Additional Appendix to Aurum Regina, Title page – Dedication
AN ADDITIONAL APPENDIX TO Aurum Reginae; Making some further Discoveries of the Antiquity, Legality, Quiddity, Quantity, Quality of this ROYAL DVTY; of the Oblations, Fines from which it ariseth, as well in IRELAND as ENGLAND; the Process by, the Lands, Chattels out of which it is levyed; and that the unlevyed Arears thereof, at the QVEEN-CONSORTS Death, of RIGHT accrue to the KING, and None Other, by His ROYAL PREROGATIVE, and ought to be levyed for His Vse, by the Laws of the Realm.
COLLECTED By WILLIAM PRYNNE Esq a Bencher and Reader of Lincolns-Inne, Keeper of His Majesties Records in the Tower of London.
Mat. 22.21.
Render therefore to Caesar, the things that are Caesars.
LONDON, Printed for the Author by Tho. Ratcliffe and Tho. Daniel, and are to be sold by Edward Thomas at the Adam and Eve in Little Britain, and Iosias Robinson at Lincolns-Inne Gate. 1668.
To the KINGS most Excellent MAIESTY, CHARLES the II.
YOUR Majesty may perchance, condemn me as guilty of a Solaecisme in Courtship, for that I formerly intituled. Your most Illustrious QUEEN-CONSORT (in my late Tractate of AVRVM REGINAE, dedicated to Her Highnesse) to a Legal Right in possession to this most Antient ROYAL DUTY; and now presume to present Your Majesty (by way of Reversion after Your CONSORT) only with the Gleanings of some Records of that Subject, I have since discovered, and collected in this ADDITIONAL APPENDIX.
Yet, being no Solaecisme or praeposterousnesse, but an orderly usual method in point of Law; the Lawes and Records of Your Realm, intitling Your QUEEN to the Primitive present possessory right of QUEEN-GOLD, and Your Majesty only to the uncollected Remaines and Arrears thereof after Her Decease (whom God long preserve in life and health;) and that both in ENGLAND and IRELAND, as this old Record (I newly found) of Your Noble Predecessor KING HENRY the THIRD, dated in FRANCE, thus resolves.
Rot. Franciae 16 H. 3. m. 4. in Tu…i London. Hyber….Galfridus de Turvall Archid. Dublin. assignatus est ad recipiend. AURUM REGINAE quod ad eam pertinet de finibus HIBERNIAE. Et mandatum est eidem Galfrido, quod illud recipiat custodiendum ad opus ipsius REGINAE. Teste Rege apud Burdegal. 10 die Sept. Et mandatum est Iusticiario HIBERNIAE, quod illud ei habere faciat. Teste ut supra.
(Which is seconded by other Records (b)Aurum Reginae, p. 18.28, 29.46.145.elsewhere cited;) I therefore most humbly hope, and crave not only Your Majesties Royal Pardon of this imaginary Disorder, but likewise Your Gracious Acceptation of these Fragments, which further evidence both of Your Majesties Old, Iust, Vnquestionable Rights to this GOLDEN FLOWER of YOUR CROWNS by multitudes of irrefragable Records. By vertue whereof Your Majesti…s may now as justly demand, receive, levy it of those Subjects, from whose voluntary Oblations, Fines it is due, without the least injustice or grievance, as any other branch of Your Revenues whatsoever; especially since the greatest part of this and other Your antient Crown-Revenues, have been much diminished by (c)17 C…r. …. c. 20.12 Car. …. ch. 24.two late Acts, abolishing all Fines for Knighthood, Wardships, Tenures, Lico…ses for Alienations, and Marriages of Wards, from which the richest Veins of this Gold Mine, did formerly arise. If these Collections shall contribute any assistance to invest Your Majesties in the speedy future possession, perc…ption of this over-long neglected Legal Revenue, (which no lapse of time can barr, or null, since (d)Littleton, sect. 178. Hornes Mirrour des Justices, c. 3. B…it…on f. 88.Null…m t…mpu… occurit Regi; and this Duty hath in all former ages been legally revived, claimed by and from the Mariage of every Queen, but not extinguished by the death of any;) it will be a sufficient reward for the paines taken to recover it, by
Your Majesties most humble, loyal, Subject and Servant, WILLIAM PRYNNE.
AN ADDITIONAL APPENDIX TO Aurum Reginae.
SInce the finishing of my late Tractate of AVRVM REGINAE at the Presse, upon my subsequent Searches meeting with sundry Passag…s in Doomesday Book, the Great Rolls in the Pipe Office, and especially in the Records in the Lord Treasurers Remembrancers Office in the Exchequer, relating to that Subject of QUEEN-GOLD; I thought fit by way of Appendix, to communicate them to the World, for the clearer demonstration of the Antiquity, Rationality, and Legality of this Royal Prerogative and Duty.
The true Original Grounds thereof (which I have briefly related in my AVRVM REGINAE, p. 4, 5, 6.) I shall here in the first place illustrate by some forraign Historical passages and domestick Records.
