James II as monarch
James II is a very controversial figure in the British History, condemned by the vast majority of historians as a tyrant and as a shame for the British monarchy, however this is a falacy mainly because James is judged with modern values and parameteres, an objective and factual conclussion can be that he was like the majority of the continental monarchs, however the Absolutism never functioned in the British Islands.
James was born at St. James palace in the city of London, England on 14 October, 1633 as the second eldest son of the reigning monarch of England and Scotland, Charles I Stuart, as that he was never expected to become king in his own right, however his position as second in the line of succession never changed up to the kingship of his eldest brother Charles II in 1660 when he became first in the line, a position that he kept during all of his brother reign.
The young prince James with his father the king Charles I
James was educated as was the costume of the time by tutors and raised as a Protestant even his mother was a Catholic, Henrietta Maria of France, a daughter of king Henry IV of France, the first Bourbon to reign in France (And himself a protestant that converted to Catholicism in order to ensure his position as french monarch).
At the age of three James was named Lord High Admiral, even this was nominal, the position would one day become significant after the restoration of the monarchy. In 1642 Charles I his father named him a member of the Order of the Garter. In 1644, following the costume, Charles I elevated him to the title of Duke of York (Always the second eledest surviving son of a monarch receives this title, bar Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, and curiously enough the title has always merged back to the crown after only one generation).
The situation was already a difficult one in England, as the English Civil War erupted after strong differences between his father the King and the Parliament. He had to live during this time at Oxford (A stronghold of the monarchy) however after it fell to the republican forces, the young James was virtualy imprisoned at the St. James Palace (Ironically enough), until he escaped in 1648 and went to La Hague, in the continental Europe.
In 1649 his father was beheaded by the republicans, and the Commonwhealt was established with Oliver Cromwell as its leader, even Scotland and Ireland proclaimed Charles II (Eldest brother of our James) as the new monarch, he could not assure the Enligh throne and had to went to the exile at France, being supported by the regency at France (The young king Louis XIV was not in age yet).
His years in the exile were troubled ones, as he served in the French Army during the revolts of the Fronde (A civil war in France among nobles, even Gaston, Duke of Orleans, uncle to the king Louis XIV, participated in the opposite side), however at some point his brother Charles made an alliance with the Habsburg Spain (Enemy to France), and had to leave France.
Louis XIV was an important figure during a well part of James' life
In the middle of the confussion he joined Louis, Prince of Conde at Bruges and fought against his own former allies at the French army. During his tenure at the Spanish side, he met with two irish catholic brothers, most historians agree that it was during this moments that he began to doubt about his Anglican faith, and the Catholic practices became attractive for him.
Living for so many years in catholic countries meant the eventual conversion of James, but this was initially kept in secret in order to avoid scandal. In 1659 he was offered with a high office at the Spanish army, however he refused and the following year his brother could finaly regain his lost throne.
Charles II as monarch
Under the restoration, James made one of his first scandals at the court when he announced his engagement to Anne Hyde, a commoner, in those times it was difficult to wonder a royal prince marrying a commoner, however the morganatic marriage did not exist at those times in England (In fact Henry VIII married several commoners).
James with his first wife Anne Hyde
The marriage lasted from 1660 to 1671 (When Anne died), and it produced at least five children, only two daughters would survive and were raised in the protestant faith according to the wishes of the reigning monarch Charles II, these two ladies would one day become queens regnants of the realms, as Mary II and Anne, the last of the Stuart dynasty to reign upon the British Islands.
As a Lord High Admiral, the Duke of York commanded during the Second and Third Anglo-Dutch wars, and when the american colony of the New Netherlands was conquered from the Dutchs it was renamed as New York in honour of James, few people know that this controversial figure is the namesake for the mosty important city in the modern world.
Growing fears and popular digust for Catholic things and people lead the parliament to pass an Act in 1673 that forced all civil and militar officials to take an oath in which they rennounced to catholic practices, James refused to do so, rennouncing thus to his office as Lord High Admiral, after this it was made public that James was a Roman Catholic.
Mary of Modena, the second wife of James II, a roman catholic and an italian princess
In 1673 James married a Catholic princess, Mary of Modena, she was unpopular from the very first moment that he set foot in the Great Britain, many people believed that she was a covered agent of the pope. The Roman Catholicism was in fact very unpopular among the masses because of fear of a papist complot against the Anglican Church (This was of course not true).
