What term describes medieval bodies that represented privileged groups and advised the king with the subjects' consent?

• A. Estates-General
• B. Diet
• C. Parliaments
• D. Cortes

Answer: (C)

Parliaments describe medieval bodies that represented privileged groups and advised the king, gaining legitimacy through the realm’s consent. These assemblies brought together the nobility and clergy, and later towns or commoners in some places, to discuss matters of governance. Their crucial function was to approve taxes and major policies, giving the subjects a voice and a curb on royal power. This dynamic—royal authority paired with consent from a representative body—characterizes these medieval institutions. While similar bodies existed elsewhere (France’s Estates-General, the German Diet, Iberian Cortes), the term parliaments is the broad English-language label for this kind of advisory, consent-giving assembly that binds the king to the realm.