William III

1650-1702. King of Great Britain and Ireland 1689-1702.

Son to William II (Prince of Orange and stadtholder of the Netherlands) and his wife Mary (the sister of Charles II and James II). Later married to James II oldest daughter, Mary. He was invited to England by seven English politicians (both Tories and Whigs) to become the English monarch. They sent a Letter of Invitation in June 1688, which was both unclear given that they didn’t define what was expected from him, as well as illegal since they acted against the reigning king. William III and his wife Mary II arrived in England on 5 November 1688.

They were offered to reign as joint monarchs.

Important changes that took place during his reign

1. Major transfer of fiscal power from the monarch to Parliament

One of the important changes affected the balance of power between the monarch and Parliament. From 1688, it was a rule to summoned Parliament each year. One of the reason for that was the monarch’s dependence on tax revenues. The wars required a lot of money, which could be ensured by annual sessions of Parliament given that Parliament could not only impose new taxes, but also decide how to spend them. Therefore without the held of the Parliament the tax system would have had a lot of difficulties. The power of Parliament was also supported by the Triennial Act of 1964. Obviously, Parliament exploited its new power to the fullest extent. Firstly, from 1690 onwards, a Common Commission of Public Accounts controlled government expenses. Moreover, parliamentary guarantees decided on the government’s fiscal credit, which means that they decided whether the monarchs could borrow money from the bank, which foundation in 1694 (in England and in 1695 in Scotland) was part of that process.

Sources

• Maurer, Michael. Kleine Geschichte Englands. Stuttgart: Reclam, 1997.
• "The Act of Settlement." royal.uk, https://www.royal.uk/william-and-mary.
• “William III (r. 1689-1702) and Mary II (r. 1689-1694)”, ‘royal.uk’, https://www.royal.uk/william-and-mary
• David, Smith L. A History of the Modern British Isles 1603-1707. Blackwell, 1998.