Abstract on the topic:

James II (King of England)

Plan:

Introduction

• 1 Duke of York
• 2 Reign
• 3 Overthrow and emigration
• 4 Offspring
• 5 In culture

Introduction

James II Stuart(English) James II , October 14, 1633( 16331014 ) - September 16, 1701) - King of England, Scotland and Ireland, as a Scottish monarch wore a dynastic number James VII(1685-1688), grandson of James I, second son of Charles I and younger brother Charles II. Last British Catholic king; overthrown in the Glorious Revolution of 1688.

1. Duke of York

Received from his father the title of Duke of York (1644). During civil war after the capture of the city of York by the parliamentary army in 1646, Yakov and his brothers and sisters were taken into custody; fled to the Continent in 1648. Served under the banner of the French Marshal Turenne (1652); later fought against him in the ranks of the Spanish army.

After the restoration of the Stuarts, the Duke of Albany also bore the Scottish title (1660). Received, as General Admiral, under the command of the naval forces of England; in 1665 he defeated the Dutch fleet at Gardwich. Together with a penchant for Catholicism, James grew stronger friendship with Louis XIV, hatred of Holland and the intention to establish an absolute monarchy.

Jacob was the soul of the Cabal ministry, which had pursued these goals since 1670. After the death of his first wife, Anna, daughter of Clarendon, James converted to Catholicism. In the war that then broke out against Holland, he commanded the fleet in two great naval battles.

The influence of parliament, which was strengthened as a result of an unsuccessful war, expressed in the publication of the "Act on the Oath", forced Yakov to retire from public affairs. Contrary to his wishes, the eldest of his two daughters from his first marriage, Mary (the intended heir to the throne, since Charles II was childless, and Jacob had no sons at that time), was married to William of Orange (1677).

Jacob's second wife, Mary of Modena, a devout Catholic, made Jacob an even more zealous adherent of Catholicism. When in 1679 a rumor spread about a Catholic conspiracy at the head of which Jacob was allegedly at the head, he was forced to leave England; even the question of removing him from the throne arose, but it was precisely this that provoked a reaction against the Whigs, and after the death of Charles, Jacob freely ascended the throne.

2. Reign

The uprisings of Monmouth in England and Lord Argyll in Scotland were easily suppressed and punished with terrible cruelty. Judge Jeffreys showed particular savagery in the trials of the rebels. Encouraged by his success, James conceived, by means of a broad interpretation and application of the dispensational authority (see Dispensation), to replace all major offices (military and civilian) with non-Anglicans. At the same time, he placed special hopes on the doctrine of unconditional obedience, which was then professed by a significant majority of the Anglican clergy.

James humbled the protesting clergy through the so-called "high commission", patronized all directions hostile to the dominant church, and set as his goal the establishment of an absolute Catholic monarchy through almost undisguised propaganda of Catholicism and a close alliance with Louis XIV. Even the most faithful servants of the king, the Anglican bishops, were brought to justice, but acquitted by the jury. Hoping that after the death of Jacob, in the absence of male offspring, the government would pass into the hands of his daughter, who was faithful to Protestantism, the people restrained their indignation and it did not come to an uprising.

When the birth of the Prince of Wales was announced on June 10, 1688, many did not want to believe in the reality of this fact and suspected a forgery. Having lost hope for a peaceful change for the better, the leaders of both the main parties, the Whigs and the Tories, invited the Dutch prince William of Orange to take the throne in England. Jacob wanted to make concessions, but it was too late.

3. Overthrow and emigration

In November 1688, the Prince of Orange landed in England, and in December, the king with his illegitimate son, the Duke of Berwick, abandoned by his daughter Anna and his closest advisers, fled to France, where Louis XIV placed the Saint-Germain Palace at his disposal. In February 1689, Parliament proclaimed William and Mary King and Queen of England. James of France maintained constant relations with his adherents (the Jacobites), who plotted in England and openly rebelled in Scotland and Normandy. In 1689, Jacob arrived in Ireland and became the head of the conspirators, supported by the French troops, but was defeated at the Boyne in 1690.

His descendants (son, James "The Old Pretender", and grandsons, Charles "The Young Pretender" and Cardinal Henry Stuart) continued to claim the English and Scottish thrones and lead the Jacobite party until the suppression of the House of Stuart (1807).

4. Offspring

Jacob was married twice: to Anna Hyde (1638-1671), daughter of the statesman and historian Earl of Clarendon, and to Mary of Modena (1658-1718), daughter of the Duke of Modena Alfonso IV. From his first marriage he had 8 children, of whom two daughters survived, the future queens Mary II and Anna, and all 4 sons and 2 more daughters died in childhood. From the second marriage, 7 children were born, of whom two also survived: the son Jacob "The Old Pretender" and the daughter Louise Stewart, who was already born in France (she died at the age of 19 from smallpox). The legitimate offspring of James II was cut short in 1807.

