Shards of a Broken Crown - The Over Extension of Religious Monarchy

In 1688 James II, who had been king of England				The army was a major factor in James absolute
until this point, fled as William of Orange and his				control of England, though had he kept the army
army entered London. William had been invited by				from inflicting harm upon the general populace,
a delegation of Whigs and Tories to usurp James				ceded some control of the army, and it's funding
and was welcomed openly by the citizenry and				to the parliament he quite likely could have kept
clergy upon his arrival. James had taken the				this army with the allowance of the parliament,
crown only three years before, but through his				including the Roman Catholic officers which he had
own attempts to bring power to the Roman				illegally placed. But James was unbending and
Catholics in a country that was dominantly				unwilling to compromise to any degree.
protestant, he brought to reality the two worst				Throughout his entire reign he conceded practically
fears of the English people: absolutism and an				nothing until the last moments of his kingship as
attempt to convert the populous. James could				William invaded. There were two large factors to
have kept the throne had he only wanted religious				this. The first being that he saw the compromises
and political equality and freedom for the Roman				and concessions made by Charles led to his
Catholics, but he attacked the livelihood of the				downfall, and he did not intend on making the
Church of England at every level and made no				same mistake. The second was that he believed
concessions or compromises until his demise.				he ruled by divine mandate. He saw himself, as
Before James ascension to the throne the Whigs				the instrument of God, working towards his will.
had attempted to legally stop him from being				"His new faith made James certain that he was
Charles II's heir. They did this because of James				right, giving additional meaning and intensity to his
openly and ardently catholic nature. The people of				belief in divine right principles. Moreover, as James
England had a fear of Catholicism ingrained into				gave an unquestioning obedience to the dogmas
them.				of an infallible Church, so he expected a similar
"They attributed to James the characteristics				obedience from those whom God had put under
which a century of Protestant indoctrination led				him. In practical terms his religion colored his
them to expect: calculated faithlessness, the belief				judgment of men; only Catholics could be fully
that any method was justified if it advanced the				trusted, since by definition all Protestants were
interests of Catholicism, cruelty, and a readiness				rebels against God, and therefore suspect in their
to submit to dictation by the Catholic clergy."				loyalty to God's chosen servant, the king."
The English people also had a fear of an				The kings of England had the right to dispense
unchecked king, i.e.; an absolutist king. The last				with certain laws in time of urgent emergency.
several leaders that reigned over England having				This is what he had used to construct his army
been Catholics, and seldom used or called on the				to fight back the two rebellions, and insert Catholic
parliament, as they were not dependent on it.				officers, and Irish Catholic regiments into the
Charles I and the parliament had gone to war with				army. The law is created so that a king may deal
each other after Charles had been arbitrarily				with problems when the parliament is not in
demanding loans from the citizens and throwing				session to do so. With this technicality James
them in jail if they refused. Other acts by Charles				inserted Catholics into key public offices
included anti-Calvinist movements, and almost				throughout the government. Often times in doing
immediately starting a war with Spain. Charles				this he removed Protestants from office.
was eventually beheaded and followed by Oliver				Eventually James moved to something even
Cromwell, the leader of the parliament army.				more severe, the suspension of laws. This was
Cromwell formed a dictatorship, after a brief				similar to dispensing of laws, but was, in effect,
taste of a republic, which lasted until his death.				permanent. James could do just about anything he
Charles I son, Charles II, was next to ascend the				wanted under the dispensation and suspension of
throne. He was not the tyrant that his father				laws.
was, but he did model his reign after French				One of James largest steps in taking absolute
absolutism, and was receiving funding both from a				power in England was the process of packing the
lifetime customs revenues, and secretly from				parliament. He started by assigning Jeffrey's Lord
Louis XIV. This allowed him to rule without				Councilor. Jeffrey's had the power to dismiss
dependency on the parliament. At this time in				judges at will, so that if a judge made an
England, there was not a proper balance of power				interpretation that was against the kings will, he
for it to be called anything but a monarchy. Calling				would be dismissed and replaced with a more
England a mixed monarchy is only a joke				agreeable judge. This made the judicial side of the
suggesting the parliament had some kind of				government completely in his control. He could
power outside of revolution. James would				now make and break laws with no considerable
eventually come to the conclusion that to attain				resistance from any party. With James continued
his goals he would need to make his monarchical				placing of Catholics in various public offices he was
power absolute, and would further remove the				able to control that was in parliament, and so
power of parliament.				'packed' parliament with those under his control.
From the beginning of James regime he				James had nearly complete control over England
attempted to remove restrictions and gain power				now, with a standing army, which was locally
for the Roman Catholics. The parliament and				unopposed, as well as full judicial and executive
everyone else knew this, as James was very				power.
open about this want for England to be Catholic.				In 1688 James wife bore him a baby boy, who
James was very straightforward about all of his				James saw as a sign from God that the renewal
intentions and interests, for he abhorred				of the Roman Catholic Church in England was his
dishonesty and seemed unable to hide his real				will. Now instead of James throne going to his
thoughts and feelings.				protestant daughter, and her husband William of
One of James primary goals throughout his short				Orange, it would descend to his catholic raised son.
reign was to repeal the Test act, which disallowed				This struck fear deep in the heart of England,
Catholics from holding public office. The parliament				who believed that after James II the rising power
