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
on a special account of Absence and then it was performed by one of the Chief Justices 5. But to pass these being more fully shewn in my Annotations I do not find in any of the Clause-Rolls or in the Pettibag-Pawns that a Chancellor or Keeper had any distinct Writs of Summons to a Parliament till the 28. of Eliz. when Sir Tho. Bromley Knt. being the Queens Sollicitor was made Lord Chancellor and Summoned by a distinct Writ in the same Form as is hereafter set down which very Form hath continued ever since And in the 35. of Eliz. Sir John Puckering being but Serjeant at Law was made Custos Sigilli and had a particular Writ of Summons to that Parliament and in the 39. of Eliz. Sir Tho. Egerton Knt. being then Master of the Rolls was made Custos Sigilli and had this assisting Writ of Summons for that Parliament and the like in the 43. of her Reign and so in the 21. of King James and in the First of Caroli Primi particular assisting Writs were sent to the Bishop of Lincoln in these words Reverendo in Christo Patri praedilecto fideli Consiliario nostro Joanni Episcopo Lincolniae magni sigilli Angliae Custodi So as he had this Writ as an assisting Writ and another Writ virtute Baroniae 6. It may here be observed that this was the only Bishop that was either Keeper or Chancellor from the First of Eliz. to this time whereas before Queen Eliz. for the most part Bishops or Ecclesiasticks did execute those Offices but whenever it was conferred upon the Laicks choice was made out of the most eminent Families as in the 26. of Hen. the Second as I said Gessrey Natural Son to Henry the Second was made Chancellor and in the 15th of King John Ralph de Nevile was made Keeper of the Great Seal and in 22. of Henry the Third Geffrey a Templer and John de Lexington were made Keepers of the Great Seal and in the 37. of his Reign his Queen upon the Kings going into Gascoine which is remarkable as I said had the Custody of the Great Seal and in the 45. of that Ring Walter de Merton was made Chancellor and in the 49. of that King Thomas de Cantilupe was made Chancellor and in the 53. Richard de Middleton made Custos Sigilli and in the 56. John de Kirkley and Peter de Winton made Keepers of the Seal and in the 2. of Edward the Third Henry de Bughersh made Chancellor In the 14. of Edw. the Third John de St. Paul made Keeper of the Seal in the same year Sir Robert Burgtheire Knt. made Chancellor and Keeper of the Seals and the like in the 15th to Robert Parning and in the 17th to Robert de Sadington and in the 19th to John de Offord and in the 20. to John de Thoresby In the Records of the same year it is said that Sir Lionel Duke of Clarence the Kings Son then Lord Keeper of England gave Command by Proclamation That no Arms should be worn sitting that Parliament whose name is omitted in the Catalogue of the Lord Keepers by Mr. Selden in his Discourse of the Office of Chancellor and Keeper and in the 45. to Sir Robert Thorpe and in the 46. to John Knivet and in the 2. of Rich. the Second to Sir Le Scroop and in the 6. of Rich. 2. to Sir Michael de la Pool and in the 11. of Hen. 4. to Sir Thomas Beaufort and in the 32. H. 6. Richard Earl of Salisbury was made Chancellor singly and in the 21. of Hen. the Eighth Sir Thomas Moor Knt. made Chancellor and Keeper and in the 24. of Hen. the Eightht Thomas Audley made Chancellor and Keeper and in the 36. Hen. 8. Thomas Lord Wriothesly made Chancellor and Keeper and in the First of Edw. the Sixth Sir William Pawlet Knt. Lord St. John of Basing made Keeper and in the same year Sir Richard Rich made Chancellor and in the First of Eliz. Sir Nicholas Bacon Keeper and the 21. Thomas Bromley Chancellor who continued so to the 28. of her Reign and was the first that I find as is before mentioned that had a particular Writ of Assistance and though in the Fourteenth of King James Sir Francis Bacon was Keeper in the Eighteenth of Jac. Henry Viscount Mandevile Lord President of the Council and Lodowick Duke of Richmond William Earl of Pembroke Sir Julius Caesar had jointly the Custody of the Great Seal and in the first Car. 1. Sir Thomas Coventry and in the 16. Car. 1. Sir Edw. Littleton and 21. Car. 1. Sir Rich. Lane were Keepers of the Great Seal yet we find no particular Writs in the Pettibag directed to any but such as I have before mentioned and to these which follow viz. in 15. Car. 1. Sir John Finch Knt. Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas was made Custos Sigilli and had a particular Writ of Summons to attend that Parliament 7. As to this Writ of 13. Car. 2. of which I am to treat it is to be observed that the Warrant before mentioned sent to Sir Edward Hyde Knt. and Chancellor to impower him to send out Writs was directed in these words To our Right Trusty and Well-beloved Counsellor Sir Edward Hyde Knt. Chancellor of England but in his Latine Writ of Assistance the words are Praedilecto perquam fideli Consiliario suo Edwardo Domino Hyde Cancellario suo Angliae leaving out Militi or Equiti aurato and putting in Domino and the reason of this variation as I conceive was That the Warrant was agreed on by the King and Council before the Third of November at which time he was Baron of Hindon and therefore in the Warrant he is named only Sir Edward Hyde Knt. but in the Writ Domino Hyde which is the Adjunct Title of a Baron as he then was and I find before the Parliament met he was created Viscount Cornbury and Earl of Clarendon and thereupon had another Writ in relation to those Dignities which was entered in the Pawn and the entry dated the 12th of April before the Parliament met and in the latter Writ he had also his additional Titles so that I observe that if the Chancellor or Keeper be above the Degree of a Baron he hath his Writ according to his Degree and therein only intimating his Chancellorship or Keepership as is before shewn in the 36. of Hen. the Eighth 1 Mariae c. But if he be not a Baron then he hath this Assisting Writ Quatenus Chancellor or Keeper as may be seen in the former Precedents from the 28. of Eliz. to this Writ of 13. Car. 2. If he be a Baron as I said he hath or may require a Baronial Writ besides this Assisting Writ The form of his Assisting Exemplar Writ is as follows the other will be seen among the Barons SECT VIII The Form of the Assisting Writ to the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper CArolus Secundus Dei Gratia Angliae
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
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
