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A59100 Tracts written by John Selden of the Inner-Temple, Esquire ; the first entituled, Jani Anglorvm facies altera, rendred into English, with large notes thereupon, by Redman Westcot, Gent. ; the second, England's epinomis ; the third, Of the original of ecclesiastical jurisdictions of testaments ; the fourth, Of the disposition or administration of intestates goods ; the three last never before extant.; Selections. 1683 Selden, John, 1584-1654.; Littleton, Adam, 1627-1694.; White, Robert, 1645-1703.; Selden, John, 1584-1654. Jani Anglorum facies altera. English.; Selden, John, 1584-1654. England's epinomis.; Selden, John, 1584-1654. Of the original of ecclesiastical jurisdiction of testaments. 1683 (1683) Wing S2441; ESTC R14343 196,477 246

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JOHANNES SELDENUS Armig TRACTS Written by JOHN SELDEN OF THE INNER-TEMPLE Esquire The First Entituled JANI ANGLORVM FACIES ALTERA rendred into English with large Notes thereupon by REDMAN WESTCOT Gent. The Second ENGLAND's EPINOMIS The Third Of the Original of ECCLESIASTICAL Jurisdictions of Testaments The Fourth Of the Disposition or Administration of Intestates Goods The Three last never before Extant LONDON Printed for Thomas Basset at the George in Fleet-street and Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in S. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXIII THE Reverse or Back-face OF THE English JANUS TO-WIT All that is met with in STORY Concerning the COMMON AND STATUTE-LAW OF English Britanny From the first MEMOIRS of the two NATIONS to the Decease of King HENRY II. set down and tackt together succinctly by way of Narrative Designed Devoted and Dedicated to the most Illustrious the EARL of SALISBURY Written in Latin by JOHN SELDEN of Salvinton Student of the Inner-Temple in LONDON and Rendred into English by REDMAN WESTCOT Gent. Haec facies Populum spectat at illa Larem London Printed for Thomas Basset and Richard Chiswell MDCLXXXII To the Right Honourable and truly Noble Lord Robert Earl of Salisbury Viscount Cranborn Baron Cecil of Essenden Knight of the Illustrious Order of the Garter Lord High Treasurer of England Master of the Court of Wards and Privy Counsellor to His Most Excellent Majesty JAMES King of Great Britain France and Ireland Heartily according to his high desert I devote and dedicate AND as it were with consecrated Flowr and crackling grain of Salt I offer up in Sacrifice I am not in condition to do it with a costly Victim or a full Censer GREAT SIR deign with favour to receive these scraps of Collection relating intirely what they are and as far as the present Age may be supposed to be concerned in ancient Stories and Customes to the English-British State and Government and so far forth to Your most Honoured Name Which Name of Yours whilest I one of the lowermost Bench do with dazzled eye-sight look upon most Noble Lord and great Support of your Country I devoutly lay down Upon its ALTAR This small Earnest and Pledge of my Obedience and Duty THE TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE TO THE READER Reader THOU canst not be such a Stranger to thy own Countrey as to need my commendation of the Learned Worthy and Famous AUTHOR of these following Sheets or that I should tell thee what a Scholar a Philologer a Humanist a Linguist a Lawyer a Critick an Antiquary and which proves him an absolute Master of all these and many other Knowledges what a Writer the Great SELDEN was Since it is liberally acknowledged by every body that knows any thing not only at home but abroad also among Foreigners that Europe seldom hath brought forth His Fellow for exquisite Endowments of Nature Attainments of Study and Accomplishments of Ingenuity Sagacity and Industry And indeed to save me the labour of saying any more concerning this Non-pareil in all kinds of Learning His own WORKS which are now under a Review and will e're long be made Publick in several Volumes will sufficiently speak his Character and be a more prevailing Argument to indear Him to thy good Opinion and firm Acquaintance than mine or any other Words can My business now is only to give thee some Account of the Author's design in this little Treatise and of those measures I took in Translating Him that is in restoring him to his own Native Language though his great Genius had made the Latin and several other Tongues as natural and familiar to Himself as the English was To speak first of the Author I do take this Piece to have been one of his first Essays if not the very first wherein he launched into the World and did not so much try the Judgement as deservedly gain the Approbation of the Learned which was certainly one Reason why though the whole matter of the Book be of an English Complexion and Concern yet he thought fit to put it forth in a Latin dress That this was his first Specimen or at least one of the first I gather from the time of his Writing it viz. in the Six and Twentieth year of his Age when I suppose