Historic environment: Acton Burnell Castle (2028 exams)

Model answer

A licence to crenellate was permission from the king to fortify a house by adding battlements. Robert Burnell received one for Acton Burnell in 1284.

Model answer

Interpretation A is partly convincing. The parliament of 1283 was significant. It was summoned to Shrewsbury in the autumn, after the conquest of Wales, and as well as the great lords it included knights from the shires and representatives of about 20 towns. Its main business was the trial of Dafydd ap Gruffudd, Llywelyn's brother, who was condemned and executed as a traitor. The king and his council then moved to Acton Burnell, where the Statute of Acton Burnell was issued in October. This Statute of Merchants allowed a merchant to have a debt recorded before the mayor of London, York or Bristol and, if it was not paid, to have the debtor's goods sold, so it is true that it gave merchants a new way to recover their debts. Local tradition says that the commons met in the great barn on the estate, whose gable ends still stand.

However, the interpretation exaggerates the importance of 1283. It was not 'the first time' that knights and townsmen were involved: Simon de Montfort's parliament of January 1265 included knights and burgesses, and Edward I's first parliament at Westminster in 1275 included representatives of the shires and towns, who agreed the new customs duty on wool. Earlier in 1283 itself, knights and townsmen had been summoned to assemblies at York and Northampton to grant a tax for the Welsh war. Nor did these representatives really 'make the laws': statutes were drawn up by the king and his council, led by Burnell, and the representatives were summoned mainly to agree and to grant taxes. The story of the barn is only a tradition, and the Commons did not sit as a separate house until the fourteenth century. Most historians see the 'Model Parliament' of 1295 as a more important step.

Overall, Interpretation A is convincing that 1283 was an important parliament that included representatives and produced a useful statute, but its claim that this was a first and a birthplace of the House of Commons is an exaggeration, perhaps because a book for students looks for clear milestones.

Model answer

The licence was important first because it showed royal control over fortification. A licence to crenellate was the king's permission to fortify a building with battlements. Kings tried to control private castles because fortified houses built without permission had been used against the Crown in the past, for example in the civil wars of Stephen's reign and in the Barons' Wars of the 1260s, which Edward had fought in himself. By asking for a licence, Burnell recognised the king's authority, and he gained legal protection against any later accusation of building an unlicensed castle.

Secondly, the licence was a mark of royal favour and status. Burnell was Edward's Chancellor and closest minister, and the licence was granted by the king he served. Battlements were a symbol of lordship, so the licence allowed a royal clerk from a family of minor Shropshire landowners to give his house the appearance of a great lord's castle. It was granted in 1284, the year after Edward had stayed at Acton Burnell and the Statute of Acton Burnell had been issued there, which shows how close the two men were.

Finally, the licence shaped the design of the house and tells us about the period. Acton Burnell has battlements and four corner towers, but its large first-floor windows, walls only about 1.5 m thick and lack of a gatehouse show that the licence was used for display, not for serious defence. This makes sense because by 1284 Edward had completed the conquest of Wales, so the Welsh threat to Shropshire was much reduced. Burnell was also following a wider fashion: in 1291 Lawrence of Ludlow, a rich wool merchant, obtained a licence for Stokesay, also in Shropshire. So the licence explains why a comfortable house is called a castle, and shows that by the 1280s battlements had become as much a badge of status as a means of defence.

Model answer

A study of Acton Burnell Castle gives strong support to the view that Robert Burnell was one of Edward I's most important servants, and probably his most important minister in government between 1274 and 1292. However, the site cannot prove on its own that he was the most important servant of the whole reign, because a building shows wealth rather than influence, and other servants were vital in war, finance and diplomacy, especially after Burnell's death.

The site supports the statement in several ways. The house itself, a large block of fine red sandstone with a great hall, private chamber, large windows and battlements, shows great wealth, which Burnell had gained mainly through royal service. The licence to crenellate of 1284 was a royal favour. Most strikingly, Edward I and his council came to Acton Burnell in 1283, after the parliament at Shrewsbury, and the Statute of Acton Burnell was issued there. The king came to his minister's home and issued a statute that still bears its name, which shows exceptional closeness and trust.

Burnell's career strengthens this evidence. He had served Edward as a clerk since the 1260s, and in 1272-74 he was one of the three men who governed England while the new king returned from crusade. He was Chancellor and keeper of the Great Seal from 1274 to 1292, head of the Chancery and in effect Edward's chief minister, and in 1275 he became Bishop of Bath and Wells. Edward tried twice to make him Archbishop of Canterbury. He is thought to have led the drafting of Edward's great statutes, from Westminster I in 1275 to Quia Emptores in 1290, and he was involved in the settlement of Wales and in the Great Cause, dying at Berwick in 1292.

However, the site has limits as evidence. A great house shows that its owner was rich, not necessarily that he was the most important man in government: Lawrence of Ludlow, a wool merchant, built a similar fortified manor house at Stokesay. The story that parliament met in the barn is only a tradition, and the building cannot show Burnell's daily work in the Chancery.

Other servants were also vital. Antony Bek, Bishop of Durham, was a leading diplomat and commanded troops at Falkirk in 1298. Otto de Grandson, Edward's closest friend, served him in Wales, Gascony and on diplomatic missions. Master James of St George designed the great castles that held down Wales, and earls such as John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, and Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, led Edward's armies. The treasurers John Kirkby and Walter Langton ran the royal finances, and Langton dominated government in the last years of the reign. Burnell died in 1292, so he played no part in the wars against France and Scotland or the crisis of 1297. Even in Burnell's lifetime, the key decisions were made by Edward himself, and the pope's refusal to accept Burnell as archbishop in 1278 shows the limits of his standing.

Overall, Acton Burnell supports the view that Burnell was Edward's most important minister in government for the first twenty years of the reign. But 'most important servant' overstates what the site can show, because Edward relied on different men for war, money and diplomacy, and the second half of the reign was run without Burnell.