the shooting here mentioned seemeth not to be the long-bowe which stirreth the body and is profitable to health but that deadly Engine which imagineth mischief as a law the Cross-bowe whose force a man cannot mitigate as in other weapons and is properly numbred amongst the instruments of War and therefore by a multitude of Canons prohibited to Clergy-men so that they may not use them pro justitia exercenda as appeareth by the Constit of Othob Tit. de Clericis arma portan nor equitantes per loca periculosa as it is in the Gloss upon the Decret of Gratian p. 992. where the Text is Clerici arma portantes usurarii excommunicentur But I have gone the length of my tedder I mean as far as the Apologie leadeth me and therefore now manum de tabula The case of this Reverend and most Worthy Person deserveth great commiseration and tender handling for who can prevent such unexpected casualties Yet may the consequence prove so mischievous both to himself and those that are to receive their Consecration from him as of necessity it must be carefully look'd into and provided for Let me remember an ancient precedent even in one of his own Predecessors Stigand Arch-bishop of Canterbury in the time of the Conquest who because he had not Canonically received his Consecration but from the hands of Pope Benedict who stood Excommunicate and sacris interdictus was not only deprived himself by authority of a Council but also the Bishops and Abbots which had taken their Consecration from him Therefore the Bishops of Wells and Hereford foreseeing that evil to make all clear fetch their Consecration at Rome from Pope Nicholas Vitabant enim saith Flor. Wigorn. in An. 1070. à Stigando qui tunc Archiepiscopatui Doroberniae praesidebat ordinari quia noverant illum non Canonice Pallium suscepisse It is good to follow the counsel of Gratian in the like matter Consultius est in hujusmodi dubio abstinere quam celebrare ca. 24. 1716. But because we are fallen into a case wherein perhaps some extraordinary Consecration may be required let me also relate a strange Consecration used in the entrance of the Reign of Henry I. An. 1100. where Eadmere a Monk of Canterbury being elected by the Clergy and People of Scotland to be Bishop of St. Andrews with the great good liking of King Alexander and the Nobility Yet by reason of some discontentments the same King had conceived against the Arch-bishop of York within whose Province Scotland then was he would by no means agree that Eadmere should take his Consecration from that Arch-bishop and after much consultation how then it might otherwise be performed it was at last agreed that the Staff of the Bishoprick should be solemnly laid upon the Altar and that Eadmere taking it from thence should receive it as deliver'd him from God himself which accordingly was done This calleth to my mind another of like nature somewhat more ancient where Wulstan the good Bishop of Worcester both resigned his Bishoprick by laying the Staff thereof upon the shrine of St. Edward the Confessor by the agreement of a Council holden under Lanfranc and in like manner received the same again from thence in the presence of King William the Arch-bishop Lanfranc and many others not without some miracle as Matthew Paris writeth it in An. 1095. These as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And thus in this matter of Shooting If I have done as the Proverb saith Shot like a Gentleman that is fair tho far off it sufficeth I humbly crave pardon 19. Octob. 1621. Recep Apolog. â—5 Octob. praeced SOME Letters and Instruments Concerning The killing of Hawkins by Arch-bishop ABBOT A Letter written by his Majesty to the Lord Keeper the Bishops of London Winton Rochester St. Davids and Exeter Sir Henry Hobart Kt. Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas Mr. Justice Dodderidge Sir Henry Martin and Mr. Doctor Steward or any six of them whereof the Lord Keeper the Bishops of London Winton and St. Davids to be four IT is not unknown unto you what happened this last Summer unfortunately to our Right Trusty and our Right Well-beloved Counsellour the Lord Arch-bishop of Canterbury who Shooting at a Deer with a Cross-bow in Bramsil-park did with that shoot casually give the Keeper a wound whereof he died Which accident tho it might have happened to any other man yet because his Eminent Rank and Function in the Church hath as we are informed ministred occasion of some doubts as making the Case different in his Person in respect of the Scandal as is supposed We therefore being desirous as it is fit We should to be satisfied therein and reposing especial Trust in your Learning and Judgement have made choice of you to inform Vs concerning the nature of this Case And do therefore require you to take it presently into your consideration and the Scandal that may have risen thereupon And to certify Vs what in your Judgements the same may amount unto either to an Irregularity or otherwise And lastly what means may be found to redress the same if need be of all which points We shall expect to hear your Reports with what diligence and expedition you possibly may Dated at Theobalds 3. Oct. 1621. A Letter from the Lord Keeper to Arch-bishop Abbot intimating the Reception of his Majesty's Letter May it please your Grace MY Lord of Winchester my Lord Hobart Sir John Dodderidge Dr. Martin and my self having met this afternoon about a Letter sent unto us together with some others under his Majesty's Signet and finding the Contents thereof to require from us some information of the nature of an unfortunate Act which doth referr unto your Grace We thought our selves ty'd in all justice and respect to send your Grace as I do here inclosed a copy of his Majesty's Letter And to let your Grace understand that we are ready to receive from your Grace in writing all the qualifying circumstance of the Fact if any such there be omitted in this Letter that we may be better grounded to deliver our Opinions as is desired concerning the nature of this unlucky accident And we have appointed two of the clock in the afternoon upon Saturday next to be the time and this Colledge of Westminster to be the place of our meeting to receive what information of the Fact your Grace shall 〈…〉 unto us And ceasing to be further troublesome I shall 〈…〉 Your Grace's poor Friend and Servant Jo. Lane C. S. Westminst Coll. 〈…〉 of October 162â— The Arch-bishop's Answer My very good Lords I Thank you for sending me the Copy of his Majesty's Letter which concerneth the â—nhappy 〈…〉 that befell me in Hampshire I here inclosed send unto your 〈◊〉 a â—opy of the Verdict given up by the Jurors unto the Coroner as also a 〈…〉 of some circumstances of this Fact which are not expressed in that Verdict 〈◊〉 the first being already upon Oath it needeth not as I
now to our greater enrichment return'd again amongst us by dissolution of these Popish Ceremonies Viand You may also reckon the mony given to maintenance of Priests Monkery Lights Obits Anniversaries and all the plate and treasure of the Clergy at that time to be of the same sort Selv. That did Edward the first well consider and therefore to the end that he might dig it out of the grave and bring it abroad again among the people that had need thereof he suffer'd the matter to be so handl'd by one of his Treasurers that certain Captains appointed to work the feat placing their Souldiers in every quarter through the Realm made search at one time in July at three of the clock in the afternoon for all such mony were it hid or laid up in hallowed places and taking the same away brought it unto the King who dissembling the matter as he that stood in need excused the act done by his Treasurer and thought it no offence but rather a good work Besides all this there is yet another means whereby the Treasure of our Land must needs be much encreased and that is by divers good Laws and Statutes made both for causing it to be brought into the Realm and also for containing it within the lists of the same when it is come And that is by the Stat. 14. Edw. III. whereby it was enacted that every man denizen or stranger that should transport any wooll out of the Land should find sufficient sureties to bring again unto the King's Exchange for every sack of wooll transported plates of Silver to the value of two marks And by the Statute of 3. Henry V. confirm'd and quickned by 32. Hen. VI. which provided that every Merchant-stranger buying wooll in England not coming to the Staple to be sold shall bring to the Master of the Mint of the Tower of London of every sack one ounce of Bullion of Gold and in the same manner of three pieces of Tin one ounce of Bullion of Gold or the value in Bullion of Silver upon pain of forfeiture of the same Woolls and Tin or the value thereof to the King It is provided also for containing of mony within the Land that all Merchant-strangers shall employ all the mony receiv'd by them within this Realm upon the Merchandise and Commodities of this Realm deducting their reasonable expences and that they shall give sufficient surety for doing hereof and the trespasser to forfeit and be punished grievously as in the Statutes is contain'd 3. Hen. VII affirming and enlarging 14. Edw. IV. and many other of like effect And by 4. Hen. VII that no man dwelling in England shall pay or deliver wittingly to any Merchant or other born out of the King's obedience for any Merchandise or Wares or in any other wise any Gold coined Plate Vessels Bullion Jewels of Gold or Silver upon pain of forfeiture thereof And by 14. Edw. IV. affirm'd by 4. Hen. VII and for a time continued by 1. and 3. Henry VIII with a mitigation of the bloody penalty all men except such as had the King's Licence or were dispensed with by those Statutes were utterly inhibited from carrying out of the Realm any manner of Coin plate vessel massy Bullion jewels of Gold or Silver Which Law and many other of the like effect tho' they continue not now in force yet the fruit thereof remaineth