James II (1)

James II and VII, by Peter Lely
Public domain

James's aims

In the Whig histories of the nineteenth century James II was vilified as a potential absolutist who wanted to rule without Parliament and to force Catholicism on the nation. However, most historians now believe that his aim was not to force Catholicism on the nation nor to rule without Parliament. He was especially sensitive to the charge that he was a client of Louis XIV and was eager to assert England’s independence. His aim was to establish the rights of Catholics to worship without persecution and to take full part in the political life of the country: but to do this he would have to persuade Parliament to repeal the penal laws, the Corporation Act of 1661 and the Test Acts of 1673 and 1678. He believed that once this was done Catholicism would triumph without any compulsion from the state.

However, this belief shows his political naivety. He completely misunderstood the nature of English anti-Catholicism, failed to empathize with the profound anti-popery of the majority of his subjects, and was unable to realize that his actions were likely to be misinterpreted. In his attempts to alleviate the rigours of religious discrimination, he had to fall back on the royal prerogative at a time when the association of ‘popery’ and ‘arbitrary power’ was taken for granted. His naturally authoritarian temperament did not help.

James: Duke of York

James was fifty-two at the time of his accession. His childhood had been uncertain and frightening. The Civil War started when he was nine; at thirteen he was handed over to the parliamentary forces and imprisoned in London, and two years later he escaped in disguise. The happiest years of his life were those in which he was a professional soldier, serving with the French and then the Spaniards. After the Restoration he became Lord High Admiral. In spite of his devout Catholicism (probably post 1669) he had as many mistresses as his brother. 

By 1685 he was the last surviving child of Charles I. He did not expect to live long and, as his second wife, Mary of Modena, had so far not presented him with a surviving child, he was resigned to the fact that he would be succeeded by his Protestant daughter, Mary, Princess of Orange. His actions were therefore those of an old man in a hurry. 

Mary of Modena, by William Wissing
The as-yet childless queen
Public domain

In his policy he could expect no help from his ministers who were staunch Anglicans. Perhaps his most trusted protégé was John Churchill, whose sister, Arabella, had been his mistress. He was appointed gentleman of the bedchamber, and in May he was made Baron Churchill. His wife, Sarah, was lady of the bedchamber to James's daughter, Princess Anne .

James’s accession was greeted quietly. In a statement to the privy council which he later repeated to Parliament, he declared that he would make it his duty 'to preserve this government both in church and state as it is by law established'. But from the start there were signs of a new royal style: more formality in official behaviour, more bluntness and directness in royal statements. He insisted on attending Mass in full state.

The new parliament

Arguably, James inherited a golden legacy. His brother had died at the height of his power, his Whig opponents were defeated, and his accession was warmly welcomed in all three kingdoms. In May 1685 Parliament met, and the purge of the boroughs ensured a Tory majority (one of whom was Samuel Pepys, member for Harwich and since 1684 Secretary of the Affairs of the Admiralty of England). This was therefore a parliament in which the landed gentry (Anglican Tory) were dominant as never before. It would be loyal to the monarchy but that it could not be persuaded to undermine Anglican privileges. However, Parliament granted James additional customs revenues, thus enabling him to live within his means. He became the wealthiest English monarch since Henry VII. He had a strong hand - as long as he underplayed his Catholicism.

Monmouth's rebellion

In June, the crown was confronted by a two-pronged rebellion, engineered by Whig exiles in Holland. The one in Scotland was led by the Earl of Argyll. It was a clan rebellion in which the Campbells followed their chief. It was quickly crushed and his followers were treated with leniency though Argyll himself was executed, as his father had been before him.

The second was in the west of England when the Duke of Monmouth sailed from the Netherlands and landed at Lyme Regis on 11 June with eighty-two men and a quantity of arms. Trading on his Protestant credentials, he assembled about 4,000 men - farmers, clothworkers, artisans and miners - as he marched through Dorset and Somerset in June.  Most of his followers were either groups outside the political nation or very marginalized within it. They had a strong tradition of independence and during the civil war, under Blake's leadership, their fathers had defeated the royalist gentry. Despite harsh persecution, many of them were dissenters. 

