sometime or other been true since mony both in its Coyns and Summs hath in several Ages of the World risen and fallen according to its plenty or scarcity Lin. 42. Being arighted and accused of any matter Or rather in the Law-spelling arrested in Latin rectatus that is ad rectum vocatus convened before a Magistrate and charged with a crime Thus ad rectum habere is in Bracton to have a man forth coming so as he may be charged and put upon his tryal It may be also rendred taken upon suspicion It is written sometime retatus and irretitus Pag. 70. lin 33. To give suretiship for the Remainder I confess I do not well know how to apply to this place that sense which our Common Law takes the word Remainder in for a power or hope to enjoy Lands Tenements or Rents after anothers estate or term expired when an estate doth not revert to the Lord or Granter of it but remains to be enjoyed by some third person What if we say that as Bishops could not because their estates are of Alms grant any part of their Demeans ad remanentiam for ever or to perpetuity so here Excommunicate persons were not obliged dare vadium ad remanentiam to find sureties for continuance or for perpetuity that is for their future good behaviour but only to stand to the judgement of the Church in that particular case for which they were at present sentenced CHAP. XI Pag. 72. lin 24. If a Claim or Suit shall arise In the Latin si calumnia emerserit a known and frequent word in our Law which signifies a Claim or Challenge otherwise termed clameum Lin. 37. Till it shall by Plea be deraigned or dereyned which is in French dereyné in the Latin disrationatum which as it hath several significations in Law so here it imports after a full debate and fair hearing the determination of the matter by the judgement of the Court. CHAP. XII Pag. 75. lin 2. By the name of Yumen The same say some as the Danes call yong men Others derive the word from the Saxon geman or the old Dutch Gemen that is common and so it signifies a Commoner Sir Tho. Smith calls him Yoman whom our Laws term legalem hominem a Free-man born so Camden renders it by Ingenuus who is able to spend of his own free Land in yearly Revenue to the summ of Forty Shillings such as we now I suppose call Free-holders who have a Voice at the Election of Parliament-men But here the word is taken in a larger sense so as to include servile Tenure also or Villenage CHAP. XIII Pag. 77. lin 5. Leude men From the Saxon Leod the common people It signified in Law a Subject a Liege man a Vassal a Tenant hence in High-dutch a Servant was called Leute in Old English a Lout But in common acception Lewd was formerly taken for a Lay-man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one of the people or for any illiterate person Now it is used to denote one who is wicked or loose and debauched CHAP. XIV Pag. 79. lin 8. The States of the Kingdom the Baronage He means the whole Parliament and not only the House of Lords by the word Baronage For though by Barons now we properly understand the Peers of the Realm yet anciently all Lords of Manours those who kept Court-Baron were styled Barons Nay Spelman tells us that all Free-holders went by that name before the Free-holds were quit letted out into such small pittances as now they are while Noble-men kept their Lands in their own hands and managed them by their Vassals Cowell gives this further account of those Lords of Manours that he had heard by men very learned in our Antiquities that near after the Conquest all such came to Parliament and sate as Nobles in the Upper House But as he goes on when by experience it appeared that the Parliament was too much pestered with such multitudes it grew to a custom that none should come but such as the King for their extraordinary wisdom or quality thought good to call by Writ which Writ ran hâc vice tantùm that is only for this turn So that then it depended wholly upon the Kings pleasure And then he proceeds to shew how after that they came to be made Barons by Letters Patents and the Honour to descend to their posterity Lin. 27. By way of safe pledge That is to oblige them to give security for the parties appearance against the day assigned who in case of default were to undergo the dammage and peril of it Pag. 80. lin 7. St. Peter's pence These Peter-pence were also called in Saxon Romescot and Romefeoh that is a Tribute or Fee due to Rome and Rome-penny and Hearth-penny It was paid yearly by every Family a Penny a house at the Feast of S. Peter ad Vincula on the first day of August It was granted first sayes our Author out of Malmesbury by Ina or Inas King of the West-Saxons when he went on Pilgrimage to Rome in the year of our Lord 720. But there is a more clear account given by Spelman in the word Romascot that it was done by Offa King of the Mercians out of an Author that wrote his Life And it is this That Offa after thirty six years Reign having vowed to build a Stately Monastery to the memory of St. Alban the British Protomartyr he went on Pilgrimage to Rome Adrian the First then Pope to beg Indulgences and more than ordinary Priviledges for the intended work He was kindly received and got what he came for and the next day going to see an English School that had been set up at Rome he for the maintenance of the poor English in that School gave a Penny for every house to be paid every year throughout his Dominion which was no less than three and twenty Shires at that time only the Lands of S. Alban excepted And this to be paid at the Feast of S. Peter because he found the body of the Martyr on that day for which reason it was also called S. Peter's Penny And although at last these Peter-pence were claim'd by the Pope as his own due and an Apostolical right yet we find that beside the maintenance of a School here mentioned for which they were first given they have by other Kings been appropriated to other uses Thus we read that Athelwolf Father to King Alured who was the first Monarch of this Isle granted three hundred Marks the summ total of the Peter-pence here bating only an odd Noble to be paid yearly at Rome One hundred for the honour of S. Peter to find Lights for his Church another hundred for the honour of S. Paul on the like occasion and the third hundred for the Pope's use to enlarge his Alms. This was done in the year 858. when Leo the Fourth was Pope Lin. 9. Thirty pence of live money Possibly the worth or value of thirty pence in Goods and Chattels King Offa in his Grant
