A. R. Dec. 25. Westminster. He is elected King by the 1066. Norman and English "Proceres ac Nobiles,' "and at 1 his Coronation takes an oath, in the presence of the "Præsules, Abbates et Proceres" of the Kingdom. (a) Shortly after, he holds a Council of his Proceres, and, by their advice, sends Ambassadors to the King of Denmark. (b) A "Curia," Court or Council, is held at Westminster. 1069. Elfric, B. of Peterborough is tried. (c) April 13. (Easter Monday.) An Assembly meets at Winchester. There are present the King and his "Proceres," namely Richard his son, the Archbs of Canterbury and York, nine Bishops, twelve Temporal Lords. With Matilda the Queen, they subscribe a Charter to the About the same time, a "Curia" or Synod, is held at In the presence of Matilda, the Queen, the "Principes," the Archb, Bishops and Abbots of the Kingdom, the King grants a Charter to St. Pauls. A "Curia" is held. The Bishops and Abbots, who before held "in purâ et perpetuâ eleemosynâ,” (Frank-Alms), are brought under the tenure of Barony, (f) A "Curia" is held at London or Gloucester. By the advice of his Barons, the King had summoned from every county, the nobles, wise men, and learned in the law, that he might hear what were their laws and customs. Twelve persons attend from each County, and "presentiâ Baronum," et "communitatis," he confirms King Edward's Laws, with some additions," ad utilitatem Anglorum." (g) (a) Florence of Worcester says, the oath was taken "coram Clero et Populo," but the meaning of the term "Populus" seems established by its connection in this place, and by the authority of many other Historians. See Hody on Convocations, p. 143. (b) Knyghton, Coll. 2343. (e) Annals of Waverley. (d) Hody, p. 144. Monasticon, Tom I. p. 547. There must be some error here, as the Charter is dated Ann. Dom. Incarnat. 1069 regni Wil. Reg. I. (e) Monast. Tom. III. p. 305. () Matthew Paris. Roger of Wendover. Selden (Ed. Lond. 1726) III. 728. 9. (g) Selden III. 729; also II. 946. The amended Laws are given II. 1641-58. Hody, 106, 147. Lambard's Archaionomia, 159. These Laws are decreed "in Civitate Claudia." B A. R. 3 1070. A. R. 4 1071. A. R. 5 1074. A. R. Aug. 25. (Assumption of the B. V.) A “Curia” assembles at Winchester, which is attended by the King, Bishops, Princes, Clergy, and People. (h) A "Curia" is held at Pedreda (Petherton, Somersetshire) by the King, Archbs., Abbots, Earls and "Primates," or "Proceres," Angliæ. The cause between Wulstan, B. of Worcester, and Thomas Archb. of York, is tried. (i) A "Curia” is held at Westminster, composed of many chief men of the kingdom. Upon this occasion the Privileges and Liberties of the Abbey are confirmed. (k) A "Curia" "Conventus Principum" is held at Pinneden Heath (Kent) at which are present the Archb. of Canterbury, Bishops, many Barons of the King and of the Archbishop, and "Episcoporum;" homines multi comitatus et alii aliorum comitatuum, homines." The King confirms a decree, "cum consensu Principum, suorum," respecting the dispute between Odo E. of Kent, Bishop of Bayeux, and the Archb. Lanfranc. (1) At Christmas, a "Curia" is held at Westminster. (m.) A "Curia," or "Concilium," is held at London. 1075. Archbishop Lanfranc presides. (n) 9 A. R. 9 1077. May 22. (11 Cal. June.) A" Concilium" is held at Westminster, which is attended by the Archbishops, ten Bishops, six Abbots, the Chancellor, "et aliis insignibus Proceribus." A second Charter is granted to the Abbey, with an exemption from the Bishop of London's Jurisdiction. (0) A "Universal Synod" is held at Westminster. A third Charter to the Abbey is confirmed by many illustrious Persons, "et regni Principibus diversi ordinis, e diversis provinciis et urbibus." The charter is signed by the King, the Queen, their two Sons, two Archbs., fifteen Bishops, the (h) Hody, 147. (See authorities, Hody, 148. (k) Tyrrel, Vol. 1. Dugdale's Orig. Jurid. MSS. Cotton. Faustina A. 3. F. 296. This first Charter, quoted in this last place, is granted "consultu atque consensu Primatum meorum," and is subscribed after the King, by the Queen, Archb. Lanfranc, 6 Bishops, 7 Abbots, the Chancellor, and 14 Lords. (1) Eadmer Hist. Nov. Lib. I. p. 9, &c. Selden, III. 730. At. II. 1664, the subject of the Decree between the Earl and Archb. is published at length. Hody, 149. 150. (m) Hoveden, p. 262. The Saxon Chronicle says 1076. Hody, 154. (n) Ingulphus, p. 73. Ordericus Vitalis, Hist. Eccl. p. 542. Hody, 155. (0) This Charter, if correctly given in Cotton's Col. Faust. F. f. 39 b, contains some curious errors. It is dated Anno Dom. Incarn. MLXXV. anno Will. IV. die Pentecostes, 11 Kal. Junii. Only one of all these dates can be right. If the year of our Lord is to be trusted, the regnal year is wrong, which should be 9, and, vice versa, if the regnal year is correct, the year of our Lord should be 1070. The 11 Kal. June is May 22, and, in 1075, the day of Pentecost is May 24. The 11 of the Kalends occurs on no day of Pentecost, in any year in which Easter-day does not fall on the 3d of April, and there is no such occurrence in this reign. Chancellor, ten Abbots, the King's three Chaplains, thirteen Jan. 2. (4 Non. Jan. Ind. IV.) At Christmas, a great 1081. Assembly is held of all the "Primates Angliæ." A fourth Charter to the Abbey of Westminster, is authorised and signed," ab excellentioribus regni