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 ...

III. Testimonies of the Chancellorship and Keepership joyned, in times neer after the Norman Invasion.

AS in the Monuments of the Confessor Rembald is na∣med Chancellor;* 1.1 so under the first William, Maurice Bishop of London, and in the succeeding times others. Old Stories of the Monks sufficiently mention them. But little

appears of the Office till the time of H. 2. under whom, one writing the life of Thomas Beckett that was Lord Chancellor, hath this most ancient testimony of it, and of Keeping the Seal also; Cancellarii dignitas est, ut secundus à Rege in regno habeatur; ut altera parte Sigilla regii, quod & ad ejus pertinet custodiam, propria signet mandata, ut Capella Regia in illius sit dispositione et cura, ut vacantes Archiepiscopatus, Episcopa∣tus, Abbatias & Baronias cadentes in manum Regis ipse susci∣piat & conservet; ut omnibus Regis assit consiliis, etiam non vocatus, accedat; ut omnia Sigilliferi Clerici regii sua manu sig∣nentur: Item ut suffragantibus, ex Dei gratia vitae meritis, nòn moriatur, nisi Archiepiscopus vel Episcopus si voluerit: Inde est quod Cancellaria non emenda est. And another of the same time, Cancellarius sicut in Curia, sic & ad Scaccarium mag∣nus est; adeò ut sine ipsius consensu vel consilio nihil magnum fiat vel fieri debeat: verum hoc habet officium dum residet ad Scaccarium: Ad ipsum pertinet custodia Sigilli regii, quod est in Thesauro; Sed indè nòn recedit nisi cum Praecepto Justiciarii, (that is Chief Justice of England that was a Viceroy) ab in∣feriore ad superius Scaccarium, à Thesaurario vel Camerario defertur ad explenda solum negotia Scaccarii; quibus peractis in loculum mittitur, & loculus à Cancellario consignatur, & sic Thesaurario traditur custodiendus. Item cùm necesse fuerit, signatus sub omnium oculis Cancellario offertur, nunquam ab ipso vel ab alio alias offerendus. Item ad ipsum pertinet rotuli, qui est de Cancellaria, custodia per suppositam personam. Another about the time of Edw. 1. Officium Cancellariae viro provido & discreto ut Episcopo vel Clerico magnae dignitatis debet com∣mitti, simul cum curâ majoris Sigilli regni, cujus substituti sunt Cancellarii omnes in Anglia, Hibernia, Wallia & Scotia. Omnesque sigilli regii custodes praeter Custodem Sigilli pri∣vati.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Will. 1.