Ireland under the Tudors, with a Succinct Account of the Earlier History. Vol. 1 (of 3)Bagwell, Richard
History
Ireland under the Tudors, with a Succinct Account of the Earlier History. Vol. 1 (of 3)
Bagwell, Richard
Ireland -- History -- 16th century
Under Edward II. Parliaments were frequent; and writs are extant which
show that he, as well as Edward III., intended them to be held annually.
Cases occur of bishops, priors, and temporal peers being fined for
non-attendance in this reign, and there is good reason to believe that
those who were summoned to Parliament generally came. In 1311 writs for a
Parliament to be held at Kilkenny were issued by the justiciary Wogan to
Richard, Earl of Ulster, and eighty-seven other men of name, to the
prelates and ecclesiastical magnates, and to the sheriffs. The sheriffs
were ordered to summon two knights from every county, and two citizens or
burgesses from every city or borough, who were to have full power to act
for their several communities in conjunction with the magnates, lay and
clerical. Owing probably to the shape which Bruce's invasion gave to the
English colony, the Parliaments of Edward III. are more strictly confined
to the districts where the King had real as well as nominal authority.
The murder of the last Earl of Ulster in 1333, and the conversion of the
De Burghs into Irishmen, almost completed the work of destruction which
Bruce had only just failed to effect. To the Parliament of 1360, the
Archbishops of Dublin and Cashel, the Bishops of Meath, Kildare, Lismore,
Killaloe, Limerick, Emly, Cloyne, and Ferns, and the Abbots of St. Mary's
and St. Thomas's at Dublin were the only prelates summoned. The Earls of
Kildare and Desmond and eight knights were called up by name. Writs for
the election of two knights were issued to the sheriffs of the counties
of Dublin, Carlow, Louth, Kildare, Waterford, Limerick, and Cork, and of
the crosses of Meath, Kilkenny, Wexford, and Tipperary; and to the
seneschals of the liberties of Kilkenny, Meath, Tipperary, and Wexford.
Writs for the election of citizens and burgesses were no longer directed
to the sheriffs, but the mayor and bailiffs of Dublin, Drogheda, Cork,
Waterford, and Limerick, the sovereign and bailiffs of Kilkenny and Ross,
and the provost and bailiffs of Clonmel and Wexford were ordered to
return two members each. The sheriff of Kildare and the seneschal of the
liberty of Kilkenny were told what individuals they were expected to see
elected. The House of Commons was then supposed to consist of
twenty-eight knights and twenty-four citizens and burgesses; but the
counties of Dublin and Carlow were 'justly excused' on account of the
war, and the members for Drogheda, who omitted to come, were summoned
before the Council under a penalty of 40_l._[42]
[Sidenote: Parliament of Kilkenny.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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