of it both at home and abroad which was so general that he did not then know one Man in the world who perfectly knew it Paulatim says he ita exhalavit animam nobile illud Majorum nostrorum pervetustum idioma ut in universo quod sciam orbe ne unus hodie reperiatur qui hoc scite perfecteve calleat pauci quidem qui vel exoletas literas usquequaque noverint Hereupon he settl'd a Saxon Lecture in the University of Cambridge allowing 20l. per An. to Mr. Abraham Wheelock who tells us that upon his advice and encouragement he spent the best part of seven years in the study of that Language Magnam septennii quod effluxit partem consumpsi Saxonum nostrorum inquirendo Monumenta eorumque vetus idioma Veritatis pacis Catholicae magistram perquirendo ne nobilissimi Viri in his studiis monitoris mei honoratissimi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 D. Henrici Spelmanni Antiquitatum nostrae gentis instauratoris eximii consilio defuissem This stipend was intended to be made perpetual but both He and his eldest Son dying in the compass of two years the Civil Wars breaking forth and the Estate being sequester'd the Family became uncapable of accomplishing that Design Nor indeed was that a Time for settlements of this kind when such a terrible storm threatn'd the Universities and the Revenues that belong'd to ' em After he came into business he was intimately acquainted with the most considerable Persons of that Age. He calls Mr. Camden his ancient Friend and how entire a Familiarity there was between him and Arch-bishop Usher we are inform'd from the Life and Letters of that Learned Primate To these I might add Sir Rob. Cotton Mr. Selden Olaus Wormius with Peireschius Meursius Beignonius and others of great note both at home and abroad whom he himself occasionally mentions as the chief Encouragers of his Glossary Upon the whole matter as his Loyalty Wisdom and Experience in publick Affairs would sufficiently recommend him to the great States-men of his time so his eminent Piety and Learning must needs make him highly esteem'd among Divines and Scholars He had eight Children four Sons and four Daughters His eldest Son the heir of his Studies as he calls him was John Spelman Esq a Scholar and a Gentleman who had great assurances of favour and encouragement from King Charles I. This good Prince sent for Sir Henry Spelman and offer'd him the Mastership of Suttons Hospital with some other things in consideration of his good services both to Church and State But after his humble thanks to his Majesty he told him that he was very old and had one foot in the grave and that it would be a much greater obligation upon him if his
seqq a name not well agreeing with Feodal servitudes But it seemeth by divers Abby-books that some Estates for life which we call Frank tenements were also put in writing especially among the latter Saxons Yet were not these accounted bocland for they were laden commonly with many feodal and ministerial services whereas bocland as I said was free from all services not holden of any Lord the very same that Allodium descendable according to the common course of Nations and of Nature unto all the sons and therefore called Gavelkind not restrain'd to the eldest son as feodal lands were not at first but devisable also by will and thereupon called Terrae testamentales as the Thane that possessed them was said to be testamento dignus Folcland was terra vulgi the land of the vulgar people who had no estate therein but held the same under such rents and services as were accustomed or agreed of at the will only of their Lord the Thane and it was therefore not put in writing but accounted proedium rusticum ignobile But both the greater and the lesser Thanes which possessed Bocland or hereditary lands divided them according to the proportion of their estates into two sorts i. e. into Inland and Outland The Inland was that which lay next or most convenient for the Lord's Mansion-house as within the view thereof and therefore they kept that part in their own hands for supportation of their family and Hospitality The Normans afterwards called these lands terras dominicales the Demains or Lord's lands The Germans terras indominicatas lands in the Lord 's own use The Feudists terras curtiles or intra curtem lands appropriate to the Court or House of the Lord. Outland was that which lay beyond or out from among the Inlands or Demeans and was not granted out to any Tenant hereditarily but like our Copy-holds of ancient time having their original from thence meerly at the pleasure of the Lord. Cujacius speaking of this kind of land calleth it proprium feudum that is to say such land as was properly assigned for Feodal lands Proprium feudum est saith he extra curtem consistit in praediis As if he should say That land properly is a Feud or Feudal land which lyeth without the Demains of the Mannour and consisteth in land not in houses We now call this Outland the Tenants land or the Tenancy and so it is translated out of Biritrick's will in the Saxon tongue This Outland they subdivided into two parts