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Magna Carta (1215)
For this class, I will divide you into barons and those who represent King John. Each of you will be responsible for representing one or the other on one of the following issues. Look for your name and responsibility below.
1) Clause 1: The Church
Why did the clause concerning the church come first? What did the Church obtain in this clause? Up until this point, what had King John been doing? (Tonie represents King John's position. Isaac represents the barons.)
2) Clause 2-5: Wardship
Why were the barons so sensitive about inheritance and wardship? What had John been doing to exploit wardship? What specifically did these clauses limit? On what grounds did the barons defend themselves in these clauses? (Carmen represents King John's position. Matt represents the barons.)
3) Clauses 6-8: Women and Property
Why did the subject of women/heiresses come up right after the discussion of wardship? What did clauses 6 and 8 stipulate about marriage? What had John done to exploit female heiresses? What practice did these clauses seek to halt? (Melissa represents King John's position. Tami and Emlyn represents the barons.)
4) Clauses 28, 30, 31, 38, 39, 40, and 60: Common Folk
How and why did the barons include the common people—freemen—in these provisions? (Tim and Sarah represents King John's position. Jake represents the barons.)
5) Clauses 12, 15, 16, 20, 21, 22, 23, and 55: Rules Regarding Fines and Punishments
What did the Magna Carta seek to accomplish with these clauses? What practices did it hope to halt? How had King John used fines and punishments? (Rose represents King John's position. Rachel represents the barons.)
6) Clauses 28, 29, 30, 31, 38, 40, and 45: Limits on the King's Officers
What was the aim of these provisions? What problems did the Magna Carta seek to redress? How had King John employed his officers? (Kristin represents King John's position. Andrew represents the barons.)
7) Clauses 50 and 51: Limits on Foreigners
Why did the Magna Carta seek to restrain and limit foreigners? How and why had King John employed foreigners? (Claire represents King John's position. Aimee represents the barons.)
8) Clauses 12, 14, and 61: Institutionalizing Restraints on the King
How did the barons propose preventing such strife with the king from occurring again? How did they seek to institutionalize consensus? How would the institutions they proposed help prevent confrontation? (Sydney represents King John's position. Carol represents the barons.)
GLOSSARY
Aid: subsidy granted to the king due to extraordinary circumstances
Amercements: fines for certain misdemeanors, usually levied on local authorities for inefficiency or failure to comply with royal commands
Disparagement: loss of status
Dissiesed: dispossessed of property
Dower: portion of a husband's lands set aside at the time of marriage to support his wife should he die first; if no land is set aside, one-third customarily goes to his widow
Intestacy: the state of dying without a will; tenants-in-chief who died intestate had their estates confiscated by the crown
Marriage portion: land set aside by a woman's father from his own land to become hers when she married. She brought this land to her husband, and he now owned it. Should he die first, however, the land would revert to her.
Relief: feudal fee levied by the lord upon his vassal when the vassal first inherits the fief
Scutage: payment accepted by the king in lieu of feudal military service
Tallage: a tax levied by a lord on his tenants; usually arbitrary, somewhat akin to "protection money"
Wainage: oxen and plow
Wardship: when an underage vassal of the king inherited a fief, he could not discharge obligatory military service. By skimming off some profit from the estate, the king could pay someone else to discharge the underage vassal's military service.
The Rule of St. Francis (1223)
1) What special purpose did the Franciscans serve?
2) What qualities receive special emphasis throughout the rule? Why did the Franciscans stress these qualities? How did it help them carry out their mission?
3) What kind of training and procedures did a prospective Franciscan have to undergo? How did they prepare him for his mission?
4) See the ninth clause of the rule. Why would a bishop refuse to allow Franciscans to preach in his diocese? Why would the Franciscans accede to his refusal? Why were the Franciscans very careful about giving approval to preachers?
5) How did the Franciscans manage, discipline, and organize the order? Was it hierarchical? Decentralized?
6) How do you think the Franciscans facilitated the reform and improvement of the Church?
Episcopal Visitation of a Diocese: Canterbury Diocese (1292-1294)
1) As you go through this document, list all the problems the bishop noted with the clergy in his diocese. While you do so, speculate as to what might account for these violations. For instance, what might account for the fact that the rector of Eastbridge never seems to have resided in his parish?
2) Aside from disciplining the clergy, what other problems did the bishop investigate during his visitations?
3) What kind of punishments did the bishop impose on various miscreants? What was the purpose of these punishments?
4) What did the bishop seek to accomplish on these visitations? Along with the obvious religious role, what social role did the Church seek to play?
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by Hugh Dubrulle, 2001
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