The Beginnings of the King's Council

James F. Baldwin

doi:10.2307/3678226

The Beginnings of the King's Council

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 February 2009

James F. Baldwin

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James F. Baldwin: Affiliation:
Associate Professor of History inVassar College

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Writers of the thirteenth century observed the formation of a new power in the government. This they variously called ‘the king' familiar council’, ‘the supreme council’, ‘the secret council,’ ‘the noble and prudent council’. It later became known as ‘the continual’ or ‘the ordinary council’, and finally ‘the privy council’. These adjectives and others applied to the council and councillors serve very well to designate the body of which we speak. It is to be noted, however, that it is in chronicles and other literary sources that such terms are at first to be found. The stricter and more conservative ofKcial language recognised only the king's council, or simply the council Ambiguous as they are, these continued to be the usual terms for almost the whole of the middle age, though in the fourteenth century the more popular and descriptive terms found a place in the official records.

Type: Research Article
Information: Transactions of the Royal Historical Society , Volume 19 , December 1905 , pp. 27 - 59

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3678226 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Royal Historical Society 1904

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^{Page 27 note 1} In 1217 a letter of Falkes de Breauté to Hubert de Burgh, in which one councillor writes to another, makes an appeal to the familiare consilium. Royal Letters, i. 5.

^{Page 29 note 1} Materials for History of Becket, i. 35; iv. 46.

^{Page 29 note 2} Ibid. 123.

^{Page 29 note 3} Ibid. iv. 48. In this instance de consilio clearly means of the council, not counsel.

^{Page 29 note 4} Benedict of Peterborough, i. 305, 306.

^{Page 29 note 5} Materials for History of Becket, iii. 120, 127.

^{Page 29 note 6} Hoveden, iii. 32; Benedict of Peterborough, ii. 105.

^{Page 30 note 1} Hoveden, iii. 136.

^{Page 30 note 2} Ibid. 141.

^{Page 30 note 3} Benedict of Peterborough, i. 207.

^{Page 30 note 4} Baildon, Select Civil Pleas, Selden Society, no. 190.

^{Page 31 note 1} Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, ii. no. 1207.

^{Page 31 note 2} Rotuli Litterarum Clausarum, i. 131.

^{Page 31 note 3} Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, no. 222; Fœdera (Record edition), i. 81.

^{Page 31 note 4} Rotuli Litterarum Patentium, 118.

^{Page 31 note 5} ‘Sciatis quod dominus J. rex pater noster…contulit ante concilium dilecto clerico nostro Willelmo filio Umfridi easdem ecclesias que de sua fuerunt advocacione’. Calendar Patent Rolls, 204.

^{Page 32 note 1} Rot. Lit. Pat. i. 88. Other such accounts are to be found in Rotuli Chartarum, i. 125; and in Rot. Lit. Claus. i. 168.

^{Page 32 note 2} Fœdera, i. 144.

^{Page 32 note 3} Turner, J. G., ‘Minority of Henry III.’, Royal Historical Society, Trans, vol. xviii. 282Google Scholar.

^{Page 32 note 4} Royal Letters, i. 224.

^{Page 34 note 1} Explained later.

^{Page 34 note 2} Fœdera, i. 152.

^{Page 34 note 3} Calendar Patent Rolls, 10th year, 30.

^{Page 34 note 4} Matt. Paris, iii. 14, 36; Matt. Westminster, ii. 17.

^{Page 34 note 5} Wendover, ii. 269.

^{Page 34 note 6} Fœdera, i. 156.

^{Page 35 note 1} Royal Letters, i. 532.

^{Page 35 note 2} Ibid. 76.

^{Page 35 note 3} Dunstaple, 89.

^{Page 35 note 4} Royal Letters, i. 549.

^{Page 35 note 5} Compare Stubbs, , C. H., ii. 31Google Scholar.

^{Page 36 note 1} ‘The council and the barons of the exchequer’ is a phrase which recurs.

^{Page 36 note 2} An appendix contains a list of the councillors.

^{Page 36 note 3} Cal. Doc. Scot. i. 130; Pell Records, ‘Liberate Roll’, 28, 29; Excerpta e Rotulis, 301.

