tatives towns first the estate of the writ, a system of representation was substituted in lieu of the general summons to the minor tenants-in-chief. The practice of shire representation thus established slowly gained strength by repetition during the reigns of Henry III. and Edward I. until from the year 1295 it becomes fixed as a permanent institution. A considerable period elapsed, how- Represenever, before the right of representation first conceded to the from the shires was extended to the cities and towns: in the famous cities and parliament of Simon of Montfort, which met in 1265, the appear in the parliacitizens and burgesses first appear. A period of thirty years ment of then elapsed before the experiment was repeated, the rep1265. resentatives of the cities and towns are not again summoned until Edward's great parliament of 1295.2 The principle of representation which thus gradually worked itself into the constitution of the national council must be considered in connection with the growth of the system of estates with whose history it is inseparably interlaced. As heretofore Growth of explained, the growth of the estate system in England was system. simply a part of a general European movement which is generally regarded by the historians as the work of the thirteenth century. During that period was established in Europe that type of a national assembly into which the several classes or orders of society entered, in the form of definitely organized estates, either in person or by representatives. In English history the three estates appear as the clergy, the baronage, and the commons.3 The process of definition. which begins with the Conquest is completed by the end of the reign of Edward I. The growth of the estate system Synchro and of the representative system therefore synchronize with that of the each other. In the composition of the famous parliament representaconvened by Edward at Westminster in November, 1295, the estate system in England reached for the first time its full and final development.. In the parliament of 1295 each The model estate appears in person or by representatives. In this of 1295. assembly the baronage appear in person and represent themselves; the clergy and the commons, each as an estate of the 1 See above, p. 403. 2 "The national councils of 1273 and 1283, and the parliament of Acton Burnell, contained representatives of the towns, but they are not allowed by nizes with tive system. parliament Close of the constitutional struggle in the final con the charters of Edward 1. realm, appear in the persons of their chosen representatives.1 This parliament, which stands as a model for all that succeed it, completes the transition in the constitution of the national assembly from a feudal council to a council of estates.2 After the failure of Edward's attempt to organize the clergy as a parliamentary estate, owing to the unwillingness of the clergy themselves to attend in a secular assembly, the lords and commons remain as the permanent elements in the parliamentary system. Out of these elements, which the organizing hand of Edward first brought into lasting contact with each other, has been gradually developed the parliamentary constitution of modern times. 10. In Edward's model parliament of 1295 the representatives of the three estates met together in the face of an emergency which, in the language of the writs addressed to firmation of the archbishops and clergy, plainly admonished all "that in the 25th common dangers must be met by measures concerted in common. ."3 These dangers were no less than rebellion in Wales, and war with Scotland and France. To put down the Welsh rebellion, to maintain his freshly established overlordship over Scotland, and at the same time to defend his Gascon possessions against the designs of Philip the Fair, were tasks well calculated to tax to the utmost the resources of Edward, not only as a general, but as a financier. In the face of such difficulties he appealed for aid and counsel not only to the clergy, the baronage, and the shires, but also to that rising branch of the commons which dwelt within the limits of the cities and towns. To the appeal thus made, the nation, which so far in Edward's reign had not been heavily taxed, made a hearty response: the barons and knights gave an eleventh; the clergy a tenth; the representatives of the boroughs a seventh. During the course of the year the 1 The writs to the baronage are is sued on the 1st October. Lords' Report, App. i. p. 67. The writs to the archbishops and clergy are issued on the 30th September. Ibid., App. i. p. 67. The writs to the sheriffs commanding the return of representatives from the shires and towns are issued on the 3d October. - Ibid., App. i. p. 66. 2 The thirteenth century turns the feudal council into an assembly of estates, and draws the constitution of the third estate from the ancient local machinery which it concentrates.' Stubbs, Const. Hist., vol. ii. p. 168. "Sic et nimis evidenter ut communibus periculis per remedia provisa communitur obvieter." 4 The character of Edward's diffi culties and their relation to the parlia ment of 1295 are clearly set forth in the Lords' Report, vol. i. pp. 217, 218. 5 M. Westm., p. 425, 426; Ann. Wi gorn, p. 522; Patent Rolls, Dec. 4. Clericis Welsh were subdued,1 but not until midsummer, 1296, did Edward complete the conquest of Scotland, an enterprise Conquest which not only delayed his departure for the war against of Scotland. Philip, but also exhausted the subsidies which had been granted him. To raise more money a new parliament was summoned to meet in November, 1296, whose constitution was in all respects the same as that of the preceding year. In this assembly the barons and knights gave a twelfth, and the representatives of the towns an eighth; 2 but the clergy now notified the king that it was impossible for them to give anything by reason of a bull - Clericis laicos-which The bull had just been published by Boniface VIII., forbidding the laicos. state to exact, or the clergy to pay, any taxes whatever from the revenues of their churches. In the face of this refusal the king at once collected what had been granted by the baronage and the commons, giving the clergy until January, 1297, to make their final answer. Before the end of the Attack month so fixed, their refusal was repeated and the clergy clergy, Jan, practically outlawed; and promptly thereafter writs were is- 1297. sued for the seizure of the lay fees of the province of Canterbury. Thus at open war with the clergy, the king resolved to appeal to the baronage alone to aid him in the prosecution of the war in Gascony. The barons, under the Quarrel leadership of the great earls Roger Bigod of Norfolk and baronage. Humfrey Bohun of Hereford, met the king in February at Salisbury, where he proposed to them singly that they should go to Gascony while he took command in Flanders. The earls, while admitting that their tenures obliged them to go to Gascony with the king, firmly refused to go without him. After bitter recrimination between Bigod and the king the council broke up in anger, and the baronial leaders retired to their estates and prepared for civil war. Thus exasperated by the refusal of the baronage to render military 1 The third Welsh war really ended before the model parliament met. 2 The material facts are all stated in the Lords' Report, vol. i. p. 219. See, also, Parl. Writs, vol. i. p. 47; Hemingb., ii. p. 116; M. Westm., p. 428; Ann. Trivet, p. 352. 