BATS, PARLIAMENT OF

The Parliament which assembled in England in the year 1426, during the minority of Henry VI, to settle the disputes between the Duke of Gloucester, the Regent, and the Bishop of Winchester, tbe guardian of the young king's person, and which was so called because the members, being forbidden by the Duke of Gloucester to wear swords, armed themselves with clubs or bats.

It has been stated by Preston (Illustrations of Masonry, edition of 1812, page 165), that it was in this Parliament that the Act forbidding Freemasons to meet in Chapters or Congregations was passed; but this is erroneous, for that act was passed in 1425 by the Parliament at Westminster, while the Parliament of Bats met at Leicester in 1426 (see Laborers, Statutes of).