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
Ea or Watry Enemy and it is no small honour now to the Earl of Bedford to be Governour of 365000 Acres of Fenny Grounds intituled by his name of Bedford Level subject to inundations but by his vigilance preservs it 6. And when this Title of Earl was first given in England as t is said by William the first to Hugo de Aurank or de Ibrinks making him Earl of Chester it was doubtless from some eminent Service done in preserving the Banks or Brinks of that County against the inundations of the River Dee upon the South-side of Worrcl Ealand aforesaid reaching from the Town of Chester to the Hebrea for shortness call'd Heber and so round that Hundred besides the Banks in other parts of that County Some do question whether this d'Aurank or d'Ibrink was the first Earl but t is likely he was so Titularly and other the like Earls before him but that which is agreed on is that Albericus or Aubry d'Vere was the first that was by Charter or Patent created Earl by Henry the 2d who had the additional Title of Earl of Oxford or Oxenford in Oxfordshire and continues in that Family to this day but I cannot pass the word Ford which doth imply a passable Ea or Water which was necessarily to be preserved from the overflowing of at least 7 several Rivers in that little County for the more safe passage of Men and Oxen. 7. To conclude Ihope I may be allow'd so much of the Art of Tachygraphy or short writing as may render my application of this word more plausible by writing Earl for Ea Regalia so as whether Ea be consider'd as a Saxon word or the plural of the pronoun Ea it confirms my notion and may serve as well to explain the word Earl as SPQR the Senate and People of Rome or DNS to signifie a Baron of the Realm or Chr. Chevaleer 8. I have said sufficiently of the word now as to the antiquity of it in England it is Authentick from History and Record that the word Earl and Honour of it was in use in the Saxons and Danes time and continued with the Normans and Earls had the like extensive power in Shires and Counties as they have had since their formal creation by Charter which it seems was a mode and form not us'd till this to the Earl of Oxford since which there hath been some variations in the Form but especially in the time of Henry the eighth and King James as will be seen when I come to recite so much of their Charters of Creation as relate to their interests in Parliament 9. The learned Selden divides this Title into two sorts a Local and a Personal Earl by Local he means such Counties Cities Castles Towns or Burroughs as are fix'd to the Title of Earl or Comes as Earl of Oxford Earl of Kent c. being not County Palatines or of such as are County Palatines whereof there are five viz. Cheshire Lancashire which are in the Crown Pembrokeshire in the present Earl of Pembroke Durham and Ely which two are County Palatines belonging to the Bishops of those Counties never granted to any Temporal Earls so as the Bishops of Ely and Durham do sit in Parliament Virtute Tenurae and not Virtute Comitatus Palatinae As for Personal Earls there are but three remaining at this day viz. the Earl or Lord Great Chamberlain granted to Berty Earl of Lindsey with a large intale to that Family 2ly the Title of Earl Marshal granted to Hen. Howard Earl of Norwich and after Duke of Norfolk with a large intale as I have shewn 3ly granted by Patent to Savage Earl Rivers being made a Baron in 5 Edw. 6. and also Viscount of Colchester in 19 Jacobi and in the 2d of Charles the first was made Viscount Savage of Rock Savage in Cheshire whereby he is a double Viscount and Earl Rivers which is the Name of an illustrious Family and not of a Place but all the other Earls are intituled from some noted Place 10. Forty nine Earls Summon'd the 18th February 1661. and six more Summon'd the 29th of Aprill 1661. See the Pawn Cap. 2. The next I am to treat of is the Vicecomes Vice Earl or Viscount SECT V. Of a Viscount Obs I WHat hath been said of a Duke or a Count whilst their Titles were interchangeably us'd may be also appli'd to a Viscount for when Dukes and Counts increas'd in their number there was a kind of necessity to take in others to their assistance who afterwards by merit and the favour of their Prince arrived to an Interest of their own and therefore the word Vicecomes or Viscount may properly here intend a Companion for the word Comes doth as well signifie a Companion or Associate as a Count or Earl and the addition of Vice which signifies instead or by course or turns of which word Turn I shall speak more did intimate thar when the Turn of this Comes came to Govern he was for that time called Vicecomes all other times Comes only or as I conceive as the one was call'd Comes because he commanded a County the other was called Vicecomes from the Latin word Vicus because he commanded a Village Street or Structure or some lesser Command than that of a County 2. The dignal Title of Vicecomes is also ancienter in foreign parts than in England and is the same with Vidame or Vicedominus which are properly the foreign Titles of a Substitute to a Bishop but as we take the Title in an officiall sence it signifies the King's Deputy or Sheriff in every County and so is as ancient as the Saxons who made Comes to signifie Earl and Vicecomes or Viscount to signifie the Office of Shereeve or Sheriff for we had the words Earl and Sheriff from the Saxons and the Count and Viscount from the Romans Comes and Vicecomes and probably for the same reason that Marquess was interpos'd to Duke and Earl in Richard the Second's time so it was thought fit in Henry the Sixth's time though some say in Henry the Fifth's time to interpose the Title of Viscount to Comes or Earl and the Noble Baron there having been the like promiscuous use of the Titles of Comes or Earl and Baron as had been of Duke and Comes and thereupon I conceive John d'Beaumont was Created the first Viscount of this interposing Dignity it being as Mr. Cambden saith an old Name of Office but a new Name of Dignity or a Vicecomes or Sheriff turn'd from an annual Office into a Dignity hereditary 3. Yet this Office of Vicecomes or Shereeve or Sheriff was and still is an Office of dignity only the difference is that the Vicecomes dignified as I said by Hen. the 6th is a Parliamentary and Nobilitated Dignity and Place both in their Patent of Creation and in the Act of Precedency fixt between Earl and Baron c. made Hereditary but the other Viscountship or Sherifdom is Official and Annual and not Hereditary and
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
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
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
the effects upon our Souls but in its civil latitude and dimensions as having an influence and interest in every individual Man Woman and Child and in most of the Products of the Earth from their first Being to their Dissolution and this in all the fifty two Counties of England and Wales but for the distinction of the Civil and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction these are comprised into a lesser number viz. of twenty six and are call'd Diocesses as being given to them from God by the hands of the King to whom they acknowledge a subordination The second Estate and so mention'd in our Laws is the Lords Temporal or rather Militial having the Lieutenancies of all the Counties of England and Wales comitted to their Trust Care and Charge and to these belong the managing of Embassies Treaties of War or Peace and all honorary Actions both Foreign and Domestick as the King who is the Fountain of Honour does usually confer upon them The third Estate is the Commons also mentioned in our Laws and this also subordinate to the King and these consist of Gentry Men of fixt and setled Fortunes designed for things of Gallantry and Hospitality and of the Yeomanry comprised under several appellations viz. Husbandmen Artificers and Labourers all driving on a Commutative Commerce as well to supply themselves as others with what the Land or Sea affords either necessary convenient ornamental or superfluous Besides these three there are three very great Interests which are not call'd Estates but Assistances and in truth they are the very Supporters of these three Estates viz. The first Religion the second Law the third Trade 1. Religion is to be managed by the Clergy of several Degrees as will be shewn some neither Freeholders nor Freemen by their winning of men with a persuasive or exemplary Power into all Pious and Virtuous Actions whereby the Souls and Minds of Men may be united to Love and Obedience and this is the cement of Vnity to the three Estates 2. The Laws are manag'd by Lawyers of several degrees some neither Freeholders nor Freemen by instructing Magistrates in their compulsory Power when occasion requires so as both the Laws of God and Man may be duely observed and that such whom the Clergy cannot invite to Piety and Virtue by Precept and Example may be compelled to it by the Rigour of the Laws and this is the cement of Severity to the three Estates 3. Trade is manag'd chiefly by Merchants some also neither Freeholders