A Seasonable Treatise Wherein is proved That KING WILLIAM commonly call'd The CONQUEROR Did not get the Imperial Crown of England by the Sword but by the Election and Consent of the People To whom he swore to observe the Original Contract between King and People The Norman swore to Laws by which we 're free Laws here more His than Our Security LONDON Printed for J. Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-yard 1689. An Explanation of the Frontispiece warranted by the Authorities cited in the following Argument NO sooner had the * King Harold victorious over the K. of Denmark Tosta Harold ' s Brother at York Valiant HAROLD conquered the Danish King and his own Brother the daring TOSTA but news was brought him †William D. of Normandy at the same time lands in Sussex That the NORMAN Duke was arrived at Pemsey in Sussex whereupon with haste he went to meet him and at * Harold meets him at Hastings where they fight Hastings gave the NORMAN battel which proved fatal to him For he was as you may see * Haroid slain slain between the NORMAN Long-Bows and ENGLISH Spears leaving the Duke VICTOR in the Field WILLIAM proud with this Success The D. comes up to London marches with all speed up to Berkhamstead near LONDON The Rest of the ENGLISH if they had look'd upon his coming as a Design to conquer the Nation and not to assert his pretended legal Title against HAROLD were then able to have driven him back to his own Country or at least found him a Tumulary in this for there was not a fifth part of the Strength of the Nation that felt the Force of his Arms Enters into Compact with the English to make him King. but Duke WILLIAM and the ENGLISH soon came to an Agreement and the latter entred into solemn Compact to make him King. Thereupon BRITANNIA Britan. gives him the Scepter holds forth to him the Scepter with one Hand And With the other shews him the excellent And St. Edward ' s Laws to keep and most famous Laws of St. EDWARD As also at the same Time a Noble A Bishop tenders the Coronation Oath Prelat tenders him the Coronation-Oath The ENGLISH first being asked by the Bishop If they would assent to have the Duke their KING and if he should then be crowned To which they all with an unanimous consent answered Yea Yea The Oath VVilliam took at his Coronation Whereupon he takes the Coronation-Oath the sence of which take as follows This Scepter Fairest Queen I most Sacramentum Willielmi Senioris Ante Altare S. Petri Apostoli coram Clero Populo jurejurando Promisit se velle Sanctas Dei Ecclesias ac Rectores earum defendere necnon cunctum Populum sibi subjectum juste ac Regali providentia regere rectam Legem Statuere tenere rapinas injustaque judicia penitùs interdicere Hoveden pars Prior. fol. 258. l. 14. Exacto prius coram omni Populo jurejurando quod se modesse erga subjectos ageret aequo Jure Anglos quo Francos tractaret Malmsb. lib. 3. fol. 154. b. l. 8. Rex pro bono pacis juravit super omnes Reliquias Ecclesiae Sancti Albani Tactisque Sacro sanctis Evangeliis bonas approbatas Antiquas Regni Leges quas Sancti ac pii Angliae Reges ejus Antecessores Maxime Rex Edwardus Statuit inviolabiliter observare Mat. Paris Vitae Viginti trium Sancti Albani Abbatuum fol. 48. l. 37. thankfully receive and with it do solemnly Promise and Swear to govern both Church and State in Peace And I vow to Rule my Subjects with that Iustice and prudent Care as becomes a good King. I will with the Advice and Consent of my Great Council enact right Law Which done * The Invocation be Witness all ye Saints that to the utmost of my Power I will my self religiously keep and observe it For what can be more vain and inconsistent with the common Reason of all Mankind than for a Prince publickly and solemnly to ordain a Law and the next moment after to break and abrogate it in his Closet All Rapines I will forbid and all false Judgments no illegal or ARBITRARY ACTS under pretence of the Prerogative-Royal will I suffer or permit to the oppression of my ENGLISH Subjects between whom and my Normans I will administer EQUAL RIGHT And that God Angels my NORMANS and You O Sacred Queen may all be Witnesses and Parties to the sincerity of my Heart That I will not take the English-men's Inheritances by Injustice or thrust them out of their Paternal Possessions by wrong That I have not nor will pretend to any Absolute or Despotical Power over their Lives Liberties and Estates nor violate break or alter the Fundamental Rights of the Kingdom as Tyrants do who only design to enslave their People I do here solemnly promise and swear in the presence of all Ye mighty Powers inviolably to observe and keep the Sacred Laws of St. Edward my Kinsman Which said the Arch-bishop of York sets the Imperial Crown upon WILLIAM's Head and thus of a Duke of NORMANDY he was created KING of ENGLAND TO MY Worthy FRIEND The Learned Author of Argumentum Anti-Normannicum GReat Britain fairest Queen of all the Isles Inrich'd at Home with bounteous Natures smiles Thou such a self-sufficiency dost own All Countries need thy Stores but thou want'st none Divided from the World Thou to thy self art one The Sea and Continent proclaim Thee Great Proud Monarchs have lain Captives at thy Feet The Scales of th' Western World are in thy Hand Each Kingdom 's Fate depends on thy Command Where e're thy Friendship and thy Force combine Against that State in vain the Rest design To Thee no Ills from Forreign Foes can come The basest and more dangerous are at Home No Desert Beasts of Prey thy Land does bear But yet worse Beasts within thy Bowels are Who would thy Rights and Ancient Glories tear Those having lost their Liberty of Mind From vanquish'd Sires a weak excuse would find Are these thy Sons Or Marks of thy disgrace Who own themselves a slavish conquer'd Race The Norman Duke on Terms receiv'd the Crown Swore He 'd by Edward's Laws support his Throne Which sure no absolute Victor would have done That Title which his Great Successor hath Came from the Pact not from the Breach of Faith. That gives the Bounds to all incroaching Might And sets the Banks about the Subjects Right Who pulls them down le ts in a raging Sea Which drowns and swallows up all Property Who e're attempt to let that Torrent in At their own Houses may the Waste begin Let them for others Till their proper Land Or under some base Favourites Command May they whilst others riot with their Stores Without Relief beg at their Native Doors Vnder their Countries Curse their Tyrant's Scorn May they with never-ceasing Pangs be
