War of the Scarlet and White Roses.
The emergence of the English Parliament
Norman conquest of England
Plan
Lecture 11.
England in the XI – XV centuries.
Political centralization is one of the most important processes in education single state. Despite the general historical prerequisites for this phenomenon, it certainly has individual characteristics, characteristic of each country.
In England, strengthening political power took place in three stages. The most important event that influenced history medieval England was its conquest by French-Norman feudal lords led by William, Duke of Normandy, who received the nickname “Conqueror”.
Since the Norman Conquest, the royal power of England turned out to be stronger than in other countries of the time. Western Europe. At first, this was determined by the presence of a large royal domain, the absence of compact large feudal estates, the peculiarities of the vassal system, and the political weakness of cities. Hostility towards the conqueror local population, which weakened only in the second half of XII, also encouraged the Norman elite to rally around the king. Taking advantage of this situation, Wilhelm I immediately created a relatively strong central government apparatus. The king's officials were placed at the head of the counties - sheriffs in charge of administration, court, collection of taxes and royal revenues. The taxes levied during the Anglo-Saxon period were retained and even increased, giving the king greater financial resources. Thus, the Norman Conquest significantly strengthened royal power, the political unity of the country and created the preconditions for the formation of a relatively centralized state in England.
The second stage of the political centralization of England can be considered further reforms of the 11th-12th centuries. Successors of William I, especially his younger son Henry I (1100-1135), continued to strengthen the central state apparatus: big role A permanent royal council (royal curia) began to play, which included senior officials - royal judges, persons in charge of the royal office, treasury and tax council (justiciar, chancellor, treasurer). The curia also includes the large feudal lords most loyal to the king. It combines judicial, administrative and financial functions.
Traveling judges became important - special “judge missions” that traveled around the country and controlled the activities of the administration, the administration of justice, and the collection of taxes in the counties.
Already under Henry I, a special body was allocated within the royal curia - the treasury, which in England was called the “Chamber of the Chessboard” 1 and was in charge of collecting royal revenues and checking the financial statements of sheriffs. Within the curia there is also a judicial department.
The reforms of Henry II played an important role in strengthening the centralization of the state. In an effort to expand the competence of the royal court at the expense of the seigneurial courts, he carried out a number of reforms. Its essence was that every free person could, for a certain fee, obtain permission to transfer his case from any patrimonial court to the royal one, where it was investigated by a jury, whereas in patrimonial courts trial was carried out as before with the help of “God’s judgment.”
The introduction of the jury attracted a huge influx of cases from the seigneurial curiae to the royal court. The expansion of the judicial functions of the royal curia increased the king's income. In progress judicial practice Royal courts began to gradually develop the so-called common law - a uniform royal law for the entire country, which gradually replaced local law, applied in seigneurial courts and courts of hundreds and counties.
Henry II also carried out military reform. It consisted in the fact that the military service of the feudal lords in favor of the king was limited to a certain, relatively short period. In return for the rest, and sometimes the entire service, the feudal lords had to pay a special sum of money - “shield money”. With this money, the king hired knights, which reduced his dependence on the barons' militia. In addition, the king ordered that every free person, in accordance with his property status, have certain weapons and, when called by the king, must appear to take part in the campaign. Thus, the ancient militia of the free peasantry (Anglo-Saxon “fyrd”), which had fallen into decay, was restored, as it were.
All these reforms strengthened royal power and contributed to the centralization of the feudal state.
Henry II's attempt to place church courts under state control was unsuccessful. On this basis, he clashed with the head of the English church, Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket. During the struggle, on the unspoken order of the king, Becket was killed (1170). The pope intervened in the matter, forcing Henry II, under threat of excommunication, to bring public repentance and abandon the reform of church courts.
Topic: England from the Norman Conquest to Freedom
Goals: describe the features government system during the Norman dynasty; consider the reforms of Henry II Plantagenet; show the formation of parliamentarism in England.
Lesson plan:
Checking homework
Explanation of new material
Reinforcing the material learned
Lesson summary
Homework
Checking homework.
Estates of the States General (international board)
Definition of the Estates General (international board).
Who was interested in the unification of France (oral answer)
Reasons for the unification of France (working with the whiteboard)
What successes have been achieved in the unification of France (oral answer)
Conflict between King Philip 4 and Pope Bonifocius 8 (oral response)
Estates General:
Activities of the Estates General.
From all of the above, let's conclude: what significance did unification have for France?
Explanation of new material #1
Norman Conquest. In 1066, the conquest of England by Duke William of Normandy began. Since he was related to the dying old dynasty, he laid claim to the royal throne.
He received the support of: the Pope; their vassals and knights from other regions of France.
William's troops crossed the English Channel and landed on south coast England. The battle of Hastings, which decided the fate of the country.
Battle of Hastings.
The Norman dynasty began to rule in England. William took away land holdings from most of the major feudal lords and distributed them to his knights.
What are the consequences of the Norman Conquest:
Strengthening royal power (all swore allegiance to William and became his vassals);
The beginning of the formation of a centralized state;
Strengthening feudal oppression (a census of land and population was carried out - the income of the population began to be more fully taken into account).
How did the Norman Conquest affect the development of England?
Explanation of new material No. 2
HenryIIand his reforms.
What can you say about Heinrich?II. (p. 161 – read)
During his reign, a lot of changes occurred in the country and a number of reforms were carried out:
creation of the royal court
Judicial reform
(bypassing the court of the local feudal lord);
court for the free -
12 jurors;
court for dependent peasants -
feudal court.
Introduction of shield money
Military reform:
(special contribution of knights to the king instead of campaigns);
The shield money contained:
people's militia, permanent mercenary army.
The power of sheriffs was formed locally -
Strengthening the power of sheriffs:
royal officials who
governed the county: the sheriff collected taxes,
pursued violation of order.
What significance did these reforms have for France?
Explanation of new material No. 3
Magna Carta.
After the death of Henry II, power passed to his eldest son, Richard I the Lionheart. After Richard's death, Henry II's youngest son, John the Landless, became king. In 1215 he signed Magna Carta- the great charter protected the nobility from the arbitrariness of the king, as well as knights and townspeople. However, having signed the Charter, John did not intend to fulfill its demands; having secured the support of the pope, he began a war against his opponents, but died in the midst of hostilities.
Working with a document (p.163.Semantic Reading Strategy )
Stage 1 – Before reading the text:
Read the title, highlight familiar and new terms in it.
Try to guess what the conversation will be about.
Stage 2 – While reading the text:
Find new words and determine their meanings using the dictionary.
Stage 3 – After reading the text:
Answer the questions for the test and comment on them;
The king's power was limited, and the guilty were subject to trial.
The charter was beneficial to free people, barons, and merchants.
They received freedom, they could defend it through the courts - a law appeared.
Explanation of new material No. 4
Parliament. John's son Henry III was a spineless man, under the influence of his wife. He generously granted land and income to foreigners, which caused discontent among the population.
In 1258, the Harrows assembled a royal council, called the "mad council". The barons put forward demands to the king and he was forced to accept the demands:
Without the barons, the king could not decide important matters;
Foreigners had to return the castles and estates received from the king.
Having achieved their goal, the barons did not take care of the knights and townspeople. In 1265, in order to strengthen his power, Count Monifort convened a meeting, which included major spiritual and secular feudal lords, representatives of knights and townspeople. This class was named parliament.
Functions of Parliament:
Participation in the creation of laws;
Tax resolution;
Control over the use of taxes;
Restrictions on the activities of barons.
In parliament, these two houses acted together, so they were able to pass a law that no tax would be collected without the consent of the House of Commons. When approving a new tax, parliament usually presented its demands to the king and extracted concessions from him. Gradually, parliament began to participate in changing laws. The English Parliament had great influence on state affairs. But the peasants did not participate in the work of parliament. Many fled from their masters - the fugitives gathered in detachments and attacked feudal lords, bishops and officials. People composed songs - ballads - about their adventures. The favorite hero of English ballads was the good robber - Robin Hood.
Is there a difference between Parliament and the Estates General?
Calculate how many years the English Parliament has existed?
Let's highlight what qualities did Robin Hood have?
Consolidation of the studied material:
Tic-tac-toe game
| 1. the Norman conquest began in 1066 - X 2. William I was not related to the English dynasty - 0 3. Henry II did not carry out any reforms – 0 4. Under Henry II, “shield money” appeared - X 5. Charter translated from Latin means letter - X 6. Parliament consisted only of the House of Lords - 0 7. The House of Lords and the House of Commons acted separately - 0 8. Peasants did not participate in the work of parliament - X 9. The favorite hero of English ballads was the good robber - Robin Hood - H. | |
Lesson summary:
What new did you learn in class today?
The formation of a feudal state in England is associated with numerous conquests of the British Isles by tribes of Germanic and Scandinavian origin. The Roman conquest left behind almost only architectural and linguistic monuments (names of towns and cities). After the departure of the Romans in the 5th century. AD The Celtic tribes inhabiting England were invaded by the Germanic tribes of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes, who pushed the Celtic population to the outskirts of the island (Scotland, Wales, Cornwall) - In the 7th century. The Anglo-Saxons adopted Christianity and formed seven early non-feudal kingdoms (Wessex, Sussex, Kent, Mercia, etc.), which in the 9th century. under the leadership of Wessex they formed the Anglo-Saxon state - England. At the beginning of the 11th century. the English throne was captured by the Danes, who ruled until the return of the Anglo-Saxon dynasty in the person of Edward the Confessor (1042) -
In 1066, the ruler of Normandy, Duke William, having the blessing of the Pope and the French king, landed an army on the island and, having defeated the Anglo-Saxon militia, became English king. The Norman Conquest had a great influence on the further history of the English state, which developed largely in the same way as the medieval states of the continent. At the same time, a distinctive feature of its evolution since the 11th century. became early centralization, the absence of feudal fragmentation and fast development public principles of royal power.
The main stages in the development of the English feudal state can be identified:
1) the period of the Anglo-Saxon early feudal monarchy in the 9th-11th centuries;
2) the period of centralized seigneurial monarchy (XI-XII centuries) and civil wars to limit royal power (XII century);
3) the period of estate-representative monarchy (second half of the XIII-XV centuries);
4) the period of absolute monarchy (late 15th - mid-17th centuries).
§ 1. Anglo-Saxon early feudal monarchy
The formation of feudal society. The formation of a feudal society among the Germanic tribes in Britain occurred at a slow pace, which is to a certain extent due to the conservation of the tribal customs of the Anglo-Saxons on the island and the persistent influence of Scandinavian traditions. In the truths of the VI-VII centuries. Among the population there are tribal nobility (erls), free community members (kerls), semi-free ones (letes) and domestic servants-slaves. Priests and the king are also mentioned, and the bishop's wergeld was higher than the king's wergeld. In the 8th century The practice of individual patronage spread, when a person had to look for a patron (glaford) and did not have the right to leave him without his permission. In monuments of the 7th-9th centuries. special mention is made of the Thane warriors, who included both earls and kaerls, who were required to carry military service in favor of the king. The only criterion for entering this category was the possession of a land plot of a certain size (5 guide). Thus, the boundaries between different social groups of free people were not closed and sharply limited: an English peasant and even a descendant of a freedman could become a thane, having received a plot of land from a lord or king. According to historians, almost a quarter of the English thanes of this period were descended from peasants and artisans.
