James II of England

James II of England and VII of Scotland, (Eng. James II of England and VII of Scotland) (London, 14 December October 1633-Saint-Germain-en-Laye, September 16, 1701) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from February 6, 1685, until his deposition in 1688. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over what would become the United Kingdom. Some of his subjects felt great distrust of his religious policy and, alleging that he had fallen into despotism, they organized a revolt —the Glorious Revolution— that would end with his overthrow, and he was replaced by his Protestant daughter and son-in-law, Maria II and William III. In addition, he was the last sovereign of Scotland to use the title King of Scots, which had been used since the unification of the kingdom in 843 by Kenneth I MacAlpin. His claimant heirs to the throne took the name Jacobites and for many years fought for dynastic restoration, without success.

Childhood and youth

Jacob was born in St. James's Palace, London, on October 14, 1633, the third but second surviving son of Charles I of England and Henrietta Maria of France. As the second son of the English sovereign, from the moment of his birth he was called the Duke of York, being formally invested in 1644. During the English Civil War, in which his father clashed with the forces of Parliament, he remained in the city Oxford, then a royalist stronghold.

When the city capitulated in 1646, he was confined to St. James's Palace under parliamentary surveillance. James managed to escape from the palace in 1648 and reach The Hague in disguise. When Carlos I was executed by the rebels in 1649, the royalists proclaimed his older brother king, with the name of Carlos II. He was crowned at Scone in 1651. Despite being recognized by the Scottish and Irish parliaments, he was unable to establish himself on the throne of England, so he had to flee to France, where he found refuge. Like his brother, the Duke of York sought refuge in France, serving in the French army under the Viscount of Touraine. In 1656, when Charles II entered into an alliance with Spain—the enemy of France—he joined the Spanish army under the command of Louis II, Prince of Condé. Both Touraine and Condé praised Jacobo's military capabilities.

Successor to the Throne

On Oliver Cromwell's death in 1658, Charles II was restored to the English throne, and the Duke of York returned to England with him. Although James was the heir to the crown, it seemed unlikely that he would actually inherit the throne, as Charles was a young man capable of fathering children.

On September 3, 1660, at Worcester House, London, the Duke of York (who had just received the title of Duke of Albany in Scotland), married Anne Hyde, daughter of the King's Prime Minister. In reality it was the formal ceremony, since they had been secretly married in the city of Breda, in the Netherlands, on November 24, 1659. At the time of the public marriage, Ana was a month away from giving birth to her son. his first son. On December 31 of that same year, he was named Duke of Normandy by King Louis XIV of France, making him the last British sovereign to hold this title. From the union between Jacobo and Ana eight children were born:

• Carlos (n. Worcester House, October 22, 1660-m. Whitehall Palace, May 5, 1661), Duke of Cambridge.
• Mary (n. Palace of St. James, April 30, 1662-m. Kensington Palace, December 28, 1694), Queen of England as Mary II after the deposition of her father (1688); married to Prince William III of Orange.
• Jacobo (n. St. James Palace, July 12, 1663-m. Richmond Palace, June 20, 1667), Duke of Cambridge.
• Ana (n. Palace of St. James, February 6, 1665-m. Kensington Palace, August 1, 1714), Queen of England as Anna to succeed her brother-in-law William III (1702); married to Prince George of Denmark.
• Carlos (n. Palace of St. James, July 4, 1666-m. Palace of St. James, May 22, 1667), Duke of Kendal.
• Edgardo (n. St. James Palace, September 14, 1667-m. Richmond Palace, June 8, 1671), Duke of Cambridge.
• Enriqueta (n. Whitehall Palace, January 13, 1669-m. St. James Palace, November 15, 1669).
• Catalina (n. Whitehall Palace, February 9, 1671-m. St. James Palace, December 5, 1671).

Jacob was appointed High Lord Admiral and as such commanded the British Royal Navy during the Second (1665-1667) and Third Anglo-Dutch War (1672-1674). After its capture by the English in 1664, the Dutch territory of New Netherlands was renamed New York in his honor, as was the city of New Amsterdam. Fort Orange was named Albany in his honor as well. The Duke of York also led the Royal African Campaign, which was involved in the slave trade.

The Duke of York became a Catholic in 1668 or 1669. His Protestant enemies in Parliament, led by Anthony Ashley Cooper, passed the so-called Test Act, which required all civil and military officers to pay an oath in which they were required to reject not only the doctrine of transubstantiation but also to denounce certain practices of the Catholic Church as "superstitious and idolatrous," in addition to receiving communion from the Church of England. Jacobo preferred to reject such actions, resigning his position as High Lord Admiral.