torn Who violate the Sacred Trust to which they 're born But blest be Thou and all who dare like Thee Bravely assert their Countries Liberty Our well-built Freedom thou dost make t o'appear And its Foundation from Time's Rubbish clear The Norman swore to Laws by which we 're free Laws were more his than our Security Him King the People's joint Consent alone Did make which by that Sacred Oath he won Or that same joint Consent had made him none We were no Norman Slaves nor French could be Had we enough True Englishmen like Thee But now my Muse before you end take care Humbly to close up all with Heav'n in Prayer Prayer for that King who doth Great Britain Rule Who of this Isle is th' Vniversal Soul In whom so many glorious Vertues shine As make him seem to be of Race Divine May Heav'n continually His Guardian prove And keep Him safe in all His Subjects Love Long may unruffled Peace adorn His Crown May all the Laws in their smooth Channel run And flowing Justice still support His Throne Thus blest and thus united here at Home What cannot Britain's Monarch overcome Oh may Great Edward's and Fifth Henry's Soul By Heav'nly Pow'r be transfus'd to him whole May He ride Mighty Admiral of the Seas Scourging His stubborn Enemies into Peace His Envying Neighbours all their Powers disown Strike to His Flag and tremble at His Frown And th' humbled World be glad to pay him fear And awful veneration every where That this may be May the Illustrious Senate of the Land With their Wise Councils ever by him stand He pleas'd in them and they resolv'd to show What th' utmost stretch of Loyalty can do Then will his Glories shine in brightest state At th' Head of such a joint Triumvirate Then King and People doubly will be blest And Europe then enjoy a lasting Rest For this let all our Vows to Heav'en be sent To see Great Charles happy in 's Parliament Argumentum Anti-Normannicum SIR YOu were pleased some time since in my happiness of a short but free conversation with you to tell me You had a mind to read how far I could give you satisfaction in a few Points you had raised to your self concerning the Norman Conquest and that within a little while I should have a Paper from you wherein they should be contained You were not long Sir in justly acquitting your self of your promise to me I did receive the Furniture of these ensuing Arguments by the four Questions you sent me and hope there is nothing to be found in them but unbyassed and venerable Truth which surely none will be offended to hear I have endeavoured to pay all possible Respect to You and to Justice and as far as my Abilities could reach in so small a Treatise have impartially offered my Thoughts upon them and now beg your candour in judging me Your Questions Sir are these The First Question I. Whether William Duke of Normandy who was afterwards William the First got the Imperial Crown of England by the Sword and made an absolute Conquest of the Nation at his first Entrance The Second Question II. Whether this first William did abolish all the English Laws and changed the whole Frame and Constitution of the Government The Third Question III. Whether it be true That the English had neither Estates nor Fortunes left but all was divided between the King and his Normans The Fourth Question IV. Whether it be not a grand Error to affirm That there were no English Men in the Common Council of the whole Kingdom I shall take them Sir in the order you have sent them to me and so first begin with your first Question The First Question Whether William Duke of Normandy who was afterwards William the First got the Imperial Crown of England by the Sword and made an * For England thus much I dare speak and under the rule of Modesty protest That sithence the Vniversal Conquest of William who first commanded and imposed Tribute upon this Land for Conquerors may command Tribute and Subsidie have been as justly both by the Law of God and the Law of Nations paid in England as in Jewry yea and justly continued as a remembrance of a Conquest Dr. Fulbec Pandects of the Law of Nations c. 10. p. 69. One Blackwood wrote a Book which concluded That we are all Slaves by reason of the Conquest Vid. Mr. Petyt Misc Parl. p. 66. And this Position is maintained by an Anonimus Author in his full and clear Answer to Mr. Petyt's Ancient Right of the Commons of England asserted Pag. 35. in the Margin Absolute Conquest of the Nation at his first entrance AS you have stated the Question Sir and desire to know what is my Opinion of it with submission to others better informed and who are more able to maintain the Truth of those Principles I proceed upon than my self I shall return you this modest Answer as my Sence and Judgment in the Point viz. That I cannot conclude in the Affirmative for these several constraining Reasons 1. That William laid a far greater stress upon his Claim and Titles to this Kingdom than ever he did upon his great and mighty Conquest will be very plain and evident if you please but to consider with me these following Particulars 1. In that before his Conquest when the People had chosen Harold the Son of Earl Godwin for their King after the Death of Edward the Confessor and had put aside Edgar Atheling by right of Blood and Inheritance entitled to the Crown This Norman Duke made his loud Complaints of the Injuries done him in not electing him for he was * Edward the Confessor was Son to Egelred K. of England by Emma Sister to Rich. 2. Duke of Normandy who was Grandfather to Duke William so that K Edward and Duke William were Cosen Germans once removed as this farther shews you Richard 1. Richard 2. Robert. William Emma Edward Cosen German to the Confessor who died †Edward married Edith the Daughter of E. Godwin but whether upon a vow of Chastity or upon impotency of Nature or upon any hatred to her Father or suspicion against her self for all these Causes are alledged by several Writers of those Times he forbore all private Familiarities with her without Issue and therefore pretended that the Right truly devolved upon him But it seems as ill luck would have it this Duke they knew to be a Bastard and neither the Saxon Law nor the Norman Custom could help him in such a Case and so that Title did him but little good Well what therefore was to be his next Work Why 2. Truly his Pretence was then Mat. Paris 1. Antiq Brit. Eccles 96. That the Confessor had designed him for his Successor and by his last Will had bequeathed this Kingdom to him And this was confirmed by the consent of the Nobility and principally of Harold himself and hereupon considering how Harold had
there are yet extant the Manuscripts themselves of the Saxon Laws made in the Parliamentary Councils held by them here which are in the Language and Character of those Times and contain in them many of those things which are in the Norman Custumary It is no improbable Opinion That there was a former Establishment of our Laws in Normandy before the Time of Hen. 1. and that it was by Edward the Confessor who as all Writers of our History agree was a great Collector and Compiler of our English Laws He lived a long time with his Kinsman Duke William in Normandy who was willing to please the Confessor in hopes to be appointed by him to be his Successor wherein the Duke's Expectation did not fail him The Confessor having no Children and finding Normandy without a setled Government and wanting Laws advised with his Kinsman Duke William to receive from him the Laws of England which he had collected and to establish them in Normandy which Duke William and his Lords readily accepted for the good of their People and thereby obliged the Confessor Another proof hereof is That such Laws as the Normans had before the Time of Duke William were different from those in the Custumary and from the English Laws As their Law That the Husband should be hanged if his Wife were a Thief and he did not discover it The meaner People were as Slaves and the like and the Trial of Theft by Ordeil which then was not in England Wigorniensis reports That the Normans who came in with Queen Emma the Wife of Ethelred were so hated of the English for their injustice and