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Home The Charter and its Guardian, Parliamen Henry III, 1216 - 1272; Part 5 |
Henry III, 1216 - 1272; Part 5The truth was that his supporters among the barons were in reality but few. For a time the young Earl of Gloucester had stood by him, but he was growing lukewarm. Many other barons were inclined to favour the king again now that he had accepted the Provisions. Simon's real strength lay in the middle classes, especially in the towns. The Church, too, favoured him. Hence he sought a device whereby he could make this popular support tell, and so was the Founder of what became the House of Commons.Both in Saxon and Norman institutions the common custom of using representatives has been already remarked. Representatives of hundreds and boroughs sat in the Shire courts; representatives from the townships gave evidence before the Domesday commissioners; and, older than these, the Councils of the Church had been attended by representatives from each diocese. In summoning representatives to his House of Commons, Simon was following a precedent already familiar to the nation and to the Church. Moreover, as has been seen, knights of the shire had attended Langton's Council at St. Albans in 1213; and in 1254, 1261, and 1264, knights had been chosen by each county to consider in the Great Council what aid they were willing to pay. But Simon went further. To his Parliament of 1265 he summoned not only two knights from each shire, but two citizens and two burgesses to represent certain cities and boroughs. The importance of this step is not diminished by the fact that it was plainly a partisan measure. Simon was popular in the towns; accordingly he invited representatives from the towns, well knowing that they would support him. It is true that while he enlarged the popular part of his Parliament, he restricted the upper part. Of the fifty greater barons, only his friends, some twenty-three in all, were summoned. Nor indeed did the Parliament do anything of note. Its greatness rests not on what it did, but on what it was. It gave a starting-point from which has grown our House of Commons. So long as those who attended the Council, or Parliament - call it by what name we may - were all either barons or knights of the shire, there was only one class represented - the class of landholders. The citizens and burgesses, however, represented the traders. And although in Simon's day, and for long after, landholders and traders sat together, yet the knights of the shire speedily grew accustomed to act with the men from the towns, thus forming a party of the "Commons" as distinct from the greater barons, the " Lords". This union of smaller landowners with the citizens and burgesses, the junction in one party of representatives from towns and counties, is a distinguishing mark of our Parliament. France, Spain, and the Empire also, at one time or another, had Estates or Diets to which representatives of different classes came, but each acted by itself, for itself; each "Estate" dealt with its own affairs only. And whereas these institutions all decayed, our Parliament grew stronger and stronger. Its most vigorous part is the House of Commons, and much of its vitality is due to the fact that it has always been a national body and not divided into "Estates". The beginning of this was Simon de Montfort's work. |
Chronology |
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