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James VII and II (14 October 1633 O.S. – 16 September 1701) was King of England and Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685.
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James Stuart, Duke of Cambridge KG (12 July 1663 – 20 June...
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Henry FitzJames (6 August 1673 – 16 December 1702), titular...
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May 9, 2024 · James II, king of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 1685 to 1688. He was deposed in the Glorious Revolution (1688–89) and replaced by William III and Mary II. That revolution, engendered by James’s Roman Catholicism, permanently established Parliament as the ruling power in England.
- A Troubled Monarchy
- The Monmouth Rebellion
- Family & Catholicism
- The Glorious Revolution
- Developments in Science
- Successors & Ireland
The British monarchy had been formally abolished during the English Civil Wars (1642-1651) when James II's father Charles I of England (r. 1625-1649) was charged with treason and making war against his own people, found guilty, and executed on 30 January 1649. During the troubled conflict, Charles I had sent his family to the safety of France. Char...
James II's main competitor for the crown had been James Scott, Duke of Monmouth (b. 1649), the illegitimate son of Charles II. Monmouth attempted to take the throne by force in July 1685. To increase his claims of legitimacy, the Protestant Monmouth claimed that his father had actually married his mother Lucy Walter, and evidence of this could be f...
James had married Anne Hyde, the daughter of the Earl of Clarendon on 3 September 1660, but she died of illness in March 1671. He married again on 30 September 1673, this time to Mary (d. 1718), the daughter of the Duke of Modena. With Anne, James had eight children, but only two survived into adulthood: Mary (b. 1662) and Anne (b. 1665), both of w...
Many prominent Protestants felt the time for action was now or never. The dukes of Devonshire and Shrewsbury, the Bishop of London, and others got together and contacted Protestant Prince William of Orange via the Dutch ambassador in England, inviting him to become king of England, Scotland, and Ireland. William had close connections with Britain, ...
James' reign had been short, but its events were monumental in terms of history. Never again would a British monarch enjoy the powers that James had. There was a second event in his reign, and one equally dramatic in its long-term effects, this time in the field of science and physics, in particular. Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) recovered sufficien...
William of Orange became William III of England (also William II of Scotland, r. 1689-1702) via a decree by Parliament on 13 February 1689. This was the first time in English history that Parliament had overseen the change of one monarch to another without bloodshed or simple hereditary convention. The event and its aftermath have been called the G...
- Mark Cartwright
Learn about James II, the last Catholic king of England, Scotland and Ireland, who was deposed by William III in 1688. Find out about his life, reign, religious policies, wars and exile.
James II of England (also known as James VII of Scotland; October 14, 1633 – September 16, 1701) became King of England, King of Scots, and King of Ireland on February 6, 1685, and Duke of Normandy on December 31, 1660.
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James II, (born Oct. 14, 1633, London, Eng.—died Sept. 16/17, 1701, Saint-Germain, France), King of Great Britain (1685–88). He was brother and successor to Charles II. In the English Civil Wars he escaped to the Netherlands (1648).
Learn about the life and reign of James II, the last Catholic king of England, who was deposed by William of Orange in 1688. Find out how he converted to Catholicism, alienated Parliament, and tried to regain his throne in Ireland.