to us still as Children enrich'd by their Fathers sparings Besides it is not altogether to be passed in silence that our treasure is somewhat increased by the Gold and Silver try'd out of our own Mines here in England Which tho' it be little or nothing in respect that in this latter age we have wimbl'd even into the bowels of Plutus's Treasury the Western Indies yet is it so much as our Historiographers both new and ancient have thought it worth the noting and all our Kings from time to time have made especial account of as well appeareth by a multitude of Leases thereof granted by them to many noble Personages extant in the Checquer Records and also by the process and argument of the Earl of Northumberland's Case concerning a Copper-mine 10. Eliz. which in Plowden's Commentaries is at large reported But be it little or great Many littles as our Adage saith make a great and continual accession amasseth at length to a mighty thing as is well seen in the Hill Testacchio in Rome which standing in a plain and being about half a mile in compass and exceeding in height any Tower in the Town-wall is said to have been made of the shards of the potts wherein the tribute-mony was brought to Rome or as pleaseth rather the more Learned sort of broken potts thrown out of the VII College of Potters built by Numa Pompilius But be it the one or other the semblance serves my turn and there 's an end THE PLACES or DWELLINGS OF THE ARCH-BISHOPS and BISHOPS of this Realm Now or of former times in which Houses their several Owners have Ordinary Jurisdiction and be as parcel of their Diocess as is recited in the Stat. of 33. Hen. VIII ca. 31. altho' they be situate within the precinct of another Bishop's Diocess 1. THe Lords Arch-bishops of CANTERBURY of long time enjoyed and do enjoy Lambeth-house as appeareth in Historia Cantuariensium Archiepiscoporum set forth as is thought by Dr. Ackworth in the Lord Arch-bishop Parker's time The which house was never severed from the Lord Arch-bishop's See of Canterbury since the annexion thereof to that See 2. The house at Lambeth-marsh commonly call'd Carlisle-house was the Bishop of ROCHESTER'S Palace until about 26. Hen. VIII as appeareth in the foresaid Historia Cantuariensis and also in the Act of Parliament of 22. Hen. VIII ca. 9. made against poysoning whereby it doth appear that the house of John Bishop of Rochester was at Lambeth-marsh But afterwards about An. 27. Hen. VIII or after the same being some ways the Kings was convey'd to Robert Aldridge Bishop of CARLILE and his Successors in exchange for his houses near Ivie-bridge now the Earl of Worcester and Salisbury's and other houses there toward the Street and of a yearly Rent of 16l. or thereabouts out of those houses given to the Bishop of Carlile and his Successors for those houses formerly call'd Carlile-place But the said Bishop Aldridge leas'd the house of Lambeth-marsh for some small and not valuable Rent for divers years yet enduring 3. The Bishop of ROCHESTER had given for his Palace to dwell in certain houses lately call'd Rochester-house near adjoining to Winchester-place and sometime as it is reported parcel of the possessions of the Priory of St. Swithins in Winchester but that place is lately divided into several little dwellings 4 WINCHESTER Place with the liberty of the Prison of the Clynke and Bancke belonged and doth belong to the Bishop of Winchester and the house was in Edw. the Sixth's time conveyed to the Marquess of
are all for profit taking what we find at market without enquiring from whence it came With this honest freedom does he censure his own times Not but then as well as now the studies to which he directs were pursu'd and encourag'd by Persons of the highest Stations in the Law and some of them were so far concern'd for the improvement of ancient Learning that they form'd themselves into a Society of Antiquaries for that purpose as we learn from Sir Henry's Introduction to his Law-terms With this design of understanding the foundation of our Laws Ecclesiastical as well as Civil he read over the Fathers Councils and as many of the middle-age Historians as he could meet with whether foreign or domestick Printed or Manuscript The roughness of style could not be very pleasing but that which chiefly discourag'd him was the great number of strange and obsolete words which are very hard to be understood and yet oftentimes are so considerable that the meaning of the whole sentence depends upon them However he went forward and where he met with any such word set it down in it's proper order with a distinct reference to the place till by degrees he had collected a variety of instances and by comparing the several passages where the same word occurr'd was able to give a tolerable conjecture at the true signification After he had made a considerable collection of this kind and observ'd how by this means the reading of the old Historians became every day more easie and pleasant he begun to digest his materials and from the several quotations to draw a judgement of the strict acceptation of each word in the respective Ages wherein it was used For he consider'd that what had been a discouragement to him would be so to others too and that a work of this nature would remove one of the greatest difficulties in the reading of our old Historians But tho' a number of instances gave him good satisfaction as to the several Words yet finding that many of our Laws since the Conquest are drawn from the Constitution of the Saxons and that many obsolete Terms in our Latin Historians must be of a pure Saxon Original he despair'd of ever accomplishing his design for want of understanding that Language At least he was certain that the knowledge of it must needs lead him to a clearer interpretation of many obscure passages and enable him throughout the whole Work to deliver his Opinion with a better assurance This Language at that time was not to be learnt without great difficulty Little assistance was to be expected from conversation in a study which few People of that Age ever minded Nor had he the directions either of Grammar or Dictionary as we at this day are accommodated with both very accurate in their kind However he set heartily about it and tho' I think he never perfectly conquer'd it yet under so many inconveniencies it is a greater wonder that he should attain so good a knowledge than that he should not make himself an absolute Master of it After he had made large Collections and got tolerable knowledge of the Saxon Tongue he resolv'd to go on with his undertaking but because he would not depend altogether upon his own Judgement he Printed a sheet or two for a Specimen whereby his Friends might be able to give him their opinion of the design He was encourag'd on all hands by the most Learned Persons of that Age at home by Archbishop Usher Bishop Williams then Lord Keeper Mr. Selden and Sir Robert Cotton abroad by Rigaltius Salmasius Piereschius and others as also Bignonius Meursius and Lindenbrogius whose assistances he very gratefully acknowledges in his Preface to the work Upon their encouragement he prepar'd part of it for the Press and offer'd the whole Copy to Mr. Bill the King's Printer He was very moderate in his demands desiring only five pound in consideration of his labour and that too to be paid him in Books But Mr. Bill absolutely refus'd to meddle with it knowing it to be upon a subject out of the common road and not likely to prove a saleable work So that Sir Henry was forc'd to carry it on at his own charge and in the year 1626. publisht the first part of it to the end of the Letter L. Why he went no farther I cannot tell nor has he so much as hinted to the cause of it either in his Preface or any part of his works that I know of Monsieur du Fresne who very much laments that he should not publish the second part himself fancies that his design of compiling the English Councils might be the occasion of his breaking off in the middle of his Glossary But 't is not likely that a Person of Sir Henry Spelman's settl'd Temper and Resolution should leave one work imperfect to make way for another I have heard it affirm'd by others that he stopped at the Letter M. because he had said somethings under Magna Charta and Magnum Consilium that his Friends were afraid might give offence But I believe the true reason was this Printing it at his own charge he must have laid out a considerable summ upon the first part and having a large Family there was no reason why he should venture as much more without the prospect of a quicker return than either the coldness of the Bookseller or the nature of the work gave him It fell out accordingly for eleven years after the greatest part of the Impression remain'd unsold till in 1637. two of the London Booksellers took it off his hands And tho' he should afterwards have had encouragement to go forward that was not a time to speak freely either of the King's Prerogative or the Liberties of the Subject both which would upon many occasions fall in his way Besides that the finishing the second part with the same copiousness and accuracy as he had done the first would have been too heavy a task for a Man of his great Age. The Author has told us in an Advertisement before the book that he chose to entitle his work Archaeologus rather than Glossarium as we commonly call it For a Glossary strictly speaking is no more than a bare explication of Words whereas This does more especially treat of Things and contains entire Discourses and Dissertations upon several of the heads therein mention'd For which reason it is not only to be consulted upon occasion like our common Lexicons but ought to be carefully perus'd and study'd as the greatest Treasure extant of the ancient Customs and Constitutions of England Before the Edition of 1626. he has this remarkable Dedication Deo Ecclesiae Literarum Reipub. Sub protestatione de addendo retrahendo corrigendo poliendo Prout opus fuerit consultius videbitur Deo clementissime annuente HENRICUS SPELMANNUS Omni supplex humilitate D. D. I have therefore set it down at large because in the Editions of 1664. and 1687. they have