In addition to offspring from two legal wives, Jacob (when he was the Duke of York) also had children from two mistresses. From Arabella Churchill, sister of the famous commander John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, he had two sons, James and Henry, who followed their father to France, and two daughters, Henrietta and Arabella; they all bore the surname Fitzjames, with the prefix fitz, traditional for illegitimate children of the nobility. From Catherine Sedley, to whom Jacob, after accession to the throne, gave the title of Countess of Dorchester, he had a daughter, also Catherine, in the first marriage of the marquis, and in the second - the duchess. The offspring of illegitimate children of James II exists to the present day; in particular, the descendants of Henrietta Fitzjames (through her mother Diana) are the grandchildren of Elizabeth II, Princes William and Harry.

5. In culture

James II is a character in many historical novels and films, in particular, the novel Lorna Doone by Richard Blackmore. In the film adaptations of the novel, his role was played by George Curzon (1934), Hugh Fraser (1990), Robert Eddy (2000). In the 2000 TV series Charles II, James was played by Charlie Creed-Miles.

When writing this article, material from the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron (1890-1907) was used.

1. In English, his name sounds like James, in the Russian historical tradition there is a variant Jacob.

download
This abstract is based on an article from the Russian Wikipedia. Synchronization completed on 07/09/11 08:41:15
Related essays: Jacob I Stuart , Rod Stuart , Stuart , Ian Stuart , Bob Stuart , Stuart Yen , Paul Stuart ,

James II

James II. Reproduction from the website http://monarchy.nm.ru/

James II, King of England
James VII, King of Scotland
James II Stuart
James II Stuart
Years of life: October 14, 1633 - September 16, 1701
Reigned: England: 6 February 1685 - 12 February
1689
Scotland: 6 February 1685 – 11 April 1689
Father: Charles I
Mother: Henrietta Maria French
Wives:
1) Anna Hyde
2) Mary of Modena
Son: Jacob ("Old Pretender")
Daughters: Maria, Anna, Louise
Several more children died in infancy.

During the years of the revolution, Jacob took refuge in Holland, and then entered the service of the French fleet, where he earned a reputation as a brave and capable military leader. After the restoration, Jacob returned to his homeland, where he was granted the rank of great admiral. He made many useful changes in the navy, in particular, he invented marine signaling using flags and flares. During the war with Holland, Jacob won several naval battles, which achieved some popularity. He ascended the throne after the death of his childless brother Charles in 1685.

Like his brother, Jacob had many affairs, but unlike Charles, he was attracted to women who were rude and ugly. One of his mistresses, Catherine Sedley, frankly admitted that she did not understand the reasons for Jacob's attachment to her. Only when he became king, with great difficulty, was he able to break the old ties.

Jacob was an active and powerful man, but too straightforward. He disliked Parliament and clearly showed an inclination towards Catholicism. If earlier he went to mass secretly, then, having become king, he did it openly. A papal legate settled at court, although the law forbade all relations between England and Rome. After putting down a rebellion by his half-brother James Crofts in 1685, James further increased his army, mainly with Catholic officers from Scotland and Ireland. Soon Catholics again received the right to hold public office and head departments at universities. In 1687 and 1688 declarations of religious tolerance were issued, which, however, further aggravated the situation. The bishops who opposed them were imprisoned in the Tower. Parliament, which tried to deprive the king of subsidies in response to the abuses of the king, was dissolved.

By 1688, Jacob's only support was the Irish-Scottish army. Both Tories and Whigs united against the king and sent a dispatch to William of Orange, who held the position of Stadtholder of the Netherlands, with a proposal to take the English throne. November 5, 1688 William landed in England. In an attempt to salvage the situation, James called Parliament, but it was too late. Everyone went over to Wilhelm's side, including ministers, the army, and even members of the royal family. On December 11, Jacob tried to escape and drowned the state seal in the Thames, but was captured on the coast and returned to the palace. Despite being treated respectfully, Jacob escaped a second time, and this time successfully. He reached the shores of France, where he was received Louis XIV and placed in Saint-Germain, allocating a large sum of money for the maintenance of the court.

After the flight of the king on February 12, 1689, Parliament announced the resignation of Jacob from his powers. Soon the Scottish Parliament did the same. William of Orange and his wife Mary, daughter of Charles II, were proclaimed rulers of England. This coup entered the history of England as the Glorious Revolution.

