chapter twenty one Flashcards
in April 1688 James reissued the declaration of indulgence which aimed to
establish freedom of religion
announced his next p , due in nov
and he would enact by law
James ordered that this was to be announced from all Church of England pulpits in late may early June 1688 this led to a
direct petition for archbishop William Bancroft and six bishops since the declaration was based on a power that parliament regarded as illegal thus there should be no statement from the pulpit
these men who agreed with the petition were not radicals and should have been James natural supports , all they wanted was for
clergy not to read the declaration but James turned them into martyrs by committing them to the tower and putting seven of them on trial
the judges were divided over the question of legality of the crowns suspending power , those who argued against suspending power were dismissed however the jury found
Bancroft and the six bishops not guilty
- this was a constitutional judgement against the kings suspending power showing that only parliament could repeal statutes
the trigger for heightened opposition against the big was the fact that on the 10 June 1688 …
James wife , Mary of Modena gave birth to a son
James was already 54 however the birth of this child meant the prospect of him being succeeded by another Catholic rather than
his protestant sister Mary increased
although tories were committed to the idea of a legitimate success , it was James constant use of
the courts to his own ends and the both of his son that provoked action
William regarded an invasion of england as beneficial to dutch strategic and economic intrests in Europe , the dutch were under
increasing pressure from Louis XIV’s expansion of Frances northeastern border
- if England could be brought into an alliance there was the prospect that france could be encircled
the threat of another attack in the dutch republic by Louis XIV in the summer of 1688 and the birth of James son pushed
William into action , his wife would no longer be the next monarch of England depriving him of probable English support against Louis XIV
William sent an emissary , William Zuylestein ro congratulate James on the birth but
Zulysteins real task was to meet opposition figures and get William an invitation to trade
on the 30th June 1688 five whigs and two tories who became known as the ‘ immortal seven ‘ wrote to William and invited him to
invade england assuring him that the majority of the population were ‘generally dissatisfied with the present conduct of the government in relation to their religion , liberties and properties’
for William and the dutch the aim of the invasion was to secure a
‘free parliament’ and investigate the legitimacy of James son
on the 29th September 1688 the dutch republic supported williams plan to
invade england in a secret revolution
on 30th September 1688 William issued a deceleration of reasons for appearing in arms in the Kingdom , stating that
William did not have any intention of taking the throne
admitting this would be politically dangerous
williams own initial aim was to intervene in English politics and
remodel parliament and the privy council to ensure england support the dutch republic against Louis XIV
faced with the prospect of an invanison , James sought to compromise with his opponents in england , James met with
archbishop Bancroft and other bishops and offered concession , but it was too late
on 5th November 1688 William landed at
torbay
and by 9th November 1688 William had occupied
exeter
from there William then called a
free parliament
some areas such as Cheshire , Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire were secured by
williams peers who were sympathetic
generally most of the population did not want to get involved reinforcing the fact that ,
if this was a revolution
it was a revolution from above
it wasn’t clear that William would succeed as
James had control of London
control of a standing army
and reluctancy to depose James actively , even among leading critics
9 December 1688
James sent his wife and son to france
11 December 1688
James left London deliberately dropping the great seal of england into the thames , this allowed many bishops and peers who would’ve been reluctant to support William a reason to claim they had no choice but to as , as James had withdrawn himself from kingship
11-13 December 1688
London experienced three nights of anti catholic riots
23 December 1688
fearful for his son and determined not to betray his religion James took the opportunity to flee to france
William called for advice from an irregular assembly of all surviving MPs and representatives from the government of London , this council was predominantly a whig institution likely to favour William
24 December 1688
the assembly of peers organised to run the country in James absence invited William to take over gov , this call was repeated by williams irregular assembly on the 26th
they also called for elections to establish a convention that would preserve ‘our religion rights laws liberty and property’
furthermore the convention would aim to put these things on ‘sure and legal foundations that they may not be in danger of being again subverted ‘
29 December 1688
writs were issued for elections
William had his own forces as an occupying army in London where they remained until
may 1690
22 January 1689
the convention parliament met
the convention parliament was an assembly that had
319 whigs and 232 tories
the convention parliament sought to discuss and eventually justify the
demoing of a monarch for another and also introduced new laws into the constitution