whereof one part they disposed among such as attended on their persons either in war or peace called Theodens or lesser Thanes after the manner of Knights Fees but much differing from them of our time as by that which followeth shall appear The other part they allotted to their Husbandmen whom they termed Ceorls that is Carles or Churles And of them we shall speak farther by and by when we consider all the degrees aforesaid beginning with the Earl CHAP. VI. Of Earls among our Saxons AN Earl in the signification of Comes was not originally a degree of dignity as it is with us at this day but of Office and Judicature in some City or portion of the Country circumscribed anciently with the bounds of the Bishoprick of that Diocess for that the Bishop and the Earl then sat together in one Court and heard jointly the causes of Church and Common-wealth as they yet do in Parliament But in process of time the Earl grew to have the government commonly of the chief City and Castle of his Territory and withal a third part of the King's profits arising by the Courts of Justice Fines Forfeitures Escheats c. annexed to the office of his Earldom Yet all this not otherwise than at the pleasure of the King which commonly was upon good behaviour and but during life at most This is apparent by the severe injunction of King Alfred the Great labouring to plant literature and knowledge amongst the ignorant Earls and Sheriffs of his Kingdom imposed upon them That they should forthwith in all diligence apply themselves to the study of wisdom and knowledge or else forgoe their Office Herewith saith Asser Menevensis who lived at that time and was great with the King the Earls and Sheriffs were so affrighted that they rather choose insuetam disciplinam quam laboriose discere quam potestatum ministeria dimittere that is To go at last to the School of knowledge how painful soever rather than to lose their offices of Authority and degrees of Honour which Alfred there also declareth that they had not by Inheritance but by God's gift and his Dei saith he dono meo sapientium ministeria gradus usurpatis This is manifest by divers other authorities and examples in my Glossary in verbo Comes as the Reader if he please may there see Some conjecture that Deira and Bernicia in Northumberland and Mercia in the midst of England were Feudal and hereditary Earldoms in the Saxon times Those of Northumberland presently after their first arrival under Hengistus about the year 447. that of Mercia by the gift of Alfred the Great about the year 900. to Ethelredus a man of power in way of marriage with his daughter Ethelfleda but for ought I see it is neither proved by the succession of those Earldoms nor our Authors of Antiquity For my own part I think it not strange that there was not at the entry of the Saxons a Feudal and Hereditary Earldom in all Christendom As for this our Britain the misery of it then was such as it rather seemed an Anarchy and Chaos than in any form of Government Little better even in Alfred's days through the fury of the Danes tho' he at last subdued them for his time How soever three or four examples in five hundred years before the Conquest differing from the common use is no inference to overthrow it especially in times unsettled and tumultuous The noble Earldom of Arundel in our days of peace differeth in constitution from all the other Earldoms of England yet that impeacheth not their common manner of succession Loyseau and Pasquier learned Frenchmen speaking of the Dukes and Earls of France which England ordinarily followeth and sometimes too near the heels justifie at large what I have said shewing the Dukes and Earls in the Roman Empire from whose example others every where were derived were like the Proconsuls and Presidents of Provinces simple Officers who for their entertainment had nothing else but certain rights and customs raised from the people which we in England called Tertium denarium And that the Dukes and Earls of France were Officers in like manner but had the Seigneurie of their territory annexed to their Office so that they were Officers and Vassals both at once that is to say Officers by way of Judicature and Vassals whom we call Feodal tenants for their Seignories of Dukedoms and
every feodal Lord and not begun in France 'till Feuds were there made hereditary by Hugh Capet nor in England till William the Conqueror did the like as before appears The reason of it was to preserve the memory of the Tenure and of the duty of the Tenant by making every new Tenant at his entry to recognize the interest of his Lord lest that the Feud being now hereditary and new heirs continually succeeding into it they might by little and little forget their duty and substracting the services deny at last the Tenure it self We see at this day frequent examples of it for by neglecting of doing homage and those services Tenures usually are forgotten and so revolv'd to the King by Ignoramus to the great evil of their posterity that neglect it But the Saxons having only two kind of lands Bocland and Folcland neither