HENRY III. 1216-1272. Second charter of Henry. Charter of forests. The third charter of Henry. Grant of a fifteenth. The charter does not express the the true construction of that part of the charter of John), and of the special stipulations, providing for the manner in which a common council of the realm was to be convened, for the purpose of assessing extraordinary aids and scutages, seem all to have been omissions of most important articles of the former charter: and though in the disturbed state of the country, when the first charter of Henry was issued, it might have been deemed prudent to avoid discussing immediately, what might be esteemed "capitula gravia et dubitabilia” in the charter of John, it seems extraordinary that the performance of the promise, that they should thereafter be fully considered, should never have been required. This charter of Henry was confirmed in the ensuing year, with the addition of some articles to prevent the oppressions of the sheriffs: and also with an additional charter of forests, by which offences in the forests were declared to be no longer capital, but punishable by fine and imprisonment, &c.; and the proprietors of lands recovered the power of cutting and using their own wood at their pleasure ‘. The charter of 9 Henry III., which has been always deemed "the great charter of the liberties of the kingdom," omits, as the former two charters of Henry did, the clause in the charter of John, respecting aids, scutage, and providing for the constitution of a "commune concilium" for assessing aids and scutage, without assigning the reason for the omission, which is assigned in the first charter of Henry: but adding, as in his second charter, "Scutagium decetero capiatur sicut capi solebat, tempore Regis Henrici avi nostri,” thus leaving the assessment of extraordinary aids without any special provision. At the conclusion of this charter, it is also added,-" Pro hac autem concessione et donatione libertatum istarum, et aliarum libertatum contentarum in carta nostra de libertatibus foreste. Archiepiscopi, episcopi, abbates, priores, comites, barones, milites, libere tenentes, et omnes de regno nostro, dederunt nobis quintam decimam partem omnium mobilium suorum "." י 5 The grant of this extraordinary aid, being a fifteenth of the * 1 Rymer, 215. 2 Hume, 147. W. Malms. 1. 3, p. 63. H. Knyghton, apud X. Script. col. 2354. Dial. de Scac. 1. 1, c. 11. 6 Henry, 85. 2 Law Tracts, 93. 5 Annal. Burt. 271-278. Stat. 9 Henry III., c. 37. 1216-1272. manner by which the enacting par ties gave their consent. moveables of all persons in the kingdom, is expressed in this HENRY III. instrument to have been made by all the persons by whom it was to be paid; but the instrument does not express in what manner the consent of all was given to the grant, or that any assembly was summoned for that purpose. The consent could not have been given by all personally, though it might have been given by some personally, and as to the rest, by their representatives. It may therefore be inferred from the terms. of the instrument, that the consent was given by some assembly convened under the king's authority, and deemed competent to bind all who were not members of that assembly. If representatives of counties, cities, and boroughs then existed, that fact would have been noticed. 3. Legislative Assemblies. elected represen tatives, of bodies of men. The system of representation, although little practised, was First actual apnot unknown; and shortly after the promulgation of the pr third charter of Henry III., the fact of actual appearance by elected representatives of bodies of men occurs, but which merely demonstrates that a representation by election of knights, who were to speak for a county at large, had been adopted. The object of the proceeding seems to have been to bring before the "magnates," composing the assembly to be convened at Lincoln, knights, elected by the "milites et probi homines of the counties to which the writ was sent, as accusers, and the sheriffs to whom the writs were sent, as persons accused, to answer before the "magnates to the charges which should be made against them, upon articles contained in the charter of liberties'. But the election of knights of the shire, to transact the business of the county, was of ancient origin; if the king wished to ascertain his own rights, the wrongs of the people, or the peculations of his officers, he was accustomed to authorize a commission of knights in each shire, either named by himself, or elected in the county court, to proceed from hundred to hundred, to make inquiries upon oath, and to lay the result of their labours before him, as was done in the case of Domesday. 1 Claus. 10 Hen. 3, in dors. m. 13. Σ 2 Lingard, 368. Hoveden, 343. Brady, App. II. No. 149, 150, 196. Election of act the county business, was of knights to trans ancient origin. HENRY III. 1216-1272. Subsidy collected under the inspection of the judges. Component members of the "Parliament " of 1246. "Portuum maris habitatores.” A writ of 17 John, enjoined the sheriffs to elect twelve knights from their respective counties, in the first county court, de ipso comitatu, to inquire into bad customs. In 1206, the subsidy was collected under the inspection of the itinerant judges; but the method was accompanied with inconvenience and delay. But, in 1220, writs were sent to the sheriff, appointing him the collector, in conjunction with two knights, to be chosen in a full court of the county, with the consent of all the suitors," in pleno comitatu de voluntate et consilio eorum de comitatu." Therefore at this period, as far as regards "counties," one additional step only was required to introduce them into the "Great Council" as the representatives of their electors, vested with the power of granting money, and of petitioning for redress of grievances; and when they ultimately became members of parliament, they received the same remuneration in "going, staying, and returning," as had been assigned them on former occasions. In 1246,"Rex, missis literis suis, totius regni magnates convocavit." Matthew Paris, in alluding to this assembly, says, "Convenientibus igitur ad Parliamentum memoratum totius regni magnatibus, &c." This