Download PDF | [Cambridge Medieval Textbooks] Scott L. Waugh - England in the Reign of Edward III, Cambridge University Press, 1991.
318 Pages
Edward III is usually remembered for his stirring victories over the French and Scots. Yet these triumphs occurred against a domestic backdrop of economic upheaval, crime, high taxation, and the Black Death. Edward's ability to pursue his ambitions amid such challenges shows the effectiveness of his leadership and the resilience of English institutions. This book examines the strains on English life in this remarkable era, beginning with village society and moving up through towns, the church, nobility, and government.
Professor Waugh shows how an interlocking network of hierarchies at each level enabled Edward to reach into local communities to get what he needed. Compliance, however, required hard bargaining as subjects chafed under incessant taxes and royal demands. During Edward's reign parliament, particularly the House of Commons, became for the first time the primary arena for negotiations between the king and the community of the realm and the focal point of national politics.
Professor Waugh's incisive account of these tumultuous events also contains an extensive guide to further reading, in addition to a glossary of the more abstruse medieval terms. It will make an important addition to the highly successful series of Cambridge Medieval Textbooks, and will appeal both to students encountering medieval studies for the first time, and that broad general audience with an interest in the reign of one of England's most celebrated monarchs.
INTRODUCTION
For a generation between 1330 and 1370 England was exceptionally unified and with a 'single spirit' achieved some of the greatest military victories of the middle ages. The image of Edward III and his time is inextricably linked to war. Crecy, Calais, and Poitiers, the Black Prince, Henry of Lancaster, and John Chandos, and Edward himself bring to mind valour and chivalry and have occupied centre stage in most histories of the period. Yet the domestic backdrop is equally compelling. Edward's military accomplishments are especially impressive because they occurred at a time of remarkable change. The first half of the century saw pitiful harvests, famine, and severe deflation in quick succession. Then the Black Death struck, not just in 1348, but again in 1360,1373, and periodically thereafter. The resulting drop in population, loss of tenants, and rise in wages battered the economy that undergirded lordship and government. Crime and corruption sparked anxiety and protest. These dislocations made the difficult job of mobilizing manpower and wealth even more formidable than in ordinary times. Edward's reign, moreover, lay between two periods of extreme political disorder, under his father, Edward II, and his grandson, Richard II.
Writers were pessimistic about the chances for unity. Thomas Gray's paean to solidarity follows a warning about the dire consequences of disunity; dangers that were realized in Edward II's reign. The Brut chronicler and Ranulf Higden likewise disparaged the English character and were unhopeful about the political outlook. Thomas Brinton and John Gower decried the moral decay they saw in the 1370s, as the country was torn once again by factions and rivalry. Yet in between, from roughly 1330 to 1370, there was only one period of severe political unrest, 1340-1. Neatly symbolized in the camaraderie of the Order of the Garter, harmony between the monarch and nobility made it possible for Edward to direct English energies toward foreign wars. This book focuses on these domestic issues. From 1330 to 1369, England witnessed an extraordinary fulfilment of the potential of the medieval state, founded on cooperation and trust between the king, the landed elite, and the church. Because of that trust, Edward was able to extract more from his subjects than any other medieval king. He was able to field armies far from home for extended periods. He delegated extensive authority to the highest aristocrats and greatest churchmen. He consulted regularly with gentry, merchants, and burgesses. Domestic developments set government and politics on a path different from the one they had followed over the previous century. No longer was political opposition largely a baronial pursuit.
The house of commons matured into an accepted fixture of English politics, giving the gentry and local communities a direct voice in politics. With the crown and nobility in close alliance, attacks on the government after 1330 emanated largely from the commons. Similarly, the office of the justices of the peace gave the county gentry a firm platform for rule in the English countryside. War was Edward's primary aim, but those who governed his subjects were primarily concerned about order and justice and were quick to complain when crown policies produced upheaval. The crown was linked to communities and subjects through a series of social hierarchies. Whether in village, town, county, or country as a whole, English society was dominated by small cliques which controlled officeholding and social institutions. Overwhelmingly male and wealthy, they exercised both formal and informal power from the family to the royal council.