of them could be subject unto homage for the Bocland which belong'd properly to their greater Thanes tho' it were hereditary yet was it alodium and libera ab omni seculari gravedine as before is shewed and thereby free from homage And the Folcland being not otherwise granted by the King or his Thanes than at will or for years or for life the tenant of it was not to do any homage for it For Justice Littleton biddeth us note that none shall do homage but such as have an estate in fee simple or fee taile c. For saith he 't is a maxim in law that he which hath an estate but for term of life shall neither do homage nor take homage But admit the Saxons had the ceremony of doing homage among them yet was it not a certain mark of Knights-service for it was usual also in Socage-Tenure And in elder ages as well a personal duty as a praedial that is done to Princes and great Men either by compulsion for subjection or voluntary for their protection without receiving any feud or other grant of land or benefit from them And he or they which in this manner put themselves into the homage of another for protection sake were then called homines sui and said commendare se in manus ejus or commendare se illi and were thereupon sometimes called homines ejus commendati and sometimes commendati without homines as in Doomsday often Tho' we have lost the meaning of the phrase yet we use it even to this day Commend me unto such a man which importeth as much as our new compliment taken up from beyond the Seas let him know that I am his servant See the quotations here annexed and note that tho' the Saxons did as we at this day call their servants and followers homines suos their men yet we no where find the word Tenure or the ceremony of homage among them nor any speech of doing or of respiting homage CHAP. XXI What manner of Fealty among the Saxons SO for Fealty if we shall apply every oath sworn by Servants and Vassals for fidelity to their Lord to belong unto Fealty we may bring it from that which Abraham imposed upon his servant put thy hand under my thigh and swear c. For the Saxons abounded with oaths in this kind following therein their Ancestors the Germans who as Tacitus saith took praecipuum Sacramentum a principal oath to defend the Lord of the Territory under whom they lived and to ascribe their own valour to his glory So likewise the homines commendati before mention'd yea the famuli ministeriales and houshold servants of Noble persons were in ancient times and within the memory of our fathers sworn to be faithful to their Lords These and such other were anciently the oaths of Fealty but illud postremo observandum saith Bignonius a learned French-man of the King 's great Council fidelitatem hodie quidem feudi causa tantum praestari shewing farther that Fealty was first made to Princes by the Commendati and Fideles without any feud given unto them and that the Princes afterwards did many times grant unto them feuda vacantia as to their servants but whether the oath of fealty were so brought in upon feodal tenants or were in use before he doth not determine In the mean time it hereby appeareth that fealty in those days was personal as well as feodal or praedial which imposeth a necessity upon them of the contrary part in the Report that if they meet with fealty among the Saxons they must shew it to be feodal and not personal for otherwise it maintaineth not their assertion I will help them with a pattern of fealty in those times where Oswald Bishop of Worcester granting the lands of his Bishoprick to many and sundry persons for three lives reserv'd a multitude of services to be done by them and bound them to swear That as long as they held those lands they should continue in the commandments of the Bishop with all subjection I take this to be an oath of Fealty but we must consider whether it be personal or praedial If personal it nothing then concerneth Tenures and consequently not our question If praedial then must it be inherent to the land which here it seemeth not to be but to arise by way of contract And being praedial must either be feodal as for land holden by Knight-service or Colonical as for lands in Socage If we say it is feodal then must there be homage also as well as fealty for homage is inseperable from a feud by Knight-service but the estates here granted by Oswald being no greater than for life the Grantees must not as we have shewed either make or take homage And being lastly but Colonical or in Socage it is no fruit of a Tenure in Capite by Knight-service nor belonging therefore to our question So that if fealty be found among the Saxons yet can it not be found to be a fruit of Knight-service in Capite as the Report pretendeth it See Fidelitas in my Glossary CHAP. XXII No Escuage among the Saxons What in the Empire THe word Scutagium and that of Escuage is of such novelty beyond the Seas as I find it not among the feudists no not among the French or Normans themselves much less among the Saxons Yet I meet with an ancient law in the Novella of Constantine Porphyrogenita Emperour of Greece in the year 780. that gives a specimen of it tho' not the name Quaedam esse praedia militaria quibus cohaereat onus Militiae ita ut possessorem necesse sit se ad militiam comparare domino indicante delectum vel si nolit aut non possit se ad delectum exhibere certam eo nomine pecuniam fisco dependere quae feudorum omnium lex est c. This tells us that there were certain lands to which the burden of warfare was so adherent that every owner of them was tyed upon summons made by his Lord to make his appearance therein or else to pay certain money by way
