Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
england_n henry_n king_n pope_n 16,586 5 6.9376 4 true
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A26173 Jus Anglorum ab antiquo, or, A confutation of an impotent libel against the government by king, lords, and commons under pretence of answering Mr. Petyt, and the author of Jani Anglorum facies nova : with a speech, according to the answerer's principles, made for the Parliament at Oxford. Atwood, William, d. 1705?; Brady, Robert, 1627?-1700. Full and clear answer to a book.; Petyt, William, 1636-1707. Antient right of the Commons of England asserted.; Atwood, William, d. 1705? Jani Anglorum facies nova. 1681 (1681) Wing A4175; ESTC R9859 138,988 352

There are 4 snippets containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

●●eton to prove either that every ●s the same with a Burrough or else 〈◊〉 taken as different from a Bur●● and indeed here are Burgi 〈◊〉 they must be small Towns incor●●ed not holding in Chief ●●ttleton's Words from which I have ●eason to dissent are these Chescun 〈◊〉 est un Ville Against Jan. p. 7. mes nemy e converso ● he translates Every Burrough is a 〈◊〉 but not e converso Now if from ●e infers that every Town is a Bur●● his Argument is thus every Town ●●urrough because every Town is not ●●rough A man of the weakest parts ●ell us a thing is so because it is ●e is a wise man indeed that can ● it to be so because it is not so Well but 't is a Town incorpora●● and to strengthen his Argument produces Writs of Summons to Vills which if he argues at all sh● That he allows the free Customs more than Tenants in Capite to com● Parliament to be hereby provided under the words which I insist on But pray did Littleton explain ● self that none but Towns incorp● were Vills Oh! but it must be What Liberties What free Customs common ordinary Towns and Parishe● enjoy Against Jan. Anglorum c. p. 7. What municipal Laws Wha● vate Laws and Priviledges Alas I have no Laws whereby they enj●● any Lands If others had Land they were free from the Feudal Law for the Laws were bro● in by and exacted upon only the ● mans themselves who all held in 〈◊〉 by Knights Service too Against Mr. Petyt p. 43. and 〈◊〉 could not have had so much as p●● Customs or By Laws neither ha● other Incorporated Towns any for are not within the Charter of Libe● which was to Tenants in Capite What says Fortescue to all this can he answer 't when he make● the Genus to all Divisions under Hundred So that either a Bu●● corporated Town other Town and a ●●arish Vid. the Franck-pledge in every Vill. Vid. etiam Jan. Angl. or Village may be a Vill mes ne●e converso But is it possible that ●ortescue can gain Credit when such an ●●thor says the contrary However ●●'s hear him for methinks the man ●●oks as if he had some weight in him Hundreds are divided into Villages Fortescue de laudibus Legum Angl p. 52● ●●der which Appellation are contained ●●rroughs and by Burroughs must be ●●ant such as held in Capite Towns in●●porated without such Tenure or not ●orporated or else these were no Divi●●ns within an Hundred And to be ●e an ordinary Village is a Village here Burrough is made the Genus to all ●●wns but not to Villages but as he ●ws wherin a Village consists it whol●roves to my mind For the bounds of Villages are not con●ed within the Circuit of Walls p. 52. b. Build●s or Streets but within the Compass Fields great Authorities certain Ham●● and many other as of Waters Woods 〈◊〉 Wast-grounds which it is not needful set forth by their Names Here not any one of the Particu●● seem necessary to be added to the ●●er unless all must but even a certain Compass of Fields or of Woods 〈◊〉 make a Village without any great A●thorities and within that space mig●● be certain free Customs which the Ow●ers enjoy nay though not inhabitin● And for an Evidence of our Autho● great Love to Truth he observes 〈◊〉 what is said in the Comment upon th●● very words which he cites out of ●●tleton 1. Inst. fol. Villa ex pluribus mantionibus v●mata collecta ex pluribus vici● And if a Town be decayed so as no ●●ses remain yet it is a Town in Law But what need I resort to forei● Proof when in effect this is granted my hand For Against Jan. c. p. 61. ib. p. 63. King John's Charter and Ki●● Henry the Third's were the very same King Henry the Third's was but ●ward the First 's and Ed. 1. in the ● of his Reign rather explained or enlar●● that Charter of King John than c●●firmed