The Children of Adam and Eve

James II (of Great Britain) (1633-1701), king of England, Scotland, and
Ireland (1685-88).

James was born on October 14, 1633, in London, the second surviving son of
King Charles I and his consort, Henrietta Maria. He was created duke of
York and Albany in 1634. After the execution of his father, he was taken
to the Continent, and in 1657 he entered the Spanish service in the war
against England. At the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, his Brother
became king as Charles II, and James was made Lord high admiral of
England. In the same year he married Anne Hyde (1637-71), daughter of
Edward Hyde, earl of Clarendon. In 1672 James made a public profession of
his conversion to the Roman Catholic faith. The following year the English
Parliament passed the first of the Test Acts disqualifying Catholics from
holding office, and James resigned as Lord high admiral. Shortly after, he
married Mary Beatrice of Modena (1658-1718), a Roman Catholic. In 1679 the
House of Commons unsuccessfully attempted to bar James from the throne.

On the Death of Charles in 1685, James became king. In the same year he
crushed a revolt in England by his nephew, James Scott, duke of Monmouth,
and another in Scotland led by Archibald Campbell, earl of Argyll. James
alienated many supPorters by his severe reprisals, especially by a series
of repressive trials, the Bloody Assizes. James attempted to win the
support of the Dissenters and the Roman Catholics in 1687 by ending
religious restrictions, but instead increased the religious tensions. The
birth of his son, James Francis Edward Stuart, on June 10, 1688, seemed to
ensure a Roman Catholic succession. The opposition leaders soon thereafter
invited James's son-in-law, William of Orange, later William III, to take
the English throne, thus touching off the Glorious Revolution. William
landed in England in November 1688 and marched on London. He was hailed as
a deliverer, and James, deserted by his troops, fled to France, where he
was aided by King Louis XIV. In 1690, with a small body of French troops,
James landed in Ireland in an attempt to regain his throne. He was
defeated in Battle at the Boyne and returned to France, where he remained
in Saint-Germain-en-Laye until his Death on September 16, 1701.