the institution of coroners, measures of Richard and his ministers, come under review as well as the Provisions of Oxford and the Statute of Marlborough.”
The second statute of Westminster was passed in the parliament of 1285. Like the first statute it is a code in itself, and contains the famous clause De donis conditionalibus (q.v.), “one of the fundamental institutes of the medieval land law of England.” Stubbs says of it: “The law of dower, of advowson, of appeal for felonies, is largely amended; the institution of justices of assize is remodelled, and the abuses of manorial jurisdiction repressed; the statute De religiosis, the statutes of Merton and Gloucester, are amended and re-enacted. Every clause has a bearing on the growth of the later law.”
The statute Quia Emptores of 1290 is sometimes called the statute of Westminster III.
WESTMINSTER, SYNODS OF. Under this heading are included certain of the more important ecclesiastical councils held within the present bounds of London. Though the precise locality is occasionally uncertain, the majority of the medieval synods assembled in the chapter-house of old St Paul's, or the former chapel of St Catherine within the precincts of Westminster Abbey or at Lambeth. The councils were of various types, each with a constitutional history of its own. Before the reign of Edward I., when convocation assumed substantially its present form (see Convocation), there were convened in London various diocesan, provincial, national and legatine synods; during the past six centuries, however, the chief ecclesiastical assemblies held there have been convocations of the province of Canterbury.
The first really notable council at St Paul's was that of 1075 under the presidency of Lanfranc; it renewed ancient regulations, forbade simony and permitted three bishops to remove from country places to Salisbury, Chichester and Chester respectively. In 1102 a national synod at Westminster under Anselm adopted canons against simony, clerical marriages and slavery. The councils of 1126, 1127 and 1138 were legatine, that of 1175 provincial; their canons, chiefly re-enactments, throw light on the condition of the clergy at that time. The canons of 1200 are based in large measure on recommendations of the Lateran Council of 1179. At St Paul's the legatine constitutions of Otto were published in a synod of 1237, those of Ottobon in 1268: these were the most important national councils held after the independence of York had been established. A synod at Lambeth in 1281 put forth canons none too welcome to Edward I.; they included a detailed scheme for the religious instruction of the faithful. During the next two centuries the councils devoted much attention to heresy: eight propositions concerning the body of Christ after his death were rejected at St Mary-le-Bow in 1286; the expulsion of the Jews from England was sanctioned by a legatine synod of Westminster in 1291; ten theses of Wiclif's were condemned at the Dominican friary in 1382, and eighteen articles drawn from his Trialogus met the same fate at. St Paul's in 1396; and the doom of Sir John Oldcastle was sealed at the latter place in 1413. The 14th-century synods at St Paul's concerned themselves largely with the financial and moral status of the clergy, and made many quaint regulations regarding their dress and behaviour (1328, 1342, 1343; cf. 1463). From the time of Edward VI. on, many of the most vital changes in ecclesiastical discipline were adopted in convocations at St Paul's and in the Abbey. To enumerate them would be to give a running commentary on the development of the Church of England; among the most important were those of 1547, 1552, 1554, 1562, 1571, 1604, 1605, 1640 and 1661. In 1852 there was held the first of a series of synods of the newly organized Roman Catholic archdiocese of Westminster. For the "Pan-Anglican Synods" see Lambeth Conferences.
Bibliogrpahy. - For acts of synods prior to the Reformation see Spelman, Hardouin, W. Lynwood, Provinciale (Oxford, 1679), and best of all Wilkins; for the canons and proceedings of convocations from 1547 to 1717 consult E. Cardwell, Synodalia (2 vols., Oxford, 1842); for translations and summaries, Guerin, Landon and Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, vol. iv. ff.; see also T. Lathbury, A History of the Convocation of the Church of England (2nd enlarged edition, London, 1853); A. P. Stanley, Historical Memorials of Westminster Abbey (4th and revised ed., London, 1876), 411-413, 495-504; H. H. Milman, Annals of S. Paul's Cathedral (2nd ed., London, 1869). Full titles under Councils.
WESTMORLAND, EARLS OF. Ralph Neville, 4th Baron Neville of Raby, and 1st earl of Westmorland (1364–1425), eldest son of John, 3rd Baron Neville, and his wife Maud Percy (see Neville, Family), was knighted by Thomas of Woodstock, afterwards duke of Gloucester, during the French expedition of 1380, and succeeded to his father's barony in 1388. He had been joint warden of the west march in 1386,and was reappointed for a new term in 1390. In 1391 he was put on the commission which undertook the duties of constable in place of the duke of Gloucester, and he was repeatedly engaged in negotiations with the Scots. His support of the court party against the lords appellant was rewarded in 1397 by the earldom of Westmorland. He married as his second wife Joan Beaufort, half-sister of Henry of Lancaster, afterwards Henry IV., whom he joined on his landing in Yorkshire in 1399. He already held the castles of Brancepeth, Raby, Middleham and Sheriff Hutton when he received from Henry IV. the honour and lordship of Richmond for life. The only rivals of the Nevilles in the north were the Percies, whose power was broken at Shrewsbury in 1403. Both marches had been in their hands, but the wardenship of the west marches was now assigned to Westmorland, whose influence was also paramount in the east, which was under the nominal wardenship of the young Prince John, afterwards duke of Bedford. Westmorland had prevented Northumberland from marching to reinforce Hotspur in 1403, and before embarking on a new revolt he sought to secure his enemy, surrounding, but too late, one of Sir Ralph Eure's castles where the earl had been staying. In May the Percies were in revolt, with Thomas Mowbray, earl marshal, and Archbishop Scrope. Westmorland met them on Shipton Moor, near York, on the 29th of May 1405, and suggested a parley between the leaders. By pretending accord with the archbishop, the earl induced him to allow his followers to disperse. Scrope and Mowbray were then seized and handed over to Henry at Pontefract on the 3rd of January. The improbabilities of this narrative have led some writers to think, in face of contemporary authorities, that Scrope and Mowbray must have surrendered voluntarily. If Westmorland betrayed them he at least had no share in their execution. Thenceforward he was busily engaged in negotiating with the Scots and keeping the peace on the borders. He did not play the part assigned to him by Shakespeare in Henry V., for during Henry's absence he remained in charge of the north, and was a member of Bedford's council. He consolidated the strength of his family by marriage alliances. His daughter Catherine married in 1412 John Mowbray, second duke of Norfolk, brother and heir of the earl marshal, who had been executed after Shipton Moor; Anne married Humphrey, first duke of Buckingham; Eleanor married, after the death of her first husband Richard le Despenser, Henry Percy, 2nd earl of Northumberland; Cicely married Richard, duke of York, and was the mother of Edward IV. and Richard III. The sons by his second marriage were Richard Neville, earl of Salisbury, William, Baron Fauconberg, George, Baron Latimer, Robert, bishop of Salisbury and then of Durham, and Edward, Baron Abergavenny. The earl died on the 21st of October 1425, and a fine alabaster tomb was erected to his memory in Staindrop church close by Raby Castle.
See J. H. Wylie, History of England under Henry IV. (4 vols., 1884–1898).
Ralph, 2nd earl of Westmorland (c. 1404–1484), the son of John, Lord Neville (d. 1423), succeeded his grandfather in 1425, and married as his first wife Elizabeth Clifford, daughter of Sir Henry Percy (Hotspur), thus forming further bonds with the Percies. The 3rd earl, Ralph Neville (1456–1499), was his nephew, and the son of John Neville, Lord Neville, who was slain at Towton. His grandson Ralph, 4th earl of Westmorland (1499–1550), was an energetic border warrior, who remained faithful to the royal cause when the other great northern lords
