ames II (1633-1701), king of Great Britain and Ireland, was born in London, the second son of Charles I and Henrietta Maria. The excitement over the popish plot necessitated his retirement from England and in 1679 the Exclusion Bill, to prevent his accession, was brought forward. The same year James returned and was sent to suppress the Covenanters in Scotland, which he did with much cruelty. At the close of 1680 the Exclusion Bill was thrown out by the Lords; and after a stormy period a reaction in favor of royalty set in, which continued till the death of Charles II in 1685, when he succeeded to the throne. Having overcome the rising of Monmouth, James set up a new Court of Ecclesiastical Commission, and issued his first Declaration of Indulgence. In April 1688 he issued his second Declaration of Indulgence. Seven bishops petitioned against the king’s illegal command, and were tried. Their acquittal was followed by an invitation to William of Orange to come over to England and his acceptance was followed by James’ flight to France. One of his daughters, Mary, married the Prince of Orange. Another succeeded to the English throne as Queen Anne. His son by his second wife, James Francis Edward, is known as the Old Pretender. Louis XIV received him kindly. [World Wide Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1935]

Fled the country 11 Dec 1688. Declared to have Abdicated by Parliament, 28 Jan 1689. [GADD.GED]

James II (of England and Ireland) (1633-1701), king of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1685-1688).

James was born in London, the second surviving son of King Charles I and his consort, Henrietta Maria. He was created duke of York and Albany in 1634. After the execution of his father, he was taken to the Continent, and in 1657 he entered the Spanish service in the war against England. At the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, his brother became king as Charles II, and James was made lord high admiral of England. That year he married Anne Hyde, daughter of Edward Hyde, earl of Clarendon. In 1672, a year after Anne's death, James publicly professed his conversion to the Roman Catholic faith. The next year the English Parliament passed the Test Acts disqualifying Catholics from holding office, and James resigned as lord high admiral. Shortly after, he married Mary Beatrice of Modena, a Roman Catholic. In 1679 the House of Commons unsuccessfully attempted to bar James from the throne.

On the death of Charles in 1685, James became king. In the same year he crushed a revolt in England by his nephew, James Scott, duke of Monmouth, and another in Scotland led by Archibald Campbell, 9th earl of Argyll. James alienated many supporters by his severe reprisals, especially by a series of repressive trials, the Bloody Assizes. James attempted to win the support of the Dissenters and the Roman Catholics in 1687 by ending religious restrictions, but instead increased the religious tensions. The birth of his son, James Francis Edward Stuart, on June 10, 1688, seemed to ensure a Roman Catholic succession. James' opponents were against the Roman Catholic succession and asked William of Orange, later William III, to take the English throne, thus touching off the Glorious Revolution. The Glorious Revolution was successful and bloodless; it created a constitutional monarchy aimed at limiting the arbitrary actions of the monarch and increasing the power of Parliament. William landed in England in November 1688 and marched on London. He was hailed as a deliverer, and James, deserted by his troops, fled to France, where he was aided by King Louis XIV. In 1690, with a small body of French troops, James landed in Ireland in an attempt to regain his throne. He was defeated in the Battle of the Boyne and returned to France, where he remained in Saint-Germain-en-Laye until his death. After James was forced into exile, William and his wife, Mary II, ruled England as joint sovereigns. [Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia]

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