Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	edward_n	king_n	sir_n	22,698	5	5.9318	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A91297	The third part of a seasonable, legal, and historical vindication of the good old fundamental liberties, franchises, rights, laws, government of all English freemen; with a chronological collection of their strenuous defenses, by wars, and otherwise: of all great Parliamentary Councills, synods, and chief laws, charters, proceedings in them; of the publike revolutions of state, with the sins and vices occasioning them; and the exemplary judgements of God upon tyrants, oppressors, perjured perfidious traitors, rebels, regicides, usurpers, during the reigns o [sic] four Saxon and Danish Kings, from the year of our Lord 600. till the coronation of William the Norman, anno 1066. Collected out of our antientest, and best historians, with brief usefull observations on and from them. / By William Prynne esq; a bencher of Lincolns Inne.; Seasonable, legall, and historicall vindication and chronologicall collection of the good, old, fundamentall, liberties, franchises, rights, laws of all English freemen. Part 3	Prynne, William, 1600-1669.	1657 (1657)	Wing P4102; Thomason E905_1; ESTC R207432	279,958	400

compilationem Decretorum quae Anno. Dom. 1150. fuerunt compilata anno septimo Pontificatus Papae Eugen●i ●ertii et ante compilationem aliorum Canonum quorumcunque Cunctos Regni sui Praelatos Proceresque ac Magnates ad suum convocans Parliamentum in suo publico Parliamento persisten●●bus personalite● in eodem Wu●●tano et Adelnodo Archiepiscopis et Ailwino Episcopo Elmhamense et aliis Episcopis ipsorum suffraganeis septem Ducibus cum totidem Comitibus necnon diversorum Monasteriorum nonnullis Abbatibus cum quamplurimis gregariis Militibus ac cum populi multitudine copiosa ac Omnibus tunc in eodem Parliamento personalitur existentibus Votis Regiis unanimiter consentientibus praeceptum et decretum fuit Quod Monasterium Sancti Edmondi c. sit ab omni Jurisdictione Episcoporum Comitatus illius ex tunc in perpetuum funditus liberum et exemptum c. Illustris Rex Hardicanutus praedicti Regis Canuti filius haeres et successor ac sui Patris Vestigiorum devotus imitator c. cum laude et favore Aegelnodi Doroberniensis nunc Catuariensis et Alfrici Eborac Episcoporum aliorumque Episcoporum Suffraganeis necnon Cunctorum Regni sui mundanorum Principum descriptum constituit roboravitque praeceptum That which this Manuscript stiles so often a Parliament held at Winchester in the 5th year of King C●ute of which there is not one Syllable in any of our Historians is as I conceive that which Matthew Westminster Wigorniensis Hoveden and Simeon Dunelmensis stile CONCILIUM ET MAGNUM CONCILIUM c. held at Cir●ncester or Orencester not Winchester the 4th year of his reign wherin by the Counsel of Queen Emma and of his Bishops and Barons he placed Monks in the Monasterie of Bederichesiorthe where St. Edmund was interred and endowed the Monastery of St. Edmond with so many farmes and other goods as made it one of the richest in all England as those Historians witness Whose Name and date the ignorant compiler of this Manuscript mistook whose Antiquitie and reputation is very suspitious as c Sir Henry Spelman informs us First because Sir Henry could never gain the sight of it from Sir Edward Cook though he oft-times promised to lend it him to peruse for his satisfaction And that which dares not abide the sight and test of such a judicious learned Antiquary when desired may justly be deemed an Imposture 2ly Sir Henry Spelman conceives the Author of this Manuscript writ not before the end of King Henry the 3d if so soon seeing he calls the Great Council of the Realm so frequently a Parliament which Title was not given it in Manuscripts or Historians till the end of King Henry the 3d. or after his reign And Wigorniensis Matthew Westminster Hoveden and Simeon Dunelmensis all stile it onely CONCILIUM not Parliamentum 3ly Because he certainly mistakes in his Chronology in making Aegelnoth Archbishop of Canterbury in the reign of King Hardecnute when as he died and Eadsi was made Archbishop thereof two years before Hardicnutes reign which Eadsi crown'd him King as Matt. Westminster An. 1038. together with Matthew Parker and Godwin attest And therefore he might as grosly mistake in other things 4ly It appears by the recital it self that it was writ above 130 years at least after this Council under Cnute because it recites it preceeded the Decrees made so long after under Pope Eugenius An. 1150. 5ly The form of the Prologue Haec sunt Statuta c. coupled with ad suum convocans Parliamentum in suo publico Parliamento and aliis Episcopis ipsorum Suffraganeis prove it not to be written before King Edward the first his reign when such phrases came first in vse Sir Edward Cooke himself informing us in his Epistle that in Cnute his reign such State-Assemblies were stiled Venerandum Concilium Sapientum sic enim apud majores Parliamentum illud Latine redditur 6ly Became it ●ubjoins cum quamplurimis gregariis militibus ac cum populi multitudine copiosa as if they had been personally present in this Parliamentary Council as well as the Archbishops Bishops Abbots Dukes and Nobles of which there is not one syllable in our four antient Historians which mention this Council at Cirencester Neither can these Gregarii milites be intended Knights of shires nor populi multitudine copiosa Commoners or Burgesses elected to serve in Parliament by and for the people as Sir Edward Cooke and others fancy there being no mention of any such chosen Knigh●s of Counties Citizens Burgesses or Commons in that or succeeding ages till about the reign of King H●nry the 3d. but only ordinary Souldiers and the Vulgar sort of people admitted to be present in the Council at the reading and passing of the Charter to St. Edmond as they are now admitted into the Lords House together with