PARLIAMENT OF BATTS.
Gurdon, in his History of Parliament, says—“This parliament was summoned in the reign of Henry the Sixth, to meet at Leicester; and orders were sent to the members that they should not wear swords; so they came to parliament (like modern butchers) with long staves, from whence the parliament got the name of The Parliament of Batts; and when the batts were prohibited, the members had recourse to stones and leaden bullets. This parliament was opened with the Confirmation of Liberties.”
P.T.W.