of God King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. To Our right Trusty and well beloved Counsellor Sir Edward Hide Knight Chancellour of England Greeting Whereas We by our Council for certain great and urgent Causes concerning Vs the good Estate and Common-wealth of this our Realm and of the Church of England and for the good Order and Continuance of the same have appointed and ordain'd a Parliament to be holden at our City of Westminster the eighth day of May next ensuing In which Case divers and sundry Writs are to be directed forth under our Great Seal of England as well for the Nobility of this our Realm as also for the Election of Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the several Counties Cities and Burrough Towns of the same to be present at the said Parliament at the Day and Place aforesaid Wherefore We Will and Command you forthwith upon receipt hereof and by Warrant of the same to cause such and so many Writs to be made and sealed under our great Seal for accomplishment of the same as in like Cases have been heretofore used and accustomed And this Bill signed with our Hand shall be as well to you as to every Clerk or Clerks as shall make or pass the same a sufficient Warrant in that behalf Given at Our Palace at White-hall this Eighteenth Day of February in the Twelfth Year of Our Reign and in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Six Hundred Sixty and One. Observations and Proceedings on this Warrant THe King of England by his undoubted Prerogative hath and his Predecessors ever had in himself the Power of Summoning as also to appoint the times of beginning continuing discontinuing or dissolving of Parliaments This Summoning for I shall speak of the rest in order or Uniting the chiefest Parts of his Kingdom into a Parliament or Representation of the Kingdom in a less Body than it self is performed by the King's Warrant in his Name and by his Authority only as Supreme not only of his Kingdom but of its Representation and from this Warrant all Writs of Summons for a Parliament are deriv'd The Warrant is in English Sign'd by the King 's own Hand and Seal'd with his Privy Seal or Signet but the Writs are always in Latin or anciently some few in French and are Seal'd with the King 's Great Seal in his Name with a Teste of his Approbation though not manually Sign'd or Seal'd by him The Warrant is General viz. for summoning the Nobility as also for Elections of Knights Citizens and Burgesses but the Writs deriv'd from those Warrants are to particular persons of particular degrees as will be shewn The Form of this Warrant is ancient and hath had little or no variation except in the leaving out of Abbots and Priors ever since the 36 of Henry the 8th and except in leaving out Prelates and Bishops in this very Warrant whereby the Bishops had no particular Writs before the sitting of this Parliament but within three Months after for which Omission Reasons will be given in the 7th Chapter Before this Warrant was issued the King and so former Kings did advise with their Privy Council which is manifested by the Words of the Warrant viz. Whereas We by our Council yet if these words had been omitted at any time and not inserted in the Warrant the Warrant was held good and sufficient for due Summons However for publick satisfaction the words of every Writ are always Quia de advizamento assensu Concilij nostri and this Council is call'd the King's Privy or Private Council of which I shall speak more and is the King 's constant or standing Council as well in time of Parliament as when there is none sitting so as before this Magnum Concilium or Parliament is summon'd this Privy Council consults and deliberates concerning the Motives and Reasons for calling it and after such deliberations and results doth advise the King to send out a Warrant And therefore I conceive it useful to set down the Names of such as were of the King 's Privy Council when the calling of this Parliament was advis'd and resolv'd upon At the Court of White-hall Feb. 1660 1. The KING Present His Royal Highness the Duke of York His Highness Prince Rupert William Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Juxon Edward Earl of Clarendon Lord Chancellor of England Hide Thomas Earl of Southampton Lord Treasurer of England Wriothesley John Lord Roberts Lord Privy-Seal Baron of Truro John Duke of Latherdale Maitland Earl of Guilford James Duke of Ormond Lord Steward of the King's House Butler George Duke of Albemarle Monk Henry Marquess of Dorchester Pierpoint Montague Earl of Lindsey Lord great Camberlain Bertie Edward Earl of Manchester the King's Chamberlain Montague Aldjernoone Earl of Northumberland Piercy Robert Earl of Leicester Sydny Charles Earl of Berkshire Howard Thomas Earl of Cleveland Wentworth George Earl of Norwich Goring Henry Earl of St. Albans Jermin Edward Earl of Sandwich Montague Arthur Earl of Anglesey Annesly Charles Earl of Carlile Howard William Viscount Say and Seal Fiennes Francis Lord Seymour Baron of Troubridge Frederick Lord Cornwallis Baron of Ai. Anthony Lord Ashley Cooper Charles Berkley Knight and Baronet Sir George Carteret Knight Vice-Chamberlain Sir Edw. Nicholas Knights Secretaries of State Sir Will. Morrice Knights Secretaries of State After the Warrant is sign'd and seal'd by the King it is sent from the Signet-Office to the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper and Directions are given to the Heralds to make Proclamation at the Court-gate and Capital City of London of the King's Resolutions of which I shall speak more in the Chapter of Proclamations The Lord Chancellor c. upon the receipt of this Warrant doth issue out his Warrant also to the Master of the Rolls as the chief Clerk of the Pettibag-Office in this Form YOu are hereby requir'd forthwith to prepare for the great Seal of England the several Writs of Summons for the Lords Temporal As also for the Judges and others to appear at the Parliament to be holden the 8th of May next together with the several Writs of Election of the several Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the several Counties Cities Towns and Burroughs within the Kingdom of England Dominion of Wales and Town of Berwick upon Tweed as also of the several Barons of the Cinque-Ports to serve in the said Parliament in such Method and Form and directed to such persons as are and have been usual in such Cases all which said Writs are to bear date this present eighteenth of February 1661. and for the so doing this shall be your Warrant Dated c. Upon receipt of the Lord Chancellor's Warrant the Clerks of the Pettibag by the assistance of the former Precedents of Writs and anciently by help of the Masters of Chancery and by advice with the Heralds as to Titles and true Names of Persons do fix a Schedule or digest or Forms of Writs to be issued
Rewards in store which they conferr'd proportionably to their Services and such Rewards were purposely reserv'd for such as had either given good Counsel or followed it by venturing their Lives and Fortunes for preservation of the Empire and some such Orders were made in our Edw. the 3ds time and confirmed by many Successive Councils as may be read in Sir Edw. Coke and Judge Dodridge 12. There are also other lesser Councils besides what I mentioned before as the Common Council of London and the like though not for number in other Cities which relate only to the Government of those Cities and Counsellors at Law and the meeting of such degrees as are qualified for that purpose are called in some of the Inns of Court Parliaments which relate only to matters of Law and Government of their Societies and Councils of War and Trade and many of these are great Assistants and often imploy'd both in the Privy and publick Council of the Kingdom 13. I have been the longer on this subject because all the Degrees hereafter mentioned are Members either of the Kings Privy Council or the Parliament or both yet their Writs of Summons are not singly Conciliario but by annexation to those Degrees which are capacitated to be Counsellors but the Degrees mentioned in the Act of whom I treat next are constantly of the Privy Council or Parliament but there are only some of the Parliament which are of the Privy Council by which means matters are more easily manag'd between the King the Privy Council and the Parliament the one constantly Sitting the other Summon'd only upon Emergencies of State which latter being thus Constituted it may well be call'd Magnum Concilium Animarum or a Council of Souls rather than Bodies so as the King may say with Cicero Conscientia conciliorum meorum me Consolatur i. e. The knowledge and Conscientious concurrence of minds or Souls for so Conscientia sometimes siguifies and integrity of my Counsellors are my Consolation 14. In the first Chapter I have shewn the List of the Privy Council who gave their Advice as t is said in the Warrant for Summoning the Parliament to begin the 8th of May 1661. and all but one of them had Summons and did sit in the Lords House or were Elected for the Commons House yet it may be observed that Prince Rupert was Summon'd as Duke of Cumberland The Duke of Laderdale being a Scotch Lord was not Summon'd till he was made Earl of Gilford some years after The Duke of Ormond was Summon'd as Earl of Brecknock in Wales the Lord Anthony Ashly Cooper was chosen a Burgess of Dorsetshire for the House of Commons but his Writ was time enough to sit in the Lords House Sir Charles Berkley Knt. was chosen a Burgess in Somersetshire and soon after made Lord Fitz Harding an Irish Title and so continued in the House of Commons to his death Sir George Cartret Knt. and Bar. was chosen Burgess for Portsmouth and continued in the Commons House to the end of that Parliament Sir Edward Nicholas Knt. was Summon'd to the Lords House but Sir William Morrice was chosen Burgess for Plymouth and continued with the Commons to his death Now I proceed with the chief of such as are for the most part of the Kings Privy Council mention'd in the Act and do with others of lesser Degreees Constitute both the Privatum and Magnum concilium or Parliament SECT III. Of the Princes of the Bloud IN this Act the King by vertue of his Kingly Office for so is the word in the Act and Prerogative Obs I. having power to give such Honors Places and Reputation to his Counsellors and other his Subjects as shall seem best to his most Excellent Wisdom especially to his Council or Parliament gives the Priority of all Places and Precedings to these following seven Degrees of the Bloud-Royal viz. 1. to the Kings Son first entituled Prince of Wales in the 11. Edw. the 3d. 2. to the Kings Children 3. to the Kings Brother 4. to the Kings Uncle 5. to the Kings Nephew 6. to the Kings Brothers Son 7. to the Kings Sisters Son all of these have Title of Earls or Dukes and any one of these where others in priority are wanting are to be accounted the first in their own seven Degrees and are Prior to the 5 following Degrees which comprehend all the Lords Temporal and these as they happen to be more or less have their distinct Writs as also their proceedings to all or any other Degrees either Spiritual or Temporal Official or Hereditary of whom I shall speak more in the following Sections and Chapters but if there be a failour of any of these or that they are absent from Parliaments in respect of Minority or otherwise then some of the Lords Spiritual have precedency to the Lords Temporal as will be shewn All that were Summon'd of this Degree to this Parliament were only the Duke of York the Kings Brother and Prince Rupert his Sisters Son Sect. Cap. 2. Fig. 1. and 2. SECT IIII. Of the Kings Vice-Gerent or Vicar-General Obs THe words of the Act are That forasmuch as the Kings Majesty is justly and lawfully Supream Head on Earth under God of the Church of England and for the good Exercise of that most Royal Dignity and Office viz. of Supream Head of the Church hath made Thomas Lord Cromwel who was not only Lord Privy Seal as in the Act is exprest but Master of the Kings Jewel-House Baron of Okham Knight of the Garter Earl of Essex and Lord Great Chamberlain 2. His Vice-Gerent for the good and due administration of Justice to be had in all Causes and Cases touching the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and for the Godly Reformation of all Errors Heresies and Abuses in the said Church so as he injoy'd Dignities and Offices of a mixt nature Ecclesiastical and Civil and thereby was placed above all the Lords Spiritual and above all the Lords Temporal of the following Degrees and not only in respect of his Temporal Dignities but as Vice-Gerent in Ecclesiasticals had power given him and to his Successors in that Office to sit above those Degrees in Parliament and to have a Voice and Liberty to assent or dissent as other Lords 3. But there hath been none imploy'd in this Office since that time as needless I conceive for the Archbishops of Canterbury and York in their Provinces and the Bishops in their Diocesses have ever since in a manner suppli'd the Duty of that Office under their own Titles and by their own Jurisdictions especially the Archbishop of Canterbury who is rankt in the next place in this Act and in all Pawns except this where some of the Bloud Royal are not exemplars SECT V. Of the Arch-Bishops and Bishops Obs I THE Title of Bishop is more ancient than the Title of Christian as I shall shew in the seventh Chapter however it became more general after Christianity spread it self The word comes from the
Person to adjust their Parliamentary expences Westminster being anciently the Kings Court and still within its Verge and his Lordships Jurisdiction 4. His place is appointed by the Act of Precedency in this order not but that he was Summon'd to Parliaments before that Act as may be seen in several Clause-Rolls of Rich. the 2d c. but after the said Act viz. 36. H. 8. Charles Duke of Suffolk was Summon'd and his Writs directed Magno Magistro Hospitij sui but after that as in this very Parliament 1661. the Writ to the Duke of Ormond was Jacobo D'no Brecon being his English Title by which he sits in Parliament Vid. Cap. 2. Senescallo Hospitij Magnus Magister Senescallus being still the same Officer though varying in Title SECT XV. Of the Lord Chamberlain of the Kings Houshold THat High-Chamberlain before mentioned is called Magnus Camerarius Obs I. but this hath not that Epethite of Magnus and yet his authority is very great within the Verge of the Kings Court so that though there is some Subordination yet in many great Regalios he hath an intire command and even in some things which concern the conveniency of a Parliament and its places of Addresses to the King that the furniture of the Rooms may be sutable to the Majesty and Grandure of such as are imployed there 2. He hath been anciently summon'd to sit there as may be seen in the Clause-Rolls of the 25. and 27. and 28. of Edw. the 3d. in the Summons of Sir Bartholomew Bergehurst Camerario Hospitij he being also Guarden of the Cinqueports and in 1. H. 4. to Sir Tho. Erpingham Baneret Camerario Hospitij he being also Guarden of the Cinqueports and so the 10. H. 6. to Radulpho Cromwel Chevalier or Baron Camerario Hospitij I might instance many others but I shall skip as the Records do to the Act of Precedency 31. H. 8. where he is call'd the Kings Chamberlain and in the Pawns of the 36. H. 8. the Writ was Carolo Duci Suff. Magno Magistro Hospitij sui Praesidenti Consilii sui and in the same Pawn which may be observable the Office of great Chamberlain of England was supplied by Edward Earl of Hereford of a lesser Degree than a Duke in the 6. and 7. Edw. 6. the Writ was Tho. D'no Darcy Chevaleer Camerario Hospitij sui and in the 43. Eliz. to Tho. Cary Lord Hunsden Camerario Hospitij and continues in the same Office he was Summon'd again primo Jacobi and in the 15. Car. 1. Philip Earl of Penbrook was Summon'd Camerario Hospiti sui and to this Parliament first Edward Earl of Manchester Camerario Hospitij then Henry Earl of St. Albans Camerario Hospitij and after him Hen. Earl of Arlington Camerario Hospitij who continued his place and precedency in this Parliament to the Dissolution of it 3. Edward Earl of Manchester Lord Chamberlain of the Kings Houshold was Summon'd so by Writ 18. Feb. 1661. Vid. Cap. 2. SECT XVI Of the Principal Secretary of State HE brings up the Honourable Rere to all the 12. Officers of State both in this Act of Precedency and in the Pawns and therefore I may the more justifiably defer my Discourse of him till I come to his Writ of Summons and past the method of the Pawn as I have done the method us'd in the Act of Precedency and so conclude these Sections with some few Observations Observations WHen the Act of 31. H. 8. was made Obs I. the State Officers though now but 9 in use were then 12. a Number as I shall shew agreeable to the 12 Judges 12 Masters of Chancery 12 Constituting a Jury and much more of the efficacy of that number cited by the Learned Institutor and Petrus Bongus de Sacris Numeris and this number is thus used by us as t is thought in veneration either to the 12 Tribes of the Jews or 12 Tables Sacred among the Old Romans or to to the 12 Apostles of the Christian Religion or 12 Signs in the Zodiack reverenct in Astrology 2. That if the Writs to any of these Officers be to any of the Lords Spiritual or such Officers as have usually consisted of the Clergy as the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper the Lord Treasurer Lord Privy Seal then the Writs were like the Assistants Writs to the Judges of which I shall speak in order but if any of these Offices be executed by any of the Temporal Lords then the Writ is the same as to that noble Person to whom the Office is anext or if any be Summon'd meerly virtute Officij without annexation to the Degree of some Lord Spiritual or Temporal Lord then the Writ is only as an Assistant Writ and they sit in the Lords House but as Assistants without Vote c. as will be shewn 3. Sir Edward Nicholas Knight was summon'd by Writ dat 18. Feb. 1661. Vid. Cap. 2. and now I proceed to the fixt Nobility call'd Lords Temporal CHAP. V. SECT I. Of the Degrees of Nobles Obs I Have given a short Character of the Grand Officers and Ministers of State and now according to the Act of Precedency I shall speak of the fixt Nobility as they are consider'd in Distinct Degrees and these are not mention'd distinctly in the Kings Warrant for Summoning a Parliament but referr'd therein to the Lord Chancellor to distinguish them by their Writs 1. As for the Nobility in general most Authors derive the word Nobiles or Nobles in the Plural from Noscibiles viz. Viri Nobiles or Persons indu'd with great knowledge than other men and so conceive it may admit of another Etymology viz. Nobilis quasi Non-bilis i. e. men of such debonair and complacent tempers and so much Masters of their passions that they are not in respect of their better Education subject to choler wrath or fierceness for so the word Bilis is Englisht but of even and serene tempers which dispositions are fittest for Affairs relating to Government but to pass these niceties the Question is amongst some 2. How far the Degrees of Nobility do extend which is partly resolv'd by Sir Tho. Smith in his Republica who saith there be two sorts of Nobles viz. Majores and Minores and this was according to the Old Romans the Majores he calls the fixt Hereditary Nobles diversifide into 6 Degrees viz. Princes of the Bloud of whom I have spoken in Cap. the 4th Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons not of the Bloud and descend no lower and these are capacitated by such Creations and Writs to sit in the Lords House The Minores he begins at Knights for he wrote before Baronets were known Esquires and Gentlemen and descended no lower and out of these the Knights Citizens and Burgesses for Parliaments are Elected and Compos'd and thereby capacitated to sit therein as the Representatives of the Commons of England but of these Nobiles Minores I shall speak more in the second part of this Treatise
