The
Glorious Revolution, also called the
Revolution of 1688, was the overthrow of
King James II of England (VII of Scotland) in
1688 by a union of
Parliamentarians with an invading army led by the
Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau (William of
Orange), who as a result ascended the English throne as William III of England. It is sometimes called the
Bloodless Revolution, but this is Anglocentric as it ignores the
three major battles in Ireland and
serious fighting in Scotland.
[1] Even in England it was not completely bloodless, since there were two significant clashes between the two armies, plus anti-Catholic riots in several towns.
[2] The expression "Glorious Revolution" was first used by
John Hampden in the autumn of 1689,
[3] and is an expression that is still used by the
Westminster Parliament.
[4]The Revolution is closely tied in with the events of the War of the Grand Alliance on mainland Europe, and may be seen as the last successful invasion of England.[5] It can be argued that James's overthrow began modern English parliamentary democracy never again would the monarch hold absolute power, and the Bill of Rights became one of the most important documents in the political history of Britain. The deposition of the Roman Catholic James II ended any chance of Catholicism becoming re-established in England, and also led to limited toleration for nonconformist Protestants—it would be some time before they had full political rights. For Catholics, however, it was disastrous both socially and politically. Catholics were denied the right to vote and sit in the Westminster Parliament for over 100 years after this. They were also denied commissions in the British army and the monarch was forbidden to be Catholic or marry a Catholic, thus ensuring the Protestant succession.
During his three-year reign, King James II became directly involved in the political battles in England between Catholicism and Protestantism on the one hand, and on the other, between the divine right of the Crown and the political rights of Parliament. James's greatest political problem was his Catholicism, which left him alienated from both parties in Parliament. The low church Whigs had failed in their attempt to exclude James from the throne between 1679 and 1681, and James's supporters were the High Church Anglican Tories. When James inherited the throne in 1685, he had much support in the 'Loyal Parliament', which was composed mostly of Tories. James's attempt to relax the penal laws alienated his natural supporters, however, because the Tories viewed this as tantamount to disestablishment of the Church of England. Abandoning the Tories, James looked to form a 'King's party' as a counterweight to the Anglican Tories, so in 1687 James supported the policy of religious toleration and issued the Declaration of Indulgence. By allying himself with the Catholics, Dissenters, and nonconformists, James hoped to build a coalition that would advance Catholic emancipation.
In 1686, James coerced the Court of the King's Bench into deciding that the King could dispense with religious restrictions of the Test Act. James ordered the removal of Henry Compton, the anti-Catholic Bishop of London, and dismissed the Protestant fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford and replaced them with Catholics.
