〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kings or Emperors believing that the Name of Kings left them in some dependence upon the Empire of the East this obliged the Emperors of the West to take upon them the Title of Emperor to intimate their independency upon the Princes of the East Which Title the Emperors of the West having afterwards made use of as a pretence to raise themselves above the rest of the Princes of Europe the Western Kings did the same which the Emperors of the West had done before to assert their Independency For not only the Kings of England but some other Western Kings have taken upon them the Title of Emperors Alphonsus VI King of Spain took upon him this Title by a Concession from Pope Vrban II because he had suppressed the Mosorabick-Office Alphonsus VII and VIII assum'd the same Titles and Alphonsus VIII was Crowned in that quality by Raymond Arch-Bishop of Toledo in the Church of Lions with the consent of Pope Innocent II as is reported by Garibay lib. 8. hist cap. 4. We find that Peter de Clugny writes to this Alphonsus as Emperor of Spain Epist 8. And long time before these Princes it is certain that the Kings of the Goths since Richaredus had taken to themselves the Title of Flavians in imitation of the Roman Emperors as may be seen in the Councils of Toledo Yet Philip II having demanded this Title in 1564 of Pope Pius IV it was refused him The Kings of Lombardy had assum'd the Title of Flavians even since Autlaric according to the Account given us by Paul Diacon lib. 3. cap. 8 which they did to shew that they were Emperors in their own Lands and Territories and that they acknowledged no Soveraign or Superior And it seems that in Process of Time some Western Kings affected that Title for the same reason and were the rather perswaded so to do because some Canonists and Lawyers have impudently maintained That the Kings of Spain France and England were Subjects of the Emperors of the West Glossa in cap. Venerabil de Elect. in verbo transtulit in caput Venerabil qui filii sint legitimi Bartolus in caput hostes ff de captivis Alciat lib. 2 disjunct c. 22. Baldus in cap. 1 de Pace juramento fervando in usibus Feudorum Tho he contradict himself by asserting elsewhere That the King of France is not subject to the Emperor And thus much for the first Illusion some make use of to perswade us that the Kings of England possess the same Rights as the Emperors A second which seems to have some more Ground is this They say that as the Emperors that were after Vespasian had the Right to divide the Empire and to settle it by their Wills on their Heirs the Kings of England having done the like it appears thereby they were in Possession of the same Right the Emperors had to this purpose they alledge the last Will of William the Conqueror in favor of his Son William Rufus But nothing can be more vain than this Objection 1. We cannot deny but that the Election of Kings took Place during the Reign of the Saxons not that they did it with that Freeness as to prefer the Uncle before his Nephew that was under Age ' tho the Kings Son and the youngest Brother before the Eldest 2ly It is true that William the Conqueror did act in an extraordinary manner in disposing of his Kingdom in Favor of William Rufus in the same way as one disposeth of a Conquest and this in prejudice to Robert his Eldest Son as was also done by William Rufus But these two Princes dying without Heirs Henry who had Married the Daughter of King Alexander of Scotland who had the Rights of the Saxon Kings and who in Consideration of that Marriage renounced the Rights he might pretend to England as heir Presumptive of the Saxon Kings having obtain'd the Government by the Right of his Wife the Laws recovered their Strength and Things returned to their antient Channel as they were in the time of the Saxons So that it appears that it is Folly for any one to imagine that the Kings of England may alienate their Estates as a private Person can alienate his Inheritance This was evident in the case of King John who was opposed by the whole State for pretending to subject the Crown of England to Pope Innocent III. And indeed if we consider the Thing in it self and according to the unanimous Opinion of all Lawyers these last Wills can really be of no Force without the consent of the States to authorize them as we find that the same did intervene in both the fore-mentioned Cases The reason whereof is invincible forasmuch as all States do not consider their Kings as Proprietors of their Kingdoms but only as publick Ministers who are intrusted with a Jurisdiction and Administration for the Good of the publick And this is the Title by which even Conquerors themselves are at last obliged to hold their Authority They tell us in the 3d place that the Kings of England entitling themselves Kings by the Grace of God it appears that their Power being come from God cannot be limited by their Subjects over whom God has set them A wonderful way of arguing and never known till these our Times at least it is evident that he who has defended Nicholas de Lyra against Burgensis hath made a very different use of these words Dei Gratia by the Grace of God wherewith the Kings of the North prefac◠their Titles