to amuse the World about Grebners Prophecy viz. that Carolus E stirpe Caroli Erit Carolo Magno Major but none can pretend to a greater interest in that Prophecy then our present King Charles the 2d being so punctually and Signally ex stirpe Caroli How ever I am sure nothing can be more particularly Prognostical and Applycable to any Regal Charles then this following Anagram to him being made when he was born Prince of Wales which I have ever since kept safe by me CHARLES PRINCE OF WALES Anagram AL FRAVNCE CRIES O HELP VS As to the uses which shall be made on these regal Names their Progresses and Anagrams being not the proper Subject of this place I shall refer them to my Annotations and proceed to Observations on the Warrant of another Nature THE INTRODUCTION Shewing how a Parliament CONSISTS Section I WHen Families increast into Villages Towns Cities large Countreys Kingdoms and Empires under one Father or Conductor for all other Governments are collateral to Paternal and Monarchical there was a necessity to Constitute a Supream Council of the chiefest and wisest men selected from the multitude as might keep such extended Dominions in a perfect Unity and Obedience to their Original Father or Monarch The end of this Constitution was both for Conservation of the Original Family or Potentate who did thus Constitute them or for his own ease in managing the common interest of Safety and Plenty That their proceedings in their Councils might have the more solemn Effects and Veneration several Nations in imitation have since given distinct names to their Supream Council erected as distinctions to those which were more Subordinate Thus the Jews from whom we derive our most credible Memoires of Antiquity had their Supream Council called the Sanhedrim consisting of secular Persons viz. One Prince as their chief Head besides Seventy others of mixt natures they had also another great Council altogether Ecclesiastical called a Synagogue and other lesser in the nature of our Convocations and sometimes all did meet at the great Sanhedrim which was only kept in Jerusalem and this was the Supream Council as may be seen in the 26th ch of Jeremiah v. 8. who was condemned by the Ecclesiastical Consistory of Priests and absolved by the Temporal or great Sanhedrim of Princes or chief Council as may be more fully seen in that Chapter and in the Jew's Antiquities And to pass the Ariopagus among the Athenians we read that the Old Romans also had their Great Council called a Senate consisting of 300. Laicks chosen out of the Nobiles Majores Minores and their Consistoriani where their Senate did sit and their Comites and Consistoriani as Members thereof did somewhat resemble the Constitution of a Parliament they had also a Pontifical Colledge consisting of Ecclesiasticks but the name of Senate at Rome hath been long since drown'd since the fall of that old Roman Empire for at Rome the name of Senate is now altered into that of Consistory and in the vacancy of the Pope or See of new Rome it is called a Conclave and now the Empire of Germany which did arise from the ashes of the old Roman Empire being shiver'd into several Proprietors lest it should grow again too great was brought to a Dyet for so the chief Council of that Empire is called Yet the old State of Venice still keeps the name of Senate for her great Council and the chief Council in France is called an Assembly of States But here in England we have the name of our chief Council from Romans Saxons Normans and lastly from the French for it hath been called by those Senatus Curia altissima Michel Synoth Assisa Generalis and many more names some of which I think fit to render in English viz. Senate the great Synod or meeting of the King and of the Wise-men the highest Judicatory the General Pleas the Great Court the Common Council of the Kingdom and the General Assize At last in the time of Henry the Third or Edward the Second all these Names were reduced to the word Parliament which was then borrowed from the Language and Name of the chief Councils in France in many of which Provinces and Parliaments our Kings had then a considerable interest I do here mention that the Original of this Name did begin with us in Henry the Third or Edward the Second's time but Sir Edward Coke in his Institutes is pleas'd to cite one Precedent before the Conquest When saith he the word Parliament was here us'd but it seems it did not continue a fix'd name of Parliament from thence for at the great Council held by Henry the First at Salisbury consisting of the three Estates viz. Lords Spiritual Lords Temporal and Commons it is called by the Name of Council and not Parliament as some other Writers have mistaken However it was not us'd again till once in Henry the Third's time as some say but we are certain that it was us'd in the 15th of Edward the Second as I shall shew from safe Records and after Edward the Third was Crowned King of France then and ever since this great Council of the whole Kingdom hath without variation gone by the Name of Parliament And though as that learned Institutor observes That the French Parliaments were lesser Courts subject to the Assembly of Estates yet that Assembly of Estates was but originally a grand Parliament constituted of those lesser Estates or Parliaments and those did anciently consist of Lords Temporal Commons and Clergy for in that rank they are cited by Comines Comines p. 226. an approved Author However since the 15th of Edward the Second we have not altered its name only a little in Orthography which hath made work for that learned Institutor and other grave Writers on this Subject about its Etymology so by Example of those Worthies I may venture to cull out one intending to speak of the rest in my Annotations viz. Parliament i. e. a Parly of minds and to this Etymology I may add this definition That our Parliament consists of a certain number of Men of certain Degrees and Qualities Summoned by Writs from the King to meet together in some place appointed by those Writs to parly or confer their minds to each other for the good of the Publick This Definition will be more fully proved in this following Treatise yet before I confirm it at large I think fit to give a brief and intelligible Explanation of it in relation to a Parliament here in England To that end I shall first set down the Nature of our Monarchical Government and then we shall more easily understand the Constitution of our Parliaments It is generally held That the frame of this Monarchy consists of a King and of three Estates subordinate to him The first Estate mentioned in all our Acts of Parliament is Spiritual and Ecclesiastical govern'd by the Lords Spiritual and this Estate hath Jurisdiction over the whole Kingdom not only considering