homicidium casu commissions culpa non praecedente non est imputandum And Sibi imputari non debet quia fortuitos casus qui praevideri non possunt non praevidit And De casu fortuito nullus tenetur cum praevideri non possit And upon this the stream of the Canonists do run as by a multitude of Books may be shew'd with whom our Bracton a great Civilian and Common Lawyer too Homicidium casuale non imputatur 5. The two heads whereto the Law looketh freeing a man from blame and expresly from Irregularity are that the person by whom the Action is perform d do not dare operam rei illicitae and that he use diligence of his part that no hurt be committed Azorius the Jesuite saith Irregularitas cum ob delictum constituitur non nisi ex lethali peccato contrahitur nisi ex homicidio fiat quis irregularis eo quod det operam rei vetitae interdictae nam tunc quamvis homicidium casu sequatur ob culpam nostram levem vel levissimam multorum est opinio irregularitatem contrahi And Ivo in his Canons some hundreds of years before him Si duo fratres in sylva arbores succiderint appropinquante casura unius arboris frater fratri dixerit Cave ille fugiens in pressuram arboris inciderit ac mortuus fuerit vivens frater innocens de sanguine germani dijudicatur Now the caâ—e at Bramsil is within the compass of these two conditions For the party agent was about no unlawful work for what he did was in the day in the presence of fourty or fifty persons the Lord Zouch who was owner of the Park not only standing by but inviting to Hunt and Shoot and all persons in the Field were call'd upon to stand far off partly for avoiding harm and partly lest they should disturb the Game and all in the Field perform'd what was desir'd And this course did the Lord Arch-bishop use to take when or wheresoever he did shoot as all persons at any time present can witness never any man being more solicitous thereof than he evermore was And the morning when the deed was done the Keeper was twice warn'd to stay behind and not to run forward but he carelesly did otherwise when he that shot could take no notice of his galloping in before the Bow as may be seen by the Verdict of the Coroner's Inquest 6. This case at Bramsill is so favourable that the strictest Writers of these times directly conclude that if a Clergy-man committing casuale homicidium be about a forbidden and interdicted act yet he is not irregular if the interdicted act be not therefore forbidden because it may draw on Homicide And thereupon inasmuch as Hunting is forbidden in a Clergy-man not in respect of danger of Life but for Decency that he should not spend his time in Exercises which may hinder him from the study fit for his Calling or for other such reasons Irregularity followeth not thereupon And to this purpose writeth at large Soto Covarruvias and Suarez who are great Canonists and Schoolmen And if this be true as out of great reason it may be so held how much further is the present case in question from Irregularitie 7. But some go directly to the point and say that the Lord Arch-bishop did navare operam rei illicitae because he was on Hunting for that was interdicted to a Bishop by the Canon De Clerico Venatore and so by a consequent he must needs be Irregular To which objection see how many clear and true answers there be As first that the Canon being taken out of the Decrees is by Gratian himself branded to be Palea no better than Chaff Secondly it is cited out of the fourth Council of Orleans and there is no such thing to be found as the Gloss well observeth Thirdly it forbiddeth Hunting cum canibus aut accipitribus and none of these were at Bramsil And if you will enforce it by comparison or proportion the rule of the Law is Favores sunt ampliandi odia restringenda Where mark when Hunting with Dogs or Hawks is forbidden it is not for fear of Slaughter for there is no such danger in either of them Fourthly the Canon forbiddeth Hunting voluptatis causa but not recreationis or valetudinis gratia which the Books say is permitted etiam Episcopo Fifthly the Canon hath Si saepius detentus fuerit if he make a Life or Occupation of it which the world knoweth is not the Arch-bishop's case but a little one time in the year directed so by his Physician to avoid two diseases whereunto he is subject the Stone and the Gout Sixthly it is clamosa venatio against which the Canon speaketh not quieta or modesta which the Canonists allow and this whereof the question ariseth was most silent and quiet saving that this accident by the Keeper's unadvised running in hath afterwards made a noise over all the Countrey 8. These Exceptions as they naturally and without any enforcing give answer to this Objection of the Canon so there is another thing that may stop the mouth of all Gain-sayers if any Reason will content them And that is that by the Stat. of Henr. VIII 35. ca. 16. no Canon is in force in England which was not in use before that time or is not contrary or derogatory to the Laws or Statutes of this Realm nor to the Prerogatives of the Royal Crown of which nature this is For in Charta de Foresta Archbishops and Bishops by name have liberty to Hunt and 13. Ric. II. cap. 13. a Clergy-man who hath 10l. by the year may keep grey-hounds to hunt And Linwood who liv'd soon after that time and understood the Ecclesiastical Constitutions and the Laws of England very well in treating of Hunting speaketh against Clergy-men using that exercise unlawfully as in places restrain'd or forbidden but hath not one word against Hunting simply And the Arch-bishop of Canterbury had formerly more than twenty Parks and Chaces of his own to use at his pleasure and now by Charter hath free-warren in all his lands And by ancient Record the Bishop of Rochester at his death was to render to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury his Kennel of Hounds as a mortuary whereof as I am credibly inform'd the Law taketh notice for the King Sede vacante under the name of Muta canum and Mulctura To this may be added the perpetuated use of Hunting by Bishops in their Parks continu'd to this day without scruple or question As that most Reverend man the Lord Arch-bishop Whitgyfte us'd in Hartlebury-park while he liv'd at Worcester in Ford-park in Kent in the Park of the Lord Cobham near Canterbury where by the favour of that Lord he kill'd twenty Bucks in one journey using Hounds Grey-hounds or his Bow at his pleasure although he never Shot well And the same is credibly reported of the Lord Arch-bishop Sandes And it is most true that the
Reliquiae Spelmannianae THE POSTHUMOUS WORKS OF Sir HENRY SPELMAN Kt. Relating to the LAWS and ANTIQUITIES OF ENGLAND Publish'd from the ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS With the LIFE of the AUTHOR Sine dubio domus Jurisconsulti est totius oraculum Civitatis Cicero OXFORD Printed at the THEATER for Awnsham and John Churchill at the Black-Swan in Pater-Noster-Row LONDON 1698. Imprimatur JOH MEARE VICE-CAN OXON Jan. 17. 1698. TO THE Most Reverend Father in God THOMAS LORD ARCH-BISHOP OF CANTERBURY PRIMATE of All ENGLAND And METROPOLITAN And one of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council MY LORD I BEG leave to lay before your Grace these Posthumous Discourses of Sir Henry Spelman promising them a favourable reception both for their own worth and for the sake of their Author He was a Person endow'd with those excellent Qualities which never fail to recommend others to your Grace's good opinion and esteem A Gentleman of great Learning and a hearty Promoter and Encourager of it In his Temper Calm and Sedate and in his Writings Grave and Inoffensive a true lover of the Establisht Church and a zealous maintainer of her Rights and Privileges In which respect the Clergy of this Nation were more particularly engag'd to Him because being a Lay-man and so not lyable to the suspicion of Prejudice or Interest his Reasonings carry'd in them a greater weight and authority than if they had come from one of their own Order I might add as some sort of excuse for this Trouble that He had the honour to be particularly respected by two of your Grace's Predecessors and some of his Posthumous Works by a third Arch-bishop Abbot and his immediate Successor were the chief Encouragers of the First Volume of his Councils and after his death the Second Part of his Glossary was publisht by the procurement of Arch-bishop Sheldon So that these Papers have a kind of hereditary right to your Grace's Protection All the share that I have in this Work is the handing it into the World and to make the first Present to your Grace would be no more than a decent regard to the Eminence of your Station though I had no particular obligation to do it But in my Circumstances I should think my self very ungrateful if enjoying so much Happiness under your Grace's Patronage I should omit any opportunity of expressing my Thankfulness for it Especially since such small Acknowledgements as this are the only Returns that I can ever hope to make for the Encouragement which You daily afford to Your GRACE'S most obliged and most dutiful Servant EDMUND GIBSON THE PREFACE I Shall not make any Apologie for the publication of these Treatises They seem'd to me to be very useful towards a right understanding of the Laws and Antiquities of England and I hope they will appear so to others too Nor need I endeavour to recommend them to the world any otherwise than by shewing them to be the genuine Labours of Sir H. Spelman whose Learning Accuracy and Integrity are sufficiently known The first of them concerning Feuds and Tenures in England was written in the Year 1639. and is printed from a fair Copy in the Bodleian Library corrected with Sir Henry Spelman's own hand The Occasion of writing it was the Great Case of Defective Titles in Ireland as may be