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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	henry_n	king_n	normandy_n	8,654	5	11.5816	5	true

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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

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

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

and other like cases Nay and if Leland an Eye-witness may be believed our great Prince Arthur had his Seal also which he saith he saw in the Church of Westminster with this very inscription PATRITIUS ARTHURIUS BRITANNIAE GALLIAE GERMANIAE DACIAE IMPERATOR That is The Right Noble ARTHUR Emperor of Britanny France Germany and Transylvania But that the Saxons had this from the Normans is a thing out of all question Their Grants or Letters Patents signed with Crosses and subscribed with Witnesses names do give an undoubted credit and assurance to what I have said John Ross informs us that Henry Beauclerk was the first that made use of one of Wax and Matthew of Canterbury that Edward the first did first hang it at the bottom of his Royal Writings by way of Label whereas before his Predecessors fastned it to the left side Such a writing of Henry the first in favour of Anselm the last Author makes mention of and such an one of William's Duke of the Normans though a very short one and very small written Brian Twine in his Apology for the Antiquity of the famous University of Oxford the great Study and support of England and my ever highly honoured Mother saith he had seen in the Library of the Right Honourable my Lord Lumley But let a circumcised Jew or who else will for me believe that story concerning the first Seal of Wax and the first fastning of it to the Writing A great many waxen ones of the French Peers that I may say something of those in wax and Golden ones of their Kings to wit betwixt the years 600 and 700 we meet with fashioned like Scutcheons or Coats of Arms in those Patterns or Copies which Francis de Rosieres has in his first Tome of the Pedigree or Blazonry of the Dukes of Lorain set down by way of Preface Nor was it possible that the Normans should not have that in use which had been so anciently practised by the French Let me add this out of the ancient Register of Abendon That Richard Earl of Chester who flourished in the time of Henry the first ordered to sign a certain Writing with the Seal of his Mother Ermentrude seeing that being not girt with a Soldiers Belt i. e. not yet made Knight all sorts of Letters directed by him were inclosed with his Mothers Seal How what is that I hear Had the Knightly dignity and Order the singular priviledge as it was once at Rome to wear Gold-Rings For Rings as 't is related out of Ateius Capito were especially designed and ingraven for Seals Let Phoebus who knows all things out of his Oracle tell us For ●ervants or Slaves so says Justus Lipsius and remarks it from those that had been dug up in Holland and common Soldiers were allowed iron ones to sign or to seal with which therefore Flavius Vopiscus calls annulos sigillaricios i. e. seal-Rings and so your ordinary Masters of Families had such with a Key hanging at it to seal and lock up their provision and utensils But saith Ateius of the ancient time Neither was it lawful to have more than one Ring nor for any one to have one neither but for Freemen whom alone trust might become which is preserved under Seal and therefore the Servants of a Family had not the Right and Priviledge of Rings I come home to our selves now CHAP. III. Other ways of granting and conveying Estates by a Sword c. particularly by a Horn. Godwin's trick to get Boseham of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Pleadings in French The French Language and Hand when came in fashion Coverfeu-Laws against taking of Deer against Murder against Rape 3. AT first many Lands and Estates were collated or bestowed by bare word of mouth without Writing or Charter only with the Lords Sword or Helmet or a Horn or a Cup and very many Tenements with a Spur with a Currycomb with a Bow and some with an Arrow But these things were in the beginning of the Norman Reign in after times this fashion was altered says Ingulph I and these things were before the Normans Government Let King Edgar his Staff cut in the middle and given to Glastenbury Abbey for a testimony of his Grant be also here for a testimony And our Antiquary has it of Pusey in Berkshire That those who go by the name of Pusey do still hold by a Horn which heretofore had been bestowed upon their Ancestors by Knute the Danish King In like manner to the same purpose an old Book tells this story That one Vlphus the Son of