he was not of any very long standing in the Temple I mean in all likelihood whilst he was on this side the Bar. For having fraught himself with all kind of Learning which the University could afford him which could be we must imagine no small time neither as I may be allowed to guess from that passage of his in this Book where he so affectionately recognizeth his Duty and Gratitude to his dear Mother OXFORD who if she had no other Antiquity to boast of is and ever will be Famous for This Her Scholar our great Antiquary who hath also such a Monument to be seen in her publick Library as will make her Glory and his Memory ever to flourish I say having after some competent time taken leave of Academical Institutions and being now engaged into the Study of Law he thought he could not do his Profession a better service than by looking back into former times and making a faithful Collection of what might be Pertinent and Useful to bring down along through all Changes and Vicissitudes of State the Light and Strength the Evidence and Reputation of old Institutes and Precedents to our present Establishments under our Gracious and Happy Monarchy May It as it is in its Constitution to the English people Gracious so be ever in its Success to It self and consequently to Us all Happy Here then thou wilt find the Rights of Government through all Ages so far as our Histories will help us Here thou wilt see from the first our KING setled in his just Power even in his Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction against the Papal Usurpation one shrewd Instance whereof is the forbidding Appeals to the Pope at such a time when the Popish Religion was at its Zenith in this Island that is when People in all probability were most Ignorant Here thou wilt easily be brought to acknowledge the Antiquity and Usefulness of Parliaments though under other Names till after the Conquest when all the Barons that is as that Title did at first import all Lords of Mannors all Men of Estate assembled together for the determination of publick Affairs which Usage because it produced too numerous and cumbersome a confluence was afterwards for better convenience retrenched into a popular Election by the Kings Writ to chuse some of the Chiefest to act for all the rest And sure enough if we in Duty keep up the Royal Prerogative and our Kings as ever they have done and ever I hope will in Grace and Clemency oblige the Peoples Consent in their Representatives we shall alwayes have such Laws such a Government such a Correspondence betwixt Prince and Subjects as must according to the Rules of Humane Prudence adding our Piety to it make this Kingdom of Great
Farthings to pass The right measure of the Eln. The Kings price set for provisions p. 63 CHAP. VIII The Regality claim'd by the Pope but within a while resumed by the King The Coverfeu dispensed with A Subsidy for marrying the Kings daughter The Courtesie of England Concerning Shipwrack A Tax levied to raise and carry on a War p. 65 CHAP. IX In King Stephen's Reign all was to pieces Abundance of Castles built Of the priviledge of Coining Appeals to the Court of Rome now set on foot The Roman Laws brought in but disowned An instance in the Wonder-working Parliament p. 67 CHAP. X. In King Henry the Seconds time the Castles demolished A Parliament held at Clarendon Of the Advowson and Presentation of Churches Estates not to be given to Monasteries without the Kings leave Clergymen to answer in the Kings Court A Clergyman convict out of the Churches Protection None to go out of the Realm without the Kings leave This Repealed by King John Excommunicate Persons to find Surety Laymen how to be impleaded in the Ecclesiastical Court A Lay-Jury to swear there in what case No Homager or Officer of the Kings to be Excommunicated till He or his Justice be acquainted p. 69 CHAP. XI Other Laws of Church affairs Concerning Appeals A Suit betwixt a Clergy-man and a Lay-man where to be tryed In what case one who relates to the King may be put under an Interdict The difference betwixt that and Excommunication Bishops to be present at the Tryals of Criminals until Sentence of Death c. pass Profits of vacant Bishopricks c. belong to the King The next Bishop to be chosen in the Kings Chappel and to do Homage before Consecration Deforcements to the Bishop to be righted by the King And on the contrary Chattels forfeit to the King not to be detained by the Church Pleas of debts whatsoever in the Kings Court Yeomens Sons not to go into Orders without the Lords leave p. 72 CHAP. XII The Statutes of Clarendon mis-reported in Matthew Paris amended in Quadrilegus These Laws occasioned a Quarrel between the King and Thomas a Becket Witness Robert of Glocester whom he calls Yumen The same as Rusticks i. e. Villains Why a Bishop of Dublin called Scorch-Uillein Villanage before the Normans time p. 74 CHAP. XIII The Poet gives account which of those Laws were granted by Thomas a Becket which withstood Leudemen signifies Lay-men and more generally all illiterate Persons p. 77 