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
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
St. Peter the first Bishop of Rome before Linus as Ireneus to have Linus the First two great Fathers of that Church so that if St. Peter be first then we must account 13 to Eleutherius before named if Linus then Eleutherius is the 12th and with this computation of Ireneus most Histories do agree The first Eight of these Twelve had no other Title than Bishop till Eugenius the Ninth of that See took upon him the name of Papa or Pope and afterwards Hildebrand call'd Gregory the 7th challenged it as his sole right to be called Pope and so Eleutherius being the 4th Pope from Eugenius and the 9th in Succession from Linus did return a kind Answer to King Lucius by two eminent Persons which the Pope also sent viz. Helvanus and Meduanus and with them a Letter which may be read at large wherein in the Pope takes notice that the Old and New Testament were then in Brittain and in that Letter leaving the ordering of Ecclesiastical affairs in Brittain to the King declared him to be Christs Vicar in his own Kingdom which made King Lucius go cheerfully on and as History tells us that whereas the Archflamins had been the chief Managers of the Pagan Religion in this Isle each having one Province the King reduced those Three Provinces to Two and placed Two Archbishops therein and instead of the Flamins did constitute Bishops and so there was an amity between the Archbishops and Bishops of Brittain and the Archbishops or Popes of Rome neither of them strugling for Priority but still carrying on the work of Christianity But the Emperours of Rome declining in their power and the Pope still taking advantage of their declinations grew at last so considerable with the Emperours that they could not safely deny them any thing so that whereas the Emperors of Rome formerly had the disposal of their Popes and the Kings of Brittain of their Bishops and so other Princes in their Territories the Popes by degrees did take the power to themselves to make what Bishops they pleased to summon Councils make Decrees distribute them and enjoyned obedience to their Universal Jurisdiction that the name of Pope might be the more authentick It was used in many parts of the World besides Rome for it is said that about 300. years after Christ Nestorius the Heretick had 6000. Bishops appeared against him which were under the Government of several Popes and this was above 300. years before Boniface the 3d. Popes increasing as well as Bishops who obtained of Phocas then Emperor of Rome that none should be called Pope but the Pope of Rome and though Gregory the first his immediate Predecessor but one declared against it and many Popes before him yet Boniface having obtained this Supremacy what he did in other Kingdoms I shall omit in Brittain to make sure that none should be placed there but such as should be dependent on Rome he confirm'd Augustin a Monk the Archbishop of Canterbury being made so by his said Predecessor Gregory and soon after he and 4 succeeding Bonifaces filled up all the rest of the Bishopricks with such Foraigners or others as had a clear dependance on Rome by Promotions Stipends or Forraign Interests amongst the rest Faelix a Burgundian was made Bishop of Dunwich in Suffolk the fifth Bishoprick then in rank of which I shall speak more and so in a few years after all the Bishopricks which were then and soon after added were filled up with his dependents as also all Abbies Priories Monasteries c. and so continued to be supplied according to his appointment from Rome without any material opposition by the Kings of this Island but such as hereafter mentioned And having this Power it was no hard matter to fix themselves into all Councils within this Kingdom for in all Histories we find them as Actors therein and in respect of their Ecclesiastical Interests one of the Estates and when the name of Parliament was given to our chief Council they were methodically fix'd in the second rank of the Pawns and so in the Clause Rolls and this place in Parliament was never denied them whilst they continued here But the Pope's Power and Supremacy over this Island was ever disgusted by our successive Kings yet being back'd by so great a Temporal Prince as the Pope of Rome joyned with the Interest which by long continuance they had gained from the Emperours the Kings of this Island had little success in their struglings For wâ— see King John tried it to his coâ—â— by single oppositions without the Kingdom 's unanimous Conjunctures Aftewards Henry the Third began again and other succeeding Kings did try what Parliamentary or Municipal Laws could effect and to that end these following Laws were Enacted 7. H. 3. Henry the Third Anno 9. cap. 33. being part of the great Charter that Parliament did grant That all Patrons of Abbies which have the Kings Charters of England of Advowson or have old Tenure or possession of the same shall have the custody of them when they fell void as it hath been accustomed and as it is before declared See Coke Inst 2. Henry the Third Anno 9. cap. 36. being also part of the great Charter the Parliament did grant That if any Man should hereafter give Lands to a Religious House the Grant shall be void and the Land forfeit to the Lord of the Fee and in corroboration and Inlarging of this Statute many other Laws were made 7 Ed. 1. and by 18 Ed. 3. 15 R. 2. and 23 H. 4. called the Statute of Mortmain Edward the First Ed. 1. Anno 35. cap. 1. made the Statute de Asportatis Religiosorum wherein it is declared That the Monasteries Priories and Religious Houses in this Realm were founded by the King and his Progenitors and by the Noblemen and their Ancestors and that no Abbot c. shall lay any Tax on any Religious House to send the same beyond Sea or carry any Goods with them out of the Kingdom and that no Abbots being Aliens shall impose any Tax c. Edward the Second Anno 9. Enacted Edw. 2. That the King by his Letters may absolve Excommunications where they were made in prejudice of his Liberty or Prerogative to shew the King's Power above Ecclesiastick Censures of the Pope and this may be of great Use Edward the Third Anno 25. Edw. 3. That the King went on further by Act of Parliament forbidding under a Praemunire all applications to Rome for obtaining any Ecclesiastick Preferments or in Suing to the Court of Rome for Reversing any Judgments Richard the Second did back this Statute with several other Statutes Rich. 2. viz. in Anno 3. cap. 3. and Anno 7. cap. 12. 15. and Anno 13. cap. 2 3. and Anno 16. cap. 2 5. and in these same Parliaments the Archbishop protested against the Pope's Authority in England And good reason for it as Sir Richard Baker in his History