from what some now a days make of it For he maintains that it is the Character of a limited and temper'd Government see how he expresseth himself upon the 8. ch of the 1 Book of Kings Titulus Imperatoris modo regendi vitiato that is to say illimitato as he expresses himself before contradicit nam titulus ejus est N. Dei gratia Romanorum Rex semper Augustus hoc est Reipublicae non privatae accommodus Ita aliorum Regum Protestationes sunt sub Dei gratia quae vitiatum Principatum non admittit The very Title of the Emperor saith he is a Contradiction to an Arbitrary and Unlimited kind of Government for his Title is N. by the Grace of God King of the Romans always Augustus that is enlarger of the Empire which implies that his Government is accommodate to the Common good and not his Private Interest So likewise we find that the Protestations of other Kings are under Dei Gratia the Grace of God which doth not admit of Arbitrary Government There remain but two difficulties more the first is this Several Members of the Church of England having perswaded the People that a necessity was laid upon them to suffer all from the Hands of their Kings The Kings of England have accordingly usurped those Rights and were actually in possession of them when the same began to oppose themselves to King James this is that they call a right of Prescription They consider the
nor unknown and upon occasion of which the States of the Empire have had an opportunity to declare make out their Rights and Pretensions One of the first Examples we find respecting this Matter is the Deposition of Lewis the Good in the Year 833. The Acts whereof we may see in Baronius Goldast du Chesne and le Comte Whereupon we may make these Reflections 1. That the Thing was done with the Consent of the Bishops and of all the Nobility 2. That the Estates above all accuse him for having broke his Coronation-Oath 3. That though this Lewis was afterwards restored to the Throne of the Empire yet those that restored him never contested the Power the State had to reject a Prince who overturn'd the Rules of Government but supposed only that he had not been duly convinced of the Crimes laid to his charge We have another Example in the Deposition of Henry IV. The Archbishops Bishops Dukes and Earls declare that they had not sworn to him till after he had engaged himself by his Oath to them to observe the Laws and the Capitulations of the Empire so that having now violated them they were set free from the Oath they had sworn to him and that they considered him as an Enemy against whom they would wage war to their last breath Lambert Schafnaburg One of the last Instances we find in the deposing of the Emperor Wenceslaus who was deposed by the Electors of the Empire in the Year 1400 after that he had been twice taken Prisoner and had been exhorted by the State to amend and take up from his irregular Actings Aventin lib. 7. Annalium Cuspinian in Vita Venceslai We may see the most part of these Articles and many more solidly confirmed in the Book of Carpsovius de Lege Regia Imperatorum Germaniae and in the Imperial Capitulations and other Laws which he has caused to be printed at the End of his Treatise CHAP. XIII That the Power of the Kings of Poland is Limited WE find the same Limitation in other States whether they be Successive or Elective I shall content my self to alledge only one Example concerning the Kingdoms that at present are Elective and that shall be of the Kingdom of Poland Poland from the Relation of Cromer gives us an illustrious Example of the Wisdom of Northern People in bounding the Power of their Princes After that the Family of Lech the first Founder of that Kingdom was extinct that State changed the Royal Government into that of XII Waywods otherwise called Palatines These Palatines abusing their Authority they re-established the Regal Government in favor of Cracus whose second Son was expell'd by the Polanders for killing his Elder Brother They afterwards chose the Daughter of Cracus for their Queen who 't is said having drowned her self to avoid Marriage the Polanders again established 12 Palatines as they had done before but afterwards suppressed them again because they found them insufficient to defend the Countrey and chose Premiel for their King. This is Lesko the 1 who lived about the year 750. It was not till the Year 965 that Miesco turn'd Christian and took upon him the Title of King of Poland which Title was confirmed by the Emperor Otho III to Bosletas his Successor His Successors having reigned until Lesko Surnamed the Black who was forced by Flight to quit the Kingdom because he was not able to resist the Tartars and died without Issue the Poles wearied with intestine Wars excited by the Ambition of their great Lords chose Premiel to be their King who being kill'd without leaving any Children behind him they made choice of Ladislaus who was afterwards desposed for Male-Administration by the States General Wenceslaus King of Bohemia who had been chosen in his stead dying in the Year 1305 Ladislaus was recall'd to the Government to whom Casimir his Son succeeded who in the Year 1370 designed for his Successor with consent of the States Lewis the Son of Charles King of Hungary by his Sister