Royals

[UKResident]

Who was James 11.

Are you serious? There can't be many Scottish Catholics who don't know James II. He was James VII of Scotland, James II of England, the second son of Charles I who was executed following the English Civil War.

Charles II, Charles I eldest son, who was handed back the throne, was protestant, and England had laws prohibiting Catholicism, some of which still stand today. Before his death, his brother James converted to Catholicism. The government of the day, still largely controlled by the monarch, tried, unsuccessfully, to persuade Charles II not to allow James to secede to the throne. It caused so much trouble that Charles II ruled the last four years of his life without parliament.

When James II took over the crown on the death of Charles II he set about repealing the anti-Catholic laws. This had a marked effect in Ireland where Catholics replaced Protestants in the Government, Law, Army etc.. But it caused a lot of bitterness, and members of the English parliament approached William of Orange, who was married to James' daughter Mary to come to England and claim the throne, this was despite the fact that James had a younger son, born a Catholic, who was the rightful heir.

When William arrived, the king's army and navy refused to oppose him and James fled. He was caught pretty quickly and exiled to France. His last action was to lead a joint Irish \ French assault on Williams forces in Ireland, but they were defeated at the famous Battle of the Boyne, which led to the formation of the "Orangemen".

[UKResident]

So not James 11 as you originally posted.

No, and not James II either, but l have one of those new fangled keyboards that doesn't have Roman numerals any more.

Basically William had forces in Ireland because the "English parliament" was adamant they did not want a Catholic as king.

When l say William's forces in Ireland, l meant England's, or William's as he was the Monarch. James II had handed control of the English forces in Ireland over to Catholic Generals. It was never the intention of James II that Ireland was to be independant of the rest of Britain. However, after he went into exile to France, he teamed up with Louis XIV with that idea in mind. James landed in Ireland with French troops in 1689 and quickly controlled most of the country with the collusion of the high deputy of Ireland, the Earl of Tyrconnell, who was a Catholic. He set about repealing the laws that allowed Protestant settlers to acquire land.

Laws against protestants had started whilst James was still king, they were discriminated againt in every way. In 1688 the Apprentice boys in Londonderry closed the city gates to keep out the Catholic army under Lord Antrim. In 1689, a year later, James and the French troops laid siege to the city, after several skirmishes and many defeats James withdrew from the North. This led William to act, for fear of losing Ireland.

The main battle was near the river Boyne where the Jacobite army was defeated. Next stop was Dublin, with one more battle at Newry. James once again fled back to France, never to be seen again.

William was the grandson of Charles I, his mother was Charles' daughter Mary. His wife Mary was the granddaughter of Charles I, and was therefore William's first cousin, something not unusual in those days, and said to be responsible for the madness in the British monarchs to this day, so Charlie really isn't responsible for his condition, it's hereditory.

[Cheese]

This thread has turned into the History Channel. Kewl.

I'm completely non-fussed about the Royals. They can all live forever or they can all crash into the Andes with a Uruguayan football team for all I care.