379

The after the

from ..... f;!T\'"l''FlaT)vn€d to

yv-ry sciiEitive about

by the state-, Boniface Vlll^wrts ix^e,
conflict with IQ&ii TV. oFFratue was
this _ very issue. The (ki^y kntw that the

theni^to a !ay a^vrnbly1 that ho might the
more readily tax inur*. Thv.- idea that honour attached to
representative men:berfh:p in t;:i-c*h &r a^n.bly
foreign to the time; tn riT.Ttx'ritativ^cIf/Tiry nr by
their constituent s th^royitl'suniir.or.s la:-l a burden^
wa^Tal:e'H"wit!; reluctance, All the prt-;uri:ci.'S r£ the
clergy drew them awaj* from this kind of association
laymen; the whole trend cf events .since the
Concjuest had towards ^nration between,

and Jay institutions under the irr.ptilr.e c.f the ** reform."
movements on the continent. The clergy were
conscious oTtliemsclves as a distinct and superior orcjer^
They had just perfected their own Convocation, where
they could negotiate taxes just a-? well and without
compromising their dignity by becoTring tnt^nbers cf a
secular body. Their reluctance to attend Parliament
was probably at first regarded by the l^ng, as a^Jcind of
; but money was jvbal he

ST well from Convocation, lie
to fight out a purely theoretical

The representative clergy began to sH6w'"'fheIr disin-
clination to come to Parliament after 1295, for

about forty years the attempt to

their presence; then, although the
was retained in the writs to the bishops
occasional attendance of a few, the matter to be

an object with the king, and the clergy, in, their Convoca-
tion granted sufcsidjjorjsji^sidy asjgjanted
ComSionFin Parliament.1

1 ForSHlStratlon, see A. and S., documents 66 and 67, Down to

summoned, as the

j
t, the form was ^mori" often '^d^nse^ierMum, which Be-
came stable in 1377. They could consent by o55g"a!ent, oy not coming*