King's Subjects' Appeal-On Petitions Of English Parliament Between The Late 13^th Century And The Middle 15^th Century

Based on some scholars'research achievements about medieval petitions in the English parliament, this dissertation undertakes to analyze the key role of the English parliament in receiving,examining,hearing and determining petitions between the late 13th Century and the middle 15th Century. Petitions were requests for favor or redress presented specifically within the context of parliament. Petitions began to be presented to parliament in large numbers in the 1270s. From the inception of this sudden policy change, parliament had acted as a"superior"judicial court and dealing with petitions was one of the most important functions of parliament. Petitions comprised a mixture of complaints and request: the complaints tended to relate to injustices and the misdeeds of officials; the requests were usually prompted by the supplicant's desire to obtain some form of royal favor and grace.This dissertation tries to analyze the relations among petitions, parliament and members of parliament to elucidate parliament as a crucial interface between the king and his subjects by offering the latter direct access to royal justice and grace.The dissertation is composed of the preface and the main body. The preface summarizes the history and present research achievements home and abroad, clarifies the research significance and its originality. The explanation or reference is included as well. The main body is divided into 5 chapters.Chapter 1 lays emphasis on the cause and time of emergence of petitions, in which the history of parliament is introduced briefly, the importance of dealing with petitions to parliament is referred to, besides two different views about the exact time of the inauguration of petitioning in parliament are presented. Chapter 2 illuminates the development of petitions between the 13th Century and the 14th Century. Based on the historical background, this chapter mainly focuses on the content of petitions, King's incentives and influence about inviting the delivery of petitions from his subjects and the characteristics of private and common petitions to understand the relations among petitions, king and members of parliament. Chapter 3 looks into the characteristic of petitions in the 15th Century from the angle of the change of the process of presenting petitions and the relations between petitions and the Commons.Chapter 4 starts with the identity of petitioners, the formulae and language, royal grace that is what the king gives to petitioners and the significance of petitions to parliament in order to analyze profoundly the relations among King, parliament and King's subjects.Based on the analysis of 4 chapters above, the final chapter summarizes the characteristics, significance and limitations of petitions between the late 13th Century and the middle 15th Century.