Kings, Magna Carta and the Parliament

-Kings, Magna Carta and the Parliament-

When Henry died in 1189, became king his son Richard I, that was kwon as Richard the Lion-heart; he spent a very short time in his own kingdom, because he was busy with the Third Crusade.
Richard was succeeded by his brother John, known as ‘Lackland’ and ‘Softsword’.
He wasn’t so lucky with wars, so he had to get more money to wage those wars, so he collected higher taxes.
But for the fact that he wasn’t good in wars and asked for money, barons forced him to sign a document, known as the Magna Carta (1215 – was originally written in Latin, then in English and in French), where the King agreed that no taxes shall be demanded without the consent of the great council, that no free men shall be arrested, put in prison, etc., unless he has been judged by his equals.
The Magna Carta was a very influent document, in fact it even influenced the American Constitution.

After John Lackland, Henry III, which was his son, became king; when that happened it was just a kid, so group of barons ruled until Henry grew up.
In 1265, one of those barons, Simon de Montfort, called a special Great Council, a big meeting in which there where barons, two knights for every shire and two merchants, that represented freemen.
These meetings became known as ‘Parliaments’.

After Henry III, Edward I became king.
In 1295 called the ‘Model Parliament’, a parliament that included representatives of the barons, the clergy, two knights from each shire and two citizens from the cities.

After Edward I, Edward III became king, and with him started in 1337 the Hundred Year’s War, which lasted until 1453. This war started because Edward claimed the crown of France, because his mother was the French king’s sister, but even because France was threatening the Flanders, which was the market for the English wool.