Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	bishop_n	king_n	year_n	10,666	5	5.0630	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A38520	Epistola Medio-Saxonica, or, Middlesex first letter to His Excellency, the Lord General Cromwell together with their petition concerning tithes and copy-holds of inheritance, presented to the supreme authority, the Parliament of England : wherein the tortious and illegal usurpation of tithes, contrary to Magna Charta, is discovered, the blemished dignity of copy-holders revived, and how lords of manors have formerly incroached upon their liberties, by imposing arbitrary fines, and multiplying of heriots : whereunto is annexed two additional cases concerning the unreasonable exactions of fines and heriots, contrary to law, in these latter times ...	Cromwell, Oliver, 1599-1658.; Wingfield, Augustus. Vindiciae Medico-Saxonicae.	1653 (1653)	Wing E3170; ESTC R5296	18,776	30

reason Law and custome So that if the Lord of the Manor did at any time goe about to disturb or put them out of their Tenements although they might not have an Assize yet they had Parvum breve de Recto secundum consuetudinem Manerii a small writ of right according to the custome of the Manor for to regain their Estates Bracton lib. 1. cap 2. lib. 5. cap. 2 where the writ is likewise expressed And in his 4th book and 28 Chap. He saith That if the Tenant be ejected by his Lord he shall have a jury impannell'd to enquire of the Covenant and consent of the Lord in admitting of him to be his Tenant whom he ejected and he shall be restored because Jura non debent juvare dominum contra voluntatem consensum suum quia semel voluit conventionem The Laws ought not to relieve the Lord against his own will and consent because he hath made a Covenant that his Copy-hold Tenant shall enjoy his Tenement performing his services and customes li. 2. cap. 8. and li. 4 cap. 28. And in the Reign of E. 3. and E. 4. Sir Iohn Danby and Thomas Brian Lord chief Justices were of opinion that Copy-holders ejected by their Lords might have an action of Trespasse Neither is Bracton single in his good esteem of privileged Sockmans or Copy-holders since Fieta writ by a great Lawyer about E. 2 his time and Ockam in H. 2. his Reign do both of them honour Copy-holders in those elder times with the name of customary Tenants And Ockam not only spake worthily of them but of their Original whose works through the envy and Tyranny of the times have not had the liberty to appear in publique And Lambard in his book De Priscis Anglorum legibus of the ancient Laws England saith That Copy-holds were long before the Conquest and then call'd by the name of Book-land and since the Conquest they have been honoured with many worthy appellations as of Copy-holders in H. 5. of Tenants by the Rod in H. 4. of Tenants by the Roll according to the will of the Lord in E. 3. of Customary Tenants in in E. 1. Cooks 1. p. Iust fol. 58. And because Copy-holders have been much abused in the late corrupt times of Monarchy not only in the disgracing of their Tenure but also in the altering and multiplying their Customes and services great persons falsly pretending as if poor Copy-holders had nil de jure but all de gratia nothing of right but all of favour Therefore for further satisfaction we will make some brief discovery therein Bracton in his first Book and second Chapter saith That the works of privileged Sockmans or Copy-holders were though servile yet certain and nominated And again in his 4th Book and 28th Chapter That qualified Sockmans had their Tenements granted unto them to hold by Covenant for certain services and customes named and expressed although the services and customes were servile that is with Cart Plough or the like at certain set times in the year according to agreement And again a little after Villani Sockmanii villana faciunt servitia Qualified Sockmans do servile works and services yet certain and determined Now Cook upon Magna Charta ch fol. 13. saith That in these words reasonable customes and reasonable services all Fines whether certain or uncertain and other Customes and Duties are comprehended And if so then for certain all Fines of Copy-holds were in Bractons time certain and not as now uncertain and Arbitrary But yet by the way take notice that he doth not speak of any Fines to be paid by Qualified Sockmans upon death or alienation that word under that notion being unknown to him or any other as we conceive of that age And having in his second Book and five and thirtieth Chapter treated at large who ought to do Homage and who Fealty and having shewed that both free and qualified Soccagers ought to do Fealty to their Lords comes in the following Chapter to treat of Reliefs and in the eighth branch of the Argument of that Chapter makes this Quaerie Si de Soccagiis dari debet relevium If of Soccages speaking plurally a relief ought to be given which must be understood both of free and qualified Soccage and towards the latter end of the Chapter saith Et nunc videndum si de Soccagio dari debet relevium And now next comes to be considered whether a Relief ought to be given of Soccage which being spoken indefinitely and in generall without adding any Epithet either of free or qualified must in all construction if you