Editing Parliament (section)

===Spain===
[[File:Daoiz o Velarde.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Congress of Deputies]], the lower house of the [[Spanish Parliament]]]]
{{main|Cortes Generales}}
Although there are documented councils held in 873, 1020, 1050 and 1063, there was no representation of commoners. What is considered to be the first parliament, the [[Cortes of León]], was held in the [[Kingdom of León]] in 1188.<ref>Michael Burger: The Shaping of Western Civilization: From Antiquity To the Enlightenment. Page: 190</ref><ref>Susana Galera: Judicial Review: A Comparative Analysis Inside the European Legal System. Page: 21</ref><ref>Gaines Post: Studies in Medieval Legal Thought: Public Law And the State, 1100–1322 Page 62</ref> According to the UNESCO, the Decreta of Leon of 1188 is the oldest documentary manifestation of the European parliamentary system. In addition, UNESCO granted the 1188 Cortes of Alfonso IX the title of "Memory of the World" and the city of [[León, Spain|Leon]] has been recognized as the "Cradle of Parliamentarism".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.aytoleon.es/ES/AYUNTAMIENTO/CUNADELPARLAMENTARISMO/Paginas/cuna_parlamentarismo_ingles.aspx|title=Ayuntamiento de León – León, cradle of parliamentarism|website=www.aytoleon.es|access-date=22 February 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2013/06/19/castillayleon/1371632533.html|title=La Unesco reconoce a León Como Cuna Mundial del parlamentarismo|last=Internet|first=Unidad Editorial|access-date=22 February 2018}}</ref>

After coming to power, King [[Alfonso IX]], facing an attack by his two neighbors, [[Kingdom of Castile|Castile]] and [[Portugal]], decided to summon his [[curia regis|royal council]] ({{langx|la|curia regis}}). This was a medieval organization composed of aristocrats and bishops but because of the seriousness of the situation and the need to maximize political support, Alfonso IX took the decision to also call the representatives of the urban middle class from the most important cities of the kingdom to the assembly.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/CI/pdf/mow/nomination_forms/spain_decreta_of_leon.pdf |title=International Memory of the World Register [Nomination form] – The Decreta of León of 1188 – The oldest documentary manifestation of the European parliamentary system|author=Spain|date=February 2012|access-date=21 May 2016}}</ref> León's Cortes dealt with matters like the right to [[private property]], the inviolability of domicile, the right to appeal to justice opposite the King and the obligation of the King to consult the Cortes before entering a war.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.interun.ru/ss/interun/u/files/charterv_e.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304070224/http://www.interun.ru/ss/interun/u/files/charterv_e.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 March 2016|title=The Leones parliament of 1188: The first parliament of the western world (The Magna Carta of Alfonso IX)|author=Catedrático de la Universidad Estatal de León López González, Hermenegildo; Catedrático de la Universidad Internacional en Moscú Raytarovskiy, V.V.|access-date=21 May 2016}}</ref> Prelates, nobles, and commoners met separately in the three estates of the Cortes. In this meeting, new laws were approved to protect commoners against the arbitrarities of nobles, prelates, and the king. This important set of laws is known as the {{lang|la|Carta Magna Leonesa}}.

Following this event, new Cortes would appear in the other different territories that would make up Spain: [[Principality of Catalonia]] in 1192, the [[Kingdom of Castile]] in 1250, [[Kingdom of Aragon]] in 1274, [[Kingdom of Valencia]] in 1283 and [[Kingdom of Navarre]] in 1300.

After the union of the Kingdoms of Leon and Castile under the [[Crown of Castile]], their Cortes were united as well in 1258. The Castilian Cortes had representatives from Burgos, Toledo, León, Seville, Córdoba, Murcia, Jaén, Zamora, Segovia, Ávila, Salamanca, Cuenca, Toro, Valladolid, Soria, Madrid, Guadalajara and Granada (after 1492).  The Cortes' assent was required to pass new taxes, and could also advise the king on other matters.  The [[Revolt of the Comuneros|comunero rebels]] intended a stronger role for the Cortes, but were defeated by the forces of [[Habsburg Spain|Habsburg]] Emperor [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] in 1521.  The Cortes maintained some power, however, though it became more of a consultative entity.  However, by the time of [[Philip II of Spain|King Philip II]], Charles's son, the Castilian Cortes had come under functionally complete royal control, with its delegates dependent on the Crown for their income.<ref>{{cite book |last=Haliczer |first=Stephen |author-link=Stephen Haliczer |title=The Comuneros of Castile: The Forging of a Revolution, 1475–1521 |year=1981 |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |location=Madison, Wisconsin |page=227 |isbn=0-299-08500-7 |ref=Hal81 }}</ref>

The Cortes of the [[Crown of Aragon]] kingdoms retained their power to control the king's spending with regard to the finances of those kingdoms. But after the [[War of the Spanish Succession]] and the victory of another royal house – the [[House of Bourbon|Bourbons]] – and King [[Philip V of Spain|Philip V]], their Cortes were suppressed (those of [[Aragon]] and [[Valencia, Spain|Valencia]] in 1707, and those of [[Catalonia]] and the [[Balearic islands]] in 1714).

The first Cortes representing the whole of Spain (and the Spanish empire of the day) assembled in 1812, in [[Cadiz]], where it operated as a government in exile as at that time most of the rest of Spain was in the hands of [[Napoleon]]'s army.