gathered in some measure from the hints that our Author has given us but is much more evident from the Case it self printed afterwards by order of Thomas Viscount Wentworth the then Lord Deputie The Grounds thereof with the Pleadings and Resolutions so far as they concern the Original of Tenures were in short thus The several Mannours and Estates within the Counties of Roscomon Sligo Mayo and Gallway in the Kingdom of Ireland being unsettl d as to their Titles King James I. by Commission under the Great Seal dated the 2d day of March in the 4th Year of his Reign did authorize certain Commissioners by Letters Patents to make Grants of the said Lands and Mannours to the respective Owners Whereupon several Letters Patents to that effect passed under his Majesties Great Seal by virtue of the said Commission for the strengthening of Titles that might otherwise seem defective And afterwards in the Reign of King Charles I. upon an Enquirie into his Majestie 's Title to the Countie of Mayo there was an Act of State publisht commanding all those who held any Lands in that County by Letters Patents from the Crown to produce them or the Enrollment thereof before the Lord Deputie and Council by a certain day To the end that they might be secur'd in the quiet possession of their Estates in case the said Letters were allow'd by that Board to be good and effectual in Law In pursuance of this Order several Letters Patents were produc'd and particularly the Lord Viscount Dillon's which last upon the perusal and consideration thereof by his Majestie 's Council were thought to be void in Law And therefore it was order'd by the Lord Deputie and Council that the doubt arising upon the Letters Patents should be drawn up into a Case and that Case to be openly argu'd at the Council-Board The Case was drawn up in these words King James by Commission under the Great Seal dated the second day of March in the fourth year of his Reign did authorize certain Commissioners to grant the Mannour of Dale by Letters Patents under the Great Seal of this Kingdom to A. and his heirs and there is no direction given in the said Commission touching the Tenure to be reserv'd There are Letters Patents by colour of the said Commission pass'd unto A. and his heirs to hold by Knights Service as of his Majesties Castle of Dublin Here it was agreed on all hands that the Letters Patents were void as to the Tenure and that the Commissioners had acted beyond their Commission in reserving a mean Tenure to the prejudice of the King when they ought either to have reserv'd an express Tenure by Knight's Service in Capite or have mention'd no Tenure at all but have left the Law to imply a Tenure in Capite The question therefore was Whether the deficiency of the Tenure did so far affect the Grant as wholly to destroy the Letters Patents Or Whether the Letters Patents might not be good as to the Land and void only as to the Tenure The Case was argu'd several days by Counsel on both sides and was afterwards deliver'd up to the Judges who were requir'd by the Lord Deputie and Council to consider of it and to return their Resolution But upon private Conference not agreeing in their Opinions it was thought necessary for publick satisfaction to have it argu'd solemnly by them all which was accordingly done And when it came to be debated whether the reservation of a Tenure so different from that intended and warranted by the Commission could make void the whole Grant this happen'd to lead them to a more general Enquirie What the reservation of a Tenure is
thought fit to omit it and I would not have the good Man depriv'd of such a publick testimony of his Modesty and love for Truth About the Year 1637. Sir William Dugdale acquainted our Author that many Learned Men were very desirous to see the Second Part publisht and requested of him to gratifie the world with the Work entire Upon that he show'd him the Second part as also the improvements that he had made upon the First but withall told him what great discouragements he had met with from the Booksellers So for that time the matter rested and upon the Author's death all the papers came into the hands of his eldest Son Sir John Spelman a Gentleman who had sufficient parts and abilities to compleat what his Father had begun if death had not prevented him After the Restoration of King Charles II. Arch-bishop Sheldon and the Lord Chancellor Hyde enquir'd of Sir William Dugdale what became of the Second part of the Glossary or whether it was ever finisht He told them that it was finisht by the Author and that the Copy was in the hands of Mr. Charles Spelman Grandson to Sir Henry They desir'd that it might by all means be printed and that he would prevail upon Mr. Spelman to do it for the Service of the Publick and the honour of his Grandfather Whereupon having got a good number of Subscriptions the management of that whole affair was referr'd to Sir William Dugdale as well to treat with the Booksellers as to prepare the Copy for the Press The share that Sir William Dugdale had in the publication of this Second Part has been made the ground of a suspicion that he inserted many things of his own that were not in Sir Henry Spelman's Copy and particularly some passages which tend to the enlargement of the Prerogative in opposition to the Liberties of the Subject The objection has been rais'd on occasion of a Controversie about the Antiquity of the Commons in Parliament the Authority of Sir Henry being urg'd to prove that there was no such thing as a House of Commons till the time of Henry III. It is agreed on all hands that this Learned Knight was a very competent Judge of that Controversie that as he had thoroughly study'd our Constitution so he always writ without partiality or prejudice that he was not engag'd in a party nor had any other design but to publish the truth fairly and honestly as he found it asserted by the best Historians Upon these grounds his Opinion in matters of this nature has ever been thought confiderable and his bare Judgement will always be valu'd when we can be sure that it is his own And there can be no doubt but his Assertions under the Title Parlamentum upon which the controversie is rais'd are his own and not an interpolation of Sir William Dugdale's For the very Copy from which it was Printed is in the Bodleian Library in Sir Henry Spelman's own hand and agrees exactly with the Printed Book particularly in the passages under dispute they are the same word for word So far then as this Copy goes for it ends at the word Riota it is a certain testimony that Sir William Dugdale did no more than mark it for the Printer and transcribe here and there a loose paper And tho' the rest of the Copy was lost before it came to the Oxford Library and so we have not the same authority for the Glossarie's being genuine after the Letter R yet it is not likely that Sir William had any more share in the seven last Letters of the Alphabet than he had in the others For all the parts of such a Work must be carry'd on at the same time and so to be sure the Author left equal materials for the whole The Gentleman also who is concern'd to prove the Second Part to be all genuine has urg'd Sir William Dugdale's own authority for it and that too while he was living Then I have seen a Letter from Sir William Dugdale to Mr. Spelman giving him an account of the great losses he had sustain'd by the Fire of London and the pains he had taken in the publication of the Councils and Glossary As to the former he expresly lays claim to the better half of it as his own Work and Collection adding that if the Impression had not perisht in all right and reason he ought to have had consideration for the same as also so he goes on for my pains in fitting the Copy of the Glossary for the Printer by marking it for the difference of Letter and introducing and transcribing those loose papers left by your Grandfather without fit directions where they should come in This is all that he pretends to in the Glossary and if he had any further share in it t is likely he would have insisted upon it on this occasion to convince Mr. Spelman the more effectually of the good services he had done him in that business I have been the more particular in this matter because if it should appear in the main that Sir William had taken the liberty of adding or altering every single passage after would be lyable to suspicion and the authority of the whole very much weaken'd For tho' that worthy Person was extremely well vers'd in our English affairs yet it must be own'd that Sir Henry Spelman was a better judge of our ancient Customs and Constitutions and consequently whatever he delivers as his opinion ought to be allow'd a proportionable authority Had he put his last hand to this Second Part the Glossary as it is now printed together would have made a much nobler Work But the latter part in comparison of the other is jejune and scanty and every one must see that it is little more than a collection of Materials out of which he intended to compose such Discourses as he has all along given us in the First Part under the words that are most remarkable It was my good fortune among others of his papers to meet with two of these Dissertations De Marescallis Angliae and De Milite which are publisht among these Remains for the present and will be of use hereafter in a new Edition of the Glossary as properly belonging to it and originally design'd for it by the Author Tho' it is not likely that he should lay aside his Glossary for the sake of the Councils yet it is certain that he enter'd upon this latter Work before the Glossary was finisht He was particularly encourag'd in it by Dr. George Abbot and Dr. William Laud successively Arch-bishops of Canterbury and above all by the most Learned Primate of Armagh Archbishop Usher And in his Preface he tells us that he was much confirm'd in his design by what he had heard from Dr. Wren first Bishop of Norwich and afterwards of Ely He told him how Dr. Andrews the then late Bishop of Winchester had been reflecting with great concern upon the
