The house of commons 1386–1421 — a commentary

Abstract

Summary The data on the House of Commons and its members between 1386 and 1421 made available in the recently published volumes of the History of Parliament are analysed to throw new light on the structure of the representative system, the composition of the Commons, the background, status and experience of MPs and their relationship to their constituencies, the nature of election procedures and the vexed but inconclusive question of royal and noble interference. The years 1386–1421, with an assertive Commons dominated by the knights of the shires and with a sharply rising proportion of lawyer members, but still composed overwhelmingly of local men, can be seen as bringing the great developments in the history of parliament in the fourteenth century to a culmination.