breeding of their Children the Marrying of their Wives the Governing of their Families burning Women that killed their Husbands and burning some Servants with the dead Master for company Together with some Remarks of their publick Government p. 16 CHAP. XII Women admitted to publick debates A large commendation of the Sex together with a vindication of their fitness to govern against the Salick Law made out by several examples of most Nations p. 18 CHAP. XIII Their putting themselves under protection by going into great mens service Their Coins of money and their weighing of it Some sorts of flesh not lawful to be eaten by them p. 21 CHAP. XIV Community of Wives among the Britans used formerly by other Nations also Chalcondylas his mistake from our Civil Custom of Saluting A rebuke of the foolish humour of Jealousie p. 22 CHAP. XV. An account of the British State under the Romans Claudius wins a Battel and returns to Rome in Triumph and leaves A. Plautius to order affairs A Colony is sent to Maldon in Essex and to several other places The nature of these Colonies out of Lipsius Julius Agricola's Government here in Vespasian's time p. 24 CHAP. XVI In Commodus his time King Lucy embraces the Christian Religion and desires Eleutherius then Pope to send him the Roman Laws In stead of Heathen Priests he makes three Arch-Bishops and twenty eight Bishops He endows the Churches and makes them Sanctuaries The manner of Government in Constantine's time where ends the Roman account p. 27 CHAP. XVII The Saxons are sent for in by Vortigern against the Scots and Picts who usurping the Government set up the Heptarchy The Angles Jutes Frisons all called Saxons An account of them and their Laws taken out of Adam of Bremen p. 29 CHAP. XVIII The Saxons division of their people into four ranks No person to marry out of his own rank What proportion to be observed in Marriages according to Policy Like to like the old Rule Now Matrimony is made a matter of money p. 30 CHAP. XIX The Saxons way of judging the Event of War with an Enemy Their manner of approving a proposal in Council by clattering their Arms. The Original of Hundred-Courts Their dubbing their Youth into Men. The priviledge of young Lads Nobly born The Morganheb or Wedding-dowry p. 32 CHAP. XX. Their severe punishments of Adultery by maiming some parts of the body The reason of it given by Bracton The like practised by Danes and Normans p. 33 CHAP. XXI The manner of Inheriting among them Of deadly Feuds Of Wergild or Head-money for Murder The Nature of Country-Tenures and Knights Fees p. 36 CHAP. XXII Since the return of Christianity into the Island King Ethelbert's Law against Sacriledge Thieves formerly amerced in Cattel A blot upon Theodred the Good Bishop of London for hanging Thieves The Country called Engelond by Order of King Egbert and why so called The Laws of King Ina Alfred Ethelred c. are still to be met with in Saxon. Those of Edward the Confessor and King Knute the Dane were put forth by Mr. Lambard in his Archaeonomia p. 37 CHAP. XXIII King Alfred divides England into Counties or Shires and into Hundreds and Tythings The Original of Decenna or Court-leet Friburg and Mainpast Forms of Law how People were to answer for those whom they had in Borgh or Mainpast p. 39 CHAP. XXIV King Alfred first appointed Sheriffs By Duns Scotus his advice he gave Order for the breeding up of Youth in Learning By the way what a Hide of Land is King Edgar's Law for Drinking Prelates investiture by the Kings Ring and Staff King Knute's Law against any English-man that should kill a Dane Hence Englescyre The manner of Subscribing and Sealing till Edward the Confessor's time King Harold's Law that no Welch-man should come on this side Offa's Dike with a weapon p. 41 CHAP. VXX The Royal Consorts great Priviledge of Granting Felons Estates forfeited to the King Estates granted by the King with three Exceptions of Expedition Bridge and Castle The Ceremony of the Kings presenting a Turf at the Altar of that Church to which he gave Land Such a Grant of King Ethelbald comprized in old Verse p. 43 THE CONTETNS BOOK II. CHAP. I. WIlliam the Conquerour's Title He bestows Lands upon his followers and brings Bishops and Abbots under Military service An account of the old English Laws called Merchenlage Danâ—lage and Westsaxen-lage He is prevailed upon by the Barons to govern according to King Edward's Laws and at S. Albans takes his Oath so to do Yet some new Laws were added to those old ones p. 47 CHAP. II. The whole Country inrolled in Dooms-day Book Why that Book so called Robert of Glocester's Verses to prove it The Original of Charters and Seals from the Normans practised of old among the French Who among the Romans had the priviledge of using Rings to seal with and who not p. 51 CHAP. III. Other wayes of granting and conveying Estates by a Sword c. particularly by a Horn. Godwin's trick to get Boseham of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Pleadings in French The French Language and Hand when came in fashion Coverseâ— Laws against taking of Deer against Murder against Rape p. 54 CHAP. IV. Sheriffs and Juries were before this time The four Terms Judges to act without appeal Justices of Peace The Kings payments made at first in Provisions Afterwards changed into Mony which the Sheriff of each County was to pay in to the Exchequer The Constable of Dover and Warder of the Cinque Ports why made A disorder in Church-affairs Reformed p. 56 CHAP. V. William Rufus succeeds Annats now paid to the King Why claimed by the Pope No one to go out of the Land without leave Hunting of Deer made Felony p. 59 CHAP. VI. Henry the First why called Beauclerk His Letters of Repeal An Order for the Relief of Lands What a Hereot was Of the Marriage of the Kings Homagers Daughter c. Of an Orphans Marriage Of the Widows Dowry Of other Homagers the like Coynage-money remitted Of the disposal of Estates The Goods of those that dye Intestate now and long since in the Churches Jurisdiction as also the business of Wills Of Forfeitures Of Misdemeanors Of Forests Of the Fee de Hauberk King Edward's Law restored p. 60 CHAP. VII His order for the restraint of his Courtiers What the punishment of Theft Coyners to lose their Hands and Privy members Guelding a kind of death What Half-pence and 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 Coverfeâ— 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
