The Rise of the Democracy Part 17

[2] "The parish was the community of the township organised for Church purposes and subject to Church discipline, with a const.i.tution which recognised the rights of the whole body as an aggregate, and the right of every adult member, _whether man or woman_, to a voice in self-government, but at the same time kept the self-governing community under a system of inspection and restraint by a central authority outside the parish boundaries."--Bishop Hobhouse, _Somerset Record Society_, Vol. IV.

"The community had its own a.s.sembly--the parish meeting--which was a deliberative a.s.sembly. It had its own officers, who might be either men or women, duly elected, sometimes for a year, sometimes for life, but in all cases subject to being dismissed for flagrant offences. The larger number of these officials had well-defined duties to discharge, and were paid for their services out of funds provided by the parishioners."--DR. JESSOPP, _Before the Great Pillage_.

[3] Radmer, _Life of Anselm_. (Rolls Series.)

[4] "The boldness of Anselm's att.i.tude not only broke the tradition of ecclesiastical servitude, but infused through the nation at large a new spirit of independence."--J.R. GREEN, _History of the English People_.

[5] "For as long as any one in all the land was said to hold any power except through him, even in the things of G.o.d, it seemed to him that the royal dignity was diminished."--EADMER, _Life of Anselm_.

[6] See Palgrave's _History of Normandy and England_.

[7] "A martyr he clearly was, not merely to the privileges of the Church or to the rights of the See of Canterbury, but to the general cause of law and order as opposed to violence."--FREEMAN, _Historical Essays_.

[8] _See_ Campbell's _Lives of the Chancellors_.

[9] F. York Powell, _England to 1509_.

"Ecclesiastical privileges were not so exclusively priestly privileges as we sometimes fancy. They sheltered not only ordained ministers, but all ecclesiastical officers of every kind; the Church courts also claimed jurisdiction in the causes of widows and orphans. In short, the privileges for which Thomas contended transferred a large part of the people, and that the most helpless part, from the b.l.o.o.d.y grasp of the King's courts to the milder jurisdiction of the bishop."--FREEMAN, _Historical Essays_.

[10] Walter of Coventry. (Rolls Series.)

[11] Roger of Wendover. (Rolls Series.)

[12] "Clause by clause the rights of the commons are provided for as well as the rights of the n.o.bles; the interest of the freeholder is everywhere coupled with that of the barons and knights; the stock of the merchant and the wainage of the villein are preserved from undue severity of amercement as well as the settled estate of the earldom or barony. The knight is protected against the compulsory exaction of his services, and the horse and cart of the freeman against the irregular requisition even of the sheriff."--STUBBS, _Const.i.tutional History_.

[13] "Quod Anglicana Ecclesia libera sit."--_Magna Charta_, I.

[14] "This most important provision may be regarded as a summing-up of the history of Parliament so far as it can be said yet to exist. It probably contains nothing which had not been for a long time in theory a part of the Const.i.tution: the kings had long consulted their council on taxation; that council consisted of the elements that are here specified. But the right had never yet been stated in so clear a form, and the statement thus made seems to have startled even the barons.... It was for the attainment of this right that the struggles of the reign of Henry III. were carried on; and the realisation of the claim was deferred until the reign of his successor. In these clauses the nation had now obtained a comparatively clear definition of the right on which their future political power was to be based."--STUBBS, _Const.i.tutional History_.

[15] "Ut quod omnes similiter tangit ab omnibus approbetur."

[16] Stubbs, _Const.i.tutional History_.

[17] Stubbs, _Ibid_.

[18] "a.n.a.logous examples may be taken from the practice of the ecclesiastical a.s.semblies, in which the representative theory is introduced shortly before it finds its way into parliament."--STUBBS, _Const.i.tutional History_.

[19] Stubbs, _Const.i.tutional History_.

[20] Stubbs, _Const.i.tutional History_.

[21] F. York Powell, _England to 1509_.

[22] Sir Courtenay Ilbert, _Parliament_.

[23] Ilbert, _Parliament_.

[24] Bagehot, _The English Const.i.tution_.

[25] Bagehot, _Ibid_.

[26] Stubbs, _Const.i.tutional History_.

[27] Stubbs, _Const.i.tutional History_.

[28] Andrew Marvell, the poet, who sat for Hull in the reign of Charles II., was paid by the mayor and aldermen of the borough. In return Marvell wrote letters describing pa.s.sing events in London. There are stray cases of the payment of members in the early years of the eighteenth century. Four shillings a day, including the journey to and from London, for the knight of the shire, and two shillings a day for the borough member were the wages fixed by law in 1323.

[29] Stubbs, _Const.i.tutional History_.

[30] Bagehot, _The English Const.i.tution_.

[31] _See_ Stopes' _British Freewomen_ for a full examination of this matter.

[32] Stubbs, _Const.i.tutional History_.

[33] For the last fifty years the political influence of London has been less than that of the manufacturing districts.

[34] "The project was clearly to set up a new order of things founded on social equality--a theory which in the whole history of the Middle Ages appears for the first time in connection with this movement."--DR.

GAIRDNER, _Introduction to Paston Letters_.

[35] Four centuries later and this doctrine of all men having been born free at the beginning was to be preached again in popular fashion by Rousseau and find expression in American Independence and the French Revolution.

[36] Froissart seems to be chiefly responsible for the notion, found in the writings of later historians, that this John Tyler was the leader of the revolt, and for the confusion that mistakenly identifies him with Wat Tyler, of Maidstone, the real leader. Three other Tylers are mentioned in the records of the Peasant Revolt--Walter, of Ess.e.x, and two of the City of London.

[37] Hallam, _Middle Ages_.

[38] This law of Winchester was the statute of Edward I., 1285, which authorised local authorities to appoint constables and preserve the peace.

According to a statement made by Jack Straw, Tyler and his lieutenants intended, amongst other things, to get rid of the King's Council, and make each county a self-governing commune.

[39] There are some grounds for believing that a plot had been made to slay Wat Tyler at Smithfield. _See_ Dr. G. Kriehn _American Review_, 1902.

[40] F. York Powell, _England to 1509_.

[41] Durrant Cooper, _John Cade's Followers in Kent_.

[42] "These lords found him sober in talk, wise in reasoning, arrogant in heart, and stiff in opinions; one who by no means would dissolve his army, except the King in person would come to him, and a.s.sent to the things he would require."--HOLINSHED.

[43] Stow.

[44] "Whereof he (Cade) lost the people's favour and hearts. For it was to be thought if he had not executed that robbery he might have gone far and brought his purpose to good effect."--FABYAN'S _Chronicle_.

"And for this the hearts of the citizens fell from him, and every thrifty man was afraid to be served in likewise, for there was many a man in London that awaited and would fain have seen a common robbery."--STOW.

[45] "During the period, which may be roughly defined as from 1450 to 1550, enclosure meant to a large extent the actual dispossession of the tenants by their manorial lords. This took place either in the form of the violent ousting of the sitting tenant, or of a refusal on the death of one tenant to admit the son, who in earlier centuries would have been treated as his natural successor. Proofs abound."--W.J. ASHLEY, _Economic History_.

[46] _See_ Dr. Jessop, _The Great Pillage_.

[47] "That a populous and wealthy city like Norwich should have been for three weeks in the hands of 20,000 rebels, and should have escaped utter pillage and ruin, speaks highly for the rebel leaders."--W. RYE, _Victoria County History of Norfolk_.