Knight of the Shire

Knight of the Shire is the name for the representatives of the counties, the 39 English counties , elected in the English Parliament in the Middle Ages and in modern times . Until the beginning of the 20th century, the name was still in use in the British and the United Kingdom Parliament .

In the Middle Ages, each of England's 39 counties, with the exception of Counties Palatines of Chester and Durham , was allowed to send two representatives to parliamentary meetings. The Knights of the Shire are mentioned for the first time as representatives of each county in 1254. When the king convened a parliament, the royal chancellery issued a call to the respective sheriff of the county to let the Knights of the Shires elect. A county court , an assembly of all free people, was convened for the election , while serfs were excluded from the election. Members of the rich landed nobility who actually belonged to the knighthood in the Middle Ages were usually elected . In addition to the Burgesses , the representatives of the boroughs , and the representatives of the universities of Cambridge and Oxford, the Knights of the Shires formed the most important representatives of the Commons . When the number of free people and thus those entitled to vote rose sharply in the 14th and 15th centuries and the electoral assemblies became confusing, a new right to vote was issued in 1429. Thereafter, only yeoman , landowners with annual freehold income of at least 40 shillings (two pounds sterling ), had the right to vote. Tenants, even if they were not serfs, no longer had the right to vote. This restriction meant that the right to vote was restricted to a small number of landowners, who thus remained politically dominant. The election of Knight of the Shire was for members of the gentry to express and confirm their social status. Often, if they were not already, they were beaten after their election to Knight Bachelor .

According to the laws for the incorporation of Wales , the twelve Welsh counties were also allowed to send Knights of the Shires to Parliament as representatives from 1536, but in contrast to the English counties, the Welsh only had one representative per county. It was not until the electoral law reform of 1832 , which was carried out against the resistance of the conservative landed nobility , that the bourgeoisie further included the electorate; the electoral law reform of 1867 extended the electoral law to the workers. After the third electoral reform of 1885, the name Knight of Shire was unusual as it was no longer obvious that members were members of the Parliament of the gentry and Knights were or were. The division of the counties into constituencies further led to the fact that in the 20th century the name Knight of the Shire finally disappeared in favor of the name Member of Parliament .

Web links

Parliament UK: Birth of the English Parliament

Individual evidence

↑ Clyve Jones: Short History of Parliament. England, Great Britain, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Scotland. Boydell & Brewer, Woodbridge 2012. ISBN 978-1-84383-717-6 , p. 11
↑ Clyve Jones: Short History of Parliament. England, Great Britain, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Scotland. Boydell & Brewer, Woodbridge 2012. ISBN 978-1-84383-717-6 , p. 80
^ The Oxford Companion to Family and Local History . Oxford University Press 2012, ISBN 978-0-19-953298-8

[1] Clyve Jones: Short History of Parliament. England, Great Britain, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Scotland. Boydell & Brewer, Woodbridge 2012. ISBN 978-1-84383-717-6 , p. 11

[2] Clyve Jones: Short History of Parliament. England, Great Britain, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Scotland. Boydell & Brewer, Woodbridge 2012. ISBN 978-1-84383-717-6 , p. 80

[3] The Oxford Companion to Family and Local History . Oxford University Press 2012, ISBN 978-0-19-953298-8