before the first Parliament under King James has been made against those Swill-bowls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Swabbers of drunken Feasts and lusty Rowers In full brimm'd Rummers that do ply their Dars who by their carowses tipling up Nestor's years as if they were celebrating the Goddess Anna Perenna do at the same time drink others Healths and mischief and spoil their own and the Publick 39. There was no choice of Prelates these are the words of Ingulph again that was merely free and canonical but the Court conferred all Dignities as well of Bishops as of Abbots by the Kings Ring and Staff according to his good pleasure The Election or choice was in the Clergy and the Monks but they desired him whom they had chosen of the King Edmund in King Ethelred's time was after this manner made Bishop of the Holy Island on the Coast of Northumberland And King Edgar in his Patent which he signed to the Abby of Glastenbury retained to himself and his Heirs the power of bestowing the Pastoral Staff to the Brother Elect. 40. To as many as King Knute retained with him in England to wit to the Danes for by their hands also was the Scepter of this Kingdom managed it was granted that they should have a firm peace all over so that if any of the English killed any of those men whom the King had brought along with him if he could not clear himself by the Judgment of God that is by Ordeal to wit by water and burning hot iron Justice should be done upon him But if he run away and could not be taken there should be paid for him sixty six marks and they were gathered in the Village where the Party was slain and therefore because they had not the murderer forth coming and if in such Village by reason of their poverty they could not be gathered then they should be gathered in the Hundred to be paid into the Kings Treasure In this manner writes Henry Bracton who observes that hence the business of Englishshire came into fashion in the Inquests of murder 41. Hand-Writings i.e. Patents and Grants till Edward the Confessors time were confirmed by the subscriptions of faithful Persons presâ—nt a thing practised too among the Britans in King Arthur's time as John Price informs us out of a very ancient Book of the Church of Landaff Those subscriptions were accompanied with Golden Crosses and other sacred Seals or like stamps 42. King Harald made a Law that whosoever of the Welch should be found with a Weapon about him without the bound which he had set them to wit Offa's dike he should have his Right Hand cut off by the Kings Officers This dike our Chorographer tells us was cut by Offa King of the Mercians and drawn along from the mouth of the River Dee to the mouth of the River Wye for about eighty miles in length on purpose to keep the English and Welch asunder CHAP. XXV The Royal Consorts great Priviledge of Granting Felons Estates forfeited to the King Estates granted by the King with three Exceptions of Expedition Bridge and Castle The Ceremony of the Kings presenting a Turf at the Altar of that Church to which he gave Land Such a Grant of King Ethelbald comprized in old Verse THe Donations or Grants of the Royal Consort though not by the Kings Authority contrary to what the Priviledge of any other Wife is were ratified also in that Age as they were by the Roman Law Which by the Patent of Aethelswith Wife to Burghred King of the Mercians granted to Cuthwuls in the year 868. hath been long since made out by Sir Edward Coke Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas Where also King Ethelred's ancient Charter proves that the Estates of Felons those I mean who concern themselves in Burglaries and Robberies are forfeited to the King Having already mentioned those Hand-writings or Grants which are from one hand and t'other conveyances of Tenure the fewel of quarrels I have a mind over and above what has been said to set down also these Remarks as being to our purpose and taken from the Saxons As for instance that those are most frequent whereby Estates are conveyed to be held with the best and fairest right yet most commonly these three things excepted to wit Expedition Repairing of Bridges and Building of Castles And that those to whom the Grants were made were very seldom acquitted upon this account These three exceptions are noted by the term of a three-knotted necessity in an old Charter wherein King Cedwalla granted to Wilfrid the first Bishop of Shelsey in Sussex the Village of Paganham in the said County For though in the Grants of King Ethelulph the Church be free says Ingulph and there be a concession of all things for the release of our Souls and pardon of our sins to serve God alone without Expedition and building of Bridge and fortifying of Castle to the intent that the Clergy might wholly attend Divine Service Yet in that publick debate of Parliament in the Reign of Henry the third concerning the ancient State Freedom and Government of the English Church and concerning the hourly exactions of the Pope and the Leeches Jugglers and Decoys of Rome that strolled up and down the Country to pick Peoples Pockets to the great prejudice of the Common-wealth they did indeed stand for the priviledge of the Church and produced as Witnesses thereof the Instruments and Grants of Kings who nevertheless were not so much inclined to countenance that liberty of the Church but that as Matthew Paris observes They always reserved to themselves for the publick advantage of the Kingdom three things to wit Expedition and the repairing or making up of Bridge or Castle that by them they might withstand the incursions of the Enemy And King Eâ—helbald hath this form I grant that all the Monasteries and Churches of my Kingdom be discharged from publick Customs or Taxes Works or Services and Burdens or Payments or Attendances unless it be the building and repairing of Castles or Bridges which cannot be released to any one I take no notice how King Ethelred the twelfth perhaps but by no means the fifteenth wherein an Historian of ours has blundred hath signed the third year of his Reign by the term of an Olympiad after the manner of the Greek computation or reckoning As likewise I pass other things of the like kind which are many times used and practised according to the fancy of the Clerks or Notaries However the last words which are the close of these Grants and Patents are not to be slighted These we may see in that of Cedwalla King of the South-Saxons made to Theadore Arch-Bishop of Canterbury in the year 687. thus For a further confirmation of my grant I Cedwalla have laid a Turf of the Land aforesaid upon the holy Altar of my Saviour And with my own hand being ignorant
