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
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
Abbots c. in their time were Pares inter seipsos and both of those Degrees were also Pares upon a Baronial account so the Dukes and Marquesses being Earls or Barons before they were created Dukes or Marquesses in respect of their Earldoms or Baronies were Peers to the Earls and Barons and the Viscounts also most of them being Barons before they were created Viscounts in respect of their Baronies were Peers also to the Barons so also upon a Baronial account they were Pares pari gradu Baroniali Till Patents of Creation did more exactly distinguish them without relation to Baronies so as now to speak properly each Degree are Pares or Prees to their distinct Degrees 9. I must here again make use of my former observation viz. That in the Writs to Dukes they were Summon'd to be present in Parliament Cum Magnatibus Proceribus and so are the Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons yet the Pattents to the Dukes do place them inter Proceres Magnates putting Proceres or Peers before Magnates or Lords and in the Pattents to Marquesses they are placed inter alios Marchiones and the Earls inter alios Comites and the Viscounts inter alios Vicecomites and the Barons inter alios Barones But none of the Lords Patentees except the Dukes in relation to their places do take any notice of the position of the words inter Proceres Magnates for the Earls and Barons Patents have reference only to their own Degrees and not to the three other Degrees so as Proceres or Peers is applied only to the Dukes in their Patents of Creation 10. This is all that I can satisfie my self in concerning the use of the words Lords and Peers Praelati Magnates Proceres and that this may be the more satisfactory to others I shall recite the words of the learned Selden in his Titles of Honour whose lasting Credit is beyond exception saith he Though there be a distinction of Degrees in our Nobility yet in all publick actions they are Peers or Equals as in the Tryals of Noblemen c. in which the Spiritual Lords never did or do concern themselves Personally because it is against their Canons to act in any matters which relate to Blood yet whatever Acts pass these words are inserted viz. We the Lords Spiritual and Temporal c. with the Kings Assent c. for though the Lords Spiritual consist of Archbishops and Bishops and the Lords Temporal of Princes of the Blood Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons yet they are all included as Peers in the words Lords Spiritual and Temporal and so in many cases the word Peers is also generally applied so that as the words Lords and Peers have been of latter times intermixedly used we cannot well make a difference between them otherwise than is before exprest 11. That the words Lords and Peers have been used promiscuously in relation to the five Degrees of the Lords Temporal is evident from the Commissions issued for the Trials of the Earl of Strafford 1640. the Lord Morley Anno 1665. the Lord Cornwallis Anno 1676. the Earl of Pembroke Anno 1678. wherein the words are Damus autem Vniversis singulis Ducibus Marchionibus Comitibus Vicecomitibus Baronibus c. without mentioning Praelatis for reasons before mentioned and though the Earl of Strafford and Earl of Pembroke were Earls yet by the Commission they were triable per Barones Viceomites Comites Marchiones Duces and not by Earls only and so though the Lord Morley and Lord Cornwallis were only Barons yet they were triable by Dukes Marquesses Earls and Viscounts and not by Barons only whereby the word Peers seems to be a word of eminency giving no real distinction to those five Degrees of Nobility so as all the Degrees of the Temporal Lords are Peers and the Peers Lords to confirm this I shall cite one passage more from Mr. Selden who saith That though we borrowed the word Peers from the twelve Peers in France yet here we apply it to all the Lords in Parliament and not to any set number of them because saith he the number of our Nobles may be more or less as the King pleaseth and as Marquesses and Viscounts were as I said interpos'd to Dukes Earls and Barons so he may abstract less or add more as he thinks most fit for the support of Nobility for he is Dominus Nobilitatis Honoris or the Fountain of Honour and that this Prerogative may be more fully seen herein in the 21. of Jacobi it being needless to quote former precedents five several Writs were issued after the Pawn was setled yet entred in the Margent of the Pawn for that year to five several persons viz. to the Lord Grandison Sir Robert Chichester Sir John Sucklin Knight Comptroler of the Kings House to Sir Thomas Edmunds Knight Treasurer of the Kings Houshold and to Sir Richard Weston Knight Chancellor of the Exchequer to summon and impower them to sit in the Lords House who otherwise had no right of Tenure Prescription or Creation So in the first of Caroli primi six several Writs were issued and also entred in the Margent of the Pawn for that year viz. to Oliver Lord St. John and again to Sir Thomas Edmunds Sir John Sucklin Sir Richard Weston and to Sir Robert Nanton Knight one of the Kings Privy-Council and to Sir Humphry May Chancellor of the Dutchy of Lancaster and so in 15 Car. primi two Writs were issued and also entred in the Margent of the Pawn for that year viz. to Charles Viscount Wilmot of the Kings Privy-Council and to Edward Newburgh Knight then Chancellor of the Dutchy of Lancaster and also of the Kings Privy-Council 12. To sum up all I apprehend That those Lords Spiritual which are summon'd by Writ to sit in Parliament are Vital Peers and the Lords Temporal so summon'd are hereditary Peers for there are other English Lords which may be but are not summon'd and thereby are no Parliament Peers yet are Lords and upon an hereditary account also for the King as I said can summon or not summon any of them when he thinks fit unless any Lord claims a right by Patent of Creation or otherwise and then upon that right he demands his Writ and it is seldom denied if the grounds of their demands be right if dubious the Case is debated in the Lords House as in the Case of the Lord Abergaveny c. Some are of opinion That the Lords Temporal are only to be accounted Peers and not the Lords Spiritual first Because they sit there rather by their Writs of Summons than Tenures as anciently they did secondly Their Titles of Lord is but vital at most thirdly In case of Treason or Felony committed by a Spiritual Lord or Lord Temporal the manner of trying them upon Indictment and Judgment upon Conviction are clearly different as will be shewn in the Chapter of Trial by Peers 13. Notwithstanding these
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
quod nos de gratia nostra speciali ac ex certa scientia mero motu nostris ordinavimus fecimus constituimus dilectum fidelem nostrum H. F. Mil. Solicitatorem nostrum Generalem ac ipsum H. F. Solicitatorem Generalem nostrum per presentes ordinavimus fecimus constituimus Habendum gaudend occupand exercend officium illud quamdiu nobis placuerit Percipiend annuatim eidem H. F. pro occupatione exercic ' officij predicti tal' tant ' Vad. Feod Profic ' commoditat ' qual' quanta dicto officio debito sive pertinend prout aliquis alius sive aliqui alij officium predict ' proantea habens sive occupans habuit vel percepit habuerunt sive preceperunt in pro exercitio ejusdem officij eo quod expressa mentio c. In Cujus rei c. Teste c. Observations THough this Imployment was granted by Patent in Edward the Fourths time yet for want of time I shall also begin his Writ of Summons the 21. of Henry the Eight and then Edward Griffin being Attorney General Gosnold was Solicitor and the Writ was Hen. Rex c. Dilecto fideli suo Johanni Gosnold Solicitatori suo Salutem Quia and so verbatim according to the Exemplar in the 36 Hen. 8. William Whorwood was Attorney General and Henry Bradshaw Solicitor and had his Writ the first of Edw. the Sixth Bradshaw was made Attorney General and Edward Griffin Solicitor and had his Writ and the 6. of Edw. 6. Griffith was made Attorney and Jo. Gosnold Solicitor and had his Writ and both continued so till the first of Mary and then William Cordel in the room of Gosnold was made Solicitor and had his Writ also in another Parliament of that year both had their Writs in the 1. and 2 3 and 4. of Phil. and Mary and in the 4. and 5. Phil. and Mary Griffith being Attorney General Rich. Weston afterwards Lord Treasurer was made Solicitor Dominorum Regis Reginae and had his Writ in the 38. of Eliz. Jo. Popham afterwards Lord Chief Justice was Attorney and Thomas Egerton afterwards Lord Chancellor was Solicitor and had his Writ and so they continued to the 39. Eliz. and then Edw. Coke after one of the Justices of the Common-Pleas was made Attorney and Tho. Flemins Solicitor and had his Writ and in the 43. Sir Edw. Coke was put back to be Solicitor and had his Writ and Thomas Egerton was Attorney and in the first of James Edw. Coke then Knighted was again made Attorney General and Tho. Flemins then Knighted also again made Solicitor and had his Writ and in the 21 Jacobi Thomas Coventry Miles after Lord Keeper was made Attorney and Robert Heath Knt. Solicitor after Chief Justice and had his Writ and both had Writs again the first Car. primi and the 15th Jo. Banks Knt. was made Attorney and Edward Harbert Solicitor and had his Writ But at the Summoning of this Parliament no Writ was sent to Sir Heneage Finch then the Kings Solicitor being chosen for the House of Commons and being after made Attorney General still he continued in the House of Commons till he was made Lord Keeper and then he was remov'd to the Lords House by Writ as Lord Keeper and so Sir Francis North being the Kings Solicitor did sit in the House of Commons this Parliament and was not removed thence till he was made Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas so that during this Parliament none whilst actually the Kings Solicitors were Summon'd or did sit in the Lords House yet I thought fit to insert this Degree here though he be not mention'd in this Pawn because there are so many Precedents of his Summons as are before recited in former Kings Reigns Of the Consimilar Writ to the Kings Principal Secretaries THis Officer of State and Assistant is plac't the last in most of the Pawns SECT 19 and brings up the Rear of all the forementioned Assistants which posture is a place of great Honour both in Civil Solemnities and Martial Imployments and that it may so appear in the aforesaid Act of the 31. of Hen. the Eighth none of the other Assistants before recited except the Lord Chancellor are so much as mention'd therein their precedencies being known in their own Courts from a greater antiquity but the Secretaries Place is fix't by that Act viz. if he be under the Degree of a Noble Baron yet it is above all the Assistants and next the Lord Chancellor if he be of the Degree of a Baron then above all Barons or if an Earl as in the case of the Lord Arlington then above all of that Degree unless any of the Superior Officers of State be of that Degree and then next to him and above the rest He hath his Office as Secretary not by Patent but by delivery of the Privy Signet to him and so if there be more than one as now there are two each considered as Principal hath also a Privy Signet delivered to him His Parliament Writ in this Pawn was thus Carolus c. Dilecto fideli Edwardo Nicolas