Parliaments

The main intention of the Parliament summoned shortly after Elizabeth’s accession to the throne was, in the words of Lord Keeper Sir

Among the British Library’s Cotton manuscripts survives an eyewitness account of ‘Th’order in proceedinge to the Parliament on Tuesdaie 12 January’ 1563, a day later than intended due to ‘fowle wet

In the interval of five years since her last Parliament Elizabeth had faced an uprising of rebellion fomented by Catholic nobles in the north of England, and received a bull of excommunication from

Elizabeth hated summoning Parliaments and the decision to do so barely a year after the dissolution of the last assembly was forced upon her by the Privy Council in order to deal with the aftermath

This Parliament, like the 1572 Parliament, was summoned following the discovery of a Catholic conspiracy to assassinate Eli

Elizabeth delayed the opening of this Parliament that had originally been summoned in the autumn of 1588 in response to the defeat of the Spanish Armada for as long as she could afford to, knowing

At the state opening on 19 Feb.

S. Rappaport, Worlds Within Worlds, 136-7.Much had changed in the interval following the 1593 Parliament.

Monopolies, a grievance that had previously been raised in 1571 and 1597-8, became a major talking point in Elizabeth’s final Pa