The Good Parliament is the name traditionally given to the English Parliament of 1376. Sitting in London from April 28 to July 10, it was the longest Parliament up until that time.
It took place during a time when the English court was perceived by much of the English population to be corrupt, and its traditional name was due to the sincere efforts by its members to reform the government. It had a formidable enemy, however, in John of Gaunt, fourth son of Edward III and the effective ruler of England at the time.
The following autumn, John of Gaunt attempted to undo its work. He barred the admission of the new councillors assigned to the king. He threw Peter de la Mare into prison at Nottingham. He dismissed the new council and recalled Latimer. Alice of Perrers was restored to the company of the king. John also attacked William of Wykeham.
Once the members were assembled, they were determined to clean up the corrupt Royal Council. Peter de la Mare, a knight of the shire representing Herefordshire, had been elected as Speaker by the House of Commons, and on the first day he delivered an address criticising England's recent military failures, condemning the corruption at court, and calling for close scrutiny of the royal accounts. Richard Lyons (Warden of the Mint) and Lord Latimer, who were believed to be robbing the treasury, were called before Parliament and then imprisoned. Latimer's impeachment is the earliest recorded in Parliament. The king's mistress, Alice Perrers, was called and condemned to seclusion.
John of Gaunt raised the question of the Salic law, which was the basis for the French case against Edward III's claim to the Crown of France, suggesting that the English follow the French custom, but was unable to sway the assembly to his point of view.
Meanwhile, the eldest prince of the realm, Edward the Black Prince, was dying. Having taken a house in London, he summoned both Edward III and John of Gaunt and made them swear to recognise his son, the future Richard II, as successor to Edward. Both John and the King swore to recognise Richard, and soon after Parliament summoned Richard and acknowledged him as heir to the throne. The members were swayed by the immense prestige of Prince Edward, the country's greatest military hero at the time.
Parliament then imposed a new set of councillors on the king: Edmund Mortimer, the Earl of March; William Courtenay, Bishop of London; and William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester.
Parliament was dissolved in July.
Once the members were assembled, they were determined to clean up the corrupt Royal Council. Peter de la Mare, a knight of the shire representing Herefordshire, had been elected as Speaker by the House of Commons, and on the first day he delivered an address criticising England's recent military failures, condemning the corruption at court, and calling for close scrutiny of the royal accounts. Richard Lyons (Warden of the Mint) and Lord Latimer, who were believed to be robbing the treasury, were called before Parliament and then imprisoned. Latimer's impeachment is the earliest recorded in Parliament. The king's mistress, Alice Perrers, was called and condemned to seclusion.
John of Gaunt raised the question of the Salic law, which was the basis for the French case against Edward III's claim to the Crown of France, suggesting that the English follow the French custom, but was unable to sway the assembly to his point of view.
Meanwhile, the eldest prince of the realm, Edward the Black Prince, was dying. Having taken a house in London, he summoned both Edward III and John of Gaunt and made them swear to recognise his son, the future Richard II, as successor to Edward. Both John and the King swore to recognise Richard, and soon after Parliament summoned Richard and acknowledged him as heir to the throne. The members were swayed by the immense prestige of Prince Edward, the country's greatest military hero at the time.
Parliament then imposed a new set of councillors on the king: Edmund Mortimer, the Earl of March; William Courtenay, Bishop of London; and William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester.
Parliament was dissolved in July.
In 1377, John had another parliament convene, the Bad Parliament. John had the Good Parliament declared unconstitutional and its acts removed from the books. Despite this, the public treasured the memory of the reforming parliament, and bestowed upon it the name of the Good Parliament.
Rise of the Commons
Edward III came to the throne in 1327, and from that point the representatives of the counties (knights of the shire) and of the towns (burgesses) became a permanent part of Parliament. After 1332 they sat together in one chamber and were known as the House of Commons. After 1341 these Commons deliberated separately from the King and his nobles.
Edward III also stated his resolution that a Parliament should be summoned annually, and between 1327 and 1485 there were only 42 years in which a Parliament did not meet.
With increasing regularity during the 14th century, the Lords and particularly the Commons acted on a sense that they should have an active say in government, instead of merely consenting to the taxation decisions of the King.
By 1376 people were getting tired of the elderly Edward III's rule, and the influence of his favourites. In the Parliament of that year the Commons chose Sir Peter de la Mare to act as its spokesman before the King in joining its complaints with that of the Lords.
De la Mare was thus the forerunner of the office of Speaker of the House of Commons - a member selected by the Commons to chair its business and represent its views. The following year Thomas Hungerford was the first spokesman to be termed Speaker in the official record.
The Parliament of 1376 was called the Good Parliament. This was because the Commons prosecuted before the nobles some of the King's corrupt ministers, a process known as impeachment. This became a frequent procedure over the following years as Parliament turned against Edward III's successor Richard II.
In the Parliament of 1386, called the Wonderful Parliament, the Commons forced Richard II to dismiss his Lord Chancellor, whom it then impeached as well.
Two years later [1388] the Merciless Parliament condemned to death the former Lord Chancellor and other royal officials, and in October 1399, Parliament (packed with supporters of Henry Bolingbroke, the future Henry IV) deposed Richard II by a trial and process, in an assembly which met at Westminster.
