Five members and Five Members: Difference between pages
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Revision as of 11:11, 4 April 2013
The Five Members were the five Members of Parliament whom in an historically notorious and significant breach of the unwritten English Constitution King Charles I (1625-1649) sent his soldiers to arrest by forcing entry into the House of Commons on 4 January 1642, during the sitting of the Long Parliament:
Repercussions
The king's soldiers were unable to make their arrests as the Five Members had left the chamber apparently due to having received intelligence of the action. On the king's questioning the Speaker of the House of Commons, William Lenthall, he replied: "May it please your Majesty, I have neither eyes to see nor tongue to speak in this place but as this House is pleased to direct me, whose servant I am here; and humbly beg your Majesty's pardon that I cannot give any other answer than this to what your Majesty is pleased to demand of me". The action of the king was the vatalyst for the Civil War, the beheading of the king, and the rule of Oliver Cromwell