Preface tf:i:ifr(riyoi; THIS little book is not a history of parliament in the usual sense. No attempt is made to discuss obscure points of origins nor to do justice to certain thorny questions upon which reputable historians still disagree. It does include the main facts to be found in standard constitutional texts, and some of the more technical data, figures, and dates are supplied in notes and appendices for those who want them. It is addressed to students of college age, and may serve as collateral reading for college courses in English history or literature. It is hoped that it may also have some value for a wider reading public, including those interested in parliamentary government wherever it may be found in the world today. The purpose is fivefold: (i) to make available the valuable results of recent research scattered through learned monographs, essays, and review articles; (2) to give something of the flavor and points of view of the eras concerned by some quotation from the contemporary sources; (3) to bridge the division, usually too sharply made, between medieval and modern ;(4) to bring the men of law into the picture the legal historian who illuminates the subject by a special approach and the man of law in parliament who made many a practical as well as theoretical contribution; (5) last but not least, to bring parliaments even those of medieval times and their members to life, to dramatize, as it were, their personnel and activities. The period covered is roughly that of the late Middle A ges and early modern period: i.e.

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