House of Commons, 1461-1504

The House of Commons 1461-1504 project continues the work of the 1422-61 section, published in 2020. The project focuses on the Membership of the English Commons during the core years of the Wars of the Roses, and will, on completion, provide a key resource for political, social and local historians. Our knowledge of the Membership of the lower house of Parliament in the period is limited, with more or less full lists of Members available for just four assemblies convened between 1461 and 1504. To this, we can add names drawn from local records which offer a more complete picture for a number of urban constituencies.

We are currently producing biographical profiles of some 1,300 men who sat in the Commons, along with detailed local histories of the 148 constituencies they represented. The articles we are drafting provide fascinating insights into the politics of the period, but also cover a wide range of other subjects such as religious practices, trade and book ownership.