nor Freemen these give life to Industry whereby the Rich do help the Poor and the Poor the Rich and thus Trade Commerce and Industry are as necessary Cements to the Three Estates as either Religion or Law respecting only what morally concerns Justice and Obedience and this is the Cement of Prosperity to the whole Fabrick So we see that as there are Three Essential Estates so there are also Three Essential Assistances or Supportations of those Estates and without which those Estates cannot well subsist Now out of these Three Estates in general the King doth abstract a Parliament For when He gives notice of his intentions to have one he orders Writs to Archbishops and Bishops who are chiefly to manage the concerns of the Clergy At the same time He also orders Writs to such of the Nobility as He or His Predecessors have either by Patent created to that employment or otherwise invested with some right thereunto who are chiefly to manage the concerns of the Nobility and Kingdom At the same time He also orders Writs for Electing such a number of Commons out of Counties Shires Cities and Burroughs as may manage the concerns of the Commonalty and yet these three Estates thus distinctly Summoned are so admirably intermixt in this Supream Council or Parliament that these three Estates in that Council seem to have an interchangable power and check on each other in the more Safe and Wise carrying on the Affairs of the whole Kingdom considered either at Home or Abroad And as the Government of the Kingdom hath three sorts of Assistances as is before shewn so those three sorts of Assistances are disposed into three sorts of Assistants For the Bishops have a certain number of Deans Archdeacons and Proctors cull'd out of Prebends Parsons Vicars and the Clergy in general as may be Assistants to the Episcopal Interest The Nobility have a certain number of Lawyers viz. Justices of the Respective Benches and Courts of Judicature in Westminster-Hall as will be shewn cull'd out of the Profession of Lawyers to be Assistants to them The Commons have the bulk of every County contracted into Two Knights or one for each County and of Two Merchants for each City and of Two lesser Traders for each Burrough and yet the Electors of them are not so confined to the Persons Eligible but that such as they hold fit to manage such Imployment are capable to be Elected though they be not Knights Merchants or Traders yet they are confined to a set number as I said and of qualifi'd Persons as well to preserve the Honor of it as to prevent a surcharge of too great a concourse to this Assembling of a Parliament By this easie demonstration it is evident that the Lords Spiritual consisting of Archbishops and Bishops Successive but not Hereditary do Sit in the Lords House and there Represent the whole Clergy of this Kingdom The Lords Temporal consisting of Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons which Five Degrees by a Nobilitated Interest Hereditary and Successive do Sit there also Representing all the Nobility of those Degrees in the Kingdom The Commons consisting of Knights Citizens and Burgesses by an Elective Interest neither Hereditary nor Successive do Sit in the House of Commons Representing all the Commonalty of this Kingdom Over which Three Estates the King for the time being ever was and still is esteemed by an Hereditary and Successive Right the Supream and in the Eye of the Law the Immortal Balance of these Three Essential yet Subordinate Parts Interests or Estates of this Kingdom I say Immortal because our Laws do say that Rex nunquam moritur and thereby gives him a clear distinction from the Three Estates Now to undeceive some that would have the Three Estates to consist of King Lords and Commons because our Government seems to be framed of Monarchy Aristocracy and Democracy To clear their Judgments the Monarchy stands single but the Aristocracy is double viz. An Aristocracy of the Lords Spiritual and an Aristocracy of the Lords Temporal to which add the Democracy of the Commons and all is reconciled into Two Aristocratical Estates and one Democratical and the Monarchical as Superintendent to those Three and so this Vnity with the Triplicity is the due constitution of our English Parliament and indeed of the Kingdom it self THE CONSTITUTION OF PARLIAMENTS CHAP. I. The King's Warrant to the Lord Chancellor for Summoning the Parliament begun the 8th of May 1661. CHARLES the Second by the Grace
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
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
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
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
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
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
hath no place in the Lords House and particularly excepted to be chosen into the House of Commons by the Writs of Elections as will be shewn and the reason is because the Official Viscountship is in the King who gives only an annual Deputation to the Person who executes that Office in such County of which he is made Vicecomes or Deputy to the King and so is not the Noble Viscount who cannot be made Sheriff or return'd of a Jury but hath his constant Writ of Summons to every Parliament as will be shewn 4. Seven Viscounts Summon'd by Writ 18. Feb. 1661. and One Viscount Summon'd by Writ 20th Ap. 1661. And now I come to the Barons the last Degree of the Nobility but anciently the First or Second SECT VI. Of Barons I Shall refer the Etymology of this word Baron to my Annotations because the learned Cambden Selden and others have taken pains about it but for many ages as at present it comprehends all such Prelates and Bishops as are Summon'd by vertue of their Baronies or Tenures to sit in the House of Lords As also all such Dukes Marquesses Earls and Viscounts as did anciently mount to any of those 4 Degrees by the proportion of their Baronies which they obtain'd by gift from the King or other acquisitions so differing from the other 4 in Nominal gradations rather than Essential And though there were Nominal differences antiently in the Tenures of Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons yet they were all subject to a general Contribution to the Kings affairs according to their certain number of Knights Fees for as Baronies made the other 4 Superior Degrees so the increment of Knights Fees whereupon I conceive Sir Thomas Smith made that Degree of Nobiles Minores did capacitate a Baron to be made a Baron and so a certain number of Baronies to be a Viscount and Earl and of Earledoms to be a Duke as may be read in Sir Edward Coke and others more ancient by him cited and Mr. Selden forgiving the Knight saith that Istud verbum Baro est caput scala dignitatum Regalium i. e. Majoris Nobilitatis 2. In former times these proportions were observ'd amongst the Temporal Lords but not with the Spiritual for Mr. Selden tells us of a Bishop pag. 580. Tit. Hon. that had 220 Baronies and did sit in Parliament by vertue of his Baronies yet was neither Duke nor Earl so those were the computations of Honour and Contributions till the method of Creations were us'd and at last by the late Act of Parliament all Tenures in Capite were Dissolved and thereby the Tenurial Contributions but not the Titles of Honour yet for a little variety I may inform some that in former times the Spiritual Barons had some exemptions from Contributions unless there was as the learned Selden calls it Trinoda necessitas viz. of War of Repairs of Castles or Bridges but they were generally exempted from Personal Assistance in War for though as he saith that in the 4th year of William the First that King made the Bishops c. subject to Knights Service in chief by creation of their Tenures and so was the first King that turn'd their possessions by Frankalmoine a French word signifying charitable Gifts for so began their temporalities into Baronies and thereby made them Barons of the Kingdom by Tenure yet when it was pray'd by them in the 5th Hen. the 3d. Vt omnes Clerici tenentes Baronias c. personaliter procederent contra Regis adversarios c. it was answer'd by the Bishops and their Answer allow'd Quod non debent pugnare cum gladio materiali sed Spirituali scilicet cum Lachrymis orationibus humilibus devotis quod propter beneficia sua manutenere debent pacem non bellum Quod Baroniae eorum ab Eleemosynis puris stabiliuntur c. So as he conceives that the Baronies of the Clergy were made of such Lands as formerly were as I said held in Franckalmoine 3. But what ever exemptions the Spiritual Barons had the Temporal Barons were oblig'd by their Baronial Tenures of several natures to all defensive and offenfive duties for the King and Kingdoms preservation according to the proportion of their dependent tenures or territories and so are yet in honour oblig'd to perform and they all had and have equal Votes in Parliament by vertue of their Baronial Interest for as to matters Parliamentary the Title of Baron is more ancient copious and comprehensive than any of the other Titles of Lords in Parliament 4. This word Baron we see is appilicable not only to the two degrees of Lords Spiritual