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What was the Glorious Revolution?

When did the glorious revolution occur, what caused the glorious revolution, why is the glorious revolution significant.

Glorious Revolution

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The Glorious Revolution refers to the events of 1688–89 that saw King James II of England deposed and succeeded by one of his daughters and her husband. James’s overt Roman Catholicism , his suspension of the legal rights of Dissenters, and the birth of a Catholic heir to the throne raised discontent among many, particularly non-Catholics. Opposition leaders invited William of Orange , a Protestant who was married to James’s daughter Mary (also Protestant), to, in effect, invade England. James’s support dwindled, and he fled to France. William and Mary were then crowned joint rulers.

The Glorious Revolution took place during 1688–89. In 1688 King James II of England , a Roman Catholic king who was already at odds with non-Catholics in England, took actions that further alienated that group. The birth of his son in June raised the likelihood of a Catholic heir to the throne and helped bring discontent to a head. Several leading Englishmen invited William of Orange , a Protestant who was married to James’s eldest daughter, Mary (also Protestant), to lead an army to England. He arrived in November, and James fled the next month. In April 1689 William and Mary were crowned joint rulers of the kingdom of England.

The Glorious Revolution (1688–89) in England stemmed from religious and political conflicts. King James II was Catholic . His religion, and his actions rooted in it, put him at odds with the non-Catholic population and others. Many tolerated him, thinking that the throne would eventually pass to his eldest child, Mary , who was Protestant. This view changed with the birth of James’s son in June 1688, as the king now had a Catholic heir. Alarmed, several prominent Englishmen invited Mary’s husband, William of Orange , to invade England. He did so in November. James soon fled England, and William and Mary were crowned joint rulers in April 1689.

The Glorious Revolution (1688–89) permanently established Parliament as the ruling power of England —and, later, the United Kingdom —representing a shift from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy. When William III and Mary II were crowned, they swore to govern according to the laws of Parliament, not the laws of the monarchy. A Bill of Rights promulgated later that year, based on a Declaration of Rights accepted by William and Mary when they were crowned, prohibited Catholics or those married to Catholics from claiming the throne.  

Glorious Revolution , in English history, the events of 1688–89 that resulted in the deposition of James II and the accession of his daughter Mary II and her husband, William III , prince of Orange and stadholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands .

After the accession of James II in 1685, his overt Roman Catholicism alienated the majority of the population. In 1687 he issued a Declaration of Indulgence , suspending the penal laws against Nonconformists and recusants, and in April 1688 ordered that a second Declaration of Indulgence be read from every pulpit on two successive Sundays. William Sancroft , the archbishop of Canterbury , and six other bishops petitioned him against this and were prosecuted for seditious libel. Their acquittal almost coincided with the birth of a son to James’s Roman Catholic queen, Mary of Modena (June). This event promised an indefinite continuance of his policy and brought discontent to a head. Seven eminent Englishmen, including one bishop and six prominent politicians of both Whig and Tory persuasions, wrote to William of Orange, inviting him to come over with an army to redress the nation’s grievances.

William was both James’s nephew and his son-in-law, and, until the birth of James’s son, William’s wife, Mary, was heir apparent . William’s chief concern was to check the overgrowth of French power in Europe. Between 1679 and 1684, England’s impotence and the emperor Leopold I ’s preoccupation with a Turkish advance to Vienna had allowed Louis XIV to seize Luxembourg , Strasbourg , Casale Monferrato , and other places vital to the defense of the Spanish Netherlands , the German Rhineland , and northern Italy. By 1688, however, a great European coalition had begun to form to call for a halt to aggressions. Its prospects depended partly upon England. Thus, having been in close touch with the leading English malcontents for more than a year, William accepted their invitation. Landing at Brixham on Tor Bay (November 5), he advanced slowly on London as support fell away from James II. James’s daughter Anne and his best general, John Churchill , were among the deserters to William’s camp. Thereupon, James fled to France.

William was now asked to carry on the government and summon a Parliament. When this Convention Parliament met (January 22, 1689), it agreed, after some debate, to treat James’s flight as an abdication and to offer the crown, with an accompanying Declaration of Rights , to William and Mary jointly. Both gift and conditions were accepted. Thereupon, the convention turned itself into a proper Parliament and large parts of the Declaration into a Bill of Rights . This bill gave the succession to Mary’s sister, Anne, in default of issue from Mary, barred Roman Catholics from the throne, abolished the crown’s power to suspend laws, condemned the power of dispensing with laws “as it hath been exercised and used of late,” and declared a standing army illegal in time of peace.

The settlement marked a considerable triumph for Whig views. If no Roman Catholic could be king, then no kingship could be unconditional. The adoption of the exclusionist solution lent support to John Locke ’s contention that government was in the nature of a social contract between the king and his people represented in Parliament. The revolution permanently established Parliament as the ruling power of England.

The Glorious Revolution

The Glorious Revolution (1688–1690) was a sequence of events that culminated in the ascension of William and Mary to the throne of England, contributing to uprisings in the colonies of Massachusetts, New York, and Maryland. The English Bill of Rights was also enacted, establishing the power of Parliament in several areas, including taxation.

King William III and Queen Mary II.

Glorious Revolution Summary

The Glorious Revolution was the culmination of decades of unrest in England and led to the abdication of the throne by King James II, who was Catholic. James was replaced on the throne by his Protestant daughter Mary and her Dutch husband, William of Orange.

As part of the agreement for William and Mary to become King and Queen, they agreed to the English Bill of Rights . The document eliminated the idea of the Divine Right of Kings and automatic hereditary succession while affirming Parliament’s supremacy over the Crown. The English Bill of Rights also restricted the Crown’s authority regarding law, taxation, and the military. 

The English Colonies in America welcomed news of the Glorious Revolution and the English Bill of Rights and there were several uprisings against Catholics and government officials who were associated with King James II.

Ultimately, the Glorious Revolution and the English Bill of Rights influenced American arguments for independence, along with the establishment of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights .

Glorious Revolution Facts

• Date — The Glorious Revolution took place in 1688 and 1689.
• Also Known As — The Glorious Revolution is also called the “Bloodless Revolution.”
• Outcome — King William III and Queen Mary II replaced King James II.
• Interesting Fact — King James II was the last Catholic monarch of England.
• Interesting Fact — James Francis Edward Stuart, the son of King James II, became known as the “Old Pretender.” due to rumors he was not truly the son of James.
• Interesting Fact — James Stuart’s son, Charles Edward Stuart, was known as the “Young Pretender” and “Bonnie Prince Charlie.”
• Interesting Fact — Bonnie Prince Charlie tried to take the throne in 1745 in the Jacobite Rising of 1745, however, his army was defeated at the Battle of Culloden.
• Interesting Fact — Queen Mary died in 1694, leaving William III to rule England by himself.
• Interesting Fact — William III died in 1702 and was replaced by Mary’s sister, Anne.
• Interesting Fact — The impact of the Glorious Revolution was felt in America through several rebellions, including the overthrow of the Dominion of New England .

