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John and Magna Carta

John and Magna Carta

The long period covered by the reigns of John and Henry III possesses one strongly marked character throughout. It was an age of bad government. John was oppressive, Henry was feeble: both alike were unsatisfactory. In each case the barons interfered to set matters right. Thus in both reigns there was great progress made in the building up of our peculiar English Constitution in its most essential features: (1) the right of the whole nation to settle its own affairs by means of a Representative Assembly; and (2) the responsibility of the king's ministers, not to the king, but to Parliament, Putting the matter more shortly, the thirteenth century is the age of the Making of Parliament. And it is further remarkable that Parliament, itself the product of the weakness of two kings, is confirmed by the policy of a third king who was good and strong. Edward I might have used his strength to destroy the infant Parliament; on the contrary, he fostered it.

We have spoken of Parliament as the product of the badness and weakness of two kings, and throughout we shall notice that, as a general rule, the Constitution develops most when the Crown is for any reason ineffective. A bad ruler provokes those efforts to restrain the absolute royal power which we call constitutional government. A weak ruler gives the opportunity for them. And as the power of Parliament grew at the expense of the royal authority, it is obvious that, as a rule, when one is vigorous the other will be languid, and vice versa. Exceptions will occur when a strong king encourages Parliament to be very courageous, or when both king and Parliament are united in one policy, or when both alike are weak because some other body in the state has the mastery over them. We have examples of the first phase in the reigns of Edward I and Henry V, for both kings encouraged Parliament; Henry VII and Henry VIII illustrate the second phase, for in their days King and Parliament agreed; the third phase may be observed in the reign of Henry VI, where neither King nor Parliament could control the barons. But ordinarily Parliament, in its early history, is only remarkable when it is striving to abridge the power of the Crown; and its opportunity comes when the Crown is either misusing its power, or has temporarily lost it.

From the accession of Richard to the accession of Edward I - a period of over eighty years - the Crown was, from one cause or another, less strong. Richard was much absent from England, and left his powers to men acting as regents; John was vicious, and provoked a general rebellion; Henry III was a boy only nine years old, and his reign began with a long minority, during which regents governed in his name. Even when he grew up he proved to be feeble and extravagant, and he trusted in favourites who misgoverned the realm so as to provoke a second rebellion much like that which John provoked. Thus these eighty years were unusually favourable to the growth of any body that could control and reform the royal power; and each of the rebellions - that of 1215, and that of 1264 - marks a very important step in the growth of our Constitution.

John and Magna Carta

Chronology