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A56172 Historiarchos, or, The exact recorder being the most faithfull remembrancer of the most remarkable transactions of estate and of all the English lawes ... : as most elabourately they are collected ... out of the antiquities of the Saxon and Danish kings, unto the coronation of William the Conqueror, and continued unto the present government of Richard, now Lord Protector / by William Prynne, Esquire ...; Seasonable, legal, and historical vindication of the good old fundamental liberties, franchises, rights, properties, laws, government of all English freemen. Part 3 Prynne, William, 1600-1669.; Prynne, William, 1600-1669. Seasonable, legal, and historical vindication. 1659 (1659) Wing P3974; ESTC R14832 281,609 400

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a cruel death who gave him this ill advice and to pacifie his Brothers ●host and his own Conscience built two new Monasteries at Middleton and Michelresse and there was scarce any old Monastery in England which he adorned not either with buildings or Ornaments or Books or Land● to exp●ate this his bloody crime In this king Aethelstans reign In the year 927. There were fiery Beams and Meteors seen throughout all the Northern parts of England soon after which Athelstan resolved utterly to extirpate the perfidious Nation of the Danes and treacherous Scots which had violated their Agreement made with his Father whereupon he marched with a great Army by Land and Navy by Sea into Northumberland and Scotland wasted and harrowed the Country without resistance forced Guithfrith King of Northumberland out of his kingdom uniting it to his own Realm vanquished and overcame Howel king of Wales Constantine king of Scots Anlafe the Dane and others in a set battel drove them out of their Realms and forced them to submit to him Who upon their submission knowing the chance of war to be variable and pitying the Cases of these down-cast Princes restor'd them presently to their former estates with this Princely Speech That it was more honour to make a King than to be a King yet these petty Kings Princes rebelling afterwards siding with Anlafe against him were all rou●ed by Athelstan● King Constantine of Scotland with five more of these Kings 12 Dukes and most of their Army slain in one battel principally by the valor of Turketulus and the Londoners An. 837 Whereupon the petty Kings of Wales contracted to pay him a yearly tribute of 20 pound weight of Gold and 300 of Silver and 25000 head of Cattel with a certain number of Hawks and Hounds which no King of England ever exacted or received from them before William of Malmes●ury who exceeds in his praises writes that it was truly reported of him amongst the English Quod nemo Legalius vel literatius rempublicam administraverit That no king governed the Commo●we●l●h more legally or learnedly than he being as Ingulphus records guided and directed by Turketulus his Chancellour a man of great integrity honesty and piety of prof●und judgement whose decrees upon debate were irrefrag●ble This king Athelstan for the better administration of Jus●ice enacted sundry excellent civil and ecclesias●ical Laws recorded in Bromt. Lamb. Spelm. The first of these his Laws were made and enacted in the famous ●oun●il of Grately about the year 928 in which the king himself Wulfehelm Archbishop of Cante●bury and the rest of the Bishops and all the Nobles and Wisemen which King Ethelstan could assemble were present who all ordained and confirmed these Laws in this great Council as the last Chapter 〈◊〉 in●orms us in ●hese words Totum hoc institutum est et confirmatum In magno Synodo apud Grateleyam cui Archiepi●cop●● 〈…〉 et omnes Optimates et Sapientes quos Adelstanus Rex potuit Congregare Or Cum●● Optimates et Sapientes ab Aethe●●tano evoca●● frequentissimi as another Copy renders it● which proves that all the Members of this Council were summoned to it by this kings writ and not elected by the peoples suf●rages And although the Archbishops Bishops and other Clergy men were the chief advisers of the Ecclesiastical L●ws made in this Council as this Prologue to them attests Ego Aethelstanus Rex ex prudenti ●l●●elmae Archiepiscopi aliorumque Episcoporum et Servorum Dei consilio mando yet they were all enacted and confirmed by all the Nobles and Wisemen in the Council as the premises evidence In this Council the king commanded● by his Laws all his Officers that they should demand and exact from his Subjects such things and duties only as they might justly and lawfully receive adding this memorable reason for it Nunquam enim erit populo bene consultum nec digne Deo conser●abitur ubi Lucrum impium et magis falsum diligitur Ideo ●e●ent omnes amici Dei quo● miquum en enervare quod ●ustum est elevare non pa●i ut prop●er falsum et pecuniae quaestum se forisfaciant homines er●●●ere ●apientem Deum cui displicet omnis injustitia Which I wish all our unrighteous covetous ●●x-ma●●ers Excisers and Exacters would now seriously consider Af●er which it follows Chris●ianis autem omnibus neces●arium est ut rectum diligant ut iniqua condemnent et saltem sacris Ordinibus erecti justum semper erigant et prava deponant Hinc debent Episcopi cum saeculi Judicibus interesse Judiciis ne permittant si possint ut illinc aliqua pravitatum germina pullulaverint And to avoid all arbitrary proceedings oppressions and Injustice in all things this Council by positive Laws ascertains all fines amerciaments imprisonments and corporal punishments for criminal offences from which the Iudges might not vary And withall defines what Armes every man should ●ind in those times of war against the Danes and other Enemies by his positive Law Lex 21. Sax. 16. Omnis homo habebit duos homines cum bonis equis de omni Carucâ King Ethelstane after this Council at Grately what years is not expressed assembled several other Parliamentary Councils at Exeter Fevresham and Thunderfeld wherein he and his Wisemen by common consent confirmed the Laws made at Grately altering some of them in certain particulars and adding some new Laws unto them as you may read at large in Brom●on and as the first Chap●er and this Prologue to those Laws assure us ` Haec sunt Judicia quae Sapientes Exon●ae consilio Adelstani Regis instituerunt iterum 〈◊〉 Fevresham ● et tertia vice apud Thundresfeldiam ubi hoc definitum simul et confi●matum est et hoc imprimis est ut observentur om●ia Judicia quae apud Gratel●yam imposita fuerint praeter mercatum Civitatis et Diei Dominicae The Cause of making these new Laws and confirming the old was a Complaint to the King in the Council at Exeter that the Peace and Laws made at Grateley were not so well kept as they should be and that The●ves and Malefactors abounded as this Prologue manifests Ego Adelstanus Rex notifico vobis sicut dictum est Michi quod pax nostra pejus observata est quam Michi placet vel apud Grateleyam fuerit institutum Et Sapientes Michi dicunt quod hocdiutius pertuli quàm debueram Nunc inveni cum illis Sapientibus qui apud Exoniam fuerint mecum in sancto Natali Domini quod parati sunt omnino quando velim cum seipsis uxoribus pecunia omni re suâ ire quo tunc voluero nisi malefactores requiescant eo tenore quo nunquam deinceps in patriam istam redeant c. In the Council of Fevresham in Kent the King by some of his Wise-Counsellors sent thither to it propounded some things for the weal
