Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	french_a	king_n	paris_n	4,104	5	9.3010	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59100	Tracts written by John Selden of the Inner-Temple, Esquire ; the first entituled, Jani Anglorvm facies altera, rendred into English, with large notes thereupon, by Redman Westcot, Gent. ; the second, England's epinomis ; the third, Of the original of ecclesiastical jurisdictions of testaments ; the fourth, Of the disposition or administration of intestates goods ; the three last never before extant.; Selections. 1683	Selden, John, 1584-1654.; Littleton, Adam, 1627-1694.; White, Robert, 1645-1703.; Selden, John, 1584-1654. Jani Anglorum facies altera. English.; Selden, John, 1584-1654. England's epinomis.; Selden, John, 1584-1654. Of the original of ecclesiastical jurisdiction of testaments.	1683 (1683)	Wing S2441; ESTC R14343	196,477	246

came in his way as he was passing by holding up their Ploughshares in token that their Husbandry was running to decay for they were put to a world of trouble upon occasion of the provisions which they carried from their own quarters through several parts of the Kingdom Thereupon the King being moved with their complaints did by the resolved advice of his Lords appoint throughout the Kingdom such persons as he knew were for their prudence and discretion fit for the service These persons going about and that they might believe their own eyes taking a view of the several Lands having made an estimate of the provisions which were paid out of them they reduced it into a sum of pence But for the total sum which arose out of all the Lands in one County they ordered that the Sheriff of that County should be bound to the Exchequer Adding this withal that he should pay it at the Scale Now the manner of paying the tryal of the weight and of the metal by Chymical operation the Melter or Coyner and the surveyor of the Mint are more largely handled and explained by my self in some other work of mine 13. That he might the more firmly retain Kent to himself that being accounted as it were the Key of England 't is the famous Mr. Camden tells the Story he set a Constable over Dover-Castle and made the same person Warden of the Cinque Ports according to the old usage of the Romans Those are Hastings Dover Hith Rumney and Sandwich to which are joyned Winchelsey and Rye as Principals and other little Towns as Members 14. To put the last hand to William I add out of the Archives this Law not to be accounted among the last or least of his William by the Grace of God King of the English to all Counts or Earls Viscounts or Sheriffs and to all French born and English men who have Lands in the Bishoprick of Remigius greeting This Remigius was the first who translated the Episcopal See from Dorchester to Lincoln Be it known unto you all and the rest of my Liege Subjects who abide in England that I by the common advice of my Arch-Bishops and the rest of the Bishops and Abbots and all the Princes of my Kingdom have thought fit to order the amendment of the Episcopal Laws which have been down to my time in the Kingdom of the Angles not well nor according to the Precepts of the holy Canons ordained or administred Wherefore I do command and by my Royal Authority strictly charge that no Bishop or Arch-deacon do henceforth hold Pleas in the Hundred concerning Episcopal Laws nor bring any cause which belongs to the Government of Souls i.e. to spiritual affairs to the judgment of secular men but that whosoever according to the Episcopal Laws shall for what cause or fault soever be summoned shall come to a place which the Bishop shall chuse and name for this purpose and there make answer concerning his cause and do right to God and his Bishop not according to the Hundred but according to the Canons and Episcopal Laws For in the time of the Saxon Empire there were wont to be present at those Country Meetings the Hundred Courts an Alderman and a Bishop the one for Spirituals the other for Temporals as appears by King Edgar's Laws CHAP. V. William Rufus succeeds Annats now paid to the King Why claimed by the Pope No one to go out of the Land without leave Hunting of Deer made Felony AFter the death of William his second Son WILLIAM sirnamed RVFVS succeeded in his room All Justice of Laws as Florentius of Worcester tells us was now husht in silence and Causes being put under a Vacation without hearing money alone bore sway among the great ones Ipsaque majestas auro corrupta jacebat that is And Majesty it self being brib'd with gold Lay as a prostitute expos'd to th' bold 15. The right or duty of First-Fruits or as they are commonly called the Annats which our Kings claimed from vacant Abbies and Bishopricks Polydor Virgil will have to have had its first original from Rufus Now the Popes of Rome laid claim to them anciently a sort of Tribute which upon what right it was grounded the Council of Basil will inform us and by what opinion and resolution of Divines and Lawyers confirmed Francis Duarenus in his Sacred Offices of the Church will instruct us 'T is certain that Chronologers make mention that at his death the Bishopricks of Canterbury Winchester and Salisbury and twelve Monasteries beside being without Prelates and Abbots paid in their Revenues to the Exchequer 16. He forbad by publick Edict or Proclamation sayes the same Author that any one should go out of England without his leave and Passport We read that he forbad Anselm the Arch-Bishop that he should not go to wait upon Pope Vrban but that he comprehended all Subjects whatsoever in this his Royal order I confess I have not met with any where in my reading but in Polydor. 