Parliament of Devils
English parliament of 1459
The Parliament of Devils was a session of the Parliament of England held at Coventry in the Benedictine Priory of St. Mary's .[ 1] The primary reason for summoning 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 .
Key figures
Monarchs Lancaster Tudor
Margaret of Anjou, Queen of England
Elizabeth Woodville, Queen of England 4
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 Neville 2
John Neville, Marquess of Montagu 3
Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick 3
Thomas Neville, Bastard of Fauconberg 3
Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland
Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland
Thomas Ros, Baron Ros
Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham 4
Humphrey Stafford, Duke of Buckingham
Thomas Stanley, Earl of Derby
George Stanley, Baron Strange
William Stanley 4
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 Pembroke 5
Margaret Beaufort
Owen Tudor
Edward Woodville, Lord Scales
York
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 Clarence 1
Humphrey Stafford, Earl of Devon
Margaret of York
Richard of York
Events See also 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.