when Created Of two sorts of Dukes how distinguisht A Duke as Generall is not provided for in the Act of Precedency as other degrees of officiall honors are SECT III. Of Marquesses When begun in the Empire and in France When in England the reason of placing him between Duke and Earl From whence the Title is suppos'd to come Noble Actions caus'd Noble Titles and by some Hereditary SECT IV. Of Earls Of the word Comes or Count signifying Earl 6. sorts of Counts according to Selden 22. sorts according to Cassiadore 3. sorts in England Of the incongruity of the words Comes and Earl and from whence the word Earl is derived when first given in England Titutarly and upon what occasion when by Creation Of the Tachygraphy of the word Earl Of the Antient Titular and Created Earls little difference Of Local and Personal Earls here in England SECT V. Of Viscounts Sometimes considered as Equal sometimes of a lesier degree then an Earl Two sorts in England why the Hereditary Viscount interpos'd to Earl and Baron Of the first Created Viscount in England of the Parliamentary dignity of the one and Official Dignity of the other SECT VI. Of a Baron Of the word Baron the Baronial Tenures were the foundation of the Superior Tenures and Degrees Of Contributions to the King from Barons Spiritual Barons how Exempted from Contributions Of several other sorts of Barons The advantages of Created Barons CHAP. VI. Of the Writ to Princes of the Blood Royal. Of the Writ to Edward Earl of Chester Eldest Son to King Edward the 2d Anno 15. Ed. 2. And the Writ to James Duke of York 13. Car. 2. Compar'd Observations on both Writs A Recital or Numeration of the Exemplars of Earls Princes and Dukes of the Blood from Edward the 2d to this Parliament 1661. Observations on the Title of York the Consimilar to the Duke of York Observations on the Consimilars CHAP. VII Of the Writ to the Arch-Bishop and Bishops with Observations Reasons for incerting this Exemplar in this Place shewing that the Idolatrous Jews brought in Paganism into Britain manag'd by Druids and Bards after by Arch-Flamins and Flamins which were Pagan Priests Afterwards Christ Himself or his Apostles or Disciples or some of them brought in Christianity into Britain Bishops had Eleven several Titles according to several Regions given to the first managers of Christian Religion All included in the Word Bishop as Inspector or Father Of the Antiquity of the word Bishop Aristobulus the first Bishop of Britain who were his Successors Of King Lucius his message to Pope Eleutherius and the Popes answer about the first ordering of Christian affairs in Britain Of Linus the first Bishop of Rome and his Successors till the time of Lucius and Eleutherius all subsequent to Aristobulus The Amity between the Bishop of Britain and the Bishop of Rome in that time without any discord about Supremacy Afterwards the Bishop of Rome assum'd the Title of Pope and also a Supremacy to Britain and planted their Dependents there some small Endeavours to oppose it but Fruitless Of several Laws made to lessen the Power and Revenue of the Pope in Britain from the 9th of Hen. the 3. to the 5th of Hen. the 5th Of other wayes us'd by Hen. the 8th from the 9th of his Raign till his death in support of his Supremacy What Countermines were us'd by the Pope Historical passages from Hen. the 8ths Death to the dissolution of this Parliament Anno 1678. against and for the Papal Interest Of the the Titles of Defensor Fidei Supremum Caput how Vs'd disus'd and alter'd from the 12. of Hen. the 8th to the 13. Car. 2d Of Writs to Bishops before and in Edward the 2ds time having both the same and a greater Extention of Power than what is given in the Writs to the Lords Temporal and so to the 31. and 36. of Hen. the 8th and the 13. of Car. the 2d how they continued and alter'd some Observations on the old Writs Of the first Writ in the first Pawn of the 21. Pawns now remaining in the Pettibag Observations on that Pawn Of the 2d Pawn there Of the 3d. Pawn there Of the Pawn of this Parliament begun the 8th of May 1661. wherein Bishops were Omitted though entred in all former Pawns and the reasons of that Omission Of their Writ of Restitution in the same year Aug. 1661. and where Recorded Of their Consimilar Writs Fifteen Observations on their Writs and Temporal Employments CHAP. VIII Of the Writ to the Lord Chancellor Of the Original of the Office of Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper and of the Discription of them Antiently distinct but now Vnited Of their different Seals Of their eminent Imployments Seates and Stations in the Lords Houss Of his single Writ of Summons as Assistant and of his other Writ if otherwise dignified The Office antiently dispos'd of to Ecclessiasticks and of later years wholly to Laicks Of some difference between the Warrant and Writ to Sr. Edw. Hide The form of the Writ Observations on this Writ and the nature of the Office CHAP. IX Of the Writ to the Earl of Southampton Lord Treasurer of England and to the Nobles not of the Blood Of the form of the Writ to the Lords Temporal Observations upon it that the Degrees of Nobles viz. Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons and Titles of the Officers of State are still intermixt in the Writs with some of those fiue Degrees Which of these Degrees are usually made Exemplars Of the Antiquity of the method us'd herein Of their Consimilars Observations concerning the various applications of the Titles Chevaleer Dominus Miles Eques Auratus Bannerettus CHAP. X. Of Patents of Creation enabling the Lords Patentees to sit in Parliament The difference between Writs and Patents and advantages of Patents what the word signifies Patents of 3. sorts viz. of Confirming Reviving and Creating that is given where none was before The form of those 3. sort of Patents Their ellegant preambles The Patents consisting of 4. parts Of the distinct form of the Patents to Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons impowring them to sit in Parliaments Of the Confies of Antient Patents Of Creation money Of the difference in the former and late value of moneys CHAP. XI Of Lords and Peers Of the words Dominus Pares or Lords and Peers what the words signifie When Peers us'd in France and of their number there when in England and of their number there Of the words Praelates Magnates Proceres how to be appy'd Who properly called Peers how placed in the Lords House the words Generally applyed and promiscuously us'd the number increase or decrease according to the pleasure of the King a Corrollary on the Subject CHAP. XII Of Proxies in the Lords House Of the word Procurator Proxie Proctor considered as distinct appellation Proxie only proper in the Lords House Licenced by the King and to whom and sometimes denied A
Transcript of the Act of Predency 31. Hen. 8. Cap. 10. The Act of Precedency 31. Hen. 8. Cap. 10. FOrasmuch as in all great Councils and Congregations of men having sundry Degrees and Offices in the Common-wealth it is very requisite and convenient that an order should be had and taken for the placing and sitting of such Persons as been bound to resort to the same To the intent that they knowing their places may use the same without displeasure or let of the Council Wherefore the Kings most Royal Majesty although it appertaineth to his Prerogative Royal to give such Honors Places and Reputation to his Counsellors and other his Subjects as shall seem best to his most Excellent Wisdom He is nevertheless pleas'd and contented for an Order to be had and taken in this his most High Court of Parliament that it shall be Enacted by Authority of the same in manner as hereafter followeth First It is Enacted by Authority aforesaid That no Person or Persons of what Estate Degree or Condition soever he or they be of except only the Kings Children shall at any time hereafter attempt or presume to sit or have place at any side of the Cloth of State in the Parliament-Chamber neither of the one hand of the Kings Highness nor of the other whether the Kings Majesty be there Personally present or absent 2. And forasmuch as the Kings Majesty is justly and lawfully Supream head in Earth under God of the Church of England and for the good exercise of the said most Royal Dignity and Office hath made Thomas Lord Cromwel and Lord Privy Seal his Vicegerent for good and due ministration of Justice to be had in all Causes and Cases touching the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and for the Godly reformation and redress of all Errors Heresies and Abuses in the said Church It is therefore also Enacted by Authority aforesaid That the said Lord Cromwel having the said Office of Vicegerent and all other Persons which hereafter shall have the said Office of the grant of the Kings Highness his Heirs or Successors shall Sit and be plac't as well in this present Parliament as in all Parliaments to be holden hereafter on the right side of the Parliament-Chamber and on the same Form that the Archbishop of Canterbury sitteth on and above the same Archbishop and his Successors and shall have Voice in every Parliament to assent or dissent as other the Lords of the Parliament 3. And it is also Enacted That next to the said Vicegerent shall sit the Archbishop of Canterbury and then next to him on the same Form and side shall sit the Archbishop of York and next to him on the same Form and side the Bishop of London and next to him on the same side and Form the Bishop of Durelme and next to him on the same side and Form the Bishop of Winchester and then all the other Bishops of both Provinces of Canterbury and York shall sit and be plac't on the same side after their Ancienties as it hath been accustomed 4. And forasmuch as such other Personages which now have or hereafter shall happen to have other great Offices of the Realm that is to say the Offices of the Lord Chancellor the Lord Treasurer the Lord President of the Kings Council the Lord Privy Seal the Great Chamberlain of England the Constable of England the Lord Marshal of England the Lord Admiral the Grand Master or Lord Steward of the Kings most Honourable Houshold the Kings Chamberlain and the Kings Secretary have not heretofore been appointed and ordered for the placing and sitting in the Kings most High Court of Parliament by reason of their Offices It is therefore now Ordained and Enacted by Authority aforesaid That the Lord Chancellor the Lord Treasurer the Lord President of the Kings Council and the Lord Privy-Seal being of the Degrees of Barons of the Parliament or above shall sit and be placed as well in this present Parliament as in all other Parliaments hereafter to be holden on the left side of the said Parliament-Chamber on the higher part of the Form of the same side above all Dukes except only such as shall happen to be the Kings Son the Kings Brother the Kings Vncle the Kings Nephew or the Kings Brothers or Sisters Sons 5. And it is also Ordained and Enacted by Authority aforesaid That the Great Chamberlain the Constable the Marshal the Lord Admiral the Great Master or Steward and the Kings Chamberlain shall sit and be placed after the Lord Privy-Seal in manner and form following that is to say every of them shall sit and be placed above all other Personages being of the same Estates or Degrees that they shall happen to be of that is to say the Great Chamberlain first the Constable next the Marshal third the Lord Admiral the fourth the Grand Master or Lord Steward the fifth and the Kings Chamberlain the sixth 6. And it is also Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That the Kings chief Secretary being of the Degree of a Baron of the Parliament shall sit and be placed above all Barons not having any of the Offices aforementioned and if he be a Bishop that then he shall sit and be placed above all other Bishops not having any of the Offices before remembred 7. And it is also Ordained and Enacted by Authority aforesaid That all Dukes not afore mention'd Marquesses Earls Viscounts counts and Barons not having any of the Offices aforesaid shall sit and be placed after their Ancientry as it hath been accustom'd 8. And it is further Enacted That if any Person or Persons which at any time hereafter shall happen to have any of the said Offices of Lord Chancellor Lord Treasurer Lord President of the Kings Council Lord Privy-Seal or chief Secretary shall be under the Degree of a Baron of the Parliament by reason whereof they can have no interest to give any assent or dissent in the said House That then in every such case such of them as shall happen to be under the said Degree of a Baron shall sit and be placed at the uppermost part of the Sack in the midst of the said Parliament-Chamber either there to sit upon one Form or upon the uppermost Sack the one of them above the other in order as is above rehearsed 9. Be it also Enacted by Authority aforesaid That in all Tryals of Treason by Peers of this Realm if any of the Peers that shall be called hereafter to be Tryers of such Treason shall happen to have any of the Offices aforesaid that then they having such Offices shall sit and be placed according to their Offices above all the other Peers that shall be call'd to such Tryals in manner and form as is above mention'd and rehears'd 10. And it is also Enacted by Authority aforesaid That as well in all Parliaments as in the Star Chamber and in all other Assemblies and Conferencies of Councils the Lord Chancellor the Lord Treasurer the Lord President the Lord
Marshal and Duke Thomas dying at Padua about the end of this Parliament Henry the Brother succeeded in the Dukedom and sat as Duke of Norfolk and Henry the Eldest Son of the said Duke Henry being then intituled Earl of Arundel did sit as Earl of Arundel and Lord Mowbray so as that Title of Earl Marshal is in Duke Henry and the Title of Mowbray in the Earl of Arundel and that Title of Earl Marshal only inpossibility to come again into Mowbray And this may be added that during Duke Thomas his Life James Earl of Suffolk by Deputation did execute that Office for reasons which I leave to other Writers SECT XIII Of the Lord Admiral of England Obs I THE Kings of England do constantly make Admirals of Squadrons of Ships but the Admiral which I am here to speak of is the highest of all intituled the Lord Admiral of England and may be well call'd Admirals from their seeing and knowing the mirabilia or Wonders of the Deep The Greeks call'd this Officer Thalassiarcha from Thalassa the Sea and Archos the Chief at Sea and from thence the Romans according to the Latin Idiom call'd him Thalassiarchus and of later days Admirallus which is no Latin word and in English Admiral 2. To him is committed the Government of the King of England's Navy and Power to decide all causes Maritim as well Civil as Criminal and of all things done on or beyond the Seas in any part of the World and many other Jurisdictions on the Coasts and in Ports Havens and Rivers and of such Wrecks and Prizes as are call'd by the Lawyers Lagon Jetson and Flotson that is Goods lying in the Sea floting on the Sea or cast by the Sea on the shore admitting some few exceptions and Royalties granted to other Lords of Mannors And these and all other Cases dependant on this Jurisdiction are determin'd in his Courts of Admiralty by such Rules of the Civil Law as do not invade the Common Laws of England 3. And of these Civil Laws which concern Sea assairs there are two most eminent Guiders to Civilians viz. Those made at Rhodes in the Mediterranean by the Grecians and augmented by the Romans call'd Lex Rhodia or the Rhodian Law The other made at Oleron an Island anciently belonging to England but lying on the borders of France by out King Richard the First both of which are still in great veneration 4. So as well for the Laws by which he governs the Maritim concerns as for his great Jurisdiction being as vast as the Ocean he may be said to have alterum Imperium extra intra Imperium and therefore this Honour and Care is intrusted to the hands of some one of the Blood Royal or some one or more joyntly of the most eminent of the Nobility 5. And in respect of this Power there is a constant Converse and Commerce with all parts of the World especially where the Civil Laws are practis'd and therefore it hath been the prudence of our former Kings even to this day to allot him a place in the Lords House as to the Marshal of