the Knights and Burgesses at the beginnings and ending of our Parliaments and upon publike Trials Conferences and Occasions at which times there are more common people ten to one usually present to see and hear what is acted who are no members then there are Members of the Commons House which never sate together with the Lords for ought appears much less in this Parliament as some confidently inferr from this Spurious Antiquity which Sir Edward Cooke little versed in Antiquities and oft mistaken in them so much magnifies and insists on In the year of Christ 1021. King Cnute uppon occasions and offences taken by him banished Duke Turkell to whom he had formerly committed East-England with Edgitha his wife and Hire Duke of Northumberland out of England Turkell no sooner arived in Denmark but he was there slain by the Dukes of the Country by divine vengeance he being a chief inciter of the death of St. 〈◊〉 The English Danes An. 1022. in Colloquio apud Dxoniam celebrato de Legibus Regi Edwardi pr●mi tenendis couoordes facti sunt Unde eisdem Legibus jubente Rege Cnutone ab Anglica lingua in Latinam translatis tàm in Dania quàm in Anglia propter earum aequitatem à Rege praefato observari jubentur as Mat. Westminster relates Anno 1022. So as he imposed no New Laws on them nor revived old but only by common consent in a Parliamentary Council both of English and Danes King Cnute in the year 1023. did so carefully endeavour to reform all things wherein himself or his Ancestors had offended as he seemed to wipe away Prioris Injustitiae Naevum the Blot of his former Injustice as well with God as with men And by the exhortation of Queen Emma studying to reconcile all the English to himself he bestowed many Gifts upon them et insuper bonas Leges omnibus et placentes promisit and moreover promised good and pleasing Lawes to all The best means to win and knit the peoples hearts g Anno 1024. Cnute leading an Army of English and Danes against the Swedes

to banish and expell them From all these memorable Historical passages as we may observe the great unconstancy vicissitude and changes of earthly Princes favours worldly honours preferments and popular favour with the great inconveniencies of admitting or advancing forreigners to any places of trust or power under the King or Court so we may likewise conclude that by the Law of that Age. 1. That no Engl●sh man ought to be condemned executed imprisoned or put to death upon any great mans bare suggestion no not by the Kings own speciall command which if given ought to be disobeyed in such cases but only by and after a Legall hearing tryall and conviction of the offence 2. That the Kings of England were then sworn and obliged to govern their people by good just and wholesome Laws and Customes not by their arbitrary pleasures powers or commands 3. That the Parliamentary Councels and Nobles in that age were very carefull to defend and maintain the Liberties Rights good Laws and Customs of the people and to prevent and abolish all unjust Laws and Encroachments repugnant to them 4. That Parliamentary Councels were then frequently summoned by the King upon all publique emergent occasions and differences and to make war and peace either at home or in forreign parts 5. That the Parliamentary Councels of that time consisted of the Earles Barons Nobles and Praelates of the Realme duly summoned to them without any mention of Knights or Burgesses elected and sent to them by the people of which there are no presidents in this Kings reign Enough to prove Modus Tenendi Parliamentum supposed to be made and observed in this age a meere cheating imposture of later daies as in truth it is 6. That all delinquents of what quality soever justly or unjustly accused ought to appear and justify themselves before the King and his Nobles in their Parliamentary Councels without armed Guards forces Tergiversation or resistance upon due sūmons to appear before them by the Laws of that time 7. That Kings and great mens coming to Parliamentary Councels with Armies strong armed Guards and holding them with power or under Armies is inconsistent with their Liberty Priviledges and are an occasion of civill wars disturbances muchmischief to the Nation as then they proved 8. That English Peers then were and ought to be tried banished judged by their Peers both in Parliamentary Councels and other Courts 9. That no English Peer ' or Freeman could then be lawfully and judically banished the Realme but in and by sentence and judgement of a Parliamentary Councel for some contempt or offence demeriting such a punishment 10. That Peers and great men obstinately refusing to submit themselves to the triall and judgement of Parliamentary Councels or to appear in them or the Kings Courts to justify themselves without hostages fist given for their securiy may justly be sentenced and banished by our Parliaments for such contempts and affronts to justice 11. That the subjects were bound to ayd and assist their Kings as wel against Traitors Rebels Pyrates as against forreign enemies under our Saxon Kings 12. That forreigners are usually the greatest occasioners and fomenters of civil wars That such Incendiaries deserve justly to be banished the Nation And that civill wars between King and subjects English and English and their shedding of one anothers blood in such wars was then deemed most unnatural odious execrable by all prudent means and councels to be timely and carefully prevented and not to be begun or undertaken but by good advice and common consent in great Parliamentary Councels upon weighty urgent inevitable necessities 13. That the abolishing of ill and enacting of good Laws the removing of ill Counsellors and Instruments about Kings ordering matters of war and defence by Land and Sea and setling of peace were the antient proper works businesses imployments of our Saxon Parliaments 14. That the English Freemen have been always apt forwards cordially to joyn