Edward I: Summer 1278

Parliament Rolls of Medieval England. Originally published by Boydell, Woodbridge, 2005.

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'Edward I: Summer 1278', in Parliament Rolls of Medieval England, (Woodbridge, 2005) pp. . British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/parliament-rolls-medieval/summer-1278 [accessed 24 March 2024]

In this section

1278 Summer

Introduction Summer 1278

Gloucester

Summer parliament (?July-August)

The summer parliament of 1278 was the first parliament of the reign of Edward I to be held away from Westminster and other than in the periods shortly after Easter or Michaelmas. It is not clear why Gloucester was chosen for the session. Although there is chronicle evidence to suggest that the session began as early as the first half of July (one week or two weeks after St John the Baptist), the king was not at Gloucester then and there is no confirmation for an opening this early in official records. (fn. s1278-foot-1) A more likely date for its opening is 1 August. The keeper of the wardrobe was required to be at Gloucester for a session of parliament then. (fn. s1278-foot-2) The king did not, however, reach Gloucester till 6 August. The 'Explanations' of the statute of Gloucester, explaining when the various clauses of the statute were to come into operation, is dated in one early manuscript to the Sunday after the Gules of August (7 August). (fn. s1278-foot-3) They were said to have been issued by king and council after the enactment of the statute and this lends some plausibility to the claim made in later litigation of 1300 that the statute itself had been issued at the feast of the Advinculation (1 August) in 1278. (fn. s1278-foot-4)

There is no surviving official record of the business done at this parliament. It was, however, at this parliament that the statute of Gloucester was enacted, as also the 'Explanations' of that statute. (fn. s1278-foot-5) It was also here that arrangements were apparently put in hand for the resumption of regular salary payments to royal justices; (fn. s1278-foot-6) and for the beginnings of two new eyre circuits in the autumn. (fn. s1278-foot-7)

Footnotes

  • s1278-foot-1. William of Rishanger, Chronica , 83; Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough , 215-6.
  • s1278-foot-2. Sayles, Functions of the Medieval Parliament , 153.
  • s1278-foot-3. SR , i, 50.
  • s1278-foot-4. CP 40/131, m. 254. In the main body of the text the statute of Gloucester is said only to have been enacted in the month of August: SR , i, 45. The ascription of the statute to 7 August is found only in old printed copies and seems to have been derived from the 'Explanations': SR , i, 50.
  • s1278-foot-5. SR , i, 45-50; SR , i, 50.
  • s1278-foot-6. PW , i, 332.
  • s1278-foot-7. David Crook, Records of the General Eyre , 144. For what seems to be a reference to a complaint made against Robert of Littlebury, one of the senior clerks of the Common Bench, and his clerk Roger by a professional attorney of the court at this parliament see SC 8/237, no. 11809.