View source for Parliament of England

{{Short description|Legislature of England, c. 1236 to 1707}}
{{About|the legislature used from {{Circa|1236}} to 1707|the proposed contemporary English legislature|Devolved English parliament|the modern legislature|Parliament of the United Kingdom}}
{{multiple issues|
{{Originalresearch|date=August 2021}}
{{More citations needed|date=March 2021}}
}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2010}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox legislature
| name             = Parliament of England
| coa_pic          = Coat of Arms of England (-1340).svg
| coa_res          = 220px
| coa_caption      = [[Royal Arms of England|Royal coat of arms of England]], pre-1340
| house_type       = [[Unicameral]]<br/>({{Circa|1236}}{{Sfn|Brand|2009|p=10}}–1341 / 1649–1657)<br/>[[Bicameral]]<br/>(1341–1649 / 1657–1707)
| houses           = '''[[Upper house]]:'''<br/>[[House of Lords]]<br/>(1341–1649 / 1660–1707)<br/>[[Cromwell's Other House|House of Peers]]<br/>(1657–1660)<br/>'''[[Lower house]]:'''<br/>[[House of Commons of England|House of Commons]]<br/>(1341–1707)
| established      = {{Circa|1236}}{{Sfn|Brand|2009|p=10}}
| preceded_by      = ''[[Curia regis]]''
| succeeded_by     = [[Parliament of Great Britain]]
| disbanded        = {{End date and age|1707|05|01}}
| leader1_type     = [[Lord Chancellor|Lord Keeper of the Great Seal]]
| leader1          = [[William Cowper, 1st Earl Cowper|The 1st Baron Cowper]]<sup>1</sup>
| election1        = 1705
| leader2_type     = [[List of Speakers of the House of Commons of England|Speaker of the House of Commons]]
| leader2          = [[John Smith (Chancellor of the Exchequer)|John Smith]]<sup>1</sup>
| election2        = 1705
| members          =
| house1           = [[House of Lords]]
| house2           = [[House of Commons of England|House of Commons]]
| structure2        = House of Commons elected members, 1705.svg
| structure2_res = 300
| political_groups2  =[[2nd Parliament of Queen Anne|Final composition]] of the English House of Commons:<br/>513 Seats{{Legend|#3333CC|[[Tories (British political party)|Tories]]: 260 seats}} {{Legend|#FF7F00|[[Whigs (British political party)|Whigs]]: 233 seats}} {{Legend|#DDDDDD|Unclassified: 20 seats}}
| house3           =
| voting_system1   = [[Ennoblement]] by [[List of English monarchs|the Sovereign]] or inheritance of an [[Peerage of England|English peerage]]
| voting_system2   = [[First past the post]] with limited suffrage<sup>1</sup>
| session_room     = Westminster 16C.jpg
| session_res      = 280px
| meeting_place    = [[Palace of Westminster]], [[Westminster]], [[Middlesex]]
| footnotes        = <sup>1</sup>Reflecting Parliament as it stood in 1707.
----
See also: [[Parliament of Scotland]],<br/>[[Parliament of Ireland]]
}}

The '''Parliament of England''' was the [[legislature]] of the [[Kingdom of England]] from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the [[Parliament of Great Britain]]. Parliament evolved from the [[Great Council of England|great council]] of [[Lords Spiritual|bishops]] and [[Peerages in the United Kingdom|peers]] that advised the [[History of the English monarchy|English monarch]]. Great councils were first called Parliaments during the reign of [[Henry III of England|Henry III]] ({{Reign|1216|1272}}). By this time, the king required Parliament's consent to levy taxation.

Originally a [[Unicameralism|unicameral]] body, a [[Bicameralism|bicameral]] Parliament emerged when its membership was divided into the [[House of Lords]] and  [[House of Commons of England|House of Commons]], which included [[Knight of the shire|knights of the shire]] and [[Burgess (title)|burgesses]]. During [[Henry IV of England|Henry IV]]'s reign, the role of Parliament expanded beyond the determination of taxation policy to include the [[right to petition]], which essentially enabled English citizens to petition the body to address complaints in their local towns and counties. By this time, citizens were given the power to vote to elect their representatives—the burgesses—to the House of Commons.

Over the centuries, the English Parliament progressively limited the power of the [[History of monarchy in the United Kingdom#English monarchy|English monarchy]], a process that arguably culminated in the [[English Civil War]] and the [[High Court of Justice for the trial of Charles I]].

== Predecessors (pre-13th century) ==
{{Further|Government in Anglo-Saxon England|Government in Norman and Angevin England}}
Parliament's origins stretch back to the 10th century when the first [[kings of England]] convened assemblies of the [[witan]] or {{Gloss|wise men}} (the [[magnate]]s and clergy). They occurred regularly at Christmas, Easter, and [[Whitsun]], allowing kings to maintain ties with powerful men in distant regions of the country. These assemblies helped produce [[Anglo-Saxon law]] codes and decide major political questions, like war and peace. The witan conducted [[state trials]], such as the trial of [[Earl Godwin]] in 1051.{{Sfn|Maddicott|2009|pp=3–4, 8}} While not an elected body, the witan spoke for all English people through [[virtual representation]]. On behalf of the English nation, the witan negotiated with [[Aethelred the Unready]] ({{Reign|978|1016}}) and [[Cnut the Great]] ({{Reign|1016|1035}}), recognising them as kings.{{Sfn|Maddicott|2010|pp=52–55}}

After the [[Norman Conquest]] of 1066, the king received regular counsel from the members of his {{Lang|la|[[curia regis]]}} ([[Latin]] for {{Gloss|royal court}}) and periodically enlarged the court by summoning a {{Lang|la|[[magnum concilium]]}} (Latin for {{Gloss|great council}}) to discuss national business and promulgate legislation.{{Sfn|Green|1986|pp=20, 23}} For example, the [[Domesday survey]] was planned at the Christmas council of 1085, and the [[Constitutions of Clarendon]] were made at the 1164 council. The {{Lang|la|magnum concilium}} continued to be the setting of state trials, such as the [[Becket controversy|trial of Thomas Becket]].{{Sfn|Maddicott|2009|pp=4–5}}

The members of the great councils were the king's [[Tenant-in-chief|tenants-in-chief]]. The greater tenants ([[archbishop]]s, [[bishop]]s, [[abbot]]s, [[earl]]s, and [[English feudal barony|barons]]) were [[Writ of summons|summoned by individual writ]], but lesser tenants{{Efn|These were small landholders, perhaps owning no more than one or two [[Manorialism|manors]], and were often described as [[knight]]s in the sources.{{Sfn|Maddicott|2010|p=83}}}} were summoned by [[sheriff]]s.{{Sfn|Maddicott|2010|pp=76–80}} These were not representative or democratic assemblies. They were feudal councils in which barons fulfilled their obligation to provide counsel to their lord the king.{{Sfn|Bartlett|2000|pp=145–146}} Councils allowed kings to consult with their leading subjects. Still, such consultation rarely resulted in a change in royal policy. According to historian [[Judith Green (historian)|Judith Green]], "these assemblies were more concerned with ratification and publicity than with debate".{{Sfn|Green|1986|p=23}} In addition, the {{Lang|la|magnum concilium}} had no role in approving taxation as the king could levy direct land taxes, either through [[Danegeld|geld]] (discontinued after 1162) or [[Carucage|carucage]] (briefly in practice from 1194 to 1224), at his own discretion.{{Sfn|Maddicott|2009|p=6}}{{Sfn|Cohen|2018|p=252}}

The years between 1189 and 1215 were a period of transition for the Great Council. The cause of this transition were new financial burdens imposed by the Crown to finance the [[Third Crusade]], [[Richard I of England#Captivity, ransom and return|ransom Richard I]], and pay for the series of [[Anglo-French Wars|Anglo-French wars]] fought between the [[Capetian–Plantagenet rivalry|Plantagenet and Capetian dynasties]]. In 1188, a precedent was established when the great council granted [[Henry II of England|Henry II]] the [[Saladin tithe]]. In granting this tax, the great council was acting as representatives for all taxpayers.{{Sfn|Maddicott|2009|p=6}}

