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A28585 The continuation of An historicall discourse of the government of England, untill the end of the reigne of Queene Elizabeth with a preface, being a vindication of the ancient way of parliaments in England / by Nath. Bacon of Grais-Inne, Esquire. Bacon, Nathaniel, 1593-1660.; Bacon, Nathaniel, 1593-1660. Historicall and political discourse of the laws & government of England. 1651 (1651) Wing B348; ESTC R10585 244,447 342

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underlings to the great men then they are to their Fethers to were them no longer then they will make them brave Secondly the Person thus agreed upon his intertainment must be accordingly and therefore the manner of taxing in full County and levying the rate of Wages for their maintenance is reformed and settled And lastly their Persons are put under the Protection of the Law in an especiall manner for as their work is full of reflexion so formerly they had met with many sad influences for their labour And therefore a penall Law is made against force to be made upon the Persons of those workmen of State either in their going to that Service or attending thereupon making such Delinquents liable to Fine and Imprisonment and double damages And thus however the times were full of confusions yet a foundation was laid of a more uniforme Government in future times then England hitherto had seen CAHP. XV. Of the Custos or Protector Regni KIngs though they have vast dimensions yet are not infinite nor greater then the bounds of one Kingdome wherein if present they are in all places present if otherwise they are like the Sunn gone down and must rule by reflexion as the Moone in the night In a mixt common wealth they are integrall members and therefore regularly must act Per deputatum when their Persons are absent in another Ligialty and cannot act Per se Partly because their Lustre is somewhat eclipsed by another Horizon and partly because by common intendment they cannot take notice of things done in their absence It hath therefore been the ancient course of Kings of this Nation to constitute Vicegerents in their absence ' giving them severall titles and severall powers according as the necessity of affaires required Sometimes they are called Lord Warden or Lord Keeper of the Kingdome and have therewith the generall power of a King as it was with John Warren Earle of Surry appointed therunto by Edw. the first who had not onely power to command but to grant and this power extended both to England and Scotland And Peter Gaveston though a Forrainer had the like power given him by Edward the second over England to the reproach of the English Nobility which also they revenged afterward Somtimes these Vicegerents are called Lievtenants which seemeth to conferr onely the Kings power in the Militia as a Lievtenant Generall in an army And thus Richard the second made Edmund Duke of Yorke his Lievtenant of the Kingdome of England to oppose the entry of the Duke of Hertford Afterwards called Henry the fourth into England during the Kings absence in Ireland And in the mean while the other part of the Royalty which concerned the revenues of the Crowne was betrusted to the Earle of Wiltshire Sir John Bush Sir James Baggot and Sir Henry Green unto whom men say the King put his Kingdome to farme But more ordinarily the Kings power was delegated unto one under both the titles of Lord Gaurdian of the Kingdome and Lievtenant within the same such was the title of Henry Lacy Earle of Lincolne and of Gilbert De clare Earle of Glocester and of Audomar De valentia Earle of Pembroke all of them at severall times so constituted by Edward the second as by the Patent Roles appeareth So likewise did Edward the third make his Brother John of E●tham twice and the black Prince thrice and Lionell Duke Clarence and his Brother Thomas each of them once in the severall passages of Edward the third beyond the Sea in the third fifth twelfth fourteenth sixteenth nineteenth and thirty third years of his reigne concerning which see the Patent Rolls of those yeares And Henry the fifth gave likewise the same title and authority to the Duke of Bedford upon the Kings voyage into France and afterward that Duke being sent over to second the King in the French Wars the Duke of Glocester obtained the same power and place But Henry the sixth added a further title of Protector and Defendor of the Kingdome and Church of England this was first given to the Duke of Bedford and afterwards he being made Regent of France it was conferred upon the Duke of Glocester And towards the later time of Henry the sixth it was granted by him to Richard Duke of Yorke This title carried along with it a power different from that of a King onely in honor and the Person so adorned may be said to sway the Scepter but not to weare the Crowne And therefore in the minority of Henry the sixth when as the Government was ordered by the Parliament and to that end a Protector was made and he wel guarded with a Privy Councill and they provided with instructions one of them was that in all matters not to be transacted