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4 July 1653
The Barebones Parliament (also known as the Saints Parliament) meets. Having dissolved the Rump Parliament (see 20 April 1653), Oliver Cromwell and senior army officers select 144 MPs to represent England, Scotland and Ireland in a nominated assembly called the 'Barebones' Parliament – after Praise-God Barebone, a leather-seller and lay preacher who was chosen MP for London. After much squabbling, and unable to create a godly republic, the Barebones Parliament ends on 12 December, when the moderate majority walks out and hands power to Cromwell. — • — The members [of the Barebones Parliament] were to be mocked by Clarendon as 'inferior persons, of no quality or name, artificers of the meanest trades, known only by their gifts of preaching and praying.' From A Century of Troubles by Stevie Davies (Channel 4 Books) |
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