the Charter of H. 3. Well to be sure nothing of S●●stance was left out So that the Rig●●● of coming to Parliament which inde● could not be omitted out of the Ch●●ter of all the then Liberties and Rig●●● of the Subject were included in 〈◊〉 Charter of Ed. 1. Wherefore in those ●imes and in Henry the Third's if the Charter were in his time made and confirmed with that Omission of the Te●ants in Chief as not material the Rights of all were comprehended under the Li●erties and Free-Customs of the Civitates Portus Burgi Villae being from the ●9 H. 3. by the 25. Ed. 1. to be sure he Villae the Inhabitants holding Free-●ands in any Village or Parish came by Representation So that in the Charter of King John Villae must signifie inferiour Towns or Parishes as well as in the 25. of Ed. he First But p. 64. 't is an absurd Supposal that by he 25. of E. 1. the Constitution was not ●etled even though himself says that the House of Lords was constituted before ●nd that a new Government was not on●y framed Against Mr. Petyt pa. but set up Nay I shall prove ●hat the Representations of the Commons were then setled but to urge almost he same Argument from other words of his If Hen. the Third's Charter accord●ng to Matthew Paris p. 62. on whom he ●elies in nothing differs from King John's As I have seen in several Manuscripts of great Antiquity affirming that they were some 2. aud some 9. H. 3. and which the Charter inrolled 28 Ed. 1. proves beyond Dispute and yet in that of Henry the Third the Clause relating to the Tenants in Capit● is left out Is it not Demonstration to him that the Right● of small Towns and Parishe● were preserved by the general Words I insist upon And that according to the Sense of the Charter 15 Ed. 1. when the Commons were no● obliged to be represented by Tenants i● Capite only he himself contends for no● more than the Fact that sometimes mo●● of the Knights for the Counties we●● such as held in Capite by Knights Service But why was not Henry the Third Confirmation of King John's Charter 〈◊〉 much the Charter or Grant of H. 3. ● Ed. the First 's Confirmation made it hi● Charter So that here is another Contradiction if he insist upon it that it was not as properly the Charter of Hen. 3. as Ed. 1. And in Truth Henry the Third's was most properly his since he granted it not as a Confirmation of King John's Charter but as the Liberties which were in England in the time of his Grand-father Hen. 2. For although the King says Ma. Paris 305. 〈…〉 Omnes illas libertates juravimus which I take it referred to the Confirmation 20 yet one of his Councellors insists upon it in the King's name that they were extorted by Force from King John for his Charter they
Rich. 2. tells us out of Sprot and others though some would have us think that he took it only out of Sprot He himself tells us that even where he follows Sprot Quaedam superflua à compilatione dicti Thomae resecans quaedam notabilia suis in locis eidem addens ib. he not only cut off many things but added many remarkable Passages Thorne gives us a particular Account of Stigand's raising the men of Kent to ●ight for their old Laws and Liberties Thorne fol. 1786. which many others not being Kentish ●en would not mention lest their Magnanimity should upbraid the sud●en yielding of the rest This I take to have been between October and Christmas when he was ●rowned and that having entred into Treaty and concluded on Terms at London which however they tell us that ●e broke he went towards Dover Vt ●llam cum caeteris partibus comitatûs suae ●ubjiceret potestati It seems Dover was then the Strength of Kent and he thought by the get●ing of that he should be able to keep all that Country under Upon this Arch-bishop Stigand and Abbot Egelsine and all the great men of Kent perceiving that an ill Fate lay upon the whole Kingdom and that whereas before none of the English were Servants now Nobles as well as Plebeians were brought under the Yoke of Slavery represented to the People assembled together the misery of their Neighbours the Insolence of the Normans and the hardship of a servile Condition and animated them all as one man to a resolution of dying or maintaining their Liberties I know many learned men look upon this part as suspicious taking the Sense to be that there were no Villains in England Sylas Taylor of Gavel p. 167. in Kent especially before that time which they are at pains to shew that there were But I conceive the meaning of the words is no more than that there had ever been in England a Distinction between Free-men and Slaves and therefore that none of the English that is the People of the Land which the Law has ever confin'd to Free-holders they that depend upon the Will of others Villains or Servants being no Cives any part of the Nation in that sense ought to bear that Slavery which the Violence of the Normans threatned to all in common Nor wants there Authority for the Freedom of all the Kentish-men in the largest Extent for in an ancient Roll of the Customs of Kent Lambert's Perambulation of Kent 21 Ed. 1. 