James II and the Trial of the Seven Bishops

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-x

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2. Introduction: The Seven Bishops and the Glorious Revolution

   • William Gibson

   Pages 1-19

3. The Bishops: Unlikely Revolutionaries

   • William Gibson

   Pages 20-46

4. The King’s Policies 1685–7

   • William Gibson

   Pages 47-72

5. The Confrontation

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   Pages 73-96

6. The Tower

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   Pages 97-113

7. The Trial

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   Pages 114-138

8. The Reaction

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   Pages 139-161

9. The Revolution

   • William Gibson

   Pages 162-193

10. Conclusion

    • William Gibson

    Pages 194-203

11. Back Matter

    Pages 204-251

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The trial of the seven bishops in 1688 was a signifcant prelude to the Glorious Revolution, as popular support for the bishops led to a widespread welcome for William of Orange's invasion. Their prosecution showed James II at his most intolerant, and threatened the only institution for which most English people felt more loyalty than the monarchy.

• bibliography
• English
• monarchy
• revolution
• William James

'...a refreshing work...' - Sybil Jack, Journal of Religious History

'Gibson's well written and well-documented account of James and the bishops will surely become the new standard authority on these "implausible revolutionaries" (20) for many decades.' - Barbara Brandon Schnorrenberg, Anglican and Episcopal History

• Oxford Brookes University, UK

  William Gibson

WILLIAM GIBSON is Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Oxford Brookes University, UK. He has published widely on religion and society in the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, including books on Benjamin Hoadly and religion and the Englightentment between 1600 and 1800. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and of the Royal Society of Arts.

Policies and ethics