Towns call'd Burgesses and the Barons of the Cinque-ports The first sort are to appear personally or by particular Proxies for the words as touching them are Summoniri faciemus sigillatim but as touching the others it is Summoniri faciemus generaliter c. not that all should come confusedly but that they should send their Advocates which commonly are but two to speak for them These the French in their Parliaments call Ambasiatores and Syndicos In the first rank the Earls and greater Barons have their place in this Council for that they hold of the King in Capite by a Baronie And the Bishops and Abbots with them of the second rank so likewise for that it was declared and ordained in the Council of Clarendon that they should have their possessions of the King as a Barony and should be suiters and sit in the King's Court in judgements as other Barons till it came to the diminution of Members or matter of death But this Council of Clarendon did rather affirm than give them their priviledge For the Prelates of the Church were in all ages the prime part of these great Councils In the third rank the Burgesses and Barons of the Cinque-ports have their place not so much in respect of Tenure for they were not conceived to be owners of lands but for that in Taxes and Tallages touching their goods and matter of Trade they might have some to speak for them as well as other Members of the Kingdom But here then ariseth a question how it cometh to pass that every poor Burrough of England how little soever it be two excepted have two to speak for them in this great Council when the greatest Counties have no more It seemeth that those of the Counties whom we call Knights served not in ancient time for all the Free-holders of the County as at this day they do but were only chosen in the behalf of them that held of the King in Capite and were not Barones majores Barons of the Realm For all Freeholders besides them had their Lord Paramount which held in capite to speak for them as I have shewed before and these only had no body for that themselves held immediately of the King Therefore King John by his Charter did agree to summon them only and no other Freeholders howbeit those other Freeholders because they could not always be certainly distinguish'd from them that held in capite which encreased daily grew by little and little to have voices in election of the Knights of the Shire and at last to be confirm'd therein by the Stat. 7. Henr. IV. and 8. Henr. VI. But to come to our question why there are but two Knights for a County It may well seem to be for that in those times of old there were very few besides the Barons that held in capite as appeareth by that we have already spoken and that two therefore might seem sufficient for these few as well as two for the greatest Burroughs or City of England except London And it may be that of the four which serve for London two of them be for it as it is a City and two other as it is a County tho' elsewhere it be not so But when two came first to be chosen or appointed for the rest of the Burrough or County I cannot find It seemeth by those Synods that were holden in the times of the Saxon Kings and by some after the Conquest that great numbers of the common people flowed thither For it is said in An. 1021. Cum quamplurimis gregariis militibus ac cum populi multitudine copiosa And An. 1126. Innumeraque Cleri populi multitudine and so likewise in An. 1138. and other Synods and Councils By what order or limitation this innumera populi multitudo came to these Assemblies it appeareth not Bartol that famous Civilian and Hottoman according with him thus expoundeth it in other places Nota quod Praesides Provinciarum coadunant universale Parlamentum Provinciae quod intellige non quod omnes de Provincia debent ad illud ire sed de omnibus Civitatibus deputantur Ambasiatores qui Civitatem repraesentant And Johan de Platea likewise saith Vbi super aliquo providendum est pro utilitate totius Provinciae debet congregari generale Concilium seu Parlamentum non quod omnes de Provincia vadant sed de qualibet Civitate aliqui Ambasiatores vel Syndici qui totam Civitatem repraesentent In quo Concilio seu Parlamento petitur proponi sanum ac utile consilium But our Burgesses as it seemeth in time of old were not call'd to consult of State matters being unproper to their Education otherwise than in matter of Aide and Subsidy For King John granteth no more unto them than ad habendum commune consilium regni de auxiliis assidâ—ndis if his Charter be so pointed that this clause belong to that of the Liberties granted to them which is very doubtful and seemeth rather to belong to that which followeth otherwise there are no words at all for calling them unto the great Councils or Parlaments if you so will term them of that time And yet further it is to be noted that this whole branch of his Charter touching the manner of his summoning a great Council was not comprised in the Articles between him and his Barons whereupon the Charter was grounded but gain'd from him as it seemeth afterward And that may be a reason why it is left out in the Magna Charta of Henry III. confirm'd after by Edward I. in such manner as now we have it The Charter of these Articles I have seen under his own Seal After the death of King John I find many of these great Councils holden and to be often named by the Authors of that time Colloquia after the French word Parlament but no mention in any of them of Burgesses saving that in An. Dom. 1225. Regis 10. it is said that the King held his Christmass at Westminster Praesentibus clero populo cum Magnatibus regionis and that the solemnity being ended Hugh de Burgo the King's Justice propounded to the Arch-Bishop Bishops Earls Barons aliis universis the losses the King had received in France requiring of them one XV th And in the year 1229. the King summoneth to Westminster Archiepiscopos Episcopos Abbates Priores Templarios Hospitalarios Comites Barones Ecclesiarum Rectores qui de se tenebant in capite about the granting a tenth to the Pope wherein those that held in capite are call'd as in Henr. II. to the Council of Clarendon and as the Charter of King John purporteth but no mention is here made of Burgesses THE ORIGINAL OF THE FOUR TERMS Of the Year By Sir HENRY SPELMAN Kt. Printed in the Year 1684. from a very uncorrect and imperfect Copy Now Publish'd from the Original Manuscript in the BODLEIAN Library Sir William Dugdale in his Origines Juridiciales Chap. 32.
pag. 89. concerning this Treatise I shall here briefly exhibit some particulars which I acknowledge to have gather'd from an ample and most judicious discourse on this Subject written by the Learned Sir Henry Spelman Knight in 1614. very well worthy to be made publick THE Occasion of this Discourse ABout fourty two years since divers Gentlemen in London studious of Antiquities fram'd themselves into a College or Society of Antiquaries appointing to meet every Friday weekly in the Term at a place agreed of and for Learning sake to confer upon some questions in that Faculty and to sup together The place after a meeting or two became certain at Darby-house where the Herald's-Office is kept and two Questions were propounded at every meeting to be handled at the next that followed so that every man had a sennight's respite to advise upon them and then to deliver his opinion That which seem'd most material was by one of the company chosen for the purpose to be enter'd in a book that so it might remain unto posterity The Society increased daily many persons of great worth as well noble as other learned joyning themselves unto it Thus it continu'd divers years but as all good uses commonly decline so many of the chief Supporters hereof either dying or withdrawing themselves from London into the Country this among the rest grew for twenty years to be discontinu'd But it then came again into the mind of divers principal Gentlemen to revive it and for that purpose upon the day of in the year 1614. there met at the same place Sir James Ley Knight then Attorney of the Court of Wards since Earl of Marleborough and Lord Treasurer of England Sir Robert Cotton Knight and Baronett Sir John Davies his Majestie 's Attorney for Ireland Sir Richard St. George Knt. then Norrey Mr. Hackwell the Queen's Solicitor Mr. Camden then Clarentieux my self and some others Of these the Lord Treasurer Sir Robert Cotton Mr. Camden and my self had been of the original Foundation and to my knowledge were all then living of that sort saving Sir John Doderidge Knight Justice of the King 's Bench. We held it sufficient for that time to revive the meeting and only conceiv'd some rules of Government and limitation to be observ'd amongst us whereof this was one That for avoid offence we should neither meddle with matters of State nor of Religion And agreeing of two Questions for the next meeting we chose Mr. Hackwell to be our Register and the Convocator of our Assemblies for the present and supping together so departed One of the Questions was touching the Original of the Terms about which as being obscure and generally mistaken I bestow'd some extraordinary pains that coming short of others in understanding I might equal them if I could in diligence But before our next meeting we had notice that his Majesty took a little mislike of our Society not being enform'd that we had resolv'd to decline all matters of State Yet hereupon we forbare to meet again and so all our labours lost But mine lying by me and having been often desir'd of me by some of my Friends I thought good upon a review and augmentation to let it creep abroad in the form you see it wishing it might be rectify'd by some better judgement SECT I. Of the Terms in general AS our Law books have nothing to my knowledge touching the original of the Terms so were it much better if our Chronicles had as little For tho' it