subject: Shards of a Broken Crown - The Over Extension of Religious Monarchy [print this page] In 1688 James II, who had been king of England until this point, fled as William of Orange and his army entered London. William had been invited by a delegation of Whigs and Tories to usurp James and was welcomed openly by the citizenry and clergy upon his arrival. James had taken the crown only three years before, but through his own attempts to bring power to the Roman Catholics in a country that was dominantly protestant, he brought to reality the two worst fears of the English people: absolutism and an attempt to convert the populous. James could have kept the throne had he only wanted religious and political equality and freedom for the Roman Catholics, but he attacked the livelihood of the Church of England at every level and made no concessions or compromises until his demise.
Before James ascension to the throne the Whigs had attempted to legally stop him from being Charles II's heir. They did this because of James openly and ardently catholic nature. The people of England had a fear of Catholicism ingrained into them.
"They attributed to James the characteristics which a century of Protestant indoctrination led them to expect: calculated faithlessness, the belief that any method was justified if it advanced the interests of Catholicism, cruelty, and a readiness to submit to dictation by the Catholic clergy."
The English people also had a fear of an unchecked king, i.e.; an absolutist king. The last several leaders that reigned over England having been Catholics, and seldom used or called on the parliament, as they were not dependent on it. Charles I and the parliament had gone to war with each other after Charles had been arbitrarily demanding loans from the citizens and throwing them in jail if they refused. Other acts by Charles included anti-Calvinist movements, and almost immediately starting a war with Spain. Charles was eventually beheaded and followed by Oliver Cromwell, the leader of the parliament army. Cromwell formed a dictatorship, after a brief taste of a republic, which lasted until his death. Charles I son, Charles II, was next to ascend the throne. He was not the tyrant that his father was, but he did model his reign after French absolutism, and was receiving funding both from a lifetime customs revenues, and secretly from Louis XIV. This allowed him to rule without dependency on the parliament. At this time in England, there was not a proper balance of power for it to be called anything but a monarchy. Calling England a mixed monarchy is only a joke suggesting the parliament had some kind of power outside of revolution. James would eventually come to the conclusion that to attain his goals he would need to make his monarchical power absolute, and would further remove the power of parliament.
From the beginning of James regime he attempted to remove restrictions and gain power for the Roman Catholics. The parliament and everyone else knew this, as James was very open about this want for England to be Catholic. James was very straightforward about all of his intentions and interests, for he abhorred dishonesty and seemed unable to hide his real thoughts and feelings.
One of James primary goals throughout his short reign was to repeal the Test act, which disallowed Catholics from holding public office. The parliament knew that if they made this concession to James that he would not hesitate to turn the government entirely Catholic. He attempted to get this repealed at the beginning of his reign, but the parliament refused his attempts time and time again to remove the Test act, though he eventually found his way around this problem as we will soon see.
Among his various first acts was the repealing of habeas corpus, and trying to persuade the parliament to pass a lifetime funding for him, like they did for his brother, allowing him the permanent funds from the customs revenues. The parliament must have known this would make him much more independent from their monetary controls, as his brother was before him, but he somehow convinced them to pass the funding, giving him a large, and permanent income.
James quickly began replacing those in his counsel who represented the Church of England, with catholic bishops and leaders. Those who remained had to keep submissive to the acts of James they disagreed with, or were illegal, just to keep their positions.
Two rebellions arose in England, one by the Duke of Monmouth who led a puritan army attempting to destroy the Church of England, and another by the Earl of Argyle. To put these down James raised an army of thirty thousand men. The rebellions were quickly and easily quelled as very few supporters flocked to the two leaders, whose armies were not intensely organized, and at six thousand peasants, who were mostly poorly armed, could not stand up to the size of James army. These victories led James to be overconfident of the loyalty of the land, and contributed to his view that was fostered from his background in the Scottish parliament, which was that a strong government and military was necessary to "Prevent the violent overthrow of all order and forms of duly constituted authority"
After the defeat of these rebels James had the wish to make his army a permanent standing army. As we have seen in other countries, such as France, standing armies are intensely expensive to maintain and control, so James requested funding from the Parliament to sustain the army indefinitely. Remembering the last standing army that existed in England forty years before, which had nearly destroyed the Church of England, they refused to pass such an act. They also knew that with the removal of the Duke of Monmouth and the Earl of Argyle the only parties able to remove James from the throne would be King Louis XIV of France, whom James was friendly with, and William of Orange of Holland. The parliament argued that England could be defended with the county militias and a strong navy. They wanted James to disband the army, and remove the Catholic officers who he illegally placed in the army.
In order to maintain his army further, James altered the laws concerning punishment for crimes committed by soldiers, such as insubordination and desertion, which were now capital crimes punishable by hanging. These cases were also no longer tried by civil courts. Yet while these transgressions were punished heavily, the army was billeted in the homes of citizens, consuming their resources and causing many of the usual problems an inactive army often does when it is strewn throughout the populace, but the difference was this army was not punished for these issues by court martial.
