What was short parliament

The new parliament awakened high hopes in England and Wales, while the Scots hoped to see the reforms they had pushed through the Edinburgh parliament replicated in Westminster.

The prosecution found it impossible to convince an overall majority of Commons or Lords that Strafford was guilty of treason. But news of a plot by the English army in the north of England to seize the Tower of London and release Strafford fortified parliament's resolve.

Eventually the Commons passed an Act of Attainder asserting Strafford's guilt and sentencing him to death. Under the threat of violence, the king signed the Act, agreeing at the same time that parliament could not be dissolved without its own consent.

He went on to sign: an Act abolishing the hated prerogative courts of High Commission and Star Chamber which had been used to effect against his opponents ; an Act against Ship Money; and a Triennial Act requiring a meeting of parliament for at least fifty days in every three-year period.

Parliament discussed whether they should insist that royal counsellors be men in whom parliament had confidence they stopped short of the Scots position under which the Scottish parliament could control the appointment of ministers. At the same time, parliament condemned the newly issued English ecclesiastical canons and, in December , a petition from London was presented to the House of Commons declaring that:.

We therefore most humbly pray and beseech this honourable assembly … that the said government, with all its dependencies, roots and branches, may be abolished. But by this time, it had become clear that MPs were deeply divided about how to settle the church, and counter-petitions in favour of bishops began to arrive.

Strafford's trial had also split parliament and a party supporting the king had started to emerge. It was at this moment that news reached London of the outbreak of rebellion in Ireland. At the first meeting of the Short Parliament, MPs were unified by their demand for the redress of grievances, notably stopping the king from raising taxation without parliament's consent and reforming the church.

But Strafford's policy of trying to divide parliament was successful, and by the time he was put on trial there was a considerable body of support for the king from MPs and lords who feared that matters were going too far. By the time the new parliament met, a party in support of the king, bishops and Strafford had started to emerge. Making the decision to study can be a big step, which is why you'll want a trusted University.

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Read our guide on Where to take your learning next for more information. Not ready for formal University study? After eleven years of personal rule and no representation, Parliament was back. Throughout the s, Charles had governed without calling a Parliament. Some condemned it as tyranny but it was not a totally abnormal procedure. Parliaments were only called when monarchs needed revenue from taxes or wider support for war or social and religious reforms.

Charles' situation in was fraught because during the eleven years of personal rule, he had operated without a proper income from tax revenue. Parliament was required to sanction a proper taxation revenue, so for eleven years, Charles kept himself and his administration afloat through a variety of levies which Parliament hadn't sanctioned. The most notorious was Ship Money - a tax for the navy which Charles extended from coastal counties to the whole country and then siphoned off for his own use.

There were other revenue raising schemes, such as fines on encroaching royal forests or the sale of monopoly licences, all of which served to alienate the wealthy, political classes the King's natural allies many of whom were MPs. And they'd had eleven years to build up their anger.

When Parliament met in April , Charles hoped for a show of loyalty from his English subjects. However, the bruises of the s were there for all to see. Petitions flooded in complaining about Ship Money and Laudian church policy.

The Commons held out the prospect of twelve subsidies for Charles but linked them to a long list of grievances. Before they gave any money, they wanted some reforms to church policy and taxation.

The Court party in Parliament abjectly failed to govern the direction of debate. With the Scots occupying much of north-eastern England and his exchequer empty, Charles succumbed to pressure from the Covenanters and their English allies to call a new general election, for only Parliament could raise the necessary money to pay off the Scots.

The result, in November , was the so-called Long Parliament, which was to sit more or less continuously for the next twelve and a half years. History of Parliament Online Search. Research Explore Gallery Schools About. Members Constituencies Parliaments Surveys. Oral History. Go To Section Recently viewed 0 Save Search. Your current browser may not support copying via this button. Subscriber sign in You could not be signed in, please check and try again.

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