between servitia Militaria and servitutes Militares The one Heroick Noble and full of Glory which might not therefore be permitted in old time to any that was not born of free parents no not to a King's son as appeareth in Virgil wherein our Saxons also were very cautelous and accounted a Souldiers shield to be insigne libertatis the other not ignoble only and servile but deriv'd even from very bondage Let not this offend I will say no more 30. Julii 1639. FINIS Two Discourses I. Of the ancient GOVERNMENT of England II. Of PARLIAMENTS By Sir HENRY SPELMAN Kt. Publish'd from the Original Manuscripts Sapientia disciplina scientia Legum apud Deum Dilectio via bonorum apud eum Wisdom and knowledge and understanding of the Law are of God and Love and good works come of him Ecclus 11. 15. OF THE Ancient Government OF ENGLAND TO tell the Government of England under the old Saxon Laws seemeth an Vtopia to us present strange and uncouth yet can there be no period assign'd wherein either the frame of those Laws was abolished or this of ours entertained but as day and night creep insensibly one upon the other so also hath this alteration grown upon us unsensibly every age altering something and no age seeing more than what themselves are actors in nor thinking it to have been otherwise than as themselves discover it by the present Like them of China who never travailing out of their own Countrey think the whole world to extend no further As one therefore that hath coasted a little further into former times I will offer unto you a rude Mapp thereof not like those of the exquisite Cosmographers of our later ages but like them of old when as neither cross sails nor compass were yet known to Navigators Our Saxons though divided into many Kingdoms yet were they all one in effect in Manners Laws and Language so that the breaking of their Government into many Kingdoms or the reuniting of their Kingdoms into a Monarchy wrought little or no change amongst them touching Laws For though we talk of the West-Saxon law the Mercian law and the Dane law whereby the west parts of England the middle parts and those of Norfolk Suffolk and the north were severally governed yet held they all an uniformity in substance differing rather in their mulct than in their Canea that is in the quantity of Fines and Amercements than in the course and frame of Justice Therefore when all these Kingdoms grew into one Monarchy as under Alured Ethelstane Edgar c this bred no notable innovation in any of them for the King had no new Law to impose upon his new Subjects nor were his new Subjects unacquainted with his form of Government having always liv'd according to the same So that when Edward the Confessor came to take away these small differences that were between these three Laws he did it even in these fickle and unconstant times without all tumult or contradiction making that his alteration famous rather by the new name than by the new matter For abolishing the three particular names before-mentioned he now call'd it the Common Law of England for that no part of the Kingdom should henceforth be governed by any particular Law but all alike by a Common Law But insomuch as this Common Law is but the half Arch of the Government tending only to the Temporal part thereof and not unto the Ecclesiastical I cannot well present the one without the other and must therefore make a project of the whole Arch that so the strength and uniformity of both the parts may the better be conceived As therefore each side of an Arch descendeth alike from the Coane or top-point so both the parts of that their Government was alike deduced from the King each of them holding correspondency one with the other like two loving Sisters both in aspect and in lineaments To begin with the right side or eldest Sister the Estate Ecclesiastical was first divided into Provinces Every Province into many Bishopricks Every Bishoprick into many Arch-Deaconries Every Arch-Deaconry into divers Deanries Every Deanry into many Parishes And all these committed to their several Governours Parsons Deans Arch-Deacons Bishops and Arch-Bishops who as subordinate one to the other did not only execute the charge of these their several portions but were Accoumptant also for the same to their Superiours The Parson as ima species was to hear and determine the breaches of God's peace of love and charity within his parish to reprove the inordinate life of his parishoners and tho' he could not strike with the Ecclesiastical sword yet might he