Posted
on February 13, 2016
 |
This is called the "dual cipher" of King William III and Queen Mary II of England. |
I
just wrote about Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of England. Well, today I'm going to talk about another, much earlier pair of royal
rulers of England.
But
here's the unusual thing about William and Mary, King and Queen of
England: they were co-rulers.
Generally,
England was ruled by a king – such as King Henry VIII or King
Edward III. If the king was married (and he almost always was,
sometimes many times – I'm looking at you, Henry VIII!), his wife
was called the Queen of England but was not politically powerful.
Sometimes, however, the nation was ruled by a queen. Of course, Queen Elizabeth I is an example of a queen who ruled the nation. If the queen was married (Elizabeth I was not), her husband was not called the king; instead,
he was called “Prince” or "Prince Consort.”
But
in the case of William and Mary, this husband-and-wife team were
considered co-regents. William III was king; Mary II was queen; they
ruled together.
Parliament
offered William and Mary the throne on this date in 1689. That seems
so nice and peaceful – but in actual fact, this followed decades of
tension between the monarchy (the royal rulers) and Parliament (the
elected representatives of the people) and the people themselves –
and it also followed years of tension between Protestants and
Catholics in England.
You
see, William III was the Dutch Prince of Orange, but his mother was
the daughter of King Charles I of England. (Did you know that many of
the monarchs of Europe married off their children to one another?)
William married his first cousin, Mary, the daughter of James, the
Duke of York.
In
1685, James (the Duke of York) became King James II of England. So
William was grandson of a former King of England, married to the
daughter of the current King of England, and a Dutch prince. Royal
through-and-through, and a bit English, as well, despite his birth in
what is now the Netherlands!
 |
| When cousins marry cousins, family trees become a bit... complicated! |
It turned out, King James was not popular with the people of England,
especially not with the political and religious leaders. He was
Catholic, and he seemed to be a bit too pro-France for British
tastes. Some people seemed to fear that he was going to rule
“absolutely” rather than work with Parliament. The majority of
English people were Protestant, and apparently many of them were
worried that James was going to bring Catholic power back to England.
Their one comfort was that Mary was next in line for the throne –
and apparently she was Protestant like her husband (rather than
Catholic like her father?). When King James had a baby boy who –
because he was a MALE – would inherit the throne instead of Mary,
the powerful Protestants took action!
They
urged William to invade England. With a large Dutch fleet and army,
William landed at Torbay. There were only two minor clashes of
armies, and then James lost his power – because, remember, many
powerful people within his own nation were behind William – and
James and his wife fled the country and went to France.
This
revolution is sometimes called the Bloodless Revolution, because
there was so little fighting. It is more often called the Glorious
Revolution.
When
William and Mary assumed the throne, they also signed a Bill of
Rights, which became one of the most important documents in Britain's
political history. Some historians say that James's overthrow and the
signing of the Bill of Rights began the modern parliamentary
democracy that Britain has had ever since. |
| Williamsburg, Virginia, was named for William III. And the college in that city was named for the two monarchs: The College of William & Mary. |
Also
on this date:
Plan
ahead:
Check
out my Pinterest boards for:
And
here are my Pinterest boards for:
Mary II and her younger sister Anne were both raised as members of the Church of England (Protestant). Their uncle and William's, Charles II, insisted on that and their father had to go along with his brother's command. William was also a Protestant but a member of the Dutch Reformed Church and thus more like a puritan.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the details, Deb!
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