with such Nobles and Great men who are most cordial and active to defend their just Liberties Laws Rights against foreiners and others who invade them Soon after the forementioned agreement between the King and Godwin King Edward according to his forementioned promises to make good Laws for all his people out of all the former British and Saxon Laws by Order of his Wisemen compiled an universal common Law for all the people throughout the whole Realm which were called King Edwards Laws being so just and equal and so securing the profit and wealth of all estates that the people long after as Mr Fox and others record did rebel against their Lords and Rulers to have the same Laws again when suspended or taken from them or dis-used and prescribed this Oath to William the Conquerour himself and every of our Kings since to be solemnly taken at the time of his Coronation for the further ratification and better inviolable observation of these Laws and perpetuating them to all posterity SIR will you grant and keep and by your Oath confirm to the people of England the Laws and Customs granted to them by antient Kings of England rightfull men and devout towards God namely the Laws and Customs and Franchises granted to the Clergy and to the People by the glorious King Edward to your power To which the King must answer I will doe it before he be anointed or crowned King Now because these Laws of King Edward made by his Wisemens Counsel and advice as this Clause Sapientes caeperunt super hos habere consilium et constituerunt in the Chapter De illis qui has Leges despexerent implyes are so famous and fundamental most of our Common old Laws being founded on or resulting from them I shall give you this brief account of them out of our Historians as most pertinent to my subject matter and usefull for those of my profession to be informed of being generally not so well versed in Antiquity History and Records as were to be wished for the honour and lustre of their honourable publike calling pretermiting the grosse Forgery and Imposture of Modus tenendi Parliamentum so much cryed up by Sir Edward Cooke for its Antiquity and Authority as made and observed in Edward the Confessors reign when as it is a meer counterfeit Treatise and Spurious Antiquity scarce antienter than King Richard the 2. as I have proved in my Levellers levelled and Mr. Selden manifests in his Titles of honour pars 2. p. 713 738 to 745 yea it s own mentioning the Bishop of Carlisle which Bishoprick was not erected til the year 1132 or 1134. the Mayors of London which had no Mayor til the year 1208 and of other Cities with Knights and Burgesses usual wages all instituted long after the Conquerours reign the not mentioning of this Modus in any of our Records Histories or judicious Antiquaries and its difference from all the Modes and Forms of Parliaments and Great Councils of that or

as Matthew Westminster and others stile it in the Province of the Gewisii which by reason of the Enemies incursions had been destitute of a Bishop for 7 years space Whereupon the King and Bishops in this Council taking good advice made this wholsom constitution That instead of 2 Bishops whereof one had his Sea at Winchester the other at Schireburn 5 Bishops should be created ne Grex Domini absque cura Pastorali luporum incursionibus quateretur Whereupon they in this Council elected 5 Bishops to wit Frithstan for Winchester Athelin for Schireburn Aedulfe for Wells Werstan for Crideton and Herstan for Cornwal assigning them their several Sees and Diocess and two other Bishops for Dorchester and Cirencester all consecrated by Archbishop Plegmond at Canterbury in one day Wil. of Malmesb. and some others write that this Council was summoned upon the Letter of Pope Formosus who excommunicated king Edward with all his Subjects for suffering the Bishopricks of Winton and Scireburn to be void for 7 years space together But this must needs be a great mistake since Pope Formosus was dead ten years before this Council and before these Bishopricks became void and his pretended Epistle to the Bishops of England makes no mention at all of the king as Sir Henry Spelman well observes In the year 906. king Edward made a Peace and firm agreement with the Danes of Northumberland and East-England at Intingford when as some think he and Guthurn the Dane reconfirmed the Civil and Ecclesiastical Laws formerly made and ratified by his Father King Alfred and Guthurn But Guthurn dying in the year 890 full eleven years before this Edward was king could not-possibly ratifie these Laws at the time of this Accord being 16 years after his decease as the Title and Prologue to those Laws in Mr. Lambard and Spelman erroneously affirm wherefore I conceive that this confirmation of these Laws was rather made in the year 921. when all our Historians record that after king Edward Anno 910. had sent an army into Northumberland against the perfidious and rebellious Danes slain and taken many of them Prisoners and miserably wasted their Country for 4 days space for breaking their former Agreement with him after his Sister Aegelfled An. 919. had forced the Danes at York to agree and swear that they would submit to her and her Brothers pleasure in all things and after Edward had vanquished the other Danes Scotch and Welsh in many Battles thereupon in the yeat 921. the king of Scots with all his Nation Stredded king of Wales with all his people et Regnaldus or Reginaldus Reginald King of the Danes with all the English and Danes inhabiting Northumberland of which Reginald then was King comming to King Edward An. 921. submitted themselves unto him elected him for their Father and Lord and made a firm Covenant with him And therefore I conjecture that Guthurnus in the Title and Preface of these Laws is either mistaken or else mis-written for Reginaldus then King of these Northern Danes who had no King in the year 906 that I can read of in our Historians Abbot