't is said to have been allowed in Eire before John of Berwick and his Companions the Justices in Eire in Kent the 21 of King Edward the Son of Henry that is to say that all the Bodies of Kentish men be free as well as the other free-bodies of England Lambert's Perambulation p. 632. And this confess'd to be true 30. Ed. 1. in the Title of Villenage 46 in Fitzherbert where it is holden sufficient for a man to avoid the Subjection of Bondage to say that his Father was born in the Shire of Kent The just value of this Freedom Thorne made all the Free-holders of Kent with all that depended upon them resolve to put a stop to William's Depredations At Swanscomb was their general Randezvouz and their numbers were so great that as the Norman Prince advanc'd he found himself hem'd in with an armed Wood for that they might secure themselves of his making no Escape so confident were they of Victory or forcing their own Terms every man by Agreement took a Bough in his hand to block up the way The Arch-bishop and the Abbot in the name of the rest told him that the whole People of Kent were come out to meet him and to acknowledge him their Leige Lord if they might enjoy their Liberties and Laws otherwise they denounc'd War and bid him Defiance Upon this William calls a Council of War and he finds it expedient to give them their Terms they knowing how he had used those who trusted to his Generosity or Justice took Hostages as well as gave and then in full Assurance of his Performance yielded him their County or the Government of it not all the Land and Property there and as what would secure the Government there to him resigned up the Castle of Dover To this Relation Perambulation of Kent p. 25. the great and faithful Antiquary Mr. Lambart gives sufficient Reputation Mr. Camden says Camden ' s Brit. Ut verè quamvis minùs purè in antiquo libro sit scriptum that no man before Sprot has told these Circumstances but he cites an ancient Authority which was a Plea not oppos'd and which could not be taken from Sprot in which he confesses the Substance of this to be contained and though not elegantly writ yet with Truth So that Mr. Camden is on our side being convinc'd by the truth of his own quotation Dicit Cantii Comitatus quod in Comitatu ipso de jure debet de ejusmodi gravamine esse liber quia dicit quod Comitatus iste ut residuum Angliae nunquam fuit conquestus sed pace facta se reddidit Conquestoris dominatui salvis sibi omnibus libertatibus liberis consuetudinibus primò habitis usitatis The County of Kent says that in that County of right it ought to be free from such a Grievance because it sayes that that County was never conquered like the rest of England But having made a Peace yielded its self to the Conquerour's Dominion saving to themselves all their Liberties and free Customes at first had and from that time us'd It seems in standing up for their own Rights they reflected upon the rest as an humble conquer'd People And indeed whereas it has past into a Maxim Nemo miser nisi comparatus No man's condition is unhappy thought But when into the Scales with happier men he 's brought On the other side men are apt to think their Happiness incompleat without comparing themselves with those whom they look upon as deprived of the Advantages which they enjoy Thus our late Author enhances the value he puts upon himself by the Contempt which he thinks his Adversaries deserve though in truth how low soever they lye he rises no higher but it may be disgraces his Mastership by the comparison But to return to the Men of Kent the generality of which how free soever they were Against Mr. Petyt p. 39. were by his Rule no Freemen of the Kingdom for all the Freemen of the Kingdom were Tenants in Military Service Feudalibus Legibus non 〈…〉 Spel. Glos. tit Gavel kind Which was of the Feudal Law whereas their Gavel-kind was exempt from it I can imagine no other Reason why they above others constantly maintained their old Laws and Customes than that they were a sturdy People more than ordinary tenacious of their Rights and sensible of the least Violation And possibly for a long time they retained the Power of taking Satisfaction upon
