Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	edward_n	king_n	normandy_n	2,635	5	11.0549	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54132	England's present interest discover'd with honour to the prince and safety to the people in answer to this one question, What is most fit ... at this juncture of affairs to be done for composing ... the heat of contrary interests & making them subservient to the interest of the government, and consistent with the prosperity of the kingdom? : presented and submitted to the consideration of superiours.	Penn, William, 1644-1718.	1675 (1675)	Wing P1279; ESTC R1709	45,312	70

God's People how they might be kept from Sin in quiet and have Right done them according to the Customs and Laws Nor did this Law end with the Saxon Race William the Conqueror as he is usually called quitting all claim by Conquest gladly stoopt to the Laws observed by the Saxon Kings and so became a King by Leave valuing a Title by Election before that which is founded in Power only He therefore at his Coronation made a solemn Covenant to maintain the good approv'd and ancient Laws of the Kingdom and to inhibit all Spoil and unjust Judgment And this Henry the first his third Son amongst others his Titles mentioned in his Charter to make Ely a Bishoprick calls himself Son of William the Great who by Hereditary Right succeeded King Edward call'd the Confessor in this Kingdom An ancient Chronicle of Leichfield speaks of a Council of Lords that advised William of Normandy To call together all the Nobles and Wise Men throughout their Counties of England that they might set down their own Laws and Customs which was about the fourth year of his Reign Which implies that they had Fundamental Laws and that he intended their Confirmation as followeth And one of the first Laws made by this King which as a notable Author saith may be called the first Magna Charta in the Norman Times by which he reserved to himself nothing of the Free-men of this Kingdom but their Free Service in the Conclusion of it saith that The Lands of the Inhabitants of this Kingdom were granted to them in Inheritance of the King and by the Common Council of the whole Kingdom which Law doth also provide That they shall hold their Lands and Tenements well or quietly and in Peace from all unjust Tax and Tillage which is further expounded in the Laws of Henry the first ch 4. That no Tribute or Tax should be taken but what was due in Edward the Confessor's Time So that the Norman Kings claim no other Right in the Lands and Possessions of any of their Subjects then according to English Law and Right And so tender were they of Property in those times that when Justice it self became importunate in a Case no Distress could issue without publick Warrant obtained nor that neither but upon Three Complaints first made Nay when Rape and Plunder was rife and men seem'd to have no more Right to their own then they had Power to maintain even then was this law sufficient Sanctuary to all Oppressed by being publickly pleaded at the Bar against all Usurpations though it were under the Pretence of their Conqueror's Right it self as by the Case of Edwin of Sharnbourn appears The like Obligation to maintain this Fundamental Law of Property with the appendent Rights of the People was taken by Rufus Henry the 1st Stephen Henry the 2d Richard the 1st John and Henry the 3d which brings me to that Famous Law called Magna Charta or The Great Charter of England of which more anon it being my Design to shew That nothing of the Essential Rights of English men was thereby de novo granted as in Civility to King Henry the third it is termed but that they are therein only repeated and confirmed Wherefore I shall return to antecedent Times tofetch down the remaining Rights The second part of this first Fundamental is Liberty of Person The Saxons were so tender in the point of Imprisonment that there was little or no use made of it nor would they so punish their Bond-men vinculis coercere rarum est In case of Debt or Dammage the Recovery thereof was either by a Delivery of the just Value in Goods or upon the Sheriffs Sale of the Goods in Money and if that satisfied not the Land was extended and when all was gone they were accustomed to make their last Seizure upon the Party's Arms and then he was reputed an Undone Man and cast upon the Charity of his Friends for Subsistence but his Person never imprison'd for the D●bt no not in the King's Case And to the Honour of King Alfred be it spoaken He imprison'd one of his Judges for Imprisoning a Man in that Case And we find among his Laws this Passage Qui immerentem Paganum vin●ul●s 〈◊〉 stri●xer●t dec●m solidis noxam sarcito That if a Man should imprison a Pagan or Heathen unjustly his Purgation of that Offence should be no less then the Payment of Ten Shillings a Sum very considerable in those dayes Nor did the Revolution from Saxon to Norman drop this Priviledge for besides the general Confirmation of former Rights by William surnamed the Conqueror his Son Henry the first particularly took such Care of continuing this part of Property inviolable that in his Time no Person was to be imprison'd for committing of Mortal Crime it self unless he were first attainted by the Verdict of Twelve Men. Thus much for-the first of my Three Fundamentals Right of Estate and Liberty of Person that is to say I am no man's Bond-man and what I possess is inviolably mine own 2. A Voting of every Law that is made whereby that Ownership or Propriety may be maintained That the second Fundamental of our English Government was no Incroachment upon the Kings of more modern Ages but extant long before the great Charter made in the Reign of Hen. 3. even as early as the Brittains themselves and that it continued to the time of Hen. 3. I shall prove by several Instances Caesar in his Commentaries tells us That it was the Custom of the British Cities to Elect their General and if in War why not in Peace Dion assures us in the Life of Severus the Emperor That in Brittain the People held a Share in Power and Government which is the modestest Construction his words will bear And Tacitus saith They had a Common Council and that one great Reason of their Overthrow by the Romans was their not Consulting with and Relying upon their Common Council Again Both ad and Mat Westminster tell us That the Brittains summon'd a Synod chose their Moderator and expell'd the Pelagian Creed All which supposes popular assemblies with Power to order National Affairs And indeed the learned Author of the Brittish Councils gives some Hints to this Purpose That they had a Common Council and call'd it KYFR-Y-THEN The Saxons were not inferiour to the Brittains in this Point and Story furnisheth us with more and plainer Proofs They brought this Liberty along with them and it was not likely they should loose it by transporting themselves into a Country where they also found it Tacitus reports it to have been generally the German Liberty like unto the Concie of the Athenians and Lacedemonians They call their Free-men Frilingi and these had Votes in the Making and Executing the general Laws of the Kingdom In Ethelbert's time after Austin's Insinuations had made his Followers a Part of the Government the Commune Concilium was