Militi uno primariorum Secretariorum suorum salutem Quia c. and so verbatim according to the last mention'd Exemplar as an Assistant and the Title in the Label is like the Title of his Writ Observations 1. THis Writ agrees with all the former except in the word Vni and so if there be more as I have shewn in the Writ to the Judges yet commonly in Superscriptions he that is made Chief is Stiled Principal without the word one and the other One of the Principal Secretaries of State 2. The word Capitalis is us'd in the Writs to the two Chief Justices and Chief Baron but to the chief Secretary the word Principali is us'd not only signifying the Capital First or Chief but intimating his more immediate Imployment on his Prince for Principali is properly from Principe 3. If there be more Secretaries than one as there are seldom less than two they divide their negotiations into the Title of Provinces both in relation to this Kingdom or Foreign Kingdoms or States and so each of them give an account to the King accordingly and they have an Office appertaining to them call'd the Signet Office Signet where they have four Clerks as their Substitutes to perform their Directions for all Dispatches both Foreign and Domestick and generally they are of his Majesties Privy-Council 4. Their Imployments in Parliament are either in the House of Lords or House of Commons according as they are Summon'd to one or Elected to the other and as the King thinks them in either place most useful for his occasions 5. I need not go back to find the Antiquity of their Summons for it may be presum'd to be ancient from the Eminency and nature of their Imployments so it may suffice only to instance here that in the 36 Hen. 8. William Packet Mil. had his
stand fair but if divulged they are sure not only to lose the credit of the Event but double the disrepute if both be bad Herein some men are naturally of a more reserved temper than others however those are only fit to be Counsellors and Secretaries of State who have no Windows in their Breast that is no such transparent Eyes as men may easily see their disposures of Affairs but can wisely keep the Secrets of State from other mens Inspections and in Parliaments I conceive such Tempers are very useful for if the People Trust them they do well in performing their Trust but appealing again to the People shews a diffidence in their own Judgments Thus having shewn the Kings Warrant in the Front and the Secretaries Writ in the Rear and fix't the Noble Lords betwixt those who manage the Laws Divine and those who are Assistants in Human Laws and run through the most constant Writs which are us'd for Summoning such as are to fit in a Parliament either as Essential or Assisting Members thereof I should now proceed to the House of Commons but I shall crave leave First To speak of some accidentall Writs for Assistants Secondly Of the manner of return of all the aforesaid Writs Thirdly Of such as sit there without Writ or Patent Fourthly Of such as sit there only by Patent and Fifthly Of some other Officers who are imployed there by vertue of Patents CHAP. XIV Of Consimilar Writs and Patents upon Emergent occasions 1. I Find in Mr. Prins Breviary That he cites many Records long before Henry the Eighth which I shall not examine because some of them have been so long disus'd Of Knights Justices of North Wales Treasurer of Carnarvan Treasurer of the Kings House Chancellor of the Exchequer Deans Archdeacons Escheators and one Magister Thomas Yong which he takes to be a Master of Chancery that have been Summon'd by Writ to sit in Parliaments in the Lords House but since Henry the Eighth in the Pettibag several Writs of Assistants were issued as I have shewn in the 11th Chap. Sect. 9. to shew the Kings Power some of which were Professors of the Law and some not 2. There was another Writ viz. to the Warden of the Cinqueports which was not constant but occasional for sometimes it was directed to an Earl and sometimes to some one Person under the Degree of a Baron yet by vertue of the Writ he was impowr'd to sit in the Lords House but since Henry the Fourths time when that Office was supplied by the Prince of Wales after called Henry the Fifth who had a Writ with the addition of Guardian ' Quinque Portuum that Trust hath been committed to some one of the Blood Royal and from that Writ other Writs are derived to all the Cinqueports But in respect this Writ as to a Parliament is mostly concern'd about Election of 16. Members to serve in the House of Commons I shall refer the Discourse of it to the second part in that Chapter which particularly treats of the Cinqueports 3. If at any time the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper be absent upon just occasion as when the Lord Keeper Bridgman in this Parliament was Sick a Patent was made for Sir John Vaughan then Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas to supply his place and the like to Sir Francis North Chief Justice of the Common Pleas also c. and though for the most part this happens in time of Parliament yet because it may happen between the time of Summons and the Sitting of a Parliament which is the chief design of this part of this Treatise I have thought fit to enter the form of that Patent in this place rather than defer it viz. CHARLES c. To Our Right Trusty and Welbeloved Sir Francis North Knt. Chief Justice of Our Court of Common Pleas Greeting Whereas Our Right Trusty and Welboved Councellor Heneage Lord Finch Our Lord High Chancellor of England is often so infirm that he is not able constantly to attend in the upper House of this Our present Parliament now holden at Westminster nor there to supply the room and place in the said upper House amongst the Lords Spiritual and Temporal there Assembled as to the Office of the Lord Chancellor of England hath been accustomed We minding the same place and room to be supplied in all things as appertaineth for and during every time of his absence have named and appointed you And by these Presents do Name Constitute and Appoint and Authorize you from day to day and from time to time when and so often as the said Lord Chancellor shall happen at any time or times during this present Parliament to be absent from his accustomed place in the said upper House to Occupy Vse and Supply the said room and place of the said Lord Chancellor in the said upper House amongst the Lords Spiritual and Temporal there Assembled at every such day and time of his absence and then and there at every such time to do and execute all such things as the said Lord Chancellor of England should or might do if if he were there personally present Vsing and Supplying the same room Wherefore We Will and Command you the said Sir Francis North to attend to the doing and execution of the premisses with Effect and these Our Letters Patents shall be your sufficient Warrant and Discharge for the same in every respect In Witness whereof We have caused these Our Letters to be made Patents Witness our Self at Westminster the Nineteenth day of March in the Nine and twentieth Year of our Reign Per ipsum Regem propria manu Signat And having now dispatch't all the Writs and Patents which concern the Summoning of such as sit in the Lords House it is proper to shew the manner of returning of those Writs which is usual in all Courts and ought to be strictly observed here CHAP. XV. Of Returns of Writs relating to the Summoning of such as are to Sit in the Lords House IN all Judicial Courts from whence Writs do issue there is care taken for their due Returns as may be seen in Fitz Herbert and such Authors who have treated of the nature of Writs and their Returns but none of them giving a full account of Parliament Writs and Returns gives me occasion to insert this Chapter As to the Return of the Writs to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Assistants they ought by every individual Person who had a Writ to be deliver'd to the Clerk of the Parliament before the House Sit or immediately upon their Entrance into the House at the Table and by the said Clerk they are to be kept with the Records of that House By the omission of this method many inconveniencies have and may happen to their Successors or Posterity and therefore it is wisht there were more care taken in their due Returns to which they may be incourag'd being of so little trouble in the performance But as to the
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
Signet and hath four Clerks to attend its Office the other the Privy-Seal and hath also four Clerks to attend its Office and the third is call'd as I said the Great Seal and hath properly six Clerks to attend it but increas'd to many more The Privy Signet is under the Custody of the Chief Secretary of State the Privy Seal under the Custody of the Lord Privy Seal and the Broad Seal under the Custody of the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper so as most matters which concern a declaration of the King's pleasure in writing do take their rise from the Privy Signet and from thence transmitted to the Privy Seal and from thence to the Great Seal to receive its determination 5. But to pass by all private or publick Matters about which these three Officers are concern'd this is certain that the Clerks of these three Offices excluding none in some form or other are concern'd in the Warrants and Writs c. for the Summoning every Parliament 6. When the chief Officer of this Office did pass under the Title of Keeper or Clerk of the Privy Seal most of them were Ecclesiasticks yet having this Office he had his Writ of Summons and Place in the Lords House as may be collected from the Rolls of 15 Edw. 3. when Sir William Keldsly was Keeper of the Privy Seal and 20 Edw. 3. when Mr. Jo. Thoresby was call'd Clerk of the Privy Seal and from 28 Edw. 3. when Sir Michael of Northumberland was Keeper of the Privy Seal Sir being an Epithite given in those days to the Clergy and still in use in the Universities for Batchelors of Arts and from 11 R. 2. and 1 2 H. 4. when Sir Richard Clifford was Keeper of the Privy Seal and these had Writs and from 3 4 H. 6. a Writ was expresly sent Magistro Willielmo Alrevill Custodi privati sigilli and from that time the Rolls and Pawns which speak of them are dormant or wanting to the Pawn of 30 H. 8. when the Writ to John Earl of Bedford is there entred Castos privati sigilli and he being so in 31 H. 8. when the Act was made his Precedency was setled as is therein shewn and there first intituled Lord Privy Seal and so this Officer hath continued in that additional Title of Lord to this time However in the Latin Writs he is styled only Custos privati sigilli without the addition of Dominus and so in the very Pawn of that year and in 36 H. 8. and is no more mention'd in any of the Pawns till 6 and 7 Edw. 6. when John Earl of Bedford was still Custos privati sigilli and from that time those Pawns which are extant do not mention that Officer till 1 Car. 1. when Edward Earl of Worcester was entred Custos privati sigilli and 15 Car. 1. when Henry Earl of Manchester was Custos privati sigilli and had their Writs but in this Pawn of 13 Car. 2. none is mention'd and yet the Lord Roberts was then Lord Privy Seal so as it was an omission of the Clerks as I conceive 7. Most of the Keepers of the Privy Seal as I have observ'd were Ecclesiasticks before 30 H. 8. but since that time this Office hath been conferr'd only upon such as were Temporal Lords above the degree of Barons and not under 8. This