People and Parliament

People and Parliament offers a fresh and rounded perspective on the English Revolution of the 1640s. It uses detailed evidence to show how the economic requirement for parliament’s services, especially legislation, underpinned a demand for political change. It suggests that this took shape through a working “discourse” of ideas about the status of representative forms. The growing significance of the sovereign legislative function provided both the practical and philosophical impetus for parliament to assume a permanent place in political life.

“Yerby’s achievement then is to render an empirically informed reading of the realization of parliamentary sovereignty. Based upon archival research, Yerby’s investigation encompasses all orders of society and provides shrewd arguments that build to a logical climax. He strives mightily to reinstate the “English Revolution” as a cause rather than a consequence of civil war… Recommended.” —CHOICE