James II of England
King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 1685 to 1688 / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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James VII and II (14 October 1633 O.S. – 16 September 1701)[lower-alpha 1] was King of England and Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII[4] from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685. He was deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. He was the last Catholic monarch of England, Scotland, and Ireland. His reign is now remembered primarily for conflicts over religious tolerance, but it also involved struggles over the principles of absolutism and the divine right of kings. His deposition ended a century of political and civil strife in England by confirming the primacy of the English Parliament over the Crown.[5]
| James VII and II | |
|---|---|
 Portrait by Peter Lely | |
| King of England, Scotland and Ireland (more...) | |
| Reign | 6 February 1685 – 23 December 1688 |
| Coronation | 23 April 1685 |
| Predecessor | Charles II |
| Successors | Mary II and William III & II |
| Born | 14 October 1633 (N.S.: 24 October 1633) St James's Palace, Westminster, England |
| Died | 16 September 1701 (aged 67)[lower-alpha 1] (N.S.) Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France |
| Burial | Church of the English Benedictines, Paris[1][lower-alpha 2] |
| Spouses | |
| Issue more... | |
| House | Stuart |
| Father | Charles I of England |
| Mother | Henrietta Maria of France |
| Religion |
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| Signature |  |
James succeeded to the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland following the death of his brother, with widespread support in all three countries, largely because the principles of eligibility based on divine right and birth were widely accepted.[6] Tolerance of his personal Catholicism did not extend to tolerance of Catholicism in general, and the English and Scottish parliaments refused to pass his measures. When James attempted to impose them by decree it was met with opposition; some academics have, however, argued that it was a political principle, rather than a religious one, that ultimately led to his removal.[7]
In June 1688, two events turned dissent into a crisis. Firstly, the birth of James's son and heir James Francis Edward Stuart on 10 June raised the prospect of establishing a Catholic dynasty and excluding his Anglican daughter Mary and her Protestant husband William III, Prince of Orange, who was also his nephew, from the line of succession. Secondly, the prosecution of the Seven Bishops for seditious libel was viewed as further evidence of an assault on the Church of England, and their acquittal on 30 June destroyed his political authority in England. The ensuing anti-Catholic riots in England and Scotland led to a general feeling that only James's removal from the throne could prevent another civil war.[8]
Leading members of the English political class invited William of Orange to assume the English throne. When William landed in Brixham on 5 November 1688, James's army deserted and he went into exile in France on 23 December. In February 1689, a special Convention Parliament held that James had "vacated" the English throne and installed William and Mary as joint monarchs, thereby establishing the principle that sovereignty derived from Parliament, not birth. James landed in Ireland on 14 March 1689 in an attempt to recover his kingdoms, but, despite a simultaneous rising in Scotland, in April a Scottish Convention followed that of England, both finding that James had "forfeited" the throne and offered it to William and Mary. After his defeat at the Battle of the Boyne in July 1690, James returned to France, where he spent the rest of his life in exile at Saint-Germain, protected by Louis XIV. While his contemporary opponents often portrayed him as an absolutist tyrant, some historians—beginning in the 20th century—have praised James for advocating religious tolerance. More recent scholarship has tended to take a middle ground between these views.