ordinarily but by the Kings expresse consent the Privy Councell should advise with the Prorector but this is not so needfull in regard that it concerneth the power of executing of Lawes which by right of the liberty of the Subject is the known duty of the Scepter in whose hands soever it is holden And therefore I shall passe to the Legislative power wherein its evident that the Protectors power was no whit inferiour to the Kings power For first the Protector Ex officio by advice of the Councell did summon Parliaments by Writs even as the Kings themselves under their owne Teste and if not bear the Royall Assent yet did they direct the same and received Petitions in Parliament to them directed as to Kings and every way supplied the roome of a King in order to the perfecting publishing and inforcing of Law to Execution Secondly the Parliaments holden by Protectors and Lawes therein made are no whit inferiour to those by the King whether for Honour or Power And therefore if a Parliament be-holden by the Lord Warden and sitting the Parliament the King in person shall arrive and be there present neither is the Parliament interrupted thereby nor the power thereof changed at all though the power and place of the Wardenship of the Kingdome doth utterly vanish by the personall accesse of the King because in all Cases where the King is subservient to the Kingdome or the Common-wealth The Lord Warden in his absence is conservient unto him being in his stead and not under him for the very Place supposeth him as not because not present And this was by a Law declaratively published at such time as Henry the fifth was Regent of France and therefore by common presumption was likely to have much occasion of residence in that Kingdome and it holdeth in equall force with all other Lawes of the highest Size which is the rather to be noted because it is though under a Protector obligatory to the King and makes his personall presence no more considerable then the presence of his shadow For the King spent three whole yeares in the French Warres and during that time never saw England where
them Church-motes For the first of them which is sayd to be holden in the yeare 816. is called a Synod and both Preists and Deacons were there present which are no Members of Parliament consisting onely of the House of Lords and they all of them did Pariter tractare de necessarijs utilitatibus Ecclesiarum The second of them is called a Synodall Councill holden Anno 822. and yet there were then present Omnium dignitatum optimates which cannot be understood onely of those of the House of Lords because they ought all to be personally present and therefore there is no Optimacy amongst them The last of these three is called Synodale Conciliabulum a petty Synod in great letters and besides there were with the Bishops and Abbots many Wise men and in all these respects it cannot be a Parliament onely of the great Lords The next Councill said to be holden in the yeare 823. cannot also be called properly a Parliament but onely a consultation between two Kings and their Councill to prevent the invasion of the Danes and the attests of the Kings Chapplain and his Scribe doe shew also that they were not all Members of the House of Lords The Councill cited by the Opponent in the next place was holden An 838. being onely in nature of a Councill for Law or Judicature to determine the validity of the Kings Grant made to the Church of Canterbury which is no proper worke for a Parliament unlesse it befall during the fitting of the same The next is but a bare title of a Councill supposed to be holden An. 850. And not worth its room for it neither sheweth whether any thing was concluded nor what the conclusions were The worke of the next Councill alleadged to be holden An. 851. was to confirme the Charter of the Monastry of Croyland and to determine concerning affaires belonging to the Mercinies and if it had beene a Parliament for that people it might be worthy of inquiry how regularly the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London and the Ambassadors from the West Saxons could sit amongst them and attest the conclusions therein made as wel as the proper members of that Nation He commeth in the next place to a Councill holden in the yeare 855. which is more likely to be a Parliament then most of them formerly mentioned if the Tithes of all England were therein given to the Church but hereof I have set downe my opinion in the former part of the discourse And though it be true that no Knights and Burgesses are therein mentioned as the Opponent observeth out of the Title yet if the body of the Lawes be duly considered towards the conclusion thereof it will appeare that there was present Fidelium infinita multitudo qui omnes regium Chirographum Laudaverunt Dignitates vero sua nomina subscripserunt And yet the Witagen-motes in these times began to be rare being continually inrerrupted by the invasions of the Danes The three next Councills alleaged to be in the yeares 930. 944. 