great Officer hath also an appartment near the Lords House for his accomodations and sometimes us'd for the Lords Committees as will be shewn 9. These four last mention'd are plac'd in this order in the Lords House whether or not they be of any of the Noble Degrees John Lord Roberts of Truro Lord Privy Seal was Summon'd by Writ of Feb. 1661. See Chap. 2. SECT X. Of the Lord Great Chamberlain of England THE five foregoing Officers of State viz. Vice-Gerent Chancellor Treasurer President and Privy Seal were anciently chosen out of Ecclesiastick Degrees but those which I am now to speak of except the Secretaries being for the most part also Clergy-men were chosen out of Laicks persons of the greatest Merit Fortunes or Families and had their Places as they were annext to the Degrees of the Nobility 2. The learned Institutor saith that if the King gave Lands to a man to hold of him to be Chancellor of England Chamberlain of England Constable of England Marshal of England or High Steward of England c. these Tenures were call'd Grand Sergeanties and these and such like Grand Sergeanties were of great and high Jurisdictions some of them concerned matters Military in time of Wars and some services of Honour in time of Peace 3. This Officer ever was and still is in great Veneration and Use and I conceive though now most of his Imployments are about the King's Court yet the word Camerarius which we call Chamberlain was like to that among the Romans call'd Comes Aerarij and had such relation to the Treasury of the Kingdom as the Chamberlains of London and the Chamberlains of the Palatines of Lancaster and Chester have to their distinct Treasuries of which I shall speak more fully in order as also in my Annotations and I apprehend that these great Officers need not Writs because it is requisite these should be always attending on the Kings Person but when they are otherwise commanded to his Imployments in their Offices and there is scarce any of them especially this but are so glutinated to some Noble Person that it cannot be said whether the Writ be more in respect of the Office or Person that Manageth that Office 4. This Office was injoy'd for many Successions by the Earls of Oxford till Richard the Second by violence took it away the House of Commons 1 H. 4. pray'd the King that it might be restored to Richard then Earl of Oxford being as it was then alledged his due Inheritance yet in 1 H. 6. that King granted it to the Duke of Glocester the 36th of Hen. 8. the Writ was to Edward Earl of Hertford Magno Camerario Angliae and 1 Edw. 6. to John Earl of Warwick Magno Camerario Angliae Afterwards by a Match it was hereditated to the Family of the Berties who after some disputes about the Title did sit in Parliament in the time of Charles the First and this Parliament as Earl of Lindsey and Lord great Chamberlain of England whereby one part which his Lordship is to act as his Predecessors had done is to take care that all things be provided in the House of Lords that may suit with the Grandeur and Conveniencies of the Persons who are there to be imploy'd and for that and other purposes he hath also an Appartment near the Lords House as will be shewn 5. Montague Bertie Earl of Lindsey Lord Great Chamberlain of England was summon'd by Writ Feb. 18. 1661. See Cap. 2. SECT XI Of the High Constable of England IT may be well suppos'd that Constabularius Angliae was instead of Comes stabuli amongst the old Romans which
Marshal and Duke Thomas dying at Padua about the end of this Parliament Henry the Brother succeeded in the Dukedom and sat as Duke of Norfolk and Henry the Eldest Son of the said Duke Henry being then intituled Earl of Arundel did sit as Earl of Arundel and Lord Mowbray so as that Title of Earl Marshal is in Duke Henry and the Title of Mowbray in the Earl of Arundel and that Title of Earl Marshal only inpossibility to come again into Mowbray And this may be added that during Duke Thomas his Life James Earl of Suffolk by Deputation did execute that Office for reasons which I leave to other Writers SECT XIII Of the Lord Admiral of England Obs I THE Kings of England do constantly make Admirals of Squadrons of Ships but the Admiral which I am here to speak of is the highest of all intituled the Lord Admiral of England and may be well call'd Admirals from their seeing and knowing the mirabilia or Wonders of the Deep The Greeks call'd this Officer Thalassiarcha from Thalassa the Sea and Archos the Chief at Sea and from thence the Romans according to the Latin Idiom call'd him Thalassiarchus and of later days Admirallus which is no Latin word and in English Admiral 2. To him is committed the Government of the King of England's Navy and Power to decide all causes Maritim as well Civil as Criminal and of all things done on or beyond the Seas in any part of the World and many other Jurisdictions on the Coasts and in Ports Havens and Rivers and of such Wrecks and Prizes as are call'd by the Lawyers Lagon Jetson and Flotson that is Goods lying in the Sea floting on the Sea or cast by the Sea on the shore admitting some few exceptions and Royalties granted to other Lords of Mannors And these and all other Cases dependant on this Jurisdiction are determin'd in his Courts of Admiralty by such Rules of the Civil Law as do not invade the Common Laws of England 3. And of these Civil Laws which concern Sea assairs there are two most eminent Guiders to Civilians viz. Those made at Rhodes in the Mediterranean by the Grecians and augmented by the Romans call'd Lex Rhodia or the Rhodian Law The other made at Oleron an Island anciently belonging to England but lying on the borders of France by out King Richard the First both of which are still in great veneration 4. So as well for the Laws by which he governs the Maritim concerns as for his great Jurisdiction being as vast as the Ocean he may be said to have alterum Imperium extra intra Imperium and therefore this Honour and Care is intrusted to the hands of some one of the Blood Royal or some one or more joyntly of the most eminent of the Nobility 5. And in respect of this Power there is a constant Converse and Commerce with all parts of the World especially where the Civil Laws are practis'd and therefore it hath been the prudence of our former Kings even to this day to allot him a place in the Lords House as to the Marshal of England for both of their concerns are chiefly manag'd as I have shewn by the Civil Laws so as the Lord Marshal and Lord Admiral may be look'd on as the two Supporters to the learned Professors of those Laws as the other Lords are to the Professors of the Common Laws and possibly the greatest number of the Masters of Chancery of whom I shall speak in order who sit in the Lords House were originally contrived to be Doctors of the Civil Laws upon this ground That if there were at any time just occasion in that House to make use of any points in that Profession they might give their advices or opinions therein 6. This Dignity as I said was ever conferr'd upon some of the chief Nobility by vertue whereof they had their Writs of Summons and their Place in the Lords House and this long before the Act of Precedency for we find the Earl of Arundel in 13 Edw. 3. and the Earl of Northumberland in 7 R. 2. the Earl of Devon and Marquess of Dorset in the same Kings time and so the Earls of Salisbury Shrewsbury Worcester and Wiltshire and others of the like Degrees recited in the Clause Rolls needless to renumerate being Admirals were summon'd and in our extant Pawns in 36 H. 8. Johanni Dudley Vicecomiti Lisle Magno Admirallo and in 1 E. 6. Tho. Dom. Seymer Magno Admirallo and in 7 Edw. 6. Edv. Fenys Domino Clinton Magno Admirallo and in 1 2 3 4 Mariae Phil. Mar. Gulielmo Howard de Effingham Magno Admirallo and in 4 5 Phil. Mar. Edw. Fenys again and Charles Earl of Nottingham in Queen Elizabeth's time and George Duke of Buckingham in King James's time and King Charles the First 's time were still summon'd to Parliament with the Title of Admiral added to their hereditary Titles in their Writs and to this Parliament Jacobo Duci Ebor. Magno Admirallo c. And all these had their places in the Lords House according to the Act of Precedency as those before the Act was made This Office was conferr'd on the Duke of York for this Parliament Vid. Cap. 2. SECT XIV Of the Lord Steward of the King's House AS for the Orthography and Etymology and Antiquity of this Title Steward Obs I. I shall refer them to my Annotations However as it is sometimes writ with a T and sometimes a D it is under four Considerations the first as it represents a Royal Name and Family and therefore for distinction this is writ Stewart with a T and hath the superintendence chief interest and influence in all Parliaments since that Name was of that use in England 2. The other three are Titles official and written Steward with a D and as a further distinction from the first in Latin they are call'd Seneschalli and this the chief of the three is call'd Seneschallus Angliae or Lord High Steward of England of whom I shall give a full account in the Chapter of the Trials per Pares and shew how this great Officer is imploy'd either in or out of Parliaments 3. The last and least Degree of the 3 is call'd also Senescallus such as are the Stewards of Corporate Towns or Mannors which are not concern'd in the Summons or of use in Parliaments otherwise than as considerable Assistants in Elections of Members to serve in Parliaments But the Lord Steward of whom I now speak was call'd in H. the 8th time Magnus Magister Hospitij Regis or the Great Master of the Kings Houshold and ever since Magnus Senescallus Hospitij Regis or the Lord high Steward of the Kings House and he hath not only an eminent Employment Trust and Authority in ordering the Kings Houshold but an Authority above all Officers of that House except the Chappel Chamber and Stables but in all Parliaments is obliged to attend the Kings