17. He did so severely forbid hunting of Deer saith William of Malmesbury that it was Felony and a hanging matter to have taken a Stag or Buck. CHAP. VI. Henry the First why called Beauclerk His Letters of Repeal An Order for the Relief of Lands What a Hereot was Of the Marriage of the Kings Homagers Daughter c. Of an Orphans Marriage Of the Widows Dowry Of other Homagers the like Coynage-money remitted Of the disposal of Estates The Goods of those that dye Intestate now and long since in the Churches Jurisdiction as also the business of Wills Of Forfeitures Of Misdemeanors Of Forests Of the Fee de Hauberk King Edward's Law restored WIlliam who had by direful Fates been shewn to the World was followed by his Brother Henry who for his singular Learning which was to him instead of a Royal Name was called Beau-clerk He took care of the Common-wealth by amending and making good what had slipt far aside from the bounds of Justice and by softning with wholsome remedies those new unheard of and most grievous injuries which Ralph afterwards Bishop of Durham being Lord Chief Justice of the whole Kingdom plagued the people with He sends Letters of Repeal to the High Sheriffs to the intent that the Citizens and people might enjoy their liberty and free rights again See here a Copy of them as they are set down in Matthew Paris HENRY by the Grace of God King of England to Hugh of Bockland High Sheriff and to all his Liege people as well French as English in Herefordshire Greeting Know ye that I through the mercy of God and by the common advice of the Barons of the Kingdom of England have been crowned King And because the Kingdom was opprest with unjust exactions I out of regard to God and that love which I bear towards you all do make the holy Church of God free so that I will neither sell it nor will I put it to farm

Regis faciant inde fieri recognitionem per XII legales homines quatem seisinam defunctus inde habuit die qua ficit vivus mortuus This is the very Mortdancester Et sicut recognitum fuerit ita haeredibus ejus restituant si quis contrà hoc fecerit inde attaintus fuerit remaneat in misericordiâ Regis XXXII Justitiae Domini Regis faciant fieri recognitionem de disseisinis factis super assisam à tempore quo D. Rex venit in Angliam proximo post pacem factam inter ipsum Regem filium suum XXXIII Justitiae capiant fidelitates D. Regis infra Claus. Pasch. ad ultimum infrà Claus. Pentecost ab omnibus videlicet Comitibus Baronibus Militibus liberè tenentibus etiam rusticis qui in regno manere voluerint qui facere ●oluerit fidelitatem tanquam inimicus D. Regis capiatur XXXIV Habent etiam Justitiae praecipere quod omnes illi qui nondum fecerunt homagium ligeantiam D. Regi quod ad diem quem eis nominabunt veniant faciant Regi Homagium ligeantiam sicut ligeo Domino XXXV Justitiae faciant omnes Justitias rectitudines spectantes ad D. Regem ad coronam suam per breve Domini Regis vel illorum qui in loco ejus erunt de feodo dimi●û milit infrà If the account of a Knights fee be by the annual value then confidently according to the quadruple proportion of the known Relief you may affirm it by xx l. Lands and so likewise by comparison with Soccage payment upon the Stat. of West 1. for aid A fair Fitz chivalier or a File marryer but by a calculation prefixed to the red Book of the Exchequer DCLXXX Acres make exactly the Summe nisi tam grandis sit querela quod non possit deduci sine D. Rege vel talis quam Justitiae ei reponent pro dubitatione suâ vel ad illos qui in loco ejus erunt intendant tamen pro posse suo ad commodum D. Regis faciendum XXXVI Faciant assisam de latronibus iniquis malefactoribus terrae quae assisa est per concilium Regis filii sui hominum suorum per quos ituri sunt Comitatus XXXVII Justitiae provideant quod castella diruta prorsus diruantur diruenda benè prosternantur Et nisi hoc fecerint D. Rex Judicium Curiae suae de eis habere voluerit sicut de contemptoribus praecepti sui XXXVIII Justitiae inquirant de Escaetis de Ecclesiis de terris de foeminis quae sunt de donatione D. Regis XXXIX Ballivi D. Regis respondeant ad Scaccarium tam de assiso redditu quam de omnibus perquisitionibus suis quas faciunt in balliviis suis exceptis illis quae pertinent ad vicecomitatum XL. Justitiae inquirant