47 Facts About James Ii

James Ii was the last Catholic monarch of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

James Ii's reign is remembered primarily for conflicts over religious tolerance, but it involved struggles over the principles of absolutism and the divine right of kings.

James Ii's deposition ended a century of political and civil strife in England by confirming the primacy of the English Parliament over the Crown.

When James Ii attempted to impose them by decree, this was met with opposition; some academics have however argued that it was a political principle, rather than a religious one, that ultimately led to his removal.

James Ii was educated by private tutors, along with his older brother, the future King Charles II, and the two sons of the Duke of Buckingham, George and Francis Villiers.

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At the age of three, James Ii was appointed Lord High Admiral; the position was initially honorary, but became a substantive office after the Restoration, when James Ii was an adult.

In consequence, James Ii was expelled from France and forced to leave Turenne's army.

James Ii quarrelled with his brother over the diplomatic choice of Spain over France.

Samuel Pepys wrote that James Ii was fond of his children and his role as a father, and played with them "like an ordinary private father of a child", a contrast to the distant parenting common with royalty at the time.

James Ii's wife was devoted to him and influenced many of his decisions.

When James Ii commanded the Royal Navy during the Second Anglo-Dutch War he immediately directed the fleet towards the capture of forts off the African coast that would facilitate British involvement in the slave trade.

James Ii remained Admiral of the Fleet during the Third Anglo-Dutch Wars during which significant fighting occurred off the African coast.

James Ii took Catholic Eucharist in 1668 or 1669, although his conversion was kept secret for almost a decade as he continued to attend Anglican services until 1676.

In spite of his conversion, James Ii continued to associate primarily with Anglicans, including John Churchill and George Legge, as well as French Protestants, such as Louis de Duras, the Earl of Feversham.

James Ii refused to perform either action, instead choosing to relinquish the post of Lord High Admiral.

King Charles II opposed James Ii's conversion, ordering that James Ii's daughters, Mary and Anne, be raised in the Church of England.

Nevertheless, he allowed James Ii to marry Mary of Modena, a fifteen-year-old Italian princess.

James Ii reluctantly acquiesced after his brother and nephew had agreed to the marriage.

Ultimately, the succession was not altered, but James Ii was convinced to withdraw from all policy-making bodies and to accept a lesser role in his brother's government.

James Ii returned to England for a time when Charles was stricken ill and appeared to be near death.

James Ii worked harder as king than his brother had, but was less willing to compromise when his advisers disagreed.

James Ii attempted to raise recruits but was unable to gather enough rebels to defeat even James's small standing army.

James Ii advocated repeal of the penal laws in all three of his kingdoms, but in the early years of his reign he refused to allow those dissenters who did not petition for relief to receive it.

James Ii sent a letter to the Scottish Parliament at its opening in 1685, declaring his wish for new penal laws against refractory Presbyterians and lamented that he was not there in person to promote such a law.

James Ii dismissed judges who disagreed with him on this matter, as well as the Solicitor General, Heneage Finch.

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In 1687, James Ii issued the Declaration of Indulgence, known as the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience, in which he used his dispensing power to negate the effect of laws punishing both Roman Catholics and Protestant Dissenters.

In 1688, James Ii ordered the Declaration read from the pulpits of every Anglican church, further alienating the Anglican bishops against the Supreme Governor of their church.

James Ii provoked further opposition by attempting to reduce the Anglican monopoly on education.

James Ii attempted to force the Fellows of Magdalen College to elect as their President Anthony Farmer, a man of generally ill repute who was believed to be a Roman Catholic, which was seen as a violation of the Fellows' right to elect someone of their own choosing.

In 1687, James Ii prepared to pack Parliament with his supporters, so that it would repeal the Test Act and the Penal Laws.

James Ii was convinced by addresses from Dissenters that he had their support and so could dispense with relying on Tories and Anglicans.

James Ii instituted a wholesale purge of those in offices under the Crown opposed to his plan, appointing new lord-lieutenants of counties and remodelling the corporations governing towns and livery companies.

James Ii lost his nerve and declined to attack the invading army, despite his army's numerical superiority.

James Ii was captured in Kent; later, he was released and placed under Dutch protective guard.

James Ii was received by his cousin and ally, Louis XIV, who offered him a palace and a pension.

The abuses charged to James Ii included the suspension of the Test Acts, the prosecution of the Seven Bishops for merely petitioning the Crown, the establishment of a standing army, and the imposition of cruel punishments.

The Irish Parliament did not follow the example of the English Parliament; it declared that James Ii remained King and passed a massive bill of attainder against those who had rebelled against him.

At James Ii's urging, the Irish Parliament passed an Act for Liberty of Conscience that granted religious freedom to all Roman Catholics and Protestants in Ireland.

James Ii fled to France once more, departing from Kinsale, never to return to any of his former kingdoms.

In France, James Ii was allowed to live in the royal chateau of Saint-Germain-en-Laye.

James Ii rejected the offer, fearing that accepting the Polish crown might disqualify him from being King of England.

James Ii wrote a memorandum for his son advising him on how to govern England, specifying that Catholics should possess one Secretary of State, one Commissioner of the Treasury, the Secretary at War, with the majority of the officers in the army.

James Ii's heart was placed in a silver-gilt locket and given to the convent at Chaillot, and his brain was placed in a lead casket and given to the Scots College in Paris.

Rest of James Ii's body was laid to rest in a triple sarcophagus at the St Edmund's Chapel in the Church of the English Benedictines in the Rue Saint-Jacques, Paris, with a funeral oration by Henri-Emmanuel de Roquette.

James Ii led a rising in Scotland in 1715 shortly after George I's accession, but was defeated.

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Historical analysis of James II has been somewhat revised since Whig historians, led by Lord Macaulay, cast James as a cruel absolutist and his reign as "tyranny which approached to insanity".

The king was overthrown, in Sowerby's view, largely because of fears among the Dutch and English elites that James Ii might be aligning himself with Louis XIV in a supposed "holy league" to destroy Protestantism across northern Europe.