Parliament 427
meet so often, and annual Parliaments came nearer to being
the rule in the long reign of Edward III. The sessions
remained short; the knights and burgesses especially felt
it a burden to be called from home, where they had im-
portant concerns which these trips to Westminster badly
disturbed. But as the political importance of Parliament
grew and it was found that things could be done there of
use to the representatives and their constituents as well
as to the king, richer men were returned from both county
and borough, and they were not in such a hurry to get
home. Also the scheme of voting taxes for more than one
year began to be used in the reign of Edward III.; and
before the end of the fourteenth century, it was found that
a Parliament might on occasion be prorogued instead of
dissolved, thus making it unnecessary to have a new elec-
tion for every new session. For these reasons, annually
elected Parliaments ceased. Sovereigns never seem to
have felt obliged to adhere strictly to the statutes requir-
ing them, and in the fifteenth century these fourteenth-
century statutes, though still unrepealed, were unheeded.
The frequency of new Parliaments and the frequency and
length of sessions came to be determined almost wholly
by the circumstances and needs of the time. The power
of the king to summon, prorogue, or dissolve Parliament
at pleasure was unquestioned. Henry V., Henry VL,
and Edward IV. were less dependent upon Parliament for
money than were the earlier kings. Tunnage and pound-
q<ge gave them a more regular revenue, and forced loans^
and later, benevolences, helped. In Edward IV.'s reign
of twenty-two years there were but six Parliaments, and
there was a period of five years in his reign during which
Parliament did not meet. Yet there is no evidence that
he or any other pre-Tudor king was attempting to fight
Parliament or build up a tyrannical power by doing with-
out Parliament.
The origin of the Speaker of the Commons is very ob-
scure. The Commons did not have the privilege as indi-
viduals to address the Crown, to present petitions, to