fond of the conjecture of their being the full Representative Body of the Nation would have it Et ad habendum Commune Consilium Regni de auxiliis assidendis aliter quam in Tribus casibus praedictis de Scutagiis assidendis submoneri faciemus Arch. Ep. Ab. Majores Barones Regni singillatim per literas nostras Et praeterea faciemus submoneri in generali per Vicecomites Ballivos nostros omnes alios qui in capite tenent de nobis ad certum diem scilicet ad terminum Quadragint dierum ad minus ad certum locum in omnibus litteris submonitionis causam submonitionis illius exponemus sic factâ submonitione negotium procedat ad diem assignatum secundum consilium eorum qui praesentes fuerint quamvis non omnes submoniti venerint Here was I grant the form of a Common Council of the Kingdom to the purposes here named which are for Aid and Escuage The Aid I say and shall show was from those Tenants which held of the King in Comon Socage such as held Geldable or talliable Lands the Escuage concern'd the Tenants by Knights Service but both concern'd only the King's Tenants in chief which appears in the very confining the Summons to the Majores Barones Regni and others which held of the King in Capite Whereas 1 there were Majores Barones who held not by any Feudal Tenure that were not oblig'd to attend at the Kings ordinary Courts and they with them that were under their Jurisdictions had their Common Councils apart though all might meet at General Councils So that what was a Common Council of the Kingdom to this purpose was not so indefinitely to all 2. There were others who were oblig'd or had right to be of the Common Council of the Kingdom though not upon the accounts mentioned in this Charter 1. The Norman Prince to the encouragement of those great men that adventured for his glory made some of them as little Kings and gave them the Regal Government of several Counties in which they with the great men thereof and the liberè Tenentes Freeholders made Laws for the benefit of their Inheritances and the maintaining the peace and that of Chester in particular was given to Hugh Lupus Tenendum sibi Haered ita verè ad gladium sicut ipse Rex tenebat Angliam ad coronam So that he wanted nothing but a Crown to make him King In a Charter of Count Hugh's of the Foundation of the Monastery of St. Werburg he says Ego Comes Hugo mei Barones confirmavimus And one of his Successors grants to his Barons Quod unusquisque eorum Curiam suam habeat liberam de omnibus placitis ad gladium meum pertinentibus And at the Coronation of H. 3. which was after this Charter Earl John another of William's Successors carried St. Edward's Sword before the King as Matthew Paris tells us for a Sign that he had of right a very extraordinary power Comite Cestriae gladium Sancti Edwardi qui Curtein dicitur ante Regem bajulante in signum quod Comes est Palatinus Regem si oberret habeat de jure potestatem cohibendi c. Though this was the chief Count Palatine yet others had their separate Councils where they made Laws William Fitz-Osborn was made Earl of Hereford under William the First of whom William of Malmsbury says Manet in hunc diem in Comitatu ejus apud Herefordum legunm quas statuit inconcussa firmitas ut nullâ—s Miles pro qualicunque commisso plus septem solidis cum in aliis Provinciis ob parvam occasi inculam in transgressione praecepti herilis Viginti vel Viginti Quinque pendantur Of the same nature are Examples in the Constitutions of the old Earls of Cornwal and the like To return to the County Palatine of Chester its Count was not Tent. in Capite with the restrictions above taken viz. Subject to the Feudal Law and obliged to attend once at the Courts as other Tenants and yet at the general Councils he was present Therefore this Council mention'd in King John's Charter where none but Tenants in Capite obliged to the ordinary Incidents of such Tenure were was no general Council of the whole Kingdom as our Modern Authors would have though it were for the matters of ordinary Tenure all that were concern'd being at it In the Year 1232. King Hen. 3. held his Curia or Court at Winchester at Christmas which was one of the Court days or rather times of meeting for it often held several days and therefore when that at Tewksbury in King Johns reign held but a day it is specially taken notice of Soon after King Henry's Christmas Court he Summons all the Magnates of England ad Colloquium when they meet because he was greatly in debt by reason of his Wars he demands Auxilium ab omnibus generaliter Quo audito Comes Cestriae Ranulphus pro Magnatibus Regni loquens respondit quod Comites Barones ac Milites qui de eo tenebant in Capite cum ipso erant corporaliter praesentes pecuniam suam ita inaniter effuderunt quod inde pauperes omnes recesserunt unde Regi de jure auxilium non debebant et sic petitâ licentiâ omnes recesserunt Here was the Earl of Chester this being a Summons to a General Assembly but when the King asked money for his expences in the Wars he tells him in the Name of all the Laity that those which held of him in Capite which is as much as to say he was none of them served him in their Persons and at their own charge therefore they beg'd leave to be gone if the King had no other business with them for no aid was due So that it seems they look'd upon Auxilium to be something in lieu of the service which the Kings Tenant was to perform That this concern'd the Kings Tenants in Capite by K t s service and no others except the inferior talliable Tenants they that were then assembled being the Great Council of the Kingdom took upon them to Umpire between the King and his Tenants and to tell him that he had no pretence for aid from them for they had perform'd their services due If only Tenants in Chief by Knights service are here intended by Tenants in Capite they only most commonly attending the King in Person though sometimes all Tenants whatever were required to attend and so in King John's Charter the Summons be taken to be only of such Tenants in Chief then the aid there is meant only of such as comes from them but that takes not in all that are within the meaning of King John's Charter it adding simili modo fiat de Civit. Lond. which paid a Socage Aid as I shall shew But for Chester even at those times when aids were granted by
