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	queen_n	22,548	5	7.7438	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50551	Jus regium, or, The just and solid foundations of monarchy in general and more especially of the monarchy of Scotland, maintain'd against Buchannan, Naphtali, Dolman, Milton, &c.	Mackenzie, George, Sir, 1636-1691.	1684 (1684)	Wing M163; ESTC R945	87,343	224

project I find also that as the debarring the Right Heir is in reason the fruitful seed of all Civil War and misery for who can imagine that the Right Heir will depart from his Right or that wise men will endanger their lives and fortunes in opposition to it so experience has demonstrated how dangerous and bloody this injustice has prov'd Let us remember amongst many Domestick examples the miseries that ensu'd upon the exclusion of Mordredus the Son of Lothus the destruction of the Picts for having secluded Alpinus the Right Heir the Wars during the Reign of William the Conqueror those betwixt King Stephen and Henry the II betwixt the Houses of Lancaster and York betwixt the Bruce and the Baliol the murther of Arthur Duke of Britanny true Heir of the Crown of England with many other foreign Histories which tell us of the dreadful mischiefs arising from Pelops preferring his youngest Son to the Kingdom of Micene from Aedipus commanding that Polinices his youngest Son should reign alternately with the eldest from Parisatis the Queen of Persia's preferring her youngest Son Cyrus to her eldest Artaxerxes from Aristodemus admitting his two Sons Proclus and Euristhenes to an equal share in the Lacedaemonian Throne The like observations are to be made in the Succession of Ptolemaeus Lagus and Ptolemaeus Phisco In the Sons of Severus in the Succession of of Sinesandus who kill'd his Brother Suintilla Righteous Heir of Spain and that of Francis and Fortia Duke of Millan with thousands of others In all which either the Usurpers or the Kingdom that obey'd them perish'd utterly To prevent which differences and mischiefs the Hungarians would not admit Almus the younger Brother in exclusion of the elder Colomanus though a silly deform'd Creature albeit Almus was preferr'd by Ladislaus the Kings eldest Brother to both Nor would France acquiesce in St. Lewis's preferring CHARLES's third Son to Lewis the Eldest And the English refus'd to obey Lady Jean Gray in prejudice of Queen Mary though a Papist and persecuter Tali constanti veneratione nos Angli legi timos Reges prosequimur c. says an English Historian Seventhly If Parliaments had such Powers as this then our Monarchy would not be hereditary but elective the very essence of an hereditary Monarchy consisting in the right of Succession according to the contingency of blood Whereas if the Parliament can prefer the next save one they may prefer the last of all the Liue for the next save one is no more next than the last is next And the same reason by which they can chuse a Successor which can only be that they have a Power above him should likewise in my opinion justifie their deposing of Kings And since the Successor has as good right to succeed as the present King has to Govern for that Right of blood which makes him first makes the other next and all these Statutes which acknowledge the present Kings Prerogatives acknowledge that they belong to him and his Heirs it follows clearly that if the Parliament can preclude the one they may exclude the other And we saw even in the last age that such reasons as are now urged to incapacitate the Children of our last Monarch from the hope of Succession viz. Popery and arbitrary Government did embolden men to Dethrone and Murder the Father himself who was actual King Eighthly That such Acts of Parliament altering the Succession are ineffectual and null is clear from this that though such an Act of Parliament were made it could not debar the true Successor because by the Laws of all Nations and particularly of these Kingdoms the right of Succession purges all defects and removes all impediments which can prejudge him who is to Succeed And as Craig one of our learn'd Lawyers has very well express'd it tanta est Regii sanguinis praerogativa dignitas ut vitium non admittat nec se contaminarep atiatur And thus though he who were to succeed had committed Murther or were declar'd a Traitor formerly to the Crown for open Rebellion against the King and Kingdom yet he needed not be restor'd by Act of Parliament upon his coming to the Crown But his very Right of blood would purge all these imperfections Of which there are reasons given by Lawyers one is that no man can be a Rebel against himself nor can the King have a Superior And consequently there can be none whom he can offend And it were absurd that he who can restore all other men should need to be restored himself The second reason is because the punishment of crimes such as confiscations c. are to be inflicted by the Kings Authority or to fall to the Kings Thesaury and it were most absurd that a man should exact from himself a punishment Like as upon this account it is that though in the Canon Law Bastards cannot