their Trust and revolting from the parliament have had entertainment and commission for the continuing and renewing of war and hostility against the said Parliament and People as aforesaid By which cruel and unnatural wars by him the said Charls Stuart leavied continued and renewed as aforesaid much innocent blood of the Free-people of this nation hath been spilt many families have been undone the publick treasury wasted and exhausted trade obstructed and miserably decayed vast expence and dammage to the Nation incurred and many parts of the land spoiled some of them even to desolation And for further prosecution of his said evil designs he the said Charls Stuart doth still continue his Commissions to the said Prince and other Rebels and Revolters both English and Forraigners and to the Earl of Ormond and to the Irish Rebels and Revolters associated with him from whom further invasions upon this Land are threatned upon the procurement and on the behalf of the said Charls Stuart All which wicked designes wars and evill practises of him the said Charls Stuart have been and are carried on for the advancing and upholding of the personall Interest of Will and Power and pretended Prerogative to himself and family against the publique interest Common Right Liberty Justice and peace of the people of the nation by and for whom he was entrusted as aforesaid By all which it appeareth that he the said Charls Stuart hath been is the occasioner author and contriver of the said unnatural cruel and bloody wars and therein guilty of all the treasons murthers rapines burnings spiols desolations dammage mischief to this nation acted or committed in the said wars or occasioned thereby And the said John Cook by protestation saving on the behalf of the people of England the liberty of exhibiting at any time hereafter any other Charge against him the said Charls Stuart and also of replying to the Answers which the said Charls Stuart shall make to the premises or any of them or any other Charge that shall be so Exhibited doth for the said treasons and crimes on the behalf of the said people of England impeach the said Charls Stuart as a tyrant traitor murtherer a publike and implacable enemy to the common-wealth of England And pray That the said Charls Stuart King of England may be put to answer all and every the premises that such proceedings examinations tryals sentence and judgment may be thereupon had or shall be agreeable to justice The King was oftentimes observed to smile in indignation during the reading of the Charge especially at the words Tyrant Traitor Murderer and publick enemy to the Common-wealth L. President Sir you have now heard the Charge read containing such matters as do appear therein you have observed that in the Conclusion thereof It is required of the Court in the Name of the Commons of England that you answer to your charge which the Court doth expect The King I would be satisfied by what power I am called hither It is not long since that I was in the Isle of Wight How I came thither the story is longer than I I conceive fitting in this place to declare But I there entred upon a Treaty with both Houses of Parliament with as much publick faith as it is possible to be obtained from any people in the World I there treated with a number of Honourable Lords and Gentlemen and I treated honestly and faithfully with them I cannot say but they dealt very ingeniously with me and we proceeded so farr that the Treaty was even concluded Now I would understand by what Authority I mean lawfull I am brought hither There are many unlawfull Authorities in the world as Thieves and Plunderers in the high-wayes I would know by what Authority I was taken from thence and carried from place to place I know not where When I have understood the lawfulness of the Authority I will make my Answer In the mean time remember that I am your King your lawfull King and weigh well with your selves what sins you heap on your own heads and the anger and judgments of God which you will bring upon this land I say seriously weigh it before you further do proceed from one sin to a greater Therefore declare unto me by what lawfull Authority I sit here and I will not refuse to Answer you In the mean time I will not betray my trust I have a trust committed to me by God by an ancient and lawfull succession I will not betray that by answering to a new and an unlawfull Authority wherefore satisfie me in this and you shall hear further from me L. President If you had but pleased to observe what the Court did suggest unto you when you first came hither you had understood by what Authority you were brought hither which Authority doth require of you in the Name of the People of England by whom you are elected King that you make answer to them King No Sir I deny that L. President If you do not acknowledge the Authority of the Court they ought to proceed against you King I tell them that England was never an Elective Kingdome but hereditary for almost these two thousand years Therefore declare unto me by what Authority I am brought hither I labour more for the liberty of my people then any of you who pretend to be my Judges and therefore I say declare unto me by what lawfull Authority I am placed here and I will answer you otherwise I shall make no answer at all L. President Sir how well you have administred the power committed to you is sufficiently known The method of your Answering is to put Interrogatories to the Court which doth not become you in this Condition Twice or thrice it hath been represented to you King There is present here a Gentleman Lievtenant Colonel Cobbet demand of him if he did not bring me from the Isle of Wight by force I come not hither to submit my self to this Court I will do as much for the Priviledges of the House of Commons rightly understood as any other I see not here the House of Lords which is able to constitute a Parliament and the King ought to be the Super-intendent there Is this to bring the King to his Parliament Is this to bring the publick Treaty to an end by the publick Faith of the world Either show me your Authority established by the Scriptures which are the word of God or confirmed by the constitutions of the Kingdome and I will answer you L. President Sir you have propounded a question and an answer hath been rendred but if you will not answer to what they to propound the Court will take it into their consideration how to proceed against you In the mean time they who brought you hither shall return you back again The Court desireth to be satisfied whether this be all the Answer that you will give them or not King I desire that you would resolve me and all
denying or confessing it but he was then pleased to debate the Jurisdiction of the Court although he was commanded to give a positive answer My Lord by reason of this great delay of Justice I shall humbly move for speedy judgement against him I may presse your Lordship upon the known Rules of the Laws of the Land that if a prisoner shall stand in contempt not plead guilty or not guilty to the charge given against him it by an implicite confession ought to be taken pro confesso as I may instance in divers who have deserved more favor than the prisoner at the Bar hath done But I shall presse upon the whole fact The House of Commons the Supream Authority of the Kingdome have declared my Lord that it is notorious The matter of the charge is true and clear as chrystall or as the Sun that shineth at Noon day in which my Lord President if your Lordship and the Court be not satisfied I have severall witnesses on the behalf of the people of England to produce and therefore I do humbly pray and not so much I as the innocent blood that hath been shed the cry whereof is great for Justice and Judgement that speedy judgement may be pronounced against the prisoner at the Bar. President Sir you have heard what hath been moved by Mr. Sollicitor on the behalf of the Kingdome against you Sir you may well remember and if you do not the Court cannot forget the delayes which you have made You have been pleased to propound some Questions and amply you have had your resolution on them you have been often told that the Court did affirm their own Jurisdiction and that it was not for you nor any other man to dispute the Jurisdiction of the highest Authority of England from which there is no appeal and touching which there must be no dispute yet you did deport your self in that manner that you gave no obedience nor did acknowledge any Authority either in them or the Supream Court of Parliament that constituted this high Court of Justice Sir the Court gives you to understand that they are very sensible of these demurres and that being thus authorised by the High Court of England they ought not to be trifled withall especially seeing if they please they may take advantage of these delayes and according to the rules of Justice proceed and pronounce Judgement against you Neverthelesse they are so favourable as to give directions to me and therefore on their behalf I do require you to make a positive answer to this charge that hath been read against you Justice knows no respect of persons You are to give your positive and final Answer in plain English whether guilty or not guilty of the Treason laid to your charge The King having meditated a little did answer in these words When I was here yesterday I desired to speak for the Liberties of the people of England I desire yet to know whether without interruption I may speak freely or not President Sir on the like Question you had yesterday the resolution of this Court you were told that having a charge of so high a nature against you your work was to acknowledge the Jurisdiction of the Court to answer the charge after you have done that you shall be heard at large to make the defence you