off from the Estate but being it was never used as an imposition with pretence of Duty but upon his Tenants and that which was raised upon Tenants by Knights Service had its proper name therefore this has generally been applied to the payments of Socage Tenants either as ordinary Services that is upon the ordinary occasions wherein 't was of course raised by the King or upon extraordinary occasions and necessities which required advice Yet as an exaction or unjust payment it has been taken in the largest sence to reach to all Tenants and others as in William the First his Emendations or Charter of Liberties the 1. Magna Charta Volumus etiam ac firmiter praecipimus concedimus ut omnes liberi homines totius Monarchiae Regni nostri praedicti habeant teneant terras suas possessiones suas benè in pace liberas ab omni exactione injustâ ab omni Tallagio ita quod nihil ab eis exigatur vel capiatur nisi servitium suum liberum quod de jure nobis facere tenentur prout statutum est eis illis à nobis concessum jure haereditario in perpetuum per Commune Concilium totius Regni nostri praedicti In a General Council of the whole Kingdom it had been setled what the King should have of his Tenants by reason of Tenure and what Free Services he should have even of those Freemen which were not his Tenants Thus by the Oath of Fealty or Allegiance and by the Law of Association or the revival of the Frank Pledges every Freeman was tied to Service for the Defence of the Peace and Dignity of the Crown and Kingdom and by the Association more particularly to maintain Right and Justice for all which they were to be conjurati fratres sworn Brethren And besides this there were Services belonging to the Crown which lay upon the Lands of Freemen To instance in Treasure Trove and Royal Mines Thesauri de terris Regis sunt nisi in Ecclesiâ vel Coemeterio inveniantur Aurum Regis est medietas argenti medietas ubi inventum fuerit quodcumque ipsa Ecclesia fuerit dives vel pauper And this was as properly a Service as the Roman servitus praediorum which consisted in something to be suffered upon Lands or Houses But he would not exact or take from them by force any kind of Tallage Therefore the Historian tells us that in the year 1084. De unaquaque hidâ per Angliam VI. solidos accepit he accepted as a voluntary guift 6 s. of every hide of Land throughout the Kingdom if 't was without consent 't was against his own Charter and so illegal But to proceed to shew the nature of the Auxilia which came from Tenants in the Reign of some of his Successors either ordinary as common incidents or extraordinary By the Common Law as the Lord Cook observes upon the Statute of West 1. cap. 36. to every Tenure by Knights Service and Socage there were three Aids of money called in Law Auxilia incident and implied without special reservation or mention that is to say relief when the Heir was of full Age Aid pur fair fitx Chevalier Aid pur file marrier When the Lord Cook tells us that these Services were incident to Socage Tenures as well as Knights Service it must be intended when it is spoke of the Services of the Tenants of the King 's Ancient Demeasn only for they that held of the King by certain Rent which was Socage Tenure were not subject to the payment of the Tallage except their Land were of the Ancient Demeasn of the Crown And therefore Robert de Vere Earl of Oxford who held a Mannor of the Crown by a certain Rent which to be sure was not Knights Service pleads that he held the Mannor with the Appurtenances per Servitium Decem librarum Regi ad Scaccarium annuatim reddendum pro omni Servitio Regidedit intelligi quod idem Manner non antiquo dominico Coronae Regis Angliae nec est de aliquibus temporibus retroactis in Tallag per Progenitor Regis Angliae in dominicis suis assessis consuevit talliari Upon search made he and his Tenants are freed from Tallage So the King declares that he will not have Aid that is Tallage for marrying his Eldest Daughter of any Clergy-men that hold in Frank-Almaign or Socage which must be taken in the same sense with the former And before this Walterus de Esseleg held a Mannor ad foedi firmam that is at a certain Rent of the gift of Hen. 2. and was never afterwards talliated quum Praedecessores nostris Reges Angliae nos talliari fecimus Dominica nostra it seems though the Land had been of Ancient Demeasn yet it was severed by the Purchase This Tallage was called Auxilium in the Record De consilio nostro provisum est quod auxilium efficax assideri faciamus in omnibus burgis dominicis nostris Yet the City of London being charged with a Tallage the Common Council dispute whether it were Tallagium or Auxilium which is there meant of a voluntary Aid not due upon the account of any of their houses being of the Kings demeasne though indeed 't is then shewn that they had several times before been talliated This explains that part of the Charter simili modo fiat de Civitate Londinensi that is as in all cases besides those excepted Escuage or Tallage should not be raised but by a Common Council of the Kingdom that is of all the persons concern'd to pay So for the City of London unless the Aid were ordered in a Common Council wherein they and all other Tenants in Chief were assembled none should be laid upon any Citizens but by the consent of their own Common Council and if the Ordinance were only in general terms that all the Kings Demeasns should be talliated the proportions payable there should be agreed by the Common Council of the City according to that Record 11 Hen. 3. Assedimus auxilium efficax in Civitati nostra London Ita quod singulos tam Majores quam Minores de voluntate Omnium Baronum nostrorum Civitatis ejusdem per se talliavimus Et ideo providimus simile auxilium per omnes Civitates nostras Burgos dominica nostra assidere This per se talliavimus was a talliating per Capita for when the Common Council refused to give such a sum in gross as the King demanded then the King was put to have it collected of every Head and is according to the faculty of every Socage Tenant of his Demeasn as appears by the Record of 39 Hen. 3. Whereas by this Charter the King might take Escuage or Tallage in three cases without the consent of the Tenants but confin'd to reasonable that is secundum facultates or salvo contenemento and in those cases wherein
