SEMESTRE II

PART I: THE ORIGINS OF PARLIAMENT

A] The early years

Like in all European countries, the British parliament has his origins in a group of advisers who helped the king to make his decisions. At the beginning, these people were connected with the church or the army and the first assembly of this kind was the witan or grand council which we find in Saxon England during the reign of king offal in the VIII century. By the 10th century, the Witan were much bigger and more formal and had the power to issue laws and charters. In the Witan? New king were chosen and official business was discussed. It was composed of nobles, bishops, and many men of influence in their own areas and by the reign of Athelstan generally considered the 1st monarch of all England from 924 to 939. It was powerful established institution. In 1066, the Witan elected Harold as king which provoked one of the first constitutional crises in British history. William the 1st, of Normandy, did not take any advice from anybody. But the feudal barons gradually became more important as was shown by the signing of Magna Charta in 1215. The king frequently called together his influence people and municipal representatives, especially when he needed money.
When extra-resources were needed for an emergency, such as going to war, the sovereign would try to persuade his barons in the Great Council a group of important men which met several times a year to after help during the 13th century. Several English kings found their own private reunions, even with help from the barons insufficient to meet the expense of government. They therefore called not only the landowning barons to the great council but also representative of countries, cities and towns mainly to make them agree to auditionnal taxation. It this way, the Great Council came to include those who were summoned by name the Nobel who would louder become the House of Lords and those who represented communities such as burgesers