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| 1272–1307 |
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| Edward I (Longshanks; the English Justinian), an able ruler and a great legislator, fit to rank with Frederick II, Louis IX, and Alfonso the Wise. He observed his motto, Pactum serva (Keep troth), but tempered it with realism. The first truly English king, he surrounded himself with able ministers and lawyers. The reign was marked by a frequent consultation of the knights and townsmen, not always in Parliament. | 1 |
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| 1276–84 |
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| Reduction of Wales. Wales during the reign of Henry III had experienced a revival of “national” sentiment (bardic poetry and tribal union under the Llewelyns around Snowdon in the north). Llewelyn, prince of Wales, had joined de Montfort's opposition, refused homage (1276), and, with his brother David, renewed war with the English (1282). Edward marched into Wales, killed Llewelyn, and executed David (1283), asserting the full dominion of the English crown. In these wars Edward became aware of the efficiency of the Welsh longbow. Edward's fourth son, Edward (later Edward II), was born at Carnarvon (1284), and with him began the customary title Prince of Wales, bestowed on the heir to the English throne. Local government was organized in Wales, and the Statute of Wales settled the legal status of the newly disciplined Welsh. | 2 |
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| 1293–1303 |
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| France. Ill feeling between sailors from the Cinque Ports (Sandwich, Dover, Rommey, Hythe, and Hastings, and (later) Rye and Winchelsea) and the French culminated in a victory for an Anglo-Gascon fleet (1293) and Edward's summons to the court of his French overlord, King Philip IV. Under a pro forma compromise (1294), Edward turned over his Gascon fortresses to Philip, who refused to return them, and declared Gascony forfeited. Futile expeditions of Edward (1294, 1296, and 1297, in alliance with the count of Flanders) against Philip. Philip, busy with his contest against Boniface VIII and other matters, returned Gascony to Edward (1303). | 3 |
| SOCIAL CHANGE. The steady reclamation of waste and forest land and the growth of towns and commercial activity, especially the wool trade, brought relative economic prosperity and promoted upward social mobility. Many serfs secured their freedom either by purchasing it from the lord with cash savings, or by flight to a town in which, after a year, they were legally free. | 4 |
| The Jews, who were an important source for loans, were treated fairly decently by the English crown in the 12th century. By the late 13th century, however, the crown relied on Italian banking houses—such as the Bardi and the Peruzzi—for cash, and the Jewish bankers were reduced to making small personal loans at high interest that were difficult to collect. Growing anti-Semitism throughout the century, combined with mercantile and aristocratic pressure, led Edward I in 1290 to expel the Jews. Thereafter, Italians, Germans, and Flemings dominated banking and foreign trade, though English merchants controlled about 35 percent of the wool trade. Edward established the English wool staple at Antwerp. | 5 |
| LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS. The Fourth Lateran Council's proscription against clerical participation in trial by ordeal (See 1208–29) effectively abolished it. Uncertain what to do, English judges experimented with several methods of trying a case. Gradually the judges settled on the practice of selecting from the freemen in court a second (petty) jury of 12 to answer the question of guilt or innocence. By the end of the 13th century, trial by jury was almost universal throughout the land; men's distrust of women's ability to reason, however, postponed women's right to serve on juries until 1928. | 6 |
| The Parliament of 1275 granted the king (hitherto permission had not been asked) an increase of the export duty on wool and leather, to meet the rising cost of government. | 7 |
| Distraint of knighthood. Various enactments (beginning in 1278) to ensure that all men with a given income (e.g., £20 a year from land) should assume the duties of knighthood. Probably primarily an effort to raise money, the acts also ensured a militia under royal control. | 8 |
| Statute of Gloucester (1278), providing for quo warranto inquests into the right of feudal magnates to hold public (i.e., not manorial) courts. Statute of Mortmain (1279) forbade gifts of land to the clergy without consent of the overlord (the usual policy elsewhere in Europe). Such consent was often given; the statute was frequently evaded. Second Statute of Westminster (De donis conditionalibus, 1285) perpetuated feudal entail (conditional grants of lands) and led to the later law of trusts. It also reorganized the militia and provided for care of the roads. Third Statute of Westminster (quia emptores, 1290) forbade new sub-infeudations of land. Land could be freely transferred, but the new vassal must hold direct of the king or from a tenant-in-chief. | 9 |