consult the beginning of the Chapter be understood both of free and qualified Soccage So that that duty or performance which upon the death of the Ancestor was given in recognitionem Dominii by way of acknowledgement of his Dominion and Lordship and as he saith ad relevandam haereditatem to relieve and raise the Estate and Inheritance into the hands of the Heir was Praestatio quaedam loco relevii a certain prestation or performance instead of a Relief for he will allow it properly to be a Relief which the Soccager either free or qualified paid due onely upon death but never upon alienation and was ever certain namely a double Quitrent that is to say one years Rent due to the Lord besides the yearly Quitrent And this is that Duty as we clearly conceive which since they have new named and called a Fine and exacted not onely upon deaths of Copy-holders but Alienations also and not onely according to two years Quitrent as by Law they ought but according to their unreasonable lusts and desires forcing from their Tenants not onely two years but even three years Fine and more according to the yearly value and Rent of the Land So that the Copy-holder who was wont according to the antient Law and Custome to pay for a Fine upon Death onely but two years value according to the Quitrent is now driven to pay two and three years value according to a full and rackt Rent and that upon alienations too con-contrary to the said antient Law and Custom and all good conscience Neither is Bracton alone in ascertaining the services and customes of Copy-holders but others have said the same and namely Britton a Bishop in E. 1. and very learned in the Laws and who at the Kings Command composed them into a compleat Volum where treating of Copy-holders of Inheritance setteth it down for positive Law that such were their privileges that their Lords might neither increase their services under which as before is shewed are comprehended Fines nor change them to make their Tenants doe other services or more Brit. fo 165. And accordingly was the judgement of a whole Parliament in the same Kings Reign though ill if not of purpose and vitiously translated which yet for further satisfaction we will here set down as we have received it pointed and comma'd by Cook in his 4th book of Reports in Browns

friends Gods friends and their Countries friends should now at length be left to remain in bondage and Gibeonitish slavery whilst their enemies riot and abound in liberty and freedom Wherefore we humbly desire that all Copy-holders of Inheritance may according to your severall Declarations of the 7th of April 1646. and of March 1648. be restored to christian freedom and liberty the fruits of Conquest and the just reward of their expence and hazzard that so of victors they may not become slaves and vassals in their estates to their conquered Lords whom they begin already to feel and are dayly like to find more cruell and unreasonable than ever if they shall return again to reign over them with the full sayl of usurped power Thus hoping that the same God who hath even miraculously given you Victory over your enemies rest from warres peace in your Habitations and put a power into your hands to do righteous things for the good of this Nation will also put into your hearts and minds to do these things represented unto you and what else you in your wisdoms shall know to be for the good and welfare of this Common-wealth And we shall ever pray c. The Case of Copy-holders stated according to the * Quando lex accommodatur ad causam personam non è contra When the Law is applyed to the cause and person not they to it Lesbian Rule of the Law in the corrupt times of Monarchy wherein is clearly proved that no Lord of a Manor of Copy-holds of Inheritance can take for a Fine where as they say uncertain of his Copy-hold Tenant two years clear yearly value of the Land FIrst Because it is resolved by Popham Chief Justice Clench Gaudy and Fenner Justices of the upper Bench in the 42. and 43 Eliz. between Hubbard and Hammon that if the Fines of Copy-holders of a Manor are incertaine upon admittances yet the Lord may not demand or exact an excessive or unreasonable Fine and if he doth the Copy-holder may deny to pay it without forfeiture and according to this resolution it was then said that it had been formerly adjudged in the same Court in one Hoddesdons Case Cookes Reports lib. 4to Now it is a Rule and Maxim that all excessivenesse is abhorred in Law and that all things ought to be interpreted with equity and moderation As put case the Lord of a Manor where Fines through his Tyranny are incertain hath taken time out of mind about a years value not much under nor over If there one of his Copy-hold Tenants shall improve his Land by great charge and industry from 5 l. per annum to be worth 20 l. per annum and then dye and after the Lord shall set two years Fine viz. 40 l. upon his Heir this will be an excessive and most unreasonable Fine First Because where a Lord hath usually taken about a year though a little under or over there to take a year and half though according to the value before improvement is excessive and so illegall if the Rules of right reason moderation and equity were closely held to and kept Next it is altogether unreasonable because through