Her brother, King Charles II, opposed the conversion, ordering that his two surviving nieces, Mary and Anne, be raised as Protestants. However, he allowed Jacobo (widowed since 1671) to remarry the Catholic princess Maria of Modena. This did not prevent a group of Englishmen from looking suspiciously at the new Duchess of York, accusing her of being an agent of the Pope.

The marriage by proxy between James and Mary was celebrated in Modena on September 30, 1673. The formal ceremony took place in the city of Dover, Kent, on November 21 of the same year. The couple had twelve pregnancies, of which 5 ended in miscarriages:

• A abortion (March 1674).
• Catalina (n. Palace of St. James, January 10, 1675 - m. Palace of St. James, October 3, 1675).
• A abortion (October 1675).
• Isabel (n. Palace of St. James, August 18, 1676 - m. Palace of St. James, March 2, 1681).
• Carlos (n. Palace of St. James, November 7, 1677 - m. Palace of St. James, December 12, 1677), Duke of Cambridge.
• One daughter (n. dead, 1678).
• A abortion (February 1681).
• Carlota María (n. Palace of St. James, August 16, 1682 - m. Palace of St. James, October 6, 1682).
• A abortion (October 1683).
• A abortion (May 1684).
• Jacobo Francisco Eduardo (n. Palace of St. James, June 10, 1688 - m. Rome, January 1, 1766), called Jacob III by the supporters of his father (Jacobitas), is also known as the "Pretending Old".
• Luisa María Teresa (n. château de St.Germain-en-Laye, June 28, 1692 - m. château de St.Germain-en-Laye, April 8, 1712).

Succession problems

The Duke of York, portrayed by Peter Lely, c.1675

In 1677, the Duke of York tried to appease the Protestants by allowing his daughter Mary to marry the Protestant prince, William III of Orange (who was also his nephew). Despite the concession, the fears of a Catholic monarch persisted, intensified by the failed pregnancies of Carlos II's wife, Catherine of Portugal. A fanatical Anglican cleric, Titus Oates, falsely accused James and other nobles of a "Popish Plot", which would aim to assassinate King Charles II and place James on the throne.. The plot created a hysterical anti-Catholic reaction throughout the kingdom. As a consequence, James prudently decided to leave England for Brussels. In 1680 he was appointed Lord High Commissioner of Scotland and took up residence at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh.

In England, attempts were made by Lord Shaftesbury and others to exclude the Duke of York from the line of succession. Some even proposed that the crown pass to the illegitimate son of Charles II, James Scott. When in 1679, the Exclusion Law was in danger of being sanctioned, Carlos II decided to dissolve Parliament. The Exclusion Act crisis contributed to the development of the English two-party political system; the Whigs were the promoters of the Law, while the Tories were its opponents. Two new Parliaments were summoned in 1680 and 1681, but they were dissolved for the same reason.

After the dissolution of the Parliament of 1681, no others were summoned. Charles, whose popularity was very high at the time, allowed the Duke of York to return to England in 1682. The Rye House Plot of 1683, a Protestant conspiracy aimed at assassinating Charles and the Duke of York, failed utterly, but it served to increase popular sympathy for the king and his brother. York again became influential in government, becoming the leader of the Tory party. His sister reinstated him as High Lord Admiral in 1684.

The reign of James II

Statue of James II by Pedro Van Dievoet at the Trafalgar Square in London

Charles II died sine prole legitima (without legitimate descendants), on February 6, 1685, converting to Catholicism on his deathbed; he was succeeded by his brother, who reigned in England and Ireland as James II and in Scotland as James VII. James was crowned king at Westminster Abbey on April 23, 1685, but the day before, on April 22, he had already been crowned along with his wife — who was unable to attend the "official ceremony." & # 3. 4; because of his religion — according to the Catholic rites at the Palace of Whitehall.

Initially there was not much open opposition to the new ruler and many Anglican Conservatives even supported him. The new Parliament that opened in May 1685 seemed favorable to James, agreeing to grant him a generous income.

In 1685, the king miraculously survived a shipwreck in the Solent Strait. Musician Henry Purcell composed his work They that go down to the sea in ships to be performed by baritone extraordinaire John Gostling in commemoration of that event.

Jacob had to face the Monmouth Rebellion, led by James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, illegitimate son of Charles II. Scott proclaimed himself king on June 20, 1685, but was defeated at the Battle of Sedgemoor and executed in the Tower of London shortly thereafter (July 15). Despite little popular support for Monmouth, James II began to distrust his subjects.