Toraldus turned aside into York and filled the Horn that he was used to drink out of with Wine and before the Altar upon his bended knees drinking it gave away to God and to St. Peter the Prince of the Apostles all his Lands and Revenues Which Horn of his saith Camden we have been told was kept or reserved down to our Fathers memory We may see the conveyance of Estate how easie it was in those days and clear from the punctilio's of Law and withal how free from the captious malice of those petty-foggers who would intangle Titles and find flaws in them and from the swelling Bundles and Rolls of Parchments now in use But commend me to Godwin Earl of Kent who was to use Hegesander's word too great a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 catcher at Syllables and as the Comedian says more shifting than a Potters wheel Give me saith he to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Boseham The Arch-Bishop admiring what it was he would be at in that question saith I give you Boseham He straight upon the confidence of this deceit without any more ado entred upon an Estate of the Arch Bishops of that name on the Sea-coasts of Sussex as if it had been his own by Inheritance And with the testimony of his people about him spoke of the Arch-Bishop before the King as the donor of it and quietly enjoyed it Those things I spoke of before to wit of Sword Horn c. smell of that way of investing into Fees which we meet with in Obertus de Orto but are very unlike to that solemn ceremony which is from ancient time even still used in conveying of an Estate and delivering possession wherein a green Turf or the bough of a growing Tree is required 4. They did so much abhor the English tongue 't is the Abbot of Crowland saith it that the Laws of the Land and the Statutes of the English Kings were handled or pleaded in the French language For till the thirty sixth year of Edward the third all businesses of Law were pleaded in French That also in Schools the Rudiments of Grammatical Institution were delivered to Boys in French and not in English Also that the English way and manner of Writing was laid aside and the French mode was made use of in all Charters or Instruments and Books Indeed it was such a fault to

Aid in our Realm but by the common advice of our Realm unless it be to ransom our Body and to make our first-born Son a Soldier or Knight and to marry our eldest Daughter once 38. Some ascribe that Law to Henry which Lawyers call the Courtesie of England whereby a man having had a Child by his Wife when she dyes enjoyes her Estate for his life 39. He made a Law that poor shipwrackt persons should have their Goods restored to them if there were any living creature on Ship-board that escaped drowning Forasmuch as before that time whatsoever through the misfortune of shipwrack was cast on Shoar was adjudged to the Exchequer except that the persons who suffered shipwrack and had escaped alive did themselves within such a time refit and repair the Vessel So the Chronicle of the Monastery of S. Martin de Bello This right is called Wreck or if you will Uareck of the Sea How agreeable to the Law of Nations I trouble not my self to enquire That more ancient Custom is as it were suitable to the Norman usage Now at this time our Lawyers and that the more modern Law of Edward the First pass judgement according to the more correct Copy of King Henry And they reckon it too among the most ancient Customs of the Kingdom Did therefore King Richard order or did Hoveden relate this to no purpose or without any need If one who suffers shipwrack dye in the Ship let his Sons or Daughters his Brethren or Sisters have what he left according as they can shew and make out that they are his next heirs Or if the deceased have neither Sons nor Daughters nor Brothers nor Sisters the King is to have his Chattels Can one imagine that this Law he made at Messina when he was engaged in War was calculated only for that time or place Certainly in the Archives there is elsewhere to be met with as much as this 40. That he might with a stout Army bear the brunt of Baldwin Earl of Flanders and Louis King of France who had conspired being bound by mutual Oaths to one another with the Duke of Anjou to take away from King Henry by force of Arms the Dutchy of Normandy he first of all t is Polydore avers it laid a heavy Tax upon the people to carry on the new War which thing with the Kings that followed after grew to be a custom He was the last of the Normans of a Male descent and as to the method of our undertaking here we treat of him last CHAP. IX In King Stephen's Reign all was to pieces Abundance of Castles built Of the priviledge of Coining Appeals