shake it against them by enjyoning notorious offenders to contrition repentance satisfaction and sometime by removing them from the blessed Sacrament The Dean to take cognisance of the life and conversation of the Parsons and Clergy-men of every Parish within his Deanry to censure breach of Church-peace and to punish incontinent and infamous livers by excommunication pennance c. And because there could be no breach of the King's peace but it must also break the peace and unity of the Church the Bishop's Dean in whose Deanry the peace was broken had in some cases 10s. for his part of the mulct or fine thereof as appeareth Ll. Ed. Confess cap. 31. The Arch-Deacon drawing nearer to the Bishop drew the more preeminence from him and was his coadjutor in the ordination of Clarkes having a superintendent power over all Parochial Parsons within every Deanry of his precinct The Bishop as the greatest orb of the Diocess had jurisdiction and coertion through the same in all Ecclesiastical causes and on all persons except Monasteries exempted And for this purpose had two general Synods in the year wherein all the Clergy of his Diocess assembled for determining matters touching the Church as well in faith as in Government But the Arch-Bishop to bind up this golden fagot in the band of Union and Conformity comprehended all the Bishops of his Province sub pallio suae plenitudinis or sub plenitudine potestatis having supreme jurisdiction to visit and reform in all their Diocesses whatsoever was defective or omitted That by this means no transgression might break through so many wards but if it escaped the Sword of Hasael Jehu might slay it or if it passed them both yet Elisha might light upon it This was the modell of the Church policy composed no doubt out of that fundamental rule of Government prescribed by Jethro unto Moses Appoint rulers over thousands over hundreds over fifties and over tens According to the steps whereof the State Temporal did likewise take her lineaments For the Temporal Government was likewise divided into Satrapies or Dukedoms which contained in them divers Counties the County divers Lathes or Trithings every Trithing divers Hundreds or Wapentakes every Hundred divers Towns or Lordships shortly after called Baronies And the Government of all these were committed to their several Heads
alii creditum alius subtrahat ac praecipue Clericis quibus opprobrium est si peritos se velint disceptationum esse forensium ostendere But here we see that the Clergy even in those days had set their foot upon the business and I suppose that since that time they never pulled it wholly out again It is like the Eastern Nations adhering to the Empire did observe it But the Western being torn from it by the Northern Nations Saxons Goths and Normans took and left as they thought good Reâ—â—ardus King of the Western Goths about the year 594. tho' he retained the manner of the Civil Law in making Wills yet he ordained that they should be publish d by a Priest as formerly they had been His succâ—ssor Chindavinâ—us about An. 650. making a Law about a Military Will ordained that it should be examined by the Bishop and Earl and ratified by the hand of a Priest and the Earl As the Northern Nations I speak of the Goths the Saxons and Normans were of Neighbour and affinity in their Habitation Language and Original so were they also in their Laws and Manners Therefore as the Goths trusted to their Priests with the passing of Wills so did the Normans their Custom and Law was that Tout testament doit estre passe par devant le Curè ou Vicaire notaire ou tabellion en la presence de daux temotnâ—s idoines dâ— XX. ans accomplis non legataires That all Testaments shall pass before the Curate or Vicar c. where the Commentary noteth that it must be the Curate or Vicar of the same Parish where the Testator dwelleth And that Notary hath been adjudged to be a Notary Apostolick or Ecclesiastical So that the business was then with them wholly in the hands of the Clergy This ancient Norman use liveth to this day in many Towns of England The Parson of Castle Rising in Norfolk hath the Probat of Testaments in that Town And so hath the Parson of Rydon and the Parson of North-Wotton in North-Wotton To go back to our Saxon Ancestors I see they held a kind of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or similitude of Laws with their brethren the Goths and Normans And tho' I find no positive constitution among them in this point yet ab actis judicatis the supporters of the Common Law it self we may perceive what their Custom and Law was Elfâ—re who lived before the year 960. having made his Will did afterward publish the same before Odo the Arch-bishop of Canterbury Elfsy the Priest of Croydon and many other Birtrick and his wife in no long time after declared their Will at Mepham before Elfstane Bishop of Rochester Wine the Priest and divers other See a MS. Law of King Alured the Great who flourished An. 880. De eo quâ— terram testamâ—ntalem habet quam ei parâ—ntes sui dimiserunt ponimus ne illam extra cognationem suam