their consent was required things were carried by the Majority of voyces amongst them that were present upon his Summons which sometimes were very few as when he held his Court at Westminster in the fifteenth of his Reign on Christmass the chief time 't was cum pauco admodum Militum Comitatu there arose a very great inconvenience and a few Tenants called together at a time when the rest could not attend as in Harvest or the like might ruine the rest therefore this seperate Court of Tenants is wholly taken away in the Reign of Edward the First and he promises that no Tallage or Aid without any reservation should be leavied for the future without the consent of a full settled Parliament not that it was incumbent upon all that came to Parliament to pay either Tallage or Escuage but as they were the Great Council of the Nation they should advise him when or in what proportion to talliate his Demeasns or lay Escuage upon his Tenants by Knights Service And when the King's Tenants paid Escuage by Authority of Parliament the Tenants by Knights Service of inferiour Lords were obliged to pay to their Lords Lit. Sect. 100. the Statute is thus Nullum tallagium vel auxilium per nos vel haeredes nostros in Regno nostro ponatur seu levetur sine voluntate assensu Arch. Ep. Comitum Baronum Militum Burgensium aliorum liberoum hominum de Regno nostro Pursuant to this the very same year is a Record of a Summons for a Parliament to consider of an Aid to make his Eldest Son Knight for which before he need not have consulted his Parliament nor the Council of the Tenants de jure Coronae nostrae in hujusmodi casu auxilium fieri nobis debet says the Record and yet he had tied up his hands from raising it without consent of Parliament However King John had in some measure redressed their grievance giving them assurance that there should always be the general consent of Tenants for what was not payable of right and custom without any consent of theirs and for the assessing those sums to which consent was made necessary there should be a convenient notice that none might complain of the injustice of the charge But all these things so manifestly relate to Tenure both the cases excepted and the cases provided for that no other sense can be tolerable for where the King reserves three incidents to Tenure and the particulars within the provision are appendant to Tenure and none but Tenants are mentioned shall we believe that something Forreign is intended by the very same words though we may well believe that all Aids whatever were intended by the Statute of Edw. 1. because the consent of all People Tenants and others is required Thus far I think I am warranted by very good Authorities I take leave to observe farther that it should seem that before this Charter the King might have charged his geldable or talliable Lands that is those Lands which were held of his Demeasn in Socage at his own discretion but could not charge them that held by Knights Service without their consent and so this part take it barely to the consenting is for the advantage and relief of the Socage Tenants only The Charter of Henry the First which exempts the King's Tenants by Knights Service ab omnibus geldis that is tribute or forced payments beyond ordinary Services leaves the King a Power of charging his other Tenants by meaner Services though not those which held by Serjeanty pro omni servitio Militibus qui per loricas terras suas deserviunt terras dominicarum carucarum suarum quietas ab omnibus geldis ab omni opere proprio dono meo concedo ut sicut tam magno gravamine alleviati sunt ita equis armis se bene instruant ut apti sint parati ad servitium suum ad defensionem Regni But then as the consent is qualified upon such notice and summons to a certain place herein the Tenants by Knights Service are eased in relation to part of their Service They were obliged to attend the King's Court either in his Wars his administration of Justice or for the assessing of Escuage upon those that made default in their Personal Services for the first there could not be any time of summons or place of attendance ascertained because occasion and necessity was to determine that for the second they could not claim it as a priviledge the administration of Justice being within the King 's Ordinary Power and his Ministers and Justices were sufficient assistants But in the last there was a grievance in which 't was proper for the King 's extraordinary Justice to relieve them Et ad habendum Commune Consilium Regni de scutagiis assidendis for the assessing of Escuage which was part of the work of the Curia they should be summoned as is therby provided Even before the Normans coming the Kings used to celebrate Feast-days with great solemnity and at those days they chose habere colloquium to consult with their People So King Eldred summoned all the Magnates of the Kingdom to meet him at London on our Lady-day In festo Nativitatis B. Mariae universi Magnates Regni per Regium Edictum summoniti c. Londoniis convenerunt ad tractandum de negotiis publicis totius Regni so King Edgar had a Great Assembly and called it Curiam suam at Christmass Cum in natali Dominico omnes Majores totius Regni mei tam Ecclesiasticae Personae quam seculares ad Curiam meam celebrandae mecum festivitatis gratiâ convenissent coram totâ Curiâ meâ corroboravi That the Curia Regis then consisted not of the King's Tenants only I could shew more particularly by a discourse of the Feudal Law and of what prevalence it was here before the Normans time But I think there is enough to this purpose here from one Piece of Antiquity which shews what in Ancient time made a Churl or Pesant become a Theyn or Noble and that so Anciently that in a Saxon MS. supposed to be wrote in the Saxon time it is spoke of as antiquated That was five hides of his own Land a Church and a Kitchin a Bell-house and a Burrough-gate with a Seat and any distinct Office in the Kings Court This Churle is in an Ancient MS. cited by Mr. Selden called Villanus so that if a man were not Free-born if he could make such an acquisition he became ipso facto a Thane a Free-man as they were often used the one for the other which I think is easily to be collected from several places in Doomsday Book and as at that time such circumstances with a place in the King's Court made a Thane or Free-man so a Thane or Freeman had a place in the Great Court as we see Edgar's Curia had all the Majores totius Regni without any qualification