to the Court of Rome now set on foot The Roman Laws brought in but disowned An instance in the Wonder-working Parliament AS of old unless the Shields were laid up there was no Dancing at Weddings so except Arms be put aside there is no pleading of Laws That Antipathy betwixt Arms and Laws England was all over sensible of if ever at any time in the Reign of K. STEPHEN Count of Blois King Henry's Nephew by his Sister Adela For he did not only break the Law and his Oath too to get a Kingdom but also being saluted King by those who perfidiously opposed Mawd the right and true heir of King Henry he reigned with an improved wickedness For he did so strangely and odly chop and change every thing it is Malmsbury speaks it as if he had sworn only for this intent that he might shew himself to the whole Kingdom a Dodger and Shammer of his Oath But as he saith perjuros merito perjuria fallunt that is Such men as Perjuries do make their Trade By their own Perjuries most justly are betray'd They are things of custom to which he swore and such as whereby former priviledges are ratifed rather than new ones granted However some things there are that may be worth the transcribing 41. Castles were frequently raised 'tis Nubrigensis relates it in the several Counties by the bandying of parties and there were in England in a manner as many Kings or rather as many Tyrants as Lords of Castles having severally the stamping of their own Coin and a power of giving Law to the Subjects after a Royal manner Then was the Kingdom plainly torn to pieces and the right of Majesty shattered which gains to it self not the least lustre from stamping of Money Though I know very well that before the Normans in the City of Rochester Canterbury and in other Corporations and Towns Abbots and Bishops had by right of priviledge their Stampers and Coiners of Money 42. Next to the King Theobald Arch Bishop of Canterbury presided over the Council of London where there were also present the Peers of the Realm which buzzed with new appeals For in England t is Henry of Huntington sayes it appeals were not in use till Henry Bishop of Winchester when he was Legate cruelly intruded them to his own mischief Wherefore what Cardinal Bellarmin has writ beginning at the Synod of Sardis concerning the no body knows how old time of the universal right of appealing to the Pope of Rome does not at all as to matter of fact seem to touch upon this Kingdom of ours by many and many a fair mile 43. In the time of King Stephen so 't is in the Polycraticon of John of Salisbury the Roman Laws were banisht the Realm which the Ho●se of the Right Reverend Theobald Lord Primate of Britanny had fetcht or sent for over into Britanny Besides it was forbidden by Royal Proclamation that no one should retain or keep by him the Books If you understand the Laws of the Empire I rather take them to be the Decrees of the Popes it will not be much amiss out of the Parliament Records to adjoyn these things of later date In the Parliament holden by Richard of Bourdeaux which is said to have wrought Wonders Upon the Impeachment of Alexander Nevil Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Robert Uere Duke of Ireland Michael Pole Earl of Suffolk Thomas Duke of Glocester Richard Earl of Arundel Thomas Beauchamp Earl of Warwick and others That they being intrusted with the management of the Kingdom by soothing up the easie and youthful temper of the King did assist one another for their own private interest more than the publick well near to the ruine and overthrow of the Government it self the Common Lawyers and Civilians are consulted with about the form of drawing up the Charge which they answer all as one man was not agreeable to the rule of the Laws But the Barons of Parliament reply That they would be tyed up to no rules nor be led by the punctilioes of the Roman Law but would by their own authority pass judgement pur ce que la royalme d' Angleterre n' estoit devant ces heures n'y à l' entent de nostre dit Seigneur le Roy Seigneurs de Parlament unque ne serra