be little they have in that kind yet is that little very untrue affirming that William the Conquerour did first institute them It is not worth the examining who was Author of the errour but it seemeth Polydore Virgil an Alien in our Common-wealth and not well endenized in our Antiquities spread it first in Print I purpose not to take it upon any man's word but searching for the fountain will if I can deduce them from thence beginning with their definition The Terms be certain portions of the year in which only the King's Justices hold plea in the high Temporal Courts of causes belonging to their Jurisdiction in the places thereto assigned according to the ancient Rites and Customs of the Kingdom The definition divides it self and offers these parts to be consider'd 1. The Names they bear 2. The Original they come from 3. The Time they continue 4. The Persons they are held by 5. The Causes they deal with 6. The Place they are kept in 7. The Rites they are performed with The parts minister matter for a Book at large but my purpose upon the occasion impos'd being to deal only with the Institution of the Terms I will travel no farther than the three first stages of my division that is touching their Name their Original and their Time of continuance SECT II. Of the Names of the Terms THe word Terminus is of the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth the Bound End or Limit of a thing here particularly of the time for Law matters In the Civil Law it also signifieth a day set to the Defendant and in that sense doth Bracton Glanvil and others sometimes use it Mat. Paris calleth the Sheriff's Turn Terminum Vicecomitis and in the addition to the MSS. Laws of King Inas Terminus is applied to the Hundred-Court as also in a Charter of Hen. I. prescribing the time of holding the Court. And we ordinarily use it for any set portion of Time as of Life Years Lease c. The space between the Terms is named Vacation à Vacando as being leasure from Law business by Latinists Justitium à jure stando because the Law is now at a stop or stand The Civilians and Canonists call Term-time Dies Juridicos Law-days the Vacation Dies Feriales days of leasure or intermission Festival-days as being indeed sequester'd from troublesome affairs of humane business and devoted properly to the service of God and his Church According to this our Saxon and Norman Ancestors divided the year also between God and the King calling those days and parts that were assigned to God Dies pacis Ecclesiae the residue alloted to the King Dies or tempus pacis Regis Divisum Imperium cum Jove Caesar habet Other names I find none anciently among us nor the word Terminus to be frequent till the age of Henry II. wherein Gervasius Tilburiensis and Ranulphus de Glanvilla if those books be theirs do continually use it for Dies pacis Regis The ancient Romans in like manner divided their year between their Gods and their Common-wealth naming their Law-days or Term-time Fastos because their Praetor or Judge might then Fari that is speak freely their Vacation or days of Intermission as appointed to the service of their Gods they called Nefastos for that the Praetor might ne fari not speak in them judicially Ovid Fastorum lib. 1. thus expresseth it Ille Nefastus erat per quem tria verba silentur Fastus erat per
of Peace between their Neighbours Congratulations Embassages and such like Viand But what moves you to let slip King John Edward II. Richard II. Henry VI. and Richard III. Selv. Not for that they were free from foreign Expences which is not possible for it oppressed them all but for that most of them omitted such necessary charge as in policy they ought to have undergone both for strengthening themselves with Friends and weakning their suspected Enemies such as when occasion serv'd were like to do them damage For if Edw. III. had not by this means fortify'd himself with the alliance and friendship of the noble Knight Sir John of Henault the Dukes of Brabant and Gelderland the Arch-bishop of Colein the Marquess Gulâ—ck Sir Arnold de Baquetien the Lord Walkenbargh and others and also greatly impaiâ—'d the power of the French King by winning the Flemings from the obedience of the Earl of Flanders his assured friend and by procuring the stay of much of the aid by him expected out of the Empire Scotland and other places he had not only fail'd in his French attempts but also put his Kingdom of England in hazard by the Scots who were sure of all the help and backing that France could any way afford them So had it not been for the aid and friendship of the French King the Earls of Bullogne St. Paul the Gascoines and other foreigners Henry III. had been bereav'd of his Kingdom by his own Subjects which notwithstanding he held with great difficulty So the rest likewise But on the contrary part the others whom you nam'd neglecting this right precious tho' costly ground work not only wanted it when need required but with the ruine of their People State and Kingdom lost their Crown and dearest lives by the infernal hands of cursed Murtherers their rebellious Subjects getting once the better hand Viand But Edw. II. used means also to have procured the amity and assistance of divers foreigners as the Duke of Britain the Lord Biskey the Lady Biskey Governess of the King of Castile and Leon James King of Arragon and others And Rich. II. sought the like of the hands of the French King and so the rest likewise of others Selv. True not examining the dependencies of time present they imagined in their prosperity that things to come would ever have good success and therefore deferr'd still the doing of it till extream necessity compell'd them to it and then their Estates being utterly desperate and ruinated no man willingly would lend them aid or ear Knowing that when the fury of the disease hath once possessed the vital places it is then too late to apply Physick This reason made the Princes you speak of to refuse King Edward II. And as for Richard II. when the French King saw how he was entangled and overladen with dangerous Rebellions and Divisions of his Nobles and Commons at home war in Scotland Flanders Spain Portugal Ireland sending forces against the Infidels releiving the expell'd King of Armenia and many other such turbulent affairs he then thought and truly that there was more to be gotten by being his Enemy than his Friend and taking advantage of that opportunity defied him also and warr'd upon him So that King Richard wholly void of aid and hope fell into the hands of his proud Barons and lost both Crown and Life In like miserable sort stood the case with Henry VI. For being once descended to the lowest exigent who almost durst releive him or any of the rest for fear as our Proverb saith of pulling an old house upon his own head Whereas if in their flourishing estate they had employ'd their treasure to encounter future perils being yet afar off they had no doubt securely held their Crowns and perhaps without much business illuded all the practices of their Enemies drawing nearer Had Richard II. at the time when being in France he bestow'd the value of 10000l. in gifts upon the fickle French King stay'd there and employ'd the other 300000. and odd marks by him also wasted at that bravery in gaining the amity of his neighbour Princes to serve his turn when need should be it is not unlikely but afterwards it might have sav'd all the rest For it is a good rule that is taught us in the art of Fencing to break the blow or thrust that might endanger us as far from our Bodies as we can For as I said before when things be drawn to the last period the time of help is past according to the saying of Hecuba to her betray'd husband being about to arm himself Quae mens tam dira miserrime conjux Impulit his cingi telis aut quo ruis inquit Non tali auxilio nec defensoribus istis Tempus eget non si ipse meus nunc afforet Hector Most Royal therefore are the Providence and Expences of her Excellent Majesty who as it were with Linceus eyes looking into the lowest secrets of the practices of her Enemies hath not only for these 36. years utterly cancell'd and made them frustrate but foreseeing also what mighty consequences may depend on mean beginnings omitteth no diligence to defeat them whilst they are yet in the shell or so to environ the mark whereat they are levell'd as being hatch'd they shall be able to perform nothing Knowing it to be far greater wisdom to preserve the body whilst it is sound from all infirmities than by admitting a dangerous disease to gain the credit of an excellent cure And tho' mony be the Blood wherein the Life of all Common-wealths as in a nest is cherisht yet nature teacheth that to preserve health and cure an impostumate disease we ought to let blood out and that sometimes in great abundance And as Themistocles said Pecunia nervus belli mony is also the sinews of war and look how necessary Peace is in a Common-wealth so necessary is War to beget Peace for Peace is Belli filia the daughter of war But to return to our matter lest we fare like the unskilful hounds that undertake a fresh hare when they have hunted the first till she be almost spent It appeareth by that that hath been said that a main Port by which our treasure hath been vented from us heretofore is now shut God be thank'd and that instead thereof no new is opened So that thereby our store must needs remain better by us than it hath and we by consequence must be the richer It is also to be added that whereas in former times much of the treasure that came into the land was buried up in superstitious employments as about Images Shrines Tabernacles Copes Vestiments Altar-cloaths Crucifixes Candlesticks c. by means whereof the Common-wealth became no whit richer than if that part so employed had never come within the Land Now we do not only retain that Idolatrous charge still in our purses which makes us much the wealthier but the rest also which for many hundred years together was so employ'd is