It is storied of the ancient Kings of Persia, who were extraordinarily uxorious, loving, kind, and bountifull to the…r Queens, that for their greater Honor, Majesty, and Splendor, when they espoused or made choyce of them for their Queen Consorts; they did set a aEsther 1.11.11. cap. 2.17. Josephus Antiqu. Judaeorum, lib. 11. c. 6. Sulpitius Severus, l. 11.… Sacrae Histor. Plutarchus in Lucullo. Heliodorus lib. 7. Barnabas Brissonius de Regno Persar. l. 1. p. 75, 76.ROYAL CROWN (of GOLD) upon their heads, arrayed them with bEsth. 2.13. cap 5.1 Aelian. Variae Histor. l. 12. cap. 1.Royal costly Robes, Appar…l, and also assigned them sundry large Territories, Cities, Revenues, for furnishing all parts of their Bodies with rich Ornaments of all sorts, suitable to their Royal Estates. Hence cPlatonis Opera Basileae, 1561. p. 345.Plato in his Alcibiades primus, discoursing of the great wealth of the Persian Kings; subjoynes. Audivi ego aliquando virum fide dignum qui ad Persarum Regem profectus fuerat. Hic retulit, se peragrasse regionem valdè magnam & bonam, diei ferè unius it…nere, quam indiginae UXORIS REGIAE ZONAM vocent. Esse verò etiam aliam qua REGINAE CALYPTRA vocatur… it…mque alios multos locos pulchros & bon…s, AD ORNATUM REGINAE DELECTOS, habereque singulos lecos nomina AB UNOQUOQUE REGINAE MUNDO: Which dIn Ve rem, lib 5.Cicero the grand Roman Orator thus seconds. S…lêre a…unt barbaros Reges Persarum & Syrorum plures V…ores habere: his autem UXORIBUS Civitates attribuere, hoc modo. Haec Civitas mulieri REDIMICULUM praebeat; haec in COLLUM; haec in CRINES. Ita populos hab…nt universos non solum conscios libidinis suae, sed etiam administros. Upon this account, as eDipnosoph. l. 1.Athenaeus relates, the City of Antylla near Alexandria, was given to the Queens, foreign. And Barnabas …riss…ius. De …egio … Principatu, lib. 1. p. 76. observes, that the Persian Kings, REGINES utique Regione… …erta… attri…uebant, e… …uarum …edditibu… mundum … para…nt. In like manner… our ancient Kings before and since the Conquest, did not only honor their Queen Consorts with *See Mr. Seldens Titles of Honor c. 6. sect. 7. part 1. ch. 8. p. 1…8, 119. sect. 4, 6. &c.ROYAL DIADEMS of GOLD, rich Robes, and other O…ment…,) a…d assign …em sundry …ge Mannors, Rents, Pensions for their Dowries, to maintain their Pomp, Courts, Officers, Attendants in Magnifice…t splendor, but li…ewise reserved certain… Ounce… of Gold, out of so…e of thei… ancient …emes… Lands and Man…ors to …e annually paid to their Queens, with other sums of money, and portions of Wool, for their Ornaments, Apparell, Lamps, and Furniture o… their Wardrobes.
This I shall evidence by some few irrefragable presidents recorded in the most famous ancient Record st… e…tant, (reserved in the Treasury of the Receits in … King… Ex…h…q…e… ) c…mmonly ca…ed DOOMES…AY BOOK, or LIB…R IVDICIARIVS; …ia …ententia eju… i…f … po…est, vel impunè declinari, & ab …o non licet ulla ratione discedere. Which Book as fDe Necessariis Scaccarii Observantiis Dial. 1. c. 14, 16, 17.Gervasius Tilberiensis resolves) contains an Exact Survey or Description (in two large Volumes) of all the Mannors, Lands, Tenures, Rents, Services, Duties, Customs, Tenants, within the respective Counties of England, begun in the …4th, and finished in the 20th and last year of King William the Conqueror … by his special Command, as the gGervasius Tilberiensis Ibidem. Liber Rubeus in Scaccario; Ingulphi Abbatis Hist. p. 808. Simeon Dunelmensis Hist. col. 213. Radulphus de Diceto, Abbreviationes Chron. col. 487. Chronicon Johannis Bromton, col. 979… Chronicon Willielmi Thorn, cap. 18. sect. 4. col. 1864. Mat. Paris, Hist. Angl. p. 370. Mat. Westminster, Flores Hist. An. 1086. p. 449. Henricus Huntingdon. Histor. l. 6. p. 460. Rogerus de Hoveden Annal. pars prior, p. 4…0. Henricus de Knyghton… de Eventibus Angliae, lib. …. c. 4 col. 2353. Ranulfus Cestrensis, Caxton, Fabian, Polydor Virgil, Holinshed, Speed, Daniel, Grafton, Sir Richard Baker, in William the Conquerors Life. The Register of Peterburgh, and Chronicle of Waverly, Mr. William Cambden his Britannia, London 1637. p. 153. Stat. 1 R. 2… ch. 6. Old Natura Brevium, f. 5. Sir Henry Spelman, & William Sumner, in their Glossaries, Tit. Doomesday: Dr. Cowels Interpreter, Tit. Doomesday.Marginal Authors will at large inform th… Readers.