William of Orange was acclaimed King of England by the people and Parliament. With the support of a large part of the country, the Dutch army had invaded England. James II, unable to resist the invasion, was forced into exile during what has gone down in history as the Glorious Revolution. The English Parliament declared him deposed on December 11, 1688, and the Scottish Parliament on April 11, 1689. His successor was not his eldest son, James Francis Edward, a Catholic, but his Protestant daughter, Mary II, who reigned alongside her husband, William III. The two sovereigns were recognized by Parliament and began to reign in 1689. James was exiled, but soon attempted to reclaim his lost throne: in 1689 he landed in Catholic Ireland, from where he hoped to reach London leading his supporters, who took the name Jacobites. Despite having gathered around him a large army, largely financed by his French cousin Louis XIV, James II was defeated at the Battle of the Boyne near Dublin and forced to return to France. In his later years, James II lived on an allowance guaranteed by the King of France and established his court in Saint-Germain-en-Laye until his death in 1701. December 11, 1688, marked a turning point for England: monarchical absolutism disappeared forever, and royal power was subordinated to that of Parliament. Thus, a completely new form of monarchy was born: the monarch governed under the control of the Houses of Parliament. This was made possible by King James II’s decision not to start a civil war and to leave the country without any bloodshed, which is why the Revolution is called the Glorious Revolution.