CHAP. XIV The Pope absolves Thomas a Becket from his Oath and damns the Laws of Clarendon The King resents it writes to his Sheriffs Orders a Seisure Penalties inflicted on Kindred He provides against an Interdict from Rome He summons the Bishops of London and Norwich An account of Peter Pence p. 79 CHAP. XV. A Parliament at Northampton Six Circuits ordered A List of the then Justices The Jury to be of twelve Knights Several sorts of Knights In what cases Honorary Knights to serve in Juries Those who come to Parliament by right of Peerage sit as Barons Those who come by Letters of Summons are styled Chevaliers p. 81 CHAP. XVI The person convict by Ordeal to quit the Realm within Forty dayes Why Forty dayes allowed An account of the Ordeals by Fire and Water Lady Emme clear'd by going over burning Coulters Two sorts of tryal by Water Learned conjectures at the rise and reason of these customs These Ordeals as also that of single Combat condemned by the Church p. 84 CHAP. XVII Other Laws Of entertaining of strangers An Uncuth a Gust a Hogenhine what of him who confesseth the Murder c. Of Frank pledge Of an Heir under age Of a Widows Dowry Of taking the Kings fealty Of setting a time to do homage Of the Justices duty Of their demolishing of Castles Of Felons to be put into the Sheriffs hands Of those who have departed the Realm p. 87 CHAP. XVIII Some Laws in favour of the Clergy Of forfeitures on the account of Forest or hunting Of Knights fees Who to bear Arms and what Arms. Arms not to be alienated No Jew to bear Arms. Arms not to be carryed out of England Rich men under suspicion to clear themselves by Oath Who allowed to swear against a Free-man Timber for building of Ships not to be carryed out of England None but Free-men to bear Arms. Free-men who Rusticks or Villains not such p. 90 CHAP. XIX Of Law-makers Our Kings not Monarchs at first Several of them in the same County The Druids meeting-place where Under the Saxons Laws made in a general Assembly of the States Several instances This Assembly under the Normans called Parliament The thing taken from a custome of the ancient Germans Who had right to sit in Parliament The harmony of the Three Estates p. 93 CHAP. XX. The Guardians of the Laws who In the Saxons time seven Chief One of the Kings among the Heptarchs styled Monarch of all England The Office of Lord High Constable Of Lord Chancellor ancient The Lord Treasurer Alderman of England what Why one called Healfkoning Aldermen of Provinces and Graves the same as Counts or Earls and Viscounts or Sheriffs Of the County Court and the Court of Inquests called Tourn le Viscount When this Court kept and the original of it p. 95 CHAP. XXI Of the Norman Earls Their Fee Their power of making Laws Of the Barons i.e. Lords of Manours Of the Court-Baron It s rise An instance of it out of Hoveden Other Offices much alike with the Saxons p. 98 THE FIRST BOOK OF THE ENGLISH JANUS From the Beginning of the BRITISH Story down to the NORMAN Conquest CHAP. I. The counterfeit Berosus with the Monk that put him forth both censured The Story of Samothes the first Celtick King The bounds of Celtica From Samothes say they the Britans and Gauls were called Samothei For which Diogenes Laertius is falsly quoted the word in him being Semnothei THERE came forth and in Buskins too I mean with Pomp and State some parcels of years ago and is still handed about every where an Author called Berosus a Chaldee Priest take heed how you suffer your self to believe him to be the same that Flavius Josephus so often up and down quotes for a witness with a Commentary of Viterbiensis Or rather to say that which is the very truth John Annius of Viterbium a City of Tuscany a Dominican Frier playing the Leger-de-main having counterfeited Berosas to put off his own strange stories hath put a cheat upon the Lady Muse who is the Governess of Antiquities and has hung a Bantling at her back After the Genealogies of the Hebrews drawn down by that Author whoever he be according to his own humour and method for fear he should not be thought to take in the Kingdoms and Kings of the whole Universe and the Etymologies of Proper Names by whole-sale as we say as if he had been born the next day after Grandam Ops was delivered of Jupiter he subjoyns SAMOTHES the very same who
