Ordinances of 1311
Encyclopedia
The Ordinances of 1311 were a series of regulations imposed upon King Edward II
by the peerage
and clergy of the Kingdom of England
to restrict the power of the king. The twenty-one signatories of the Ordinances are referred to as the Lords Ordainers, or simply the Ordainers. English setbacks in the Scottish war
, combined with perceived extortionate royal fiscal policies, set the background for the writing of the Ordinances in which the administrative prerogatives of the king were largely appropriated by a baronial council. The Ordinances reflect the Provisions of Oxford
and the Provisions of Westminster
from the late 1250s, but unlike the Provisions, the Ordinances featured a new concern with fiscal reform, specifically redirecting revenues from the king's household
to the exchequer
.
Just as instrumental to their conception were other issues, particularly discontent with the king's favourite
, Piers Gaveston, whom the barons subsequently banished from the realm. Edward II accepted the Ordinances only under coercion, and a long struggle for their repeal ensued that did not end until Thomas of Lancaster – the leader of the Ordainers – was executed in 1322.
When Edward II succeeded his father Edward I
on 7 July 1307, the attitude of his subjects was generally one of good will toward their new king. However, discontent was brewing beneath the surface. Some of this was due to existing problems left behind by the late king, while much was due to the new king's inadequacies. The problems were threefold. First there was discontent with the royal policy for financing wars. To finance the war in Scotland, Edward I had increasingly resorted to so-called prises – or purveyance
– to provision the troops with victuals. Though a perfectly legitimate method of raising money, the peers felt that the purveyance had become far too burdensome and compensation was in many cases inadequate or missing entirely. In addition, they did not like the fact that Edward II took prises for his household without continuing the war effort against Scotland
, causing the second problem. While Edward I had spent the last decade of his reign relentlessly campaigning against the Scots, his son abandoned the war almost entirely. In this situation, the Scottish king Robert Bruce
soon took the opportunity to regain what had been lost. This not only exposed the north of England to Scottish attacks, but also jeopardized the possessions of the English baronage in Scotland.
The third and most serious problem concerned the king’s favourite, Piers Gaveston
. Gaveston was a Gascon
of relatively humble origins, with whom the king had developed a particularly close relationship. Among the honours Edward heaped upon Gaveston was the earldom of Cornwall
, a title which had previously only been conferred on members of the royal family. The preferential treatment of an upstart like Gaveston, in combination with his behaviour that was seen as arrogant, led to resentment among the established peers of the realm. This resentment first came to the surface in a declaration written in Boulogne
by a group of magnate
s who were with the king when he was in France
for his marriage ceremony to the French king's daughter. The so-called Boulogne agreement
was vague, but it expressed clear concern over the state of the royal court. On 25 February 1308, the new king was crowned. The oath he was made to take at the coronation differed from that of previous kings in the fourth clause; here Edward was required to promise to maintain the laws that the community "shall have chosen" ("aura eslu"). Though it is unclear what exactly was meant by this wording at the time, this oath was later used in the struggle between the king and his earls.
. The king had no choice but to comply, and on 24 June, Gaveston left the country on appointment as Lieutenant of Ireland
. The king immediately started plotting for his favourite's return. At the parliament of April 1309, he suggested a compromise in which certain of the earls' petitions would be met in exchange for Gaveston's return. The plan came to nothing, but Edward had strengthened his hand for the Stamford
parliament in July later that year by receiving a papal annulment of the threat of excommunication. The king agreed to the so-called "Statute of Stamford" (which in essence was a reissue of the Articuli super Cartas that his father had signed in 1300), and Gaveston was allowed to return.