Subsequently, Jacob twice tried to regain the throne. In the same 1689, with French money, he organized an uprising in Ireland, and even the local parliament recognized him as king, but the rebellion was soon suppressed. In 1691, the French fleet went to the shores of England, but was defeated. Jacob had a chance to be elected king of Poland, but he himself refused the crown, believing that this would completely deprive him of the chances of returning to England. The last years Jacob lived quietly in France and died in Saint-Germain, where he was buried.

Used material from the site http://monarchy.nm.ru/

James II, King of England and Scotland from the Stuart dynasty, who ruled from 1685-1688. A son Charles I and Henrietta of France.

Wives: 1) from 1659 Anna Gade (b. 1638 + 1705); 2) since 1673 Maria d "Esta, daughter of the Duke of Modena Alphonse IV (born 1658 + 1718).

During the years of the revolution, Jacob, in great danger to his life, dressed in a woman's dress, fled from England to Holland. During the years of the Cromwell protectorate, he went to France and as a volunteer entered the French service, where he established himself as a brave and capable military leader, very knowledgeable in naval affairs. After the restoration, James accompanied his brother Charles II to England and was granted the latter to the great admirals. In this position, Jacob made many useful changes and innovations. He has the honor of inventing naval signals, during the day - with multi-colored flags, at night - with the same flares. His victories over the Dutch admiral Ondam in 1665, his battles with the famous Ruyter in 1672 won him some popularity, although the people did not at all sympathize with the war with Holland. In 1685, after the death of Charles II, who left no legitimate heirs, James ascended the throne.
Unlike his brother, he was an active and powerful man. His mind was heavy, his character was distinguished by steadfastness and inexorability. However, with all the severity of his nature, Jacob was subject to the influence of feminine charms no less than his ardent and cheerful brother. But the beauty that distinguished all of Karl's favorites was not necessary condition for the favorites of Jacob. Even in his youth, he fell in love with the rude and ugly Anna Gade, daughter of Lord Clarendon, whom he married with the permission of the king. Soon, to the great amazement of the whole court, he was torn from his unattractive wife by an even less attractive lover - Arabella Churchill. His second wife was twenty years his junior, and despite her youth and beauty, she also often had cause to complain about his fickleness. Of all the king's hobbies, the strongest was affection for Catherine Sedley, devoid of any female attractiveness. Nevertheless, she had great power over the king. She herself was surprised by his passion and once admitted: “It cannot be that my beauty seduced him - after all, he must see that I am not good; and not my mind, because he himself is not so smart as to understand whether I have it. Only after accession to the throne, when the queen began to arrange constant scenes for him, did Jacob break this connection with great effort.

While still Prince of York, James could not calmly look at the parliamentary institutions of England and showed a clear inclination towards Catholicism. Despite this, after the death of Charles II, he assumed power without any resistance. The society was loyal to the ruling dynasty, and in the first parliament called by the king, the Tories had a huge majority over the Whigs. James himself admitted that if he had been given the choice of appointing members of the House, he would not have found better candidates. But this political harmony was very short-lived. Narrow, straightforward, and narrow-minded, Jacob was unable, either in his mental faculties or in his moral convictions, to play the complex political game necessary in his position. First of all, the king did not consider it necessary to hide his Catholic faith any longer. If earlier he secretly went to mass, now he has opened wide the doors of his chapel. The papal legate openly settled at the royal court, although under English law all communication with Rome was prohibited. The Catholic clergy preached and opened their own schools. At the same time, the desire of the king for unlimited power caused great concern.

In 1685, the late son of Charles II, the Duke of Monmouth, rebelled against his uncle. After his speech was suppressed with incredible cruelty, the king did not dissolve many regiments, he increased the standing army, a significant part of the officers of which consisted of Catholics. Then government posts became available to Catholics, and above all the management of universities. This creeping Catholic reaction finally caused the opposition of Parliament. Assembling for a second session, the deputies refused to approve the royal subsidies until James repealed his abuses. In response, the king dissolved the House. To attract popularity, he in 1687 and 1688. issued declarations of religious tolerance, but this only increased the indignation. Many bishops protested against the declaration. Jacob ordered them to be imprisoned in the Tower.