viz. Archbishops and Bishops but to the 5 degrees of Lords Temporal so as the noble Barons and all the Degrees above them do set in the Lords House virtute Baroniae and by Writs of Summons the Superior Titles to the Barons differing rather upon some extrinsick order than any real intrinsick distinction 5. As for those Titles of Barons which are given to Degrees equal or under the noble Barons they are of several sorts 1st Some noble Barrons by Ancienty never Summon'd to a Parliament yet capable of Summons 2ly The Barons of the Exchequer which are 4 in number who are Summon'd by Writ ad consulendum or to be Assistants in the Lords House as will be shewn 3ly Barons of the Cinqueports out of whose number 16 are usually Elected to sit in the House of Commons as will be shewn 4ly Barons of Court-Barons who are also capable of being Elected to sit in the House of Commons 5th Barons in the Law French call'd Baron i. e. and Husband and Feme the Wife but I here only speak of the Nobiles Barones distinct from these Titular Barons though such of them as sit in the Lords House are in some sort thereby Nobilitated of whom I shall speak more when I come to the Assistants and such as sit in the Commons House are thereby Dignified though not Nobilitated of whom I shall speak when I come to the House of Commons 6. Now it may here be observed that some Persons of merit have been Summon'd to sit in the Lords House as Barons which were not Barons or any otherwise capacitated to sit there but by Writs of Summons upon this occasion Sir Edward Coke cites a Case where one Summond by Writ to sit in the Lords House died before he sat there and it was adjudged that if he had sat there he had been Nobilitated thereby but having not sat there whereby that writ was not executed for want of his Personal attendance it was adjudg'd that the direction or delivery of the Writ barely to the Person to whom the Writ was directed without Personal appearance and investiture of Robes and a possession of place was not sufficient to enoble him without a conjunction of those Circumstances and Ceremonies 7. But Barons created by Letters Patents and made to them and their Heirs are thereby Nobilitated and to be
esteem'd Nobles though they do not Sit in respect of the power given them by Patent to Sit without restrictions or ceremonial qualifications and therefore Sir Edward Coke saith that though the Creation by Writ be ancienter than by Patent yet the Creation by Patent is the surer way for that one may be sufficiently Created by Patent and made Noble though he never sit in Parliament and he gives this reason That if issue be joyn'd whether one be a Baron or not that point shall not be tried by a Jury of 12 men but by the Records of the Parliament and if he did not sit there there can be no Record but a Patent is a Record 8. So there were 62 Barons Summon'd by Writs of the 18. of Feb. 1661. and 6 more by Writs of the 29. of Ap. 1661. whereby the number of Temporal Lords Summon'd to this Parliament began the 8th of May 1661. were 140. viz. 1. Two Dukes of the Bloud 2. Three Dukes not of the Bloud 3. Four Marquesses 4. Fifty five Earls 5. Eight Viscounts 6. Sixty eight Barons In all of the 6 Degrees 140. as in the Pawn Cap. 2. which we may compare with former times viz. Regno  Anno. The highest Number Summon'd in these Years Num. Maj. The lowest Number Summon'd in these Years Anno. Num. Mi. Edwar. 3. 25º 62 4º 18 Richar. 2. 8º 63 18º 36 Henry 4. 1º 50 11º 39 Henry 5. 2º 44 3º 29 Henry 6. 38º 55 1º 23 Edwar. 4. 7º 47 12º 37 Henry 8. 37º 45 28º 44 Edwar. 6. 6º 59 1º 47 Mariae  2º 56 1º 42 Elizabeth  30º 60 43º 52 Jacobi  21º 98 1º 84 Caroli 1. 15º 109 1º 97 Caroli 2. 13º 140   I do insert this observation That the Ingenious Historian may see whether the greater or lesser number of the Nobility in Parliament hath been most advantageous to its Constitution and the like may be observed concerning the number of the House of Commons of which I shall speak in the next part By which we may see that the highest Number was in 12. and 13. of Car. 2d and the Lowest in the 4th of Edw. the 3d. not troubling the Reader with the Numbers Summon'd to Intervening Parliaments Thus having given some short Illustrations of those Titles of Honour which are mentioned in the Parliamentary Writs and the Act of Precedency for the clearer satisfaction of such as are not verst in matters of that nature I may now with the more content to them and my self proceed to the particular Writs of Summons to those noble Degrees which I have regularly mention'd according to their prescrib'd Order both from the method of the Writs in the Pawns and Act and these Writs of which I am particularly to speak others falling in collaterally are Sect. 1. The form of the Writs to any of the Bloud Royal. 2. The form of the Writs to Archbishops and Bishops 3. The form of Writs to the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper 4. The form of Writs to Dukes not of the Bloud Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons wherein the Grand Official Titles beforementioned are inserted CHAP. VI. Of Writs of Summons and first of the Exemplar Writs for Summoning Princes Dukes and Earls of the Bloud-Royal to the Parliament SECT I. I Have shewn in Chap. 2. how Parliament Writs are sorted into Close Writs and Open Writs or Patents and those into Exemplars and Consimilars I need not inlarge more therein but proceed to the first Exemplar Writ of Summons and so to other such Writs of Summons to other Degrees as concern the Lords House for I shall speak of other Parliament-Writs of another nature when I have dispatcht the Summoning Writs and Patents of Creation according to the method of Pawns and Clause-Rolls made before the Act of Precedency as also in all Pawns since that Act. Those of the Bloud-Royal are placed in the first Rank of those Records and were still Exemplar to the rest and therefore the Writ which I am now to speak of viz. To the Duke of York Brother to King Charles the 2d is the Exemplar of the Consimilar Writ to Prince Rupert Duke of Cumberland being Son to the Sister of King Charles the First and so persuant not only to the said Act but to the most ancient methods of Writs of Summons as will be more fully shewn in the following Chapters But before I recite this Writ methinks I hear some say Nolumus consuetudines Angliae mutare therefore let us know what Writs of this nature were issued in former Ages by former Kings which is a Question so pertinent to my own scruples that I hope the same ease I gave to my self after my inquiry will serve to satisfie others for having gone backward with as much safety to the avouching of Records as I could and being not satisfied with what was delivered to us concerning the Parliament Writs in the Brittish Romans Danes Saxons or Norman times or by some of the Plantagenets or those of Hen. 3ds time from whence most Writers of our English Parliaments take their Original I fixt upon and took my Rise from the Writs in the 15th of Edw. 2d which are clear and still extant in the Records of the Tower which the other are not By these Records it is evident that in 97. Parliaments as I account them which were Summon'd from that 15th year to this Parliament there is no material difference in this Exemplar Writ from those Antecedent and therefore that this Writ to the Duke of York may be compar'd with that of Edw. 2d I have here set them both down verbatim so that upon 339. years experience viz. from the year 1322. to the year 1661. Inclusive we may acquiesce that we in this Age have not much trespass't or varied from the ancient and wise Form prescribed to us by so many former Kings and continued to this time The Form of the Exemplar Writ to the Princes of the Bloud Tempore Edw. 2.15 EDwardus Dei Gratia Rex Angliae Dominus Hiberniae Dux Aquitaniae Edwardo Comiti Cestriae filio suo Charissimo Salutem Super diversis arduis negotiis nos statum Regni nostri specialiter tangentibus Parliamentum nostrum apud Eboracum a die Paschae prox ' futuro in tres septi'anas teneri vobiscum cum ceteris Prelatis Magnatibus Proceribus dicti Regni habere proponimus colloquium tractatum Vobis Mandamus in fide diléctione quibus nobis tenemini firmiter injungentes Dictis die loco omnibus aliis pretermissis personaliter intersitis ibidem nobiscum cum ceteris prelatis magnatibus proceribus supradictis negotiis tractatur ' vestrumque Consilium impensur ' Et hoc Nullatenus omittat ' Teste me ipso apud Westm ' decimo quarto die Martii Anno Regni nostri decimo quinto Caroli 2.13 CArolus Secundus Dei Gratia Angliae Scotiae Franciae Hiberniae Rex fidei defensor c. Praecharissimo
