Hello and welcome to today's history lesson.

My name's Mr. Merrett and I'll be guiding you through today's lesson.

So let's get started.

Today's lesson is looking at the Bill of Rights and constitutional monarchy.

And by the end of today's lesson, we'll be able to describe how the Bill of Rights limited the power of the monarchy and increased the power of Parliament.

In order to do that, we need to use some key terms. And our key terms for today are convention, Bill and constitutional monarchy.

A convention is a meeting of Parliament without a summons from the monarch.

A Bill is a draught of a proposed law presented to Parliament for discussion.

And a constitutional monarchy is a system in which the monarch must use their power in line with established laws.

Today's lesson will comprise of three separate learning cycles, and our first learning cycle is looking at the invitation to William.

So let's get started.

Now, in 1688, the stadtholder, which means the head of state of the Dutch Republic, William III of Orange, had an ever-growing problem.

The strongest and most aggressive kingdom in Europe, which was France, was preparing for another war against his country.

The Catholic kingdom had waged war against the Protestant Dutch in the 1670s and they'd almost entirely overrun the country during that time.

And their king, Louis XIV, had ordered Dutch fishing ships to be seized.

It was quite clearly an aggressive action.

The French were also preparing for war against the Holy Roman Empire, which offered William the possibility of an unlikely ally.

The Holy Roman emperor was a Catholic, but many of the princes within the Holy Roman Empire were Protestant.

The Holy Roman emperor ruled over a collection of different states.

Unfortunately, Louis was also looking for allies of his own.

To William's concern, Louis was doing everything possible to win over the Catholic king of England, James II, who was William's uncle as well.

Louis XIV made several public statements designed to give the impression that England and France had made a secret alliance.

They had done that in the past, Charles II and Louis XIV had made his secret alliance called the Treaty of Dover.

But James publicly rejected Louis's statements.

There was no secret alliance between England and France, according to James, but this simply made the Dutch more suspicious.

It was well known that James did not like the Dutch.

He'd fought against them during the Anglo-Dutch Wars.

Right, let's have a quick check for understanding now.

So who was William of Orange concerned that England would ally with against the Dutch? Was it the French, the Holy Roman Empire or the Spanish? Make your choice now.

Okay, if you chose A, the French, then very well done.

That is indeed correct.

Now, William decided to take the initiative and made plans for an invasion of England.

So the whole idea is that in order to not face this overwhelming force of France and England was to knock England out of the war before it even began.

So that's kinda the thinking behind it there.

However, in order to appear less aggressive, he contacted English allies of his to ask for an invitation from the English to invade their country.

And this is not actually as outrageous as it might seem.

And the reason being is that the vast majority of the English were very unhappy with James and concerned that he was setting the stage for England to return to Catholicism.

And the reason being is that his son and heir, James Francis Edward Stuart, had been born on the 10th of June and would presumably be raised a Catholic.

James was a devout Catholic.

His wife, Mary of Modena, was a Catholic.

So there's no reason not to believe that their son would not be raised Catholic as well.

On 30th of June 1688, the invitation to William reached the Dutch stadtholder.

It'd been written by Henry Sydney, who's on the screen there in front of you, and he was the Earl of Romney and it was signed by seven leading Englishmen who represented the army, the navy, the church, and the two main political parties at this point in time, who were the Whigs and the Tories in order to give the suggestion of widespread supports.

There's debate amongst historians as to how widespread this support actually was.

But certainly from the perspective of William, getting these seven signatures from such a diverse group means that hey, all of England must be behind this decision as well.

Now, in the invitation, they asked William III to rescue the nation and the religion.

So that was their reason for asking him to invade their country.

Let's have another quick check for understanding now.

So as a discussion question, I'd like to consider why would William insist upon an invitation before invading England? So pause the video whilst you have a little think about that and I'll see you again in just a moment.

Okay, welcome back.

Hopefully you gone on okay with that task.

Let's think about the sort of things that you might have said then.

So you could have said that it makes the actions seem less aggressive.

He could also claim that he was not invading as he had been invited, and it also makes it less likely that the English people would object and fight back against him.

So these are the reasons that William may well have considered when he insisted upon that invitation before he invaded England.

If you've got some different ideas, that's fantastic.

Right, let's go for our first task for today then.

So I'd like you to explain what problems had developed in England and why William of Orange was identified as a potential replacement.

So try and write at least one paragraph when you're answering this question.