Ethelred gives this Encomium of this Kings transcendent modesty and justice Rex Edwardus vir mansuetus et pius omnibus am abilis et affabilis adeò omnium in se provocabat affectum ut Scotti Cumbri Walenses Northumbri et qui remanserant Daci eum non tàm in Dominum ac Regem quam in Patrem eum omni devotione eligerent Tanta dehinc Modestia regebat Subditos tanta Justitia inter proximum et proximum judicabat ut contra veritatem non dico nihil velle sed nec posse videretur unde fertur quibusdam iratus dixisse dico vobis si possem vicem vobis redidissem Quid non posset Rex in Subditos Dominus in Servos Potens in infirmos Dux in milites Sed quicquid non dictabat aequitas quicquid veritati repugnabat quicquid non permittebat Justitia quicquid Regiam mansuetudinem non decebat Sibi credebat impossibile I wish all our modern domineering Grandees would imitate his presidential Royal Example Yet I read of one injurious Act done by him After the decease of his renowned Sister Elfleda Queen of Mercia Anno 920. he dis-inherited her only Daughter Alfwen or Elwyn his own Neece of the Dominion of all Mercia who held that Kingdom after her Mother seising and Garrisoning Tamesworth and Nottingham first and then disseising her of all Mercia uniting it to his own Realms and removing her thence into West-Sex Magis ●urans an utili●èr vel in utilitèr Quan an juste vel injustè Writes Henry Humingdon which innrious action Si violanda sit fides regni causâ violanda will not excuse The Chronicle of Bromton records that King Edward as he inlarged the bounds of his Kingdom more than his Father So Leges condidit he likewise made Laws to govetn it which are there registred to Posterity in two parcels as made at several times but in what year of his Reign this was it informs us not The first of these Laws declaring his zeal to publick Justice according to the Laws then in Force is this Edwardus Rex mandat et praecipit omnibus Praefectis et Amicis suis ut Justa judicia judicent quam rectiora possint Et in judiciali Libro stant nec parcant nec dissimulent pro aliqua Re Populi Rectum et jus publicum recitare et unum quodque placitum terminum habeat quando peragatur quod tunc recitabitur The first Chapter of the second part of his Laws intimates that they were made by his Wtse men assembled in a Parliamentary Council at Exeter witness the contents thereof Edwardus Rex admonuit Omnes Sapientes quando fuerunt Exoniae ut investigarent simul et quaererent quomodo pax eo rum melior esse possit quàm anteà fuit quia visumest ei quod hoc impletum sit aliter quam deceret et quam aute à praecepisset Inquisivit it aque qui ad emendationem velint redire et in societate permanere quâ ipse sit et amare quod amat et nolle quod nolit in Mari in Terrâ Hoc est tunc Ne Quisquam rectum difforceat alicui Siquis hoc faciat emendet sicut supra dictum est In his first Laws then either made or rehearsed prima vice 30 s. secundâ similitèr ad tertiam vicem 120 s. Regi The last Chapter being the VIII in Bromtons translation but the XI in the Saxon Coppy is this Volo ut omnis Praepositus habeat Gemotum an Hundred Court semper ad quatuor hebdomadas et efficiat ut omnis homo rectum habeat et omne placitum capiat terminum quando perveniat ad finem Siquis hoc excipiat emendet sicut antè dictum est King Edward deceasing Aethelstan his eldest Son designed by his Fathers Will to succeed him was

acquired by war blood conquest treachery and the English and Norwegian royal lines restored to their rights and Crowns again What persons then in their right sences would impiously spend much treasure levied on the oppressed people by violence rapin uncessant Taxes Excises or shed much human Christian blood to purchase other mens Crowns Kingdoms which are not only full of cares and troubles but so unstable short and momentary in their fruition as is most evident by the Danish Intruders CHAP. V. Containing a Brief Historicall Collection of all the Parliamentary Councils State-Assemblies Historicall Passages and Proceedings that concern the Fundamentall Liberties Priviledges Rights Properties Laws and Government of the Nation under the reign of King Edward the Confessor from the year of our Lord 1042. to 1066. wherein he died KING Harde-Cnute being sodainly taken out of this world without issue by divine Justice on the 6 day of Iune Anno 1042. thereupon the Earls and Barons of England immediately after his death assembled together in a Great Council about the election of a New King Wherein OMNES ANGLORUM MAGNATES ad invicem tractantes DE COMMVNI CONCILIO ET JURAMENTO STATUERUNT QUOD NUNQUAM TEMPORIBUS FUTURIS ALIQUIS DACUS SUPER EOS IN ANGLIA REGNARET hoc maxim● pro contemptibus quos Angli à Danis saepiu● acceperunt c. as the Chronicle of Bromton others informe us All the Nobles of the English treating together decreed by common advice which they ratified with an oath THAT IN TIMES TO COME NEVER ANY DANE or person of the Danish blood SHOULD REIGN OR BE KING OVER THEM IN ENGLAND ANY MORE disclaiming all Danish subjection that especially for the contempts which the English had very often received from the Danes For if a Dane had met an Englishm●n upon any bridge the Englishman must not be so hardy to move a foot but stand st●ll till the Dane was passed quite ever it And moreover if the Englishmen had not bowed down their heads to doe reverence to the Danes they should presently have undergo●e great punishments and stripes Whereupon King Harde-Cnute being dead the English rising up against them drove all the Danes being then without a King and Captaine out of the Realm of England who speedily qu●tting the land never returned into it afterwards And here we may justly stand still a while and contemplate the admirable retaliating justice of God upon our Danish usurping Kings and their Posterity King Cnute as you heard before caused the temporizing English Bishops Nobles and Barons assembled in a Parliamentary Council against their oaths of