Mary,
the daughter of James and Anne Hyde, was
born at St. James's Palace, London, in
1662. Along with her sister Anne, she he
was brought up as a Protestant and in 1677 married her cousin, William,
Prince of Orange.
Charles
II and his
wife Catherine of Braganza did not
have any children. There were two possible candidates to succeed Charles:
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 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
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.
Mary died childless of smallpox in 1694.
(1)
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.
(2)
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.
Available
from Amazon Books (order below)