be promoted to sacred orders without dispensation nor can alibi nati that is to say People born out of England be admitted to succeed in England by express Act of Parliament there Yet Agapaetus Theodorus Gelasius and many others have been admitted to be Popes without any formal dispensation their election clearing that imperfection And the Statute of alibi nati has been oft found not to extend to the Royal Line That the Succession to the Crown purges all defects is clear by many instances both at home and abroad The instances at home are in England Henry the VI. Being disabled and attainted of High-Treason by Act of Parliament it was found by the Judges notwithstanding that from the moment he assum'd the Crown he had Right to succeed without being restored And the like was resolved by the Judges in the case of Henry the VII as Bacon observes in his History of Henry the VII Fol. 13. And in the case of Queen Elizabeth who was declar'd Bastard by Act of Parliament as is clear by Cambden anno 2 Elizabeth And though in Scotland there be no express instances of this because though some Rebellious Ring-leaders in Scotland have often in a private capacity been very injurious to their King Yet their Parliaments have been ever very tender of attainting the Blood-Royal or presumptive Heirs But Alexander Duke of Albany and his Succession being declared Traitours by his Brother King James the IV his Son John was notwithstanding called home from France upon his Uncles death and declar'd Tutor and Governour without any remission or being restor'd That Employment being found to be due to him by the right of Blood Therefore he had been much more declared the true Successor of the Crown if his Cousin King James the V. had died These being sufficient to establish our design I shall mention only some forraign stories CHARLES the VII of France who though banish'd by Sentence of the Parliament of Paris did afterwards succeed to the Crown And though Lewis the XII was forfeited for taking up Arms against CHARLES the VIII yet he succeeded to him

de facto till King Henry VII by his Marriage with the Lady Elizabeth eldest daughter to King Edward IV. did by her transmit a just Title to his Successor and therefore it was not strange that either of these should allow the Parliament to interpose when they owed to them the possession of the Throne But yet Henry VII himself as the Lord Bacon relates in his History shun'd to have the Parliament declare his Title to be just being content with these ambiguous words viz. That the inheritance of the Crown should rest remain and abide in the King c. And upon this account it was that the same King caus'd a Law to be made that such as should serve the King for the time being in his Wars could not be attainted or impeach'd in their Persons or Estates As to Henry VIII his procuring an Act whereby the Parliament declares That in case he had no Issue by the Lady Jean Seymour he might dispose of the Crown to whatsoever person he should in his own discretion think fit It is answered That by a former Statute in the 25th year of his Reign he by Act of Parliament settles the Crown upon the Heirs-male of his own Body and for lack of such Issue to Lady Elizabeth and for lack of such Issue also to the next Heirs of the King who should for ever succeed according to the Right of Succession of the Crown of England which shews that the Succession to the Crown of England is establish'd by the Law of Nature and the Fundamental Laws of England upon the Heirs of Blood according to the Proximity of Degrees so that though that King did afterwards prevail with the Parliament to declare this Elizabeth a Bastard as he did also his daughter Mary by another Act and resolve to settle the Crown upon Henry Fitz-Roy Duke of Richmond Yet these Acts teach us how dangerous it is to leave Parliaments to the impression of Kings in the case of naming a Successor as it is to expose Kings to the Arbitrariness of Parliaments But such care had God of his own Laws that Mary succeeded notwithstanding she was Papist and Elizabeth succeeded her though she was declar'd Bastard the Rights of Blood prevailing over the Formalities of Divorce and the Dispensations of Popes as the strength of Nature does often prevail over Poisons And God remov'd the Duke of Richmond by death to prevent the unjust Competition and so little notice was taken of this and the subsequent Act Anno 1535. that the Heirs of Blood succeeded without repealing of that Act as an Act in it self invalid from the beginning for only such Acts are past by without being repeal'd And Blackwood pag. 45. observes very well that so conscious were the Makers of these Acts of the illegality thereof and of their being contrary to the immutable Laws of God Nature and Nations that none durst produce that King's Testament wherein he did nominate a Successor conformable to the power granted by those Acts that as soon as they were freed by his death from the violent Oppressions that had forced them to alter a Successor three several times and at last to swear implicitly to whomsoever he should nominate a