all things in William's time were new How can a man chuse but believe it The Abbot of Crowland sayes this of it I have brought with me from London into my Monastery the Laws of the most Righteous King Edward which my Renowned Lord King William hath by Proclamation ordered under most grievous penalties to be authentick and perpetual to be kept inviolably throughout the whole Kingdom of England and hath recommended them to his Justices in the same language wherein they were at first set forth and published And in the Life of Fretherick Abbot of S. Albans you have this account After many debates Arch-Bishop Lanfrank being then present at Berkhamstead in Hartfordshire the King did for the good of peace take his Oath upon all the Reliques of the Church of S. Alban and by touching the holy Gospels Fretherick the Abbot administring the Oath that he would inviolably observe the good and approved ancient Laws of the Kingdom which the holy and pious Kings of England his Predecessors and especially King Edward had appointed But you will much more wonder at that passage of William le Rouille of Alençon in his Preface to the Norman Customs That vulgar Chronicle saith he which is intitled the Chronicle of Chronicles bears witness that S. Edward King of England was the Maker or Founder of this Custom where he speaks of William the Bastard Duke of Normandy alias King of England saying that whereas the foresaid S. Edward had no Heirs of his own Body he made William Heir of the Kingdom who after the Defeat and Death of Harald the Usurper of the Kingdom did freely obtain and enjoy the Kingdom upon this condition to wit that he would keep the Laws which had before been made by the fore-mentioned Edward which Edward truly had also given Laws to the Normans as having been a long time also brought up himself in Normandy Where then I pray you is the making of new Laws Why without doubt according to Tilbury we are to think that together with the ratifying of old Laws there was mingled the making of some new ones and in this case one may say truly with the Poet in his Panegyrick Firmatur senium Juris priscamque resumunt Canitiem leges emendanturque vetustae Acceduntque novae which in English speaks to this sense The Laws old age stands firm by Royal care Statutes resume their ancient gray hair Old ones are mended with a fresh repair And for supply some new ones added are See here we impart unto thee Reader these new Laws with other things which thou maist justly look for at my hands in this place CHAP. II. The whole Country inrolled in Dooms-day Book Why that Book so called Robert of Glocester's Verses to prove it The Original of Charters and Seals from the Normans practised of old among the French Who among the Romans had the priviledge of using Rings to seal with and who not 1. HE caused all England to be described and inrolled a whole company of Monks are of equal authority in this business but we make use of Florentius of Worcester for our witness at this time how much Land every one of his Barons was possessed of how many Soldiers in fee how many Ploughs how many Villains how many living Creatures or Cattel I and how much ready mony every one was Master of throughout all his Kingdom from the greatest to the least and how much Revenue or Rent every Possession or Estate was able to yield That breviary or Present State of the Kingdom being lodged in the Archives for the generality of it containing intirely all the Tenements or Tenures of the whole Country or Land was called Dooms-day as if one would say The day of Doom or Judgment For this reason saith he of Tilbury we call the same Dooms-day Book Not that there is in it sentence given concerning any doubtful cases proposed but because it is not lawful upon any account to depart from the Doom or Judgment aforesaid Reader If it will not make thy nice Stomach wamble let me bring in here an old fashioned Rhyme which will hardly go down with our dainty finical Verse-wrights of an historical Poet Robert of Glocester One whom for his Antiquity I must not slight concerning this Book The K. W. vor to wite the worth of his londe Let enqueri streitliche thoru al Engelonde Hou moni plou lond and hou moni hiden also Were in everich sire and wat hii were wurth yereto And the rents of each toun and of the waters echone That wurth and of woods eke that there ne bileved none But that he wist wat hii were wurth of al Engelonde And wite al clene that wurth thereof ich understond And let it write clene inou and that scrit dude iwis In the Tresorie at Westminster there it yut is So that vre Kings suth when hii ransome toke And redy wat folc might give hii fond there in yor boke Considering how the English Language is every day more and more refined this is but a rude piece and looks scurvily enough But yet let us not be unmindful neither that even the fine trim artifices of our quaint Masters of Expression will themselves perhaps one day in future Ages that shall be more critical run the same risk of censure and undergo the like misfortune And that Multa renascentur quae nunc cecidere cadentque Quae nunc sunt in honore As Horace the Poet born at Venusium tells us That is Several words which now are fal'n full low Shall up again to place of Honour start And words that now in great esteem I trow Are held shall shortly with their honour part 2. The Normans called their Writings given under their hand Charters I speak this out of Ingulph and they ordered the confirmation of such Charters with an impression of Wax by every ones particular Seal under the Testimony and Subscription of three or four Witnesses standing by But Edward the Confessor had also his Seal though that too from Normandy For in his time as the same Writer saith Many of the English began to let slip and lay aside the English Fashions bringing in those of the Normans in their stead and in many things to follow the customs of the Franks all great persons to speak the French Tongue in their Courts looking upon it as a great piece of gentility to make their Charters and Writings alamode of France and to be ashamed of their own Country usages in these and other like cases Nay and if Leland an Eye-witness may be believed our great Prince Arthur had his Seal also which he saith he saw in the Church of Westminster with this very inscription PATRITIUS ARTHURIUS BRITANNIAE GALLIAE GERMANIAE DACIAE IMPERATOR That is The Right Noble ARTHUR Emperor of Britanny France Germany and Transylvania But that the Saxons had this from the Normans is a thing out of all question Their Grants or Letters
