2-756-268 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'Charles I and Speaker Lenthall', c1850, (1947). On 4 January 1642, King Charles I (1600-1649, standing, in hat) entered the House of Commons to arrest five Members of Parliament for high treason. Speaker William Lenthall (1591-1662) defied the King to uphold the privileges of Parliament. The King had to leave without arresting the Five Members. No monarch has entered the House of Commons since then. After 'Speaker Lenthall Asserting the Privileges of the Commons Against Charles I when the Attempt was made to Seize the Five Members', painting by Charles West Cope in the Palace of Westminster in London. From "The House of Commons", by Martin Lindsay M.P. [Collins, London, 1947]