England for both of their concerns are chiefly manag'd as I have shewn by the Civil Laws so as the Lord Marshal and Lord Admiral may be look'd on as the two Supporters to the learned Professors of those Laws as the other Lords are to the Professors of the Common Laws and possibly the greatest number of the Masters of Chancery of whom I shall speak in order who sit in the Lords House were originally contrived to be Doctors of the Civil Laws upon this ground That if there were at any time just occasion in that House to make use of any points in that Profession they might give their advices or opinions therein 6. This Dignity as I said was ever conferr'd upon some of the chief Nobility by vertue whereof they had their Writs of Summons and their Place in the Lords House and this long before the Act of Precedency for we find the Earl of Arundel in 13 Edw. 3. and the Earl of Northumberland in 7 R. 2. the Earl of Devon and Marquess of Dorset in the same Kings time and so the Earls of Salisbury Shrewsbury Worcester and Wiltshire and others of the like Degrees recited in the Clause Rolls needless to renumerate being Admirals were summon'd and in our extant Pawns in 36 H. 8. Johanni Dudley Vicecomiti Lisle Magno Admirallo and in 1 E. 6. Tho. Dom. Seymer Magno Admirallo and in 7 Edw. 6. Edv. Fenys Domino Clinton Magno Admirallo and in 1 2 3 4 Mariae Phil. Mar. Gulielmo Howard de Effingham Magno Admirallo and in 4 5 Phil. Mar. Edw. Fenys again and Charles Earl of Nottingham in Queen Elizabeth's time and George Duke of Buckingham in King James's time and King Charles the First 's time were still summon'd to Parliament with the Title of Admiral added to their hereditary Titles in their Writs and to this Parliament Jacobo Duci Ebor. Magno Admirallo c. And all these had their places in the Lords House according to the Act of Precedency as those before the Act was made This Office was conferr'd on the Duke of York for this Parliament Vid. Cap. 2. SECT XIV Of the Lord Steward of the King's House AS for the Orthography and Etymology and Antiquity of this Title Steward Obs I. I shall refer them to my Annotations However as it is sometimes writ with a T and sometimes a D it is under four Considerations the first as it represents a Royal Name and Family and therefore for distinction this is writ Stewart with a T and hath the superintendence chief interest and influence in all Parliaments since that Name was of that use in England 2. The other three are Titles official and written Steward with a D and as a further distinction from the first in Latin they are call'd Seneschalli and this the chief of the three is call'd Seneschallus Angliae or Lord High Steward of England of whom I shall give a full account in the Chapter of the Trials per Pares and shew how this great Officer is imploy'd either in or out of Parliaments 3. The last and least Degree of the 3 is call'd also Senescallus such as are the Stewards of Corporate Towns or Mannors which are not concern'd in the Summons or of use in Parliaments otherwise than as considerable Assistants in Elections of Members to serve in Parliaments But the Lord Steward of whom I now speak was call'd in H. the 8th time Magnus Magister Hospitij Regis or the Great Master of the Kings Houshold and ever since Magnus Senescallus Hospitij Regis or the Lord high Steward of the Kings House and he hath not only an eminent Employment Trust and Authority in ordering the Kings Houshold but an Authority above all Officers of that House except the Chappel Chamber and Stables but in all Parliaments is obliged to attend the Kings
a Bishop of England or the Popes Vicar-General or that the See of Canterbury was void or that a Bishop was Chancellor and then the Exemplar Writ was directed to that Bishop and to neither of the Archbishops or if both Archbishopricks were void then to the Bishop of London Thirdly The Exemplar and Consimilar Writs to Bishops have been generally plac't in the Clause-Rolls and in all the Pawns extant before any Degrees except Princes of the Blood though their places in the Lords House are otherwise Fourthly Sometimes the Writ to the Archbishop was without any Epethit to his Christian name but the Epithet of the most constant Application was Venerabili Archiepiscopo and the like to Bishops but in Hen. the Eighths time it was alter'd Reverendissimo to Archbishops and Reverendo to Bishops Fifthly Also an other Title is usually in the Bishops Writs as in the Writs to the Lords Temporal viz. Praedilecto fideli Conciliario which is not in the ancient Writ but of late it is entred as an addition to such as are of the Kings Privy Council whereof the Bishop of Canterbury is for the most part one Sixthly In the 36. of Henry the Eighth the Writ is Primati Metropolitano which latter word was not extant till that Writ Seventhly In the latter Writs the words de advisamento assensu Concilii nostri are entred which are not in the old Waits and some other words which are in the Dukes Writ and not in the old Writs as may be observed in the Figures which I have placed in that Writ Eighthly And in the Mandamus instead of Firmiter injungentes to the Temporal Lords the Writs to the Bishops are Rogando Mandamus and instead of Fide ligeantia to the Temporal Lords it is In side dilectione to the Lords Spiritual so that to the word Praemonentes the Writs both to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal do agree as well in the Originals as Alterations except in those particulars before nam'd Ninthly From the word Praemonentes in the Writ there is a greater Latitude of power granted to the Lords Spiritual than to the Lords Temporal for the Lords Temporal are not impowred by their Writs to Summon the Laity who sit in the House of Commons as Representatives of the Commonalty but the Lords Spiritual are impowred by their Writs to Summon Deacons Archdeans and Proctors to attend the Parliament as Representatives of the Clergy who being met at places appointed distinct from the House of Lords or House of Commons those places where they meet have the Titles of Convocations the Bishops making the upper Convocation the Representatives of the Clergy the lower Suting to those two of the Laity one called sometimes the House of Lords or Peers or upper House the other sometimes the House of Commons or lower House The General Writs for this Parliament were dated as I have shewn the 18th of Febr. 1661. to meet the 8th of May 1661. but the Writs to the Bishops were not dated till the 29. of August following yet by these Writs they are appointed to meet die loco at the day and place viz. on the Eighth of May and at Westminster as in the General Writs so as the latter Writs seem to command an Impossibility but this is to be understood in a Parliament-sence viz. That the first day of the Meeting of a Parliament continues to the end of a Session or Prorogation and is accounted but as one day for an Adjournment is but the continuance of that day and a passing of Acts upon an Adjournment as in this case was not a determining the Session because they were passed by way of Proviso That it should not thereby discontinue the Parliament so that the Bishops being admitted before any Session of determining the Parliament or before any Prorogation of it it is to be esteem'd in a Parliament-sence as I said as one day And so it is in Law where a Sum is due the Eighth of May payable at Westminster and not paid till the 29. of August and then paid in London and then accepted by the Creditor it doth bar all breaches or punctilios in Law or Equity between the Creditor and Debtor Besides If a Parliament continues some Months without Adjournments or Prorogations in which time many Members of both Houses Dye so as there is a necessity to send out Writs for a Supply of Members if the Writs should not issue in a certain Form with respect to a certain day though past it would produce many inconveniencies attending the Discretion or Indiscretion of Clerks who are to form such Writs and therefore all Writs though after Prorogations though many years subsequent have still reference to the first day of the Parliament as will be further shewn for it hath been the Wisdom of Parliaments to admit of no variation in that point Next As to the place of Meeting the Bishops are Summon'd to meet Cum Praelatis Magnatibus proceribus at Westminster which the Bishops do as to their Co-Interest in the House of Lords but in relation to the inferior Clergy the Bishops do meet at Westminster and sometimes Adjourn to such places out of Westminster as the Archbishop or his Vicar appoints which before the Fire in 1666. was at the Convocation-House on the South-side of St. Pauls Church in London but since in Westminster-Abby The Bishops in all this Parliament sit in Henry the Sevenths Chappel as the upper Convocation the Deans c. in St. Benedicts Chappel on the North-side of the Abby as the lower Convocation so as they have distinct Houses or Places from the House of Lords and House of Commons as also distinct days of meeting but always after the Parliament first meets and so of sitting some days after any Adjournment or Prorogation or Dissolution which is appointed beyond the Lords or Commons as will be shewn in the Chapter of Convocations 11. Concerning the alteration of Priorem into Decanum I have given an account 12. Instead of favente deo the later Writs say favente divina clementia 13. In the old Writs the year of Christ is not added for it was more than 300 years after Christ before the Computation was us'd but in the later Writs it is not omitted 14. Till about the year 855. there was not above 16 Bishopricks and then they increas'd to 19 and 21 and in Hen. 8. time to 26 and so they have continued ever since but in all times there have been several Transplacings and Transmutations so as the names of the Bishopricks of Dorchester Dunwich Haglested Sydnacester and Leicester Landasfirm Selsy Sherborn Chester in Durham Crediton and St. Petrocks 10 in all are utterly lost and drown'd in the now remaining 26 Bishopricks 15. The Bishops being men well Educated in all Sciences Divine and humane were stil imployed by our Successive Kings as well in matters Temporal as Spiritual for I find that of 153 Chancellors and Keepers of the Great-Seal from William the
is remarkable that this William Lord Pawlet Marquess of Winchester was Exemplar in all the Parliament Pawns which are extant in the Pettibag from the first of Edw. the Sixth to the first of King James inclusive which is 55. years and was in that time Lord Treasurer 22. years which was longer than any of his Predecessors continued in that Office except Cicil who continued 27. years 1 Car. 1. Georgio Duci Buckingham for one Parliament Sir Thomas Coventry being then Lord Keeper and had a distinct Writ and Sir Richard Weston Treasurer who was then in Scotland 15 Car. 1. Johanni Marchioni Winchester for one Parliament Sir John Finch being then Lord Keeper of the Great Seal and had a distinct Writ also Will. Bishop of London was Lord Treasurer and had his Writ 13 Car. 2. Thomae Comiti Southampton for this Parliament Sir Edward Hyde being then Lord Chancellor and had his distinct Writ this Earl was Grandchild to that Wriotheslly mentioned in the 36. of Hen. 8. and died without Issue Anno. 166 So from the 36. of H. 8. to this Parliament of the 13. of Car. 2. there were three Exemplars to Three Barons Two of them being Chancellors and one Lord Keeper and to Two Marquesses to one Duke and to one Earl and all these not of the Blood Now as to the three Barons having Exemplars which Degree had not any before the 36. H. 8. it may be presumed that the Exemplars were given them in relation to their Offices as Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper or President of the Kings Council And as to the two Marquesses having Exemplars who had not any till the 6. of Edw. 6. one was as he was Treasurer and the other in the 15. of Car. 1. only as Marquess because there was no Duke Summon'd to that Parliament and Sir John Finch was then Lord Keeper and William Bishop of London Lord Treasurer and both had distinct Writs so there was none of the three great Officers of State remaining to be Exemplars except Henry Earl of Manchester then Lord Privy-Seal who according to the fore-mentioned Act of Precedency is placed in the Lords House before all Dukes Marquesses c. not of the Blood but I suppose because there was no President wherein the Lord Privy-Seal had been Exemplar since its first Institution in the 11. of Hen. 4. and being not called Lord Privy-Seal nor that place in the Lords House allotted to him till the 31. H. 8. possibly for those reasons it was not given to the Lord Privy-Seal but to the Marquess singly or else it was an omission in not minding the Act of Precedency These latter Writs from the 36. of Hen. 8. did seem to break the method of the former for before that Pawn of that year no Dukes or Marquesses were made Consimilars where an Earl was made Exemplar but in the Exemplar of the 36. H. 8. Wriothesly Earl of Southampton was made Exemplar and the Duke of Norfolk then Lord Treasurer of England and Charles Duke of Suffolk the Great Master of the Kings Houshold and President of the Council were besides the Marquess of Dorchester and Thirteen Earls and Twenty eight Barons made his Consimilars so as the precedency of his Exemplarity must be ascribed to his Chancellorship which according to the Act of Precedency was to be before all Dukes c. not of the Blood and upon the same reason Pawlet Lord St. John in the first Edw. 6. being then Lord Keeper had the Exemplar Writ and the Duke of Somerset though the Kings Uncle Governor of the Kings Person and Protector of England as also the Marquess of Dorchester and Marquess of Northampton and Thirteen Earls and Thirty Barons were his Consimilars which is the only President which I know of where the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper had the Exemplar to a Duke of the Bloud and upon the like reason as I conceive in the 6 of Ed. the 6. William Marquess of Winchester being Lord Treasurer the next in Precedency to the Lord Chancellor by the Act of 31. H. 8. had the Exemplar to two Dukes one Marquess Fourteen Earls One Viscount and Thirty one Barons all which were his Consimilars and it is probable the reason why this Exemplar was given to the Treasurer and not to the Chancellor was because Thomas Goodrick Bishop of Ely was then Lord Chancellor and so it was not proper for that Bishop to be Exemplar for the reasons before alledged Now in the first Car. primi Thomas Coventry being Lord Keeper and having a distinct Writ the Duke of Buckingham had the Exemplar who had one Marquess Thirty seven Earls Eleven Viscounts and Fourty seven Barons to his Consimilars Also in the 15. Car. 1. John Marquess of Winchester Son to the former Marquess of Winchester was made Exemplar Sir John Finch being Lord Keeper who had a distinct Writ and William Bishop of London being in Scotland but he had no Duke or other Marquess but Fifty eight Earls Five Viscounts and Forty four Barons his Consimilars and so reduced the proper Consimilars to its former method But the 14. Car. 2. Thomas Wriothesly Earl of Southampton Lord Treasurer Grandchild to the former Earl of Southampton altered it again there being now also a distinct Writ to Sir Edward Hyde Lord Chancellor for this Earl had three Dukes one being General Four Marquesses Fifty five Earls Eight Viscounts and Sixty eight Barons his Consimilars I conceive as Lord Treasurer for according to ancient Practice as I have shewn an Earl had not any Dukes entred as his Consimilars The number of all the Exemplar Writs extant from the 15. of Edw. the 2d in An. 1322. to the 13. of Car. 2di An. 1661. are but Twenty and but Fourteen Kings from whom they were granted The number of the Parliaments in which the Nobles did Sit to whom such Exemplars were issued were 107. and these 107. Parliaments were in the space of 341. Years As concerning the years when these Exemplars were first issued to the respective degrees of Nobles before mentioned they are in this order of time 15 Edw. 2. This first Exemplar Writ as I have shewn was to an Earl and 〈◊〉 was of the Bloud viz. to Edward 〈◊〉 of Chester Eldest Son to Edw. 2. and â—â—â—ter King Edw. the 3d. for there was then no Duke in England 3 Edw. 3. The first Exemplar Writ to a Prince of the Bloud was to the same Earl being then made Prince of Wales 37 Edw. 3. The first Exemplar Writ to a Duke of the Blood was not till this year though the first Duke in England distinct from that of Earl as Mr. Selden saith was the Eleventh of Edw. 3d. and then Edward the Kings Eldest Son was in Parliament created Duke of Cornwall yet Speed in his Chronicle of Edw. 3d. makes this Creation in the 3d of Edw. 3d. when saith he he was created Prince of Wales Duke of Aquitain and Cornwall which agrees with the Records of the Tower and
