The Modus Tenendi Parliamentum (English: Method of Holding Parliaments) is a 14th century document that outlined an idealised version of English parliamentary procedure. Part of its significance lies in its very title: parliament was now "seen as both institutionally well defined and a proper subject for description and conscious reflection".[1] However, it also includes elements of fantasy, both in relation to the way it sets out the history of parliaments, and its aspirations for the roles of different groups in parliament.[2]
Contents |
An ancient document which has exercised much debate over its antiquity and authorship, the Modus is no longer seen as a later forgery, despite the doubts of earlier antiquaries, such as Selden[3] and Prynne.[4] Thomas Duffus Hardy (1804–78) was a prominent historian and archivist, whose final position was senior assistant keeper of the Public Record Office.[5] He edited the most complete version of the volume in 1846, and believed it was probably written around the time of Edward I's Model Parliament in 1295.[6] Writing in 1934, William A Morris reviewed the conflicting views on the date of the Modus that were first offered in the seventeenth century and concluded that it must have been written during the reign of Edward II (1307-27), probably 1321.[7] V. M. Clarke says the book "was written in 1322 in order to expound and define the parliamentary theory and practice upheld by moderate men of that time".[8] That view on the date is also supported by Weber.[9] References within the Modus suggest that the writer had experience of parliament, as well as an understanding of the royal administration. V. H. Galbraith believed that someone who had such experience was the Yorkshireman, William Ayermin (also Airmyn, or Ayreminne) (died 1336).[10] Ayermin held a number of offices in the church and royal administration, including being Keeper of the Rolls of Chancery from 1316–24 and almost certainly also clerk of the parliament.[11]
The significance of the Modus lies in its descriptions of the procedures and organisation of Parliament and the growing importance of the Commons. Parliament had developed by the early 14th century to the point where it could promote the transmission of the crown's policies and intentions in a positive manner outwards from the centre, and representation was the best method of doing this; notably, the Commons were more representative than magnates or prelates, who only represented themselves.[12] Increasingly, the agreement of the Commons was necessary for the levy of all taxes: peers could give such consent personally, whereas the Commons were proxies for the bulk of the population. During the reign of Richard II, prominent members of the House of Lancaster wished to play up the importance of the Commons, compared to that of the Lords, prelates and magnates, and to legitimate processes in the Commons to depose a king who had lost the support of the people. The Modus was helpful to them in its emphasis on the representative power of the Commons: "We must understand that two Knights which come to the Parliament for the Shires and County out of which they come have a greater voice in Parliament to grant, than the greatest Earl in England".[13] Maddicott offers a concise summary of the document's significance: "About the precise functions and powers of the commons the author of the Modus was, so far as we can see, often wrong. But about their general weight and position he was not so far out ... It is not hard to envisage the sort of body which it had in mind playing its part in the deposition of a king".[14]