A History of England, Period I. Mediæval Monarchy

by J. Franck Bright

The English Church was indeed at his mercy. Boniface of Canterbury lived abroad, and was completely in the Papal interest, the Archbishopric of York was vacant, the Bishops of Winchester and Hereford were creatures of the King. Henry himself was acting in complete harmony with the Pope, who had several times granted him a tenth from the clergy, and had given him the incomes of all vacant benefices, and of intestates. The Church was driven into close union with the rapidly rising baronial opposition, and was obliged to regard its temporalities as ordinary baronies. Scotland and Wales were again becoming troublesome, and the lukewarmness of the English Barons prevented successful resistance to their inroads. To add to the difficulties of England, 1257 was a year of fearful want. The weather was so bad that the harvest stood rotting in the fields even in November. Wheat rose from two shillings to fifteen or twenty the quarter. The harvest of 1258 promised to be as bad. Thousands were dying of hunger.[36] And when, in the midst of this misery, the Pope’s Legate (who in 1257 had stated the amount of debt to the Pope to be 136,000 marks, and had succeeded in wringing 52,000 marks from the clergy) repeated his demand the following year, and threatened an interdict unless the debt was at once paid, Englishmen of all classes felt that the time for action had arrived, and, taking advantage of the absence of the Earl of Cornwall, who was abroad attempting to make good his election to the German Empire, the Barons assembled at a Parliament held at Westminster determined upon reform.

Parliament at Westminster.

It was a stormy scene. William de Valence and Simon de Montfort almost came to blows. William spoke of Montfort as “an old traitor, and the son of a traitor.” “No, no,” said Simon, “I am no traitor, nor traitor’s son; my father was very different from yours,” referring to the constant treasons of the old Count de la Marche. He then poured out his grievances, the squandering of the royal property on favourites, the folly, in the face of such financial difficulties, of accepting the Sicilian throne, and the admission of Papal legates to rob the clergy. At length a sort of compromise was arrived at, and aid was promised if the Pope would lower his demands, and the King on his side promised reform, a promise to which several of his chief favourites had to put their signatures. The King also pledged himself to give full consideration to the Barons’ demands at a Parliament to be assembled at Oxford at Whitsuntide, and to leave the question at issue to be decided by a commission of twelve from either side, whose verdict should be final.

Mad Parliament. 1258.

Provisions of Oxford.

On June 11th, this Parliament met. It is known by the name of “The Mad Parliament.” The Barons, of whom there were about a hundred,[37] appeared in arms, under the pretext of the war with Wales, in reality to overawe the King’s violent step-brothers. At that Parliament the promised commission of twenty-four was chosen. The King’s Commissioners, with the single exception of John of Plesseys, Earl of Warwick, were men pledged to the old evil courses, either by their relationship with the King or by the favours they had obtained from him. At the head of the Barons appeared Richard de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, the natural head of the English party, and De Montfort, himself indeed a foreigner, but of such high ability and character that he was indispensable to his party. To these twenty-four was intrusted the duty of securing reform. They were not like the twenty-five guardians of the Charter, pledges for the carrying out of the treaty, but a committee representing for the time the executive authority of the Crown. These Barons chose a council of four, John Mansell, the King’s secretary, the Earl of Warwick, and two Bigods (the Earl of Norfolk and his brother). These in their turn were to nominate a council of state or executive ministry of fifteen. The predominance of the baronial party is shown by the fact that of those fifteen two-thirds were on the Barons’ side.[38] This Council of fifteen produced the Provisions of Oxford, and appointed new officers. Hugh Bigod was chief justice, John of Peterborough, treasurer, Nicholas of Ely, chancellor. The royal castles were ordered to be placed in the hands of Englishmen; and three times a year a Parliament was to be held, consisting of the fifteen, and twelve members of the old twenty-four representative Barons. These are said to be representatives of the commonalty of England, but it does not as yet appear that the commonalty meant anything but the baronage. These Provisions were accepted and sworn to by the King, Prince Edward, and the Barons, and subsequently, on his return to England, by Richard, King of the Romans.

Opposition to the surrender of castles.

Exile of aliens.

Proclamation of the Provisions.

The article which demanded the surrender of castles by foreigners met with much opposition.[39] The King’s step-brothers refused to surrender theirs. Simon de Montfort, as a foreigner, on the other hand, showed a good example by surrendering two of those he had in charge.[40] When William de Valence refused this order, “I will have the castles,” said De Montfort, “or your head.” The threat was too serious to be disregarded; the foreigners crept off in the night, and went to Winchester, where they hoped that Aymer de Valence would afford them protection. The Barons at once pursued them. They were obliged to yield, and were exiled. The Barons then proceeded to check the bad government of the sheriffs. Four knights from each shire (a step towards the coming admission of the lower gentry to Parliament) were appointed to inquire into the question; and it was arranged that the sheriffs should be elected yearly. The Londoners readily accepted the new order of things; and finally, in October, the Provisions were solemnly proclaimed, together with the Magna Charta, in Latin, French and English. In this the King declared his full adhesion to the Oxford Ordinances. It was countersigned by thirteen of the fifteen counsellors. This is the first public document issued in the English language, and may be regarded as a sign of the real question at issue during the reign: Was England to be, in fact, England, and the English to be a nation?