can for your self but Sir the Court commands me to make known unto you that you are not permitted to run into any other discourses untill such time that you have returned a positive Answer to the matter that is charged upon you King I value not the charge a rush It is the Liberty of the people of England that I stand for For me who am your King and should be an example to all the Courts in England to uphold Justice and maintain the old Laws for me I say to acknowledge a new Court that I never heard of before is a thing that I know not how to do You did speak very well on the first day I came hither concerning the obligations that I have laid upon me by God for the maintenance of the Liberties of my people I do acknowledge that I do ow the same obligations to God and my people to defend as much as in me lies the ancient Laws of the Kingdom therefore untill I be satisfied that this is not against the fundamentall Laws of the Kingdome I can put in no particulars to the Charge If you will give me time I will shew you my Reasons wherefore I cannot do it and Here being interrupted he said By your favour you ought not to interrupt me How I came here I do not know There is no Law to make your King your prisoner I was in a Treaty upon the publick faith of the Kingdome that was the known two Houses of Parliament that was the Representative of the Kingdome and when I had almost made an end of the Treaty I was hurried away and brought hither and therefore I would President Sir you must know the pleasure of the Court King By you favour Sir President Nay Sir by your favour you may not be permitted to run into these discourses you appear here as a Delinquent you have not acknowledged the Authority of the Court the Court once more doâ—h command you to give your positive Answer M. Broughton Do your Duty King Duty Sir M. Broughton reads Charls Stuart King of England you are accused in the behalf of the Commons of England of divers high Crimes and Treasons which Charge hath been read unto you The Court now requires you to give your positive and finall answer either by way of confession or by deniall of the Charge King Sir I say again unto you If therby I may give satisfaction to the people of England of the uprightness of my proceedings not by way of answer but to satisfie them that I have done nothing against that trust that hath been committed to me I would do it but to acknowledge a new Court against their priviledges to alter the Fundamentall Laws of the Kingdome you must excuse me if I shall refuse to do it President Sir This is the third time that you have publiquely disowned this Court and put an affront upon it How far you have preserved the priviledges of the People your actions have spoke And truly Sir If mens intentions can be known by their actions you have written your intentions in bloody Characters throughout the whole Kingdome But Sir you are to understand the pleasure of the Court Clerk Record the Default And Gentlemen you that are a guard to the Prisoner take him back again King I will onely adde this one word If it were onely my own particular I would not say any more nor interrupt you at all President Sir you have heard the pleasure of the Court and notwithstanding you will not understand it you are to finde that you are before a Court of Justice The King going forth Proclamation was made that all
the liberties and the properties of England Truly Sir It makes me to call to minde I cannot forbear to expresse it for sir we must deale plainly with you according to the merits of your Cause for so is our Commission It makes me I say to call to mind what I have read of a great Roman Emperor a great Roman Tyrant I may call him Caligula by name who wished that the people of Rome had but one neck that at one blow he might cut it off Your proceedings have been something like to this the people of England have been and are no where else to be represented but in parliament and could you have but confounded that you had at one blow cut off the neck of England But God hath reserved better things for us and hath been pleased to break your forces and to overthrow your designes and to bring your person into custody that you might be answerable unto justice Sir we know very well that it is a question which hath been much pressed by your side By what presidents we shall proceed Truly sir for presidents I shall not at this present make any long discourse on that subject howsoever I shall acquaint them that it is no new thing to cite presidents all most out of all Nations where the people when power hath been in their hands have not sticked to call their Kings to an account and where a change of Government hath ensued upon the occasion of the Tyranny and misgovernment of those that have been placed over the people I will not waste time to mention France or Spain or the Empire of Germany or any other country Volumnes may be written of it But truly sir that president of the kingdom of Arragon hath by some of us been thought upon The justice of Arragon is as a man tanquam in medio positus it is placed between the people of that country and the king of Spain so that if wrong be done by the King of Arragon the justice of Arragon hath power to reform that wrong and he is acknowledged the Kings superiour and bring the grand prisoner of the priviledges and liberties of the people he hath prosecuted against the Kings for their misgovernment Sir What the Tribunes were heretofore to Rome and what the Ephori were to the State of Lacedemon we sufficiently know they were as the parliament of England to the English State and though Rome seemed to have lost her liberty when once the Emperours were constituted yet you shall finde some exemplar Acts of justice even done by the Senate of Rome on the great Tyrant of his time Nero who was by them condemned and adjudged unto death But why Sir should I make mention of these Forreign Histories and Examples unto you If we shall look but over the Tweede we shall finde examples enough in your native Kingdome of Scotland If we look on your first king Forgusius he was an elective King he died and left two sons both in their minority The elder brother afterwards giving small hopes to the people that he would govern them well so because he endeavoured to have supplant his Uncle who was chosen by the people to govern them in his minority he was rejected by the people for it and the younger brother was chosen c. Sir I will not take upon me to expresse what your Histories do at large declare you know very well that you are the hundred and nineth King of Scotland to mention all the Kings which the people of that kingdome according to their power and priviledge have made bold to deale withall either to banish imprison or put to death would be too long a story for this time and place Reges say your own Authors we created Kings at first Leges c. we imposed Laws upon them and as they were chosen by the Suffrages of the people at the first so upon the same occasion by the same Suffrages they may be taken down again and of this I may be bold to say that no Kingdome in the world hath yielded a more plentifull experience than your native Kingdome of Scotland on the deposition and the punishment of their transgressing Kings I need not go far for an Example your Grandmother was set aside and your father an Infant crown'd This State hath done the like in England The Parliament and people of England have made bold to call their King to an account therein frequent Examples of it in the Saxons time the time before the Conquest and since the Conquest there have not wanted some presidents King Edward the second King Richard the second were so dealt with by the Parliament and were both deposed and deprived and truly Sir whosoever shall look into their stories shall not find the Articles that are charged upon them to come near to the height and the Capitalnesse of the crimes that are laid to your charge nothing near Sir you were pleased the other day to alledge your Descent and I did not contradict it but take all together if you go higher than the Conquest you shall find that for almost a thousand years these things have been and if you come down since the Conquest you are the four and twentieth King from William called the Conquerour and you shall find one half of them to come meerely from the State and not meerely upon the point of Descent This were easie to be instanced The time must not be lost that way I shall onely represent what a grave and learned Judge said in his time who was well known unto you the words are since printed for posterity That although there were such a thing as a Descent many times yet the Kings of England ever held the greatest assurance of their Titles when it was declared by Parliament And Sir your Oath and the manner of your Coronation doth planly shew that the Kings of England although its true by the Law the next person in bloud is designed yet if there were a just cause to refuse him the people of England might do it For there is a Contract and a bargain made betwixt the King and his people and your Oath is taken and certainly Sir the Bond is reciprocall for as you are Liege Lord so are they Liege Subjects and we know very well that Legantis est duplex the one is a Bond of perfection that is due from the Soveraign the other is a Bond of Subjection which is due from the Subject for if this Bond be once broken farewell Soveraignty Subjectio trahit c. These things may not be denyed for I speak it the rather and I pray God it may work upon your heart that you may be sensible of your miscarriages for whether you have been as you ought to be a Protector of England or a destroyer of England let all England judge or all the world that hath beheld it and though Sir you have it by inheritance in the way that is spoken of yet it cannot be denyed but
