COURS D'HISTOIRE SUR LA GRANDE BRETAGNE

Political Sciences 2

King Alfred (Statue in Winchester)

• Born 849 AD
• King of Wessex in 871
• Saxon

In 886 Alfred entered London and was acclaimed as the sovereign lord of all the English people not under subjection to the Danes (less than half of the country)

The authority of the King

• Alfred assumed the authority of the king should not rest only on force, but also on justice

Legal code

• Alfred was the first king to set up a single coherent legal code which was written so that his subjects could have access to the law
• (The half who were free and not slaves)

Schools

• He also saw the king as an educator and established some schools for his family, the court and the nobility
• This illustrated his belief that those who were supposed to govern in the name of the king should do so as literate, educated men

The Witan

• He established the witan_ a high council which issued laws and charters and chose kings. The reigning king could however ignore its advice

Re-named Alfred The Great by the Tudors

Because of his resistance to the Vikings, his wise government and law-making and his contribution to learning

First king of Wessex to be known as “King of England”

Cnut(Canute)

• King from 1016 to 1035
• At the end of the tenth century there was a second coming of aggressive raids and the Danish king Cnut reigned over the whole of the country South of Hadrian’s wall but as the beneficiary of the Anglo-Saxon government established by Alfred and his successors

Shires

• A large part of England was divided into the shires which persisted until 1974 with a regional government
• Each shire had a court which administrated royal justice
• The shires were divided into smaller jurisdictions _’hundreds’ with their own monthly court dealing with minor misdemeanours

Kings made laws and sent them to their senior representatives (ealdormen and sheriffs)

Cnut issued a code of laws

He began the practice of writing public letters to his subjects

William I _ William the Conqueror

• First Norman king
• 1066-1087

Domesday Book_First English census 1085-1086

• Christmas 1085_William launched his information campaign_The Domesday Book_in order to impose a ‘geld’ or land tax. The campaign was completed the following year

Henry II

• King of England, Anjou, Aquitaine, Gascony
• Married to Eleanor of Aquitaine
• Father of Richard the Lionheart and John
• King from 1154 to 1189

The administration of England under Henry

• Even though Henry spent a large part of his reign in France, he managed to rule England effectively through trusted viceroys
• He reasserted his authority over the barons who had grown powerful and independent under Henry II’s predecessors

Justice

• Henry introduced uniformity to the administration of justice throughout England
• Royal courts took the place of baronial courts for both civil and criminal trials
• The first legal text book was produced
• Trial by jury became the standard (and not trial by combat as was previously the case)

The church

• The church, a great land owner, had its own courts and its own laws and was answerable to the Pope and not the King
• Henry appointed his friend Thomas Becket, first as Canterbury thinking the church under Becket would do as Henry wanted
• This did not happen, and Henry had Becket killed in Canterbury Cathedral

King John (John Lackland)

• King from 1199 to 1216
• John I_ruled England in Richard’s absence
• Magna Carta was signed in 1215 in order to reduce the power of the king

Magna carta

• Stipuled the limits of the power of the monarch
• Laid out obligations of the barons
• Confirmed the liberties of the Church
• Granted rights to all freemen of the realm

→Clause 39

• No freeman shall be arrested or detained in prison, or deprived, or outlawed, or exiled in any way molested…except by the lawful judgement of his peers

→Clause 40

• To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay, right or justice

• Written by the barons because they disagree with what John was doing

• John has lost territories in Anjou and Normandy

Henry III

• Crowned at the age of 9
• William Marshall acted as Regent
• Magna Carta re-issued again in 1216, 1217 and with modifications in 1225
• After his majority he ruled without official ministers, but appointed his French relatives to important positions (he was married to Eleanor of Provence)
• Spent lot of money on unsuccessful military campaign in France
• Led to increased taxation and the barons demanded reform

Provisions of Oxford-1258

• Rule through a Council of fifthteen acting with the king
• Restored the post of chief minister
• Called for 3 parliaments a year (grand council of the nobility)

Provisions of Westminster-1259

• All offices of state should be held by Englishmen

Simon de Montfort

• Henry persuaded the Pope to absolve him of his oaths
• Civil war broke out in 1264
• Leader of the barons_Simon de Montfort (Henry ‘s brother in law)
• Victory of the barons

January 1265

• De Montfort summoned a parliament that included not just the nobility but also knights, burgesses from towns and representatives of the clergy
• A landmark in English constitutional history

August 1265

• Prince Edward, Henry III’s son defeated and killed Simon de Montfort at the battle of Evesham

Edward I

• Edward had been abroad for 2 years when his father died and took 2 years to come back to England
• During this time with no king present, the country was stable

1275_Edward’s first parliament

• Included elected knights and burgesses as well as peers
• Edward used a parliament to weaken the power of the nobility and the old feudal structures
• He issued numerous statutes in order to consolidate royal authority

Parliament-money

• It was only via Parliament that Edward could raise sufficient funds for his military campaigns
• His objective was to get all the other countries of the British Isles (Scotland, Wales and Ireland) to recognise him as their overlord

Wales

• Was annexed in 1284
• Edward’s son was Prince of Wales in Caernarfon in 1301

Scotland

• By the end of his reign, Edward had managed to take over Scotland but with great differences
• His son Edward II lost Scotland and Scotland was then independent from England until 1603  

Edward II was married to Isabella of France

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