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ing on the rights of the clergy, nor trying to exalt them above the control of the law. As a statesman and a legislator, he is worthy of the highest commendation. He ably seconded the ambitious project of reducing the whole of the British Isles to subjection under the crown of England. With respect to Wales he succeeded, and Scotland retained her independence only by the unrivalled gallantry of her poor and scattered population. His measures for the improvement of Ireland were frustrated by the incurable pride and prejudices of his countrymen. But England continued to enjoy the highest prosperity under the wise laws which he introduced.*

CHAPTER XI.

CHANCELLORS AND KEEPERS OF THE GREAT SEAL FROM THE DEATH OF LORD CHANCELLOR BURNEL DURING THE REMAINDER OF THE REIGN OF EDWARD I.

On the death of Burnel the Great Seal was, for a short time, in the keeping of William de Hamilton,† a man of business [OCT. 25, 1292.] and of moderate abilities, who subsequently became Chancellor. But if he expected to succeed to the envied office on this occasion, he was disappointed; for soon after the King heard of the loss he had sustained, he named as the new Chancellor [DEC. 17, 1292.] JOHN DE LANGTON, a person who, though much inferior to his predecessor, acted a considerable part in this and the suc ceeding reign. He was of an ancient family in Lincolnshire, which produced Cardinal Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, so illustriously connected with Magna Charta, and of which Bennet Lang. ton, the friend of Dr. Johnson, was the representative in the reign of George III. He early distinguished himself by his talents and indus try, and rendered himself useful to Lord Chancellor Burnel. Being introduced into the Chancery as a clerk, he rose to be Master of the

* Edward I., returning from the Holy Land, at Bologna engaged in his service Franciscus Accursii, a very learned civilian, whom he employed as his ambassador to France and to Pope Nicholas III.,-but, as far as I can trace, not in his law reforms, or in any part of his domestic administration. A hall at Oxford was appropriated to the use of this Italian,-from which some have supposed that he there gave lectures on the civil law. When he left England in 1281, he received from the king 400 marcs, and the promise of an annuity of 40 marcs.-See Palg. on Council, note L. p. 134. Duck. xxii.

+ There is an entry in the Close Roll, 20 Ed. 1., stating that the Great Seal was in the keeping of Walter de Langton, keeper of the wardrobe, under the seal of William de Hamilton; but it is certain that Hamilton sealed the writs and did the business of the Great Seal, which was probably ordered to be kept in the King's wardrobe under the superintendence of the keeper of the wardrobe.

Rolls, and showed qualities fitting him for the highest offices in the

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He continued Chancellor for ten years to the entire satisfaction of his royal master, who required no ordinary zeal and activity in his ministers.

Immediately upon his appointment he published an ordinance in the King's name for the more regular despatch of business, "that in all future parliaments all petitions shall be carefully examined, and those which concern the chancery shall be put in one bundle, and those which concern the exchequer in another, and those which concern the justices in another, and those which are to be before the King and his council in another, and those which are to be answered in another."†

A parliament was called at Westminster soon after, when the new Chancellor had to begin the session with disposing of a very novel appeal, which was entered by the Earl of Fife against [A. D. 1293.] Baliol King of Scotland as vassal of Edward King of England;-and the question arose, whether the appeal lay? This was immediately decided by Lord Chancellor Langton, with the unanimous concurrence of the Lords, in the affirmative; and the respondent was ordered to appear. Formerly in the English parliaments there had always been placed on the right hand of the throne, and on the same level with it, a chair for the King of Scotland, who came to 'do homage for Cumberland and his other possessions in England,—as the Kings of England did homage to the Kings of France for Normandy and Guienne. Baliol now claimed the place and precedence of his royal predecessors; but the Chancellor, in the name of the House, announced the resolution of their Lordships, "that he should stand at the bar as a private person amenable to their jurisdiction, and that having been guilty by his contumacy of a breach of feudal allegiance, three of his principal castles should be seized into the King's hands till he gave satisfaction."‡

Baliol, seeing the degradation to which he had reduced himself and

*The following is a true copy of a letter of congratulation to him on his appoint. ment as Chancellor, lately discovered in the Tower :