Term. Pasc. 7. 8. J●hannis 9. dorso claims against William Scoteny the Capital Messuage which he ought to have in Steinton with the Appurtenances as that which belongs to his elder share of the Barony which was Lambert Scoteny's These surely were Brothers not Sisters Sons being of the same Name and the Claim being immediately from the seizin of Scoteny and this Claim was allowed as the Record shews Besides tho 't is generally believed that Wardship was in use before the Reign of H. 3. And Mr. Sylas Taylor in his History of Gavelkind Hist. of Gavelkind p. 104. thinks he proves it to have been before the supposed Conquest Yet we have good Authority that there was no express Law for this before 4. H. 3. K●ighton fo 2430. A● 1219. 4 H. 3. Magnates Angliae concesserunt Regi Henrico Wardas hoeredum terrarum suarum quod fuit initium multorum malorum in Angliâ The great men of England granted King Henry the Wardships of their Heirs and Lands which was the beginning of many Evils in England 2. We find Custom prevailing beyond what was the foreign Feudal Law at least of some places for which I may instance in Relief paid by the Heir male after the Death of his Ancestors Whereas I find it in Cujacius payable only by the Heir female Cuja●i●s fo 498. Siquis sine filio Masculo mortuus fuerit reliquerit filiam filia non habeat beneficium patris nisi à domino redimerit If any one dye without Heir male and leaves a Daughter let her not have her Fathers Benefice unless she redeem it of the Lord. That Relief was called Redemption appears by the Law of H. 1. Leges fo 1. cap. 1. Haeres non redimet terram suam sicut faciebat tempore fratris mei sed legitimâ justâ relevatione relevabit eam It seems in King Rufus his time this payment was so unreasonable that 't was a Redemption in a strict sense and a kind of Purchase of the Land but now 't was to be a lawful and just Relief 2. The jus feodale mentioned in the Glossary if it be not the Law generally received where Feuds were must be the Law of England in particular But 't is to be observed that Choppinus knocks this down who tells us that amongst the French Juridica potestas was not imply'd by a Feud Against Petyt p. 31. in margin But our Apollo teacheth us that our ancient Tenures were from Normandy and that was govern'd by the French Feudal Law being of the French King's Feud Wherefore the Juridica Potestas or jus dicere was not here Ex ipso jure feodali nay in the same place the French Feudist tells us Choppinus de Jurisdict Andeg fo 455. Interdum certè Baro Castellanum observat superiorem 'T is certain sometimes a Baron is under a Castellan's Feud And he gives the Reason why it may be so which is that a Feud carries not with it ib. so 450. the Potestas juridica which reason is very apparent in that a Castellan is of a degree lower than a Baron Take Juridica potestas in the same Sense with jus dicere in the Glossary a Baron was to take Laws from his Inferiour Leges H. 1. cap. and to have his Lands taken from him without Forfeiture as it appears by the Law of Hen. 1. that being one of the Judges in the County Court was not upon the Account of Resiance but the having Free land there so it must have been in the great County Court of Cheshire though they had an extraordinary Power there Admit therefore that a Lord of another County were Feudal Tenant to a Commoner there as 't is not to be doubted but he might have been should this Lord have been represented by his Capital Lord there Glos. 2 part Consentire quisque vid. Or admit a Lord there had no Land but what he held of a Commoner as of such an one as Thomas de Furnival Jani Angl. facies nova p. Sed vide the Record more at large who had several very considerable Mannors might Thomas de Furnival represent the Lord in the Lord's House But farther taking the Jus Feodale to be as in force with us unless the positive Law giving so large a Power be shewn 't is a begging the Question for 't is to prove the Right which our wise Antagonist would exclude from the Question as being indisputable I suppose by the Fact whereas the fancied Right is used in his Hotch-potch Glossary to induce us to the belief