The judges — most notably Jorge Jeffreys, nicknamed the "Hanging Judge" — brutally punished the rebels. Jeffreys' so-called 'Bloody Trials'' made the public view his king as a cruel and barbaric ruler. To protect himself against further rebellions, James II tried to establish a large and powerful army. Putting Catholics in charge of various regiments caused a conflict with Parliament, which entered a period of inactivity in November 1685, not meeting again during James's reign.

Religious tension intensified in 1686. In the case Godden v. Hales, a panel of judges of the King's Chamber Court was forced by James to declare that he could be excused from the religious restrictions imposed by the Test Act. Taking advantage of the power that this dispensation gave him, James allowed some Catholics to occupy the highest positions in the kingdom, causing great controversy. He received at his court the Papal Nuncio Ferdinando d'Adda, the first representative of Rome in London since the reign of Maria I. The king's Jesuit confessor, Eduardo Petre, was a special object of Protestant ire. These policies caused the king to lose the support of his former allies, the Tories.

Jacob then called for the suspension of Henry Compton, the anti-Catholic Bishop of London, while other Anglicans in political office were sacked. In the Declaration of Indulgence of 1687, James suspended the laws that punished Catholics and other religious dissenters. It is not clear if Jacobo published the Declaration to win the political support of the dissidents or if he was really defending religious freedom. James also permanently dissolved Parliament in 1687, after reforming the government to reduce the power of the nobility.

The king also provoked opposition for his policies regarding the University of Oxford. He offended Anglicans by allowing Catholics to hold important positions at Christ Church and University College, two of the largest colleges in Oxford. In the same way he increased his unpopularity by dismissing the Protestants from Magdalen College, placing Catholics in his place. At the height of the controversy, James accredited the Papal Nuncio and granted government posts to four Catholic bishops.

He also granted three Londoners and a Catholic from Virginia (George Brent) authorization for the settlement of French Huguenots in the 121 km² area of Brenttown (Brenton) in exchange for the old Prince William County in Virginia in 1687. Ricardo Foote, nephew of Nicolás Hayward (one of the founders), settled in Chotank, in King George County, Virginia, to manage the project. Hayward settled English Catholics in Brenttown after the Glorious Revolution wiped out most of the French Protestants, forcing them to leave England.

James II's supports: the repealers

James II was at the head of a sophisticated and popular reform movement dubbed repealers by historian Scott Sowerby, a broad national and ideologically coherent movement whose main goal was to abolish a century and a half of criminal laws that outlawed religious worship outside the official church, thus marginalizing not only Catholics, but other Protestant groups known as dissenters. The Declaration of Indulgence was not only about freedom of conscience, but about a new form of sociability, where the religious debate of the last centuries was rejected in favor of a cultural pluralism subscribed to by courtesy without commercial restrictions and a rejection of rancor. and controversy. They promoted their cause through pamphlets, magazines, letters, etc. The repealer movement, in Sowerby's words, "was a curious mixture of top-down state sponsorship and bottom-up popular organizing".

One of the men close to the king, defender of the monarch's intentions on freedom of conscience, and main ideologue and collaborator in the campaigns to disseminate the declaration of James, was the Quaker William Penn. He argued that the Anti-popery was irrational, since Catholics were very few, less than 1% of the population. But for the king's enemies, they were many more and they were hidden waiting for their opportunity. Any argument in defense of the king's intentions was answered by a counter-argument from his enemies, even if it was meaningless. According to Penn, the only solution to truly quash these conspiracy theories was the effective abolition of criminal laws.

The Glorious Revolution

In April 1688, James reissued the Declaration of Indulgence, later ordering Anglican clergymen to read it in their churches. When Archbishop of Canterbury William Sancroft and six other bishops (known as the Seven Bishops) sent a petition seeking reconsideration of the king's religious policies, they were arrested and tried on sedition charges, but they were acquitted. Public alarm increased when Queen Mary - after several miscarriages and stillborn children - gave birth to a son and heir to the crown, Jacobo Francisco Eduardo, on June 10, 1688 (some assume that the child was not a royal prince and who had actually replaced the queen's dead son; there is, however, no evidence to support such a conjecture).^{[citation needed]} Threatened by the establishment of a Catholic dynasty in England, several influential Protestants entered into negotiations with William III, Prince of Orange, James's son-in-law. William was considered the champion of Protestantism, as he was fighting against King Louis XIV of France, the most powerful Catholic monarch in Europe.