repealing that Act in order to which the remnant of the Parliament of 1640 which still continued in several shapes was by the Kings Consent dissolv'd his Majesty appointing another to begin in April 1660. So the 29th of May 1660. he came successfully from beyond Seas to confirm it and this Parliament lasted till December following in which time as Preparatories to the Bishops Introduction provisions were made for restoring Ministers who had been outed of their Livings and also Commissioners were appointed who did sit accordingly to compose the differences which might arise between the Purchasers of the Bishops Lands and the Bishop wherein they us'd so great Lenity that the Bishops did come into their Temporalities with some satisfaction to both Interests after they had been injoyed by the Purchasers near Twenty Years and in the same Month his Majesty did also set out a Declaration before mention'd concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs and after these Preparatories that Parliament consisting of the King Lords Temporal and Commons being also Dissolv'd as I said in Decemb. His Majesty was pleas'd in February following to Summon another Parliament of the Lords Temporal and Commons to begin the Eighth of May 1661. before which time his Coronation was Solemniz'd viz. the Twenty third of April 1661. yet before the Ceremony was perform'd he thought himself oblig'd to take Care for the Bishops for many Ceremonies essential to his Coronation were to be perform'd by them and thereupon at a full Council in Whitehall the Tenth of April this Order was made ORdered by his Majesty That the Lord Chancellor do forthwith give directions to the Clerk of the Crown to draw up Writs of Summons to pass his Majesties Great Seal directed to the most Reverend Father in God William Lord Archbishop of Canterbury and Accepted Lord Bishop of York for Convocation of the Lords Bishops Deans Archdeacons and the Clergy of their respective Provinces in usual Form Accordingly the Parliament met the said Eighth of May 1661. and did sit till the Thirtieth of July where amongst other Acts one did pass for Repealing the Act of Abolishing Bishops and Restoring them to their Estates Dignities and Places and so the Parliament Adjourned to the Twentieth of November following after which Adjournment upon the Twenty ninth of August following the Writs which were ordered the Tenth of April aforesaid did pass under the Great Seal and were distributed so as the Twentieth of November 1661. they did take their places in the House of Lords and have continued so to do during this Parliament and notwithstanding this long deprivation wherein the King himself the Temporal Lords and the chief of the Commons were Sharers they may be said to be in the House of Lords upon an Interest of Right though the Interest of Form in their Introduction was wanting that Act of Abolition being partly Authentick and partly not for Acts of Parliament are good Absente Clero though not Excluso Clero and so next I shall shew the Exemplar Writ as it is entered in the Crown Office for it was too late to enter it amongst the Deposits or Pawns in the Pettibag SECT XX. The Form of the Writ to the Archbishop of Canterbury the 29th of Aug. 1661. REx Reverendissimo in Christo Patri praedilecto fideli Conciliario nostro Gulielmo eadem gratia Archiepiscopo Cantuariensi totius Angliae Primat ' Metropolitano 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 ' octavo die Maii praeterito teneri ordinavimus ibidem nobiscum cum caeteris Praelat ' Magnatibus proceribus dicti Regni nostri Colloquium habere tractare Vobis in fide dilectione quibus nobis tenemini rogando Mandamus quod consideratis dictorum negotiorum arduitate periculis imminentibus Cessante excusatione quacunq ' dictis die loco personalit ' intersitis nobiscum ac cum Praelatis Magnatibus Proceribus praedictis super dictis negotiis tractatur ' vestrumque Concilium impensur ' hoc sicut nos honorem nostrum ac Salvationem defensionem Regni Ecclesiae praedict ' Expeditionemque dictorum negotiorum diligetis nullatenus omittatis Praemontes Decanum Capitulum Ecclesiae vestrae Cantuariae ac Archidiaconos totumque Clerum vestrae Diocesis quod idem Decan ' Archidiaconi in propriis personis suis ac dictum Capitulum per unum idemq ' Clerum per duos procuratores idoneos plenam sufficientem potestatem ab ipsis Capitulis Clero divisim habentes praedictis die loco personaliter interfuerint ad consentiendum hiis quae tunc ibidem de Communi Concilio dicti Regni nostri divina favente Clementia contigerint ordinari Teste meipso apud Westm ' vicesimo nono Augusti Anno Regni nostri 13. Annoque Dom. 1661. SECT XXI Consimilia Brevia dirigenda TO the Archbishop of York Reverendissimo Accepted Archiepiscopo Eborum Angliae Primati leaving out Totius before Angliae as in the former To each of the other Bishops Reverendo c. as they are entred in the Memorials of the Chancery Crown Office in this following order Reverendo Gilberto Johanni Briano Gulielmo Roberto Gulielmo Johanni Mattheo Henrico Humphrido Georgio Roberto Georgio Gulielmo Benjamino Hugoni Richardo Briano Johanni Gilberto Edwardo Gulielmo Nicolao Episcopo Londini Dunelmensis Wincestriae Bathon Wells Oxoniae Bangor Ruffensis Eliensis Cicestriae Sarum Worcestriae Lincolniae St. Asaph St. Davids Burgi Petri Llandaff Carlioniae Cestriae Exoniae Bristoll Norwici Glocestriae Herefordiae Vulgo Durham Rochester Chichester Salisbury Minuensis Peterborough Carlile Exeter All these Writs dated 29. Aug. 1661. except the last Johanni Episcopo Lichfeildiae Coventriae Jan. 30. 1662. There is also the Bishop of Man Island but in respect he hath no Writ to sit in the Lords House I have not entered him Note That except the two Archbishops and the Bishops of London Durham and Winchester whose Precedencies are setled by the Act of 33. H. 8. all the other Bishops are entred into the Pawns according to the dates of their Consecrations SECT XXII Observations on the Writ UPon comparing the Writ of Edw. the Second with the middle Writ of 21th of Hen. the Eighth and the Writ of the 13. Car. Secundi these follow-Particulars may be observ'd First The Titles of several Kings in their Writs as well to the Lords Temporal as Spiritual have varied according to the Successive Kings Increase or Decrease of their Dominions but more remarkably in Hen. the Eighths time relating to the Clergy as I have shewn Secondly All Writs concerning Bishops from Edward the Seconds time and before to the 13. of Car. Secundi inclusive were directed to the Archbishop of Canterbury as the Exemplar Writ in respect of his Dignity except where any Cardinal was
