List of Parliaments of England

This is a list of Parliaments of England from the reign of King Henry III (when the Curia Regis developed into a body known as Parliament) to the creation of the Parliament of Great Britain in 1707.

For later parliaments, see the List of Parliaments of Great Britain. For the history of the English Parliament, see Parliament of England.

The Parliaments of England were traditionally referred to by the number counting forward from the start of the reign of a particular monarch, unless the Parliament was notable enough to come to be known by a particular title, such as the Good Parliament or the Parliament of Merton.

Parliaments of Henry III

Notes:

¹ The presiding officer of the House of Commons was initially known as the "Prolocutor" and sometimes as the Parlour, but the term most often used was "Speaker" and this became the title always used from the 1540s onwards.

² No commoners were summoned.

Parliaments of Edward I

Notes:

¹ The presiding officer of the House of Commons was initially known as the "Prolocutor" and sometimes as the Parlour, but the term most often used was "Speaker" and this became the title always used from the 1540s onwards.

² No commoners were summoned.

Parliaments of Edward II

Notes:

¹ The presiding officer of the House of Commons was initially known as the "Prolocutor" and sometimes as the Parlour, but the term most often used was "Speaker" and this became the title always used from the 1540s onwards.

² No commoners were summoned.

Parliaments of Edward III

Notes:

¹ The presiding officer of the House of Commons was initially known as the "Prolocutor" and sometimes as the Parlour, but the term most often used was "Speaker" and this became the title always used from the 1540s onwards.

² Hungerford was the first presiding officer of the Commons to be recorded as having the title of Speaker.

Parliaments of Richard II

Parliaments of Henry IV

Parliaments of Henry V

Parliaments of Henry VI

Parliaments of Edward IV

Parliament of Richard III

Parliaments of Henry VII

Parliaments of Henry VIII

Parliaments of Edward VI

Parliaments of Mary I

Parliaments of Elizabeth I

Parliaments of James I

Parliaments of Charles I

The Long Parliament, which commenced in this reign, had the longest term and the most complex history of any English Parliament. The entry in the first table below relates to the whole Parliament. Although it rebelled against King Charles I and continued to exist long after the King's death, it was a Parliament he originally summoned. An attempt has been made to set out the different phases of the Parliament in the second table in this section and in subsequent sections. The phases are explained in a note.

Note:

• (a) Speakers of the Long Parliament (including times when it sat as the Rump Parliament): Lenthall 3 November 1640 – 26 July 1647; Pelham 30 July 1647 – 5 August 1647; Lenthall 6 August 1647 – 20 April 1653 (restored to the Chair by the Army and sat until Oliver Cromwell dissolved the Rump Parliament) and 26 December 1653 – 13 January 1660 (when the Rump was restored); Say 13 January 1660 – 21 January 1660 and Lenthall 21 January 1660 – 16 March 1660.

The Long Parliament (Royalist phases)

Note:

• (a) Phase 'a' of the Long Parliament was when it functioned as a conventional Parliament, requiring the assent of King Charles I to legislation. An unusual feature was that a law was enacted providing that this Parliament could not be lawfully dissolved without its own consent. This phase ended when the King raised his standard (22 August 1642) and commenced the English Civil War. The day before this event is the date inserted in the Dissolved column.
• (b) Phase 'c' of the Long Parliament was the King's Oxford Parliament. The King was unable to lawfully dissolve the Long Parliament, without its consent, so he summoned the members to meet at Oxford. Royalists and those interested in trying to settle the Civil War by compromise attended the meetings, which were in opposition to the revolutionary body (phase 'b' of the Long Parliament, see below) sitting concurrently at Westminster. The date of the first meeting is given in the Assembled column and of the last sitting in the Dissolved column.