Patents signed with Crosses and subscribed with Witnesses names do give an undoubted credit and assurance to what I have said John Ross informs us that Henry Beauclerk was the first that made use of one of Wax and Matthew of Canterbury that Edward the first did first hang it at the bottom of his Royal Writings by way of Label whereas before his Predecessors fastned it to the left side Such a writing of Henry the first in favour of Anselm the last Author makes mention of and such an one of William's Duke of the Normans though a very short one and very small written Brian-Twine in his Apology for the Antiquity of the famous University of Oxford the great Study and support of England and my ever highly honoured Mother saith he had seen in the Library of the Right Honourable my Lord Lumley But let a circumcised Jew or who else will for me believe that story concerning the first Seal of Wax and the first fastning of it to the Writing A great many waxen ones of the French Peers that I may say something of those in wax and Golden ones of their Kings to wit betwixt the years 600 and 700 we meet with fashioned like Scutcheons or Coats of Arms in those Patterns or Copies which Francis de Rosieres has in his first Tome of the Pedigree or Blazonry of the Dukes of Lorain set down by way of Preface Nor was it possible that the Normans should not have that in use which had been so anciently practised by the French Let me add this out of the ancient Register of Abendon That Richard Earl of Chester who flourished in the time of Henry the first ordered to sign a certain Writing with the Seal of his Mother Ermentrude seeing that being not girt with a Soldiers Belt i. e. not yet made Knight all sorts of Letters directed by him were inclosed with his Mothers Seal How what is that I hear Had the Knightly dignity and Order the singular priviledge as it was once at Rome to wear Gold-Rings For Rings as 't is related out of Ateius Capito were especially designed and ingraven for Seals Let Phoebus who knows all things out of his Oracle tell us For Servants or Slaves so says Justus Lipsius and remarks it from those that had been dug up in Holland and common Soldiers were allowed iron ones to sign or to seal with which therefore Flavius Vopiscus calls annulos sigillaricios i. e. seal-Rings and so your ordinary Masters of Families had such with a Key hanging at it to seal and lock up their provision and utensils But saith Ateius of the ancient time Neither was it lawful to have more than one Ring nor for any one to have one neither but for Freemen whom alone trust might become which is preserved under Seal and therefore the Servants of a Family had not the Right and Priviledge of Rings I come home to our selves now CHAP. III. Other ways of granting and conveying Estates by a Sword c. particularly by a Horn. Godwin's trick to get Boseham of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Pleadings in French The French Language and Hand when came in fashion Coverfeu Laws against taking of Deer against Murder against Rape 3. AT first many Lands and Estates were collated or bestowed by bare word of mouth without Writing or Charter only with the Lords Sword or Helmet or a Horn or a Cup and very many Tenements with a Spur with a Currycomb with a Bow and some with an Arrow But these things were in the beginning of the Norman Reign in after times this fashion was altered says Ingulph I and these things were before the Normans Government Let King Edgar his Staff cut in the middle and given to Glastenbury Abbey for a testimony of his Grant be also here for a testimony And our Antiquary has it of Pusey in Berkshire That those who go by the name of Pusey do still hold by a Horn which heretofore had been bestowed upon their Ancestors by Knute the Danish King In like manner to the same purpose an old Book tells this story That one Vlphus the Son of Toraldus turned aside into York and filled the Horn that he was used to drink out of with Wine and before the Altar upon his bended knees drinking it gave away to God and to St. Peter the Prince of the Apostles all his Lands and Revenues Which Horn of his saith Camden we have been told was kept or reserved down to our Fathers memory We may see the conveyance of Estate how easie it was in those days and clear from the punctilio's of Law and withal how free from the captious malice of those petty-foggers who would intangle Titles and find flaws in them and from the swelling Bundles and Rolls of Parchments now in use But commend me to Godwin Earl of Kent who was to use Hâ—gesander's word too great a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 catcher at Syllables and as the Comedian says more shifting than a Potters wheel Give me saith he to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Boseham The Arch-Bishop admiring what it was he would be at in that question saith I give you Boseham He straight upon the confidence of this deceit without any more ado entred upon an Estate of the Arch Bishops of that name on the Sea-coasts of Sussex as if it had been his own by Inheritance And with the testimony of his people about him spoke of the Arch-Bishop before the King as the donor of it and quietly enjoyed it Those things I spoke of before to wit of Sword Horn c. smell of that way of investing into Fees which we meet with in Obertus de Orto but are very unlike to that solemn ceremony which is from ancient time even still used in conveying of an Estate and delivering possession wherein a green Turf or the bough of a growing Tree is required 4. They did so much abhor the English tongue 't is the Abbot of Crowland saith it that the Laws of the Land and the Statutes of the English Kings were handled or pleaded in the French language For till the thirty sixth year of Edward the third all businesses of Law were pleaded in French That also in Schools the Rudiments of Grammatical Institution were delivered to Boys in French and not in English Also that the English way and manner of Writing was laid aside and the French mode was made use of in all Charters or Instruments and Books Indeed it was such a fault to be ignorant in the French or not to be able to speak it that mainly upon this account in the Reign of William Rufus Vlstan Bishop of Worcester was censured as unworthy of his place and deprived of his dignity who as to other things according to the simplicity of that Age was Scholar enough The Abbot whom I quoted speaks thus of the French Character The Saxon hand was used by all the Saxons and Mercians in all their
