Selected quad for the lemma: land_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
land_n	common_a	life_n	tenant_n	1,383	5	9.8503	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33136	Divi Britannici being a remark upon the lives of all the kings of this isle from the year of the world 2855, unto the year of grace 1660 / by Sir Winston Churchill, Kt.	Churchill, Winston, Sir, 1620?-1688.	1675 (1675)	Wing C4275; ESTC R3774	324,755	351

wade through a Suit without fear of being over-whelm'd it being impossible to suffer but by Judgment of his Inquest as it was then and hath been ever since call'd which consisting of twelve men could not have continued thus long after so many strivings and struglings for Liberty as have been since that time had not the wisdom of so many Ages judg'd it to be the greatest priviledge the Subject could be capable of being that indeed which no less Circumscribes the Soveraigns Power then the Subjects Obedience so that doubtless he hop'd to naturalize himself by it into their good opinion and liking But that which frighted them most was the black Censual Roll therefore call'd by that dismal Name of the Dooms-day Book which discovering the secrets of their Estates left them under strange apprehensions of ensuing Oppression and Tyranny however it was no otherwise intended then as an Instrument to confirm his own by establishing their Rights and Proprieties which having been before under a very uncertain Title and very odly qualified the Tenures of † That is by Charter or Writing Bokeland which they call'd Freehold belonging only to the Nobility being perchance no better then the ancient Fifes that depended on the Will of the first Donors he made absolute and hereditary The Tenure of ‖ Or the Land of the common Fo●k Folkland which was without Writing and so much worse then Tenants at Will at this day that we need not doubt to call it Villenage he chang'd into Estates for Life which have since shew'd us the way to those in Tail neither did he clog their Estates with many Taxes however reputed very avaricious but found out many witty sleights to avoid the necessity of Land Taxes as knowing how clamorous and burthensome they are laying only that of Escuage upon them which yet was done by way of composition rather then imposition in lieu of which he took off that of Danegelt which was sufficient one would have thought to have abated the Grievance Yet such was their Obstinacy Ingratitude or Disdain that they never ceas'd to plot or practise Treason against him giving him renew'd Jealousies from their successive and like to prove successful Conspiracies which as great Waves came thick upon the back of one another never breaking but with so apparent danger as threatned him with a wreck in Port after his escape of all the storms at Sea First Edric the Forrester incouraged by the Welch after Edwin and Morcar Brothers to the late Queen incourag'd by the Scots thinking their splendor eclipsed by the interposition of so many stranger Princes as waited daily in his Court flew to Arms and drew many after them of the Lay Nobility whilst the two Arch-bishops who followed them were attended by as strong a Party of the Clergy the first pretended to make the war legal the last to render it meritorious and whiles he set himself to suppress this danger in the North a new Rebellion presented it self in the West The Citizens of Exeter and those of Oxford incourag'd by the report of new Forces brought out of Ireland by the Sons of Harold not only shut up their Gates but perswaded the Countries also round about to expostulate their Liberties with Swords in their hands and whilst he turns to these they of the North are reinforc'd again by the arrival of two Sons of Swain King of Denmark with a Fleet of no less then 300 Sail and whilst he sent another Party to confront these there rose a storm behind them out of the Isle of Ely and after all this the wide distent of these Tumors fed from many secret Veins swell'd up into a general Combination of all the Neighbour Princes together so that no less then six Kings drew upon him at once the King of France who had 100000 men in readiness to invade him in Normandy the King of Denmark who had prepar'd a Navy of 1600 Sail to invade him by Sea the King of Ireland who appeared with 65 Sail more to second him and the Kings of Scotland and Wales opening their Ports to let them in This though it made the danger seem so much the more considerable by how much it was scarce to be prevented without such a vast Expence of Treasure and Blood as might hazard an irrecoverable Consumption if not put him again to the winning of England yet the resolutions of his great Mind being prae-ordain'd for the great work he had undertaken he shew'd no manner of Consternation at all till at last a way was found to bring himself against himself by setting up his eldest Son Robert to disseize him of the Dutchy of Normandy without any colour of Right This Rebellion indeed was so much the more grievous to him because unnatural and therefore the only one he thought fit to repress by the Authority of his own Presence wherein he proceeded not as one that went to take revenge upon an Enemy or reduce a Rebel but as he ought to chastize an undutiful Son proceeding however with that calmness as if he designed to defeat his Enterprize and not him or in truth rather to surprize then subdue him casting about how he might make him more asham'd then afraid not doubting but like Caesar to overcome him as soon as he came over to him but such was the malignity of his Stars as to make his Son a double Conqueror over him first in commanding his life which shew'd his Power then in giving it back again to him which shew'd his Piety but this as it was too great a Gift to be acknowledged or forgotten so he receiv'd it with such inward indignation as shew'd he only pardon'd what he could not punish But it appear'd afterwards that it was not in the young Rebels power to give back the life he had proceeded so near taking away for the wound in his Spirit was so much deeper then any of those on his Body that it could never be cured however skin'd over bleeding inwardly unperceiv'd till he died which however it were not long after yet he out liv'd most of those great men that were Actors with him in his Undertakings and left not the world till he had sufficiently requited the King of France for this unpardonable injury of seducing his Son taking a slight occasion from a Jest to shew how much he was in Earnest in his Revenge For that King having scoffed at his great Belly saying That he lay in when he was sick at Roan he return'd him word That he should have notice of his Upsitting by the many Bonefires he would make in the heart of his Country Neither was he worse then his Promise for he depopulated all the Towns of note that lay in his way till he came to Mants in the destruction of which goodly City he got his own the Ream of his Belly being broke as 't is thought by a sudden leap of his Horse frighted at the sight of the Conflagrations as he passed by the