knew that if they made this concession to James				of Catholicism in England would ebb, but some of
that he would not hesitate to turn the				the worst was still to occur.
government entirely Catholic. He attempted to				James dismissed Lord Halifax from his counsel,
get this repealed at the beginning of his reign, but				who was against the pro-catholic movements, the
the parliament refused his attempts time and				pro-France stance, and the repealing of habeas
time again to remove the Test act, though he				corpus and the Test act. Lord Halifax had been in
eventually found his way around this problem as				correspondence with William of Orange, so the
we will soon see.				dismissal was a spurn to William, and another link
Among his various first acts was the repealing of				between James and Louis XIV. With France being
habeas corpus, and trying to persuade the				of friendly esteem with James, William of Orange
parliament to pass a lifetime funding for him, like				was now the only hope for England, other than
they did for his brother, allowing him the				the death of both James and his son.
permanent funds from the customs revenues.				A council was erected which could monitor and
The parliament must have known this would				control actions of the Church of England. The
make him much more independent from their				important impact here was that James could have
monetary controls, as his brother was before him,				clergymen suspended at will. This largely happened
but he somehow convinced them to pass the				when the clergy refuted Catholicism, or any of his
funding, giving him a large, and permanent income.				actions. At the same time James was removing
James quickly began replacing those in his counsel				and restricting officials at Oxford colleges. The
who represented the Church of England, with				Vice-Chairman of Cambridge was dismissed for
catholic bishops and leaders. Those who remained				refusing to give a degree to a monk. Twenty-five
had to keep submissive to the acts of James				officials removed from Magdalen College for
they disagreed with, or were illegal, just to keep				refusing to elect a catholic president. Magdalen
their positions.				was later converted to a catholic seminary. The
Two rebellions arose in England, one by the Duke				Oxford colleges were a large part of the
of Monmouth who led a puritan army attempting				protestant intellectual community, so the actions
to destroy the Church of England, and another by				taken against these colleges was one of the main
the Earl of Argyle. To put these down James				factors causing the clerical community to
raised an army of thirty thousand men. The				welcome William's army to England, and even
rebellions were quickly and easily quelled as very				cause some of them to assist him.
few supporters flocked to the two leaders,				Every member of the Church of England had to
whose armies were not intensely organized, and				fear for his position amongst the clergy, and
at six thousand peasants, who were mostly				every member of public office who had not been
poorly armed, could not stand up to the size of				appointed by James himself was in danger of
James army. These victories led James to be				losing their livelihoods. Even those who were
overconfident of the loyalty of the land, and				Catholics could not count themselves safe if they
contributed to his view that was fostered from				said a word in opposition to the king's policies. In
his background in the Scottish parliament, which				1687 James had made the Declaration of
was that a strong government and military was				Indulgence, which awarded Dissenters and
necessary to "Prevent the violent overthrow of all				Catholics full religious freedom. He was obviously
order and forms of duly constituted authority"				going for far more than his originally stated
After the defeat of these rebels James had the				equality for Catholics.
wish to make his army a permanent standing				In June of 1688 James ordered all clergymen in
army. As we have seen in other countries, such				the Church of England to read his decree of
as France, standing armies are intensely				religious toleration. Seven bishops refused and
expensive to maintain and control, so James				were thrown into prison on charges of seditious
requested funding from the Parliament to sustain				libel. At their trial they were decided not guilty.
the army indefinitely. Remembering the last				This event occurred around the same time of the
standing army that existed in England forty years				birth of his child. Between the outright suppression
before, which had nearly destroyed the Church of				of the Church of England and no hope of it ending
England, they refused to pass such an act. They				at James death the only solution was William of
also knew that with the removal of the Duke of				Orange. James son was claimed to be an
Monmouth and the Earl of Argyle the only parties				impostor, smuggled in and pretended to be his
able to remove James from the throne would be				heir, so was at least temporarily illegitimate in the
King Louis XIV of France, whom James was				eyes of the public.
friendly with, and William of Orange of Holland. The				Seven delegates from both the Whigs and the
parliament argued that England could be defended				Tories went to Holland to invite William of Orange
with the county militias and a strong navy. They				and Mary Stuart to come and take the throne of
wanted James to disband the army, and remove				England. William at the time was at a war with
the Catholic officers who he illegally placed in the				France so was eager to take the throne of
army.				England to support that endeavor. One may
In order to maintain his army further, James				imagine what would have happened in Europe had
altered the laws concerning punishment for crimes				James army beat Williams and left a son with a
committed by soldiers, such as insubordination and				possibility of a dynastic marriage with France.
desertion, which were now capital crimes				James had attempted to bring power to the
punishable by hanging. These cases were also no				Roman Catholic Church, instead of bringing equality
longer tried by civil courts. Yet while these				of religion and politics to its members. James
transgressions were punished heavily, the army				turned England into an absolutist state with no
was billeted in the homes of citizens, consuming				method of recourse for the majority of the
their resources and causing many of the usual				population but to bring in William of Orange. Nine
problems an inactive army often does when it is				tenths of the population was against James
strewn throughout the populace, but the				policies. England was left with no choice but to
difference was this army was not punished for				resist him whole-heartedly, or face indefinite
these issues by court martial.				oppression.

Democracy

Shards of a Broken Crown - The Over Extension of Religious Monarchy