David Powell and others have informed us The Druids were wont to meet to explain the Laws in being and to make new ones as occasion required as is most likely in some certain place designed for that purpose as now at this very time all matters of Law go to be decided at Spire in Germany at Westminster-Hall in England and Paris in France Their publick Convention or Meeting-place was constantly as Julius Caesar tells us in the borders of the Carnutes the middle Region of all France Some think that a Town at eight Miles distance from the Metropolis of those people commonly called Dreux was designed for that use Whilst the Saxons governed the Laws were made in the General Assembly of the States or Parliament In the front of King Ina's Laws 't is above Eight Hundred and Eighty years that he first reigned we read thus It Ine mid godes gift West-Saxna Cyning mid getbeat mid lere Cenredes mines fader hedde Erconwald mine biscops mid eallum minum ealdor mannum tham yldestan Witan mines theode be beodeth c. which in our present English speaks thus I Ina by the Grace of God King of the West-Saxons by the advice and order of Kenred my Father and of Hedda and Erconwald my Bishops and of all my Aldermen and of the Elders and Wise Men of my people do command c. There are a great many instances of this kind in other places Moreover Witlaf and Bertulph who were Kings of the Mercians near upon Eight hundred years ago do in their instruments under their hands make mention of Synods and Councils of the Prelates and Peers convened for the affairs of the Kingdom And an ancient Book has this passage of Abendon Here was the Royal Seat hither when they were to treat of the principal and difficult points of State and affairs of the Kingdom the people were used to meet and flock together To this may be added that which Malmesbury sayes of King Edward in the year of our Lord 903. The King gathered a Synod or ●ssembly of the Senators of the English Nation over which did preside Pleimund Arch-Bishop of Canterbury interpreting expresly the words of the Apostolical Embassy These Assemblies were termed by the Saxons Widdena gemcdes i. e. Meetings of the Wise Men and Micil sinodes i. e. the Great Assemblies At length we borrowed of the French the name of Parliaments which before the time of Henry the First Polydore Virgil sayes were very rarely held An usage that not without good reason seems to have come from the ancient Germans So Tacitus sayes of them Concerning smaller matters the Princes only concerning things of greater concern they do all the whole body of them consult yet in that manner that those things also which it was in the peoples power to determine were treated of by the Princes too And I have one that hath left it in writing that when there was neither Bishop nor Earl nor Baron yet then Kings held their Parliaments and in King Arthur's Patent to the University of Cambridge for ye have my leave if you can find in your heart to give credit to it as John Key does by the counsel and assent of all and singular the Prelats and Princes of this Realm I decree There were present at Parliaments about the beginning of the Normans times as many as were invested with Thirteen Fees of Knights service and a third part of one Fee called Baron's from their large Estates for which reason perhaps John Cochleius of Mentz in his Epistle Dedicatory to our most Renowned Sir Thomas More prefixt before the Chronicle of Aurelius Cassiodorus calls him Baron of England But Henry the Third the number of them growing over big ordered by Proclamation that those only should come there whom he should think fit to summon by Writ These Assemblies do now sit in great State which with a wonderful harmony of the Three Estates the King the Lords and the Commons or Deputies of the People are joyned together to a most firm security of the publick and are by a very Learned Man in allusion to that made word in Livy Panaetolium from the Aetolians most rightly called Pananglium that is all England As in Musical Instruments and Pipes and in Singing it self and in Voices sayes Scipio in Tully's Books of the Common-wealth there is a kind of harmony to be kept out of distinct sounds which Learned and Skilful Ears cannot endure to hear changed and jarring and that consort or harmony from the tuning and ordering of Voices most unlike yet is rendred agreeing and suitable so of the highest and middlemost and lowermost States shuffled together like different sounds by fair proportion doth a City agree by the consent of persons most unlike and that which by Musicians in singing is called Harmony that in a City is Concord the straightest and surest bond of safety in every Common-wealth and such as can by no means be without Justice But let this suffice for Law-makers CHAP. XX. The Guardians of the Laws who In the Saxons time seven Chief One of the Kings among the Heptarchs styled Monarch of all England The Office of Lord High Constable Of Lord Chancellor ancient The Lord Treasurer Alderman of England what Why one called Healfkoning Aldermen of Provinces and Graves the same as Counts or Earls and Viscounts or Sheriffs Of the County Court and the Court of Inquests called Tourn le Viscount When this Court kept and the original of it I Do scarce meet before the Saxons times with any Guardians of the Laws different from these Law-makers In their time they were variously divided whose neither Name nor Office are as yet grown out of use The number is made up to give you only the heads by these to wit the King the Lord High Constable the Chancellor the Treasurer the Alderman of England the Aldermen of Provinces and the Graves Those of later date and of meaner notice I pass by meaning to speak but briefly of the rest The King was alwayes one amongst the Heptarchs or seven Rulers who