The Parliament of England, 1559–1581

Abstract

This is a comprehensive account of the parliament of early modern England at work, written by the leading authority on sixteenth-century English, constitutional and political history. Professor Elton explains how parliament dealt with bills and acts, discusses the many various matters that came to notice there, and investigates its role in political matters. In the process he proves that the prevailing doctrine, developed by the work of Sir John Neale, is wrong, that parliament did not acquire a major role in politics; that the notion of a consistent, body of puritan agitators in opposition to the government is mere fiction and, although the Commons processed more bills than the House of Lords, the Lords occupied the more important and influential role. Parliament's fundamental function in the government of the realm lay rather in the granting of taxes and the making of laws. The latter were promoted by a great variety of interests - the Crown, the Privy Council, the bishops, and particularly by innumerable private initiators. A very large number of bills failed, most commonly for lack of time but also because agreement between the three partners (Queen, Lords and Commons) could not be reached.

Politics of Equivocation and Deferral: Queen Elizabeth I and the Execution of Queen Mary of Scotland

“…Neale's theory was challenged by G.R. Elton 15 , nonetheless, the queen's fear of rebellious religious groups, both Catholics and Puritans, was not unfounded. Her imminent danger was from her own hostile subjects whom she could not name but only implicate.…”

Elizabeth’s Lottery: Political Culture and State Formation in Early Modern England

“…Indeed, a bill seeking to set up a commission to consider the general problem of inadequate harbors and a second pertaining specifically to a quay in DEAN Devon were discussed in that session. 10 However, a parliamentary solution was problematic. In order to recover from an inherited debt and the costs of waging war with France, the government had successfully obtained parliamentary subsidies in 1559 and 1563 relatively easily.…”

‘But Private Notes for My Own Memory’? Parliamentary Diaries, Parliamentary History and the Politics of Information in Early Stuart England*

“…Multiple copies of many of them survive today, and there are, for example, at least 12 copies of Hayward Townshend's substantial diary of the 1601 parliament, the full version of which runs to some 70,000 words. 65 The existence of a thriving contemporary market for materials on Elizabethan parliaments is indicated by a manuscript dealer's catalogue from the early 1620s. This opened, significantly, with documents 'Touching Parliam[en]ts', and began with Elizabethan manuscripts, comprising of diaries and journals for the 1571, 1593, 1597, and 1601 assemblies.…”