Proceedings in the Opening Session of the Long Parliament : House of Commons : 19 April-5 June 1641

Further debates on the continuation of the parliament, as well as the end of the impeachment of Lord Strafford, an attempt to rescue him, and his execution.

This volume contains the debates on the passage of the Act of Continuance that assured the parliament that it would not be adjourned, prorogued, or dissolved in conjunction with the Strafford business. On May 10th that act was passed by royal commission, as was the act of attainder against the Earl of Strafford, thus concluding with his impeachment trial and assuring the continuance of parliament. Strafford was beheaded on May 12th and the subsidy bill, providing further relief for the King's army, passed into law on the 13th. On May 11th, in between the passage of the attainder and the execution of Strafford, the Scottish treaty passed the Upper House. Debate on the treaty began in the lower House immediately and by June most of the articles had been hammered out. The conclusion and the passage of the treaty will be published in Volume V.
Also contained in Volume IV are the materials relating to a plot to gain control of a demoralized army and to attempt a rescue of Strafford. The extent of the "army plot" has to a certain extent remained a question in the minds of historians. The accounts in Volume IV will shed new light onthis puzzling matter.

Maija Jansson is Director of the Yale Center for Parliamentary History

Maija Jansson is Director of the Yale Center for Parliamentary History