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Jan 1, 1066
William the Conqueror Adopts the Witenagemot (not part of my seven steps, just an interesting anecdote.)
Before Norman Control of England, the Anglo-Saxon kings had traditionally called a council called the Witenagemot, or "Council of Wise-men" to assist in decisions on national affairs. The Witan was composed of England's most powerful ealrs and thanes, and her most senior clergy. It was the Witan that by the end of Saxon England both elected and approved kings. William of Normandy allowed the Witan to continue as the "Curia Regis" after he became king, known as Parliament since King John's reign. -
Jun 15, 1215
Creation of the Magna Carta
After a tyrranical and unlimited reign, the nobility under King John decided that the King could no longer be allowed to excersise unsupervised power over England. John had over-taxed peasantry and nobility alike and had abused the Church. The nobility lead a rebellion that forced John to sign the "Great Charter" at Runnymeade, that basically said that the King was also under the law and that a council of barons would make sure he did not overstep these boundaries. -
Nov 13, 1295
The Model Parliament of Edward I
King Edward called this Parliament to define the organization and ranks of Parliament. This parliament included clergy, nobility, and representatives from each county. It was called to perform its only ability at the time, to levy taxes for funding, but at the same time the elected representatives began to voice grievances and problems with the king and with the government. This practice was key in the evoltion to a powerful, monarchy-limiting House of Commons. -
Apr 28, 1376
The Good Parliament of 1376.
Upon its calling, when King Edward III knew of the corruption of the national government, the House of Commons, which had separated from the Lords, elected Peter de la Mare to be their speaker and quickly called to cease the corruption in the government and for the supervision of the royal treasury. Although the acts of this parliament were broken by John of Gaunt, a son of Edward, the strong pressence of the Commons at this meeting set precedent for more pronounced involement in the future. -
Ratification of the Petition of Right
The Petition was an act of Parliament ratified by Charles I that set specific limits on the ability of the king including taxation, imprisonment without trial, and other grievances. Besides needing Parliament's funding, each of the houses demanded that Charles ratify it, creating a unified Parliament agains the king for the first time. The Petition would become the basis of the English Bill of Rights in 1689. -
The Long Parliament.
After eleven years of personal rule, Charles I was forced to call Parliament in order to fund the Bishops War against the Scots. The new Parliament, angry because they had not been called for so long, quickly passed the Triennial act, which required that Parliament meet at least every three years and later an act that forbid its dissolution. The Parliament continued through the Civil War stripped down to its Roundhead, Puritan members, mustering its own army and later trying Charles for treason. -
Trial and Execution (or Martyrdom) of King Charles I
The High Court of Justice gathered at Westminster in January 1649 to try Charles I for High Treason against the people of England. The trial was clearly pitted against the King as it consisted of members of the Rump Parliament, purged by Cromwell of anyone suspected of loyalist of episcopal sympathies. The King was executed on 30 January. The action of Parliament to kill the king was the first of any representative body in Europe and set precedent for the reduction of a monarch's power. -
The Bill of Rights and the Ascension of William and Mary.
Before the ascension of William and Mary to the English throne, Parliament passed the Bill of rights which summed up the most urgent restrictions of the monarchy. These included the right of members of parliament to question the monarch without fear, Parliament's right to taxation, and that no army can be mustered without the consent of Parliament. These statues finnaly restricted the abilities of the English Monarch to clear boundaries which the half-representative Parliament maintained.