Glorious Revolution in England

The Glorious Revolution was the culmination of decades of conflict in England that included the English Civil Wars, the era known as the Interregnum, and the Stuart Restoration.

Death of Charles and the Ascension of James

On February 2, 1685, King Charles II died. Four days later, his brother, James, the Duke of York, was crowned as James II of England and James VI of Scotland. 

Conflict Between Protestants and Catholics

As had been the case since the English Reformation, relations between Protestants and Catholics in England and its territories were tense. Charles II publicly supported the Church of England and religious tolerance. However, James was Catholic, which was revealed to the people of the kingdom and led to the Exclusion Crisis. From 1679 to 1681, England, Scotland, and Ireland tried to enact laws to keep James from succeeding his brother but ultimately failed.

Conflict Between the Crown and Parliament

The Crown and Parliament were also at odds with each other and James made matters worse. He appointed Catholics to key political positions, suspended laws that persecuted Catholics, and pardoned Protestant religious dissenters. Following the Monmouth Rebellion (1685), he retained a standing army, which he believed would help him gain more control over Parliament.

Catholic Threat

The effort James made to promote his faith increased concerns among Protestants who feared there would be a wave of conversions to Catholicism among English subjects. James intended to establish Catholic churches, convert colleges to Catholic seminaries, and exempt Catholics from Anglican churches and courts.

A Catholic Heir to the Throne

Although James was Catholic, the heir, his daughter Mary, was a Protestant. Mary was married to William of Orange, the ruler of most of the Netherlands, who was also a Protestant. This created an issue for James and was an obstacle to gaining the approval of Parliament for his pro-Catholic initiatives.

James was 51 years old at the time and most people believed he was incapable of producing a male heir. However, on June 10, 1688, James and his wife, Mary of Modena, had a son, James Francis Edward Stuart, who was baptized Catholic. 

As a male, James moved in front of Mary as heir to the throne. The idea of a Catholic heir to the throne of England raised concerns about the possibility of a Catholic dynasty and the spread of Catholicism in Europe and North America.

Rumors spread through the country that the Prince was an imposter. The true son of James and Mary was stillborn and replaced by another baby. This led to James Francis Edward Stuart being given the nickname “The Old Pretender.”

Trial of the Seven Bishops

Later in June, a trial was held for seven Anglican bishops who refused to read the Declaration of Indulgence in their churches. The bishops were arrested, charged with seditious libel, and imprisoned in the Tower of London. The arrests were viewed as an attack on the Church of England.

The bishops were acquitted of the charges, leading to anti-Catholic riots in England and Scotland. 

Opponents of James Take Action

Opponents of James responded to the birth of the Prince and the Trial of the Seven Bishops by reaching out to William of Orange and essentially inviting him to invade England and dethrone James.

William’s army landed on Tor Bay on November 5, 1688, and slowly made his way to London. James responded by fleeing the country as his supporters abandoned him.

Convention Parliament of 1689

William took control of the government in December and elections for Parliament were held in January 1689. 

The “Convention Parliament” met on January 22 and eventually determined James had abdicated the throne, which was formally offered to William and Mary, provided they agreed to a Declaration of Rights.

William and Mary agreed to the Bill of Rights, which included the following:

• Identified Mary’s sister Anne as the heir to the throne.
• Barred Catholics from being King or Queen.
• Eliminated the Crown’s ability to suspend laws.
• Declared a standing army during peacetime illegal.

The Bill of Rights firmly entrenched Parliament’s supremacy over the Crown. This would become an important point in the argument Americans would make during the American Revolution and American Revolutionary War. 

When Americans argued against “no taxation without representation,” they insisted on their loyalty to the Crown and were critical of Parliament, which they pointed at as the source of the trouble between Britain and the 13 Original Colonies .

Effects of the Glorious Revolution in Colonial America

During the reign of Charles, several incidents in North America drew the attention of the Crown, including:

• The Dutch recapture of New York in 1673.
• King Philip’s War (1675–1678) .
• Bacon’s Rebellion (1676–1677) .

Charles responded by strengthening the Crown’s oversight of the colonies. He implemented new Navigation Acts and established the Lords of Trade and Plantations to keep watch over the colonies and ensure the collection of customs duties.

In 1686, James, the Privy Council, and the Lords of Trade decided to merge the colonies in New England together under a single government. Under the new arrangement, the colonies were known as the “Dominion of New England.” The purpose of the Dominion was to streamline English oversight of the colonies and give England more control over trade, land titles, and coordination of colonial defenses.

The first territories that were part of the Dominion were Massachusetts Bay Colony , Plymouth Colony , Province of New Hampshire , and part of Rhode Island . The Dominion was placed under the control of the Council of New England. The first President — or Governor — was Joseph Dudley, a native of Massachusetts.

In June 1688, Dudley was replaced with Sir Edmund Andros, and on September 9, 1686, the Board of Trade added the rest of Rhode Island and Connecticut to the Dominion. Andros proved to be unpopular, especially with the Puritans in Massachusetts. He arrived in Boston on December 20, 1687, and from then on he created controversy over local government, taxes, land titles, and religion. He had been ordered by the King to force the Puritans to allow the Church of England to operate freely, which he did. New York and New Jersey were added to the Dominion in 1688. 

In early 1689, when the news arrived regarding the Glorious Revolution, colonists rebelled against Catholics and other political leaders associated with James.

Boston Revolt and the Collapse of the Dominion of New England

In Massachusetts, 2,000 militiamen captured Governor Sir Edmund Andros, effectively ending the Dominion of New England. Massachusetts leaders established a temporary government based on the 1629 charter. 

William and Mary eventually issued a new charter for Massachusetts in 1691. The new Governor of Massachusetts, Sir William Phips, arrived in Boston on May 24, 1692. In the interim, Massachusetts was caught up in the hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials .

Coode’s Rebellion

Maryland had been established by Lord Baltimore as a haven for Catholics, but the colony practiced religious tolerance and there was a significant Protestant population. 

