Parliament

Question 1

Role and organisation of the Parliament.

Answer 1

1. Parliament was a medieval institution which had gained important powers by the start of the Tudor period – the sole right to grant taxation and the sole right to pass laws – when a monarch needed money for war they’d summon parliament.
2. Most monarchs would call parliament periodically – important to test mood of the country and communicate policies to MPs, and thus to the localities.
3. House of Lords (hereditary peers and bishops) and the House of Commons (elected MPs) – 2 MPs per county, nobility exercised patronage to ensure their clients were elected.
4. As time went on, the Commons became more confident and needed more careful managing – tensions rose over taxation and finance, religion, and royal succession.

Question 2

What was the Parliament like under Henry VII?

Answer 2

1. Cautious monarch who preferred not to pursue ambitious foreign policy (less wars) – summoned parliament seven times in 24 years.
2. Each occasion he requested money, parliament accepted – apart from 1504 when he was forced to accept a smaller some as a result of opposition from the Commons.

Question 3

What was the Parliament like under Henry VIII?

Answer 3

1. Parliament only met four times between 1509 and 1529 – grant taxation to find Henry’s wars.
2. By 1517 Henry VIII’s initial gains had been lost and call for taxation increased – MPs reluctant to raise taxes out of fear of rebellion e.g. opposition to Wolsey in 1523.
3. Reformation Parliament 1529-36:

o Henry and Cromwell used parliament to legalise the break with Rome, through state law over convocation – increasing frequency with which it was called to legislate on religious matters marked a significant shift in the relationship between Crown and Parliament.

o King-in-parliament – the most powerful institution in the country was the king acting in conjunction with parliament rather than without it.

o Did not suddenly become a powerful institution with authority to act independently of the monarch – more of an evolutionary than revolutionary change.

Question 4

What was the Parliament like under Henry VIII?

CONFIDENCE GREW

Answer 4

1. Her reign witnessed a growing assertiveness in the Commons, for two reasons:

o Growing experience and confidence of MPs who had sat in a number of parliaments.

o Rise of a small radical group of Puritan MPs, such as Peter Wentworth and Sir Anthony Cope, who were demanding freedom of speech.

2. It became necessary for the Crown to more actively control the Commons and Lords, by appointing parliamentary managers to set agendas and steer debates away from matters that challenged the royal prerogative, for example:

o 1576 Elizabeth issued instructions to parliament restricting its rights to freedom of speech.

o To stifle unwanted debate in the Commons, Elizabeth imprisoned Wentworth and Cope in 1587, because they wanted to change the religious settlement by adopting a more Puritan doctrine – significant because it demonstrates the limitations of parliamentary powers, as ultimate power rested with the Crown.

3. Crown had the prerogative to summon, prorogue and dismiss parliament, but also retained the right to veto any bill or halt any debate as it thought fit.
4. England went to war with Spain, which would last to 1604 – she was forced to call parliament more regularly to raise taxation, which developed parliaments importance.
5. The main concerns of parliaments in the 1590s were the queens and her officials misuse of monopolies and high levels of taxation caused by ongoing war.
6. Only twice did the ruling monarch face a revolt in parliament when a number of members conspired to reject royal instructions or refuse to cooperate:

o Mary faced opposition to religious policies in 1555, but still able to reverse the break from Rome.

o Elizabeth faced the wrath of parliament in 1601 over the controversial issue of monopolies - ALTHOUGH SHE DID NOT COMPROMISE HER POWER SHE HAD TO ‘MANAGE’ HER PARLIAMENTS IN A WAY THAT NO EARLIER MONARCHS WOULD HAVE HAD TO.

NO DOUBT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CROWN AND PARLIAMENT HAD CHANGED, WITH THE LATTER INSTITUTION GAINING EVER GREATER PROMINENCE AND POWERS, HOWEVER, THE CROWN REMAINED MOST POWERFUL PART OF GOV.