1660-88 – The Glorious Revolution
- After the restoration in 1660, Charles II faced challenges but led effectively
- He asserted his authority but also made concessions to the Political Nation to keep them on side
- James II was much less able
- He began by favouring Catholics by giving them roles in government and relaxing restrictions
- James also acted like his father, Charles I, by only including close friends and allies in decision-making
- James II’s actions alarmed some aristocrats
- When his Catholic wife bore a son, concern increased as the heir was Catholic
- The leading nobles rebelled against James, inviting his Protestant daughter Mary and son-in-law William from the Netherlands to take the throne
- James fled to France and Louis XIV gave him an army to win back the throne, and James landed in Ireland to gain support
- James II was defeated in 1689
- The Glorious Revolution was an illegal overthrow of a legitimate monarch, so William, Mary and the rebels made it appear legal
- Laws were set in place to guarantee that a Catholic could never rule England
- Parliament became increasingly powerful as the power of the monarchy declined
- The leading nobles had overthrown one king and placed another on the throne
- William and Mary agreed to a new constitution that limited their powers
1685-88 – James II’s Reign
- Charles II’s reign was somewhat successful, but tensions arose when his brother James II, who lacked skill and diplomacy, came to the throne in 1658
- He immediately faced a rebellion by the Duke of Monmouth who was Charles II’s illegitimate son that believed he had a claim to the throne
- James crushed the rebellion, but kept his large army for future which concerned parliament
- The Political Nation had problems with James’ religious policies
- After the Civil War, James had lived in France and converted to Catholicism
- His wife was Catholic
- He remained friendly with King Louis XIV even after Louis revoked tolerance of Huguenots in France in 1685, causing many to flee the country
- James began to show signs of returning England to Catholicism
- In 1686, he forbade Anglican ministers to preach anti-Catholic sermons
- In 1687, he began to remove Protestants from government posts, replacing them with Catholic ministers
- In 1687-88, he published documents called Indulgences, which said that the king had the right to set aside particular laws if he felt it necessarily
- The laws he has in mind were the Test and Corporation Acts which barred Catholics from roles such as army officers, justices and MPs and Habeas Corpus which said that a person could not be arrested and held without being given a fair trail
- In June 1688, his wife had a son, before his Protestant daughter Mary was heir
- The Political Nation was against a rebellion for fear of the consequences of another civil war, however they had no other choice
- Several Protestant nobles and bishops sent a petition to the Dutch Prince William of Orange, inviting him to invade England
- William was the husband of James II’s daughter Mary
- William was eager to invade to uphold his wife’s inheritance and gain the support of England in wars against France
- James began to reverse his policies in attempt to avoid his overthrow
- William landed his forces in Devon in November 1688 and James was invited to flee, so he fled to France
- Several Protestant nobles and bishops sent a petition to the Dutch Prince William of Orange, inviting him to invade England
1688-89 – The Glorious Revolution
- Mary was officially ruler of the country, but William had full authority of the monarchy
- William and Mary had to agree to Parliament’s new constitution
- For many ordinary people, the change on monarchs had little impact as there was no fighting or no attempt to change laws that impacted daily life
- There were significant consequences on the Political Nation
- Scotland became more independent
- Scottish MPs demanded full control of the Church in Scotland
- They also invited the abolition of bishops and the right to appoint chief ministers in Scotland
- William did not want to agree to any of these demands, but he knew that some of his strongest support was in Scotland, so in 1690, he conceded to their demands
- Scotland became more independent than it has been since the time of Cromwell
- Ireland came under Protestant control
- James fled to France, where Louis XIV supplied him with troops to win back his throne
- James landed in Catholic Ireland, where he he knew he could gain support
- After several bloody battles and sieges, William’s forces finally defeated James in 1690
- William offered the rebels generous terms in the Treaty of Limerick, but his supporters wanted harsher terms
- Ireland was now ruled by a small class of English Protestants and the large Catholic population of Ireland became second-class citizens
- In the short term this was stable, but in the 1700s and 1800s, it resulted in rebellions
- Catholic’s were barred from the throne
- In order to avoid future disagreement or rebellion, laws had to be implemented
- The Whigs seized on Hampden’s name for the events of 1688 and claimed the ‘Glorious Revolution’ as a triumph of the people and parliament
- They had overthrown a monarch who failed in his duty to rule with the consent of the people
- Tories could not accept this as they believed in the principle of divine right of kings, which meant that overthrowing a king was a sin against God
- They did not want James II back but, but they felt that William should be regent rather than king
- The Whigs seized on Hampden’s name for the events of 1688 and claimed the ‘Glorious Revolution’ as a triumph of the people and parliament
- William and the Whigs refused to accept the lesser statement, so eventually it was agreed that James II had abdicated his throne and parliament had been forced to invite William to take his place
- The Bill of Rights was then implemented and confirmed that Catholic’s would be barred from inheriting the throne
