HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH PARLIAMENT
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The Saxon kings of England had summoned a council of the barons of the land to advise with known as the Witangamot. On the death of the monarch, the witangamot would confirm the successor to the throne as in the case of the last Saxon King Harold II in 1066. Under the Norman kings of England, the Witangamot became the Great Council.

Henry IV (1399-1413)

Having deposed Richard II, Henry owed the crown to his confirmation as king by parliament and his poverty allowed parliament to attain unprecedented power which was not seen agan until the reign of the House of Stuart in the seventeenth century.

Magna Carta, 1215

The Magna Carta, 1215

The 'Magna Carta' or 'Great Charter' forced from King John by the barons in 1215 is often quoted as being the first 'contract' between and English monarch and his people. It was primarily a contract between the monarch and the barons providing that no man should be imprisoned save by legal process, justice should not be sold or delayed and that no aid (tax), excepting for the three feudal aids, should be imposed other than with the consent of the council of the realm (parliament), establishing the priciple that parliament should cotrol the purse-strings of governemnt (and thus the government of the realm itself).

The foundations of the modern parliament were laid in the late 13th and early 14th centuries during the reign of the Plantagenets as the result of various forces. Among them was the struggle between medieval monarch and powerful barons - the barons sought to influennce the monarch's government and the king required the co-operation of the barons. To curb the power of the barons, a superior court was required to deal with matters of law and administration throughout the kingdom. The monarch's involvement of a wider section of the country in its government made that government more effective.

The nucleus from which parliament arose consisted of the officers of the king's household, his judges, and such of the clergy and great barons as the king might choose to summon. Occassionally, the knights of the shire, bughers and lower clergy were also summoned.

The 'commons' were summoned to all the parliaments of Edward III (1327-77) and, by the end of his reign, a separate House of Commons began to appear. The first known Speaker was elected in 1377.

The Act of Supremancy (entitled "An Act concerning the King's Highness to be supreme head of the Church of England and to have authority to reform and redress all errors heresies and abuses in the same") was passed by the Parliament on November 3rd, 1534 (26 Henry VIII c.1), and conferred on the King the title of supreme head of the Church of England, nullifying the authority of the Pope in England and giving the King the right to reform the church and to judge heresies;-

Be it enacted by authority of this present Parliament that the King our sovereign lord, his heirs and successors kings of this realm, shall be taken, accepted and reputed the only supreme head in earth of the Church of England called Anglicana Ecclesia, and shall have and enjoy annexed and united to the imperial crown of this realm as well the title and style thereof, as all honours, dignities, preeminences, jurisdictions, privileges, authorities, immunities, profits and commodities, to the said dignity of supreme head of the same Church belonging and appertaining. . .

. . . Henry VIII formally adopted the new style as head of the Anglican Church in the presence of the leading officers of state on January 15th, 1535.

An similar Act of Supremacy was passed by the Irish Parliament between October 13th and December 20th, 1536 making the monarch supreme head of the Church of Ireland.