Upon the ascension of William and Mary to the throne, Baltimore issued a proclamation, announcing the new monarchs. However, anti-Catholic factions led by John Coode formed the Protestant Association, took control of St. Mary’s City, and formed a Protestant government.

Leisler’s Rebellion

Following the imprisonment of Sir Edmund Andros, the New York Militia expelled the Lieutenant Governor, Francis Nicholson , who refused to acknowledge William and Mary as monarchs. Nicholson fled from the colony.

Jacob Leisler, a prominent merchant, declared himself Lieutenant Governor in the name of William and Mary. Leisler was quick to abuse his power and in December 1689, William and Mary appointed Henry Sloughter as Governor of New York

However, Leisler tried to maintain control and nearly started a civil war in New York. Leisler was eventually arrested and tried on charges of treason. He was found guilty and executed in 1691.

Glorious Revolution APUSH Review

Use the following links and videos to study the Glorious Revolution, Colonial America, and the Colonial Era for the AP US History Exam. Also, be sure to look at our Guide to the AP US History Exam .

APUSH Definition and Significance

The Glorious Revolution for APUSH is defined as the bloodless revolution that took place in England in 1688–89, resulting in the abdication of King James II and the ascension of King William III and Queen Mary II. The Glorious Revolution also led to the implementation of the English Bill of Rights, which established Parliament’s authority over the Crown. In the American Colonies, the Glorious Revolution led to the overthrow of several governors and the collapse of the Dominion of New England. In many ways, the Glorious Revolution contributed to events that led to the American Revolution, especially by establishing Parliament’s right to levy taxes.

APUSH Video

This video from Heimler’s History discusses the Glorious Revolution and other events, including the English Civil War.

• Written by Randal Rust

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Glorious Revolution

By: History.com Editors

Updated: September 6, 2019 | Original: February 20, 2018

The Glorious Revolution, also called “The Revolution of 1688” and “The Bloodless Revolution,” took place from 1688 to 1689 in England. It involved the overthrow of the Catholic King James II, who was replaced by his Protestant daughter Mary and her Dutch husband, William of Orange. Motives for the revolution were complex and included both political and religious concerns. The event ultimately changed how England was governed, giving Parliament more power over the monarchy and planting seeds for the beginnings of a political democracy.

King James II

King James II took the throne in England in 1685, during a time when relations between Catholics and Protestants were tense. There was also considerable friction between the monarchy and the British Parliament .

James, who was Catholic, supported the freedom of worship for Catholics and appointed Catholic officers to the army. He also had close ties with France—a relationship that concerned many of the English people.

In 1687, King James II issued a Declaration of Indulgence, which suspended penal laws against Catholics and granted acceptance of some Protestant dissenters. Later that year, the king formally dissolved his Parliament and attempted to create a new Parliament that would support him unconditionally.

James’s daughter Mary, a Protestant, was the rightful heir to the throne until 1688 when James had a son, James Francis Edward Stuart, whom he announced would be raised Catholic.

The birth of James’s son changed the line of succession, and many feared a Catholic dynasty in England was imminent. The Whigs, the main group that opposed Catholic succession, were especially outraged.

The king’s elevation of Catholicism, his close relationship with France, his conflict with Parliament and uncertainty over who would succeed James on the English throne led to whispers of a revolt—and ultimately the fall of James II.

William of Orange

In 1688, seven of King James’s peers wrote to the Dutch leader, William of Orange, pledging their allegiance to the prince if he invaded England.

William was already in the process of taking military action against England, and the letter served as an additional propaganda motive.

William of Orange assembled an impressive armada for the invasion and landed in Torbay, Devon, in November 1688.

King James, however, had prepared for military attacks and left London to bring his forces to meet the invading army. But several of James’s own men, including his family members, deserted him and defected to William’s side. In addition to this setback, James’s health was deteriorating.

James decided to retreat back to London on November 23. He soon announced that he was willing to agree to a “free” Parliament but was making plans to flee the country due to concerns for his own safety.

In December 1688, King James made an attempt to escape but was captured. Later that month, he made another attempt and successfully fled to France, where his Catholic cousin Louis XIV held the throne and where James eventually died in exile in 1701.

Bill of Rights

In January 1689, the now-famous Convention Parliament met. After significant pressure from William, Parliament agreed to a joint monarchy , with William as king and James’s daughter, Mary, as queen.

The two new rulers accepted more restrictions from Parliament than any previous monarchs, causing an unprecedented shift in the distribution of power throughout the British realm.

The king and queen both signed the Declaration of Rights, which became known as the Bill of Rights. This document acknowledged several constitutional principles, including the right for regular Parliaments, free elections and freedom of speech in Parliament. Additionally, it forbade the monarchy from being Catholic.

Many historians believe the Bill of Rights was the first step toward a constitutional monarchy.

Bloodless Revolution

The Glorious Revolution is sometimes dubbed the Bloodless Revolution, although this description isn’t entirely accurate.

While there was little bloodshed and violence in England, the revolution led to significant loss of life in Ireland and Scotland.

Catholic historians typically refer to the Glorious Revolution as the “Revolution of 1688,” while Whig historians prefer the phrase “Bloodless Revolution.” The term “Glorious Revolution” was first coined by John Hampden in 1689.

Legacy of the Glorious Revolution

Many historians believe the Glorious Revolution was one of the most important events leading to Britain’s transformation from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy. After this event, the monarchy in England would never hold absolute power again.

With the Bill of Rights, the regent’s power was defined, written down and limited for the first time. Parliament’s function and influence changed dramatically in the years following the revolution.

The event also had an impact on the 13 colonies in North America. The colonists were temporarily freed of strict, anti- Puritan laws after King James was overthrown.

When news of the revolution reached the Americans, several uprisings followed, including the Boston Revolt, Leisler’s Rebellion in New York and the Protestant Revolution in Maryland .

Since the Glorious Revolution, Parliament’s power in Britain has continued to increase, while the monarchy’s influence has waned. There’s no doubt this important event helped set the stage for the United Kingdom’s present-day political system and government.

The Glorious Revolution, BBC . The Glorious Revolution of 1688, Economic History Association . The Glorious Revolution, Parliament.uk . The 1688 Revolution, The History Learning Site . How did the Glorious Revolution in England Affect the Colonies? History of Massachusetts Blog .

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Glorious Revolution

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The Glorious Revolution of November 1688 saw Protestant William of Orange (l. 1650-1702) invade England and take the throne of Catholic James II of England (r. 1685-1688). There were no battles, and William was invited by Parliament to become king and rule jointly with his wife Queen Mary II of England (r. 1689-1694), daughter of James II.

