true lawful and undoubted Heir and Universal Successor to the Crown and Kingdoms of England and France and all the King's Dominions whatsoever and wheresoever beyond the Sea and also has right of universally succeeding the King in the said Crown Kingdoms and Dominions To have to him and the Heirs Male of his Body and in default of such Issue so in remainder to his Brothers In an other Charter pass'd in that Parliament the Inheritance or Hereditation of the Crown is entail'd upon the King and the Heirs Male of his Body then to his four Sons and the Heirs Male of their Bodies successively It seems the next year some doubts arose upon these different Settlements that 5o. then remaining upon Record therefore they cancel and make void the Letters Patent of the Entail 5o. and change and amend that Settlement which they seem to have thought defective 1. In only declaring the Prince Heir Apparent and Inheritable to the Crown which was no more than to declare him before others qualified to succeed if the States should Elect him 2. In declaring him Inheritable only to the Crown of England without mentioning its appurtenances seeming to think that in Grants of this Nature nothing would pass by implication But to prevent all ambiguities they being as is said in that Record met in a Parliament according to the Custom of the Kingdom for divers Matters and Things concerning the King and his Kingdom The King with common Consent of the Kingdom Enacts That a new Patent be Sealed constituting Prince Henry Heir Apparent to succeed the King in his Crown Realms and Dominions to have them with all their appurtenances after the King's Decease to him and the Heirs of his Body and so in remainder to his three Brothers successively whereby they had a larger Estate than by the Entail 7º which was to Heirs Male Thus by Virtue of one or more Settlements by Authority of Parliament H. 5. succeeded and yet it was thought a great instance of the confidence the States had in him that in a Convention or Assembly holden according to Ancient Custom in which they treated about creating a new King some of the Nobility immediately Swore Allegiance to him before he had been declared King But it is to be observed that whereas his Father died the 20th of March he is said to be created King on the 5th of April Death cutting off the course of his Glories his Infant Son H. 6. came in under the Parliamentary Entail but the Administration was held to have fallen upon the States who accordingly after having declared H. 6. King in full Parliament pass'd a Patent constituting Humfry Duke of Gloster Protecter of the Realm John Duke of Bedford Regent of France and Henry Beaufort Bishop of Winchester and Thomas Beaufort Duke of Exeter Governors of the young Prince The Death of the brave Duke of Bedford occasioned not only the loss of France but the raising the Family of York to a pretence which in all probability had been buried to this day had not H. 6ths treacherous Ministers put him upon making Richard Duke of York Regent of France after being High Constable of England and Lieutenant of Ireland With these advantages Duke Richard set up under a Mask of Popularity as if he only sought redress of grievances while himself was the only National Calamity As nothing but success could give him any colour of Title he was forced to conceal his Ambition even from his own Party till 26 H. 6 yet after that acknowledged and swore to H. 6ths Right and confirm'd it with the Sacrament which Solemnities were to be subservient to his imaginary Divine Right Tho' by his Frauds and Perjuries he often came within the prospect of a Crown 38 H. 6. he was deservedly Attainted of High-Treason and an Association with an Oath was voluntarily enter'd into by the Lords wherein every one severally acknowledges H. 6. to be his most redoubted Lord and rightwish or Rightful by Succession born to Reign over him and all the Kings Liege People that he will do his utmost for the We le and surety of the King's Person of his most Royal Estats and the very conservation and continuance of his most high Authority Preheminence and Prerogative and for the preservation of the Queen and of Prince Edward his Right redoubted Lord the Prince that after