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1215.Jun.19The Magna Carta sealed at Runnymede by King John to stave off civil war with the barons
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1258The Provisions of Oxford issued by the Parliament which met there
The barons led by Simon de Monfort force reforms on Henry III. This is the first legal document produced in English since the Norman Conquest
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1265Simon de Monforts Parliament
1295The Model Parliament was summoned by Edward I
1307Christchurch in Dorset starts to send 2 MPs to parliament
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1377Election of the first Speaker of Parliament
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1401Parliament first (-1406) accuses Henry IV of fiscal mismanagement
Parliament gradually acquired new powers over royal expenditures and appointments
1406.Mar.01Henry IV calls parliament to assemble
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1406.Dec.22Henry IV dismissed parliament - the longest parliament to have sat in Mediaeval England
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1485.NovHenry VIIs title recognised by parliament
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1494Poynings\' Law is passed in Ireland subjecting all Irish Parliaments to the jurisdiction of the English Privy Council
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1508Cornwall granted the Charter of Pardon by king Henry VII guaranteeing the rights of the Cornish Stannary Parliament - still extant as legislation
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1515Parliament, the House of Lords filled with clergy, refused to renew the Criminous Clerks Act (stating that hangers-on to clergy should be tried in the Kings Court instead of church courts)
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1534.Nov.03Act of Supremacy; Henry VIII splits from Rome, Parliament establishes the Church of England declares the English monarch its head and protector
Subjets are required to swear an oath of loyalty and reject Papal authority (churchmen who refuse the oath such as Sir Thomas Moore are executed)
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1536Parliamentary election; Henry VIII requests the re-election of the previous members
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1536.Apr.14Dissolution of the Reformation Parliament
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1536.Jul.01Mary and Elizabeth declared illegitimate by Parliament
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1539Parliament gives Henry VIII\\\'s proclamations the force of law
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1543Wales divided into 12 counties; counties and boroughs send MPs to parliament
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1555Parishes made responsible for maintaining roads within their boundaries by Act of parliament
The Act required that each able-bodied householder should provide four days labour annually towards the repair of the roads within the parish (increased to six days in 1691)
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1572Parliament licenses theatrical troupes
(The promotion of secular drama and an advance toward the professionalism of theatrical activity)
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1625.Mar.27+Parliament gave Charles I tonnage and poundage but only for one year
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1629.Mar.10Charles I dissolves parliament, asserting absolute rule until 1640
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1634.OctCharles I levies ship money without the consent of parliament, ostensibly for the provision and equipping of ships for the defence of the coast and maintaining command of the sea, but in fact, merey a means of raising crown revenues
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1640.May.05Charles I dissolves the Short Parliament (April 13th-)
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1640.Nov.03The Long Parliament called by king Charles I
The parliament sat through the Civil War (1640-1645), the execution of Charles I and the Interregnum or Commonwealth which followed to be dissolved on March 14th, 1660
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1641Charles I forced by the Long Parliament to execute his favourite and adviser, Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, by Bill of Attainder
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1641Triennial Act passed by the Long Parliament requiring Parliament meet for at least a 55-day session once every 3 years (to prevent the King ruling without Parliament)
The Act was repealed in 1664
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1642.Jan.04Charles I unsuccessfully attempts to arrest 5 members of parliament
They were spirited away before the royal troops arrived
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1643The Long Parliament enforced censorship on printers and publishers
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1643.JunSir Walter Earl attempts unsuccessfully to storm Corfe Castle on the Isle of Purbeck for parliament
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1644.AprA musket discharged into a gable destroyed 144 houses at Beaminster
Parliament petitioned for �2,000
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1644.AprParliament captures Christchurch, Dorset
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1644.Sep.02Phillip Skippon surrenders Parliamentary forces leaving Charles I in control of Devon and Cornwall
Essex and Lord Robartes had slipped away to Plymouth on a small boat. The 6,000 parliamentarian troops disarmed now and allowed to leave - they marched to Southampton and Portsmouth but 5,000 died en-route of starvation and exposure
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1645Exeter beseiged by Parliamentarian forces
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1645.Jun.13Parliament wins the Battle of Naseby and, effectively, the Civil War
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1645.Sep.11Prince Rupert surrenders Bristol to Parliamentary forces
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1646Parliamentary army enters Cornwall led by Fairfax
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1646.FebCorfe Castle on the Isle of Purbeck falls to Parliamentary forces by treachery
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1646.Apr.09Exeter surrenders to Parliamentary forces (Fairfax and Cromwell)
