Here are some key moments in the history of the growing power of Parliament in English history:
<u>The Magna Carta </u>(1215) asserted noblemen's rights in relationship to the king. It set the principle of rights which would later be expanded.
<u>The English Civil War</u> (1642-1651) was a battle between Parliamentary forces and the armies of the king, because of a perceived overstepping of power by King Charles I. Charles was executed and Parliamentary forces (led by Oliver Cromwell) came to power.
<u>The Bill of Rights</u> (1689) was an agreement made with King William III and Queen Mary II as they came over from the Netherlands to take up the royal throne of England after the so-called "Glorious Revolution" of 1688. It limited the power of the monarch and gave greater authority to Parliament, essentially setting up England as a constitutional monarchy (rather than an absolutist rule by a monarch).