the King's Death he will take and accept the Prince for his Sovereign Lord and after him the Issue of his Body lawfully begotten for want of such Issue any other Issue of the Body of the King that he will never give Aid Assistance or Favour to any thing contrary to the premises and that he will put himself in his due undelayed devoir with his Body Goods Might Power Counsel and Advertisement to resist withstand and subdue all that should presume to do contrary to the premises or any of them This Association not being General throughout the Kingdom had no great effect not so much from any belief the Nation had of Richard's being injured as from the burdens a Treacherous Ministry induced a weak Prince to lay upon the Subjects This made the Commons of Kent invite over from abroad the Duke and his Party who had fled from Justice then the Tide turn'd and the King became wholly in the power of the Duke of York under whose awe and influence a Parliament was call'd where he laid claim to the Crown with circumstances which one would think were enough to give any Man a face of Title and yet his pretended Divine Right countenanc'd by Providence was mightily qualify'd by the courage of the Parliament and their regard to the Constitution of this Monarchy His claim was as Son to Ann Daughter to Roger Mortimer Son and Heir to Philippa Daughter and Heir to Lionel Duke of Clarence third Son to E. 3. whereas H. 6. descended from John of Gaunt the 4th and eldest surviving Son After Debate among the Lords upon this matter these Objections were agreed upon against Richard's pretence of Title 1. The Oaths they had taken to the King their Sovereign Lord. 2. Acts of Parliament made in divers Parliaments of the King's Progenitors of Authority sufficient to defeat any manner of Title to be made to any Person 3. Several Entails made to Heirs Male 4. That Richard did not bear Lionel's Arms. 5. That H. 4. took upon him the Crown not as Conqueror but right Inheritor to H 3. All that is urged materially against this for Richard is 1. That Oaths do not bind against God's Law and that requires Truth and Justice to be maintain'd but this being a Spiritual matter he refers to any Judge Spiritual 2. That there was but one Entail of the Crown 7 H. 4. but that this was void against the right Inheritor of the Crown according to God's law and all Natural laws 3. It could
King of Denmark Landing with an additional Force this with Ethelred's sloath and unacceptableness to his own People drove him to an Abdication Upon Swane's death the English invited back the Abdicated King on condition he would govern better than he had done for which his Son Edward undertook Ethelred returning as an Author who lived about the time has it a contract was established between the King and his People and firm friendship and it was enacted with an Oath that there never more should be a Danish King in England After this Cnute the Son of Swane laid claim to the Crown of England as a Saxon as well as Dane deriving from King Ethelbald who doubtless was that Son of an elder Brother of King Alfred who oppos'd Edward the elder Notwithstanding this tho' the Danes elected Cnute the English adhered to Ethelred Upon whose death they chose his Son Edmund Ironside who as appears by the stream of ancient Authorities was a Bastard Upon i Edmund's death Cnute was Crown'd King of England by the Election of all and according to Florence of Woster he swore to be Faithful Lord as the People did to be Leige Subjects At Cnute's death his two Sons Harold who was a Bastard or rather Spurious and Hardecnute his legitimate Son by Ethelred's Widow were by Leofric and all the Nobility on the North-side of the River Thomes elected Kings over all England as partners in Power and co-heirs But Duke Godwin and other Noblemen in West-Saxony opposed and prevailed It appears by an Author who wrote in the Confessor's Time and whose words are transcrib'd by several that they prevailed for the total rejection of Hardecnute because he made not sufficient haste to take the Administration upon him Therefore Harold who however would have been King of Mercia and the Northumbrian Kingdom was elected over all England by the Princes and all the People or as