The Glorious Revolution in 1688
By Iren Plastinina
The revolution took place over 300 years ago. The interest around the jubilee
in 1988, made some academics raise the question whether this was a
revolutionor an invasion. The criteria for a revolution were present, but so
were the criteria for an invasion. Britain had a change of constitution, which
would support the argument that this was a revolution, but The Glorious
Revolution also involved thousands of Dutch troops.
A foreign army in a country is, as we know, considered an invasion. Their
leader, William III of Orange, was also Dutch, though his mother, Mary, was
English and the daughter of king Charles I. The events that happened before
“The Glorious Revolution” have been minimized by historians, maybe as a
result of English pride or perhaps the Dutch wanted the world to look at this
as mainly an English matter. However, these events took place.
In 1677, William married Mary, daughter of James, Duke of York, later king
James II.They were cousins, grandchildren of king Charles I and both were
legitimate heirs to the English throne. In fact William was the only male
grandchild. When Charles died, his brother, Mary’s father, inherited the throne.
Both Charles and James were Catholics and hey both made life troublesome for
those who were Protestants. James’ daughters, Mary and Anne were Protestant.
The conspiracy against James started in 1686 when there was a meeting in
Charborogh Housein Dorset. Plans were made to overthrough the Stuarts.
Another conspiracy, in June 1688, took place at Old Whittington, in
Chesterfield, Derbyshire. Here they planned to replace theCatholic king James
with his daughter, Mary and her husband William, who were Protestant.
From history we know that William and Mary planned carefully throughout 1687
and most of 1688. They knew they had many supporters in Britain amongst the
Protestants, both Tories and Whigs. They received many requests, in the years
before the invasion, from Englishpoliticians pleading “that they would save them
from the Catholic tyranny”. When James fathered a son in 1688, the Protestant
ruling class in England feared a continuance of the Catholic monarchy. William and
Mary were concerned that this might look like an invasion and they asked their
supporters in England to send them a written invitation. Seven worthies, a bishop a
nd 6 nobles, later known as "The Immortal Seven” sent the invitation. It did not invite
William and Mary to become the monarchs of England, only to save the Protestant
religion.
In the months before the invasion, William managed to get approval from the Holy
Roman Emperor, the Duke of Hanover and the Elector of Saxony. His army was
financed by the city of Amsterdam, who at that time was very powerful and rich, and a
Jewish banker, Francisco Lopes Suasso. This army consisted of 50.000 men. William
knew that his uncle James had a standing army of almost 35.000 men. He also knew he
had a lot of support within the English army, but William was a cautious man. The French,
under Louis XIV, were a problem, but William surprised his cousin Louis by attacking in
November. Louis had deliberately postponed his answer to William, hoping that the invasion
would be delayed.
The plans for the invasion have later been called a strategic masterpiece. Both William
and Mary stood behind them. Mary was a very intelligent woman. She also had “inside
knowledge”, the king being her father. They both wanted to win the English throne, but
they were very careful not to let anyone find out about this. Maybe some of their
supporters suspected as much, but most of them did not. Many actually wanted the
couple to become monarchs of England.
When the invasion started in November, the English did not realize that William had
other reasons for invading England. He wanted to make sure the Dutch Republic had
England’shelp against the French by securing the Protestant religion, but first and
foremost he did what he could to realize his ideal of a balanced Europe.
On the 23. of February 1689, William and Mary were crowned as king and queen of
England.However, they had to accept the new “Bill of Rights”, which limited the power
of the monarchy and ensured important rights for the Parliament and the people of
England.
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