The Poles after the Death of Lewis chose Edwiga his Daughter upon condition that she should marry the Person whom the States should recommend to her for a Husband the Person recommended by them was Jagello Duke of Lithuania who had the name of Ladislaus given him by the Archbishop of Gnesna who anointed and Crowned after he had first baptized him He outliv'd Edwiga who died without Children and had for Successors the children of his fourth Wife who reached until Sigismund Augustus after whose Death the States chose in the Year 1573 Henry Duke of Anjou who after he had reigned four Months in Poland abandon'd the Kingdom to take possession of the Crown of France and was deprived of that of Poland by the States as may be seen from the Acts recorded by Historians This Vacancy occasion'd a Division in the States one part of them having chosen the Emperor Maximilian the Second and the other part Anne the Sister of Sigismund Augustus to whom they gave Stephen Battori Prince of Transylvania for her husband who Married the said Anne and was Crowned at Cracovia in 1576. After the Death of Stephen the States chose Sigismund Son of John III King of Sweden and of Katharine Daughter of Sigismund I. of that name King of Poland It is evident from this Abridgment 1st That the Poles always pretended to be the Masters that had right to give the Form to their State which seemed to them most comporting with the Good and Welfare of it 2ly That they took it for granted that they had Power to reject those Princes or Palatines whose Behaviour was contrary to the Publick Good for which they had raised them 3ly That they ever had an Eye to Succession so far as to bestow the Crown sometimes upon Daughters yet not thinking themselves bound to it but only so far as the good of the State did permit 4ly That they had regard to the appointing of a Successor when the States had first consented to it 5ly That the Flight or Desertion of their Kings has appear'd to them a sufficient Ground to proceed to a new Election in their stead and to reject them This is evident from the History of Lesko surnamed the Black and of Henry the III of France 6ly That the anointing and Crowning of their Kings was of no avail to dispense with their Oath in which they publickly declare That if they do not observe the Laws of the State the People are dispensed from their Oaths of Fealty they have sworn to them CHAP. XIV That the Monarchy of France is not an Absolute Empire but a Limited Royalty 'T IS not of to day only that some have imagined the Monarchy of France to be an unlimited Power and an Absolute Empire Bodinus was of that opinion before them but they that follow his sentiment understand nothing of that Constitution or if they do have a greater desire to flatter the unjust Pretensions of that Court than to maintain the
laid upon the Kingdom but by the Common-Council of the Kingdom unless it be to redeem the King's Person or to make his eldest Son a Knight or to marry his eldest Daughter once and for these a reasonable Aid shall be given That it be in like manner with respect to Tallages and Aids from the City of London and other Cities that have Priviledges therein And that the City of London may fully enjoy her ancient Liberties and free Customs as well by Water as by Land. That it shall be lawful for any Man to go out of the Kingdom and to return saving his Allegiance to the King unless it be in time of War for a short time for the common profit of the Realm If any borrow Money of a Jew be it more or less and die before the Debt be paid no Interest shall be paid for the same so long as the Heir is under age of whomsoever he hold And if the Debt become due to the King the King shall take no more than what is contain'd in the Charter If any Man die and owe Money to the Jews his Wife shall have her Dower and if he left Children Necessaries shall be provided them according to the quantity of the Freehold and the residue shall go to pay off the Debt saving the Services due to the Lords The like shall be observed in case of other Debts and when the Heir comes of age his Guardian shall restore him his Land as well stockt as he could reasonably afford out of the Profits of the Land coming in by the Plough and the Cart. If any Man hold of any Escheat as of the Honour of Wallingford and Nottingham Bonon and Lancaster or of other Escheats which are in the King's Hand and are Baronies and die his Heir shall pay no other Relief nor perform any other Service then he should have paid and perform'd to the Baron and that the King shall hold such Escheats as the Barons held them That Fines made for Dowers Marriages Inheritances and Amercements wrongfully and contrary to the Law of the Land be freely remitted or ordered by the Judgment of the Five and twenty Barons or of the major part of them together with the Archbishop and such as he shall call to him Provided that if one or more of the Five and twenty have themselves any like complaint that then he or they shall be removed and others put in their rooms by the residue of the Five and twenty That the Hostages and Deeds be restored which were deliver'd to the King for his Security That they that live out of the Forest be not obliged to come before the Justices of the Forest