de custodiis castellorum qui quantum ubi eas debeant postea mandent D. Regi XLI Latro ex quo capitur Vicecomiti tradatur ad custodiendum si Vicecomes absens fuerit ducatur ad proximum Castellanum ipse illum custodiat donec illum liberet Vicecomiti XLII Justitiae faciant quaerere per consuetudinem terrae illos qui à regno recesserunt nisi redire voluerint infra terminum nominatum stare ad rectum in Curiâ Regis postea ut lagentur nomina ut lagorum afferantur ad Pascha ad Fest. S. Mich. ad Scaccarium exinde mittantur D. Regi While thus the King made provident Order for Lay-business Hugo à Petra Leonis the Pope's Legate in England laboured for dila●ation of Church to whom was granted by the King XLIII Quod de caetero Clericus Matthew Paris his report non trahatur ante Judicem secularem personaliter pro aliquo crimine vel transgressione nisi pro forestâ laico feudo unde Regi vel alii D. Seculari laicum debetur servitium XLIV Vt Archiepiscopatus Episcopatus vel Abbatiae non teneantur in manu Regis ultra annum nisi pro causâ evidente vel necessitate urgente XLV Vt interfectores Clericorum convicti vel confessi coram Justiciario regni praesente Episcopo puniantur XLVI Quod Clerici duellum facere non cogantur XLVII Statuit apud WOODSTOCK quod quicunque forisfecerit ei de forestâ suâ semel de venatione suâ de ipso salvi plegii capiantur si iterum forisfecerit similitèr capiantur de ipso salvi plegii si autem tertiò idem forisfecerit nulli plegii capiantur sed proprium corpus forisfactoris which concludes what of his Laws common Histories afford CHAP. IX Richard Ceur de Lion THIS Henry's Successor was the stout Richard Ceur de Lion Himself in Person attending the Eastern Wars Division by his Commission was made for maintaining the Laws and Customes of the Kingdom of the whole Government 'twixt Hugh of Pusar Bishop of Durham and William Bishop of Ely Lord Chancellor The stream of all howsoever there was an association of Hugh Bardulph and William Briwere was carried as the Prelates pleased until their ambitious insolency made a period to their too great authority After his return Justices in Eyre were sent into every County secundùm subscriptorum formam capitulorum saith Hoveden processerunt in justiciis exequendis Forma Procedendi in Placitis Coronae Regis I. INprimis eligendi sunt IV. milites de toto Comitatu qui per Sacramentum suum eligant II. legales milites de quolibet hundredo vel Wapentacco Et illi II. eligant super sacramentum suum X. milites de singulis Hundredis vel Wapentaccis● vel si milites defuerint legales liberos homines ità quòd illi XII insimul respondeant de omnibus capitulis de toto Hundredo vel Wapentacco Capitula Placitorum Coronae Regis II. DE placitis Coronae novis veteribus omnibus quae nondum sin● finita coram Justiciariis D. Regis III. Item de omnibus recognitionibus omnibus placitis quae summonita sunt coram Justiciariis per breve Regis vel capitalis Justitiae vel à capitali Curiâ Regis coram eis missa IV. Item de Escaëtis quae sunt quae fuerunt postquam Rex arripuit iter versus terram Jerusalem quae fuerunt tunc in manu Regis sunt modò in manu ejus vel non de omnibus Escaëtis Domini Regis si à manu sua sint remotae quomodò per quem in cujus manus devenerunt qualitèr qui exitus inde habuerit quos quid valuerint quid modò valeant si aliqua eschaëta sit quae ad D. R. pertineat quae in manu ejus non sit V. Item de Ecclesiis quae sunt de Donatione D. Regis VI. Item de custodiis puerorum quae ad D. Regem pertinent VII Item de malefactoribus eorum receptoribus

fancy of the Clerks or Notaries However the last words which are the close of these Grants and Patents are not to be slighted These we may see in that of Cedwalla King of the South-Saxons made to Theodore Arch-Bishop of Canterbury in the year 687. thus For a further confirmation of my grant I Cedwalla have laid a Turf of the Land aforesaid upon the holy Altar of my Saviour And with my own hand being ignorant of Letters have set down and expressed the mark or sign of the Holy Cross. Concerning Withred and a Turf of Land in Kent Camden has the same thing And King Ethelulph is said to have offered his Patent or Deed of Gift on the Altar of the holy Apostle St Peter For a conclusion I know no reason why I may not set underneath the Verses of an old Poet wherein he hath comprised the instrument or Grant of founding an Abby which Ethelbald King of the Mercians gave to Kenulph Abbot of Crowland Verses I say but such as were made without Apollo's consent or knowledge Istum Kenulphum si quis vexaverit Anglus Rex condemno mihi cuncta catella sua Inde meis Monachis de damnis omnibus ultrà Vsque satisfaciat carcere clausus erit Adsunt ante Deum testes hujus dationis Anglorum proceres Pontificesque mei Sanctus Guthlacus Confessor Anachorita Hic jacet in cujus auribus ista loquor Oret pro nobis sanctissimus iste Sacerdos Ad tumbam cujus haec mea dona dedi Which in Rhyme dogrel will run much after this hobling rate If any