On June 30, 1688—the same day the seven bishops were acquitted—a group of Protestant nobles, known as the Seven Immortals, petitioned the Prince of Orange to invade England with an army. By September it was clear that William was going to try to invade the country and even so, James made the mistake of refusing Louis XIV's help, fearing that the English would oppose the French intervention. James also believed that his own army would suffice. When William of Orange arrived in England on November 5, 1688, all of the King's Protestant officers deserted. His own daughter Anna joined the invading forces, causing the king great distress. On December 10, Queen Mary managed to flee to France, taking with her her only surviving son, James, barely 6 months old. The next day, James also tried to flee to France, first throwing the Great Seal of the Kingdom into the River Thames, but was nevertheless captured in Kent. Having no desire to make King James a martyr for the Catholic cause, the Prince of Orange would let him escape on December 23. James was received by Louis XIV, who offered him a palace and a very generous pension.

The de facto abdication

The Bill of Rights

When James fled the kingdom, Parliament had not yet been called. Although it was to meet at the behest of the reigning monarch, the Prince of Orange summoned its members to organize an extraordinary "Parliamentary Convention", bearing in mind that this procedure had already been used in previous times in case the succession to the throne was not clear (it would be, for example, a Parliamentary Convention that would restore Carlos II to the throne after the Civil War). The Parliamentary Convention declared on February 12, 1689 that the fact that James had tried to flee on December 11 of the previous year had constituted a de facto abdication, and that the throne had consequently been left vacant. Despite this, instead of passing the crown to her son Jacobo Francisco Eduardo, it would be María, her eldest daughter, her proclaimed queen together with her husband Guillermo III. Scotland decided to recognize the new sovereigns on April 11, 1689.

William and Mary granted the English nobility a pact known as the Bill of Rights. This act confirmed the Bill of Rights by which the Convention had declared that James' flight constituted a de facto abdication and that William and Mary were king and queen. The Bill of Rights also accused James II of abuse of power, criticized the suspension of the Test Act, the prosecution of the Seven Bishops, the establishment of a regular army, and the imposition of cruel punishments. The Act further settled the question of succession to the crown. It established that in the line of succession were first the children of Maria and William (if they had any), followed by Princess Anne and her descendants, and finally William's children in any subsequent marriages.

With a French army under his command, James invaded Ireland in March 1689. The Irish Parliament, unlike the English, declared that James was still their king. Despite this, James was defeated at the Battle of the Boyne on July 1, 1690, and had to flee to France after the final defeat in the Kinsale region. His behavior led to the loss of many supporters and earned him the nickname Séamus á Chaca ("Jacobo de mierda") in Ireland.^{[ citation required]}

Last years and death

In France, he was allowed to reside in the royal château of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. In 1696 an unsuccessful attempt was made to restore James to the throne, assassinating William III. That same year James refused Louis XIV's offer to make him King of Poland, because he feared that accepting the Polish crown would disqualify him (in the minds of the English) from becoming King of England again. After that, Louis XIV stopped offering him help, formalizing this decision by the Treaty of Ryswick, an agreement with William III in 1697. Despite everything, the French monarch, in the most unexpected way, continued to give him his full support, going so far as to tell him in private that the Treaty of Ryswick was, in short, nothing more than a mere formal recognition. During his last years, Jacobo lived austerely and showing great signs of devotion.

He died of a cerebral hemorrhage on September 16, 1701 in the palace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, at the age of 67, being buried in the Chapel of the English Benedictines of Saint Edmund in Paris. Currently his mausoleum is in the Saint-Germain-en-Laye cathedral, opposite the castle where he died. Two plaques in the east wing of the building perpetuate his memory.

Illegitimate offspring

Jacobo II, moreover, left a prolific illegitimate offspring:

• With Arabella Churchill (23 February 1648 — 30 May 1730):
  • Enriqueta Fitzjames (1667 — April 3, 1730), married first to Henry, Lord Waldegrave, and then to Piers Butler, Viscount Galmoyle.
  • Jacobo Fitzjames (Moulins, France, August 21, 1670 — site of Philippsburg, Germany, June 12, 1734), created Duke of Berwick in 1687; first married to Honora de Burgh, Countess widow of Lucan, and then to Ana Bulkeley. It is the direct ancestor of Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart.
  • Enrique Fitzjames (St. James's Square, Westminster, Middlesex, August 6, 1673 — Bagnols, France, December 1702), created Duke of Albermarle in 1696 (but the title is only recognized by the Jacobites); married to Maria Gabriela d'Audibert.
  • Arabella Fitzjames (1674 — 7 November 1704), nun in Pontoise, France, under the name of Sor Ignacia.
  • Charles Fiztjames (1678-1723)

• With Catalina Sedley (circa 1657 — 26 October 1717), created Countess of Dorchester:
  • Catalina Darnley (1681—March 14, 1743), first married to James Annesley, 3.♪ Count of Anglesey, and then with Juan Sheffield, 1.♪ Duke of Buckingham and Normanby.

Ancestors