Thursday, August 31, 2017

Kathye on the Long Parliament


The Long Parliament (Kathye Macias-Ramirez) 

In order to understand the Long Parliament some background knowledge of the Short Parliament is needed. To begin, the Short Parliament was summoned by King Charles I in 1640, the first of such in 11 years (Short). The king previous to this had entered into what is now known as the Bishops’ War. War erupted due to the king's determination to implement Anglican—the Church of England—on those belonging to the Scottish Church. Meanwhile the Scottish Church wanted to abolish episcopacy (Bishops’), defined by Dictonary.com as a “government of the church by bishops” which includes “ministers, namely bishops, priests or presbyters, and deacons” (episcopacy). Despite the king's efforts he lost and was now out of money and in need of more. Money that only a Parliament could raise to continue funding the war (Long). However, the Parliament brought into question concerns that they had over past actions by the king. This led the king to question the Parliament's willingness to raise the funds to fight the Bishops’ War. Nevertheless, the Parliament set a date for further discussion on the topic on May 7th, but on May 5th the king dissolved the Parliament (Short). Shortly after, England was invaded marking the start of the second Bishops’ War.
           It wasn’t until November of later that year that a new Parliament was summoned. This Parliament however was even less adamant to the requests of King Charles I and his power. For example, the Parliament made it “statutory” (Long) to hold repeated meetings, along with an act that would no longer allow for the dissolution of a Parliament unless it had the authorization of its members. This move by the Parliament upset the king and soon led to a series of Civil Wars . By 1646 the king had been defeated (Long). The power then transferred over to the army, led by Thomas Pride who led the arrest of 45 Members and kept out another 186 whom he believed would not be loyal to the cause of punishing the king. The Parliament was then divided by those who remained, known as the Rump, after Pride's Purge (Pride’s). The remaining Rump set the course of the trial and execution of the king (Long). Out of the one hundred and thirty five appointed to the high court of Justice, only fifty-nine signed off on the death warrant (Hughes). The beheading of King Charles I was said to have brought heartache to the people, one bishops described the situation as unique and touching to the point that, ‘. . .women miscarried, [and] men fell into melancholy' (Hughes). In the end, there were two conclusions to the Long Parliament
. The first of those dissolutions was in 1653, however it did not have the formal approval, or royal assent (Long). This technicality was then finally resolved in December of 1660 after twenty years.   
“Bishops' Wars.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 28 Aug. 2017,
"episcopacy." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 28 Aug. 2017. <Dictionary.com

Hughes, Ann. “The Execution of Charles I.” BBC,
“Long Parliament.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 28 Aug. 2017,
“Pride's Purge, 'the Rump' and regicide.” UK Parliament, 28 Aug. 2017,
“Short Parliament.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 28 Aug. 2017,
    https://www.britannica.com/topic/Short-Parliament

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