Rex Magnates regni Mat. West Anglicani regni praesules Proceres Gervasius Episcopi proceres Radulphus de Diceto Praelati proceres Populus regni as another Clerus populus regni Hoveden The whole Kingdom as Dr. Stillingfleet shews us out of the Quadripartite History The body of the Realm as Sr. Roger Twisden terms it Yet I conceive that the clause so much tost to and fro without any right settlement referrs to the ordinary Curia Regis to which the Kings Tenants were bound by their tenure to come and where ordinary justice or jurisdiction in all or most causes was exercised and this gives some account why the Bishops who have been from the Normans acquisition downwards tenants in chief because of their temporalties and during vacancies the Guardians of those temporalties upon that very account have been particularly summon'd why I say they should be allowed to vote in a legislative capacity which they have as Proprietors though no tenants of the King when they proceed by way of bill of attainder and yet tenure only qualifying them for Judges in Parliament as before in the Kings ordinary Curia interesse judiciis Curiae or at least they succeeding to the jurisdiction of the Tenants in the Curia according to the constitution of Clarend that jurisdiction which they have as tenants or as succedaneous to such extends not to matters of blood It will not be proved that the coming to the Great Council where the extraordinary power justice or legislature was exercis'd was meerly because of tenure and that no body had right to be of the great Council but they that held in capite or were members of the ordinary Curia indeed when that was taken away or disus'd they that before were to do suit and service at the Curia were to perform it at the Great Court the Parliament for there was no other Court where they could and therefore in the 8th of Ed. 2. the Inhabitants of St. Albans plead that they held in Capite And as other Burroughs were to come to Parliament pro omni servitio But that the coming to the Judgements of the ordinary Curia was meerly because of tenure appears from the words of the constitution Arch. Ep. c. universi personae regni qui de Rege tenent in capite habent possessiones suas de Domino Rege sicut Baroniam c. sicut Barones caeteri debent interesse judiciis Curiae Regis cum Baronibus c. That is except as is there excepted these ecclesiastical tenants or Barons were to be present or interested in the Judgements together with the Kings Justices and Officers as the other Barons that is Lay-tenants in Capite It seems both Ecclesiasticks and Lay-tenants in Capite held per Baroniam yet I think caeteri Barones ought to be confin'd to them that held of the King in Chief by Knights service for many held in feodo firmâ by the payment of a certain rent or petty Serjeanty the payment of a gilt spur or the like pro omni servitio of which the Records are full who were not ordinarily to give their attendance at the Curia But tenure per Baroniam was I take it in those times no more than tenure by Knights Service in Capite This perhaps I could prove by many records I shall instance in one to the honour of a Noble Peer of this Realm now Earl late Baron of Berkley as his Ancestors have been ever since the time of Hen. 2. One of his Ancestors had the grant of the Mannor of Berkley Harness from Hen. 2. Tenendum in feodo haereditate sibi haeredibus suis per servitium Quinque Militum An office is found in Edw. the third's time upon the death of Maurice Berkley and there 't is that he held per Baroniam faciendo inde servitium Trium Militum pro omni servitio Two Knights fees having been alien'd inde upon the account of the Barony or rather the land was the Knights Service and the Knights service made the Barony as appears there being no particular words creating any honourable tenure but what resulted from serving the King with men upon his own charges the number I take it made nothing towards the nature of the tenure These tenants by Knights service the Kings Barons were obliged to be at the Kings Courts de more if at the Great Court when he should call them the chief ground was upon their ordinary attendance amongst the rest of the tenants That what relates to the Curia Regis within the Const of Clarendon was meant of the ordinary justice of the Kings Court and consequently the ordinary Court old _____ of Glocester is express Yuf a man of holi-Church hath ein lay fee Parson otherwhat he be he shall do therevore King's Service that there valth that is right ne be vorlore In plaiding and in Assize be and in judgement also But this farther appears by the summons to and proceedings at Northampton the very next year This Hoveden calls Curia Regis and Mr. Selden informs us out of an antient Author that the summons thither was only to the members of the ordinary Curia Omnes qui de Rege tenebant in Capite mandari fecit upon the Bishops withdrawing from the judging of Becket the ground of which I shall soon examin Quidam Vicecomites Barones secundae dignitatis were added 't was quidam Vicecomites some Sheriffs it could not be all because several were Majores Barones having the countys in fee but this restraint seems not to reach to the Barones secundae dignitatis suppose that it does and so comes only to the uppermost of them the Vavasores perhaps that is inferior or Mesne Lords holding Mannors of others not the King still here were more than tenants in Chief and to be sure these being said to be added were more than the members of the ordinary Curia and this Court to which they were added was only the ordinary Court of Justice If we can shew when this ordinary Court of Justice determin'd and who succeeded into the places of the ordinary members of it we may go farther to clear the matter in question than perhaps has yet been done If the Lords the great men succeeded the Court of Tenants and were let into that jurisdiction which they exercised and there is no colour of proof that Clergy-men in the Curia Regis ever voted in Capital causes but if on the other side the prohibitions running against judicia sanguinis and the constitution of Clarendon referring to the Curia Regis where the ordinary judicia sanguinis were agitated and pronounced justly they took themselves to be excluded the Curia quando de illis materiis agitur It will I think be evident that the Bishops as a part of the house of Lords answering to the Court of the Kings tenants never had any right to