by common Summons unless they be Parties or Pledges And that the Evil Customs of the Forests and Foresters Warrens and Sheriffs and Ponds be redress'd by twelve Knights of each County who shall be chosen by the Good Men of the County That the King remove wholly from their Bayliff-wick the Kindred and whole Dependance of Gerard de Aties that hereafter they have no Bayliffwick to wit Engeland Andr ' Peter ' Gigo de Cances Gigo de Cygon Matthew de Martino and his Brethren and Gelfrid his Nephew and Phillip de Mark. And that the King put away the Foreign Soldiers Stipendaries Slingers and Troopers and their Servants who came with Horses and Arms to the Nusance of the Realm That the King make Justitiars Constables Sheriffs and Bayliffs of Men that know the Law of the Land and will cause it to be well observed That Barons who have founded Abbies for which they have Charters of Kings or ancient Tenure shall have the Custody of them when they are vacant If the King have disseiz'd the Welsh men or esloyn'd them from Lands or Liberties or of other things in England or in Wales let them presently be restored to them without Plea and if they have been disseiz'd or esloin'd from their English Tenements by the King's Father or his Brother without Judgment of their Peers the King shall without delay do them Justice as he does Justice to Englishmen of their English Tenements according to the Law of England and of Welsh Tenements according to the Law of Wales and of Tenements in the Marches according to the Law of the Marches In like manner the Welshman shall do to the King and his Subjects That the King restore Lewelin's Son and all the Welsh Hostages and the Deeds that were delivered to him for security of the Peace That the King do Right to the King of Scotland concerning restoring of Hostages and his Liberties and Right according to the Form of the Agreement with his Barons of England unless it ought to be otherwise by vertue of some Deeds which the King has by the Judgment of the Archbishop and others whom he shall think fit to call to him That all Forests that have been afforested by the King in his own time be disafforested and so of Banks which by the King himself have been put in defence All these Customs and Liberties which the King has granted to the Kingdom to hold and keep for his own part towards his Men all Clerks and Lay-men of the Kingdom shall observe and keep for their parts towards their Men. This is the Form of the security for keeping Peace and the Liberties betwixt the King and the Kingdom The Barons shall chuse Five and twenty Barons of the Realm whom they will themselves upon whom it shall be encumbent that with all their might they observe and keep and cause to be observ'd and kept the Peace and Liberties which the King has granted to them and confirm'd by his Charter to wit That if the King or his Justices or Bayliffs or any of his Ministers offend any Person contrary to any of the said Articles or transgress any Article of this Peace and Security And that such offence be made known to four of the said Five and Twenty Barons those four Barons shall go to the King or to his Justitiar if the King be out of the Realm declaring to him that such an abuse is committed and shall desire him to cause it speedily to be redressed And if the King or if he be out of the Realm his Justitiar do not redress it those four Barons shall within a reasonable time to be limited in the Charter refer the matter to the residue of the Five and twenty Barons And those Five and twenty with the Commonalty of all the Land shall distress the King all the ways they can to wit by seizing his Castles his Lands and Possessions and by what other means they can till it be redrest according to their good likeing saving the Person of our Lord the King and of the Queen and of their Children And when it is redrest they shall be subject to the King as before And whoever will may swear to put these things in Execution viz. To obey the Commands of the said Five and twenty Barons and to distress the King
Debt Nor shall the Pledges be distrain'd upon whilst the Principal Debtor is able to pay the Debt But if the Principal Debtor have not wherewith to pay the Debt the Pledges shall answer for it And if they will they shall have the Lands and Rents of the Debtor till they have received the Debt which they payed for him if the Principal Debtor cannot show that he is quit against his Pledges If any Persons have borrowed Money of Jews more or less and die before they have paid the Debt the Debt shall not grow whilst the Heir is under age and if such Debt become due to us we will take no more than the Goods exprest in the Deed. And if any die and owe a Debt to the Jews his Wife shall have her Dower and shall be charged with no part of the Debt and if the Children of the deceased Person be within age their reasonable Estovers shall be provided them according to the value of the Estate which their Ancestor had and the Debt shall be paid out of the Residue saving the Services due to the Lord In like manner shall it be done in Cases of Debts owing to other persons that are not Jews We will impose no Escuage nor Aids within our Realm but by the Common Council of our Realm except for our Ransom and for