A comprehensive history of parliament in the British Isles from the earliest times, covering all aspects of parliament as an institution. A Short History of Parliament is a comprehensive institutional history, not a political history of parliament, though politics is included where, as frequently occurred, institutional changes resulted from particular political events. It covers the English parliament from its origins, the pre-1707 Scottish parliament and the pre-1800 Irish parliament, the parliament of Great Britain from 1707 and the parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801, together with sections on the post-devolution parliaments and assemblies set up in the 1990s and on parliaments in the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands and the Irish Republic. It considers all aspects of parliament as an institution:membership of both the Lords and the Commons; constituencies, elections and franchises; where the Lords and the Commons met; how business was arranged and managed, including Speakers, the use of committees, the development of parties, lobbying and voting procedures; legal cases in the House of Lords; official recording of and reporting of business and debates; the conflict and balance of power between the two Houses; and the position of the monarch in parliament. Each section contains a chronology listing key events, suggestions for further reading and "inserts" - short anecdotes or accounts of particular figures or episodes which provide lively illustrations of parliament at work in different periods. Clyve Jones is an honorary fellow of the Institute of Historical Research. He has been editor of the journal Parliamentary History since 1986. Previously he was reader in modern historyin the University of London and collection development librarian in the Institute of Historical Research. He has published extensively on the history of the House of Lords and of the peerage in the early eighteenth century.

New contributions to the most important critical debates of the period. The themes of 'image' and 'representation' play a major part in the essays collected in this volume; subjects explored include the religious sympathies of townsfolk and gentry and their physical manifestations, the cultural setting for the activities of leading families of the period and the interaction of Crown and community of the realm. As the fruit of original archival research on the later Middle Ages, overall the contributions offer the most up-to-date scholarship on the period, and a snapshot of the most crucial issues in current research. Contributors: CLIVE BURGESS, PAUL CAVILL, JON DENTON, THOMAS S. FREEMAN, ALASDAIR HAWKYARD, STEPHEN MILESON, JENNI NUTTALL, COLIN RICHMOND, ANNE F. SUTTON

'The Entring Book' is the longest and richest diary of public life in England during the era of the Glorious Revolution. Written just 20 years after Pepys's Diary, it depicts a darker England, thrown into a great crisis of 'popery and arbitrary power'.

Henry VIII had extravagant ideas of image and authority and loved his possessions. He owned over 2000 pieces of tapestry and 2028 items of gold and silver plate. This work is not only a catalogue, but also a source of information for the study of Tudor society. In its listings the inventory provides information about Henry's personal and declining health problems, for example his bandages for ulcers are listed.;The original inventory is in two parts: one in the possession of the Society of Antiquaries and the other in the Harley Collection of the British Library. Volume one is a transcription of the inventory itself. The second and third volumes include explanatory essays by experts together with illustrations. In addition, the authors provide evaluations of the objects in monetary and social terms.