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Political Institutions in Medieval England: from the Witan to the FirstEnglish Parliaments

Nicknamed the "Mother of Parliaments" , the British parliament is respectedas the most ancient parliament in today's world. Apart from a few brief interruptions, it has carried out its business on the same spot, called the Palace of Westminster, since the year ! #.

$he modern %nited &in dom(s Parliament can trace its ori ins all the wayback to two features of An lo)*a+on o ernment from the -th to th centuries.

$hese are the Witan and the moot. $he Witena amot was an important politicalinstitution. $he name deri es from the ld /n lish 0itena 1em2t, or witena em2t,for "meetin of wise men". $he Witan was the occasion when the &in would callto ether his leadin ad isors and nobles to discuss matters a3ectin the country.4t e+isted only when the &in chose and was made up of those indi iduals whomhe particularly summoned. $he Witan's main duty was to ad ise the &in , but itsassent was not necessary for the &in to take action. Nor did it help frame thelaws, as the modern Parliament does, but primarily consented to the laws the &inhad already decided to enact. 5owe er, An lo)*a+on &in s realised that they couldnot o ern their territories without local support from these powerful men, and sobe an the delicate balancin act between the &in 's power and the power of thosehe o erned.

Also, under the An lo)*a+ons there had been re ular meetin s, or moots,for each county 6or shire7 where cases were heard and local matters discussed.

$he 8shire moot9 was attended by the local lords and bishops, the sheri3, andmost importantly, four representati es of each illa e. After the :on;uest, thismeetin became known as the :ounty :ourt and it introduced the idea of representati e o ernment at the local le el.

4n < William the :on;ueror in aded Britain in what is referred to as theNorman :on;uest. William ruled with the help of a much smaller but permanent

roup of ad isers known as the :uria =e is 6the &in 's :ouncil7. 4t consisted of noblemen and church leaders appointed by the &in . $hey were not elected and sodid not formally represent anyone. >ike the Witan, which it replaced, the :uria=e is only o3ered ad ice at the &in 's re;uest and he was under no obli ation toact on this ad ice. $he &in sometimes consulted a lar er roup of nobles andchurchmen known as the ?reat :ouncil 6ma num concilium7. er time, the ?reat:ouncil e ol ed into the 5ouse of >ords.

$he tenants)in)chief often stru led with their spiritual counterparts andwith the &in for power. 4n ! #, they secured from @ohn the Ma na :arta , whichestablished that the &in may not le y or collect any ta+es 6e+cept the feudalta+es to which they were hitherto accustomed7, sa e with the consent of a council.4t was also established that the most important tenants)in)chief and ecclesiasticsbe summoned to the council by personal writs from the &in , and that all others besummoned to the council by eneral writs from the sheri3s of their counties.Modern o ernment has its ori ins in the :uria =e is parliament descends fromthe ?reat :ouncil later known as the parliamentum established by Ma na :arta .

*imon e Montfort(s Parliament in ! # was the Crst instance of parliamentin which representati es from towns were summoned. $his Parliament is seen asthe earliest form of the modern Parliament because of its inclusion of both kni htsand bur esses, which broadened the types of people represented at a hi h le el.

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=epresentati es had attended assemblies throu hout the Dth century, but onlyon an ad hoc basis. Erom !F- oGcial records were kept of its proceedin s anddecisions, written up and sewn to ether in lon scrolls, the =olls of Parliament.

$he commons did not become a re ular or permanent feature of the /n lishparliament until /dward 44's rei n 6 D<F) D!F7. Erom the Hth century, Parliamentconsisted of two chambers, the 5ouse of >ords 6the "upper" house7 and the 5ouseof :ommons 6the "lower" house7

$he incessant warfare between /n land and *cotland, and then Erance, inthe Hth century cemented the place of the commons in parliament, as the crownre ularly looked to MPs to pro ide the funds necessary for defence and militarycampai nin . At the start of /dward 444's rei n 6 D!F) DFF7 the commonscontained two distinct elements ) the 'kni hts of the shire', who represented thecounties, and the 'bur esses', who represented towns or cities. $he relationshipbetween the lords and commons was summed up by MPs in DII when theydeclared that whereas they were merely 8petitioners and suitors9, all Jud ementsof parliament 8'belon solely to the kin and lords9. New law came to be initiatednot only by the :rown but also by the :ommons.

4n the early Hth century, in what was a natural elaboration of Parliament(srole as the forum for the presentation of petitions of indi iduals and communities,the :ommons be an to present petitions in their own name, seekin remedies, notto indi idual wron s, but to eneral administrati e, economic and le al problems.

By the mid) Hth century, parliament was passin a wide ran e of new lawswhich had been su ested by MPs. $ypically these related to the kin dom's trade,commerce, defence, law and order. ne of the most famous laws passed by themedie al parliament was the 8*tatute of >abourers9 of D# which set a nationalscale of wa e)rates in an attempt to protect landlords from the ad erse economice3ects of the Black eath 6 DH-) DHI7.

$he ast maJority of /n lish parliaments in the later Middle A es saw hi hle els of cooperation between the kin , lords and commons, but occasionally theassembly could be the scene of dramatic political confrontation and chan e.Parliament could be used to force reforms on an unwillin kin . $he assembly wasmost dan erous to the crown when the commons united with the lords in pursuit of a common political oal.

By the mid) #th century, rather than simply petitionin the 5ouse of >ords,the :ommons had e;ual law)makin powers. Parliamentary le islation was nolon er enacted in the name of the kin and council, but by authority of parliament,and the assembly itself was no lon er seen as the superior court of the kin , butas the hi h court of the realm.

$he de elopment of this terminolo y hi hli hted that the reat le acy of the later Middle A es, besides the emer ence of parliament itself, was the deeplyin rained belief that the assembly e+isted as much to ser e the interests of thekin 's subJects as it did the kin himself.

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*elected Biblio raphy

• :olipca, ?abriela 4uliana 6!< <7 British History and Civilization Course. ?alati• The evolution of Parliament KonlineL a ailable from

http OOwww.parliament.ukOaboutOli in ) herita eOe olutionofparliamentO• Origins and growth of Parliament, National Archi es KonlineL a ailable from

http OOwww.nationalarchi es. o .ukOpathwaysOcitiQenshipOcitiQenRsubJectOori ins.htm