The earls who agreed to the compromise were hoping that Gaveston had learned his lesson. Yet upon his return, he behaved worse than ever, conferring insulting nicknames on some of the greater nobles. When the king summoned a great council in October, several of the earls refused to meet due to Gaveston’s presence. At the parliament of February in the following year, Gaveston was ordered not to attend. The earls disobeyed a royal order not to carry arms to parliament, and in full military attire presented a demand to the king for the appointment of a commission of reform. On 16 March 1310, the king agreed to the appointment of Ordainers, who were to be in charge of the reform of the royal household.
s, seven bishop
s and six baron
s – twenty-one in all. There were faithful royalists represented as well as fierce opponents of the king. The natural leader of the group was Henry Lacy, Earl of Lincoln
. One of the wealthiest men in the country, he was also the oldest of the earls and had proved his loyalty and ableness through long service to Edward I. Lincoln had a moderating influence on the more extreme members of the group, but with his death in February 1311, leadership passed to his son-in-law and heir Thomas of Lancaster. Lancaster – the king’s cousin – was now in possession of five earldoms which made him by far the wealthiest man in the country, save the king. There is no evidence that Lancaster was in opposition to the king in the early years of the king's reign, but by the time of the Ordinances it is clear that something had negatively affected his opinion of King Edward.
Lancaster’s main ally was Guy Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick
. Warwick was the most fervently and consistently antagonistic of the earls, and remained so until his early death in 1315. Other earls were more amenable. Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester
, was Gaveston’s brother-in-law and stayed loyal to the king. Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke
, would later be one of the king’s most central supporters, yet at this point he found the most prudent course of action was to go along with the reformers. Of the barons, at least Robert Clifford
and William Marshall seemed to have royalist leanings.
Among the bishops, only two stood out as significant political figures, the more prominent of whom was Robert Winchelsey
, Archbishop of Canterbury
. Long a formidable presence in English public life, Winchelsey had led the struggle against Edward I to uphold the autonomy of the church, and for this he had paid with suspension and exile. One of Edward II’s first acts as king had been to reinstate Winchelsey, but rather than responding with grateful loyalty, the archbishop soon reassumed a leadership role in the fight against the king. Although he was trying to appease Winchelsey, the king carried an old grudge against another prelate, Walter Langton
, Bishop of Lichfield
. Edward had Langton dismissed from his position as treasurer of the Exchequer
and had his temporal possessions confiscated. Langton had been an opponent of Winchelsey during the previous reign, but Edward II’s move against Langton drew the two Ordainers together.
, and the king was presented with the Ordinances.
The document containing the Ordinances is dated 5 October, and contains forty-one articles. In the preamble, the Ordainers voiced their concern over what they perceived as the evil councilors of the king, the precariousness of the military situation abroad, and the danger of rebellion at home over the oppressive prises. The articles can be divided into different groups, the largest of which deals with limitations on the powers of the king and his officials, and the substitution of these powers with baronial control. It was ordained that the king should appoint his officers only "by the counsel and assent of the baronage, and that in parliament." Furthermore, the king could no longer go to war without the consent of the baronage, nor could he make reforms of the coinage. Additionally, it was decided that parliament should be held at least once a year. Parallel to these decisions were reforms of the royal finances. The Ordinances banned what was seen as extortionate prises and customs, and at the same time declared that revenues were to be paid directly into the exchequer
. This was a reaction to the rising trend of receiving revenues directly into the royal household; making all royal finances accountable to the exchequer allowed greater public scrutiny.
Other articles dealt with punishing specific persons, foremost among these, Piers Gaveston. Article 20 describes at length the offenses committed by Gaveston; he was once more condemned to exile and was to abjure the realm by 1 November. The bankers of the Italian Frescobaldi
company were arrested, and their goods seized. It was held that the king’s great financial dependence on the Italians was politically unfortunate. The last individuals to be singled out for punishment were Henry de Beaumont
and his sister, Isabella de Vescy, two foreigners associated with the king’s household. Though it is difficult to say why these two received particular mention, it could be related to the central position of their possessions in the Scottish war.
The Ordainers also took care to confirm and elaborate on existing statutes, and reforms were made to the criminal law. The liberties of the church were confirmed as well. To ensure that none of the Ordainers should be swayed in their decisions by bribes from the king, restrictions were made on what royal gifts and offices they were allowed to receive during their tenure.
