X 
 1886 
 
 CORNELL...., 
 UNIVERSITY 
 LIBRARY 
 
The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://archive.org/details/cu31 9240304331 91 
 
FORTESCUE 
 
 ON 
 
 CJe (5oy)ttnmu of ctijglanti 
 
 P LUMMER 
 
HENRY FROWDE 
 
 Oxford University Press Warehouse 
 Amen Corner, E.C. 
 
C$e i§obernance of Cnglatnir: 
 
 :l 
 
 OTHERWISE CALLED 
 
 The Difference between an Absolute 
 and a Limited Monarchy 
 
 By sir JOHN FORTESCUE, Kt. 
 
 SOMETIME CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE KING'S BENCH 
 EDITED 
 
 WITH INTRODUCTION, NOTES, AND APPENDICES 
 
 CHARLES PLUMMER, M.A. 
 
 Fellow and Ckaplain of Corpus Ckristi College^ Oxford 
 
 HDrforti 
 
 AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 
 
 M D CCC LXXXV 
 
 [ All rights reserved ] 
 
A. ^C^H:S 
 
 ^avraffia ivoKiTitas ltrov6ixov, kwt' La6r7ira koX iffrtyopia.v StoucovfievriSy Koi 
 $a(ri\€las TifxtiffTjs irdprwv iJioXiffra t^v 4\ivQepiay tup apxon^vaii'. — MARCUS 
 AuRELius Antoninus. 
 
 ' The idea of a polity in which there is the same law for all, a polity ad- 
 ministered with regard' to equal rights and equal freedom of speech, and the 
 idea of a kingly government which respects most of all the liberty of the 
 governed.'— Long's Translation. 
 
Cafile of Contents, 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Preface v 
 
 List of Authorities xiii 
 
 Chronological Table xv 
 
 Introduction : 
 Part I. Constitutional Sketch of the Lancastrian and Yorkist 
 
 Period (1399-1483) i 
 
 Part n. Life of Sir John Fortescue 40 
 
 Part in. Writings, Opinions, and Character of Sir John For- 
 tescue .74 
 
 Sir John Fortescue on the Governance of England . 107 ^ 
 
 Critical Notes 159 ' 
 
 General Notes 169 
 
 Appendix A. ' Example what Good Counseill helpith and 
 avantageth, and of the contrare what 
 folowith. Secundum S'. J. Ffortescu, 
 Knighte' . 347 
 
 Appendix B. 'Articles sente fro the Prince, to therle of 
 
 Warrewic his fadir-in-lawe ' . . . 348 
 
 Appendix C. ' The Replicacion agenst the clayme and title 
 
 ofthe Due oif Yorke' 353 
 
 Appendix D. Fragment of the treatise ' On the Title of the 
 
 House of York' 355 
 
 Glossarial Index 357 
 
 General Index 363 
 
preface* 
 
 The work here presented to the reader has been three 
 times previously printed; twice, in 1714 and 1719 by Mr., 
 afterwards Sir John, Fortescue-Aland, who ultimately 
 became Lord Fortescue of Credan, and once by Lord 
 Clermont in his edition of the collected works of Fortescue^ 
 Of these editions the two first have become very scarce, 
 while the third is only printed for private circulation. Of 
 all three the value is very much impaired by the fact that 
 the text is based on a comparatively late manuscript ; 
 while no attempt has ever been made to bring out the 
 historical significance and relations of the treatise. It is 
 hoped therefore that the appearance of the present 
 ^edition, which aims at supplying these deficiencies, will not 
 be considered to be without justification. 
 
 Had the treatise ' On the Governance of England ' no 
 other claims on our attention, it would deserve consideration 
 as the earliest treatise on the English Constitution written 
 in the English language. But as a matter of fact, its 
 historical interest is very high indeed ; far higher, I venture 
 to think, than that of the author's better-known Latin 
 treatise De Laudibus Legum Anglice. We here see that 
 
 ^ From two notices in Heame's Collections (ed. Doble, i. 46, 154) it would 
 appear that Lord Fortescue of Credan at one time entertained the idea, ulti- 
 mately carried out by Lord Clermont, of printing a collected edition of the 
 works of their ancestor. 
 
viii Preface, 
 
 Fortescue, while remaining true to those liberal principles 
 of government which he had previously enunciated, was yet 
 i keenly sensible of the evils of Lancastrian rule, and that m 
 ' the various remedies suggested by him, which have for 
 their object the strengthening of the powers of the Crown 
 and the reduction of the influence of the nobles, he was, 
 consciously or unconsciously, helping to prepare the way 
 for the New Monarchy. 
 
 This connexion of the work with the history of the time 
 I have endeavoured to draw out, by bringing together from 
 contemporary authorities whatever seemed to illustrate the 
 meaning of the author. The closeness of the connexion is 
 shown by the fact, more than once pointed out in the notes 
 to the present edition, that the language of Fortescue is 
 often identical with that of the public documents of the 
 period. And this in turn illustrates another point of some 
 importance to which I have also drawn attention ; the fact 
 namely that Fortescue, first of mediaeval political philoso- 
 phers, based his reasonings mainly on observation of exist- 
 ing constitutions, instead of merely copying or commenting 
 on Aristotle. 
 
 It follows from this that the inspiration which Fortescue 
 derived from literary sources is subordinate in importance 
 to that which he drew from the practical lessons of history 
 and politics. But I have endeavoured to illustrate this 
 point also. The four works of vsrhich Fortescue seems to 
 have made most use are : the De Regimine Principum 
 which goes under the name of St. Thomas Aquinas, though 
 only a portion of it is by him ; the treatise with the same 
 title by ^gidius Romanus; the De Morali Principum 
 Institutione of Vincent of Beauvais ; and the Compendium 
 Morale of Roger of Waltham. The first two works have 
 been often printed, and are more or less well known ; the 
 two last exist only in manuscript. It has added interest to 
 my study of Vincent of Beauvais' treatise that I have been 
 
Preface. ix 
 
 able to read it in the very manuscript used by Fortescue 
 himself. The Compendium Morale of Roger of Waltham 
 I think I may almost claim to have discovered ; for though 
 it is mentioned by Leland and his copyists, it is clear that 
 they cannot have had much acquaintance with its contents^ 
 otherwise they would not have fixed the author's floruit as 
 they have done. Of Aristotle, except so far as Aristote- 
 lian doctrines are embodied in the above-named works, I 
 have shown that Fortescue knew nothing beyond the 
 collection of quotations which goes by the name of the 
 Auctoritates Aristotelis. 
 
 One of the most important sources from which an author 
 can be illustrated is himself. From this point of view I am 
 under the greatest obligations to the collection of Fortes- 
 cue's Works printed — I wish I could have added, published 
 — by his descendant, Lord Clermont. It is I trust in no 
 captious spirit that I have occasionally pointed out what seem 
 to me omissions and mistakes on the part of the noble editor. 
 If all representatives of historic houses would imitate the 
 example set by Lord Clermont, light would be thrown on 
 many a dark comer of English history. I have also derived 
 much assistance, from the scholarly notes on Fortescue's 
 longest work, the De NaturcL Legis Naturcz, with which 
 Lord Carlingford, then Mr. Chichester Fortescue, enriched 
 his brother's edition of that treatise. 
 
 In regard to the Appendices, the first and third are 
 merely reprints from older and completer MSS. of docu- 
 ments already given by Lord Clermont; the second and 
 fourth are new, though I have given reasons for believing 
 that the last is a fragment of a treatise of which other 
 fragments have been printed by Lord Clermont. From 
 the second a brief extract was printed by Sir Henry 
 Ellis in his Historical Letters, though without recognising 
 either its author or its importance. It is however, as I 
 have shown, closely connected with the present work, the 
 
 b 
 
X preface. 
 
 historical bearing and significance of which it illustrates in a 
 very striking manner. 
 
 In reference to the life and. times of Fortescue I have 
 been able to glean some facts which have escaped previous 
 biographers. These are derived chiefly from French and 
 Burgundian sources. I cannot help thinking that the value 
 of these authorities for English history, though long ago 
 pointed out by Mr. Kirk in his History of Charles the Bold, 
 has hardly been sufficiently appreciated by English histo- 
 rians ; while if the archives of France contain many more 
 documents bearing on English history equal in importance 
 to those printed by Mdlle. Dupont in her edition of Waurin 
 and by M. Quicherat in his edition of Basin (both published 
 under the auspices of the Society de I'Histoire de France), 
 much light may be hoped for from that quarter. A visit to 
 the Record Office enabled me to clear up some mistakes and 
 obscurities in regard to Fortescue's landed property. 
 
 It will be seen that I have edited this work from a historical 
 and not from a philological point of view. Of the MSS. 
 employed in the formation of the text a sufficient account 
 will be found in the Introduction. A few words may here 
 be said as to the manner in which I have dealt with them. 
 I have, I believe, noted all cases in which I have departed 
 from the reading of the MS. on which I have based my 
 text. In other instances I have only given such various 
 readings as seemed to me to have some historical or philo- 
 logical interest, or to be of importance as illustrating the 
 rdations of the MSS. to one another. Forms of words 
 which appeared to me worthy of notice I have frequently 
 included in the Glossary, with an indication of the MS. 
 from which they are taken. Stops and capitals are intro- 
 duced in conformity with modern usage; quotations have 
 been indicated, as in MS. Y, by the use of Gothic letters. 
 I have not attempted to distinguish between Early English 
 \ and Middle-English y, as they are sometimes called ; 
 
Pteface, xi 
 
 they are used promiscuously, they fade imperceptibly into 
 one another, and after all the y is only ]? badly written. 
 I have printed y throughout. In regard to the juoetion 
 and separation of words the MS. has been closely followed- 
 The only exception is in the case of the indefinite article & 
 or <?«, which in the MS. is sometimes joined with and some- 
 times separated from the word to which it belongs ; I have 
 always separated it. In the case of words just hovering on 
 the verge of becoming compounds, and neither completely 
 joined nor completely separated in the MS., I have followed 
 the example of Professor Earlf and divided the elements by 
 a half-space, objecting with him to the use of hyphens as 
 a purely modern invention- In the MS. the word and is 
 sometimes ablweviated, sometimes written in full ; it is 
 here always printed in full. With these exceptions the 
 peculiarities of the MS. followed are, I believe, faithfully 
 reproduced, extended contractions being marked in the 
 usual way by italics, 
 
 The Glossarial Index is merely intended to give help .to 
 those who, reading the text for- historical purposes, may be 
 pu??led by Middle-English forms or meanings. It makes 
 no pretensions to any philological value- 
 
 I trust that this work may prove useful both to teachers 
 and students of history in Oxford and el§ewhere. But my 
 main object has been to illustrate my author, and that is 
 the point of view from which I would desire to be judged. 
 
 In % bedy of notes ranging over so many subjects, some 
 of them lying far outside the sphere of my ordinary studies, 
 it is hardly possible that there should not be slips and 
 blunders. For the correction of these, whether publicly 
 or privately, I shall always be grateful ; and I should wish 
 to adopt as my own the words of one of the most unselfish 
 labourers in the field of learnings Hermann Ebel : ' oppro- 
 bret nobis, qui vciet, modo qorrigat.' 
 
 It only remains for me to pay the tribute of my hearty 
 
 b z 
 
Xll 
 
 preface. 
 
 thanks in the many quarters where that tribute is due. 
 I have to thank the Delegates of the Clarendon Press for 
 the generous confidence with which they accepted the work 
 of an untried hand, and for the liberality with which they 
 permitted an extension of its scope much beyond what was 
 originally contemplated. To the Lord Bishop of Chester I 
 am under special obligations ; who not only encouraged 
 me to undertake the work, but both as a Delegate of the 
 Press and in his private capacity helped it forward at a great 
 expenditure of trouble to himself ; to his published writings 
 I, in common with all students of history, owe a debt of 
 gratitude which can never be adequately expressed. To the 
 Rev. C. W. Boase, Fellow of Exeter College, I am indebted 
 for constant encouragement and assistance ; nor am I the first 
 who has profited by his wealth of historical learning ; while 
 Professor Skeat gave me much kind help and advice with 
 reference to points of philology. Mr. Edward Edwards, 
 the well-known and accomplished author of the Life of 
 Ralegh, took more trouble than I like to think of, in the 
 endeavour to clear up some points in which I was interested. 
 That his researches were not always crowned with success 
 does not diminish my sense of gratitude. The help which 
 I have received in regard to special points is acknowledged 
 in the book itself. I am indebted to Lord Calthorpe for 
 the facilities which he afforded me in consulting the Yelver- 
 ton MS., to Mr. Henry Bradshaw for similar favours in 
 regard to the Cambridge MS., and to the Master and 
 Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge, for the loan of their 
 MS. containing the Epitome; while to the Provost and 
 Fellows of Queen's College, Oxford, my thanks are due for 
 allowing me even a larger use of their valuable libraiy than 
 that which they so liberally accord to all Graduates. I 
 have to thank Mr. W. D. Selby, who directed my researches 
 at the Record Office ; and Mr. E. J. L. Scott, of the Depart- 
 ment of MSS., who did me the like sei-vice at the British 
 
Preface, 
 
 XIU 
 
 Museum. At the Bodleian I received constant help from 
 Mr. Madan the Sub-Librarian, while Mr. Macray was an 
 unfailing oracle on all points of palaeography. I should 
 like also to thank generally the officials of all the three 
 institutions which I have named, for their unfailing courtesy, 
 attention, and helpfulness. To the many friends who have 
 helped me, if indirectly, yet very really by their sympathy 
 and the interest they have taken in my work, I would also 
 here return my grateful thanks. To one of them this work 
 would probably have been dedicated, were it not that 
 dedications are said to be somewhat out of date in this 
 enlightened age. 
 
 C. C. C, OxoN., 
 July 29, 1885. 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 p. 41, 1. 13, >>• Chief Justice of England, read Chief Justice of the King's 
 
 Bench, 
 p. 64, note 5; p. 65, note 2 ; p. 215, 1. 13 from bottom, ^r Oimond, read 
 
 Ormonde, 
 ■^.%i,\.22,forim.c:e,read'asjA. 
 p. 84, 1. 10, for 1464, read 1463. 
 p. 249, 1. 6 from bottom, _/&?■ de, read le. 
 p. 263, 1. 1 from bottom,_/o?- sports, r^oi/ spots, 
 p. 349, margin, insert his after Warrewic. 
 
Ligt of aut&ot:itic0. 
 
 Note. — As a general rule the authorities referred to will be easily 
 identified ; only those are given here as to which any doubt might be 
 likely to arise. — [C. S. = Camden Society. R. S. = Rolls Series.] 
 
 ^gidius Romanus, De Rigimine Principum. English translation in 
 MS. Digby 233. 
 
 Blakman, in Heame's Otterboume. 
 
 Burton, History of Scotland. Cabinet edition. 
 
 Chastellain, ed. Kervyn de Lettenhove. 
 
 Continuator of Croyland, in Fulman's Scriptores Veteres, vol. i. 
 fol. 1684. 
 
 De Cbussy, ed. Buchon. 
 
 Eliglish Chronicle, ed. Davies. C.S. 
 
 Fabyan, ed. Ellis, 4to. 
 
 Fortescue's Works, etc., ed. Clermont. 
 The writings of Fortescue occupy the first volume of a work in two 
 volumes by Lord Clermont, with the title ' Sir John Fortescue and 
 his Descendants ;' the Family History forming the second volume. 
 The latter was however subsequently reprinted as a substantive 
 work, and it is always this second edition which is cited under the 
 title ' Family History.' The Legal Judgements of Sir John For- 
 tescue will be found at the end of his Works, with a separate 
 pagination. Of his works, the De Naturd Legis Naturie is cited 
 for shortness as N. L. N., the ' Governance of England ' as the 
 Monarchia, 
 
 Froude, History of England. Cabinet Edition. 
 
 Gregory's Chronicle, in Gairdner's ' Collections of a London Citizen.' 
 C.S. 
 
 Hall's Chronicle, 4to., ed. 1809. 
 
xvi ii0t of ^mtotitits. 
 
 Hallam, Constitutional History. Library Edition, i85.4- 
 „ Literature of Europe. Cabinet Edition. 
 „ Middle Ages. Cabinet Edition, 1872. 
 Hardyng, ed. Ellis. 4to. 
 
 Heame's Fragment, in Hearne's ' Sprotti Chronica.' 
 Household, Ordinances of the Royal, published by the Society of 
 
 Antiquaries. (Cited as ' Ordinances, &c.') 
 Martineau, History of the Peace. 4 vols. 8vo., 1877-8. 
 Monstrelet. 3 vols, fol., 1595. 
 Paston Letters, ed, Gairdner. 
 Political Songs, ed. Wright. C. S. 
 „ „ R. S. 
 
 Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council, ed. Sir Hams 
 
 Nicolas. (Cited as P. P. C.) 
 Pseudo-Aquinas. Under this title is cited that part of the De Regimine 
 
 Principum which is not by St. Thomas Aquinas. 
 Rede's Chronicle, in MS. Rawl. C. 398. 
 Rymer's Foedera. Original Edition, 1704-1735. 
 Stowe's Annals, ed. 1631, fol. 
 
 Stubbs' Constitutional History. Cabinet Edition. (Cited as S. C. H.) 
 Turner, Sharon, History of England during the Middle Ages. Svo. 
 
 Edition. 
 Vincent of Beauvais, De Morali Principum Institutione, in MS. Rawl. 
 
 C. 398. 
 Waltham, Roger of. Compendium Morale, in MS. Laud. Misc. 616. 
 Wars of the English in France, Letters and Papers illustrative of the, 
 
 ed. Stevenson. R. S. (Cited as ' English in France.') 
 Waurin, Anchiennes Chroniques, ed. Mdlle. Dupont. (Socilt6 de 
 
 I'Histoire de France.) 
 Whethamstede. R.S. 
 Worcester, William, Collections, and Annals, in Wars of the English 
 
 in France, q.v. 
 
CtjronoloBical Cable of t&e life, Cimes, ano 
 mtitinQd of %k 3fo|)n jForte0cue» 
 
 ?i39o-i40O. Birth of Fortescue. 
 1399. Oct. Accession of Henry IV. 
 1413. March. Accession of Henry V. 
 1422, Sept. Accession of Henry VI. 
 
 1425, 1426, and 1429. Fortescue Governor of Lincoln's Inn. 
 1429 or 1430. Fortescue becomes a Sergeant-at-Law. 
 1429. Nov. 6. Coronation of Henry VI at Westminster. 
 1431. Dec. 17. „ „ at Paris. 
 
 1435. Aug. Conference of Arras. 
 
 ? 1435-6. ' Fortescue marries Elizabetli or Isabella Jamyss. 
 1435-6. Fortescue acquires lands in Devonshire by grant of his 
 brother Henry. 
 
 1439. Conference of Calais. 
 
 1440. June. Gloucester's manifesto on the release of the Duke of 
 
 Orleans. 
 1440 and 1441. Fortescue acts as Judge of Assize on the Norfolk 
 circuit. 
 
 1441. Easier Term, Fortescue made a King's Sergeant. 
 
 — Grant to Fortescue and his wife of lands at Philip's Norton. 
 1442. /fl«. Fortescue made Chief Justice of the King's Bench. -^ 
 Feb, Grant to Fortescue of a tun of wine annually. 
 Oct. Fortescue ordered to certify the Council as to certain 
 
 indictments brought against the Abbot of Tower Hill. 
 Fortescue ordered to commit to bail certain adherents of Sir 
 William Boneville. 
 1442 or 1443. Fortescue knighted. 
 
xviii chronological Cable. 
 
 1443. Jan. or Feb. Fortescue sent on a special commission' into 
 '' Norfolk. 
 
 March 4. Letter of thanks from the Council to Fortescue. 
 
 — 14. Fortescue ordered to send to the Council a list of 
 persons eligible for the offices of J.P. and Sheriff m 
 Norfolk. 
 
 — 23. Fortescue makes his report to the Council on the 
 \ affairs of Norfolk. 
 
 April 3 and May 3. Fortescue attends the Privy Council. 
 May%. Waitant ordered fof the payment of 50 marks to 
 
 Fortescue. 
 May 10. Fortescue summoned to advisfe the Council with 
 
 reference to the attacks on Cardinal Kfemp's estates. 
 
 — II. Fortescue makes his report to the Council. 
 
 — 18. Fortescue sent on a special commission into Yorkshire. 
 May. Grant to Fortescue of a tun of wine annually. 
 
 July II. Fortescue attends the Privy Council. 
 Confirmation to Fortescue and his wife of the lands at Philip's 
 Norton. 
 
 1444. Jan. Fortescue ill of sciatica, and unable to go on circuit. 
 
 y 1445. F'ed.-i4SS' July. Fortescue a trier of petitions in Parlia- 
 ment. 
 
 1445. -April 22. Marriage of Henry VI with Margaret of Anjou. 
 1447. Feb. 23. Death of Gloucester. 
 
 March. Fortescue receives an addition of ^40 to his salary. 
 
 April 1 1. Death of Cardinal Beaufort. 
 
 Oct. Fortescue and his wife receive letters of confraternity 
 
 from Christ Church, Canterbury. 
 Fortescue refuses to deliver Thomas Kerver out of Wallingfbrd 
 Castle. 
 1447-8. Fortescue arbitrates between the Chapter and Corporation 
 
 of Exeter. 
 1450. Jan.-March. Fortescue acts as spokesman of the Judges in 
 \; relation to the trial of Suffolk. 
 
 May. Murder of Suffolk. Rising of Cade. 
 J Aug. Fortescue sent on a special commission into Kent. 
 Sept. The Duke of York comes over from Ireland. 
 
Ciironological Cable* xix 
 
 1451. May-June. Fortescae expecting to be attacked in his house. 
 
 1452. Oct. Fortescue acquires the manof of Geddynghall, and other 
 
 lands in Suffolk. 
 I4S3- J^iy 6. The King falls ill at Clarendon. 
 
 Oet, 13. Birth of Prince Edward of Lancaster. 
 
 1454. Feb. Fortescue delivers the opinion of the Judges on the case 
 
 of Thorpe. 
 March 22. Death of Kemp. 
 April 3. York appointed Protector. 
 June 9. Edward of Lancaster created Prince of Wales. 
 Dec. 25. Recovery of the King. 
 Fortescue divests himself of his lands in Devonshire in favour 
 
 of his son Martin. 
 
 1455. May 22. First battle of St. Alban's. Death of Fortescue's 
 
 younger brother, Sir Richard Fortescue. 
 Oct. The king falls ill again at Hertford. 
 Nov, 19. York reappointed Protector, 
 
 1456. Feb. The King recovers. 
 
 Feb. 25. York dismissed from the Protectorship. 
 
 Feb. Fortescue arbitrates between Sir John Fastolf and Sir 
 
 Philip Wentworth. 
 March. Fortescue consulted by the Council with reference to 
 
 the Sheriffdom of Lincolnshire. 
 May. Fortescue sits on a special commission at the Guildhall. 
 Fortescue acquires the reversion of the manor of Ebrington. 
 
 1457. May. Fortescue acquires lands at Holbeton, Devon. 
 
 1458. March 25. Peace made between the Lancastrians and Yorkists. 
 Margaret of Anjou instigates Charles VII to send French troops 
 
 to England. 
 
 1459. Sept. 23. Battle of Bloreheath. 
 
 Oct. 12. Dispersal of the Yorkists at Ludlow. 
 
 Nov. Parliament of Coventry, Activity of Fortescue. 
 
 Dec. 7. Attainder of the Yorkists. 
 
 Fortescue appointed a feoffee for executing the King's will. 
 
 1460. F«b. Negotiations of Margaret of Anjou with France. 
 July 10, Battle of Northampton. 
 
 Oct. The Duke of York claims the crown. 
 
XX chronological Cable* 
 
 Oct. Margaret and the Prince in Wales. 
 Dec. 31. Battle of Wakefield. 
 1 46 1. Jan. Negotiations of Margaret and the Dowager Queen of 
 
 Scotland at Lincluden. 
 Jan. 20. Bond of Lancastrian lords to induce Henry VI to 
 
 accept the terms agreed upon. 
 Feb. 3. Battle of Mortimer's Cross. 
 — 17. Second battle of St. Alban's. 
 ? Fortescue joins the Lancastrian forces. 
 March 4. Edward IV proclaimed. 
 
 — 29. Fortescue present at the battle of Towton. 
 The Lancastrians take refuge in Scotland. 
 
 April 25. Agreement of the Lancastrians to surrender Berwick 
 
 to the Scots. 
 May. Berwick full of Scots. Carlisle besieged by the Scots. 
 
 The siege raised by Montague. 
 June 26. Fortescue and others 'rear war' against Edward IV 
 
 at Ryton and Brancepeth. 
 
 — 28. Coronation of Edward IV. 
 July 22. Death of Charles VII of France. 
 
 1462. Feb. Lancastrian plots for invading England. 
 Feb. 20. Execution of the Earl of Oxford. 
 June 1^61-March 1462. Somerset and Hungerford negotiate 
 on the Continent in behalf of the Lancastrian cause. 
 1462. March. Somerset and Hungerford return to Scotland. A fleet 
 for invading England assembles in the Seine. 
 April. Margaret and Prince Edward go to the Continent. 
 June 28. Treaty signed between Margaret and Louis XI. 
 Summer. Negotiations of the Scots with Edward IV. 
 
 — The Northern castles lost by the Lancastrians. 
 
 Sept. Warwick defeats the invading fleet. 
 Oct. Margaret returns from France and recovers the Northern 
 
 castles ; is joined by Henry VI in Northumberland. 
 Nov. Henry VI and Margaret retire to Scotland. 
 Dec, 24. Bamburgh and Dunstanburgh surrender, and Somerset 
 submits to Edward IV. 
 1463. Jan. 6. Alnwick falls. 
 
chronological Cable. 
 
 XXI 
 
 Before Apr. 29. Bamburgh and two other castles recovered by 
 the Lancastrians. 
 
 May. Alnwick goes over to the Lancastrian side. 
 
 June. Henry VI and Margaret at Bamburgh. 
 
 The Lancastrians dispersed by Warwick. 
 
 Henry and Margaret retire to Scotland. 
 
 July. Margaret, Prince Edward, and Fortescue go to the Con- 
 tinent. 
 
 Sept. 1-2. Interview of Margaret with Philip the Good at 
 St. Pol. 
 
 The Lancastrian exiles retire to St. Mighel in Barrois. Negoti- 
 ations with foreign courts. 
 
 Dec. Somerset returns to the Lancastrian allegiance. 
 
 1461-1463. Portescue writes the 'De Ifatura, Xiegis Naturae,' 
 and various tracts on the succession question. 
 
 1464. Jan. Henry VI at Edinburgh. 
 
 Spring. Norham and Skipton in Craven captured by the 
 Lancastrians. Lancastrian rising in Lancashire and 
 Cheshire. 
 
 March. Henry VI at Bamburgh. 
 
 April 25. Battle of Hedgeley Moor. 
 
 May I. Edward IV privately married to Elizabeth Wydville. 
 
 — 8. Battle of Hexham. 
 
 — ij. Execution of Somerset. 
 
 — 27. Execution of Hungerford. 
 Henry VI retires to Scotland. 
 
 June. Surrender of Alnwick and Dunstanburgh. Capture of 
 
 Bamburgh. 
 Before Dec. Fortescue goes to Paris. 
 Dec. Letter of Fortescue to Ormonde. Henry is safe and out 
 
 of the hands of his rebels. 
 
 1465. March. ? Henry VI at Edinburgh. 
 
 July. Henry VI captured in Lancashire and sent to the 
 
 Tower. 
 Summer. Fortescue goes to Paris. 
 War of the Public Weal in France. 
 
xxu 
 
 C6tonoIog:ical Cable. 
 
 1467. June. Death of Philip the Good. 
 
 1468. Jan. 16. Letter of the French Ambassador to Louis XI on the 
 
 attitude of Warwick. 
 July 3. Marriage of Charles the Bold with Margaret of York. 
 Summer. Jasper Tudor sent into Wales. Defeated by Lord 
 
 Herbert. Threatened invasion of England by Margaret. 
 
 1469. Jun^. Rising of Robin pf Redesdale- 
 July 26. Battle of Edgecote. 
 
 Aug. Edward IV a prisoner in the hands of the Nevilles. 
 Oct. Edward IV released, returns to London. 
 1408-1470. Fortesoue writes the ' De Laudibus.' 
 1/^70. March. Insurrection of Sir Robert Welles. Battle of Stamford. 
 
 Warwick and Clarence expelled from England. 
 July-Jlug. Negotiations of Warwick and Margaret at Angers. 
 Memora&ila drawn up by Forteseue on the political 
 
 situation. 
 Sept. 13. Warwick lands at Dartmouth. 
 Oa. 3. Flight of Edward IV. 
 
 — 5. Restoration of Henry VI. Warwick appointed Lieu- 
 tenant. 
 
 Nov. 26. Meeting of Parliament. 
 1470-1471. Fortescue in the name of Prince Edward draws 
 up a. programme for the restored Iiancastrian go- 
 vernment. 
 147 1. March 14. Edward IV lands at Ravenspur. 
 
 April Id,. Battle of Bamet. Landing of Margaret, Prince Ed- 
 ward, and Fortescue at Weymouth. 
 May 4. Battle of Tewkesbury. Death of Prince Edward. 
 Fortescue taken prisoner. 
 
 — 12. Attempt of the Bastard Falconbrtdge on London. 
 
 — 31. Death of Henry VI. 
 
 Oct. Fortescue's pardon passes the Great Seal. 
 Nov. II. Death of Fortescue's only son, Martin. 
 (?) Fortescue writes the Dialogue on TJ^derstaading and 
 Faith. 
 Oct. 1471-Oct. 1473. Fortescue writes the 'Declaration upon 
 Certain "Writings." 
 
Cfjronological Cable. xxui 
 
 1473. Oct. Fortescue's petition for restoration granted. 
 
 Nov. Dispute between Clarence and Gloucester. 
 1475. Invasion of France by Edward IV. 
 
 Release of Margaret of Anjou. 
 i^y(>. Feb. Last notice of Fortescue. 
 1471-1476. fortescue writes ' On the Qovemance of England.* 
 
 {Monarchia.) 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 Constitutional Sketch of the Lancastrian and 
 Yorkist Period. (1399-1483.) 
 
 The fifteenth century opens in two of the principal Contem- 
 countries of Europe with a revolution. On September 29, voktion^in 
 1399, Richard II of England resigned the crown ; the next England 
 day he was deposed on charges, which were taken as Empire, 
 proved by common notoriety, and Henry IV was accepted 
 in his place. On August 20, 1400, a section of the electors 
 of the Holy Roman Empire by an equally summary process 
 deposed their head, Wenzel king of Bohemia, and on the 
 following day elected Rupert of the Palatinate in his stead. 
 The fortunes of the two deposed monarchs had not been 
 unconnected. Richard's first wife, Anne of Bohemia, was 
 Wenzel's half-sister: and there is extant a letter from 
 Wenzel to Richard, dated Sept. 24, 1397, in which he 
 offers Richard help against his rebellious nobles, in return 
 for similar oifers made by Richard to himself^. The com- 
 parison is further worth making, because of the similarity 
 of the charges which served to overthrow the two brothers- 
 in-law. 
 
 Another comparison, which to students of English His- Compari- 
 
 tory is even better worth making, is the comparison between Revolu- 
 
 the revolution of iqao and that of 1688. In both cases a tionsof 
 
 , , , 1399 ^i^i 
 
 great effort was made by the lawyers to preserve the for- 1688. 
 
 malities of the constitution, and to disguise by legal fictions 
 
 * Bekynton's Correspondence, I. ki. 287-9. 
 ' B 
 
2 31ntroDuction, 
 
 Legal fie- what was in reality a breach of continuity : in both it was 
 "°"'' found necessary to pass over the immediate heir, so that 
 Parhament had not merely, as in the case of Edward II, 
 to claim the right of setting aside an unworthy king, but 
 had implicitly to make the further claim to regulate the 
 Many were succession. So on both occasions probably many were 
 thln"they' Carried by the course of events further along the path of 
 ii^"! in- revolution than they had intended. There were many who 
 would gladly have seen Henry restored to his Duchy of 
 Lancaster, and who were, prepared heartily to support him 
 in insisting that Richard should abandon his recent uncon- 
 stitutional proceedings and return to his former mode of 
 government, who yet felt themselves duped, when they 
 found that he used the opportunity which they had given 
 him to seat himself on the throne. So too there were 
 many who were truly anxious that by means of the coming 
 of the Prince of Orange the religion, laws, and liberties 
 of England should be securely established in a free par- 
 liament, but who were disappointed when James II's 
 pusillanimity paved the way for the elevation of his son- 
 Henry and in-law to the crown. Both Henry and William came as 
 came as the deliverers of a church which was threatened alike in 
 deliverers doctrine and in property by a hostile form of religion, and 
 
 of Church . , , , , i . r • i 
 
 and Na- of a nation perplexed and unsettled by a feverish attempt 
 
 *'°"". at arbitrary rule. In both cases questions of foreign policy 
 
 policy. had much to do with the result. But whereas at the close 
 
 of the seventeenth century it was absolutely necessary for the 
 
 salvation of Europe that England should be rescued from 
 
 her subsei-yience to France, at the close of the fourteenth 
 
 century, on the other hand, France was by no means a 
 
 dangerous power. It was her very weakness which tempted 
 
 the unscrupulous and Jiypocritical aggression of Henry V. 
 
 Theory of | In both cases one of the chief advantages secured by the 
 
 roya ty. I £,j^ange of dynasty was that the royal authority was placed 
 
 ; upon a proper footing, and seen to rest upon the consent of 
 
 the nation. Richard II, like James II, had imbibed an 
 
 entirely baseless view of English monarchy. The assertion 
 
 that he had declared the laws to be in his own mouth and 
 
3|ntrot)uction. 3 
 
 breast, is perhaps an exaggeration of his enemies : but if 
 true, such language is no worse than James II's prattle 
 about 'his sovereign authority, prerogative royal, and 
 absolute power, which all his subjects were to obey with- 
 out reserve V By the change of dynasty theories of this/ 
 kind were got rid of. Whether from choice or from\ 
 necessity, the Lancastrians always professed to rule as con- I 
 stitutional kings. 
 
 The Lancastrian period must always be of importance, import- ' 
 as the period in which political liberty, at any rate inLan^^stri^ 
 theory, reached its highest point during the middle ages, an Period. 
 In fact the people acquired a larger measure of liberty than 
 they were able to use : and the Commons, though bold 
 in stating their grievances, were often helpless in devising 
 remedies. In the words of Dr. Stubbs, ' Constitutional "7 
 progress had outrun administrative order 2.' And this, 
 combined with other causes which will be noticed later, 
 made possible those, disturbances which culminated in the 
 civil war, and which wearied out the national patience, 
 until even Tudor despotism seemed more tolerable than 
 confusion. 
 
 The advantages of Lancastrian rule were mainly prospec- its ad- \ 
 tive, and its chief claim on our gratitude is the fact that it ^*".'^g^s ( 
 
 ° mainly • 
 
 supplied the precedents on which the constitutional party in prospec- \ 
 the seventeenth century based their resistance to that carica- '^*' 
 ture of Tudor despotism which the Stuarts attempted to 
 perpetuate *. Viewed in relation to contemporary history it 
 was premature ; and it combines with the fruitless rising of 
 the Hussites in Bohemia, with the abortive attempts of the 
 Church to reform itself in the Councils of Pisa, Constance, 
 and Basle, and with the equally abortive attempts to 
 restore administrative and constitutional unity to the dis- 
 integrated German Empire, to stamp upon the fifteenth 
 century that character of futility which has been so justly 
 ascribed to it*. 
 
 ' Hallam, Const. Hist. iii. 71. * 'Weak as is the fourteenth 
 
 ^ Stubbs, Const. Hist. iii. 269. century, the fifteenth is weaker 
 = S. C. H. iii. 2-S ; cf. Rogers' still ; more JutiU, more bloody, 
 Gascoigne, pp. Iviii. ff, more immoral.' S. C. H. ii. 624. 
 
 B a 
 
i 3Intcot)uction, 
 
 Key-note ' The key-note of the Lancastrian policy,' says Dr. 
 of Lancas- g^^^^^^ , ^^3 ^^^^^^ by Archbishop Arundel in Henry IV's- 
 policy its first Parliament, when he declared that Henry would be 
 national / governed, not by his own " singular opinion, but by com- 
 consent. i ^^^ advice, counsel, and consent \" ' For the tendering of 
 this 'common advice, counsel, and consent,' there were 
 during this period three organs : i. The Privy Council ; 
 Privy / 2. The Great Council ; 3. The Parliament. On the 
 character and composition of the Privy Council during 
 the Lancastrian period, and the schemes of Fortescue for 
 Great reorganizing it, I have spoken at length elsewhere^- On 
 the Great Council also something will be found in the 
 same place. Fortescue says nothing about it ; perhaps, as 
 I have there suggested, he disliked the institution as giving 
 too much influence to the aristocracy. It forms however 
 a characteristic feature of Lancastrian rule : for whereas 
 in former reigns it appears as a mere survival of the old 
 baronial parliaments, it now assumes special functions and 
 a special position of its own, standing midway between the 
 Privy Council and the Parliament, advising on matters 
 which the former did not feel itself competent to settle, and 
 preparing business for the meeting of the latter. 
 Parlia- j On the Composition and powers of Parliament Fortescue 
 ""*" ■ |l is also silent. Probably he considered them to be too 
 firmly settled and too well known to require any com- 
 mentary. The increase of the power of parliament under 
 the Lancastrians is indeed too obvious to escape notice. 
 ' Never before,' says Dr. Stubbs, ' and never again for more 
 than two hundred years, were the Commons so strong as 
 they were under Henry IV ^.' 
 Henry IV Henry IV came to the throne as the representative of 
 
 a Saviour/ ,, , ■ j> i -^ >.»vv. >ji 
 
 ofsociety/^he possessioned classes— to use a contemporary expres- 
 sion *."TTTe"cnIde~sociairsra of the Lollards, as the barons 
 saw, and as the Churchmen were careful to point out, 
 threatened the foundations not merely of the Church, but 
 of all property. It was the mission of Henry IV to put 
 
 ' S.C. H. iii. 14. ' S.C H iii 72 
 
 " Notes to Chap. xv. below, * SharonTurner, iii. 105. 
 
31nttoliuction. s 
 
 down these anarchical tendencies, to maintain vested in- 
 terests and the existing state of things. He came, in modern 
 phrase, as a saviour of society. Richard II, even in his 
 best days, had not been very favourable to the interests of 
 the propertied classes. He had not been forward in perse- 
 cuting the Lollard, and he had wished to give freedom to 
 the serf. These errors Henry was expected to correct. 
 
 The second great object of Henry's reign was the main- His 
 tenance of himself on the throne and the continuance of ^^"".sf? *° 
 his dynasty. From this point of view his reign was one himself. 
 long struggle against foreign and domestic enemies. His 
 ultimate success is a proof of his great ability, but he was 
 at no time free from anxiety. Hallam^ speaks as if 
 Henry IV's submission to the demands of the Commons 
 was unaccountable. But the causes of his weakness are 
 plain enough. He was weak through his want of title, 
 weak through the promises by which he had bound him-, 
 self to those whose aid had enabled him to win the crown, 
 weak most of all through his want of money. It was this His 
 which gave the Commons their opportunity, it was this ^^^^ ^' 
 which caused all the disasters of the reign, the rebellion of 
 the Percies, the ill-success of the Welsh campaigns, the 
 wretched state of Ireland, the danger of Calais. The mosti % 
 ' exquisite means ' — to use Fortescue's phrase — of raising^/ 
 qjoney were resorted to; the constitutional character of 
 some of them being, to say the least, questionable. Thi^ 
 scarcity of money was due partly to the general want of Reaction 
 confidence in the stability of the government which sue- ^fm."^' 
 ceeded the brief enthusiasm in Henry's favour^, and which 
 
 ' Middle Ages, iii. 95. and of the deep disappointment 
 ^ The letter of Philip Reping- felt at the way in which Henry- 
 don, the King's confessor, after- had belied the (perhaps unreason- 
 wards Bishop of Lincoln, dated ably high) expectations that had 
 May 4, 1401, is worthy of careful been formed of him. The author 
 study in regard to this point. It alludes in reference to Henry to 
 is no mere rhetorical composition Luke xxiv. 21, ' Nosautem spera- 
 made up of phrases always kept bamus quia ipse esset redempturus 
 in stock and not intended to fit Israel.' Bekynton's Correspond- 
 any thought in particular; but it ence, i. 151-4; cf. also Engl, 
 gives a genuine picture of the un- Chron., ed. Davies, pp. 23, 28, 31 ; 
 satisfactory state of the country, Hardyng, p. 371. 
 
6 31nttoriuction, 
 
 led people to hoard their gold and silver, so that not only 
 was none forthcoming to meet the demands of the govern- 
 ment, but capital, which ought to have been employed 
 productively, was withdrawn from circulation, thus causmg 
 for the time a general diminution of the resources of the 
 country. As soon as the accession of Henry V had shown 
 that the dynasty was firmly established, abundant supplies 
 Disturb- were at once at his command^. Another cause was the 
 Commerce, disturbance of commerce, and consequent decline of the 
 customs which followed the accession of Henry IV, owmg 
 partly to the unsettled state of the relations between 
 England and France ^ But the commons could not be got 
 to believe in the poverty of the Government, and Henry 
 did not dare to press for heavier taxation, for fear of 
 increasing the already dangerous amount of discontent. 
 Theun- In this way passed what the chronicler Hall has justly 
 
 ofHen^^ called 'the unquiet time of King Henry the Fourth.' 
 IV. Harassed as he was by enemies foreign and domestic, 
 
 deserted by many of the Lords, worried by the Commons, 
 conscious that he had lost the love of his people, jealous 
 and doubtful of his heir ; with a divided court and broken 
 health, which his enemies regarded as a judgement upon 
 him, we can hardly refuse him our sympathy, although 
 we may be of opinion that many of his troubles were self- 
 caused. The interest which he is said to have taken \j[\. 
 the solving of casuistical questions^, shows the morbid 
 lines on which his burdened conscience was wearily work- 
 ing. There is psychological if not historical truth in the 
 story that he expired with the sigh that God alone knew 
 by what right he had obtained the crown'*- It was a 
 curious choice that he should wish to be buried so near 
 the man whose son he had discrowned, if not done to 
 death. 
 
 ' S. C. H. iii. 87. S. C. H. iii. 65, note i. 
 
 " On this, and on the general ' Capgrave, 111. Henr. pp. xxxiii 
 
 decline of England's maritime 109. 
 
 power during the reigns of Henry * Monstrelet, ii. f. 164 a, cited 
 
 IV and Henry VI, see notes to by Sharon Turner, 
 chaps, vi. xvii. below, and cf. 
 
3Introtiuction. 7 
 
 The accession of Henry V was by no means his first Accession 
 appearance either as a statesman or a warrior. j^g of Henry \ 
 had served with distinction both in council and in the ousWston 
 field, and had received in both capacities the thanks of 
 Parliament. He had had his own policy, and his own 
 party, who had urged him to claim the regency on the 
 ground that his father was incapacitated by the disease 
 from which he was suffering, which was said to be leprosy^ 
 
 The words which Shakespeare puts into the mouth ofHisad- 
 the dying Henry IV represent no more than the literal ™"'^^^'- 
 truth as to the advantages with which Henry V came to 
 the crown : 
 
 'To thee it shall descend with better quiet, 
 Better opinion, better confirmation; 
 For all the soil of the achievement goes 
 With me into the earth ^.' 
 
 He reaped the benefit of an usurpation of which he had 
 not shared the guilt. In accordance with these advan- 
 tages he adopted a policy almost ostentatiously concilia- 
 tory. Even the unjustifiable attack on France may have 
 been in part due to the same motive^. Only, if this was 
 his idea, it was singularly falsified by the result. The 
 causes which suspended for a time the outbreak of discord, 
 did but make it the more intense when it came. And it is 
 
 ^ I am inclined to think that Regimine Principum, III. ii. 15 : 
 
 the above is the true account of a ' Guerra enim exterior toUit sedi- 
 
 very obscure transaction. Henry tiones et reddit cives magis onani- 
 
 Beaufort was said to have ' stired ' mes et Concordes. Exemplum 
 
 the prince ' to have take ye gouver- enim hujus habemus in Romanis, 
 
 nance of yis Reume and (of) ye quibus postquam defecerunt ex- 
 
 croune uppon hym ;' (so I would teriora bella intra se ipsos bellare 
 
 construe the passage,) Rot. Pari, coeperunt.' ' For outward werre 
 
 iv. 298 b ; cf. Sharon Turner, ii. aleyjj) inward strif, and makej> 
 
 362. Leprosy was a bar to the citeseyns pe more acorded. Her- 
 
 descent of real property ; Hardy, of we hauen ensample of the 
 
 Close Rolls, I. xxxi. In Rymer, Romayns, for whanne hem failede 
 
 xi. 635, is a certificate of the king's outward werre, thei bygunne to 
 
 physicians that a certain person is haue werre among hemself.' MS. 
 
 not a leper, which is very interest- Digby, 233, fo. 142 c. To this 
 
 ing with reference to the nature of motive also Basin ascribes the 
 
 mediaeval leprosy. warlike policy of Humphrey of 
 
 ' Second Part of King Henry Gloucester. He too cites the 
 
 IV, Act iv. sc. 4. example of the Romans ; i. 189. 
 
 ' Cf. ^gidius Romanus, De 
 
His reign 
 constitu- 
 tionally un- 
 impoitant. 
 
 The Southj- 
 ampton ■ 
 Plot. 
 
 Beginning 
 of the 
 Wars of 
 the Roses. 
 
 Henry VI. 
 
 Divisions 
 of his 
 reign. 
 
 8 3introriuction. 
 
 only as developing causes, and those evil causes, which 
 hardly began to act until he had passed away, that the 
 reign of Henryiy has any place in constitutional history. 
 He did nothing permanent for the good of England, and 
 the legacy which he left her was almost wholly evil : a 
 false ideal of foreign conquest and aggression, a reckless 
 contempt for the rights and feelings of other nations, and 
 a restless incapacity for peace, in spite of exhaustion which 
 had begun to show itself even in his own lifetime^. The 
 history of the Southampton plot is ' characteristic of the 
 haste with which the Lancastrians sought to stifle anything 
 which raised the dangerous question of their title. The 
 whole proceedings were so unconstitutional and irregular 
 that they had to be specially legalized in the next Parlia- 
 ment^. Even more noteworthy is the fact that ' this con- 
 spiracy was the first spark of the flame which in the course 
 of time consumed the two houses of Lancaster and York. 
 Richard Earl of Cambridge was the father of Richard 
 Duke of York, and grandfather of Edward IV ^.' 
 
 But it was not till the house of Lancaster had proved 
 in the person of Henry VI its entire incapacity to rule the 
 kingdom, that the claims of the house of York were to be 
 put forward openly. ' The troublous season of King Henry 
 the Sixth/ to use once more the words of Hall, may be 
 divided into three main periods : (i) from 143a to 1437, 
 the time of the minority proper * ; (3) from 1437 to 1450, 
 the time of Henry's own attempt at governing with the 
 aid of those who may from time to time have had the 
 ascendancy with him ; (3) from Cade's rising in 1450 to 
 1461, the. time of civil war. During the first of these 
 periods the struggle is directly for preponderance in the 
 council, mainly between the adherents of Gloucester and 
 
 ^ That Henry's aggression was 
 disapproved by some even of his 
 own subjects, see Gesta Henrici 
 Quinti, p. xxxi ; cf. Pecock, Re- 
 pressor, p. 516. 
 
 2 Rot. Pari. iv. 64 ff. : ' ut 
 judicia . . . pro bonis et legalibus 
 judiciis haberentur.' 
 
 ' Ellis,HistoricalLetters,II.i.44. 
 
 * Henry did not legally come of 
 age till 1442, but from 1437 he 
 began to influence the course of 
 government. See Rot. Pari. v. 
 438-9, which document may be 
 regarded as marking the transition 
 from the first to the second period. 
 
3Inttoliuction» 9 
 
 Beaufort. During the second period the struggle is rather 
 for influence with the king, for possession of the royal ear. 
 At first the contest as before is between Gloucester and 
 Beaufort. Then, when they disappear, it is between Suffolk, 
 Somerset, and Margaret on the one side, and York and his 
 adherents on the other. Owing to the unhappy weakness 
 of Henry both in will and intellect, no party could feel 
 sure of maintaining their ascendancy with him, and of 
 enjoying his support, unless they wholly monopolized his 
 ear, and excluded all other influences^. Hence all the 
 unconstitutional attempts of Margaret and her partizans 
 to keep first Gloucester and then York from the royal 
 presence, which contributed largely to make the civil war 
 inevitable. When that war broke out, the struggle for 
 command of the king's person still continued ; only it was 
 no longer carried on merely by intrigue and party tactics, 
 but depended for its issue upon the fate of battles. 
 
 The marriage of Henry to Margaret of Anjou in 1445 Hemy's 
 was a great misfortune not only to England ^, but also to disasuous. 
 the house of Lancaster. By degrading the crown into ani 
 instrument of party warfare, she involved it in the ruin of 
 the party of her choice ^. The death of Gloucester in 1447 Death of 
 ., was another event which helped to bring matters to a ^^^ ^eau- 
 crisis. Little good as he had done the house of Lancaster fort, 
 during his life, his death was a very severe blow to it. It 
 cast an indelible suspicion on the existing government, and 
 
 ' 'Pour ce que leroy Henry .. . with either ; Liv. vi. c. 12. Chas- 
 
 n'a pas este . . . homme tel que tellain says of her : ' Tu as estd 
 
 il convenoit pour gouverner ung ennemye trop tost et trop amye k 
 
 tel royaulme, chascun quy en a peu y penser ; et sy te a portd 
 
 eu povoir s'est vouUu enforchier grant grief ton hayr, et ton aimer 
 
 d'en avoir le gouvernement,' &c. peu de profit;' vii. 129 f. He 
 
 Waurin, ed.,Dupont, ii. 282. makes her confess that she has 
 
 " Gascoigne is especially strong been the ruin of England ; ib. 102. 
 
 on this point; e.g. pp. 203 flf., Cf. Bacon, 0/ Seditions and 
 
 219 ff. Troubles : ' When the Authority 
 
 " Commynes remarks very justly of Princes is made but an Acces- 
 
 on the disastrous effect of this par- sary to a Cause, and that there be 
 
 tizan attitude of Margaret. She other Bands that tie faster than 
 
 ought, he says, to have acted as the Band of Sovereignty, Kings 
 
 mediator between the two parties, begin to be put almost out ot 
 
 and not to have identified herself possession.' Cf. id. Of Faction. 
 
Ministry of 
 Suffolk. 
 
 His im- 
 peachment, 
 
 Tendency 
 to shirk 
 constitu- 
 tional re- 
 sponsibi- 
 lity. 
 
 10 3inttotiuctfon. 
 
 it transferred the position of heir-presumptive and leader of 
 the opposition to a man whose abilities were far greater 
 than those of Gloucester, while his interests were diametri- 
 cally opposed to those of the house of Lancaster, instead of 
 being identical with them. A few weeks later died Cardmal 
 Beaufort, and the stage was thus cleared for younger actors. 
 Somerset and York were both absent from England, and 
 Suffolk was omnipotent at court. He showed a rigorous 
 determination to exclude not merely from power, but even 
 from the king's presence, all but those who were prepared to 
 be the subservient ministers of his will \ The same policy 
 was pursued with reference to the local administration^. 
 The reaction caused by this arrogance and partiality, and 
 the ill-success of his foreign policy ^, proved his ruin. By 
 1450 the popular indignation could no longer be restrained, 
 and his impeachment was resolved on by the Commons. 
 The ultimate decision of the question is an instance of a 
 tendency, which appears more than once in this time of 
 weakness and decline of true political life ; the tendency, 
 namely, to throw the responsibility for questionable actions 
 upon the crown, and so to shift it from the shoulders of those 
 who constitutionally ought to bear it. At the time of 
 Henry's marriage the Lords protested that the king had 
 been moved to the thought of peace ' onely by oure Lorde,' 
 and not by 'the Lordes, or other of your suggettes*.' So 
 now the king, ' by his owne advis, and not reportyng hym 
 to th' advis of his Lordes, nor by wey of judgement,' 
 
 ^ Even the sermons preached 
 before the king were subjected to a 
 rigorous censorship ; Gascoigne, 
 p. 191 ; cf. Gregory, pp. xxiii, 203. 
 
 '^ Rot. Pari. V. 181 b, and notes 
 to Chap. xvii. below. 
 
 ^ Cf. Gascoigne, p. 219 : ' Et sic 
 facta est alienacio . t . predictarum 
 terrarum . . . sine aliqua pace 
 finali conclusa . . . inter ilia duo 
 regna.' Henry's subsequent pro- 
 test that the cession of Maine was 
 only made in consideration of a 
 secure peace (Rymer, xi. 204, 
 March 15, 1448) was, in the face 
 
 of the actual facts, not worth the 
 parchment it was written on. The 
 same may be said of the declara- 
 tion of Suffolk's loyalty ; Rot. 
 Pari. V. 447 b. 
 
 * Rot. Pari. V. 102 b. The same 
 tendency appears in the Privy 
 Council. See the case of Somer- 
 set's application for a grant, cited 
 in the notes to Chap. xix. below. 
 In the challenge which Henry V 
 sent to the Dauphin in 141 5, it is 
 stated that none of his counsellors 
 had dared to counsel him in so 
 high a matter ; Rymer, ix. 313. 
 
31ntrotiuction. n 
 
 banished Suffolk for five years, the Lords protesting that 
 this ' proceded sot by their advis and counsell, but was 
 doon by the kynges owne demeanaunce and rule^.' In all 
 these cases the Lords ought, if they approved of what was 
 done, to have accepted their share of the responsibility, or, 
 if they disapproved, they should have frankly opposed it. 
 Their actual course was a piece of political cowardice. The 
 whole proceedings in the case of Suffolk were most uncon- 
 stitutional, a flagrant evasion of the right of the Commons 
 to bring an accused minister to trial before the House of 
 Lords^. The idea of Henry was no doubt to find a com- 
 promise whereby the Commons might be satisfied, and yet 
 Suffolk might be saved. He failed egregiously in both. 
 Suffolk was murdered at sea, and this gave the signal for 
 all the mischief that followed. The Commons of Kent rose Rising of 
 under Cade, complaining, among other things, that ' the ^^^^' 
 fals traytur Pole that was as fals as Fortager (Vortigern) 
 . . . apechyd by all the holl comyns of Ingelond, . . . 
 myght not be suffryd to dye as ye law wolde^.' 
 
 The rising of Cade was but the climax of a process 
 which had long been going on. The government ■ had 
 gradually been losing all hold upon the country, and in 
 the general paralysis of the central administration local] 
 disorder had increased to a frightful extent*. The causes; Causes of 
 of these 'troubles and debates^' are precisely those evils |,°™j^'}' 
 against which Fortescue's proposed reforms are mainly weakness. 
 
 ' Rot. Pari. V. 183. P. P- C. v. 309, cf. ib. 268-9, 273 ; 
 
 " This right was not in the between Lord Grey of Ruthin and 
 
 slightest degree affected by Suf- the town of Northampton, ib. 305 ; 
 
 folk's resignation of his privileges between S. Mary's Abbey, York, 
 
 as a peer. and the Corporation of that city, 
 
 'Three Fifteenth Century Chron- ib. 225, 232; between Fountains 
 
 icles, p. 95. According to Basin, Abbey and Sir John Neville, ib. 
 
 i. 251-2, Somerset fanned the 241 : there were riots at Salisbury, 
 
 popular indignation against Suf- ib. 247-8 ; and in London, ib. 
 
 folk, in order to divert attention 277-8. In 1437 the whole country 
 
 from his own military failures. was so disturbed that copies of the 
 
 * The year 1443 e.g. seems to Statute of Winchester were sent to 
 
 have been specially troublous, all the sheriffs, with orders for its 
 
 There were disputes between the enforcement ; ib. 83. 
 Earl of Northumberland and * See below, Chap. xvu. 
 Kemp the Archbishop of York, 
 
12 3fntroriuction. 
 
 directed, and they must therefore be investigated some- 
 what in detail. 
 
 Poverty. One great cause of the weakness of the government was 
 no doubt its poverty. The revenue both central a^id local 
 was hopelessly encumbered, largely by grants of annuities 
 and pensions to persons who were in reality much richer 
 than the crown I The notes to this work will show in 
 detail how every branch of the public service was con- 
 stantly in arrear K It was seldom if ever possible to wait 
 until the supplies granted by Parliament were actually 
 
 Loans. collected. Parliament itself generally gave authority to 
 the Council to raise loans on the security of the taxes. 
 Where this parliamentary sanction was given, and the 
 loans were punctually repaid, this system was perhaps 
 constitutionally unobjectionable *. But the financial result 
 was disastrous. Fortescue estimates the loss to the king 
 at ' the fourth or fifth penny of his revenues °.' Loans were 
 constantly asked for from individuals, corporations, and 
 towns, and sometimes in a way which seems distinctly 
 unconstitutional". Beaufort was the chief lender and loan 
 
 ' On the state of the local re- Henry V ; ib. 117. That it 
 
 venue, see notes to Chap. xv. was not unnecessary is shown by 
 
 below. the fact that in 1442 Beaufort 
 
 ^ See notes to Chap. vi. below, alone supported the Treasurer in 
 
 and cf. Gascoigne, p. 1 58. resisting an attempt to assign re- 
 
 ' See especially notes to Chaps, venue that had been already ap- 
 
 vi. and vii. propriated ; P. P. C. v. 216, cf. 220. 
 
 * A list of towns and persons, But in 1443 he agreed to a grant 
 
 with the sums which they were out of the customs of London, 
 
 expected to lend under Parliamen- ' notwithstandyng any assigne- 
 
 taryauthority,isin P.P.C.iv. 3i6fF. ment msiade before, and notwith- 
 
 (1436). There are innumerable standyng any estatut act or orden- 
 
 entries in the Cal. Rot. Pat. ' de ance ; ' ib. 227. 
 mutuo faciendo per totum reg- ^ Chap. v. below, 
 num;' 273a, 274 b, 275 b, 276 b, « In 1430 the Pope lent Henry 
 
 280b, 284b, 289 b, 293b, 295 a, money ; P. P. C. iv. 343. In 1437 
 
 296 a. Whether all these had par- a special appeal was made to the 
 
 liamentary authority I cannot say. clergy ; ib. v. 42. Dr. Stubbs 
 
 The Lords of the Council and (C. H. iii. 276 note) has tried to 
 
 others had frequently to bind minimize the charge of unconsti- 
 
 themselves not to allow the as- tutional taxation brought against 
 
 signments made for repayment of the Lancastrian kings. One docu- 
 
 loans to be tampered with; P.P. C. ment, he thinks, is wrongly as- 
 
 iv. 145 ; Rot. Pari. iv. 275 b, This signed to that period. Other cases 
 
 precaution had been taken under ' involve only the sort of loans 
 
SIntcoUuction, 
 
 13 
 
 contractor to the government 1. The king's jewels were 
 perpetually in pawn 2. And the government seem not to 
 have been above such petty acts of tyranny as exacting 
 the fines for respite of knighthood twice over ^ Fortescue Exquisite 
 himself admits that the poverty of the king compels him '"^*"'- 
 'to fynde gxquysite meanes of geyting of good*.' It is 
 hardly likely that in this he~ii^ thinking only ofthe reign 
 of Edward IV. It is obvious that an administration thus 
 starved could not be efficient. The remedies which jFortescue's 
 Fortescue proposes for this state of things are a large '"^'"^'''*^' 
 increase in the permanent endowment of the crown, and 
 the making of that 'livelod' inalienable, a resumption of 
 grants, the limitation of the king's power of giving by 
 making the consent of the council necessary, and a system 
 
 which were sanctioned by Parlia- 
 ment,' though, if they were not 
 actually sanctioned by Parliament, 
 their constitutional character 
 would still be doubtful. But the 
 following instance (which Dr. 
 Stubbs does not cite) seems too 
 clear to be explained away. 
 ' Right trusty, &c. Howe it be 
 that .... we .... charged you 
 either to have sende .... the cc. 
 marc, like as ye aggreed .... to 
 lenne us, .... or elles to have ap- 
 pered personally before us and 
 oure Counsaille ; . . . . Neverthe- 
 lesse .... ye neyther have sende 
 the saide money, nor appered .... 
 For so moche we write .... straite- 
 ly charging you, that as ye wol 
 eschewe to be noted and taken for 
 a letter and breker of tharmee, 
 whiche is appointed to be sende 
 unto our saide duchie (of Guy- 
 enne), .... ye withoute delay .... 
 either sende by the berer herof 
 the saide cc. marc, .... or comme 
 in alle possible haste personelly 
 
 before oure saide Counsaille 
 
 upon the paine abovesaide.' (July, 
 1453,) P- P- C. vi. 143, cf. ib. 330. 
 To require a person to send 
 money by the bearer, or to appear 
 before the Council under pain of 
 being ' noted ' as a disloyal sub- 
 
 ject, is surely as arbitrary a pro- 
 ceeding as can well be imagined. 
 That the man had promised to 
 lend the money does not aifect the 
 constitutional question, if the pro- 
 mise was one which the govern- 
 ment had no right to exact. Ed- 
 ward IV's financial measures were 
 perhaps only a reduction to system 
 of the hints furnished by his pre- 
 decessors. 
 
 ^ For Beaufort's loans, see 
 P. P. C. iv. and v. passim. 
 
 " e.g. P. P. C. iv. 214, vi. 106, 
 &c. Cf. notes to Chap. vii. 
 
 ^ At least a petition of the Com- 
 mons that this might not be done 
 was refused in 1439 > Ro'- Pari. v. 
 26 b. 
 
 * Chap. V. below. Accord- 
 ing to De Coussy, c. 42, ed. Bu- 
 chon, p. 83 b, the poverty of the 
 royal household was sometimes so 
 extreme, that the king and queen 
 were in positive want of a dinner. 
 On one occasion the Treasurer 
 had to redeem a robe which the 
 king had given to St. Alban's, 
 because it was the only decent one 
 which he possessed ; Whetham- 
 stede, i. 323. That this poverty 
 was one great cause of the un- 
 popularity of the government of 
 Henry VI, see Eng. Chron., p. 79. 
 
H 3fntroriuction» 
 
 - fof ready money payments, whereby a saving of twenty or 
 j twenty-five per cent, on the ordinary expenditure may be 
 : effected'. 
 Power and Another main cause of the paralysis of the government 
 natiorof" was the overgrown power and insubordination of the nobles. 
 the nobles. ' The two cankers of the time were the total corruption of 
 the Church, and the utter lawlessness of the aristocracy . 
 The condition of the English Church and the policy and 
 relations of the Lancastrian kings towards it are subjects 
 which, however interesting, cannot be discussed here. They 
 did not come within the scope of Fortescue's writings, and 
 if they had, his orthodoxy and optimism ^ would probably 
 have made him averse to discussing them. But the re- 
 duction of the power and influence of the nobles is one of 
 the chief objects which he has in view, and is the end to 
 which most of his reforms are directed. The danger to 
 the crown from 'over-mighty subjects' is one that is never 
 absent from his mind. This therefore is a question which 
 must be carefully discussed. 
 Origin of For the origin of the evil, in the form in which it 
 und« Ed- appears during our period, we must go back to the time 
 ward III. of Edward III. The evils of the older feudalism had been 
 sternly repressed by William I and Henry I. Henry II 
 had excluded feudal principles from the framework of the 
 government. Edward I had eliminated them from the 
 working of the constitution. The reign of Edward II is 
 a period of transition during which the lords tried for a 
 moment to recover the ground which they had lost ; but 
 the Despencers met them by a combination of the Crown 
 and Commons, and for the first time placed upon the 
 Statute Book a declaration of the principles of parlia- 
 mentary government. The long reign of Edward III 
 completed the work which the Despencers, from whatever 
 motives, had begun ; and the Commons steadily won their 
 way to a legal equality with the elder estate of the 
 
 ^ See Chaps, vi-xi, xiv, xix, xx, tion, p. Iviii. 
 below, and the notes thereto . ~ ' See below, Introduction Part 
 
 * Rogers' Gascoigne, Introduc- III. ' 
 
3[nttotiuction. is 
 
 baronage. The latter could no longer dream of monopolizing 
 the government as they had attempted to do under Henry 
 III. The Commons might be led, might be influenced, 
 they could not be ignored. But though the great lords 
 could not hope for a de jure monopoly of power, their 
 influence de facto was still enormous. And it increased 
 under Edward III, largely owing to the eff'ects of the 
 French wars. The old feudal system of military service Change in 
 being to a great extent obsolete, and being besides wholly o/,^mta^ 
 unsuited to the carrying on of a prolonged foreign war, service. 
 Edward III introduced a new method of raising forces, 
 whereby the Crown contracted, or, as it was called, in- 
 dented with lords and others for the supply of a certain 
 number of men at a fixed rate of pay. Thus not only did Its results. 
 the lords make profits, often very large, out of their 
 contracts with the government, and enrich themselves 
 with prisoners and plunder while the war lasted ; but when 
 the war was over, they returned to England at the head 
 of bands of men accustomed to obey their orders, inca- 
 pacitated by long warfare for the pursuits of settled and 
 peaceful life, and ready to follow their late masters on any 
 turbulent enterprise. These considerations will largely 
 account for the ease with which under Richard II a coni- 
 bination of a few powerful nobles was able to overbear the 
 might of the Crown. The reign of Edward III was more- Pseudo- 
 over the period of that pseudo-chivalry, which, under a and™asiard 
 garb of external splendour and a factitious code of honour, feudalism. 
 failed to conceal its ingrained lust and cruelty, and its 
 reckless contempt for the rights and feelings of all who 
 were not admitted within the charmed circle ; and it saw 
 the beginning of that bastard feudalism, which, in place of 
 the primitive relation of a lord to his tenants, surrounded 
 the great man with" a horde of retainers, who wore his 
 livery and fought his battles, and were, in the most literal 
 sense of the words, in the law courts and elsewhere, 
 
 ' Addicti jurare in verba magistri ;' 
 while-he in turn maintained their quarrels and shielded their 
 
i& 3[ntrotiuction» 
 
 I crimes from punishment ^ This evil, as we shall see, reached 
 j its greatest height during the Lancastrian period. 
 Power of The independence of the great lords thus fostered by 
 the great ^-^e tendencies of Edward Ill's reign and by the events 
 
 lords in- ° .,, f iU_- \n 
 
 creased by which happened under Richard II, was still turtner m- 
 Sol' creased by the accession of Henry IV. To some of them, 
 the Percies and Arundels especially, Henry largely owed 
 his crown. It is true that having a great stake in the 
 maintenance of the government which they had set up 
 the lords contributed considerable sums to the support. of 
 Henry 2. But this very feeling that they were necessary 
 to him increased their sense of independence ; and in 1404 
 they showed how they construed their obligations to 
 the Crown, refusing to find Northumberland guilty of 
 treason for his share in the rebellion of the Percies in 1403, 
 and treating the matter as a mere case of private war 
 between him and the Earl of Westmoreland. Even if 
 this had been a colourable view to take of the affair, this 
 sort of quasi-sanction given to private war, a curse from 
 which England had been almost free from the days of 
 Henry IP, was of evil omen. To a private war between 
 these very families of Percy and Neville the annalist 
 William Worcester traces the origin of the civil war*. 
 Anyhow one cause of that war was this insubordination 
 of the aristocracy, of which private wars were but one 
 symptom among many. If, as Mr. Bright thinks', the 
 Commons looked to Henry as their champion against 
 baronial disorder, they must have been grievously disap- 
 The evil pointed. The evil was aggravated by the French wars of 
 ^sg^^avated Henry V. Causes came into operation similar to those 
 French which we have traced under Edward III ; only here they 
 He"ry°v. ^^^^^ ^^* viotss: effect Owing to the degeneration in 
 character of the French wars themselves. The stern 
 
 ' ' The livery of a great lord was pp. 1 20 fF. 
 as effective security to a male- * English in France ii 17701 • 
 factor as was the benefit of clergy « Initium fuit maximorum dolorum 
 to the criminous clerk ; ' S. C. H. in Anglia.' 
 
 '"■h^lK r- T •••••«■ ° ^"S'''' ^"g''^^ History, i. 
 ^ P. P. C, I. xxvii, xxxui, 102 ff. 277. •" 
 
 ' See Allen on the Prerogative, 
 
3lntrotJuction. 
 
 17 
 
 vindictiveness of Henry V left no room for any of that 
 graceful chivalry which had thrown a glamour, however 
 superficial, over the warfare of Edward III and his greater 
 son. And things became worse, when to other debasing 
 influences was added the fury which is born of failure. 
 The English lords ousted from France returned to England 
 at the head of bands of men brutalized by long warfare, 
 demoralized by the life of camps and garrisons, and ready 
 for any desperate adventure. Even during Henry V's life- 
 time this evil had begun to show itself\ and it did not 
 diminish under the weak rule of his successor 2. And^ 
 these were the men by whom the battles of the civil wars 
 were fought. 
 
 Many of the lords were moreover enormously rich. Riches of 
 Their estates were concentrated in fewer hands, and the "^^ '°'^''^' 
 lands of a man like Warwick represented the accumu- 
 lations of two or three wealthy families^. They en- 
 grossed offices as greedily as lands* their pensions and 
 annuities exhausted the revenues of the crown ^, they 
 made large fortunes out of the French wars which drained 
 the royal exchequer^, and they were among the chief wool- 
 growers and sometimes wool-merchants in the kingdom ^ ^ 
 And this wealth of the great lords appeared all the morejcontrasted 
 striking when contrasted with the poverty of the crown * : poverty^of 
 and the contrast comes out strongly in the demand made'** Crown, 
 by Fortescue, that the king shall have for his extraordinary , 
 
 expenditure more than the revenues of any lord', and in ^ 
 the exultation with which he declares, that if only the 
 king's offices are really given by the king, 'the grettest 
 lordes livelod in Englande mey not suffice to revvarde so 
 
 ' See Political Songs, II. xxvii. for military service; Paston Let- 
 
 119. ters, i. 358 flf. 
 
 '' Cf. De Coussy, p. 183. ' Cf. Rot. Pari. iii. 497, v. 13 a, 
 
 ' See notes to Chap. ix. below. 274 b ; . English in France, ii. 443. 
 
 ' See notes to Chap. xvii. ' ' So pore a kyng was never 
 
 below. seene, 
 
 ' See notes to Chap. vi. below, ' Nor richere lordes all by- 
 
 Cf. Gascoigne, p. 158. dene.' 
 
 ° Cf. Rogers' Gascoigne, Intro- — Political Songs, ii. 230 ; cf. 
 
 duction, p. xxvi, and the list of Rogers, Work and Wages, p. 20. 
 
 FastolPs claims against the crown ' Below, Chap. ix. 
 
1 8 3fntjcotiuctfon* 
 
 < many men, though he wolde departe hit euery dele 
 ! amonges is seruauntes \' The riches of the lords enabled 
 ' them to maintain their hosts of retainers, while their estates 
 gave them enormous local influence. 
 Consolida- But besides this increase in the general influence of 
 peerate'as the lords considered as a class, the Lancastrian period 
 an Estate gaw a sharper definition of their constitutional position 
 Relto. as an Estate of the Realm. The idea of hereditary 
 peerage now becomes definitely fixed, the numbers of 
 the temporal peers become smaller and more regular, and 
 the power which the kings had formerly exercised of 
 summoning persons to the Upper House or omitting 
 them at pleasure is practically eliminated. The sense 
 of corporate existence in the Lords grows stronger, 
 and the distance between Lords and Commons wider. 
 Property and influence are concentrated in fewer hands ; 
 <5ne result of which is that the spiritual Lords now for 
 the first time acquire a permanent majority in the Upper 
 House^. But in interests, and often also in blood*, they 
 were so closely connected with the temporal Lords, that 
 their separate action in parliament is rarely distinguish- 
 able. The constitutional functions of the Lords in 
 their corporate capacity acquired strength and definiteness 
 froin the events of Henry VI's reign, and they made good 
 their claim to be considered the ultimate depositaries of 
 political authority during the abeyance of the royal 
 power, whether from infancy, as at the beginning of the 
 reign, or from incapacity, as towards its close. 
 Dissen- But when the Lords had in these various ways gained 
 
 among the possession ofi^ower, they began to quarrel among them- 
 lords. selves for the exercise of it. It was much the same, 
 to recur to a former illustration, after the revolution of 
 1688; only there the rivalries between the great lords 
 ; took the milder form of party government. Here the 
 ! rivalries of Gloucester and Beaufort brought England to 
 
 > Below, Chap, xvii infra, p. 26. They were moreover 
 
 See the tables in Gneist, Ver- often guilty of the same abuses 
 
 Waltungsrecht, i. 382 ff. maintenance, &c. Cf P!.cf^J 
 
 ' S. C. H. iii. 369, and vide Letters, iii. 478, ' '^^^^^'^ 
 
31ntroliuction. 19 
 
 the verge of civil war. Suffolk's monopoly of power caused, 
 as we have seen, a popular insurrection, while under 
 Somerset and York the flame finally burst out, though 
 here the personal issue was complicated with dynastic -and 
 constitutional questions, in regard to the last of which, 
 York's position was far more defensible than that of 
 Somerset\ But the struggle was not confined to the Private 
 central government ; it was fought out in every shire and 
 district, rising not unfrequently to the height of private 
 war'*. That private war was separated by no very wide 
 interval from rebellion we have already seen in the case of 
 the Percies. But even where matters did not reach this 
 height, the evils caused by this struggle for influence were 
 very serious. One great object of the lords was to acquire Control of 
 the control of the local administration, to get into their ^jn^t^a- 
 own hands the nomination of all local officers. Fortescue 'i""- 
 complains bitterly of the way in which the great lords 
 'engrossed and broked' the royal offices in their neigh- 
 bourhoods, in order to distribute them to their servants 
 and dependants^. But whereas Fortescue thinks only of. 
 the loss to the crown and gain to the nobles in patronage 
 and influence, the nobles themselves had a further object in 
 
 1 The intensity of the party of Henry VI, see S. C. H. iii. 
 
 struggle is illustrated by the fact 271-2, and the references there 
 
 that the Queen and Somerset given. The struggle between 
 
 wrote to the Duke of Norfolk Egremont and Neville is the one 
 
 to dismiss certain of his depen- to which William Worcester (u. s.) 
 
 dants because they were favour- attributes the origin of the cml 
 
 able to the Duke of York ; Paston war. In 1428 it had almost come 
 
 Letters, i. 305. In 1454, at the to a pitched battle between the 
 
 time of the King's first illness Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of 
 
 when Somerset was struggling to Huntingdon ; Amundesham, x. 25; 
 
 maintain his power against York, cf. P. P. C. ui. 36-7, 112. Oc- 
 
 we read : ' The Duke hathe espies casionally the monotony of the 
 
 goyng in every Lordes hous of proceedings on land was vaned 
 
 this land ;' ib.267. In 1459, during by acts of piracy at sea ; Paston 
 
 the Parliament of Coventry, Henry Letters, i. 268. On the necessity 
 
 wrote to the University of Oxford of repressing aristocratic dissen- 
 
 to dismiss certain Bedels who had sions, cf. ^gid. Rom. De Regim. 
 
 spoken disrespectfully of the III. ii. 15. .. 
 
 Queen and Prince. The com- ^ Below, Chap, xvu, and the 
 
 mand was obeyed ; Munim. Aca- notes thereto. Gascoigne com- 
 
 dem. p. 756. plains of an analogous evil in the 
 
 = For a list of the private wars case of ecclesiastical offices ; pp. 
 
 which went on during the reign 132-3. 
 
 C 3 
 
26 3Inttoouction, 
 
 Perversion i view, namely, to pervert to their own ends the adminis- 
 of justice. I^^^^Jqjj of justice, which was so closely connected with the 
 Local i system of local government. Justices of the Peace might 
 be -appointed, who would maintain the quarrels of the 
 party to which they owed their appointments ^ ; sheriffs 
 might be nominated, who could be trusted to impanel a 
 jury favourable to their patron's views, sometimes con- 
 sisting of his servants or liveried retainers^. Should the 
 sheriff prove less pliable than usual, the lord or his friends 
 at court for him might obtain royal letters directing the 
 Juries. sheriff to impanel such a jury^; FaiHng this, the jury 
 might be intimidated* or bribed, or at the last resort the 
 proceedings might be broken up by forced unless indeed 
 the less heroic plan was resorted to of simply ignoring an 
 Purchase of Unfavourable decision. In addition to whatever claims they" 
 daims*"' might have of their own to assert, the lords bought up the 
 doubtful claims of lesser men, or agreed to maintain them 
 for a consideration^, or they obtained grants of lands which 
 were not really in the hands of the crown''. And these 
 claims, whether their own or others', were asserted with the 
 
 ^ In 1399 the Commons com- ^ P. P. C. v. 35-9 ; Paston Let- 
 plained that 'maintainers' .vsere ters, i. 212. In 1435 the Duke of 
 made Justices of the Peace by Norfolk and the Earl of Suffolk 
 ' brocage ; ' Rot. Pari. iii. 444 a. • had to promise in the Council 
 Cf. Political Songs, li. 235-6 ; that they would not hinder the in- 
 'Now mayntenerys be made jus- ^estigation and punishment of a 
 iys case of homicide ; P. P. C. iv. 
 
 ' Now brocage ys made ofJycerys.' ^°?~ii -r^ j r rr 
 
 ^ ' ' ' " These gifts and feoffments to 
 
 ^ 'le Viscount. . . retouma un greatpersonagesof lands of doubt- 
 
 Panell des certeins persons, dount ful title, and the forcible entries 
 
 ascuns furent famuliers, et ascuns which followed them, were forbid- 
 
 tenauntz, et ascuns del fee, et del den by St. 8 Hen. VI. c. 9; cf. 
 
 vesture de Adversaries le dit Sup- Rot.Parl.iv. 352 b ; ib.iii.497 a b' 
 
 pliant ; ' Rot. Pari. iv. 288 a. St. 4 Hen. IV. c. 8 ; Paston Letters, 
 
 " Paston Letters, I. Ixix. 208, ii. 80, cf. ib. 187, ' the Duck of 
 214-5. It was said that such Suffolk hath boght .... the ryit 
 letters could be obtained for a that on Bryghtylhed hath in Hay- 
 noble {6s. id.). . . lesdon,' &c. . . Cf Whethamstede, 
 In one case the intimidation i. 96, where the holder of lands 
 practised on the jury was so no- which were claimed by St. Alban's 
 torious and 'horrible,' that even threatens to enfeoff certain lords 
 the sufferers' for pyte and remorce with them; ib. 203. This was 
 . . . wer lothe ' to proceed against also one of the subjects of Cade's 
 them for perjury ; Paston Letters, complaints ; Stowe, p. 389 a 
 1. 205 ; cf. lb. 241, 7 Paston Letters, ii. 331. 
 
3fntrotiuction, 
 
 21 
 
 high hand. Forcible entry and disseisin with violence Forcible 
 were everyday occurrences, and were almost restored to ^°'"^*- 
 the position of legal processes which they had held before 
 the invention of the grand assize ^. Houses were regularly 
 garrisoned as for a siege, and small arnyies were brought 
 into the field to attack them 2. If the aggrieved person 
 appealed to the law, he might find that no counsel would 
 venture to act for him ^, and that no one in the county would 
 dare to say a good word for a man who was known to be 
 out of favour in high quarters*. In the numerous petitions 
 which besought the intervention of the council or of par- 
 liament, the allegation that there was ' too great might ' 
 on the other side for the suppliant to be able to sue at the 
 common law was often true enough. It is idle to worship Impotence 
 the form and neglect the substance. Against offenders of °'^s\em "^ 
 this stamp the jury system was powerless to secure justice. 
 Its partial and temporary supersession by the jurisdiction 
 of the council, especially as organized in the later Court of 
 
 ' Before the invention of the 
 grand assize forcible disseisin was 
 often the only process by which 
 a tenant could be forced by a 
 claimant to show his title to the 
 lands he held. John Paston 
 writes to his wife in 1465 : ' As 
 for that it is desyrid I should show 
 my tytill and evydens to the Dewk, 
 me thynkyth he had evyll cown- 
 cell to entre in opon me, trusting 
 I shuld shew hym evydens. . . . 
 It is not profitab[l]e . . . that 
 any jentilman shuld be compellid 
 be an entre of a lord to shew his 
 . . . tytill to his lond, ner I will 
 not begine that exsample ne thrall- 
 dam of gentilmen ; ' Paston Let- 
 ters, ii. 209 f. For instances of 
 forcible entry, cf. Rot. Pari. iii. 
 488, 512 b, 514 a, etc., and Paston 
 Letters, i. 12 ff., ii. 248 ff., 253. 
 
 '' The force with which Lord 
 Molynes attacked John Paston's 
 manor of Gresham was ' to the 
 nombre of a thowsand persones 
 . . . arrayd in maner of werre ;' 
 ib. i. 106 ; cf. ii. xxvi. ff., xlv. f. 
 The Duke of Norfolk brought 
 
 3,000 men to the siege of Caister 
 Castle, which he claimed against 
 Sir John Paston ; ib. 1. ff. 
 
 * Justice Paston advises a friend 
 not to go into cotirt gainst a 
 dependant of the Duke of Norfolk: 
 'Jyf thu do, thu xalte hafe the 
 werse, be thi case never so trewe, 
 . . . and also, thu canste [get ?] no 
 man of lawe ... to be with the 
 a3ens hym ;' ib. i. 42 ; cf. p. 18. 
 Cf. ib. 60, where there is a petition 
 to the Chancellor that he would 
 'assigne and streytly comaund' 
 certain persons to act as counsel 
 for the petitioner. That the 
 intimidation practised on lawyers 
 was no idle threatening is shown 
 by the fact, that in 1455 a party 
 of men headed by the son of the 
 Earl of Devonshire attacked and 
 murdered an old man named Rad- 
 ford, ' whiche was of counseil with 
 my Lord Bonvyle,' the Earl's 
 great enemy; ib. 350-2. 
 
 * ' Here dare no man seyn a 
 gode wurd for 3u in this cuntre, 
 Godde amend it.' Margaret Pas- 
 ton to her husband ; ib. 113. 
 
22 3Intco5uction. 
 
 Star ChamBer, 'to bridle such stout noblemen or gentlemen 
 as Sir Thomas Smith quaintly expresses it\ was a national 
 blessing. . . 
 
 Corruption ; Even the judges were not always above suspicion. 
 
 ijes. They accepted solicitations and presents, and gave extra- 
 judicial advice on matters which might very possibly 
 come before them in their judicial capacity, in a way 
 which was in direct contravention of the terms of their 
 oath. Even if this did not affect their conduct on 
 the bench, it was bad enough in itself; but they seem 
 sometimes to have acted with the grossest partiality 2. 
 Occasionally royal letters were sent to justices as to 
 sheriffs ordering them to show favour to a particular 
 person ^ Often too the issue of a cause would depend 
 in various ways on the question which party had at the 
 moment the upper hand at Court. In the light of these 
 abuses we can better understand the vigorous words of 
 Cade's proclamation :— ' the law servyth of nowght ellys 
 in thes days but for to do wrong, for nothing is sped 
 almost but .... for mede, drede, and favor, and so no 
 remedy is had .... in eny wyse*.' 
 
 Arbitia- Amid this general breakdown of law, arbitration was 
 
 *'™- sometimes resorted to, but more often the best hope of 
 
 an aggrieved person lay either in buying off the opposition 
 
 ^ De Republica Anglorum, bk. pp. 43, 188 ; and notes to chaps, 
 
 iii. c. 4. vi. XV. iDelow. In one case we find 
 
 ^ Cf. Paston Letters, i. 419 f. ; a justice, Robert Tirwhit, guilty 
 
 ii. 20I, 252-3. ' God reforme of the grossest turbulence and 
 
 such parcialte,' writes Sir Thomas breach of the peace ; Rot. Pari. 
 
 Howys to Fastolf after detailing iv. 649 f. ; and cf. the case of For- 
 
 the behaviour of Chief Justice fescue's own brother ; Family 
 
 Prisot ; ib. i. 21 1-2; Amundes- History, pp. 46-7. 
 ham, ii. 127, 143, 256. When ' Paston Letters, iii. 428. The 
 
 Fortescue says of the judges (De judges were sworn to do justice to 
 
 Laudibus, c. 51), 'Nee unquam all, ' etiamsi rex per literas suas, 
 
 compertum est eorum ahquem aut oretenus, contrariumjusserit;' 
 
 donis aut muneribus fuisse cor- De Laudibus, c. 51 ; cf. Rot. 
 
 ruptum,' he must have known Pari. iii. 471a, where this abuse 
 
 that he was writing what was is complained of, and reference is 
 
 untrue. vEgidius Romanus (III. made to St. 20 Edw. III. c. i. 
 ii. 20) says, on the other hand, * Three Fifteenth Century 
 
 ' Judex de facili obliquatur.' Cf. Chronicles, p. 96. 
 Rot. Pari. iii. 626 b ; Gascoigne, 
 
3IntroDuction, 23 
 
 of the great man who supported his adversary, or in 'Good- 
 getting some equally powerful nobleman to maintain his '°jj"|?'P . 
 own cause ^. And for these services the greatest per- 
 sonages were not above receiving the most vulgar con- 
 siderations. The transaction might be veiled under the 
 name of a horse for my lord^ or a kerchief for my 
 lady^, or a book for a prince of a literary turn like 
 Gloucester*. But in reality, if not in name, money was 
 given for money's worth ; for, as Sir John Paston 
 cynically remarked, ' men do not lure hawks with empty 
 hands °.' Nothing added more to a man's importance 
 than the diffusion of a belief that he 'stood well in conceit,' 
 as the phrase went, with men of influence in his neigh- ; 
 bourhood or at court ^ ; no greater disservice could be done 
 to a man, than to prejudice a great man's mind against him, 
 or, to use another contemporary phrase, to ' make him 
 his heavy lord'.' ' Spende sum what of 3our good now,' 
 writes an anonymous friend to John Paston, 'and get 
 50W lordshep, .... quia ibi pendet tota lex et prophetce ^.' 
 William Paston gives his brother similar advice, adding : — 
 ' omnia pro pecuniS, facta sunt ^.' That great lords should 
 
 ' ' Sondery folks have seyd to Lady must have somwhat to 
 
 me that they thynk veryly, but if bye hyr kovercheff besyd my 
 
 ye haue my Lord of SufTolks gode- Lord;' ib. iii. 55; cf. ib. 64-5, 
 
 lorchyp (good-lordship), qhyll the 295. 
 
 werd (world) is as itt is, ye kan * Amundesham, IL Ixv. 295. 
 
 never leven in pese ; ' Paston ^ Paston Letters, iii. 65. 
 
 Letters, ii. 132. 'The frere that ' ' To th'entente that the cuntre 
 
 cleymyth Oxned . . . seyd pleynly shall thinke . . . that he hathe 
 
 . . . that he xal have Oxnede, grete favour amonge the Lordes 
 
 and that ... my lord of Suffolke of the Counsell, and cause men to 
 
 . . wol be his good lord in that fere hym the more ;' ib. i. 229 ; 
 
 mater ; ' ib. i. 81 ; cf. i. 96-8, cf. ii. 97. 
 
 233> 323 ; ii. 206, 344-5, 392, &c. , ' ' The seyd Walter by hese 
 
 This interference with the course sotill and ungoodly enformacion 
 
 of law by 'pursuit to a great lord ' caused the seyd Duke to be hevy 
 
 is complained of in the petition lord to the seyd William ; ' ib. i. 
 
 cited above ; Rot. Pari. iii. 471 a. 16. 
 
 ' Cf. Paston Letters, ii. 97. ' lb. i. 1 56 ; cf. ii. 72 ; and Gas- 
 
 ' ' I praye yow fynd the menys coigne, p. 109. 
 that my Lord have some reason- ' Ib. i. 516-7. The party op- 
 able meane profyrd, so that he posed to the Pastons in Norfolk 
 and my Lady may undyrstand offered Sir WiUiam 01dhall;£2,ooo 
 that ye desyr to have hys . good (about ;£30,ooo in our money) for 
 lordshep;' ib. ii. 348-9. 'My his good lordship; ib. i. 151. 
 
24 
 
 31ntrotiuction, 
 
 Influence use their local power to influence the parliamentary 
 
 Zn"^"" elections in favour of their own party was natural enough - 
 
 elections. But this again, apart from any political result, reacted on 
 
 the local administration. The collectors of the tenths and 
 
 fifteenths granted in parliament were nominated by the 
 
 knights of the shire, and it is clear that the impartiality 
 
 of these appointments and of the persons thus appointed 
 
 was not above suspicion^. 
 
 i And this example of lawlessness and insubordination 
 
 ! spread downwards through all ranks of society. The 
 
 provisions of the Livery Statutes against companies 
 
 maintained at their own charges would seem to show 
 
 that this curse of continental life was not unknown in 
 
 Com- England 8. Bands of armed men, often commanded by 
 
 ^''"'^^' some person of good birth, and favoured secretly perhaps 
 
 by still greater men, terrorized whole districts, levying 
 
 black-mail, and committing every kind of outrage with 
 
 Outrages, impunity*. No age or sex or place was respected. Old 
 
 But this was in Oct. 1450, just 
 before the meeting of the Yorkist 
 Parliament of which Oldhall was 
 Speaker, and the favour of so 
 influential a Yorkist was well 
 worth paying for. Norfolk seems 
 however to have been IVarwickist 
 rather than strictly Yorkist ; ib. 
 >• 532) 536 ; iii. 478. The Pastons 
 were in high favour during Henry 
 VI's restoration ; ii. 412. The 
 Commons of Norfolk resisted an 
 attempt of Edward IV to land 
 there in 147 1 ; Warkworth, p. 13. 
 ' Paston Letters, i. 160-1. In 
 1455 the Duchess of Norfolk 
 writes that it is 'necessarie . . . 
 that my Lord have ... in the 
 Parlementsuchepersones aslonge 
 unto him, and be of his menyall 
 servaunts ; ' ib. 337 ; cf. 339 fif. ; 
 iii- S3i 55> 43i- Yet the Duke of 
 Norfolk complained in 1454 that 
 the election in Suffolk had not 
 been fairly conducted ; P . P. C. 
 vi. 183. In I4SS the Sheriff of 
 Kent was ordered to see that the 
 elections were free, because of the 
 
 'besy labour made ... by cer- 
 taine personesj'ib. 246. Five years 
 before Cade had complained that 
 the elections in Kent were not 
 free ; Stowe, p. 389 b. 
 
 * Paston Letters, I. li. ; Gas- 
 coigne, p. xxxiii. In one instance 
 we find the Knights of the Shire 
 nominating certain persons as 
 collectors of the tenth and fifteenth, 
 and then falling upon them and at- 
 tempting to rob them ; Rot. Pari, 
 iv. 30-1. Cade complained that 
 these nominations were regularly 
 bought and sold ; Stowe, p. 
 389 b. 
 
 '' Rot. Pari. iii. 600 b, 662 b ; St. 
 7 and 8 Hen. IV. c. 14 ; 13 Hen. 
 IV. c. 3. 
 
 * Rot. Pari. iii. 445 b. For ac- 
 counts of the doings of particular 
 bands of ruffians, see ib. 630-2 ; 
 iv. 32, 254 a. In Derbyshire cer- 
 tain lawless persons took to the 
 woods, ' like as it hadde be Robyn- 
 hode and his meyne ; ' ib. v. 16 b ; 
 Paston Letters, I.lxxxiii. ff., 231^., 
 276 ff. 
 
3IntroDuction, 25 
 
 men and old women of fourscore years were fallen upon and 
 brutally ill-tr-eated or killed ^ ; heiresses of tender age were 
 forcibly abducted^ ; widows who had any property were from 
 their unprotected condition specially exposed to molesta- 
 tion*. The priest was attacked in the chancel, the monk in 
 his cloister*, and murders were attempted, Italian fashion, 
 during ' the using of the mass ^.' Conversely, we find 
 priests and monks engaged in some of the worst of 
 these transactions^. Outrage provoked retaliation, and 
 cruel reprisals were taken, often not on those who had 
 done the original harm, but on their innocent tenants and 
 dependants'. And these things were done many times 
 in broad daylight and in public places, without any 
 attempt at concealment ; the perpetrators calculating, 
 generally correctly, that either by violence or chicanery 
 they would be able to evade the consequences of their 
 misdeeds. So in the same way that system of corrupt Hierarchy 
 influence or ' brokage ' which I have described descended "nfj^uence' 
 from rank to rank of society. The object of every man 
 was to curry favour with those above him, to win influence 
 over those below ; so that by a sort of ignoble caricature 
 of the feudal system the whole structure of society from 
 the apex to the base was knit together in a hierarchy 
 of corruption. 
 
 Nor was the influence of the great confined to the spheres Ecclesias- 
 of politics and law. They interfered in the private aff"airs e,^eo"the 
 of families ^ in the inner economy of monasteries ^ in the great lords. 
 
 ' e.g. Rot. Pari. iii. 564 a ; Pas- iv. 92 b. 
 ton Letters, i. 239. * Paston Letters, 1. 238-9, 279. 
 
 " e.g. Rot. Pari. iii. S64b: a ° lb. 237; cf. ii. 81, 251. On 
 
 child of nine years carried off. the frequency of robbenes from 
 
 And this was done by the Sheriff, Churches, cf. Rot. Pari. v. 632 b ; 
 
 'under colour of his office,' in Gregory, pp. 234-5. 
 order to marry her to his son. In ' Rot. Pari. ni. 518 a, 564 a. 
 1454 complaint was made that the ' Gascoigne, pp. 133-4- 
 forcible abduction of women who * Paston Letters, 1. 129 f., 258, 
 
 had any property was becoming 294-6. _ 
 
 common; Rot. ParL v. 370b. » Whethamstede, i. 112. On 
 
 On this petition was founded St. the relations between the ansto- 
 
 31 and 32 Hen. VI. c. 9 ; cf. Paston cracy and the monasteries, cf. also 
 
 Letters, i. 551-3. Pecock, Repressor, pp. 549 «• 
 
 •"' e. g. Rot. Pari. iii. 530 b, 565-6 } 
 
violence. 
 
 26 3Introtiuction, 
 
 granting of academical degrees ^ ; they influenced church 
 appointments from the lowest to the highest^; ecclesiastical 
 patrons were glad enough to gratify them with grants of 
 next presentations for their clerical dependants ^ who often 
 were their men of business*, and men were made bishops, 
 not for any knowledge or virtue which they possessed, but 
 ' because of the great blood they were of ^' The general 
 condition of the English Church lies, as I have said, outside 
 my subject.. But it may here at least be recorded how 
 heavily the days of aristocratic ascendancy told against its 
 purity and independence, and how seriously the one great 
 evil of the time, the lawlessness of the nobility, intensified 
 the other, the corruption of the Church. 
 Semi-legal But besides all the illegal violence which undoubtedly 
 existed, there was an immense deal of legal or semi-legal 
 force called into play. Forcible ejectments were followed 
 by equally forcible recoveries. Violent distraints gave rise 
 to no less violent replevins, and the line which separates 
 legality from illegality was very easily passed ^. Often too 
 men were brutally attacked, merely because they had 
 ventured to assert their rights by law'. Ambushes were 
 laid for John Paston during the time that he had his various 
 lawsuits on hand*, even in London he was not secure from 
 attack^; while if his wife's fears were not exaggerated, it 
 
 ^ Munimenta Academica, pp. brother of the King-maker) ; Rot. 
 
 206-8, 332. Pari. iii. 456, 460 a ; Gascoigne, 
 
 ^ On this see Gascoigne, pp. pp. 16, 22-3. On the increase in 
 
 14, 19, 22, 25, 32, 55, 72, 132, 166, the number of noble prelates, see 
 
 180-1, 222. S. C. H. ii. 402, 449 ; iii. 368-9. 
 
 ' Amundesham, ii. 370-1 ; ' Cf. e.g. Paston Letters, II. 
 
 Whethamstede, II. xxv. ff., and xxv. ff., 183 ff. 
 
 the references there given. ' lb. i. 73-4. 
 
 * e.g. Thomas Howys for Fas- " One plot was to waylay him 
 
 tolf, James Gloys for the Pastons, and carry him off to some lord in 
 
 both priests; v. Paston Letters the North; ib. i. 544; cf. ii. 26 -^^ 
 
 passim, and cf. ib. i. 299. 39, 53. ' ' 
 
 ° This phrase occurs with refer- ' ' Thow Je ben at London 5e 
 
 ence to the promotion to the see xul ben met with ther as wele as 
 
 of Canterbury of Thomas Bour- thow Je were her ; and ther for 
 
 chier; P. P. C. vi. 168 ; cf. Rymer, I pray ju hertyly . . . have a 
 
 X. 640 ; P. P. C. vi. 266 (with gode felaschep with 3u qhan ?e 
 
 reference to George Neville, the xul walk owt;' ib. i. 112. 
 
3Intronuction, 
 
 27 
 
 would seem that his enemies were capable even of attempt- 
 ing to poison him ^- 
 
 These various abuses were the subject of frequent com- statutes 
 plaints and enactments in Parliament^. In the very first ^g'°^^^^. 
 Parliament of Henry IV a statute was passed against mainten- 
 livery and maintenance^- In 1401 another statute was ^""^^' 
 made on the same subject*. In 1406 the Commons com- 
 plained that bannerets, knights, and esquires gave liveries of 
 cloth to as many as three hundred men or more to uphold 
 their unjust quarrels, for maintenance, and in order to be 
 able to oppress others at their pleasure. And no remedy 
 could be had against them because of their confederacy 
 and maintenance °- On this complaint a fresh statute was 
 founded, and another was passed in 141 1^ In 1414 a 
 statute was passed against embracery, champerty, and 
 maintenance''. In 14*7 the Commons complained of the 
 non-observance of the livery statutes*. In 1429 fresh pro- 
 visions were made on the subject because the existing ones 
 could not be carried out owing to maintenance^. In 1433 
 the plan was tried of exacting from the members of both 
 
 * 'For Goddys sake be war 
 what medesyns ye take of any 
 fysissyans of London ; ' ib. ii. 160 ; 
 cf. iii. 474. 
 
 ^ On the earlier legislation on 
 the subject of livery and main- 
 tenance, see S. C. H. ii. 485, 608 ; 
 iii. 530-6. 
 
 ' St. I Hen. IV. c. 7 ; Rot. Pari, 
 iii. 428 b. 
 
 ♦ St. 2 Hen. IV. c. 21 ; Rot. 
 Pari. iii. 477 b. 
 
 ° Rot. Pari. iii. 600; St. 7 and 8 
 Hen. IV. c. 14. If the retinues of 
 simple knights and esquires were 
 so numerous, we can imagine what 
 those of the greater lords would 
 be. An adherent of the young 
 Duke of Suffolk boasted that his 
 lord was able to keep daily in his 
 house more men than his adver- 
 sary had hairs on his head ; Pas- 
 ton Letters, ii. 184. According 
 to Justice (afterwards Chief Jus- 
 tice) Billing, men often ruined 
 
 themselves by keeping up a greater 
 retinue than their means would 
 allow : ' That is the gyse of yowr 
 contre men, to spend alle the 
 goode they have on men and 
 lewery gownys . . . and at the 
 laste they am but beggars ; ' ib. i. 
 297. 
 
 « St. 13 Hen. IV. c. 3 ; Rot. 
 Pari. iii. 662 a. 
 
 ' St. 2 Hen. V. c. 3 ; Rot. Pari, 
 iv. 52 a. 
 
 ' Rot. Pari. iv. 329 b. 
 
 » St. 8 Hen. VI. c. 4 ; Rot. 
 Pari. iv. 348 a. At the same time 
 a statute was passed against the 
 prevalent murders, homicides, 
 riots, &c. ; ib. 356 a ; St. 8 Hen. 
 VI. c. 14. But it was one thing to 
 pass statutes, another to get them 
 observed. Cf. Political Songs, ii. 
 252 : 
 ' Many lawys, and lytylle ryght ; 
 ' Many actes of parlament, 
 • And few kept wyth tru entent.' 
 
28 3IntroDuction, 
 
 houses of Parliament an oath against maintenance and 
 other kindred evils, which oath was subsequently extended 
 to the whole country\ But this measure proved no more 
 effective than the others : and in 1459 the Commons com- 
 plained that the most notorious evil-doers were maintained 
 by men of great might^- The same story is continued 
 under Edward IV. Articles against livery, maintenance, 
 etc. were issued by the king in his first Parliament *. In 
 1468 the previous legislation on the subject of liveries was 
 confirmed*. Yet none the less the Commons in 1472 
 complained that murders, robberies, forcible entries, main- 
 tenance, etc. were still rampant^. 
 Legisla- The legislation and petitions on the subject of oppressive 
 tion on the ^nd partial sheriffs and corrupt juries are equally volu- 
 
 subject of * . , . . 
 
 sheriffs and minous^. For the latter evil a remedy was often sought in 
 
 juries. raising the qualification of the jurors, either for a particular 
 
 case, or for a particular class of offences ''. How little 
 
 effectual such measures were likely to be is proved by the 
 
 fact alleged by an anonymous correspondent of Sir John 
 
 ' Rot. Pari. iv. 421 b, 455 b. 
 In 1426 and 1430 a similar pledge 
 had been exacted from the lords 
 of the council ; P. P. C. iii. 217 ; 
 iv. 64. The Lords were not to 
 receive or maintain evil-doers, 
 nor by occasion of gift or feoff- 
 ment support other men's quarrels 
 by word, deed, or by message, or 
 writing to judge, jury or party ; 
 or by taking the party into their 
 service, or giving him their livery, 
 nor were they to conceive indig- 
 nation against any judge or officer 
 for executing his office according 
 to law. Cf. ib. vi. 319 f.; Rot. 
 Pari. iv. 262. 
 
 ^ Rot. Pari. v. 367 b. 
 
 = Ib. 487 b. 
 
 * Ib. 663 a ; St. 8 Edw. IV. c. 2. 
 
 ^ Rot. Pari. vi. 8 a. For con- 
 crete instances, cf. ib. 35 a, 38 a. 
 
 " Cf. Rot. Pari. iii. 513 b ; iv. 
 II a, 306, 328 a, 380 b, 403 a, 
 408 b, 448 b ; V. 29 a, 1 10 a, 493 b ; 
 St. 4 Hen. VI. c. i ; 6 Hen. VI. 
 c. 2 ; 9 Hen. VI. c. 7 ; 11 Hen. 
 
 VI. c. 4 ; 18 Hen. VI. c. 14 ; 23 
 Hen. VI. c. 9 ; I Edw. IV. c. 2 ; 
 I Ric. III. c. 4. In 1426 the 
 Council ordered that no lord's 
 steward should be appointed 
 sheriff, nor any ' man of lawe, for 
 ever it is to suppose })at J>ai have 
 oone parties matiere or ojjer in 
 hande ;' P. P. C. iii. 219-221. Ci. 
 as to other local officers not being 
 lawyers. Rot. Pari. iii. 504 b ; St. 
 4 Hen. IV. c. 19. On the oppres- 
 sions of sheriffs, see also notes to 
 Chap. XV. below. As long as the ■ 
 jurors were really witnesses, it was 
 fair enough to leave to the local 
 authorities the power of choosing 
 those persons who were most 
 likely to be acquainted with the 
 facts ; but when the jury changed 
 its character, this power became 
 the source of those evils which I 
 have been describing ; cf. Pal- 
 grave, Essay on the King's Coun- 
 cil, § xxii. 
 
 ' e. g. Rot. Pari. iii. 488 f., 507 b- 
 IV. 501 b ; St. IS Hen. VI. c. 5. 
 
3lntcotiuction* 39 
 
 Paston's, that there were men worth ;£'ioo per annum who 
 had been induced to swear falsely against him \ And these 
 evils were sometimes so serious and notorious as to call for 
 special notice in those curious discourses with which it was 
 then customary to open Parliament "- 
 
 But even more clearly than in the Rolls of Parliament Picture 
 do we see the state of the country and the ideas of the S^^J? '" 
 
 ■' the Pastoii 
 
 people mirrored m the Paston Correspondence, from which Con-e- 
 so many illustrations have been already taken 3. Nothing ^P°"<^'^"'=''- 
 is more curious than the way in which it is assumed that 
 it is idle to indict a criminal who is maintained by a 
 powerful person*; that it is useless to institute legal pro- 
 ceedings unless the sheriff and jury can be secured before- 
 hand' ; nothing can be more naive thari the complaints as to; 
 the difficulty of being sure of jurymen^, because either they 
 are ' ambidexter,' i. e. take bribes from both sides'', or they S 
 fear ' a turning world,' i. e. some sudden change in the re- / 
 lations of parties^- Very quaint too is the astonishment 
 expressed by John Paston noi at being attacked in an 
 unprovoked manner at the door of Norwich Cathedral, so 
 much as at being attacked by a dependant of the Duke of 
 Norfolk who was his 'good lord' ;' for it is evidently 
 
 ^ Paston Letters, ii. 325. When * ' Ther kan no man indyte 
 Fortescue (De Laudibus, c. 29) hym for Sir T. Todenham mayn- 
 talks of the impossibihty of cor- teynyth hym ;' i. 190. 
 rupting an English jury, he is ^ 'But of these and of many 
 saying what, with his judicial ex- mo wers it is a gret foly to laboren 
 perience, he must have known to in as for any indytements, but if 
 be untrue. See a curious case in ye be ryght seker of the sherefes 
 P. P. C. iii. 313, where the judges office ; for if he lyst, he may re- 
 advised the Council not to send a turne men,' &c. ; i. 191 ; cf. ii. 217. 
 culprit before a jury, as it was " 'Ye truste the jury of Suffolk ; 
 probable that he would find means remembre what promyse Daubeny 
 to corrupt them. hade of the jury and what it 
 
 ' For example in 1431, 1432, avayhd;' ii. 182. 
 
 1433, and 1442 ; Rot. Pari. iv. ' i. 192. 
 
 367 a, 388 a, 419 a ; V. 35 b. ^ i. 198. 
 
 ^ Many of the most striking in- ^ ' Whech was to me strawnge 
 
 cidents are summarized in Mr. cas, thinking in my conseyth that 
 
 Gairdner's valuable introductions. I was my Lords _ man and his 
 
 But no summary however able can homagier,or Charlis [the assailant] 
 
 give the effect which is produced knew hys Lordschipe, that my 
 
 on the mind by a perusal of the Lord was my god Lord,' &c. ; 
 
 Correspondence itself. i. 232. 
 
Remedies 
 proposed 
 by Fortes- 
 cue. 
 
 30 3introDuction, 
 
 regarded as a great scandal to a lord, that two of his 
 dependants should be at feud^. Bribes are offered and 
 (looked for as a matter of course^ it is assumed that an 
 'officer will use his official position in favour of his friends , 
 and the only hope of redressing evils is considered to lie in 
 the influence of the great. The issue of a lawsuit is bound 
 up with the fate of parties*; and the aim of all is to be 
 upon the stronger side^ We see here the almost royal 
 style in which the great lords addressed and were ad- 
 dressed by their inferiors" ; and we know from other 
 sources that they occasionally imitated some of the worst 
 abuses of the royal power, purveyance'^, and the forest 
 laws '. 
 
 The measures which Fortescue would take for reducing 
 the overgrown power of the great lords are, — first, to wrest 
 from their hands the revenues of the crown by an act of 
 resumption, and the patronage of the crown by restoring 
 in all cases direct appointment to offices by the king ; he 
 
 ' ' Dysworschep to my Lord 
 that tweyn of hys men schold 
 debat sonerhym;' ii. 245. 
 
 ^ ' I proferid hym [i. e. the 
 sheriff] if he wold make yow pro- 
 mys ... ye wold geff' hym in 
 hande as he wold desire, . . . but 
 he lokyth aftyr a gret brybe,'&c.; 
 i. 215-6, cf. 207, 247, 311-2. 'I 
 had founde the meane for to have 
 ben quytte, for I whas through 
 with the scheryff and panel made 
 aftyr myn avice ; ' ii. 60. Amos 
 (De Laudibus, pp. 81 ff.) says that 
 a charge ' pro amicitii vice- 
 comitis' was a regular item in 
 attorneys' bills at this time. For 
 efforts made to secure the appoint- 
 ment of a favourable sheriff, cf. 
 Paston Letters, i. 158, 165-6, 171, 
 S2I ; ii. 59, &c. 
 
 ' ' The Meyr . . . wuU do any- 
 thyng that he may for hym and 
 his ;' ii. 249. 
 
 * lb. i. 335. 
 
 = lb. 66. 
 
 « The Duke of Norfolk e. g. is 
 always addressed and spoken of 
 
 as 'right high and myghty 
 prynce,' or 'his hyghnes ;' i. 15, 
 I43i 233, &c. He addresses his 
 inferiors, 'right trusti and well- 
 belovid ... we consayled be the 
 Lordes . . . and oder of our Con- 
 sayle,' &c. ; i. 337; ii. 247, &c. 
 
 ' In 1445 the Commons com- 
 plained of the ' Purveiours or 
 Achatours of the Duk of Glou- 
 cestr', and of other Lordes and 
 Estates of the Roialme,' contrary 
 to the Stat. 36 Edw. III. c. 2; 
 Rot. Pari. V. 115 a. On this 
 complaint a new statute was 
 founded ; 23 Hen. VI. c. 14. 
 
 * The way in which the Earls of 
 Arundel had extended their rights 
 of chace and warren had in 1415 
 thrown a great part of the Rape of 
 Lewes out of cultivation. And 
 trespassers on these alleged rights 
 had been cruelly imprisoned and 
 even tortured. The Earl of Arun- 
 del, against whom these charges 
 were brought, was at that time 
 Treasurer of England ; Rot. Pari, 
 iv. 78, cf. ib. 92 a. 
 
3fntronuction. 31 
 
 would prevent the accumulation of estates by using the 
 veto which the feudal system gave the king on the mar- 
 riage of heiresses; and the accumulation of offices by 
 enacting that no one should hold more than one office at 
 the same time, or two at the very most. And last and , 
 most important of all, he would eliminate the influence of 
 the nobles from the government, by excluding them almost , 
 entirely from the Privy Council, and transforming that ■ 
 Council on a purely official basis ^. 
 
 The fact that so much of the prevalent injustice was Litigious- 
 committed under, or indeed by means of, the forms of law "^^^ °^^^'^ 
 
 ■' ' age. 
 
 is connected with another characteristic of the age, namely, 
 its extreme Utigiousness. Legal chicane was one of the 
 most regular weapons of offence and defence, and to trump' 
 up charges however frivolous against an adversary one of 
 the most effectual means of parrying inconvenient charges 
 against oneself^. The prevalence of false indictments and 
 malicious suits is a frequent subject of complaint in Par- 
 liament*. Forgery of documents seems to have been 
 common ; and when statutes were passed against this 
 practice, advantage was taken of these statutes to throw 
 suspicion on genuine title-deeds *- False allegations of vil- 
 lenage were made in order to bar actions at law brought 
 by those against whom the allegation was made^- Dis- 
 seisins were followed by fraudulent feoffments, in order that 
 the person disseised might not know against whom his 
 
 1 See below, Chaps, x, xi, xiv, * Cf. Paston Letters, i. 107, 119, 
 • XV, xvii, and the notes thereto. On 240, 242, 244. 
 the condition of the English aris- ' Rot. Pari. iii. 505 a, 511 a ; iv. 
 tocracy, cf. also Pecock, Repres- 120 a, 147 a, 305 b, 327 a ( = St. 6 
 sor,p.429;Whethamstede,i. 222; Hen.VLc.i); v. 109 b, 325 b ; St. 
 Gascoigne, pp. 62, 218. The 33 Hen. VL c. 6 ; cf. P. P. C. v. 215. 
 aristocratic theory of society is " Rot. Pari. iii. 543 b ; iv. 10 a, 
 stated quite nakedly in the reply 119, 121b, 378 a ; St. 5 Hen. IV. 
 of ' Daw Topias ' to the Lollard c. 14 ; i Hen. V. c. 3 ; 7 Hen. V. 
 controversialist, 'Jack Upland.' c. 2. Cf. Paston Letters, 1. 553 ; 
 Just as in the body the hands iii. 474, where we hear of title- 
 must serve the head, deeds ' the seals of which were 
 ' Right so the comoun peple God not yet cold.' 
 
 hath disposid, ° Rot. Pari. iii. 499 a ; »▼• $» b. 
 
 ' To laboren for holi chirche and For a case of horrible ill-treatment 
 
 lordshipis also.' of an alleged villein by Humphrey 
 
 Political Songs, ii. 43. Duke of Gloucester, see ib. v. 448. 
 
32 3ntrotiucfion. 
 
 Number of action lay^. One cause of these evils was thought to be 
 lawyers. ^^^ excessive number of attorneys, who stirred up litiga- 
 tion in order to make business for themselves. More than 
 one statute was passed to reduce their number^. The 
 fifteenth century must have been indeed a golden age for 
 lawyers. This litigiousness of the time comes out strongly, 
 as might be expected, in the Paston Correspondence, 
 especially in the letters of Sir John Fastolf, who, Hke his 
 younger contemporary Commynes ^, not only lived in a 
 world of litigation himself, but left a handsome legacy of 
 legal troubles to his successors. ' Every sentence in them 
 refers to lawsuits and title-deeds, extortions and injuries 
 received from others, forged processes affecting property, 
 writs of one kind or another to be issued against his adver- 
 sariesj libels uttered against himself, and matters of the 
 Diffusion like description *.' And Mr. Gairdner remarks very justly 
 know^ 01^ the evidence which the Correspondence affords of the 
 ledge. vfide diffusion of legal knowledge among all classes, not 
 only the men but even the women showing themselves 
 perfectly familiar with the processes and terminology of 
 j the law**. And indeed in such an age some knowledge of 
 the law was most necessary, and any one who had more 
 than an average acquaintance with it might render very 
 important services to himself and his neighbours^. 
 
 ' Rot. Pari. iii. 497 a ; cf. iv. 596 : ' Every man was to some 
 
 39 a ; vi. 1 10 a. This abuse was extent a soldier, and every man 
 
 forbidden by St. I Ric. III. c. I, was to some extent a lawyer.' 
 'Against privy and unknown * ' Thynkk onis of thti daie of 
 
 feoffments.' youre fadris counseyle to leme the • 
 
 ^ Rot. Pari. iii. 504 a, 642 b (cf. lawe, for he seyde manie tymis 
 
 666a); v. 326; St. 4 Hen. IV. c. 18; that ho so ever schuld dwelle at 
 
 33 Hen. VI. c. 7 ; cf. Paston Paston, schulde have nede to 
 
 Letters, iii. 478. On this multi- conne defende hym seUe ;' Agnes 
 
 plication of lawyers, and lawsuits, Paston, widow of Justice Paston, 
 
 cf. Gascoigne, pp. 109, 202. Basin to her son Edmund, i. 58. In one 
 
 makes the same complaint of Nor- of the Appendices to Amundes- 
 
 mandy ; ii. 32-3. ham there is mention of a clergy- 
 
 ' On Commynes' lawsuits, see man who had begun life as an 
 
 the Introduction to Mdlle. Du- apprentice at law. ' Hujus scientia 
 
 pont's edition ; De Lettenhove, et doctrina plurimos in necessita- 
 
 Lettres et Ndgociations ; Fierville, tibus et juris periculis eruebat a 
 
 Documents Inddits. ruina ;' i. 444. The legal acumen 
 
 ^ Paston Letters, I. Ixxxvii. manifested by Clarence and Glou- 
 
 ° lb. Ixxxvii. f. Cf. S. C. H. iii. cester in their dispute about the 
 
BlnttoDuction, 33 
 
 To return to the constitutional summary of the period Constitu- 
 which we quitted at the death of Suffolk. The disappear- ^ ""'aftir' 
 ance of Suffolk worked no improvement in the situation, 'he death 
 ' To pull down one bad man like Suffolk was merely to ° 
 make room for another bad man like Somerset ^.' I have Position of 
 said ^ that in regard to the constitutional questions that J^^gj^gf 
 were involved in the struggle between York and Somerset 
 the constitutional position of the former was more defen- 
 sible than that of the lattef. And this I must maintain in 
 spite of the opinion of Dr. Stubbs to the contrary *. It is 
 quite true that the right of appointing ministers belonged 
 technically to the crown. But Henry IV had promised to 
 rule with the ' common advice, counsel, and consent ' of the 
 nation ; and therefore on a broader view the maintenance 
 of Suffolk and Somerset in spite of universal distrust and 
 detestation, and the exclusion of York in spite of the 
 general desire for his admission to power, was a breach of 
 the original compact by which the house of Lancaster 
 ruled, and reduced Suffolk and Somerset to the level of 
 mere royal favourites. It is true again that the kingdom 
 did not ' need a deliverer like Henry IV *,' but a minister 
 like York, who was both a capable general and a firm 
 administrator^, was precisely what it did need. That 
 York's pedigree and popularity made him an object of 
 suspicion to the court was no justification for his exclu- 
 sion from power, for York's claims would probably have 
 remained dormant if he had not been forced almost in 
 self-defence to assert them^. It is true that, owing to the York 
 unconstitutional conduct of his enemies, York was forced „°nconsti-° 
 
 into courses for which the constitution furnished no justifi- tutional 
 
 ,. , 11- 1. .measures. 
 
 cation. But seeing that the court did not pay the slightest 
 
 heed to the remonstrances of the nation constitutionally 
 
 expressed in Parliament, he may well have thought that 
 
 only by force could the country be rescued from the in- 
 
 Warwick inheritance astonished ' Const. Hist. iii. 156. 
 
 even professional lawyers ; Cont. * lb. 155. 
 
 Croyl. p. 557. ° ' The one sound administrator 
 
 ' Gascoigne, Introduction, p. Iviii. left ;' ib, 
 2 Above, p. 19. ' Cf. Eng. Chron. p. 99. 
 
 D 
 
34 3[ntrotiuction* 
 
 competent hands which ruled it. Had he been allowed to 
 attain to power in the ordinary way, he would probably 
 have been the means of conferring great advantages on 
 England. This seems proved by the beneficial results of 
 his rule when, as during his first Protectorate, he had a 
 recognized constitutional position. His second Protectorate 
 was too short to enable him to effect anything. But on 
 both occasions he showed an anxious desire that his 
 authority should be strictly defined and precisely limited, 
 which was in striking contrast with the way in which 
 Gloucester on a similar occasion grasped at an extension 
 ^His claim of his powers. For the final step taken by York in laying 
 crown in- claim to the crown there is absolutely no justification on 
 defensible, constitutional grounds, except in the eyes of those who 
 hold a theory of royalty according to which there does not 
 exist probably a single legitimate sovereign in the world, 
 The right of the house of Lancaster as resting on prescrip- 
 tion was far too strong to be set aside for a mere defect of 
 genealogy^. But York was forced into this step, partly 
 because he had learned by experience that from the ran- 
 cour of Margaret he could be safe only on the throne, 
 partly because she had so thoroughly identified the dynasty 
 with the misgovernment of a party, that a change of 
 The acces- government implied a change of dynasty also. And though 
 Edward IV ^^^ agreement made with York as to the succession, and 
 inform the Subsequent acceptance in Parliament of Edward IV, 
 
 only a , . ^ , . . . 
 
 legitimist wore the guise of a legitimist restoration, that was only the 
 restoration, outward aspect of the change. The real grounds of it lay 
 much deeper. It was made possible, not by the goodness 
 of the Yorkist pedigree, but by the badness of the Lan- 
 castrian government. And the Speaker of the House 
 of Commons, in his address to the crown on the latter 
 occasion, showed that the Commons were aware that 
 
 ^ This prescriptive right was 
 well stated by the Lords in their 
 reply to York's claim ; Rot. Pari. 
 y. 376 b. Better still, perhaps, by 
 Henry himself in the touching 
 words preserved by his panegyrist 
 
 Blakman, pp. 303, 305 (see them 
 cited, S. C. H. iii. 201). It is well 
 stated also by Hallam, M. A. iii. 
 195- Cf. Fortescue, De Titulo 
 Edwardi, etc., cc. 9, 10, 13. 
 
3fnttotiucttom 35 
 
 there were reasons for the change other than genealo- 
 gical ^. 
 
 Nor can it be said that it was only by weakness that Later Lan- 
 the house of Lancaster fell. From the death of Cardinal '=^^'"*" 
 
 rule uncon- 
 
 Beaufort in 1447 the rule of Henry VI, or rather of stitutional. 
 Margaret and her ministers, was not merely weak but 
 flagrantly unconstitutional. It violated in the most essential 
 points the compact by which the house of Lancaster came 
 to the throne. By its steady maintenance of ministers 
 whom the nation distrusted and abhorred, by its disregard 
 to the wishes of the nation constitutionally expressed, by 
 its attempts to tamper with the independence and liberties 
 of Parliament ^, that house destroyed its own best title to 
 the throne ; and its fate, however melancholy, cannot be 
 called undeserved. Dr. Stubbs has said from his own 
 point of view that ' the acquittal of the house of Lancaster 
 does not imply the condemnation of the house of York*.' 
 From the point of view here taken it would be equally true 
 to say, that the condemnation of the house of Lancaster 
 does not imply the acquittal of the house of York. And 
 yet the latter has been very unfortunate, in that it has 
 
 ' Some extracts from this speech sustinuit communitas istius parlia- 
 
 are given in the notes to Chap, menti ;' p. 189. But the climax 
 
 xix. was reached at the Parliament of 
 
 ^ The imprisonment of Young Coventry in 1459, where the 
 in 1451 for proposing in Parlia- Yorkists were attainted, when 'no 
 raent that York should be declared time was given for the [Yorkist] 
 heir to the crown was a flagrant earls to pack the House of Corn- 
 attack on what Hallam justly calls mons ; the knights of the shire 
 one of the ramparts of the Consti- were chosen on the nomination of 
 tution, freedom of debate. There the Lancastrian leaders ;' S. C. H. 
 was nothing illegal or unconstitu- iii. 179. (The italics are mine.) 
 tional in Young's proposal. The The petition of the sheriffs for in- 
 causing Parliament to meet in out- demnity was not merely, as Dr. 
 of-the-way places, and proroguing Stubbs says, on account of the 
 it frequently, till the members, out haste with which the elections 
 of very weariness, passed the court were held, but because they had 
 measures, is distinctly complained been made in virtue of letters of 
 of by Gascoigne. At the Parlia- privy seal instead of writs under 
 ment of Leicester in 1450, ' dictum the great seal. The parliament 
 fuit in publico quod nisi com- was illegally summoned ab initio, 
 munitas Anglias articulis propositis and could not legalize itself ; Rot. 
 consentiret, parliamentum non Pari. v. 367 ; cf. ib. 374 ; Eng. 
 finiretur, et plures minas et a rege Chron. p. 83. 
 et a suis juvenibus consiliariis ' Const. Hist. iii. 286. 
 
 D a 
 
35 3[ntroUuction» 
 
 The House been judged in history for the most part not by Richard 
 unfort^n- Duke of York, but by Richard Duke of Gloucester, and 
 ate in his- worse still by Edward Earl of March. The defeats of 
 '°''^' Wakefield and St. Alban's did no lasting injury to the 
 
 Yorkist cause^ but they caused incalculable harm to Eng- 
 Compari- land. They gave her as king, instead of a tried and ex- 
 Edward IV perienced statesman, who, whatever his ambition, or even 
 with his /jf thg reader should so determine) unscrupulousness, always 
 
 father in '^ . . , j ir 
 
 character manifested ability and circumspection, a showy and seir- 
 
 toi ^°"" indulgent youth, whose undoubted abilities were balanced 
 
 by no corresponding sense of duty ; but who might under 
 
 his father's training have developed into something much 
 
 better than what he ultimately became. The personal 
 
 character of Richard Duke of York, his actual government 
 
 in France \ in Ireland ^ and in England during his first 
 
 Protectorate, warrant us in believing that he would have 
 
 ruled very differently from Edward IV. But further, he 
 
 would have reigned under very different circumstances. 
 
 Had the civil war been terminated by a conscientious 
 
 adherence to the agreement made in the Parliament of 
 
 1460, there would not have been that weakehing of the old 
 
 nobility ^ that weariness of anarchy on the part of the 
 
 people, which gave Edward IV and the Tudors the oppor- 
 
 Edward IV tunity they enjoyed of establishing a despotism. Edward 
 
 seizfthe° himself after his father's death had no choice but to go 
 
 throne. forward. Margaret's proceedings had made it plain that 
 
 only as king could he be safe. He must either succeed in 
 
 that, or perish as his father had perished. It was absurd to 
 
 • S. C. H. iii. 153 5 English in pene procerum regni luenda 
 
 France, II. xxix. ff. morticinis,' p. 529; and modem 
 
 ''S.C. H. iii. 153. According historians have repeated the state- 
 to Hall (p. 219), it was openly said ment. Mr. Oliphant has however 
 that if he who ' had brought that proved that the Tudor axe had 
 rude and savage nation to ciuile more to do with the extinction of 
 fashion . . . once ruled in Eng- the old nobility than Plantagenet 
 land, [he] wblde depose euil dissensions ; Duke and Scholar 
 counsaillers, correct euil judges, pp. 139-149. Fortescue him- 
 and reforme all matters amisse, self says, ' per bella intestina 
 and unamended.' non paucis extinctis proceribus • ' 
 
 ' The Croyland Continuator Works, p. 63*. ' 
 
 speaks of the civil war as ' omnium 
 
3[ntroDuction» 37 
 
 suppose that he could be bound by a compromise, which 
 his opponents had been the first to break. And no one 
 can therefore blame him for seating himself on the throne. 
 
 The reign of Edward IV is divided into two nearly Divisions 
 equal periods by his exile and the brief restoration of his °^^'^''^'='°- 
 deposed rival (Oct. 1470-April 1471). The former period 
 is marked by many of the characteristics of the late 
 reign, whereas it is in the latter that we must chiefly 
 seek for those indications of a newer state of things 
 which led a brilliant modern writer^ to break through 
 the old-fashioned divisions of English history, and date 
 the beginning of personal monarchy from the accession of 
 Edward IV. 
 
 At first Edward seems to have been sincerely anxious Desire of 
 
 that justice should be done 2. But partly because the evils to'^^us-^ 
 
 were too deeply seated to yield at once to treatment, tice. 
 
 partly because Edward either did not possess, or would 
 
 not exert himself to show, that administrative capacity 
 
 for which his father had been so distinguished, the old had 
 
 state of things in the main continued *. There are the Continu- 
 
 same local disorders, the same complaints of defective ad- oM wils. ^ 
 
 ininistration of justice, the same rivalries between the 
 
 great lords, the same tendency to make use of personal 
 
 influence to defeat the ends for which government ought 
 
 to exist. The number of the great lords was somewhat 
 
 diminished, but for the present their power was rather 
 
 increased than lessened by being concentrated in fewer 
 
 hands. Warwick's possessions are said by a contemporary 
 
 to have been more than double those of any subject before 
 
 his time*. The power of the Nevilles was in fact very Power 
 
 oppressive tq Edward. They were to him what the Percies NeriUes 
 
 had been to Henry IV, what Buckingham afterwards was 
 
 to Richard III. Up to the time of the declaration of 
 
 ' Mr. Green. 23, 25, 29-30, 32) are from the 
 
 ' See notes to Chap. xix. Cf. reign of Edward IV. Cf. Three 
 
 Waurin, ii. 299 : ' il y sema raison Fifteenth Cent. Chron. p. 181: 
 
 et justice en lieu de rapine et des- ' Abundabant tunc in Angha furta, 
 
 ordonnance.' homicidja et mala multa.' 
 
 ' Many of the examples given * Hearne's Fragment, pp. 299 f. 
 
 in the notes above (pp. 20-1, Cf. npfes to Chaps, ix, and xvii. 
 
38 
 
 3Introtiuction, 
 
 Lancas- 
 trian re- 
 storation 
 due to 
 Edward's 
 failure. 
 
 Change in 
 Edward's 
 govern- 
 ment after 
 his return. 
 
 Compari- 
 son of 
 Edward 
 IV with 
 jHenryVII, 
 
 Edward's marriage in 1464 he was mainly in their hands ; 
 after that date he attempted to free himself from them by 
 raising up his wife's relations as a counterpoise to them ; 
 a policy which led to the renewal of the former troubles, 
 and ultimately to his own expulsion from the kingdom. 
 We have the express testimony of Warkworth that the 
 restoration of Henry VI was rendered possible by the 
 disappointment felt at the performances of Edward IV^ 
 
 Of the action of the new government we can form no 
 estimate. Its duration was too short, and most of the 
 documents relating to it have perished ^ Fortescue, as we 
 shall see, drew up for it a programme of reform which is 
 closely connected with our present work^- 
 
 After the restoration of Edward IV a distinct change for 
 the worse takes place in his character and government. 
 His administration was no doubt firmer, but also more 
 cruel and suspicious. He was determined to indulge his 
 love of ease and pleasure without disturbance, and he re- 
 morselessly crushed everything which threatened to become 
 dangerous. The parties at the court continued and ran 
 high, the WydviUes on the one side, the other nobles on 
 the other. It is possible that it was Edward's deliberate 
 policy to secure his own independence by balancing one 
 party against the other * ; but the ultimate outcome of this 
 policy was the deposition of his son and the ruin of his 
 dynasty. In all this Edward showed how inferior he was 
 in real statesmanship to Henry VII, whom Mr. Green has 
 put down as a mere imitator of Edward IV. It would not 
 ■ be far from the truth to say that Edward's government 
 had all the, faults of that of Henry without any of its 
 merits. Common to both kings were the desire to be 
 financially independent of parliament^, and many of the 
 means which they took to secure that object. Both kings, 
 
 ' See notes to Chap. xix. 
 
 " Chastellain, v. 489 f., says that 
 Warwick used his power with 
 great tyranny and cruelty. 
 
 ' Below ; pp. 70, 89. 
 " * iEgidius Romanus reckons 
 
 this among the ' cautelas ' of a 
 tyratit : ' Rex autem non procurat 
 divisiones et partes in regno ;' Da 
 Regimine, III. ii. 10 ; cf. Bacon's 
 Essay, ' Of Faction.' 
 * See notes to Chaps, v, xix. 
 
3fntrotiuction. 
 
 39 
 
 to use Lord Bacon's words, made money out of their Financial 
 subjects for war, and out of their enemies for peace. Other ™'=^'^=- 
 sources of income which they had in common were the 
 confiscated goods of opponents, benevolences, the fines 
 resulting from the enforcement of obsolete statutes and 
 rights of the crown, and the profits arising from mercantile 
 speculations. These sources of income together with the 
 grants of the clergy made Edward to some extent inde- 
 pendent of his lay subjects, and the people so far attained 
 the wish they had so often expressed, that the king should 
 live of his own ; with the result which might have been 
 expected, that the voice of the nation was silenced, and 
 the king did very much what he pleased. 
 
 Common again to both monarchs was the system of Repressive 
 repression and espionage which they adopted. This was^^^'^"' 
 necessitated in Edward's case by the disgraceful treaty 
 with France, which caused so much discontent, that the 
 Croyland Continuator believes that the people would have 
 risen, if only they could have found a leader ^. The means 
 and position of his humblest subjects were known to 
 Edward in a way which reminds us not only of Henry 
 VII, but of Burleigh and Walsingham ^. And besides 
 these evils which were common to both systems, the rule 
 of Edward IV had demerits which were all its own. But 
 the simplest test of the relative merits of Edward IV and 
 Henry VII is to compare the state in which they re- 
 spectively left the kingdom at their death. Henry left a 
 united kingdom, an assured succession, a crown inde- 
 pendent and secure from foreign interference. Edward 
 left two bitter factions which he had fostered in life and 
 idly fancied he could reconcile upon his death-bed, a 
 revolution and a change of dynasty, and a crown the prize 
 of the first pretender who could gain some foreign help. I 
 have said^ that the condemnation of the house of Lancaster 
 
 ' P- 559- ^^ knowne the disposition of the 
 
 ^ lis. 562, 564. The Liber countries ;' Ordinances, &c., p. 45. 
 