Whether serving as jurors, reeves, bailiffs, constables, members of parliament, or royal councillors, they mediated relations between the crown and its subjects. As members of elites, they also shared an interest in maintaining their authority. To do so, they depended on those in power above and below them. The most powerful groups in England were the aristocrats, or magnates as they were called (earls and barons), and the higher gentry (bannerets, knights, and some esquires). Though they were numerically small - numbering approximately 75 aristocrats and 2,500 higher gentry out of a population of about 5 to 6 million before 1348 - and though their influence stretched across counties and the kingdom as a whole, they did not exercise power in ways essentially different from those elites at other levels of society. The sources of power and techniques of rule were largely the same. Linkages between elites at all levels made possible the maintenance of their authority as well as the transmission of commands from crown to subjects.
The fourteenth-century English state, therefore, had two important characteristics: it was one in which, first, authority and responsibility for law, order, and defence were concentrated in a single ruler, the king, yet in which, secondly, effective power was widely diffused through the social, economic, and intellectual elites. Government was in the king's hands. He set policy, conducted diplomacy, received public revenues, and had charge of law and justice. He had, for the middle ages, a sophisticated bureaucracy. He also had obligations, which were usually expressed in Christian terms. His coronation oath thus emphasized that he ruled for the benefit of his community. Thomas Gray, author of the Scalacronica, expressed this principle nicely by saying that kings would do well to attribute their benefits to God and to the good behaviour of their people, in whose welfare consists their treasure; for God holds things in due governance as the executive government of their people. For the people often suffer for the sins of kings; wherefore [kings] ought to take good heed lest their actions bring about general and widespread disaster, as has often been seen; so that their [high] estate should be regulated towards God by virtue and towards the people by morality.
These same ideals turned up in a variety of forms in the early fourteenth century. De speculo regis, written early in Edward's reign to warn him of the evils of purveyance, opens with a statement about the ideal king, centring on the notion of justice and equity. Thomas Brinton stated in a sermon that the honour of kings rested on three things: military power, prudent counsel, and the just governing of the people. Brinton alluded to a feudal ideal of kingship, not entirely distinct from Christian teachings, which stressed the duty of counsel. A king should not act wilfully, that is, on his own without advice. Edward recognized this. In his first, independent statement as king in 1330, he announced: 'We wish all men to know that henceforth, we wish to govern our people according to right and reason, as befits our royal dignity. And that business which touches us and the state of our realm shall be conducted by common counsel with the lords of our realm, and in no other manner.'
He reiterated the importance of counsel upon taking the title of king of France in 1340: [In] the affairs of the kingdom we do not intend to act precipitately and arbitrarily, but, holding our will in check, we will be guided by the counsel and advice of the peers, prelates, magnates and faithful vassals of the kingdom, as shall seem best for the honour of God, the protection and advancement of the Church, which we revere in the fullness of devotion, and the furtherance of both the public and private good. Because these words were propaganda designed to get the Flemings to support his cause, they must be treated with caution. Yet Edward was not necessarily being duplicitous. The themes of counsel, consent, and common good reverberated throughout his reign. Whether Christian or feudal, the principles expressed the reality of medieval governing in which the monarchy and leaders of the communities of the realm were interdependent. Each needed the other and none was all powerful. Elites wanted the king to adjudicate disputes, provide favours, and sanction their authority. Prone to bickering and factionalism, they could not rule by themselves. As a sovereign and suzerain, the king had broad theoretical powers but in practice they were limited. He could go to war as he pleased, but he needed the earls, barons and knights to lead and organize his armies.
He could halt trade in and out of the country but needed the consent of merchants or the entire country to tax that trade. He could prohibit the alienation of any lands held of him in chief but could not unjustly deprive any person of his or her land. He could appoint and remove officers at will but if those officers did not have the respect of the nobility and church they would not be obeyed. He needed the consent of the population before he could tax them. This was scarcely autocratic kingship. The king's success depended on his ability to rally the nobility and gentry to his cause and through them mobilize the resources of his kingdom. Edward had to work through interlocking elites to implement his policies. Special assemblies of merchants and burgesses, county gentry, or clerics brought these local authorities together to consider royal demands. But such assemblies opened the door to other issues, as those who met took the opportunity to discuss matters of common concern. Politics in such a small, face-to-face community thus involved constant bargaining between the king and individuals, communities, or coalitions.
