[Illustration: Parliament House Westminster Hall Westminster Abbey--WHERE PARLIAMENT MET IN LONDON IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY] THE ENGLISH PARLIAMENT. Only the most important nobles or lords could go in person to the assemblies, otherwise the meeting would be too large to do any business. The other lords chose certain ones from their number to go in place of all the rest. We call such men representatives. In this way, besides the men who represented the towns, there were present these nobles who represented the landowners of the counties. Gradually these nobles and the townsmen formed an assembly of their own, while the greater lords, the bishops, and abbots sat together in another assembly. The two assemblies were called the House of Commons and the House of Lords, and the two made up the parliament. AN ASSEMBLY OF REPRESENTATIVES. This parliament was a great invention. The English had discovered a better way of governing themselves than either the Greeks or the Romans. We call it the representative system. If a Roman citizen who lived far from Rome wanted to take part in the elections, he was obliged to leave his farm or his business and travel to Rome, for only the citizens who were at Rome could have a share in making the laws. It never occurred to the Romans that the citizens outside of Rome could send some of their number as representatives to Rome. The formation of the English parliament was an important step towards what we mean in America by "government of the people, for the people, and by the people." QUESTIONS 1. Mention the names of heroes or hero-kings of the Middle Ages. What stories have you learned about these heroes? 2. Who was the hero-king of the English? How did he early show his love of books? What did he do to help his people to a knowledge of books? 3. How did he succeed better than other kings in driving back the Danes? Why has he been called the creator of the English navy? 4. What was the name of the Norman duke who conquered the English and ruled over them? Did this conquest hinder or help them? 5. Why should we remember Henry II gratefully? Explain an ordeal and a trial by battle. How were the first juries formed and what did they do? How were they afterwards divided? 6. For what was King Richard most celebrated? What sort of a king was his brother John? 7. Why was the Charter which John was forced to grant called "Great"? Repeat some of its promises. Did the English soon forget these promises? 8. Who asked the townsmen to send several of their number to talk over affairs with the clergy and the nobles? What was this body finally called? Into what two bodies was it divided? 9. What is a "representative system"? Why was it an invention? What did the Romans do when they lived in towns distant from Rome and wanted to take part in elections or help make the laws?