Person to adjust their Parliamentary expences Westminster being anciently the Kings Court and still within its Verge and his Lordships Jurisdiction 4. His place is appointed by the Act of Precedency in this order not but that he was Summon'd to Parliaments before that Act as may be seen in several Clause-Rolls of Rich. the 2d c. but after the said Act viz. 36. H. 8. Charles Duke of Suffolk was Summon'd and his Writs directed Magno Magistro Hospitij sui but after that as in this very Parliament 1661. the Writ to the Duke of Ormond was Jacobo D'no Brecon being his English Title by which he sits in Parliament Vid. Cap. 2. Senescallo Hospitij Magnus Magister Senescallus being still the same Officer though varying in Title SECT XV. Of the Lord Chamberlain of the Kings Houshold THat High-Chamberlain before mentioned is called Magnus Camerarius Obs I. but this hath not that Epethite of Magnus and yet his authority is very great within the Verge of the Kings Court so that though there is some Subordination yet in many great Regalios he hath an intire command and even in some things which concern the conveniency of a Parliament and its places of Addresses to the King that the furniture of the Rooms may be sutable to the Majesty and Grandure of such as are imployed there 2. He hath been anciently summon'd to sit there as may be seen in the Clause-Rolls of the 25. and 27. and 28. of Edw. the 3d. in the Summons of Sir Bartholomew Bergehurst Camerario Hospitij he being also Guarden of the Cinqueports and in 1. H. 4. to Sir Tho. Erpingham Baneret Camerario Hospitij he being also Guarden of the Cinqueports and so the 10. H. 6. to Radulpho Cromwel Chevalier or Baron Camerario Hospitij I might instance many others but I shall skip as the Records do to the Act of Precedency 31. H. 8. where he is call'd the Kings Chamberlain and in the Pawns of the 36. H. 8. the Writ was Carolo Duci Suff. Magno Magistro Hospitij sui Praesidenti Consilii sui and in the same Pawn which may be observable the Office of great Chamberlain of England was supplied by Edward Earl of Hereford of a lesser Degree than a Duke in the 6. and 7. Edw. 6. the Writ was Tho. D'no Darcy Chevaleer Camerario Hospitij sui and in the 43. Eliz. to Tho. Cary Lord Hunsden Camerario Hospitij and continues in the same Office he was Summon'd again primo Jacobi and in the 15. Car. 1. Philip Earl of Penbrook was Summon'd Camerario Hospiti sui and to this Parliament first Edward Earl of Manchester Camerario Hospitij then Henry Earl of St. Albans Camerario Hospitij and after him Hen. Earl of Arlington Camerario Hospitij who continued his place and precedency in this Parliament to the Dissolution of it 3. Edward Earl of Manchester Lord Chamberlain of the Kings Houshold was Summon'd so by Writ 18. Feb. 1661. Vid. Cap. 2. SECT XVI Of the Principal Secretary of State HE brings up the Honourable Rere to all the 12. Officers of State both in this Act of Precedency and in the Pawns and therefore I may the more justifiably defer my Discourse of him till I come to his Writ of Summons and past the method of the Pawn as I have done the method us'd in the Act of Precedency and so conclude these Sections with some few Observations Observations WHen the Act of 31. H. 8. was made Obs I. the State Officers though now but 9 in use were then 12. a Number as I shall shew agreeable to the 12 Judges 12 Masters of Chancery 12 Constituting a Jury and much more of the efficacy of that number cited by the Learned Institutor and Petrus Bongus de Sacris Numeris and this number is thus used by us as t is thought in veneration either to the 12 Tribes of the Jews or 12 Tables Sacred among the Old Romans or to to the 12 Apostles of the Christian Religion or 12 Signs in the Zodiack reverenct in Astrology 2. That if the Writs to any of these Officers be to any of the Lords Spiritual or such Officers as have usually consisted of the Clergy as the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper the Lord Treasurer Lord Privy Seal then the Writs were like the Assistants Writs to the Judges of which I shall speak in order but if any of these Offices be executed by any of the Temporal Lords then the Writ is the same as to that noble Person to whom the Office is anext or if any be Summon'd meerly virtute Officij without annexation to the Degree of some Lord Spiritual or Temporal Lord then the Writ is only as an Assistant Writ and they sit in the Lords House but as Assistants without Vote c. as will be shewn 3. Sir Edward Nicholas Knight was summon'd by Writ dat 18. Feb. 1661. Vid. Cap. 2. and now I proceed to the fixt Nobility call'd Lords Temporal CHAP. V. SECT I. Of the Degrees of Nobles Obs I Have given a short Character of the Grand Officers and Ministers of State and now according to the Act of Precedency I shall speak of the fixt Nobility as they are consider'd in Distinct Degrees and these are not mention'd distinctly in the Kings Warrant for Summoning a Parliament but referr'd therein to the Lord Chancellor to distinguish them by their Writs 1. As for the Nobility in general most Authors derive the word Nobiles or Nobles in the Plural from Noscibiles viz. Viri Nobiles or Persons indu'd with great knowledge than other men and so conceive it may admit of another Etymology viz. Nobilis quasi Non-bilis i. e. men of such debonair and complacent tempers and so much Masters of their passions that they are not in respect of their better Education subject to choler wrath or fierceness for so the word Bilis is Englisht but of even and serene tempers which dispositions are fittest for Affairs relating to Government but to pass these niceties the Question is amongst some 2. How far the Degrees of Nobility do extend which is partly resolv'd by Sir Tho. Smith in his Republica who saith there be two sorts of Nobles viz. Majores and Minores and this was according to the Old Romans the Majores he calls the fixt Hereditary Nobles diversifide into 6 Degrees viz. Princes of the Bloud of whom I have spoken in Cap. the 4th Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons not of the Bloud and descend no lower and these are capacitated by such Creations and Writs to sit in the Lords House The Minores he begins at Knights for he wrote before Baronets were known Esquires and Gentlemen and descended no lower and out of these the Knights Citizens and Burgesses for Parliaments are Elected and Compos'd and thereby capacitated to sit therein as the Representatives of the Commons of England but of these Nobiles Minores I shall speak more in the second part of this Treatise
hath no place in the Lords House and particularly excepted to be chosen into the House of Commons by the Writs of Elections as will be shewn and the reason is because the Official Viscountship is in the King who gives only an annual Deputation to the Person who executes that Office in such County of which he is made Vicecomes or Deputy to the King and so is not the Noble Viscount who cannot be made Sheriff or return'd of a Jury but hath his constant Writ of Summons to every Parliament as will be shewn 4. Seven Viscounts Summon'd by Writ 18. Feb. 1661. and One Viscount Summon'd by Writ 20th Ap. 1661. And now I come to the Barons the last Degree of the Nobility but anciently the First or Second SECT VI. Of Barons I Shall refer the Etymology of this word Baron to my Annotations because the learned Cambden Selden and others have taken pains about it but for many ages as at present it comprehends all such Prelates and Bishops as are Summon'd by vertue of their Baronies or Tenures to sit in the House of Lords As also all such Dukes Marquesses Earls and Viscounts as did anciently mount to any of those 4 Degrees by the proportion of their Baronies which they obtain'd by gift from the King or other acquisitions so differing from the other 4 in Nominal gradations rather than Essential And though there were Nominal differences antiently in the Tenures of Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons yet they were all subject to a general Contribution to the Kings affairs according to their certain number of Knights Fees for as Baronies made the other 4 Superior Degrees so the increment of Knights Fees whereupon I conceive Sir Thomas Smith made that Degree of Nobiles Minores did capacitate a Baron to be made a Baron and so a certain number of Baronies to be a Viscount and Earl and of Earledoms to be a Duke as may be read in Sir Edward Coke and others more ancient by him cited and Mr. Selden forgiving the Knight saith that Istud verbum Baro est caput scala dignitatum Regalium i. e. Majoris Nobilitatis 2. In former times these proportions were observ'd amongst the Temporal Lords but not with the Spiritual for Mr. Selden tells us of a Bishop pag. 580. Tit. Hon. that had 220 Baronies and did sit in Parliament by vertue of his Baronies yet was neither Duke nor Earl so those were the computations of Honour and Contributions till the method of Creations were us'd and at last by the late Act of Parliament all Tenures in Capite were Dissolved and thereby the Tenurial Contributions but not the Titles of Honour yet for a little variety I may inform some that in former times the Spiritual Barons had some exemptions from Contributions unless there was as the learned Selden calls it Trinoda necessitas viz. of War of Repairs of Castles or Bridges but they were generally exempted from Personal Assistance in War for though as he saith that in the 4th year of William the First that King made the Bishops c. subject to Knights Service in chief by creation of their Tenures and so was the first King that turn'd their possessions by Frankalmoine a French word signifying charitable Gifts for so began their temporalities into Baronies and thereby made them Barons of the Kingdom by Tenure yet when it was pray'd by them in the 5th Hen. the 3d. Vt omnes Clerici tenentes Baronias c. personaliter procederent contra Regis adversarios c. it was answer'd by the Bishops and their Answer allow'd Quod non debent pugnare cum gladio materiali sed Spirituali scilicet cum Lachrymis orationibus humilibus devotis quod propter beneficia sua manutenere debent pacem non bellum Quod Baroniae eorum ab Eleemosynis puris stabiliuntur c. So as he conceives that the Baronies of the Clergy were made of such Lands as formerly were as I said held in Franckalmoine 3. But what ever exemptions the Spiritual Barons had the Temporal Barons were oblig'd by their Baronial Tenures of several natures to all defensive and offenfive duties for the King and Kingdoms preservation according to the proportion of their dependent tenures or territories and so are yet in honour oblig'd to perform and they all had and have equal Votes in Parliament by vertue of their Baronial Interest for as to matters Parliamentary the Title of Baron is more ancient copious and comprehensive than any of the other Titles of Lords in Parliament 4. This word Baron we see is appilicable not only to the two degrees of Lords Spiritual viz. Archbishops and Bishops but to the 5 degrees of Lords Temporal so as the noble Barons and all the Degrees above them do set in the Lords House virtute Baroniae and by Writs of Summons the Superior Titles to the Barons differing rather upon some extrinsick order than any real intrinsick distinction 5. As for those Titles of Barons which are given to Degrees equal or under the noble Barons they are of several sorts 1st Some noble Barrons by Ancienty never Summon'd to a Parliament yet capable of Summons 2ly The Barons of the Exchequer which are 4 in number who are Summon'd by Writ ad consulendum or to be Assistants in the Lords House as will be shewn 3ly Barons of the Cinqueports out of whose number 16 are usually Elected to sit in the House of Commons as will be shewn 4ly Barons of Court-Barons who are also capable of being Elected to sit in the House of Commons 5th Barons in the Law French call'd Baron i. e. and Husband and Feme the Wife but I here only speak of the Nobiles Barones distinct from these Titular Barons though such of them as sit in the Lords House are in some sort thereby Nobilitated of whom I shall speak more when I come to the Assistants and such as sit in the Commons House are thereby Dignified though not Nobilitated of whom I shall speak when I come to the House of Commons 6. Now it may here be observed that some Persons of merit have been Summon'd to sit in the Lords House as Barons which were not Barons or any otherwise capacitated to sit there but by Writs of Summons upon this occasion Sir Edward Coke cites a Case where one Summond by Writ to sit in the Lords House died before he sat there and it was adjudged that if he had sat there he had been Nobilitated thereby but having not sat there whereby that writ was not executed for want of his Personal attendance it was adjudg'd that the direction or delivery of the Writ barely to the Person to whom the Writ was directed without Personal appearance and investiture of Robes and a possession of place was not sufficient to enoble him without a conjunction of those Circumstances and Ceremonies 7. But Barons created by Letters Patents and made to them and their Heirs are thereby Nobilitated and to be