and die in that Persuasion But he did not think himself safe in carrying on so great an opposition as was like to be well knowing how the Papal Interest was dispers'd in all Kingdoms and States of Europe till he had incouraged the off-spring of the Waldenses and other opposers of Rome in France Germany and in other Kingdoms and States to revive their Doctrines as also to imbrace the Lutherans Centum Gravamina and the Calvinian Institutions and others less remarkable yet all serving to his purpose whereby in a few years after almost all Christendom was brought into a Papal and Antipapal Ballance or rather consisted of Professors of the Roman Religion and Protestors against both the Court and Church of Rome as Usurping and Antichristian 10. But on the other side the Pope seeing that he could not by forcible ways withstand this almost universal desertion of him he made his Applications to several Kings and Princes for his assistance And at last by a more plausible way he did obtain a Council of Trent wherein it is observable That he did not think fit to move in his Point of Supremacy till after eighteen years that That Council had been sitting by Adjournments and Prorogations and then the Question was That Episcopus Locum principalem teneret à Pontifice Romano dependentem to which the opposers did so far comply that they allowed principalem Locum sub Romano Pontisice but not dependentem so after that Council had sate nineteen years in the sixth of Queen Elizabeth it was dissolved by 4 Legats 20 Cardinals 3 Patriarchs 25 Archbishops 168 Bishops 7 Abbots 39 Proctors and 7 Regulars of General Orders without Determining that Point to the satisfaction either of England or other Kingdoms and States the Dispute of which begot 7 Civil Wars in France which lasted near 40 years till within 3 years of Queen Elizabeths Death also Inquisitions in Spain and Flanders Tumults and Wars in Germany and near 40 years Wars in the Netherlands between them and Spain and for some few years Fire Fagots and Insurrections in England 11. In this Hurly Burly about Supremacy H. 8. left his Crown to an Infant Edward the 6th Ed. 6. who had the Laws against Rome corroborated and his Revenues augmented by Chappels Chantries c. enjoying them but few years and then the Pope revived fresh experiments by Queen Mary Mary to reverse all especially after she was Married to King Phillip compelling a submission to the Popes Supremacy by Fire and Fagots so as in H. 8. time and even till now upon the suddain Changes of Religion it might be said by the Historian Deus bone hic suspenduntur Papistae illic comburuntur Antipapistae but her time being short the Supremacy was once more reverst and taken up by Queen Elizabeth Eliz. who managed it with such dexterity considering the conjuncture of Affairs in this and other Kingdoms and States that it was needless for the Pope to make any open Attempts but by Mariages Foreign Negotiations and the assurances given by some of the chiefest Nobility and Gentry of the Roman persuasion in this Kingdom who were as they pretended for the Church and not for the Court of Romes Supremacy of their peaceable resolutions the Billows of penal Laws seem'd to be calmed and this Kingdom thought it self as secure as the pretty Halcion in her Nest But those who kept to Calvins Institutions in England and Scotland were finely yoak't together to a disturbance for it being insinuated to them That the Title of Supream Head of the Church given by Act of Parliament was declined and dwindled into an c. and that the Title of Defender of the Faith given by the Pope did only remain with an c. made them call to mind what was alledged in the Council of Trent That the original of Church-Government was Aristocratical and Governed by a certain number of the Presbytery and afterwards it was thought fit to put it into a Monarchical way viz. by a Bishop as Superintendent and finding that the Popes and Kings of England and other Princes had long disputed about this Ecclesiastical Monarchy without determination only in a connivance they thought it convenient to return to the Primitive way of Aristocracy and set up Presbytery that original Government as was pretended and thereupon one all cried against Bishops which bravely workt for the Papal interest the clamour proved so geat that the Learned King James did what he could by Writing to quiet them his unfortunate thought Blessed Son King Charles the First tried it by Action but without Success For the Independent Anabaptist Fifth Monarchy-Men and others coming into the Presbyters assistance he was necessitated after the Wars with Scotland upon the same grounds amongst other condescentions to yield with the Consent of the Lords Temporal 17. Car. 1. and Commons and pass an Act for Abolishing the Bishops temporal Jurisdiction in this Kingdom Now see what followed instead of making of Earls Knights and Squires and maintaining of Hospitals as was proposed to Richard the 2d as I said the Bishops were not only put out of the House of Lords but the Temporal Lords soon after and the Knights and Squires secluded from the House of Commons and the Hospitals and all ruined by an intestine Bloody War the King Sacrificed and every one of the Machineers disappointed of their original plausible intentions and in conclusion by most miraculous Turns in Assairs there was a total submission to a Reestablishment of that Form of Church and State which they had before so zealously overthrown and the Bishops again brought into the Lords House 12. I should now proceed to the Writs which impowred the Bishops to sit in the Lords House but first I think it pertinent to shew how these two Titles of Fidei Defensor Caput Ecclesiae Anglicanae were used disused and altered in theirs and other Writs Though all the Kings of England at their Coronation are Sworn to defend the Christian Faith and the words defensionem Ecclesiae Anglicanae having been in most Parliament-Writs since the 11th of Edward the 3d. Yet the Pope as I said for the good Service which Henry the 8. had done in Writing against Luther sent him a Bull and therein intituled him Defensor Fidei with this Caution that it should be placed next his Title to France and before his Title to Ireland and it may be observed That in the same year he sent the like Bull to the Emperor Charles the 5th intituling him also Defensor Fidei upon which the Emperor took an Oath not only to be Defensor Fidei but Defensor Pontificiae dignitatis Romanae Ecclesiae i. e. Defender of the Court and Church of Rome But Henry the 8th though he accepted the Title did not think fit to be bound by an Oath nor do I find that he stiled himself in any publick Acts Defensor Fidei till the 2.1 of his Reign and then in a
Conquerours time there have been 62 Archbishops and Bishops employ'd in these Offices and from the first Institution of Treasurer in William the 2d's time to Ed. the 4ths time there have been 42. Archbishops and Bishops Treasurers but from Ed. the 4th's to this time no Bishop hath been Treasurer except William Archbishop of Canterbury in Charles the 1sts time then Bishop of London they have been also Chief Justices c. But for other Offices in respect I find them not mention'd in any of their Writs of Summons to Parliaments as additional Titles I shall not make any further inquiries but indeed anciently most of the Judicial Offices in the Kingdom or State were under the Care and Management of the Clergy and therefore the Chancellor Treasurer Privy-Seal c. were called Clerici or Clerks as a distinction from the Laity And being men generally of the greatest Knowledge and Learning were thereupon chosen into Offices of the highest nature 16. That though for many Ages before the end of Hen. the 8th's Reign the Bishops were then of the Roman Religion yet whenever they had the least encouragement from the present Kings of England and sometimes without it they still oppos'd the Superintendency and Supremacy both of the Church and Court of Rome as to the Dominions of the respective Kings of England protesting that the same was a destruction of the Realm and Crown of England which hath always said they been Free and hath no earthly Sovereignty but onely God in all Regalities as may be seen in the Parliament Rolls of Rich. 2d Hen. the 6th and in other Kings Reigns and since Hen. the 8th the Bishops and Clergy under them have been almost the only Bulwark against the Storms and Incroachments of Rome upon us 17. It appears by a long concatenation of Records that they have had these various Titles of Honour viz. in the Latin Records Archiepiscopi Episcopi Praelati Pares and in such Records as are writ in French or English Archevesque Evesque Archbishops Bishops Prelates Peers Grantz Grandees or Great ones in distinction of the Lesser Peers or House of Commons of which I shall speak more also Seigniors singly and Signiors du Parlement also Lords and Lords Spiritual and Barons claiming onely a Vital Feudal Tenurial and not Nobilitated Peerage in distinction of the Lords Temporal whose Peerage is Personal Hereditary and Nobilitated 18. Though they absent themselves from the House of Lords upon Tryals of blood yet it was and is still in obedience to the morality of the Canon-Laws for though those Canon-Laws were practised in times of Popery yet the reasonableness and conscientiousness of that Law still continues and now we are free from the bondage of Popery the Protestant Bishops still think themselves obliged to it as the Papal Bishops were before like the 4th Commandment which still morally obligeth Us as formerly it did the Jews yet where they do absent themselves in Cases of blood it is done by leaving Proxy or protestation of their Right of Sitting c. 19. And