please explain these sentence for me. i will really appreciate it.
1.To begin with, Parliament advised the king and carried out various administrative functions. But from the 14th century onward, Parliament developed into the forum where laws were passed, petitions from the people were heard, and taxes were raised. In this case “14th century onward” means before 14th century or after 14th century?
2.the bishops who were powerful men in their own right in the Middle Ages –had something to say if a king stepped off the straight and narrow. This is an article talk about king’s right and what does “straight and narrow ” mean?
3.A British monarch has a very full diary. Luckily, what does “full diary ”mean? Does it mean busy?
4. Because the ministers come up with the new laws in the first place, and these laws are passed by a majority in Parliament, it stands to reason that the ministers advise the monarch to give her assent to them. What does”it stands to reason” mean?

Question

please explain these sentence for me. i will really appreciate it.
1.To begin with, Parliament advised the king and carried out various administrative functions. But from the 14th century onward, Parliament developed into the forum where laws were passed, petitions from the people were heard, and taxes were raised.  In this case “14th century onward” means before 14th century or after 14th century?
2.the bishops who were powerful men in their own right in the Middle Ages –had something to say if a king stepped off the straight and narrow. This is an article talk about king’s right and what does “straight and narrow ” mean?
3.A British monarch has a very full diary. Luckily, what does “full diary ”mean? Does it mean busy?
4. Because the ministers come up with the new laws in the first place, and these laws are passed by a majority in Parliament, it stands to reason that the ministers advise the monarch to give her assent to them. What does”it stands to reason” mean?

Answer

1) Includes the 14th century (eg. 1321) and afterwards
2) "Straight and narrow"...the accepted path, the rules he was expected to follow, the correct way of doing things
3) yes, full diary basically means fully booked!
4) "it stands to reason"..it makes perfect sense, its normal!

Hope that helps :-)

Answer

Agree with the above. Bishops. being religious leaders, would expect the King to behave within strict moral guidelines -the straight and narrow path that leads to heaven- the wide and crooked path leads to Hell, (and is paved with good intentions- a famous saying).
The monarch does have a diary for appointments and activities and it would be very full every day.
It is logical that if a minister makes a law that parliament passes he is going to tell the king to sign it into law. Not to do so would be very unusual. ( Though sometimes laws are passed but not signed off - even ministers sometimes have second thoughts).