of the Fact But from what Sourse is this Right deriv'd SECT 5. An Improvement of the Notion of Jus Feodale THat I may make our mighty man of Letters out of Love with his darling Glossaries 2 Part of the Glos. and his own I shall observe to him That according to that for the Credit of which he pawns his own Truth or his Friends All the Lord 's Right of Representing their Tenants in the Great Councils Against Mr. Petyt p. 31. is meerly Feudal ex ipso jure feodali But all Feuds were enjoy'd under several Military Conditions or Services Being then these were the onely Feudal Tenures and yet as appears by Domesday-Book and all manner of Authority there were Freemen who held in free or else in common Socage though the Dr. sayes all the Freemen of the Kingdom were Tenants by Military Service These Socagers were not chargeable by any without their own consent But like men of another Government and it seems he will afford them nothing here they though called were not obliged to come to the Great Council which was the Curia of the King 's Feudal Tenants onely Nay they were never at it And therefore no wonder if the Laws were obs●rved by and exacted upon Against Mr. Petyt p. 43. onely the Normans themselves For the others could not be bound and if they consented to any Charge for Defence of the Government it could be onely in what way they pleased to consent either in a Body by themselves or united with the Vassals or else severally at home as a meer Benevolence And there being free and common Socage Tenants before the Norman's Entrance and since continually thus it must alwayes have been CHAP. III. That Domesday-Book to which he appeals manifestly destroyes the Foundation of his Pernicious Principles SECT 1. SInce our Tenures and the manner of holding our Estates Against Mr. Petyt p. 31. in every respect with the Customes incident to those Estates are said to be brought in by the Conquest and not onely most but all free Estates must have been feudal as Knights Service which is made the onely feudal was in the time of William the First the onely free Service ib. p. 39. What I have said of Feuds in the last Chapter doth directly reach the Controversie between us though our Author who has an excellent faculty of overthrowing his own Arguments
acquir'd the Crown by Election these things shew it to have been as factious as those which are condemned But we must have Recourse to the History to know how he became King here England since it had been reduced to a Monarchy by the Conduct and Magnanimity of the great King Alfred found that benefit of being under One Head that before Succession was setled when a King dyed the People voluntarily pitch'd upon some One to whom they might pay their Allegiance and from whom they might expect Protection when a King quitted his mortal Dominion to be Assessor with the Principa●ities and Powers in the highest Orb. The Question was not whether they should have a King or no but who should be the man The Confessor through some foolish Vow which was void in it's self having denyed Marriage-rights to his Queen they had none of his Issue to set their Hopes upon and perhaps they were loth to fall again before a Family which they had formerly disobliged and therefore would not think upon Edgar Etheling who was Heir to him that wore the Crown next before the Confessor But that Monarch of their Choice and as 't was believ'd the Elect of Heaven was in such esteem with them that the greatest Worth and the clearest Stream of Royal Blood would have signified little in respect of the Deference they paid to his sanctified Judgment and therefore his Recommendation in such a superstitious Age was to them a kind of Divine Revelation The Norman Prince Abrev. Chron. Rad. de diceto fo 479. Subregulus Haroldus Godwini filius quem Rex ante suum decessum elegerat à t tius Angliae Primatibus ad regale culmen electus William pretended a direct Gift of the Crown from him but there is Authority which tells us That upon his Nomination the chief● men of all England chose Harold Whether this illustrious Son of the great Earl Godwin was design'd by the Confessor or no is left in Dispute but that he arriv'd to his high Trust by a general Election of those who were able to keep under M. S. ex bib Domini Wild defuncti or satisfie the rest is certain and yet an ancient Author calls him Conqueror Heraldus Strenius Dux Conquestor Angliae If Harold has made an absolute Conquest which no man pretends