those men to effect all their bloody designes in hand against us Sir we will say and we will declare it as those Children in the fiery furnace who refused to worship the Golden Image that Nebuchadonazar had set up That their God was able to deliver them from the danger they were neer unto but if he did not deliver them yet they would not fall down and worship the golden Image We shall make this application of it That though we should not be delivered from those bloody hands and hearts who conspire the overthrow of the Kingdome in generall and of our selves in particular for being actors in this great work of Justice though I say we should perish in the work yet by the grace in the strength of God we are resolved to go on with it And those are the intire resolutions of us all Sir I say for your self that we do heartily wish and desire that God would be pleased to give you a sense of your sins that you may see wherin you have done amisse and that you may cry unto him that God would deliver you from blood guiltinesse A good King David by Name was once guilty of that particular guilt he was otherwise upright saving in the matter of Vriah Truly Sir the History doth represent unto us that he was a repentant King and and he had died for his sinne but that God was pleased to be indulgent to him and to grant him his pardon Thou shalt not die saith the Prophet but the childe shall dye Thou hast given cause to the Enemies of God to blaspheme King I would onely desire to be heard but one word before you give sentence and it is that to satisfie the world when I am dead you would but hear me concerning those great Imputations which you have laid unto my charge President Sir you must now give me leave to proceed for I am not far from your Sentence and your time is now past King I shall desire you that you will take these few words into your consideration For whatsoever sentence you shall pronounce against me in respect of those heavy imputation which I finde you have laid to my charge yet Sir It is most true that President Sir I must put you in mind I must Sir although at this time especially I would not willingly interrupt you in any thing you have to say which is proper for us to admit but Sir you have not owned us as a Court and you look upon us as a sort of people huddled together and we know not what uncivill language we receive from your party King I know nothing of that President You disavow us as a Court and therefore for you to addresse yourself to us whom you do not acknowledge to be a Court for us I say to judge what you shall speak is not to be permitted and the truth is all along from the very first you have been pleased to disavow and disown us The Court needed not to have heard you one word for unlesse they be acknowledged a Court and ingaged it is not proper for you to speak Sir We have given you too large an indulgence of time already and admitted so much delay that we may not admit of any more If it were proper for us we should heare you very freely not decline to hear the most that you could speak to the greatest advantage for your self whether it were totally or but in part excusing those great hainous charges which are laid upon you But I shall trouble you no longer your sins are of so large a dimention that if you do but seriously think of them they will drive you into a sad consideration and we wish that they may improve in you a sad and serious repentance And it is the desire of the Court that you may be so penitent for what you have done a misse that God may at least have mercy on your better part As for the other it is our part and duties to doe that which the law prescribeth we are not now here jus dare but jus dicere we cannot be unmâ—ndfull of what the word of God tels us To acquit the guilty is of an equal abomination as to condemn the Innocent we may not acquit the guilty what sentence the law pronounceth to a traytor a tyrant a murtherer and a publike enemy to the Country that sentence you are now to hear read unto you and that is the Sentence of the Court Hereupon the Lord President commanded the Sentence to be read Whereupon M. King who was Cryer of the Court having commanded silence by his Oyes the Clerk read the sentence which was drawn up in Parchment and did run in these words Whereas the Commons of England in Parliament had appointed them an high Court of Justice for the tryall of Charls Stuart King of England before whom he had been three times convented and at the first time a Charge of High Treason and other Crimes and Misdemeanors was read in the behalf of the Kingdome of England which Charge followeth in these words This Charge being read said the Clerk Charls Stuart was required to give his answer which he refused to do but expressed these passages and many more such as these are in refusing to answer The Clerk having repeated many passages during the time of his triall in which the King shewed an aversenesse to acknowledge the Court did proceed to read the Sentence which was in these words For all which Treasons and Crimes this Court doth adjudge That the said Charls Stuart as a Tyrant Traytor Murtherer and a publick Enemy shall be put to death by severing his Head from his Body This Sentence being read the Lord President said This Sentence now read and published is the Act Sentence Judgement and resolution of the whole Court Hereupon the Court stood up as assenting to what the President said King Will you hear me one word Sir President Sir you are not to be heard after the Sentence King No Sir President No Sir By your favour Sir Guard withdraw your Prisonner King I may speak after the sentence By your favour Sir I may speak after Sentence ever The Guard drawing to him he said unto them by your favour hold and turning to the President he said the Sentence Sir I say Sir I do but being not permitted to proceed he said I am not suffered to speak expect what Justice other people will have Cryer All manner of persons that have any thing else to do are to depart at this time and to give their attendance in the Painted Chamber to which place this Court doth forthwith adjourn it self Then the Court arose and the Kings guard did bring him to Sir Robert Cottons house and he was afterwards conducted to Saint Jameses The names of those who were present at that High Court of Justice when the Sentence of Death was pronounced against Charls the first Monarck of great Brittain SErjeant Bradshaw President John Lisle
he himself was but a petty robber and thus Sirs I do think that the way you are in is much out of the way Now Sirs for to put you in the way believe it you will never do right nor will God ever prosper you untill you give God his due and the King his due that is in their course of time my Successors and untill you give the people their due I am as much for them as any of you are You must give God his due by regulating aright his Church according to his Scripture your church is now out of order for to set you particularly in a way now I cannot but onely by a Synod of the whole Nation who being freely called and freely debating amongst themselves may by Gods blessing settle the Church when every opinion is freely and clearly discussed For the King indeed I will not much insist Then turning to a Gentleman whose cloak he observed to touch the edge of the Ax he said unto him Hurt not the Ax meaning by blunting the the edge thereof for that he said might hurt him Having made this short digression he proceeded For the King the laws of the land will clearly instruct you what you have to do but because it concerns my own particular I onely do give you but a touch of it As for the People truly I desire their liberty and freedome as much as any whosoever but I must tell you that their liberty and freedome consists in having of government by those laws by which their lives and their goods may be most their own It is not for them to have a share in Government that is nothing Sirs appertaining unto them A Subject and a Sovereign are clean different things and therefore untill that be done I mean untill the people be put into that liberty which I speak of certainly they will never enjoy themselves Sirs It was for this that now I am come here If I would have given way to an arbitrary power to have all laws changed according to the power of the sword I needed not to have come hither and therefore I tell you and I pray God that it be not laid to your charge that I am the martyr of the people In troth Sirs I shall not hold you much longer I shal onely say this unto you that in truth I could have desired some little longer time because I had a desire to put this that I have said into a little more order and to have a little better digested it than I have now done and therefore I hope you will excuse me I have delivered my conscience I pray God that you do take those courses that are most for the good of the Kingdome and your own salvations Doct. Juxon Will your Majesty although the affection of your Majesty to Religion is very well known yet to satisfie expectation be pleased to speak something for the satisfaction of the world King I thank you very heartily my Lord because I had almost forgotten it In troth Sirs my Conscience in Religion I think is already very well known to all the world and therefore I declare before you all that I die a Christian according to the profession of the Church of England as I found it left by my Father and this honest man * I think will witnesse it Then turning to the Officers he said Sirs excuse me for this same I have a good cause and I have a gratious God I will say no more Then turning to Colonel Hacker he said Take care they do not put me to pain and Sir this if it please you but then a Gentleman one Mr. Clerk comming neer the Ax the King said take heed of the Ax pray take heed of the Ax Then the King turning