of Letters have set down and expressed the mark or sign of the Holy Cross. Concerning Withred and a Turf of Land in Kent Camden has the same thing And King Ethelulph is said to have offered his Patent or Deed of Gift on the Altar of the holy Apostle St. Peter For a conclusion I know no reason why I may not set underneath the Verses of an old Poet wherein he hath comprised the instrument or Grant of founding an Abby which Ethelbald King of the Mercians gave to Kenulph Abbot of Crowland Verses I say but such as were made without Apollo's consent or knowledge Istum Kenulphum si quis vexaverit Anglus Rex condemno mihi cuncta catella sua Inde meis Monachis de damnis omnibus ultrà Vsque satisfaciat carcere clausus erit Adsunt ante Deum testes hujus dationis Anglorum proceres Pontificesque mei Sanctus Guthlacus Confessor Anachorita Hic jacet in cujus auribus ista loquâ—r Oret pro nobis sanctissimus iste Sacerdos Ad tumbam cujus haec mea donâ— dedi Which in Rhyme dogrel will run much after this hobling rate If any English vex this Kenulph shall I King condemn to me his Chattels all Thenceforth until my Monks he satisfie For damages in Prison he shall lye Witnesses of this Gift here in Gods fight Are English Peers and Prelates of my Right Saint Guthlac Confessor and Anchoret Lies here in whose Ears these words I speak yet May he pray for us that most holy Priest At whose Tomb these my Gifts I have addrest Thus they closed their Donations or Grants thus we our Remarks of the Saxons being now to pass to the Normans THE SECOND BOOK OF THE ENGLISH JANUS From the NORMAN Conquest to the Death of King Henry II. CHAP. I. William the Conquerour's Title He bestows Lands upon his followers and brings Bishops and Abbots under Military Service An account of the old English Laws called Merchenlage Danelage and Westsaxen-lage He is prevailed upon by the Barons to govern according to King Edward's Laws and at S. Albans takes his Oath so to do Yet some new Laws were added to those old ones WILLIAM Duke of Normandy upon pretence of a double Right both that of Blood inasmuch as Emme the Mother of Edward the Confessor was Daughter to Richard the first Duke of the Normans and withal that of Adoption having in Battel worsted Harald the Son of Godwin Earl of Kent obtain'd a large Inheritance and took possession of the Royal Government over all England After his Inauguration he liberally bestowed the Lands and Estates of the English upon his fellow-soldiers that little which remained so saith Matthew Paris he put under the yoke of a perpetual servitude Upon which account some while since the coming in of the Normans there was not in England except the King himself any one who held Land by right of Free-hold as they term it since in sooth one may well call all others to a man only Lords in trust of what they had as those who by swearing fealty and doing homage did perpetually own and acknowledge a Superior Lord of whom they held and by whom they were invested into their Estates All Bishopricks and Abbacies which held Baronies and so far forth had freedom from all Secular service the fore-cited Matthew is my Author he brought them under Military service enrolling every Bishoprick and Abbacy according to his own pleasure how many Souldiers he would have each of them find him and his Successors in time of Hostility or War Having thus according to this model ordered the Agrarian Law for the division and settlement of Lands he resolved to govern his Subjects we have it from Gervase of Tilbury by Laws and Ordinances in writing to which purpose he proposed also the English Laws according to their Tripartite or threefold distinction that is to say Merchenlage Danlage and Westsaxenlage Merchenlage that is the Law of the Mercians which was in force in the Counties of Glocester Worcester Hereford Warwick Oxford Chester Salop and Stafford Danlage that is the Law of the Danes which bore sway in Yorkshire Derby Nottingham Leicester Lincoln Northampton Bedford Buckingham Hertford Essex Middlesex Norfolk Suffolk Cambridge Huntingdon Westsaxenlage that is the Law of the West-Saxons to which all the rest of the thirty two Counties which are all that Malmesbury reckons up in Ethelred's time did belong to wit Kent Sussex Surrey Berks Southampton Winton Somerset Dorset and Devon Some of these English Laws he disliked and laid aside others he approved of and added to them some from beyond Sea out of Neustria he means Normandy which they did of old term Neustria corruptly instead of Westrich as being the more Western Kingdom of the Franks and given by Charles the Simple to Rollo for his Daughter Gilla her portion such of them as seemed most effectual for the preserving of the Kingdoms peace This saith he of Tilbury Now this is no rare thing among Writers for them to devise that William the Conqueror brought in as it were a clear new face of Laws to all intents and purposes 'T is true this must be acknowledg'd that he did make some new ones part whereof you may see in Lambard's Archaeonomia and part of them here subjoyned but so however that they take their denomination from the English rather than from the Normans although one may truly say according to what Lawyers dispute that the English Empire and Government was overthrown by him That he did more especially affect the Laws of the Danes which were not much unlike to those of the Norwegians to whom William was by his Grand-father allied in blood I read in the Annals of Roger Hoveden And that he openly declared that he would rule by them at hearing of which all the great men of the Countrey who had enacted the English Laws were presently struck into dumps and did unanimously petition him That he would permit them to have their own Laws and ancient Customs in which their Fathers had lived and they themselves had been born and bred up in forasmuch as it would be very hard for them to take up Laws that they knew not and to give judgement according to them But the King appearing unwilling and uneasie to be moved they at length prosecuted their purpose beseeching him that for the Soul of King Edward who had after his death given up the Crown and Kingdom to him and whose the Laws were and not any others that were strangers he would hearken to them and grant that they might continue under their own Countrey Laws Whereupon calling a Council he did at the last yield to the request of the Barons From that day forward therefore the Laws of King Edward which had before been made and appointed by his Grand-father Adgar seeing their authority were before the rest of the Laws of the Countrey respected confirmed and observed all over England But what then Doth it follow that
