The constitution of parliaments in England deduced from the time of King Edward the Second, illustrated by King Charles the Second in his Parliament summon'd the 18 of February 1660/1, and dissolved the 24 of January 1678/9 : with an appendix of its sessions / observed by Sr. John Pettus ... Knight.

CHAP. VIII. The Third Exemplar of the Lord Chan∣cellor, or Lord Keeper.

AMongst the Romans this great Offi∣cer was called Actuarius, Scriba, Notarius, Principis praesentis Vicarius, & Cancellarius; and so it came into France, and amongst the Saxons it had the name of Referendarius; but in England we do not find this Title of Chancellor, till the first of King John An. 1199 (though Lambert, and others derive it from Ed∣ward the Confessors time. This Officer continued in so high an esteem, that in the 5th. of Richard the 2d. The Commons in Parliament in their Exhibits to the King, desired that the most wise and able man in the Realm might be chosen Chancellor, which made Budaeus (one of Hen. the 8ths. Orators) to give this Description, Hunc (saith he) rerum omnium cognitio∣ne, omni Doctrinarum virtutum{que} genere in∣structissimum & ornatissimum, ingenio{que} ad omnia versatili, omnia in numerato habere oportere fatendum est.

This Discription is also to be applyed to the Keeper of the Great Seal, which in∣vention

of a publick Seal, as it was more ancient with the Romans, so it seems to be very ancient with us in England, (that Office being Constituted by William the Conquerer in the Year 1067.) and for the honour of both, (as it is shewn in this Section) Geffrey a Natural Son to Hen. the Second was Chancellor, and the Queen to Henry the Third was Keeper of the Seal.

2. These two Offices were sometimes kept distinct, and sometimes united in one Person, till the Fifth of Queen Eliz. and then it was Enacted, That both those Offices should be accounted but as one and the same, and that hereafter both should not be used at one time by distinct Persons.

3. Whilst they were distinct, they had two Seals; the Chancellors was of Gold, and the Keepers of Silver; the Court esteemed Officina Regis, and the Seal, Cla∣vis Regni; but whenever they were either united, or distinctly executed, still this high Office was managed by Archbishops or Bishops, or by the most eminent Laicks for Learning, Integrity, and Abilities, as may be seen by comparing the History of them with their Catalogues.

4. To manifest their Eminency, it is evident from the Rolls, that in the opening

of all Parliaments, the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper, did constantly, by the Command of the King, shew them the reasons of Summoning them, (unless in a Vacancy, or on a special account of Ab∣sence, 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 Pet∣tibag-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 Jo∣anni Episcopo Lincolniae magni sigilli Ang∣liae 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 exe∣cute 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 re∣markable, as I said) had the Custody of the Great Seal; and in the 45. of that Ring, Walter de Merton was made Chan∣cellor; and in the 49. of that King, Tho∣mas de Cantilupe was made Chancellor; and in the 53. Richard de Middleton made Custos Sigilli; and in the 56. John de Kirk∣ley, and Peter de Winton, made Keepers

of the Seal; and in the 2. of Edward the Third, Henry de Bughersh made Chancel∣lor. 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 Re∣cords 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 Aud∣ley 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 Paw∣let 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 con∣tinued so to the 28. of her Reign, and was the first that I find, (as is before mention∣ed) that had a particular Writ of Assist∣ance; and though in the Fourteenth of King James, Sir Francis Bacon was Keeper, (in the Eighteenth of Jac. Henry Vis∣count Mandevile, Lord President of the Council, and Lodowick Duke of Richmond, William Earl of Pembroke, Sir Julius Cae∣sar, 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 Parlia∣ment.

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 Eng∣land; 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 be∣fore the Third of November, at which time he was Baron of Hindon; and there∣fore in the Warrant he is named only Sir Edward Hyde Knt. but in the Writ, Do∣mino Hyde, which is the Adjunct Title of a Baron, as he then was; and I find before the Parliament met, he was creat∣ed Viscount Cornbury and Earl of Claren∣don, and thereupon had another Writ in relation to those Dignities, which was en∣tered 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 Keeper∣ship, (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 Pre∣cedents, 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 Scotiae Franciae & Hiberniae Rex fidei defensor, &c.

Praedilecto & perquam fideli Conciliario suo Edwardo Domino Hide Cancellario suo Angliae salutem

Quia de advisamento & Assensu Concilii nostri pro quibusdam arduis & urgenti∣bus negotiis nos statum & defensionem regni nostri Angliae & Ecclesiae Angli∣canae concernentibus quoddam Parlia∣mentum nostrum apud Civitatem nost∣rum Westmonasterium octavo die Maii proximè futuro teneri ordinavimus &

ibidem voibscum ac cum 〈…〉〈…〉 Proceribus dicti ••••egm nostri 〈◊〉〈◊〉 habere & ••••actatum. Vobis Mand•••••••• firmitur 〈…〉〈…〉 quod 〈…〉〈…〉 aliis praetermissis 〈…〉〈…〉 personaliter intersitis nobiscum ac cum caeteris de Concisio nostro super dictis negotiis tractatur' vestrumque Consi∣lium impensur' & hoc nullatenus omit∣tatis Teste apud Westmonasterium deci∣mo octavo die Februarii Anno Regni suo decimo tertio.

Grimston.

SECT. IX. Observations on this Writ.

FIrst I shall shew how it differs from the Writs to the Nobles; Secondly, How it differs from the Writs to the other Assistants. First, It differs from the Writs to Dukes, Marquesses, Earls, Viscounts, in these particulars.

