First English Parliament Meets at Westminster in 1265

Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, summoned representatives to the Palace of Westminster on January 20, 1265, creating an assembly that for the first time in English history included not just nobles and clergy but elected commoners from the towns and shires. De Montfort was a rebel who had overthrown King Henry III in battle, and his parliament was designed to legitimize his rule. The institution he created for self-serving reasons would outlast him, his cause, and the medieval world itself. England had possessed a Great Council for centuries, a body of powerful barons and bishops who advised the king and consented to taxation. Henry III's frequent demands for money to fund foreign wars and papal favorites had driven the barons to rebellion. De Montfort, though French-born, emerged as the leader of the baronial opposition and defeated Henry's forces at the Battle of Lewes in May 1264, capturing both the king and his son, the future Edward I. De Montfort needed political legitimacy. He summoned a parliament that included the traditional magnates but added a radical innovation: two knights from each shire and two burgesses from each town. The commoners were not invited to share power equally with the barons; they were there to broaden de Montfort's base of support and to approve the taxes he needed to govern. But the precedent of including representatives chosen by ordinary freeholders fundamentally altered the concept of who had a voice in English governance. The parliament met for several weeks and transacted significant business, including the release of certain political prisoners and the arrangement of a truce with the Welsh. De Montfort governed England as a virtual dictator for fifteen months, using the parliament as his instrument of authority. His rule ended violently. Prince Edward escaped captivity and rallied royalist forces. At the Battle of Evesham on August 4, 1265, Edward's army surrounded and destroyed de Montfort's forces. De Montfort was killed, and his body was mutilated on the field. Edward I, who restored his father's authority, recognized the value of what de Montfort had created. When Edward became king in 1272, he adopted the practice of summoning commoners to parliament, and his "Model Parliament" of 1295 established the template that evolved over the following centuries into the House of Commons. De Montfort's parliament was born of rebellion and personal ambition, but the principle that ordinary subjects deserved representation in government survived its creator by eight hundred years.