an other of like antiquity has it is elected King by all the People of England Upon Harold's death and not before Hardecnute was received in what manner appears by the then standing Ritual for the Coronation of Kings But Emmae's Sons by Ethelred Alured and Edw. as Malms observes were despised almost by all rather through the remembrance of their Fathers sloathfulness than by reason of the Power of the Danes Yet they two without preference of one before the other were accounted Heirs of the Kingdom and accordingly Cnute while he was in fear of the then Duke of Normandy offer'd half his Kingdom to Edward and his Brother Alured Upon Hardecnute's death Earl Godwin was chosen Administrator or Protector of the Kingdom during the vacancy and till a fit Person should be elected King Godwin summons a Convention of the States where he nominated Ethelred's only surviving Son by Emma whom the Saxons call'd Elgive After some debates all consented to the election of Edward He being so elected was in the sense of those times Heir of the Kingdom to the last Possessor Hardecnute his Brother by the half blood And yet it is observable that according to a Charter of Edward's pass'd in Parliament at the latter end of his Reign the Hereditary Succession was hazarded by the Danes that is according to what I before observ'd the Anglo-Saxon regnant branch of the Royal Family was kept back and was likely never to have been restored 'T is evident that it was not for Edward to carry this Point farther for besides the Danish Royal Family claiming from King Ethelbald and Fretheric Abbot of St. Albans in his time coming from the ancient Saxons and Danes and lineally descended from King Cnute there was the Historian Ethelwerd or his immediate Ancestor of the Family of King Ethered and in all probability there were several descendants either from Ethelstan Ethelwolfs elder Brother or from his Sons Ethelbald and Ethelbert What was the known Law in the Confessor's time both as to the Succession and the continuing King besides the former Evidences appears beyond contradiction from that King's Laws according to which 1. The Monarchy was founded in election which explains in what Sense a King is there taken to be Constituted 2. If the King do not answer the end for which he had been Constituted not so much as the name of King shall continue in him 3. It receives as a Rule in all Kingdoms and particularly here the Judgment of Pope Zachary encouraging the Franks to depose their King Childeric With Edward the Confessor end the Saxon and Danish Successions of Kings Harold the Son of Earl Godwin as I shall shew never was King nor reputed King by any but his own Party Here I may observe 1. That Dr. Brady is mightily mistaken in his assertion that the Saxons did in their subjection owning of and submission to their Princs acknowledge both proximity of blood and nomination of their Princes often both sometimes only one of them but never followed any other rule 2. The chief rule of Succession upon the death or disability of any King was a proper election of a worthy Person of the Regnant Branch of the Royal Family 3. Dr. Bradie's notion that Elegerunt signifies no more than recognoverunt they acknowledged owned submitted unto him as their King is by no means true the recognition being manifestly subsequent to or in consequence of the election nor is any thing more plain than that the States did from the beginning of the Monarchy downwards rightfully declare an Heir to the Kingdom and then acknowledge his Right tho' neither next upon the Royal Line nor representing the next nor yet nominated by the Predecessor And indeed till a rare and noted instance in the case of Hen. 5. on whom the Crown had before been entailed in Parliament no Prince was known to have been formally recogniz'd till he had taken the Coronation Oath 4 If according to any good authority of the Saxon or Danish Times it should seem that any man came to the Crown by the Gift of his Predecessor it must have been made with such solemnity as was requisite even for the granting of Lands As that of Egbert's above-mentioned or Athelstan's in an Assembly of the Bishops Abbots Dukes or Earls and the Procurators or Representatives of the Country or an other before the Plebs or Commons or Edgar's in the open air with the privity of the Great or Wisemen of his whole Kingdom In the Confessor's life time there were three Competitors for the Crown Atheling's Father and Son to Edmund Ironside Harold who was High Steward of England and the most powerful of any Man tho' not his Fathers eldest Son and William Duke of Normandy Grand Nephew to Emma who had been Crown'd Queen of England nor as has appear'd above was William under any
