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Jun 15, 1215
Magna Carta
The Magna Carta was the first English charter to limit the the power of the King. Although it may have not been very successful in maintaining this declaration for a few centuries to come, it did, however, act as a symbol for declaring the legitimacy of a King's power through his people and thus limiting his absolute power. This was arguably the start of limitations to be put on the English monarchy. -
Nov 13, 1295
Model Parliament
The Model Parliament epitomized a Parliament that was a representative of the people, which was "modelled" by future Parliaments. This lead eventually lead to an increase in representation and therefore a decrease / limitation of the King's power. This Parliament set the precedent of raising taxes for the King's wars and of expressing grievances about the King, thus giving Parliament more power. -
English Civil War
The English Civil War was bascially a conflict between the King and Parliament. Parliament challenged King Charles I's absolute power, and their victory secured the Parliament's growing role in the government of England and also maintained that the King needed Parliament's consent to rule. Parliament thus became the main limitation to the King's power. -
Commonwealth of England
The Commonwealth of England was really the first republic to ever be the supreme power of the English government. During this time, it wasn't so much that Parliament limited the "Lord Protector's" power, but rather the Lord Protector limited Parliament's power. Because there was no King to oppose it, Parliament expanded its powers and enacted many reforms to the government. When Charles II regained power, Parliament was a much stronger institution than it had been before the civil war. -
Coregency of William and Mary
The coregency of William and Mary marked a period of limited power of the monarchy as well as its peaceful existance with Parliament. In this time, Parliament again challenged the absolute power of the monarchy by passing landmark legislature the landmark legislature the Bill of Rights. This goes to show the cooperation between the monarchy and Parliament. Also, Parliament basically chose Mary to become Queen over the succession line of King James II, showing their power to shape the monarchy. -
English Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights was landmark legislation that made it so the King's will was no longer law. It gave enumerated rights to the citizens of England that the King could not take away, thus challenging his absolute authority. This expanded the powers of Parliament beyond taxation and gave the people a greater role in the government. -
Parliament of the United Kingdom
As the end to this timeline, the Act of Union of 1800 established the modern day Parliament of the United Kingdom. This established Parliament's role above the monarchy and as the supreme governing body of the United Kingdom. As one can see present day, the monarchy of England no longer holds any real power, and this is a great end to the struggle for limited monarchy (since the monarchy is basically stripped of all its rights in due time after this new Parliament is formed).