moribus ad Nos spectat examen si vivunt continenter si honeste se habent ad eos qui foris sunt s● in divinis officiis solliciti si in Docendo populo assidui si victu sobrii si moderati habitu si in judiciis sunt discreti c. Ego Constantini vos Petri gladium habetis in manibus jungamus dextras gladium gladio copu●emus ut ejiciantur ●extra castra leprosi ut purgetur sanctuarium Domini et ministrent in Templo filii Levi c. After which directing his speech to Dunstan Aethelwald and Oswald he concludes thus● Vo●i●istud committo negotium ut Episcopali censura et authoritate Regia ●urpiter viventes de Ecclesiis ejiciantur ordinatè viventes introducantur Herupon there was a Decree made in this General Council That all Canons Priests Deacons and Sub-Deacons should live chastly that is put away their lawfull Wives vow chastity and become Monks or relinquish the Churches they then held The execution whereof was committed to Oswald and Ethelwald Who thereupon compelled the Clergy in Worcester Winchester and other Churche● to become Monks renuentes verò ab omni beneficio spoliarunt depriving those who refused of all their Benefices and putting Monks into them qui novo quidem splendore vniversam Insulam illustrarunt as our Monkish Writers record or rather novo foetore contaminarunt as others write Iohn Bromton informs us that after the slaughter of the Nuns of Ely by Inguar and Hubba the secular Priests enjoyed that Monastery one hundred years space whom King Edgar de Concilio beati Dunstani Archiepiscopi dicti E●he●waldi ac m●gnatum Regni in the forementioned General Council expulit fugavit for their dishonest conversation Bishop Oswald having ejected the married secular Priests out of his Church at Worcester and introduced Monks in their places did this year 969. as I conjecture from the premises not 964. as Sir Henry Spelman computes it p●ocure King Edga● by the Counsel and assent of his Princes Nobles and Bishops most probably in the forementioned General Council or that of London next ensuing to ratifie this their ejection and confirm the Church of Worcester with all the lands goods ecclesiastical secular things thereto belonging to the Monks of that Church for ever free from all secular servi●es and exactions hard or easie and from all siscal duties great and small known or unknown as well of the King or Prince as of their Officers ● exceptis Arcis Pontis extructione et expeditione c●ntra hoestem And that by the special Charter called Oswald Law subscribed by the King Queen both the Archbishops and 3 Dukes King Edgar Anno 970. or 971. in the 12 year of his reign held another Parliamentary Council at London where himself his Mother Alfgina Prince Edward his Son Kined King of Scots Mascusius his Admiral both the Ahchbishops with the rest of the Bishops and all the Nobles and great men of the Realm were present By his Charters made in and ra●ified by this Council this King granted and confirmed many and very magnificent Privileges to the Monastery of Glastonbury communi Episcoporum Abbatum Principumque concilio et generali assensu Pontificum Abbatum Optimatumque suorum exempting the Monastery and Monks thereof not only from all Episcopal Iurisdiction but likewise all their Lands from all Tributes and Exchequer businesses for ever Granting them Socam Sacam c. Toll Te●me● Ita libere et quiete sicut ego habeo in regno meo Ean●●m quoque Libertatem Po●estatem quam ego in Curia mea habeo tam in demittendo quam in punien●o in quibuslibet omnino negotiis Abbas Monachi praefati Monasterii in Curia sua habeant And which is a Privilege beyond all president Si autem Abbas vel quilibet Monachus loci illius latronem qui ad suspendium vel quodlibet mortis periculum ducit●● in itinere obvium habuerit potestatem habeat eripiendi eum ab imminen●i periculo in toto Regno meo The old Charter begins thus In nomine Domini nostri Jesu Christi Quamvis Decreta Pontificum verba Sacerdotum inconvulsis ligaminibus velut fundamenta montium sixa sunt tamen plerumque tempestatibus turbinibus saecularium rerum Religio sanctae Ecclesiae maculis reproborum dissipatur ac ●ūpitur Iccirco prosutu ū succeden●●bus posteris esse decrevimus ut ea quae salubri Consilio et communi assensu definiuntur nostris literis roborata ●irmentur c. Hoc i●aque Dunstano Doroberniensi atque Oswaldo Eboracensi Episcopo adhortantibus consentiente e●iam e● annuente Brithelmo Fontanensi E●iscopo c●terisque Episcopis Abbatibus et Primatibus Ego Edga● divina di●po●●●ione Rex Anglorum c. And it concludes thus Acta est haec Privilegii ●a●ina confirma●a apud Londonium Communi Concilio omnium Primatum meorum Then fol●ow ●he su●●criptions of King Egar A●fgina his Mother Prince Edward Kinred King of Scots Mascusius the chief Admiral both the Archbishops 6 Bishops 8 Abbots 3 Dukes and other Officers Which Charter and Privileges at the Kings request were ratified by Pope Iohn the 13 in a general Council at Rome Anno Dom. 971. by a special Bull that they might remain inviolable yet both the Abbey it self Lands Privileges are long since demolished dissipated annihilated such is the mu●abiliunity of all sublunary things The self same year Anno 970. King Edgar by his Charter granted and confirmed sundry Lands and Privileges to the Monastery of Medeshamsted formerly demolished by the Danes which Bishop Aethelwold had repaired and named Burgh perpetually exempting it from all Episcopal jurisdiction yoak and exaction Quatenus nec Rex nec Comes nec Episcopus praeter Christianitatem attinentium Parochiarum nec Vicecomes nec ulla alia major minorve persona ulla dominatione occupare praesumat excepta moderata expeditione Pontis Arcisve constructione VVhich Charter was ratified by the kings own subscription both the Archbishops sundry Bishops Abbots Dukes and other chief Officers and the sign of the Cross after each of their Names In the year 973. King Edgar after his seven years penance expired on the Feast of Pen●ecost in the 30●h year of his age was solemnly Crowned and consecrated King ● and wore his Crown with great glory at Akemancester alias Bath both the Archbishops Dunstan and Oswald with all the rest of the Bishops of England ac Magnatibus universis and all the Nobles being there pre●ent at his Coronation and received the accustomed Gifts usually given to the Nobles being at such inaugurations Soon after the same year this King with a very great Fleet and Army sayling round about the Northern parts of England came to Westchester where his eight tributary Kings or Vice-royes namely Kyneth king of Scots Malcome King of Cumberland Marcus king of Man and many other Ilands and the other 5