At the same time, the development of relations of dominance and subordination continues. In the 10th century everyone who was unable to answer for themselves in court was ordered to find themselves a glaford (forced commendation). Any person, before turning to the king for justice, had to turn to his glaford. The life of the lord was declared inviolable for both earls and caerls. At the same time, the institution of guarantee is being strengthened - his glaford and a certain number of free people (no more than 12 people) were guaranteed for any person.
By the 11th century. The land services of both the thanes and the dependent peasantry were determined. The thanes had the right to own land based on a royal act and had to perform three main duties: to participate in the campaign, in the construction of fortifications and in repairing bridges. In addition, for many landowners, other services could be introduced by order of the king: the establishment of protected royal parks, equipping ships, coastal protection, church tithes, etc. Gradually the thanes formed a military class.
From the impoverished caerls, numerous categories of dependent peasantry were formed - both with and without fixed duties. Duties were determined by the custom of the estate. After the death of the peasant, Glaford received all his property.
Slave labor of the conquered population continued to be widespread. The Church condemned arbitrariness and cruel treatment of the unfree: a slave who worked on Sunday at the direction of his master became free.
The English clergy, led by the Archbishop of Canterbury, enjoyed a more independent position in relation to papal authority than the church on the continent. The service was held at local language. Representatives of the clergy participated in resolving secular affairs in local and royal assemblies.
The English Church was a large landowner - it owned up to one third of all lands. At the same time, clergy were not excluded from the national system of taxes and duties.
In general, by the time of the Norman Conquest, the processes of feudalization of Anglo-Saxon society, the formation of feudal land ownership, and the vassal-fief hierarchy were still far from completed. There was a significant layer of free peasantry, especially in the east of the country (the “area of Danish law”).
Anglo-Saxon state. Despite the rise and strengthening of royal power during the Anglo-Saxon period, the attitude towards the king as a military leader and the principle of elections when replacing the throne remain. Gradually, however, the monarch asserted his right of supreme ownership of the land, the monopoly right to mint coins, duties, and to receive natural supplies from all over the world. free population, for military service by the free. The Anglo-Saxons had a direct tax in favor of the king - the so-called “Danish money”, and a fine was levied for refusing to participate in the campaign. The royal court gradually became the center of government of the country, and the royal associates became officials of the state.
At the same time, legal monuments of the 9th-11th centuries. already indicate a certain tendency towards the transfer to large landowners of the rights and powers of royal power: the right to judge their people, collect fines and fees, and collect militia on their territory. Powerful thanes were often appointed as royal representatives - managers in administrative districts.
The highest state body in the Anglo-Saxon era was the Witanagemot - the council of the Witans, the “wise”. This collection of worthy, “rich” men included the king himself, the highest clergy, secular nobility, including the so-called royal thanes, who received a personal invitation from the king. Under Edward the Confessor, a significant group of Normans also sat in the Witanagemot, receiving lands and positions at court. In addition, the kings of Scotland and Wales and electors from the city of London were invited.
All important state affairs were decided “with the advice and consent” of this assembly. Its main functions are the election of kings and the highest court. Royal power in the 9th-10th centuries. managed to somewhat limit the Witanagemot's desire to interfere in the most important issues of social policy - in particular in the distribution of land.
Local government in England was largely based on the principles of self-government. The laws of the Anglo-Saxon king Æthelstan (10th century) and his followers mention the lower units of local government - hundreds and tens. The hundred, led by a centurion, was governed by a general assembly that met approximately once a month. Hundreds were divided into ten dozens - families headed by a foreman, whose main task was maintaining law and order and paying taxes. In hundreds of people's assemblies, all local, including judicial, cases were considered, and dozens were checked twice a year to make sure that every ten was bound by mutual responsibility, and all offenses were known and properly presented to the authorities. Around the same time, the country was divided, mainly for military purposes, into 32 large districts (counties). The center of the county was, as a rule, a fortified city. County Assembly from the end of the 10th century. met twice a year to discuss the most important local matters, including the civil and criminal courts. All free people of the district and, above all, secular and church nobility were supposed to participate in it. Cities and ports had their own assemblies, which later turned into city and merchant courts. There were also village assemblies. Tens, hundreds and counties did not form a clear hierarchical system and were controlled largely autonomously from each other.
The head of the county was, as a rule, an ealdorman, appointed by the king with the consent of the Witanagemot from representatives of the local nobility. His role was mainly to lead the county assembly and its military forces. Gradually, in the management of the hundred and the county, the role of the king’s personal representative, the gerefa, increases.
Gerefa - the royal ministerial - was appointed by the king from the middle layer of the serving nobility and, like the count of the Franks, could be the manager of a certain district or city. By the 10th century Gerefa gradually acquires important police and judicial powers, controlling the timely receipt of taxes and court fines into the treasury.
Thus, already in the Anglo-Saxon era, a mechanism of centralized bureaucratic management began to take shape locally through officials of administrative districts, accountable to the king and acting on the basis of written orders under the royal seal.
§ 2. The Norman Conquest and its consequences. Features of the seigneurial monarchy
The Norman conquest of England led to the deepening feudalization of English society.
The basis of the feudal economy in Norman England was the manor - the totality of land holdings of an individual feudal lord. The position of the peasants of the manor, subject to the court of their lord, was determined by manorial customs. More than half of the hundreds of courts turned into manorial courts - private curiae of feudal lords. At the same time, William the Conqueror, using both his position and English political traditions, pursued policies that contributed to the centralization of the state and strengthening the foundations of royal power.
A significant part of the land confiscated from the Anglo-Saxon nobility became part of the royal domain, and the rest was distributed between the Norman and Anglo-Saxon feudal lords not in continuous tracts, but in separate areas among other holdings. The conquerors also brought with them strict “forest law,” which made it possible to declare significant forest areas as royal reserves and strictly punish violations of their boundaries. Moreover, the king declared himself the supreme owner of all the land and demanded that all free landowners take an oath of allegiance to him. Such an oath made feudal lords of all ranks vassals of the king, obliged to him primarily for military service. The principle “my vassal’s vassal is not my vassal,” characteristic of the continent, was not established in England. All feudal lords were divided into two main categories: direct vassals of the crown, which were usually large landowners (counts, barons), and second-level vassals (sub-vassals), consisting of a mass of medium and small landowners. A significant part of the clergy performed the same services in favor of the king as secular vassals.
Thus, the feudal lords in England did not acquire the independence and immunities that they enjoyed on the continent. The king's right of supreme ownership of land, which gave him the opportunity to redistribute plots of land and intervene in the relations of landowners, served to establish the principle of the supremacy of royal justice in relation to the courts of feudal lords of all ranks.
For the purpose of tax policy and to identify the social composition of the country's population, a census of lands and inhabitants was carried out in 1086, the results of which are known as the “Book of the Last Judgment.” According to the census, most of the peasants were enslaved and acted as personally unfree, hereditary holders of land from the lord (villans). However, in the "area of Danish law" ( East Anglia) and in some other localities, a layer of free peasantry and sokmen close to them in position remained, to whom only the judicial power of the lord of the manor extended.
Free peasant population in the XI-XII centuries. was under the influence conflicting factors. On the one hand, royal power contributed to the enslavement of the lower categories of the free peasantry, turning them into villans. On the other hand, the development of the market at the end of the 12th century. led to the emergence of more prosperous peasant holders, whom the royal authorities considered as political allies in the fight against the separatism of large feudal lords. Royal courts often protected such holders from the arbitrariness of the lords. Formally, the same protection by royal “common” law of any freehold (knightly, urban, peasant) contributed to the end of the 12th century. smoothing out legal and social differences between the top of the free peasantry, townspeople, and petty knighthood. These layers were also brought together by a certain commonality of their economic interests.
The relative unity of the state and connections with Normandy and France contributed to the development of trade. With the strengthening of central power, English cities did not receive the same autonomy as in the south of the continent or in Germany, and were increasingly forced to buy royal charters, which contained only some trading privileges.
Centralization of state power. Reforms of Henry II. The measures of the Norman kings contributed to state centralization and the preservation of state unity, despite the deepening feudalization of society. However, until the end of the 12th century. centralization was ensured mainly through the seigneurial, private rights of the Anglo-Norman kings, and depended on their ability to act as the authoritative head of the feudal-hierarchical system and the local church. The judicial and fiscal rights of the crown in relation to its subjects were only the rights of the supreme lord in relation to its vassals and were based on the oath of allegiance. They were regulated to a large extent by feudal custom, although they had already begun to outgrow its framework.
Accordingly, they could be challenged at any time by disgruntled vassals. Evidence of this is the continuous in the XI-XII centuries. revolts of barons accusing the crown of abusing their seigneurial rights. From the moment of the Norman conquest and throughout the 12th century. the kings were forced to constantly confirm their adherence to the primordial customs and liberties of the Anglo-Saxons, and to grant “chartas of liberty” to the barons and the church. These charters contained provisions on peace, on the eradication of “bad” and support for ancient, “fair” customs, on the crown’s obligations to respect the privileges and liberties of feudal lords, churches and cities. However, from the middle of the 12th century. attempts to bind royal power within the framework of feudal custom and one’s own oath began to encounter the strengthening of public principles in public administration.
Until the second half XII V. There were no professional administrative and judicial bodies in England. The center of control - the royal court (curia) - was constantly moving and was absent from England for a long time, since the king more often lived in Normandy. In its expanded composition, the royal curia was a collection of direct vassals and associates of the king. During the absence of the king, England was actually ruled by the chief justiciar - clergyman, expert in canon and Roman law. His assistant was the chancellor, who headed the secretariat. The central government was represented locally by “traveling” envoys and sheriffs from local magnates, who often escaped the control of the center. Their guidance came down mainly to sending them executive orders (writ) from the king's office with instructions to correct certain violations of which the crown became aware. Most legal cases were decided by local (hundred, count) assemblies and manorial courts, which used archaic procedures such as ordeals and judicial combat. Royal justice was thus of an exceptional nature and could be granted only in case of refusal of justice in local courts or special application for "royal favor". There is a known case when one baron, a direct vassal of the crown, spent almost five years and a huge amount of money at that time in search of the king to bring him a complaint in a civil case.
The strengthening of the prerogatives of the crown, bureaucratization and professionalization of the state apparatus, which made centralization in England irreversible, are mainly associated with the activities of Henry 11 (1154-1189). The reforms of Henry II, which contributed to the creation of a nationwide bureaucratic system of administration and court, not related to the seigneurial rights of the crown, can be roughly reduced to three main areas:
1) bringing into the system and giving a clearer structure to royal justice (improving the forms of the process, creating a system of royal traveling justice and permanent central courts competing with traditional and medieval courts);
2) reforming the army based on a combination of the principles of the militia system and mercenarism;
3) establishment of new types of taxation of the population. The strengthening of the judicial, military and financial powers of the crown was formalized by a whole series of royal decrees - the Great Assize, the Clarendon Assize (1166), the Northampton Assize (1176), the Assize “On Arms” (1181), etc.
When Henry II restructured the judicial-administrative system, the Anglo-Saxon, Norman and church regulations that were applied in practice from time to time were used. -The practice of traveling government, typical of the early Middle Ages, took on a more permanent and orderly character in England. Since that time, the activity of traveling courts - traveling sessions of royal judges - has been firmly established in England. If in 1166 only two judges were appointed to bypass the counties, then in 1176 six bypass districts were organized and the number of traveling judges increased to two to three dozen. The appointment of traveling judges was made by royal order to begin a general judicial circuit. The same order vested judges with extraordinary powers (not only judicial, but also administrative and financial). During the judicial detour, all claims within the jurisdiction of the crown were examined, criminals were arrested, and abuses of local officials were investigated.
