Tension between the Rulers and the Ruled

PAX MONGOLICA : THE STEPPE EMPIRE OF THE MONGOLS HIST 1301 | History Tension between the Rulers and the Ruled Over the course of the thirteenth century, France also developed a more powerful central authority. Similar to the Two Sicilies, this was the outcome of local administration being reorganised such that church officials and vassals were replaced by royal bureaucrats, and the king had enough money to compensate them for their allegiance. French kings, starting with King Phillip II in the late eleventh century, took advantage of chances to appropriate property from their nobility in order to increase their royal holdings. Rather than being vassals who might transfer their holdings to successors, the managers of these new territories were salaried royal appointees. A large portion of France came directly under royal rule by the early fourteenth century, which significantly increased the resources available to French monarchs to use in disputes with their vassals and the church. By the time of Phillip IV's reign (1285–1286), the French crown's standing with the church had severely declined. Up until 1303, when Phillip dispatched soldiers to Rome to depose Pope Boniface, the situation worsened. This action so scared church leaders that in 1305, when it came time to choose Boniface's successor, the cardinals chose a Frenchman who was Phillip's ally. After that, the pope was relocated from Rome to Avignon, France, and stayed there until 1376 under the careful supervision of French kings. Compared to other European states, England's development was distinct. Beginning in the thirteenth century, the monarch's authority over its vassals and the church was curtailed, and the fundamental rights of commoners— generally understood to include adult males who were not enslaved or in apprenticeship— were safeguarded. King John's vassals, emboldened by his submission, pushed him to repeat such rights and expand them in Magna Carta, a document that restated existing rights and relationships of vassals, in 1215 after he was forced to become the pope's vassal and pay him homage. The papal stance that the church was superior to the state and that it "shall have its rights undiminished, and its liberties unimpaired... by our heirs in perpetuity" was reaffirmed in the text. "No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgement of his equals," according to Magna Carta, is arguably the most significant of the rights outlined in the document. Trial by jury is still a mainstay of the Western legal system today, thanks to this provision that set the precedent for it. The Great Council of the king's vassals and high clergy was replaced with a deliberative council composed of nobles, clergy, and commoners. This was another significant step that led to centralised administration with restricted and stated powers. Designed to reflect the interests of the people, this new entity eventually became the Parliament. delegates chosen by the king's vassals were added to the membership, and beginning in 1265, some cities were allowed to send delegates to promote their mercantile interests. There were two main powers that belonged to Parliament. One was to consent to all tax rises. Edward I also urged Parliament to ratify legislation in order to create consistent rule by the king rather than a decentralised set from the aristocracy and a possibly competing set from the church. Not just the king's laws, but also the laws of England were approved by parliament. The nobility and clergy, as well as the affluent commoners, had to approve them even if the monarch had authored them. During his thirty-five-year reign, Edward I called for his first Parliament in 1275, and the body convened 46 times. The Iberian Peninsula was divided in the thirteenth century between sections of the Islamic Almohad Caliphate and Christian kingdoms. Approximately three-fifths of the territory was occupied by the Christian kingdoms of Portugal, Leon, Navarre, Castile, and Aragon. These kingdoms engaged in the same kinds of warfare as other Christian nations, not only with their Islamic adversaries but also with one other and between vassals and kings and between monarch and church. Together, the church and vassals gave the monarch the money he thought was necessary to maintain the kingdom's security and order. The Cortes, a council made up of members from merchants, clergy, and vassals, had to decide on additional resources. Similar to England, the church and vassals were able to exert constraints on royal authority and finances and to prevent themselves from being sidestepped by monarchs.