British Kings "Bullet Book," James II, 1685 - 1688
BillJones
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1686 James II Guinea
• When Charles II died without a legitimate heir, his younger brother, James, became king.
• James was more serious than his brother, Charles, and was an able soldier and naval commander. His finest hour was in 1665 when as Lord High Admiral his forces defeated the Dutch Navy at Lowestoft. After that the war went badly for the British.
• James was an uncompromising Catholic who sought to restore the Catholic religion as the official English faith. He supported the concept that other religious would be free to practice their faith, but to it was also clear that James was pushing England to return to the Catholic faith. Many were concerned that James was headed toward the religious policies of King Louis XIV of France. He had nullified the Edict of Nantes which protected the French Huguenots from persecution.
• James appointed many Catholics to responsible positions in the government and the army. This made many Protestants uneasy. James demanded that bishops read a Declaration to revoke restrictions on Catholic and Protestant Dessenters. When they refused, he had them jailed. They became heroes to those who were leery of James’ motives. When the bishops were found not guilty and released, it was the beginning of the end of James’ reign.
• The final break came when James’ queen, Mary of Modena, gave birth to a son. Now it appeared that a Catholic would rule England for the foreseeable future. The Whigs and the Tories in Parliament united in their concerns and invited Mary Stuart and her husband, William of Orange, to take the British throne.
• William landed in England with an army, but he didn’t need it. James panicked, tossed the royal seal into the River Thames and tried to escape. He was captured, but William quietly let James leave the country. This bloodless coupe was called, “The Glorious Revolution.”
• James and later his son would try to re-claim the throne, but their efforts were rebuffed. They become known as the “Pretender” and the “Old Pretender.”
Comments
Meanwhile, over in Ireland...
And things started getting a bit rough money wise and bells were melted. But called "gunmoney"...
And then after James II and his flock of geese left for France, holdouts in Limerick overstruck "gunmoney" shillings as halfpence in 1691:
Louis XIV and the two brothers Charles II and James II were first cousins. Louis was exceedingly kind to James through all his troubles.
Somehow I think that “kind” had to do with international politics than humanity. The crowned heads of Europe were all related to each other, but that didn’t stop World War I.
Kaiser Wilhelm was Queen Victoria's grandson. He was present when Queen Victoria died in 1901. The king of Britain during the Great War (WWI) was George V, who was also her grandson. Since Victoria had nine children her "blood" was all over Europe by the time of WWI.
True, and with the exception of GV look where it got the other main players - Kaiser Bill and his cousin Nicky.
Actually, the relationship between James II, Mary of Modena and Louis XIV became kinda personal - besides being a first cousin, James and his wife were crowned/consecrated heads of State. They were the only two persons in his daily life that Louis could treat as exact equals. There was no logical objection, and Louis was very extremely status conscious. Louis' wife, the Madame de Maintenon, also went along with the whole thing - she liked Mary of Modena very much (they had the some of the same ideas that it might have been better to have been a nun). Louis spent thousands of hours with his cousin and his wife, as adults, no comparison to George V and his cousins.