The Ordinances were published widely on 11 October, with the intention of obtaining maximum popular support. The decade following their publication saw a constant struggle over their repeal or continued existence. Although they were not finally repealed until May 1322, the vigour with which they were enforced depended on who was in control of government.
Before the end of the year, Gaveston had returned to England, and civil war appeared imminent. In May 1312, Gaveston was taken captive by the Earl of Pembroke, but Warwick and Lancaster had him abducted and executed after a mock trial. This affront to Pembroke’s honour drove him irrevocably into the camp of the king, and thereby split the opposition. The brutality of the act initially drove Lancaster and his adherents away from the centre of power, but the Battle of Bannockburn
, in June 1314, returned the initiative. Edward was humiliated by his disastrous defeat, while Lancaster and Warwick had not taken part in the campaign, claiming that it was carried out without the consent of the baronage, and as such in defiance of the Ordinances.
What followed was a period of virtual control of the government by Lancaster, yet increasingly – particularly after the death of Warwick in 1315 – he found himself isolated. In August 1318, the so-called "treaty of Leake" established a modus vivendi
between the parties, whereby the king was restored to power while promising to uphold the Ordinances. Lancaster still had issue with the king though, particularly with the conduct of the new favourite, Hugh Despenser the younger
, and his father, Hugh Despenser the elder
. In 1322, full rebellion broke out which ended with Lancaster’s defeat and execution at the Battle of Boroughbridge
in March. At the parliament of May in the same year, the Ordinances were repealed. However, six clauses were retained that concerned such issues as household jurisdiction and appointment of sheriffs. Any restrictions on royal power were unequivocally annulled.
The Ordinances were never again reissued, and therefore hold no permanent position in the legal history of England in the way that Magna Carta
, for instance, does. The criticism has been against the conservative focus of the barons' role in national politics, ignoring the ascendancy of the commons. Yet the document, and the movement behind it, reflected new political developments in its emphasis on how assent was to be obtained by the barons in parliament. It was only a matter of time before it was generally acknowledged that the Commons
were an integral part of that institution.
Edward II of England
Edward II , called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed by his wife Isabella in January 1327. He was the sixth Plantagenet king, in a line that began with the reign of Henry II...
by the peerage
Peerage
The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...
and clergy of the Kingdom of England
Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England...
to restrict the power of the king. The twenty-one signatories of the Ordinances are referred to as the Lords Ordainers, or simply the Ordainers. English setbacks in the Scottish war
Wars of Scottish Independence
The Wars of Scottish Independence were a series of military campaigns fought between the independent Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England in the late 13th and early 14th centuries....
, combined with perceived extortionate royal fiscal policies, set the background for the writing of the Ordinances in which the administrative prerogatives of the king were largely appropriated by a baronial council. The Ordinances reflect the Provisions of Oxford
Provisions of Oxford
The Provisions of Oxford are often regarded as England's first written constitution ....
and the Provisions of Westminster
Provisions of Westminster
The Provisions of Westminster of 1259 were part of a series of legislative constitutional reforms which arose out of power struggles between Henry III of England and his barons...
from the late 1250s, but unlike the Provisions, the Ordinances featured a new concern with fiscal reform, specifically redirecting revenues from the king's household
Royal Household
A Royal Household in ancient and medieval monarchies formed the basis for the general government of the country as well as providing for the needs of the sovereign and his relations....
to the exchequer
Exchequer
The Exchequer is a government department of the United Kingdom responsible for the management and collection of taxation and other government revenues. The historical Exchequer developed judicial roles...
.
Just as instrumental to their conception were other issues, particularly discontent with the king's favourite
Favourite
A favourite , or favorite , was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In medieval and Early Modern Europe, among other times and places, the term is used of individuals delegated significant political power by a ruler...
, Piers Gaveston, whom the barons subsequently banished from the realm. Edward II accepted the Ordinances only under coercion, and a long struggle for their repeal ensued that did not end until Thomas of Lancaster – the leader of the Ordainers – was executed in 1322.
