I am sure that this which follows is enough to justify the Expulsion of a whole Race of Tarquins After Michaelmas he sailed to Dover to meet his outlandish Scum with which he Invades his own Kingdom Such an execrable desperate Crew never set foot upon English Ground so fitted for Mischief and that thirsted after nothing more than human Blood whom his Agents had drawn together out of Poictou Gascony Lovain Brabant Flanders and weeded all the neighbouring Continent for them These made up a vast Army notwithstanding the Shipwrack of Hugh de Boves who was bringing 40 thousand more besides Women and Children who all perished in a Storm betwixt Calais and Dover This Freight of Women and Children several of which were afterwards driven ashore in their Cradles were intended to plant the two Counties of Norfolk and Suffolk after the Extirpation of the English for it is said that this Hugh had a Charter of Inheritance given him of these two Provinces But with these Forces he had he overrun England and wasted it with Fire and Sword in such a manner as no English man can read the History of it without being in pain and torment There is such a Scene in Mat. Paris p. 276. as was never seen again unless in the French and Irish Massacres it looks like Hell broke loose For these Satellites Satanae the Devil's Life-Guard as M. Paris calls them seemed to have prepensed Malice against Mankind and being led on à crudeli Rege imò cruento Tyranno by a cruel King nay it was a bloody Tyrant no Furies could put innocent People in cold Blood of all Ages and Conditions to more exquisit Tortures nor sport themselves more in making Havock and Desolation than they did And with this horrid Ravage he overrun England and proceeded as far as Berwick in half a years time all the Castles of the Barons falling to him either surrendred or for the most part abandon'd In the mean time most of the Barons are at London where we left them making holiday for the grant of M. Charta and pleasing themselves that after so long Oppression and Egyptian Bondage the Liberties of England were restored again in their days They thought likewise that God had touched the King's Heart and he was become a new man and meant the good Faith he had sworn and flatter'd themselves that he would from henceforward inviolably observe their Charters But they were interrupted in this thought by the privat intelligence they had That he had given orders to his Foreigners in whom his Soul trusted to fortify and furnish his Castles with Men and Provisions and to store them with all manner of Artillery but to do it so warily that it might not come to the knowledg of the Barons This boded no good for here was M. Charta concerning the expulsion of Foreigners broken already and therefore some of the Barons went to the King at Windsor to know more of this matter and to try by gentle and wholesom Advice to bring him to a better mind He received them with a blithe Countenance and thereby palliated the inward Venom and swearing by God's Feet he assured them that he had no ill purpose and banter'd and laughed them out of their story Nevertheless before they left him they gathered such marks of his aversion to them and that all was not well that they went back to London lamenting and saying Wo to us and to all England which wants a King that will speak truth and is oppressed by a false underhand Tyrant that uses his utmost endeavours to subvert a miserable Kingdom The very night after this Conference with the Barons it was that he stole away from Windsor to the Isle of Wight and there laid his hellish Plot against the Nation which was so deep that it did not enter into the hearts of the Barons to suspect or imagine They had now recovered the Rights of the Nation which was nothing but their own and had bin most unjustly detained from them and they never intended nor sought for more But because the King went away in a bad mind and because they had certain notice that nothing but their departure from London was wanted in order to surprize it they therefore adjourned their Torneament which they had formerly appointed on the Monday after the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul at Stanford to be held the Monday sevennight after at Hounslow near London both for the safety of the City and their own This they certify in their Letter to William Albinet who was gon down to his Castle of Beavoir and withal desire him by all means to make one at it and to come up well provided with Horses and Arms that he might win Honour For he that performed best was to have a Bear which a certain Lady would send to the Torneament With such frivolous and idle actions says M. Paris did they entertain themselves little knowing what cunning snares were laid for them Still they remain at London and for want of better Imployment spend their time yet more vainly in eating and drinking and sitting up anights at the expensive dye which however does not look like plotting for if they had been so minded it had bin easy for them in the King's absence to have taken very great advantages against him But they meaning no hurt had reason to expect none and therefore the Invasion after Michaelmas fell suddenly upon them like a Tempest or Hugh de Boves's Storm And being wholly unprovided to resist such an Inundation as this they thought the best way to put some stop to it would be by presently throwing in a good Garison into the Castle of Rochester that the King might not come immediately to besiege London Accordingly they make choice of William de Albinet who was just come from his own Castle and a noble Band of sevenscore Knights with their Retinue for this Service When they came thither they found nothing but bare Walls neither Provision nor Arms nor any thing but what they had brought along with them insomuch that many of the Noblemen repented their coming down and would have returned but William de Albinet overperswaded them to stay and told them it would be dishonourable to desert what they had undertaken They therefore get together what provision they could out of the Town in that short space for within three days the King and his Army were with them and had block'd them up There they behaved themselves like great men but the Siege lasting long they were so straitned for Provisions that they were forced at last to eat their Horses Being thus in distress the Barons at London though with the latest remembred their Oath to relieve them in case they were besieged and marched out with a pompous Army as far as Dartford but there the gentle Southwind met them and blew in their faces and tho it uses not to be troublesom to any body else yet it drove them back as if it had