to the Executioner said I shall say but very short prayers and when I stretch forth my hands Then the King called to Doctor Juxon for his Night-cap and having put it on he said to the Executioner Will my hair trouble you who desired him to put it all under his Cap which the King did accordingly by the assistance of the Executioner and the Bishop the King then turning to Doctor Juxon said I have a good Cause and a gracious God on my side Doctor Juxon There is but one stage more This stage is turbulent indeed and troublesome but very short and which in an instant will lead you a most long way from earth to Heaven where you shall find great Joy and Solace King I go from a corruptible to an incorruptible Crown where can be no trouble none at all Doctor Juxon You shall exchange a temporall Crown for an eternall one it is a good change The King then said unto the Executioner Is my hair as it should be He then did put off his cloak and his George which he gave to Doctour Juxon saying Remember He immediately afterwards did put off his Doublet and did put on his cloak again and looking on the Block he said unto the Exkcutioner you should make it to be steddie Execut It is so King It might have been something higher Execut It cannot be made higher now King When I shall stretch forth my hands in this manner then After that when standing he had spoke two or three words unto himself with his hands and eyes lifted up towards Heaven immediately stooping down he laid his neck upon the Block and when the Executioner had again put all his hair under his cap. The King said Stay till I give the Sign Execut So I do if it please your Majesty and after a very little respite the King did stretch forth his hands and immediately the Executioner at one blow did sever his head from his Body Sic transit gloria Mundi The present Warre parralel'd Or A brief Relation of the five years Civil Warres of Henry the the third King of England with the event and issue of that unnaturall War and by what course the Kingdome was then settled again HEnry the third of of that Name a man more pious than prudent a better man than King swayed the Scepter of this Kingdome 56. years The former part of his Reign was very calm the latter as tempestuous The main Tempest was thus raised the King for many years during that high calm had sequestered himself wholly to his harmlesse sports and recreations and intrusted the whole managery of the State to his officers Ministers These taking advantage of his Majesties carelesnesse the main fault of this King insensibly suck'd and drained the Revenues of Crown and Kingdome till the King awakened by extream necessity began to enquire not how he came in for his necessities would not permit that but how he might get out The best way that his evil Counsellours could find to relieve their Master and save themselves was the ordinary way of supply in Parliament declined to have recourse to Monopolies Patents and other extraordinary and illegal Taxations But praeter naturall courses are never
The Full Proceedings OF THE High Court of Iustice against King CHARLES In Westminster Hall on Saturday the 20. of January 1648. Together With the Kings Reasons and Speeches and his Deportment on the Scaffold before his Execution Translated out of the Latine by J. C. Hereunto is added A Parallel of the late Wars being a Relation of the five years Civill Wars of King Henry the 3d. with the Event of that unnatural War and by what means the Kingdome was settled again London Printed for William Shears at the Bible in St. Pauls Church-yard 1654. The First Dayes Proceeding of the High Court of Justice c. THe Triall and the Execution of the last King of England being still as much the wonder as the discourse of Christendome I shall indeavour to represent it to you with the exactest faithfulness that can possibly be desired and although others have gone before me on the same subject by the benefit of time I doubt not but that I shall exceed them by the advantage of truth In the Supream Tribunal of Justice sitting at Whitehall in Westminster Serjeant Bradshaw being President and about seventy other persons elected to be his Judges being present the Cryer of the Court having Proclaimed his Oyes to invite the people to attention silence was commanded and the Ordinance of the Commons in Parliament in reference to the Examination of the King was read and the Court was summoned all the Members thereof arising as they were called The King came into the Court his head covered Serjeant Dendy being remarkable by the Authority of his Mace did Usher him in Colonel Hatcher and about thirty Officers and Gentlemen did attend him as his Guard The Court being sat the Lord President Bradshaw spake thus unto him Charls Stuart King of England the Commons of England assembled in Parliament being touched with the sense of the Calamities which have happened to this Nation and of the innocent bloud spilt of which you are accused to be the Author have both according to their office which they ow unto God this Nation and themselves according to the power and fundamentall faith intrusted with them by the people Constituted this supream Court of Justice before which you are now brought to hear your Charge on which this Court will proceed Mr. Cook the Sollicitor Generall Sir In the Name of the Commons of England and of all the people thereof I do charge Charls Stuart here present as guilty of Treason and other great defaults and in the name of the Commons of England I require that his charge may be read unto him The King Stay a little L. President Sir The Court hath given order that the Charge shall be read If you have any thing afterwards to plead for your self you may be heard Hereupon the Charge was read THat the said Charls Stuart being admitted King of England and therein trusted with a limitted Power to govern by and according to the laws of the Land not otherwise And by his Trust Oath and Office being obliged to use the Power committed to him For the good and benefit of the People and for the preservation of their Rights and Liberties Yet neverthelesse out of a wicked Designe to erect and uphold in himself an unlimitted and Tyrannical power to rule according to his Will and to overthrow the Rights and liberties of the people Yea to take away and make void the foundations therof and of all redress and remedy of misgovernment which by the fundamental constitutions of this kingdome were reserved on the peoples behalf in the right and power of frequent and successive Parliaments or nationall meetings in Councel he the said Charls Stuart for accomplishment of such his designes and for the protecting of himself and his adherents in his and their wicked practises to the same ends hath traiterously and maliciously leavied war against the present parliament and the people therein represented Particularly upon or about the thirtieth day of June in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred fourty and two at Beverly in the County of York and upon or about the 30th day of July in the year aforesaid in the County of the City of York and upon or about the twenty fourth day of August in the same year at the County of the town of Nottingham when and where he set up his Standard of war And also on or about the twenty third day of October in the same year at Edg-hill and Keinton-field in the Coun-of Warwick and upon or about the thirtieth day of November in the same year at Brainchford in the County of Middlesex And upon or about the thirtieth day of August in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred fourty and three at Cavesham-bridge neer Reding in the County of Berks and upon or about the thirtieth day of October in the year last mentioned at or neer the City of Glocester and upon or about the thirtieth day of November in the year last mentioned at Newbury in the County of Berks And upon or about the one and thirtieth day of July in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred fourty four at Cropredybridge in the County of Oxon And upon or about the thirtieth day of September in the year last mentioned at Bodmin and other places neer adjacent in the County of Cornwall And upon or about the thirtieth day of November in the year last mentioned at Newbery aforesaid And upon or about the eighth day of June in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred fourty and five at the Town of Leicester And also upon the fourteenth day of the same month in the same year at Naseby-field in the County of Northampton At which severall times and places or most of them and at many other places in the land at severall other times within the years aforementioned And in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred fourty and six he the said Charls Stuart hath caused and procured many thousands of the Free-people of the Nation to be slain and by Divisions parties and insurrections within this land by invasions from Forraign parts endevoured and procured by him and by many other evill wayes and means He the said Charls Stuart hath not onely maintained and carried on the said War both by land and sea during the year before mentioned but also hath renewed or caused to be renewed the said war against the Parliament and good people of this Nation in this present year One thousand six hundred fourty and eight in the Counties of Kent Essex Surry Sussex Middlesex and many other Counties places in England Wales and also by sea and particularly he the said Charls Stuart hath for that purpose given Commission to his Son the prince and others whereby besides multitudes of other persons many such as were by the parliament intrusted and imployed for the safety of the nation being by him and his agents corrupted to the betraying of
