Europe’s First “Constitutional” Texts?

While Strayer’s contention might be somewhat anachronistic if we assign the term “constitutional” its broadest meaning, it is a fair description of the legal positions of medieval kings.

Therefore, although “constitutionalism” tends to be a term used in relation to the era of the liberal state when, based on the premises prevailing in the French Revolution (1789-1799), most European nation-states accepted nineteenth century constitutional texts as their legal bases, in reality the constitutional principle, understood as a legal text circumscribing royal power, is one which appeared in the Late Middle Ages. In fact, it emerged as a reaction to the substantial increase in kings’ power and a way to protect subjects and their property from potentially arbitrary actions by the crown.^[340]

These documents were solemnly agreed to between the monarch and his sub­jects, such as the decrees approved under the initiative of Alfonso IX of Leon at the Cortes of 1188, which has been called the “Leon Carta Magna” (Arias 1948, 147­149) because in it the king promised the representatives of his kingdom that he would not wage war, declare peace, or make important decisions without the consent of the bishops, nobles and leading men of the cities, whose advice was to inform the king’s conduct (Bisson 2009, 531).^[341] The Integration of Christian Spain into Europe: The Role of Alfonso VI of Leon-Castile.

The best known of this class of documents which we might call “protoconsti­tutional” was the Magna Carta Libertatum (Great Charter of Freedoms) or simply the “Magna Carta”, a document by which the English nobility, backed by the City of London and the Church in 1215, imposed themselves upon King John of England (John Lackland) for having suffered serious defeats to Philip Augustus of France and to Pope Innocent III, which resulted in major territorial losses.^[342] The impor­tance of the Magna Carta lies not so much in its specific content, but rather in the importance it had for the constitutional history of England itself, as it was succes­sively confirmed by the kings of England,^[343] and its influence on the American Revolution and the forging of the United States of America (Linebaugh 2008, 119­143). Moreover, as Holt (1985, 289-307) points out, the Magna Carta was a stepping stone in English legal history, as it established the pattern for legislation by statute. It was the first English statute, paving the way for the subsequent development of statute law.

In another “pact-based” monarchy, that of the Crown of Aragon, worthy of mention are the Privilegios de la Union which the Aragonese nobility imposed upon Alfonso III in the Cortes de Zaragoza in 1288, taking advantage of the king’s political weakness at the time (Gonzalez Anton 1975, I, 201-214). This was a dynamic which the unionistas (nobles integrated into a union which limited the kings power) had begun during the previous reign of Peter III, seizing upon this monarch’s excommunication because of the conquest of Sicily, carried out against the wishes of the pope, which had prompted the King of France, Philip III, the Bold, to invade Catalonia (Runciman 2012, 257-258).^[344] In general in the Crown of Aragon this avant la lettre “constitutionalism” (Gonzalez Anton 1986, 1017­1041) would eventually become consolidated in the Late Middle Ages as “pactism” in the kingdoms of Aragon, Valencia, Mallorca, Sicily and Naples, and the County of Barcelona (Pina Homs 2007, 333-370)—the latter a “constitutional” regime that preserved its historical constitutions almost intact, despite being integrated into the Spanish Crown after the death of Ferdinand the Catholic (1516).

Absolute monarchy, of course, which as apolitical model first appeared in Spain, specifically in Castile, in the late fourteenth century, would tend to curtail the authority of these estate-based assemblies, which were overpowered by sovereigns who could unilaterally modify the legislation passed by the cortes (Gonzalez Alonso 1980, 469-488).⁵⁷ An exception, however, came in England, where Parlia­ment was able to curb royal prerogatives as of the mid seventeenth century, and in the Spanish kingdoms under the Crown of Aragon, until the early eighteenth century, when the political organization of these kingdoms was abolished by the Nueva Planta Decrees.⁵⁸

TIMELINE

Twelfth Century

⁵⁷ As of the fifteenth century the kings of Castile were empowered to create laws called pragmaticas, which had the same validity as legislation approved by the cortes. The Castilian monarchs were the first kings in Europe able to unilaterally create legislation (Iglesia Ferreiros 1977, 115-198).

⁸ As VanLandingham (2002, 12) points out, the universal medieval obstacles to centralization were in full force in the Crown of Aragon, as the nobles, particularly in Aragon, were powerful and fractious; the towns, especially in Catalonia and Valencia, were rich and well-endowed with privileges; and representative assemblies were more advanced than nearly anywhere else.

Henry II of England orders the assassination of Thomas Beckett, Archbishop of Canterbury, for opposing royal power.

The death of Alfonso I Henriques, founder of the Portuguese monarchy.

Saladin recaptures Jerusalem from the Crusaders.

Alfonso IX convenes the cortes in Leon. It is the first time in European history that a meeting of the curiae is attended by representatives of the bourgeoisie. It is the first assembly of estates. Papacy of Innocent III, the Pope attaining the greatest political influence in the history of Christendom.

Century

Innocent III preaches for a crusade against the Albigenses.

Reign of Frederick II, the last of the Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire.

The English nobility imposes the Magna Carta on John Lackland. Foundation of the Dominican Order by St. Dominic of Guzman (1170-1221). Its members would be the first inquisitors.

Alfonso IX of Leon founds the University of Salamanca, the first university on the Iberian Peninsula.