| Judicial developments. Under Edward, the differentiation of the great common law courts is clear: (1) Court of King's Bench (concerned with criminal and crown cases); (2) Court of Exchequer (dealing with royal finance); (3) Court of Common Pleas (handling cases between subjects). The King's Council (small council) still remained supreme as a court by virtue of its residual and appellate jurisdiction, and the councilors were expected to take the councilor's oath to the king. Edward began the practice of referring residual cases that did not readily come within the jurisdiction of the common law courts to the chancellor, with a committee of assessors from the council. This chancellor's court tended to absorb the judicial business of the council and finally emerged as a court of equity. The Year Books—unofficial, verbatim reports in French (the language of the courts) of legal proceedings, a record unique for completeness in the period—began in this reign. Coherence and continuity of tradition among the lawyers was greatly facilitated by the establishment of the Inns of Court under the three Edwards. There the lawyers assembled their libraries, lodged, and studied, transmitting with increasing strength the living force of the common law, to the virtual exclusion of Roman law. | 10 |
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| 1295 |
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| The Model Parliament, called “model” because representatives of the shires (knights) and towns (burgesses), as well as aristocracy and clergy, were summoned (not known if all actually attended). The writs of summons included (probably by accident) the famous phrase, “quod omnes tangit ab omnibus approbetur” (let that which toucheth all be approved by all). The clergy did not long continue to attend Parliament, preferring their own assembly (Convocation), and left only the great prelates, who sat rather as feudal than ecclesiastical persons. | 11 |
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| 1296 |
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| The clash with Pope Boniface VIII. Winchelsea, archbishop of Canterbury, in accordance with the bull Clericis laicos, led the clergy in refusing a grant to the crown. Edward, with the general support of public opinion, withdrew the protection of the royal courts and thus promptly brought the clergy to an evasion of the bull through “presents” to the crown; the lands of recalcitrant clergy were confiscated, and the pope soon backed down. | 12 |
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| 1297 |
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| The Confirmation of Charters (Confirmatio cartarum), a document almost as important as the Magna Carta, extorted by a coalition of the barons (angered by taxation and the Gascon expedition) and the middle classes (irritated by mounting taxes) under the leadership of Archbishop Winchelsea. In effect, the Confirmation included Magna Carta (and other charters), with the added provision that no nonfeudal levy could be laid by the crown without a parliamentary grant. Edward left the actual granting of this concession to his son Edward as regent, and Pope Clement V later dispensed Edward from the promise in exchange for the right to collect (for the first time) annates in England. | 13 |
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| 1303 |
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| The carta mercatoria granted the merchants full freedom of trade and safe conduct, in return for a new schedule of customs dues. | 14 |
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| 1305 |
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| The petition from the barons and commonalty of the Parliament of Carlisle to end papal encroachments, notably in provisions and annates. Edward enforced the petition except in the matter of annates. | 15 |
| The reign is remarkable for frequent consultation of the middle class (in Parliament and out), for the encouragement of petition to Parliament (now one of its chief functions), and for frequent meetings of Parliament. | 16 |
| English culture. Architecture: Early English Gothic (under French influence). Canterbury Cathedral, begun 1175; Lincoln, 1185–1200; Salisbury, 1220–58. Decorated Gothic: Choir of Lincoln, 1255–80; York, west front, 1261–1324. | 17 |
| Painting and minor arts: St. Albans at the opening of the 13th century was the greatest artistic center in Europe (manuscript painting by Matthew Paris). The court of Henry III was a mecca for European craftsmen, especially from France. | 18 |
| Literature: Orm's Ormulum (early 13th century), a translation into English of portions of the Gospels; the Ancren Rewle, rules for the ascetic life, tinged with the cult of the Virgin (c. 1200); political songs and satires of the Barons' War, etc. (Song of the Battle of Lewes; the Husbandman's Complaint). Matthew Paris (c. 1200–59), a friend of Henry III, monk of St. Albans, in his compilation, the Historia Maior, covered the history of the world, but in the portion dealing with the years 1235–59 he produced a work of original research in which he glorified England and things English. | 19 |
| Foundation of Cambridge University (1209). The foundation of University College (1249), Balliol (1261), Merton (1264) began the collegiate system of Oxford. | 20 |
| The English Franciscans at Oxford. Robert Grosseteste (d. 1253), bishop of Lincoln: insisted on the study of the sources (the Fathers and the Bible); knew Greek and Hebrew, a precursor of the Christian humanists; student of philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, physics, teacher of Roger Bacon. Roger Bacon (d. 1292), greatest medieval exponent of observation and experiment. Foresaw the application of medieval power to transport, including flying; “formula” for gunpowder; author of the Opus Maius and Opus Minus. | 21 |
| Opponents of the Thomist rationalists. Duns Scotus (c. 1270–1308) and William of Occam (c. 1300–1349). (See The British Isles) | 22 |
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