In the third year of his reign, Jacob's only support was the troops recruited from the Irish and Scots. Both Whigs and Tories united against the autocratic and fanatical king. In the summer of 1688, seven of the most prominent public figures in England sent a ciphered dispatch to Jacob's son-in-law, the Stadtholder of the Netherlands, William of Orange, and invited him to take the English throne. Upon learning that William was making preparations for an expedition to England, Jacob decided to make concessions in favor of the Tories and announced that he no longer insisted on admitting Catholics to Parliament. But it was too late. On November 5, William landed on the English coast with a large army. All the sympathies of the British were on his side. Jacob hurried to his army, realizing that time was against him and it was necessary to impose a battle on the enemy as soon as possible. But the despondency and confusion that he found in the regiments made him change his mind and give the order to retreat. On 27 November the King agreed to convene Parliament. However, this measure could no longer save him. London, the ministers, the army led by their commander-in-chief John Churchill, and even members of the royal family. The abandoned king had to give up further struggle and think about his own salvation. In annoyance with the British and trying to cause confusion in the country, Jacob secretly fled from his palace on December 11. Crossing the Thames, he drowned the state seal in it. The king wanted to sail to France, but fishermen detained him on the coast. They took Jacob to the seaside town of Feversgham and then sent him under guard to London. In the capital, he was received very respectfully and placed in the palace, but Jacob clearly saw that the reign had come to an end. Wilhelm was annoyed that his father-in-law was prevented from escaping, since he absolutely did not know what to do with him now. Meanwhile, Jacob moved to Rochester and fled from here a second time. Now no one interfered with him, and on December 25, after a stormy voyage, he safely reached France. Louis XIV received the exile very cordially, gave him magnificent premises in the Saint-Germain Palace and appointed a large amount for his maintenance, so that James could surround himself with a magnificent court staff.

In 1689, when a powerful Catholic uprising began in Ireland, Louis gave James money, weapons, ships and mercenaries to wage war. The Irish parliament recognized James as king, but on July 30, 1690, the Irish were defeated in a decisive battle on the Boyne River. Jacob fled to France. In 1691, he repeated his attempt, but again unsuccessfully - the French flotilla that accompanied Jacob was defeated at Cape La Gogh. The following years, until his death, Jacob lived in exile in France.

Used materials from the book: All the monarchs of the world. Western Europe. Konstantin Ryzhov. Moscow, 1999

As the second son of the King of England, James bore the title of Duke of York. The years of his childhood and youth fell on the era of the English Revolution. During the First Civil War, the prince was next to his father. After the defeat of the royalists (1646), Jacob was under the supervision of parliament, but later managed to organize his escape to Holland. The Duke of York, his sisters and Queen Henrietta Maria took refuge in France. Having matured, Jacob entered the military service of the King of France. He showed himself to be a brave warrior, under the command of Marshal Turenne he participated in the suppression of the Fronde, and later in the war with Spain. In 1655, the Mazarin government entered into an agreement with Cromwell and members of the English royal family were forced to leave France. The Duke of York entered the Spanish service: he commanded a regiment of English and Irish emigrants stationed in Flanders.

In 1660, the monarchy was restored in England and Charles II Stuart became king. The Duke of York returned to his homeland and headed the English Admiralty. Under his leadership, measures were taken to reorganize the maritime department. The renewed British fleet performed well during the Anglo-Dutch wars. The duke himself participated in naval battles during the wars with the Dutch. Commanding the fleet, in 1665 he defeated Admiral Ondam, in 1672 he fought with Admiral Michiel de Ruyter. Personal participation in hostilities earned Yakov popularity in England.

At the same time, the loyalty of the Duke of York to the Catholic religion repelled the British, mostly Protestants, from him. His devotion to Catholicism is explained both by his upbringing and by the circumstances of his life. Jacob was convinced that the horrors of the revolution punished England for betraying Catholicism, he was grateful to the Catholic Church and the Catholic powers for the shelter they provided to the exiled Stuarts. While still in exile, Jacob secretly became engaged to the Catholic Anna Hyde (1638-1671), the daughter of the Earl of Clarendon, the closest adviser and later minister of Charles II. Anna was one of the court ladies of Mary Stuart, the wife of the ruler of Holland, William II of Orange. Returning to England, the Duke of York married her, although King Charles II objected to this marriage. Jacob Stewart and Anna Hyde had two daughters - Mary (1662-1694), who later became the wife of William III of Orange, and Anna (1665-1713), who married the Danish Prince George. In 1668, the Duke of York officially converted to Catholicism, but at the insistence of the king, both of his nieces - Anna and Mary - were brought up in the Anglican faith. In 1671, Anna Hyde died, but Jacob remarried a Catholic - the daughter of the Duke of Modena Mary (1658-1718).

