UN Reform through Coordination by the ACC: The Continuing Saga of the King and the Barons

Abstract

The struggle between the king and the barons is the great recurrent theme in the domestic politics of medieval England. Sometimes the barons are up and the king is down (Stephen, John, Edward II); sometimes it is the king who is on top and the barons who are repressed or quiescent (Henry I, Henry II, Edward I). There was a time when I found it puzzling that England should have bouts of tearing itself to pieces in domestic strife, even when there were great dangers threatening (or great opportunities beckoning) from outside her borders. After all, they were all part of the same kingdom, weren’t they? Surely they could see the advantages of all pitching in together? (Jay, 1967: 35)