bishoprikes and Abbeis also That vacans were of prelas in the K. hand were ido And that the K. sold all the land as is owne take Uort at last that him lust eni prelat there make And than thulke prelat sould in is chapel ichose be Of is clarks which he wuld to such prelace bise And than wan he were ichose in is chapel right yere Homage he solde him do ar he confirmed were VI. The sixt was yuf eni play to chapitle were idraw And eni man made is appele yuf me dude him unlaw That to the Bishop from Ercedeken is appele sold make And from Bishop to Arcebissop and suth none other take And but the Ercebisops court to right him wold bring That he sold from him be cluthe biuore the King And from the K. non other mo so that attan end Plaining of holi chirch to the K. shold wend. And the K. amend solde the Ercebissops dede And be as in the Popes stude and S. Thomas it withsede VII The seuethe was that plaiding that of det were To yeld wel thoru truth iplight and nought ihold nere Althei thoru truth it were that ple sold be ibrought Biuore the K. and is bailies and to holy chirch nought VIII The eighth that in the lond citation none nere Thoru bull of the Pope of Rome and clene bileued were IX The nithe was that Peters pence that me gadereth manion The Pope nere nought on isend ac the K. echone X. The tethe was yuf eni Clarke as felon were itake And vor felon iproved and ne might it not forsake That me sold him verst disordein and suth thoru there law And thoru judgement of the land hong him other to draw Uor these and vor other mo the Godeman S. Thomas Fleu verst out of England and eke imartred was Uor he sei there nas bote o way other he must stiffe be Other holy chirch was isent that of right was so fre CHAP. XIV The Pope absolves Thoms a Becket from his Oath and damns the Laws of Clarendon The King resents it writes to his Sheriffs Orders a Seisure Penalties inflicted on Kindred He provides against an Interdict from Rome He summons the Bishops of London and Norwich An Account of Peter Pence TO the Laws of Clarendon which I spoke of the States of the Kingdom the Baronage and with them the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury took their Oaths in solemn manner calling upon God There were Embassadors sent to Pope Alexander the third that there might be that bottom also that he would further confirm and ratifie them But he was so far from doing that that he did not only pretend that they did too much derogate from the priviledge of the Clergy and wholly refuse to give his assent to them but also having absolved Thomas the Arch-Bishop at his own request from the obligation of that Oath he had bound himself with he condemned them as impious and such as made against the interest and honour of holy Church King Henry as soon as he heard of it took it as it was fit he should very much in dudgeon grievously and most deservedly storming at the insolence of the Roman Court and the Treachery of the Bishop of Canterbury Immediately Letters were dispatcht to the several Sheriffs of the respective Counties That if any Clerk or Layman in their Bayliwicks should appeal to the Court of Rome they should seise him and take him into firm custody till the King give order what his pleasure is And that they should seise into the Kings hand and for his use all the Revenues and Possessions of the Arch-Bishops Clerks and of all the Clerks that are with the Arch-Bishop they should put by way of safe pledge the Fathers Mothers and Sisters Nephews and Neeces and their Chattels till the King give order what his pleasure is I have told the Story out of Matthew Paris You see in this instance a penalty where there is no fault It affects or reaches to their Kindred both by Marriage and Blood a thing not unusual in the declension of the Roman Empire after Augustus his time But let misdemeanors hold or oblige those who are the Authors of them was the Order of Arcadius and Honorius Emperors to the Lord Chief Justice Eutychianus nor let the fear of punishment proceed further than the offence is found A very usual right among the English whereby bating the taking away the Civil Rights of Blood and Nobility none of the Posterity or Family of those who lose their honours do for the most hainous crimes of their Parents undergo any p●●al●ies But this was not all in those Letters I mentioned he added threats also 63. If any one shall be found carrying Letters or a Mandate from the Pope of Thomas Arch-Bishop of Canterbury containing an interdiction of Christian Religion in England let him be seised and kept in hold and let Justice be done upon him without delay as a Traitor against the King and Kingdom This Roger of Hoveden stands by ready to witness 64. Let the Bishops of London and Norwich be summon'd that they may be before the Kings Justices to do right i. e. to answer to their charge and to make satisfaction that they have contrary to the Statutes of the Kingdom interdicted the Land of Earl Hugh and have inflicted a sentence of Excommunication upon him This was Hugh Bigod Earl of Norfolk 65. ' Let St. Peters pence be collected or gathered and kept safe Those Pence were a Tribute or Alms granted first by Ina King of the West-Saxons yearly at Lammas to be gathered from as many as ' had thirty pence as we read it in the Confessor's Laws ' of live mony in their house These