him and leave K. Iohn whereby of necessity he would be soon brought to reason and in all probability it would be a very short War Lewis readily accepted their Offer and came over upon the security of 24 of the principal Barons Sons for Hostages and being joyfully received at London by the Barons had Homage and Fealty sworn to him and he himself swore to restore them their good Laws and their lost Inheritances After which he writ to the King of Scotland to come and do him homage and to all the great Men of England to come and do the like or else immediately depart the Kingdom Upon which the Earls of Warren Arundel Salisbury King Iohn's Brother and the Earl Marshal's Son with mnay others readily obeyed this Summons and left King Iohn as did his Foreigners all but the Poitovins some of them returning home with their Spoils and the rest coming over to the Dauphin From the first arrival of Lewis K. Iohn never stood his ground and though he came with his great Army to Dover to hinder his landing yet he durst not trust that Army to engage but leaving a strong Garison in Dover Castle he took a run to Guilford and from thence to Winchester without stopping whereby he both gave Lewis a free Passage to London to join the Barons and also lost most of his new Conquests in less time than he gained them But the King of France undervalued all his Son's Successes swearing that he had not gotten one foot of ground in England till he was possessed of Dover Castle which made him undertake a vigorous tho fruitless Siege of that place where in a short time the King of Scotland came and did him Homage But while the Dauphin was engaged in that Siege there happened an Accident which altered the whole Scene of Affairs The Viscount of Melun a Nobleman of France who came over with Lewis fell very sick at London And finding himself at the point of death he sent for some of the Barons of England who were left to take care of the City to come to speak with him to whom he said I am grieved for you at the thoughts of your desolation and destruction because you are wholly ignorant of the Perils that hang over your heads for Lewis has taken an Oath and sixteen Earls and Barons of France with him That if ever he get England and be crowned King he will condemn all the Barons that are now in Arms with him against K. Iohn to perpetual Banishment as Traytors against their Soveraign Lord and will extirpate the whole Race of them out of the Land And lest you should doubt of the Truth of this I that lie here ready to die do affirm to you upon the peril of my Soul that I my self was one of those that were engaged with Lewis in this Oath Wherefore I now counsel you by all means to look carefully to your selves hereafter and to make the best use of what I have told you and to keep it under the Seal of Secrecy When this Nobleman had thus said forthwith he expired When this dying Secret came to be spread amongst the rest of the Barons they were sadly cast down finding themselves surrounded with Difficulties and perplexed on every side For as a concurrent proof of what Viscount Melun had said Lewis instead of restoring them to their Rights according to his Oath had given all the Lands and Castles of the Barons as fast as he won them to his own Frenchmen and though the Barons grumbl'd at this yet they could not prevent it But what they laid most to heart was that he had branded them as Traytors They were excommunicated every day and despoiled of all terrene Honour and driven to all extremities of Body and Soul In this miserable perplexity many of them thought of returning and reconciling themselves to K. Iohn but that the Breach was too wide They were plainly at their wits end and were willing to do any thing to be rid of this perjur'd and perfidious Foreigner who had thus ungratefully entered into a desperate Conspiracy against them During this tedious Siege of Dover Castle where Lewis and many of his Barons were sure to be detain'd K. Iohn who had been dodging up and down took this opportunity of making a terrible Inroad into the Counties of Norfolk and Suffolk where he made his usual Progress Northward as if he had taken up a Resolution to live and die in his Calling For one of the last things he did before he sickned was burning to ashes all the stacks of Corn as he went along in all the Mannors of the Abbot of Croyland which were but just inned that Harvest He was first indisposed at Swinshed Abbey but his illness encreasing he could hardly reach Newark Castle and there by the advice of the Abbot Croestoun he confessed and received the Sacrament After which he appointed his eldest Son Henry his Heir and ordered the Realm to swear to him and sent his Letters under his Seal to all the Sheriffs and Castellans of the Kingdom to be attendant on him Just when he was dying there arrived Messengers from some of the Barons about forty of them with Letters to be reconciled to him but he was not in a condition to mind such Affairs In ten days time after K. Iohn's death that Party which had adhered to him with Guallo the Pope's Legate made haste to crown his Son at Glocester And because he was not yet ten years old and so noways concerned in the hated Cruelties of his Father and might be used as an expedient to drive out an already hated and insolent Foreigner he was presently accepted by the Kingdom while on the other hand upon the first knowledg of K. Iohn's death Lewis had in his own Conceit wholly subdued and swallowed up the Kingdom but he found the contrary in summoning Dover Castle upon this occasion thinking to have had the Castle for his News for he met with such a resolute Denial as he took for an Answer and broke up the Siege Afterwards he took some few places but the young King's Party still encreasing and many of the Barons by degrees falling from him and the Forces he had sent for out of France being utterly defeated at Sea and all sunk or taken and he and the Barons that were with him being closely besieged in the City of London he was forced to come to this Composition That Lewis and all his Foreigners should depart the Kingdom and that he should never lay claim to it hereafter but restore what belonged to the King in France and to have fifteen thousand Marks for his Voyage And on the other hand the King the Legate and the Great Marshal being Protector swore That they would restore to the Barons and all others of the Realm all their Rights and Inheritances with all those Liberties which they had before demanded for which the War had begun betwixt K. Iohn and the Barons This
