Useless Parliament
Parliaments of England 1604–1705 | ||||||||||
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List of parliaments of England | ||||||||||
The Useless Parliament was the first Parliament of England of the reign of King Charles I, sitting only from June until August 1625. It gained its name because it transacted no significant business, making it 'useless' from the king's point of view. Parliament adjourned to Oxford on 1 August, and was dissolved on 12 August, having offended the king.[1][2]
Events
Charles acceded to the Throne upon the death of his father, James VI and I, on 27 March 1625. Parliament was summoned by the king on 2 April and convened at Westminster on 18 June, first meeting only a month after Charles's marriage to Henrietta Maria, a daughter of King Henry IV of France.[3]
Charles had asked the parliament to vote him the duties of
At the end of July, a severe intensification of the
Aftermath
After the parliament was dissolved, the king's favourites encouraged his belief in having a divine right to rule his kingdoms as he wished and urged him to do without the constitutional means of raising revenue, instead using arbitrary measures which in some cases were of uncertain lawfulness. This Charles did, which later led to remonstrances against his taking of tonnage and poundage without parliament's authority. The next parliament assembled in February 1626 and declared that the king had acted unlawfully, although it was prepared to indemnify him.[10][5]
Notable acts passed by the Parliament
See also
- List of MPs elected to the English parliament in 1625
- List of acts of the 1st Parliament of King Charles I
- List of parliaments of England
- Duration of English parliaments before 1660
References
- ^ Thomas Benfield Harbottle, Dictionary of Historical Allusions (2009), p. 266
- ^ Henrietta Gerwig (ed.), Crowell's Handbook for readers and writers (1925), p. 493
- ^ ISBN 0-304-35730-8) pp. 248–253
- ^ Paul Seaward, Speakers and the Speakership: Presiding Officers and the Management of Business from the Middle Ages to the Twenty-first Century (2010), p. 90 online at books.google.com
- ^ a b c Michael J. Braddick, The nerves of state: taxation and the financing of the English state, 1558-1714 p. 52 online
- ^ Peter N. Stearns, The Encyclopedia of world history: ancient, medieval, and modern, p. 288
- ^ a b c d 'Tonnage and poundage' in Encyclopædia Britannica (15th edition)
- ^ J. F. D. Shrewsbury, A History of Bubonic Plague in the British Isles (Cambridge University Press, 1970), p. 318
- ^ Mark Charles Fissel, War and government in Britain, 1598-1650 (1991), p. 134
- ^ William B. Bidwell, Maija Jansson, Proceedings in Parliament, 1626: House of Commons (1997), p. 203