were duly at a set time paid in till the time of Henry the eighth when he set the Government free from the Papal Tyranny About which time Polydore Virgil was upon that account in England Treasurer or Receiver general I thought fit to set down an ancient brief account of these pence out of a Rescript of Pope Gregory to the Arch-Bishops of Canterbury and York in the time of King Edward the second Diocess li. s. d. Canterbury 07 18 00 London 16 10 00 Rochester 05 12 00 Norwich 21 10 00 Ely 05 00 00 Lincoln 42 00 00 Coventry 10 05 00 Chester 08 00 00 Winchester 17 06 08 Exceter 09 05 00 Worcester 10 05 00 Hereford 06 00 00 Bath 12 05 00 York 11 10 00 Salisbury 17 00 00 It amounts to three hundred Marks and a Noble that is two hundred Pounds sterling and six Shillings and eight Pence You are not to expect here the murder of Thomas a Becket and the story how King Henry was purged of the crime having been absolved upon hard terms Conveniunt cymbae vela minora meae My little Skiff bears not so great a Sail. CHAP. XV. A Parliament at Northampton Six Circuits ordered A List of the then Justices The Jury to be of twelve Knights

CHAP. III. In whom after the time of King John BUt in that Charter of Liberties both for the Church and Laity made to the Baronage of England in the seventeenth of King John in Reningmead an express Ordinance is That if any Free-man dyed intestate his Chattels were to be disposed of by the hands of his next of kin by the view of the Church that is direction and advice being thereto given by the Ordinary as I understand saving to all Creditors their debts the words of it were Si aliquis liber homo intestatus decesserit Catalla sua per manus propinquorum parentum amicorum suorum per visum Ecclesiae distribuantur salvis unicuique debitis quae defunctùs eis debebat That Charter of King John is almost the same syllables with the common one that we now use by the name of the Grand Charter of 9 H. 3. exemplified by the Kings Patent of 28 E. 1. But this of Intestates and two or three other Chapters for the Subjects Liberty are more in that of King John's than is found in the Exemplification of 28 E. 1. However Matthew Paris and Roger of Wendover when they speak of H. 3. granting it so refer their Readers to this of King John that they tell us that that of H. 3. was the self same in every particular and therefore omit the repetition of it And indeed although in the common Printed Magna Charta of H. 3. and in the Roll also of 28 Ed. 1. in the Tower where the Exemplification is this Ordinance touching Intestates be wanting yet in very many of the ancientest Manuscripts of the old Statutes that of H. 3. hath the same words as we have here transcribed it from King John's and that in the same place of his Charter as that in King John's that is between the eighteenth Chapter Si quis teneus c. and the nineteenth Nullus Constabularius c. And it is to be understood that the greatest Prelates of the Clergy of that time as Canterbury London Winchester Pandulphus the Popes Nuncto the Master of the Temple and divers other Bishops were on the Kings part when that of King John was granted And it is probable enough that when they saw that a Charter of Liberties must of necessity be granted to the Baronage they so wrought also that they might insert this one for the advantage of their Episcopal Government And they had good colour to think and perswade that some such thing was fit for them in regard it was now clearly taken that some distribution was to be made pro anima intestati the care of souls being the chiefest part of their common pretences for increase of their power and greatness And hence I suppose it soon came to pass that the next of kin had the power of disposition committed by the Ordinaries and that in Letters or otherwise by vertue of that per visum Ecclesiae which was I think the textual ground of right of committing of Administration by the Clergy This of King John's being iterated in Henry the Thirds Charter however omitted in the Exemplification was it seems that provision spoken of in Cardinal Othobon's Legatins Proinde super bonis ab intestato decedentium so are the words provisionem quae olim à Praelatis Regni Angliae cum approbatione Regis Baronum dicitur emanasse firmiter approbantes districtius inhibemus ne Prelati vel alii quicunque bona intestatorum quocunque modo recipiant vel occupent contra provisionem praemissam What provision is it more likely that this was than that of the Grand Charter both of King John and H. 3. and the words à Praelatis dicitur emanasse justifies what we have conjectured of the purpose of the Prelates when they saw they could not but yield with the King to an establishment