allegiance to King Ethelred Edmund Ironside and their heirs no less then twice one after another to renounce cast off and abjure their regall Posterity to make them incapable of the Crowne of England and settle the inheritance● of it upon him and his Danish blood Anno 1016. and 1017. And now in little more then twenty years after all the English Prelates and Nobles assembled in Council of their own accords by a solemn Decree and Oath abjure ren●unce and eternally disinherit all the Danish blood-royall of the Crown of England and restore the Saxon English royall line to that soveraignty which they had formerly disclaimed such are the vicif●itudes of divine Justice and providence worthy our observation in these wheeling times wherein we live when no man knoweth what changes of like nature one day or year may bring forth The English putting their Decree for cashiering all the Danes in execution turned the mout of all the Castles Forts Garrisons Cities Villages th●oughout England as well those of the Royall and Noble blood as the vulgar sort and forced them to depart the Realm as they had formerly banished the English Princes and Nobles Proc●re● igitur Anglorum ●am DACORUM DOMINIO LIBERATI The Nobles therefore of Engl. being thus freed from the Danes dominion for so much of God of his mercy and providence who is the maker of heirs thought good after the wofull captivity of the English Nation to grant them some respite of deliverance in taking away the Danish Kings without any issue left behinde them who reigning here in England kept the English people in miserable subjection about the space of 28 years and from their first landing in the time of King Brict●icus wasted and vexed this land for the space of 255 years their Tyranny now coming to an end by the death of Harde Cnute they thereupon assembling together in a great Council with a generall consent elected Prince Edward surnamed the Confessor the youngest and onely surviving son of King Ethelred for their King who ANNUENTE CLERO ET POPULO LONDONIIS IN REGEM ELIGITUR as Mat. Westminster relates whereupon Edward being then in Normandy where he had long lived in exile being a man of a gentle and soft spirit more appliable to other mens counsels then able to trust his own naturally so averse from all war bloodshed that he wished rather to continue all his life long in a private exiled estate then by war or blood to aspire to the Crown the Lords sent messengers to him to come over and take peaceable possession of the Kingdome of England they having chosen him for their King advising him to bring with him as few Normans as he could and they would most faithfully establish him in the throne Edward though at first he much doubted what course to stear somewhat mistrusting the treachery and inconstancy of the fickle headed English yet at last upon the importunity of the messengers who informed him melius esse ut vivat gloriosus in Imperio quàm ignominiosus moria●ur in exili● JURE EI COMPETERE REGNUM aevo maturo laboribus defaecato sci●●ti administrare principatum per aetatem severè miserias Provinci●lium pro pristina aequitate temperare c. and upon putting in sufficient pledges and an oath given for his security he came into England with a small train of Normans where he was joyfully received by the Nobles and people Nec mora Gilingeam or rather Londoniam CONGREGATO CONCILIO rationibus suis explicitis regem effecit Dominio palam ab omnibus dato as Malmsbury or electus ●st in Regem ab omni populo as Huntindon and others expresse it After which on Easter day Apr 2. 1043. he was solemnly crowned King at Winchester with great pomp by E●dsi Arch-bishop of Canterbury by the unanimou● consent of the Archbishops Bishops Nobles Clergie and people of England to their great joy and content without the least opposition war or blood-shed after 25 yeares seclusion from the Crown by the Danish usurpers Our Historians generally record that Bryghtwold a Monk of Glastenbury afterwards first Bishop of Wilton when King Cnute had banished and almost extinguished the whole royal issue of the English race almost past any possibility or probability of their restitution to the Crown which he had forcibly invaded

Regis Edwardi ei Regnum Angliae Sacramento firmavit subjoyns thereto Tradunt autem aliter alii quod videlicet Haroldus a Rege Edwardo fuerat ad hoc in Normanniam missus ut Ducem Gulihelmum in Angliam conduceret quem idem Rex Edwardus Haeredem sibi constituere cogitavit Roger de Hoved. Annal. pars prior p. 449. Radulph de Diceto Abbr. Chron. col 480 481. Eadmerus Hist Novorum l. 1. p. 4 5. Sim. Dunel Hist col 195. Jo. Bromton in his Chronicle col 947. Hygden in his Polychron l. 6. c. 27. with others record the matter somewhat different from our other Historians That Harold after his Fathers death craving leave of King Edward to goe into Normandy to free and bring into England his Brother Wulnoth Nephew Hake there detained Hostages the King would not permit him to goe as sent by him but yet left him free to do what he pleased of himself therein Adding Praesentio tamen te ad nihil aliud tendere nisi in detrimentum totius Anglioi regni et opprobrium tui nec enim ita novi Comitem mentis expertem ut eos aliquatenus velit concedere tibi si non praescierit in hoc magnum proficuum sui Harold notwithstanding taking ship to go into Normandy upon this occasion was driven by storm into Ponthieu and there imprisoned as aforesaid and by Duke Williams means and threats after two denials released who honourably entertaining him for some dayes to advance his own designs by him at last opened his minde thus to him Dicebat itaque Regem Edwardum quando secum invene olim juvenis in Normanni● demoraretur sibi interposita fide sua pollicitum fuisse quod si Rex Angliae foret Jus regni in illum Jure Haereditario transferret subdens ait tu quoque si mihi te in hoc ipso adminiculaturum sposponderis et insuper castellum Dofri● cum put●● aquae ad