8 Fadera, i. p. 836; Wilkins, Conc., vol. ii. p. 222. Lords' Report, vol. i. p. 219; Stubbs, Hemingb., ii. p. 121; M. Westm., upon the with the Edward's extreme measures. service at the critical moment when, in connection with his allies, he had planned a deadly blow against France, Edward resolved to ignore all of the restraints of legality, and by the mere force of royal edict to raise both men and money for the war.1 In execution of this rash policy Edward arbitrarily ordered the seizure of the wool of the merchants, security for payment being given in the form of tallies; and a like order was also issued commanding the shires to furnish a large amount of provisions to be paid for in the same manner.2 Having thus provided for the raising of supplies, an equally unconstitutional measure was resorted to for the purpose of raising troops to cross the sea under the king's command. Writs were issued in May for a military levy of the whole kingdom to meet in London on the 7th of July, the sheriffs being enjoined to enforce the attendance in arms of all persons holding lands of the annual value of £20.3 This proposal to employ the whole force of the kingdom in a foreign war, regardless of tenure, precipitated the crisis between the Resistance nation and the king. When, on the day appointed, the milileadership tary force met, Bigod and Bohun as marshal and constable of Bigod refused to perform their official duties; whereupon the king indignantly superseded them in their offices, and they left the court. After the departure of the earls, Edward, as a last resort, assembled the leading men who had attended the military levy, and, although they had not been summoned to a parliament, appealed to them to assume the right to act as representatives of the nation, and as such to make on the instant a money grant. In this unauthorized gathering, an aid of an eighth from the barons and knights, and a fifth from the towns, was declared to be granted; and as a reward for this concession the king promised a confirmation of the charters. Before attempting, however, to collect the tax thus impromised. posed, Edward resolved to make a final attempt to come to turbances."-Lords' Report, vol. i. p. under the and Bohun. tion of the charters 1 Select Charters, p. 489. 2 Rishanger, p. 169; M. Westm., P. 430. 8 Fadera, i. p. 865; Parl. Writs, vol. i. p. 281. "The attempt on the part of the king to require the military service beyond sea of all who held £20 a year of land, occasioned great dis 221. 6 M. Westm., p. 430; Ann. Dunst., p. 407; Select Charters, p. 490. "There is no evidence that this grant was made by a legislative assembly, and it seems that the manner of levying it was or dained by the king and his council." Lord's Report, vol. i. p. 221. makes omitted Charter. terms with the clergy and the earls. With this end in view The king he made peace in a public manner with Archbishop Winchel- peace with sey, who at once assumed the rôle of mediator. But the the archbishop. time for mediation had passed; the time had now come when the supreme question, involving the right of the nation to tax itself, a right which the barons of Runnymede had clearly defined, but which the struggles of eighty years had failed to confirm, had to be settled once and for all between the nation and the king. The twelfth article of the Great Charter The had expressly declared that no scutage or aid, other than the provisions three regular feudal aids, should henceforth be imposed but of the Great by the common counsel of the nation; and by the fourteenth article it was provided that such common counsel as to the assessment of aids and scutages should only be taken in an assembly duly summoned. These vital clauses were, however, omitted from the very first reissue of the charter, and in the numberless confirmations which took place during the reigns of Henry III. and Edward I. they were never afterwards reinstated.2 During the reigns of Henry and Edward taxes, it is true, were generally imposed by national consent, but there was no constitutional guaranty that in the stress of a great emergency they might not be imposed simply as an effort of the royal will. In the stress of such an emergency Edward Edward's had ventured to press to the utmost the right of the crown to tax the nation without its authority, and the result was a counter-movement upon the part of the nation which made movement all such future attempts upon the part of the crown forever earls, impossible. Whatever may have been their motives, the fact remains that Bigod and Bohun, as the leaders of this counter-movement to bridle the royal prerogative, stood firmly by the nation and against the king. After repeated attempts, the archbishop utterly failed to bring the earls to submission; whereupon the king published a manifesto against the earls in which he appealed to the people to keep 1 At Westminster Hall, July 14. M. Westm., p. 430. 2 Dr. Gneist gives his reason why, during this long period, articles 12 and 14 were omitted, the essence of which is the supposed difficulty of drawing a line of demarcation between the greater and lesser nobles. See The English Parliament, p. 89 (Shee's trans.). 3 Hallam pays a high tribute to the patriotism of the earls (M. A., vol. iii. p. 6), while Stubbs holds that their action was prompted by "personal ambitions and personal grievances." Const. Hist., vol. ii. p. 146. 4 As to Winchelsey's fruitless negotiation with the earls, see Fœdera, i. pp. 872, 873; Wilkins, Conc., vol, ii. p. 227. extreme measures produce the counter led by the |