James Stuart

James Stuart was born on 14 October 1633 at St James's Palace in London. He was the second surviving son of Charles I and Henrietta Maria. He was created Duke of York in 1644. During the English Civil War, he stayed in Oxford, a Royalist stronghold. When the city surrendered in 1646, James was confined in St James' Palace by parliamentary command. In 1648, he escaped to Holland and served in continental armies. He returned to England after the Restoration of his brother Charles II in 1660. He married Anne Hyde, a maid of honour to his sister Mary, in a secret ceremony in Breda in 1659. They had eight children, but only two survived to adulthood: Mary and Anne. Anne died in 1671 after giving birth to her last child. James then married Mary of Modena, a Catholic princess, by proxy in 1673. They had seven children, but only two survived: James Francis Edward and Louisa Maria. James converted to Catholicism in 1668 or 1669, but kept it secret until 1673. His religion made him unpopular with the Protestant majority and aroused fears of a Catholic succession. Several attempts were made to exclude him from the throne by passing bills in Parliament or supporting his illegitimate son Monmouth as an alternative king. However, Charles II supported his brother's right to inherit and dissolved any Parliament that opposed him. James became king after Charles II died on 6 February 1685. He was crowned with his wife at Westminster Abbey on 23 April 1685. He faced two rebellions in his first year: one led by Monmouth in England and another by Argyll in Scotland. Both were defeated and the leaders were executed. James tried to promote religious toleration for Catholics and other dissenters by issuing declarations of indulgence and suspending penal laws against them. He also appointed Catholics to high positions in the army, the government, and the universities. He hoped to gain support from nonconformists who suffered from Anglican persecution, but he alienated many Protestants who saw his policies as a threat to their church and state. He also clashed with Parliament over his prerogative powers and his attempts to repeal the Test Act, which required public officials to take Anglican communion. He dissolved Parliament in 1687 and ruled without it for the rest of his reign. In June 1688, two events turned dissent into a crisis. Firstly, the birth of James's son and heir on 10 June raised the prospect of establishing a Catholic dynasty and excluding his Protestant daughters Mary and Anne from the succession. Secondly, the prosecution of seven Anglican bishops for seditious libel for petitioning against the declaration of indulgence was seen as an attack on the Church of England. Their acquittal on 30 June destroyed James's authority and sparked anti-Catholic riots. A group of seven prominent Englishmen, known as the Immortal Seven, invited William of Orange, the husband of Mary and the stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, to intervene and defend the Protestant religion and liberties. William accepted the invitation and landed in England with a large army on 5 November 1688. This event is known as the Glorious Revolution. James tried to resist, but he faced widespread defections from his army and his nobility. He fled to France on 23 December 1688 after throwing the Great Seal of the Realm into the River Thames. He was received by his cousin and ally Louis XIV, who granted him a palace at Saint-Germain-en-Laye and a pension. James was declared to have abdicated by the English Parliament, which offered the crown to William and Mary as joint sovereigns. They accepted it on the condition that they agreed to the Bill of Rights, which limited the power of the monarchy and affirmed the rights of Parliament. The Scottish Parliament and the Irish Parliament also declared James to have forfeited the throne and recognized William and Mary as their monarchs. However, not everyone accepted the revolution. Many Catholics, Anglicans, and Scots remained loyal to James and formed a movement known as Jacobitism, which sought to restore him and his descendants to the throne. James made several attempts to regain his crowns with French support. He landed in Ireland in 1689 and gathered an army of Irish Catholics. He fought against William at the Battle of the Boyne in July 1690, but was defeated and fled back to France. He also sent his son James Francis Edward to Scotland in 1708, but the invasion was foiled by a storm and a strong naval defence. James died in exile at Saint-Germain-en-Laye on 16 September 1701. He was buried in the Church of the English Benedictines in Paris. His son succeeded him as the Jacobite pretender under the title of James III of England and Ireland and James VIII of Scotland. ¹²³⁴