It occurred over taxation, an obvious example, but it was just as likely to be concerned with other thorny issues such as privileges or grievances. The process found its highest expression in the house of commons. Frequent meetings of parliament, called by Edward to rally support and levy taxes, made negotiation a national concern. The commons transmitted local worries to the centre and provided an outlet for discontent. Because this interchange was so important in shaping the political events of Edward's reign, an understanding of politics demands a prior understanding of the conditions in which the government had to work. After a brief narrative of the highlights of Edward's reign, Part II lays out this economic and social context. The patterns of wealth and power essential to the maintenance of authority began in the peasant family and the village community. They had to bear the weight of seigneurial demands and royal policy while enduring economic change. Towns and markets were likewise crucial for peasants, lords, and king alike. Providing mechanisms for the distribution of goods and for earning sorely needed cash, they were also centres of wealth and authority, hierarchically structured with institutions and elites of their own. Edward seized on those merchant elites to help him finance war and gain compliance with his policies. They provided further the first links in an economic chain that bound England into continental commerce and production.
Wool was England's prime export commodity earning valuable profits for producers and merchants and offering a tempting target for taxation. It was also crucial to England's balance of payments. The flow of specie into and out of the country and the consequent activity of the royal mints had a significant impact throughout the English economy. These basic elements of agriculture, marketing, and overseas trade form the topics of Chapters 3,4, and 5. The last two chapters of Part II view these elements dynamically and take up the startling economic and demographic changes that beset England between 1300 and 1377. Prices, population, and lordship were the crucial determinants. The dramatic rise and fall of prices early in the century followed at once by the calamities of the plague upset what people had come to regard as 'normal' economic conditions and ushered in a period of uncertainty. The consequences were immediately apparent and landlords fought to retain the advantages that they had enjoyed for centuries. Legislation, seigneurial determination, and a remarkable degree of class cohesion meant that the landlord class enjoyed a couple of decades of prosperity before the effects of the demographic collapse really took hold in the 13 70s.
The period was important as well because it witnessed the high point of English conquests in France. The economic health of the military classes allowed them to carry out Edward's enterprise while the buoyancy of production and trade buttressed government finances. Part III concentrates on the landholding elite and government. The 'single spirit' that Gray thought essential to the success of a nation was not always evident among the landlords. Indeed, to contemporaries they seemed riven with competition. War, chivalry, and the common threat of economic change helped them to close ranks. The peerage and gentry, nevertheless, further evolved into distinct social and political groupings, centred on the houses of lords and commons. The clergy were woven into this elite, though they had particular concerns that sometimes put them at odds with their lay colleagues. The English church was torn between the worldly demands of patronage and preferment and its pastoral mission. In the fourteenth century, the issue became magnified as the crown, papacy, English clergy, and landlords vied for control of church patronage. The instruments of rule are discussed in Chapters 10 and 11.
The success of any state depends on the degree to which its authority can penetrate to local communities and secure compliance with its commands. The medieval English government did so by ruling through the leading men of the community, whether in the village, hundred, county, or country as a whole. As the scope of Edward's demands increased, so did the number of officials scouring the countryside for money, goods, and men. This combination of forces made the problem of corruption acute. Crime and official misconduct merged into one another, posing a serious threat to local order early in the century. Thus tested by war, crime, and economic upheaval, the crown experimented with its administration. Taxation was altered. Innovative financial schemes abounded as the government endeavoured to find resources to match Edward's ambitions. For the first time, laymen occupied the most important posts, those of chancellor and treasurer. Various criminal tribunals were set up to restore order. And justices of the peace were introduced, giving local elites an even firmer hold than they had had over law and order in their communities. Edwardian government was highly successful for its time, but its success brought on problems for itself. All of these issues preoccupied the inner counsels of government and influenced the politics of Edward's reign. His policies reached deep into the population. Taxation, purveyance, military obligations, and criminal inquests affected all of his subjects at a time when economic setbacks made it hard for them to meet their ordinary obligations. Edward, therefore, had to negotiate for the country's support, a process that is taken up in Part IV.
The council had been the traditional arena of discussion between king and aristocracy, but it grew into an executive body in the fourteenth century as parliament attained greater political prominence. The two houses of parliament, the lords and commons, gradually took shape and the commons began to flex their political muscle in earnest. Politics in Edward's reign is notable for two reasons. First, it was largely contained in parliament without spilling over into armed conflict. Secondly, the commons took a leading part. Their role was indicative of the growing maturity of parliament and a sign of how profoundly Edward's policies affected his subjects. Despite pride in English victories, there was an undercurrent of unrest throughout Edward's reign which helped spark political conflict in the late 1330s and again in the 1370s. Battlefield glories were therefore not the only events that marked Edward's long reign. Within England, change was evident at every level of society and the economy. In the long run, these domestic issues proved to be of far greater consequence than the ephemeral victories in France.
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