therefore I conceive there is some mistake in Mr. Selden but however the mistake be the first Exemplar Writ to a Duke was not till this year for though Edward Prince of Wales was Duke in the Third or Eleventh year of his Father and Thomas Earl of Norfolk soon after was created Duke of Norfolk and Henry Earl of Lancaster soon after created Duke of Lancaster yet they had not any Exemplar Writs as Dukes but before as Earls so as John Duke of Lancaster in this Parliament of the 37. Edw. the 3d. was the first Duke which had an Exemplar Writ 47 Edw. 3. As I have shewn the first Exemplar to an Earl of the Bloud so this shews the first Exemplar to an Earl not of the Bloud which was this year to Richard Earl of Arundel for though there were many Earls before not of the Bloud yet they had only Consimilar Writs but no Exemplars extant to any of them till this Year 28 H. 6. And though there were many Dukes not of the Blood since the first Creation of that Title yet the first Duke not of the Blood who was thought fit to be an Exemplar was not till this Parliament and the Predecessor of this Duke was an Earl in Edw. 3ds time and even this Duke was Earl in the time of his Predecessors before any Duke was created 6 Edw. 6. Though the first Marquess created in England was in the 9th of Rich. 2d yet none were thought fit to be Exemplars till this 6. of Edw. the 6th that William Marquess of Winchester was made the first Exemplar in Parliament of that Dignity but his Exemplar had the additional Title of Lord Treasurer who is the second Officer of State 36 H. 8. Although a Baron is a more ancient Title with us in England than any of the other Degrees of the Nobles yet we find no Record now extant wherein a Baron singly as Baron had the Exemplar Writ for as I said Thomas Wriothesly Baron of Tichfield being Chancellor William Pawlet Baron of Bazing being Lord Keeper were Exemplars in those Parliaments and had Consimilars appointed them but Edward Hyde Baron of Hindon having a distinct Assisting Writ had no Consimilar allotted him either in respect of his Barony or Assistancy Thus we find that Earls Dukes Marquesses and Barons have been Exemplars but we do not find any Viscounts to be so in any Parliament since the creation of that Dignity which was as I said in Hen. 6ths time to John de Beaumont And the reason is because the word Vicecomes doth imply a Consimilar to Comes so it were improper for Comites to be Consimilars to a Vicecomiti Concerning the additionals of the Titles to those Nobles mentioned in their Exemplars it may be observed That in all those Writs to Hen. the 8ths time the words Consanguineo Charissimo Praedilecto Dilecto Fideli were not so positively sixt to the several Degrees in their Writs but since that time they have past in a more constant method viz. to Dukes and Marquesses Praecharissimo Consanguineo to Earls and Viscounts Charissimo Consanguineo to Barons Praedilecto Fideli and to the Lord Chancellor as chief Assistant Praedilecto perquam Fideli but to all the other Assistants of which I shall speak more only Dilecto Fideli SECT III. Observations on the Consimilars to the former Exemplars WHen Princes of the Blood were made Exemplars there was ever some Prince of the Blood in the Consimilars and then followed in the same Register in every Clause-Roll or Pawn the other Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons without interposition of the Lords Spiritual and Ecclesiastical to the Princes of the Blood and the Temporal Lords not of the Bloud so it continued in that method till the 21. of King James but then the Exemplar being to the Prince of Wales and no Consimilar to him there follows the Exemplar and Consimilars to the Lords Spiritual of which I have spoken and after them follows the particular Writ to John Bishop of Lincoln as Lord Keeper and after that the Exemplar to Lodowick Duke of Richmond who had one Duke one Marquess Thirty eight Earls nine Viscounts and Fourty seven Chevaliers his Consimilars and ever since the 21. Jac. there hath been an interposition either of the Lords Spiritual or Lord Chancellor between the Dukes of the Blood and the Nobles that were not of the Blood and so in the 13 Car. 2. though the Bishops were deprived from that Roll as I have shewn yet the Lord Chancellors Writ did interpose and it may further be observed That when Princes or Dukes of the Blood or not of the Blood were Exemplars other Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons were Consimilars but when Earls were Exemplars there were no other Consimilars admitted of Degrees above them but still under them viz. of Earls Viscounts and Barons and yet when the three Dukes beforementioned were made Exemplars 't is true the Duke of Suffolk and Oxford had Dukes to their Consimilars as formerly being pari gradu but the Duke of Norfolk had no Duke to his Consimilar for he had only four Earls one Viscount and Thirty one Barons of which there is no other precedent that I can find 2. As to the different Titles of these six Degrees viz. Princes of the Blood Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons of whom I have spoke more in the Fifth Chapter it is fit to be hinted here that Prince in English and Principi in the Latin Writ Duke and Duci Marquess and Marchioni Viscount and Vicecomiti have little difference in their Orthography but Comiti in all their Latin Writs and Earl which is their general appellation in English have very great difference concerning which and the other Degrees I have writ more at large before and in my Annotations to which I refer the Reader and so Baron and Baro have but little variation yet this may be observed here of this Title Baro that in all the Consimilar Writs in Clause Rolls or Pawns wherein those of that Degree are enumerated from the 15th of Edw. 2d to the 13. of Car. 2. neither the Titles or words Baro nor of Banerettus are mentioned in the Writs but either the Articles De or Le or La or the words Dominus Miles Equies Auratus or Chevalier are added to the Barons name viz. Hugo de Spencer Johanni de Bello Campo Johanni de St. John de Bazing Roberto de Monte albo Johanni de Sancto amando Willielmo de la Souch de mortuo mare Nicolao de Cantilupo le Quint Johanni de Insula de rubro monte Nicolao de Sancto Mauro Michaeli de la Pool who was then Banneret Admirallo Maris Johanni de Moubray Mariscallo Petro de malo lacu le Quint Hugo de le Spencer Willielmo la Zouch de mortuo mare Johanni le Strange Johanni le Shelton and many more and some only in their Christian names and Sirnames viz. Richardo Gray Richardo Talbot Gulielmo Aincourt
in the year 778. when Charles the Great being then King of France and soon after Emperour of the West did put all the Government of France into the hands of Twelve of the most eminent Nobles who thereupon were call'd by the Title of the Twelve Peers of France being Pares Gubernatores Franciae or in their Language Paires d'France whereof six were Lords Spiritual viz. the Archbishop of Reims the Bishops of Laon and Langres who also were stil'd Dukes the Bishops of Beauvois Chalois and Nôyon which three latter were also stil'd Comtes or Earls and six were Lords Temporal viz. the Duke of Burgundy Normandy and Guienne the Earls of Flanders Champaigne and Tholose the six Ecclesiasticks do continue to this day but the Territories of the other six being either united to or alienated from the Crown do now consist of such Princes of the Blood or Favorits without limitation by number of six as the King thinks fit but those who are do injoy the Privileges of the Original Peers constituted by Charles the Great 4. From this Constitution it is conceived we in England upon the Normans coming did make use of something of that method and did then also first make use of the word Peers although in truth as I said both of us had it from the Romans we also made use of their number Twelve as may be observed in the Ecclesiastical Parliamentary Degrees viz. first Archbishops secondly Bishops thirdly Archdeacons fourthly Deans of Chapters fifthly Proctors of Chapters and sixthly Proctors of the Clergy and six also are of the Temporal Degrees viz. first Princes of the Blood secondly Dukes not of the Blood thirdly Marquesses fourthly Earls fifthly Viscounts and sixthly Barons These being so proportion'd into twelve Degrees but not into twelve Persons I shall pass to what others have spoken concerning the number of our Peers 5. In respect the Peers of France were anciently confin'd to a certain number of six and six some of our English Writers would also confine ours to a certain number some to five and some to fifty But herein we may trust that learned Selden who saith That the number of Peers with us was never confined to any more certainty than the Lords of the Parliament are for saith he whereas only the number of five Peers are mentioned in some Records that can be no Rule of certainty because at this day the number Five doth legally express Seven as it doth in the Parliament Writ to the Warden of the Cingqueports or five Ports There being in truth saith he Seven of them and so consequently returned whereas there are eight Ports called Cinqueports and so returned as will be shewn in the second Part but however the mistake be in that Grave Author yet with submission to his great Learning I conceive this might have been better reconcil'd for the old Writers who mentioned five might intend the five Degrees of Nobility under the Princes of the Blood viz. Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons which makes the compleat Temporal Degrees in Parliaments And what others write of Fifty that number without doubt did relate to the number of which those five Degrees did in those days consist which were now increast to Eighty eight as may be seen in this Pawn besides those of the Blood Royal and the Lords Spiritual and Assistants and have varied in number almost in every Kings Reign But I rather believe that there was some mistake in making use of this number Five by applying it Personally and not Virtually for anciently and even to this day the number five that is five Lords do with that number Constitute the House of Lords for the dispatch of lesser Affairs till a greater number come fit for greater Affairs and so the number of fourty Members whether Knights Citizens or Burgesses or some of either do Constitute an House of Commons yet these also do not proceed to weightier matters till they be supplied with a greater number so as the number five may be well thought to have its relation to the House of Lords and the number of fifty to the House of Commons 6. But not to insist further about the definite number of Lords or Peers or about the derivation of the words Lords and Peers I shall give a touch of the words Praelati Magnates and Proceres us'd in the Latin Writs and Patents and herein if we consider the first Institution of this House it did and still doth consist of Lords Spiritual and Lords Temporal diversified into several Degrees as Archbishops Dukes c. yet the Lords Spiritual were known only by the Title Archiepiscopi Episcopi i. e. Archbishops and Bishops and the Temporal only by the Titles of Comites and Barones i. e. Earls and Barons in general terms the Lords Spiritual were called Praelati i. e. Prelates in relation to matters which concern the Soul which hath preference or prelation to that of the Body and the Lords Temporal were called in general Magnates Proceres i. e. Lords and Peers intimating Persons of the greatest Power and Domination and being the chiefest Peers and Supports as I said of the King and Kingdom 7. But in Henry the thirds time certain Persons called Abbots and Priors who were the Fathers Heads and chief Governers of Monasteries or of such Houses as were possess'd by Monks and Canons living in those Houses with an intent or pretence of weaning themselves from the World and disposing their minds to a contemplative life and these being of a mixt nature partly Regular and partly Secular and in respect of their great access of Territories given by the charity of others to support them Baronial did step in between the Lords Spiritual and the Lords Temporal and so were called Praelati with the Bishops and Magnates Proceres with the Lords Temporal But Hen. the Eighth as I have shewn did dissolve them so that the Bishops have ow the single Title of Praelati and the Temporal Lords of Magnates Proceres for we see in the Summoning of this Parliament when Bishops were excluded the words Cum Praelatis was left out but being restored then they were equally Summon'd to sit inter Praelatos Magnates Proceres and the preposition Inter is properly inserted for however their sitting is yet the Bishops are called over between Viscounts and Barons 8. Now as Abbots and Priors were thus interposed in Henry the Thirds time so in the time of Edw. the Third as I have shewn Dukes began and as they increased did step in before Earls and Barons and in Rich. the Seconds time Marquesses began and as they increast also stept in between Dukes and Earls and in Hen. the 6ths time Viscounts began and as they increast did step in between Earls and Barons so as Originally according to the dates of their Admissions these Lords Spiritual and Temporal were all Peers i. e. Pares pari gradu the Bishops were Pares inter seipsos pari gradu Episcopali the
Abbots c. in their time were Pares inter seipsos and both of those Degrees were also Pares upon a Baronial account so the Dukes and Marquesses being Earls or Barons before they were created Dukes or Marquesses in respect of their Earldoms or Baronies were Peers to the Earls and Barons and the Viscounts also most of them being Barons before they were created Viscounts in respect of their Baronies were Peers also to the Barons so also upon a Baronial account they were Pares pari gradu Baroniali Till Patents of Creation did more exactly distinguish them without relation to Baronies so as now to speak properly each Degree are Pares or Prees to their distinct Degrees 9. I must here again make use of my former observation viz. That in the Writs to Dukes they were Summon'd to be present in Parliament Cum Magnatibus Proceribus and so are the Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons yet the Pattents to the Dukes do place them inter Proceres Magnates putting Proceres or Peers before Magnates or Lords and in the Pattents to Marquesses they are placed inter alios Marchiones and the Earls inter alios Comites and the Viscounts inter alios Vicecomites and the Barons inter alios Barones But none of the Lords Patentees except the Dukes in relation to their places do take any notice of the position of the words inter Proceres Magnates for the Earls and Barons Patents have reference only to their own Degrees and not to the three other Degrees so as Proceres or Peers is applied only to the Dukes in their Patents of Creation 10. This is all that I can satisfie my self in concerning the use of the words Lords and Peers Praelati Magnates Proceres and that this may be the more satisfactory to others I shall recite the words of the learned Selden in his Titles of Honour whose lasting Credit is beyond exception saith he Though there be a distinction of Degrees in our Nobility yet in all publick actions they are Peers or Equals as in the Tryals of Noblemen c. in which the Spiritual Lords never did or do concern themselves Personally because it is against their Canons to act in any matters which relate to Blood yet whatever Acts pass these words are inserted viz. We the Lords Spiritual and Temporal c. with the Kings Assent c. for though the Lords Spiritual consist of Archbishops and Bishops and the Lords Temporal of Princes of the Blood Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons yet they are all included as Peers in the words Lords Spiritual and Temporal and so in many cases the word Peers is also generally applied so that as the words Lords and Peers have been of latter times intermixedly used we cannot well make a difference between them otherwise than is before exprest 11. That the words Lords and Peers have been used promiscuously in relation to the five Degrees of the Lords Temporal is evident from the Commissions issued for the Trials of the Earl of Strafford 1640. the Lord Morley Anno 1665. the Lord Cornwallis Anno 1676. the Earl of Pembroke Anno 1678. wherein the words are Damus autem Vniversis singulis Ducibus Marchionibus Comitibus Vicecomitibus Baronibus c. without mentioning Praelatis for reasons before mentioned and though the Earl of Strafford and Earl of Pembroke were Earls yet by the Commission they were triable per Barones Viceomites Comites Marchiones Duces and not by Earls only and so though the Lord Morley and Lord Cornwallis were only Barons yet they were triable by Dukes Marquesses Earls and Viscounts and not by Barons only whereby the word Peers seems to be a word of eminency giving no real distinction to those five Degrees of Nobility so as all the Degrees of the Temporal Lords are Peers and the Peers Lords to confirm this I shall cite one passage more from Mr. Selden who saith That though we borrowed the word Peers from the twelve Peers in France yet here we apply it to all the Lords in Parliament and not to any set number of them because saith he the number of our Nobles may be more or less as the King pleaseth and as Marquesses and Viscounts were as I said interpos'd to Dukes Earls and Barons so he may abstract less or add more as he thinks most fit for the support of Nobility for he is Dominus Nobilitatis Honoris or the Fountain of Honour and that this Prerogative may be more fully seen herein in the 21. of Jacobi it being needless to quote former precedents five several Writs were issued after the Pawn was setled yet entred in the Margent of the Pawn for that year to five several persons viz. to the Lord Grandison Sir Robert Chichester Sir John Sucklin Knight Comptroler of the Kings House to Sir Thomas Edmunds Knight Treasurer of the Kings Houshold and to Sir Richard Weston Knight Chancellor of the Exchequer to summon and impower them to sit in the Lords House who otherwise had no right of Tenure Prescription or Creation So in the first of Caroli primi six several Writs were issued and also entred in the Margent of the Pawn for that year viz. to Oliver Lord St. John and again to Sir Thomas Edmunds Sir John Sucklin Sir Richard Weston and to Sir Robert Nanton Knight one of the Kings Privy-Council and to Sir Humphry May Chancellor of the Dutchy of Lancaster and so in 15 Car. primi two Writs were issued and also entred in the Margent of the Pawn for that year viz. to Charles Viscount Wilmot of the Kings Privy-Council and to Edward Newburgh Knight then Chancellor of the Dutchy of Lancaster and also of the Kings Privy-Council 12. To sum up all I apprehend That those Lords Spiritual which are summon'd by Writ to sit in Parliament are Vital Peers and the Lords Temporal so summon'd are hereditary Peers for there are other English Lords which may be but are not summon'd and thereby are no Parliament Peers yet are Lords and upon an hereditary account also for the King as I said can summon or not summon any of them when he thinks fit unless any Lord claims a right by Patent of Creation or otherwise and then upon that right he demands his Writ and it is seldom denied if the grounds of their demands be right if dubious the Case is debated in the Lords House as in the Case of the Lord Abergaveny c. Some are of opinion That the Lords Temporal are only to be accounted Peers and not the Lords Spiritual first Because they sit there rather by their Writs of Summons than Tenures as anciently they did secondly Their Titles of Lord is but vital at most thirdly In case of Treason or Felony committed by a Spiritual Lord or Lord Temporal the manner of trying them upon Indictment and Judgment upon Conviction are clearly different as will be shewn in the Chapter of Trial by Peers 13. Notwithstanding these
