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except all the alien possessions given by the gracious lord the king your father whom God assoil to the master and college of Fotheringay and to his successors of the foundation of our said lord the king your father and of the foundation of Edward duke of York, any peace to be made notwithstanding, together with all kinds of franchises and liberties granted by our said lord the king your father to the said master and college and its successors and confirmed by you, saving the services owing to the lords of English sees, if any there are, notwithstanding that the same grant made by our said lord the king your father to the said master and college and his successors should be extended only during the war between your very sovereign lord and your adversary of France, and saving also to each of your lieges as well spiritual as temporal the estate and possession which they have at present in any of such alien possessions, purchased or to purchase, in perpetuity or for life or for a term of years, from the chief religious houses abroad by the licence of our lord the king your very noble father, whom God assail, or of king Edward the Third your great grandfather, or of king Richard the Second since the conquest, or by your gracious gift, grant, confirmation or licence had at present in such case. Paying and supporting all the charges, pensions, annuities and provisions granted to any of your lieges by you or by any of your noble progenitors to be taken from the possessions or alien priories aforementioned.

REPLY

The king wills it, and also that the said master and college of Fotheringay have an exemplification of the king under his great seal of the present petition for their greatest security in this respect and with the assent of the lords spiritual and temporal sitting in this present parliament.

117. King agrees not to alter the Petitions of the Commons

(1414. French and English original, 4 R. P. 22, No. 22. Translation by Editors. 3 Stubbs, 84, 269.)

ITE

TEM, be it remembered, that the commons delivered to the king our very sovereign lord, in this present parliament a petition, of which the tenor follows word for word.

Our sovereign lord, your humble and true lieges that have come for the commons of your land, trusting in your great justice that as it hath been ever their liberty and freedom that there should no statute or law be made unless they gave thereto their assent, considering that the commons of your land, the which is and ever hath been, a member of your parliament, have been as well assenters as petitioners, that from this time forth, by complaint of the commons of any mischief, asking remedy by mouth of their speaker for the commons or else by written petition, that there never be any law made thereupon and engrossed as statute and law, neither by addition or by diminution, by no manner of term or terms, the which should change the sentence and the intent asked by the speaker by mouth, or the petitions aforesaid given in writing by the manner aforesaid, without the assent of the foresaid commons. Considering our sovereign lord that it is not in any wise the intent of your commons if it be so that they ask you by speaking or by writing, two things or three or as many as pleases them; but that ever it stand in the freedom of your Highness to grant which of those that please you and to refuse the rest.

REPLY

The king by his especial grace granteth that from henceforth nothing be enacted to the petitions of his commons that be contrary to their asking whereby they should be bound without their assent; saving always to our liege lord his prerogative to grant and deny what him list of their petitions and askings aforesaid.

118. Grant of a Subsidy and Tunnage and

Poundage for Life

(1415. French original, 4 R. P. 63, No. 5. Translation by the Editors.

3 Stubbs, 88.)

HE commons of the realm assembled in this present parlia

THE

ment, considering that the king our sovereign lord, to the honor of God and to avoid the effusion of Christian blood, has made to his adversary of France, divers requests to have his heritage returned to him, according to right and justice, and although there has been much negotiation as well on this side of the sea as on the other, at great cost to our sovereign lord the

king; nevertheless, the king our said sovereign lord, has not obtained by means of these requests and negotiations his said heritage nor any notable parts of it. And therefore the king our said sovereign lord though with the revenue of his realm and of the grant of the subsidy, granted to him before, he did not have the means to pursue his claim by way of deed, nevertheless hoping in God that he should see himself sustained and supported in his just quarrel, our said lord the king of his good courage has lately undertaken a voyage abroad, pledging his jewels to obtain money and in his own person has gone and arrived before the town of Harfleur and there besieged it with such force that he has taken and obtained it and holds it at present and to guard the same city he has placed there certain lords and many others, men at arms and archers, to his great cost and expense, and having made such ordinance for the safeguard of the said town, our said lord the king of his excellent courage with few people, regard being had to the might of France, went from the town of Harfleur by land towards the marches of Calais, where on his road many dukes, counts and other lords with the might of the realm of France in very great numbers met and fought him until God by His grace gave the victory to the king our said lord, to the honor and exaltation of the crown, of its good fame, and to the special comfort of his loyal lieges and to the fear of all his enemies and probably to the perpetual profit of all his realm, to the honor and rever. ence of God, and for the great affection and entire love that the commons of the realm of England have for our said sovereign lord the king, with the assent of the lords spiritual and temporal assembled in the parliament held at Westminster the Monday next after the feast of All Saints the year of the reign of our said sovereign lord the king, third, grant to the same sovereign lord the king, the 12th day of November, in the same parliament for the defence of the realm, the subsidy on wool, leather and woolfells to be raised from the merchants denizens, for the subsidy of each sack of wool 43s. 4d., and of each 240 woolfells 43s. 4d. and on each last of leather 100s. and from the alien merchants, on each sack of wool 6os. and on each 240 woolfells, 60s. and on each last of leather 106s. 8d. to take and receive from the feast of St. Michael next to come for all the life of our said lord the king to be disposed and used according to his very gracious wish and discretion, for the defence aforesaid, provided always that no grant be made to any one by our said sovereign lord the king by his letters patent for life or for a term of years of the subsidy aforementioned nor part of it. And if any such grant be made