The likelihood of resistance to national taxes made consent politically necessary. It was convenient for kings to present the great council as a representative body capable of consenting on behalf of all within the kingdom. Increasingly, the kingdom was described as the {{Lang|la|communitas regni}} (Latin for {{Gloss|community of the realm}}) and the barons as their natural representatives. But this development also created more conflict between kings and the [[baronage]] as the latter attempted to defend what they considered the rights belonging to the king's subjects.{{Sfn|Maddicott|2010|pp=123, 140–143}}

[[John, King of England|King John]] ({{Reign|1199|1216}}) alienated the barons by his partiality in dispensing justice, heavy financial demands and abusing his right to feudal incidents, [[Feudal relief|reliefs]], and [[Feudal aid|aids]]. In 1215, the barons forced John to abide by a charter of liberties similar to charters issued by earlier kings {{Crossreference|(see [[Charter of Liberties]])}}.{{Sfn|Lyon|2016|pp=58, 62–63}} Known as [[Magna Carta]] (Latin for {{Gloss|Great Charter}}), it was based on three assumptions important to the later development of Parliament:{{Sfn|Butt|1989|p=60}}
# the king was subject to the law
# the king could only make law and raise taxation (except customary feudal dues) with the consent of the community of the realm
# that the obedience owed by subjects to the king was conditional and not absolute

Clause 12 stated that certain taxes could only be levied "through the common counsel of our kingdom", and clause 14 specified that this common counsel was to come from bishops, earls, and barons.<ref>''Magna Carta'' clause 12 quoted in {{Harvtxt|Bartlett|2000|p=146}}</ref> While the clause stipulating no taxation "without the common counsel" was deleted from later reissues, it was nevertheless adhered to by later kings.{{Sfn|Maddicott|2009|pp=6–7}} Magna Carta would gain the status of fundamental law after John's reign.{{Sfn|Maddicott|2010|p=152}}

== 13th century  ==
{{Further|Government in late medieval England}}
The word ''[[parliament]]'' comes from the [[French language|French]] {{Lang|fr|parlement}} first used in the late 11th century, meaning {{Gloss|[[parley]]}} or {{Gloss|conversation}}.{{Sfn|Richardson|Sayles|1981|p=I 146}} In the mid-1230s, it became a common name for meetings of the great council.{{Sfn|Maddicott|2010|p=157}} The word was first used with this meaning in 1236.{{Sfn|Baker|2019}}

In the 13th century, parliaments were developing throughout north-western Europe. As a vassal to the King of France, English kings were suitors to the [[Parlement of Paris]]. In the 13th century, the French and English parliaments were similar in their functions; however, the two institutions diverged in significant ways in later centuries.{{Sfn|Richardson|Sayles|1963|pp=124–125}}

After the 1230s, the normal meeting place for Parliament was fixed at [[Westminster]]. Parliaments tended to meet according to the [[legal year]] so that the courts were also in session: January or February for the [[Hilary term]], in April or May for the [[Easter term]], in July, and in October for the [[Michaelmas term]].{{Sfn|Maddicott|2010|pp=162, 164}}

=== Attendance ===
Most parliaments had between forty and eighty attendees.{{Sfn|Maddicott|2009|p=3}} They brought together social classes resembling the [[estates of the realm]] of continental Europe: the landed aristocracy (barons and knights), the clergy, and the towns. Historian [[John Maddicott]] points out that "the main division within parliament was less between lords and commons than between the landed and all others, lower clergy as well as burgesses".{{Sfn|Maddicott|2010|pp=312, 325}} Meetings of Parliament always included:{{Sfn|Brand|2009|p=10}}{{Sfn|Maddicott|2010|p=187}}

* the king
* [[List of English chief ministers|chief ministers]] and other ministers ([[Great Officers of State (United Kingdom)|great officers of state]], [[Justice of the King's Bench|justices of the King's Bench]] and [[Justice of the Common Pleas|Common Bench]], and [[barons of the exchequer]])
* members of the [[Privy Council of England|king's council]]
* ecclesiastical magnates (archbishops, bishops, abbots, [[Prior (ecclesiastical)|priors]])
* lay magnates (earls and barons){{Efn|There was as yet no formal hereditary peerage, and barons were not automatically entitled to sit in Parliament. Individual barons were summoned at the king's pleasure, and men who considered themselves part of the baronage might not be called to Parliament.{{Sfn|Butt|1989|p=153}}}}

The lower clergy ([[Dean (Christianity)|deans]], cathedral priors, [[Archdeacon|archdeacons]], [[Parish priest|parish priests]]) were occasionally summoned when papal taxation was on the agenda. Beginning around the 1220s, the concept of representation, summarised in the [[Roman law]] maxim {{Lang|la|quod omnes tangit ab omnibus approbetur}} (Latin for {{Gloss|what touches all should be approved by all}}), gained new importance among the clergy, and they began choosing [[Proctor|proctors]] to represent them at church assemblies and, when summoned, at Parliament.{{Sfn|Maddicott|2010|pp=202, 205, 208}}

As feudalism declined and the [[Landed gentry|gentry]] and [[merchant class]]es increased in influence, the [[Shire|shires]] and [[Ancient borough|boroughs]] were recognised as [[Medieval commune|communes]] (Latin {{Lang|la|communitas}}) with a unified constituency capable of being represented by [[Knight of the shire|knights of the shire]] and [[Burgess (title)|burgesses]]. Initially, knights and burgesses were summoned only when new taxes were proposed so that representatives of the communes (or the Commons) could report back home that taxes were lawfully granted.{{Sfn|Jolliffe|1961|p=331}}{{Sfn|Butt|1989|pp=121–122}} The Commons were not regularly summoned until the 1290s,{{Sfn|Brand|2009|p=11}} after the so-called [[Model Parliament]] of 1295. Of the thirty parliaments between 1274 and 1294, knights only attended four and burgesses only two.{{Sfn|Maddicott|2010|pp=287–288}}

Specialists could be summoned to Parliament to provide expert advice. For example, [[Medieval Roman law|Roman law]] experts were summoned from [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]] and [[University of Oxford|Oxford]] to the Norham parliament of 1291 to advise on the [[Competitors for the Crown of Scotland|disputed Scottish succession]]. At the Bury St Edmunds parliament of 1296, burgesses "who best know how to plan and lay out a certain new town" were summoned to advise on the rebuilding of [[Berwick-upon-Tweed|Berwick]] after [[Sack of Berwick (1296)|its capture]] by the English.{{Sfn|Maddicott|2010|p=282}}

=== Early functions and powers ===
<!-- [[Petition]] links to this section - please update link there if you change the section heading or move the paragraph on petitioning. -->
Parliament—or the ''High Court of Parliament'' as it became known—was England's highest court of justice. A large amount of its business involved judicial questions referred to it by ministers, judges, and other government officials.{{Sfn|Sayles|1974|pp=70, 76}} Many [[Petition|petitions]] were submitted to Parliament by individuals whose grievances were not satisfied through normal administrative or judicial channels.{{Sfn|Butt|1989|p=140}} As the number of petitions increased, they came to be directed to particular departments ([[Chancery (medieval office)|chancery]], [[exchequer]], the courts) leaving the king's council to concentrate on the most important business. Parliament became "a delivery point and a sorting house for petitions".{{Sfn|Maddicott|2010|pp=295–296}} From 1290 to 1307, [[Gilbert of Rothbury]] was placed in charge of organising parliamentary business and record-keeping—in effect a [[Clerk of the Parliaments|clerk of the parliaments]].{{Sfn|Powell|Wallis|1968|p=212}}

Kings could legislate outside of Parliament through legislative {{Lang|la|acta}} (administrative orders drafted by the king's council as [[Letters patent (United Kingdom)|letters patent]] or [[letters close]]) and [[Writ|writs]] drafted by the chancery in response to particular court cases.{{Sfn|Maddicott|2010|p=241}} But kings could also use Parliament to promulgate legislation.  Parliament's legislative role was largely passive—the actual work of law-making was done by the king and council, specifically the judges on the council who drafted statutes.{{Sfn|Butt|1989|pp=139–140}} Completed legislation was then presented to Parliament for ratification.{{Sfn|Maddicott|2010|p=283}}

