Parliament of Devils

The Parliament of Devils was a session of the Parliament of England held at Coventry in the Benedictine Priory of St. Mary's.[1] The primary reason for summoning Parliament was to pass bills of attainder for high treason against Yorkist nobles following the Battle of Ludford Bridge.[2]

This was the 21st Parliament summoned in the reign of King Henry VI of England. It was summoned on 9 October 1459 for its first meeting on 20 November 1459, where Sir Thomas Tresham, knight of the shire for Northamptonshire, was elected Speaker of the House of Commons.[3] The prominent figures condemned at this Parliament were Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, who was not invited to Parliament, his sons Edward, Earl of March (the future King Edward IV) and Edmund, Earl of Rutland, as well as Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury, and his son, Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick.

The Parliament was dissolved on 20 December 1459.[4]

References

Linda Clark, "On this Day: 20 November 1459, The 'Parliament of Devils' assembles at Coventry", History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 05 April 2021.
A. J. Pollard, The Wars of the Roses, second edn. (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2001), 23-24.
Handbook of British Chronology (London: Royal Historical Society, 1986), p. 570.
Handbook of British Chronology (London: Royal Historical Society, 1986), p. 570.

Parliaments of medieval England

Thirteenth century

Henry III	Oxford, 1258 London, 1265
Edward I	Westminster, 1295

Fourteenth century

Edward II	Westminster, 1327
Edward III	Westminster, 1376 Westminster, 1377
Richard II	Westminster, 1386 Westminster, 1388

Fifteenth century

Henry IV	Westminster, 1399 Coventry, 1404
Henry V	Leicester, 1414
Henry VI	Leicester, 1426 Coventry, 1459

Sixteenth century

Henry VIII	Westminster, 1529–1536

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