Charles I entered the House of Commons at Westminster on 4 January 1642 intending to arrest five leading members and Lord Mandeville. The accused had already escaped into the City of London. The unprecedented intrusion destroyed remaining confidence in the king's willingness to respect parliamentary privilege.

The confrontation became one of the most frequently narrated scenes of the revolution. Speeches, pamphlets and later histories turned the empty seats in the Commons into a powerful image of violated liberty and failed monarchy.