Iakov II Stuart King of England and Scotland 1685-1688 Date of Birth: 14.10.1633 Country: Great Britain

Biography of James II Stuart

James II Stuart was the King of England and Scotland from 1685 to 1688. He was born into the Stuart dynasty as the second son of Charles I and the brother of Charles II. James pursued a policy of feudal absolutism and strengthening the position of the Catholic Church. As the second son of the King of England, James held the title of Duke of York. His childhood and youth coincided with the period of the English Revolution. During the First Civil War, he was by his father's side. After the defeat of the royalists in 1646, James was placed under the supervision of Parliament, but later managed to escape to Holland. The Duke of York, his sisters, and Queen Henrietta Maria found refuge in France. As he grew older, James joined the military service of the King of France. He proved himself a brave warrior and, under the command of Marshal Turenne, took part in suppressing the Fronde, and later in the war against Spain. In 1655, the Mazarin government reached an agreement with Cromwell, and members of the English royal family were forced to leave France. The Duke of York joined the Spanish service, commanding a regiment of English and Irish emigrants stationed in Flanders. In 1660, the monarchy was restored in England, and Charles II Stuart became king. The Duke of York returned to his homeland and assumed command of the English Navy. Under his leadership, measures were taken to reorganize the naval department. The renewed British fleet performed well during the Anglo-Dutch wars. The duke himself participated in naval battles against the Dutch. Commanding the fleet, he defeated Admiral Opdam in 1665 and fought against Admiral Michiel de Ruyter in 1672. His personal participation in military actions made James popular in England. At the same time, his loyalty to the Catholic religion repelled the majority of Protestants. His allegiance to Catholicism was influenced by his upbringing and life circumstances. James believed that the horrors of the revolution punished England for betraying Catholicism and was grateful to the Catholic Church and Catholic states for the refuge they provided to the exiled Stuarts. While still in exile, James secretly engaged to Anne Hyde, a Catholic and the daughter of the Earl of Clarendon, Charles II's closest advisor and later minister. Anne was one of the ladies-in-waiting to Mary Stuart, the wife of the ruler of the Netherlands, William II of Orange. Upon returning to England, the Duke of York married her, although King Charles II objected to the marriage. James Stuart and Anne Hyde had two daughters - Mary, who later became the wife of William III of Orange, and Anne, who married Prince George of Denmark. In 1668, the Duke of York officially converted to Catholicism, but at the insistence of the king, his nieces Anne and Mary were raised in the Anglican faith. In 1671, Anne Hyde died, and James remarried a Catholic woman, Mary, the daughter of the Duke of Modena. The revelation of the 1679 conspiracy, in which the Whigs accused him of plotting to murder Charles II, significantly damaged the reputation of the Duke of York. The king was forced to order his brother to leave England, where a campaign began to deprive James of his right to inherit the throne. The Duke of York spent several months in Brussels; then Charles II returned his younger brother from exile but did not allow him to live in London, appointing James as his representative in Scotland. By 1681, the passions had somewhat subsided, and the disgraced duke returned to London and effectively led the government in the last years of Charles II's reign. It was with the influence of the Duke of York that the dissolution of the 1681 parliament, which refused to recognize James as the successor to the throne, is associated. By the time of his older brother's death, all the levers of power were in the hands of the Duke of York, and he ascended the throne as James II Stuart. In general, English society had a negative view of the new king, who was known for his advocacy of absolute monarchy and his loyalty to the Catholic Church. However, James II's accession to the throne did not meet any resistance. The newly convened parliament, mostly consisting of Tories, was ready to support the king in his struggle against opposition Whigs. Using the support of parliament, James II introduced measures to create a regular army and issued several decrees limiting freedom of the press to curb the influence of the Whigs. Just a few months after ascending the throne, armed uprisings against James II began in Britain. The first to rise against the new Catholic king in May 1685 were the Scots led by the Earl of Argyll. The rebels hoped to unite the entire Southern and Northern Scotland against the Catholic king and the English authorities. However, a general uprising did not occur, and the rebel forces were too weak and quickly defeated. The conspirators, including Argyll, were captured and executed. In June 1685, a rebellion broke out in the southwest English counties of Devonshire, Somersetshire, and Dorsetshire, led by the Duke of Monmouth, the illegitimate son of Charles II. Even during his father's lifetime, the Whigs predicted that Monmouth would ascend to the throne. In addition to Whigs, many local peasants and craftsmen supported his cause. As the leader of the rebellion, Monmouth showed indecisiveness, missed the opportunity to march on London, and allowed James II to gather superior military forces. On July 6, 1685, the rebels suffered a crushing defeat in the Battle of Bridgewater in Somersetshire. Monmouth was captured and soon executed. The successful suppression of the uprisings increased the confidence of King James II. He openly began implementing absolutist policies. A wave of terror engulfed former rebels, with over a hundred people executed, and eight hundred sent to plantations in the West Indies. The king's thirty-thousand-strong army became the backbone of his power, its numbers later increased to forty thousand. It consisted not only of Englishmen but also foreign mercenaries. In November 1685, parliament was dissolved. In foreign policy, James II tried to pursue an independent policy and, unlike his older brother, did not rely on powerful France. Being the father-in-law of the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange and seeing him as a future successor, he feared French conquest plans in the Netherlands. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes was used by James II for pragmatic purposes. Despite Louis XIV's dissatisfaction, James provided refuge in England for many wealthy French Huguenots who fled France after 1685. As a fervent Catholic, the king sought to equalize the rights of his subjects - Protestants and Catholics. He convinced judges to grant him the right to suspend laws prohibiting Catholics from holding official positions. As a result, Catholics began to occupy military and judicial positions. The king spared no effort or resources to promote Catholicism in the country: Catholic priests returned to England, and Jesuit schools were established in London. James II did not strive for an immediate and complete conversion of the country to Catholicism; his relations with Pope Innocent XI were cool, but the spread of Catholicism was viewed with suspicion by his subjects. The "Declaration of Indulgence" of April 2, 1687, repealed repressive laws previously enacted in England against all dissenters, including Catholics. In English society, the act was perceived as another step towards the restoration of Roman Catholic Church dominance, turning Catholicism into the state religion. The declaration, repeated in 1688, sparked protests from Tory nobles, mostly belonging to the Anglican Church. Anglican bishops appealed to the king with a petition expressing their disagreement with the monarch's religious policies. In response, James II ordered the arrest of seven bishops and accused them of spreading anti-royalist pamphlets. This case united Tories and Whig opposition against the king. The protest spread not only in London but also in the counties. Wide sections of English society, including Anglican priests and Puritan bourgeoisie who had been fighting against the Roman Curia for decades, opposed the restoration of Catholicism. Even conservative landlords feared having to return secularized lands of Catholic monasteries. Thus, an anti-Catholic alliance against the king was formed, uniting representatives of various political and religious movements. Everyone wanted to get rid of the papist king as quickly as possible. On June 10, 1688, Queen Mary of Modena gave birth to James II's heir - Prince James. This event significantly changed the political balance of power. Previously, the Protestant daughter of James II, Mary, and her husband, Protestant William of Orange, were considered the heirs to the throne. However, with the birth of an heir, whose education would be entrusted to Catholics, the prospect of England returning to Catholicism became more realistic. In the summer of 1688, almost all the nobility rose against the king, except for a small group of Catholics. James II tried to reach a compromise with the opposition by announcing free elections to parliament and reconciling with Anglican bishops, but his efforts were too late. On June 30, 1688, the leaders of the Whig and Tory parties turned to James II's son-in-law, Prince William of Orange, the stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, inviting him to come to England with an army and, together with his wife Mary, James II's daughter, claim the royal throne, guaranteeing the preservation of religion and the rights of parliament. This plan for a state coup envisaged replacing the monarch while maintaining legitimate forms through a "family rearrangement" of ruling individuals. With a twelve-thousand-strong mercenary army, Prince William landed in Torbay, one of the harbors in southwest England, in early November 1688. On November 8, he entered the city of Exeter and headed for London. Officers and soldiers of the royal army switched sides to support William, as did many courtiers. Princess Anne supported her sister Mary's claims and her husband. Uprisings against James II began in the north, in Cheshire and Nottinghamshire. All major cities in England supported the invasion. In December 1688, James II was forced to flee to France, where his wife and son had already been sent. Louis XIV provided the exiled king with the Saint-Germain Palace and generous support. Mary III Stuart and William III of Orange became the new kings of England and Scotland. Deposed from the throne, James did not give up hope of regaining power. France, which was at war with England over the Palatinate inheritance, supported the deposed king. In 1689, James II sailed to Ireland and led the country's Catholic population against William III, but his forces suffered defeat in 1690. In 1691, France's attempt to support James II with a naval landing ended in the defeat of the French fleet. Subsequently, the former English king tried to organize a pan-European alliance against William III, but Louis XIV, who concluded the Ryswick Peace with England in 1697, refused to support James II's claims. In the last years of his life, James II turned completely to religion, spending most of his time in Parisian monasteries. He was characterized by a stern and authoritative character. During military campaigns, he showed personal courage. Unlike his older brother Charles II, who was willing to compromise to maintain power, James II remained faithful to his principles, beliefs, word, and friends under any circumstances. After his death, he was buried in the parish church of Saint-Germain. During the French Revolution, James II's burial site was destroyed.