personis," namely, the K., Queen, two Archbs., thirteen Bishops, Robert the King's Son, the Chancellor, the King's three Chaplains, three Abbots, seventeen Lay Lords. (q) May 31. (Prid. Calend. Junii.) A Council of the "Principes Terra" is held in the King's Palace, at Winchester. There are present the Archb., Bishops, Earls and many other "Fideles." A Charter to the Monks of St. Edmunds Bury, is subscribed by the King and Queen, two Archbs., the King's three Sons, the Chancellor, the King's Chaplain, seven Abbots, four Earls, and seven other great men. (r) A Council" Plenum Concilium" is held at London. The Charter granted to the Monks of St. Cuthbert is confirmed. A. R. 15 1062. A Council is held at Westminster "præsentibus om- 108. nibus Episcopis et Baronibus." The Charter to the Monks of St. Cuthbert is confirmed by At Christmas, a "Curia" is held at Gloucester. April 5. (Easter.) A. R. 18 1085. A. R. 20 The Kings "Curia" is held at 1086. Winchester. (w) Westminster. The "Curia" meets at The King's youngest son Henry, is made a Knight. (x) Aug. 1. (Cal. of August.) (In Festo Primitiarum?) A general Council meets at Salisbury. (p) Cotton. F 37. b. Hody, 156. (q) Cotton, f. 4. 2. Hody, 158. It has been said, that, upon this occasion, the King separated the Ecclesiastical from the Temporal Jurisdiction, but the authority (Oldfield Rep. H. 109) is questionable. For the Law itself, see Selden II. 1004, and Hody, 164-5. (r) Monasticon T. I. 289. Hody, 159. (s & t) There is a manifest error in regard to the dates of these two years. The confirmation of the Charter appears to have taken place in the first year. "Facta sunt hæc omnia in concilio London: coram Dno. Wil. R., anno 1082, which would probably be a. r. 16; but the King's own Charter of Confirmation is made "apud Westmonasterium concilio meo, anno regni mei 18, &c.; or 1084. See Monasticon, pp. 43 and 44, Tom. I. A. R. 20 "The Proceres et omnes Prædia tenentes, cujuscunque essent Feudi vel Tenementi," the Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Earls, Barons, Sheriffs, with their respective "Milites" (military Tenants), the principal Landholders of every description, do homage and swear Fealty to the King. Having “made all England to be described, "quantum Terræ quisque Baronum suorum possidebat,” in the Survey called Domesday, the King exacts contributions, according to the valuations there given. (y) 1087. A. R. A 1 R. WILLIAM II. (Sept. 26, 1087.) Sunday, Sept. 26. "Convocatis Terræ Magnatibus," the King is crowned at Westminster. (z) The two Dec. 25. A "Curia" is held at London. Archbishops, many Bishops, the Justiciaries, and "Principes" of all England are present. (a) 1088. March (Lent) an Assembly is held, to which are sum1 moned, "invitatoriis scriptis," the Archb. of Cant., with his Suffragan Bishops, the "Comites," and all the English, "fortitudine et probitate insignes." (b) 1092. Dec. 25. A Curia" or Court, is attended by all the A. R. Primores et tota Nobilitas regni." (c) 6 1093. A R. 6 March. (Lent.) A "Curia" meets at Gloucester. (y) The difficulty with regard to dates in the earlier periods of our history is well exemplified in the uncertainty which prevails respecting the year in which this meeting was held. The Saxon Chronicle places it in 1086, Heury of Huntingdon in 1085, a. r. 19, the Waverley Annals in 1084, M. of Westminster and Paris in 1084. The latter refers the proceedings to Whitsuntide, at Westminster. Here The Lords' Report on the Dignity of the Peerage, Vol. 1. p. 34, quotes the Annals of Waverley," Ibique venerunt coram Rege Barones sui, et omnes Terrarii qui alicujus pretii erant, cujuscunque foedi fuissent, et omnes homines sui effecti sunt." the Barons who held in chief of the King are distinguished from those (Terrarii) who held of mesne Lords. Another Parliament or Council of Bishops, Earls and Barons is mentioned in the Year Book, 21 Edw. III., fol. 60, and many others may have occurred, as the Conqueror held his Court regularly at the Feasts of Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide, at Gloucester, Winchester, and Westminster, when the great men of the kingdom usually attended him. It appears that no laymen were properly members of the councils, except tenants-in-chief of the Crown, and probably only tenants by military service, and "per Baroniam." There is no evidence in this reign of any general aid from the subject by grant of a Legislative Assembly, but the exemption from taxation, except by a Common Council, is implied in the King's Charter, an exemption not extending to the King's demesnes, or to cities and boroughs holding immediately of him, so as to prevent their being afterwards subject to tallage by the King's authority. Report 1. 33, 4, 5. The Fœdera" N. E. I. contains Charters of uncertain dates, which allude to the Commune Concilium, and describe the acts as "communi consilio, Archiepiscoporum et Episc., et Abbat., et omnium Principum Regni." (*) Brompton says he was crowned Sept. 27. But for a correction of this and many other dates, see the Table of Regnal Years in the admirable Chronology of History, by Sir Harris Nicolas. Hody, 174. (a) Brompton, in Hody, 174. (b) Ordericus Vitalis, Malmesbury, Huntindon, the Saxon Chronicle, Florence of Worcester, M. Paris, the Waverley Annals, and Hemingford. Hody, 176. (c) Eadmer, Hody, 176. |