Monmouth's proclamation was couched in whiggish terms: government was originally instituted for the good of the people and the royal prerogative was there to ensure the people's safety. The remedies he proposed for what he claimed was James II's abuse of the prerogative were very much in the spirit of 1681: annual parliaments, no standing army, repeal of the laws against dissenters, restoration of charters, free juries, and independent judges. The most inflammatory note in his proclamation was the claim that James had poisoned his brother. 

On 15 June parliament rushed through a bill of attainder as a result of which Monmouth could be executed without trial. A price of £5000 was put on his head.

The route of Monmouth's army
Copyright Keith Edkins

On 18 June Monmouth reached Taunton, which proved the most fertile recruiting ground. But even at its peak his army never exceeded 3000 men. Most of them came from urban backgrounds, with a heavy concentration from the depressed west country cloth trades, though there were also farmers, village craftsmen and labourers. Many were Dissenters. But to Monmouth's dismay, the gentry failed to rally to him. In a panic, he issued a second proclamation on 20 June claiming the crown for himself. The tactic failed. His only chance of success lay in seizing Bristol. But the city,  which was defended by the king's commanders, the earl of Feversham, John Churchill and Lieutenant-Colonel Oglethorpe, and Monmouth's army was deflected by royalist troops at Keynsham. At Frome he learned of the failure of the Scottish rebellion, and, with the Lancashire and Cheshire gentry failing to rise, he knew his cause was lost. But he refused the option of flight.  He was finally defeated at the battle of Sedgemoor on 5 July and was found hiding in a ditch near Ringwood. He was executed on 15 July.  

The duke of Monmouth executed on Tower Hill
Unfortunately for him, the executioner was the
notorious bungler, Jack Ketch.

The 'bloody assizes'

The king's rule in Somerset was restored under Colonel Percy Kirke, the former commander of the Tangier garrison, and his regiment (soon to be nicknamed 'Kirke's Lambs'). At the end of August a special commission of oyer and terminer,  known as the 'bloody assizes' was set up under Lord Chief Justice Jeffreys to try some 1300 suspected rebels.  About 250 were executed, some by summary executions, and about 850 were transported to the West Indies as indentured servants. The most notorious execution was that of the seventy-year-old Dame Alice Lisle charged with sheltering the Nonconformist preacher, John Hickes, a fugitive from Monmouth's army. She was beheaded in Winchester market place on 2 September, the last woman in England to be executed in this manner. The executions of the rebels continued until November and their quarters and heads of were displayed throughout the West Country. 

After the rebellion

The defeat of the rebellion strengthened James's position but it also made him aware of his military weakness: even at Sedgemoor, Feversham had only two thousand foot and 800 horse.  The king decided to keep most of the forces he had raised for the emergency, thus doubling the size of his standing army, which increased to almost 19,000 officers and men. By contrast the militia's poor showing convinced him that it was useless and untrustworthy. He hoped therefore that Parliament would allow him to use the militia money to maintain the army. He also resolved to press on with renewed determination to make the Catholics' position safe for all time. While enlarging his army he had commissioned nearly 100 Catholic officers. As a strictly temporary measure this was probably legal, but James wanted to make their position permanent. This flew in the face of English anti-Catholicism and dislike of standing armies.

On 8 October, with very unfortunate timing for James, Louis XIV issued the Edict of Fontainebleau, revoking the last vestiges of toleration granted to the Huguenots by the Edict of Nantes. News filtered to England in October and November though it was not mentioned in the official government newspaper, the Gazette. James's subjects assumed that he must have approved of the Revocation, though his attitude was 'not easy to determine'.  Up to 70,000 refugees eventually arrived in England, but when they came over, he insisted that they use the Anglican liturgy. 

This was the context of the meeting of the second session of Parliament, which met briefly in November. On 9 November James addressed the Parliament, demanding money for a standing army and refusing to dismiss the Catholic officers. On 14 November the Commons presented an address declaring that because of the Test Act, the employment of Catholics was illegal. On 20 November James prorogued parliament after less than two weeks. It was never to meet again. 

Conclusion

1. James began his reign with many advantages. His Tory -dominated Parliament readily granted him money and after Monmouth's rebellion he had a standing army at his disposal.
2. However, Parliament would not agree to the repeal of the Test Act. This was an Anglican body which would not allow the king to attack the privileges of the Church of England.
3. Just nine months into his reign James had broken with the Tories who had supported him since 1680.