At the same time, the system of royal orders was streamlined and a special procedure was legitimized for the investigation of cases of land disputes and offenses. This procedure was granted to all freemen as a "privilege" and a "blessing" applied only in the royal courts. To begin this procedure, it was necessary to purchase a special order from the royal office - a writ of rignt, without which a civil or criminal claim could not be brought in the royal courts. After this, the investigation was to be conducted by traveling judges or sheriffs, assisted by a jury of twelve full citizens of the hundred, who were sworn as witnesses or accusers. This order of investigation created the opportunity for a more objective resolution of cases compared to ordeals and judicial duels in the courts of feudal lords. The gradually developed system of royal orders led to the limitation of the jurisdiction of the manorial curiae in claims for land ownership. As for offences, even a villan could file a criminal claim in the royal court. Sheriffs could, regardless of the rights of feudal lords, enter their possessions in order to capture criminals and verify compliance with mutual responsibility.
Thus, in the second half of the 12th century. Henry 11 created a special mechanism of royal justice in civil and criminal cases, which increased the authority and expanded the jurisdiction of the royal courts.
In connection with the introduction of improved judicial procedures from the middle of the 12th century. The structure of competence of the highest body of central government - the royal curia - is being streamlined. In the process of specialization of the function and the separation of a number of separate departments within the curia, the office headed by the chancellor, the central (“personal”) court of the king and the treasury were finally formed. As part of the “personal” royal court, where permanent spiritual and secular judges have been appointed since 1175 and which has a permanent residence in Westminster, the Court of Common Pleas is gradually allocated. This court could sit without the participation of the king and did not have to follow him on his travels. The activities of the Court of Common Pleas played a decisive role in the creation of the “common rule” of England.
The situation was more complicated in the relationship between royal power and the English church, between secular and ecclesiastical justice. After the Norman Conquest, ecclesiastical and secular courts were separated, and ecclesiastical courts began to consider all spiritual and some secular matters (marriages, wills, etc.). However, the royal power maintained control over the church. The Norman kings themselves appointed bishops, issued church decrees for England and Normandy, and received income from vacant bishoprics. However, as papal power and the Catholic center in Rome strengthened, the English crown began to increasingly encounter resistance from the church, and the issue of “church freedoms” in England became one of the reasons for future dramatic conflicts between ecclesiastical and secular authorities.
Under Henry 1, a concordat with the pope was concluded in Normandy, according to which, as later in Germany, the spiritual investiture of the canons passed to the pope, while the secular investiture remained with the king.
Henry II, in an attempt to increase the crown's influence over the local church, issued the Clarendon Constitutions in 1164. According to them, the king was recognized as the supreme judge in cases considered by church courts. All disputes over ecclesiastical appointments were to be resolved in the royal court. Royal jurisdiction was also established in relation to investigations of church property, in claims for debts, in the pronouncement and execution of sentences against clergy accused of serious crimes. Without the consent of the king, none of his vassals and officials could be excommunicated from the church. The principles of the king's secular investiture and the possibility of his intervention in the election of the highest spiritual hierarchs by the church were confirmed. However, under strong pressure from the pope and the local clergy, the king was forced to abandon a number of provisions of these constitutions.
After the Norman Conquest, the structure of local government did not change. The division of the country into hundreds and counties has been preserved. Sheriffs became representatives of the royal administration in the counties, and in hundreds - their assistants, bailiffs. The sheriff had the highest military, financial and police power in the county, and was the main executor of the orders of the royal office.
Sheriffs carried out their administrative and judicial functions in close cooperation with meetings of counties and hundreds, convening them and presiding over sessions. These institutions remained in England in the subsequent period, although they gradually lost their independence and increasingly turned into an instrument of the central government in the localities. Despite the removal of most civil actions from their judicial jurisdiction, their role has increased somewhat in connection with the appointment of persons participating in criminal investigations (accusatory juries). Popular participation in royal proceedings became a characteristic feature of the English system of local government.
The military reform of Henry II consisted of extending conscription to the entire free population of the country: any free person - feudal lord, peasant, city dweller - had to have weapons corresponding to his property status. Having its own equipment, the army was nevertheless maintained at the expense of the state treasury, revenues to which were significantly increased.
First of all, the replacement of personal military service with the payment of “shield money” was legalized, which began to be collected not only from feudal lords, but even from the unfree. This measure opened up the possibility for the king to maintain a hired knightly militia. In addition to the practice of collecting “shield money” from feudal lords and a direct tax (talya) from cities, a tax on movable property was gradually established.
The military and financial reforms of Henry II made it possible to sharply increase the number of troops loyal to the king and undermine the leadership of the army on the part of the largest feudal lords, as well as to obtain funds for the maintenance of professional officials. In addition, the administration of justice remained a very profitable budget item.
§ 3. Estate-representative monarchy
Features of the class structure. In the 13th century the balance of social and political forces in the country continued to change in favor of strengthening the principles of centralization and concentration of all power in the hands of the monarch.
As direct vassals of the king, the barons bore numerous financial and personal obligations to the overlord, in the event of malicious failure to fulfill which could result in the confiscation of their lands.
During the XIII century. The immunity rights of large feudal lords were also significantly limited. The Statute of Gloucester of 1278 proclaimed the judicial verification of the immune privileges of English feudal lords. In general noble title in England was not accompanied by any tax and judicial privileges. Feudal lords paid taxes formally on an equal basis with other free people and were subject to the jurisdiction of the same courts. However, the political weight of the English high nobility was significant: it was an indispensable participant in the work of the highest advisory and some other bodies under the king. In the 13th century the major feudal lords of England constantly waged a fierce struggle among themselves and with the king for land and sources of income, for political influence in the country.
As a result of subinfeudation and fragmentation of large baronies, the number of medium and small feudal lords increases, reaching by the end of the 13th century. not less than 3/4 ruling class England. These layers of feudal lords especially needed to strengthen state centralization and rallied around the king.
The development of commodity-money relations had a noticeable impact on the position of the peasantry. The stratification of the peasantry is intensifying, and the number of personally free peasant elites is growing. Freeholder peasants who became rich often acquired knighthood, becoming close to the lower strata of the feudal lords.
Serf peasantry - villans - in the 13th century. remained powerless. The exclusion of villans from all the privileges of the “common law”, formally guaranteed to all free people, was called the principle of “exclusion of villeins”. The owner of all property belonging to the villan was recognized as his lord. At the same time, legal theory and legislation of the 13th century. The villans recognized the right to a criminal claim in the royal court, even against their master. This fact reflected the objective processes of the development of feudalism and certain interests of the royal authorities, which were interested in the nationwide taxation of the villans along with the free population (in the payment of all local taxes, tags, and taxes on movable property). From the end of the 14th century. The villans gradually buy out personal freedom, corvée disappears, and cash becomes the main form of feudal rent.
Among the townspeople, as well as among other segments of the population, in the XIII-XIV centuries. social differentiation is intensifying, which went in parallel with the consolidation of the urban class throughout the country. The cities of England, with the exception of London, were small. City corporations, like the city as a whole, did not receive the same independence here as on the European continent.
Thus, the processes of state centralization in England (13th century) were accelerated by the presence of an ever-increasing layer of free peasantry, the economic and legal convergence of knighthood, townspeople and the wealthy peasantry and, on the contrary, the strengthening of differences between the top of the feudal lords and the rest of their layers. The general economic and political interests of the knighthood and the entire freeholder mass contributed to the establishment of their political union. The increasing economic and political role of these layers ensured their subsequent political recognition and participation in the newly formed parliament.
Magna Carta. By the beginning of the 13th century. In England, objective prerequisites are emerging for the transition to a new form of feudal state - a monarchy with class representation. However, the royal power, which had strengthened its position, did not show any readiness to involve in resolving issues state life representatives of the ruling classes. On the contrary, under the successors of Henry II, who suffered failures in foreign policy, extreme manifestations of monarchical power increased, and the administrative and financial arbitrariness of the king and his officials intensified. In this regard, recognition of the right of estates to participate in resolving important political and financial issues occurred in England during acute socio-political conflicts. They took the form of a movement to limit the abuses of central power. This movement was led by the barons, who were periodically joined by knighthood and a mass of freeholders, dissatisfied with the excessive exactions and extortion of royal officials. Social character Anti-royal protests were a feature of the political conflicts of the 13th century. compared to the baronial revolts of the 11th-12th centuries. It is no coincidence that these powerful performances in the 13th century. were accompanied by the adoption of documents that received great historical meaning.
The main milestones of this struggle were the conflict of 1215, which ended with the adoption of the Magna Carta, and the civil war of 1258-1267, which led to the emergence of parliament.
The Magna Carta of 1215 was adopted as a result of the action of the barons with the participation of knighthood and townspeople against King John the Landless. Officially in England this document is considered the first constitutional act. However, the historical significance of the Charter can only be assessed by taking into account real conditions development of England at the end of the 12th - beginning of the 13th centuries. Reinforcing the demands and interests of heterogeneous and even opposing, but temporarily united forces, the Charter is a contradictory document that does not go beyond the feudal agreement between the king and the top of the opposition.
Most of the articles of the Charter concern the vassal-feudal relations between the king and the barons and seek to limit the arbitrariness of the king in the use of his seigneurial rights associated with land holdings. These articles regulate the procedure for guardianship, obtaining relief, debt collection, etc. (Art. 2-II, etc.). Yes, Art. 2 of the Charter made the determination of the amount of relief from the king's vassals dependent on the size of the landholding passed on by inheritance. Lenin guardian under Art. 4 was supposed to receive moderate income for his own benefit and not cause damage to either people or things of the warded property. Concessions to large feudal lords were also made in articles that spoke of reserved royal forests and rivers (Articles 44, 47, 48).
At the same time, among the purely “baronial” articles of the Charter, those that were of a general political nature stand out. The most overtly political claims of the barony are expressed in Art. 61. It traces the desire to create a baronial oligarchy by establishing a committee of 25 barons with control functions in relation to the king. Despite a number of reservations (about the control procedure, references to the “community of the whole earth”), this article directly sanctioned the possibility of a baronial war against the central government. Articles 12 and 14 provided for the creation of a council of the kingdom, limiting the king's power on one of the important financial issues - the collection of "shield money". Accordingly, the composition of this “general” council (Article 14) was determined only from the king’s direct vassals. It is characteristic that this council had to decide the issue of collecting feudal assistance from the city of London. The king could continue to collect other types of taxes and fees, including the heaviest collection from cities - the tag. Articles 21 and 34 were intended to weaken the judicial prerogatives of the crown. Article 21 provided for the jurisdiction of counts and barons before a court of "peers", removing them from the jurisdiction of royal jury courts. Article 34 prohibited the use of one type of writ (an order for the immediate restoration of the plaintiff's rights or the appearance of the defendant in the royal court), thereby limiting the king's intervention in disputes between large feudal lords and their vassals over freeholds. This was motivated in the Charter by concern for the preservation of “free people” of their judicial curiae. However, the term “free man” is clearly used here in order to disguise a purely baronial demand. Indeed, in the conditions of England in the 13th century. Only a few major immunologists could be the owners of the judicial curia.
A much more modest place is occupied by articles reflecting the interests of other parties to the conflict. The interests of chivalry are expressed in the most general form in Art. 16 and 60, which speaks of bearing for knightly flax only required service and that the provisions of the Charter relating to the relations of the king with his vassals apply also to the relations of the barons with their vassals.