- In order to avoid future disagreement or rebellion, laws had to be implemented
- The powers of the monarchy were limited, however only to a certain degree
- William and Mary had to swear an oath at their coronation to rule according to the laws passed in parliament
- The Bill of Rights was agreed, it prevented the monarch from suspending laws or keeping a large army in peacetime and forms the basis of our constitution today
- It also made sure that parliament would meet at least once a year, and gave the MPs the right to free speech in parliament
- William was given the right to collect important taxes, such as customs, but only for a four-year period in order to guarantee that he would continue to work for parliament
- Despite the limits, William was more than just a figurehead
- He refused 20 proposed measures by parliament for the Bill of Rights
- The king still took major decisions, such as going to war
- He appointed most of the top jobs in the army, government and Church
- Most people did not want to disagree with the king, and he was revered
- Religious freedom for Protestants increased
- In 1689, a Toleration Act was passed, making it legal for Protestants to belong to churches other that the Church of England
- Non-Anglicans were still limited as they could not go to university or serve in the army or government
1688-1700s – Britain
- William of Orange brought England into the war with France
- He was already at war with Louis XIV when he became king; this war lasted another 25 years
- The Bank of England was set up to fund the large-scale war effort
- The investors loaned the country money in return for interest or other benefits; this was the national debt, which governments still have today
- Parliament became more important and more political parties began to emerge
- Investors lent to the Bank of England because they knew they would be repaid
- This made parliament more important and rulers had to get a majority of MPs on their side in order to vote through taxes
- Parliament met more regularly, and many elections were held
- MPs began to need support which came in the form of political parties
- Rulers worked with party leaders to get measures through parliament
- Instead of rulers appointing advisors, they appointed ministers from particular parties in return for their help in getting measures through parliament
- Government developed into a system of parliamentary monarchy with ministers, rather than the monarch, mainly running the country
- This was predominant under Queen Anne (1702-14), as she was often pregnant or unwell so couldn’t rule directly
- The reliance on ministers increased under Georgian monarchs in the 1700s
- Mary died in 1694 and William died in 1702, with no children
- Mary’s sister Anne inherited the throne however none of her 14 children survived to adulthood, so she had no heir
- Members of the Stuart family claimed the throne, but Catholics were banned
- In 1701, parliament passed the Act of Settlement, when the Hanover family ruling Germany were offered the Crown
- In 1714, the Hanoverians (Georgians) took over
- In the early 1700s, Scotland suffered economic disaster
- England invested in Scotland in return for a dissolution of the Scottish parliament, so England and Scotland were united in the Act of Union of 1707
- Not all Scots accepted this, particularly when George took over in 1714
- In 1715 there was a Scottish uprising by the Jacobites who supported the Stuarts but it, and another in 1745, were crushed
- The Glorious Revolution ensured landowning aristocrats were powerful in Britain in the following two centuries
- Parliament became particularly dominant due to Queen Anne’s ailments and the Georgian kings’ absences
1660-c.1800 – Parliament and the Monarchy
- In 1660, parliament invited Charles I’s son to become King Charles II
- Parliament retained the structure of the Lords and the Commons however other things had changed
- The powers of the king were limited
- Charles initially relied on his Privy Council, but Parliament started to become more powerful
- In theory, the monarch could still summon or dismiss parliament, but in reality, it began to sit most of the time
- Overtime, the Privy Council became less important and the monarch’s Council of Ministers became more important, this later became the Cabinet
- The Political Nation was starting to change as great nobles began to dominate the Lords and the Commons
- In 1688, parliament deposed James II and invited his daughter Mary and her husband William to become monarch
- The Glorious Revolution increased the power of parliament
- William and Mary had to swear an oath to rule according to the laws passed in parliament, showing monarchs were not above the law
- A Bill of Rights prevented the monarch from suspending laws or keeping a large army in peacetime and confirmed that parliament would meet at least once a year
- William was allowed to collect important taxes but only for a four-year period, guaranteeing that he would continue to work with parliament
- In 1707, the Scottish and English parliaments joined and in 1800, the Act of Union incorporated the Irish parliament as well
- Parliament ruled the United Kingdom of Great Britain
- Throughout the 1700s, parliament gradually became the main power in the land and the monarchy much less important
Describe two examples of the problems between James II and parliament in the 1680s. [4]
Explain why James II was overthrown in 1688. [8]
What was the significance of the Restoration in 1660? [14]
Did monarchs rely more on conflict or on co-operation with their subjects in the period c.1000-c.1800? [24]
‘Monarchs were more powerful than their subjects in c.1000-c.1800.’ How far do you agree with this view? [24]
‘War was the most serious problem rulers faced in the period c.1000-c.1800.’ How far do you agree? [24]
‘In the period c.1000-c.1800 the main cause of tension between rulers and their subjects was taxation.’ How far do you agree with this view? [24]