County that is they which were part of the County Court were comprehended under the word Milites In another Record the Milites et probi homines that is honest Freeholders are used as the same In pleno Com. tuo dicas Militibus probis hominibus Ballivae tuae c. The Milites or probi homines were under the Sheriff an Officer of their own choice as was the Law and Custom of this King's time to be sure and long after the Office of the Heretochius who had been the Ductor Militiae had been discontinued no body knows how long and 't is spoke of only as an Office that had been But the Sheriff being of the Freeholders choice not the Kings having no certain Salary nor Fee upon any account taken notice of in the eye of the Law but depending upon what the King should give out of the two thirds of the Profits of the County the tertium denarium the third part the Earl o◠Count had who will imagine that the Sheriffs as Sheriffs had any feud rais'd upon them by the King that is were to attend at his Courts or in his Wars with their Feudall Knights the posse Commitatus which was assisting to them being of quite another nature Indeed I find one Fulcherus homo Vicecomitis that is Tenant by Knights Service to which homage was incident and in that sense Miles Vicecomitis in another part Tenet Rogerus de Picoto Vicecomite de foedo Regis hanc terram tenuit Gold sub Abbate Eli potuit dare absque ejus licentiâ sine sacâ This had been freehold within the Abbots Precinct alienable without licence subject to no suit of Court and was granted to Picot then Sheriff of the County to hold of the Kings feud that is by Knights service Yet he did not hold this as Vicecomes but as Baro so 't was if any man had the County in fee But the King Summoned the Barones Vicecomites that is the Vicecomites without consideration of their capacity as Barons and their Knights 't was long after this that the word Vicecomes was any thing more than tbe name of the Office here spoken of an honorary Viscount was not then known such indeed might at their creation have had feuds rais'd upon the Lands granted along with their Honours There is this farther proof that this was more than a Council of the Kings Tenants and Officers or ordinary Court in that the Summons was immediately after the Curia and that to a place sufficiently capacious Salisbury Plain Et in hebdomada Pentecostes suum filium Henricum apud West ubi Curiam suam tenuit armis militaribus honoravit here was the proper work of the Curia the King gave Arms in his Court to the Great Men and immediate Tenants the common Freeholders received them in the County Court either at coming to Age or upon becoming free by Manumission which 't is not probable that a man would desire unless he had a freehold to live upon or that thereby those Lands which were held in Villenage became free But though one were born free yet I take it he was to recieve a formal military Honour have Arms deliver'd to him when he came to Age and in the time of Hen. 1. 't is us'd as a sign that one was not of age when he seal'd a Deed and consequently 't was not effectual because Militari baltheo nondum cinctus erat We find that when a freeman died his Heir under Age some body was to have the custody of the Arms. Siquis Arma haec habens obierit remaneat haeredi suo et si haeres de tali statu non sit quod Armis uti possit si opus fuerit ille qui eum habuerit in custodia habeat similiter custodiam Armorum c. And when he came of Age tunc ea habeat this was in Hen. 2. time and then the publick delivery of Arms to all Freemen might have been disus'd but antiently as Mr. Selden observes the taking Arms by young men from publick Authority was a kind of Knight-hood But soon after Will. the first had at his Court Knighted his Son Henry he call'd this great Assembly of Barones Vicecomites cum suis Militibus his Curia was held at Whitsontide Nec multo post mandavit ut Arch. Ep Abb. Com. Bar. Vicecomites cum suis Militibus die Kal. Aug. sibi occurrerent Saresberiae quocum venissent Milites illorum sibi fidelitatem contra omnes homines jur are coegit Here I take it Milites illorum refers to the Knights of the Sheriffs that is the Freeholders this was adunatio conciliorum a joyning together of the several Councils of the Counties where the swearing allegiance to the King was one of their Principal Works the Kings Tenants had done it of course in the Curia but methinks 't is a strange thing that it should be us'd for an Argument that this was not a great Council of the Kingdom because they were evocati◠ad fidei vinculum For satisfaction I will offer a Record of the same work done in Parliament in the time of Henry 3. Celebrato nuper Concilio apud Bristol ubi convenerunt universi Ang. Praelati tam Ep. Ab. quam Primores et multi tam Comites quam Barones qui etiam univerfaliten fidelitatem nobis publicè facientes concessis eis libertatibus liberis consuetudinibus ab eis prius postulatis ipsis approbatis c. Here the King yields them those Liberties and Free-customs which they desired and they swear Allegiance to him here was the fidei vinculum But perhaps they will say that this of W. the first was no Common Council or Parliament because it appears not that any Laws pass'd or that they were summon'd to that end For the first I think no man will say that the Assembly is less parliamentary because nothing is agreed upon in it Indeed we find that where a Parliament was dissolv'd without any Act pass'd 't is said by Judge Cook not to be a Parliament but the Inception of a Parliament that is no Session but whoever will consult the Summons to Parliament in the time of Ed. 1. 2. may satisfie himself that there were many Parliaments call'd at which there were no Laws pass'd but meerly Advice given and yet at the end thereof the Knights Citizens and Burgesses had their Writs of Expenses wherein the Kings declared that they had been called to Parliament nobiscum de diversis negotiis nos populum Regni specialiter tangentibus tractatur For the last 't is no matter whether the cause of Summons were express'd 't is enough if it were de quibusdam arduis or however else was the use of that time Besides 't is certain many Laws have pass'd in publick Councils antiently of which we have no intimation from those Historians which mention such Councils Wherever I find
