Page "English Civil War" Paragraph 7

Before the fighting, the Parliament of England did not have a large permanent role in the English system of government, functioning as a temporary advisory committee, summoned by the monarch whenever the Crown required additional tax revenue, and subject to dissolution by the monarch at any time.

Because responsibility for collecting taxes lay in the hands of the gentry, the English kings needed the help of that stratum of society in order to ensure a continued stream of revenue.

If the gentry refused to collect the King's taxes, the Crown would lack any practical means with which to compel them.

Parliaments allowed representatives of the gentry to meet, confer and send policy-proposals to the monarch in the form of Bills.

These representatives did not, however, have any means of forcing their will upon the king — except by withholding the financial means required to execute his plans .< ref > William Dawson Johnston, The history of England from the accession of James the Second Volume I, Boston and New York, Houghton, Mifflin and company, 1901.