the world in this one particular Give me leave to acquaint you that it is a thing of no small importance which you go about I am sworn to keep the peace according to the duty which I do ow to God and to my Land and I will here perform it to the last breath of my Body you shall therefore do wel first to satisfie God and afterwards the Land by what Authority you do this If you do it by an usurped Authority you cannot defend it God who sitteth in the Heavens will call you and all those who have conferred this power on you to give him an account of it Satisfie me in this and I shall answer you for otherwise I should betray the Faith committed to me and the liberties of my people Wherefore consider of it and I shall be willing to answer you For I do professe it is as great a sin to resist a lawfull Authority as to submit unto a Tyrannicall or any other unlawfull Authority wherefore resolve me in this particular and you shall receive my Answer L. President The Court expecteth that you should give them a finall Answer and will adjourn untill Munday next If you cannot satisfie your self although we tell you our authority our authority will satisfie our selves And it is according to the authority of God and the Kingdome and the peace of which you speak shall be preserved in the administration of Justice and that is our present work King I give you this for my answer you have not shown me any lawfull authority which may satisfie any reasonable man L. President It is onely your apprehension we are fully satisfied who are your Judges King It is not my apprehension nor yours which ought to determin this L. President The Court hath heard you and disposed of you accordingly as their discretions have thought expedient The Court adjourneth to the Painted chamber untill Munday at ten of the clock in the morn-ning and from thence hither Some thing that was ominous ought not to be passed by in silence when the Charge was read against the King the silver head of his staff did fall off which he much did wonder at and observing no man so officious to assist him he stooping towards the ground did take it up himself As the King returned looking on the Court he said I fear not thee meaning the sword As he came down the stayres the people who were in the Hall cryed out some of them God save the King but the greater part Justice Justice The second dayes proceeding against the King January 22. c. THe Cryer having thrice pronounced his Oyes and silence cōmanded after that the Judges were called and every one did particularly answer to his Name Silence was again commanded under pain of imprisonment and the Captain of the Guards was ordered to apprehend any that should endeavour to make a tumult At the comming of the King into the Court there was a great shout and the Court commanded the Captain of the Guards to apprehend and imprison those who should make either a noise or tumult The Court being sat the Sollicitor turning to the President said May it please your Lordship my Lord President In the former Court on Saturday in the Name of the Commons of England I exhibited and offered to this Tribunal the charge of high Treasons and other grievous crimes against the Prisoner with which I did charge him In the Name of the People of England and his charge was read and his Answer demanded My Lord It pleased him at that time to return no answer at all but instead of answering he questioned the Authority of the High Court My most humble motion to this High Court in the Name of the People of the Kingdome of England is that the Prisoner may be compelled to give a positive answer either by way of Confession or Negation which if he shall refuse that the subject of his Charge may be taken for granted and the Court proceed according to Justice L. President Sir you may remember that on the last convention of this Court the cause was expounded to you for which you were brought hither and you heard the charge against you read it being a charge of High Treason and other grievous crimes against the Kingdom of England you heard likewise that it was required in the name of the people that you should answer to your charge that there should be a proceeding thereon as should be agreeable unto Justice you were then pleased to move some scruples concerning the authority of this Court and you desired to be satisfied in your knowledge by what authority you were brought hither you severall times did propound your questions and it was often answered to you that it was by authority of the commons of England Assembled in Parliament who did judge it requisite to call you to an account for the great and grievous crimes of which you are accused After that the Court did take into their serious consideration those things which you objected and they are fully satisfied in their authoritie and do conceive it requisite that you should admit it they therefore require that you give a positive and a particular Answer to the charge exhibited against you they do expect that you should either confesse it or deny it If you shall deny it it will be proved in the behalf of the Kingdome the whole World doth approve of their Authority So that the kingdome is satisfied and you ought thereby to be satisfied your self you ought not therefore to waste time but to give your positive answer King It is true that when I was last here I moved that question and indeed if it were onely my businesse in particular I should have satisfied my self with that protestation which I then interposed against the lawfulnesse of this Court and that a King cannot be judged by any superiour jurisdiction on earth but my own interests are not onely involved in it but the liberties also of the people of England and pretend what you will I doe indeavour more for their liberties then any whatsoever For if Power without laws can make laws and change the Fundamentall laws of the Kingdome I know not what subject in England can be secure of his life or of any thing which he doth call his own Wherefore when I came hither I expected particular reasons that I might understand by what law and what Authority you would proceed against me I should then perceive what most especially I have to say unto you for the affirmative is to be proved which seldome the Negative is capable of but because I cannot perswade you thus I will give you my Reasons as briefly as I can The Reasons for which in conscience and duty which I ow first unto God and afterwards to my people for the preservation of their lives their liberties and their fortunes I believe I cannot answer until I am satisfied of your legality of it All proceedings against any
man whatsoever President Sir I must interrupt you which I would not do but that which you do agreeth not with the proceedings of any Tribunal of Justice you enter into a controversie and dispute against the Authority of this Court before which you appear a prisoner and are accused as a great Delinquent If you will take upon you to controvert the Authority of this Court we cannot give way unto it neither will any tribunal of Justice admit it you ought to submit unto the Court and to give an exact and direct Answer whether you will answer to your charge or not and what is the answer that you make King Sir I know not the formalities of the law I know the law reason although I am no professed Lawyer I know the law as well as any Gentleman in England and I am more eager for the Liberties of the people of England then you are and if I should believe any man without he gives me Reasons for what he saith It would be absurd but I say unto you that the Reason which you give is no wayes satisfactory L. President Sir I must interrupt you for it cannot be permitted to you in this manner to proceed you speak of law and reason it is fit that there should be both law and reason and they are both against you Sir the Vote of the Commons of England Assembled in Parliament is the reason of the Kingdome and they ordained this law according to which you ought to Reign Sir It is not lawfull for you to dispute against our Authority This again hath been told you by the Court Sir Notice will be taken that you contemn the Court and this contempt of yours will be recorded King I know not how a King can be interpreted to be a Delinquent but by any law that I ever heard all men whether Delinquent or what you will may lawfully make objections against their Processe this is that which I require and I again desire that my Reasons may be heard If you deny this you deny Reason L. President Sir you have objected something to the Court I will declare unto you their opinion Sir It is not lawfull for you or any man else to dispute against this Subject It is Decreed you ought not to dispute against the jurisdiction of this Tribunal If you shall yet do it I must intimate unto you that they are above objections They sit here by Authority of the Commons of England and all your Predecessors and you your self are bound to be accountable to them King I deny that shew me one example L. President Sir you ought not to interrupt but attend whilest the Court speaks unto you This Subject is not to be disputed by you neither will the Court permit that you should object against the jurisdiction of it they have considered of their jurisdiction and do approve it King Sir I say that the Commons of England were never a Court of Judicature and I would fain know how they came to be made so now President Sir It is not permitted to you to proceed in those discourses Then the Secretary of the Court did read as followeth Charls Stuart King of England you have been accused in the Name of the People of England of High Treason and other grievous Crimes The Court hath determined that you shall answer to your Charge King I will answer as soon as ever I shall understand by what authority you do these things President If this be all that you will speak Gentlemen you who brought the