1 00:00:00,840 --> 00:00:09,300 Modern Parliament contains the House of Commons and the House of Lords. 2 00:00:10,199 --> 00:00:12,640 The Lords is a throwback to Magna Carta. 3 00:00:13,380 --> 00:00:16,739 The Great Charter gave the barons the right to give the king advice. 4 00:00:18,559 --> 00:00:20,059 But what about the Commons? 5 00:00:22,949 --> 00:00:27,530 Well, as the name suggests, it's not noblemen who sit in the House of Commons, 6 00:00:27,649 --> 00:00:30,750 but commoners, which means people who aren't of noble birth. 7 00:00:31,390 --> 00:00:34,350 So when did commoners first get to sit in this, 8 00:00:34,409 --> 00:00:36,170 the greatest council in the land? 9 00:00:37,369 --> 00:00:42,859 Well, the answer is that commoners first entered Parliament 10 00:00:42,859 --> 00:00:45,179 in the century after Magna Carta, 11 00:00:45,880 --> 00:00:50,619 in the reigns of Henry III and, most importantly, Edward I. 12 00:00:51,899 --> 00:00:55,060 And the reason Edward brought commoners into Parliament 13 00:00:55,060 --> 00:00:58,460 was that he needed the people of England on his side 14 00:00:58,460 --> 00:01:00,759 to help pay for his wars. 15 00:01:01,759 --> 00:01:08,379 War was a constant in medieval life. 16 00:01:09,939 --> 00:01:13,359 Edward conquered Wales and tried to conquer Scotland. 17 00:01:14,219 --> 00:01:17,560 His heirs spent a century at war with the kings of France, 18 00:01:17,900 --> 00:01:19,219 the Hundred Years' War. 19 00:01:20,140 --> 00:01:22,620 That's what these people are re-enacting here. 20 00:01:24,909 --> 00:01:28,549 War is costly, not just in terms of human life, 21 00:01:28,629 --> 00:01:29,950 but literally costly. 22 00:01:29,950 --> 00:01:32,670 The war horses, the weapons, the armour, 23 00:01:32,670 --> 00:01:35,810 mail shirts for the foot soldiers, arrows for the bowmen. 24 00:01:36,370 --> 00:01:39,650 Kings of England needed cash to pay for all this. 25 00:01:40,909 --> 00:01:49,060 Much of the cost of war was met by the barons, 26 00:01:49,379 --> 00:01:52,099 as it always had been in the days of the Norman kings. 27 00:01:53,540 --> 00:01:56,359 Soldiers still served in the colours of their local lord. 28 00:01:57,260 --> 00:02:00,060 But the cost of war had soared. 29 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:04,780 And since Magna Carta, kings had found it harder and harder 30 00:02:04,780 --> 00:02:07,159 to squeeze the barons for more. 31 00:02:07,500 --> 00:02:13,599 And so they had to raise taxes, to pass the burden onto the people of England. 32 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:15,639 But for that, they needed their consent. 33 00:02:16,060 --> 00:02:18,080 They needed the people on their side. 34 00:02:20,199 --> 00:02:26,090 So who were the people kings looked to to fund their wars? 35 00:02:27,449 --> 00:02:31,430 To answer that question, I've come to Stokesy Castle in Shropshire. 36 00:02:32,469 --> 00:02:37,150 This place wasn't built by some rampaging baron. 37 00:02:37,449 --> 00:02:39,689 This land was bought in the reign of Edward I 38 00:02:39,689 --> 00:02:42,810 by a man called Lawrence of Ludlow, and he was a wool merchant. 39 00:02:43,169 --> 00:02:44,370 He'd made his money in trade. 40 00:02:44,650 --> 00:02:47,750 So for the first time, we've got people in England with property, 41 00:02:47,889 --> 00:02:50,169 with influence, who weren't of noble blood. 42 00:02:50,930 --> 00:02:52,449 Lawrence built the Great Hall, 43 00:02:52,710 --> 00:02:55,750 and he got a licence from the king to add those crenellations, 44 00:02:55,889 --> 00:02:57,889 those castle-like defences to the tower. 45 00:02:58,310 --> 00:02:59,590 Not that he needed defending. 46 00:02:59,810 --> 00:03:02,530 He wasn't at war, but it was the upmarket thing to do. 47 00:03:02,530 --> 00:03:04,830 He was basically just showing off. 48 00:03:04,830 --> 00:03:16,490 across 13th century england a new class had emerged the knights and squires of the countryside 49 00:03:16,490 --> 00:03:23,370 some like lawrence had made their money in trade and farming others were descended from the knights 50 00:03:23,370 --> 00:03:30,389 and squires of the conquest now they lived in manor houses in the countryside they'd intermarried 51 00:03:30,389 --> 00:03:36,810 with saxon women till the distinction between norman and saxon was blurred local peasants 52 00:03:36,810 --> 00:03:46,229 worked their lands. They had status, influence, cash. And it was these men Edward I wanted 53 00:03:46,229 --> 00:04:02,569 to help pay for his wars. I'll give you an example. The year is 1290, and Edward needed 54 00:04:02,569 --> 00:04:09,330 £116,000 to complete his conquest of Wales, a fortune in those days. And so he called 55 00:04:09,330 --> 00:04:14,469 a parliament. But first he just called the lords. And from April until July, they sat 56 00:04:14,469 --> 00:04:19,430 in Westminster, advising the king and debating this and that, but they failed to debate the 57 00:04:19,430 --> 00:04:24,850 one thing he really wanted, the money for his little Welsh war. And so Edward called 58 00:04:24,850 --> 00:04:31,230 to Westminster the commons of the realm, the knights and the squires and the justices of 59 00:04:31,230 --> 00:04:36,029 the peace and the burgesses and the mayors of the towns and the leading merchants, men 60 00:04:36,029 --> 00:04:41,889 like Lawrence of Ludlow. And they came to London, frankly, flattered to be involved 61 00:04:41,889 --> 00:04:43,350 in the process of government. 62 00:04:45,689 --> 00:04:48,269 The king dressed up his need for money 63 00:04:48,269 --> 00:04:50,649 as a kind of patriotic crusade, 64 00:04:51,009 --> 00:04:52,449 putting the Welsh in their place. 65 00:04:54,230 --> 00:04:57,509 And the local gents were all too happy to pass his tax. 66 00:04:58,069 --> 00:04:59,370 They were chuffed to be asked. 67 00:05:00,209 --> 00:05:01,990 And they trotted home to the shires 68 00:05:01,990 --> 00:05:05,110 to explain how everyone should pay their tax with pride. 69 00:05:05,790 --> 00:05:08,990 And everyone was happy, except the Welsh. 70 00:05:09,490 --> 00:05:14,360 It wasn't democracy. 71 00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:17,860 but it was to an extent rule by consent 72 00:05:17,860 --> 00:05:20,100 and people who weren't of noble birth 73 00:05:20,100 --> 00:05:23,300 were inside Parliament giving advice, voting taxes 74 00:05:23,300 --> 00:05:26,680 yet another small but significant step 75 00:05:26,680 --> 00:05:28,579 along the timeline of history.