was accounted I have Beda to vouch it the Monarch of all England Ella King of the South-Saxons so sayes Ethelwerd was the first that was dignified with so high a Title and Empire who was Owner of as large a Jurisdiction as Ecbright the second was Ceulin King of the West-Angles the third Aethelbrith King of the Kentish-men the fourth Redwald King of the Easterlings the fifth Edwin King of Northumberland the sixth Oswald the seventh Osweo Oswala's Brother after whom the eighth was Ecbright His West-Saxon Kingdom took in the rest for the greatest part The Office of Lord High Constable which disappeared in Edward Duke of Buckingham who in Henry the Eighth's time lost his Head for High-Treason was not seen till the latter end of the Saxons One Alfgar Staller is reported by Richard of Ely Monk to have been Constable to
Aid in our Realm but by the common advice of our Realm unless it be to ransom our Body and to make our first-born Son a Soldier or Knight and to marry our eldest Daughter once 38. Some ascribe that Law to Henry which Lawyers call the Courtesie of England whereby a man having had a Child by his Wife when she dyes enjoyes her Estate for his life 39. He made a Law that poor shipwrackt persons should have their Goods restored to them if there were any living creature on Ship-board that escaped drowning Forasmuch as before that time whatsoever through the misfortune of shipwrack was cast on Shoar was adjudged to the Exchequer except that the persons who suffered shipwrack and had escaped alive did themselves within such a time refit and repair the Vessel So the Chronicle of the Monastery of S. Martin de Bello This right is called Wreck or if you will Uareck of the Sea How agreeable to the Law of Nations I trouble not my self to enquire That more ancient Custom is as it were suitable to the Norman usage Now at this time our Lawyers and that the more modern Law of Edward the First pass judgement according to the more correct Copy of King Henry And they reckon it too among the most ancient Customs of the Kingdom Did therefore King Richard order or did Hoveden relate this to no purpose or without any need If one who suffers shipwrack dye in the Ship let his Sons or Daughters his Brethren or Sisters have what he left according as they can shew and make out that they are his next heirs Or if the deceased have neither Sons nor Daughters nor Brothers nor Sisters the King is to have his Chattels Can one imagine that this Law he made at Messina when he was engaged in War was calculated only for that time or place Certainly in the Archives there is elsewhere to be met with as much as this 40. That he might with a stout Army bear the brunt of Baldwin Earl of Flanders and Louis King of France who had conspired being bound by mutual Oaths to one another with the Duke of Anjou to take away from King Henry by force of Arms the Dutchy of Normandy he first of all t is Polydore avers it laid a heavy Tax upon the people to carry on the new War which thing with the Kings that followed after grew to be a custom He was the last of the Normans of a Male descent and as to the method of our undertaking here we treat of him last CHAP. IX In King Stephen's Reign all was to pieces Abundance of Castles built Of the priviledge of Coining Appeals to the Court of Rome now set on foot The Roman Laws brought in but disowned An instance in the Wonder-working Parliament AS of old unless the Shields were laid up there was no Dancing at Weddings so except Arms be put aside there is no pleading of Laws That Antipathy betwixt Arms and Laws England was all over sensible of if ever at any time in the Reign of K. STEPHEN Count of Blois King Henry's Nephew by his Sister Adela For he did not only break the Law and his Oath too to get a Kingdom but also being saluted King by those who perfidiously opposed Mawd the right and true heir of King Henry he reigned with an improved wickedness For he did so strangely and odly chop and change every thing it is Malmsbury speaks it as if he had sworn only for this intent that he might shew himself to the whole Kingdom a Dodger and Shammer of his Oath But as he saith perjuros merito perjuria fallunt that is Such men as Perjuries do make their Trade By their own Perjuries most justly are betray'd They are things of custom to which he swore and such as whereby former priviledges are ratifed rather than new ones granted However some things there are that may be worth the transcribing 41. Castles were frequently raised 'tis Nubrigensis relates it in the several Counties by the bandying of parties and there were in England in a manner as many Kings or rather as many Tyrants as Lords of Castles having severally the stamping of their own Coin and a power of giving Law to the Subjects after a Royal manner Then was the Kingdom plainly torn to pieces and the right of Majesty shattered which gains to it self not the least lustre from stamping of Money Though I know very well that before the Normans in the City of Rochester Canterbury and in other Corporations and Towns Abbots