English vex this Kenulph shall I King condemn to me his Chattels all Thenceforth until my Monks he satisfie For damages in Prison he shall lye Witnesses of this Gift here in Gods sight Are English Peers and Prelates of my Right Saint Guthlac Confessor and Anchoret Lies here in whose Ears these words I speak yet May he pray for us that most holy Priest At whose Tomb these my Gifts I have addrest Thus they closed their Donations or Grants thus we our Remarks of the Saxons being now to pass to the Normans THE SECOND BOOK OF THE ENGLISH JANUS From the NORMAN Conquest to the Death of King Henry II. CHAP. I. William the Conquerour 's Title He bestows Lands upon his followers and brings Bishops and Abbots under Military Service An account of the old English Laws called Merchenlage Danelage and Westsaxen-lage He is prevailed upon by the Barons to govern according to King Edward's Laws and at S. Albans takes his Oath so to do Yet some new Laws were added to those old ones WILLIAM Duke of Normandy upon pretence of a double Right both that of Blood inasmuch as Emme the Mother of Edward the Confessor was Daughter to Richard the first Duke of the Normans and withal that of Adoption having in Battel worsted Harald the Son of Godwin Earl of Kent obtain'd a large Inheritance and took possession of the Royal Government over all England After his Inauguration he liberally bestowed the Lands and Estates of the English upon his fellow-soldiers that little which remained so saith Matthew Paris he put under the yoke of a perpetual servitude Upon which account some while since the coming in of the Normans there was not in England except the King himself any one who held Land by right of Free-hold as they term it since in sooth one may well call all others to a man only Lords in trust of what they had as those who by swearing fealty and doing homage did perpetually own and acknowledge a Superior Lord of whom they held and by whom they were invested into their Estates All Bishopricks and Abbacies which held Baronies and so far forth had freedom from all Secular service the fore-cited Matthew is my Author he brought them under Military service enrolling every Bishoprick and Abbacy according to his own pleasure how many Souldiers he would have each of them find him and his Successors in time of Hostility or War Having thus according to this model ordered the Agrarian Law for the division and settlement of Lands he resolved to govern his Subjects we have it from Gervase of Tilbury by Laws and Ordinances in writing to which purpose hè proposed also the English Laws according to their Tripartite or threefold distinction that is to say Merchenlage Danlage and Westsaxenlage Merchenlage that is the Law of the Mercians which was in force in the Counties of Glocester Worcester Hereford Warwick Oxford Chester Salop and Stafford Danlage that is the Law of the Danes which bore sway in Yorkshire Derby Nottingham Leicester Lincoln Northampton Bedford Buckingham Hertford Essex Middlesex Norfolk Suffolk Cambridge Huntingdon Westsaxenlage that is the Law of the West-Saxons to which all the rest of the thirty two Counties which are all that Malmesbury reckons up in Ethelred's time did belong to wit Kent Sussex Surrey Berks Southampton Winton Somerset Dorset and Devon Some of these English Laws he disliked and laid aside others he approved of and added to them some from beyond Sea out of Neustria he means Normandy which they did of old term Neustria corruptly instead of Westrich as being the more Western Kingdom of the Franks and given by Charles the Simple to Rollo for his Daughter Gilla her portion such of them as seemed most effectual for the preserving of the Kingdoms peace This saith he of Tilbury Now this is no rare thing among Writers for them to devise that William the Conqueror brought in as it were a clear new face of Laws to all intents and purposes 'T is true this must be acknowledg'd that he did make some new ones part whereof you may see in Lambard's Archaeonomia and part of them here subjoyned but so however that they take their denomination from the English rather than from the Normans although one may truly say according to what Lawyers dispute that the English Empire and Government was overthrown by him That he did more especially affect the Laws of the Danes which were not much unlike to those of the Norwegians to whom William was by his Grand-father allied in blood I read in the Annals of Roger Hoveden And that he openly declared that he would rule by them at hearing of which all the great men of the Countrey who had enacted the English Laws were presently struck into dumps and did unanimously petition him That he would permit them to have their own Laws and ancient Customs in which their Fathers had lived and they themselves had been born and bred up in forasmuch as it would be very hard for them to take up Laws that they knew not and to give judgement according to them But the King appearing unwilling and uneasie to be moved they at length prosecuted their purpose beseeching him that for the Soul of King Edward who had after his death given up the Crown and Kingdom to him and whose the Laws were and not any others that were strangers