says they assembled in order to exalt Henry the King 's eldest Son to be King of England He took the Coronation Oath more han once and at one of his Coronations had the Confessor's Sword carried before him by the Earl of Chester one of the Earls Palatine of England for a sign that that Sword was not to be born in vain He having trod in his Father's steps the States were likely to have made good their solemn denunciation 17th of his Reign of deposing him in a Common-Council of the whole Kingdom and creating a new King which as appears by Bracton a very learned Judge in that Reign was no more than the then known Law of the Kingdom Various were the events of a long Civil War in which at last the death of the great Darling of the Church and People the then Hereditary High Steward of England and the bravery of Henry's Son gave him the victory which they who were on his side and his own experience of the consequence of his former Counsels kept withing some bounds of moderation Henry to secure the Succession to his eldest Son Edward had before that success caused many and particularly the Citizens of London to swear to his Son as Successor And after that it should seem that a Parliament had made a Settlement of the Crown For in the 55th of his Reign a Writ was sent to London the execution of which was return'd into the Parliament that year at Winchester and 't is probable the like had been throughout England in pursuance of which Writ the Mayor Barons Citizens and University of the Commons swore Allegiance to the King after him to his eldest Son Edward then to his Son John after that to the right Heirs of the Crown of England which not being to the Heirs of either of those Persons plainly left the Inheritance as I have shewn it was from the beginning Upon the Father's death the Clergy and Laity flock'd to Westminster where they declared or received for King Edward then beyond-sea in the Holy War so called Soon after this as I take it a great Convention of the States was holden in his name there a Chancellor was chosen and other Provisions made for the Peace of the Kingdom in Edward's absence the Writ which they issued out requiring the Subjects in general to swear Allegiance to E. 1. says the Government was devolved upon him by Hereditary Succession and the Will of the Nobility and the Fidelity performed or Allegiance sworn to him Agreeably to which Walsingham says they recognized Edward their Leige Lord and ordained him Successor of his Father's honour Tho' he was a very gallant Prince yet having taken ill advice being to cross the Seas he upon a Pedestal at Westminster-Hall Gate with the Archbishop of Canturbury and the Earl of Warwick by his side publickly ask'd forgiveness of his People entreated 'em to receive him again at his return and if he died to Crown his Son King which they who were then assembled consented to How much it was then known to concern a King to keep to his part of the Contract as he would have his People continue bound appears by two great Authorities in our Law of that time Fleta who as to this matter transcribes Bracton almost verbatim and the Mirrour of Justices which speaks of the first Institution of Kings among us by Election for what End they were Elected and what they were to expect if they answered not that End E. 2. as Walsingham informs us succeeded not so much by Hereditary Right as by the unanimous Assent of the Nobility and Great Men. He was for misgovernment formally depos'd or Abdicated from the Regal Dignity as Walsingham has it and his Son Edward was Substituted or Elected in his stead The Son indeed tho he had headed Forces against his Father seem'd to scruple accepting the Crown without his Fathers consent And ex post Facto after Edw. 