The Oxford Parliament (also known as the King's Oxford Parliament or Mongrel Parliament) was the Parliament assembled by King Charles I for the first time 22 January 1644 and adjourned for the last time on 10 March 1645, with the purpose of instrumenting the Royalist war campaign.
Charles was advised by Edward Hyde and others not to dissolve the Long Parliament as this would violate the statute of 1641 which said that Parliament could not be dissolved without its own consent. So all members of the Long Parliament were summoned by King Charles to assemble for a session of Parliament to be held at Christ Church Hall, Oxford. 82 peers, which was most of the House of Lords and 175 commoners which was about one-third of the House of Commons heeded the summons and came.
The Parliament met a number of times during the English Civil War and was seen by Charles as a way of raising revenue. However some of the members defected back to Westminster because they did not like his alliance with Irish Catholics and others argued strongly for a negotiated peace with the Long Parliament in Westminster Hall.
The first session lasted from January 22, 1644 until April 16, 1644. The second session was from October 8, 1644 until March 10, 1645.
Not much is known of its proceedings because all its records were burnt just before Oxford fell to Parliamentary forces in 1646.
Famous quotes containing the words oxford and/or parliament:
“I wonder anybody does anything at Oxford but dream and remember, the place is so beautiful. One almost expects the people to sing instead of speaking. It is all ... like an opera.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Undershaft: Alcohol is a very necessary article. It heals the sick—Barbara: It does nothing of the sort. Undershaft: Well, it assists the doctor: that is perhaps a less questionable way of putting it. It makes life bearable to millions of people who could not endure their existence if they were quite sober. It enables Parliament to do things at eleven at night that no sane person would do at eleven in the morning.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)