lastly it may be very well observed though their influence and Interest upon a Spiritual and Temporal account is spread over this whole Kingdom their Revenues great and thereby their Tenants Officiates and Dependents very numerous yet I do not find in Histories that the Bishops of England did ever raise an Army to justifie their interest against any of our Kings or against the other two Estates of Lords Temporal or Commons by Sword or Force but still supported it by their Pen or Prayers 20. Thus I have given an account of the Managers of Religion in this Island and of the Writs whereby they were Summon'd to Parliaments and of other great employments wherein they have been intrusted of a mixt nature part Civil and part Ecclesiastick and both tending to Religious Duties I should now proceed to the Writs which concern Abbots and Priors which till the 36. Hen. 8. were ever entred next the Bishops in the Clause-Rolls and Pawns but there having been no Writs directed to them since the said 36. of H. the 8th except two in Queen Mary's time one to the Abbot of Westminster the other to the Prior of St. John's of Jerusalem I shall follow the Method of the Pawns since the said 36th year referring the Discourse of them to the Chapter of Dissolutions and here proceed to the third Exemplar Writ viz. to the Lord Chancellor being the first Officer of State and Principal Assistant and now annext to a Barony and after to his Title of Earl as will be shewn CHAP. VIII The Third Exemplar of the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper AMongst the Romans this great Officer was called Actuarius Scriba Notarius Principis praesentis Vicarius Cancellarius and so it came into France and amongst the Saxons it had the name of Referendarius but in England we do not find this Title of Chancellor till the first of King John An. 1199 though Lambert and others derive it from Edward the Confessors time This Officer continued in so high an esteem that in the 5th of Richard the 2d The Commons in Parliament in their Exhibits to the King desired that the most wise and able man in the Realm might be chosen Chancellor which made Budaeus one of Hen. the 8ths Orators to give this Description Hunc saith he rerum omnium cognitione omni Doctrinarum virtutumque genere instructissimum ornatissimum ingenioque ad omnia versatili omnia in numerato habere oportere fatendum est This Discription is also to be applyed to the Keeper of the Great Seal which invention of a publick Seal as it was more ancient with the Romans so it seems to be very ancient with us in England that Office being Constituted by William the Conquerer in the Year 1067. and for the honour of both as it is shewn in this Section Geffrey a Natural Son to Hen. the Second was Chancellor and the Queen to Henry the Third was Keeper of the Seal 2. These two Offices were sometimes kept distinct and sometimes united in one Person till the Fifth of Queen Eliz. and then it was Enacted That both those Offices should be accounted but as one and the same and that hereafter both should not be used at one time by distinct Persons 3. Whilst they were distinct they had two Seals the Chancellors was of Gold and the Keepers of Silver the Court esteemed Officina Regis and the Seal Clavis Regni but whenever they were either united or distinctly executed still this high Office was managed by Archbishops or Bishops or by the most eminent Laicks for Learning Integrity and Abilities as may be seen by comparing the History of them with their Catalogues 4. To manifest their Eminency it is evident from the Rolls that in the opening of all Parliaments the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper did constantly by the Command of the King shew them the reasons of Summoning them unless in a Vacancy or
and Recesses so he gives the second Fiat to its Dissolution he hath also an appartment near the Lords House as will be shewn for himself to retire to and for his Serjeant at Arms and others of his Attendants Thus having considered the Lord Bishops and Lord Chancellors Writs I must observe how exquisitely and harmoniously these two Degrees are interpos'd both in their sitting in the Lords House and in the method of their Writs in Pawns and in the Act of Precedency being placed in all of them between the first and second Rank of the Lords Temporal as it were to shew that the Lords Temporal are always to embrace and maintain Religion and Equity as the two chief Supporters of a Parliament I have spoken of the first Supporters to Religion and Equity viz. Princes of the Bloud and now I shall speak of the other Supporters viz. the Nobles not of the Bloud distinctly five Titles viz. Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons but more especially of their Writs which Summon them to sit in Parliament which will guide me into several observations CHAP. IX Of the Fourth Exemplar Writ to the Nobles not of the Bloud-Royal To the Lord-Treasurer c. IN the Eighth Chapter I shewed the Exemplar Writs to Princes Dukes and Earls of the Bloud-Royal I am now according to the method of this Pawn to shew the Exemplar Writs to Dukes Marquesses Earls and Barons not of the Bloud I shall begin with that in Anno 1661. being agreeable to that Exemplar before recited to the Dukes of the Bloud from the word Salutem to the end of the Writ but the Preambles to that word do afford variety almost in all Writs and therefore before I make the Observation upon it I shall give a view of the Writ at large being only abbreviated in the Pawn CArolus Secundus Dei Gratia Angliae Scotiae Franciae Hiberniae Rex fidei defensor c. Praecharissimo Consanguineo suo Thomae Comiti Southampton Thesaurario Angliae Salutem Quia de Advisamento assensu Concilii nostri pro quibusdam arduis urgentibus negotiis nos statum defensionem regni nostri Angliae Ecclesiae ' Anglicanae concernen ' Quoddam Parliamentum nostrum apud Civitatem nostram Westm ' 8. die Maii prox futur ' teneri ordinavimus ac ibidem vobiscum ac cum Magnatibus Proceribus dicti Regni nostri Colloquium habere tractatum vobis sub fide ligeantia quibus nobis tenemini firmiter injungendo mandamus Quod consideratis dictorum negotiorum arduitate periculis imminentibus cessante excusatione quacunque dictis die loco personaliter intersitis nobiscum ac cum Magnatibus Proceribus praedictis supra dictis negotiis tractatur ' vestrumque Concilium impensur ' Et hoc sicut Nos honorem nostrum ac Salvationem defensionem Regni Ecclesiae praedictae expeditionem dictorum negotiorum diligitis nullatenus omittatis Teste Rege apud Westm ' 18. die Febr. Anno Regni nostri 13. SECT II. Observations 1. ALl Parliamentary Exemplar Writs of this nature which are extant from the 15. of Edward the Second to the 21. of Henry the Eighth if they were not directed to some one of the Heirs of the Crown or to Princes Dukes or Earls of the Bloud were still directed to an Earl not of the Bloud except Three to Three Dukes in Henry the Sixths and Edward the Fourths time it being evident from what hath been said That Earls called in Latin Comites was a more ancient Title in this Kingdom than Dukes Richard the Eldest Son to Edw. the Third being the first that was so created but Earls long before and though Edward the Third did create many Dukes more than his Son which were of the Bloud yet still to keep the old Title of Earl and in veneration thereof as may be supposed he in the Fourty Seventh of his Reign did think sit as the King usually appoints the Sword to such a Person as he directs to carry it before him to grant the Exemplar Writ to an Earl not of the Bloud for the Parliament to be holden that year and so did his Successor as may be seen in this following Table viz. 47. Edw. 3. Richardo Comiti Arundel who sat one Parliament 18. Rich. 2. Henrico Comiti Darby who sat one Parliament 3. Hen. 5. Radulpho Nevile Comiti Westmerland and the like Writ in the same year so he sat two Prrliaments 7. Hen. 5. Henrico Percey Comiti Northumbr and the like in the same year and in the Eighth and Ninth of this King and Twelfth of Hen. 6. so he sat five Parliaments note that the Christian names and Sirnames of Nevile and Percey are in this Writ which is not usual to Earls only the Christian names The three Exemplars to Dukes not of the Bloud are in time subsequent to Earls for the first Exemplar to a Duke was not till 28 H. 6. Gulielmo Duci Suffolciae who sat one Parliament 38 H. 6. Henrico Duci Oxoniae who sat one Parliament 1 Edw. 4. The third Johanni Norfolciae and the like in the same year so he sat two Parliaments And then after these Three Dukes again to an Earl viz. 3 Edw. 4. Richardo Comiti Warwick who sat one Parliament so from the 47. of Edw. 3. to Rich. the 3. there was Eight not of the Bloud viz. Five Earls and Three Dukes who had Exemplars From Richard the Third to the 21. of Hen. 8. there is as I have shewn a want of Records in the Tower so as the first Exemplar that appears to us in the Pettibag of such as had Exemplar Writs being not of the Bloud do begin at the 36. of H. 8. viz. 36 Hen. 8. Thomae Wriothsley Militi Domino Wriothsley Cancellario he sat one Parliament and was the year before made Baron of Titchfield and in the first of Edw. 6. Earl of Southampton 1 Edw. 6. Gulielmo Pawlet Militi Domino Senescallo magni hospitii nostri ac Praesidenti Concilii nec non Custodi magni Sigilli He was then Lord St. John of Bazing and afterwards created Marquess of Wincester 6 Edw. 6. Gulielmo Marchioni Winchester Thesaurario Angliae Thomas Goodrick Bishop of Ely being Chancellor and had his distinct Writ this Marquess had his several Writs viz. in the 6 of Edw. 6. and 7 of Edw. 6. and 1 Mariae and 1 M. 1. and 2 Phil. and M. and 2 and 3 P. and M. and 4 and 5 P. and M. in which time the Bishops of Ely Winchester and Archbishop of York were Lord Chancellors and had distinct Writs it being not proper for them being Lords Spiritual to be Exemplars to the Lords Temporal besides he was Exemplar in the 28. 30. 35. 39. and 43. of Eliz. and Primo Jacobi in which time Sir Thomas Bromley and Sir Christopher Hatton were Lord Chancellors and Sir John Puckering and Sir Thomas Egerton LordKeepers and each of them had distinct Writs so as it