A significant blow to the reputation of the Duke of York was the disclosure of a conspiracy in 1679, during the investigation of which the Whigs accused him of plotting the assassination of Charles II. The king was forced to order his brother to leave England, which began a campaign to deprive Jacob of the right to inherit the throne. The Duke of York was forced to spend several months in Brussels; then Charles II returned his younger brother from exile, but, not daring to let him live in London, appointed James as his governor in Scotland. In 1681, passions subsided a little, the disgraced duke returned to London and actually headed the government in last years reign of Charles II. It is with the influence of the Duke of York that the dissolution of Parliament in 1681 is associated, which refused to recognize Jacob as the heir to the throne. By the time of the death of his elder brother, all the levers of power were in the hands of the Duke of York and he freely ascended the throne under the name of James II Stuart.

In general, English society reacted negatively to the new king - a well-known champion of absolute monarchy and a devoted papist. However, the accession of James II to the throne was not opposed. The newly convened parliament, for the most part, consisted of Tories, who were ready to support the king in the fight against opposition-minded Whigs. With the support of parliament, James II made a decision to create a regular army, a number of decrees limited the freedom of the press, which was supposed to restrain the influence of the Whigs.

Just a few months after accession to the throne in Britain, armed uprisings began against the power of James II. The first to rise against the new king in May 1685 were the Scots, led by Earl Archibald of Argyll (1629-1685). The rebels hoped to raise all of southern (valley) and northern (mountain) Scotland against the Catholic king and the English authorities. However, there was no general uprising, the forces of the rebels were too weak and were quickly defeated. The conspirators, including Argyle, were captured and executed.

In June 1685, in the southwestern English counties of Devonshire, Somersetshire and Dorsetshire, an uprising broke out under the leadership of the Duke of Monmouth, the illegitimate son of Charles II. Even during the life of his father, the Whigs predicted Monmouth to the throne. On his side, except for the Whigs, in large numbers moved local peasants and artisans. As the leader of the uprising, Monmouth showed indecision, missed the time for a campaign against London, and gave James II the opportunity to gather superior military forces. July 6, 1685 in a battle near the city of Bridgewater in Somersetshire, the rebels suffered a crushing defeat. Monmouth was taken prisoner and was soon executed.

The successful suppression of the rebellions added to the king's self-confidence. James II openly began to pursue an absolutist policy. A wave of terror overtook the former rebels, more than a hundred people were executed, eight hundred were sent to the West Indies on plantations. The backbone of the king's power was a permanent army of thirty thousand, the number of which was soon increased to 40 thousand people. Not only the British served in it, but also foreign mercenaries. In November 1685 Parliament was dissolved.

Best of the day

In foreign policy James II tried to pursue an independent policy and, unlike his older brother, did not look back at powerful France. As the father-in-law of the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange and regarding him as a future heir, he was wary of French conquest plans in the Netherlands. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes was used by James II for pragmatic purposes. Despite the displeasure of Louis XIV of Bourbon, he provided asylum in England to many wealthy French Huguenots who left France after 1685.

Being a zealous Catholic, the king sought to equalize the rights of his subjects - Protestants and Catholics. He obtained from the judges recognition of the right to suspend laws that prohibited Catholics from holding official positions. As a result, Catholics began to take up military and judicial positions. The king spared no effort and money for Catholic preaching in the country: Catholic priests returned to England, Jesuit schools appeared in London. James II did not aspire to the immediate and complete conversion of the country to Catholicism, his relations with Pope Innocent XI were cool, but the spread of Catholicism was perceived by his subjects with suspicion.

The "Declaration of Toleration" of April 2, 1687, repealed the repressive laws that had previously been issued in England against all dissenters, including Catholics. In English society, the act was perceived as another step towards the restoration of the dominance of the Roman Catholic Church, towards the transformation of Catholicism into the state religion. The declaration, repeated in 1688, caused a wave of protest on the part of the Tory nobles, who for the most part belonged to the Anglican Church. The bishops of the Anglican Church turned to the king with a petition, where their disagreement with the religious policy of the monarch was expressed. In response, James II ordered the arrest of seven bishops and accused them of distributing anti-royal pamphlets. This case rallied against the king and the Tories and the opposition Whigs. The protest swept not only London, but also the counties.

The restoration of Catholicism was opposed by broad sections of English society, primarily the priests of the Anglican Church and the Puritan bourgeoisie, who had been fighting the Roman Curia for decades. Even the conservative landlords feared that they would have to return the secularized lands of the Catholic monasteries. Catholicism for the English was a foreign religion - the religion of the French and Spaniards, with whom England had been at enmity for centuries. Thus, on anti-Catholic grounds, an alliance was formed against the king, which united representatives of the most diverse political and religious movements. Everyone wanted to get rid of the papist king as soon as possible.

