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<DATE>2007-10-05</DATE>
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<NAME>Mona Logarbo</NAME>
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<VID>163401</VID>
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<PB REF="1" MS="y"><!-- PDF PAGE 8 -->
<HEAD>TO THE PARLIAMENT OF <HI>ENGLAND SCOTLAND</HI> and <HI>IRELAND.</HI></HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">The humble Petition of <HI>Henry Harbotle,</HI> on the behalf of him&s;elf and above 100 of the poor Te|nants within the Barony of <HI>Langley</HI> in the County of <HI>Northumberland.</HI></HEAD>
<OPENER>Sheweth,</OPENER>
<P>THat your Petitioners being Tenants of, and within the &s;aid Barony, of right ought to hold, and their An|ce&s;tors time out of mind have held their re&s;pective Tenements in fee by Copy of Court-Roll of the &s;aid Barony, as may appear, not onely by Records and their Copies in the time of <HI>Henry</HI> the eight (rea|dy to be produced) but al&s;o by Survey taken 12. <HI>Eliz.</HI> upon the attainder of <HI>Thomas</HI> Earl of <HI>Nor|thumberland,</HI> Lord of the &s;aid Barony; upon who&s;e attainder the &s;aid Barony came to the Crown; under whom your Pettioners &s;aid Ance&s;tors, quietly held and enjoyed their &s;aid E&s;tates, paying onely the rents re|&s;erved upon their &s;aid Copies. And were upon every Di&s;cent or Alienation by the Stewards of the &s;aid Barony (who held by Patent from the Crown) admitted Tenants according to the Cu&s;tome of the &s;aid Barony, until the 16 <HI>Iac.</HI> In which year one <HI>Iohn Murray</HI> E&s;quire, one of the Bed-Chamber to King <HI>Iames</HI> (having before gotten the &s;aid Barony &s;etled upon Feoffees for his u&s;e, and knowing that by the Title of the Crown he could not de&s;troy the Petitioners cu&s;tome of Copy-hold) exhibited his Bill of complaint before the Lord <HI>Verulam</HI> in Chancery again&s;t your Petitioners &s;aid Ance&s;tors, and therein mo&s;t fal&s;ly declared, that he was at the time of the exhibiting his &s;aid Bill, by vertue of a conveyance from the co-heirs of the &s;aid Earl, &s;eized of the &s;aid Barony in his demea&s;ne as of Fee; and that the Tenants thereof were only Tenants at the Wills of the Lords of the &s;aid Barony, and not by Co|py of inheritance; upon which &s;ugge&s;tions, and others as fal&s;e (too long to be here in&s;erted) obtained a mo&s;t unju&s;t Decree again&s;t &s;ome of your Petitioners yet alive; and the Ance&s;tors of the re&s;t, for de&s;troying their &s;aid Copyhold of inheritance: And thereupon mo&s;t barbarou&s;ly and cruelly per&s;ecuted your &s;aid Petitioners and Ance&s;tors (by tying &s;ome of them neck and heels together, and throwing them naked into the &s;now, and impri&s;oning a great many in the Fleet here at <HI>London,</HI> and others in &s;everal pri&s;ons far remote from their friends or habitation, where they &s;uffered mo&s;t inhumane cruelties) untill &s;ome of them had &s;ubmitted to the lo&s;s of their Cu&s;tomes, by accepting of Lea&s;es from him; which was no &s;ooner done, but he then waved the title of the coheirs; and de&s;ires his Feoffees to &s;urrender their right back to the Crown, which they did; and then within two months after their &s;urrender he takes from King <HI>Iames</HI> an E&s;tate in Fee&s;imple in his own name to him and his heirs for ever, making no further u&s;e of the for|mer pretended titles of the Coheirs; and afterwards di&s;po&s;es of his title to Sir <HI>Edward Ratcliff</HI> Baronet (a man of the like cruelty; and who&s;e Religion is &s;uch, that he openly profe&s;&s;eth it is as lawfull to kill a Prote&s;tant as a Veal-Calf, or a Dog.) For who&s;e Recu&s;ancie and Delinquencie, his E&s;tate was by Act of Parliament appointed to be &s;old, and the &s;aid Barony, being parcel of his E&s;tate, was by the Tru&s;tees in that behalf accordingly &s;old to one <HI>George Hurd,</HI> a per&s;on intru&s;ted by and for Sir <HI>Edward Ratcliff.</HI> Others there are of your Petitioners, who never &s;ubmit|ted to the &s;aid Decree; yet have enjoyed their Lands according to their &s;aid ancient cu&s;tome paying onely their old Rents.</P>
<P>Your Petitioners for recovery of their ju&s;t and ancient right made their claim within the time limited by the Act for &s;ale of the &s;aid Lands, before the Committee for removing ob&s;tructions; but in regard it did not appear unto them that the afore&s;aid Decree was rever&s;ed; they did conceave them&s;elves bound up thereby, and no way capable to al|low of your Petitioners &s;aid claim, and there upon di&s;mi&s;&s;ed it.</P>
<P>That your Petitioners are &s;o impoveri&s;hed by the late war, frequent plundring of the Mo&s;s-troopers, and cruel exacti|ons of their Lords; that they are no way able to wage Law, or pro&s;ecute a Bill of review of the &s;aid Decree, although admitted in <HI>forma pauperis:</HI> fourty of your Petitioners at lea&s;t, being not able to make up 5 &s;hillings in ready mony.</P>
<P><HI>And therefore your Petitioners mo&s;t humbly be&s;eech your Honours, to take their &s;ad condition into your pious con&s;ide|ration, and in regard of their afore&s;aid poverty, that they may receive from your Honors, who are the fountain of Iu&s;tice in this Commonwealth; &s;uch Iu&s;tice as &s;hall upon the examination of their ca&s;e, appear to be agreeable with the ancient Laws of this Nation, and the equity of their cau&s;e.</HI></P>
<CLOSER><DATE><ADD>Jan: 1654</ADD></DATE> And they &s;hall pray, &amp;c.</CLOSER>
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