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1649.Jan.19Start of the trial of Charles I by parliament
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1649.Jan.30Execution of Charles I for treason outside the Banqueting House, Whitehall - beheaded by the hangman Richard Brandon
Cromwell allowed the head to be sown back onto the body for the sake of the royal family
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1653.Jul.04First sitting of the Barebones Parliament consisting of members nominated by separatist congregations
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1653.Dec.16Oliver Cromwell dissolved the Rump Parliament and became Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland, effectively a military dictator
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1654.Sep.03reublican party in Parliament question Cromwell\'s pre-eminence
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1654.Sep.12Cromwell orders the exclusion of members of Parliament who are hostile to him
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1657Oliver Cromwell offered the crown by his Second Parliament
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1664Repeal of the Triennial Act (passed 1641)
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1678Test Act extended to Members of Parliament (-1866)
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1685Licensing Act, controlling printers andpublishers revived
Parliament refused to renew the Act in 1695
1689.Jan.28English Parliament declares the abdication of King James II
James II had fled Britain in December
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1689.Oct.25Bill of Rights (An Act Declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject and Settling the Succession of the Crown) signed by by William of Orange and Mary II in return for confirmation as rulers of WEngland and Ireland by Parliament
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1691The requirement that each able-bodied householder should provide four days labour annually towards the repair of the roads within the parish (established by an Act of Parliament in 1555) was increased to six days
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1695Parliament refuses to renew the Licensing Act controlling the press
1707Act of Union; English and Scottish parliaments united with the formation of the Kingdom of Great Britain
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1716The English parliament prolonged its life from three to seven years by the Septennial Act
1736Act of Parliament allows those convicted of fortune telling to be imprisoned for a year
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1736Parliament repealed the law, already obsolete in practice, condemning a convicted witch to death. While being a witch was not illegal, pretenses to such arts and powers were made illegal
The measure caused considerable indignation amongst the uneducated majority of the population.
The Act was repealed in 1951
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1751Parliament adopts the use of the Gregorian Calendar in Great Britain
1766Chatham proposes reforms to parliamentary elections to weaken the rotten boroughs
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1785Pitt proposes reforms to parliamentary elections to weaken the rotten boroughs
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1791Act of Parliament requiring registration of Roman Catholic chapels with the Quarter Sessions
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1792Act of parliament passed for the construction of a pier at Trevaunance Cove, St Agnes and work commenced immediately
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1803Opening of the the horse-drawn Surrey Iron Railway - the first railway in Britian to be sanctioned by Parliament
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1807The parliamentary election for the county of York cost �200,000 - a record sum
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1812Act of Parliament requires nonconformist meeting houses to be registered three registering authorities
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1829Catholic Emancipation Act gives non-Anglicans the right to sit in Parliament
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1830Wellington denies the need for parliamentary reform and announces he will resist any such measures
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1831Parliament dissolved by William IV in person
A majority in favour of electoral reform returned
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1832Christchurch in Dorset sends only 1 MP toparliament - the constituency is enlarged
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1836Parliamentary Return of Dissenting Meeting Houses and Roman Catholic Chapels in England and Wales records all registered Nonconformist meeting houses and chapels
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1841Justices of the Peace permitted to help turnpike trusts from parish rates where necessary by Act of Parliament
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1856Act of Parliament establishes a board of Improvement Commissioners to administer the mushrooming town of Bournemouth
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1864Parliament starts to dissolve the less efficient turnpike trusts throwing the cost on the parish rate
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1895Poole Harbour Commisssioners established by Parliament to manage and develop the run-down port
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1896Liskeard-Looe Union Canal Company becomes a railway company by Act of Parliament
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1963.Jun.05Resignation of John Perfumo, Secretary of State for War, admitting he lied to Parliament about his relationship with a prostitute
1982.Aug.23Lebanese parliament elects Christian militia leader Bashir Gemayel as president
(Gemayel was assassinated some three weeks later)
1990.Sep.20East and West German parliaments ratify a treaty for the unification of the two Germanies on October 3
The Bundestag voted 442 to 47, the Eat Germans by 299 to 80
1993.Aug.06Morihiro Hosokawa elected the new prime minister of Japan by the countrys lower house of parliament
2002.MarHouse of Commons votes to ban fox hunting by 386 to 175 votes
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Parliament

Barons v. Monarch
Magna Carta (1215)


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