James II, King of England, Scotland and Ireland (1633 - 1701)


James was born in 1633, third son to Charles I and Henrietta Maria. During the Civil War he fled to safety in France before he became king after the death of his brother Charles II, restored to the throne after Cromwell's Commonwealth collapsed. He married twice and had many children: Anne Hyde bore him four of each sex before she died in 1671 and Mary of Modena bore him another two sons and five daughters.

Despite being a valiant soldier, James does not compare well with his brother Charles whose good nature won him sympathy. James did not share this disposition and he maintained a stubborn adherence to the Roman Catholic faith. Although his accession was auspicious - he was greeted with enthusiasm and stepped into a strong executive office, inheriting a faithful Tory-dominated Parliament - his determination to impress Catholicism on his subjects was ill considered and corrupted a sensible approach to politics. His zealous piety was to prove his nemesis.

He openly opposed the Test Act of 1673, which barred all Catholics and Dissenters from holding positions of power, and abandoned his post as Lord High Admiral and left the country. In 1678 he was the focus of a popish plot and in 1679 the Whig government attempted to exclude James from the succession but Charles dissolved parliament.

Within days of James' accession, Protestants were rallying around Charles' son, James, Duke of Monmouth, whom they believed should be king. The rebellion was easily quashed and Monmouth beheaded. Continuing his religious campaign, James had Catholics promoted to high-status positions while he appointed the 'Bloody Assizes' to execute, torture or enslave Protestant rebels. The Declaration of Indulgence (1687) granted tolerance of Catholics and non-conformists. In response, both Tories and Whigs turned against the king.

When, in 1688, Mary of Modena gave birth to a male heir, James Francis Edward (the Old Pretender), Parliament was provoked; this event scuppered their plans for James' Protestant daughter Mary to take the throne. Thus Protestant MPs allied themselves with Mary and her husband William of Orange and, sensing the threat, James fled from London as William landed at Torbay. Captured and released (with William's consent), James raised an Irish army against his usurpers but was defeated at the Boyne in 1690. He died an exile in Saint-Germain.