a Bishop of England or the Popes Vicar-General or that the See of Canterbury was void or that a Bishop was Chancellor and then the Exemplar Writ was directed to that Bishop and to neither of the Archbishops or if both Archbishopricks were void then to the Bishop of London Thirdly The Exemplar and Consimilar Writs to Bishops have been generally plac't in the Clause-Rolls and in all the Pawns extant before any Degrees except Princes of the Blood though their places in the Lords House are otherwise Fourthly Sometimes the Writ to the Archbishop was without any Epethit to his Christian name but the Epithet of the most constant Application was Venerabili Archiepiscopo and the like to Bishops but in Hen. the Eighths time it was alter'd Reverendissimo to Archbishops and Reverendo to Bishops Fifthly Also an other Title is usually in the Bishops Writs as in the Writs to the Lords Temporal viz. Praedilecto fideli Conciliario which is not in the ancient Writ but of late it is entred as an addition to such as are of the Kings Privy Council whereof the Bishop of Canterbury is for the most part one Sixthly In the 36. of Henry the Eighth the Writ is Primati Metropolitano which latter word was not extant till that Writ Seventhly In the latter Writs the words de advisamento assensu Concilii nostri are entred which are not in the old Waits and some other words which are in the Dukes Writ and not in the old Writs as may be observed in the Figures which I have placed in that Writ Eighthly And in the Mandamus instead of Firmiter injungentes to the Temporal Lords the Writs to the Bishops are Rogando Mandamus and instead of Fide ligeantia to the Temporal Lords it is In side dilectione to the Lords Spiritual so that to the word Praemonentes the Writs both to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal do agree as well in the Originals as Alterations except in those particulars before nam'd Ninthly From the word Praemonentes in the Writ there is a greater Latitude of power granted to the Lords Spiritual than to the Lords Temporal for the Lords Temporal are not impowred by their Writs to Summon the Laity who sit in the House of Commons as Representatives of the Commonalty but the Lords Spiritual are impowred by their Writs to Summon Deacons Archdeans and Proctors to attend the Parliament as Representatives of the Clergy who being met at places appointed distinct from the House of Lords or House of Commons those places where they meet have the Titles of Convocations the Bishops making the upper Convocation the Representatives of the Clergy the lower Suting to those two of the Laity one called sometimes the House of Lords or Peers or upper House the other sometimes the House of Commons or lower House The General Writs for this Parliament were dated as I have shewn the 18th of Febr. 1661. to meet the 8th of May 1661. but the Writs to the Bishops were not dated till the 29. of August following yet by these Writs they are appointed to meet die loco at the day and place viz. on the Eighth of May and at Westminster as in the General Writs so as the latter Writs seem to command an Impossibility but this is to be understood in a Parliament-sence viz. That the first day of the Meeting of a Parliament continues to the end of a Session or Prorogation and is accounted but as one day for an Adjournment is but the continuance of that day and a passing of Acts upon an Adjournment as in this case was not a determining the Session because they were passed by way of Proviso That it should not thereby discontinue the Parliament so that the Bishops being admitted before any Session of determining the Parliament or before any Prorogation of it it is to be esteem'd in a Parliament-sence as I said as one day And so it is in Law where a Sum is due the Eighth of May payable at Westminster and not paid till the 29. of August and then paid in London and then accepted by the Creditor it doth bar all breaches or punctilios in Law or Equity between the Creditor and Debtor Besides If a Parliament continues some Months without Adjournments or Prorogations in which time many Members of both Houses Dye so as there is a necessity to send out Writs for a Supply of Members if the Writs should not issue in a certain Form with respect to a certain day though past it would produce many inconveniencies attending the Discretion or Indiscretion of Clerks who are to form such Writs and therefore all Writs though after Prorogations though many years subsequent have still reference to the first day of the Parliament as will be further shewn for it hath been the Wisdom of Parliaments to admit of no variation in that point Next As to the place of Meeting the Bishops are Summon'd to meet Cum Praelatis Magnatibus proceribus at Westminster which the Bishops do as to their Co-Interest in the House of Lords but in relation to the inferior Clergy the Bishops do meet at Westminster and sometimes Adjourn to such places out of Westminster as the Archbishop or his Vicar appoints which before the Fire in 1666. was at the Convocation-House on the South-side of St. Pauls Church in London but since in Westminster-Abby The Bishops in all this Parliament sit in Henry the Sevenths Chappel as the upper Convocation the Deans c. in St. Benedicts Chappel on the North-side of the Abby as the lower Convocation so as they have distinct Houses or Places from the House of Lords and House of Commons as also distinct days of meeting but always after the Parliament first meets and so of sitting some days after any Adjournment or Prorogation or Dissolution which is appointed beyond the Lords or Commons as will be shewn in the Chapter of Convocations 11. Concerning the alteration of Priorem into Decanum I have given an account 12. Instead of favente deo the later Writs say favente divina clementia 13. In the old Writs the year of Christ is not added for it was more than 300 years after Christ before the Computation was us'd but in the later Writs it is not omitted 14. Till about the year 855. there was not above 16 Bishopricks and then they increas'd to 19 and 21 and in Hen. 8. time to 26 and so they have continued ever since but in all times there have been several Transplacings and Transmutations so as the names of the Bishopricks of Dorchester Dunwich Haglested Sydnacester and Leicester Landasfirm Selsy Sherborn Chester in Durham Crediton and St. Petrocks 10 in all are utterly lost and drown'd in the now remaining 26 Bishopricks 15. The Bishops being men well Educated in all Sciences Divine and humane were stil imployed by our Successive Kings as well in matters Temporal as Spiritual for I find that of 153 Chancellors and Keepers of the Great-Seal from William the