false Judgment that in the Time of King Canutus they were for this cause banished and it is the less probable that they being so unjust themselves should introduce so just Laws as ours are Between the Conquest of Normandy by Rosâ—o and the Invasion of England by Duke William there were not above 160 Years that of Normandy was about Anno 912. that of England Anno 1060. It is not then consonant to Reason that those Normans Pagans a rough Martial People descended from so many Barbarous Nations should in the time of 150 Years establish such excellent Laws among themselves and so different from the French Laws among whom they were and all parts in the World except England And such Laws which were not only fit for their Dukedom and small Territory but fit also for this Kingdom which in those days was the second in Europe for Antiquity and Worth by confession of most Forreign Historians If we will give credit to their own Authors this Point will be sufficiently evinced by them These words are in the Proem of the Custumary which is entituled Descriptio Normanniae Hucusque Normannicae CONSVETUDINES LATOREM sive Datorem SANCTVM EDWARDVM Angliae Regem c. The same is witnessed by Chronica Chronicorum That St. Edward King of England gave the Laws to the Normans when he was long harboured there And that he made both the Laws of England and Normandy appears sufficiently by the conformity of them for which he cites several Particulars as of Appeals and the Custom of England ad probandum aliquid per credentiam duodecim hominum vicinorum which he saith remained in Normandy to that day Polydore forgetting himself what he wrote in another place saith of King Henry the Seventh that when a Doubt was made upon the Proposal of Marriage of his Daughter to Scotland that thereby England might in time be subject unto Scotland The King answered No and that England as the Greater will draw it to Scotland being the less and incorporate it to the Laws of England as saith the Historian it did Normandy though the owner thereof was Conqueror of England And Sir Roger Owen in his Manuscript affirms That there is not any of our Historians that lived in the space of 200 Years immediately after the Conquest which doth describe our Laws to be taken away and the Norman Custom introduced by the Conqueror Some of them and not improbably mention the alteration of some part of them and the bringing in some Norman Customs effectual for the keeping of the Peace There is yet behind the great Argument most insisted on and often urged by the Gentlemen of another Opinion which is the Title of William who is called the Conqueror from whence they conclude That by his Conquest he changed the Laws and Government of this Nation and that his Successors reckon the beginning of their Reigns from his Conquest To this is answered That a posse ad esse non valet Argumentum the Conquering of the Land is one thing the introducing of new Laws is another thing but there is direct proof to the contrary of this Argument Duke William never Sir-named himself the Conqueror nor was so called in his life-time as may appear by all the Letters Pattents and Deeds that he made wherein he is called Guilielmus Rex Dux c. never Conquestor and our Ancient Historians give him the same Titles and not that of Conqueror In the Title of Nubrigensis's Book he is Sirnamed William the Bastard Malmsbury calls him William the First Hoveden William the Elder Adam de Monmoth saith That 1. Ed. 3. this word Conquest was found out to denote and distinguish the certain Edward because two of the same name were Predecessors to this King and to the Conqueror who claimed the Crown as Heir to Edward the Confessor but saith he we call him the Conqueror for that he overcame Harold Duke William himself claimed to be King of England as Successor and Adopted Heir of the Confessor by his Will and Harold's renounceing of his Title by Oath The Register of St. Albans Matth. Paris and others attest That the Barons of England did homage to him as Successor and he relied on them in his Forreign Wars and the Check given to him by the Kentish Men and the Forces gathered by the Abbot of St. Albans brought him to engage to confirm the Laws of the Confessor and as his Successor by legal Right they admitted him to be their King. Volaterus writes That he was made Heir to the Confessor and was Vncle to him Another affirms That Edward by his Will left England to him Paulus Aemilius and Fulgasius are to the same purpose Pope Alexander the 11th sent him a Banner as Witness that with a safe Conscience he might expel Harold the Tyrant because the Crown was due to him by the Confessor's Will and by Harold's Oath Agreeable hereunto are Gemiticensis Walsingham Malmesbury Huntington Ingulphus Paris Pike Wendover Gaxton Gisburn and others The Antient Deeds of the Abby of Westminster which were sometime in my Custody do prove this King William in his Charter to them sets sorth his own Title to the Crown thus Beneficio Concessionis Cognati mei gloriosi Regis Edwardi In his second Charter dated Anno 15. of his Reign he saith in honour of King Edward who made me
his Heir and adopted me to Rule over this Nation In his Charter dated 1088. of the Liberties of St. Martins the Great in the Manuscript thereof are these words In Example of Moses who built the Tabernable and of Solomon who built the Temple Ego Guilielmus Dei dispositione consanguinitatis Haereditate Anglorum Basileus c. The Charter of Hen. 1. his Son to this Abby in honour of Edward my Kinsman who adopted my Father and his Children to be Heirs to this Kingdom c. In another Charter of Hen. 1. in the Book of Ely he calls himself the Son of King William the Great who by Hereditary Right succeeded King Edward It is true as to his pretence of Title by the Will of the Confessor Mathew Paris objecteth That the Devise was void being without the consent of the Barons To which may be answered That probably the Law might be so in Hen. 3. Time when Paris wrote and was so taken to be in the Statute of Carlisle and in the Case of King John. But at the time of Duke William's Invasion the Law was taken to be That a Kingdom might be transferred by Will. So was that of Sixtus Rufus and Asia came to the Romans by the Will of King Attalus the words by Annaeus Florus are Populus Romanus Bonorum meorum HAERES esto Bithinia came to the Romans by the last Will of their King Nicomedes which is remembred by Vtropius together with that of Libia Cicero in his Oration tells us That the Kingdom of Alexandria by the last Will of their King was devolved to Rome And Prasutagus Rex Icenorum in England upon his Death-bed gave his Kingdom to the Emperor Nero. As to Examples in this Point at Home This King William the first by his Will gave England to his younger Son William Rufus King Stephen claimed by the Will of Henry the first King Henry the eight had Power by Act of Parliament to order the Succession of the Crown as he pleased by Will. And the Lords of the Council in Queen Mary's Time wrote to her That the Lady Iane's Title to the Crown was by the Will and Letters of Edward the sixth As the case of Hen. 8. was by Act of Parliament so Duke William after he had conquered Harold was by the general consent of the Barons and People of England accepted for their King and so his Title by Will confirmed And he both claimed