 Niger of Edward IV curiously This again is a 'cautela tyran- 
 
 illustrates this point. The forty nica ;' ^g. Rom. u. s. 
 
 squires of the household are to be ' Above, p. 35. 
 
 ' of sundry sheres, by whom it may 
 
40 31ntrotiuction» 
 
 does not involve the acquittal of the house of York. 
 
 Edward IV was probably the worst king, and certainly 
 
 the worst man, who had occupied the English throne since 
 
 The House John. And yet it is by him that the house of York is 
 
 ^Jj^ mainly judged in history. His father never had a fair 
 
 judged by chance ; the reign of Edward V is merely the history of a 
 
 iv"^^'^ revolution ; while the government of Richard III, until it 
 
 degenerated into a mere spasmodic attempt to maintam 
 
 himself, was a conscious and somewhat theatrical reaction 
 
 against Yorkist rule, rather than a specimen of it. Dr. 
 
 Stubbs has truly and beautifully said, 'We cannot look 
 
 without pity and sorrow on that generation of our fathers, 
 
 whose virtues were exemplified in Henry of Lancaster, and 
 
 its strength in Edward of York^.' 
 
 PART II. 
 
 LIFE OF SIR JOHN FORTESCUE. 
 
 Birth of Such was the character of the period into which our 
 
 Fortescue. ^u^-jjor was bom. Neither the place nor the date of his 
 birth are known, but he belonged to a Devonshire family ; 
 and his descendant and latest biographer, Lord Clermont, 
 combining a statement made by Fortescue himself in the 
 £>e Laudibus'^, that no one could be made a sergeant-at- 
 law till he had studied the law for sixteen years, with 
 the fact that Fortescue became a sergeant in 1439 or 1430, 
 places his birth about the middle of the last decade of the 
 fourteenth century^. Mr. Foss on similar grounds places 
 it ' about the close of the fourteenth century *.' His father, 
 
 > Const. Hist, iii. 286. which seem to conflict with the 
 
 ^ c. 50. passage in the De Laudibus. In 
 
 ^ Family History, 2nd ed., p. j i. i. c. 45 Fortescue says, speaking of 
 
 * Judges of England, iv. 309. the laws of England, ' quarum 
 
 Unfortunately there are passages peritiam studentes vix viginti an- 
 
 in the De Naiura Legis Natures norum lucubrationibus adeo ad- 
 
31nttonuction» 
 
 41 
 
 Sir John Fortcscue, the second son of William Fortescue 
 of Wimstone, Devon, fought at Agincourt under Henry V, 
 and was made Governor of Meaux, the capital of La Brie, 
 upon its capture in 1423. He seems to have died about 
 1435^. He had by his wife, who was the heiress of the 
 family of Norreis, three sons. Sir Henry Fortescue, the 
 eldest, was for a short time (June 1436-November 1437) 
 Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in Ireland^ ; the 
 second, Sir John Fortescue, is the subject of the present 
 piemoir ; the youngest, Sir Richard Fortescue, was killed 
 at the first battle of St. Alban's in 1455, fighting on the 
 Lancastrian side^. According to Tanner, the future Chief 
 Justice of England was educated at Exeter College, 
 Oxford. He certainly was a member of Lincoln's Inn, Governor 
 of which institution he was made a Governor in 1425, "oin'Tinn 
 1426, and 1439*- Fortescue's description of the mode 
 of life and study in the Inns of Court^ has been so 
 frequently quoted that I willingly refrain from repeating 
 it here. It is tinged, like the whole of the work from 
 which it is taken, with a very rosy colour. 
 
 Equally well known is the description of the ceremony Sergeant- 
 of making a sergeant-at-law", a degree which Fortescue ^ ' ^^' 
 
 quirunt ut ad infimum gradum in far as 1385. If, on the other hand, 
 
 legibus illis . . . eUgi mereantur ; ' the forty years of s.tudy and prac- 
 
 Works, p. 108. The 'infimus tice include the nineteen years of 
 
 ^adus ' must be that of appren- Fortescue's judgeship, he cannot 
 
 tice-at-law, and would of course have been bom earlier than 1400. 
 
 precede that of sergeant-at-law, And this of the two is the more 
 
 (On Apprentices, see Foss, u. s. probable date. 
 
 p. 24.) Again, in ii. c. 10 he says : ^ Family History, p. 45. 
 
 • Haec satis novit scriptor horum, ' lb. 44. 
 
 qui plusquam quadraginta annis ' lb. 235. 
 
 studuit ac se exercuit in Legibus * lb. 51. 
 
 Regni illius, et tandem Judiciario ^ De Laudibus, c. 49. 
 
 officio ejusdem terrae suppremo ° De Laudibus, c. 50. The dress 
 
 diu functus est ; ' Works, pp. 124- which Fortescue describes seems 
 
 5. If by this Fortescue means not to have been peculiar to ser- 
 
 that he had studied and practised geants-at-law,but common to them 
 
 the EngUsh law for over forty years with other sergeants. The ser- 
 
 before his elevation to the bench geants of the Counting-house were 
 
 in Jan. 1442 (and such certainly to wear ' hoodes furred with whyte 
 
 seems to be implied by the use of lambe and a coyfe of sylk, whyte ;' 
 
 the word tandem), his- birth would Ordinances, p. 65. 
 
 have to be thrown back at least as 
 
42 3Introtiuction. 
 
 took, as we have seen, in 1429 or 1430^- ^^ ^^^ ^" 
 extremely costly process 2, but it had its compensation in 
 the increased amount of practice which it brought. This 
 seems to have held good in Fortescue's own case. It is 
 only after he became a sergeant that his name begins 
 to appear in the Year Books 3- As a barrister he seems 
 to have gone the Western circuit, which would perhaps 
 be the natural one for a Devonshire man to choose. At 
 least in the De Laudtdus* he mentions having been present 
 on two occasions at the gaol delivery at Salisbury, on 
 the first of which a woman was condemned to be burnt 
 for the murder of her husband, while on the second oc- 
 casion a servant of the murdered man confessed that he 
 alone had been guilty of the crime. The judge, who was 
 the same on both occasions, often declared to Fortescue 
 that he could never overcome the remorse which he felt for 
 the unjust condemnation of the woman. Fortescue charac- 
 teristically uses the incident to prove that 'the law's delays' 
 are not always prejudicial to the cause of justice. 
 Marriage. He married before September, 1436^, Isabella or Eliza- 
 beth", heiress of John Jamyss, Esquire, of Philip's Norton, 
 near Bath, where in 1441 he acquired certain lands 
 and messuages by grant of the prior and convent of 
 Hinton-Charterhouse to him and his wife and the heirs 
 
 ' The former is the date given ^ In the deed just mentioned, 
 by Mr. Foss, u. s. p. 309, the latter and also in that to be cited in the 
 by Lord Clermont ; u. s. p. 52. next note, Fortescue's wife is called 
 ^ The expense had perhaps Isabella. But she is called Eliza- 
 something to do with the unwil- beth in the letters of fraternity 
 lingness of apprentices to take the granted to her and her husband 
 degree of sergeant. Cf. the oft- by Christ Church, Canterbury, in 
 quoted case. Rot. Pari. iv. 107 b, 1447 ; below, p. 48. The two 
 where certain apprentices were names were used as identical in 
 summoned before Parliament be- the Middle Ages. This may have 
 cause they had not obeyed the helped to cause the mistake (which 
 King's writ to that effect. Mr. Foss has not escaped) of con- 
 ' Foss, u. s. founding the wife of the Chief Jus- 
 * c. S3. tice with Elizabeth daughter of 
 ^ His wife is mentioned in a Sir Miles Stapleton, the second 
 deed of 14 Hen. VI, cited in the wife of Sir John Fortescue of 
 Biogr. Brit. iii. 1986. This regnal Punsbourne; Family History, p. 
 year extended from Sept. i, 1435, 53. 
 to Aug. 31, 1436. 
 
Sinttoliuction. 43 
 
 male of their bodies for ever, for a reserved rent of 
 one mark annually. As one of these tenements was Property. 
 then occupied by his wife's mother, it may perhaps be 
 conjectured that this was merely a re-grant to Fortescue 
 and his wife of lands formerly held by the father of the 
 latter. The grant was confirmed by the crown in 1443 ^ 
 He had previously acquired part of his father's property 
 in Devonshire by grant of his elder brother Henry in 
 1435-6^- In October, 1453, he acquired the manor of 
 Geddynghalle and other lands in Suffolk^. In 1456 he 
 purchased the reversion of the manor of Ebrington, in 
 Gloucestershire, of Sir Robert Corbet for .£"151. He had 
 not come into possession of this estate at the time of his 
 attainder in November, 1461 *. He had also before that date 
 
 ^ This confirmation embodying of Ebrington to John Grevill, Esq., 
 
 the original grant is printed in full and his wife Jocosa for their lives, 
 
 by Lord Clermont, u. s., pp. 102-3. with remainder to Guy Corbet, of 
 
 ^ lb. 50, note 3. Of these the county of Suffolk, and his heirs, 
 
 lands Fortescue divested himself John Grevill was dead, but his wife 
 
 in favour of his son, soon after the was still alive. By the death of 
 
 marriage of the latter in 1454. Guy Corbet the right of rever- 
 
 ^ Rot. Claus. 31 Hen. VI, memb. sion descended to Sir Robert Cor- 
 
 32, dorse. This purchase was made bet, his son and heir, who had by 
 
 from the same person. Sir Robert a fine levied before Prisot and 
 
 Corbet, and vested in the same other Justices on the morrow of the 
 
 body of feoffees as the reversion Purification, 34 Hen. VI, i.e. Feb. 
 
 of the manor of Ebrington to be 3, 1456, granted it to John For- 
 
 mentioned next. This was pro- tescue, Kt., and the co-feoffees 
 
 bably the same Sir Robert Corbet mentioned above ; the grant be- 
 
 whose son married Fortescue's ing, as the jury affirmed, to the 
 
 daughter Maud in 1455, but after- use of the said John P'ortescue. 
 
 wards deserted her; Family His- On June 28, 1468, Edward IV 
 
 tory, p. 54. granted to John Lord Wenlok 
 
 * In Rot. Claus. 35 Hen. VI. certain lands which had belonged 
 
 memb. 9, dorso, there is a release to Fortescue in the counties of 
 
 in Latin by Sir Robert Corbet of Middlesex, Hertford (not Here- 
 
 the reversion of the manor of ford, as stated in Cal. Rot. Pat. 
 
 Ebrington to John Fortescue and p. 314 a), Somerset, and Wilts, 
 
 certain co-feoffees, dated the Feast and the reversion of the manor of 
 
 of St. Margaret, 34 Hen.' VI, i.e. Ebrington after the death of Jocosa 
 
 July 20, 1456. This document Grevill (not the manor itself, as 
 
 is evidently alluded to in one given stated in Cal. Rot. Pat. u. s.) ; 
 
 by Lord Clermont from Campbell's Rot. Pat. 8 Edw. IV. Pat. i. memb. 
 
 Chancellors, i. 373, and dated Dec. 4. I cannot therefore understand 
 
 5, 35 Hen. VI, i.e. 1456. The in- the statement in Atkyns' Glouces- 
 
 quisition taken at Cirencester Nov. tershire, p. 425 (copied by Rudder, 
 
 4, 1467 (Inq. p. m. 7 Edw. IV, No. p. 434, and Lord Clermont, p. 59), 
 
 50), records the grant of the manor for which no authority is given^ 
 
44 
 
 3IntrpDiietiqn» 
 
 Life as a 
 barrister. 
 
 become possessed of property in Wilts, Herts, and Mid- 
 dlesex^. In May, 1457, in conjunction with his son Martin 
 and the latter's wife Elizabeth, he acquired land at Efford, 
 in the parish of Holbeton, in Devonshire^. So that at 
 the time of his attainder Fortescue must hav^ been a 
 considerable landowner. 
 
 If we may transfer to the case of Fortescue what we 
 learn from the Paston Correspondence as to the mode of 
 life of a barrister in those days, we may ipiagine him 
 during this period of his life residing on one of his 
 country estates, perhaps at Philip's Norton, going up to 
 town for the law-terms^, where he may have had chambers 
 in Lincoln's Inn^, and receiving perhaps, as opportunity 
 
 that in 7 Edw. IV the manor of 
 Ebrington was granted to Sir John 
 Burg or Brug, who died seised of 
 it in II Edw. IV. The lands in 
 Somerset would be Fortescue's 
 wife's estate at Philip's Norton. 
 How or when the property in 
 Herts, Wilts, and Middlesex was 
 acquired I do not know. 
 
 ' See last note. The inquisition 
 taken before the Escheator of 
 Wilts (Inq. p. m., u. s.) is printed 
 by Lord Clermont; u. s., p. 105. 
 It mentions lands &c. at Kings- 
 ton Deverill, Trowbridge, HilperT 
 ton, and Bradford-on-Avon. In 
 Rot. Pat. 5 Edw. IV. Pat. i. memb. 
 9, there is a grant dated April 20, 
 1464, of certain lands late belong- 
 ing to Sir John Fortescue at Great 
 Linford, Bucks. But from Rot. 
 Claus. 33 Hen. VI. memb. 15, 
 dorso; lb. memb. 21, dorso, it is 
 clear that this was a trust estate, 
 and did not belong to Fortescue 
 himself. Other instances in which 
 I have found Fortescue's name 
 as trustee or co-feoffee are Rot. 
 Clause, 7 Hen. VI. memb. 6, 
 dorso ; ib. 13 Hen. VI. memb. 
 12, dorso ; ib. 24 Hen. VI. memb. 
 20, dorso ; ib. 38 Hen. IV. memb.g, 
 dorso ; ib. 2 Edw. IV. memb. 21, 
 dorso. (The document, though 
 enrolled in 1462, is dated June 8, 
 
 1449.) On May 20, 1457, Fortes- 
 cue and Thomas Yong, as execu- 
 tors of the will of John Burton, 
 late of Bristol, merchant, obtained 
 licence to endow a chantry at the 
 altar of St. John the Ba,ptist in the 
 church of St. Thomas the Martyr 
 in Bristol, with lands &c. held of 
 the king in free burgage in Bris- 
 tol. The inquisition ad quod dam- 
 num was taken on the Monday 
 before St, Gregory the Martyr, 38 
 Hen. VI ; Inq. a. q. d. 38 Hen, 
 VI, No. 7. In Oct. 1441 Fortes- 
 cue had become a co-feoffee of 
 John Burton in certain lands &c. 
 in Bristol ; Rot. Claus. 20 Hen. 
 VI. memb. 20, dorso. Another 
 instance in which we find Fortes- 
 cue acting as executor of a, will is 
 in Inq. a. q. d. 36 Hen. VI, No. i . 
 
 ^ Rot. Claus. 35 Hen.VI. memb. 
 9, dorso. 
 
 ' Unless the law-courts hap- 
 pened to be suspended on account 
 of the plague, as was the case in 
 Michaelmas Term, 1434 ; P. P. C. 
 iv. 282. 
 
 * John Paston resided during 
 term time in the Inner Temple, 
 which in Paston Letters (i. 41) is 
 called 'your college the Inner 
 Temple.' Perhaps after Fortescue 
 became a. sergeant, and almost 
 certainly after he became a judge 
 
3!ntroliuction, 
 
 46 
 
 offered, supplies of provisions from his wife in the country ^ 
 And when the chief industry of the country was agri- 
 culture, everything had to give way to the exigencies 
 of harvest. The legal and academical long vacations, the 
 parliamentary recess^ all owed their origin to this con- 
 sideration ^- 
 
 In 1440 and 1441 Fortescue acted as Judge of Assize Fortescue 
 on the Norfolk circuit, and in Easter Term, 1441, he was^^sf^g"^ 
 appointed a King's Sergeant ^- 
 
 In January, 144a, he was made, without any intermediate 
 
 in 1442, he would have chambers 
 in Sergeants' Inn. Mr. Foss is of 
 opinion that the judges and ser- 
 geants first had an inn in common 
 about 1 440- 1 ; u. s. p. 247. 
 
 ' ' I have do purveyed in this 
 wareyn xj^^ rabets and sent up 
 be the berer herof;' Margaret 
 Paston to her husband, ii. 21. 
 See Chap. xv. below, and the 
 notes thereto. 
 
 2 See S. C. H. i. 379. Cf. Paston 
 Letters, i. 399 : ' I suppose lemed 
 men (i. e. counsel) wyll not be 
 easy for to gete be cause of this 
 besy time of hervest ; ' cf. ib. 243. 
 In Aug. 1433 the king prorogued 
 Parliament because autumn was 
 approaching, ' in quo Magnatibus 
 circa suos Recreationes et De- 
 ductus, ipsisque Communibus 
 circa suarum messium congrega- 
 tionem intendere competebat si- 
 militer ; ' Rot. Pari. iv. 420 b, (and 
 so frequently). For the effect of 
 the harvest on the meetings of 
 the Privy Council, see notes to 
 Chap. XV. A glance at the Syl- 
 labus to Rymer's Fcedera will show 
 that the documents dated during 
 the long vacation are very sparse.. 
 
 ' On Sergeants - at - law and 
 King's Sergeants, cf. Foss, iii. 46- 
 8 ; iv. 21-2, 195-8, 240-4. Coke 
 says that in a general sense all 
 Sergeants are King's Sergeants, 
 as being called by the king's writ, 
 and at first perhaps all Sergeants 
 were called King's Sergeants. 
 But at this time certainly there 
 
 were King's Sergeants who re- 
 ceived their offices by patent. 
 One of their duties was to assist 
 poor suitors to the Council, which 
 they were bound to do gratui- 
 tously ; P. P. C. iii. 150, 217; iv. 
 63. They might also, like the 
 judges, be summoned when the 
 Council required advice on legal 
 points ; ib. iii. 117; v. 35, 44 ; cf. 
 77. They might similarly be 
 called upon to assist the triers 
 of petitions in Parliament ; Rot. 
 Pari. iii. 455 a, and passim. In 
 one case we find a petition re- 
 ferred to them for consideration, 
 and the matter adjourned to the 
 next Parliament ; ib. iv. 17 b; cf. 
 V. 42 a, where the Lords, by the 
 advice of the King's Sergeants, 
 made an unauthorized addition to 
 the answer to a petition in Parlia- 
 ment. The decision of the Lords 
 in the case of Thorpe was com- 
 municated to the Commons by 
 one of the King's Sergeants, ' for 
 as moche as tii'ey were materes 
 in lawe ; ' ib. 240 a. The Duke 
 of York's claim to the throne in 
 1460 was referred to the King's 
 Sergeants and Attorney, who tried 
 to excuse themselves, but were 
 told by the Lords, 'that they 
 myght not so be excused, for they 
 were the kyiiges particuler coun- 
 seillers, and therefore they had 
 their fees and wages ; ' ib. 376. 
 In one case we find a King's 
 Sergeant appointed 'hac vice 
 tantum ; ' Cal. Rot. Pat. p. 296 a. 
 
46 
 
 3fntrotiuction, 
 
 Chief Jus- 
 tice of the 
 King's 
 Bench. 
 
 Sits on a 
 special 
 commis- 
 sion in 
 Norfolk. 
 
 Step, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, in succession to 
 Sir John Hody, with a salary of ;£'i30 and allowances of 
 £8 13J. 6d. for robes at Christmas and Whitsuntide. In 
 February, 144a, and May, 1443, he received grants of an 
 annual tun of wine. In March, 1447, he received an 
 annual addition of Ao to his salary^- Sometime after 
 his appointment as Chief Justice, and before May, i443. 
 he was knighted^. 
 
 In October, 1443, he was required to certify the King's 
 Council of the tenor of certain indictments brought ma- 
 liciously, as was alleged, against Robert Wells, abbot ' of 
 Tourhille beside London,' and others^. About the same 
 time he and the other Judges of the King's Bench were 
 ordered to 'committe to bailie' 140 of the adherents of 
 Sir William Boneville*. Early in 1443 he was sent with 
 others on a special commission into Norfolk with refer- 
 ence to disturbances which had broken out in Norwich, 
 in consequence of the attempt of the Prior of Christchurch, 
 Norwich, to impose certain new ecclesiastical dues*- On 
 March 4th, 1443, a special letter of thanks for ' his grete 
 laboures' was ordered by the council to be sent to him 
 in the king's name^. On the 14th he and the Chief Justice 
 of the Common Pleas were ordered to send to the council 
 ' the names of indifferent persones suche [as] may be 
 maade justices of the pees and sherriefs,' in Norfolk^. On 
 the 33rd, he and his colleague Westbury attended .the 
 meeting of the Privy Council and ' declareden alle theire 
 
 ' The patents of Fortescue's 
 appointments and grants are 
 printed in full by Lord Clermont ; 
 u. s. pp. 103-4. In the Resump- 
 tion Act of 1455 exception was 
 made in favour of 'the Graunte 
 .... to John Fortescu Knyght, 
 of II Tunne of Wyne to be taken 
 yerely in the Porte of London for 
 terme of his lif ; ' Rot. Pari, v, 
 317 a. According to the Liber 
 Niger the Chief Justice of the 
 Common Pleas received two tuns 
 of wine regularly in return for the 
 legal assistance which he gave to 
 
 the royal household, of which he 
 was reckoned ' a grete membre ; ' 
 Ordinances, &c., p. 29. 
 
 ^ I find him mentioned as Sir 
 John Fortescue first on May 8, 
 1443 ; P. P. C. v. 268. He seems 
 not to have been a knight on Oct. 
 II, 1442 ; ib. 215. Some inter- 
 vening notices of him in the 
 records of the Privy Council are 
 inconclusive on the point. 
 
 * Ib. 215. 
 
 * Ib.22I. 
 
 ' Ib. cxxiii ff. 
 
 " Ib. 231-2. ' lb. 243. 
 
3|ntrotiuction, 47 
 
 demenyng at Norwiche and in Norffolke^' Fortescue 
 was present in the council on April 3rd and May 3rd, 
 1443^) and on May 8th the council ordered a warrant 
 to be made out for the payment of fifty marks to him 
 for his labours and expenses in Norfolk ^ Two days In York- 
 later the two Chief Justices were summoned to the^*^''*' 
 council with reference to certain riotous attacks which 
 had been made on Cardinal Kemp's estates in York- 
 shire*, arising out of the manner in which he had exer- 
 cised his spiritual jurisdiction as Archbishop of York ; 
 they were ordered to make their report to the council 
 on the following day*. This they did in the presence of 
 a very full meeting of the council and of ' alle the remenant 
 of the Juges^.' In consequence of their advice Lords 
 Dorset and Willoughby and the two Chief Justices them- 
 selves were a week later ' assigned to go and sitte in 
 Yorkshire upon an oier and terminer''.' On July nth 
 Fortescue again attended the council, perhaps with 
 reference to the termination of this matter*. 
 
 In January, 1444, we learn that Fortescue had for some ill of 
 time been suffering from sciatica, and his colleague William ^"^'^ "^^' 
 Paston being also unwell, the assizes at East Grinstead had • 
 to ' discontynue ptier noun ventce dez Justices'^' In the Trier of 
 Parliament of February, 1445, Fortescue was appointed one ParUa"^ '" 
 of the triers of petitions ; and was reappointed in every ment. 
 subsequent Parliament up to that of 1455 inclusive i". The Refases to 
 next fact that we learn about Fortescue is his refusal prisoned 
 to obey the king's command to deliver out of Walling- 
 
 ' P. P. C. V. 247-9. Lord Clermont does ; u. s. p. 56. 
 ^ lb. 256, 266. He merely attended in his capa- 
 ' lb. 268. city as Judge to give legal advice 
 * Writs to the Sheriff and to the Council ; cf. Chap. xv. 
 Keepers of the Peace in York- below, and the notes thereto, 
 shire, dated May 12, are in ° Paston Letters, i. 50. 
 Rymer, xi. 27-8. '" See the Rolls of Parliament 
 ^ P. P. C. V. 269. during those years. Fortescue's 
 ' lb. 270-1. Summonses to Parliament may be 
 ' lb. 273. found in the Lords' Report, i. 
 ' lb. 304. These attendances at App. i. Part ii. 909, 914, 919, 924, 
 the Privy Council do not, I think, 928, 933, 937, 942, 946. They ex- 
 warrant us in speaking of For- tend from 1445 to 1460, 
 tescue as a Privy Councillor, as 
 
48 
 
 3fntrotiuctiort, 
 
 ford Castle a prisoner named Thomas Kerver, who had 
 been found guilty of high treason; the ground, of his 
 refusal being that what was demanded of him exceeded 
 his powers. We know too little of the circumstances of 
 the case to pass a judgement on Fortescue's conduct in 
 the matter. But the evident desire of the king that the 
 fact of the pardon should be kept secret is calculated to 
 awaken suspicion i. In the same year Fortescue and his 
 wife received the privileges of fraternity from the convent 
 of Christ Church, Canterbury 2. In 1447-8 he was con- 
 cerned as arbitrator with the Chancellor and Chief Justice 
 
 ^ Excerpta Historica, pp. 390, 
 280. 
 
 " Archiv. Ecclesie X^i Cantuar. 
 Reg. S. fol. 172 a : ' Littera fra- 
 ternitatis Johannis Fortescu Capi- 
 talis Justiciarii Dfii Regis ad 
 placita coram Rege et Dne Eliza- 
 bethe uxoris ejus.' I owe my 
 knowledge of the existence of this 
 document to Dr. Sheppard's re- 
 port on the Canterbury MSS. in 
 the appendix to the ninth volume 
 of the Historical Manuscripts' 
 Commission, while for a transcript 
 of it I am indebted to Dr. Shep- 
 pard's liberality through the kind 
 mediation of the Rev. Professor 
 Rawlinson, Canon of Canterbury. 
 After an exordium on the efficacy 
 of prayer, which Dr. Sheppard 
 informs me is common with slight 
 variations to all the Canterbury 
 letters of confraternity, the do- 
 cument proceeds as follows : ' ea 
 propter tam salutaribus moni- 
 tis pia ac sincera devocione pen- 
 satis devoti ac supplices in X9. 
 hujusmodi carismatum emulatores 
 magnifice nobilitatis vir et miles 
 egregius Dns. Johannes Fortescu 
 Capitalis Justiciarius Dili. Regis 
 ad placita coram ipso Dno. Rege, 
 vir equidem Justus quern omnes 
 diserti justum discernunt obse- 
 quuntur venerantur et diligunt, 
 cum et omnibus velit prodesse 
 sed obesse nuUi, nemini nocens 
 sed nocentes prohibens, ac eciam 
 
 devotissima domina, Domina 
 Elizabet conthoralis ejusdem ma- 
 trimoniali sibi federe copulata, 
 propter Deum et singularem de- 
 vocionem quam habent et diucius 
 habuisse dinoscuntur ad perincli- 
 tum et preciosum martyrem, Bea- 
 tum Thomam, cujus corpus in 
 dicta sacrosancta ecclesia jacet 
 tumulatum, nobis humillime sup' 
 plicaverunt quatinus ipsos nostris 
 oracionibus ceterisque piis meri- 
 torum operibus communicato suf- 
 fragio misericordissime uniremus. 
 Unde devotis eorum precibus 
 unanimiter inclinati, ac in Xpi 
 gratia ejusque sanctissimg matris 
 et Virginis Marie, Beati Thome 
 Martyris gloriosi ceterorumque 
 prefate ecclesie patronorum me- 
 ntis patrociniisque confisi, pro 
 immensis beneficiis nobis et ec- 
 clesie nostre predicte hactenus iiSi- 
 pensis ipsos Dominum Fortescu et 
 Dominam Elizabet conjugem suam 
 ad plenum perpetue fratemitatis 
 nostre consorcium .... admitti- 
 
 mus .... perpresentes Dat. 
 
 in domo nostro Capitulari — die 
 Mensis Octobris Anno Domini 
 Millesimo cccc™" XLVII™".' The 
 character given of Fortescue is 
 of great interest. The 'immense 
 benefits ' which he had conferred 
 upon the monastery may have 
 been in the way of legal advice 
 and assistance. 
 
3lntrotiuction, 49 
 
 of the Common Pleas in a dispute which had arisen 
 
 between the Cathedral and Corporation of Exeter as to 
 
 their relative jurisdictions. Fortescue seems to have 
 
 shown himself very friendly to the city, the capital of 
 
 his native shire ^. 
 
 In 1450 Fortescue was brought by his official position Fortescue's 
 
 into connexion with the trial of the Duke of Suffolk. The '=°?u^i'°° 
 
 with the 
 
 Duke having admitted the existence of injurious reports trial of 
 against him ' alraoost in every Commons mouth,' the Com- " ° ' 
 mons petitioned the King that he might be committed to 
 ward. This was on the 26th of January. The following 
 day the Lords consulted the judges as to whether common 
 rumour was a legal ground of commitment. Fortescue in 
 the name of his colleagues drew a distinction between mis- 
 prisions and trespasses on the one hand, and felonies and 
 treasons on the other. In the case of the former rumour 
 was not a sufficient ground of commitment ; implying ap- 
 parently that in the case of the latter it was. Upon this 
 the Lords resolved almost unanimously that, as no definite 
 charge had been made, Suffolk should not be arrested. 
 The next day the definite charges followed, and Suffolk 
 was sent to the Tower. On Saturday, March 14, Fortescue 
 was sent by the King to ask the Lords what advice they 
 would give the King in the matter. The Lords deferred 
 their answer till the following Monday, when nothing was 
 done; and on Tuesday the 17th took place that un- 
 constitutional arrangement which has been already com- 
 mented upon ^. In the Resumption Act which was passed 
 this year Fortescue is twice specially exempted from its 
 operation^. 
 
 From a letter written Aug. 19, 1450, we learn that Fortescue 
 Fortescue and all the judges were then out of town, with lpecm\ 
 the exception of Danvers who had just been raised to the ^P^^^^' 
 bench, and that Fortescue had accompanied the Lord Kent. 
 Chancellor and the Duke of Buckingham, who had been 
 
 ' See Letters of John Shilling- preface ; cf. Family History, pp. 
 ford, Mayor of Exeter (Camd. 57-9. 
 
 See), esp. pp. 9, 37. A sketch of ^ Above, pp. lo-i ; Rot. Pari. v. 
 the controversy is given in the 176, 182-3. ' lb. 187 b, 199 a. 
 
 E 
 
50 31ntrorjuctfon, 
 
 sent into Kent to hold a special commission of oyer and 
 terminer on those who had been concerned in the rising of 
 In danger Cade^- On June %, 1451, another correspondent writes 
 of assault. ^^^^ Fortescue had been expecting every night for a week to 
 have been assaulted in his house, but nothing had come of it ; 
 ' the more pity ' adds the unfeeling writer ^. Mr. Gairdner 
 thinks that this was 'probably for no other reason than 
 his high impartiality^.' Lord Clermont attributes the 
 animus of the writer to Yorkist sympathies*, and we 
 must attribute the threatened assaults to the same cause. 
 Whatever may have been Fortescue's impartiality in purely 
 legal matters, and there is no reason to doubt it, it is 
 .certain that in politics he was, as he himself confesses, ' a 
 He shares ^partial man V or, as we might say, a party-man. And there 
 puk'ri'ty°of '^ conclusive evidence that about this time he had unfor- 
 the Court tunately identified himself so closely with the party of 
 Suffolk and Somerset, as to become involved, whether 
 justly or unjustly, in their unpopularity. In the pro- 
 clamation issued by Cade in the name of the Commons 
 of Kent at the time of their rising the King is requested 
 to send ' some trew Justyce wyth certeyn trew lords and 
 knyghts ' into Kent, to enquire of all ' traytors and brybors.' 
 And it is added : ' to syt upon this enqwerye we refuse 
 no juge except iij chefe juges, the which ben fals to beleve^.' 
 
 ^ Paston Letters, i. 139. The imply that Fortescue had at this 
 sentence is obscurely worded, but time a private house in London ? 
 the above seems to be the sense We have seen that he had pro- 
 of it. ' The Chief Justice is not perty in Middlesex ; above, p. 44. 
 here, ne noon other Justice, except ' lb. Ivii. 
 Danvers is now made Juge of the * u. s. p. 59. 
 Comune Place, and is forth into ° Works, p. 532. 
 Kent with the Lords.' The words « Three Fifteenth Century 
 ' IS forth ' &c. must, I think, refer Chronicles, p. 98. The other 
 to Fortescue. Mr. Gairdner has two ' Chief Judges ' were Sir John 
 here copied a strange mis-state- Prisot, Chief Justice of the Com- 
 ment of Fenn's that Hody was at mon Pleas, and Peter Arderne 
 this time Chief Justice. We have Chief Baron of the Exchequer' 
 seen that Fortescue succeeded The fact that Prisot was, with the 
 H$%l^"=^^'y?f J^™a/yi442. exception of Fortescue, the only 
 1 he Chief Yistice hath waited one of Henry VI's judges who 
 to ben assauted all this sevenyght was not re-appointed on the ac- 
 nyghtly m hes house, but nothing cession of Edward IV, seems to 
 come as yett, the more pile;' ib. confirm the idea that he was a 
 1 85-6. Uo the words hes house ' strong Lancastrianpartizan. What 
 
3[titroliuction. 51 
 
 In the satirical dirge upon the death of Suffolk composed 
 about the same time Fortescue is introduced along with 
 others of the court party as taking part in this parody 
 of a funeral service ^ And his name occurs again in a 
 list of unpopular persons indicted before the Chancellor 
 (Kemp) and the Duke of Buckingham in August, 1451^- 
 
 In February, 1454, the Lords consulted the judges with Consulted 
 reference to the case of Thorpe. The answer given by l'^J^°'^'''^ 
 Fortescue in the name of all his colleagues is well known. 
 They refused to say anything which could be construed 
 as a claim on their part to determine the privileges of 
 Parliament, but they stated what the custom had been 
 in previous cases ^. 
 
 In May of the following year took place the first battle Death of 
 of St. Alban's, in which, as we have seen, Fortescue's younger brofhe™^^'^ 
 brother Sir Richard Fortescue was killed *, an event which 
 is not likely to have made him more favourably inclined 
 towards the Yorkists. In June we hear that Sir William 
 Oldhall the well-known Yorkist, who had been attainted in 
 Parliament in June 1453, ^^.s waiting in sanctuary for the 
 return of Fortescue to London, in order that he might sue 
 in the King's Bench for the reversal of his outlawry. This 
 he succeeded in effecting a few days later ^. 
 
 In February, 1456, we find a dispute between Sir Philip 
 
 Arderne had done to make him- ' Rot. Pari. v. 239 b. On the 
 
 self unpopular I do not know. question of privilege involved in 
 
 ^ ' Beaius qui inielUgit and Thorpe's case, cf. S.C.H.iii. 491-2 ; 
 
 dredit also, Rogers, Gascoigne, p. xxxvi ; Hat- 
 
 Seyth John Fortescw, all this sell's Precedents, i. 28-35. Ac- 
 
 fals treson.' cording to the precedents laid 
 
 Three Fifteenth Cent. Chron., p. down by Fortescue, it. would seem 
 
 102. In the shorter version of that the imprisonment of Thorpe 
 
 the same song printed by Mr. was not a breach of privilege, and 
 
 Wright, Political Songs, ii. 232 such is Mr. Rogers' opinion. But 
 
 ff., the name of Fortescue does not even on the most unfavourable 
 
 occur. view the breach was trifling com- 
 
 ^ This list is printed by Mr. pared with that of which the other 
 
 Wright, Political Songs, II. Ivi. f. side had been guilty in the case of 
 
 It is worth while to compare it Young, for Thorpe's imprison- 
 
 with the song quoted in the last ment did not arise, as Young's did, 
 
 note. Very many of the names out of his conduct in Parliament, 
 
 are the same in both. This list is ' SeeStowe,p. 399b; above, p.41. 
 
 dated August, 29 Hen. VI., i. e. ° Paston Letters, i. 336 ; cf. ib. 
 
 1451- 343-4. 
 
 E 3 
 
(Z 
 
 SIntcotiuctfon, 
 
 An arbitra- 
 tion case 
 submitted 
 to Mm, 
 
 Summoned 
 to advise 
 the coun- 
 cil. 
 
 Pacifica- 
 tion of 
 1458. 
 
 Parliament 
 of Coven- 
 try. 
 
 Fortescue's 
 activity. 
 
 Wentworth and Sir John Fastolf which had been sub- 
 mitted to arbitration referred by the arbitrators, by an 
 arrangement not uncommon in those days, to the extra- 
 judicial decision of Fortescue and Yelverton^- It would 
 seem from a later notice that Fortescue brought the matter 
 before the House of Lords 2- In March, 1456, the judges 
 were summoned to advise the council in regard to a 
 difficulty which had arisen about the sheriffdom of Lin- 
 colnshire. Fortescue and Prisot for the rest declared, that 
 the King had done wrong in appointing as Sheriff any but 
 one of the three who had been nominated in the Exchequer 
 in accordance with the Statute, and that any one thus 
 illegally appointed could not be punished for refusing to 
 serve. They advised comphance with the terms of the 
 Statute, at once if possible, but at any rate at the next 
 appointment of Sheriffs^. In May, John Paston was in- 
 formed by a correspondent that some legal business of Sir 
 John Fastolf s could not be proceeded with because For- 
 tescue and almost all the judges were engaged at the 
 Guildhall*. 
 
 The terms of the peace which Henry in 1458 succeeded 
 in patching up between the Lancastrians and Yorkists are 
 said in the document itself to have been drawn up after 
 consultation with the judges among other persons °. We 
 may therefore safely assume that Fortescue, both as the 
 chief of the judges, and also as a prominent Lancastrian, 
 was one of those who were consulted. 
 
 The next year, after the dispersal of the Yorkist Lords 
 at Ludlow, the Lancastrian Parliament was held at Coventry, 
 Nov. 1459. This was the first Parliament since 1445 in 
 which Fortescue was not a trier of petitions ; the reason 
 
 ' Paston Letters, i. 378. 
 
 * lb. 410. It is no doubt in 
 connexion with this matter that 
 we find in the accounts of John 
 Paston, who was Fastolfs counsel, 
 the following entry, ' For wine and 
 spice with Fortescu and Went- 
 worth, 23(/. ; ' ib. 434. 
 
 = P. P. C. vi. 331-2 ; cf. the 
 
 Statutes there cited. 
 
 * Paston Letters, i. 384. This 
 seenis to refer to the special com- 
 mission which sat to enquire into 
 an attack made upon Itahans 
 resident in London. Of this com- 
 mission Fortescue was a member ; 
 Fabyan, p. 630. 
 
 ° Whethamstede, i. 300. 
 
3Introriuction. 
 
 probably being that his services were required for more 
 important and less impartial work. For it seems clear 
 from two references in the Paston Letters that Fortescue 
 had a large share in drawing up the measures passed in 
 that Parliament against the defeated Yorkists i. He appears 
 to have been in high spirits at the success of his party, for 
 a letter written at Coventry during the parliament expressly 
 notes that 'the Chief Justice is right herty^.' 
 
 But the world, to use the contemporary expression, was 'A turning 
 soon to turn again ^ The Yorkist victory of Northampton ^°'^^*^'' 
 in July 1460 was followed by the Parliament of October in 
 which the Duke of York claimed the crown. On this The 
 claim the Lords on Saturday Oct. 1 8th desired the opinion confuUed 
 of the judges, but they on the following Monday utterly o" ^^e 
 refused to meddle in a matter so much beyond their York's" 
 competence *- On this Dr. Stubbs remarks, ' Although Sir '^^^'"'• 
 
 ' The clearest of these passages 
 is to be found at-i. 535 : ' A good 
 thrifty man of this cuntre . . told 
 me . . . that he herd Doctor 
 Aleyn seyn after the Parlement of 
 Coventre that yf the Lords that 
 tyme reynyng and now discessid 
 myte haf standyn in governans, 
 that Fortesku the justice. Doctor 
 Moreton, Jon Heydon, Thorp and 
 he, schuld be made for evir ; and 
 yf it turnyd to contrary wyse, it 
 schuld growe to her . . . uttyr 
 destruccyon; forwhy,theparlyows 
 writing and the myschevous in- 
 diting was ymaginid . . . by . . . 
 her most malicyows conspiracye 
 ayens the innocent lords, knytis, 
 gentilis, and Commonys, and alle 
 her issu perpetuel,' &c. Cf. ib. 
 522, a somewhat enigmatical pas- 
 sage, but to the same effect. 
 
 " lb. 499. In this Parliament 
 Fortescue was appointed one of a 
 new body of feoffees which the 
 king created and enfeoffed with 
 certain lands &c. for the carry- 
 ing out of his will. Sir John 
 Prisot was another ; and among 
 both the old and the new feoffees 
 are tnany of the names which occur 
 
 in the song on Suffolk's death, and 
 in the list of unpopular persons in- 
 dicted at Rochester; above, p. 51. 
 See the two lists of feoffees in 
 Rot. Pari. V. 70 b ; 355 b. The 
 rancour of Margaret at this time 
 is strikingly illustrated by a letter 
 of De Br6z6 to Charles VII dated 
 Feb. 24, 1460, in which it is said 
 that if the negotiations which she 
 was then carrying on with the 
 French court should become 
 known, her own party would com- 
 bine with her enemies to put her 
 to death. (Printed in Basin, iv. 
 358 ff.) In 1458, the year of the 
 pacification with York, Margaret 
 had been instigating Charles VII 
 to send French troops to invade 
 England; DeCoussy, ed. Buchon, 
 p. 209. On the political capital 
 made by the Yorkists out of the 
 French leanings of the court, cf 
 Basin, i. 296-7. 
 
 ' ' Res Anglicanae multis varie- 
 tatibus, prout nimis nota experien- 
 tia indies docet, subjectae sunt,' 
 says the Croyland Continuator 
 with reference to this very crisis ; 
 
 P- 549- 
 * Rot. Pari. v. 376 a. It is to be 
 
St 
 
 31ntrotiuction, 
 
 2 
 
 John Fortescue the Chief Justice afterwards wrote a treatise 
 
 on the subject, the judges were not now prepared to answer . 
 
 But it is very curious that the short tract now first printed 
 
 in its entirety from the thirty-fifth volume of the Yelverton 
 
 manuscripts, is placed in that volume after ' The title and 
 
 clayme of the crowne by Richard due of York^' and is 
 
 entitled 'The replicacion made agenste the title and clayme 
 
 by the Due of Yorke to the Crownes and Reaumes of 
 
 England and Fraunce.' The contents of the tract sufficiently 
 
 show that it was written at a later period, especially the 
 
 affecting allusion near the beginning to the author himself 
 
 as ' the olde knighte exiled.' Still the fact that the tract 
 
 is so placed, and so entitled, may perhaps be taken as 
 
 indicating that Fortescue wished it to be regarded as 
 
 embodying the reply which he would have made, if he 
 
 had been able to open his mouth on that occasion. 
 
 Was For- The fact however that there is no record of Fortescue's 
 
 lenUnX" having presided in the Court of King's Bench after Easter 
 
 Parliament Term 1460 * raises the question whether he may not have 
 
 ° ''^ ° withdrawn with Margaret of Anjou to Wales and the 
 
 North ^ after the battle of Northampton; in which case 
 
 noted that Fortescue is not here ^ Const. Hist. iii. 185. 
 
 mentioned as the spokesman of ^ Below, Appendix C. 
 
 the judges, as is generally the case ' This ' title and clayme ' is 
 
 when the judges are consulted in printed in Rot. Pari. v. 378, under 
 
 their corporate capacity either by the title ' Concordia facta inter 
 
 Parliament or the Council. It Regem etprefatumDucem.' It is 
 
 cannot therefore be positively printed also in Davies' Engl, 
 
 affirmed that he was present on Chron. pp. 100 ff. To it are 
 
 the occasion. He was however appended in all three places the 
 
 certainly summoned to this Parlia- awards by which Henry was to 
 
 ment ; Lords' Report, u. $., p. retain the crown during his life, 
 
 946. And the assertion of the and the oath taken by the Duke 
 
 judges that ' the mater was so high, to him. 
 
 and touched the Kyngs high * If I have rightly manipulated 
 
 estate and regalie, which is above the tables in Sir H. Nicolas' 
 
 the lawe and passed ther lernyng,' Chronology of History, pp. 386-7, 
 
 may be compared with Fortescue's Easter Term in 1460 began on 
 
 excuse in the 'Declaration upon April 30th, and ended on May 
 
 certain Writings ' that he had not 26th. 
 
 ' labored or studyed in any faculte ^ Margaret and the Prince were 
 
 except the lawes of this londe, in still in Wales in the middle of 
 
 which the studientes leme full October, 1460 ; Paston Letters, i. 
 
 lytell of the right of succession of 525-6. In Scotland they were 
 
 Kyngdomes ; ' Works, p. 532. received by the widowed queen 
 
3Introtiuctfon. 
 
 55 
 
 we may imagine him to have been present at the battle 
 of Wakefield and the second battle of St. Alban's \ as he 
 certainly was at the battle of Towton on March 29, 1461. 
 Sometime between the two last-named battles at the latest 
 Fortescue must have joined the forces of his royal master 
 and mistress. 
 
 With our knowledge of the event which, it has been said, The Lan- 
 deprives the study of history of so much of its interest cause^not 
 and value, we are inclined to regard the Lancastrian cause ^°P^^^^ 
 as finally lost after Towton. But that was by no means ton. 
 the contemporary view. The struggle was continued in 
 the North almost without intermission till 1464^, and the 
 Lancastrians, as we shall see, had the largest schemes on 
 foot. From the date of Towton moreover the fortunes and 
 movements of Sir John Fortescue become so closely con- 
 nected with those of the fallen royal family, that we must 
 endeavour to follow these as far as the scanty and often 
 
 in the Abbey of Lincluden, Jan. 
 1461. The visit lasted ten or 
 twelve days. The terms agreed 
 upon seem to have included the 
 marriage of Prince Edward to 
 Princess Margaret of Scotland, 
 and the surrender of Berwick; 
 Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, ed. 
 Burnett, VII. xxxv. In Basin, iv. 
 357-8, there is a bond dated York, 
 Jan. 20th, 1460 (O. S.), signed by 
 Exeter, Somerset, and other 
 Lancastrian lords in Margaret's 
 presence, in which they undertake 
 to induce Henry VI to consent to 
 the terms ' moeved and commoned 
 at the College of Lyncludan . . . 
 the v'« day of the saide moneth,' 
 whence it appears that they antici- 
 pated some diflSculty. The siege 
 of Roxburgh, in which James II 
 lost his life, had been undertaken 
 in the Lancastrian interest ; Exch. 
 Rolls, u. s., VI. Ixiii f., VII. xxxv. 
 In 1460, before the battle of North- 
 ampton, Somerset, then at Guisnes, 
 had offered to surrender that fort- 
 ress to Charles the Bold. This 
 was only prevented by the oppo- 
 sition of Philip the Good. There 
 
 seems to have been no English 
 interest which Margaret and her 
 party were not willing to betray 
 in order to establish their own 
 power. 
 
 ' This is however not very likely ; 
 for the Act of Attainder which 
 mentions the presence of Fortes- 
 cue at Towton and elsewhere, says 
 nothing of his having been at 
 Wakefield or St. Alban's. On the 
 whole I should surmise that Fortes- 
 cue joined the Lancastrian forces 
 when they began to withdraw to- 
 wards the North, after the attitude 
 of the citizens of London had made 
 it clear that they could not safely 
 attempt to enter the city ; on which 
 see Waurin, dd. Dupont. ii. 266. 
 Hardyng (ed. Ellis, p. 405) says 
 that Fortescue withdrew to the 
 North after St. Alban's, but he does 
 not say distinctly whether he was 
 present at the battle or not. 
 
 2 Cf. Gairdner, Three Fifteenth 
 Cent. Chron. p. xxiv. As early 
 as July 1463 there was a report 
 in France that Henry VI had 
 been restored ; Waurin, u. s. ii. 
 317-8, noU. 
 
S6 
 
 introduction* 
 
 The Lan- 
 castrians 
 retire 
 north- 
 wards. 
 
 contradictory notices of the chronicles and correspondence 
 of the time will permit. 
 
 After Towton the defeated Lancastrians retired north- 
 wards. A letter which reached London five days after the 
 battle states that Henry, Margaret, and their son Edward 
 with their adherents had fled to Scotland, but were being 
 pursued \ A fortnight later the news in London was that 
 Henry, and perhaps also Margaret, Edward, and the Duke 
 of Somerset, were besieged at a place the exact name of 
 which the writer confesses himself unable to give, and the 
 locality of which he has possibly mistaken, but which was 
 perhaps Carham, on the borders of England and Scotland^. 
 Agreement From this place, wherever it was, the royal fugitives must 
 have soon made their escape, for a week after the date of 
 this letter the agreement was signed whereby Berwick was 
 surrendered to the Scots, the Scots in return promising to 
 assist in an invasion of England in the Lancastrian interest^. 
 Accordingly, from another letter written about the begin- 
 ning of May we learn that Berwick was full of Scots, with 
 whom another battle was expected shortly*. Carlisle would 
 have shared the fate of Berwick only it was better defended ®. 
 We may trust that Fortescue had nothing to do with ad- 
 
 with the 
 Scots. 
 
 ^ Paston Letters, ii. 5. Accord- 
 ing to Waurin (ii. 289 f.), Ed- 
 ward remained eight days at York, 
 when it was agreed that as Henry 
 and Margaret were already out 
 of the kingdom, it was useless to 
 pursue them. 
 
 '' Paston Letters, ii. 7. ' I herd . . 
 that Herry the Sext is in a place 
 in York schire is calle Coroumbr ; 
 sucheanameithath,ormuche lyke. 
 And there is sege leyde abowte, 
 &c. . . . Sum say the Qwen, Somer- 
 set and the Prince schuld be there.' 
 Almost all the authorities seem 
 to represent the Lancastrians as 
 taking refuge in Scotland immedi- 
 ately after Towton. It seems there- 
 fore hardly likely that three weeks 
 after the battle they would be still 
 in Yorkshire. See especially 
 
 extent the account given in the 
 Paston Letters ; Liv. iv. ch. xxiv 
 (dd. Reiffenberg, iii. 119 f.). Cf. 
 Monstrelet, iir. f. 84 d. 
 
 ' This is from the Act of At- 
 tainder, Rot. Pari. V. 478 a. Hard- 
 yng (p. 406) speaks of Fortescue's 
 retirement into Scotland. 
 
 * Paston Letters, ii. 9. 
 
 ° Rot. Pari. V. 478 b. According 
 to Edward IV, Margaret had pro- 
 mised to give up seven 'sherif- 
 wicks ' of England to the Scots, 
 who with the French were to in- 
 vade the kingdom, of which her 
 uncle Charles of Anjou was to have 
 the 'governance;' Halli well's Let- 
 ters, i. 123-130. This is of course 
 an ex parte statement. Philip of 
 Burgundy tried to break oif the 
 alliance of the Scots with Mar"- 
 
 Waurin quoted in the last note. garet,butinvain;Waurin,ii 301-;- 
 Duclerq however confirms to some Monstrelet, u. s. ; Duclerq, u. s. 
 
3IntroDuction. 
 
 57 
 
 vising this disgraceful compact'. In the Act of Attainder, 
 Henry and others, among whom Fortescue is expressly 
 named, are charged with 'rearing war' against Edward IV 
 at Ryton and Brancepeth on June 36th, 1461 2. This may 
 have been an inroad assisted by the Scots in fulfilment of 
 the agreement of April a5th. It was probably about this Embassy 
 time' that Somerset, Lord Hungerford, aijd Sir Robert '° ^'^°''^' 
 Whitingham were sent to France to solicit aid for the Lan- 
 castrian cause. Their movements were disconcerted by the 
 death of Charles VII, which occurred on July 22nd, 1461 ; 
 and as the safe-conduct which Somerset held was made 
 out in a fictitious name, he was arrested and imprisoned *- 
 From a letter written by his colleagues on August 30th 
 we learn that they were detained in Normandy, but were 
 expecting to have an interview with the new king in a few 
 
 ' He is not named in the Act of 
 Attainder among those who ad- 
 vised the giving up of Berwick and 
 Carhsle ; though Hardyng (u. s.) 
 says that the surrender was made 
 ' by whole assent of his [Henry's] 
 simple counsaill.' 
 
 '' Rot. Pari. u. s. Lord Clermont 
 regards this fighting at Brancepeth 
 and Ryton as part of the skirmish- 
 ing done by the retiring Lancas- 
 trians on their retreat to the border. 
 I am inclined, for the reasons given 
 above, to regard it as marking a 
 new inroad. If this surmise is 
 correct, it diminishes very much 
 the period during which Fortescue 
 could have been appointed Chan- 
 cellor by Henry VI on Enghsh 
 soil. The only period during which 
 such an appointment could have 
 been legally effective was the short 
 interval between the battle of St. 
 Alban's on February 17, and the 
 proclamation of Edward IV on 
 March 4. Still Lord Clermont, 
 prolonging as he does the sojourn 
 of Henry VI on the English side 
 of the border till the end of June, 
 thinks that there was a period of 
 four months during which he was 
 master of at least a part of his 
 dominions, and during which his 
 
 appointment of a Chancellor would 
 not be altogether devoid of reality. 
 The question is not very import- 
 ant. Fortescue can never have 
 been Chancellor in any effective 
 sense. He cannot have had pos- 
 session of the great seal in Eng- 
 land. The seal which the Lan- 
 castrians used in exile must have 
 been fabricated later. On the 
 whole I am inclined to think that 
 Fortescue was only Chancellor ' in 
 partibus infidelium.' Selden's com- 
 parison of the case of Clarendon 
 under Charles II before the re- 
 storation is extremely apt. It is 
 some slight confirmation of this 
 view that in the De Naiurd Legis 
 Natura Fortescue, though as we 
 have seen he mentions the fact of 
 his having been Chief Justice, 
 never alludes to himself as Chan- 
 cellor, a claim which appears first 
 in the De Laudibus. Selden has 
 led Mr. Foss into error by assert- 
 ing that in the ' Declaration upon 
 certain Writings ' Fortescue is ad- 
 dressed as 'Chief Chancellor' of 
 the late king. The very phrase 
 should have awakened suspicion. 
 The true reading is ' Chief Coun- 
 celler;' Works, p. 523. 
 ' Chastellain, iv. 65-6. 
 
s8 3|nttoDuction. 
 
 days^ A month later the Lancastrian envoys were still 
 detained in Normandy^ Afterwards their prospects im- 
 proved. Somerset was released at the special intercession 
 of Charles the Bold, who, in opposition to his father, 
 favoured the Lancastrian cause. He was present at the 
 interview of Charles and Louis XI at Tours, Nov.-Dec. 
 1461, and received some help in money from the latter. 
 Thence he had intended to return to Scotland, but hearing 
 that Edward was on the look-out for him, he retired to 
 Bruges ^- 
 Lancas- Early in the following year the air was full of rumours of 
 
 o s. jjj^.gjjjjg(j invasions of England in the Lancastrian interest*. 
 It was in connexion with these plots that the Earl of 
 Oxford and his son lost their heads in Feb. 1462. This 
 must have disconcerted the arrangements. In March, 
 Somerset and Hungerford returned to Scotland instead of 
 invading England ® ; the idea of an invasion was not how- 
 ever given up, and a fleet of French, Breton, and Spanish 
 ships was assembling in the Seine". 
 The Lan- On their arrival in Scotland the royal fugitives had been 
 Scotland."" received first in the palace of Linlithgow; thence they pro- 
 ceeded to Edinburgh, where they were lodged in the 
 convent of the Dominican Friars. They seem to have 
 been in great poverty. We find Margaret borrowing 
 money of the Queen Dowager of Scotland, and pledging 
 to her a gold cup''; while from a subsequent letter of 
 
 ' Paston Letters, ii. 45-7. are represented as engaged in the 
 
 '^ lb. 52. scheme, and the continental forces 
 
 ' Chastellain, u. s., pp. 66-9 ; to be employed amount to over 
 
 Monstrelet, u. s., f. 91 a. 300,000 men. Fortescue is ex- 
 
 * In Feb. 1462 secret intelligence pressly named as one of the party 
 
 had been received in Norfolk of which was to land at Sandwich. 
 
 an intended threefold invasion of Somerset was to be accompanied 
 
 England; Paston Letters, ii. 91. by Henry (read /«?/%«) of Calabria, 
 
 I am mchned to think that this Margaret's brother, which is not 
 
 is the same conspiracy as the one improbable. 
 
 mentioned in Three Fifteenth Cent. * Paston Letters, ii. 93 ; Will. 
 
 Chron. p. 158; but the chronology Worcester, p. 779. 
 
 there is very confused ; cf. ib. 175 ; " Paston Letters, ii. 93-4 
 
 and the account has been grossly ' Burnett, Exchequer Rolls of 
 
 exaggerated either by Yorkist fears Scotland, VII. xxxvi f., and the re- 
 
 orLancastrian hopes. Nine powers ferences there given. Chastellain 
 
3Inttotiuction. S9 
 
 Henry VI it would seem as if Fortescue himself had 
 
 ministered to the necessities of his master at his own 
 
 expense^- Later in the year 146 1 Henry seems to have 
 
 gone to Kirkcudbright, leaving Margaret and her son with 
 
 Fortescue and others at Edinburgh^; while early in 1463 
 
 the prince paid a visit to the Queen Dowager at Falkland ' 
 
 In April, Margaret with her son and others set out for the Margaret 
 
 Continent, in order to plead her cause in person. She con^inent^ 
 
 embarked at Kirkcudbright, and landed in Brittany, where 
 
 she was well received by the Duke, who gave her 12,000 
 
 crowns*. Thence she went to her father Rene in Anjou, 
 
 and from him to the court of Louis at Chinon^. Here a Treaty with 
 
 treaty was negotiated between Louis and Margaret, which ^°°'^ ^^■ 
 
 was signed at Tours, June a8th, 1462,^. In July Louis and 
 
 Margaret seem to have had another meeting at Rouen''. 
 
 By this time Margaret had got together a considerable 
 
 force, intending to return to Scotland and invade England 
 
 from thence. 
 
 But meanwhile things were going badly there. A Affairs in 
 party among the Scotch lords, strongly opposed to the 
 Lancastrian policy of Bishop Kennedy of St. Andrew's, 
 
 makes Margaret say: 'Done .. . dated Edinburgh, April 10. 
 
 me suis fuie en Escoche, Ik ou Whether Fortescue went to France 
 
 vivant d'emprunt et regue soubs withMargaret,or remained in Scot- 
 
 promesse de secours, portant land with Henry, I have not been 
 
 mainte estroite povretd honteuse, able to determine with certainty. 
 
 Escochois en fin m'ont laidement If Mdlle. Dupont is correct m 
 
 d^gue,' &c. ; vii. 103 ; cf. ib. iv. assigning Henry's letter of cre- 
 
 207, dence for Fortescue to Louis XI, 
 
 '"'A ses despens nous a tou- cited above, to the year 1462, the 
 
 jours entretenu notre estat.' In question would be settled m favour 
 
 Waurin, 6d. Dupont, iii. 169 f. of the former view. But it is 
 
 Printed imperfectly and with a against this that his name does 
 
 different date in Family History, not occur among the negotia- 
 
 p. 78. tors or signataries of the treaty 
 
 " Fasten Letters, ii. 46. I do with Louis XI, though less im- 
 
 not know why Mr. Burnett (u. s.) portant men are mentioned. For 
 
 should doubt this. other schemes of Margaret at this 
 
 ^ Exch. Rolls, u. s. p. 85. time, see an interesting paper m 
 
 * Vid. Commynes, 6d. Lenglet- Dupont's Waunn, in. 178-181. 
 
 Dufresnoy, ii. 372. It >s there said that many m Wales 
 
 » Will. Worcester, pp. 779 f- 5 and in the South and West of 
 
 cf Chastellain, vii. 105. England were ready to rise m 
 
 « See Commynes, U.S., ii. 367- Henry's favour. 
 373. Margaret's commission is ' Commynes, u. s., 11. 12. 
 
6o 3[ntrotiUCtion» 
 
 which they said was ruining the country to please the king 
 of France, entered into negotiations with Edward IV. A 
 marriage was even talked of between him and the widowed 
 Queen of Scots. It was said that Henry and his adherents 
 were to be given up. In fear of this Henry withdrew with 
 Bishop Kennedy, first to St. Andrew's, and then to another 
 of his places on the sea, whence he ultimately sailed to join 
 Margaret in Northumberland ^. 
 Lossotthe — ^he negotiations between England and Scotland led 
 castles. however to no great result^. Another blow which befell 
 the Lancastrians at this time was the loss of Alnwick and 
 the other Northern castles, which they had hitherto held^- 
 Margaret however continued her preparations. A fleet of 
 French, Spanish, and Breton ships, the same probably 
 which had begun to assemble in the Seine in March, took 
 the Channel in September. Margaret was at Boulogne, 
 perhaps awaiting the issue of a naval battle, and hoping to 
 be admitted into Calais, where the soldiers were on the 
 Expected verge of mutiny for want of pay. The alarm in England 
 England." ^^^^ Considerable ; all men between the ages of sixteen and 
 sixty were ordered to be ready to follow the king at a 
 moment's notice. But fortune again declared for Edward. 
 The foreign fleet was defeated with great loss by Warwick, 
 and Calais did not open its gates to Margaret*- Had it 
 done so, it would very likely have shared the fate of Ber- 
 wick, for the 30,000 livres which Margaret had borrowed of 
 Louis XI were to be repaid within a year of the recovery 
 of Calais, or in default Calais was to be ceded to France'^. 
 In October Margaret set out from France with her French 
 
 ^ On all this compare Paston ^ Exchequer Rolls, VII. xli f. 
 
 Letters, ii. I lo-i, with the interest- Their failure was mainly due to 
 
 ing remonstrance addressed by Kennedy ; Waurin, iii. 167, 172. 
 
 Bp. Kennedy to Louis XI, in which " W. Worcester, u. s. 
 
 he enumerates all that he had • On all this see Paston Letters, 
 
 done for the Lancastrian cause; ii. 112-3, 117-9. 
 
 Waurin, u. s., iii. 164-175 ; also ^ panted in Waurin, iii. 176-7. 
 
 Wilham Worcester, p. 779 ; Colit. The date is Chinon, Tune 23, 1462. 
 
 "-"""^J^-T?; 55/- According to Ed- According to Chastellain, iv. 226, 
 
 ward IV, Margaret had promised Louis had thoughts of besieging 
 
 Kennedy the see of Canterbury ; Calais on his own account. 
 Halli well's Letters, i. 123-4. 
 
3fntroliuction. 6r 
 
 troops under the command of Pierre de Briz6, and recovered Northern 
 Alnwick, Bamburgh, and the other Northern castles. Here covered.^" 
 she seems to have been joined by Henry\ but on the ap- 
 proach of Warwick and Edward in November they retired 
 to Scotland with De Briz6, leaving Somerset in Bamburgh 
 and Hungerford in Alnwick^. On December loth siege 
 • was laid to the castles in regular form^ On Christmas Lost again. 
 Eve Bamburgh and Dunstanburgh surrendered, and Somer- 
 set and Sir Ralph Percy submitted to Edward*. Alnwick 
 fell on Jan. 6th, 1463. A relieving force under De Br^z^ 
 did not venture to do more than bring off the garrison, 
 though more than one contemporary is of opinion that 
 with a little boldness a decisive blow might have been 
 struck ®- 
 
 Early however in 1463 Bamburgh and two other castles Recovered, 
 were recovered by the Lancastrians with a mixed French 
 and Scottish force. And in May Sir Ralph Grey, who had 
 been jealous that the custody of Alnwick had been com- 
 mitted by Edward IV to Sir John Ashley and not to 
 himself, expelled the latter from the castle, and with it 
 went over to the Lancastrian side. Ashley was captured 
 by Sir Ralph Percy, who returned to the allegiance of 
 Henry VI about the same time*.. Newcastle might have 
 
 ' See above, p. 60. Hardyng, on the other hand, 
 
 ^ W. Worcester, p. 780. War- thinks that they acted wisely to 
 
 wick set out for the North Oct. attempt no more ; pp. 407-8. 
 
 30th ; Paston Letters, ii. 120 : Ed- These are the last events narrated 
 
 ward four days later ; Worcester, by him. He strongly urges Ed- 
 
 u. s. ; cf. Three Chron. pp. 156, ward to come to terms with the 
 
 176. exiled Lancastrians, by granting 
 
 ° On the siege of these castles, Henry VI the Duchy of Lancaster, 
 
 see Excerpta Hist. p. 365 ; Pas- If they pass into France they will 
 
 ton Letters, ii. 120-3 ; Three cause endless mischief ; a prognos- 
 
 Chron. pp. 158-9. tication which was amply verified ; 
 
 * Worcester, pp. 780-1 ; Gre- pp. 410-2. According to Chas- 
 
 gory, pp. xxvii, 219. Somerset's tellain, iv. 220-1, Louis XI did 
 
 pardon is dated March 10, 1463 ; try to mediate an arrangement 
 
 Rot. Pat. 3 Edw. IV, memb. 18. between the rival kings. 
 As early as Sept. 1462 Somerset * W. Worcester, pp. 781-2 ; 
 
 was said to be corresponding with Three Chron. p. 176. The latter 
 
 Warwickwithreference to achange Chronicle places the recovery of 
 
 of sides; Paston Letters, ii. 1 12-3. Bamburgh before the meeting of 
 
 ^ Worcester, u. s. ; Warkworth, Parliament, April 29th, 1463 ; the 
 
 p. 2 ; Three Chronicles, p. 176. date of the defection of Grey is 
 
62 
 
 Jntroouction. 
 
 shared the fate of Alnwick but for the promptness with 
 which Warwick sent his brother Montague to defend it. In 
 June, Henry, Margaret, and De Br6z6 were together in 
 Bamburghi. But in that very month Warwick himself 
 was again sent to the North 2; the Lancastrians dispersed 
 once more, and Margaret retired to Scotland, closely pur- 
 sued by Warwick 3. About Christmas Somerset returned, 
 to his allegiance*. Early in 1464 the castles of Norham 
 and Skipton in Craven were captured by the Lancastrians', 
 and a rising took place in Lancashire and Cheshire, 
 Fatal over- always a stronghold of the party®. But all their hopes 
 were overthrown by the crushing defeats inflicted on them 
 by Warwick's brother Montague in the battles of Hedgeley 
 Moor, April 25th, and Hexham, May 8th, 1464'. Somer- 
 set, Hungerford, and other prominent Lancastrians were 
 taken and beheaded. Henry, who seems to have been 
 awaiting the issue of the field in Bywell Castle, escaped 
 thence, no one knew how or whither, but ultimately to 
 Scotland ^ In June Alnwick and Dunstanburgh surrendered 
 to Warwick, and Bamburgh was taken by assaults- 
 
 Lancas- 
 trian suc- 
 cesses. 
 
 throw. 
 
 fixed by a letter printed in Dupont's 
 Waurin, iii. 159-161, which shows 
 that the news of it reached London 
 on May 31, 1463. Dr. Stubbs 
 (C. H. iii. 199) places the recovery 
 of the castles in 1464 ; but though 
 Worcester seejns to place the 
 recovery of Alnwick immediately 
 before the battle of Hexham, a 
 whole leaf of the MS. is missing 
 between the two occurrences. The 
 letter cited above is quite conclu- 
 sive. 
 
 ^ On all this see Waurin, u. s. 
 
 ^ ' After Pentecost,' says Three 
 Chron. pp. 176-7. Whit-Sunday in 
 1463 was on May 29th. In Rymer, 
 xi. 501, there is a commission, 
 dated June 2, to Warwick and 
 others to array the men of West- 
 moreland against the king's foreign 
 enemies who have been stirred up 
 by Henry, late king de facto. A 
 letter written on Saturday, July 
 15th, 1463 (? i6th, July 15th in 1463 
 was on a Friday), says that War- 
 
 wick was in great force at New- 
 castle, and intending to go for- 
 wards to Scotland ; that De 'Br€z€, 
 Grey, and others had been besieg- 
 ing a castle near Alnwick, but had 
 retired on the approach of Monta- 
 gue ; that Edward had left Lon- 
 don on the previous Thursday 
 week (July 7th), intending to follow 
 Warwick in force ; Waurin, u. s., 
 iii. 162-4. 
 
 ' Waurin, ii. 3 1 9-32 1 . This there- 
 fore would be in July ; see last note. 
 
 * Gregory, p. 223 ; Three Chron. 
 p. 177. Warkworth (p. 3) places 
 Somerset's return ' half a year' 
 after his original defection. 
 
 ^ Three Chron. p. 178. 
 
 ° Paston Letters, ii. 152. 
 
 ' Cf. Rot. Pari. v. 51 if. 
 
 " Three Chron. p. 179. Many 
 thought that he was dead ; Chas- 
 tellain, v. 22. 
 
 ' Three Chron. p. 179 ; Wor- 
 cester, pp. 782-3 ; notes to Wark- 
 worth, pp. 36-9. 
 
3[nttotiuction, 
 
 63 
 
 But almost a year before the final blow fell, Margaret Margaret 
 and her son, with De 'Br6z6, Fortescue, and others in her gftoThe™ 
 train, had quitted Britain for the Continent. It must Continent. 
 have been just after the dispersal of the Lancastrians in 
 the summer of 1463 that they set forth \ for it was in the 
 last days of July that they landed at Sluys. They were in 
 extreme poverty, and dependent on the liberality of De 
 Br6z6 for the very bread they ate 2. From Sluys Margaret 
 despatched a messenger to the Duke of Burgundy, who 
 was superintending the negotiations which were going on 
 at St. Omer between the French and English, to beg for a 
 personal interview with him. From this the Duke tried 
 to excuse himself, but ultimately, with the magnificent 
 courtesy which characterized him, yielded to Margaret's 
 importunity. On her way to join him she was met by 
 Charles the Bold at Bruges, who lent her money to supply 
 her wants. Here she left her son and all her household, 
 Fortescue no doubt among them, and proceeded on her 
 
 ' TheEnglish authorities are very 
 obscure as to the time of Margaret's 
 departure for Flanders. It seems 
 commonly assumed that it was a 
 consequenceof the defeats ofHedge- 
 ley and Hexham. But the brief 
 Latin Chronicle (Three Chron. pp. 
 179 f.) clearly places it before those 
 eventSjforafterrelatingthem it says : 
 ' Margareta has procellas preca- 
 w^Mjjincolaelegit fieri transmarina.' 
 And it may well have been thought 
 desirable to place the heir of Lan- 
 caster in safety before the die was 
 cast. All the foreign authorities, 
 Chastellain, Waurin, Monstrelet, 
 Duclerq, place Margaret's arrival 
 in Flanders in 1463, and so does 
 Worcester (p. 781), though the 
 month he gives, April, is too early. 
 Dr. Stubbs, citing Worcester, 
 represents Margaret as going 
 abroad early in 1463 and return- 
 ing towards the end of that year. 
 But Worcester clearly refers to the 
 final departure of Margaret, for he 
 speaks of her settling in her father's 
 dominions, ' ut ibi expectaret 
 
 eventus mundi.' Worcester more- 
 over makes her embark at Ham- 
 burgh. We have seen that Henry, 
 Margaret, and De Brdzd were 
 there in June 1463, but the foreign 
 authorities, especially Waurin, ii. 
 319 ff., clearly represent them as 
 retiring to Scotland, where their 
 presence seems to have been no 
 longer welcome ; cf. Basin, ii. 50 ; 
 Chastellain, iv. 279 ; vii. 103. It 
 would seem that it is to this period 
 that we must refer the romantic 
 story of Margaret's adventure with 
 the robber, which she told the 
 Duchess of Bourbon at St. Pol ; see 
 below, p. 64. From this point to 
 the arrival ofMargaret at St. Mighel 
 in Barrois, I follow almost exclu- 
 sively the authority of Chastellain, 
 whose narrative is most minute, 
 and whose position enabled him 
 to obtain the most exact informa- 
 tion. Compare also Monstrelet, 
 iii. f. 96 a ; Duclerq, Liv. v. ch. i ; 
 Basin, ii. 50. Gregory, pp. 220-1, 
 is very confused. 
 '• Chastellain, iv. 279. 
 
64 3fntrotiuction» 
 
 Interview way alone. At B6thune the English made an attempt to 
 o/bu^.*"^'^ capture her; but they were too late, and on August 31st 
 gundy. she reached St. Pol in safety, where she was to await the 
 Duke, who arrived the following day, and entertained her 
 magnificently and gave her many comfortable words ^. 
 The next day, September and, the Duke departed, leaving 
 his guest to the care of his sister the Duchess of Bourbon, 
 whom Margaret entertained with the recital of her adven- 
 tures. After his departure the Duke sent back a knight 
 with a present of 2,000 gold crowns and a rich diamond for 
 Margaret, and other presents for her attendants^. The 
 following morning, September 3rd, Margaret departed from 
 St. Pol and returned to Bruges, escorted by a body-guard 
 of the Duke's archers, to prevent her falling into the hands 
 of the English. At Bruges she found not only Charles the 
 Bold, but also the Bastard of Burgundy" and Philip de 
 Crevecoeur and others. And in the entertainments that 
 followed there was much stately conflict on points of 
 etiquette, Charles insisting with somewhat ostentatious 
 chivalry on treating his guests in accordance with their 
 former rank, and not according to their present condition ^. 
 The Lan- From Bruges Margaret- and her followers were conveyed 
 exiles re- under Burgundian protection to the borders of Bar, where 
 St^Mi hel ^^^y^^^^ received by an escort sent by Margaret's father*, 
 ■ who assigned them as their residence the little town of 
 
 tions. 
 
 St. Mighel in Barrois. Here they lived the usual life of 
 exiles, in great poverty ^ carrying on a feeble agitation at 
 such foreign courts as they had access to, but sometimes in 
 such straits for money that they could hardly pay a 
 Negotia- messenger to go on their errands «. Louis XI was con- 
 stantly applied to. In 1464 t, and again in the summer of 
 
 2 Chastellain,iv. 280-6, 293-4. Here highnesse may do no more 
 
 lb. 298-9, 307; cf. Com- to us thanne she dothe ;' Fortescue 
 
 mynes, ^d. Lenglet-Dufresnoy, ii. to the Earl of Ormond. Family 
 
 ^7°- , „ . . History, p. 72. 
 
 ^ Chastellam, iv. 309-314. " 'The berer hereof had of us 
 
 6 < w^^V 2'' '°?i" • ^"* "J scutes for alle his costes 
 
 We buthe alle m grete towardes you, by cause we hadde 
 
 poverte, but yet the quene sustey- no more money • ' T 
 
 nethe us m mete and drinke, so as ' In the same letter Fortescue 
 
 we buthe not m extreme necessite. speaks of having been at Paris ; 
 
3fnttonuction. 65 
 
 1465, Fortescue himself went to Paris. On the latter occa- 
 sion he was accompanied by the Earl of Pembroke, Henry 
 VI's half-brother, and was the bearer of a letter from 
 Henry VI to Louis XI, dated Edinburgh, March aSth 
 (? 1465)^. Their chief hope however was in the kings of 
 Portugal and Castile and in Charles the Bold, because of 
 their connexion with the house of Lancaster, It was 
 hoped that the first-named king would influence the 
 Emperor Frederick III who had married his sister, and 
 that the Emperor would bring pressure to bear on the 
 Pope*. The (titular) Earl of Ormonde, who had fled to 
 Portugal after Towton, was now acting as Lancastrian 
 ambassador at that court. It is from a letter of Fortescue 
 to him, enclosing instructions from the Queen and letters 
 from the Prince, that we learn most of the particulars given 
 above *. This letter was written in December 1464. In Fate of 
 the instructions it is stated that Henry is well and out of ^^"''y ^^• 
 the hands of his rebels, and we have seen that in the 
 following March he perhaps dated a letter from Edinburgh. 
 But soon after this he must have left Scotland, which in 
 the previous year had concluded a truce for fifteen years 
 with Edward ; and early in July \ while wandering in 
 Lancashire among his secret friends, he was betrayed and 
 
 ib. 71. In the De Laudibus, c. 53, VII. xxxvii ; Maitland's History of 
 
 Fortescue alludes to a recent so- Edinburgh, p. 8. In March 1464 
 
 jouminParis,butwhetheritwasthis he was certainly at Bamburgh ; 
 
 oralater one cannotbe determined. Waurin, iii. 183. After Hexham 
 
 ' Printed by Lord Clermont, he probably returned to Scotland, 
 
 u. s. p. 78. More correctly by and if we may accept Lord Cler- 
 
 Dupont, u. s. iii. 169 f., who how- mont's date for this letter he was 
 
 ever assigns it to the year 1462, at Edinburg:h in March 1465. 
 
 V. s. p. 59, notes. Henry's move- '' Instructions to Ormond, u. s. 
 
 ments at this time are wrapped in p. 74. 
 
 mystery. We have seen (p. 62) ' These documents are given 
 
 that in July 1463 he retired to by Lord Clermont, u. s. pp. 69-75, 
 
 Scotland, where Margaret left him. but he is mistaken in thinking that 
 
 Monstrelet and Duclerq (u. s.) re- none of them have been printed 
 
 present him as being in a strong before. The letters of Prince 
 
 place, 'ou pays de Galles' (?Gal- Edward and of Fortescue are m 
 
 loway), during her visitto Flanders, the Archaeological Journal, vii. 1 70 ; 
 
 Chastellain, iv. 279, merely says cf. Foss, Judges, iv. 313. 
 
 that she left him in a secure place. * The date given by most au^ 
 
 In Jan. 1464 he seems to have thorities is ' about the feast of SS. 
 
 been at Edinburgh ; Exch. Rolls, Peter and Paul,' i. e. June 29. 
 
65 3lntrotiuction, 
 
 captured, and committed to the Tower, where he remained 
 tintil his brief restoration. He does not seem to have been 
 harshly treated, and full provision was made for the satis- 
 faction of his religious wants \ His life was valuable to 
 Relations Edward as long as his son remained at large. . Of all the 
 gunVand princely relatives of the house of Lancaster Charles the 
 France. Bold Seems to have been the one who took the most 
 interest in its fate^. And about this very time Edward 
 found it impossible to come to a permanent agreement 
 with Burgundy because of Charles's influence in favour of 
 Margaret^- It is not therefore surprising that in this 
 summer Louis XI and Edward IV made a truce for 
 eighteen months, of which the terms were that Louis was 
 not to assist Margaret, and Edward was not to assist 
 War of the Burgundy or Brittany*. For this year was the year of 
 ■vveal? the War of the Public Weal in France, in which not only 
 Brittany, but also John of Calabria the brother of Margaret 
 of Anjou, and Edmund Beaufort the titular Duke of 
 Somerset ®, were among the confederates of Charles of 
 Burgundy. And this may have had something to do with 
 Charles's tenderness for the concerns of Margaret. These 
 facts moreover lend an additional interest to Fortescue's 
 reference to that war in the ninth Chapter of the present 
 work, where, speaking of the perils of over-mighty subjects, 
 he says : ' and in owre dayes we have sene a subgett off 
 the Ffrench kynges in such myght ]?at he hath gyven 
 bataill to the same kyng and putt hym to flight, and aftir- 
 ward besegett hym beyng in Paris is grettest cete, and so 
 keppid thair vnto ]>e tyme his said kyng hade made such 
 ende with hym, his adherentes and fauctours as he desired.' 
 But at the time no doubt the humiliation of Louis was a 
 matter of jubilation in the Lancastrian camp. In June 
 1467 Charles the Bold became, by his father's death, Duke 
 
 ^ Issues of the Exchequer, pp. it necessary to make for his in- 
 
 2 ^i, <. r-x, 1 „ r , , . termarrying. with the house of 
 
 ' That Charles really felt his York, 
 
 connexion with the house of Lan- ^ W Worcester p 784 
 
 caster is shown by the excuses * lb." 785 ; Rymer.'xi. 452 ff. 
 
 which ChastpUam (v. 22) thinks » Heame's Fragment, p. 295. 
 
3lntrotiuction, 67 
 
 of Burgundy; and in the following year he married Mar- Alliance of 
 garet the sister of Edward IV i. The Duke of Somerset ^^fdwiS" 
 was at the Burgundian court while the preparations for the Edward 
 marriage were going forward, and only left Bruges the day ' 
 before the arrival of the bride, and having nothing more to 
 hope for in that quarter retired to Queen Margaret 2. This 
 change in Charles's attitude must have seemed at the time 
 a great blow to the Lancastrians, but it had its compensa- 
 tions. The close alliance of England and Burgundy led Louis xi 
 Louis XI to look with greater favour on the cause of the fawur the 
 exiles, and it occasioned the final breach between Edward ^ancas- 
 and the Nevilles ^. Even before this time the hopes of the 
 Lancastrians had been raised by the attitude of Warwick * 
 and the general discontent with Edward's government. 
 And now in the summer of 1468 Jasper Tudor was sent 
 into Walesj where he exercised jurisdiction in King Henry's 
 name '. A little later, Margaret, having been allowed to 
 collect some forces in France, was waiting at Harfleur 
 hoping for an opportunity of passing into England ". But 
 the threat of invasion came to nothing, and Jasper Tudor 
 was defeated by Lord Herbert, to whom his title of Earl 
 of Pembroke was given. We do not know with what 
 
 ' As early as May, 1467, the land, who says, the report that 
 
 question of this marriage had Louis is about to marry one of his 
 
 formed the subject of wagers in daughters to Ptince Edward of 
 
 Fngland ; Paston Letters, ii. 305. Lancaster has caused the utmost 
 
 ^ Paston Letters, ii. 319. He dismay in England. On Jan. 7th 
 
 seems however to have entered into Edward sent for Warwick, who 
 
 communication with some of the refused to come unless his mortal 
 
 English who came over for the enemies Herbert, Scales,andWyd- 
 
 wedding. Two gentlemen of the ville [Rivers] were removed. In 
 
 retinue of the Duchess of Norfolk Suffolk 300 men had risen and 
 
 were executed for this ; Hearne's chosen a captain, 'Robin,' but on 
 
 Fragment, p. 297 ; Plumpton Cor- their sending to Warwick he told 
 
 respondence, pp. 19-20; Gregory, them that it was not yet time to 
 
 p. 237. move (' besoigner '). Warwick is 
 
 ' Cont. Croyl. p. 551. loyal to Louis, and though timid 
 
 * S. C. H. iii. 205. In Dupont's cannot dissemble much longer. 
 Waurin, iii. 186-196, there is a He is going northwards to meet 
 most interesting document dated his brother Northumberland, and 
 Jan. 16, 1467 (O. S.), which throws if the king pursues him he will de- 
 great light on the attitude of Louis fend himself, 
 and Warwick at this time. It is ' Gregory, p. 237 ; Worcester, p. 
 from Louis's ambassador in Eng- 791, * lb. 792. 
 
 F Z 
 
68 31ntrot!ttction, 
 
 feelings the exiles received the news that in August 1469 
 
 Edward was a prisoner in the hands of the Nevilles, and 
 
 that the King-maker had thus two captive kings in his 
 
 custody. But if they augured from it a speedy restoration 
 
 of Henry VI, they were destined to be disappointed for a 
 
 while. Warwick was not yet prepared for a Lancastrian 
 
 Alliance restoration, and Edward was allowed to go free. It was 
 
 Ma^aret iiot till after the expulsion of Warwick and Clarence from 
 
 and War- England in March 1470 that the alliance between Margaret 
 
 and the former was brought about by Louis XI ^. 
 
 Louis's policy in the matter was very simple. As 
 long as England did not interfere with his plans, it 
 was a matter of great indifference to him who was 
 king there. If Warwick had succeeded in carrying 
 Edward with him in his policy of friendship with France, 
 he would have been quite content. That having failed, 
 he was resolved to use Warwick as an instrument to 
 overturn Edward ^- The negotiations between Margaret 
 and Warwick took place at Angers under the personal 
 superintendence of Louis, and lasted from the 15th of 
 July till the 4th of August, 1470^. It was with the 
 utmost difficulty that Margaret was brought to con- 
 Fortescue's sent to the unnatural alliance*. Fortescue, on the 
 alliance. Other hand, seems to hav-e thrown himself into the new 
 combination with ardour. He plied Louis XI with 
 memorandums and state -papers^, on the claims of Ed* 
 ward IV to the crowns of England and France, on the 
 impossibility of peace with Edward, on the certainty of 
 
 ' Louis sent to summon Mar- daughter as already arranged ; MS. 
 
 ■ garet in May 1470 ; Commynes, Cotton. Vesp. F. iii. f. 32 ; cf . ' The 
 
 ^d. Lenglet-Dufresnoy, iii. 124 ; cf. maner and guyding of Quene Mar- 
 
 Basm, n. 223. garet and the Earle of Warrewick,' 
 
 Kirk, Charles the Bold,!. 419. in Ellis's Letters, U. i. 132-5, or 
 
 An agreement had however White Rose, pp. 229 flf. 
 
 been practically come to by July * Chastellain, v. 467-8 ; Basin, 
 
 25. See Louis's letter of that date ii. 223. 
 
 in Duclos, iii. 294. The treaty " None of these documents have 
 
 m which Louis s brother the Duke been as yet discovered, but a paper 
 
 of Guienne promised to «spouse containing an abstract of them is 
 
 the Lancastrian cause, dated July printed by Lord Clermont, u. s, 
 
 30th, speaks of the marriage of pp. 80-2. The original is in the 
 
 Prince Edward and Warwick's National Library at Paris : 
 
3lnttonuction« 69 
 
 peace with Henry; on the threats of invasion uttered in 
 the last EngUsh Parhament, and the means of stirring 
 up troubles in England which would obhge Edward to 
 remain at home until he should be unseated altogether. 
 Finally, with more particular reference to the meeting 
 at Angers, he submitted a memorandum embodying the 
 following points : the desirability of the marriage between 
 Prince Edward of Lancaster and the daughter of the 
 Earl of Warwick, and of entrusting the government of 
 England to the Earl ; the means of reconciling Edward 
 to the revolution, the establishment of the Staple of 
 EngUsh wools in France at Calais ^ or Rouen, the ex- 
 tension of English trading privileges in Guienne, and 
 the means of providing for the necessary expenses. 
 Events moved rapidly after the conclusion of the agree- 
 ment^. In the middle of September Warwick landed in Lancas- 
 England ^ on the 3rd of October Edward fled to Flanders, l^fo"'"°" 
 on the 5th Henry VI was taken from the Tower*, and 
 the machinery of government went on once more in his 
 name, the real power being in the hands of Warwick, 
 who styled himself his lieutenant^. Archbishop Neville, 
 Warwick's brother, was made Chancellor, no regard being 
 paid to Fortescue's claims to that office*. Parliament 
 
 ' Does this mean that Calais willingtosurrenderthegovernment 
 was to be given up to Louis ? If to Warwick, 
 not, it is difficult to see why any " For this summary of events 
 new agreement was necessary, see S. C. H. iii. 204 ff. 
 The Staple of English Wools had ' He had been expected earlier ; 
 long been at Calais. We have Paston Letters, ii. 406. 
 seen (p. 60) that Margaret had once * Warwick's letter announcing 
 before signed an agreement which this to Louis, dated October 8th, 
 came perilously near to an agree- is in Waurin, iii. 43-4. 
 ment to give up Calais. It is not ° Arrival of Edward IV, p. I. 
 uncommon for exiles to think that The editor (Mr. Bruce) has ques- 
 the first duty which they owe their tioned this on the authority of Poly- 
 country is their own restoration, dore Vergil. But Warwick so styles 
 Warwick however was not likely himself in a document preserved 
 to consent to the surrender of this in MS. Yelverton, No. 35, f. 127, r°, 
 stronghold of his own power. It andcopiedbyStowe,MS.Harl.S43, 
 is also somewhat strange that f. 171, V: ' Richard Erie of War- 
 Fortescue, who in the present wike and Salisbury . . . lievetenaunt 
 work insists so strongly on the to . . . Kynge Henry the sext.' 
 necessity of reducing the power • A lay Chancellor was however 
 of the nobles, should have been still at this time a rare exception. 
 
70 3lntrotiuctioti, 
 
 met in November ; it settled the crown on Henry and his 
 son with remainder to Clarence ^ and reversed the Lan- 
 castrian attainders, thus enabling the Dukes of Somerset 
 and Exeter, and the Earls of Pembroke and Richmond, 
 Margaret to return to England early in 1471- Meanwhile Margaret 
 detained ^^^ ^^^ 3^^^ ^jt^ Fortescue and others in their train, 
 were still detained in France'. Mr. Kirk has suggested 
 that the delay was due to Louis, who wished to give his 
 especial ally Warwick time to establish himself firmly 
 before allowing the geruuine Lancastrians to depart^. 
 If this was his object, his astuteness, not for the first 
 Scheme of time, over- reached itself. The delay was fatal. It must 
 reform j^ ^^^^ during this interval that Fortescue drew up 
 
 drawn up ° iri/^*d.j 
 
 by For- the state-paper now prmted for the first time*, and 
 tescue. entitled 'Articles sent from the Prince to the Earl of 
 Warwick his father-in-law.' That it is by Fortescue 
 cannot be doubted by any one who compares it with 
 the present work, its precise relation to which will be 
 discussed later ^. In it he advised that all claims for 
 reward and compensation should be reserved for the 
 consideration of the Council, and that the King should 
 forbear for the first year to keep the usual royal household. 
 The other points are all embodied in the present work 
 and are discussed in the notes. Whether the paper had 
 any influence on Warwick's policy cannot be determined. 
 Landing of At length, on Easter-Day, April 14th, Margaret with 
 Margaret, j^gj. g^jj ^j^j portescue^ landed at Weymouth, only to 
 learn on the morrow that on the very day of their landing 
 Warwick had been overthrown and slain by Edward at 
 Barnet, and that Henry was once more a prisoner. To For- 
 tescue, who had done so much to bring about the alliance 
 
 1 This can hardly have been, Thence they went to Paris ; Com- 
 as Lord Clermont suggests (u. s. mynes, u. s. ii. 88. In February 
 p. 80), Fortescue's means for Henry sent to fetch his wife and 
 reconciling Edward IV to the son, but in vain ; Rymer, xi. 693. 
 revolution. To him the succession ^ Charles the Bold, ii. 85. 
 of Clarence would have been a * Below, Appendix B. 
 very poor consolation. ^ Below, pp. 89, 95. 
 
 ' In November-December 1470 » They were proclaimed traitors 
 
 they seem to have been with April 27th ; Rymer xi. 709. 
 LouisatAmboise; Waurin,iii.4i-6. ' 
 
3lrittotiuction. yt 
 
 with Warwick, the blow must have been particularly severe. 
 Somerset however, and others who joined them at Cerne 
 Abbas after their arrival, maintained that the removal of 
 Warwick was a source of strength rather than of weakness 
 to their party ^. It was resolved to persevere, and if they 
 had been able to carry out their plan and gain the strong- 
 holds of their party in the North, the issue might yet have 
 been doubtful. But the rapidity of Edward's movements Battle o^ 
 made this impossible, and at Tewkesbury, on the 4th of^u'^''^"' 
 May, the Lancastrian cause was finally overthrown. 
 Prince Edward, the hope of the house, was slain. Mar- 
 garet, now childless and soon to be a widow, was reserved 
 to grace the conqueror's triumph 2. She remained a 
 prisoner till 1475 S when she was ransomed, and she died 
 in 1483, too soon to see the downfall of the house 
 against which she had striven so long. Within three Death of 
 weeks of the battle of Tewkesbury perished Henry vi. ^™'''^^- 
 His life was no longer valuable, and he died. His vir- 
 tues and his misfortunes had deeply touched the heart 
 of England, and his death gave them the final conse- 
 cration. Much as England had suffered under him, she 
 held him guiltless*, and the voice of the people decreed 
 to him a canonization more real than any which Popes 
 or Churches have it in their power to bestow®. Fortescue Fate of 
 was among the prisoners of Tewkesbury, and his life was ^°'^'*^'="^- 
 spared^. Now that his cause was expired and his master 
 
 ' ' For that los, theyr partye was foreigners speak with much less 
 
 nevarthefebler,butratherstrongar.' reserve of Henry's incapacity as a 
 
 Arrival of Edward IV, p. 23. ruler; cf. e.g. Chastellain and 
 
 ^ 'Servata incolumis, ut ante Waurin. 
 
 Regem triumphantem curru ve- ° ' Unde et agens tyranni, pa- 
 
 heretur Londonias ; quod et fac- tiensque gloriosi martyris titulum 
 
 turn est ;' Cont. Croyl. p. 555. On mereatur,' says the Yorkist Croy- 
 
 Dec. 16, 1470, she had also lost land Continuator, p. 566 ; cf. the 
 
 her brother, John of Calabria. hymn toHenry in Warkworth,p.xxi. 
 
 ^ The articles for her delivery, " In Paston Letters, iii. 9, Fortes- 
 Signed ' Loys,' are in MS. Cott. cue (under the name of ' Lord 
 Vesp. F. iii. f. 30. Foskew ') is mentioned among 
 
 * ' And alle bycause of his fals those beheaded after Tewkesbury, 
 
 lordes and nevere of hym ;' Wark- though a note is added to say that 
 
 worth, p. 12. 'The kyng knoweth he and Sir William Grymesby were 
 
 not alle ;' Political Songs, ii. 230. still alive. The latter was exe- 
 
 It must be confessed however that cutedj Warkworth, p. 18. It 
 
72 
 
 3fntrotiuction« 
 
 Required 
 to write in 
 favour of 
 the Yorlc- 
 ist title. 
 
 Date of 
 his death 
 unlcnown. 
 
 deadS Fortescue cannot be blamed for accepting the 
 clemency of the conqueror. There was in fact nothing 
 left to fight for. In October, 147 1, his pardon passed 
 the Great Seal, and soon after he was made one ' of 
 the King's Councell 2-' But before obtaining the reversal 
 of his attainder and the restoration of his estates, he was 
 required to write in favour of the king's title, and refute 
 the arguments which he had formerly brought against it ^. 
 How he executed this task will be told later *. In October, 
 1473, ^6 petitioned the king in Parliament for his re- 
 storation on the ground that this had been done. His 
 petition was granted ^- An exemplification of this petition 
 and the answer to it passed the Great Seal in February, 
 1475. The restoration of his estates was no doubt facili- 
 tated by the fact that the bulk of them had been granted 
 to Lord Wenlok, who joined Warwick against Edward, 
 and fell at the battle of Tewkesbury ^. Fortescue resided 
 at Ebrington after his restoration to his estates, and is 
 buried in the church of that parish. The last notice of 
 him which has been discovered belongs to February, 1476, 
 when he delivered into the Exchequer an Assize which had 
 been taken before him when he was Chief Justice''. He 
 is said to have lived to the age of ninety, but even if this 
 tradition could be relied on, the uncertainty which as we have 
 
 would seem therefore that Fortes- 
 cue's execution was considered a 
 certainty at the time. Fortescue 
 is called 'Lorde Foschewe' also 
 by Gregory, p. 217. 
 
 ■' These are Fortescue's own ex- 
 pressions in the ' Declaration on 
 certain Writings,' Works, p. 532. 
 
 ' lb. 533: 
 
 ' There is no evidence for the 
 story told by Lord Campbell and 
 repeated by Lord Clermont that 
 the imposition of this condition 
 was due to Fortescue's successor 
 Chief Justice Billing. See Foss, 
 J udges, i V. 4 1 7-8. That Fortescue 
 should under the circumstances 
 have complied with this condition 
 merits no particular blame. But 
 we certainly cannot make it a 
 
 matter of special praise as Coke 
 does. (Cited, Family Hist. p. 
 49.) Fortescue himself evidently 
 thought it savoured of 'doubleness' 
 and required an apology ; Works, 
 p. 532. 
 
 * Below, pp. 78-9. 
 
 ° Rot. Pari. vi. 69 a. 
 
 ° As early as 1468 Wenlok was 
 charged with corresponding with 
 Margaret ; W. Worcester, p. 790 ; 
 cf. Waurin, iii. 189 f. For the grant 
 of Fortescue's lands to Wenlok, see 
 above, p. 43, noie; cf. Rot. Pari. 
 V. 581 b. Between the grant to 
 Wenlok and Fortescue's restora- 
 tion the reversion of Ebrington 
 must have fallen in ; v. s. p. 43. 
 
 ' Kal. Exch. iii. 8, in Foss, u. s. 
 P- 314- 
 
3fntroliuction. 73 
 
 seen hangs over the date of his birth ^ would make it 
 valueless for the determination of the date of his death. 
 But on any computation his days must have exceeded 
 the allotted threescore years and ten. Of his wife I have His wife 
 found only one notice after 1447, and from this it appears ^"'^'^^""'y- 
 that she was alive in September, 1455, and died before May, 
 1473^; nor have I discovered whether she or any of his 
 family accompanied him in his wanderings. He had one 
 son and two daughters, all of whom had married before 
 the time of their father's exile*. His only son Martin 
 however died before him, Nov. nth, 147 1 *, at a time 
 when political disappointments must have rendered this 
 heavy private bereavement additionally hard to bear. 
 In favour of this son Fortescue had in 34 Henry VI, by 
 means of a fine levied in the Court of Common Pleas, 
 divested himself of the estates in Devonshire, which as 
 we have seen he had himself received from his brother 
 Henry®. Martin Fortescue left two sons, of whom the 
 elder bore his grandsire's name of John, while the younger 
 was named William. From the former is descended the His de- 
 present Earl Fortescue, the latter is the ancestor of Lord =<^^°<^^"'=- 
 Clermont and his brother Lord Carlingford, To the 
 elder line belonged Lord Fortescue of Credan, who acted 
 as judge in all three Courts of Common Law, and was 
 the first editor of the present work ; to the younger line 
 belonged William Fortescue, the friend of Pope, who after 
 sitting in the Exchequer and Common Pleas, became 
 ultimately Master of the Rolls ^. So that in Fortescue's 
 case his own remark has been amply verified, that from 
 the families of judges often descend nobles and great 
 men of the realm'. 
 
 ' Above, pp. 40-1. * Not Nov. 12th, 1472, as Lord 
 
 ^ This is the inquisition taken Clermont says ; ib. 94, 127-8. 
 
 after the death of her son Martin : See the document cited in the last 
 
 from which it appears that she was note but one. 
 
 alive in 34 Hen. VI, but dead on ° Above, p. 43. 
 
 May I2th, 12 Edw. IV. Printed by ^ See Lord Clermont's Family 
 
 Lord Clermont, Family History, History, and the pedigrees there 
 
 pp. 144-6. given. 
 
 ^ Ib. 53-4. ' DeLaudibus, c. 51. 
 
74 3Introtiuction. 
 
 PART III. 
 
 WRITINGS, OPINIONS, AND CHARACTER OF SIR JOHN 
 FORTESCUE. 
 
 Fortescue We must now turn from Fortescue the lawyer, the judge, 
 as a writer. ^^^ ardent and faithful adherent of the Lancastrian cause, 
 to Fortescue the publicist and wi-iter. But the political 
 and the literary activity of Fortescue are closely connected. 
 It was in the service of the house of Lancaster that he first 
 Divisions wielded both sword and pen. His writings may be divided 
 ° '^-^" according to their subject into three classes : — i. Works on 
 the dynastic question of the rival claims of the houses of 
 Lancaster and York. a. Constitutional Treatises. 3. Mis- 
 cellaneous writings. 
 
 The first class comprises several short tracts on the 
 Succession question, and the second book of the treatise 
 De NaturA Legis Naturce. The second class comprises the 
 first book of that treatise, the De Laudibus Legmn Anglice, 
 and the present work. The third class comprises one 
 genuine tract and some others of which the authenticity is, 
 I think, extremely doubtful. 
 Tracts on The class which I have placed first is also in the main the 
 sion. fii'st in order of composition. In it the first place belongs 
 
 to the short tracts which Fortescue wrote in favour of the 
 Lancastrian Title. Of these there have come down to us, 
 either in whole or in part, the following : — 
 
 1. De Titulo Edwardi Comitis Marchics'^. (Latin. Com- 
 plete.) 
 
 2. Of the Title of the House of York 2. (English. 
 Fi'agmentary.) 
 
 3. Defensio Juris Dotnus Lancastrian. (Latin. P'rag- 
 mentary.) 
 
 4. A Defence of the House of Lancaster: otherwise 
 
 1 Works, pp. 63*-74*. MS. Cotton. Vesp. F. ix. f. 122. 
 
 , lb. 497-502- In Appendix D The tract is still however incom- 
 
 I have printed what I believe to be plete. 
 
 the beginning of this tract from =* Works, pp 505-510 
 
3Inttotiuction. js 
 
 called, A replication to the claim of the Duke of York^. 
 (English. Complete.) 
 
 In the tract which he aftei-wards wrote to refute his own Other 
 arguments, Fortescue says that there were many writings o "th?' 
 made in Scotland by other men which were fathered upon Succession 
 him without his consent and knowledge; others were drawn "J"^^''™' 
 up by Henry's council, and passed by a majority of votes, 
 though to some of them he himself was ' not well willing.' 
 Others were his own composition 2. Among the works 
 which Fortescue denies to have been his was one embody- 
 ing the absurd story, first set about at the time when John 
 of Gaunt was thought to be aiming at the succession, 
 that Edmund Crouchback was really the elder brother of 
 Edward I^. It is to Fortescue's credit that he rejects this 
 fable. But, on the other hand, he had no motive for accept- 
 ing it. Any claim derived from Edmund Crouchback must 
 have come through Blanche of Lancaster, the wife of John 
 of Gaunt, and the whole of Fortescue's argument rests on 
 the exclusion of all claims derived through females *- There 
 is however no reason to doubt the authenticity of any of 
 the four tracts enumerated above. They are consistent 
 with one another, and with what we know from other 
 sources to have been Fortescue's views, and the arguments 
 which they contain are those which are refuted in his subse- 
 quent recantation. But the fact that they and also the 
 second part of the De Naturd Legis Natures have only 
 
 ' Works, pp. 517-8, under the again (p. 4) says that there was 
 
 former title ; below, Appendix C, an idea of marrying Edward IV's 
 
 under the latter. This tract seems eldest daughter to the son of 
 
 clearly referred to in the ' De- Warwick's brother Montague ; 
 
 claration,' &c., Works, p. 536. . ' whiche, by possibylite, shuld be 
 
 ' lb. 523-4. kynge of Englonde.' Fortescue's 
 
 ' Capgrave however accepted views are however confirmed by 
 
 it. See lUustr. Henr., pp. xv, an entry on the Close Roll of 13 
 
 107. Hen. Ill, memb. 15, dorso : ' non 
 
 *■ That the idea of female sue- est consuetudo vel lex in terra 
 
 cession was not wholly strange nostra Anglise, quod filia fratris 
 
 in England at this time is proved alicujus primogeniti fratrem ju- 
 
 by the charges against Suffolk niorem patri suo succedentem 
 
 of intending to marry his son to hsereditarie super hasreditate sua 
 
 Margaret Beaufort with a view possit vel debeat impetere ; ' cited 
 
 to the succession to the crown; by Hardy, Preface to Close Rolls, 
 
 Rot. Pari. v. 177-b, Warkworth p. xxxvi. 
 
76 
 
 31ntroDuction. 
 
 Other 
 tracts of 
 Fortescue 
 probably 
 lost. 
 
 come down to us for the most part in single copies', makes 
 it extremely probable that Fortescue wrote other fugitive 
 pieces on the same subject which have perished^. Under 
 the repressive and inquisitorial system which Edward IV 
 established after his restoration it was no doubt dangerous 
 
 ^ The only known copy of bott 
 parts of the De NaturA Legis 
 Natures is the Lambeth MS. 262. 
 A copy of the first part, which 
 does not trench upon the Suc- 
 cession question, is among the 
 Laud MSS., No. 585. There was 
 a copy of this work among the 
 Worsley MSS. (see Catalogus 
 Librorum Manuscriptorum, ii, 
 213 a), but whether this con- 
 tained both parts or not I cannot 
 say. Of the other tracts mentioned 
 in the text, No. i exists only in 
 the Yelverton MS., vol. 69. The 
 fragments of No. 3 come from 
 two sources, but both are derived 
 from the one copy which perished 
 in the Cottonian fire. Nos. 2 and 
 4 are partial exceptions to the rule. 
 No. 2 was printed by Lord Cler- 
 mont from MS. Cotton, Julius F. 
 vi. There is another copy in 
 MS. Lansdowne 205, f. 137. A 
 preliminary note, dated 1581, 
 states that it was copied from 
 ' certayne leves of a booke .... 
 found in a bookbynder's shoppe, 
 wheras the said book ignorandy 
 had been putt to profane uses.' 
 This copy corresponds exactly 
 with the Cottonian MS., so that 
 either the latter contains the 
 ' leves ' in question, or both MSS. 
 copied the same ' leves. ' Of 
 No. 4 I have fotmd one complete 
 copy among the Yelverton MSS., 
 and there is an incomplete copy 
 in the Phillips collection. Not 
 having seen the latter I cannot 
 say whether it is derived from the 
 former. It is the one which Lord 
 Clermont has printed. Stowe 
 has made two transcripts of the 
 Yelverton copy ; Harl. 543, f. 163, 
 and Harl. 545, f. 136. But all these 
 have escaped Lord Clermont, 
 
 '' We are not left wholly to con- 
 jecture on this point. In the 
 De Titulo Edivardi, &c., For- 
 tescue speaks of 'codicem ilium 
 originalem qui de hiis latius 
 continet in vulgari scriptum ; ' 
 Works, p. 63*. This might be 
 the English tract on the Title 
 of the House of York (No. 2, 
 above), but I have given reasons 
 lower down for thinking that that 
 is later, not earlier, than the De 
 Titulo Edw. Again, at the end 
 of the latter Fortescue announces 
 his intention of compiling another 
 work on the subject, which was 
 to embody certain documents ; 
 Works, pp. 73* f. This work 
 also, if it was ever written, has 
 not been found. Of the cause of 
 this scarcity there can be no doubt, 
 when we compare the numerous 
 copies which exist of the one 
 tract which Fortescue wrote in 
 favour of the House of York. ' 
 Besides the five MSS. enumerated 
 by Lord Clermont (Works, p. 520), 
 I have come across the following : 
 two copies in the Yelverton MSS., 
 vols. 21 and 86 ; a second copy 
 (besides the one cited by Lord 
 Clermont) in MS. Harleian, 1757 ; 
 and MS. Digby, 198, which last 
 is the most ancient of all, but is 
 unfortunately incomplete. How 
 much the insecurity of the time 
 contributed to the destruction of 
 papers &c. may be seen from the 
 frequent requests made by cor- 
 respondents that their letters may 
 be destroyed as soon as read ; 
 cf. Rymer, ix. 680 ; Paston Let- 
 ters, i. 229, 346, 396, 433 ; iii. 487 ; 
 Bekynton, i. 268; Another symp- 
 tom of the time is the number 
 of anonymous letters ; see Paston 
 Letters, iii. 515. 
 
3fntroliuction, 77 
 
 to be found in .possession of tracts which favoured the 
 claims of the house of Lancaster. Of these four tracts the Character 
 last is only a short piece intended to prove the illegitimacy l^^^^^ 
 of Philippa the reputed daughter of Lionel Duke of tracts. 
 Clarence, through whom the line of York derived their 
 claim, a point which is also discussed, though more briefly, 
 in the first two pieces. The first three all cover much the 
 same ground, and by tabulating their contents and com- 
 paring the refutation of them in the 'Declaration upon 
 certain Writings' we could restore with an approach to 
 certainty the missing parts of Nos. a and 3. These last 
 are practically identical with one another, one being in 
 Latin and the other in English. It is impossible to say 
 whether the English or the Latin version was composed 
 first. But there can be little doubt that No. i is the earUest 
 of the group, both because the arguments there brought 
 forward are much less elaborated than in the corresponding 
 portions of the other tracts, and also because it contains 
 inaccuracies which are corrected in the latter ^. To the The second 
 same class belongs, as I have said, the second part of the ^J'^o/*^ 
 De Naturd Legis Naturce. The difference between it and Legis Na- 
 the preceding tracts consists, not only in its greater length 
 (it occupies seventy large quarto pages in Lord Clermont's 
 edition), but in the fact that while they deal openly and 
 avowedly with the concrete case of the English Succession 
 as disputed between the houses of York and Lancaster, this 
 is in form purely abstract. It is cast into the shape of 
 an argument, conducted before Justice as judge, between 
 
 ' Thus in the De Titulo Ed- through whose marriage with 
 
 wardi, c. 3, Fortescue makes Mortimer's sister Ann the claims 
 
 Margaret, wife of Malcolm Can- of the Mortimers passed to the 
 
 more, the daughter of Edmund House of York. This omission 
 
 Ironside. In the Defensio he (it is not a mistake) is supplied 
 
 makes her rightly his grand- in the 'Title of the House of 
 
 daughter ; Works, p. 506. Again, York,' Works, p. 500 ; and in the 
 
 in the De Tituio, c. 13, Fortescne Defensio; ib. 509. The date of 
 
 from Edmund Mortimer Earl of the De Titulo is approximately 
 
 March passes immediately to fixed by the mention of Louis 
 
 Richard Duke of York, omitting XI as ' nuper unctus ; ' ib. 74*. 
 
 all notice of the latter's father, Louis XI was crowned August 15, 
 
 Richard Earl of Cambridge, 1461, 
 
78 3Introriuctioti. 
 
 three claimants of a kingdom, viz. the brother of the deceased 
 
 monarch, who is described as ' King of the Assyrians and 
 
 Monarch of the whole of Greater Asia\' his daughter, and 
 
 the daughter's son. The grandson maintains that though 
 
 a woman cannot reign she can transmit a claim to the 
 
 kingdom, the brother denies that she can do either, the 
 
 daughter affirms that she can do both. It is needless to 
 
 say that the judgement is in favour of the late king's brother. 
 
 The arguments are of great subtlety and of interminable 
 
 length. Men were more patient of length and dulness in 
 
 the Middle Ages than we are now ; still one is inclined to 
 
 pronounce that, considered as a political pamphlet, the 
 
 work lacks the primary condition of success, namely read- 
 
 ableness. All these works were written in Scotland during 
 
 the time of the author's exile there, that is between April 
 
 The 'De- 1461 and July 1463. Lastly, to this class must be assigned 
 
 upon cer- the tract which Fortescue wrote to refute the foregoing 
 
 tain Writ- vvorks, in order to obtain the reversal of his attainder. It 
 ings. ' 
 
 must therefore have been written between October 147 1 
 
 and October 1473, ^^^ is consequently, with the possible 
 
 exception of a portion of the Monarchia, the latest of For- 
 
 tescue's works ; and we may therefore say, without very 
 
 much risk of serious error, that his literary activity begins 
 
 and ends with the question of the Succession. This piece is 
 
 entitled ' The Declaracion made by John Fortescu, knyght, 
 
 upon certayn Wrytinges sent oute of Scotteland, ayenst the 
 
 Kinges Title to the Roialme of England^.' In it he refutes 
 
 many of the historical arguments which he had used in his 
 
 previous writings, by saying with sufficient plausibility that 
 
 since his return to England he has had the opportunity 
 
 Fortescue's of informing himself better by consulting documents and 
 
 fron" rathe chronicles to which he had no access in exile. But his 
 
 Succession ingenuity is chiefly displayed in getting over the force of 
 question. ,, .,1^. , .. ° 
 
 the text. Ens sub potestate viri, et ipse dominabitur tui^' 
 
 on which he had based so much of his argument against 
 
 female succession. This, he now says, does not mean that 
 
 1 Works, p. 116. = lb. 523-541. 
 
 ' Genesis iii. 16. 
 
3[ntroliuction. 79 
 
 a woman must be under the power of every man, but only 
 that she must be under the power of some man. Now 
 every woman is under the power of the Pope. Therefore 
 the text in question does not prove that a woman may 
 not reign, and is no bar to the king's title either to Eng- 
 land or France^. It was fortunate for Fortescue that 
 he had not to write his recantation in the days of Queen 
 Elizabeth^. 
 
 I shall speak next of the miscellaneous writings of For- Miscella- 
 tescue, leaving the constitutional works, as the most ?,^°"^^"'" 
 important, to be dealt with last. In this class the most Fortescue. 
 important tract is the 'Dialogue between Understanding 'Under- 
 and Faith ^' It is moreover the only one the a^thenticity ^^jj"p^fth . 
 of which is tolerably certain. It is a touching and beautiful 
 little tract; and deals with the old question which has 
 perplexed men's hearts ever since the days of Job ; the 
 prosperity of the ungodly and the affliction of the righteous, 
 with special reference however to the revolutions of king- 
 doms. Understanding, like David, is 'grieved at the 
 wicked.' 'Alas I' she cries, 'howe many just and peasible 
 creatures have borne the payne and angwissh of this werre ! 
 Also howe many men of honest Hvyng have suffred dethe! 
 
 ^ Works, pp. 533-4. est, si in uno supposito ipsa sit • 
 
 " Lord Carlingford (Works, vera;' Works, p. 164. This pas- 
 
 pp. 366* f.) is able to illustrate sage seems clearly alluded to in 
 
 several of Fortescue's arguments the ' Declaration,' u. s. ; cf. also 
 
 from John Knox's writings against ii. c. 23. These passages however 
 
 the ' regiment of women,' which, refer to the case of women who 
 
 though primarily directed against are under some temporal domi- 
 
 Mary Tudor, gave scarcely less nion. The idea that the neces- 
 
 offence to Queen Elizabeth. It sities of the case were satisfied by 
 
 is fair to add that there are some subjection to the spiritual authority 
 
 passages in the De Naturd Legis of the Pope had not then occurred 
 
 NaturcB which prepare the way to Fortescue. Fortescue's own 
 
 for this change of front, and some- submission to Edward IV is 
 
 what lessen the amount of incon- amply justified by the principle 
 
 sistency. Thus in ii. c. 46 he which he lays down in the De- 
 
 says, ' Non tamen omnis aut ali- fensio, that on the failure of the 
 
 qua mulier sub omnis viri potes- male line one who is connected 
 
 tate vivere jubetur, .... sed indif- with the royal family only through 
 
 finite [Dominus] ait, " Eris sub females may be elected ' per Do- 
 
 potestate viri," quo si sub alicujus minos et comunitatem regni,' 
 
 viri potestate ipsa fuerit, judicii rather than a complete stranger ; 
 
 illius censuram ilia non declinat ; Works, p. 508; cf. ib. 153. 
 proposicio namque indiffinita vera ' Ib. 483-490, 
 
8q 3fntrotiuctfon, 
 
 And moche good truly gotyn hath been wikkedly ravisshed 
 
 and taken away. I se the naughty and reprovable people 
 
 helped with richesses, and the good honest people beggars 
 
 and nedy. Also chastite that hath be kept in worshipe, 
 
 nowe is constrayned and brought into myschevous vylanye. 
 
 So then thorowe myscheve, necessite, and outrage, man 
 
 can nat have that is his ; nor no good dede may receive the 
 
 reward after the vertu therof ; but strength maykyth right 
 
 after his owne opynyoun, and overpride usurpeth to have 
 
 worship without any desert Where is then the Divyne 
 
 Justice, or to what tyme is she reserved, when she may nat 
 
 helpe us nor amende our myscheves when we have moost 
 
 neede unto her ^ ? ' For Understanding too, as for David, 
 
 the problem is ' too hard,' and the solution is sought in the 
 
 'sanctuary of God,' in the higher sphere of faith and religion. 
 
 Date. There is nothing in the work which can fix its date with any 
 
 precision. All we can say is that it was written at a time of 
 
 depression and discouragement, and the references to the 
 
 triumph of wrong, and to the fact that God sometimes 
 
 punishes the sins of men by raising up yet greater sinners, 
 
 seem to prove that it was written after the triumph of 
 
 Edward IV, though whether after Towton or Tewkesbury 
 
 . cannot be decided. If the latter were the period of its 
 
 composition, private bereavement may have combined with 
 
 political disappointment to throw Fortescue for comfort on 
 
 the consolations of religion^. 
 
 ' The Com- There is, as far as I can find, no evidence for attributing 
 
 .England.' the tract on 'the Commodities of England^' to Fortescue 
 
 beyond the fact that it is found in the Laud MS. which 
 
 contains the oldest copy of the Monarchia. But as the 
 
 latter is mutilated at the end, there is nothing to prove any 
 
 Question of connexion between the two. Though they are in the same 
 
 lis authen- i j ■._■ ,, . .... 
 
 ticity. handwriting, this proves nothing, for the copy of the 
 
 Monarchia is not an autograph. By parity of reasoning 
 
 we might assign to Fortescue the remaining tract in this 
 
 ' Works, p. 490. The thoughts speare's Sonnet Ixvi. 
 and even the expressions are ^ Above, Part II. p. 73. 
 strikingly like those of Shake- = Works, pp. 549-554. 
 
3Intronuction« sr 
 
 MS., entitled 'This is the rule to know all the wardis of 
 the townshippe of Stebynhithe (Stepney).' My own judge- 
 ment is strongly against assigning the authorship of ' the 
 Commodities ' to Fortescue, until some external evidence be 
 produced to show that it is his. The internal evidence is 
 quite insufficient. It is true that it contains passages which 
 have some relation to parts of the De Laudibus and 
 Monarchia ; but Fortescue was not the only person who 
 wrote on such subjects ; and it is far more closely related 
 to such works as the ' Libel of English Policy,' &c. If it 
 were Fortescue's, it would be the earliest of his extant 
 works, for it must have been written before the loss of 
 Guienne in 145 1. 
 
 There is equally little evidence for attributing to For- The 
 tescue the tract on ' The Twenty-two Righteousnesses twcTRigbt- 
 belonging to a King^.' In Stowe's MS., and in the ^°"^°«?*«^ 
 Yelverton MS. from which Stowe copied, it follows the to a King.' 
 Monarchia. But it certainly is not true, as Lord Clermont 
 asserts^, that in Stowe's MS. it forms 'the last chapter' 
 of that work ; for at the end of the Monarchia is written, 
 'Explicit (?) Ser John Ffortescu upon the Governaunce 
 of England,' and then follows the other trace without 
 any hint as to its author. It is also clearly separated 
 from the Monarchia in the Yelverton MS. It is quite 
 unworthy of Fortescue, the thoughts being commonplace 
 and poor. 
 
 ' Advice to Purchasers of Land ^ ' is a rhyming enumera- 'Advice to 
 tion of the points to be attended to before buying an estate. of^Land;"^* 
 The authority for assigning this to our author is the heading 
 'Secundum Fortescu' in the Rawlinson copy*. But it 
 seems more probable that it is a mere memoria technica 
 which was current in the Middle Ages, for Mr. Gairdner 
 has printed ® a slightly different version from the Lambeth 
 MS. 306, which gives no hint of its being by Fortescue. 
 The only point of any interest is the estimate given of the 
 
 ' Works, pp. 477-8. * Rawlinson MS. B. 252. 
 
 ^ lb. 447. * Three Fifteenth Cent. Chroni- 
 
 ' lb. 543-4. cles, p. xxvi. 
 
 G 
 
82 
 
 3Introtiuction, 
 
 Constitu- 
 tional 
 works of 
 Fortescue. 
 
 Unpracti- 
 cal charac- 
 ter of me- 
 diaeval 
 political 
 philoso- 
 phy. 
 
 Fortescue 
 the first to 
 base his 
 political 
 theories on 
 observa- 
 tion and 
 practice. 
 
 value of land, which in the former version is calculated at 
 fifteen, and in the latter at ten years' purchase. 
 
 The second class of Fortescue's works is the most im- 
 portant, and it is to these works that he owes the permanent 
 place which he has earned among constitutional writers. 
 The works of previous English lawyers like Glanville and 
 Bracton were legal rather than constitutional, while the 
 political treatises of other mediaeval writers have little 
 reference to any existing state of things. Dr. Riezler has 
 remarked ^ that in none of them is there any attempt to 
 give a theoretical analysis of feudalism, the political system 
 under which the Middle Ages actually lived. The writers 
 are content for the most part to borrow from or comment 
 upon Aristotle, and except when they touch upon the great 
 question of the relation between the secular and ecclesias- 
 tical power, whether in its abstract form or in reference to 
 the concrete instances which from time to time arose, 
 they have little to say that bears upon practical politics ^. 
 Mediaeval political theorizing is too much in the air, and 
 this gives a certain character of unreality to even the most 
 ingenious and interesting speculations. Fortescue first of 
 mediaeval writers brings down political philosophy from 
 the clouds to earth by basing his theoretical analysis upon 
 observation of existing constitutions. He borrows some of 
 his terminology and many of his illustrations from previous 
 writers, but the most valuable part of his speculations is 
 derived from his own experience of the government of 
 England ^ ; and on the basis of that experience he analyses 
 the nature of constitutional monarchy. The earliest work 
 in which he attempted this task was the former part of the 
 De Naturd Legis Naturce. Setting out from the proposition 
 
 ^ Riezler, Die literarischen Wi- 
 dersacher der Papste, p. 131. 
 
 ^ The Italian writers form per- 
 haps a partial exception to this 
 rule. The feudal system never 
 had much hold on Italy, and the 
 circumstances of the Italian Re- 
 publics of the Middle Ages suffi- 
 ciently resembled those of the 
 Greek cities to make the applica- 
 
 tion of arguments derived from 
 the latter less of an unreality in 
 their case than in that of most 
 mediaeval governments. And 
 some of the greatest publicists 
 of the Middle Ages virerc Italians ; 
 e. g. St. Thomas Aquinas and 
 Marsiglio of Padua. 
 
 ' For the proof of this state- 
 ment, see the notes to Chap. i. 
 
3Introt)uction» 83 
 
 that it is by the Law of Nature that the question of the The De 
 right succession to kingdoms must be determined, he pro- ^fl''^ 
 ceeds to discuss the nature of that law, and in the course Naturce. 
 of his argument he is led, by not very obvious links of con- ^""^ ^' 
 nexion, to dilate upon the origin of government and its 
 various kinds. These are three in number \— Dominium Divisions 
 Regale, or absolute monarchy; Dominium Politimm, or "^^f""""' 
 republican government ; and the mixture of the two. Domi- 
 nium Politicum et Regale, which is constitutional monarchy. 
 The difference between the first and the third class of 
 governments is, that in the latter the subjects are not 
 bound to obey any laws, or pay any taxes, to which they 
 have not given their consent^- To this distinction Fortescue 
 remains faithful throughout all his political writings. There 
 is however in the De NaturA a passage ^ not found in the 
 later works, in which Fortescue admits that even a politic 
 or constitutional king may sometimes be obliged to rule 
 absolutely (regaliter). All cases cannot be determined by 
 statutes and customs, and something must be left to the 
 king's discretion (arbitrium) ; especially the mitigation or 
 remission of pains and penalties, when not contrary to law 
 or the well-being of his subjects ^ So too a sudden out- 
 
 ^ c. 16 ; Works, pp. 77-8. These exemptions were often 
 " cc. 24 sq. ; Works, pp. 85-7. granted ih the Privy Council. 
 ' As this passage is rather im- Among the statutes dispensed with 
 portantas bearing on thequestionof most frequently are the Statutes 
 the dispensing power of the crown, of the Staple ; P. P. C. iii. 115, v. 
 I give Fortescue's exact words :' ad 280, 316, vi. 1 17-8 ; Rot. Pari. iii. 
 libitum etiam tuum tu semper re- 661 a, &c. [These exemptions 
 gis omnia criminalia, et poenas were often complained of in Par- 
 cunctas moderaris vel remittis : liament ; e. g. Rot. Pari. iii. 661 a, 
 dummodo sic facere poteris sine and were forbidden by Stat. 14 
 subditorum jactura, et oifensa con- Hen. VI, c. 2 ; cf. Rot. Pari. iv. 
 suetudinum et statutorum regni 332 b, 490 a] ; the Statute of 
 tui ; ' u. s. p. 85. On the dis- Mortmain ; P. P. C. iii. 37, 53, 
 pensing power of the crown 124, 130, iv. i54-5> v- 274; the 
 during the Middle Ages, see Statutes forbidding the export of 
 S. C. H. ii. 573, 579-582. The coin, &c. ; ib. iv. 118-9,120-1, 
 exercise of this power was more 152-4, &c. ; those placing re- 
 frequent in the Middle Ages than strictions on the royal power of 
 we should consider consistent making grants ; ib. ii. 305, 308; 
 with constitutional government, Rymer, ix. 217, x. 802, xi. 529, &c. ; 
 but it was often rendered ne- cf. notes to Chap. xix. below ; 
 cessary by the unwise minute- and that forbidding the practice 
 ness of many mediaeval statutes, of alchemy ; ib. xi. 128, 240, 637, 
 
 G a 
 
84 
 
 :jntrotiuction. 
 
 Date. 
 
 TheZ)« 
 Laudibus 
 Legum 
 Anglice. 
 
 Origin of 
 
 Govem- 
 
 iDents. 
 
 break of foreign war or domestic rebellion may oblige the 
 king to act despotically, simply because there is not time 
 to observe the usual legal and constitutional formalities ; 
 and then, says Fortescue, in language which recalls the 
 words of Edward I^, the king may be forced to seize the 
 goods of his subjects, and expose some of them to danger 
 for the sake of the safety of the whole ; but, he adds, the 
 king is bound to expose himself to danger for the sake of 
 his kingdom most of all. The De Naturd was written, as 
 we have seen, in Scotland, i.e. between 1461 and 1464. It 
 was intended specially for Prince Edward of Lancaster, as 
 we learn from the De Laudibus ^. 
 
 In the last-named work Fortescue maintains the distinc- 
 tion between absolute and limited monarchy laid down in 
 the De Naturd ; but he adds an account of the different 
 origin of the two forms of government which is new, and is 
 probably derived from Vincent of Beauvais ^. The origin of 
 the former kind of monarchy he traces to conquest ; that of 
 the latter to the consent and election of a body of men 
 desiring to form themselves into a state *. Thus in a con- 
 stitutional monarchy the royal power is derived from the 
 people ^. The travels of Fortescue have moreover enabled 
 
 &c. (For the Statute itself, cf. 
 St. S Hen. IV, c. 4 ; Rot. Pari. iii. 
 540 a.) In the case of the Sta- 
 tutes of Provisors the dispensing 
 power was sometimes specially 
 conferred upon the crown by Par- 
 liament ; e. g. Rot. Pari. iii. 428 b, 
 458 b ; cf. 460 b, 595 a. Henry 
 IV made a most liberal use of 
 this power, granting to all gra- 
 duates of Oxford and Cambridge 
 permission to sue for Papal Pro- 
 visions ; Rymer, viii. 339. Per- 
 haps in consequence of this, the 
 power was withdrawn from the 
 crown by St. 9 Hen. IV, c. 8 ; 
 Rot. Pari. iii. 621 a. But in 3 
 Hen. V the Commons complained 
 that the Universities were ruined 
 by the enforcement of the Statute 
 of Provisors ; cf. Lenz, Konig 
 Sigismund, pp. 147 f 
 ' Matt. Westm. p. 430 ; Stubbs, 
 
 Select Charters, p. 442. 
 
 ^ ' Opusculum, quod tui con- 
 templatione de Naturd Legis Na- 
 tures exaravi ; ' De Laud. c. 9. 
 It should be noted that the title 
 De Naturd dr'c. applies in strictness 
 only to the first part of the work ; 
 that of the second part being De 
 Jure Succedendi in Suppremis 
 Regnis (see Works, pp. 64, 115) ; 
 while the full title of the whole 
 work is 'De Naturi Legis Na- 
 turae, et de ejus Censura in Suc- 
 cessione Regnorum Supprema ; ' 
 ib. p. 65. 
 
 ' De Morali Principis Institu- 
 tione, cc. 2-4. See notes to Chap, 
 ii. below. 
 
 * cc. 11-13. 
 
 " ' Ex populo erumpit regnum ;' 
 ' Potestatem a populo effluxam 
 ipse- (rex) habet ;' c. 13. 
 
3!ntroDuction. ss 
 
 him to add Scotland to the number of constitutional 
 monarchies ^, and to give a striking picture of the state of 
 France under Louis XI '\ which now becomes for him the 
 type of an absolute government. The part of the De 
 Laudibus which is not directly constitutional consists of 
 exhortations to Prince Edward of Lancaster, to whom the 
 work is addressed, to study the laws of the country which 
 he will one day have to rule, of discussions of some points 
 in which the English and the civil law are at variance, and 
 of descriptions of English social life, of the mode of life in 
 the Inns of Court, the ceremonies customary on the appoint- 
 ment of a Serjeant-at-Law, a Judge, etc. All these have 
 been so frequently quoted that there is no need to analyse 
 them minutely here. The De Laudibus is in fact by far The De 
 the best known of Fortescue's works. It was first printed ^e"mo*sT 
 in 1537, and has been reprinted more than a dozen times popular of 
 since ^ Until 17 14 it was the only one of Fortescue's works works.™^' 
 in print. Selden was acquainted with the Monarchia, and 
 the ' Declaration upon Certain Writings,' &c.* The De Date. 
 Laudibus was written, as the author himself informs us, 
 
 ^ c. 13. intendment here to approve popu- 
 
 '^ c. 35. lar Governments or the insolencies 
 
 ' Lord Clermont has given a of them . . . (He) is not to be 
 
 list of the editions; Works, pp. understood as applying these words 
 
 335-6. He does not however in their strictness to the Govern- 
 
 mention the curious Commentaries ment of England, which is an 
 
 on the De Laudibus by Waterhous Imperial Crown, and is not alloyed 
 
 (folio, London, 1663). They are by the politique admissions into 
 
 however noticed by Gregor in the it ; ' pp. 199 f. 
 Preface to his edition, who calls * Selden's Preface to the De 
 
 them ' very jejune and tedious, Laudibus. Selden must also have 
 
 both as to matter and style.' known the De Naturd, ^c. The 
 
 Tedious they certainly are, and Lambefh MS. 262 which contains 
 
 they are written in the most all three tracts formerly belonged 
 
 acutely latinized style of the seven- to him; below, pp. 90-1. But 
 
 teenth century. But amid all though Fortescue in the De Laud- 
 
 the pedantry and prolixity there ibus cites the De Naturd five 
 
 is much genuine learning. The times, Selden in his notes to the 
 
 author is however continually former work never once shows his 
 
 hampered by his attempt to make knowledge of the latter. But, as 
 
 Fortescue talk the language of the Gregor has remarked, Selden's 
 
 Caroline restoration. Thus, on notes seem to have been written 
 
 the passage cited above on the hastily, ' to gratify the importu- 
 
 popular origin of constitutional nity of a book-seller, and thereby 
 
 monarchyhesays : 'Ishallvindi- to recommend a new edition;' 
 
 cate our Chancellour from any Preface, p. iii. 
 
86 3Introliuction. 
 
 during the stay of the Lancastrian exiles at St. Mighel in 
 Barrois, and the evident reference in the twenty-second 
 chapter to the case of Sir Thomas Coke in the eighth year 
 of Edward IV ^ fixes the date of its composition to the 
 years 1468-1470. 
 The Mo-_ The remaining work of Fortescue in this division is the 
 interest.' ^ 0"^ ^^^ presented to the reader. Apart from the intrinsic 
 value of the work, it has a special interest as being the 
 earliest constitutional treatise written in the English lan- 
 guage. The theoretical portion of the work '^ is little more 
 than a translation and recasting of the corresponding por- 
 tions of the De Laudibus. Strictly speaking, it is only to 
 this first part of the work that the title adopted by its first 
 editor, ' The Difference between an Absolute and Limited 
 Its scope. Monarchy,' can be said to apply. The remainder of the 
 work travels far beyond this purely speculative question, and 
 dealing with the actual evils of the time, attempts to find a 
 practical remedy for them. The scope of the work is much 
 better described by the title which it bears in the Yelverton 
 MS., 'Sir John Fortescue on the Governance of England;' 
 while its contents are well summarized in the preface which 
 the Scribe of the Cambridge MS. has prefixed to it, 'A 
 Treatise intituled Jus Regale and jfus Potiticum et Regale, 
 comprehending for good Example memorable Councells of 
 Estate Affaires : Namelie as touchinge the King's charges 
 ordinary and extraordinary, Enlarginge of the Revenewes 
 of the Crowne, disposeinge of Offices and Rewardes for 
 Service,yEllecting of Councelloures, and the disposeinge 
 and orderinge of all other affaires of the Kinge, Kingdome 
 and Court.' 
 