opus meum te facturum s●roremque tuam uni de Principibus m● is dederis in ux●rem te ad me temp●r● qu● nobis conveniet destinaturum nec non filiam means in conjugem accepturum promiseris tunc et modo nepotem tuum et cum in Angliam vener● regnaturus fratrem tuum incolumem recipies in quo regno si tuo favore confirmatus fuero spondeo quod omne quod à me rationabiliter tibi postulaveris obtinebis Hereupon Harold perceiving danger on every side and not knowing how to escape unless he condescended to Williams will in all things he thereupon consented to his requests But he that all things might be ratified bringing forth the reliques of Saints brought Harold to this That he should swear upon them that he would actually perform all things which they had agreed between them These things thus done Harold receiving his Nephew returned into his Country where he related to the King upon his demand what had happened and what hee had done Who said Did I not tell thee I knew William and that many mischiefs might happen to this kingdom in thy journey I foresee in this thy deed that great calamities will come upon our Nation which I beseech God of his infinite mercy to grant that they may not happen in my dayes Mr. Fox relating this story more briefly concludes thus Whereby it may be ●athered That King Edward was right willing that Duke William should reign after him and also in seemeth not unlike but that he had given him his promise thereunto before The same Hoveden Annalium pars posterior p. 608 609 610. reciting the Laws of King Edward confirmed by King William after he got the Crown records these passages intermixed with them That King Edward retained his Cosen Edwards son Edgar with him and nourished him for his Son and because he thought to make him his Heir he named him Ad●ling which we call a Little Lord. But King Edward so soon as he knew the wickednesse of his Nation and especially the pride of the Sons of Godwin of Harold who after invaded the Kingdom Estigurt Lefwin and others of his Brothers imagining that what he had purposed concerning Edgar could not possibly be stable Adoptavit Willielmum Ducem Normannorum in regnum adopted William Duke of Normandy to succeed him in the Realm William I say the bastard the son of Robert his Uncle a valiant warlike and stout man Who afterwards by Gods assistance by vanquishing the foresaid Harold son of Godwin victoriously obtained the Realm of England To which he subjoyns That Edward wanting issue sent Robert Archbishop of Canterbury to his Cosen William Duke of Normandy de Regno cum constituit Haeredem and made him heir of the Kingdom yea after him he sent Earl Har●ld and He invaded the Realm He further Records That when King William would have altered the Laws of England presented to him upon Oath in the 4th year of his reign but in one point Universi compatriotae qui leges edixerant tristes effecti c. tandem eum prosecuti sunt deprecantes quatenus pro anima Regis Edwardi qui ei post diem suum concesserat Coronam et Regnum et cujus erant Leges that he would not alter the Laws herein whereupon he consented to their request Thomas of Walsingham thus registers the fact Edwardus Rex Anglorum prolis successione carens olim miserat Duci Robertum Archiepiscopum Cantuar. statuens illum haeredem Regni a Deo sibi attributi Sed et Haroldum ipse postmodum destinavit qui fuit maximus Comitum regni sui in honore dominatione et divitiis ut ei de Corona sua fidelitatem faceret ac Christiano more Sacramentis confirmaret Qui dum ob hoc negotii venire contenderet velificato freto Porti Pontnium appulit ubi in manus Widonis Abbatis villae S. Abvile Comitis incidit quem idem Comes captum cum suis confestim in custodiam trusit Quod ut Dux comperit missis Legatis violenter illum extorsit quem aliquandiu secum morat● facto fidelitate de regno pluribus Sacramentis cum muneribus multis Regi remisit Denique Rex Edwardus completo termino foelicis vitae c. migravit a saeculo Cujus regnum Har●ldus continuo invasit ex fidelitate pejuratus quam Duci Iuraverat Ad quem Legatos direxit protinus hortans ut ab hac vesania resipisceret fidem quam Iuramento sposponderat cum digna subjectione servarer Sed ille hoc non solum audire contempsit verum omnem ab illo Anglorum gentem infideliter avertit c. Chronicon Johannis Bromton Col. 945. relates That King Edward purposed to make Edgar whom he had nourished as his Son heir of England Sed ut quidam aiunt Rex gentis suae malitiam et praecipuè superbiam Haroldi filii Godwini et aliorum divina demonstratione praevidens percepit quod propositum suum quoad ipsum Edgarum cognatum suum de regno post

Normannorum annis Clerici literatura tumultuaria contenti vix Sacramentorum verba balbuti●bant stupori et miraculo erat caeteris qui grammaticam noscet Monachi subtilibus indumentis et indifferenti genere ciborum regulam ludificabant Optimates gulae venerii dediti Ecclesiam more christiano mane non adibant sed in cubiculo et inter uxorios amplexus matutinorum solemni● et Missarum a festinante presbytero auribus tantum libabant Vulgus in medio expositum praeda erat potentioribus ut vel eorum substantiis exhaustis vel etiam corporibus in longinquas terras distractis acervos thesaurorum congererent quamvis magis ingenitum sit illi genti commessationibus quam operibus inhiare Illud erat a natura abhorrens quod multi ancillas suas ex se gravidas ubi libidini satisfecissent aut ad publicum prostibulum aut ad aeternum obsequium vendicabant Potabatur in commune ab omnibus in hoc studio noctes perinde ut dies perpetuantibus parvis abjectis domibus totos sumptus absumebant Francis Normannis absimiles qui amplis superbis aedificiis modicas expensas agunt Sequebantur vitia ebrietatis socia quae virorum animos effaeminant Hinc factum est ut magis temeritate et furore praecipiti quam scientia militari Willielmo congressi uno praelio ipso perfacili servituti se patriamque pessundederint Ad summam tuno erant Angli vestibus ad medium