London 1264: from Magna Carta to Montfort’s Parliament
As part of our series on Magna Carta and Simon de Montfort’s parliament, Ian Stone, a Junior Research Fellow at the Institute of Historical Research, discusses how a recent discovery among the records of the Corporation of London shows just how tightly bound the citizens of London had become to Simon de Montfort’s regime in advance of Montfort’s famous parliament of 1265… In December 1264 … Continue reading London 1264: from Magna Carta to Montfort’s Parliament
Publication of Proceedings in Parliament 1624: The House of Commons
Today, on the anniversary of its opening 391 years ago, the History of Parliament is proud to announce the initial release of material from its on-going project on the 1624 Parliament. Hosted by British History Online, Proceedings in Parliament 1624: The House of Commons provides free online access to the first in a progressive release of the Commons’ debates during the final Parliament of the … Continue reading Publication of Proceedings in Parliament 1624: The House of Commons
Parliaments, Politics and People seminar: Richard Aldous (University of Winchester), ‘Electoral politics in an age of uncertainty: the case of ‘Winchester Man’ 1830-1880’
Reporting back from the first ‘Parliaments, Politics and People’ seminar of the year… Our seminar returned for 2015 last week when Dr Richard Aldous, from the University of Winchester, spoke on ‘Electoral politics in an age of uncertainty: the case of ‘Winchester man’, 1830-1880.’ Dr Aldous’s work explores the nineteenth century electorate through electoral registers, poll books and by then tracing the lives of registered … Continue reading Parliaments, Politics and People seminar: Richard Aldous (University of Winchester), ‘Electoral politics in an age of uncertainty: the case of ‘Winchester Man’ 1830-1880’
From the Grassroots exhibition launched
We were delighted to formally open our ‘From the Grassroots’ exhibition last week at the Forum, University of Exeter. ‘From the Grassroots’ has, with the generous support of the HLF, been collecting memories of political activism in Devon since 1945. Here our project coordinator, Dr Kayleigh Milden, shares her thoughts on the exhibition… Creating the exhibition from scratch has been a wonderful experience. Standing back … Continue reading From the Grassroots exhibition launched
Simon de Montfort’s 1265 Parliament and Magna Carta
750 years ago today Simon de Montfort’s famous 1265 Parliament opened in Westminster Hall. This is one of two anniversaries this year, along with the sealing of Magna Carta, that have enormous significance in English and British constitutional and legal history. They provide the inspiration for our conference this summer, ‘Making Constitutions, Building Parliaments’. Starting today we’ll be publishing a series of blogposts in the run … Continue reading Simon de Montfort’s 1265 Parliament and Magna Carta
MPs’ memories of candidate selection
Today’s blogpost is from one of our Oral History Project interviewers, Emme Ledgerwood, who has used our archive to explore the experience of candidate selection… The vast majority of MPs arrive at Westminster on a party ticket, and one of the most critical junctures on that road remains getting selected as a prospective parliamentary candidate for a political party. Candidate selection is governed only by … Continue reading MPs’ memories of candidate selection
Parliaments, Politics and People seminar: Eliza Hartrich, ‘Influencing Parliament in 15th-century England: some observations on “The Libelle of Englyshe Polycye”‘
Dr Robin Eagles, Senior Research Fellow in the House of Lords 1660-1832 section reports back from our final ‘Parliaments, Politics and People’ seminar of 2014… The final Parliaments seminar of term welcomed Eliza Hartrich from Magdalen College, Oxford. Eliza’s paper sought to cast new light on the way in which late mediaeval parliaments operated through examination of The Libelle of Englyshe Polycye: a poem in … Continue reading Parliaments, Politics and People seminar: Eliza Hartrich, ‘Influencing Parliament in 15th-century England: some observations on “The Libelle of Englyshe Polycye”‘
Review of the Year 2014
As 2014 comes to a close, it’s time for our annual review of all that has happened at the History of Parliament in another busy year! Our sections have been busy researching, revising and in some cases preparing for publication, but they’ve still had time to share some of their research with you. We explored what happened to MPs after the Battle of Bosworth; how … Continue reading Review of the Year 2014
Christmas Day in the Commons, 1656
For those of you still working in Christmas week, Dr Stephen Roberts, editor of the Commons 1640-60 section, discusses the Commons’ debates on Christmas day, 1656: still sitting, of course, and rather disappointed that the rest of the country seemed to have taken the day off… On Christmas day 1656, the second parliament of Oliver Cromwell’s protectorate met as usual to transact business. Some years … Continue reading Christmas Day in the Commons, 1656
Parliaments, Politics and People seminar: Priscila Pivatto & Emma Peplow, ‘MPs in their own words: the History of Parliament’s oral history project’
Our last ‘Parliaments, Politics and People’ seminar was an internal affair, as Priscila Pivatto and Emma Peplow spoke on the History of Parliament’s own national oral history project, which is recording MPs’ memories in their own words. We began by introducing the project and our progress so far (you can find out more here), before discussing some preliminary findings from our project for post-war British … Continue reading Parliaments, Politics and People seminar: Priscila Pivatto & Emma Peplow, ‘MPs in their own words: the History of Parliament’s oral history project’