assisting Interests to those three Estates The rest is divided into twenty Chapters with several Sections and Observations in them as followes CHAP. I. SECT I. The form of the Kings Warrant for Summoning this Parliament SECT II. Observations on the Names and Progresses of the Names of our English Kings more Especially and Prophetically of the Names of Carolus or Charles as also of variations of the words in the Titles of several Kings of England fixt in this Warrant SECT III. Observations and proceedings on this Warrant shewing the Kings Prerogative in Summoning Parliaments Of the difference between Warrants and Writs in signing and Sealing in Generals and particulars The variation of the form of Warrants Advised by the Kings Privy Council How that Council differs from the Great Council of Parliament The Warrant is first issued to the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper The Lord Chancellors Warrant to the Clerks of the Pettybag Of the first Digest of Writs kept there called the Parliament Pawn How these Pawns were Anciently us'd CHAP. II. A Transcript of the Pawn for this Parliament began the Eight of May 1661. Divided into twelve Paragraphs whereof the five first concern only the House of Lords the seven other the House of Commons Observations on this Pawn The reasons of placing figures on the Margent of the Pawn The Reason of the different Dates of Writs in the Pawn Why some of the Writs are abbreviated in the Pawn Of General Writs viz. Original and Judicial and of Parlimentary Writs viz. Brevia Clausa Patentia Exemplars and Consimilars The difference of the Lords Writs and Commons Writs The agreement of Writs in the Pawn Derivative Writs not in the Pawn are Equivalent to those in the Pawn Of Exemplar and Consimilar Writs viz. both in the Lords and Commons Houses The method propos'd for treating of these Writs CHAP. III. Of the Act of Precedencies divided into observations That the Act of Precedency is concern'd in the Lords House only The nature of the Act The Title of the High Court of Parliament used in that Act The Siting and calling over the Lords different from the method in the Act Why some Titles are named in the 4th Paragraph of the Act omitted in the 8th Of the Woolsacks in the Lords House Of the four degrees of State Officers which are placed by this Act. How the Pawn and Acts do disagree therein Of such as sit in the Lords House yet not mentioned in the Act but in the Pawn Of former Proceedings in the House of Lords omitted in this Act. CHAP. IV. Of the Degrees concern'd in the Act of Precedency SECT I. Of the Kings Privy Councellors Of the word Council apply'd to individual Persons and to an Assembly Of the Kings Privy Council Of several other of the Kings Councils Of the Kings Great Council or Parliament Of the Number and Quality of the Persons constituting the Privy Council Of the Antiquity of Councils Of the Nature and condition of Councellors in our Councils Elected for merit Of lesser Councils and Parliaments in this Kingdom Of the Privy Council and Parliament how sometimes mixt SECT II. Of the Princes of the Blood Of the seven degrees of the Blood Royal whose places are appointed by the Act of Precedency That any of the seven are Prior to all other degrees of Nobility That in their absence the Arch-Bishop hath precedence SECT III. Of the Kings Vicegerent Declaring the Kings Supremacy in the Church of England The great power granted to the Vicegerent in Church affairs None made since the 31 of H. the 8th but supply'd by Bishops SECT IV. Of Bishops The Antiquity of Bishops The meaning of the Word Of their Jurisdictions Of the Convocation Houses where they sit as Bishops and in Parliament upon a Baronial account How plac'd Call'd Lords Spiritual Anciently they did manage the Chief Offices of the Kingdom Of their Priviledge in the Lords House SECT V. Of the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper Referred to Chap. the 8th SECT VI. Of the Lord Treasurer Referred to Chap. the 9th SECT VII Of the Lord President of the Kings Council Of it's Antiquity Discontinuance and Supply Of other Lords Presidents SECT VIII Of the Lord Privy Seal It 's Antiquity and several Titles How granted Considered as Master of Requests Of his Seals and other Seals Of his Clerks concern'd in the Summons of Parliaments Of his Antiquity in Sitting in the Lords House Formerly supply'd by Ecclesiasticks now by Temporal Lords These three last mention'd Great Officers are thus Plac'd whether they be Nobles or not SECT IX Of the Lord Great Chamberlain Rais'd by Merit Had lands given to hold in Grand Sergiantry consisting of great Immunities The Antiquity of the Title Confer'd on some Noble Person whereby he sat in Parliament Made Hereditary his Employments in Accommadations for Parliaments SECT X. Of the High Constable His Antiquity since the 12 of Hen. 8. granted but pro hac vice at Coronations c. Their Power formidable to former Kings Devolv'd into Lord Marshal Of other Constables of lesser Qualities but still of gaeat use Of such of the Higher sort as were formerly Summoned to Parliaments SECT XI Of the Earl Marshal Of his Power and Jurisdiction Of the Original of the Title Of the Courts and Offices under him especially the Court of Chivalry and Heraulds A description of them Of their Employments relating to Parliaments Of the Earl Marshals Summons to Parliaments and how it became Hereditary SECT XII Of the Lord Admiral of England How the Title sprung Of his Power and Jurisdiction guided by the Civil Laws not repugnant to the Common Always plac'd in the hands of some of the Chief of the Nobility Had antiently their Sumons to Parliaments and so continue SECT XIII Of the Lord Steward Of the Orthography of the Name and Antiquity of the Office Of several Offices under that Title and particularly of the Title of this Office and of his Antient and Present Summons to Parliaments and of his Vses there SECT XIV Of the Lord Chamberlain of the Kings House Of his Authority and usefulness before in Parliaments Of Antient Presidents of Summoning him to Parliaments SECT XV. Of the Principal Secretary of State When the Act of Precedency was made he was the 12th Officer of State a Number of Esteeme the difference of his Writ when his Summons are single without annexing some Noble Degree to it CHAP. V. SECT I. Of the Decrees of Nobles From whence the word Nobility is derived Divided into Majores and Minores The Majores into 5 degrees the Minores into three the Majores makes the Lords House the Minores the Commons House SECT II. Of Dukes Duke from the Latin word Duco Dux Antiently Earls were Prior to Dukes in England How Dukes got the Priority Of the several Titles attributed to Dukes Duke and Earl promiscuously us'd And of the name Grace apply'd to Dukes in England Dukes were in England before they were formally Created The time
of Commons c. These Patent Writs have no other appellation than Literal or Letters Patents as I said But the Parliamentary close Writs are divided into two Titles viz. Exemplars and Consimilars and though the word Exemplar is not us'd in the Pawns yet the word Consimile is constantly us'd there which doth imply an Exemplar The Exemplars are Writs set down at large in the Pawns and the Consimilars are Writs not inserted in the Pawns and yet are to have a consimilitude with their Exemplars the Exemplar being so made upon some extraordinary reason as will be shewn hereafter As for those Writs which concern the House of Lords of which I only treat in this first Part as they are more in number than any of the other Houses not including derivative Writs Precepts or Citations so they are of a more nice nature in respect as I said they are personal for a distinct Writ is to be provided for every individual Lord sitting in the Lords House but not so in the House of Commons or lower Convocation as will be shewn and though the main body of the Writs in those concerning the Lords House do differ but little from the Writs of former Kings or from those of the House of Commons yet the Titles do very much vary in every Parliament partly by the new Creation of Barons partly in their Ascension from Barons to higher degrees and partly by splitting of Titles upon extinction of Families and for other causes they are in few years subject to variation in Titles wherein every Lord is exact in having his due and therefore some of the Heralds as I said according to the several districts of the Kingdom under their managements are or ought to be consulted with that the Clerks may commit no mistakes either in their Titles of Grace and Favour or in their Titles of Rights and Concessions before the Writs be sealed and the not effectual doing this which ought to be done might occasion some mistakes and differences between the Exemplar and Consimilary Writs in point of Titles as will be shewn The other parts of the Writs as well in Exemplars as Consimilars which concern not the Titles of the Peers are the same both in the declaratory and mandatory parts except some few words of which I shall take notice in my proceedings and herein I shall not trouble my self with shewing what reasons were given in some Writs for summoning a Parliament or what in others or the reason of those Reasons and why in some there were no Reasons given only a short Mandamus All Writs at large recited in this and all former Pawns are the Exemplars of all other Writs of Summons for a Parliament which are not in the respective Pawns whereby these in this Pawn with the addition of the Bishops Exemplar Writs which are entred in all former Pawns did and do now make 12 Exemplars but the Writs which are not recited in this and former Pawns which I term Consimilars at the calling this Parliament were in all 262. Some of the 12 are Exemplars and other Writs have a consimilitude to them yet have no positive Consimilars appointed them whereof there are but three viz. One to the Lord Chancellor in the Lords House and to the two Palatines in the Commons All Writs of Summons to the House of Lords both Exemplars and Consimilars are Personal and Local but all Writs of Summons for the House of Commons are only Local These 12 Exemplars are in this following method stated with their Consimilars viz. those 5 for the Lords House are   Exemplar  Consimilar I. To the Duke of York 1  1 II. To the Archbishop of Canterbury 1  25 III. To the Lord Chancellor 1  0 IV. To the Earl of South-hampton L. Treasurer 1 In this Parliament 3 Dukes 4 Marque 55 Earls 8 Visc 68 Barons 138 V. To the Chief Justice of the Kings Bench 1  15 So there was in the Lords House 5 Exemplar Writs and 179 Consimilars in all 184. The remaining Exemplar Writs relating to the House of Commons are 7. of which I shall speak more in the next part of this Treatise viz. VI. To Cornwall 1  4 VII To Cambridge 1  1 VIII To London 1  18 IX To Dover 1 Cinqports 7 X. To Lancaster 1  0 XI To Chester 1  0 XII To Carmarthen 1 Wales 11 So there is for the Commons House 7 Exemplars and 73 Consimilars in all 80 Writs in both Houses 264 So many Exemplar and Consimilar Writs were issued to Constitute this Parliament An. 1661. in the Lords House to Countreys Shires and Comitated Cities and Towns in the Commons House whereof some years after its Sitting one Exemplar and one Consimilar was issued for the Bishoprick of Durham all the rest of the Writs for Cities Towns and Burroughs not Comitated of which I shall give an account do lose their names of Consimilars when the Exemplar Writs do come to the respective Sheriffs for then they pass from the respective Sheriffs under the titles of Precepts or Derivative-Writs as shall be more fully discourst of in the second part where I treat of the House of Commons Now I shall proceed to the Act of Precedencies and give a short description of such as are to be Summon'd for the Lords-House only because I speak more amply of their Individual-Writs whereby they are Summon'd CHAP. III. Of Precedencies HAving shewn the Kings Warrant and the Lord Chancellors and the Record made up in the Pettibag call'd the Parliament Pawn and given a touch of the nature of Writs in general and in particular of Parliamentary Writs of Summons consisting of Writs Exemplar and Consimilar as also an hint of Precepts or Derivative-Writs from those Exemplars which are to be more fully treated of in the 2d part I shall proceed to the Act of 31 of Hen. the 8th concerning Precedencies in the Lords House occasion'd from the defect or long disusage of Pawns or other State reasons for there being no Pawns extant but as I said from the 21 of Hen. the 8th to this time the other being by Endorsment c. on the Records in the Tower or Rolls Chappel Our King Hen. the 8th did make this Act of Precedencies which hath its chief Reference to the time when a Parliament is Sitting and so not proper to be inserted in this place seeing my design in this first part is to treat of matters previous to a Parliament before I speak of matters Sedente Parliamento yet it may be allow'd in respect I make no other present use of it than to inlighten the Readers with the Characters of such Persons and Degrees as are to have Writs of Summons to sit there according to that Act and therefore I shall first shew a Transcript of that Act then some Observations upon it and then give some short discourses of the Noble Degrees therein mention'd in order to their Writs which shall distinctly follow The
of its different Orthography Obs I. sometimes beginning the second Syllable with C. or S. and of its affinitry to the old Roman Comites Consiliarij I shall refer them to my annotations and here only shew how that by the words in the Kings Warrant by the Pawns and by the said Act of 31. Hen. 8. all which I have recited at large we may clearly see that the word Council doth consist of the Persons of the best Quality and Abilities to give Counsel and Advice to the King And when such a number as the King thinks fit to select for that purpose do meet in a Body Conjunctively 2. This Council is called the Kings Council and also the Persons therein are called the Kings Council yet more properly Counsellors and to confirm this the Kings Warrant saith To Our Right Trusty and well beloved Counsellor Sir Edward Hyde Knight Chancellor of England here 't is Personal then follows Whereas We by Our Council this intimates a Body of Persons or Counsellors Congregated 3. The Writs in the Pawns sometimes do add to the Person to whom the Writ is sent Conciliario suo and sometimes not but these following words are constantly in every Writ Quia de advizamento assensu Concilij nostri which is more large than what is in the Kings Warrant by inserting the words Advice and Consent of Our Council 4. The said Act saith in the Preamble Forasmuch as in all great Councils and Congregations of men which explains Councils and then that there may be no displeasure or let of the Council in respect of Precedency therefore for the better reputation of his Counsellors and other Subjects doth Enact c. And in the 3d. Paragraph the President of the Kings Council is there also named by which we understand the Kings Privy-Council of which he is President to be a Council distinct from other Councils where there are Presidents 2ly And from Parliaments where there are Speakers instead of Presidents anciently called the Great Council and so it is still though the name is alter'd to Parliament and 3ly From other Assemblies and Conferences of Councils which are the words in the last Paragraph of that Act. 5. And therefore this Council here meant in this Warrant Pawn and Act is that which we now call the Kings Privy Council T is true the King hath several other Councils as that of Wales and in the North and others both here and in Foraign Plantations but this Privy-Council is the Supream standing Council out of which sometimes the King thinks fit to select some few for the more safe secret and easie dispatch of Affairs 6. Which by the Jews were called Cabala but by us properly Comitties However this Privy Council is the standing Council of the Kingdom giving Forms and Being to all other Councils especially what concerns the Beginning Continuing and Ending of any Parliament and yet this Council or Parliament is a greater Council than that and of greater Authority when it is in being and therefore anciently as I said call'd Magnum Publicum Concilium and this Privatum Concilium 7. This Great and publick Council consists of the King Lords Spiritual Lords Temporal viz. of such to whom the King sends Writs of Summons and of Commons viz. of such as the People think fit to Elect by vertue of the Kings Writs But this Privatum or Privy Council are of such only as the King Elects out of the Degrees next mentioned or out of other Degrees as he shall best judge of their Abilities for it Yet very often Parliaments have persuaded Kings to make Alterations in Privy Councils both as to Persons and Number 8. The number of the Persons of this Privy Council are in a manner indefinite because it depends upon the Kings pleasure But anciently it consisted only of 12. since that they have increased and varied and in the beginning of this Parliament they were 29. but before the end of it above 40. The number of the Great Council or Parliament is partly indefinite in the Lords House and partly circumscrib'd and so in the Commons House as will be shewn for these anciently had not above 2. or 300. but this Parliament had in both Houses above 700. as will be shewn 9. This very name of Council and Counsellors as they are or ought to be is much more ancient than the Consuls of Rome which had their name a Consulendo for their abilities in giving Counsel and possibly borrow'd from the name of Neptune the God of the Sea who was call'd also Consiliorum Deus so as probably of their two yearly Consuls one was chosen for the Affairs of the Sea as Admiral the other for the Affairs of the Land as General however it is observable that the Title of Consul or Counsellor did continue 1046. years in that Empire deducting three years interposition of the Decemviri or 10 Governors and 4 years of Tribunes or 3 Governors and 12 years of Tribunes consisting of 4 Governors and 30 years by Tribunes consisting of six Governors and 5 years under an Anarchy and 2 years wherein Tribunes had a Consulary power and then the Government again slid into Consuls so as deducting these 56 years they continued intire under that Consulary Tutelage 990 years and as that way of Government was useful to Rome whilst it was a Common-wealth so we see when Julius Caesar took on him the Roman Empire and turn'd it to a Monarchy he did not discard the Consulary way of managing Affairs nor did his Successors so as they continued full 540. years after Julius Caesar in prosecution of that Monarchical Empire till the Papal Interests had supplanted the Western Empire and made General Councils tending rather to the dis-uniting of Princes than for uniting Religion as was pretended and instead of Consuls erected a Consistory and Conclave the last being only new names for a Council 10. This is certain that Councils or Counsellors or Consuls are of that nature that no Government can subsist without them though by different Appellations and I read of few or none in all the Roman Stories who had the Title of Consul conferr'd on him but those who either by their Wisdom had given such good Counsel as prov'd prosperous to the Empire or had done such eminent Services that from such Heroick actions the Emperors and Senators derived Arguments of their Abilities to Counsel as having actually done and from that experience might Counsel what was fit to be done and thereupon formerly call'd Consul and now Counsel or Counsellor and fit to sit both in Privy Council or publick Parliament 11. This Honour was still founded in merit by the estimation of Judgment Experience or Resolution for what they had Advised Counsell'd or Successfully acted and therefore they were seldom made Viri Consulares till they were 43. years of age and for such as had been thus Serviceable to the Empire if a Consulship were not void yet they had always some Offices or
Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. one who is in Doctrinam mores sacros gregis Inspector and when Bishops grew numerous it was thought fit to place one to look after them and he had the addition of Archos i. e. principalis and so call'd Archi-Episcopus or Arch-Bishop having a certain number of Bishops and their Diocesses reduced to his Province or Care so that the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury with his own Diocess hath twenty two Diocesses or Bishopricks of the twenty six within his Province and the Arch-Bishop of York hath with his own four which makes in all twenty six besides the Bishop of Man who hath no Writ of Summons Anciently these Arch-Bishops and Bishops with Abbots Priors Deans Arch-Deacons and Proctors making the two Convocation-houses were summoned to appear two days before the Temporal Lords but since Henry the Eighth's time when Abbots and Priors were excluded the Bishops are summon'd to meet the same day that the Parliament begins but as Convocation-houses they are not summon'd to meet at Parliament till two or three days after the Lords Spiritual and Temporal are met and sitting in Parliament and those two Convocation-houses are seldom Adjourn'd Prorogu'd or Dissolv'd in three or four days and sometimes longer after the two Houses of Lords and Commons are Adjourn'd Prorogu'd or Dissolv'd These Arch-Bishops and Bishops considering them upon a Baronial account distinct from the Convocations are entred in all Clause Rolls and Pawns next the Blood Royal except when there was a casual interposition as this last of Vice-gerent and their places distinctly set down as in this Act viz. the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury then the Arch-Bishop of York and the other according to Seniority or Antientry as the word of the Act is till the Bishops of London Durham and Winchester were as by this Act fix'd in their Precedencies to the other twenty one and yet there is another method of Precedencies us'd in the Lords House and in all Solemnities by way of counterchanging of Precedencies between the Lords Spiritual and Temporal as will be shewn These twenty six injoy their Offices of Bishops upon a Spiritual and Ecclesiastical account and therefore are call'd Lords Spiritual their Ecclesiastical serving in ordine ad piritualia These for many Ages did manage the Offices of Chancellor and Keeper of the Great Seal also of Treasurer President Privy-Seal and Secretary of which I shall speak more but since Henry the Eighth's time these five Offices have been distinctly manag'd by Laicks of the chiefest quality and merit and the Bishops in a manner circumscrib'd to the Jurisdiction of their respective Diocesses which are of a kind of mixt nature consisting of Spiritualities and Temporalities In the Lords House they have almost equal Prividledges with the Lords Temporal except in matters of Blood when in respect of their Canons they commonly withdraw themselves appointing Proxies and entring Protestation but these Priviledges are not Hereditary like the Temporal Lords but meerly Successive and their Writs are somewhat of a different Nature from those to the Lords Temporal in point of extent concerning the Convocation-houses which do make a kind of a Parliament annext to a Parliament of which I shall speak more at large But how the Bishops were Summon'd may be read in the seventh Chapter SECT VI. Of the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper Obs THis great Officer being not only recited in this Act but having a peculiar Writ of Assistance in this and other Pawns which the next Ten Officers following have not in respect of their Offices I shall discourse more fully of him so soon as I have given a short view of the Ten remaining to be spoken of Edward Hyde Baron Hyde and Lord Chancellor was Summon'd by Writ Feb. 18. 1661. See Chap. II. SECT VII Of the Lord Treasurer of England Obs THis Officer being joyn'd also in this Pawn to the Earl of Southampton then Lord Treasurer and in former Pawns to other Degrees and being intended to be discours'd of in the fourth Exemplar and in the fifth Section of the Barons of the Exchequer I shall defer its inlargement to those Chapters Thomas Earl of Southampton Lord Treasurer of England was Summon'd by Writ Feb. 18. 1661. See Chap. II. SECT VIII Of the Lord President of the King's Council Obs I THis Officer from the time of King John was call'd Principalis and Capitalis Consiliarius and so continu'd till Queen Elizabeth's time and after not us'd till once in King Charles the firsts time and ever since to the end of this Parliament the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper hath supply'd the duty of that Place though not the Title the difference of granting them was that one was always by Patent and the other only by delivery of the Great Seal 2. There are also other Lord Presidents which sit in the Lords House viz. the President of Wales and President of the North but being not mention'd in this Act and the latter not sitting in this Parliament I refer them to my Annotations as also other Presidents of lower Degrees as of Colleges c. SECT IX Of the Lord Privy-Seal Obs IN Edward the Third's time and long after this Office was call'd Keeper of the Privy or Private Seal distinguishing him from the other call'd the Keeper of the Great Seal afterward he was call'd Clerk of the Privy-Seal Clerk being then a Title of Eminency and Gardien del Privy-Seal and in 34 H. 8. Lord Privy-Seal 2. He hath his Office by Patent but the Keeper of the Great Seal as I said only by delivery of that Seal and 't is very probable that this Office was in imitation of that which was us'd by the Romans the Officer whereof was call'd Comes privatorum and as Cassiodore calls him the Governour of the King 's private Affairs 3. Whilst the Court of Requests was in use he was also call'd the Master of it being Master or Superiour to the Four Masters of Requests who were to receive peruse and present all Petitions to the King or to the Parliament in time of Parliament and direct the Petitioners in the right way of proceeding in their business and for want of this direction many men are ruin'd by crafty and unskilful directors and the Parliament troubled with needless applications for I conceive this Court was plac'd as will be shewn between the House of Lords and House of Commons for the Masters to sit there in time of Parliament as Tryers of Petitions to either House and were to judge whether the matter was proper for either House or any other Court which doubtless did take off a great expence of time from both Houses and from intangling them in matters which were properly relievable in other places 4. There are three forts of Seals which are chiefly us'd for publick Affairs two of them pass under the names of Privy or Private the other the Great or Broad-Seal yet for a clearer distinction one of the two is call'd the Privy
Signet and hath four Clerks to attend its Office the other the Privy-Seal and hath also four Clerks to attend its Office and the third is call'd as I said the Great Seal and hath properly six Clerks to attend it but increas'd to many more The Privy Signet is under the Custody of the Chief Secretary of State the Privy Seal under the Custody of the Lord Privy Seal and the Broad Seal under the Custody of the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper so as most matters which concern a declaration of the King's pleasure in writing do take their rise from the Privy Signet and from thence transmitted to the Privy Seal and from thence to the Great Seal to receive its determination 5. But to pass by all private or publick Matters about which these three Officers are concern'd this is certain that the Clerks of these three Offices excluding none in some form or other are concern'd in the Warrants and Writs c. for the Summoning every Parliament 6. When the chief Officer of this Office did pass under the Title of Keeper or Clerk of the Privy Seal most of them were Ecclesiasticks yet having this Office he had his Writ of Summons and Place in the Lords House as may be collected from the Rolls of 15 Edw. 3. when Sir William Keldsly was Keeper of the Privy Seal and 20 Edw. 3. when Mr. Jo. Thoresby was call'd Clerk of the Privy Seal and from 28 Edw. 3. when Sir Michael of Northumberland was Keeper of the Privy Seal Sir being an Epithite given in those days to the Clergy and still in use in the Universities for Batchelors of Arts and from 11 R. 2. and 1 2 H. 4. when Sir Richard Clifford was Keeper of the Privy Seal and these had Writs and from 3 4 H. 6. a Writ was expresly sent Magistro Willielmo Alrevill Custodi privati sigilli and from that time the Rolls and Pawns which speak of them are dormant or wanting to the Pawn of 30 H. 8. when the Writ to John Earl of Bedford is there entred Castos privati sigilli and he being so in 31 H. 8. when the Act was made his Precedency was setled as is therein shewn and there first intituled Lord Privy Seal and so this Officer hath continued in that additional Title of Lord to this time However in the Latin Writs he is styled only Custos privati sigilli without the addition of Dominus and so in the very Pawn of that year and in 36 H. 8. and is no more mention'd in any of the Pawns till 6 and 7 Edw. 6. when John Earl of Bedford was still Custos privati sigilli and from that time those Pawns which are extant do not mention that Officer till 1 Car. 1. when Edward Earl of Worcester was entred Custos privati sigilli and 15 Car. 1. when Henry Earl of Manchester was Custos privati sigilli and had their Writs but in this Pawn of 13 Car. 2. none is mention'd and yet the Lord Roberts was then Lord Privy Seal so as it was an omission of the Clerks as I conceive 7. Most of the Keepers of the Privy Seal as I have observ'd were Ecclesiasticks before 30 H. 8. but since that time this Office hath been conferr'd only upon such as were Temporal Lords above the degree of Barons and not under 8. This great Officer hath also an appartment near the Lords House for his accomodations and sometimes us'd for the Lords Committees as will be shewn 9. These four last mention'd are plac'd in this order in the Lords House whether or not they be of any of the Noble Degrees John Lord Roberts of Truro Lord Privy Seal was Summon'd by Writ of Feb. 1661. See Chap. 2. SECT X. Of the Lord Great Chamberlain of England THE five foregoing Officers of State viz. Vice-Gerent Chancellor Treasurer President and Privy Seal were anciently chosen out of Ecclesiastick Degrees but those which I am now to speak of except the Secretaries being for the most part also Clergy-men were chosen out of Laicks persons of the greatest Merit Fortunes or Families and had their Places as they were annext to the Degrees of the Nobility 2. The learned Institutor saith that if the King gave Lands to a man to hold of him to be Chancellor of England Chamberlain of England Constable of England Marshal of England or High Steward of England c. these Tenures were call'd Grand Sergeanties and these and such like Grand Sergeanties were of great and high Jurisdictions some of them concerned matters Military in time of Wars and some services of Honour in time of Peace 3. This Officer ever was and still is in great Veneration and Use and I conceive though now most of his Imployments are about the King's Court yet the word Camerarius which we call Chamberlain was like to that among the Romans call'd Comes Aerarij and had such relation to the Treasury of the Kingdom as the Chamberlains of London and the Chamberlains of the Palatines of Lancaster and Chester have to their distinct Treasuries of which I shall speak more fully in order as also in my Annotations and I apprehend that these great Officers need not Writs because it is requisite these should be always attending on the Kings Person but when they are otherwise commanded to his Imployments in their Offices and there is scarce any of them especially this but are so glutinated to some Noble Person that it cannot be said whether the Writ be more in respect of the Office or Person that Manageth that Office 4. This Office was injoy'd for many Successions by the Earls of Oxford till Richard the Second by violence took it away the House of Commons 1 H. 4. pray'd the King that it might be restored to Richard then Earl of Oxford being as it was then alledged his due Inheritance yet in 1 H. 6. that King granted it to the Duke of Glocester the 36th of Hen. 8. the Writ was to Edward Earl of Hertford Magno Camerario Angliae and 1 Edw. 6. to John Earl of Warwick Magno Camerario Angliae Afterwards by a Match it was hereditated to the Family of the Berties who after some disputes about the Title did sit in Parliament in the time of Charles the First and this Parliament as Earl of Lindsey and Lord great Chamberlain of England whereby one part which his Lordship is to act as his Predecessors had done is to take care that all things be provided in the House of Lords that may suit with the Grandeur and Conveniencies of the Persons who are there to be imploy'd and for that and other purposes he hath also an Appartment near the Lords House as will be shewn 5. Montague Bertie Earl of Lindsey Lord Great Chamberlain of England was summon'd by Writ Feb. 18. 1661. See Cap. 2. SECT XI Of the High Constable of England IT may be well suppos'd that Constabularius Angliae was instead of Comes stabuli amongst the old Romans which