of Laws by that Charter made indeed in a Parliament of that age The same I suppose that which is meant in the Constitution of Arch-bishop Stafford where it is taken for granted that the Churches power of disposition of Intestates goods pro salute animarum in pios usus was a thing consensu Regio magnatum Regni Angl. tanquam pro jure Ecclesiasticáque libertate ab olim ordinatum c. Where Linwood modestly confesses that he could not find in what Kings time this Ordinance was made But Johannes de Athona upon that of Othobon though he rightly call that provision Provisio Parliamentalis yet most ignorantly and ridiculously tells us that the provision there understood is the Statute of Westminster 2. Cap. 21. cum post mortem which he makes also to have I know not what reference to the Statute of Glocester But this slipt from him either in a dream or through the utmost neglect of those infallible characters of truth that the denoting of times affords us for that Legatin of Othobon was made in London in 53 H. 3. and at such time as that Provision was yet extant in the Magna Charta used by our Lawyers But the Statutes of Westminster the second and of Glocester were under E. 1. the one in the sixth the other in the thirteenth of him how then could Othobon think of it in his Legatin or could John de Athona have thought so if he had allowed the Title of his Gloss which supposes in the point that the Constitutions of Othobon were published in the year 1248. which had it been in 1268. had agreed with truth but doubtless the Numeral Letters of MCCLXVIII were transposed into MCCXLVIII and thence only that Error CHAP. IV. How that so granted by King John's Charter in Parliament hath continued in practice AFter that Law of the seventeenth of K. John it seems the next of kin disposed of Intestates Goods by the testimony and direction of the Church for so per visum denotes as we see in per visum proborum legalium hominum in Writs of Summons and the like but I have not seen any practice of it testified in King John's time And under H. 3. however it were omitted in his Charter at the Exemplification the same visus Ecclesiae continued so sayes Bracton that then lived and was a Judge of that time Si liber homo intestatus subito decesserit dominus suus nil intromittat de bonis defuncti nisi de hoc tantum quod ad ipsum pertineret sc. quod habeat suum Heriott sed ad Ecclesiam amicos pertinebit executio bonorum Yet it seems also that notwithstanding the right of the Church thus ordained and the succession of next of kin so included in the Ordinance both the Lords in some places according to their former right still usurp some power over the disposition of Intestates Goods against the will of the Ordinaries and on the other side also the Ordinaries instead of giving direction for a true disposition of such Goods get possession of them and commit

might have gained Jurisdiction over all personal Legacies under colour of such as were given in pios usus But perhaps it will not be admitted for probability enough that any part of the Code being of the Imperial or Civil Law was ever so received here in England as that it could induce any alteration touching the Jurisdiction of the Crown that is touching this Extrinsecal Jurisdiction which as is shewed did belong to the Temporal Courts but whosoever will not admit of any such conjecture must yet remember that presently from King Stephen's time when the Civil Law was new born into the light it having lain forgotten by the space of Six Hundred years before in the Western Empire the Code and other parts of that Law were familiarly read by our English Lawyers and I think as well by our Common as Canon Lawyers to omit that Case of Mabile of Franchiville wherein it seems a special regard was had to the Civil Law that permits not a meer Bastard and Succession ex Testamento against a lawful Heir of Blood for otherwise how could Richard the Uncle's Institution as it seems by a former Will have made colour of right for him against the latter Will which Mabile pretended unless he relyed upon her being a Bastard But I should think it probable enough that the Original of this Jurisdiction for Legacies was out of the Canon Law And that especially from that Canon Si haeredes c. before cited for although the Decretals wherein it stands now authorized for a general Law were first published but in 24 H. 3. by Gregory the Ninth and that we see by infallible testimony already brought that Legacies before that time were recoverable in the Spiritual Court yet by likelihood that very Canon was inserted in all or some of those eight more ancient Compilations of the Canons authorized by some former Popes which is the more