James II's pro-Catholic policies and authoritarian rule had sealed his fate, and he lived thereafter in exile in France. Meanwhile, William and Mary ruled with the powers of the monarchy reduced and those of Parliament increased as part of a new system of government known as a constitutional monarchy, the system which is still seen today in the United Kingdom.

The main causes of the Glorious Revolution may be summarised as:

• King James II was a Catholic in a Protestant state.
• The king was biased toward Catholics in his key appointments.
• The king exceeded his authority in judicial matters.
• The king dismissed Parliament and never recalled it.
• The Declaration of Indulgences was seen as a protection of Catholic rights.
• A Catholic male heir was born superseding his elder Protestant sisters.
• A group of prominent Protestant nobles invited the Protestant William of Orange to become king.
• William of Orange feared a Catholic France and England would join forces against him, and so he wanted to become king.

Protestantism & Authoritarianism

To understand the events of 1688 and their significance, it is necessary to go back several monarchs in the timeline of British history. The thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland were unified when James I of England (r. 1603-1625) succeeded Elizabeth I of England (r. 1558-1603). James was the first of the Stuart monarchs, and he was succeeded by his son Charles I of England (r. 1625-1649). So far so good, and mostly peaceful. Then Charles went and spoilt things with his authoritarian rule and dismissal of Parliament. The English Civil Wars (1642-51) developed, and ultimately, the support for the novel idea of a republic and not simply a limited monarchy began to increase. An unrepentant and uncompromising Charles was executed on 30 January 1649. As it turned out, the 'commonwealth' republic led by Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) was just as unpopular as Charles had been. The late king's son Charles triumphantly returned to England and the throne with the Restoration of 1660. The monarchy was back. Unfortunately, it had not learnt any lessons from the disastrous events of the previous decades. Charles II of England (r. 1660-1685) died in 1685, but he had no children. As a result, the king's younger brother became King James II of England. The Stuart line was continuing as usual, but all was not what it seemed. Besides Parliament having grown in importance over the last 50 years, the old problem that had plagued the British Isles since the reign of Henry VIII of England (r. 1509-1547) was back with a bang: Protestantism versus Catholicism.

Charles II had been a Protestant; the problem was that his successor was a Catholic. James II had converted to Catholicism in 1668, and many feared that he wished to return England to being a Catholic state. Historians continue to debate what exactly were the king's intentions. James knew full well the importance of the matter, Parliament had even removed him from the succession for his faith back in 1679 (the Exclusion Crisis), but his brother had him reinstated. The reinstatement included the promise that James raise his two surviving children, Mary (b. 1662) and Anne (b. 1665), as Protestants.

With everyone preferring the peaceful and less wearisome option of continuing the status quo, the 51-year-old James was allowed to take the throne in 1680. The king even eliminated the communion part of his coronation. His supporters were cheered, the neutrals knew not who else to support, and his enemies hoped his reign would be short and his Protestant daughter Mary could then ensure the achievements of the English Reformation remained intact.

James experienced his fair share of trouble with two rebellions early on in his reign. The first was in Scotland in May 1685 when the Presbyterian Earl of Argyll, leader of the Campbells, led an uprising against the king in Scotland. Argyll was captured while marching to Glasgow, and the rebellion fizzled out. It is very likely that this uprising was intended as a parallel action to another, more serious one in the south of England, the Monmouth Rebellion of June-July 1665.

James Scott, Duke of Monmouth (b. 1649), was the illegitimate son of Charles II. He had already been involved in a plan to take the throne, the Rye House Plot of 1663 when a group of veteran Parliamentarians from the Civil War tried to assassinate Charles II and his brother after a race meeting at Newmarket. The plot was poorly planned and failed, Monmouth was exiled to the Netherlands for his involvement. Now Monmouth was back and with him 80-odd other disgruntled exiles. The motley crew landed at Lyme Regis in June and began to recruit men for an armed rebellion. There was sufficient ill-feeling towards James II that Monmouth managed to raise up to 4,000 men for his army, but it was an amateurish and poorly equipped one. A Royalist army easily defeated the rebels at Sedgemoor in Somerset on 6 July. Monmouth was captured and executed, despite his pleas for clemency from his uncle. James was ruthless in hunting down anyone with even the remotest connection to the Monmouth Rebellion. A few hundred were hanged, 850 were deported for hard labour in the Caribbean, and countless more were flogged. The hearings for those accused became known as the 'Bloody Assizes'. Although harshly punishing rebels was not unusual, the bloody vengeance did nothing for the king's popularity.

Indulgences & Appointments

Both the Argyll and Monmouth rebellions had been relatively minor affairs but they should have been warning shots of what might develop. Instead, the king's policies veered even more towards Catholicism. James relentlessly appointed Catholics in key positions in the government, courts, navy, army, and even universities. James also ignored some laws, extended others, and waived sentences when they applied to Catholic individuals he favoured, what became known as his Dispensing and Suspending powers. Parliament protested at these policies, and the king responded by dismissing the House in November 1685; it would not be recalled until there was a new monarch on the throne.

Another controversial decision was the April 1687 Declaration of Indulgence (aka Declaration of the Liberty of Conscience). This declaration actually improved religious toleration for all faiths, but many Protestants saw it only as a means to improve the status of Catholics. The king did not instil much confidence in non-Catholics when he declared in 1687: "we cannot but heartily wish, as it will easily be believed, that all the people of our dominions were members of the Catholic Church" (Miller, 332). To make matters worse, James reissued the Indulgence in 1688 and insisted it be read out in all churches. The Archbishop of Canterbury and six other bishops protested at this, but the king merely locked them up in the Tower of London . They were then put on trial, but this backfired when they were acquitted, and there was much public celebration.

A Catholic Prince

Besides Protestants having to accept a Catholic king, they also had to endure a Catholic queen and then a Catholic heir to the throne. James had married his second wife, Mary of Modena (d. 1718), in 1673; there were even wild rumours that the queen was actually the daughter of a pope. Then perhaps the final blow for the more militant Protestants fell. The king, after enduring the tragedy of many of his offspring dying in childbirth or early childhood, had a son. James Francis Edward was born on 10 June 1688. This meant that neither Mary nor Anne would become the next monarch, and with both parents being Catholic, it seemed a certainty Prince James would be raised in that faith. So convenient was this event for the king, many suspected the child was not his own but had been brought in for the sole purpose of perpetuating Catholicism in England. The fact that Prince James' godfather was Pope Innocent XI was another unnecessary provocation. Those Protestants who had been calling for restraint until the aged king died and Protestant Mary took over now had no argument. Rebel Protestant nobles knew that they must act now or never.