First, To Dukes and Marquesses, the Writ is directed Praecharissimo Consangui∣neo, to Earls and Viscounts, Charissimo Con∣sanguineo, to Barons, Praedilecto & fideli; and to Assistants only dilecto & fideli, but this Writ is directed as to a Baron, viz. Predilecto & perquam fideli, yet the body of the Writ differs from the Barons;

the word perquam is added to fideli, being in no other former Writs, but is a proper word to express our English Right Trusty; and here it may not be improperly hinted, that in English Super∣scriptions, Right Trusty is placed before Well-beloved, but in Latine Well-beloved, (or Praedilecto) is before Right Trusty, or Perquam Fideli.

Secondly, The words Sub fide & li∣geantia, are in the Lords Writs next to Vobis Mandamus, but in all the Assisting Writs, those words are omitted; probably because in former times, the Assistants had not Tenures, but only knowledge of the Laws which occasioned them to be sent for by Writ Pro Concilio.

Thirdly, The words (Consideratis di∣ctorum negotiorum arduitate & periculis imminentibus cessante excusatione quacun∣que) in the Lords Writs) are left out in the Assistants Writs, and instead thereof, (omnibus aliis praetermissis) are inserted. In the Mandatory part of the Writ, the words in the Writ are (ac cum caeteris de Concilio nostro) instead of (ac cum Mag∣natibus praedictis) which is the chief distinction between the Peers and the Assistants.

Fourthly, In this part also of the Writ, the Words are only in short, & hoc nulla∣tenus

omittatis, but in the Lords Writs, (& hoc sicut nos & honorem nostrum ac Salvationem regni & Ecclesiae praedictae expeditionemque dictorum negotiorum dili∣gitis) their Lordships being more eminent∣ly concerned in the Kingdoms Interests.

Fifthly, In all the Pawns extant, and in most of the Clause-Rolls, (after the Exemplar Writ of every Degree or Quali∣ty is named,) these words are added, Con∣similia dirigenda; but there is no Consi∣milar directed to this Writ, and although the Master of the Rolls is an Officer very little differing in many things from the Office of the Chancellor or Keeper, yet his Writ is made a Consimilar to the chief Justice of the Kings Bench his Writ, and not to the Lord Chancellor; the Lord Chancellor standing Exemplar without any Consimilar, (and there are but Two of the same nature in all the Pawns, from the 36. of Hen. the Eighth to this time, viz. That to Chester and to Lancashire, as will be shewn in their order) the true reasons thereof are (as I conceive;)

1st. That this Officer is of so transcen∣dent a nature, that a Consimilar there∣unto were improper, because the Original Warrant for issuing out Writs (as is before recited) is made from the King only to the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper, and

the like Warrant not to any others of the Assisting Degrees.

2dly. His Lordship usually, and in most Cases, is necessarily the chief Minister of of State.

3dly. He is the Supream Assistant of all the Assistants in the House of Lords; for he is not only Lord Chancellor and Assistant, but of late years constantly Speaker of that House.

4thly. His Grandeur is such that he hath four places in the Lords House, one behind the King of Scots-Chair, the other next to the Dukes of the Blood, the third on the first Woolsack, 4thly. at the Table (as will be shewn) whereas each of the other Assistants have but one single place, diffe∣rent from those provided for the fixt No∣bility (as will be shewn in the Local part.)

6. I cannot conclude this Chapter better, than from Sir John Davy (an Eminent Lawyer, in his Epistle to his Excellent Reports) who Describes a Chancellor in these words, Saith he, Is he not ad Latus Principis, to attend him? Auricularius Prin∣cipis, to advise him? Doth not the King make him the Conduit of his Wisdom, when he useth his Voice, and Tongue to declare his Royal pleasure? Doth he not make him the Organ of his goodness, when he trusteth

him with his Mercy, and Conscience in sweet∣ning the bitter waters of summum jus, and in mitigating the rigour of Law to his peo∣ple? Doth he not represent Reverentiam Principis in the Power and Authority of his Office? In a word, if the greatest honours do belong to the greatest vertues (for what is honour but a reflection and reward of ver∣tues) How vertuous a person must he be, with what Gifts and Graces, with what Abi∣lities, with what Ornaments, both of Art and Nature must he be indowed and fur∣nisht? viz. with all Learning, Law, Poli∣cy, Morality, and especially Eloquence to impart and Communicate all the rest: he must withall have a long, and universal ex∣perience in all the Affairs of the Common∣wealth; he must be acceptable and absolute in all points of Gravity, Constancy, Wis∣dom, Temperance, Courage, Justice, Piety, Integrity, and all other vertues fit for Ma∣gistracy and Government; yet so as the same be seasoned with Affability, Gentleness, Humanity, Courtesie, without descending or diminishing himself, but still retaining his Dignity, State, and Honour. Briefly, he must be a person of such vertue and wor∣thiness (that not only his Writ may be ex∣emplar to other Assistants) but his Life, and Conversation a Mirrour, and Example to all Magistrates.

7. He performs all matters which apper∣tains to a Speaker of that House, where∣by he may be said to be the Eye, Ear and Tongue of that great Assembly.

8. He is the Inlarger, Explainer, Interpre∣ter, or Pronouncer of the Kings Commands or Pleasure; and that which is further ob∣servable, of 72. Officers under his Jurisdicti∣on, more than 44. of them are imployed in Parliament concerns; either upon its Summoning, or during its Sitting; (as will be shewn in my Annotations) And as his Warrant is the second Warrant that gives life to a Parliament, and vivacity to its continuance by Sessions and Recesses; so he gives the second Fiat to its Dissolu∣tion: he hath also an appartment near the Lords House (as will be shewn) for him∣self to retire to, and for his Serjeant at Arms and others of his Attendants.

Thus having considered the Lord Bi∣shops 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 al∣ways 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.