but of the Majores now in their Order which consist of 5 Degrees besides those of the Stem Royal of which I have spoke and first of Dukes SECT II. Of Dukes BEfore I proceed to the Writs of Summons to the Individuals of these Degrees Obs I. I shall give a brief description of the nature of them and first as for the word Duke it is the same with Dux in Latin from Duco to lead for they were antiently Leaders of Armies and thereby gain'd that Title as might be shewn from Histories and were it not for hindering my other intentions I might recite most of the Learned Seldens Authorities which he hath rendred from other Authors concerning Dukes but in short he tels us that Comes i. e. a Count or Earl was esteemed of an higher quality than Duke and that Earl was chief in Matters Civil and Duke in Matters Military but in process of time the Sword got the upper hand and prioritie of Earl and further saith that both Dukes and Earls from Substitutes to their Princes in certain dependent Territories became afterwards Soveraigns as the great Duke of Tuscany c. and the Earl of Flanders c. still owning the Titles of Dukes or Earls though they had gain'd an intire and independent Soveraignty 2. The diversity of Names attributed to Dukes both in sacred prophane and modern stories were according to the humour of the region where they sway'd for in some Nations he was call'd Princeps Magnus Illustrissimus Robustus Millenarius that is a Duke or Leader of a Thousand Men in other Countries Grave Waiward and Despot and still the words Duke and Earl promiscuously us'd to one and the same Person but whatever they were or are in foreign parts Dukes are now in England accounted the chief and most honourable Subjects and first Degree of Nobility except Princes or Dukes of the Blood-Royal and as a distinction from the rest is call'd Grace given to no other Spiritual Lord but the Arch-Bishops of Canterbury and York and to no other Temporal Lord except to the Lord High Steward pro hac vice upon tryal of Peers for the Princes and Dukes of the Blood are intituled Highness and all the other Temporal Lords Right Honourable but any of those being Admiral or General Excellence 3. The Title of Duke was very probably us'd here in England before Edward the Third's time for History tells us of Asclepiodolus Duke of Cornwal in Anno Christi 232. which was in the time of our old Britains and well might he be call'd Duke for disgarrisoning of all the Roman Holds Prideaux Introduct to Hist and for his quick Marches to London and killing the Governour thereof and for many other Heroick Actions in freeing his Country from their Servitude However there were many Dukes Created in Germany about that time But our History tells us That none was Created a Duke in England Selden Speed 's Acts. till 11 Edw. 3. An. Christi 1344. when the King in Parliament Created his eldest Son Edward being first made Earl of Chester then Duke of Cornwal and from thence that County was erected to a Dutchy or Dukedom and many more Dukes both in that King's time and almost in every Kings Reign since that time have been Created to that Title 4. The Dukes of England are of two sorts first those of the Blood Royal i. e. such as have a possibility to inherit the Crown upon a legal succession 2dly Those not of the Blood Royal i. e. such as are not related to the Succession of the Crown or at least so remote that it is not visible to meer probability and these two sorts have sat in former and in this Parliament as will be shewn 5. As they are distinguish'd in their Titles so they are also in their Coronets Robes and Habits c. with which they are invested before they enter the House of Lords which will be in the third Part of this Treatise represented in Figures 6. Here I must not pass over one observable That to this Parliament of 13 Car. 2. there were three Dukes summon'd by Writ viz. George Duke of Buckingham Charles Duke of Richmond and George Duke of Albemarle the Duke of Buckingham was then Master of the Horse the Duke of Richmond of the Blood Royal by the Scotish Line yet neither of those two appendant Titles were mention'd in their Writs but George Duke of Albemarle in his Writ is intituled Generalis exercituum suorum and is plac'd the third in that Record and the reason may be because there was no provision for that great Office in the Act of Precedency whereby to preceed all of the same degree as other degrees do being a Title not mention'd in the Act though on some occasions he preceeds by vertue of his Office the other grand Officers and so being not in the Act he is named in this Pawn the last of the three Dukes without respect to his Office of Generalship Nor do I find in any Clause Roll or Pawn the Title of General annext in any Parliament Writ to any one of the Degrees except this though History does plentifully furnish us with several persons of those several Degrees who were Generals when Parliaments were summon'd and yet as I said there is no provision in this Act for the Place or Precedency of this great Officer as there is for the Marshal Admiral c. although his great merits might well have deserv'd an additional Clause to that Act for his precedency 7. Three Dukes were summon'd 18 Feb. 1661. as in the Pawn vide cap. 2. The next Degree to Dukes are Marquesses SECT III. Of Marquesses THe third Degree of the Hereditary and fixt Nobility is intituled Marquio Obs I. and Marquess in English which began in Germany Anno Christi 925. when Henry Emperour of Germany and the first of that Name in that Empire Created Sigefred then Earl of Kinglesheim Marquess of Brandenburgh who after in the Year 1525. having the addition of Duke of Prussia did exchange the Title of Marquess to be call'd Duke of Brandenburgh However he was the first Marquess of that Empire and probably the Emperour did fix this Title between the Dukes and Earls that there might be no more disputes concerning them for the two Titles of Duke and Earl were promiscuously us'd till this Title of Marquess was interpos'd and the same reason might also occasion Philip the Fair King of France 425 years after viz. Anno Christi 1350. to insert into John Duke of Britain's Patent Vt ne posset saith the Patent in dubium revocari Ducem ipsum qui Comes fuit aliquando c. ut Ducem in posterum deberet vocari c. and the reason is therein given Selden Quod Comitatus ejus potius debet duci esse Ducatus quam Comitatus quoniam sub se habet decem ultra Comitatus and 56 years after viz. Anno Christi 1386. This might occasion also our Richard
on a special account of Absence and then it was performed by one of the Chief Justices 5. But to pass these being more fully shewn in my Annotations I do not find in any of the Clause-Rolls or in the Pettibag-Pawns that a Chancellor or Keeper had any distinct Writs of Summons to a Parliament till the 28. of Eliz. when Sir Tho. Bromley Knt. being the Queens Sollicitor was made Lord Chancellor and Summoned by a distinct Writ in the same Form as is hereafter set down which very Form hath continued ever since And in the 35. of Eliz. Sir John Puckering being but Serjeant at Law was made Custos Sigilli and had a particular Writ of Summons to that Parliament and in the 39. of Eliz. Sir Tho. Egerton Knt. being then Master of the Rolls was made Custos Sigilli and had this assisting Writ of Summons for that Parliament and the like in the 43. of her Reign and so in the 21. of King James and in the First of Caroli Primi particular assisting Writs were sent to the Bishop of Lincoln in these words Reverendo in Christo Patri praedilecto fideli Consiliario nostro Joanni Episcopo Lincolniae magni sigilli Angliae Custodi So as he had this Writ as an assisting Writ and another Writ virtute Baroniae 6. It may here be observed that this was the only Bishop that was either Keeper or Chancellor from the First of Eliz. to this time whereas before Queen Eliz. for the most part Bishops or Ecclesiasticks did execute those Offices but whenever it was conferred upon the Laicks choice was made out of the most eminent Families as in the 26. of Hen. the Second as I said Gessrey Natural Son to Henry the Second was made Chancellor and in the 15th of King John Ralph de Nevile was made Keeper of the Great Seal and in 22. of Henry the Third Geffrey a Templer and John de Lexington were made Keepers of the Great Seal and in the 37. of his Reign his Queen upon the Kings going into Gascoine which is remarkable as I said had the Custody of the Great Seal and in the 45. of that Ring Walter de Merton was made Chancellor and in the 49. of that King Thomas de Cantilupe was made Chancellor and in the 53. Richard de Middleton made Custos Sigilli and in the 56. John de Kirkley and Peter de Winton made Keepers of the Seal and in the 2. of Edward the Third Henry de Bughersh made Chancellor In the 14. of Edw. the Third John de St. Paul made Keeper of the Seal in the same year Sir Robert Burgtheire Knt. made Chancellor and Keeper of the Seals and the like in the 15th to Robert Parning and in the 17th to Robert de Sadington and in the 19th to John de Offord and in the 20. to John de Thoresby In the Records of the same year it is said that Sir Lionel Duke of Clarence the Kings Son then Lord Keeper of England gave Command by Proclamation That no Arms should be worn sitting that Parliament whose name is omitted in the Catalogue of the Lord Keepers by Mr. Selden in his Discourse of the Office of Chancellor and Keeper and in the 45. to Sir Robert Thorpe and in the 46. to John Knivet and in the 2. of Rich. the Second to Sir Le Scroop and in the 6. of Rich. 2. to Sir Michael de la Pool and in the 11. of Hen. 4. to Sir Thomas Beaufort and in the 32. H. 6. Richard Earl of Salisbury was made Chancellor singly and in the 21. of Hen. the Eighth Sir Thomas Moor Knt. made Chancellor and Keeper and in the 24. of Hen. the Eightht Thomas Audley made Chancellor and Keeper and in the 36. Hen. 8. Thomas Lord Wriothesly made Chancellor and Keeper and in the First of Edw. the Sixth Sir William Pawlet Knt. Lord St. John of Basing made Keeper and in the same year Sir Richard Rich made Chancellor and in the First of Eliz. Sir Nicholas Bacon Keeper and the 21. Thomas Bromley Chancellor who continued so to the 28. of her Reign and was the first that I find as is before mentioned that had a particular Writ of Assistance and though in the Fourteenth of King James Sir Francis Bacon was Keeper in the Eighteenth of Jac. Henry Viscount Mandevile Lord President of the Council and Lodowick Duke of Richmond William Earl of Pembroke Sir Julius Caesar had jointly the Custody of the Great Seal and in the first Car. 1. Sir Thomas Coventry and in the 16. Car. 1. Sir Edw. Littleton and 21. Car. 1. Sir Rich. Lane were Keepers of the Great Seal yet we find no particular Writs in the Pettibag directed to any but such as I have before mentioned and to these which follow viz. in 15. Car. 1. Sir John Finch Knt. Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas was made Custos Sigilli and had a particular Writ of Summons to attend that Parliament 7. As to this Writ of 13. Car. 2. of which I am to treat it is to be observed that the Warrant before mentioned sent to Sir Edward Hyde Knt. and Chancellor to impower him to send out Writs was directed in these words To our Right Trusty and Well-beloved Counsellor Sir Edward Hyde Knt. Chancellor of England but in his Latine Writ of Assistance the words are Praedilecto perquam fideli Consiliario suo Edwardo Domino Hyde Cancellario suo Angliae leaving out Militi or Equiti aurato and putting in Domino and the reason of this variation as I conceive was That the Warrant was agreed on by the King and Council before the Third of November at which time he was Baron of Hindon and therefore in the Warrant he is named only Sir Edward Hyde Knt. but in the Writ Domino Hyde which is the Adjunct Title of a Baron as he then was and I find before the Parliament met he was created Viscount Cornbury and Earl of Clarendon and thereupon had another Writ in relation to those Dignities which was entered in the Pawn and the entry dated the 12th of April before the Parliament met and in the latter Writ he had also his additional Titles so that I observe that if the Chancellor or Keeper be above the Degree of a Baron he hath his Writ according to his Degree and therein only intimating his Chancellorship or Keepership as is before shewn in the 36. of Hen. the Eighth 1 Mariae c. But if he be not a Baron then he hath this Assisting Writ Quatenus Chancellor or Keeper as may be seen in the former Precedents from the 28. of Eliz. to this Writ of 13. Car. 2. If he be a Baron as I said he hath or may require a Baronial Writ besides this Assisting Writ The form of his Assisting Exemplar Writ is as follows the other will be seen among the Barons SECT VIII The Form of the Assisting Writ to the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper CArolus Secundus Dei Gratia Angliae
quod nos de gratia nostra speciali ac ex certa scientia mero motu nostris ordinavimus fecimus constituimus dilectum fidelem nostrum H. F. Mil. Solicitatorem nostrum Generalem ac ipsum H. F. Solicitatorem Generalem nostrum per presentes ordinavimus fecimus constituimus Habendum gaudend occupand exercend officium illud quamdiu nobis placuerit Percipiend annuatim eidem H. F. pro occupatione exercic ' officij predicti tal' tant ' Vad. Feod Profic ' commoditat ' qual' quanta dicto officio debito sive pertinend prout aliquis alius sive aliqui alij officium predict ' proantea habens sive occupans habuit vel percepit habuerunt sive preceperunt in pro exercitio ejusdem officij eo quod expressa mentio c. In Cujus rei c. Teste c. Observations THough this Imployment was granted by Patent in Edward the Fourths time yet for want of time I shall also begin his Writ of Summons the 21. of Henry the Eight and then Edward Griffin being Attorney General Gosnold was Solicitor and the Writ was Hen. Rex c. Dilecto fideli suo Johanni Gosnold Solicitatori suo Salutem Quia and so verbatim according to the Exemplar in the 36 Hen. 8. William Whorwood was Attorney General and Henry Bradshaw Solicitor and had his Writ the first of Edw. the Sixth Bradshaw was made Attorney General and Edward Griffin Solicitor and had his Writ and the 6. of Edw. 6. Griffith was made Attorney and Jo. Gosnold Solicitor and had his Writ and both continued so till the first of Mary and then William Cordel in the room of Gosnold was made Solicitor and had his Writ also in another Parliament of that year both had their Writs in the 1. and 2 3 and 4. of Phil. and Mary and in the 4. and 5. Phil. and Mary Griffith being Attorney General Rich. Weston afterwards Lord Treasurer was made Solicitor Dominorum Regis Reginae and had his Writ in the 38. of Eliz. Jo. Popham afterwards Lord Chief Justice was Attorney and Thomas Egerton afterwards Lord Chancellor was Solicitor and had his Writ and so they continued to the 39. Eliz. and then Edw. Coke after one of the Justices of the Common-Pleas was made Attorney and Tho. Flemins Solicitor and had his Writ and in the 43. Sir Edw. Coke was put back to be Solicitor and had his Writ and Thomas Egerton was Attorney and in the first of James Edw. Coke then Knighted was again made Attorney General and Tho. Flemins then Knighted also again made Solicitor and had his Writ and in the 21 Jacobi Thomas Coventry Miles after Lord Keeper was made Attorney and Robert Heath Knt. Solicitor after Chief Justice and had his Writ and both had Writs again the first Car. primi and the 15th Jo. Banks Knt. was made Attorney and Edward Harbert Solicitor and had his Writ But at the Summoning of this Parliament no Writ was sent to Sir Heneage Finch then the Kings Solicitor being chosen for the House of Commons and being after made Attorney General still he continued in the House of Commons till he was made Lord Keeper and then he was remov'd to the Lords House by Writ as Lord Keeper and so Sir Francis North being the Kings Solicitor did sit in the House of Commons this Parliament and was not removed thence till he was made Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas so that during this Parliament none whilst actually the Kings Solicitors were Summon'd or did sit in the Lords House yet I thought fit to insert this Degree here though he be not mention'd in this Pawn because there are so many Precedents of his Summons as are before recited in former Kings Reigns Of the Consimilar Writ to the Kings Principal Secretaries THis Officer of State and Assistant is plac't the last in most of the Pawns SECT 19 and brings up the Rear of all the forementioned Assistants which posture is a place of great Honour both in Civil Solemnities and Martial Imployments and that it may so appear in the aforesaid Act of the 31. of Hen. the Eighth none of the other Assistants before recited except the Lord Chancellor are so much as mention'd therein their precedencies being known in their own Courts from a greater antiquity but the Secretaries Place is fix't by that Act viz. if he be under the Degree of a Noble Baron yet it is above all the Assistants and next the Lord Chancellor if he be of the Degree of a Baron then above all Barons or if an Earl as in the case of the Lord Arlington then above all of that Degree unless any of the Superior Officers of State be of that Degree and then next to him and above the rest He hath his Office as Secretary not by Patent but by delivery of the Privy Signet to him and so if there be more than one as now there are two each considered as Principal hath also a Privy Signet delivered to him His Parliament Writ in this Pawn was thus Carolus c. Dilecto fideli Edwardo Nicolas Militi uno primariorum Secretariorum suorum salutem Quia c. and so verbatim according to the last mention'd Exemplar as an Assistant and the Title in the Label is like the Title of his Writ Observations 1. THis Writ agrees with all the former except in the word Vni and so if there be more as I have shewn in the Writ to the Judges yet commonly in Superscriptions he that is made Chief is Stiled Principal without the word one and the other One of the Principal Secretaries of State 2. The word Capitalis is us'd in the Writs to the two Chief Justices and Chief Baron but to the chief Secretary the word Principali is us'd not only signifying the Capital First or Chief but intimating his more immediate Imployment on his Prince for Principali is properly from Principe 3. If there be more Secretaries than one as there are seldom less than two they divide their negotiations into the Title of Provinces both in relation to this Kingdom or Foreign Kingdoms or States and so each of them give an account to the King accordingly and they have an Office appertaining to them call'd the Signet Office Signet where they have four Clerks as their Substitutes to perform their Directions for all Dispatches both Foreign and Domestick and generally they are of his Majesties Privy-Council 4. Their Imployments in Parliament are either in the House of Lords or House of Commons according as they are Summon'd to one or Elected to the other and as the King thinks them in either place most useful for his occasions 5. I need not go back to find the Antiquity of their Summons for it may be presum'd to be ancient from the Eminency and nature of their Imployments so it may suffice only to instance here that in the 36 Hen. 8. William Packet Mil. had his
