‘patriot parliament’

‘patriot parliament’ (7 May–18 July 1689), summoned by James II after his arrival in Ireland. Thanks to Tyrconnell's preliminary work in remodelling borough charters, all but 6 of the 230 MPs returned were Catholic, over two‐thirds of them Old English. Five Protestant lay lords and four Protestant bishops also sat. James assented reluctantly to bills outlawing Protestant supporters of William III, restoring landed estates to the families that had held them in 1641, and denying the right of the English parliament to legislate for Ireland. He also approved acts proclaiming liberty of conscience and requiring Catholics, and probably Presbyterians, to pay tithes only to their own clergy. However he refused to agree to the repeal of Poynings's Law or to any further transfer of property or privilege from the Church of Ireland to the Catholic church. Williamites denied the legitimacy of the parliament, and an act of 1695 annulled its proceedings, but the assertion of legislative independence attracted 19th‐century nationalist writers, the term ‘patriot parliament’ being coined by Gavan Duffy in his 1893 edition of articles published by Thomas Davis in 1843.