Composition was made by both Parties in an Island in the Thames near the Town of Stains Septemb. 11. A. D. 1217. So that within two years and three months time M. Charta was granted and destroyed and damnd by the Pope and revived and renewed again by fresh Oaths and even of the Pope's Legate I shall very briefly shew what fate it had in H. 3. time for I do not remember any fighting about the Confirmation of it in any succeeding Reign wherein I shall only recite the matter of Fact reserving the matter of Right till anon In the fifth year of his Reign he was crowned again at Westminster and three years after which was the eighteenth of his age at a Parliament at London he was desired by the Archbishop and the other Lords to confirm the Liberties and free Customs for which the War was first moved against his Father And as the Archbishop evidently shew'd the King could not decline the doing of it because upon the departure of Lewis out of England he himself had sworn and all the Nobility of the Realm with him that they would observe all the said Liberties and have all others observe them Upon which William Brewer who was one of the P. Council made answer in behalf of the King saying The Liberties you desire ought not in justice to be observed because they were extorted by violence Which Speech the Archbishop taking very ill rebuked him saying William quoth he if you loved the King you would not be a hindrance to the Peace of the Kingdom But the King seeing the Archbishop going to be very angry said We have all of us sworn to these Liberties and we are all bound to observe what we have sworn And forthwith taking advice upon it sent his Letters to the Sheriffs of every County to cause twelve Knights or Legal Men to make an Inquisition upon Oath what were the Liberties of England in the time of K. Henry his Grandfather and to make him a return of it by a certain day This vowing and afterwards making inquiry was ill resented and was one of the false Shifts which were so peculiar to that Prince The motion of the Archbishop was so manifestly necessary for the settling the young King in his Throne that our Historian Daniel says it was impiously oppugned by William Brewer Dan. p. 151. and indeed the reflections he makes on the whole passage are very remarkable from the Pen of a Courtier I only observe that William Brewer was the fittest Interpreter of an Arbitrary Prince's mind for he was an old arbitrary Instrument and one of K. Iohn's Generals in his barbarous Invasion and tho he himself had since sworn to M. Charta that made no matter for such false Changes and Conversions always turn Cat again as soon as they find Game and spy a Mouse The next year the King being declared by the Pope's Bull of full age and Lewis being now King of France and keeping possession of all the King's Dominions beyond the Seas at a Parliament at Westminster he desired a Fifteenth for the recovery of them And tho many of the Earls and Barons had thereby lost their Inheritances as well as the King yet the whole Assembly agreed in this Answer That they would freely grant the King what he desired but upon condition if he would grant them their long desired Liberties The King out of covetousness of this Aid has Charters presently written and sealed and sent to all the Counties and an Oath in writing for all Men to swear to them while Richard the King's Brother because they had hitherto been ill kept cried out they were cozening Charters Matt. Paris says he therefore forbears to recite the Tenor of these Charters because he had done it before in K. Iohn's Reign for the Charters of both Kings were alike In nullo inveniuntur dissimiles Two years the Land rested injoying their Liberties which were punctually kept till the King at a Parliament at Oxford declared himself to be of full age and took that occasion to have a new Seal and to cancel the Charter of the Forests as granted in his Minority and to cause all that would enjoy the benefit of that Charter to take out particular Charters under his new Seal for which they paid exorbitant Fines such as his Chief Justiciar pleased Upon this and a great Oppression of his Brother Richard soon after the Earls and Barons were up in Arms and had drawn together a great Body of Men at Stanford from whence they send him a Message in very big words Nimis ampullosis That he forthwith make amends to his Brother for the Injury done him the fault of which they lay upon the Justiciar and that he should immediately restore the Charters of the Forest which he had cancel'd at Oxford and send them to them sealed grievously denouncing That otherwise they would compel him with their Swords Whereupon he called a Parliament to Northampton and gave them full satisfaction to their Demands Six years after the Barons had an outragious Violation of M. Charta to complain of and an intolerable Grievance to the Nation For the King had not only filled the Offices of his Court with Poitovins to the great Oppression of his natural Subjects but also had invited in two thousand Poitovins and Brittons with which he garisoned his Castles Upon this Earl Richard the Marshal of the Kingdom taking several of the Lords along with him went boldly to the King and openly reproved him that because by evil Counsel he had called in Poitovin Foreigners to the Oppression of his Realm and natural born Subjects of the Realm of their Laws likewise and Liberties wherefore he humbly besought the King that he would speedily reform such Abuses as these which were the imminent destruction of his Crown and Realm Moreover he affirmed that if the King refused to amend this Proceeding both he and the rest of the Noblemen of the Kingdom would so long continue to withdraw themselves from his Councils as he consorted with Foreigners To this Peter Bishop of Winchester who was prime Minister made answer That it was very lawful for our Lord the King to call in what Foreigners he pleased for the defence of his Kingdom and Crown and even such and so many as might be able to compel his proud and rebellious Subjects to their Duty The Earl Marshal and the Lords went away very much dissatisfied with this Answer and promised to one another that in this Cause which concerned the whole Nation they would manfully fight it out to the separation of their Souls from their Bodies In the mean while the Bishop of Winchester and his Accomplices had so far perverted the King's heart to hate and despise the English Nation that he studied the extirpation of them all manner of ways and by a few at a time invited over so many Legions of Poitovins that they almost filled all England with Troops of which wherever the King went he still