A Protestant Prince

The burning question was not necessarily how to depose the king but who would replace him. Rebel nobles looked abroad. On 30 June, a group of seven, who included the dukes of Devonshire and Shrewsbury and the Bishop of London, got together and contacted Protestant Prince William of Orange via the Dutch ambassador in England, inviting him to become king of England, Scotland, and Ireland. William had several points in his favour besides his religion . He was the grandson of Charles I of England and had married James II's daughter Mary in 1677. William was no doubt delighted at the offer since he was already planning on invading. Having built up a sizeable navy, the prince said that he was merely waiting for a favourable "Protestant wind". His prime motivation was to avoid England becoming Catholic and then joining forces with the French to attack the Netherlands.

William's first attempt to reach England by sea was scuppered by stormy weather, but he persisted and landed with an army of 15-21,000 men in Devon on 5 November 1688. The army was an experienced fighting force and made up of Dutch, English, Scots, Danes, Huguenots, and even a contingent from Suriname. The prince also took a printing press so that he might more easily spread pro-Protestant propaganda. When he landed at Brixham, William reassured the Englishmen he met that "I come to do you goot. I am here for all your goots" (Cavendish, 338).

William marched slowly east towards London through unfavourable weather. Meanwhile, James was left isolated, deserted by former supporters like John Churchill and even his own daughter Anne. The queen left England for the safety of France in December. James suffered more important desertions amongst his top army staff, and there were immediate uprisings in favour of William in Cheshire, Yorkshire, and Nottinghamshire. Then after being hit with a bizarre series of nosebleeds, the king decided to abandon the battlefield and follow his wife. The king may have been suffering a mental breakdown at this point as he became utterly convinced he was destined to suffer the same terrible fate as his father. Queen Mary made it across the Channel, but the king did not, despite his disguise as a woman. He was spotted by fishermen and taken captive in Kent. William was by now in London, and he decided the best thing to do with his rival and father-in- law was to allow him to leave for France as he had wished. William had achieved the remarkable feat of heading the first successful invasion of England since his namesake William the Conqueror (r. 1066-1087) in 1066.

A Constitutional Monarchy

The official line was that James had abdicated, and Parliament recorded the removal of the monarch as occurring on 23 December 1688, the day James had left English shores. William became William III of England (also William II of Scotland, r. 1689-1702) via a decree by Parliament on 13 February 1689. This change of regime became known as the Glorious Revolution because it had occurred entirely peacefully (or almost, there were some episodes of Catholic houses and chapels being attacked during William's march to London). There had certainly been no battles or country-wide uprisings in support of either side. Whig historians (pro-Protestants) also believed the revolution 'glorious' because it had preserved the existing institutions of power, which was true, but the relationship between these institutions was altered, a change which only grew more significant over time.

There were some limitations to William's golden prize. The first was that William had to rule jointly with his wife, now Mary II of England, although in practice he alone had sovereign power. The 'Tories' in the House of Lords (the upper chamber of Parliament) had wanted Mary to rule alone as this preserved the tradition of succession, but William would not settle for anything less than a proper king's role. The second limitation was imposed by Parliament as a new form of government was devised, a constitutional monarchy. Over the next few years, a whole barrage of laws passed by Parliament limited the monarchy's powers. Gone were the days of authoritarian monarchs who could dismiss Parliament on a whim. Now the two institutions ruled in unison, an arrangement established by the Bill of Rights of 16 December 1689.

Parliament had the ultimate authority in the key areas of passing laws and raising taxes. It also became much more involved in accounting how money was spent for state purposes, particularly on the army and navy. The monarchy was now supported not by the taxes they could raise or the land they could sell but by the money from the Civil List issued by Parliament, beginning with the Civil List Act of 1697. William may not have liked this control on his purse strings, but it meant he could not, as so many of his predecessors had done, dismiss Parliament for long periods and only call it back when he ran out of cash. And the king needed lots of cash since he was determined to use his new position to finally face the French on the battlefield and end their domination of Europe ; so began the Nine Years' War (1688–1697).

The list of limitations on William in Britain continued. No monarch could henceforth maintain their own standing army, only Parliament could declare war, and any new monarch had to swear at their coronation to uphold the Protestant Church. No Catholic or individual married to a Catholic could ever become king or queen again. To ensure Parliament did not itself abuse the power bestowed upon it, there were to be free elections every three years and a guarantee of free speech in its two Houses. Finally, the May 1689 Toleration Act, although it did not go as far as Calvinist William had hoped, protected the rights of Protestant dissenters (aka Non-Conformists) who made up around 7% of the population. After a period of persecution under the Stuarts, they could now freely worship as they wished and establish their own schools. The Toleration Act did not apply to Catholics or Jews.

Ireland & Scotland

James II was not dead but in exile, and eventually, encouraged by Louis XIV of France (r. 1643-1715) he made an attempt to get his throne back. Landing in Ireland in March 1689, James had some early success, but a 105-day siege of Protestant Londonderry (Derry) failed. Then the arrival of the king in person with a large English-Dutch army, which was superior to James' in both weapons and training, brought final victory at the battle of Boyne on 1 July 1690. Ireland was 75% Catholic, and although a guerrilla war rumbled on, the country found itself once again with a Protestant king.

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In Scotland, Jacobite support (for James II, from the Latin Jacobus ) had been particularly strong in the Highlands, but in the cities , there was more support for Protestant William. When the Prince of Orange had first landed in England, there were shortly afterwards sympathetic riots in Edinburgh where Catholics and their property were attacked. A Convention met to decide who to support, and the decision was made on 11 April 1689 to favour William. At the same time, the Claim of Right established the monarchy there on similar terms as declared in the English Bill of Rights. Mary and William ruled jointly in Scotland when they accepted the crown there on 11 May 1689. There was a Jacobite rising led by Viscount Dundee which defeated a pro-William army at Killiecrankie in July 1689. Then there was a reversal in August at Dunkeld where 'Bonnie' Dundee was killed. In the meantime, the government of Scotland was established under the control of the Presbyterian Church.

In 1692, the divisions in Scotland were widened when James' supporters the MacDonald clan had its leaders massacred at Glencoe by the Campbells. James II died in exile in France in 1701, but his son James (the Old Pretender) and grandson Charles (the Young Pretender) both carried on the flame of rebellion in the Highlands. However, two Jacobite risings in 1715 and 1745 failed, and there was no way back for the troubled Royal House of Stuart .