kings of Wales Dufn●ll Siferth Howel Iames and Iuchill met him as he had commanded ●hem and swo●e 〈…〉 him in ●he●e words That they would be faithfull aud assisting to him both by Land and Sea W●ich done he on a certain day en●red wi●h them into a Barge and placing them at the Oares himself took the Helm and steered the Barge very skilfully whiles they rowed it down the River of Dee from his Palace to the Monastery of St. Iohn Bapist on the other side all his Dukes and Nobles fol●owing and accompanying him in other Barges where having made his Prayers they all rowed him thence back again in like pompe to his Royal Palace which when he had en●red he said to his Nobles Tha● any of his Successors might then say he was King of England when wi●h so many Kings following and subject to him he should enjoy the Prerogative of the like pompe and power Bu● Mr. Fox subjoyns In my mind this king had said much b●tter God ●orbid that I should glory in any t●ing but in the Cross of our Lord I●sus Christ. The year following An. 974. Certain Merchants comming from York arived in the Islle of Thanet in Kent where they were presently taken by the Ilanders and spoyled of all their goods which king Edgar being informed of was so far incensed against these Plunderers that he spoyled them of all their Goods and deprived some of them of their lives Which Huntingdon and Bromton thus record Rex Edgarus undecimo Anno Regni sui jussit praedari Insulam Tenet Quia jure Regalia spreverant non ut hostis insani●ns s●● ut Rex malo mala puntens The same year as Ma●mesbu●y Ingu●p●us and others write king Edgar by his regal Charter caused the secular Priests to be removed out of the Monastery of Malmesbury and introducing Monks in their places restored to them the Lands and Possessions of the monas●ery which the secular Priests formerly enjoyed and had leased o● ● that upon a ful● hearing before the Wise-men Bishops others in his presence most likely in a Par●iamentary Counci● as ●his c●au●e in his Charter intimates Haec a praedictis accommodata Cl●ricis a con●ensioso possessa est Ed●●●no●● s●d superstitiosa sub●il que ejus discept●tione a Sapientib●s meis audita ●t conflictatione illius mendosa ab eisdem me praesente convicta Monasteriali a me reddita est usui If the Council of Winchester hereafter cited Anno 975. was held in King Edgars life time as some affirm most probably this debate here mentioned touching these Lands was held in and before that Counci● and this Charter therein made and ratified with the subscriptions of the Kings Arch-bishops Bishops Abbots and Dukes thereto annexed according ●o the custome of that age Although King Edgar in his younger daies was subject to many Vices and committed some injurious Ty●●●●ic●● A●●s recorded by Malmesbury Fox Speed and others yet repenting of these his youthfull lustfull Vices he proved such a just and prudent King that our Historians of elder and later ages give these large Encomiums of his Justice Prudence Piety Vertues and poli●ique Government wor●hy perpetual memory and immitation So excellent was he in Iustice So sharp was he in correction of Vices as well in his Magistrates Officers and other Subjects that never before his days was less felony by Robbers nor less extortion or Bribery by false Officers such as were wicked he kept under them that were Rebels he repulsed the godly he maintain●d and the just and modest he loved the learned and vi●tuous he encouraged He would suffer no man of wh●t de●ree or quali●y soever he were to elude or violate his Laws without condigne punishment In his time there was neither any private Pilferer nor publ●ke Theef but he that in stealing other mens Goods would venture and suffer as he was sure the loss of his own Goods and Life He was no respecter of persons in ●udgement but judged every man according to the quantity of his Offence and quality of his person He united all the Nations under him which were divers by the Covenan● and Obli●●tion of one Law Governing them all with such Iustice Equity Integrity and Peace that he w●s stile● Rex 〈◊〉 Edgarus Pacificus t●e p●aceable King Edgar In his days not ●orments not Gibbe●s not Ex●le not banishment were so much feared as the offending of so good and gracious a King He built and endowed no lesse than 48 Monasteries and restored many more endowing them with large possessions privileges out of Piety and Devotion ●s these times reputed it was a great honourer lover promoter of the vertuous and learned Clergy and suppressor of the vicious and scandalous There was scarce one year throughout all his reign wherein he did not some great and memorable necessary thing for the good of his Country and people the honour of God and advancement of Religion All which made him so honoured and beloved by his Subjects at home so far d●eaded by his Enemies abroad that Nullas Domesticorum insidias nullum exterminium alienorum sensit He never felt any homebred treachery or forein invasion but reigned peaceably all his days● without war or bloodshed which none of his Predecessors ever did He was so far from tollerating any violence or rapine in men towards each other that he commanded all the Wolves and ravenous Beasts greedy of blood to be destroyed throughout his Dominions And such an Enemy was he to Drunkenness the Mother of Vices Murders Quarrels Thefts wherewith the Danes had much infected the English that to prevent and redress it he caused Pins to be set in every Cup prohibiting by severe Laws and Penalties that none should force others to drink nor yet d●ink below ●hose Pins in that moderate proportion which he prescribed them Among other his Politick deeds for the peace and safeguard of his Realm against pillaging Pirates and Forein Invaders he had always in readiness 3600 as most or 4800 strong ships of War as others record to secure the Seas in the Summer season which he divided into three Squadrons or Fleets whereof he placed 1200 in the East Seas to guard them 1200 in the South Seas 1200 in the West Seas and 1200 in the North Seas as some write to prevent Piracies and repulse the invasion of Forein Enemies These Ships immediatly after Easter met together every year at their several places of Rendezvous wherewith the King sailed round about the Island and Sea-coasts with a great force to the terror of Foreiners and exercising of his own subjects sayling with the Eastern Navy to the Western parts of the Iland and then sending them back with the Western Fleet to t●e Northern Coasts and then sayling with the Northern Fleet to the South pius scilicet explorator ne quid Piratae turbarent After his return from the Sea in the Winter and Spring he used to ride in Progress
