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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] James II Biography JAMES II of England and VII of Scotland (1633-17 01) . The son of Charles I and Henrietta Maria, he was born Oct. 14. 1633. While a mere infant, he was created Duke of York and Albany. In 1646 he was surrendered along with his father to the Parliamentary authorities, who held him in custody till he managed to escape to Holland in 1648. He served in several campaigns under Turenne; but as the treaty between Cromwell and Louis XIV provided for the removal of the English royal family from France, James entered the military service of Spain. Appointed Lord High Admiral of England at the Restoration, he twice commanded the English fleet in the ensuing wars with Holland. Although he showed some ability in this office, his weak, inconsistent character stood in the way of much-needed naval reform. On the death of his wife Anne-daughter of Sir Edward Hyde-as an avowed Catholic, he declared himself a convert to her faith. The Test Act of 1673 accordingly compelled him to resign his office. His marriage in this year with Mary Beatrice, sister of the Duke of Modena, led him to favor close connection with Louis XIV. When great irritation against the Roman Catholics arose in England on the publication of Titus Oates's supposed discoveries, the Duke of York retired for a short time to Holland. The bill for his exclusion from the throne was twice read before the House of Commans and prevented from passing only by the prorogation of Parliament, May 26, 1679. In 1680 the Exclusion Bill passed the House of Commons, but was rejected by the Lords. On his return from abroad, and while this bill was before Parliament, the Duke was sent to govern Scotland. But when Charles II died (Feb. 6, 1685) , James succeeded to the crown without opposition. At the beginning of his reign he incurred the hostility of Parliament by favoring Catholics, but, like his brother, Charles II, sought to become somewhat independent of Parliament by allowing himself to be a pensioner of Louis XIV. In Passion Week, 1685, the rites of the Church of Rome were openly celebrated at Westminster with full splendor. In the same year the suppression of the Duke of Monmouth's rebellion in England, and that of the Earl of Argyll in Scotland, was followed by great severities. On the western circuit alone, well known as the Bloody Assize, presided over by the infamous Jeffreys, 320 persons were hanged. When Parliament met (November 9) James requested extra supplies to maintain a standing army; but after a stormy debate he was refused. To aid his endeavors in favor of the Roman Catholics, he resolved to conciliate the Puritans, much as he hated them. On April 4, 1687, appeared the memorable Declaration of Indulgence, in which he announced his intention of protecting dissenters in the free exercise of their religion; and the nation beheld the extraordinary spectacle of the house of Stuart leagued with republican and regicide sects against the old Cavaliers of England. The attempt to conciliate the Puritans, however, was unsuccessful; and in March, 1687, it began to be evident that the war between King and church must soon reach a climax. At that time, a vacancy having occurred in the presidency of Magdalen College, Oxford, a royal letter recommended Anthony Farmer, a Roman Catholic, to the vacant place. For Farmer was afterward substituted Parker, a Bishop of Oxford, who, in addition to other legal disqualifications, was known to be a Roman Catholic, though not avowed. To place him in the office the King resorted to military force. On April 27, 1688, James published a second Declaration of Indulgence, which he ordered to be read in all the churches in the Kingdom. The clergy generally disobeyed, and seven of the bishops, for venturing on a written remonstrance, were committed to the Tower on a charge of seditious libel. On June 10 of the same year James's luckless son, known in history as the Pretender, was born. The certainty that the young heir to the throne would be trained in the Roman Catholic faith determined the country to be rid of the King. Public sentiment compelled the court to acquit the seven bishops, June 30, 1688. That very night an invitation was dispatched to William, Prince of Orange, signed by seven of the leading English politicians, to bring an army into England for the restoration of liberty and for the support of Protestantism. On November 5 William landed at Torbay with 14,000 men. James found himself deserted by the nobility, gentry, and army; even his own children turned against him. He retired to France, where he was hospitably received by Louis XIV, who settled a revenue upon him. Early in March of the following year he made a hopeless attempt to regain his throne by invading Ireland with a small army, with which he had been furnished by the King of France. He waged war on the island for more than a year, but was finally defeated at the battle of the Boyne, July, 1690. Returning to France, he continued to reside at Saint-Germain till his death, Sept. 6, 1701. During the greater part of his life he was as licentious as others of his rank, but in his last years of retirement he became a religious ascetic. The New International Encyclopaedia Vol. XII (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 546-547. |