First, the establishment process of British kingship

After the demise of the Western Roman Empire, the whole of Western Europe suffered frequent foreign invasions for a long time. "At this time, people will enthusiastically hope to have a monarch to pacify the world. Any system with one of the characteristics of absolute sovereignty appeared at this time. If the plan of being prepared for danger in times of peace is put forward to the society, the society will support it and enthusiastically support it, just as fugitives go to church to seek refuge. " [1] Engels once said: "In this state of general chaos, kingship is a factor of progress" and "kingship represents order in chaos". [2] British kingship was established in this state of general chaos.

1, the birth of feudal monarchy: Anglo-Saxon period

Around the 5th-6th century AD, the great migration wave of Germanic peoples swept the whole of Western Europe. These newcomers come from three more powerful Germanic peoples, namely, Saxons, Angles and Jutes. [3] Germanic tribes gradually formed their own countries in the battle. After continuous mergers, the situation of confrontation between the seven countries was formed at the beginning of the seventh century. With the intensification of the war of hegemony and annexation between kingdoms, the Danes also began to invade Britain at the end of the 8th century. In the process of resisting the Danes, England gradually established a unified kingship.

2. The establishment of feudal kingship: Norman Dynasty.

1066, William, Duke of Normandy, France, conquered Great Britain and established the Anglo-Norman Kingdom across the Strait. For the sake of the legitimacy of the regime and transforming the powerful military occupation into a firm political ruling order, William realized that it was necessary to establish a strong royal power in the conquered areas. To this end, William returned the land of the old nobles who died in battle or went into exile to the king, and confiscated most of the land of the Anglo-Saxon nobles. Then, according to the feudal model, the direct relationship between monarch and minister was established. Subsequently, through the "Doomsday Land Survey" and the "Salisbury Pledge", the king gained the right to control the property and person of the vassals at all levels, which enhanced the feudal ownership privilege of the British king.

Second, the struggle between kingship and parliament

Constitutional monarchy is also called parliamentary monarchy. In fact, the process of establishing this political system is the process of competition between the bourgeoisie and the royal power, which eventually leads to the establishment of parliamentary sovereignty and the loss of the real power of the monarch.

Since the Norman Conquest, the king of England has maintained direct power over all residents and effective control over various places. Especially after the reform of government institutions in the Middle Ages, the kingship was greatly strengthened, and the king occupied a major position in the parliament. With the development of capitalism and the enhancement of bourgeois new noble's consciousness of participating in politics, the sense of independence of the lower house was gradually strengthened, and the monarchy restricted the parliament as much as possible, while the parliament tried to get rid of all restrictions, and the struggle between the parliament and the monarchy began.

1, the stage of parliamentary struggle

In the later period of Elizabeth's rule, the kingship had declined. After James I ascended the throne, he could not tolerate the development of the bourgeoisie and the enhancement of its independence. However, James I has been plagued by financial problems for a long time, so it has to convene a parliament to ask for approval to increase new taxes. Members of parliament ignored the king's tax requirements, focused on discussing parliamentary privileges and criticized the king's domestic and foreign policies. James I dissolved Parliament twice. After Charles I ascended the throne, autocratic rule increased and parliament was dissolved many times. In order to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests, Parliament submitted a petition to the king on 1628. In exchange for parliamentary funds, Charles I was forced to sign a decree. 1640, in order to raise military funds to deal with the Scottish people's uprising, Charles I once again convened the parliament that had been closed for a long time. However, the parliament did not meet the king's demands, but lashed out at the tyranny of the government. The king had no choice but to dissolve the parliament immediately. With the Scottish army attacking again and the English army losing ground, Charles I was caught in a dilemma of reconvening the "long-term parliament". Parliament showed unprecedented revolutionary, and the royal power was seriously weakened. Not content to lose power, Charles I led the guards into the House of Commons and used force against Parliament for the first time. The struggle between the king and parliament began to resort to force.

2, the civil war stage

With the sharp contradiction between parliament and kingship, civil war finally broke out. After the outbreak of the civil war, three factions were formed in Parliament: Presbyterian faction representing the interests of the big bourgeoisie and big noble, independent faction representing the interests of the middle bourgeoisie and new noble, and equal faction representing the interests of the urban and rural petty bourgeoisie. At the beginning of the civil war, the Presbyterian church controlled the leadership of the parliamentary army. Their attitude was ambiguous, and they hoped that the king would make concessions and make peace with them, which made the parliamentary army passive everywhere on the battlefield and the revolutionary situation deteriorated. The officers and men of the parliamentary army were extremely indignant at the compromise attitude of the Presbyterian Church, and the more radical independents and egalitarians began to launch a series of struggles with the Presbyterian Church. 1645, the parliament reorganized the army through the suicide law and formed a "new model army", and Cromwell had the actual command. Through the battle of Nasby wasteland, he defeated the main force of Wang Party and won the first civil war.

During the second civil war, the Presbyterian church still insisted on negotiating with Charles I and asked him to accept the conditions and reset. Soldiers and the lower classes are strongly dissatisfied with this. Cromwell took control of parliament through the "Pride purge"; Driven by the Equality Party, Cromwell took drastic measures to guillotine the king. After the king was executed, the parliament passed a resolution announcing the abolition of the upper house and the implementation of a unicameral system. Later, the monarchy was abolished and Britain was officially declared a Republic.

3. The establishment stage of constitutional monarchy.

The establishment of the Republic was the product of the struggle between the independents headed by Cromwell and the kingship and other political factions. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Cromwell declared himself a military dictatorship in lord protector, and the dominant independents began to stifle the development of the revolution. After Cromwell's death, various forces in Britain were in a state of confrontation. Various classes and interest groups have waged fierce struggles around the ownership of kingship. The bourgeoisie and new noble are eager to establish a powerful political power, curb the people's struggle and protect their vested interests. In this case, the bourgeoisie and new noble reached a compromise with the king-to restore the Stuart dynasty. Restoration not only means the restoration of kingship, but also marks the return of parliament. The kingship is gradually restricted by parliament, and the principle that parliament is higher than kingship is gradually established.

Throughout British history, especially the outbreak of bourgeois revolution in the17th century, British society finally chose this bourgeois representative government system-constitutional monarchy after various explorations and attempts. The reservation of kingship shows that "only through cruel struggle and the form of government of the Republic can we transition from absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy". [4] Although under the constitutional monarchy, the king of England is still the head of state with lifelong and hereditary system, and enjoys great power in law or form endowed by the Constitution, but the king under this regime is "unified but not cured" and "does not govern the DPRK". While the Constitution gives power, it also imposes various restrictions on the exercise of kingship. Through the promulgation of a series of bills, the principle of parliamentary supremacy was gradually established. The king only has executive power, which is increasingly replaced by the cabinet. With the establishment of parliamentary sovereignty and the loss of the real power of the monarch, Britain finally established a constitutional monarchy.

References:

[1][ France] George. History of European Civilization [M] Beijing: Commercial Press, 1998.52-53.

[2] The Complete Works of Marx and Engels: Volume 2/kloc-0 [M] Beijing: People's Publishing House, 1965.453.

[3][ English] Bede. History of the Church of England [M] Beijing: Commercial Press, 19 17.48-49.

[4] Selected Works of Marx and Engels: 3 Volumes [M] Beijing: People's Publishing House, 158+099.