Lesson video

Hello, I'm Mr. Olivey.

And today I'm going to continue teaching you about the Glorious Revolution.

Now the Glorious Revolution is very interesting and it has longterm consequences, which we'll actually learn about in a few lessons time.

This book will help us.

But until that day, we first need to actually learn what was the Glorious Revolution or so-called 'Glorious Revolution'? In order to do that, you will need some basic utensils.

You will need a pen, you will need some paper.

If you haven't got those, pause the video and go and get them.

Good.

You've got them.

Other than that, you'll need a quiet place to work 'cause everyone needs a bit of peace and quiet to focus, especially when they're doing some really challenging and worthwhile like history.

If you've got those things, we're ready to make a start.

Let's get going.

So this is lesson two of a four lesson enquiry, and the title of today's lesson is, The 'Glorious Revolution'.

And our inquiry question remains, how revolutionary was the 'Glorious Revelation'? Now I showed you this image last time, but I'm going to come back to it again.

Because this shows William of Orange, Dutch Prince landing in England with 20,000 troops and over 500 ships.

And within a few months of landing in England, William was actually crowned King of England.

He replaced the Catholic King James II and this series of events became known as the Glorious Revolution.

And that is what our enquiry question is all about.

So just to check, we're really clear on that, which of these options, is the 'Glorious Revolution'? Pause the video and pick the correct one.

Good.

You all have picked number one.

Glorious revolution was when William of Orange arrived in England in 1688 and became King in 1689.

Now to answer our enquiry question of how revolutionary was the 'Glorious Revolution'? We said last lesson that we needed to look at events that came before 1688 and the events that came after it to sort of see this great change within its wider context.

And to do that then, we're just going to first nip back to what we did last time, which was the story of England from regicide to restoration.

And I'll do this very quickly because we have done it before.

So make sure you're paying attention and you're ready to answer a couple of questions at the end.

So the story began with the execution of Charles I in 1649.

And we then saw England ruled for 11 years without a King.

Instead, we had Cromwell for a period of time ruling as the Lord Protector.

But eventually in 1660, the monarchy was restored, and Charles II, son of Charles I, was brought back to England from exile in France and was made King.

And he also came to England with his brother, James, the Duke of York.

And we saw that the restoration was actually a period of a lot of chaos and violence.

We saw the plot fears that were stoked by events like the Fire of London, and later Titus Oates and his 'Popish Plot', this made up rumour that it was a plot to kill the King by Catholics.

And over 23 innocent people were executed because of this.

And we thought about what they said about restoration Britain at the time of paranoia and fear.

And we also then looked at the problems that James II faced as soon as he became King.

People were very uncomfortable with the idea that England would be ruled by Catholic, given that this was a time when Catholics were viewed with a great deal of suspicion by the majority Protestant population in England.

Okay.

So quick question then, what was restored in 1660? Was it the Pope? Was it the interregnum? Was it the Lord Protector? Or was it the monarchy? Pause the video now and just think about that and get the right answer.

Okay.

It was the monarchy.

The Kings were brought back.

Charles II was brought back to England from exile in France and was made king.

Well done.

Okay.

Now then, the events that lead immediately up to the Glorious Revolution.

We just need to understand a little bit about England's last ever Catholic King, James II and why he was so unpopular.

Now to actually understand why James was so unpopular, we need to go back to before and being crowned King and think about his marriage to Mary of Modena in 1673.

When James married a Catholic princess and converted to Catholicism, people in England were furious because they hated the idea of having a Catholic king again.

They had seen the violence of the reformation under the tutors.

They had seen the chaos that religious wars had brought in Ireland with Cromwell, and they just did not want another Catholic King again.

And they also believed that Catholics were always plotting against them.

That was why Catholics were blamed for the great Fire of London, for example, even though they didn't cause it.

So that's the first problem with James.

The second problem is that James really rather admired the French King, Louis XIV, who was an absolutist monarch.

That is to say, Louis XIV believed that his power was absolute.

He shouldn't be limited by any Parliament or Ministers or any other group.

He should be able to do whatever he wanted because his power came from God.

And people in England were very nervous because they didn't want a King to behave like that.

The whole point of a Parliament they thought, was that it should kind of restrain the power of the Monarch, keep it sort of in check.