Early problems
Edward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
on 7 July 1307, the attitude of his subjects was generally one of good will toward their new king. However, discontent was brewing beneath the surface. Some of this was due to existing problems left behind by the late king, while much was due to the new king's inadequacies. The problems were threefold. First there was discontent with the royal policy for financing wars. To finance the war in Scotland, Edward I had increasingly resorted to so-called prises – or purveyance
Purveyance
Purveyance is the right of the Crown to requisition goods and services for royal use, and was developed in England over the course of the late eleventh through the fourteenth centuries. In theory, the king's prerogative allowed him to collect goods needed for both household and military use, but...
– to provision the troops with victuals. Though a perfectly legitimate method of raising money, the peers felt that the purveyance had become far too burdensome and compensation was in many cases inadequate or missing entirely. In addition, they did not like the fact that Edward II took prises for his household without continuing the war effort against Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, causing the second problem. While Edward I had spent the last decade of his reign relentlessly campaigning against the Scots, his son abandoned the war almost entirely. In this situation, the Scottish king Robert Bruce
Robert I of Scotland
Robert I , popularly known as Robert the Bruce , was King of Scots from March 25, 1306, until his death in 1329.His paternal ancestors were of Scoto-Norman heritage , and...
soon took the opportunity to regain what had been lost. This not only exposed the north of England to Scottish attacks, but also jeopardized the possessions of the English baronage in Scotland.
The third and most serious problem concerned the king’s favourite, Piers Gaveston
Piers Gaveston
Piers Gaveston, 1st Earl of Cornwall was an English nobleman of Gascon origin, and the favourite of King Edward II of England. At a young age he made a good impression on King Edward I of England, and was assigned to the household of the King's son, Edward of Carnarvon...
. Gaveston was a Gascon
Gascony
Gascony is an area of southwest France that was part of the "Province of Guyenne and Gascony" prior to the French Revolution. The region is vaguely defined and the distinction between Guyenne and Gascony is unclear; sometimes they are considered to overlap, and sometimes Gascony is considered a...
of relatively humble origins, with whom the king had developed a particularly close relationship. Among the honours Edward heaped upon Gaveston was the earldom of Cornwall
Earl of Cornwall
The title of Earl of Cornwall was created several times in the Peerage of England before 1337, when it was superseded by the title Duke of Cornwall, which became attached to heirs-apparent to the throne.-Earl of Cornwall:...
, a title which had previously only been conferred on members of the royal family. The preferential treatment of an upstart like Gaveston, in combination with his behaviour that was seen as arrogant, led to resentment among the established peers of the realm. This resentment first came to the surface in a declaration written in Boulogne
Boulogne-sur-Mer
-Road:* Metropolitan bus services are operated by the TCRB* Coach services to Calais and Dunkerque* A16 motorway-Rail:* The main railway station is Gare de Boulogne-Ville and located in the south of the city....
by a group of magnate
Magnate
Magnate, from the Late Latin magnas, a great man, itself from Latin magnus 'great', designates a noble or other man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or other qualities...
s who were with the king when he was in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
for his marriage ceremony to the French king's daughter. The so-called Boulogne agreement
Boulogne agreement
The Boulogne agreement was a document signed by a group of English magnates in 1308, concerning the government of Edward II. After the death of Edward I in 1307, discontent soon developed against the new king. This was partly due to lingering problems from the previous reign, but also related to...
was vague, but it expressed clear concern over the state of the royal court. On 25 February 1308, the new king was crowned. The oath he was made to take at the coronation differed from that of previous kings in the fourth clause; here Edward was required to promise to maintain the laws that the community "shall have chosen" ("aura eslu"). Though it is unclear what exactly was meant by this wording at the time, this oath was later used in the struggle between the king and his earls.
Gaveston’s exile
In the parliament of April 1308, it was decided that Gaveston should be banned from the realm upon threat of excommunicationExcommunication
Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive, suspend or limit membership in a religious community. The word means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...