The Charter says very sparingly about the rights of citizens and merchants. Article 13 confirms the ancient liberties and customs of the cities, Art. 41 allows all merchants free and safe movement and trade without imposing illegal duties on them. Finally, Art. 35 establishes the unity of weights and measures, which is important for the development of trade.
A large group of articles aimed at streamlining the activities of the royal judicial and administrative apparatus was of great importance. This group of articles (Articles 18-20, 38, 39, 40, 45, etc.) confirms and consolidates those that have developed since the 12th century. judicial, administrative and legal institutions, limits the arbitrariness of royal officials in the center and locally. So, according to Art. 38 officials were not allowed to hold anyone accountable based solely on an oral statement and without credible witnesses. In Art. 45 the king promised not to appoint persons to the posts of judges, constables, sheriffs and bailiffs knowledgeable laws countries and those who do not want to implement them voluntarily. The Charter also prohibited in Art. 40 collect arbitrary and disproportionate court fees. Particularly famous is Art. 39 Charter. It prohibited the arrest, imprisonment, dispossession, outlawry, exile, or "dispossession in any manner" of free people except by the lawful judgment of their peers and the law of the land. In the XIV century. Art. 39 of the Charter was repeatedly clarified and edited by Parliament as guaranteeing the inviolability of the person of all free people.
Thus, the Great Charter reflected the balance of socio-political forces in England at the beginning of the 13th century, and above all the compromise between the king and the barons. The political articles of the Charter indicate that the barons sought to preserve some of their immunities and privileges by placing the exercise of certain prerogatives of the central government under their control or limiting their use in relation to the feudal elite.
The fate of the Charter clearly demonstrated the futility of the baronial claims and the irreversibility of the process of state centralization in England. A few months after the end of the conflict, John the Landless, relying on the support of the pope, renounced compliance with the Charter. Subsequently, the kings repeatedly confirmed the Charter (1216, 1217, 1225, 1297), but more than 20 articles were removed from it, including the 12th, 14th and 61st.
Of the political institutions provided for by the "baronial" articles of the Charter, more or less established Big tip kingdom, which had advisory functions and consisted of large feudal magnates. IN mid-XIII V. it was often called "parliament". However, such a “parliament” was neither class-based nor representative institutions.
Formation of parliament and expansion of its competence. The conflict in 1258-1267 was more complex and important in its political results. In 1258, at the Council of Oxford, the armed barons, again taking advantage of the discontent of large sections of the free population royal policy, forced the king to accept the so-called Oxford Provinces. They provided for the transfer of all executive power in the country to the Council of 15 barons. Along with the executive Council, the Grand Council of Magnates, consisting of 27 members, was to meet three times a year or more often to decide important issues. Thus, this was a new attempt to establish a baronial oligarchy, which had failed in 1215. Those that followed in 1259 Westminster provisions provided for some guarantees for small landowners against arbitrariness on the part of the lords. However, the knighthood's demands for participation in the central government of the country were not satisfied. Under these conditions, part of the barons led by Simon de Montfort, who were looking for a stronger alliance with the knighthood, broke away from the oligarchic group and united with the knighthood and the cities into an independent camp opposing the king and his supporters.
The split in the opposition camp gave the king the opportunity to refuse to comply with the Oxford provisions. During the civil war that began in 1263, de Montfort's forces managed to defeat the king's supporters. In 1264, de Montfort became the supreme ruler of the state and implemented the requirement of knighthood to participate in government. The most important result of the civil war was the convening of the first estate-representative institution in the history of England - parliament (1265). Representatives from the knights and the most significant cities were invited to it, along with the barons and spiritual feudal lords.
By the end of the 13th century. The royal power finally realized the need for a compromise, a political agreement with feudal lords of all ranks and the top citizens in order to establish political and social stability. The consequence of this agreement was the completion of the formation of the body of class representation. In 1295, a “model” parliament was convened, the composition of which served as a model for subsequent parliaments in England. In addition to the large secular and spiritual feudal lords personally invited by the king, it included two representatives from 37 counties (knights) and two representatives from cities.
The creation of parliament entailed a change in the form of the feudal state, the emergence of a monarchy with class representation. The balance of socio-political forces within and outside parliament determined the features of both the structure and competence of the English medieval parliament. Until the middle of the 14th century. The English estates sat together and then split into two houses. At the same time, the knights from the counties began to sit together with representatives of the cities in one chamber (the House of Commons) and separated from the largest magnates, who formed the upper house (the House of Lords). The English clergy was not a special element of class representation. The higher clergy sat together with the barons, and the lower - in the House of Commons. Initially, there was no electoral qualification for parliamentary elections. The Statute of 1430 established that freeholders who received at least 40 shillings of annual income could participate in county assemblies to elect representatives to parliament.
At first, the ability of parliament to influence the policies of royal power was insignificant. Its functions were limited to determining the amount of taxes on movables and submitting collective petitions addressed to the king. True, in 1297, Edward 1 confirmed the Magna Carta in parliament, as a result of which the Statute “on the impermissibility of taxes” appeared. It stated that the imposition of taxes, benefits and extortions would not take place without the general consent of the clergy and secular magnates, knights, townspeople and other free people of the kingdom. However, the Statute contained reservations that allowed the king to levy pre-existing fees.
Gradually, the parliament of medieval England acquired three most important powers: the right to participate in the publication of laws, the right to decide on collections from the population in favor of the royal treasury, and the right to exercise control over senior officials and act in some cases as a special judicial body.
The right of legislative initiative of parliament arose from the practice of submitting collective parliamentary petitions to the king. Most often they contained a request to prohibit the violation of old laws or to issue new ones. The king could grant Parliament's request or reject it. However, during the XIV century. it was established that no law should be passed without the consent of the king and the houses of parliament. In the 15th century the rule was established that parliamentary petitions should take the form of bills, which were called “bills”. This is how the concept of law (statute) took shape as an act emanating from the king, the House of Lords and the House of Commons.
During the XIV century. The competence of parliament in financial matters was gradually consolidated. The statute of 1340 declared without any reservations the inadmissibility of levying direct taxes without the consent of Parliament, and the statutes of 1362 and 1371 extended this provision to indirect taxes. In the 15th century Parliament began to specify the purpose of the subsidies it provided and seek control over their spending.
In an effort to subordinate public administration to its control, parliament from the end of the 14th century. gradually introduced the procedure impeachment. It consisted of the House of Commons bringing before the House of Lords, as the highest court of the land, charges against one or another royal official for abuse of power. In addition, in the 15th century. Parliament's right to directly declare certain abuses criminal was established. At the same time, a special act was issued, approved by the king and called the “bill of disgrace.”
Throughout the XIII century. There is also a development of a new executive body - Royal Council. It began to represent a narrow group of the king's closest advisers, in whose hands the highest executive and judicial powers were concentrated. This group usually included the chancellor, treasurer, judges, ministers closest to the king, mostly from the knightly strata. The Great Council of the largest vassals of the crown lost its functions, which were transferred to parliament.
Development of the local government and justice system. During the period of the estate-representative monarchy, the role of the old courts and county assemblies in local government was reduced to a minimum, and their functions were transferred to new officials and new types of traveling courts, the competence of which was steadily expanding.
County assemblies at the end of the XIII-XV centuries. convened mainly to elect representatives to parliament and local officials. They could consider disputes over claims whose amounts did not exceed 40 shillings.
In the 13th century the head of the royal administration continued to be the sheriff, and in the hundred - his assistant, bailiff. In addition to them, local representatives of the royal administration were coroners and constables, elected in local assemblies. Coroners carried out investigations in cases of violent death, constables were given police functions. Over time, the enormous power of the sheriff began to cause distrust from the crown, which feared the “feudalization” of this position, turning it into a hereditary one. It's no coincidence that after internecine wars in the 13th century the position of sheriff became short-term and subject to control by the treasury. Article 24 of the Magna Carta of 1215 prohibited sheriffs from trying crown suits, and from that time on the office of sheriff began to gradually lose its importance, at least in the field of justice.
From the end of the 13th century. the practice of appointing from local landowners in the counties so-called guardians of the peace, or justices of the peace. Initially they had police and judicial powers, but over time they began to perform the most important functions of local government instead of sheriffs. By statute of 1390, eight justices of the peace were appointed to each county. Justices of the peace controlled food prices, monitored the uniformity of weights and measures, the export of wool, supervised the implementation of laws on workers (1349 and 1351), on heretics (1414) and even set wages (statute 1427 of the year). The property qualification for occupying this position was 20 pounds sterling annual income.
The judicial competence of magistrates included the trial of criminal cases, except murders and especially serious crimes. Proceedings were held at sessions of justices of the peace, convened four times a year. These meetings were called "quarter sessions" courts.
In the XIII-XIV centuries. The number of royal courts of various ranks is growing, and their specialization is increasing. However, the judicial and administrative functions of many institutions have not yet been separated. The highest courts of "common law" in England during this period were Court of Queen's Bench, Court of Common Pleas And Treasury Court.
The Treasury Court, which was the first to record its hearings (back in the 20s of the 12th century), was mainly specialized in settling financial disputes, and especially disputes relating to the debts of the treasury and the crown.
The Court of Common Pleas, or "common bench," heard most private civil actions and became the primary court of common law. All debates in court were recorded and reproduced for the information of interested parties and from the 14th century. published regularly. This court was also the place of practice for all law students.
The Court of Common Pleas also supervised the local and manorial courts. By order from the Chancery, complaints could be transferred to this court from any other lower court, and thanks to special writs, the Court of Common Pleas could correct judicial errors of other courts.
From the king's personal Court, the Court of the King's Bench was gradually formed, which sat until the end of the 14th century. only in the presence of the king and his closest advisers. It became the highest appellate and supervisory authority for all other courts, including "common pleas", but over time became specialized in criminal appeals.
With the development of civil circulation, the Lord Chancellor's Court who resolved issues “fairly.” The activities of this court were associated with the emergence of new forms of process and rules of law (equity).
It became more branched and diverse in the XIII-XIV centuries. system of royal traveling justice.
Since the procedure for general judicial detours was cumbersome and expensive, in the 13th century. The frequency of general inspections was established to be no more than once every seven years. In the XIV century. general detours lost their importance and gave way to more specialized traveling commissions, among which are the Assize Courts (for the consideration of disputes over the preferential right of ownership of fief), the commission for cases of rebellion and the commission for the general inspection of prisons.
Grand and petty juries play a significant role in the administration of justice. Big, or indictment, jury took shape in connection with the procedure for questioning indicting juries by traveling courts. It became the body for bringing to justice. There were 23 members in total on the jury. The unanimous opinion of 12 jury members was enough to approve the indictment against the suspect.
Small jury, consisting of 12 jurors, became an integral part of the English court. Members of this jury participated in the consideration of the case on the merits and rendered a verdict that required the unanimity of the jury. According to the law of 1239, the qualification for jurors was set at 40 shillings of annual income.
Jurisdiction of manorial courts in the 13th century. continued to be steadily limited. Only a few of the largest feudal lords retained the right to court in cases within the jurisdiction of the crown. Statutes 1260-1280 magnates were prohibited from putting pressure on free holders to appear at the curia and to act as an appellate authority. Sheriffs were allowed to violate the immunities of lords to seize the cattle they captured, as well as in all cases if the lord or his assistant did not comply with the royal order at least once. The relationship between secular and ecclesiastical courts continued to be characterized by significant tension and complexity in matters of delimitation of competence. As a result of numerous conflicts, a principle was established according to which the jurisdiction of both types of courts was determined by the nature of the punishments: only secular courts could impose secular punishments, for example, levy fines. The royal power constantly tried to limit the competence of church courts, however, as is known, these attempts were the least successful. In the end, the crown limited itself to using the traditional means of issuing a writ of prohibition, which was issued on a case-by-case basis when the ecclesiastical courts, in the opinion of the crown, or more precisely, the officials of the royal curia, went beyond their competence.
