ABSTRACT
During the first two sessions of the Long Parliament the House of Lords was the arbiter between the Crown and the House of Commons. As in 1626 and in 1628 both Crown and Commons appealed to it for support, and once more it endeavoured to mediate between the two. Its inability to effect a compromise led directly to the Civil War, and indirectly to the abolition of the House of Lords itself. In November, 1640, when the Long Parliament met, the Upper House consisted of about 150 members. There were two archbishops and twenty-four bishops, but as the Archbishop of York and two other bishops died within a few months after it began, and as the Archbishop of Canterbury was accused of high treason and sent to the Tower on December 19, the episcopal vote was usually under twenty.