assembly consisted, apparently, only of bishops, earls, barons, abbots, and priors: the king addressing, first the bishops, then the earls and barons, and then the abbots and priors. The grievances of the country from papal exactions were detailed, and letters were addressed to the pope, from the bishops by themselves, from the abbots and priors by themselves, and from the earls and the rest of the kingdom by themselves; the earls being named, in their letters to the pope, with these additional words, "et alii totius regni Angliæ, barones, proceres, et magnates et nobiles portuum maris habitatores, necnon et clerus et populus universus." All the persons thus specified could not have been present at this assembly, and can only be deemed to have concurred through the medium of the earls and barons. The words "portuum maris habitatores," may have been used to describe those commonly called the barons of the Cinque Ports, though capable of being applied more exten 3 Vide ante 56; et Fœdera, N. E. tom. i. 130, 133, 134. 4 Brady, App. II. No. 83; et tom. i. App. 41. 2 Lingard, 369. 1216-1272. Citizens and bur gesses not requi sively; and if the word "barones was intended to include HENRY III. all who held of the king in chief, and if all such were required. to be summoned for granting an aid by the charter of John, such a convention may have been considered as representing the whole kingdom, being, with the king, the lords of all landholders but the elected representatives of citizens and burgesses could not have been described by the word "barones." It also seems, that to constitute a parliament," either during this period, or in the reign of John, the presence of "citizens" and "burgesses" was not deemed requisite. Thus in a writ of 28 Henry III., the sheriff of Northamptonshire was directed not to permit in his bailiwick the user of any liberties belonging to the crown, unless they had been used before" Parliamentum Runimede quod fuit inter Dominum Johannem regem, patrum nostrum, et barones suos Angliæ,"-it is clear that at Runimede no representatives of cities or boroughs were present. From the tenour of the writs of 38 Henry III., it seems an assembly was convened at London at which persons, called in those writs "comites," "barones," and "magnates," were intended to be present; and that, in such assembly, two knights, elected by each of the counties to which the writs were directed, were also intended to be present; and that either from those elected knights, or from the general assembly of "comites," "barones," and "magnates," together with the elected knights, the king proposed to demand an aid, and it may be presumed the king considered that assembly competent to grant him the aid which he demanded: but such writs were silent as to any election of citizens and burgesses, or representatives of the Cinque Ports; and there is no evidence that any knights were elected, or assembled. site to compose a "Parliament." Barons and moned to grant an aid, but no zens or burgesses. Knights sum mention of citi the king. Before and in the forty-second year of this reign, the king's Unpopularity of pecuniary necessities were urgent, and were increased by the nomination of his son Edmund to succeed to the throne of Sicily, and by the exorbitant demands of the pope. The distresses of the king, and the refusal of his people to supply the funds necessary to relieve those distresses, had led him to adopt very oppressive measures; and the conduct of his half 5 Petyt's Rights, &c., 33. Brady, Introd. Eng. Hist. 71. 6 1 Rep. Dig. Peer. 96, et vide Claus. 38 Henry III. m. 7, 12, dors, et in dors. m. 14, 13, 6. 2 Prynne 33. 1216-1272. HENRY III. brothers, and his disposition to give the preference to foreigners more subservient to his caprices than his own subjects, had made him generally unpopular; and these circumstances were introductory of increased national misfortunes. Barons demand redress of griev ances. Assembly of "proceres et fideles regni." Appointment of "twenty-four" ances. The barons, incited by the Earl of Leicester, assembled in arms, and demanded a redress of grievances. The king, having no alternative, issued two writs'; the first stated that, for important business touching himself and the kingdom, he had required" proceres et fideles regni" to meet him at London, and that treating with them upon such business, as well as the prosecution of the business of Sicily, they had answered that the state of the kingdom should be ordered, rectified, and confirmed. The second writ stated, that he had yielded "proceribus to redress griev- et magnatibus regni," and taken an oath, that by twelve persons, described by the words "fideles de concilio nostro, already elected, and by other twelve, described by the words, "fideles nostros" (without the words "de concilio nostro ") "electos ex parte procerum ipsorum qui apud Oxon a festo pentecostes proximo futuro in unum mensem convenient," the state of the kingdom should be ordered, rectified, and reformed, and that if any of those elected of the king's part should be absent, it should be lawful for those who should be present to substitute others in the place of those absent, and in like manner it should be done, "ex parte prædictorum procerum et fidelium nostrorum." In a subsequent part of this instrument it is added, " Promiserunt et etiam comites et barones memorati quod expletis negociis superius tactis, bona fide laborabunt ad hoc, quod auxilium nobis commune præstetur a communitate regni nostri "." "Fideles," persons of the first rank. Regular consti tution of "lords spiritual and temporal" not in existence. The twelve" fideles," stated in this instrument to have been elected by the king, and the twelve "fideles" elected by the "proceres," were persons of the first rank in the kingdom; and the persons who, in the former instrument, are called "proceres et fideles," appear in this to be first called "proceres et magnati regni," and then "comites et barones memorati." These documents establish that a regular constitution of parliament, consisting of lords spiritual and temporal, and of knights, citizens, and burgesses, forming, under the king, one 7 Rot. Pat. 42 Henry III. Fœdera, N. E. tom. i. 370. Fœdera, N. E. tom. i. 371. |