948. Were doubtlesse of inferiour value as the matters therin concluded were of inferiour regard being such as concerne the passing of the Kings Grants Infeodations and confirmations The Councill mentioned to be in the yeare 965. is supposed to be one and the same with the next foregoing by Sir Henry Spelman which calls it selfe a generall Councill not by reason of the generall confluence of the Lords and Laity but because all the Bishops of England did then meet The Primi and Primates were there who these were is not mentioned but its evident that the King of Scots was there and that both he and diverse that are called Ministri Regis attested the conclusions It will be difficult to make out how these should be Members of the House of Lords and more difficult to shew a reason why in the attesting of the acts of these Councills which the Opponent calls Parliaments we finde so few of the Laity that scarce twelve are mentioned in any one of them and those to descend so low as the Ministri Regis to make up the number Five more of these instances remaine before the comming in of the Normans The first of which was in the yeare 975. and in a time when no Parliament according to the Opponents principles could sit for it was an Inter regnum The two next were onely Synods to determine the difference between the Regulers and the Seculers in the Kings absence by reason that he was under age and they are sayd to be in the yeares 977 and 1009. But it s not within the compasse of my matter to debate their dates The last two were Meetings or Courts for Judicature to determine the crime of Treason which every one knowes is determinable by inferiour Courts before the high Steward or Judges and therefore not so peculiar to a Parliament as to be made an argument of its existence And thus are we at an end of all the instances brought by the Opponent to prove that Parliaments before the Norman times consisted of those whom we now call the House of Lords All which I shall shut up with two other notes taken out of the Book of Councils published by Sir Henry Spelman The first of which concerneth a Grant made by Canutus of an exemption to the Abby of Bury Saint Edmonds in a Councill wherein were present Arch-Bishops Bishops Abbots Dukes Earles Cum quamplurimis gregariis militibus cum populi multitudine copiosa votis regiis unanimiter consentientes The other taken out of the confessors Lawes which tells us that Tithes were granted to the Church A Rege Baronibus populo And thus shall leave these testimonies to debate with one another whiles the Reader may judge as seemeth most equall to himselfe Being thus come to the Norman times and those ensuing I shall more summarily proceed with the particulars concerning them because they were times of force and can give little or no evidence against the customes rightly setled in the Saxon times which I have more particularly insisted upon that the originall constitution of this government may the better appeare Now for the more speedy manifesting of the truth in the particulars following I shall pre-advise the Reader in three particulars First that the Church-motes grew more in power and honor by the aide of the Normans Law refusing the concurrence and personall presence of Kings whom at length they excluded from their Councils with all his Nobles and therefore it is the lesse wonder if we heare but little of the Commons joyning with them Secondly that the Norman way of government grew more Aristocraticall then the Saxon making the Lords the cheif Instruments of keeping Kings above and people underneath thus we meet with much noise of meetings betweene the King and Lords and little concerning the grand meetings of the Kings and the representative of the people although some footsteps wee finde even of them
he made the penalty of Praemuniri to extend to all Farmores or others in nature of Bailiffs that held any Church maintenance to the use of any alien and unto all Aliens that are Purchasors of such Provisions to any use and unto all Lieges that shall in like manner purchase such Provisions But as touching such as shall accept such provisions he ordained Banishment for their Persons and Forfeiture of their Estate Notwithstanding all this the Romane Horse-leach would not so give over The King grew into displeasure with his Subjects and they with him and with one another they see the Pope still on Horseback and fear that the English Clergy their own Countrey men if not Friends and Abbettors yet are but faint and feigned Enemies to the Popes Cause Nor was it without Cause that their fear was such for as the Pope had two hands to receive so they had two hearts making show of forming blowes at the Pope but then alwayes at a distance or when without the Popes Guard and thus the Lawes begin to stammer and cannot speake so plain English as they were wont The people hereat offended resolve to put the Clergy into the Van and to try their mettle to the full At the last Parliament that Richard the Second did hold both the Lords Temporall and Spirituall are opposed one by one The Lords Temporall like themselves resolve and enter their Resolutions to defend the right of the Crowne in the Cases of Provisors although even amongst these great men all were not equally resolute for Sir William Brian