Changes in the social system. During the XIV-XV centuries. Significant changes occurred in the economy and social structure of England, which led to the emergence of absolutism.
The capitalist degeneration of feudal land ownership is gradually taking place. The development of commodity-money relations and industry, the increase in demand for English wool entailed the transformation of the estates of feudal lords into commercial farms. All this corresponded to the accumulation of capital and the emergence of the first manufactories, primarily in ports and villages, where there was no guild system, which became a brake on the development of capitalist production. The formation of capitalist elements in the countryside earlier than in the city was a feature of the economic development of England during this period.
Trying to expand their holdings in order to turn them into pastures for sheep, feudal lords seize communal lands, driving peasants from their plots ("fencing"). This led to an accelerated differentiation of the rural population into farmers, land-poor tenants and landless farm laborers.
By the end of the 15th century. The English peasantry was divided into two main groups - freeholders and copyholders. Unlike freeholders, copyholders - descendants of former serfs - continued to bear a number of natural and monetary duties in relation to the feudal lords. Their rights to land plots were based on copies of decisions of the manorial courts.
In the second half of the 15th century. Significant changes were also taking place in the structure of the feudal class itself. The internecine wars of the Scarlet and White Roses undermined the power of large feudal landownership and led to the extermination of the old feudal nobility. The enormous possessions of secular and spiritual feudal lords were put up for sale by the crown and bought by the urban bourgeoisie and the elite of the peasantry. At the same time, the role of the middle strata of the nobility, whose interests were close to the interests of the bourgeoisie, increased. These layers formed the so-called new nobility (gentry), the peculiarity of which was the management of the economy on capital principles.
Development of a single national market, as well as the aggravation of social struggle, determined the interest of the new nobility and the urban bourgeoisie in the further strengthening of central power.
During the period of initial accumulation of capital, the colonization of overseas territories intensified: under the Tudors, the first English colony in North America, Virginia, was founded, and at the beginning of the 17th century. The colonial East India Company was founded.
Features of English absolutism. Absolute monarchy was established in England, as in other countries, during the period of the decline of feudalism and the emergence of capitalist industrial relations. At the same time, English absolutism had its own characteristics, due to which it received the name “incomplete” in literature. The incompleteness of this political form in England meant the preservation Political institutions, characteristic of the previous era, as well as the absence of some new elements typical of classical French absolutism.
The main feature of the English absolute monarchy was that, along with strong royal power, parliament continued to exist in England. Other features of English absolutism include the preservation local government, the absence in England of such centralization and bureaucratization of the state apparatus as on the continent. England also lacked a large standing army.
The central bodies of power and administration during the period of absolute monarchy in England were the king, the Privy Council and Parliament. During this period, real power was concentrated entirely in the hands of the king.
The king's Privy Council, which finally took shape during the period of absolutism, consisted of the highest officials of the state: the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Treasurer, the Lord Privy Seal, etc.
The strengthened royal power was unable to abolish parliament. Its stability was a consequence of the alliance of gentry and bourgeoisie, the foundations of which were laid in the previous period. This union did not allow the royal power, using the discord between classes, to eliminate representative institutions in the center and locally.
The supremacy of the Crown in relations with Parliament was formalized by the Statute of 1539, which equated the King's decrees in Council with the laws of Parliament. Although Parliament formally repealed this statute in 1547, the crown's dominance over Parliament was effectively maintained.
Parliament continued to retain the prerogative of approving the amounts of fees and taxes. Parliament's opposition to the establishment of new taxes forced the English kings to resort to loans, the introduction of duties on the import and export of goods, and the issuance of privileges to companies for the exclusive right to trade (so-called monopolies) in exchange for large monetary payments. These actions were sometimes resisted by Parliament, but its ability to influence royal policy was weakened during this period.
Due to the rapid colonization of non-English territories of the British Isles, the English system of government gradually spread throughout Britain. In 1536-1542. Wales was finally integrated into the English state. In 1603, the northeastern province of Ireland, Ulster, came under the authority of the English crown. Since 1603, as a result of dynastic succession to the throne, Scotland began to be in a personal union with England (under the rule of one king). In fact, this association was nominal, and Scotland retained the status of an independent state entity.
During the period of absolutism, the supremacy of royal power over the English Church was finally established. In order to establish a church in the country subordinate to royal power, the Reformation was carried out in England, which was accompanied by the seizure of church lands and their transformation into state property (secularization). Parliament of England Henry VIII from 1529 to 1536, he adopted a number of laws declaring the king the head of the church and giving him the right to nominate candidates for the highest church positions. IN late XVI V. The content of the doctrine of the new church, as well as the order of worship, was established by legislative means. Thus, the so-called Anglican Church ceased to depend on the Pope and became part of the state apparatus.
The highest church body in the country was High commission. Along with clergy, it included members of the Privy Council and other officials. The commission's powers were extremely broad. She investigated cases related to violations of laws on the supremacy of royal power in church affairs, “disorders of a spiritual and ecclesiastical nature.” The main task of the commission was to fight opponents of the reformed church - both with Catholics and with supporters of the most radical and democratic forms of Protestantism (for example, Presbyterianism, which took root in Scotland). Any three members of the commission, if there was one bishop among them, had the right to punish persons who did not attend church, suppress heresies, and remove pastors. Subsequently, a number of purely secular cases were assigned to the jurisdiction of the High Commission - about vagabonds in London, about censorship, etc. The reformed church, retaining many features of Catholicism both in structure and in worship, turned into a body, one of whose tasks was to promote the theory of the divine origin of the king's power.
With the establishment of absolutism, the system of local government bodies became more harmonious, and their dependence on the Central authorities increased. The main changes in local government during this period were expressed in the establishment of the post of Lord Lieutenant and the administrative registration of the local unit - the church parish. The lord lieutenant, appointed directly to the county by the king, led the local militia and supervised the activities of justices of the peace and constables.
The parish was a grassroots self-governing unit that combined the functions of local church and territorial administration. A meeting of parishioners who paid taxes decided on the distribution of taxes, repair of roads and bridges, etc. In addition, the meeting elected parish officials (church wardens, overseers of the poor, etc.). The conduct of church affairs in the parish was carried out by the parish rector. All his activities were placed under the control of justices of the peace, and through them -^ under the control of county governments and central authorities. Quarter sessions of justices of the peace turned into higher authorities on all issues related to the management of parishes. The county assemblies, still surviving from the previous period, are finally losing their importance.
Under absolutism, the structure and jurisdiction of the central Westminster courts, including the Court of Justice and the High Court of Admiralty, were finally formed. However, in addition to them, emergency courts are created, such as Star Chamber and judicial councils in "rebellious" counties. The Star Chamber, as a special branch of the Privy Council, was a weapon in the fight against opponents of royal power (initially, against rebellious feudal lords). The proceedings in it were mainly inquisitorial in nature, and decisions were made at the discretion of the judges. Subsequently, the Star Chamber also began to perform the functions of a censor and a supervisory body over the correctness of jury verdicts. Judicial councils, subordinate to the Privy Council, were created in those areas of England where “public peace” was often disturbed (Wales, Scotland).
During the period of absolutism, the judicial competence of magistrates expanded. All criminal cases were ordered to be tried by traveling and magistrate judges after confirmation of the indictment by the grand jury. Jurors were included in the court composition. The property qualification for juries under the law of Elizabeth I was raised from 40 shillings to 4 pounds sterling.
The basic principles of army organization have changed slightly. During the establishment of absolute monarchy Henry VII(1485-1509), in order to undermine the final military power of the old aristocracy, issued a law prohibiting feudal lords from having a retinue and established the crown's monopoly on the use of artillery pieces.
The abolition of the armed forces of large feudal lords in England did not entail the creation of a permanent royal army. The fortress guards and royal guards remained small in number. The land army continued to be based on militia in the form of militia units.
The English state, occupying an island position, needed a strong navy to protect its territory. The navy became the basis of England's armed forces, a tool for domination of the seas and the colonization of other territories.
Feudal relations in England developed at a somewhat slower pace than in France. In England by the middle of the 11th century. Basically, feudal orders already dominated, but the process of feudalization was far from over, and a significant part of the peasants remained free. The feudal estate and the system of feudal hierarchy also had not taken a complete form by this time.
The Norman Conquest of England and its results
The completion of the process of feudalization in England was associated with the Norman conquest in the second half of the 11th century. The conquerors were led by the Norman Duke William, one of the most powerful feudal lords of France. Not only Norman barons took part in the campaign to England, but also many knights from other regions of France and even from Italy. They were attracted by war booty, the opportunity to seize Anglo-Saxon lands and acquire new estates and serfs. The pretext for the campaign was the Norman Duke's claim to the English throne, based on William's relationship with the English king Edward the Confessor, who died in early 1066. But according to the laws of the Anglo-Saxons, the question of occupying the royal throne in the event of the death of the king was decided by Uitenagemot. Uitenagemot chose not William as king, but the Anglo-Saxon Harold.
Having crossed the English Channel on large sailing boats, William's army landed in September 1066 on the southern coast of England. It was more numerous and better armed than the army of the Anglo-Saxon king. In addition, Duke William had firm power over his vassals - the Norman barons who came with him from France, and the power English king over large landowners was very weak. The Earls of Middle and North-East England did not favor Harold military assistance. In the decisive battle near Hastings on October 14, 1066, despite stubborn and courageous resistance, the Anglo-Saxons were defeated, King Harold fell in battle, and William, having captured London, became king of England (1066-1087). He was nicknamed William the Conqueror.
It still took William and his barons several years to subjugate all of England. In response to the massive confiscations of land from the Anglo-Saxons, which were accompanied by the enslavement of peasants who still retained their freedom, a series of uprisings broke out. It was mainly the peasant masses who opposed the conquerors. Most major uprisings occurred in 1069 and 1071. in the north and northeast of the country, where, unlike other regions, there was a large free peasantry. The conquerors dealt savagely with the rebellious peasants: they burned entire villages and killed their inhabitants.
The confiscations of land that began with the arrival of the Norman feudal lords in England continued on an enormous scale after the final conquest of the country. Almost all of its lands were taken away from the Anglo-Saxon nobility and given to the Norman barons. Since the distribution of land was carried out gradually, as it was confiscated, lands and estates located in various regions of England fell into the hands of the Norman barons. As a result of this, the possessions of many barons were scattered in different counties, which prevented the formation of territorial principalities independent of royal power. Wilhelm kept about one-seventh of all cultivated land for himself. The royal estates also included a significant part of the forests, which were turned into hunting reserves. Peasants who dared to hunt in the royal forest faced a terrible punishment - their eyes were gouged out.
The extensive land census carried out by William throughout England was extremely important in strengthening the feudal order in England. This census contained data on the amount of land, livestock, household equipment, information on the number of vassals of each baron, the number of peasants on the estates and the income generated by each estate. It was popularly called the “Book of the Last Judgment.” The census was named so, apparently, because those who gave information were obliged, under pain of severe punishment, to say everything, without concealing anything, as at the “Last Judgment,” which, according to church teaching, was supposed to end the existence of the world. This census was carried out in 1086. Special royal commissioners traveled to counties and hundreds ( Counties and hundreds are administrative districts. The county included several hundred.), where a census was carried out on the basis of testimony given under oath by county sheriffs, barons, headmen, priests and a certain number of peasants from each village.
