This article augments the List of parliaments of England to be found elsewhere (see link below) and to precede Duration of English, British and United Kingdom parliaments from 1660, with additional information which could not be conveniently incorporated in them. The definition of which bodies should be classified as parliaments becomes increasingly problematic before the accession of the Tudor monarchs, starting with King Henry VII. Different sources may vary in the number of Parliaments in a particular reign. The "No." columns in the tables below contain the number counting forward from the accession of particular monarchs of England before 1660 (or the Commonwealth and Protectorate regimes of the 1650s). The "-Plt" columns count backwards from the parliament elected in 2005. This is not the conventional way of numbering parliaments. The "Duration" column is calculated from the date of the first meeting of the parliament to that of dissolution, using a year-month-day format.

Origin of parliament

Parliament grew out of the Curia Regis, which was a body which advised the king on legislative matters. It had come into existence after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. It replaced the earlier Anglo-Saxon institution of the Witenagemot, which had a similar mix of important clerical and lay members, but different powers. The Curia Regis (known in English as the council or court) was composed of prominent church leaders (archbishops, bishops and some abbots) and the king's feudal tenants-in-chief (in effect the landowning aristocracy, the earls and barons). The point at which some meetings of the prelates and lay magnates became known as parliaments is difficult to define precisely. The term parliamentum was used in the general sense of a meeting at which negotiations took place. The word began to be used to refer to meetings of the council in the 1230s and 1240s. The earliest known official use was by the Court of King's Bench which in November 1236 adjourned a case to be heard at a parliamentum at Westminster due on the following 13 January. A meeting of the council was held at Merton Abbey in 1236. This gathering became known as the Parliament of Merton. It passed certain legislation, which constitutes the first entry in the official collection of the statutes of England, published in the nineteenth century. It may be that the meeting at Merton involved no innovation, but owes its prominence to the chance survival of some records which were copied into a collection of statutes from the second half of the fourteenth century. The list of parliaments in this article commences with a meeting in London in 1242, which was summoned in 1241. This again may not have represented any real innovation, but rather is given prominence by the chance survival of records. Powell and Wallis confirm that a copy of the writ of summons has survived, possibly the earliest still in existence. Dramatic political events at the meeting were recorded by the chronicler Matthew Paris, so it is known that the king asked for a tax, which the council (retrospectively dubbed a parliament) refused to grant. It is unlikely that the gathering was seen by contemporaries as any different from the similar meetings of the Curia Regis that had been held since the Conquest, but as a list of parliaments must start at some time this was the meeting chosen by the source from which this list is drawn.

List of parliaments from 1241

The English civil year started on 25 March until 1752. The years used in this article have been converted to the new style where necessary. Old style dates are a year earlier than the new style for dates between 1 January and 24 March. No attempt has been made to compensate for the eleven days which did not occur in September 1752, both in England and Scotland, as well as in other British controlled territories, when the day which followed 2 September was 14 September. This was done to bring Britain and its empire fully into line with the Gregorian calendar. There were some meetings before 1241 which are sometimes called parliaments, notably the Parliament of Merton in 1236. Early parliaments did not, so far as is known, include representatives of the communities (or commons) of England. They were composed of important church officials and landowners, whom the king summoned individually to advise him, similar to the group of men which eventually became known as the House of Lords. The sheriffs of the English counties were ordered to send knights of the shire to attend a number of parliaments before 1265, but they were not required to have them chosen by election. No such summonses are known to have required the attendance of citizens of cities or burgesses of other boroughs. Records of this sort of summons survive for the Oxford Parliament, which was the seventh parliament of King Henry III, assembled 27 October 1258 and presumed dissolved when writs de expensis were issued on 4 November 1258, and for the same king's sixteenth parliament, summoned on 4 June 1264 and assembled on 22 June 1264, although the date of dissolution is unknown. Montfort's Parliament of 1265 was the first parliament of England to include representatives chosen by the counties (or shires), the cities, and the boroughs, groups who eventually became the House of Commons, although to begin with Lords and Commons met all together, In 1320 it became the invariable practice to summon the Commons to Parliament. If the Commons were not summoned to an early parliament, this is indicated in a footnote. The normal place for parliaments to meet was in Westminster. If a different location is known, it is indicated in a note. Unusual features of the dates of summons, attendance or dissolution of a parliament are included in a note.

Parliaments of King Henry III

King Henry III reigned between 18/19 October 1216 and 16 November 1272. Notes:-

Parliaments of King Edward I

King Edward I reigned between 20 November 1272 – 7 July 1307. Notes:-

Parliaments of King Edward II

King Edward II reigned between 7 July 1307 – 20 January 1327. Notes:-

Parliaments of King Edward III

King Edward III reigned between 25 January 1327 – 21 June 1377. Notes:-

Parliaments of King Richard II

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Parliaments of King Henry IV

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Parliaments of King Henry V

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Parliaments of King Henry VI

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Parliaments of King Edward IV

Parliament of King Richard III

Parliaments of King Henry VII

Parliaments of King Henry VIII

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Parliaments of King Edward VI

Parliaments of Queen Mary I

Parliaments of Queen Elizabeth I

Parliaments of King James I

Parliaments of King Charles I

''The Long Parliament, which commenced in this reign, had the longest term and the most complex history of any English Parliament. The entry in the first table below relates to the whole Parliament. Although it rebelled against King Charles I and continued to exist long after the King's death, it was a Parliament he originally summoned. An attempt has been made to set out the different phases of the Parliament in the second table in this section and in subsequent sections. The phases are indicated by a letter in the -Plt column (in the case of these phases they all share the same -Plt number, which is used in the first table of this section, so the column is available to set out the letter for the phases moving forward from 1640) and are explained in a note.'' Note:-

The Long Parliament (Royalist phases)

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Parliaments of the Revolution and Commonwealth

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Parliaments of the Protectorate

These parliaments included representatives of Scotland and Ireland. Note:-

Parliaments of the Commonwealth

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List of Parliaments: 1660 back to 1364

''Preliminary note: The English civil year started on 25 March until 1752 (Scotland having changed to 1 January in 1600). The years used in this article have been converted to the new style where necessary. Old style dates would be a year earlier than the new style for days between 1 January and 24 March. No attempt has been made to compensate for the eleven days which did not occur in September 1752 in both England and Scotland, when the day after 2 September was 14 September), so as to bring the dating in Great Britain and its associated territories fully into line with the Gregorian calendar.

Parliaments 1504-1660

Notes: -

Parliaments 1400-1497

Notes:-

Parliaments to 1399