The army was a major factor in James absolute control of England, though had he kept the army from inflicting harm upon the general populace, ceded some control of the army, and it's funding to the parliament he quite likely could have kept this army with the allowance of the parliament, including the Roman Catholic officers which he had illegally placed. But James was unbending and unwilling to compromise to any degree. Throughout his entire reign he conceded practically nothing until the last moments of his kingship as William invaded. There were two large factors to this. The first being that he saw the compromises and concessions made by Charles led to his downfall, and he did not intend on making the same mistake. The second was that he believed he ruled by divine mandate. He saw himself, as the instrument of God, working towards his will.
"His new faith made James certain that he was right, giving additional meaning and intensity to his belief in divine right principles. Moreover, as James gave an unquestioning obedience to the dogmas of an infallible Church, so he expected a similar obedience from those whom God had put under him. In practical terms his religion colored his judgment of men; only Catholics could be fully trusted, since by definition all Protestants were rebels against God, and therefore suspect in their loyalty to God's chosen servant, the king."
The kings of England had the right to dispense with certain laws in time of urgent emergency. This is what he had used to construct his army to fight back the two rebellions, and insert Catholic officers, and Irish Catholic regiments into the army. The law is created so that a king may deal with problems when the parliament is not in session to do so. With this technicality James inserted Catholics into key public offices throughout the government. Often times in doing this he removed Protestants from office. Eventually James moved to something even more severe, the suspension of laws. This was similar to dispensing of laws, but was, in effect, permanent. James could do just about anything he wanted under the dispensation and suspension of laws.
One of James largest steps in taking absolute power in England was the process of packing the parliament. He started by assigning Jeffrey's Lord Councilor. Jeffrey's had the power to dismiss judges at will, so that if a judge made an interpretation that was against the kings will, he would be dismissed and replaced with a more agreeable judge. This made the judicial side of the government completely in his control. He could now make and break laws with no considerable resistance from any party. With James continued placing of Catholics in various public offices he was able to control that was in parliament, and so 'packed' parliament with those under his control. James had nearly complete control over England now, with a standing army, which was locally unopposed, as well as full judicial and executive power.
In 1688 James wife bore him a baby boy, who James saw as a sign from God that the renewal of the Roman Catholic Church in England was his will. Now instead of James throne going to his protestant daughter, and her husband William of Orange, it would descend to his catholic raised son. This struck fear deep in the heart of England, who believed that after James II the rising power of Catholicism in England would ebb, but some of the worst was still to occur.
James dismissed Lord Halifax from his counsel, who was against the pro-catholic movements, the pro-France stance, and the repealing of habeas corpus and the Test act. Lord Halifax had been in correspondence with William of Orange, so the dismissal was a spurn to William, and another link between James and Louis XIV. With France being of friendly esteem with James, William of Orange was now the only hope for England, other than the death of both James and his son.
A council was erected which could monitor and control actions of the Church of England. The important impact here was that James could have clergymen suspended at will. This largely happened when the clergy refuted Catholicism, or any of his actions. At the same time James was removing and restricting officials at Oxford colleges. The Vice-Chairman of Cambridge was dismissed for refusing to give a degree to a monk. Twenty-five officials removed from Magdalen College for refusing to elect a catholic president. Magdalen was later converted to a catholic seminary. The Oxford colleges were a large part of the protestant intellectual community, so the actions taken against these colleges was one of the main factors causing the clerical community to welcome William's army to England, and even cause some of them to assist him.
Every member of the Church of England had to fear for his position amongst the clergy, and every member of public office who had not been appointed by James himself was in danger of losing their livelihoods. Even those who were Catholics could not count themselves safe if they said a word in opposition to the king's policies. In 1687 James had made the Declaration of Indulgence, which awarded Dissenters and Catholics full religious freedom. He was obviously going for far more than his originally stated equality for Catholics.
In June of 1688 James ordered all clergymen in the Church of England to read his decree of religious toleration. Seven bishops refused and were thrown into prison on charges of seditious libel. At their trial they were decided not guilty. This event occurred around the same time of the birth of his child. Between the outright suppression of the Church of England and no hope of it ending at James death the only solution was William of Orange. James son was claimed to be an impostor, smuggled in and pretended to be his heir, so was at least temporarily illegitimate in the eyes of the public.
Seven delegates from both the Whigs and the Tories went to Holland to invite William of Orange and Mary Stuart to come and take the throne of England. William at the time was at a war with France so was eager to take the throne of England to support that endeavor. One may imagine what would have happened in Europe had James army beat Williams and left a son with a possibility of a dynastic marriage with France.
James had attempted to bring power to the Roman Catholic Church, instead of bringing equality of religion and politics to its members. James turned England into an absolutist state with no method of recourse for the majority of the population but to bring in William of Orange. Nine tenths of the population was against James policies. England was left with no choice but to resist him whole-heartedly, or face indefinite oppression.
G.M. Trevelyn, The English revolution 1688-9. (1939)
