JAMES II 1685-1688

• In 1688, James' son James III is born.
• James and his wife Mary were married in a Roman Catholic service on the 20th September 1673.
• Under the Test Act of 1673, James was removed as Lord High Admiral.
• The 'Bloody Assizes’ was where hundreds of rebels involved in the Monmouth Rebellion were executed or deported to the Caribbean for a life of hard labour. (1685)
• The Duke of Monmouth is executed in London on the 15th of July 1685.
• A 4,000 man army led by the Duke of Monmouth was defeated by a Royalist force at Sedgemoor in Somerset on the 6th of July 1685.
• The Presbyterian Earl of Argyll leads a failed uprising against James in Scotland (May 1685).
• The 23rd of December 1688 is declared the day of James' abdication date as he fled the English shores believing God had turned his back on him.
• On the 12th of March 1689, in an attempt to regain his throne, the deposed James II of England lands in County Cork in Ireland with a French army.
• On the 11th of July of 1690, the Battle of the Boyne takes place where William's army suffered losses of around 500 men whilst the Jacobite army loses around 1000.
• In April of 1687, James issues the Declaration of Indulgence that suspended the penal laws against all non-conformists and revokes the required oath of dissenters to hold office.
• The second Declaration of Indulgence in April 1688 attempted to suspended religious and civil restrictions against Roman Catholics and Protestant dissenters.
• The Second Declaration of Indulgence was blocked by Sancroft, a member of Parliament who suggested that the declaration was unconstitutional as the restrictions had been placed by Parliament.
• Tory Anglicans worried that the Declaration of Indulgence was a ploy to encourage conversions to Catholicism and a dangerous abuse of the prerogative.
• On the 5th of November 1688 William III landed in Brixham with an invasion force of 500 ships and 14,000 men.
• The case of Godden vs Hales took place on the 21st of June 1686.
• Sir Edward Hales was a member of the House of Commons and a close associate of King James II who converted to catholicism in 1685.
• To keep the position that James II granted him (the command of a regiment of foot) Hales would have to take Anglican communion.
• Sir Hale's servant Godden bought legal action against him but when the case reached the Court of the Kings bench, the Court found in favour of Hales.
• The Court found in favour of Hales because it made the comparison that God could dispense with divine laws, so the legislator (King) should be able to dispense with man-made laws where appropriate.
• The terminology of 'Whig' and 'Tory' was introduced following the division in Parliament surrounding the decision to bar James, Duke of York from the throne in 1679.
• Argyll’s rising was an attempt in June 1685 to overthrow James II, led by Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll.
• James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, would simultaneously rebel in England whilst Argyll led an uprising in Scotland.
• John Locke funded Argyll’s rising, providing Monmouth with a majority of his £10,000 budget.
• When Argyll’s fleet of 3 ships arrived on May 11th 1685, he was only able to raise an additional 80 troops to add to his 300 man army.
• In total, Argyll’s rebellion only mustered around 1,000 troops who had largely deserted by the 16th June 1685.
• Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll was arrested on the 20th June 1685 after the Battle of Muirdykes.
• Argyll was executed on the 30th June 1685, under his previous arrest of treason in 1681.
• The Bill of Rights criticised James II, stating he ’…did endeavour to subvert and extirpate the Protestant religion and the laws and liberties of this Kingdom.’
• After his abdication, James II fled to France and lived in exile protected by Louis XIV at Saint-Germain.