is the Hall of the Gild or Society such as was once the Stilyard called Gildhalla Tentonicorum the Gild-hall for the Dutch Merchants from the Hanse-Towns CHAP. VII Pag. 63. lin 25. Iphis and Ianthis and Ceneus Persons mention'd by Ovid who changed their Sex from Female to Male. Iphis was a Maid of Creet who after her Metamorphosis when she turn'd to Man took Ianthe to Wife and Canis for that was her Maiden Name was a Thessalian Girl whom Neptune made a Whore of first and then at her request a Man who thenceforward went by the Name of Caeneus Lin. 34. Cheats whom they commonly call Coyners In Malmesbury's Latin Trapezitas quos vulgò Monetarios vocant Which bare citation is all the account that Spelman gives of the word Monetarius It doth properly signifie an Officer of the Mint that makes and coyns the Kings money a Monier But here by the Historian's implying that such fellows as this Law was made against were falsarii Cheats and by our Author 's terming of them adulteratores monetae Counterfeiters of Coyn we must understand them to be False Coyners Clippers Washers Imbasers of the Kings Coyn and the like And therefore I render'd trapezitas which otherwise is a word of innocent meaning for Money-Changers Bankers c. in the Historian's sense Cheats CHAP. VIII Pag. 65. lin 24. Every Hide of Land It is so called from the Saxon word hyden to cover so that thus it would be the same as Tectum in Latin a Dwelling-house And thus I question not but there are several houses called The Hide for I know one or two my self so called that is the Capital Messuage of the Estate Nor is it so consined to this sense but that it takes in all the Lands belonging to the Messuage or Manour-house which the old Saxons called hidelandes and upon some such account no doubt Hidepark had its name as a Park belonging to some great House Now as to the quantity how much a Hide of land is it is not well agreed Some reckon it an hundred Acres others thereabouts by making it contain four Yardlands every Yardland consisting of twenty four Acres The general opinion is that it was as much as could be ploughed with one Plow in a year terra unius aratri culturae sufficiens And thus it should be muchwhat the same as Carrucata terrae i. e. a Plough-land From Bede who translates it familia they gather it was so much as could maintain a family There is mention made of these Hides in the Laws of King Ina an hundred years before King Alfred who divided the Countrey into Counties or Shires And Taxes and Assessments were wont to be made according to these Hides up as high as King Ethelred's time in the year of our Lord 1008. Since the Conquest William the First had six shillings for every Hide in England Rufus four Henry the First here three for the marriage of his daughter Pag. 66. lin 8. This right is called Wreck i. e. by which the King claims shipwrack't goods cast on shoar For though by the Law of Nature such things as being nullius in bonis having no Owner every one that finds them may seem to have a right to them yet by the Law of Nations they are adjudged to the Prince as a special priviledge by reason of his dignity Now Wreck or as the French call it Varec properly signifies any thing that is cast on shoar as Amber precious Stones Fishes c. as well as shipwrack't goods from the Saxon wraet i. e. any thing that is flung away and left forlorn though use hath limited the word to the later sense CHAP. IX Pag. 68. lin 6. The Roman Laws were banisht the Realm I suppose there may be some word missing or mistaken in the Latin à regno jussae sunt leges Romanae But that which follows the forbidding of the Books obliged me to that interpretation for why should the Books of those Laws be prohibited if the Laws themselves were as the Latin reading seems to import ordered and ratified by the Realm Wherefore I suppose some mistake or omission and for à regno jussae read à regno pulsae or exulare jussae c. unless you would like to have it thus rendred commanded out of the Kingdom which I confess would be a very odd unusual construction CHAP. X. Pag. 69. lin 39. Three hundred Marks of Gold A Mark weigh'd eight ounces and as Cowell states it out of Stow it came to the value of 16 l. 13 s. 4 d. At this rate three hundred Marks of Gold come to five thousand Pound and to every Bishop five Marks supposing only ten Bishops come to 833 l. 6 s. 8 d. which is a very unlikely summ in this business 'T is true the value of it as of other Coyns and summs might vary And so we find in Spelman that an uncertain Author reckons a Mark of Gold to be worth fifty Marks of Silver But then 't is as uncertain what Marks of Silver he means For if they be such as ours are and as they were in King John's time at 13 s. 4 d. then a Mark of Gold will be of the value of 33 l. 6 s. 8 d. which is just double to the former value of 16 l. 13 s. 4 d. which being resolved into Marks of Silver makes but 25. But in ancient times a Mark of Silver was only 2 s. 6 d. so that fifty of them will make but 6 l. 5 s. Another instance we meet with where one Mark of Gold is accounted equivalent to ten Marks of Silver which taking a Mark for 13 s. 4 d. comes to 6 l. 13 s. 4 d. Another where nine Marks of Silver pass for one Mark of Gold in a payment to the King which is just six pound And these three last accounts agree pretty well together Taking the middlemost of the three viz. a Mark of Gold at ten Marks of Silver thus the above named summ of three hundred Marks of Gold that is three thousand Marks of Silver amounts to two thousand Pound and the five Marks to every Bishop supposing but ten Bishops come to 333 l. 6 s. 8 d. But if we take these Marks of Silver at 2 s. 6 d. the account will grow much less For ten such Marks are but 1 l. 5 s. so that the three hundred Marks of Gold at this rate will come but to 375 l. Sterling But that these Marks of the ancient and lower estimate are not here intended may probably enough be gathered from one passage more we find there Centum solidi dentur vel marca auri where if solidi stand for shillings for they may be taken for soulx as the French call them a Mark of Gold is made of equal value with 5 l. Sterling And thus three hundred Marks of Gold come to Fifteen hundred pound I confess after all most of these accounts of the Mark Gold or Silver may be admitted of as having possibly at