this improvement of the Tenant with a vast expence and charge perhaps treble to the Land the Lord now comes to take in a little compasse of time at a year and halfs Fine six years years value at two years Fine eight years value according to the yearly Rent and worth of the Land before improvement So that now a covetous and unconscionable Lord as too many there are will take advantage to enrich himself out of the Tenants vast expence and industry contrary to the Rules of Iustice equity and honesty Secondly and lastly no Lord of a Manor can by the present Law take two years clear yearly value for a Fine where as Lawyers say they are uncertain though repugnant to those great Authorities in the Letter before recited and contrary to their own Maxims and abundantly savouring of tyranny upon the admittance of a Copy-hold Tenant as is clearly resolved in an action of Trespasse between Stallon and Brady commenc'd in the first year of King Iames in the Court of Common Pleas where the Lord of the Manor did set a Fine at two years clear yearly value which the Tenant denying to pay being unreasonable the Lord enters and thereupon the Tenant brings an action of Trespasse and after five years demurre consultation being had with all the ludges and great Lawyers of England it was at length viz. in the sixth year of King Iames by the Iudges of the said Court of Common Pleas fully and unanimously resolved that the said Fine of two years was unreasonable and so no forfeiture by the Tenants denial Now from hence it must be concluded that for any Lord of a Manor to demand a year and a halfs Fine is the very utmost rigour and extremity of the Law as it hath flowed to us out of the impure fountain of Monarchy and all those who have exacted more have done illegal and unwarrantable Acts according to that Lesbian Rule But where Tenants have at their great charge made improvements as is above declared there for the Lord to take a year much more a year and half is altogether unconscionable and against the Rules of equity The Case of intolerable Oppression in point of Heriots A Copy-hold Tenant holds a 100. Acres of Land worth per annum 5 s. per Acre and 20 s. Rent yearly and for which the Lord claims a Heriot upon Death The Tenant aliens his Land to a hundred men now by our Book-Law made in corrupt times meerly in favour of Lords and to oppresse poor people the Lord of the Manor shall have his 20 s. Rent and besides a Heriot for every Acre upon the death of every particular Tenant for this reason which is no reason because a Heriot is an indivisible service so that it may so fall out that the Lord shall have Heriots in a short time to the value of one thousand pounds whereas the whole is not worth five hundred pounds and besides a poor man having an Acre of his Land not worth five pound and dying seised the Lord shall enter upon his Goods and take away for a Heriot a Cow or Horse worth six or eight pound to the utter ruine of his Wife and Children Now from a division of Land to urge a multiplication of Heriots hath neither antient Law reason nor honesty in it notwithstanding those slight Arguments and fond distinctions of Heriot Service and Heriot Custome which are used to the contrary REader these names should have been placed at the end of the 13th Page Col. Pride Aug. Wingfield Robert Cromwell Col. Potter Henry Arundell Nich Beale FINIS Vindiciae Medio-Saxonicae OR Tithes totally Routed BY MAGNA CHARTA IN A Reply to an Answer of Middlesex Letter and Petition in the latter end of a Tract called A Treatise of Tithes WHEREIN The Invalidity of

not Demas like mind our own present power and profit more than our trust and promises in times of danger these things could not be but what shall we say Deus dabit his quique finem God will in his due time put a period to these things Now to conclude we once more humbly desire your Excellencies favour and assistance in gaining freedom to those who have been greatly instrumental in the work of the Lord and for whose sake paradventure God hath been gracious to this our Sion and Commonwealth and we shall not only pray for the eternall happinesse of your Excellency but also take the boldnesse to subscribe as in all duty and gratitude we are bound Your Excellencies most humble Servants in the Lord Christ. The Petition of the Inhabitants of the County of Middlesex concerning Tithes and Copy-holds of Inheritance presented to the Supreme Authority the Parliament of England Sheweth THat as your Petitioners are really sensible of the unwearied labours this honourable Parliament hath undergone in the Vindication of the Rights and Liberties of the free-born people of this Nation from the incroaching Tyranny of Kingly and Lordly power for which they return a gratefull acknowledgement So they desire to mind you that the wel-affected of this Nation have in this common cause of publique freedom and preservation faithfully served you in their severall places willingly undergoing all burthens either of Tax or Free-quarter besides the voluntary loans of very many even beyond their abilities upon the Propositions And since it is the undoubted right of the free-born people of this Nation from whom all just power is derived to present to their Parliament or Representative all their grievances that so