James,
the second son of Charles I and Henrietta
Maria,
was born at St. James Palace, London, in 1633. He was given the the
title, Duke of York and during the Civil
War he
escaped to the Netherlands.
James
served in the army commanded by Vicomte de Turenne (1652-55) before
joining the Spanish fighting against the Protestants in Flanders.
On 3 September 1658, Oliver
Cromwell died. A few months previously, Cromwell had announced
that he wanted his son, Richard Cromwell,
to replace him as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth. The English
army was unhappy with this decision. While they respected Oliver as
a skillful military commander, Richard was just a country farmer.
In May 1659, the generals forced Richard to retire from government.
Parliament and the leaders
of the army now began arguing amongst themselves about how England
should be ruled. General George Monk, the
officer in charge of the English army based in Scotland, decided to
take action, and in 1660
he marched his army to London.
When Monk arrived he reinstated
the House of Lords and arranged for new elections
for the House of Commons. These elections
resulted in Royalists gaining control of Parliament from the Independents.
Monk now contacted Charles
who was living in Holland. Charles agreed that if he was made king
he would pardon all members of the parliamentary army and would continue
with the Commonwealth's policy of religious toleration. Charles also
accepted that he would share power with Parliament and would not rule
as an 'absolute' monarch as his father had
tried to do in the 1630s.
This information was passed
to Parliament and it was eventually agreed to abolish the Commonwealth
and bring back the monarchy. Parliament raised nearly £1 million
and with this money soldiers in the army were paid off and sent home.
At the same time Charles was granted permission to form two permanent
regiments for himself, the Royal Scots and the Coldstream Guards.
James returned with his
brother and was appointed as Lord High Admiral of England. James married
Anne Hyde, a Catholic and he later converted to Catholicism. In 1673
Parliament passed the Test Acts that prevented
Catholics from being Members of Parliament or from holding any other
high office. As a result of this legislation James was forced to resign
as Lord High Admiral.
After the death of Anne
Hyde, James married Mary of Modena, another Catholic. This upset Parliament
and James decided to live in Europe. While he was away members of
the House of Commons attempted to exclude
him from the succession. However, the Exclusion Bill was defeated
by the House of Lords.
In 1678, Titus
Oates, an Anglican minister announced that he had discovered a
Catholic plot to kill Charles
II. Oates claimed that Charles
was to be replaced by his Roman Catholic brother, James.
He went on to argue that after James came to the throne Protestants
would be massacred in their thousands. This announcement made Catholics
more unpopular than ever, and eighty of them were arrested and accused
of taking part in the plot. Several were executed before it was revealed
that Titus Oates had been lying.
Charles
and his wife Catherine
of Braganza did not have any children. There were two possible
candidates to become king when Charles died; James
and James Scott, Duke of Monmouth,
the king's eldest illegitimate son.
Just before he died in
February 1685, Charles admitted that he was a Catholic. He also announced
that his brother James was to succeed him to the throne.
In June 1685, the Duke
of Monmouth landed in England with a small army. As he was a Protestant
he expected most of the population to support his claim to the throne,
but people in England were unwilling to get involved in another Civil
War. Monmouth was therefore easily defeated by the king's army.
After this victory James
tried to place Catholic friends in positions of power. However, the
Test Acts made it impossible for him to do
this. When Parliament refused
to change these laws, he ignored it and began appointing Catholics
to senior positions in the army and the government.
James also announced that
he intended to allow Catholics to have complete religious freedom
in England. When the Archbishop of
Canterbury and six other bishops objected to this, James gave
instructions for them to be arrested and sent to the Tower
of London.
Some members of the House
of Commons sent messages to Holland inviting James's daughter,
Mary
and her husband, William,
Prince of Orange to come to England. Mary and William were
told that, as they were
Protestants, they would have the support of Parliament if they attempted
to overthrow James.
In November 1688, William,
Prince of Orange and his Dutch army arrived in England. When the English
army refused to accept the orders of their Catholic officers, James
fled to France. As the overthrow of James had taken place without
a violent Civil War, this event became known as the Glorious
Revolution.
William and Mary were
now appointed by Parliament as joint sovereigns. However, Parliament
was determined that it would not have another monarch that ruled without
its consent. The king and queen had to promise they would always obey
laws made by Parliament. They also agreed that they would never raise
money without Parliament's permission. So that they could not get
their own way by the use of force, William
and Mary
were not allowed to keep
control of their own army. In 1689 this agreement was confirmed by
the passing of the Bill of Rights.
(1)
Sir
Thomas Clifford worked for Charles II. In 1682 he recorded these views
on the Secret Treaty of Dover.
Henrietta
of England... whose intelligence was equal to her beauty... sister
to the King of England and sister-in-law to the
King of France... met Louis XIV and promised that Parliament would
re-establish the Catholic religion in the three kingdoms of England,
Scotland and Ireland.
(2)
The Secret Treaty of Dover
(1670)
The King of England, being
convinced of the truth of the Catholic religion... agrees to be reconciled
to the Church of Rome, as soon as his kingdom's affairs shall permit
him... the said King (Louis XIV) agrees to assist his Majesty (Charles
II).. if in need... by sending 6,000 men.
(3)
H.
Arnold-Forster, History of England (1898)
Titus Oates claimed...
that the object of the plot... was to murder the king and
destroy the Protestant religion It is certain that the greater part,
if not the whole, of Oates's story was untrue; but enough had been
said to raise the fears of the Protestants and many Roman Catholics
were imprisoned.
(4)
Gilbert
Bumet, History of My Own Time (1723)
Complaints came from all
parts of England complaining about the violence used in the elections
of 1685... The methods were so successful that James II said that
there were only 40 members of parliament that he was unhappy with.
(5)
On
30 June, 1688, some members of parliament wrote a joint letter to
William of Orange.
Lord Russell has informed
us that your Highness is ready and willing to give us assistance...
your Highness may be assured that nineteen out of twenty... in the
kingdom... desire change.
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