and governned the Kingdom as an Heir and Successor confirmed their Antient Laws and ruled according to them This appears by Chronica Chronicorum speaking of William the Bastard King of England and Duke of Normandy he saith That whereas as St. Edward had no Heir of England William having conquered Harold the Vsurper obtained the Crown under this Condition That he should inviolably observe those Laws given by the said Edward It is testified likewise by many of our Historians That the Ancient Laws of England were confirmed by Duke VVilliam Jornalensis saith That out of the Merchen-Lage West-Saxon-Lage and Dane-Lage the Confessor composed the Common Law which remains to this day Malmesbury who lived in Duke William's Time saith That the Kings were sworn to observe the Laws of the Confessor so called saith he because he observed them most religiously But to make this Point clear out of Ingulphus he saith in the end of his Chronicle I Ingulphus brought with me from London into my Monastery Crowland the Laws of the most Righteous King Edward which my Lord King William did command by his Proclamation to be Authentick and Perpetual and to be observed throughout the whole Kingdom of England upon pain of most heinous punishment The Lieger-Book of the Abby of Waltham commends Duke William for restoring the Laws of the English-men out of the Customs of their Country Radburn follows this Opinion and these Laws of Edward the Confessor are the same in part which are continued in our GREAT CHARTER of LIBERTIES A Manuscript entituled De Gestis Anglorum saith That at a Parliament at London 4. W. 1. the Lawyers also present that the King might hear their Laws he established Saint Edward's Laws they being formerly used in King Edgar's Time. There is also mention of the twelve Men out of every County to deliver truly the Estate of their Laws The same is remembred by Selden's History of Tythes and Titles of Honour and in a Manuscript Chronicle bound with the Book of Ely in Cotton's Library One of the worthy Gentlemen from whom I differ in Opinion was pleased to say That if William the Conqueror did not introduce the Laws of Normandy into England yet he conceives our Laws to be brought out of France hither in the time of some other of our Kings who had large Territories in France and brought in their Laws hither else he wonders how our Laws should be in French. Sir I shall endeavour to satisfy his Wonder therein by and by but first with your leave I shall offer to you some Probabilities out of the History That the Laws of England were by some of those Kings carried into France rather than the Laws of France brought hither This is expresly affirmed by Paulus Jovius who writes That when the English Kings reigned in a great part of France they taught the French their Laws Sabellicus a Venetian Historian writes That the Normans in their Manners and Customs and Laws followed the English Polydore Virgil contradicting himself in another place than before cited relates That in our King Hen. 6. Time the Duke of Bedford called together the Chief Men of all the Cities in Normandy and delivered in his Oration to them the many Benefits that the English afforded them especially in that the English gave to them their Customs and Laws By the Chronicle of Eltham H. 5. sent to Cane in Normandy not only Divines but English Common Lawyers by the agreement at Troys So there is much more probability that the Laws of England were introduced into France and Normandy than that the Laws of Normandy or any other part of France were introduced into England If the Normans had been Conquerors of England as they were not but their Duke was only a Conqueror of Harold and received as Hereditary King of England yet is it not probable they would have changed our Laws and have introduced theirs because they did not use to do so upon other Conquests The Normans conquered the Isles of Guernsey and Jersey yet altered not their Laws which in their local Customs are like unto ours The like they did in Sicily Naples and Apulia where they were Conquerors yet the Ancient Laws of those Countries were continued I hope Mr. Speaker I have by this time given some satisfaction to the Worthy Gentlemen who differed from me that the Laws of England were not imposed upon us by the Conqueror nor brought over hither either out of Normandy or any other part of France but are our Ancient Native Laws I must now come to indeavour
Saxon Laws that he found when he came to govern this Kingdom nor any setting up of new ones in their stead No so far was he from any such Designs of introducing new Laws which must needs be then the absolute Results of Arbitrary Will and Pleasure to shew the sad and calamitous Effects of an entire Conquest to the overthrow of those so firmly established already that you see he gives his Confirmation to King Edward's Laws which indeed generally speaking were but a Collection of those the Historian calls Bonas Leges ab antiquis Malmesb. de Gest Regn. Angl. lib. 2. fo 42. l. 21. regibus latas non quod ille statuerit sed quod observaverit not so much the Laws of his own making as those he caused to be strictly observed and put in execution From the Title of his Laws proceed we 2. To the Confirmation it self and here I shall acquaint you with the manner of it in all its necessary Particulars This William the First with his French and Normans putting many hardships upon the English which occasioned great Disorders and Convulsions in the State several of the Saxons chief Nobility betook themselves to Arms for the sake of their Avitae Consuetudines to which they bore an immutable and an immortal Love and which they feared some were endeavouring to take away and change them though on the other hand they were obstinately resolved never to part from them for they had à Majoribus Seld. Tit. of Hon. fol. 523. didicisse aut Libertatem aut Mortem and they would rather undergo the worst Calamities of a more cruel War than they would tamely quit and abandon those dear Laws and Customs to which they had so long been used and were so well acquainted with The King hereupon to keep the Ex lib. Monast de Litchfield Co. 8. Rep. in Pref. People in a greater observance of their Duty and withal not forgetting the Oath he had taken at his Coronation caused twelve of the most discreet and wise Men in every Shire throughout all England to take an Oath before himself to deal sincerely and uprightly without turning either ad dextram aut sinistram that is as my Lord Coke interprets it neither to flatter Prerogative or extend Priviledg and to declare and lay open the Constitutions of their Laws and Customs without concealing adding or in any sort varying from the Truth But finding William and his Norman Barons who were Norwegians by extraction were for introducing the Apud Lambard fol. 149. Norwegian Laws This the English thought a more killing blow than that of his Victory and therefore Vniversi Compatriotae qui Leges edixerant tristes affecti being all of them in a great Consternation they beseeched him that they might still retain Leges proprias their own Laws and enjoy Consuetudines Antiquâ—â— their Ancient Customs in which their Fathers lived ipsi in eis nati nutriti sunt quiâ— Id. Ibid. durum valde foret sibi suscipere Leges ignotas judicare de eis quas nesciebant and themselves were