The three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland were now tied together more strongly than ever, at least in terms of politics and governance. William, Mary, and Parliament had created a new form of monarchy and government, one which provided a political, religious, and economic stability never before enjoyed. The Glorious Revolution thus ultimately "transformed Britain from a divided, unstable, rebellious and marginal country into the state that would become the most powerful on the planet" (Starkey, 399).

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Bibliography

• Anderson, Angela & Scarboro, Dale. Stuart Britain. Hodder Education, 2015.
• Cannon, John & Hargreaves, Anne. The Kings and Queens of Britain . Oxford University Press, 2009.
• Cavendish, Richard. Kings & Queens. David & Charles, 2007.
• Fellows, Nicholas & Dicken, Mary. Britain 1603-1760. Hodder Education, 2015.
• Jones, Nigel. Tower. St. Martin's Griffin, 2013.
• Lewis, Brenda Ralph. Dark History of the Kings & Queens of England. Sterling Publishing, 2015.
• Miller, John. Early Modern Britain, 1450–1750 . Cambridge University Press, 2017.
• Phillips, Charles. The Complete Illustrated Guide to the Kings & Queens of Britain. Southwater, 2016.
• Starkey, David. Crown and Country. HarperPress, 2010.

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The story of the Glorious Revolution really begins with the Exclusion Crisis of 1679-83. This was the period of a series of attempts by Whigs—the original Whigs—to prevent James Duke of York from inheriting the throne from his brother, King Charles II, the merry monarch who had perhaps as many as 20 children with his numerous mistresses, but no legitimate children with his wife.  The Duke, who was known to be Catholic and to believe in the divine right of kings and absolute monarchy, was mistrusted by many Englishmen at this time because of these factors. During the seventeenth century (indeed since the Protestant Reformations of the sixteenth century and the creation of the Church of England by Henry VIII), there had existed a national loathing of Catholicism, so much so that there had even been attempts made to exclude James from the throne. These plots had not been successful, however, and following Charles II’s death on 6 February 1685 the Catholic James became King James II. Perhaps because of the fear that England would return to tumult and bloodshed of the Civil Wars (1642-49) and the oppression of Oliver Cromwell’s Protectorate, when James's Parliament met on 19 May, it was overwhelmingly loyalist in composition. This seeming tranquillity was not, however, to last.

Indeed, when the House was recalled after the summer, James asked the Commons for more money for the maintenance of his standing army. It was a move that would have concerned many Englishmen because professional, permanent armies were feared to be the would-be shock troops of an ambitious tyrant. Large standing armies were associated with the autocratic monarchies of France and Spain, while many Englishmen would also have remembered with trepidation the imposition of Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army and the hated rule of the Major-Generals.

James himself would further antagonise the Commons by asking for the repeal of the Test Acts of 1673. The Test Acts required office holders to prove that they were not Catholics by making a declaration against transubstantiation—the Roman Catholic belief that the change of substance (or essence) by which the bread and wine offered in the sacrifice of the sacrament of the Eucharist during the Mass, become, in reality, the body and blood of Christ. Between 12 and 19 November 1685, Parliament declined to repeal the Acts and refused the King extra money, fearing its misuse. Replying to the King's speech, Parliament made it clear that the King's employment of Catholic officers was ‘of the greatest concern’ to them, and begged him to reconsider his request. Frustrated by the House’s intransigence, on 20 November, James prorogued his Parliament.

Determined to assert his authority, the King pressed on. In April 1686 James won an apparent victory in the Test Act controversy when, following the Godden v Hales case, the judges ruled that James II, in individual cases, could dispense with the Test Acts without the consent of Parliament. Worryingly for many Parliamentarians, the King then began to introduce Roman Catholics and some dissenters into the army, universities, and even posts within the Anglican Church. It seemed that those fears emergent from the earlier Exclusion Crisis concerning James’s high-handedness, authoritarian inclinations and disregard for the rights of Parliament were truly well-founded.

Further controversy came on 15 July when an Ecclesiastical Commission was set up, and to which the King's powers as Governor of the Church of England were delegated. This Commission was permitted to deprive the clergy of their roles and soon used this authority to remove Henry Compton from his position as Bishop of London. Compton had fallen afoul of the Commission because he had refused to suspend a London clergyman who had spoken out against Roman Catholicism. When a papal envoy was cordially received in Whitehall, alarm was further spread among English Protestants. It is therefore unsurprising that, throughout 1686, fears grew that James was plotting to impose his own (very much hated) Catholic religious views on the country. Anger would have been further stoked when James began a campaign to appoint sympathetic electors to create a House of Commons that would support his policies.

To further his goals, on 5 April, 1687 the King published a Declaration of Indulgence (also known as the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience ), which suspended all religious penal laws. At the same time, James provided partial toleration in Scotland, using his dispensing power to grant relief to Catholics and partial relief to Presbyterians. Coined by the King as a way of curbing intolerance on the basis of religious faith, James's seeming ignorance England’s of long-standing fear of a Catholic insurrection, sponsored by hostile powers such as Catholic France and Spain, in addition to his willingness to use the Royal Prerogative without Parliamentary approval, caused great unease in a country already shaken by his previous actions.

Subsequent efforts did little to abate these concerns. As 1687 progressed, the Lord Lieutenants (the monarch's personal representative in each county) were instructed to call together prominent local people and ask them, if they were to be chosen as Members of Parliament, whether they would approve the repeal of the penal laws, and other questions designed of the same kind. The majority of the Lord Lieutenants refused to advance these questions because they objected so strongly to them. Consequently, in August James dismissed nine of them. Tellingly, surviving answers to the King's questions and documented at the time they were given attest to the unpopularity of the King’s policies. Indeed, there was almost wholesale opposition among the prominent and influential local men who had been canvassed by the Lord Lieutenants.

On April 27 1688 James reissued the Declaration of Indulgence . However, by commanding that Anglican clergy to read to their congregations from the pulpit, he had made a grave error. On 18 May the Archbishop of Canterbury and six other bishops refused to read it and petitioned against the King’s order (history books sometimes refer to these men as the Seven Bishops). In this petition, the James was asked to withdraw his demand, citing the argument that the Declaration of Indulgence was illegal. It was claimed that it was based the king’s suspending power—something that went against the will of Parliament

On June 8 the Seven Bishops were arrested and sent to the Tower of London to await trial. Virtually at the same time--in fact, two days later--the Queen (James’s second wife, Mary of Modena) gave birth to a son, James Francis Edward, Prince of Wales. The new heir was baptised a Roman Catholic, causing consternation within much of the nation.