and Bishops had by right of priviledge their Stampers and Coiners of Money 42. Next to the King Theobald Arch Bishop of Canterbury presided over the Council of London where there were also present the Peers of the Realm which buzzed with new appeals For in England t is Henry of Huntington sayes it appeals were not in use till Henry Bishop of Winchester when he was Legate cruelly intruded them to his own mischief Wherefore what Cardinal Bellarmin has writ beginning at the Synod of Sardis concerning the no body knows how old time of the universal right of appealing to the Pope of Rome does not at all as to matter of fact seem to touch upon this Kingdom of ours by many and many a fair mile 43. In the time of King Stephen so 't is in the Polycraticon of John of Salisbury the Roman Laws were banisht the Realm which the Ho●se of the Right Reverend Theobald Lord Primate of Britanny had fetcht or sent for over into Britanny Besides it was forbidden by Royal Proclamation that no one should retain or keep by him the Books If you understand the Laws of the Empire I rather take them to be the Decrees of the Popes it will not be much amiss out of the Parliament Records to adjoyn these things of later date In the Parliament holden by Richard of Bourdeaux which is said to have wrought Wonders Upon the Impeachment of Alexander Nevil Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Robert Uere Duke of Ireland Michael Pole Earl of Suffolk Thomas Duke of Glocester Richard Earl of Arundel Thomas Beauchamp Earl of Warwick and others That they being intrusted with the management of the Kingdom by soothing up the easie and youthful temper of the King did assist one another for their own private interest more than the publick well near to the ruine and overthrow of the Government it self the Common Lawyers and Civilians are consulted with about the form of drawing up the Charge which they answer all as one man was not agreeable to the rule of the Laws But the Barons of Parliament reply That they would be tyed up to no rules nor be led by the punctilioes of the Roman Law but would by their own authority pass judgement pur ce que la royalme d' Angleterre n' estoit devant ces heures n'y à l' entent de nostre dit Seigneur le Roy Seigneurs de Parlament unque ne serra
bishoprikes and Abbeis also That vacans were of prelas in the K. hand were ido And that the K. sold all the land as is owne take Uort at last that him lust eni prelat there make And than thulke prelat sould in is chapel ichose be Of is clarks which he wuld to such prelace bise And than wan he were ichose in is chapel right yere Homage he solde him do ar he confirmed were VI. The sixt was yuf eni play to chapitle were idraw And eni man made is appele yuf me dude him unlaw That to the Bishop from Ercedeken is appele sold make And from Bishop to Arcebissop and suth none other take And but the Ercebisops court to right him wold bring That he sold from him be cluthe biuore the King And from the K. non other mo so that attan end Plaining of holi chirch to the K. shold wend. And the K. amend solde the Ercebissops dede And be as in the Popes stude and S. Thomas it withsede VII The seuethe was that plaiding that of det were To yeld wel thoru truth iplight and nought ihold nere Althei thoru truth it were that ple sold be ibrought Biuore the K. and is bailies and to holy chirch nought VIII The eighth that in the lond citation none nere Thoru bull of the Pope of Rome and clene bileued were IX The nithe was that Peters pence that me gadereth manion The Pope nere nought on isend ac the K. echone X. The tethe was yuf eni Clarke as felon were itake And vor felon iproved and ne might it not forsake That me sold him verst disordein and suth thoru there law And thoru judgement of the land hong him other to draw Uor these and vor other mo the Godeman S. Thomas Fleu verst out of England and eke imartred was Uor he sei there nas bote o way other he must stiffe be Other holy chirch was isent that of right was so fre CHAP. XIV The Pope absolves Thoms a Becket from his Oath and damns the Laws of Clarendon The King resents it writes to his Sheriffs Orders a Seisure Penalties inflicted on Kindred He provides against an Interdict from Rome He summons the Bishops of London and Norwich An Account of Peter Pence TO the Laws of Clarendon which I spoke of the States of the Kingdom the Baronage and with them the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury took their Oaths in solemn manner calling upon God There were Embassadors sent to Pope Alexander the third that there might be that bottom also that he would further confirm and ratifie them But he was so far from doing that that he did not only pretend that they did too much derogate from the priviledge of the Clergy and wholly refuse to give his assent to them but also having absolved Thomas the Arch-Bishop at his own request from the obligation of that Oath he had bound himself with he condemned them as impious and such as made against the interest and honour of holy Church King Henry as soon as