Portsmouth Generale proposuit edictum ut Comites Barones omnes qui militare servitium ei debebant parati essent ad Portesmue cum equis armis ad transfretandum cum eo ad partes transmarinas in die Pentecostes iam instante Those that would not pass the Seas with him consented to the payment of escuage Two marks of Silver upon every Knights Fee dantes Regi de quolibet scuto duas marcas Argenti The next year he held his Curia on Christmass in Normandy And the year following this he held his Christmass Court in Normandy likewise In the year 1204. his Curia was held on Christmass at Canterbury from thence he went to Oxford where were present more than the Members of the Ordinary Curia convenerunt ad colloquium apud Oxoniam Rex Magnates Angliae Indeed what is then given the King is only from his feudal Tenants but that is no argument that therefore no more were there because the Council advis'd him to charge his Tenants nay 't is very observable that the Historian does not say that they which were there assembled gave but ubi concessa sunt Regi auxilia militaria de quolibet scuto scilicet duae marcae that is there Escuage was given by or upon them who held by Knights service or it might be an aid given generally by every one according to the number of Acres or value of his estate in proportion to the valuation of a Knights Fee As was usually done in that and succeeding times And then I take it provision was made for the defence of the Kingdome viz. that every Nine Knights throughout the Kingdome should find a tenth arm'd at all points to be ready in servitio nostro ad defensionem regni quantum opus fuerit this to be sure reacht further than to the Knights by Military Tenure because every one that held a Knights Fee was by his tenure to find a man and consequently this would have been a weak'ning of the Kingdome to abate of their services but it must needs have extended to all that held to the value of a Knights Fee though not by Knights service This was provided Communi assensu Arch. Ep. Com. Baronum omnium fidelium nostrorum Angliae And so a general Land Tax And at the same Parliament the King per commune Concilium Regni made an Assise of Money In the year 1205. he held his Court at Theokesbery which broke up the first day Soon after he call'd together his army that is those who were oblig'd by their tenure to attend him for though the Curia de more was confin'd to certain days yet the King made the Court where-ever he pleas'd to appoint it and the obligation to attendance at the Court was indefinite his Military Council when met refus'd to go with him beyond sea as he required whereupon with a few of them he sets out to sea and after he had coasted about a little he exacted a great summ of money from those whose tenure could furnish him with a pretence for it because they discharg'd not the duty of their tenure occasiones praetendens quod noluerunt ipsum sequi The next year he held his Court on Christmass at Oxford The Historians give no mark of any thing more than an ordinary Curia but the Records do There was a grant of subsidy upon every mans personal estate per Commune Concilium assensum Concilii nostri apud Oxoniam This in another Record is said to be by the Arch. Ep. Abbates Magnates Regni nostri Rot. Par. 8 Jo. m. 1. On Whitsontide he held his Court at Portsmouth In hebdom Pentecostes exercitum grand apud Portesmouth congregavit But then the Christmass following at Winchester he held a General Council and that was on the Court day Celebravit natale Domini apud Wintoniam praesentibus Magnatibus regni Deinde in purificatione beatae Mariae cepit per totam Angliam tertiam decimam partem ex omnibus mobilibus aliis rebus tam de laicis quam de viris ecclesiasticis praelatis cunctis murmurantibus sed contradicere non audentibus Here was a grant of what no way belong'd to tenure and therefore all the Magnates regni were privy to it though 't was done grudgingly In the year 1208. he held his Court on Christmass at Windsor where he distributed coats to his Souldiers He held his Christmass Court at Bristol He held a Great Council on the Feast day at Windsor praesentibus omnibus Angliae Magnatibus So the year following at York praesentibus Comitibus Baronibus regni 1212. 'T was but an ordinary Court held at Windsor fuit ad natale apud Windsor 1213. He held his Court at Westminster with very few tenants ad natale Domini tenuit Curiam suam apud Westmonasterium cum pauco admodum Militum comitatu In this year we find a Military summons to more than tenants and of an extraordinary nature Misit literas ad omnes Vicecomites regni sui sub hâc formâ Rex Johannes c. Summone per bonos summonitores Comites Barones Milites omnes liberos homines servientes vel quicunque sint de quocunque teneant qui arma habere debent vel arma habere possint qui homagium nobis vel ligeantiam fecerunt Quod sicut nos seipsos omnia sua diligunt sint apud Deveram ad instant clausum Paschae benè parati cum equis armis cum toto posse suo ad defendendum caput nostrum capita sua terram Angl. Et quod nullus remaneat qui Arma portare possit sub nomine Culvertagii perpetuae servitutis Et unusquisque sequatur Dominum suum Et qui terram non habent arma habere possint illic veniant ad capiendum solidatas nostras Hereby all free-men as well as the Kings tenents nay servants and all that ow'd allegiance to the Crown though not oblig'd to bear arms if they could get any were required to give their attendance and those that had not wherewithal to maintain themselves should have the Kings pay this was upon expectation of an invasion and therefore the assembly seems to have been as general as the summons but there is a shrewd circumstance to induce the belief that many considerable men not holding in Chief thought themselves not oblig'd to attendance till necessity press'd them for otherwise he would never have been terrified into a dishonourable peace the parting with all his right of patronage to the Pope and submitting to his pleasure if he had not been sensible by the absence of many great men that there was truth in the French King's boast Jactat se idem Rex Chartas habere omnium ferè Angliae Magnatum de fidelitate subjectione But that this was not