Episcopo Carlilin P. Johanni Episcopo Roffensi P. Roulando Episcopo Coventry Lichffeldiae Henrico Episcopo Assanensis D. Georgio Episcopo Landavensis D. Thomae Episcopo Bangorensis P. Gulielmo Episcopo Norwicae P. Johanni Episcopo Herefordiae D. Roberto Episcopo Wintoniensis D. Gulielmo Episcopo Bathon Wellen. Roberto Episcopo Cecestriae D. Custodi Spiritualitatis Episcopatûs Wigorn ipso Episcopo in Remotis agente Custodi Spiritualitatis Episcopatûs Dunelmensis ipsa fede vacante XX. in all SECT XVI Observations on this Writ to Cardinal Wolsey THis Writ except the Title of it is like that of Ed. 2d yet I have thought fit to enter it for some reasons particularly 1st For the Eminent nature of the Titles which this Cardinal ascrib'd to himself who had also tryed several experiments to have been made Pope and probably the Passions of Hen. 8. and the Cardinals disappointments therein might hasten the dissolution of the Abbots and other proceedings in order to the lessening the Popes interest here and this refusal of the Cardinal may justly give an occasion to say that the English have always had hard measure in their Attempts therein for though the Conclave have admitted above 50. English men to be Cardinals yet it seems their Policy hath been not to admit of any English man to be Pope except one in our Henry 2. time called Nicolas Brakespear who being Pope Intituled himself Adrian the 4th so that from Higynus's time there hath been but one English man made Pope unless Johannes natione Anglicus Gussarus officio Papa Sexu Faemina quae sedet in Papatu An. 20. Mens 6. who in English we call Pope Joane be allow'd for one of the 246. Popes to this time yet the Pope hath exercised the highest Jurisdiction here that England could afford which is a very Partial and unequal way of dealing 2. The 2d reason of Entring this Writ is to shew that the Archbishop of York was herein the Exemplar to the Archbishop of Canterbury of which there is no Precedent before for the three Cardinals which were Archbishops viz. in the time of King John Edward the 3d and Hen. the 6th were all three Archbishops of Canterbury so as this precedency must be attributed to the Cardinals Dignity above all Archbishops and not to any irregularity in placing the Exemplar And here it may be observed that as the Title of Archbishop did long since leap over the Title of Bishop and the Titles of Patriarch and Pope over Archbishops afterwards viz. Anno Christi 1099. when the Title of Cardinal first began by Pope Pascal the 2d his institution the Title being rais'd by him of certain Parochial Priests in Rome of whom he had more confidence did in effect leap over all the Four other Degrees and by it had the sole power of Electing Popes being under their management so as the Pope hath only the Title left and the 70 Cardinals the power of Electing him in which they are unwilling to admit of any English man although if they did he would be so over-ballanc'd that there were no great hazard of his Election In the mean time the Conclave is so kind to its own Interest as to appoint one of those Cardinals to be Protector of England he being at this day Stiled Eminentissimus Dominus Franciscus Cardinalis Barbarinus Angliae Protector 3. It may be observed that amongst many other Titles he Intitled himself Presbyter to gratifie all interests 4. Though H. 8. might intitle himself Fidei Defensor 8 years before this Writ yet this is the first Writ on Record wherein this Title is given and this also is the last Writ that I find was sent to any Cardinal to sit in Parliament for though Cardinal Pool was Cardinal and Archbishop of Canterbury in Queen Mary's time yet he had no Writ either as Cardinal or Archbishop or both but the Exemplar was in that Parliament to the Bishop of Winchester and no Writs to the Bishops of Canterbury York London or Durham 5. When this Writ was made he was Lord Chancellor yet it is not inserted in the Writ possibly because Sir Thomas More was in Prospect to be Lord Chancellor and was actually so before the Parliament met And now having shewn the first Writ among the Pawns I shall proceed to the Writs in the subsequent Pawns and then shew the alteration of them The second Pawn or bundle of Writs extant in the Pettibag is of the 31 of Hen. 8th wherein the first Writ is to Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury and this Writ also agrees with the former except in the Titles and with all the Writs to Archbishops from Edward the 2ds time to this as they are in the Clause Rolls The third Pawn or Record of Writs in the Pettibag is of the 36 of Hen. 8th which is the remarkable Writ because it differs from all the former Writs since Ed. 2ds time both in the Titles and the Praemonition for in this Writ he is intituled King of Ireland and Supream Head but before this only Lord of Ireland Now as to the Title of King of Ireland Hen. the 2d did give the same to his Son King John but the Pope would not let him enjoy it nor did any of his Successors assume it till Hen. the 8th resolved to reassume it in defiance of the Pope and writ himself King of Ireland instead of Lord of Ireland because as I said in the former Section he would not place the Title of Defender before Ireland as the Pope had directed him in his Bull or it may be in respect the Pope pretended a Title under King John to Ireland and as for the other Title of Supream Head though it was given him by the Parliament 12 years before yet I find it not in any Parliament Writ till this year of the 36. H. 8. So that the Preamble or Titular part of the Writ is thus Henricus Dei gratiâ Angliae Franciae Hiberniae Rex fidei Defensor Ecclesiae Anglicanae Hiberniae Supremum Caput Then for the Premonition whereas the words Priorem Capellanum or Capitulum were plac'd next unto Praemonentes in this Writ the words were Praemonentes Decanum Capitulum because Abbies and Priories were newly dissolv'd and Deanaries Constituted and so the Writs thus alter'd have continued till this Writ for the year 1661. But before I set down the Writ for 1661 I must a little repeat some short progresses and methods ushering in that Writ for though the Bishops were in the year 1641. by an Act of King Charles the First with the Consent of the Lords Temporal and Commons disabled from Exercising any Temporal Jurisdiction or Authority and thereupon soon after put out of the Lords House as I have shewn yet there was no occasion of new Writs to them till the year 1661. and then there could be no new Writs made for their Restauration till they were restor'd by the same power of King Lords Temporal and Commons by
therefore I conceive there is some mistake in Mr. Selden but however the mistake be the first Exemplar Writ to a Duke was not till this year for though Edward Prince of Wales was Duke in the Third or Eleventh year of his Father and Thomas Earl of Norfolk soon after was created Duke of Norfolk and Henry Earl of Lancaster soon after created Duke of Lancaster yet they had not any Exemplar Writs as Dukes but before as Earls so as John Duke of Lancaster in this Parliament of the 37. Edw. the 3d. was the first Duke which had an Exemplar Writ 47 Edw. 3. As I have shewn the first Exemplar to an Earl of the Bloud so this shews the first Exemplar to an Earl not of the Bloud which was this year to Richard Earl of Arundel for though there were many Earls before not of the Bloud yet they had only Consimilar Writs but no Exemplars extant to any of them till this Year 28 H. 6. And though there were many Dukes not of the Blood since the first Creation of that Title yet the first Duke not of the Blood who was thought fit to be an Exemplar was not till this Parliament and the Predecessor of this Duke was an Earl in Edw. 3ds time and even this Duke was Earl in the time of his Predecessors before any Duke was created 6 Edw. 6. Though the first Marquess created in England was in the 9th of Rich. 2d yet none were thought fit to be Exemplars till this 6. of Edw. the 6th that William Marquess of Winchester was made the first Exemplar in Parliament of that Dignity but his Exemplar had the additional Title of Lord Treasurer who is the second Officer of State 36 H. 8. Although a Baron is a more ancient Title with us in England than any of the other Degrees of the Nobles yet we find no Record now extant wherein a Baron singly as Baron had the Exemplar Writ for as I said Thomas Wriothesly Baron of Tichfield being Chancellor William Pawlet Baron of Bazing being Lord Keeper were Exemplars in those Parliaments and had Consimilars appointed them but Edward Hyde Baron of Hindon having a distinct Assisting Writ had no Consimilar allotted him either in respect of his Barony or Assistancy Thus we find that Earls Dukes Marquesses and Barons have been Exemplars but we do not find any Viscounts to be so in any Parliament since the creation of that Dignity which was as I said in Hen. 6ths time to John de Beaumont And the reason is because the word Vicecomes doth imply a Consimilar to Comes so it were improper for Comites to be Consimilars to a Vicecomiti Concerning the additionals of the Titles to those Nobles mentioned in their Exemplars it may be observed That in all those Writs to Hen. the 8ths time the words Consanguineo Charissimo Praedilecto Dilecto Fideli were not so positively sixt to the several Degrees in their Writs but since that time they have past in a more constant method viz. to Dukes and Marquesses Praecharissimo Consanguineo to Earls and Viscounts Charissimo Consanguineo to Barons Praedilecto Fideli and to the Lord Chancellor as chief Assistant Praedilecto perquam Fideli but to all the other Assistants of which I shall speak more only Dilecto Fideli SECT III. Observations on the Consimilars to the former Exemplars WHen Princes of the Blood were made Exemplars there was ever some Prince of the Blood in the Consimilars and then followed in the same Register in every Clause-Roll or Pawn the other Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons without interposition of the Lords Spiritual and Ecclesiastical to the Princes of the Blood and the Temporal Lords not of the Bloud so it continued in that method till the 21. of King James but then the Exemplar being to the Prince of Wales and no Consimilar to him there follows the Exemplar and Consimilars to the Lords Spiritual of which I have spoken and after them follows the particular Writ to John Bishop of Lincoln as Lord Keeper and after that the Exemplar to Lodowick Duke of Richmond who had one Duke one Marquess Thirty eight Earls nine Viscounts and Fourty seven Chevaliers his Consimilars and ever since the 21. Jac. there hath been an interposition either of the Lords Spiritual or Lord Chancellor between the Dukes of the Blood and the Nobles that were not of the Blood and so in the 13 Car. 2. though the Bishops were deprived from that Roll as I have shewn yet the Lord Chancellors Writ did interpose and it may further be observed That when Princes or Dukes of the Blood or not of the Blood were Exemplars other Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons were Consimilars but when Earls were Exemplars there were no other Consimilars admitted of Degrees above them but still under them viz. of Earls Viscounts and Barons and yet when the three Dukes beforementioned were made Exemplars 't is true the Duke of Suffolk and Oxford had Dukes to their Consimilars as formerly being pari