the making our eldest Son a Knight and for marrying out eldest Daughter once And for these purposes there shall but a reasonable Aid be required In like manner shall it be done within the City of London and moreover the City of London shall have all her ancient Customs and Liberties by Land and Water We Will moreover and Grant that all other Cities and Boroughs and Towns and Ports have in all respects their Liberties and free Customs And as for coming to the Common Council of the Kingdom and for assessing Aids except in the three cases aforesaid And as for the assessing of Escuage we will cause to be summoned the Archbishops Bishops Abbots Earls and the Greater Barons each in particular by our Letters and moreover we will cause to be summon'd in general by our Sheriffs and Bayliffs all that hold of us in Chief at a certain day to wit Forty days after at least and at a certain place and in our said Letters we will express the cause of the Summons And when Summons shall be so made business shall go on at the day assign'd by the Advice of such as are present though all that are summoned do not appear We will not allow for the future that any take Aid of his free men but only to ransom his Person to make his eldest Son a Knight and to marry his eldest Daughter once and for these purposes there shall but a reasonable Aid be given None shall be distrained to do greater Service for a Knight's Fee or for any other Frank-Tenement then what is due by his Tenure Common Pleas shall not follow our Court but shall â—e held in a certain place Recognizances of Novel Disseisin Mordancester and Darrein presentment shall be taken no where but in their proper Counties and in this manner We or our Chief Justice if our Selves shall be out of the Realm will send two Justices through every County four times a year who with four Knights of every County to be chosen by the County shall take the said Assizes in the Country at a day when the County Court is held and in a certain place and if the said Assizes cannot be taken upon that day so many Knights and free Tenants of them that were present in the County Court that day shall stay as may give a good Judgment according as the concern may be greater or less A Free man shall not be amerced for a little offence but according to the manner of his offence and for a great offence he shall be amerced according to the greatness of his offence saving his Contenement And so a Merchant saving his Merchandise And a Villain in like manner shall be amerced saving his Wainage if he fall into our Mercy and none of the said Amercements shall be affeered but by Oaths of good and lawful Men of the Visinage An Earl and a Baron shall not be amerced but by their Peers and according to the manner of their Offence No Clerk shall be amerced but according to his Lay-fee and in like manner as others aforesaid and not according to the quantity of his Church Living No Ville nor any man shall be distrain'd to make Bridges over Rivers but where they anciently have and of Right ought to make them No Sheriffs Constables Coroners nor other our Bayliffs shall hold the Pleas of our Crown All Counties Hundreds Wapentakes and Tythings shall be at the ancient Farms without being rais'd except our own demesne Mannors If any that holds of us a Lay-fee dye and our Sheriffs or other our Bayliffs show our Letters Patents of Summons for a Debt which the deceased owed to us our Sheriff or Bayliff may well Attach and Inventory the Goods of the Dead which shall be found upon his Lay-fee to the value of the Debt which the deceased owed to us by the view of Lawful Men yet so as nothing be removed till such time as the Debt which shall be found to be due to us be paid and the residue shall go to the Executors to perform the Testament of the dead and if nothing be owing to us all his Goods shall go to the use of the Dead saving to his Wife and Children their reasonable Parts If any Free-man dye intestate his Goods shall be divided by the hands of his near Kindred and Friends by the view of Holy Church saving to every one their Debts which the Dead owed them None of our Constables nor other our Bayliffs shall take the Corn nor other the Goods of any Person without paying for the same presently unless he have time given him by consent of the Vendor Our Constables shall distrain no man who holds by Knight Service to give Money for Castle-garde if he has perform'd it himself in proper Person or by another good Man if he could not perform it himself for some reasonable Cause And if we lead him or send him into the Army he shall be discharg'd of Castle-garde for so long time as he shall be with us in the Army Our Sheriffs our Bayliffs nor other shall not take the Horses nor Carts of any Free-man to make carriage but by leave of such Free-man Neither our selves nor our Bayliffs shall take another Man's Wood for our Castles or other occasions but by his leave whose Wood it is We will hold the Lands of such as shall be convict of Felony but a year and a day and then we will restore them to the Lords of the Fees. All Weares shall from this time forward be wholly taken away in Thames and Medeway and throughout all England except upon the Sea-Coast The Writ called Precipe henceforth shall be made