"Domino suo reverendo suus devotus in omnibus si quid melius sit salutem Immensa Dei clementia quæ suæ virtutis gratia gratis interdum occurrit homini non quæsita vos ad regni gubernaculum in regiæ Čancellaria officio feliciter promovit non est diu. Super quo Ei regratior a quo fons emanat indeficiens totius sapientiæ salutaris. Sed ecce Domine vos qui in parochia de Langeton originem duxistis sicut placuit Altissimo et ibidem refocillati fuistis maternis sinibus nutritivis. Quæ immenso gaudio vos post doloris aculeos pariendi refocillavit ad honorem Dei et regni gubernaculum quo præestis in quo ipse placeat qui vos ad culmen honoris hujusmodi evocare dignatus est ut ei primo secundario domino Regi et populo complacere possitis ad honorem Jesu Christi, ut autem ei fiducialius obsequamini qui vos sic promovit de gratia sua speciali ut ei visceralius obsequamini cum vacare poteritis affectione pleniori portitorium quoddam non extra septa portarum portan. tem vobis mitto rogans quatenus exilitatem tanti munusculi exemplo Catonis placide admittentes servitium divinum in eodem exercere et discere vobis placeat in hono. rem illius qui omnia creavit ex nichilo et retributor est universalis bonitatis.”— Royal and other Letters, temp. Edward I. 65. xx. S..

f Claus. 21 Ed. 1. m. 7. This shows the Aula Regia to have become familiar. 1 Parl. Hist. 41.

his country, soon after renounced his allegiance as unlawfully extorted from him; and in the vain hope of effectual assistance from France set Edward at defiance. "And now," says Daniel, "began the contests between the two nations which spilt more Christian blood, did more mischief, and continued longer, than any wars that we read of between any two people in the world."*

Lord Chancellor Langton had the proud satisfaction of presiding at a parliament held at Berwick in 1296, after Edward had overrun, and for the time subjugated, Scotland. There he administered the oaths of allegiance to all the Scottish nobility, who were reduced to the sad necessity of swearing fealty to the haughty conqueror, and of binding themselves to come to his assistance at any time and place he might prescribe. But Wallace soon arose ;-Robert Bruce was to follow ;and amid the general gloom the Highland seers could descry in the distant horizon shadows of the glories of Bannockburn.

We must confine ourselves to events in which Lord Chancellor Langton was more immediately concerned. The fol[A. D. 1297.]lowing year, Edward, thinking that he had conquered Scotland, determined to carry on war against France, that he might take vengeance for the perfidy of the monarch of that country, by which he asserted he had been tricked out of Guienne. Having assembled his fleet and army at Winchelsea, then the great port of embarkation for the Continent, he hastened thither himself to meet them, accompanied by the Chancellor, who on board the ship "Edward" delivered the Great Seal into his own hand as he was setting sail for Flanders.† The King carried it abroad with him, having appointed John de Burstide, who attended him as his secretary, to keep it. But Langton still remained Chancellor, and on his way back to London, at Tonbridge Castle, another seal was delivered to him by Prince Edward, appointed guardian of the realm in the King's absence.

A parliament was soon after held while the King remained abroad, nominally under the young Prince, but actually under [A. D. 1297.] Langton. Here broke out a spirit of liberty which could

not be repressed, and the Chancellor was obliged to allow the statute to pass both Houses, called "The Confirmation of the Charters," whereby not only MAGNA CHARTA and CHARTA DE FORESTA were confirmed; but it was enacted that any judgment contrary to them should be void; that copies of them should be sent to the cathedral churches throughout the realm, and read before the people twice every year; that sentence of excommunication should be pronounced on all who should infringe them; and that no aids should be taken without the consent of parlia ment.||

The statute was in the form of a charter, but the Chancellor conceived that he had no power to give the royal assent by putting the seal to it, and it was sent to Flanders by messengers from both Houses, to

* Dan. Hist. p. 111.

† Rot. Pat. 25 Ed. 1. n. 2. m. 7. Rot. Claus. m. 7.

25 Ed. I. c. 2.

§ C. 3.

|| C. 4. C. 5. and 6. 2 Inst. 525.

be submitted to Edward himself. After much evasion and reluctance, he ordered de Burstide to seal it with the Great Seal which he had brought along with him.

The King, baffled in his military operations against France, and alarmed by the news of an insurrection in Scotland under Wallace, found it prudent to return to his own dominions, and (according to the Close Roll), on Friday, the 14th of March, 1298, he landed at Sandwich from Flanders, and the next day, about one o'clock, John de Langton, the Chancellor, came to the King's bedchamber at Sandwich, and there, in the presence of divers noble persons, by the King's bedside, he delivered up to the King the seal that had been used in Eng. land during his absence, and the King immediately after, with his own hand, delivered to the Chancellor the Great Seal which he had taken with him to Flanders.*