The census pursued mainly two goals: firstly, the king wanted to know exactly the size of land ownership, material resources and income of each of his vassals in order to, in accordance with this, demand feudal service from them; secondly, the king sought to obtain accurate information for imposing a property cash tax on the population. Not surprisingly, the census was greeted by the populace with fear and hatred. “It’s a shame to talk about this, but he [Wilhelm] was not ashamed to do it,” a modern chronicler wrote with indignation, “he did not leave a single bull, not a single cow and not a single pig without including them in his census.. ."
The census accelerated the enslavement of the peasants, since many of the free peasants or only to a small extent dependent on the feudal landowners were listed in the Domesday Book as villans. This was the name given to serfs in England (unlike France). The Norman conquest thus led to a worsening of the situation of the peasants and contributed to the final formation of feudal orders in England.
The new large feudal landowners - the barons, receiving lands during the conquest directly from the king, were his direct vassals. They owed the king military service and significant monetary payments. William demanded vassal service not only from the barons, but also from the knights who were the vassals of the barons. With the introduction of direct vassalage of all feudal landowners from the king, the vassalage system in England acquired a more complete and more centralized character than on the continent, where the rule usually applied: “My vassal’s vassal is not my vassal.” The vassalage system established in England played a significant role in strengthening royal power.
When organizing local government, the royal power used ancient assemblies of hundreds and counties. Moreover, William not only retained all the taxes introduced during the Anglo-Saxon period, but also increased them. In the highest ecclesiastical positions, as well as in the secular administration, the Anglo-Saxons were replaced by Normans from France, which also strengthened the position of William and his barons. The Norman barons, with whose arrival feudal oppression in the country intensified, were surrounded by a hostile Anglo-Saxon population and found themselves forced, at least at first, to support royal power. Subsequently, as their own position strengthened, they changed their attitude towards royal power and began to enter into open conflicts with it.
Agrarian system and position of the peasantry
In the XI and early XII centuries. The population of England, according to rough estimates based on statistics from the Domesday Book, was about 1.5 million people, of whom the vast majority (at least 95%) lived in the countryside and were employed in agriculture. The predominant occupation of the population was agriculture. Cattle breeding in England was in second place. In the north-east, mainly in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, as well as in the southern part of Oxfordshire, sheep farming has become widespread. Wool already existed at that time important subject export It was exported mainly to Flanders, where Flemish artisans made cloth from it, which was in great demand in various European countries.
The feudal estate - manor, which had formed mainly before the conquest and subjugated the previously free rural community, based its economy on the corvee labor of dependent peasants. The predominant layer of the peasantry were the villans, who had a full allotment of land or part of the allotment, a share in communal pastures and meadows, and performed heavy duties in favor of the lord - the owner of the manor.
The main duty of the villan, as well as the French serf, was corvée, work on the master's land: usually three days or more a week throughout the year. Corvee work and additional work for the landowner, especially in times of need, the so-called bede-ripe (“help”), absorbed most of the peasant’s time during sowing, harvesting, and shearing sheep. In addition, the villan paid the rent partly in food, partly in money and could be subject to arbitrary taxation by the master. Villan bore a number of additional humiliating and difficult duties: he paid a special fee when giving his daughter in marriage (merket), gave it to the landowner better head cattle upon entering into inheritance (heriot), was obliged to grind grain at the master's mill, bake bread in the master's oven and brew beer in the master's brewery.
In addition to the villans, in the English village of the 11th-12th centuries. there were kottarii - land-poor, dependent peasants, holders of the smallest plots of land - usually 2-3 acres of estate land. They worked for the lord and made their living by additional classes(Kottaris were shepherds, village blacksmiths, wheelwrights, carpenters, etc.). The lowest category of serfs were serfs (as courtyard people were called in England), who, as a rule, did not have plots or their own farm and performed a variety of heavy duties on the master's estate and in the master's fields. Throughout the 12th century. The Serfs merged with the Villans.
The free peasantry did not disappear in England even after the Norman Conquest, although its numbers were significantly reduced and its legal situation sharply deteriorated. The presence in the countryside of a layer of free peasants along with serfs (villans) was one of the important features of the agrarian development of England in the Middle Ages. Although the free peasant was obliged to pay the lord a certain amount of cash rent, perform some relatively light duties and obey judiciary lord, he was not attached to the land and was considered personally free.
A page from the book "The Last Judgment". William the Conqueror. XI century
The position of the serf peasant continuously deteriorated. Feudal duties increased, with which peasants were enmeshed from all over the world. Numerous church taxes also grew, the heaviest of which was tithes. The church demanded not only a tenth of the grain harvest (large tithe), but also a small tithe of livestock, wool, livestock products, etc. To this must be added the oppression of increasing royal taxes. The peasants showed constant and stubborn resistance to cruel feudal exploitation. The everyday, intense class struggle, sometimes hidden and silent, sometimes overt, sometimes turning into open discontent and indignation, never faded away in the English countryside.
Growth of cities
Cities began to emerge in England as centers of craft and trade at the end of the 10th century, even before the Norman Conquest. Urban development continued after the Norman Conquest. As a result of the unification of England with Normandy and Maine (a French county captured by William before his campaign in England), its trade relations with the continent were significantly strengthened and expanded.
Particularly important was the strengthening of trade ties with the economically more developed Flanders. English merchants enjoyed the king's patronage in trade with Flanders. London merchants derived significant benefits from this trade, since the capital played the role of the main center in trade with the continent. Later (in the 12th century), in addition to London, significant trade with Flanders, Scandinavia and the Baltic states was also carried out by the cities of Southern and South-Eastern England (Southampton, Dover, Ipswich, Boston, etc.). Along with wool, the export items included lead, tin and livestock. In England already in the 11th and especially in the 12th century. Fairs became widespread and were visited by merchants not only from Flanders, but also from Italy and other countries. Wool trade occupied a particularly large place at these fairs. Secular feudal lords, monasteries, and some peasants sold wool.
The vast majority of English cities were located on royal land and had a king as their lord. This circumstance made it extremely difficult for the townspeople to fight for liberation from seigneurial power. Liberation from burdensome feudal payments was usually carried out in English cities by the townspeople paying the lord (most often the king) an annual fixed sum of money (the so-called firm), with the right of the townspeople themselves to distribute and collect these funds among the city residents.
By paying a certain amount, the right of self-government and court was often acquired, excluding or limiting the intervention of the sheriff, i.e., the royal official who headed the county, or the representative of the local administration - the bailiff (the lord's clerk in cities that were not royal) in the affairs of the urban community . Cities “bought” the right to have a privileged corporation of citizens, the so-called trade guild, which usually included not only merchants, but also some artisans. However, only those who took part in paying the company could enjoy city privileges and participate in city management. And this led to the fact that the management of city affairs fell into the hands of the wealthiest layer of citizens. Charters formalizing the rights and privileges acquired by townspeople were available in England in the 12th century. already many cities including London, Canterbury, Dover, Lincoln, Nottingham, Norwich, Oxford, Ipswich, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Southampton, Bristol.
Along with privileged corporations that united merchants and partly artisans, which were trade guilds, in English cities of the 12th century. craft guilds (guilds) themselves appeared. The weavers' guild in London arose at the end of the 11th - beginning of the 12th century. One of the brightest episodes beginning in English cities in the 12th century. The struggle of the guilds with the city elite is the clash of this guild with the leaders of the city government of London and wealthy citizens, which led at the very beginning of the 13th century. to the closure of the weavers' guild and to their disadvantaged position in the future.
Strengthening royal power
During the reign of one of the sons of William the Conqueror, Henry I (1100-1135), a system of government was formed and took shape, the center of which was the royal palace. A permanent royal council began to play a significant role in governing the state, which, along with some large feudal lords, also included royal officials, primarily judges and people in charge of the treasury and tax collection.
In addition to the royal judges who sat in the king's judicial curia, traveling royal judges who conducted local court sessions became important. In the process of judicial practice of royal judges, the so-called “Common Law” was gradually developed, i.e., a single feudal royal law for the entire country, which gradually replaced local law. Under Henry I, the royal treasury, or “Checkerboard Chamber”, also took shape ( The name is associated with the system of counting money. The tables in the treasury were divided by longitudinal lines into several strips, along which stacks of coins were laid out and moved in a certain order, which outside resembled a game of chess.), which, like the judicial curia, formed part of the royal council.
After the death of Henry I, who left no sons, feudal strife began, ending only in 1153, when, by virtue of an agreement concluded by both warring camps, Henry Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, was recognized as the heir to the throne. The reign of Henry II Plantagenet (1154-1189) is an important stage in the development of the feudal state in England. The chronicles portray Henry II as a very active king who cherished extensive plans of conquest. In addition to Latin and his native Northern French language, Henry II, a fairly educated man for his time, also knew the languages Provençal and Italian. But it is characteristic that this English king, a native of France, did not know English until the end of his life.
The English kingdom under Henry II included the vast possessions of the Angevin house in France - the counties of Anjou, Poitou, Maine and Touraine. In addition, Normandy still belonged to the English kings on the continent. The Duchy of Aquitaine also became part of the possessions of the English king (as a result of the marriage of Henry II with Alienor). The presence of such vast possessions in France significantly increased the material resources of the English King.
Using this, Henry II carried out a number of reforms that made it possible to strengthen the royal power, which had weakened during feudal strife, and strengthen the elements of centralization in the state. This is how judicial reform was carried out. Every free person could now, for a certain fee, obtain permission to transfer his case from any local court, that is, the court of a feudal lord, to the royal court. This reform benefited primarily the knights, that is, the middle and small feudal lords, as well as wealthy free peasants and townspeople. This reform did not affect the overwhelming majority of the country's population - the serf peasantry (villans). Serfs remained subject only to the landowner's court.
Another reform carried out during the reign of Henry II was the military reform, which consisted in the fact that the military service of feudal lords in favor of the king was limited to a certain, relatively short period. In exchange for the rest of the service, the king demanded that the feudal lords pay a special sum of money, the so-called shield money. With this money, the king hired knights into his service, which reduced his dependence on the feudal militia of the barons. In addition, the king ordered all free people to have certain weapons, depending on their property status, and, when called upon by the king, to appear fully armed for military service. All these reforms strengthened royal power and contributed to the centralization of government.
England and Ireland
In the second half of the 12th century. The conquest of Ireland began. The process of feudalization developed rather slowly in Ireland. Remnants of tribal relations were very strong here throughout the Middle Ages. This was expressed primarily in the preservation of the clan organization. Clans are large clan groups, clan associations. They did not lose their importance in Ireland with the development of feudal relations. Land in Ireland continued to be considered the property of the clan, and not of its individual members. The possessions of the clan leader were recognized only as his lifelong holding. The clan leaders waged constant wars among themselves. The clan leaders also fought against the supreme leader, called the king.
Beginning at the end of the 8th century. The Norman invasions of Ireland were accompanied by devastating robberies, the devastation of the country and intensified internal strife in Ireland. At the beginning of the 11th century. (around 1001) one of the clan leaders - the king of Munster (a region in the south of Ireland) Brian Boroime, becoming the “high king”, united almost all of Ireland under his rule and in 1014, at the Battle of Clontarf (near Dublin), inflicted a decisive blow defeat to the Normans and their allies, the leaders of some Irish clans. Brian Boroime himself was killed during the battle, but as a result of the victory, the rule of the Normans and their attempts to subjugate all of Ireland was put to an end. However, internecine fighting in Ireland continued.