2d had been deposed and his Son Elected with a threat that if he refused they would Elect sombody else the Father took some comfort at the Election of his Son and as much as in him lay consented The Son it must be own'd in a Writ cited by Dr. Brady says his Father amoved himself by the assent of the Prelates Earls Barons and other Nobles and also of the Commonalâ—y of the whole Kingdom Which being onely in Writs Issued out of the Chancery can be of no Force to limit or explain that Act of the States And was but a civility or complement from the Son to the Father What the States judged in the matter will be very plain from the following account in a contemporary Author King Edward remaining in Custody at Kenelworth a General Council of the whole Clergy and People of England was Summon'd viz. of every City and every County and Borough a certain number of Persons to Treat and Ordain with the Great Men of the State of the King and Kingdom In which Council at the cry of the whole People unanimously persevering in that cry that King Edward II. should be Deposed from the Throme of the Kingdom becuase from the beginning of his Reign to this day he had misbehaved himself in his Government had Ruled his People wickedly had dissipated Lands Castles and other things belonging to the Crown had by perverse Judgment unjustly adjudged Noblemen to Death had advanced the Ignoble and had done many things contrary to the Oath taken at his Coronation Walter Archbishop of Canterbury pronouncing Articles of this kind by assent and consent of all King Edward 2. is wholly deposed and Edward his eldest Son advanced to be King of England And it is Ordained that from thenceforth he should not be called King but Edward of Karnarvan the King's Father And immediately Messengers were sent from the Council to the said Edward the King's Father to notifie to him what had been done and to read to him the Articles upon which he had been deposed He answer'd he was detained in custody nor could contradict their Ordinances but said he would bear all patiently And it is observable that a Statute of the Kingdom 1 E. 3. justifies the taking Arms against E. 2. while he was in Possession of the Throne and indemnifies all Persons for the pursuit of the said King and taking and withholding his body E. 3. who knew that himself came in by and election of the States being aware that if he should die before any Provision were made about the Succession the Controversie concerning the Right of Proximity and that of Representation would be revived between his eldest surviving Son and Grandson by the eldest who died in his life time obtained an Act of Parliament whereby Richard his Grandson by his eldest and best beloved Son was declared or made very
Opinion No Treason against any King but the Regnant nor has any other Person Right against him or his Issue 3 Inst F. 7. a Hales's Pleas of the Crown p. 11. b Nota In the Act 1 H. 7. restoring H. 6. of the younger House His Eldest Son Edward who died in his life time is called Prince of Wales Rot. Parl. 1 H. 7. N. 16. c 3 Inst Proof of the 2d and 3d General Heads Stat. 11. H. 7. c. 1. Vid. Leges W. 1. c. 52. de fide obsequio erga Regem Cap. 58. Proof of the 3d. General Head Vid. Printed Stat. 1 H. 7. * Ret. Parl. 1 H. 7. n. 3. †Vid. Abridg. Stat. usque ad 15 H. 8. ‖ Stat. 1 H. 7. 6. Vid. Inf. Ret. Parl. 1 H. 7. n. 16. Restitutio H. 6. Obj. 3 d. Proof of the 4 th and 5 th General Heads Bede Lib. 1. cap. 1. Vbires veniret in dubium magis de foemineâ regum prosapiâ quam de masculinâ fibi eligerent a Lib. 5. c. 24. An. 725. b Lib. 4. c. 11. Susceperunt Subreguli regnum gentis divisum inter se tenuerunt annis circiter decem c Ib. c. 12. d An. 730. Cart. Orig. in Eib. Cot. e Bede Lib. 4. c. 26. Circiter an 685. Per aliquod spatium reges dubii vel externi disperdiderunt donec legitimus Rex Victred c. f Mon. 1. vol. f. 28. An. 764. g Ib. col 1. An. 762. Ib. col 2. alt cart h Cart. Orig. in Bib. Cot. i An. 699. k Leges Sâ—i Edw. Lamb. Arch. Bib. Cot. sub effig Claud. D. k Cron. Sax. nuper ed. Cujus prosapia oriunda est Cerdico l Malms f. 7. Quam successivae sobolis prosapia m Non parum lineâ Regiae stirpis exexorbitaverunt n Cron. Sax. p. 16 61. o Cron. Sax. Bromton