 Thus though the Monarchia^ is much less known and 
 read than the De Laudibus, its historical interest is in some 
 ways very much greater. The subjects discussed in the 
 treatise and their relation to the history of the time are so 
 
 ' On this see Gairdner, CoUec- notes to Chap. i. below, 
 
 tions of a London Citizen, pp. s I cite the present treatise under 
 
 xxxni. ff. ; Biog. Bnt. ni. 1992. this title for the sake of short- 
 
 cc. 1-3 ; or perhaps 1-4. See ness. 
 
3Introtiuction. 87 
 
 fully discussed in the notes and in the first part of this 
 Introduction, that it is unnecessary to recapitulate them 
 here. A reference to the notes will show that many of the Fortescue's 
 remedies proposed by Fortescue had been already sug- t"onf ^' 
 gested or tried in Parliament, though Fortescue no doubt liow far 
 extends and systematizes these suggestions. The point in ''"^"*^- 
 which he shows the most boldness and originality is in his 
 scheme for the re-organization of the Privy Council. In He pre- 
 this, and in his proposals for permanently endowing the PfJ^^j-^^j,,^ 
 crown and reducing the power of the nobles, he certainly New Mo- 
 prepares the way, however unconsciously, for what it is the """'^y- 
 fashion to call the New Monarchy. I am therefore unable 
 to regard Fortescue's scheme of reform, as Dr. Stubbs 
 apparently does ^, as being in the main an exhortation to 
 Edward IV to revert to the Lancastrian system of govern- 
 ment. I would rather say that Fortescue, while remaining 
 true to the great constitutional principles which he had 
 previously enunciated, urges the king to avoid the main 
 weaknesses of Lancastrian rule, its unsound finance, its sub- 
 serviency to aristocratic influence, its lack of ' governance ' 
 and justice. 
 
 But was the king to whom the Monarchia was addressed To whom 
 certainly Edward IV ? The answer to this question de- ^Monatchia 
 pends mainly on the reading to be adopted in a passage at addressed? 
 the end of Chapter xix. It is therefore necessary, as a The MSS. 
 preliminary, to give some account of the manuscripts in 
 which the Monarchia is preserved. These, as far as I know, 
 are ten in number ^. I have collated them all. 
 
 I. Laud 593. (Cited as L.) This is the MS. on which Land. 
 
 the text of the present edition is based. It is dated by 
 
 Mr. Macray about 1480-1490. It is a small thin folio, and 
 
 contains besides the Monarchia only the tract ' On the 
 
 Commodities of England ' noticed above, and a list of ' the 
 
 wardis of the townshippe of Stebyn hithe ' (Stepney). 
 
 ' Const. Hist. ill. 243-6. 542 ; one at Lambeth, 262 ; one 
 
 ' Four in the Bodleian, viz. in Lord Calthorpe's possession. 
 
 Laud 593, Digby 198, Digby Yelverton MSS. vol. 35 ; and 
 
 14s, Rawlinson B. 384 ; three in one in the Cambridge University 
 
 the British Museum, Cott. Claud. Library, IL 3. 11. 
 
 A. viii, Harleian 1759, Harleian 
 
88 3[nttoDuction. 
 
 The MS. is well and correctly written. Here and there it 
 has been retouched by a later hand with different coloured 
 ink. But the changes made are for the most part only 
 orthographical ; and the original reading is nearly always 
 recoverable. The most frequent alterations are of u into v, 
 i into y, afad vice versi ; the changes being generally in 
 the direction opposed to modern usage. This MS. seems 
 to have belonged to a family of the name of Bedingfield, 
 who were merchants ; and the names , of various members 
 of the family, Francis, Mary, Edmund, Henry Bedingfield 
 are scrawled on the margins of several leaves. It came 
 into the possession of Archbishop Laud in 1633. This 
 MS. seems to stand quite alone among the MSS. of the 
 Monarchia. It has peculiarities, especially in the division 
 of the chaptersj which are not reproduced in any of the 
 other MSS. It is not however Fortescue's autograph, for 
 it has some small omissions and mistakes, which could 
 hardly be made by a man writing down his own thoughts, 
 though quite possible to a copyist. Unfortunately it is 
 mutilated at the middle of Chapter xix, so that on the 
 most interesting problem raised by the text this MS. is for 
 us silent. 
 Cotton. 3. Cotton MS. Claudius A. viii. (Cited as C.) This is 
 
 a miscellaneous volume relating to English history. It is 
 in quarto, and the Monarchia occupies ff. 173-194 according 
 to the old foliation. The handwriting according to Mr. 
 Maunde Thompson, the head of the MS. department of the 
 British Museum, is of the reign of Henry VII, about the 
 end of the fifteenth century. This is also a very correct 
 and well-written MS., and might perhaps dispute with L the 
 claim to be made the basis of the text of an edition. Of 
 the orthographical and other peculiarities of this MS. the 
 reader will be able to judge for himself, as the concluding 
 portion of the work which is wanting in L is here supplied 
 from C. Unfortunately it has been a good deal cropped 
 by the binder, and thus many of the titles of the chapters, 
 which in this MS. are written in the margin, have been 
 mutilated. At the top of the first page is the following: 
 
Jntronuction. 89 
 
 ' [This discourse] was wrighten to King Henry the Sixt by 
 S' John Fortescue, Lord Chancelor.' 
 
 3. Yelverton MSS. vol. 35. (Cited as Y.) This is a Yelverton. 
 volume consisting mainly of documents relating to English 
 history. It is in small folio. Some additional leaves have 
 been inserted at the beginning, middle, and end of the 
 volume. With the exception of these additions the whole 
 of the volume is in the same small and neat hand. Owing 
 to the fact of this MS. being in a private collection I was 
 unable to obtain the judgement of an expert as to the age 
 of the handwriting. I should be inclined to assign it to the 
 first half of the sixteenth century. But whatever the exact 
 date of it may be, the volume is of very great interest. In 
 the first place it is certainly the source from which the 
 chronicler Stowe derived not only his transcript of the 
 Monarchia, but also many other documents which he has 
 inserted in his Annals, or which others have pubUshed 
 from his MSS. The Monarchia occupies ff. 130-145, ac- 
 cording to the old foliation, which has been deranged by 
 the insertions alluded to above. It is preceded by the 
 chapter entitled ' Example what good counseill helpith ' 
 &c., and followed by the 'Twenty-two Righteousnesses 
 of a King.' The latter of these is as we have seen pro- 
 bably not by Fortescue, the former looks like an alternative 
 version of Chapter xvi. of the present work ^. But this The 'Arti- 
 MS. contains another document no less closely connected fj^^^tJIe 
 with the Monarchia ; viz. ' The Articles sent from the Prince Prince.' 
 to the Earl of Warwick ' in 1470 ^. No one who compares Drawn up 
 them wiii]. the Monarchia can doubt that they, were drawn ^y^^""^^" 
 up by Fortescue, and the evidence which they aiiford must 
 be taken into account in attempting to determine the 
 occasion and date of the composition of the Monarchia. 
 The text of the latter work in MS. Y presents very many Relation of 
 resemblances to that of C ^, so that I am inclined to think yelverton 
 that either Y is taken from C, or that both are derived MSS. 
 
 ^ See it printed in Appendix A. similar statements, the reader is 
 " See it printed in Appendix B. referred to the Critical Notes. 
 ' For the proof of this and 
 
9° Sfntrotiuction, 
 
 from a common source, probably the latter. But the 
 differences are even more striking than the resemblances ; 
 for while C has reproduced the original with great fidelity, 
 Y has dealt extremely freely with it, sometimes compress- 
 ing, more often expanding and amplifying expressions, and 
 in especial dividing and naming some of the chapters in a 
 way wholly peculiar to itself and the MSS. derived from it. 
 Moreover, in Chapter xix. the name of Henry VI occurs 
 where the other MSS. have Edward IV. The significance 
 of this will be discussed later. Of the orthographical and 
 other peculiarities of this MS. the reader may form a 
 judgement from the Appendices A and B, which are 
 printed from it. 
 
 Harleianl. 4. Harleian MS. 54a. (Cited as H^.) This is a small 
 quarto volume containing part of Stowe's historical col- 
 lections. The Monarchia occupies ff. xa5-i40j and is 
 entirely in the handwriting of Stowe himself. I place 
 this MS. next to Y because it is unquestionably copied 
 from it. It agrees with Y in all the points which have been 
 enumerated above as distinguishing Y from other MSS. 
 The only differences are those due to Stowe's peculiar 
 orthography, and to the occasional modernization of a 
 phrase. Except where the contrary is stated, it may be 
 assumed that the readings of H^ agree with those of Y, 
 and therefore they are not separately given. 
 
 5, 6, 7. We now come to a group of three MSS., which 
 agree so closely in many minute points that the conclusion 
 is irresistibly forced upon us that they have some common 
 source. On the other hand no one of them is copied from 
 either of the other two, for each of the three has important 
 lacunae which do not occur in the remaining pair. The 
 three MSS. are as follows :— 
 
 Lambeth. 5. Lambeth 262. (Cited as Lb.) This is a folio volume 
 consisting entirely of Fortescue's works. It contains the 
 De NaturA Legis Natures, the Monarchia, and the 'De- 
 claration upon Certain Writings,' &c., the first-named work 
 being, I think, in a different hand from the two last. The 
 volume formerly belonged to Selden; on the top margin 
 
3[ntrotiuction. 91 
 
 of the first folio is written: 'wept •n-airoy ttiv 'EKevOepCav. J. 
 Selden.' The Mmtarchia occupies ff. 106-128. It is I 
 think all in the same hand, though the character of the 
 hand changes slightly about half way through, becoming 
 rather less formal. The handwriting is assigned to the six- 
 teenth century, and I should be inclined to place it rather 
 early in that century. The MS. is well and clearly written, 
 and the scribe has I think followed his original more closely 
 than those of the two next MSS. have done. In one case 
 at least he has preserved a defective reading which the 
 others have corrected each in his own way. For this 
 reason I place this MS. at the head of the group, though it 
 is probably not earlier than the MS. to be mentioned next. 
 
 6. Digby 198. (Cited as D^.) This is a small thinDigbyl. 
 folio. It consists, like the last, entirely of Fortescue's 
 writings, and contains the De Laudibus, the Monarchia, 
 
 and the ' Declaration upon Certain Writings,' &c., the 
 last being incomplete. The whole volume is in the same 
 hand. The Monarchia occupies fif. 48-75, On palaeo- 
 graphical grounds Mr. Macray was inclined to assign the 
 MS. to about the year 1500. For historical reasons I The scribe 
 think that the date must be put a little later, because ant. 
 of the evident protestantism of the author. In two out 
 of the four passages in which the Pope is mentioned D^ 
 alters the expression into ' the Bishop of Rome,' in one 
 passage the phrase has been omitted altogether, in the 
 remaining one it has been allowed to pass. The writing is 
 bold and vigorous, but exceedingly careless. Lacunae, 
 caused generally by the recurrence of a word or phrase, are 
 frequent ;' on the other hand, words and phrases are re- 
 peated twice, and in one instance even three times, and 
 mistakes are frequent and palpable. 
 
 7. Harleian MS. 1757. (Cited at H^.) This is a mis- Harleian 
 cellaneous volume in folio, relating mainly to English 
 history. It contains of Fortescue's works (besides the 
 Monarchia) the De Laudibus, and two copies of the ' De- 
 claration,' &c., one perfect, the other imperfect. The 
 Monarchia occupies fif. 196-203. The handwriting, ac- 
 
92 3(ntrot)uction, 
 
 cording to Mr. Thompson, is of the middle of the sixteenth 
 century. According to Lord Clermont, the copy of the 
 De Laudibus in this volume is 'in the handwriting of 
 Glover, who lived in the reign of Elizabeth^.' If this 
 refers to the first portion of the De Laudibus (for the 
 latter part is in a different hand), then the Monarchia 
 is also in Glover's hand. It ends abruptly in the middle 
 of a sentence in Chapter xv. This however is not the 
 result of mutilation, as nearly half of the last page is left 
 blank. For some reason the scribe left his work in an 
 unfinished state. It is further to be noticed that Lb. and 
 D^ conclude with Chapter xviii. This is neither due 
 to mutilation, as in the case of L, nor to incompleteness, 
 as in the case of H^ ; for at the end of Chapter xviii 
 both MSS. add the word Finis. So that we must suppose 
 either that the scribes deliberately abstained from copying 
 the last two chapters, or that this group of MSS. represents 
 an earlier edition of the work, and that the last two 
 chapters were added afterwards. 
 
 8, 9, lo. In the last place we have another group of three 
 MSS., also closely related, but in a different way from 
 those of the preceding group. For here the first MS. is 
 almost certainly the original, mediately or immediately, of 
 the other two. The three MSS. are as follows : — 
 Digby II. 8. Digby 145. (Cited as D^.) This MS. has a pathetic 
 interest, for it is in the handwriting of Sir Adrian For- 
 tescue, the grandson of the author's younger brother 
 Sir Richard Fortescue, who was attainted and beheaded 
 in 1539, probably for no other crime than fidelity to the 
 faith of his fathers^- The volume is a small folio, and 
 contains, besides the Monarchia, a copy of Piers the Plow- 
 man^, also in Sir Adrian's hand, and at the end of the 
 volume some proverbs which I differ from Lord Clermont* 
 in thinking to be by a different hand. The Monarchia 
 occupies ff. 1 31-159, and the date of the writing is fixed 
 
 ^ Works, p. 366. the 'A Text' of Piers the Plow- 
 
 2 Family History, p. 272. man, p. xxiv. But he has cer- 
 
 ' Described by Professor Skeat tainly dated the MS. too early, 
 in the Preface to his Edition of » Family History, pp. 263-5. 
 
3[ntrotiuction, 93 
 
 by the entry at the end: 'Explicit Liber . . . scriptus 
 manu propria mei Adriani Fortescue Militis, 1533.' This 
 MS. was made the basis of his text by the first editor, 
 Lord Fortescue of Credan^, and his text has been re- 
 printed practically without alteration by Lord Clermont; 
 so that the characteristics of this MS. can be easily 
 studied by any one desirous of doing so. 
 
 9. Rawlinson B. 384. (Cited as R.) This is a small Rawlinson. 
 thin folio containing miscellaneous collections on English 
 history. The Monarchia occupies ff. 42-68. It is written 
 
 in two different hands, both of about the middle of the seven- 
 teenth century. It follows closely the text of D^,^ though, 
 for reasons which will presently appear, I incline to think 
 that it was copied not immediately from D^, but from 
 some MS. which copied D^. The writer or his model 
 has modernized the language a good deal, and in one 
 instance in an absurdly mechanical way. Having in the 
 first Chapter altered the word ' tayles ' ( = tallia, tallagium), 
 not incorrectly, into ' taxes,' he applies the same inter- 
 pretation to the word in Chapter xi, where it means 
 ' entails.' 
 
 10. Cambridge University Library, 11. 3. 11. (Cited Cam- 
 as Cb.) This is a folio volume containing collections re- " ^^' 
 lating mainly to English history in the seventeenth century, 
 
 and in hands of that period. The Monarchia occupies ff< 
 314-341. The text closely follows D^. Where it differs 
 from D^, it generally agrees with R, and these coincidences 
 are I think too frequent to be accounted for by the theory 
 of two scribes independently modernizing the same original. 
 On the other hand, neither R nor Cb. copied from the 
 other, for each has lacunae which the other has not. 
 Hence we must suppose that both are copied from a text 
 which was taken from D^. But besides a text of the type 
 
 ' In the margin he gives various altogether overlooked Digby 198, 
 
 readings from Laud and Digby in spite of his predecessor's fre- 
 
 198. He says that he also col- quent references to it. For proof 
 
 lated a Cotton MS. ; but as he of this omission see especially 
 
 gives no variants it is impossible Works, pp. 336, 346. 
 to control this statement. It is ^ And therefore its readings are 
 
 curious that Lord Clermont has very seldom cited. 
 
94 
 
 31ntroDuction. 
 
 of D^, the writer of Cb. must have also had before him 
 a text of the Y type. For he has taken from it not only 
 the ' Example what good Councell helpithe,' &c.S which 
 is only found in MSS. of that type ; but also the titles 
 of Chapters viii, xii, and xiii, which are wanting in 
 R ; probably because they are crossed out in D^ Also 
 in Chapter xi he has given the peculiar title which 
 appears in Y, though he has afterwards crossed it out and 
 substituted the ordinary one. Moreover, on his own 
 motion he has not merely altered, like D^, but wholly 
 omitted all the passages in which the Pope is mentioned. 
 Epitome. Besides these ten MSS. of the Monarchia, there exists an 
 Epitome of it in Latin, under the title ' Epitome sin- 
 gularis cujusdam Politici Discursus Edwardi 4 temporibus 
 scripti,' &c. Hearne seems to have thought of publishing 
 this, for in Rawlinson Miscell. "^"^S there is a copy in his 
 handwriting headed ' Sir John Fortescue prepared for the 
 press. Thursday, Jan. 19, 1736.' The original from which 
 Hearne copied was formerly in the possession of Beaupr^ 
 Bell, Esq., Jun., by whom it was left to Trinity College, 
 Cambridge ^- The Epitome seems to have been made from 
 a MS. of the type of D^- It is occasionally cited as ' Epit.' 
 The handwriting is of the reign of James I. 
 Occasion After this review of the history of the text we may 
 position°of return to the consideration of the question before us ; viz. 
 the occasion of the composition of the Monarchia. The 
 passage on which most turns is one at the end of Chapter 
 xix, beginning : ' I blissed be oure Lord God for that he 
 hath sent King Edward the iiij* to reigne vpon us,' &c. This 
 passage is mutilated in L; Lb., D^, and H^ stop short 
 of this chapter; Y and H'^ read 'Henry VI' for 'Edward 
 IV ' ; while C, though reading ' Edward IV ' here, asserts 
 
 the Mo- 
 narchia. 
 
 ' This he regards as the first 
 chapter of the Monarchia, for he 
 says of it: 'The first chapter of 
 which Treatise ys thus verba[lly] 
 out of an old Manuscript written 
 and copied.' The 'old manu- 
 script' would be the MS. of the 
 Y type. The scribe of this MS. 
 
 was very ignorant of Latin. 
 Almost all the Latin quotations 
 are wrong. 
 
 ^ It is numbered R. 5. 18. I 
 have compared Hearne's copy 
 with the original, and found it very 
 correct. 
 
3fntronuction, 95 
 
 that the treatise was 'wrighten to King Henry the Sixt^' 
 Lord Clermont^ has summarily rejected the idea that the 
 Monarchia can have been composed for Henry VI, pointing 
 out that the references in Chapter ix to the war of the 
 Public Weal in 1465 and to the death of James H of Scot- 
 land in 1460 make it impossible that it should have been 
 written under Henry VI. But he has not remarked that Was it 
 neither of these arguments precludes the possibility of its J^g La"ncas 
 having been composed for the Lancastrian restoration oftrianre- 
 1470. And the fact that some of the most important ^'°"''^"" ^ 
 recommendations afterwards embodied in the Monarchia 
 certainly were drawn up by Fortescue for the government 
 of the restoration* entitles that idea to more serious con- 
 sideration. Much more weighty is Lord Clermont's 
 contention that the expression ' this land ' used of England 
 in Chapter x implies that Fortescue wrote the work in 
 England, and therefore after 1471. There would seem 
 then to be two main theories possible. 
 
 1. We may suppose that the Monarchia was written in Two 
 the first instance for the Lancastrian restoration of 1470, *°"^*' 
 and that it was afterwards recast by Fortescue and adapted 
 
 to Edward IV. In this case the reading of Y and H^ and 
 the heading of C would represent the original form of the 
 work. 
 
 2. The Monarchia may have been written originally for 
 Edward IV, and the scribe of Y writing under the Tudors 
 may have altered the reading to avoid shocking Tudor 
 susceptibilities. This nineteenth chapter may have been 
 mutilated in L and omitted in the original of D^, Lb., and 
 H^ for the same reason *- 
 
 ' This discrepancy struck the Rich were erased and Edw writ- 
 maker of the Index to C ; for he ten in their place, but the number 
 objects ' verum in fine laudat ' thred ' (third) was not altered. 
 Edw. 4.' This has escaped the editor (Mr. 
 
 " Works, p. 446. Stevenson), who assumes that Ed- 
 
 ' See Appendix B. ward IV is the monarch addressed. 
 
 * There is a curious parallel to But Edward IV is expressly spoken 
 
 this in the Prologue to W. Wor- of as ' your mpst nobille brodyr 
 
 cester's Collections. It was evi- and predecessoure.' Moreover, 
 
 dently first addressed to Richard after each mention of Henry VI 
 
 III. But afterwards the letters there is an erasure in the MS. ; 
 
96 3Introliuction» 
 
 Probably On the whole, the second theory seems best to account 
 
 wntten 
 under Ed- 
 
 for all the facts. In any case the Monarchia and the 
 warf IV. ' Declaration upon Certain Writings,' &c. are the two latest 
 of Fortescue's extant works. And with this discussion we 
 may bring to a close our consideration of those works. 
 Of works now lost which were attributed to Fortescue, 
 Lord Clermont^ mentions three; a genealogy of the house 
 of Lancaster, a genealogy of the Scottish kings, and a book of 
 devotion. Stowe makes a quotation from Fortescue which, 
 as far as I know, is not in any of his existing writings ^ 
 Fortescue's J shall next say a few words on Fortescue's literary 
 attata^ attainments, the extent of his reading, &c. In the De 
 ments. Laudibus, c. 49, he tells us that on festival days the 
 students in the Inns of Court and Chancery occupied 
 themselves with the reading of Chronicles and Scripture^. 
 Both these lines of study have left their mark on For- 
 Biblical tescue's works. His knowledge of the Bible was evidently 
 rical know- extensive, and comes out most strongly in the De Naturd 
 ledge. Legis Naturce, where in two chapters out of every three 
 the arguments are supported by texts of Scripture. Bibli- 
 cal quotations are also fairly numerous in the De Laudibus. 
 In the study of history Fortescue was evidently much 
 interested. I have not been able to determine with any 
 certainty whence he derived his knowledge of foreign his- 
 tory. He quotes the Chronicles of France, Spain, and 
 
 probably some such phrase as nights they vexed him with con- 
 
 ' named Kyng ' or ' Kyng in deed tinuall hunger, thirst and cold, and 
 
 butnot in right 'has been cancelled; finally- bereft him of his life, with 
 
 see English in France, ii. [521] flf. such a kinde of death as never 
 
 On the other hand, if Fortescue before that time was knowne in 
 
 himself altered the work to suit England (saith Sir John Fortis- 
 
 Edward IV, we may compare the cute).' 
 
 similar adaptation of Lydgate's " The ' talkyng of cronycles ' 
 
 poem on the Kings of England ; was one of the occupations of the 
 
 see Warkworth's Chronicle, pp. squires of the household ; Ordin- 
 
 xxii, 67-8 ; Gregory, p. 54 ; and ances, &c., p. 46. Henry VI was 
 
 the still more violent change of a great reader of Chronicles and 
 
 tone in Capgrave ; see De lUustr. Scripture ; Blakman, pp. 289, 299 ; 
 
 Henr. pp. xiii f. Whethamstede, i. 295. It was on 
 
 \ Works, p. 556. this ground that the Lords applied 
 
 J Stowe, Annals, p. 325 b: 'King to him to assist them in the refu- 
 
 Richard was imprisoned in Pom- tation of York's claim ; Rot. Pari, 
 
 frait Castle, where xv. dayes and v. 376 a. 
 
3Intronuction» 97 
 
 Denmark^; of Rome, Athens, and Sparta^. To English 
 history his references are constant, especially in the tracts 
 bearing on the Succession ; but he does not often give his 
 authorities, except in the ' Declaration upon Certain Writ- 
 ings,' where he cites the Polychronicon, Petrus Pictavensis, 
 Nicolas Trivet*, and Ralph de Diceto*. He cites also two 
 chronicles, one of which he calls the Chronicle of St. Alban's, 
 the other he calls ' Flores Cronicarum ' (sic) or ' Floras 
 Hystoriarum ° ; ' — unless these are two separate works. 
 Owing to the way in which the St. Alban's chroniclers 
 copied not only the substance, but the titles' of their pre- 
 decessors' works ^, it is impossible to say what are the 
 precise chronicles which Fortescue means. He expressly 
 says that some of these chronicles were seen by him for 
 the first time after his return from exile''. For his account 
 of the early history of Britain he may have used the 
 Chronicle of Richard Rede, of which we know that he 
 possessed a copy*. 
 
 At the end of Lord Clermont's edition of the De NaturA Authors 
 Legis Natures Lord Carlingford has placed a most useful Fortescue. 
 table of all the quotations cited in that work^ The list of 
 authors is a stately one ; and if all the works of Fortescue 
 were included, some further names would have to be added. 
 But it would be unsafe to take the list with Lord Carling- Not all 
 ford as evidence of the extent of Fortescue's reading". If y^.^^ 
 we deducted all the quotations which Fortescue took at 
 second-hand from other works, the extent of his reading 
 would probably be found to shrink considerably. The 
 
 1 Infra, Chap, ix ; De Laudibus, passage in this last chapter in 
 
 c. 54. which Fortescue maintains that 
 
 == Infra, Chap, xvi ; N. L. N. ii. the laws of England have never 
 
 c. 15. changed since the days of the 
 
 " Works, p. 526.' Britons, a passage which has been 
 
 * lb. 538-9. seriously supported by Coke, and 
 
 ° lb. 525, 539 f. no less seriously refuted by Selden 
 
 ' See e.g. Mr. Luard's preface (see Selden and Amos ad loc), 
 
 totheHistoriaAnglorumofMatth. rests perhaps on Rede, f. 6, r^, 
 
 Paris, vol. i. or on Higden, ii. 90 ff. 
 
 ' Works, p. 526. " Works, pp. 347* ff- 
 
 ' Infra, Chaps, ii, iii, and notes " lb. 346*. 
 
 thereto; De Laudibus, c. 17. The 
 
 H 
 
98 SfntcoDuction, 
 
 most important question in this relation is that of For- 
 
 tescue's Aristotelian quotations, which will therefore be 
 
 reserved till the last. 
 
 Fortescue's As to the extent of Fortescue's acquaintance with the 
 
 ance wUh Civil Law I must leave others, more qualified, to speak. I 
 
 the Civil JJJ^yg noticed elsewhere the terms of high respect in which 
 
 and Canon , _ 
 
 Law. he speaks of that system of jurisprudence^. Jh-ven higher 
 
 are the terms in which he speaks of the Canon Law, which 
 he regards as positively inspired^. In regard to this point 
 Lord Carlingford says : ' The Corpus Juris Canonici com- 
 prises five Codices : the first being the Decretum Gratiani, 
 which is divided into three parts. Fortescue refers to the 
 Decretum only, and to the two first of its parts. . . . He 
 quotes from the Corpus Glossis Diversorum Illustratum 
 published by order of Pope Gregory XIII'.' 
 His rela- Of the relation of Fortescue to St. Thomas Aquinas, 
 Aquinas .^gidius Romanus, and the Compendium Morale of Roger 
 and others, of Waltham, I have spoken at length elsewhere*. Of his 
 obligations to Vincent of Beauvais something has also been 
 said^. That he knew the latter 's De Morali Principis 
 Institutione at first-hand I regard as certain, because there 
 is a copy of it in the Rawlinson MS. which once belonged 
 to Fortescue *. For the same reason the citation of William 
 of Auvergne's Cur Deus Homo'' is probably genuine. I 
 have shown that Fortescue was well acquainted with Pog- 
 gio's translation of Diodorus Siculus*, and from the 
 numerous quotations which he makes from St. Augustine's 
 De Civitate Dei I am inclined to think that he was acquainted 
 
 ' Notes to Chap. ii. below. ' Die ° lb. This work is cited De 
 
 Geschichte des Romischen Rechts Laudibus, c. 54 ; N. L. N. i. cc. 8, 
 
 in England. . . . bleibt noch zu 18. Fortescue probably also knew 
 
 schreibein,' says Dr. Giiterbock ; the Eruditio Puerorum Rega- 
 
 Bracton, p. 2. He gives however Hum; the verse'in De Laud., c. 6, 
 
 some references. See also S. C. H. comes from the Prologue of that 
 
 "•190. work; a quotation in N. L.N., i. 5, 
 
 ^ ' Canones Spiritu Sancto af- comes from its third chapter. In 
 
 flati;' N.L.N, i.e. 31; Works, p. one case (N. L. N. ii. c. 18) 
 
 94- Fortescue quotes the Speculum, 
 
 Works, p. 355*. but I think not at first-hand. 
 
 * Notes to Chap. i. below. ' Cited De Laudibus, c. 4. 
 
 ^ Notes to Chap. ii. below. » Notes to Chap. ii. below. 
 
3[ntroDuction. 99 
 
 with it, although in one instance he confesses that he borrows 
 his citation from the Compendium Morale'^. But in other cases Second- 
 we can be pretty sure that his quotations are taken at fa^tiong"^"' 
 second-hand from other works ; thus the reference to 
 Vegetius in the De Laudibus comes from the De Regimine 
 of Aquinas^, that to Helynandus either from the Compen- 
 dium or Vincent of Beauvais^. And this may be the case 
 with regard to other isolated quotations from particular 
 authors or works*. But besides the plan of borrowing 
 from preceding writers, there were other means open to 
 the mediaeval author of decking out his work with an ap- 
 pearance of extensive learning without any very great 
 expenditure of labour. Numerous commonplace books Mediseval 
 were in existence consisting of striking passages from pi^™°"' 
 classical and ecclesiastical authors. Of these the best books. 
 known is a collection of philosophical maxims extracted 
 from the works of Aristotle (genuine and spurious), Seneca, 
 Boethius, Porphyrius, &c., and going under the name of 
 Auctoritates Aristotelis, &c. This collection appears in 
 various forms, but a certain amount of matter is common 
 to them alP Of Fortescue^s quotations from Seneca and 
 Boethius, the latter of which are fairly numerous, I can 
 only trace one or two to this source. Boethius' Consolatio 
 he may have known at first-hand. The remaining quota- 
 tions may come from the Compendium Morale, which is a 
 perfect mine of such materials. But when we come to the Aristote- 
 quotations from Aristotle the case is altered. Of these j'^^^^^g"" 
 thirty-one are from the Auctoritates, eight come from 
 
 ' Works, p. 69*. " 0'nS}a.e.oi\%i.xioi\}a^ Auctoritates, 
 
 '^ De Laudibus, c. 54. This and the various forms which they 
 quotation occurs three times in assume, see the interesting mono- 
 the De Regimine, iii. c. 21 ; iv. graph of Prantl, Sitzungsbericht d. 
 cc. 7, 10. Lord CarUngford's list bayer. Akad. d. Wissenschaften, 
 of quotations and his notes will July 6, 1867, for a knowledge of 
 supply some other instances of which I am indebted to Mr. In- 
 borrowing, gram Bywater, Fellow of Exeter 
 
 ' De Laudibus, c. I ; cf. Vincent, College, Oxford. The edition which 
 
 De Mor. Princ. Inst., c. 15 ; Com- I have used is a small 4to., printed 
 
 pendium, f. 32 a. by Gerard Leeu, Antwerp, 1488. I 
 
 * Another source from which have also used a MS. copy in the 
 
 Fortescue borrows quotations is Canonici MSS. Pat. Lat. 62. (Bod- 
 
 the Canon Law. leian Library.) 
 
 H 2 
 
100 3lntroDuction, 
 
 Aquinas, six I have failed to trace ; but with the above 
 facts before us we may safely assume that they do not 
 come direct from Aristotle ^ ; and enough has been said 
 generally to show how rash is the assumption that the 
 number of works cited by a mediaeval writer is any test of 
 the real extent of his reading. 
 Fortescue's But it was not from books alone or chiefly that Fortescue 
 of foreipT" derived his inspiration. We have seen how on his obser- 
 coimtries. yation and experience of English political life he based both 
 his constitutional theories and his suggestions of reform. 
 And there are many indications in his works that during 
 his enforced absence from England he attentively studied 
 the institutions and social condition of the countries which 
 he visited, especially France. And all that he saw there 
 only deepened his affection for the institutions of his native 
 Compari- land. France is for him the type of a despotism as op- 
 France and Posed to the constitutional monarchy of England^; and 
 England, from this fundamental difference he deduces many others 
 which he observes in the condition of the two countries ; 
 the misery of the French peasant, as compared with the 
 comfort of the English yeoman^; the readiness with which 
 taxes are granted in England, as compared vwth the 
 'grudging ' which they call forth in France*. He contrasts 
 the French and English financial systems, and notes the 
 greater value of the domains of the king and the dowry of 
 the queen in his own country®. He rejects indignantly 
 the suggestion that the English Commons would be more 
 submissive if they were made poor like the French " ; and 
 he positively exults in the greater prevalence of robbery in 
 England as compared with France and Scotland as a proof 
 of the high spirit of the people, 'which no Frenchman 
 has like unto an English man ''.' Coming to social and ad- 
 
 l Lord Carlingford's list is on upon his People Dotninio Regalij ' 
 
 this point a little misleading, for inf. Chap. iii. 
 
 he sometimes refers to the Auc- = Infra, Chap, iii; De Laudibus, 
 
 toritates, sometimes to the original cc. 29, 35, 36. 
 
 text of Aristotle, which creates the * Infra, Chaps, iv xii. 
 
 impression that Fortescue was ac- ^ lb. Chap. x. ' 
 
 quainted with the latter. « lb. Chap." xii. 
 
 ^. 'The French Kynge reynith ' lb. Chap! xiii. 
 
3IntroDuction. 
 
 ministrative points, he contrasts the English custom of 
 primogeniture with the equal division prescribed by the 
 civil law^ and the numerous small properties in England 
 with the latifundia of the French nobles ^ He compares 
 the English county with the French bailliage^ and illus- 
 trates the scale of payment of the members of his proposed 
 new council by reference to the salaries of the councillors 
 in the Parliament of Paris*. So too in matters which con- 
 cern his own profession, he compares the English and 
 French law of succession to entailed estates °; and the 
 English Inns of Court with the Universities of France*'; the 
 length of training of French and EngHsh judges'^, and 
 the comparative duration of the ' law's delays ' in the two 
 countries^. He seems too to have found that his legal French 
 did not help him much in his intercourse with natives, for 
 he says that the French spoken now-a-days is not like that 
 used by lawyers, but is deformed by barbarisms'. 
 
 ^ ' Infra regnum Anglise .... 
 filius senior solus succedit in here- 
 ditate paterna, .... quae jure civili 
 inter masculos dividenda est ; ' De 
 Laud. c. 40. 'In regno Franciae 
 viri et feminse passim dividunt 
 hereditates paternas, et in regno 
 Angliae .... filius senior omne 
 obtinet jus parentum ; ' N. L. N. ii. 
 c. 4 ; Works, p. 1 1 8. In a document 
 in Rymer, xi. 81, it is expressly 
 noted, that the prevalence of this 
 custom of subdivision in Aquitaine 
 has caused the decay of many 
 notable estates, and loss of services 
 to the crown. 
 
 " 'Raro ibidem aliqui praeter 
 nobiles reperiuntur possessores 
 agrorum . . . extra civitates ; ' De 
 Laud. c. 29. ' lb. c. 24. 
 
 * Inf. Chap. XV ; cf. App. B. 
 ° N. L. N. ii. cc. 10, 38. 
 
 * De Laud. c. 49. 
 ' N. L. N. i. 43. 
 
 * De Laud. c. 53. Waterhous 
 (P- 583) says that he had person- 
 ally known many who had been 
 ruined by the delays of the Par- 
 liament of Paris. On the length 
 of lawsuits in England, cf. Gas- 
 
 coigne, p. 109 ; Cont. Croyl. pp. 
 501-2, 513. 
 
 ' ' Vulgariter quadam ruditate 
 corrupta;' DeLaud.c.48 ; cf.Amos, 
 ad loc. The use of French in the^ 
 public administration was at this 
 time declining, and its place was 
 being taken either by English or 
 Latin. The Proceedings of the 
 Council and the Rolls of Parlia- 
 ment alike furnish evidence on this 
 point. But the most striking proof 
 is the fact that Henry V had to 
 refuse to negotiate with France in 
 French, because his ambassadors 
 were ignorant of that language ; 
 Rymer, ix. 656-9. Trevisa's re- 
 marks on the decline of French in 
 schools and in society are well 
 known ; Higden, ii. 160-1. The 
 same seems to have been true of 
 the universities. At Oxford in the 
 fifteenth century there were no 
 lectures in French ; Munim. Acad, 
 p. 302. Theyseem however to have 
 existed at an earlier date ; ib. Ixx, 
 438. Fortescue, DeLaudibus, c.48, 
 gives this absence of instruction in 
 French as a reason why Law could 
 not be studied at the universities. 
 
102 
 
 3lntrotiuction, 
 
 lUustra- From the writings of Fortescue we may gather some in- 
 
 Fortesrae's teresting illustrations of his character and opinions ; and the 
 character picture is on the whole a very pleasing one. I have already 
 
 to be found \ . ,.,.,• i-i.-- 
 
 in his writ- drawn attention to the piety and resignation which inspire 
 '"Ss- his little tract on ' Understanding and Faith,' and it is the 
 
 '*'^' same spirit which lies at the root of his belief in the 
 ultimate triumph of right and justice. It is on religious, as 
 well as, like St. Thomas, on historical grounds that he is 
 convinced that tyranny must always be short-lived^ ; and 
 he applies to the case of the evil ruler the words of the 
 Psalmist : ' I myself have seen the ungodly in great power, 
 and flourishing like a green bay tree. I went by, and lo, he 
 was gone ; I sought him, but his place could nowhere be 
 Zeal for found^.' He is as earnest for personal as for Constitutional 
 ^' liberty, and where there is any possibility of doubt the de- 
 Humanity, cision should always be in favour of freedom^. He is full 
 too of the spirit of humanity. His pen refuses to dwell on 
 the horrors of the torture-chamber*, he would rather that 
 twenty guilty persons should escape than that one guiltless 
 person should be condemned unjustly^, and he pictures to 
 himself the remorse of a brother-judge who had sentenced 
 Pride in his an innocent woman to be burned ^- He has an honourable 
 pro ession. pj-j^jg jjj ^^^ judicial profession to which he belongs, which 
 he truly remarks has furnished many illustrious names to 
 the roll of England's worthies''. He is not above a little 
 harmless vanity in the matter. He hopes that Prince 
 Edward, when he comes into his power, will make the 
 judges' dress a little more ornate, for the honour of the 
 legal profession, and the worship of the realm*. And it 
 cannot be denied that his desire to exalt the character and 
 institutions of his native land has led him sometimes into 
 
 ^ N. L. N. i. c. 7 ; Works, p. 70 ; « lb. c. 27. 
 
 cf. Aquinas, De Regim. i. c. 10. ^ lb. c. 53. 
 
 ^'Understanding and Faith,' 'lb. c. 51.' 
 
 Works, p. 489. 8 lb. On the other hand, Gas- 
 
 De Laud. cc. 42, 47 ; cf. Pecock, coigne seems to have thought that 
 
 Repressor, p. 401 : 'Jugement is the judges' dress was already too 
 
 ever to be Jouun for fredomys ornate. Formerly he says the 
 
 ^^rVL. -J- 1 judges of England were content 
 
 i-astidit calamus ea literis with lambskin instead of minever : 
 
 designare ; ' De Laud. c. 22. p. 202 
 
3Intronuction, 
 
 103 
 
 exaggerations V It is to his credit, however, that he shares Confidence 
 to the full that confidence in the capacities of parliamentary jj|en"!'^ 
 government which, as Mr. Rogers has remarked, is charac- govem- 
 teristic of the best statesmen of the period 2. The laws of™*"'" 
 England he says are most excellent, if not actually yet 
 potentially, because any defect in them can be amended in 
 Parhament^ Another point which is worthy of notice in Orthodoxy. 
 Fortescue is his extreme orthodoxy. He revokes by anti- 
 cipation anything savouring of heresy which he may have 
 written, and submits in all things to the judgement of the 
 Church*. Unlike most secular lawyers^, he is a strong Hierarchi- 
 votary of the doctrine of the supremacy of the ecclesiastical "^^^ ^'^^^' 
 over the civil power. He repeats the well-worn argument 
 that the law which directs men to the ultimate end, happi- 
 ness, is higher than that which points only to the nearer 
 end, virtue". Christ is King of all the world, and the Pope 
 is His vicar upon earth to whom all earthly powers are 
 subject, even to the kissing of his feet'. He expressly ex- 
 plains that this is not to be understood of mere spiritual 
 supremacy. Kings are subject to the Pope not only in their 
 persons, but in their temporalities. He may compel them 
 to rule their subjects justly, and punish them if they do not, 
 as Popes have done both to Kings and Emperors before 
 now. Christ the Lord of all the world has placed in the 
 hands of the Pope His vicar both swords, and he is Rex et 
 Sacerdos^. It is evident that Fortescue was strongly in- 
 fluenced by the papal reaction which followed the Council 
 of Constance. That he allowed himself to be drawn further Partizan- 
 along the path of political partizanship than we can alto- ^ 'P' 
 gether approve in the case of a man holding judicial position 
 I have already hinted^- But if he erred in this way he nobly Fidelity 
 atoned for his error by the sacrifices which he made for his sacrifice' 
 cause. Had he chosen to side less actively with Henry, he 
 
 ' Above, pp. 22, 29, notes. ^ N. L. N. i. c. 46 ; Works, p. 
 
 ''■ Gascoigne, Introduction, p. lix. 113. 
 
 ' De Laud. c. 53. '• lb. ii. c. 11 ; Works, p. 126. 
 
 * N.L.N. i.c.47; Works, p.114. * 'Declaration upon Writings,' 
 
 " e.g. Bracton ; cf. GUterbock, &c., Works, p. 535. 
 Henricus de Bracton, p. 40. " Above, pp. 50-1. 
 
I04 3[ntt:otiuction, 
 
 might no doubt have retained his position under Edward, as 
 did most of his colleagues^- But he not only gave up 
 position and property to follow his master into exile and 
 poverty, but out of his own means he helped to support his 
 master in his time of need^- 
 Fortescue's It is interesting, in conclusion, to notice briefly one or two 
 rarie5™^° Writers who were contemporary with Fortescue. The in- 
 Littieton. terest of Littleton is too exclusively legal to come under 
 consideration here. But Pecock and Gascoigne were also 
 Pecock. Fortescue's contemporaries. Andjust as Fortescue prepared 
 the way for chaises in the political world, so did Pecock in 
 Gascoigne. the ecclesiastical and intellectual world. With Gascoigne 
 the case is different. He does little more than bewail with 
 querulous iteration the prevalence of errors and abuses, and 
 has no constructive force whatever. He is as pessimistic as 
 Fortescue is optimistic. And he deals mainly with eccle- 
 siastical matters, whereas Fortescue confines himself almost 
 wholly to the political world. But they find a common 
 ground of complaint in the corruption and violence of the 
 aristocracy, to which both of them trace many of the evils 
 of the time. More interesting still is the comparison between 
 Com- Fortescue and his younger contemporary Commynes. Com- 
 
 invncs. 
 
 mynes entered the service of Charles of Burgundy in 1464^. 
 Between that date and 1470 Fortescue was on the Continent, 
 and the Lancastrian exiles were in constant communication 
 with the Court of Burgundy. Did the aged lawyer and the 
 youthful squire ever meet .'' Was it in any degree from 
 Fortescue that Commynes imbibed his admiration for the 
 English Constitution, and for those liberal principles of 
 government on which it is based*? These are questions 
 which it is worth while to ask, though it is unlikely that 
 they will ever be answered. 
 
 I have said ^ that the interest of the Lancastrian period is 
 
 ' AH Henry's judges were re- ed.Dupont, iii. i69f.,quotedabove, 
 
 appointed by Edward except the Part II. p. 59. 
 
 two Chief Justices, Fortescue and = Mdm. Liv. 1. ch. i. 
 
 Prisot. See Foss, Judges, iv. * For Commynes' views on the 
 
 390-3 ; above, p. 50, »oie. English Constitution, see Liv. iv. 
 
 ^ See Hem^f's letter in Waurin, ch. i ; v. ch. 19. * Above, p. 3. 
 
31ntrotiuction. 105 
 
 largely prospective, and in this character of the period Importance 
 Fortescue undoubtedly shares. In all the literature of the ^^^ j^ t^e 
 period which I have read, I have found no single reference seventeenth 
 
 . century. 
 
 to any of his works. But in the seventeenth century he was 
 constantly appealed to as an authority by the constitutional 
 party; and his writings played a part not altogether incon- 
 siderable in the preservation of English liberties^. 
 
 ^ See De Laudibus, ed. Amos, pp. 23, 28, 60, 74, 94-5, ii4- 
 
^ir 3Io|)n jFottescue 
 
 on tje 
 
 d^oDernance of engianu* 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE DEFERENCE BI TWENE DOMINIUM REGALE AND 
 DOMINIUM POLITICUM ET REGALE. 
 
 Ther bith ij kyndes off kyngdomes, of the wich 
 that on is a lordship caUid in laten Ijominium wgak, 
 and that other is callid iommtum polittcum et regale. 
 And thai diuersen in that the first kynge may rule' 
 his peple bi suche lawes as he makyth hymself. 
 And therfore he mey sett vppon thaim tayles and 
 other imposicions, such as he wol hym self, witk owt 
 thair assent. The secoundfe kynge may not rule his 
 peple bi other lawes than such as thai assenten unto. 
 And therfore he mey sett vpon thaim non imposi- 
 cions -witk owt thair owne assent. This diu^rsite is 
 wel taught bi Seynt Thomas, in his boke wich he 
 wrote aif regent (Eifxi "tit regemine prtncfpum. But yet it 
 is more openly tredid in a boke callid compentliuin 
 moralts pfitlosopjljie, and sumwhat bi Giles in his boke 
 ire regemine pn'ntipum. The childeryn of Israeli, as 
 saith Seynt Thomas, aftir that God hade chosen 
 thaim in populum petultarem et regnum saterUotale, were 
 ruled bi hym vndir Juges regaUter et polttice, into the 
 tyme that thai desired to haue a kynge, as tho hade 
 al the gentiles, wich we cal peynymes, that hade no 
 kynge but a man that reigned vppon thaim regalfter 
 tantum. Wzt^ wich desire God was gretly offendyd, 
 as wele for thair folie, as for thair vnkyndnes ; that 
 
no %ix 3[o&n jFortegcue on 
 
 sithyn thai had a kynge, wich was God, that reigned 
 vppon thaim poHtekily and roialy, and yet wold 
 chaunge hym for a kyng^, a verray man, that wolde 
 reigne vpon hem only roialy. And therfor^ God 
 manassyng^ hem made them to be ferde bi thondres 
 and oper gasteful thyng^j from the hevene. And 
 whan thai wolde not therby lefe thair folissh desire, 
 he charged f>e profet Samuel to declare vnto them 
 the lawe of such a kynge as thai askyd ; wich 
 amonge oper thynges said that he wolde take from 
 thaim thair lande and gyf it to his servant^i', and 
 sett thair childeryn in his cartis, and do to thaim 
 such oper many harmeful thinges, as in the v'n'f^ 
 chapiter of the first boke of kynges it mey apere. 
 Wher as bi fore that tyme, while thai were ruled bi 
 God roialy and politikely vndir Juges, it was not 
 lefull to any man for t(> take from thaim any of 
 thaire godzs, or to greve thair childeren ]>at hade not 
 offendid. Wereby it mey appere that in tho dayis 
 regtmen polttftum et regale was distyngued a regemtne 
 tantuttt regale ; and that it was bettir to the peple to 
 be ruled politekely and roialy, than to be ruled only 
 roialy. Seynt Thomas also in his said boke prasith 
 irommtum polttitum et regale, bi cause the prince that 
 reigneth bi such lordship/^ mey not frely falle into 
 tyrannye, as mey the prince that reigneth regaU'iet 
 tantuttt. And yet thai both bith egall in estate and inj 
 .J poiar, as it mey lightly be shewed and pr^ivid by| 
 infallyble reason. 
 
C|)e <©ot)ernance of Cnglann. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 WHI OON KING UEGNETH REGALITER, AND ANOTHER 
 POLITICE ET REGALITER. 
 
 Hit mey peraventur be mervellid be some men, 
 whi on reaume is a lordeship/^ only roialle, and the 
 prince therof rulith it bi his lawe caUid ^us regak ; 
 and a nother kyngdome is a lordship/^ roiall and 
 politike, and the prince therof ruhth hit bi a lawe 
 callid 5iu« pollttitum et regaU ; sithin thes ij princes* 
 bith of egal estate. To this doute it mey be an- 
 swerde in this ma.ner. The first instituczbn of thes \ 
 ij realmes vppon the incorperacion of thaim is cause ! 
 of this diu^rsite. Whan Nembroth be myght for 
 his owne glorie made and incorporate the first 
 realme, and subdued it to hymself bi tyrannye, he 
 wolde not have it gouornyd bi any o]!er rule or lawe, 
 but bi his owne wille ; bi wich and for the accom- 
 plisshment Iperof he made it. And therfore though 
 he hade thus made hym a realme, holy scripture 
 disdeyned to call hym a kynge, quia xtx Witm a wgenbo ; 
 wich thyng^ he did not, but oppressyd the peple bi 
 myght, and therfore he was a tirrauwt and callid 
 primus tirrannorum. But holy write callith hym robustus 
 benator coram iiommo. Ffor as the hunter takyth the 
 wilde beste for to sle and ete hym, so Nembroth 
 subdued to hym the peple with myght, to haue Iper 
 seruice and thair godis, vsing vppon thaim the lord- 
 ship/Jg that is callid dominium vegak tantum. Aftir 
 hym Belus that was first callid a kyngo, aftir hym is 
 
112 %n 3loi)n JForte0cue on 
 
 sone Ninus, and aftir hym other paynemes, Ipat hi 
 ensampk of Nembroth made hem . realmes, wolde 
 not haue thaim ruled bi oper lawes then be ther 
 owne wylles. Wich lawes ben right gode vndirj 
 gode princes, and thair kyngdomes bethe than most' 
 resembled to the kyngdome of God, wich reignethi 
 vpon man rulyng^ hym bi his owne will. Wherfore', 
 mony cristen princes vsen the same lawe ; and ther- 
 fore it is that pe lawes seyn, quoU prmctpt placutt, Ugfe 
 Sabet bigorftn. And thus I suppose first began in 
 Realmes iiomtm'unt tantutn regale. But aftirwarde, 
 whan mankynde was more ma^zsuete, and bettir dis- 
 posid to vertu, grete comunaltes, as was the felow- 
 ship/^ that came in to this lande witA Brute, willyng^ 
 to be vnite and made a body poUitike callid a 
 reawme, hauyng^ an hed to gou^rne it ; — as aftir the 
 sayng^ of the philisopher, euery comunalte vnyed of 
 mony parties must nedis haue an hed ; — than they 
 chese the same Brute to be per hed and kyng^. And 
 thai and he vpon this incorp^racion, instituczbn, and 
 onyng^ of hem self into a reaume, ordenyd the same 
 reaume to be ruled and justified by suche lawes as 
 thai all wolde assent vnto ; wich lawe therfore is 
 callid pollittcum, and bi cause it is ministrid bi a kyng^, 
 it is callid regale. Policia dicihir a poles, quod est 
 plures, et gcos, scientia; quo regimen politicum dicitur 
 regtmen plurium setentta sfue constlfo mmtstratum. The 
 kyng^ of Scottis reignith vppon is peple bi this 
 lawe, videlicet, regemme politico et regalf. And as Dio- 
 dorus Sic5!^lus saith in is boke be pristfe fitstortts, the 
 reawme of Egipte is ruled bi the same lawe, and 
 therfore the kyng^ therof chaungith not his lawes 
 w?t/« owt the assent of his p.eple. And in like fourme 
 as he saith is ruled the kyngdome of Saba in Felici 
 
Cf)e ©oioernance of (ZBnglanti. ns 
 
 Arabia, and the londe of Libie; and also the more 
 parte of all the reawmes of Affrike. Wich maner 
 rule and lordship/e the said Diodorus in that boke 
 praisith gretly; ffor it is not only good for the 
 prince, that mey therby ]?e more surely do justice 
 than bi is owne arbitrment ; but it is also good for 
 his peple J^at resseyue thair bi such justice as thai 
 desire thaimself. Now as mesemyth it is shewid 
 openly ynough, whi on kynge reignith vpon is peple 
 Bominio tantum repli, and that other reignith bominfo 
 polttt'to ft regalf ; ffor that on kyngdome be ganne of 
 and bi the might of the prince, and that o\er be 
 ganne bi the desire and instituczbn of the peple of 
 the same prince. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 HERE BIEN SHEWED THE FRUYTES OF JUS REGALE AND 
 THE FRUYTES OF JUS POLITICUM ET REGALE. 
 
 And how so be it that \& Ffrenche kyng^ reignith 
 vppon is peple Uorainto replf, yet Seynt Lowes some 
 tyme kyng^ ther, nor eny of his progenitors sette 
 neu^ tayles or o\er imposicion vppon the peple of 
 \at lande with owt the assent of f e iij estates, wich 
 whan thai bith assembled bith like to the courte of 
 the pflHement-in Ingelonde. And this ordre kepte 
 many of his successours in to late day«>, that 
 Ingelonde men made suche warre in Ffraunce, that 
 the iij estates durst not come to gedre. And than for 
 
"4 %>ix 3!oi)n jFottescue on 
 
 that cause and for gret necessite wich the Ffrench 
 kynge hade of goode for the defence of pat lande; 
 he toke vpon hym to sett tayles and oper imposicions 
 vpon the co»2mons wz't^owt the assent of the iij 
 estates ; but yet he wolde not sett any such charges, j 
 nor hath sette, vp/on the nobles for fere of rebilHon.] 
 And bi cause the co»«mons per, though thai haue 
 grucched, haue not rebelHd or beth hardy to rebelle, 
 the Ffrench kyng^^ haue yerely sithyn sette such 
 charges vpon them, and so augmented the same 
 charges, as the same commons be so impou^rysshid 
 and distroyed, pat thai mowe vnneth leve. Thai 
 drinken water, thai eyten apples, witA brede right 
 / browne made of rye ; thai eyten no flesshe but yf it 
 be right seldon a litle larde, or of the entrales and 
 heydes of bestis slayn for the nobles and marchaunt^j' 
 of the lande. Thai weren no wolen, but yf it be a 
 pouere cote vndir thair vttermest garnement, made 
 of grete ca?^nuas, and callid a frokke. Thair hausyn 
 beth of lyke ca^nuas, and passyn not thair kne, wher 
 fore thai beth gartered and ther theis bare. Thair 
 wyfes and childeren gone bare fote ; thai mowe in 
 non oper wyse leve. For somme of thaim pat were 
 wont to pay to his lorde for his tenement, wich he 
 hiryth by the yere, a scute, payith nowe to the kynge 
 ouer pat scute .v. scutes. Wher thurgh thai be 
 arted bi necessite so to wacch, labour, and grubbe in 
 the ground for thair sustenance, that thair nature is 
 wasted, and the kynde of hem broght to noght. Thai 
 gon crokyd, and ben feble, not able to fight, nor to 
 defende J^e realme ; nor thai haue wepen, nor money 
 to bie thaim wepen wttk all. But verely thai livea 
 in the most extreme pou^rtie and mis^rie, and yet 
 dwellyn thai in on the most fertile reaume of the 
 
C6e ©otiernance of Cnglanti. us 
 
 worlde. Werthurgh the Ffrench kyng^ hath not 
 men of his owne reaume able to defende it, except 
 his nobles, wich beyren non such imposicions, and 
 ther fore thai ben right likely of thair bodies ; bi 
 wich cause the said kynge is compellid to make his 
 armeys and retenues for the defence of his lande of 
 straung^rs, as Scotte^, Spaynard^i', Arrogoners, men 
 of Almeyn, and of o]>er nacz'ons, or ellis all his 
 enymes myght ou^^renne hym ; for he hath no 
 defence of his owne except is castels and fortresses. 
 Lo this is the frute of his %m regale. Yf the reaume i 
 of Englonde, wich is an He, and therfor mey not 
 lyghtly geyte soucor^ of other landes, were rulid 
 vndir such a lawe, and vndir such a prince, it wolde 
 be than a pray to all oper nacions ])at wolde conqwer, 
 robbe, or deuouir it ; wich was well provid in the 
 tyme of the Bretons, when the Scott^^^ and the 
 Pyctes so bete and oppressid this lande, fat the 
 peple therof sought helpe of the Romayns, to whom 
 thai hade be tributori. And when thai coude not be 
 defende be thaym, thai sought helpe of the Duke of 
 Bretayn tho called litle Bretayn, and grauntid ther- 
 fore to make his brother Costantyne per kyng^. 
 And so he was made kyng^ here, and reigned many 
 yeres, and his childirren aftir hym, of wich gret 
 Artour was one of thair issue. But blessyd be God, 
 this lande is rulid vndir a bettir lawe ; and therforei 
 the peple therof be not in such peynurie, nor ther by 
 hurt in thair persons, but thai bith welthe, and haue! 
 all thinges nescessarie to the sustenance of nature. 
 Wherfore thai ben myghty, and able to resiste the 
 adu^rsaries of this reaume, and to beete oper reaumes 
 that do, or wolde do them wronge. Lo this is the 
 fruyt of 3JttS pollitftum et regale; vndre wich we live. 
 
 I 2, 
 
 V 
 
ii6 %it 3Iof)n jrotteisicue on 
 
 Sumwhat now I haue shewid the frut*5 of both lawes, 
 ut n imttihrn torum cognostetis fos. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HERE IS SHEWED HOW THE REUENUES OF 
 FFRAUNCE BYN MADE CRETE. 
 
 SiTHYN our kyng^ reignith vpon vs be lawes more 
 fauerahle and good to vs, ]>an be the lawes by the 
 whiche ])e Ffrench kyng^ rulith his peple, hit is 
 reason ]>at we be to hym more good and more 
 profitable than be the sugett^j of the Ffrench kynge 
 vnto hym ; wich it wolde seme that we be not, con- 
 sideryng^ ]?«t his subiectt^^ yelden to hym more in 
 a yere, than we do to owre soferayn lorde in ij 
 yeres, how so be it ]>at thai do so ayenst thar willes. 
 Neuer the lesse when it is considerid, how a kyng^^ i 
 office stondith in ij thyng^j, on to defende his 
 reaume ayen ]?air enemyes outwarde bi the swerde ; 
 an other that he defende his peple ayenst wronge ', 
 doers inwarde bi justice, as hit apperith bi the said 
 first boke of kyng^^ ; wich ]?e Ffrench kyng^ dothe 
 not, though he kepe J ustice be twene sublet and 
 subget; sithin he oppressith thaim more hym self, 
 than wolde haue done all the wronge doers of ]?e 
 rea-ume, fough thai hade no kyng^. And sithyn it 
 is a synne to gyve no meyte, drynke, clothyng^ or 
 other almes to hem that haue nede, as shal be de- 
 clared in the day off- dome ; how muche a greter 
 
Cbe <Sotietnance of CnglanD. 
 
 117 
 
 synne is it to take from the pore man is meyte, is 
 drinke, his clothyng^, and all that he hath nede off. 
 Wich werely doth the Ffrench kynge to mony a 
 thowsande of his subiect^j, as it is be fore openly 
 declared. Wich thyng^ ]7ough it be nowe colourid 
 per fu8 wgale, yet it is tyranne. Ffor, as Seynt 
 Thomas saith, wha» a kyng^ rulith his reaume only 
 to his owne pr£>fite, and not to the good off is 
 subiecte^, he is a tyrant. Kynge Heroude reignid 
 vppon ]>e Jues Iromtm'o rcgalt; yet when he slowe the 
 childeren off Israeli, he was in that a tyrant, though 
 the lawes seen, quotJ prfncipt placuft, legis Jabet bigo«m. 
 Wherfore Acab, wich reigned vppon the childeren 
 of Israeli bi like lawe, and desired to haue hade 
 Nabothe his subgect^^ vyne yerde, wolde not by 
 that lawe take it ffrom hym, but proierid hym the 
 value thereof. Ffor theys wordes seid to the pro- 
 fete, prebic ti% jus regis, beth not ellis to say but, 
 pretrfc ets potestatem regis. Wherfore as ofte as such 
 a kyng^ dothe any thyngi? ayenst the lawe of God, 
 or ayenst J>e lawe off nature, he dothe wronge, 
 not witk stondynge the said lawe declared by the 
 prophete. And it is so, that the lawe off nature; 
 woll in this case, ]>at the kynge shulde do to his 
 subgett^^, has he wolde ben done to hym self, yff he 
 were a subget; wich mey not be that he wolde be 
 almost distroied as bith pe commons off Ffraunce. 
 Wherfore, al be it that the Ffrench kyng^5 reuenues 
 ben by suche meanes moche gratter than be the 
 revenues wich J?e kynge owre sou^rayn lorde hath 
 off vs, yet thai ben not goodly taken, and the myght 
 of his reaume is nerehande distroyed therby. By 
 wich consideracion I wolde nat that the kynges 
 revenues of this reaume were made grette by any 
 
ii8 %ix 3Iof)n iFortegcue on 
 
 such meane. And yet of necessite thai muste be 
 gratter than thai bith at this day. And trewly it is 
 veray necessarie that thay be alwey grete ; and that 
 the kyngg haue habundantly wherewith his estate 
 mey be honorably kepte ffor ryght mony causes, off 
 wech some shall nowe be remenbred. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE HARME THAT COMYTH OFF A KYNGES 
 POVERTE. 
 
 Ffirst, yff a kyng^ be pore, he shall bi nescessite 
 make his expences, and by all Jjat is necessarie to 
 his estate, by creaunce and borowyng^ ; wher through 
 his creauncers woUe wynne vpon hym the iiij*'i or 
 the v*'^ pene of all that he dispendith. And so 
 he shall lese whan he payith, the iiij^li or the -v^^ 
 pene of his revenues, and thus be therby alway 
 porer and porer, as vser and chevisaunce encressith 
 the pou^rte off hym that borowith. His creauncers 
 shul alway grucche ffor lake of thair paymente, and 
 defame his highnes off mysgouernance, and defaute 
 of kepyng^ of days; wich yf he kepe, he most 
 borowe also much at the dayw, as he didd firste; 
 ffor he shalbe than pou^?-er than he was by the 
 value of the iiij*^ or v^^ .parte of his first expences, 
 and so be alway pouerer and pou^rer, vnto the 
 tyme he be the pou^rest lorde of his lande. Ffor 
 such man^r of borowyngg makith the grete lordis to 
 
^U <Sot)ecnancc of OEnglanD, 119 
 
 be pou^rer than thair ten^nto. What dishonor;' 
 is this, and abatyng^ of the glorie of a kyng^. But 
 yet it is -most to his vnsuyrte. For his subgett^s' 
 woU rather goo witA a lorde pat is riche, and mey 
 pay thair wages and expenses, then witA thair kyng^ 
 pat hath noght in his purse, but thai most s^rue 
 hym, yf thai wil do so, at thair owne dispenses. 
 Item, yf the kyng^ be pouere, he shall of necessite 
 make his giftes and rewardes by asseignement^^y, for 
 wich he shall haue but litle thanke. For the pou^re 
 man hade leu^r an c. marke in hande, then an c. ii. 
 bi asseignement, wich perauentur shall cost hym 
 right miche or he can gete his payment, and per- 
 auent«/r be neu^r paid therof. And often tymes for 
 lake of money the kyng^ shall be fayne to gyf awey 
 his lande to such as wolde haue ben feyn^r of a c. ii 
 in hand, than' of xl. ii worth lande yerely, to the 
 grete abatyng^ of his revenues and depopolacion of 
 his reaume. But the grettest harme that comyth 
 of a kynges pou^rte is, that he shal bi necessite be 
 arted to. fynde exquysite meanes of geytingg of 
 good ; as to putt defaute in some of his subgett^i' ' 
 pat bith innocent^j, and vpon the riche men more 
 pen the pore, by cause that he mey bettir pay ; and 
 to shew rigoure per as (auour awght to be shewid, 
 and fauour per as rigour shuld be shewid, to per- 
 version of Justice, and perturbacion of the peas and 
 quiete of the reaume. For, as the philosepher saith 
 in his Eytikes, Imposstbfle t%t (niiigjntem operart bona. 
 Hit nedith not now to specifie mo of the harmes 
 wich comyth to a reaume bi the pouerte of per 
 kynge, how be it thai bith mony mo than we haue 
 shewid yet ; for euery wise man mey se ham openly 
 i now. But we most holde it for vndouted, pat ther 
 
.20 %n 3Iolbn JFottescue on 
 
 mey no reaume pr^spere, or be worshlpfull, vndir a 
 poure kynge. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ORDINANCE FFOR THE KYNGES ORDINARIE CHARGES. 
 
 And sithyn it is necessarie that the kynge be 
 alway riche, wich may not be wztA owt he haue 
 revenues sufficiant for the yerely mayntenance of 
 his estate; it is behouefull that we furst esteme, 
 what his erly charges and expences bith likely to 
 drawe vnto. Ffor aftir that nedith his reuenues 
 to be pr(?porcIoned ; but yet thai nedu;? to be 
 gretter than woU be the charges, for doute of soden 
 cases, wich mey falle to hym and to his reaume. 
 Ffor Seynt Bernarde saith, ]pat yf a mg^nnes ex- 
 penses be egall to his livelode, a soden chaunce 
 mey distroye his estate. The kynges yerely ex- 
 penses stonden in charges ordinarie, and in charges 
 extra ordinarie. His charges ordinary mey not be 
 eschewed, and therfore It nedith jiat therbe lyvelode 
 asseigned ffor the payment therof ; wich lyvelode be 
 in no wyse putte to no other vse. And yff it happen 
 that any patent be made of any parte therof to o]>er 
 vse, pat thanne pat patent be voide and of non 
 effect. Wich thyng^ yff hit be ffermely estableshed, 
 the kynges ordinarie charges mey alway be paid in 
 hande, and the provision ffor hem mey alway be 
 made in seson ; wich shalbe worth to the kynge the 
 
Cbe (25oticrnance of CnglanD. 121 
 
 iiijth or the v^^ parte of the quantite of his expenses 
 for ordinarie charges. This may in nothinge restrane 
 the kyngis pover. Ffor it is no poiar to mowe aliene 
 and put away; but it is power to mowe haue and 
 kepe to hym self. As it is no poiar to mowe synne, 
 and to do ylle, or to mowe to be seke, wex olde, or 
 that a man may hurte hym self. Ffor all thes 
 poiars comen of impotencie. And therfore thay 
 mey properly by callid nown poiars. Wherfore the 
 holy sprites and angels, j^at'mey not synne, wex old, 
 be seke, or hurte ham selff, haue more poiar than 
 we, that mey harme owre selff wzt^ all thes defautes. 
 So is the kynges power more, in that he may not 
 put ffrom hym possescions necessaries for his owne 
 sustenance, than yff he myght put ham ffrom hym, 
 and aliene the same to his owne hurte and harme. 
 Nor this is ayen the kyng^^ pr^ogatiff, be wich he 
 is exaltid above his subgett^J ; but rather this is to 
 hym a pr«"ogatiff. Ffor no man saue he mey haue 
 ayen the lande ]>at he hath oms aliened. This 
 livefode asseigned ffor the ordinarie charges shall 
 aftirwarde be neu^r askid off the kyng, nor his 
 highnes shall thynke ffor Ipat, that he hath ])e more 
 livelode to be given awey; but be reason? hereoff 
 he will ]?e more restrayn his yeftis off olper off his 
 livelod, co«sideryng^ ]>at than it woll not be grette, 
 and therfore he shall haue more nede off it then 
 thai that will aske it. The ordenarie charges, wich; 
 ]5e writer hereoff can nowe remenbr, be thies ; the 
 kyng^j housholde, his warderobe. And how so be 
 it pat the kyng^ liste now, or will hereaftir, make 
 his howshold lesse than it was wonned to be ; yet 
 his highnes shall pa.n haue therfore abouute his 
 persone, ffor his honour and suyrte, lordes, knyghtes, 
 
122 %K 3[of)n jFortescue on 
 
 and sqviers, and dper, in also grete nombr, or gretter 
 than his howsolde was wonned to be, to his charges 
 peraduentur also gretly, as his houshold well ruled 
 was wonned to stonde hym inne. Wher fore here- 
 inne it nedith not to considre or to purvey, but only 
 ffor the kyng^5 house, wich he may resume or 
 chaunge in to his new maner, or other fourme at 
 his pleasur, and as it shalbe thought aftir the seasons 
 most expedient. The expenses off wich housholde 
 mey sone be estemed by the wich off olde tyme 
 haue be officers therin, and bi the clerkys off 
 jtheschekquer. The secounde ordinarie charge is 
 the payment off the wages and fifees off the kyng^^ 
 grete officers, his courtes, and his counsell. Wich 
 charge woU alwey be grete, and thies men nedu;^ to 
 be alway redely payid. Ffor indigens in ham is 
 not only vnworshipfuU, but it mey do the most 
 harme ])at mey falle of eny nede in any estate of 
 the lande, aftir the kyng^^ most gr^te estate, pe 
 j thirde charge ordinarie is the payment of the kepyng 
 [ of the marches, wher in we beyre moch gretter 
 charges yerely than done the ScotteV, wich often 
 tymes is for the ffauour yat we do to the p^rsones 
 'pat kepe ham, wich ffauour^ pe ScotUs do not. The 
 iijj^li charge is the kepyng off Caleis, wich charge is 
 welynoghe knowen. fJejv*^ charge is ffor the kyng^^ 
 werkes, off wich pe yerely expenses mey not be es- 
 temede, but yet J^e accoumptes off the clerkes off 
 the -werkes wollyn shewe pe likenes peroff, wile pe 
 kynge makith no new werk^^. The kepyng^ off the 
 see I reken not amonge the ordinarie charges, how 
 be it the charge peroff is yerely borne, bi cause it 
 is not estimable, and the kynge hath therfore pt 
 subsidie off pondage and tonnage. Nor the lesse\ 
 
C&e (J5ot)ernance of CnglanD, 123 
 
 be that reason pondage and tonnage mey not be 
 rekenned as p«rcell off the revenues wich the kynge \ 
 hath ffor the mayntenance off his estate, bi cause it 
 aught to be appHed only to Jje kepynge off the see.-j 
 And though we haue not alwey werre vppon the 
 see, yet it shalbe nescessarie pat the kynge haue 
 alway some ffloute apon the see, ffor the repressynge 
 off rovers, sauynge off owre marchaz^nte^, owre 
 ffishers, and the dwellers vppon owre costes ; and 
 ]>at the kynge kepe alway some grete and myghty 
 vessels, ffor the brekynge off an armye when any 
 shall be made ayen hym apon J^e see. Ffor thanne 
 it shall be to late to do make such vessailles. And 
 yet W2t^ owt thaym all the kynges navey shallnot 
 suffice to borde with carrikkes and dper grete ves- 
 sailles, nor yet to mowe breke a myghty ffloute 
 gadered off purpose. Now, as I suppose, we haue 
 rekened ]je grettest parte off the kynges ordinarie 
 charges. Wherfore we woll considre next his extra 
 ordinarie charges, also ferre as mey be possible 
 to vs. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE KYNGES EXTRAORDINARIE CHARGES. 
 
 The kynges extraordinarie charges bith so casuelle,! 
 \>at no man mey knowe hem in certaynte. But yetf 
 he may esteme what somme thai bith not like to; 
 excede, but yff ]>er ffall a case ouer moch exorbitant ; 
 
124 %it 3Iof)n jTortescue on 
 
 and than it shalbe reasone, and also necessarie, ]>at 
 \ all the reaume beyre ffor pat case a syn'guler charge. 
 Such off the said extmordinarie charges as the 
 writer hereoff can now remenbr be theis. Ffirst Ipe 
 kyng shall often tymes sende owt off this lande his 
 ambassatours, as well to the pope, as to diu^rse 
 kyng^i', prynces, and nacions ; and oper while he 
 shall sende his procuratours and messengers to the 
 counselles gen^ralles. Wich ambassatours, pr^cura- 
 tours, and messengers shall nede to be honorably 
 accompanyed, and well be sene, alsowell ffor the 
 worship^g off pe reaume, as ffor the avaunsyngg off 
 pe maters ffor wich thai shalbe sende, to pe kyng^^ 
 right grete charge, wich shalbe more or lesse, aftir 
 thair longe or shorte demure in thair viage. Item, 
 the kynge shall beyre yerely charges vnknowen in 
 receyvinge off ligat^i' and messengers sende ffrom 
 the pope, and off ambassatours sende ffrom kynges 
 and oper princes, and also ffrom grete com»«unalties 
 bi yonde j^e see, wich will putt pe kyng to grete 
 expenses while thai bith here, and at thair depart- 
 ynge thai most nedzs haue grete giftes and rewardes ; 
 ffor pat be sitith pe kyng^5 magnificence and liberalite, 
 also it is necessarie ffor the worship off his reaume. 
 Item, sithen it is not gode pat he rewar^e such as do, 
 and shall do to hym s^ruice, or oper maner off 
 pleasures, w«t^ pe possescions and revenues of his 
 crovne, nor wz't^ other possescions off his inherit- 
 ance ; — ffor thai be moch more necessarie for the 
 sustenance off his grete estate ; — hit shall ther fore 
 be necessarie, pat the kynge make such rewardes 
 wzt,^ money owt off his cofers, and pat somme off 
 hem haue so largely perdff, as thai mey bie thaim 
 lande witA all, yff thai will. Ffor be this meane pe 
 
Cbe (J5ot)ernance of aEngiano. 125 
 
 kynges estate shall alwey be kept vnblemyshed. And 
 off somwe man is highnes shall haue more thanke 
 ffor money then ffor lande ; and also money is the 
 most convenient rewarde to hym ])at hath not longe 
 s^rued. This charge woU all wey be grete, and so 
 inestimable grete, Ipat in somme. yere a grete lord^j- 
 lyvelod shalnot suffice to beyre it, though he wolde 
 selle grete parte per of. And trewly, when j^e kyng 
 rewardith is servantej in this maner, he shewztk 
 grete ffauour to all his reaume. Item, it shall nede 
 ]>at the kyng haue such tresour, as he mey make 
 new bildyng^^ whan he woll, fifor his pleasure and 
 magnificence ; and as he mey bie hym riche clothes,; 
 riche furres, oper than be wonned to fall vndre pe 
 yerely charges off his warderober, rich stones, serpes, 
 bauderikes, and olper juels and ornament^5 conue- 
 nyent to his estate roiall. And often tymes he woll 
 bie riche hangyng^j and other apparell ffor his 
 howses; vessaill, vestmenti?^, and oper ornamented 
 for his chapell ; bie also horses off grete -price, 
 trappers, and do other suche nobell and grete costes, 
 as bi sitith is roiall mageste, off wich it is not now 
 possible to the writer hereof to remenbr the especial- 
 liteis. Ffor yff a kyng did not so, nor myght do, he 
 lyved then not like his estate, but rather in miserie, 
 and in more subgeccion than doth a prmate person. 
 Jtem, the kynge shall often tymes sende his comis-i 
 sioners in gret myght, and also his juges, to represse; 
 and punysh riatours and risers ; ffor wich cause he 
 shall odre whiles ride in his owne person myghtely 
 accompanyed. Wich thyng^ wolnot be done w?t^| 
 owt grete costes ; fifor no man is bounde to seme ^ 
 hym in suche cases at his owne dyspenses. Item, yff i 
 ther come a sodayne armye vpon this londe by see 
 
126 ©it 3[of)n jFortescue on 
 
 I or by lande, ]>e kyng most encomptre them wtt^ a 
 llyke armye, or a gretter; fifor pe expenses wheroff 
 he shall not so sadanly haue any eyde off his peple. 
 Wherfore he most than do the expences wM money 
 owt off his cofers, or put all is lande in jopardie. Loo 
 now we haue remenbred grete parte off the kyng^i' 
 extr^ordinarie charges ; and be ffore we haue shewid 
 grete parte off his ordinarie charges. Wherfore now 
 it is tyme pat it be shewid, how the kyng^ mey haue 
 revenues and livelode sufficient to beyre theis ij 
 charges. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 YFF THE KYNGES LIVELODE SUFFICE NOT, HIS 
 SUBGETTES AUGHT TO MAKE HIT SUFFICIENT. 
 
 Hit is shewid be ffore, how necessarie it is Ipat 
 Hvelod sufficient be asseigned ffor the kynges ordi- 
 narie charges, and that the same Hvelod be only 
 applied therto, and not aliened in tyme comyng^* 
 Ffor that asseigneme;«t mey in no wise hurte \>e kyng, 
 I consideryng^ 'pat yff any parte off j^e revenues perofi 
 ! remayne ouer the paieme»t of the same ordynarie 
 chargis, that so remaynynge is the kynges owne 
 I money, wich he mey than imploye to oper vse at is 
 1 owne pleasur. And it is vndouted that the kynge 
 hath livelode sufficient wich mey be soo asseigned 
 for his ordinarie charges. Wherfore we haue now 
 no thyng ellis to be sercched, but what lyvelod pe 
 kyng hath ffor the payment off his charges extraor- 
 dinarie, ouer so moche Hvelod as shalbe asseigned 
 
Cf)e <J5ot)etnance of OEnglanD. 127 
 
 ffor his charges ordinarie ; and yff he haue not live- 
 lod sufficient perto, how than his livelod mey be 
 made sufficient. Ffor his reaume is bounde by 
 right to susteyne hym in enery thyng necessarie to 
 his estate, Ffor, as Seynt Thomas saith, ^ex batut 
 propter regnum, et non repum propter regem. Wherfore all 
 that he dothe owith to be referred to his kyngdome. 
 Ffor though his estate be Ipe highest estate temporaW 
 in ])e erthe, yet it is an office, in wich he mynestrith 
 to his reaume defence and justice. And therfore he 
 mey say off hym selff and off his reaume, as the pope 
 saith off hym selff and off the churche, in Ipat he 
 writithe, geruus seruorum IBti By wich reason, ryght' 
 as euery seruant owith to haue is sustenance off hym 
 ])at he s^^ueth, so aught }>e pope to be susteyned by 
 the chirche, and the kyng by his reaume. Ffor 
 nemo Uebet proprife expensts mtlttare. And owre lorde 
 saith, trtgnus est operarius tibo suo. Wherfore Ipe 
 appostill saith, commbm'cet is qui cate?t?atur berbo, et qui 
 se £ate?i?at, in omnibug bonis. Wherfore sithen euery 
 reaume is bounde to susteyn is kyng, yet moch more 
 be we bounde ther to, vppon whom owre kyng 
 reignith by so ffau^rable lawes as is befifore de- 
 clared. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 HERE HE SHEWITH THE PERELLIS THAT MEY COME TO 
 • THE KYNG BY OUER MYGHTYE SUBGETTES. 
 
 But sithyn the said extraordinarie charges bith 
 so vncertayne J?«t thai be not estymable, hit is not 
 
128 %ix 3lot)n jFortescue on 
 
 possible to putt in certayne, what lyvelod will yerely 
 suffice to beyre ham. Wherfore we nede in this 
 case to vse coniecture and yniaginacion, as to thynk 
 that 'per is no lordis livelod in Englond sufficient to 
 beyre the kyng^J' ext^'aordinare charges. Then 
 : nedith it pat the kynges livelod, aboff such reuenues 
 as shalbe asseigned for his ordinare charges, be 
 i gretter than the livelod off the grettest lorde in 
 i Englande. And p^rauenture, whan livelod sufficient 
 ffor the kynges ordinarie charges is lemitted and 
 asseigned therto, hit shall apere, that diu^rse lordis 
 off Englande haue also moch livelode off thair owne, 
 as than shall remayne in the kyng^^ handes ffor his 
 extraordinarie charges ; wich were inconvenient, and 
 wold be to the kynge right dredefuU. For than such 
 a lord mey dispende more then the kyng^, con- 
 sidering^ pat he is charged wttA no such charges 
 extraordinarie or ordinarie as is the kyng, except an 
 houshold, . wich is but litle in comparison off the 
 kynges house. Wherfore yfif it be thus, it shalbe 
 necessarie, pat ther be p^ifrveyid ffor the kyng moch 
 gretter livelod than he hath yet. For ma.ms corage 
 is so noble, pat naturally he aspirith to high thing^j, 
 and to be exaltid, and perfore enforsith hym selff to 
 be alway gretter and gretter. Ffor wych the philo- 
 sopher saith, omnia amamus srt printfpari mams. Wherof 
 it hath comy^z pat oftyn tymes, when a siibget hath 
 hade also gret livelod as his prince, he hath anon 
 aspired to pe estate of his prmce, wich by such a 
 man mey sone be gote. Ffor the remenante off the 
 subgett55 off such a prznce, seyng pat yff so myghty 
 a subget myght opteyne pe estate off thair prmce, 
 thai shulde than be vndir a prince double so myghty 
 as was thair old prmce ; — wich encrease any subget 
 
^tt (J5ot)crnance of €ngIanD, 129 
 
 desirith, ffor his owne discharge off ]>at he beyrith to 
 the sustenance off his prmce ;— and therfore wolbe 
 right gladde to help such a subgett in his rebillion. 
 And also such an enterprise is the more ffeseable, 
 when such a rebell hath more riches than his souer- 
 ayne lorde. Ffor the peple will go wttk hym Ipat 
 best mey susteyne and rewarde ham. This maner 
 off doynge hath be so ofte practised nerehande in 
 euery reaume, ]>at thair cronicles be full off it. In 
 the reaume off Ffraz^nce was neuer chaunge off thair 
 kynge, sithyn it was ffirst inabyted by Ffrench men, 
 but by )je rebillion off such myghty subgett^i-; as 
 Hyldericus kyng off Ffraunce, dissended off Clodone, 
 wich was ffirst Cristen kyng off Ffraunce, was putt 
 doune by Pepyne son to Caroll?^.^ Marcellus, wich 
 was the most myghty subget Ipat into that tyme was 
 euer sene in Ipe reaume off Ffraunce. And aftirwarde 
 Charles, discended off Carolus Magnus, sonne to the 
 said Pepyne by ix. or by x. generacions, was put ffrom 
 the kyngdome of Ffraunce by Hugh Capite, sonne 
 to Hugo Magnus, Erie of Paris, wich tho was the 
 myghtieste subgett off Ffraunce, and therfore create 
 and callid 3Sux Jffranttce. And in owre dayzs we haue 
 sene a subgett off the Ffrench kynges in such myght, 
 ]>at he hath gyven bataill to the same kyng, and putt 
 hym to flight, and aftirwad besegett hym beyng in 
 Paris is grettest cete, and soo keppid thair, vnto Ipe 
 tyme his said kyng hade made such ende witk hym, 
 his adherent^J', and fauctours, as he desired. We) 
 haue also sene late in owre reaume, som^^e off the 
 kynge.? subgette.y gyff hym bataill, by occasion \>at 
 thair livelod and offices were pe grettest off J^e lande, 
 and ellis thai wolde not haue done soo. ' 
 
 The Erlis of Lecestir and Glocestre, wich were ]>& \ 
 
 K 
 
I30 ^ir 3lof)n jTorteieicue on 
 
 Igrettest lord^^ off Englond, rose ayenest thair kynge 
 ' Herre the iij^e, and toke hym and his sonne presoners 
 ' in the ffelde. Wich maner off demeyny^g^ the kyng 
 off Scottw pat last dyed dredyng to be practysed in 
 his lande, putt owt off the same lande ]>e Erie 
 Douglas whos livelod and myght was nere hande 
 equivalent to his owne, moved perto be no other 
 cause, saue only drede off his rebyllion. The crony- 
 cles off euery reaume, and in especiall off Spayne and 
 Denmarke, bith full off such ensamples; and so 
 bith also the bokis off kyng^^ in holy scripture; 
 wherfore it nedith not to write mor herein. And 
 also it mey not be eschewid, but \>at the grete lordis 
 off ]?e lande by reason off nev dissent^^ ffallyng vnto 
 ham, by reason also off manages, purchasses, and 
 oper titles, shall often tymes growe to be gretter than 
 thai be now, and perauentur somme off hem to be 
 off livelod and poiar like a kyng ; wich shalbe right 
 god ffor the lande while thai aspire to non hygher 
 estate. Ffor such was pe Duke of Lancastre, pat 
 warred pe kynge off Spayne, on off the myghtiest 
 kynges off Cristendome, in his owne reaume. But 
 this is writun only to the entent pat it be well vnder- 
 stande, how necessarie it is pat the kynge haue grete 
 possescions, and peculier livelod ffor his owne suirte ; 
 namely, whan any of his lordis shall happen to be so 
 excessyuely grete, as ther mought therby groue 
 \p^rell to his estate. For certanly ther mey no 
 grettir pereW growe to a prince, than to haue a 
 subgett equepolent to hym selff. 
 
Cfje (Sotiernancc of (ZBnglanD. 131 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 HOW THAT THE CROVNE IS BESTE TO BE INDOWED. 
 
 Now that the lykennes off the kynges charges 
 ordinarie and extraordinarie bith shewid, and ouer 
 that, how necessarie it is that he haue grete Hvelod 
 aboff Jje same charges, in wich it nedyth Ipat he 
 excede gretly eu^ry man off the lande, wych Hvelod 
 vndoutedly he hath not at f>is day ; hyt is therfore 
 byhouefull Ipat we now serch how the kyng mey haue 
 such Hvelod ; but fifirst, off what comodites it mey 
 best be take. The kyng off Ffraunce myght not 
 sumtyme dyspende off his demaynes, as in lorde- 
 shipp^s, and o]>er patrimo^ie peculier, so mich as 
 myght tho the kynge off England ; wich mey well 
 appere be that the qwene off Ffraunce hath but v. 
 M marke yerely to huyr doner, wheras the qwene 
 off Englond hath x. m marke. Ffor in tho dayts 
 ther was but litle more off the reaume off Ffraunce in 
 the kynges hand^.y, but pat parte wich is callyd the 
 He off Ffraunce. Ffor all the remenant off the 
 reaume as Burgonye, Normandye, Guyne, Cham- 
 payne, Langdok^, and FflaunderSj wttk mony oper 
 such grete lordship/^s, were than in the hand^i' off 
 the Dussepers, and off dper pre'nces and grete lordis, 
 Ffor wych cause the gabell off the salt, and the 
 quat^rimes of the wynes were graunted to the kynge 
 by the iij estates off Ffraunce, wych was no litill 
 subsidie. Ffor ther is no man in Ffraunce Ipat mey 
 eyte salt, but yff he bie it off the kyng ; and that is 
 now sett to so grete przse, ]>at the bushell, wich the 
 
 K 2, 
 
132 %n 3Io&n jFortescue on 
 
 kyng bieth fifor iijd or iiljd, is solde to his peple ffor 
 ij» and a j^ and other while more. And the iiij*^ 
 pype off the wynes that be made in Ffraunce mey 
 be no Htyll thyng, sithyn the tyllyng off the vynes is 
 the grettest comodite off the reame ; but pat como- 
 dite we haue not in this lande. Wher fore ther is no 
 parte off tho manors off subsidie pat myght be gode 
 ffor owre sou^rane lorde, but yff it were that he 
 myght sell to his subgett^^ the salte pat comyth 
 hyder. In wich thyng^ he shall haue more groch- 
 y;2ge off the peple than pr^ffett. Ffor in Ffraunce 
 the peple salten but lytill mete, except thair bacon, 
 for thai wolde bie litil salte ; but yet thai be arted to 
 bye more salte than thai wolde. Ffor the kyng^^ 
 officers bryngen to thair houses eu^ry yere, also 
 moche salte as by thair co^iecture is ressnable to the 
 nombre off pe men, wome», and childeren that 
 dwellen therin, ffor wich thai shall pay though thai 
 wolnot haue so muche. This rule wolde be sore 
 aborred in Englond, as well by the march«unts pat 
 bithe wonned to haue thair ffredome in biyng^ and 
 sellyngg off salte, as by the peple pat vsen moche to 
 salte thair meytes more than do pe Ffrenchmen ; by 
 occasion wheroff thai woll than at eu^^'y mele groche 
 w2t/4 the kynge, pat entreteth hem more rygoursly 
 than his progenitors haue done. And so his hyghnes 
 shall haue peroff, but as hadd pe man pat sherid is 
 hogge, muche crye and litil woll. In Fflaunders, 
 and in oper lordeshipp^s off the Dukes off Burgoigne 
 downewarde, he takith c^;'tayn imposicions made by 
 hym selff vppon euery oxe, euery shape, and vppon 
 oper thyng^^ solde ; and also vppon euery vesaill off 
 wyne, euery barrell off here, and oper vitalles solde 
 in his lordeshippes, wich is no litil revenue to hym ; 
 
Cf)e (Soticrnance of (2Englanti, 133 
 
 but yet he dothe it maugre the peple, wich God 
 defende ]>at the kyng^ oure sou^rayn lorde shulde do 
 vppon is peple, wzt/i owt thair graunt^j' or assent, 
 Nertheles vjztk thair assent suche maner off subsidie, 
 yff ]>er couude not be ffounde a better meane off Ipe 
 encressyng^ off the kyng^j revenues, were not vn- 
 resnoble. Ffor therin and in the gabell off Ipe sake,, 
 euery man shalbeyre Ipe charge peroif eyegally. But 
 yet I wolde not pat suche a newe charge were put 
 apon Ipe peple in owre sou^rayn \ordzs dayis, witk 
 wich is pr(7genitours charged hem neuer, yff a better 
 remedie coude be ffounde. Kyng^ Salamon charged 
 is peple ■wttk gvetter ymposicions than thai were 
 wonned to beyre beffore his dayzV. And by cause 
 his Sonne kynge Roboham wolde not ease hem 
 theroff, the x. parties off the peple, devided in xii. 
 parties, de partide ffrom hym, and chese hem a new 
 kynge, and come newer aftir ]>at tyme vndre is sub- 
 iection. Off wiche departyng God said hymselff 
 aftirwarde, a me factum est tstuto. Wiche is an en- 
 sample pat it is not good a kynge to ouer sore charge 
 his peple. Wherfore methinkith, pat yfff-e kynge! 
 myght haue is livelod ffor the sustenance off his 
 estate in grete lordshippes, manures, ffeeffermys, 
 and such other demaynes, his people not charged, he 
 shulde kepe to hym hoUych thair hertes, excede in^ 
 lordshippes all the \ordes off his reaume, and ther| 
 shulde non off hem growe to be like vnto hym, wich 
 thynge is most to be fered off all pe worlde. Ffoi^ 
 then -viitkm ffewe yeres per shulde not remeyne 
 lordeshippes in is reaume, by wich pax myght growe 
 so grette. Ner thai myght growe soche be mariages.j 
 but yff the kyng wolde hit. Ffor to hym fallen all 
 pe grete mariages off his lande, wich he mey dispose 
 
134 %>it 3[o&n JFortescue on 
 
 las hym liste. And by discente per is not like to 
 ffalle gretter heritage to any man than to pe kyng. 
 Ffor to hym bith cosens f-e most and grettest lord^^ 
 off pe reaume. And by escheitt^^ per mey not so 
 muche lande fall to any man as to pe kyng, by cause 
 pat no man hath so many tenantes as he ; and also 
 no man mey haue the escheitt^^ off treson but 
 hym selff. And be purchas, yff this be done, per 
 shall no man so well encresse his livelod as the 
 
 ' kyng. Ffor ther shall non off his tenantes aliene 
 livelod wz't^owt is licence, wheryn he mey best 
 prefer re hym selff. Nor per shall no livelod be kept 
 
 'so hoU as pe kyng^.r, consideryng pat he mey not 
 onestly selle is lande, as oper men mey doo ; and 
 also his sellyng wolde be the hurte off all his reaume. 
 Soche was pe sellynge off Chirke and Chirkes landes, 
 weroff neuer manne see a president, and God defende 
 that any man see mo soche hereaftir. Ffor sellynge 
 off a kynges livelod is pr^ipirly callid delapidacion off 
 his crowne, and therfore is off gret infame. Now 
 we haue ffounde vndoutably, what taaner revenuez 
 is best ffor the indowme^t off the crowne. But 
 
 j sithyn it is said be fore, pat the kyng hath not at 
 
 ' this day sufificiant therto, it is most convenient that 
 we nowe serch, how is hyghnes mey haue sufificiant 
 off suche revenues, wich we ffounde now best ther 
 fore. 
 
CJ)c (Sotiernance of aBnglatiD. 135 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 HERE IS SHEWID, WHAT OFF THE KYNGES LIVELOD GEVEN 
 AWEY, MEY BESTE BE TAKEN A GEYN. 
 
 The holy patriarke Joseph, while he, vndr Pha- 
 raho kyng, gou^rned J-e lande off Egipte, rulid and 
 so entredid J^e peple 'peroff, pat thai graunted to pay, 
 and paid to the same kynge, the v^^ parte of thair 
 graynes, and off all oper thyng^ that growed to thaim 
 yerely off Jje erthe ; wich charge thai hetun yet, and 
 euer shall beyre. Wherthro thair prmce, wich now 
 is the Saudayn off Babilon, is on off the myghtyest 
 prmces off pe worlde ; and that notwzt,^stondyng^ 
 Jje same Egipciens bith the most riche com»?ons J?«t 
 liven vndre any prz'nce. Wherby we bith lerned 
 pat it shalnot only be goode to owre prmce, but 
 also to vs selff, that he be well indowed ; ffor eWis 
 the patriarke wolde not haue made such a trety. 
 The Ffrench kyng in on thyng^, pat is to say in 
 wyne, takyth more off is peple than dothe pe 
 Saudan; ffor he takith pe iiij*^ peyne peroB. But 
 yet he takith no thyng^ off thair graynes, wolles, or 
 off any other gode pat growith to hem off thair 
 lande. The kynge ow;'^ sou^rayn lorde hade be 
 tymes, sithen he reigned vpon vs, livelod in lord- 
 shippes, landes, tenement^5, and rentes, nerehand to 
 the value off pe v*^ parte off is reaume, aboff the 
 possescions off j^e chirche. Off wich livelod, yff hit 
 hade abiden still in his handes, he hade ben more 
 myghty in good revenues than any off pe said ij 
 kynges, or any kyng pat now reigneth vppon cristen 
 
136 ^ir 3|oJ)n jFortescue on 
 
 men. But this was not possible to haue ben done. 
 Ffor to some parte Iperofi the eyres off thaim pat 
 some tyme owed it be restored ; some bi reason off 
 tayles, some bi reason off oper titles, wich the kyng 
 hath co?«sidered and thought hem good and reson- 
 able. And some off pe said livelod is god grase 
 hath geuen to such as haue s^rued hym so notably, 
 pat as thair renou«ne wolbe eternall, so it be sate 
 the kyng^^ magnyficence to make thair rewardes 
 eu^rlastynge in their heyres, to thair p^rpetuall 
 memorie and honour. And also the kyng hath 
 geven parte off this livelod to his moste worshipfull 
 brotherryn, wich not only haue s^rued hym in the 
 maner ffor said, but bith also so nygh in blode to 
 his highnes, that it besatte not is magnificence to 
 haue done in oper wyse. Neu^rthelesse somwe 
 men haue done hym s^^uice, ffor wych it was reson- 
 able pat his grase hade rewarded hem ; and ffor 
 lakke off money, the kyng than rewarded pa.m wttA 
 , lande. And to some men he hath done in lyke 
 wyse aboff thair meritgj', through ymportunite off 
 thair suytt^^. And it is supposed pat some off hem 
 haue goton an c. ii. worth lande, pat wolde haue 
 holde hym co;«tent wztA cc. ii. in money, yff thai 
 V i I myght haue hade it in hande. Wherfor^ it is 
 I thought, pat yff suche gyftis, and namely tho wich 
 haue be made inconsideratle, or aboff the m^rytes 
 off hem that haue thaim, were refourmed ; and 
 thai rewarded wkA money, or offices, and some 
 W2t^ livelode t^rme off lyff, wich aftir thair dethis 
 wolde than retorne to the Crowne, pe kyng 
 shulde haue suche livelod as we now seke ffor, 
 sufficiante ffor the mayntennance off his estate. 
 And yff it wolde not than be so gret, I holde it for 
 
Ci)e (Sotjernance of (ZBnglanti, 
 
 137 
 
 vndouted, ]>at the people off his lande woll be well 
 wyllung^ to graunte hym a subsidie, vppon suche 
 comodites off his reaume as bith be ffore specified, 
 as shall accomplishe that wich shall lakke hym off 
 such livelod ; so that is highnes woll establyshe pe 
 same livelod than remayny;?ge, to abide p^rpetuelly 
 to his crowne, wzt^owt translatynge Iperoff to any 
 o]>er vse. Ffor ellis whan ]?«/ shall happen hereaftir 
 to be gyven awey, it shall nede pat is commons be 
 charged ^K^tA a newe subsidie, and thus be kept 
 alway in pou^rte. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 HERE IS SHEWID WHAT HARME WOLDE COME TO ENGLAND, 
 YFF THE COMMONS THER OFF WERE POUERE. 
 
 Some men haue said Ipat it were good ffor the 
 kyng, Ipat the commons off Englande were made 
 pore, as be the commons off Ffraunce. Ffor than 
 thai wolde not rebelle, as now thai done oftentymes ; 
 wich the commons off Ffraunce do not, nor mey 
 doo ; ffor thai haue no wepen, nor armour, nor good 
 to bie it -witA all. To theis maner off men mey be 
 said w^t^ the phylosopher, air pauca respicfent£» tit factlt 
 tnuntiant. This is to say, thai that see but ffew 
 thynges, woll sone say thair advyses. Ffor soth 
 theis ffolke consideren litill the good off the reaume 
 off Englond, wheroff the myght stondith most vppon 
 archers, wich be no ryche men. And yff thai were 
 made more pouere than thai be, thai shulde not 
 
 1/ 
 
138 @)ir 3[o&n jTortescue on 
 
 haue wherwM to bie hem bowes, arroes, jakkes, or 
 any olper armour off defence, wherby thai myght be 
 able to resiste owre enymes, when thai Hste to come 
 vppon vs ; wich thai mey do in euery side, co«- 
 sideryng^ 'pat we be a Ilelonde ; and, as it is said 
 be fore, we mey not sone haue soucour off any oper 
 reaume. Wherfore we shuU be a pray to all ovfre 
 enymyes, but yff we be myghty off owre selfif, wich 
 myght stondith most vppon owre pou^re archers ; 
 and therfore thai nedun not only haue suche able- 
 ments as now is spoken off, but also thai nedu/z to 
 be much exc^rsised in shotyng^, wich mey not be 
 done witA owt ryght grete expenses, as eu^ry man 
 / r exp^rte per in know«t/l ryght well. Wherfore J^e 
 makyng pou^^^e of J^e commons, wich is pe makyng 
 ' pou^re off owre archers, shalbe J^e distruccion of the 
 Igrettest myght off owre reaume. Item, yff pou^re 
 men mey not lightly rise, as is the openion of thes 
 men, wich ffor pat cause wolde haue pe commons 
 pouere ; how than, yff a myghty man made a rysinge 
 shulde he be repressed, whan all the commons ben 
 so pouere, pat aftir such openyon thai mey not 
 ffeght, and be pat reason not helpe the kyng wzt^ 
 ffeghtynge ? And whi makith the kynge pe com- 
 mons eu^ry yere to be mustered ; sithen it were god 
 thai hade non harnes nor were able to fifight? 
 O, howe vnwyse is pe oppenyon off thes men ; ffor 
 it mey not be mayntened be any reason! Item, 
 I whan any rysing^ hath be made in this londe be ffor 
 jtheis da.yts by commons, the pou^rest men perofi 
 'ihaue be pe grettest causers and doers ther in. And 
 thryfty men haue ben loth therto, ffor drede off 
 lesynge off thair gode. But yet oftentymes thai 
 haue goo wM thaym, through manasheyng^ pat 
 
Cfje <2Dotiernancc of aBnglano, 
 
 139 
 
 elUs the same pouere men wolde haue toke thair 
 godes, wher in it semyth pat pou^^te hath be J)e hoU 
 cause off all suche rysyngijj. The pou^re man hath 
 be sturred perto be occasion off is pou^rte, for to 
 gete gode and pe riche men haue gone wztk hem, 
 be cause thai wolde not be pou^?-e be lesynge off per 
 gode. What than wolde ffall, yff all the commons 
 were pou^re ? Trewly it is lyke that this lande 
 then shulde be like vnto pe reaume off Boeme, 
 wher the commons ffor pou^rte rose apon the nobles, 
 and made all thair godis to be comune. Item, hit is! 
 the kyngis honour, and also is office, to make is 
 reaume riche ; and it is dishonour whan he hath but 
 a pou^re reaume, off wich men woll say pat he 
 reigneth but vppon beggers. Yet it were moch 
 gr&tter dishonour, yff he ffounde is reaume riche, 
 and then made it poui?re. And it were also gretly 
 ayenest his co«ciens, pat awght to defende hem and 
 her god/j, yff he toke ffro hem thair godis with owt 
 lafull cause ; ffrom the infame wheroff God defende 
 owre kyng, and gyff hym grase to augmente is 
 reaume in riches, welth, and pr^isperite, to his p^r- 
 petuell laude and worship/^. Item, the reaume off' 
 Ffraunce givith neu^r ffrely off thair owne gode will 
 any subsidie to thair prmce, because f>e commons 
 peroff be so pou^re, as thai meynot give any thyng 
 off Jjair owne godis. And the kyng ther askith' 
 neuer subsidie off is nobles, ffor drede pat yff he 
 charged hem so, thai wolde cowfedre witA pe com-i 
 mons, and perauentur putt hym doune. But owre 
 commons be riche, and periore thai give to thair 
 kynge, at somwe tymes quiwsimes and dessimes, 
 and ofte tymes oper grete subsidies, as he hath nede 
 ffor pe gode and defence off his reaume. How gret 
 
140 ^ir 31o6n JTocteiScue on 
 
 a subsidie was it, when the reaume gaff to thair 
 kyng a quinsime and a desime qumqueniale, and 
 the ixtii fflese off thair wolles, and also the ix^^ shefe 
 off per graynes, ffor the t^rme off v. yere. This 
 myght thai not haue done, yff thai hade ben im- 
 pou^rshed be thair kyng, as be the commons off 
 Ffraunce ; nor such a graunte hath be made by any 
 reaume off cristendome, off wich any cronicle makith 
 mencion ; nor non ofier mey or hath cause to do so. 
 Ffor thai haue not so much fifredome in thair owne 
 godts, nor be entreted by so ffau^rable lawes as we 
 be, except a fifewe regions beffore specified. EtJm, 
 we se dayly, how men pat haue lost thair godis, and 
 i be ffallen into pou^rte, be comme anon robbers and 
 theves ; wich wolde not haue ben soche, yff pou^rte 
 hade not brought hem Iperto. Howe many a theff 
 then were like to be in this lande, yff all the com- 
 mons were pouere. ]pe grettest surete trewly, and 
 also the most honour pat mey come to the kynge is, 
 pat is reaume be riche in eu^ry estate. Ffor nothyng 
 mey make is people to arise, but lakke off gode, or 
 lakke off justice. But yet sertanly when thay lakke 
 gode thai woll aryse, sayng that thai lakke justice. 
 Neu^r Jjeles yff thai be not pou^re, thay will neuer 
 aryse, but yff per prince so leve justice, that he give 
 hym selff all to tyranne. 
 
C&e (Sotietnance of (ZBnglanD. 141 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 ONLY LAK OFF HARTE AND COWARDISSE KEPEN THE 
 FFRENCHEMEN FFRO RYSYNGE. 
 
 FovERTE is not the cause, whl the commons off 
 Ffraunce rise not ayen thair sou^rayn lorde. Ffor 
 'per were neuer people in pat lande more pou^re, then 
 were in owre tyme the commons off the contre off 
 Caux, wich was tho almost diserte ffor lakke off 
 tillers ; as it now well apperith be the new husbondry 
 pat is done per, namely in grobbyng and stokkyng 
 off treis, busses, and groves, growen whill we were 
 ther lordes off the contray. And yet the said 
 commons off Caux made a marvelous gret rysing^, 
 and toke owre townis, castelles, and fifortresses, and 
 slowe owre capitans and soudiours, at soche a tyme 
 as we hade but fifewe men off werre lyings in pat 
 contray. Wich provith pat it is not pou^rte pat 
 kepith Ffrenchmen ffro rysing^, but it is cowardisse 
 and lakke off hart^j' and corage, wich no Ffrenchman 
 hath like vnto a Englysh man. It hath ben ofiften 
 tymes sene in Englande, pat iij. or iiij. theves ffor 
 pou^rte haue sett apon vj or vij trewe men, and 
 robbed hem all. But it hath not bene sene in 
 Ffraunce, pat vj. or vij. theves haue be hardy to 
 robbe iij. or iiij. trewe men. Wherfore it is right 
 selde pat Ffrenchme« be hanged ffor robbery, ffor 
 thai haue no hart^.y to do so terable. an acte. Ther 
 bith therfore mo men hanged in Englande in a yere 
 ffor robbery and manslaughter, then per be hanged 
 in Ffraunce ffor such ma.ner of crime in vij yeres. 
 
142 %)k 31obn jrotte0cuc on 
 
 Ther is no man hanged in Scotlande in vij yere to 
 gedur ffor robbery. And yet thai ben often tymes 
 hanged ffor larceny, and stelyng^ off good in the 
 absence off pe owner ])eroff. But per hart^5 s^rue 
 hem not to take a manys gode, while he is present, 
 and woU defende it ; wich man^r off takynge is callid 
 robbery. But pe Englysh man is off anofi^r corage. 
 Ffor yfif he be pou^re, and see another man havynge 
 rychesse, wich mey be taken ffrom hym be myght, he 
 will not spare to do so, but yff pat pouere man be 
 right trewe./ Wherfore it is not pou^rte, but it is 
 lakke off harte and cowardis5^, that kepith the 
 Ffrenchmen ffro rysynge. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 HERE HIT IS SHEWID, WHI IT NEDITH JiAT THER EE A 
 RESUMPCION, AND A GRAUNT OFF GODE MADE TO THE 
 KYNGE. 
 
 This serche wich we nowe haue made, ffor to 
 vnderstonde how harmefull it wolde be to the kynge, 
 and to his reaume, yff his commons were pou^re, 
 hath be a digression ffrom the mater in wich we 
 labour ; pat is to say, ffor to vndirstonde howe the 
 kyng mey best haue sufficient and perdurable livelod 
 ffor the sustentacion off his estate. Wherfore it be 
 houyth pat we nowe resorte to the poynte in wich we 
 lafte, wich, as I remenbr, was this. We ffounde be 
 grete causes, pat it was nedefull, pat all suche giftes 
 
Cbe <25oticrnance of CnglanJ. 143 
 
 as haue be made off the kynges livelod inconsederatly, 
 as not des^ruet, or aboff the m^retes of hym Ipat 
 haue getun hym, were refourmed; so as thai wich 
 haue done any s^ruice, be not vnrewarded. Wich ; 
 thynge, as me thynkith, mey not p^;'fitly be done, 
 ^N^tA owt a gen^rall resumpcion, made be auctorite off 
 paHement ; and ]>at ther be gyven to the kynge by i 
 the same auctorite, a grete subsidie, with wich is t 
 hyghnes, be Ipe advise off his counsell, mey rewarde 
 tho Ipat haue des^rued rewardes, and awght not per- \ 
 fore to haue parte off his revenues, by wich is estate 
 moste nedis be mayntened ; or awght not haue so 
 moch off fe revenues, as thai haue now, or not so \ 
 grete astate in the same. Considerynge Ipat all such 
 gyvinge awey off the kyng^5 livelod is harmefull to 
 all is legemen, wich shall perhy, as is be ffore shewid, 
 be arted to a newe charge ffo'r ]>e sustenance off is 
 estate. But yet, or any suche resumpcion be made, | 
 it shalbe gode pat a worshipfull and a notable coun- 
 sell be stableshed, be the advise off wich all newi 
 gyftes and rewardes mey be modered and made, as 
 yff no such gyftes or rewardes had be made be ffor 
 this tyme. Provided alway, that no man be harmyd, | 
 be reason off such resumpcion, in the arrerages off 
 such livelod as he shall pan haue, wich shall renne 
 aftir pat resumpcion, and bi fore Jje said new giftes 
 and rewardes. And whan such a counsell is ffully 
 create and estableshed, hit shalbe gode pat all sup- 
 plicacions wich shalbe made to j^e kynge ffor any 
 gifte or rewarde, be sende to J^e same counsell, and 
 per debatid and delibered ; fifirst whether pe supliant ! 
 haue des^rued such rewarde as he askith ; and yff he 
 haue des^rued hit, yet it nedith pat it be delibered, 
 whether the kynge mey gyve such rewarde as he 
 
144 %k 3[of)n jFortescue on 
 
 I askith off his revenues, savyng^ to hym selff sufificiant 
 I ffor the sustenance off his estate. Ffor elHs such 
 giving^ were no vertu, but a spice of pr<7digalite, and 
 as ffor so moch it were delapidacion off his crowne. 
 Wherfor^ no prmat person woll, be reason off libera- 
 lite, or off rewarde, so abate is owne livelod, as he 
 , mey not kepe. such estate as he did be ffore. And 
 trewly it were bettir, pat a prz'uat person lakked is 
 rewarde wich he hath well des^rued, then that be his 
 rewarde Ipe gode publike and all the lande were 
 hurte. Wherfore to eschewe theis ij harmes, it mey 
 then be advised be the counsell, how such a person 
 mey be rewarded wztA office, money, mariage, 
 ffraunches, prz'uelage, or such olper thynge, off wich 
 f>e crowne hath grete riches. And verely yff this 
 ordre be kept, the kynge shalnot be greved be im- 
 portunite of suytours, nor thai shall be importunite 
 or brocage optayne any vnresonable desires. O what 
 qwiete shall growe to J^e kyng by this ordre ; and in 
 what reste shall than his people lyff, hauyng^ no 
 colour off grochyng^ wztk soche as shall be aboute is 
 person, as thai were woned to haue, ffor ]>e gyvyngg 
 awey off his londe, and also ffor the myscounsellynge 
 off hym in many olper cases ; nor off m?^rmor ageyn^^ 
 the kyng^i' person, ffor fie mysgou^rnance off his 
 reaume ! Ffor in this counsell mey be determynyd 
 euery case off deficulte, or the kyng do any thyng 
 perin. And the wise man saith, bill nmlta tonstlta, ibi 
 Salug. And trewly such a co;2tenuall counsell mey 
 wel be callid, multa consilia, ffor it is ofte, and euere 
 day cou^sellith. 
 
C6e ©otiernance of Cnglanu. 145 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 HOW THE KYNGES COUNSELL MEY BE CHOSEN AND 
 ESTABLESHEP. 
 
 The kyngis counsell was wonned to be chosen off' 
 grate prz'nces, and off the gretteste lordes off Ipe 
 lande, both spzVeVuelles and temfwrellis, and also 
 off oiper men that were In grete auctorite and offices. 
 Wich lordes and officers had nere hande also mony 
 maters off thair owne to be treded in the counsell, 
 as hade ]?e kynge. Wherthrough, when thai come 
 togedre, thai were so occupied mvzXA thair owne 
 maters, and wzt^ the maters off thair kynne, ser- 
 uant^^, and tenantes, pat thai entendet but litle, and 
 oper while no thynge, to Ipe kyng^j' maters. And 
 also per were but ffewe maters off the kyng^i', but 
 yff pe same maters toucheden also pe said coun- 
 sellers, thair cosyns, per seruantes, tenantes, or such 
 oper as thai owed ffauor vnto. And what lower 
 man was per sytinge in pat counsell, pat durste say 
 ayen the openyon off any off the grete lordis ? And ! 
 whi myght not then men make be meanes off cor- I 
 rupcion somwe off the semantes and counsellers off 
 sommo. off the lordes to moue the lord^j to ^ar- 
 ciallite, and to make hem also ffauorable and parcial 
 as were the same seruantes, or the parties pat so 
 moved hem ? Then couude no mater treted in the 
 counsell be kept prz've. Ffor the lordes oftentymes 
 tolde ther owne counsellours and seruantes, that 
 hade suyd to hem ffor tho maters, how thai had 
 sped in ham, and who was ayen ham. How mey 
 
 L 
 
146 %ix 31oi)n jFortegcue on 
 
 ]>e kyng be counsellyd to restrayne gyvinge awey 
 off his londe, off gyvinge off offices, corodeis, or 
 pencions off abbeyis, by suche grete lordes to oper 
 menys sernantes, sithy;? thay most desire such giftes 
 ffor thaim selff, and thair seruantes ? Wich thyng^^ 
 considered, and also mony oper wech shall be shewid 
 hereaftir, hit Is thought gode, that J^e kynge had 
 a counsell chosen and estableshed in the fourme 
 that ffolowz't^, or in some oper ffourme like perto. 
 KFfirst, pat ther were chosen xij spzVzVuell men, and 
 ; xij teimpareW men, off pe wysest and best disposed 
 men pat can be ffounde in all the parties off this 
 lande ; and that thai be sworne to counsell the 
 kynge aftir a ffourme to be devysed ffor per owthe. 
 ;And in especzaW, pat thai shall take no ffee, nor 
 clothyng^, nor no reward^5 off any man, except only 
 off pe. kynge; like as J^e Justices off J^e kyng^j 
 benche, and off pe Common place be sworne, when 
 thai take ther offices. And pat thes xxiiij. be alway 
 counsellers, but yff per be any defaute ffounde in 
 hem, or pat hit lyst the kynge, be the advise off pe 
 more parte off hem, chaunge any off hem. And 
 pat euery yere be chosen be J^e kynge iiij. lordes 
 spzVzVuell, and iiij lordes temparaW, to be ffor pat 
 yere off pe same counsell, in like ffourme as pe said 
 xxiiij^i shall be. And that thai all haue an hed, or 
 a cheeff to rule pe counsell, on off pe said xxiiijtJ, 
 and chosen be the kynge, havynge is office at the 
 kynges pleasur ; wich mey thanne be callid, GDapttaliS 
 consiliarius. It shall not be necessarie, pat the xij 
 spzVzVuell men off this covnsell, haue so gret wages 
 as the xij temporaW men; because thai shull not 
 nede to kepe an houshold in thair contray, while 
 thai ben absent, as the temp^^rell men moste nedes 
 
Cf)e (Sotiernance of CnglanD. 
 
 147 
 
 doo, ffor thair wyffes and childeren. By wich con- 
 sideracion the spzr«/uell juges in the courte off par- 
 liment off Parys, taken but cc. ffrankes by J)e yere, 
 where as ]?e tempcirell juges ]>ero^ taken by the yere 
 ccc. ffrankes. The said viij.*" lord^i' also, wich be 
 reason off \er baronyes and estat^^ bith to ];e kyng, 
 tottsiltari natf, and Iperfore awghton to cDunsell hym at 
 all tymes when he woU, nede not to haue gret 
 wages ffor thair attendance to is covnsell, wich shall 
 last but ffor a yere. Ffor tempt'^'ell men, wich be 
 reason off Iper enheritaunce and livelod bith made 
 shyreff^^ ffor a yere, taken off Ipe kynge litle, and 
 all most nothyng ffor thair s^;'uice off ])at yere. 
 And thoughe \>at wages off the said xxiiij.*i coun-| 
 sellers seme a newe and a grete charge to Ipe kynge, 
 yet when hit is considered, how gret wag^^ the grete 
 lord^j and other men, wych were off the kynges 
 counsell in tymes passede, toke ffor thair attendancej 
 therto, wich ma.ner off counsell was nothynge so\ 
 behouefuU to the kyng and to his reaume as this I 
 will be, wich wages shall than forthwarde cesse ; fe 
 wages off J?e xxiiij.^i counsellours shall apere no gret j 
 charge to the kynge. And I can suppose, Ipat some \ 
 kynges be ffor this tyme, haue gyven to some on 
 man ])at hath s^rued hym, also moche livelod yerely, I 
 as the said wages wyll com to. And if the same 
 wagis be thought to grete charge vnto ])e kyng, Ipe 
 forsaid counsellours mowe be in lesse nowmbre, as 
 to be xvj counsellours off prz'vatis personis, with ij 
 lord^j spzrtiueW, and ij lord^^ temporell ; so as then 
 thai be in all but xx.*i p^rsones. Thies counsellors 
 mowe cowtenually, at soche owres as shal be as- 
 seigned to thaym, comu^e and delibre vppo» the 
 mat^ris of defeculte that fifallen to the kynge ; and 
 
 L a 
 
148 %it 31o|)n jTorteiaicue on 
 
 then vppon ]>e matures off Jje pollycye ofOpe reaume; 
 as how J?e goyng owt oflF lf>e money may be re- 
 strayned, how bullyon mey be brought into ]>e 
 lande, how also plate, juelles, and mony late born^ 
 owt, mey be geytun ageyn ; off wich right wyse men 
 mowe sone fynde the meanes. And also how Jje 
 prises off marchaundise growen in this lande mey 
 be holde vp and encressed, and the prases off mer- 
 xhandyses browght into this lande abatid. How 
 owre nauy mey be mayntened and augme;?ted, and 
 y-ppon suche oper poynt^5 off police, to the grettest 
 profyte and encresse, J>«t euer come to this lande. 
 How also f'e lawes mey be amendet in suche thyng^^ 
 as thay neden reformacion in ; wher through ])e par- 
 lement^j shall mowe do more gode in a moneth to 
 fie mendyng^ off the lawe, then thai shall mowe do 
 in a yere, yff ]>& amendyng^ peroff be not debatyd, 
 and be such counsell ryped to thair hand^5. per 
 mey be off this covnsell, when thai liste come perto, 
 or pat thai be desired be pe said counsellours, pe 
 grete officers off pe lande, as Chaunceler, tresourer, 
 and prive seell ; off wich pe chaunceler, when he is 
 present, mey be pr^sydent, and haue J^e suppr^ie 
 rule off all pe counsell. Also the Juges, the Barones 
 off pe exchequier, pe clerke off the roUes, and suche 
 lordes as pe forsaid counsellours woll desire to be 
 witk thaym for matures off gret deficulte, mey be off 
 this counsell when thai be so desyred, and eWzs not. 
 All oper matures wich shall consume this counsell, as 
 when a Counsellour dyeth, how a new counsellour 
 shall be chosen, how mony owres off the day this 
 counsell shall sytt, when thai shall haue any vaca- 
 sion, how longe any off hem mey be absent, and 
 how he shall haue his leue, witA all oper artycles 
 
C&e aotiernance of oEnglanD. 149 
 
 necessarye ffor the demeynynge and rule off this 
 counsell, mowe be conseyued be layser, and putt in 
 a boke, and that boke kept in this counsell as a 
 registir or a ordinarye, howe thai shall doo in eu^ry 
 thynge. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 HOW THE ROMAYNES PROSPERED WHILES THAI HADE 
 A CRETE COUNSELL. 
 
 The Romaynes, while thair counsell callid ]ie 
 senate wasgret, gate, through fe wysdome off that 
 counsell, the lordship/^ off gret partye of the world. 
 And aftirward Julyus, thair ffirst emp^rowre, coun- 
 selled by Ipe same senate, gate the monarchie ner- 
 hande off all J?e world. Wherthrough Octavian, per 
 secounde emp^rour, com»«ounded all f e world to be 
 discribed as subget vnto hym. But aftir this, when 
 yll dysposed emp^rours, as Nero, Domician, and 
 oper had slayn grete parte off pe senatours, and 
 dyspiced the counsell off J^e senate, the estate off fe 
 Romans and off per emp^rours beganne to fall 
 doune, and hath ffallen alwey sythyn, in to suche 
 decay, pat nowe the lordeshipp^s off ]7e emp^rour bith 
 not so gret, as be pe lordeshippes off some kynge, 
 wich, while pe senate was hole, was subget to fe 
 emp^rour. Be wich ensawple it is thought, pat yff 
 thekyng haue such a Counsell as is beffore specified, 
 his lande shall not only be ryche and welthy, as were 
 
150 %ix 3lo!)n j?orte0cue on 
 
 ]>e Romans, but also is hyghnes shalbe myghty, and 
 off poiar to subdue his ennemyes, and all oper that 
 he shall liste to reygne uppo;«. Off such ensamples 
 mony of the bok^i- off cronycles be full ; and in 
 especiall pe cronycles off Ipe Lacidemonies, and off J^e 
 Authenences, wich, whill thai prospered, were best 
 counselled, and mostdyd aftir counsell off any people 
 off J'e world, excepte ■ the Romayns. But when thai 
 lafte such counsell, thai ffell into non poiar and 
 pouerte ; as off the Cite off Athenes it mey well 
 apere, be that it is nowe but a poure vilage, and some 
 tyme was the moste worshipfuU Cyte off Grece. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 HERE FOLOWETHE ADUERTYSMENTES FOR THE GEUYNG 
 OF THE KYNGES OFFYCES. 
 
 Yff it woll lyke J^e kyng to gyff non office, in to 
 the tyme pat his entente therin be comened wz't^ his 
 counsell, and thair opiniyon by his hyghnes vnder- 
 stonde in the same, he shall mowe so rewarde his 
 seruantes wM offices, as ther shall be lityll nede to 
 gyff hem moch off his livelod, and his offices shall 
 then be geuen to soche as shall only s^rue hym selff. 
 Wher through he shall haue than a greter myght, 
 and a garde off his officers, when he liste to call 
 thaym, than he hath nowe off his oper ffeed men 
 vndre the astate off lord^ir. Ffor the myght off pe 
 lande, aftir the myght off pe grete lord^j peroff, 
 
C&c (?5ot)ernance of Cnglann. 151 
 
 stondith most in J^e kyng^^ officers. Ffor thai mowe 
 best rule Ipe contreis wheras }jer offices ben, wich is 
 in eu^ry partie off J^e lande! A pou^re baylyff mey 
 do more in his bayille, then any man off his degre 
 dwellyng^ wM in his office. Some fforester off J>e 
 kynges, that hath non dper livelod, mey brynge moo 
 men to ]>e ffelde well areyed, and namely ffor sho- 
 tynge, then mey some knyght or Squyer off ryght 
 gret lyuelod, dwellyng^ be hym, and hauynge non 
 offyce. What than mey gretter officers do, steward^J 
 off gret lordeshippes,reseyvors, constables off Castels, 
 maystir fforesters, and such oper officers ; be sydis 
 the hygher offycers, as Justices off fforestes. Justices 
 and Chambirlayns off Contreis, pe warden off Ipe 
 port^^, and such oper ? Ffor sothe it is not lyghtly 
 estymable, what myght J?e kynge may haue off is 
 officers, yff eu^;'y off hem hade but on office, and 
 serued non dper man but pe kynge. Nor hit is ease | 
 to be estemed, howe mony men mey be rewarded 
 we't^ offices, and how gretly, yff thai be discretly 
 geue«. The kynge givyth mo than m** offices, be 
 sydes tho pat my lorde pe prince geuyth, off wich I 
 reken J^e officers, as the kyng^J officers. Off thes 
 officers some mey dispende by pe. yere, by reason off 
 is office, cc. ii., some a c.fi., some a c. marc, some 
 xl. "H., some 1. marc, and so downwarde. So as pe 
 lest off hem, ]70ugh he be but a packer, takyng^ but 
 ijd on a dey, yet he hath be pe yere iij. +i. x^, be sydes 
 his dwellyng^ in pe logge, his cowe ffor is mylke, and 
 such oper thynge goynge abowte hym, and the ffees 
 off is office, so as pat office is to hym also profitable 
 as wolde be a c.s. off ffee or rente, wich is a feyre 
 lyuynge ffor a yoma«. How mony men then offj 
 eu^^'y estate, and off euery degre, and how gretly, 
 
152 ^ir 3Io!)tt jroitc0cuc on 
 
 1 mey the kynge rewarde wA^ offices, w?t/^ owt gyuynge 
 awey off his livelod. Fforsoth the grettest lordes 
 livelod in Englande mey not suffice to rewarde so 
 tnaiiy men, though he wolde deparie hit euery dell 
 amonges is seruantes ; nor ij. the gretteste lord^i- off 
 Englond mey make so gret a myghte as Ipe kynge 
 mey haue only off his officers, yff thai were hoUiche 
 and only is seruantes, and euery off hem had but on 
 office. To this sane suche lord^i' and oper men, such 
 as axen off ];e kyng offices ffor thair seruantes, that 
 
 ' thai and all thair seruantes shall alwey s^rue ]7e kyng^, 
 and is officers shul do hym the bettir seruyce, by 
 
 , reason thei bith in per s^ruice ; ffor thai woll helpen 
 hym to do so, and suffre non in thair companye, but 
 
 i suche as woll do so. Wher to may be said, that it is 
 trewe thai shall do the kyng seruice while thai be in 
 
 i thair companie ; but so shulde thai haue done, though 
 the kynge had neuer made thaym his officers. Wher 
 fore ];e kynge s^«l not be the bettir served, pat he 
 hath yeuen his offices to thair seru.antes, but raper 
 worse. Ffor owre lorde said, iSemo potest buobug 
 iommis Sftutre, And so J^e kynge shall lese the offices, 
 as ffof any syngular service he shall haue ffor hem, 
 I or pat the same officers shulde thynke themselff by 
 hold vnto the kynge ffor per offices, wich is hyghnes 
 hath yeuen them at pe contemplacion off per maisters, 
 and ffor no reward off any seruice pat thai haue done, 
 or shul doo vnto hym selff. Be consideracion wheroff 
 per olde maistirs shall be bettir serued be thaym 
 than thei were be fore ; and so be more myghty in 
 thair contraes to do what them liste ; and the kynge 
 in lasse myght, and haue the ffewer officers to 
 represse hem when thai do a mysse. And this hath 
 causyd mony men to be suche braggers and suytours 
 
Cf)e ©otjernance of CnglanD. 
 
 153 
 
 to ]>e kyng, ffor to haue his offices in ])er contraes to ' 
 thaymselff, and to \>er men, ]>at almost no man in 
 sume contray durste take an office off j^e kyng, but 
 he ffirst had ])e good will off Ipe said bragers and 
 engrossers of offices. Ffor yff he dyd not so, he ! 
 shuld not aftir pat tyme haue pease in his contray ; 
 wheroff hath corny;? and growen mony gret trowbels 
 and debates in dyu^rse contraes off Englond. Wich 
 matures thrugly considered, it semyth verely good, 
 ]>at no man haue any office of J^e kyng^^ yefte, but 
 he be ffirst sworne that he is seruant to non olper 
 man, or woU serue any oper man, or take is clothyng^ 
 or ffee while he seruyth Jje kyng. And Ipat no man 
 haue mo offices then on, except ]?at the kyng^i' 
 bretheryn mowe haue ij offices ; and suche men as 
 serue Ipe kyng abouute his person, or in his counsell, 
 mowe haue in per contrays a parkership/^ ffor per 
 disporte when thay come whom, or such an oper 
 office, as thai mey wele kepe by per deputes. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 AUERTYSMENT HOWE CORODIES AND PENCIONS MEY 
 BEST BE YEVEN. 
 
 And yff hit woU lyke the kynge to yeve no 
 corodie nor pencion, wich he hath be ryght off his 
 corowne, off euery abbey prtory, and oper howses 
 founded vpon hospitalite be any off his pr^geni- 
 tours, into pe tyme that his entente perin be co- 
 
154 %v: 3Io&n jrort00cue on 
 
 muned and delybered wttA his fforsaid counsell, and 
 pat his hyghnes haue vnderstond per openyon in Ipe 
 same ; than shall men off his howsold be rewarded 
 witA corodyes, and haue honeste sustenance in per 
 olde dayzs when thai mey no longer serue ; and f>e 
 clark^5 off is chapell pat haue wyfes, or be not 
 avau;«sed, be rewarded wzt^ pencions wzt,^ owt grete 
 abatynge off J^e kyng^^ revenues, ffor per reward^^ 
 or sustenance. Ffor such corodes and pencions 
 were ffirst geven to pe kyng ffor the same entent. 
 But nowe off late tyme, oper men then pe kynges 
 servaui^t^j haue askyd pern, and be importune sute 
 haue geyten gret parte off thaym, to J^e kynges gret 
 harme and hurt off his said seruantes ; wich be pe 
 cause peroff lyuen in pe gretter penurie, and in non 
 suyrte off per sustenance in tyme comyng, when thai 
 shall not mowe do pe kyng s^ruice. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 HOWE GRET CODE WOLL GROWE OFF THE FFERME 
 ENDOWYNGE OFF J)E CROWNE. 
 
 And when J^e kyng, be J^e meanes aforsaid or 
 oper wyse, hath gotyn ayen his lyuelod, yff then it 
 wolde lyke is most noble grace to establysh, and as 
 who sayth, amortyse J'e same lyuelod to is crowne, 
 so as it mey neu^r be alyened Jj^rfro, w/t^owt J'e 
 assent off his parlement, wych than wold be as a 
 newe ffundacion of is crowne, he shall be perhy the 
 
Cbe (©oijernance of Cnglann. 155 
 
 grettest ffounder ofif Jjc world. Ffor Iperas oper 
 kynges haue ffounded byshopriches, abbeys, and 
 
 \oper howses off relegyon, ]?e kyng shall Ipan haue 
 ffounded an holl reaume, and endowed it witk 
 
 \gretter possescions, and better then euer was any 
 
 jreaume in cristendome. This man^r off ffundacion 
 mey not be ayenste pe kynges pr^rogatyff, or his 
 liberte, no more than is Ipe ffundacion off an abbey, 
 ffro wich he mey take no parte off pe possescions 
 wich he hath onis geve hym, witA owt J^e assent off 
 per covent. But this mani?r off endowment off his i 
 crowns shalbe to pe kyng a gretter pr^rogatyff, in j 
 pat he hath then enriched is crowne wtA such riches 
 and possescions, as neu^r kyng shall mowe take 
 from it wttk owt pe assent off is holl reaume. Nor 
 
 'this mey be to J^e hurte off pe prerogatyff or power 
 off is successours ; ffor, as it is shewid be fore, it is 
 no prerogatyff or power to mowe lese any good, or 
 to mowe wast, or put it awey. Ffor all such thynges I 
 come off impotencie, as doyth power to be syke or 
 wex olde. And trewly, yff J>e kyng do thus, he 
 shall do perhy dayly more almes, Jian shall be do be 
 all the ffundacions pat euer were made in Englond. 
 Ffor euery man off Jje lande sAa\ by this ffundacion 
 euery day be the meryer, pe surer, ffare pe better ini 
 is body and all his godis, as euery wyse man meyl 
 well conseyue. The ffundacion of abbeys, of hos- 
 pitals, and suche other houses, is nothyng in com- 
 parisoun herof. For this shalbe a collage, in whiche 
 shul syng and pray for euermore al the men of 
 Ingland sp?W/uel and tempcrel. And ther song 
 shalbe suche among other antemes : I blissed be 
 oure lord God, for that he hath sent kyng Edward 
 the iiij to reigne vpon vs. He hath don more for 
 
156 ^it 3foi)n jFortegcue on 
 
 vs, than euer dide kyng of Inglond, or myght have 
 done before hym. The harmes that hath fallen in 
 getyng of his Realme, beth now bi hym turned 
 into our altheyr goode and profite. We shul nowe 
 mowe enjoye oure owne goode, and live vndir jus- 
 tice, which we have not don of longtyme, God 
 knowith. Wherfor of his almesse it is that wee 
 have al that is in oure wone. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 AUERTISEMENT FOR MAKYNG OF PATENTIS OF GIFTIS. 
 