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
Richardo Percey Johanni Fitzwater Radulpho Dacres yet these were all Barons or Bannerets though the Title of Baroni was not in their respective Writs 3. Thus they continued without any other adjuncts to their names than what I have mentioned till the first of Richard the Second and then Willielmo de Morley Willielmo de Alborough Hugo de Dacres were writ Chevaliers amongst 48. others that were Intituled as before After in the 7th of Rich. the 2d William Botereaux was brought in and with the other Three written Chevaliers and in the second Parliament of that year that Title of Chevalier increas'd to three more viz. Johanni Falsly Henry le Scroop and Thomae Camois Chevaliers so there were then seven Chevaliers in all the rest of the Barons being then Fourty five were Intituled as before and so they continued not exceeding nine Chevaliers till the third of H. 6. and for that Parliament there were but twenty Barons Summoned whereof eleven were Stil'd Chevaliers and in the fourth of his Reign all the Barons but two were Stil'd Chevaliers and in the sixth year all the Barons were Stil'd Chevaliers and so to the Twenty third wherein all the Barons were written Chevaliers except Thomas de Scales Miles who was then Lord Scalds and Dominus de Molins so here came in Dominus for a Baron and in the Twenty fifth there were Twenty six Chevaliers whereof two Stil'd Milites and three Domini in the Twenty seventh Henry Percey is Writ Militi Domino and some others which shews that the words Militi Domino and Chevalier having Writs to Sit in the Lords House had one Denotation of a Baron and in the third of Edw. 4. almost all the Barons are written Domini and Chevaliers jointly yet in the end of these Consimilars it is writ in the Record Milites omnes except Audley and Clinton and so in the 3d. of Ed. 4. all are Chevaliers but in the Postscript is Equites aurati omnes praeter Dominum Scales by which must be understood that all the rest which were Summoned to those Parliaments and their names not entred in those Rolls were Milites or Equites Aurati Except Audley Clinton and Scales which latter in the Record of the 23d of Hen. 6. before mentioned is written Miles which shews there was a distinction then between Miles and Eques Auratus as may be seen in Mr. Seldens Titles of Honour and so in the 7th and 12. 22. and 23d of Ed. 4. all Chevaliers but two Milites which do argue some distinction though all intended to signifie a Baron Then passing over other Records to the 21. of Hen. 8. all the Barons are stil'd Chevaliers but in the 36. Hen. 8. the words Domini and Chevaliers are mixt and so they continued to the 28. of Eliz. and then all the Barons are writ Chevaliers and so have continued to this time singly with that Title of Chevaliers in all their Writs without adding Dominus miles or Eques Auratus Though the Title of Baro for Baron is not us'd in these Parliament Writs no more is Bannerettus or Banneret yet it is as evident that as Dominus does signifie a Baron so the word Miles and Chevalier did signifie a Knight Banneret and so I presume it was originally intended For by comparing the Writ in the 8th of Rich. 2d to William Botereaux with the Writ to him in the 15th of Rich. 2d where in one he is called Chevalier in the other Miles it may be presumed that the Titles are one and the same the words Chevalier and Miles being so interchangeably used and sometimes joyntly yet either being applicable to Denote a Baron or Banneret 8. This Identity of Chevalier and Banneret may be evident from the Writ to the Sheriff of Surry hereafter transcribed Cited by the Learned Mr. Selden where Thomas Camois beforementioned sometimes Stil'd Chevalier sometimes Miles for brevity omitting Bannerettus being then Lord Camois or Baron and being chosen Knight of the Shire for that County to serve in Parliament in the 8th of Rich. 2. the Sheriff was commanded by this Writ to make an Election of another Knight for that County because his place was in the Lords-House as a Banneret which Writ he sets down in these following words The Writ to the Sheriff of Surry 8. Rich. the 2d concerning Thomas Camois Banneret his being Elected Knight of the Shire REx Vic' Surr ' Salutem Quia ut accepimus tu Thomam Camois Chevalier qui Bannerettus est sicut quam plures Antecessorum suorum extiterint ad essendum unum militem venientium ad proximum Parliamentum nostrum pro Comunitate Comitatus predicti de assensu ejusdem Comitatus Elegisti Nos advertentes quod hujusmodi Banneretti ante haec tempora in militis Comitatus ratione alicujus Parliamenti eligi minime consueverunt ipsum de Officio Militis ad dictum Parliamentum pro Communitate Comitatus predicti ventur ' Exonerari volumus Et Ideo tibi precipimus quod quendam alium militem idoneum discretum gladio cinctum loco ipsius Thomae eligi eum ad diem Locum Parliamenti predicti venire facias cum plena sufficien ' potestate ad consentiend'hijs quae in Parliamento predicto fient juxta tenorem primi Brevis nostri tibi pro electione hujusmodi milit ' directi nomen ejus nobis scire facias Teste Rege apud Westm ' octavo die Octobris septimo Regis 8. R. 2. Accordingly the Parliament did sit the 3d. of March and Thomas Camois in the Lords House but that which Mr. Selden observes in this Writ is that this is not to be understood of any other Banneret than a Parliament Baron or a Banneret of that time The expressing of hujusmodi Bannoretti shews that it is not meant of all Bannerets but such only as have the Title either by inheritance or in such a kind that an inheritance might be of it which is apparent also by the precedent words in the Writ Bannerettus est sicut quam plures Antecessorum suorum extiterint for it was never conceived that the Title of Banneret as it denotes a Knight-Banneret was ever hereditary However another Knight for Surry was Chosen and this Thomas Camois being Lord Thomas Camois did sit that Parliament in the Lords House as his Ancestors had done for I find that in the 15th of Ed. 2d and 4th of Ed. 3d. Radulphus Camois was Summon'd by Writs and did sit in those two Parliaments but I find none in 54 years after viz. till the 7th of Rich. 2d and then that name continued in 37 successive Parliaments viz. to the 8th of Hen. 6. as may be seen in the Records I shall make no further use of this Writ here than that of the words Thomas Camois Chevalier qui est Bannerettus doe make it clear that Banneret was denoted by the word Chevalier and that that word Chevalier amongst the Lords did shew the difference between