On June 10, 1688, Queen Mary of Modena gave birth to James II of the heir - Prince James (Jacob). This event seriously changed the political balance of power. If earlier the eldest daughter of James II, the Protestant Mary and her Protestant husband William of Orange, were considered the heir to the throne, then with the advent of an heir, whose upbringing would be done by Catholics, the prospect of England returning to Catholicism began to seem quite real. In the summer of 1688, almost the entire nobility took up arms against the king, with the exception of a small stratum of Catholics. James II tried to reach a compromise with the opposition by announcing free parliamentary elections and reconcile with the Anglican bishops, but his efforts were belated.

On June 30, 1688, the leaders of the Whig and Tory parties turned to the son-in-law of James II, Prince William III of Orange, the stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, and an invitation to come to England with an army and, together with his wife Mary, the daughter of James II, take the royal throne, guaranteeing the subjects the preservation of religion and the rights of parliament. This plan for a coup d'état assumed the change of the monarch with the maximum observance of legitimate forms, by means of a "family rearrangement" of the reigning persons. Having recruited a twelve thousandth mercenary army, in early November 1688, Prince William landed in Torbay, one of the harbors in the southwest of England. November 8, he entered the city of Exeter and from there headed for London.

The officers and soldiers of the royal army went over to the side of William, as did the courtiers. Princess Anne supported the claims of her sister Mary and her husband. In the north, in Cheshire and Nottinghamshire, uprisings began against the rule of James II. All the major cities of England gave their support to the invasion. In December 1688, James II was forced to flee to France, where his wife and son were sent in advance. Louis XIV granted the Saint-Germain Palace to the exile and allocated a generous allowance. Mary III Stuart and William III of Orange became the new kings of England and Scotland.

Deposed from the throne, Jacob did not give up hope of regaining power. France, which waged war with England for the Palatinate Succession, supported the deposed king. In 1689, James II sailed to Ireland and raised the country's Catholic population against William III, but in 1690 his troops were defeated. In 1691, an attempt by France to support James II with a landing ended in the defeat of the French fleet. Subsequently, the former English king tried to organize a pan-European alliance against William III, but Louis XIV, who concluded the Ryswick Peace with England in 1697, refused to support the claims of James II.

In the last years of his life, James II completely turned to religion, most spent time in Parisian monasteries. He was distinguished by a stern and domineering character. During military campaigns, he showed personal courage. Unlike his older brother Charles II, who was ready to make compromises in order to maintain power, James II remained true to his principles, beliefs, word and friends under any circumstances. After his death, he was buried in the parish church of Saint-Germain. During the French Revolution, the burial of James II was destroyed.

James II (1633-1701), English king from 1685-1688. From the Stuart dynasty. Tried to restore absolutism and its support - catholic church. Deposed during a coup d'état in 1688-89 (the so-called Glorious Revolution).

JAKOV II Stuart(James II, James II; James II) (October 14, 1633, London - September 6, 1701, Saint-Germain, France), King of England and Scotland in 1685-88.

The second son and Henrietta Maria, the younger brother of Charles II, before coming to power, bore the title of Duke of York. The years of childhood and youth of the prince fell on the era of the civil war, during which he was next to his father in Oxford. At the end of the first civil war (1646), Jacob was under the supervision of the Parliament, but later the royalists managed to organize his escape - first to Holland, and then to France, which gave shelter to his mother and sisters. Jacob showed himself to be a brave warrior from a young age. Under the command of Marshal Turenne, he participated in the suppression of the French Fronde, and later in the war with Spain. But after the government of Mazarin concluded an agreement with Cromwell in 1655, members of the English royal family were forced to leave France. The Duke of York entered the Spanish service: he commanded a regiment of English and Irish emigrants stationed in Flanders.

Lord Admiral

After the restoration of the monarchy in England, Jacob headed the Admiralty. Under his leadership, a number of attempts were made to reorganize the activities of the maritime department and rid it of corruption. The duke himself personally participated in naval battles during the wars with the Dutch, in 1665 he defeated Admiral Ondam, fought with the famous Dutch admiral de Ruyter in 1672, which earned him popularity in the country.

Duke of York and Catholicism

While still in exile, Jacob secretly became engaged to Anna Hyde (1638-71), daughter of the adviser and future minister of Charles II, Earl of Clarendon, who was one of the court ladies of Mary Stuart, wife of William II of Orange, ruler of Holland. Returning to England, the Duke of York, against the wishes of his brother, married her. Two daughters were born from this marriage - Maria (1662-1694), who later became the wife of William III of Orange, and Anna (1665-1713), who married Prince George of Denmark. Jacob's wife was a Catholic, from 1668 he himself converted to Catholicism, but at the insistence of the king, both of his nieces were brought up in the Anglican faith.

