Woolsack of Appeal and the Justices of the High Court only attend Parliament for the State Opening. Woolsack The Woolsack is the seat of the Lord Speaker in the House of Lords, the Upper House of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. In the 14th century King Edward III (1327–1377) commanded that his Lord Chancellor whilst in council should sit on a wool bale, now known as "The Woolsack", in order to symbolise the central nature and huge importance of the wool trade to the economy of England in the Middle Ages. Indeed, it was largely to protect the vital English
History of reform of the House of Lords and is hereby wholly abolished and taken away; and that the Lords shall not from henceforth meet or sit in the said House called the Lords' House, or in any other house or place whatsoever ... The Lords Temporal resumed meeting as the House of Lords, in the Convention Parliament which restored the monarchy. The Clergy Act 1661 permitted the prelates of the Church of England to resume sitting as members of the House of Lords. Under the Treaty of Union and subsequent legislation, the Kingdoms of England and Scotland were merged into the United Kingdom of Great Britain. From