 It is nat ment bi the premisses, but that the 
 kyng without the assent of his p^Hement shal gyve 
 to suche as don hym singuler service, land for terme 
 of theyr lives. For therby his corowne may nat be 
 disherited ; for that land wil sone come ageyn. But 
 than it were goode that the same land be no more 
 gyven ; for ellis importune suters wil gape vpon 
 suche reu^rsiouns, and oftentymes asken hem or 
 they befall. And whan they bien fal, the kyng 
 shal have no rest with suche suters, vnto the tyme 
 , his highnesse have gyven ageyn al suche lond as he 
 hath oonys gevyn. Bi contynuaunce perof, that land 
 shal nat s^rve hym but for giftes, as don offices, 
 corodies, and pensiouns. And triewly it were goode 
 that of al the kynges giftes his patentis maden men- 
 cioun that they were passed, toe nufsamento totxstUi 8Ut ; 
 and namely for a yeere or ij, Ffor if such an ordre 
 
Clje ©otiernance of OBnglanti. 157 
 
 be kept, men wil nat be so hasty to aske rewardis, 
 but if thei be of right goode merites ; and many 
 men wil than be of better gouernaunce, for the 
 kynges counseil shuld deme hem worthy to be re- 
 warded. And they that opteyne nat that they 
 desire shal have thanne litel coloure of grucche, 
 considryng that they lak it bi the discrecioun of J^e 
 kynges counseil. And the kyng shal have herby 
 grete rest, and be wele defended ageyn suche im- 
 portune suters. And yit he may leve this ordre 
 whan that hym list. 
 
 EXPLICIT. 
 
CRITICAL NOTES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 P. 109. 1. 10. wol] lust C. 
 
 1. 17. openly] playnly Y. 
 
 1. 18. boke] om. L. 
 
 1. 20. L inserts the said before Seynt. For Seynt, L has Snct; 
 i.e. the abbreviation for the Latin Sanclus, and so passim. 
 
 1. 24. we cal] were callid L. 
 
 hade no kynge &c.] hade a kyng, a man that &c. D^. 
 
 P. 110. 11. 2-4. and yet . . . roialy] om. D^, Lb, H^ (homoio- 
 teleuton). 
 
 1. 6. hevene above C, Y. 
 
 1. 7. folic desire C, Y, D\ Lb, H^ W (man. pri.). 
 
 1. 10. thynges] kynges L. 
 
 1. II. land and oJ>er goodis C. 
 
 1. 12. do to] to do L. 
 
 1. 15. ruled onlye by God D', Lb, D''. by God oonly C, Y. 
 
 1. 25. into] to L. 
 
 1. 27. bien even and egaU C, Y. 
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 
 P. 111. 11. 2-3. Title] The title is from Y, with which C seems 
 to agree but is mutilated. L has no break here ; D', Lb, H'' make 
 a division but have no new title. 
 
 1. II. The] This L. 
 
 1. 13. this] om. L. 
 
 1. 18. though] thought L. 
 P. 112. 1. I. Nivus L. 
 
 1. 9. lawea seyn] lawe seythe C, Y. 
 
 1. 18. they] om. L. 
 
 1. 26. yoos, etc.] ycos, quod est scientia C, Y. 
 
 1. 27. regimen] a regimine L. 
 
 \. 28. reignigh L. 
 
 1. 34. in Pelici] infelici L. 
 
i6o C6e <J5ot)ernance of CnglanU* 
 
 p. 113. I. II. L inserts ^before be ganne. 
 1. 12. might- and power C, Y. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The litle is from C. In L alone is there no new title. 
 P. 114. 1. 6. nobles of his lande L. 
 
 1. II. empouerisched, kepte under and, as who saithe destroyed 
 Y, H', which also add in the margin ' shewing of the grete poverte 
 and misere that y® comunes of Fraunce lyveth inne.' 
 
 1. 1 6. of bestis slayn &c.] This is the reading of all the MSS. 
 except L, which reads ' bestis slayn. For the nobles . . . lande ete 
 such catalle as thai brede. And thfe commons weren &c.' But 
 apart from the consensus of the MSS. the reading in the text is 
 confirmed by the parallel passage in the De Laudibus, c. 35. 
 
 L 21. theis] knees D^. 
 
 1. 23. were] was C, Y, Lb, D^. 
 
 1. 27. arted] compelled D^. 
 
 1. 28. ground] erthe L. 
 
 1. 31. wepens L. 
 
 1. 34. the] om. L. 
 
 P. 115. 1. 12. and therfore] om. L. 
 
 1. 16. well] om. L. 
 
 1. 22. Bretayn tho called] om. L. and thai grauntid L. 
 
 1. 29. in welthe L man. rec, not seeing that welthe is an 
 adjective. 
 
 1. 30. to the] to thair L. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 P. 116. 1. 8. whiohe J)e] added in a later hand in L. 
 1, 27. a greter] grete L. 
 
 P. 117. 1. 5. nowe] om. MSS. except L. 
 1. II. thourgh L. 
 1. 13. reigned] reignith L. 
 1. 18. tut] om. L. 
 1. 33. nat.] added above the line L. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 P. 118. 1. 12. and] om. L. 
 1. 13. creaunces L, and so in 1. 18. , 
 
Critical Botzs. C&apiS. ii-t)i» i6i 
 
 1. 1 6. be] om. L. 
 
 1. 24. parte] peny C, Y. 
 
 P. 119. 1. 3. his imsuyrte] so L man. sec. ; his owne suyrte 
 L. man. pri., C, tP, Lb ; his owne unsuretie Y ; leste to his own 
 sewertie D^. 
 
 1. II. man] men L. 
 
 1. 20. shalbe necessite bi arted L. 
 
 1. 21. exquysite] requysite L, Cb. 
 
 1. 22. defaute] a faute C, Y. 
 
 1. 26. shuld be] ought to be C, Y, D^ Lb, H^. 
 
 1. 29. impossible L. 
 
 1. 30. specife L. 
 
 1. 31. to a] off a L. 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 
 P. 120. 1. 7. suflSciantz C, sufEciauntes Lb. 
 1. 13. oases] causes L, courses Cb. 
 1. 15. chaunce] chaunge L. 
 1. 20. wich] with L. 
 1. 21. in no wise may be put C, Y, D\ Lb ; must be put H^ 
 
 P. 121. 1. 2. may] om. L. Here Y and ff add in the 
 margin ' Y^ diversite of y« kinges power and noon-power.' 
 1. 4. haue] om. L. 
 1. 6. or] ro L. 
 1. II. more] om. L. 
 1. 30. garderobe C, Y, DS Lb, K", D». 
 1. 33. haue] om. L. 
 
 P. 122. 1. 10. the] so L, I>\ Lb; thoo Y; theym C ; thos D''. 
 1. 14. courtes, his counceil, his garde, and other seruauntes D", 
 R, Cb. 
 
 I. 18. of] vpon L. 
 
 II. 20-1. kepyng of the] om. L. 
 1. 22. the] om. L. 
 
 1. 27. mey not certenlye D\ D", Lb, HI 
 1. 32. is] as L. 
 
 P. 123. 1. 5. shalbe alway L. 
 I. 14. suffice] suffre C, Y. 
 1. 15. mowe] om. D', Lb, ff. 
 1. 16. Now, as I suppose] om. L (homoioteleuton). 
 
 M 
 
i62 cfte <Sot)etnance of (ZEnglanO, 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 1. 26. shall fall L. 
 
 P. 124. 1. 6. pope] bysshope of Rome D\ Cb omits the 
 whole phrase. 
 
 1. 8. to] om. L. 
 
 1. 15. shorte demure] so L, C, DS cf. Epit. 'pro longitudine 
 itineris, aut spatio commorationis;' shorte abyding and devoure Y; 
 abode and deuoire D^ ; demeanour IP. 
 
 1. 19. communalties] counceiles D^ R, Cb. 
 
 1. 25. The whole of this 'I/em ' is omitted in R. 
 
 P. 125. 1. 8. parte Jjerof] partie Jjerof L ; parte of his lord- 
 shippes C, D', Lb, H" ; lordship D^. 
 
 I. 15. serpes] so L, Lb, D^ ; serpis C, Y; serples D^, H'; while 
 Cb cuts the knot by reading pearles. 
 
 II, 16-17. conuenyent] om. L. roiall] roially L. 
 
 1. 21. trappers] The previous editors without any MS. authority 
 read Iraps. 
 
 I. 26. subgeccion] abiection D^, Lb. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 P. 126. 1. 18. not] om. L. 
 
 II. 21-22. ouer . . . remaynynge] This sentence is supplied 
 from C ; it is omitted in L, owing to the recurrence of the word 
 ' remain.' 
 
 1. 25. mey be] me be L man. pri. ; cor. may be. 
 
 I. 26. wher of L. 
 
 P. 127. 1. 9. in] om. L. 
 
 II. 10 ff. And therfore &c.] From this point to the end of the 
 chapter is omitted in Cb, which simply adds : ' Therefore the 
 Realme ys bounden to sustaine the Kinge rulinge by soe favourable 
 Lawes and Princely Lenitye.' 
 
 11. 18-20. Wherfore . . . bonis] This sentence is omitted by 
 the previous editors, though it is in every MS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 1. 26. Here he shewith] Ora.,Y, R. Here be shewed C, D\ 
 Lb, ff; Hereafter be D^ 
 
Critical Bom. C&apg. loii-r. i6s 
 
 p. 128. 1. I. oertayne] certaynte C, Y, D». 
 1. 3. thynt] thyng L. 
 
 1. 4. no lordis] no ijo lordes D'; and so in 1. 8 infra. 
 1. 13. ffor his] ffor Jje L. 
 1. 15. wold] wol L. 
 1. 18. an] om. L. 
 1. 34. any] euery C, Y, D^ Lb, H"; many subgettes desyren D^ 
 
 P. 129. 1. 4. is] as L. 
 1. 15. Pepyne] Pepeny L. 
 1. 21. wich ij (two) was . . . subgettes L. 
 1. 30. late] om. D''. 
 1. 31. gyff] given Y; gevyn D''. 
 
 P. 130. 1. 2. Kerry the thridde C; the iij<^ L. 
 1. 6. whos] wich L. 
 
 1. 20. The previous editors read, without any MS. authority, 
 ' Such was the case of a great Duke.' 
 1. 28. for] fo L. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 P. 131. 1. 4. ouer] o]>er L. 
 1. 14. tho] om. L, Y, Lb. 
 1. 27. was nor is D", R. Cb. 
 
 P. 132. 1. I. Here Y and H' add in the margin, 'Ye excessif 
 subsidies in Fraunce taken bi the King.' 
 1. 1 2. mete] but L. 
 1. 21. biynge] bryngyngf L. 
 1. 25. entreth L. 
 
 1. 28. mil wol] no wull D^ R, Cb; nihil lanae Epit. 
 1. 30. ' Thexcessif imposicions used by the Due of Burgoigne 
 in his lordshippes' Y and (practically) ff, margin; 'exize' Cb, 
 margin. 
 
 P. 133. 1. 6. were] om. L. 
 1. 7. therin] the reaume L. 
 1. 19. departyng] om. L. 
 1. 21. ouer sore] enforce L. 
 1. 24. fee] om. L, Lb. 
 1. 26. kepe] om. L. 
 1. 31. J>ax] Tper L. 
 
 P. 134. I. 7. no] mony L. 
 1. 15. also] om. L. 
 
 M 2 
 
i64 ^bt (^oiuetnancc of CnglanD, 
 
 1. 1 8. mo] no L. 
 1. 19. a] om. L. 
 1. 20. infeme] fame L. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 P. 135. 11. 2-3. Title] Instead of this heading Y and ff 
 have, 'The Subsidie that the Souldane takith of his Subgiettes.' 
 Cb has the same title; but it is crossed out and the usual one 
 substituted. 
 
 1. 17. patriarkes L. 
 
 I. 18. that is to saying Lb. 
 
 P. 136. 1. I. ben done] biden Y. 
 1. 5. thought] tough L. 
 1. 8. be sate] besitte C. 
 1. 14. nygh] myghty L. 
 1. 15. his] om. L. 
 
 1. 16. 'Ye Kyngs rewardis y* he geveth, were bettyr in rede 
 money than in landis, for both parties ' Y, H^ margin. 
 1. 25. on money and in hande C, Y, 
 1. 34. so gret] so goten C. 
 
 P. 137. 1. 4. that] om. L. 
 1. 7. to] om. L. 
 
 1. 9. commons] Here and in the next three chapters L has 
 ' coies,' the abbreviation for the Latin communHates, 
 
 CHAPTER XIL 
 
 1, 14. pouere] kepte in povertie Y, Cb. The titles of this and of 
 the next chapter are crossed out in D^ ; they are wanting in R, 
 and are supplied in Cb from a MS. of the type of Y. 
 
 1. 23. this it is to say that L. 
 
 1. 24. soth] om. L. 
 
 1. 27. no] not L. 
 
 P. 138. 1. 7. owre] o\t\ L, D^ Lb, D". 
 
 1. 9. owre] om. L. 
 
 1. 20. made insurrexyon D'. 
 
 1. 22. thai] om. L. 
 
 1. 23. fegth L. 
 
 L 27. harnes] armes D^, Lb, H^ 
 
Critical Jl5ote0. €tm* r-rti. 165 
 
 1. 34. through] trough L. 
 
 manasheyng] manace C, Y, D', Lb, IP; manasys or D". 
 
 P. 139. 1. 2. pouerte] pouere men L. 
 1. 3, man hath] men haue L. 
 1. 4. for] om. L. 
 L 20. imfame] L. 
 1. 27. ther] than L. 
 
 1. 29. confedre] so Y, D^, D^ considre L, Lb, C, H*. 
 1. 34. ffor J»e gode] so Lb, H^ and (practically) D'; ffor ]>er 
 gode L; of theyr goode for the defence C, Y, D*. 
 
 P. 140. 1. 3. shefe] fflese L. 
 L 14. and] om. L. 
 
 CHAPTER XIIL 
 
 P. 141. 1. 9. timers C, Y. 
 1. 15. slo-we] sowe L. 
 L 29. ffor] oflf L. 
 
 P. 142. 1. 5. is] as L. 
 L 1 1 . not] om. L. 
 1. 12. cowardisse] cowardnes tP. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 P. 144. 1. 10. pulike L. 
 1. 19. in] om. L. 
 1. 24. many] any L. 
 1. 26. determyd L. 
 1. 30 is] om. DS Lb, H', Dl 
 1. 31. day]om. L. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 P. 145. 11. 2-3. Title] in estableshed L. Y and H\ which 
 divide this chapter into two (v. inf.), give as the heading of the 
 former part : ' Shewing in maner the guiding of the kinges coun- 
 sellours of late yeres.' Cb has both titles, but makes the title 
 given by Y, H* into the last sentence of the preceding chapter. 
 
 1. 9. treded] entreated Y. 
 
 1. 1 2. thair] om. L. 
 
 1. 18. owed] ought C. 
 
 L 19. per] tho C, Y, Lb, D\ ff; than D". 
 
i66 c&e (^otietnance of (ffinslann. 
 
 1. 24. paroial] parcialite L (from above). 
 
 1. 25. or the] L omits /ke. 
 
 1. 30. and] om. L. 
 
 P. 146. 1. 2. offices] oflSce L. 
 
 1. 7. hit is thought] Here, in the middle of a sentence, Y and 
 H' begin a new chapter with the heading : ' How the kinges 
 counsaill may be electe and establisshed, for wele of the king and 
 his reaume.' Cb inserts this title in the margin a little lower down. 
 H^ begins a new' sentence with ' Hit is thought.' 
 
 1. 10. chosen] om. L. 
 
 1. 12. this] so L ; the rest, iAe. 
 
 1. 15. And] om. L. 
 
 1. 17. Justice L. 
 
 1. 18. Common] coie L (v. s.) 
 
 1. 24. J)at] Tpe L. 
 
 1. 30. consiliarius] consilarius L; cancellarius D^, Lb; Justi- 
 tiarius R. 
 
 1. 33. an] om. L. 
 
 P. 147. 11. 1-2. consideracion] Here ends H^. It is not a 
 case of mutilation, for more than a third of the page is left blank. 
 
 1. 2. the eourte] L omits iAe. 
 
 1. 14. J>at] the C. 
 
 1. 19. therto] wherto L. 
 
 I. 21. forthwarde] forthwith D^ 
 
 U. 25-6. wyll . . . wagis] om. L (homoioteleuton). The lacuna 
 is supplied from C. 
 
 1. 29. be] om. L. with] wech L. 
 
 1. 34. dececulte L. 
 
 P. 148. 11. 4-5. late borne owt] om. C, Y. 
 
 1. 34. haue] om. L. 
 
 P. 149. 1. I. ffor] ifro L. 
 
 1. 4. ordinarye] ordynal C, Y, D^ 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 1. 12. L inserts wherthrough before and. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 P. 150. 11. 14-15- Title] This heading is from D\ L makes 
 no division of chapters here. In C the title is mutilated. 
 
Critical Bom. €ffm* x\i~xix. 167 
 
 I 14. folowethe] folwen C; folowen Y, BK 
 1. 16. won] so L; the other MSS. wold. 
 1. 19. mowe] more L, Lb, D^; om. Dl 
 1. 23. greter] gret L. 
 
 P. 151. 1. 2. is] om. L. 
 1. 4- bayiUe] bailywik C, Y, D"; balyeshepe D\ 
 1. 10. tlian mey] mey than L. 
 1. 12. maystir oflFL. 
 1. 15. and] om. L. 
 1. 16. estimably L. 
 1. 27. a] om. L. 
 1. 30. hym] om. L. 
 !• 33' lyuynge] thynge L. 
 
 P. 152. 1. 12. Bh-ul] shuld L. 
 1. 20. officers L. 
 1. 30. before] aforn C. 
 1. 34. causyd] casyd L. 
 
 P. 153. 1. I. haue] om. L. 
 1. II. he is] L omits he. 
 1. 1 7. contray L. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 1. 27. tyme] om. L. 
 
 P. 154. 1. 2. vnderstondyng L. 
 I. 12. importunyte L. 
 1. 14. hurt and harme L. 
 
 1. 17. Here at the end of Chap, xviii end D' and Lb. Both put 
 ' Ffinis ' at the end, so that there is no question of mutilation. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 1. 23. as] om. L. 
 
 P. 155. 1. 10. with owt] with L. 
 
 1. 27. fifundacion] Here, in the middle of a sentence, and at the 
 bottom of a page, ends MS. Laud. It is clear therefore that the 
 last leaf of the tract has been torn off. See Introduction, Part III, 
 p. 88, above. The remainder of the text is taken from the Cotton 
 MS. 
 
i68 C6e (JDotjernancc of CnglanD. 
 
 11. 33-34. Edward the iiij] So C, D^ Cb, R; Y and H* have 
 ' Henry the vj*e.' See Introduction, Part III, pp. 94-5, above. 
 P. 156. 11. 4-5. nowe om. C. mowe om. Dl 
 
 1. 8. in oure wone] So C ; the other MSS. read oure owne. After 
 this D'*, Cb, and R add : ' And therfore God contenewe his grace 
 and persone in long lyffe w' increse, in honour and magnificence, 
 to his hartes desyer, and welth of this his reakne.' 
 
 1. II. ment] om. C. 
 
 P. 157. 1. II. list] D^ Cb, R add: 'And God save the 
 Kyng.' 
 
GENERAL NOTES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Title.] In MS. L. the first three chapters of this work form Title of the 
 only a single chapter with the above title. Though L. is the MS. on ^°'''^' 
 which I have based my text, I have not thought it worth while to 
 disturb the ordinary arrangement and numbering of the chapters. 
 
 But for reasons stated in the Introduction, Part III. (above, p. 
 86), I have been unable to follow the first editor in extending this 
 title to the whole work. These first three chapters are little more 
 than a translation and recasting of portions of the author's earlier 
 Latin treatise De Laudibus Legum Anglia; cc. i, 2 here=cc. 9-13 
 there; c. 3 here=cc. 35, 36 there. 
 
 Ther bith ij kyndes off kyngdomes, etc.] Fortescue is here Monarchy, 
 speaking of the two kinds of monarchy, absolute and limited ; or, f^^j" ^'^ 
 as he calls them, dominium regale and dominium politicttm et regale, limited. 
 Elsewhere (N. L. N. i. c. 16 ; Works, p. 77), speaking of the different 
 forms of government, ' diversa dominandi genera,' he divides them 
 into dominium regale, dominium politicum, and dominium polilicum 
 et regale. In the ' Declaracion upon certayn Wrytinges ' (Works, 
 p. 533) Fortescue divides ' lordshippes^into three c\a.sses, dominium , i 
 regale, dominiu m politicu m, and dominium dispojicum ; where by n 
 'dmrdniwm regale he probably means a limited, and by dominium ' 
 dispoticum an absolute monarchy. 
 
 Of the various attributes of sovereignty Fortescue selects two as Two spe- 
 specially characteristic of it : viz. legislative and taxative power. ^'*' ^""" 
 Where these powers are exclusively in the hands of the monarch, sovereign- 
 the monarchy is an absolute one ; where they are shared by the J^ • ^^S>s- 
 subject, the monarchy is a limited one. It would appear from! taxation. 
 Fortescue's language that he regards the taxative as derived fromj 
 the legislative power. This view may have been suggested to him 
 by the practice of the English Constitution, in which the machinery 
 
170 Cf)e (Soiietnance of Cnglanti, 
 
 for granting taxes was the same as that foj making laws. But that 
 there is in reah"ty no necessary connexion between them is shown by 
 the fact that they may be, and as a matter of history have been, in 
 the hands of different bodies. In England, e.g., the Commons 
 had established their right to be consulted on questions of tax- 
 ation, some time before they won a similar position in regard to 
 legislation. 
 Question It is noteworthy that Fortescue never raises the question who 
 °' *'^^. are the persons entitled to share in these powers of legislation, and 
 not raised taxation ; in other words, what is the qualification for full citizen-l 
 by Fortes- gjjjp jj cannot be said that this question lay wholly outside the' 
 sphere of his enquiries. It is substantially the question between 
 aristocracy and democracy, which had great interest for Aristotle 
 and his mediaeval followers; while in the history of the English 
 Constitution it appears as the question of the franchise. Perhaps i 
 he regarded the question as sufficiently settled by the practice of 
 the English Constitution. But that practice was itself the subject of 
 legislative interference during the Lancastrian period (vid. S. C. H. 
 iii. 256-9). The Statute of 1430 (8 Hen. VI. c. 7), which limited the 
 county franchise to the forty- shilling freeholder, is one of the most 
 important land-marks in the history of representative government in 
 England during the Middle Ages. Dr. Stubbs indeed (u. s. p. 258) 
 thinks that the Act can have had little practical effect, because the 
 same class of persons were returned to Parliament after the passing 
 of the Act as had been returned previously. But this does not 
 prove that the Act may not represent a successful attempt on the 
 part of the ruling classes to maintain a hold upon the representa- 
 tion of the country, which they felt that they were in danger of 
 losing (cf Rogers, Work and Wages, p. 369). 
 Foh'Hc It shows how thoroughly Fortescue's doctrine as to the limited 
 
 ofEngUsh °^ 'politic' character of English royalty had penetrated the 
 royalty. national consciousness, that we find it turning up in the most un- 
 expected quarters. Thus Morley Bishop of Worcester, in his ser- 
 mon preached at the coronation of Charles II, says : ' A Political 
 Monarch governs his Subjects, as a Father doth his Children, by 
 equal and just laws, made by their own consent to them. Despolical 
 Government is that of the Turks, and Muscovite; but Political is, 
 and ought to be the Government of all Christian Kings; lam sure 
 it is of ours ' (Waterhous, p. 20). 
 
 This diuersite is wel taught bi Seynt Thomas in his 
 
Botes, Cbap. i. 
 
 i/i 
 
 boke &C.J St. Thomas Aquinas, the greatest theologian of the s. Thomas 
 Roman Church, was born at Aquino about 1 2 2 1;, and died in 1 2 74, Aquinas ; 
 
 , . i 1 ^ ., ,- T ^ 'his import- 
 
 on tus way to the Council of Lyons. Fifty years after his death ance in 
 
 (1323) he was canonized, and in 1567 Pius V solemnly proclaimed me^i^^al, 
 him as the fifth doctor of the Church in addition to SS. Augustine,r „ '. , 
 Ambrose, Jerome, and Gregory the Great; but in the imagination^ 
 of the Middle Ages he filled a far greater space than any of them. 
 M. Janet truly and eloquently says : ' La philosophie de Saint 
 Thomas est I'image fidfele de son temps : c'est le nceud du moyen 
 ige, c'est le moyen age lui-m6me ; c'est 1^ qu'il a rassembld, en 
 apparence pour I'^ternitd, tout ce qu'il a su, pensd et aimd ' (Hist, 
 de la Science Politique, i. 399). The book alluded to in the text is The De 
 the Be Regimtne Principum, the most popular, and, next to the ^S^"".'"^ 
 Politics of Aristotle, the most authoritative political handbook oipum. 
 the Middle Ages. Of this however only the first book and the 
 first four chapters of the second are by St. Thomas ; the remainder 
 is the work of one or other of his disciples, probably of Ptolemy 
 of Lucca (vid. Baumann, Staatslehre des h. Thomas von Aquino, 
 pp. 5-6; Janet, i. 414-5; S. C. H. iii. 240). In the genuine 
 portion of the work there is nothing that really bears on the differ- 
 ence between absolute and limited monarchy. St. Thomas is there 
 content to follow Aristotle (Politics, Bk. vi) in his division of 
 governments into three right forms : monarchy, aristocracy, and 
 republic (n-oXtTet'a), with their corresponding perversions (TraptK- 
 0ao-£«), tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy. But the difference 
 between the right and the perverted forms of government depends 
 entirely, according to St. Thomas, on their respective aims, and not 
 on their constitution, and does not therefore affect the question 
 here discussed. 
 
 In ii. c. 8 a distinction is drawn between the principahcs politicus Princifa- 
 and the principaius despoticus, the difference being that in the ^^^ and *" 
 former the citizens are governed by one or more persons ' secun- Princifa- 
 dum ipsorum statuta,' whereas in the latter the monarch governs ^^ 
 ' per eam (legem) quae est in pectore principis.' In the first 
 chapter of the fourth book it is said still more emphatically : 
 ' legibus astringuntur rectores poUtici, nee ultra possunt procedere, 
 .... quod de regibus et aliis Monarchis principibus non convenit, 
 quia in ipsorum pectore sunt leges reconditag, prout casus oc- 
 currunt ' (cp. also iii. c. 1 6). In iv. c. 8 the principatus regalis is 
 expressly included under the primipatits despoticus ; while in iv. c. i 
 
172 C&e <5oDcrnance of €ngIanD« 
 
 the essence of ' politic ' rule is made to consist in the elective 
 character of the ruler or rulers : ' modus autem assumendi in hoc 
 gradu electivus est in quocunque hominis genere ; non per naturae 
 originem ut de regibus accidit.' Thus not only (iv. c. 8) is aristo- 
 cracy included under the head of ' politic ' rule, but also the Empire 
 and the Roman Dictatorship come to some extent under the same 
 head because of their elective character, in spite of the legislative 
 authority and arbitrary power (' institutio legum et arbitraria po- 
 testas ') which emperors have in common with kings (iii. c. 20 ; 
 iv. c. i). Politic government is best for a state of innocence, or 
 where men by wisdom and virtue approach that state, as was the 
 case with the ancient Romans (ii. c. 9 ; cf. Fortescue, N. L. N. i. 
 c. 22). But there are certain regions, like Sardinia and Corsica, 
 which ' propter malitiam gentis ' can only be governed ' tyrannico 
 Fortescue's regimine ' (iii. c. 22). Seeing then that monarchical rule is essen- 
 
 limited tially absolute, and politic rule essentially elective, it is very diflScult 
 monarchy i ■, . ■, t^ -r, ti . ^ r -J , 
 
 not really to find m the De Regimine Principum any place for Fortescue s 
 •° th ^°^^ limited monarchy or dominium politicum et regale ; and we are 
 Regimine driven to conclude vnth Lord Carlingford, that ' Fortescue, 
 of Aqumas. -^jjjie endeavouring to support his doctrines of Constitutional 
 Monarchy by the authority of St. Thomas, really derived them 
 from his own liberal sentiments, and the happy experience of 
 his own country ' (Fortescue, Works, p. 360*). 
 Question jt jg true that St. Thomas himself, unlike his continuator, ad- 
 monarchy, ni'ts the possibility of an elective monarchy; and where such 
 is the case the king may be deposed or his power limited 
 (' rex potest destitui [al. destrui], vel refrsenari ejus potestas ') if he 
 fall into tyranny (i. c. 6). It is possible that this is the passage 
 which Fortescue has in his mind. But there is nothing here 
 about 'politic' government, nor does the De Regimine say how 
 a tyrannical king is to be dealt with where the monarchy is 
 not elective. Fortescue himself admits the right of subjects 
 to elect their king only at the first ' incorperacion ' of king- 
 doms (infra Chap, ii, ad init.), or 'quotiens eorum rex sine 
 herede aliquo moriatur' (N. L. N. ii. c. 35; Works, p. 153; 
 cf. ib. 508). 
 Political Of the other works of St. Thomas Fortescue only quotes the 
 of the°^' Summa Theologica (Works, pp. 68, 97, 107, 132, 159, 532). With 
 Summa of his commentary on Aristotle's Politics he does not seem to be ac- 
 ° ^'^ ■ quainted, though it contains a passage which approaches more 
 
3l3oteia!. Cfjap. i. 173 
 
 nearly than any other which I have met with to the views of For- 
 tescue (vid. Baumann, u. s. p. 1 35). But even from the former work 
 he might have quoted passages far more pertinent to his purpose 
 than any to be found in the De Regimine ; e. g. Prima Secunda, 
 Qusest. cv. Art. i : ' Circa bonam ordinationem principum in aliqua 
 civitate vel gente duo sunt attendenda : quorum unum est, ut omnes 
 aliquam partem haleant in principaiu! Then he enumerates after 
 Aristotle the three right forms of government, and concludes that 
 the best constitution is that in which all three forms are com- 
 bined : ' Talis enim est optima politia bene commixta ex regno, 
 in quantum unus praeest ; et aristocratia, in quantum multi princi- 
 pantur secundum virtutem; et ex democratia, id est, potestate 
 populi, in quantum ex popularibus possunt eligi principes ; et ad 
 populum pertinet electio principum' (i. e. the election of the 
 multi qui principanittr). This theory of a mixed or balanced con- Theory of a 
 stitution, invented by Polybius, and adopted by Cicero in his ™|''«4 '^°"' 
 Republic (whence probably St. Thomas borrowed it), has found 
 considerable favour with more modern writers. And just as Po- 
 lybius and Cicero saw the realization of this idea in the Roman 
 State, so did St. Thomas (u. s.) find the same idea underlying the 
 Mosaic system ; while later writers have discovered in it the most 
 leading characteristic and the most signal merit of the Enghsh 
 Constitution (vid. Janet, i. 271-281, 417-8 ; Bagehot, The English 
 Constitution, pp. 2-3). 
 
 ad regem Cipri.] It is doubtful whether this was Hugh II 
 the last of the Lusignans, who succeeded as a mere infant in 1253 
 and died in 1267, or his successor Hugh III, who died in 1284. 
 The former is the opinion of Prof. Baumann (Staatslehre, &c., p. 
 22), the latter of Dr. Stubbs (Mediaeval Kingdoms of Cyprus and 
 Armenia, p. 24): who adds, 'it is certainly very curious that the 
 composition both of the great Feudal Code of the Assizes, and of 
 the manual of mediaeval politics, should have a direct relation to 
 this remote little island.' 
 
 a boke callid Oompendixun moralis philosophise.] The The Com- 
 work alluded to here is the ' Compendium Morale Rogeri de MoraUai 
 Waltham.' Of this work there are two MSS. in the Bodleian, Roger of 
 Laud. Misc. 616, and MSS. Bodl. 805. The former is the one ^*^"'*'"" 
 which I have used. It is a well-written MS. in double columns 
 of the fifteenth century, and formerly belonged to the Benedictine 
 Monks of Oxford. The work is r»ot in any real sense a treatise on 
 
174 Cf)e (Sdtiemance of (JEnglanD, 
 
 moral philosophy, but consists of a series of moral disquisitions, 
 especially on the virtues and duties of princes, illustrated by his- 
 torical examples, and enforced by numberless quotations, especially 
 from Seneca, which amply bear out the testimony of Leland 
 (Commeniarii de Scriptorihus Britannicis, ed. A. Hall, 1709, pp. 
 264-5 j cf. Bale, Catalogus Scriptorum, Cent. IV. xvi) as to the 
 author's wide reading and retentive memory. According to a table 
 appended to the work, 135 authors are quoted in the body of it. 
 Leland (u. s.) aptly describes the work as ' opus de memorabilibus 
 dictis et factis.' Roger of Waltham also wrote a work called 
 Imagines Oraiorum, which I have not seen. Leland saw the MS. 
 of it at St. Paul's. But I do not find it mentioned in the Catalogue 
 of the St. Paul's MSS. in the 9th Report of the Historical MSS. 
 His date. Commission, Part I. Bale, followed by Pits and others, places his 
 floruit in 1250. This is certainly too early. He was alive in 
 1332 (see Report, u.^. p. 2 a; and for other notices of him, 
 ib. 28 b, 40 a, 45 a, 54 b, 69 a). Moreover, at fol. 42 a of the 
 Compendium occurs the following allusion to himself : ' De quodam 
 eciam rege Northwagia; magno re et nomine (i. e. Magnus the 
 Law-betterer, 1262-1280), viro virtuoso, htterato, sapiente, et justo, 
 audivi quemdam clericum suum secretarium domini mei Antonii 
 episcopi Dunolmensis et patriarchae lerosalem familiarem hoc 
 referre.' Antony de Bek, who is here meant, did not become 
 Bishop of Durham till 1283, (ob. 13 11). Roger of Waltham ap- 
 pears therefore to have been in his service at some time of his life. 
 He subsequently became Canon of St. Paul's ; and, if this be the 
 same person. Keeper of the Wardrobe to Edward II. In MSS. 
 Dodsworth, vol. 35. fol. 112, there are spme transcripts from his 
 book of accounts in the keeping of the King's Remembrancer, 
 which extends from May i, 15 Edw. II, to Oct. 19, 17 Edw. II. 
 And in a memorandum on the same page it is stated that this 
 account was delivered at the Exchequer by Roger de Waltham in 
 SncS" P^"^^"*^ "'^ ^^y 2^' 3 Edw. III. His employment in the king's 
 strongfy service did not prevent him from being a vehement supporter of 
 clerical. the spiritual power, and he was evidently much alarmed at Edward 
 I's encroachments on. the independence of the clergy. At fol. 105 d 
 occurs the following interesting passage: 'Et de tali resistencia 
 dicit Boecius primo de consolacione, hoc consciencie libertas habet 
 pro tuendo jure spreta potencium semper ofifensione. Sic nos- 
 trates nominatissimi sancti pontifices Cantuarienses de quibus 
 
3I3oteg, C6ap. U 175 
 
 recens habetur memoria, Thomas, Dunstanus, Edmundus .... 
 quorum laudabilibus exemplis ad relevamen et defencionem jurium 
 ecclesiee et cleri prelati nostri temporis divina opitulante gratia 
 poterunt animari. Ipsorum vero vestigia . . . non sequentes solo 
 vocabulo prelati dicti, sed pocius Pilati et Cayphe.' And at fol. 28 a 
 occurs a still more curious account of the way in which the French 
 crown influenced the elections of abbots in the Cluniac monasteries. 
 At fol. 38 d may be found an account of one of Edward I's judges, Curious 
 which supplies some details beyond those given by Foss, and ''"^^"J/ 
 therefore I venture to quote it here : ' Et hec legis equitas completa justice 
 fuit nostris temporibus in domino Thoma Weylond, summo Justici- Weylond. 
 ario ; qui cum primus legem condidisset, ut, si minister regius in 
 arestando aliquem preciperet arestato ne locum virga sua limitatum 
 excederet, et si locum ilium transiret arestatus, fractor carceris regii 
 haberetur ; idem Thomas primus in legem illam incidit, et ob id ad 
 ecclesiam confugiens exul regnum tanquam reus criminis abjuravit.' 
 Fortescue quotes the Compendium not only here, but also in 
 the heading to the tenth chapter of the treatise De iitulo Edwardi 
 Comitis MarchicB (Works, p. 69*); where he acknowledges that 
 he borrowed from it a reference to St. Augustine. It is possible 
 that a closer comparison than I have thought it worth while to 
 make, might reveal other instances in which Fortescue has taken 
 his references at second-hand from this work (see above, p. 99). 
 Here again Fortescue claims for his theories a literary sanction Fortescue'a 
 which does not really belong to them. Roger of Waltham has tion^l "' 
 indeed a section (fol. 50 a), of which the heading is ' De temperato theories 
 regimine prefectorum.' But it is rather the moral than the constitu- "" ^e^foun^ 
 tional sense of the word temperatum that he is concerned with. in the Com- 
 
 and Bumwhat bi Giles in his bote de regemine principum.] ^'" ^"'"' 
 The author here intended is ^gidius Colonna, or, as he is more .^Egidins 
 commonly called from his birth-place, jEgidius Romanus, The °™^"^- 
 date of his birth appears not to be known. He was a pupil of 
 SS. Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventura, and was appointed by 
 Philip HI of France tutor to his son, afterwards Philip IV. He 
 became archbishop of Bourges in 1296, and died in 13 16 at 
 Avignon. It was his employment as tutor to a royal prince which His De 
 gave him occasion to write his De Regimine Principum. That this ^^^^"^ 
 also was a very popular manual is shown by the translations of it pint. 
 which exist. In the Digby MSS. 233 there is a copy of the English 
 translation of this work. This translation has been attributed to 
 
176 C6e <^oi)ecnance of CnsIanD, 
 
 Trevisa, the translator of Higden's Polychronicon, but Mr. Macray 
 has shown (Catalogue of Digby MSS.) that the name of the trans- 
 lator was Chftoun or Cleftoun. This MS., which I shall occasion- 
 ally quote, is a large folio in double columns of the fifteenth cen- 
 tury. It contains also a translation by the same hand of Vegetius, 
 De Re Militari. Among the books of Edward IV (Wardrobe 
 Accounts, p. 152) is one, ' Of the Gouvernal of Kinges and Princes,' 
 which Sir H. Nicolas believes to be this very translation of ^gi- 
 dius. -^gidius' De Regimine was one of the three works on which 
 Occleve based his metrical treatise with the same title : ' Of Gyles of 
 Regement | Of Prjmces plotmele thynke I to translate ' (Occleve, De 
 Regimine Principum, p. 74, ed. T. Wright, for the Roxburghe Club ; 
 cf ib. xiii). What is probably a French translation of the same work 
 occurs among the goods of Charlotte of Savoy, queen of Louis XI, 
 under the title ' Le livre du Gouvernement des roys et princes ' (In- 
 ventaire des Biens de C. de S. par A. Tuetey, p. 23). A work called 
 ' Le regyme des Princes ' is among the books of Charles Count of 
 AngoulSme, father of Francis I (Excerpta Historica, p. 348). 
 Whether either of these was the translation of .Slgidius into 
 French verse by Henri de Gauche, mentioned by Sir H. Nicolas 
 (u. s. pp. 237-8), I cannot say. The work was translated also into 
 Hebrew, while a Spanish translation appeared at Seville in 1494 
 (Riezler, Die literarischen Widersacher der Papste, p. 299). A 
 copy of the original work was among the books given by Hum- 
 phrey Duke of Gloucester to the University of Oxford (Munim. 
 Acad. p. 772). 
 Foiteseue's But here again it is impossible to find anything to justify 
 not taken Fo^escue's appeal to ^gidius as an authority on the subject of 
 from iEgi- constitutional monarchy. The portion of the De Regimine which 
 '"^' deals with the different forms of government is the second part of 
 
 the third book. But this is little more than an expansion of Aris- 
 totle's views as to the three right forms of government, and their 
 respective perversions. There is the polity in which the people is 
 sovereign, ' totius est [populi] statuta condere' (III. ii. 2), but here 
 there is no king. And there is plenty about the difference between 
 the king and the tyrant; but even in the best monarchy there is 
 no trace of any popular element. 
 
 In the fifth chapter of the same book .ffigidius, while admitting 
 that theoretically there is much to be said in favour of elective 
 monarchy, declares in favour of hereditary royalty on grounds of 
 
3l3otes. Cf)ap. I 177 
 
 experience (experimentaliter). Like Fortescue he prefers succes- 
 sion through males, 'quia masculus est ralione femina prsestan- 
 tior.' But he had not, like Fortescue, any political interest in 
 maintaining this thesis, for the question of female succession did 
 not come up for decision in France till the death of Louis X 
 in 1316, the year of ^gidius's own death. Fortescue quotes 
 jEgidius in N. L. N. i. c. 16 (Works, p. 77); where the context 
 is the same as here ; and there, as here, he ignores the fact that 
 iEgidius's politic government is not a monarchy at all. He quotes 
 him also in N. L. N. i. c. 24 (Works, p. 85). 1 1 
 
 the childeryn of Israeli as saith Seynt Thomas &e.J Govern- 
 This is from the De Regimine, ii. cc. 8, 9, which are not by ™*°' °^ '^^ 
 St. Thomas. The author asserts more than once that the judges 
 governed politici, while the kings ruled regaliter ; but the idea of 
 taking the politic rule of the Judges over the Israelites in such 
 close connexion with God's government of His chosen people, as 
 to find in that combination an instance of dominium politicum. et 
 regale, is, as far as I can see, Fortescue's own. It occurs again, 
 N. L. N. i. c. 16; cp. ib. c. 21. 
 
 in populum peeuliarem &e.] This is a combination of 
 Deut. xiv. 2, ' Te elegit ut sis ei in populum peeuliarem,' with 
 Exod. xix. 6, 'Vos eritis mihi in regnum sacerdotale ; ' cf. also 
 I Pet. ii. 9. 
 
 in to the tyme that thai desired to haue a kjnige &e.] Origin and 
 
 This question as to the origin of monarchy among the Tews is <=""acterof 
 
 *■ ° . monarchy 
 
 discussed by Fortescue at great length in N. L. N. i. cc. 11-16, among the 
 
 18, 21. He is there dealing with two diflSculties : (i) since the J'^^' 
 Israelites sinned in asking for a king, royalty must be sinful ; 
 (2) How could God institute a tyrannical mode of government 
 like that described by Samuel ? This latter question is raised 
 also by St. Thomas, Summa, Prima Secundce, Qusest. cv. Art. i, 
 and is resolved by him in much the same way as by Fortescue, 
 viz. that God was not instituting tyranny in what He said to 
 Samuel, but only foretelling the abuses of the kingly power. To 
 the former objection Fortescue answers : A. The sin of the Israel- 
 ites consisted not in asking for a king, but (a) in the motive of 
 their request, viz. that they might be like the heathen; (b) in 
 deserting the King which they had already, viz. God, Who had 
 done such great things for them (cp. what Fortescue says a little 
 lower down about ' thair folic and vnkyndnes '). B. Things which 
 
 N 
 
178 C&e (S5oDecnance of (ZEnglantJ. 
 
 are brought about by the sin of man are not therefore bad in 
 themselves; e.g. the death of Christ. Fortescue refers to the 
 subject also in his 'Dialogue between Understanding and Faith' 
 (Works, p. 487). There is a curious passage in Josephus (Ant. 
 Jud. lib. vl. c. 4), in which that writer attributes the grief of 
 Samuel at the request of the Israelites to his hatred of monarchy 
 and preference for aristocracy as a form of government. (In 
 lib. iv. c. 8 he attributes similar sentiments to Moses.) Fortescue 
 was not likely to share Josephus's aristocratic sympathies. The 
 subject of Saul's appointment is discussed by the Pseudo-Aquinas, 
 De Regimine, ii. c. 9 ; iii. c. 11. And it has been a favourite topic 
 with political writers. Lord Carlingford instances the discussion 
 of it by Milton against Salmasius in the second chapter of the 
 ' Defence of the People of England,' and by Algernon Sidney in 
 the second chapter of his ' Discourses concerning Government ' 
 (Fortescue, Works, p. 3^58*). In one point Milton agrees with 
 Fortescue : ' He (Samuel) tells not the people what their kings 
 ought to do, but what they would do.' In another he differs widely 
 from him : ' To what purpose should they ' cry to God because 
 of the king that they had chosen, if it were not because a Kingly 
 Government is an evil thing; not in itself, but because it most 
 commonly does .... degenerate into Pride and Tyranny ? ' But 
 then Milton had seen those barriers give way, which Fortescue 
 hoped had been permanently established between kingship and 
 tyranny in England. 
 
 wioh amonge o]jer thynges said &c.] Sallust, in a frag- 
 ment preserved in St. Augustine, De Civ. Dei, iii. c. 1 7, describes 
 the oppression of the plebeians by the patricians in very similar 
 terms : ' Dein servili imperio patres plebem exercere, de vita aique 
 lergo regio more consukre, agro pellere, et cseteris expertibus soli 
 in imperio agere ' (Fragmenta, 1 2). 
 
 the viij*!' chapiter of the first boke of kynges.] i. e. the 
 eighth chapter of the first book of Samuel, according to our 
 reckoning. See especially w. 9-2 1 in the Vulgate. 
 
 Seynt Thomas also in his said boke prasith dominium 
 
 politicum et regale &e.J As I have stated above that I cannoti 
 
 find ' in the said boke ' anything about dominium politiaim et regale, : 
 
 it follows that I cannot find there any passage in which that form 
 
 Kingship of government is praised. It is true that St. Thomas urges strongly 
 
 Tyranny. -"Po^ ^ings the danger and wickedness of falling into tyranny ; 
 
JSoteiS. Cftap. U 179 
 
 e.g. i. c. 10 (ad init.), ' diligenti cura se ipsos (reges) observare 
 debent, ne in tyrannidem convertantur ; ' cf. ib. c. 1 1 (ad finem), 
 ' vehetnenter studendum est hiis qui regendi ofScium suscipiunt, ut 
 reges se subditis praebeant, non tyrannos.' Compare also ^gi- 
 dius, De Regimine, III. ii. 12, 'Probare volumus reges summa dili- 
 gentia cavere debere ne convertantur in tirannos ; ' and his trans- 
 lator : ' We woUen preue jsat kynges and princes sholde be most 
 besiliche ware Jiat \€\ be come not tirauntes ' (MS. Digby 233, 
 f. 1 40 a). But how this danger is to be obviated neither of them 
 very clearly states. In N. L. N. L c. 26 (ad finem) Fortescue infers 
 St. Thomas's approval of limited monarchy from his dread of 
 t)Tanny, and does not, as here, state it as a fact. But in the De 
 Laudtbus, c. 37, ad fin., he says, 'Sanctus Thomas . . . optare 
 censetur ut omnia mundi regna politice regerentur ; ' a passage 
 which I have not found. According to .zEgidius, however, tyraxmy 
 is a lesser evil than insubordination : ' Nam magis est toUerabilis 
 aliqualis tirannides principantis quam sit malum quod consurgit ex 
 inobedentia principis et ex prevaricatione mandatorum eius ' (III. ii. 
 34) ; ' Ffor som what of tyranndise may be bettre i suffred, Jian 
 J)e harm ]>sX come}) jif men ben vnobedient to }>e prince, and 
 breken his law' (MS. Digby 233, f. i6ob). 
 
 and yet thai both bith egall ... as it mey . . . be . . . 
 provid by infallyble reason.] This proof ' by infallyble reason ' 
 of the equality in power and dignity of the absolute and limited 
 monarch is to be found in the N. L. N. i. cc. 22, 26. In the 
 earlier chapter Fortescue maintains that both kings are equally 
 like God, for though the law of an absolute monarchy is more 
 like the law by which God governs the world, yet the law of a 
 politic monarchy is more like that by which He rules the saints in 
 bliss. In the later chapter he argues (as he does in Chapter vi. 
 of the present treatise), that any Umitation which prevents us from 
 doing wrong is an increase rather than a diminution of power. 
 Fortescue was evidently very proud of this demonstration, as is 
 shown by the fact that in the De Laudibus he refers to it no 
 less than four times (cc. 11, 14, 34, 37; cf. especially c. 14, 
 ' in tractatu de Natura Legis Naturae, horum duorum regum 
 aequalem esse potentiam dociis raiionibus ostendisti '). For a 
 discussion of its value see the notes to Chapter vi. infra, p. 218. 
 
 N a 
 
i8o Cf)c <Souernance of (ZBnglanD. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Title]. See Critical Notes. 
 Origin of The first institueion, &e.] In N. L. N. i. c. i8 (Works, pp. 
 kingship. g^_j^ Fortescue discusses the question of the origin of kingship. 
 He there says that it is due to the Law of Nature; (i) because 
 every complex body naturally requires a regulative principle or 
 head (cf. p. i88, below); (2) because man is naturally a social 
 and political animal. And this result is not affected by the fact, 
 that individual kingdoms' have been founded on tyranny and 
 oppression. Here Fortescue is discussing the modes in which a 
 monarchy may arise. These, he says, are two : {a) by conquest; 
 (3) by compact or election. As examples of the former kind of 
 monarch he quotes Nimrod (Nembroth) the founder of Babylon, 
 and Belus and Ninus kings of Assyria ; as an example of the 
 latter kind, Brutus the mythical eponymous hero of the Britons. 
 This analysis is probably taken from Vincent of Beauvais. See 
 the following notes. 
 
 Nembroth.] Cf. Gen. x. 8 ff. Fortescue discusses the case 
 of Nimrod in N. L. N. i. c. 7, and mentions him again, ib. ii. c. 
 46 ; referring in both instances to St. Augustine. In the former 
 Nimrod a chapter he speaks of him very much as he does here. Nimrod 
 commoii- jjg^g jjj j-^pj. ggj.yg(j political writers as the type of the tyrant whose 
 political dominion is founded on conquest, from the days of St. Augustine 
 writers. down to Sidney and Harrington: cf. Sidney's 'Discourses con- 
 cerning Government,' chap. i. § 8, and Harrington's Works, p. 10. 
 St. Augustine (De Civ. Dei, xvi. cc. 3, 4) translating the Septuagint 
 
 version, which is ovtos t\v ylyas Kvvrjyos ivavTiov Kvpiov Tov Qeov, calls 
 
 Vincent of Nimrod ' gigas iste venator contra Dominum.' Another work 
 fnd'hiT*' w'^i'^h Fortescue probably had in his mind was the Be Morali 
 De Morali Principis Insiiiutione of Vincent of Beauvais ; for in N. L. N. i. 
 ^HsHti" ^- ^ (Works, p. 71) he quotes from it with reference to Ninus, 
 Jione. and the passage is no less applicable to Nimrod. 
 
 Among the Rawlinson MSS. there is a small folio of the 
 fifteenth century (Rawl. C. 398), which originally belonged to Sir 
 John Fortescue, as is proved by the armorial bearings displayed at 
 the beginning of several of the treatises which it contains. Among 
 these are the De Mor. Princ, Inst, of Vincent of Beauvais, further a 
 
Bam* C6ap« iu isr 
 
 Chronicle of England by Richard Rede (on which see below, p. 
 185), and copies of two treatises of William of Auvergne (Gulieimus 
 Alvernus), Bishop of Paris 1228-1248, one of which is cited by 
 Fortescue in the JDe Laudibus, c. 4, under the title Parisiensis : 
 Cur Deus Homo. [On William of Auvergne see Jourdain, Traduc- 
 tions d'Aristote, pp. 288-9.] 
 
 Dr. Stubbs, who sent Lord Carlingford some extracts from 
 Vincent of Beauvais' De Mor. Princ. Inst., took them from a 
 thirteenth-century MS. belonging to Merton College (MSS. Merton. 
 cxi), and does not mention the Rawlinson MS., though it has of 
 course a special interest for students of Fortescue. It is the one 
 which I have used throughout. Vincent of Beauvais was reader 
 to Louis IX of France, and to him and to his son-in-law Thibault, 
 Count of Champagne and King . of Navarre, the _De Mor. Princ. 
 Inst, is addressed. In the Prologue the author states that this 
 treatise is only the first instalment of a larger work which he 
 contemplates. He seems however never to have carried out his 
 intention. The passage bearing on Nimrod and Ninus is in the 
 second Chapter (f. 90, v") : ' Cum enim omnes natura essent 
 pares, Nembroth . . . primus regnum super homines usurpavit. . . . 
 Unde legitur . . . quod . . . erat robustus venator coram domino ; 
 i. e. exactor et oppressor hominum amore dominandi fuit. . . . 
 Mortuo Belo Nembrothide Ninus ejusdem filius,' &c. 
 
 [On Vincent of Beauvais and his great encyclopaedic work, the 
 Speculum Mundi, see Jourdain, Traductions d'Aristote,- pp. 360 ff., 
 and Lord Carlingford's note, Fortescue, Works, pp. 356* f. There 
 is another educational treatise by Vincent, De Eruditione Filiorum 
 Regalium, which I have not read. It was printed at Bdle in 1481. 
 The De Mor. Princ. Inst, is said to have been printed, but no 
 copy can be found. The Speculum also contains a system of 
 political philosophy; vid. Riezler, u. s., p. 137.] 
 
 So Higden, Polychronicon, ii. 250, quoting Petrus Comestor, 
 says, ' Nemphrot robustus venator hominum, id est, oppressor.' 
 Isidore, Etym. vii. c. 6, says, 'Nembroth interpretatur tyran- 
 nus,' (cf. ' primus tirrannorum ' here). 
 
 rex dicitur a regendo.] This is a favourite commonplace of Rex a 
 mediaeval publicists. The earliest work in which I have found it is ^^'" 
 St. Augustine's De Civ. Dei, v. c. 12 : ' reges ... a regendo dicti.' 
 From this it was taken by St. Isidore, who says (Etym. ix. c. 3), 
 ' Reges a regendo : sicut enim sacerdos a sanctificando, ita et rex a 
 
182 
 
 C6e (Sotiernance of <2nglanti. 
 
 regendo : non autem regit qui non corrigit. Recte igitur faciendo 
 regis nomen tenetur, peccando amittitur.' In the SententicB, iii. 
 c. 48, Isidore gives a slightly different derivation: 'reges a recte 
 agendo vocati sunt,' &c. [St. Isidore, 'lumen Hispanise,' was Bishop 
 of Seville 699-636 a.d. His work called ' Origines sive Etymo- 
 logiae' was one of the chief manuals of the Middle Ages. Fortescue 
 quotes it once or twice in the N. L. N., but only at second-hand.] 
 From Isidore, mediately or immediately, the derivation was bor- 
 rowed by later writers. I find it next in Hincmar [Archbishop 
 of Rheims 845-882 a.d. On his political theories see Janet, i. 
 355-9, to whom I owe the following reference] : ' Rex a regendo 
 dicitur, et si se ipsum secundum voluntatem Dei regit, et bonos in 
 viam rectam, dirigit, malos autem de via prava ad rectam corrigit, 
 tunc rex est, et nullorum legibus vel judiciis nisi solius Dei sub- 
 jacet : quoniam arbitria possunt dici, leges autem non sunt nisi illae 
 quae Dei sunt,' &c. De Divortio Loth, et Tetb., Qusestio vi. Hinc- 
 mar uses the supposed derivation, as Fortescue does, to discriminate 
 the king from the tyrant. Bracton uses it in the same way, lib. iii. 
 c. 9. § 3. It is found without any such ulterior motive in ^gidius, 
 De Regimine, III. ii. 29 : 'nomen regis a regendo sumptum est.' 
 Cf. Aquinas, De Regimine, i. c. 13 : 'a gubernationis regimine regis 
 nomen accipitur.' Papias, the Italian Grammarian of the eleventh 
 century, gives the following definition in his Lexicon : ' Rex dictus 
 eo quod regere debeat rem popuU et salutem. Inter regem et tyran- 
 num nulla prius erat differentia. Nunc in usu accidit reges vocare 
 modestos et temperatos : tyrannos vero impios. . . . Rex a recte 
 regendo dicitur: quod nomen peccando amittit.' The Compen- 
 dium Morale, fF. 29 a, 32 b, besides citing Papias (u. s.) and the 
 Canon Law (Decreti, Pars i. Dist. 21. Cap. i. Cleros), which, like 
 Papias, is evidently derived from Isidore, u. s., gives a metrical 
 version of the sentiment : — 
 
 'Cum rex a regere nomen dicatur habere, 
 Nomen habet sine re, studeat nisi recta docere.' 
 
 For this the authority cited seems to be Isidore, Etym. lib. vii : 
 but I have searched that book in vain for it. Cf. Political Songs, ii. 
 231 :— 
 
 ' O rex, si rex es, rege te, vel ,eris sine re rex ; 
 Nomen habes sine re, nisi te recte regas.' 
 
 In N. L. N. i. c. 7 (Works, p. 70) Fortescue applies the distinction 
 as he does here, to the case of Nimrod. 
 
Bom, ctjap. iu 183 
 
 robustUB venator.] In spite of the devotion of the Middle Evil asso- 
 Ages to the mimic war of the chase, an evil association seems to connected 
 have clung to the name of hunter, partly arising perhaps from this with the 
 very passage of Genesis. Thus Fortescue's contemporary Gas- '^^^'^' 
 coigne, in his Liber VerUatum (ed. Rogers, p. 224), after quoting 
 St. Jerome's interpretation of Bethsaida as meaning ' domus vena- 
 torum,' continues : 'In domo enim venatorum at in ipsis venatoribus 
 sunt plura ssepe peccata sanguinaria, sc. voluptas, qua delectantur 
 videndo effusionem sanguinis et pcenam animalis morientis, et eciam 
 in vanis et in turpibus ssepe inordinate delectantur ; et rebus suis 
 et tempore saepe abutuntur,. inferendo mala et nociva rebus et 
 pasturis aliorum. Quantum possum in mea recolere memoria, 
 nunquam, sc. in scriptura, venatorem in bonam partem legi.' It 
 is one of the many beautiful traits in Henry VI's saintly character 
 that he had a strong aversion to the cruelty of field sports : ' nee 
 caedi innocui quadrupedis aliquando voluit interesse ' (Blakman, in 
 Hearne's Otterbourne, p. 302). In Rot. Pari. iii. 489 a there is a 
 curious petition presented by the Commons on behalf of the Abbot 
 of Newnham in Devonshire against Sir Philip Courtenay : one of 
 the charges against him being that he had detained two of the 
 Newnham monks and forced them to hunt and hawk ' against 
 their order.' To Chaucer's Monk this would have been no great 
 hardship ; for he was, we read, — 
 
 ' An out-rydere, that lovede venerye ; 
 
 He jaf nat of that text a pulled hen 
 
 That seith, that hunters been noon holy men.' 
 
 Canterbury Tales, Prologue, 11. 165 ff. 
 
 The Other side of the question is given by the Pseudo- Aquinas, Dt 
 Regimine, ii. c. 6 : ' Venatura . . - valet ad robur acquirendum cor- 
 poris, et conservandam sanitatem, et cordis vigorandam virtutem, si 
 temperate utamur.' For a vehement tirade against hunting, cf. John 
 of Salisbury, Policraticus, i. c. 4. 
 
 Belus that was first callid a kynge, aftir hym is sone 
 Ninus.] The authority for this is St. Augustine, De Civ. Dei, xvi. 
 c. 17, as Fortescue himself points out, N. L. N. i. c. 8 (Works, 
 p. 71; cf. ib. 163; N. L. N. ii. c. 46), where also he notes the 
 discrepancy between the statement of Genesis x. 11, followed by 
 St. Augustine, that Asshur founded Nineveh, and the view adopted 
 (among others) by Aquinas, De Reg, Princ. i. c. 1 3, that Ninus was 
 
i84 Ciie <J5oi)ernance of CnglanD. 
 
 the founder of it. Other passages in which St. Augustine mentions 
 Belus and Ninus are De Civ. Dei, iv. c. 6, xvi. c. 3, xviii. c. 2. 
 [For the early history of Assyria according to the mediaeval autho- 
 rities, see Higden, Polychronicon, II. xxix, 274 ff.] Belus was the 
 first king because, as Fortescue says, N. L. N. i. c. 8, ' aliud est 
 habere regnum, ut habuit Nembroth primus tyrannorum, et aliud 
 est regnare, velut utcumque fecerat Belus primus regum.' 
 
 thair kyngdomes bethe than most resembled to the 
 kyngedome of God.] Compare notes to Chapter i. (above, p. 
 179)- 
 Fortescue Jje lawes seyn.J i. e. the Civil Laws. For Fortescue's respect 
 Civil Law. '°'' *^^ ^^^'^ 'Lv^?, see N. L. N. i. c. 32 (Works, p. 95), where he 
 calls them ' nobilissimse Leges illse Civiles, quae quasi totius mundi 
 curam tamdiu egerunt.' And in the De Laudibus, cc. 7, 9, he speaks 
 of them as (Leges), ' quae per orbem percelebres sunt : ' (quas) 
 'supra humanas cunctas leges alias fama per orbem extollat 
 gloriosa.' This did not however prevent him from writing a work 
 (the De Laudibus Legum Anglia) expressly to prove the superiority 
 of English to Roman Law in the points on which they differ. Pro- 
 fessor Pollock has recently said, 'Had English Law been in its 
 infancy drawn within the masterful attraction of Rome, ... it is 
 hardly too much to say that the possibility of comparative jurispru- 
 dence would have been destroyed. . . . English law . . .' furnishes 
 a holding-ground for criticism. In its absence nothing but some 
 surpassing effort of genius could have enabled us to view the 
 Corpus Juris from the outside ' (Inaugural Lecture, pp. 13 f.). It is 
 much to Fortescue's credit that he began this work of criticism and 
 comparison. 
 %fpt^uit *^^°'^ Prineipi placuit legis habet vigorem.] This is from 
 &c., the the Institutes of Justinian, lib. i. tit. ii. § 6 : ' Sed et quod prin- 
 autocrac^y°^"P' P'^^"^'' '^^is habet vigorem ; cum lege regia quae de ejus 
 imperio lata est, populus ei et in eum omne imperium suum et 
 potestatem concessit. Quodcumque ergo imperator per epistolam 
 constituit, vel cognoscens decrevit, vel edicto prsecepit, legem esse 
 constat.' The authority for this is Ulpian in Digest, i. 4. i. Gaius 
 (i. ^ says, ' Nee unquam dubitatum est quin principis constitutio 
 legis vicem obtineat ' (Sandars' Justinian, pp. 82-3). So Dante of 
 the mediaeval emperor: ' Quello che egli dice, a tutti h legge' 
 (Convito, iv. 4). Fortescue quotes this maxim no less than thiee 
 times m the De Laudibus, cc. 9, 34, 35 ; and there, as here, he 
 
Bme* Cbap, it 185 
 
 regards it, rightly, as embodying the very principle of autocracy. In 
 the last-named chapter he gives it a special reference to the arbitrary 
 government of Louis XI. It has been aptly contrasted with the 
 principle of that limited Germanic kingship from which English 
 royalty is derived, as embodied in the words of Tacitus (Germ. c. 7) : 
 ' Nee regibus infinita aut libera potestas.' But Bracton, followed by 
 Fleta and Thornton, gives a very different interpretation to the 
 passage, whereby he almost makes it the foundation of consti- 
 tutional government; Bracton, lib. iii. c. 9. § 3; cf. Fleta, lib. i. 
 c. xvii. § 7 ; and Thornton, quoted by Selden, Dissertatio ad 
 Fletam, cap. 3. § ii. Well may Selden (ut supra) say that he read 
 this explanation ' non sine stupore ; ' and he quotes against it the 
 quite unequivocal words of the Greek lawyer Harmenopulus, 
 
 07rf/3 apeVee tw BafftXct, vofios etJTiv. 
 
 taut aftirwarde whan mankynde was more mansuete, &c.] : ' 
 Note that Fortescue considers the institution of monarchy by elec- ! 
 tion or compact, as a distinct advance in civilization as compared ; 
 with the monarchy based on conquest. 
 
 the felowshippe that came in to this lande with Brute, j Story of 
 
 This mythical history of Brutus, the great-grandson of ^neas, Q^'^e^"*^ 
 
 who was made to do duty as the eponymous hero of the Britons, of Mon- 
 
 comes directly or indirectly from the Histories Regum Britannia ™°"*- 
 
 Rede s 
 of Geoffrey of Monmouth. It is possible that Fortescue derived chronicle. 
 
 it from the Nma Chronica de Gestis Regum Anglorum of Richard 
 Rede, of which the earlier chapters are little more than an abridge- 
 ment of Geoffrey, often preserving his very words, and of which, as 
 we know, Fortescue possessed a copy. (See above, p. 180.) [The 
 authority on which this chronicle is assigned to Richard Rede is 
 Foxe, Martyrology, ed. 1583, p. 783. The chronicle itself, as far 
 as I can judge, is a mere compilation, and contains nothing which 
 may not be found better elsewhere.] The fortunes of Brutus 
 occupy the first book of Geoffrey's work. I do not find there 
 anything about Brutus's election as king of Britain, though he is 
 said to have been elected as leader by the enslaved Trojans before 
 they quitted Greece (i. c. 4, ad init.). The first editor of the 
 present treatise. Lord Fortescue of Credan, maintains that ' our 
 Author does not affirm the Story of Brute to be true.' But nothing 
 is less likely than that he should have disbelieved it. The way in Popularity 
 which the fables of Geoffrey carried everything before them is one ^^les of 
 of the most curious facts in literary history. We find .them turning Geoffrey. 
 
i86 c&e (Souernance of (JBnglanti, 
 
 up in the most unexpected quarters : thus Henry IV founds his 
 claim to the Scotch homage on the ground of the rights exercised 
 over Scotland by Locrinus the son of Brutus (Aug. 1400; Rymer, 
 viii. 155); the compilers of the Black Book of the household of 
 Edward IV base their ordinances on the precedents of the house- 
 holds of Lud and Cassivelaunus (Ordinances of the Household, 
 p. 17); while Cade in his proclamation characterizes Pole (Suffolk) 
 as being ' as fals as Fortager ' (i.e. Vortigern ; Three Fifteenth Cen- 
 tury Chronicles, p. 95). The University of Oxford owes its existence, 
 at least indirectly, to the coming of Brutus (Anstey, Munimenta 
 Academica, pp. xxvii, 367). William of Newburgh indeed cha- 
 racterizes Geoffrey as he deserves as an impudent impostor, 'impu- 
 denter fere per omnia menlitur' (ed. Hamilton, i. 5); and Higden 
 (vide infra, p. 201) ventures to question his account of Arthur. 
 But these are exceptions. And Higden himself repeats the story 
 of Brute without any misgivings (Polychronicon, ii. 442 ff.). 
 Vincent of Beauvais, De Mor. Princ. Inst. c. 2, traces the rise 
 of the British Empire from Brutus (f. 91, ro). More interesting 
 is the fact that he agrees with Fortescue in regarding England 
 as one of the realms where monarchy arose by compact (u. s. 
 c. 4. f. 93, V) : ' Si qui tamen eciam infid'eKum de consensu 
 populorum in reges assumuntur, et fines proprios non excedunt, 
 illorum regna jure stabilita simt. Sic autem arbitrandura est 
 de regno vel imperio Romanorum, ... sic etiam existimandum 
 est de regno Francorum, et etiam Anglicorum. ... In omnibus 
 enim hujusmodi plurimum valet ipsius auctoritas et consensus 
 populi.' 
 Aristotle, the philisopher.] This is Aristotle, who is always so called 
 's^oM^r'"' '" mediaeval writings, at least from the twelfth century onwards. 
 Thus John of Salisbury (1110-1180) says of him: ' Tractavit 
 quidem omnes philosophije partes, . . . sed prae ceteris sic ratio- 
 nalem (i.e. logic) redegit in jus suum ut a possessione illius 
 videatur omnes alios exclusisse. Ita tamen in aliis viguit ut com- 
 mune nomen omnium philosophorum antonomastice, id est, ex- 
 cellenter sibi proprium esse meruerit. Sicut enim urbs Romam, 
 Maronem Poeta exprimit, sic et Philosophi nomen circa Aris- 
 totelem utentium placito contractum est ' (Policraticus, vii. c. 6). 
 This passage has been appropriated by Higden, iii. 358. I give 
 Trevisa's translation of the last sentence : ' pis is i cleped J)e 
 philosofre, as it were he Jjat beref) jse prise of philosofres : so 
 
ii3ote0. C&ap. it 187 
 
 Rome is i cleped ))e citie, so Maro J)e poete, and so Aristotle ]>e 
 philosofre.' 
 
 M. Jourdain in his admirable work, Recherches sur Fdge et tori- 
 gine des traductions latines dAristote (pp. 3, 23, 28, 31, &c.), has 
 shown that up to the end of the twelfth century only the logical 
 ■works of Aristotle were known, and that on them his fame was 
 based. But how effectually his reputation as a logician prepared 
 the way for his reception as the monarch, not to say the tyrant, of 
 the intellectual world, is shown by the above-quoted passage from 
 John of Salisbury, who evidently regards Aristotle mainly as a 
 logician, and who certainly was unacquainted with any but his 
 logical works. With the thirteenth century began what M. Jourdain Infatuation 
 (u. s. p. 120) justly calls 'I'esp^ce de d^lire dont on se prit pour jij^ee 
 Aristote.' As his other works became known he came to be re- for Aris- 
 garded more and more as representing the perfection of human '° 
 reason, and his works as marking the utmost limit to which unin- 
 spired wisdom could attain. And what gave St. Thomas his great 
 significance and value for the Middle Ages was the fact that he 
 first effected a systematic conciliation and fusion of this highest 
 product of purely human reason with the doctrines of the Church. 
 Dante, who embodies no less thoroughly than St. Thomas himself 
 the spirit of the Middle Ages, calls Aristotle ' the master of those 
 who know ' (' il Maestro di color che sanno,' Inferno, cant. iv. 
 V. 131). And in the Convito he calls him 'that master of Philoso- 
 phers' ('quello Maestro de' Filosofi,' iv. c. 8); 'the master of 
 human reason ' (' il Maestro della umana ragione,' iv. c. 2, cf. ib. 6) ; 
 ' the glorious philosopher to whom Nature most revealed her 
 secrets ' (' quello glorioso Filosofo, al quale la Natura piil aperse li 
 suoi segreti,' iii. c. g; cp. the phrase of Waterhous, who calls 
 Aristotle the Secretary, i.e. confidant of Nature ; p. 407). ' His 
 opinion is divine' ('la divina sentenzia d'Aristotile,' iv. c. 17). 
 He holds the same position in the intellectual world that the 
 emperor holds in the world of politics (iv. c. 6), and for ordinary 
 people his authority, without his arguments, suffices (iii. c. 5). 
 Bishop Pecock in this, as in other points, had the courage to Pecock 
 revolt against the prevailing opinions of his day : ' Aristotel was ^{"^"[g*!,!" 
 not other than an encercher for to fynde out trouthis, as othere authority, 
 men weren in his dayes and now after his daies jit hidirto ben. 
 And he failide in ful many poyntis both in natural philosophic 
 and in moral philosophic, as shal be maad open in other placis, 
 
Source of 
 the quota- 
 tion. 
 
 Parallels 
 to it. 
 
 i88 C6e (J^ouernance of OEnBianD. 
 
 and as ech large encercher of trouthis into this present day hath 
 failid ' (' Follower to the Donet,' quoted in Pecock's Repressor, ed. 
 Babington, p. xxxvii). And this was one of the points which 
 Pecock's adversary John Bury brought up against him: ' Non 
 mittis ... ad Platonem, non ad Aristotelem qui principes in doc- 
 trina morum ab hominibus computautur. ; . . Moralis igitur phi- 
 losophia ... in solo tui pectoris domicilio quiescit ' (ib. 604). 
 
 On the general question of Fortescue's Aristotelian quotations 
 something will be found in the Introduction, Part III, above, pp. 99 f. 
 
 every comunalte unyed of mony parties must nedis 
 have an h.ed.] This saying of Aristotle is quoted by Fortescue 
 in N. L. N. ii. c. 42 : ' in hiis quae sunt ad invicem ordinata oportet 
 semper esse aliquod primum et dirigens, ut Philosophus tradit in 
 primo Politicorum' (Works, p. 159)- In this form he probably 
 took it from the Pseudo-Aquinas, De Regimini, iiL c. 9, and not (as 
 Lord Carlingford thinks) from the Summa, Prima Pars, Quaest. xcvi. 
 Art. iv, for Fortescue's language tallies much more exactly with the 
 former than with the latter passage. In the De Laudibus, c. 3, the 
 same sentence is given in a different form : ' Quo primo Politico- 
 rum dicit Philosophus quod quandocunque ex pluribus constituitur 
 unum, inter ilia unum erit regens, et alia erunt recta.' In this form 
 the quotation comes from the Audoritates (see Introduction, Part 
 III, u. s.) of the first book of the Politics. The original is : oo-a yap 
 
 fK 7rXfM)va)w (TVveaTrjKe Kal yivtrm ev Tt KOivov, . , . iv airaaiv ifUpaiverai to 
 
 apxov KOI TO apxofievov (Pol. I. ii. § 9). Dante quotes the same 
 passage in the Convito (iv. c. 4) in support of his theory of the 
 necessity of a universal empire. For the sentiment compare 
 Aquinas, De Regimtne, i. c. i : ' Necesse est in hominibus esse 
 per quod multitude regatur.' ' Oportet esse in omni multitudine 
 aliquod regitivum.' So in the Black Book of Edward IV's house- 
 hold : ' In quolibet toto necesse est unam partem formalem et 
 predominantem [esse], a qua totum unitatem habet ' (Ordinances 
 of the Household, p. 55). It was one of the common charges 
 against the Lollards that they wanted to set up an anarchic and 
 headless system. In a pardon granted to one John Wykham, 
 a Lollard, in 2 Hen. V (Nov. 6, 14 14), it is alleged that it was the 
 intention of the Lollards ' quamplura Regimina, secundum eorum 
 voluntatem, infra Regnum praedictum, quasi Gens sine capite, . . . 
 ordinare' (Rymer, ix. 171). And Whethamstede repeats the 
 charge in some of his insupportable verses : — 
 
JI3ote0. Cftap. iU 189 
 
 ' Regnorum culmen, regnandi despicit omen, 
 Retrogradum regnum optat et acephalum.' 
 
 Amundesham, i. 230. 
 
 Policia dicitur a poles . . . . et ycos &c.J This marvellous Derivation 
 derivation is found almost verbatim in N. L. N., i. c. 23 (Works, °^^o''"''- 
 p. 85): 'policia namque a polos dicitur quod est pluralitas, et ycon 
 administraiio, quasi regimen plurium consilio ministraium.' Lord 
 Carlingford pays Fortescue the compliment of Greek type, printing 
 jroXvs and iKav. But, as I do not believe that Fortescue knew 
 a word of Greek, I have given the passage as it stands in the 
 Oxford MS. of the first part of the N. L. N. (MSS. Laud. Misc. 
 5851 P- 37)- Lord Fortescue of Credan (or Hearne who trans- 
 cribed the work for him), not understanding the passage, gives 
 it without any MS. authority, as follows : ' Dominium politicum 
 dicitur quasi Regimen, plurium Scientia, sive Consilio ministratum.' 
 In this he is followed by Lord Clermont. There is a similar, 
 though less violent, derivation of ' politia ' in Pseudo-Aquinas, De 
 Regimine, iv. c. i : ' Tale regimen politiam appellant, a polis, quod 
 est pluralitas, sive civitas, quia hoc regimen proprie ad civitates 
 pertinet, ut in partibus Italiae maxime videmus.' Whence Fortescue Isidore the 
 
 got this derivation I do not know. The source of many mediaeval =°"''<=« «* 
 . ^ many me- 
 
 etymologies is to be found in Isidore ; and very marvellous they diseval ety- 
 are as a general rule. mologies. 
 
 The kynge of Scottis, &o.] In this reference to the Constitu- Constitu- 
 tion of Scotland we may perhaps trace the influence of Fortescue's 0°",. j 
 wanderings in exile. For his residence in Scotland, see his life in 
 the Introduction, Part II, above pp. 56-62. On the state of 
 Scotland at this time something will be said in the notes to 
 Chapter ix. below. On the mediaeval Constitution of Scotland, see 
 Hallam, Const. Hist. chap. 17, and the Lords' Reports on the 
 Dignity of a Peer, No. I, Division 5. 
 
 In its main features the Scotch Constitution followed the lines of Compari- 
 the English, but differed in some important particulars, i. The ^^° ^j."^ 
 Parliament was composed entirely of tenants-in-chief. No land- England, 
 owners attended, either in person or by their representatives, except 
 those who held their lands immediately of the Crown ; no boroughs 
 were represented except the royal burghs. 2. The smaller tenants- 
 in-chief, or lesser barons, attended in person, as they did in England 
 up to Henry Ill's time. In 1427 they were allowed to send repre- 
 sentatives (or commissaries as they were called) for each sheriifdom. 
 
jgo 
 
 C&e <Soi)ernance of (ZEnglanti. 
 
 Diodorus 
 Siculus. 
 
 Poggio's 
 Transla- 
 tion. 
 
 Later statutes fixed the limit of landed property below which a 
 baron or tenant-in-chief was not to be obliged to attend Parliament 
 in person. But whether attending in person or by their commis- 
 saries, these lesser barons ranked among the second, and not (as in 
 England) among the third estate. This lasted till the revolution of 
 1688, after which, on the abolition of episcopacy, the commissaries 
 of shires were made into a separate estate in place of the prelates. 
 3. Consequently the third estate consisted only of the commissaries 
 of the boroughs. 4. The three estates or communities (' tres com- 
 munitates ') voted promiscuously, and not (as in England) in two 
 separate houses or chambers. Thus we see that in Scotland 
 the parliamentary constitution was based entirely on tenure-in- 
 chief, whereas in England the reforms of Edward I. had excluded 
 the influence of tenure from that constitution. And, partly in 
 consequence of this, the Scotch Parliament was wanting in two 
 main elements of strength which the English Parliament possessed, 
 viz. the close union which existed between all classes of land- 
 owners below the rank of baron, irrespective of tenure; and 
 secondly, the combination in the popular branch of the legislature 
 of the two strongest interests in the country, land and com- 
 merce. But in truth the limitations of the royal power in 
 Scotland were always rather practical than legal, and consisted 
 much more in the power of the great lords than in the consti- 
 tutional action of the parliaments. Still Fortescue is no doubt 
 right in classing the Scotch king, as he does here, among limited 
 monarchs. 
 
 Diodorus SicTilus saith in his boke De priseis historiis, 
 &c.] Diodorus Siculus, the Greek historian, finished his great 
 historical work, which he himself called Bibliotheca Hhtorica, in 
 the year 8 b.c. Poggio (1380-1459) made a Latin translation of 
 the first five books, which was printed at Bologna in 1472, and re- 
 printed several times at Venice. That this was the translation used 
 by Fortescue may be seen by any one who will compare the ex- 
 tracts from the translation given below with the extracts from 
 Diodorus given by Fortescue in De Laudibus, c. 13. This is con- 
 firmed also by the title under which Fortescue quotes the work of 
 Diodorus, De priseis historiis. The heading in the edition of 1472 
 is, 'Diodori Siculi historiarum priscarum a Poggio in Latinum 
 traducti Hber primus incipit.' [It should be noted that the first 
 book of Diodorus is divided into two sections, which by Poggio and 
 
Botes. C6ap. iu 191 
 
 Fortescue are reckoned as separate books. In the early editions 
 and translations of Diodorus there are no divisions of chapters. 
 These I have taken from the edition of Miiller, Paris, 1842.] The TheEgyp- 
 passage about the Egyptian kings is in Lib. i. (ii.) cc. 69, sqq. '*" '°^' 
 Poggio's translation runs as follows : ' Asserunt Egyptii . . . fuisse 
 . . . optimas ab se institutas leges. Quorum maximum ferunt esse 
 argumentum : annis amplius tribus milibus et septingentis indigites 
 reges Egypto imperasse : Eamque provinciam cseterarum orbis 
 esse foelicissimam : quae nullo potuissent pacto fieri nisi optimis 
 moribus ac legibus vixissent, eruditique omni doctrinarum genere 
 fuissent. . . . Primum Egyptii reges vitam, non aliorum regnan- 
 tium quibus voluntas pro lege est, traducebant licentia; . . . Sed 
 veluti privati tenebantur legibus : neque id egre ferebant, existi- 
 mantes parendo legibus se beatos fore. . . . Hac usi erga subditos 
 justitia omnium benevolentiam . . . assecuti sunt.' Among the Ethiopia. 
 ' reawmes of Affrike ' may be mentioned Ethiopia, which Fortescue 
 in the De Laudibus specially quotes. Diodorus' account of the 
 Ethiopian Constitution is to be found in Lib. iii. (iv.) cc. 5, sqq. 
 Poggio translates : ' ^thiopum leges quaedam non parum ab 
 reliquarum gentium legibus maxime vero circa regum electionem 
 differunt. Nam sacerdotes optimos ex se ipsis seligunt. Quem vero 
 ex eis deus more quodam bacchantium circumdelatus cepit, hunc 
 regem populus creat. . . . Assumptus in regem vitam ducit statutam 
 legibus, omniaque agit juxta patrios mores ; neque premio neque 
 poena afficiens quenquam preter traditam a superioribus legem.' 
 About the constitution of the ' londe of Libie ' I do not find much The 
 in Diodorus. What there is, is in Lib. iii. (iv.) c. 49. Diodorus 
 there divides the Libyans into four tribes, and into three classes, 
 viz. the nomad or pastoral, the agricultural, and the predatory 
 Libyans. The two former classes 'regibus parent, vitam non 
 omnino agrestem agentes, neque ab humanitate alienam. Tertii 
 neque uUis subsunt regibus neque uUam latrociniis semper intenti 
 justitiam norunt.' In regard to the Sabeans Fortescue has either The 
 misunderstood or misquoted his author. This is the account of ^'''^*°^- 
 the Sabean Constitution given by Diodorus, iii. (iv.) cc. 46-7 : 
 ' Sabei, gens Arabum populosissima, . , . felicem Arabiam incolunt 
 . . . Reges habet (gens) ex generis successione . . . Beatam . . . 
 vitam habere videntur, quod reliquis imperantes rationem ab se 
 gestorum minime coguntur reddere. Infelicem vero, quod nun- 
 quam regiam exire queunt. Nam si palam prodirent, a turba 
 
192 C6e ^ouemancc of (ZBnglanD* 
 
 hominum lapidibus veteri quodam deorum response obruerentur.' 
 This so far from being a limited monarchy, seems to be an absolute 
 monarchy^mpered only by perpetual confinement as an alternative 
 to stoning. Fortescue quotes Diodorus also in N. L. N. i. c. 7, 
 ii. c. 22 (Works, pp. 70, 137). 
 
 wieh. maner . . . lordshippe . . . Diodorus praisith.J This 
 probably refers to those praises of the Egyptian Constitution given 
 above; which however represent the views, not of Diodorus, but 
 of the Egyptians themselves. 
 
 it is not only good for the prince, &c.] On the benefits 
 which the ruler, according to Fortescue, derives from the limitation 
 of his power, see notes to Chapter vi. below, pp. 2 1 7-9. 
 Fortescue'sl the people . . . resseyue thair bi such justice as thai 
 fn fevour oi ^^^i^^^ thaim self.] Fortescue here lays his finger on what must 
 Constitu- ] always be a main argument in favour of popular government. In 
 N.L.N, i. c. 25 (ad finem) he gives another excellent reason for 
 his preference of limited to absolute monarchy, namely that the 
 risk from a bad king is so very much less in the one case than in 
 the other : ' Vos subditi Regis regaliter et politice preessentis con- 
 solamini quod, si rex vester taliter insolescat, liberis ad hoc, ut 
 alius, ipse non gaudet habenis ' (Works, p. 87 ; cp. also Be Lavdi- 
 bus, c. 9, quoted in notes to Chap. vi. below, p. 218). The Pseudo- 
 Aquinas points out the advantage of self-government with special 
 reference to the administration of justice : ' non est materia scandali 
 puniendo, quia tales leges ab ipsa multitudine sunt institutse.' De 
 Regimine, iv. c. 8. 
 
 tional Go' 
 vernment 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Title.] L. is the only MS. which does not begin a new 
 chapter here. 
 
 j)e rfrenche kynge reignith vppon is peple dominio regali.] 
 
 For the frequency with which Fortescue institutes comparisons 
 between things English and French, see Introduction, Part III, 
 above pp. loo-i. In the De Laudibus and in the present work, 
 which were both written either during or subsequent to Fortescue's 
 exile on the Continent, the author evidently regards the French 
 
Bom* Cftap. at 193 
 
 king as the type of the absolute monarch. The strongest passage France the 
 on the tyrannical government of Louis XI occurs in Be Laudibus, '^l^^^^^^'' 
 c. 35 (ad finem), where after enumerating various odious features of monarchy, 
 that government, the oppressions of the standing army, the arbitrary 
 financial exactions, the extra-judicial condemnations, the secret 
 executions, he continues thus in his address to Prince Edward of 
 Lancaster : ' Etiam et alia enormia, hiis similia, ac quaedam hiis 
 deteriora, dum in Francia et prope regnum illud conversatus es, 
 audisti, non alio quam legis illius colore, detestabiliter, damnabiliter- 
 que perpetrata.' The lex ilia under colour of which these things 
 are done is the maxim that ' quod principi placuit legis habet 
 vigorem.' As early as 1280 this maxim had been enunciated by 
 the French jurist Beaumanoir in the words, ' Qui lui plait \ faire, 
 doit 6tre tenu pour loi ' (cited by Martin, Hist, de France, iv. 568). 
 
 Seynt Lowes .... nor eny of Ms progenitors &c.] In Arbitrary 
 this passage Fortescue certainly underestimates the amount of t^e French 
 arbitrary rule which the French kings prior to Charles VII allowed Kings, 
 themselves in the matter of taxation, though he is right in regarding 
 the reign of the latter king as the period of a decisive constitutional 
 change. With ' Saint Louis and his progenitors ' we are not in 
 reality concerned ; they cannot have imposed taxes with the consent 
 of the Three Estates, for the Estates-General did not then exist, 
 though Saint Louis seems occasionally to have admitted representa- 
 tives of the towns to his councils (Picot, Histoire des £tats G^n^- 
 raux, i. 19). Fortescue is right as to Louis IX, in so far as he, un- 
 like most of his successors, was scrupulously conscientious in the 
 use which he made of his taxative powers (cf. Martin, Hist, de 
 France, iv. 295). But the first monarch to appeal to an assembly First 
 of the Three Estates was Philip IV (the Fair). It has generally Gg^g^tl 
 been assumed that the first assembly of Estates was that which 
 Philip summoned in 1302 to support him in his struggle against 
 Boniface VIII, and that the first Estates summoned for financial 
 purposes were those of 1 314. M. de Studler however (quoted by 
 Martin, v. 123) thinks that he has discovered instances of assem- 
 blies of the Estates for financial purposes going back to 1295. 
 [This if correct would afford a curious coincidence with English 
 parliamentary history, for that is the year of Edward I's great 
 model Parliament.] Anyhow, these applications to the Estates did 
 not prevent Philip IV from imposing taxes by his own arbitrary 
 will. As M. Martin says (v. 122), the French kings as a rule only 
 
 O 
 
194 Cfje (JDOtiernance of <ZEngIanti. 
 
 applied to the Estates for what they could not take in other ways. 
 A tax, imposed in 1292, and continued apparently through the 
 reign, gained from its special odiousness the name of maltolt 
 (Martin, iv. 399, 502, 510-1). It is said that Louis X promised 
 to levy no taxes without the consent of the Three Estates, and that 
 this concession was confirmed by Philip VI in 1338. But for 
 neither fact is the authority as good as could be wished (Picot, u. s., 
 pp. 29 f. ; Hallam, Middle Ages, i. 227 f.). Anyhow the promises, 
 if made, were indifferently kept. Under John the Estates played a 
 great part in financial as in other matters. But their constitutional 
 efforts perished in the reaction which followed the murder of 
 Marcel ; and after the peace of Bretigni the arbitrary exactions re- 
 appear (Hallam, u. s., p. 232 ; Martin, v. 231). The taxes 
 originally imposed for the ransom of King John were prolonged 
 and augmented to Charles V by the Estates of 1367 and 1369, but 
 after the expiration of the last term of one year for which they had 
 been granted, the king continued to raise and even increased them 
 by his sole prerogative (Picot, u. s., pp. 186-8, 200-207, 227; 
 Martin, v. 277, 303-5; Hallam, u. s.). M. Ma];tin justly regards 
 this fiscal despotism as a terrible set-oflf against the inestimable 
 services which Charles the Wise rendered to his country. 'He 
 restored national independence, but destroyed liberty both then 
 and for the future ' (u. s., p. 305). On his death-bed he abolished 
 the taxes which he had imposed without the consent of the Estates, 
 'qui moult me grfevent et me pdisent en courage' (ib. 332). 
 And so great was the popular excitement caused by the report of 
 this abolition, that the government of Charles VI in an assembly 
 of notables (not of Estates, as Hallam, p. 232, appears to think) 
 was forced to confirm it. But to carry on the government without 
 these taxes, or at least a considerable proportion of them, was im- 
 possible. Unfortunately neither the rulers nor the people of France 
 at this juncture saw any middle course between the total abolition 
 of these taxes and their unconstitutional imposition. And the 
 people must share with their rulers the responsibility for what 
 followed. In 1382 the taxes were re-imposed by a simple act of 
 power, for thirty years they were levied without any vote of the 
 Estates ; and arbitrary taxation combined with almost every other 
 form of public evil to make the reign of Charles VI what Sully 
 called it, 'the grave of good laws and good morals to the French ' 
 (Picot, u. s., pp. 237-250, 316). From this rapid survey it will be 
 
Il5ote0* C&ap. at 195 
 
 seen that it is impossible to agree with Fortescue that ' many of 
 St. Louis' successors ' observed the rule of not imposing taxes ' with- 
 out the assent of the three estates.' 
 
 fe iij estates wich . . . taith like to the courte of the 
 parlement in Ingelonde.J Commynes from the French side 
 makes the same comparison. Speaking of England he says : 
 ' les choses y sont longues : car le Roy ne peult entreprendre une 
 telle ceuvre sans assembler son parlement, qui vault autant comme 
 les trois Estatz' (Liv. iv. c. i). Roughly speaking the comparison | 
 is a just one. But to point out all the differences between them 
 in composition, procedure, history and ultimate fate would require 
 a much longer note than can be attempted here. 
 
 in to late dayes that . . . the iij estates durst not come to Establish- 
 gedre, etc.] This refers to the establishment of the standing gj^ndin^ '^^ 
 army and of the permanent tatlk at the Estates-general of Orleans army and 
 in 1439. Fortescue is however wrong in attributing the cessation '^1^^^^^'^' 
 of the meetings of the Three Estates to fear of the English. In the iaiUe in 
 earlier years of Charles VII's reign the Estates met frequently ; ^^f^'^^' 
 and their patriotic self-sacrifice combined with the enthusiasm 
 created by Joan of Arc to effect the regeneration of France. It 
 was rather the exhaustion which followed these efforts, the weari- 
 ness induced by these frequent meetings, together with the desire 
 to put a term to the external and internal evils from which France 
 was suffering, which led the Estates to surrender to the Crown the 
 two most essential safeguards of liberty, control of the purse, and 
 control of the army. Fortescue is therefore wrong further in 
 regarding, as apparently he does regard, the imposition of the 
 permanent iat'lle as an act of royal usurpation. It was the 
 deliberate act of the Estates themselves, whereby they committed 
 political suicide, laid the foundation of the despotism of Louis XI 
 and his successors, and sacrificed the whole constitutional future of 
 France to the conveniences and animosities of the hour. The 
 truth was not long in coming out. In February, 1442, an assembly Remon- 
 of the nobles ventured to represent to the king ' comment telles fl'^^"'^lj 
 tallies et impositions se doivent mettre sus, et imposer; et appeller Feb. 1442. 
 les seigneuries, et les estats du Royaume;' and received for 
 answer, ' Quant aux tallies le Roy . . . de son auctorit^ Royal . . . 
 les pent mettre sus, . , . et n'est j'a nul besoing d'assembler les 
 trois estats pour mettre sus les dictes tallies, car ce n'est que 
 charge, et despence au pauvre peuple' (Monstrelet, ed. 159S, vol. 
 
 O a 
 
196 Cfte (JDotjecnancc of OBnglanO. 
 
 ii. f. 194). Fortescue does nol; dwell here, as in the corresponding 
 chapter of the De Laudibus (c. 35), on the evils caused by the 
 other great measure of 1439, viz. the establishment of the stand- 
 Testimony ing army. But on both these points his judgement is confirmed 
 mynerand by that of men so opposed to one another as Commynes the 
 Basin. panegyrist, and Basin the denigrator of Louis XI; the former 
 of whom says with reference to these measures, ' Le roy Charles 
 VII fut le premier ... qui gaigna ce point d'imposer tailles k 
 son plaisir, sans le consentement des Estatz de son royaulme ; . . . 
 mais ad ce qui est advenu depuis et adviendra, il . . . mist una 
 cruelle plaie sur son royatilme, qui longuement seignera ' (Liv. vi. 
 c. 6); while Basin says, 'in hanc tniseriam tributorum atque 
 exactionum extremam servitutem regnum Francise . . . sub prse- 
 textu necessitatis . . . devolutum est, ut omnes regni incolse ad 
 nutum regis . . . talliabUes publice prsedicentur, de factoque im- 
 manissime tallientur' (i. 17 1-2). The authorities for this note will 
 be found in Picot, u. s. pp. 316-340 ; Martin, vi. 421-3. 
 Exemption wolde not sett any suehe charges . . . uppon the nobles.J 
 French "^^^ exemption of the French nobility from taxation was due to 
 noblesfrom the fact, that the military service which they discharged in person 
 was originally considered as exonerating them from any further 
 contributions to the necessities of the state. Philip Augustus 
 once ventured to break through this rule, but the experiment 
 seems not to have been repeated (Hallam, Middle Ages, i. 
 212). The exemption continued long after any rational ground 
 for it had ceased to exist; and the discontent which it occa- 
 sioned was one cause among many of the French Revolution. 
 Parallel Something of the same kind, though in a mitigated form, existed 
 English ^°'^ ^ *™^ ''I England. During the whole of the Middle Ages the 
 History, barons and knights of the shire taxed themselves at a lower rate 
 than did the representatives of the boroughs and cities. (See 
 the table in Gneist, Verwaltungsrecht, i. 410.) The fact that the 
 barons and knights always taxed themselves in the same pro- 
 portion shows that in England the tendency existed which as we 
 have seen (supra, p. 190) prevailed in Scotland, and generally on 
 the Continent, for the representatives of the lesser landowners to 
 rank themselves with the, second, rather than with the third Estate. 
 Happily in England this tendency was defeated ; and the imposition 
 of taxation became the act not of separate classes, but of the whole 
 nation. 
 
so augmented the same charges.] At the death of Charles increase of 
 VII the iailk stood at 1,800,000 livres per annum, while the t^ie 'oy/e 
 
 ' ' *^ ' and stand- 
 
 Standing army consisted only of 1 700 men-at-arms ; the infantry ing army. 
 
 being supplied by the francs-archers, of whom each parish was Ihe-francs- 
 
 bound to furnish one. In Louis XI's time this number seems to ''"'^"■ 
 
 have been raised to two, for in the De Laudihus, c. 35, Fortescue 
 
 says : ' quelibet viUa semper sustinet sagittarios duos ad minus, et 
 
 alique plures in omni apparatu, et habilmentis sufBcientibus ad 
 
 serviendum regi in guerris suis, quociens sibi libet eos summonere, 
 
 quod et crebro facit.' They were freed from payment of all 
 
 imposts ; hence their name, and this was the only expense which 
 
 they occasioned to the state in time of peace. In time of war they 
 
 received pay at the rate of four livres tournois a month. At the 
 
 death of Louis XI the taille stood at 4,700,000 livres per annum, 
 
 the number of men-at-arms had been raised to 5000, while in 
 
 place of the francs-archers, abolished by Louis XI after the battle 
 
 of Guinegate in 1479, there was a permanent force of infantry 
 
 consisting of 25,000 men. (See Martin, vi. 381, 430-1; vii. 31, 
 
 139, 143; Commynes, Liv. v. c. 19; Liv. vi. c. 6.) 
 
 the same commons be so impouerysshid, &c.] On the Condition 
 state of the French peasantry, cf. De Laudibus, c. 35. The con- ?/ '^'^ 
 trast which Fortescue here draws between the natural advantages peasantry. 
 of France and the misery of the peasantry is one which struck all 
 observers from his time down to the French Revolution. Heylin 
 (1600-1662) says: 'The soil is extraordinary fruitful and hath 
 three loadstones to draw riches out of other countries : corn, wine, 
 and salt. . . . Notwithstanding the fruitfulness of the soil, miserable 
 is the condition of the peasant by reason of the intolerable taxes 
 and the great and uncertain rents which are set upon them by the 
 landlords. There are many among them who farm thirty, forty 
 acres of wheat and vines, who never drink wine or eat good bread 
 throughout the year' (Cosmography, ed. 1652, p. 147). But the 
 lowest depth both of misery and despotism was reached when a 
 French minister (Foulon), on its being ' objected to some finance- 
 scheme of his, " What will the people do ?" made answer, in the 
 fire of discussion, " The people may eat grass : " hasty words which fly 
 abroad irrevocable, and will bring back tidings ! ' (Carlyle, French 
 Revolution, Part i. Bk. iii. ch. 9 ; cf. ib., Bk. v. ch. ix.) See also 
 notes to Chap. x. pp. 267-8, below, and the references there given. 
 
 made of grete caunuas.] Among the estimated yearly expenses Canvas. 
 
198 C&e (J5ot)emance of oBnglanD* 
 
 of the household of Georg:e Duke of Clarence in 1469 occurs the 
 following iterti : ' Canvas 200 elles at xl. s,— £4 ;' i-e- the price of 
 canvas was rather less than 4d. per yard (Ordinances of. the 
 Household, p. 103). ' In an inventory of an Oxford scholar's goods 
 in 1448 occur the following items: ' liem, unus "canveys" pretium 
 vj.(^.' ' I/em, "canvede" pretium nj.d: (Munimenta Academica, 
 p. 579), In Cal. Rot, Pat. p. 237 a, is a grant for life to one 
 Robert Sherwynde of ' officium mensurarum pannorum laneorum 
 ac canves' infra civitatem London'.' Waterhous, speaking of this 
 same canvas, says : ' This I myself have seen the peasants oi France 
 in, God knows, with wooden shoes and pitifull other accoutre- 
 ments' (p. 442). Ct De Laudibus, ed. Amos, p. 132, note. 
 French Seute.] The French scute, or crown, was worth 3^. ^d., or half 
 
 ^'^"'^- an English noble, which was 6s. 8d. Thus in the English version 
 of the Treaty of Troyes, given in Rymer, ix. 916, occurs the follow- 
 ing article : ' The forsayd Katerine shall take and have Doner in 
 our Roiaulme of Englond, as Quenes of Englond hedir toward were 
 wont for to take and have ; That is to saye, to the Somme of forty 
 Mill. Scutes be Yere ; of the whiche Tweyne algates shall be worth 
 a Noble Englyshe.' And in the confirmation of this article in the 
 first Parliament of Hen. VI: 'al somme de xl. M. Escutes, des 
 queux deux toutdys serroient del value d'un noble Engleterre.' 
 Rot. Pari. iv. 183 b. 
 Inability of not able to flght, &e.] Macchiavelli in the sixteenth, and 
 
 the French g^con in the seventeenth century made the same observation : cf. 
 
 peasants to -^ 
 
 fight. the former s Ritraiii delle Cose delta Francia, written after his 
 
 last legation in France in 1510 ; and Bacon's essay, ' Of the true 
 Greatness of Kingdoms.' 
 
 except his nobles, &e.] And the nobles had proved but a 
 poor defence at Crecy, Poitiers, and Agincourt. Added to which, 
 it was Louis XI's policy to dispense as much as possible with the 
 military service of the nobles, whom he allowed to compound for it 
 by payment of a sum of money (Martin, vi. 139, 143). We have 
 seen already how Louis XI. abolished the free archers and sub- 
 Foreign stituted for them a standing body of infantry. The nucleus of this 
 nevir army was a band of 6000 Swiss, who were lent to Louis by 
 the Cantons (Martin, u. s.). ^gidius Romanus, De Regimine, III. ii. 
 6, makes it one of the points in which the tyrant differs from the 
 true king, ' quod tirannus non curat custodiri a civibus sed ab 
 extraneis.' ' A tyraunt wol not haue to warde of his bodye citeseyns 
 
 mercena- 
 ries. 
 
Bom, Cfjap. iiU 
 
 199 
 
 ibore in his owne reigne,,but he takej) to straungers al Jie warde 
 and kepyng of his body' (MS. Digby, 233, f. 135 d). Cf. St. 
 Thomas, quoted by Baumann, Staatslehre, &c., p. 133. 
 
 Scottes.] All readers of Quentin Durward will remember the The Scots 
 Scots Guard of Louis XI, in which Quentin was enrolled under '^"^*™- 
 the auspices of his uncle. So great became the fame of this cele- 
 brated guard that in later times its original institution was attributed 
 to Charles the Fat, and even to Charles the Great. Its real origin Its origin, 
 is probably to be traced to the reign of Charles VII, and it is said 
 to have been first formed out of those Scotch auxiliaries who sur- 
 vived the battle of Verneuil (Aug. 17, 1424), in which Bedford 
 inflicted such a crushing defeat on a mixed force of French and 
 Scots. Before this however, viz. in 1401-2, Louis of Anjou had 
 taken into his pay a small Scotch guard under the command of 
 the Earl of Crawford, with a view to fortifying himself against his 
 rival the Duke of Burgundy. Commynes mentions the Scotch 
 Guards as attending Louis XI to the siege of Lifege, where they 
 showed themselves ' bien bonnes gens ; ' Liv. ii. c. 1 2 (see F, 
 Michel, Les £cossais en France, i. 29f., 10 1-2; Burton, Hist, 
 of Scotland, ii. 398). In Appendix D to Rymer, pp. 167-9^ 
 there is a list of letters of naturalization granted to members of the 
 Scotch Guard from March 1452 to Feb. 1474. 
 
 Spaynardes, Arrogoners.] The Arragonese seem therefore 
 not to be included under the term Spaniards, the Castilians being 
 regarded as Spaniards par excellence. Cf. infra, Chapter ix, where 
 Fortescue speaks of the king of Castile as king of Spain; and 
 note ad loc, pp. 261, 264, below. 
 
 men of Almeyn.] This term includes, if it does not principally The Swiss. 
 refer to, the Swiss. The Swiss cantons were legally included in 
 the German Empire till the peace of Westphalia in 1648. The 
 exact title of the league of the Forest Cantons which became the 
 basis of the later Swiss Confederation was ' The Old League of 
 High Germany.' Commynes, Liv. v. c. i, speaks of ' ces vielles 
 ligues d'Alemagne, qu'on appelle Suisses.' The name Swiss is in 
 fact simply an extension to the whole confederation of the name of 
 the Canton of Schwytz ; an extension due to the fact that it was 
 Schwytz which led the Confederacy in the struggle against Zurich, 
 allied with the ancient enemy Austria, 1 436-1 450 (Weber, Welt- 
 geschichte, ix. 72 ff.; Dandliker^ Hist, du peuple Suisse, pp. 86 ff.). 
 
 Englonde, wich is an lie, . . . mey not lyghtly gesrte 
 
200 cbe (25ot)etnance of €nglanti. 
 
 Insular soucore, &C.J From this passage we see that the feeling of our 
 Englind°a forefathers towards the ' silver streak ' was very different from our 
 source of own. Cp. Rot. Pari. v. 214 a, vi. 4 a, where the fact that 'this 
 danger. L^nde is environed with ennemyes' is given as the motive for 
 grants of liberal subsidies. The insular position of England, so far 
 from being regarded as a source of strength, was considered a 
 great element of weakness. The other point of view is however 
 sometimes found. In the ' Libel of English Policy ' it is said : 
 ' Kepe than the see, that is the walle of Englond ' (Political Songs, 
 ii. 202). Capgrave uses the same metaphor, but he says that Eng- 
 land's enemies have scaled this wall (De lUustr. Henr. pp. 1 34-5). 
 Of the unprotected state of the English coasts during the Lan- 
 castrian period something will be said in the notes to Chap. vi. 
 below, pp. 234, 237. But, apart from the experience of his own 
 times, Fortescue need hardly have gone back to the days of the Picts 
 Attacks on and Scots to prove the liability of England to external attack. To 
 coasts ^^y iiothing of the Danish and Norman invasions, the French had 
 made numerous attacks on the English coasts at the end of Edward 
 Ill's reign, and at the beginning of the reign of Richard II (Nico- 
 las, Hist, of Royal Navy, ii. 125, 132, 134, 260-2). In 1385-6 a 
 formal invasion of England was projected, which caused the utmost 
 alarm, though ultimately it came to nothing (ib. 29,6 ff.). It was 
 the fortifications erected by Henry VIII out of the funds derived 
 from the dissolution of the monasteries which first secured the 
 English coasts from insult (Froude, Hist, of England, iii. 69-72); 
 though Mr. Rogers denies that what Henry did was of any value 
 (Work and Wages, p. 325). 
 
 wich was well provid in the tyme of the Bretons.] All 
 this pretended history is, like the story of Brutus in Chapter ii, 
 derived mediately or immediately from Geoifrey of Monmouth, 
 Hist. Brit. vi. cc. 1-5. In Fortescue's copy of Rede's Chronicle 
 the corresponding portion of history occupies folios 11, 12. 
 
 litle Bretayn.] The origin of this name is thus given by Rede : 
 ' Maximus (Geoff'rey calls him Maximianus) . . . Armoricum 
 regnum expulsis incolis sibi subjugavit, quod et dedit Conano. 
 . . . Hie omnem electam juventutem milicie Britanice posuit in 
 Armorica, quam minorem Britanniam appellavit.' f. 1 1 r" • cf 
 Geoff'. Mon. v. c. 14 : ' fecitque alteram Britanniam.' The ' Libel 
 of English Policy ' calls Brittany both ' Lytell Bretayne' and 'Pety 
 Bretayne' (Political Songs, ii. 164, 169). 
 
5Sote0. Cf)ap, it), 201 
 
 gret Artour was one of thair issue.] Arthur, according to Arthur. 
 Geoffrey, was the son of Uther Pendragon, the youngest of the 
 three sons of Constantinus. His birth is told in Geoff. Mon. viii. 
 cc. 19, 20, his accession in ix. c. i ; of. Rede, ff. i6 ff. I have Higden's 
 already mentioned (above, p. i86) Higden's wholesome scepticism s=epti<:ism. 
 as to Geoffrey's accounts of the exploits of Arthur. Higden 
 grounds his doubts upon the silence of Gildas and Bede ; Poly- 
 chron. v. 336. Higden's translator Trevisa is much scandalized Trevisa's 
 at this scepticism. A similar argument would prove that many ^f jjieden 
 things related by St. John were untrue, because they are not related 
 by any of the other Evangelists ; and ' he were of false byleve ]3at 
 trowede fiat Jsat argument were worj) a bene.' Trevisa admits how- 
 ever that ' it may wel be Jsat Arthur is ofte over preysed, and so 
 bee}) meny dpei.' 
 
 audtherfore the peple therof be not in such peynurie, &c.] \ 
 On the condition of the English commons at this time see the 
 notes to Chapter xii. infra. Here may be noted that Fortescue j 
 attributes the greater prosperity of the English commons, as com- 
 pared with the French, to the greater amount of constitutional 
 liberty which they enjoyed. 
 
 ut ex fructibus eorum, &e.J Matth. vii. 16, 20. Fortescue 
 has prefixed an ui to the quotation which is not in the original, 
 thus throwing the construction out of gear. Accordingly several 
 MSS. read cognoscatis. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 a kynges of3.ce stondith in ij thynges, &c.] Both Glanville Twofold 
 and Bracton begin their respective works with a very similar senti- ^^ ° ^ 
 ment. The former's words, repeated almost verbatim by the Testimony 
 author of Fleta, are : ' Regiam potestatem non solum armis contra of mediae- 
 rebelles insurgentes oportet esse decoratam, sed et legibus, ad oianvllle ' 
 subditos et populos pacifice regendos, decet esse ornatam.' Brae- Bracton. 
 ton says : ' In Rege qui recte regit, necessaria sunt duo hsec, arma 
 videlicet et leges, quibus utruraque tempus, bellorum et pads, rectfe 
 possit gubernari.' Aquinas, De Regimine, says : ' Triplex cura immi- Aquinas, 
 net regi. Primo quidem de successione hominum, . . . qui diversis 
 officiis praesunt. . . . Secundo autem ut suis legibus et prseceptis 
 
202 ^tt (^otiernance of Cnglann, 
 
 . . . homines sibi subjectos ab iniquitate coerceat. . . . Tertio . . . 
 ut multitudo sibi subjecta contra hostes tuta reddatur' (i. c. 15). 
 .ligidius And iEgidius Romanus, in a passage which is closely modelled on 
 Romanus. ^^^ ^^^^^ chapter of Aquinas, says that there are three main 
 obstacles to peace, which arise ' unum ... ex naturS ; . . . aliud . . 
 ex perversitate civium ; tercium . . ex malevolencia hostium ' (De 
 Regimine, III. ii. 8). Or, as his translator expresses it, ' On ferof 
 springe]? as it were of kynde, ]>e oTper of shrewednesse of men, 
 Roger of jie ]3ridde of euel wille of enemyes;' f. 137 b. And the author 
 Waltham. ^^ ^^^ Compendium Morale quotes to the same effect, Innocentius 
 Y,xtr2iV2ig., De supplicio negligentium pralatorum, cap. Grandi: 'Nota 
 justas causas dandi curatorem regibus, videlicet si regnum suum 
 nesciunt defendere, vel in eo justiciam et pacem servare;' f. 38 c. 
 Testimony The same doctrine is frequently laid down in Parliament, and 
 documents. ''^ public documents. In the Parliament of 1427 Archbishop Kemp, 
 the Chancellor, in his opening discourse, ' asseruit . . . debitum 
 Superiorum tria specialiter continere, videlicet, suos Subditos ab 
 Inimicorum insultibus exterius protegere et defensare; pacem et 
 tranquillitatem inter eos interius conservare; ac tertio, debitum 
 Justicie complementum eis equanimiter ministrare ' (Rot. Pari. iv. 
 316 a). And in a document of the year 1458 Henry VI acknow- 
 ledges the duty which he owes to his dominions ' non tantum in 
 defensione exterius, sed ad providendum pro sanis directione et 
 regimine eorundem interius' (Whethamstede, i. 298; of, ib. 179, 
 ; and P. P. C. vi. 174). And in appointing York Protector in 1454, 
 ' the Lordes . . . devysed to the seid Duke . . . the seid name of 
 Protectour and Defensour, the whiche emporteth a personell duete , 
 j of entendaunce to the actuell defence of this land, as well ayenst 
 I th' enemyes outward, if case require, as ayenst RebelJes inward, if 
 These eny happe to be ' (Rot. Pari. v. 242 b). It cannot be said that 
 discharged ""d^'" Henry VI either of these duties was adequately discharged ; 
 by Henry and the first Parliament of Edward IV hardly overstated the case 
 when they said that ' in his tyme . , . unrest, inward werre and 
 trouble, . . . abusion of the Lawes, partialite, riotte, extorcion . . . 
 have been the gyders and leders of the noble Reame of Englond in 
 auncien tyme . . . reputed of grete honoure . . . (but under him) 
 fallen from that renommee unto miserie, . . . shamefull and soroufuU 
 decline ' (Rot. Pari. v. 464 a). And in the Parliament of 1467-8, 
 Edward declared through his Chancellor Robert Stillington, Bishop 
 of Bath and Wells, ' that his entent fynall was to ministre Lawe 
 
Jl5ote0. Cfjap. it). 203 
 
 and Justice, and to plante, fixe, and sette peas thorough all this his 
 Reame, . . . and also entended to provyde an outward pease for 
 the defence and suerte of this Reame ' (ib. 622 b). For the whole 
 of this passage cf. De Laudibus, c. 37. 
 
 as hit apperith bi the said first boke of kynges.J The 
 passage meant is probably i Sam. viii. 20, ' Judicabit nos rex 
 noster, et egredietur ante nos, at pugnabit bella nostra pro nobis ' 
 (Vulgate). 
 
 sithin he oppressith thaim more hym self, &c.J On 
 the poverty and oppression of the French commons see notes to 
 Chap. iii. p. 197, above. Here Fortescue can hardly be acquitted 
 of exaggeration. It was largely the oppressions of the feudal 
 lords which made possible the development of the royal despotism 
 in France. One tyrant was at least better than many, and so the ; 
 people felt. 
 
 as Seynt Thomas saith, whan a kynge, &c.J This is from King and 
 the De Regimine, i. c. i : 'Si regimen injustum per unum tantum '''^^°'' 
 fiat, qui sua commoda ex regimine quserat, non autem bonum 
 multitudinis sibi subjectae ; talis rector tyrannus vocatur, nomine a 
 fortitudine derivato ; quia scilicet per potentiam opprimit, non per 
 justitiam regit;' cp. ib. c. 3, iii. c. 11. Fortescue alludes to this 
 passage again in N. L. N. i. c. 28, where he repeats St. Thomas's 
 derivation of tyrannus, with additions derived from the Catholicon 
 of John Balbi of Genoa (Januensis). [On the derivation see Lord 
 Carlingford's note, ad loc.,and for Balbi cf. Hallam, Lit. Eur. i. 82. 
 The Catholicon was written about 1286.] ^Egidius Romanus 
 discusses the diflference between the king and the tyrant in De 
 Regimine, IIL ii. 6 if., while the Compendium Morale traces 
 the growth of tyranny to the general corruption of the human 
 race ; ' surrepentibus viciis in tirannidem regna conversa sunt ;' 
 fol. 30 a. Pecock, Fortescue's contemporary, defines tyranny 
 in exactly the same way : ' In two maners ouerers mowen 
 holde and vse her ouerte vpon her vndirlingis. Oon maner is bi 
 tiranrie, which is forto in alle deedis of ouerte awaite and performe 
 her owne profit oonli and not the profit of her vndirlingis. . . . An 
 other maner of ouerte ... is for to .. . awaite and performe the 
 profit of the vndirlingis in hem weel reuling bi doom of resoun ' 
 (Repressor, pp. 299 f.). The original source of the distinction is Origin of 
 Aristotle, Politics, III. vii. But the distinction has an interesting J^* ^^' 
 history during the Middle Ages. It was eagerly seized upon by 
 
204 CJ)C (J5otJcrnance of dBnglattD. 
 
 Use made 
 of it by the 
 clerical 
 party dur- 
 ing the 
 Middle 
 Ages. 
 Hincmar. 
 
 Gregory 
 VII. 
 
 Becket. 
 
 John of 
 Salisbury. 
 
 mediseval ecclesiastics in order to justify their opposition to the 
 secular power. I have already (notes to Chap. ii. p. 182, above) 
 quoted Hincmar's use of the etymology ' rex a regendo dicitur.' 
 And in the same passage he continues : ' Quicumque rex veraciter 
 rex est legi non subjacet quia lex non est posita justo, sed injustis ; 
 . . . alioquin (rex) adulter, homicida, injustus, raptor, et aliorum 
 vitiorum obnoxius quilibet, vel secrete, vel public^ judicabitur a 
 sacerdotibus, qui sunt throni Dei, in quibus Deus sedet, et per quos 
 sua decernit judicia' {De Divortio Loth, et Tetb., Qusestio vi). 
 Gregory VII is, as might be expected, one of the most forcible 
 exponents of these ideas. In a letter addressed to Hermann 
 bishop of Metz in 1080 a.d. he says, ' Quis nesciat reges et duces 
 ab iis habuisse principium, qui, Deum ignorantes, superbia, rapinis, 
 periidia, homicidiis, postremo universis pene sceleribus, mundi 
 principe diabolo agitante, super pares, scilicet homines, dominari cseca 
 cupiditate et intolerabili prsesumptione afifectaverunt ? . . . Om- 
 nibus nempe regibus et principibus terrse qui religiose non vivunt 
 et in actibus suis, Deum, ut oportet, non metuunt, dsemones do- 
 minantur et misera servitute confundunt. . . . Quis igitur vel tenuiter 
 sciolus sacerdotes dubitet regibus anteferri ? Quod si reges pro 
 peccatis suis a sacerdotibus sunt judicandi, a quo rectius quam a 
 Romano pontifice judicari debent?' (Epist. Lib. viii. Ep. 21). 
 And compare an earlier epistle to the same prelate (Epist. Lib. i. 
 Ep. 2, 1076 A.D.), where princes, 'qui honorem suum etlucra tem- 
 poralia justiciae Dei prseponunt,' are roundly described as limbs 
 of Antichrist. One of the most pertinent passages however that 
 I have found relating to this subject is contained in a letter 
 of Becket's to Pope Alexander III with reference to his own 
 quarrel with Henry II : ' At, inquiet, reddenda erant Cassari quae 
 Csesaris erant. Sed etsi in pluribus obtemperandum Regi, in 
 illis tamen obtemperandum non est, in quibus efficitur ne Rex 
 sit. Non essent ilia CcBsaris sed Tyranni' (Epistolae, ed. 
 Brussels, 4to. 1682, Lib. i. Ep. 30). But the writer in whom 
 this combination of hierarchic and democratic ideas appears in the 
 most striking form is John of Salisbury, the strenuous adherent of 
 Becket. The tyrant, with him, is distinguished from the prince by 
 the violent origin of his power, (with him too Nimrod is the first 
 tyrant,) and by the fact that he does not rule according to law. 
 The prince is the image of God, the tyrant of Lucifer. The prince 
 receives the sword of his power from the Church ; the tyrant is 
 
Botzs, Ct)ap, itj. 205 
 
 ' plerumque occidendus.' Nor is this a mere casual remark. John 
 of SaUsbury formally justifies tyrannicide (Policraticus, i. c. 4, 
 iv. CO. 1-3, vii. c. 17, viii. cc. 17, 18, 20). Dr. Stubbs (C. H. i. Themedi- 
 146) has justly protested against the views of Allen, that the not^g^if/^'' 
 mediseval clergy were the great upholders of the doctrine of porters of 
 the divine right of kings, as ' shallow and unfair.' But they are 0''/^°^"°* 
 more than shallow and unfair, they are often the exact reverse right. 
 of the truth. The clergy were the great opponents of that doctrine, 
 the chief advocates for the imposition of limitations on the royal 
 power, in opposition to the lawyers who carried on the absolutist 
 tradition of the Roman Law ; and the doctrine of the lawfulness 
 of popular opposition to that power under hierarchical sanction 
 was no invention of Scotch Reformers, or of French Leaguers, (on 
 whom see Ranke, Hist, of Engl., book 4. chap. 6) ; but had already 
 been developed in the Middle Ages. There is, as M. Janet observes, 
 a touch of tribunician eloquence in the passage, quoted above, in 
 which Gregory VII traces the origin of monarchies to a source 
 the reverse of divine ; while the worst doctrines of the political 
 Jesuits are anticipated by John of Salisbury. St. Thomas declares Aqninas 
 emphatically against tyrannicide, Be Regimine, i. c. 6 : ' Hoc ^"j^^g^on 
 Apostolicae doctrinse non congruit. . . . Esset hoc multitudini Tyranni- 
 periculosum et ejus rectoribus, si privata praesumptione aliqui ^ 
 attentarent prsesidentium necem, etiam tyrannorum. . . . Magis 
 . . . immineret periculum multitudifti de amissione regis, quam 
 remedium de substractione tyranni. Videtur autem magis contra 
 tyrannorum saevitiam non praesumptione privata aliquorum, sed 
 authoritate publica procedendum.' And in this he is followed by 
 Fortescue ; though as a lawyer Fortescue grounds his argument 
 rather on the legal principle that no one may be put to death 
 without trial : ' nee sine judicio aliquem occidi permittit lex ;' 
 N. L. N. i. c. 7 (Works, p. 70). On the lawfulness of resistance Aquinas on 
 to a tyrant St. Thomas has a fine passage in the Summa, Secunda ^^^^^^^^ 
 SecundcB, Quaest. xlii. Art. 2, where he is discussing the subject of 
 sedition : ' Regimen tyrannicum non est justum : quia non ordinatur 
 ad bonum commune, sed ad bonum privatum regentis. . . . Et ideo 
 perturbatio hujus regiminis non habet rationem seditionis : nisi forte 
 quando . . . multitudo subjecta majus detrimentum patitur ex per- 
 turbatione consequent!, quam ex tyranni regimine. Magis autem 
 tyrannus seditiosus est, qui in populo sibi subjecto discordias et sedi- 
 tiones nutrit, ut citius dominari possit.' On the whole subject of this 
 
Ahab. 
 
 206 c&e (JDoiJcmance of CnglanD. 
 
 note see Janet, i. 351-373, 396, 421-2; to whom lam indebted for 
 some of the above references. 
 
 Kynge Heroude, &c.] Matth. ii. 16-8. Fortescue uses this 
 illustration of Herod in exactly the same way in N. L. N. i. c. 28 
 (Works, p. 90). 
 
 Aeab.] I Kings xxi. On this compare N. L. N. i. c. 27 
 (Works, pp. 89 f) : ' Achab quondam rex Israel jus regium habuit, 
 quod proclamavit Propheta. ... Ac licet predictus Achab visus 
 sit erga Naboth predictum non regaliter sed politice quodammodo 
 processisse, dum non potestate regia voluit auferre vineam ejus) sed 
 sibi optulit vinese pretium, et, cum nee sic illam nancisci poterat, 
 processu legis per testes productos et sententiam judicialiter in 
 Naboth latam vineam optinuit, tamen quia factum illud contra legis 
 naturae decretum, quod nulli permittit alteri facere quod sibi fieri 
 nolit, efEciebatur, rex ipse acerbissima comminatione predicta 
 Domini mandate perterritus est.' The case of Ahab is quoted 
 also by Pseudo-Aquinas, De Regimine, iii. c. 11. 
 
 ffor theys wordes seid to the profete, &c.J i Sam. viii. 
 9; cp. N. L. N. i. c. 27 (Works, p. 89): 'Idem fuit dicere, 
 " predic populo jus regis," et, " predic eis potestatem quam exercere 
 poterit rex, cum fuerit super eos constitutus." ' Compare the notes 
 to Chap. i. above, pp. 177-8. 
 
 as ofte as such a kynge, &c.] For the sentiment compare 
 the latter part of the passage given in the last note but one; 
 from which it appears that this is no less true of acts done 
 ' politically.' 
 Fortescue \q lawe Off nature.] Fortescue's views on the law of nature 
 of Naliire^ ^''^ contained in the first part of the De Naiurd Legis Natures. He 
 there says that the golden rule, though contained in the Law and 
 the Gospel, is really a part of the Law of Nature, as the Canon Law- 
 says : ' Jus naturale est quod in lege et Evangelio continetur, quo 
 quisque jubetur alio facere quod sibi vult fieri,' &c. (c. 4). For- 
 tescue's analysis of the Law of Nature is derived partly from the 
 Canon Law, but mainly from St. Thomas, Summa, Prima Secunda, 
 Quaest. xc-cviii. See especially Quaest. xciv, xcv ; cp. also ^gidius, 
 De Regimine, III. ii. 24 ff. Pecock in the first eight chapters 
 of the ' Repressor ' argues in much the same way as Fortescue, 
 though his object is different, being in fact identical with that 
 of Hooker in the second book of the ' Ecclesiastical Polity,' viz. to 
 refute those who hold ' that Scripture is the only rule of all things 
 
Botes. Cljap. i). 207 
 
 which in this life may be done by men' (Hooker, Heading to 
 Book ii). But Pecock argues like Fortescue, that the Law of 
 Nature, or, as he calls it, ' la we of kinde, which is doom of resoun 
 and moral philosophic,' is not abrogated either by the Old or New 
 Testament, and is in fact the ultimate ground of many of the 
 things which they enjoin, though the confirmation given by their 
 authority is not to be despised (Repressor, u. s. See esp. pp. 6, 
 18-20, 29-32, 34, 37-40). Nor were these speculations confined 
 to the study. Stillington in his speech to the Parliartient of 1467-8, 
 already quoted, divides ' all the Lawes of the world ... in thre ; 
 that is to sey, the Lawe of God, Lawe of nature, and posityfe 
 Lawe' (Rot. Pari. v. 622b); while according to the first Parlia- 
 ment of Edward IV it was ' using the benefice of the Lawe of 
 Nature ' that Richard Duke of York returned to assert his claim 
 to the crown, after his attainder in the Parliament of Coventry 
 (Rot. Pari. V. 465 b). 
 
 the lawe off nature woll in this case, &c.] For the golden 
 rule as part of the law of nature compare the extract given in the 
 last note from N. L. N. i. c. 4 ; and for the particular application 
 of it to the case of monarchs, compare the story of Trajan quoted 
 in the Compendium Morale, fol. 39 d : ' amicis eum culpantibus quod 
 nimium esset omnibus comis, respondit talem debere imperatorem 
 esse privatis, quales esse imperatores privatus optasset.' The original 
 authority is Eutropius, Lib. viii. c. 5. 
 
 yet of necessite thai muste be gratter, &c.] On Lancastrian 
 poverty see the notes to the following chapters ; and compare 
 Introduction, Part I, above, pp 5-6, 12-14, 17. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 oreaunce and borowynge.] This was a very common feature 
 of Lancastrian finance. See Introduction, Part I, u. s. 
 
 such maner of borowynge makith the grete lordis, &c.] In 
 the Paston Letters, i. 249, is a bond given by the Duke of York to 
 Sir John Fastolf for the sum of £437, which is secured on certain 
 jewels which are pledged by the noble borrower. In Ellis's Letters, 
 II. i. 143-4, is a pressing request from Richard Duke of Gloucester 
 
2o8 c&e (^oioetnancc of €nglanti. 
 
 for the loan of £ioo. Ready money was one of the scarcest 
 articles in the Middle Ages, and any one who could command a 
 supply of it had enormous power. 
 
 what dishonour is this, &c.] Compare Pseudo-Aquinas, De 
 Regimine, i. c. 7 : ' Turpe est enim, et multum regali reverentise 
 derogat, a suis subditis mutuare pro sumptibus regis vel regni.' 
 So Vincent of Beauvais, De morali Institutione, c. 14 : ' Hec de 
 prudenti rerum domesticarum administratione, ad quam pertinet 
 eciam cautela • super vitanda debitorum obligacione ; de qua sic 
 loquitur Ambrosius in tractatu de Sancto Thobia : "Paupertas crimen 
 non habet, sed debere verecundum, non reddere verecundius est " ' 
 (f. 104, yo) ; with many other good and sensible counsels against 
 running into debt. 
 
 his subgettes well rather goo with a lorde fat is riehe, 
 &c.j On this danger, which from the circumstances of his times is 
 constantly present to Fortescue's mind, see the notes to Chapter ix. 
 below. 
 
 by asseignementes.J This again was a prominent feature of 
 Lancastrian finance. Every source of revenue, imperial and local, 
 was anticipated before it fell due by assignments made on it for 
 various purposes, pensions granted to individuals for real or pre- 
 tended services being one of the heaviest items. (See notes to 
 Chaps, vi. xiv. below). 
 
 wieh . . . shall cost hym right miche, &c.J The difficulty, 
 which Fortescue here alludes to, of getting payment of royal grants 
 made by assignment or otherwise is forcibly illustrated by two 
 letters of Margaret of Anjou, ift one of which she writes to the 
 collectors of the customs in the port of Boston urging them to pay 
 to John Wenham and his wife an annuity of ten marks, which the 
 king has granted them out of the customs of that port ; while in 
 the other she positively writes to the Duchess of Somerset, begging 
 her to use her influence with her husband (Edmund Beaufort) in 
 order that one Robert Edmund, a squire of the Queen's, may re- 
 ceive payment of the sum of 360 ' franks,' which has been granted 
 him by the king (Letters of M. of A. pp. ii8, 142). 
 
 a c. M in hand . . . xl. li. worth lande yerely.J In the 
 proclamations issued by Edward IV, March 23, 1470, against the 
 Duke of Clarence and the Earl of Warwick after the overthrow of 
 Sir Robert Welles in the battle of Stamford, it was announced that 
 'he that taketh and bringeth the said Due or Erie shall have for his 
 
reward to him and his heires, an C li. worth of his lond of yerely 
 value, or Ml. li. in redy money at his election ; and for a knyght 
 XX. li. worth of his lond, or C. marc in money ; and for a squyer 
 X. li. worth of his lond or xl. li. in money,' Warkworth's Chronicle, 
 p. 55; cf. Rymer, xi. 654. On the history of the attempts to pre- 
 vent the alienation of the royal domain see notes to chap. xix. 
 pp. 341-2, below. 
 
 the grettest harme that comyth of a kynges pouerte, &c.] Bad effects 
 According to Whethamstede, i. 249, the resumption act of 1456 was °^^^'^{°1 
 occasioned by the consideration forced upon the ' probi, providi. Crown, 
 politicique viri, ac maturi, in Parliamento apud Westmonasterium 
 congregati, . . . quomodo pauperiem Regis subsequitur spoliatio 
 plebis, qualiterque ibi oportebit omnino multam, seu taxam, crescere, 
 ubi res deficiunt necessariae pro regia sustentatione.' So in the 
 manifesto issued by the Yorkist Lords before the battle of North- 
 ampton, which was fought July 10, 1460, they complain I'nUr alia 
 of 'the pouerte and mysery that . . . oure souerayne lorde standeth 
 inne, nat hauyng any lyuelode of the croune of Englond whereof 
 he may kepe hys honorable housholde, whyche causethe the 
 spyllynge of his lyegemenne' (Engl. Chron. p. 86). In the 
 essay 'Of a King,' wrongly attributed to Bacon, it is pithily 
 said, ' Want supplieth itself of what is next, and many times 
 the next way.' 
 
 exquysite meanes of geytinge of good.] For some of the Financial 
 financial shifts to which the Lancastrian kings were reduced by Lancat-' ^ 
 their poverty see Introduction, u. s. Edward IV with much less trian and 
 excuse was not above resorting to similar ' exquysite meanes,' in -^^^^ 
 order to render himself independent of Parliamentary grants. This 
 object, and the means which Edward took to attain it, are stated 
 most clearly by the Cont. Croyl., p. 559, cf. ib. 535, 539. Fore-iBenevo- 
 most among these means would come his invention of benevo- ™'^^^' 
 lences : ' ut per benevolentiam quilibet daret id quod vellet, immoi 
 verius quod noUet ' (Ib. 558, cf. Three Fifteenth Cpnt. Chron., p. \ 
 175, on the large sums raised by Edward IV by means of Privy i 
 Seals). Next to this would come the system which Fortescue! Exaction 
 characterizes as 'putting defaute in his subgettes;' in other words^ °^ ''"^^• 
 that rigorous and inequitable enforcement of penal statutes, manyl 
 of them obsolete, which was a favourite financial device both of' 
 Edward IV and of Henry VII (see Stowe, p. 431a; S. C. H. iii. 
 217). The treason laws, as might be expected, were pre-eminently 
 
 P 
 
210 ^i)c (25ot)etnancc of CnBlanD, 
 
 adapted to this kind of extortion. In 7 Edward IV various alder- 
 men of London 'were arested, and treasonne surmysed uppone 
 them, whereof thei were acquyte, but thei lost grete goodes to the 
 kynge' (Warkworth, p. 5, cf. Cont. Croyl., p. 539)- So of the 
 Kentish adherents of the Bastard Falconbridge in his attempt on 
 London in May, 147 1, it is said, 'some manne payed cc. marke, 
 some a c. pownde, and some more and some lesse, so that it coste 
 the porest manne vijs. whiche was nojt worthe so myche, but was 
 fayne to selle suche clothinge as thei hade, and borrowede the 
 remanent, and laborede for it aftyrwarde ; and so the Kynge hade 
 out of Kent myche goode and lytelle luff. Lo, what myschef groys 
 after insurreccion ! Sec' (Warkworth, pp. 2 1-2). This latter passage 
 is curiously like Fortescue in style. Similar charges were made 
 against Richard II. 
 
 impossibile est indigentem, &c.j This is an Auctoriias from 
 the first Book of the Ethics. The original is ahivaxov yap 5 oi paSwv 
 
 TO Koka npaTTtiv axopriytjTov &VTa. I. viii. § 15- 
 
 CHAPTER Vr. 
 
 ture. 
 