initially there was division over the the succession question as whigs argued that
James had ‘ broken the fundamental laws of the constitution ‘ he forfeited the throne
over the the succession question the tories argued that
James was only ‘incapacitated’ and that William and Mary should only be regents , or that Mary should rule with William only as consort
however there was a moderate consensus between whigs and tories that secured a settlement via
a pragmatic compromise
tories in the lords objected to the statement which led to crowds
demonstrating outside parliament
3 February 1690
William warned in a secret meeting with peers that he ‘would go back to holland’ unless he were king
the lords agreed to make him king with two provisors :
his wife Mary would share the title of monarch although without parliament
if Mary died and William married again , any children from this second marriage would be behind Anne , Marys sister , in the line of the succession
6 February 1688
these terms would be accepted by the lords
8 February 1688
terms were confirmed by the commons
the declaration of rights was produced by a parliamentary committee stating that
Catholics were never to inherit the crown , but this was not made a condition of giving William the throne
the declaration of rights was a compromise document that was left deliberately ambiguous in terms of the
constitutional implications of James removal
there was no statement that James had been deposed or that he had broken contract , similarly William and Mary were not referred to as
’ rightful’ or ‘heirs’
this meant that those who regarded William and Mary as de facto monarchs or monarchs by conquest could recognise them as rulers without denying that hames was in law still king
13 February 1689
a formal ceremony offering the crown to William and Mary at which the declaration of rights was read out to them
11th April 1689
William and Marys coronations , the new monarchs swore a diffrent coronation oath indicating their position
acts related to the new circumstances were passed by parliament :
the mutiny act of march 1689 prevented the creation of any standing army without the consent of parliament
the toleration act of may 1689 exempted dissenters from penal laws if they took an oath of allegiance
January 1690 a watered down version of the declaration of right was passed as the bill of rights
the bill of rights while significant had limited consitutional force as it was not
a binding or fixed contract between crown and people and like all statutes of parliament it could be replaced
the change to the coronation oath illustrated the fact that the monarchs now accepted that they were
‘beneath’ rather than ‘above’ the rule of law
as William speck argues
this act was much less tolerant towards dissenters than the calvinist William would have wanted however it did
address some of the religious settlement issues left from the 1650’s
20 march 1690
a revenue of 1.2million a year was settled for the crown
specified half to be used for civil gov and other for war
- crown immediately went into debt
through the 1693 million loan act and the 1694 establishment of the Bank of England the funding to allow William to fight on the contininent against
Louis XIV secured financial control and thereby political control of the monarch and government for the PN
the PN underwrote or guaranteed ..
this debt
the consolidation of revolution in multiple kingdoms
- scotland
14 march 1689 William summoned the convention of estates a meeting of Scottish elites
this body with Scottish Jacobites refusing to attend voted that James had forfeited the Scottish throne
in the absence of the tories the Scottish convention proceeded on a contractural theory of kingship , deliberately avoided in england to accommodate tories
revolution in scotland was also more radical than that in england in terms of religion
William agreed to the abolition of bishops
the consolidation of revolution in multiple kingdoms
- scotland 11 May 1689
William and Mary accepted the Scottish throne
the consolidation of revolution in multiple kingdoms
- scotland , summer 1689
William faced jacobite rebellion from the highlands and although these forces were retreated in May 1690 , it was clear to William that he would need to compromise with presbyterians for support in scotland
the consolidation of revolution in multiple kingdoms
- scotland , as a result the Scottish parliament secured the following :
repeal of the 1669 act asserting the royal supremacy over the church in scotland
an act establishing Presbyterian church government
an act abolishing lay patronage ; Kirk sessions would decide who the minsters would be
the consolidation of revolution in multiple kingdoms
- scotland , measures were followed by
purging of over 600 minsters in the next seven years a further mark of the supreme position of the presbysterans in post revolutionary Scotland , royal favour had returned to presbysteriuand and thus consolidated their influence , any groups in scotland who still supported the stuarts such as the catholics sae a decline in their power
the consolidation of revolution in multiple kingdoms
- ireland
catholic Ireland was the centre o the Jacobite resistance and therefore posed a threat to William as part of the international war in which he was engaged
march 1689 the catholics under Tyreconrell controlled all of Ireland but the Ulster
James II landed with 3000 French troops followed by William in June 1690
William defeated James at the battle of the Boyne on 1 July
James fled to france where he died in exile in 1701
Protestant control was imposed on Ireland