English barons, mainly from western regions England, especially from Wales (a significant part of which by that time had been captured by English feudal lords), using the internecine struggle of the leaders of the Irish clans, undertook in 1169-1170. conquests in Ireland. In 1171, Henry II arrived here with his army. Having defeated the Irish clan leaders, Henry II forced them to recognize him as "supreme ruler". The English barons captured part of the Irish lands in the coastal southeastern part of the island. In 1174, the Irish rebelled against the invaders, but discord between clan leaders prevented them from expelling the English barons from Ireland. Having received new reinforcements, the English feudal lords maintained their dominance in the captured lands, which formed a fortified area of English possessions in the south-eastern part of Ireland, later called Pale (literally - fence, fenced area), from where they made constant raids on other areas of Ireland. The lands taken from the Irish clans became the property of the English feudal lords, and the free members of these clans were turned into serfs.
The invasion of the English feudal lords into Ireland and their seizure of Irish lands had the most dire consequences for further history Ireland. “...The English invasion,” wrote F. Engels, “deprived Ireland of any possibility of development and threw it back centuries, and, moreover, immediately, starting from the 12th century.”
Socio-economic development in the 13th century. and intensification of class struggle
In the socio-economic development of England in the 13th century. Important changes took place, expressed in the further rise of agriculture, especially in the rapid growth of sheep breeding, as well as in the development of crafts and trade. Growing cities presented a constant demand for agricultural products - food items and raw materials. Because of this, a local market was created for the surrounding villages, which expanded more and more as not only landowners, but also peasants were involved in trade. The development of commodity-money relations was also facilitated by the expansion of foreign trade with Flanders and Normandy, Aquitaine and other regions of France, as well as with Germany, Italy and the Scandinavian countries. In addition to wool, bread and leather began to be exported from England. In connection with the development of commodity-money relations and the growth of the domestic market in the 13th century. In England, money rent became widespread. This process of replacing in-kind duties (corvee labor and food rent) with cash payments was called commutation. The penetration of commodity-money relations into the countryside led to increased feudal exploitation of the peasants, since the opportunity to sell products on the market caused the feudal lords to desire to increase the duties of the peasants.
One of the widespread forms of peasant struggle against the widespread increase in feudal duties in the 13th century. there were refusals of peasants from additional corvée work, from the so-called precaria or bede-ripe, from paying arbitrary payments, etc. Preserved from the 13th century. the protocols of the manorial curiae and the protocols of royal judicial investigations contain numerous data on fines and other more severe punishments imposed on peasants for failure to appear for “help” in times of need, for refusal to plow work on the master’s field, for deliberately poor performance of this work, for refusal to thresh wheat from the lord, for failure to appear for the master's hay harvest, etc. Very often these refusals were of a massive nature. Usually the peasants acted together, having agreed in advance, and often led by the headman.
Peasant protests against increased duties often led to serious unrest, open mass protests against the lords, and attacks on master's estates. Thus, in 1278, the villans of the monastery of Harmondsworth in the county of Middlesex refused to fulfill duties increased in comparison with those they had previously performed. The sheriff of the county was ordered from London to assist the abbot in seizing the property of his "rebel holders." Then the peasants broke into the monastery house, destroyed it and took with them local documents and part of the property, while threatening the monastery servants with death. Similar events occurred in 1278 in another monastery (Halesoun Monastery), where the peasant holders, protesting against the increase in duties and having achieved nothing peacefully, attacked the monastery and dealt with the abbot and brethren, for which they were excommunicated and subjected to punishment. In 1299, serious unrest occurred among the peasants of the monastery of St. Stephen's in Norfolk. Several dozen peasants attacked a royal official who arrived at the monastery to help the abbot and beat him.
At the end of the 12th and 13th centuries. worsened social struggle not only in the countryside, but also in the city. The royal government sought to extract as much income as possible from the growing cities, increasing the size of the annual city taxation and imposing additional payments on the townspeople - arbitrary tag, etc. An increase in the tax burden and especially unfair distribution of taxes inside cities led to acute conflicts. So, even at the end of the 12th century. (in 1196) in London, due to the unfair distribution of taxes, serious unrest took place, resulting in open indignation directed against the city elite. At the head of the dissatisfied was William Fitz-Osbert, nicknamed Longbeard, who was popular among the masses of townspeople as a defender of the interests of artisans and the poor. He openly denounced London's rich who sought to "save their own pockets at the expense of poor taxpayers." The movement was brutally suppressed by the government. One of the London churches, in which the rebel citizens fortified themselves, was set on fire, and William Fitz-Osbert and 9 other like-minded people were hanged. But as the wealth stratification among the townspeople grew, social conflicts in the cities became more and more violent.
Political struggle at the beginning of the 13th century.
In the political events of the 13th century. The peculiarities of the social development of the ruling class of feudal lords in England also had a clear impact.
The early development of commodity-money relations in the English countryside involved a significant part of the feudal lords, especially small and medium-sized ones, in the trade of wool, bread and other products. Due to their growing connections with the market, this large layer of feudal lords had many common interests with the townspeople and with the top of the free peasantry, which explains the absence in England of a sharp line separating the nobility from these class groups.
Every free owner of land whose annual income was at least 20 pounds. Art., had the right and even the obligation to accept a knighthood and join the nobility, regardless of his origin. Thus, the nobility was replenished with people from other classes and did not turn, as it was on the continent (especially in France, Germany and Spain), into a closed class. In England, only large feudal lords (barons, representatives senior clergy- archbishops, bishops and abbots of large monasteries) constituted a closed group of the feudal aristocracy, which still based its economy on the exploitation of corvee labor and had very little connection with the market.
Social contradictions and conflicts, which ultimately found expression in open political struggle, appeared already at the end of the 12th century. The domestic and foreign policies of King Richard I (1189-1199), nicknamed the Lionheart, who spent most of his reign outside England - in the third crusade and in minor feudal wars on the continent, caused great discontent in England. Discontent became especially sharp under John (John) the Landless (1199-1216). The knighthood, the church and many barons suffered from endless excessive exactions and gross violations of feudal privileges by the king and his officials. Unheard of taxes were also imposed on the cities. Only a part of the large feudal lords supported the king, directly connected with the court and benefiting from the increase in royal income.
The war with the French king Philip II Augustus led to the loss of England a number of possessions on the continent - Normandy, Anjou, Maine, Touraine and part of Poitou. To all of John’s failures in foreign policy, one must add his conflict with the pope Innocent III. John refused to recognize the new Archbishop of Canterbury, approved by the pope. Then the pope imposed an interdict on England, and then excommunicated the king from the church and, declaring him deprived of the throne, transferred the rights to the English crown to the French king Philip II Augustus. In the face of the sharp discontent of his subjects, fearing an uprising, John hastened to make peace with the pope: he recognized himself as his vassal and undertook to pay the pope an annual tax of 1,000 marks in silver as a sign of vassalage.
The capitulation to the pope further aggravated the growing dissatisfaction with royal policies, and in the spring of 1215 the barons, supported by the knights and townspeople, began open war against John. The king, seeing the clear superiority of his opponents' forces, was forced on June 15, 1215 to sign a document outlining the demands of the rebels. This document was called the Magna Carta. Although knights and townspeople played a decisive role in the fight against the king, the demands recorded in Magna Carta reflected mainly the interests of the barons and church feudal lords who stood at the head of the movement and used it to their advantage. The king pledged not to violate the rights of the English church, not to interfere in elections to church offices and not to seize church lands. He promised not to take from his immediate vassals, that is, from the barons, larger monetary payments than established by custom, and he pledged not to arrest the barons, not to declare them outlaws, not to deprive them of their property without the legal verdict of the peers, that is, the people. equal rank and position with them.
The charter made some concessions in favor of knighthood. The king and barons could not demand from the holders of a knightly fief more services and feudal payments than was established by custom. The knights received a guarantee that they would not be charged excessive taxes or fines. The same was promised to free peasants.
The charter gave even less to the townspeople than to the knights. It only confirmed the already existing ancient rights and liberties of London and other cities, and established the uniformity of measures and weights throughout the country. The charter allowed foreign merchants free entry and exit from England. This requirement primarily expressed the interests of the feudal lords, and for many English merchants it was unprofitable, although its implementation could to a certain extent contribute to the development of foreign and domestic trade.
Thus, the Magna Carta protected the interests of the feudal lords, first of all the large ones, then the knights and partly the elite of the townspeople and the free peasantry. The charter did not give anything to the bulk of the English people - the serf peasantry. At the same time positive value The Magna Carta was that, while fixing the rights of feudal lords and the elite of the townspeople, it limited royal arbitrariness. At the same time, a number of its demands could be used by the barons to strengthen their power and to undermine the developing centralized state power.
John the Landless, supported by the pope, refused to comply with the Magna Carta, and in practice it was not implemented.
Civil War 1263-1265 The emergence of parliament
In the middle of the 13th century. There was a new intensification of the political struggle in England. Continuous exactions, fines, extortion, distribution of lands and money to the king's French relatives and favorites, dependence on the pope and giving him the opportunity to extract huge profits from England - all this caused widespread discontent in the country and again led to an open rebellion against the king.
The armed barons, together with detachments of their vassals and servants, gathered in June 1258 in Oxford and demanded from King Henry III (1216-1272), son of John the Landless, the removal of all foreign advisers, renunciation of arbitrary exactions and extortion of funds. The barons drew up a document called the Oxford Provisions. The requirements of this document were that royal power should be entirely under the control of the barons. In this way the barons tried to establish their oligarchy.
The king, who did not have the strength to fight, was forced to recognize the Oxford Provisions. But the establishment of a baronial oligarchy did not correspond to the interests of the knights and townspeople. In 1259, at a meeting of barons and knights in Westminster, the knights accused the barons that “they have not done anything for the benefit of the state, as they promised, and have only their own benefit in mind.” The knights put forward a number of independent political demands aimed at protecting the interests of knighthood from arbitrariness both on the part of the king and on the part of large feudal lords.
The requirements of knighthood were the so-called “Westminster Provisions”. Some of the barons, led by Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, believed that without an alliance with the knights and townspeople, the barons would not be able to cope with royal tyranny, and therefore supported the “Westminster Provisions”. Another part of the barons, led by Earl Richard of Gloucester, continued to seek the establishment of a baronial oligarchy and defended the Oxford Provisions. But the king, seeing contradictions in the opposing camp, refused to comply with the demands of the harrows and knights. In 1263, armed struggle began in England, leading to civil war.
Montfort, who led the fight against the king, relied not only on the barons, but also on knights, free peasants and broad layers of townspeople, especially London. The decisive battle took place in the south of England - at Lewis on May 14, 1264. In this battle, Montfort completely defeated the royal troops and took the king prisoner along with his brother and eldest son Edward. A three-person commission was created to govern the country. Montfort became the head of the commission. In January 1265, he convened a meeting to which, in addition to the barons, two representatives from each county and two citizens from each of the most significant cities were invited. This event is considered to be the beginning of the English Parliament.
The victory over the king shook all of England. The movement has now captured wide sections of the peasantry. In some counties, peasants, taking advantage of the feudal lords' struggle among themselves, began to destroy estates, primarily those belonging to the king's supporters. The movement threatened to develop into an all-peasant war against the feudal lords. This frightened the barons. Many of them began to go over to the side of the king and the king’s eldest son, Edward, who escaped from captivity at that time.
