A brief discourse touching the office of Lord Chancellor of England written by the learned John Selden of the Inner Temple, Esq., and dedicated by him to Sir Francis Bacon ... ; transcribed from a true copy thereof, found amongst the collections of ... St. Lo. Kniveton ... ; together with A true catalogue of lord chancellors and keepers of the great seal of England, from the Norman conquest untill this present year, 1671, by William Dugdale, Esquire ...
About this Item
Title
A brief discourse touching the office of Lord Chancellor of England written by the learned John Selden of the Inner Temple, Esq., and dedicated by him to Sir Francis Bacon ... ; transcribed from a true copy thereof, found amongst the collections of ... St. Lo. Kniveton ... ; together with A true catalogue of lord chancellors and keepers of the great seal of England, from the Norman conquest untill this present year, 1671, by William Dugdale, Esquire ...
Author
Selden, John, 1584-1654.
Publication
London :: Printed for William Lee ...,
1671.
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Subject terms
England and Wales. -- Lord Chancellor's Dept.
Link to this Item
http://name.umdl.umich.edu/A59075.0001.001
Cite this Item
"A brief discourse touching the office of Lord Chancellor of England written by the learned John Selden of the Inner Temple, Esq., and dedicated by him to Sir Francis Bacon ... ; transcribed from a true copy thereof, found amongst the collections of ... St. Lo. Kniveton ... ; together with A true catalogue of lord chancellors and keepers of the great seal of England, from the Norman conquest untill this present year, 1671, by William Dugdale, Esquire ..." In the digital collection Early English Books Online. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/A59075.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 1, 2024.
Pages
II.
Whether the Keeping of a Seal, were in the Chancellorship
under the Saxons.
FOR that Principal part of the Office, or that other Of∣fice
joyned with the Chancellorship, the Keeping of the
Seal; If the common Opinion were cleer, that under the
Saxon State no Seals were here used, then were it vain to
think of it as of that time. But there is yet remaining an
Old Saxon Charter of King Edgar,* 1.1 beginning, A Orthodoxo∣rum
vigoris Ecclesiastici monitu creberrime instruimur, &c. to
the Abbey of Persore, wherein divers Lands are given, and
there remains in the Parchment plain signes of three Labells
by the places cut for their being hanged on: and of the self∣same
descriptionPage 3
Charter a testimony also as ancient, that the Seals were,
one of King Edgar, the second of St. Dunstan, and the third
of Alfer Ducis Merciorum. That testimony is in a Letter
from Godfrie Archdeacon of Worcester to Pope Alexander III.
writing of that Charter, and the Authority of it: Noverit,
saith he, Sanctitas vestra, verum esse, quod conscripti hujus
scriptum originale in virtute Sanctae Trinitatis sigilla tria, trium
personarum autenticarum, ad veritatem, triplici confirmatione
commendat; Est autem Sigillum primum illustris Regis Edgari;
secundum Sancti Dunstani Cantuariensis Archiepiscopi; tertium
Alferi Ducis Merciorum; sicut ex diligenti literarum impressa∣rum
inspectione evidenter accepi. And it's reported by those
which have searched the Records of St. Denys Church in
France, there remain two Charters, the one of one Offa,
the other of one Edgar, with Seals annext; the one of which
I have seen cast off in Lead, and is about the breadth of a
Shilling thick, and having a face on the one side. Likewise
amongst the Chartae Antiquae, divers being reckoned cum Si∣gillo,
others sine Sigillo; one is cum Sigillo of King Cnout, nei∣ther
is there any colour of doubt but that the Confessor had his
Seal, for the Print yet remains in part to be seen. But not∣withstanding
these singular examples of Kings Sealing in the
Saxons times, it's most certain it was not a thing common
then; neither could any in the Chancellorship be denomina∣ted
from Keeping the Seal, nor in any other Office. Cu∣riosity
in some particular occasion swayed more in it, than any
Custom;* 1.2
Although we admit those before mentioned for
true, which may well be doubted, in regard of the frequent
fraud and ignorance in committing it, which in the elder
times possess'd the Church-men. But for the Confessor's Seal,
that was without scruple certain, and thence may we confi∣dently
derive the Great Seal of England.