he heard of it took it as it was fit he should very much in dudgeon grievously and most deservedly storming at the insolence of the Roman Court and the Treachery of the Bishop of Canterbury Immediately Letters were dispatcht to the several Sheriffs of the respective Counties That if any Clerk or Layman in their Bayliwicks should appeal to the Court of Rome they should seise him and take him into firm custody till the King give order what his pleasure is And that they should seise into the Kings hand and for his use all the Revenues and Possessions of the Arch-Bishops Clerks and of all the Clerks that are with the Arch-Bishop they should put by way of safe pledge the Fathers Mothers and Sisters Nephews and Neeces and their Chattels till the King give order what his pleasure is I have told the Story out of Matthew Paris You see in this instance a penalty where there is no fault It affects or reaches to their Kindred both by Marriage and Blood a thing not unusual in the declension of the Roman Empire after Augustus his time But let misdemeanors hold or oblige those who are the Authors of them was the Order of Arcadius and Honorius Emperors to the Lord Chief Justice Eutychianus nor let the fear of punishment proceed further than the offence is found A very usual right among the English whereby bating the taking away the Civil Rights of Blood and Nobility none of the Posterity or Family of those who lose their honours do for the most hainous crimes of their Parents undergo any p●●al●ies But this was not all in those Letters I mentioned he added threats also 63. If any one shall be found carrying Letters or a Mandate from the Pope of Thomas Arch-Bishop of Canterbury containing an interdiction of Christian Religion in England let him be seised and kept in hold and let Justice be done upon him without delay as a Traitor against the King and Kingdom This Roger of Hoveden stands by ready to witness 64. Let the Bishops of London and Norwich be summon'd that they may be before the Kings Justices to do right i. e. to answer to their charge and to make satisfaction that they have contrary to the Statutes of the Kingdom interdicted the Land of Earl Hugh and have inflicted a sentence of Excommunication upon him This was Hugh Bigod Earl of Norfolk 65. ' Let St. Peters pence be collected or gathered and kept safe Those Pence were a Tribute or Alms granted first by Ina King of the West-Saxons yearly at Lammas to be gathered from as many as ' had thirty pence as we read it in the Confessor's Laws ' of live mony in their house These were duly at a set time paid in till the time of Henry the eighth when he set the Government free from the Papal Tyranny About which time Polydore Virgil was upon that account in England Treasurer or Receiver general I thought fit to set down an ancient brief account of these pence out of a Rescript of Pope Gregory to the Arch-Bishops of Canterbury and York in the time of King Edward the second Diocess li. s. d. Canterbury 07 18 00 London 16 10 00 Rochester 05 12 00 Norwich 21 10 00 Ely 05 00 00 Lincoln 42 00 00 Coventry 10 05 00 Chester 08 00 00 Winchester 17 06 08 Exceter 09 05 00 Worcester 10 05 00 Hereford 06 00 00 Bath 12 05 00 York 11 10 00 Salisbury 17 00 00 It amounts to three hundred Marks and a Noble that is two hundred Pounds sterling and six Shillings and eight Pence You are not to expect here the murder of Thomas a Becket and the story how King Henry was purged of the crime having been absolved upon hard terms Conveniunt cymbae vela minora meae My little Skiff bears not so great a Sail. CHAP. XV. A Parliament at Northampton Six Circuits ordered A List of the then Justices The Jury to be of twelve Knights
or Borough and before lawful men he cannot deny it afterwards before the Justices And if the same person without Seisin with Seisin in this place is the same as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we commonly say in our Language taken with the manner shall recognize or acknowledge any thing of this nature before them this also in like manner he shall not be able to deny before the Justices 70. If any one shall dye holding in Frank Pledge i. e. having a free Tenure let his heirs remain in such Seisin as their Father had on the day he was alive and dyed of his fee and let them have his Chattels out of which they may make also the devise or partition of the deceased that is the sharing of his goods according to his will and afterwards may require of their Lord and do for their relief and other things which they ought to do as touching their Fee i. e. in order to their entring upon the estate 71. If the heir be under age let the Lord of the Fee take his homage and have him in custody or keeping for as long time as he ought let the other Lords if there be more of them take his homage and let him do to them that which he ought to do 72. Let the Wife of the deceased have her Dowry and that part of his Chattels which of right comes to her In former times peradventure it was a like generally practised by the English that the Wife and