That was another problem.

Believe bigger problem came when James II chose to suspend the Test Acts.

And that was because of a case called the Godden versus Hales case.

That said, basically, it was fine for him to do that.

Now the Test Acts were a series of Acts that banned Catholics from working for the government and from sort of holding various offices that were important in the kingdom.

And these had been passed after the restoration to try and limit the power of Catholics.

But when James suspended these Acts, it suddenly looked like he was trying to put lots of Catholics back into positions of power.

And this made the English Protestant elite, very jumpy and anxious.

But things got even worse when James suspended Seven Bishops.

I mean he suspended these bishops and he actually had them thrown in prison in the tower of London because they refused to read something called 'A Declaration of Indulgence' for Catholics in their cathedrals.

They said, "No, we won't read this thing.

We don't believe that Catholics should be given freedoms." And so in return, James had these Seven Bishops thrown into prison.

And they were eventually found not guilty.

And when this happened, there was rejoicing in the streets in England.

People celebrating where the Seven Bishops had been freed.

The final problem came when James' wife, Mary, gave birth to a healthy baby boy in June 1688.

And this was a problem because if James had a male heir, it meant that England could suddenly face a long line of Catholic Kings.

And to the Protestants, this was terrifying because it threatened to undo everything that they thought had been achieved under the reformation and then later the restoration.

They thought that all that work into turning England into a Protestant country was about to be undone.

And they absolutely panicked.

Now, the reason why I haven't put a photo of a baby and I've instead put a photo of this, unusual looking thing called a Warming Pan will become obvious later.

So you might want to keep that in mind.

So which of these was not a reason why James II was unpopular in the 1680s? So, read through the options there and pick the one that's not a reason why James II was unpopular in the 1680s.

Pause the video now and then unpause it to hear the right answer.

Okay.

It was number four.

In fact, if we think back to lesson one, one of the redeeming features of James II was that he actually did a very good job in trying to stop the Fire of London.

But all these other reasons made him unpopular.

The fact he tried to repeal the Test Acts, the fact he imprisoned Seven Bishops, and the fact his wife gave her to a male heir.

All made him very unpopular with the Protestants in England.

Okay.

So now we come onto the 'Glorious Revolution' itself.

The Glorious Revolution began with those Seven Bishops we bumped into earlier.

Because they actually sent a letter to a foreign Prince, inviting him to invading them and take over from James II.

And this Prince was William of Orange, who's from the Netherlands.

And so William who was actually married to the daughter of James II, woman called Mary, agreed and on the 11th and on the 5th of November 1688, he arrived in England with his 20,000 soldiers and his 500 ships.

And very soon he started to march up towards London.

And town after town fell to William peacefully, people welcomed him in clapping and cheering, offering food and offering drink to his soldiers.

And James panicked.

And he tried to escape England in December 1688.

Now actually on his first escape attempt, he was foiled because a fisherman captured him not realising it was the King, and thinking it was some sort of foreign spy.

But eventually James was allowed to escape England and he fled the country.

And so after a few months of negotiating with Parliament, William and Mary were crowned joint monarchs in April 1689.

And the Glorious Revolution, so called 'Glorious Revolution' was complete.

Okay.

Just to check that you followed along with that story, just quickly let's do this question.

So who landed in Torbay in 1688? Was it: the Pope, the Seven Bishops, William of Orange or James II? Pause the video now and answer that one.

Okay.

It is William of course.

It was William of Orange who landed in Torbay in 1688 after being invited by the Seven Bishops to remove James II as King.

So, we come back to our enquiry question on how revolutionary was the 'Glorious Revolution'? You've already seen in quite a lot of things that changed during the Glorious Revolution.

We've seen that the King is changed from a Catholic to a Protestant.

We've seen that a foreign Prince is actually invited to come and invade England.

So I just want you on your piece of paper to note down a few thoughts about this question that we will come back to at the end of the lesson.

How revolutionary was the 'Glorious Revolution'? Pause the video now and do that.

okay.

Time then for the final parts of the story today.

And that is the Revolution Settlement of 1689 to 1690.

Now, one of the reasons why the Glorious Revolution was seen as so important by many Historians, certainly in the Victorian period, was because it sort of defined the relationship between the King and his Parliament.

