Parliament in 1605
In the early seventeenth century the two Houses of Parliament
- Commons and Lords - did not meet regularly as they do today
and the government did not have to summon Parliament by law.
But taxation and new laws needed to have Parliament's consent,
as they do today.
Because Parliaments often criticised the Government's policies
and administration, the King usually only called Parliament
when he had to raise money.
The two pictures below are details taken from a crude early
seventeenth century print showing both Houses of Parliament
in session.
Parliamentary Archives
Parliamentary Archives
The Clerks of both houses had the duty of writing a journal
as a formal record of proceedings. Below you can explore a
journal from each house - both dating from 1604.
The below image shows a page of the Journal of the House
of Lords and records the opening on 17 March of the first
Parliament of James I, in the first year of his reign in England
and Wales, and the 37th year of his reign over Scotland.
Although recorded with a flourish, the first day of James's
first Parliament started badly when someone forgot to summon
the Commons to hear the King's speech. The clerk has also
noted here that the King ended the session in early July,
ordering it to come back on 7 February 1605. In fact Parliament's
return was postponed, eventually to 5 November.
Journal of the House of Lords, 17 March 1604,
Parliamentary Archives
The image below shows the Journal of the House of Commons
in March 1604. It records the sort of business the House of
Commons dealt with every day. Like today, much of the business
of Parliament was to do with passing new laws. On this page,
the House goes through several bills to do with reforming
legal procedure and urban regeneration.
But it also discusses one of the things that helped to poison
the relationship between the King and Parliament early on
in his reign. Sir Francis Goodwin's case was a dispute about
the general election in Buckinghamshire, which ended up in
a row between James I and the House of Commons about the privileges
of the House.
The Journal was written by the Clerk of the House, Ralph
Ewens, or one of his deputies.
Journal of the House of Commons for 28 March
1604, Parliamentary Archives
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