copied the aims and methods of the guilds, making sure English merchants could only export through their factories, and making sure that prices and quality were maintained. [7, pp. 123-124], in the towns a new middle class was developing. By the 14 th century most merchants were well educated, and considered themselves to be the equals of the esquires and gentlemen of the countryside. The lawyers were another class of city people. In London they were considered equal in importance to the big merchants and cloth manufactures. By the end of the Middle Ages the more successful of these lawyers, merchants, exporters, esquires, manufactures, gentlemen and yeoman farmers were increasingly forming a single class of people with interests in both town and country. The growth of this new middle class, educated and skilled in law, administration and trade, created a new atmosphere in Britain. This was partly because of the increase of literacy. Indeed, the middle class could be described as the «literate class». This literate class questioned the way in which the Church and the state were organized, for both religious and practical reasons. They disliked serfdom partly because it was now increasingly viewed as unchristian, but also for the practical reason that it was not economic. The middle class also questioned the value of the feudal system because it did not create wealth. [4, pp.57-61]
.3.2 The Growth of Parliamentary Power in the 14 th - 15 th Centuriesdevelopment of Parliament at this time showed the beginnings of a new relationship between the middle class and the king. Edward I had invited knights from the country and merchants from the towns to his parliament because he wanted money and they, more than any other group, could provide it. But when Edward III asked for money from his parliament, they asked to see the royal accounts. It was an important development because for the first time the king allowed himself to be «accountable» to Parliament. Merchants and country gentlemen were very anxious to influence the king «s policies both at home and abroad. They wanted to protect their interests. When France threatened the wool trade with Flanders, for example, they supported Edward III in his war. [8, p.253] alliance between esquires and merchants made Parliament more powerful, and separated the Commons more and more from the Lords. Many European countries had the same kind of parliaments at this time, but in most cases these disappeared when feudalism died out. In England, however, the death of feudalism helped to strengthen the House of Commons in Parliament.was another important change that had taken place in the country. King had been taking law cases away from local lords » courts since the 12 th century, and by the middle of the 14 th century the courts of local lords no longer existed. But the king's courts could not deal with all the work. In 1363 Edward III appointed «justices of the peace» to deal with smaller crimes and offences, and to hold court four times a year.JPs, as they became known, were usually less important lords or members of the landed gentry. They were, and still are, chosen for their fairness and honesty. The appointment of landed gentry as JPs made the middle classes, that class of people who were neither nobles nor peasants, still stronger. Through the system of JPs the landed gentry took the place of the nobility as the local authority. During t...
