Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Miscellaneous Frontmatter
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 The Character of Edward II: The Letters of Edward of Caernarfon Reconsidered
- 2 The Sexualities of Edward II
- 3 Sermons of Sodomy: A Reconsideration of Edward II's Sodomitical Reputation
- 4 The Court of Edward II
- 5 Household Knights and Military Service Under the Direction of Edward II
- 6 England in Europe in the Reign of Edward II
- 7 The Last Refuge of a Scoundrel? Edward II and Ireland, 1321–7
- 8 Edward II: The Public and Private Faces of the Law
- 9 Parliament and Political Legitimacy in the Reign of Edward II
- 10 The Childhood and Household of Edward II's Half-Brothers, Thomas of Brotherton and Edmund of Woodstock
- 11 Rise of a Royal Favourite: the Early Career of Hugh Despenser the Elder
- 12 The Place of the Reign of Edward II
- Index
- YORK MEDIEVAL PRESS: PUBLICATIONS
9 - Parliament and Political Legitimacy in the Reign of Edward II
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Miscellaneous Frontmatter
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 The Character of Edward II: The Letters of Edward of Caernarfon Reconsidered
- 2 The Sexualities of Edward II
- 3 Sermons of Sodomy: A Reconsideration of Edward II's Sodomitical Reputation
- 4 The Court of Edward II
- 5 Household Knights and Military Service Under the Direction of Edward II
- 6 England in Europe in the Reign of Edward II
- 7 The Last Refuge of a Scoundrel? Edward II and Ireland, 1321–7
- 8 Edward II: The Public and Private Faces of the Law
- 9 Parliament and Political Legitimacy in the Reign of Edward II
- 10 The Childhood and Household of Edward II's Half-Brothers, Thomas of Brotherton and Edmund of Woodstock
- 11 Rise of a Royal Favourite: the Early Career of Hugh Despenser the Elder
- 12 The Place of the Reign of Edward II
- Index
- YORK MEDIEVAL PRESS: PUBLICATIONS
Summary
Half as many parliaments met under Edward II as under Edward III, and a fraction of parliamentary records survive for the earlier reign compared to the latter, and yet it is the development of parliament under Edward II that has really caught the attention and fired the enthusiasm of twentieth-century constitutional historians. This is because scholars have looked to the reign of Edward II to identify the first signs of a fundamental change that overtook parliament in the first half of the fourteenth century; namely, the emergence of the representatives as a permanent and important force in English politics. The paucity of parliamentary records under Edward II has shrouded these developments under a veil of uncertainty and ambiguity. One of the consequences has been a great body of historiography which attempts to draw broad conclusions about the political significance of the early fourteenth-century parliament but which uses only a handful of key texts associated with landmark parliamentary events – or, at least, political events that took place within a parliamentary context. These include the Ordinances of 1310–11, the Statute of York of 1322, Edward's deposition in 1327 and, finally, the tantalisingly enigmatic Modus Tenendi Parliamentum (circa Edward II's reign). The history of parliament under Edward II proves the maxim that a dearth of evidence will often generate greater volumes of historical writing than subjects for which there is an abundance of documentation, for where information is scarce there is greater scope for speculation, conjecture and disagreement.
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- Information
- The Reign of Edward IINew Perspectives, pp. 165 - 189Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2006