born and bred up in because it would be very hard to receive Laws unknown and to judg of those things they understood not And when William denied they warmly reinforced their Requests and then conjured him per Animam Regis Edwardi by the Soul of King Edward qui sibi post diem suum concesserat Coronam Regnum cujus erant Leges that he would not impose a Yoke upon them which they were not able to bear and which would only gall their Necks and make them the more fretting and unruly King William finding there was no Remedy tho' he was long resolute at last in a Common Council of his Kingdom yields and by his Magna Charta the ground-work of all those that after followed he confirmed to Apud Cl. Lambard fol. 158. them their Ancient Laws ad praeces Communitatis Anglorum Blessing it with the Seal of Security and Wish of Eternity closing it up with this Co. li. 8. in Pref. general And we further Command That all Men keep and observe duly the Laws of King Edward rearing up the Frontispiece of his Gracious Ex Libro MS. de legib antiq Work with his Glorious Stile Willielmus Dei Gratia Rex Anglorum Dux Normannorum Omnibus hominibus suis Francis Anglicis Salutem Statuinius imprimis super omnia unum Deum per totum Regnum nostrum venerari unam fidem Christi semper inviolatam custodiri pacem securitatem concordiam judicium justitiam inter Anglos Normannos Francos Britones Walliae Cornubiae Pictos Scotos Albaniae similiter inter Insulanos Provincias Patrias quae pertinent ad Coronam dignitatem defensionem observationem honorem Regni nostri inter omnes nobis Subjectos per Vniversam Monarchiam Regni Britanniae firmiter inviolabiliter observari Ingulphus Secretary to William in Normandy and afterwards made Abbot of Crowland by him is an unexceptionable Witness to prove that the English Laws were then anew confirmed and he saith †Ex Ingulpho Abbate Crowlandense fol. 519. b. l. 37. Attâ—li eadem vice mecum de Londonijs in meum Monasterium Leges aequissimi Regis Edwardi quas Dominus meus inclitus Rex Willielmus authenticas esse perpetuas per totum Regnum Angliae inviolabiliter tenendas sub poenis graviffiâ—â—is toclamâret suis Justitiarils commendâret eodem idiomate quo editae sunt I brought this time with me from London where he had been about the business of his House to my Monastery the Laws of the most just King Edward which my Lord William the renowned King of England had proclaimed authentick and perpetual all England over to be kept under most grievous Penalties and commended to his Justice in the same Tongue they were set forth And this Proclamation was not all to allay the Storms which perhaps the violation of these Laws had raised For the good of Peace saith an ancient Monk he swears upon all the Reliques of the Church of Saint Albane touching the Holy Gospel Abbot Fredrick ministring the Oath * Mat. Paris in vit Fretherici Abbatis S. Albani fol. 48. l. 39. Bonas approbatas antiquas Regni Leges quas Sancti Pii Angliae Reges ejus Antecessores maximè Rex Edwardus statuit inviolabiliter observare the good and approved ancient Laws of the Realm which the Holy and Pious Kings of England his Ancestors and especially King Edward set forth inviolably to keep Thus we see the Mighty Conqueror is himself conquered and solemnly renouncing all Arbitrary Will and Power submits his Will to be regulated and governed by Justice and the ancient Rights of the English Men. Besides that the Laws that were continued and confirmed were the old Saxon Laws and the Additional Laws were made for the Benefit and Advantage of the English not Normans And those
ground to believe he was a great Man that he had a Sir-name or Addition Because if we believe the Great Antiquary Mr. Cambden Sirnames Camb. Rem p. 136. were not setled among the Common People fully till about the Time of Edw. 2. 2. The Earl of Moreton a very Ipse Comes tenuit Estreham T. R. E. powerful Prince as I may call him held Estreham in Tenrige Hundred in the Time of King Edward He enjoyed several other great Possessions of the Gift of King William I doubt not indeed but he was a Norman born yet he was here before the entrance of the Norman Duke and might not improbably be in Favour with King Edward the Confessor who was all Camb. Rem p. 136. Frenchified He to be sure had some Lands within the Kingdom of England which he enjoyed not from William's Division Pag. 176. Hampshire 3. Ralph Mortimer held several Possessions some of which he had Jure Haereditario from before the Reputed Conquest Ipse Radulphus tenet Ordie This Mannor T. R. E. extra Ecclesiam emptum fuit eo pacto conventione ut post tertium haeredem cum omni pecunia Manerium Ecclesia Sancti Petri de Episcopatu recuperet nunc qui tenet Radulphus est tertius haeres Dorsetshire Dorsete 4. Ten Thains hold Chimedecome Ipsi tenuerunt T. R. E. pro. 1. Manerio Omnes qui has terras tenuerunt T. R. E. potuerunt ire ad quem Dominum volebant Staffordshire Statfordscire 5 Alric holds Stagrisgeshowe Ipsi has Terras tenuerunt T. R. E. And Aswold holds Chrochesdene 14. more hold Lands of Titles Prior to King William's amongst which the Earls Hugh de Ferriers and Alberic de Vere the first of which held St. Warburgh of Chester in the Time of the Confessor 6. And lastly Vctred held several Lands in the Time of King Edward as in the Time of William the First Besides several dispossessed who have their Titles allowed I think these six Instances are enough referring the more curious to Mr. Attwood's Book before mentioned or to the great Survey it self to bear out my Assertion That the English had Estates and Fortunes still in their hands which they held in King Edward's Time and did not derive under King William's Title Having now given you these six Individuals I shall offer you three more and they are from the Charters of King William the one to the Dean of St. Pauls confirming to him the Lands c. belonging to that Church and this was upon the day of his Coronation too The other is to the Abby of Westminster and the third to the City of London granting to them the Liberties and Franchises which they enjoyed in the Time of Edward the Confessor To begin with that made to the Dean of St. Pauls 1. Ego Willielmus Dei Gratia Rex Carta Regis Williel Conquestor in Appendice in Histor Eccles Cathedr S. Pauli By Sir Will. Dugdale fol. 190. Anglorum unà cum Mathilda Reginâ Principibusque meis coram conventu Sacerdotum Dei Reverendis scilicet Archiepiscopis Aldredo Stigando caeterisque Episcopis Abbatibus hujus Patriae terras Monasterii Sancti Pauli quae in tempore Antecessorum meorum à quibuslibet hominibus ablatae fuerant injustè detentae omnes in die primi Diadematis Coronationis meae Deo ejusque Apostolo Paulo in Lundonia eorum servitoribus in perpetuùm possidendas restitui eas ex omni parte liberas esse concessi 2. William the First gives the Cartae Antiq. C. C. n. 31. Church of Westminster decimam de Wic de eadem parte quae ad me pertinebat atque iterùm reddidi eandem partem eis injustè ablatam quà m Rex Edwardus antea dederat So that we see that as on the one hand William the First gave them the Tithes of that part which was his right so likewise he restored the Tithes of that part which was unjustly taken from that Church and which Edward the Confessor had before given And no Conquest was here pretended but the Precedent proves the quite contrary viz. that there was none insisted on 3. And now I come to that respecting the City of London Williem King grets Williem Bisceop and Godfred * Porteregravan portgrave Saxonicè Hollinshead ' s 3d Vol. fol. 15. 