Patriot Parliament

The Patriot Parliament is the name given to the session of the Irish Parliament called by King James II of Ireland during the War of the Two Kings in 1689. The parliament met in one session, from 7 May 1689 to 20 July 1689, and was the only session of the Irish Parliament under King James II.

The Irish House of Lords had Lord Fitton as Lord Chancellor of Ireland on the woolsack. The Irish House of Commons elected Sir Richard Nagle as its Speaker. The Lord Deputy of Ireland was Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell.

The previous session of the Irish parliament had been in 1666.

Name

The name "Patriot Parliament" was first used in 1893 by Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, an Irish nationalist historian, in his edition of essays by his old friend Thomas Davis.^[1][2] In 1843 Davis himself had described the parliament as a "patriot Senate" in his essay "The Irish Parliament of James II".^[3]

Legislation

The Act of Recognition was the first act of Parliament. It recognised James's right to the Imperial Crown of Ireland. It compared the usurpation by the Prince of Orange to the murder of James' father King Charles I, emphasized indefeasible hereditary rights, and asserted that the monarchy was founded on the Divine right of kings, not the result of any supposed contract between a king and his subjects.^[4]

The Declaratory Act affirmed that the Kingdom of Ireland had always been "distinct" from that of England, and that no Act of the English Parliament was binding on Ireland unless ratified by the Irish Parliament.^[5][6] However, Poynings' Law remained as statute law.^[7]

Parliament also passed legislation or resolutions for additional purposes:

• Liberty of Conscience. Parliament granted full freedom of worship and civic and political equality for Roman Catholics and Protestant Dissenters, and repealed the requirement of the Oath of Supremacy, but retained the Act of Uniformity. James sought the abolition of penalties against liberty of conscience but did not seek to remove himself as head of the Church of Ireland.^[8]
• Repeal of the 1652 Cromwellian land settlement, and the Act of Settlement 1662. This returned all lands forfeited in 1652 to the descendants of the former owners at the time of the Irish Rebellion of 1641.
• A Bill of attainder. "An Act for the Attainder of Divers Rebels, and for the Preserving the Interest of Loyal Subjects" named 2,000 Williamites as traitors, being opponents of James II, who were to lose their property and their lives.^[9][10]

Firth wrote that King James was opposed to the last two measures, but was "overborne by Tyrconnell and the Irish nationalists".

Composition

The Parliament was overwhelmingly Old English and Roman Catholic,^[15] however, Church of Ireland Bishops retained their place as the Lords Spiritual in the House of Lords. A number of members served in James' Irish Army in the ensuing Williamite War in Ireland, with several of them losing their lives during the fighting.

Later interpretation

That the Parliament had declared Ireland's autonomy was of interest to 19th century Irish nationalists, in particular the Young Irelander Thomas Davis^[21] who wrote a history of the parliament as an inspiration to his fellow countrymen.^[22]

References

• Members of Parliament at Dublin, 1689
• Act of Recognition
• Declaratory Act.

External links

• On-line text of "The Irish Parliament of James II" by TO Davis, 1843