col 770. super populum regnum elegerunt p Spelm. Conc. 1. vol. f. 291 292. q Fund Const 1. part f. 80. r Bracton l. 2. c. 29. Concil Calchuthense Legantinum Pananglicum An. 787. Haeres Patriae An. 800. vel Potius 801. s Cart. in Regist Ab. Bib. Cot. Claud. B. Cum licentià consensu totius gentis nostre c. t Few Historians take notice of him vid. tamen Bib. Cot. Domitian A. 8. Sax. Lat. which shews him to have been King of Kent Surrey and Suffex x Evid Ec. Cant. inter Decem script col 2220. y Bib. Cot. Julius D. 2. f. 125. a z Vid. Cart. Orig. in Bib. Cot. eod An. Egbert Ethelwolf acting together both Kings a Mon. 1. vol. f. 195. An. 843. Welding ealle Britone b Asser Men. ending with the life of King Alfred f. 156. c Nic. Gloc. in Bib. Cot. Caligula A. Ending with the life of Ethelwolf d Rituale in Bib. Cot. Coronat Ethelredi H. 1. e Pictav de Gestis ejus f. 205. f An. 855. g Bib. Cot. Tiber. B. Albas Floriacencis h Exantiq Sax. nobili prosapia oriundus c. Omnium comprovincialium i Exgeneris Successione i Asser Men. k Cron. de Mailros l Bradies Introd f. 359. m Asser Epistola haereditaria immo commendatoria n Append. vitae Alfredi o Ita Haereditas Aethelwolfis Rs. primei ad me devoluta est per cartam inde confectam in concilio nostro apud Langedene p Ethelwerdi Cron. f. 479. Ordinati sunt filii ejus c. q Cron. de Mailros f. 143. An. 160. An. 160. r Append. sup s Polycron R. Higden f. 255. S. Dun. f. 125. 126. An. 872. t Append. Sup. De haereditate quam Deus ac Principes cum senioribus populi misericorditer ac benigne dederunt s S. Dun. A ducibus presulibus totius gentis eligitur non solum ab ipsis verum etiam ab omni populo adoratur ut eis praeseset t Asserii Annales Huntindon u Vid. his Book dedicated to Maud Wife to W. 1. M S. in Bib. COT. Ed. Ipse stemmate regali a Primatis electus An. 925. or 924. x Mat. West f. 180. Selden's Notes upon Polyolb f. 211. MS. Lelandi Wendover MS. in Bib. Cot. y Cron. Sax. p. 11. Huntindon f. 204. Electus est Rex in Merce An. 944. z Bib. Cot. Vitel. D. 15. vita sti Dunstani Autore Osberno Dorob edit Inser script sub nomine Anglia sacra Successst in iure frarris a Bib. Cot. Cleopat B. 13. Alter autor vitae Sti. Dunstani Mox proximus haeres Eadredus c Vid. Enquiry said to be Dr. Bradies p. 14. and the Doctors Introd f. 364. d Bib. Cot. Sup. An. 955. Post hunc surrexit Eadwig regnandi gratiâ poliens licet in utraque plebe Regum numeros nomina suppleretelectus e Quoniam in commisso regimine insipienter egit f Ib. Hoc ita omnium conspiratione relicto elegere sibi Do. dictante c. g Ib. Et regnum ipsius velut aequus haeres abutroque populo electus h Bib. Cot. i An. 975. k Osbernas sup Vitellius A. 20. l Bib. Cot. Regist Magn. Abendoniae sub Effig Claud. B. f. 89. b Omnes utriusque ordinis Optimates ad regni gubernacula moderanda fratrem meum m Vid. Dr. Bradies use of this Introd f. 360. Eaduuardum elegerunt c. miho terras ad regios pertinentes filios in meos usus tradiderunt Ar. 979. * Bib. Cot. sub Effig Claudii A. 3. Ab Episcopis a plebe electus m Ib. volumus concedimus n Benedic domine hunc pure electum Principem Firmatum est pactum inter Regem populum suum firma amicitia jure jurando etiant statutum est ut nunquam amplius esset Rex Danus in Arglià o Bib. Cot. Domition A. 8. sup p An. 1015. or 1016. q Knighton f. 2320. Misit clameum c. r Malms f. 39. Dani Cnutonem eligunt s Internal vid. Argl. Saer Hist Maj. Winton ' Cujusdam Ducis fil nomine Algivam accepit in Concubinam exqua genuit filium nomine Edmundum Irâ—â—side Et t Cited and applied Spelmans Glos f. 277. Bib. Cot. Cleoâ— B. 13. De regno nominibus Regum Anglor c. De Edm. Irnenside Iste erat Bastardus a Ingulfas f. 58. b Leofric Comes tota nobilitas exparte Aquilonis fluminis Tamesiae elegerunt Haroldum Hardecnut fratrem ejus c. Edw. Conf. Vid. etiam ib. Cleop. A. 7. c Bib. Cot. Abbrev. Cron. fin ' temp Cron ' breve ad An. 1062. Haraldus Rex eligitur ab omni populo Angl. d Malms f. 43. e Vid. Scrip. Norm Eucomium Emmae Regno haereditatis vestrae privamini f Gemet f. 271. g M. S. cited in Monast 1. vol. Regni cura Reginae assensu Magnatum consilio Comiti Godwino commitritur donec qui digrus esset eligeretur Bib. Cot. Domit A. 13. Cron. Wint. h Gemet f. 271. Ipse autem