. The king had no choice but to comply, and on 24 June, Gaveston left the country on appointment as Lieutenant of Ireland
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland was the British King's representative and head of the Irish executive during the Lordship of Ireland , the Kingdom of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
. The king immediately started plotting for his favourite's return. At the parliament of April 1309, he suggested a compromise in which certain of the earls' petitions would be met in exchange for Gaveston's return. The plan came to nothing, but Edward had strengthened his hand for the Stamford
Stamford, Lincolnshire
Stamford is a town and civil parish within the South Kesteven district of the county of Lincolnshire, England. It is approximately to the north of London, on the east side of the A1 road to York and Edinburgh and on the River Welland...
parliament in July later that year by receiving a papal annulment of the threat of excommunication. The king agreed to the so-called "Statute of Stamford" (which in essence was a reissue of the Articuli super Cartas that his father had signed in 1300), and Gaveston was allowed to return.
The earls who agreed to the compromise were hoping that Gaveston had learned his lesson. Yet upon his return, he behaved worse than ever, conferring insulting nicknames on some of the greater nobles. When the king summoned a great council in October, several of the earls refused to meet due to Gaveston’s presence. At the parliament of February in the following year, Gaveston was ordered not to attend. The earls disobeyed a royal order not to carry arms to parliament, and in full military attire presented a demand to the king for the appointment of a commission of reform. On 16 March 1310, the king agreed to the appointment of Ordainers, who were to be in charge of the reform of the royal household.
The Lords Ordainers
The Ordainers were elected by an assembly of magnates, without representation from the commons. They were a diverse group, consisting of eight earlEarl
An earl is a member of the nobility. The title is Anglo-Saxon, akin to the Scandinavian form jarl, and meant "chieftain", particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king's stead. In Scandinavia, it became obsolete in the Middle Ages and was replaced with duke...
s, seven bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
s and six baron
Baron
Baron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman"...
s – twenty-one in all. There were faithful royalists represented as well as fierce opponents of the king. The natural leader of the group was Henry Lacy, Earl of Lincoln
Henry de Lacy, 3rd Earl of Lincoln
Henry de Lacy, 3rd Earl of Lincoln was a confidant of Edward I of England.In 1272 on reaching the age of majority he became Earl of Lincoln...
. One of the wealthiest men in the country, he was also the oldest of the earls and had proved his loyalty and ableness through long service to Edward I. Lincoln had a moderating influence on the more extreme members of the group, but with his death in February 1311, leadership passed to his son-in-law and heir Thomas of Lancaster. Lancaster – the king’s cousin – was now in possession of five earldoms which made him by far the wealthiest man in the country, save the king. There is no evidence that Lancaster was in opposition to the king in the early years of the king's reign, but by the time of the Ordinances it is clear that something had negatively affected his opinion of King Edward.
Lancaster’s main ally was Guy Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick
Guy de Beauchamp, 10th Earl of Warwick
Guy de Beauchamp, 10th Earl of Warwick was an English magnate, and one of the principal opponents of King Edward II and his favourite Piers Gaveston. Guy de Beauchamp was the son of William de Beauchamp, the first Beauchamp earl of Warwick, and succeeded his father in 1298...
. Warwick was the most fervently and consistently antagonistic of the earls, and remained so until his early death in 1315. Other earls were more amenable. Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester
Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Hertford
Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, 7th Earl of Gloucester was a powerful English noble. Also known as "Red" Gilbert de Clare, probably because of his hair colour.- Lineage :...
, was Gaveston’s brother-in-law and stayed loyal to the king. Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke
Aymer de Valence, 2nd Earl of Pembroke
Aymer de Valence, 2nd Earl of Pembroke was a Franco-English nobleman. Though primarily active in England, he also had strong connections with the French royal house. One of the wealthiest and most powerful men of his age, he was a central player in the conflicts between Edward II of England and...