gradu but the Duke of Norfolk had no Duke to his Consimilar for he had only four Earls one Viscount and Thirty one Barons of which there is no other precedent that I can find 2. As to the different Titles of these six Degrees viz. Princes of the Blood Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons of whom I have spoke more in the Fifth Chapter it is fit to be hinted here that Prince in English and Principi in the Latin Writ Duke and Duci Marquess and Marchioni Viscount and Vicecomiti have little difference in their Orthography but Comiti in all their Latin Writs and Earl which is their general appellation in English have very great difference concerning which and the other Degrees I have writ more at large before and in my Annotations to which I refer the Reader and so Baron and Baro have but little variation yet this may be observed here of this Title Baro that in all the Consimilar Writs in Clause Rolls or Pawns wherein those of that Degree are enumerated from the 15th of Edw. 2d to the 13. of Car. 2. neither the Titles or words Baro nor of Banerettus are mentioned in the Writs but either the Articles De or Le or La or the words Dominus Miles Equies Auratus or Chevalier are added to the Barons name viz. Hugo de Spencer Johanni de Bello Campo Johanni de St. John de Bazing Roberto de Monte albo Johanni de Sancto amando Willielmo de la Souch de mortuo mare Nicolao de Cantilupo le Quint Johanni de Insula de rubro monte Nicolao de Sancto Mauro Michaeli de la Pool who was then Banneret Admirallo Maris Johanni de Moubray Mariscallo Petro de malo lacu le Quint Hugo de le Spencer Willielmo la Zouch de mortuo mare Johanni le Strange Johanni le Shelton and many more and some only in their Christian names and Sirnames viz. Richardo Gray Richardo Talbot Gulielmo Aincourt
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
determin Causes yet appealable to the Lord Chancellor 5. There are other Masters of Chancery call'd Extraordinary and six Clerks of eminent Quality and other Clerks imployed both in the Chancery and Rolls but these are not Summon'd to Parliaments of whom I shall speak more but in in those capacities which I have mention'd the Master of the Rolls as Master of the Rolls or chief Clerk of the Pettibag or both or chief Master of Chancery or in all three Capacities he is very Assisting to a Parliament especially in the business of Summons c. For as I have shewn in Cap. 2. whenever the Kings Warrant is sent to the Lord Chancellor to issue out Writs for a Parliament his Lordship either sends it or a like Warrant to the Master of the Rolls who as chief Clerk of the Pettibag causeth the other Clerks of the Office to ingross all the Writs both for the House of Lords and House of Commons so as they may be fit for the Great Seal and these being thus done and fairly abstracted and ingross't into a Roll which is call'd the Parliament Pawn and lies there as a Memorial and Record of what they have done and as a President for the future all the particular Writs mention'd or intimated in that Pawn being fitted are carried to the Lord Chancellor and being in his presence Seal'd they are immediately delivered to Messengers belonging to the Chancellor who do take care to dispose some to the Persons to be Summon'd for the Lords House and others to the respective Sheriffs of all Counties and Comitated Cities for Elections of such as are to sit in the House of Commons and so the Master of the Rolls and the Clerks of the Pettibag having done all their parts and the Messengers and Sheriffs theirs the same Writs which concern the Lords House are or ought to be return'd to the Clerk of the Lords House at the first Sitting and the Writs for Elections are to be return'd by the respective Sheriffs to the Clerk of the Chancery Crown Office and not to the Pettibag as hath and will be shewn for they come no more there till some time after Dissolution of a Parliament and then for ease of that Office and more safely preserving them they are order'd to be carried to the Rolls and from thence to the Tower all which will be more fully shewn which method I often repeat in this Treatise because I find it so much neglected As to the Imployment of the other Eleven Masters of the Chancery in time of Parliament I shall shew it in a distinct Chapter This Master of the Rolls doubtless hath been anciently Summon'd to Sit in the Lords House yet I find no Writs issued to him till the 36th of Henry the Eighth and then as Master of the Rolls not as chief Master of Chancery and after that he was Summon'd to all Parliaments except the 39th of Eliz. and first of King James and in this very Parliament a Writ was prepared for him but being Elected a Member of the House of Commons his attendance was not requir'd in the House of Lords for what reason I know not but he hath his place whenever he Sits there next to the Lord Chief Justice of England upon the second Woolsack as will be shewn in the Chapter of Places The Consimilar Writ to the Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas THE Patent which invests this Chief Justice to his Imployment in this Office is in haec verba Carolus c. Omnibus ad quos Patentes Litterae nostrae pervenerint salutem Sciatis quod Constituimus dilectum fidelem Orlandum Bridgman Militem Capital'Justitiarium nostrum de Banco suo Duran ' bene placito Teste c. Observations HIS Writ of Summons to Sit in Parliament is also Capitali Justitiario nostro de Banco mutato nomine in all other words agreeing with the Exemplar and here it may be again observed to prevent vulgar misunderstandings That the Lord Chief Justice of England is Chief Justice of the Kings Bench or upper Bench and this is Chief Justice of the Common Bench and sometimes one is call'd Chief Justice of the Pleas of the Crown as in the Latin words De placitis Coronae and this Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas or Communia Placita yet in the Latin Writ it is de Banco so as both Courts are call'd Bancks or Benches and both call'd also Courts of Pleas in respect of Pleas or Pleadings one properly concerns the King in matters Criminal the other concerns the Pleas or Pleadings of the Commonalty or Common People among themselves in matters Civil and one also is call'd the Upper Bench the other the Common Bench and therefore what ever the Patent or Writs are yet for an easier distinction I here intitle one the Chief Justice of the Kings Bench the other Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas 2. As for the names Bench or Banc Pleas or Placita I refer them to my Annotations 3. The Chief Justice hath three more Justices to assist him in this Court 4. That which makes the eminency of this Court is That only the learned Serjeants of the Coife of whom I shall speak in order being the next Degree to Judges do Plead in this Court yet not prohibited from Pleading in all other Courts but all other Graduans of Law have the liberty to Plead in all other Courts but not in this 5. The Pleas of this Court cannot be so well ascertain'd as that of the Kings Bench because the Pleas held by Common Persons or between Subject and Subject are devided into as many Branches as Actions and the Actions into as many Causes as there are variety of Contests in the Kingdom yet all these Actions Causes and Contests are included under three notions Real Personal and Mixt which are here tried as they happen according to the strict Rules of Law As for Personal and Mixt Actions they are tried in other Courts but Real Actions are only Pleadable here nor are any Fines of Concord which is observable levied in any Court but this so that as Sir Edward Coke saith the Motto of this Court may be Haec est finalis Concordia 6. Upon these and other considerations the necessity of requiring Assistances from the Justices of this Court may appear For as the Justices of the Kings Bench may acquaint the Lords with what concerns the King so the Justices of the Common Pleas may most properly acquaint them with what concerns the People whereby Laws for either may be corrected repeal'd or made de novo as shall be thought most expedient 7. The Justices of this Court are not concern'd in the managing of any Summons to a Parliament as the Lord Chancellor and Master of the Rolls are Of the Consimilar Writ to the Chief Baron of the Exchequer THE Title of this is different from the two Chief Justices for his Pattent is thus Carolus c. Omnibus ad quos Patentes Litterae nostrae pervenerint Sciatis
return of Writs concerning the House of Commons the method consists of much trouble and perplexity not only from the time of the executing the Writs but in undue returns as will be shewn in their proper place This Chapter concluding all the Patents and Writs of Summons and Returns which concern the Lords House by vertue of which the Persons so Summon'd by Writ do sit there now I must speak of such as sit there without Patent or Writ of Summons and first of the Masters of Chancery CHAP. XVI Of the Masters of Chancery THE Secretaries of State did bring up the Rear of the State Officers and now the Masters of Chancery do bring up the Rear of the Assistants and though I have spoke something of the Master of the Rolls partly as chief of the twelve Masters of Chancery yet there he was considered as Master of the Rolls or Records rather than one of the twelve Masters of Chancery whereof as I said he is the chief and these twelve are called Masters in Ordinary 2. For there are also other Masters in Chancery called Extraordinary which are of an uncertain number according to the businesses of the respective Counties wherein they are imployed 3. As for the twelve they usually are chosen out of Barresters of the Common Law or Doctors of the Civil Law and eleven of them do sit in the Chancery or in the Rolls as Assistants saith Sir Edward Coke to the Lord Chancellor and to the Master of the Rolls every day throughout each Term of the year and to them are committed Interlocutory Reports and stating of Accounts and sometimes by way of reference to them they are impowr'd with a final Determination of Causes there depending 4. These twelve have time out of mind sat in the Lords House yet have neither Writs nor Patents for many Ages past impowering them so to do but I conceive as the Master of the Rolls is as is said by that Institutor an Assistant to the Lord Chancellor the remaining eleven may fairly be said to be Assistants both to the Lord Chancellor and Master of the Rolls in all or most Matters depending in both or either Courts and so Virtute Officij they are inclusively capacitated by the Writs to the Lord Chancellor or Master of the Rolls to be Assistants to them in the Lords House as they are in Chancery without any particular VVrit or Patent to them 5. Anciently this Title was higher than what Sir Edw. Coke affords them for I find in an old Manuscript in the hands of Sir J. C. one of the Masters but I have not the opportunity of searching the Records therein mentioned Intitutled De Cancellario Angliae ejus Cojudicibus de authoritate eorum and then follows viz. In dicta Curia Cancellarij sunt ordinati duodecem Cojudices viz. Magistri sive Clerici de prima forma ad Robas which in the 13. Chap. I call the first Orb pro Arduis negotis Regis Regni Reipublicae expediendis which agree verbatim and 't is observable with the very words of all Writs of Summons to Parliaments eidem Cancellario omnino assistentes secum continuo consedentes which in a manner Intitles them to sit in the Lords House with him and many other matters are mentioned therein which I shall refer to my Annotations because I cannot now warrantably insert them but I find in other Books that anciently they had the care of inspecting all Writs of Summons to Parliaments committed to them which is now as I have shewn performed by the Clerks of the Pettibag 6. As to the Title of Maister from Magister and from Magus a Wiseman it is as ancient as most of our borrow'd words from the Latin and was still apply'd to Persons of Knowledge and other Abilities above the Degrees of Yeomandry Amongst the old Romans as may be read in Livy Pomponius Aurelius and others they had twelve great Officers to whom that Title was given viz. Magister Populi or Dictator Magister Equitum Magistri Census Magister in Auctionibus Magistri Epistolarum Magistri Memoriae Magistri Militum Magister Navis Magistri Officiorum Magistri Scriniorum Magister Curiae Magistri Aeris and many more of a lesser Rank for I speak not of Magistri Familiae or Privatae or as the word is vulgarly applied to its relative word Servant but as a Title applied to Persons of Eminency for their Integrity and Learning and of these there are also twelve sorts with us which are found in the Law Books whereof the first we meet with in the Statutes is the Master of the Mint in 2 H. 6. c. 14. 