 Ordinary I do not think I can better illustrate the general subject treated 
 ordinary^" °^ ^"^ ^'^'^ ^^^ '^^ following chapter, viz. the royal expenditure 
 expend!- under the two heads of ordinary and extraordinary charges, than 
 by giving an abstract of the financial statements of the three 
 years 1411, 142 1, and 1433 ; one from each of the three Lancastrian 
 reigns. The first two are to be found in P.P. C. ii. 7-14, 312- 
 5 (=Rymer, x. 11^), and represent the estimates for the year as 
 prepared by the Council. The third is in the Rolls of Parliament 
 (v. 432-9), and contains the statement drawn up by Lord Crom- 
 well on undertaking the office of treasurer in 1433, and laid before 
 the Parliament of that year. It is by far the most elaborate and 
 interesting of the three. An earlier statement of the year 1401 is 
 in P. P. C. i. 154, ii. 56, but it is too fragmentary to be of much 
 use. 
 
Jl3ote0» Cfjap, Mu an 
 
 1411. 
 
 ESTIMATED REVENUE. Budget of 
 
 £ s. d. 14"' 
 
 Subsidy on Wool 30000 o o 
 
 Half-tenth of the Province of Canterbury 6500 o o 
 
 Tunnage and Poundage 5333 6 8 
 
 Proceeds of the Hanaper ........ iioo o o 
 
 Aulnage and Pannage 500 o o 
 
 Escheats ........... 300 o o 
 
 Great Custom of Wool 1800 o o 
 
 Wards and Marriages ........ 1000 o o 
 
 Ferms of the Sheriffs iioo o o 
 
 Tenth of the Province of York " . 300 o o 
 
 Little Custom 333 6 8 
 
 Ferms of Alien Priories , . 100 o o 
 
 Total ,C48366 13 4 
 ESTIMATED EXPENDITUBE. 
 
 (. s. d. 
 
 Calais ........... 22500 o o 
 
 Scotch Marches . 8700 o o 
 
 Ireland 2666 13 4 
 
 Castle of Frounsak 1630 13 4 
 
 Duchy of Aquitaine 6618 6 8 
 
 King's Household ......... 13415 5 3 
 
 King's Chamber and Wardrobe 1866 13 4 
 
 Annuity to Hartonk Van CIucx . . . . . . 66 13 4 
 
 Treasurer, Privy Seal, Justices, etc 2613010 
 
 Parchment, etc., for Exchequer, Privy Seal, etc. . . . 100 o o 
 
 Arresting Ships, Messengers, Proclamations . . . . 66 13 4 
 
 Liveries of S. George, to Justices, etc 972 19 o 
 
 Officers of the Great Wardrobe ...... 296 18 o 
 
 King's Works (Repair of Castles and Manors) . . . 1000 o o 
 
 To the men of Prussia 1772 16 8 
 
 Keeping the King's Lions 120 o o 
 
 Total £64406 13 1 
 
 The deficit on the estimates is therefore £16,040. It is ex- 
 pressly noted that no provision is made for the keeping of the sea, 
 nor for any embassies that might be necessary ; nor for the wages 
 of the King's Council, nor for the debts on the household and 
 wardrobe, &c. ; nor for any annuities payable at the Exchequer, as 
 opposed, that is, to those which were charged on the revenues of 
 counties, the customs of particular ports, &c. With reference to 
 these last, precepts had already been sent in the August of the 
 previous year (1410) to the Sheriffs, Collectors of the Customs, 
 Keeper of the Hanaper, &c., ordering them to suspend payment of 
 all annuities till the king and the council had deliberated upon 
 them, (Rymer, viii. 651). Parliament when it met granted, besides 
 
 P 2 
 
212 
 
 C&e (Soioernance of (SnglantJ. 
 
 the subsidy on Wool and Tunnage and Poundage, a tax of six 
 and eight-pence on every £20 of income derived from land. 
 
 
 (C s- d- 
 3976 I 2 
 
 26035 18 8^ 
 2438 9 \\ 
 8226 10 9I 
 
 15066 II I 
 
 Total 
 
 £55743 10 loj 
 
 1421, 
 
 Budget of ESTIMATED REVEIfUE 
 
 1421. 
 
 Great Custom of Wool 
 Subsidy on Wool . 
 Little Custom 
 Tunnage and Poundage 
 Casual Revenues . 
 
 ESTIMATED EXPENDITTJRE. 
 
 i ^. d. 
 
 Keeping of England 5333 6 8 
 
 „ Marches of Scotland [time of war] . . . 95°° o ° 
 
 „ Ireland 1666 13 4 
 
 „ Castle of Frounsake 666 13 4 
 
 Calais and the Marches [time of war] 19119 5 1° 
 
 Salaries of Treasurer, Privy Seal, Justices, Barons, and other 
 
 officers of the King's Courts . . . . . 3002 1 7 6 
 ,, Collectors and Controllers of Customs, payable at 
 
 the Exchequer 547 o o 
 
 „ „ Chargeable on the Customs . . 274 3 4 
 Annuities payable at the Exchequer to various Lords and 
 
 others. . . ., 7751 12 7| 
 
 „ „ Chargeable on the Customs . . 4374 4 3 
 
 Total £52235 16 io§ 
 
 The surplus on the estimates is therefore £3,507, but out of 
 this provision has to be made for the chamber of the king and 
 queen, for their household, their wardrobe; for the king's works, 
 for the construction of a new tower at Portsmouth ; for the oflSce 
 of the clerk of the king's ships ; for the keeping of the king's 
 lions, and the salary of the Constable of the Tower; for the 
 Artillery and other ordnance for the war ; for the keeping of the 
 king's prisoners; for embassies, messengers, parchment, &c.; for 
 the expenses of the Duchess of Holland. It is further noted that 
 no provision has been made for paying off the various debts of the 
 late reign, or the debts contracted by the king himself when he 
 was Prince. Parliament, when it met in May 142 1, empowered 
 the Council to give security for any sums that might be lent to the 
 king; and in December 142 1 a tenth and fifteenth were granted; 
 but this, I imagine, would come into a new financial year, the 
 accounts apparently being made up to Michaelmas. There is a 
 very elaborate statement of accounts for the year J415-6 in P.P.C. 
 
iRote0. Cfjap, Ml 
 
 213 
 
 ii. 172, ff. But as the items of expenditure are calculated, not 
 for a year, but for various fractions of a year, they are too compli- 
 cated to be abstracted. The estimate of revenue, amounting to 
 £56,966 13^-. 4d., may however be studied with advantage, as it is 
 much more detailed than that given above, and is for the year 
 June 1415-June X416. 
 
 1433. 
 ESTIMATED REVENUE. 
 
 s.-d. 
 
 Net proceeds of the Ferms of Counties, etc., and 
 of the Green Wax, less deductions for ex- 
 penses. Fees, Annuities, etc. . . . 1903 8 
 
 Escheats, Wardships, Marriages . . . 500 o 
 
 Fee-Ferms of Townships and Manors, less de- 
 ductions »/ .f«/r3 634 10 
 
 Fenn of Lauds, etc., in the King's hands, less 
 
 U.S 3835 10 
 
 s. d. 
 
 Budget of 
 1433- 
 
 3 
 o 
 
 8 
 
 81 
 
 Fenn of Subsidy and Aulnage of Cloth, less u. s. 
 Custom of Wines paid by Foreigners, less u. ». 
 
 Proceeds of the Hanaper, less u. s. . 
 „ Coinage, less u. s. . 
 
 ,, Exchanges, less u. s. 
 
 „ Office ' Coronatoris, Marescal, 
 
 Hospic' Regis' 
 
 Proceeds of Alien Priories, less u. s. 
 
 Net Revenues of Duchy of Aquitaine, less u. s. 
 
 Net Revenues of Duchy of Cornwall, less u. s. . 
 
 „ South Wales, less u. s. . 
 
 [ „ North Wales,' less u. s. . 
 
 „ Earldom of Chester," less u. s. 
 
 [ „ Duchy of Lancaster,' less' y. s. 
 
 Fines, Amerciaments, Reliefs, etc. . 
 
 Shirk (Chirk) and Shirklandes 
 Temporalities of Vacant Bishoprics . 
 Proceeds of the Scrutiny . 
 Reliefs and Fines . . . . 
 
 178 4 
 76 17 
 
 137 12 
 87 8 
 79 13 
 
 44 
 
 4 
 
 18 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 205 
 
 77 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 8S 
 
 6873 9 71 
 
 25s 
 
 322 19 3| 
 
 282 5 8| 
 
 I.")! ° 9: 
 
 470 5 4?, 
 
 590 18 4 1 
 
 II 4 
 
 63a 10 i| 
 
 2408 8 6|] 
 
 100 
 
 • 
 
 rj' Revenue 
 
 000 
 000 
 000 
 000 
 
 8466 5 10| 
 Not Estimated. 
 
 Customs and Subsidy of Wools, Tunnage, and Poundage. 
 
 Average of Three Years 26966 
 
 Total £35432 18 9J 
 
 ' Not included in Total, because assigned to John Radclyff in part payment 
 of £7,629 ^s. \\d. due to him ; cf. P. P. C. iv. 199. 
 
 ' Furlier reduced from £44 \os. id. by the grant of the Manor of Shoteswyk 
 (Shotwick) to Wm. Porter. 
 
 ' Not included in the Total. 
 
214 
 
 Cf)e (Sotjemance of OBnglanti* 
 
 ESTIMATED BXPENDITtTBE. 
 
 Deficit on Ireland . 
 ,, Calais 
 
 Windsor Castle 
 
 King's Household . 
 
 „ Chamber 
 
 „ Wardrobe . 
 
 „ Works . 
 Repair of Windsor Castle 
 
 Pensions, etc., payable at the Exchequer to 
 the Dowager Queens, and various great 
 Lords, etc 755^ 
 
 Wages of Collectors and Controllers of the 
 Customs ..... 
 „ Constable of the Tower . 
 
 „ Treasurer, Privy Seal, Justices, Barons 
 
 of the Exchequer, and necessaries for their 
 Courts 
 
 jf s. d. 
 
 i8 17 5| 
 
 9064 15 6 
 
 72 8 5 
 
 10978 12 II 
 
 666 13 4 
 
 1300 o o 
 
 666 13 4 
 
 66 13 4 
 
 9156 
 
 J3678 12 II 
 
 Keeping of Ireland . 
 
 „ Scotch Marches ' . 
 
 „ Aquitaine 
 
 ,, Castle of Frounsake 
 
 Wages of Duke of Gloucester and Council 
 
 „ Earl of Warwick, the King's Tutor 
 Pension to Giles of Britanny . 
 Custody of the King's Lions . 
 
 Repair of the King's Ship 
 
 Custody of Dukes of Orleans and Bourbon, and 
 
 the Count of Eu .... 
 Grooms and Pages of the Household and 
 
 Chamber . .... 
 
 Embassies to and from the King 
 Messengers, etc. ...... 
 
 582 
 100 
 
 2914 
 
 2666 13 
 4816 13 
 27.^9 13 
 
 666 13 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 4 
 4 
 
 5133 6 
 
 166 13 
 
 166 13 
 
 36 10 
 
 8 
 4 
 4 
 
 
 670 o o 
 
 126 13 
 
 2626 13 
 
 200 O 
 
 To be provided for : Kingdom of France. Aquitaine. Keeping 
 of the Sea. ' Nywenham Brigge.' ^ 
 
 11152 12 o 
 
 10883 13 4 
 
 55°3 3 4 
 
 3723 6 8 
 Not estimated. 
 
 Total £54103 9 7i 
 
 Though I have gone over these last accounts several times 
 in different ways, I cannot make the totals agree with those 
 given by Lord Cromwell himself. Some items I cannot be sure 
 that I have calculated rightly. But these points are of the 
 less importance, because my object in the present note is not to 
 estimate the condition of the revenue in any given year, but 
 
 ' Double in time of War. 
 
 ' Cf. P. P. C. iii. 304. 
 
Bom. Cfjap. Di. 2 IS 
 
 merely to illustrate the various heads of expenditure enumerated 
 by Fortescue. For the same reason I have not given any parti- 
 culars of the debt, which amounted to nearly £165,000. On the 
 side of income I have only given the net revenue. The gross 
 ordinary revenue is nearly three times as much. The fixed Fixed 
 charges by which it is so much reduced are ' solutiones, vadia, Ij^^l^f' 
 feoda, annuitates;' z.e. expenses, wages, fees or salaries, and ordinary 
 pensions, whether perpetual (in feodo), or for life (ad terminum ■^^^^"'"^■ 
 vitae). Some of these charges are fair enough ; e. g. the salaries of 
 the Chancellor and all his staff are charged against the profits of the 
 Hanaper. But many of them were probably of that indefensible 
 kind which caused so much popular irritation iti the fifteenth 
 century, and which Fortescue himself is so anxious to abolish. (See 
 notes to Chap. xiv. pp. 292-3, below). It should be noticed that in 
 the accounts for the year 142 1 the item of annuities, &c. makes up 
 nearly a fourth of the whole estimated expenditure. It is curious 
 that Fortescue nowhere mentions Ireland, which figures promi- 
 nently in all the above accounts. Perhaps he considered that it 
 ought to pay its own expenses. How far this was from being the Ireland. 
 case may be seen from the fact that Ireland was constantly one of 
 the objects for which supplies were asked in Parliament (Rot. Pari, 
 iii. 425, 454, &c.). In 1406 the Commons complained that ' grande 
 somme et excessive est ore donez pur la saufe-garde de la Terre 
 d'Irlande, . . . et nient meyns la dite Terre est en voie de perdicion ' 
 (Rot. Pari. iii. 577; cf. 573. The author of the 'Libel of English 
 Policy ' is also evidently in great alarm about Ireland. And the 
 matter lay so near his heart that he proposed to write a separate 
 treatise on the subject. He says that the Earl of Ormond had 
 declared that a year's expenses of the war in France would sufiice 
 to reduce Ireland permanently to order. Political Songs, ii. 185, 
 ff.). In 1408 the sum of 7000 marks allowed to the Lieutenant of 
 Ireland is secured mainly on English sources of revenue (P. P. C. 
 i. 313, ff.). In 1423 the Earl of March as Lieutenant is allowed 
 5000 marks, to be paid as far as possible out of the Irish revenues, 
 the balance to be paid by England (ib. iii. 68). In 1433 the 
 Lieutenant of Ireland was ordered to propose a Resumption Act 
 in the Irish Parliament, ' considered the great need that the kyng 
 hath to good' (ib. v. 297). 
 
 thai nedim to toe gretter than well be the charges, &e.J 
 Compare Bacon's Essay 0/ Expense : ' Certainly, if a man will 
 
2i6 c&e (J5otJcrnance of aBtifflanD. 
 
 keep but of even hand, his ordinary expenses ought to be but to the 
 half of his receipts ; and if he think to wax rich, but to the third 
 part.' 
 Saint Ber- Seynt Bernarde saith, &c.J This is from 'Bernardus de 
 n3.TADere ^^^^ j.^; familiaris,' or 'Epistola Sancti Bernardi ... ad Raymun- 
 f'""''"'"- dum Dominum Castri Ambruosii,' printed in opera S. Bernardi 
 (Paris, 1640), col. 1926, and re-edited from a MS. in the Lauren- 
 tian Library by J. C. Amadutius in ' Anecdota Litteraria' (Rome, 
 4 voll. 8vo., 1773-1783), iv. 229, ff. It seems to have been 
 popular in the Middle Ages. Mr. Lumby has published a metri- 
 cal paraphrase of it in the Scottish dialect, E. E. T. S. 1870. 
 It was published in German at Wittemberg in 1552 under the 
 title, 'Die Epistel Sanct Bernards von der Haussorge . . . ver- 
 deudscht durch Johan Spang, [enberg, ?].' The passage alluded 
 to by Fortescue is as follows :— ' Quod si in tua domo sumptus 
 et reditus sunt sequales, casus inopinatus poterit destruere statum 
 ejus.' In the paraphrase this passage runs thus : — 
 
 •And first provide with werteu fat J>i rent 
 To J)i expensis be equiuolente 
 For foly expense but temporance is noy. 
 And of his house pe stat it may destroy.' — p. 2- 
 
 Assign- charges ordinarie.] On the king's ordinary charges, the need 
 
 ments for f^^ ^n ' asseignment of lyvelode' to bear them, the advantages which 
 expend would follow from such assignment, and the means to be taken to 
 tuie. prevent the alienation of any part of the revenues so assigned, 
 
 compare Appendix B, §§ 4, g. The manifesto put forth by Robin 
 of Redesdale in 1469 against Edward IV contains the following 
 articles, which might have been drawn up by Fortescue : — 
 'We, the Kyngis true and feithfulle Commons and subjettes of 
 this lond, mekely besechen . . . that hit well lyke hym for the gret 
 wele of hymself, his heires, and the common-wele of us his true 
 subjettes and Commons, , . . to . . . stablish for evyr to be hadde 
 suche a sufRciente of lyvelode and possescions, by the whiche 
 he and alle his heires aftir hym may mayntene and kepe theire most 
 honorable estate, withe alle other ordinarie charges necessarye to 
 be hadde in this lond. So that be nor noon of his heires, hereafter, 
 of necessite, nede to charge and ley uppon his true Commons and 
 subjettes suche gret imposicions as before is expressid; Unlesse 
 that it were for the gret and urgent causes concernynge as well the 
 wellthe of us, as of cure seid sovereyne lord. 
 
Bom* Cftap. iji. 217 
 
 'Also to be enstablisshid be the said auctorite, that yf any 
 persone . . . presume or take uppon them to aske or take pos- 
 sessions of any of the lyvelod so appoyntyd, that, ... he be 
 taken and reputyd as he that wold mynysshe and apeire the 
 royall estate of his sovereyn lord, and the commonwele of this 
 lond. And went (without) pardon so to be pxmysshed.' (Wark- 
 worth, pp. 50-1.) 
 
 wieh shalbe worth to the kynge, &c.] v. s. chap. v. ad 
 init. and Appendix B. u. s. 
 
 This may in nothinge restrane the kynge's pover, &c.] Argument 
 This argument, which is here introduced with special reference to gtitut^onal 
 limitations on the king's power of alienating his property, is in limitations 
 N. L. N. i. c. 26, and in the passage from the De Laudibus cited jg^ggj, jj^g 
 in the next note, applied to the subject of constitutional restraints royal 
 on the royal power in general. Lord Carlingford (note, ad loc.) P°^*''- 
 thinks that the object of Fortescue, in that and other passages, was 
 to reconcile Prince Edward of Lancaster to the difference between 
 the constitutional monarchy of England, and the despotic government 
 which he saw during his exile on the Continent. But this style of 
 argument, by which it is sought to prove that restrictions are no 
 restrictions, is very much older than the circumstances of For- 
 tescue's time. It forms the burden of a considerable portion of 
 the celebrated song on the battle of Lewes ; e.g. : — 
 
 ' Non omnis arctatio privat libertatem. 
 Nee omnis districtio toUit potestatem. 
 
 Et haec coarctatio non est servitntis, 
 Sed est ampliatio regise virtutis. 
 
 Sed et sic angelici spiritns arctanttir, 
 Qui quod apostatici non sint confirmantnr. 
 Nam quod Auctor omnium non potest errare, 
 Omnium Frincipium non potest peccare, 
 Non est impotentia, sed summa potestas, 
 Magna Dei gloria magnaque majestas," etc. 
 
 (Political Songs, Camd. Soc, pp. 105-7). 
 
 And Bracton says : ' Potestas injuriae diaboli et non Dei est ' 
 (Lib. iii. c. 9. in S. C. H. ii. 301 note); while Whethamstede (i. 353) 
 quotes from Seneca the sentiment : ' vis ad nocendum vis est 
 
2l8 
 
 Cbe (JDOtiemance of Cnglanfl, 
 
 Sophistry 
 of the 
 argument. 
 
 pestifera.' Very possibly Fortescue had in his mind the passage 
 in Diodorus about the Egyptian kings, part of which has been 
 quoted in the notes to Chap. ii. p. 191. above. ' Veluti privati 
 tenebantur legibus, neque id egre ferebant, existimantes parendo 
 legibus se beatos fore. Nam ab his, qui suis indulgerent cupidit- 
 atibus, multa censebant fieri quibus damna periculaque subirent. 
 Scientes enim ssepius se peccare, tamen aut amore, aut odio, aut 
 alio animi morbo victi, nihilominus aberrant.' (Diod. Sic. i. (ii.) 
 71, Poggio's Transl.) 
 
 As to the value of the argument in itself, it seems to rest on a 
 confusion between the inability to do wrong which comes from the 
 state of the will, as in the case of God and the Angels, and that 
 which is the result of mere external limitations. To say that 
 the latter are in any real sense an increase of power seems 
 absurd. Bacon takes much higher ground in distinguishing be- 
 tween them. ' In Place there is license to do good and evil ; 
 whereof the latter is a curse ; for in evil the best condition is not 
 to will ; the second not to can. But power to do good is the true 
 and lawful end of aspiring.' (Essay 0/ Great Place.) And can it 
 be said that constitutional limitations only prevent bad kings and 
 ministers from going wrong, and have never hindered good kings 
 and ministers from doing what would be desirable? Professor 
 Beesly says of the elder Pitt: 'Pitt was the most towering 
 statesman that England has produced. . . . But ... he worked 
 in the gyves of a constitution. He had to play a game of which 
 others had invented the rules.' (Essays on International Policy, 
 p. 169.) But as we cannot ensure a succession of Chathams, 
 we may still believe with Fortescue in the desirability of constitu- 
 tional restrictions. And Fortescue himself gives this very reason 
 (De Laudibus, c. 9). After admitting with Aristotle that the rule 
 of the best man is better than the rule of the best laW; he adds : 
 ' sed non semper contingit presidentem populo hujusmodi esse 
 virum.' 
 
 the holy sprites and angels.J Compare the extract given 
 above from the song on the battle of Lewes, and De Laudibus, c. 14 
 (ad finem) : ' Potestas, qua eorum alter perperam agere liber est, 
 libertate hujusmodi non augetur, ut posse languescere morive, po- 
 tentia non est, sed propter privationes in adjecto, impotentia potius 
 denominandum. Quia, ut dicit Boetius, " Potentia non est nisi ad 
 Bonum;" quod posse male agere, ut potest rex regaliter regnans 
 
of it. 
 
 Purvey- 
 ance. 
 
 Bom* c&ap. Ml 219 
 
 liberius quam rex politice dominans populo suo, potius ejus potes- 
 tatem minuit, quam augmentat. Nam sancti spiritus, jam con- 
 firmati in gloria, qui peccare nequeunt, potentiores nobis sunt, qui 
 ad omne facinus liberis gaudemus habenis.' 
 
 the kynges housholde.J For some account of the royal The royal 
 household and its expenses prior to the Lancastrian period, see °°^^ ° " 
 S. C. H. ii. 553-8. It is there shown how unpopular an insti-j 
 tution it was, and what a favomite topic of attack it formed; not 
 perhaps because the mal-administration there was worse than in; 
 other departments, but because it was more obvious. Other abuses jAbuses 
 might require special knowledge for their detection ; the extrava- 
 gance and selfish rapacity of the household were plain to every one, 
 and, when the court was on progress, were brought to the very 
 doors of the people's homes. With it too were associated all the 
 grievances that gathered round the hated system of purveyance ; ' 
 a system so hateful that it was attempted to abolish the very name 
 (ib. i. 537). Nor was it very different during the Lancastrian and 
 Yorkist period. Complaints as to the state of the household Appropri- 
 appear frequently on the Rolls of Parliament, and it is with refer- ^J^^^^ ^g 
 ence to the household that the plan was most often proposed the main- 
 which Fortescue wished to see applied to the whole of the ordinary the house- 
 expenses of the crown, of appropriating certain revenues to its hold. 
 maintenance, and making those revenues inalienable. In the 
 Parliament of Jan. 1404, revenues to the amount of £12,000 
 were appropriated to the household, and all grants made there- 
 from were to be ipso facto void (Rot. Pari. iii. 528). In 1406 
 the increasing expense and decreasing efficiency of the house- 
 hold were the subject of bitter complaint in Parliament, and 
 stringent measures were passed to remedy this state of things, 
 but they were only to remain in force till the end of the next 
 Parliament (ib. 576, 579, 586 b, 587 b, 5,89 a). In May, 1413, it 
 was agreed, on the request of the Commons, that in all pay- 
 ments of annuities the king should be preferred to the extent 
 of £10,000 annually for the maintenance of his household, 
 chamber and wardrobe (ib. iv. 5). In Nov. 1439, the king 
 ' havyng knoweliche of grete murmour and clamour that shold 
 be in his Roialme of Englond, for non paiment of the dispensis 
 of his Houshold,' with the assent of the Lords spiritual and 
 temporal and the Commons, appropriated thereto the net revenues 
 of the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall, and a quarter of 
 
220 c&e ©otietnance of aEnglant, 
 
 the tenth and fifteenth granted in that Parliament ; and authority 
 was given to the council to make all necessary regulations for 
 the household (ib. v. 7, 8, 32). In June, 1442, the Commons 
 petitioned that these arrangements might be prolonged and made 
 more stringent, but the king gave an evasive answer (ib. 62-3)- 
 In April, 1454, new assignments were made for the household 
 to the amount of £5,186 6s. 8d. (ib. 246-7). In i455 these 
 were reduced below £4,000 (ib. 320-1); while in 1482 they 
 rose to nearly £11,000, and it was ordered that these assign- 
 ments should take precedence of all others (ib. vi. 198-9). For 
 assignments made by the council to the household, cf. Rymer, viii. 
 610; P. P. C. vi. 311-2. The Resumption Acts of 1450 and 
 1455 were both prefaced by a reference to the state of the household 
 as proof of their necessity. On the former occasion it was declared 
 that the annual expense of the household alone was nearly five 
 times the amount of the whole ordinary revenue (Rot. Pari. v. 
 Casual 183, 300). But all these measures were ineffectual; and the debts 
 revenues ^f ^Yte household formed a yawning gulf, into which every casual 
 the house- Source of income was thrown without having the effect of causing 
 ^°^^- it to close. Thus the rents of forfeited lands were appropriated 
 
 to this object (Rot. Pari. iii. 625 ; Cal. Rot. Pat. p. 244 a; P. P. C. 
 i. 108). The goods of felons and outlaws went the same way 
 (Cal. Rot. Pat. p. 246 b, 248 a; Rymer, viii. 442). Alien priories, 
 temporalities of vacant bishoprics, wardships, marriages, etc., were 
 utilized for the same purpose (Rymer, viii. 205, 510; Cal. Rot. Pat. 
 Schemes of p. 265 b ; cf. ib. 297 a). Of the various schemes of reform, one at 
 reform. j^^gj j^^g ^^^^ preserved to us. This was drawn up by the Great 
 Council in Nov. 1454, during the incapacity of Henry VI, in ful- 
 filment of an intention formed by him befofe his malady attacked 
 him. This reformed household is modelled on that of Henry V ; 
 and it is stated that by recurring to that model, a great reduc- 
 tion will be effected. But even so the household consists of 6 1 o 
 regular and 13 occasional officers and servants (P, P. C. vi. 220 
 flf., and, less correctly, in ' Ordinances of the Royal Household '). 
 Zilier Of the household of Edward IV we have an interesting account in 
 Edwlrd^ the 'Liber Niger Domus Regis,' printed in the last-mentioned 
 IV. volume. This scheme was drawn up by ' the greate counsayll of 
 
 lordes spirituall and temporall, the Cardinal of Canterbury (Boiu:- 
 chier), George Duke of Clarence, Richard Duke of Gloucester, the 
 wise and discrete judges, and other sad avised and well learned 
 
Botes. Cfjap. tit 22 r 
 
 men.' The expenses of the household are put at £13,000 per 
 annum, but it is added, ' if the king's hyghnesse plese to kepe a lesse 
 household than the foresayde grete summe sheweth of here, in this 
 boke are devysed nine other smaller houses . . . whereof the king 
 may chuse such as shall please hym best' (pp. 20-1); a sug- 
 gestion very like that which Fortescue makes here, as is the 
 recommendation that the charges of the household should be 
 'taken of the surest grounds of payment in the land '(p. 22). 
 Indeed if these ordinances, which are not dated, are subsequent 
 to Fortescue's pardon in 1 471, he may have been one of the 
 ' sad avised and well learned men ' who helped to draw them up. 
 The necSssity for a great reduction of the household, at any rate 
 during the first year of the Lancastrian restoration, is insisted on by 
 Fortescue, Appendix B. § 7. 
 
 warderobe.] For some account of the earlier history of the The royal 
 royal wardrobe, see S. C. H. ii. 275-6, 545-6. But in the '^^''^"^^■ 
 thirteenth and fourteenth centuries ' the whole accounts of army, 
 navy, and judicial establishments appeared in the computus of the 
 wardrobe along with the expenses of the royal table, jewel chests, 
 nursery, etc. ' (ib. 55 r). During the fifteenth century this was no 
 longer the case. As may be seen from the abstracts of accounts 
 given above, a more rational system of account had placed the 
 naval, military, and administrative expenditure under separate 
 headings, and the contents of the wardrobe accounts correspond 
 much more nearly to their designation. The Z,i6er Niger of 
 Edward IV mentions how the wardrobe itself, the privy seal office, 
 the marshalsey, royal works and other departments had been 
 gradually separated from the household (Ordinances &c. pp. 49, 
 74). Yet the public revenue and expenditure were still so far 
 considered the king's personal affairs, that on the death of any 
 king new assignments, etc. were necessary (cf. e.g. Rymer, ix. 
 290 b). Estimates for the wardrobe account of 1423, drawn up by 
 the king's council, are in Stevenson's ' Wars of the English in 
 France,' i. 386-7. They amount to £629, and consist largely 
 of liveries for the fraternity of St. George, liveries for the Chan- 
 cellor, Treasurer, Privy Seal, Justices, Barons of the Exchequer, 
 etc. The wardrobe accounts of Edward IV for the half-year 
 April-Michaelmas, 1480, have been printed by Sir Harris Nicolas, 
 together with the privy purse expenses of his daughter Elizabeth of 
 York, wife of Henry VII (London, 1830). 
 
222 C6e (governance of CnglantJ. 
 
 bi the clerkys oflF thescTiekquer.] Because the accounts of 
 the Treasurer of the household were delivered into the exchequer 
 (Ordinances, etc., p. 64). 
 Salaries the kynges grete oflacers, his courtes.] From the ab- 
 
 offife^rfand ^tracts of accounts given above, it will be seen that the salaries of 
 Judges. the great officers and of the Judges are classed together there, as 
 they are by Fortescue here. The Chancellor was paid partly by 
 fees, partly by an annual salary (Foss, Judges of England, ii. 21, 
 149). The Treasurer and Privy Seal had each a salary of £1 per 
 diem (Rymer, xi. 58 ; Rot. Pari. iv. 437 ; P. P. C. iii. 8). Under 
 Henry VI ' the nominal salaries of the Judges remained the same 
 as in former reigns : viz., £40 to the chief, and forty marks to the 
 puisne Justices of each court. But . . . there were always addi- 
 tional grants ... to the Chief Justice of the King's Bench of 180 
 marks; to the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas 140 marks; and 
 to each of the other Judges no marks; and all who acted as 
 Justices of Assize received £ 20- a year. These sums were payable 
 half-yearly at Easter and Michaelmas ; but it is evident they were 
 Frequently frequently allowed to get into arrear' (Foss, u. s. iv. 227). It was 
 in arrear. jjj(jgg(j ygj.y (jifficult Under Henry VI to secure to the Judges that 
 ' ready payment ' of their salaries which was, as Fortescue truly 
 says, so necessary for their efficiency. In 1432 the Commons re- 
 presented that, whereas formerly the Justices, Serjeants, and King's 
 Attorney had always received their salaries half-yearly in ready 
 money, William Kynwolmershe, late Treasurer of England, had 
 introduced the plan of paying them by means of assignments of the 
 King's debtors ; and it was prayed that in view of the great abuses 
 which this system gave rise to, ready-money payments might be 
 resumed (Rot. Pari. iv. 394). The petition was granted; but 
 none the less in the budget of the next year the debts to Justices, 
 Serjeants, &c. for arrears of salary amounted to £805 (ib. 437). 
 In 1439 the Justices, Serjeants, and Attorney complain that owing 
 to the non-payment of their salaries there was no Justice, except 
 the two chief Justices, who had not lost £100 per annum by reason 
 of his office ; and that if remedy were not provided they would have 
 to resign, to the king's great dishonour ; they prayed that certain 
 revenues might be assigned for their payment (ib. v. 14). Their 
 prayer was granted, and in 1451 this statute was confirmed (ib. 
 214). On the accession of Edward IV the Commons petitioned 
 that these acts, among others of the Lancastrian period, might be 
 
Bom* C6ap, uf. 223 
 
 confirmed, but the King replied : ' hit is thought necessary that they 
 be truly payed, but not to afferme their assignement of payment 
 and contentation by auctorite of Parlement, but that it be at the 
 kynges pleasure' (ib. 490). Edward seems to have been deter- 
 mined to maintain, and if possible to increase, the dependence of 
 the Judges on the Crown (cf. ib. 492 b, adpedem). Ultimately, 
 under Edward IV and Henry VII the salaries of the Judges were 
 partly secured on the subsidy on wool (ib. vi. 55, loi, 395, 524). 
 On this point of payment of the Judges, as on so many others, 
 Burke is at one with Fortescue. In introducing his plan of econo- Burke on 
 mical reform he said : ' In the first class (of payments) I place the f^JTud'es' 
 Judges, as of the first importance. It is the publick justice that 
 holds the community together ; the ease, therefore, and independ- 
 .ence of the Judges ought to supersede all other considerations, and 
 they ought to be the very last to feel the necessities of the State.' 
 The great evil of ill or irregularly paid Judges was their consequent Danger of 
 liability to corruption, and this was one great cause of the whole- ™'™Pt'on- 
 sale judicial scandals of Edward I's reign. (See Foss, u. s. iii. 44.) . 
 Compare Vincent of Beauvais, De Mor. Inst. Princ. c. 13 : 
 ' Ceterum ad liberalitatem principis maxime pertinet, ut et con- 
 siliariis, et ministris, et ballivis, et ofScialibus stipendia quce ad 
 victum sufficiant prestet : . . . quin ita decet magnificentiam 
 principalem, . . . ut non indigeant, ne aliena immoderate con- 
 cupiscant vel rapiant.' As Burke says in the same speech : ' An 
 honourable and fair profit is the best security against avarice and Liveries of 
 rapacity.' Besides their salaries, the Judges had liveries of robes. Judges. 
 Under Edward III these were given three times a year, but by 
 the time of Henry VI their number had been reduced to two annually 
 (Foss, u. s., iv. 226; and see above, p. 221). But these, like their 
 salaries, were often in arrear (Rot. Pari. v. 14). 
 
 his comisell.] The question of the payment of the Coun- 
 cillors will be discussed later in connexion with Chapter xv, where 
 the whole subject of the Council is dealt with systematically. After Body- 
 the words 'his counsell' D^, followed by previous editors, inserts the g^^j^^^j 
 words, ' his Garde, and other servants.' If they were genuine, they IV. 
 would definitely fix the composition of the present treatise to the 
 reign of Edward IV (see Introduction, Part III.pp. 94-6, above). For 
 Edward IV was the first English king to establish that which to the 
 Greeks was one of the chief marks of a tyranny, viz., a body-guard 
 (ro hri TvpavviKov airrnta to TtokvBpvKrfrov , . . alreiv Tov Sjj/iov (j)v\aKds Tifas 
 
224 
 
 Cfje (J5ot)ernance of (ffinglann* 
 
 Scotch 
 Marches. 
 
 Ordinary 
 estimates 
 for their 
 custody. 
 
 Tov o-i/iaToj. Plato, Repub. p. 566 B. ; comp. Arist. Rhet. I. ii. § 19, 
 d im^ovKciimv Tvpavvlhi (j>v\aKrjv aheT). This was in 1 46 7, and was 
 due to his suspicions of Warwick. See William Worcester's 
 Annals, sub hoc anno : ' Dominus Rex ordinavit sibi cc. valettos 
 probos et valentissimos sagittarios Anglise, ordinando quod quilibet 
 eorum haberet viij. d. per diem, equitando et attendendo super 
 personam suam propriam' (in Stevenson, Wars, etc., ii. 788). 
 These were the ordinary wages of mounted archers (P. P. C. v. 
 26). Those of an unmounted archer during the fifteenth century 
 were sixpence a day (ib. i. 174; ii. 158; iv. 72. Rot. Pari. v. 
 4 b). In 14 1 2, for some reason, the wages of an archer are 
 reckoned at ninepence (P. P. C. ii. 33). 
 
 payment of the marches.] Of this tendency to an undue 
 favouring of the wardens of the marches we seem to have a trace 
 in P. P. C. i. 1 2^ ff., where the Privy Council refuse to sanction 
 the indentures which Richard II wished to be drawn up between 
 himself and the Earl Marshal for the custody of Berwick and the 
 East March of Scotland, according to which the Earl was to receive 
 £4,000 in time of peace and £ 1 2,000 in time of war. The motives 
 of the Council were : ' Ut in primo parliamento non possit eis 
 imputari quod gratis et voluntarie onerabant Regem et regnum suum 
 in majori summa pecunie quam foret necessarium vel honestum. 
 Ac eciam ut videatur in eodem parhamento subsidium a populo 
 concedendum et per statum Regis quahter hujusmodi majus onus 
 absque injuria regni sui et populi sui dampno vel gravamina poterit 
 supportari.' 
 
 The sums suggested were certainly excessive. The ordinary 
 estimates were, in time of peace, for the East March and Berwick 
 £2,500, for the West March and Carlisle £1,250, for the castle of 
 Roxburgh £i,ooo. In time of war these sums were doubled. 
 These were the estimates in 1421 (P.P. C.ii. 313), and in 1434 (ib. 
 iv. 268-9). Except as to Roxburgh the same is true of 14 11 (ib. 
 ii. 8). In 1410 the East March and Berwick on the war footing 
 are estimated at £4,830 for half a year (ib. i. 333) ; while in the 
 same year the two marches of Scotland and the castles there in 
 time of truce are reckoned at £17,126 for two years (ib. 352). 
 In 1436 Marmaduke Lumley, bishop of Carlisle, undertook the 
 custody of Carlisle and the West March for £1,500 in peace and 
 war alike; although, as is expressly stated, former wardens had 
 been accustomed to receive the sums named above (Rotuli Scotia, 
 
Bom. cfiap. \iu 225 
 
 ii. 296 b). These payments, like most others, were during the Lan- Payments 
 
 castrian period constantly in arrear. The rebellion of the Percies ^^q^^^t^y 
 ^ in arrear. 
 
 m 1403 was largely due to the enormous sums, over £20,000 as 
 they alleged, due to them as wardens of the Marches (P. P. C, I. 
 xl-xlii, xlvii-li). Hotspur was warden of the East March, Ber- 
 wick, and Roxburgh ; while his father, the Earl of Northumberland, 
 was warden of Carlisle and the West March (Rot. Scot. ii. 151 a). 
 In Aug. 1403, John, the king's son, afterwards Duke of Bedford, 
 became warden of the East March and Berwick (ib. 164 a). In 
 May, 1 41 4, he reported to his brother Henry V that the towai of 
 Berwick was in a very dangerous condition, that there was due to 
 him from the crown £13,100, that he had exhausted all his 
 fortune and all his credit in raising money to pay his soldiers, 
 and that for all the ten years during which he had been warden he 
 had not received one farthing salary (P. P. C. ii. 136-8). In 1449 
 the debt on Roxburgh alone was £3,500 (Rot. Pari. v. 205 b), 
 while in 1459 it amounted to £4,000 (Rot Scot. ii. 392). From Divisions 
 what has been said already it will have been seen that there were Marches 
 generally two wardens (custodes, gardiani,) of the Marches : one of East or 
 the East or, as it was sometimes called, the North March (La Est •^°'^"?: 
 
 ' ' \ March. 
 
 Marche, Marchiae Orientales, Marchiae Boreales) ; and one of the -vvest 
 West March (La West Marche, Marchiae Occidentales). To the March. 
 former was generally attached the command of Berwick, to the latter 
 that of Carlisle. Sometimes both Marches were entrusted to a single 
 warden, or body of wardens. The Earl of Northumberland and 
 three others were thus appointed in 1377 'Custodes Marchiarum 
 . . . versus partes tam orientales quam occidentales ; ' while in 
 1384 the earl was appointed sole warden (Rot. Scot. ii. 5 a, 65 b j 
 cf. ib. i. 857, 972). Richard, Earl of Salisbury, was similarly ap- 
 pointed in 1434. Among the minutes of the Privy Council occurs 
 a ' memorandum for commissions to be maade to Jjerle of Sarum 
 of hope wardeneryes ' (P. P. C. iv. 270; at p. 273 the commis- 
 sions themselves are found). In 146 1 (i Edward IV) Salisbury's 
 son, Warwick the King-maker, was appointed sole warden and 
 commissary general ' tam in partibus de la Est March, quam in 
 partibus de la West March ' (Rot. Scot. ii. 402). In 1463 the East 
 March was made over to Warwick's brother Montague (ib. 407 b). 
 In Aug. 1470, after his open breach with Warwick, Edward ap- 
 pointed his brother, Richard Duke of Gloucester, warden of the 
 West March (ib. 423 b) ; while in 1483 an Act of Parliament, after 
 
 Q 
 
Richard 
 Duke of 
 Gloucester 
 hereditary 
 warden of 
 the West 
 March. 
 
 Middle 
 March. 
 
 First war- 
 den of the 
 Marches. 
 
 226 c&e (^oDemancc of CnglanD. 
 
 reciting how 'the said Due . . . late by his manyfold and diligent 
 labours and devoirs, hath subdued grete part of the Westbordures 
 of Scotlande ... by the space of xxx mUes and more,' enacts 
 ' that the seid Due shall have to hym audio Ms heires masks 0/ his 
 body comyng, the seid Wardeynship of the seid Westmerches ' (Rot. 
 Pari. vi. 204). The course of histofy prevented this unprecedented 
 step from having any consequences. But it may readily be 
 imagined that when the Marches were entrusted to such powerful 
 noblemen as Warwick, Montague, and Gloucester, that tendency 
 which Fortescue deprecates, to ' do fFauour to the persones that 
 kepe ham,' might easily become unduly strong. The Croyland 
 Continuator evidently considers the recovery of Berwick by Edward 
 IV a very doubtful benefit, on account of the expense which its 
 custody entailed (p. 563). From these and many other passages 
 which might be quoted, it would seem as if the division of the 
 marches into East and West were an exhaustive one. But we find 
 traces of a third or Middle March (La Middel marche, Marchia 
 media), of which the boundaries were ' alta via que se exiendit 
 directe de villa Novi Castri Super Tinam usque Rokesburgh ex una 
 parte et bunda de West March ex alteri parte.' In a paper of the 
 year 1598 we find the following: 'A breife of the Bounderes, 
 Wayes, and Passages of the Midle March, all a longe the Border of 
 Scotland beginning at Cheveat Hill being the lemyet of the Easte 
 Marche, and' ending at Kirsop, the bounder of the Weste Marche of 
 England.' Egerton Papers, Camd. Soc. p. 278. (I owe this refer- 
 ence to T. W. Jackson, Esq., Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford.) 
 Separate bodies of wardens for all three Marches are appointed in 
 1382 (Rot. Scot. ii. 41 a, 43 b). After 1382 I find ho specific refer- 
 ence in the Rolls to the Middle March till 1470. From that time on- 
 ward to 1 51 2 it is frequently mentioned, but is always found united 
 with the East March (Rot. Scot. ii. 422-3, 428, 442, 463, .470 &c., 
 576-7). In 1495 Henry Vn appointed his second son (afterwards 
 Henry VIII) ' custos generalis Marchiarum . . . viz., in partibus Est 
 marchiarum. West marchiarum, et Middel marchiarum' (ib. 517). I 
 am inclined to think that, in the interval between 1382 and i47o,'the 
 warden of the Middle March is represented by the keeper of Rox- 
 burgh Castie. The first trace of a warden of the Marches_> eo nomine, 
 which I have found in the R'otuli Scotise (which however only 
 begin in 19 Edw. I) is in 1309, when Robert de ClyfFord is appointed 
 'Custos Marchie Scotie in partibus Karliol ' (i. 76 b). But according 
 
3I3ote0. Ctjap. t)i. 227 
 
 to Nicholson and Burn's History of Westmorland and Cumberland 
 (I. viii.), his first appointment was in 1296. In 1315 we; have a 
 ' Custos Karlioli et Marchiae in Cumbria,' and a ' Gustos Novi 
 Castri super Tynam et Marchiae in Northumbria,' which corre- 
 spond pretty exactly with the later West and East Marches (Rot. 
 Scot. i. 1 40-1). Nicholson and Burn (n. s.) trace the first regula- 
 tion of the borders by distinct laws to the time of Edward I, and 
 to the inveterate hostilities which resulted from his claim to the 
 sovereignty over Scotland. The keeping of the Marches is fre- 
 quently mentioned in Parliament as one of the objects for which 
 supplies are required (e.g. Rot. ParL iii. 608 b ; iv. 4 b, &c.). Burton 
 (Hist. Scotl. iv. 163; sub anno 1566) says: ' On each side of the 
 border there usually were three wardens. . . . The rule was 
 punctiliously observed on the English side, but on the side of Scot- 
 land Bothwell was sole warden. It is said by one with good op- 
 portunities for knowing that the three wardenships were never 
 before held by one person.' Whatever may have been the case on 
 the Scotch side, we have already seen that this ' rule of three ' was 
 by no means always ' punctiliously observed on the English side ;' 
 and I have found one instance in which, on the Scotch side also, 
 two of the three Marches are united in- the hands of the same man 
 (Rymer, xi. 537). For the divisions and wardens of the Marches on 
 the Scotch side,- see R". B. Armstrong, History of Liddesdale, 
 Eskdale, etc., chap. i.). The district over which the authority of 
 the wardens extended comprised the three shires of Northumber- 
 land, Cumberland, and Westmorland. In 1453 the Commons 
 complained that ' the wardens of the Marches joyning to Scotland 
 called the Estmarche aaid- the Westmarche . . . sumtyme for thaire 
 singuler lucre,, and sumtyme for malice,' have endeavoured to extend 
 their jurisdiction beyond those limits. The king agreed to the 
 passing of a measure to abate the grievance (Rot. Pari. v. 267 ; cf. 
 St. 31 Hen. VI, c. 3). 
 
 Caleis, wich charge is welynoghe knowen.] If Fortescue Calais. 
 means by this that it was ' well enough known ' by sad experience ^''P^'^'* 
 what a terrible drain upon the resources. of England the mainten- tenance. 
 ance of Calais was, he is no doubt correct. And the position of 
 Calais was one great motive among others for maintaining good 
 relations with the Low Countries (cf. P. P. C. i. 306 ; S. C. H. iii. 
 65). But I cannot observe any general rule as to the expense of 
 Calais, such as we observed in the case of the Scotch Marches. 
 
228 
 
 C&e <5oDernancc of €nglanti. 
 
 The following table shows the financial position of Calais during 
 the first half of the fifteenth century so far as I have been able to 
 collect it from the Rolls of Parliament, the Proceedings of the Privy 
 Council, and elsewhere. (Shillings and pence are omitted). 
 
 For 
 Year, 
 
 Annual Expense. 
 
 Amount 
 of Debt. 
 
 Authorities. 
 
 In Peace. 
 
 In War. 
 
 1 401 
 1404' 
 I4I0 
 I4II 
 
 I4I5 
 1421 
 
 1433 
 1449 
 
 £6,301 
 £13,626 
 
 £10,022 
 
 £11,930 
 
 £13,320 
 £10,509 
 
 £22,500 
 
 £19,119 
 
 £11,423 
 
 £28,718 
 £45,100 
 ^19,395 
 
 P. P. C. i. 154. 
 Rot. Pari. iii. 534. 
 P. P. C. i. 352. 
 lb. ii. 8. 
 
 Excerpta Hist. pp. 26 ff. 
 P. P. C. ii. 8 ; Rot. Pari. iv. 159. 
 Rot. Pari. iv. 434, 438. 
 lb. V. 206 ; cf. Wars of the Eng- 
 lish in France, i. 492. 
 
 Arrears. In 1450 £19,395 was due to the Duke of Buckingham as 
 
 Captain of Calais, while in 1454 £21,648 was owing to his suc- 
 cessor the Duke of Somerset, besides a balance still due to Buck- 
 ingham, the amount of which is not stated (Rot. Pari. v. 207, 233). 
 Under Edward IV and Henry VII the sum allotted to Calais seems 
 to have been regularly £10,022 per annum (ib. vi. 55, loi, 395, 
 523). The writer of the Epitome estimates the annual expense of 
 Calais at £9,807. Perhaps we may say roughly that the cost of 
 Calais was £10,000 in time of peace and £20,000 in time of war. 
 The revenues of Calais and the Marches amounted in 1433 to 
 Appropiia- £2,866 (Rot. Pari. iv. 434). During the fifteenth century it was 
 revenue to generally attempted to meet the charges of Calais by appropriating 
 Calais. jq jj 2, portion of the subsidy on wools, &c. — sometimes one half 
 (Rymer, viii. 488); sometimes three-quarters (Rot. Pari. iii. 627, 
 648); sometimes so many shillings on every sack of wool, and 
 every 240 wool-fells (P. P. C. ii. 218 ; iii. 50 ; Rot. Pari. v. T46). 
 In 1429 the assignments thus made had to be increased, because 
 of the scarcity of wool owing to the recent murrain among the 
 sheep (Rot. Pari. iv. 340). And in 1437 Gloucester, then Captain 
 of Calais, reported that the 'utterance and sale ' of wool was likely 
 to be 'so escarse and symple,' that parliament gave authority for other 
 funds to be applied to the maintenance of Calais if it should be 
 Arrears. necessary (ib. 499). But all these and many other lesser measures 
 
Bom, Cbap, Ml 229 
 
 did not prevent heavy arrears from accumulating, even under 
 Henry V (Ellis's Letters, II. i. 75). On one occasion at least, in 
 1 42 1, the garrison addressed themselves direct to Parliament, pray- 
 ing for payment of their wages (Rot, Pari. iv. 1 59). Considering 
 what the arrears were in 143J (see table), it is not surprising to 
 find that there was a mutiny in Calais in that year (P. P. C, IV. xlvi ; 
 cf. Rot. Pari. iv. 473). Money was frequently borrowed on behalf 
 of Calais. In 1436 commissioners were sent into the different Loans, 
 counties systematically to raise a loan for this purpose. They 
 were bidden to remind the people ' what a preciouse jeuelle the 
 saide towne of Calais is to this reame' (P. P. C. iv. 352^ ff.- That 
 this appeal was very liberally responded to appears from Three 
 Fifteenth Century Chronicles, pp. 61-2). The merchants of the 
 staple of Calais were frequent lenders {e. g. Rot. Pari. v. 295 ; 
 P. P. C. v. 26; Cal. Rot. Pat. 293b), and at length under Ed*ard 
 IV and Henry VII the system was adopted of making over to 
 them the customs on all wools and woolfells shipped from England 
 to the staple at Calais for periods of sixteen years ; they under- 
 taking the payment of £10,022 to the Treasurer of Calais, and 
 certain other smaller payments (Rot. Pari. vi. 55, loi, 395, 523 ; cf 
 St. 19 Hen. VII. c. 27). Besides these financial measures there was Victualling 
 a curious system of appropriating certain towns for supplying Calais Calais, 
 with victuals. In 1415 Henry V issued an ordinance, which after 
 reciting that the town of Gosseford in Suffolk, which had received 
 various franchises from his ancestors on condition of supplying 
 Calais with beer and other victuals, was unable to supply the 
 requisite amount, granted to the towns of Sandwich, Feversham, 
 Dover, Deal, and Muhgeham, a share in the duties and privileges 
 which had formerly belonged exclusively to Gosseford (Rymer, ix. 
 224). 'The officers of Calais were — (i) the Deputy or Captain; Officers. 
 (2) the High Marshall; (3) the Comptroller; (4) the Lieutenant of 
 the Castle; (5) the High Treasurer; (6) The Vice-Treasurer; each 
 having his suite of soldiers and attendants' (Ellis's Letters, 
 II. i. 124). Besides these there were the VHellarius or Victualler, 
 an officer called the Purveyer or Provisor VillcB Calesice, the 
 Master or Warden of the Mint, &c. (Carte's French and Gascon 
 Rolls, ii. 332, 180, 245). There was the ordinary municipal body 
 consisting of the Mayor, Aldermen, and Burghers (ib. 179); and 
 there were the Mayor, Constables, and Merchants of the Staple 
 (ib. 178, 209). The system of account to be observed at Calais 
 
230 
 
 C6e <S5oi3ernante of CnfllanD, 
 
 was defined by Parliament in 4 Edward IV (Rot. Pari. v. 510). In 
 
 Henry VIII's time Calais seems to have been governed, like 
 
 Ireland, by a 'Deputy and Council' (P. P. C, VII. xx. 6, 79, &c.). 
 
 Estimates John of Gaunt is said to have declared that ' Caleis greued more 
 
 "''^^ , Engelond, and dede more hurt therto than profit, for the grete 
 
 value or ° ' . ., \ 
 
 Calais to expensis aboute the keping therof (Engl.Chron. p. 7; ct. id. 127;. 
 
 England, g^^j ^.j^j^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^ means the common view. The words used by 
 
 the government in 1436 represented the general feeling of the 
 
 people. In 1429 the Commons asserted that ' every trwe Englysh- 
 
 man ought to have (Caleys) in full grete chierte and tendeinesse ' 
 
 (Rot. Pari. iv. 360). 
 
 The author of the ' Libel of English Policy ' is very strong on 
 the imperative necessity of keeping Calais, the whole of England's 
 commercial well-being depending, according to him, on the com- 
 mand of the strait which the possession of Calais gives. He quotes 
 the opinion of Sigismund, who urged Henry V to guard -Dover and 
 Calais as the two eyes of England. He devotes a special section 
 of his work to this subject, beginning,: — 
 
 ■ And for tlie love of God and of his blisse, 
 Cherishe ye Caleise better than it is.' 
 
 (Political Songs, i. 158, 192). 
 
 Carrying this idea still further, the Commons in 1420, excited by 
 the marvellous successes of Henry V, petitioned that as he was 
 now master of both sides of the channel he would impose ja. toll on 
 all vessels passing the straits, to be applied to the keeping of the 
 sea. The king naturally rejected a suggestion, the adoption of 
 which would have united against England every maritime power in 
 Europe (Rot. Pari. v. 126b). 
 
 It is unnecessary here to do more than allude to the important 
 advantages which the possession of the Captaincy of Calais gave 
 to Warwick in his machinations both against Henry VI and 
 Edward IV. According to Waurin (ed. Dupont ii. 187) Warwick 
 greatly improved the government of Calais. On the attempts of 
 the Lancastrians to get possession of Calais during the reign of 
 Edward IV, see Introduction, Part II, above, p. 60. 
 
 the kynges werkes.] In the accounts of 141 1 the sum 'pro 
 reparatione castrorum ac aliorum maneriorum Regis infra fegnum 
 Anglise' is set down as £1000 (P. P. C. ii. 11). In 1433 the 
 king's works ('pro operibus Regis') are estimated at 1000 marks 
 
Bom, C&ap. Ml 231 
 
 (Rot. Pari. iv. 435). FortesGue excludes here the ' making of new 
 works ' because he reckons them among extraordinary charges in 
 the next chapter. 
 
 clerkes off the werkes.] ' Clericus operationum regis.' The Clerks of 
 functions of this officer are thus negatively described in the Li'ier ^^^ Works. 
 Niger of Edward IV: ' CLERKE OF WORKES, called by the 
 noble Edward (III) "clerke des cevres du Roy, preignaunt sa 
 gages, fees, et lautre choises appurtenaunte a son office par I'assigne- 
 ment du Thesaurere d'Angleterre et hors le charge de I'oistiel du 
 Roy.'' This clerke hath no duetie longing to him in this houshold, 
 by vertue of this office outward ; but if he be appoynted by the 
 soveraynes of housholde to take wages and cloathinge with the 
 houshold, it mought cause hym to be the more, attendaunt for 
 necessary byldynges in offices in this house ; and so he may take 
 lyverey as a Squier of houshold ' (Ordinances of the Household, 
 p. 53). In the wardrobe accounts of 1423 the Clerk of the Works 
 receives his livery with the Chancellor, Treasurer, Privy Seal, 
 Justices, &c. (English in France, i. 386). Edmund Blake and 
 Thomas Stratton, 'Clerk of oure Werkes' in 1455 and 1461 re- 
 spectively, are exempted as to their office from the Resumption Payments 
 Acts passed in those years (Rot. Pari. v. 319a, 473b). This office, 
 like everything else, suffered from the 'eternal want of pence' which 
 characterized the Lancastrian period. In 1433 the debts on the 
 office of the clerk of the works were £215 (Rot. Pari. iv. 435), while 
 in 1445 we have a plaintive petition from the then clerk of the 
 works, William Cleve, to the effect that he had already made ' at 
 your Tour of London a kechen with al other maner of offices ' 
 without payment, and now he was required to make at Eltham ' a 
 new halle with squillery, saucery, and surveyng place ' and divers 
 other works for the Queen's coronation, and he prayed that he 
 might have an assignment of £1000. This person was a cleric, 
 as he calls himself ' youre pouer chapeleyn' (P. P. C. vi. 31). There 
 were inferior clerks of the works in various of the king's manors ; 
 thus we hear of the 'Clerk of oure Werkys, of our Manoir and Park 
 of Claryngdon' (Rot. Pari. v. 544b). So William of Wykeham 
 was ' Clerk of all the King's works in his Manors of Henle and 
 Yeshanipsted' (Lowth's Life, p. 19). This may account for Fortes- 
 cue using the plural chokes in this place. 
 
 the kynge hath therfore . . . pondage and tonnage.] Tnnnage 
 On the origin of tunnage and poundage, see S. C. H. ii. 528. 3° °"" 
 
232 ^U (Souernance of CnglanD, 
 
 Appropri- After this form of impost had become the subject of parliamen- 
 aiedtothe ^^^^ concession, the grant of it was early connected with the 
 the'^sea^° keeping of the sea, the defence of the coast, &c. Indeed the 
 unauthorized imposition of it by Lionel of Antwerp, in 1347, 
 was 'pur gages des Niefs de guerre' (Rot. Pari. ii. 166 a). 
 In the Parliament of 1372 it was granted by the citizens and 
 burgesses alone 'for the safe and sure conduct of ships and 
 merchandise' (ib. 310b). From 1373 it was granted in the 
 proper manner. In 1379 and 1383 it was appropriated to the 
 safeguard of the sea (ib. iii. 63; cf. 391, 151 b). During the 
 fifteenth century this became the regular rule, e.g., in 141 1, 141 4, 
 1425, 1429, 1432, &c. (Rot. Pari. iii. 648 b; iv. 16 b, 276 a, 
 337 b, 390 a, &c.). And when in 1415, 1453, and 1463 tunnage 
 and poundage were granted to Henry V, Henry VI, and 
 Edward IV respectively for life, it was to the keeping of the 
 Appropri- sea that they were appropriated. That this appropriation was 
 "^h"" "d' ^^^y loosely observed, if at all, is clear. It was one of the 
 charges against Suffolk, that he had diverted to other uses sub- 
 sidies granted for the defence of the realm, and the safe-keeping 
 of the sea (Rot. Pari. v. i8q b). In the manifesto of Robin 
 of Redesdale in 1469, among the many sources of revenue 
 which Edward IV is charged with having alienated to the Wyd- 
 villes and their affinity, occurs the mention of 'Tunage and 
 Poundage of alle this londe, graunted only to the kepynge of the 
 see.' And among the demands of the insurgents is one, ' that 
 the revenues of Tounage and Poundage may be employed in the 
 kepyng of the see, as it was graunted, and too non other use.' 
 (Warkworth,. pp. 48, 51). 
 Prevalence ffor the repressynge ofiF rovers.J The accession of Henry 
 ^ IV seems to have been followed by a great development of 
 
 piracy, largely owing to the uncertain relations in which the 
 new dynasty stood to foreign powers, especially France and 
 Scotland ; so that ' after a short time acts of piracy and rapine 
 became so common that the seas were no longer safe, and the 
 carrying out of legitimate commerce became an impossibility.' 
 (Royal Letters of Henry IV, I. xlviii). In this work the 
 English no doubt took their share. In 1401 the districts of 
 'Estergo and Westergo ' in Frisia (=Ostrachia and Westrachia 
 in Spruner's Atlas, New Edit., Deutschland, No. IX,) complained 
 to Henry IV that the Captain of Calais notoriously kept in his 
 
JI3ote0, C|)ap, tji. 233 
 
 pay ' publicos Dei et omnium Mercatorum bonorum Inimicos, 
 Pyratas, alio Vocabulo LIKEDELERS nominatos ' (Rymer, viii. 
 193)- The name no doubt came from their 'dealing alike' 
 with the ships of all nations, their own included. Just as the 
 contemporary Vitalian Brothers called themselves ' God's friends 
 and the world's foes' (Weber, Weltgesch. viii. 461). In the 
 diplomatic correspondence of the time are found allusions to the 
 interruption of communications, the capture of despatches, &c., by 
 pirates, (Royal Letters, u. s., Bekynton's Correspondence, i. 220-1, 
 238. According to the 'Libel of English Policy' Brittany was a 
 great home for piracy; Political Songs, ii. 164. For the doings 
 of a Cornish pirate of good birth, Henry Bodrugan, Esquire, under 
 Edward IV, see Rot. Pari. vi. 138 b, and for those of a privateer of 
 Winchelsea under Henry VI, ib. iv. 489 a.) In 1454 we find an 
 account of the capture of an English wine-ship by a body of pirates 
 who, from their names, were evidently English. The booty was 
 shared with the owners^ and victuallers of the pirate-ships, one of 
 whom was a clergyman (Rymer, xi. 350). Henry V had made Attempts 
 an honourable attempt to put an end to this state of things by *° suppress 
 making all attacks on friendly vessels treason (Rot. Pari. iv. 23 ; 
 St. 2 Hen. V, i.e. 6). The restriction was evidently found very irk- 
 some, and the Commons more than once petitioned for its removal 
 (Rot. Pari. iv. 350 b, 376 b). And at length in 1435 the statute was 
 suspended for seven years (ib. 493). But attacks on EngKsh 
 vessels were not included under this statute ; and when the Com- 
 mons in 1429 and 1431 complained of the injuries done by certain 
 people called ' roveres sur le mere,' and prayed that such doings 
 might be made felony, they were refused (Rot. Pari. iv. 350 b, 
 376 b). In 26 Henry VI an enquiry into the subject of piracy 
 was ordered (Cal. Rot. Pat. p. 292 a) ; and in 1449 'we find Robert 
 Wynnyngton retained ' to do us service in the sea, for the clensing 
 of the same and rebukying of the robbeurs and pirates therof, 
 whiche dayly do alle the noysance thay canne ' (Engl, in France, 
 i. 489). In the ' Brief Latin Chronicle ' published by Mr. Gairdner, 
 we find under the year 1457 the following entry, ' spoliata est villa de 
 Fowe in Cornubia per piratas ; et eodem anno in mense Augusti 
 spoliata est villa de Sandwiche per piratas, et naves, et pene omnia 
 bona mobilia in utrisque villis abducta sunt ' (Three Fifteenth 
 Century Chronicles, p. 166). In the commission of the Earl of 
 Kent as admiral in 1462 he is ordered to capture, arrest, and 
 
234 
 
 C&e (JDotiecnance of (2BngIanti» 
 
 Fishers. 
 
 Insecurity 
 of the 
 coasts. 
 
 Navy. 
 
 punish ' piratas et spoliatores mercatorum et piscatorum tarn Angli- 
 corum quam extraneorum ' (Rymer, xi. 490). In illustration of 
 this last point, viz., ' the saving of our fishers,' which Fortescue 
 also insists on, compare Paston Letters, iii. 81, (i473): 'We 
 have here no tidings but a few Frenchmen whyrlyng on the coasts, 
 so that there dare no fishers go out but under safe conducts.' 
 
 the dwellers vppon owre eostes.J It has been shown in the 
 notes to Chapter iii, p. 200, above, how liable to attack the English 
 coasts were before the middle of the sixteenth century. The inse- 
 curity of the coasts formed more than once the subject of remon- 
 strance in parliament. Thus ini442 the.commons complained that 
 not only were merchants robbed upon the sea, and even in the ports 
 and estuaries of the kingdom, but the king's poor lieges living near 
 the sea coast were carried off out of their own houses with their 
 chattels and children by the enemy (Rot. Pari. v. 52). In the 
 following year we find this order of the privy council : '.Also be 
 per maade commissions by alle the costes of pe see withinne 
 Inglonde to putte hem in array' (P. P. C. v. 236). The measures 
 taken for the keeping of the sea in 1454 are prefaced by the 
 recital, that ' diverse the kynges liegemen . . . enhabitauntez 
 nygh the costes of the see, . . . have been often tymes grevously 
 emprysoned, distrussed, put to grete fynaunces and raunsomps' 
 (Rot. Pari. V. 244 b). This insecurity of the coasts is often al- 
 luded to in the Paston Letters, e.g., No. 393 : ' Also I said I 
 dwelled uppon the cost of the see here, and ... hit were 
 more necessare to with hold men here than take from hit ' 
 (1461). No. 467: ' As for tidyngs here, ... we have noon 
 but that ther be many Frenchemen upon the see and do moche 
 answer upon the coosts' (1463). To those who blaniied 
 John Paston for keeping his eldest son so much at home, it 
 was a plausible answer to give that he was ' at home for the 
 safe gard of the costs' (No. 478, 1473 ; cf. ib. L cxxix. f.; II. 
 xiii). The author of the ' Libel of English Policy ' also mentions 
 the coast of Norfolk as specially exposed to attack (Political 
 Songs, ii. 164). For instances of attacks on the English coast, 
 see Stowe, pp. 329 b, 330 a, 401 b, 402 a. 
 
 ]>at the kynge kepe alway some grete and myghty 
 vessels.] For the early history of the navy see S. C. H. i. 592-4; 
 ii. 286-9, 380. The number of royal ships was however never 
 very large. They served at the most as a sort of nucleus round 
 
3l3tite0. C&ap, MU 235 
 
 ■which the ships furnished by the different ports might gather. 
 Thus in the list of Edward Ill's fleet given in the ' Ordinances of 
 the Household,' pp. 6-7, out of a fleet of seven hundred sail, only 
 twenty-five are royal ships, a number not greater than that furnished 
 by the port of London alone. It took in feet very Kttle to convert Merchant 
 a merchantman into an effective man-of-war. Owing to that s°ipP'"g 
 prevalence .of piracy already noticed, the ships of the period had war. 
 to be equally adapted for defence as for commerce. It was 
 in this way that the Hansa, originally a mere commercial league, 
 became the most formidable power in the North of Europe. This 
 was one reason too why the presence of foreign merchants in their 
 dominions was encouraged by sovereigns, especially in England ; 
 in the event of war their ships could be seized for belligerent 
 purposes (cf. Sartorius, Gesch. d. Hans. Bundes, i. 138, 289). 
 And where, as in the case of the English wine-trade with the Merchant 
 south of France, the nature of the commerce made it possible j^ "^"f 
 for the merchantmen to sail in large fleets, they were generally self-de- 
 able to take very good care of themselves. In August 1413 ^°'^^" 
 Henry V ordered that no ship should go to Aquitaine during 
 that vintage except in 4his way (Rymer, ix. 47). On such 
 occasions it was usual for the fleet to elect one of their number 
 as their Admiral to whom they swore obedience. The Rolls of 
 Parliament for 141 5 contain an interesting petition with reference 
 to John Tutbery, owner of a ship called the Christopher, of Hull, 
 which had been thus elected admiral for the return voyage from 
 Bordeaux, but was deserted by her companions, and so fell into 
 the enemy's hands (iv. 85-6). Bekynton and Roos in their 
 report to Henry VI on the state of Aquitaine in 1442, gave it as 
 their opinion that if only the merchant fleet ' had be souffred to 
 passe hider for the vintaige in suche tyme as they have be 
 accustumed in yers before,' it would have prevented the loss of 
 much of the English possessions (Bekynton's Journal, p. 51). 
 The arresting of merchant shipping for the king's service was 
 however a great interruption to commerce and a source of much 
 oppression. More than one petition occurs on the Rolls of Parlia- 
 ment with reference to the compensation ,to be made to owners 
 for the time duriiig which their ships were employed in the 
 royal service (Rot. Pari. iii. 554 ; iv. .7.9 a). 
 
 In 1406 a curious plan was tried of entrusting to the merchants 
 themselves the safeguard of the sea for a year and five months. 
 
236 €:fyt (Sotiernance of (StiglanD. 
 
 Merchants Tunnage, poundage, and a quarter of the subsidy of wool were 
 wit™the made over to them for this purpose. They were allowed to name 
 keeping of their own collectors in the various ports ; the king appointed the 
 admirals on their nomination, ordering all the chief towns of the 
 kingdom to execute the arrangement. But the plan did not 
 answer, and before the end of this Parliament Henry signified his 
 intention of discharging the merchants (November) ; he had already 
 in the previous month forbidden the collectors of the subsidies to 
 make any further payments to them. In December their admirals 
 were superseded, and in the next Parliament of 1407 the arrange- 
 ment was formally wound up (Rot. Pari. iii. 569-571, 602-3, 
 610; Rymer, viii. 437, 439, 449, 455; cf. Nicolas, Royal Navy, 
 "■ 393)- The experiment was not repeated. We find Henry V 
 however consulting the merchants as to the best mode of keeping 
 the sea (P. P. C. ii. 131); and no doubt the town and borough 
 members, as representatives of the mercantile interest in Parliament, 
 would have plenty to say on the subject, 
 ^enry V Henry V paid great attention to the royal navy. In February 
 Navy. ^417 we have a list of his fleet consisting of twenty -four ships: six 
 
 great ships (under which head are included carraks), eight barges, 
 and ten balingers (P. P. C. ii. 202). Another list later in the 
 same year makes the number twenty-seven. (Nicolas, Agin- 
 court, App. p. 22 ; or Ellis's Letters, III. i. 72 ; compare also on 
 Henry V's ships the 'Libel of English Policy,' Political Songs, 
 ii. 199). Henry V's dispositions for keeping the sea from Plymouth 
 Eastward and Northward to Berwick during his first invasion of 
 France in 1415 are in P. P. C. ii. 145. The ships employed are 
 only twelve : two ships, five barges, and five balingers. 
 
 A more elaborate scheme for the year 1442 is in Rot. Pari. v. 
 59 f., where the ships enumerated are eight ships ' with forstages ' 
 (forecastles), eight barges, eight balingers, and four spynes (pin- 
 naces). From this it appears moreover that the time during which 
 it was usual to keep the sea was from Candlemas to Martinmas 
 (February 2-November ir); that a mariner's pay was 2s. a month, 
 and his rations 14^. a week.. The ports from which the ships are 
 ^eTia"!n-^ '° ^' '''"^^» ^'^ ^1^0 mentioned. In 1453 a measure somewhat 
 trusted to s^'la-r to that of 1 406 was adopted : that is to say the keeping of 
 certain the sea was entrusted for three years to five lords, and tunnage 
 and poundage were made over to them for that period, they 
 bemg allowed to appoint a collector in every port. In 1455 
 
however they resigned (Rot. Pari. v. 244 b, 283 a ; Paston 
 Letters, i. 293 ; cf. Engl, in France, ii. 493-4 ; Carte's French 
 Rolls, ii. 332, where other persons in addition to those enumerated 
 in the Parliament Rolls are mentioned as keeping the sea). In 
 1457 Warwick was appointed keeper of the sea for three years 
 (Rymer, xi. 406, not for five years as Whethamstede says, i. 330), 
 and in addition to 'all the Tonnage and Pondage' £1000 per 
 annum was assigned to him for this purpose (Rot. Pari. v. 347 b; 
 cf. P. P. C. vi. 294). His rebellion must have terminated this 
 appointment; and, in March 1460, the Duke of Exeter was 
 appointed in his place (Rymer, xi. 448-451 ; cf. Engl, in 
 France, ii. 512-6). Henry VI's ministers however did not Neglect of 
 continue Henry Vs policy of keeping up the royal navy. Just ^^^.^^^^ 
 six months after his death a commission was issued to three Henry VI. 
 persons to sell off such of the king's great ships as they deemed 
 expedient (P. P. C. iii. .53). Capgrave, under the year 1441, bitterly 
 laments the decline of England's maritime prestige. He enumerates, 
 much as Fortescue does, the benefits which would follow from a 
 better keeping of the sea: ' mercatoribus salvum daret conduc- 
 tum, piscatoribus securum accessum, regni habitatoribus pacificam 
 pausarionem.' Our enemies, he says, laugh at us and tell us to 
 take the ship off our coins, and replace it by a sheep; the sea 
 was once called the wall of England, but now our enemies have 
 climed over the wall; our ships are scanty, our sailors few and 
 unpractised (De lUustr. Henr. pp. 134-5; cf. Paston Letters, i. 
 81). The author of the 'Libel of English Policy' bewails the 
 downfall of English naval renown in terms so similar to Cap- 
 grave's that I am inclined to think that the latter must have had 
 the ' Libel ' before him (cf. Pol. Songs, ii. 159 : — 
 
 ' Where bene oure shippes ? where bene oure swerdes become ? 
 
 Owre enmyes bid for the shippe sette a shepe. 
 Alias I oure reule halteth, hit is benome; 
 
 Who dare weel say that lordeshyppe shulde take kepe?' 
 
 cf. ib. 177 ; see above, p. 200). Indeed during nearly the whole of 
 the Lancastrian period complaints as to the insecm-ity of the sea, the, 
 consequent loss of merchandise and decrease of the customs are 
 frequent {e.g. Rot. Pari. iii. 523 b, 625 a, 639 a; iv, 127 a; v. 52 a ; 
 P. P. C. i. 306). But the most vigorous indictment on this point 
 is to be found in Cade's proclamation of 1450: 'Owr sovereyh 
 lord may understond that his fals cowncell hath lost his law, his 
 
238 ^l)c (SotJernance of (JFngianD. 
 
 marchandyse is lost, ... the see is lost, Fraunce is lost ' (Three 
 Fifteenth Century Chronicles, p. 96 ; another version in Chronicles 
 of the White Rose, p. 75). Perhaps we may see in this one 
 cause of the downfall of the Lancastrian Dynasty. It had" failed 
 to protect ' British Interests.' Edward IV, the merchant king, 
 at least did this, though Warkworth (p. 12) charges him, I know 
 not on what grounds, with 'hurtynge marchandyse;' and the 
 statutes of his reign are concerned almost entirely with matters 
 of trade and commerce, to the exclusion of all higher constitu- 
 Expenseof tional and poKtical subjects (S. C. H. iii. 199, 213). As to the 
 ^eeping e g^pense of the keeping of the sea I have not found many data. 
 Fortescue himself says that 'it is not estimable.' In 14 15 the 
 expense of keeping the sea for one quarter and thirty-nine days 
 is put down at £1231 15J. od. (P. P. C. ii. 180), while in 1442 
 for the fleet described above under that year the estimate is 'for 
 vi moneths for this year £4668 ; for viii moneths duryng the 
 graunte of Tonage and Poundage, £6090 13J. 4d. (Rot. Pari. v. 
 Divisions 59 b). The fleet for the keeping of the Sea was generally divided 
 fleet. i'^'o two squadrons, one called the Northern or Eastern, or 
 
 Northern and Eastern Fleet; the other called the Southern or 
 Western, or Southern and Western Fleet. The district from 
 which the former was drawn, and which it was supposed to guard, 
 was from the mouth of the Thames northward to Berwick ; the 
 district of the latter was from the Thames southward and west- 
 ward. The large fleet of Edward III mentioned above was 
 divided in this way; though that of course was intended not 
 merely for the safeguard of the sea but for offensive operations 
 against France. In 14-10 we find the sea to be guarded divided 
 into the North, the West, and the narrow sea between Dover and 
 Calais (P. P. C. i. 328).. There was also a fleet for Ireland, and 
 another for Aquitaine. The keeping of the Irish Sea which is 
 sometimes mentioned may have been performed by the former of 
 these (Rot. Pari. iii. 623 a, 639 a; P. P. C. ii. 199, 203; Cal. 
 Rot. Pat. pp. 244, 248 a, 305 b). These fleets must always have had 
 their own commanders, and at first these commanders were often 
 Admiral of independent of one another. But ' after 1406 there was always an 
 "g ^ • Admiral of England, who commanded in chief all the fleets of 
 England, Ireland, and Aquitaine ' (Nicolas, Royal Navy, ii. 448). 
 Thus Thomas Beaufort in 10 Henry IV is appointed 'Admi- 
 rallus flota; navium tam versus partes boreales et occidentales 
 
JI3ote0, C&ap. tJii. 239 
 
 quam versus partes Hibernise Aquitaniae et Picardise.' And 
 Richard Duke of Gloucester in 2 Edward IV is ' Admirallus Anglise 
 Hiberniae et Aquitaniae ' (Cal. Rot. Pat. pp. 255 b, 305 b). 
 
 earrikkes and ojjer grete vessailles.] For the various kinds of Kinds of 
 ship in use at this time, see Sir Harris Nicolas, P. P. C, V. cxxx. ff. ; ^'^'P*' 
 or more fully, Hist. Royal Navy,, ii. 158 ff. Several of these occur 
 in the quotations cited in the last note ; to which may be added 
 the following passage from Caxton's continuation of Higden : 
 ' In the fourthe yere the due of Bedford, therle of Marche, and 
 other certayne Lordes . . . foughten on the see ageynst seven 
 carryks of Gene, and fyfty other vessels, as hulkes, barges, galeys 
 and galyetis' (Higden, viii. 552). An unconstitutional commission 
 addressed by Henry IV to various towns ordering them to build 
 certain 'barges and balyngers' was objected to in Parliament 
 2 Hen. IV, and cancelled (Rot. Pari. iii. 458 a). 
 
 CHAPTER Vir. 
 
 a case ouer moch. exorbitant.] See above, pp.. 216-7, and 
 notes to Chapter viii, pp. 250-1, below. 
 
 Ffirst }>e kyng shall . . . sende . . .' his ambassatours.J Wages of 
 The wages of ambassadors varied with their rank, in accordance ^mbassa- 
 with which an allowance of so much a day was made to them. 
 The ordinary payments per diem seem to have been as follows : — 
 
 £ J-. d. 
 
 ForaBishop 368 P. P. C. iv. 109; vi. 302. 
 
 ForanEarl 368 P.P.C.iv. I23ff.; vi.302 ; Rymer, x. 271. 
 
 For an Abbot 3 o o P. P. C. vi. 302. 
 
 For a Baron a o o P. P. C. iv. I23ff. ; Rymer, xi. 504. 
 
 For a Knight Banneret. . . a o o P. P. Civ. 109; Engl. inFrance, II. Ixxvi. 
 
 For a Knight 100 P. P. C. iv. I23ff. ; vi. 302. 
 
 For Doctors of Law, &c. 100 P. P. C. iv. I23ff., 265; vi. 92. 
 
 Inferior ambassadors sometimes had £1, sometimes a mark per 
 diem (Rymer, xi. 504; P. P. C. vi. 302). I have not found any 
 instances of payments to Archbishops or Dukes on this score. In 
 1432 the Archbishop of York (Kemp) was allowed payment at the 
 rate of 1000 marks per annum while ambassador at the Council of 
 Basle, with the proviso that, if during the time of his absence he was 
 
240 
 
 C6c (Sotiernance of CnglanD. 
 
 sent on any other mission, he should receive the ordinary wages of 
 an Archbishop. It is not however stated what these were (Rymer, 
 X. 525-6). As a Bishop or Earl received five marks per diem, an 
 Archbishop or Duke would probably have £5 ; a supposition which 
 is confirmed by the relative wages of these lords as councillors, 
 an Archbishop or a Duke having £200 per annum, a Bishop or 
 an Earl 200 marks. (See notes to Chapter xv, p. 302, below). £5 
 was the sum allowed to George Neville, Warwick's brother, in 1463, 
 though he was then only Bishop of Exeter, the increased allowance 
 being probably owing to his rank as Chancellor, for as Councillor 
 the Chancellor receives the same wages as an Archbishop or a 
 Duke (Rymer, xi. 504). Besides their wages, ambassadors were 
 allowed 'reasonable costs for the passage and repassage of the 
 sea' (P. P. C. iv. 140-1). In some cases the sums allowed for 
 this purpose are given. They vary of course according to the 
 retinue by which the ambassador is accompanied (if.^. Rymer, ix. 
 189, 205; P. P. C. vi. 53). Frequently a sum of money is ad- 
 vanced (' by apprest,' ' par vole d'apprest,' ' per viam prsestiti ') to 
 ambassadors on setting out (in some cases a quarter's salary), and 
 then on their return they account with auditors appointed by the 
 exchequer for the sums so advanced, and receive the balance due 
 to them on their accounts (P. P. C. iii. 201; iv. 178; v. 169; 
 Rymer, xi. 53, etc.). Bekynton's account for his mission to Calais 
 in 1439 is printed in his Correspondence, I. cxxii ; that of Sir 
 John Popham for his embassy to Brittany in 1438 is in Wars 
 Diaries of of the Engl, in France, II. Ixxv. ff. It is perhaps partly to 
 dors^^^^ this system of daily allowances that we owe the elaborate diaries 
 kept by some ambassadors. Two of Bekynton's diaries have 
 been printed: one, of lii« embassy to Calais in 1439, may be 
 found in P. P. C, v. 334 ff.-; the other of his embassy to the Count, 
 of Armagnac in 1442 is in his Correspondence, ii. 177 ff. The, 
 latter has also been published in a translation by Sir Harris, 
 Nicolas (London, 1828). This was the scale of payment, and, 
 this the system of account whether the embassy was directed to 
 foreign princes, to pope, or to councils, or to the English govern- 
 ment in the conquered districts of France (Engl, in France, XL, 
 Ixxvii). Conversely, ambassadors from the English government 
 in France to the home government were treated as foreign 
 ambassadors (ib. i. 389 S. ; P. P. C. iv. 122 ; see below). 
 
 It will be seen from what has been said, that the expense under 
 
Il3otc0. Cbap, Mil 241 
 
 this head cannot have been light. In the budget of 1433 given Heavy ex- 
 above, it is put down at £2626. It was not without plausible P^^J'"^?^ 
 reason that Humphrey Duke of Gloucester, in his celebrated head, 
 manifesto of 1440, protested against the great expense of the 
 fruitless negociations at Arras in 1435, and at Calais in 1439 : 
 ' Ther hath ben loste and dispended to notable and to grete a 
 goode by divers ambassiates sent oute of this youre royaume; 
 first to Aras, &c. . . . Item, now late was sent an other ambassiate 
 to Calais, &c. . . . The whiche gode, if it had be emploied for the 
 defence of youre saide royaumes, the merchandize of youre landes 
 might have had other course, and youre saide landes not standen 
 in so grete mischief as they do ' (Engl, in France, ii. 444-5. See 
 notes to Chap, xv, p. 318, below for the large sums of money ex- 
 ported to Arras). Nor is it surprising to find that the ambassadors Payments 
 often had considerable difficulty in obtaining payment of the sums " ""^ 
 due to them. In the minutes of the Privy Council for 1433 it is noted 
 that ' Jjere lakketh yit a greet part ... for paiement of Jjarche- 
 bisshope of York and jse Lorde Hungerforde ]3at be appointede to 
 the generalle conceil ' (P. P. C. iv. 1 59). And in the commissions 
 of several of the ambassadors to that council. (Basle), a proviso is 
 inserted that if their wages are not paid they may leave the council 
 (Rymer, x. 528, 531, 532). Bekynton, in 1444, complained that 
 there was still owing to him £189 on account of his embassy of 
 1442, for which 'he can as yit have no paiement nor assignement, 
 to his grete hurt in }3at partie' (P. P. C. vi. 24-5). 
 
 It illustrates the difference between modern and mediaeval diplo- Change in 
 macy that Fortescue reckons these diplomatic expenses among the '^^ charac- 
 extraordinary, and not among the ordinary charges of the crown, diplomacy. 
 But already a change was coming over European diplomacy. The 
 consolidation of the great monarchies, by the falling in of great 
 fiefs or the union of smaller kingdoms which had acted in the 
 Middle Ages as a kind of barrier to keep the nations apart, 
 combined with the growth of that system of international jealousy 
 which is called the Balaiice of Power, to render diplomatic relations 
 between states closer and more frequent. But the system of per- 
 manent resident ambassadors did not come till later. Commynes, 
 who gives elaborate directions for the sending and receiving of 
 ambassadors, evidently regards them as only a superior sort of spy, 
 to be sent about their business as soon as conveniently might be 
 (Liv. iii. c. 8). The system adopted by Louis XI and others, of 
 
 R 
 
242 C6e ©oijecnance of €nglanti. 
 
 Transition pensioning, as it was delicately called, some member or members 
 Pensions °^ foreign courts, who were expected in return to support the 
 interests of those who pensioned them, may be regarded as a sort 
 of transitional experiment. The system of resident ambassadors 
 Earliest begins in England under the Tudors. But these agents were at 
 ambassa- ^''^^ taken from a very inferior class, and were miserably paid. 
 dors. The state papers re-echo with their impecunious wails (v. Brewer, 
 
 Their Henry VIII, i. 64-8 ; and compare the complaints of De Puebla, 
 
 the Spanish ambassador in England under Henry VII : Calendar 
 of Spanish Papers, Suppl. to vols i. and ii. pp. 96, 113, 121). But 
 as the importance of the office increased, so did the dignity of the 
 persons who filled it ; and the diplomatic establishment became a 
 recognised item in the ordinary expenditure of the nation. 
 Projected Henry VIII seems to have had the idea of establishing a regular 
 diplomacy school of diplomacy and international law. In Waterhous' Fortes- 
 and inter- cutus lUustr. (pp. 539-542) there is a copy of a project drawn up 
 nahona g^j Henry's command by Thomas Denton, Nicolas Bacon, and 
 Robert Gary for establishing, on the model of the Inns of Court 
 and of Chancery, a house of students where Law and the pure 
 use of Latin and French should be taught ; whereby the King 
 might be better served, as well in foreign countries as within the 
 realm. A certain number of students were to be maintained by 
 the King, others might be admitted at their own charges. In- 
 struction was to be provided in French and Latin, and legal 
 discussions were to be held after supper. Whenever the king 
 sent an embassy abroad, one or two of the king's students were 
 to accompany it, in order ' That thereby they may be more expert 
 and meet to serve the king's Majesty in such aflfairs.' Two of the 
 students were to keep a history or chronicle of the realm, and 
 whenever a war took place on the Continent persons were to be 
 sent to watch and record its events. [This document is followed 
 by another not less interesting, drawn up by the same persons, 
 and describing the actual customs in use at the Inns of Court and 
 Chancery.] 
 
 fhTpraf *° *^^ ^°^®"^ ^^^^^ embassies seem not to have been very 
 CourtThe frequent, owing to the fact that the English monarchs always had 
 reswtnt ^ Permanent proctor in the court of Rome to look after their 
 diplomatic interests, who may perhaps be regarded as the earliest instance 
 agents. of a resident diplomatic agent. (For specimens of these appoint- 
 ments see Rymer, ix. 12; x. 266; of. Devon's Issues of the 
 
Botes. Cbap. \}iu 243 
 
 Exchequer, pp. 461-2). One of the chief functions of the persons 
 so appointed is to secure the promotion of the king's nominees to 
 vacant sees, etc. Owing to the venality of the court of Rome 
 these relations vsrere a source of continual expense. Specimen^ of 
 formal missions to Rome are the embassies which Henry VI sent 
 in 1457 and 1459 to oflfer the profession of his obedience to 
 Calixtus III and Pius II respectively (Rymer, xi. 403, 422. For 
 earlier instances, cf. ib. viii. 446, 479 ; Issues of the Exchequer, pp. 
 308, 310, 406). 
 
 to the eounselles generalles.j In his tract Be tiiulo Edwardi Councils. 
 Comilis MarchicE Fortescue brings forward as an argument in 
 favour of the Lancastrian title the fact that the ambassadors of 
 Henry V and Henry VI had been admitted without question to 
 the councils of Constance and Basle (c. 10, Works, p. 69*). 
 Only in the fifteenth century probably would a writer have men- 
 tioned the sending of ' messengers and procurators ' to general 
 councils as a special item of expense. The first half of the Vain at- 
 fifteenth century was the great period of the abortive attempt to reforai'the 
 reform the Church by means of councils, and to transform the Church by 
 papal despotism into a sort of ecclesiastical parliamentary system. Jneans 
 Henry IV sent ambassadors to the council of Pisa in 1408, and pisa. 
 ordered the clergy of his kingdom to send representatives also 
 (Rymer, viii. 567, fif.). In 1409 he acknowledged Alexander V 
 the Pope of the Pisan council (ib. 604-.5), in this not following 
 the policy of his aOy, Rupert king of the Romans. The commis- Constance. 
 sions of Heru-y V to his ambassadors to the council of Constance 
 are in Rymer, ix. 167, 169. In the former of these Henry 
 declares that he would gladly attend in person if he were not 
 otherwise hindered. (For a sketch of the relations of England to 
 the council of Constance see the admirable monograph of Dr. 
 Max Lenz, ' Konig Sigismund imd Heinrich der Fiinfte'). The Pavia, 
 appointment of certain persons as ambassadors to attend the 
 council of Pavia in 1423 (adjourned to Siena in 1424) was agreed 
 upon in the privy council on Feb. 22 nd of the former year. It 
 was also agreed two days later that certain other persons should be 
 authorized to demand a place in the council, as representatives of 
 the infant monarch in his capacity as King of France (P. P. C, 
 iii. 42-4; Rymer, x. 269. The journal of Whethamstede, Abbot 
 of St. Alban's, who went to Pavia as one of the representatives of 
 the English clergy, is in Amundesham, i). Ambassadors to the Basle. 
 
 R 2 
 
244 ^ht <3o\ictmmc of CnglanD. 
 
 council of Basle seem to have been first appointed in July 1432 ; 
 perhaps in response to the embassy from Basle which was in 
 England at that time (P. P. C. iv. 123-6 ; Rymer, x. 519). Others 
 were appointed later. In the following year measures were taken 
 for the despatch thither of representatives of the clergy of England, 
 Ireland; and Guienne (P. P. C. iv. 160). In all these cases the 
 difference is strictly maintained between royal ambassadors and 
 clerical representatives, though occasionally we find a prelate 
 acting in both capacities (P. P. C. iv. 123; Rymer, x. 587). 
 Here also Henry VI appointed ambassadors for his kingdom of 
 France, and protested in vain against their non-admission (Rymer, 
 X, 605 ; P. P. C. iv. 297-8 ; Bekynton's Correspondence, ii. 268). 
 Nor were embassies the only expense incurred by the English 
 Government in connexion with the council of Basle. In May 
 1434 four hundred ducats are entrusted to the ambassadors then 
 setting out, that they may secure the services of a permanent 
 advocate in the council to attend to the king's matters; while in 
 November letters of exchange for 1000 marks were sent to the 
 ambassadors to be distributed in the council for the honour and 
 profit of the king — in plain English, for bribes (P. P. C. iv. 217, 
 
 Ferrara. 289). At the final breach between the Pope and council, Henry 
 sided with the former, acknowledged his rival council of Ferrara, 
 and ordered his prelates to remove thither, 1437, (Bekynton, ii. 80). 
 Among the minutes of the Privy Council occurs the following in- 
 teresting entry : ' ambassadeurs to be sende to the general concile, 
 &€., to Ferraire or to Basil wheder paX ]>e Grekes wol come,' (P.P.C. 
 
 Congress of vi. 91). It is curious that the congress of Mantua, which was 
 *°"^' expressly intended by Pius II to take the place of the hated 
 councils, and restore in a new form the overlordship of the Pope 
 over secular princes (Droysen, Gesch. d. preuss. Politik, II. i. 147 ; 
 Palacky, IV. ii. 123 f.), is itself called a ' general council ' by Whet- 
 hamstede (i. 334-6), who gives the names of the ambassadors 
 appointed to attend it. They were however prevented from setting 
 out by the outbreak of civil war in England (cf. P. P. C. vi. 298, 
 302). 
 
 Reception the kynge shall beyre . . . charges vnknowen in re cey- 
 
 sadore.*^' '^^Se off Ugates, &e.J The charges on this account fall, as 
 Fortescue says, under two heads; payment of the ambassadors' 
 expenses during their stay in the kingdom, and presents given to 
 them at their departure. Two or three examples will suffice to 
 
Botes. C^ap* Mil 245 
 
 illustrate this point. In 1414 £24 14s. ^d. are allowed for the ex- 
 penses of certain French ambassadors from May 1 7 to June 2 ; 
 and £644 I2S. lod. for those of the Burgundian ambassadors from 
 April 19 to June 17 (Rymer, ix. 189). In 1427 £40 and 20 
 marks respectively are given to two ambassadors from the King of 
 the Romans (P. P. C. iii. 280). In 1432 envoys from the council 
 of Basle receive sums varying from £40 to £20. In the same 
 year 50 marks are given to a Papal ambassador (P. P. C. iv. 
 1 20-1; Rymer, x. 514-5). In 1478 £40 are given to each of 
 two Spanish ambassadors (Rymer, xii. 92). It was perhaps in the 
 hope of such rewards that in 1426 an impostor, calling himself 
 the Baron of Blakamore, gave himself out as an ambassador from 
 the Emperor. He was however detected, and promptly executed 
 (Amundesham, i. 7). By ' grete communalties ' are meant inde- 
 pendent republics, such as Florence, Genoa, or Venice (cf. Rymer, 
 viii. 420 ; ix. 120; P. P. C. iL 256 ff. ; Engl, in France, i. 472). 
 
 The expenses of Bedford as Regent of France, in receiving 
 ambassadors there during one year, are set down at 20,000 franks 
 (Engl, in France, ii. [538]). 
 
 rewarde such as do ... to hym seruice.] On rewards in 
 money as opposed to grants of land see notes to Chap. v. pp. 
 208-9, above. On the inalienability of the royal revenues see notes 
 to Chap, xix, pp. 341-2, below. 
 
 new bildynges.] See the notes to the last Chapter, above, 
 p. 230. One item of expenditure under this head which I have 
 discovered is of some interest. In 1413 Henry V granted 1000 
 marks annually during pleasure for the completion and repair of 
 the nave of Westminster Abbey (Rymer, ix. 78). 
 
 riche clothes, &c.] A taste for splendid dress was eminently Splendour 
 characteristic of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and reached °hefifteenth 
 its climax perhaps at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520, and bix- 
 where many of the English nobility and gentry ' broke their backs J^°gg ''^"' 
 with laying manors on 'em,' (Henry VIII, Act I. Sc. i.), and where 
 ' the mediaeval age gathered up its departing energies for a last 
 display' (Brewer, Henry VIII, i. 350). On the Continent the 
 lead in this respect was taken by the Burgundian Court. (See 
 Kirk, Charles the Bold, i. 78 flf., 453 ff.). Louis XI on the other 
 hand exhibits in this, as in so many other points, the reaction 
 against the mediaeval spirit. His dress, as Commynes says, was 
 ' as bad as bad could be ' (' si mal que pis ne povoit ; ' Liv. ii. 
 
246 
 
 C&e (^oDernance of (JBnslanD, 
 
 ch. 8). That Edward IV was possessed by this taste for splendid 
 dress in its full extent is shown by his wardrobe accounts, as the 
 editor, Sir Harris Nicolas, remarks, pp. ii^vii. And Fortescue 
 here contemplates further expenditure beyond that included in 
 ' the yerely charges off his wardrober.' The Croyland Continuator 
 also remarks on Edward's taste for magnificent apparel; but he 
 thinks that the appearance of the English court was ' non alia quam 
 quffi excellentissimum Regnum deceat' (p. 563). For the item 
 of furs, specially mentioned by Fortescue, see Wardrobe Accounts, 
 pp. 129, 133, 134; Issues of the Exchequer, p. 494. 
 
 serpes.j This is one of the many forms taken by the word 
 
 cypress (=fine linen) in middle English. For this identification 
 
 I am indebted to the kindness of Professor Skeat. The origin 
 
 of the word is French crespe, whence modern English crape. 
 
 Cresp was translated crisp, which became crips, and was then 
 
 re-cast as cipres. In Piers Plowman it is spelt as cypirs. Serpes 
 
 or serpis is therefore for cirpes. (See Skeat, Etymological Diet., 
 
 Ed. 2, or Suppl. to Ed. i, s.v. Cypress). D** not understanding 
 
 the word, writes serples, (surplice), and Cb., going still further 
 
 a-field, has pearles I 
 
 Royal rich stones . . . and oJ>er juels.] Under the Lancastrian kings 
 
 ''^awn ^ '^^ royal jewels seem to have been chiefly employed as securities 
 
 for some of the many loans which those monarchs had to raise, or 
 
 for wages and other payments due ; e.g. under Henry IV, P. P. C. 
 
 ii. 121 ; under Henry V, ib. iii. 9; Rymer, ix. 284; under 
 
 Henry VI, P. P. C. v. 132, where the king orders all his royal 
 
 jewels to be coined, sold, or pledged as quickly as possible for the 
 
 preservation of his kingdom of France and Duchy of Normandy. 
 
 This was in 1441. The crown itself was not unfrequently in 
 
 pawn. In 1430 other jewels had to be pledged to the Abbot of 
 
 Westminster in order to release the crown which was to be used 
 
 at the Coronation of Henry as King of France (Rymer, x. 455). 
 
 In P. P. C. V. 61, and Rymer, xi, 76, we have lists of the jewels 
 
 given as New Year's gifts by the king in 1437 and 1445. In both 
 
 these years John Merston was keeper of the royal jewels. The 
 
 Henry VII collecting of precious stones seems to have been a perfect passion 
 
 Ticklll" ^'"'^ Henry VII. Between the seventh and twenty-second years 
 
 collectors of his reign he spent above £i 10,000 on them (Exc. Hist., pp. 
 
 stonet"°''^ 86-90). The Emperor Frederick III had the same mania. Perhaps 
 
 they regarded them as a safe investment. The author of the 
 
3I3otes. C&ap. toil. 247 
 
 Epitome, in a marginal note on this passage, asserts that Henry VIII 
 once gave £50,000 for a single jewel. 
 
 riche hangynges . . . vessaill.] In June 1468, Edward IV 
 pays £397 for plate, some of which was for his chapel ; and £984 
 for various pieces of arras (Issues of Exchequer, p. 491). The 
 Croyland Continuator says that none of Edward's predecessors 
 equalled him ' in comparandis vasis aureis et argenteis, tapisseriis, 
 ornamentis tarn Regalibus quam Ecclesiarum pretiosissimis ' (p. 
 559)- 
 
 Ms chapell.] I have not noticed any other instances of extra- Chapels 
 ordinary expenditure on the royal chapel. The officers of the ™y^l- 
 chapels royal formed part of the household, and their salaries 
 therefore came under the head of ordinary expenditure. For the 
 dean, chaplains, clerks, yeomen, and children of the chapel, Serjeant 
 yeoman and groom of the vestry, see Liber Niger, Edw. IV, 
 Ordinances of the Household, pp. 49-52^ They are frequently 
 mentioned in the documents of the period. In Cal. Rot. Pat. 
 p. 267 b (7 Henry V), there is a commission ' de pueris pro 
 capella Regis capiendis.' In P. P. C. iii. 104 the names of the 
 ' schyldren of the schapel ' are given (1423). 
 
 horses, &c.] I have found one or two entries illustrating this The royal 
 item of expense. In 1434 four summarii (sumpter-horses) cost ^ * ^^' 
 20 marks. In 1440 a palfrey costs 13 marks. In 1443 six horses 
 cost £30 (P. P. C. iv. 216; V. 119, 230). In 1454 during 
 Henry's illness an ordinance was issued for the regulation of the 
 royal stables (P. P. C. vi. 210-14). This was probably in con- 
 nexion with the reform of the household which was made about 
 the same time (see notes to last chapter, p. 220, above). In the 
 Liber Niger of Edward IV the annual expense for the purchase of 
 horses and vehicles and repairs is estimated at £520 (Ordinances 
 of the Household, p. 21). In Rot. Pari. v. 154 a, there is a curious 
 petition from the Commons against the proceedings of 'oon 
 William Gerveis . ... cleping hymself the Kyng's Corser' in 
 purveying horses for the king. It was prayed that no one should 
 ' take no Palfrey for the Kyng but of the valu of x. marcs or above ; 
 ne Courser but atte the valu of x. li. or above ; no charie hors, but 
 at the valu of iiii marcs or above ; ne no somer hors, but at the valu 
 of iiii marcs or above.' The petition was refused. This was in 
 1449. On the enormous stud kept by Edward III, cf. S. C. H. 
 
 ii- 553- 
 
248 
 
 Ciie (J5otictnance of Cnglann. 
 
 Special 
 commis- 
 sions. 
 
 Royal pro- 
 gresses to 
 put down 
 disorder. 
 
 comissioners in gret myght ... to represse . . . riatours, 
 
 &c.] On the aristocratic turbulence and local disorder which 
 characterized the Lancastrian period, see Introduction, Part I, pp. 
 II fF., and Paston Letters, passim. As instances of these special 
 commissions on important occasions the following may be cited. In 
 December 1450, after the rising of Cade, a commission of oyer and 
 terminer for Kent and Sussex was issued to the Duke of York, Lord 
 Bourchier, Sir John Fastolf and others (Paston Letters, i. 186). 
 In 1453 Sir William Lucy was sent with others into the North as 
 commissioners to put down the disturbances between Lord Egre- 
 mont and Sir John Neville (P. P. C. vi. 1 47-1 51). In December, 
 1455, York, then Protector for the second time, was, at the request 
 of the Commons, sent as commissioner into Devonshire, ' notably 
 accompanied,' to put an end to the ' heynous inconveniences ' 
 occasioned by the Earl of Devonshire; and various other lords 
 were joined in the commission with him (ib. 267-271). In 
 1 47 1, after the attempt of the bastard Falconbiidge, 'the Lorde 
 Denham and Sere Jhon Fog and dyverse othere (were) made 
 commyssioners, that satt uppon alia Kente, Sussex, and Essex, that 
 were at the Blakhethe,' &c. (Warkworth, p. 21). On the nature 
 and origin of these commissions of oyer and terminer, see Palgrave, 
 Essay on the King's Council, §§ xii. xiii. 
 
 he shall . . . ride in his owne person, &e.] Henry VI 
 appears to have done so after the rising of Cade, etc. in 1450 : 
 ' This yere the Kynge went into Kent ... and sate and did grete 
 justice upon tho that rose with the capteyne ; . . . and so fie Kynge 
 wentt . . . westwards to Salisbery, and ther as the Bysshoppe of 
 Salysbery was slayne ' (Three Fifteenth Century Chronicles, pp. 68-9, 
 cf. Gregory p. 196). He announced his intention of doing so in 
 the Parliament of 1453 : ' Quod in persona sua propria ad diversas 
 Regni partes laborare fuit dispositus, ad illam intentionem et finem 
 quod Manutenentia, Extorsio, Oppressio, Riote, et alia malefacta a 
 tamdiu infra Regnum suum Anglie usitata destruerentur, et factores 
 . . . punirentur' (Rot. Pari. v. 236 b). With this may be com- 
 pared ib. 382 b, where it is announced that Richard Duke of 
 York, ' vray and rightfull heire of the Reaumes of Englond and 
 Fraunce,' has been appointed 'to ride into the parties of the 
 Realme of Englond and Wales, where rebellions, murdres, riottes, 
 spoilyng, extorsions and oppressions be used, ... to represse 
 ... and appese them.' In May, 1470, Earl Rivers was sent by 
 
Jl3otc0. Ci)ap. Mil 249 
 
 the advice of the council with thirty men-at-arms and forty foot- 
 soldiers into Kent, ' to suppress divers rebels there assembled ' 
 (Issues of the Exchequer, p. 494). So Edward IV, at the request of 
 the Commons in the Parliament of 1472-5, 'sent our Sovereign 
 and Liege Lady the Queue, and the right excellent Prynce your 
 first begoten son, Prynce of Wales, accompayned with many grete 
 Lordes spirituelx and temporelx, and many other notable persones, 
 as well your Juges, as other . . . your commyssioners,' to put 
 down disorders on the marches of Wales. An imusually vigorous 
 protest against the partial proceedings of this commission is in 
 Rot. Pari. vi. 159 f. The Croyland Continuator remarks that after 
 Edward IV's return from his French expedition ' coactus est ipse- 
 met dominus Rex Regnum suum una cum Justitiis suis perlustrare, 
 nemini . . . parcens, ... si in furto aut homicidio deprehensus 
 existeret. Qua rigorosa justitia . . . publica latrocinia jam diu 
 postea quieverunt' (p. 559). 
 
 no man is bounde to serue hym, &c.J If this refers to the Right of 
 question of the king's right to claim the assistance of his subjects ' .[.°^" 
 in putting down by force internal disturbances of the peace, it is service. 
 an important enunciation of a constitutional principle. On the 
 question of the right of the Crown to exact military service, which 
 is a very intricate one, see S. C. H, ii. 283-6, 353, 396, 539-543. 
 Much however that is there said refers to foreign service, the 
 exaction of which without payment was unquestionably unconsti- 
 tutional. The law was fixed by i Edw. Ill, st. 2, c. 5; 18 Edw. 
 Ill, c. 7, whereby no one was to be called upon to serve outside 
 the limits of his own county, except in case of sudden invasion; 
 and payment by the king was to commence from the time that any 
 force quitted the limits of its own shire. In the Parliament of Sept. 
 1402 the Commons complained of the frequent breach of these 
 statutes, especially with reference to the troubles in Wales, and they 
 were accordingly re-enacted (Rot. Pari. iii. 501a; cf. St. 4, 
 Henry IV, c. 13). In 1410 the Commons declared that ' persones 
 defensable de lour corps n'eient en biens dont ils purront . . . 
 defendre de Roialme sans gages ' (Rot. Pari. iii. 645 a). Similar 
 abuses were alleged against Henry VI by the Yorkist Lords in 1460: 
 ' that ys to say, every tounshyp to fynde men for the Kynges garde ' 
 (Eng. Chron. p. 87). And it was one of the complaints against 
 Edward IV that he caused men ' at every batell to come ferre oute 
 there countries at ther awne coste ' (Warkworth, p. 1 2). 
 
/ 
 
 250 Clie (©otiernance of CnglanD. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Title.] Cf. St. Thomas quoted by Baumann, Staatslehre, pp. 
 
 98-9- . . 
 
 Hit is shewid be ffore.] See Chapter vi above, ad init. 
 tlie kynge hath livelode . . . suflcieiit ... for his ordin- 
 arie charges.] All, therefore, that was needed, according to 
 Fortescue, was that this revenue should be made inalienable, of, as 
 The King he calls it in Chap, xix, ' amortised.' In this way Fortescue would 
 Ws'own^ endeavour to satisfy the demand which we so frequently meet 
 '^ '"^"' ' with throughout the whole of the mediaeval history of England, 
 that the king should live of his own;' which meant that the 
 ordinary expenditure should be covered by the ordinary revenue, 
 vhich is ' what was meant by the king's own' (S. C. H. ii. 551). 
 How far this ideal was realized as a general rule it is very difficult 
 to say, owing to the fact that no distinction is made in the 
 accounts between ordinary and extraordinary expenditure (ib. 545). 
 In 1404 and again in 1410 the Commons petitioned Henry IV 
 that he would ' live of his own.' The answer in both cases was 
 substantially the same : ' the Kyng thanketh hem of here gode 
 desire, willyng put it in execution als sone as he wel may' (Rot. Pari, 
 iii. 549. a, 624 a). The demand was one which was constantly 
 made in the various risings which characterized the period (cf. e.g. 
 Engl. Chron. ed. Davies, pp. 86-7). In 1467 Edward IV himself 
 announced to the Commons : ' Y purpose to lyve uppon my nowne ; 
 and not to charge my Subgettes but in grete and urgent causes, 
 concernyng more the wele of theym self, . . . than my nowne 
 pleasir' (Rot. Pari. v. 572 a). With this object a resumption act 
 was passed. Before the prorogation the Commons found it ex- 
 pedient to remind the king of the promise which he had made (ib. 
 618 b); cf. also notes to Chap, v above, pp. 209-210. It was 
 one of Henry V's arguments in favour of the French war, that the 
 increase of his patrimony would enable him to diminish the charges 
 upon his subjects (Rot. Pari. iv. 34 b). 
 Proposals what lyvelod ]>e kyng hath for . . . his charges extra- 
 °^ ^fo'^the o>^*iii^J^i6.] In Chapter x below, Fortescue discusses the question 
 endowment ' how that the crowne is beste to be indowed,' and comes to the 
 9f ™ conclusion that it would be best ' yflf )3e kynge myght haue is 
 livelod , . . in grete lordshippes, maneres, ffee fermys and such 
 
3l3ote0, Cbap. Miil 251 
 
 other demaynes, his people not charged,' (p. 133). From which 
 it would appear, that he desired, that not only the ordinary expen- 
 diture, but also the average extraordinary expenditure should be 
 provided for by permanent endowments of the crown. Thus 
 resort to the popular grant would only be necessary (to use For- 
 tescue's own words) ' yff ))er shall fFall a case ouer moch exorbitant/ 
 Chap, vii, p. 123; cf. preceding note). It is unnecessary to dwell Their con- 
 upon the constitutional importance of this proposal. This is just ?t""tional 
 one of the points in which Fortescue prepares the way for the New 
 Monarchy, Under Edward IV, and still more under the Tudors, 
 this ideal was to a great extent realized, with the result that might 
 have been foreseen; viz. that the national voice was reduced to 
 comparative silence. The experience of the Lancastrian reigns 
 seems to have convinced Fortescue of the necessity of a more 
 liberal and more regular provision for the wants of the State, In 
 this he was undoubtedly right. But it is to be regretted that he 
 and others found the solution of the problem in the practical eman- 
 cipation of the crown from parliamentary control in financial 
 matters. We have seen (above, p. 195), how a mistake, similar in 
 kind though greater in degree, on the part of the Three Estates in 
 France laid the foundation of the despotism of the French kings. 
 The English Parliament in granting Tunnage and Poundage and Revenue 
 the Subsidy on wool to Henry V and Henry VI for life had already °^ ' ^' 
 taken a serious step in the same direction. The idea that it was 
 possible to have a perfectly regular public revenue, and yet to 
 maintain the proper constitutional control by granting it only 
 annually, had not yet been developed. It seems to have been 
 assumed that an administration must necessarily be precarious 
 which should depend for its existence on supplies voted annually. 
 And yet the annual grant required would not have been very great. 
 Even when the national finances were at their worst in 1433 'a 
 single annual grant of a fifteenth would,' as Dr. Stubbs points out, 
 ' be sufficient to balance revenue and expenditure, and would leave 
 something to pay off the debt ' (C. H. iii. 1 1 8). And in better 
 times less would probably have sufficed. It is a little hard to see 
 why this sum should not have been granted annually or for short 
 periods, just as was done e.g. in the case of Tunnage and Pound- 
 age, until the plan was introduced of granting them for life. Had 
 this system, which seems to us so simple, been adopted, England 
 might, humanly speaking, have been spared much bitter conflict. 
 
252 c&e <J5ot)Ctnancc of (JBnglanti. 
 
 And on the other hand, had Henry VIII been as economical of the 
 resources at his disposal as were Henry VII and Elizabeth, he 
 might have established in England a permanent despotism of the 
 French type. But it is idle to speculate on what might have been. 
 Pecock has a passage in which he insists on the impolicy of making 
 rulers dependent for their livelihood on the grants of the governed 
 (Repressor, p. 394). But Pecock is there speaking of the endow- 
 ment, not of the Crown, but of the clergy. 
 Rex datur s. Thomas saith, Rex datur, &c.] This is from the Pseudo- 
 R%num. Aquinas, De Regimine, iii. c. 11, where the writer is discussing the 
 difference between the king and the tyrant : ' Regnum non est 
 propter regem, sed rex propter regnum, quia ad hoc Deus providit 
 de eis, ut regnum regant et gubernent, et unumquemque in suo 
 jure conservent : et hie est finis regiminis : quod si ad aliud 
 faciunt, in se ipsos commodum retorquendo, non sunt reges sed 
 tyranni.' Fortescue quotes this passage again in N. L. N. i. c. 25 
 (Works p. 86), and in De Laudihus, c. 37 ad init. In the instruc- 
 tions to the ambassadors sent to France in 1439, i*^ '^ argued in 
 favour of peace that ' the princes of bothe partis owe to considere, 
 that God made not his people in the said to remes, ner in other, 
 for the princes ; but he made the princes for his service, and for 
 the wele and behove of his people ' (P. P. C. v. 357). Waterhous 
 (p. 12) quotes from iElius Spartianus, Life of Hadrian (c. 8), the 
 remark of that emperor : ' Ita se rempublicam gesturum ut sciret 
 populi rem esse, non propriam,' (cf. next note but two). 
 
 ])e highest estate temporal!.] But all temporal estates are, ac- 
 cording to Fortescue, subject to the Pope (see Introduction, Part III, 
 p. 103. 
 
 defence and justice.] See notes to Chap. iv. above, pp. 201-3, 
 on the two duties of a king. 
 Papal style, servus servorum Dei.] Gregory the Great was the first 
 Pope to assume this title as a rebuke to the pride of the Patriarch 
 of Constantinople, who had taken the title of Universal Bishop 
 (Weber, Allgem. Weltgesch. iv. 816; cf. Higd. Polychr. v. 390). 
 Letters of Gregory with this superscription are in Bede, Hist. 
 Eccl., i. cc. 23-24. But he does not seem to have used it by any 
 means universally. I have glanced through his letters in the fifth 
 volume of Labbe's Concilia without finding a single instance of its 
 use. On this servitude of rulers compare the words of Antigonus 
 to his son, cited by Waterhous (p. 171), from ^lianus Prsenes- 
 
Botes* €6ap, \iiih 213 
 
 tinus, Hist. Var., Lib. ii. C. 20 : oIk ota-Sa, & wai, rriv ^aa-iXeiav f/fjiSnv 
 
 evio^ov €irai SovXelav ; Dr. Richard Price, in his sermon ' On the 
 Love of our Country,' which is discussed by Burke at the beginning 
 of his ' Reflections,' proposed that the monarch should be told ' on 
 occasions of congratulation that he is to consider himself more 
 properly the servant than the sovereign of the people.' On which 
 Burke, citing this very parallel of the Papal style, remarks : ' The 
 proudest domination that ever was endured on earth took a 
 title of still greater humility than that which is now proposed for 
 sovereigns by the Apostle of Liberty. Kings and nations were 
 trampled upon by the foot of one calling himself the "servant 
 of servants," and mandates for deposing sovereigns were sealed 
 with the signet of " the Fisherman." ' The basis of the title is of 
 ceiu-se Matth. xx. 27, 'Qui voluerit inter vos primus esse, erit 
 vester servus ; ' cf. Mark x. 44 ; cf. also St. Augustine, Be Civ. Dei, 
 xix. c. 14 (ad finem): 'Sed in domo justi viventis ex fide, et 
 adhuc ab ilia coelesti Civitate peregrinantis, etiam qui imperant, 
 serviunt eis, quibus videntur imperare. Neque enim dominandi 
 cupiditate imperant, sed officio consulendi; nee principandi su- 
 perbia, sed providendi misericordia.' 
 
 nemo debet, &c.J This is from i Cor. ix. 7 : * Quis militat 
 suis stipendiis umquam ? ' Fortescue possibly took the quotation 
 from Pseudo-Aquinas, De Regimine, iii. c. ir, as it there follows 
 close on the passage which Fortescue has just cited : ' rex propter 
 regnum,' &c. The writer however keeps closer to the original than 
 Fortescue : ' nemo militat stipendiis suis imquam/ 
 
 digntis est operarius, &e.] This is verbatim from Matth. 
 X. 10. 
 
 wherfore Jie appostill saith . . , bonis.] The whole of 
 this passage is omitted by Lord Fortescue of Credan, who is fol- 
 lowed by Lord Clermont. It is however in every MS. that I have 
 examined. The omission was probably due to the recurrence of 
 the word ' wherfore.' The quotation is verbatim from Gal. vi. 6. 
 
 moch more be we bounde ther to.j Cp. Burke, ' On Con- 
 ciliation with America :' 'But what (says the financier) is peace to 
 us without money ? Your plan gives us no revenue. No ! but it 
 does — for it secures to the subject the power of REFUSAL ; the 
 first of all revenues. Experience is a cheat, and fact a liar, if 
 this power in the subject of proportioning his grant or of not 
 granting at all, has not been found the richest mine of revenue 
 
2£4 C&e (©otiernance of CnfflanD. 
 
 ever discovered by the skill or by the fortune of man ' (cf. note 
 to Chap, xii, p. 289, below). 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Need for a then nedith it ]jat the kynges livelod ... be gretter 
 dowmcTt'of t'lan the livelod oflF the grettest lorde, &c.] This strikes us 
 the crown, i as being a very moderate demand, even if we adopt the reading of 
 i MS. D" and the previous editors ' ij the grettest lordes.' But, when 
 ' Fortescue goes on to say a little lower down that, in order to 
 realize this ideal, ' it shalbe necessarie ]jat ther be purveyid ffor the 
 kyng moch gretter livelod than he hath yet,' we have a striking 
 ; commentary both on the poverty of the crown and on the wealth 
 i of the nobles ; on both which subjects some remarks will be 
 1 found elsewhere (see notes to Chap, xiv, p. 295, below; Introduc- 
 tion, Part I, pp. 1 2-4, 1 7-8). Still this forms no argument against 
 what was urged in the notes to the last chapter in favour of grant- 
 ing annually whatever sum might be necessary for the proper 
 endowment of the crown. 
 
 wieh . . . wold be to the kynge right dredefuU.] Because, 
 as Fortescue said in Chap. v. above, p. 119, 'his subgettes woll 
 rather goo with a lorde Jjat is riche and mey pay thair wages and 
 expenses then with thair kynge Jjat hath noght in his purse.' Or, 
 as he puts it a little lower down in the present chapter, ' the peple 
 will go with hym fiat best mey susteyne and rewarde ham.' 
 mey dispende more.J i.e. has a larger income. 
 House- except ail houshold.] The Li5er Niger of Edward IV gives 
 
 eieat lords ^^^ composition and estimated expense per annum of the respective 
 households of a king, duke, marquess, earl, viscount, baron, 
 banneret, knight, squire. These figures have been tabulated by 
 Dr. Stubbs in a note to his Const. Hist. (iii. 538), and need not 
 therefore be reproduced here. That even a duke's household costs 
 less than one-third of the king's illustrates Fortescue's remark that 
 a lord's expenses under that head are ' lide in comparison off the 
 kynges.' 
 
 the philosopher saith: omnia amamus sed principari 
 mains.] Fortescue cites this quotation also in N. L. N. i. c. i : 
 'Ha;c questio [of the succession] . . . sermone non minimo 
 
JI3otes. €!)ap» ir. 255 
 
 creditur posse absolvi : cum de jure interroget . . . summse po- 
 tentiae, at rei quam maxime in terris desiderat mens humana, dicente 
 Philosopho, Omnia amamus sed principari magis' (Works, p. 65). 
 On which Lord Carlingford remarks : ' This has not been iden- Source of 
 tified in Aristotle, but there are passages like it to which Fortescue ^^ 1"°'^" 
 
 ,, r o tion. 
 
 may allude; as Rhet. 1. 38, rh 8' apx<^a) ^Sun-ov; and Pol. vii. 14, 17, 
 
 dio-nep DC TrXfio-Toj rav avBpimav ^TjTOvai tS>v iroKkav heoTroTelv. It is 
 
 not in the Auctoritates! I believe, on the other hand, that Fortescue 
 has simply misquoted an Auctoritas from the seventh book of the 
 Politics, which, in the printed edition of 1488, runs thus: 'omnia 
 amamus magis in principio'; and which the MS. Canonici, 
 Pat. Lat. 62, gives thus, 'omnia amamus, premia magis;' this 
 last being probably a scribal error for the version of the Venice 
 Latin Aristotle of 1483, 'omnia amamus prima magis.' The 
 Origmal is Pol. vii. 17, 1 3, Trajra yap ore'pyofieK ra TrpSra iiiaXXoi'. The 
 
 instances in which Fortescue's Aristotelian quotations cannot be 
 traced to the Auctoritates or some other second-hand source, are so 
 few that I am exceedingly sceptical as to the likelihood of his having 
 had any such general references in his mind as Lord Carlingford 
 supposes, which would imply on his part a tolerable first-hand 
 acquaintance with the works of Aristotle. The Pseudo-Aquinas 
 quotes a similar sentiment from Valerius Maximus : ' Appetitus 
 honoris inest homini. Unde Valerius Maximus dicit, quod nulla 
 est tanta humilitas, quae hac dulcedine non tangatur.' De Regimine, 
 iv. c. 7 ; cf. ib. c. 20. 
 
 Hyldericus . . . dissended off Clodone, &e.] By Clodone ciovis. 
 is meant Ciovis or Chlodwig, of which name the more modern 
 forms are Ludwig, Louis, and Lewis. He was grandson of 
 Meroveus, from whom the Merovingian dynasty derive their name. 
 Higden in Polychron. i. 276 calls him Clodoveus ; but in v. 290 he 
 calls him Clodonius qui et Lodowicus, which his translator Trevisa 
 gives as Clodoneus Loweys. It is possible that Clodoneus may have 
 arisen simply from a mis-reading of Clodoueus. It is however a 
 very common form. The conversion of Ciovis I. to Christianity 
 was due to his victory over the Alemanni at Zulpich in 496 a.d., 
 (cf. Pseudo-Aquinas, De Regimine, ii. c. 16). By Hyldericus is Childeric 
 meant Childeric III, deposed by Pippin the Short in 752 a.d. The ■^^•'■• 
 story of his deposition is given both in the Compendium Morale, L 
 34 b, and by Vincent of Beauvais, De Mor. Inst. Princ. c. 4. 
 It is alluded to by Pseudo-Aquinas, De Regimine, iii. c. 10. 
 
2;6 
 
 C&e ©oticrnance of CnglanD. 
 
 Though the Merovingian dynasty was not finally set aside till 752, 
 the real power had long been in the hands of Pippin's predecessors, 
 the mayors of the palace (cf Eginhard, Vita Caroli Magni, c. i). 
 As to the share of the Pope in the revolution, French political 
 writers are careful to show, in the interest of the independence of 
 the French monarchy, that Zacharias did not depose Childeric, but 
 only gave his consent to his deposition (Riezler, Literarische 
 Charles Widersacher &c., pp. 142-3, 151). Marcellus is due to a mis- 
 '^^'■'^^- reading or miswriting of Mariellus ; f and / being constantly 
 confused in mediseval MSS. The origin of the name is thus given 
 by William of Malmesbury, i. 98, who is copied by Higden, i. 278 : 
 ' Filius Pipini [of Heristal,] fuit Karolus Tudites, quem illi Mar- 
 tellum vocant, quod tyrannos per totam Franciam emergentes 
 contuderit, Saracenos Gallias in festantes egregie depulerit.' It was 
 with special Reference to this victory over the Saracens in 732 that 
 the name was given. A poem on the death of Henry V says that 
 
 he was — 
 
 'Carolus in qusestu, Clodovens et in moderatu.' 
 
 (Political Songs, ii. 129). 
 
 Fall of the Charles discended oflf Caroltis Magnus . . . was put from 
 giaiTdv- ^^ kyngdome ... by Hugh Capite.] There is some con- 
 nasty, fusion here ; but Fortescue may be excused if he has not succeeded 
 in unravelling the history of the last Carolingian kings of the 
 Western Franks. The last king of that line was Lewis V. He 
 died in 987, under suspicious circumstances it is true ; and on his 
 death Hugh Capet was chosen king. The crown was however 
 claimed by Charles Duke of Lower Lotharingia, uncle of Lewis V, 
 who came into the hands of Hugh Capet 990, and died in prison 
 994. This is probably the Charles intended by Fortescue. But he 
 can hardly be said to have been ' put from the kyngdome,' because 
 he never possessed it. It is possible, though I think less likely, 
 that Fortescue's memory was confused by the earlier struggles of 
 the Capetian house under Hugh Capet's great uncle Odo (or 
 Eudes), Count of Paris, his grandfather Robert, and his father 
 Hugh the Great (Fortescue's Hugo Magnus), against Charles the 
 Simple. The relation of the Capetian house to the later Carolings 
 was not unlike the relation of the Carolingian house to the later 
 Merovings : i.e., they enjoyed the reality before they finally assumed 
 the external garb of power. Fortescue's ' nine or ten generations ' 
 are too many, if we are to understand by ' generations ' steps in the 
 
pedigree from father to son. On the other hand, if descents of the 
 crown are meant, they are too few. (See the Carolingian Pedigree, 
 e.g., in Kitchin, History of France, i. 97). Fortescue speaks as if 
 Hugh Capet had been the first ' Dux Francise.' But according to 
 L'Ari de verifier les Dates (ii. 245, ed. 1783-7, fol.), Charles the 
 Bald in 861 conferred 'the Duchy and Marquisate of France' on 
 Robert the Strong, great-grandfather of Hugh Capet (cf Martin, 
 Hist, de France, ii. 448). On the Duchy of France and the way 
 in which, from 888 to 987, the crown of the Western kingdom 
 oscillated between the Dukes of the French at Paris and the 
 Carolings at Laon, see Freeman, Hist. Geography, pp. 146-7. 
 
 and in owre dayis we haue sene a subgett of the Ffrench • 
 kynges, &c.] This refers to Charles the Bold, then only Count of 
 Charolais, to the War of the Public Weal, the batde of Mondh6ry, 
 the siege of Paris, and the treaty of Conflans, 1465; on all which 
 see Commynes, Liv. i. ch. 2—14. For the special interest of this 
 reference, see Introduction, Part II. p. 66, above. For the treaty 
 of Conflans, see Commynes, ed. Lenglet-Dufresnoy, ii. 500 ff. 
 
 We haue also sene late in owre reaume, &e.] This might 
 refer either to the risings of the Duke of York, the Earls of Salis- 
 bury and Warwick, etc., against Henry VI, which ended in the 
 establishment of Edward IV on the throne ; or to the rebellion of 
 Clarence and Warwick against Edward himself, which led to his 
 expulsion and the brief restoration of Henry VI. If the latter is 
 meant, this chapter must have been written after Fortescue's recon- 
 ciliation with Edward IV ; if the former, it may have been written,' 
 as some of the later chapters were in substance written, with a 
 view to the Lancastrian restoration of 1470 (see Introduction,; 
 Part III. pp. 94-6, above). On Warwick's oflBces, see a note on 
 this Chapter below, pp. 262-3, and notes to Chapter xvii; on 
 Clarence's ofiSces and grants see notes to Chapter xi, p. 279, below. 
 
