Know about Simon de Montfort's baronial revolt against King Henry III and the contribution of 1215 Magna Carta in establishing Parliament
Learn about Simon de Montfort's baronial revolt against King Henry III and the importance of the Magna Carta in establishing Parliament.
© UK Parliament Education Service (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
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© UK Parliament Education Service (A Britannica Publishing Partner)Watch a dramatization of the history behind the formulation of the Magna Carta, a charter that was issued in order to curtail the power of King John and his successors and that laid the foundation for Parliament.
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© UK Parliament Education Service (A Britannica Publishing Partner)Learn about the precautions necessary to bring the four surviving original copies of the 1215 Magna Carta to the same place, the Robing Room of the Palace of Westminster, in February 2015 for the 800th anniversary of the charter's issue.
Transcript
This chapter house was built by King Henry III of England. It was finished in about 1253. It's a glorious building. There's an inscription on the floor which says, as the rose is the flower of flowers, so this house is the house of houses.
Now he built it, firstly, for the ordinary business meetings of the monks. They would have come in here every day. But he also built it for great assemblies of the kingdom, for parliaments. And he intended to address Parliament here. And he had a lectern placed here for which he and others could speak. So it's doubly ironic that it was in 1265 that the great Parliament of Simon de Montfort forced all sorts of concessions on the King here in this very room.
Simon de Montfort was the youngest son of a great French noble. He came to England in the 1230s. He married the King's sister. He was recognized as Earl of Leicester. And then he led a great rebellion against the King. And was the first nobleman to seize power and govern the country in the King's name.
It was in this chapter house, on the 14th of February 1265, St. Valentine's Day, before a great meeting of Parliament that Henry III's adherence to Magna Carta was proclaimed.
The 1215 Magna Carta did two things. First, it asserted a fundamental principle that taxation needed the common consent of a realm, which essentially meant the consent of Parliament. Secondly, the 1215 charter set out the first constitution for Parliament. And in a way, in that constitution, we see both the House of Lords and the House of Commons because on the one hand, the charter said, the great men of the realm are to be individually summoned to Parliament, so that's the House of Lords.
But it also said that the other tenants and chief of the King, many of them of knightly status, should come too. And in a way, can see there the beginnings of the House of Commons. In being the first Parliament to which knights and burgesses were summoned, you could see Montfort's Parliament of 1265 as being the beginnings of democracy in England.
Now he built it, firstly, for the ordinary business meetings of the monks. They would have come in here every day. But he also built it for great assemblies of the kingdom, for parliaments. And he intended to address Parliament here. And he had a lectern placed here for which he and others could speak. So it's doubly ironic that it was in 1265 that the great Parliament of Simon de Montfort forced all sorts of concessions on the King here in this very room.
Simon de Montfort was the youngest son of a great French noble. He came to England in the 1230s. He married the King's sister. He was recognized as Earl of Leicester. And then he led a great rebellion against the King. And was the first nobleman to seize power and govern the country in the King's name.
It was in this chapter house, on the 14th of February 1265, St. Valentine's Day, before a great meeting of Parliament that Henry III's adherence to Magna Carta was proclaimed.
The 1215 Magna Carta did two things. First, it asserted a fundamental principle that taxation needed the common consent of a realm, which essentially meant the consent of Parliament. Secondly, the 1215 charter set out the first constitution for Parliament. And in a way, in that constitution, we see both the House of Lords and the House of Commons because on the one hand, the charter said, the great men of the realm are to be individually summoned to Parliament, so that's the House of Lords.
But it also said that the other tenants and chief of the King, many of them of knightly status, should come too. And in a way, can see there the beginnings of the House of Commons. In being the first Parliament to which knights and burgesses were summoned, you could see Montfort's Parliament of 1265 as being the beginnings of democracy in England.