 Valentine continued a prisoner for eleven years, and was finally released in January 1640 to placate public opinion prior to the assembling of the Short Parliament.He was elected to represent St. Germans in the Long Parliament and took the Protestation on 5 May 1641, and the Covenant on 25 September 1643.He took little part in the ensuing civil war, though he supported the negotiations surrounding the Treaty of Newport in 1649.