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The 6th Parliament of Queen Elizabeth I was summoned by 
By the 12 October 1586 a joint petition from both Houses of Parliament had been presented calling for Mary Stuart's execution. Elizabeth stalled as long as possible but finally signed the death warrant on 1 February 1587. Even then she belatedly attempted to call it back but by then Mary had been executed at
Acts of the Parliaments of Elizabeth I
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The 6th Parliament of Queen Elizabeth I was summoned by Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".
Eli ...
on 15 September 1586 and assembled on 15 October 1586.
Like both the 4th and 5th Parliaments of Elizabeth, the 6th Parliament was summoned as a result of yet another foiled Catholic plot to depose the Queen in favour of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots
Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567.
The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scot ...
. The Babington Plot
The Babington Plot was a plan in 1586 to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I, a Protestant, and put Mary, Queen of Scots, her Catholic cousin, on the English throne. It led to Mary's execution, a result of a letter sent by Mary (who had been imp ...
had been uncovered while the previous Parliament was prorogued for the Summer, the ringleaders executed and Mary removed to more secure quarters. As only Parliament were in a position to deal with the question of the execution of Mary, the deposed head of a foreign state, the previous Parliament was quickly dissolved and a new one summoned. Constituencies were urged to return the previous member and the previous Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir John Puckering
Sir John Puckering (1544 – 30 April 1596) was a lawyer and politician who served as Speaker of the House of Commons and Lord Keeper of the Great Seal from 1592 until his death.
Origins
He was born in 1544 in Flamborough, East Riding of Yor ...
, was reappointed. However, Queen Elizabeth herself was reluctant to take such extreme action against her own cousin and fellow monarch and absented herself from the State opening of the new Parliament.
By the 12 October 1586 a joint petition from both Houses of Parliament had been presented calling for Mary Stuart's execution. Elizabeth stalled as long as possible but finally signed the death warrant on 1 February 1587. Even then she belatedly attempted to call it back but by then Mary had been executed at Fotheringhay Castle
Fotheringhay Castle, also known as ''Fotheringay Castle'', was a High Middle Age Norman Motte-and-bailey castle in the village of Fotheringhay to the north of the market town of Oundle, Northamptonshire, England (). It was probably founde ...
on 8 February 1587.
Once Parliament had resumed sitting, the debate ill-advisedly turned towards matters of religious reform led by the Puritans Anthony Cope and Peter Wentworth
Sir Peter Wentworth (1529–1596) was a prominent Puritan leader in the Parliament of England. He was the elder brother of Paul Wentworth and entered as member for Barnstaple in 1571. He later sat for the Cornish borough of Tregony in 1578 an ...
, both of whom were immediately committed to the Tower for several weeks for ignoring Elizabeth I's ecclesiastical prerogative. After being advised to treat Puritans and sectaries as equal to Jesuits in their ability to undermine the stability of both church and realm the Commons eventually settled down to routine business, passing 10 bills and confirming the subsidy (funds voted to the crown for the administration of the realm) before its dissolution on 23 March 1587.
See also
Acts of the Parliaments of Elizabeth I
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List of parliaments of England
This is a list of parliaments of England from the reign of King Henry III, when the '' Curia Regis'' developed into a body known as Parliament, until the creation of the Parliament of Great Britain in 1707.
For later parliaments, see the Lis ...
References
* 1586 establishments in England 1586 in politics {{England-hist-stub