 The Erlis of Lecestir and Glocestre, &e.] i. e., Simon de 
 Montfort and Gilbert de Clare at the battle of Lewes, May 14, 
 1264, where Henry III and his son Edward were taken prisoners. 
 
 the kyng off Scottis J)at last dyed . . . Erie Douglas.] Relations 
 ' The King of Scots that last died' is James II, who was killed in "f do^"'^ 
 1460 by the bursting of a cannon at the siege of Roxburgh Castle, las with 
 The most recent account of the relations of the Douglases with the of gco"^" 
 crown of Scotland during his reign is contained in the prefaces to land, 
 the 5th and 6th volumes of the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, edited 
 
 S 
 
258 CFje (Sotiernance of (2Englan!J, 
 
 Murder of by George Burnett, Esq., Lyon King of Arms (rSS'a-s). The 
 f^'lndlfs first act of the tragedy had been played in the previous reign, when 
 brother, William, the sixth Earl of Douglas, and his only brother David 
 ''^'^°' were treacherously executed by the orders of Crichton the Chan- 
 
 cellor, who at that time shared the powers of the government with 
 Sir Alexander Livingston, the governor of Stirling Castle (1440)- 
 Power and The motive for this crime was the overgrown power and ostenta- 
 inc^oTthe t'O'is independence of the young earl; ' Galloway, Annandale, and 
 Douglases, other extensive territories in Scotland, the duchy of Touraine and 
 county of Longueville, in France, yielded revenues perhaps 
 equivalent to those of the Scotish monarch ' (Douglas' Peerage, by 
 * Wood, i. 428). The duchy of Touraine reverted to the French 
 Crown ; but the government of Scotland did not venture to confis- 
 cate his Scotch estates. Those which were not male fiefs passed to 
 his sister Margaret, 'the fair maid of Galloway;' the remainder, with 
 the title of Earl of Douglas, to his great-uncle James. The latter's 
 son William (succeeded 1443) re-constituted the power of his house 
 by marrying his cousin the ' fair maid of Galloway.' Besides this, 
 his brother Archibald was Earl of Moray, and his brother Hugh 
 Earl of Ormond. This overgrown power of the house of Douglas, 
 the lawless conduct of the earl, his leagues offensive and defensive 
 with other powerful noblemen, from which the king himself was 
 not excepted ; the intrigues of himself and his next brother James, 
 with the English (see their safe-conducts in Rymer, xi. 277, 283-4, 
 306), alarmed and irritated the king, who summoned him to his 
 Murder of presence under a safe-conduct. In the personal altercation that 
 ksb^the^' follo'^ed, the king stabbed the earl with his own hands (Feb. 1452). 
 King, James Douglas, his brother and heir, defifed the king, and offered 
 
 ''^^^" his homage to the King of England. (Henry's commission for re- 
 
 Its conse- 
 
 quences. ceiving his homage, dated June 3, 1452, is in Rymer, xi. 310 ; and 
 
 troubles on the borders caused by ' suche as belong to the rewle 
 and governance of th' Erie of Duglas ' are alluded to in May, 1452 ; 
 P. P. C. vi. 125). But in August, 1452, the earl submitted, and 
 returned to his allegiance ; the king not only receiving him back 
 into favour, but consenting to his marriage with his brother's 
 widow, for which a dispensation was obtained, her previous mar- 
 riage never having been consummated. But in May 1453 he 
 received a safe-conduct from the English king (Rymer, xi. 326), 
 and in 1454 he rebelled again. Some have supposed that he was 
 aiming at the Scottish Crown. But, says Mr. Burnett, ' he only 
 
3l5oteiEi. Cf)ap. ix, 259 
 
 aimed at the sovereignty of Scotland 'in the sense of being the most 
 powerful person in the realm. The allegiance of the Earl of 
 Douglas and of some of the other chief magnates who had rights 
 of regality was hardly more than nominal. They had their barons 
 who held of them, their heralds and pursuivants, their councils of 
 retainers analogous to the Parliament of the nation ; and they 
 chafed at any interference with their acts by the king, whose au- 
 thority they were on alf occasions disposed to weaken' (u.s. V. cv.). 
 There can, besides, have been little confidence between the Earl of 
 Douglas and the royal assassin of his brother. The distrust was dili- 
 gently fostered from England, where the earl was in 1453. The revolt 
 broke out, as I have said^in 1454, how is not exactly known. Fortes- Fresh re- 
 cue seems almost to imply that the initiative was taken by the king. ^° ' '"'^S'^" 
 The earl was unsuccessful, and had to fly to England ; his brother 
 the Earl of Moray fell in battle ; his brother the Earl of Ormond 
 was taken and beheaded (1455). The earl's reception in England Earl Doug- 
 is mentioned by the English Chronicle (pp. 70-1). From this time j^^^" "^ 
 we have to follow his history in English documents. In August 1455 
 he received an annuity of £500 from the English Government 
 (Engl, in France, ii 503 ; cf Rymer, xi. S'S i, 42 1). He was exempted 
 byname from the operation of the Resumption Acts of 1455, 1463, 
 1467, and 1473 (Rot. Pari. v. 310 a, 525 b, 581b; vi. 7^ b), retaining 
 his annuity not only under Edward IV (Rymer, xi. 487 ; Rot. Pari, ut 
 sup. ; Cal. Rot. Pat. 310 a), but also during the brief restoration of 
 Henry VI (Cal. Rot. Pat. 315 b). Under Richard III his annuity 
 was increased by £200 (Rymer, xii. 213, 226). His original con- 
 nexions in England seem to have been with the Yorkists, but in 
 1459 he is mentioned as having assisted in their suppression 
 (Rymer, xi. 437). This did not make him less active in assisting 
 Edward IV in his operations against the Lancastrians in the North of 
 England (cf Three Fifteenth Cent. Chronicles, p. 159 : ' Thes been 
 the tydynges sent owt of Scotland that the Erl Dowglas hath done 
 now late in the begynnyng of March, anno Domini Mo. cccc. Ixijo. 
 The worthy Erie Dowglas hath takyn of the Scottys the Erie of 
 Creyforth, the Lord Lyle of Crayle, Lord Maxon', wardeyn of the 
 West Merchen, &c. . . . numbyr of xvij lordes.') In spite of this, 
 however, he was expressly excluded from the negotiations into 
 which Edward entered with Scotland in the summer of 1462 (see 
 Introduction, Part II. pp. 59-60, above). He was recalled from 
 the borders, 'and as a sorwefuU and a sore rebuked man lyth in 
 
 S 2 
 
26o 
 
 ^tt (Soioernance of (ZEnglanD, 
 
 the Abbey of S. Albons' (July: Paston Letters, ii. iio-i). In 
 Oct. 1462 Edward promised that he and any Scots who might 
 adhere to him should be expressly included in any truce (Rymer, 
 xi. 492). He seems accordingly to have been active on the 
 borders in 1463, to have gained some successes, but to have been 
 ultimately defeated (Waurin, ed. Dupont, iii. 163, 172-3). In 
 Dec. 1463 he was made Warden of Carrickfergus Castle, in Ire- 
 land (Rymer, xi. 510). Edward IV also made him a Knight of 
 .the Garter (Paston Letters, ii. 1 1 1, no/e). In 1474 a portion of the 
 grants made. to him was secured for three years to his executors, in 
 order that he might 'make summe chevesaunce,' i.e. raise money 
 on them with a view to accompanying the king to France (Rot. 
 Pari. vi. 132 a). In 1475 he receives a quarter's wages for himself 
 and four men-at-arms on account of the French expedition (Rymer, 
 xi. 844). In 1480 he seems to have been sent to the borders to 
 negotiate with the Scots (Issues of the Exch. p. 500). At the 
 beginning of his reign, Edward IV had a scTieme -on foot for 
 partitioning Scotland between him and the Earl of Ross, Lord of 
 the Isles. The latter was to have the district north of ' the 
 Scottishe See ' {t. e. the Forth), the former the district south of that 
 boundary ; and both were to hold their dominions in strict feudal 
 dependence on the Crown of England (Rymer, xi. 474, 484). 
 Towards the close of his reign, Edward had another scheme on 
 foot ; which was t© set up the Duke of Albany, the exiled brother 
 of James III, as King of Scotland in feudal dependence on the 
 English Crown. In this plot also the Earl of Douglas was con- 
 cerned. His restoration is stipulated for in the agreements between 
 Edward and Albany, and the last document of Edward's reign 
 given by Rymer is a letter of protection for the Earl of Douglas, 
 about to proceed to Scotland on the king's service (Rymer, xii. 156, 
 His cap- 172-7). In 1484 he and Albany crossed the border, but with 
 Scots.^' ^ insufficient forces. Albany escaped, but Douglas was taken 
 prisoner. He was brought 'before James III, and condemned to. 
 perpetual retirement in the Abbey of Lindores, where he died in. 
 1488. For the subject of the above note, see, besides the autho- 
 rities already cited, Burton, Hist, of Scotland, Chapters 28, 29. 
 Various documents relating to Douglas' annuities are in Rymer's 
 MS. Collectanea, Edward IV, vol. i. 
 
 Spayne.] There is a certain fitness in the mention of Spain 
 immediately after Scotland. The history of the three chief king- 
 
Bom.. Cfjap. ix* 261 
 
 doms of the Pyreneean peninsula, Castile, Aragon, and Portugal, Character- 
 constandy reminds us of that of the northern portion of our own g'^^^j"^ 
 island, being filled with the accounts of the violent deeds of history, 
 kings, of divisions in the royal houses, of long minorities, of 
 aristocratic rebellions and feuds. The following remarks on the Predomi- 
 power of the nobility in Castile and Aragon are abridged from "hewis- 
 the Introductory Chapter of Erescott's ' Ferdinand and Isabella.' tocracy. 
 In Castile ' the higher nobility (ricos hombres) were exempt Castile, 
 from general taxation. They had the right of private war, of 
 renouncing allegiance to, and formally combining in armed con- 
 federacy against the crown, whenever they considered themselves 
 aggrieved. They monopolized all the higher offices of state, 
 and secured to themselves the grand masterships of the military 
 orders, which placed at their disposal an immense amount of 
 revenue and patronage. They had vast estates, often won with 
 their own swords from the Moors, on which they ruled like 
 petty monarchs over thousands of vassals. By the middle of the 
 fifteenth century they over-shadowed the throne, and threatened 
 the liberties of the people. The long minorities, from which 
 Castile suffered more perhaps than any country in Europe, 
 threw the government into their hands-, and they made use of 
 it to usurp the possessions and invade the prerogatives of the 
 crown.' In Aragon ' the great barons were fewer and less Aragon. 
 wealthy than those of Castile, but they enjoyed similar privileges. 
 Private war lingered there longer than in any other country of 
 Christendom, and opposition to the crown was even more 
 highly organized than in Castile.' See also Hallam, Middle 
 Ages, Chap. iv. ' In Portugal also the divisions in the royal Portugal, 
 house, in which were merged the party-struggles of the nobles, 
 make up the larger part of the history' (Weber,. AUgem. Welt- 
 gesch. viii. 78). The acquaintance which Fortescue here shows 
 with the chronicles of Spain is worth noting, because it proves 
 that it is not so ' far-fetched ' as Dr. Stubbs (in a note quoted 
 by Lord Carlingford on N. L. N. i. c. i) thinks, to look to that 
 country for illustrations of Fortescue's words. It should be 
 noted however that if Fortescue uses the term Spain here in 
 the same sense in which it is used a little lower down in this 
 chapter, it would include only the kingdom of Castile. Pseudo- 
 Aquinas also mentions the frequency of rebellions in Spain and 
 Hungary, but ascribes them to the violation of the constitu- 
 
26^ C6e (J5ot)etnance of CnglanD* 
 
 tion by the kings: 'si jura regni transcendant,' De Regiviine, 
 iv. c. I. 
 
 Scandina- Denmarke.] Perhaps under the name of Denmark Fortescue 
 
 vkn his- jjjgg^^g jg include aU the three Scandinavian kingdoms, which 
 at the time he wrote were nominally united in the hands of 
 Christian I. Of the three kingdoms perhaps Sweden suffered 
 most from uiternal divisions and aristocratic turbulence. ' For 
 more than two .centuries, from 1060 onwards, there were civil 
 wars and bloody contests for the crown waged between different 
 families.' Magnus I (1129.0) brought a brief improvement. But 
 under his grandson, Magnus II (deposed 1363), 'the power of the 
 magnates increased to such an extent that for the next century 
 Sweden was mainly governed by aristocratic unions.' ' With the 
 election of Albert of Mecklenburg begins a wretched period, during 
 which the crown was worn by foreign puppet-kings, while all the 
 real power was in the hand of the magnates' (Weber, u. s. viii. 
 452-8). But things were often little better in Denmark. Indeed 
 the whole of Scandinavia's mediaeval history seems, to any one who 
 has not made a special study of it, a hopeless. tangle. (See a sum- 
 mary of it in Weber, u. s. pp. 423-481). 
 
 Jewish his- the bokis off kynges in holy scripture.] This title would 
 ""^^^ include for Fortescue not only the .two books which we still so 
 
 call, but also i and 11 Samuel, which are named in the Vulgate 
 I and II Kings : a designation which still survives in the alternative 
 headings in our bibles. So that it is possible that Fortescue 
 means to include the revolts of Absalom (11 Sam. xv), and Sheba 
 (ib. xx), as well as the rebellions mentioned in i and 11 Kings. 
 These were mainly in. the kingdom of Israel, which having origi- 
 nated in the rebellion of Jeroboam against Rehoboam (i Kings xii), 
 continued in the same course to the end of its existence. Thus 
 Nadab was dethroned by Baasha(ib. xv. 27), Elah by Zimri, Zimri 
 by Omri, who was in turn opposed by Tibni (ib. xvi. 15-22). 
 Jehoram was supplanted by Jehu (11 Kings ix), Zachariah by 
 Shallum, Shallum by Menahem, Pekahiah by Pekah, Pekah by 
 Hoshea, the last king of the kingdom of Israel (ib. xv). 
 
 Accumula- nev dissentes . . . mariages, purehasses, &c.] Of the 
 tites°b"" accumulation of property by various titles, Warwick the king- 
 the great maker, the most dangerous subject both of Henry VI and Edward 
 \°Wck!^' ^' ^^® ^ ®^^"^^ example, and Fortescue has this example in his 
 mind here. With reference to Warwick's estates and oflBces, the 
 
fragmentary English chronicle printed at the end of Hearne's 
 edition of Sprott says: 'his insaciable rnynde cowde no3t be 
 content : and yitt bifore him was there none in Englond of the 
 half possessions that he hadde. For first he hadde all the erledom 
 of Warwick hole, with all the Spensers landis : the erledome of 
 Salisbury: grete chamberlayne of Englond, cheflf admyrall and 
 capitayne of Calais, and lieutenant of Ireland : the which posses- 
 sions amountid to the sum of xx. M. marke : and yitt he desirid 
 more' (pp. 299 f). The earldom of Warwick came to him 
 through his wife (a Beauchamp), the earldom of Salisbury through 
 his mother (a Montacute). His father was third son of Ralph 
 Neville, first Earl of Westmoreland. The chronicler however 
 seems to be wrong in saying that Warwick had inherited all the 
 Despensers' lands (see Nicolas' Peerage, s. v. Despencer). On Territorial 
 the territorial strength of the English nobility generally, see S. C. H. the°^s^.°^ 
 iii. 525-530. 'It is difficult,' he says, 'to over-rate the quantity of tocracy. 
 land which during the middle ages remained in the hands of the 
 great nobles . . . Taken in the aggregate the landed possessions 
 of the baronage were more than a counterpoise to the whole 
 influence of the crown and the other two estates of the realm.' 
 ^gidius Romanus also advises that excessive accumulations of 
 property should be prevented, De Regimine, III. ii. 32. But the 
 object with him is rather social than, as with Fortescue, political. 
 He is urging (after Aristotle) the importance of creating a strong 
 middle-class. (Compare also Intr-oduction, Part I. pp. 1 7, 37, above). 
 
 The term purchase is here used in its strictly legal sense, as Meaning of 
 meaning any mode of acquiring property, other than by descent ' 'f"^™ 
 or hereditary succession. It is used in this sense by Shakespeare, 
 II Henry IV. Act 4, Sc. 4, 200 : — 
 
 'What in me was purchased 
 
 Falls upon thee in a more fairer sort; 
 
 So thou the garland wear'st successively.' 
 
 [i.e. by hereditary succession). So also Ant. and Cleop., Act i* 
 
 Sc. 4, 12 :— 
 
 ' His faults in him seem as the sports of heaven, 
 More fiery by night's blackness; hereditary 
 Rather than purchased.' 
 
 Pfor such was }>e Duke of Iiancastre, &c.J On legal 
 grounds however Fortescue is decidedly opposed to John of - 
 Gaunt's claim to Castile, because it rested on the basis of female 1 
 succession. John of Gajint and his brother Edmund, Duke of' 
 
 Claim of 
 John of 
 Gaunt to 
 the crown 
 of Castile. 
 
2M C!)e (©otjemance of (ZBnglanti* 
 
 York, married Constance and Isabella, the daughters of Pedro the 
 Cruel by Maria de PadiUa, whose legitimacy was, to say the least, 
 highly doubtful. See ' On the Title of the House of York ' (Works, 
 p. 497) : 'And in like forme the Duke of Lancaster, and the Duke of 
 Yorke, which had wedded two daughters of the house of Spaine, 
 shuld have had that realme,. if the crowne therof had been descend- 
 able to heires females, as it was not. Wherfore they had never 
 that realme.' Cf also De Tiiulo Edwardi Comitis Marchia, cap. 
 vi. (Works, p. 66*). Notice that here again the term Spain is 
 applied to the kingdom of Caslile, (cf. notes to Chap. iii. p. 199, 
 supra). 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 myght not . . . dyspende ... so mich.j i.e..\a.A not so 
 large an income. 
 Dowry of the qwene oflF Pfi-atmee, &eQ Note here again Fortescue's 
 fondness for comparing together French and English institutions. 
 As to the dowry of the French queen I have not found any par- 
 ticulars. In the treaty between Edward IV and Louis XI for the 
 . marriage of the daughter of the former to the Dauphin (afterwards 
 Charles VIII) it is stipulated' that Louis shall give her a dowry ' ad 
 sexaginta millia librarum redditus annul in assieta, secundum con- 
 suetudinem regni Franciae ' (Rymer, xii. 20), i.e. 60,000 livres. But 
 what would be the value of the livres here intended I do not know. 
 Dowry of the qwene off Englond hath x. M. marke.J This was the 
 the English amount of dowry granted to Joanna the queen of Henry IV, in the 
 fourth year of his reign (Cal. Rot. Pat. p. 247 a). A petition of this 
 queen with reference to her dowry is in Rot. Pari. iii. 532 b (Jan. 
 1404). And in the October Parliarhent of the same year a re- 
 sumption was ordered in her favour of all lands which had formed 
 part of the dowry of Anne of Bohemia, the Queen of Richard II. 
 By the treaty of Troyes the same amount of dowry was settled 
 upon Katharine of France, the wife of Henry V : 'as Quenes of 
 Englond hedir toward wer wont for to take and have ; That is 
 to saye to the somme of forty Mill. Scutes be yere; of the 
 whiche Tweyne algates shall be worth a noble Englyssh.' (A 
 noble = 6^. %d. = half a mark). Assignments to this amount 
 were made in the Parliament of November, 1422 (Rot. Pari. iv. 
 
 the French 
 queen 
 
183). The assignments for Margaret of Anjou's dowry are in 
 Rot. Pari. V. 118: they also amount to 10,000 marks.. Out of 
 this allowance she had to pay £7 per diem towards her share 
 of the expenses of the royal household (Letters of Royal and 
 Illustrious Ladies, i. 98). In the Liber Niger of Edward IV 
 the queen is rated for the same daily contribution, which is 
 thus made up; for herself £2 per diem; for 100 servants at 
 IS. per diem, £5: total £7 (Ordinances of the Household, pp. 
 23-4). According to William Worcester: ' Mense Decern bris 
 [1464] rex tenuit magnum concilium Westmonasterii, ubi assig- 
 nata sunt reginas Elizabethse, assensu dominorum, terrse et 
 dominia ad valorem iiij. m. marcarum, et qjiod ipsa viveret cum 
 familia sua ad expensas domini regis ' (Engl, in France, ii. 783). 
 Whether this arrangement was prior or subsequent to the drawing 
 up of the Liber Niger I cannot say. In 1406 it had been ordered 
 that the queen should contribute to the household of the king as 
 Philippa, Queen of Edward III, had done ; but the amount is not 
 stated (Rot. Pari. iii. 588 a). For the management of her extensive Queen's 
 business the queen had her own council, clerk of the council, o^"g"g'^(, 
 chancellor, attorney, &c. (Letters^ u. s.. pp. 97-8; Rymer, xi. 160; 
 Ordinances, u. s. p. 24 ; Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of 
 York, pp. loo-i). In Dec. 1404 Henry IV grants to his wife 
 ' Novam Turrim ad introitum Ostii Magnae Aulae nostras, infra 
 Palatium nostrum Westmonasteriense . . . pro Consiliis et 
 Negotiis ejusdem Consortis ndstrae ibidem tractandis ac Com- 
 potis suis audiendis, necnon pro Cartis, Scriptis, Munimentis 
 et aliis evidentiis . . . in eadem custodiendis ' (Rymer, viii. 380). 
 
 all the remenant off the reaume, &e.] See the very Absorption 
 useful tables in Kitchin's History of France, i. 178-185, showing °^^^^. 
 the gradual growth of the French monarchy by the absorption in France, 
 of the great fiefs or 'lordships,' as Fortescue calls them. The 
 later province of Languedoc was practically identical with the 
 inheritance of Raymond of Toulouse, which was itself made up 
 of the county of Toulouse and the earlier Duchy of Gothia or 
 Narbonne. Part of this was ceded to the French Crown by the 
 treaty of Meaux in 1229, on the conclusion of the Albigensian 
 wars. The remainder fell in in 127 1 on the death without 
 children of Alphonso the brother of Louis IX, to whom, under 
 the same treaty, the heiress of Raymond had been married 
 (Martin, Hist, de France, iv. 148^151, 348; cf. v. 70, note). 
 
The twelve 
 peers of 
 France. 
 
 Mythical 
 origin of 
 the insti- 
 tution. 
 
 266 Clje (Souecnance of OBnglantJ* 
 
 At the time when Fortescue wrote, no part of Flanders had 
 come to the French Crown. Part of it was conquered by 
 Louis XIV in 1667. 
 
 the Dussepers.J This word is a corruption of douze fairs, 
 and refers to the institution of the twelve peers of France. 
 The first occasion on which these twelve peers figured m 
 French history is said to have been the coronation of Philip 
 Augustus in II 79- But Du Cange (s. v. /«r) asserts that the 
 number of the peers had not then been defined, and refers the 
 origin of the institution to Louis IX. The twelve peers were 
 originally the Archbishop of Rheims (premier peer), the Bishops of 
 Laon, Langres, Beauvais, Chalons, Noyon ; the Dukes of Nor- 
 mandy, Burgundy, Aquitaine ; the Counts of Toulouse, Flanders, 
 and Champagne : i.e. six spiritual and six temporal peers. Of the 
 former the three first-named prelates ranked as dukes, the re- 
 mainder as counts ; so that, according to another classification, the 
 peers would consist of six dukes and six counts. But whatever 
 the origin of the institution, there can be no doubt that the develop- 
 ment of it was much helped by the diffusion of the chansons de 
 gestes which attributed to Charlemagne, and even it would seem to 
 Alexander, the institution of a body of twelve peers. A couplet 
 cited by Du Cange from the Roman dJAlixandre runs thus :— 
 
 ' Eslizez douze Pers qui soient compagnon 
 Qui menent vos batailles par grant devotion.' 
 
 The duties of the peerage are thus set forth in a document of the 
 year 1359, also quoted by Du Cange: ' duodecim Pares, qui 
 regi Francize in arduis consiliis et judiciis assisterent, at in factis 
 armorum . . . Regem . . . comitarent.' It has also been sug- 
 gested that the expression dussepers, or ducypers, is a corruption of 
 ' dues et pairs,' but the whole history of the institution is in favour 
 of the other view, which is favoured also by the spelling of several 
 MSS., dousepiers, dusepiers, &c. And as a matter of fact the peers 
 were not all dukes, though no doubt the expression ' due et pair ' 
 became current in later French. The Epitome has a ' a duodecim 
 Paribus.' The word occurs again in the ' Declaracion upon 
 Certayne Wrytinges,' where Fortescue says that the treaty of Troyes 
 was passed ' by thassent and counsell of the more partie of the 
 Doseperes' (Works, p. 529). 
 
 tlie gabell off the salt, &c.] This tax seems to have been 
 
Bom* C6ap, X* 267 
 
 first imposed by Philip VI in the year 1331 to meet the expenses The Ga- 
 of the war with England, and it was more regularly organized in *^'^'^^' 
 1342. It produced however in France all the discontent whichllts unpo- 
 Fortescue foretells any attempt to impose it would cause in Eng- P"'^''"^- 
 land. John, Abbot of Laudun (cited by Du Cange, s. v, gabella).) 
 says: 'En ce meismes an (1342) mist le Roi une exaction au 
 sel, laquelle est appellee Gabelle, dont le Roi aquist I'indignation et 
 malegrace tant des grans comme des petits, et de tout le peuple.' 
 I" 1345 the king was obliged to promise that the tax should 
 not be perpetual. It was re-imposed by the Estates General of 
 1355- But again it proved so unpopular that the same Estates' 
 had to repeal it a few months later. It was among the taxes im- 
 posed in 1360 for the ransom of King John. From this point its 
 history is the same as that of the other taxes, which has been already 
 traced in the notes to Chap, iii, above, pp. 193-5. I' became 
 permanent, and tended to become attached to the royal domain. 
 Waterhous, commenting on the parallel passage in the De Laudibus, 
 c- 35) says that the revenue derived from this source was 700,000 
 crowns per annum, ' yet time hath made this Gabell natural to thej 
 French Subjects, as Tunnage and Poundage is here ' (pp. 432-3)] 
 The name gabelle, which in its original signification was applicable Royal 
 to any tax, became restricted in France to this particular impost. ™°°°P° / 
 The institution of royal granaries of salt, at which alone salt might 
 be purchased, is attributed also to Philip VI. The compulsory Compul- 
 sale to every family according to its supposed needs, which For- ^P'^ P"' 
 tescue describes a little lower down, was first begun by Charles V 
 (see on all this Picot, fitats ,Gfodraux, i. 138-141; Martin, v. 
 138-143, 303-4 ; Du Cange, u. s.). In May 1418, Henry V, with 
 a view to conciliate his new subjects ' who had been oppressed 
 by grievous gabelles and forced to buy salt against their will at 
 half or two-thirds as much again as it was worth,' abolished 
 the gabelle and system of compulsory purchase, substituting a 
 'custom' of 25 per cent, on the value of the salt, leaving the 
 trade in other respects free (Rymer, ix. 583-5). But the old 
 system was soon reverted to; in March 1420 the king ordered 
 that ' the impost on the salt and the quartage of all beverages 
 should be levied as had been accustomed previously ' (ib. 864). 
 Both the gabelle of salt and the quarterismes or quartage of 
 wine appear frequently in the accounts of Normandy and of 
 France under the administration of the Regent Bedford (Engl. in. 
 
268 cfje ©oijernance of (jBnjIanD, 
 
 Tax on France, ii. 526, 533-4, 547> SSo)- The tax on wine seems to 
 ''"^- have been first established in this form under Charles V. It 
 
 consisted of a tax of one-thirteenth on wine sold wholesale, and 
 one-fourth on wine sold by retail. A tax of one-thirteenth on all 
 wines entering any town had been levied for the ransom of King 
 John (Picot, u. s. pp. 186, 212 ; Martin, v. 305). According to 
 Monstrelet (iii. f. 86 a) the tax on wine rose gradually from i per 
 cent, to 2, 5, 12^, and finally to 25 p6r Gent., where it remained; 
 whence the name of quartage. Louis XI reduced it, at least for a 
 time, to i2| per cent. (Cont. Monst. f. 9 a). For some very inter- 
 esting remarks on French finance in the seventeenth century, with 
 speicial reference to the gabelle and the iaille, see an article in the 
 Quarterly Review for October, 1884,, pp. 379-384, based in part 
 on the Vicomte d'Avenel's 'Richelieu et la Monarchie absolue.' 
 The amount of the gabelle had been progressively raised, till the 
 price of the article was increased ' to the incredible extent of 6000 
 per cent, on the original cost/ The quantity which every family 
 was compelled to buy was seven pounds per annum per head, 
 children included. 
 
 the tyllyng oflF the vynes is the grettest comodite, &c.] 
 See the notes to Chapter iii. p. 197, supra. 
 
 ]jat comodite we haue not.] In the tract on the Cortittiodities 
 
 of England, ascribed to Fortescue, it is said : ' Of all other 
 
 comodyteys that are in all crysten londys Godd hathe sentt us part 
 
 in thys reame growynge for the moost substaunce ; save only -wyne 
 
 and oyUe, for the whyche God hathe sent us agenwarde ryght 
 
 goode ale and myghty drynke for the comune people ' (Works, p. 
 
 Consump- 552). With reference to the consumption of wine in England, Mr. 
 
 w?ne°in Thorold Rogers says :: ' The political severance of Guienne from 
 
 England. England involved a doubled price of French wine. As long as 
 
 England held Guienne, wine was procured at prices so low that it 
 
 was within the reach of persons who had moderate incomes. When 
 
 the French king regained it, or rather usurped it, the produce of 
 
 the country was accessible only to- the comparatively wealthy' 
 
 (Rogers' Gascoigne, p, xxix). 
 
 Import- the peple . . . vsen moehe to salte thair mevtes.l I 
 
 anceofsalt „,,„,.^ n/r -d , . •'J 
 
 in mediae- 1"°'® ^^^- ■'Rogers once more on this pomt ; here again he is 
 val econo- Speaking of the effects of the loss of Guienne : ' A more serious 
 "^" difiScultywasthelossof a cheap market for salt. . . . The import- 
 
 ance of salt in the economy of mediseval life was very great. From 
 
Botes, C&ap, jc» ^69 
 
 November to May the mass of the English people lived on salted 
 provisions. On every fast day salted fish was the customary diet 
 of those who had anything more than bread to eat. . , . Salt was 
 the principal means of preserving food in winter, and was the first 
 condiment at all times. It was . . . derived entirely from solar 
 evaporation. A wet summer raised the price of salt far more than 
 it did that of wheat. ... It could be procured abundantly and 
 cheaply from the salterns of Western France. Long after the 
 severance of Guienne . . . English monarchs, in their treaties with 
 France, demanded the free export of Gascon salt as a condition of 
 their negotiations ' (ut supra, pp. xxix. f ; see also Work and 
 Wages, pp. 95-6). 
 
 thai wdU than at euery mele groche with the kynge, &c.] 
 Contrast the noble words of Sir Robert Peel on quitting ofEce in 
 1846, after carrying the repeal of the Corn Laws : ' It may be that 
 I shall leave a name sometimes remembered with expressions of 
 good-will in the abodes of those whose lot it is to labour, and to 
 earn their daily bread by the sweat of their brow, when they shaU 
 recruit their exhausted strength with abundant and untaxed food, 
 the sweeter because it is no longer leavened with a sense of 
 injustice.' 
 
 moche cry, &e.J Cf Warkworth, p. 22 : 'And so the Kynge 
 hade out of Kent myche goode and lytelle luff. Lo, what myschef 
 groys after insurreccion ! &c.' 
 
 Salamon . . . BoTDoham.J Cf. i Kings xii. Here Fortescue Rehoboam, 
 puts forward Rehoboam as a warning against financial oppression. ^ "^o™"^""- 
 In the dialogue between Understanding and Faith, his case is cited mediaeval 
 as showing that kings may forfeit by misgovernment the Divine '"^"'•^'^^• 
 commission entrusted to them, and also as an example of the harm 
 which comes from following €vil counsel (Works, p. 483). This 
 last is the view taken also in N. L. N. i. c. 23 ; and it is the stock 
 application throughout the Middle Ages. Not to go beyond 
 English History, Edwy, Edward II, Edward III, Richard II, 
 are in turn compared to Rehoboam by candid chroniclers (v. 
 S. C. H. ii. 365, 505). Bacon, in his essay Of Counsel, raises the 
 illustration above the usual level of common-place : ' The beloved 
 kingdom of God was first rent and broken by ill Counsel ; upon 
 which Counsel there are set for our Instruction the two Marks 
 ■whereby Bad Counsel is for ever best discerned.: that it was yaimg 
 Counsel for the Persons, and m'oleni Counsel for the Matter.' 
 
270 Ci)e aoticrnance of (Cnglanu. 
 
 a me factum est istud.] In the Vulgate, I (III) Kings xii. 
 24, this saying runs : ' a me enim factum est verbum hoc' In the 
 parallel passage, ii Chron. xi. 4, it stands thus : ' quia mea hoc 
 gestum est voluntate.' 
 
 yflf ^e kynge myght haue is livelod. . . in grete lord- 
 shippes, &e.] On the importance of this passage, see notes to 
 Chapter viii. above, pp. 250-2. 
 
 per shulde not remeyne lordeshippes, &e.J Fortescue's 
 ' idea seems- to be that the Crown should gradually absorb the great 
 lordships, as was being done on a larger scale by Louis XI in 
 France. A considerable number of earldoms had become con- 
 centrated in the house of Lancaster. Henry IV, at his accession, 
 is styled 'Henricus Dux Lancastrise, Comes D^rbiee, Lincolniae, 
 Leicestriae, Herefordise, Northamptoniae, Senescallus Anglise ' 
 (Rymer, viii. 90). Whether he had a right to all these titles seems 
 to be doubted by genealogists {e.gi Sir H. Nicolas). Those of 
 Lancaster, Leicester, Lincoln, Derby, were claimed through his 
 ' mother, Blanche of Lancaster ; those of Hereford and Northamp- 
 ton through his first wife, Mary de Bohun (cf Si C. H. iii. 51 1-2). 
 Lord's to hym fallen all J>e grete mariages, &c.] The feudal 
 
 «Mr«^p-« system, at any rate in England, gave the lord a right to be consulted 
 under the on the marriage of the daughters and other near female relations of 
 tem * ^^^ '^'^^ tenants in chivalry(' mecum inde loquatur ;' Cart. Hen. I, c. 3). 
 William I had, on the strength of this right, forbidden the mar- 
 riage of Ralph Guader with the sister of Roger of Hereford, out of 
 which arose the rebellion of the earls in 1074. William II inter- 
 preted this right as meaning a right to exact money as the price of 
 his consent ; while heiresses and widows were simply sold to the 
 highest bidder. Henry I (u. s.) promises that he will not exact 
 anything for his consent, nor withhold it, ' excepto si eam vellet 
 jungere inimico meo.' Heiresses are to be disposed of by the 
 counsel of the barons, and widows are not to be forced to re-marry 
 against their will. Nothing is said as to any obligation of the latter 
 to obtain the lord's consent to their re-marriage. By the time of 
 Glanvill, the lord's right of interference seems to have been 
 restricted to the case of heiresses ; 'sine dominorum dispositione 
 vel assensu nulla mulier, kcBres terrcB, maritari potest.' The motive 
 is still the reasonable one alleged by Henry I : ' ne [dominus] de 
 inimico suo . . . homagium de feodo suo cogatur recipere.' If 
 the lord refuses his consent, ' lenetur . . . justam causam ostendere 
 
quare consentire non debeat.' Widows must obtain their lord's 
 consent on re-marriage (Glanvill, Lib. vii. c. 12). Magna Carta 
 provides against the disparagement of heirs (heredes) in marriage : 
 disparagement being defined by Stat. Mert. cap. 6 as meaning 
 marriage with 'villanis, vel ahis, sicui burgensilus'. Widows are 
 protected against compulsory re-marriage, but are required to find 
 security that they will not marry without their lord's consent 
 (M. C. [12 1 6] cc. 6, 7). Blackstone thought that advantage was 
 taken of the ambiguity of the word ' heredes ' in M. C. to extend 
 the lord's right of marriage to the case of male heirs under age, 
 where there was no justification for it; but Sir T. D. Hardy 
 has shown that instances of this occur even before the issue of 
 John's Magna Carta (Fine Rolls, pp. xxxvi. f. On the whole 
 subject of marriage fines,- see ib. xxix-xli). Anyhow the system, 
 which had originally rested on the reasonable basis of military pre- 
 caution, was developed as a mere source of profit to the lord. By 
 Stat. Mert. cc. 6, 7, penalties were imposed for any breach of the 
 lord's rights, either by the heir or the heir's relations (cf Bracton, 
 Lib. ii. c. 38. § i). These rights continued till the abolition of 
 Military Tenures by the Long Parliament in 1645, confirmed in 
 1656, and by the Convention Parliament in 1660 (cf.. Blackstone, 
 ii. 70-1 ; Digby, Real Property, pp. 33, 69, 92-4, 314 flf.,- S.C.H. 
 i. 300-1). During our present period these rights generally took Fines for 
 the form of the exaction of a fine for licence to marry, or imposition -^.^ 
 of a fine as penalty for having married without the lord?s permis- 
 sion. One or two instances may be given : ' Nicolas Thorley, 
 Esq., interrogated before the Privy Council whether he had married 
 the Countess of Oxford, answered Yes. Interrogated further, 
 whether he or the countess had obtained the king's licence, 
 answered No. All lands of the countess, held of the Crown, seized 
 into the king's hands till she shall have paid a fine at the king's 
 pleasure' (P. P. C. ii. 303, s. a. 142 1). ' Lady de Roos, the king's 
 widow, having married so far beneath her (tam inhorifice), to pay a 
 fine of at least £1000 (ib. iii. 49, s. a. 1423). 'Thomas Lord de 
 Roos to have licence to marry (maritagium) on payment of 1000 
 marks' (ib. 130). 'Marriage of Ralph Earl of Westmoreland 
 granted to Sir John Radclyflf in payment of the sum of 2000 marks 
 (ib. 204, s. a. 1426). Jacquetta of Luxemburg, widow of John 
 Duke of Bedford, was fined £1000, and the Earl of Oxford 
 £2000, for marrying without the king's licence (Rot. Pail. iv. 498 a. 
 
272 c&e 0o^emmct of Cnglant* 
 
 499 b). And no less than 10,000 marks seems to have been 
 exacted from the Earl of March for licence to marry (ib. 465). 
 In 1 410 the Commons complained that the age of heirs in chivalry 
 was often returned by the escheators as being less than it really 
 was, with a view to prolonging fraudulently the rights of the 
 Crown to marriage and wardship (ib. iii. 637; cf. iv. 285). 
 Connex- to him bith cosens, &c.] Fully to illustrate this statement 
 
 IrSocracy ^0"!^ require a book by itself, and far more genealogical 
 with the knowledge than I can pretend to. I give only a very few illus- 
 famtly ' trations. Besides the two rival lines of York and Lancaster, 
 the following families may be mentioned as connected with the 
 I royal house : — The Beauforts through John of Gaunt. The last 
 male Beaufort perished in 1471 ; through the marriage of Joan, 
 d. of John of Gaunt, with Ralph Neville, .first Earl of Westmoreland, 
 the royal blood descended to her son Richard, Earl of Salisbury, 
 father of the King-maker. The Percies (Northumberland) were 
 connected with the royal house by the marriage of Elizabeth 
 Mortimer, grand-daughter of Lionel of Clarence, with Henry Hot- 
 spur. The Staffords (Buckingham) by the marriage of Edmund, 
 Earl of Stafford (t 1403), with Anne, dau. and heiress of Thomas 
 of Woodstock; the same Anne married subsequently William 
 Bourchier, Count of Eu, whose son Henry became Earl of Essex, 
 and his son Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury. The Mowbrays 
 (Norfolk, Nottingham) were descended from Thomas of Brother- 
 ton, son of Edward I (see the pedigree in Rot. Pari. iv. 263, ff.). 
 
 Origin of f The modern custom is for the Crown to address all peers, of 
 
 the modem . , ■, r -r- i 
 
 mode of ,0^ above the rank of EatJ, as ' trusty and well-beloved cousin.' 
 
 addressing Mr. Pottinger informs me that this is said to have originated in the 
 reign of Henry IV, and to be due to the wide connexions 
 with the peerage which the house of Lancaster brought to the 
 Crown. ^Certainly .during Richard II's reign the title is only 
 given to those peers who were really related to the king, and 
 in the lists of peers summoned to Parliament the distinction 
 is often expressly mentioned (see e.g. Lords' Report, App. 
 i. p. 750). After that reign I do not find any such distinc- 
 tion noted in the lists. But that the title ' consanguineus ' 
 or 'cousin' had not become a mere formality, seems proved 
 by a writ of 1 Henry V, in which the Earl of Devon is not 
 so designated (Report, u. s. p. 847). As the first writ on the 
 rolls, the only one ,given in full, is almost always adckessed to 
 
the son, brother, or uncle of the king, they furnish little help 
 
 towards solving the question). Conversely the title is occasionally 
 
 given to peers below tiie rank of earl. In P. P. C. vi. 269 is 
 
 a list of peers of the year 1455, who are divided into two 
 
 classes, ' cosins,' and ' not cosins.' Among the former are 
 
 Lords Fitzwarine and St. Amand, who were only barons. Fitz- 
 
 warine was a Bourchier (v. s.). What St. Amand's connexion 
 
 with the royal family was, I do not know. 
 
 no man hath so many tenantes as he.] On the import- The king 
 
 ance of the king as a landowner, see the interesting remarks '^ '^"'^" 
 
 f _^ „ owner. 
 
 01 Ut. btubbs, L. H. m. 511-2. This importance would of 
 
 course be greatly increased under Fortescue's system, which 
 
 contemplated, as we have seen, a very much larger territorial 
 
 endowment of the crown. 
 
 no man may haue the escheittes of treson but hym Escheats of 
 selff.] ' Conviction for treason or felony corrupted the blood ;1 ''■^^^o"- 
 the effect was the same as if the tenant had died without heirs ; 
 the land at once escheated to the lord. This escheat was how- ) 
 ever subject to the paramount right of the crown, based on other j 
 than feudal principles, to forfeiture of the land, in case of con- i 
 viction for felony, for a year and a day ; in the case of conviction | 
 for treason, for ever' (Digby, u. s. p. 344). Where the lands were | 
 held in chief of the Crown, the king's feudal right to escheat as j 
 lord, and his non-feudal right to forfeiture as king, would, as Black- ! 
 stone remarks, tend to become confused (Blackstone, ii. 251-2). 
 
 ther shall non o£f his tenantes aliene livelod with owt Fines for 
 is licence.] The origin of the king's right to a fine for a licence 1^^|"^^'° 
 on alienation of lands held in chief is obscure. The first and only 
 restriction on the right of alienation ever made in the interest of 
 the lord, is in the Great Charter of 12 17, c. 39, which provides 
 that no tenant shall alienate his land to such an extent as to be 
 unable to discharge the service due to the lord of the fee. ' But 
 about this time [i. e. 1 2 1 7] it was established . . . that the lands 
 held immediately of the king could not be alienated without in-! 
 curring liability to a fine for a licence of alienation. It continuedi 
 for a long time to be a question whether such an alienation of 
 lands without hcence was a cause of forfeiture to the crown, or 
 whether the king could only distrain for the fine. This doubt 
 was set at rest by i Edw. Ill, st. 2, c. 12, by which it was 
 provided that such alienation . . . should not be a cause of 
 
 T 
 
274 
 
 C6e (Souetnancc of Cnslanu* 
 
 forfeiture, but a reasonable fine should be taken in the Chan- 
 cery by 'due process . . . These fines were abolished by 12 
 Car. II, c. 24' (Digby, u. s. p. 113; cf. Blackstone, ii. '71-2; 
 Hardy, Fine Rolls, p. xiii). In 1423 we find that certain lands 
 belonging to the late Duke of Clarence were in the king's 
 hands because he had alienated them without licence. The 
 alienees were allowed to recover possession on the payment of 
 1000 marks (P. P. C. iii. 45)- I" ^431 John. Earl of Hunting- 
 don, petitioned to be allowed to alienate certain manors, &c. 
 without payment of any fine, because he had been taken prisoner 
 in the king's wars and had had to pay a ransom of 20,000 marks 
 (Rot. Pari. iv. 384-5). In 1426 the commons complained that 
 recent chancellors had restricted the issue of licences of alienation 
 to the king's tenants, and of licences of marriage to ' the king's 
 widows.' Their complaint was not listened to (ib. 306) ; but in 
 the next Parliament, it was agreed that the chancellor should grant 
 licences of alienation for a reasonable fine (ib. 329 a). 
 
 he mey not onestly selle is lande.] On the attempts 
 made at various times to prevent the king from alienating his 
 landed property, see the notes to Chap. xix. below. 
 Chirk. pe sellynge of Chirke and Chirkes landes.J The castle 
 
 and lordship of Chirk in Denbighshire belonged originally to the 
 Mortimers. On the execution of Roger Mortimer in 1330 they 
 were united to the Crown (Cal. Rot. Pat. no b). But in 1337 
 they were granted in fee to Richard Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel 
 (ib. 131). On the execution of his son Richard, Earl of Arun- 
 del, in 1397, 'le Chastel de Chirk ove le Seignurie de Chirkes- 
 lond a dit Chastel regardantz ' were incorporated in the Earldom 
 of Chester, which was erected into a principality, and inalien- 
 ably appropriated to the eldest son of the king for the time 
 being (Rot. Pari. iii. 353-4; St. 21 Ric. II, c. 9). During the 
 greater part of Henry VI's reign, the Earldom of Chester was, 
 owing to the absence of any heir, in the hands of the Crown. 
 In 1433 all the profits arising 'de dominio de Chirk et Chirke- 
 landes' were assigned to Sir John Radclyff (P. P. C. iv. 155; cf. 
 ib. 199, 298-300; Rot. Pari. v. 440-1). Among the minutes of 
 the Council for February, 1438, we find the following entry: 
 ' Remembre to speke unto Ipe K' what losse he hathe had by Jie 
 graunte Jiat he maad to Inglefelde of jse constableship and stew- 
 ardship of fe Castel and lordship of Chirke to \>e losse of m'. 
 
il3ote0. Ci)ap» xu 275 
 
 marc ' (P. p. C. v. 89 f.). Not long afterwards the king sold Sold to 
 ' castrum dominium et maneria de Chyrke et Chyrkelande,' with Bg^„fort 
 some other manors in Somerset, Dorset, and Wilts, to Cardinal 
 Beaufort for the sum of £8,900 (Cal. Rot. Pat. p. 280 b). On his 
 death it descended to his nephew Edmxmd, Earl of Somerset, 
 whose rights to it are expressly saved in the Resumption Act of 
 1450. It is there stated that 'the Castell and Lordship of Chirk 
 and Kirkland . . . were late purchased by Henry, late Cardinall of 
 Englond, of us by our owen desire, and also by the advice of oure 
 Counseill, and paied therefore to us the uttermost value therof ' 
 (Rot. Pari. V. 187). The evidently defensive character of this 
 statement should be noted. This purchase is one of the points 
 objected to Beaufort in the celebrated manifesto which Humphrey 
 of Gloucester put forth in 1440 on the release of the Duke of 
 Orleans : ' the saide cardinal, being of youre counsaille . . . hath 
 late pourchaced . . . certaine gret landes and lyvelode, as the castel 
 and the lordship of Chirk.' He goes on to say that being sum- 
 moned suddenly to the council, he had assented to this sale against 
 his will in order not to hinder the expedition to Guyenne. It may 
 perhaps a little modify the ordinary view of Gloucester's opposition 
 to Beaufort, when we find that on this point at least Fortescue em- 
 phatically supports him. For there can be no doubt, I think, that 
 he is referring to the same transaction. The grant to Beaufort is 
 enrolled under 19 Henry VI {i.e. Sept. 1440-Aug. 1441, Cal. Rot. 
 Pat. u. s.), but must have been made earlier, as the exemplification 
 of Gloucester's- protest is dated June 2, 1440 (Rymer, x. 764-7). 
 On the attainder of the Beauforts in 1464 (Rot. Pari. v. 51 1-2), this 
 with their other landed property would be forfeited to the Crown. 
 In 15 Edward IV, that monarch granted the castle, lordship, and 
 manor of ' Chirke and Chirkelandes ' to Sir William Stanley and his 
 heirs male, in exchange for certain manors in Craven, Yorkshire 
 (Cal. Rot. Pat. 320 a). Lord Fortescue of Credan very absurdly 
 supposes that Fortescue is here referring to the sale of church-lands 
 (note ad loc). 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 The holy patriarke Joseph . . . v*!* parte of thair 
 graynes, &c.J See Genesis xlvii. 18-26; cp. especially v. 26, 
 
 T a 
 
276 Cfje ©otiernance of (ZBnglanti* 
 
 which was probably in Fortescue's mind : ' Ex eo tempore usque 
 in prsesentem diem, in universa Terra ^gypti, regibus quinta pars 
 solvitur, et factum' est quasi in legem absque terra sacerdotali quae 
 libera ab hac conditione fuit.' Joseph's ' land settlement ' is quoted 
 also by Pseudo-Aquinas but with a different object, viz. to prove 
 the inalienability of ecclesiastical property. De Regimine, iv. 
 
 C. 12. 
 
 Egypt the Saudayn of Babilon.J Egypt, ^t the time that Fortescue 
 
 secOTid*^ wrote, was under the second or Circassian Dynasty of Memlook 
 Memlook Sultans; the reigning monarch being Quayt-Bay (1467-1495), a 
 5^^^'y- good and able ruler, who successfully resisted the Turks, and 
 delayed for some time the Turkish conquest of Egypt, which took 
 place ultimately in 1517. These are the rulers whom Fortescue 
 Batyloti or calls ' Sultaus of Babylon.' Babylon of Egypt occupied the site 
 Old Cairo, ^jjich is now called' Old Cairo, a little to the S.W. of the later 
 city. ' The name Babylon of Egypt, or Babylon simply, is fre- 
 quently employed in mediaeval writings as synonymous with Cairo, 
 or as denoting the successive Mahometan dynasties of Egypt. 
 This use may have been influenced by the association of the other 
 Babylon, as represented by Baghdad, with the power of Islam ; 
 but at the same time it was a real survival of the ancient name ' 
 (Encycl. Brit. s. v. Cairo). I must leave it to Eygptologists to 
 decide how far the financial system of Joseph had descended 
 intact, as Fortescue asserts, to the fifteenth century of our era, 
 {perhaps the assertion rests only on the words of Genesis, ' usque 
 in prsesentem diem : ' v. s.) ; how far also his statement is true that 
 the Egyptian commons were then ' the richest commons of the 
 world,' If so, their position must have sadly changed for the worse 
 in the interval. In Whethamstede, i. 269 ff., are letters said to have 
 been sent by the Sultan of Egypt to Pope Calixtus III and by 
 the Pope to the Sultan in reply. At the end of the ' Letters of 
 Margaret of Anjou ' there is an extraordinary parody of a Maho- 
 metan manifesto, purporting to come from the ' Sowdane of Surrey 
 (Syria), Emperour of Babilon.' A document which purports to be 
 a letter of the Sultan of Babylon to Charies VII of France is in 
 De Coussy, ch. xxi. (ed. Buchon, pp. 32-3); another from the 
 same potentate to Pope Innocent VIII is in Arnold's Chronicle, 
 pp. 159 ff. 
 
 The Ffrench kyng ... in wyne, &c.] See notes to last 
 Chapter, p. 268 above. 
 
the kynge . . . hade . . . livelod . . . nerehand to . . . The King 
 
 \>e vtli parte ofiF is reaume.] See notes to last Chapter, p. 273 ^ ^^"'^" 
 
 above, on the importance of the king as landowner. The landed 
 
 possessions of the Crown must have been largely increased under 
 
 Edward IV by the Lancastrian forfeitures, especially after the final 
 
 defeat of the Lancastrians at Tewkesbury. And it is probable 
 
 that it is to this that Fortescue is referring here. This was the 
 
 case to a still greater extent under the Tudors. Besides the Union of 
 
 numerous confiscations which followed the various rebellions, the ^'^'^^ , 
 
 under the 
 union of York and Lancaster m the person of Henry VII was, Tudors. 
 
 as Mr. Brewer remarks, not merely a union of claims, but also 
 
 of estates (Henry VIII. i. 70). 
 
 aboff the possescions off Jje chirche.] /. e. not counting the 
 possessions of the church. The Epitome translates : ' possessioni- 
 bus ecclesiae demptis.' 
 
 to some parte Jjeroff the eyres . . . Tdo restored.] ' The Restora- 
 landowner had a stake in the country, a material security for his f'?°°^ *^''" 
 good behaviour ; if he offended against the law or the govern- Estates. 
 ment, he might forfeit his land ; but the land was not lost sight 
 of, and the moral and social claims of the family which had/ 
 possessed it were not barred by forfeiture. The restoration of' 
 the heirs of the dispossessed was an invariable result or condi- 
 tion of every political pacification ; and very few estates were , 
 alienated from the direct line of inheritance by one forfeihire only ' 
 (S. C. H. iii. 610). Compare in further illustration of the statement, 
 the petitions for reversal of attainder granted in 1472, which occupy 
 more than sixteen folio pages (Rot. Pari. vi. 16-33). 
 
 some bi reason off tayles.] i. e. entails. Estates in fee tail or Entails 
 estates tail were the creation of the Statute De Bonis Conditionalibus. gf^j'^^ 
 The history of that Statute, and of the attempts of the lawyers to donis con- 
 evade it, may be read in Blackstone, ii. 109-119 ; Digby, u. s. pp. ''^'^''"''■"- 
 153-9, 176-184- 'By allowing the donor to limit the descent of 
 the lands which he granted to the donee and a particular class 
 of heirs {e.g. heirs male of his body), and protecting strictly the 
 donor's right to the reversion of the land in case of failure of 
 such heirs, this Statute created a new species of estates of in- 
 heritance, which . . . could not be alienated so as to defeat the 
 expectant interest of the heir, or postpone the reversion of the 
 lord ' (Digby, p. 155). In other words, the tenant in fee tail had 
 only a life interest in his estate. He could not therefore forfeit a 
 
27 8 
 
 C&e 0ot)etnance of Cnglann* 
 
 Entailed 
 estates 
 could not 
 be perma- 
 nently for- 
 , feited. 
 
 Illustra- 
 tions. 
 
 Principle of 
 permanent 
 endow- 
 ments for 
 public ser- 
 vices. 
 
 (greater interest than he possessed. Consequently lands held in 
 fee tail could only be forfeited, even for treason, during the life- 
 time of the tenant who committed the treason. On his death, 
 they reverted to the heir, or, if there were no heir, to the lord 
 of the fee, the representative of the original donor. ' As the 
 nobility were always fond of this Statute, because it preserved their 
 estates from forfeiture,, there was little hope of procuring a repeal 
 from the legislature ; and therefore . . . Edward IV, observing 
 . . . how little effect attainders for treason had on families, whose 
 estates were protected by . . . entails, gave his countenance to the 
 application of common recoveries to evade it ' (Blackstone, u. s. pp. 
 1 1 6-7). Several illustrations of this point may be found on the 
 Rolls of Parliament. In 1423 it was declared in Parliament that 
 Henry V on his death-bed had been greatly troubled in conscience, 
 because he had granted away certain forfeitures of Henry Lord Le 
 Scrope of Masham, which were asserted to be entailed. The 
 grantees were willing to give them up if the fact were so; but 
 this was hotly contested. It was decided that the question of fact 
 should be tried at Common Law (Rot. Pari. iv. 212-13). In 1425 
 the question was settled in favour of John Le Scrope, brother and 
 heir of Henry (ib. 287 ; cf. v. 41). So in the Parhament of 1439 
 it was declared afresh that the Percy forfeitures of Henry IV's reign 
 did not apply to (i) lands in which the Percies were enfeoffed to 
 the use of others only; (2) to lands held in fee tail (ib. v. 11). In 
 the case of Sir William Oldhall, this provision was expressly intro- 
 duced into the Act of Attainder (ib. 265). Cp. the similar proviso 
 in St. 9 Hen. VI, c. 3, which confirms the proceedings against 
 Owen Glendower. 
 
 it be sate the kynges magnyfleenee to make thair rewardes 
 everlastynge in their heyres.J Edward IV in his will ex- 
 pressly charges his son not to disturb the grants which he had 
 made to those who ' have faithfully and lovingly assisted us, and 
 put thaim in the extreme jeopardie of thair lyves, losses of thair 
 lands and goods, in assisting us, as well aboute the recoverie of 
 oure Corone and Reame of England, as other diverses seasons and 
 tymes of jeopardie ' (Excerpta Hist. p. 377). In Rymer, xi. 727, is 
 a warm testimony from Edward IV to his brother-in-law, Earl 
 Rivers, for his fidelity in this respect. The principle here laid 
 down, though discredited in modern times, has the high authority 
 of Burke in its favour, who,, in his speech on the Economical 
 
Jl3oteiEi. Cijap. xU ^79 
 
 Reform, speaks of ' the constitutional policy of furnishing a per- Approved 
 manent reward to publick service ; ef making that rewardthe origin ^ '"^ ''^' 
 of families, and the foundation of wealth as well as of honours.' 
 
 the kyng hath geven parte ... to his . . . brotherryn ] 
 If the king here mentioned be Henry VI, the persons intended must 
 be his half-brothers, Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond, and Jasper, 
 Earl of Pembroke. And this is the view taken by Mr. Francis Har- 
 grave, the well-known legal writer, in a marginal note on this passage 
 in his copy of Fortescue's Monarchy, now in the British Museum. 
 But as (among other reasons) Edmund Tudor died in 1456, it 
 is much more probable that Fortescue is referring to George, 
 Duke of Clarence, and Richard, Duke of Gloucester, the brothers 
 of Edward IV. Innumerable grants to Clarence and Gloucester 
 will be found scattered up and down the Calendar of Patent Rolls, 
 pp. 303-8, 311, 314-325. The mere catalogue of them would 
 fill several pages. 
 
 Neuerthelesse somm.e men haue done hym seruioe, &e.J 
 On all this, cf App. B. § i, and notes to Chap. v. pp. 208-9 
 above ; cf. also Chap. vii. 
 
 yff suche gyftis . . . were refourmed.] Reformed, i\ e. re- Resump- 
 sumed. In proposing an act of resumption Fortescue was not i*^'™ •'^'^'■^• 
 proposing anything new in English history. The surrender of j 
 royal demesnes was insisted on by Henry II, after the troubles I 
 of Stephen's reign ; ' charters were produced and services pleaded 
 in vain.' It was again enforced by Hubert de Burgh during the ; 
 minority of Henry III, and by the baronial government of 1258 
 (S. C. H. i. 451-2 ; ii. 32, 78, 554-6). In the very first Parliament 
 of Henry IV the Commons demanded that all lands which had 
 formed part of the royal demesnes under Edward III or Richard 
 II should be resumed. Real services te the crown might be ! 
 rewarded with grants for term of life (Rot. Pari. iii. 433). This 
 was refused. Henry could not afford to oflfend the great lords 
 to whom he largely owed his throne. But in 1404 he agreed 
 to a scheme which was drawn very much on the lines which ■ 
 Fortescue here lays down. The Commons prayed that all grants 
 made since 40 Edward III might be resumed. Grants made 
 prior to that date were to be confirmed, but if they reverted to 
 the crown they were not to be re-granted. Grants of lands or 
 annuities for term of years or life are not to be resumed, but 
 the grantees are to surrender one year's profits to the king. All 
 
 A 
 
28o C!)e <^ot)etnance of Cnglanti* 
 
 holders of such grants are however to bring in their parents for 
 examination. Those who have done good service are to keep 
 their grants, those who have not so deserved are to forfeit them, 
 those who have received more than they deserve are to have 
 their grants moderated by the king in council. The king in 
 his reply, which, it is expressly noted, was made ' en Engleis,' 
 promised 'to assigne certeyn Lordes spirituell, and certeyn Lordes 
 temporell, and alle his Justices and Sergeantz,' &c. to carry out 
 this scheme as far as was consistent with the law of the land 
 and the royal prerogative (Rot. Pari. iii. 547-9)- But apparently 
 this was merely a mode of shelving the question. For according 
 to Stowe (p. 331), the resumption was defeated by a combination 
 1 of the prelates with the secular lords, in return for the aid given by 
 ' the latter in resisting the demand made in the same Parliament for 
 the secularization of ecclesiastical property. In 1443 the Lieu- 
 tenant of Ireland was ordered to summon ' Jse iij estatz of his saide 
 lande,' and try and obtain a resumption act, ' considerede Tpe gret 
 neede fiat ]>e Kyng hathe to goode' (P. P. C. v. 297). A resump- 
 tion act was passed in 1450 on account of the ' grete and grevouse' 
 debts of the crown (Rot. Pari. v. 183 ff. ; cf. ib. 267, and Gascoigne, 
 p. 190: ' Parliamentum . . . dixit, quod nunquam concederet 
 taxam regi, nisi prius rex . . . auctoritate parliamenti . . . re- 
 sumeret omnia . . . quae prius . . . alienaverat a sua corona '). 
 Another resumption act was passed in 1455, because the king was 
 ' indetted in such outragious sommez, as be not easy to be paied ' 
 (Rot. Pari. V. 300 ff.). An act for resuming grants made out of 
 the local revenues of the counties, was thrown out by the lords 
 (ib. 328). The original act of resumption is in English; Whe^t- 
 Exemp- hamstede (i. 250 £f.) gives a version of it in Latin. And then 
 
 tions from ^qWq^^ ^n interesting account of how the Abbey of St. Alban's 
 their opera- ° a 1. 
 
 tion. obtained exemption from the operation of the act. The Abbot 
 
 (Whethamstede) sent the Prior up to London, who obtained a 
 copy of the bill, and succeeded in procuring the insertion in it of 
 a proviso excepting the Abbey from its operation (ib. 259 f. ; Rot. 
 Pari. V. 307). But when this proviso was examined in the court of 
 exchequer it was found to be insufficient, and was cancelled. 
 Then the Abbot, by means of a member of the king's council 
 who was also a high official in the exchequer, got letters of ex- 
 emption passed under the great seal, though somewhat less in 
 "j extent, 'ob pauperiem regis' (Whet. u. s. pp. 258-268). Under 
 
jQoteiS. €f)ap. xiU »8i 
 
 Edward IV four resumption acts were passed, viz. in 1461, 1467, 
 1473, and 1483. The object of that in i4'57 is stated by William 
 of Worcester to have been ' ut rex haberet unde viveret, et quod 
 justitia plus solito fieret' (Annales, p. 786). The exemptions from 
 it cover forty folio pages. And the numerous exceptions always ' 
 made must have rendered these acts comparatively ineffectual 
 (Rot. Pari. V. 462 ff., 572 ff. ; vi. 71 ff., 198 ff..; cf. Cont. Croyl. 
 559). It is true that Hardyng says of the act of 1450, 
 
 ' Then taxe ceased and dymes eke also, 
 In all Englande then raysed were no mo,' 
 
 (ed. Ellis, p. 401). But this is a very ideal statement. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 it were good . . . ])at the commons . . . were made pore, Tyranny 
 
 &c.] Here again Burke is at one with Fortescue : ' When I impo^er- 
 ■' ° — - isnes Its 
 
 consider, that we have colonies for no purpose but to be serviceable subjects. 
 
 to us, it seems to my poor understanding a Jitde preposterous, to 
 
 make them unserviceable in order to keep them obedient. It is, 
 
 in truth, nothing more than the old, and as I thought, exploded 
 
 problem of tyranny, which proposes to beggar its subjects into 
 
 submission. But remember . . . that discontent will increase 
 
 with misery ; and that there are critical moments in the fortunes' 
 
 of all states, when they who are too weak to contribute to your 
 
 prosperity, may be strong enough to complete your ruin. Spoliaiik 
 
 arma super sunt' (On Conciliation with America). And Aristotle 
 
 says : to nemfTas iroiciv tovs dpxofifvovs, TvpavviKdu (Pol. V. 1 1 . § 8 ; cf. 
 
 St. Thomas on this passage in Baumann, Staatslehre, &c., p. 139). 
 And ^gidius Romanus, following Aristotle, enumerates among the 
 cautelcB of tyrants, ' ut sint (subdifi) adeo depauperati et afflicti, ut 
 contra eos non possint insurgere.' De Regimine, III. ii. 11. 
 ' )jat \€\ ben so pore, and so ouersette, jjat thei mowe not rise 
 a3enst tirauntes ' (iMS. Digb. 223, f 139 d). 
 
 as be the commons ofF Ffraunce.] See notes to Chapter iii. 
 p. 197 above. 
 
 as now thai done oftentymes.] On the frequency of local 
 risings and distmbances under the Lancastrian kings, and during 
 
282 c&e (J5otiernance of (£ng;Ianti» 
 
 the first period of Edward IV's reign, see Introduction, Part I. pp. 
 1 1 ff. Even in the second half of that reign the Croyland Continuator 
 says that the people would have risen if they could only have found 
 a leader, so great was the discontent at the inglorious result of 
 Edward's expedition to France (p. 559). 
 
 ad pauca respicientes de facili enunciant.] This is an 
 aucioritas from the first book of the De Generatione et Corruptione. 
 It agrees with- the printed edition, except that the latter omits the 
 preposition ad. The original runs thus : ' irpos oKiya ^\e'\jfavTes, 
 cmo^aivovTM paov. The reference is i> 2, § 10. Amundesham (i. 
 371) has a phrase which seems to be a reminiscence of this 
 auctoriias : ' quasi vir ad pauca respiciens et de facili plura pronun- 
 cians.' Dante speaks of persons (' che sono come quasi tutti ') who 
 ' tosto veggiono tutto cio che possono, e giudicano secondo la loro 
 veduta ' (Convito, i. c. 4). 
 Import- wheroff the myght stondith. most vppon archers.] This 
 
 ar 'herv ^^® ^ lesson which had been impressed upon the English by the 
 events of the Anglo-French wars,, and similar sentiments are often 
 embodied in the preambles to the various petitions and Statutes 
 Its practice which deal with the subject of archery, &c. The Statute of 12 
 Statute ^^'^' ■'""'"■ ^' ^' ^^^ enacted that all servants and labourers should 
 have bows and arrows, and practise shooting on Sundays and 
 festivals, and leave ' les jeues as pelotes si bien a meyn come a piee, 
 et les autres jeues appellez Coytes, dyces, gettre de pere, keyles, 
 et autres tielx jeues importunes.' This Statute was, on the petition 
 of the Commons, amended by 11 Hen. IV. c. 4 (cf. Rot. Pari. iii. 
 643), and made still more stringent by 17 Edw. IV. c. 3. The 
 petition of the Commons on which this last-named Statute was 
 based recites, almost in Fortescue's words, that 'the defense of 
 this Lond stondeth moche by Archers.' The unlawful games there 
 enumerated, besides ' Dise, Coyte,. Fote-ball, and such like Pleys,' 
 are 'dyvers newe ymagyned Pleys, called Closhe, Keyles, half- 
 Bowie, Handyn and Handowte, and Quekeborde ' (Rot. Pari. vi. 
 188). This tendency to play unlawful games instead of shooting, 
 ' which shotyng . .. . hath bee grete defense to this your Reame 
 bothe inward and outward,' is in the Parliament of 1472-5 ascribed 
 Bow- to the ' outragious price ' of bow-staves ; and measures were taken 
 
 staves. thgjj a^„jj jj^ ^^ Parliament of 1482 to remedy this by making the 
 import of bow-staves compulsory, and by fixing their price (Rot. 
 Pari. vi. 156, 223 ; St. 12 Edw. IV, c. 2 ; 22 Edw. IV, c. 4; cf. 
 
St. 1 Ric. Ill, c, 11). In 1406 a Statute was passed against Arrows and 
 arrow-smiths who make faulty arrow-heads (St. 7 Hen IV, c. 7 ; ^"°^" 
 cf. Rot. Pari. iii. 594 b). By 4 Hen. V, St. 2, c. 3, Paten-makers 
 are forbidden to make clogs or patens of 'aspe,' because it is 
 required for making arrows. But this Statute was repealed by 
 St. 4 Edw. IV, c. 9. In 1 418 Henry V orders the sheriffs of 
 twenty-eight counties to fiu-nish him with 1,190,000 feathers for 
 making arrows (Rymer, ix. 653 ; cf. ib. 436, where the feathers 
 are ordered to be goose-wing feathers, six from each goose). An 
 elaborate Statute enforcing the practice of archery was passed in 
 33 Henry VIII (c. 9.), by which time new unlawful games had 
 been invented. The price of bow-staves was regulated as late as 
 21 Jac. I. c. 28), which seems to be the last Statute on the subject. 
 From the Issues of the Exchequer (p. 318), it appears that in 
 1 41 2 the price of a bow was is. ^d.; of a sheaf of arrows, is. gd.; 
 of a gross of bow-strings, 6s. We hear of a keeper of the king's 
 bows within the Tower of London (Cal. Rot. Pat. 318 a). Ac- 
 cording to Blondel (Reductio Normannise, p. 48), the institution of 
 the francs-archers in France (see notes to Chap. iii. p. 197 above) 
 was established partly because it was ' in rusticos Anglias sagittarios 
 necessariura.' According to Cont. Croyl. (p. 555), the chief sup- 
 plies of archers came from Lancashire and Cheshire, and this was 
 one reason for the anxiety of the Lancastrians to gain those parts, 
 when they were overtaken and defeated at the battle of Tewkesbury. 
 
 thai shulde not haue wherwith to bie hem . . . armour, 
 &c.] The obligation of the citizen to provide himself with arms 
 offensive and defensive in proportion to his means, for the defence 
 of the land and the maintenance of the peace, forms the subject of 
 a series of measures which commence with the Assize of Arms 
 under Henry II, and culminate in the Statute of Winchester under 
 Edward I. That the latter Statute was in full working at this time 
 is shown by the fact, that in 1437 copies of it were sent to all the 
 sheriffs, with orders to enforce it against the ' greet routes and 
 divers conventicules of mysgoeverned men assembled in diverse 
 places ' (P. P. C. V. 83 f..). 
 
 considerynge J)at we be a Ilelonde, &c.J See notes to 
 Chapter iii. p. 200, above. 
 
 how than y£F a myghty man made a rysinge, &e.] This 
 is the great danger perpetually recurring to Fortescue's mind. See 
 above, Chapter ix. 
 
284 Cl)e (Sotjemance of CnjIanD, 
 
 Insurrec- 
 tions 
 caused by 
 poverty. 
 
 J 
 
 Intimida- 
 tion. 
 
 Hussite 
 wars. 
 
 Theory of 
 Gascoigne 
 as to their 
 
 euery yere to be mustered,] Under the Statute of Win- 
 chester (confirmed by 2 Edw. Ill, c. 6), the view of armour was to 
 be taken twice a year by the constables, of every hundred. These 
 are probably the musters to which Fortescue is here referring. 
 
 the pouerest men . . . haue be ]>e grettest causers, 
 &c. j Cf. Bacon's essay, Of Seditions and Troubks : ' The Matter 
 of Seditions is of two kinds ; Much Poverty, and Much Discontent- 
 ment . . . And if this Poverty and Broken Estate, in the better 
 sort, be joined with a Want and Necessity in the mean People, the 
 danger is imminent and great.' This was not however always the 
 [case: as to the insurrection of 1381 Dr. Stubbs thinks it 'clear 
 that physical hardships had little to do with the rising ' (C. H. ii. 
 454 n.; cf. Rogers, Work and Wages, p. 271). Cade's rising, 
 again, in 1430 has been proved by Mr. Durrant Cooper to have 
 been by no means of a very plebeian or disorderly character (quoted 
 by Gairdner, Paston Letters, I. Hi.). Gascoigne however, with 
 reference to the causes of this very rising, couples together, as 
 Fortescue does, 'lakke off gode' and 'lakke off justice;' see p. 43 : 
 ' Communitas . . . surrexit . . . quia justicia defecit ; . . . item, 
 propter penuriam magnam.' FoTtescue's description of the in- 
 timidation exercised on ' thryfty men ' by insurgents is well illus- 
 trated by a passage in the ' Arrival of Edward IV,' with reference 
 to the attempt of the bastard Falconbridge in 147 1 : 'Othar of 
 Kentyshe people that wowld righte fayne have sjftten still at home, 
 . . . byforceandviolenceof sucheriotows people as were of the sayd 
 bastards company, for feare of deathe, and othar great manasses, 
 and thretanynges, were compellyd to goo with the bastard ' (p. 33). 
 And Gregory says of Cade : ' the whyche captayne compellyd alle 
 the gentellys to a rysse whythe hem' (p. 190). 
 
 J)e reaume of Boeme, &c.j The Hussite wars, 1419-1436, 
 were for a long time the chief political interest in Europe, eclipsing 
 even the Anglo-French war, especially after the death of Henry V. 
 And the state of Bohemia is constantly held up as a warning by 
 the writers of the time. Each writer in turn interprets the lesson 
 according to his own prevailing idea. Thus Gascoigne traces the 
 evil to ecclesiastical abuses : ' Istae duae causae, sc. appropriacio 
 ecclesiarum et indigna promocio in ecclesiis, fuerunt causae quare 
 per haereses pessimas et errores ecclesiae et fides destructae sunt 
 jam in Praga et in regno Bohemiae' (p. 20; cf. pp. 5-7 : 'per in- 
 dignos prselatos, per appropriacionem ecclesiarum, et per curatos 
 
3l3ote0. C&ap. xiU 285 
 
 non residentes in curis suis.' Pecock sees the origin of the Pecock. 
 mischief in the misuse of the Bible by uneducated enthusiasts : 
 ' therfore je Bible men ... for experience which je han of the 
 disturblaunce in Beeme . . . rebuke now jou silf.' ' God for his 
 merci and pitee,' he exclaims, ' kepe Ynglond, that he come not 
 into lijk daunce' (Repressor, pp. 86-7). While Fortescue here Fortescue. 
 regards the trouble as caused by the depression of the commons 
 and the overgrown power of the nobles. All of these were no 
 doubt causes, though no one of them was the sole cause of the 
 Hussite movement. That movement may be regarded under three The Hus- 
 main aspects : ecclesiastical, social, and national. Gascoigne and ^''* ^°Ti 
 Pecock look at it from the first point of view, Fortescue from the siastical, 
 second. The principle of nationality was not then sufficiently ^""io^gf^"^ 
 recognised to make the importance of the movement under the 
 third head discernible to the men of that generation. The three These three 
 sides of the movement were however closely connected with ^^P^'j'^ 
 one another. Socially it was a reaction against feudalism, and connected, 
 feudalism was a foreign institution, closely connected in its inner 
 idea and external history with the medieeval hierarchical system, 
 so that the movement against it was at once national, democratic, 
 and religious. These ultra-democratic views, however, and the Commun- 
 communistic theories, which Fortescue alludes to, obtained mainly ^^™' 
 among the extreme Hussites or Taborites ; the Calixtines being a 
 moderate and aristocratic party, while the followers of Zizka, 
 called after his death ' the orphans,' occupied a position mid- 
 way between the two. Fortescue is so far right in accentuating 
 the social character of the movement, that it was this which all 
 the vested interests of Europe were so anxious to suppress. 
 Under the guise of religion they attacked a system which threat- 
 ened their own existence. The Hussite movement may have had Connexion 
 a special interest for England, both on account of the connexion of ^o^g^mgnt 
 Huss with Wiclif, and of Cardinal Beaufort with the fourth Crusade with Eng- 
 against the Hussites (1427). The state of Bohemia was alluded to ^" • 
 as a warning to England by Archbishop Kemp in his opening 
 address to the Parliament of 1429 (Rot. Pari. iv. 335). For the 
 subject of this note I must refer generally to Palacky, Gesch. v. 
 Bohmen, Band III. Abth. ii. and iii. 
 
 hit is the kjmgis . . . office to make is reaume riche.J Duty of a 
 Cp. ^gidius, De Regtmine, III. ii. 8 : ' Decet ergo reges et prin- ^^^J^j^ 
 cipes sic regere civitates et regna ut sibi subjecti habundent rebus realm rich. 
 
286 
 
 C&e (Soioernance of (ZEnglann, 
 
 Condition 
 of tlie 
 English 
 Commons. 
 
 exterioribus ' — ' Jsanne kynges and princes shulde rewle citees and 
 regnes so Jiat here sogettes haue i now of outward thinges ' (f. 
 137 a). Cp. also the eloquent address of the Bishop of Bayeux to 
 Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, on the state of Normandy : ' Quare 
 summi ope omni principi enitendum est, ut subjectam multitudinem 
 praeservet et foveat ; nee minus de utilitate publica quam de privata 
 cogitet : quoniam populi fundamenta sunt ex quibus omnia promi- 
 nent imperia ; nee uUi ambigendum est tam magna fore dominia, 
 quam dives subest populi multitude' (Bekynton, i. 291). Gregor 
 (p. 85) quotes from Coke the maxim that a king is never rich when 
 his subjects are poor; while Waterhous (p. 166) cites from a 
 speech of James I the saying, 'that king is miserable how rich 
 soever he be that reigns over a poor People.' 
 
 ayenst Ms conciens.J Cf. Chap. iv. pp. 11 6-7, above ; and on 
 the poverty of the French commons and the exemption of the 
 French nobles from taxation, see notes to Chap. iii. pp. 196-7, 
 above. 
 
 OTir commons be riche.] On the condition of the various 
 classes of English society below the rank of barons, from the 
 knight to the yeoman, artisan, and villein, see S. C. H. iii. 544- 
 558, 598-607. Mr. Thorold Rogers says (Introduction to 
 Gascoigne, pp. -xxxiv. f.) : ' There was, the times considered, 
 abundance of wealth in England at the period immediately pre- 
 ceding the outbreak of civil war. The fifteenth century was a 
 period of singularly unbroken agricultural prosperity, of plentiful 
 harvests, of high wages, of accumulated opulence. Land which a 
 century before yielded in rent a return of ten per cent, on the 
 .purchase money, now yielded five or less. Farmers were gradually 
 acquiring freehold estates, and becoming yeomen were the pro- 
 genitors of the small gentry who played so conspicuous a part in 
 English History two centuries later. In the universal passion for 
 acquiring land commons were enclosed, often by usurpation, and 
 men of free estate became the purchasers of copyhold, thus giving 
 stability and a higher position to those estates which the law books 
 still affected to call base or precarious. The tenants of these base 
 fees resisted even the payment of customary rents, and successfully 
 demanding arbitration between themselves and their lords, suc- 
 ceeded in reducing and permanently fixing their liabilities. . . . 
 The record of prices in England, especially those of wheat and 
 barley, gives no indication whatever that war produced scarcity. 
 
During the whole of the fifteenth century, the harvest was a failure 
 
 in only one year, 1438-9. When the strife was at the hottest, v'' 
 
 bread and beer were abundant and cheap, for the cost of a 
 
 labourer's maintenance was from 8d. to gd. per week. In thej 
 
 reign of Elizabeth, contracts for the board of the men in her 
 
 employ were as high as 4^. 6d. to 5^. for the same time.' 
 
 In the 'Comodytes of Englond' Fortescue (if it be Fortescue) 
 
 says : ' the comune peple of thys londe are the beste fedde and 
 
 also the beste cledde of any natyon, crystyn or hethen ' (Works p. \ 
 
 552). The riches and self-sufficiency {avTapKfta) of England are aj Testimony 
 
 frequent theme with the mediaeval wi-iters. Thus the author of thei of mediffi- 
 , „. , J _ . , 'val wnters. 
 
 ' Uialogus de Scaccano says— 
 
 Insula nostra suis contenta bonis peregrinis 
 Non eget. Hanc igitur merito dixere priores 
 Divitiisque sinnm, deliciisque larem.' 
 
 Higden has a chapter (Lib. i. c. 41) 'De prserogativis insulae 
 attoUendis,' made up of quotations from older authors, and ending 
 with some verses of Heriry of Huntingdon, which begin — 
 
 'Anglia, terra ferax et fertilis angnlus orbis, 
 Est contenta sui fertilitate boni;' 
 and some of Ailred of Rievaulx, two of which run thus — 
 
 ' Insula praedives, qnse toto non eget orbe, 
 Et cujus totus indlget orbis ope.' 
 
 This derivation of Anglia from Angulus, which is as old as Bede 
 (Hist. Eccl. i. c. 15, 'ilia patria quae Angulus dicitur,' v. Higden 
 II. vii.), gave a great impulse to this strain of reflection. Arch- 
 bishop Arundel, at Henry IV's accession, discoursed in Parliament 
 on the theme, that 'cest honorable Roialme d'Engleterre q'est 
 la pluis habundant Ang/e de Richesse parmy tout le monde,' had 
 been ruined by the government of children (Rot. Pari. iii. 415). 
 In a letter to Eric, king of the Scandinavian kingdoms, written in 
 1439 (the very year of famine mentioned by Mr. Rogers above), 
 Henry VI says that England, though now suffering from the bad 
 effects of a very wet season, is yet in average years (communibus 
 annis) extremely fertile (Rymer, x. 717). One point in whichi Number of 
 Fortescue contrasts England favourably with the Continent is the o^ng^sTn^' X 
 number of small landowners in the former; De Laudibus, c. 29.' England. / 
 
288 ^tt (^omrnance of (ZEnglanO, 
 
 And his commentator, Waterhous, speaks in the same strain of 
 his own day : ' The Yeoman and Country Corydon is a great 
 Proprietor of Land' (p. 373). 'Only with us are men of the 
 Plough men of Estate ' (p. 391). 'Abroad in the Continent, great 
 men, as it were, live alone in the earth' (p. 394). Now the sides 
 of this comparison are exactly reversed. 
 Taxes on quinsimes and dessimes.] i. e. fifteenths and tenths. The first 
 property!' '^''■^'^' ^'^'^ "^^ moveable property in English history was the Saladin 
 Tithe of 1 1 88. But as the wealth of the country increased, a tax 
 on moveables became one of the most frequent resources. Various 
 proportions were granted from time to time, twentieths, thirtieths, 
 eighteenths, &c. (v. S. C. H. Index, s. v. Taxes). But from about 
 1332 onwards the tenth and fifteenth became the unit of taxation 
 Shires and for moveables (ib. ii. 3 76-8). And from that time the usual grant 
 taxedfn^ on moveables was either a tenth and fifteenth, or some multiple or 
 different fraction of a tenth and fifteenth, the tenth representing the contri- 
 tion^"' bution of the towns, and the fifteenth that of the shires. The reason 
 for this diff'erence has been explained in the notes to Chapter iii. 
 p. 196, above. The last occasion on which I have found tbis dis- 
 tinction expressly mentioned in the terms of the grant is in 1380, 
 when the Lords and Commons granted to the king ' une Quinszisme 
 et demy par dehors Citees et Burghs, et une Disme et demy par 
 dedeinz mesmes les Citees et Burghs ' (Rot. Pari. iii. 75 a). But 
 in subsequent grants it is nearly always mentioned that this tax is 
 to be levied in the manner accustomed, so that the distinction may 
 be presumed to have lasted throughout the middle ages. The 
 ' defence of the reaume ' is frequently mentioned in the preamble 
 to parliamentary grants as an object, if not the object, for which 
 the grant is made. 
 
 a quinsime and a desime quinqueniale, &c.] In 1337, 
 1348, 1352, a tenth and fifteenth for three years were granted 
 (S. C. H. ii. 378, 398, 405). In 1355, the subsidy on wools, &c. 
 was granted for six years (ib. 405). But I have not foimd any 
 grant of 'a quinsime and a desime quinqueniale,' such as 
 Fortescue mentions. There may, however, have been such a grant 
 between 1356 and 1362, as the Rolls of Parliament for those years 
 are lost (ib.) The same holds true of the next grant which Fortescue 
 mentions. In 1340 the lords and knights of the shire granted the 
 ninth sheaf, fleece, and lamb for two years (Rot. Pari. ii. 112b; cf. 
 ib. 450 b). But I know of no occasion on which such a grant was 
 
made for five years.- Mr. Rogers, in his examination of mediseval 
 accounts, found ' many more taxes than the Rolls of Parliament 
 grant' (Work and Wages, p. 208). ' The largest sum ever offered 
 by the Commons in one year during the Middle Ages ' was in 1453 
 (ib. 314). 
 
 ffor thai haue not so much ffredome, &c.j Cf. St. Thomas, ' Tyranny 
 De Regimine, i. c. 10 : 'Experimento etiam magis apparet, quod reges Lo^Jer ' 
 per justitiam magis adipiscuntur divitias quam per rapinam tyranni. 
 ... In necessitatibus plura regibus sponte donant quam tyranni 
 diripere possint.' .^gidius Romanus follows him,. De Regimine, 
 III. ii. 12: ' Veris regibus donatur plus ex amore quam tirannis 
 perveniat ex predatione populi.' 'Verrey kynges ben lordes by 
 loue and hauen more good by loue ]5an tyrauntes hauen by spoylynge 
 of J>e puple' (f. 140 d). In 1401 the Commons declared to 
 Henry IV, ' qe la pluis greindre tresor et richesse du monde, est, 
 a chescun Roi d'avoir le coer de son poeple ; Qar par consequence 
 s'il ait le coer, il est verraisemblable q'il auera ceo qe luy bosoigne 
 de leur biens ' (Rot. Pari. iii. 456 a). Compare the passage from 
 Burke quoted at the end of the notes to Chapter viii. pp. 253-4, 
 above ; and add to it the following from his speech on American 
 Taxation : ' Sir William Temple says, that Holland has loaded itself 
 with ten times the impositions which it revolted from Spain rather 
 than submit to. He says true. Tyranny is a poor provider. It ^ 
 
 knows neither how to accumulate, nor how to extract.' /\. 
 
 a ffewe regions be fibre specified.] See Chapter ii. above, 
 and notes. 
 
 we se dayly, &c.] Here no doubt Fortescue is speaking 
 partly out of his experience as a judge. Compare More's Utopia, \ 
 Book I, near the beginning. More similarly attributes the 
 prevalence of thieving to poverty; and traces poverty to various 
 causes : — disbanded soldiers, rack-renting, sheep-farming, luxury, 
 drunkenness, ' ingrossers and forestaUers ' (= corner-men), defective 
 education, &c. 
 
 lakke ofi" gode or lakke ofi" justice.] On the former of these Insnrrec- 
 two causes of insurrection, see above, p. 284. As to the latter, cf. ^^ed by 
 ' Understanding and Faith : ' ' Art thou nat remembred howe it is injnstice. 
 writen that lakke of Justice and untrewe dedys maken Reames 
 redy to be chaunged ? ' (Works, p. 485). Aristotle says : Auon-at 
 
 fioXeirra m Tf TroXiTfiai koI a\ apttTTOiepirruu 81a t^v iv avrrj t^ iroKiTcia tov 
 
 Siieaiov irapex^aaiv (Pol. viii. 7. § 5). On ' lack of justice,' as charac- 
 
 u 
 
29P Cbe ^oioernance of CnglanD* 
 
 teristic of the Lancastrian times, see Introduction, Part I. pp. 19-22, 
 above, and the forcible words of Cade there quoted. In 1450 the 
 Duke of York invited Henry VI ' tendirly to consider the grett 
 grutchyng and romer that is universaly in this your reame of that 
 justice is nouth dewly ministred' (Paston Letters, i. 153). So in 
 1460 the Yorkist lords declared that ' alle rightwysnesse and justice 
 ys exyled of the lond ' (English Chronicle, p. 86). The same subject 
 is a frequent theme of the opening speeches in Parliament, e.g. in 
 1429, 1431, 1433 al. (Rot. Pari. iv. 335, 367, 419, &c.). Burke 
 (Present Discontents) quotes the following from Sully : ' Pour la 
 populace, ce n'est jamais par envie d'attaquer qu'elle se soulbve, 
 mais par impatience de souffrir.' Conversely : ' felicite or peas in 
 every Reame is evermore caused of Justice, as it appereth by 
 probabill persuacions of Philosofers ' (speech of Edward IV to the 
 Parliament of 1467-8, Rot. Pari, v, 622 b). 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Risings in the commons off the centre oflF Caux.J The ' pays de Caux ' 
 the Pays ^^^ ^^^^ ^j- jj^g duchy of Normandy, situated on the north of the Seine. 
 The rising to which Fortescue alludes was probably the one which 
 took place towards the end of 1 4 3 5, after the Congress of Arras. The 
 signal was given by the capture of Dieppe by the French. 'A ce signal 
 " le commun peuple " du pays de Caux se souleva sous la conduits 
 d'un paysan nomm^ Le Carnier, et vingt mille hommes des bour- 
 gades et des villages se joignirent a Rieux sous I'etendard de France. 
 ■ . . F6camp, Montivilliers, Lillebonne, Tancarville, Saint- Valeri-en- 
 Caux, Harfleur . . . se donnerent ou furent pris de vive force ; tout 
 le pays de Caux, hors Caudebec et Arques, fut, en peu de jours, 
 affranchi des Anglais.' [Dec. 1435-Jan. 1436.] (Martin, Hist, de 
 France, vi. 341-2 ; cf. Barante, Dues de Bourgogne, ed. Gachard, 
 i. 572; Eng. in France, ii. 279, 761), There had been a rising 
 previous to this in the summer of 1434, provoked by the disorders of 
 the English troops (Martin, u. s. pp. 325-6). But from the mention 
 of the number of towns captured, it would setm almost certain 
 that it is to the second rising that Fortescue refers. Hall mentions 
 both (pp. 1 7 1-2, 179), but he describes the former in language 
 more appropriate to the later rising. The national character of the 
 
Bom. Cfjap, xiiu 291 
 
 rising, which Hall lays stress upon, deprives it of any applicability 
 to Fortescue's argument, The English recovered the country in 
 the course of 1436 owing to the misconduct of the French troops, 
 who, says Sismondi, had reduced it to the state of a horrible desert 
 (Hist, des Fran9ais, xiii. 264). Naturally the district was extremely 
 fertile (Martin, u. s. p, 342). But it suffered severely during the 
 English wars. Basin says : ' Vidimus ipsi ... agros . . . Calet^ 
 ensium {i.e. Caux) . . . prorsus desertos, incultos, squalidos et 
 colonis nudatos, dumetis et rubis oppletos, atque illic in plerisque 
 terris, quae ad proferendas arbores feraciores exsistunt, arbores in 
 morem densissimarum silvarum excrevisse' (i. 45). In 1422 
 Henry V appoints a Imvelier for the Bailliage of Caux, because, 
 owing to the war, wolves have so increased in the district that they 
 even devour men (Rymer, x. 224; cf. ib. 56; ix. 755, 862). In 
 1440 the King's Council confessed that 'the Kynges cuntre there, 
 namely the Duchie of Normandie ... is nowe broughte to that 
 myschief and extreme miserye, that unneth thoo that ben left 
 therinne may pourly lyve ' (Engl, in France, ii. 456). 
 
 eorage wieh no Ffrenchman hath like vnto a Englysh 
 man.] This was a belief which the experience of Crecy, Poitiers, 
 Agincourt, &c., had not unreasonably produced, and which even the 
 downfall of the English power in France had not been able to impair. 
 
 ther bith . . . mo men hanged in Englande, &o.J Cf. More's Frequency 
 protest against the severity of the Criminal Law of England, quoted °nnfsh-^V 
 in the notes to the last Chapter. He says that twenty men were ment in /^ 
 often hanged on one gallows. The evil against which More protested •'''"Siana. 
 went on increasing for three hundred years. Not till 1820 did 
 shoplifting to the value of five shillings cease to be punishable with 
 death (see Martineau, History of the Peace, i. 98-104, 232, 352). 
 Here again we may trace the influence of Fortescue's judicial ex- 
 perience, and, in the comparison of England with France and Scot- 
 land, the fruit of his observations in exile. It is however a Scotch 
 motto which says, ' Thou shalt want ere I want,' which is the 
 principle on which Fortescue supposes the English robber to act. 
 In the De Laudibus, c. 46, Fortescue contrasts the English and the 
 Civil Law in regard to the punishment of theft, and seems rather to 
 exult in the greater severity of the English law ; and his successor, 
 Lord Chief Justice EUenborough, was one of the chief opponents 
 of Sir Samuel Romilly in his efforts to secure some mitigation of 
 that severity. 
 
 ua 
 
292 C6e ©oticmance of Cnglann* 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 a general! resumpeion, &c.] On this, see notes to Chapter 
 xi. pp. 279-281, above. 
 
 be fe advise oflF his coimsell mey rewarde, &c,] See below, 
 notes to Chaps, xvii, xx. 
 
 or not so grete astate in the same.j e.g. they might have 
 been given a life-estate instead of an estate in fee-simple; or an 
 estate for term of years instead of for term of life, &c. 
 
 as is be ffore shewid,] Vid. Chapter xi. ad fihem, p. 137, above. 
 a worshipful! and a notable counsel!.] On all this, v. Ap- 
 pendix B. § I. 
 
 such givinge were no vertu but . . . prodigalite.j This is 
 very like one of the Flores of St. Bernard, ' Dispensatio sine 
 necessitate at utilitate non fidelis dispensatio sed crudelis dissipatio 
 est' (Migne, Bibl. Lat. torn. 183, col. 1199). 
 
 brocage.] On this, see notes to Chapter xvii. below. 
 
 Com- I as thai were woned to haue.j Complaints against the royal 
 
 plaints I councillors for ' miscounseling ' the King, and especially for mis- 
 
 royal coun- management and misappropriation of the property and revenues of 
 
 ciUors. jjjg crown, are among the most constantly recurring subjects in the 
 
 documents and histories of the fifteenth century. In almost every 
 
 rising this complaint is put forward among the articles of the 
 
 insurgents.. One of the objects of the Percies in 1403 was : ' ut 
 
 . . . possent . . . corrigere publicas gubernationes, et constituere 
 
 sapientes consiliarios ad commodiim regis et regni. Scripserunt 
 
 insuper quod census et tallagia . . . non sunt conversa in usus 
 
 debitos, sed devorata nimis inutiliter, atque consumpta ' (Ann. Henr. 
 
 pp. 361-2, in S. C. H. iii. 40; cp. the very similar article of 1405, 
 
 Gascoigne, pp. 230-1). This formed the subject of several of the 
 
 Their mis- charges against Suffolk in 1450 (Rot. Pari. v. 179 flf.). Cade's 
 
 tK>n™f the proclamation of the same year is one long indictment of those 
 
 King's about the king, who 'dayly enforme hym that good is evyll and 
 
 revenues, ^^^jj jg g^^ ^ ., ^^^^ -^^ regard to this special point, ' they sey that it 
 
 were gret reproffe to the kynge to take ageyne that he hath gevyn, 
 
 so that they woU not sufere hym to have his owne good, ne londe, 
 
 ne forfeture, ne eny othar good but they aske it from hym, or ells 
 
 ;they take bribes of othar to gett it for them ' (Three Chronicles, p. 
 
 95; cf. ib. 98). One of the demands of the Yorkist lords in 
 
JBoteg. Cbap. jciti* 293 
 
 1460 was 'that it wolle please his sayde good grace to lyve 
 upponne his owne lyuelode, , . . and nat to sufFre the destroyers 
 of the sayde londe and of his trewe sugettes to lyve theroponne, 
 (English Chronicle, p. 86 ; cf. Warkworth, pp. 1 1-2). Gascoigne 
 heartily endorses these complaints (ed. Rogers, pp. 158, 220-1). 
 The author of a political song, written about 1450, says : 
 
 'So pore a king was never seene, 1 
 Nor richere lordes all bydene.' 
 And again : 
 
 ' Ffor ye have made the kyng so pore I 
 That now he beggeth fro dore to dore.' I 
 
 (Political Songs, ii. 229 f.) 
 
 And Whethamstede (i. 249) laments the indiscriminate liberality of 
 the king. Fortescue, in Appendix B. §§ i, 2, not only admits, as Council- 
 here, that the people have had cause of ' grudging ' against the king <jeath. 
 and those about him, but says that they ' have oftyn tymes slayne ' ' 
 the latter ' for the myscounceling of theire soueraigne lorde ;' where 
 he is no doubt thinking of the fate of Bishops Moleyns and Ays- 
 cough ; Suffolk, and Lord Say and Sele. The murder of Archbishop 
 Sudbury, in 1381, is an earlier case in point. So in 1469 the, 
 Commons, under Robin of Redesdale, complain of the Wydvilles 
 ' and other of thayre myschevous assent and oppinion, whiche have 
 advised and causid oure seid sovereigne lord to geve of the seyd 
 lyvelode and possessions to them above their disertis and degrees' 
 (Warkworth, p. 48). And in 1475, after Edward's inglorious ex- 
 pedition to France, the Croyland Continuator says that 'tantus 
 crevisset numerus populorum conquerentium super male dispensatis 
 regni divitiis, . . . ut nesciretur quorum consiliariorum capita in- 
 columia remanerent ' (p. 559). It is therefore not without reason 
 that Fortescue (u. s.) says, that the abatement of these evils by a 
 properly constituted council would be a great security to the coun- 
 cillors themselves. 
 
 nor off murinor ageynesthe kynges person, &c.J Fortescue 
 wishes that the council should act as a shield to the throne, much 
 in the same way as the Cabinet, under the doctrine of ministerial 
 responsibility does in modern times. This lesson had perhaps 
 been impressed upon him by the events of Henry VI's reign. See 
 Introduction, Part I. pp. 9, 34, above. 
 
 and the wise man saith.] Prov. xi. 14 : 'Ubi non est guber- 
 nator, populus corruet : salus autem, ubi multa consiUa.' 
 
294 C&e (J5oioetnance of OBnglanD, 
 
 ' such a contenuaU counseU.] ' The king's pemanent, or 
 what would now be termed, the Privy Council, was called in the 
 ; records of Parliament, his " Continual or Permanent Council," in 
 ' contradistinction to the " Great Councils," which met only in conse- 
 quence of special writs of summons; whereas the "Continual 
 Council" sat daily for the dispatch of business' (P. P. C, I. iii; cf. 
 Dicey, Privy Council, p. 5). 
 
 The Privy 
 Council. 
 
 Its compo- 
 sition. , 
 
 Predomi- 
 nance of 
 the great 
 lords. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 How the kynges counsell mey be chosen, &e.J On 
 all this compare Appendix B. §§ 2, 3, which is often verbally 
 identical with the present chapter. 
 
 The kyngis counsell was wonned to be chosen, &c.J 
 For the earlier history of the council, which is an extremely 
 obscure subject, see S. C. H. ii. 255-266 ; and Dicey, Essay on the 
 Privy Council, pp. 1-13. And for the history of the council 
 during the Lancastrian and Yorkist period, see S. C. H. iii. 247- 
 256; and Dicey, U3. pp. 14 flf> In the present note I propose to 
 treat consecutively, in the light of the illustrations furnished by con- 
 temporary documents,, the chief points raised by Fortescue in 
 connexion with his scheme for re-organizing the privy council; 
 leaving the minor points to be dealt with in the separate notes 
 which foUow. I shall take the points as far as possible in the 
 order in which they are mentioned by Fortescue. 
 
 i. Composition of the Council. ' The kyngis counsell,' says 
 Fortescue, ' was wonned to be chosen off grete princes and off the 
 gretteste lordes off j^e lande both spirituelles and temporellis, and 
 also off ojser men that were in grete auctorite and offices.' By the 
 ' grete princes ' Fortescue means, no doubt, the immediate mem- 
 bers of the royal family, the king's uncles under Richard II and 
 Henry VI, the king's sons under Henry IV, the king's brothers 
 under Henry V and Edward IV. By the ' men in grete auctorite 
 and offices ' are meant the great officers, of whom the chancellor, 
 the treasurer, the privy seal, the chamberlain, and the steward of 
 the household were ex officio members of the council. These, 
 with the great lords spiritual and temporal, were the elements out 
 of which the council was composed during most of the Lancastrian 
 
BoU8, C!)ap^ jct). 295 
 
 period. In the early years of Henry IV we f5nd several commoners Common- 
 admitted to the council. In 5 and 6 Henry IV as many as seven ^"^^^ 
 commoners are found in the lists of councillors (Rot. Pari. iii. 530 ; 
 P. P. C. i. 237). At the beginning of Henry VI's reign the number 
 sinks to four (P. P. C. iii. 16, 148). After that date I have not! 
 found more than one, or at the most two unofficial commoners in , 
 the lists of the council. Mr. Dicey (u. s. p. 1 5) was inclined to attribute j 
 this difference to the less vigorous administration of Henry VI, : 
 which allowed the great lords to monopolize the government. I 
 am inclined rather to trace it to the gradual cessation of that Parlia- 
 mentary pressure on the composition of the council, which is so ; 
 marked a feature of the reign of Henry IV. Never were Par- ' 
 liaments more determined than under Henry IV, and they, like the 
 baronial Parliaments of Henry III, were anxious to force repre- 
 sentatives of their own upon the Ring as his advisers. Arnold 
 Savage, the most uncompromising Speaker in his addresses to the 
 Crown that the Commons probably ever had, found his way in this 
 manner into the royal council. Anyhow, it will be seen how great! Official 
 is the change contemplated by Fortescue, when he urges the for-l^°^^' 
 mation of an official council, composed almost entirely of persons Imended by 
 chosen on the sole ground of their capacity for business : ' xij | °'''^^™^- 
 
 spirituell men and xij temporell men off Tpe wysest and best disposed! 
 men paX can be ffounde.' For it is obvious that the four spiritual \ 
 and four temporal lords whom Fortescue, chiefly it would seem for / 
 appearance sake, adds to the council would have little influence as 
 compared with the twenty-four; especially as the former hold office 
 only for a year, whereas the latter are to ' be alway counsellers, but 
 yffjier be any defaute ffounde in hem, or jjat hit lyste the kynge be 
 the advise off ]>e more parte off hem chaunge any off hem.' Butj His pro- 
 great as the change may be which Fortescue proposes, it is thelP^'^j^^jv'' 
 change which as a matter of history eame about in the composition actual de- 
 and character of the council; and in this as in other points ^^^ j'jP'"^"' 
 Fortescue forms the transition from the old to the modern system, icouncil. 
 Of the character of the council under Edward IV we know, owing]/ 
 to the absence of documents, hardly anything; and therefore we 
 cannot say how far he acted on Fortescue's advice. The intro- 
 duction of the Wydvilles and their adherents into the council 
 (S. C. H. iii. 250) was but a very imperfect compliance; since 
 instead of destroying, as Fortescue wished, the influence of aris- 
 tocratic factions on the governmeiit, he merely created new factions 
 
Corre- 
 sponds with 
 Tudor 
 practice. 
 
 Increase of 
 the power 
 oftlie 
 Crown. 
 
 Number 
 of coun- 
 cillors. 
 
 Commit- 
 tees. 
 
 296 c&e (Sotictnance of (JEnglanti* 
 
 in- place of the old ones ; and on the ruins of the rivalry of the- 
 Roses arose the rivalry of the old and new nobility. It is when we 
 come to Tudor times that we see Fortescue's system in full workmg 
 order, though not of course in the exact mathematical detail which 
 he lays down. Of the forty counciUors appointed in 1553 twenty- 
 two are commoners. 'England was governed, not through peers 
 of ancient lineage, but through the .Cromwells, the Sadlers, the 
 Petres, and the Cecils, who constitute the glory of the Tudors' 
 rule. The promotion of such men was a national blessing ; but it 
 increased immensely the power of the crown, by undermining 
 the independence of the council ' (Dicey, p. 42 ; cf. P. P. C, VII. iii. 
 iv). The presence of ' base blood ' about the king or queen was a 
 [frequent theme of complaint in Tudor times. The increase of 
 the power of the Crown was precisely the result which Fortescue 
 most probably intended. The size of the council proposed by 
 Fortescue seems to us unnecessarily large, and we should be in- 
 clined to prefer the alternative council suggested by him on 
 economical grounds, consisting only of twenty members. But 
 the council of Edward VI was, as we have seen, even larger. 
 During the Lancastrian period the numbers of the council vary 
 from nearly forty (P. P. C. vi. 292 ; cf. ib. 167, 169, 171) to nine in 
 1410 (Rot. Pari. iii. 632, 634 b), when, owing to the emban-ass- 
 ments of the government, it was extremely difficult to get any one to 
 serve. The average number was from fifteen to twenty. But it 
 was probably only on important occasions, such as the incapacity 
 of Henry VI, that the council met in its fullest form. The fact 
 that 'six or at the least four' is constantly fixed as a quorum in the 
 regulations of the council, shows that the average attendance was 
 not expected to be very large ; a view which is entirely confirmed 
 by the records of attendances in the Proceedings of the Privy 
 Council; though in 1422 it was ordered that 'in aUe grete 
 materes Jjat schal passe by conseil, alle be present or eUis the more 
 partie' (P. P. C. iii. 18). The work of the council was still further 
 expedited by appointing committees for certain purposes {e.g. ib. 
 i. 127; V. 15 al.), a practice which was reduced to a system in 
 Tudor times (Dicey, pp. 39 f.). The attendance of the great 
 officers is allowed, but evidently not encouraged by Fortescue. 
 ' The judges, barons of the exchequer, master of the rolls, and 
 others are only to attend when specially requested ' for materes off 
 gret deficulte,' in the same way as the Triers of Petitions in. 
 
Parliament are allowed to summon the great officers and sergeants 
 of the king if they require their assistance (S. C. H. iii. 452, and 
 Rot. Pari, passim). In the actual records of the privy council it Attendance 
 is a constantly recurring regulation that the judges are to be con- °f J°'^g«s- 
 suited in all matters touching the king's prerogatives or freeholds 
 (P. P. C. iii. 151, 217; iv. 63). Many instances of the presence 
 of the judges are recorded in the Proceedings of the Council; 
 Fortescue himself being present on several occasions (see Intro- 
 duction, Part II. pp. 46-7, 52, above). 
 
 ii. Appointment and removal of Councillors. The appointment of Appoint- 
 counciUors, like the choice of ministers, is an undoubted prerogative '"^°' ?jj 
 of the Crown. But during the early part of the Lancastrian vested in 
 period this right was exercised under considerable limitations. in',™^*-'''°^°- 
 1404, 1406, and 1410 Henry IV had to yield to the request that ercised by 
 the council might be nominated in Parliament, which implied Parlia- 
 the nomination of a council acceptable to Parliament. Under the 
 popular rule of Henry V no question of this kind could arise. But 
 during the minority of Heru-y VI the council was appointed not 
 only in, but by Parliament. So that from 1404 to 1437 thel Analogy of 
 council may be regarded as occupying very much the position c,^;*™ 
 of a modern cabinet or ministry : i. e. as a committee of that govern- 
 party which commanded the confidence of Parliament and the ^° ' 
 
 nation. In 1406 and 141 1 Parliament passed what we should! 
 call votes of confidence in the ministry (Rot. Pari. iii. 568 a, 649 a). 
 And indications are not wanting that there was a tendency to give 
 to the council something of the unity and joint responsibility of a 
 modern cabinet. In 1406 the king agreed that if any of the 
 council were impeded in the performance of the king's service 
 {profit), or in the execution of the laws, they might resign (en 
 departir), without incurring the king's indignation. Still more 
 characteristic is the regulation made in the same Parliament that 
 no councillor should excuse himself, or accuse any of his colleagues 
 in regard to any decision come to in the council (ib. 572 b, 587 b) ; 
 for without mutual loyalty joiiit responsibility cannot exist. Afteri Cessation 
 1437 Henry VI resumed the right of appointing absolutely, per-PgPj^j.y " 
 haps, as Dr. Stubbs has suggested, because after the cessation of control. 
 the functions of the council as a government of regency, the 
 Parliament forgot or did not care to control the composition of the 
 council in its more normal capacity (C. H. iii. 249). The factious 
 policy of Margaret of Anjou finally destroyed any representative 
 
Responsi- 
 bility of 
 council- 
 lors. 
 
 Removal 
 of coun- 
 cillors. 
 
 298 C&e (Sotjetnance of CnglantJ, 
 
 character which the council might previously have had. Meii were 
 maintained in office whom the nation abhorred, others were 
 excluded whom the nation desired, simply because it was the 
 pleasure of the court. Further attempts to secure the responsi- ^ 
 bility of councillors are to be seen in the regulation that the clerk 
 of the council is to keep an exact, record of attendances ^ ' to see 
 what, howe, and by whom enything passethe ' (P. P. C. iii. 18); 
 and in the still more stringent order, thrice repeated, that every 
 ' bill ' passed in the council is to be signed by those councillors 
 who have assented to it (P. P. C. iii. 150, 216 ; iv. 62 ; many of 
 these ' bills ' signed by councillors may be seen in the P. P. C.) ; 
 provisions which remind us of the unworkable clause in the Act of 
 Settlement that ' all resolutions taken [in the privy council] shall be 
 signed by such of the privy council as shall> advise and consent to 
 the same' (Hallam, C. H. iii. 181). The advice given by the 
 judges under the circumstances mentioned above is also to be 
 carefully recorded. If a majority cannot be obtained for any 
 opinion, the various opinions put forward and the names of the 
 persons who held them are to be registered (P. P. C. iii. 149. 
 For actual instances of this, cf. ib. i. 126, 144; v. 7 6-7, 223, 274). 
 But the most striking instance in which the council showed their 
 sense of their accountability to Parliament was in 1389, when they 
 refused to agree to a proposal of Richard II, lest they should be 
 charged in Parliament with having unnecessarily burdened the 
 revenue (P. P. C. i. 120). Fortescue gives no hint of this parlia- 
 mentary control over the composition and measures of the council. 
 Very likely he considered it undesirable. But he limits very 
 materially the king's power of dismissing councillors, by requiring 
 that, except for some definite offence, councillors shall only be 
 removed with the consent of a majority of their colleagues. For 
 this too there is historical authority. In 1426 and in 1430 (during 
 the minority of Henry VI) it was prescribed, ' }3at ])e correction 
 punicion or remoevyng of any consailler or greet officer of ]>e 
 kynges procede of Jjassent and advis. of the more part of alle Jsoo 
 Jjat beene appoyntede of pe kinges counsail ' (P. P. C. iii. 216; iv. 
 62. Cf. the complaint of Lord Cromwell in 1432 that he had been 
 removed contrary to these regulations, and for no fault on his part, 
 Rot. Pari. iv. 392). As to their tenure of office, the appointment of 
 councillors under Richard II and Henry IV was annual; later, subject 
 of course to resignation or dismissal, it was for life (Dicey, p. 15). 
 
iii. The oath of the Councillors. The councillors, says Fortescue, Oath taken 
 are to ' be sworne to counsell the kynge aftir a ffourme to be de- j,{iio°°"" 
 vysed fFor Jjer owthe, and in especiall Jjat thai shall take no fee nor 
 clothynge nor no rewardes oflf any man except only off fie kynge.' 
 There are among the records of the Privy Council several entries 
 of the swearing in of councillors. And the allusions which these 
 entries contain to the ' usual form ' of the oath show that that form 
 was perfectly well known. For example, on February 28th, 1424, 
 ' Johannes dominus de Scroope juratus fuit ad sancta evangelia in 
 forma consueta de fideliter consulendo pro commodo Regis et 
 regni, et assumptus fuit in consilium Regis' (P. P. C. iii. 147). 
 In 1437, 'The keper of Jje prive seel, etc., have sworene and 
 maade feythe unto J3e K' to counsaille him wel and trewly, . . . 
 to kepe fie K' consailx secree, and shortly Jjei shal consail and 
 doo alle J)at goode consaillers sholde' (ib. v. 72). This is the 
 nearest approach that I have found to a record of the actual form 
 of oath on an historical occasion. But two forms of oath occur 
 (P. P. C. iii. 176, 188): the former was drawn up in the council 
 in 1425, to be taken by the council, while the latter was passed 
 in the Parliament of 1426, and was taken by all members of the 
 upper house. The chief points in the former, which is too long 
 to quote at length, are: that the councillors shall give impartial 
 counsel ; that they shall observe strict secrecy ; take no gifts 
 intended to influence their conduct as councillors; and generally 
 assist to their utmost 'during the Kynges tendre cage,' which 
 shows that this formula was drawn up with special reference to the 
 minority of Henry VI. Sometimes the councillors were sworn to 
 observe the special articles drawn up from time to time for their 
 regulation, e.g. Rot. Pari. iii. 585 b. For earlier forms of the 
 councillor's oath, see S. C. H. ii. 258, and the references there 
 given. The special point insisted on by Fortescue is illustrated 
 by a regulation of the year 1426, 'fiat no man be of Jje kinges 
 counsail but suche as be barely of his counsail, and entendyng 
 upone noon ofiers counsail in especiale ' (P.P. C. iii. 219), and by 
 a minute of the year 1437, 'fiat noon of hem take anny fee of any 
 ofier persone fien of fie kyng ' (ib. vi. 3 r 5). 
 
 iv. The President of the Council. The councillors, says Fortescue, President 
 must ' haue an hed or a cheeff to rule fie counsell, on off fie said council 
 xxiiijti, and chosen be the kynge, havynge is office at the kynges 
 pleasur, wich mey thanne be callid Capitalis consiliarius.' It is 
 
300 Cf)e (Soijcniance of CnglanD, 
 
 characteristic of Fortescue's point of view, that the President of 
 the Council is to be taken from among the permanent official 
 members of the council, and not from among the annual aristo- 
 cratic members. But though this point is new, the institution of a 
 chief councillor is old. Of the ancient Curia Regis, out of which 
 the council, like the Law Courts, arose by a gradual differentiation 
 and specialization of functions, the king himself was the natural 
 President. In his absence his place was taken by the Justiciar 
 (Capitalis Justiciarius). When the Justiciar lost his political 
 character, and became merely the head of the Court of King's 
 Bench, much of his importance was inherited by the chancellor ; 
 and this is perhaps the historical basis of Fortescue's suggestion 
 that ']>e Chaunceler when he is present mey be presydent and 
 haue Ipe suppreme rule off all ]>e counsel!.' This suggestion does 
 not occur in the almost identical scheme for the constitution of 
 the council drawn up by Fortescue with reference to the Lan- 
 castrian restoration of 14'jo (Appendix B). Otherwise we might 
 perhaps have suspected that a (no wise blameable) regard to his 
 own dignity had dictated the proposal. For, as we know, Fortescue 
 was appointed chancellor to Henry VI at the time of his expulsion 
 from the throne; and it is in this character that he introduces 
 himself in his dialogue on the Laws of England. Very frequently 
 however some definite person was appointed chief councillor. 
 Under Henry III, William Bishop-elect of Valence, ' factus est con- 
 siliarius regis principalis ; ' under Edward II the Earl of Lancaster 
 was made ' de consilio regis capitalis,' ' principalis consiUarius 
 regis ; ' Archbishop Stratford was ' consiliarius principalis ' to 
 Edward III, and the same office was held later in that reign by 
 William of Wykeham, with the title of ' Capitalis Secreti Consilii 
 ac Gubernatoris Magni Consilii' (S. C. H. ii. 257, 339, 402; 
 P. P. C, I. iv). Henry V, as Prince of Wales, and after him his 
 brother Thomas, held the chief place in their father's council, 
 though I have not found any special title assigned to them (S. C. H. 
 iii. 65, 68). 'Principalis Consiliarius' was one of the titles borne 
 by Bedford, and in his absence by Gloucester during the minority 
 of Henry VI, and was continued to them after the coronation of 
 the king had put an end to the title of 'Protector et Defensor 
 Regni' which they had previously borne in conjunction with it. 
 These titles are also those given to York during both his Protec- 
 torates in 1454 and 1455 (Rot. Pari. v. 243 b, 288 a). During his 
 
exile Fortescue himself held the post of chief councillor (Intro- 
 duction, Part II. p. 57 note, above) i- When the king was present in The king 
 council the words in presencia Regis are added at the head of the °°esenr'^^ 
 minutes {e.g. P. P. C. v. 6-11, 273). But that this was not the rule Communi- 
 is shown by the various regulations made with a view to securing cat'°" ^^^ 
 regular channels of communication between the king and the kTng'and 
 council, and the correlative and even more important measures for the council, 
 preventing the king from acting on advice coming through other 
 than the regular channels. Under Richard II it was prayed that 
 the king would give audience to his council whenever they might 
 request it, and that the chamberlain, steward of the household, and 
 the keeper of the Privy Seal might be ' reporters ' between the king 
 and council (P. P. C. i. 85). On Henry IV's accession it was 
 resolved that it was expedient that a ' convenable person ' should 
 be appointed to report to the king the advice of his council, and 
 this not only for the advantage of the king, but as a security to 
 honest councillors (ib. no). In 1406 it was ordered that those 
 councillors who were continually about the king (in virtue of their 
 oflSces) should act as intermediaries (Rot. Pari. iii. 585 b). In Cal. 
 Rot. Pat. p. 296 a (32 Hen. VI) there is a notice of a regulation con- 
 cerning the councillors and their access to the king; while numerous 
 are the requests that the king would give his full confidence (creance) 
 to his council, govern wholly by their advice, and not act on any 
 suggestion or information coming from any other source without 
 first referring it to them (P. P. C. i. 84; Rot. Pari. iii. 585-6). 
 The ' influence behind the throne ' was for centuries one of the ■ Influence 
 great obstacles to constitutional government. And this point Jf^™*^,** 
 comes out more clearly in Fortescue's paper of 1470 than in the 
 present work. ' And thanne,' he says, ' shall the king not be 
 counseled by men of his Chambre, of his housholde, nor other 
 
 ' In a more general sense the Archbishop of Canterbury was in old days 
 constitutionally the first adviser of the Crown (cf. S. C. H. i. 359 ; Select 
 Charters, pp. 92, 102). That this somewhat vague right was still in some sort 
 recognised is shown by Gloucester's manifesto of 1440 : ' Of right the arche- 
 bisshop of Caunterbnry shnlde be 5onre chief counsaillier, the whiche is also 
 estranged and sette aside.' English in France, il. 442. 'In 10 Ric. II. the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury delivered to Parliament a solemn protest claiming 
 for himself and his successors the right of being present at all the King's 
 Councils, whether General, or Special, or Secret (P. P. C, I. iii, from Rot. 
 Pari. iii. 223 b). Compare Rot. Pari. iii. 417 b : ' Archiepiscopo Cantuariensi 
 . . . competit primam vocem habere inter ceteros Prelatos et Proceres Regni.' 
 
302 
 
 C6e <25oioetnancc of Cnglanti. 
 
 Wages of 
 council- 
 lors. 
 
 Scale of 
 payment. 
 
 which can not counsele hym ' (Appendix B. § 2). While in his 
 tract on 'Good Counseill' (Appendix A) he traces all the mis- 
 fortunes of England to the fact that ' our kinges have bene reuled 
 by private counselloures, such as have offered their service and 
 counseile and were not chosen therto.' 
 
 V. Wages of Councillors. Fortescue evidently expects great 
 objections to be made to his scheme on the score of expense. 
 He is afraid lest the ' wages off the said xxiiij counselors seme a 
 newe and a grete charge to ]3e kynge.' But he replies very justly 
 that the expense will be small compared with that of the old 
 aristocratic council which 'was nothynge so behouefuU' as the 
 new council will be. For the aristocratic members of the new 
 council are to be as much reduced in salary, as in influence and 
 importance. The following table exhibits the scale of annual 
 payments made to councillors according to their hereditary or 
 official rank during the present period ; together with the fines per 
 diem imposed on them for absence from the council during term- 
 time without reasonable cause. 
 
 Councillors. 
 
 Wages per 
 Annum. 
 
 Fines per 
 Diem. 
 
 Authorities. 
 
 An Archbishop . . . 
 A Duke 
 
 £200 
 
 £200 
 
 £200 
 
 £200 
 200 marks 
 200 marks 
 200 marks 
 
 £100 
 
 £100 
 
 £40 
 
 £i 
 
 £1 
 
 £1 
 
 £1 
 I mark 
 I mark 
 I mark 
 
 I Of. 
 
 I Of. 
 
 4.f. 
 
 P. P. C. iii. 155-6, 266 
 p. p. C. iv. 101-3. 
 P. P. C. iii. 212-3. 
 P. P. C. iii. 155-6. 
 P. P. C. iii. 165-6. 
 P. P. C. iii. 155-6. 
 P. P. C. iii. 2 1 2-3 ; iv. 
 P. P. C. iii. 155-6. 
 P. P. C. iii. 222, 266. 
 P. P. C. iii. 155-6. 
 
 187. 
 
 The Chancellor... 
 Henry Beaufort . . . 
 Other Bishops ... 
 An Earl 
 
 The Treasurer ... 
 
 A Banneret 
 
 An Esquire 
 
 The higher scale of payment made to Henry Beaufort, as com- 
 pared with other bishops, is probably due to his connexion with the 
 royal family. The authorities here quoted range over a period of 
 ten years, from 1424 to 1434. In several of these records it is 
 stated that this scale of payment dates from the reigns of Richard 
 II and Henry IV (cf. e.g. iii. 155; iv. 262). In 1437 salaries are 
 granted to councillors for Ufe ; and in another minute of the same 
 year it is expressly stated that ' in cas jjat anny of \& seide lordes 
 or conseillers falle to suche unweldenesse or impotence )>at he shal 
 not mowe entende unto jjekynges saide Counseil, yit neverjjelees J^e 
 
Botzs. CJjap, jctt, 303 
 
 Kyng wol fiat he shal have and rejoise Ipe seide fee for terme of his 
 lyf (ib. V. 72 ; vi. 315). Considering the relative value of money, 
 these salaries are certainly liberal. But the expensiveness of the Special al- 
 King's Council comes out much more clearly when we consider i°'"'*°<=^^- 
 the special salaries granted to councillors like Bedford, Gloucester, 
 and Beaufort, under Henry VI, Thus Bedford, or Gloucester, as the 
 case might be, was to receive 8000 marks a year as Protector and 
 chief councillor (P. P. C. iii. 26, 197; Rymer, x. 268). In 1426, 
 during Bedford's presence in England, Gloucester was allowed 3000 
 marks as chief councillor next after his "brother (P. P. C. iii. 2 10, 228). 
 In 1429 it was agreed that he should receive 2000 marks as coun- 
 cillor, and 4000 marks when Lieutenant of the Kingdom during 
 Henry VI's absence (ib. iv. 12), But in 1 431 he succeeded in 
 getting the council to raise these sums to 5000 and 6000 marks 
 respectively (ib. 104-6). In 1434 Bedford and Gloucester agreed 
 to accept salaries of £1000 (ib. 2r8ff., 185). And certain other 
 councillors agreed to give their attendance during term time gratis 
 (Rot. Pari. iv. 446 b). But in 1437 we find Gloucester receiving his 
 old salary of 2000 marks (P. P. C. vi. 314). In addition to the cost English 
 of the English council, there was, during a considerable portion of S? ^"^ '" 
 the period, the further expense of the council of the English 
 Government in France, .the scale of payment for which seems to 
 have been considerably higher than for the English council (cf. 
 e.g. P. P. C. iv. 29, 34, 36, ^8, 82 ; Rymer, x. 472). 
 
 vi. Times of meeting of the Council, S(c. I do not propose to enter Times of 
 upon the very difficult legal subject of the jurisdiction of the ™^'^°S- 
 council, as Fortescue does not mention it. He may very possibly 
 have shared the jealousy towards it which prevailed among the 
 common lawyers. But the character of the council, as in some Analogies 
 sense a court of law, so far affected its proceedings, that, like other o^*^!^^-- 
 law courts, it only sat during term time, except in special emer- 
 gencies. The phrase 'in pleno termino curiis Regis sedentibus' 
 occurs in connexion with the meetings of the council (e.g. P.P.C. 
 iii. 156). The records of the council's proceedings are dated like 
 law reports, 'de termino Pasche,' &c. (ib. 53). In 1426 it was 
 specially ordered, ' Jjat out of terme tyme no thing be sped in fie 
 counsail but suche thing as for ]5e goode of fe kyng and of his 
 lande askethe necessaire and hastye spede and may not goodely be 
 abiden unto fe terme tyme' (ib. 216); and we find business ex- 
 pressly deferred because 'the lordes of the kynges blode and 
 
Cf)e (Sotiernance of (ZEnglann* 
 
 304 
 
 counsail . . . alle the tyme of Jje last hervest sesone have ben and 
 as yet bathe in Jjeire contrees at Jjeire leisier and desportes, as Tpe 
 . . . usage of Jjis lande ... is'' (ib. vi: 338)- It was expected 
 that the councillors should attend regularly during term time, unless 
 they had a reasonable ground for absenting themselves, and, as we 
 Special have seen, they were liable to be fined for non-attendance. But 
 summons, gpgcjal summonses were also issued when the business to be 
 transacted was exceptionally weighty. Both these points, the regular 
 attendance and the special summons, are illustrated by the follow- 
 ing missive of the year 14-58: 'Reverent fader in God, How be 
 it . . . alle the lordes and othir persones suche as be of owre 
 Counsail owen in the terme tyme to geve attendaunce to the same, 
 yit for suche matiers as concerne specially ... the welfare of 
 this owre lande and subgittes, we write unto you that be of our 
 Counsail . . . praying and also charging you that withoute any 
 faille ye wol be atte our paleys of Westminster the xj day of 
 Octobre next comying Stc' (ib. vi. 297; cf. ib. 175; i. 242). For- 
 tescue also assumes that the council will meet every day, for he 
 says : ' trewly such a contenuall counsell mey wel be callid mul/a 
 consilia ffor it is ofte and euere day counsellith ' (Chap. xiv. ad finem). 
 The question of the hours at which the council should sit, the 
 length of their vacation, &c., are among the details which Fortescue 
 leaves to ' be conseyued be layser.' But even on these points some 
 information is to be found. Thus, under Richard II, the council is 
 ordered to meet between eight and nine a.m., at the latest (P. P. C. 
 i. i8'»). Various rules were from time to time made with a view 
 to expediting business, which need not be detailed here. Absolute 
 freedom of debate was enjoined, ' alway due reverence kept to 
 every estat and persone' (ib. iii. 215; iv. 60). But it is likely 
 enough that Fortescue' s complaint is well founded, that no ' lower 
 man . . . durste say ayen the openyon off any off the grete lordis.' 
 To preserve the necessary secrecy, a point on which Fortescue also 
 lays great stress, none but sworn councillors are to be present, unless 
 specially summoned (ib.). The provisions that Lords of the Council 
 are not to harbour or maintain evil-doers, accept lands of doubtful 
 title, &c., illustrate the disorder of the time rather than the procedure 
 of the council, and are dealt with elsewhere. (Introduction, Part I. pp. 
 Place of 27-8, above). As to the council's place of meeting, the most usual 
 meetmg. ^^ , ^^^ sterred Chambre at Westminster.' But it met in other 
 places, both in London and elsewhere, according to circumstances. 
 
 Freedom 
 of debate. 
 
 Secrecy. 
 
Ji3ote0. Ci)ap. rt). 305 
 
 In 20 Edward IV we find the council 'in attendance for the king's 
 
 advantage at the Cardinal's hat without Newgate,' apparently a 
 
 tavern (Issues of the Exchequer, p. 499). It is one of Gloucester's 
 
 charges against Beaufort that he ' takyth upon hym youre estate 
 
 royal in cleping divers tymes youre counsaille to his owen hous ' 
 
 (English in France, ii. 449). Gloucester had however done the 
 
 same (cf. P. P. C. iii. 65). But perhaps, as Protector, he had more 
 
 right to do so. 
 
 vii. Subjects of Deliberalion, Fortescue gives a long list of Subjects of 
 
 various subjects on which he would have the council ' commune.' dslib^™- 
 
 tion. 
 
 Some of these will be illustrated in the separate notes which follow. 
 But he divides the general sphere of the council's deliberations 
 under two heads, viz. (i) ' materis of defeculte that fallen to the 
 kynge;' and (2) 'materes off \t pollyce off Jie reaume.' In more 
 modern language we might say — questions of administration, and 
 questions of general policy. And this describes well enough the 
 wide extent of ground covered by the council's deliberations. Like 
 those of a modern cabinet, they ranged over the whole field of 
 government. The proofs of this assertion must be sought in the 
 proceedings of the council ; but Dr. Pauli is certainly right when 
 he says that in those proceedings may be seen better than anywhere 
 else the way in which the Lancastrian kings ruled (Gesch. v. Engl. 
 v. 705). An interesting illustration of the deliberations of the 
 council may be found in P. P. C. i. 319 f., where we have preserved 
 an agenda paper of the council, on the back of which are endorsed 
 the decisions actually come to on some of the points. Mr. Dicey 
 classifies the functions of the council under certain heads, of which 
 the three most important are, (i) finance; (2) dealings with aliens 
 and with trade; (3) preservation of the peace ; which last is closely 
 connected with the jurisdiction of the council as a court of law. In Trade, 
 relation to the second point, it should be noted how many of the 
 specific subjects of deliberation mentioned by Fortescue are ques- 
 tions connected with trade. Here, again, the authorities are far too 
 numerous for citation, and may be found in every volume of the 
 council's proceedings. With regard to the first point, we have already Finance. 
 seen in the notes to Chap. vi. p. 210, above, how the estimates of 
 revenue and expenditure were prepared in the council (cf. also P. P. C. 
 i. 85). Another very important point mentioned by Fortescue, in Probouleu- 
 which the council resembles a modern cabinet, is the way in which [|o,[™f ^j^g 
 it acted in preparing measures for the consideration of Parliament ; council. 
 
Statutory 
 powers 
 conferred 
 on the 
 council. 
 
 Great 
 councils. 
 
 306 €l)C <5oi)ernance of CnglanD* 
 
 'wher through,' says Fortescue, 'pe parlementes shall mowe do 
 more gode in a moneth to ]3e mendynge off the lawe, then thai 
 shall mowe do an a yere yff pe amendynge Jier off be not debatyd 
 and be such counsell ryped to thair handes.' In this he is certainly 
 right. The ParUaments of England have always been quick enough 
 to discover grievances ; but they have often been no less helpless in 
 devising effectual remedies, unless led by men more specially 
 trained in the work of government. The share of the council 
 in grants of lands and offices will be dealt with in the notes to 
 Chapters xvii-xx. Then, as now, the council often acted 
 under special powers conferred upon it by Parliament, in regard 
 e.g. to the answering of petitions which were not dealt with in 
 Parliament, to the relaxation of certain statutes, to matters of trade 
 and finance, &c. (cf. Rot. Pari. iii. 457 b, 497 a, 506 b; iv. 118 a, 
 174 a, 506 b, &c. ; S. C. H. iii. 253-4). Sometimes they were 
 directed to take the advice of the judges (cf. e.g. Rot. Pari. iii. 
 505 b; iv. 506 b; V. 7 b, 9 a, 105, &c.). Sometimes, if the ques- 
 tions at issue were too serious to be decided by the council on their 
 own responsibility, a great council was summoned at their request, 
 which either settled the matter, or in turn recommended the sum- 
 moning of a Parliament (cf. P. P. C. i. 179; iii. 332; iv. 67; vi. 
 185). These councils consisted of the great lords spiritual and 
 temporal, the judges, privy councillors, &c., with whom were fre- 
 quently associated ' certain notable knights and esquires,' summoned 
 by name from each county, so that these councils resembled almost 
 Parliaments of nominees, or, to borrow a term from French consti- 
 tutional history which is fairly suggested by the phrase quoted 
 above, they were ' assemblies of notables.' Thus the education and 
 coronation of the king, the ordinances for the household of 1454, 
 &c., were discussed in great councils (cf. P. P. C. iii. 271, 297 ; vi. 
 220). Curiously enough, too, those financial functions which we 
 have attributed to, and seen exercised by, the Privy Council, were 
 in 1437 expressly claimed for the great council: 'pe kynges pro- 
 genitoures and predecessoures hade of lawdable coustumes and 
 usages at pe begynnyng of pe yer to purveie by Jsassent of his greet 
 counsail for alle necessaires and charges longyng unto him and to 
 his lordship that were lykly to falle and sue all pe yer after' (P. P. C. 
 v. 65). 'It is probable,' says Dr. Stubbs, 'that die theory which 
 gives to all the peers of the realm the right of approaching the 
 king with advice was thus reduced to practice ' (S, C. H. iii. 255 ; 
 
Bom. Cibap, x\i* 307 
 
 cf. ib. 498 ; ii. 347, 479). It is curious that Fortescue says nothing Not men- 
 of these great councils, though they are a great feature of Lan- po^^s^ug 
 castrian rule. Perhaps he disliked them as giving too much in- 
 fluence to the nobility. He admits that all the peers are 'con- 
 siliarii nati ' of the Crown ; but it is rather to enforce the view that 
 the Crovra has the right to ask their advice whenever it pleases, 
 than the converse doctrine that they have the right of tendering it 
 whenever they please. We hear little of great councils under 
 Edward IV; they reappear, however, under Henry VII, in connexion 
 with which may be read Mr. Spedding's note in the Appendix to 
 Bacon's History of HenryVII. In P.P. C. i. 155 if., vi. 340 fF., 
 we have lists of the knights who were to be summoned from each 
 county to a great council. It is interesting to find that one of the 
 knights summoned for Buckinghamshire on the latter occasion was 
 John Hampden, of Hampden. 
 
 thai were so occupied with thair owne maters, &e,] Predomi- 
 Similar complaints were sometimes made of the Parliaments. In private°in- 
 opening the Parliament of 1401 Thirning, Chief Justice of the terests in 
 Common Pleas, complained ' coment devaunt ces heures pluseurs ® '^°"°'^' • 
 des Seigneurs et Communes venus par Sommons au Parlement 
 ont este pluis entendantz pur leur singulers et especialx besoignes 
 que pur la commune profit et aide du Roialme.' In 1402 similar 
 complaints were made by the Chancellor in his opening speech 
 (Rot. Pari. iii. 454 b, 485 b). It was perhaps to check this evil 
 that it was ordered in 1426 and 1430 that if 'eny matere to be 
 spede in Tpe counsail ' concerned any of the councillors ' he whom 
 the saide matere touchethe be not present whiles p&t ]>& saide 
 matiere ... is in comunyng' (P. P, C. iii. 214 ; iv. 60). In 1406 
 Lord Lovel was excused from serving on the council because he 
 had certain pleas pending in the king's courts 'par quoy il ne 
 pourroit honnestement occupier celle charge' (Rot. Pari. iiL 573 a). 
 The following are perhaps instances of lords of the council 
 using their position as councillors to obtain privileges, &c. for 
 persons in whom they were interested (Feb. 26, 1443): 'At 
 Jiinstance of myLorde Tpe Bisshope of Norwiche theKyng graunted 
 to William Chartesey his letres patentes of exempcion quod non 
 ponaiur in assisis,' etc. (March 30, 1443): 'At Jiinstance of my 
 Lorde of Somerset and Maistre Adam Moleyns Jje Kynge granted 
 to Th. Vaghan Walsheman boren to be denszein,' etc. (P. P. C. v. 
 255, 256). To check this evil again it was ordered (ut si^ra) that 
 
 X a 
 
3PS Cbe (Soioemance of (ffinglann. 
 
 no councillor was to promise his influence beforehand in favour 
 of any suitor, but should simply answer to all solicitations that the 
 matter would be considered by the council. 
 Private eorrupcion ... off the seruantes and coTinseUers off . . . 
 