from Tenure But this is to be observed that this being spoke of as antiquated and that the People and Laws were in reputation when this was the usage there is a strong presumption from hence that since that time a less matter than five hides of Land a Church c. gave a place in the King's Court when Nobilty was cheaper and so the People the Nobles of less reputation The Normans followed not only the Lane but the decent Customs and Ceremonies of the former Government though not directly yet by way of resemblance And whereas the Saxon Kings celebrated their Courts often on great Feast days before all their People upon publick notice King William erects Tenures whereby all that he had obliged by his gifts except such as out of special favour were to do some small thing pro omni servitio should make a little Court or Council by themselves either Military if occasion were or Judicial in matters belonging to their feud And by Henry the Third's time if not Henry the Second's it took in all or most matters of ordinary Justice whereas before its business was confined to the Controversies arising between the King 's immediate Tenants other Suits especially about Lands were settled in the Counties or Hundreds or in particular Lords Courts as appears by the Charter of Henry the First de Comitatu Hundredis tenendis Henricus Rex Anglorum Sampsoni Episcopo Ursoni de Abecot omnibus Baronibus Francis Anglicis de Wircestrescirâ salutem sciatis quod concedo praecipio ut à modo Comitatus mei Hundreda in illis locis eisdem terminis sedeant sicut sederunt in tempore Regis Edw. non aliter 〈◊〉 enim quando voluero faciam ea satis summoneri propter mea dominica necessaria ad voluntatem meam I cannot here omit the plain observation that dominica necessaria cannot be meant otherwise than of the King 's own business for his necessary Demeasns were nonsense therefore the sense is that as often as he had occasion he would give them that is all the Counties and Hundreds sufficient notice for attending him so that here is a clear description of the nature of his Great Councils nay and of St. Edward's too in that when he says they shall sit no otherwise than they had done in St. Edward's time he adds For when I have a mind to it I will cause them to be sufficiently summoned to meet upon my necessary occasions of which I will be Judge that is so it was in King Edward's time and indeed so it appears in the Body of his Laws recited in the Fourth of William the First where 't is enacted that Tythes shall be payd of Bees we are there told with what solemnity the Law passed Concessa sunt à Rege Baronibus Populo So whereas King Ethelwolf Father to the Illustrious King Alfred had in the year 855 or 854 granted to the Church the Tythe of his own Demeasns Rex Decimas Ecclesia concessit ex omnibus suis terris sive Villis Regiis about ten years afterwards the Tythes were settled all over the Kingdom by a general consent totâ regione cum consensu Nobilium totias populi By the Populus is not to be intended all People whatsoever for they who were not Freeholders were not People of the Land were no Cives and were not properly a part of any Hundred or Country for they were made up of the Free Pledges the Freeholders Masters of the several Families answering for one another by Tens Ten Tens or Tythings at first making an Hundred Court and more or fewer Hundreds according to the first division or increase a Country and for the clear understanding the general Words as Principes Thaini Barones Proceres Baronagium Barnagium Regni or the like relating to the Great Councils of the Kingdom before and since the Norman acquisition we find by this Charter of Henry the First that the Counties and Hundreds that is the men which composed those Courts were upon sufficient notice to attend upon the King's business that is constitute the Councils and therefore Simeon of Durham very properly says of the Great Council Concilio totius Angliae adunato the same with what Eadmerus says of the Council of Pinnedene in the First William's time adunatis primoribus probis viris non solum de Comitatu Cantiae sed de aliis Comitatibus Angliae here were the probi homines the Freeholders of the Counties they that made the County Court or Turn either of which in St. Edward's Laws is called the Folkmote and is there described vocatio congregatio populorum omnium and we find by Statutes made before this time that the populus omnis or the primores probi homines according to Eadmerus are called Peers or Nobles for that the Country-Court or Turn at least was Celeberrimus ex omni satrapiâ conventus Thus in King Edgar's Laws Centuriae Comitiis quisque ut antea praescribitur interesto oppidana ter quotannis habentur Comitia Celeberrimus autem ex omni satrapiâ bis quotannis conventus agitor cui quidem illius Diocesis Episcopus Senator intersunto c. This some great men have taken for a General Council or Parliament but the contrary is manifest in that only the Bishop of the Diocess and one Senator either the Count or the Sheriff are to sit there in Chief and this very Law being taken notice of by Bromton it is there called Scyremotus so in Canutus his Laws where this is repeated and where Canutus his Laws give an Appeal from the Hundred to the County-Court or Turn this of the County is called Conventus totius Comitatus quod Anglicè dicitur Scyremote But to proceed with the Charter of Henry the First concerning the County and Hundred Court Et si amodo exurgat placitum de divisione terrarum si interest Barones meos dominicos tractetur placitum in Curiâ meâ Et si inter vavasores duorum Dominorum tractetur in Com. c. Though according to this the Titles to Land between all but immediate Tenants or such Lords as had none over them but the King were determinable in the County yet sometime before the Great Charter of Henry the Third Common Pleas in General which takes in the Titles of Land followed the King's Court where ever he held it and by that Charter were brought to a certain place Communia placita non sequantur Curiam nostram sed teneantur aliquo loco certo The King's Bench is coram Rege and used to follow the King's Court and was removeable at the King's pleasure Here Common Pleas as well as matters of the Crown were heard and at this doubtless all the King's Tenants by Knights Service used to be present of this Bracton says Illarum Curiarum habet unam propriam sicut aulam regiam
