The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Oxford, Provisions of

resolutions adopted by a council of English magnates (the “great council”) assembled in Oxford in June 1258. Under the Provisions of Oxford, the autocratic power of the king was sharply limited in favor of the great feudal lords. A baronial oligarchy was established in the country; power was transferred in effect to a council of 15 barons, who completely controlled the king and appointed and replaced high officials. A parliament, consisting of the 27 most powerful barons, was to assemble three times a year to discuss the most important affairs of state. Under pressure from the baronial opposition, King Henry III was obliged to sanction the Provisions of Oxford (October 1258), but in April 1261 he obtained the pope’s release from his oath to observe them. The French king, Louis IX (St. Louis), acting as an arbitrator, decided in favor of abrogating the provisions (January 1264). In the civil war between the king and the barons that began in 1263, the latter failed to get the provisions reestablished, because they were not supported by the knights and burghers, who played a decisive role in the struggle against the king. In the course of the war, the first English parliament was convened (1265).

PUBLICATIONS

Pamiatniki istorii Anglii XI-XIII vv. [Moscow, 1936.]

REFERENCES

Petrushevskii, D. M. Ocherki iz istorii angliiskogo gosudarstva i obshchestva v srednie veka, 4th ed. Moscow, 1937.
Gutnova, E. V. Vozniknovenie angliiskogo parlamenta. [Moscow] 1960. Chapter 5.

E. V. GUTNOVA

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References in periodicals archive

In 1259, he briefly sided with a baronial reform movement, supporting the Provisions of Oxford. After reconciliation with his father, however, he remained loyal throughout the subsequent armed conflict, known as the Second Barons' War.

A Great And Terrible King

Some twenty other royal castles were given new castellans, responsible ostensibly to the King but actually to the committee, and a new fifteen-member council of state was chosen to run the administration along with the justiciar and other officials under the eye of the greater council of twenty-four, The royal order for this was issued on June 22nd and the decisions of the parliament were termed the Provisions of Oxford.

The provisions of Oxford: June 22nd, 1258

Provisions of Oxford essentially strip king of political independence

Late medieval English literature (1066 to 1485): late medieval period