Children should have each their lawful Thirds of the estate each of them I say if they were in being but half to the Wife if there were no issue and as much to the Children if the Wife did not survive her Husband as it was practised by the Romans of old according to the Falcidian Law and of later time by the Novells of Justinian that they should have their Quarter-part For I see that those of Normandy of Arras of Ireland people that lay round about them had the same custom Of this you are to see Glanvill Bracton the Register of Briefs or Writs and William Lindwood beside the Records or yearly Reports of our Law 73. Let the Justices take the Fealties of our Lord the King before the close of Easter and at furthest before the close of Pentecost namely of all Earls Barons Knights and Free-holders and even of Rusticks or Vassals such as have a mind to stay in the Realm and he who will not do fealty let him be taken into custody as an enemy of our Lord the King 74. The Justices have also this to give in charge that all those who have not as yet done their homage and allegiance to our Lord the King do at a term of time which they shall name to them come in and do homage and allegiance to the King as to their Liege Lord. 75. Let the Justices do all acts of Justice and rights belonging to our Lord the King by a Writ of our Lord the King or of them who shall be in his place or stead as to a half-Knights fee and under a Knights fee in an old Book which pretends to more antiquity by far than it ought concerning the manner of holding Parliaments is said to be twenty pounds worth of Land in yearly revenue but the number prefixt before the Red Book of the Exchequer goes at the rate of Six Hundred and Eighty Acres unless the complaint be of that great concern that it cannot be determined without our Lord the King or of that nature that the Justices by reason of their own doubting refer it to him or to those who shall be in his place and stead Nevertheless let them to the utmost of their ability intend and endeavour the service and advantage of our Lord the King 76. Let the Justices provide and take care that the Castles already demolisht be utterly demolished and that those that are to be demolished be well levelled to the ground And if they shall not do this our Lord the King may please to have the judgement of his Court against them as against those who shew contempt of his Precept 77. A Thief or Robber as soon as he is taken let him be put into the Sheriffs hands to be kept in safe custody and if the Sheriff shall be out of the way let him be carried or brought to the next Constable of a Castle and let him have him in custody until he deliver him up to the Sheriff 78. Let the Justices according to the custom of the Land cause inquiry to be made of those who have departed or gone out of the Realm And if they shall refuse to return within a term of time that shall be named and to stand to right in the Kings Court i. e. to make their appearance and there to answer if any thing shall be brought in against them let them after that be outlawed and the names of the Outlaws be brought at Easter and at the Feast of St. Michael to the Exchequer and from thence be sent to our Lord the King These Laws were agreed upon at Northampton CHAP. XVIII Some Laws in favour of the Clergy Of forfeitures on the account of Forest or hunting Of Knights fees Who to bear Arms and what Arms. Arms not to be alienated No Jew to bear Arms. Arms not to be carryed out of England Rich men under suspicion to clear themselves by Oath Who allowed to swear against a Free-man Timber for building of Ships not to be carryed out of England None but Free-men to bear Arms. Free-men who Rusticks or Villains not such 79. THat henceforth a Clergy-man be not dragg'd and drawn before a Secular Judge personally for any crime or transgression unless it be for Forest or a Lay-fee out of which a Lay-service is due to the King or to some other Secular Lord. This priviledge of the Clergy the King granted to Hugh the Popes Cardinal Legate by the Title of S. Michael à Petra who arrived here on purpose to advance the Popish interest 80. Furthermore that Arch-Bishopricks Bishopricks or Abbacies be not held in the Kings hand above a year unless there be an evident cause or an urgent necessity for it 81. That the Murderers or Slayers of Clergy-men being convicted or having confest before a Justice or Judge of the Realm be punished in the presence of the Bishop 82. That Clergy-men be not obliged to make Duel i. e. not to clear themselves as others upon some occasion did by single combat 83. He ordained at Woodstock we transcribe these words out of Hoveden that whosoever should make a forfeit to him concerning his Forest or his hunting once he should be tyed to find safe Pledges or Sureties and if he should make a second forfeit in like manner safe Pledges should be taken of him but if the same person should forfeit the third time then for his third forfeit no pledges should be taken but the proper body of him who made the forfeit Moreover