Kings needed Parliament to fund their military campaigns.{{Sfn|Butt|1989|p=119}} On the basis of Magna Carta, Parliament asserted for itself the right to consent to taxation, and a pattern developed in which the king would make concessions (such as reaffirming liberties in Magna Carta) in return for tax grants.{{Sfn|Lyon|2016|pp=66, 68}} Withholding taxation was Parliament's main tool in disputes with the king. Nevertheless, the king was still able to raise lesser amounts of revenue from sources that did not require parliamentary consent, such as:{{Sfn|Butt|1989|p=91}}{{Sfn|Maddicott|2010|pp=174–175}}

* [[Farm (revenue leasing)|county farms]] (the fixed sum paid annually by sheriffs for the privilege of administering and profiting from royal lands in their counties)
* profits from the [[Eyre (legal term)|eyre]]
* [[tallage]] on the royal [[demesne]], the towns, foreign merchants, and most importantly [[History of the Jews in England (1066–1290)|English Jews]]
* [[scutage]]
* feudal dues and fines
* profits from [[wardship]], [[escheat]], and vacant [[Episcopal see|episcopal sees]]

== Henry III ==
{{Further|List of parliaments of England#Parliaments of Henry III}}
[[Henry III of England|Henry III]] ({{R.|1216|1272}}) became king at nine years old after his father, King John, died during the [[First Barons' War]]. During the king's minority, England was ruled by a [[regency]] government that relied heavily on great councils to legitimise its actions. Great councils even consented to the appointment of royal ministers, an action that normally was considered a [[Royal prerogative in the United Kingdom|royal prerogative]]. Historian [[John Maddicott]] writes that the "effect of the minority was thus to make the great council an indispensable part of the country's government [and] to give it a degree of independent initiative and authority which central assemblies had never previously possessed".{{Sfn|Maddicott|2010|pp=149–151, 153}}

The regency government officially ended when Henry turned sixteen in 1223, and the magnates demanded the adult king confirm previous grants of Magna Carta made in 1216 and 1217 to ensure their legality. At the same time, the king needed money to defend his possessions in [[Poitou]] and [[Gascony]] from a French invasion. At a great council in 1225, a deal was reached that saw Magna Carta and the [[Charter of the Forest]] reissued in return for a fifteenth (7 percent) tax on movable property. This set a precedent that taxation was granted in return for the redress of grievances.{{Sfn|Butt|1989|p=73}}

=== Ministers and finances ===
In 1232, [[Peter des Roches]] became the king's chief minister. His nephew, [[Peter de Rivaux]], accumulated a large number of offices, including [[Lord Privy Seal|lord keeper of the privy seal]] and [[keeper of the wardrobe]]; yet, these appointments were not approved by the magnates as had become customary during the regency government. Under Roches, the government revived practices used during King John's reign and that had been condemned in Magna Carta, such as arbitrary [[Disseisin|disseisins]], revoking perpetual rights granted in royal charters, depriving heirs of their inheritances, and marrying heiresses to foreigners.{{Sfn|Maddicott|2010|pp=167–168}}

Both Roches and Rivaux were foreigners from [[Poitou]]. The rise of a royal administration controlled by foreigners and dependent solely on the king stirred resentment among the magnates, who felt excluded from power. Several barons rose in rebellion, and the bishops intervened to persuade the king to change ministers. At a great council in April 1234, the king agreed to remove Rivaux and other ministers. This was the first occasion in which a king was forced to change his ministers by a great council or parliament. The struggle between king and Parliament over ministers became a permanent feature of English politics.{{Sfn|Butt|1989|pp=75–77}}

Thereafter, the king ruled in concert with an active Parliament, which considered matters related to foreign policy, taxation, justice, administration, and legislation. January 1236 saw the passage of the [[Statute of Merton]], the first English [[statute]]. Among other things, the law continued barring [[Bastard (law of England and Wales)|bastards]] from inheritance. Significantly, the language of the preamble describes the legislation as "provided" by the magnates and "conceded" by the king, which implies that this was not simply a royal measure consented to by the barons.{{Sfn|Sayles|1974|p=40}}{{Sfn|Maddicott|2010|pp=168–169}} In 1237, Henry asked Parliament for a tax to fund his sister [[Isabella of England|Isabella's]] dowry. The barons were unenthusiastic, but they granted the funds in return for the king's promise to reconfirm Magna Carta, add three magnates to his personal council, limit the royal prerogative of [[purveyance]], and protect land tenure rights.{{Sfn|Maddicott|2010|p=173}}

But Henry was adamant that three concerns were exclusively within his royal prerogative: family and inheritance matters, patronage, and appointments. Important decisions were made without consulting Parliament, such as in 1254 when the king accepted the throne of the [[Kingdom of Sicily]] for his younger son, [[Edmund Crouchback]].{{Sfn|Maddicott|2010|p=178}} He also clashed with Parliament over appointments to the three great offices of [[Lord Chancellor|chancellor]], [[justiciar]], and [[Lord High Treasurer|treasurer]]. The barons believed these three offices should be restraints on royal misgovernment, but the king promoted minor officials within the [[Royal Households of the United Kingdom|royal household]] who owed their loyalty exclusively to him.{{Sfn|Butt|1989|p=90}}

In 1253, while fighting in Gascony, Henry requested men and money to resist an anticipated attack from [[Alfonso X of Castile]]. In a January 1254 Parliament, the bishops themselves promised an aid but would not commit the rest of the clergy. Likewise, the barons promised to assist the king if he was attacked but would not commit the rest of the laity to pay money.{{Sfn|Butt|1989|pp=93–94}} For this reason, the lower clergy of each [[diocese]] elected proctors at church [[Synod|synods]], and each county elected two [[Knight of the shire|knights of the shire]]. These representatives were summoned to Parliament in April 1254 to consent to taxation.{{Sfn|Sayles|1974|p=44}} The men elected as shire knights were prominent landholders with experience in local government and as soldiers.{{Sfn|Maddicott|2010|pp=216–217}} They were elected by barons, other knights, and probably [[Freehold (law)|freeholders]] of sufficient standing.{{Sfn|Butt|1989|p=95}}

=== Baronial reform movement ===
By 1258, the relationship between the king and the baronage had reached a breaking point over the [[Sicilian business]], in which Henry had promised to pay papal debts in return for the pope's help securing the Sicilian crown for his son, Edmund. At the [[Oxford Parliament (1258)|Oxford Parliament of 1258]], reform-minded barons forced a reluctant king to accept a constitutional framework known as the [[Provisions of Oxford]]:{{Sfn|Lyon|2016|pp=67–70}}

* The king was to govern according to the advice of an elected council of fifteen barons.
* The baronial council appointed royal ministers (justiciar, treasurer, chancellor) to serve for one-year terms.
* Parliament met three times a year on the [[Octave (liturgy)|octave]] of [[Michaelmas]] (October 6), [[Candlemas]] (February 3), and June 1.
* The barons elected twelve representatives (two bishops, one earl and nine barons) who together with the baronial council could act on legislation and other matters even when Parliament was not in session as "a kind of standing parliamentary committee".{{Sfn|Butt|1989|p=100}}

Parliament now met regularly according to a schedule rather than at the pleasure of the king. The reformers hoped that the provisions would ensure parliamentary approval for all major government acts. Under the provisions, Parliament was "established formally (and no longer merely by custom) as the voice of the community".{{Sfn|Maddicott|2010|p=239}}

