Barebones Parliament

Barebones Parliament. After Oliver Cromwell had forcibly suppressed the Rump Parliament (April 20th, 1653), an assembly was selected by his council of officers from lists furnished by the various churches to act as a legislature. England was represented by 132 members, Wales and Ireland by six each, and Scotland by five. Though generally spoken of as an assembly of fanatics, it included Blake, Montague, Monk, Ashley Cooper, and other influential persons. It met July 4th, 1653, and passed laws relaxing imprisonment for debt, permitting civil marriage, and abolishing tithes and the patronage of benefices. As the two latter measures would practically have disestablished the Church, a motion was brought forward unexpectedly and carried in the absence of most of the advanced party, that the members should resign their power to Cromwell. The dissentients were then expelled by soldiers. The name is derived from a prominent member, Praise-God Barbon, or Barebones, a leather-seller, of Fleet Street. The body is also sometimes called the "Assembly of Nominees." or the "Little Parliament."