The first that the Lords and Commons sat together late in the reign of king Edward the third[[37]] and until the Commons had a perpetual Speaker. The direct contrary of this opinion it is thought is evident from the Rolls of Parliament. It does not appear from any Records that the two Houses ever sat for deliberation in the same assembly, from the time the Commons were regularly summoned in their representative capacity to Parliament.
On the contrary, so early as the 18th of Edward the first,[[38]] (Rolls of Par. vol. 1. p. 25, a. the earliest Roll extant) there is a Grant[[39]] to the king for the marriage of his eldest daughter, by several Peers named, “et cæteri Magnates et Proceres tunc in Parliamento existentes, pro se et Communitate totius Regni Angliæ quantum in ipsis est;” that is, “and other Lords and Nobles for themselves and the Community of the whole kingdom of England, as much as they were able.” In the 19th of Edward the second (p. 351. a.) there is a grant to the king for carrying on the war with Scotland, by the Citizens, Burgesses, and Knights for counties, of a fifteenth of the moveables of the Citizens, Burgesses, and men of the counties, cities, and towns.
In the 14th of Edward the second (p. 371.) complaint was made by the Knights, Citizens and Burgesses of felonies for which they besought a remedy: and the Record concludes “Et Concordatum est per Dominum Regem de Consilio Prelatorum, Comitum, Baronum, et aliorum Peritorum, in dicto Parliamento existentium quod,” &c. that is, “and it was agreed between our Lord the king and the council of Prelates, Earls, Barons, and other great men in the said Parliament assembled, &c.”
The Entries in the sixth of Edward the third, 1331, (to the Parliament Rolls of which year Lord Coke particularly refers for proof of the Lords and Commons then sitting together) which appear to bear on the point in question, are in vol. ii. p. 66. At the first meeting at Westminster, the Prelates by themselves, and the Knights for counties by themselves, deliberated on the business opened to them at the beginning of the Parliament, and answered by advising the king not to go in person to Ireland to quell the rebellion there. And in the third meeting in that year at York, when a statement was made by Geoffrey le Scroop, in the presence of the king, and “de touz les Grantz en plein Parlement,” of all the Lords in full Parliament; and afterwards it was agreed by the king and the whole in full Parliament, that certain Bishops and Peers named, should meet on the business in discussion by themselves, the other Prelates, Earls and Barons, and the Proxies by themselves; and the Knights of the shire and Commons by themselves. The business was discussed accordingly during some days; after which the Commons had leave to return to their counties, and the Prelates, Earls, and Barons, were to remain till the day following.
In the 13th of Edward the third (vol. 2. p. 104.) a grant was made to the king, “par les Grantz,” of a tenth of the grain of their demesne lands, and of their fleeces, with certain reservations. The Commons, however, after representing their having heard the statement of the king’s necessities, the extent of which they were aware of, and were willing to relieve as they had always done; said, that as the aid must be a great one they dared not assent to it without consulting with “les Communes de leur Pais,” the Commons of their counties. And they desired another Parliament to be summoned. At which subsequent meeting, in the same year, (p. 107. b.) the occasion of summoning the Parliament was explained to the Commons, on which they said they would deliberate. They afterwards proposed to grant 30,000 sacks of wool on certain conditions, which if not agreed to by the king, the aid was to be withheld. The Earls and Barons the same day granted for themselves and the Peers of the land who held by Barony, the tenth sheaf, the tenth fleece, and the tenth lamb.
In the 14th of Edward the third, (p. 112, a.) grants were made by the Prelates, Earls, and Barons, for themselves and all their tenants, and by the Knights of shires for themselves, and for the commons of the land, of the ninth sheaf, the ninth fleece, and the ninth lamb; and by the Citizens and Burgesses of a real ninth of their property; and merchants not inhabiting cities and towns, and other people who reside in forests and wastes, and who do not live by their gains or their flocks, a fifteenth of all their property according to the true value.
In the 15th of Edward the third (p. 127, a.) on occasion of a Grant made to the king in a former Parliament, to enable him to purchase friends and allies for the recovery of his rights, having not been as available as it ought to have been, it was proposed that consideration should be had, “par touz les Grantz et Communes,” “by all the Lords and Commons,” how the grant should be made most profitable to the king, and least burthensome to the people, “les Grantz de par eux, et les Chivalers des Counteez, Citeyens, et Burgeys de par eux,” that is, “the Lords by themselves, and the Knights for counties, Citizens and Burgesses by themselves.”
In the 17th of Edward the third, (p. 136, a.) “les ditz Prelatz et Grantz assemblez en la Chambre Blanche (the court of requests) responderent,” &c. (p. 136, 6.) “Et pour vindrent les Chivalers des Counteez et les Communes et responderent par Monsieur William Trussell en la dite Chambre Blanche qi’ en Presence de nostre Signeur le Roi et les ditz Prelates,” &c. that is, “on which day the said Prelates and Lords assembled in the Chambre Blanche, answered,” &c. “And then came the Knights for counties, and the Commons, and answered by Monsieur William Trussell in the said Chambre Blanche, and in the presence of our Lord the king, and the said Prelates,” &c.
There can be little doubt but that this William Trussell was Speaker of the House of Commons. He is styled by Higden, who wrote in the reign of Edward the third, in his “Polychronicon,” “Procurator of the Parliament,” when he, in the name of all the men in the land of England, renounced allegiance to king Edward the second, in the last year of that king’s reign.
The Speaker of the Commons was indeed styled “Parlour and Procurator,” so late as the first of Henry the fourth. (Rolls of Parl. vol. 3. p. 424, b.)