Henry III’s reign lasted over half a century.  During that period England, as we have seen, was not standing still.  It was an age of reform.  In religion the “Begging Friars” were exhorting men to better lives.  In education Roger Bacon and other devoted scholars were laboring to broaden knowledge and deepen thought.

In political affairs the people now first obtained a place in Parliament.  Their victory was not permanent then, but it was the precursor of the establishment of a permanent House of Commons which was to come in the next reign.

Edward I—­1272-1307

216.  Edward I and the Crusades.

Henry’s son, Prince Edward, was in the East, fighting the battles of the Crusades (S182), at the time of his father’s death.  According to an account given in an old Spanish chronicle, an enemy attacked him with a poisoned dagger.  His wife, Eleanor, saved his life by heroically sucking the poison from the wound (S223).

217.  Edward’s First “Complete or Model Parliament,” 1295.

Many years after his return to England, Edward convened a Parliament, 1295, to which representatives of all classes of freemen were summoned, and from this time they regularly met (S213).  Parliament henceforth consisted of two Houses.[1] This first included the Lords and Clergy.  The second comprised the Commons (or representation of the common people).  It thus became “a complete image of the nation,” “assembled for the purposes of taxation, legislation, and united political action."[2] This body declared that all previous laws should be impartially executed, and that there should be no interference with elections.[2] By this action King Edward showed that he had the wisdom to adopt and perfect the example his father’s conqueror had left him (S213).  Thus it will be seen that though Earl Simon the Righteous (SS212, 213, 214) was dead, his reform went on.  It was an illustration of the truth that while “God buries his workers, he carries on his work.”

[1] But during that period of the Commonwealth and Protectorate (1648-1660) the House of Lords did not meet (S450) [2] Stubb’s “Early Plantagenets” (Edward I).  See also the Summary of Constitutional History in the Appendix, p. xi, S12. [3] The First Statute of Westminster.

218.  Conquest of Wales, 1282; Birth of the First Prince of Wales.

Henry II had labored to secure unity of law for England.  Edward I’s aim was to bring the whole island of Britain under one ruler.  On the west, Wales only half acknowledged the power of the English King, while on the north, Scotland was practically an independent sovereignty.  The new King determined to begin by annexing Wales to the Crown.

He accordingly led an army thither, and after several victorious battles, considered that he had gained his end.  To make sure of his new possessions, he erected along the coast the magnificent castles of Conway, Beaumaris, Harlech, and Carnarvon, all of which he garrisoned with bodies of troops ready to check revolt.