The Convention of Estates of Scotland was a sister institution to the Scottish Parliament which sat from the early sixteenth century. Initially it was only attended by the clergy and nobles, but the burgh commissioners were later added. The Convention of Estates differed from Parliament in that it could be summoned by the King for the limited purpose of raising taxation, but could not pass other legislation. Like its predecessor General Council it played an important role in political and legislative affairs in Scotland in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.