Parliaments, Politics and Elections, 1604–1648

by Edited by Chris R. Kyle

• ISBN13: 9780521802147
• ISBN10: 0521802148
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-09-17
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This volume reproduces a wide range of parliamentary documents from the seventeenth century. It presents Parliament as an institutional event which generated great interest within both the gates of the Palace of Westminster and in the country at large. The volume includes the unpublished notes and diaries of the 1604-10 Parliament by Sir Edward Montagu, Sir Robert Cotton and Sir George Manners and Committee lists highlight the apathetic attitude of MPs and the chaotic nature of the nascent bureacracy. The translation of two letters from the Spanish Ambassador, Gondomar, to the Infanta details the personal nature of James I's kingship and reveals much about his attitude to Parliament and why the 1621 Parliament ended in acrimony. Finally, the inclusion of 117 letters sent to Hull by its MPs between 1644 and 1648 illustrate a fascinating interaction between centre and locality and highlights the localist nature of Hull politics.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	vii
Notes on Contributors	ix
Abbreviations	xi
Introduction	1	(12)
Chris R. Kyle
Debates in the House of Commons, 1604-1607	13	(136)
Simon Healy
War or Peace? Jacobean Politics and the Parliament of 1621	149	(30)
Brennan Pursell
`It will be a Scandal to show what we have done with such a number:' House of Commons Committee Attendance Lists, 1606-1628	179	(58)
Chris R. Kyle
Tactical Organization in a Contested Election: Sir Edward Dering and the Spring Election at Kent, 1640	237	(36)
Jason Peacey
`Particular Businesses' in the Long Parliament: The Hull Letters, 1643-1648	273	(70)
David Scott
Index	343