Adaequate remedies may be duely applyed Therefore we offer to your more serious considerations these ensuing particulars to be speedily redressed First Forasmuch as all Tithes reliques of the late destroyed Hierarchy are declared in the 2d Book of Cooks Reports in the Bishop of Winchesters Case to be things meerly spiritual and due by divine right and for which there is no remedy at the Common Law and also in his 2d Book of Instit and Chap. of Tithes that by the Common Laws and customes of this Nation Lands are undecimable which is fully evidenced by a Canon of the Council of Lateran under Greg. 10th 1274. in this manner Let no man give his Tithes where he pleaseth as before but let them be paid to Mother Church And Britton though a Bishop treating of Ecclesiastical power and of what things the Church had counsance doth wholly omit Tithes knowing very well that those Popish Canons and constitutions which not long before had been made for the taking away the Tenths of mens Estates were totally void being Diametrically repugnant to Magna Charta Which likewise is further attested by a decretal Epistle sent from Innocent the 3d. Pope of Rome to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury about the year 1215. wherein it is clearly acknowledged That the free-born people of this Nation did by the General and till then observed custom of this Land dispose of the Tithes or Tenths of their estates according to their own free will and pleasure So that it is very clear Tithes have been formerly by the Popish Clergy subtilly perswaded or rather extorted from our Ancestors under the notion and consideration onely of a Divine right and chiefly by virtue of the said Decretal which so awed our forefathers that it frighted them into a servile and unwilling obedience Wherefore we humbly desire that all Tithes and Tenths under the notion whereof we pay a fifth may be speedily removed as a great Oppression and Usurpation that so Husbandry and Tillage may thereby receive the greater encouragement and that all Impropriators may thereby receive such reasonable satisfaction notwithstanding much may be said to the contrary as you in your wisdoms shall think fit And that likewise a comfortable maintenance may some other 〈◊〉 ●nd peaceable way according to the Word of God be provided for the Ministry that so the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ may no longer be impeded by that sensual and earthly Remora of litigious Tything but that Evangelical Messengers may with the Apostle Paul by the sweetnesse of their lives and conversation convince gain-sayers that they come not to seek ours but us Secondly That all Copy-hold Lands of inheritance may be made free from all Fines Heriots and other slavish services brought in by and after the Norman Tyranny as may appear by Bracton a great Lawyer in H. 3. his time in his first Book and 7th Chap. of the Customs of England where he saith That in the Conquest men held their lands freely by free services or customes and certain untill being thrown out by usurping Normans and their adherents they were enforced to retake them again to hold by unjust and unequal terms and services yet still certain and nominated which through the avarice cruelty and oppression of succeeding Lords of Manors have been increased illegally to a strange multiplication of Heriots and Arbitrary raising of Fines from two years value according to the Quitrent to two and three years value according to the sull Rent a thing altogether unreasonable and unconscionable as hath been clearly adjudged And although your Petitioners humbly conceive that Copy-holders of inheritance ought by their Tenures to have been protected by their Lords and to have been freed in this time of War from all publick burthens and taxes yet so far have they been from affording the same unto them that they have for the most part forsaken and denyed them protection whereby their Copy-hold Tenants by them deserted have for a great part most willingly adhered to the Commonwealth and have laid out themselves to the utmost in bearing an equall share in all publick hurthens with the Free-holders to the impoverishing of themselves their Wives and Children And Moreover since as we are informed much of the Lands setled upon Souldiery for their Arrears are freed from all Tithes Fines and other slavish services which we envy not but exceedingly congratulate nay since all Lands held in Capi●e and Knights service are by an Act of this present Parliament freed from all ward-ships and other slavish imcumbrances notwithstanding the greatest benefit thereof doth redound to the advantage and emolument of those who have bee●●●●●ctual Armes against the State or who at least in their declared affections have been utter enemies thereof Seeing we say that not only the Army but your enemies have tasted so deeply of your grace and favour Let it not be said in Gath nor published in the streets of Ascalon that your dearest Friends those out of whom your Armies have been raised formed and supplied with men and money all along those by whom you have in the greatest danger and times of exigency been most readily and willingly assisted even to the hazard and losse of their lives Let it not be said we humbly reiterate that those who have been your