4io
Constitutional History.
[chap.
equivalent to ‘parliamentuni:’ the word ζparliamentum’ is
however used most frequently from the latter years of Ed-
ward I, and exclusively after the first year of Edward III.
Writsad- 419. The wrifs t0 the sheriffs, ordering the election of repre-
dressed to *j
the sheriffs, sentatives of the commons, correspond with the writs of the
lords only so far as concerns the recital of the cause of summons,
and in earlier writs this is frequently abbreviated. After de-
claring the occasion of meeting and the king’s intention of
treating with the prelates, magnates, and ‘proceres,’ no share
in the deliberative function being assigned to any other
persons, the writ proceeds to order the election of knights,
citizens, and burgesses, who are to have full and sufficient
power, on behalf of their constituencies, to consent to and to do
what by God’s favour may be determined by the common
Howthe counsel of the kingdom, on the matter premised1. The sheriff
to be made, is himself to bring up the names of the persons chosen and the
writ, until by the statute of Henry IV in 1406 the indenture
tacked to the writ is declared to be the sheriffs return, and is
ordered to be sent into chancery. Such is the essential form of
the writ ; the many important variations in detail, touching
the status of the persons to be chosen and the process of elec-
tion, are valuable indications of political and social history.
They must be taken in chronological order.
Variations The changes in the clauses which describe the character of
in the form .
describing the persons eligible as knights of the shire begin very early,
the persons ∙,n , ∙ι . . . _ . . 1 , ,
to be elected The writ of 1275 describes the knights to be elected as ‘de
the store. discretioribus et Iegalioribus2.' The form used in 1290, 1294,
and 12953, prescribes the election to be made ‘de discretioribus
et ad Iaborandum potentioribus4 ; ’ the form is varied in 1302,
1 fIta quod iidem milites plenam et Sufficientem potestatem pro se et
Communitate comitatus praedicti, et dicti cives et burgenses pro se et com-
munitatibus civitatum et burgorum praedictorum, divisim ab ipsis habeant
ad faciendum et Consentiendum Iiiis quae tune ibidem de communi con&ilio
regni nostri favente Domino ordinari contigerit super negotiis antedictis ; *
Lords’ Iieport, iv. 786.
2 Vol. ii. p. 235. 3 Pari. Writs, i. 21, 25, 29, 48, &c.
4 In 1297 the description is ‘de probioribus et Iegalioribus this meet-
ing however was not, strictly speaking, a parliament, but the council
to which the knights were called to receive the copies of the confirmed
charters. Park Writs, i. 56.
Writs of the Knights.
4i I
the words being ‘ de discretioribus ipsius comitatus1,’ and in
1306 the clause directing the election of burgesses runs ‘ et de
quolibet burgo duos burgenses vel unum secundum quod burgus
fueι it major vel minor2.’ Both these variations were temporary ;
the older form is resumed and observed down to 1324, when
Edward II, apparently despairing of getting a parliament to-
gether, and, having in 1322 been obliged to receive valetti or
esquires instead of knights of the shire for several counties,
dispensed with the demand for discreet and able knights by
adding ‘ seu aliis, de comitatu tuo, assensu et arbitrio hoɪninum
ejusdenɪ comitatus nominandos3.’ As however he omitted the Attemptsto
secure the
summons for the clergy and borough members altogether, this election of
. η ηπ . .. -r real knightɔ.
writ cannot be regarded as a writ ot parliament, in the next
parliament, that of 1325, only twenty-seven of the knights of
the shire were belted knights. The writs for the parliament of
Northampton in 1328 forbad the attendance of members with a
multitude of armed retainers4; and an additional writ in 1330
enjoined on the sheriff to obtain the election of persons not
suspected of legal malpractices : ‘ deux des plus Ieaux et plus
Suffisauns chivalers ou Serjauntz de meisme Ie countee qui soient
mie suspicionous de male coveigne, ne communes meintenours
des parties’.’ This was with a view to the next parliament, in
which Mortimer was condemned. Although the result was
satisfactory for the moment, and no change in the writ was
required for some years, abuses had already begun to creep in,
and in 1339 the commons, declaring that they could not assent
1 Part. Writs, i. 115: in 1305, ‘de discretioribus et ad Iaborandum
potentioribus ;, ib. p. 138.
2 Park Writs, i. 182, 183. This is not counted as a regular parlia-
ment.
3 In 1311 the sheriff of Rutland sends two t homines/ having no knights ;
Parl. Writs, ii. ɪ, 51. In 1322 Worcestershire returned a valettus, who
received only 2s. for his expenses ; ib. ii. ɪ, 277 : Devon returned one,
Middlesex, Hereford and Leicestertwo; ib. 278. In 1324 all are called
milites; ib. 313. In 1324 the summons to the barons is cin fide et
dilectione/ and ( seu aliis5 is in the Sheiiffs' Writs, II. i. 317 ; in the
returns for Herefordshire it is specified that the persons elected are not
knights ; Lincolnshire returns a t serjaunt ;, the number of belted knights
made out by Prynne belongs to the parliament of 1325 ; ib. pp. 346j 347 ;
when the persons not knighted have only 3$. a day.
4 Lords’ Report, iv. 383 ; Prynne, Reg. ii. 79, 80.
s Prynne, Reg. ii. 85, 86 ; Rot. Parl. ii. 443.