had purchased the Popes Excommunication against some that had committed Burglary and he was committed to the Tower for his labour But the Prelates answer was ambiguous and with modifications which was all one to cry as men use to say Craven yet was the Statute made peremptory according to what was formerly Enacted And though the Prelates cautionary way of proceeding might be a principall reason why the Popes power held so long in England in an usurping way yet Kings also much conduced thereto by seeking too much their Personall ease above the Honour of their Place and the Popes blessings and opinion of his Favour more then their owne good or the Peoples liberty for there was no other balme for a distracted minde then that which dropped from the Popes lips In like manner Richard the Second being already at least in purpose estranged from his People sought to get freinds at Rome to hold by the Spirituall Sword what he was in danger to loose by laying aside the Sword of Justice which is the surest Tenure for Kings to hold by And though the Popedome was now under a Schisme between two Popes Clement and Vrban yet he was so farre won for Vrban that he not onely ingaged himselfe and the Parliament to determine his Election and uphold the same but also Ex abundante did by Implication allow to him an Indefinite Power to grant Provisions and so at once he lost the Die and gained a Stake that like a bubble looked faire but soon vanished away Neverthelesse these two Comrades whiles they were together resolved to make the most of each other that they could and therefore though the Popedome liked not the King yet the Pope had his love so farre as he could deny himselfe for he had already denied his Kingdome And if the Articles exhibited against the King by Henry the Fourth be true the Pope had his Faith also For that he might be rid of his reputed Enemy Arch Bishop Arundell he trusted the Pope with that Complement of making Walden Arch Bishop of Canterbury in Arundells stead which the Pope tooke so kindly as he made it a President for Provisors for the future Nor did the King stick in this one Singular but made it his Custome in passing of Lawes especially such as the King was most devoted unto to put more Confidence in the Popes Amen then in all the Prayers of his Commons with his owne Soit fait to boot The summe then will be that the Prize was now well begun concerning the Popes power in England Edward the Third made a fair blow and drew blood Richard the Second seconded him but both retired the former left the Pope to lick himself whole the later gave him a salve and yet it proved a Gangrene in the conclusion The second means used to bring down the power of the Pope in this Nation was to abate the power or height of the English Clergy for though the times were not so cleare as to espy the Root of a Pope in Prelacy yet experience had taught them that they were so nigh ingaged that they would not part And therefore first they let these men know that Prelacy was no Essentiall Member to the Government of the Kingdome but as there was a Government established before that ranke was known so there may be the like when it is gone For Edward the Third being troubled with a quarrell between the two Arch Bishops of Canterbury and Yorke concerning Superiority in bearing the Crosse and the important Affaires of Scotland so urging Summoned a Parliament at Yorke which was fain to be delaied and adjourned for want of appearance and more effectuall Summons issued forth but at the day of Adjournment none of the Clergy of the Province of Canterbury would be there and upon this Occasion the Parliament was not onely interrupted in their proceedings but an ill president was made for men to be bold with the Kings Summons in such Cases as liked not them and thereupon a Statute was made to inforce Obedience upon Citizens and Burgesses and such Ecclesiasticks as held per Baroniam Neverthelesse when the matters concerning Provisors began to come upon the Stage which was within two yeares after that Law was made the Clergy found that matter too warme for them and either did not obey the Summons or come to the Parliament or if they came kept aloofe or if not so would not Vote or if that yet order their tongues so as nothing was certainly to be gathered but their doubtfull or rather double minde These Prelates thus discovered the Parliament depended no more upon them further then they saw meet At sixe or seven Parliaments determined matters without their Advice and such as crossed the Principles of these men and therefore in a rationall way might require their Sense above all the rest had they not beene prepossessed with prejudice and parties in the matter Nor did Edward the Third ever after hold their Presence at so high Repute at such meetings and therefore Summoned them or so many of them as he thought meet for the Occasion sometimes more somtimes fewer and at a Parliament in his fourty and seventh yeare he Summoned onely foure Bishops and five Abbots And thus the matter in Fact passed in these times albeit the Clergy still made their claim of Vote and desired the same to be entered upon Record And