^{Page 36 note 4} Rot. Lit. Claus. i, 415.

^{Page 36 note 5} Ibid. 403.

^{Page 36 note 6} Rot. Lit. Claus. i. 527; Cal. Doc. Ire. no. 1074.

^{Page 37 note 1} Calendar Close Rolls, 116; Royal Letters, i. 335.

^{Page 39 note 1} Calendar Patent Rolls, 110.

^{Page 39 note 2} Ibid. 134.

^{Page 39 note 3} Fædera, i. 145.

^{Page 39 note 4} Calendar Patent Rolls, 47.

^{Page 39 note 5} Rot. Lit. Claus. i. 358.

^{Page 39 note 6} Royal Letters, i. 5 Rot. Lit. Claus. i. 383, 387.

^{Page 39 note 7} Royal Letters, i. 5.

^{Page 39 note 8} Calendar Patent Rolls, 135, 181.

^{Page 39 note 9} Rot. Lit. Claus. i. 455.

^{Page 40 note 1} Rot. Lit. Claus. i. 436; Calendar Patent Rolls, 287.

^{Page 40 note 2} Fœdera, i. 168.

^{Page 40 note 3} Rot. Lit. Claus. i. 363, 501; Rot. Lit. Pat. no; Fœdera, i. 164–400.

^{Page 41 note 1} Fœdera, i. 164, 174, 206. In 1242 the king writes, ‘unde videbatur nobis et consilio nostro quod treugam aliquam ei observare non tenebamur, et sic, treuga deficiente, guerram inchoare nos oportuit’. Ibid, 245.

^{Page 41 note 2} Fœdera, i. 148.

^{Page 41 note 3} Ibid. i. 180.

^{Page 41 note 4} Ibid. i. 176 &c.

^{Page 41 note 5} Calendar Patent Rolls, 384.

^{Page 41 note 6} Royal Letters, passim; Matt. Paris, v. 56; Calendar Doc. Scot. i. 388.

^{Page 41 note 7} Fœdera, i. 164.

^{Page 42 note 1} Fœdera, i. 154; Calendar Patent Rolls, 197.

^{Page 42 note 2} Calendar Doc. Scot. i. 134.

^{Page 42 note 3} Bracton's Note Book, no. 1221.

^{Page 42 note 4} Rot. Lit. Claus. i. 361; Excerpta e Rotulis Finium, i. 67, 95; ii.197; Madox, , History of the Exchequer, ii. 27Google Scholar.

^{Page 43 note 1} Turner, J. G., ‘Minority of Henry III.’ Trans., vol. xviii. 284–290Google Scholar.

^{Page 43 note 2} Rot. Lit. Claus. i. passim.

^{Page 43 note 3} Ibid. 481.

^{Page 43 note 4} Ibid. 413.

^{Page 43 note 5} Calendar Patent Rolls, 1st volume, 327.

^{Page 44 note 1} Rot. Lit. Claus. i. 476.

^{Page 44 note 2} Ibid. 596; ii. 4; Calendar Patent Rolls, 232.

^{Page 44 note 3} Rot. Lit. Claus. i. 467; a similar instance, 521.

^{Page 44 note 4} Ibid. 456, 457.

^{Page 44 note 5} Ibid. 526.

^{Page 44 note 6} Calendar Patent Rolls, 181, 304.

^{Page 45 note 1} Rot. Lit. Claus. i. 406.

^{Page 45 note 2} Excerpta e Rotulis, 46.

^{Page 45 note 3} Rot. Lit. Claus. i. 438.

^{Page 45 note 4} Ibid. 361.

^{Page 45 note 5} Cole, , Documents, 311Google Scholar.

^{Page 46 note 1} Rot. Lit. Clous. i. 608.

^{Page 46 note 2} Ibid. ii. 29.

^{Page 46 note 3} Ibid. 73.

^{Page 46 note 4} Calendar Patent Rolls, 15.

^{Page 46 note 5} Rot. Lit. Claus. i. 544.

^{Page 46 note 6} Calendar Patent Rolls, 458.

^{Page 47 note 1} ‘Per consilium scaccarii et M. de Pateshull’, Calendar Patent Rolls, 3rd year, 406.

