Simon de Montfort: The turning point for democracy that gets overlooked

BBC ^ | 19 January 2015 | BBC,Luke Foddy.

[moose07]

In June the world will celebrate 800 years since the issuing of Magna Carta. But 2015 is also the anniversary of another important, and far more radical, British milestone in democratic history, writes Luke Foddy.

Almost exactly 750 years ago, an extraordinary parliament opened in Westminster.

For the very first time, elected representatives from every county and major town in England were invited to parliament on behalf of their local communities.

It was, in the words of one historian, "the House of Commons in embryo".

The January Parliament, which first met on 20 January 1265, is one of the most significant events in British democratic history. The election of two knights from every shire and two burgesses from the towns helped establish the two-member county constituencies that endured until the 20th Century.

The delegates coming to parliament in 1265 even had their costs covered - a sort of 13th-Century MPs' expenses.

But for all its importance, the January Parliament remains little-known beyond academic circles, although the BBC will be marking the anniversary with a day of coverage focusing on democracy.

In part, this may be down to the eclipsing effect of Magna Carta on this remarkable step towards representative government.

[moose07]

But the 1265 Parliament went much further than Magna Carta in shaping our political process. "The Great Charter laid down the first written constitution, but it was primarily a charter for the elite," explains Professor David Carpenter, author of a new book on Magna Carta. "It did not envisage anything resembling a House of Commons. "It is not until 1265 that the momentous step is taken to invite the commons to parliament." Parliaments had, of course, existed long before 1265, but they were traditionally elite gatherings between the king and his chosen advisors. Knights, too, had been summoned to parliament before, in 1254, but only to discuss taxation. At the January Parliament of 1265, however, both the counties and boroughs were to be represented, and the parliament was concerned with the wider business of the realm, not just taxation. This was, therefore, a landmark moment in England's political evolution. The story behind this radical reform is a medieval classic of revolution and rebellion - a drama fuelled by idealism, pragmatism and ambition whose legacy is still felt today. And like many extraordinary moments in history, it was the product of extraordinary times. The ruling king in 1265 was Henry III, but Henry wasn't really ruling anything. It was Simon de Montfort, the rebel earl of Leicester, who was in control, having seized power the year before. Montfort, who called the January Parliament, was the leader of a political faction that sought major reform of the realm. Fed up with Henry's misrule, as they saw it, these barons had confronted the King and, at a parliament in Oxford in 1258, forced him to adhere to a radical programme of reform. This resulted in an appointed council sharing power with the monarch. These reforms were enshrined in the Provisions of Oxford, which for the first time defined the role of parliament in government. Later reissued as the Provisions of Westminster, they specified that parliaments should be held three times a year to "discuss the common business of the realm" - a major shift from their usual purpose of granting taxes as set out by Magna Carta. By 1261, however, Henry's position had grown stronger, and he rid himself of the reformers' shackles. "I'd rather break clods behind the plough," he is supposed to have declared, "than rule by the Provisions!" It is perhaps testament to the ideological fervour of the time that Henry's betrayal of the barons' reforms provoked civil war, but war is indeed what followed. In May 1264 Montfort won a stunning victory at the battle of Lewes, where both King Henry and his heir, the future Edward I, were taken prisoner. He was now the de facto ruler of England, governing in King Henry's name. This was revolutionary stuff. Four centuries before Oliver Cromwell would overthrow Charles I, another English King had been reduced to a figurehead.

Magna Carta...

[SampleMan]

Far more correct to see the Magna Carta as a major move toward constitutionally limited government, than a move toward democracy.

[samtheman]

Interesting

[moose07]

Yep,
Constitutionally limited government with democratic representation.

[1010RD]

Liberals and accuracy, or reality for that matter, don’t go together.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks moose07.

[Pelham]

bump

[lexington minuteman 1775]

This historical fact will be overlooked by many. It’s intresting that Simon was of French birth but he strongly believed in Britain for the Brits.
And when he was defeated a few years later they bascially cut him into pieces and sent the parts to the various shires to let them know what happens if you mess with the reign of Edward.
Ah we have such a slow learning curve.And today we have our own Edward on the throne in our boy king Barrack
Freegards
LEX

[moose07]

Thanks for the Bump. :)

[moose07]

It does appear to be a reoccurring theme through history: Do you support or country or the current psychopath in charge?
Tough call,that. :)

[Monkey Face]

One of my ancestors...

[GeronL]

The left still thinks Maximilian Robespierre and the Reign of Terror were real democracy

[moose07]

:)
“He mentions you often at Court, Ma`am.”

[Monkey Face]

LOL!

THAT was a wild night!

[NoCmpromiz]

So...

Is anyone on your side of the salty pond wearing Simon’s mantle these days?

Or they all afeared of being dissected and having their parts FedEx-ed to the far corners of the realm...

[moose07]

I think that Mr Farage could be placed in that category.
Don't hear much from the Upper chamber, these days.
To busy widening the moats, I should think.

"The peasants are revolting ! "
" I know, but what's happening outside? "

[NoCmpromiz]

To busy widening the moats

Wide moats, like good fences, make good neighbors.*

Or something like that.

(But if they don't do something soon to right the course of the ship, those moats will need to be filled with Bacongrease..)

*

Mending Wall
Robert Frost, 1874 - 1963

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs.  The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
'Stay where you are until our backs are turned!'
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of outdoor game,
One on a side.  It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbors.'
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
'Why do they make good neighbors?  Isn't it
Where there are cows?  But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down.'  I could say 'Elves' to him,
But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
He said it for himself.  I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father's saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, 'Good fences make good neighbors.'

[colorado tanker]

There is a "rest of the story" here.

Edward Longshanks, the King's son, deserted the barons and joined the King's cause. Some barons also deserted, jealous of Simon. Two years later, Simon would be defeated and killed at the Battle of Evesham.

His reforms were not for naught, however. While Edward I was a strong King intent on reigning in the Barons, he faced near constant warfare in subduing Wales and fighting several campaigns against Scotland. War was then as now expensive. Edward found Parliament a useful device to raise the taxes he needed to fund his wars. Even better, by continuing the practice of including representatives of the commons, he could tax them with the approval of their representatives.

So, despite Simon's short reign and ugly death, his reforms survived and were an important milestone on the road to parliamentary democracy in Britain.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks ct!

In a way, that legitimization of representative gov’t led to the Hundred Years’ War, and the conquests of Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, with the Wars of the Roses during that expansion.

Edward III:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_III_of_England#Legislation

[ZULU]

He was a great man. Magna Charta, English Common Law, Simon De Montfort, the Provisions of Oxford, etc, etc, all show that freedom takes time, effort and work to achieve. You can’t just GIVE it to a people. They have to WANT it and to earn it.

WHICH, is why our idiotic venture in nation building in Islamic climes is wasted effort.