prisonner hither take him back again King I demand that I may be permitted to exhibite my Reasons why I answer not unto the Charge and give me time to perform this President Sir It is not for prisonners to demand King Prisonners Sir I am no ordinary prisonner President The Court hath considered of their own jurisdiction and they have also confirmed their jurisdiction If you will not answer we will give order that your Default be recorded King You have not yet heard my Reasons President Your Reasons are not to be heard against the Supream Jurisdiction King Shew me that jurisdiction in the world where Reason is not to be heard President Sir We shew it you here the Commons of England the next time you are brought hither you shall understand further of the pleasure of the Court and peradventure their finall sentence King Shew me where the House of Commons was ever a Court of Judicature in that kind President Serjeant take away the Prisonner King Sir Remember that the King is not suffered to declare his Reasons for the Libertie and Immunities of his Subjects President Sir That Freedome of speech is not permitted to you how great a friend you have been to the Laws and the Liberties of the people let England and all the world judge King Sir By your leave I have alwayes loved the Liberty the Immunities and Laws of the subjects If I have defended my self by Arms I have not taken them up against the people but for them President You must obey the Decree of the Court you give no answer to the Charge against you King Well Sir And so was he brought to the House of Sir Robert Cotton and the Court was adjourned to the Painted Chamber untill Wednesday following at twelve of the clock at what houre they intended to adjourn again to Westminster-hall where all whom it doth concern are commanded to be present The third dayes proceedings against the late King at the High Court of Justice Tuesday Jan. 23. 1648. THe Cryer according to the Custome having with his Oyes commanded silence and attention the King being sate Mr. Atturney Generall turning to the Lord President spake in these words May it please your Lordship This is now the third time that by the great grace and favour of this High Court the prisoner hath been brought to the Bar and yet by reason of his refusall to put in his Answer there is yet no issue joyned in the cause My Lord I did at the first exhibit a Charge against him containing the highest practices of Treason that were ever wrought on the Theater of England That a King of England trusted to keep the Lawes of England and who had taken an Oath so to do and had tribute paid him for that end should be guilty of so wicked a design as to subvert our Laws and introduce an arbitrary and tyrannicall Government and set up his Standard of Warre against his Parliament and his people and I did humbly pray in the behalf of the people of England that he might speedily be required to make an answer to his charge But my Lord instead of making an answer he did then dispute the Authority of this Tribunal and your Lordship being pleased to give him a further day to put in his answer which was yesterday I did move again that he might be required to put in a direct and positive answer to his charge either by
appear very plainly to the Court that you have gone upon very erronious principles The kingdome hath felt it to their smart and it will be no comfort to you to think of it for sir you have been heard to let fall such language as if you had not been subject to the law or that the law had not been your superiour The Court is very sensible of it I hope so are all the understanding people of England That the law is your superiour you ought to have ruled according to the law you ought to have done so and your pretence hath been that you have done so But sir the question is who shall be the expositors of the law whether you and your party out of the Courts of Justice shall take upon you to expound the law Or whither the Courts of Justice shall be the expounders themselves nay this soveraign and high Court of Justice the Parliament of England who may be well be obliged to be the highest expounders of the law since they are the sole makers of it Sir for you to set your self with your single judgment or for those who adhear unto you to set themselves against the highest Court of Justice there is no law for it Sir as the law is your superior so truly there is something that is superiour to the law which is the Parent or Author of the law and that is the people of England For as they are those who at first as other countries have done did chose unto themselves this form of Government that justice might be administred and the peace preserved so they gave laws unto their Governours according to which they were to govern and if those laws should have proved inconvenient or prejudiciall to the publick they had a power in them reserved to themselves to alter as they should finde cause It is very true what some of your side have alledged Rex non habet parem in regno This Court will affirm the same in some sense that whilest King you have not your peer for you are major singulis but they will aver again that you are minor universis and the same Author tells you that in exhibitione juris you have no power but they are quasi minimus This we know to be law Rex habet superiorem Deum legem etiam Curiam and so sayes the same Author and he makes bold to proceed further Debent ei fraenum ponere they ought to bridle him We know very well the stories of old we cannot be ignorant of those wars that were called the Barons wars when the Nobility of the land did stand out for the liberty and the propriety of the subject and would not suffer the Kings that did invade their liberties to play the tyrants but did call them to an account for it and did fraenum ponere But sir If the Nobility of the land do forbear to do their duty now and are not so mindfull of their own honour and the kingdoms good as the Barons of England of old have been certainly the Commons of England will not be unmindfull of what is requisite for their preservation and their safety Justitiae fruendi causa Reges constituti sunt By this we learn that the end of having Kings or Governours is for their enjoying of justice that is the end Now sir If the King will go contrary to that end or if any governour will go contrary to the end of his government he must understand that he is but an Officer in trust and that he ought to discharge that trust and order is to be taken for the animadversion and punishment of such an offending Governour Sir This is not a law of yesterday since the time of the division betwixt you and the Parliament but it is a law of old And we know very well both the Authors and the Authorities that acquaint us what the law was in that point on the election of Kings when they took their Oath to be true unto the people and if they did not observe it there were those remedies instituted which are called Parliaments The Parliaments were they that were to adjudge the very words of the Authors the plainenesse and wrongs done by the King and Queen or by their children such wrongs especially when the people could have no where else a remedy Sir this is the Case of the people of England they could not have their remedy else where but in Parliament Sir Parliaments were instituted for that intent it was their main end that the grievances of the people might be redressed and truly if the Kings of England had been rightly mindfull of themselves they were never more in Majesty or State than in the time of the Parliament but how forgetfull some have been Histories have informed us and we our selves have a miserable a lamentable and a sad experience of it Sir by the old Laws of England I speak these things the rather to you because you were pleased to affirm the other day that you thought you had as much knowledge in the law as most Gentlemen of England It is very well Sir and truly sir it is very fit for the Gentlemen of England to understand the laws under which they must live and by which they must be governed And then Sir the scripture saies they that know their Masters will and do it not you know what follows the law is your Master the acts of Parliament the Parliaments were antiently to be kept twice in the year as we finde in our old Author that the Subject upon any occasion might have a remedy and a redresse for his grievance Afterwards by several acts of parliament in the dayes of your Predecessor Edward the third they were to be but once a year What the Intermission of parliaments in your times hath produced is very well known and the sad consequences of it as also what in the interim instead of parliaments there hath been by you by a high and arbitrary hand introduced upon the people But when God by his providence had so farre brought it about that you could no longer decline the calling of a parliament a parliament was called where it may appear what your ends were against your antient and native Kingdom of Scotland but this parliament of England not serving your turn against them you were pleased to dissolve it Not long after another great necessity occasioned the calling of this parliament and what your Designs and Indeavours all along have been for the crushing and confounding of it hath been most notorious to the whol kingdom And truly Sir in that you did strike at all It had been a sure way to have brought about that which this Charge doth lay upon you your intention to subvert the fundamental laws of the land for the great Bulwarks of the peoples liberty is the parliament of England and to subvert and root up that which your aim hath been to do would certainly at one blow have confounded
