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Barebone's Parliament, also known as the Little Parliament, the Nominated Assembly and the Parliament of Saints, came into being on 4 July 1653, and was the last attempt of the English Commonwealth to find a stable political form before the installation of Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector. It was an assembly entirely nominated by Oliver Cromwell and the Army's Council of Officers. It acquired its name from the nominee for the City of London, Praise-God Barebone. The Speaker of the House was Francis Rous. The total number of nominees was 140, 129 from England, five from Scotland and six from Ireland (see the list of MPs).
The assembly was inspired by the Jewish Sanhedrin. After conflict and infighting, on 12 December 1653 the members of the assembly voted to dissolve it. It was preceded by the Rump Parliament and succeeded by the First Protectorate Parliament.
Following the execution of King Charles, the Rump Parliament was the last remaining element of the English government. It had little or no claim to representation of the populace and held elections only to replace members. The mood of the country was for long-needed reforms to be carried out but the Rump made little progress. The enactment of a Navigation Act to aid merchants led to the First Anglo-Dutch War in 1652. There was an expectation that a new parliament should be called, however the Rump made no moves towards its dissolution.
The forced dissolution of the Rump Parliament on 20 April 1653 left a gap in the legislature, with no blueprint to fill it. Cromwell and the Council of Officers announced that they would be guided by God's providence in doing so: "as we have been led by necessity and Providence to act as we have done, even beyond and above our own thoughts and desires, so we shall... put ourselves wholly upon the Lord for a blessing".
On 29 April Cromwell set up a small Council of State of 13 members, responsible for foreign policy and administration of the country. Its establishment was announced the next day. The Council of Officers remained responsible for decisions about the new form of government. John Lambert argued in favour of lodging power in the hands of ten or twelve men. Thomas Harrison, drawing on his Fifth Monarchist beliefs, argued that their duty was to accelerate the coming of the kingdom of Christ by putting power into the hands of godly men. He put forward the idea of a larger assembly, preferably numbering seventy based on the Jewish Sanhedrin. The Council of Officers agreed on Harrison's model, raising the number of representatives to 140 to allow members from across England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
The Council of Officers then settled the question of how to select the group's representatives, agreeing that members should be chosen by the Council, all of whom were free to put forward nominations. Power would be vested in each member by Cromwell in his role as commander-in-chief of the army. Although there was negative reaction from some churches, with a member of a congregation in London declaring "the question is not so much now who is Independent, Anabaptist, etc....
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