My Science School

          The mid sixteenth century was a time of religious upheaval in England. Henry VIII had broken away from the Catholic Church in Rome, and established the Church of England. The break with Rome, known as the Reformation, changed the country forever, and also left Henry's children with an England deeply divided over religion.

            Under Henry's son Edward VI, the Protestants became powerful. However, Henry's daughter Mary was a devout Catholic.

 Parliament during this time went along with the changes in religious policy. Stability was restored only when Henry's daughter, Elizabeth, came to the throne. She was a Protestant, but she allowed the religious conflicts to cool down, and peace was restored.  

 

Puritanism was a form of Christianity that came to England around 1563 AD. The Puritans believed that God wanted them to lead quiet, simple, serious lives. They spent a lot of their time praying, reading the Bible, and listening to sermons. They did not, have parties, listen to music, or dance. They did not celebrate holidays, not even Christmas or Easter. The growing numbers of Puritans in the house of Commons caused Elizabeth I a lot of trouble. 

 Thomas Cromwell was a great states-man and, in his decade of power, he permanently changed the course of English history. He was an elected member of the parliament of 1529, and he used his position to influence the Commons on behalf of the government. Henry VIII was able to get parliament to do what he wanted because of the power and influence of Thomas Cromwell. 

Sir Thomas More was an advisor to King Henry VIII. He disapproved of the king divorcing his first wife Catherine of Aragon in order to marry Anne Boleyn, without the approval of the Pope. Moore was a devout Catholic, and believed deeply in the supremacy of the Pope. In 1532, when he saw that King Henry was determined to marry Anne Boleyn and that divorce was in the air, he claimed ill health and retired, rather than stay in the king's cabinet.

Things became worse when the king invited him to his marriage with Boleyn, and More declined to attend. He was summoned to the court to answer an obscure charge of accepting a bribe, which was later dropped. Henry then passed a law which declared him supreme ruler of the world, baring none, including the Pope. All citizens were to take an oath recognizing this, but More refused.

Henry VIII threw him into the Tower of London, where for a whole year, he was locked up. His wife and children visited him and begged him to take the oath, but More refused on principle. He was tried for treason, found guilty, and beheaded. 

            Henry VII's son, Henry VIII demanded enormous sums of money from parliament to renew the wars with France. The House of Commons refused, and finally, after much debate, Henry got only half of what he asked for. This proved that the Commons was still in control of taxation, even during the reign of a powerful monarch. Henry also had to work closely with parliament, in order to lead England away from the Catholic Church which had refused to grant him a divorce from his wife Catherine.

 Henry VII became King of England in 1485. One of the main goals of Henry VII was to restore royal authority while England recovered from the War of the Roses. His biggest problem was that there were too many nobles in England, and he needed to check their power. To do this, he used the parliament to pass an act called the Star Chamber Act. This act set up a special court to try the wealthy and the powerful for offences, since ordinary courts be afraid to punish them.

Henry also realized that to have control over the government, he had to have control over parliament. Henry had already shown the nobility that loyalty to him would be rewarded, and this gave him control over the House of Lords. The Commons - primarily made up of rich merchants - was gaining in power around the time of Henry. Henry was smart enough to recognize their importance to the growth of England's economy. He took good care to maintain a good relationship with the representatives of the middle classes in Parliament, and to get them on his side. By protecting of interests of the middle classes and merchants, he began to make England a centre for trade and commerce.

 Henry rarely needed parliament to grant him money for wars abroad as he avoided expensive overseas military campaigns. Parliament was used to support Henry's drive to increase the king's power, and to some extent, parliament became a rubber stamp for Henry.

 Big Ben is possibly London's most famous landmark. The 98 metres high clock tower is named after the largest bell weighing over 13 tonnes. The clock tower was completed in 1859 and the great clock started on 31st May, with the great bell's strike heard for the first time on 11th July the quarter bells first chimed on 7th September. Each clock face is over 7 metres in diameter. Old pennies act as counter- weights to ensure Big Ben keeps time to the nearest second.

 The Palace of Westminster is the seat of Britain's two houses of parliament, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons, and so it is more commonly known as the House of Parliament. It is located on the left bank of the River Thames in the borough of Westminster, London. The building, now considered one of the finest gothic structures in the world, has had a turbulent history which has included destruction by fire and bombing.

 Westminster was originally a royal residence. In 1512, the palace suffered greatly from fire. It was rebuilt, and in 1530, when King Henry moved his residence to Whitehall Palace, the House of Lords continued to meet in Westminster Palace. In 1547, the House of Commons also moved here, and Westminster Palace became the seat of government.

 Westminster was destroyed by a fire in 1834, but was rebuilt again, and work was finished by 1860. The Commons Chamber was burned out in one of the numerous air raids that targeted London during World War II, but it was restored and reopened in 1950. 

