The Glorious Event
One of the greatest landmarks endured in the history of England is undoubtedly the Glorious Revolution of 1688. It takes the name glorious since no bloodshed was witnessed and the objective was accomplished. James II took over the throne of England in 1685, after the sudden death of Charles II, his blood brother. James II tried to take a despotically system of the ruling, by re-establishing the religion of the Roman Catholic in England. This affected the common people, or subjects of his rulings. They were not happy, and they were reluctant to follow this type of religion. The people who opposed this religion rose in revolt against the ruling. The struggle was between the King and the Parliament. Parliament in this case was the representatives of the people (Boyer 69). The parliament won, and there was drafting of a new constitutional monarchy. It stated that the power rested on the hands of people and the rulers were to assess this on their rulings. James II was forced to exile, and power was bestowed to his daughter Mary. The Whig of parliament at the time forced her to accept the Declaration of Rights. This created a constitutional monarchy, which augmented the power of parliament while deteriorating the powers of the crown. The factors that led to the event-taking place were socio-political factors combined with religious issues.
The efforts, which James II was putting in place to restore Catholicism, bothered the people. It was his dream to re-instate Catholicism in England, and he was even prepared to risk his title for the religion he believed in and served. James II was a Roman Catholic, and he openly showed it in public. On his rise to the throne, he issued a statement asserting that he would uphold the Church of England while he kept his own religion a personal affair. However, after the suppression of Argyll and the Monmouth’s rebellions, James felt himself so strong and he thought he would catholicize the whole of England (Vallance 144). The tory and the church crusade had trusted him and had taken his early statements as true. James II did not stick to his statement; in fact, he overlooked the judgments of the Tories and the church. He rested his religious designs to the Whigs.
However, one factor was against James dream of Catholicizing the nation. This was the Test Act, passed during the reign of Charles II. It stated that any person seeking an elective post, military post or civil post had to accept the Anglican Church and the principles of the church. James II thought this was not fair, and he sought to change the Act. He openly went against the High Court Tory Ministers and opposed them in parliament (Boyer 72). He recruited the Lord Lieutenancy of the whole Ireland to the catholic Earl of Tyrone. His instructions were straightforward; attack the protestant ascendancy. This was the first declaration of indulgence.
The second declaration of indulgence came when he ordered that all the churches were to read the declaration on two consecutive Sundays. This led to oppositions, mainly from the priests. The seven bishops who opposed this were condemned and imprisoned. To further push for Catholicism, he introduced it to universities. He would sack the exact heads of the institutions and appoint the ones who were Catholics. Oxford and Cambridge universities fell victim to this act (Suckow 76). The university students and staff disliked this idea. These happenings made James II unpopular among his subjects and the people of England.
An exceptionally smooth tail of events led to the glorious revolution. Inhabitants of England called upon William of Orange to occupy the throne of England and dethrone James II. He was honored by the plights, and despite him being busy in battle, in France, he accepted the invitation. His reason was that it would provide his Holland team with strength against the France. The people also asked for Mary, the sister of James II, to save the protestant religion and protect the inherited constitutional liberties in England (Vallance 156). They arrived in England after some difficulty. James II stubbornness had caused him all his friends, and his army made the switch to the other side. He fled the country in 1688 December, after succumbing to the Thames the Great seal of the Realm.
Williams’s army consisted of the English, the Swedes, the Germans and the Dutch. After a while, he received backing from the nobilities of England. News came that James II had been captured in Faversham, but he managed to escape to France. The attending parties of the Royal party then sat down to discuss the issue of kingship. They finally concluded that William and Mary should take over as the new heads. The fleeing of James II, without putting up any resistance led to the Glorious revolution (Suckow 125). The Glorious revolution was a momentous figure in the history of England, and the whole of Europe.
Works Cited
Boyer, Paul S. The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People. Lexington, Mass: D.C.
Heath, 1990. Print.
Suckow, Romy. Preparation of the Glorious Revolution – an Analysis of Philosophical Writings.
München: GRIN Verlag GmbH, 2007. Internet resource.
Vallance, Edward. The Glorious Revolution: 1688, Britain’s Fight for Liberty. New York:
Pegasus Books, 2008. Print.