that I find and William had conquer'd him perhaps there would have been a Devolution of a Conquerours Right upon him who subdued Harold but there was only a Competition between these two Princes for that Dignity and Authority which Election had vested in Harold 'T was this that William fought for not for the Lives Liberties and Fortunes of the People And William himself upon his Death-bed being ask'd to whom he would devise his Kingdom makes Answer that he would not pretend to dispose of it and gives this Reason which argues that he thought he had no Right so to do Non enim tantum decus haereditario jure possedi For Comb. Brit. f. 104. I possess'd not this Honour as a Right of Inheritance which here must be meant as what I had an absolute Property in and Disposal of Sed diro inflictu multâ effusione sanguinis humani perjuro Regi Haroldo abstuli interfectis vel fugatis fautoribus ejus dominatui meo subegi But by a direful Conflict and much effusion of humane Blood I took it from perjur'd King Harold and brought it under my Dominion through the Deaths or Flight of his Abettors With this agrees Lex Noricorum in the Confirmation of St. Edwards Laws William the Bastard through God's Permission subduing Harold Regnum Anglorum victoriosè adeptus est Got the Kingdom of England by his Victory but the Victory was over Harold not the whole Kingdom I wonder our Antagonist brought not this to prove that William the Bastard got all the Lands of the Kingdom as he granted all the Lands of whole Counties under the word Comitatus but as 't will appear that the Proceedings of this Prince to his being crowned prove his Election so his Transactions with Harold shew that he laboured only to have that Power which he said Harold maintain'd by Perjury Suppose therefore Harold had not oppos'd and without more Turmoils William had been crown'd had he in this Case been a Conquerour in the Sense contended for And what makes the Difference between his having it of Harold freely or by Force in relation to the whole Kingdom Surely he would never have endeavoured to come in by Treaty to a limited Dominion when with those Advantages that were on his side he might expect by turning ●ut Harold to jump into the absolute Disposal of the whole Land But immediately after St. Edward's Death he sent an Ambassador to demand a Resignation from Harold to which he urged his Obligation by Oath the Gift of his Kinsman the Confessor was likewise pretended But Harold argued for the Invalidity both of his own Oath and the others Bequest because they were Selden's Review of the History of Tithes p. 439. absque generali Sena●s populi conventu edicto That ●s no Act of the Common-Council of the Kingdom which Council is represented by this Author under the Form of the Roman Councils at those times when besides the Senator's Votes there was the Jussus populi And this is in other words of the same Import exprest by Matthew Paris Sine Baronagii sui Communi assensu Upon Harold's denying the Norman● demand Appeal is made to the Pope● and there was one then in the Papal Se●● whose Ambition made him court all occasions of becoming the Vmpire of th● Affairs of Christendom Vid. Dr. Stillingfleet's Answer to Cressy's Apol. p. 347. ad 353. and this was tha● great Asserter of Clerical Exemption● from the Civil Power Gregory the Seventh The Pope like God himself who by his Prophets often anointed and designed Kings sends one of his Ministring Spirits a Nuncio I take it with a consecrated Banner as an Evidence o● Right and an Earnest of Victory and encouraged him to fight the Lord's Battels not expecting that commendable Ingratitude in the religious maintaining those ancient Rights of the Crown o● England for which he afterwards upbraided his Royal Son Whether Superstition or the hopes o● engaging the Pope's secular Influence and Interest to his side occasion'd William to refer his Pretence of Right to the Pope's Decision I shall not judge but with these Colours of a Title he lands ●n England and some say committed no Acts of Hostility till his Claim was again deny'd by the daring but unhappy Harold who was a man of Spirit fit for Empire and was likely to have kept ●t much longer had not Fortune raised up against him three great Enemies at once his Brother Tosto Norwegian Harold and the aspiring William against whom possibly his arm was weakened with the Reflection upon his own Vow to William to assist him in his ambitious Design and what he