At those times it became evident that the queen Catherine (Consort to the king Charles II) would never become a mother, so at some point the throne would pass to the Catholic Duke of York and his unpopular wife. At the end of the 1670's the parliament tried to pass the Exclussion Bill that literaly excluded James and any son fro his second marriage of the line of succession. In response Charles II dissolved the parliament and did it two further times for the same reason.
The Exclussion Bill proposed that at the death of the king Charles II, the throune should pass to his illegitime son, James, 1st Duke of Monmouth, that in fact would later claim the throne and revolt against the crowned king James II.
James, 1st Duke of Monmouth, one of the greatest foes in James' life (And also his nephew)
James was at a very unpopular point among the masses and had to leave firt to Brussels and then to Scotland when his brother appointed him Lord High Comissioner. Eventually he returned when it became clear that Charles II would die soon. His last moment of popularity came in 1683 when a republican plot that wanted to kill both the king and the Duke of York became uncovered, the public fell simpathy then to both the monarch and James.
In 1685 Charles II died not before converting to Roman Catholicism at his deathbed, and the Duke of York became James II of England and VII of Scotland. At first it appeared that the transition was calmed and peaceful, even the Parliament showed favour to the new monarch, however soon James, 1st Duke of Monmouth revolted and declared himself as the true monarch.
Even Monmouth was defeated and soon executed, the rebellion just marked the beginning of a troubled time, and a reign that would be ephimeral. James had very unpopular ideas, he believed in the divine right of the monarchs and had clear autocratic ideals, but this was in fact not uncommon in the Europe of the XVIIth century, Louis XIV was ruling in France, Leopold I was Holy Roman Emperor, the great tsar Peter I was wuling in Russia and the Habsburgs were becoming extinct at Spain with Charles II.
The absolutism was a fashion in continental Europe, however the advanced and metropolitan minds of the english people could not accept this kind of government, prefering a more representative one, James II unfited with its people minds that were also fearful of the Roman Catholic faith while their monarch was trying to ensure religious liberty.
In 1688 after James II installed reforms on religion that favored the Roman Catholicism, his final fate was signed and when his wife gave birth to a baby son, James Francis Edward, the english people became totally hostile to their king, they were not willing to accept a Catholic Dynasty ruling in the British Islands.
William and Mary as co-sovereigns
The nephew of the king and also son-in-law (As was married to the Princess Mary, future Mary II), William, Prince of Orange was ploting against the king and finaly made an invassion from the Orange realms, soon the royalist forces were defeated, and James II had to fleed the country without abdicating.
This movement is now called the Glorious Revolution, and has a great impact on British History more for its aftermath, the Parliament passed the Bill of Rights that finaly limited the power of the monarch and gave the majority of the political control to the parliament itself, then they proclaimed William as co-monarch with his wife, Mary as William III and Mary II.
James II exiled at France however obtained recognition and protection from Louis XIV, Spain, Modena and the Papal States also refused to recognize William and Mary as the true sovereigns of the British Islands. The support for the deposed king became known as Jacobitism, and found allies in the Catholic powers and a minority of the population in the British Islands, specialy at Ireland and Scotland.
In fact Ireland refused at first to follow England and Scotland in their attempt to remove James II from the throne, so James II landed with French troops at Ireland in 1689 tryiing to regain his lost crown, however William III personaly went to defeat him, James II had to surrender and left, he would never set feet again in any of his lost realms.
After this James lost most of the Irish support, because he left his allies to his own luck and was tagged as a coward. He then arrived defeated to France. In 1692 James' wife, Mary, gave birth to her last child, the princess Louisa Maria Theresa, to be later styled "Princess Royal", she would become a gentile and romantic figure, that well deserves her own entry in these series.
In 1696 a plot in England was uncovered, it wanted to restore James II by murdering William III, however because of it's failure it only gave more unpopularity to the exiled king. Louis XIV helped so much his cousin and disgraced king, that he even found a new throne for him, he offered him to be crowned elected king of the Polish-Lithuanian commonwhealt, however James refused believing that by accepting it, he would totaly relinquish his rights to the British realms.
James Francis Edward and his sister the princess over the water, Louisa Maria Theresa
In 1697 Louis XIV made peace with William III, and James II lost much of its favor and help. During his last years he lived impoverished at an austere palace, rounded by his family and a few supporters in a decadent and moribund court. James passed away on 16 September, 1701, he was succeeded in his Jacobite claims by his son that was proclaimed James III and VIII.
We would discuss and explore the life of James III in the next entry, also the fate of the queen Mary of Modena, the lives of Mary II and her sister Anne, and the eventual Hanoverian succession to the British thrones.
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