Long Parliament
The
Long Parliament is the name of the
English Parliament called by
Charles I, in
1640, following the
Bishops' Wars. It receives its name from the fact that it sat almost continuously during the
English Civil War until
1653. From
1649 it met with restricted membership as the
Rump Parliament. It was finally dissolved in
1660.
The Rump was recalled in
1659 and the larger Long Parliament in
1660.
The sole reason Charles assembled Parliament was to ask it to pass finance bills, since the Bishops' Wars had bankrupted him.
The Parliament was initially influenced by
John Pym and his supporters. In August
1641, it enacted legislation depriving Charles I of the powers that he had assumed since his accession. The reforms were designed to negate the possibility of Charles ruling absolutely again. The parliament also freed those imprisoned by the
Star Chamber. A
Triennial Act was passed, requiring that no more than three years should elapse between sessions of Parliament and the
Dissolution Act which required the Long Parliament's consent to its own dissolution. Parliament was also responsible for the impeachment and subsequent execution of the king's advisers,
Archbishop William Laud and
Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford.
The
Irish Rebellion which started in October 1641 brought the control of the army back into the discussions between King and Parliament. Led by John Pym, Parliament presented the King with the
Grand Remonstrance which was passed in the Commons by 11 votes (159 - 148) on
22 November 1641. It listed over 150 perceived "misdeeds" of Charles' reign including the Church (under the influence of foreign papists) and royal advisers (also "have[ing] engaged themselves to further the interests of some foreign powers") the second half of the Remonstrance proposed solutions to the "misdeeds" including church reform and Parliamentary influence over the appointment of royal ministers. December 1641 Parliament asserted that it wanted control over the appointment of the commanders of the Army and Navy in the
Militia Bill . The king rejected the Grand Remonstrance and refused to give royal assent to the Militia Bill.
The King believed that
Puritans (or
Dissenters) encouraged by five vociferous members of the House of Commons, John Pym,
John Hampden,
Denzil Holles, Sir
Arthur Haselrig and
William Strode along with
Lord Mandeville (the future Earl of Manchester) who sat in the House of Lords, had encouraged the Scots to invade England in the recent Bishops' Wars and that they were intent on turning the London mob against him. When rumours reached the court that they were also planning to impeach the Queen for alleged involvement in Catholic plots Charles decided to arrest them for treason.
The
Speaker of the House during the Long Parliament was
William Lenthall. On
January 4,
1642 the king entered the House of Commons to seize the five members. Having taken the speaker's chair and looked round in vain to discover the offending members commenting
"I see the birds have flown", Charles turned to Lenthall standing below, and demanded of him whether any of those persons were in the House, whether he saw any of them and where they were. Lenthall fell on his knees and replied:
"May it please your Majesty, I have neither eyes to see nor tongue to speak in this place but as the House is pleased to direct me, whose servant I am here."
[By the time of the Restoration Lenthall seems to have forgotten his previous resolve when he consented to appear as a witness against the regicide Thomas Scot, for words spoken in the House of Commons while he was the Speaker.]After his failure to capture five members and the fearing for his life Charles left London for Oxford. Most of the royalist members of Parliament left to join him there where they formed the
Oxford Parliament. Without its royalist members, the Long Parliament continued to sit during the
Civil War and beyond because of the Dissolution Act.
In March 1642 with the King absent from London and the war clouds gathering, Parliament decreed that its own
Parliamentary Ordinances were valid laws without royal assent. The
Militia Ordinance was passed on
5 March by Parliament which gave Parliament control of the local militia called
Trained Bands. Control of the London Trained Bands was the most strategically critical because they could protect the radical members of Parliament from armed intervention against them by any soldiers which Charles had near the capital. In response to the Militia Ordnance, Charles revived the
Commissions of Array as a means of summoning an army instead.
This needs a section from April 1642 through 6 December 1648Time line
*
Triennial Act, passed
15 February,
1641* William laud imprisoned
26 February,
1641* Act against Dissolving the Long Parliament without its own Consent
11 May,
1641* Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford executed
May 12,
1641* Abolition the Star Chamber
5 July,
1641*
Ship Money declared illegal
7 August,
1641* Grand Remonstrance
22 November,
1641*
Militia Bill December,
1641* The King's answer to the petition accompanying the
Grand Remonstrance 23 December,
1641* The King's attempt to seize the five members
4 January,
1642* The King and Royal Family leave
Whitehall for
Hampton Court. January,
1642* The King leaves Hampton Court for the North
2 March 1642 * Parliament decreed that
Parliamentary Ordinances were valid without royal assent March,
1642*
Militia Ordnance 5 March,
1642*
The Solemn League and Covenant 25 September,
1643* Ordinance appointing the First Committee of both Kingdoms
16 February,
1644* The
Self-denying Ordinance 4 April,
1645* Pride's Purge
December 7,
1648Main article Rump ParliamentDivisions emerged between various factions, culminating in
Pride's Purge on
December 7,
1648, when, under the orders of
Oliver Cromwell,
Colonel Pride physically barred about half of the members of Parliament from taking their seats. Many of the excluded members were
Presbyterians. In the wake of the ejections, the remnant, the
Rump Parliament, arranged for the trial and execution of Charles I. It was also responsible for the setting up of the
Commonwealth of England in
1649.
Oliver Cromwell forcibly disbanded the Rump in
1653 when it seemed they might disband his expensive army of 50,000 men. It was followed by the
Barebones Parliament and then the
First,
Second and
Third Protectorate ParliamentThe Rump was recalled after
Richard Cromwell failed miserably as
Lord Protector in
1659.
On
February 21 1660 General
George Monck reinstated the members 'secluded' by Pride, so that they could prepare legislation for the
Convention Parliament. The Long Parliament dissolved itself on
March 16,
1660.
The
Long Parliament was preceded by the
Short Parliament, was purged by Pride to become the
Rump Parliament was restored by Monck and succeeded by the
Convention Parliament.
*
Sir John Colepeper*
Oliver Cromwell*
Sir Simonds D'Ewes*
George Digby*
Lucius Carey, 2nd Viscount Falkland*
John Hampden*
Robert Harley*
Sir Arthur Haselrig*
Denzil Holles*
Edward Hyde*
William Lenthall*
John Pym*
Sir Benjamin Rudyerd*
William Russell, Lord Russell*
Oliver St John*
Sir Francis Seymour*
William Strode*
Sir Henry Vane the Younger*
List of Parliaments of England*
British Civil Wars: The Long Parliament*
British Civil Wars: 1641 Time Line*
British Civil Wars: 1642 Time Line*
Full text of The Triennial Act. 15 February 1641*
Full text of the Act against Dissolving the Long Parliament without its own Consent 11 May 1641*
Full text of the act Abolishing the Star Chamber 5 July 1641*
Full text of the Act Declaring the Illegality of Ship-money 7 August 1641*
Full Text of the Grand Remonstrance, with the Petition accompanying it. 22 November 1641*
Full text of the King's Answer to the Petition Accompanying the Grand Remonstrance 23 December 1641*
Full text of The Solemn League and Covenant 25 September 1643*
Full text of the Ordinance appointing the First Committee of both Kingdoms 16 February 1644*
Full text of the Self-denying Ordinance 4 April 1645