and slaying such as resisted them Then marching from Severn into the confines of Somersetshire and Dorsetshire they plundered many Towns and Villag●s in those parts against whom a great multitude assembled out of these two Counties making head were incountred and routed by Harold many of their chief Officers and others being slain After which they returning to their ships with great booties sailed round about by the shore to Plimo●th Upon this King Edward speedily sent forth forty ships well victualed and furnished with choice Souldiers commanding them to watch for and resist the coming and landing of Earle Godwin who without their privity coming with a few ships undescerned out of Flanders practised pyracy and pillaged the sea-coasts of Kent and Sussex and at last came to the Isle of Weight where his two sonnes Harold and Leofric joyning their ships and Forces with his they studiously plotted how they might aveng themselves upon King Edward by sea Griffin King of VVales in the mean time by their instigation depopulating Herefordshire by land slaying many of the Countrey people who resisted him On the Kings part there were about sixty ships assembled together to oppose Harold riding at anchor the Admirals of which Navy were the Earls Odo and Ralph the Kings kinsmen neither was the King himself sloathfull in this necessity lying all night on shipboard and diligently observing the excursions of these Pyrates executing that by sage counsel which by reason of age he could not act with his hand When both Navies were drawn near together and ready to grapple with and encounter each other a thick fogge and cloud sodainly arising blinded the eyes of these furiou persons and restrained the wretched audacity of these mortals so that they could not encounter each other Godwin with his companions being forced by the winds to returne from whence they came After which Godwin and his sonnes by secret messengers drew unto their party an innumerable company of the inhabitants of Kent Essex Sussex and Surry and all the Mariners of Hastings with many Souldiers and having drawn together a very great Army out of those parts who all promised with one voice To live and dye with Godwin forbearing all plunder and depopulation after they met together taking only victuals for their Army when occasion and necessity required and alluring all they could to their party they marched with their forces first to Sandwich Which the King hearing of being then at London speedily sent messengers to all who had not revolted from him to come with all speed to his assistance who delaying overlong came not at the time appointed In the mean while Godwin comes up the Thames with his Navy and Army toward London and pitched his Tents in Sou●hwark near the City King Edward who was then at London had assembled a great company of armed men together and no small Navy to pursue Godwin and his sonnes both by Sea and Land But because very few with the King or Godwin had courage to fight with each other and the English whose sonnes Nephews Kinsmen and Friends were with Godwin and Harold refused to fight against their own parents kinred of the Kings party thereupon some wise men on both parts diligently endeavored to make a firme peace and reconciliation between the King and Godwin and commanded the Armies and Navies to forbear fighting Godwin being aged and potent both with his favour and tongue to bow the mindes of his auditors very well purged himself from all the things objected against him The next morning Rex habens cum Primaribus suis Concilio the King taking Counsel with his Nobles restored Godwin and all his sonnes except Swane who went on Pilgrimage barefoot to Ierusalem to expiate the murder of Beorne together with the Queen his daughter to their former honours Godwin giving his Sonne VVolnoth and Hake the Son of Swane his hostages to the King for his keeping of the peace and future loyaltie to h●m whom the King immediatly sent into Normandy to be kept there A concord and peace being thus made and ratified the King and Nobles omni populo bonas Leges rectam justitiam promiserunt promised good Laws and r●ght Iustic● to all the people then they banished Robert arch-bishop o Canterbury Will●am B●shop of London Vlfe Bishop of Dorchester and all the other Normans who incens●d and gave the King evill counsel against Earle Godwin and the English and had invented unjust laws and pronounced unjust judgements against them permitting only some few Normans nominated in our Histo●ians whom the King loved more than the rest and who had been faithfull to him and all the people to remain in England Not long after VVilliam Bishop of London was for his goodnesse recalled and restored to his Bishoprick but Stigand was made Archbishop of Canterbury in the place of Robert and Osburne and Hugh two Normans by birth leaving their Castles here went to the King of Scots who entertained them and so the land was freed from these forreign incendiaries Normannos omnes ignominâ notatos prolata Sententia in Robertum Archiepis● ejusque complices quod statum regni conturbarant animum Regis in provinciales agitantes Upon this sentence denounced Robert and others of them presently fled the Realme of their own accord witho●t expecting any actual violence to banish and expell them From all these memorable Historical passages as we may observe the great unconstancy vicissitude and changes of earthly Princes favours worldly honours preferments and popular favour with the great inconveniencies of admitting or advancing forreigners to any places of trust or power under the King or Court so we may likewise conclude that by the Law of that Age. 1. That no Engl●sh man ought to be condem●ned executed imprisoned or put to death upon any great mans bare suggestion no not by the Kings ow● speciall command which if given ought to be disobeyed in such cases but only by and after a Legall hearing tryall and conviction of the offence 2. That the Kings of England were then sworn and obliged to govern their people by good just and wholesome Laws and Customes not by their arbitrary pleasures powers or commands 3. That the Parliamentary Councels and Nobles in that age were very carefull to defend and maintain the Liberties Rights good Laws and Customs of the people and to prevent and abolish all unjust Laws and Encroachments repugnant to them 4. That Parliamentary Conncels were then frequently summoned by the King upon all publique emergent occasions and differences and to make war and peace either at home or in forreign parts 5. That the Parliamentary Councels of that time consisted of the Earles Barons Nobles and Praelates of the Realme duly summoned to them without any mention of Knights or Burgesses elected and sent to them by the people of which there are no presidents in this Kings reign Enough to prove Modus Tenendi Parliamentum supposed to be made and observed in this age a meere