2. the Master of the Rolls in the first of H. 7. Cap. 20. for till then he was call'd Clerk of the Rolls or Custos Archivorum and chief Clerk of the Chancery of which there are twelve as I said since which six chief Clerks and a greater number of a lesser Form are there Constituted whereby they are distinguisht from the ancient Clerks now the 12. Masters of Chancery which may be accounted the Third sort in point of time mentioned in the Statutes the Fourth The Master of the Horse in the first of Edw. the Sixth the Fifth The Master of the Postern in 2 Edw. 6. the Sixth The Master of the Kings Houshold in the 32 H. 8. chang'd to the Lord Stuard of the Kings Houshold Charles Duke of Brandon being the first of that Title mentioned in any Statute the 7th The Master of the Court of Wards in the 33 of Hen. the 8. now of no use the Eighth The Master of the Musters after in the 33 Eliz. called Muster Master General the 9.10.11.12 viz. The Master of the Armory the Master of the Kings Jewels the Master of the Ordinance and Master of the Kings Wardrop are mentioned in the Statute of 39 Eliz. not but these Officers were before but the Statutes as I said do not take notice of them till the times that they are quoted in the said Statutes 7. Now as the old Romans had others which had the Titles of Magistri viz. Magistri Vniversitatis vel Societatis so we in imitation at Cambridge have the Title of Magister fixt at the head of every College in that University which is an argument of their Antiquity of which I shall speak more whereas Oxford hath but three which bear that Title 8. It is also applied to the Heads of Halls of Companies in London and other Cities and it hath been formerly applied to all the Members of the House of Commons who were not actually Knights or Esquires or of higher Degrees but in the House of Lords I do not find it used to any to whom Writs of Summons were sent to sit there except to some Priors and Deacons who were sometimes called Magistri in their Writs and others of Religious Orders call'd also in their Writs Magistri as also to Officers in Chancery viz. 49 Edw. 3. Magistro Thomae Yong Officiario
the effects upon our Souls but in its civil latitude and dimensions as having an influence and interest in every individual Man Woman and Child and in most of the Products of the Earth from their first Being to their Dissolution and this in all the fifty two Counties of England and Wales but for the distinction of the Civil and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction these are comprised into a lesser number viz. of twenty six and are call'd Diocesses as being given to them from God by the hands of the King to whom they acknowledge a subordination The second Estate and so mention'd in our Laws is the Lords Temporal or rather Militial having the Lieutenancies of all the Counties of England and Wales comitted to their Trust Care and Charge and to these belong the managing of Embassies Treaties of War or Peace and all honorary Actions both Foreign and Domestick as the King who is the Fountain of Honour does usually confer upon them The third Estate is the Commons also mentioned in our Laws and this also subordinate to the King and these consist of Gentry Men of fixt and setled Fortunes designed for things of Gallantry and Hospitality and of the Yeomanry comprised under several appellations viz. Husbandmen Artificers and Labourers all driving on a Commutative Commerce as well to supply themselves as others with what the Land or Sea affords either necessary convenient ornamental or superfluous Besides these three there are three very great Interests which are not call'd Estates but Assistances and in truth they are the very Supporters of these three Estates viz. The first Religion the second Law the third Trade 1. Religion is to be managed by the Clergy of several Degrees as will be shewn some neither Freeholders nor Freemen by their winning of men with a persuasive or exemplary Power into all Pious and Virtuous Actions whereby the Souls and Minds of Men may be united to Love and Obedience and this is the cement of Vnity to the three Estates 2. The Laws are manag'd by Lawyers of several degrees some neither Freeholders nor Freemen by instructing Magistrates in their compulsory Power when occasion requires so as both the Laws of God and Man may be duely observed and that such whom the Clergy cannot invite to Piety and Virtue by Precept and Example may be compelled to it by the Rigour of the Laws and this is the cement of Severity to the three Estates 3. Trade is manag'd chiefly by Merchants some also neither Freeholders nor Freemen these give life to Industry whereby the Rich do help the Poor and the Poor the Rich and thus Trade Commerce and Industry are as necessary Cements to the Three Estates as either Religion or Law respecting only what morally concerns Justice and Obedience and this is the Cement of Prosperity to the whole Fabrick So we see that as there are Three Essential Estates so there are also Three Essential Assistances or Supportations of those Estates and without which those Estates cannot well subsist Now out of these Three Estates in general the King doth abstract a Parliament For when He gives notice of his intentions to have one he orders Writs to Archbishops and Bishops who are chiefly to manage the concerns of the Clergy At the same time He also orders Writs to such of the Nobility as He or His Predecessors have either by Patent created to that employment or otherwise invested with some right thereunto who are chiefly to manage the concerns of the Nobility and Kingdom At the same time He also orders Writs for Electing such a number of Commons out of Counties Shires Cities and Burroughs as may manage the concerns of the Commonalty and yet these three Estates thus distinctly Summoned are so admirably intermixt in this Supream Council or Parliament that these three Estates in that Council seem to have an interchangable power and check on each other in the more Safe and Wise carrying on the Affairs of the whole Kingdom considered either at Home or Abroad And as the Government of the Kingdom hath three sorts of Assistances as is before shewn so those three sorts of Assistances are disposed into three sorts of Assistants For the Bishops have a certain number of Deans Archdeacons and Proctors cull'd out of Prebends Parsons Vicars and the Clergy in general as may be Assistants to the Episcopal Interest The Nobility have a certain number of Lawyers viz. Justices of the Respective Benches and Courts of Judicature in Westminster-Hall as will be shewn cull'd out of the Profession of Lawyers to be Assistants to them The Commons have the bulk of every County contracted into Two Knights or one for each County and of Two Merchants for each City and of Two lesser Traders for each Burrough and yet the Electors of them are not so confined to the Persons Eligible but that such as they hold fit to manage such Imployment are capable to be Elected though they be not Knights Merchants or Traders yet they are confined to a set number as I said and of qualifi'd Persons as well to preserve the Honor of it as to prevent a surcharge of too great a concourse to this Assembling of a Parliament By this easie demonstration it is evident that the Lords Spiritual consisting of Archbishops and Bishops Successive but not Hereditary do Sit in the Lords House and there Represent the whole Clergy of this Kingdom The Lords Temporal consisting of Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons which Five Degrees by a Nobilitated Interest Hereditary and Successive do Sit there also Representing all the Nobility of those Degrees in the Kingdom The Commons consisting of Knights Citizens and Burgesses by an Elective Interest neither Hereditary nor Successive do Sit in the House of Commons Representing all the Commonalty of this Kingdom Over which Three Estates the King for the time being ever was and still is esteemed by an Hereditary and Successive Right the Supream and in the Eye of the Law the Immortal Balance of these Three Essential yet Subordinate Parts Interests or Estates of this Kingdom I say Immortal because our Laws do say that Rex nunquam moritur and thereby gives him a clear distinction from the Three Estates Now to undeceive some that would have the Three Estates to consist of King Lords and Commons because our Government seems to be framed of Monarchy Aristocracy and Democracy To clear their Judgments the Monarchy stands single but the Aristocracy is double viz. An Aristocracy of the Lords Spiritual and an Aristocracy of the Lords Temporal to which add the Democracy of the Commons and all is reconciled into Two Aristocratical Estates and one Democratical and the Monarchical as Superintendent to those Three and so this Vnity with the Triplicity is the due constitution of our English Parliament and indeed of the Kingdom it self THE CONSTITUTION OF PARLIAMENTS CHAP. I. The King's Warrant to the Lord Chancellor for Summoning the Parliament begun the 8th of May 1661. CHARLES the Second by the Grace
