On this day in 1701, James Stewart became King James III of England and Ireland, and James the VII of Scotland. Opinions differ on the point. Louis Quartorze thought he was, and a pack of Highlanders, and Catholics throughout Britain. Parliament and the Dutch disagreed. Oddly, his sister, who became Queen Anne, agreed, as did many Hanovers, one of whom stated she had not felt truly entitled to be called a Princess of England until Henry IX died almost a century later! Indeed, in 1710 Queen Annes minister Robert Harley entered into a secret correspondence with the French, claiming to desire Jamess restoration to the throne if James converted to Protestantism. (WARNING: CONTRAFACTUALITY COMMENCES) Had he been willing, he probably would have come to England by summer of 1713, after the Treaty of Utrecht at the latest, giving him time to be hurriedly converted during Queen Annes Penultimate sickness at Christmas, and take a Hanover cousin as a wife, before taking the throne in 1714, when, in order to avoid unpleasant associations and accentuate the positive he ceased to be James the this or that, but became simply King James of Great Britain. One of his first acts was, in accordance with part of the agreement between France and Britain, was to split northern Carolina off from Carolina Province as the colony of Liberia where both the Acadians, whom the British wanted cleansed from the border, AND Huguenots, which Louis wanted cleansed from France could be relocated, as well as British Catholics of various nations. Further, and in part to get the other concessions, there was freedom of religion for all Abrahamist including Quakers, Baptists, Jews, and even Muslims, among the slaves, and later, among free people of color, augmented by an occasional exiled Urdu Prince, But only the members of the three state religions could hold office, and Islam was handled by a Bureau of Islamic Affairs on the model of Islamic treatment of Dhimnni There were their would be full legal equality between members of the Church of England, and Rome, and a third Reformed Church which Scots and Huguenots could join, but the slave code was to be the Code used in Catholic countries, NOT the much harsher code of South Carolina. Over the years, he attempted, successfully, to get that part of the slave code incorporated into both the Anglican Church and British colonial policy, largely with the help of the man he would ultimately make his Archbishop of Canterbury, John Wesley. Before the King encountered Wesley, there were many who doubted the sincerity of his abandonment of Catholicism, as he did continue to advocate freedom of religion, including broader rights for Dissenter. James was widely reported to be the Happy King, who almost seemed to grow younger as he grew old I close with a butterfly, and say that changed 31 March 1751, when his son, Bonny Prince Author of Wales, died after being hit in the head with a tennis ball, and then 1 January 1766, when the Kings grandson, Prince Robert Bruce, also died. King James of Britain died the same day as a king who came to power thru a similar tragedy, Louis XV, and was followed by his thirteen year old great grand-daughter, Caroline, which left the country in the hand of the Great Commoner. Meanwhile, rather than even try to find an image or vid that is vaguely appropriate, I will wish a happy birthday (1916) to M. S. Subbulakshmi, an Indian singer (d. 2004), and (1954) to Sanjoy Bandopadhyay, an Indian sitar player and composer. youtube/watch?v=cwvm0JkBXVY
Posted on: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 22:53:29 +0000
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