Law, Legislation, and Consent in the Plantagenet Empire: Wales and Ireland, 1272–1461

Abstract

AbstractIn recent years, scholars have begun to look afresh at the dynamics of English “imperial” power in the late medieval period, but the extent to which the English dominions were subject to English law and legislation––and the questions of why and how these influences varied between the regions and over an extended period of time––have been considered less systematically and rarely comparatively. With its focus on Wales and Ireland, this article explores the synergies and the strains that shaped attitudes towards the authority of the late medieval English crown and that ultimately determined the extent of England's influence beyond its borders. The article shows that these attitudes were often fundamentally conflicted and contradictory. It highlights the difficulties of the English crown in seeking to balance the elitist agenda of its English subjects, on the one hand, with its desire to bring the Welsh and Irish more squarely within the orbit of the English state system, on the other hand. And it shows how the dominions veered between welcoming and resisting the interference of the English crown. The discussion emphasizes how interaction between the English crown and the people of its dominions was shaped above all by dialogue and negotiation.