Conclusion from so bad a Beginning by making way for some Protestant Lady of that Country that might advance the Reformation begun by him there he vext the Question a long while and finding that the Pope over-aw'd by the Emperour durst not consent to a Divorce he to scandalize him the more set forth by many learned Arguments the unlawfulness of the Marriage and so nettled King Henry that the Pope doubting the effects of his Impatience propos'd by way of Expedient though but faintly to Gregory Cassalis the English Resident then at Rome that he would permit him ut aliam duceret Uxorem which in plain English was That if the King pleased he would allow him to have two Wives at once Now whether it were that the King doubted his power and thought he could not make good what he promised for that he could not make that Marriage out which he had already to be either lawful or unlawful so as to relieve him or dismiss it Or whether he had as is more probable a clear Sentiment of the Popes slight Opinion of him in making so unusual not to say unlawful a Proposal to him is not certain but certain it is he never forgave the Affront till by vertue of his own proper power he had divorced himself from his Authority which the Cardinal labouring to uphold by his Legatine power out of hope of being himself Pope nor only lost himself in the attempt but drew all he Clergy who took part with him into a Premunire Of whose Error his wise Servant Cromwel took the advantage making his Masters fall the occasion of his own rising by whom the thoroughly humbled Convocation we●e perswaded to petition the King for their pardon under the Title and Stile of Ecclesiae Cleri Anglicani Protector supremum Caput which rais'd a greater dispute upon the Supremacy not long after then was before upon the point of Divorce For the Bishop of Rochester who by reason of his great learning and sanctity of Life was a leading man refusing to subscribe the aforesaid Petition unless some words might be added by way of explanation of the Kings Supremacy Cromwel took the Defence thereof upon himself and by advice with Bishop Cranmer there were many Arguments brought to justifie the same both from the Authority of Kingship in general de Communi Jure by vertue of that Divine Law that has given the stile of a Royal Priesthood to all anointed Kings and to which by a parallel Case the Pope himself did not long after give more then a seeming allowance For Clement the Seventh at the interview of Marselles when he was urged by some that desired Reformation and prest for the liberty of receiving the Sacrament in both kinds by an Argument taken from the custome of the Kings of France who alwayes received both Elements he answered That it was a peculiar priviledge by which Kings were differenced from other men as being anointed with the Unction of Priesthood as likewise from the particular Prerogative of the Kings of this Isle de proprio Jure or by the Common Law of this Land which was of ancienter date then any Prescription made by the Pope having been ratified by the Sanction of several Acts of Parliament that had declar'd all Spiritual Jurisdiction to be inherent in the Crown This Doctrine of his wanted not its Use for the King had this immediate benefit of the Dispute to be restored to the Annates and First-fruits of the Bishopricks and now the Bond of his Holiness 's Authority being thus loosed one priviledge dropt out after another till at length they not only divested him of the profit but of the honour of his Fatherhood forbidding any to call him any more * Anciently written Pa. Pa. i. e. Pater Patriarcharum Papa or Pater for that there could be but one Lord and Father but only Bishop of Rome These Annates as they were some of the principal Flowers of the Triple Crown and could not well be pluck'd off without defacing the Sacred Tyara so the whole Conclave took such an alarm at the loss of them that apprehending no less then a total defection to follow they most peremptorily cited the King himself to appear at Rome under pain of Excommunication This was thought to be so unreasonable an Indignity offered to his Majesty in respect it was neither convenient for him to abandon his Kingdom by going so far in Person nor any way decent to trust the Secrets of his Conscience to a pragmatical Proctor that the Parliament who were conven'd to consider of the matter thought it but necessary to put a stop to all Appeals to be made out of the Realm under the penalty of Premunire and pray'd his Majesty without more ado to appoint a Court of Delegates here at home to determine the Cause Upon which the Marriage being not long after declared void Cromwell hastned on the Match with the Lady Anne Bulloigne but the Court of Rome judging the first Marriage good and the last void anathematiz'd all that were assistant in the Divorce and to shew how much they were incens'd by the precipitation of their Sentence they concluded it in one only which by the usual Form could not be finish'd in less then three Consistories This began that Fiery tryal which followed not long after wherein we may say his Holiness himself prov'd to be the very first Martyr dying immediately after the pronunciation of that great Curse as one blasted by the Lightning of his own Thunder whereby the Church Universal being without a Head The Reformists here took that opportunity to provide for their own by declaring the King Supream Head in Earth of the Church of England for the support of which Dignity they vested in the Crown the First-fruits of all Benefices as they had before of all Bishopricks Dignities and Offices whatever spiritual Setting forth in what manner Bishops Suffragans should be nominated and appointed and what their Priviledges and Authorities should be In defence of which their proceedings the King himself wrote an excellent Book or at least it pass'd for his De Potestate Christianorum Regum in suis Ecclesiis contra Pontificis Tyrannidem c. But there were many however and those of no small note who continued so obstinate in their Popish Principles that they could neither be moved by his Pen nor his Penalties to submit chusing rather to part with their Blood then their Blessing And whether they were real or mistaken Martyrs or not rather Sufferers then Martyrs I will not take upon me to say it being as hard for others to judge them as for themselves to judge the thing they died for Truth and Treason being in those dayes Qualities so like one another that they were scarcely to be discern'd as appears by the nice Cases of those two I think the most eminent persons of all that were so unhappy as to suffer for setting up the Papal above the Regal Authority the