This book describes the evolution of the English parliament from its earliest origins in the late Anglo‐Saxon period. Starting with the national assemblies which began to meet in the reign of King Æthelstan (924–39), it carries the story of those assemblies through to the fully‐fledged parliament of lords and commons which sanctioned the deposition of Edward II in 1327. It argues that parliament developed by a continuous process from the ‘witan’ of the Anglo‐Saxons, but that its development was also shaped and drastically transformed by a series of unforeseen events and episodes, among them th ... More

This book describes the evolution of the English parliament from its earliest origins in the late Anglo‐Saxon period. Starting with the national assemblies which began to meet in the reign of King Æthelstan (924–39), it carries the story of those assemblies through to the fully‐fledged parliament of lords and commons which sanctioned the deposition of Edward II in 1327. It argues that parliament developed by a continuous process from the ‘witan’ of the Anglo‐Saxons, but that its development was also shaped and drastically transformed by a series of unforeseen events and episodes, among them the Norman Conquest, the wars of Richard I and John, and, most crucially, Magna Carta, which made national taxation subject to assembly consent. It shows that throughout this process the lesser landholders of the countryside played a larger part in the assembly's work than has usually been assumed, even before they appeared as the knights of the shire, elected representatives of their localities. It emphasizes that at most times the assembly could be viewed as a representative body. It was, however, only in the thirteenth century that ideas of representation derived from legal theory came together with the need for direct representation occasioned by more regular tax demands to promote local elections. It concludes by making some extended comparisons with other European assemblies, especially those of France and Spain, and argues that local circumstances made the English parliament a very different body from most of its overseas counterparts.