 Parliament finally passed an ordinance to hold the assembly on its own authority without Charles 's assent on 12 June 1643 . It named as many as 121 ministers and thirty non @-@ voting parliamentary observers : twenty from Commons , and ten from the House of Lords . The Assembly was almost entirely English ; Parliament appointed Englishmen for the counties of Wales , but the French stranger churches ( churches of Protestant refugees from Catholic France ) sent two ministers in place of any from the Channel Islands . Many of the divines were internationally recognized scholars of the Bible , ancient languages , <unk> , and scholastic theology . Many were also famous preachers . Most of these theologians had retained their positions in the Church during the tenure of William Laud . Some had been ejected from their churches or cited by ecclesiastical courts for their views . Some had fled to the Continent , and one to the American colonies . Nonetheless , they all considered themselves members of the Church of England and had received episcopal ordination . Most were conformists , meaning they agreed to follow the Act of Uniformity 1558 and the Book of Common Prayer . 
