beyond the sea, the Duke of Gloucester, to be the protector and defender of the kingdom and English Church and the King's chief counsellor." Sixteen counsellors were subsequently added by Parliament which thus set aside Henry V.'s will and established that "the sole right of determining the persons by whom, and fixing the limitations under which, the executive Government shall be conducted in the King's name and behalf, devolves upon the great council of Parliament.""

(6.) 1454. Owing to Henry's mental infirmity Richard Duke of York was appointed regent; the King recovered and dismissed him.

(7.) Nov., 1455. Henry had a relapse and the Duke of York was again appointed as his lieutenant, with the understanding that he should hold his office, not as before, during the King's pleasure, but "until he should be discharged by the Lords in Parliament." It was at this time recognised that the King had not the prerogative of appointing a regent during the minority of his successor, and that neither the heir presumptive nor any one at all is entitled to act without the appointment of Parlia

ment.

(8.) 1483. On the accession of Edward V. Richard Duke of Gloucester was appointed regent by a council of nobles, prelates and chief citizens.

(9.) 1547. In accordance with a statute of 1537 Henry VIII. appointed sixteen executors as a regency during the minority of Edward VI.; they chose the Earl of Hertford as Protector of the kingdom.

(10.) 1751. A Regency Act passed on the death of Frederick, Prince of Wales, made the Princess Dowager of Wales regent in the event of any of 1 Hallam, Mid. Ages, ii., 319.

her children succeeding under the age of 18; the Act also nominated a council of regency, with power to the King to add four more.

(11.) 1765. On George III. suffering from a severe illness a Bill was passed appointing a council of regency and defining their duties; the King was empowered to nominate as regent either the Queen, the Princess Dowager of Wales, or any descendant of George II.; the name of the Princess was only inserted after considerable opposition from the Ministers, especially Lords Halifax and Sandwich.

(12.) 1788. George III. became insane, and Fox upheld the right of the Prince of Wales to be regent; Pitt maintained the right of Parliament to make the appointment; a Regency Bill was brought in, 1789, and a great discussion ensued, Lord Thurlow declaring that he knew of no office of regent; the King, however, recovered.

(13.) 1810. George III. again became insane, and the Prince of Wales was appointed regent; the Bill was passed June, 1811, and the royal assent given by commission on a resolution of Parliament. The regent's power was limited; he was not, for twelve months, to create peers, nor grant offices and pensions, except during pleasure.

(14.) 1830-1. In the event of the Princess Victoria coming to the throne under the age of 18 the Duchess of Kent was to be regent.

(15.) 1837. Provision was made for the carrying on of the Government by Lords Justices in the event of the Queen's decease whilst the heir (the King of Hanover) was abroad.

(16.) 1840. In the event of a child of the Queen succeeding under the age of 18 the Prince Consort was to be regent.

Allegiance.

Legislation on the subject.

Bretwaldas.

Queen Consort.

Allegiance or "the true and faithful obedience of the subject due to the sovereign" is of two kinds : (1) Natural, i.e., the allegiance due from persons born in the dominions of the sovereign; formerly this was perpetual, but by the Naturalisation Act of 1870 a British-born subject may renounce his allegiance by becoming a naturalised subject of a foreign power.

(2) Local due from aliens during the time they are resident only.

In 1552 the children of the King or his subjects born abroad were declared natural-born subjects; in 1581 it was made high treason to attempt to withdraw subjects from their allegiance.

Bretwalda (Breotan to distribute, i.e., 'widely ruling' with a sense of undefined superiority1) was a name given in Anglo-Saxon times to Kings who had acquired some sort of supremacy over their neighbours; the nature of this supremacy is doubtful, but the title probably indicates, as Mr. Freeman says, early attempts at uniting the whole of England under one sovereign, and was assumed by a King in virtue of personal or territorial power. That the power was definite is shown by Ethelbert of Kent granting to St. Augustine a safe conduct. over all England.

Queen Consort, (Cwem, the wife) at first oc

1 Sir F. Palgrave refers the title to a Roman origin and to the idea of Imperialism. Mr. Kemble says the Bretwalda was an elected head, while Dr. Lingard tries to establish a regular line of Bretwaldas. There were eight altogetherElla of Sussex, circ. 477-510, Bretwalda, Ceawlin of Wessex, 560-593, circ. 565-616,

492.

circ. 584.

Ethelbert of Kent,

circ. 589.

Redwald of East Anglia, circ. 593-620,

circ. 617.

Edwin of Northumbria,

Egbert of Wessex, (first rex Anglorum), 802—839.

cupied a high position, owing to the respect in which all Teutonic nations held their women, though after the murder of her husband, Brihtric of Wessex, by Edburga (802), the title of Queen was abolished in Wessex, that of hlæfdige or lady being substituted for it, with a great diminution of privilege. Queen Consorts have usually been crowned from the earliest times, though the ceremony was omitted in the case of Queen Caroline, wife of George IV. They had various privileges such as protection by the Statute of Treason, the possession of cities as private property, (e.g., Exeter belonged to Emma, wife of Ethelred II.), and the right to Queen Gold, or a mark of gold for every Queen Gold. hundred marks of silver paid to the King; this due, mentioned in Domesday as Gersumma reging, was claimed as late as the time of Charles I. by Henrietta Maria, who, however, surrendered it in consideration of a sum of money, 1635.

The Queen Regnant enjoys exactly the same Queen Regnant. prerogatives and privileges as a King; this was settled by a statute of Mary, the first Queen Regnant of England, April, 1554, which provides that "the regal power of the realm is in the Queen's Majesty as fully and absolutely as ever it was in any King."

origin.

CHAPTER II.

THE COUNCIL AND COURTS.

King's Council Origin. In Anglo Saxon times there existed a body of advisers of the crown distinct from the general assembly of the Witan; these advisers were, as in later times, the holders of offices entailing proximity to the King's person; the bower thegn, the dish thegn, and the horse thegn. History to Henry III.

History to
Henry III.

After the Norman Conquest this body of counsellors continued to exist as a committee, or inner circle of the national council, commune concilium, and was known as the Ordinary, Permanent, or Continual Council (Concilium ordinarium), at first so closely connected with the national council as to be hardly distinguishable from it. The King's Council gradually assumed a distinct position owing to its existence being perpetual, and to its members being available for consultation at any moment, instead of only at three stated periods in the year, as in the case of the national council. Those members were at this time the permanent officials of the state and household, whose necessary residence at and about the court, by reason of their office, facilitated consultation, i.e., the Justiciar, the Treasurer, the Chancellor, the Marshal, the Steward, the Chamberlain, the Constable, the Butler (ch. vii.); sometimes, also, minor officials, such as the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the King's Sergeant were present, while certain bishops and barons, in addition to the two archbishops who sat in right of their position, were occasionally summoned.