genu expediti crines tonsi barbas rasi armillis aureis brachia onerati picturatis stigmatibus ●utem insigniti in cibis urgentes crapulum in potibus irritantes vomica Et haec quidē extrema victoribus suis participarunt de caeter is in eorum mores transeuntes Sed haec mala de omnibus generaliter Anglis dicta intelligi nolim Scio clericos multos tunc temporis simplici via semitam sanctitatis trivisse Scio multos Laicos omnis generis conditionis in hae eadem gente Deo placuisse facessat ab hac relatione invidia non cunctos pariter haec involvat calumnia Verum sicut in tranquillitate malos cum bonis fovet plaerumque Dei serenitas ita in captivitate bon●s cum malis nonnunquam ejusdem constringit severitas I have insisted more largely upon the Historical part of Harolds usurpation perjury short and troublesom reign tragical death Duke Williams claims to and manner of acquiring the Crown of England for this reason especially To refute the common received Error of some ignorant Historians of many illiterate Statists and Swordmen of this age and of sundry temporizing Ignoramusses of my own robe who publickly averr in their Pamphlets Speeches Charges and Discourses that Duke William claimed and obtained the Crown of England only as a Conqueror and thereupon altered the antient Laws Customs of the Realm and gave New Laws unto it by his own absolute power as a Conqueror thereof Upon which false Ground they inferre That those in late and present Power coming in by the same Title of Conquest may lawfully give new Laws to impose what Taxes Government they please upon the English as well as Scotish and Irish as a meer conquered Nation by their own inherent authority seeing by the Laws of Warr regularly all Rights and Laws of the place and Nation conquered be wholly subject to the Conquerors will And hereby they justifie all their late Impositions Taxes Excises Sequestration Seisures Sales of all the publike revenues of the Nation and many thousand private mens Estates by their Westminster and White-Hall Ordinances Edicts with the changes of our Government new-modellings of our Parliaments and all other irregular proceedings destructive to our Fundamental Rights Laws Liberties Government which they formerly covenanted inviolably to maintain without grant or consent by any free full lawfull English Parliaments Now to demolish all these their superstructures by subverting their false Foundation of D. Williams pretended Title to the Crown of England only by Conquest It is most apparent by the premised Historical Authorities 1. That King William alwayes claimed the Crown of England both before at and after his Coronation as of right belonging to him by the promise gift contract gift and bequest of Edward the Confessor and as his heir and next kinsman by the Mothers side 2. That he alleged this gift and grant of the Crown to him to be made with the consent of the Archbishops of Canterbury Earls Godwin Syward and other Nobles of the Realm ratified by special Messengers sent unto and Hostages delivered him for its performance and by Harolds own solemn agreement and Oath sent to him by King Edward for that purpose as himself at least suggested to him which designation and grant of King Edward to William was no fiction but a truth confessed by all our Historians and Harold himself who by his answers never denyed but only endeavoured to evade it and voluntarily acknowledged by all the Nobles of England both at his Coronation and in Parliament it self in the 4. year of his reign 3. That after King Edwards decease divers of the Nobles would have elected William King in pursuance hereof but that Harold perjuriously usurped the Crown by meer force and power without the least right unto it or any election by the Lords or people setting the Crown on his own head the very day King Edward was interred and thereby prevented Williams election to it 4. That hereupon divers of the Nobles Prelates and other English sent private Messengers to William into Normandy to come and demand his right to the Crown as due unto him promising hostages and their assistance to recover it 5. That thereupon he sent Embassadors twice or thrice to Harold one after another before his landing insisting on his meer right and Title to the Crown to gain it by parly without effusion of bloud 6. That upon Harolds obstinacy he appealed to the Pope and to all his Nobles assembled in a Parliamentary Council for the justice of his Title and Right to the Crown who declared his Title Lawfull and Just and thereupon encouraged assisted him all they could to regain it by force of arms from the Usurper Harold who would not otherwise depart from it 7. That immediately after his landing he made claim unto it only by the foresaid Right Title and thereupon prohibited his Souldiers to plunder the Country or hurt any of the Inhabitants as being his by right 8. That very few of the English Nobility or Nation would march or engage with Harold against William and sundry withdrew themselves from the battel as conscious of Harolds usurpation perjury and Williams just cause against him however other causes were then pretended and amongst the rest his own Brother-in-laws the greatest Peers of the Realm Earl Morcar and Edwin deserted him in the fight 9. That after the first battel won and Harold slain all the Prelates and Clergy generally except Abbot Frederick appeared for