The theme of reform dominated later parliaments. During the Michaelmas Parliament of 1258, the [[Ordinance of Sheriffs]] was issued as [[Letters patent (United Kingdom)|letters patent]] that forbade sheriffs from taking bribes. At the Candlemas Parliament of 1259, the baronial council and the twelve representatives enacted the [[Ordinance of the Magnates]]. In this ordinance, the barons promised to observe Magna Carta and other reforming legislation. They also required their own bailiffs to observe similar rules as those of royal sheriffs, and the justiciar was given power to correct abuses of their officials. The Michaelmas Parliament of 1259 enacted the [[Provisions of Westminster]], a set of legal and administrative reforms designed to address grievances of freeholders and even [[Villein|villeins]], such as abuses related to the [[murdrum]] fine.{{Sfn|Maddicott|2010|pp=239–240, 243}}

Henry III made his first move against the baronial reformers while in France negotiating peace with [[Louis IX of France|Louis IX]]. Using the excuse of his absence from the realm and Welsh attacks in the marches, Henry ordered the justiciar, [[Hugh Bigod (Justiciar)|Hugh Bigod]], to postpone the parliament scheduled for Candlemas 1260. This was an apparent violation of the Provisions of Oxford; however, the provisions were silent on what should happen if the king were outside the kingdom. The king's motive was to prevent the promulgation of further reforms through Parliament. [[Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester|Simon de Montfort]], a leader of the baronial reformers, ignored these orders and made plans to hold a parliament in London but was prevented by Bigod. When the king arrived back in England he summoned a parliament which met in July, where Montfort was brought to trial though ultimately cleared of wrongdoing.{{Sfn|Butt|1989|pp=105–106}}{{Sfn|Maddicott|2010|p=249}}

In April 1261, the pope released the king from his oath to adhere to the Provisions of Oxford, and Henry publicly renounced the Provisions in May. Most of the barons were willing to let the king reassume power provided he ruled well. By 1262, Henry had regained all of his authority, and Montfort left England. The barons were now divided mainly by age. The elder barons remained loyal to the king, but younger barons coalesced around Montfort, who returned to England in the spring of 1263.{{Sfn|Butt|1989|p=107}}

=== Montfortian parliaments ===
The royalist barons and rebel barons fought each other in the [[Second Barons' War]] (1264-1267). Montfort defeated the king at the 1264  [[Battle of Lewes]]and became the real ruler of England for the next twelve months. Montfort held a parliament in June 1264 to sanction a new form of government and rally support. This parliament was notable for including knights of the shire who were expected to deliberate fully on political matters, not just assent to taxation.{{Sfn|Butt|1989|pp=108–109}}

The June Parliament approved a new constitution in which the king's powers were given to a council of nine. The new council was chosen and led by three electors (Montfort, [[Stephen Bersted|Stephen Bersted, bishop of Chichester]], and [[Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester|Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester]]). The electors could replace any of the nine as they saw fit, but the electors themselves could only be removed by Parliament.{{Sfn|Butt|1989|pp=108–109}}{{Sfn|Maddicott|2010|p=255}}

Montfort held two other Parliaments during his time in power. The most famous—[[Simon de Montfort's Parliament]]—was held in January 1265 amidst threat of a French invasion and unrest throughout the realm. For the first time, [[Burgess (title)|burgesses]] (elected by those residents of [[Ancient borough|boroughs]] or towns who held [[burgage tenure]], such as wealthy merchants or craftsmen){{Sfn|Butt|1989|p=123}} were summoned along with knights of the shire.{{Sfn|Sayles|1974|pp=60, 63}}

Montfort was killed at the 1265  [[Battle of Evesham]], and Henry was restored to power. In August 1266, Parliament authorised the [[Dictum of Kenilworth]], which nullified everything Montfort had done and removed all restraints on the king.{{Sfn|Butt|1989|pp=113–114}} In 1267, some of the reforms contained in the 1259 Provisions of Westminster were revised in the form of the [[Statute of Marlborough]] passed in 1267. This was the start of a process of statutory reform that continued into the reign of Henry's successor.{{Sfn|Jones|2012|p=241}}

== Edward I ==
[[File:Medieval_parliament_edward.Jpg|thumb|A 16th-century depiction of the Parliament of King Edward I. The [[Lords Spiritual|lords spiritual]] are seated to the king's right, the [[Lords Temporal|lords temporal]] to his left, and in the centre sit the [[Judicial functions of the House of Lords|justices and law officers]].]]
{{Further|List of parliaments of England#Parliaments of Edward I}}

[[Edward I of England|Edward I]] ({{Reign|1272|1307}}) learned from the failures of his father's reign the usefulness of Parliament for building consensus and strengthening royal authority.{{Sfn|Butt|1989|p=117}} Parliaments were held regularly throughout his reign, generally twice a year at Easter in the spring and after Michaelmas in the autumn.{{Sfn|Sayles|1974|p=71}}

Under Edward, the first major statutes amending the [[common law]] were promulgated in Parliament:{{Sfn|Maddicott|2010|p=282}}{{Sfn|Lyon|2016|p=79}}

* [[Statute of Westminster 1275|Statute of Westminster I]] (1275)
* [[Statute of Gloucester 1278|Statute of Gloucester]] (1278)
* [[Statutes of Mortmain|Statute of Mortmain]] (1279)
* [[Statute of Westminster 1285|Statute of Westminster II]] (1285)
* [[Statute of Winchester]] (1285)
* [[Quia Emptores|Statute ''Quia Emptores'']] (1290)
* [[Quo warranto|Statute ''Quo Warranto'']] (1290)

The first Statute of Westminster required [[Free and fair election|free elections]] without intimidation. This act was accompanied by the grant of a tax on [[Medieval English wool trade|England's wealthy wool trade]]—a half-[[Mark (currency)|mark]] (6[[Shilling|s]] 8[[Penny (English coin)|d]]) on each sack of wool exported. It became known as the {{Lang|la|magna et antiqua custuma}} (Latin: {{Gloss|great and ancient custom}}) and was granted to Edward and his heirs, becoming part of the Crown's permanent revenue until the 17th century.{{Sfn|Butt|1989|pp=129–130}}{{Sfn|Lyon|2016|p=82}}

=== Model Parliament of 1295 ===
{{Main|Model Parliament}}
In 1294, [[Philip IV of France|Philip&nbsp;IV]] of France attempted to recover [[Duchy of Aquitaine|Aquitaine]] in the [[Gascon War]]. Edward's need for money to finance the war led him to take arbitrary measures. He ordered the seizure of merchants' wool, which was only released after payment of the unpopular [[maltolt]], a tax never authorised by Parliament. Church wealth was arbitrarily seized, and the clergy were further asked to give half of their revenues to the king. They refused but agreed to a smaller sum. Over the next couple years, parliaments approved new taxes, but it was never enough. More money was needed to put down [[Madog ap Llywelyn|a Welsh rebellion]] and win the [[First War of Scottish Independence]].{{Sfn|Butt|1989|pp=149, 155}}

This need for money led to what became known as the Model Parliament of November 1295. In addition to the earls and barons summoned individually, sheriffs were instructed to send two elected knights from each shire and two elected burgesses from each borough. The Commons had been summoned to earlier parliaments but only with power to consent to what the magnates decided. In the Model Parliament, the writ of summons invested shire knights and burgesses with power to provide both counsel and consent.{{Sfn|Butt|1989|pp=152–154}}

=== Crisis of 1297 ===
By 1296, the King's efforts to recover Gascony were creating resentment among the clergy, merchants, and magnates. At the Bury St Edmunds parliament in 1296, the lay magnates and Commons agreed to pay a tax on moveable property. The clergy refused, citing the recent papal bull {{Lang|la|[[Clericis Laicos]]}}, forbidding secular rulers from taxing the church without papal permission. In January 1297, a [[convocation]] of the clergy met at [[Old St Paul's Cathedral|St Paul's]] in London to consider the matter further but ultimately could find no way to pay the tax without violating the papal bull.{{Sfn|Butt|1989|p=155}} In retaliation, the King [[Outlaw|outlawed]] the clergy and confiscated clerical property on 30 January. On 10 February, [[Robert Winchelsey]], archbishop of Canterbury, responded by [[Excommunication in the Catholic Church|excommunicating]] anyone acting against {{Lang|la|Clericis Laicos}}.{{Sfn|Powell|Wallis|1968|p=233}} Some clergy paid a fine for the restoration of their property that was identical to the tax requested by the King.{{Sfn|Butt|1989|p=155}}

