Representative government in sixteenth-century England and France

In order to consider the question of how the position of the English Parliament compared to that of other European assemblies, I believe that it is necessary to examine the political structure of early modern France. I will consider the powers and functions of the Tudor Parliament and those of the representative bodies of sixteenth-century France. In this, it will be my contention that in order to assess the French constitution, it is essential to include the provincial estates in that assessment as well as the Estates General. . I hope to show that the two states were more similar than has been traditionally portrayed, in that they were both limited by corporate institutions and elements such as the nobility and corporate rights and privileges.