consuetudine concess nobis efficax auxilium ad magna negotia nostra expediend unde provisum est de consilio illorum quod habeamus de singulis feodis quae de nobis tenent in Capite de wardis tam de novo feoffamento quam de veteri duas marcas Whether the Tenants in Capite Granted at this Council by themselves or all agreed in one Body is not material but here is a grant from all jointly or severally I will shew one Instance which is barely of such a Commune concilium Regni as King John's Charter exhibits Rex Bar. Quia per commune concilium Com. Baronum aliorum Magnatum nobiscum in Walliâ nuper existentium provisum est quod nos ipsi qui servitium nobis fecerunt ibidem habeamus scutagium nostrum viz. De Sicuto 40 s. pro exercitu nostro Wall ’ anno Regni nostri 41. vobis mandamus quod de omnibus feodis Militum quae tenentur de nobis in Capite vel de Wardis in manu nostra existentibus exceptis feod illorum qui brevia nostra habuerunt de scutag suo habendo levari fac scutag nostrum Here was a Common Council of Tenants such is according to their obligation of their Tenure had attended the King in his Wars and they laid Escuage upon them which did not perform their Services due which still were only Tenants in Chief and the Tenants of the King's Wards which were liable to the same Service and they which made default were to pay Escuage to the King which he says was to his Tenants too in as much as he out of that satisfi'd their charges beyond the duty of their Tenure I think I have clear'd my way to the treasury of Records in this Kings Reign which acquaints us with the Members of the Great Council of the Nation As before is observ'd for the obtaining Magna Charta and Charta de Forestâ the Arch. Episc Abbates Priores Comites Barones Milites liberè tenentes omnes de Regno Granted a Subsidie There is a Grant of Carvage which Bracton says us'd to be consensu Communi totius Regni not being a Service or such as Tenants only us'd to charge or pay the Reward has it Omnes Magnates fideles totius Regni nostri Granted de qualibet carucatâ duos solidos The King in his Letter to the Pope says That he had Summon'd to Northampton Arch. Episc Abb'es ac omnes Magnates totius Regni to give him concilium auxilium The King undertook a Foreign Voiage De communi concilio omnium Comitum Baronum nostrorum Angliae A Fourth part of their Moveables is Granted by the Archiepiscopi Episc Abbates Priores Clerici terras habentes quae ad Ecclesias suas non pertinent Comites Barones Milites liberi homines villani de Regno nostro So that 't is plain here who made the CoÌ„mune ConciliuÌ„ Regni and gave the Subsidie the Arch-Bishops Bishops Abbots Priors inferior Landed Clergy-men the Counts Barons Knights Free men it being a Grant of Goods not lay'd upon Land and that it may fully express the Parties to the Grant the Record tells us there were the villani the Inhabitants of every Villa A Provision about the Sheriffs Turns Hundred-Courts Wapentakes and the Courts of Lords of Mannors was De communi concilio domini Cant. omnium Episc Comitum Baronum aliorum Comites Barones omnes alii de toto Regno nostro concess nobis efficax auxilium c. It is provided coram venerab Patre Cant. Arch. coram Majori parte Episc Comitum Baronum totius Regni nostri Angliae that no Assize of Darrein Presentment shall be taken of any Prebendary belonging to a Cathedral Church At a Parliament Cum ad mandatum nostrum convenirent apud West Archiepisc Abbates Priores Comites Barones totius Regni nostri tractatum haberent nobiscum de statu nostro Regni nostri They grant a Subsidy Archiepis Abbates Priores Cler ’ terras habentes quae ad Ecclesias suas non pertinent Comites Barones Milites liberi homines pro se suis villanis 30. m. partem omnium mobilium suarum Nus volens otroiens ke ce ke nostre la greignure partie de eus ki est esluz paromis par le Commune da nostre Roiaume a fet u fera al honir de dieu nostre foi pur le profit de nostre Roiame sicum il ordenera seit ferm estable en tuites chesel a tuz jurz commandous a tuz noz faus leaus en la fei kil mis devient kil fermement teignent jurgent a tenir meintenir les establissements que sunt fet u sunt a fere par lariont dit Conseil This agrees with what was done afterwards in the 42d of this King and it seems by this that even in the 24th par le Commune de nostre Roiaume by the whole Realm or Great Council the King had a special Council Assigned which was to have an extraordinary Power Magnates nostri ad sedem Apostolicam appellarunt quosdam pro universitate totius Baronagii Angliae ad concilium in brevi celebrand ’ ad appellacionem pred ’ prosequendam duxerunt destinandos The Barnagium here according to Mat. Paris were Barones Proceres Magnates ac Nobiles Portuum maris habitatores nec non Clerus Populus universus The Pope had order'd De Apostolicâ seâ—e that a Years profit of the Churches which were of the gift of Lay-men should be settled by way of Subsidy upon the Church of Canterbury but 't was deny'd in full Parliament Magnates terrae nostrae noluerunt in ultimo Parliamento nostro quod fuit London ut de Ecclesiis ad donationem laicorum spectantibus c. In Parliamento nostro Oxon. communiter fuit Ordinatum that was about settling and new modelling some things relating to the Government which the King promiseth should be done per concilium proborum et fidelium hominum nostrorum regni Angliae unà cum consilio Legati Domini Papae Pur le profit de nostre reaum et a la request de mes hauz homes e prodes homes e du Comun de nostre Reaume The King and People having in the 42 d. agreed upon a standing Council and that what they did in the way of Settlement should be effectual and acquiesced in on all sides Cum c. promiserimus praedictis proceribus et Magnatibus nostris quod reformac'onem et ordinac'onem per praedictos vigitni quatuor vel majorem partem eorum faciend ’ ratam habebimus et firmam c. Hereupon in the 45th they order a representation of 3. for every County pro ea vice but do not yet settle it for a standing Rule Cum