English politics contra language: the Babel of 1621

• Authors: Renata Botwina
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This paper aims at a thorough analysis of the English Parliamentary session of 1621 which turned out to be one of the most dramatic moments in the history of the European parliamentarism. England, in a chaotic and violent way, aimed at a radical reduction of the monarchical power and the development of an alternative state in which the powers of the monarch were subsidiary to the power of governmental branches. Discussing the underlying causes of the conflict between the king and the Commons and emphasizing its unprecedental character, the author approaches the problem from the political, historical and linguistic perspectives for the parliamentary session of 1621 reveals much more than a mere disagreement between the king and the House of Commons as to the foreign policy of England regarding the Catholic threat and the liberties of the Commons. What had started as a political debate over current affairs of the state unexpectedly turned into a grand political debate centered on the issue of free speech. For the first time in the British history of parliamentarism divine rhetoric, which had always been the domain of kings, failed to confront the legalistic discourse of the members of the Commons confidently marching towards the establishment of the Parliamentary institution of free speech which was to become their trademark.

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: Studies in Logic, Grammar and Rhetoric
• Year: 2011
• Issue: 24(37)
• Pages: 9-26

Contributors

author

Renata Botwina

• The Higher School of Pedagogy of the Society of Public Knowledge in Warsaw