â—â—ttere possit si scriptum intersit testamenti testes quod â—orum prohibitto fuerit qui haâ—c imprimis acquisiverint ipsorum qui dederint ei nâ— hoc possit hoc in Regis Episcopi testimonio recitetur coram parentela sua It is said in the Civil Law that the declaration of a Testament before the Prince omnium Testamentorum solennitatem superat Here the Bishop is joined with the King in cognisance of the Testament by the copulative but Mr. Lambard tho' I confess it agreeth not with the Saxon maketh it in the disjunctive coram Rege aut Episcopo as if it might be before either of them The Saxon is on Cyninges bisceopes geÆ¿itnysse in Râ—gis Episcopi testimonio Be it one or the other it cometh much to a reckning for the presence of the King was then represented in the County by the person of the Earl of the County as it is this day in his Bench by the person of his Judges And the Earl and Bishop sitting together in the Court of the County did as if the King and the Bishop had been there hear jointly not only the causes of Wills spoken of in this Law wherein the Bishop had special interest but other also that came before them And therefore in those days the extent of the Earl's County and the Bishop's Diocess had but one limit To this purpose is the Law of King Edgar Cap. 5. and the like of Canutus Cap. 17. Comitatus bis in anno congregatur nisi plus necesse sit in illo Comitatu sint Episcopus Comes qui ostendant populo justitiam Dei rectitudines seculi The Saxon is ðaere beon ðaere scyre biscop se Ealdorman Let the shire Bishop be there and the Alderman so then they called the Earl Thus both Ecclesiastical and Secular Causes were both decided in the County Court where by the Canons of the Church the Ecclesiastical Causes were first determined and then the Secular And many Laws and Constitutions there be to keep good correspondency between the Bishop and the Earl or Alderman And as both kind of justice were administred in the County Court so were they also in the Hundred Court in which course they continued in both Courts 'till the very time of the Conquest as it seemeth and almost all his time after But about the eighteenth year of his Regn by a Common Council of the Arch-bishops Bishops Abbots and Princes of the Kingdom which we now call a Parliament he ordained as appeareth in a Charter of his then granted to Remigius Bishop of Lincoln Vt nullus Episcopus vel Archidiaconus de legibus Episcopalibus amplius in Hundred placita teneat nec causam quae ad regimen animarum pertinet ad judicium secularium omnium adducant sed quicunque secundum Episcopales leges de quacunque causa vel culpa interpellatus fuerit ad locum quem ad hoc Episcopus ei elegerit nominaverit veniat ibique de causa vel culpa sua respondeat non secundum Hundred sed secundum Canones Episcopales leges rectum Deo Episcopo suo faciat c. What ensued upon this and how the Bishop and Earl divided their Causes and Jurisdiction appeareth not That of Wills belonged either wholly to the Earl as Rector Provinciae by the Constitution of Theodosius or as much to the Earl as to the Bishop by the Laws of King Edgar and Canutus But the subsequent use must inform us what was then done upon it And thereby it seemeth that all went wholly to the Bishop and Clergy and that the Saxon custom was changed and the Norman introduced And that the name of Court Christian or Ecclesiastical sprung not up or was heard of till after this division For now the devising of Lands by Will after the Saxon manner was left and the goods themselves could not be bequeathed but according to the use of Normandy A third part must remain
that succeeded and out of his purse The Heriot whether the son or heir enjoy'd the land or not the Relief by none but him only that obtain'd the land in succession The Heriot whether the land were fallen into the Lord's hands or not the Relief in old time not unless it were fallen and lay destitute of a Tenant whose taking of it up out of the Lord's hands was in that sense called Relevium or Relevatio a taking up of that was fallen according to the French word Reliefe Bracton well observ'd the difference saying Fit quaedam praestatio quae non dicitur Relevium sed quasi sicut Heriotum quasi loco Relevii quod dari debet aliquando ante sacramentum fidelitatis aliquando post Hotoman saith Relevium dicitur honorarium munus quod novus Vassallus Patrono introitus causa largitur quasi morte alterius Vassalli vel alio quo casu feudum ceciderit quod jam à novo sublevetur Nov. Leo. