The Unlearned Parliament also known as the Lawless Parliament, Parliament of Dunces or the Parliamentum Indoctorum is the term used for the 1404 parliament called by Henry IV of England at the Great Hall of the Benedictine monastery in Coventry, Warwickshire, so called because the king refused to allow lawyers to stand as members, with "No Sheriff to be returned, nor any apprentice or other person at law" due to the King claiming that they were "troublesome", although more likely simply because they were familiar with the law.
"Much ado there was; but to conclude, the worthy Archbishop (viz. Tho. Arundell) standing stoutly for the good of the Church, preserved it at that time from the storm impending."
During the Parliament, the House of Commons attempted to interfere with the running of the King's household, suggesting ways to spend less and to stop the bestowal of useless pensions, with the idea being that the Crown's holdings would be able to support the King's expenditure without draining the government's coffers.
This parliament is seen by many historians as the central reason that Richard le Scrope, the Archbishop of York, became disillusioned with the king, after not commenting on Henry's seizure of the throne and the execution of William le Scrope, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, a relative of his. Scrope rebelled in the spring of 1405, raising 8,000 men and 3 knights after a propaganda campaign before being captured by Ralph de Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland after disbanding his force per the terms of a truce. There is some evidence that the politically unsavvy Archbishop was manipulated throughout these events by Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland to legitimize his revenge campaign against Henry.
Famous quotes containing the words unlearned and/or parliament:
“There is virtue yet in the hoe and the spade, for learned as well as for unlearned hands. And labor is everywhere welcome; always we are invited to work.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“At the ramparts on the cliff near the old Parliament House I counted twenty-four thirty-two-pounders in a row, pointed over the harbor, with their balls piled pyramid-wise between them,—there are said to be in all about one hundred and eighty guns mounted at Quebec,—all which were faithfully kept dusted by officials, in accordance with the motto, “In time of peace prepare for war”; but I saw no preparations for peace: she was plainly an uninvited guest.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)