Patriot Parliament

The Patriot Parliament is the name given to the session of the Irish Parliament called by King James II of Ireland during the War of the Two Kings in 1689. The parliament met in one session, from 7 May 1689 to 20 July 1689, and was the only session of the Irish Parliament under King James II.

The Irish House of Lords had Lord Fitton as Lord Chancellor of Ireland on the woolsack. The Irish House of Commons elected Sir Richard Nagle as its Speaker.

The previous session of the Irish parliament had been in 1666.

Name

The name "Patriot Parliament" was first used in 1893 by Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, an Irish nationalist historian, in his edition of essays by his old friend Thomas Davis. In 1843 Davis himself had described the parliament as a "patriot Senate" in his essay "The Irish Parliament of James II".

Legislation

The Act of Recognition was the first act of Parliament. It recognised James's right to the Imperial Crown of Ireland. It compared the usurpation by the Prince of Orange to the murder of James' father King Charles I, emphasized indefeasible hereditary rights, and asserted that the monarchy was founded on the Divine right of kings, not the result of any supposed contract between a king and his subjects.