Jaime I, the Conqueror, begins his conquest of Mallorca.

Fernando III definitively unites the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon. The collection of Decretals is promulgated, compiled by Raymond of Pefiafort.

Ferdinand III conquers Cordoba.

Jaime I, the Conqueror, takes Valencia.

Ferdinand III of Castile and Leon conquers Seville.

Accursio completes the Magna Glossa.

Reign of Alfonso X, the Wise, of Castile.

For the first time representatives of the cities enter the British Parliament after the victory of Simon de Montfort at Lewes over the royal troops.

St. Louis of France dies in St. John of Acre (Palestine). End of the Crusades.

Reign of Edward I of England, who strengthens royal power by relying on the cities as allies against the great nobility.

July 27. Death of Jaime I, the Conqueror. By creating the Kingdom of Valencia as an autonomous kingdom and integrating it into the Union of Catalonia and Aragon, he founds the Crown of Aragon. Mallorca would be an independent kingdom until 1349.

The reign of Dionis I of Portugal begins (d. 1357). His long rule represents the zenith of the Portuguese branch of the House of Burgundy.

Fourteenth Century

Fifteenth Century

1400 Baldus de Ubaldis dies (born 1327) one of the most famous glossators.

1412 Compromise of Caspe. After the death without heirs of Martin I, Ferdinand I of Trastamara is elected the King of the Crown of Aragon. In Castile and Aragon the same dynasty reigns.

1417 With the election of Martin V the Western Schism comes to a close, initiated after the death of Gregory XI in 1387.

1420 Treaty of Troyes. King Henry V of England claims almost all of France.

1429 Joan of Arc takes Orleans, allowing King Charles VII to be named King of France in Reims.

1431 Joan of Arc dies at the stake.

1453 Capture of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks. The fall of the Western Empire, created in 395.

1455 In England the War of the Roses (House of York vs. House of Lancaster) begins, a 30-year conflict which will erode the power of the nobility and bolster that of the Parliament.

1460 Death of Henry the Navigator (born 1394), architect of Portugal’s maritime expansion.

1461 Death of Charles VII, King of France from 1422. During his reign he manages to drive the English from France and end the Hundred Years War.

1469 Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand, Prince of Aragon, are married in Valladolid, becoming the “Catholic Kings”.

1474 Beginning of the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella.

1477 Death of Charles the Bold, the last independent Duke of Burgundy. His disappearance is essential for the unification of France under Louis XI (1461-1483).

1478 The Catholic Kings receive papal permission to create their own tribunal: the Spanish Inquisition.

1479 Beginning of the reign of Ferdinand the Catholic in the Crown of Aragon. The personal union of Castile and Aragon under the Catholic Kings is forged.

1481 Start of the War of Granada. It would last until January 1492.

1485 End of the War of the Roses. Henry VII rises to the English throne, the first monarch of the Tudor Dynasty, inaugurating a century of royal absolutism in England.

1487 Bartholomew Diaz discovers the Cape of Good Hope.

1492 January 2. The Catholic Kings enter Granada. End of the Reconquest. March 31. In Granada the Catholic Kings sign the decree expelling the Jews from Spain.

October 12. Christopher Columbus discovers America.

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Further Reading

Airlie, S., Pohl, W. Reimitz, H. (2006). Staat imfriihen Mittelalter. Wien: Verlag der Osterreich- chischen Akademie der Wissenchaft.

Alfonso Anton, M. I., et al. (Eds.). (2004). Building legitimacy: Political discourses and forms of legitimacy in Medieval societies. Leiden: Brill.

Barnwell, P. S., & Mostert, M. (Eds.). (2003). Political assemblies in the earlier Middle Ages. Turnhout: Brepols.

Bisson, T. N. (2010). The crisis of the twelfth century: Power, lordship, and the origins of European government. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Blythe, J. M. (1992). Ideal government and the mixed constitution in the Middle Ages. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Bonney, R. (2002). Revenues. In R. Bonney (Ed.), Economic systems and state finance: The origins of the modern state in Europe 13th to 18th centuries (Reprint, pp. 423-506). Oxford, UK: Clarendon.

Bradbury, J. (2010). The Capetians: Kings of France, 987-1328. London: Continuum.

Brown, E. A. R. (1991). Politics and institutions in Capetian France. Aldershot: Variorum.

Brown, E. A. R. (1991). The Monarchy of Capetian France and Royal Ceremonial (p. 1991). London: Variorum.

Brown, E. A. R., & Famiglietti, R. C. (1993). The Lit de Justice: Semantics, ceremonial and the Parlement of Paris, 1300-1600. Sigmaringen: Jan Thorbecke.

Canning, J. (1996). A history of medieval political thought: 300-1450. London: Routledge.

Canning, J. (2011). Ideas of power in the late Middle Ages: 1296-1417. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Chrimes, S. B. (2013). The nature of parliament. In English constitutional ideas in the fifteenth century (Repr., pp. 66-141). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Collins, R. (1985). ‘Sicut lex Gothorum continet': Law and charters in ninth- and tenth-century Leon and Catalonia. The English Historical Review, 100(396), 489-512.

Collins, R. (2007). Die Fredegar-Chronikon. Hannover: Hahnsche Buchhandlung.

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