At the Salisbury parliament of March 1297, Edward unveiled his plans for recovering Gascony. The English would mount a two-front attack with the King leading an [[English expedition to Flanders (1297–1298)|expedition to Flanders]] while other barons [[Gascon campaign (1294–1303)|traveled to Gascony]]. This plan faced opposition from the most important noblemen—[[Roger Bigod, 5th Earl of Norfolk|Roger Bigod]], [[Earl Marshal|marshal]] and [[earl of Norfolk]], and [[Humphrey de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford|Humphrey Bohun]], [[Lord High Constable of England|constable]] and [[earl of Hereford]]. Norfolk and Hereford argued that they owed the king military service in foreign lands but only if the king were present. Therefore, they would not go to Gascony unless the King went as well. Norfolk and Hereford were supported by around 30 barons, and the parliament ended without any decision. After the Salisbury parliament ended, Edward ordered the seizure of wool {{Crossreference|(see [[prise]])}} and payment of a new maltolt.{{Sfn|Butt|1989|pp=156–157}}

In July 1297, a writ declared that "the earls, barons, knights, and other laity of our realm" had granted a tax on moveables. In reality, this grant was not made by a parliament but by an informal gathering "standing around in [the king's] chamber".{{Sfn|Powell|Wallis|1968|p=235}} Norfolk and Hereford  drew up a list of grievances known as the [[Remonstrances]], which criticized the king's demand for military service and heavy taxes. The maltolt and prises were particularly objectionable due to their arbitrary nature.{{Sfn|Maddicott|2010|pp=302, 306}}

Edward pledged to make amends for the people's grievances once he returned from campaign in Flanders. However, most knights ordered to join the campaign stayed home, and the King set sail with only a hundred knights.{{Sfn|Butt|1989|p=159}} Prior to Edward's departure, Norfolk and Hereford protested at the exchequer that the irregular tax "was never granted by them or the community" and declared they would not pay it.{{Sfn|Powell|Wallis|1968|p=236}} Edward authorised the tax's collection but promised it would not be treated as a precedent. Edward set sail and left behind a country on the brink of civil war.{{Sfn|Butt|1989|p=159}}

The outbreak of the [[First War of Scottish Independence]] necessitated that both the king and his opponents put aside their differences. At the October 1297 parliament, the council agreed to concessions in the king's absence. In exchange for a new tax, the {{Lang|la|[[Confirmatio cartarum|Confirmatio Cartarum]]}} reconfirmed Magna Carta, abolished the maltolt, and formally recognised that "aids, [[wiktionary:mise|mises]], and prises" needed the consent of Parliament.{{Sfn|Lyon|2016|pp=90–91}}{{Sfn|Maddicott|2010|p=303}}

=== Later reign ===
Edward soon broke the agreements of 1297, and his relations with Parliament remained strained for the rest of his reign as he sought further funds for the war in Scotland. At the parliament of March 1300, the king was forced to agree to the {{Lang|la|[[Magna Carta#Confirmatio|Articuli Super Cartas]]}}, which gave further concessions to his subjects.{{Sfn|Lyon|2016|pp=91–92}}

At the Lincoln parliament of 1301, the King heard complaints that the charters were not followed and calls for the dismissal of his chief minister, the treasurer [[Walter Langton]]. Demands for appointment of ministers by "common consent"{{Quote without source|date=July 2024}} were heard for the first time since Henry III's death. To this, Edward angrily refused, saying that every other magnate in England had the power "to arrange his household, to appoint bailiffs and stewards"{{Quote without source|date=July 2024}}  without outside interference. He did offer to right any wrongs his officials had committed.{{Sfn|Powell|Wallis|1968|p=242}} Notably, the petition on behalf of "the prelates and leading men of the kingdom acting for the whole community"{{Quote without source|date=July 2024}}  was presented by [[Henry de Keighley]], knight for [[Lancashire|Lanchashire]]. This indicates that knights were holding greater weight in Parliament.{{Sfn|Maddicott|2010|p=311}}

The last four parliaments of Edward's' reign were less contentious. With Scotland nearly conquered, royal finances improved and opposition to royal policies decreased. A number of petitions were considered at the parliament of February 1305 included ones related to crime. In response, Edward issued the [[trailbaston]] ordinance. The state trial of [[Nicholas Seagrave]] was conducted as part of this parliament as well. Harmonious relations continued between king and Parliament even after December 1305 when Pope [[Clement V]] absolved the King of his oath to adhere to {{Lang|la|Confirmatio Cartarum}}. The last parliament of the reign was held at Carlisle in 1307. It approved the marriage of the King's son to [[Isabella of France]]. Legislation attacking [[Papal provision|papal provisions]] and papal taxation was also ratified.{{Sfn|Maddicott|2010|pp=326–329}}

== Edward II (1307–1327) ==
{{Further|List of parliaments of England#Parliaments of Edward II}}One of the moments that marked the emergence of parliament as a true institution in England was the [[deposition of Edward II]] in January 1327. Even though it is debatable whether [[Edward II]] was deposed ''in'' parliament or ''by'' parliament, this remarkable sequence of events consolidated the importance of parliament in the English unwritten constitution. [[Parliament of 1327|Parliament]] was also crucial in establishing the legitimacy of the king who replaced Edward II: his son [[Edward III]].

== Edward III (1327–1377) ==
[[File:London - Westminster abbey - chapter house 03.jpg|thumb|Between 1352 and 1396, the House of Commons met in the chapter house of [[Westminster Abbey]].{{Sfn|Butt|1989|p=xxiii}}]]{{Further|List of parliaments of England#Parliaments of Edward III}}In 1341 the Commons met separately from the nobility and clergy for the first time, creating what was effectively an Upper Chamber and a Lower Chamber, with the knights and burgesses sitting in the latter. This Upper Chamber became known as the [[House of Lords]] from 1544 onward, and the Lower Chamber became known as the [[House of Commons of England|House of Commons]], collectively known as the [[Houses of Parliament]].

The authority of parliament grew under Edward III; it was established that no law could be made, nor any tax levied, without the consent of both Houses and the Sovereign. This development occurred during the reign of Edward III because he was involved in the [[Hundred Years' War]] and needed finances. During his conduct of the war, Edward tried to circumvent parliament as much as possible, which caused this power structure to emerge.

The Commons came to act with increasing boldness during this period. During the [[Good Parliament]] of 1376, the Presiding Officer of the lower chamber, [[Peter de la Mare]], complained of heavy taxes, demanded an accounting of the royal expenditures, and criticised the king's management of the military. The Commons even proceeded to [[Impeachment in the United Kingdom|impeach]] some of the king's ministers. The bold Speaker was imprisoned, but was soon released after the death of Edward III.

== Richard II (1377–1399) ==
{{Further|List of parliaments of England#Parliaments of Richard II}}During the reign of the next monarch, [[Richard II]], the Commons once again began to impeach errant ministers of the Crown. They insisted that they could control not only taxation but also public expenditure. Despite such gains in authority, however, the Commons still remained much less powerful than the House of Lords and the Crown.

== 15th century ==
This period saw the introduction of a [[suffrage|franchise]] which limited the number of people who could vote in elections to the House of Commons. From 1430 onwards, the franchise for the election of [[knight of the shire|knights of the shires]] in the [[County constituency|county constituencies]] was limited to [[forty-shilling freeholders]], meaning men who owned freehold property worth forty shillings (two pounds) or more. The Parliament of England legislated for this new uniform county franchise in the statute [[8 Hen. 6]]. c. 7. The ''Chronological Table of the Statutes'' does not mention such a 1430 law, as it was included in the Consolidated Statutes as a recital in the [[Electors of Knights of the Shire Act 1432]] ([[10 Hen. 6]]. c. 2), which amended and re-enacted the 1430 law to make clear that the resident of a county had to have a forty shilling freehold in that county to be a voter there.