Edward, having obtained (it is to be feared by the advice of the Keeper of his conscience) a dispensation from the Pope from the observance of "the Confirmation of the Charters" to [A. D. 1298.] which he had given his assent when out of the realm, the Parliament the following year passed the statute of "Articuli super Chartas," which introduced the new enactment, "that the commonalty should choose three persons in every county to be authorized by the King's letters patent under the Great Seal, to hear and determine such complaints as should be made of those who offended in any point against the Charters, as well the King's officers as others, and to punish them by imprisonment, ransom, or amercement, according to the trespass." To this statute the King gave his royal assent in person from the throne, "the Chancellor and the Judges sitting on the woolsacks," and from this time no sovereign of England has denied that the Charters are law, however in actice they may have been violated.‡

The Chancellor was now involved in a dispute in which he was personally interested, and which caused him great trouble and anxiety for some years. He had not had the good luck to be promoted to the episcopal bench,-when the see of Ely becoming vacant, he thought he was secure of it. But while some of the monks voted for him according to the wishes of the government, others gave their voices for their own Prior, who, they said, would have much more leisure to attend to the duties of a faithful overseer of the church of Christ.

The Court was then at York, the Chancellor, as usual, attending the King. He posted off to Lambeth to consult the Archbishop of Canterbury, leaving the Seal with three persons, John de Crancombe, John de Caen, and William de Birlay, to be kept by them in their joint custody on the King's behalf until he should return.§ The Archbishop advised him to proceed in person to Rome, the Prior of Ely having already appealed to the Pope. Langton, without resigning his office of Chancellor, had leave of absence to prosecute his suit, and on the 14th of Feb*Rot. Pat. 26 Ed. 1. mm. 23. 12. in dorso. 26 Ed. 1. Rot. 57. a. +28 Ed. 1. stat. 3. 1 Parl. Hist. 43.

§ Rot. Pat. 26 Ed. 1. m. 27., and Rot. Claus. 26 Ed. 1. m. 10. 11

VOL. I.

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ruary, 1299, delivered up the Great Seal, to be held during his stay abroad, by John de Burstide as Keeper. He landed at Dover on his return, on the 11th of June following, and on the 16th of the same month the Seal was re-delivered to him by the King. He had not succeeded at the Vatican, notwithstanding all the influence exerted in his favour. The Holy Father, taking this opportunity to show the plenitude of his power, entirely set aside the election of the monks, consecrated the Bishop of Norwich to the see of Ely, bestowed Norwich on the Prior of Ely, and, by way of consolation to the English Chancellor, made him Archdeacon of Canterbury.

On the 12th day of August, 1302, Langton resigned his office of Chancellor for some reason not explained to us. This occurrence certainly did not proceed from a desire to sacrifice him to a rival, for the King was much perplexed in the appointment of a successor. The Close Roll gives a very circumstantial account of the ceremony of the resignation -"Be it remembered that in the 30th year of King Edward, on Monday after the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, about the hour of vespers, in the chamber wherein the King then lodged, in the Hostel of the Archbishop of York, near Westminster, immediately after the King rose from Council, Lord John de Langton, the Chancellor of England, restored to the King his Great Seal, and the King in the presence of Amadio Earl of Savoy, John de Bretagne, and divers others of his council, delivered the same to the Lord John de Drakensford, then Keeper of his wardrobe, to be kept there."

After a lapse of ten days, the King had not yet made up his mind who should be Chancellor, but there being a necessity that the judicial business connected with the office should proceed, the Great Seal was given under certain restrictions into the keeping of Adam de Osgodebey, Master of the Rolls, of which we have the following entry :-"On the 23d of August, in the 30th year of the King, in the King's chamber at Kensington, in the presence of Otho de Grandison, Amadio Earl of Savoy, John De Bretagne, and others of the King's Council, the King's Great Seal was delivered by the King's order by the hand of Lord John de Drakensford, Keeper of the wardrobe, to Lord Adam de Osgodebey, Keeper of the Rolls of the Chancery, who was enjoined to keep it under the seal of Master John de Caen, and the Lords William de Birlay and Robert de Bardelley, until the King should provide himself with a Chancellor. The Seal being so disposed of, the King set forward on his journey to Dover by the way of Chichester."

At last, on the 30th of September following, a new Chancellor was declared in the person of WILLIAM de GreneFIELD, Dean [A. D. 1302.] of Chichester. The reader may be gratified by the record of the appointment and installation ;-"On Sunday the morrow of St. Michael, in the same year, in the King's Chapel, at St. Redegund, immediately after mass, in the presence of Lord John de Drakensford

*Rot. Cl. 27 Ed. 1. m. 11.

+ Cl. Rol. 30 Ed. 1. m. 8.

‡-quousque Dominus Rex sibi de Cancellario providisset. Cl. 30 Ed. 1. m. 6.

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