Charles II, King of England, while having his wig trimmed by his barber, rolls his eyes, flails his arms, and leans back in his chair. He suffers a stroke. He is blood-stained (which, as a layman, I’d say doesn’t help), and dies on February 16, 1685. England lives in terror that his brother, the unpopular and overbearing James II, is attempting to make the country a Catholic nation. James II Stuart then becomes king, and his wife, Maria Beatrice d’Este, from the Duchy of Modena, becomes queen. At first, the accession of James II to the throne was well received, even in Anglican circles, especially because of the freedom of conscience professed by the new regency, which did not oblige the country to become Catholic, while in neighboring France, on the contrary, the Edict of Fontainebleau, issued by Louis XIV of France on 18 October 1685, revoked Henry IV’s Edict of Nantes, and made France a Catholic nation by law.
