Contents

11.1 A Peculiar Constitutional History............................................................................................. 288

11.2 The Origins of Assembly-Based Government.........................................................................

11.2.1 From the Germanic Kingdoms to the Feudal Stage.................................................. 289

11.2.2 The Westminster Parliament Appears....................................................................... 291

11.2.3 The Political Consolidation of Parliament................................................................ 293

11.3 Parliament and the Absolutism of the Tudors.......................................................................... 294

11.4 Dynastic Change and the Triumph of Parliament: The Two English Revolutions

of the Seventeenth Century......................................................................................................... 296

11.4.1 The Kings of Scotland on the English Throne: The Stuarts...................................... 296

11.4.2 The First English Revolution: Oliver Cromwell and the Only “Republic”

in English History............................................................................................................................... 297

11.4.3 The Appearance of Political Parties.......................................................................... 297

11.4.4 The Second (and Last) English Revolution (1688)................................................... 298

11.4.5 The Religious Issue and the Transformation of England’s Constitutional

Framework........................................................................................................................................... 300

11.5 The Emergence of the United Kingdom and the Consolidation of Parliamentary

Preeminence................................................................................................................................ 301

11.6 The Rise of the Hanover Dynasty and the Formation of the Parliamentary Regime. 302

11.6.1 Robert Walpole and the Linguistic Origins of the Parliamentary Regime... 302

11.6.2 The Consolidation of the “Parliamentary System”................................................... 303

11.6.3 The Democratization of the Parliamentary System (1832-1928).............................. 306

11.6.4 The Consolidation of the Legislative Superiority of the House of Commons:

The Parliament Act (1911)................................................................................................................... 308

11.6.5 The Legislative Recognition of the Prime Minister (1937)...................................... 308

References............................................................................................................................................ 311

11.1