as happened when by their directions his Lordship sent out Warrants to Seize the five Lords of whom I shall speak in the Chapter of Tryals 11. Other uses are also made of him and some other of the Assistants in Parliament for when the Lords have any matter of importance to impart to the House of Commons then the Lord Chief Justice with the other Chief Justice or Lord Chief Baron or some other of the Judges but always one of them and no more is joyn'd with him in delivering the same but in matters of less importance two Masters of Chancery are imployed as will be shewn 12. When any Writs of Error or Writs of Habeas Corpus or Tryals of Peers or when any Pleas of the Crown or other cases Criminal Civil and sometimes Ecclesiastick or indeed any matters of Law are to be heard and determin'd in Parliament as also in the penning of new and altering explaining or repealing of former Statutes their assistances are required and more especially the Chief Justice 13. The number of Assistants Summon'd by Writ to appear in Parliament Cum caeteris de Consilio from the time of Henry the Third to the 21. of Henry the Eighth consisted of an uncertain number sometimes above fourty sometimes under but from the 21 of Henry the Eighth from which time the extant Pawns do give an exact account of them they never exceeded 27. and sometimes were not above 13. or 14. But in all Parliaments since Edw. the Firsts time some of them were Summon'd and very likely before For Mr. Prin though in his Breviary of Parliament Writs pag. 36. he tells us of Twenty four Parliaments from the 49. of Hen. the Third to the 49. of Edw. the Third and many more which he saith he omits of which Parliaments he saith there is no mention of Writs of Summons to any of the Kings Council Justices Officers or others in the Rolls of these Parliaments yet he kindly ascribes it to the negligence or slothfulness of Clerks in omitting the entries of their Writs This he saith but he had done much better for his own justification and others satisfaction being intrusted by his Majesty with the Records of the Tower if those Records which he cites both in his Breviary and many others montion'd by him in Sir Robert Cottons Abridgment now wanting might have been restored by him to their ancient Repositories there 14. As to the Lord Chief Justice and the Assistants Places in the Lords House none of them as I have said have their Places there by the Act of Precedency's but rather by custom and favour of which I shall speak more when I come to the actual Sitting of the Parliament as also of their Priviledges and Employments there 15. As to the Officers which are under the Lord Chief Justice his Jurisdiction none of them are imployed about the Summoning of a Parliament but many of them are imployed in other matters in time of Parliaments as in cases of Errors c. but more chiefly upon Tryals of Peers when only the chief Clerk of the Crown in the Kings Bench is the principal Manager of them as will be shewn 16. Regularly no Officer or Court either in Parliament or out of Parliament have greater Power or Jurisdiction or more publick affairs to manage except the Lord Chancellor in Chancery and yet in some cases above it For all appeals from the Chancery and other Courts are determin'd in this Court and no appeal from this Court but to the High Court of Parliament and all Records which are brought from other Courts into this are never return'd back into those Courts from whence they were brought and many others which might be instanc't 17. To conclude his Lordship or the other Lord Chief Justice or one of them are constantly appointed to be Speaker of the House of Lords Pro tempore when the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper is absent which is usually done by a particular Writ which I shall enter amongst emergent Writs Chap. 14. Thus having said as much as I think convenient concerning this Exemplar with some intermixtures of some of the Consimilars I proceed to give a short touch of each of the Consimilars more distinctly and first of the Master of the Rolls Of the Consimilar Writ to the Master of the Rolls 1. THE Office of Master of the Rolls is granted by Patent under several Titles viz. Clericus parvae Bugae Custos Rotulorum Magister Domus Conversorum and he Sits in the Rolls to hear Causes c. by vertue of a Commission to that purpose 2. But his Writ of Summons to a Parliament is directed as in this Pawn viz. Harbotello Grimston Baronetto Magistro Rotulorum Cancellariae suae and then the remaining part of his Consimilar as also the rest of the following Consimilar Writs agree in the same words with the Exemplar to the Lord Chief Justice as in Sect. the Eleventh 3. This Magister Rotulorum or Custos Rotulorum or Clericus parvae bugae is the same which we call in English Master of the Rolls anciently call'd Clerk of the Rolls but from Henry the Sevenths time when the Clergy did decline in their Temporal Imployments he was and is still call'd Master of the Rolls 4. In the absence of the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper he Sits as Judge in the Chancery and therefore by Sir Edward Coke is call'd his Assistant and at other times he Sits as Judge of Causes in the Chappel of that House which in Henry the Thirds time was imployed as a place of Charity to such Jews as should turn to the Christian Religion but those Jews being Banish't Edward the Third did dispose of it for the keeping of Records and joined it to the Office of Custos Rotulorum and of the Pettibag which Office of Pettibag seems to be a lesser Bag or place of Records 5. So that he hath three Titles viz. Clericus Pettibagae or Clerk of the Pettibag he being the chief of three Clerks more of that Office Secondly Magister Rotulorum or Master of the Rolls or Clerk or Preserver of such Records as do at any time pass the Great Seal and are sent to his Custody either in the Office of the Rolls called the Rolls Office or to the Pettibag Office where his under Clerks do attend on purpose to produce them as occasions require Thirdly His third Title is Master of the Chancery which Title is given to twelve Persons of which twelve he is te chief 5. Formerly and even to this day the greatest part of these Twelve were Constituted of Doctors of the Civil Law however Eleven of those are so constantly dispos'd of as that some of them do Sit in the Lords House in time of Parliament and at other times with the Lord Chancellor in the Court of Chancery upon hearing of Cases others with the Master of the Rolls when he Sits in the Chancery or at the Rolls where he hath a Jurisdiction to hear or
