Visit the site of the first modern Parliament

750 years ago today, on 20th January 1265, Simon De Montfort summoned the Hilary Parliament to meet in the Chapter House of Westminster Abbey in what some think of as the first real Parliament. Whilst this Parliament only lasted a short time, it was significant as both lords and commoners were invited to participate, with the election of two knights from each shire and two burgesses from each town.


Indeed, so modern was the Parliament that the BBC even points out that a fair system was in place to allow participants attending the parliament to recover the costs of attending, allowing those who might not have been otherwise able to afford to do so to attend.

For more, see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30849472

_{^Picture © Duncan Harris used under a Creative Commons license^}