A Study Of The England Wardrobe In 13th Century

The wardrobe was the royal department of medieval England,it was an important part of the England administrative system in 13th century.Studying the development and evolution of the royal palace in this period,we can have a deeper understanding of the English royal power in the Middle AgesThroughout the history of England royal wardrobe in the 13th century,mainly has three main functions.One is the king’s wardrobe management,It’s the original function.The second is the chief financial institution of the royal family.Under Henry III,the wardrobe was no longer attached to the chamber.After the administrative reform of Peter of Rivaux,the wardrobe acquired the financial power and part of the administrative power,and it became the country’s main financial revenue and expenditure agency.The third function was the war treasury and commissariat.At the end of the 13th century,under the reign of Edward I,the wardrobe dominated the country’s war spending and supplies,and played the role of military command organ.However,the huge debts caused wardrobe became the scapegoat of the king,wardrobe went into decline under various constraints.This article mainly discusses three aspects of the problem.Firstly,discussed the relationship between the wardrobe and financial power,mainly from two dimensions.The first dimension is royal finance and national finance.The wardrobe is both royal financial institution and national financial institution.Its function transformation mainly benefits from the support of the royal power and necessity of the times.It is worth noting that the development of the wardrobe has historical particularity,and its functional operation reflects the convergence of England royal finance and national finance in the 13th century.But this kind of convergence is not the mainstream of history,it is a special phenomenon under the strong royal power.The second dimension is the internal government and the external government.The transformation of the wardrobe was just the process of the internal government gradually becoming the external government.This transformation was not separated from the support of the kingSecondly,discussed the relationship between the wardrobe and feudal nobility.This article holds that the aristocracy,as an important pole of the power outside the system and the domestic political power,mainly restricts the development of wardrobe.In addition,the rapid development of the parliamentary system in the 13th century also weakened wardrobe’s positionFinally,summarized the characteristics of England kingship in the 13th century.The royal power is feudal and arbitrary,the characteristic is public power and private power are not divided,the boundary between king and state is unclear,the characteristic of the "king’s government" are clear.This kind of nature and characteristic is not the special phenomenon in medieval England,the imperial power in ancient China is also existed.From this level,the historical development of the Chinese and Western feudal society has a common rule.