Certainly, before this, James’s rule could, at least to a degree, have been dismissed as a passing aberration (an albeit highly worrying one) by many of his bewildered subjects. However, the birth of a son gave the Catholic James an heir, opening the possibility of a perpetual Catholic succession and a tyrannical dynasty.  This prospect actually gave rise to ugly rumours that the baby was no true prince but a substitute smuggled into the Queen's bed in a warming pan. Perhaps unsurprisingly, when the so-called Seven Bishops were acquitted by a jury (June 30), huge crowds celebrated in the streets, burning effigies of the Pope, and attacking Catholic establishments. It was also on this very same day that a ‘letter of invitation’ was signed by seven prominent politicians (The Earl of Shrewsbury; The Earl of Devonshire; The Earl of Danby; The Viscount Lumley; The Bishop of London (Henry Compton); Edward Russell; Henry Sydney (who wrote the Invitation)) which invited William of Orange, Protestant son-in-law to James, to intervene to save both Church and State.

William, who had himself been watching developments in England with increasing alarm, had actually already made his decision to intervene. The Dutch Republic, of which William was Stadtholder, had an intense rivalry with Louis XIV’s France (the two rulers themselves were bitter enemies) and a possible Anglo-French alliance would have jeopardised the sovereignty and independence of the Dutch Republic—itself a Protestant power. Therefore, on October 1 William issued his manifesto from The Hague, listing at length the allegedly illegal actions of the last three years. He proclaimed that, ‘we have thought fit to go over to England, and to carry with us a force sufficient, by the blessing of God, to defend us from the violence of those evil councillors; and we, being desirous that our intention in this way may be rightly understood, have prepared this Declaration...’

William landed at Torbay in Devon with about 15,000 (largely Dutch) troops on November 5. The timing of this would not have been lost on the contemporary English populous who revered November 5 as the date on which another so-called Catholic insurgent, Guy Fawkes, had been caught in the act of blowing up the House of Lords, along with then-monarch James I. William’s landing was, furthermore, the only successful large-scale landing in England since 1485. That said, James still, in theory at least, had his large standing army and thus remained a threat to William and his mainly Dutch army. However, the enthusiasm with which William was welcomed and the defections from James's army that ensued strengthened William's hand. On December 19 William entered London. Previously, on 11 December, James tried to flee to France, first throwing the Great Seal of the Realm into the River Thames. He was captured in Kent but later was released and placed under a Dutch protective guard. Having no desire to create a martyr out of James, William allowed the soon-to-be former king to make his escape to France on 23 December. Some have also suggested that James was allowed to flee to legitimatise his overthrow—his flight would appear more like an ‘abdication’ rather than the legally complex seizure of a crown by a foreign monarch.

Aftermath and Legacy:

What made in the eyes of many contemporary (and indeed, subsequent) Englishmen the Glorious Revolution just that—a ‘glorious’ or ‘bloodless’ revolution—was the manner in which the situation unfolded after William’s landing and the ‘abdication’ of James II. William did not take the crown on his own authority, like his namesake William the Conqueror had done in 1066.  Instead, Parliament dissolved itself and then reformed itself as a Convention—ostensibly a convention of the people.  It was that convention that offered the crown to William in February 1689, and set the terms on which William would rule.  The Convention also published a Declaration of Rights, later passed by Parliament as the Bill of Rights, that listed the unacceptable misdeeds of James II, and asserted the necessity of free elections, frequent Parliaments, and various other liberties. 

It should be added here that there are limitations on the degree to which we (today) should view the Glorious Revolution as ‘revolutionary’.  Despite the fact that the Convention was supposedly a meeting of the people, it was still the case that very few English people at this time—the late seventeenth century—would have explicitly supported the notion of the sovereignty of the people.  William III certainly did not believe that he owned his authority to the Convention, or to Parliament, and certainly not to the people.  Furthermore, High Tories would continue to believe in the idea of the Divine Right of Kings for another generation. 

For this reason, many feared that too strong an assertion of the idea of popular sovereignty, the sovereignty of the people, might result in a reversion to the civil wars that occurred between 1642 and 1651, in which some 10% of the English population lost their lives.  So it was that moderate Whigs subsequently advanced a rather less revolutionary theory of what happened in 1688-89, one that rested on Parliamentary sovereignty rather than popular sovereignty. According to this view, the Convention and Declaration of Rights did not promote natural rights or a right to revolution, but argued that James’s abuses of the people’s liberties, property, and religion absolved them of a duty of loyalty to him, so that when he ‘abdicated’ and moderately Whigs stressed that he abdicated and was not overthrown - Parliament, not the people, but Parliament, was entitled to restore ancient customs and laws by offering the crown to William. 

In practical terms, what this meant was the creation of the ‘Crown-in-Parliament’; or, as it was more commonly called, the ‘King in Parliament’.  That idea was based upon what was called the ‘Principle of Co-ordination’: the idea and the practice that the king, or at least his Prime Minister, exercised control of Parliament by virtue of controlling a majority of MPs.  And that is how the British constitution still works.  The Prime Minister holds their position by virtue of controlling a majority of MPs.

There were critics of this idea.  One of them was the philosopher John Locke, whose Two Treatises on Government was published in 1691, though written earlier, made the case for popular sovereignty.  Later on, ‘Real’ Whigs or ‘True’ or ‘Country’ Whigs, as they variously called themselves, in opposition to the ‘Court’ Whigs aligned with Prime Minister Robert Walpole from 1721, condemned the use of patronage as a means of achieving ‘co-ordination’ as conspiratorial and corrupt.  Among the most strident critics were John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon, in their pseudonymous Cato’s Letters (1724). 

Nevertheless, most people accepted that some means of achieving governmental stability was essential, or at least acknowledged that the accommodation of crown and Parliament was vastly preferable to the struggles and bloody strife that had afflicted the country throughout most of the seventeenth century, during the reigns of James I and Charles I and of course during the civil wars of 1642 to 1651;  and then, in turn, the Interregnum of 1649-1660, the Restoration of 1660, the Exclusion Crisis of 1679-81, and finally yet another revolution in 1688.   Also, in many people’s minds, the post-1688 constitution not only created stable and effective government, but simultaneously guaranteed the rights and liberties of freeborn Englishmen (from 1707, Britons). 

