ABSTRACT
The part which Parliament played in political affairs did not depend on it being a representative institution, although it is true that from the latter part of the fourteenth century onwards elected members began to play an increasingly active part in its deliberations. In much writing on English constitutional development, stress has been laid on the growth of representative government, and the main theme in the history of Parliament has been the emergence of the House of Commons as the dominant element within it. The most marked difference between late medieval and modern Parliaments lay in their centre of gravity. In the Tudor period Parliament became increasingly willing to comply with the King's wishes in fiscal matters, even granting retrospective approval to other forms of tax, such as benevolences and forced loans, which had been taken between meetings and therefore without prior parliamentary agreement.
