LONG PARLIAMENT, the name by which the fifth parliament summoned by Charles I is known. It met Nov. 3, 1640, and began its work by reversing all the tyrannical and illegal acts of the previous eleven years. It abolished the Star Chamber and High Commission, and secured itself by passing an act, that it could not be dissolved without its own consent. Colonel Pride drove ninety-six members, who were displeasing to the army, out of parliament, and the remnant, called the Rump, continued to sit till Cromwell turned them out in 1653. Richard Cromwell failing to maintain authority, the Rump was recalled. Of the 160 members who continued sitting after the king's death ninety returned to their seats. Proving again displeasing to the army, General Lambert turned them out. But there were dissensions among the officers of the army and these members of parliament were once more restored, as the only body in the country having any kind of authority. After issuing writs for a new election it dissolved itself March 16, 1660. Thus ended the Long Parliament, which twice expelled and twice restored, had lasted twenty years.

Source:

Beach, C. B., ed. The Student's Cyclopaedia. Vol I.
Chicago: C. B. Beach & Company, 1895. 714.

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Other Local Resources:

• Rump Parliament
  
• King Charles I
  
• Oliver Cromwell
  
• Richard Cromwell
  

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Web Links:

• The Long Parliament - Britannica
  

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