concedo G. de M. pro servitio suo heredibus suis post eum hereditabiliter ut sit Comes de Essexia habeat tertium denariorum Vicecomitatus de placitis sicut Comes habere debet in Comitatu suo So here was both the Honor the Service and the Reward mention'd in less then thirty words There is nothing alledged for the length of these Patents but that the latter Ages as 't is said are more cautious than the former and that abundans cautela say we non nocet which occasions an abundance of words more than anciently were in use As to the sinalness of the Creation-Money those who have taken pains in Writing about raising of the price of Money both Gold and Silver since Edward the Third's time tell us That there are three ways of raising it First By encreasing the Value of it that is by giving more parts to it than originally it had as by ordaining an Angel of Gold to be valued at a 11 s. which was Coin'd for 10 s. or a Shilling to be valued at 14 d. The Second By diminishing the Matter but leaving the same Name and Value to the Money which it had before as when Angels or Shillings are Coin'd by the same Name and Value as before but diminished some Grains in the weight or if new Names be given to them and the same Value retain'd but the weight diminished for in this case there being really less Gold or Silver in weight in the price than was before and the value remaining the same this Silver and Gold which remains hath an high price set upon it The Third is When the Value remaining the same of the Species of Money and the Weight the same the fineness is abated by putting more Allay to it so as really then there is less Gold or Silver in fineness for it is supply'd by Copper which is usually the Allay to either whereby the Weight is made the same as before but the Fineness so much less They further tell us That the Causes of these Allays are first the Gain which the States make by it the better to supply themselves in their necessities for Money the other Cause is an Art which all States do frequently use as it were to rob one another of their Money by vying one upon another who shall raise their Money highest and this occasions the raise and fall of Exchanges of Money among our Merchants which is a Mystery worth the knowing by every one that serves in Parliament thereby to prevent Injuries and to maintain the Honour and Profit of our Kingdom But whatever uncertainties are in the raise or fall of Money this is certain That 20 l. per Annum in those days did go as far if not farther in managing Mens occasions where Money was to be us'd as 200 l. per Annum now and one great Reason was Because in almost all matters of Wars or Peace the Tenants were obliged by their Tenures to supply their Lords especially in Provisions for Hospitality and Labour without Wages or very little so as a little Money was lookt on as a great Reward as may be seen in the Tenure of the Lord of the Mannor of Carlton in Norfolk who is oblig'd every year with himself and his Servants to present to the King a certain number of Herrings from the City of Norwich with which the Town of Tarmouth are oblig'd by their Patent to supply that City for that purpose and after three days stay upon delivery of the Herrings to the King the Lord of Carlton is to be presented by the Master of the Green-Cloth with a Groat to buy him a pair of Gloves as a full Recompence of his Trouble and this continues to this day So as if we look upon the gift of 20 Mark or 20 l. according to the present Adequation of Money to the rates of other things it may seem a Sum derogatory to the Honour of the King that gives it as to him that receives it and therefore it must be considered as the Groat a Gift of Antiquity Noble and Liberal in its first Intention but had the large Encomium to it before recited been as ancient as the Gift I should not at this time have taken notice of its exuberancy However in pursuance of my Design these Patents of Creations do intitle them where to sit in the Lords House c. Thus having done with the Patents which concern the Lords Spiritual and Temporal I intended to have writ something here concerning the Antiquity and present Use of Seals and Labels to Patents and Writs and of various Superscriptions to the Lords and Commons c. as also of Wax Parchment c. as necessary Utensils for carrying on the Constitution of a Parliament but I shall reserve the Discourse of them till I have past through the Parliament-Writs as well concerning the House of Lords as House of Commons and Convocation-Houses and so now proceed to the General Titles given to the Grandees of the House of Lords viz. Nobles Lords and Peers CHAP. XI Of Nobles Lords and Peers I Have past through the four first Exemplar Writs in the Pawn concerning the Lords Spiritual and Lords Temporal and given an account also of so much of their Patents of Creations as relate to Parliaments But in respect these Nobles are sometimes call'd Lords and sometimes Peers and thereupon the very place where they sit in their High Judicatory is call'd the House of Lords or House of Peers I think fit to hint some few Memorials before I proceed to the Fifth Exemplar of Assistant Writs 1. It is agreed by all Inspectors of Words that Lords and Peers are of the same signification with us that Domini and Pares had with the old Romans so as we and the French are equally beholding to the Latin for them but when the word Dominus was chang'd into the word Lord having no more affinity of sound or Orthography than Comes and Earl or when Pares into Proceres of a nearer sound may be a question but it may be sufficiently evident that the word Lord was the Abbreviation of Louerd which the Saxons at their first coming about the year 448. used here instead of Dominus 2. As for the word Peer we commonly use it as signifying a Defence as Dover-Peer and Yarmouth-Peer c. which is from Petra a Rock which the French write Pierre and we Peer these Artificial Peers being made in imitation of Rocks to defend the Land against Inundations and it may very aptly allude to the Noble Peers in Parliament who are the Rocks or Peers of our Safety 3. To pass this it is allow'd That Pares in Latin Paires in French and Peers in our English Dialect are all three words of the same sence signifying Parity or Equality and as the French had it from the Romans by whom they were call'd Pares Curiae viz. Qui ab eodem domino feudum retinent so we had it from the French who
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
vicesimo primo Novembris Anno regni dicti Domini nostri Caroli Secundi Dei gratia Angliae Scotiae Franciae Hiberniae Regis fidei defensoris c. Annoque Dom. 1662. 17. All derivative Proxee-Writs made either from a Lord Spiritual or Temporal to any of their own Degrees or of other Degrees do not continue longer than one Session without a new Derivative License or Proxee-Instrument 18. As to the places of the Proxees in the Lords House they are not mention'd in the Act of Precedency so I shall conclude with Mr. Elsing That surely they did not sit in the Lords Seat whose Proxee he was yet in all Councils and Dyets beyond the Seas he does 19. Though they are Nobilitated by sitting as Proxees yet they are not to be accounted Peers unless they were Peers before they were Proxees Thus having said as much as I think fit of Writs to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal both Original and Derivative I am come to the Fifth Exemplar concerning the Assistants to those Lords Peers and Proxees CHAP. XIII Of the Assistants to the House of Peers comprized in the Fifth Exemplar of the Pawn 1. HAving done with all the Degrees which are mention'd in the Act of Precedencies and given an account by four Exemplars of the Writs to the Princes of the Blood of the Writs to the Archbishops and Bishops of the Writ to the Lord Chancellor of the Writs to the Hereditary Nobles of Parliament viz. Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons as they are mention'd in the Pawn and also given an Abstract of such Patents of Creation as Intitle some of them to be the more capable of Summons as also of Peers and their Proxies I come now to the Degrees which are not mention'd in the Act of Precedency but are compriz'd under the fifth Exemplar-Writ recited in the foremention'd Pawn viz. to the Lord Chief Justice of England and of the Consimilars to his Writ and these are different from all the former except the Lord Chancellors of which I have spoken because these do not sit in the Lords House by vertue of any Tenure or Patent of Creation or according to the Act of Precedency but only by Writs as Assistants for none do sit there without Original Writs except Proxies and Masters of Chancery c. as will be shewn But before I treat of them distinctly I shall set down some Observations on their Professions 1. These Assistants do all profess the Study and Knowledge of Laws and therefore have their Places allotted in the very heart of the Lords House that they may with the more ease give their Advice to that Noble Body in all Matters which concern either the Theory or Practice of what is just or fit to be done 2. Now there are certain Faculties and Vertues springing from the Profession of these Assistants viz. Jus or Right Justitia or Justice Judicium or Judgment Ratio or Reason Prudentia or Prudence Aequitas or Equity Discretio or Discretion Sapientia or Wisdom and Scientia Legum or Knowledge of the Laws to whith it is presum'd they have attain'd and are thereby made fit for Assistants yet that these Vertues may be the more distinctly discern'd I shall take the freedom to explain them Jus the Latin for Right is the foundation on which Justitia or Justice is built Justitia is status or statio Juris quia Jus stat vel exercetur per Justitiam So that Jus is the principal Justitia the Efflux of it Judicium or Judgment is the fix'd resolution determination or sentence of what is true or false good or evil just or unjust Reason is a Ray of Divine Light which guides a man to judge what is Just or Justice Prudence is in the nature of Providence from Providere to foresee the conveniencies or inconveniencies of so doing or not doing right to one man that it may do good to one and not hurt another Discretion is also to discern the nature or difference of things represented and to manage them to their right end and by this Equity is usher'd in which is a conscientious care that all things may be equally and proportionably done towards those who exspect Justice when the matter concerns distinct persons or interests and then Sapientia or Wisdom advanceth it self and includes the Scientia Legum or Knowledge of the Laws and that imploys all the Faculties of the Soul and hath a particular Intellect and Inspiration to see improve and manage all things to a just and right end and teacheth the Professors to instruct others in the principal Rules of perfect Conversation with each other viz Honeste vivere neminem laedere suum cuique tribuere which is to live soberly and temperately to offend no man wilfully and to give tribute to whom tribute belongs and to every man what is their right to enjoy or in our power to perform All these do constitute a wise man and the Professors of Laws have more opportunities to demonstrate them to others and by these Vertues they become Accomplish'd Assistants to a Parliament both in Divine and Human Matters 3. But the Imbecility of our Human Nature is such that no man is so universally knowing in all things as to give a true Judgment of all particulars without a light or information from others whereby to judge of what is just right or fit to be done especially in the contentions arising from the Mechanick Arts or Trades and some other Sciences which are a significant part of the Fabrick of any Kingdom or State for supposing two Artificers professing different Arts are both imployed to the perfecting of some Publick Work wherein their joint Skills are necessarily required in which they are at variance upon some mystical parts in their Trades and without determination of their differences and concerns neither of them can proceed in the joynt Design and thereupon they refer themselves to one of the Professors of the Law to settle the matter between them But it is vulgarly thought beneath one of these eminent Professors to dive into Mechanick Trades or lesser Sciences yet both of these Artists informing him of the true state of the mysteries of their respective Trades the Judge from thence makes a rational determination of what is fit to be done as well for the support of their Trades as for the common good to others by preventing fallacies or circumventions or the like contests and this he gains from the impartments and arguments of these Artists and so weighing their alternate allegations in one balance and the common good in another he makes so peculiar a determination and Sentence as to convince both parties and this from the ground of their different Arts and Impartments Now the Judge or Justice even by these dayly accidents and references doth dayly gain Knowledge and by justly managing this Knowledge grows to be generally esteem'd a wise Man not only from these lower particulars upon which the Opinion of the Vulgar is founded
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
Writ Secretario suo Secretario and at the same Parliament William Petre Mil. had his Writ Secretario suo without other addition in the first of Edw. the Sixth William Petre Mil. had his Writ only Secretario suo but in the 6. of Edw. the 6th the Title alter'd viz. Willielmo Petro Mil. Uni Vni primariorum Secretariorum suorum and to Willielmo Cecil alt ' primariorum Secretariorum Alteri and Jo. Cheke Mil. alt ' primariorum Secretariorum so here were three Secretaries Summon'd to this Parliament and the same three were Summon'd in the 7th of Edw. 6. and in the first of Mary and 1st of Mary the same Petre was Summon'd Vn ' Primariorum Secretariorum Domini Regis and Jo. Bourne Militi alt ' Primariorum Secretariorum Domini Regis and so the 1st and 2d and 2d and 3d. of Philip and Mary the same Petre and Brown had Writs by the words Vni alteri primariorum Secretariorum Domini Regis the 4th and 5th Phil. and Mary Writs were to Jo. Broxal Vni primariorum Secretariorum Regis Reginae the like to the said Jo. Bourne Militi alt ' primariorum c. Principali the 25th Eliz. Francisco Walsingham Militi Principali Secretariorum suorum and no other Secretary the 30th Eliz. Consiliario suo Roberto Cicil Militi Primario Secretario Primario and no other the 35th Eliz. to the same Francisco Walsingham Militi principali c. and no other the 39th Eliz. Consiliario Roberto Cicil Primario and no other 43. Eliz. none Summon'd the 1 Jacobi Johanni Herbert Militi vni Primariorum and no other 21 Jacobi Georgio Calvert Militi vni Primariorum Edwardo Conway Militi vni Primariorum the 1 Car. primi Olivero Vicecomiti Grandison vni Primariorum Secretariorum Johanni Cooke Militi vn ' Primariorum c. 15 Caroli primi Francisco Windibanck vni Primariorum Henr. Vane Militi uni Primariorum and so in this 13 Car. 2di the Writ was Edwardo Nicolas Militi uni Primariorum Secretariorum suorum and no other Secretary was Summon'd during this Parliament the rest being Elected and accordingly did sit in the House of Commons except the Lord Arlington who sat as Earl and Secretary in the Lords House and though the word Primario is more generally used in Writs yet in Superscriptions c. the word Principal is altogether used as more agreeable I conceive to the Idiom of our Language 6. The dignity of this Office is shewn in their Summons and Place in the Lords House according to the Act of Precedency but I must say something more of the antiquity of the Office and of the nature of such are imployed in it If he be taken for a Scribe because they write the Kings literal Dispatches it had the same esteem among the Hebrews that the Magi had with the Chaldeans and the Quindecemviri among the Romans which latter were the Expounders of the Secrets of Sybills Oracles These Scribes were usually selected out of the Clergy and not out of the Laity so that such as were used out of the Laicks were call'd Notarij and not Scribes and such as were us'd by the Clergy were call'd Clerks from Cleros because the Clergy by reason of their learning did for the most part Guide both Secular and Spiritual Affairs but the word Secretary in which Office the Clergy in former times were more commonly imployed than Laymen doth import something of another nature being derived from Secretum and that from Cretum the Supine of Cerno to see or discern so by adding Se to Cretum it makes Secretum and renders the Person imployed in that Office to be one who knows Se id est himself and can also Judiciously discern and judge of other mens matters and yet reserve the Determination or Execution of them in his own breast and for this tenacity of mind he is properly call'd a Secretary and the Kings Secretary or Secretary of State as a preserver of the Secrets of the King and Kingdom for publick and private use till just occasion require their impartments to others and indeed considering the perpetual Designs of Princes towards each other and the Discontents and Seditious Humors which are in every Kingdom there is no quality more requisite to a Minister of State than a secret and reserved mind and more particularly to this Officer his very Title