prevention of Grievances is better than the cure of them there were 24 of the greatest Men in England ordained 12 by the King himself and 12 by the Parliament to be a standing Council without whose Advice nothing was to be done These were to have Parliaments three times a year where the Barons might come but the Commons were excused from coming to save Charges No wise Man will say that this was the English Constitution but these were necessary Alterations by way of Remedy till they should be able to bring the Government into the right Channel again For the Provisions of Oxford were only provisional like the Interim in Germany before the Reformation and to continue no longer than as so many Scaffolds till the Ruins of the Realm were repaired Accordingly the utmost Provision that I find was but for 12 years as we have it in the Oath of the Governours of the Kings Castles in these words Ceo est le serment ke les gardens des Chastels sirent Ann. Burton p. 413. Ke il les Chastels le Rei leaument e en bone fei garderunt al oes le Rei et ses heyrs E ke eus les rendrunt al Rei u a ses heyres et a nul autre et par sun cunseil et en nul autre manere Ceo est a saver par prodes homes de la terre esluz a sun Cunseil u par la greinure partie E ceste furme par escrit dure deske a duze ans E de ilokes en avant per cest establement et cest serment ne seint constreint ke franchement ne les pussent rendre al Rei u a ses heirs So that the Barons of England were certainly in the right when they said that the Provisions of Oxford were founded upon the Magna Charta which the French King and Parliament allowed for every greater contains in it the less and the Power of the 25 Conservators of M. Charta is visibly greater than that of the 24 Counsellors at Oxford as much as the Power of Coercion and punishing is above that of directing The French King and Parliament were so far Parties P. 991. that as we saw before they had promised the King a powerful Assistance which gave him encouragement so openly to break his Oath and undo what he had done Which certainly the Barons did not then know or else they would have bin very far from submitting to their determination especially when they could get nothing by it For if it had proceeded in favour of them they only had been where they were before a foreign Confirmation adding no Authority to English Laws and that Determination that was made only served to puzzle the Cause and to bring a War upon them which it must be intended this unwise Expedient was to prevent The first Aggressor in this War was Roger Mortimer who invaded and ravaged the Lands of Simon Monfort but he was soon even with him P. 992 The Prince likewise took several Castles and Robert Ferrars E. of Derby who was of neither side took that opportunity to seize and plunder the City of Worcester and do a deal of mischief for which he was afterwards sent Prisoner to the Tower The Barons Army easily retook what was taken and marched towards London where Iohn Mansell Lieutenant of the Tower fearing he should be severely handled by the Barons for he was the most special Counsellor the King and Queen had run away by stealth The King likewise fearing lest the Barons Army should besiege him in the Tower by the mediation of some that were afraid as well as he yielded to an Agreement with the Barons tho it afterwards prov'd to be but short-liv'd and promis'd to keep the Provisions of Oxford But the Queen instigated with a Feminine Malice oppos'd it all she could The Form of this Peace betwixt the King the Earl and Barons was upon these Conditions P. 993. 1. That Henry Son of the King of the Romans who was then the King's Prisoner should be releas'd 2. That all the King's Castles throughout England should be delivered up to the Custody of the Barons 3. That the Provisions of Oxford be inviolably kept 4. That all Foreigners by a set time should evacuate the Kingdom excepting those whose stay here should be allowed by common Consent as trusty to the Realm perhaps not a quarter of the number which we have in one Naturalization Act. That for the time to come the Natives of England who are faithful and profitable to the Realm may have the ordering of all Affairs under the King These things being thus covenanted in a little while after Pacts Promises Oaths notwithstanding several Knights on the King's part stored Windsor Castle with a great quantity of Provisions and Arms and they and the Prince begun a new War This War lasted with great variety of strange Successes on both sides for several years till the Earl of Leicester was overthrown and slain in the Battle of Evesham Upon which the Historian says And thus ended his Labours that great Man Earl Simon who spent not only his but himself in behalf of the oppressed in asserting a just Cause and maintaining the Rights of the Realm He undertook this Cause P. 998. in which he fought to the death by the advice and at the instance of the Blessed Robert Grosthead Bishop of Lincoln who constantly affirmed that all that died for it were crowned with Martyrdom After this deciding Battle the Prince follow'd his Blow by advising his Father to call a Parliament forthwith before his Victory cool'd which accordingly met at Winchester 8. Sept. whereas the Fight was 5. Aug. before In this Parliament they did what they would with the Earl's broken and dispers'd Party P. 999. The chief of them were imprisoned to be punished at the King's will the City of London disfranchised for their Rebellion all that took part with E. Simon disinherited whose Lands the King presently bestowed upon those that had stuck faithfully to him as a reward of their Merit Ottobon the Legat also call'd a Council at Northampton and there excommunicated all the Bishops and Clergy that had aided and favoured E. Simon against the King namely the Bishops of Winchester London Worcester and Chichester Of whom the Bishop of Worcester poorly died viliter in few days after this Sentence P. 1001. but the other three went to Rome to make their Peace with the Pope In short he excommunicated all others whatsoever that had been against the King The disinherited Barons thought never the worse of their Cause for this Overthrow but still continued in Arms for three years after And tho they were forc'd to fly from place to place and live as they could yet they seem to be the Conquerors For their Answer to the Legates Message to them in the Isle of Ely shews them to be Men of great Wisdom P. 1004. Integrity and Constancy and their Demands likewise are
