The Parliament of Devils was an English Parliament held at Coventry in the Benedictine Priory of St. Mary's.[1] The primary reason for calling the Parliament was to pass bills of attainder for high treason against Yorkist nobles following the Battle of Ludford Bridge.[2]
This was the 21st parliament summoned in the reign of King Henry VI of England. It was summoned on 9 October 1459 for its first meeting on 20 November 1459, where Sir Thomas Tresham, knight of the shire for Northamptonshire, was elected Speaker of the House of Commons.[3] The prominent figures condemned at this parliament were Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, who was not invited to Parliament, his sons Edward, Earl of March (the future King Edward IV) and Edmund, Earl of Rutland, as well as Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury, and his son, Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick.
The parliament was dissolved on 20 December 1459.[4]
References
- ^ Linda Clark, "On this Day: 20 November 1459, The 'Parliament of Devils' assembles at Coventry", History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 05 April 2021.
- ^ A. J. Pollard, The Wars of the Roses, second edn. (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2001), 23-24.
- ^ Handbook of British Chronology (London: Royal Historical Society, 1986), p. 570.
- ^ Handbook of British Chronology (London: Royal Historical Society, 1986), p. 570.
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| Key figures | | Monarchs | |
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Lancaster
Tudor
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- Margaret of Anjou, Queen of England
- Elizabeth Woodville, Queen of England4
- Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales
- Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset
- Edmund Beaufort, 4th Duke of Somerset
- John Beaumont, Viscount Beaumont
- Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset
- John Sutton, 1st Baron Dudley
- James Butler, Earl of Ormond
- John Butler, Earl of Ormond
- John Clifford, Baron Clifford
- John Courtenay, Earl of Devon
- Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter
- John Neville, Baron Neville2
- John Neville, Marquess of Montagu3
- Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick3
- Thomas Neville, Bastard of Fauconberg3
- Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland
- Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland
- Thomas Ros, Baron Ros
- Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham4
- Humphrey Stafford, Duke of Buckingham
- Thomas Stanley, Earl of Derby
- George Stanley, Baron Strange
- William Stanley4
- George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury
- John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury
- Andrew Trollope
- Thomas Clifford, 8th Baron Clifford
- James Tuchet, Baron Audley
- Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond
- Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke5
- Margaret Beaufort
- Owen Tudor
- Edward Woodville, Lord Scales
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York
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- Anne Neville, Queen of England
- John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln
- Thomas FitzGerald, Earl of Desmond
- William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke
- William Hastings, Baron Hastings
- John Howard, Duke of Norfolk
- Francis Lovell, Viscount Lovell
- John Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk
- Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury
- Sir Thomas Neville
- William Neville, Earl of Kent
- Sir Richard Herbert
- Edmund Plantagenet, Earl of Rutland
- George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence1
- Humphrey Stafford, Earl of Devon
- Margaret of York
- Richard of York
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| Events | |
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| See also | |
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1 Briefly joined the Lancastrians. 2 Briefly joined the Yorkists. 3 Defected from the Yorkist to the Lancastrian cause. 4 Initially a Yorkist who later supported the Tudor claim. 5 Initially a Lancastrian who later supported the Tudor claim.
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