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The Oxford Parliament, also known as the Mad Parliament, assembled in 1258 during the reign of Henry III of England. It is best known for the Provisions of Oxford, a set of constitutional reforms that forced the English king to govern according to the advice of a council of barons.
Name
The parliament came to be known as "Mad" as a result of an entry in the Latin chronicle Liber de Antiquis Legibus which read "Hoc anno fuit illud insane parliamentum apud Oxoniam". However, historians A.G. Little and R.L. Poole have shown that the word insane was overwritten in the original text, and may have originally read insigne instead. Therefore, it would have originally read "illud insigne parliamentum" ("that distinguished parliament").
Background
Further information: Parliament of England § Henry III
By the 1250s, there was widespread resentment among the barons against Henry III. The causes included the favoritism he showed to his Lusignan half-brothers, William and Aymer de Valence. There was also opposition to Henry's unrealistic plans to conquer the Kingdom of Sicily for his second son, Edmund Crouchback. In 1255, the King informed parliament that as a result of the Sicilian business he owed the pope the huge sum of £100,000 and that if he defaulted England would be placed under an interdict. The King had other debts as well. Through 1256 and 1257, however, the barons refused to grant Henry the taxes he needed to solve his financial problems. The King's position was weakened further when English armies suffered several defeats at the hand of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd in Wales.
Desperate for funds, the King summoned a parliament to meet at Westminster on 9 April. On 12 April, a group of lay magnates came together to offer united resistance to the King's demands for funds. These were Richard de Clare, Roger Bigod, Simon de Montfort, Peter of Savoy, Hugh Bigod, John FitzGeoffrey, and Peter de Montfort. The barons were given three days to consider their response to the King's request, and on the appointed day a group of earls, barons, and knights confronted the King and his eldest son, the Lord Edward, fully armed inside Westminster Hall. They demanded the King agree to reforms, and Henry swore on the Gospels to agree to whatever they advised.
An agreement was recorded in two letters patent dated 2 May. In the first, the King agreed that by Christmas he would introduce reforms on the advice of his barons and in return the barons would consent to new taxes for the king. If the King failed to keep his word, he would be excommunicated. In the second document, the King agreed that a reform programme should be prepared by a council of twenty-four—half from the king's council and half elected by the barons—that was to meet at Oxford on 11 June. The twenty-four would then present their suggestions at a parliament summoned to meet in that city.
Actions
At the Oxford Parliament on 11 June, Henry accepted a new form of government, laid out in the Provisions of Oxford, in which power was placed in the hands of a council of fifteen members who were to supervise ministerial appointments, local administration and the custody of royal castles. Parliament, meanwhile, which was to meet three times a year, would monitor the performance of this council.
Henry agreed to these terms, and the council of fifteen was formed. The members included Simon de Montfort, Peter de Montfort, Boniface of Savoy in his role as the Archbishop of Canterbury, Walter de Cantilupe as the Bishop of Worcester, the Earl of Norfolk, the Earl of Gloucester, the Earl of Hereford, the Earl of Warwick, the Earl of Albemarle, Hugh Bigod, Peter II of Savoy, Roger de Mortimer, James de Audeleye and John Maunsel.
Aftermath
The resolution of the Parliament did not last for long. The pope excused the King of his obligations related to the throne of Sicily, meaning that he no longer required the funds provided by the additional taxation given to him by Parliament. The issue was one which was brought before King Louis IX of France, acting as arbitrator between Henry and the barons at the Mise of Amiens. Louis made a decision entirely in favour of his fellow king, overturning the agreement made at the Oxford Parliament and absolved Henry's need to allow Parliament to appoint ministers, instead restoring that power to him.
This soon resulted in the Second Barons' War, with forces led by Simon de Montfort rebelling against the King. Following an initial attack by the rebel barons, Henry's feudal army was summoned and won a battle at Northampton. The forces of Montfort and Henry failed to come to terms, resulting in the Battle of Lewes where the rebel barons were victorious and the Mise of Lewes resulted. Lord Edward escaped his captors within a few months, and began to re-conquer England. The forces of Montfort found themselves trapped at Evesham, and in the ensuing battle, he was killed and his forces were routed by Edward's. The rebel barons continued to resist, but the Dictum of Kenilworth in October 1266 granted pardons, resulting in their surrender.
Legacy
Peter de Montfort's role as parlour or prolocutor was the forerunner for Speaker of the House of Commons which officially began in 1377.
See also
Notes
- The Bank of England's inflation calculator estimates that £100,000 in 1255 would be worth £125,142,401.27 in 2021.
References
- Treharne & Sanders 1973, p. 72.
- Sayles 1974, p. 49.
- "Inflation Calculator". www.bankofengland.co.uk. Bank of England. 24 May 2022. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
- Jones 2012, pp. 214–217.
- Starkey 2010, p. 206.
- Lyon 2016, pp. 68–69.
- ^ Sayles 1974, p. 50.
- Powell & Wallis 1968, pp. 183–184.
- Trevelyan 1953, p. 99.
- Trevelyan 1953, p. 100.
- "The Mad Parliament, 1258". The National Archives. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
- Koenig, Chris (7 March 2012). "Recalling the Mad Parliament of 1258". Oxford Times. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
- Powicke 1962, p. 183.
- Treharne & Sanders 1973, p. 289.
- Powicke 1947, pp. 459–460.
- Sadler 2008, pp. 55–69.
- Maddicott 1983.
- Prestwich 1997, pp. 48–49.
- Sadler 2008, pp. 105–109.
- Prestwich 1997, p. 117.
- "The role of the Speaker". BBC News. 18 October 2000. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
Bibliography
- Carpenter, David (1996). The Reign of Henry III. London: Hambledon Press. ISBN 9781852850708.
- Jones, Dan (2012). The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England (revised ed.). Penguin Books. ISBN 978-1-101-60628-5.
- Lyon, Ann (2016). Constitutional History of the UK (2nd ed.). Routledge. ISBN 9781317203988.
- Maddicott, J. R. (1983). "The Mise of Lewes, 1264". English Historical Review. 98 (388). Oxford University Press: 588–603. doi:10.1093/ehr/xcviii.ccclxxxviii.588. JSTOR 569785.
- Powell, J. Enoch; Wallis, Keith (1968). The House of Lords in the Middle Ages: A History of the English House of Lords to 1540. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0297761056.
- Powicke, F. M. (1947). King Henry III and the Lord Edward: The Community of the Realm in the Thirteenth Century. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- Powicke, F. M. (1962) . The Thirteenth Century: 1216-1307 (2nd ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- Prestwich, Michael (1997). Edward I (updated ed.). New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-07209-0.
- Sadler, John (2008). The Second Barons' War: Simon de Motfort and the Battles of Lewes and Evesham. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military. ISBN 978-1-84415-831-7.
- Sayles, George O. (1974). The King's Parliament of England. Historical Controversies. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0393093220.
- Starkey, David (2010). Crown and Country: A History of England through the Monarchy. HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 9780007307715.
- Treharne, R. F.; Sanders, I. J. (1973). Documents of the Baronial Movement of Reform and Rebellion, 1258-1267. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-822222-X.
- Trevelyan, G. M. (1953). History of England. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday.
- Weiler, Björn K. U. (2006). Henry III of England and the Staufen Empire, 1216-1272. Woodbridge, UK: Royal Historical Society/Boydell Pres. ISBN 9780861932801.