Week 9
Parliament is one of the three great achievements of the Middle Ages: parliaments, universities, and monasteries. All European nations tried to build parliaments, but only England entered into the seventeenth century with a parliament healthy enough to challenge inevitable monarchical overreach. Spain lost hers in the terrible dynastic wars that ripped Iberia apart. France lost hers to the insatiable appetite of the Bourbon kings. Thus by the late seventeenth century only England still had a working effective parliament. The builders of this great achievement were the Medieval kings who came after Henry II and it included the Henrys (II, III, IV & V) and the Edwards (I, and III). Then in the Tudor era, Parliament moved into real live form during the crisis of the "divorce." Henry needed a divorce and Parliament could give it to him: for a price. He accepted the bargain reluctantly, and then regretted it immediately. But it was too late. And his prime minister was maneuvering all the time in the background to bring about exactly this outcome. Cromwell paid the ultimate price. And we all won the prize.
RECOMMENDED READING:
The Origins of the English Parliament, 924-1327,
Oxford University Press, USA; 1 edition (April 7, 2012),
ISBN 0199645345