lost Normandy and some of the other English possessions on the Continent.' In a dispute with Innocent III he ended by making an abject submission to the Papacy. Finally, his oppressive government provoked a revolt and extorted from him the famous charter of privileges known as Magna Carta. Beatif nofinfurtu deiz Saluteanime mire et ominm take Cardinalis Henr Dublin Archipi Biffimi London Petr k Vimy Willmi Manfeaffy Comitis Pembwk Willmi Comitis Sar Chome Ballet Alani Ballet Philippi de Albini kottide for Yud integrazhibertates fuas illefos Zita volum observan qd app him eam op muimyadmapapa Jnnocentio tectio Confirmaric EXTRACT FROM THE GREAT CHARTER Facsimile of the opening lines. Four copies of Magna Carta, sealed with the great seal of King John, as well as several unsealed copies, are in existence. The British Museum possesses two of the sealed copies; the other two belong to the cathedrals of Lincoln and Salisbury, respectively. Winning of The Norman Conquest had made the king so strong that his authority could be resisted only by a union of all classes of the people. The feudal lords were obliged to unite with the clergy and the commons,3 in order to save their honor, their estates, and their heads. Matters came to a crisis in 1215 A.D., when the nobles, supported by the archbishop of Canterbury, placed their demands for reform in writing before the king. John swore furiously that they were "idle dreams without a shadow of reason" and refused to make any concessions. Thereupon the nobles formed the "army of God and the Holy Church," as it was called, and occupied London, thus ranging the townspeople on their side. Deserted by all except the hired troops which he had brought from the Continent, John was compelled A term which refers to all freemen in town and country below the rank of nobles. to yield. At Runnimede on the Thames, not far from Windsor, he set his seal to the Great Charter. Magna Carta does not profess to be a charter of liberties for all Englishmen. Most of its sixty-three clauses merely guarantee to each member of the coalition against John Character - nobles, clergy, and commons- those special of Magna privileges which the Norman rulers had tried to take away. Very little is said in this long document about the serfs, who composed probably five-sixths of the population of England in the thirteenth century. Carta Significance Carta But there are three clauses of Magna Carta which came to have a most important part in the history of English freedom. The first declared that no taxes were to be levied on the nobles besides the three recognized of Magna feudal aids 1 except by consent of the Great Council of the realm.2 By this clause the nobles compelled the king to secure their consent before imposing any taxation. The second set forth that no one was to be arrested, imprisoned, or punished in any way, except after a trial by his equals and in accordance with the law of the land. The third said simply that to no one should justice be sold, denied, or delayed. These last two clauses contained the germ of great legal principles on which the English people relied for protection against despotic kings. They form a part of our American inheritance from England and have passed into the laws of all our states. 185. Parliament during the Thirteenth Century The thirteenth century, which opened so auspiciously with the winning of the Great Charter, is also memorable Henry III, as the time when England developed her Parlia- 1216-1272 ment into something like its present form. The first steps in parliamentary government were taken during the reign of John's son, Henry III. 1 See page 418. A.D. Made up of the chief lords and bishops. The word "parliament," from French parler, "to speak," originally meant a talk or conference. Later, the word came to be applied to the body of persons assembled for conference. The Wite the Great Council It had long been the custom in England that in all important matters a ruler ought not to act without the advice and consent of his leading men. The Anglo-Saxon kings nagemot and sought the advice and consent of their Witenagemot, a body of nobles, royal officers, bishops, and abbots. It approved laws, served as a court of final appeal, elected a new monarch, and at times deposed him. The Witenagemot did not disappear after the Norman Conquest. Under the name of the Great Council it continued to meet from time to time for consultation with the king. This assembly was now to be transformed from a feudal body into a parliament representing the entire nation. Simon de The Great Council, which by one of the provisions of Magna Carta had been required to give its consent to the levying of feudal dues, met quite frequently during Henry III's reign. On one occasion, when Henry was in urgent need of money and the bishops and lords refused to grant it, the king took the significant step of calling to the council two knights from each county to declare what aid they would give him. These knights, so ran Henry's summons, were to come "in the stead of each and all,” in other words, they were to act as representatives of the counties. Then in 1265 A.D., when the nobles were at war with the king, a second and even more significant step was taken. Their leader, Simon de Montfort, summoned to the council not only two knights from each county, but also two citizens from each of the more important towns. The representative system The custom of selecting certain men to act in the name and on the behalf of the community had existed during AngloSaxon times in local government. Representatives of the counties had been employed by the Norman kings to act as assessors in levying taxes. As we have just learned, the "juries" of Henry II also consisted of such representatives. The English people, in fact, were quite familiar with the idea of representation long before it was applied on a larger scale to Parliament. 1 See page 407 and note 1. "Model Parliament" of Edward I, 1295 A.D. Simon de Montfort's Parliament included only his own supporters, and hence was not a truly national body. But it made a precedent for the future. Thirty years later Edward I called together at Westminster, now a part of London, a Parliament which included all classes of the people. Here were present archbishops, bishops, and abbots, earls and barons, two knights from every county, and two townsmen to represent each town in that county. After this time all these classes were regularly summoned to meet in assembly at Westminster. House of Lords and The separation of Parliament into two chambers came in the fourteenth century. The House of Lords included the nobles and higher clergy, the House of Commons, the representatives from counties and cities. This bicameral arrangement, as it is called, has been followed in the parliaments of most modern countries. Commons Parliament The early English Parliament was not a law-making but a tax-voting body. The king would call the two houses in session only when he needed their sanction for raising Powers of money. Parliament in its turn would refuse to grant supplies until the king had corrected abuses in the administration or had removed unpopular officials. This control of the public purse in time enabled Parliament to grasp other powers. It became an accepted principle that royal officials were responsible to Parliament for their actions, that the king himself might be deposed for good cause, and that bills, when passed by Parliament and signed by the king, were the law of the land. England thus worked out in the Middle Ages a system of parliamentary government which nearly all civilized nations have held worthy of imitation. 186. Expansion of England under Edward I, 1272-1307 A.D. Our narrative has been confined until now to England, which forms, together with Wales and Scotland, the island known as Great Britain. Ireland is the only other important division of |