The New International Encyclopædia/Rump Parliament

RUMP PARLIAMENT. The name given in English history to the remnant of the Long Parliament after the expulsion of the Presbyterian members by a body of soldiers under Thomas Pride (q.v.), on December 6, 1648. This remnant, fifty or sixty members belonging to the Independent Party, nominated a High Court of Justice of 135 members — of whom one-half refused to serve — to try the King for high treason. After the King's execution, the Rump abolished the House of Lords and established the Commonwealth, itself playing the role of Parliament, though it was in no sense representative. It sent Cromwell to establish its authority in Ireland and Scotland, passed the Navigation Act (1651), and began the Dutch war (1652). Cromwell dissolved it by force on April 20, 1653. During the disorders which followed Cromwell's death, the Rump was restored by the army. May 7, 1659, but upon its quarreling with the military leaders, was again dissolved, October 13th, only to be recalled in December of the same year. On February 21, 1660, Monk recalled the Presbyterian members who had been expelled by Pride's Purge, and the Long Parliament, thus restored, issued writs for a new free Parliament and voted its own dissolution on March 16, 1660. See bibliography under Long Parliament.