Model Parliament
The Model Parliament was the representative assembly convened by King Edward I of England in November 1295 at Westminster, distinguished by its inclusion of lords spiritual and temporal alongside knights from each shire and burgesses from boroughs, establishing a compositional precedent for future parliaments.[1][2]
Summoned amid acute financial pressures from Edward's military campaigns against Wales, Scotland, and France, the parliament was called to secure broad consent for extraordinary taxation through writs granting representatives plena potestas to bind their constituencies.[2][3]
Its assembly comprised approximately two archbishops, eighteen bishops, sixty-seven abbots, seven earls, forty-one barons, seventy-seven knights, and over two hundred burgesses, totaling nearly three hundred lay members—far exceeding prior gatherings.[3][2]
The body granted the king subsidies and confirmed key statutes, reinforcing the principle that taxation required approval from those it burdened, though this practice evolved gradually rather than instantaneously.[1][3]
Retrospectively termed the "Model Parliament" by 19th-century historian William Stubbs for its paradigmatic structure, its status as uniquely representative is contested by scholars noting commons in earlier assemblies like those of 1265 and 1275, attributing its convening to Edward's pragmatic fiscal necessities over ideological commitment to representation.[2][3]