Northampton who builded the gallery there but in Queen Mary's time the same was restored to that See where it so continueth 5. The Lord Arch-bishop of YORK'S house was the White-hall much enlarg'd and reedify'd by the Cardinal Wolsey then Arch-bishop of York as by the Arms remaining in wood stone and glass in sundry places of that house may appear And after the said Cardinals conviction of Premunire and Death the same was made parcel of the King's Palace at Westminster by purchase from the Arch-bishop of York as appeareth by the Stat. of 28. Hen. VIII ca. 12. But afterwards until anno 2. or 3. of Queen Mary the Arch-bishop of York had no other dwelling-place near London in right of his See or by reason of his Arch-bishoprick but the house at Battersey and then Queen Mary gave to Arch-bishop Heath and his Successors the late Duke of Suffolk's house called Suffolk-place in Southwark which the Arch-bishop of York by confirmation of the Dean and Chapter there shortly after sold away to others and purchased to his See York-place where the Lord Chancellor remaineth together with the houses adjoining to the Street Which house was sometime the Bishop of Norwich's Place and the same among all or the greatest part of the possessions of the See of Norwich about an 27. Hen. VIII were convey'd to the King by a private Act of Parliament in recompence of the union of the Monastery of St. Bennets and the possessions thereof to that Bishoprick being of far better value than the ancient Lands of the Bishoprick of Norwich assur'd to the King as is recited in the Statute of 32. Hen. VIII ca. 47. whereby the Bishop of Norwich is made Collector of the Tenths of his Diocess as other Bishops were being formerly free'd thereof by the said private Statute of 27. Hen. VIII Which said now York-place by Hen. VIII was convey'd in fee to Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk and after the death of the said Duke's sons the coheirs of the Duke's sons sold the same to the said Arch-bishop Heath and his Successors 6. But the Bishop of NORWICH was limited by the said private Act of 27. Henry VIII to enjoy perpetually in succession a Prebend in the Free-Chappel of St. Stephens at Westminster after dissolv'd by the Statute of Dissolution of Colledges and Free-Chappels 1. Ed. VI. and the house thereto belonging in Chanon-row whereof then was incumbent one Knight but the house is said to be Leas'd for some small Rent by the Bishop of Norwich to Sir John Thinn Knight in Edw. the Sixth's time for many years enduring And that the house now call'd York-place was belonging to the Bishop of Norwich is proved by a Case 21. Edw. IV. fol. 73. in a Presentment against the Bishop of Norwich in the King's Bench for annoyance of a way inter hospitium Episcopi Norwicensis Dunelmensis in parochia Sancti Martini in Campis 7. DURHAM-HOUSE as appeareth in that Case was the Bishop of Durham's house and Bishop Tonstal about the 26 th of Hen. VIII convey'd the same to the King in Fee and King Henry VIII in recompence thereof granted to the See of Durham Coldharborrowe and certain other houses in London And after Edw. VI. about an 2. granted Durham-house to the Lady Elizabeth his Sister for life or until she be otherwise advanced After the Bishoprick of Durham by a private Statute not printed of 7. Edw. VI. was dissolved and all the possessions thereof given to King Edw. VI. who shortly after convey'd in Fee the said Bishop's late house at Coldharborrowe and other houses in London to Francis Earl of Shrewsbury and his heirs And after the 2d. Mariae ca. 3. The Stat. of 7. Edw. VI. for dissolving that Bishoprick is repeal'd but the Mansion-house of Coldharborrowe and other Tenements in London so granted to the said Earl be confirm'd And the Bishop by that Act prayeth a recompence from the Queen at his charge Whereupon Queen Mary about anno V. or VI. of her reign granteth to the said Bishop of Durham her reversion of Durham-place in succession which coming into possession by the death of Queen Elizabeth the late Bishop of Durham now Lord Arch-bishop of York enter'd into and enjoy'd the same in the right of his See by opinion of the chief Justices of the Land referr'd by the King being opposed by Sir Walter Rawleigh as likewise doth the now Bishop of Durham 8. The Bishop of LICHFEILD and COVENTRY of old call'd the Bishop of Chester before the new erection of the new Bishoprick of Chester had his Place where Somerset-house is builded 9. 10. As likewise the Bishops of WORCESTER and LANDAFF had there sometime a house as Stow in his Book of Survey of London saith But the said three Bishops Places together with a Parish Church call'd Straunde-Church and the greatest Inn of Chancery call'd Straunde-Inn belonging to the Middle Temple were defaced without recompence to any of the said three last mentioned Bishops Parish Church or Inn of Chancery Other than to the Bishop of WORCESTER who had in respect of his former house a house in the White Fryers which he enjoyeth 11. Arondell-house now the Lord Admiral 's was the Bishop of BATH and WELLS'S and was assured in Edw. VI. time to Admiral Seymer and is now quite sever'd from that Bishoprick without recompence 12. Likewise the Bishop of EXETER'S Place after call'd Paget Leicester and Essex-house of the several Owners of the same And it is thought the Bishop of Exeter hath likewise no recompence for the same of any other house in or near London 13. The Bishop of SARUM'S Place now call'd Dorset-house before call'd Sackvile-house and of former time Salisbury Court being in long Lease made by Bishop Capon who was Bishop there in Hen. VIII Edw. VI. and Queen Mary's time was exchang'd temp Reginae Elizabethae by the great Learned Reverend Father Bishop Jewel for recompence of good value in Lands in his Diocess or elsewhere in the West Country 14. The Bishop of St. DAVID'S Place was near adjoyning to Bridewell upon the ditch that runneth to Fleet-bridge into the Thames and was granted in Fee-farm for a Mark Rent temp Edw. VI. to Dr. Hewick the Physician under which purchase the same is now enjoy'd 15. The Bishop of HEREFORD'S Place as Stow in his Survey of London pag. 357. saith is in the Parish of St. Mary de Monte alto or Mount-halt in London of which Bishops Patronage the said Church also is which Place is in the tenure of the Bishop of Hereford or his Tenants 16. 17. The Bishop of LONDON'S Place at Pauls was never sever'd from the Bishop's possession And likewise ELY Place from the Bishop of that See other than such part thereof as the late Lord Chancellor Hatton had by Lease for many years from the late Bishop Cox 18. The Bishop of BANGOR'S house is or lately was Mr. Aleworth's house
lands and portion of the Levites was given to do the service of the Tabernacle the lands of the other tribes to fight the battels of the Lord against his idolatrous enemies and to root them out Thus may fancy couple the remotest things To come lower down and nearer home Pausanias tell 's us that when Brennus who they say was a Britain invaded Greece with an army of Gauls every horseman of the better sort had two other horsemen to attend and second him as his Vassals and they three together were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Trimarcesiam i. e. a society of three horsemen But Caesar saith that the nobler Gauls in his time had according to their abilities many horsemen attending them in war whom by a German word he calleth Ambactos which properly signifieth servants vassals workmen and labourers yet he by a fairer name expoundeth it there in Latin Clientes and in another place calleth them among the Germans Comites familiares as accounting them like Abraham's 318. Souldiers to be all their Lord's followers and of his family Tacitus likewise nameth them Comites as companions and followers quod bello sequi Dominum coguntur saith Cujacius But Tacitus further saith Gradus quinetiam ipse Comitatus habet judicio ejus quem sectantur that there were degrees in those companies as he whom they followed did appoint Like them perhaps in after-ages of Earls Barons Knights c. But how the Comites or Ambacti were maintained neither Caesar nor yet Tacitus have related As for such portions of land as we call Knights-Fees they could not then have any for Caesar speaking of the Germans saith and so it appears by Tacitus neque quisque agri modum certum aut fines proprios habet c. That no man hath any certain estate or peculiar bounds of lands but the Magistrate and Lords of the place assign from year to year to kindreds and such as live together what quantity of land and in what place they think good and the next year force them to remove The reason you may see in Caesar who also sheweth That they had no common Magistrate but the Lord of the Town or territorie set what laws he would among his followers or Ambactos These laws the Goths the Swedes the Danes and Saxons called Bilagines of By which in all these languages signifieth a town and lagh or laghen which signifieth laws as Gravius Suecus and our Saxon Authors testifie And tho' Jornandes a Spanish Goth writeth it after the Spanish corruption Bellagine◠yet we in England keep the very radix and word it self By-laws even unto this day tho' diverted somewhat from the sense that Caesar speaks of For we call them Town-laws or By-laws which the Townsmen make among themselves but Caesar sheweth that the Lords imposed them Herewith agreeth that of Tacitus or some other Ancient who speaking of the Germans saith Agricolis suis jus dicunt They give laws to them which dwell upon their lands For I take Agricolis here in the larger sense to extend to all that dwell upon the Lord's lands as well his military followers as his husbandmen in the same manner as solicolae containeth all that live upon the soil ruricolae all that live in the Country and coelicolae all that live in heaven These Lordships of Towns which Caesar speaketh of were after by the Normans called Maneria The Ambacti or Comites and these