Northamp-
ton, and
Lincoln.
Parliaments
at Winches-
ter,
S. Ed-
mund’s,
Leicester,
Coventry,
Reading,
400 Constitutional History. [chap.
distinction to York come Northampton and Lincoln, at each of
which four parliaments have sat. the central position of
Northampton had made it a favourite council ground with
Henry II; Edward II held his first parliament there in 1307 ;
EdwardllIfollowed the example in 1328 and 1338; and in
1380 the parliament which voted the famous poll tax met at
the same place ɪ ; the lords sat in a great chamber, the commons
in the new dormitory of the priory of S. Andrew2. The four
parliaments of Lincoln belong to the years 130x, ɪɜɪð, an,I
1327 3; the first session of 1316 was opened in the hall of the
deanery, and the lords sat in the chapter-house of the cathedral
and at the convent of the Carmelites4. Three parliaments were
held at Winchester, one in 1330, when Edmund of Woodstock
was beheaded, one in 1393, and a third in 1449, when the
plague was at Westminster. Besides these a supplementary
great council was held at Winchester in 13715. Bury
S. Edmund’s witnessed two famous sessions, one in 1296, when
archbishop Winchelsey produced the bull clerieis Iaicos ; the
other in 1447 marked by the death of duke Humfrey; the par-
liament was opened in the refectory of the abbey6. Leicester
saw three parliaments, one under Henry V in 1414, when the
lords sat in the great hall of the Grey Friars, and the commons
in the infirmary of the same convent : another session was held
there in 1426, ‘the parliament of bats,’ when the lords sat
in the great hall of the castle, and the commons in a lower
chamber; a third session was held by prorogation in 14go7.
At Coventry in 1404 the unlearned parliament sat in the great
chamber of the prior’s house; and in 1459, in the chapter-
house, the Lancastrian party attainted the duke of York8.
Reading had two sessions, one in 1453, when Henry VI was
insane, the other in 1467, when the plague was raging: on the
first occasion the refectory was used, on the second a great
1 See above, vol. ii. pp. 330, 390, 398, 470. 2 Rot. Parl. iii. 88.
s See above, vol. ii. pp. 167, 355, 388. i Rot. Parl. ɪ. 350.
s See above, vol. ɪi. pp. 391, 507, 443; vol. iii. p. 147.
6 See above, vol. ii. p. 136 ; iii. p. 140 ; Rot. Parl. v. 128.
7 See above, pp. 83, 106, 154; Rot. Parl. ɪv. 15, 16, 295; v. 192.
8 See above, pp. 47, 184; Rot. Parl. iii. 545 ; v. 345.
XX.] -I-iaU of Meeting. 401
chamber in the abbey1. There were two parliaments at Salis- Salisbury,
bury, one in 1328 and one in 1384; the latter in the great
hall of the bishop’s palace2. Gloucester also was the seat of Gloucester,
parliament in 1378, when John of Gaunt feared to meet the «here.
Londoners, and in 1407; in 1378 the lords sat in the great
hall of the abbey, the commons in the chapter-house ; in 1407
the commons occupied the refectory3. Carlisle, Nottingham,
Cambridge, and Shrewsbury, each saw one session; Carlisle
witnessed the famous parliament of 1307 ; at Nottingham in
x336 Edward III obtained supplies for beginning the French
war; the commission of government in 1388 held a legislative
session at Cambridge4, and at Shrewsbury in 1398 Lichard II
carried into execution his scheme of absolute government. The
inference from this long list is that the liberties of England
were safest at Westminster.
415. Within the prescriptive or customary limits the deter- Tiæchoicc
t ∙r ɪ , of ^lβ
Biination of the time and place for holding parliaments was left of meeting
, . . , , determined
to the king himself ; the constitutional law being amply satis- by the king
tied by an annual session. As the greater development of the
executive functions of the royal council agrees in point of time
with the recognised development of the representative system,
the choice of time and place as well as the preparation of
financial and legal agenda was almost from the first a part of
the business of the council. The order for affixing the great
seal to the writs of summons was given by sign manual or writ
of privy seal to the clerk of the crown in chancery who issued
the writs. The advice of the council is specified in the writ of
summons from the forty-sixth year of Edward III5. Until the
1 See above, pp. 168, 210; Rot. Part. v. 227, 619.
2 See above, vol. ii. pp. 390, 488 ; Rot. Parl. iii. 166.
3 See above, vol. ii. p. 467 ; iii. 61 ; Rot. Parl. iii. 32, 608.
4 The Cambridge parliament is said to have been held at Barnwell
u here the king lodged; Cooper, Annals of Cambridge, i. 135. The
parliament of 1447 which met at S. Edmund’s was in the first instance
summoned to Cambridge. *
5 ‘ Quia de avisamento Consilii nostri,’ &c. ; Coke, 4 Inst. p. 4 ; Lords’
Report, iv. 653.- The earlier writs begin generally ‘ Quia super ’diversis
etarduis negotiis,’ &c. ; ib. p. 318, &c. The"notes ‘per breve de private
sigillé;’ ib. pp. 64, 205, &c.; or ‘per ipsum regem et consilium,’ pp 397
416, &c., often appear in the margin of the writ. ‘Per ipsum re<>∙em,
means that the writ is sealed by the king’s sign manual or order under
VOL. III. D d