 Slnd^ the lordes.] Just as the King had his Privy Council in which 
 o°hers!" were debated, as we have seen, all matters affecting the administra- 
 tion and general policy of his kingdom, so the great lords spiritual 
 and temporal, and other persons of importance, had their separate 
 councils for the management of their estates, the discussion of their 
 political affairs and line of conduct, the maintenance of their 
 interest and influence, the support of their adherents and partizans, 
 &c. Thus in 1 40 1 Henry Spencer, Bishop of Norwich, is ordered, 
 if he cannot appear in person, to send ' quatre trois ou deux per- 
 sones suffisantz et discretz de vostre conseil' (P. P. C. i. 165). 
 Lord Level writes ' y by th' avise of my counceill,' &c. (Paston 
 Letters, i. 442). The Duke of Norfolk writes, ' consayled be the 
 Lordes of our Consayle and oder of owr Consayle' (ib. ii. 247); 
 the Earl of Oxford, ' I . . . with my Counceyle, shall take a direc- 
 tion for the suretie of all that cuntre' (ib. 421). We hear of the 
 council of Humphrey duke of Gloucester (Bekynton's Correspond- 
 ence, i. 281); and Bekynton himself was Gloucester's Chancellor 
 (ib. ii. 361). The Abbot of St. Alban's consults ' viros solidos sui 
 temporalis concilii' (Amundesham, i. 314); and Pecock has an 
 interesting passage on the sums spent by the monasteries 'upon 
 worthi gentil men leerned in lawe for mentenance of her rijtis, and 
 upon knyjtis and squyers . . . into her honest chering and weel 
 fare, and into nurisching of frendschip and of loue' (Repressor, 
 pp. 370-1; — a passage which gives us some insight into the 
 various interests which were harassed by the dissolution of the 
 monasteries. Cf Whethamstede, II. xxv— xxxii). The Earl of 
 Northumberland appoints the Prior of Tynemouth 'to be of 
 my Councelle,' with ' an annuyte of x. Ii. by yer . . . during 
 my plesure' (Whethamstede, ii. 218); and the wages of the ' con- 
 siliarii domi' are among the expenses of a Viscount's household 
 Their de- enumerated in the JLi'der Niger (Ordinances, &c. p. 30). The 
 analogcras development of these lesser councils was analogous to that of the 
 to that of royal council. At first they were purely feudal in their composi- 
 coimcU.^^ tion. Thus Archbishop Thurstan grants a charter to Beverley 
 'consilio meorum baronum' (Select Charters, p. 109). But in the 
 ■course of time they too assumed a more oiEcial character. The 
 
3I3oteiBf» C&ap, x\3* 309 
 
 extensive and scattered estates of the nobility, their various rights of 
 patronage, &c., the litigiousness of the age, and perhaps in some 
 cases, as Pecock hints (Repressor, p. 306), their own aristocratic 
 ignorance, necessitated the employment of a vast number of men 
 of business, and of men learned both in the common and canon 
 law. And it is not always easy to determine whether, in any given 
 case, by the phrase ' of hys councell ' is meant councillors in the 
 general sense, or ' counsel ' in the legal sense. Often of course the 
 two would be coincident. The latter however are generally termed 
 'councell lerned, both spirituell as temporell;' and so thoroughly 
 was their relation to their employer recognised, that they are always 
 exempted from the operation of the numerous statutes which forbid 
 the giving of liveries. From the Paston Letters (i. 16, 174) it would 
 appear that lords often had persons 'of their councell' specially 
 retained in the separate counties to look after their interests in that 
 particular quarter. In the former passage William Paston, afterwards 
 Judge, complains that his salary had long been allowed to fall into 
 arrears by the Duke of Norfolk. But the councils of great lords 
 were not composed entirely of lawyers and men of business. We 
 have seen how the Duke of Norfolk speaks in almost royal style of 
 ' the lords and others of our council; ' and Lord Scales writes of him- 
 self as being one of the same nobleman's council (Paston Letters, ii. 
 344). This relation was at once the symbol and the cement of poli- 
 tical and family connexion. In Waurin (ed. Dupont. iii. 186 fif.) is 
 a very interesting letter from Louis XI's ambassador describing the 
 interview which he had with Warwick and his council. (On the 
 Queen's council and officers, see notes to Chap. x. p. 265, above). 
 And in these lesser councils evils prevailed, as Fortescue here hints, Cornip- 
 similar to those which existed in higher quarters ; corruption, main- ''°°- 
 tenance, and ' brocage ' or undue influence. Of this the annals of 
 St. Alban's furnish us with a good example. In 1435 the abbot 
 wished to obtain from Lord Grey of Ruthin a surrender of certain 
 rights which he had over the Priory of Beaulieu, a cell belonging to 
 St. Alban's, as the representative of the original founder of the cell. 
 The manner in which the surrender was obtained shall be told in 
 the annalist's own words : ' Cum didicisset [abbas] quomodo fund- 
 ator dictus, ad instar aliorum procerum, quosdam habebat secum 
 peculiares consiliarios, per quos in talibus arduis negotiis benignius 
 regi vellet, mox per media pecuniaria ipsorum notitiam conquaesi- 
 erat, propositaque materia, eos penes dominum mediare procurabat. 
 
3^0 C6e ®cnoernance of (Z^nglanti* 
 
 Sicque homm mediis concessit tandem dominus relaxationem facere, 
 relaxavitque,' &c. (Amundesham, ii. io6. The sums actually paid 
 on this score are given in the accounts of the Abbey, ib. 267. 
 They amount to £97 6s. 8d.). The corruption of the King's 
 council by bribes was one of the things complained of by Cade 
 (Stowe, p. 389 a). 
 . no mater . . . kept prive.J Cf. ^gidius Romanus, De Regi- 
 mine, III. ii. 17, who derives the word consilium from con and 
 I sil'ere ; i. e. a place where many are silent together. Cf Bacon's 
 Essay Of Counsel. 
 
 how thai had sped, &c.] In the articles drawn up in the 
 Parliament of 1406 for the regulation of the council it is laid 
 down that no councillor or officer is to promise his support before- 
 hand to any applicant, nor to give him any information until the 
 matter has been finally decided on by the council (Rot. Pari. iii. 
 587 b; cf. sup. p. 308). 
 
 How mey J)e kyng be eounsellyd to restrayne gyvinge, 
 &c.] See notes to the last Chapter, pp. 292-3, above. 
 
 eorodeis or peneions oflF abbeyis.J On these see notes to 
 Chap, xviii, pp. 337-9, below. 
 Oath of the like as ]3e Justices ... be sworne.J The oath to be taken 
 by the Judges is prescribed by a statute of 20 Edw. Ill called 'the 
 Ordinance for the Justices.' The part of it which illustrates the 
 present passage runs as follows : ' That ye take not . . . gift nor 
 reward ... of any man that shall have any plea or process hanging 
 before you ; . . . and that ye take no fee as long as ye shall be 
 justice, nor robes of any man, great or small, but of the king him- 
 self; and that ye give none advice or counsel to no man, great or 
 small, in no case where the king is party,' etc. A petition against 
 William Paston for alleged systematic violation of this oath is in 
 Paston Letters, i. 36. On the corruption of Judges, see Introduction, 
 Part I, p. 22, and notes to Chap. vi. p. 223, above; and on the Judges' 
 oath, cf. De Laudibus, c. 51: 'Jurabit etiam, quod . . . non recipiet 
 . . . ab aliquo, preterquam a rege feodum, aut pencionem aliquam, seu 
 liberatam, neque donumcapiet ab habente placitum coram eo,' &c. 
 
 It shall not be neeessarie fat the xij spirituell men . . . 
 
 haue so gret wages, &e.J This passage illustrates a point in which 
 
 the mode of life in the middle ages differed from that of the present 
 
 day (cf Introduction, Part II, pp. 44-5, above). Persons whose 
 
 ^ occupation as lawyers, government officials, &c., obliged them to be 
 
Bous. Cfjap, rtt. sir 
 
 in London during a portion of the year did not as a rule reside Residence 
 there with their wives and families, but made their homes in the J"s^°"^°" 
 country, going themselves alone to London for suet periods as mon in the 
 their work rendered necessary. A letter in the Paston collection ^^^ '^ 
 (i. 1 86) hints that this absence was not always unwelcome, and 
 that pretexts were sought for extending it. ' Ulveston is styward 
 of the Mydill Inne, and Isley of the Inner Inne, because thei 
 wold have ofEcz for excuse for- dwellyng this tyme from her 
 wyves.' Thus John Paston resided in the Inner Temple (ib. 41) 
 during term time, while his wife managed his property and 
 family in Norfolk ; sending her husband from time to time rabbits 
 and other country produce to help bis housekeeping (ii. 21), 
 Sir Thomas More complains in the same strain of the miseries 
 of lay ambassadors who had while on duty to keep 'two house- 
 holds : ' I never liked the office of an ambassador. We laymen 
 and you priests are not on equal terms on such occasions . . . 
 When a priest starts on his mission he can take his whole family 
 with him . . . but whenever I am absent I have two families 
 to keep, one at home and one abroad . . . And I cannot pre- 
 vail on my wife, children,, and servants ... to stop eating 
 until I return ' (cited by Brewer, Henry VIII, i. 65). Another Clerical 
 reason, not mentioned here by Eortescue, why the salaries of ° j"q^j 
 clerical officials were not so high as those of- their- temporal of church 
 colleagues was that the former could be supplemented out of '^^^'^""^^' 
 the revenues of the church. Thus in 1437 Henry VI granted to 
 Louis of Luxemburgh,. Archbishop of Rouen and Chancellor of 
 France, the temporalities of the See of Ely in pari payment of an 
 annuity of 1000 marks which had been previously granted him 
 (Rymer, x. 671, 666; cf. Bekynton's Correspondence, i, 4-8; 
 Rot. Pari. V. 11). Gascoigne says roundly: 'jami ecclesiae et 
 episcopatus sunt pensiones et mercedes servorum regum et do- 
 minorum mundanorum' (p. 181). It was in fact part of the 
 tacit compact which existed between the Crown and the Church 
 during the later middle ages, that the former should be allowed 
 to make use of the revenues of the latter in this way; (cf. 
 Creighton, Hist, of the Papacy, i. 45 : ' Gradually the king 
 and the pope arrived at a practical understanding as to the 
 division of spoil. If the offices of the church were to furnish 
 salaries for the king's ministers, they must also supply revenues 
 to the head of the church'). In the memorial of 1470 (App. 
 
312 
 
 C&e (25otiemance of CnglanD. 
 
 Parliament 
 of Paris. 
 
 Slieriffs 
 annual. 
 
 B. § 6) Fortescue does however mention this point: 'it is 
 not like but that he woU avaunce the spirituell menne of his 
 counseill with benefices as they shalbe worthy/ So in the Liber 
 Niger, if any of the King's chaplains 'be benefysed to xl. li. he 
 taketh no wages in this courte' (Ordinances, &c., p. 35). 
 
 the spiritueU juges in the courte. off parliment ofif Parys, 
 &e.] Among the expenses of the English administration in France 
 for the year 1 4 2 8 is set down the following : ' Item, dominis judicibus 
 principalibus regni Francise, viz., prsesidentibus, doctoribus legis 
 civilis et consiliariis in parliamento apud Parys' (English in France, 
 ii. 53-6). And in 1431 the king's council in France asked the advice of 
 the council in England upon this among other points : ' Hem, for Jje 
 paiement of J^estates of fie parlement, of chanibre-of f>accomptes, and 
 of o)3er officers of ]7e reaume of France. Considering jjat of Jiat 
 lande arrisethe noo commoditee to paie hem withe ' (P. P. C. iv. 94). 
 But in neither case is the distinction mentioned which Fortescue 
 here draws between the lay and clerical members of the court. 
 The remark may however be noted as another instance of the care 
 with which Fortescue while abroad compared French and English 
 institutions. In his memorial of 1470 (App. B. § 3) Fortescue 
 sets down 300 and 400 scutes as the salary of the clerical and lay 
 judges respectively. The scute as we have seen (notes to Chap, 
 iii. p. 198, above) was worth 3^. ^d. In P. P. C. iii. 63, the frank- 
 is estimated at zs. dd., i. e. eight to the pound sterling ; in Wor- 
 cester's collections (English in 'France, ii. 534) it is reckoned at 
 the rate of three franks to the noble, i.e. nine to the pound. Either 
 estimate causes a considerable discrepancy between the two state- 
 ments of Fortescue. But perhaps some other frank is intended. In 
 Appendix D. to Rymer (p. 317) we have a frank which is equal to 
 eight gold scutes. In Rymer, xii. 115, there is an ordinance fixing 
 the relative value of certain English and French coins, 
 consiliarii nati.] v. s. p. 307. 
 
 temporell men wieh . . . bith made shyreffes for a 
 yere.J For the earlier history of the office of sheriff see S. C. H. 
 i. and ii. The first establishment of annual sheriffs was due to 
 the baronial government of 1258 (ib. ii. 78, 206 ff. ; Select Char- 
 ters, p. 391). This limitation was finally fixed by statute (14 Edw. 
 III. St. I.e. 9 ; re-enacted 28 Edw. III. c. 7 ; 42 Edw. III. c. 9) ; 
 while by i Ric. II. c. 11, three years were to intervene before any 
 person was re-appointed sheriff. The reason for this policy 
 
is clearly given in the first of tliese statutes, viz. that by continu- 
 ance in office sheriffs are ' encouraged to do many oppressions to 
 the people.' By St. i Henry V, c. 4, the same limitations were 
 extended to their officers, and for a similar reason, viz. that 
 owing to the continuance of these officers in their situations, the 
 king's lieges ' dare not pursue or complain of their extorsions and 
 oppressions' (cf. Rot. Pari. iv. 10 a; P. P. C. iii. 220). In 1421 
 however the Statute of Edward III had to be suspended for four 
 years, because, owing to 'pestilences within the realme, and 
 wars without,' there was no longer a sufficiency of good and 
 substantial persons to undertake the office of sheriff (9 Hen. V. 
 St. I. c. 5; cf. Rot. Pari. iv. 148 b). In the very next year the 
 commons petitioned for the revocation of this Statute of Henry V, 
 though without effect (Rot. Pari. iv. 191 a). In 1445 a petition to 
 the commons sets forth that in ' divers shires in Englond ' sheriffs 
 have remained in office ' sum x yere, and sum xii yere, and more,' 
 which is ' lykly in tyme comyng to be importable hurt, open dis- 
 heritaunce, and supportation of manslagter, perjure, and grete 
 oppression to many of the liege people of oure Soveraigne Lord ' 
 (ib. V. 108); in consequence of which a statute (-23 Hen. VI. c. 
 7) was passed, whereby an annual penalty of £200 was imposed 
 on all who should occupy the office of sheriff for more than a 
 year. In 1459 the commons complained of the 'grete extortions 
 and mesprisions ' of sheriffs and their officers in Chester and Wales 
 owing to the fact that they ' hav estate teaane of her lyves in the 
 said offices,' and prayed that their patents might be cancelled, 
 which was granted with certain reservations (ib. 366 b. The 
 complaint is illustrated by a grant in P. P. C. v. 224, of the sheriff- 
 dom of Cheshire to a man and his son for the terme of their joint 
 lives. In Westmoreland the office seems to have been hereditary, 
 ib. vi. 194). By St. 8 Edw. IV. c. 4, an indemnity was given to 
 sheriffs who had remained in office for more than a year during the 
 first three years of the reign, such continuance having been rendered 
 necessary by the disturbed state of the country (cf. Rot. Pari. v. 
 631 a). By 12 Edw. IV. c. i, and 17 Edw. IV. c. 7, the law was 
 slightly relaxed to obviate the inconvenience caused by thfe interval 
 which often elapsed between the expiration of one sheriff's term of 
 office, and the entry of his successor on his duties (cf. ib. vi. 154 a, 
 191 a). The words 'be reason of ]>ei enheritaunce and hvelod' quaUfica- 
 are illustrated by numerous statutes requiring the sheriffs to have a tion. 
 
3f4 
 
 Cfje (Sotiernancc of CnglanD. 
 
 qualification in land within their county. The earliest enactment 
 on this subject is in the Provisions of Oxford (Select Charters, 
 p. 391). The reason given in many of the statutes is, in order 
 that they may have ' whereof to answer the king and his people, 
 in case that any man complain against them ' (4 Edw. III. c. 9). 
 And in a petition already alluded to it is stated that the appoint- 
 ment of unsubstantial persons to the office has been a cause of great 
 loss to the king, and of oppression to his subjects (Rot. Pari. iv. 148 b). 
 On the partiality and corruption of sheriffs and other local officers, 
 Extortion, see Introduction, Part I, pp. 20, 28-30, above. One cause of their 
 extortions may have been the fact mentioned by Fortescue, that they 
 had no regular salary, and were therefore driven to indemnify 
 themselves in irregular ways. Thus we hear of an illegal exaction 
 introduced by the sheriffs of Northumberland, called head-pence, 
 which consisted in extorting from the county every third and fourth 
 year £51 (i.e. £102 every seven years), so that when those years 
 came round there was great competition for the office (Rot. Pari, 
 iv. 291 a). Another device was to raise from the. county more 
 than was required for the wages of the knights of the shire, and 
 appropriate the balance (ib. v. no b; St. 23 Hen. VI. c. 10). 
 Embarrass- Another cause of extortion was the embarrassed state of the local 
 local e revenue, which was also one reason why it was so difficult to find 
 venue. reputable people willing to undertake the office. Thus in 1455 
 Sir John Tempest refused to undertake the office of sheriff of 
 Lincolnshire, unless security were given ' that he take noo losse in 
 ]3e saide office' (P. P. C. vi. 263). In the same year Hugh 
 Louther, Esq., was threatened with a fine of £2000 if he refused to 
 execute the office of sheriff of Cumberland (ib. 271), while the late 
 sheriff of Nottingham and Derby complained, that he and his pre- 
 decessors were held accountable for revenues and profits 'the 
 whiche of mony yerez a goon were not levable ne paieable ' (ib. 
 272). This embarrassment of the local revenue was partly due to 
 the decline of various towns and districts owing to war, pestilence, 
 floods, incursions of the Scots, loss of trade, &c. The rolls of 
 parliament are full of petitions from towns and counties, asking for 
 a reduction of the terms at which they were assessed, on one or 
 more of these grounds (e.g. Rot. Pari. iii. 438, 447, 514-8, &c. 
 This cause affected the central exchequer also, because it diminished 
 the quota which the towns were able to pay to the tenths and fifteenths, 
 ■which were levied on the basis of a valuation made in the reign of 
 
Edward III, cf. S. C. H. iii. 6ii). Sometimes the local revemie 
 could not be collected, because of the disturbed state of the 
 country (Rot. Pari. vi. 63 b). But the chief cause of the decline 
 of the local revenue was that it, like the central exchequer, was bur- 
 dened with grants, annuities, pensions, &c. Throughout the whole 
 of this period the rolls of parliament are full of petitions com- 
 plaining that, in spite of these burdens, sheriffs were expected to 
 raise the old amount of revenue from their shires {e.g. Rot. Pari, 
 iii. 434 b, 469 a, &c. ; vi. 64 a). In 1449 the Master of the 
 Buckhounds complained that he could not obtain payment of his 
 salary, which was charged on the revenues of Surrey and Sussex, 
 because, as the sheriff asserted, the revenues of these counties were 
 ' soo charged of othir wages and annuytees graunted by your letres 
 patentes to othir divers personys' (Rot. Pari. v. 167). In Nov. 
 1446 the Master of the Harriers had been in a similar plight for a 
 similar reason (Issues of the Exchequer, p. 456); while in 1455 
 the commons petitioned that all these local grants might be resumed, 
 because owing to the deficit on the local revenue ' noo persone of 
 good wille dar take upon him to be sherref in any shire for the 
 most partie in this lande' (ib. 328 a). A third cause of the op- Exactions 
 pressions complained of was the exactions made by the officers of ^^ ^^' 
 the exchequer from the sheriffs, escheators, &c., which obliged the 
 latter to indemnify themselves by means of similar exactions from 
 their districts (Rot. Pari. v. 323 b ; St. 33 Hen. VI. c. 3). Cade, in 
 one of his proclamations, traces the extortion of sheriffs, &c. to 
 their habit of letting their ofiices out to farm (Stowe, p. 389). In 
 De Zaudiius, c. 24, Fortescue gives an account of the office and 
 mode of appointment of sheriffs. 
 
 materes ofiF J)e pollycye ofFJje reaume; as how, &c.] Among 
 the causes of summons of the Parliament of 1455 are enumerated 
 some of the subjects of deliberation which Fortescue here mentions : 
 'to provide and ordeine meanes to sette aside the beryng out of 
 Gold and Silver of this Reaume ; ... to purveie and ordeine for 
 the seure kepyng of the See,' &c. ; and special committees were 
 appointed to deal with these and other points (Rot. Pari. v. 279 f.). 
 On Committees of Council something has been said ; above, p. 296. Commit- 
 Bacon in his Essay ' Of Counsel ' recommends that these committees ^^^ "'^j 
 should be permanent for certain subjects ; which was in fact the 
 system in vog^e under the Tudors : ' I commend also, standing 
 commissions ; as for Trade, for Treasure, for War, for Suits, -for 
 
3i6 Cfie <Soticrnance of €ng;IanD,^ 
 
 some Provinces.' ^gidius Romanus enumerates five chief subjects 
 on which a king's councillors should deliberate: (i) the revenue; 
 (2) food, the prices of which they must fix if sellers sell at too 
 high a rate ; (3) the safeguard of the state from seditions, &c. ; 
 (4) peace and war; (5) legislation; De Regimine, III. ii. 11. 
 Import bow J)e goyng owt off \q money may be restrasraed, &c.] 
 
 and export Seeing that it was the accepted doctrine during the middle ages, 
 precious and till the time of Adam Smith, that money alone was wealth, it 
 metals. jg j,ot surprising to find that a large part of the commercial legis- 
 lation of the middle ages is directed towards stimulating artificially 
 the importation of the precious metals into England, and preventing 
 their exportation. Some illustrations of these two points may be 
 given from the statutes and other documents of the period. In 
 20 Ric. II it was enacted that every merchant exporting wools, 
 &c. from England should bring to the king's Bullion in the tower 
 of London within half a year an ounce of gold for every sack of 
 wool, half last of hides, or 240 wool-fells (Rot. Pari. iii. 340 a, 
 429 a; cf. St. 8 Hen; V. c; 2). The rules at the Staple of Calais 
 with reference to the payment for wools seem to have been very 
 strict. In 1437 the commons in vain petitioned for a relaxation 
 of them, on the ground that they drove foreign merchants away 
 (Rot. Pari. iv. 508). In 1442 in answer to a renewed petition 
 they obtained a statute, by which it was ordered that only one 
 third of the value of the wool sold was to be paid for in silver 
 bullion, which was to be brought to the mint at Calais to be coined 
 (ib. V. 64; St. 20 Hen. VI. c. 12). But even this was found 
 unworkable, and before the year was out Henry VI had to grant 
 dispensadons for the non-observance of the statute. One main 
 reason of this was, that the Duke of Burgundy had established so 
 strict a search on his frontiers to prevent the passing of bullion, 
 &c. to Calais, that merchants from the Low Countries, who were 
 the chief customers of the English staple at Calais, were unable 
 to comply with the regulations in question. The Mayor of the 
 staple stated at the time, that they had often been obliged to 
 dispense with these regulations on their own authority (P. P. C. v. 
 216-222; cf R.ymer, x. 605). By St. 3 Edw. IV. c. i it was 
 enacted, that half of the price of all wools sold at Calais should be 
 paid ' in Jawfull money of Englond, Plate or Bullion of Sylver or 
 Gold' (Rot. Pari. v. 503 ; cf. ib. 275b). 
 
 The regulations against the exportation of bullion, plate, or coin 
 
Jl3ote0. Cf)ap, x^* 317 
 
 were equally stringent. Foreign merchants were required to export 
 
 in exchange for the wares which they imported only English 
 
 merchandise, and not money. Thus the double object was served, 
 
 as it was thought, of preventing the outflow of the precious metals, 
 
 and stimulating the market for English goods. Very complicated 
 
 regfulations were made with a view to effecting these objects, and 
 
 the frequency with which they were re-enacted shows that it was 
 
 not found easy to enforce their observance. The earliest statute on 
 
 the subject of which the date is certain is 27 Edw. I, Be Falsa 
 
 Moneta. The following are the chief statutes during our present 
 
 period: St. 2 Hen. IV. c. 5; 4 Hen. IV. cc. 15, 16; 5 Hen. IV. c. 
 
 9; 2 Hen. VI. c. 6; 8 Hen. VI. c. 24; 27 Hen. VI. c. 3; 17 Edw. 
 
 IV. c. I ; all of which are founded on petitions to be found in the 
 
 Parliament Rolls for those years. The French wars, the expenses Drain of 
 
 of the English government in France, the ransoming of prisoners, ^om%n„ 
 
 &c., caused a great drain of money from England to the Continent land to the 
 
 (cf. Rot. Pari. iv. 252). In 1419 Parliament empowered the Continent. 
 
 council to take measures to stop this outflow, and ordered that 
 
 the supplies for the army should be forwarded as far as possible in 
 
 kind and not in money. In this very year 50,000 marks had 
 
 been sent to Normandy to the king's treasurer at war at one time 
 
 (Issues of the Exchequer, p. 360 ; cf. ib. 422). In the Parliament 
 
 of the following year the scarcity of money was alluded to in 
 
 the Chancellor's opening speech (Rot. Pari. iv. 118 a, 123a; cf 
 
 ib. iii. 658 b). In 1429 commissioners were appointed to enquire 
 
 into jewels, money, plate and bullion exported to Picardy without 
 
 licence, contrary to the statute (P. P. C. iii. 329). In 1455, as we 
 
 have seen, a committee was appointed by Parliament to discuss the 
 
 whole subject (Rot. Pari. v. 279 b). One great reason given for 
 
 resisting the papal exactions, provisions, first-fruits, &c., was the 
 
 way in which they drained the country of money (ib. iii. 490 a, 
 
 557 a, 621 a; St. 6 Hen. IV. c. i ; 9 Hen. IV. c. 8). The permanent 
 
 annexation of the alien priories to the Crown was petitioned for on 
 
 the same ground (Rot. Pari. iv. 22 ; cf. Rymer, ix. 280). The first 
 
 of the three Fifteenth Century Chronicles printed by Mr. Gairdner 
 
 notices under the year 3 Edw. IV the prevalence of low prices 
 
 and great scarcity of money, but it does not seem to strike the 
 
 writer that the two facts were connected (p. 80). Among the Licences 
 
 documents of the period, are numerous licences to export money, ,^on^ey°&c. 
 
 plate, &c. These are for persons going abroad on military service, 
 
3i8 
 
 ^U <Sot)ernance of (ZEnglanD* 
 
 Control 
 of the ex- 
 changes. 
 
 Jealousy 
 of foreign 
 merchants, 
 &c. 
 
 for prisoners sending for their ransoms, for foreign ambassadors 
 and papal collectors leaving the country, for English ambassadors 
 starting on their missions, &c. For the council of Basle alone licences 
 amounting to over £33,000 may be found in Rymer, x. 525 flf. 
 For the congress of Arras in 1435 licences are found amount- 
 ing to over £22,000. If the relative value of money be borne in 
 mind it will be seen that these sums are very considerable (cf. 
 ib. 610 ff. and P. P. C. iv. 302). On the first patent roll of 36 
 Hen. VI there is a memorandum ' de mediis Ileitis et honestis per 
 bonam policiam practicandis concern' aurum et argentum ' (Cal. 
 Rot. Pat. p. 298 a). In the same way it was attempted to control 
 and limit the foreign exchanges, especially that to the court of 
 Rome: or, as they were called, the temporal and spiritual ex- 
 changes (Rot. Pari. iii. 543 a, 626 b; St. 11 Hen. IV. c. 8. An 
 earlier statute on the subject is 14 Ric. II. c. 2; cf. Cal. Rot. Pat. 
 p. 266 a. Gascoigne, p. 52, complains of the way in which the 
 foreign exchanges impoverished the realm). The king received 
 2d. on every noble, i.e. 6d. in the pound or 2^ per cent, on all 
 money sent abroad by way of exchange (Issues of the Exchequer, 
 pp. 411,421 ; cp. the accounts for the year 1433 printed in the notes 
 to Chapter vi, p. 213, above, where the proceeds of this tax are set 
 down at £79 13J. 4d.). In the Patent Roll of 18 Hen. VI we 
 find the following notice, ' Incorporatio pro cambiatoribus ac aliis 
 operariis cambiorum London' et Cantuar' ac ampl' libert'.' (Cal. 
 Rot. Pat. p. 282 a). 
 
 how pe prises off marehatindise growen in this lande, 
 &C.J The endeavour of the foreign merchant was naturally the 
 exact converse, viz. to enhance the price of tbe goods which he 
 imported^ and to beat down the price of English merchandise. 
 There are many bitter complaints in the Rolls of Parliament against 
 foreign merchants, brokers, &c. On this score the honest English- 
 man was firmly persuaded that he was constantly being cheated by 
 the knavish foreigner ; or, as the author of the ' Libel of English 
 Policy ' puts it, foreigners 
 
 'Wypen our nose witli our owne sieve.* 
 
 (Political Songs, ii. 176.) 
 Thus, in 1422 and 1433, the commons were petitioned to enact 
 that no alien might occupy the office of broker, because the foreign 
 brokers always favoured the foreign merchants, and by means of 
 the information which they supplied, enabled the latter to ' enhaunce 
 
J13ote0. Ciap* m 519 
 
 ye prises of her merchandises, yat is to sey, spicerye, wynes, and 
 other, and abaten the prises of owre merchandise, as wolle and 
 clothe, and other' (Rot. Pari. iv. 193b, 449b). The petition was 
 on both occasions refused by the king. It was however renewed 
 in 1442, when appeal was made to a statute of 50 Edw. Ill (ib. ii. 
 332), which, it was alleged, had been put in execution as recently 
 as 9 Hen. V. The king promised to inspect the statute and pro- 
 vide a remedy, but no new statute was enacted (ib. v. 56). Similar 
 complaints were made in 1429 against certain inhabitants of Calais, 
 who 'with Merchauntz straungiers of her affinite . . . bryng 
 downe ye pris of ye commodite of yis Roiaume.' At the same 
 time it was declared that foreign merchants, by a system of buying 
 on credit, ' have ful gretely encresed and avaunced her Merchan- 
 dises, and broght doune to noght ye pris of ye commodite of yis 
 Roiaume,' and very interesting statistics are given to prove this 
 point (ib. iv. 360-1 ; St. 8 Hen. VI. cc. 20, 24, founded on these 
 petitions ; cf. Rot. Pari. iv. 509 a ; v. 334 b). Very elaborate 
 measures of supervision for foreign merchants were enacted with 
 a view of preventing these evils (ib. v. 24b; St. 18 Hen. VI. 
 c. 4 ; cf. I Ric. III. c. 9). One way of ' abating ' the price of im- Prices fixed 
 ported merchandise which was sometimes adopted, was to fix the ^^ statute. 
 price of it by Statute. Thus in 141 1, pepper, ' q'est le pluis usuel 
 spicerie a tout le Commune de Roialme,' the price of which had 
 been artificially enhanced by the 'grocers and Lombards,' was 
 ordered to be sold at is. 8d. the pound, and no more (Rot. Pari, 
 iii. 662 a). The statutes compelling the import of bow-staves, and 
 fixing their price, may also be remembered here (above, notes to 
 Chap. xii. pp. 282-3). -A-nd one way of ' holding up ' the price of 
 native products which then, as later, was frequently resorted to, was 
 to forbid the importation of similar articles. This protective policy Protection, 
 seems to have been pursued with special vigour under Edward IV, 
 and the legislation of the merchant king is mainly occupied with 
 the regulation of trade and manufactures. Thus the importation 
 of foreign cloth was forbidden (St. 4 Edw. IV. c. i ; Rot. Pari. v. 
 502 b, 563 a). No wrought silk was to be imported, but only the 
 raw material (St. 3 Ed. IV. c. 3; Rot. Pari. v. 506a; vi. 222b. 
 This was merely a re-enactment of St. 33 Hen. VI. c. 5, which had ex- 
 pired. Cf. Rot Pari. v. 325 a). No foreign corn was to be imported 
 except when wheat was above 6s. 8d., rye above 4J., and barley above 
 3J. the quarter (St. 3 Edw. IV. c. 2 ; Rot. ParL v. 504 a. When the 
 
320 c&e (JDoDernance of ^nglanti. 
 
 price of corn fell below these figures, it might be exported ; ib. iv. 
 500a; V. 31 a; St. 15 Hen. VI. c. 2). While in St. 3 Edw. IV. c. 
 4 (cf. Rot. Pari. v. 506 b), there is a long and interesting list of 
 articles the importation of which is forbidden. Similarly the ex- 
 portation of unwrought horns was forbidden, lest foreign workers 
 in horn should rival the English, who had an admitted superiority 
 (St. 4 Edw. IV. c. 8; Rot. Pari. v. 567 a). In the tract on 'the 
 Comodytes of England,' Fortescue (if it be by him) enumerates as 
 the chief products of England, wool, cloth, tin, lead, and coal 
 Import- (Works, p. 551). Of these the first was by far the most important, 
 anceofthe ^jj(j ^g jj^yg ggg^ j^qw in some of the extracts given above it is 
 ' spoken of simply as ' the commodity of England.' Coke (2 Inst. c. 
 25, quoted by Waterhous, p. 382) says : ' Divide our Native Com- 
 modities exported into ten parts, and that which comes from the 
 sheep's back is nine parts in value of the ten.' This importance is 
 well brought out by Mr. Thorold Rogers in the Preface to 
 Gascoigne's ' Liber Veritatum,' p. xxv : ' It is the only produce which 
 I have been able to find, in the Ibng range of my enquiries into the 
 history of finance, which was, in the middle ages, so absolute a 
 necessity and so absolute a monopoly that an export duty could be 
 levied on it, without diminishing the demand for it in the foreign 
 market. Financiers have always desired to find some product on 
 which they could levy such a tax as the foreign consumer would be 
 constrained to pay. Except in the case of English wool, from the 
 thirteenth to the end of the sixteenth century, the search has been 
 as profitless and as disappointing as that for the philosopher's stone 
 or the quadrature of the circle. But dm-ing the fourteenth and 
 ' fifteenth centuries, English wool satisfied every condition of that 
 financial problem which is seeking to impose an import duty that is 
 to be paid by the consumer. It was a necessity. There was no 
 ! substitute for it. It could hardly be economised. There was no 
 ' other source of supply. The hundred years' war was carried on 
 out of the taxation of wool,' and the tax was paid by those upon 
 whom war was made.' To the same effect, ' Work and Wages,' 
 p. 79. 
 
 owre nauy. j On this, cf. the notes to Chap. vi. pp. 231-9, above. 
 
 how also \q Lawes mey be amendet.J On this probouleutic 
 
 function of the council, cf. pp. 305-6, above. In the De Laudibus, 
 
 c. 35) Fortescue declares that all the laws of England are ' very good,' 
 
 either actually or potentially, because if they are defective in any 
 
Bom. c&ap. jcti» 321 
 
 point they can always be reformed in Parliament. Cf. Fortescue, 
 
 Legal Opinions and Judgments, p. 80. 
 
 Tpe Gierke oflF the rolles.] This is the officer whom we now Clerk or 
 
 call Mas/er of the Rolls. Clerk of the Rolls was at this time his ]t^lf\f 
 ,■—.,, the Rolls, 
 
 most usual official title ; but the Paston Letters show that the more 
 
 modern phrase was even then becoming the prevailing one in 
 familiar language. Out of six places in which this officer is men- 
 tioned, he is in one only (i. 393) called 'Gierke of the Rolles;' in 
 one instance (iii. 99) the term ' Master off the Rollys ' is used 
 absolutely; in the remaining four he is called 'my Maistr of the 
 Rolles' {e.g. i. 430). This last phrase possibly guides us to the 
 origin of the modern title, the full style probably being that given 
 by Foss under the reign of Henry VI (Judges of England, iv. 221), 
 ' my Mayster the Gierke of the Rolls.' The title master is found 
 also in formal documents [e.g. P. P. G. v. 126; Rymer, xii. 14; 
 Gal. Rot. Pat. p. 322 b). He is also called Keeper (Gustos) of the 
 Rolls {e.g. P.P. G. vi. 336; Rot. Pari. v. 447a; Rymer, viii. 181, 
 &c.) Sometimes two of these titles are used in combination. Thus 
 we find (Rot. Pari. v. 505 b), ' Maister or Keper of youre Rolles ;' 
 and ' Clerk or Keper of oure Rolles ' (ib. 528 a, 578 a) ; ' Glericus 
 et Custos Rotulorum ' (Gal. Rot. Pat. p. 294 a). This officer derived 
 his name from the fact that he was charged with the custody and 
 arrangement of the Rolls of Chancery. He is first mentioned in 
 the reign of Edward I, under the title of ' Custos Rotulorum Can- 
 cellariae domini Regis ;' but the office must have existed previously. 
 He was at first merely one of the senior clerks, or, as they after- 
 wards became, Masters of the Chancery. And even after he had 
 become an independent officer, he was generally appointed from 
 among their number. From the time of Edward III, the office The Do- 
 was permanently combined with that of ' Custos domus Con- ^"^^^°"i^ 
 versorum,' an institution founded by Henry III for the reception of 
 converted Jews. The expulsion of the Jews under Edward I 
 having much diminished the need for such an institution, the house 
 was annexed as a residence to the office of Master of the Rolls ; 
 cf. Rot. Pari. v. 447 a : ' Domus nostra Gonversorum, prefato 
 officio per progenitores nostros quondam Reges Anglise ab antiquo . 
 disposita et annexa.' In Issues of the Exchequer, p. 471, Thomas 
 Kyrkeby is called Clerk of the Rolls, and master of the house of 
 converted Jews (29 Hen. VI). The grant of the office was some- 
 times for life, sometimes during the king's pleasure, sometimes 
 
 Y 
 
322 Cbe (^oviernance of Cnglanti. 
 
 during good behaviour. The Master of the Rolls was nearly 
 always one of the persons charged with the custody of the Great 
 Seal, and with the transaction of the business of the Chancery in 
 the absence of the Chancellor (see, for the history of the office, 
 Foss, U.S. iii. i2fF., 326£f.; iv. 9 ff., 187, 221, 387 f). 
 
 putt in a boke.] We hear occasionally of the ' Book of the 
 Council ;' but it was rather a record of actual proceedings than a 
 collection of rules of procedure, which is what Fortescue seems 
 here to have in view; though, no doubt, the proceedings of the 
 past would serve as precedents for the future (cf, P. P. C, II. xxvi. f ; 
 V. i-vii; VII. i-ii ; Rot, Pari. v. 283). 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 How the Romaynes prospered . . . eounsell.] On the 
 
 whole of this chapter compare the tract in Appendix A, ' Example 
 what good counseill helpith and avantageth and of the contrare what 
 folowith ; ' which almost reads like an alternative (earlier) version 
 of the present chapter. 
 Need of The need and advantage of good counsel is a subject naturally 
 
 good conn- much dwelt upon in the opening addresses of the Chancellor to 
 Parliament. Thus Henry Beaufort in 1404, taking for his text 
 the words MuUitudo Sapienium, ' molt discretement et clergialment 
 monstra et declara, Coment par bone et sage Conseil chescun 
 Roialme serroit de droit governez' (Rot. Pari. iii. 522; cf ib. 
 567 a; iv, 3 a, 261). So John Stafford, Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 in a memorandum written about 1443-6, urging the king to sum- 
 mon a council, reminded him that 'eVery reame and lordshippe 
 wel ruled is goeverned by grete forsighte and goode and sade 
 policye and advisinesse of Counsail' (P. P. C, vi. 339). And in the 
 act which committed the government to the Privy Council during 
 the second illness of Henry VI, it is stated ' that every Prince must 
 of verray necessitee have Counsaillers to helpe hym in his charges, 
 to whome he muste trust and leene ' (Rot. Pari. v. 290 a). Gower, 
 in his address to Henry IV, says : 
 
 • Abonte a kyng good coraiseil is to preise, 
 Above alle othre thinges most vailable.' 
 
 (Political Songs, iL 8.) 
 
Jl3ote0. Ci)ap. jctii. 3=3 
 
 And the Compendium Morale quotes on this subject Cic. de Officiis, 
 ' qui agunt cuncta consilio reguntur sapientia ' (f. 55 b). And, as 
 we have seen, Rehoboam with his young counsellors is a regular 
 commonplace of all historians and political writers (above, notes to 
 Chap. X. p. 269). Vincent of Beauvais (De Morali Inst. Princ.) 
 has a chapter (c. 1 2) on the choice of counsellors, which is again 
 a favourite theme with these writers. He remarks further (c. 15) 
 that for an unlettered king especially lettered counsellors are neces- 
 sary. Cp. Commynes, i. 10; ii. 2, 3 ; iii. 5. 
 
 The Romaynes, while thair counsell, &c.] For Fortescue's 
 views on the Roman constitution, cp. N.L.N, i. c. 16. And with 
 special reference to the government of the Senate, cf ib. c. 23 : 
 ' Romanorum regnum cccxx. Senatorum consultu diu regulatum 
 a minimo in maximum mundi crevit imperium.' And this last 
 passage shows whence Fortescue derived some of his ideas of 
 the greatness of Rome under Senatorial government, viz. from 
 I Maccabees viii. 1-17 ; cp. especially v. 15 : ' Quotidie consulebant 
 trecentos viginti, consilium agentes semper de multitudine, ut quae 
 digna sunt gerant.' This passage is quoted by the Pseudo-Aquinas, 
 De Regimine, iv. c. 25. He however, following St. Augustine, 
 attributes the greatness of Rome to three causes : ' Una sumitur 
 ex amore patriae, alia Vero ex zelo justitise, tertia autem ex zelo 
 civilis benevolentise ' (iii, c. 4). 
 
 monarchie . . . off all J)e world.] On this, cf Janet, Histoire Imperialist 
 de la Science Politique, i. 388 : ' Les doctrines impdrialistes, comme the'Siddle 
 les doctrines thdocratiques, reposaient les unes et les autres sur des Ages, 
 fictions et des mensonges historiques. Tandis que les partisans du 
 pouvoir eccl^siastique invoquaient deux fails complfetement fictifs : 
 la donation de Constantin et la translation de I'empire des Grecs 
 aux Germains, hypothfese fondde sur le serment d'Othon, . . . 
 les jurisconsultes imp^riaux n'^taient pas de leur c6t6 en reste 
 d'inventions historiques et juridiques. Aux fictions th^ocratiques 
 ils opposaient deux fictions du m6me genre: lo la perpdtuit^ 
 de I'eitipire romain ; 20 la monarchie universelle.' Fortescue, 
 though in some ways a strong papalist (cf Introduction, Part III, 
 p. 103, above), shows here that he is a thorough believer in both 
 these imperialist fictions, which indeed dominated more or less 
 the whole of the Middle Ages. The former will be dealt with Universal 
 in a later note; we are concerned here with the theory of a '"?"*• 
 universal empire. On this cp. De Laudibus, c. 14: 'Lex Civilis, 
 
 y a 
 
324 
 
 €i)Z (S5ot)etnance of dEnglanti. 
 
 qua sacrum regulatur imperium, sufficiens arbitratur ad orbis 
 regimen universi.' N. L. N. i. c. 32 : ' Nobilissimse Leges illse 
 Civiles quse quasi totius mundi curam tamdiu egerunt.' lb. ii 
 c. 53 : 'Imperator etiam, cui totus olim mundus obtemperaverat ' 
 (Works, pp. 95, 171). So too Pecock, after describing in an 
 ascending series tlie various gradations of authority, concludes, 
 ' til we come vnto oon highest emperour, bi whos hijest oon heed 
 schal reste and pees be mad thoruj alia peple' (Repressor, p. 449). 
 These views had of course their most glorious votary in Dante. 
 They appear in all his works, but he reduced them to system in 
 the Be Monarchia. They came out strongly in the controversies 
 between Lewis of Bavaria and the Popes, but that contest had little 
 iniluence on England (S. C. H. iii. 293). 
 
 Octavian . . . comm.oiinded all Jje world to be discribed, 
 &C.J Luke ii. I : ' Exiit edictum a Caesare Augusto ut descri- 
 beretur universus orbis.' Cp. the account of Domesday given by 
 Florence of Worcester : ' Willelmus rex fecit describi omnem An- 
 gliam.' Higden represents Octavian as the national hero of the 
 Romans (Polychr. v. 336). In a poem addressed to Henry VI on 
 his coronation the poet wishes (somewhat inconsistently) that he 
 may have 
 
 'Conqaest, victorye, with Cesar Juliusi' 
 and yet be 
 
 'Peace preferryng as OctovyaH.' 
 
 (Political Songs, ii. 43.) 
 
 It may be remarked that both of Julius and Augustus the Middle 
 Ages created extremely ideal characters very wide of the historical 
 Fictitious reality. Nothing in fact is more curious than the way in which the 
 created by ^i^dle Ages, out of the fragments of historical knowledge which' 
 the Middle came down to them,, fantastically re-constructed the fabric of the 
 ^^- past, so that in reading the mediaeval version of earlier history we 
 
 seem to be moving in a wholly unreal world. The Alexander, 
 Julius, Augustus, Virgil,, and Charles the Great of mediaeval litera- 
 ture are as different from the historical realities as can well be 
 imagined. But it is not easy for us to appreciate the enormous 
 difficulties in the way of acquiring a correct knowledge of the past 
 which then existed, (On this cf. Riezler, Die literarischen Wider- 
 sacher der Papste, § 9). One of the first persons to study history 
 in a really critical spirit was our own Pecock. His disproof of the 
 Donation of Constantine (Repressor, pp. 352-366) is a very 
 
notable piece of work, and worthy to rank with Valla's famous 
 tract on the same subject. 
 
 but aftir this . . . the estate ©ff ]je Romans, ... be Causes of 
 ganne to faU doune, &e,J n his opening speech to the *^^^^^^'^"^ 
 Parliament of 1402, Bishop Stafford, the Chancellor, gave a° 
 different theory of. the decline of the Roman power. ' Et mon- 
 stra outre mesme le Chanceller, coment pur importune et 
 insaciable Covetise et Averice des Communes, et auxint des 
 autres grandz, la Cite de Rome feust destrute ' (Rot. Pari. iii. 
 485 a). Much the same theory is pjit forward as a warning 
 to England by the author of the satirical verses on Bishop 
 Boothe : — 
 
 ' These were the same tha;t Rome .overthrewe ; 
 Wittenes of writing alia this is trewe.' 
 
 (Political Songs, ii. 227.) 
 
 In the earlier form into which Fortescue cast his thoughts on 
 these subjects, he speaks of the civil wars of Rome, and compares 
 them to those which had desolated England, tracing both to the 
 influence of ' private counselloures ' (App. A). But perhaps such 
 a reference was avoided as iU-omened after Fortescue's recon- 
 ciliation with Edward IV. Aquinas also speaks of the civil wars of 
 the Romans; De Regimine, i. c. 4. And ^gidius (III. ii. 15) 
 attributes their origin to the cessation of external wars. See the 
 passage quoted in Introduction, Part I, above, p. 7, note. 
 
 nowe the lordeshippes off J)e emperoiir, &e.J We see 
 here Fortescue's unquestioning belief in the unbroken continuity 
 of the Roman Empire, on whjch see Professor Bryce's admirable 
 Essay on the Holy Roman Empire. The Emperor at this time 
 was Frederick III, who was in truth a very sorry representative 
 of the great Julius. 
 
 be wieh ensample, &c.J This is very pretty logic. But a 
 writer who has a theory to maintain cannot afford to be hampered 
 by such considerations as the possibility of a plurality of causes. 
 
 to subdue . . . all . . . that he shall liste to reygne 
 uppon.j Cp. Cade's Proclamation : ' Thes defawtes thus dewly 
 remedyd , . . owr sovereyn lord . . . shall have so gret love of 
 his people that he shall . . . conqwere where he wyll' (Three 
 Chron. pp. 98-9), In the 'Declaration upon Certayn Wrytinges' 
 which was written between 1471 and 1473, and by which For- 
 tescue earned the reversal of his attainder in the latter year, he 
 
326 c&e (Sotiernance of aBitglanti. 
 
 says: 'O howe good lorde is Godde to the Kynge otire Souerayne 
 
 lorde that now hathe yeven him thies bothe titles wherethorow his 
 
 subgettes may fight for hym in his title for his roialme of Fraunce 
 
 with oute any doute or scrople of counscience ;' a passage which 
 
 French ex- seems clearly to have been penned with a view to Edward IV 's 
 
 pedition of proposed expedition to France, which seems to have been broached 
 Edward ft- i- -,,.,.^ti 
 
 IV. to Parliament in 1472 (Rot. Pari. vi. 4 a) but did not take place 
 
 till 147s, though it had been planned in 1468, before Edward's 
 expulsion from England (ib. v. 622-3), and was expected in France 
 both in 1466 and in 1470 (Commynes, ed. Lenglet Dufresnoy, 
 ii- 67. 83). It is possible that the passage under consideration has 
 a similar reference. If so, it forms an additional proof that 
 this chapter in its present form was written after the restoration 
 of Edward IV. 
 
 and in especiall pe cronycles, &c.J I have not yet dis- 
 covered from what source Fortescue derived his knowledge of the 
 past history and then condition of Athens and Sparta. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 On the whole of this chapter see App. B. §§ 4 and 6. 
 
 Offices In With regard to offices in the gift of the Crown and of the great 
 
 the Crown, officers of the Crown, the commons in 1406 successfully insisted 
 
 that they should henceforth be granted not for term of life or years, 
 
 but only at the king's pleasure (Rot. Pari. iii. 587, 589 a). This 
 
 policy, if it was ever carried out, seems to have been formally 
 
 reversed by the council on the accession of Henry VI, for we find 
 
 . an Order in Council of Jan. 28, 1423, that all persons who had 
 
 grants of offices from the late king during good behaviour were to 
 
 have those grants confirmed to them as for term of life (' acsi 
 
 habuissent statum ad terminum vitae in officiis predictis ') ; unless 
 
 they were notoriously inefficient and undeserving (P. P. C. iii. 23). 
 
 Henry IV Henry IV seems to have concentrated the great offices as much as 
 
 tratesThe Possible in the hands of his own family, partly perhaps because he 
 
 great could rely better on the fidelity of those whose fortunes were 
 
 his'own" necessarily bound up with his own; partly perhaps because they 
 
 family. could be kept waiting for their salaries with less danger than 
 
 other great nobles, such as the Percies; for we know that im- 
 
Bom* C&ap, rtiii. 327 
 
 pecuniousness was the chief ' note ' of the first Lancastrian reign 
 (cf Introduction, Part I, pp. 5-6, above). Thus Henry, Prince of 
 Wales, besides his special employment in the field and in the 
 council, as lieutenant of 'the king in Wales, &c., was Warden of 
 the Cinque Ports and Constable of Dover Castle, and Captain of 
 Calais in succession to his uncle Somerset (Cal. Rot. Pat. p. 254 b; ' 
 Rymer,viii. 629 ; cf. P. P. C. ii. 4). Thomas, the king's second 
 son, was Steward or Seneschal of England, Lieutenant of Ire- 
 land and of Aquiiaine, and Captain of Guisnes (Cal. Rot. Pat. 
 pp. 243 b, 246 b ; Rymer, viii. 758 ; P. P. C. i, 340). John, the third 
 son, was Constable of England, Warden of the East March, and 
 Keeper of the King's Falcons (Cal. Rot. Pat. pp. 247 a, 250 a, 
 245 b). Humphrey, the fourth son, does not seem to have 
 held any ofiSce, he was probably too young. Somerset, the 
 king's half-brother, was Chamberlain of England and Captain 
 of Calais (ib. 237 a, 239 a; P. P. C. ii. 4); while Thomas 
 Beaufort, another half-brother, was Admiral of the North and 
 West, of Ireland, Aquitaine, and Picardy, and, for a time. Chan- 
 cellor (Cal. Rot. Pat. pp. 255 b, 256 b). During the minority Mode of 
 of Henry VI it was agreed that all foresters, parkers, and war- ^PP°i"t- 
 reners should be appointed by the Protector, who was also to ing Henry 
 present to all livings in the gift of the Crown the annual value of ^^ ? ™*' 
 which was between 20 and 30 marks, and to all prebends in the 
 royal chapels except the deaneries ; these last and the benefices 
 above 30 marks, and all other offices, were to be given by the 
 Protector and council (Rot. Pari. iv. 175. The king resumed the 
 power of appointing to benefices and offices in Nov. 1437; ^^- ^■ 
 439). Exactly the same regulations were made for the two pro- 
 tectorships of York in 1454 and 1455 (ib. v. 243 b, 289 a). 
 
 Just as the places at the council board were almost exclusively Monopoly 
 occupied by the great lords, so almost all the great offices ^ °^<^^^ 
 were monopolized by them. The aristocratic principle of ap- great lords, 
 pointing to offices is expressly laid down in the Proceedings 
 of the Privy Council for 1436: 'To advertise Tpe K' J^at he 
 yeve offices to suche persones as Jjoffices were convenient to, 
 not to hieghe estat a smal office, nejjer to lowe estat a grete 
 office ' (v. 3). As illustrations of the way in which offices were 
 accumulated by great personages I will give two instances : 
 Gloucester under Henry VI, and Warwick under Edward IV. 
 Gloucester was Chamberlain of England, Constable of Gloucester Gloucester. 
 
328 
 
 C&e (Soiietnance of CnglanD* 
 
 ■ Castle, Justice of Chester and of North and South Wales, Con- 
 ' stable of Dover Castle and Warden oJF the Cinque Ports, Justice, 
 ' Chamberlain, and Custos of all Forests South of Trent, Captain of 
 Guisnes, and Captajn of Calais (Cal. Rot. Pat. pp. 269 a, b, 283 a; 
 P. P. C. iii. 69, 77, 267 ; y. 138 ; vi. 25 ; Rot. Pari. iv. 174, 483 a). 
 Warwick. Warwick under Edward IV was Steward or Seneschal of England, 
 Great Chamberlain of England, Constable of Dover Castle and 
 Warden of the Cinque Ports ; Custos, Justiciar, and Justice in Eyre 
 of all Forests South of Trent; Warden of the East and West 
 Marches, Chief Justice of South Wales, Constable of Cardigan 
 Castle, and Steward of the Courts of Cardigan and Carmarthen; 
 Admiral, Captain of Calais, and Lieutenant of Ireland ; Seneschal 
 of the Manor, Master Forester, and Keeper of the Park of Ffe- 
 kenham ; Master of the King's Mutes and Falcons, with the Manor 
 called the ' Mewehouse ' near Charing (Cal. Rot. Pat. pp. 300 a, 
 312 a; Hearne's Fragment, pp. 299 f ; Rymer, xi. 475, 488, 641, 
 647; Rymer's MS. Collectanea, Edw. IV, Vol. I. Nos. 15, 16). 
 These lists are probably incomplete. But aj: least they are 
 sufficient to show what an immense reduction in the power of 
 the great lords would have been effected if the rule which 
 Fortescue lays down at the end of this chapter had been adopted : 
 ' pat no man haue mo ofiBces then on.' On the way in which 
 great men engrossed offices in order to distribute them to their 
 followers, see a later note, pp. 334-7. On the offices connected with 
 the administration of Calais, see notes to Chap, vi, p. 229, above. 
 
 ther shall be lityll nede to gyff bem moch off his livelod.] 
 Cf. Chap. v. above. A list of the offices which the king in 
 Edward Ill's time had at his disposal for rewarding his house- 
 hold servants is given in the Zt5er Niger (Ordinances, &c. p. 19) : 
 ' This king appoynted of offices outward to rewarde his household 
 services after theyre desertes to be parkers, some ibresters, 
 waryners, kepers of manors, baylywicks, constableshippes, por- 
 tershippes, receivours, corrodyes, wardes, marriages, and many 
 other thinges of value, in portes and townes, citees, &c. and for 
 his chapelmen, chyrches, prebendes, free chapelles, and pensions, 
 &c. when any suche fell in his gifte, or elles by his lettres of 
 contemplation, to gette suche benyfece of any other lord for his 
 household-man.' 
 
 when he liste to call thaym.J For writs summoning the 
 king's 'fee'd men' cf. Rymer, ix. 355: 'Rex vicecomitibus, &c. 
 
. . . Prsecipimus vobis . . . quod omnes et singuli milites, ar- 
 migeri, et valetti, qui aliqua feoda sive annuitates de Nobis . . . 
 habent . . . sub forisfacturi eorumdeiiij sint . . . apud Villain 
 nostram Suthamptonise,' &c. : cf. ib. 216; Camden, Misc. i. Re- 
 bellion in Lincolnshire, p. 25 ; Paston Letters, i. 157 ; ii. 145, 406 : 
 ' The Kynge hathe sent for hys ffeeodmen to koom to hyn?.' 
 
 Some fiforester off J>e kynges, &c.] On the appointment of Military 
 foresters, parkers, and warreners, see above, p. 327. On the military ^"^f^^^l" 
 power which, as Fortescue remarks, the royal forests were capable of the royal 
 furnishing, compare an interesting passage from Mr. Brewer's Henry ""^^sts. 
 VIII : ' The king had at his own immediate disposal the steward- 
 ships of forests, manors, chaces, castles, fisheries, and mines ; the 
 coUectorships of customs in various ports. . . . The forests and 
 chaces maintained a numerous and hardy race of men, trained to 
 arms, and ready for the king's service at any time he should deem 
 fit to employ them. They formed a standing army without its 
 obnoxious features. . . . No minister dispenses or even shares the 
 patronage of the crown ; he may recommend, but evidently that 
 recompiendation is confined within the narrow circle of those who 
 are already known to the sovereign, , . . All this has changed the 
 King's position, and vastly augmented his power' (i. 70-2). i.e. 
 in Henry the VIII's time the system which Fortescue wished to Appoint- 
 see established of direct appointment to all offices by the Crown ™^"' '^° 
 had become a reality. Mr. Brewer's words also illustrate the offices 
 remark of Fortescue a little lower down : 'the kynge givyth mo than ^'^'^ 
 M^ offices.' We hear of ' a ridership within the Forest of Delamare vill. 
 . . . with iii. d. by day for wagez' (Rot. Pari. v. 192 a), and of a 
 ' raungership within oure Forest of Westbere . . . with the wages of 
 ii.d. by the day' (ib. 594 b) ; and of ' iiii. d. by day, for . . . fees and 
 wages of exercising th' office of keper of oure Forest or Chace of 
 Boryngwode' (ib. vi. 94 a). 
 
 some knyght or squyer, &e.] In the Ltder Nig(r the income 
 of a knight is set down at £200, that of an esquire (armiger) at £50 
 per annum (Ordinances, &c. pp. 34, 46). And on the knights and 
 squires of England as a class, cf S. C. H. iii. 544-9. 
 
 Stewardes off gpet lordeshippes.] For a Ust of some of the Stewards 
 ' gret lordeshippes' in the hands of the Crown, see S. C. H. iii. 512. "qj^sWds. 
 We find a steward and receiver-general of the Duchy of Cornwall 
 (P.P. C. iii. 24); a steward of the liberty of Ulster in Ireland (ib. 
 229), &c. In 1402 an ordinance was made that 'no Welshman 
 
330 Cf)e (Ji5ot)crnance of (ffinglann. 
 
 should be Justice, Chamberlain, Chancellor, Steward, Receiver, 
 Master Forester, Sheriff, Escheator, Constable of a Castle or Keeper 
 of the Rolls or Records in Wales ' (Rymer, viii. 184 ; of. P. P. C. i. 
 149). See also next note but one. It was a dispute about the 
 stewardship of the Duchy of Cornwall which caused the private war 
 between the Earl of Devonshire and Sir William Bonville (P. P. C. 
 
 V. 165, 173-5)- 
 Receivers. Eeseyvors.] 'Receptor Cornubise' (P. P. C. ii. 291); 'Re- 
 ceptor generalis ducatus Lancastrie' (ib. iii. 51); Receiver of the 
 Honour of Tutbury' (ib. ii. 171). The receivers seem to have 
 discharged in these great lordships much the same financial func- 
 tions that the sheriffs did in the counties, collecting the revenues 
 due to the Crown, and paying the various sums with which those 
 revenues were charged (of. ib. i. 277-8). See also last note. In 
 the case of Wales and Chester the corresponding officers seem to 
 have been the Chamberlains (cf. Ordinances, &c. p. 31* ; P. P. C. 
 iv. 199 f). 
 Constables Constables of Castels.J These were of course very numerous. 
 '^^^ We have seen how Gloucester and Warwick in turn were Constables 
 of Dover Castle. In one page of the Proceedings of the Privy 
 Council (i. 211) we have five constables of castles mentioned. For 
 an interesting entry with reference to the constableship and steward- 
 ship of the castle and lordship of Chirk, see notes to Chap. x. 
 p. 274, above. Under Nov. 21, 1436, we read : 'M^ Tpat Conesta- 
 bles in Wales goo hom to ]3eire offices ' (ib. v. 3). See also last 
 note but one. 
 
 maystir fforesters.] See the last note but two. We hear of 
 a chief forester of Snowdon (P. P. C. ii. 65). On the position of the. 
 master forester under the Norman kings, see S. C. H. i. 403. 
 
 Justices oflF fforestes.] We have seen this office held by men 
 like Gloucester and Warwick, (See first note of this Chapter.) 
 
 Justices and Chambirlayns off Contries.j We find Cham- 
 berlains of North Wales, South Wales, and Chester appointed 
 (P. P. C. iii. 4, et saepe) ; and we have seen that Gloucester was 
 Justices Justice of all those three ' countries.' Strictly however these offices 
 berlainsTf '^'ould come Under the head of ' tho jsat my lorde pe prince geuyth.' 
 Wales'and Cf. ib. ii. 65, where we have a table of ' the wages and fees of the 
 Justice, Chamberlain, Constables and other ministers of the Prince 
 within the parts of North Wales.' In Nov. 1436, after the memo- 
 randum quoted above that all the Constables in Wales were to go 
 
home to their offices comes the following note : ' The Chambreleins 
 to be at horn ' (ib. v. 3). See last note but three. 
 
 J)e warden off ]>e portes.] i. e. the Cinque Ports. The Cinque Warden of 
 Ports held their liberties by furnishing a certain number of ships to ^^ Cmqi"^ 
 the King's service, and the Warden of the Ports was responsible for 
 seeing that these shijs were forthcoming when required ; and to 
 him the writs were addressed which summoned the Cinque Ports to 
 discharge their obligations {e.g. Rymer, ix. 339, 384 ; cf S. C. H. 
 i- 593 j ii- 289). The constableship of Dover Castle seems always 
 to have gone along with this office, as it still does. In 29 Hen. VI 
 these offices were granted to Humphrey Duke of Buckingham, and 
 his heirs male (Cal. Rot. Pat. p. 294 b). 
 
 be sydes the J)at my lorde Jje prince geuyth.] i. e. as Offices in 
 Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, and Earl of Chester. We *« gift of 
 
 ' ' the Pnnce. 
 
 have already made acquaintance with some of these officers, such 
 as the Justices and the Chamberlains of North and South Wales, 
 Chester, etc. And I have already alluded to the list of the officers 
 of the Prince for North Wales contained in P. P. C. ii. 65. The 
 list comprises Justice, Chamberlain, Sheriffs, Escheators, Consta- 
 bles, Sergeant, etc. We hear also of the Exchequer of Carnarvon, 
 and of that of Chester (P. P. C. iii. 199 ; iv. 50). It is to be noted The 
 that during the whole of Richard II's reign, almost the whole of P"°<=^ ^ 
 
 ° • o > appanages 
 
 Henry V's, two-thirds of Henry VI' s, and half of Edward IV's in the 
 
 reign there was no heir apparent to the Crown, so that these lord- Jlf^Qj." 
 
 ships were de jure in the hands of the King, while during the 
 
 remainder of Henry V's, Henry VI's, and Edward IV's reigns, 
 
 they must have been practically in his hands, owing to the youth 
 
 of the prince; so that Fortescue is justified in 'reckoning' the 
 
 prince's ' officers as the king's officers.' Accordingly we find in 
 
 1425 a petition to the King for the grant of an advowson, 'q'est 
 
 de vostre Patronage come de vostre Principalte de Gales ' (Rot. 
 
 Pari. iv. 311b). And so the Commons under Robin of Redesdale, 
 
 in their manifesto of 1469, reckon the revenues of Wales, Cornwall, 
 
 and Chester among those which Edward IV had enjoyed and 
 
 wasted (Warkworth, p. 48; cf. the accounts for the year 1433 
 
 quoted in the notes to Chap. vi. above, p. 213, and Issues of the 
 
 Exchequer, pp. 402, 427). Thus the only reign of our period 
 
 during which these lordships were really governed by the prince 
 
 was that of Henry IV. We find Prince Henry appointing to the 
 
 office of 'raglore' (= Welsh rhaglaw, i.e. deputy or lieutenant) in 
 
332 c&e ^oMztnmtt of (ZEnslant. 
 
 the ' Commotes of Generglyn and Hannynyok' (Rymer, viii, 547). 
 But apparently the appointment required the confirmation of the 
 Crown, for the document is endorsed 'fiat inde Warrantum pro 
 Special ar- Confirmatione Regis.' With reference to the minority of Prince 
 for I^^ce'^ Edward of Lancaster special provisions were made in the Parlia- 
 Edward of ment of 1455. The Prince and his attenfiants were to be 'at 
 ancas er. (jjgj^g^ ' in the King's household till he was fourteen years of age, 
 the King receiving the net revenues of the Principality, Duchy, and 
 County, and paying to the Prince a fixed allowance. The balance 
 remaining in the King's hands was to be applied to the expenses 
 of the royal household (Rot. Pari. v. 293). In an order 'for the 
 Creation of a Prince ' (temp. Hen. VII, Ordinances, etc. p. 128) it 
 is said : ' first the King to putt on the sworde . . . because hee is 
 Duke of Cornewall as soone as hee is borne ; and then the King to 
 sett the cappe with the coronell on his head, etc. . . . Because hee is 
 Duke without creation the sword is first sett on him ; the imposi- 
 tion of the cappe of estate and coronell is for the creation of the 
 Prince.' This distinction holds good as far as I have observed. 
 Difference The heir apparent is always created Prince of Wales and Earl of 
 the Duchy Chester ; he is considered as being Duke of Cornwall from his 
 
 Earidom '^''^* ^'^^' ''^' ■^°'^' ^^^^' ^' ^93^)- '^^'^ ""'j" exception is in the 
 case of Henry, the eldest son of Henry IV, who, not having been 
 born in the purple, was created Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, 
 and Earl of Chester in the same Parliament in which his father was 
 acknowledged King (ib. iii. 426 ; cf. ib. 667 f., from which it 
 appears that the Duchy of Cornwall had estates in twenty-three 
 counties, besides the city of London). Henry VI seems never to 
 have been created Prince of Wales during the nine months that 
 his father survived his birth ; perhaps because no Parliament was 
 summoned after that event, though one was sitting at the time that 
 he was born. Prince Edward of Lancaster, who was born October 
 13. 1453. was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester in the 
 Parliament of 1454 during the first incapacity of his father, and this 
 was confirmed formally in the Parliament of 1455, during the 
 second incapacity of Henry VI (Rot. Pari. v. 249, 290 ff., 356 ff. ; 
 
 These cf. Cal. Rot. Pat. p. 296 b). On the agreement with the Duke of 
 
 appanages v 1 • r iTr 1 ^1 
 
 transferred ^°^^ '" '400, Wales, Chester, and Cornwall were transferred to 
 
 Duke^of ^^^ ^^ '^^'"^ "°^ ^'^^ recognised heir apparent (Rot, Pari. v. 380). 
 
 York." The creation of Edward IV's son as Prince of Wales and Earl of 
 
 Chester is in Rot. Pari, vi. 9 if. The right of the heir apparent to 
 
3l5ote0. Cftap. jctiii. 333 
 
 the Duchy of Cornwall rested on the grant made by Edward III in 
 Parliament in the eleventh year of his reign (cited Rot. Pari. iii. 
 526 ; Rymer, viii. 148) ; his right to the County Palatine of Chester 
 rested on St. 2 1 Ric. II. c. 9). In 1 404 the Commons prayed that 
 all alienations made from the Duchy might be revoked (Rot. Pari, 
 iii. 526). The Prince had a council to assist him in his govern- Council of 
 ment. In 1401, with reference to a petition of the Commons ""^ ^"'"^^' 
 relating to Wales, the King promised ' qu'il voet charger son Con- 
 seil, ensemblement ove le Conseil Monsieur le Prince pur I'interesse 
 qu'il ad celle partie,' to attend to the matter (ib. 457 a). This was 
 especially necessary when the Prince was of tender age. In 1457 
 Henry VI appointed a council of eleven persons for his son (Rymer, 
 ^^- 385)- So Edward IV appointed a council for his son, of which 
 the Bishop of Rochester was president, while Earl Rivers was'gover- 
 nour of the Prince's household (Cal. Rot. Pat. pp. 316a, 317, 318a). 
 The rules for the government of the Prince's household, addressed 
 to these two lords, are in Ordinances, etc. pp. z'j*-^!*. For the 
 early history of the County Palatine of Chester, v. S. C, H. i. 363-4 ; 
 ii. 46-7. And on the administrative confusion which these 'im- 
 peria in imperio ' caused at a later time, ef. Burke, On the Econo- 
 mical Reform. 
 
 some mey dispende.j /. e. some have an income ; cf. sup., 
 Chap. X. p. 264. 
 
 a parker takyuge but ijd. on a day .J In Rot. Pari. v. Parkers. 
 536 b is mentioned ' the Parkership ... of oure Parke of 
 Hadlegh (Essex) . . .■ with the fee and wages therto belongyng : 
 That is to say, iii.d. by the day.' Parkerships were sometimes 
 however held by the great lords: thus in 1459 the king grants 
 to Edmund Bolton the parkership of Raskell (Yorks.) recently 
 forfeited by Richard, Earl of Salisbury (Rymer, xi. 437); parker- 
 ships in North Wales are granted to Owen Tudor (ib. 439). In 
 both cases the offices are to be exercised by the grantees or a 
 sufficient deputy. Sir Philip Courtenay was surveyor of parks in 
 Cornwall, and Lord Cromwell was surveyor of Lyfeld Forest 
 (Rutland), with a ' looge ' (lodge) there for himself or his deputy 
 (P. P. C. iv. 284 ; V. 143). This illustrates what Fortescue says 
 at the end of this Chapter, that 'suche men as seme J)e kyng 
 abouute his person or in his counsell mbwe haue in Tper contray a 
 parkershippe ffisr Jjer disporte when thay come whom, (home,) or 
 such an ojjer office as thai mey wele kepe by Jjer deputes.' The 
 
334 C6e ^oMztmnct of CnglanD. 
 
 Offices per- system of executing offices by deputy was in the middle ages 
 deputy ^ carried to an extent very prejudicial to the public service, and 
 was to a great extent the result of that pernicious accumulation 
 of offices in a few hands, which has been already animadverted 
 Attempts upon. Some attempts to check this evil were made during our 
 the sys- period. In the first Parliament of Henry IV, the Commons com- 
 tem. plained that the king lost 10,000 marks yearly through the non- 
 
 residence of the collectors and controllers of customs at the ports, 
 who discharged their offices by insufficient deputies, and a statute 
 was made obliging them to reside under a penalty of £100 
 (Rot. Pari. iii. 439 b; St. i Hen. IV. c. 13). But fresh complaints 
 were made in 1402, and a fresh statute was enacted on the subject 
 (Rot. Pari. iii. 506 b; St. 4 Hen. IV. c. 20). So in 1406 it was 
 ordered that these officers should occupy their offices in person 
 'sans depute ou substitut faire' (Rot. Pari. iii. 587 a). These 
 statutes were, on petition, confirmed in 141 1 (ib. 665 a; St. 13 
 Hen. IV, c. 5). In 1433 the treasurer was ordered to appoint no 
 one to these offices except such as were willing to reside personally 
 (P. P. Civ. 175). 
 
 iij.i. x.d.] The first edition has 'xl. s. x.d.,' which is an 
 obvious misprint for ' Ix. s. x.d.' the reading of D^ the MS. on 
 which the first edition was based. Lord Clermont not only tran- 
 quilly follows suit, regardless of arithmetic, but prints in full ' forty 
 shillings and tenpence.' Three hundred and sixty-five days at 
 two-pence per diem are exactly ' Ix.s. x.d.,' or ' iij. t. x.d.' 
 
 a o.s. off fee or rente wieh is a feyre lyuynge flfor a 
 yoman.] On the yeoman class in England during the middle 
 ages, see S. C. H. iii. 551-8. 
 
 nor ij the gretteste lordes, &c.] This is for Fortescue a great 
 point gained towards establishing the security and independence of 
 the Crown, at a time when the government of the day was so 
 liable to be overborne by a combination of a few of the greater 
 vassals in arms. Compare the requirement laid down in Chap, 
 ix. above, on 'the perellis that mey come to the kyng by ouer 
 myghtye subgettes,' that the kyng should have for his extra- 
 ordinary charges revenues ' gretter than the livelod off the 
 grettest lorde in- Englande' (or 'ij the grettest lordes' accor- 
 ding to MS. D^); of. also Chap. x. p. 133, above. 
 
 To this sane suche lordes, &d.] The advice which 
 Fortescue gives in this Chapter, that all ofSces in the gift of 
 
Bom, c&ap. jctjfi. 
 
 335 
 
 the Crown should be given directly by the Crown, would have 
 highly commended itself to George III. Cp. the reply of Bute 
 to Anson, ' What, my Lord, the King's Admiralty boroughs full, 
 and the King not acquainted with it ! ' (cited in Mahon's England, 
 iv. 215). But it is one thing to resist the distribution of offices by 
 unauthorized persons, which is what Fortescue recommends, and 
 another to impede their distribution through established consti- 
 tutional channels, which is what George III attempted. Even in Offices in 
 the fifteenth century however there were certain offices, the ap- certfi'n °^ 
 pointment to which was either by custom or statute vested in ministers, 
 the hands of certain ministers. Thus the revenue officers were by 
 St. 17 Ric. II. c. 5, I Hen. IV. c. 13, appointed by the treasurer 
 with advice of the council, and then as now, the chancellor 
 presented to certain of the crown livings (cf. Rot. Pari. iii. 587 a; 
 P. P. C. iii. 16; iv. 175). Offices and benefices of less than £5 
 per ann. or 2d. per diem within the Duchy of Lancaster were in 
 the gift of the Chancellor of the Duchy (ib. 105). Certain offices 
 again were in the gift of the Marshal of England (Rymer, viii. 
 115). But all these offices, whether given immediately by the 
 Crown, or mediately through the intervention of some great 
 official, were made the subject of that ignoble traffic which 
 Fortescue here describes. The object of the great men was, as Royal 
 he says, to engross all the offices in their districts which were enCTos^e^d 
 in the gift of the Crown, and to intimidate those who received by the 
 any office direct from the king, so that they might be the only ^^^' ^°''''^' 
 agents or, as Fortescue terms it, ' brokers ' of royal patronage in 
 their districts, and so to make the offices of the Crown sub- 
 servient to their own local influence, by distributing them to 
 their own adherents, or to persons who could in those offices 
 advance their interests. It was one of the charges against 
 Suffolk in 1450 that he had made his own partizans sheriffs, so 
 ' that they that wold not be of his affinite in their contreys were over- 
 sette, and every mater true or fals .that he favoured was furthered 
 and spedde ' (Rot. Pari. v. i8i b ; cf. Warkworth, pp. 47-8). And 
 thus, as Fortescue complains, the patronage of the Crown was used 
 to undermine the influence of the Crown, and increase that of its 
 most dangerous rivals. And just as the great lords acted as 
 brokers of royal patronage, so lesser men in turn acted as brokers 
 of the favours of the great lords, and so on ad infinitum. Thus 
 John Russe, bearing that Lord Worcester was likely to be treasurer, 
 
336 
 
 C6e (J5ot)emance of CnglanD. 
 
 Offices dis- 
 posed of 
 by great 
 lords. 
 
 Attempts 
 to check 
 the evil. 
 
 ' with whom I truste ye stonde right wel in conseit,' writes to 
 suggest that John Paston should ' desyre the nomynacion . . . 
 eythyr of the countroller or serchorship of Jernemuth (Yarmouth), 
 for a servant of yowrez ' {i.e. himself), 'and yeerly as longe as I 
 myght have the officez ... I shal geve my maister youre sone 
 V. marke toward an haukeney.' In another letter he runs down 
 his competitor as ' an evyl disposyd man alwey ayens you,' but his 
 ' supportors is Blakeney, clerk of the sygnet, and Avery Corn- 
 burght, yoman of the kynges chaumbre ' (Paston Letters, ii. 96-7, 
 107). During the restoration of Henry VI, John Paston the 
 younger writes to his mother, ' I tryst we shall be sped of . . . 
 ofyseys metly for us, for my mastyr the Erie of Oxjmforthe bydeth 
 me axe and have* (ib. 412). There is a curious passage in the 
 Liber Niger where the author enumerates the means which Dukes 
 and Marquesses have of rewarding their servants (Ordinances, 
 &c., p. 27): 'These lordes rewarde theire knyghts, chapeleyns, 
 esquiers, yomen, and other of theyre servaunts, after theyre deserts. 
 Some of his chapleytis with officyalshippes, deaneries, prebendes, 
 freechapels, parsonages, pensions, or suche other ; and for the 
 seculer men, stewardshippes, receivonrs, counstables, porter- 
 shippes, Baylywikes, wardenshippes, forresters, raungers, verders, 
 vergers, shreves, eschetours, corouners, custumers, countroUers, 
 serchers, surveyours, beryngs of yeres-gifts, wards, marriages, 
 corrodies, parkers, and warenners. And this eauseth lordes to 
 rule at neede.' Some of these offices are no doubt offices on 
 the lord's own estates or in his gift, but it is plain that many 
 of them' are crown offices, and merely given by the lord's in- 
 fluence. If the charges against Somerset contain any truth, 
 great lords were sometimes not above jobbing for money the 
 posts whith they had to dispose of (Paston Letters, I. Ixxvii). 
 A similar charge had been made against Cardinal Beaufort by 
 Gloucester in 1440 (English in France, ii. 450), and against Suf- 
 folk in 1450 (Rot. Pari. v. 180 a). Various attempts were made 
 to check this evil,. In 1386 a commission was issued to enquire 
 into ' officers et ministres faitz par brogage et de leur brogours ' 
 (P. P. C. i. 5): In the first Parliament of Henry IV the Com- 
 mons complained that 'Justices de Pees . . . sont faitz par 
 brocage' (Rot. Pari., iii. 444 a). In the rules laid down for 
 the guidance of the council in 1406 it was ordered that offices 
 should be fflled up in accordance with the statutes, 'et nemy 
 
Bom, Cbap, x^iiu 337 
 
 par mediation et instance a part ' (ib. 586 a). In 14 10 the Com- 
 mons declared that the decrease in the amount of the customs was 
 largely due to the fact, that the revenue ofBcers ' sovent ont este 
 faitz par brocage' (ib. 625 b). And so in this way 'brokage' Brokage. 
 came to be simply a euphemism for corrupt influence or bribery, 
 as when it is ordered that no great officer or other person about 
 the king is to be ' si hardy de prendre de nuUy des liges nostre 
 sieur le Roy Brogage, Presantes, ne Dounes quelconques ' (ib. 
 433 b; cf. ib. 537 a, 626 b ' doune ou brocage,' 637 a; iv. 11 a, 
 23 a, etc.). 
 
 Nemo potest, &c.J Matth. vi. 24. 
 
 but he be fiSrst sworne, &c.] See notes to Chap. xv. pp. 
 299, 310, above, for the similar oath to be taken by councillors and 
 judges. So Henry V confirms the grant of an annuity made by 
 his father to Nicholas Merbury, on condition that he is not to 
 be retained in the service of any one except the king (Rymer, 
 ix. 25-6). Henry VI grants certain manors to John, bastard 
 of Clarence, on a like condition (ib. x. 406). The Duke of York, 
 as Protector, was empowered by the council ' to geve the king's 
 liverey of colers to iiij'^'^ gentUlmen after his discretion, they and 
 everich of thaim to be sworn to be afeed with no man but with 
 the king withoute his speciall licence' (P. P. C. vi. 209). Cp. 
 Henry VIH's saying, ' that he would none of his seruauntes should 
 hang on another mannes slene ' (Hall, p. 599 ; cited by Brewer, 
 Henry VIII, i. 344). 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 corodie nor pencion, &e.] Corrodium = conredium ; Corrodies. 
 originally the right of free quarters due from the vassal to the lord 
 on his circuit ; but later applied especially to certain contributions 
 of food, provisions, etc., paid annually by religious houses, either of 
 right, as here, to persons nominated by the representative of the 
 original founder ; or out of policy, to conciliate great men and 
 their followers ; or as a matter of bargain and sale. Sometimes 
 the contribution might be commuted, and then it would be prac- 
 tically undistinguishable from an annuity or pension ; and corrody 
 and pension are accordingly sometimes used as convertible terms 
 
 Z 
 
338 c&e (J^otjernance of (ZEnglanU. 
 
 Defined by (e.g. Rot. Pari. v. 273 a), Fortescue himself gives a definition of 
 Fortescue. ^orrody in the stricter sense in his legal judgments : ' Si un ad un 
 corody deins un Meason de Religion, scavoir, d'aver certeines 
 messes de chair, pain, servois, fuel, chambre, et un estable pur ses 
 chevals' (p, 36). This definition agrees well enough with the 
 description of an actual corrody confirmed by the Abbey of St. 
 Alban's in 1468 : 'quoddam corrodium panis, cervisise, carnium, 
 piscium, et hujusmodi, cum quadam mansione et gardino, cum suis 
 In the gift pertinentiis ' (Whethamstede, ii. 80; cf. S. C. H. iii. 531). The 
 of the j.jgj,^ Qf jjjg Crown to appoint to corrodies and pensions in religious 
 houses which were royal foundations, probably rested on special 
 customs in each particular case. Thus at Croyland, on the instal- 
 lation of a new abbot, one of the king's clerks had to be provided 
 with a corrody of 40J. per ann. : ' donee sibi de beneficio com- 
 petent! aUas poterit provideri' (Cont. Croyl. p. 513). A similar rule 
 existed at St, Alban's, though the value of the pension is not stated 
 Given to (Whethamstede, ii. 340). As far as I have observed, these corrodies 
 servanS' ^ ^"<^ pensions were generally given, as Fortescue recommends, to 
 servants and officers of the Crown. Thus a pension out of Selby 
 (Yorks.) is granted to a clerk of the Exchequer, one out of South- 
 wick (Hants) to a clerk in the Privy Seal Office, and a corrody in 
 Malmesbury to a yeoman of the cellar (P. P, C. iii. 25, 152 ; iv. 67). 
 The reversion of an annuity of fifty marks from St. Augustine's, 
 Canterbury, is granted to the king's physician (Rymer, xi. 416. It 
 appears from this document, that the annuity in question was a 
 commutation for the sum originally payable by the convent on each 
 vacancy in the Abbacy), Several corrodies are mentioned in Rot, 
 Pari. v. 473 b, The holders, where their condition is given, are 
 ecclesiastical members of the royal household, one being 'John 
 Kxemption Plummer, Clerk of oure honorable Chapell.' Exemption from the 
 mentof''" Payment of corrodies, pensions, etc, was sometimes granted to 
 corrodies, religious houses as a favour: e.g. to Eton; to the hospital of ' St. 
 Thomas the Martir of Acres,' originally founded by Agnes, the 
 sister of St. Thomas, and her husband, on land that formerly 
 belonged to ' Gilbert Bekkettis,' the father of St. Thomas ; and in 
 the same way the Abbey of Bermondsey was exempted from ' any 
 Corrodie or Sustentation, to be graunted at the prayour, desire, 
 denomination or writyng of the kyng, or of any of his heires 
 kynges of Englond hereafter' (Bekynton's Correspondence, ii, 284 ; 
 Rot. Pari, v, 74f; vi, 124 b). These exemptions were among the- 
 
Bom. Cfjap, jctiiif, 339 
 
 grants, the resumption of which was demanded by the Commons 
 in 1450 and 1455 (ib. v. 184 a, 301 b). Edward IV, in 1461, 
 refused to annul the grants of corrodies which had been made on 
 the recommendation of the Lancastrian kings (ib. 492 a). Religious Exemp- 
 houses that were not royal foundations owed similar dues to the '^?"^ °''- 
 representatives of their founders ; and it is a subject of repeated der false 
 complaint in Parliament that such houses, by representing them- P''«'^°<="- 
 selves falsely as royal foundations, obtained letters of protection, 
 whereby they evaded payment of the annuities, pensions, and 
 corrodies which they owed to various persons, and for which in 
 some cases they had received payment (ib. iii. 469 b, 520 a ; 
 iv. 104 a). The sale of corrodies is further illustrated by the 
 accounts of St. Alban's. In two instances the accountant manifests 
 great glee, because estates were made over to 'the monastery in 
 return for grants of corrodies, and then the grantees only survived 
 the transaction two or three years (Amundesham, ii. 265). 
 Sometimes the revenues of a monastery were so dilapidated by 
 these grants that they had to apply to the king in Parliament for 
 relief (Rot. Pari. v. 206). One of the points which the Abbot of 
 St. Alban's inquired into in visiting the cells of the monastery in 
 1425-6, was whether there had been any sale of corrodies, or 
 alienation of revenues, without the licence of the Abbot and 
 Convent (Amundesham, i. 208). Another right which the king had Other royal 
 in connexion with certain religious houses, was that of nominating "S'^'^- 
 a fit person to be admitted as a nun at the time of his coronation. 
 Nominations of this kind to Shaftesbury, Wilton, and Barking, 
 occur, Rymer, ix. 11 ; x. 438, 445, 448. 
 
 J>e elarkes oflF is chapell J)at haue wyfes, &o.] /. e. lay clerks of 
 clerks or singing men. Cf. Ztier Niger (Ordinances, &c., p. 50) : ^^ Cjiapel 
 ' Chapleynes and Clerkes of the Chapell, xxvi., by the King's 
 choyce, or by the deane his election or denomination, of men of 
 worshipp, endowed with vertuuse, morall, and speculatiff, as of 
 theyre musike, shewing in descant clene voysed, well releesed and 
 pronouncynge, eloquent in reding, sufficiaunt in organes pleyyng, 
 and modestiall in all other manner of behaving. . . . The King's 
 grace avaunceth these preests and clerks by prebends, churches of 
 his patrymony, or by his lettres recommendatory, free chappells, 
 corrodies, hospitalles, or pensions. . . . The statutes of noble 
 Edward the Third, appoynted the numbyr of six cunnyng preests, 
 "tyll they were advaunced, to take viid. ob. and all other gentylmen 
 
 Z 2, 
 
340 c&e aotjernance of Cnglant* 
 
 clerkes syngers, four pence half penny by the daye.' For instances 
 of clerks in the royal service being advanced to benefices, cf. 
 Ellis's Letters, III. i. 1i, 75- 
 Benefices hurt of his said seruauntes, &c.] In the regulations of the 
 and offices council, drawn up in 1426 and 1430, it is ordered 'fiat in benefices 
 King^s gift and offices longyng unto Tpe kinges disposicion . , . jjoo Jjat hathe 
 to be given ^^ gervantes to pe kinges fadre, or his graunde sire or be to pe king 
 servants. Jjat nowe is, be preferred fierto ;' and one of the versions adds : ' so 
 Jjat pei have no cause to complaine as it is seide pei do daily for 
 lak of fer}3eryng,' which seems to show that the charges which 
 Fortescue here makes were not Unfounded (P. P. C. iii. 2i6;iv. 
 38, 62). One of the reasons urged upon the king in 1455 in 
 favour of revoking all grants that might have been made of the 
 right to present to offices, benefices, etc., was ' to th'entent that of 
 such offices and othir the premisses it mowe please yow to rewarde 
 your servauntes meniall' (Rot. Pari. v. 301 b). The grant of the 
 hospital 'called the Mallardri,' outside Lincoln, to the 'ordre 
 of Burton of Seint Lazar of Jerusalem in Englond ... for 
 to fynde and susteyne therof yerely for ever, certeyn Lepres of 
 oure meniall servauntez, and of oure heires and successours, yf any 
 such be founde ' (ib. 472 a), is interesting as showing that this 
 great scourge of the middle ages did not always spare king's 
 houses. We find prebends granted to a clerk of .the kitchen, and 
 to the king's physician (Rymer, ix. 875 ; x. 263). Edward IV, in 
 his will, directs that ' oure servants and such as were servants to 
 my said Lord and Fader ' should be preferred in the elections to 
 the charitable foundation which he there establishes (Excerpta 
 Hist. p. 374). 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 hath gotyn ayen his lyuelod.] On acts of Resumption, see 
 notes to Chap. xi. pp. 279-281, above. 
 
 as who sayth.J For the phrase cf. 'Arrival of King Edward IV,' 
 p. 18 : 'The Kyng and his hoste kept passinge greate silence 
 alnyght, and made, as who saythe no noyse.' Cf. ib. 15. 
 
 amortyse.J z.e. To alien lands in mortmain: i.e. 'to any 
 guild, corporation, or fraternity, and their successors, as bishops, ■ 
 
Jl5ote0. Cftap, tix. 341 
 
 parsons, vicars, etc' And 'of corporations some are sole, some 
 ^•ggregate : sole, when in one single person, as the king, a bishop, 
 dean, etc' Tomlins' Law Dictionary, ed. Granger, s. w. Mort- 
 main, Corporation. 
 
 so as it mey neuer be alyened.] With a view to realizing 
 the much desired object that the King should ' live of his own ' (see 
 above, notes to Chap. viii. p. 250), there were two obvious measures 
 which might be suggested, and which frequently were suggested by 
 reformers during the middle ages. One was the resumption of Attempts 
 the grants which had been made out of the royal revenues in the *° ^™.'' , 
 
 ™s Jibing s 
 past ; the other was the limitation of the King's power to alienate power of 
 
 them in the future. On the former point something has already f-jienating 
 been said. So important was the latter point considered that it venues. 
 appears in one of the versions of the English Coronation Oath 
 (S. C. H. ii. 105). Had the domains of the Crown remained what 
 they were under the first three Norman kings it is possible that 
 England might have found by dire experience what the consti- 
 tutional result was of having kings who could ' live of their own.' 
 But the process of dilapidation begun by Stephen was continued 
 under kings like Henry III and Edward II, and this formed the 
 subject of one of the charges exhibited against Richard II in the 
 first Parliament of Henry IV (Rot. Pari. iii. 419 b; cf. S. C. H. ii. 
 329, 353, 554-6). Various measures were attempted during the| 
 present period with a view to making it kss easy for the King to j 
 grant away the possessions of the Crown. In the first Parliament I 
 of Henry IV it was enacted that all who should in future petition i 
 the King for any grant were to state the exact value of the thing 
 asked for, and also the value of any previous grants which they had,' 
 received from the King or his predecessor (St. i Hen. IV. c 6; 
 Rot. Pari. iii. 433 a). This statute was somewhat relaxed in the 
 next Parliament (St. 2 Hen. IV, c 2 ; Rot. Pari. iii. 458 b) ; but at 
 the same time the King was obliged to revoke all annuities granted 
 out of the subsidy on wools (ib. 457 b. The subject of annuities 
 provoked fresh remonstrances in the Parliament of 1404; ib. 
 423 b; 424 a). But these measures were of very slight efficacy. iTliese at- 
 We constantly find grants made ' non obstante,' that the terms of ^^^^al"" 
 the statutes have not been complied with in one point or another 
 {e.g. P. P. C. ii. 305; Rymer, ix. 217; x. 583, 802 ; xi. 512, 529. 
 In some grants however the rules are complied with, e.g. Rymer, 
 X. 678). The measures taken in 1404 with reference to past grants 
 
342 Cfje <25oi)crnance of CnglanD, 
 
 have been detailed in the notes to Chap. xi. pp. 279-280, above. 
 With reference to the future, the Commons demanded that any 
 officer who should execute any grant made out of the ancient 
 inheritance of the Crown, should lose his office, forfeit everything 
 that he could forfeit to the Crown, and be imprisoned for three 
 years; and that any one who should accept such a grant, should 
 forfeit that grant, and be imprisoned for three years (Rot. Pari, 
 iii. 648a; cf- Chap. vi. p. 120, above); while in 1406 it was 
 ordered that no grant should be made out of any of the ' com- 
 modities of the realm' till the end of the next Parliament (ib. 
 587 a. The draft of this measure drawn up by the Council is in 
 [p. P. C. i. 285-6. in 1400 the Council had begged the King to 
 1 keep all forfeitures in his own hands, since otherwise Parliament 
 would have plausible grounds for refusing to grant an aid; ib. 108). 
 In 1410 the King promised at the request of the Commons not to 
 make grants of any escheats which might come into his hands, but 
 to apply them to his household, etc. (Rot. Pari. iii. 625). In 1443 
 we find Somerset asking the King for ' a m' marc of lande,' but the 
 lords of the Council ' durst not avise the Kyng to depart from suche 
 livelode ne to opon Tpeir mouthes in suche matiers ;' finally, the King 
 ordered the Chancellor to reply that he should have ' vj" marc of 
 land ' {{. e. land of that annual value, P. P. C. v. 253). The way in 
 which officers and courtiers thus obtained grants for themselves 
 from the Crown is, as we have seen, one of the most constant 
 themes of complaint in all the popular risings of the period (see 
 notes to Chap. xiv. pp. 292-3, above). Edward IV seems to have 
 learned the lesson : ' Jactavit omnem cogitatum suum, quomodo de 
 propria substantia propriaque industria sua, thesauros Regio Statu 
 dignos in futurum recoUigat. Statute igitur Parliamento, omne 
 ferme patrimonium Regale, cuicunque ante coUatum fuisset, ipse 
 resumens, supportandis Coronae oneribus id totum applicat ' (Cont. 
 1 Croyl. p. 559). In his will he charges his son Edward and his 
 \ heirs not to alienate certain possessions from the Crown, ' as he and 
 thay wil answere afore God at the day of Dome, and as thay love 
 the wele of thaim silf and of the Reame' (Excerpta Hist. p. 377)- 
 It is curious that Fortescue, who is so fond of comparing English 
 and French institutions, does not here allude to the inalienability of 
 the domain of the French Crown. 
 
 as it is shewid be fore.] See above. Chap, vi, and the notes 
 there, pp. 217-9. 
 
Bom, C|)ap» xix* 343 
 
 this shalbe a collage.] The first edition reads by an absurd 
 mistake coiage, which is however corrected by Lord Clermont. 
 
 antemes.] A poem, composed soon after the accession of 
 Edward IV, concludes with the wish that ' Edward of Rouen ' and 
 his lords may be enabled 
 
 ' To make peas in Engeland, that riche and pouer 
 May joyfully synge at the conclusyon 
 Welcom everlastyng joye, and farewal langoure.' 
 
 (Political Songs, ii. 270.) 
 
 Compare also the curious address at the end of the Parliament of 
 1 40 1, in which the Speaker compared Parliament to the Mass be- 
 cause, among other points, at the conclusion of the office was said- 
 ' Deo Gratias j ' ' et q'ils et tout le Roialme, feurent especialment 
 tenuz de dire eel parol, Deo gratias : . . . de ceo que Dieu de sa 
 benigne grace leur avoit ottroiez un Roi gracious ' (Rot. Pari. iii. 
 466). 
 
 I blissed be oure lord God . . . kjmg Edward the iiij*^, 
 &C.J On the interesting historical and literary questions raised by 
 the reading of MS. Y, which has 'Henry the vji^«' instead of 
 ' Edward the m}^\' see Introduction, Part III, pp. 87, 94-6, above. 
 For the sentiment compare Capgrave, Chronicle, p. 4 : ' We trew 
 loveres of this lond desire this of oure Lord God, that al the erroure 
 whech was browte in be Herry the Fourte may be redressed be 
 Edward the Fourte. This is the desire of many good men here in 
 erde, and, as I suppose, it is the desire of the everlasting hillis that 
 dwelle above.' Cp. also Caxton's address to Edward IV at the end 
 of his continuation of the Polychronicon (in Hjgden, viii. 587). 
 
 we shul now mowe enjoye . . . God knowith.J If this Hopes ex- 
 refers to Edward IV, we may compare the words of the Commons "*^"^ ^7 ^^^ 
 
 ■^ -^ accession 
 
 in Edward's first Parliament cited p. 202, above, notes to Chap. iv. of Edward 
 
 And they continue : ' We hold for certayne and undoubted, that it ^^' 
 wol please youre seid good grace, to preferre all thinges that may 
 serve to the said commyn wele to the exercice of Justice and right- 
 wisnes ' (Rot. Pari. v. 463-4). And compare Edward's own words 
 to the Parliament in 1468, where he contrasts his own reign with 
 that of his predecessor : ' At that tyme this Londe was full naked 
 and bareyn of Justice, the Peas not kepte, nor Lawes duely mynys- 
 tred within the same, . . . and howe it was then, he reported hym 
 unto theym, they understode it well ynowe, for it apperith at iye, 
 and shewed it self, thanked be all myghty God' (ib. 622 b). 
 
344 
 
 C6e (3o\)txmnct of CnglanD. 
 
 Edward at 
 first really 
 desirous to 
 do justice 
 to all. 
 
 He disap- 
 pointed 
 the hopes 
 formed of 
 him. 
 
 Lydgate expresses the hopes that Edward's accession gave rise 
 to :— 
 
 'Edward the Fourth the old wronges to amend. 
 Is wele disposed in wille, and to defende 
 His lond and peple in dede with kynne and myght; 
 Good lyf and longe I pray to God hym send, 
 And that Seynt George be with hym in his ryght.' 
 
 (Gregory, p. 54.) 
 
 The author of a poem already quoted exhorts all people to pray for 
 
 Edward, — 
 
 ' That he kepe justice and make wedis clere.' 
 
 (Political Songs, ii. 269.) 
 
 Cf. Whethamstede's verses, ib. 263, 265; Hardyng, p. 412 ; Cont. 
 Croyl. p. 533. That Edward was at the beginning of his reign 
 sincerely anxious to improve the administration and do equal jus- 
 tice to all, seems to be proved by several indications in the Paston 
 Letters. To Lord Essex, who spoke to the King on behalf of John 
 Paston, he replied that ' he wold be your {t. e. Paston's) good Lord 
 therein as he wold be to the porest man in Inglond. He wold hold 
 with yowe in yowr rygth ; and as for favor, he wyll nogth be under- 
 stand that he schal schewe favor mor to one man then to anothyr, 
 nowgth to on in Inglond' (ii. 40; cf. ib. 76, 95, 356-7). But in 
 spite of his words in 1468, there can be no doubt that he disap- 
 pointed the hopes that had been formed of him, and that it was this 
 which made possible the restoration of Henry VI. Warkworth's 
 testimony is decisive on this point. Speaking of the restoration, he 
 says: 'Whereof alle his goode lovers were fulle gladde, and the 
 more parte of peple. Nevere the lattere, before that, at he was putt 
 oute of his reame by Kynge Edwarde, alle Englonde for the more 
 partye hatyd hym, and were fulle gladde to have a chounge ; . . . and 
 alle bycause of his fals lordes, and nevere of hym ; and the comon 
 peple seyde, yf thei myghte have another Kynge, he schulde gett 
 alle ageyne and amende alle manere of thynges that was amysse; 
 and brynge the reame of Englond in grete prosperite and reste. 
 Nevere the lattere, whenne Kynge Edwarde iiijti» regnede, the peple 
 looked after alle the forseide prosperytes and peece, but it came 
 not' (Warkworth, pp. 11-2; cf. also Cont. Croyl. p. 554; Basin, 
 ii. 221-2 ; S. C. H. iii. 205, 209, 273). It is therefore not by any 
 means impossible that these words might refer to the restoration of 
 Henry VI, if it should be decided that the reading of MS. Y repre- 
 sents a genuine tradition, 
 
Bom. Cbap, XX* 345 
 
 and therfore God eontenewe, &c.] (See Critical Notes.) If 
 these words are genuine we may compare the words of the Com- 
 mons in 1461, 'to whome (God) we bisech to contynue and prosper 
 youre noble reigne longe uppon us youre true and lowly Subgetts, 
 in honoure, joy and felicite ' (Rot. Pari. v. 463 a). 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 land for terme of theyr lives . . . but . . . that the same Grants for 
 land be no more gyven.] The Commons in 1399, while peti- te™ of life, 
 tioning for a revocation of all grants of the possessions of the 
 Crown made without the assent of Parliament, made an exception 
 in favour of grants for term of life made to any one who ' pur son 
 travaille duement disservy eit' (Rot. Pari. iii. 433 b). In 1402 the 
 Commons petitioned that any grants which should escheat to the 
 Crown might not be re-granted. The King promised that no such 
 grants should be made, ' sinon a ceux que les deservont come meulx 
 y semblera au Roy et son CouneeiU' (ib. 495 a). A similar request 
 was made in 1404 (ib. 548 b). A petition for a grant of reversion 
 of lands is in P. P. C. ii. 304-5. 
 
 shall nat serue hym but for giftes, as done offices, &e.J 
 Cf. Rot. Pari. iii. 587 a: 'OfiBces, corrodes, benefices voidez de 
 fait, ou autere chose ou profit que nostre dit Sieur le Roy ne puisse 
 reteiner a soun oeps demesne,' 
 
 passed de auisamento consilii sui.] Here, as often, the re- 
 form proposed by Fortescue is merely a recurrence to what had 
 formerly been the custom, 'During the reign of Richard II the 
 commands of the King on the petitions submitted to him were 
 generally said to be " with the advice of his Council " ' (P. P. C, 
 I. XXV ; cf. ib. 77, 87, 89, etc.). In the Resumption Act of 1450 
 it was provided, that all re-grants of the lands, etc. so resumed 
 should be void, ' but if jt so be that thoose Letters Patentes passe 
 by advyse and assent of youre Chaunceller, and youre Tresorer of 
 Englond, Piyve Seall, and vi Lordes of youre grete Counseill for 
 the t3rme beyng ; and that they and jch of theym subscribe in such 
 Letters Patentes theire names : And that the seide letters Patentes 
 so subscribed with the names, be enrolled in youre Chauncerie of 
 record ' (Rot. Pari, v. 218 a; cf, P. P. C, VI. cxciv, and the remarks 
 
 Grants 
 with the 
 advice of 
 the council. 
 
346 c&e ^ouernance of CnglanD. 
 
 I of Sir Harris Nicolas there). This is the only regulation I have found 
 requiring the advice of the Council to be stated in Patents of grants. 
 It is frequently enacted that the advice of the Council shall be 
 taken before any grant is made. Thus in 1390 we find the rule 
 made ' que nul doun ou graunt que purra tournir a disencrees du 
 profit du Roi passe saunz avys du Consail' (P. P. C. i. 18''). In 
 1 40 1 it was agreed that all grants of annual profits should only be 
 made with the advice of the Council (Rot. Pari. iii. 479) ; and in 
 r4o6 that all warrants to the Chancellor, Treasurer, Privy Seal, and 
 other ofiicers should be endorsed or drawn up by the advice of the 
 Council (ib. 572 b). Cf. also Appendix B, § 4 ad fin. 
 
 and namely for a yere or ij.] If this refers to the restoration 
 of Henry VI, we may compare Appendix B, § 7, where Fortescue 
 suggests a similarly temporary arrangement with reference to the 
 royal household. 
 
APPENDIX A. 
 
 This piece, which was printed by Lord Clermont (Works, pp. 
 475-6) from Stowe's transcript of it in MS. Harl. 542, is here 
 given from the Yelverton MS. No. 35, from which Stowe copied 
 it. It reads hke an alternative version of Chapter xvi. of the 
 Monarchia. It clearly refers to something which is supposed to 
 have gone before, and cannot be an independent work. 
 
 ^ 
 Example what good counseill helpith and avantageth, and of 
 
 THE CONTRARE WHAT FOLOWITH. SECUNDUM Sr. J. FfORTESCU, 
 
 Knighte. 
 
 ' O what good welthe and prosperite shulde growe to the Reaume 
 of Englande, yif suche a counsell be oones perfitely stablisshed, and 
 the King guided therby. The Romaynes, whiche by wisdome and 
 manhed gate the lordship and monarchic of the worlde, wer firste 
 gouerned by kinges ; but whenne thoo kingis throughe insolence, 
 folowing thair passions, lafte the counsell of the Senate, the 
 Romaynes roose uppon theyme, and put away their kinges for 
 evermor. And thane thei wer re[u]led by the Senatours and by 
 Consuls politikly many yeres. By whos wisdome thei gate the 
 lordship of grete partie of the worlde. But after their grete welthe, 
 by division that fille betwene the consuls for lakke of an hed, they 
 hadde amonges them civile battailles, wherinne at somme oone 
 debate were slayne and exiled of hemselfe more thanne iiij^ CD''. 
 And after that they wer governed by oon hed called an Emperour, 
 whiche using in all his reule the counsell of the Senate, gate the 
 monarchic of the worlde. So as at Cristis birthe themperour com- 
 maunded the hoole worlde to be discribed as subgiettes vnto hym. 
 Whiche lordship and monarchic themperour kepte all the while thei 
 were reuled bi the counsele of the Senate. But afler that, whan 
 themperour lafte the counseill of the Senate, and somme of theime ^ 
 
 ^ MS. inserts had. 
 
348 Cf)e (JDotiernance of (ZEnglanD. 
 
 as Nero, Dommacion, and other, had slayne grette parley of the 
 Senatours, and were reuled by their privat counsellours, thastate of 
 themperour fill in dekeye, and their lordship woxe alwey sythen 
 lasse and lasse ; so as now themperour is not of such mighte as is 
 oone of the kinges whiche sumtyme were his subgiettes. We also 
 Englishemen, whos kinges som tyme were counseled by sadde and 
 wele chosen counseilloures, bete the mightieste kinges of the worlde. 
 But sithen our kinges have been reuled by private Counsetloures, 
 suche as have offered their seruice and counseile and were not chosen 
 therto, we haue not be able to kepe our owne lyvelode, nor to 
 wiren hem that have take it from us. And that hathe bene mooste 
 for pouertie and lak of good. But we haue had by that occasion 
 ciuile werrys amonges us selfe, as had the Romaynes whenne thei 
 had not oone hed but many governoures. And our Reaume is 
 fallen thereby in dekeye and povertie, as was the Empire whanne 
 themperour lafte the counsell of the Senate. But it may nat be 
 doubted, that yif oure kinges be counseled by suche a wise sta- 
 blisshed counseile as is before deuised, and do there after as did 
 the firste emperour that gate the monarchie of the worlde, wee 
 shulde firste haue unite and peax withinne oure lande, riches and 
 prosperite, and be mightieste and moste welthe reaume of the 
 worlde.' 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 The occasion of the composition of the following piece has been 
 discussed in the Introduction, Parts II. and III. (above, pp. ^o, 89, 
 95). It has never been printed before, though a short extract from it is 
 given in Ellis's Letters, II. i. 139, from Stowe's transcript, MS. Harl. 
 543. Nor has any one before recognised the author of it. It is 
 here printed entire from the Yelverton MS. No. 35. In the margin 
 of the sections I have placed a reference to the chapters of the 
 present work, which they chiefly illustrate. 
 
 Here folovvren in articles certeyne aduertisementes sente 
 by my lorde prince to therle of Warrewic his fadir in lawe, 
 for to be shewed and comuned by hym to king Henry his 
 fader and his counseile, to thentente that the same aduer- 
 tisementes, or suche of theyme as may be thoughte ex- 
 
SppenHir TB. 349 
 
 pediente for the good publique of the Resume, mow be 
 practised and put in use. 
 
 1. Firste, forasmoche as many of the lordes and other menne in Tharticles 
 lower estate, whiche in this tyme of the kinges grete trouble haue the'prince 
 done hym good service to theire grete charges and costis, and other to therle of 
 of his feithefull subgiettes, whiche for his sake and their trewe fad^M^*^ 
 acquitaill have suffered grete harmes in theire persones, and loste lawe as fol- 
 of theire goodes, wol now sewe to his highenesse as wele for m.cc'cc. 
 Rewardis, as for Recompense of their harmes, as Reason, liberalite, lxx". 
 and namely Roiall Munificence wolde thei shulde so have ; yet yif 
 
 the king by suche consideracion geve t<5 somme manne and not to 
 another, whiche by lyke reason oughte to-be rewarded, ther shall 
 growe therof grete grugge amonges his peopuU. And also somme 
 man, with Importunite of Sute, and by parciall meanes, sh^ mowe 
 obtayne gretter rewardis than thei have disserved, and yit grugge, 
 seying they haue to litill. And somme menne for lakke of meanes 
 toward his highenesse shulde haue to litUl, or righte noughte. Hit Cf. ch. xiv. 
 is thoughte therfor good that alle suche Rewardes and Recompences ^^' '43-4- 
 be deferred, vnto the tyme that ther be a counseill stabUsshed ; and 
 thanne the suppUcacions of alle suche persones mow be sende by 
 the kyng to the seide Counseile, where as every man his merite[s] 
 may be indifferently examyned. And thanne the counsele may 
 firste consider, what lyvelod the king hath for the sustentacion of 
 his estate, and how of the Remenaunte Distribucion may be made 
 amonges suche as haue weele deserued, so as the king by reason 
 of liberalite and rewardis amenisshe [not] nor lasse so his lyvelode, 
 as be necessite he be compelled to lyve upon his Comunes and 
 upon the Chirche, to his enfamye and the withdrawing from hym of 
 the hertes of his subgiettes, whiche Gode wolde not. And thanne, 
 whanne the king upon all such supplicacion is fully aduertised by 
 his counseile, he may so rewarde euery man as he hathe deserued, 
 and as the kinges lyvelode woll extende to hit. For yif this order 
 be kepte, no man may grugge with the kinges highenesse nor with 
 ' the lordis nor with any other manne aboute his personne as they 
 were wonned to doo. 
 
 2. It is thoughte good that it shulde please the king testablysshe Cf. ch. xv. 
 a counseill of Spirituel men xij, and of temporel men xij, of the 
 mooste wise and indifferente that can be chosen in alle the londe. 
 
 And that ther be chosen to theime yerly iiij. lordis spirituelx, and 
 
350 c&e <25otiemance of (ZBnglanti* 
 
 iiij. lordis temporelx, or in lasse numbre. And that the king do no 
 grete thing towching the rewle of his reaume, nor geve lande, ffee, 
 office, or benefice, but that firste his intente therinne be communed 
 and disputed in that counseill, and that he haue herde their 
 advises ther upon ; whiche may in no thing restreyne his power, 
 libertee, or prerogatiff. And thanne shall the king not be counseled 
 by menn of his Chambre, of his housholde, nor other which can 
 not counsele hym ; but the good publique shal by wise men be ^ 
 condute to the prosperite and honoure of the land, to the suretie and 
 welfare of the kyng, and to the suretie of alle theyme that shal be 
 aboute his persone, whome the peopuU haue oftyn tymes slayne for 
 the myscounceling of theire Soueraigne lorde. But the forsaide 
 xxiiijti counseyllours may take noo fee, clothing, nor rewardis, or 
 be in any manes seruice, otherwyse thanne as the Justices of the 
 lawe may doo. Many other articles neden to be addid hereto 
 whiche now were to longe to be remembred hereinne. Neverthe- 
 lesse it is thoughte that the grete officeres, as Chaunceller, Thresorer, 
 and prive scale, the Juges, baron[s] of theschequer, and the Gierke 
 of the Rolles, may be of this counseill whanne they wil come 
 therto, or whan the seyde xxiiijW and viij*® lordis will desire them to 
 be with theyme. 
 Cf. ch. XV. 3. And for asmoche as it may be thoughte that thestablissbe- 
 mente of suche a counsele shalbe a newe and a grete charge to 
 the kyng, hit is to be considered, how that the olde counsell 
 in Englonde, which was mooste of grete lordis that more at- 
 tended to their owne matieres thanne to the good universall 
 profute, and therfore procured hemselfe to be of the counsell, 
 whiche was nere hand of as grette charge to the king as this 
 counsell shalbe and no thing of suche profute. Ffor this 
 counsell shall almost contynuelly studye and labour upon the 
 good politike wele of the londe, as to prouide that the money 
 be not borne oute of the reaume, and how bolyon may be 
 broughte inne, how merchandizes and comoditees of the londe 
 may kepe theire prices and valiwe, how estraungeres caste not 
 downe the price of the commodites growing in the londe, and 
 suche other poyntys of policee. And also how the lawe may be 
 fourmely kepte and refourmed ther as it is defectife, to the grett- 
 est good and surete of the welthe of the londe that hathe bene 
 
 ' by and be, reversed in MS. 
 
appentijc IB, 351 
 
 sene in any lande. And trewly ther hath bene gevun in late 
 dales to somme oon lorde temporell much mor lyuelode in yerly 
 value than woU paye the wages of alle the newe counseill. And 
 also the spirituell menne of this newe counsele shal not nede to 
 have so grete wages as the temporell menne, whiche whanne 
 they come to the counseill muste leve in their cuntrees oon hous- 
 holde for their wyfes, children, and servauntes, or ellis carye theim 
 with hem ; whiche the spirituel men nede no[t] to do. By which 
 consideracion the spirituel men in the court of parliament of Parys 
 have but iij C. scutes, wher as the temporell men have iiij C. 
 
 4. It is necessarie that befor any grauntes be made by the king Cf. ch. vi. 
 of any parte of his livelode, ther be first assig^d particulerly cer- 
 
 teyne lyuelode for the kinges house, for his chapell, and for his 
 garderobe. And other lyueloode for the paymente of his courtes, 
 his counsele, and all other ordinary charges ; soo as no parte 
 therof be restreyned tany other use, into the tyme that alle the 
 charges be yerly payde. And yif any patente be made tany other 
 use of any partie of that lyuelode, That that patente be voide 
 and of noon effecte. And also that no patente be made in 
 Inheritaunce of any partie of the kinges lyveloode, by what title 
 so ever that it be comen to hym, withoute thassente of his 
 parliamente, nor for terme of lyfe, or yeres countervailing terme 
 of lyffe, withoute thaduice of his counsale, excepte suche pa- 
 tentes as shalbe made of fermes by the thresour[er] of Eng- 
 londe, bailliflfes, and other officeres having powere taprowe the 
 kinges lyuelode. And the Chaunceller whiche shall fortune ten- 
 seale any patente contrarye hereto, leese his office and forfaite to 
 the king all his liveloode temporell. And that the same patente be 
 voyde. And over this that every Chaunceller have like peyne yif he 
 enseale any patente for any other matier, or that matier be com- 
 muned in the kinges counsell, and he certified of the maner and 
 conclusion of theire deliberacion upon the same. And yif the 
 same matier haue bene thoughte to the counsell good, the 
 Chaunceller may write in the patente whiche he shall make therof, 
 that it is passid bi thauyse and assente of the counsell, and ellis he 
 shal leaue ^ these wordis, and wryte in the patente oonly that the 
 matier hathe bene communed in the kynges counsell. 
 
 5. Item : whenne ther is lyveloode sufficiante for the paymente Cf. ch. v. 
 
 ■ MS. Aaue. 
 
352 Cbe (Soijernance of (JEnglanD. 
 
 of the kinges hous, the expences therof may be alwey paide in 
 hande, which expences shulbe thanne forthewarde of so resonable 
 price as the iiijtl» parte of tholde expences of the same howsolde 
 sholde be yerly saved. And the king shall haue therby alway the 
 market at his gate to his grete profute, but to moche more profute 
 of the pore peopull. And to the synguler pleasure of God, that 
 hathe no prince excused of paying of his dettys, and namely for 
 his vitaylles. Wherfore alle other kingis payen alway in hande 
 for their vytaylles. 
 Cf. ch. xvii. 6. Item : it is thoughte good that the king geve noone of his 
 offices, though it be but of parkirship, tany manne saue only to his 
 owne seruauntes, and that euery of his officeres be sworne that he 
 is with no man in seruice, nor hathe nor wil take of any man while 
 he serueth the king, pencion, fee, or clothing, except oonle of the 
 king. For thanne the king shall haue holiche the mighte of his lande, 
 whiche is most rewlyd by his officeres as they haue bene before 
 these daies. And the king shal mow thenne rewarde with offices, 
 suche as oughte to be rewarded, without amenuisshing of the^ 
 revenues of his croune. And yit shalbe good that no manne haue 
 ij offices, excepte the seruauntes and officers of the kynges how[s]e, 
 whiche may haue, whanne they deserve it, a parkirship or suche 
 a nother office as they may wele kepe be a suffisante depute. 
 Whiche depute thanne shalbe sworne to serue noon other man saue 
 his master that Serueth the king. And in like fourme the king may 
 rewarde his counseillours temporelx: with suche offices whanne he 
 woU. Ffor it is not like but that he woU avaunce the spirituell 
 menne of his counseiU with benefices, as they shalbe worthy. 
 
 7. Ikm: forasmoche as the king is now in grete pouertie, and 
 may not yit susteyne thexpences of so grete an housolde as he 
 kepte somtyme, nor he is yit purveyed of vessell and other hostil- 
 mentis of housolde honorable and conveniente for hym ; And also 
 his Costis now upon thestablishementes of his Reaume wol be 
 gretter thanne any manne can certaynly esteme ; hit is thoughte 
 good that it woU please his highenesse to forbere all this firste yere 
 the keping of his worshipfuU and grete housolde ; And be in alle 
 that tyme in suche a sure place or places as his mooste'' noble grace 
 can thinke beste for his helthe and plesaunce, with lytill peopull, 
 and withoute reasumyng and taking ageyne in all that yere of the 
 
 » MS. kis. ' MS. mostee. 
 
appenUir C, 353 
 
 seruauntes of his olde housolde, but suche as necessite shall cause 
 hyrn. Ffor yif he lake withinne that tytne ony of hemme, the 
 remenaunte woU grugge for theire absence. And also thoo that 
 bethe thus takyn wol not leve importune sute to haue vnto theyme 
 all theire olde felaship, whiche shalbe noyfuU and grete noye to 
 hymselfe, and to all thoo that shalbe abowte hym for that yere. 
 
 APPENDIX C. 
 
 This piece was printed by Lord Clermont (Works, pp. 517-8) 
 from an incomplete copy in the Phillipps collection ; and is here 
 given in full from the Yelverton MS. No. 35. It was twice tran- 
 scribed by Stowe : MS. Harl. 545, f. 136 ; Harl. 543, f. 163 b. On 
 its character and date see Introduction, Part III, pp. 74-7, above. 
 
 Here folowith the Replicacion made agenste the title and The Re- 
 clayme by the Due of Yorke to the Crownes and Reaumes agenst the 
 of Eingland and Fraunce, whiche that the said due ^^^^1^'^^^''^^^ 
 claymeth bi the righte and title of Sir Leonell, the thirde dnc off 
 
 , Yorke for 
 
 sone of King Edwarde the iij , and by Philip doughter thecrownes 
 and heire to the said S'' Leonell ; whiche clayme and title °^^ °^ ^ 
 so made may be no trewe nor rightwis clayme nor title r^aunce. 
 during the lyfe of King Henry the vj'*'^ and his heires 
 leving aftir hym, as here aftir folowing ys more openly 
 shewed and plainle declared. 
 
 Be it knowen tall wele disposed people having will to under- 
 stande the trewthe, that thoughe it so were the Righte of the 
 Crownes of Englande and of Fraunce mighte discende vnto a 
 wymman, as it may not, whiche is sufficiently proued in the trete 
 therof, made' by the olde knighte exiled \ and elles it shulde 
 partene to the kyng of Scottes, whiche discended of an elder stok 
 by a wymman callid Seint Margarete, doughter of the king of 
 Englande, thenne any man now claymyng the crowne of Eng- 
 lande. But yet for the mere Declaracion of trouihe hit is to be 
 had in mynde, that Edward ijow occupying the Crowne of Englande 
 
 ' Against this passage in the MS, Is written in a later hand 'S' John 
 Fortescue, L^ Chief Justice of England." 
 
 A a 
 
354 Cfie ©otietnance of Cnglanti* 
 
 by a pretensed title, saying he ys discended therunto by the 
 righte of a wymman called Dame Philip, doughter as he seithe to 
 Si- Leonell of Andewerpe, elder brother to S^ John of Gante, of 
 whom ys lynyally descended the verrey trewe Cristen prince king 
 Henry the vjtlie. The whiche Edwarde hatha no righte to the 
 seide Crowne bi thaboveseid Dame Philip, flfor it is playnly founde 
 in the Cronicles of Fraunce and of Seelande, that the seide dame 
 PhiUp was consayved in advoutrye, and goten vpon the wyfe of 
 the aboueseid Sir Leonell by oon Sir Jamys of Audeley knighte, 
 whiche was steward of the housolde of the aboueseid wyfe of S^ 
 Leonell, The whiche S' Leonell beyng absente by the space of oo 
 yere and halfe from his wyfe before the byrthe of the seide Dame 
 Philip. Whiche S^ Jamys Awdlay aftirward for that offence was 
 beheded ; And S^" Leonell due of Clarence devorsed by the lawe 
 from the seid dame PhiKp his wyfe, and afterwarde wedded to the 
 doughter of the due of Milayne, and in that Cuntrie dyed, and in 
 Pavy is buryed not ferre from Milayne, and sawe nevur his firste 
 wyfe Dame Philip after with his eyen. And also she was exiled 
 into Irelande with here seide doughter Philip. Whiche Philip had 
 nevur foote of lande of the duchie of Clarence nor bare the armes 
 of Englande, ne noon that discended from here be their Righte, as 
 thei shulde have doone yif shee had bene the doughter of the seide 
 S"^ Leonell. Whiche S^ Leonell whan he was ded, and the writtis 
 called Diem clausit extremum were sente oute into all the shires of 
 Englande, they were alle retourned that the seid S^ Leonell died 
 withoute heire or issue of his body lawfully begoten. Wherfore 
 King Edward the iij'i® toke all the landes of Sir Leonell into his 
 owne handis; And att a parliament not longe aftir declared this 
 caas above seyde vnto all his peopuU. In the whiche parliamente 
 he entayled the Crowne to his heires Malis. And for a perpetuell 
 witnesse that his doughters were agreed vnto the same, they came 
 alle into the open parliament in their mantelles of estate enbrowded 
 with tharmes of Englande, and ther openly disclaymed and re- 
 nounced from theim and their heires all the right and tide that thei 
 had or mighte of possibilite haue to the crownes of England and of 
 Fraunce. In recorde wherof they lete falle their mantelles there and 
 departed oute of the parliament in thir gites. Lo this is a suflSsent 
 declaracion that thaboue remembred Edward that now occupieth 
 the crowne hath no Righte therto. 
 
appenUir D. 355 
 
 APPENDIX D. 
 
 The following fragment is taken from MS. Cotton, Vespasian F. 
 ix. f. 122. I believe it to be the beginning of Fortescue's tract 
 ' On the Title of the House of York.' A comparison of the frag- 
 ment of that tract, printed by Lord Clermont (Works, pp. 497-502) 
 from MS. Cotton, Julius F. vi., with the De Titulo Edwardi Comitis 
 MarchicB, shows that they covered much the same ground, and the 
 fragment here printed corresponds very exactly with the beginning 
 of the latter work. The plan here commenced is carried on in 
 Lord Clermont's fragment. Between the two fragments would 
 come the discussion of Stephen's and Henry II's title to the 
 throne, and of the claim of the Scottish kings to the English 
 succession, as descended from Margaret, sister of Edgar Atheling 
 and wife of Malcolm Canmore. This missing portion may be 
 practically restored from the ' Declaracion upon Certayn Writings,' 
 Works, pp. 525, 537, where this tract seems clearly to be cited 
 for the purpose of being refuted. The words enclosed in brackets 
 are my own conjectural restoration of the lacunae of the MS. I 
 have added in the margin references to the pages of Lord Cler- 
 mont's edition of Fortescue's works, where passages may be found 
 more or less parallel to those here printed. 
 
 A simple maid of the Realm [of Englonde now] in exile within Cf. Works, 
 the Realm of [Scottis, knowyng the] Title by the which Edwarde ^" ^*' 
 late [erle of Marche claymeth the] forsaid Realme of Englonde to 
 [be pretensed and fals,J and dredyng that therby the noble [realme of 
 Englonde and the] most noble Christian prynce Henry [the vjtli who 
 hath] peasibly raigned xxxviij yeres [vpon the said Realme] might 
 be defamed or hurte ; and al[beit the worshipful] councell of the 
 said kynge, wole not [by aduyse of the] prynces and other greate 
 lordes of [the said councell] take upon theym to putte in writy[ng 
 the said kynges] title which is vndoubted to all the [world] ; The 
 said simple persone not presumy[ng to declare the said] title, 
 which nedeth no declaration, [yet that he may shewe] and declare 
 the Insuflficiencye of the [forsaide clayme] hath furst putte in 
 writyng the forsaide pre[tensed title, and then] aunswered to the 
 same, as in articles hereaftyr foQowyng may] appier. 
 
 A a 3 
 
3s<5 Cbe (Sotiernance of €nglanti. 
 
 Here foloweth the title which Edwarde Erie of Marche pre- 
 tendeth ^ to the Crow[ne] of Englond and the Realme. 
 Cf. Works, The saide Edwarde sayth that he is son to Richard, son to 
 ^' ^ ■ Anne, doughter to Roger, son to Philip, doughter to Lyonelle, 
 eldest brother to Edward, somtyme prynce of Walys flfadr to 
 Kyng Richard the second, which dyed withoute issue ; and he 
 sayth that kynge Henry vjtli is son to kyng Henry the v^\ son to 
 kyng Henry the iiijtl», son to John, somtyme Duke of Lancaster, 
 ijd brother to the said prynce, ffadr to the said kyng Richard. And 
 soo bicause he is comon of the older brother of the said late 
 prynce, and the [said kyng Henrjy the v}^^ is comon of the ijd 
 brother of the same prynce, [he sayth that] he hath right to the 
 realm and Crowne of Englond, [as next heyr] to the said kyng 
 Richard, and therfor he is entred [now late] vpon the said kyng 
 Henry the vjtl' and hath [putte hym] oute therof, and also hath 
 crowned hymself kyng [of the said] Realme of Englond. 
 
 The Aunswer to the forsaid title made after the custom and lawe 
 of the realme of Englond. 
 Cf. Works, [Yt is shewed] openly by the forsaid title that the said Kyng 
 -oj_ ' Henry [the vjtli is nex]t heyr masle to the said kyng Richard, and 
 Cf. Works, also [next to hym of his] blode ; and that the said late erle con- 
 p. 500- nexeth his [discent and succession] by meanes of ij women, that is to 
 saye Philip and Anne [ther as n]o woman by the lawe and custom 
 of that londe maye [or can enher]ite the crowne therof; for yt is 
 descendable only to heyres masles, and by such heyres only that 
 londe hath ben enherited, and neuer by fifemasles, sithen the con- 
 quest therof; nor bifor, sithen the kynges theroff have ben anoynted, 
 as by example of some of the discent and succession of the said 
 crowne, fallen as well sithen the conquest as bifor, specified in ij 
 articles next folowyng yt may openly appier. 
 Cf- ^°*^' Kyng Henry the furst, which was son to the conquerour of the 
 505. 537 f- ^^^^ londe, had no issue masle, but he had a doughter called 
 Mawde, which was Empresse of Almaigne, and after the deathe of 
 the Emperour her husband she was wedded to Geffrey Plan- 
 tagenette, erle of Angeoye, by whom she had a son called Henry 
 Fitz Empresse. The said erle of Angeoye dyed, and also the 
 forsaid Kyng Henry the furst dyed seased as well of the Reakne of 
 Englond as of the" 
 
 ' MS. pretended. ^ The last eight words are crossed out iu the MS. 
 
dBJlOiSj^arial JnDtjc. 
 
 A. 
 
 ablements, habiliments, 138. 10 ; 
 
 abillementis, C ; abylymentes, D^ 
 advoutrye, adultery, 354. 8. 
 Afifrike, Africa, Avfrak, C. ; Awfrik, 
 
 Y. 
 almes, alms, charity, 155. 22 ; 
 
 almesse, 156. 7 : A.S. selmesse. 
 Almeyn, Germany, 115. 8 ; Al- 
 
 maigne, 356. 31. 
 also, as, 145. 8, and fq. : A.S. eal 
 
 sw5. 
 alsowell, as well, 124. 11. 
 altheyr, gen. pi. of ' all ' ; ' our 
 
 altheyr good ' = the good of us 
 
 all, 156.4; althere, Y. H' ; aller, 
 
 Dl 
 amenisshe, diminish, 349. 26; ame- 
 
 nuisshing, 352. 18 : Fr. ame- 
 
 nuiser. 
 amortyse, to amortise, tie up lands 
 
 in mortmain, 1 54. 24 ; v. note a. 1. 
 Andewerpe, Antwerp, 354. 3. 
 Angeoye, Anjou, 356. 33. 
 apon, upon, 123. 7, 12, and fq. 
 aprowe, improve, 351. 25. 
 arbitrment, discretion, absolute 
 
 power, 113. 6. 
 arrerages, arrears, 143. 24. 
 Arrogoners, men of Arragon, 113. 
 
 7 ; Arragoners, C, Y. 
 arted, obliged, compelled, 114. 27 ; 
 
 119. 21 : Lat. artare, artatus. 
 aught, awght, ought, 127. 15 ; 139. 
 
 18 ; pi. awghton, 147. 7. 
 
 Authenences, Athenians, 1 50. 6 ; 
 
 Athenenses, C, Y, D^; Athenes, 
 
 Lb ; Athenyes, D'. 
 ayen (adv.), again, 121. 20. 
 ayen, ayeuest, ayenste (prep.)', 
 
 against, 121. 17; 130. i ; 155. 7. 
 
 bauderike, baldrick, belt, 125. 16. 
 
 bayille, district of a bailiff, baili- 
 wick, 151. 4; bayllye. Lb: v. 
 critical notes, a. 1. 
 
 baylyff, bailiff, 151. 3 ; baylly. Lb, 
 D"; baily, C, W ; bayle, Y. 
 
 be, by, 141. 9. 
 
 be, ben, been, 138. 31 ; 136. 1. 
 
 ben, byn, pres. pi. of 'to be,' 116. 
 5 : A.S. beon. 
 
 be sens, beseen, furnished, equip- 
 ped, 124. II. 
 
 be sit, bi sit, to become, befit, 124. 
 23 ; 125. 22 ; pt. t. be sate, 136. 
 8 ; besatte, 136. 15. 
 
 bie, to buy, 124. 33; 125. 13; 
 biynge, buying, 132. 21. 
 
 bien, 113. 16 ; v. ben. 
 
 bith, pres. pi. of 'to be,' no. 27, 
 andfq. ; beth, 156. 3 : A.S. beo?. 
 
 Boeme, Bohemia, 139. 9 ; Beame, 
 C, Y, D". 
 
 braggers, bragers, brokers, 152. 
 34; 153-4; broggers, D^ H'. 
 Though ' brogger ' is only a cor- 
 rupt form of ' broker ' they came 
 to be regarded as distinct words ; 
 
358 
 
 <j5lo00arial 31nter, 
 
 'every broker, brogger, and 
 
 huckster.' Hist. Charters of 
 
 London, p. 200. 
 Bretons, Britons, 115. 17; Brutons, 
 
 Di ; Brytons, D^ ; Britons, C. 
 brocage, brokerage, management, 
 
 influence, 144. 18 ; v. note, a. 1. ; 
 
 brochage, D^. 
 brotherryn, brethren, 136. 13,; 
 
 brethem, C, Lb; brotheme, D^ ; 
 
 britharne, H^ ; bretheryn, 153. 
 
 15- 
 buUyon, bullion, 178. 3 ; bolyne, 
 
 D^ ; bolyon. Lb ; bolion, Y. 
 busses, bushes, 141. 11 ; busshes, 
 
 C,Y. 
 but yff, unless, 138. 8, and fq. 
 Iby, bye, to buy, 118. 11 ; 132. 14. 
 by hold, beholden, 152. 24; be 
 
 holdyng, C, D^. 
 
