Bracton, the foremost jurist of that day, said in his comments on the
dangerous state of the times, "If the King were without a bridle,
--that is, the law,--his subjects ought to put a bridle on him."
Earl Simon (S209) had that "bridle" ready, or rather he saw clearly
where to get it. The battle of Lewes had gone against Henry, who had
fallen captive to De Montfort. By virtue of the power he now
possessed, the Earl summoned a Parliament. It differed from all
previous Parliaments in the fact that now, for the first time,
representatives of the boroughs or principal towns (S103) were called
to London to join the earls, barons, and clergy in their
deliberations.
Thus, in the winter of 1265, that House of Commons, or legislative
assembly of the people, as distinguished from the House of Lords,
originated. After it was fully and finally established in the next
reign (S217), it sat for more than three hundred years in the chapter
house[1] of Westmister Abbey. It showed that at last those who had
neither land nor rank, but who paid taxes on personal property only,
had obtained at least temporary representation in Parliament.
[1] The building where the governing body of an abbey transacts
business.
When that principle should be fully recognized, the King would have a
"bridle" which he could not shake off. Henceforth Magna Carta (S199)
would be no longer a dead parchment promise of reform, rolled up and
hidden away, but would become a living, ever-present, effective
truth. (See SS261, 262, and Constitutional Summary in the Appendix,
p. x, S11.)
From this date the Great Council or Parliament of England (S144)
commenced to lose its exclusive character of a single House consisting
of the upper classes only. Now, it gave promise of becoming a true
representative body standing for the whole nation. Thus De Montfort
began--or at least tried to begin--what President Lincoln called
"government of the people, by the people, for the people." But it
should be distinctly understood that his work had the defects of a
first attempt, and that it did not last. For, in the first place, De
Montfort failed to summon all who were entitled to have seats in such
a body; and secondly, he summoned only those who favored his policy.
We shall see that the honor of calling the first full and free
Parliament was reserved for Edward I. Thirty years later, he summoned
that body, which became the final model of every such assembly which
now meets, whether in the Old World or the New (S217).