== Tudor era (1485–1603) ==
[[File:Elizabeth I in Parliament.jpg|thumb|Queen [[Elizabeth I]] presiding over Parliament, {{Circa|1580|1600}}]]

During the reign of the [[House of Tudor|Tudor monarchs]], it is often argued that the modern structure of the English Parliament began to be created. The Tudor monarchy, according to historian [[J. E. Neale]], was powerful, and there were often periods of several years when parliament did not sit at all. However, the Tudor monarchs realised that they needed parliament to legitimise many of their decisions, mostly out of a need to raise money through taxation legitimately without causing discontent. Thus they consolidated the state of affairs whereby monarchs would call and close parliament as and when they needed it. However, if monarchs did not call Parliament for several years, it is clear the Monarch did not require Parliament except to perhaps strengthen and provide a mandate for their reforms to Religion which had always been a matter within the Crown's prerogative but would require the consent of the Bishopric and Commons.

By the time of the Tudor monarch [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]]'s 1485 coronation, the monarch was not a member of either the Upper Chamber or the Lower Chamber. Consequently, the monarch would have to make his or her feelings known to Parliament through his or her supporters in both houses. Proceedings were regulated by the presiding officer in either chamber.

From the 1540s the presiding officer in the House of Commons became formally known as the [[Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)|''Speaker'']], having previously been referred to as the ''prolocutor'' or ''parlour'' (a semi-official position, often nominated by the monarch, that had existed ever since [[Peter de Montfort]] had acted as the presiding officer of the [[Oxford Parliament (1258)|Oxford Parliament of 1258]]). This was not an enviable job. When the House of Commons was unhappy it was the Speaker who had to deliver this news to the monarch. This began the tradition whereby the Speaker of the House of Commons is dragged to the Speaker's Chair by other members once elected.

A member of either chamber could present a [[Bill (law)|bill]] to parliament. Bills supported by the monarch were often proposed by members of the [[Privy Council]] who sat in parliament. For a bill to become law it would have to be approved by a majority of both Houses of Parliament before it passed to the monarch for [[royal assent]] or [[veto]]. The royal veto was applied several times during the 16th and 17th centuries and it is still the right of the monarch of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth realms to veto legislation today, although it has not been exercised since 1707 (today such an exercise might precipitate some form of [[constitutional crisis]]).{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}

When a bill was enacted into law, this process gave it the approval of each estate of the realm: the King, Lords and Commons. The Parliament of England was far from being a democratically representative institution in this period. It was possible to assemble the entire peerage and senior clergy of the realm in one place to form the estate of the Upper Chamber.

The voting franchise for the House of Commons was small; some historians{{Who|date=June 2021}} estimate that it was as little as three per cent of the adult male population; and there was no secret ballot. Elections could therefore be controlled by local [[grandee]]s, because in many boroughs a majority of voters were in some way dependent on a powerful individual, or else could be bought by money or concessions. If these grandees were supporters of the incumbent monarch, this gave the monarch and their ministers considerable influence over the business of parliament.

Many of the men elected to parliament did not relish the prospect of having to act in the interests of others.{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}} So a law was enacted, still on the statute book today, whereby it became unlawful for members of the House of Commons to [[Resignation from the British House of Commons|resign their seat]] unless they were granted a position directly within the patronage of the monarchy (today this latter restriction leads to a [[Resignation from the British House of Commons|legal fiction]] allowing ''de facto'' resignation despite the prohibition, but nevertheless it is a resignation which needs the permission of the Crown). However, while several elections to parliament in this period would be considered corrupt by modern standards, many elections involved genuine contests between rival candidates, even though the ballot was not secret.

===Establishment of permanent seat===
It was in this period that the [[Palace of Westminster]] was established as the seat of the English Parliament. In 1548, the House of Commons was granted a regular meeting place by the Crown, [[St Stephen's Chapel]]. This had been a royal chapel. It was made into a debating chamber after [[Henry VIII]] became the last monarch to use the Palace of Westminster as a place of residence and after the suppression of the college there.

This room was the home of the House of Commons until it was destroyed by fire in 1834, although the interior was altered several times up until then. The structure of this room was pivotal in the development of the Parliament of England. While most modern legislatures sit in a circular chamber, the benches of the British Houses of Parliament are laid out in the form of choir stalls in a chapel, simply because this is the part of the original room that the members of the House of Commons used when they were granted use of St Stephen's Chapel.

This structure took on a new significance with the emergence of political parties in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, as the tradition began whereby the members of the governing party would sit on the benches to the right of the Speaker and the opposition members on the benches to the left. It is said that the Speaker's chair was placed in front of the chapel's altar. As Members came and went they observed the custom of bowing to the altar and continued to do so, even when it had been taken away, thus then bowing to the Chair, as is still the custom today.

The numbers of the [[Lords Spiritual]] diminished under Henry VIII, who commanded the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]], thereby depriving the abbots and priors of their seats in the Upper House. For the first time, the [[Lords Temporal]] were more numerous than the Lords Spiritual. Currently, the Lords Spiritual consist of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the Bishops of London, Durham and Winchester, and twenty-one other English diocesan bishops in seniority of appointment to a diocese.

The [[Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542|Laws in Wales Acts]] of 1535–42 incorporated [[Wales]] as part of England, long after it had been annexed, and this brought Welsh representatives into the Parliament of England, the first being elected in 1542.

== Rebellion and revolution ==
[[File:Convocation House 2, Bodleian Library, Oxford, UK - Diliff.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|The interior of [[Convocation House]], which was formerly a meeting chamber for the House of Commons during the English Civil War and later in the 1660s and 1680s.]]
{{Parliaments of England sidebar}}
Parliament had not always submitted to the wishes of the Tudor monarchs. But parliamentary criticism of the monarchy reached new levels in the 17th century. When the last Tudor monarch, Elizabeth I, died in 1603, King James VI of Scotland came to power as King James I, founding the Stuart monarchy.

In 1628, alarmed by the arbitrary exercise of royal power, the House of Commons submitted to [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] the [[Petition of Right]], demanding the restoration of their liberties. Though he accepted the petition, Charles later dissolved parliament and ruled without them for eleven years. It was only after the financial disaster of the Scottish [[Bishops' Wars]] (1639–1640) that he was forced to recall Parliament so that they could authorise new taxes. This resulted in the calling of the assemblies known historically as the [[Short Parliament]] of 1640 and the [[Long Parliament]], which sat with several breaks and in various forms between 1640 and 1660.

The Long Parliament was characterised by the growing number of critics of the king who sat in it. The most prominent of these critics in the House of Commons was [[John Pym]]. Tensions between the king and his parliament reached a boiling point in January 1642 when Charles entered the House of Commons and tried, unsuccessfully, to arrest Pym and four other members for their alleged treason. The [[Five Members]] had been tipped off about this, and by the time Charles came into the chamber with a group of soldiers they had disappeared. Charles was further humiliated when he asked the Speaker, [[William Lenthall]], to give their whereabouts, which Lenthall famously refused to do.

From then on relations between the king and his parliament deteriorated further. When trouble started to brew in Ireland, both Charles and his parliament raised armies to quell the uprisings by native Catholics there. It was not long before it was clear that these forces would end up fighting each other, leading to the [[English Civil War]] which began with the [[Battle of Edgehill]] in October 1642: those supporting the cause of parliament were called Parliamentarians (or [[Roundheads]]), and those in support of the Crown were called Royalists (or [[Cavalier]]s).

Battles between Crown and Parliament continued throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, but parliament was no longer subservient to the English monarchy. This change was symbolised in the execution of [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] in January 1649.

In [[Pride's Purge]] of December 1648, the [[New Model Army]] (which by then had emerged as the leading force in the parliamentary alliance) purged Parliament of members that did not support them. The remaining [[Rump Parliament]], as it was later referred to by critics, enacted legislation to put the king on trial for treason. This trial, the outcome of which was a foregone conclusion, led to the execution of the king and the start of an 11-year republic.

