five members

views updated

five members, 1642. On 4 January 1642 Charles I, exasperated at the opposition of the House of Commons, which had passed the Grand Remonstrance, attempted in person to arrest five of its leaders— John Pym, John Hampden, Denzil Holles, Arthur Haselrig, and William Strode. Forewarned, they made their escape, leaving the king to mutter, ‘I see that my birds have flown.’ Within a week he had left London, never to return as a free man.

J. A. Cannon