Chapter Introduction of Age of Dryden by History

by maintaining outward conformity and worshipping in secret in their homes. This was characteristic of the Catholic nobles.

James' efforts to obtain a Parliament that would accede to his ambitions to consolidate and expand the Catholic faith in England led him to increasingly drastic and unconstitutional measures. These included the dismissal of almost 75% of JPs and the remodelling of almost two- thirds of borough charters. Essentially, this made for a revolution in office-holding far more radical than anything attempted during the 1640s or 1650s.

Until the birth of a male Catholic heir in June 1688 James had expected to be succeeded by his Protestant daughter Mary and her husband the Dutch ruler William, Prince of Orange. With the birth of James Francis Edward Stuart (who would later become known as the Old Pretender in his bid to become James III) and the trial of seven bishops in the same year, a coalition of political figures invited William of Orange to intervene in English political affairs for the preservation of the Protestant religion and the ancient liberties of the people. William took a great risk in accepting the invitation and invaded with an army less than half the size of James II's. Some Whigs supported William, whilst most Tories remained unmoved (see next chapter for definitions of Whig and Tory), perhaps hoping William would ascend to the throne, yet rendered incapacitated by their belief in passive obedience and non-resistance to sanctified authority of the crown. James suffered a breakdown and fled the country. William demanded that he and his wife Mary (James' daughter from his first wife, Anne Hyde) be invested with the crown and made joint rulers. This was achieved by a series or compromises between William and Parliament; James was declared to have abdicated, and thus the throne was vacant, allowing Parliament to invite William and Mary to occupy it. James' misdeeds were recorded and indicted in the Declaration of Rights; William and Mary agreed not to repeat those misdeeds in the Bill of Rights. A measure of religious toleration was granted to all Protestants with the Toleration Act (see chapter on the Revolution of 1688). The Tories were, for the moment, content to look forward to the rightful and divinely ordained succession of Anne (James' other daughter) after the deaths of James II and William and Mary. To protect England from the expansionistic ambitions of Louis XIV (who now had taken the claim of James II and maintained a claim to restore him by force of arms, in addition to his European campaigns) William III had to keep a standing army during peacetime and a large bureaucracy. Additionally William had built up a large network of 'placemen' in the House of Commons to enable government policy to pass through the legislature smoothly.