The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the politics and the business functions of the House of Lords between 1660 and 1681. This is a subject which has been neglected by historians. This dissertation is 98,500 words in length and consists of an introduction, eight chapters, a conclusion and three appendices. In. the Introduction the aims of the study, together with the manuscript sources used are discussed. Chapter 1 is concerned with the composition of the House, the Lords' attendance record and the nature of their parliamentary privileges. In Chap-er 2 the peers' legislative duties are examined, and it is argued that the House of Lords made an important contribution to the legislation of Charles II's reign. Chapter 3 examines the Lords' role as the supreme court, and suggests that the peers carried out their judicial duties in a fair and responsible manner. The theme of Chapter 4 is the close relationship between Charles II and his Upper House. In this chapter it is argued that the House was not a rubber-stamp for royal policies. Chapter 5 analyses the religious views of the peers and shows how these influenced the content of the religious legislation considered in the Chamber. It also argues that the House of Lords was far more tolerant on religious issues than the Cavalier House of Commons. Chapters 6 and 7 focus on the development of coherent political parties in the House during the mid 1670s. In these two chapters it is argued that the Court and Country parties, which emerged in response to important religious issues, were remarkably similar to the later Whig and Tory parties of the Exclusion Crisis (1679-81). The final Chapter discusses why the parliamentary history of the reign was so frequently punctuated by privilege disputes between the Lords and the Commons. Finally, in the Conclusion the Lords' role in Restoration government is assessed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:509938 |
| Date | January 1985 |
| Creators | Swatland, Andrew |
| Publisher | University of Birmingham |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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