which he saith sectabantur Dominos suos were called Vassalli and sectatores manerii sive Curiae Domini Vassals and Suiters of Court The Bilagines or Town-laws were called Consuetudines and customs of the Mannor The jurisdiction which the Lord had over his followers and suiters was called the Court Baron and the portions of land c. assigned to his followers for their stipend or maintenance were at first called Munera after Beneficia and lastly Feuda or Tenant-lands which were of two sorts one for military men called Feudum militare and Feudum nobile tenure by Knights-service the other for husbandmen call'd therefore Feudum rusticum ignobile tenure in Socage or by the Plough Thus it appeareth that Feuds and Tenures and the Feudal law it self took their original from the Germans and Northern Nations In such condition therefore how obscure soever as Caesar and Tacitus left them to us Gerardus Niger the Consul of Milan who flourished about A. D. 1176. and first composed them into a book taketh them up as he there findeth them and speaking of the times of Caesar and Tacitus as having the forementioned passages under his eye saith Antiquissimo tempore sic erat in Dominorum potestate connexum ut quando vellent possent auferre rem in feudum à se datam And this agreeth with Caesar by whom it seemeth in the places before mentioned that the Ambacti or followers of the Germans had in those times either no land at all or no estate at all in their land or first but at the will of the Lord and then but for one single year Which Gerardus also confesseth to have been the condition of the eldest sort of feudataries for he saith presently after his former words Postea vero eo ventum est ut per annum tantum stabilitatem haberent res in feudum datae Thus for another while their Feudal Vassals whom here he calleth fideles and we now tenants by Knights-Service enjoyed their feuds no otherwise than from year to year at the pleasure of their Lords either by grant or sufferance till further grace confirmed them to them for divers years and at length for term of life which Gerardus also presently there declareth saying Deinde statutum est ut usque ad vitam fidelis producerentur feuda In this manner stood the principal feuds themselves even those of Earldoms and Dukedoms which they call feuda majora and feuda regalia in the latter time of the Saxons till the coming of the Conquerour But as touching the lesser feuds which we call Knights-Fees I find nothing in Abby-books otherwise than a numerous multitude of Leases and Grants made by Bishops and Abbats to their followers for term of life without mention of Tenure or Feudal service Yet I must confess that there is a notable precedent left us by Oswald Bishop of Worcester in the time of King Edgar who in granting out the lands of his Bishoprick unto his followers for life or three lives imposed upon them by a solemn Instrument ratified by the King himself a multitude of services and charges as well military as civil which after you shall here see and then consider how and whether they conduce to our Feuds or not If we understand them to be Feuds among the Saxons or of that nature then are we sure they were no more than for life and not inheritable nor stretching further without further grace obtained from the Lord.
For which purpose Conradus Salicus a French Emperour but of German descent going to Rome about fourty five years before the time of our King Edgar viz. sub An. Dom. 915. to fetch his Crown from Pope John X. made a Constitution upon the petition of his Souldiers That filii or aviatici the sons or if no Sons were living the Nephews or Grandsons as they call them of some of them should succeed in the Feud of their Father See the Constitution in the beginning of the fifth book of Feuds But Gerardus noteth that this law settled not the Feud upon the eldest Son or any other Son of the Feudatarie particularly but left it in the Lord's election to please himself with which of them he would After this Feuds were continued in divers places by several increments to the third fourth fifth sixth and seventh generation and sometime for want of lineal issue collaterally to the brother as Gerardus testifieth but whether by some positive law or by the munificence of the Lords he doth not tell us nor when or by whom they were made perpetual and hereditary tho' he confesseth that at last they grew to be extended in infinitum and then they began to be settled upon the eldest Son who formerly had no preheminence above a younger brother But while they stood sometimes produced in this manner by the indulgence of Princes to the third fourth or fifth generation c. some men of learning have concluded them to be hereditary as tho' there were no medium between a limitation how far so ever extended and infinitum To pass by that let us now go on in examination when and how Feuds became Hereditary Some suggest a shew of such a matter under the two Othones German Emperours who succeeded one the other about the year 973. But to rest upon the common and received opinion which we shall hereafter more at large declare the truth is that when Hugh Capet usurped the Kingdom of France againgst the Carolinges he to fortifie himself and to draw all the Nobility of France to support his Faction about the year 987. granted to them in the year 988. that whereas till then they enjoyed their Feuds and Honors but for life or at pleasure of their Princes they should from thenceforth for ever hold them to them and their heirs in Feudal manner by the Ceremony of Homage and oath of Fealty And that he would accordingly maintain them therein as they supported him and his heirs in the Crown of France which they joyfully accepted This was a fair direction for William of Normandy whom we call the Conquerour how to secure himself of this his new acquired Kingdom of England and he pretermitted not to take the advantage of it For with as great diligence as providence he presently transfer'd his Country-customs into England as the Black book of the Chequer witnesseth and amongst them as after shall be made perspicuous this new French custom of making Feuds hereditary not regarding the former use of our Saxon Ancestors who like all other Nations save the French continued till that time their Feuds and Tenures either arbitrary or in some definite limitation according to the ancient manner of the Germans receiv'd generally throughout Europe For by the multitude of their Colonies and transmigrations into all the chiefest parts thereof they carried with them such Feodal rights as were then in use amongst them and planting those rites and customs in those several Countries where they settled themselves did by that means make all those several Countries to hold a general conformitie in their Feuds and Military customs So by the Longobards they were carried into Italy by the Saliques into the Eastern parts of France by the Franks into the West part thereof by the Saxons into this our Britain by their neighbours the Western Goths who communicated with the Germans in manners laws and customs into Spain and by the Eastern Goths into Greece it self and the Eastern parts of Europe c. These I say carried with them into the parts of Europe where they settled such ancient Feudal customs as at the time of their transmigration were in use among them But the more prevalent and more generally receiv'd customs were those that were in use or taken up in the time of Conradus the Emperour and when Feuds became hereditary for on them especially is the Feudal Law grounded and composed tho' enlarg'd oftentimes by Constitutions of the Emperours and spread abroad into divers Nations by their example countenance or authority Wherein the Court of Milan was chiefly followed in rebus judicatis as appeareth by Duarenus and Merula but reserving unto every Nation their peculiar rights and customs For it was generally received into every Kingdom and then conceived to be the most absolute law for supporting the Royal estate preserving union confirming peace and suppressing robberies incendiaries and rebellions I conclude with Cujacius who upon the above-cited passages of Gerardus Niger saith Quam aliam Feudorum originem quaerimus His veluti incrementis paulatim feuda constituta sunt quae post Conradum usus recepit ut transirent ad liberos mares in infinitum c. The Military and Lay-Feuds being thus advanced from an arbitrary condition to become perpetual and hereditary did now in ordinary account leave their former name of Beneficia which were only temporary for years or life unto the Livings of the Clergy and retained to themselves the proper name of Feuds whereby they were produced to be perpetual and hereditary Cujacius therefore speaking of them both saith Feudum differt a beneficio quod hoc temporaneum fuit illud perpetuum And treating in another place of these beneficiarii and temporarii possessores he saith further Iisdem postea câ—pit concedi feudum in perpetuum quod est verum proprium Feudum Concluding in a third place that Propria Feudi natura haec est ut sit perpetua So that Cassineus in the Feuds of Burgundy saith that Omne Feudum quocunque modo acquisitum fit haereditarium cum successione sit redactum ad instar Allodialium That all Feuds by what means soever they be acquired are made hereditary in so much as by the continual succession of the children into the Feuds of their Fathers the Feuds are now brought to be like Allodial or patrimonial inheritances Thus Feudum which at first was but a tottering possession ad voluntatem Domini growing at length to be an irrevocable estate descending by many successions from son to son became at last to be an absolute inheritance and thereupon the words themselves Feudum and Haereditas in common use of speech Quem penes arbitrium est jus norma loquendi to be voces convertibiles and by a fair metonymia each to signifie other For as Horace further saith Verborum vetus interit aetas Et juvenum ritu florent modo nata vigentque Aptly