![]() Public concern about the succession reached fever pitch in the years 1678-1681. This meant that the crown would pass to his brother, James, Duke of York, whose conversion to Catholicism had become public knowledge in 1673. ![]() ![]() ![]() Charles II fathered no legitimate offspring. Public anxieties were raised by the issue of the royal succession. This conspiracy theory was given credibility by the existence of some genuine catholic subterfuge, most notably the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.Ī new crisis of ‘popery and arbitrary government' erupted in the late 1670s. In their place would be established a Catholic tyranny, with England becoming merely a satellite state, under the control of an all-powerful Catholic monarch, (in the era of the Glorious Revolution, identified with Louis XIV of France). It reflected a widely-held belief in an elaborate conspiracy theory, that Catholics were actively plotting the overthrow of church and state. 'Popery' meant more than just a fear or hatred of Catholics and the Catholic church. To understand why James II’s most powerful subjects eventually rose up in revolt against him we need to understand the deep-seated fear of 'popery' in Stuart England. ![]() Nonetheless, over the course of the reign of William III (1689-1702) society underwent significant and long-lasting changes. Indeed, the immediate constitutional impact of the revolution settlement was minimal. Moreover, the British causes of the revolution were as much religious as political. ![]()
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