TheModel Parliamentwas the 1295Parliament of EnglandofKing Edward I.Its composition became themodelfor later parliaments.
History
editThe termModel Parliamentwas coined byWilliam Stubbs(1825-1901) and later used also byFrederic William Maitland.The assembly of AD 1295 included members of the clergy and the aristocracy, as well as representatives from the variouscountiesandboroughs.Each county returned twoknights,each borough elected twoburgesses,and each city provided two citizens. That composition became the model for later parliaments, hence the name.[1]
A similar scheme had been used in summoningSimon de Montfort's Parliamentin 1265, but it had been called bySimon de Montfortin the midst of theSecond Barons' WaragainstHenry III of England.The same scheme was remarkably adopted by a king who was Henry's son and heir although he had quelled Montfort's uprising.
Edward I summoned the parliament to meet at Westminster on 13 November 1295.[2]In calling the parliament, Edward proclaimed in his writ of summons that "what touches all, should be approved of all (Latin:Quod omnes tangit ab omnibus approbari debet), and it is also clear that common dangers should be met by measures agreed upon in common ".[3]
Parliament's legislative authority was then limited, and its primary role was to levy taxes. Edward's paramount goal in summoning the parliament was to raise funds for his wars, specifically the planned campaigns against theFrenchand theScotsfor the forthcoming year and countering an insurgency inWales.That "sound finance" by taxation was a goal of summoning the parliament but was tied into "counsel" to the king and "the element of service" forfeudalism.[1]
However, the resulting parliament became a model for a new function as well, the addressing of grievances with the king. "The elected members were far more anxious to establish the second function: to discuss grievances. A kind ofquid pro quowas looked for: money for the Scottish campaign of 1296 would be forthcoming if certain grievances were addressed. This consciousness was growing, even if all was still in an embryonic state ".[4]The concept of "Parliament" was in fact such that the division intoHouse of CommonsandHouse of Lordshad not yet taken place. The Model Parliament wasunicameraland summoned 49 lords to sit with 292 representatives of the Commons.[5]
The Model Parliament created aprecedentin which each "successor of a baron" (which includesLords Spiritual) who had received a writ to the parliament of 1295 "had a legal right to receive awrit".[1]However, this strictly hereditary right was not recognized formally until 1387.[1]
See also
editNotes
edit- ^abcdPowicke, Maurice,Medieval England: 1066-1485,pp. 96-97 (London: Oxford University Press paperback edition 1969).
- ^"Edward I: November 1295 | British History Online".british-history.ac.uk.Retrieved15 March2021.
- ^"Edward I,"Encyclopædia Britannica(1911).
- ^Michael L. Nash, "Crown, Woolsack and Mace: the model Parliament of 1295".Contemporary Review,November 1995.
- ^Nash mentions those figures in discussing separate houses, but the Parliament website"Archived copy"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 17 December 2008.Retrieved1 December2008.
{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)indicates that the Commons did not deliberate apart until 1341. This article accepts the Parliament's version.