After the death of Anna Hyde in 1671, Jacob entered into a second marriage with Mary, daughter of the Duke of Modena (1658-1718), who was also a Catholic.

Jacob's Catholic predilections, of which he made no secret, displeased the British, who wanted to see a Protestant heir to the throne.

"Catholic conspiracy" and the question of succession

The Duke of York gradually lost popularity, and after the disclosure of the so-called conspiracy of 1679, he was accused of preparing the assassination of Charles II. The king was forced to order his brother to leave England, and in the country the Whigs launched a campaign to exclude Jacob from the throne. Jacob settled in Brussels; a few months later, Charles II returned his brother from exile, but, not daring to allow him to come to England, he appointed him his governor in Scotland. However, already in 1681 the disgraced duke returned to London and actually headed the government in the last years of his brother's reign. His name is associated with the dissolution of parliament in 1681, which refused to recognize Jacob as heir to the throne, and the five-year non-parliamentary rule of Charles II.

The Whig opposition was defeated, and after the death of his brother, who did not leave a legitimate heir, James II ascended the throne without hindrance.

Reign of James II (1685-88)

Having come to power, James II began to fight the opposition, which was trying to prevent the realization of his rights to the crown. Relying on the support of parliament, he introduced a standing army in the country, and by a number of decrees limited the freedom of the press, which was supposed to curb the influence of Whig propaganda. The opposition tried to raise uprisings against him: in the summer of 1681, the Earl of Argyll raised an uprising in Scotland, and in October of the same year, the Duke of Monmouth landed on the southwestern coast of England, allegedly the illegitimate son of Charles II, whom some of the Whigs considered as a contender for the throne. However, both uprisings were quickly put down.

The foreign policy of James II testifies to the cooling between England and France. Unlike his brother, James II strove for greater independence; besides, he, being the father-in-law of William III of Orange and considering him as a future heir, was afraid of French conquest plans in Holland. The alarm of James II was also caused by the cancellation of the Edict of Nantes, which deprived civil rights French Huguenots. Despite the displeasure of Louis XIV, he provided asylum to many Protestants who left France in 1685. But relations between him and the king of France deteriorated significantly.

At the beginning of his reign, James II enjoyed the support of society, including the hierarchs of the Anglican Church. But, being a zealous Catholic, the king sought to equalize the rights of his subjects - Protestants and Catholics. He obtained from the judges recognition of the right to suspend laws that prohibited Catholics from holding official positions, as a result of which Catholics penetrated into the army and into the number of judges, and their ranks constantly multiplied. The king spared no effort and money for Catholic preaching in the country: Catholic priests returned to England, Jesuit schools appeared in London. Although he did not seek the complete conversion of the country to Catholicism, and relations with Pope Innocent XI were cool, the spread of Catholicism was viewed with suspicion by his subjects.

In 1687, James II promulgated the Declaration of Toleration, according to which all criminal laws against dissenters, including Catholics, were suspended. The declaration, repeated in 1688, caused a wave of protest on the part of the Tory nobles, who for the most part belonged to the Anglican Church, and above all the bishops. The bishops turned to the king with a petition expressing their disagreement with the religious policy of the monarch. In response, James II ordered the arrest of seven bishops on charges of distributing pamphlets directed against the king. This case rallied against the king and the Tories and the opposition Whigs. The protest swept not only London, but also the counties.

The last straw was the birth on June 10, 1688 of the queen's son, named James (Jacob). If earlier the eldest daughter of James II Mary and her husband William of Orange, who were Protestants, were considered the heir to the throne, and society expected a return to the old order after the death of the Catholic king, then with the advent of a son who would be raised by Catholics, the prospect of the country returning to Catholicism in the eyes subjects of James II seemed quite real.

glorious revolution

Thus, in the summer of 1688, almost the entire nobility turned out to be in opposition to the king, with the exception of Catholics, who made up only a small number of the country's inhabitants. The leaders of the Whig opposition, united with the Tories, sent an invitation to the king's son-in-law, William of Orange, urging him to invade England and take the throne, guaranteeing the population the preservation of religion and the constitutional rights of Parliament. James II tried to reach a compromise with the opposition by announcing free parliamentary elections and reconcile with the Anglican bishops, but his efforts were belated.