The House of Lords was abolished and the purged House of Commons governed England until April 1653, when army chief [[Oliver Cromwell]] dissolved it after disagreements over religious policy and how to carry out elections to parliament. Cromwell later convened a parliament of religious radicals in 1653, commonly known as [[Barebone's Parliament]], followed by the unicameral [[First Protectorate Parliament]] that sat from September 1654 to January 1655 and the [[Second Protectorate Parliament]] that sat in two sessions between 1656 and 1658, the first session was unicameral and the second session was bicameral.

The events that took place from 1649-60 were hugely important in determining the future of parliament. First, it was during the sitting of the first Rump Parliament that members of the House of Commons became known as MPs (Members of Parliament). Second, Cromwell gave a huge degree of freedom to his parliaments, although royalists were barred from sitting in all but a handful of cases.

Cromwell's vision of parliament appears to have been largely based on the example of the Elizabethan parliaments. However, he underestimated the extent to which Elizabeth I and her ministers had directly and indirectly influenced the decision-making process of her parliaments. He was thus always surprised when they became troublesome. He ended up dissolving each parliament that he convened. Yet the structure of the second session of the Second Protectorate Parliament of 1658 was almost identical to the parliamentary structure consolidated in the [[Glorious Revolution]] Settlement of 1689.

In 1653 Cromwell had been made head of state with the title Lord Protector of the Realm. The Second Protectorate Parliament offered him the crown. Cromwell rejected this offer, but the governmental structure embodied in the final version of the [[Humble Petition and Advice]] was a basis for all future parliaments. It proposed an elected House of Commons as the Lower Chamber, a House of Lords containing peers of the realm as the Upper Chamber. A constitutional monarchy, subservient to parliament and the laws of the nation, would act as the executive arm of the state at the top of the tree, assisted in carrying out their duties by a Privy Council. Oliver Cromwell had thus inadvertently presided over the creation of a basis for the future parliamentary government of England. In 1657 he had the [[Parliament of Scotland]] (temporarily) unified with the English Parliament.

In terms of the evolution of parliament as an institution, by far the most important development during the republic was the sitting of the Rump Parliament between 1649 and 1653. This proved that parliament could survive without a monarchy and a House of Lords if it wanted to. Future English monarchs would never forget this. Charles I was the last English monarch ever to enter the House of Commons.

Even to this day, a Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom is sent to [[Buckingham Palace]] as a ceremonial hostage during the [[State Opening of Parliament]], in order to ensure the safe return of the sovereign from a potentially hostile parliament. During the ceremony the monarch sits on the throne in the House of Lords and signals for the [[Lord Great Chamberlain]] to summon the House of Commons to the Lords Chamber. The Lord Great Chamberlain then raises his wand of office to signal to the [[Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod]], who has been waiting in the central lobby. Black Rod turns and, escorted by the [[Doorkeeper (Houses of Parliament)|doorkeeper]] of the House of Lords and an inspector of police, approaches the doors to the chamber of the Commons. The doors are slammed in his face—symbolising the right of the Commons to debate without the presence of the monarch's representative. He then strikes three times with his staff (the Black Rod), and he is admitted.

== Parliament from the Restoration to the Act of Settlement ==
The revolutionary events that occurred between 1620 and 1689 all took place in the name of Parliament. The new status of Parliament as the central governmental organ of the English state was consolidated during the events surrounding the [[English Restoration|Restoration]] of the monarchy in 1660.

After the death of Oliver Cromwell in September 1658, his son [[Richard Cromwell]] succeeded him as Lord Protector, summoning the [[Third Protectorate Parliament]] in the process. When this parliament was dissolved under pressure from the army in April 1659, the Rump Parliament was recalled at the insistence of the surviving army grandees. This in turn was dissolved in a coup led by army general [[John Lambert (general)|John Lambert]], leading to the formation of the [[English Committee of Safety#1659|Committee of Safety]], dominated by Lambert and his supporters.

When the breakaway forces of [[George Monck]] invaded England from Scotland, where they had been stationed without Lambert's supporters putting up a fight, Monck temporarily recalled the Rump Parliament and reversed [[Pride's Purge]] by recalling the entirety of the Long Parliament. They then voted to dissolve themselves and call new elections, which were arguably the most democratic for 20 years although the franchise was still very small. This led to the calling of the [[Convention Parliament (1660)|Convention Parliament]] which was dominated by royalists. This parliament voted to reinstate the monarchy and the House of Lords. [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] returned to England as king in May 1660. The Anglo-Scottish parliamentary union that Cromwell had established was dissolved in 1661 when the Scottish Parliament resumed its separate meeting place in Edinburgh.

The Restoration began the tradition whereby all governments looked to parliament for legitimacy. In 1681 Charles II dissolved parliament and ruled without them for the last four years of his reign. This followed bitter disagreements between the king and parliament that had occurred between 1679 and 1681. Charles took a big gamble by doing this. He risked the possibility of a military showdown akin to that of 1642. However, he rightly predicted that the nation did not want another civil war. Parliament disbanded without a fight. Events that followed ensured that this would be nothing but a temporary blip.

Charles II died in 1685 and he was succeeded by his brother [[James II of England|James II]]. During his lifetime Charles had always pledged loyalty to the Protestant Church of England, despite his private Catholic sympathies. James was openly Catholic. He attempted to lift restrictions on Catholics taking up public offices. This was bitterly opposed by Protestants in his kingdom. They invited [[William III of England|William of Orange]],{{Sfn|Troost|2005|p=191}} a Protestant who had married Mary, daughter of James II and [[Anne Hyde]] to invade England and claim the throne.

William assembled an army estimated at 15,000 soldiers (11,000 foot and 4000 horse){{Sfn|Troost|2005|pp=204–205}} and landed at [[Brixham]] in south-west England in November, 1688. When many Protestant officers, including James's close adviser, [[John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough]], defected from the English army to William's invasion force, James fled the country. Parliament then offered the Crown to his Protestant daughter [[Mary II of England|Mary]], instead of his infant son ([[James Francis Edward Stuart]]), who was baptised Catholic. Mary refused the offer, and instead William and Mary ruled jointly, with both having the right to rule alone on the other's death.

As part of the compromise in allowing William to be King—called the [[Glorious Revolution]]—Parliament was able to have the 1689 [[Bill of Rights 1689|Bill of Rights]] enacted. Later the 1701 [[Act of Settlement 1701|Act of Settlement]] was approved. These were statutes that lawfully upheld the prominence of parliament for the first time in English history. These events marked the beginning of the [[English constitutional monarchy]] and its role as one of the three elements of parliament.

== Union: the Parliament of Great Britain ==
{{Main|Parliament of Great Britain}}
After the [[Treaty of Union]] in 1707, acts of Parliament passed in both the Parliament of England and the [[Parliament of Scotland]] created a new [[Kingdom of Great Britain]] and dissolved both parliaments, replacing them with a new [[Parliament of Great Britain]] based in the former home of the English parliament. The Parliament of Great Britain later became the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]] in 1801 when the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]] was formed through the [[Acts of Union 1800]].

