522 



ProcetcUufjs of the Royal Irish Acadennj. 



whose "frowardness and obstinacy" were feelingly deplored by Grey in 

 his letter to the King. The Deputy referred the matter to the Judges, 

 who reported that the Proctors had no voice in Parliament, and that, even 

 were it otherwise, their assent was not essential, since the rolls showed 

 that several Acts had passed into law, notwithstanding that it was- 

 recorded that " procuratores cleri non consenserunt."^ In accordance 

 with this opinion of the Judges, a bill against Proctors to be any 

 member of Parliament,"' was submitted in the second session, when it 

 was enacted that Proctors should have no voice or account in any 

 proceedings in Parliament, and that they should not in future " be 

 accepted, reputed, deemed or taken as parcel or any member of the 

 said Parliament, but only as counsellors to the same." 



The important Parliament called in the 33rd year of Henry YIII. 

 by Sir Anthony St. Leger is the first of the Tudor Parliaments of 

 whose formal gathering any satisfactory account survives. The Deputy 

 himself sent a long description of its assembling to Henry YIII. From 

 this paper we learn many interesting details, list of the members 

 of this Parliament is forthcoming ; but in recounting the proceedings 

 in connexion with the passing of the Act conferring the title of King 

 of Ireland on the English monarch and his successors, St. Leger gives us 

 some idea of its composition. On the occasion of his expressing the royal 

 assent to that measure, there were present, St. Leger tells us, 

 ''2 Earls, 3 Yicomtes, 16 Barons, 2 Archbishops, 12 Bishops, Donnoghe 

 O'Brien, and the Doctor O'Xolan and a Bishop, Deputies assigned by 

 the Greate O'Brien to be for him in the Parliament, the great Orayly, 

 with many other Irishe capytains ; and the Common House, wherein 

 are divers knights, and many gentlemen of faier possessions. "^ Else- 

 where in the same letter, the Deputy notes the formalities observed at 

 the assembling of the Parliament, the procession of the members of 

 both Houses to Saint Patrick's on the occasion of the proclamation 

 of Henry YIII. as king of Ireland, and the earlier procession to 

 Christ Church, " the like of which hath not been seen here of many 

 yeres."^ 



Even more interesting than these matters are the references in 

 St. Leger's report to the office of Speaker, and the formalities 

 attending his election to the Chair. In Tudor times in England, as 



1 Grey and Brabazon to Crom^vell, May 18, 1537. State Fapers, Henry VIII., 

 vol. II., pt. iii., p. 438. 



2 Statute 28th Henry YIII., cap. 12. 



3 State Fapers, Henry YIII., vol. iii., iii., 304-5. 



