 After the English Reformation's highpoint in 1539, only the archbishops and bishops continued to attend, as the Dissolution of the Monasteries had just disproved of and suppressed the positions of abbot and prior.In 1642, during the few Lords' gatherings convened during English Interregnum which saw periodic war, the Lords Spiritual were excluded altogether, but they returned under the Clergy Act 1661.The number of Lords Spiritual was further restricted by the Bishopric of Manchester Act 1847, and by later Acts.