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JAMES II. 1685 - 1688

Born in 1633, and immediately declared Duke of York. - Began to reign,1685. - Reigned 3 years. - Deposed 1688. Married - First - Anne Hyde.daughter of Edward Hyde, earl of Clarendon, by whom he had four sons and four daughters Married - Secondly - Mary d'Este of Modena. daughter of Alphonse d'Este, duke of Modena, by whom he had two sons and one daughter.

		DOMINIONS As under Charles II. England, Scotland, and Ireland. The coast of North America from the borders of Florida (undetermined) to the borders of Nova Scotia (undetermined), with the exception of the Dutch settlements in and about New York Part of Honduras, part of Guiana, Jamaica, Barbadoes, Bahamas, Montserrat, Anguilla, Antigua, Nevis all in the West Indies, Bermuda, Madras, part of Gambia in Africa, Dunkirk, sold to the French in 1662. In 1661 Bombay and Tangiers (evacuated 1683) were acquired as the marriage portion of the Queen.Cape Coast Castle, Accra, and Dix Cove were taken from the Dutch in 1664. In 1665 St. Helena, and in 1666 Tortola and the Virgin Islands, were conquered from the Dutch. In 1664 New Amsterdam, since called New York, was taken from the Dutch, and confirmed to England by treaty in 1674.
James II. of England Second son of Charles I. and of Henrietta Maria of France .

PRINCIPAL EVENTS.

Duke of Argyle's rebellion: he is executed. Duke of Monmouth's rebellion: he is defeated at Sedgemoor, captured, and executed, 1685. The Jesuits permitted to establish colleges in England, 1686. Seven bishops committed to the Tower for refusing to read a declaration for granting liberty of religious worship, &c. tried and acquitted. William, prince of Orange, being invited to take possession of the throne, lands at Torbay, on which James retires to France, and is deposed, 1688.

During the civil war he escaped from England and served with distinction in the French army under Turenne, and in the Spanish army under Condé . At the Restoration in 1660 he got the command of the fleet as lord high-admiral.

He had previously married Anne, daughter of Chancellor Hyde, afterwards lord Clarendon. In 1671 she died, leaving two daughters, who became successively queens of England. Having openly avowed the Roman Catholic faith, on the Test Act being passed to prevent Roman Catholics from holding public employments he was obliged to resign his command. He was afterwards sent to Scotland as lord high commissioner, where he persecuted the Covenanters.

He succeeded his brother as King in 1685, and at once set himself to attain absolute power. A rebellion beaded by the Duke of Monmouth (his nephew) was easily put down, and this encouraged the king in his arbitrary measures. He even accepted a pension from Louis XIV. that he might more readily effect his purposes, especially that of restoring the Roman Catholic religion. The result of this course of action was the revolution of 1688, and the arrival of William, prince of Orange. Soon James found himself completely deserted, and having quitted the country he moved to France, where he was received with great kindness and hospitality by Louis XIV. Assisted by Louis he was enabled in 1689 to attempt the recovery of Ireland; but the battle of the Boyne, fought in 1690, compelled him, to return to France All succeeding projects for his restoration proved equally abortive, and he spent the last years of his life in acts of ascetic devotion, He died at St. Germain's in 1701 .

WARS

In 1685 the Earl of Argyle made a descent from Holland upon Scotland, and the Duke of Monmouth upon England. Argyle was taken without fighting. Monmouth gathered a considerable force, but was defeated at Sedgemoor, in Somersetshire, on July 6th, in what is the last action deserving the name of a battle fought in England.

OFFICIALS

Lord Guildford, Lord Keeper till Sept. 5,1685.
George, Lord Jeffreys, Lord Chancellor, 1685.
Earl of Rochester, Lord Treasurer, 1685 - 1687.
Lord Belasyse, First Lord of the Treasury, 1687.
Marquis of Halifax, President of the Council, 1685.
The Earl of Sunderland, President of the Council, Dec. 4th, 1685.
Richard Talbot Earl of Tyrconnell, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 1686,
The Earl of Tyrconnell, the Earl of Powis, the Earl of Castlemaine, all Romanists, and Father Petre a Jesuit, were illegally sworn members of the Privy Council in 1686, and with the Earl of Sunderland, who betrayed him, shared the inner counsels of the King.

ACTS AND DOCUMENTS

1686, June 21. The Judges, in the case of Sir Edward Hales, affirm the power of the King to dispense with the provisions of the Test Act in particular cases. (State Trials, xi. 1165.)
1686. The League of Augsburg formed on the Continent to check the ambition of Louis XIV. This league included the Emperor and Princes of the Empire, the Kings of Spain and Sweden, the Duke of Savoy, and ultimately Holland and the Pope, Innocent XI. It was begun by the Prince of Waldeck, and completed by the Prince of Orange and the Elector of Brandenburg. It played an important part in the English Revolution, for the events of the previous war, 1672 - 1678, had shown the necessity of including England in the alliance, and the allies of Augsburg furnished the army by which the invasion of England by the Prince of Orange was successfully accomplished.
1686, July 14th. A Court of Ecclesiastical Commission erected by the King, contrary to the Act of 1641, consisting of the Lord Chancellor, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishops of Durham and Rochester, the Earls of Sunderland and Rochester, and the Lord Chief Justice, Sir Edward Herbert
1687, April 4th. A Declaration of Indulgence suspending the Test Act., and other acts against Romanists and Nonconformists, issued by the King. (See London Gazette, April 7, 1687.) 1688, April 25th. The Declaration republished, and commanded to be read in Churches, May 4th. This re-issue of the Declaration led to the Petition and the trial of the Seven Bishops.