ABSTRACT
By the middle of the thirteenth century, urged on by Henry III and Prince Edward, a new kind of tournament appeared. England's medieval monarchy, though it faltered during the reign of Henry III, reached the summit of its greatness under Edward I. Edward I also used statute law to bring order to the law of feudalism. The word parliament came into common use in the middle of the thirteenth century, when it described an occasion, not an institution. In the first place, both Henry III and Edward I imposed military obligations upon all free landholders, not just their tenants-in-chief, thereby instilling in the knights of the realm an awareness of their responsibility for the defense of the realm. The friars in the thirteenth century gave Oxford a European reputation; Cambridge, however, remained a local university. During the century the institutions of medieval life-lord and vassal, manor and guild, castle and cathedral, town and university, tournament and troubadour reached maturity.
