James II

1633-1701. King of England 1685-1688.

He was the son of Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria. He succeeded his older brother Charles II to the English (and Scottish) throne. First, he married Anne Hyde (the daughter of chancellor Clarendon) with whom he had two daughters, Mary and Anne. After the death of his first wife he married Mary of Modena (a Catholic) and had a son with her, James Francis Edward.

James II grew up in exile, namely in France, due to the civil war in England. He made career in the French military. But then, France became an ally of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England at that time, and therefore an enemy of the royal family. That is the reason why James went to the Netherlands and in 1658 he joined the Spanish army. On his brother’s wish, he fought alongside Spain against the united English and French troops. He returned to England in 1660 after the restoration of monarchy.

In religious terms, James was strongly influenced by his Catholic mother and he was himself a devout Catholic since 1668. His Catholicism became a problem during his reign. He strongly supported Catholics and gave them many important posts. According to Parliament, these pro-Catholic policies were against the Test Act, which was to guarantee the exclusion of Catholics from court and parliament. In 1687, James II’s Declaration o Indulgence suspended the Test Acts and some other anti-Catholic laws. Thus, he was accused of suspending laws without the consent of parliament. But it was his second pro-Catholic Declaration of Indulgence (April 1688), which finally led to serious trouble. This declaration was supposed to be pronounced in the Anglican churches and the Protestant English elite opposed to this. A petition was sent to William of Orange (husband of James’s eldest and Protestant daughter Mary), which invited him to the English throne. This is the so-called Glorious Revolution. Dutch troops landed in England on the 5th of November 1588. James II fled to France and later he went to Ireland. In the mainly Catholic Ireland he formed a troop against William of Orange. But after a series of defeats against William’s troops, most famously at the Siege of Derry and at the Battle of the Boyne (1690), he finally left for the continent.

He lived in French exile until his death in 1701. He spent most of his time meditating and praying. His claim to the English and Scottish throne was supported by Jacobites.

Eßer, Raingard. Die Tudors und die Stuarts. Kohlhammer. Stuttgart. 2004.