Parliaments of the Revolution and Commonwealth

Note:

• (a) This was phase 'b' of the Long Parliament, when it functioned as a revolutionary Parliament, after the start of the English Civil War. Parliament assumed the power to legislate by Ordinance, without needing Royal assent. This phase ended with Pride's Purge, which converted the Long Parliament into the Rump Parliament. In 1644 the King summoned the Long Parliament to meet at Oxford. Those members who responded constituted the King's Oxford Parliament (phase c of the Parliament, see the previous section), in opposition to the revolutionary Parliament which continued to sit at the Palace of Westminster. The date in the Assembled column is the day when King Charles I raised his standard and commenced the English Civil War. The date in the Dissolved column is the day before Pride's Purge, when the full Long Parliament last met (until the Purge was reversed on 21 February 1660).
• (b) This was phase 'd' of the Long Parliament, known as the Rump Parliament. During this period the Army only permitted selected members to continue to participate. The House of Lords was abolished (6 February 1649) as was the monarchy (7 February 1649). Thereafter the Rump of the House of Commons was the only remaining element of Parliament. It legislated the Commonwealth of England into existence on 19 May 1649. The date of Pride's Purge is given in the Assembled column and the date when Oliver Cromwell dissolved the Rump by force is in the Dissolved column.
• (c) The Little or Barebone's Parliament was an appointed body.

Parliaments of the Protectorate

These parliaments included representatives of Scotland and Ireland.

Note:

• (a) This was phase 'e' of the Long Parliament. The Army restored the Rump Parliament, to liquidate the Protectorate and re-establish the Commonwealth regime.

Parliaments of the Commonwealth

Note:

• (a) This was phase 'f' of the Long Parliament, with the Rump Parliament running the restored Commonwealth regime.
• (b) This was phase 'g' of the Long Parliament. Pride's Purge was reversed and the full Long Parliament made arrangements for a Convention Parliament and then dissolved itself.

Parliaments of Charles II

Parliament of James II

Parliaments of William III and Mary II

• Note: The Convention Parliament of 1689 is usually referred to as the 1st Parliament of William & Mary and thus the 1690 parliament is referred to as the "Second Parliament".^[14] The very first act of the 1690 parliament (2 Will. & Mar., c.1) ^[15] was to legitimize the Convention parliament as a lawfully-summoned parliament.
• Note: Queen Mary II died in December 1694, during the sixth session of the second parliament. Subsequent parliamentary sessions are labelled as "William III" alone (rather than "William & Mary"), but their numbering is not reset. The next parliament (1695) is conventionally called the "third parliament", the 1698 parliament the "fourth parliament" etc.

Parliaments of Anne

On the 29 April 1707, the Parliament of Great Britain was constituted. The members of the 2nd Parliament of Queen Anne became part of the 1st Parliament of Great Britain.

See also

• Duration of English Parliaments before 1660
• Duration of English, British and United Kingdom Parliaments from 1660
• List of Parliaments of Great Britain
• Regnal years of English monarchs
• List of British Governments
• List of British ministries
• List of Parliaments of the United Kingdom
• List of MPs elected to the English parliament in 1604
• List of MPs elected to the English parliament in 1614
• List of MPs elected to the English parliament in 1621
• List of MPs elected to the English parliament in 1624
• List of MPs elected to the English parliament in 1625
• List of MPs elected to the English parliament in 1626
• List of MPs elected to the English parliament in 1628
• List of MPs elected to the English parliament in 1640 (April)
• List of MPs elected to the English parliament in 1640 (November)
• List of MPs elected to the English parliament in 1654
• List of MPs elected to the English parliament in 1656
• List of MPs elected to the English parliament in 1659
• List of MPs elected to the English Parliament in 1660
• List of MPs elected to the English Parliament in 1661
• List of MPs elected to the English Parliament in 1705

Notes

References

• Coke, Edward; Littleton, Thomas; Hargrave, Francis (1817), The ... Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England; Or, a Commentary Upon Littleton: Not the Name of the Author Only, But of the Law Itself : Including Also the Notes of Lord Chief Justice Hale and Lord Chancellor Nottingham, and an Analysis of Littleton, Written by an Unknown Hand ..., 3 (19 ed.), Clarke, p. ii 
• Thrush, Andrew; Ferris, John P., eds. (2010), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629, Cambridge University Press  (available online from Website of The History of Parliament Trust:1604-1629, The History of Parliament Trust, retrieved September 2013  Check date values in: |access-date= (help); External link in |publisher= (help))

Further reading

• Laundy, Philip (1964), The Office of Speaker, Cassell & Company 
• Powell, J. Enoch; Wallis, Keith (1968), The House of Lords in the Middle Ages, Weidenfeld and Nicolson