intimating his Duty in which he ought to be master of three Properties Lord Verulam a Prudent Dispatch Exquisite Intelligence and Secrecy in all for by these especially the last all Minings and underminings are still disappointed by the rules of Politick Secrecy by which Art Kingdoms are kept in quiet by quenching fires before they flame and because this requires not only a great skill but as great a vigilancy which few are capable to perform Bocalini tells us in his pleasant Chapter of reforming the World that to ease it of this indifatigable trouble without using so many Meanders Apollo resolved to make a Window in every mans breast so as at first view each man might see the thoughts and intentions of each other and thereby prevent the prejudices which daily arise for want thereof but before Apollo did execute his Resolves he caus'd the Wise Men of Greece with some others of the Literati to be Summon'd and to give their Opinions therein where Thales was the first that press't for it with such Arguments that Apollo was almost confirm'd but at last he was disswaded by many other Lawyers Poets Physicians and Theologicks by more convincing Arguments shewing that nothing caus'd a greater reverence to those and other Professions than the mysteries which were contain'd in them which would make them contemptible if they should be seen or known by every vulgar Eye whereupon the Windows were not made 7. Now the same reasons which were us'd against making these Windows in the Bodies of Men may serve to oppose the Windows too often made in the Bodies of such Councils or Parliaments as are to support a Kingdom where every Member or Counsellor indeed should be a Secretary of State because the publishing of Consultations commonly meets with Seditious Tempers who think nothing is well done but what is done by themselves looking meerly on the Fact and Success not on the Deliberations Grounds and debated Reasons of that Fact for it is not the event which makes the reason of managing that Fact to be the less Reason for let the event be good or bad the reason is still the same if the Reason be good and solid yet the Event bad it may be said that it meets with an ill constellation but if the Reason be bad and the Event as ill the discovery of these do still raise a worse constellation and if the Reason be bad and the Event good if the bad Reason be kept secret the glory of the Event would quickly drown the censure of the bad Reason and make the Counsellors
stand fair but if divulged they are sure not only to lose the credit of the Event but double the disrepute if both be bad Herein some men are naturally of a more reserved temper than others however those are only fit to be Counsellors and Secretaries of State who have no Windows in their Breast that is no such transparent Eyes as men may easily see their disposures of Affairs but can wisely keep the Secrets of State from other mens Inspections and in Parliaments I conceive such Tempers are very useful for if the People Trust them they do well in performing their Trust but appealing again to the People shews a diffidence in their own Judgments Thus having shewn the Kings Warrant in the Front and the Secretaries Writ in the Rear and fix't the Noble Lords betwixt those who manage the Laws Divine and those who are Assistants in Human Laws and run through the most constant Writs which are us'd for Summoning such as are to fit in a Parliament either as Essential or Assisting Members thereof I should now proceed to the House of Commons but I shall crave leave First To speak of some accidentall Writs for Assistants Secondly Of the manner of return of all the aforesaid Writs Thirdly Of such as sit there without Writ or Patent Fourthly Of such as sit there only by Patent and Fifthly Of some other Officers who are imployed there by vertue of Patents CHAP. XIV Of Consimilar Writs and Patents upon Emergent occasions 1. I Find in Mr. Prins Breviary That he cites many Records long before Henry the Eighth which I shall not examine because some of them have been so long disus'd Of Knights Justices of North Wales Treasurer of Carnarvan Treasurer of the Kings House Chancellor of the Exchequer Deans Archdeacons Escheators and one Magister Thomas Yong which he takes to be a Master of Chancery that have been Summon'd by Writ to sit in Parliaments in the Lords House but since Henry the Eighth in the Pettibag several Writs of Assistants were issued as I have shewn in the 11th Chap. Sect. 9. to shew the Kings Power some of which were Professors of the Law and some not 2. There was another Writ viz. to the Warden of the Cinqueports which was not constant but occasional for sometimes it was directed to an Earl and sometimes to some one Person under the Degree of a Baron yet by vertue of the Writ he was impowr'd to sit in the Lords House but since Henry the Fourths time when that Office was supplied by the Prince of Wales after called Henry the Fifth who had a Writ with the addition of Guardian ' Quinque Portuum that Trust hath been committed to some one of the Blood Royal and from that Writ other Writs are derived to all the Cinqueports But in respect this Writ as to a Parliament is mostly concern'd about Election of 16. Members to serve in the House of Commons I shall refer the Discourse of it to the second part in that Chapter which particularly treats of the Cinqueports 3. If at any time the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper be absent upon just occasion as when the Lord Keeper Bridgman in this Parliament was Sick a Patent was made for Sir John Vaughan then Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas to supply his place and the like to Sir Francis North Chief Justice of the Common Pleas also c. and though for the most part this happens in time of Parliament yet because it may happen between the time of Summons and the Sitting of a Parliament which is the chief design of this part of this Treatise I have thought fit to enter the form of that Patent in this place rather than defer it viz. CHARLES c. To Our Right Trusty and Welbeloved Sir Francis North Knt. Chief Justice of Our Court of Common Pleas Greeting Whereas Our Right Trusty and Welboved Councellor Heneage Lord Finch Our Lord High Chancellor of England is often so infirm that he is not able constantly to attend in the upper House of this Our present Parliament now holden at Westminster nor there to supply the room and place in the said upper House amongst the Lords Spiritual and Temporal there Assembled as to the Office of the Lord Chancellor of England hath been accustomed We minding the same place and room to be supplied in all things as appertaineth for and during every time of his absence have named and appointed you And by these Presents do Name Constitute and Appoint and Authorize you from day to day and from time to time when and so often as the said Lord Chancellor shall happen at any time or times during this present Parliament to be absent from his accustomed place in the said upper House to Occupy Vse and Supply the said room and place of the said Lord Chancellor in the said upper House amongst the Lords Spiritual and Temporal there Assembled at every such day and time of his absence and then and there at every such time to do and execute all such things as the said Lord Chancellor of England should or might do if if he were there personally present Vsing and Supplying the same room Wherefore We Will and Command you the said Sir Francis North to attend to the doing and execution of the premisses with Effect and these Our Letters Patents shall be your sufficient Warrant and Discharge for the same in every respect In Witness whereof We have caused these Our Letters to be made Patents Witness our Self at Westminster the Nineteenth day of March in the Nine and twentieth Year of our Reign Per ipsum Regem propria manu Signat And having now dispatch't all the Writs and Patents which concern the Summoning of such as sit in the Lords House it is proper to shew the manner of returning of those Writs which is usual in all Courts and ought to be strictly observed here CHAP. XV. Of Returns of Writs relating to the Summoning of such as are to Sit in the Lords House IN all Judicial Courts from whence Writs do issue there is care taken for their due Returns as may be seen in Fitz Herbert and such Authors who have treated of the nature of Writs and their Returns but none of them giving a full account of Parliament Writs and Returns gives me occasion to insert this Chapter As to the Return of the Writs to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Assistants they ought by every individual Person who had a Writ to be deliver'd to the Clerk of the Parliament before the House Sit or immediately upon their Entrance into the House at the Table and by the said Clerk they are to be kept with the Records of that House By the omission of this method many inconveniencies have and may happen to their Successors or Posterity and therefore it is wisht there were more care taken in their due Returns to which they may be incourag'd being of so little trouble in the performance But as to the
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