was walled in and invironed Nor was any thing done in the Kingdom but as the Bishop of Winchester and this Rout of Poitovins ordered it The King then calls a Parliament to meet on Midsummer day at Oxford but the aforesaid associated Lords would not come at his Summons partly for fear of the lying in wait of these Foreigners and partly out of the Indignation which they conceived against the King for calling in Aliens in contempt of them Upon this it was judicially decreed that they should be summoned twice and thrice to try whether they would come or no. Here at this Assembly at Oxford Roger Bacon while he was preaching the Word of God before the King and the Bishops told him roundly That he would never enjoy any settled peace unless he removed the Bishop of Winchester and Peter Rivallis from his Councils And when others who were present protested the same thing the King began a little to recollect himself and encline to Reason and signified to the associated Barons that they should come to a Parliament Iuly 11. at Westminster and there by their advice he would rectify what was fit to be amended But when the Barons had heard that many Freebooters were called in by the King with Horses and Arms and that they had arrived by degrees and but a few at a time and could see no footsteps of Peace but likewise suspected the innate Treachery of the Poitovins they let alone going to the Parliament but they sent him word by solemn Messengers That setting aside all delay he should remove the Bishop of Winchester and all the Poitovins from his Court But in case he would not they all by the Common Council of the Kingdom would expel him and his evil Counsellors out of the Realm and proceed to the Creation of a new King The King was struck with this Message and the Court were very much concerned at it fearing lest the Error of the Son should be worse than his Father's who was very near being driven out of his Kingdom and making good the name which was given him by a kind of Presage of Iohn the Exile But Bishop Peter gave the King advice to make war upon these rebellious Subjects and to bestow their Castles and Lands upon the Poitovins who might defend the Realm of England from his Traitors bragging that he both could and would give deep and not scoundrel Counsel for time was when he had governed the Emperor's Council in the East and that his Wisdom was formidable both to the Saracens and to other Nations So the King returning again to the wrong first wreakt his Anger upon Gilbert Basset whom having seized a Mannor of his and he coming to claim his right he called Traitor and threatned if he did not get out of his Court to have him hang'd And he likewise commanded Richard Seward a warlike Knight that had married this Gilbert's Sister or Neice without his Licence as he said to be taken up And indeed being jealous of all the other noble and powerful Men of the Kingdom he required Hostages of them such and so many as might satisfy him that they would not rebel To the Parliament at Westminster Aug. 1. the Earls and Barons came armed and the Earl Marshal was on his way coming to it but going to lodg at his Sister's House who was Wife to Richard the King's Brother she advertised him of his danger and that he would be seized He being a Man of a noble Breast could not readily believe Woman's talk till she made it out and then night coming on he rid another way and never drew bit till he came well wearied into Wales There were many Earls and Barons at this Parliament but there was nothing done in it because of the absence of the Earl Marshal Gilbert Basset and some other Lords After this the King by the advice of the Bishop of Winchester gave summons to all that held of him by Knights service to be ready with their Horses and Arms at Glocester a week before Assumption day And when the Earl Marshal and many others that were associated with him would not come at that appointed time the King as if they had been Traitors caused their Houses to be set on fire their Parks and Ponds to be destroyed and their Castles to be besieged These that were said to be associated were very noble Persons and there were many others no mean Men that adhered to them All these did King Henry cause to be proclaimed Outlaws and banished Men without the Judgment of his Court and of their Peers and gave their Lands to the Poitovins thereby adding sorrow to sorrow and redoubling their Wounds He gave commandment likewise that their Bodies should be seized wherever they could be found within the Realm In the mean time Bishop Peter does what he can to weaken the Marshal's Party and corrupted the Earls of Chester and Lincoln with a thousand Marks cheap Lords to leave the Marshal and the cause of Justice and to be reconciled to the King and be of his side For as for Richard the King's Brother he was gone off from the Marshal some time before When the Marshal had heard all this he entred into a Confederacy with Lewellin Prince of Wales and other Peers of that Country who swore none of them would make Peace without the other Within a weeks time after the appointed Rendezvouz at Glocester there arrived at Dover many armed men from the parts beyond the Sea and Baldwin de Gysnes with a Force out of Flanders who came to the King at Glocester This Force with what he had before made a numerous Army with which he advanced to Hereford After this the King by the advice of Bishop Peter sends a Defiance to the Marshal by the Bishop of St. Davids and thereupon marches to make war upon him and lays siege to one of his Castles But when he had furiously assaulted it many days in vain and his Army wanted Provisions so that there was a necessity of raising the Siege the King grew ashamed of his Enterprize Whereupon he sent several Bishops to the Earl Marshal to desire him to save the King's Honour and that he might not be thought to have made a Siege to no purpose to surrender him the Castle upon these Conditions First That he would after fifteen days restore to the Earl Marshal the Castle again intire and in the same state it was And Secondly That in the mean time he would reform and amend all things that were amiss in the Kingdom by the advice of the Bishops who were his Sureties for the performance of these things And to perfect and compleat all this the King appointed the Marshal and the banished Lords to come to a Parliament which he meant to hold at Westminster the first Week after Michaelmas When the fifteen days were out from the time of the Marshals surrender of his Castle into the King's hands upon condition that after that Term he should