Curiae Cancellariae but whether it was the same Office which is now executed by the Masters of the Chancery Non Constat however they were then under the notion of Clerks in an Ecclesiastical sence but as Writs were sent to Clerks or Ecclesiasticks with the Title of Magister so in Henry the Fourths time and not before there were Writs sent to Laicks with that Title and those were Persons of high Quality viz. in the 2.3 and 6. Hen. the 4th Magistro Thomae de la Ware sometimes call'd Ware and Warre to attend those Parliaments and the same Thomas was also Summon'd to the Parliaments of the 1.2.3.4.5.7.8 and and 9. of Hen. the 5th Magistro Tho. de la Ware and so to the 1.2 and 3. of Hen. the Sixth but in the second Parliament of that year Mr. De la Ware was not Summon'd but one VVrit was Magistro Johanni Stafford Thes Angliae and another VVrit Magistro Willielmo Alremith Custod privati Sigilli But in the 4th and 6. of Hen. the Sixth both those were left out and the same Magistro Tho. de la Ware Summond again and for brevity passing to the 36. of Hen. the Eighth and then it was expressly Roberto Bows Mil. Magistro sive Custod Rotulorum Cancellariae being then also chief of the twelve Masters of Chancery However Sir Edw. Coke saith they are Assistants to the Lord Chancellor or as the Manuscript saith Cojudices and thereupon ex Officio do sit in the Lords House and the antiquity of the Places allotted them there as will be shewn and their Imployments in every Parliament makes their attendance a kind of Praescription And now I proceed to such as sit in the Lords House by Patent only without Tenure VVrit or Praescription CHAP. XVII Of the Clerks of the Lords House HEre I am to speak of such as have places allowed them in the House of Lords by vertue of Patents only and first of the Clerks This Title of Clerk from Cleros when the Clergy had by reason of their great learning the guidance of Civil Offices was given as an honour to them and most of the great Offices as the Privy Seal Master of the Rolls c. had the Titles of Clerks but now that Title remains to a lower sort of which there are 26. in number who still retain that Title The first as to the Progresses of Parliament is the Clerk of the Pettibag which is under the Conduct and within the Patent of the Master of the Rolls who is the chief of all the Clerks in the Lords House of which Office I have spoke in that Section of the Rolls and in other places 2. The Clerk of the Crown in the Chancery call'd Clericus Coronae in Cancellario in his Patent of whom I have also spoke cursorily in several places is an Officer to whose care many great things are committed which may be read in Compton and others but as to what concerns this Subject I must again remind that all Parliament VVrits which are sent from the Pettibag are return'd and kept by the Officer so that the Pettibag gives as it were the beginning this the continuance and ending to a Parliament So as this Clerk of the Crown hath three Capacities Before the Sitting of a Parliament to receive returns of VVrits which were issued from the Pettibag And in Parliament to take care according to directions for the issuing of Writs in case of change or mortality And in the Lords House he first reads the Titles of all Bills to be presented to his Majesty of which and other parts of his Duty I shall speak more 3. The third Clerk is term'd in his Patent Clericus Parliamentorum because he is Clerk in all Parliaments during his life his imployment here being only conversant about the Affairs of Parliament Now in respect that all Bills and Matters of State have here their result in the Lords House he is the proper Keeper of such Records for the Lords House is a Court of Record and to that end his Books are fairly writ exactly compos'd according to the very words and sence of that House and constantly perus'd by some Lords appointed for that purpose as well for his own justification as others satisfaction He hath also an Assisting Clerk allowed him who is of great use and ease to him both of them being well grounded in learning experience and ability in the safe expediting the concerns of that House which hath both an Ocean of VVisdom and curious Rivolets of Honorary punctilios not to be omitted by them somewhat different from all other Courts he hath also a Reading Clerk allowed him who likewise attends the Lords Committees and these are all the Clerks which constantly attend in the Lords House and are within the Bar. 4. Of the Clerks of the House of Commons I shall speak in the second part 5. As I have shewn the Imployments of the Clerks of the Crown Office in Chancery so to prevent misapplications it is fit to shew the Imployments also of the Clerk of the Crown Office in the King's Bench who is no constant attendant in this House or in the House of Commons but only upon contingencies and then by Order but more especially in the Lords House for producing reading and managing Records concerning VVrits of Error Habeas Corpus c. of which I shall speak in order but his most eminent Imployment is upon the Tryal of Peers as will be shewn Of the 26. Clerks before mention'd who still retain that Title these five which I have named are the chief which are imployed in Parliamentary Matters but of the other 21. which may be seen in Lambert Fitz Herbert c. neither the six Clerks in Chancery being Officers of Eminency imployed in that Court bearing that Title nor are the other Clerks which are imployed also in that Court in the least as I know of ingag'd in the Fabrick of Parliaments Note that those five Clerks whom I first mention'd have places allotted them within the Bar of either House as I said And now I must speak of other Attendants of another nature viz. the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod and the Serjeant at Arms. CHAP. XVIII Of the Gentleman Vsher of the Black Rod. THere are but three ways by which the House of Lords do send any Message to the Commons of two of them I have spoken viz. by some of the Judges or by some of the Masters of Chancery and the King also uses two ways viz. by his Secretaries or some of the Privy-Council when they are Members of the House of Commons both upon ordinary and extraordinary occasions or for attending his Person upon Addresses c. But when he hath occasion to Command the House of Commons to attend him in the House of Lords he only sends this Officer the manner of which Ceremony I shall shew in order He is call'd the Black Rod from the Black Staff or Rod about three foot long tipt with
Privy Seal the Great Chamberlain the Constable the Marshal the Lord Admiral the Grand Master or Lord Steward the Kings Chamberlain and the Kings chief Secretary shall sit and be placed in such order and fashion as is before rehearsed and not in any other place by Authority of this Act. SECT I. Observations Obs 1. THis Act is observable being Enacted as it were by the King 's single Authority yet by the Preamble it seems to be only an Order or Ordinance at most and this upon Record in that House for it doth not concern the Commons 2. The Lords House is here call'd the High Court of Parliament i. e. the highest Court of Judicature in Parliament and so it is an Act by authority of the same including the Kings 3. It is also Parag. 2. call'd the Parliament Chamber and Parag. 8. the said House not the House of Lords or House of Peers as it is now call'd 4. Though this Act doth contain the Rules for Places as the several degrees do sit in their distinct degrees yet it doth not contain the intermixt Precedencies of the several Degrees both in calling over the House and at other Solemnities as will be more exactly shewn in the local part 5. In the 8th Paragraph the Lord great Chamberlain Constable Marshal Admiral Steward and King's Chamberlain are omitted because it is presum'd that those Titles were never given to any under the degree of a noble Baron 6. Here the Seat for the State-Officers being not Barons is call'd a Sack but in all Records where those Seats are mention'd they are call'd Wool-Sacks being stuff'd with Wool to mind them of the Staple Commodity of the Kingdom 7. The use which I make of this Act is to shew the several Titles of the Degrees of such as are mention'd therein 2dly the ordering of those Degrees and 3dly how this Act doth agree or disagree with the Pawns before and subsequent to it First The Degrees mention'd therein are four viz. first Princes of the Blood 2dly Lords Spiritual 3dly Ministers and Officers of State 4thly Lords Temporal 1st The Princes of the Blood are said therein Parag. 4. to be first the King's Son 2dly the King's Brother 3dly the King's Uncle 4thly the King's Nephew 5thly the King's Brother's Son 6thly the King's Sister's Son as in Paragraph the 1st and 4th 2dly The Lords Spiritual are said therein to be the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and York the Bishop of London Duresm and Winchester and all the Bishops of both Provinces according to their Ancientries Paragraph 2 3. 3dly The Ministers and Officers of State Ecclesiastical and Civil are in the 2d and 4th Paragraphs said to be the Vice-Gerent and eleven more therein mention'd of which I shall speak distinctly Paragraphs 2 4 5 6 8 9 10. 4thly The Lords Temporal are said to be those five Degrees mention'd in the seventh Paragraph viz. Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons of which I shall also speak more fully and lower than to these Degrees the Act doth not extend 5thly This Act doth agree with the Method of the Pawns in the placing of the Princes of the Blood as also of the Bishops but the Pawns do differ from the Act concerning the Ministers and Officers of State for they meddle with them no otherwise than they are annext to some Spiritual or Temporal Degrees but if they are under the Degree of those Degrees they have then only particular Writs of Assistance as shall be shewn 6. The Act doth not take notice of the several Assistants of the Long Robe viz. the Lords Chief Justices c. But the Pawn makes a Record of them also and of their Writs and of their Precedencies in relation to each other of whom I shall speak more particularly in the Thirteenth Chapter 7. This Act was made upon the dissolution of the Abbots and Priors and that there might be no more room for them in the House of Lords whereas the two preceeding Pawns remaining still in the Pettibag viz. of the 22 and 31 Hen. 8. did place them next the Bishops now their Abbies Monasteries and Priories being dissolved they in this Act were excluded as in all future Pawns only Queen Mary did venture to summon the Abbot of Westminster and the Prior of St. John's of Jerusalem but that being turn'd into a Deanry and this dissolved they were as useless as all the others the Ecclesiastical and Civil Estate of this Kingdom being thereby restor'd to its Primitive Constitution as will be shewn CHAP. IV. A Discription of the Degrees concern'd in this Act of Precedency HAving spoken of the Pawns or Digest of Writs of Summons in general as also of the Act of Precedency this having respect only to the House of Lords and other great Councils those both to the House of Lords and House of Commons this only to the Dignity of the Nobles those not only to the Dignity and Degrees of Nobles but also of the form and order of the Writs constantly enabling the Nobles to make a noble use of their distinct Degrees that to the Places and Precedencies of such persons whenever they meet in Parliament as by the King's favour may be summon'd those to the persons actually summon'd wherein these Pawns much ancienter than the Act were doubtless a good Guide to the framing of this Act I think it convenient before I proceed to particularize their Writs for the Titles must be fix'd before the Writs can be perfected to take a view of the order of such Degrees as are mention'd in the Pawns but better methodiz'd in the Act viz. 1st of the King's Counsellors comprehending all the following degrees and others 2dly of the Princes of the Blood consisting of seven Degrees 3dly of the grand Officers and Ministers of Church and State consisting also of seven Degrees some of them being of a mixt nature viz. Spiritual Ecclesiastical and Civil and 4thly of the Temporal and Hereditary Nobility consisting of five intire Degrees and this I shall do by a distinct account of them for the clearer understanding of the Writs and Persons concern'd in them And this I do to entertain the Readers time whilst the Clerk and others are busied in Drawing Writing and Ingrossing the Writs and carrying them to be Seal'd and then disposing them to the several persons and places to whom and where they are to be deliver'd which will admit of as much or more time than may be spent in reading these following Discourses intended for the reviving of the memory of some and improving the knowledge of others concerning the Persons to be imploy'd in the House of Lords as also concerning the Writs for the House of Commons and herein in this First Part as to the House of Lords I shall be guided by the ancient Method of the King's Warrant the Pawns and the Act of Precedency And first of the King's Counsellors SECT II. Of the Kings Privy-Counsellor AS to the Original of this Officer and of the reason
was commonly taken for the Master of the Horse to the Emperour and is a Place still of great Honour in most parts of Europe but I conceive he was rather call'd Comes stabuli as an Officer or Office of refuge for so stabulum also signifies However for many Ages this Office was held in Grand Sergeanty by those persons hereafter nam'd but in 12 H. 8. it became forfeited to the Crown and since that never granted to any Subject but pro hac vice at some Solemnities as at the Coronation of King Charles the Second in April 1661 a little before this Parliament Algernoone Piercy Earl of Nortbumberland was made High Constable of England pro hac vice for with the Ceremony of that day his Office ended and Henry the Eighth I conceive did enter it in the Act of 31 of his Reign that in case there should be any use of this Officer when any such Solemnity happen'd in time of Parliament his place might be known without dispute 3. Before the 13th of Henry the 8th in some respects it had a greater power than the Earl Marshal and in others equal to it and so the extravagant parts being taken away the rest fixt in the Earl Marshal of whom I shall speak next however it hath left a name of great honor and use those of Honor are the Constable of Dover c. those of Use are the high Constables and Constables disperst in all parts of England 4. Whilst this great Officer was of constant use he was constantly summon'd to Parliaments viz. 50. E. 3. Thomas de Woodstock Comes de Buck Constabularius Angliae and so that 1.3 and 4. Ric. 2. Thomas Dux Glostriae Constabularius Angliae 17. R. 2. and the 1st of Hen. the 4th Henry Percy Earl of Northumberland Constab Angliae and the 2d of Hen. the 5th and 1. H 6. Summons to Humphrey Duke of Gloster Const Angliae and to John Duke of Bedford Const Angliae 2. H. 6. and from thence again to the Duke of Buckingham Const Angliae but from thence to the 20. of Hen. the 8. there are no Pawns as I said to guide us to the knowledge of such as were summon'd to the intervening Parliaments but it appears by other Records that in the 13th of Hen. the 8. this Office of Constable of England was turn'd into an hac vice and so only granted upon the Solemnity of Coronation and thereupon is not mention'd in any following Pawns to this time or was of any use in this Parliament SECT XII Of the Earle Marshal of England THis great Officer hath not so great a Latitude of power as the Constable of England had yet he hath under his Jurisdiction the Care of the Common Peace of the Land in deeds of Ams and matters of War when it happens in Forraign or Domestick parts in most of which he is guided by the Civil Laws and yet not to do any thing repugnant to the Common Laws In times of War he is more absolute in times of Peace less this mane of Marshal 't is very probable had its Original from Mars the Romans God of War and was the same which they call'd Comes Militum 2. However with us this Great Officer had and hath several Courts under his Jurisdiction viz. the Court of Chevalry now almost forgotten and the Court of Honor now quiet layd aside but the Sedes Mariscalli or Court of Marshalsee is still in being where he may sit in Judgment against Criminals offending within the verge of the Kings Court and the chief Officer under him is call'd the Knight Marshal 3. As also the Herauld Office or Colledge where when doubts arise concerning Descents Pedegrees Escuchteons c. he determins them this was Incorporated by Ric. the 3d. and many priveledges added by Philip and Mary 4. and 5. 4. Heraulds amongst the old Romans were a certain Order of Priests call'd Faeciales and so term'd because Bello paceque faciendo apud eos jus erat pronuntiare c. they were also call'd Caduceatores from a little wand which they carried whereon was fixt two wings to represent Mercury the nimble Messenger of War quod Contentionem Bella Cadere facerent 5. This Office or Colledge consists of 3 Regulators of Arms Ceremonies Pedegrees and Descents of Nobility and Gentry the first is call'd Garter Rex Armorum Principalis chief King at Arms and is also an Officer to the Soveraign and Knights Companions of the most noble order of the Garter the 2d call'd Clarentius also King of Arms but his Jurisdiction is only on the Southside of Trent The 3d. call'd Norray also King of Arms for the Northside of Trent these two being confin'd but Garter not consin'd 6. Besides these there are 6 more properly call'd Heraulds quasi Honorem tenentes Haeredes Aulae dicentes such as are able to give an account to the Court of Heyres to Families and these have distinct Titles distinguishing their Imployments viz. 1. York 2. Lancaster 3. Somerset 4. Richmond 5. Chester 6. Windlesour 7. And there are also 4 Under Graduats call'd Pursevants or such who with readiness do pursue the Commands of their Superior Officers properly in Marshal Causes and therefore call'd Pursevants at Arms to distinguish them from other Pursevants or Messengers from other Courts and these 4 have also 4 distinct Titles viz. Blewmantle 2. Rougecross 3. Rouge-Dragon 4. Portcullis but of the Earl Marshal and Heraulds I shall speak more as they are imployed in Parliamentary Ceremonies 8. There is no doubt but these Earls Marshals have for many ages sat in Parliaments viz. the Duke of Norfolk Marshal of England was summon'd 15 Ed. 2. But 11 R. 2. the Title of Earl Marshal of England being by Patent granted to Thomas de Mowbray Earl of Nottingham and entail'd on the Heirs Males of his Body which failing yet the Title of Mowbray descending on Thomas Earl of Arundel King James did by Pattent make him Earl Marshal for life and he was Summon'd to Parliament by both Titles but he dying Thomas Earl of Arundel and Mowbray Grandson and Heir to the said Thomas had no Writ provided for him in Feb. 1660 when this Pawn was made being then suppos'd to be a Lunatick and upon that account kept close at Padua in Italy but soon after by the Solicitation of Henry Howard next Brother and Heir to the said suppos'd Lunatick the Dukedom of Norfolk was restor'd after a long Attainder and by Act of Parliament settled on the said Thomas the Grandson and the said Henry being soon after created Earl of Norwick did manage the Office of Earl Marshal and had a Patent for the same from this present King Charles therein setling this Office upon him and the Heirs Males of his Body with a large Intaile for want of such Issue to the next Heir Male of that Noble Family So Henry was Summond about the middle of this Parliament as Earl of Norwich with the Title also of Earl