and Franchises granted by the glorious King Edward 3. That they prescribe the due payment of Tithes to God and his Ministers as well personal as praedial under Ecclesiastical and temporal penalties being granted and consented unto a Rege et Baronibus et Populo 4. That the Causes and pleas of the Church ought first to be heard ended in Courts and Councils before any other Iustitia enim est ut Deus ubique prae caeteris honoretur 5. That they thus define Danegild Danegaldi redditio propter Piratas primitus Statuta est Patriam enim infestantes vastationi ejus pro posse suo insistebant Ad eorum quidem insolentiam reprimendam Statutum est Danegaldum annuatim reddi scilicet duodecim denarios de unaquaque Hida totius Patriae ad conducendos eos qui Piratarum eruptioni Resistendo obviarent To which Hoveden Knyghton Lambard and others subjoyn De hoc quoque Danegaldo omnis ecclesia libera est quieta omnis terra quae in proprio dominico Ecclesiae erat ubicunque jacebat nihil prorsus in tali redemptione persolvens quia magis in Ecclesiae confidebant orationibus quam in armorum defensionibus usque tempora Willielmi junioris qui Ruffus vocabatur donec eodem a Baronibus Angliae auxilium requirente ad Normanniam requirendam retinendam de Roberto suo fratre cognomine Cortehose Ierusalem proficiscente Concessum est et non Lege sancitum neque confirmatum sed hac necessitatis causa ex unaquaque hida sibi dari quatuor solidos Ecclesia non excepta Dum vero collectio census fieret proclamabat Ecclesia suam reposcens libertatem sed nil profecit By which it is apparent 1. That this grievous Tax of Danegeld was first gran●ed and appointed by a publike Law in a Parliamentary Council to hire men to resist the eruption of the Pyrates and Enemies That it amounted but to 12 d. a year upon every Ploughland That the Church and Demesne Lands of the Church where ever they lay were exempted from it till William Rufus his time who first exacted it from the Clergy upon a pretended necessity and rai●ed it from 12 d. to 4 s. a Ploughland by grant of the Barons without any Law to enact or confirm it for fear of drawing it into consequence 6ly That these Laws thus describe the Duty and Office of a King The King because he is the Vicar of the highest King is constituted for this end that he may rule the earthly kingdom and the Lords people and above all things that he may reverence his holy Church and defend it from injuries pluck away evil doers from it and utterly to d●stroy and disperse them Which unless he shall doe the name of a King agreeth not unto him the Prophet Pope John witnessing Nomen Regis perdit qui quod Regis est non faciat he loseth the name of a King who dischargeth not the duty of a King Pepin and Charls his Son being not yet Kings but Princes under the French King hearing this definitive Sentence as well truly as prudently pronoun●ed concerning the name of a King by William the bastard King of England foolishly writ to Pope John demanding this que●●ion of him Whether the Kings of France ought so to continue being content only with the name of a King Who answered That it is convenient to call them Kings who do watch over defend and govern the Church of God and his people imitating King David the Psalmograph saying He shall not dwell in my House which worketh pride c. After which it followeth in Mr. Fox and some others but not in Hoveden and Knyghton ● Moreover the King by his right and by his Office ought to defend and conserve fully and wholly in all ampleness without diminution all the Lands Honours Dignities Rights and Liberties of the Crown of his Kingdom And further to reduce into their pristine state all such things as have been dispersed wasted and lost which appertain to his kingdom Also the whole and universal Land with all Ilands about the same in Norwey and Denmark be appertaining to the Crown of his kingdom and be of the appurtenances and dignity of the King making one Monarchy and one Kingdom which sometimes was called the Kingdom of Britain and now the Kingdom of England such bounds and limits as is abovesaid be appointed and limited to the name of this kingdom A King abov● all things ought to fear God to ●ove and observe his commandements and cause them to be observed through his whole kingdom He ought also to keep cherish maintain and govern the holy Church within his kingdom with all integrity and Liberty according to the constitution of his ancestors and predecessors and to defend the same against all Enemies so that God above all things be honoured and ever before his eyes He ought also to set up Good Laws aud Customs such as be wholesom and approved Such as be otherwise to repeal them and thrust them out of his kingdom Item he ought to doe Iudgement and Iustice in his kingdom by the counsel of his Realm All these things ought a King in his own person to do taking his Oath upon the Evangelist swearing in the presence of the whole State of the Realm as well of the Temporalty 〈◊〉 of the Spiritualty before he be crowned of the Archbishops and Bishop● Three Servants the King ought to hav● under his feet as Vassals Fleshly Lust Avarice and Gr●edy desire whom if he keep under as his Seruants and Slaves he shall reign well and honourably in his Kingdom All things are to be done with good advisement and premeditation and that properly belongeth to a King For hasty rashness bringeth all things to ruine according to the saying of the Gospel Every kingdom divided in it self shall be desolate c. A clear evidence that our Saxon King● had no arbitrary nor tyrannical power to condemn banish imprison oppresse or Tax their Subjects in any kinde against their Laws Liberties Properties And thus much touching King Edwards Laws Qui ob vitae integritatem Regnandi Iustitiam clementiam Legumque sive à se latarum sive ex veteribus sumptarum Equitatem inter Sanctos relatus est as Matthew Parker records of him In the year of Christ 1053. as many or 1054. as others compute it that old perjured Traytor Earl Godwin came to a most soddein shamefull exemplary death by divine justice which the marginal Historians thus relate and Abbot Ailred thus prefaceth Inserendum arbitror qu●modo Godwinum proditionum suarum donatum stipendiis divini judicii ultrix ira consumpserit detestandique facinoris quod in Regem fratremque ejus cōmiserat populo spectante ipsam quam meruerat poenam exolverat This Godwin being the Kings Father-in-law abusing his simplicity multa in regno contra jus et fas pro potestate faciebat did many things in the
