1398-1399
                                |
                        Edmund Mortimer
                        (heir presumptive
                        to the crown after
                          Richard II)

[2] See Gardiner, Stubbs, and the “Dictionary of English History.”

258.  Summary.

Richard II’s reign comprised: 

1.  The peasant revolt under Wat Tyler, whic hled eventually to the emancipation of the villeins, or farm laborers. 2.  Wycliffe’s reformation movement and his complete translation of the Latin Bible, with the rise of the Lollards. 3.  The publication of Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales,” the first great English poem. 4.  The deposition of the King, and the transfer of the crown by Parliament to Henry, Duke of Lancaster.

General Reference Summary of the Angevin, or Plantegenet, Period (1154-1399)

I. Government.  II.  Religion.  III.  Military Affairs.  IV.  Literature, Learning, and Art.  V. General Industry and Commerce.  VI.  Mode of Life, Manners, and Customs.

I. Government

259.  Judicial Reforms.

In 1164 Henry II undertook, by a series of statutes called the Constitutions of Clarendon, to bring the Church under the common law of the land, but was only temporarily successful.  By subsequent statutes he reorganized the administration of justice, and laid the foundation of trial by jury.

260.  Town Charters.

Under Richard I many towns secured charters giving them the control of their own affairs in great measure.  In this way municipal self-government arose, and a prosperous and intelligent class of merchants and artisans grew up who eventually obtained important political influence in the management of national affairs.

261.  Magna Carta, or the Great National Charter.

This pledge, extotrted from King John in 1215, put a check to he arbitrary power of the sovereign, and guaranteed the rights of all classes, from the serf and the townsman to the bishop and baron (S199).  It consisted originally of sixty-three articles, founded mainly on the first royal charter (that of Henry I), given in 1100 (S135).

Magna Carta was not a statement of principles, but a series of specific remedies for specific abuses, which may be summarized as follows: 

1.  The Church to be free from royal interference, especially in the election of bishops. 2.  No taxes except the regular feudal dues (S150) to be levied, except by the consent of the Great Council, or Parliament. 3.  The Court of Common Pleas (see p. 73, not 1) not to follow the King, but to remain stationary at Westminster.  Justice to be neither sold, denied or delayed.  No man to be imprisoned, outlawed, punished, or otherwissssse molested, save by the judgment of his equals or by the law of the land.  The necessary implements of all freemen, and the farming tools of villeins, or farm laborers (S113), to be exempt from seizure. 4.  Weights and measures to be kept uniform throughout the realm.  All merchants to have the right to enter and leave the kingdom without paying exorbitant tolls for the privilege. 5.  Forest laws to be justly enforced. 6.  The charter to be carried out by twenty-five barons together with the mayor of London.