Search results
– a desire reflective less of his regard for the inconvenience of those attending than of his antipathy towards parliaments 17 – was intended to consider amendments to the law for the profit of the king and his people. The principle outcome of the parliament, the Statute of York [ 39b ], was a rejection of ‘all manner of ordinances or provisions’ that might seek to reduce the authority of the king
This book presents key texts relating to the political as well as to the broader socio-economic history of the reign of Edward II. Drawing on a wide range of narrative sources, especially the extensive chronicle accounts of the reign, the editors also introduce other important material, including parliamentary rolls, charters, court records and accounts. Together this gathering of sources allows the reader to navigate this troubled and eventful period in English medieval history. The volume is organised chronologically, guiding the reader from the moment of Edward II’s accession in 1307 until his removal from office in 1327 and his supposed death in the same year. The editors also introduce more thematic chapters throughout, addressing such key themes as royal finances and the state of the early fourteenth-century economy, the role of parliament, and political and military engagement with Scotland. In an introductory essay, the editors discuss previous historical work directed at the reign of Edward II and also outline the range of source types available to the historian of the reign. Each section of primary source is also introduced by the editors, who offer a contextual analysis in each instance.
a new, higher rate of taxation on the fiscal category of Italian merchants and brokers. 104 There was much more general support over the same period for the idea of imposing a range of restrictions on alien merchants’ involvement in the internal wholesale and retail trades. The prevailing policy of the early fourteenth century, summed up in the Carta Mercatoria of 1303 and the Statute of York of 1335, was that foreigners should be free to operate in internal markets. In 1376, however, the city of London challenged this position
co-authors of the law, whose consent to legislation was not required. The first parliament, then, occurred only in 1236, where king and Lords together enacted the first statute, the Statute of Merton; for many years after, though, legislation continued to be made in the king’s name only. The Commons was not established as a full legislative partner until the reign of Edward II and the Statute of York (1322), when the enacting clauses of laws begin to record that the ‘consent’ of the Commons as well as that of the Lords was sought as a requirement for grants of