since his reign yet that neither did nor could make him a King by conquest only no more than these other Princes seeing the end of this warr was not against the whole English Nation the greatest part whereof secretly abbetted his interest but only against the unjust Usurper and Intruder King Harold and his adher●nts not to create a Title to the Realm by his and their Conquest but to remove a U●surper who invaded it without and against all right and to gain the actual possession thereof by arms● from which he was unjustly withheld by force against those pretended lawfull Titles which he made So that he got not the Right Title but only the actual possession of the Crown by his Sword not as a universal Conqueror of the Realm without right or Title but as if he had been immediate heir and lawfull Successour to the Confessor who designed him to succeed him For ●uller confirmation whereof I shall here subjoin these ensuing proofs 1. King William himself at his very Coronation in London as Mr Cambden informs us said That the kingdom was by Gods providence appointed and by vertue of a gift from his Lord and Cosen King Edward the glorious granted unto him and that this most bounteous King Edward had by adoption ordained him his h●ir in the kingdom of England 2ly In his Charter to the Church of Westminst●r he resolves as much in direct terms where he recites In ore gladii Regnum adeptus sum Anglorum devict● Haroldo rege Cum suis complicibus qui mihi Regnum cum providentia Dei destinatum b●neficio concessionis Domini Cognati mei gloriosi Edwardi CONCESSUM conati sunt auferre c. So that his Title was from Edward though his possession by the sword 3ly In the very Title of his Laws published in the 4th year of his reign which he was so far from altering that he both by Oath and Act of Parliament ratified confirmed all the Laws and Customs of the Realm used in the Confessors time and before presented by a Grand Enquest unto him out of every County of England upon Oath without any alteration praevarication or diminution he stiles himself or is stiled by the Collector of these Laws HEIR AND COSEN TO Edward the Confessor even in the ancient Manuscript which Sir Henry Spelman hath published Incipiunt Leges S. Edwardi Regis quas in Anglia tenuit quas WILLIELMUS HAERES cognatus suus POSTEA CONFIRMAVIT To which I shall likewise subjoyn the words of the Charter of his Sonn King Henry the 1. Anno 1108. translating the Abbey of Ely into a Bishoprick wherein he gives his Father William the self-same Title Ego Henricus providente divina clementia Rex Anglorum Normannorum Dux Willielmi magni Regis filius ● QUI EDWARDO REGI HAEREDITARIO JURE SUCCESCIT I● REGNUM renouncing all Title by conquest and claiming only as Heir to King Edward by Hereditary right 4ly Earl William himself in none of his Charters Writs Speeches Writings ever stiled himself a Conquerour of England nor laid claim to the Crown and Realm of England by Conquest after his inauguration which Title of Conqueror was afterwards out of the flattery or ignorance of the times given unto him by others Therefore the words which the History of St. Stephens in Caen in Normandy reports he used at his last breath The Regal Diadem which none of my Predecessors ever wore I got and gained by the Grace of God only I ordain no man heir of the Kingdom of England which all our Historians unanimously contradict affirming that he ordained VVilliam Rufus his second son particularly to succeed him in it at his death upon which Title only he enjoyed it but I commend the same to the eternal Creator whose I am in whose hands are all things For I became not possessor of so great honour by any hereditary right but by an humble conflict and with much effusion of blood I took it from the perjured King Harold and after I had either slain or put to flight his favourits and Servants I subdued the kingdom to my self must either be reputed false and fabulous as most esteem them or else have this construction that he gained the actuall possession of it against Harold and his adherents only by the Sword and that he had not an hereditary right thereto as next heir by descent to the Crown but only by ado●tion from and as heir by donation to King Edward as next of kin by the Mothers side which he made his only Title 5ly Those antient English Historians who first gave him the name of Conquerour did it not in a strict proper sence as if he were a meer universal Conquerour of the Nation disposing of all mens Estates persons and the Laws of the Realm at his pleasure for that he never did but only as one who gained the actual possession thereof from a perjured Usurper and his forces by strength of arms conquering them by open battel in the field but still claiming it by gift con●ract and designation from King Edward as his Kinsman as an heir who forcibly outs a dis●eisor and intruder comes in by Ti●le and Inheritance only though he gains the possession by force This is evident by the forecited words of Mathew Paris and this passage of Henry de Knyghton not extant in Hygden out of whom he seems to transcribe it Et sic quia Normannus Iure haereditatis tenuit Normanniae Ducatum ideo Dux Regnum vero Angliae mero Conquestu● in respect of actual possession et clameo subscripto in respect of Title by claim by gift from King Edward Ideo Rex which claim and Title being backed by the unanimous election of the Prelates Clergy Nobility● People and right heir to the Crown himself who all submitted and sware homage fealty and allegiance to him as their lawfull King● infallibly demonstrate him to be no Conquerour in respect of Title in a strict legal military sense even in the judgement of those antient and modern Historians who give him that Title but only in regard of Harold and his party and the actual possession which he got by conquest And in this sense alone is that Distick in the Chronicle of Bromton to be understood Dux Normannorum Willielmus vi validorum Rex est Anglorum Bello Conquestor eorum 6ly Our Great Antiquary Richard Vestegan in his Restitutions of d●cayed A●tiquities learned Mr. Iohn Selden in his Review of the Hist. of Tithes p. 482 483. Sir Iohn Hayward in the li●e of King VVilli●m the first Mr. Nathaniel Bacon in his first part of his Historical Discours● of the uniformity of the Governme●t of England chap. 44 45 46 55 56. to omit others most fully prove and assert That the entry of William the first into the royal Government of England neither was nor properly could be by Conquest but by Title and by the free