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nominat I stand the longer herein for that not only the Report but even Doomsday it self and generally all the ancient Monkish writers have confounded Heriots and Releifs Yet might I have saved all this labour for nothing can make the difference more manifest than that we often see both of them are together issuing out of the same land But when all is done neither is Heriot nor Releif any badge of land holden by Knight's-service or in Capite for both of them are found in lands of ordinary Socage Yet I confess that Bracton saith de soccagio non datur Relevium and a little before de soccagio non competit domino Capitali Custodia nec homagium ubi nulla Custodia nullum Relevium sed è contra But this serveth my turn very well for that they in the Report having fail'd to prove that Releifs were in use in the Saxons time whereof they affirm'd they had full testimony it now inferreth on my behalf that if Releifs and Wardships were not in use among the Saxons that then also Tenure by Knight-service was not with them Besides all this the Heriot was a certain duty and settled by Law the Relief so various and uncertain as the Lords exacted what they listed for it when it fell into their hands constraining the heir of the Tenant as it were to make a new purchase of their Feud whereupon the Feudists called this Releif not only Renovatio and Restauratio feudi in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 turning or bringing back of the Feud to the former condition or proper nature of it but also Redemptio a ransoming of it out of the Lord's hands That it thus stood with us in England by and by after the Conquest appears by that we have shewed before out of the Magna Charta of Henry I. CHAP. XIX No Fines for Licence of Alienation TOuching Fines for Licence of Alienation it is not said what kind of Tenants among the Saxons did pay them nor for what kind of land they were paid The Thane-land hereditary is apparently discharg'd thereof by the ordinary words of their Charters before mention'd where 't is said that the owners of lands may give and bequeath them cuicunque voluerint and that freely ab omni munduali obstaculo Doomsday also as we here shewed doth testifie as much and so doth the very word Alodium which the ancient Authors attribute to these lands So that the Thane-lands doubtless were free both from the Fine and Licence But as touching Folcland and land holden at will of the Lord tho' continued in ancient time to their children after the manner of Copy-holds it is no question but that they might both have Licence for aliening such lands and also pay consideration for it as our Copy-holders do at this day I find that one Brictrick in the time of King Etheldred about the year 984. bequeath'd legacies of good value unto his Lord's wife to intreat her Husband that this Brictrick's Will whereby he had devised many lands and goods to Monasteries and divers men might stand And that Thola the widow of Vrke a Thane of Edward the Confessor obtain'd licence from the same King Edward that she might devise both her lands and goods to the Monastery of Abbotsbury But of what nature these Licences were whether to alienate the land or to make a Will or to give the land to Monasteries as in Mortmain I cannot determine If they only intended alienation then I understand them only of Lands holden according to the custom of the time at will of the Lord or Folcland Yet in that Thola's Licence was as well to bequeath her goods expresly as her lands the Licence seemeth to be given therefore to make a Will which no man then could do if not a Thane Quaere But howsoever it be expounded it must not be extended to the Thane-lands or land hereditary for the reasons before alledged And as touching Fines for Licence of Alienation after our manner which the Report suggesteth they could not doubtless be in use among the Saxons for there are not found as I suppose here among us before the time of Edward I. and not established afterwards 'till 1. Edw. III. where the King granteth that from thenceforth lands holden in Chiefe should not be seized as forfeited which formerly they were for Alienation without Licence but that a reasonable Fine should be taken for the same See the Statute CHAP. XX. No Feodal Homage among the Saxons OUr word Man and homo in Latin have for many ages in old time been used by the German and Western Nations for a Servant or Vassal And from thence hominium and vassaticum afterwards homagium was likewise used for hominem agere to do the office or duty of a servant not to signifie Manhood as some expound it and so also Vassalagium But by little and little all these latter words have been restrain'd to note no more than our ceremonial homage belonging properly unto Tenures which I met not with among our Saxons nor any shew thereof in former ages unless we shall fancy that the Devil had it in his eye when he offered to give unto our Saviour all the Kingdoms of the world if he would fall down and worship him For here he maketh himself as Capital Lord our Saviour as the Feodal Tenant the Kingdoms of the world to be the Feud the falling or kneeling down to be the homage and the worshipping of him consisting as the Feodists expound it in six rules of service to be the Fealty Pardon me this idleness but from such missemblances rise many errors Homage as we understand it in our Law is of two sorts one more ancient than the other called homagium ligeum as due unto the King in respect of Soveraignty and so done more Francico to King Pipin by Tassilo Duke of Bavaria about the year 756. The other homagium feodale or praediale belonging to