Michael Graves provides a clear summary of conflicting interpretations of Elizabethan parliaments and presents a new perspective, striking a balance between business and politics.

Here Graves provides a summary of conflicting interpretations of Elizabethan parliaments and seeks to present a different perspective - striking a balance between business and politics. This revised edition takes account of recent literature - including work on patronage, parliamentary management and the Men of Business. A selection of documents illustrate the political, organizational and functional aspects of parliament.

The political, social and economic changes which overtook England in the early seventeenth century forced Parliament to adapt from a medieval institution into one with authority over all facets of society; studies focus on particular cases. The political, social and economic changes which overtook England in the early seventeenth century were both powerful and dramatic, forcing Parliament to adapt from a medieval institution into one with authority over all facets ofsociety. Dynastic change, union with Scotland, fiscal reform, civil war, revolution and Restoration required Parliament not only to be at work, but also to discover how to work. These studies focus on change and development in three areas: firstly, the institution of Parliament itself, exploring its growing institutional sophistication and the problems connected with attendance, workload and physical environment; secondly, on Parliament's role within theinstitutional set-up of the constitution, and the structure and relationships of power within the governance of the country; and thirdly, on the public perception of Parliament, and the practicalities of the relationship between Parliament and the wider world. Contributors: JOHN ADAMSON, ROBERT ARMSTRONG, DAVID DEAN, MICHAEL GRAVES, PAUL M. HUNNYBALL, SEAN KELSEY, CHRISTOPHER KYLE, JASON PEACEY, PAUL SEAWARD.

This excellent survey looks at the workings of parliament under the first four Tudor monarchs. After an introductory first section which looks at parliament's medieval origins, the author then considers all aspects of early parliamentary history - including the historiography of the early Tudor parliaments, membership and attendance, the legislative roles if the Lords anbd Commons and the specific parliaments themselves.

This excellent short survey looks at the workings of parliament under the first four Tudor monarchs. After an introductory first section which looks at parliament's medieval origins, the author then considers all aspects of early parliamentary history - including the historiography of the early Tudor parliaments, membership and attendance, the legislative roles of the Lords and Commons and the specific parliaments themselves.

This excellent short survey looks at the workings of parliament under the first four Tudor monarchs. After an introductory first section which looks at parliament's medieval origins, the author then considers all aspects of early parliamentary history - including the historiography of the early Tudor parliaments, membership and attendance, the legislative roles of the Lords and Commons and the specific parliaments themselves.

This excellent survey looks at the workings of parliament under the first four Tudor monarchs. After an introductory first section which looks at parliament's medieval origins, the author then considers all aspects of early parliamentary history - including the historiography of the early Tudor parliaments, membership and attendance, the legislative roles if the Lords anbd Commons and the specific parliaments themselves.

In the past the House of Lords has been the Cinderella of parliamentary history. This volume makes amends for the omission. It is the first systematic institutional study of the sixteenth-century Upper House. Not only does it chart its composition and quality, its record of attendance, activity and conflicting centrifugal and centripetal forces, it also examines the role of the legal assistants, who contributed so much to its efficiency as a legislative machine, analyses its procedures and assesses its legislative record in the mid-Tudor parliaments. In the process it also sets the Edwardian and Marian Commons in their right perspective. The Lords emerges as a vital party in the legislative process. Until 1553 5 its performance was, more often than not, superior to that of the Commons. But then it reneged on its political responsibilities and resisted the Crown in a rare act of sabotage - the most effective of the sixteenth century. It did not recover.