thus words it quibus sors tantum contulit extra domos in pascuis ut triginta argenteorum pretium excederet who had an Estate besides Houses in Lands which might exceed the value of thirty silver pence Lin. 15. Out of a Rescript of Pope Gregory We have the whole Letter set down in Spelman which speaks in English thus GREGORY the Bishop Servant of the Servants of God to his Worshipful Brethren the Arch-Bishops of Canterbury and York and to their Suffragans and to his beloved Sons the Abbots Priors Arch-Deacons and their Officials appointed throughout the Kingdom of England unto whom these Letters shall come Greeting and Apostolical Benediction In what manner the Pence of S. Peter which are due or owing to our Chamber are to be gathered in England and in what Bishopricks and Dioceses they are owing that there may arise no doubt on this occasion we have caused it to be set down in this present Writing according as it is contained in the Register of the Apostolick See Out of the Diocess of Canterbury seven pounds and eighteen shillings sterling Out of the Diocess of London sixteen pounds ten shillings And so of the rest Yeoven at the old City April 22. in the second year of our Popedom There is some difference though in the account of the Dioceses For after Lincoln he leaves out Coventry and puts Chichester for Chester 8 l. and then after Bath he puts in Salisbury and Coventry with a mistake 10 l. 10 s. for 5 s. and leaves York last Besides every body knows there are more Dioceses now than were then This was Gregory the Fifth that wrote this and it was our Author tells us in the time of King Edward the Second But Edward the Third in the year of the Lord 1365. and of his Reign 39. forbad these Peter-pence to be paid any more at Rome or to be gathered any longer in England CHAP. XV. Pag. 81. lin 10. Into six Provinces or Circuits As they are for number still with two Judges a piece though at first three How these differ from what they now are as to the Counties the Reader may easily satisfie himself Here are thirty seven of them as we now reckon only with this difference that Monmouth and Rutland are left out and Richmond and Copland are put in Pag. 82. lin 27. And if he perish i. e. sink let him lose one foot For that in this tryal by water was the sign and proof of guilt if the party thrown in did not swim which is quite contrary in the tryal of Witches as you will find in the next Chapter which treats of Ordeals Lin. 39. The Kings great Assise Assise is a word that hath many significations in our Law It is here in the Title taken for a Statute The Assises i. e. the Statutes and Ordinances of King Henry made at Clarendon But in this place it is used for a Jury and it is either the Great or Grand Assise which serv'd for the right of Property and was to consist of twelve Knights or the Petty Assise which served for the right of Possession only and was made up of twelve lawful men CHAP. XVI Pag. 86. lin 34. The superstitions and fopperies These you have also in Sir H. Spelman with an Incipit Missa Judicii which shews that the Church of Rome did once approve of these Customs which since she hath condemned notwithstanding her pretence of being Infallible I would to God she would deal as ingenuously in throwing off those other errors and corruptions we do so justly charge her with CHAP. XVII Pag. 87. lin 21. Hogenhine Or Agen-hyne that is ones own servant It is written also Home-hyne that is a servant of the house Lin. 33. Holding in Frank Pledge The Latin is francus tenens Wherefore amend the mistake and read holding in Frank Fee For Frank Pledg is a thing of another nature as belonging to a mans Behaviour and not to his Tenure Now Frank Fee is that which is free from all service when a man holds an Estate at the Common Law to himself and his heirs and not by such service as is required in ancient demesne Pag. 88. lin 12. The Falcidian Law So named from one Falcidius who being Tribune of the people in Augustus his time was the Maker of this Law Lin. 33. Twenty pounds worth of Land in yearly revenue So I render 20. libratae terrae For although Cowell in proportion to Quadrantata or Fardingdeal of Land which he saith is the fourth part of an Acre seems at first to gather that Obolata then must be half an Acre Denariata a whole Acre and by consequence Solidata twelve Acres and Librata twenty times twelve that is two hundred and forty Acres Yet this was but a conceit of his own For by having found the word used with reference to Rent as well as Land thus 20. libratas terrae vel reditûs he is forced to acknowledge that it must signifie so much Land as may yield twenty shillings per annum To which opinion Spelman also gives his assent But what quantity of Land this Librata terrae is cannot so easily be determined Cowell out of Skene tells us it contains four Oxgangs and every Oxgang thirteen Acres if so then it is fifty two Acres and twenty of them which make a Knights fee come to one thousand and forty Acres which somewhat exceeds the account here set down of six hundred and eighty out of the Red Book of the Exchequer But there is a great deal of more difference still as the account of the Knights fée is given by others In one Manuscript we read that A Yardland contains twenty four Acres four Yard-lands make one Hide that is ninety six Acres and five Hides make a Knights fee that is four hundred and eighty Acres the Relief whereof is a hundred Shillings Another Manuscript hath it thus Ten Acres according to ancient custom make one Fardel and four Fardels that is forty Acres make a Yardland and four Yardlands that is one hundred and sixty Acres make one Hide and four Hides that is six hundred and forty Acres make one Knights fee. A third reckons it otherwise that sixteen Yard-lands make a whole Knights fee which if we make a Yard-land to be twenty four Acres according to the first account comes to three hundred eighty four Acres but if according to the second we take it for forty Acres it amounts to six hundred and forty Acres And saith he when they are taxed at six Shillings four Pence that is every of the sixteen Yard-lands which make up the Fee at so much they make the summ of one hundred Shillings or five Pound which was the ancient Relief of a Knights fee. But this is a mistake either of the Author or the Citation it is six Shillings three Pence which makes that just summ from whence we learn also what proportion was observed by the Lord in setting and demanding of the Relief upon the next