2. Col. n. 21. Porterefan ealle ya Burghwarn binnen London Frenciâ—e Englise frendlice Ic kiden eoy yeet Ic wille yeet git ben ealra weera lâ— gayweord ye get weeran on Eadwerds daege Kings And Ic wille yeet aelc child by his Fader yrfnume aefter his Faders daege And Ic nelle ge Wolian yeet adnig man eoy aenis wrang beode God eoy heald Willielmus Rex Salutat Willielmum Episcopum Goffridum Portegrefium omnem Burghware infra London Frans Angl. amicabilitèr Et vobis notum facio quòd ego volo quòd vos sâ—iâ— omni lege illa digni quae fuistis Edwardi diebus Regis Et volo quod omnis Puer sit Patris sui haeres post diem Patris sui Et ego nolo pati quòd aliquis homo aliquam injuâ—iam vobis inferat Deus vos salvet Englished in Stow's Survey of London Stow ' s Survey of London fol. 740. thus William King grete William Bishop and Godfrey Porters and al the Burgeis within London Frensh and English And I grant you that I wyll that yee be all your Lawe worth that ye were in Edwardis dayes the King. And I wyl that ich Childe be his Faders Eyer And I nyl suffur that ony Man you any wrongys beed And God you kepe Now 't is evident from this Charter 1. That it was made immediately upon or after the Coronation of William because you see he stiles himself King. 2. This may seem to justify not only what the Historians who lived nearest his Time as Pictaviensis c. but what his own Laws do likewise declare viz. That he was crowned King by compact with the English and at the same time swore inviolably to observe King Edwards Laws which he confirmed to them 3. With this further That he denounced a severe Prohibition that no Man should offer any affront or do any wrong to the Citizens of London 4. And for a compleat assurance of all this his Love and Kindness to the City he concludes with a Prayer to Heaven That God would keep and bless them But by the way give me leave to shew you though I think likewise it does not a little contribute to the strength and validity of my Argument the Greatness and Power of the City of London in those early Times I shall transcribe the words of a Learned Writer concerning it and so leave it to your more serious consideration William Stephanides a Monk of Canterbury born as Stow saith in his fore-cited Book of Worshipful Parents in the City of London and who lived in the Stephanid
Person of great Learning and Abilities in his Time collected out of a large Original Manuscript which I have seen of Sir Roger Owen a very great Antiquary that lived in the Time of King James and one who as appears by that Book was a Man not only of wonderful Knowledg and admirable Observation in the Records and Histories of his own Nation but also in those of Foreign Countries This was a Speech of the then Lord Whitlock in Novemb. 1650. upon the House's long and smart Debate touching the Act for putting all the Books of Law and the Process and Proceedings in Courts of Justice into the English Tongue In which Debate some spake in derogation and dishonour of the Laws of England For some vindication whereof and for satisfying some Mistakes he delivered his Opinion in the House to this effect It is now newly printed in Mr. Whitlock's MEMORIALS OF THE ENGLISH AFFAIRS c. and is here truly transcribed Mr. Speaker THe Question upon which your present Debate ariseth is of no small moment nor is it easily or speedily to be determined for it comprehends no less than a total Alteration of the Frame and Course of Proceedings of our Law which have been established and continued for so many Years I should not have troubled you with any of my weak Discourse but that I apprehend some Mistakes and dishonour to the Law of England if passed by without any Answer may be of ill consequence and having attended to hear them answered by others who are not pleased to do it I held my self the more engaged in the duty of my Profession to offer to your Judgment to which I shall always submit what I have met with and do suppose not to be impertinent for the rectifying of some Mistakes which are amongst us A worthy Gentleman was pleased to affirm with much confidence as he brought it in upon this Debate That the Laws of England were introduced by William the Conqueror as among other Arguments he asserted might appear by their being written in the French Tongue In his first Assertion that our Laws were introduced by William the Conqueror out of France I shall acknowledg that he hath several both Forreign and Domestick Authors whom he may follow therein The Forreign Authors are Jovius Aemilius Bodine Hottoman Dynothus Volateran Berault Berkley Choppinus Vspargensis Malines and Polidore who affirm this erròneous piece of Doctrine but the less to be regarded from them because they were strangers to our Laws and took up upon trust what they published in this Point Of our own Country-men they have Paris Malmesbury Matthew Westminster Fox Cosins Twyne Heyward Milles Fulbeck Cowell Ridley Brown Speed Martyr and some others All of them affirm That the Laws of England were introduced by William the Conqueror But their Errors are refuted by Sir Roger Owen in his Manuscript who saith That Roger Wendover and Matthew Paris were the first Monks that hatched these addle Eggs. I shall endeavour to shew you That the Original of our Laws is not from the French that they were not introduced by William the Conqueror out of Normandy And I shall humbly offer to you my Answer to some of their Arguments who are of a contrary opinion Polydore Hist Angl. l. 9. affirmeth That William the Conqueror first appointed Sheriffs and Iustices of the Peace erected Tenures brought in Trials by twelve Men and several other Particulars of our Laws For Sheriffs their name Scire Reeve shews them to be of the Saxon Institution And our Histories mention the division of Shires by King Alphred but in truth it was much more ancient And it is apparent by our Books and Records some whereof are in the Hustings of London and in the Tower that the same things were in use here long before the Time of King Will. 1. Sir Roger Owen shews at large That Livery of Seisin Licenses or Fines for Alienation Daughters to inherit Trials by Iuries Abjurations Utlaries Coroners disposing of Lands by Will Eseheats Gaols Writs Wrecks Warranties Catalla Fellonum and many other parts of our Law and the Forms of our Parliaments themselves were here in being before the Time of Duke William Agreeing hereunto are many of our Historians and learned Antiquaries But it is objected That in the Grand Custumary of Normandy the Laws are almost all the same with ours of England and the form of their Parliaments the same with ours That the Writer of the Preface to that Book saith It contains only the Laws and Customs which were made by the Princes of Normandy by the Councel of their Prelats Earls Barons and other Wise Men which shews the forms of their Parliaments to be the same with ours and the Laws in that Book to be the proper Laws of Normandy and ours to be the same therefore they argue that our Laws were introduced from thence by William the Conqueror This will be fully answered if that Grand Custumary of Normandy was composed in