The first two Protectorate Parliaments were elected under the terms of the Instrument of Government which, by reapportioning seats and revising the franchise, ensured that the composition of these Parliaments departed significantly from earlier practice. The Instrument also provided for Scotland and Ireland to be represented as well as England and Wales, and these were thus the only fully British and Irish Parliaments ever to meet at Westminster other than between 1801 and 1922. The third Protectorate Parliament saw a return to the position of 1640, and thereby generated intense controversy over the status and eligibility of the Scottish and Irish members. This chapter will examine the nature of the franchise, the distribution of seats, the ways in which members were chosen, and the workings of electoral patronage and influence. Throughout, a complex mixture of continuity and change will become evident. Electoral choice gradually became more ideologically driven and even polarised in the revolutionary decades than it had been prior to the Civil Wars, and this trend persisted after 1660; yet by 1659 the distribution of constituencies and the franchise were steadily coming to look more like they had in 1640.

THE REFORM OF THE FRANCHISE

The Instrument of Government not only introduced a major redistribution of seats from the boroughs in favour of the counties but also reformed the county franchise.