commanded himself to be called King of England Dum non fuit alius qui pro jure regni decertare vel se regem confiteri ausus fuisset as Matt. Westminster and others write Such a strange fear and stupidity was then fallen upon Ethelred and the whole English Nation After this Ethelred privily departed from London to Hampton and from thence to the Isle of Weight as aforesaid where advising with the Abbots and Bishops there assembled in Council what course was best to steer he spake thus unto them the History whereof I shall fully relate in William of Malmesbury his words ' Ibi Abbates et Episcopos Qui nec in tali necessitate Dominum suum deserendum putarent in hanc convenit sententiam Viderent quam in angusto res essent suae et suorum se perfidia Ducum avito extorrem solio et opis egentem alienae in cujus manu aliorum solebat salus pendere quondam Monarcham et Potentem modo miserum et exulem dolendum sibi hanc commutationem quia facilius toleres o●es non habuisse quam habitas amisisse Pudendam Anglis eo magis quod deserti Ducis exemplum processurum sit in orbem terrarum I●los amore sui sine sumptibus voluntariam subeuntes fugam domos et facultates suas praedonibus exposuisse in arcto esse victum omnibus vestitum deesse pluribus probare se fidem illdrum sed non reperire salutem adeo jam subjugata terra observari littora ut nusquam sine periculo sit exitus Quapropter considerent in medium quid censerent faciendum Si maneant plus a Civibus cavendum quam ab Hostibus forsitan enim crucibus suis novi domini gratiam mercarentur et certe occidi ab hoste titulatur fortunae prodia a Cive addicetur Ignaviae Si ad exteras gentes fugiunt gloriae fore dispendium si ad notas metuendum ne cum fortuna colerent animum Plaerosque enim probos et illustres viros hac occasione caesos experiendum tamen sortem et tentandum pectus Richardi Ducis Normannorum qui si Sororem et Nepotes non ingrato animo susceperit se quoque non aspernanter protecturum Vadabitur enim mihi meam salutem conjugi et liberis impensus favor Quod si ille adversum pedem contulerit non deerit mihi animus planè non deerit hic gloriosè occumbere quàm illic ignominiosè vivere Hereupon he sends Emma his Queen and her children in the moneth of August into Normandy accompanied with the Bishop of Durham and Abbot of Burgh where they are joyfully received by Duke Richard who invites Ethelred himself to honour his Court with his presence who thereupon in January following passeth over into Normandy and there solaceth his miseries with the curteous entertainment he there found King Swane in the mean time provokes invaded England with ruines and slaughters playes the absolute Tyrant commands Provisions to be abundantly provided for his Army and Navy et Tributum fere importabile solvi praecepit and like wise commanded an insupportable Tribute to be paid And the like in all things Earl Turkell the Dane commanded to be paid to his Navy lying at Greenwich hired by King Ethelred to defend the English from Foreiners yet both of them as often as they pleased preyed upon and pillaged the Country besides first polling the inhabitants of their goods and then banishing them Provincialium substantiae prius abreptae mox proscriptiones factae In this sad oppressed condition under their New Soveraign to whom they had submitted themselves both Nobles and people knew not what to do Haesitabatur totis urbibus quid fieret si par aretur rebellio assertorem non haberent si eligeretur subjectio placido rectore carerent Ita privatae et publicae opes ad naves cum sidibus deportabantur Quo evidenter apparet Swanum naturalem et legitimum non esse Dominum sed atrocissimum Tyrannum as Malmesbury Mattbew Westminster and otners record But God who is propitious to people in their greatest extremities suffered not England to lye long sluctuating in so many calamities For this barbarous Tyrant Swane after innumerable evils and cruelties perpetrated in England and elsewhere added this to the heap of his further damnation that he Exacted a great Tribute out of the Town of St. Edmondsbury Anno 1014. which none ever before presumed to doe since it was given to the Church wherein the body of the precious Martyr St. Edmond lieth intombed all the lands thereof being exempted from Tributes Beginning to vex the possessions of the Church and threatning to burn the Town and destroy all the Monks unless they speedily paid him the Tribute he exacted and using reproachfull speeches against St. Edmond as having no holiness in him he was suddenly struck dead and ended his life on the Feast of the Purification of the blessed Virgin Anno 1014. Our Monkish Historians record That on the Evening of the day whereon he held a general Court at Geignesburgh reiterating his menaces against the Town and ready to put them in execution for not paying the Tribute demanded he saw St. Edmond comming alone armed against him whiles he was invironed in the midst of his Danish Troops whereupon he presently cried out with great affright and a lowd voice Help O fellow Souldiers help behold St. Edmond comes to slay me and whiles he was thus speaking being grievously wounded with a spear by the Saint he fell off from his horse and continued in great torment till night and so ended his life with a miserable death Swane being dead the whole Navy and Nation of the Danes Elected and made ●nute his son their King and Lord b. * Majores Natu totius Angliae The Nobles and Senators of all England liking nothing ●ess than bondage especially under such new tyrannizing forein Intruders thinking it now or never the time to shake off their new yoak pronounced their Natural Lord to be dearer to them than any Foreiner Si regaiius se quam consueverat ageret Whereupon with unanimous consent and great joy and speed they sent messengers into Normandy to Ethelred to inform him Nullum eo libentius se in Regem recepturos si ipse vel rectius gubernare vel mitius eos tractare vellet quam prius tractaverat and to hasten his return unto them Who thereupon presently sent over his son Edward qui fidem Principum favoremque vulgi praesens specularetur who together with his Embassadors assured both the Nobles and Commons of the English Nation That he would for time to come be their mild and devout Lord consent to their wills in all things acquiesce in their Counsels and if he had offended in any kinde he would reform it according as they should think fit and with a ready mind pardon whatsoever had been contemptuously or disgracefully spoken or acted by them agai●st him or