he would hearken to them and grant that they might continue under their own Countrey Laws Whereupon calling a Council he did at the last yield to the request of the Barons From that day forward therefore the Laws of King Edward which had before been made and appointed by his Grand-father Adgar seeing their authority were before the rest of the Laws of the Countrey respected confirmed and observed all over England But what then Doth it follow that all things in William's time were new How can a man chuse but believe it The Abbot of Crowland sayes this of it I have brought with me from London into my Monastery the Laws of the most Righteous King Edward which my Renowned Lord King William hath by Proclamation ordered under most grievous penalties to be authentick and perpetual to be kept inviolably throughout the whole Kingdom of England and hath recommended them to his Justices in the same language wherein they were at first set forth and published And in the Life of Fretherick Abbot of S. Albans you have this account After many debates Arch-Bishop Lanfrank being then present at Berkhamstead in Hartfordshire the King did for the good of peace take his Oath upon all the Reliques of the Church of S. Alban and by touching the holy Gospels Fretherick the Abbot administring the Oath that he would inviolably observe the good and approved ancient Laws of the Kingdom which the holy and pious Kings of England his Predecessors and especially King Edward had appointed But you will much more wonder at that passage of William le Rouille of Alençon in his Preface to the Norman Customs That vulgar Chronicle saith he which is intitled the Chronicle of Chronicles bears witness that S. Edward King of England was the Maker or Founder of this Custom where he speaks of William the Bastard Duke of Normandy alias King of England saying that whereas the foresaid S. Edward had no Heirs of his own Body he made William Heir of the Kingdom who after the Defeat and Death of Harald the Usurper of the Kingdom did freely obtain and enjoy the Kingdom upon this condition to wit that he would keep the Laws which had before been made by the fore-mentioned Edward which Edward truly had also given Laws to the Normans as having been a long time also brought up himself in Normandy Where then I pray you is the making of new Laws Why without doubt according to Tilbury we are to think that together with the ratifying of old Laws there was mingled the making of some new ones and in this case one may say truly with the Poet in his Panegyrick Firmatur senium Juris priscamque resumunt Canitiem leges emendanturque vetustae Acceduntque novae which in English speaks to this sense The Laws old age stands firm by Royal care Statutes resume their ancient gray hair Old ones are mended with a fresh repair And for supply some new ones added are See here we impart unto thee Reader these new Laws with other things which thou maist justly look for at my hands in this place CHAP. II. The whole Country inrolled in Dooms-day Book Why that Book so called Robert of Glocester's Verses to prove it The Original of Charters and Seals from the Normans practised of old among the French Who among the Romans had the priviledge of using Rings to seal with and who not 1. HE caused all England to be described and inrolled a whole company of Monks are of equal authority in this business but we make use of Florentius of Worcester for our witness at this time how much Land every one of his Barons was possessed of how many Soldiers in fee how many Ploughs how many Villains how many living Creatures or Cattel I and how much ready mony every one was Master of throughout all his Kingdom from the greatest to the least and how much Revenue or Rent every Possession or Estate was able to yield That breviary or Present State of the Kingdom being lodged in the Archives for the generality of it containing intirely all the Tenements or Tenures of the whole Country or Land was called Dooms-day as if one would say The day of Doom or Judgment For this reason saith he of Tilbury we call the same Dooms-day Book Not that there is in it sentence given concerning any doubtful cases proposed but because it is not lawful upon any account to depart from the Doom or Judgment aforesaid Reader If it will not make thy nice Stomach wamble let me bring in here an old fashioned Rhyme which will hardly go down with our dainty finical Verse-wrights of an historical Poet Robert of Glocester One whom for his Antiquity I must not slight concerning this Book The K. W. vor to wite the worth of his londe Let enqueri streitliche thoru al Engelonde Hou moni plou lond and hou moni hiden also Were in everich sire and wat hii were wurth yereto And the rents of