Preparative which this Age would not well bear though they cite it they proclaimed first Queen Mary their Queen though a Papist and thereafter Queen Elizabeth whom themselves had formerly declared a Bastard And as in all these Acts there is nothing declaring the Parliaments to have power to name a Successor but only giving a power to the King for preventing mischiefs that might arise upon the dubiousness of the Succession to nominate a Successor two of the legal Successors having been declar'd Bastards upon some Niceties not of Nature but of the Pope's Bulls for divorcing So this Instance can only prove that the King may nominate a Successor and that the Parliament may consent not to quarrel at it which is all that they do but does not at all prove that where the Right of Nature is clear the Parliament may invert the same And Strangers who considered more the dictates of Law than of Passion did in that Age conclude That no Statute could be valid when made contrary to the fundamental Law of the Kingdom Arnisaeus cap. 7. num 11. Henricus VIII Angliae Rex Eduardum filium primo deinde Mariam denique Elizabetham suos haeredes fecerat verum non aliter ea omnia valent quam si cum jure Regni conveniant Vid. Curt. Tract Feud Par. 4. Num. 129. There seems greater difficulty to arise from 13 Eliz. c. 2. by which it is enacted that if any person shall affirm that the Parliament of England has not full power to bind and govern the Crown in point of Succession and descent that such a person during the Queens life shall be guilty of High-Treason But to this Act it is answered that this Act does not debar the next legal and natural Successor and these words That the Parliament has power to bind and Govern the Succession must be as all other general expressions in Statutes interpreted and restricted by other uncontroverted Laws and so the sense must be that the Parliament is judge where there are differences betwixt Competitors in nice and controvertable Points which cannot be otherwise decided and both this and the former Acts made in Henry the VI. time are not general Laws but temporary Acts and personal Priviledges and so cannot overturn the known current of Law Quod vero contra rationem juris receptum est non est producendum ad consequentias And in all these instances it is remarkable that the restriction was made upon the desire of the Soveraign and not of the Subject And if we look upon this Act as made to secure them against Mary Queen of Scotland and to let her know that it was to no purpose for her to design any thing against the Right or Person of Queen Elizabeth as being declar'd a Bastard by Act of Parliament in England since her other Right as next undoubted Heir by Blood to the Crown might be altered or Govern'd we must acknowledge it to be only one of these Statutes which the Law sayes are made ad terrorem ex terrore only Nor was there ever use made of it by Queen Elizabeth nor her Parliaments so fully were they convinc'd that this pretended power was so unjust as that it could not be justified by an Act of Parliament being contrary to the Laws of God of Nature of Nations and of the Fundamental Laws of both Kingdoms But this Law being made to exclude Queen Mary and the Scottish line as is clear by that clause wherein it is declared that every Person or Persons of what degree or Nation soever they be shall during the Queens life declare or publish that they have Right to the Crown of England during the Queens life shall be disinabled to enjoy the Crown in Succession inheritance or otherwayes after the

Queens death It therefore follows that it was never valid For if it had King James might have thereby been excluded by that person who should have succeeded next to the Scottish Race For it 's undeniable that Queen Mary did during Q. Elizabeths Life pretend Right to the Crown upon the account that Queen Elizabeth was declared Bastard And therefore the calling in of King James after this Act and the acknowledging his Title does clearly evince That the Parliament of England knew that they had no power to make any such Act The words of which acknowledgment of King James's Right I have thought fit to set down as it is in the Statute it self 1 Jac. Cap. 1. That the Crown of England did descend upon King James by inherent Birthright as being lineally justly and lawfully next and sole Heir of the Blood Royal. And to this Recognition they do submit themselves and Posterities for ever until the last drop of their Blood be spilt And further doth beseech His Majesty to accept of the same Recognition as the first Fruits of their Loyalty and Faith to His Majesty and to His Royal Progeny and Posterity for ever It may be also objected That by the 8 Act. Parl. 1. Ja. 6. it is provided in Scotland that all Kings and Princes that shall happen to Reign and bear Rule over that Kingdom shall at the time of their Coronation make their faithful promise by Oath in presence of the eternal God that they shall maintain the true Religion of Jesus Christ the preaching of the Holy Word and due and right Administration of the Sacraments now received and preach'd