^{Page 47 note 2} Rot. Lit. Claus. i. 410.

^{Page 47 note 3} ‘Traetatu habito intra magnates et jurisperitos sententia est’. Rot. Lit. Claus. i. 549.

^{Page 48 note 1} Red Book of the Exchequer, iii. 1010.

^{Page 48 note 2} Calendar Patent Rolls, 186.

^{Page 48 note 3} Bracton's, Note Book, nos. no, 1396Google Scholar.

^{Page 48 note 4} Royal Letters, i. 32.

^{Page 49 note 1} Rot. Lit. Claus. i. 406.

^{Page 49 note 2} Calendar Close Rolls, 108; Royal Letters, i 328.

^{Page 49 note 3} Rot. Lit. Claus. i. 435, 626; Fœdera, i. 168; Calendar Patent Rolls, 1st volume, 307.

^{Page 49 note 4} ‘Et quoniam justiciarii nolunt procedere … ponunt præmissa in respectum quousque consilium domini regis super hoc consulerint’. Rotuli Selecti ad Res Anglicas et Hibernicas Spectantes, 210; another instance, 211.

^{Page 50 note 1} Maitland, ‘Select Pleas of the Crown’, Seldcn Society, i. no. 148.

^{Page 50 note 2} Royal Letters, i. 101.

^{Page 50 note 3} Rot. Lit. Clous. i. 549.

^{Page 51 note 1} Bracton's Note Book, no. 1306.

^{Page 51 note 2} Rot. Lit. Claus. i. 629.

^{Page 51 note 3} Bracton's Note Book, nos. 67, 73.

^{Page 51 note 4} Ibid. 1166.

^{Page 51 note 5} Calendar Doc. Scot. i. 275.

^{Page 51 note 6} Bracton's Note Book, no. 12.

^{Page 52 note 1} ‘Per consilium suum quod tunc habuit [rex]’. Bracton's Note Book, no. 1108.

^{Page 52 note 2} Royal Letters, i. 442.

^{Page 52 note 3} Calendar Doc. Ire. no. 2964.

^{Page 52 note 4} Maitland, Select Pleas of the Crown, no. 192.

^{Page 52 note 5} Calendar Patent Rolls, 3rd year, 210.

^{Page 53 note 1} Rot. Lit. Claus. i. 549.

^{Page 53 note 2} Calendar Doc. Scot. i. 335.

^{Page 53 note 3} Rot. Lit. Claus. i. 320, 361, 477, 479; Abbreviatio Placitorum, 141; Excerpta e Rotulis Finium, 88 &c.

^{Page 53 note 4} Diplomatic Documents, Chancery, po. 673.

^{Page 54 note 1} Abb. Plac., passim.

^{Page 54 note 2} Calendar Patent Rolls, 262.

^{Page 54 note 3} Rot. Lit. Claus. i. 4th year, passim.

^{Page 54 note 4} Ibid. ii. 56; Calendar Patent Rolls, 190, 258, 568.

^{Page 55 note 1} Rot. Lit. Claus.. ii. 209; Calendar Patent Rolls, 9th year, 568.

^{Page 55 note 2} Rot. Lit. Claus. ii. 56, 80.

^{Page 55 note 3} Ibid. i. 406.

^{Page 55 note 4} Ibid. 433–434.

^{Page 55 note 5} Ibid. 428.

^{Page 55 note 6} Ibid. 417.

^{Page 55 note 7} Ibid. 531.

^{Page 55 note 8} Calendar Patent Rolls, 183.

^{Page 55 note 9} Fœdera, i. 164.

^{Page 56 note 1} Calendar Patent Rolls, 64; also 228, 282.

^{Page 56 note 2} ‘Quod de terris, wardis, escætis, prebendis, et omnibus beneficiis ad dictum episcopatum pertinentibus, dum dictus episcopatus fuerit in custodia sua, operabitur per consilium nostrum’. Calendar Patent Rolls, 1st volume, 377; also 106, 210.

^{Page 56 note 3} Calendar Patent Rolls, 232.

^{Page 56 note 4} Royal Letters, i. 128.

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