page_title: Glorious Revolution
section_title: Prelude: 1685 to June 1688
hierarchical_section_title: Glorious Revolution / Dutch intervention / Prelude: 1685 to June 1688
caption_attribution_description: Relief, describing the arrival of Huguenots in Prussia 1685.
context_page_description: The Glorious Revolution, or Revolution of 1688, was the deposition and replacement of James II and VII as ruler of England, Scotland and Ireland by his daughter Mary II and his Dutch nephew and Mary's husband, William III of Orange, which took place between November 1688 and May 1689. The outcome of events in all three kingdoms and Europe, the Revolution was quick and relatively bloodless, though establishing the new regime took much longer and led to significant casualties. The term was first used by John Hampden in late 1689.
  Despite his Catholicism, James became king in February 1685 with widespread support because many feared excluding him would lead to a repetition of the 1638–1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. His religion was seen as a short-term issue because his Protestant daughter Mary was heir presumptive, he was 52 and his second marriage remained childless after 11 years. The birth of his son, James Francis Edward, on 10 June 1688 changed this by the male-preference, automatic change of that heir presumptive, thus raising the prospect of a Catholic dynasty.
context_section_description: In 1677, James' daughter and heir Mary married her Protestant cousin William of Orange, stadtholder of the main provinces of the Dutch Republic. Both men shared common objectives in wishing to see Mary succeed her father, while French ambitions in the Spanish Netherlands threatened both English and Dutch trade. This led William to lend James the Anglo-Scots Brigade during the 1685 Monmouth Rebellion but their relationship deteriorated thereafter.
  While the States General preferred peace, memories of the 1672 French invasion and murder of the de Witt brothers meant they accepted that war might be inevitable. Dutch public opinion also began to move in that direction, largely due to the October 1685 expulsion of French Protestants or Huguenots, which sent an estimated 200,000 into exile. Followed by the killing of around 2,000 Vaudois Protestants in 1686, this stoked fears that Protestant Europe was threatened by a Catholic counter-reformation. Frederick William invited Huguenot refugees to settle in Brandenburg and replaced his French alliance for one with the Dutch, who now joined the anti-French League of Augsburg.
  The Dutch believed they could not resist a combined Anglo-French attack and were reluctant to rely on James' assurances of neutrality. Mutual suspicion was increased by the fact that many of William's advisers were English and Scots exiles, the latter with close links to the Protestant minority in Ireland, who felt particularly threatened by a Catholic resurgence. James relied on an ever-smaller circle of counsellors, chiefly the Earl of Sunderland and Catholic converts such as Melfort and Perth. After a naval clash with the French in July 1686, William concluded that neutrality was insufficient and that the Republic needed active support from the Royal Navy.
  When James sought William's support for repeal of the Test Acts, he predictably refused, further damaging their relationship. Having assumed his marriage guaranteed English support in a war with France, William began to fear it might even be used against him. James assured Everhard van Weede Dijkvelt that rumours of a French alliance were false, but failed to appreciate the distrust caused by his domestic policies. In August 1687, William's cousin de Zuylestein travelled to England with condolences on the death of Mary of Modena's mother, allowing him to make contact with the political opposition.
  After fourteen years of marriage and multiple miscarriages, in October it was announced the Queen was pregnant. Melfort immediately declared that it was a boy, while James sent his daughter Mary a letter urging her to convert to Catholicism; this convinced many he was seeking a Catholic heir, one way or the other. It is suggested this was the key factor in William's decision to invade England. 
  Early in 1688, a pamphlet titled The Letter circulated in England, composed by Grand Pensionary Gaspar Fagel, who handled the Dutch foreign affairs. This claimed to be a response to arguments in support of repeal by James Stewart; a Presbyterian radical and exile, in 1692 he was appointed Lord Advocate by William and was almost certainly a double agent. Fagel guaranteed freedom of worship but retained the Test Acts, which many Dissenters viewed as essential and undercut James, who offered tolerance but only in return for repeal. English supporters provided William with detailed information on public opinion and developments, very little of which was intercepted.
  With a European war inevitable, securing or neutralising English resources was vital for both the Dutch and French. In April 1688, Louis XIV announced new tariffs on Dutch herring imports and plans to support the Royal Navy in the Channel. This was largely a gesture, as it required moving units from the Mediterranean, but viewing it as the prelude to a formal alliance between England and France, William and his supporters began to prepare a military intervention. On the pretext of fighting French privateers, in July the States General approved recruiting an additional 9,000 sailors and construction of 21 new warsh
caption: French Huguenot refugees, October 1685; their expulsion was one in a series of events creating the sense Protestant Europe was under threat
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