corroboratae consec●a●ae sunt prae caeteris regni legibus Leges Regis Edwardi quae quidem prius inventae constitutae ●uerunt tempore Regis Edgari avi sui Veruntatem post mortem ipsius Regis Edgari usque ad Coronationem S. Regis Edw. quod continet annos 67 predictae leges sopitae sunt et penitus praetermissae Sed postquam Rex Edwardus in regno fuit sublimatus Consilio Baronum Angliae Legem 67 annis ●opitain excitavit excitatam reparavit reparatam decoravit decoratam confirmavit confirmata vocata est Lex sancti Regis Edwardi non quod prius ipse invenisset eam sed cum praetermissa fuisset oblivioni penitus dedita ● morte avi sui Regis Edgari qui prius inventor ejus fuisse dicitur usque ad sua tempora videlicet 67 annis The Chronicle of Bromton col 956 957. gives us this large account of these and our other ancient Laws This holy King Edward the Confessor Leges communes Anglorum genti tempore suo ordinavit ordained common Laws in his time for the English Nation because the Laws promulged in former times were over-partial For Dunwallo Molmucius first of all set forth Laws in Britain whose Laws were called Molmucine sufficiently famous until the times of King Edward amongst which he ordained That the Cities and Temples of the Gods and the ways leading to them and the Ploughs of Husbandmen should enjoy the privilege of Sanctuary After which Marcia Queen of the Britons Wife of Guithelin from whom the Provinces of the Mercians is thought to be denonated publish●d a Law full of discretion and justice which is called Mercian Law● These two Laws the Historian Gildas translated out of the British into the Latine tongue and so it was afterwards commonly called Merchenelaga that is The Law of the Mercians by which Law 8 Counties were formerly judged namely Gloucestershire Worcestershire Herefordshire Shropshire Chesshire Staffordshire Warwickshire and Oxfordshire After these there was supe●added a Law written in the Saxon or English tongue by Ina King of West-Saxons to which Alfred King of the West-Saxons afterwar●s superadded the Law which was stiled West-Saxenelega that is the Law of the West-Saxons By which Law in antient times the 9 Southern Counties divided by the River of Thames from the rest of England were judged namely Kent Sussex Surrey Berkeshire Wiltshire Southampton Somersetshire Dorset and Devonshire At length the Danes dominering in the Land a third Law sprang up which was called Danelega that is the Law of the Danes by which Law heretofore the 15 Eastern and Northern Counties were judged to wit Middlesex Suthfolk Northfolk Herthfordshire Cambridgeshire Huntingdonshire Lincolnshire Nott●nghamshire Derbyshire Northamptonshire Leicestershire Buckinghamshire Beddefordshire and Yorkshire which County of York heretofore contained all Northumberland from the water of Humber to the River of Twede which is the beginning of Scotland and is now divided into six Shires Now out of the foresaid three Laws Merchenelega West-Saxenelega and Danelega this King Edward set forth one common Law which even to this day is called the Law of Edward The like is recorded by Hygden in his Polychronicon l. 1. c. 50. Mr. Iohn Fox in his Acts and Monuments vol. 1. p. 213 214. Samuel Daniel his Collection of the History of England p. 22. Iohn Speed his History of Great Britain p. 410. Fabian H●linshed Caxton Grafton and others almost in the self-same words These Laws are no where extant in any Manuscripts or printed Authors as they were originally compiled and digested into one body by him and his Barons but as they were presented upon Oath to and confirmed by King William the Conqueror in the 4th year of his reign of which Ingulphus Abbot of Croyland in the close of his History to which they are annexed in some Manuscripts gives us this account flourishing in that age Attuli eadem vice mecum de London●is in meum Monasterium Leges aequissimi Regis Edwardi quas Dominus meus inclytus Rex Willielmus autenticas esse et perpetuas per totum Regnum Angliae inviolabiliter tenendas sub paenis gravissimis proclamarat et suis Insticiariis commendarat eodem idiomate quo editae runt ne per ignorantiam contingat nos vel nostros aliquando in nostrum grave periculum contraire offendere ausu temerario regiam majestatem ne in ejus censuras rigidissimas improvidum pedem ferre contentas saepius in eisdem hoc modo These Laws are partly Ecclesiastical partly Civil recorded by Roger de Hoveden Annalium pars posterior p. 611. to 631 by Mr. Lambard in his Archaion Henry de Knyghton de Eventibus Angliae l. 2. c. 4. Spelmanni Concili p. 613. Mr. Iohn Selden ad Eadm●rum Notae Spicelegium p. 172. to 195 Mr. Iohn Fox his Acts and Monuments vol. 1. p. 214. wherein those who please may peruse them ●n these Laws it is observable 1. That all capital corporal pecuniary punishments fines for criminal offences and all reliefs services and duties to the King are reduced to a certainty not lef● arbitrary to the King his Iustices or other Officers for the Subjects greater liberty ease and security 2. That they protect preserve the Possessions Privileges Persons of the Church and Clergy from all Invasion injury violence disturbance and specially enact That not only all Clerks and Clergy men but all other persons shall enjoy the peace of God and the Church free from all assaults arrests and other disturbances whatsoever both on Lords-days Solemn Festivals and other times of publike Church meetings eundo subsistendo redeundo both in going to continuing at and returning from the Church and publike duties of Gods worship or to Synods and Chapters to which they are either summoned or where they have any business requiring their personal presence wherewith the Statute of 8 H. 6. c. 1. concurs as to the later clause Therefore all Quakers Anabaptists and others who disturb affront and revile assault or abuse our Ministers or their people as many now doe in going to or returning from the Church or whiles they continue in it as well before or after as during Divine Service Sermons or Sacraments there administred may and ought by the Common Law of England confirmed both by Confessor and Conquerour in their Parliamentary Councils to be duly punished as Breakers of the Peace by all our Kings Justices and Ministers of publike Iustice being ratified by Magna Charta c. 1. and the Coronation Oaths of all our Kings which all our Judges and Justices are bound to observe To keep to God and holy Church to the Clergy and to the People Peace and Concord entirely according to their power especially during the publike worship of God in the Church and in going to tarrying at and returning from the duties which they owe unto him both as his Creatures and Servants And to grant keep and confirm the Laws Customs