each toun and of the waters echone That wurth and of woods eke that there ne bileved none But that he wist wat hii were wurth of al Engelonde And wite al clene that wurth thereof ich understond And let it write clene inou and that scrit dude iwis In the Tresorie at Westminster there it yut is So that vre Kings suth when hii ransome toke And redy wat folc might give hii fond there in yor boke Considering how the English Language is every day more and more refined this is but a rude piece and looks scurvily enough But yet let us not be unmindful neither that even the fine trim artifices of our quaint Masters of Expression will themselves perhaps one day in future Ages that shall be more critical run the same risk of censure and undergo the like misfortune And that Multa renascentur quae nunc cecidere cadentque Quae nunc sunt in honore As Horace the Poet born at Venusium tells us That is Several words which now are fal'n full low Shall up again to place of Honour start And words that now in great esteem I trow Are held shall shortly with their honour part 2. The Normans called their Writings given under their hand Charters I speak this out of Ingulph and they ordered the confirmation of such Charters with an impression of Wax by every ones particular Seal under the Testimony and Subscription of three or four Witnesses standing by But Edward the Confessor had also his Seal though that too from Normandy For in his time as the same Writer saith Many of the English began to let slip and lay aside the English Fashions bringing in those of the Normans in their stead and in many things to follow the customs of the Franks all great persons to speak the French Tongue in their Courts looking upon it as a great piece of gentility to make their Charters and Writings alamode of France and to be ashamed of their own Country usages in these

or Borough and before lawful men he cannot deny it afterwards before the Justices And if the same person without Seisin with Seisin in this place is the same as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we commonly say in our Language taken with the manner shall recognize or acknowledge any thing of this nature before them this also in like manner he shall not be able to deny before the Justices 70. If any one shall dye holding in Frank Pledge i. e. having a free Tenure let his heirs remain in such Seisin as their Father had on the day he was alive and dyed of his fee and let them have his Chattels out of which they may make also the devise or partition of the deceased that is the sharing of his goods according to his will and afterwards may require of their Lord and do for their relief and other things which they ought to do as touching their Fee i. e. in order to their entring upon the estate 71. If the heir be under age let the Lord of the Fee take his homage and have him in custody or keeping for as long time as he ought let the other Lords if there be more of them take his homage and let him do to them that which he ought to do 72. Let the Wife of the deceased have her Dowry and that part of his Chattels which of right comes to her In former times peradventure it was a like generally practised by the English that the Wife and Children should have each their lawful Thirds of the estate each of them I say if they were in being but half to the Wife if there were no issue and as much to the Children if the Wife did not survive her Husband as it was practised by the Romans of old according to the Falcidian Law and of later time by the Novells of Justinian that they should have their Quarter-part For I see that those of Normandy of Arras of Ireland people that lay round about them had the same custom Of this you are to see Glanvill Bracton the Register of Briefs or Writs and William Lindwood beside the Records or yearly Reports of our Law 73. Let the Justices take the Fealties of our Lord the King before the close of Easter and at furthest before the close of Pentecost namely of all Earls Barons Knights and Free-holders and even of Rusticks or Vassals such as have a mind to stay in the Realm and he who will not do fealty let him be taken into custody as an enemy of our Lord the King 74. The Justices have also this to give in charge that all those who have not as yet done their homage and allegiance to our Lord the King do at a term of time which they shall name to them come in and do homage and allegiance to the King as to their Liege Lord. 75. Let the Justices do all acts of Justice and rights belonging to our Lord the King by a Writ of our Lord the King or of them who shall be in his place or stead as to a half-Knights fee and under a Knights fee in an old Book which pretends to more antiquity by far than it ought concerning the manner of holding Parliaments is said to be twenty pounds worth of Land in yearly revenue but the number prefixt before the Red Book of the Exchequer goes at the rate of Six Hundred and Eighty Acres unless the complaint be of