From Estate under Pressure to Spiritual Pressure Group: The Bishops and Parliament

Abstract

This essay traces the mutating place of the anglican bishops within the house of lords to explore revolutionary changes in the relationship between religion, parliament and political pressure from the late 17th to the 20th centuries. After the Restoration, the lords spiritual reoccupied a contested position in the upper chamber as representatives of the clerical estate of the realm. During the 18th century, they began to act as representatives of the church's lay and clerical members. In the 19th century, they made a strong target for thwarted reformers and nonconformist pressure groups which resented the privileged place of these appointed legislators. However, by the 20th century we can detect an inclusive role for the bishops as conduits of spiritual pressure and ecumenical concerns in a legislature which might otherwise neglect those anxieties. These contortions, then, exemplify changing patterns of parliamentary pressure and the place of religion in politics. The essay concludes that the bishops’ evolving role demonstrates the permeability of legislative deliberations, where clerical legislators might claim a role as channels for extraparliamentary pressure and under‐represented interests rather than the continuing supremacy of the state church.