ASPECTS OF BRITISH HISTORY
In fact, the idea of
getting rid of the House of Lords, still a real question in British politics today, was
first suggested in the sixteenth century.
The old system of representation in the Commons, with two men from each
county and two from each town, remained the rule.
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Under the Stuarts
Monarchy Abolished
In the seventeenth century economic power moved even faster into the hands of
the merchant and landowning classes. In return for their money (taxes) they
demanded political power. The Stuart kings James I and Charles I 6 ignored
Parliament. The latter prevented it from meeting for 11 years and finally dissolved it
(1642). The conflict led to the Civil War. Charles I was tried and executed (1649).
The monarchy and the House of Lords were abolished. The leader of the
parliamentary army, Oliver Cromwell7, became ‘Lord Protector’ of a republic with a
military government.
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