At the Battle of Evesham on August 4, 1265, Montfort's troops were defeated, and he himself died in battle. His supporters were subjected to heavy punishments. Royal power was strengthened again. Fear of the emerging peasant movement forced the fighting factions of the ruling class to compromise and end the civil war. The king promised to respect the rights and liberties of the barons, knights and townspeople and agreed to recognize the parliament in the form in which it was first assembled (as a representation of the barons, knights and townspeople). Thus, the result of the civil war was the emergence of parliament in England, which meant a transition to a new, more centralized form of the feudal state, to a feudal monarchy with class representation.
The growth of the commodity-money economy and the exacerbation of class contradictions economically and politically brought together local groupings of various strata of feudal society that had been separated until then. This process under feudalism led to the formation of estates, that is, those formed on the basis of class relations of the feudal system community groups with inheritance rights and obligations. In most of Western Europe, these classes were the clergy (first estate), nobility (second estate) and townspeople (third estate).
In the feudal monarchy with class representation, which replaced the feudal monarchy of the previous period in England, as before, the first place was occupied by the clergy and nobility. However, the involvement of representatives of the city elite into the estate institution, which was the parliament in England, testified to the significantly increased role of city residents in the economic life of the country.
Whenever the royal power needed to establish new taxes, it was now forced to turn to parliament. In the middle of the 14th century. it was divided into two chambers: the upper - the House of Lords, where secular and spiritual magnates sat, and the lower - the House of Commons, where representatives of the knights and the elite of the townspeople sat together, since due to certain historical conditions there was a sharp line separating the nobility from other class groups, in including those from wealthy townspeople, did not exist in England.
Only a tiny minority of the English population was represented in Parliament. The bulk of it - peasants, as well as the middle and poor layers of townspeople - did not send their representatives to parliament and did not take any part in the elections to it. Being part of the political superstructure of feudal society, which actively strengthened feudal system, the English parliament, like any medieval class representation, expressed and defended the interests of the feudal lords and only partly of the privileged urban elite.
Wars with Wales and Scotland
Under Edward I (1272-1307), parliament was finally established. Royal power could now rely on broader strata of feudal lords, on knighthood and on the top of the townspeople. She needed the support of parliament in carrying out her foreign and domestic policies. Edward I waged wars (in 1277 and 1282-1283) with the Celtic principalities of North Wales, which still retained their independence. Having completed the conquest of Wales, he completely included it in the Kingdom of England. Edward I waged a long war of conquest with Scotland, England's northern neighbor. The peasants and townspeople of Scotland showed stubborn resistance, defending their independence. Only with great difficulty did Edward I succeed in 1296, using the betrayal of part of the Scottish nobility, to subjugate Scotland to England. But his triumph was short-lived.
In 1297, an uprising of Scottish peasants and townspeople broke out against the English feudal lords and the associated Scottish nobility. The uprising was led by small landowner William Wallace. The Scottish knighthood joined the peasants and townspeople. In 1306 the struggle escalated into a general war of independence. After the execution of Wallace by the British, the war was led by knight Robert the Bruce. In 1314, the troops of the English king were completely defeated at the Battle of Bannockburn. The war ended in complete victory for the Scots, who defended their independence in a fierce and stubborn struggle. However, the fruits of this victory within Scotland were taken advantage of by the feudal lords, who strengthened their power over the peasantry.
Culture in the XI-XIII centuries.
In the XI-XIII centuries. wide use In England, the folk art of jugglers emerged. In Anglo-Saxon manuscripts dating back to the 10th century, there are images of jugglers deftly tossing balls and knives, playing a bowed instrument similar to a violin. Jugglers in England, as well as in other countries, were wandering actors who performed various scenes, and at the same time magicians, storytellers and singers who adapted works of oral folk art and performed them to the accompaniment of musical instruments. In this respect, jugglers were the successors of the Anglo-Saxon singer-musicians, the so-called gleomans and ospreys.
The art of jugglers was especially popular at fairs, as well as at rural and urban folk festivals. At its core, it was truly folk art. Jugglers were often the authors of songs, poems, and ballads, initially performed orally, “from memory,” and later (in the 14th-15th centuries) recorded.
Ethnic and linguistic differences between the mass of the English population - basically Anglo-Saxon - and the Norman conquerors were virtually erased by the end of the 12th century, when, according to the treatise “Dialogue on the Treasury” dating back to that time, “it was difficult to make out who was by origin an Englishman, and some a Norman.” The bulk of the population - peasants, townspeople and the vast majority of feudal lords, especially the knighthood - spoke English. Only a small number of feudal lords - mainly the feudal nobility at the royal court, representatives of the royal administration, lawyers - used not only English, but also French, which was used along with Latin as an official language in government institutions, partly in legal proceedings when drawing up legislative acts and other documents. The English language, which gradually developed from a number of local dialects, included a number of French words and expressions, but retained its grammatical structure and its own lexical basis.
Unlike the common in the XII-XIII centuries. in court circles of knightly, so-called courtly literature, literature in Northern French or Provençal, folk poetic works were created in the common English language. Among her best examples are historical ballads, especially numerous songs and ballads about Robin Hood, which date back to the 13th-14th centuries. and are associated with the aggravation of the class struggle in England at this time.
The songs and ballads about the noble robber Robin Hood express hatred of the feudal oppressors, the secular and spiritual lords who oppressed and robbed the common people. Although in folk songs Robin Hood retains the naive faith in the “good king” characteristic of a medieval peasant, he simultaneously harbors a burning hatred for the oppressors of the people and wages an irreconcilable struggle against them. He is distinguished by courage, strength, dexterity, and is an excellent archer - the traditional weapon of the English peasant in the Middle Ages. Together with his comrades, courageous and fair people just like him, Robin Hood hides in the forests. Instilling fear in the oppressors of the people, he helps the poor, peasants, artisans and everyone experiencing oppression and injustice. Robin Hood is one of the most popular and beloved literary heroes of the English people. In the Middle Ages, special celebrations were held in honor of Robin Hood, folk games and competitions. In rural and city squares, especially during fairs, dramatic episodes from the ballads about Robin Hood were played out.
It reached a high level of development in the XI-XIII centuries. the art of book design. The miniatures of the Winchester School were especially distinguished by their bright colors, richness of ornamentation and subtlety of writing.
The development of architecture was marked by the appearance in the XI-XII centuries. a number of monumental buildings in the Romanesque style (cathedrals in Oxford, Winchester, Norwich, etc.), from which Oxford Cathedral was built before the Norman Conquest. Gothic elements (Durham Cathedral) appeared in England at the end of the 12th century. The cathedrals of Chichester and Lincoln, the construction of which began in the 11th century, were completed as Gothic buildings.
Gothic buildings in England were distinguished by greater length of buildings in depth and lower height than on the continent of Europe. Cathedral towers (bell towers) and castle towers occupy a more independent place in English Gothic in relation to the main part of the building than in Gothic buildings in other European countries. English Gothic is also characterized by a peculiar intersection of pointed arches of vaults, forming decorative, so-called fan, patterns. The most striking examples of English Gothic of the 13th century. are the cathedrals in Salisbury, York, Canterbury, Peterborough, etc., as well as Westminster Abbey in London.
English universities
In the second half of the 12th century. Oxford University was founded, the first university in England. Following him at the beginning of the 13th century. (1209) Cambridge University was founded. English universities, like universities in other countries medieval Europe, became centers of church education and scholastic science. But separate inquisitive minds Even within the walls of medieval English universities, they were burdened by the dominance of scholastic thinking, based on blind admiration for authorities and complete disregard for experience and practical knowledge. They criticized certain provisions of scholastic philosophy and theology.
Oxford University professor (later Bishop of Lincoln) Robert Grosseteste (about 1175-1253), in his comments on the works of Aristotle, questioned many of his provisions, which in the Middle Ages became one of the foundations of scholastic church dogma. Grosseteste was one of the first representatives of university science in medieval England to pay special attention to natural science. Along with theological works, he wrote several mathematical treatises, in which he did not limit himself to studying recognized by the church authorities, but substantiated his positions with data gleaned from experience and observations.
Robert Grosseteste's student and friend was the outstanding philosopher and natural scientist, Master of Oxford University, Roger Bacon (about 1214-1294), one of the bravest minds of the Middle Ages. Bacon argued that true science must be based on experience and mathematics, which then meant not only mathematics itself, but also physics and a number of other branches of natural science. Of the three sources of knowledge he considered: authority, reason and experience, Bacon sharply rejected the first, believing that authority itself is insufficient without the arguments of reason, and reason can distinguish true from false only if its arguments are based on experience. Experience is necessary to test and confirm the conclusions of all sciences.
Bacon strived for the practical application of scientific knowledge. He believed that the goal of science is for man to master the secrets of nature and increase his power over it. Natural sciences should benefit people, and this is how Bacon explained the need to study them. Bacon's works contain many of the alchemical and astrological prejudices common to his time, but at the same time they also contain the rudiments of precise scientific knowledge. He expressed a number of bold guesses that anticipated discoveries and inventions that were put into practice much later. Bacon studied optics especially thoroughly. Based on his study of a number of optical phenomena, he predicted the invention of glasses, magnifying glasses, telescopes and microscopes. He dreamed of an engine that would propel a ship without the help of rowers, of a cart moving at high speed without any harness, of flying machines controlled by humans. While doing chemical experiments, Bacon was the first in Europe to compile a recipe for making gunpowder.
For his views, which sharply diverged from the then dominant theological scholasticism and church worldview, as well as for his bold criticism of the vicious morals of the clergy, Bacon was subjected to all kinds of persecution throughout his life. catholic church. He was expelled from Oxford to Paris under the supervision of spiritual superiors, accused of magic, prohibited from lecturing and conducting scientific studies. For 14 years he spent in prison, from where he emerged as a decrepit old man, without any means of support.
Roger Bacon was not consistent in everything and did not completely break with theology and scholasticism, but nevertheless, the materialistic tendency found clear expression in his ideas. The materialistic tendency was expressed even more clearly by the scholastic scientist, professor of theology at Oxford University, John Duns Scotus (about 1265-1308). “Materialism,” wrote Marx, “is the natural son of Great Britain. Already her scholastic Dune Scotus asked himself: “Isn’t matter capable of thinking?” K. Marx and F. Engels, The Holy Family, Works, vol. 2, ed. 2, p. 142.). As Marx put it, Dune Scotus “...forced theology itself to preach materialism.” Duns Scotus was one of the prominent representatives of nominalism ( Nominalism (from the Latin nomen - name, title) is a direction in medieval philosophy that asserts that general concepts are only designations (names) for a number of individual objects, i.e. the primacy of the latter and the secondary nature of concepts were recognized.) in medieval philosophy. Nominalism, according to Marx, is “...the first expression of materialism” ( K. Marx and F. Engels, The Holy Family, Works, vol. 2, ed. 2, cgr 142.). Roger Bacon and John Duns Scotus were considered by Marx to be among the most daring thinkers among English scholastic scientists ( See K. Marx, Chronological extracts; in the book Archives of Marx and Engels, vol. VIII, p. 372.).
No matter how scholastic theology constrained the study of the true laws of nature, their study inevitably expanded with the growth of the productive forces of society. Elements experienced knowledge in the fields of mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry and medicine, incompatible with church teaching, although slowly, made their way despite all persecution by the church.