had not hitherto been kept And because the Aids which had been granted to the King had turned to no profit of the King or Kingdom And because of other Grievances which the King promiseth to redress the Parliament came to this Resolution That there should be a Prorogation of three weeks and that if in the mean time the King should freely chuse himself such Counsellors and order the Rights of the Kingdom as should be to their content they would then give him an Answer about the Aid In these three weeks the Lords drew up a Provision by the King's Consent to this effect Concerning the Liberties at another time bought granted and confirmed that for the time to come they be observ'd For the greater security whereof let a new Charter be made which shall make special mention of these things Let those be solemnly excommunicated by all the Prelates who wittingly oppose or hinder the observation of these Liberties and let all those have reparation made them who have suffered in their Liberties since the last Grant And because neither by virtue of an Oath then taken nor for fear of the holy Man Edmund's Excommunication what was then promised has hitherto been kept to avoid the like Peril for the future lest the latter end be worse than the beginning Let four Nobles and powerful Men of the discretest in the Realm be chosen by Assent of Parliament to be of the King's Council and to be sworn that they will order the Affairs of the King and Kingdom faithfully and do justice to all without respect of Persons These shall follow our Lord the King and if not all two at least shall be present to hear all Complaints that come and to give speedy relief to those that suffer wrong they shall supervise the King's Treasure that the Mony given for Publick Vses be so applied And they shall be Conservators of the Liberties And because the Chancellor and Iusticiar are to be frequently with the King they being chosen in Parliament may be two of the Conservators And as they are chosen by the common Assent so they shall not be removed without the same c. P. 641. And when says Matth. Paris the great Men in that Recess of three weeks had diligently treated of these matters which were so exceedingly profitable for the Commonwealth the Enemy of Mankind the Disturber of Peace and the raiser of Division the Devil thro the Pope's Avarice unhappily put a stop to the whole Business For in this nick of time comes a Legate to raise Mony with new and unheard of Powers and this put all into confusion and made work for a long time after Four years after this A. D. 1248. a Parliament meets the sennight after Candlemas at London that they might treat diligently and effectually with our Lord the King of the Affairs of the Realm which is very much disordered and empoverished and enormously maimed in our days P. 743. The Parliament understanding that the King intended to ask an Aid of Money told him that he ought to be asham'd to demand such a thing especially seeing that in the last Exaction of that kind to which the Nobles of England consented with much difficulty he gave them a Charter that he would never burden nor injure them with the like again He was likewise grievously reprehended and no wonder for calling in Aliens and foolishly squandring the Wealth of the Kingdom upon them marrying them to his Wards without their consent and several other his spendthrift and tyrannous Practices And one and all they grievously reproached him for not having as the Magnificent Kings his Predecessors had a Justiciar Chancellor and Treasurer by the Common Council of the Realm and as is fit and expedient but such as follow his will let it be what it will so long as it is for their own Gain and who do not seek the good of the Commonwealth but their own particular profit by gathering Mony and getting the Wards and Revenues to themselves in the first place When our Lord the King heard this being confounded within himself he blush'd knowing that all these things were very true He therefore promised most faithfully that he would readily redress all these things hoping by this humility tho it were feigned to encline all their Hearts to grant him an Aid To whom the whole Parliament which had been often answered with such Promises upon advice made answer That will soon be seen whether the King will reform these things or no and will manifestly appear in a short time We will wait a while with patience and as the King shall carry and behave himself towards us so he shall have us obedient to him in all things Therefore all was adjourned and respited to a fortnight after Midsummer But in the mean time our Lord the King whether it proceeded from his own Spirit or that of his Courtiers who were unwilling to lose any thing of their Power was hardned and more exasperated and never minded to make the least reformation of those Abuses according to his Promise When the day appointed came the Parliament came again to London with a full belief and trust in the King 's firm Promise that leaving his former Errors by the Grace of God bestowed upon him he would encline to more wholesom Advice As soon as they were assembled there came this unhandsom Answer from the King Illepidum responsum All you the Principal Men of England you had a mind to bring the Lord your King to the bent of your uncivil will and pleasure and to impose a very servile Condition upon him That what every one of you may do at pleasure should impudently be denied to him for it is lawful for every body to use whose and what Counsel he will And so it is lawful for every Master of a Family to prefer any one of his House to this or that Office or put him by it or turn him out which you rashly presume to deny even to your Lord the King And this Presumption is still the greater seeing Servants ought by no means to judg their Master nor tie him to their Conditions nor Vassals to do the like by their Prince but all Inferiours whatsoever are to be ordered and directed by the will and pleasure of the Lord and Master For the Servant is not above his Lord as neither the Disciple above his Master and truly he should not be your King but may pass for your Servant if he should thus be brought to your will Wherefore neither will he remove nor Chancellor nor Iusticiar nor Treasurer as you have propounded to order the matter neither will he put any other in their room After the same fashion says M. Paris there was a cavilling Answer to the other wholesom Articles which were sufficiently for the King's Interest But he asks of you an Aid of Mony to recover his Rights in the parts beyond the Seas wherein you your selves are alike concerned