our King Edw. 1. his Time as good Authors hold it was then it cannot be That our Laws or Parliaments could be derived from thence These Learned Men say That this Custumary was a meer Translation of our Law-Book Glanvill as the Book of Regia Majestas of the Laws of Scotland is and the like of the Laws of Burgundy They farther add That the first establishing of the Custumary of Normandy was in Hen. 1. his Time and afterwards again about the beginning of Edw. 2. his Time. If the Laws in the Custumary were introduced there from England it will then be granted that the Laws of England were not introduced here by William the Conqueror But I think it very clear that their Laws were brought to them out of England and then you will all agree to the conclusion Our King Hen. 1. conquered Normandy from his Brother Robert and was a Learned King as his Name Beauclerke testifies whom Ivo calls an especial Establisher of Iustice Sequerius relates That this King established the English Laws in Normandy Herewith do agree Gulielmus Brito Armoricus Rutclurius and other French Writers who mention also That the Laws in the Custumary of Normandy are the same with the Laws collected by our English King Edward the Confessor who was before the Conqueror An additional Testimony hereof is out of William de Alenso Revile who in his Comment upon the Custumary saith That all the Laws of Normandy came from the English Laws and Nation In the Custumary there is a Chapter of Nampes or Distresses and decreed That one should not bring his Action upon any Seisure but from the Time of the Coronation of King Richard and this must be our King Richard the first because no King of France was in that Time of that Name and the words Nampes and Withernams were Saxon words taken out of the English Laws signifying a Pawn or Distress and in the same sence are used in the Custumary That which puts it further out of scruple is That
25. E. 3. of old Time used and * 42. E. 3. the Old Law whose Age made it the more venerable and gave an addition of honour to it Well having thus shewn you the Coronation of King William the First and given you the Solemn Oath he at the same time took even before his Consecration that so he might give all possible satisfaction to the English of his resolving to rule accordingly and also having made it plain that it was the same in substance with that the Ancient Saxons took before him I shall now descend briefly to set before you some of his own Charters as likewise some of William the Second's and of Henry the First 's his Children and succeeding Kings and from them evidence to you I hope demonstrably that it was not so much his Conquest he relied upon when he was setled in this Imperial Throne as his claim to the Crown of England Jure Hereditario by Right of Inheritance And for the proof of this be pleased to accept of these ensuing Instances 1. In Nomine Patris Filii Carta Antiqua litera D. N. 4. Spiritus Sancti Amen Ego Willielmus Dei Gratia Rex Anglorum Haereditario Jure Factus 2. In Nomine Patris Filii Carta 4. E. 4. m. 27. per Inspex Spiritus Sancti Amen Ego Willielmus Rex Anglorum Haereditario Jure Factus 3. In nomine Sanctae individuae Monast Anglican Vol. 1. fol. 317. Trinitatis Ego Willielmus Dei Gratia Rex Anglorum notum facio omnibus tam posteris quam praesentibus Archiepiscopis Episcopis Abbatibus Comitibus Baronibus omnibus fidelibus Francis Anglis Quod cum in Angliam venissem in finibus Hasting cum excercitu applicuissem contra hostes meos qui mihi Regnum Angliae injustè conabatur auferre 4. In ore gladii saith William the Carra Westm per Inspex 1. E. 4. parte septima m. 26. Mr. Seld. Review p. 483. First 's Charter Regnum adeptus sum Anglorum devicto Haroldo Rege cum suis Complicibus qui mihi Regnum cum providentia Dei destinatum beneficio concessionis Domini Cognati mei gloriosi Regis Edwardi concessum conati sunt auferre c. Come we now to his Second Son William Rufus 5. Willielmus Rex Anglorum Willielmo Carta Regis Willielmi Rufi vide Monast Anglican Vol. 1. fol. 352. Vicecomiti Filio Baldewini omnibus Baronibus suis Ministris qui habitant in Devonescira Salutem Notifico vobis quod mea condonatione Ecclesia beati Olavi Regis Martyris à Monachis belli aedificata in honore beati Nicholai quam cum omni terra quae pertinet ad Ecclesiam suprascripti Martyris meo privilegio videlicet Literis Sigillo liberam facio ita liberam quietam per omâ—ia cum saca soca thol theam infangenetheof warpeni murdro omnibus consuetudinibus operibus auxiliis sicut Pater meus liberam fecit Ecclesiam Sancti Martini de bello ubi hostem devicit ubi Coronam Regni haereditariam sibi bellando adquisivit T. Walchelino Wintoniensi Episcopo Rogero Bigot apud Wintoniam From William Rufus proceed we to his Brother Henry the First And saith he 6. In Nomine Sanctae Individuae Ex Hist Eliensis Eccles M. S. in Bibl. Bodleana inter Codices Cant. l. 58. lib. 3. fol 2. a. Monast Anglican Vol. 1. fol. 95. Trinitatis Patris Filii Spiritus Sancti Anno Incarnationis Dominicae MCVIII Indictione ....... Anno vero Pontificatus Domini Paschalis Papae secundi ✚ Regni quoque mei similiter ✚ Ego Henricus providente divina clementia Rex Anglorum Normannorum Dux Willielmi Magni Regis Filius qui Edwardo Regi Haereditario Jure successit in Regnum c. 7. Again Ego Henricus Dei Gratia Monast Anglican Vol. 2. fol 845. Rex Anglorum Filius Magni Regis Willielmi qui beatae memoriae Edwardo in Regnum Successit 8. To give you one Charter more Ex MS. Domini Rogeri Owen Equit. Aurati The words of that of Henry the First to the Abby of Westminster are Pro memoria Edwardi Cognati mei qui Patrem meum liberosque illius in Regnum suum adoptivos haeredes instituit And thus have I given you as it were a three-fold Cord not easily to be snapt asunder to bind hard my Assertion and to convince those who will not suffer themselves to be over-run by an obstinate Prejudice or captivated by a byass'd Interest that our first William when he came in gained nor such an absolute Victory as is pretended over this Nation for when he came in he had not subdued the fifth part of it but came to the Crown by the Election and Consent of the Clergy and People And foedus pepigit he made a Solemn Covenant with the English to observe and keep those Laws which were bonae approbatae antiquae Leges Regni And this Sir is what I shall endeavour clearly to make out to you in my Answer to your Second Question The Second Question Whether this first William did abolish Quest 2 all the English Laws and changed the whole Frame and Constitution of the Government ANd doubtless not for as my Lord Coke saith The Grounds of Lord Coke ' s Preface to his 8th Report our Common Laws at this day are beyond the Memory or Register of any beginning and the same which the Norman Ex vitâ Abbatis Sancti Albani Conqueror then found within this Realm of England And those Laws he swore to observe which were good approved and ancient Now that these were only his Norwegian Laws sure none can or ought to believe after they have throughly examined these plain Truths which I shall here offer to their fair perusal 1. If they please to consider what was the Title of the Laws called the Laws of King William the First published by Mr. Selden with his learned Notes upon Eadmer and since with the Saxon Laws Why truly the Title was plainly this These are the Laws and Customs which William â—elden ad Endmerum fol. 173. the King granted to the Ce sont les Leis les Custumes que li Reis William grantut a tut le â—euple de Engleterre apres le Conquest de la Terre Ice les meismes que le Reis Edward sun Cosin tiht devant luy whole People of England after the Conquest of the Land. These were those which the King Edward his Cousin held before him In these Laws recited by Hoveden in the Life of King Henry the Second King Edward's Laws are confirmed in these words This we command That all Men have and hold the Law of Edward the King in all things together with those Laws which we have added for the profit of the English So that here was no abolishing of the Old
