“Most Excellent Majesties, Blest Guardians of Our Church and State”
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“Most Excellent Majesties, Blest Guardians of Our Church and State” A Comparison of Religious and Secular Discourse on England’s Monarchs ruling after the Glorious Revolution, 1689, 1702 and 1714. Name: D.R.M. van Zelm Studentnumber: 3333078 Date: 7 July 2014 University: University of Utrecht Master: Politiek en Maatschappij in Historisch perspectief Dedicated to my beloved sister Veronique 2 Note to the reader: Chicago Documenting style was used to annotate. For the seventeenth- and eighteenth- century sources often no publisher can be identified, or a person rather than a publishing company published the source. To not create confusion no publisher was added to the titles of the seventeenth- or eighteenth century sources in both the annotation throughout the thesis or in the works cited lists. The page numbers of the sources annotated in the footnotes refer to the pages as registered in EEBO (which displays two pages at once) or ECCO. These page numbers may differ from the page numbers of the original documents. 3 Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 6 Methodology .......................................................................................................................... 9 Research chapter 1 King William III and Mary II ........................................................... 13 Research chapter 2 Queen Anne ...................................................................................... 15 Research chapter 3 King George I ................................................................................... 16 Chapter 1. King William and Queen Mary .............................................................................. 17 Short historical overview ..................................................................................................... 17 William and Mary presenting themselves ............................................................................ 20 Results .................................................................................................................................. 23 Quantitative research ........................................................................................................ 23 Qualitative research .......................................................................................................... 25 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 32 Chapter 2. Queen Anne ............................................................................................................ 33 Short historical overview ..................................................................................................... 33 Anne presenting herself ........................................................................................................ 36 Results .................................................................................................................................. 40 Quantitative research ........................................................................................................ 40 Qualitative research .......................................................................................................... 44 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 49 Chapter 3. King George ........................................................................................................... 50 Short historical overview ..................................................................................................... 50 George presenting himself ................................................................................................... 54 Results .................................................................................................................................. 58 Quantitative research ........................................................................................................ 58 Qualitative research .......................................................................................................... 61 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 66 Chapter 4. Cross-analysis chapters 1 to 3 ................................................................................ 67 Quantitative research ............................................................................................................ 67 Table 1. Categories compared .......................................................................................... 68 Table 2. Keywords compared ........................................................................................... 70 Qualitative research .............................................................................................................. 72 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 74 Final conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 75 Sources cited ............................................................................................................................ 80 Works cited .............................................................................................................................. 86 4 Appendix 1: Table and sources chapter 1 ................................................................................ 91 Table King William and Queen Mary .................................................................................. 91 Sources King William and Queen Mary .............................................................................. 92 Appendix 2: Table and sources chapter 2 ................................................................................ 98 Table Queen Anne ................................................................................................................ 98 Sources Queen Anne ............................................................................................................ 99 Appendix 3: Table and sources chapter 3 .............................................................................. 105 Table King George ............................................................................................................. 105 Sources King George ......................................................................................................... 106 Appendix 4: Tables chapter 4 ................................................................................................. 111 Table 1. Categories compared ........................................................................................ 111 Table 2. Keywords compared ......................................................................................... 112 Appendix 5: Image coronation Anne ..................................................................................... 114 5 Introduction A palace coup, a bloodless revolution, a sensible revolution, the first modern revolution, over the years the Glorious Revolution of 1688 has been assigned a wide range of labels.1 How does the label ‘religious war’ fit the Glorious Revolution? Renowned seventeenth-century historian John Morrill confidently assures us that England in 1660 had seen the last of the wars of religion. “After 1660 very few in the Anglican church or beyond sought to change man by creating a theocratic state. The attempt to externalize religion, to infuse human institutions with divine imperatives, was abandoned. […] Religious argument continued but England, like Europe, had seen the last of the wars of religion.”2 Yet, in 1688 a certain Dutch Protestant prince seems to have been prompted by fear for the Protestant faith when he set sail to England to displace his Catholic father-in-law James II. The Dutch prince and his supporters certainly portrayed William as the ‘Great Defender of the true faith’ with ‘angels blowing prosperous winds in his sails’.3 Also for the seven prominent English noblemen who extended an invitation to the Dutch Prince of Orange to come to England religion played a major role.4 The English king James II from his accession in 1685 had been incessant about promoting the Catholic faith. Thus within three years of his reign he had alienated himself from his predominantly Protestant subjects.5 Moreover, James II and his wife, being Catholics, were sure to raise their newborn son in the Catholic faith, a horror the English were not ready to face.6 William had his own reasons for invading England. Besides defending the right of succession of his wife, William had spent most of his life fending off the apparently insatiably land-hungry Louis XIV, the catholic ruler of France.7 When the chance arose to win England 1 Tony Claydon, “The Recent English Historiography of the Glorious Revolution,” Odysseus 1 (2009): 27. John Morrill, “The Sensible Revolution, 1688” in The nature of the English Revolution: Essays, ed. John Morrill (London: Longman, 1993), 419. Steve Pincus, 1688: The First Modern Revolution (New Haven: Yale University, 2009), 5. Eveline Cruickshanks, The Glorious Revolution (London: Macmillan Press LTD, 2000), 1. 2 John Morrill, “Sir William