Name Index

To

Devon County Members of Parliament, Part II. The Middle Plantagenet Period (1327-1399)

Trans. Devon Assoc., vol. 45, (1913), pp. 247-269.

by

J.J. Alexander

Prepared by Michael Steer

The paper was read at the Association’s July 23rd, 1913 Buckfastleigh meeting.  By 1327 the House of Commons had become an essential part of England’s constitutional machinery. The shire knights, who might have been expected to act in conjunction with the barons through their common interest in land ownership had instead tended to join with the town burgesses as the other representative element in parliament. During the reign of Edward III, these two elements sat together, apart from the clergy and nobles. There was as well, a gradual weakening in social distinction between town and county members. The period is marked by a notable advance towards modern conditions, particularly in the revival of English as the national language. It might be thought that when national leadership passed from Edward II to his successor, the task of identifying representatives of the county would become easier. This, however, seems not to have been the case. The paper is from a copy of a rare and much sought-after journal that can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers..