The Nominated Assembly or the Barebones Parliament
The "brain-child" of Major-General Thomas Harrison, the Nominated Assembly was the most radical constitutional experiment of the Commonwealth. Believing that the discredited Rump Parliament had betrayed the "godly," Harrison proposed a Parliament based upon the ancient Jewish Sanhedrin or Assembly of Saints. The idea was enthusiastically embarased by Cromwell and other Army radicals.
- 139 "persons fearing God and of approved fidelty and honesty" were nominated for the Parliament by seperatist congregations such as Baptist or Fifth Monarchist churches.
- A further 5 members, including Cromwell and Harrison, were later co-opted.
- The Assembly met on 4th July 1653 in an atmosphere of optimism and euphoria, but it…