English People, bk. ii. ch. iv., bk. iii. chs. i.-iii.; Montague, Elements of Constitutional History, 51-63; Stubbs, Early Plantagenets, chs. vii.-ix., Select Charters, 29-35, Constitutional History, II. §§ 168-178; Powell and Tout, History of England, bk. iii. chs. iii. iv.; Brewer, Student's Hume, ch. viii.; Lingard, History of England, II. chs. ii. iii.; Norgate, John Lackland; Ramsay, The Angevin Empire, chs. xxiii. xxx.; Traill, Social England, I. 408–415; Lawless, Ireland, chs, xiii. xiv.; Richardson, The National Movement in the Reign of Henry III.; M. Creighton, Historical Lectures and Addresses, 116–148, Simon de Montfort; Prothero, Simon de Montfort; Taswell-Langmead, Constitutional History, ch. iv.; Creasy, Rise and Progress of the English Constitution, chs. xi.-xiii.; Pollock and Maitland, History of English Law, I. bk. i. ch. iii. Adams and Stephens, Select Documents, nos. 22-36; Colby, Sources Selections from the Sources, nos. 29-31; Kendall, Source-Book, ch. v.; Hill, Liberty Documents, ch. ii.; Henderson, Select Documents, 135-148, 430-431; Howland, Ordeals, Compurgation, etc.' (University of Pennsylvania Reprints, IV. no. 4); Hutton, Misrule of Henry III., Simon de Montfort and his Cause; Gee and Hardy, Documents of Church History, nos. xxiv.-xxvii. See New England History Teachers' Association, Syllabus, 241-242, Historical Sources, 154. works Bates and Coman, English History told by English Poets, 81- Illustrative 93; G. P. R. James, Forest Days; Shakespeare, King John; Yonge, The Constable of the Tower. CHAPTER XII. FIRST STEPS IN PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT (1272–1307) 180. Char acter of Edward I. HENRY III.'s son, Edward I., who became king in 1272, was thirty-three years of age at his accession. His military experience in the barons' wars, and later in the seventh and last of the Crusades, made him an able soldier; but his claim to greatness lay in his strong political instinct. The legal bent of his mind led him to ask of every action, both of king and of subject, "Is this act constitutional?" To answer this question, he was compelled to give definite form to constitutional principles: and he therefore stands forth as the greatest English lawgiver. 181. Annexation of Wales Edward's instinct for system made him anxious to unite all Britain under a single monarch, and, at the very beginning of his reign, events made it possible for him to change. Wales from a vassal principality into an integral part of the kingdom. At Edward's coronation, Llewelyn, Prince of Wales, refused to attend and do homage for his principality; but in 1277 he was induced to recognize Edward's suzerainty. Five years later he again rebelled, occupied three of Edward's castles, seized the person of the justiciar of Wales, and committed outrages upon the inhabitants of the English marches. Edward promptly invaded north Wales; Llewelyn was captured and killed, and soon all Wales submitted to him. Western Wales remained a distinct province, not represented in Parliament, but governed under a special code, entitled the Statute of Wales, which roughly copied the laws (1284) and system of administration by shires prevailing in England. CORONET OF THE PRINCE Gold, with inner cap of Eastern Wales remained in the control of the lords of the marches, under feudal law. In 1301, the king's son Edward, who had been born at Carnarvon castle in 1284, was given Llewelyn's forfeited title of "Prince of Wales"; since that time it has been customary to bestow this title upon the eldest sons of English monarchs, and occasionally it has been bestowed upon younger sons who have become heirs to the crown. Edward strongly desired to bring Scotland as well as Wales into a closer union with England, by inducing the kings of 182. Edward's suzerainty over Scotland Scotland to do homage for their entire kingdoms, instead of for their English fiefs alone; and in a contest over the succession to the Scottish throne which took place in 1290, he found his opportunity. Three of the thirteen claimants-Robert Bruce, John Baliol, and John Hastingscould present plausible grounds for their claims; and to avoid civil strife it was agreed between these claimants and the Council of Regency that the judicial-minded king of England should be asked to arbitrate in the matter. Edward demanded that he should be recognized as overlord by that claimant to whom he should award the crown, and the Scotch barons had to consent to his demand or face a war with a powerful state while their own lacked a head; they therefore sullenly yielded their castles to Edward and acknowledged his suzerainty. In 1291 Edward fairly enough awarded the crown to John Baliol and received the latter's homage "for himself and his heirs." Two years later war broke out between France and England, and Edward demanded that his Scottish vassal should aid him |