==Locations==
[[File:Anonymous - View of the Higher House of Parliament in England - B1977.14.22554 - Yale Center for British Art.jpg|thumb|The House of Lords, depicted in a 1695 Dutch engraving.]]
Other than London, Parliament was also held in the following cities:
* [[York]], various
* [[Lincoln, Lincolnshire|Lincoln]], various
* [[Convocation House|Oxford]], [[Oxford Parliament (1258)|1268]], [[Oxford Parliament (1644)|1644]]
* [[Kenilworth]], 1266
* [[Acton Burnell Castle]], 1283<ref>[http://www.virtual-shropshire.co.uk/visitor_guide/acton_burnell_castle_guide.shtml Virtual Shropshire] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071130164935/http://www.virtual-shropshire.co.uk/visitor_guide/acton_burnell_castle_guide.shtml |date=30 November 2007}}</ref>
* [[Shrewsbury]], 1283 (trial of [[Dafydd ap Gruffydd]]), 1397 ([[Great Parliament (1397)|'Great' Parliament]])
* [[Carlisle, Cumbria|Carlisle]], 1307
* [[Oswestry Castle]], 1398
* [[Northampton]] 1328
*New Sarum ([[Salisbury]]), 1330
* [[Winchester]], 1332, 1449
* [[Leicester]], 1414 ([[Fire and Faggot Parliament]]), 1426 ([[Parliament of Bats]])
* [[Reading Abbey]], 1453
* [[Coventry]], 1459 ([[Parliament of Devils]])

==See also==
* [[List of parliaments of England]]
* [[List of acts of the Parliament of England]]
* [[List of ordinances and acts of the Parliament of England, 1642–1660]]
* [[Duration of English parliaments before 1660]]
* [[History of local government in England]]
* ''[[Lex Parliamentaria]]''
* [[List of English ministries]]
* ''[[Modus Tenendi Parliamentum]]''

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|20em}}

===Bibliography===
{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* {{Cite web |last=Baker |first=Darren |date=24 September 2019 |title=When Was Parliament First Summoned and First Prorogued? |url=https://www.historyhit.com/when-was-parliament-first-summoned-and-first-prorogued |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240416152435/https://www.historyhit.com/when-was-parliament-first-summoned-and-first-prorogued |archive-date=16 April 2024 |access-date=16 April 2024 |website=History Hit}}
* {{Cite book |last=Bartlett |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Bartlett (historian) |url=https://archive.org/details/englandundernorm00bart_0 |title=England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings, 1075-1225 |publisher=Clarendon Press |date=2000 |isbn=9780199251018 |series=[[New Oxford History of England]] |url-access=registration}}
* {{cite book | last = Brand  | first =  Paul | author-link = Paul Brand (historian) | chapter = The Development of Parliament, 1215–1307  | year = 2009 | title =  A Short History of Parliament: England, Great Britain, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Scotland | editor-last = Jones | editor-first = Clyve | pages = 10–15 | publisher = The Boydell Press | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=k9sDVTsMGMMC | isbn= 9781843837176}}
* {{Cite book |last=Butt |first=Ronald |author-link=Ronald Butt |title=A History of Parliament: The Middle Ages |date=1989 |publisher=Constable |isbn=0-0945-6220-2 |location=London}}
* {{cite web |last1=Cohen |first1=Robert |title=Danegeld The Tax in England, 991-1162 |url=https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:4662f8e7-64a9-4347-86f5-4636d27edf1b |website=Oxford University Research Archive |publisher=University of Oxford |access-date=5 September 2025 |year=2018}}
* {{Cite book |last=Green |first=Judith A. |author-link=Judith Green (historian) |url=https://archive.org/details/governmentofengl00gree |title=The Government of England under Henry I |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=1986 |isbn=9780511560248 |series=Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Fourth Series |location=Cambridge |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511560248 |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |last=Jolliffe |first=J. E. A. |url=https://archive.org/details/constitutionalhi0000joll |title=The Constitutional History of Medieval England from the English Settlement to 1485 |publisher=Adams and Charles Black |date=1961 |edition=4th |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |last=Jones |first=Dan |author-link=Dan Jones (writer) |url=https://archive.org/details/plantagenetswarr0000jone_b8r9 |title=The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England |date=2012 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-1-101-60628-5 |edition=revised}}
* {{Cite book |last=Lyon |first=Ann |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9a1TDAAAQBAJ |title=Constitutional History of the UK |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-20398-8 |edition=2nd}}
* {{cite book | last = Maddicott | first =  John | author-link = John Maddicott | chapter = Origins and Beginnings to 1215 | year = 2009 | title =  A Short History of Parliament: England, Great Britain, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Scotland | editor-last = Jones | editor-first = Clyve | pages = 3–9 | publisher = The Boydell Press | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=k9sDVTsMGMMC | isbn= 9781843837176}}
* {{Cite book |last=Maddicott |first=John |author-link=John Maddicott |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KCcUDAAAQBAJ |title=The Origins of the English Parliament, 924–1327 |date=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-199-58550-2}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Powell |first1=J. Enoch |author-link1=Enoch Powell |url=https://archive.org/details/houseoflordsinmi0000powe |title=The House of Lords in the Middle Ages: A History of the English House of Lords to 1540 |last2=Wallis |first2=Keith |date=1968 |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson |isbn=0-2977-6105-6 |location=London |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Richardson |first1=H. G. |author-link1=Henry Gerald Richardson |url=https://archive.org/details/governanceofmedi0000unse |title=The Governance of Mediaeval England from the Conquest to Magna Carta |last2=Sayles |first2=G. O. |author-link2=G. O. Sayles |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |date=1963 |isbn=978-0-85224-102-8 |location=Edinburgh |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Richardson |first1=H. G. |author-link1=Henry Gerald Richardson |url=https://archive.org/details/englishparliamen0000rich |title=The English Parliament in the Middle Ages |last2=Sayles |first2=G. O. |author-link2=G. O. Sayles |publisher=Hambledon Press |date=1981 |isbn=0950688215 |location=London |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |last=Sayles |first=George O. |author-link=G. O. Sayles |url=https://archive.org/details/kingsparliamento0000sayl |title=The King's Parliament of England |date=1974 |publisher=W.W. Norton & Company |isbn=0-3930-9322-0 |series=Historical Controversies}}
* {{Cite book |last=Troost |first=Wouter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H0_sYPHETj0C |title=William III, the Stadholder-King: A Political Biography |date=2005 |publisher=Ashgate |isbn=0-7546-5071-5 |translator-last=Grayson |translator-first=J. C.}}
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
{{Refbegin}}
* {{Cite book |last=Blackstone |first=William |author-link=William Blackstone |title=[[Commentaries on the Laws of England]] |date=1765 |publisher=Oxford: Clarendon Press}}
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Parliament |volume= 20 |last= Chisholm |first= Hugh |author-link= Hugh Chisholm | pages = 835&ndash;849 |short= 1}}
* {{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6PE4AAAAIAAJ |title=Historical Studies of the English Parliament |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=1970 |isbn=0-521-09610-3 |editor-last=Fryde |editor-first=E. B. |volume=1, Origins to 1399 |editor-last2=Miller |editor-first2=Edward |editor-link2=Edward Miller (historian)}}
* {{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V0Q4AAAAIAAJ |title=Historical Studies of the English Parliament |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=1970 |isbn=0-521-09611-1 |editor-last=Fryde |editor-first=E. B. |volume=2, 1399 to 1603 |editor-last2=Miller |editor-first2=Edward |editor-link2=Edward Miller (historian)}}
* {{Cite book |last=Spufford |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Spufford |url=https://archive.org/details/originsofenglish00spuf |title=Origins of the English Parliament |publisher=Barnes & Noble, Inc. |date=1967 |series=Problems and Perspectives in History}}
* {{Cite book |last=Thompson |first=Faith |url=https://archive.org/details/shorthistoryofpa0000thom |title=A Short History of Parliament: 1295–1642 |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |date=1953 |isbn=978-0816664672 |oclc=646750148 |url-access=registration}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Parliament of England}}
* [http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/originsofparliament/birthofparliament/ Birth of the English Parliament.] UK Parliament
* [http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/takingliberties/staritemsparliamentandpeople.html Parliament and People.] British Library
* [https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20220802072409/https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/citizenship/citizen_subject/origins.htm Origins and growth of Parliament.] National Archives
* [http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/research History of Parliament Online.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240912084455/https://historyofparliamentonline.org/research |date=12 September 2024 }} Institute of Historical Research, School of Advanced Study, University of London

{{S-start}}
{{S-par|en}}
{{S-bef|before=[[Curia regis]]<br/>{{Small|1066–{{Circa|1215}}}}}}
{{S-ttl|title=Parliament of England|years={{Circa|1215}}–1707}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Parliament of Great Britain]]<br/>{{Small|1707–1801}}}}
{{S-end}}

{{Kingdom of England}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parliament of England}}
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[[Category:Parliament of England| ]]
[[Category:1707 disestablishments in Great Britain]]
[[Category:Defunct bicameral legislatures|England]]
[[Category:Westminster system parliaments|England]]