362 The Period of Constitution Making
their jury character, might not be contaminated by shrieval
influence. But all kinds of juries did more than furnish facts
in a mechanical way; to some extent they judged facts,
even at this date. It is hard to believe that one hundred
and forty knights from all parts of England met at West-
minster on a mission which must have interested them deeply
without some comparing of grievances, interchange of opin-
ion, or, if you please, deliberation. And surely the subject-
matter was political.1
If it became the fashion for the king thus to gather local
representatives, if it was done often enough, some kind
of assembly consciousness was likely to result. But
such things come slowly. In the years following 1227
there were occasional and partial concentrations of
various elements and for various purposes, as in the
period before, usually without popular election or an
important public purpose. But the method was not
forgotten, and in 1254, while Henry III. was in Gascony
in desperate need of money, the regents, in the king's
name, summoned a meeting of two representative knights
elected in each shire and representative clergy from each
diocese "to arrange what kind of aid they wish to furnish
us in so great need." But there could not have been
much "arranging" at Westminster, for the writs in the
case of both laity and clergy make clear that the discus-
sion and real determination of the amount of the aid
were to take place in shire courts and diocesan synods,
and that the representatives were to come to Westminster
with definite instructions. However, here were again
united representation (of a sort), popular election, and
concentration on a nation-wide scale. As in 1227, it
appears to have been the smaller, permanent Council
before which the representatives appeared.
It is interesting to notice that not long before this the
word parliamentum was beginning to be used for meetings
of what we have been calling the great council. Cotto-
* On tliis general subject, see Some Early Instances of Concentration of
Representatives in England. American Historical Review, xix.* 735-750.