This Day in History: 1308-04-10

When a parliament met in April 1308, a group of magnates led by Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln and lord of Pontefract, produced a series of three articles of shattering constitutional importance. ‘Homage and the oath of allegiance are more in respect of the crown than in respect of the King’s person’ they declared; drawing, for the first time, an explicit distinction between the king and the office he held.