that great concern that it cannot be determined without our Lord the King or of that nature that the Justices by reason of their own doubting refer it to him or to those who shall be in his place and stead Nevertheless let them to the utmost of their ability intend and endeavour the service and advantage of our Lord the King 76. Let the Justices provide and take care that the Castles already demolisht be utterly demolished and that those that are to be demolished be well levelled to the ground And if they shall not do this our Lord the King may please to have the judgement of his Court against them as against those who shew contempt of his Precept 77. A Thief or Robber as soon as he is taken let him be put into the Sheriffs hands to be kept in safe custody and if the Sheriff shall be out of the way let him be carried or brought to the next Constable of a Castle and let him have him in custody until he deliver him up to the Sheriff 78. Let the Justices according to the custom of the Land cause inquiry to be made of those who have departed or gone out of the Realm And if they shall refuse to return within a term of time that shall be named and to stand to right in the Kings Court i. e. to make their appearance and there to answer if any thing shall be brought in against them let them after that be outlawed and the names of the Outlaws be brought at Easter and at the Feast of St. Michael to the Exchequer and from thence be sent to our Lord the King These Laws were agreed upon at Northampton CHAP. XVIII Some Laws in favour of the Clergy Of forfeitures on the account of Forest or hunting Of Knights fees Who to bear Arms and what Arms. Arms not to be alienated No Jew to bear Arms. Arms not to be carryed out of England Rich men under suspicion to clear themselves by Oath Who allowed to swear against a Free-man Timber for building of Ships not to be carryed out of England None but Free-men to bear Arms. Free-men who Rusticks or Villains not such 79. THat henceforth a Clergy-man be not dragg'd and drawn before a Secular Judge personally for any crime or transgression unless it be for Forest or a Lay-fee out of which a Lay-service is due to the King or to some other Secular Lord. This priviledge of the Clergy the King granted to Hugh the Popes Cardinal Legate by the Title of S. Michael à Petra who arrived here on purpose to advance the Popish interest 80. Furthermore that Arch-Bishopricks Bishopricks or Abbacies be not held in the Kings hand above a year unless there be an evident cause or an urgent necessity for it 81. That the Murderers or Slayers of Clergy-men being convicted or having confest before a Justice or Judge of the Realm be punished in the presence of the Bishop 82. That Clergy-men be not obliged to make Duel i. e. not to clear themselves as others upon some occasion did by single combat 83. He ordained at Woodstock we transcribe these words out of Hoveden that whosoever should make a forfeit to him concerning his Forest or his hunting once he should be tyed to find safe Pledges or Sureties and if he should make a second forfeit in like manner safe Pledges should be taken of him but if the same person should forfeit the third time then for his third forfeit no pledges should be taken but the proper body of him who made the forfeit Moreover

David Powell and others have informed us The Druids were wont to meet to explain the Laws in being and to make new ones as occasion required as is most likely in some certain place designed for that purpose as now at this very time all matters of Law go to be decided at Spire in Germany at Westminster-Hall in England and Paris in France Their publick Convention or Meeting-place was constantly as Julius Caesar tells us in the borders of the Carnutes the middle Region of all France Some think that a Town at eight Miles distance from the Metropolis of those people commonly called Dreux was designed for that use Whilst the Saxons governed the Laws were made in the General Assembly of the States or Parliament In the front of King Ina's Laws 't is above Eight Hundred and Eighty years that he first reigned we read thus It Ine mid godes gift West-Saxna Cyning mid getbeat mid lere Cenredes mines fader hedde Erconwald mine biscops mid eallum minum ealdor mannum tham yldestan Witan mines theode be beodeth c. which in our present English speaks thus I Ina by the Grace of God King of the West-Saxons by the advice and order of Kenred my Father and of Hedda and Erconwald my Bishops and of all my Aldermen and of the Elders and Wise Men of my people do command c. There are a great many instances of this kind in other places Moreover Witlaf and Bertulph who were Kings of the Mercians near upon Eight hundred years ago do in their instruments under their hands make mention of Synods and Councils of the Prelates and Peers convened for the affairs of the Kingdom And an ancient Book has this passage of Abendon Here was the Royal Seat hither when they were to