and presently charged the English with unspeakable violence before the third part of their army could be set in battel array as Wigorniensis Sim. Dunelmensis Radulphus de Diceto Hoveden Bromtom and others write One Taillefer running before the rest slew three English Ensigns one after another and then was slain himself before the rest of the Souldiers encountred The English by reason of the narrownesse of the place were unable to bring up above one third part of their men to fight in an orderly manner For which cause and out of hatred to Harold many of them deserted both the field and him and very few continued with him with a constant heart Yet the battel was so manfully fought by Harold and the English remaining with him with various successe sometimes one side prevailing sometimes the other that in continued from the third hour of the day even till dark night The English stood so thick and close together and fought so valiantly that the Norman assailants could no waies break their array and were upon the point to recoyl Which William perceiving politickly sounded a Retreat the Normans retiring in good order the English supposing them to flie and themselves to be Masters of the field thereupon began disorderly to pursue them breaking their ranks and files but on a sudden the Normans having their wished opportunity charged them afresh being scattered and disordered so as they were not able to recover their battel and so were beaten down and slain on every side none of them by flight seeking to escape the field but to maintain their honour in arms chusing rather manfully to dye fighting in the cause and defence of their Country than to fo●sak● their Kings Standard Who performing the Office both of an expert Commander and valiant Souldier all the day after many wounds received and fighting very manfully was at last slain with an arrow shot through his brain in at his left eye and falling dead from his horse to the ground was slain under his own Standard when he had reigned only 9. Moneths and S. dayes and his two Brothers Girth and Leofwin with most of the English Nobility Gentry there present were slain together with him Upon Harolds death most of the common mercenary Souldiers fled being without that head for whom they fought and were pursued and slain by the Normans till night Sed generosi malentes mori quam probrose fugere videntes exhaeredationem suam imminere et jugum intolerabile donec nox certamen divideret in certamine immota pectora praebentes presti●erunt pulchram mortem pro patria ultione meruere Some of our Historians write that there were slain of the English in this battel no lesse than sixty thousand nine hundred twenty four men which could not be if Harolds Army were so small as some report it the Normans losing not above six thousand in the fight Eadmerus Roger de Hoveden Simeon Dunelmensis Radulphus de Dic●to Bromton and others ascribe this Victory only to a divine Miracle and Gods Justice upon Harold for his detestable perjury from the Testimony of the French who were present in it De ho● praelio testantur adhuc Franci qui interfuerunt quoniam licet varius casus hinc inde extiterit tamen tanta strages et fuga Normannorum fuit ut victoria quâ potiti sunt vero et absque dubio soli miraculo Dei ascribenda sit qui puniendo per hanc iniquum perjurii scelus Haroldi ostendit se non dominum esse volentem iniquitatem Which Abbot Ailred thus seconds Gulielmus Dei judicio to which Harold appealed ipsum Haroldum Regno simul et vita privavit for invading the Crown against right and his Oath belonging to William jure consanguinitatis antiquae inter ipsum et Edwardum conventionis The most of our Historians do the like Thomas of Walsingham imputes the great slaughter of the English in this battel by the Normans as a just Judgement of God upon them for their treacherous murder of Prince Alfred and the Normans that came with him Referuntur illo conflictu pugnae multa millia Anglorum corruisse Christo illis vicem reddente ob Aluredi fratris Edwardi R●gis necem ab eis injuste perpetratus With whom Mr. Iohn Fox concurrs in his forecited passage and Duke Williams Speech to his Souldiers before the battel implies as much he making it the chief ground of his invading England This battel writes Abbot Ailred Anglicae Libertati finem dedit initium Servituti to which Malmsbury subjoyns Illa dies fuit fatalis Anglis funestum excidium dulcis patriae pro novorum dominorum commutatione Hanc autem regni subversionem sanguinis redundantis effusionem cometa ingens sanguinea atque crinita in exordio ill●us anni apparens minace fulgore prae●ignavit unde quidam Anno millesimo sexageno quoque seno Anglorum metae flammas sensere Comet● Quod Regni mutationem magnam populi Stragem multam terr●e miseriam portendit Ut enim Philosophi dicunt quo dirigit crinem illi● diriget et discrimen as Abbot Ingulphus Mat. Westminster Matthew Paris Huntindon Hoveden Wigornienfis Simeon Dunelmensis Hygden Knyghton and others observe In this Battel Duke William had three Horses slain under him and often acknowledged that Gods divine hand did more protect him than mans seeing his Enemy amidst so many showers of darts and arrows which they shot against him could not draw so much as one drop of hi● bloud though they frequently hit him with them Morcar and Edwin Earls of Yorkeshire and Cheshire Harolds Brother-in-laws withdrawing themselves and their forces from their battel either for want of room to fight as was pretended or rather for former discontents retreated to London where consulting with Alfred Archbishop of York and other Peers and with the Citizens and Mariners of London they all resolved to crown and set up Edgar Atheling the true heir for their King promising to march under him with all their forces against Duke William and to try another field for which end they posted abroad Messengers to levy new forces and raise up the hearts of the dejected English from a despairing fear But before Edgars Coronation whiles many were preparing themselves for a new battel Morcar and Edwyn whom this fearful estate of their native Conntry would not disswade or restrain from disloyalty and ambition to gain the Crown to themselves as some record secretly hindered that noble and prudent design by withdrawing themselves from Edgar and marched home with all their forces and their Sister Algitha or Agatha Harolds wife into Northumberland conjecturing out of their simplicity that Duke William would never come so farr Upon their departure though the rest of the Nobles would still have elected and crowned Edgar King if the Bishops would have assented thereunto yet the Prelates struck with the fear of the Popes thunderbolt from abroad