it will be void and held for null and that this grant be not taken as an example by the kings of England in time to come.

[There follows a grant of tunnage and poundage in terms nearly identical with those of No. 114, but for the king's life.]

119. Government during the Minority of Henry VI

(1422. Latin, French, and English original, 4 R. P. 174. Translation by Editors. 3 Stubbs, 100. No. 33 illustrates parliamentary procedure.)

24. BE it remembered that on the twenty-seventh day of this parliament, the tender state of our most revered lord king Henry the Sixth after the conquest was considered, that he himself cannot personally decide in these days in respect to the protection and defence of his English realm and English church. The said lord king, fully confident of the prudence and diligence of his very dear uncles, John duke of Bedford, and Humphrey duke of Gloucester, and with the assent and advice of the lords spiritual and temporal, in the present parliament, and also with the assent of the commons of the English realm in the same parliament, has ordained and appointed his said uncle, duke of Bedford, now in foreign parts, protector and defender of his realm and the aforesaid English church and chief counsellor of his lord the king and that the duke shall be made and nominated protector and defender of his realm and chief counsellor of the king himself after he shall have returned to England and shall have come into the presence of the aforesaid lord the king and from that time as long as he shall remain in the said realm and as long as it shall be pleasing to our said lord the king. And further, our lord the king, with the aforesaid assent and advice, has ordained and appointed in the absence of his aforesaid uncle the duke of Bedford, his aforesaid uncle the duke of Gloucester now in his realm of England, protector and defender of his realm and the English church and chief counsellor of the said lord the king; and that the same duke of Gloucester be made and nominated protector and defender of the said English realm and church and chief counsellor of the said lord the king as long as it shall be pleasing to the king;

25. Be it remembered that when our lord king as well with the assent and advice of the lords spiritual and temporal as with the assent of the commons of the realm of England in the present parliament, by his letters patent, ordained and appointed his very dear uncle John duke of Bedford, now in foreign parts, protector and defender of the said realm and church of England, and also his principal counsellor, * and also in like manner the said lord the king, with the aforesaid assent and advice had ordained and appointed in the absence of his very dear uncle, the aforesaid duke of Bedford, Humphrey duke of Gloucester, now present in the said realm, the protector and defender of the aforesaid realm and church, and his principal counsellor: the aforesaid lord the king, considering the various labors which it will be necessary for the said dukes to endure on the occasions set forth above, and wishing therefore that their persons be attended with honors and gracious favors, with the aforesaid assent and advice, wills, concedes and ordains, that the said duke of Bedford, as often and whenever he shall assume the aforesaid burden and shall truly take it upon himself and occupy himself with it, and the said duke of Gloucester, as often and whenever he himself shall take upon himself and shall administer that burden, shall be able when the offices of forester, parker, and keeper of the warrens are vacant in the realm of England and the parts of Wales, pertaining to the donation of the said lord the king as of his crown, to dispose of these offices under the following form, to wit; that whenever any of the said offices shall happen to be vacant in the future, either of the said dukes holding and exercising the burden of the business of protection and defence, shall be able to nominate a suitable person to the said office and under his signet, as custodian of the private seal of the said lord the king, for the time being, shall be able to certify it; *** Item, the said lord king, by the advice, consent, and for the cause aforesaid, has willed, granted and ordained that each of the aforesaid dukes, for the time during which he shall hold and exercise the burden of the protection and defence aforesaid, shall be able to nominate suitable persons to any parish churches from the value of twenty marks to the value of thirty marks inclusive, and also to all the prebends in the king's chapels in the donation of the lord king, under the right of the crown, when they shall be vacant, with the exception of the deanships in the king's chapels of this sort, * * * Other offices, prebends, and benefices not specified above, and the aforesaid deanships, belonging to the donation or presentation of the lord king, are,

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