treat of the principal and difficult points of State and affairs of the Kingdom the people were used to meet and flock together To this may be added that which Malmesbury sayes of King Edward in the year of our Lord 903. The King gathered a Synod or ●ssembly of the Senators of the English Nation over which did preside Pleimund Arch-Bishop of Canterbury interpreting expresly the words of the Apostolical Embassy These Assemblies were termed by the Saxons Widdena gemcdes i. e. Meetings of the Wise Men and Micil sinodes i. e. the Great Assemblies At length we borrowed of the French the name of Parliaments which before the time of Henry the First Polydore Virgil sayes were very rarely held An usage that not without good reason seems to have come from the ancient Germans So Tacitus sayes of them Concerning smaller matters the Princes only concerning things of greater concern they do all the whole body of them consult yet in that manner that those things also which it was in the peoples power to determine were treated of by the Princes too And I have one that hath left it in writing that when there was neither Bishop nor Earl nor Baron yet then Kings held their Parliaments and in King Arthur's Patent to the University of Cambridge for ye have my leave if you can find in your heart to give credit to it as John Key does by the counsel and assent of all and singular the Prelats and Princes of this Realm I decree There were present at Parliaments about the beginning of the Normans times as many as were invested with Thirteen Fees of Knights service and a third part of one Fee called Baron's from their large Estates for which reason perhaps John Cochleius of Mentz in his Epistle Dedicatory to our most Renowned Sir Thomas More prefixt before the Chronicle of Aurelius Cassiodorus calls him Baron of England But Henry the Third the number of them growing over big ordered by Proclamation that those only should come there whom he should think fit to summon by Writ These Assemblies do now sit in great State which with a wonderful harmony of the Three Estates the King the Lords and the Commons or Deputies of the People are joyned together to a most firm security of the publick and are by a very Learned Man in allusion to that made word in Livy Panaetolium from the Aetolians most rightly called Pananglium that is all England As in Musical Instruments and Pipes and in Singing it self and in Voices sayes Scipio in Tully's Books of the Common-wealth there is a kind of harmony to be kept out of distinct sounds which Learned and Skilful Ears cannot endure to hear changed and jarring and that consort or harmony from the tuning and ordering of Voices most unlike yet is rendred agreeing and suitable so of the highest and middlemost and lowermost States shuffled together like different sounds by fair proportion doth a City agree by the consent of persons most unlike and that which by Musicians in singing is called Harmony that in a City is Concord the straightest and surest bond of safety in every Common-wealth and such as can by no means be without Justice But let this suffice for Law-makers CHAP. XX. The Guardians of the Laws who In the Saxons time seven Chief One of the Kings among the Heptarchs styled Monarch of all England The Office of Lord High Constable Of Lord Chancellor ancient The Lord Treasurer Alderman of England what Why one called Healfkoning Aldermen of Provinces and Graves the same as Counts or Earls and Viscounts or Sheriffs Of the County Court and the Court of Inquests called Tourn le Viscount When this Court kept and the original of it I Do scarce meet before the Saxons times with any Guardians of the Laws different from these Law-makers In their time they were variously divided whose neither Name nor Office are as yet grown out of use The number is made up to give you only the heads by these to wit the King the Lord High Constable the Chancellor the Treasurer the Alderman of England the Aldermen of Provinces and the Graves Those of later date and of meaner notice I pass by meaning to speak but briefly of the rest The King was alwayes one amongst the Heptarchs or seven Rulers who was accounted I have Beda to vouch it the Monarch of all England Ella King of the South-Saxons so sayes Ethelwerd was the first that was dignified with so high a Title and Empire who was Owner of as large a Jurisdiction as Ecbright the second was Ceulin King of the West-Angles the third Aethelbrith King of the Kentish-men the fourth Redwald King of the Easterlings the fifth Edwin King of Northumberland the sixth Oswald the seventh Osweo Oswala's Brother after whom the eighth was Ecbright His West-Saxon Kingdom took in the rest for the greatest part The Office of Lord High Constable which disappeared in Edward Duke of Buckingham who in Henry the Eighth's time lost his Head for High-Treason was not seen till the latter end of the Saxons One Alfgar Staller is reported by Richard of Ely Monk to have been Constable to