, would later be one of the king’s most central supporters, yet at this point he found the most prudent course of action was to go along with the reformers. Of the barons, at least Robert Clifford
Robert de Clifford, 1st Baron de Clifford
Robert de Clifford, 1st Baron de Clifford, also 1st Lord of Skipton , was an English soldier who became first Lord Warden of the Marches, defending the English border with Scotland. He was born in Clifford Castle, Herefordshire, and was married there in 1295 to Maud de Clare, eldest daughter of...
and William Marshall seemed to have royalist leanings.
Among the bishops, only two stood out as significant political figures, the more prominent of whom was Robert Winchelsey
Robert Winchelsey
Robert Winchelsey was an English Christian theologian and Archbishop of Canterbury. He studied at the universities of Paris and Oxford, and later taught at both. Influenced by Thomas Aquinas, he was a scholastic theologian...
, Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
. Long a formidable presence in English public life, Winchelsey had led the struggle against Edward I to uphold the autonomy of the church, and for this he had paid with suspension and exile. One of Edward II’s first acts as king had been to reinstate Winchelsey, but rather than responding with grateful loyalty, the archbishop soon reassumed a leadership role in the fight against the king. Although he was trying to appease Winchelsey, the king carried an old grudge against another prelate, Walter Langton
Walter Langton
Walter Langton was a bishop of Coventry and Lichfield and treasurer of England.He was probably a native of Langton West in Leicestershire....
, Bishop of Lichfield
Bishop of Lichfield
The Bishop of Lichfield is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lichfield in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 4,516 km² of the counties of Staffordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire and West Midlands. The bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral Church of the Blessed...
. Edward had Langton dismissed from his position as treasurer of the Exchequer
Lord High Treasurer
The post of Lord High Treasurer or Lord Treasurer was an English government position and has been a British government position since the Act of Union of 1707. A holder of the post would be the third highest ranked Great Officer of State, below the Lord High Chancellor and above the Lord President...
and had his temporal possessions confiscated. Langton had been an opponent of Winchelsey during the previous reign, but Edward II’s move against Langton drew the two Ordainers together.
The Ordinances
Six preliminary ordinances were released immediately upon the appointment of the Ordainers – on 19 March 1310 – but it was not until August 1311 that the committee had finished its work. In the meanwhile Edward had been in Scotland on an aborted campaign, but on 16 August, Parliament met in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and the king was presented with the Ordinances.
The document containing the Ordinances is dated 5 October, and contains forty-one articles. In the preamble, the Ordainers voiced their concern over what they perceived as the evil councilors of the king, the precariousness of the military situation abroad, and the danger of rebellion at home over the oppressive prises. The articles can be divided into different groups, the largest of which deals with limitations on the powers of the king and his officials, and the substitution of these powers with baronial control. It was ordained that the king should appoint his officers only "by the counsel and assent of the baronage, and that in parliament." Furthermore, the king could no longer go to war without the consent of the baronage, nor could he make reforms of the coinage. Additionally, it was decided that parliament should be held at least once a year. Parallel to these decisions were reforms of the royal finances. The Ordinances banned what was seen as extortionate prises and customs, and at the same time declared that revenues were to be paid directly into the exchequer
Exchequer
The Exchequer is a government department of the United Kingdom responsible for the management and collection of taxation and other government revenues. The historical Exchequer developed judicial roles...
. This was a reaction to the rising trend of receiving revenues directly into the royal household; making all royal finances accountable to the exchequer allowed greater public scrutiny.
