Long Parliament

The so called Long Parliament was summoned by Charles I on 3 November 1640 and existed for the next 20 years – in its last years it smoothed the way for the Restoration. It is called Long Parliament because six months before Charles I dissolved the Short Parliament which was in power for the short period of three weeks.

Short Parliament

When Charles I summoned the Short Parliament he only did it because the expenses for the war against Scotland were getting higher so he needed money. As it was set that Parliament had the only right to raise taxes Charles I was dependent on Parliament to get enough money for his expensive wars, even though he invented several ways to get money without asking Parliament before. However, they wanted to give money to the King by claiming to get certain prerogatives which of course the King refused to accept. He dissolved Parliament again to form a new one (the Long Parliament) of which he hoped that the situation between King and Parliament would become better.

Long Parliament and its reforms

The Long Parliament didn’t accept the claims of King Charles I either and went on a counter-course against him trying to take away his prerogatives. In December 1641 it confronted Charles I with the Great Remonstrance. During 1641 several reforms were carried out by Parliament. From now on the King could no longer rule without a Parliament. Moreover he was no longer allowed to dissolve Parliament. Further could not raise any taxes or try to get money without asking Parliament, as it was set before Charles’ Personal Rule (1629-1640). Another reform they carried out was the Triennial Act which was passed in January 1641 and which ensured that Parliament had to meet at least every three years. They also refused to trust the King with the commandment of the army. Thus things went bad for Charles I. He tried to arrest five leading members of Parliament (a clear breach of the rules and the start of the beginning of the Civil War).

In 1648 Colonel Pride got rid of unwanted members (so-called "Pride's Purge"), and after the execution of the King the "Rump" (the remaining members of the Long Parliament) established the Commonwealth. In 1653 Cromwell expelled the Rump and replaced it by "Barebone's Parliament", a handpicked assembly of 140 "godly men" (Kenyon 31) (nicknamed after Praisegod Barbon or Barebones, one of its members). The Rump only reconvened in 1659, after the fall of the Protectorate. The full membership of the Long Parliament was restored by Monck. It dissolved itself in 1660 to be succeeded by the convention parliament, which restored the monarchy.

Sources:

http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/glossary/long-parliament.htm

Kenyon, J.P. Dictionary of British History. Cumberland House: Wordsworth, 1994.

Lord, John (1855): A School History of Modern Europe, from the Reformation to the Fall of Napoleon. Oxford: Oford Univerity Press.