In October 1688, the army of William of Orange landed in the southwest of England. The army of James II was more numerous, but the king could not organize resistance to the invasion - the officers and soldiers went over to the side of the enemy, the courtiers and even his daughter Anna did the same. In the north, in Cheshire and Nottinghamshire, uprisings began. All the major cities of England gave their support to the invasion. In December 1688, James II fled to France, where his wife and son were sent in advance. Louis XIV granted the Saint-Germain Palace to the exile and allocated a generous allowance.

Deposed from the throne, Jacob did not give up hope of regaining power. In 1689 he sailed for Ireland, raising the country's Catholic population against the new king of England, William III, but in 1690 his troops were defeated; the attempt to land a French landing in 1691 was also unsuccessful: the French fleet was defeated. Subsequently, he tried to organize a pan-European alliance against William III, but Louis XIV, who concluded the Ryswick Peace with England in 1697, refused to support Jacob's plans.

Personal qualities

In the last years of his life, Jacob completely turned to religion, spending most of his time in Parisian monasteries.

James II was distinguished by a stern and imperious character. During military campaigns, he showed personal courage. Unlike his brother, who was ready to make any compromises in order to maintain power, he remained true to his word, friends and beliefs in all circumstances. James II transferred these qualities to his political activities, which ultimately cost him the crown.

He was buried in the parish church of Saint-Germain (tombstone and grave destroyed during the French Revolution).

YAKOV II(James II) (1633-1701), in 1685-1688 king of England, Ireland and (as James VII) Scotland, the last English monarch from the Stuart dynasty in the direct male line. The son of King Charles I and Henrietta Maria, the younger brother of the future Charles II, Jacob was born at St. James's Palace in London on October 14, 1633, receiving the title of Duke of York in January 1634.

After the surrender of Oxford in 1646, he was taken prisoner by Parliamentary troops, but in 1648 he managed to escape. Initially, Jacob was in The Hague, and in 1649 he was reunited in Paris with his mother. In 1652, Jacob joined the French army, but in 1657 he was forced to go to the service of the Spaniards, as this was demanded by his brother Charles, who had concluded an alliance with Spain. Jacob commanded the English contingent, which fought stubbornly against the French and did not give up their positions in the so-called. Battle of the Dunes (near Dunkirk) June 14, 1658.

He returned to England in 1660, when the Restoration took place, along with his brother Charles II, who had ascended the throne, and was appointed Lord Admiral. In this post, Yakov showed great zeal and a sincere desire to improve the condition navy. He also proved to be a good naval commander, as evidenced by his victories over the Dutch at Lowestoft in 1665 and at Southwold Bay in 1672. New Amsterdam, which the British took from the Dutch in 1664, was named New York in his honor.

In 1660 Jacob married Anna Hyde, daughter of the Earl of Clarendon. Shortly before her death in 1671, she converted to Catholicism, which probably accelerated the conversion of Jacob himself to Catholicism, which he openly announced in 1672. Jacob was a supporter of a close alliance with Catholic France and naturally approved the Declaration of Toleration issued by Charles in 1672. In 1673, in accordance with the Test Act (Test Act, the law on the oath of renunciation of the recognition of papal authority and the dogma of transubstantiation), was forced to leave all his public posts. The hysteria caused in society by the imaginary "Papist conspiracy" made Jacob's position in England very difficult, and although he retired to the Netherlands, the House of Commons adopted in 1679 the so-called. "Bill of Suspension", which was supposed to prevent his ascension to the throne. However, this bill was rejected by the House of Lords, and when Charles died in 1685, James became king (like James II) with a parliament that was ready to cooperate with him in all matters except one: concessions for Catholics and their admission to public office.

However, Jacob, sincere, but stubborn and straightforward in nature, decided to patronize the Catholics with all the means at his disposal. The repressive policies and the birth of a son (Jacob Stuart) by James's second wife, the Catholic Mary of Modena, after which many began to fear that the English crown would pass to a Catholic dynasty, precipitated an invitation extended by a group of conspirators to his son-in-law, William of Orange, to come to England and rule it in as king. Few sympathized with William as the future king, but by his unwillingness to refuse patronage of the Catholics, Jacob missed the chance to reconcile the English nobility with him and was forced to flee to France.

With the support of France, he tried to regain his throne by landing in Ireland and leaning on the local Catholics, but was defeated on the Boine River on July 1, 1690. Louis XIV gave Jacob a residence in Saint-Germain-en-Laye near Paris, where he remained until his death on September 6, 1701. Mary and Anna, daughters of Jacob from his first wife (both of them were raised as Protestants at the insistence of his brother Charles), became queens of England, the first rule jointly with her husband William III. His son Jacob (James Stewart), who claimed the throne as James III, is known in history as the Old Pretender.