within this Kingdom from which two Conclusions may be inferr'd 1. That by that Act the Successor to the Crown may be restricted 2. That the Successor to the Crown must be a Protestant that being the Religion which was professed and established the time of this Act. To which it is answered That this Act relates only to the Crowning of the King and not to the Succession Nor is a Coronation absolutely necessary Coronatio enim magis est ad ostentationem quam ad necessitatem Nec ideo Rex est quia coronatur sed coronatur quia Rex est Oldrad consil 90. num 7. Balbus lib. de coronat pag. 40. Nor do we read that any Kings were Crown'd in Scripture except Joas And Clovis King of France was the first who was Crown'd in Europe Nor are any Kings of Spain Crown'd till this day Sisenandus was the first who in the fourth Tolletan Council gave such an Oath amongst the Christians as Trajan was the first amongst the Heathen Emperours And we having had no Coronation Oath till the Reign of King Gregory which was in Anno 879. he having found the Kingdom free from all Restrictions could not have limited his Successor or at least could not have debarr'd him by an Oath Nullam enim poterat legem dictare posteris cum par in parem non habeat imperium as our Blackwood observes pag. 13. 2. There is no Clause irritant in this Act debarring the Successor or declaring the Succession Null in case his Successor gave not this Oath 3. The Lawful Successor though he were of a different Religion from his People as God forbid he should be may easily swear That he will maintain the Laws now standing And any Parliament may legally secure the Successor from overturning their Religion or Laws though they cannot debar him And though the Successor did not swear to maintain the Laws yet are they in little danger by his Succession since all Acts of Parliament stand in force till they be repeal'd by subsequent Parliaments and the King cannot repeal an Act without the consent of Parliament But to put this beyond all debate the 2d Act of this current Parliament is opposed whereby it is declared That the Right and Administration of the Government is immediately devolv'd upon the next lawful Heir after the death of the King or Queen and that no difference in Religion nor no Law nor Act of Parliament can stop or hinder them in the free and actual Administration Which is an abrogation of the foresaid Act concerning the Coronation as to this Point for how can the administration be devolv'd immediately upon the Successor if he cannot administer till he be Crown'd and have sworn this Oath And therefore King James urges very well That sure immediately upon the death of the last King the Successor acquires a Right they who debar the Successor do not exclude a Successor from entering but debar a righteous King And by Act 2. Parl. 1. Sess 2. Ch. 2. It is declar'd Treason to suspend the King from the Stile Honour or Kingly Name And whereas Dolman urges That at all Coronations the People are ask'd If they will have such a King It is answered That this is no necessary Solemnity and is done rather to give the People occasion to shew their affection than their power even as a Gentleman in England is appointed to offer Due● to any who would controvert the King's Right who is to be Crown'd notwithstanding of which offer he who would controvert the Title would certainly commit Treason Nor can it be deni'd from our History but that many of our Kings have reign'd long before they were Crown'd and that those who rebell'd against them before their Coronation were as legally Traytors as those who rebell'd after it All Kings number the years of their Reign from their Predecessors death and not from their Coronation They grant new Commissions and Judicatures who should understand Law best of all others decide in their Name and by their Authority before they be Crown'd So that I cannot but smile at Dolman's Conceit who says That a King before his Coronation is betroth'd but not a King espous'd to the Commonwealth till his Coronation and consequently may till then be rejected But this is a meer Whimsie and Scholastick Conceit for sure he acts as King and since they who oppose him commit Treason it is certain that he cannot be rejected and the solid Right of Blood and not airy Formalities make Kings Nor can I understand how Election and Birth can be join'd to compleat the excellency of Hereditary Monarchy as Doleman teaches for make it our Elective upon the unfitness of the Successor and all Successors shall be call'd unfit and unable to govern when a Faction resolves to set up a Rival though he be really yet more unfit than the true Heir is The next Objection is That since the King and Parliament may by Act of Parliament alter the Successions of private Families though transmitted by the Right of Blood why may they not alter the Succession in the Royal Family To which it is answered that the reason of the difference lyes in this that the Heirs of the Crown owe not their Succession to Parliaments for they succeed by the Laws of God Nature and the Fundamental Laws of the Nation whereas private Families are