Other articles dealt with punishing specific persons, foremost among these, Piers Gaveston. Article 20 describes at length the offenses committed by Gaveston; he was once more condemned to exile and was to abjure the realm by 1 November. The bankers of the Italian Frescobaldi
Frescobaldi
The Frescobaldi are a prominent Florentine noble family that have been involved in the political, sociological, and economic history of Tuscany since the Middle Ages;. Originating in the Val di Pesa in the Chianti, they appear holding important posts in Florence in the twelfth century...
company were arrested, and their goods seized. It was held that the king’s great financial dependence on the Italians was politically unfortunate. The last individuals to be singled out for punishment were Henry de Beaumont
Henry de Beaumont
Henry de Beaumont, jure uxoris 4th Earl of Buchan and suo jure 1st Baron Beaumont was a key figure in the Anglo-Scots wars of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, known as the Wars of Scottish Independence.-Life:...
and his sister, Isabella de Vescy, two foreigners associated with the king’s household. Though it is difficult to say why these two received particular mention, it could be related to the central position of their possessions in the Scottish war.
The Ordainers also took care to confirm and elaborate on existing statutes, and reforms were made to the criminal law. The liberties of the church were confirmed as well. To ensure that none of the Ordainers should be swayed in their decisions by bribes from the king, restrictions were made on what royal gifts and offices they were allowed to receive during their tenure.
Aftermath
Before the end of the year, Gaveston had returned to England, and civil war appeared imminent. In May 1312, Gaveston was taken captive by the Earl of Pembroke, but Warwick and Lancaster had him abducted and executed after a mock trial. This affront to Pembroke’s honour drove him irrevocably into the camp of the king, and thereby split the opposition. The brutality of the act initially drove Lancaster and his adherents away from the centre of power, but the Battle of Bannockburn
Battle of Bannockburn
The Battle of Bannockburn was a significant Scottish victory in the Wars of Scottish Independence...
, in June 1314, returned the initiative. Edward was humiliated by his disastrous defeat, while Lancaster and Warwick had not taken part in the campaign, claiming that it was carried out without the consent of the baronage, and as such in defiance of the Ordinances.
What followed was a period of virtual control of the government by Lancaster, yet increasingly – particularly after the death of Warwick in 1315 – he found himself isolated. In August 1318, the so-called "treaty of Leake" established a modus vivendi
Modus vivendi
Modus vivendi is a Latin phrase signifying an agreement between those whose opinions differ, such that they agree to disagree.Modus means mode, way. Vivendi means of living. Together, way of living, implies an accommodation between disputing parties to allow life to go on. It usually describes...
between the parties, whereby the king was restored to power while promising to uphold the Ordinances. Lancaster still had issue with the king though, particularly with the conduct of the new favourite, Hugh Despenser the younger
Hugh the younger Despenser
Hugh Despenser, 1st Lord Despenser , also referred to as "the younger Despenser", was the son and heir of Hugh le Despenser, Earl of Winchester , and Isabella daughter of William, 9th Earl of Warwick.-Titles and possessions:Hugh Despenser the younger was knight of Hanley Castle, Worcestershire,...
, and his father, Hugh Despenser the elder
Hugh le Despenser, 1st Earl of Winchester
Hugh le Despenser , sometimes referred to as "the Elder Despenser", was for a time the chief adviser to King Edward II of England....
. In 1322, full rebellion broke out which ended with Lancaster’s defeat and execution at the Battle of Boroughbridge
Battle of Boroughbridge
The Battle of Boroughbridge was a battle fought on 16 March 1322 between a group of rebellious barons and King Edward II of England, near Boroughbridge, northwest of York. The culmination of a long period of antagonism between the king and Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, his most powerful subject, it...
in March. At the parliament of May in the same year, the Ordinances were repealed. However, six clauses were retained that concerned such issues as household jurisdiction and appointment of sheriffs. Any restrictions on royal power were unequivocally annulled.
The Ordinances were never again reissued, and therefore hold no permanent position in the legal history of England in the way that Magna Carta
Magna Carta
Magna Carta is an English charter, originally issued in the year 1215 and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions, which included the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority to date. The charter first passed into law in 1225...
, for instance, does. The criticism has been against the conservative focus of the barons' role in national politics, ignoring the ascendancy of the commons. Yet the document, and the movement behind it, reflected new political developments in its emphasis on how assent was to be obtained by the barons in parliament. It was only a matter of time before it was generally acknowledged that the Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
were an integral part of that institution.