dilecto fratri Jacobo Duci Eborum Albaniae magno Admirallo suo Angliae Salt'm Quia de Advisamento assensu Consilii nostri pro quibasdam arduis urgentibus negotiis nos statum defensionem Regni nostri Angliae Ecclesiae nostrae concernentibus Quoddam Parliamentum nostrum apud Civitatem nostram Westm ' octavo die Maii prox ' futur ' teneri ordinavimus ibidem nobiscum ac cum magnatibus proceribus dicti Regni nostri colloquium habere tractatum Vobis Mandamus in fide ligeantia quibus nobis tenemini firmiter injungentes quod consideratis dictorum negotiorum arduitate periculis imminentibus cessante excusatione quacunque Dictis die loco personaliter intersitis nobiscum ac cum magnatibus proceribus predictis super predictis negotiis tractatur ' vestrumque consilium impensur ' Et hoc Sicut nos honorem nostrum ac Salvationem defensionem Regni Ecclesiae predictae expeditionemque dictorum negotiorum diligitis nullatenus omittatis Teste me ipso apud Westm ' decimo octavo die Februarii Anno Regni nostri Decimo tertio SECT II. Observations IN An. 12. Hen. 8. the words fidei Defensor were then added before Salutem instead of Super diversis causis The latter Writs are Quia de advisamento assensu concilii nostri pro quibusdam causis yet I find the word Quia us'd in the great Councils or Parliament Writs before Edw. 2ds time and probably the words assensu Concilii nostri is added to shew the distinction of his Privy-Council and his Publick Council or Parliament 2. Instead of Specialiter tangentibus the latter Writs are concernentibus quoddam 3. Instead of habere proponimus the latter Writ is teneri ordinavimus and habere is put in between Colloquium and Tractatum 4. Ligeantia is put in the latter Writs instead of Dilectione this word Dilectione being for many Ages particularly apply'd to the Episcopal Writs 5. The latter Writs do contain all that are in the more Ancient except the Insertions of some Causes of Summons and some inlargements added upon Emergent occasions viz. quod consideratis dictorum negotiorum arduitate periculis imminentibus cessante Excusatione quacunque 6. And also those words are added near the end of the latter Writ viz. Sicut nos honorem nostrum ac Salvationem Defensionem Regni Ecclesiae predicte expeditionemque dictorum negotiorum diligitis which additions are only more full Expressions to oblige the Attendances of the Grandees Thus having shewn the Exemplar Writs to the Bloud Royal Ancient and Modern I shall set down such Earls Dukes or Princes of the Bloud Royal to whom this Exemplar Writ was directed even to this time according as they are either in the Clause Rolls in the Tower or in the Pawns in the Pettibag-Office which I shall recite in English though the Writs are in Latin SECT III. THe Exemplar Writ was then to Edward Earl of Chester Exemplar 15 Edw. 2. Eldest Son to King Edw. 2d and by vertue of this Writ this Prince had his Exemplar Writ but for this one Parliament and was soon after King Edw. 3d. 2. 3 Edw. 3. To Edward Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester Eldest Son to Edw. 3d. and this Prince had Exemplar Writs for 9 Parliaments viz. 3 Edw. 3. 4. Edw. 3. and 4. Edw. 3. 5. Edw. 3. 25. Edw. 3. 27. Edw. 3. 28. Edw. 3. 29. Edw. 3. 42. Edw. 3. 3. To Thomas Earl of Norfolk 4 Edw. 3. soon after created Duke Marshal of England great Uncle to Edw. 3. who had his Exemplar Writ but for this one Parliament 4. To Henry Earl of Lancaster 14 Edw. 3. soon after created Duke Son to John the 4. Son of Edw. 3. who had Exemplar Writs in this Kings and Richard 2. and H. 4ths time for 7 Parliaments viz. 14. Edw. 3. 17. Edw. 3. 18. Edw. 3. 22. Edw. 3. 25. Edw. 3. 23. Rich. 2. 1 Hen. 4. as Duke of Lancaster 5. To John Duke of Lancaster 37 Edw. 3. who then was King of Castile and Duke of Acquitane the 4th Son to Edw. the 3. as aforesaid and Uncle to Rich. the 2. who had Exemplar Writs for 17. Parliaments in this and Rich. the 2ds time viz. 37 Edw. 3. 38. Edw. 3. 1 R. 2. 3 R. 2. 4 R. 2. 7 R. 2. 7 R. 2. 8 R. 2. and 8 R. 2. 9 R. 2. 13 R. 2. 14 R. 2. 15 R. 2. 17 R. 2. 20 R. 2. and 20 R. 2. 21 R. 2. Exemplar 6. 50 Edw. 3. To Richard Prince of Wales Duke of Cornwall and Earl of Chester Grand-child to Edw. the 3d. and Son to Edw. the former Prince of Wales and afterwards King Richard the 2d who had an Exemplar Writ but for this Parliament and at the opening thereof he did sit in the Kings Chair 7. 10 Ric. 2. To Edmund Earl of Cambridge Duke of Clarence and first Duke of York the 5. Son of Edw. the 3d. who had Exemplar Writs for 3 Parliaments viz. the 10.11.12 of Rich. 2. as Duke of York 8. 11 Ric. 2. To Thomas Duke of Glocester Uncle to the King who had one Exemplar for one Parliament 9. 1 Hen. 4. To Henry Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall who had his Exemplar Writs for 9. Parliaments in his Fathers life time and was after King Hen. the 5th viz. 1 H. 4. 2 H. 4. 3 H. 4. 6 H. 4. 7 H. 4. and 7 H. 4. 9 H. 4. 11 H. 4. and 13 H. 4. 10. To Thomas the 2d Son of Hen. the 4th Duke of Clarence and Earl of Albemarl had Exemplar Writs for 7 Parliaments in this and Hen. 6ths Reign viz. Exemplar 1 Hen. 5. 1 H. 5.3.4.5 of Hen. the 5th and in the 1st and 6. and 3 H. 6. 11. To John Duke of Bedford 3. 8 Hen. 5. Son to Hen. 4th who had Exemplar Writs for 5 Parliaments in this and Hen. 6th Reign viz. 8 H. 5.4 and 4.11.14 H. 6. 12. To Humphrey Duke of Glocester 2 Hen. 6. the 4th Son of Hen. 4. he had Exemplar Writs for 10 Successive Parliaments viz. 4.6.9.10.15.18.20.21.25 and 25 H. 6. 13. To Rich. Duke of York 27 Hen. 6. Grand-child to Hen. 4. and Eldest Son to Edw. the 4. when Duke of York who had Exemplar Writs for 4 Parliaments viz. 27.29.31.33 H. 6. 14. To George Duke of Clarence 3d. 7 Edw. 4. Brother to Edward the 4th who had Exemplar Writs for 3 Parliaments viz. 7.9.12 Edw. 4. 15. To Edward Prince of Wales 22 Edw. 4. Eldest Son to Edward the 4th who had Exemplar Writs for Two Parliaments and after was King Edward the 5th viz. 22. and 23. Edw. 4. Note That from this time to the 21. of Hen. the 8th we are disappointed of the knowledge of any Exemplars and from thence to the 21. of King James there are no Exemplar Writs to
any of the Bloud Royal only to other Lords Temporal as will be shewn in its proper place but in the 21. of King James Exemplar 16. 21 Jacob. An Exemplar Writ was to Charles Prince of Wales Duke of York for that one Parliament who was afterwards King Charles the First 17. 15 Car. 1. To Charles Prince of Wales who had an Exemplar Writ for one Parliament and after was King Charles the Second 18. 13 Car. 2. To James Duke of York who sat by vertue of the aforementioned Writ in the Parliament begun the 8th of May 1661. to the end thereof SECT IV. Observations on the Title of York THere were other Dukes of York besides these which are mention'd in this Collection viz. Edward the Son of Edmund Duke of York and upon Edwards Death his Brother Richard was created Duke of York and Henry the son of King Henry the 7th was created Duke of York who after was stiled King Henry the 8th but these 3 Dukes of York being not mention'd in any Clause Rolls to have Exemplar Writs I have omitted them in the Register of Exemplars 2. The City of York was dignified with the Title of an Arch-Bishoprick in the year 180 as some say but all agree that Taurus was Arch-Bishop there in the year 610. and also with the Title of a Dukedom in the 10th year of Ric. the 2d whereas London the Metropolitan of England hath onely a Bishoprick but no Dukedom Earldom or Marquesate appropriate to it and in Anno the Civil Government of the City was honour'd with the Title of a Lord Mayor as it was at London but how far the equivalency of that Title extends to those two Cities will be further discourst when I speak of London in its proper place and in my Annotations 3. Whilst the quarrel continued between the Dukes of York and Lancaster which lasted for many Ages York had the Title of White-rose the House of Lancaster call'd the Red-rose till both were inoculated into one Stock of Hen. 7th 4. The Title of this James Duke of York and Albany in Scotland is the same which was given by King James to Prince Charles afterwards call'd King Charles the First being first created Duke of Albany c. and at 4 Years of age Duke of York SECT V. Of Consimilar Writs to the Royal Exemplars NOw I should proceed to the Consimilars of these Exemplars but in respect that they consist of a very great number and it were too great a labour to treat of all Consimilars I shall forbear to recite them Especially being in hopes that my Learned Friend Sir William Dugdale will publish a particular Treatise of them and ease me of that labour so as I shall only take notice here of the Writ for this Parliament to Prince Rupert the Sisters Son to King Charles the First and this is Consimilar in all parts to the Duke of Yorks Exemplar except in the Title so I need not set it down at large but by abbreviation shall thus render it viz. Carolus c. Rex c. Praecharissimo Consanguinco Duci Cumbriae Salutem and so Verbatim with the Dukes Exemplar Duke of Cumberland being his English Title SECT VI. Observations on these Consimilars 1. FIrst in most of the Clause-Rolls and Pawns from the 15. of Edw. the 2. to this time after the Exemplar Writs are set down these words following are in the Clause-Rolls and Pawns viz. Consimilia Brevia diriguntur Subscriptis and in some Consimiles Literae instead of Brevia directae Subscriptis and in some Consimiles Literae directae Conscriptis thereby seeming to retain the ancient words of Patres Conscripti which the Romans did usually apply to their Elected Senators But here it is only Consimile Breve in the singular Dirigitur praecharissimo c. Ruperto there being no other of the Bloud in England 2. Princes of the Bloud have been Consimilars when Princes of the Bloud have been Exemplars as in the 25 Edw. 3d. Edward Prince of Wales was Consimilar to Henry Earl of Lancaster his Uncle of the Bloud but not where any were Exemplars who were not of the Bloud and so many more might be cited which may be seen in Cottons Collections of the Tower Records 3. In this Consimilar Writ Prince Ruperts Foraign Titles are omitted because none of the Peers do sit in the Lords House but in respect of their English Titles yet in the Proxy-writs which they allow to others their Foraign Titles are recited without scruple as will be shewn in the 10th Section of the 12th Chapter 4. I cannot but take notice here that till the Union with Scotland there was a Chair plac'd in the Lords House on the right hand of the Kings Chair for the King of Scots and call'd the King of Scots Chair Yet I cannot find by any Records of the House of Lords or elsewhere that the King of Scots did ever sit there or was Summon'd or had any proxy to sit there for him by vertue of any Exemplar or Consimilar Writ And now I shall proceed to the Exemlar for Bishops CHAP. VII The second Exemplar viz. To the Archbishop of Canterbury Section I THe Examplar for Bishops of which I am now to speak is not entred into this Pawn in the Pettibag which I have recited verbatim as all the other Exemplars are but it is entred in the Chancery Crown-Office an Office of Record also as I have shewn being issued after the Parliament was sitting nor would I have entred it here in respect my design in this first part is to write only of such Writs as were previous to the sitting of this Parliament had not I found that the Exemplar for Bishops is constantly entred in all the Clause-Rolls extant from the 15 of Edw. 2d and in all Pawns extant from the 21 of Hen. 8. except in this of the 13. Car. 2d which omission proceeding from the reasons which will be given in the following Chapter was upon the first sitting of this Parliament rectified and therefore I thought fit rather a little to deviate from my method than to defer or puzzle the Reader with the discourse of it at too great a distance from all the other Writs of Summons of which I intend to treat according to the order of the Pawn and so I crave leave as most suiting to all former precedents to treat of this Exemplar in the second place especially having the Act of Precedency unrepeal'd also to justifie my proceedings 2. Before I proceed to discourse of Archbishops or Bishops it is convenient to look back to the several Titles which were given to those who were Managers of the Religion practis'd in this Island before the name of Bishop was here known This Religion was by the Jews call'd Paganism and the Professors thereof Pagans Panims Ethnicks Gentiles Heathens and Infidels which Titles are all of the same nature The word Pagan comprehending the other five only the word Infidel was not