 Edward IV became King of England with the support of parliament. He is respected for bringing stability back to government after a decade of civil strife during the initial Wars of the Roses. Since the war with France was also over, Edward IV had gained many estates, and he was a very rich man indeed. As a result, he began to become more and more independent of parliament. In fact, during the twenty two years of his reign, parliament was called only seven times.

Most people were happy with this arrangement at that time, since Edward lived on the revenue produced by his own lands. He did not over tax his subjects, and the people who were tired of the burdens of war, were content to let him reign independent of parliament. 

 The Wars of the Roses were a series of battles that were fought in England between two great houses or families. They were the House of Lancaster, whose supporters were called Lancastrians, and the House of York, whose supporters were the Yorkists. The battles were called the Wars of the Roses because the Yorkists were represented by a white rose and the Lancastrians by a red rose. This long civil war lasted from AD 1455-1485. Almost all the rich people in England chose sides, and during the wars, parliament kept changing sides.

 During the Wars of the Roses, the winning side would use what was known as acts of attainder to strip the losers of all their property. By this act, those in power could convict their political enemies of treason, without bringing them to trial. By passing a bill of attainder, parliament simply declared anyone named in the act to be guilty of treason. Parliament could then take away all their civil rights and property, Between 1459 and 1500, parliament stripped 400 persons of their property and rights using acts of attainder. However, when those that lost came into power, they would promptly reverse the act of attainder, and take back whatever they had lost.

 Henry Bolingbroke, son of John Gaunt, became Henry IV, King of England after deposing, Richard II. Parliament played an important role in making him the king, and so, Henry IV was willing to agree to its many demands. One of these demands was that the members of parliament be given the freedom to discuss, and speak on any matter without fear of arrest. In effect, the House of Commons was asking for freedom of speech, and Henry agreed to this request. So, the reign of Henry IV saw the foundation laid for one of the most scared privileges of democracy today- freedom of speech. 

Following the death of his grandfather, Edward Ill in June, 1377, Richard II was crowned King of England at the age of ten. At that time, his uncle John Gaunt was involved in a tussle for power with parliament. As he grew older, Richard, like his uncle and grandfather before him, wanted to rule without being controlled by the parliament. This angered the members of the House of Commons. To make matters worse, Richard granted favours generously to his friends and supporters. The House of Commons disapproved of this, and in 1386, it wanted to impeach both the Chancellor and Treasurer.

 Richard at first arrogantly refused to allow the impeachment- in fact he is reported to have said that he would not dismiss even a single kitchen hand at parliament's request! However, he finally had to give in, and allow the impeachment. Two years later, parliament executed six of the king's friends and supporters, and for the next ten years, the king was forced to co-operate with parliament. It was a bitter and humiliating lesson for the monarch, and this period saw parliament grow even stronger than before. 

 Sir Peter de Ia Mare was an English politician who is best remembered as the Presiding Officer of the House of Commons during the Good Parliament of 1376. Soon after parliament was called, its members chose Sir Peter to be their spokesman. He thus became the first man to be recognized as Speaker of the House of Commons.

 Sir Peter played an important role in the impeachment of various corrupt officials, including the close friends of the king. However, he was later imprisoned by John Gaunt, the third son of the king, to whom the king had handed over the reins of government. The impeachments were also reversed by the next parliament, which was packed with Gaunt’s supporters.

Edward II succeeded to the throne upon his father's death in 1307. His reign was one of constant struggle with the barons. In this struggle, Edward was defeated, and thrown into prison. The question now became what to do with him. The simplest solution was to have Edward put to death. The problem was that the execution of Edward II would necessitate a trial. While there was general agreement that Edward had not paid proper attention to the needs of his subjects, his actions were not considered treas on. The situation was further complicated by the fact that legal power and the ability to set royal policy still rested with Edward even though he was in jail!

In light of these circumstances, parliament chose to act as an authority above the king. Representatives were summoned to the House of Commons, and the debate began.

Eventually, parliament agreed to remove Edward from power. However, Edward was not deposed. Rather, parliament's decision was presented to Edward, who was asked to accept it. His abdication was announced on January 24, 1327, and it heralded the increasing power and importance of parliament in governing England. 

Edward Ill came to the throne in 1327, and from that point, the representatives of the counties who were called the knights of the shire and of the towns who were the burgesses, became a permanent part of parliament.

When parliament opened, the Chancellor would explain to all the members why they had been summoned. The parliament would then split up. The Lords and important church officials would meet with the king and his council in the council chamber, while the lower clergy, knights, and elected representatives of towns and counties or burgesses would meet in another place. Both groups would discuss the royal requests separately, and then meet again to make their speeches.

Thus, two distinct houses of parliament emerged by the 14th century. One was composed of the elected representatives of the towns and counties. This became known as the Lower House, or House of Commons. The other was composed of religious leaders and nobility. This was the House of Lords, or Upper House. There is no doubt that the early parliaments were dominated by the king and his council, and the role of the House Commons was limited to presenting petitions.