Because when William and Mary were crowned joint monarchs in April 1689, they were actually forced to agree to give away some of their power to Parliament.

Now, one of the things that William did to help create the idea of a Glorious Revolution was he actually brought over 100s of printing presses with him.

And they started printing all these lies and vicious rumours about James II.

One of them was actually that the baby that Mary, James' wife, had given birth to was not actually James's baby at all.

And then it was actually smuggled into their bedroom in a Warming Pan.

Now this was completely made up, but the fact was people believed this and this just added to the idea that William was sort of the rightful King of England.

He was saving them from this evil wicked King in James II.

So that's one reason why some people have seen this as a Glorious Revolution, but perhaps the more significant change is a couple of Acts.

Now the first one was something called the Toleration Act.

And what this did was it allowed freedom of worship to non-conformist Protestants.

So groups like some of the Puritan dissenters, and it actually also extended interestingly enough to the Quakers.

So they were given a relative period of freedom that they hadn't enjoyed during the restoration.

But it deliberately did not apply to Roman Catholics.

They still faced all kinds of prejudice in the law.

Things such as the Test Act still existed.

And the second one was the Bill of Rights.

Now what this did, was it banned sort of cruel and unusual punishment.

But perhaps most importantly, it said that the King cannot raise taxes without Parliament's agreement.

Now, this was really important because certainly the Parliament is now much more important in the King's day to day running of the country.

That is a crucial change.

This is absolutely enormous.

So when people talk about this Revolution Settlement, that's what they mean.

This change in the relationship between the King and his Parliament.

Now, which of these is not a reason why the Glorious Revolution? Okay.

So let's just see how much of that you understood.

So which of these is not a reason why the events of 1688 to '89 were called 'Glorious'? So read through the options there, pause the video and pick which one is not a reason why the events of 1688 to '89 were called 'Glorious'.

Okay.

It's that one.

William was not a Catholic King.

He was a Protestant.

And that was one of the main reasons why he was so popular in England, because he was seen as having saved England from a Protestant King in James II.

Okay.

So we're now at a stage where we've nearly finished the sort of new content for this lesson.

What I'd like you to do is just return to the notes you made earlier and add any more thoughts you've had about how revolutionary this Glorious Revolution was.

Do pause the video now to do that.

Okay.

Well done for adding a few more thoughts.

What I'd now like you to do is pause the video, read the slides on the next page, and answer the comprehension questions.

And resume once you're finished.

Okay, let's go through the answers.

Question one.

Why was James II such an unpopular King in England? The correct answer is because he was Catholic.

But a better answer would be, James II was unpopular in the 1680s because he was Catholic.

He tried to repeal the Test and Corporation Act and imprisoned the Seven Bishops.

Question two.

What did the Seven Bishops do in June 1688? The correct answer is they invited William of Orange to invade England.

But a better answer would be, when James II's wife gave birth to a son, the Seven Bishops decided to invite William of Orange, who was married to James' daughter Mary, to invade England and become its new King.

Question three.

What did William bring with him to England in November, 1688? The correct answer would be soldiers and ships.

But a better answer would be, William brought 20,000 soldiers and 500 ships to England.

This force was four times larger than the Spanish Armada that tried to invade in 1588.

William also brought 100s of printing presses with him.

Question four.

How did the Bill of Rights limit William's power? The correct answer would be, it forced him to ask Parliament to raise taxes.

But a better answer would be, the Bill of Rights forced William to ask his Parliament to raise taxes.

This stopped him from ruling without Parliament.

Question five.

Why was 1688 to '89 called the 'Glorious Revolution' by some people in England? The correct answer would be because it stopped England from having a Catholic King.

But a better answer would be, 1688 to '89 was called a 'Glorious Revolution' because anti-Catholicism was very common in England.

William also used propaganda to create the image of a 'Glorious Revolution'.

Okay.

So finally then, if you've had any more thoughts about how we can answer our enquiry question, please do pause the video now and add them to your notes from earlier.

Right.

That's it for today's lesson.

If you'd like to, please ask your parent or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak.

Well done for your hard work today.

Next lesson, we're going to learn about some events that suggest that the 'Glorious Revolution' may not be so glorious after all.

But until then, that's all from me for now.

Goodbye.