 C. 
 
 carrikke, a kind of ship, 123. 15 : 
 Low Lat. carrica, a ship of bur- 
 den. 
 
 cete, city, 129. 27. 
 
 chase, chose, 112. 19. 
 
 chevisaunce, agreement, compo- 
 sition ; especially a composition 
 by which money is obtained, a 
 loan, 118. 17 : O. Fr. chevissance. 
 
 childeryn, children, 109. 19; no. 
 12 ; childir, childyr. Lb ; chield- 
 ren, C ; childirren, 11 5. 25 ; 
 elulderen, 117. 11. 
 
 come, came, 133. 18: A.S. c6m.- 
 
 comened, communed, deliberated, 
 150. 17. 
 
 Common Place, Common Pleas, 
 146. 18. 
 
 comunalte, community, 112. 13, 
 17 ; 124. 19 : O. Fr. communalte. 
 
 confedre, confederate, conspire, 
 139. 29. 
 
 centre, eontray, country, district, 
 141. 7, 12. 
 
 corodie, an allowance of food, etc., 
 
 out of monasteries, 1 53. 24 ; pi. 
 
 Borodeis, 146. 2 : v. note a. 1. 
 couude, could, 133. 5, and fq. ; 
 
 cowde, C, Y ; couth. Lb. 
 covent, convent, monastery, 155. 
 
 II. 
 ereaunee, credit, 118. 12 : Fr. 
 
 cr^ance. 
 creaunoers, creditors, 118, 18: 
 
 Fr. crfiancier. 
 crokyd, crooked, 1 14. 30. 
 
 D. 
 
 defende, to forbid, 133. 2 : cf. Fr. 
 
 dSfendre. 
 defende, defended, 115. 21. 
 delibre, deliberate, 147. 35 ; de- 
 
 libered, 143. 31. 
 dell, deal, part, 152. 4 ; deale, D' ; 
 
 dele, D^- 
 demeynynge, behaviour, course of 
 
 action, 130. 3. 
 demure (sb.), stay, sojourn, 124. 15 : 
 
 O. Fr. demore. 
 desime, dessime, a tenth, 140. 2 ; 
 
 139. 32 ; dismes, C, Y, D* ; dy- 
 
 ames, D^ ; diemes, H^ ; dyeme, 
 
 D' ; dieme. Lb ; deisme, Y : Fr. 
 
 dixieme. 
 disoribed, enrolled, 149. 16 : v. 
 
 note a. 1. 
 dispend, to expend, 118. 14. 
 dispenses, expenses, 119. 7. 
 distyngued, distinguished, 1 10. 20 ; 
 
 distincted, C. 
 diuersen (vb.), to differ, 109. 7. 
 do, pt. p. = done, 155. 22. 
 dussepers, 131. 24 : v. note a. I. 
 
 E. 
 egall, equal, no. 27; in. 10: 
 
 Fr. ^gal. 
 eUis, otherwise, else, 117. 18 ; 126. 
 
 27. 
 enbrowded, embroidered, 354. 32. 
 encresse, increase, 134. 9; encres- 
 
 synge, 133. 6. 
 enteudet, attended, 145. 13. 
 
<SIo00atial Slnto:. 
 
 359 
 
 entredid, treated, dealt with, 135. 
 6 ; cf. tredid ; entreted, 140. 11. 
 
 equepolent, equally powerful, 130. 
 30. 
 
 erly, yearly, 120. 9 ; written yerely 
 114. 9, where D' has erly. So in 
 116. 13; 138. 25, D' has ere 
 for ' year.' 
 
 eschekquer, exchequier, ex- 
 chequer, 122. 12; 148. 25; es- 
 cheker, D', D" ; eschequer, C. 
 
 especialiteis, particulars, details, 
 125. 23. 
 
 euery, subst. = every one, 151. 17 ; 
 everyche, Y. 
 
 exorbitant, out-of-the-way, extra- 
 ordinary, extravagant, 123. 26 : 
 O. Fr. exorbitant. 
 
 exquisite, sought out, refined, ex- 
 traordinary, 119. 21. 
 
 eyde, aid, 126. 3. 
 
 eyegally, equally, 133. 8 ; cf. egal. 
 
 eyen, eyes, 354- 18. 
 
 eyres, heirs, 136. 2 ; heyres, 136. 
 10. 
 
 eytikes, ethics, 119. 29; ethyks, 
 D^ etikes, C, Y, D"; €tykes, 
 Lb. 
 
 fauctours, favourers, supporters, 
 
 129. 29 : Lat. fautor. 
 ffeed, paid, salaried, 150. 25; feo- 
 
 did, C. 
 ferde, terrified, p. pt. of ' to fear,' 
 
 used actively, no. 5; aferd, C, 
 
 Y, H''. 
 ferre, far, 123. 19. 
 ffloute, fleet, 123. 7, 16 ; floote, C, 
 
 Y ; flode, D' ; flote, D^. 
 flUe, fell, 347- 21. 
 fortliwarde, ' than forthwarde,' 
 
 thence forward, 147. 21. 
 fourmely, firmly, 350. 37- 
 
 G. 
 
 gabell, originally the name of any 
 
 tax, but appropriated specially to 
 the tax on salt in France, 131. 
 
 25- 
 
 gasteful, frightful, no. 6; cf. 
 
 ghastly, 
 getun, p.p. of 'to get,' 143. 3; 
 
 goten, C, Y ; goton, 136. 23 ; 
 
 geyten, 154. 13 ; gotyn, 154. 22. 
 gite, a gown, 354. 37. 
 goo, gone, 138. 34. 
 grobbyng, grubbing, 141. 10. 
 groche, to grudge, 132. 24, andfq.; 
 
 written also gruooh, 114. 8 ; 
 
 grugge. 349. 13. 
 Guyne, Guienne, 1 31. 21. 
 
 H. 
 
 ham, them, 129. 7, and fq. 
 hande, ' paid in hande,' = paid 
 
 with ready money, 120.25; ' hade 
 
 it in hande,' 136. 35. 
 has, as, 117. 15. 
 
 hausyn, hosen, pi. of hose, 1 14. 19. 
 hem, them, 1 10. 4, and fq. ; hemme, 
 
 353. 2. 
 Heroude, Herod, 117. 9 ; Eroode, 
 
 Y ; Erraud, Lb, D' ; Haraulde, 
 
 D^ ; Herowd, C. 
 hit, it, 127. 29. 
 
 holl, hole, whole, 134. 13; 149. 24. 
 hollyoh, hoUiche, wholly, 133. 26 ; 
 
 152. 7. 
 hostihnentis, household furniture, 
 
 utensils, 352. 30. 
 huyr, her, 131. 16. 
 hym, them, 143. 2, 3. 
 
 I. 
 
 i now, enough, (also written 
 ynough, ynoghe, q.v.), 119. 34 : 
 A. S. gen6h. 
 
 is, his, 129. 27, and fq. 
 
 J. 
 
 jakke, jack, coat of mail, 138. i ; 
 
 yackes, D'. 
 jopardie, jeopardy, 125. 6 ; jupar- 
 
 tie, C : O. Fr. jeu parti. 
 
3^0 
 
 (5IoiS0arial Inner, 
 
 juelles, juels, jewels, 148. 4 ; 125. 
 16; yuelles, D' ; iouelx, Lb; 
 iuelx, jeuelx, Y. 
 
 justified, administered, governed, 
 H2. 22. 
 
 I.. 
 
 Iiaoedemonies, Lacedsemonians, 
 150. 5 ; Lacedemons, D^ ; Lace- 
 demeneys, D^ ; Lacedemonees, 
 Lb ; Lacedemonyes, C, Y. 
 
 lafte, left, 142. 26. 
 
 lafull, lefuU, lawful, 139. 20 ; no. 
 
 17- 
 lake, lack, 119. 15. 
 lasse (vb.), lessen, 349. 26. 
 lemitted, settled, fixed, appointed, 
 
 128. 10 ; lymyte, Lb ; lymyted, 
 
 Y, D^ 
 lerned, taught, 135. 14- 
 lese, lose, 155. 18 ; lesynge, 138. 6. 
 leuer, liefer, rather, 119. 11. 
 ligates, 124. 17. So L, Lb; legates, 
 
 al. 
 like, lyke, likely, 134. i ; i39- 8. 
 likely, well-favoured, personable, 
 
 strong, 115. 4- 
 likenes, lykennes, likelihood, 122. 
 
 29; 131- 3- 
 
 M. 
 
 maid, 355. 20 ; seems to be mascu- 
 line = man : ? cf. Icel. mogr. 
 
 manasheynge, menacing, 138. 34 ; 
 manassjnige,. 1 10. 5. 
 
 maneres, manors, 133. 24. 
 
 mansuete, refined, civilized, 112. 
 12 : Lat. mansuetus. 
 
 maugre, in spite of, 133. I : O.Fr. 
 malgre, maugre. 
 
 meryer, merrier, 155. 25; myrrier, 
 C. 
 
 mich, moclL, moche, much, 131. 
 13; 139- 15; 147.2s. 
 
 mo, more (of number), 1 19. 30, and 
 fq. 
 
 m:Odered, moderated, 143, 21. 
 
 mowe, to be able to, 121. 4, and fq. ; 
 
 Mod. Eng. may ; pt. t. m ought, 
 130. 27 ; Mod. Eng. might. In 
 133. 32 we have myghit, where C 
 has mowght. 
 
 namely, especially, 130. 26, and fq. 
 
 ner, nor, 133. 32. 
 
 nere hande, nearly, almost, 117. 
 
 32 ; 129. 8. 
 nev, i. e. neu = new, 130. 14. 
 non suyrte, insecurity, 154. 15 ; 
 
 cf. nown poiars. 
 nor the lesse, 122. 34 ; nathe lesse. 
 
 Lb ; neuer the les, C, Y. 
 nown poiars, non-powers, 121. 9. 
 
 Cf. such compounds as non-age, 
 
 non-suit, etc. non-poiar, 1 50. 9 ; 
 
 noun powers, C ; noon poweres, 
 
 Y. 
 noye, trouble, annoyance, 353. 5. 
 noyfull, troublesome, annoying, 
 
 353- S- 
 
 O. 
 
 o<ire, other, 125. 30. 
 
 on, one, 130. 21, and fq. ; 00, 354. 
 II ; oon, 347. 24. 
 
 onis, once, 121. 20, and fq. 
 
 oonle, only, 352. 14. 
 
 oonys, once, 156. 22. 
 
 onynge, uniting, 112. 21. 
 
 or, ere, before, 144. 27. 
 
 ordenyd, ordained, 112. 21. 
 
 ordinarye, a book of rules, prece- 
 dents, &c., 149. 4. (Three MSS. 
 read ordynal^ 
 
 O'wred, owned, 136. 3. 
 
 owith, ought, 127. 7, 14 (in the 
 latter passage it alternates with 
 aught). 
 
 owthe, oath, 146. 14. 
 
 parcell, part ; strictly a small part, 
 
 123. 2 : Fr. parcelle. 
 partene, pertain, belong,. 353. 27. 
 
C5!oS0arial 31nliejc» 
 
 361 
 
 partye, part, 149. 11 ; parte, 155. 
 
 9 ; pi. parties, 133. 16, 17. 
 peas, pease, peace, 119. 27; 153. 
 
 6 ; peax, 348. 19. 
 pene, penny, 118. 14, 16 ; peyne, 
 
 I3S- 20. 
 perdurable, lasting, 142. 23. 
 place, V. Common Place, 
 poiar, power, 1 10. 28, and fq. ; cf. 
 
 pover. 
 police, policy, 148. 11 ; pollycye, 
 
 148. I. 
 pondage, poundage, 122. 34: Low 
 
 Lat. pondagium. 
 pouere, pouerer, pouerest, poor, 
 
 etc., 151. 3 ; 118. 25, 26 ; poure, 
 
 120. 2 ; pore, 137. 17. 
 pover, power, 121. 3 ; cf. poiar ; 
 
 also written power, 121. 4. 
 president, precedent, 134. 17. 
 purvey, to provide, 122. 5 ; 128. 
 
 21 : Fr. pourvoir. 
 
 quaterimes, a tax of 25 per cent. 
 
 on wine, hence the name, 131. 
 
 26 ; V. note a. 1. 
 quinqueniale, lasting for five years, 
 
 140. 2 ; quinquinall, D'-". 
 quinsime, a fifteenth, 139. 32 ; 140. 
 
 2 : Fr. quinzieme. 
 
 B. 
 
 redely, readily, promptly, 122. 15, 
 rem.enante, remainder, remnant, 
 
 128. 30. 
 resorte, revert, return, 142. 25. 
 ressnable, reasonable, 132. 16 ; 
 
 cf. vnresnoble, 133. 6 ; but, 
 
 resonable, 136. 5 ; reason, 138. 
 
 28. 
 rychesse, riches, 142. 9. In 144. 
 
 15 we have riches, where 
 
 Lb, D^, have richesse, and C, 
 
 richesses : Fr. richesse. 
 rygpursly, rigorously, 132. 25. 
 ryped, ripened, 148. 18, 
 
 S. 
 sadanly, suddenly, 126. 3 ; cf. 
 
 soden. 
 sadde, serious, discreet, 348. 5. 
 sane, = sayen, pres. pi. of ' to say,' 
 
 152. 9; sayn, D' ; sayen, C, Y, 
 
 Lb, Dl 
 saudan, saudayn, sultan, 135. 11, 
 
 20 : O. Fr. soudan. 
 scute, a crown (coin), 1 14. 25, 26. 
 seen, = sayen, pres. pi. of 'to say,' 
 
 117. 12. 
 selde, seldon, seldom, 141. 26 ; 
 
 114. 15; sielde, C; sylden, D' ; 
 
 selden, Y, Lb, D^ ; sielden, Y. 
 sende, sent, 143. 30. 
 serpes, cypress, i. e. fine linen, 125. 
 
 15 (see note a. 1.). So L, D , 
 
 Lb ; serpis, C, Y ; serples, D'. 
 sertanly, certainly, 140. 22. 
 shotynge, shooting, 138. 12 ; 1 5 1. 
 
 7 ; sutyng, suetyng, D^ ; sheet- 
 
 yng, C. 
 
 sitbyn, since, i lo. I, and fq. : A.S. 
 si^an. 
 
 sle, to slay, lli. 25; scle, D^ ; 
 pt. t. slowe, 117. 10 ; slough, C ; 
 sclewe, D'^ : A. S. sledn. 
 
 soche, such, 140. 15. 
 
 soden, sudden, 120. 12, 15; also 
 vwitten sodayne, 125. 33 ; cf. 
 sadanly. 
 
 spice, species, kind, 144. 3 : O. Fr. 
 espice. 
 
 sprites, spirits, 121. io. 
 
 stokk, to root up, 141. 10. 
 
 sturred, stirred, 139. 4 ; stired, C 
 stered, Y. 
 
 subget, u6. 22 ; subgett, 130. 30 
 sublet, 116. 21 ; subgeotes, 117 
 rS ; subgettes,ii7. 25 ; sugettes, 
 116. 10 ; subiectes, 117. 9 ; sub' 
 iecttes, 116. 12: subgiettes, 
 348. 4. It will be observed that 
 with two exceptions these various 
 spellings occur within the limits 
 of two pages. 
 
362 
 
 (Slossarial 3InDer» 
 
 sufiEte, suffer, 152. 14 ; soefire, C. 
 suirte, security, 130. 25 ; cf. un- 
 
 suyrte ; surete, 140. 18. 
 syngular, synguler, special, 152. 
 
 23; 124. 2. 
 
 T. 
 
 take, taken, 131. 11. 
 
 tayles, entails, 136. 4. 
 
 tayles, taxes, 109. 9; 113. 21: cf. 
 
 Low Lat. tallia, tallagium. 
 terable, terrible, 141. 27. 
 thai, thaim, thair, = they, them, 
 
 their, fq. ; Jjam, 136. 19 ; theyme, 
 
 353- 4- 
 than, then, 124. i, and fq. ; also 
 
 written then, 125. 25. So whan 
 
 = when, 130. 26. 
 the, them, those, 122. 10 (perhaps 
 
 a mistake for tho, q.v.). 
 theis, thighs, 114. 21 ; thies, Lb ; 
 
 thyes, D^ H^ ; thighes, C, Y. 
 theis, these, 124. 4 ; thes, 138. 27; 
 
 cf thies. 
 then, than, 144. 9 ; but than, 
 
 129. 5. 
 ther, their, 114. 21. 
 thies, these, 121. 29, and fq.; cf. 
 
 theis. 
 tho, then, 109. 23, and fq. 
 tho, those, no. 19, and fq. ; thoo, 
 
 353- 3- 
 thrugly, throughly, thoroughly, 
 
 153- 9- 
 togedur, togedre, together, 142. 
 
 I ; 145. 11; to guyder, Y; to 
 
 giders. Lb ; to gethers, D^ ; to 
 
 gydre, C. 
 toke, taken, 139. i. 
 trappers, horse-trappings, 125. 21. 
 tredid, treded, treated, 109. 15 ; 
 
 145. 9 ; but treted, 145. 26. 
 treis, trees, 141. 11. 
 
 U,V. 
 
 vessail, plate, gold or silver, 125. 19. 
 
 viage, journey, voyage, 124. 15. 
 understande, understond, p.p. 
 
 understood, 130. 23 ; 154. 2. 
 imdoubtably, indubitably, 134. 21. 
 unite, unyed, united, 112. 15, 17. 
 vnneth, scarcely, with difficulty, 
 
 114. 12 ; unnethes. Lb. : A.S. 
 
 unea'Se. 
 vnsuyrte, insecurity, 119. 3 ; cf. 
 
 suirte. 
 vser, usury, 118. 27 : Fr. usure. 
 vttermest, outermost, 114. l8. 
 
 ■w. 
 
 warr, vb. act. to make war upon, 
 130. 21. C, Y, I>\ D^ insert 
 various prepositions, ' upon,' 
 ' ayenst,' ' with,' after the verb : 
 of. wiren. 
 
 ■welthe, wealthy, 115. 29 ; 348. 20 ; 
 welthy, 149. 27. 
 
 werely, verily, 1 1 7. 3; verely, 
 
 153- 9- 
 werre, war, 123. 5 ; pi. -werrys, 
 
 348. 12. 
 ■wrhom, home, 153. 18. 
 wlren, to make war upon, 348. 10 : 
 
 A.S. werrien ; see warr. 
 with, against, 144. 21 : A.S. wi¥. 
 wone, dweUing, home, possessions, 
 
 156.8. 
 wonned, woned, wont, 121. 32. 
 woxe, waxed, grew, 348. 2. 
 
 Y. 
 
 yefte, gift, 153. 10; yeftis, gifts, 
 121. 25. In 119. 9 we have 
 giftes, where D^ has yites. 
 
 yeve, to give, 153. 23; yeuen, 
 given, 152. 20. 
 
 yif, if, 347. 12. 
 
 yit, it, 352. 19. 
 
 yit, yet, 352. 29. 
 
 ynoghe, ynough, 122. 26 ; 113. 9 : 
 cf. i now. 
 
(Btnnal Slntiejc* 
 
 Note. — The figures printed in large type refer to the actual text of Fortescue ; 
 those in small type to the Introduction and Notes. 
 
 Abduction, forcible, of women, p. 
 
 25- 
 
 Admiral, see Navy. 
 
 ./Egidius Romanus, p. 175 ; his De 
 Regimine, pp. 175-176; trans- 
 lations of, ib. ; obligations of 
 Fortescue to, pp. 98, 176 ; cited 
 by him, pp. 109, 177 ; prefers 
 tyranny to insubordination, p. 
 
 179- 
 Africa, constitutions of, p. 113. 
 Ahab, pp. 117, 206. 
 Albany, Alexander Stuart, Duke 
 
 of, p., 260. 
 Albert of MeckleiAurg, King of 
 
 Sweden, p. 262. 
 Alchemy, Statute against, p. 84 
 
 note ; dispensed with, pp. 83-84 
 
 note. 
 Alcock, John, Bishop of Rochester, 
 
 P- 333- 
 Alexander III, p. 204. 
 
 — V, p. 243. 
 Aleyn, Dr., p. 53 note. 
 Alienation of land, restrictions on, 
 
 pp. 273-274. 
 
 — of royal revenues, v. Crown. 
 Alienations, licences for, pp. 134, 
 
 273-274. 
 Alnwick, lost by the Lancastrians, 
 
 p. 60 ; recovered, p. 61 ; lost 
 
 again, ib. ; recovered, ib. ; finally 
 
 lost, p. 62. 
 Alphonso, brother of Louis IX of 
 
 France, p. 265. 
 Ambassadors, expense of sending 
 
 and receiving, pp. 124, 211-212, 
 
 214, 240-241, 244-245 ; scale of 
 
 payment of, pp. 239-240 ; ear- 
 liest resident, p. 242 ; their char- 
 acter, ib. 
 
 'Ambidexter' jurors, p. 29. 
 
 Anglia, see England. 
 
 Angouleme, see Charles. 
 
 Anjou, Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count 
 of, p. 356. See also Charles, 
 Louis. 
 
 Anne of Bohemia, ,pp. I, 264. 
 
 Annuities, v. Pensions. 
 
 Anonymous letters, p. 76 note. 
 
 Anson, George, Lord, p. 335. 
 
 Antigonus, p. 252. 
 
 Apprenticcrat-law, pp. 41 note, 42 
 note. 
 
 Aquinas, St. Thomas, obligations 
 of Fortescue to, pp. 98, 172- 
 173 ; cited by him, pp. 109, 110, 
 117, 183 ; his importance in me- 
 diaeval history, p. 171 ; popu- 
 larity of his De Regimine, ib. ; 
 his theory of the best constitu- 
 tion, p. 173 ; .effects the fusion of 
 the Aristotelian philosophy with 
 the doctrines of the Church, 
 p. 187 ; condemns tyrannicide, 
 but justifies resistance to tyrants, 
 pp. 205-206. 
 
 Aquitaine, division of estates in, p. 
 loi note; expense of, pp. 211, 
 214 ; revenues of, p. 213 ; loss 
 of, p. 235. 
 
 Arbitration, p. 22. 
 
 Arc, Joan of, p. 195. 
 
 Archers, the strength of England, 
 pp. 137-138, 282 ; need of, to 
 practise, p. 138 ; payment of, p. 
 224 ; excellence of Cheshire and 
 Lancashire in, p. 283. 
 
364 
 
 (General 3lnDer» 
 
 Archery, Statutes enforcing the 
 practice of, pp. 282-283. 
 
 Arderne, Peter, Chief Baron Exch., 
 pp. 50-51 note. 
 
 Aristocracy, state of the English, 
 p. 3 1 note ; see also Nobles, 
 
 Aristocratic theory of society, state- 
 ment of, p. 31 note. 
 
 Aristotle, infatuation of the Middle 
 Ages for, pp. 186-188,; influence 
 of, on medieval political philo- 
 sophy, p. 82 ; Fortescue's quo- 
 tations from, pp. 99-100, 255 ; 
 cited by Fortescue, pp. 112, 119, 
 128, 137. 
 
 Armagnac, Count of, embassy to, 
 p. 240. 
 
 Armour, view of, p. 284. 
 
 Arms, Assize of, p. 283. 
 
 Army, Standing, see France. 
 
 Arras, Congress of, p. 241 ; export 
 of money to, p. 318. 
 
 Arrows, manufacture of, regulated 
 by Statute, p. 283 ; price of, ib. ; 
 feathers for, ib. 
 
 Arthur, King, pp. 115, 186, 201. 
 
 Arundel, John Fitz-Alan, 15th Earl 
 of, p. 30 note. 
 
 — Richard Fitzalan, 12th Earl of, 
 p. 274. 
 
 13th Earl of, p. 274. 
 
 — Thomas, Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury, his address to Parliament 
 on the accession of Henry IV, 
 p. 287. 
 
 Arundels, obligations of Henry IV 
 to, p. 16. 
 
 Ashley, Sir John, governor of Aln- 
 wick for Edward IV, p. 61 ; 
 captured by Sir Ralph Percy, ib. 
 
 Assignments of revenue, for pay- 
 ment of debt, p. 12 note ; for re- 
 wards, pp. 118, 208 ; difficulty of 
 obtaining payment of, ib. 
 
 Assyria, history of, p. 184. 
 
 Athenians, cause of their greatness, 
 p. 150. 
 
 Attorney, King's, p. 45 note ; pay- 
 ment of, p. 222. 
 
 Attorneys, numbers of, reduced by 
 Statute, p. 32. 
 
 Auctoritates Aristotelis, p. 99. 
 
 Audeley, Sir James, p. 354. 
 
 Augustine, St., cited by Fortescue, 
 pp. 98-99, 180, 183. 
 
 Augustus, V. Octuvian. 
 
 Auvergne, William of. Bishop of 
 Paris (Parisiensis), p. 181 ; his 
 Cur Deus Homo cited by For- 
 tescue, pp. 98, 181. 
 
 Ayscough, William, Bishop of Salis- 
 bury, his murder, pp. 248, 293. 
 
 B. 
 
 Babylon (i.e. Old Cairo), Sultan 
 of, pp. 135, 276. 
 
 Balbi, John, of Genoa (Januensis), 
 p. 203. 
 
 Bamburgh, recovered by the Lan- 
 castrians, p. 61 ; lost again, ib. ; 
 recovered, ib. ; finally lost, p. 62. 
 
 Barnet, battle of, p. 70. 
 
 Basin, Thomas, Bishop of Lisieux, 
 his constitutional views, p. 196. 
 
 Basle, Council of, pp. 239, 241, 243- 
 244 ; export of money to, p. 
 318. 
 
 Bath and Wells, Bishops of, see 
 Bekynton, Stillington. 
 
 Bayeux, Bishop of, see Castiglione. 
 
 Beaufort, Henry, Cardinal, Bishop 
 of Winchester, said to have in- 
 cited Henry V to claim the regency 
 during his father's life, p. 7 note ; 
 rivalry with Gloucester, pp. 8-9, 
 18 ; his death, p. 10 ; resists an 
 attempt to assign appropriated 
 revenue, p. 12 note ; consents, 
 ib. ; acts as loan contractor to the 
 government, pp. 12-13 ; pur- 
 chases Chirk, p. 275 ; connexion 
 with the fourth Crusade against 
 the Hussites, p. 285 ; payment as 
 councillor, pp. 302-303 ; address 
 to the Parhament of 1404, p. 
 322. 
 
 — Margaret, p. 75 note. 
 
 — Thomas, Admiral, p. 238 ; offices 
 held by him, p. 327. 
 
 Beaumanoir, the French Jurist, p. 
 
 193- 
 Beauvais, Vincent of, see Vincent 
 
 of Beauvais. 
 Becket, Agnes, p. 338. 
 
 — Gilbert, p. 338. 
 
 — Thomas, Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, pp. 175, 338 ; his political 
 theories, p. 204. 
 
 Bedford, Jacquetta of Luxemburg, 
 Duchess of, p. 271. 
 
General 3|nDei:. 
 
 365 
 
 BedfordJohnDukeof,p.239; gains 
 the battle of Verneuil, p. 199 ; 
 Warden of the East JVIarch, p. 
 225; Chief Councillor, p. 300; 
 payment as ditto, p. 303 ; offices 
 held by, under Henry IV, p. 327. 
 
 Bedingfield, family of, owners of 
 MS. Laud. 593, p. 88. 
 
 Bek, Anthony de, Bishop of Dur- 
 ham, p. 174. 
 
 Bekynton, Thomas, Bishop of Bath 
 andWells,embassy of, to the Count 
 of Armagnac, p. 240 ; to Calais, 
 ib. ; report on the state of Aqui- 
 taine, p. 235 ; his salary unpaid, 
 p. 241 ; Chancellor to Humphrey 
 Duke of Gloucester, p. 308. 
 
 Belus, the first king, pp. Ill, 180- 
 181, 183-184. 
 
 Benefices, how to be given, pp. 
 339-340- 
 
 Benevolences, pp. 39, 209. 
 
 Bernard, St., cited, pp. 120, 292 ; 
 his De Re Familiari, p. 216. 
 
 Berwick, danger of, in 1414, p. 
 225 ; expense of, p. 226 ; sur- 
 render of to the Scots, agreed 
 on, p. SS note; effected, pp. 56- 
 57 note. 
 
 Billing, Sir Thomas, Chief Justice 
 K. B., pp. 27 note, 72 note. 
 
 Blakamore, Baron of, an impostor 
 calling himself, p. 245. ' 
 
 Blake, Edmund, Clerk of the King's 
 Works, p. 231. 
 
 Blakeney, Clerk of the Signet, p. 336. 
 
 Bodrugan, Henry, Esq., a pirate, 
 
 P- 233- 
 Boethius, cited by Fortescue, p. 
 
 99- 
 Bohemia (Boeme), risings in, due 
 
 to poverty, p. 139 ; causes of 
 
 Hussite wars, pp. 284-285. 
 Bohun, Mary de, first wife of 
 
 Henry IV, p. 270. 
 Bolton, Edmund, p. 333. 
 Bonaventura, St., p. 175. 
 Boneville, Sir William (afterwards 
 
 Lord), pp. 21 note, 46, 330. 
 Boniface VIII, p. 193. 
 Boothe, William, Archbishop of 
 
 York, p. 325. 
 Bourbon, Duchess of, pp. 63 note, 
 
 64. 
 Bourchier, Henry, Viscount, p. 248 ; 
 
 see also Essex. 
 
 Bourchier, Thomas, Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, pp. 26 note, 220, 
 272. 
 
 — William, Count of Eu, p. 272,. 
 Bow-staves, importation and price 
 
 of, regulated by Statute, pp. 282- 
 
 283. 
 Bow-strings, price of, p. 283. 
 Bows, price of, p. 283; keeper of 
 
 the king's, ib. 
 Bracton, character of his works, 
 
 p. 82 ; anti-papal views, p. 103 
 
 note; his interpretation of the 
 
 maxim. Quod principi placuit, p. 
 
 185 ; Selden's refutation of it, ib. 
 Br^zi, Pierre de, p. 53 note; sent 
 
 to assist Margaret of Anjou, pp. 
 
 61-62 ; retires with her to the 
 
 Continent, p. 63 ; maintains her 
 
 and her followers, ib. 
 Brittany, origin of the name, p. 
 
 200 ; a haunt of pirates, p. 233. 
 
 — Francis II, Duke of, assists Mar- 
 garet of Anjou, p. 59. 
 
 Brokage, pp. 20 note, 25, 336-337. 
 
 Brotherton, Thomas of, son of 
 Edward I, p. 272. 
 
 Brown, Thomas, Bishop of Nor- 
 wich, p. 307. 
 
 Brug, or Burg, Sir John, p. 44 
 note. 
 
 Brutus (Brute), his election as 
 king, pp. 112, 185-186. 
 
 Buckhounds, Master of the, p. 315. 
 
 Buckingham, Humphrey Stafford, 
 Duke of, pp. 49-50, 51 ; Captain 
 of Calais, p. 228 ; hereditary 
 Warden of the Cinque Ports 
 and Constable of Dover Castle, 
 
 P- 331- 
 Budget, of 1411, p. 211 ; of 1421, 
 
 p. 212 ; of 1433, pp. 213-214. 
 Bullion, export of &c., v. Money. 
 Burgundian Court, splendour of, 
 
 p. 245- 
 Burgundy, Bastard of, p. 64. 
 
 — Dukes of, arbitrary taxation by, 
 pp. 132-133 ; see also Charles 
 the Bold, Philip the Good. 
 
 Burke, see Fortescue, and Price. 
 Burning, punishment of, pp. 42, 
 
 102. 
 Burton, John, p. 44 note. 
 Bury, John, the adversary of Pe- 
 
 cock, p. 188. 
 Bute, John Earl of, p. 335. 
 
366 
 
 (25encral 3InDer» 
 
 c. 
 
 Cade, rising of, pp. 1 1, 284; his 
 complaints, pp. 20 note, 22, 24 
 notes, 50, 237, 292, 310, 32s ; 
 trial of his adherents, pp. 50, 
 248. 
 
 Cairo, v. Babylon. 
 
 Calabria, John of, pp. 58 note, 66. 
 
 Calais, danger of under Henry IV, 
 p. 5 ; under Edward IV, pp. 60, 
 69 ; expense of, pp. 122, 211- 
 212,214,227-229; revenues of, p. 
 228 ; victualling of, p. 229 ; officers 
 of, ib. ; value of, p. 230 ; negotia- 
 tions at, p. 241 ; rules of the 
 Staple of, p. 316 ; petition against 
 the inhabitants of, p. 3 1 9. 
 
 Calixtines, the, p. 285. 
 
 Calixtus III, pp. 243, 276. 
 
 Cambridge, Richard, Earl of, pp. 
 8, 77 note. 
 
 Canon Law, respect of Fortescue 
 for, p. 99 ; borrows quotations 
 from, p. 99 note. 
 
 Canterbury, Archbishop of, first ad- 
 viser of the Crown, p. 301 note. 
 
 — Archbishops of, see Arundel, 
 Becket, Bourchier, Dunstan, 
 Kemp, Morton, Rich, Stafford, 
 Stratford, Sudbury. 
 
 Canvas, pp. 114, 197-198. 
 
 Capetian dynasty, pp. 256-257. 
 
 Capgrave, John, his lamentations 
 on the maritime decline of Eng- 
 land, pp. 200, 237 ; change of 
 front on the dynastic question, 
 pp. 96 note, 343. 
 
 Carlingford, Chichester Fortescue, 
 Lord, p. 73. 
 
 Carlisle, in danger of being given 
 up to the Scots, p. 56. 
 
 — Bishop of, see Lumley. 
 Carnarvon, Exchequer of, p. 331. 
 Cassivelaunus, p. 186. 
 Castiglione, Zanone di. Bishop of 
 
 Bayeux, his appeal to Hum- 
 phrey Duke of Gloucester, p. 
 286. 
 Castles, Constables of, pp. 330- 
 
 331- 
 Caux, Country of, a desert, pp. 141, 
 
 291 ; rising in, pp. 141, 290-291. 
 Caxton, William, his address to 
 
 Edward IV, p. 343. 
 Chamberlains, v. Countries, 
 
 Champerty, p. 27. 
 
 Chancellor, increase in his power, 
 p. 300 ; ,his salary, p. 215 ; ditto 
 as Councillor, p. 240. 
 
 Chancery, Inns of, see Inns. 
 
 Chapels royal, expenditure on, pp. 
 125, 247, 351 ; clerks and chap- 
 lains of, pp. 339-340- 
 
 Charles, Count of Angouleme, p. 
 176. 
 
 — of Anjou, p. 56 note. 
 
 — the Bald, p. 257. 
 
 — the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, 
 pp. 55 note, 257 ; favours the 
 Lancastrian cause, pp. 58, 66 ; 
 interview with Louis XI at 
 Tours, p. 58 ; entertains Margaret 
 of Anjou and her followers at 
 Bruges, pp. 63-64 ; marries Mar- 
 garet of York, p. 67. 
 
 — V of France, pp. 194, 267- 
 268. 
 
 — VI of France, p. 194. 
 
 — VII of France, p. 2;'6 ; his 
 death, p. 57 ; constitutional im- 
 portance of his reign, pp. 193, 
 195-196. 
 
 — VIII of France, as dauphin 
 contracted to Elizabeth of Eng- 
 land, p. 264. 
 
 — of France, Duke of Guienne, 
 supports Lancastrian cause, p. 
 68 note. 
 
 — the Great, pp. 129, 266. 
 
 — Duke of Lower Lotharingia (?), 
 pp. 129, 256. 
 
 — Martel (Marcellus), pp. 129, 
 256. 
 
 — the Simple, p. 256. 
 Charlotte of Savoy, wife of Louis XI, 
 
 p. 176. 
 
 Chartesey, WilUam, p. 307. 
 
 Chastellain, his judgement on Mar- 
 garet of Anjou, p. 9 note. 
 
 Chatham, William Pitt, Earl of, p. 
 218. 
 
 Chester, Earldom of, pp. 330-333 ; 
 erected into a principality, pp. 
 274; 333; revenues of, p. 213. 
 
 — Exchequer of, p. 331. 
 Chichester, Bishops of, see Mo- 
 
 leyns, Pecock. 
 Childeric, deposition of, pp. 129, 
 
 255-256. 
 Chirk, castle and lordship of, pp. 
 
 134, 213, 274-275, 330. 
 
<3zmm\ 3Intier, 
 
 367 
 
 Chivalry, character of, p. 15. 
 Christian I, king of the Scandi- 
 navian kingdoms, p. 262. 
 Church, corruption of, pp. 14, 26 ; 
 revenues of, used to supplement 
 official salaries, pp. 311-312; cf. 
 pp. 328, 352. 
 Churches, robberies from, p. 25 
 
 note. 
 Cinque Ports, Warden of the, pp. 
 
 .151, SSI- 
 Civil Law, respect of Fortescue 
 for, pp. 98, 184. 
 
 — wars, English, causes of, ac- 
 cording to Fortescue, p. 348. 
 
 , Roman, see Romans. 
 
 Clarence, George Duke of, pp. 32- 
 33 note, 198, 220 ; expelled from 
 England, p. 68 ; reversion of 
 crown secured to, p. 70 ; pro- 
 clamation against, p. 208 ; grants 
 to, p. 279. 
 
 — John, Bastard of, p. 337. 
 
 — Lionel Duke of, pp. 77, 231, 
 272, 353-354, 356. 
 
 — Thomas Duke of, p. 274 ; 
 chief of his father's council, p. 
 300 ; offices held by him under 
 Henry IV, p. 327. 
 
 Clergy, appealed to for loans, p. 
 
 12 note. 
 Clermont, Thomas Fortescue, Lord, 
 
 P-73- 
 Cleve, William, clerk of the kmg's 
 
 works, p. 231. 
 Cliftoun, translator of ^gidius Ro- 
 
 manus and Vegetius, p. 176. 
 Clodone, Clodoneus, v. Clovis. 
 Cloth, import of foreign, forbidden, 
 
 p. 319- 
 
 Clovis, first Christian King of 
 France, pp. 129, 255. 
 
 Clyfford, Robert de, first Warden 
 of the Marches, p. 226. 
 
 Coasts, protection of, pp. 123, 234. 
 
 Coin, export of, &c., v. Money. 
 
 Collectors, &c. of Customs, non- 
 residence of, p. 334 ; corrupt 
 appointment of, p. 337 ; salaries 
 of, pp. 212, 214. 
 
 Collectors of Tenths and Fifteenths, 
 abuses connected with, p. 24. 
 
 Colonna, Egidio, v. jEgidius Ro- 
 manus. 
 
 Commerce, disturbance of, under 
 Henry IV, p. 6; Edward IV's 
 
 care for, see Edward IV. See 
 
 also Protective policy. 
 Commissions, special, pp. 125, 
 
 248. 
 Common-place books, mediaeval, 
 
 P-99- 
 
 Common Pleas, Chief Justice of, 
 a member of the Royal House- 
 hold, p. 46 note. 
 
 Commons, English, condition of, 
 V. England: 
 
 — power of, under Henry IV, 
 p. 4 ; growth of, under Ed- 
 ward III, pp. 14-15. 
 
 Commynes, Philippe de, his law- 
 suits, p. 32 ; judgement on Mar- 
 garet of Anjou, p. 9 note ; com- 
 parison and possible relations 
 with Fortescue, p. 104 ; his con- 
 stitutional views, pp. 104, 196 ; 
 his views on the subject of 
 ambassadors, p. 241. 
 
 Companies, p. 24. 
 
 Compendium Morale, v. Waltham, 
 Roger of. 
 
 Confiscations, p. 39. 
 
 Conflans, treaty of, p. 257. 
 
 Cotisilium., derivation of, according 
 to ^gidius Romanus, p. 310. 
 
 Constables, v. Castles, Dover, and 
 Tower. 
 
 Constance, Council of, p. 243. 
 
 Constantine, donation of, pp. 323, 
 
 324-325- 
 
 — of Brittany, elected King of 
 Britain, p. 115. 
 
 Constantinus, p. 201. 
 Constitution, theory of a mixed or 
 
 balanced, p. 173. 
 Constitutional limitations, how far 
 
 a lessening of the royal power, 
 
 pp. 217-219. 
 Corbet, Guy, p. 43 note. 
 
 — Sir Robert, p. 43. 
 
 Corn, export and import of, regu- 
 lated by. Statute, pp. 319-320. 
 
 Comburght, Avery, yeoman of the 
 King's chamber, p. 336. 
 
 Cornwall, Duchy of, pp. 329-333 ; 
 revenues of, p. 213. 
 
 Corodies, definition of, pp. 337- 
 338 ; how to be given, pp. 153- 
 154 ; origin of, ib. ; exemptions 
 from, granted, pp. 338-339 ; sale 
 
 of, p. 339- 
 Coronation Oath, p. 341. 
 
368 
 
 (25eneral 31nDejc. 
 
 Corporation sole, p. 341. 
 ' Corser,' the King's, p. 247. 
 Council of the English Govern- 
 ment in France, pp. 303, 312. 
 Council of the Prince of Wales, p. 
 
 333- 
 
 — Great, not noticed by For- 
 tescue, pp. 4, 307 ; composition 
 and functions of, pp. 4, 306-307. 
 
 — Privy, p. 4 ; compared with a 
 modern Cabinet, pp. 293, 297, 
 305 ; called ' continual council,' 
 p. 294 ; times of meeting, pp. 
 303-304 ; committees of, pp. 
 296, 315 ; jurisdiction of, bene- 
 ficial, pp. 21-22 ; place of meet- 
 ing, pp. 304-305 ; Fortescue's 
 scheme for reorganizing, pp. 4, 
 31, 146-149, 29s, 349-352; 
 anticipates the actual develop- 
 ment of, pp. 295-296 ; pay- 
 ment of, pp.122, 146-147, 211, 
 214,302-303,350-351; fines for 
 absence from, p. 302 ; to advise on 
 aU gifts and rewards, pp. 143-144, 
 150, 153-154, 156-157, 345-346, 
 349, 351, 352 ; subjects of de- 
 liberation, pp. 147-148, 305- 
 306, 315-316, 350 ; has its origin 
 in the Curia Regis, p. 300 ; its 
 composition, pp. 145, 294-297, 
 349-350 ; controlled by Parlia- 
 ment, p. 297 ; predominance 
 of great lords in, pp. 145-146, 
 294-297 ; expense of, pp. 147, 
 350-351 ; prepares the budget, 
 P- 3°5 i prepares measures for 
 Parliament, pp. 148, 305-306, 
 320 ; special powers conferred on, 
 by Parliament, p. 306 ; appoint- 
 ment and removal of members, 
 pp. 146, 148, 297-298 ; their 
 oath, pp. 146, 299 ; predominance 
 of private interests in, p. 307; 
 corruption of, p. 310 ; attendance 
 of judges at, v. Judges ; vacation, 
 p. 148 ; empowered to raise 
 loans, pp. 12, 212 ; refuses to 
 sanction a measure of Richard 
 IPs, p. 224 ; presence of the 
 king in, p. 301 ; communications 
 between the king and, ib. ; Book 
 of the Council, pp. 149, 322; 
 Clerk of the Council, p. 298. 
 
 — Queen's, p. 265. 
 
 Councillor, chief, pp. 146, 299-301. 
 
 Councillors, complaints against, for 
 miscounselling the king and mis- 
 appropriating his revenues, pp. 
 144, 292-293, 342, 349, 350 ; 
 attempts to secure responsibility 
 of, p. 298 ; not to promise their 
 votes beforehand, pp. 308, 310. 
 
 Councils of Great Lords, &c., pp. 
 308, 310. 
 
 Counsel, need of good, pp. 322- 
 323, 347-348. 
 
 — legal, intimidation of, p. 21 ; 
 attached to certain lords, &c., 
 
 P- 309- 
 
 Counties, ferms of, see Sheriffs. 
 
 ' Countries,' justices and chamber- 
 lains of, pp. 151, 330-331. 
 
 Court, Inns of, see Inns. 
 
 Courtenay, Sir Philip, petition 
 against, p. 183. 
 
 P- 333- 
 
 Courts, payment of, pp. 122, 222- 
 223, 351 ; see also Judges. 
 
 Cousins, the king's, peers addressed 
 as, pp. 272-273. 
 
 Coventry, parliament of, pp. 19 
 note, 52-53 ; illegally summoned, 
 p. 35 note. 
 
 Crawford (Creyforth), David Lind- 
 say, 4th Earl of, p. 259. 
 
 Cravifford, David Lindsay, 1st Earl 
 of, p. 199. 
 
 Crevecoeur, Philippe de, p. 64. 
 
 Crichton, Sir William, Chancellor 
 of Scotland, orders the murder 
 of the Douglases, p. 258. 
 
 Criminal law, severity of, in Eng- 
 land, p. 291. 
 
 Cromwell, Ralph, Lord, p. 333 ; 
 his financial statement of 1433, 
 pp. 210, 213-214 ; complains of 
 his dismissal from the Council, 
 p. 298. 
 
 Crouchback, Edmund, story that 
 he was the elder brother of 
 Edward I rejected by Fortes- 
 cue, p. 75. 
 
 Crown, tendency to throw re- 
 sponsibility upon, pp. lo-ii ; 
 poverty of, pp. 12-13, 17, 118- 
 120, 134 ; bad results of, p. 209 ; 
 ordinary charges of, pp. 120- 
 123, 216, 351 ; extraordinary 
 charges of, pp. 123-126, 239 ff. ; 
 how to be provided for, pp. 
 126-128, 131-133, 250-251,255 ; 
 
©enetal 3ntier. 
 
 369 
 
 revenues of, to be made in- 
 alienable, pp. 120-121, 126, 
 134, 137, 154, 216-217, 250, 
 341-342, 351 ; advantages which 
 will ensue, pp. 154-156, 216- 
 217 ; dispensing power of, pp. 
 83-84 note ; estates in tTie hand 
 of the, pp. 135-136, 277 ; tacit 
 compact with the Church, p. 31 1 ; 
 right of the, to nominate a nun 
 in certain religious houses at the 
 coronation, p. 339. See also 
 Military Service, Ministers. 
 
 Customs, decline of, pp. 6, 237. 
 See also Collectors. 
 
 Cyprus, mediasval kingdom of, p. 
 173- 
 
 D. 
 
 Dante, his reverence for Aristotle, 
 p. 187 ; Tus views on the Em- 
 pire, pp. 188, 324. 
 
 Danvers, Robert, Justice C. P., pp. 
 49, 50 note. 
 
 Debt, dishonour of, to a king, pp. 
 208, 352. 
 
 Denham, Lord, p. 248. 
 
 Denmark, frequency of aristocratic 
 rebellions in, pp. 130, 262. 
 
 Despencers, their policy, p. 14. 
 
 — Inheritance of the, p. 263. 
 
 Devonshire, Thomas Courtenay, 
 Earl of, pj). 21 note, 248, 330. 
 
 Diodorus Siculus, pp. 190-191 ; 
 cited by Fortescue, pp. 98, 112, 
 192. 
 
 Diplomacy, change from mediaeval 
 to modem, pp. 241-242; estab- 
 lishment of a school «f, proposed 
 by Henry VIII, p. 242. 
 
 Disparagement in marriage, defined 
 by Stat. Mert., p. 271. 
 
 Dispensing power, see Crown. 
 
 Disseisin as a legal remedy, p. 21. 
 
 Divine Right, doctrine of, not 
 taught by the mediaeval clergy, 
 p. 205. 
 
 Documents, destruction of, p. 76 
 
 note ; forgery of, see Forgery. 
 Domesday Book, p. 324. 
 
 Dominium, different kinds of, pp. 
 
 83, 109-UO, 112-113, 169-170 ; 
 
 origin of this difference, pp. 111- 
 
 113, i8a 
 
 Domitian, pp. 149, 347. 
 
 Domus Coimjersorum, p. 321. 
 Donif Conditionalibus, de, pp. 277- 
 
 278. 
 Dorset, Edmund Beaufort, Earl 
 
 of, p. 47. See also Beaufort, 
 
 Thomas. 
 Douglas, David, his murder, p. 258. 
 
 — James, 7th Earl of, p. 258. 
 
 — James, 9th Earl of, his re- 
 bellions, pp. 258-259 ; expelled 
 from Scotland, pp. 130, 259 ; 
 his employments in the English 
 service, pp. 259-260 ; invades 
 Scotland and is taken prisoner, 
 p. 260 ; his death, ib. 
 
 — Margaret, ' the fair maid of Gal- 
 loway,' p. 258. 
 
 — William, 6th Earl of, his mur- 
 der, p. 258. 
 
 8th Earl of, his murder, p. 258. 
 
 See also Moray, Ormond. 
 Douglases, their relations to the 
 
 Scotch crown, pp. 257-258; 
 
 their power and independence, 
 
 p. 258. 
 Dover Castle, constableship of, 
 
 pp.330, 331- 
 
 Dress, splendour of m the 15th and 
 l6th centuries, pp. 245-246. 
 
 Dunstan, St., Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury, p. 175- ^ ^ ^, 
 
 Dunstanburgh, surrendered to Ed- 
 ward IV, p. 61 ; to Warwick, p. 62. 
 
 Durham, Bishop of, see Bek. 
 
 Dussepers (douze pairs), \. France, 
 twelve peers of. 
 
 Edgar Atheling, p. 355- 
 
 Edmund, Robert, squire of Mar- 
 garet of Anjou, p. 208. 
 
 Edward I, pp. 14, 84, 174-175, 193. 
 227, 257. 
 
 Edward II, pp. 14, 174- 341- 
 
 Edward III, pp. 14-15,247,353- 
 354. 
 
 Edward- IV, pp. 155-156 ; his 
 financial measures, pp. 13 note, 
 38-39, 209-210 ; attempts to land 
 in Norfolk, p. 24 note ; his ac- 
 cession in form a legitimist re- 
 storation, p. 34 ; compared witli 
 his father, p. 36; obliged to 
 seize the throne, pp. 36-37 ; 
 divisions of his reign, p. 37; 
 
 Bb 
 
370 
 
 (25eneral 3Intiejc, 
 
 hopes entertained of him, pp. 
 343-344 ; his desire to do jus- 
 tice, pp. 37, 203, 344 ; his mar- 
 riage, p. 38 ; reaction against him', 
 pp. 38, 344 ; balances the Wyd- 
 villes against the older nobility, p. 
 38, cf. pp. 295-296 ; deterioration 
 in his character and government 
 after 1471, p. 38 ; compared with 
 Henry VII, pp. 38-39, 209 ; re- 
 pressive policy, pp. 38-39, cf. pp. 
 76-77; his character, p. 40 ; his ne- 
 gotiations with Scotland, pp. 60, 
 66, 259 ; scheme for marrying, to 
 the Dowager Queen of Scots, p. 
 60 ; besieges the Lancastrian 
 castles in the north,, p. 61 ; goes 
 towards the north again,p.62«<'/e ; 
 makes a truce with Louis XI, p. 
 66 ; breaks with the Nevilles, p. 
 67 ; a prisoner in their hands, p. 
 68 ; issues proclamations against 
 Clarence and Warwick, p. 208 ; 
 household of, pp. 220-221 ; ward- 
 robe accounts of, pp. 22 1, 246 ; 
 endeavours to increase the de- 
 pendence of the judges upon the 
 Crown, p. 223 ; establishes a 
 body-guard, pp. 223^224 ; his 
 care for trade and commerce, 
 pp. 238, 319 ; his love of dress, 
 pp. 245-246; of plate, &c., p. 
 247 ; administers justice in per- 
 son, p. 249 ; purposes to ' live of 
 his own,' pp. 250, 340 ; his de- 
 signs on Scotland, p. 260 ; sanc- 
 tions the evasion of the statute 
 De Donis, p. 278 ; his will, pp. 
 278,340,342; his speech to the 
 Parliament of 1467-8, pp. 290, 
 343 ; discontent caused by his 
 futile invasion of France, pp. 39, 
 293; preparations for that ex- 
 pedition,p.326; appointsa council 
 for his son, p. 333 ; refuses to 
 annul grants of corodies, p. 339. 
 
 Edward VI, his council, p. 296. 
 
 Edward, Prince of Wales, (the 
 Black Prince,) p. 356. 
 
 son of Henry VI, retires to 
 
 Wales after battle of Northamp- 
 ton, p. 54 ; to Scotland, ib. note ; 
 schemes for marrying, to Prin- 
 cess Margaret of Scotland, p. 55 
 note; retires to Scotland after 
 Towton, pp. 56, 58 ; at Edin- 
 
 burgh, p. 59 ; visits the Queen 
 of Scots at Falkland, ib. ; ac- 
 companies his mother to the Con- 
 tinent, 1462, ib. ; ditto, 1463, pp. 
 63-64 ; letter to Ormonde, p. 65 ; 
 said to be going to marry Louis 
 XI's daughter, p. 67 note ; mar- 
 riage arranged with Warwick's 
 daughter, pp. 68 note, 69 ; lands 
 at Weymouth, p. 70 ; killed at 
 Tewkesbury, p. 71 ; the De Na- 
 turd Legis Natures written for 
 him, p. 84 ; the De Laudibus ad- 
 dressed to him, p. 85 ; provisions 
 for his minority, p. 332 ; created 
 Prince of Wales and Earl of 
 Chester, ib. ; articles sent by him 
 to Warwick, pp. 348 ff. 
 
 Edward, Prince of Wales, son of 
 EdwardIV,p.249 ; createdPrince 
 of Wales and Earl of Chester, 
 p. 332 ; his household, p. 333. 
 
 Egremond, Thomas Percy, Lord, 
 p. 248. 
 
 Egypt, nature of royalty in, pp. 112, 
 191 ; Joseph's settlement of, pp. 
 135, 275-276 ; riches of the com- 
 mons of, pp. 135, 276 ; mediaeval 
 dynasties of, p. 276 ; Turkish 
 conquest of, ib. 
 
 Elizabeth, Queen, her economy, p. 
 252. 
 
 Elizabeth Wydville, wife of Ed- 
 ward IV, p. 249 ; her household, 
 p. 265. 
 
 Elizabeth, daughter of Edward 
 IV, wife of Henry VII, wardrobe 
 accounts of, p. 221 ; contracted 
 to the Dauphin (=Charles VIII), 
 p. 264. • 
 
 Ellenborough, Lord Chief Justice, 
 p. 291. 
 
 Embassies, see Ambassadors. 
 
 Embracery, p. 27. 
 
 Empire, theory of the mediasval, 
 PP- 323-325. 
 
 England, invasions of Scots and 
 Picts, p. 115 ; prosperity of the 
 Commons, pp.115, 139-140, 286- 
 287 ; their poverty would be a 
 national disaster, pp. 137-139 ; 
 large supplies granted by, pp. 
 139-140 ; exposed to attack, pp. 
 115, 138, 200 ; avTapKeia of, p. 
 287 ; derivation of the name 
 AngUa from Angulus, p. 287 ; 
 
General 3lnDejc« 
 
 -371. 
 
 number of small landowners in, 
 pp. 287-288 ; laws of, potentially 
 perfect, pp. 320-321 ; amount of 
 Queen's dowry, pp. 131, 198, 264 ; 
 Queen's council, officers, &:c., p. 
 265. See also France, Scotland. 
 
 English royalty, politic character 
 of, p. 170. 
 
 Entailed lands not permanently 
 forfeited, pp. 136, 277-278. 
 
 Entails, origin of, pp. 277-278. 
 
 Eric, king of the Scandinavian 
 kingdoms, p. 287. 
 
 Escheats, pp. 134, 273. 
 
 Esquire, income of an, p. 329. 
 
 Essex, Henry Bourcliier, Earl of, 
 pp. 272, 344. See also Bourchier. 
 
 Estates-General, see France. 
 
 Ethiopia, constitution of, p. 191. 
 
 Eudes, V. Odo. 
 
 Exchanges, foreign, attempts to 
 regulate, p. 318 ; tax on, ib. 
 
 Exchequer, exactions at, p. 315. 
 
 Exeter, dispute between Corpora- 
 tion and Cathedral of, p. 49. 
 
 — Bishop of, see Stafford. 
 
 — Henry Holland, Duke of, pp. 55 
 note, 70 ; keeper of the sea, p. 237. 
 
 Expenditure, ordinary and extra- 
 ordinary, see Crown. 
 
 Falconbridge, the Bastard, punish- 
 ment of his adherents, pp. 210, 
 248. 
 
 Fastolf, Sir John, pp. 207, 248; 
 claims for military service, p. 17 
 note; his lawsuits, pp. 32, 52. 
 
 ' Fee'd men,' the King's, pp. 328- 
 
 329- 
 Female succession, question of, in 
 
 England, p. 75 ; in France, see 
 
 France. 
 Feoffments, fraudulent, pp. 20 note, 
 
 28 note, 30-31. 
 Ferrara, council of, p. 244. 
 Feudalism, repression of, p. 14 ; 
 
 spurious variety of, p. 15. 
 Fifteenth Century, character of, p. 
 
 3 ; litigiousness of, pp. 31-32 ; 
 
 economic condition of, pp. 286- 
 
 287. 
 Fifteenths and Tenths, seeTaxation. 
 
 B 
 
 Fines, p. 213 ; inequitable, pp. 39, 
 119, 209-210. 
 
 — for licence to marry, pp. 271- 
 272, 274; for licence to alienate 
 land, pp. 273-274 ; see also 
 Knighthood. 
 
 Fishers, protection of, pp. 123, 233- 
 .234. 
 
 Fitzwarine, William Bourchier, 
 Lord, p. 273. 
 
 Fogg, Sir John, p. 248. 
 
 Forcible entries, pp. 20 note, 21, 28. 
 
 Foreigners, jealousy of, in England, 
 pp. 318-319- 
 
 Foresters, master, pp. 151, 330. 
 
 Foresters, &c., royal, pp. 151, 329. 
 
 Forests, royal, military force fur- 
 nished by, pp. 151, 329 ; justices 
 of, pp. 151, 330. 
 
 Forfeiture, right of the Crown to, 
 
 P- 273- 
 Forfeitures, reversal of, p. 277. 
 Forgery of documents, p. 31. 
 Fortager, see Vortigern. 
 Fortescue, Sir Adrian, his death, 
 
 p. 92 ; writer of MS. Digby 145, 
 
 pp. 92-93. 
 
 — Sir Henry, brother of the Chief 
 Justice, pp.22 «o/e, 43; Chief Jus- 
 tice C. P. in Ireland, p. 41. 
 
 — Hugh, Earl, p. 73. 
 
 — Sir John, father of the Chief 
 Justice, p. 41. 
 
 scheme for the better endow- 
 ment of the Crown, pp. 13-14, 
 250-251 ; for reducing the power 
 of the nobles, pp. 14, 19, 30-31 ; 
 draws up a programme for the 
 Lancastrian restoration, pp. 38, 
 42, 70, 89, 95, 348 ff. ; his birth 
 and parentage, pp. 40-41 ; be- 
 comes a sergeant, p. 40 ; edu- 
 cated at Exeter College, Oxford, 
 and Lincoln's Inn,p.4i ; governor 
 of Lincoln's Inn,ib. ; presentat the 
 gaol-delivery at Salisbury, p. 42 ; 
 his marriage, ib. ; his landed 
 property, pp. 42-44, 50 note, 72- 
 73 ; acts as trustee, and executor 
 of wills, p. 44 note ; his life as a 
 barrister, pp. 44-45 ; Judge of 
 Assize, p. 45; King's Sergeant, ib.; 
 Chief Justice K. B., p. 46 ; grants 
 to, ib.; knighted, ib. ; certifies the 
 Councilof certain indictments, ib.; 
 ordered to commit Sir William 
 
 ba 
 
312 
 
 General 3(ntier» 
 
 Boneville's adherents to bail, ib. ; 
 sent on a special commission into 
 Norfolk, pp. 46-47 ; into York- 
 shire, p. 47 ; ill of sciatica, ib. ; 
 trier of petitions, ib. ; refuses to 
 deliver a prisoner at the kind's 
 command, pp. 47-48 ; receives 
 letters of fraternity from Christ 
 Church, Canterbury, p. 48 ; acts 
 as arbitrator between Cathedral 
 and Corporation of Exeter, pp. 
 48-49 ; his optimistic views and 
 statements, pp. 14, 22 note, 29 
 note ; his connexion with the 
 trial of Suffolk, p. 49 ; exempted 
 from Resumption Act of 1450, 
 ib. ; sits on a special commission 
 in Kent, pp. 49-50 ; in danger of 
 assault, p. 50 ; his political parti- 
 zanship, ib. ; shares the unpopu- 
 larity of the Court party, ib. ; 
 objected to by Cade as partial, 
 ib. ; figures in the satirical dirge 
 upon the death of Suffolk, p. 51 ; 
 in list of unpopular persons, ib. ; 
 consulted on Thorpe's Case, ib. ; 
 arbitrates between Wentworth 
 and Fastolf, p. 52 ; advises the 
 Council in reference to the sheriff- 
 dom of Lincolnshire, ib. ; sits 
 on a special commission at the 
 Guildhall, ib. ; probably con- 
 sulted on the pacification of 1458, 
 ib. ; activity at the Parliament 
 of Coventry, pp. 52-53 ; feoffee 
 for carrying out the king's will, 
 p. 53 note ; his subsequent reply 
 to the Duke of York's claim, p. 
 54 ; summoned to the Parlia- 
 ment of 1460, p. 54 note ; but not 
 recorded to have been present, 
 p. 54 ; presides in the King's 
 Bench for the last time, ib.; pre- 
 sent at Towtan, but probably not 
 at Wakefield or St. Alban's, p. 55 ; 
 withdraws to the North after St. 
 Alban's,ib.; to Scotland after Tow- 
 ton, p. 56; charged with 'rearing 
 war' against Edward IV, p. 57 ; 
 question of his right to the title of 
 Chancellor, pp. 57 note, 300 ; 
 compared with Clarendon by 
 Selden, p. 57 note ; alleged con- 
 nexion with scheme for invading 
 England, p. 58 note ; at Edin- 
 burgh, p. 59; helps to maintain 
 
 Henry VI, ib. ; probably did not 
 accompany Margaret of Anjou 
 to the Continent in 1462, ib. 
 note; accompanies Margaret to 
 the Continent, 1463, p. 63 ; left 
 at Bruges, ib. ; retires to St. 
 Mighel in Barrois, p. 64; po- 
 verty, ib. ; letter to Ormonde, pp. 
 64-65 notes; goes to Paris, pp. 
 64-65 ; favours the alliance of 
 the Lancastrians with Warwick, 
 pp. 68-69 ; memorials addressed 
 by him to Louis XI, ib. ; lands 
 at Weymouth, p. 70 ; taken 
 prisoner at Tewkesbury, p. 71 ; 
 his execution expected, ib. note ; 
 submits to Edward IV, p. 72, cf. 
 p. 79 note ; required to write in 
 favour of Edward's title, p. 72 ; 
 reversal of his attainder and resto- 
 ration of his estates, ib. ; made 
 a Privy Councillor, ib. ; resides 
 at Ebrington, ib.; buried there, 
 ib. ; date of his death unknown, 
 ib. ; his wife, family, and descen- 
 dants, p. 73 ; the first political 
 philosopher of the Middle Ages 
 to base his theories on observa- 
 tion and practice, pp. 82, 100 ; 
 his suggestions for reform, how 
 far original, p. 87 ; prepares the 
 way for the New Monarchy, pp. 
 87, 251 ; his knowledge of the 
 Bible, p. 96 ; his interest in his- 
 tory, pp. 96-97 ; authors quoted 
 by him not a safe test of the 
 extent of his reading, pp. 97-100 ; 
 his respect for the Civil and 
 Canon Law, pp. 98, 184 ; his ob- 
 servation of foreign countries, p. 
 100 ; his comparison of England 
 and France, pp. loo-ioi ; his 
 character, pp. 102-104 ; his piety, 
 p. 102 ; zeal for liberty, ib. ; 
 humanity, ib. ; pride in his pro- 
 fession, ib. ; confidence in parlia- 
 mentary government, p. 103 ; 
 orthodoxy, ib. ; strong hierarchi- 
 cal views, ib. ; partizanship, ib. ; 
 fidelity and self-sacrifice, pp. 103- 
 104 ; compared with Pecock, p. 
 104; Gascoigne, ib. ; Commynes, 
 ib.; Burke, pp. 223, 253-254, 278, 
 281, 289 ; importance of his writ- 
 ings in the seventeenth century, 
 p. 105 ; formerly owned MS. Raw- 
 
<?5enerai Inner. 
 
 373 
 
 Hnson C. 398, p. 180 ; possibly 
 assisted in drawing up the Liber 
 Niger Domus Regis, pp. 220- 
 221 ; compares English and 
 Roman law, p. 184; his theory 
 of the cause of the Hussite wars, 
 p. 285 ; wishes the Council to 
 shield the throne, p. 293 ; chief 
 councillor to Henry VI in exile, 
 pp. 57 note, 300 ; exults in the 
 severity of the English law,p. 291; 
 his experience as a judge, pp. 289, 
 291 ; his theory of the causes of 
 the English civil wars, p. 348 ; 
 ' the old knight exiled,' p. 353. 
 Fortescue's Works, classified, p. 
 
 74:— 
 
 De Titulo Edwardi Comitis 
 MarchicE, pp. 74, 77 ; MS. of, 
 p. 76 note. 
 
 Of the Title of the House of 
 York, pp. 74, 76 note,nT, 355- 
 356 ; MSS. of, pp. 74 note, 
 76 note. 
 
 Defensio Juris Domus Lancas- 
 trice, pp. 74, 77 ; no existing 
 MS. of, p. 76 note. 
 
 A Defence of the House of 
 Lancaster, pp. 54, 74-75, 
 77, 353-354; MSS. of, p. 76 
 note. 
 
 De Naturd Legis Natures, pp. 
 74, 77-78, 82-84 ; MSS. of, 
 p. 76 note. 
 
 Declaration upon Certain Writ- 
 ings, pp. 78-79 ; MSS. of, p. 
 76 note. 
 
 Dialogue between Under- 
 standing and Faith, pp. 79- 
 80. 
 
 De Laudibus Legum Anglia, 
 pp. 84-86 ; MSS. of, p. 91. 
 
 The Monarchia, pp. 86-96 ; 
 its interest, p. 86 ; its scope, 
 ib. ; occasion of its compo- 
 sition, pp. 87, 94-96, 223- 
 224, 279, 325-326, 343-344. 
 346; MSS. of, pp. 87-94; 
 the Epitome, p. 94. 
 Lost works, pp. 68 note, 76 note, 
 
 ?6- , 
 
 Spunous works, p. 75. 
 
 On the Commodities of Eng- 
 land, pp. 80-81 ; MS. of, 
 p. 80. 
 
 The Twenty-two Righteous- 
 
 nesses belonging to a King, 
 p. 81 ; MSS. of, ib. 
 Advice to Purchasers of Land, 
 pp. 81-82; MSS. of, ib. 
 Fortescue, John, grandson of the 
 
 Chief Justice, p. 73. 
 Lord, of Credan, pp. 73, 93. 
 
 — Martin, son of the Chief Justice, 
 
 PP-44, 73. 
 
 — Maud, his daughter, p. 43 note. 
 
 — Sir Richard, his brother, killed 
 at the battle of St. Alban's, pp. 
 41, 51. 
 
 — William, his grandson, p. 73. 
 Master of the Rolls, p. 73 ; see 
 
 also ■ Carlingford, Clermont. 
 
 Foulon, p. 197. 
 
 Fountains Abbey, p. II note. 
 
 Fowey, pillaged by pirates, p. 233. 
 
 France, an absolute monarchy, pp. 
 85, 100, 113, 185, 192-193 ; royal 
 oppression, pp. 116-117 ; taxation, 
 pp. 131-132, 135 ; see also Salt, 
 gabelle on; Wines, quartage onj 
 taxes granted unwillingly, p. 139 ; 
 taxation, arbitrary, pp. 113-114, 
 193-195, 266-268; exemption of 
 the nobles from taxation, pp. 113- 
 114, 139, ig6, cf. p. 261 ; establish- 
 ment of thestandingarmyandper- 
 manent taille, pp. 195-196 ; their 
 increase, p. 197; mercenary troops, 
 p. 115 ; influence of Crown on 
 elections of abbots, p. 175; fer- 
 tility of France, pp. 114, 197 ; 
 misery of the Commons, pp. 113- 
 114,, 140, 197-198 ; submissive- 
 ness due to cowardice rather than 
 poverty, pp. 141-142, 291 ; in- 
 ability of the peasants to fight, 
 p. 198 ; frequency of aristocratic 
 rebellions, p. 129 ; absorption of 
 the great fiefs, pp. 265-266, 270 ; 
 the twelve peers of, pp. 131, 266 ; 
 question of female succession, p. 
 177 ; compared by Fortescue with 
 England in condition and insti- 
 tutions, pp. loo-ioi, 201 ; do- 
 mains of the Crown smaller than 
 in England, p. 131 ; inalienable, 
 p. 342 ; queen's dowry less than 
 in England, pp. 131, 264; the Es- 
 tates General, pp. 193-195; com- 
 pared to the English Parliament, 
 pp. 113, 195. See also Thieves. 
 
 — Dukes of, p. 257. 
 
374 
 
 General 3Intiejc, 
 
 Franchise, question of, in mediseval 
 
 England, p. 170 ; not touched upon 
 
 by Fortescue, ib. 
 Francs-archers, pp. 197, 283. 
 Frank, value of, p. 312. 
 Frederick III, p. 325 ; hopes of the 
 
 Lancastrians from, p. 65 ; passion 
 
 for collecting precious stones, p. 
 
 246. 
 French language, decline of, in 
 
 England, p. 10 1 note. 
 — wars, constitutional effects of, 
 
 pp. 8, 15, 16-17. 
 
 Gabelle, v. Salt. 
 
 Games, unlawful, pp. 282-283. 
 
 Gascoigne, Thomas, compared with 
 Fortescue, p. 104 ; his theory of 
 the Hussite wars, pp. 284-285. 
 
 Gauchd, Henri de, translator of 
 ^gidius Kor^3.ims' De Regimine, 
 p. 176. 
 
 Gaunt, John of, pp. 75, 354, 356 ; 
 his war on Spain, p. 130 ; his 
 opinion about Calais, pp. 229-230 ; 
 his claim to the Castilian Crown 
 disapproved by Fortescue, pp. 
 263-264. 
 
 George HI, p. 335. 
 
 Gerveis, William, the king's 'cor- 
 ser,' p. 247. 
 
 Giles Colonna, see jEgidius Ro- 
 manus. 
 
 Glanville, character of his works, 
 p. 82. 
 
 Glendower, Owen, p. 278. 
 
 Gloucester, Gilbert de Clare, Earl 
 of, rebels against Henry HI, pp. 
 129-130, 257. 
 
 — Humphrey Duke of, p. 34 ; 
 his rivalry with Beaufort, pp. 
 8-9, 18 ; his death a blow to the 
 house of Lancaster, pp. 9-10; 
 possible motive of his war policy, 
 p. 7 note; purveyors of, p. 30 
 note ; ill-treatment of an alleged 
 villein by, p. 31 note; receives 
 presents of books, p. 23 ; presents 
 books to the University of Oxford, 
 p. 176; Captain of Calais, p. 228 ; 
 his manifesto against Beaufort, 
 pp. 241, 27s, 301 note, 305, 336 ; 
 Chief Councillor, p. 300; payment 
 
 as ditto, pp. 214, 303 ; his coun- 
 cil and chancellor, p. 308 ; offices 
 held by him, pp. 327-328. 
 
 Gloucester, Richard, Duke of 
 ( = Richard III, q. v.), pp. 32-33 
 note, 207-2D8, 220 ; hereditary 
 Warden of the West March, pp. 
 225-226 ; Admiral, p. 238 ; grants 
 to, p. 279. 
 
 Gloys, Sir James, p. 26 note. 
 
 ' Good-lord.ship ' purchased, p. 23. 
 
 Governments, divisions of, accord- 
 ing to Fortescue, see Dominium ; 
 according to Aristotle, p. 171 ; 
 according to St. Thomas and the 
 Pseudo-Aquinas, pp. 171-173; 
 according to ./Egidius Romanus, 
 pp. 176-177. 
 
 Gow«r, John, his address to Henry 
 IV, p. 322. 
 
 Grants, royal, restrained by statute, 
 pp. 341-342 ; statutes dispensed 
 with, pp. 83 note, 341 ; for term 
 of life, p. 345. 
 
 Gregory the Great, the first to 
 adopt the \\\\e..Servus servorum 
 Dei, p. 252. 
 
 Gregory VII, his political theories, 
 pp. .204-205. 
 
 Grevill, Jocosa, p. 43 note. 
 
 — John, Esq., p. 43 note. 
 
 Grey, Sir Ralph, goes over to the 
 Lancastrian side, p. 5i, cf. p. 62 
 note. 
 
 Grey of Ruthin, Edmund, 4th Lord, 
 p. II note. 
 
 Reginald, 3rd Lord, p. 309. 
 
 Grymesby, Sir William, p. 71 note. 
 
 Guienne, Duke of, see Charles of 
 France. 
 
 H. 
 
 Hadrian, p. 252. 
 
 Hampden, John, of Hampden, p. 
 
 307. 
 Hanseatic League, power of, p. 
 
 235- 
 Hardyng, John, the Chronicler, 
 
 urges Edward IV to come to 
 
 terms with Henry VI, p. 61 
 
 note. 
 
 Harmenopulus, a Greek Jurist, p. 
 185. ' ^ 
 
 Harriers, Master of the, p. 315. 
 Harvest, importance of, p. 45. 
 
<J5eneral 31ntier. 
 
 375 
 
 Head-pence, an illegal exaction in 
 
 Northumberland, p. 314. 
 Hedgeley Moor, battle of, p. 62. 
 Helynandus, cited by Fortescue, 
 
 p. 99. 
 Henry I, pp. 14, 270, 356. 
 
 — II, pp. 14, 204, 279, 355, 356. 
 
 — Ill, pp. 130, 257,341. 
 
 — IV, p. 356 ; his accession, 
 pp. 1-2 ; hopes entertained of 
 him, pp. 5 note, 343 ; a Saviour 
 of Society, pp. 4-5 ; his struggle 
 to maintain himself, p. 5 ; his 
 poverty, pp. 5, 327 ; reaction 
 against him, p. 5 ; his troubled 
 reign, death, and burial, p. 6 ; 
 his obligations to the great lords, 
 p. 16; unconstitutional commis- 
 sion issued by, p. 239; sends 
 ambassadors to Pisa, p. 243 ; 
 acknowledges Alexander V, ib. ; 
 concentration of earldoms in his 
 hands, p. 270 ; concentrates the 
 great offices in the hands of his 
 family, pp. 326-327. 
 
 Henry V, p. 356 ; his command of 
 supplies, p. 6 ; his activity during 
 his father's reign, p. 7; claims 
 the regency, ib.; adopts a con- 
 ciliatory policy, ib. ; his reign 
 constitutionally unimportant, p. 
 8 ; challenges the Dauphin, p. 
 10 note ; his wars with France, 
 their character and results, pp. 2, 
 7-^8, 16-17 ; refuses to negotiate 
 with France in French, p. loi ^ 
 note : his household, p. 220 j tries 
 to repress piracy, p. 233 ; con- 
 sults the merchants as to the 
 keeping of the sea, p. 236 ; his 
 care for the navy, ib. ; number 
 of his ships, ib. ; sends ambas- 
 sadors to Constance, p. 243 ; 
 grants money for the completion 
 of Westminster Abbey, p. 245 ; 
 his arguments for the French 
 war, p. 250 ; abolishes certain 
 taxes in France, but has to re- 
 impose them, p. 267 ; his death- 
 bed, p. 278 ; chief of his father's 
 council, p. 300 ; offices held by 
 him as Prince of Wales, p. 327 ; 
 appointments made by him, ditto, 
 pp. 331-332 ; creation as Prince 
 of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, and 
 Earl of Chester, p. 332. 
 
 Henry VI, pp. 353-356 ; his inca- 
 pacity to rule, pp. 8-9; divi- 
 sions of his reign, p. 8; his 
 marriage, pp. 9-10 ; creates feof- 
 fees for executing his will, p. 53 
 note; report of his restoration 
 in 1463, p. 55 note; retires to 
 Scotland after Towton, pp. 56, 
 58 ; charged with ' rearing war ' 
 against Edward IV, p. 57 ; goes 
 to Kirkcudbright, p. 59; letter 
 of credence for Fortescue, pp. 59 
 note, 65 ; readiness to rise in his 
 favour, p. 59 note ; in danger of 
 being surrendered to Edward IV, 
 p. 60 ; retires to St. Andrew's, 
 ib. ; to Northumberland, pp. 60, 
 61 ; returns to Scotland, p. 61 ;. 
 at Bamburgh, p. 62 ; returns to 
 Scotland, pp. 62, 63 note ; at 
 Bywell, p. 62 ; escapes to Scot- 
 land, ib. ; thought to be dead, 
 ib. note ; his movements between 
 1463 and 1465, p. 65; betrayed 
 and imprisoned, pp. 65-66; his 
 restoration, pp. 38, 69; made 
 possible by Edward IV's mis- 
 government, p. 344; sends to 
 fetch his wife and son, p. 70 note ; 
 re-imprisoned after Bamet, p. 70 ; 
 his death and popular canoniza- 
 tion, p. 71 ; a great reader of 
 Chronicles, p. 96 note ; his aver- 
 sion to field sports, p. 183 ; 
 his household, pp. 219-220 ; 
 proffers his obedience to Calix- 
 tus III and Pius II, p. 243 ; 
 sends ambassadors to Basle, pp. 
 243-244 ; acknowledges the coun- 
 cil of Ferrara, p. 244 ; does jus- 
 tice in person on Cade's ad- 
 herents, p. 248 ; letter to Eric, 
 King of the Scandinavian king- 
 doms, p. 287 ; minority, p. 327 ; 
 appoints a council for his son, 
 p. 333 ; weariness of his rule, p. 
 
 344- 
 
 Henry VII, compared with Ed- 
 ward IV, pp. 38-39, 209 ; passion 
 for collecting precious stones, p. 
 246 ; his economy, p. 252 ; union 
 of estates in his person, p. 277 ; 
 see also Richmond, Earl of. 
 
 — VIII, fortifies the English 
 coasts, p. 200; as prince made 
 Warden of the Marches, p. 226 ^ 
 
3:6 
 
 (^enetal ^nticx* 
 
 proposes to establish a school 
 of diplomacy, p. 242 ; purchase 
 of jewels by, p. 246 ; his oppor- 
 tunities for establishing a despot- 
 ism, p. 252 ; will not allow his ser- 
 vants to serve any one else, p. 337. 
 
 Herbert, WilHam, Lord, defeats 
 Jasper Tudor, p. 67 ; made Earl 
 of Pembroke, ib. 
 
 Hereford, Roger, Earl of, p. 270. 
 
 Hermann, Bishop of Metz, p. 204. 
 
 Herod, King, pp. 117, 206. 
 
 Hexham, battle of, p. 62. 
 
 Heydon, John, p. 53 note. 
 
 Higden, his scepticism on the sub- 
 ject of Arthur, p. 201 ; refuted by 
 Trevisa, ib. See also Polychroni- 
 con. 
 
 Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims, 
 his political theories, pp. 182, 204. 
 
 Hody, Sir John, Chief Justice K. B.,. 
 pp. 46, 50 note. 
 
 Holland, Jacqueline, Duchess of, p. 
 212. 
 
 Hooker, Richard, see Pecock. 
 
 Horn, export of unwrought, for- 
 bidden, p. 320. 
 
 Household, royal, pp. 121-122,. 
 351-353 ; poverty of, and mea- 
 sures for reforming, pp. 13 note, 
 219-221, 342. 
 
 Howys, Sir Thomas, p. 22 note. 
 
 Hugh Capet, pp. 129, 256-257. 
 
 — II, King of Cyprus, p. 173. 
 
 — Ill, King of Cyprus, p. 173, 
 
 — the Great, pp. 129, 256. 
 Hungerford, Robert, 3rd Lord, sent 
 
 on an embassy to France, p. 57 ; 
 detained there, pp. 57-58 ; re- 
 turns to Scotland, p. 58 ; com- 
 mands in Alnwick, p. 61 ; capr 
 tured and beheaded, p. 62. 
 = Molynes, Lord, q. v. 
 
 ' — Walter, 1st Lord, ambassador to 
 the council of Basle, p. 241. 
 
 Hunting, medieval views on, p. 183. 
 
 Huntingdon, John Holland, Earl 
 of, pp. 19 note, 274. 
 
 Huss, connexion with Wiclifjp. 285. 
 
 Hussite wars, v. Bohemia. 
 
 Hyldericus, v. Childeric. 
 
 I. 
 
 Impeachment, right of, by the Com- 
 mons, p. II. 
 
 Indictments, false, p. 31. 
 
 Inglefelde, Steward of Chirk; p. 274. 
 
 Innocent VIII, p. 276. 
 
 Inns of Court and Chancery, pp. 
 41, 43 note, 103, 242. 
 
 Insurrections, v. Riots and Risings. 
 
 Ireland, bad state of, under Henry 
 IV, p. 5 ; good government of, by 
 Richard, Duke of York, p. 36 ; 
 expense of, pp. 211-212, 214- 
 215. 
 
 Isidore, St., p. 182 ; cited by For- 
 tescue, ib. ; popularity of his 
 Etymologice, ib. ; the source of 
 many mediaeval etymologies, p. 
 189. 
 
 Isley, Steward of the Inner Temple, 
 p. 311. 
 
 Israel, children of, their govern- 
 ment under judges, and desire 
 for a king, pp. lOO-llO, 177- 
 178 ; rebellions in the kingdom 
 of, p. 262. 
 
 Italians in London, attack on, p. 
 52 note. 
 
 I- 
 
 Jam6s II, of England, his theory of 
 royalty, pp. 2-3. 
 
 — — of Scotland, besieges Rox- 
 burgh in the Lancastrian in- 
 terest, p. 55,; killed there, p. 257 ; 
 murders' William Earl of Doug- 
 las, p. 258 ; expels-James Earl of 
 Douglas from Scotland, pp. 130, 
 259. 
 
 Jamyss, Elizabeth or Isabella, wife 
 of Chief Justice Fortescue, p. 42. 
 Januensis, v. Balbi. 
 Jewels, export of, v. Money. 
 
 — royal, p. 246;- in pawn, pp. 13, 246. 
 Jews, V. Israel, Children of; Jews in 
 
 England, p. 321. 
 Joanna, Queen of Henry IV, her 
 
 dowry, p. 264. 
 John of France, pp. 194, 267-268. 
 
 — of Salisbiiry, see Salisbury. 
 Joseph, his settlement of Egypt, 
 
 pp. 135, 275-276. 
 Josephus, his aristocratic views, 
 
 p. 178. 
 Judges, corruption of, pp. 22, 223 ; 
 
 dress of, p. 102 ; oath of, pp. 22 
 
 note, 146, 310 ; attend the Privy 
 
(Setter^ 31nliejc, 
 
 377 
 
 Council, pp. 29 note, 46-47, I4S, 
 296-298, 306, 350 ; payment of, 
 pp. 211-212, 214, 222-223; liv- 
 eries of, pp. 211, 221, 223; see 
 also Courts Edward IV. 
 
 Julius Csesar, pp. 149, 324. 
 
 Juries, bribery and intimidation 
 of, pp. 20, 29 note; legislation 
 against, pp. 28-29. 
 
 Jury, change in the character of, 
 p. 28 note. 
 
 Jury system, break-down of, p. 21. 
 
 Justices of the Peace, partiality of, 
 p. 20. 
 
 Justiciar, change in character of, 
 p. 300. 
 
 K. 
 
 Katharine of France, Queen of 
 Henry V, her dowry, pp. 198, 
 264. 
 
 Kemp, John, Archbishop of York 
 and afterwards of Canterbury, 
 p. II note ; attacks on his 
 estates, p. 47 ; Chancellor, pp. 
 49-50, 51, 202 ; ambassador to 
 the Council of Basle, pp. 239, 
 241 ; address to the Pariiament 
 of 1429, p. 285. 
 
 Kennedy, Bishop of St. Andrew's, 
 favours the cause of Henry VI, 
 p. 60 ; addresses a remonstrance 
 to Louis XI, ib. note ; promised 
 the see of Canterbury by Mar- 
 garet of Anjou, ib. 
 
 Kent, William Nevill, Earl of, 
 admiral, p. 233. 
 
 Kerver, Thomas, p. 48. 
 
 King, the, as landowner, pp. 273, 
 277 ; to ' live of his own,' pp. 250, 
 
 341- 
 — a, his two-fold office, pp. 116, 
 
 201-203 ) h's office to make 
 
 his realm rich, pp. 139, 285-286; 
 
 see also Tyrant. 
 Kingship, origin of, p. 180. 
 Knight, income of a, p. 329. 
 Knighthood, fines for respite of, 
 
 P- 13- 
 
 Knox, John, on the Regiment of 
 Women, p. 79 note. 
 
 Kynwolmershe, William, Treasurer 
 of England, his financial mea- 
 sures, p. 222. 
 
 Kyrkeby, Thomas, Master of the 
 Rolls, &c., p. 321. 
 
 L. 
 
 Lacedaemonians, cause of their 
 
 greatness, p. 150. 
 Lancaster, Blanche of, pp. 75, 270. 
 
 — Duchy of, pp. 213, 330, 335. 
 
 — Duke of, see Crouchback, Gaunt. 
 ■ — house of, right of, to the Crown 
 
 as resting on prescription, p. 34 ; 
 misgovemment of, pp. 34-35 ; 
 compared with that of York, pp. 
 34-35. 39-40. 
 
 — Thomas, Earl of. Chief Coun- 
 cillor, p. 300. 
 
 Lancastrian constitutional policy, 
 
 PP- 3-4- 
 
 — period, its significance, p. 3 ; 
 supplied weapons to the seven- 
 teenth century, ib. 
 
 — plots against Edward IV, p. 
 58. 
 
 Lawyers, not to be Sheriffs, &c., 
 p. 28 note ; see also Attorneys j 
 Counsel, legal. 
 
 Le Carnier, leader of the rising in 
 the Pays de Caux, p. 290. 
 
 Legal knowledge, diffusion of, p. 
 
 32- 
 Leicester, Simon de Montfort, Earl 
 
 of, rebels against Henry III, pp. 
 
 120-130, 257. 
 Leicester, Parliament of, p. 35 note. 
 Leprosy, mediseval, pp. 7 note, 340 ; 
 
 a bar to descents, p. 7 note. 
 Lewes, battle of, p. 257 ; song on 
 
 the battle of, p. 217. 
 Lewis of Bavaria, his contest with 
 
 the Pope, p. 324. 
 
 — V, p. 256. 
 
 Libya, constitution of, pp. 113, 191. 
 
 Li&ge, siege of, p. 199. 
 
 ' Likedealers,' name of a class of 
 pirates, p. 232. 
 
 Lincoln, Bishop of, see Repingdon. 
 
 Lisieux, Bishop of, see Basin. 
 
 Litigiousness of the fifteenth cen- 
 tury, pp. 31-32. 
 
 Livery, p. 15 ; statutes agamst, pp. 
 27-28. 
 
 Livingston, Sir Alexander, gover- 
 nor of Stirling, orders the murder 
 of the Douglases, p. 258. 
 
378 
 
 (J^eneral %nntx* 
 
 Loans raised by the government, 
 
 pp. 12-13. 
 Local administration, abuses of, 
 
 p. 10; control of, by the great 
 
 lords, pp. 19-20. 
 
 — disorder, pp. 11, 281-282. 
 
 — revenue, embarrassment of, pp. 
 12, 280, 314-315; assignments 
 on, pp. 208, 315. 
 
 Locrinus, son of Brutus, p. 186. 
 Lollards, pp. 4-5, 31 note, 188- 
 
 189. 
 London, residence in, not common 
 
 in the Middle Ages, pp. 310- 
 
 311 ; riots in, p. 11 noU. 
 ' Lordships,' stewards of great, pp. 
 
 151, 329-330. 
 Louis of Anjou, p. 199. 
 
 — IX (St.), of France, pp. 113, 181, 
 
 193- 
 
 — X, of France, pp. 177, 194. 
 
 — XI, of France, interview with 
 Charles the Bold at Tours, p. 
 58 ; gives help to Somerset, ib. ; 
 makes a treaty with Margaret 
 of Anjou, ib. ; thinks of besieg- 
 ing Calais, p. 60 noU ; tries to 
 
 ~ mediate between Henry VI and 
 Edward IV, p. 61 noie ; applied 
 to by the Lancastrian exiles, p. 
 64 ; makes truce with Edward 
 IV, p. 66 ; takes up the cause of 
 the Lancastrians, p. 67 ; relations 
 with Warwick, p. 67 note ; said 
 to be going to marry his daugh- 
 ter to Prince Edward of Lancas- 
 ter, ib. ; brings about alliance of 
 Warwick with Margaret of Anjou, 
 p. 68 ; date of his coronation, p. 
 77 note ; odious features of his 
 government, p. 193; abolishes 
 the Francs-archers, pp. 197, 198 ; 
 increases the iaille and standing 
 army, p. 197 ; his policy to dis- 
 pense with the military service 
 of the nobles, p. 198 ; pensions 
 members of foreign courts, pp. 
 241-242 ; his contempt for per- 
 sonal splendour, p. 245 ; reduces 
 the tax on wine, p. 268. 
 
 Louther, Hugh, Esq., p. 314. 
 
 Lovel, John, 7th Lord, p. 307. 
 
 1 2th Lord, p. 308. 
 
 Lucca, Ptolemy of, see Ptolemy. 
 
 Lucy, Sir William, p. 248. 
 
 Lud, p. 186. 
 
 Ludlow, dispersal of the Yorkist 
 
 lords at, p. 52. 
 Lumley, Marmaduke, Bishop of 
 
 Cariisle, undertakes the custody 
 
 of the West March, p. 224. 
 Luxemburgh, Louis of. Archbishop 
 
 of Rouen and Chancellor of 
 
 France, p. 311. 
 Lydgate, John, change of front on 
 
 the succession question, pp. 96 
 
 noie, 344. 
 Lyle, Lord, of Crayle, p. 259. 
 
 M. 
 
 MacchiavellijOn the State of France, 
 
 p. 198. 
 Magnus the Law-betterer, King of 
 
 Norway, p. 174. 
 
 — I, King of Sweden, p. 262. 
 
 — II, King of Sweden, p. 262, 
 Maine, cession of, p. 10 note. 
 Maintenance, pp. 15, 20; statutes 
 
 against, pp. 27-28. 
 Mantua, congress of, p. 244. 
 Marcel, Etienne, his death, p. 194. 
 March, Edmund Mortimer, 3rd 
 
 Earl of, Lieutenant of Ireland, p. 
 
 215. 
 5th Earl of, pp. 239, 272. 
 
 — Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of, p. 
 356. 
 
 Marches, keeping of the, pp. 122, 
 211-212, 214, 224-226; divisions 
 of, pp. 225-227 ; laws of, p. 227 ; 
 wardens of, p. 225 ; endeavour to 
 extend their jurisdiction, p. 227. 
 
 Margaret of Anjou, her partizanship, 
 pp. 9, 19 note, 34-35, 297-298 ; 
 stirs up the French against the 
 English, p. 53 note ; retires to 
 Wales after the battle of North- 
 ampton, p. 54; to Scotland, ib. 
 note; makes treatywiththeScotch 
 Queen, p. 55 note; retires to Scot- 
 land after 'Towton,pp. 56, 58 ; pov- 
 erty, pp. 58-59 ; at Edinburgh, p. 
 59 ; goes to Brittany, Anjou, and 
 the French Court, ib. ; negotiates 
 a treaty with Louis XI, ib. ; her 
 schemes, ib. note; at IBoulogne, 
 p. 60 ; agrees to surrender Calais 
 to Louis XI, ib. ; recovers the 
 Northern castles, p. 61 ; retires 
 to Scotland, ib. ; at Bamburgh, 
 p. 62 ; returns to Scotland, pp. 62, 
 
<3zmmi 3[nriejc. 
 
 379 
 
 63 no/e • goes to the Continent, 
 p. 63 ; meeting with Charles 
 the Bold at Bruges, ib. ; with 
 Philip the Good at St. Pol, p. 64 ; 
 her adventure with the robber, p. 
 63 noie ; narrates her adventures 
 to the Duchess of Bourbon, pp. 63 
 nofe, 64 ; returns to Bruges, p. 64 ; 
 retires to St. Mighel in Barrois, 
 pp. 63 noie, 64 ; poverty, p. 64 ; at- 
 tempts to invade England, p. 67 ; 
 alliance with Warwick, p. 68 ; de- 
 tained by Louis XI, p. 70 ; lands 
 at Weymouth, ib. ; imprisoned 
 after Tewkesbury, p. 71 ; ran- 
 somed, ib. ; death, ib. ; tries to 
 obtain payment of assignments 
 for her followers, p. 208 ; her 
 dowry, p. 265. 
 Margaret, wife of Malcolm Can- 
 more, pp. 77 noie, 353, 355. 
 
 — of Scotland, schemes for marry- 
 ing, to Prince Edward of Lan- 
 caster, p. 55 noie. 
 
 — of York, marries Charles of 
 Burgundy, p. 67. 
 
 Mariners, wages of, p. 236. 
 
 ' Marriage,' lord's rights of, pp. 270- 
 272 ; proceeds of, pp. 211, 213. 
 
 Marshal, see Officers, 
 
 Marshal, Earl, p. 224. 
 
 Marshalsey, separation of, from the 
 Household, p. 221. 
 
 Maud, the Empress, p. 356. 
 
 Maxwell (Maxon'), Lord, Warden 
 of the West Marches for Scot- 
 land, p. 259. 
 
 Memlooks, v. Egypt. 
 
 Merbury, Nicholas, p. 337. 
 
 Mercenary troops, see France. 
 
 Merchant fleets organized for self- 
 defence, p. 235. 
 
 — shipping used for war, p. 2^5. 
 Merston, John, keeper of the' kmg's 
 
 jewels, p. 246. 
 Metz, Bishop of, see Hermann. 
 Middle Ages, difficulty of acquiring 
 
 historical knowledge during, p. 
 
 324. 
 Military service, right of the crown 
 
 to, p. 249- . 
 
 — system, change m, under Ed- 
 ward III, p. 15. 
 
 — tenures, abolition of, p. 271. 
 Milton, compared with Fortescue, 
 
 p. 178. 
 
 Ministers, appointment of, belongs 
 to the Crown, pp. 33, 297. 
 
 Moleyns, Adam de. Bishop of 
 Chichester, p. 307 ; his death, 
 p. 293. 
 
 Molynes, Robert Hungerford, Lord, 
 p. 21 note ; see Hungerford. 
 
 Monarchs, absolute and limited, 
 equal in power, pp. 110, 111, 179 ; 
 ■advantages of limited monarchy, 
 p. 192. 
 
 Monarchy, elective and hereditary, 
 pp. 172, 176-177. 
 
 Monasteries, interests affected by 
 their dissolution, p. 308. 
 
 Money, &c., attempts to regulate 
 ^export and import of, by Statute, 
 pp.148, 316-318; statutes dis- 
 pensed with, pp. 83 note, 317-318. 
 
 Monmouth, Geoffrey of, popularity 
 of his fables, pp. 185-186. 
 
 Montague, John Neville, Marquess 
 of, p. 67 note ; sent to defend 
 Newcastle, p. 62 ; wins the bat- 
 tles of Hedgeley Moor and Hex- 
 ham, ib. ; idea of marrying his 
 «on to Edward IV's daughter, p. 
 75 note; Warden of the East 
 March, p. 225. 
 
 Montlhlry, battle of, p. 257 ; cf. p. 
 66. 
 
 Moray, Archibald Douglas, Earl of, 
 pp. 258-259. 
 
 More, Sir Thomas, on the causes 
 of theft and poverty, p. 289 ; 
 protests against the severity of 
 the English Criminal Law, p. 
 291 ; complains of the life of an 
 ambassador, p. 311. 
 
 Mortimer, Anne, wife of Richard 
 Earl of Cambridge, p. 356. 
 
 — Roger, Lord, p. 274. 
 Mortimers, their claim to the crown, 
 
 pp. 77 note, 356 ; owners of 
 Chirk, p. 274 ; see also March. 
 Mortmain, pp. 340-341. 
 
 — Statute of, dispensed with, p. 83 
 note. 
 
 Morton, Dr. (afterwards Archbishop 
 of Canterbury and Cardinal), p. 
 53 note. 
 
 N. 
 
 Naboth, p. 117. 
 
 Nature, law of, pp. 117, 206-207. 
 
380 
 
 (General ^riotx* 
 
 Navy, pp. 123, 234-239; fostered 
 by Henry V, p. 236; neglected 
 under Henry VI, p. 237 ; di- 
 visions of, p. 238. 
 
 Nero, pp. 149, 347. 
 
 Neville, George, Archbishop of 
 York, p. 26 noie ; Chancellor,^pp. 
 69, 240 ; ambassador, p. 240. 
 
 — Sir John, pp. II noie, 248. 
 
 Newburgh, William of, his opinion 
 of Geoffrey of Monmouth, p. 186. 
 
 Newnham (Devon), Abbot of, his 
 petition against Sir Philip Cour- 
 tenay, p. 183. 
 
 Newton, Sir Richard, Chief Justice 
 C. P., pp. 46-47, 48-49- 
 
 Nimrod (Nembroth), the first ty- 
 rant, pp. Ill, 180-181, 204. 
 
 Ninus, pp. 112, 180-181. 
 
 Nobles, power and insubordination 
 of, pp. 14-16, 37, 128 ; riches and 
 estates, pp. 17, 37, 130, 262- 
 263 ; wool-growers, &c., p. 17 ; 
 dissensions among, pp. 18-19; 
 influence on Parliamentary elec- 
 tions, p. 24 ; on ecclesiastical 
 appointments, p. 26 ; in miscel- 
 laneous aifairs, pp. 25-26 ; style 
 assumed by, p. 30 ; extinction 
 of the old, p. 36 ; enriched by 
 the French wars, pp. 15, 17 ; 
 intermarriages of, pp. 133, 262- 
 263 ; related to the king, pp. 
 134, 272 ; indebtedness of some 
 of the, pp. 207-208 ; households 
 of, p. 254; territorial strength of, 
 p. 263 ; their councils, pp. 308- 
 310 ; see Aristocracy j Council, 
 Privy; Local Administration j 
 Offices J Peerage J Purveyance j 
 Retainers J Spiritual Lords- 
 
 Norfolk, county of, Warwickist, 
 p. 24 note ; coasts of, opposed 
 to attack, p. 234. 
 
 — John Mowbray, 2nd Duke of, 
 pp. 19 note 2, 309. 
 
 3rd Duke of, pp. 19 note 1, 
 
 20 note, 21 note, 24 note, 29, 
 30 note. 
 
 4th Duke of, p. 308. 
 
 — Duchess of, pp. 24 note, 67 note. 
 
 — Ralph Guader, Earl of, p. 270. 
 Norham Castle, captured by the 
 — Lancastrians, p. 62. 
 Northampton, p. ix note. 
 
 — battle of, p. S3; proclamation 
 
 issued by the Yorkist lords before 
 the, p. 209. 
 Northumberland, John Neville, 15th 
 Earl of, V. Montague. 
 
 — Henry Percy, 12th Earl of, p. 
 16 ; Warden of the West March, 
 p. 225 ; of both Marches, ib. 
 
 13th Earl of, p. IX note. 
 
 l6th Earl of, p. 308. 
 
 Norwich, disturbances in, p. 46. 
 
 — Bishops of, V. Brown, Spencer. 
 
 O. 
 
 Occleve, his De Reginiine, p. 176. 
 
 Octavian, pp. 149, 324. 
 
 Odo, (or Eudes,) Count of Paris, 
 p. 256. 
 
 Officers, great, payment of, pp. 122, 
 211-212, 214, 222 ; attend the 
 privy council, pp. 148, 294, 296, 
 350 ; appoint to certain offices, 
 P- 335- 
 
 Offices, engrossed and broked by 
 great men, pp. 17, 152-153, 327- 
 328, 33Sr336 ; how to be given, 
 pp. 150-153, 326-327, 329, 335, 
 340 ; numbers of, pp. 151, 328 ; 
 no one to hold more than one, 
 pp. 153, 328 ; oath to be taken by 
 the holders of, pp. 153, 337, 
 352 ; in the gift of certain great 
 officers, p. 335,; frequently dis- 
 charged by deputies, p. 334 ; see 
 also HenrylV. 
 
 — ecclesiastical, traffic in, p. 19 
 note. 
 
 Officials, clerical, paid out of the 
 
 revenues of the Church, pp. 311- 
 
 31a, cf. pp.. 328* 352., 
 Oldhall, Sir William, pp. 23-24 
 
 note, 51, 278. ■ 
 Orleans, Duke of, released, p. 275 ; 
 
 expense of keeping, p. 2x4. 
 Ormond, Hugh Douglas, Earl of, 
 
 pp. 258-259. 
 Ormonde, James, 4th Earl of, his 
 
 opinion about Ireland, p. 213. 
 
 — John, 6th Earl of, Lancastrian 
 ambassador in Portugal, p. 65 ; 
 letter of Fortescue to, pp. 64- 
 65 notes. 
 
 ' Orphans,' the, see Zizia. 
 Outrages, prevalence of, pp. 24-25. 
 Oxford, dowager Countess of, p. 271. 
 
<5eneral 31ntiejc, 
 
 381 
 
 Oxford, John de Vere, 12th Earl of, 
 p. 271 ; executed, p. 58. 
 
 13th Earl of, pp. 308, 336. 
 
 — University of, p. 19 note ; teach- 
 ing of French at, p. loi note ; 
 mythical origin of, p. 186. 
 
 P. 
 
 Papal exactions, drain the country 
 
 of money, p. 317. 
 Papias, p. 182. 
 Paris, Count of, see Odo. 
 
 — Parliament of, payment of mem- 
 bers of, pp. loi, 147, 312, 351 ; 
 length of lawsuits in, p. loi note. 
 
 — siege of, pp. 129, 257. 
 Parisiensis, v, Auvergne, William. 
 
 of. 
 
 Parkerships, pp. 151, 333. 
 
 Parliament, increased power of, 
 under the Lancastrians, p. 4 ; elec- 
 tions to, p. 24 ; independence of, 
 tampered with, p. 35 ; privilege 
 of, pp. 35, 51 note ; knights and 
 burghers tax themselves in dif- 
 ferent proportions, p. ig6 ; com- 
 pared with the French Estates- 
 General, pp. 113, 195 ; compared 
 to the Mass, p. 343. 
 
 Parliaments, better at discovering 
 grievances than devising reme- 
 dies, p. 306 ; predominance of 
 private interests in, p. 307. 
 
 Paston Corrfispondence, picture 
 afforded by, pp. 29-30, 32, 44-45. 
 
 — family, pp. 21 notes, 23, iii-vj, 
 28-29, 32, 47. 52, 234, 309, 31C, 
 311, 336, 344- 
 
 Paten-makers, statute relating to, 
 p. 283. 
 
 Pavia, Council of, p. 243. 
 
 Pecock, Reginald, Bishop of Chi- 
 chester, compared with Fortes- 
 cue, p. 104 ; with Hooker, p. 
 206 ; his theory of the Hussite 
 wars, p. 285 ; disputes the 
 authority of Aristotle, pp. 187- 
 188 ; views on the Empire, p. 
 324 ; disproof of the Donation 
 of Constantine, pp. 324-325. 
 
 Pedro the Cruel, his daughters 
 married to the Dukes of Lancas- 
 ter and York, p. 264. 
 
 Peerage, consolidation of, in fifteenth 
 
 century, p. 18 ; constitutional 
 functions of, pp. 18, 147, 306-307. 
 Pembroke, Jasper Tudor, Earl of, 
 p. 279 ; accompanies Fortescue 
 to Paris, p. 65 ; sent into Wales, 
 p. 67 ; defeated, ib. ; returns to 
 England, p. 70. 
 
 — Earl of, see Herbert. 
 Pensions, pp. 17, 211, 213, 341 ; 
 
 how to be given, pp. 153-154. 
 
 — granted to members of foreign 
 courts, pp. 241-242. 
 
 Pepper, consumption of, p. 319. 
 Percies, rebellion of the, pp. 5, 16, 
 
 225, 292 ; forfeitures of the, p. 278; 
 
 obligations of Henry IV to, p. 
 
 16. 
 Percy, Henry (Hotspur), p. 272 ; 
 
 Warden of East March, p. 225. 
 
 — Sir Ralph, submits to Edward IV, 
 p. 61 ; returns to his Lancastrian 
 allegiance, ib. ; captures Sir John 
 Ashley, ib. 
 
 Petnis Pictavensis, quoted by For- 
 tescue, p- 97. 
 Pharaoh, p. 135. 
 
 Philip Augustus, of France, pp. 196, 
 ■ 266. 
 
 — Ill, of France, p. 175. 
 
 — IV, of France, pp. 175, 193. 
 
 — VI, of France, pp. 194, 267. 
 
 — the Good, Duke of Burgundy, 
 opposes the surrender of Guisnes 
 by Somerset, p. 55 note ; tries to 
 break up the alliance of Margaret 
 of Anjou and the Scots, p. 56 
 note ; wishes to avoid an inter- 
 view with Margaret, p. 63 ; but 
 yields the point, ib. ; interview at 
 St. Pol, p. 64 ; his courtesy and 
 liberality, pp. 63-64 ; forbids the 
 passage of iDullion to Calais, p. 
 316. 
 
 Philippa, wife of Edward III, p. 
 265. 
 
 Philippa, daughter of Lionel of 
 Clarence, p. 356; question of 
 her legitimacy, pp. 77, 353-354. 
 
 Philosopher, the, i.e. Aristotle, q. v. 
 
 Pictavensis, see Petrus. 
 
 Picts, invasions of, see England. 
 
 Pippin of Heristal, p. 256. 
 
 — the Short, pp. 129, 255. 
 Piracy, p. 19 note ; prevalence of, 
 
 pp. 232-233 ; attempts to sup- 
 press, p. 233. 
 
382 
 
 (General 3lniiejt:, 
 
 Pisa, Council of, p. 243. 
 Pitt, see Chathatn. 
 Pius II, pp. 243, 244. 
 
 — V, p. 171. 
 
 Plate, export of, v. Money. 
 
 Plummer, John, Clerk of the King's 
 Chapel, p. 338. 
 
 Poggio, his translation of Diodorus 
 Siculus, pp. 98, 190-191. 
 
 Policia, derivation of, pp. 112, 
 189. 
 
 Political philosophy, unpractical 
 character of mediasval, p. 82 ; in- 
 fluence of Aristotle on, ib.. 
 
 Polychronicon, quoted by Fortes- 
 cue, p. 97. 
 
 Pope, embassies to, pp. 124, 242- 
 243 ; tacit agreement with the 
 Crown to plunder the Church, 
 p. 311. 
 
 — loan from, to Henry VI, p. 12 
 note. 
 
 Popham, Sir John, ambassador to 
 
 Brittany, p. 240. 
 Porter, William, p. 213 note. 
 Ports, Warden of the, see Cinque 
 
 Ports. 
 Portugal, hopes of the Lancastrians 
 
 from, p. 65 ; characteristics of 
 
 Portuguese history, p. 261. 
 Price, Dr. Richard, p. 253. 
 Prices, attempts to regulate, pp. 
 
 148, 282, 316, 318-319- 
 Primogeniture, the rule in England, 
 
 p. lOI. 
 Priories, alien, annexation of, to 
 
 the Crown, p. 317; ferms of, pp. 
 
 211, 213, 220. 
 Prisot, Sir John, Chief Justice C. P., 
 
 pp. 22 note., 43 note, 52, 103 note ; 
 
 his political partizanship, p. 50 
 
 note. 
 Private war, pp. 16, 19, 261. 
 Privy Seal, office of, separated from 
 
 the Household, p. 221 ; salary of, 
 
 see Officers. 
 Protective policy, pp. 319-320. 
 Provisors, Statutes against, dis- 
 pensed with, p. 84 note. See also 
 
 Universities. 
 Ptolemy of Lucca, Continuator of 
 
 St. Thomas' De Regimine, p. 171. 
 Public Weal, War of, pp. 66, 129, 
 
 257. 
 Puebla, de, Spanish ambassador, 
 
 p. 242. 
 
 'Purchase,' technical meaning of 
 
 the term, p. 263. 
 Purveyance by great lords, p. 30. 
 — royal, p. 219. 
 
 Q. 
 
 Quayt-Bay, Sultan of Egypt, p. 
 
 276. 
 Queen, v. England. 
 Quentin Durward, p. 199. 
 Quod principi placuit, &c., pp. 112, 
 
 117, 184-185, 193- 
 
 R. 
 
 RadclyfiT, Sir John, pp. 213 note, 
 271, 274. 
 
 Radford, Nicolas, p. 21 note. 
 
 ' Raglore,' office of, p. 331. 
 
 Receivers, pp. 151, 330. 
 
 Rede, Richard, his chronicle used 
 by Fortescue, pp. 97, 180, 185 ; 
 character of it, p. 185 ; MS. of 
 it, pp. 180-181. 
 
 Rehoboam (Roboham), division of 
 the kingdoms under, p. 133 ; a 
 type of evil counsel, pp. 269, 323. 
 
 Repingdon, Philip, Bishop of Lin- 
 coln, his letter to Henry IV, p. J 
 note. 
 
 Resumption, Acts of, pp. 136, 140, 
 209, 215, 220, 250, 279-281, 341, 
 
 342- 
 
 Retainers, lords', pp. 15, 18, 20. 
 
 Revolution of 1688 compared with 
 that of 1399, pp. 1-3. 
 
 Rewards, how to be given, pp. 119, 
 124.-125, 136, 143-144, 208- 
 209, 349. 
 
 Hex dicitur a regendo, pp. Ill, 181- 
 182. 
 
 Rheims, Archbishop of, see Hinc- 
 mar. 
 
 Rich, Edmund, Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury, p. 175. 
 
 Richard II, pp. 224, 356 ; his de- 
 position, p. I ; charges against 
 him, pp. 210, 341 ; his theory of 
 royalty, pp. 2-3 ; not favottfable 
 to the propertied classes, p. 5 ; 
 overborne by a combination of 
 nobles, p. 15. 
 
 — Ill, character of his govern- 
 
©eneral 31nriejc, 
 
 383 
 
 ment, p. 40. See also Gloucester, 
 Duke of. 
 Richmond, Edmund Tudor, Earl 
 of, p. 279. 
 
 — Henry Tudor, Earl of ( = Henry 
 
 yil, q. v.), p. 70- 
 Riots and risings, suppression of, 
 
 p. 125 ; due to poverty and lack 
 
 of justice, pp. 138-140, 284, 289- 
 
 290. 
 Rivers, Anthony Wydville, Earl, 
 
 pp. 248, 278, 333; See also 
 
 Scales. 
 
 — Richard Wydville, Earl, p. 67 
 note. 
 
 Robert the Strong, Duke of France, 
 
 p. 257. 
 ' Robin,' captain of rising in Suffolk, 
 
 p. 67 note. 
 Robin Hood, p. 24 note. 
 Robin of Redesdale, his manifesto, 
 
 pp. 232, 331. 
 Rochester, Bishop of, see Alcock. 
 Rolls, Clerk, Keeper, or Master of 
 
 the, pp. 148, 321-322, 350. 
 Romans, causes of their civil wars, 
 
 pp. 7 note, 325, 347 ; cause of 
 
 their success and decline, pp. 
 
 149-150, 323, 325, 347-348. 
 Rome, Court of, resident agents at, 
 
 p. 242 ; venality of, p. 243. 
 Romilly, Sir Samuel, p. 291. 
 Roos, Sir Robert, report on the 
 
 state of Aquitaine, p. 235. 
 Roos, Thomas, Lord de, p. 271. 
 
 — dowager Lady de, p. 271. 
 Ross, John, Earl of, p. 260. 
 Rouen, Archbishop of, see Lux- 
 
 emburgh. 
 Roxburgh, siege of, by James II of 
 
 Scotland, p. 55 note. 
 Rupert, King of the Romans, p. 
 
 243- 
 Russe, John, p. 335. 
 
 Saba.'kingdom of, pp. 112, 191-192. 
 St. Alban's, Abbot of, see Whetham- 
 stede. 
 
 — first battle of, pp. 4i> 5i ; second 
 battle of, pp. 36, 55. 
 
 — chronicles of, quoted by For- 
 tescue, p. 97. 
 
 St. Amand, Lord, p. 273. 
 
 St. Andrew's, Bishop of, see Ken- 
 nedy. 
 Saladin Tithe, p. 288. 
 Salisbury, riots at, p. 11 note. 
 
 — Bishop of, V. Ayscough. 
 
 — Richard Neville, Earl of, pp. 
 272, 333 ; sole Warden of the 
 Marches, p. 225. 
 
 — Earldom of, p. 263. 
 
 — John of, his views on hunting, 
 p. 183 ; his opinion of Aristotle, 
 p. 186 ; his political views, and 
 defence of tyrannicide, pp. 204- 
 205. 
 
 Salt, gabelle on, in France, pp. 
 131-132, 266-268. 
 
 — importance of, in mediaeval 
 economy, pp. 132, 268-269. 
 
 Samuel, his exposition of the nature 
 of royalty, pp. 110, 177-178. 
 
 Savage, Arnold, Speaker of the 
 House of Commons and Privy 
 Councillor, p. 295. 
 
 Savoy, William of. Bishop elect of 
 Valence, Chief Councillor, p. 300. 
 
 Say and Sele, James Fienes, Lord, 
 his death, p. 293. 
 
 Scales, Antony Wydville, Lord, pp. 
 67 note, 309. See also Rivers, 
 Earl. 
 
 Scotch Guard of the French Kings, 
 p. 199. 
 
 Scotland, independence of the 
 nobles, pp. 190, 258-259 ; con- 
 stitution of, compared with that 
 of England, pp. 189-190; a 
 limited monarchy, pp. 85, 112, 
 190. See also Thieves. 
 
 Scotland, Dowager Queen of, ne- 
 gotiations with Margaret of An- 
 jou, pp. 54-55 note; advances 
 money to her, pp. 58-59 ; mar- 
 riage with Edward IV proposed, 
 p. 60. 
 
 Scots, invasions of, see England. 
 
 Scrope, Henry, Lord le, of Masham, 
 p. 278. 
 
 — John, Lord le, of Masham, pp. 
 278, 299. 
 
 Scute, value of the French, pp. 
 198, 264. 
 
 Sea, keeping of the, pp. 122-123, 
 232, 235-237 ; entrusted to the 
 merchants, pp. 235-237 ; to cer- 
 tain lords, p. 236 ; expense of, pp. 
 211, 238. 
 
384 
 
 (J5eneral 31nticc» 
 
 Selden, his edition of the De 
 Laudibus, p. 85 note; owner of 
 MS. Lambeth 262, p. 90; see also 
 Bracton. 
 
 Seneca, cited by Fortescue, p. 99. 
 
 Sergeants of the Counting-house, 
 their dress, p. 41 note. 
 
 Sergeants-at-law and King's Ser- 
 geants, pp. 42, 45 note ; payment 
 of, p. 222. 
 
 Sergeants' Inn, p. 45 note. 
 
 Servus servorum Dei, pp. 127, 
 
 252-253- 
 
 Settlement, Act of, p. 298. 
 
 Sheriffs, partiality and corruption 
 of, pp. 20, 29, 30 note, 314, 335 ; 
 causes of, pp. 314-315 ; legisla- 
 tion against, p. 28; farm their 
 office, p. 315; illegal appoint- 
 ment of, in Lincolnshire, p. 52 ; 
 payment of, p. 147 ; sheriffs and 
 their officers to be annually ap- 
 pointed, pp. 147, 312-313; he- 
 reditary, in Westmoreland, p. 
 313 ; property qualification of, 
 pp. 313-314; ferms of, pp. 211, 
 213 ; see also Lawyers. 
 
 Sherwynde, Robert, p. 198. 
 
 Shillingford, John, Mayor of Exeter, 
 p. 49 note. 
 
 Ships, different classes of, pp. 238- 
 239 ; arrest of, for the King's 
 service, pp. 210, 334 ; Clerk of the 
 King's, p. 212. 
 
 Sidney, Algernon, compared with 
 Fortescue, pp. 178, 180. 
 
 Siena, Council of, p. 243. 
 
 Sigismund, the Emperor, his 
 opinion about Dover and Calais, 
 p. 230. 
 
 Silk, import of wrought, forbidden, 
 
 P- 319- . 
 
 Skipton (Shipton) in Craven, cap- 
 tured by the Lancastrians, p. 62. 
 
 Solomon (Salamon), his heavy tax- 
 ation, p. 133. 
 
 Somerset, Edmund Beaufort, 2nd 
 Duke of, pp. 9, 10, 19 note, 275 ; 
 said to have incited the Com- 
 mons to impeach Suffolk, p. 11 
 note ; rivalry with York, pp. 19, 
 33; charges against, p. 336; 
 Captain of Calais, p. 228. 
 
 — Duchess of, wife of Edmund 
 Beaufort, p. 208. 
 
 — Edmund Beaufort, (titular) Duke 
 
 of, p. 208 ; takes part in the War 
 of the Public Weal, p. 66 ; at the 
 Burgundian Court, p. 67 ; returns 
 to England, p. 70; joins Mar- 
 garet of Anjou at Ceme Abbas, 
 p. 71. 
 Somerset, Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke 
 of, p. 55 note ; offers to surrender 
 Guisnes to Charles the Bold, ib. ; 
 sent on an embassy to France, 
 p. 57 ; arrested and detained, pp. 
 57-58 ; released at the interces- 
 sion of Charles the Bold, p. 58 ; 
 presentat the interview of Charles 
 and Louis XI, ib. ; receives 
 money from Louis, ib. ; retires 
 to Bruges, ib. ; returns to Scot- 
 land, ib. ; commands at Bam- 
 burgh, p. 61 ; surrenders to Ed- 
 ward IV, ib. ; returns to his Lan- 
 castrian allegiance, p. 62 ; cap- 
 tured and beheaded, ib. 
 
 — John Beaufort, ist Earl of, offices 
 held by him under Henry IV, 
 
 P- 327- 
 ■ 1st Duke of, asks for a grant 
 
 of land, p. 342. 
 Southampton Plot, its significance, 
 
 p. 8. 
 Spain, Spaniard, = Castile, Cas- 
 
 tilian, pp. 199, 26 1, '264. 
 
 — characteristics of Spanish his- 
 tory, p. 261. 
 
 — frequency of aristocratic rebel- 
 lions, pp. 130, 260-263. 
 
 Spencer, Henry, Bishop of Nor- 
 wich, p. 308. 
 
 Spiritual lords, a majority of, in the 
 Peers, p. 18 ; close connexion 
 with temporal lords, pp. 18, 26. 
 
 Stables, royal, expense of, p. 247. 
 
 Stafford, Edmund Earl of, p. 272. 
 
 Bishop of Exeter, Chancellor, 
 
 his address to the Parliament 
 of 1402, p. 325. 
 
 — John, Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 Chancellor, pp. 48-49; address 
 to Henry VI, p. 322. 
 
 Stamford, battle of, p. 208. 
 
 Stanley, Sir William, p. 275. 
 
 Staple, Statutes of the, dispensed 
 with, p. 83 note. 
 
 Stapleton, Elizabeth, second wife 
 of Sir John Fortescue of Puns- 
 bourne, p. 42 note. 
 
 Star Chamber, Court of, p. 22. 
 
(General 31nliejc, 
 
 385 
 
 Stephen, p. 355. 
 Stewards, v. Lordships. 
 Stillington, Robert, Bishop of 
 
 Bath and Wells, Chancellor, pp. 
 
 202, 207. 
 Stowe, John, use made by him of 
 
 Yelverton MS. No. 35, pp. 72 
 
 note, 89. 
 Stratford, John, Archbishop of 
 
 Canterbury, Chief Councillor, 
 
 p. 300. 
 Stratton, Thomas, clerk of the 
 
 king's works, p. 231. 
 Sudbury, Simon, Archbishop of 
 
 Canterbury, his murder, p. 293. 
 Suffolk, John de la Pole, 2nd Duke 
 
 of, pp. 20, 27 notes. 
 — William de la Pole, ist Duke 
 
 of, pp. 9, 20 note, 33 ; his 
 
 monopoly of power, pp. 10, 19 ; 
 
 failure of his foreign policy, p. 
 
 10 ; impeached by the Commons, 
 
 ib. ; banishment and death, pp. 
 
 II, 293; trial, p. 49; satirical 
 
 dirge on, p. 51 ; charged with 
 
 planning to marry his son to 
 
 Margaret Beaufort, p. 75 note; 
 
 other charges against, pp. 232, 
 
 292, 335. 336. 
 Sweden, characteristics of Swedish 
 
 history, p. 262. 
 Swiss, origin of the name, p. 199 ; 
 
 Swiss mercenaries under Louis 
 
 XI, p. 198. 
 
 Taborites, the, p. 285. 
 
 Taille, v. France. 
 
 Taxation, of income derived from 
 land, p. 212 ; of moveables, p. 288 ; 
 fifteenths and tenths, history of, 
 ib. ; how levied, pp. 314-315; 
 granted for five years according 
 to Fortescue, p. 140 ; ninth 
 sheaf and fleece granted, pp. 
 288-289 ; for five years accord- 
 ing to Fortescue, p. 140 ; see 
 also Parliament, Tunnage and 
 Poundage. 
 
 Taxation, unconstitutional, under 
 the Lancastrians, pp. 5, 12-13. 
 
 Tempest, Sir John, p. 314. 
 
 Tenths and Fifteenths, see Taxa- 
 tion. 
 
 Tewkesbury, battle of, pp. 71, 
 283. 
 
 Thibault, King of Navarre, p. 
 181. 
 
 Thieves, numbers of in England, as 
 compared with France and Scot- 
 land, pp. 141-142 ; due to 
 poverty, pp. 140, 289. 
 
 Thiming, William, Chief Justice 
 C. P. ; address to the Parliament 
 of 1401, p. 307. 
 
 Thomas, St., v. Aquinas. 
 
 Thomas, St., v. Becket. 
 
 Thorley, Nicolas, Esq., p. 271. 
 
 Thorpe, p. 53 note; case of, pp. 
 45 note, 51. 
 
 Throne, influence behind the, pp 
 301-302 ; cf. pp. 325, 348, 350. 
 
 Thurstan, Archbishop of York, p 
 308. 
 
 Tirwhit, Robert, a turbulent justice; 
 p. 22 note. 
 
 Toulouse, Raymond Count of, p. 
 265. 
 
 Tower, Constable of the, pp. 212, 
 214. 
 
 Tower Hill, Abbot of, see Wells. 
 
 Towton, battle of, p. 55. 
 
 Trajan, p. 207. 
 
 Treason laws, inequitable enforce- 
 ment of, pp. 269-210. 
 
 Treasurer, see Officers. 
 
 Trevisa, translator of Higden (q. v.), 
 p. 177 ; cited, pp. loi note, 201. 
 
 Trivet, Nicolas, quoted by Fortes- 
 cue, p. 97. 
 
 Troyes, treaty of, pp. 198, 264, 266. 
 
 Tudor, Owen, p. 333. 
 
 Tunnage and Poundage, pp. 122- 
 123 ; appropriated to the keeping 
 of the sea, pp. 231-232 ; granted 
 for life, pp. 232, 251. 
 
 Turkish conquest of Egypt, see 
 Egypt. 
 
 Tutbery, John, owner of ' the Chris- 
 topher of Hull,' p. 235. 
 
 Tutbur^, Honour of, p. 330. 
 
 Tyrannicide, mediaeval opinions 
 on, p. 205. 
 
 Tyranny, danger of kings falling 
 into, pp. 110, 178-179; im- 
 poverishes its subjects, p. 281 ; 
 a poor provider, p. 289. 
 
 Tyrant, difference between King 
 and, pp. 182, 203-206,252; resist- 
 ance to, justified, pp. 205-206. 
 
 C C 
 
386 
 
 (J5cneral llnDer. 
 
 u. 
 
 Ulster, liberty of, p. 329. 
 Ulveston, Steward of the Middle 
 
 Temple, p. 311. 
 Universities, interest of, in Papal 
 
 Provisions, p. 84 note \ law not 
 
 taught at, p. loi note. See also 
 
 Oxford. 
 Uther Pendragon, p. 201. 
 
 V. 
 
 Vaghan, Thomas, p. 307. 
 
 Valence, Bishop of, v. Savoy, Wil- 
 liam of. 
 
 Valla, on the Donation of Constan- 
 tine, p. 325. 
 
 Vegetius, cited by Fortescue, p. 
 99; translation of, by Cliftoun, 
 p. 176. 
 
 Verneuil, battle of, p. 199. 
 
 Villenage, false allegations of, p. 31. 
 
 Vincent of Beauvais, p. 181 ; his 
 theory of the origin of govern- 
 ments, pp. 84, 186 ; obligations 
 of Fortescue to, pp. 98, 180 ; 
 his De Mor. Princ. Inst., p. 181 ; 
 MSS. of ditto, ib. 
 
 Violence, semilegal, p. 26. 
 
 Vitalian Brothers, p. 233. 
 
 Vortigern, Suffolk compared to, pp. 
 II, 186. 
 
 W. 
 
 Wakefield, battle of, pp. 36, 55. 
 
 Wales, Prince of, creation of, p. 332; 
 Council of, p. 333 ; offices given 
 by, pp.151, 330-332. See also £'^- 
 ward. Prince of Wales, Henry V. 
 
 — (North and South), revenues of, 
 p. 213. 
 
 Waltham, Roger of, pp. 174-175 ; his 
 Compendium Morale, pp. 173- 
 174 ; obligations of Fortescue to, 
 pp. 98-99, 17s ; cited by him, 
 pp. 109, 175. 
 
 Wardrobe, royal, pp. 121, 211-212, 
 214, 221, 351. 
 
 Wardship, rights of the Crown to, 
 p. 272 ; proceeds of, pp. 211, 213. 
 
 Warwick, Richard Beauchamp, Earl 
 
 of, his salary as tutor to Henry VI, 
 p. 214. 
 
 Warwick, Richard Neville, Earl of, 
 character of his government 
 during the Lancastrian restora- 
 tion, p. 38 note ; gains a naval 
 victory, p. 60 ; besieges the Lan- 
 castrian castles in the North, 
 p. 61 ; sent to the North again, 
 p. 62 ; captures Alnwick and 
 Dunstanburgh, ib. ; at New- 
 castle, p. 62 note ; attitude to- 
 wards Edward IV, p. 67 ; re- 
 lations with Louis XI, ib. note; 
 Edward a prisoner in his hands, 
 p. 68 ; releases him, ib. ; expelled 
 from England, ib. ; allies himself 
 with Margaret of Anjou, ib. ; re- 
 stores Henry VI, p. 69 ; made 
 his lieutenant, ib. ; killed at 
 Barnet, pp. 70-71 ; proclamation 
 against, p. 208 ; his estates and 
 offices, pp. 17, 262-263, 329-328 ; 
 sole Warden of the Marches, p. 
 225 ; Captain of Calais, p. 230; 
 improves the government of 
 Calais, p. 230 ; keeper of the sea, 
 p. 237 ; his council, p. 309. 
 
 Warwick, Earldom of, p. 263. 
 
 Waterhous, his commentaries on 
 the De Laudibus, p. 85 note. 
 
 Welles, Sir Robert, defeated at 
 Stamford, p. 208. 
 
 Wells, Robert, Abbot of Tower 
 Hill, p. 46. 
 
 Wenham, John, p. 208. 
 
 Wenlok, John, Lord, receives a 
 grant of Fortescue's lands, pp. 
 43 note, 72 ; joins Warwick 
 against Edward IV, p. 72 ; killed 
 at Tewkesbury, ib. 
 
 Wentworth, Sir Philip, pp. 51-52. 
 
 Wenzel, King of Bohemia and of 
 the Romans, compared with 
 Richard II, p. I. 
 
 Westbury, William, Justice K. B., 
 p. 46. 
 
 Westmoreland, Ralph Neville, ist 
 Earl of, pp. 16, 263, 273. 
 
 2nd Earl of, p. 271. 
 
 Westphalia, peace of, p. 199. 
 
 Weylond, Thomas, Chief Justice 
 C. P., anecdote of, p. 175. 
 
 Whethamstede, John, Abbot of St. 
 Alban's, p. 308; represents the 
 English clergy at Pavia, p. 243 ; 
 
aenetal 3lnriejc. 
 
 387 
 
 hisjoumaI,p.243; obtains exemp- 
 tion from a Resumption Act, 
 p. 280; obtains the surrender 
 of the cell of Beaulieu, pp. 309- 
 310. 
 
 Whitingham, Sir Robert, sent on 
 an embassy to France, p. 57 ; 
 detained there, pp. 57-58. 
 
 Wiclif, connexion of Huss with, 
 p. 285. 
 
 WiUiam I, pp. 14, 270, 324. 
 
 — II, p. 270. 
 
 Willoughby, Robert, Lord, p. 47. 
 Winchester, Bishops of, see Beau- 
 fort, Henry J Wykeham. 
 
 — Statute of, pp. II note, 283- 
 284. 
 
 Wines, quartage (quaterimes) on, 
 in France, pp. 131, 135, 267- 
 268. 
 
 — consumption of, in England, 
 p. 268. 
 
 Wolves, increase of, in Normandy 
 owing to the English wars, 
 p. 291. 
 
 Wool, custom and subsidy on, pp. 
 211-213, 320. ■ 
 
 Wool-trade, importance of the, 
 
 p. 320- 
 Worcester, John Tiptoft, Earl of, 
 
 pp. 335-336. 
 Works, royal, pp. 122, 211-212, 
 
 230; clerks of, pp. 122, 230-231 ; 
 
 department of, separated from the 
 
 Household, p. 221. 
 Wydvilles, pp. 38, 232, 293, 295 ; 
 
 see also Elizabeth, Rivers, 
 
 Scales. 
 Wykeham, William of, Bishop of 
 
 Winchester, Clerk of the King's 
 
 Works, p. 231 ; Chief Councillor 
 
 of Edward III, p. 300. 
 Wykham, John, a Lollard, p. 188. 
 Wynnyngton, Robert, retained for 
 
 service on the sea, p. 233. 
 
 Y. 
 
 Yelverton, William, Justice K. B., 
 
 p. 52. 
 Yeoman class, character of, pp. 286, 
 
 334- 
 Yong, Thomas, p. 44 note. 
 York, Archbishops of, see Boothe, 
 
 Kemp, Neville, Thurstan. 
 
 — Corporation of, and St. Mary's 
 Abbey, p. 1 1 note. 
 
 — Edmund Duke of, p. 263. 
 
 — Richard, Duke of, pp. 9, 10, 
 248, 353, 356 ; rivalry with 
 Somerset, pp. 19, 33 ; his cha- 
 racter, pp. 33-34, 36 ; forced to 
 assert his claims, pp. 33-34 ; his 
 claim to the crown indefensible, 
 p. 34 ; compared with Edward 
 IV, p. 36 ; claims the crown, 
 p. 53 ; claim referred to the 
 Judges, ib. ; appointments as 
 Protector, pp. 202, 300, 327, 337 ; 
 borrows money of Sir John Fas- 
 tolf, p. 207 ; memorial to Henry 
 VI, p. 290 ; Chief Councillor, 
 p. 300 ; Wales, Cornwall, and 
 Chester transferred to him, 
 p. 332 ; see also Ireland. 
 
 York, house of, unfortunate in his- 
 tory, pp. 35-36 ; compared with 
 that of Lancaster, pp. 34-3S, 39" 
 40. 
 
 Young, Thomas, Member for Bris- 
 tol, imprisonment of, pp. 35 note, 
 51 note. 
 
 Zacharias, Pope, p. 256. 
 Zizka, character of his party, p. 
 285. 
 
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