Chapter XXVIII: REIGN OF EDWARD I. (concluded) (3)

It was some time before the new deliberative body exercised all the powers which had belonged to its predecessor, the Grand Council. One of them, indeed--the judicial--it has taken care never to assume, and it was some time before the commons had any share in legislation. Summoned primarily for purposes of taxation, they at first confined themselves to that important function. In other respects the magnates were summoned, _ad tractandum_, to treat; the commons, _ad consulendum et consentiendum_, for their counsel and consent--that is, they were regarded as having inferior privileges. Nor were the elements of the Parliament at first by any means fixed. It seemed possible in the reign of Edward I. that there would be sub-estates of merchants and lawyers, as well as the three great estates of clergy, nobles, and commons; but these abnormal bodies soon ceased to have a separate existence. Nor was it clear how the line of cleavage would lie. The knights of the shire showed a disposition to coalesce with the barons, the representatives of the towns forming a second body, and the clergy a third. Eventually, however, the knights of the shire threw in their lot with the town members; the upper clergy formed a joint estate with the barons, of lords spiritual and temporal; while the lower clergy, following an unwise policy of isolation, preferred to tax themselves in convocation, and withdrew altogether from Parliament. The House of Lords, originally consisting simply of lay magnates, who received special writs of summons when their services were required, was rapidly converted into an assembly of the hereditary counsellors of the crown, whose title, created by royal patent, remained secure to them and their heirs for ever. This process took less than fifty years; and Parliaments, being summoned with regularity, became an essential feature in the constitution, and acquired a formidable defence of privilege.

All these circumstances marked the reign of Edward I. as one of the most important in our history. The organic principles which he introduced into the constitution struck deep and indestructible roots there, and have, by their permanent and progressive operation, made us in a great measure, as a nation, what we are.

Edward had a numerous family by his two wives, but a great many of his children died in their infancy. By his first wife, Eleanor of Castile, Edward, his heir and successor, was the only son, out of four, who survived him. Of eleven daughters by the same queen, four only appear to have lived. Joan was married, first to the Earl of Gloucester, and after his death to Ralph de Monthermer. Margaret married John, Duke of Brabant. Elizabeth married, first John, Count of Holland; and secondly, the Earl of Hereford. By his second wife, Margaret of France, Edward had a daughter who died in infancy, and two sons--Thomas, created Earl of Norfolk and Mareschal of England; and Edmund, made Earl of Kent by his brother, Edward II.