Lambard, Dugdale, and other antiquaries, produce a very strong evidence of the antiquity of the representation of boroughs, by evincing, “That in every quarter of the realm, a great many boroughs do yet send burgesses to parliament, which are nevertheless so ancient, and so long since decayed, and gone to nought, that it cannot be shewed that they have been of any reputation at any time since the Conquest; and much less that they have obtained this privilege by the grant of any king succeeding the same. So that the interest which they have in parliament groweth by an ancient usage before the Conquest, whereof they cannot shew any beginning.” Lambard Archeion, p. 256. 257. Coke Epist. 9. Rep. Dugdale, Jurid. p. 15.
This matter receives confirmation from what we are told of the boroughs of ancient demesne. “These, says Whitelocke, were tenants of the demesne lands of William I. and of Edward the Confessor; who (to the end that they might not be hindered from their business of husbandry of the king’s lands) had many privileges, whereof one was, that they should not be compelled to serve in parliament. Another was, that they should not contribute to the wages of knights of the shire. Which privileges they still enjoy, and had their beginning in the times of William I. and of the Confessor, whose tenants they first were, as appears in the book of Domesday, and is a strong proof, that knights and Burgesses were then in parliament.” Notes upon the Kings Writ, vol. II. p. 139.
See also the [22d note] to the present tract.
[9] The law was not then a particular profession.
[10] On the following record in the register of Ely, this notion seems to be founded. Abbas Wulfricus habuit fratrem, Guthmundum vocabulo; cui filiam præpotentis viri in matrimonium conjungi paraverat; sed quoniam ille XL. hidarum terræ dominium minus obtineret, licet nobilis esset, inter proceres tunc nuncupari non potuit. It is somewhat remarkable, that Mr Hume is among those, who, resting on this foundation, would make us conceive, that a person who had 40 hides of land, could, without being noble, give his voice in the Wittenagemot. Hist. of Eng. vol. I. p. 145. The passage, however, properly understood, serves to shew, that, in the course of time, the attendance of the Nobles in parliament, having been deemed an expensive service, a law was made to relieve those of them from it who were not possessed of 40 hides of land. The reader may consult hist. Eliens. c. 36. 40. ap. Gale, the authority appealed to by Mr Hume.
[11] It is perhaps impossible to ascertain the æra of this invaluable institution. It loses itself in a distant antiquity. The Saxon laws mention it as a known invention. See LL. Ethelr. c. 4. Senat. Consult. de Mont. Wal. c. 3. ap. Wilkins. See also Nicolson, Præfat. ad Leg. Anglo-Sax. Spelm. Gloss. and Coke’s 1st Institute. Olaus Wormius traces it to a remote age among the Danes; and Stiernhook among the Swedes. Monument. Dan. lib. 1. c. 10. De Jure Sueon. et Goth. vetusto. c. 4.
[12] Annal. lib. 14. c. 33. Copia negotiatorum et commeatuum maxime celebre. The city of London in the Danish times was able to pay L. 11,000 as its proportion of L. 70,000, a tax then imposed on the nation. Asser, in the life of Alfred, refers to above 120 cities, boroughs and villages.
[13] Lib. 1. See also Holingh. Chron. p. 192.
[14] Spelman, life of Alfred, b. 2. p. 28. Malmesb. lib. 2. c. 4. A writer in Du Chesne having occasion to mention the first return of duke William to Normandy, after his invasion of England, has the following passage: Attulit quantum ex ditione trium Galliarum vix colligeretur argentum atque aurum: Chari metalli abundantia multipliciter Gallias terra illa [Anglia] vincit. Gest. Gul. Conques. p. 210.
[15] LL. Anglo-Saxon. ap. Wilkins, p. 71.