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Glorious Revolution by Gary S. De Krey LAST REVIEWED: 19 April 2024 LAST MODIFIED: 19 April 2024 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199730414-0112

The Glorious Revolution of 1688–1689 has long been a well-known historical landmark. The Whig interpretation of the revolution, which was epitomized in the work of the great Victorian historian Thomas B. Macaulay, was largely responsible for this familiarity. Macaulay and writers who followed him saw the revolution as a constitutional milestone. They maintained that Whig leaders committed to parliamentary government took the initiative in the Convention of 1689 (an irregular meeting of Parliament) in ousting a despotic and Catholic James II in favor of his Protestant son-in-law and daughter, William III (also stadtholder of the Netherlands) and Mary II. This largely bloodless revolution at Westminster, which promoted Parliament at the expense of the crown, also secured Protestantism by maintaining the privileged position of the established Anglican Church and by extending toleration to Protestant dissenters who preferred to remain outside the religious establishment. Moreover, according to the Whig view, the revolution protected property and personal rights from arbitrary taxation and royal interference. Whig interpreters also utilized the contractual thought of John Locke, whose Two Treatises of Government was published in 1689, to vest the revolution with a liberal ethos. By the third quarter of the twentieth century, however, this comfortable construction of the revolution was disintegrating. Marxists and some historians dismissed 1688–1689 as an inconsequential alteration in the monarchy. Specialists found fault with particular aspects of the Whig interpretation. Some scholars sought to rehabilitate James II, especially in light of his religious toleration. Other historians emphasized the ideological compromises involved in an event that owed as much to royalist Tories as to their Whig partisan opponents. Since its tercentenary in 1988–1989, however, the revolution has again been interpreted as a watershed in all three British kingdoms, and it has also increasingly been understood as an event with both a European and a global importance. William III led his new kingdoms into warfare against the France of Louis XIV, which transformed England into the preeminent imperial and commercial power of the eighteenth century. The English revolution was also accompanied by an easing of press regulations that encouraged both political publications of all kinds and partisanship. The Scottish and the Irish revolutions, neither of which was bloodless, also had momentous consequences, stimulating parliamentary assertiveness in both kingdoms, contributing to the union of Scotland with England in 1707, and marginalizing both Irish Catholics and Scottish Episcopalians. In the North American colonies the revolution helped confirm the position of colonial assemblies and reaffirmed Anglo-American anti-Catholicism. As the Glorious Revolution has acquired new dimensions as a British, European, Atlantic, and global event, some elements of the Whig interpretation have also retained a place in scholarly interpretation, albeit in more nuanced form.

The appearance, in recent decades, of several new general overviews of the Glorious Revolution by professional historians points to the continuing visibility of 1688–1689 in historical discussion. Students and readers new to the topic will probably gain the most by starting with Valance 2006 , a lucid narrative of the revolution that addresses major interpretive issues. Those with some background will want to begin with Harris 2006 or Pincus 2009 , both of which are more heavily researched and argued and which are intended to advance scholarly debate about the revolution. Harris provides the most serious effort at finding a common framework for investigation of the revolution in the three British kingdoms. Pincus places James II in a European context of Catholic modernization and proposes that 1688–1689 was the first modern revolution. Cruickshanks 2000 presents a controversial inversion of the Whig interpretation that rehabilitates James II and skewers William III, and it is best read in conjunction with other accounts. Hoppit 2000 provides a readable and comprehensive survey of the political and commercial development of Britain in the wartime decades that followed the revolution. The older general account Speck 1988 was published to mark the tercentenary of the revolution. Intended for students and general readers, it offers qualified endorsements of some Whig arguments. Herrmann 2015 traces the more recent historiography of the revolution, emphasizing that disagreements about its character have a long history.

Cruickshanks, Eveline. The Glorious Revolution . British History in Perspective. New York: St. Martin’s, 2000.

DOI: 10.1007/978-1-137-07303-7

Systematic challenge to Whig interpretation: James was sincere in advocating toleration and civil rights for all religious persuasions. The revolution lacked popular support; it was a military invasion by William, who wanted the English crown with its prerogatives intact and who was focused on European events. Attention to Scotland, Ireland, warfare.

Harris, Tim. Revolution: The Great Crisis of the British Monarchy, 1685–1720 . London and New York: Allen Lane, 2006.

Comprehensive examination of the revolution and of James II, whose manner of rule undermined a royalist revival and challenged contemporary understandings of law. Pioneering integration of English, Scottish, and Irish revolutions. A nuanced interpretation of the revolution as a victory for Protestantism and parliamentary government against Catholic absolutism.

Herrmann, Frédéric. “The Glorious Revolution (1688–1701) and the Return of Whig History.” Études Anglaises 68.3 (2015): 331–344.

DOI: 10.3917/etan.683.0331

How “radical and transformative” was the Glorious Revolution? The disagreements among recent historians reflect disagreements among contemporaries. Considers the extent of violence; the process of state formation; popular participation; and the accompanying revolutions in trade, public finance, and warfare.

Hoppit, Julian. A Land of Liberty? England 1689–1727 . The New Oxford History of England. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Account of the aftermath of the revolution as an era both of uncertainty and of prospects in the midst of unprecedented warfare and imperial competition. Emphasis on party political divisions, the slow emergence of stability, commercial opportunity, fiscal innovation, and the lives of ordinary people.

Pincus, Steve. 1688: The First Modern Revolution . Lewis Walpole Series in Eighteenth-Century Culture and History. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009.

Provocative, massively researched study arguing for the overthrow of James II as the first modern revolution. Rehabilitates James’s political acumen, reconceives his program as one of Catholic (absolutist) modernization, connects the revolution to the emergence of a commercial society, emphasizes popular involvement, and places all in a European perspective.

Speck, William A. Reluctant Revolutionaries: Englishmen and the Revolution of 1688 . Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.

Contribution to tercentenary of 1688–1689. Emphasizes James’s Catholicism as prompting a defensive revolution to protect Protestantism and the constitution. Suggests that, although James’s attempt to move toward absolutism was within the law, the Convention of 1689 did—intentionally or not—establish a new framework by subordinating the crown to law and Parliament.

Valance, Edward. The Glorious Revolution: 1688—Britain’s Fight for Liberty . London: Little Brown, 2006.

Readable, colorful account. Emphasizes the importance of anti-Catholicism as a roadblock for James, the involvement of ordinary people in the revolution, the securing of parliamentary government, and the importance of 1688–1689 in Anglo-American history. Incorporates Scotland, Ireland, and the reign of William III.

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