also to satisfy the Wonder If they were not brought out of Normandy or some other part of France how come they then to be written in the French Language Sir It is to me an Argument That because they are written in French therefore they were not brought in by Duke William the Norman for the French Tongue was not the Language of Duke William and the Normans They had not been then in Duke William's Time past four descents in that part of France and it is improbable that they in so short a Time should lose their Native Tongue and take up and use the Language of another Countrey which was conquered by them The Normans came from Sweden Gothland Norway and Denmark between whose Languages and with the High-Dutch their Neighbours there is a great affinity but between these Languages and the French there is none at all Vlphilus holds that the Dutch Tongue came from the Goths Jornandus saith The Goth's Tongue came from the Dutch. All agree That between those Languages and the French there is no affinity It is so improbable that Duke William should cause our Laws to be in French that when he proclaimed them as Ingulphus testifies he commanded that they should be used in the same Language they were written in English to his Justices and gives the Reason Lest by Ignonorance we should happen to break them But it hath been further objected If Duke William did not cause our Laws to be written in French what then should be the Reason that the Grand Custumary of his Norman Laws were written in the French Tongue The Reason thereof is given That the Normans being a Rough and Martial People had few Clerks amongst them but made use of those French amongst whom they then lived and whose Language they then began to be acquainted with and to understand But when they were in England they had not so much use of those Clerks and that Language but more of the English And probably it might be that the Confessor had been so long in France that he was more Master of that Language than the Normans and that the Normans understood that Language better than the English and thereupon the Custumary was written in the French Tongue But it doth not therefore follow that Duke William must cause the English Laws to be written in the French Tongue but it is more likely that he might cause them to be continued in their Native Idiom which was much nearer in affinity to his own Northern Language than the French was That the French Tongue was not introduced as to our Laws and other things by Duke William into England appears in that the French was in great use with us here both before and some-time after his Invasion Beda affirms That in Anno 640 it was the Custom of England to send their Daughters into the Monasteries of France to be brought up there and that Ethelbert Ethelwulf Ethelred and other Saxon Kings married into the Royal Blood of France Glabor notes That before the Time of Duke William the Normans and English did so link together that they were a Terror to Forreign Nations Ingulphus saith That the Saxon Hand was used until the Time of King Alfred long before the Time of Duke William and that he being brought up by French Teachers used the French Hand And he notes many Charters of Edward and Edgar written in the French Hand and some Saxon mixt with it as in the Book of Dooms-day That Edward the Confessor by reason of his long being in France was turned into the French Fashion and all England with him But that William the first commanded our Laws to be written in the English Tongue because most Men understood it and that there be many of his Patents in the Saxon Tongue I suppose we may be satisfied that William the first did not cause our Laws to be written in French though the French Language was much in use here before his Time. And if he did not introduce the French Language into England the Argument falls That because they are written in French therefore he brought them in But Sir I shall offer you some Conjectures how it came that our Laws were written in French which I suppose might be begun in the Time of our K. Hen. 2. who was a Frenchman born and had large Territories and Relations in France and with French-men of whom great Numbers came into England and they and the English matched and lived together both here and in some parts of France Hence it came to pass as Giraldus Cambrensis notes that the English Tongue was in great use in Burdeaux and in other parts of France where the English-men were resident and conversant the like was when the French-men were so conversant in England Mathew Westminster writes That he was in hazard of losing his Living because he understood not the French Tongue and that in King Hen. 2. and King Stephen's Time who had large Dominions in France their Native Country and the Number of French and of Matches with them was so great that one could hardly know who was French and who English Gervasius Tilsberiensis observes the same And Brackland writes That in Rich. 1. Time preaching in England was in the French Tongue Probably Pleading might be so likewise and in King Iohn's Time French was accounted as the Mother Tongue There are scarce any Deeds of our Kings in French before Hen. 2. his Time the most are in Ed. 1. and Ed. 2. their Time. That our Laws were pleaded and written in French before Edw. 3. his Time appears by the Stat. 36. Edw. 3. c. 15. which recites the Mischief of the Law being in French and enacts That the Law shall thereafter be pleaded in English and enrolled in Latin. This is one ground of the mistaken Opinion of Lambard Polydore Speed and others That Duke William brought in hither both the Norman Laws and Language which I apprehend to be fully answered and the contrary manifested by what I have said before on this Subject Polydores Mistake may appear the more when he asserts that by the Stat. 36. Edw. 3. Matters are to be enrolled in English which is contrary to the express Words that they are to be enrolled in Latin. Many of our Law-Books were written in Latin before the Norman Invasion as appears by the Ancient Rolls of Mannors and Court Barons and our Old Authors Glanvill Bracton Tilsbury Hengham Fleta the Register and the Book of Entries The Records at Westminster and the Tower and other Records yet extant are in Latin and many Books of our Law in Latin were translated into English about Edw. 3. his Time. Most of our Statutes from Edw. 1. his Time till about the middle of Hen. 7. his Reign are enrolled in French notwithstanding this Stat. 36. Edw. 3. except the Stat. 6. R. 2. some others in Latin R. 2. H. 4. H. 5. and H. 6. used to write their Letters in French and some of our Fleadings