and maintaining the Rights of the Kingdom contained in that Charter and were in affirmance of it Whereby they that have been told the Barons Wars were a Rebellion may know better and every honest Man will find their Cause to be so just that if he had lived in those days he must have joined in it for so we did lately in the Fellow to it at our present Revolution It is well indeed for us that our Ancestors lived before us and with the Expence of their Blood recovered the English Rights for us and saved them out of the Fire otherwise we had been sealed up in Bondage and should have had neither any English Rights to defend nor their noble Example to justify such a Defence but should have been in as profound an Ignorance that ever there were any such Rights as the Barons themselves were of H. I's Charter For in all the steps the Barons took we followed them Did they take Arms for the security of their Liberties so did we Did they withdraw their Allegiance from an arbitrary and perjur'd King so did we Did they set another over his head and proceed to the Creation of a new King so did we And if we had miscarried in our Affair we had not been called Rebels but treated as such and the Bishop of London and all our Worthies had made but a Blue business of it without putting on the Prince of Orange's Livery And therefore it is great ingratitude in those that receive any Benefit or Protection by this happy Revolution to blemish the Cause of the Barons for it is the same they live by and as for those that had a hand in it to call the Barons Cause a Rebellion is utterly unaccountable and like Men that are not of their own side Leaving therefore the proper Work of reproaching and reviling both these as damnable Rebellions to the People at S. Germains and the harder work of proving them so I shall undertake the delightful Task of doing service to this present Rightful Government and at the same time of doing right to the Memory of our antient Deliverers to whom we owe all that distinguishes the Kingdom of England from that of Ceylon It had been wholly needless to have written one word upon this Subject if this Affair had ever been set in a true light as it lies in Antiquity or if our modern Historians had not given a false turn to so much of the matter of fact as they have related and ruin'd the Text by the Comment Mr. Daniel has done this very remarkably for after he has given us enough of this History to justify the Barons Proceedings and they had gained the Establishment of M. Charta Dan. p. 144. he begins his Remarks upon it in these words And in this manner though it were to be wished it had not been in this manner were recovered the Rights of the Kingdom Now tho if it had not been done in this manner it had not been done at all and tho he allows it to be the Recovery of their own the Rights of the Kingdom which one would think a very just and necessary work yet this shrug of a Wish leaves an Impression upon his Reader as if the way wherein they recovered them were unwarrantable On the other side King Iohn would not allow them to be the Rights of the Kingdom at no hand M. P. p. 254. but vain superstitious unreasoble Demands the Barons might as well ask him his Kingdom and he swore he would never grant them such Liberties as should make himself to be a Slave So that I have two things to shew 1 st That they were verily and indeed the Kingdom 's Rights and 2 ly That they were very fairly recovered and that the Barons were in the right both as to Matter and Substance and no way reprovable for Manner and Form The Charter of H. 1. was what the Barons went by and so must we where towards the latter end we find these words P. 56. Lagam Regis Edwardi vobis reddo cum illis emendationibus quibus Pater meus eam emendavit consilio Baronum suorum I Restore you the Law of King Edward with those Amendments my Father made to it by the advice of his Parliament Here was no new Grant he barely made Restitution and gave them back their own And so we find it in his Father's time Ingulphus p. 88. Ces sount les Leis les Custumes que le Reis Will. grentat a tut le puple de Engleterre apres le Conquest de la terre Ice les mesmes que le Reis Edward sun cosin tint devant lui He grants them the self-same Laws and Customs which his Cousin Edward held before him Or as Ordericus Vitalis a Norman has it p. 507. Anglis concessit sub Legibus perseverare patriis He granted to the English that they might persevere in the Laws of their Fathers So that in effect he granted English-men to be English-men to enjoy the Laws they were born to and in which they were bred their Fathers Laws and their Mother Tongue A Country-man would call this a Pig of their own Sow And yet this Grant by way of Charter and under Seal whereby he gave them their own and quitted all claim to it himself was lookt upon as the utmost Confirmation and Corroboration and the last degree of Settlement amongst the Normans And therefore tho K. William was too strong for his own Charter and shamefully broke it yet they covenanted with his Son Hen. 1. before they chose him King that as soon as he was crowned he should give them another which accordingly he did In the same manner they dealt with K. Stephen And this made them covenant after the same manner with K. Iohn before they admitted him to the Crown and so much insisted afterwards upon having his Charter and having their Liberties secured and fortified with his Seal Sigillo suo munitas as they termed it For in those days what was not under Seal was not thought good in Law and not long before in H. 2's time the Bishop of Lincoln in a Trial before the King was for setting aside all the Saxon Kings Charters granted to the Abby of St. Albans for want of a Seal till the King seeing a Charter of H. 1. which confirm'd them all Why here says he In vitis Abb. p. 79. is my Grandfather's Seal this Seal is the Seal of all the Original Charters as much as if it were affixed to every one of them Which wise decision of a young King was thought like Solomon's Judgment in finding out the true Mother For the St. Albans-men had no way of answering their Adversaries Objection That all Privileges that wanted Seals are void because they could not absolutely say there were no Seals in the Saxon times there being a Charter of Edward the Confessor granted to Westminster Abby with a Seal to it But they might easily have bethought themselves that
