The Beginning of the English Parliament

After John's death his son Henry became king but he was only nine and a baronial group governed the country in the name of the king. When Henry came of age the struggle between the king and the barons started again. He was constantly making demands for money and practi­cally tried to govern the country without asking for anyone's advice or consent. The barons often disagreed among themselves but at last it was their new leader Simon de Monfort who in January 1265 summoned[23] the

first English parliament.

Besides the Barons there were 2 knights from each shire and repre­sentatives of well-to-do people of the towns.

But Prince Edward, Henry's son defeated Simon and killed him.

Although the king was now back in power, the parliamentary ex­periment had made its mark. Simon's creation did not die with him and under his successors the custom of summoning parliament grew stronger with every year. Prince Edward had to continue it when he became king.

In course of the XIV century parliament already consisted of two Houses - the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The knights of the shires and the citizens of the towns took their places in the House of Commons, the lords and the top clergy[24] sat in the House of Lords.

5) Wat Tyler: The Peasants' Revolt

The conditions under which the English peasants lived were quite unbearable. In 1381 peasant outbreaks[25] occurred led by Wat Tyler, a former soldier. The rebels were marching on London and burning down the houses of landlords, officials, tax gatherers as they went. The peas­ants with Wat Tyler as leader reached London. The people of London opened the London bridge and they took complete possession of the city. The king met them and promised to abolish[26] feudal dues and to make everyone free man. There were also demands to establish freedom of trade for all people who had taken part in the revolt. During the second meeting with the king Wat Tyler was treacher­ously[27]¹ killed. The king deceived his people and started his revenge by crushing the revolt with all his cruelty.

Anyhow the peasant uprising of Wat Tyler played a most important role in breaking down the feudal relations of production. There were no labour services any longer. The serf system broke and the serf was be­coming a free peasant. It was a very important step in history of Eng­land.

. 6) The Development of Culture in Feudal England

(1) The changes in the language

The Norman Conquest influenced great changes in the English lan­guage. The Conquerors had their language with them, the Norman dia­lect of French and it became the tongue of the court circles, the admini­stration, the official language of the state. Latin was the language of the Church, of law and learning. The wealthy Anglo-Saxons copied their superiors and also learned to speak French. However, the peasants, the common people of the towns continued to speak English. The Normans had to communicate with the natives and this made them learn to speak English in time. Many of the Normans married Anglo-Saxons and their children spoke only English. Although the development of English from Anglo-Saxon to Middle English showed a very strong French influence, especially on vocabulary, English did not lose its fundamental linguistic characteristics, neither in its grammatical structure nor in its basic vo­cabulary. During the 13* century a single language was formed from the various dialects of Middle English.

The dialect of London and the South-East Midland began to be ac­cepted as the standard written language.

The introduction of printing and spreading of printed books from the London area throughout the country helped it a great deal.

Norman-French ceased to be used in every day life even of the up­per classes, though knowledge of French was still a mark of gentility and good education.

Latin remained still the language of learning, the language of the church and grammar schools, whose number was increasing especially in the towns, the scholars coming from merchant and gentry families.

(2) Cultural Progress

In England of the early Middle Ages an interest in learning made itself noticeble everywhere. More schools were established, classical literature became popular, medicine, astronomy and other sciences became the object of. serious studies. Law and History also received some attention.

Earlier English students used to go to Park and other centres of university life but about 1167 the university of Oxford was established and afterwards the university of Cambridge (l209) appeared. " In the 13^th century Roger Bacon at Oxford became famous as a sci­entist and a writer. Besides he is known as the founder of English phi­losophy; his name is also connected with the beginning of natural sci­ences in England He was a man of great learning and in the field of practical science he invented spectacles and had an idea of constructing a telescope.

Of the works of literature of this period most outstanding were "The Canterbury Tales" by Geoffrey Chaucer. He achieves a realism based upon irony, sometimes with open satire but always with complete mastery.

Besides the wealth of English literature of the Middle Ages is con­sidered to lie in its outstanding folk poetry: different ballads, like "Robin Hood" directed against feudal oppression, religious songs, as well as love songs.

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