High Middle Ages · Europe · Politics

1258

Provisions of Oxford imposed on Henry III

1258

English barons led by Simon de Montfort forced King Henry III to accept a committee of fifteen to oversee royal government. It was the first written constitution in English history after Magna Carta and it set the stage for open civil war. The provisions required parliaments to meet three times a year and placed royal appointments under baronial control, a radical curtailment of monarchical power.