vel ineptâ contumacia aut contemptu seu proterva voluntate singulari se alienaverit a populo suo nec voluerit per Jura Regni Statuta laudabiles Ordinationes gubernari regulari ex tunc licitum est eis ipsum Regem de regali solio abrogare c. by an antient Statute they had power to depose a King that would not behave himself as he ought nor be ruled by the Laws of the Realm And they instance in this deposing of Edw. 2. but withal as a late and modern thing in respect of the Antiquity of that Statute Such an irrefragable Testimony and Declaration of a Parliament so long since concerning what was ordained in the eldest Ages long before plainly shews the English Constitution and is a full Confutation of the late K. Iames's Memorial at Reswick And this Power seems to be well known to K. Iohn's Barons who when there is occasion talk familiarly of Creating a new King and afterwards were forc'd to do it tho now they only sought their Charter and did not attempt to take from him his Kingdom which the Pope indeed says but it was not true So far have I cleared them from Presumption as Vassals now as Knights It is true their Tenure was to assist the King against the Enemies of the Realm but how if he turn'd so himself Unjust Oppression which is the Pope's own Supposition is no friendly part Must they then aid him against the Realm and be the Instruments of his unjust Oppression upon themselves Their Duty and Service was to the Realm in chief to him it was subaltern And therefore knowing their Duty better than the Pope did they all left K. Iohn all but seven before he could consent to the Parliament at Running-Mead For it is plain the Pope would have had them Passive-Obedience Knights and a Contradiction to their very Order whereby for certain they had forfeited their Spurs Yea but the Barons were Iudges and Executors in their own Cause And who can help it if they were made so in the first Institution and from the very Foundation of this Government As soon as the Saxons had chosen from among themselves one King this the Mirror says expresly was the Jurisdiction of the King's Companions For tho the King had no Peer yet if he wronged any of his People it was not fit that he that was Party should be likewise Judg nor for the same reason any of his Commissioners and therefore these Companions were by their place to right the Subject in Parliament Mirror p. 9. Et tout soit que le Roye ne devoit aver nul Peere en la terre pur ceo nequidant que le Roy de son tort s il pecha vers ascun d son people ne nul de ses Commissaires poit eÌ„ Iudge Partee couvient per droit que le Roy ust Compaignions pur oyer terminer aux Parliaments trestouts les breves plaints de torts de le Roy de la Roigne de lour Infans de eux especialment de que torts len ne poit aver autrement common droit The same is more largely set down by the Lord Chief Justice Bracton and therefore I will transcribe it in his own words Lib. 2. cap. 16. f. 34. Rex autem habet superiorem Deum s. Item Legem per quam factus est Rex Item Curiam suam videlicet Comites Barones quia Comites dicuntur quasi Socii Regis qui habet Socium habet Magistrum ideo si Rex fuerit sine fraeno i. sine Lege debent ei fraenum ponere nisi ipsimet fuerint cum Rege sine fraeno tunc clamabunt subditi dicent Domine Iesu Christe in chamo fraeno maxillas eorum constringe ad quos Dominus vocabo sâ—per eos gentem robustam longinquam ignotam cujus linguam ignorabunt quae destruet eos evellet radices eorum de terrâ a talibus judicabuntur quia subditos noluerunt justè judicare in fine ligatis manibus pedibus eorum mittet eos in caminum ignis tenebras exteriores ubi erit fletus stridor dentium He says the King has these above him God also the Law which makes him a King also his Parliament namely the Earls and Barons who ought to bridle a lawless King c. In this large Passage you plainly see that what the Barons did was so far from being the absurd and presumptuous Usurpation of making themselves Judges and Executors in their own Cause that it was their bounden Duty It was not only lawful for them to restrain and bridle a lawless King but it was incumbent upon them under the greatest Penalties and neither lawful nor safe for them to let it alone So that here the Barons were hard besett the Pope delivers them up to Satan for what they did and they had exposed themselves to the Vengeance of God and going to Hell if they had not done it But they chose to do their Duty to God and their distressed Country and to venture the causeless Curse from Rome I might multiply Quotations out of Fleta and others to the same purpose but what I have set down is sufficient and therefore I shall rather take this occasion to admire the Wisdom of the English Constitution which seems to be built for perpetuity For how can a Government fail which has such lasting Principles within it and a several respective Remedy lodged in the very bowels of it The King has a known Power of causing all his Subjects to keep the Law that is an effectual Remedy against Lawlesness and Anarchy and the Parliament has a Power if need be to hold the King to the observation of the Laws and that is a preservative against Tyranny This is the Palladium of our Government which cannot be stoln as theirs was from Troy for the Keepers of it are too many to be kill'd because every English man has an interest in it for which reason neither can it be bought and sold so as to make a Title and a man of a moderate Understanding may easily undertake that it shall never be preacht away from us And hereby England is rendred the noblest Commonwealth and Kingdom in the World I name Common-wealth first because K. Iames the first in one of his Speeches to the Parliament says he is the Great Servant of the Common-wealth From hence I infer that this was a Commonwealth before he was the Great Servant of it Great and little is not the dispute for it is for the Honour and Interest of so glorious a State to have a Prince as Great as they can make him As to compare great things with small it is for the honour of the City to have a magnificent Lord Mayor And K. Iames told us no news in naming his Office for this is the Country as Fortescue's whole Book shews us where the King is appointed for the