Mary two in the 28th of Eliz. two in the 30th of Eliz. one in the 35th of Eliz. three in the 39th of Eliz. one in the first of Jacob. three in the 21. of Jac. five in the first Car. prim four in the 15. Car. 1. three in the 13th Car. 2d the two before mentioned for whom Writs were order'd but not actually Summond as I have shewn 9. In the 39th Eliz. the Writs to the three Serjeants are directed distinctly Vni Vni Vni but in all the rest Servienti ad Legem without the addition of Vni nor do I find Vni added in any former Writs before Henry the Eighth but only this viz. 4 Hen. 5th Johanni Stranguayes Vno Servienti Regis ad Legem 10. And as a peculiar distinction the Kings eldest Serjeants have the Priviledge to Plead in all Courts of Westminster within the Bar but only in the Common Pleas where no other Graduats of Law but themselves can Plead as I have shewn and there all the Serjeants stand without the Bar. 11. They are also sometimes Assistants to the Judges and to the Lord Chancellor and Master of the Rolls and many times in case of age or infirmness of the Judges they do supply their places both in the Courts of Westminster and in their Itinerances and Circuits Pro hac vice and upon death of any of them if the King think fitting they are Constituted Judges in their Vacancies and this by Commission 12. As to their places in Parliament they are next the Judges as shall be shewn in the local part of this Treatise as also of their Imploymens sedente Parliamento Thus having brought the Servientes ad Legem to be Judices Magistros legum I pass to the second Degree of the third Orb or Rank viz. the Kings Attorney General The Consimilar Writ to the Kings Attorney General THis appellation of Attorney is deriv'd from Tourne so call'd in Magna Charta SECT 17 which anciently was call'd the Sheriffs Moot or view of Frankpledge and to this day is call'd the Sheriffs Tourne from Turris signifying a Tower or Castle where these Courts were kept and where inquiry is made upon Oath of all things done contrary to the peace of the Countrey c. as will be shewn when I come to the House of Commons and then those who did practise to those ends in those and other Courts were call'd Ad Tourny's or Attourny's generally the word doth signifie a Person intrusted to manage other mens Concerns And this being the most Eminent Trust in managing the Kings Concerns his Duty Care and Pains is the greater and more Eminent he hath also his Patent In haec verba CArolus Secundus c. Omnibus ad quos c. Salutem Sciatis quod nos de fidelitate Circumspectione dilecti fidelis nostri G. P. Mil. plurimum confidentes ipsum G. F. Constituimus Ordinavimus deputavimus assignavimus nostrum Generalem Attornatum in omnibus curijs nostris de Record'in Regno nostro Angliae Habendum occupand'officium hujusmodi Generalis Attornat ' nostri prefat ' G. F. quamdiu nobis placuerit percipiend'in pro officio illo exercend'Vad'Feod'Profic ' Regard'eidem officio pretinend'sive consuet ' Dedimus etiam ac tenore presentium damus prefat ' G. F. plenam potestatem authoritatem faciend'ordinand' deputand'tales clericos officiar ' sub seipso in quolibet Cur ' nostra quales aliquis alius officium illud proantea habens nomine occupans habuit fecit ordinavit seu deputavit aut facere ordinare seu deputare consuevit eo quod expressa mentio c. In cujus rei c Teste c. And he hath his Writ of Summons to a Parliament also In haec verba Carolus c. Dilecto fideli Galfrido which we in English call Jeffery Palmer Militi Attornato suo generali salutem and so verbatim according to the Exemplar Observations 1. THat which makes this Assistant the more eminent and remarkable is That as there is but one Lord Chancellor or Keeper one Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench one Master of the Rolls one Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and one chief Baron of the Exchequer so there is but one Attorney General and though those five have Judges and Masters of Chancery to assist them this hath no proper Officer under him yet hath power to depute Clerks and other Officers to assist him and is Singulus in omnibus omnis in singulis 2. Neither these nor any of the Assistants to the Lords House before named have the priviledge of making Proxies either before or in time of Parliament yet I remember something Equivalent in in the case of Valentine Elliot c. when upon a Writ of Error brought into the Lords House for reversing of a Judgment given in the Kings Bench against the said Elliot Sir Jeffrey Palmer being then Attorney General and indispos'd in his health and thereby finding himself unfit to manage that Case Mr. North then a young Professor of the Law was permitted to appear for the Attorney General and Plead the Case only here was the difference had Mr. Attorney been there in Person he had stood within the Bar and Pleaded but Mr North Pleaded without the Bar which he manag'd with so much Law Eloquence and Dexterity that his Abilities being known by usual Degrees in few years he was advanc't to his present Station of Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas 3. This Title of Attorney General began in Eward the Firsts time but I cannot be positive when they had their first Writs of Summons but in the 21.30 and 39. of Hen. 8. he had a Writ and so the 1.6.7 Edw. the 6. also the 1. and 1. of Mary and 2.3.4 and 5. Phil. and Mary and in those two last Writs he is term'd Attornat ' Dominorum Regis Reginae General ' and then in the 28.30.39 and 43. Eliz. Attornato Generali and so also the 1. and 21. of King James also the 1. and 15. Carol. primi and now 13. Caroli Secundi Sir Geffrey Palmer Attornato and after him none did sit in the House of Lords during this Parliament except Sir William Jones Knt. the Attorneys intervening those two being still chosen in the House of Commons as will be shewn Of the Consimilar Writ to the Kings Solicitor General THe words Attornatus Solicitator are us'd in the Civil Laws SECT 18 as here at the Common Law for such as do take care to manage or tend other mens Affairs and there is but one of that Profession as is before shewn of the Attorney General but because the Title should be distinguish't from the common sort of such Practisers as the Kings Attorney hath his Patent and Writ from the King so hath this thereupon call'd the Kings Solicitor General his Patent is In haec verba CArolus Secundus c. Omnibus ad quos c. salutem Sciatis