probable because we find it also in Burchard and so it might be long before sufficient ground of this Extrinsecal Jurisdiction in the Ordinary but I sought here for Authority more than I durst be bold in conjectures which I leave to every mans judgement PART II. OF THE Disposition or Administration OF Intestates Goods CHAP. I. In whom it was in the time of the Saxons IN the Saxons time it was in the Lord of him that dyed understand the Chief Lord in case the Intestate were a Tenant and dyed at home in peace But in case he were no Tenant or dyed in his Lords Army then it was it seems as other Inheritance under the Jurisdiction of that Temporal Court within whose Territory the goods were This may be proved out of the Laws of that time which ordain that upon the death of an Intestate whom they call cwiale awe the Lord is only to have the Heriotts due to him which are also appointed by the Laws of the same time That by his the Lords advice or judgement his the Intestates goods be divided among his Wife and Children and the next of Kin according as to every one of them of right belongs that is according to the nearness of Kindred if no Children or Nephews from them be for it must I suppose be understood that the succession was such that the Children excluded all their Kindred and of their Kindred the next succeeded according to that in Tacitus of his Germans whose Customs were doubtless mixt with our English Saxons haeredes sayes he successoresque sint cuique liberi nullum Testamentum But it seems Christianity afterward brought in the free power of making Testaments amongst them Si liberi non sunt proximus gradus in possessione fratres patrui Avunculi But this is exprest only in case the Tenant dyed at home and in peace for if he dyed in his Lords Army both the Heriott was forgiven and the Inheritance both of Goods and Lands was to be divided as it ought which was it seems by the Jurisdiction of the Temporal Court within whose Territory the Death or Goods were for in that case it is not said that the Lords Judgement was to be used but that the Heirs should divide all or as the words in the Confessor's Law are habeant h●redes ejus pecuniam terram ejus sine aliqua diminutione recte dividant interse where the right of the Heir both to Lands and Goods is expresly designed but the Judge that should give it them not mentioned Therefore it seems it remained as other parts of the Common Law under the Temporal Jurisdiction as by the Civil Law it is under the Pretors CHAP. II. In whom after the Normans until King John's time UNtil King John's time it seems the Jurisdiction over Intestates Goods was as of other Inheritance also in the Temporal Courts yet no sufficient Testimony is found to prove it expresly only when the Common Laws of those times speak of Intestates they determine the succession by like division as those of the Saxon times In Laws attributed to William the First we read Si home morust sans devise si departent les Infants l'erite inter sei per ovell And afterwards in H. 1. Laws si quis Baronum vel hominum meorum praeventus vel Armis vel infirmitate pecuniam suam nec dederit nec dare disposuerit uxor sua sive liberi aut Parentes legitimi homines sui pro anima ejus eam dividant sicut eis melius visum fuerit Here is the first mention as I remember of any thing occurring in our Laws or Histories of the disposition of the Intestates Goods pro anima ejus which indeed might have been fitly subjected to the view at least of the Church But no mention as yet being of any Ecclesiastical Power that tends that way I rather think that heretofore no use or practice was of Administration committed direction given or medling with the Goods by the Ordinaries but all was by the Friends or Kindred juxta Consilium discretorum virorum as the words are in the Statutes made for such as should dye in the Holy War with Richard the First Neither doth that of Glanvill which was written under H. 2. tell us of any thing of the Ordinaries Power in this case although it hath express mention of Testaments and the Churches Jurisdiction of them Indeed we there find that if no Executor be named then possunt propinqui consanguinei Testatoris take upon them the Executorship and sue in the Kings Court against such as hinder the due payment of Legacies which also agrees well enough with that before cited out of the Laws of H. 1. Neither is there in Gualter Mapes his Apocalypsis being a bitter Satyr against the Abuses of the Spiritual Courts in Henry the Seconds time nor in John of Salisbury's Epistles that have many particulars of the exercised Jurisdiction of the Church any thing occurring that touches upon any Ecclesiastical Powers of this nature