The Form of Apology and Satisfaction

The Form of Apology and Satisfaction

The Form of Apology and Satisfaction of 1604 was a document drawn up by a House of Commons committee protesting against King James I's handling of recent political issues.

For a variety of reasons King James I had upset many in the House of Commons in his first Parliament. These included issues over the Court of Chancery's decision to deny Sir Francis Goodwin's place in the Commons, the imprisonment of Sir Thomas Shirley and the Bishop of Bristol's book favouring the King's ideas on a union between England and Scotland. The document claimed that James, a foreign king, was ignorant of the Commons' "privileges and liberties" and that, the document purported, were their "right and due inheritance, no less than our very lands and goods."

A Commons' committee of more than seventy members was appointed on June 1, on Sir Thomas Ridgeway's suggestion, to "take a survey of all the Acts and proceedings of the House, which have been excepted unto, or whereof any misinformation hath been given unto his Majesty, from the beginning of the session..." Approximately a fortnight later the committee had drawn up the document "to be presented to his Majesty" and on June 20 Ridgeway presented the draft to the Commons. Francis Bacon, who was a member of the committee, spoke against it. The document met opposition in the Commons, including committee members, and many doubted whether it was wise to present it to the King due to its tone and its claims. Parliament was prorogued on July 7 and the document was not debated again. The clerk requested to transcribe proceedings into the "Commons' Journal" and copied the document for half a page and left several sheets blank without completing it. The document was never passed by the Commons and therefore would not have been formally presented to the King.

Historiography

Early historians who wrote about this period, like Thomas Carte and David Hume, do not mention this document. In the nineteenth century Whig historians Henry Hallam and Samuel Rawson Gardiner claimed this document was a precursor of the battles between Charles I and Parliament and that from this point onwards the Commons was in constant conflict with the monarchy until the Glorious Revolution of 1688 settled the conflict over the constitution. Geoffrey Rudolph Elton in 1965 criticised this traditional interpretation of the document by claiming that its viewpoints represented a minority opinion which was rejected by the Commons as being too extreme and that the constitution was much the same as it was under the Tudors.

References

*G. R. Elton, "Studies in Tudor and Stuart Politics and Government: Volume II" (CUP, 1974).
*H. Hallam, "The Constitutional History of England" (1827).
*S. R. Gardiner, "History of England from the Accession of James I to the Outbreak of the Civil War, 1603-1642" (1883).

External links

* [http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst201/ApologySatis.htm Text of the document]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • The Bollandists —     The Bollandists     † Catholic Encyclopedia ► The Bollandists     An association of ecclesiastical scholars engaged in editing the Acta Sanctorum. This work is a great hagiographical collection begun during the first years of the seventeenth… …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • The Church in China —     The Church in China     † Catholic Encyclopedia ► The Church in China     Ancient Christians     The introduction of Christianity into China has been ascribed not only to the Apostle of India, St. Thomas, but also to St. Bartholomew. In the… …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda link allegations timeline — The Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda timeline below list allegations of meetings, all but one now discounted, denied or disproven by the United States Government, between al Qaeda members and members of Saddam Hussein s government, as well as other… …   Wikipedia

  • Socrates and the beginnings of moral philosophy — Hugh H.Benson INTRODUCTION Cicero in Tusculan Disputations famously tells us that Socrates first called philosophy down from the sky, set it in cities and even introduced it into homes, and compelled it to consider life and morals, good and evil …   History of philosophy

  • Plato: ethics and politics — A.W.Price I Plato followed his teacher Socrates into ethics by way of a question that remained central in Greek thought: what is the relation between the virtues or excellences (aretai) of character, and happiness (eudaimonia)?1 Both concepts… …   History of philosophy

  • PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE — CIVIL Court Sessions The courts of three (judges) exercising jurisdiction in civil matters (see bet din ) held their sessions during the day, but – following Jethro s advice to Moses that judges should be available at all times (Ex. 18:22) – they …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Plato: aesthetics and psychology — Christopher Rowe Plato’s ideas about literature and art and about beauty (his ‘aesthetics’) are heavily influenced and in part actually determined by his ideas about the mind or soul (his ‘psychology’).1 It is therefore appropriate to deal with… …   History of philosophy

  • Hierarchy of the Early Church — • The word hierarchy is used here to denote the three grades of bishop, priest, and deacon (ministri) Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Hierarchy of the Early Church     Hierarchy of the Early Church …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Confession in the Lutheran Church — For general confession in the Lutheran Church, see Penitential Rite. Not to be confused with Church of the Lutheran Confession. Private Absolution ought to be retained in the churches, although in confession an enumeration of all sins is not… …   Wikipedia

  • Extraordinary rendition by the United States — Extraordinary Rendition redirects here. For the 2007 film, see Extraordinary Rendition (film). Extraordinary rendition (or irregular rendition) is the abduction and illegal transfer of a person from one nation to another.[1] Torture by proxy is… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”