William Gray Ol. Cromwell L. G. Comissary Gen. Ireton Sir Hardres Waller Colonel Harrison Colonel Haley Colonel Pride Col. Ewer Lord Gray of Groby Sir John Danvers S. Thomas Malleneret Sir John Bourchier William Heavningham Alderman Pennington Henry Martin Col. Purefoy Col. Berkstead Col. Thomlinson Mr. Blakston Mr. Millington Sir Gregory Norton Col. Harvey Col. Ven. Mr. Scot Alderman Andrews Mr. Cawley Mr. Burrel Col. Stapeley Col. Domnes Mr. Norton L.S. Hammon Mr. Love Mr. Potter Mr. Garland Sir William Constable Col. Ludlow Col. Hutchinson Sir Miles Livesey Mr. Dixwell Colonel Fleetwood of Bucks. Mr. Main Jacob Temple Mr. Blagrave Col. White Col. Titchburn Col. Rout. Col. Scroop Col. Lilburn Col. Dean Col. Okey Col. Hewsen L. Col. Goff Cornelius Holland Mr. Carew John Joanes Miles Corbet Mr. Allen Peregrine Pelham Col. Moors Mr. Eldicer Mr. Smith Mr. Edwards Mr. Clement Col. Wogan c. His Majesties Reasons Against the pretended Jurisdiction of the High Court of Justice which he had intended to have given there on Monday Jan. 22. 1649. Faithfully transcribed from the originall Copy of the King SInce I have already made my Protestation not onely against the illegality of this pretended Court but that no power on earth can justly call me who am your King into question as a Delinquent I would no longer have opened my mouth on this Argument but have referred my self to those things which I then spoke if this onely concerned my own particular But the duty which I ow to God to preserve the true liberty of my people doth not permit me at this time I should be silent for how can any free born Subject of England call his life or any thing he doth possess his own if power without law can daily make new and abrogate the old and Fundamental Laws of this Land which I judge to be the present case Wherefore when I was brought hither I expected that you would have studied to satisfy me in these Fundamentalls which do hinder me from putting in my Answer to the pretended charge but since I do observe that nothing which I can alledge can perswade you to it although negatives are not so naturally proved as affirmatives yet I have thought good to declare unto you the Reasons for which I am confident you are not in a capacity to judge me nor the vilest man in England for without showing my Reasons I will not as you be so unreasonably importunate as to exact either belief or obedience from my Subjects Here was I restrained and not suffered to speak any more of Reasons there is no just processe against any man which deriveth not its authority either from the Law of God or from the municipall Laws of the Land Now I am most sure that the Processe at this day made against me cannot be confirmed by the law of God for on the contrary the necessity of obedience is clearly confirmed and streightly commanded in the old and new Testament which if it be denyed I am prepared presently to prove it and as for the question now in agitation it is said there Where the word of a King is there is power and who can say unto him what doest thou Eccles. 8. v. 4. Then as to the laws of the land I am as confident that no learned lawyer will affirm that any charge can be brought against the King since they all go forth under his name and it is one of their axioms that the King can not do an injury Moreover the law on which you do ground your processe is either old or new if it be old shew that law unto me if it be new tell me what Authority established by the Fundamentall laws of this land did give it birth and when but how the House of Commons can erect a Tribunall of Justice which was never one it self as all lawyers will confesse with me I leave it to God and to the world to judge and it will seem most strange to any who ever have heard of the laws of England how they can pretend to make laws without either the King or the House of Peeres Neverthelesse it be admitted but not granted that a commission from the people of England is able to confirm your pretended power yet I see nothing that you can show for it for I am confident that you never asked that questiō of the 10th man in the kingdom in this method you do a most apparent injury even to the poorest ploughman if you ask not his consent neither can you pretend any colour to this your pretended Commission if you have not the concurring voyces of at least the greatest part of this Nation of every degree and quality which you are so far from obtaining that I am confident you never so much as sought it You see then that I do not onely speak for my own Right as I am your King but also for the true liberty of all my subjects which consisteth not in dividing the power of Government but in living under such laws and such a Government as may grant them the best security of their lives and the propriety of their goods In this I ought not to be forgetfull neither do I forget the priviledges of both Houses of parliament which these proceedings do not onely violate but give an occasion of the greatest breaking of the publick faith and such I believe as the like was never heard of before with which I will not at all charge both Houses for the pretended crimes which they impose upon me are far before the Treaty at Newport in which when I assented to and did conclude as much as possibly lay in my power and did justly expect the assent of both Houses I was suddenly taken from thence and carried away as a prisoner and against my will I was hurried hither and since I came to this court I cannot with all my Indeavours defend the ancient laws and liberties of this Kingdome together with my just priviledges and as much as I can possibly discern the upper House which is the House of Lords is totally excluded And as for the House of Commons it is too much known that the greater part of them are either imprisoned or affrighted from sitting so that if I had no other Cause this was sufficient enough to make me to protest against the authority of your pretended tribunall Besides all these things the peace of the Kingdome is not the least part of my cares and what hope can there be of establishing it as long as power reigneth without the Rule of the Law changing the whole frame of the Government under which this Kingdome hath flourished these many ages neither will I speak what is likely to follow if these unlawfull proceedings shall yet continue against me for I believe the Commons of England will give you no thanks for this change especially when they shall call into their minds how happily they heretofore have lived in the Reigns of Queen Elisabeth and of the
long-lived the free born English would not long endure such slavery When the King saw there was no other remedy he throws himself into the bosome of his people for relief and advise in * Parliament * where they undutifully taking advantage of his Majesties extremities in stead of relief outbrave him publickly with a * Catalogue of all the mistakes and all the misfortunes of his former government which coming to the peoples ears soon stole away their hearts and alienated their affections from their Soveraign and left him wholly to the mercy and will of his Parliament They sensible hereof and that the reins of Government were now cast upon their necks like Apollo's Horses when Phaeton had the driving of them ran violent by courses till they set the whole Kingdome on fire So far they went as to make an Ordinance That whereas there was a present want of a through Reformation in the State the Government whereof should be put into the hands of four and twenty Qui Regia potestate suffulti who being armed with Soveraign power should take upon them the whole care and Government of the Kingdome should nominate and appoint the Chancellour Treasurer Chief Justices Governours of Forts Castles and Navie and all other great Officers and Ministers of State for all times to come To this traiterous Ordinance the King Metu incarcerationis perpetuae compulsus est consentire for fear of perpetuall imprisonment was inforced to give his Royall assent and for further security to be content to give it under the great Seal and upon Oath that whensoever he attempted to assume unto him his Regall Power Liceat omnibus de Regno nostro contra nos insurgere ad gravamen nostram opem operam dare ac si nobis in nullo tenerentur It should be lawfull for all his Subjects to rise against and oppose him as if they owed no allegiance to him Strange it is that he should be content to be a meer Cipher that so lately was the onely Figure of the whole Kingdome that he should be content to part with at once with every tittle of Soveraignty but the bare title but prodigious that so many choice Senators so many Fathers and Judges of Law and conscience should so forget God and themselves as to give their assent for the totall subverting of the Regall authority when as they had all taken their corporall oathes De terreno honore dicto Regi haeredibus ejus servando Which Oath was well kept saith mine Authour Ordinando ne unquam regerent sed semper ab aliis regerentur by making an Ordinance that they should never rule again but alwayes be ruled by others These four and twentie thus setled continue the Parliament during their pleasure put the Kingdome in a posture of Defence place Governours of their own choosing Such as they could confide in in the chief Forts nominate and appoint Judges of Assize Sheriffes of Counties Coroners Bailiffe discharging those that were made by the King Took an Oath of them all respectively And here they would make the people believe they should never be troubled with licentious Soveraigntie again but never more as it proved for now every one of them began to value his own worth and to hammer his head on every design that might enlarge his own power and command In brief of so many subjects they became totidem tyranni as the book of Saint Albanes speaks so many Tyrants and for one bad King before they have four and twentie worse But England like old Rome cannot long