Thomas Cromwell: A Revolutionary Life

by Diarmaid MacCulloch

Such by-elections were a necessary innovation in a Parliament which eventually sat over an extraordinary and unprecedented seven years. Yet this apparently minor piece of administrative creativity was also the outward sign of the momentous decision of the 1530s. In these years there was so much business of national importance and controversial character being transacted that it would have been foolish to impose it on the kingdom by royal fiat. Rather, it demanded the appearance of consensus, even initiative, from the highest assembly of the realm. As a result of this need, it was during the 1530s that the assembly of ‘commons’ became a ‘House’ with a status equal at least in terms of function to the Lords, and most legislation was introduced in the Commons. Soon afterwards in 1548 it acquired its own permanent chamber in the Palace of Westminster.29 Official propaganda and public pronouncements put out through these years fully exploited this rhetoric of consensus in a variety of ways, emphasizing the active role of Parliament in a manner with little precedent.