Why read The Parliament of England, 1559

Book cover of The Parliament of England, 1559–1581

Book description

This is a comprehensive account of the parliament of early modern England at work, written by the leading authority on sixteenth-century English, constitutional and political history. Professor Elton explains how parliament dealt with bills and acts, discusses the many various matters that came to notice there, and investigates its role…

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Topics

The Puritans

Genres

European history

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Parliament of England, 1559–1581 as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Coleman A. Dennehy

Author

In many ways this book is perhaps the culmination of Elton's considerable published output on parliament, and one where he vociferously defends his outlook on the early Elizabethan English parliament. It is notable that he does spend some time attacking his previous mentor and supervisor, Sir John Neale, in a way that some readers may find more harsh than necessary. Nevertheless, when discussing parliament, the 'puritan choir', and what Elton terms the 'myth of an opposition,' he is producing parliamentary history of the highest order with an insight and writing style that makes for a book that would be difficult…

From Coleman's list on The best books to understand how parliaments worked.