endure more Kings than one great faction and deadly feud arose between the chiefest of them which the rest taking into consideration and perceiving that by so many heads not onely Monarchy was dissolved but faction and debate every day increased upon them so wrought that all but five agreed that the foresaid Ordinance should be repealed and the King restored to his pristine power But those five Members stifly oppose this agreement and for the maintenance of their cause trahunt multos pseudo prophetas lupos in ovium vestimentis qui contra Christi Vicaraos Christū Domini Regē ipsum murmurant non ut spiritus sanctus eloqui sed ut superioris potestatis contemptores obloqui dabant they drew to their side many lying Ministers Wolves in the sheeps clothing who murmure and speak evil against the Lords anointed not as the Holy spirit gave them utterance but as the despiser of dignities gave them their Lessons These Incendiaries by their sheeps clothing a fair conversatiō drew the people every where to side with them against the K. and those that wisht the King his former power Which the King perceiving and how the multitude grew every day more and more tumultuous for all things were now carried by tumults was advised by his Privy Councel to withdraw himself lest His person might be endangered from the Parliament then held at Westminster to His Castle of Windsore After some contestation at this distance it was agreed upon by the King and his adherents and the five members and their adherents that the difference should be referred to the French Kings arbitrement * The King of France upon the day of hearing gave sentence that the said Ordinance whereby the King was deprived of his Regall power should be made null The five members and their complices seeing this notwithstanding they had bound themselves by oath to stand to his award flew off and resolving to have their own wills drew into arms made choice of the Earl of Leicester for their General for their own private interest pretending the publick good drew the greatest part of the Kingdom after them * so easie it is to draw the fickle multitude to the wrong side crying every where at first Liberty and Religion though towards the end of the warre not a word of either By their fair pretences they gained so farre upon the Londoners that they generally enter into a Covenant to assist the Earl For which purpose besides a new Major or Bailiffe they choose two Commanders Thomas Pywelsden and Stephen Buckerell at whose command by the towling of Saint Pauls great Bell they were to be in armes upon any occasion Their first exploit was a march to Isleworth in a tumultuous manner where they plundered and fired the Kings brothers Mannour house The Earls Army by this time on their march plundered all that were disaffected to their cause and proceedings and imprisoned them * especially those that stood any way affected to the Queen for they all but most of all the Londoners were most maliciously bent against her insomuch that as she was passing the Thames near the bridge a rude rabble of the City got together on the bridge and with confused yellings cryed Drown the witch c. and by throwing dirt and stones at her drave her back which impious
to know his gracious pleasure what Fine he would demand of the whole City for their offences against him The King at length signified unto them that the summe of fifty thousand Marks should be their Fine Whereto the Londoners return this humble answer They had been of late by this unhappy War so exceeding impoverished that a summe so great as it was in those times could not possibly be raised amongst them wherfore they humbly beseeched his Princely compassion might be so far extended towards them as to require and accept according to their abilities At length after much suit and submission and a Fine of twenty thousand Marks the King received them to mercy and sent them under his great Seal a generall Pardon those onely excepted whose Estates were already bestowed granting and allowing that their former Charter ancient Priviledges should be restored unto them notwithstanding all the transgressions they are the words of the Pardon and Trespasses done to us to our Queen to our noble brother Richard King of Almain and the Prince our first begotten sonne And here was the first pacification betwixt the King and the Londoners for whom we say thus much That their foul Rebellion against their Soveraigne was not more detestable than their humble submission to their Soveraign was commendable And therefore in the Ordinance called Dictum de Kenelworth made for the settling of the Kingdome we find them notwithstanding all their disloyalty commended as shall be seen in the ensuing Story After the proud stomack of this City was brought down and all tumultuous spirits quelled the King calls his Parliament in festo sancti Edvardi Regis to Westminster wherein those that aided and assisted the Earl were all excepting the Londoners attainted and that all their Lands and Goods were forfeited But this sentence though it was lesse than they deserved yet was more than they would endure and therefore the fire that was not yet quencht but smothered breaks forth again Some flie into the Isle of Ely and fortifie that Some into the Isle of Axholm in Lincolnshire Another party possesse themselves of Killingworth Castle Another under the command of the Lord Ferrers in the Northern parts And amongst others one Adam Gurdon lived as an Outlaw in Hampshire a tum rarus aut nullus locus in Anglia fuit tutus eò quod terra erat vespilionibus plena Now scarce any place in England free from plunderers To reduce these to obedience the King undertakes Killingworth Castle The Prince was sent against Adam Gurdon Lord Edmond the Prince's brother against those in Axholm and Lord Henry King of Almains sonne against the Lord b Ferrers To the Rebells in Killingworth Castle the King sent first a gracious Message willing them to desist and to return to their obedience But they contrary to all Law of Arms contrary to natural civility cut off the Messengers hand and sent him back with an uncivil answer Then the King marcht to Killingworth and sate down before it upon Midsummer Eve During the siege which lasted six moneths Clerus populus convocantur duodecim eliguntur de potentioribus Procerum prudentioribus Praelatorum quibus datur potestas ordinandi super Statutum exhaeredatorum c. The Clergie and Laity are assembled and out of the chiefest of the Peerage and wisest of the Prelates were chosen twelve to whom power was given to pronounce sentence against the Rebels and to settle the Peace of the Kingdome they first taking an Oath de utilibus ordinandis to decree nothing but what should be for the good of the common weale Then the people take a solemn oath Quod dictum ipsorum inviolabiliter observarent that they would stand to their Decree which to this day by our Lawyers is called Dictum de Kenelworth a severe yet a good and wholsom course without effusion of blood to punish Rebellious Subjects The Decree was as followeth In nomine sanctae individuae Trinitatis Amen Ad honorem gloriam Omnipotentis Dei Patris filii Spiritus sancti c. Et ad honorem bonum prosperum pacificum statū Christianissimi I rincipis Domini Henrici Regis Angliae illustris totius Angliae Ecclesiae Nos Wilielmus c. In English thus In the name of the holy and individuall Trinity Amen For the honor and glory of Almighty God the Father Son and holy Ghost c. And for the honour prosperity and peace of the most Christian Prince our Soveraign Lord Henry the most Renowned King of England and of the whole Church of England We William Exon William Bath and Wells Henry Worcester and T. S. Davids Bishops Gilbert de Clare Earl of Glocester Humphrey Earl of Hereford Philip Basset John Bailof Robert Wallop Alan de la Souch Roger de Somerie and Warren de Basinghorn providing for the welfare of the Land c have thought fit to order as followeth 1. That the rebels be not wholly deprived of their estates but shall have liberty to redeem their lands by Fines in manner following 1. That those that were in the fight at Chester-field against our Soveraign Lord the King Item All those that by force of arms impiously kept Northampton against the King Item Those that gave the King battel at Lewes Item Those that were taken prisoners at Kenelworth Item Those that came to pillage Winchester or were elsewhere against the King whom the King hath not pardoned Item Those that gave the King battel at Evesham Item All those that freely and voluntarily and without any compulsion have contributed to the War against the K. or Prince Item The Officers and servants of the Earl of Leicester that pillaged their neighbours or were the cause of any murders firings or other enormities that all these be fined five years Revenues of all their Estates respectively and that if they pay down their Fines presently they may enjoy their Lands presently but if the land must be sold for the payment of the Fine he on whom the King bestowed it shall have the refusal if he will give as much as any other And if the originall owner will pay down the whole Fine he shall have the whole Land and likewise if he will pay the moity or third part he shall have the moity or thirds of the Land And if at the end and term appointed the owner doth not pay for the other moity it shall be clearly theirs on whom the King was pleased to bestow it And assoon as any one hath paid down his whole Fine such shall have liberty to let or set or sell his land within the prefixed time Those that have Woods and would willingly make sale of them for the payment of their Fines He on whom the King bestowed and the originall owner shall have each one his Bailiffe to see it sold and those two Bailiffes shall as fast as the money is made pay it to whom the Fine