Page:EB1911 - Volume 20.djvu/901

Rh but he continued the old local courts of the hundred and the shire, which had been the basis of Saxon freedom. The Norman polity was otherwise destined to favour the liberties of the people, through agencies which had been designed to crush them. The powerful nobles, whom William and his successors exalted, became formidable rivals of the Crown itself; while ambitious barons were in their turn held in check b}' a jealous and exacting church. The ruhng powers, if combined, would have reduced the people to slavery; but their divisions proved a continual source of weakness. In the meantime the strong rule of the Normans, bitter as it was to Englishmen, repressed intestine wars and the disorders of a divided realm. Civil justice was fairly administered. When the spoils of the conquerors had been secured, the rights of property were protected, industry and trade were left free, and the occupation of the soil Ijy foreigners drove numbers of landowners and freemen into the towns, where they prospered as merchants, traders and artificers, and collected thriving populations of townsmen. Meanwhile, foreign rulers having brought England into closer relations with the Continent, its commerce was extended to distant lands, ports and shipping were encouraged, and English traders were at once enriched and enlightened. Hence new classes of society were growing, who were eventually to become the Commons of England.

The Crown, the Barons, the Church and the People. — While these social changes were steadily advancing, the barons were already preparing the way for the assertion of popular rights. Ambitious, turbulent and grasping, they were constantly at issue with the Crown. Enjoying vast estates and great commands, and sharing with the prelates the government of the state, as members of the king's council, they were ever ready to raise the standard of revolt. The king could always count upon barons faithful to his cause, but he also appealed for aid to the Church and the people. The baronage was thus broken by insurrections, and decimated by civil wars, while the value of popular alliances was revealed. The power of the people was ever increasing, while their oppressors were being struck down. The population of the country was still Saxon; they had been subdued, but had not been driven forth from the land, like the Britons in former invasions. The English language was still the common speech of the people; and Norman blood was being mingled with the broader stream of Saxon life. A continuous nationality was thus preserved, and was outgrowing the foreign element.

The Crown was weakened by disputed successions and foreign wars, and the baronage by the blood-stained fields of civil warfare; while both in turn looked to the people in their troubles. Meanwhile the Church was struggling, alike against the Crown and the barons, in defence of its ecclesiastical privileges and temporal possessions. Its clergy were brought by their spiritual ministratioES into close relations with the people, and their culture contributed to the intellectual growth of English society. When William Rufus was threatened by his armed barons he took counsel with Archbishop Lanfranc, and promised good laws and justice to the people. His promises were broken; but, like later charters, as lightly set aside, they were a recognition of the political rights of the people. By the charter of Henry I. restoring to the people the laws of Edward the Confessor, the continuity of English institutions was acknowledged; and this concession was also proclaimed through Archbishop Anselm, the church and the people being again associated with the Crown against the barons. And throughout his reign the clergy and the English people were cordially united in support of the Crown. In the anarchic reign of Stephen — also distinguished by its futile charters — the clergy were driven into opposition to the king, while his oppressions alienated the people. Henr>' II. commenced his reign with another charter, which may be taken as a profession of good intentions on the part of the new king. So strong-willed a king, who could cripple his too powerful nobles, and forge shackles for the Church, was not predisposed to extend the liberties of his people; but they supported him loyally in his critical struggles; and his vigorous reforms in the

administrative, judicial and financial organization of his realm promoted the prosperity and political influence of the Commons. At the same time the barons created in this and the two previous reigns, being no longer exclusively Norman in blood and connexion, associated themselves more readily with the interests and sympathies of the people. Under Richard I. the principle of representation was somewhat advanced, but it was confined to the assessment and collection of taxes in the dift'erent shires.

Magna Carta (q.v.). — It was under King John that the greatest progress was made in national liberties. The loss of Normandy served to draw the baronage closer to the English people; and the king soon united all the forces of the realm against him. He outraged the Church, the barons and the people. He could no longer play one class against another; and they combined to extort the Great Charter of their liberties at Runnymede (1215). It was there ordained that no scutage or aid, except the three regular feudal aids, should be imposed, save by the common council of the realm. To this council the archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls and greater barons were to be summoned personally by the king's letters, and tenants in chief by a general writ through the sheriff. The summons was required to appoint a certain place, to give 40 days' notice at least, and to state the cause of meeting. At length we seem to reach some approach to modern usage.

Growth of the Commons. — The improved administration of successive kings had tended to enlarge the powers of the Crown. But one hundred and fifty years had now passed since the Conquest, and great advances had been made in the condition of the people, and more particularly in the population, wealth and self-government of towns. Many had obtained royal charters, elected their own magistrates, and enjoyed various commercial privileges. They were already a power in the state, which was soon to be more distinctly recognized.

The charter of King John was again promulgated under Henry III., for the sake of a subsidy; and henceforth the Commons learned to insist upon the redress of grievances in return for a grant of money. This reign was memorable in the history of parliament.' Again the king was in conflict with his barons, who rebelled against his gross misgovernment of the realm. Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, was a patriot in advance of his age and fought for the English people as well as for his own order. The barons, indeed, were doubtful allies of the popular cause, and leaned to the king rather than to Simon. But the towns, the clergy, the universities and large bodies of the commonalty rallied round him, and he overthrew the king and his followers at Lewes. He was now master of the realm, and proclaimed a new constitution. Kings had made promises, and granted illusory charters; but the rebel earl called an English parliament (1265) into being. Churchmen were on his side, and a few barons; but his main reliance was upon the Commons. He summoned to a national council, or parliament, bishops, abbots, earls and barons, together with two knights from every shire and two burgesses from every borough. Knights had indeed been summoned to former councils; but never until now had delegates from the towns been invited to sit with bishops, barons and knights of the shire.

In the reign of Edward I. parliament assumed substantially its present form of king, lords and commons. The irregular and unauthorized scheme of Simon de Montfort was fully adopted; and in 1295 the king summoned to a parliament two knights from

In 1254 we have a distinct case of two knights summoned from each shire by royal writ. A war was going on in Gascony, and the king wanted money. He called the barons and asked if they would provide the necessary funds. The barons said that unfortunately the minor gentry were exceedingly unwilling to contribute, and the king sent to ask that two knights from each shire might be sent up to consult with him. In the result, the Commons refused to grant a subsidy, and the king had to fall back on the Church; but though the summoning of the knights of the shire was in form a small change from the previous practice of sending some one down to the counties to put pressure on them, the innovation is important as the first occasion on which their representati'e3 met in a central assembly. — [H. Ch.]