Pause the video now and I'll see you again once you finish that task.

Okay, welcome back.

Hopefully got okay with that task.

Let's think what you could have written then.

So you may have said that the vast majority of the Protestant English were unhappy with James II and concerned that he was setting the stage for England to return to Catholicism.

They were fearful of this as James' new son and heir was likely to be raised Catholic and he was seemingly plotting with the French Catholic King Louis XIV.

In comparison, William of Orange was a Protestant prince and nephew to James, and therefore seemed like a much better alternative.

So if you've got something a little bit different to me, that's absolutely fine as long as you fully explain the points that you've made.

That's the key thing there.

Let's go for our next learning cycle for today, which is looking at the Glorious Revolution.

Now, William immediately organised a propaganda campaign in England to make him seem like the saviour of the English.

William planned to take half of the Dutch army with him to England, which was a bold plan considering that the French had already declared war on the Holy Roman Empire at the beginning of September and they were very, very likely to attack Dutch lands as well.

On the 29th of October, Williams set sail with over 200 ships and 40,000 men.

It's actually a bigger fleet than the Spanish Armada that he took with him.

He feigned north, first of all, in order to trick the defending English ships, and then he sailed down the English channels to the southwest, landing in Torbay in Devon on the 5th of November.

It's quite a clever move really, because the largest areas of discontent with James II was up in the northeast, which is where William looked as though he might be heading first of all, and then also down in the southwest, which is where William actually went.

Now, let's have a quick check for understanding.

So where did William of Orange land in England in November 1688 to begin the Glorious Revolution? Was it in Dover, Torbay or in York? Make your choice now.

Okay, if you chose B, Torbay, then very well done.

That's the correct answer.

Now, William III was also married to James's eldest daughter, Mary, who was his cousin, making him a Stuart by both blood and by marriage.

And in that respect, it makes him a very good candidate to replace James because it's the same family that'll still be ruling.

William gave a speech in Exeter on the 9th of November, assuring people that he did not want the English crown, but was there to support his wife's claim to the throne, as well as to ensure that a free Parliament could be elected to keep watch over the king.

Once again, historians debate the extent to which William actually meant what he said here.

A lot of historians consider it entirely likely that no, he did indeed come for the crown.

That's what he got, that's what he wanted.

We also debate the extent to which people at the time believed William's words.

There are plenty of people at the time who didn't believe what William was saying, but went along with it anyway because he was a better choice than James II.

Now, William delayed his march on London as he wanted to avoid bloodshed.

He also believed that given time, James' government would quite simply just fall apart all by itself.

That once enough people flocked to his banner, once he got enough support from the English people, those surrounding James would begin to desert him and his whole government would collapse.

That was William's big hope here.

James arranged for his army to gather at Salisbury, which is kind of in the middle bit of Torbay, where William had landed, and London where William was headed.

So Salisbury was a logical choice for the army to gather.

And James then joined them there on the 19th of November.

His troops lacked experience and they were also short on ammunition and food, which obviously makes for a very unhappy army.

And unfortunately for James, a number of his officers have begun defecting to William's tough and experienced army as soon as they landed.

It's worth pointing out, it wasn't a huge number of men that actually went over from James' to William's sides.

It was mainly officers.

There wasn't actually hundreds upon hundreds of men or thousands upon thousands men that were fleeing.

It was mainly just experienced officers that were leaving.

But the fact that they were going at all had a devastating effect on the morale of James' army.

Two of the biggest losses for James was the loss of his general, John Churchill, who's on the screen there in front of you.

He was a general that famously he never lost a battle.

So he was a really, really important general for James and also, up to that point, incredibly loyal to James as well.

And the fact that he'd gone, it was a really, really bitter blow for James.

Absolutely.

His other daughter also left him as well, just a few days later.

And the fact that now both of his daughters are arranged against him, obviously as well as his nephew, means that James has very, very little support left, certainly not within his own family.

Right, let's have another check for understanding now.

So true or false statement here.

James II's troops fought bravely, but unsuccessfully against William of Orange's more experienced troops.

Is that true or is that false? Okay, if you chose false, then congratulations, that's the correct answer.

But let's justify now why is it a false statement? Is it false because James' troops won the initial battles but ran out of supplies? Or is it false because James' troops began deserting to William as soon as he landed in England? So choose your justification now.

Okay, if you chose B, then very well done.

That's the correct answer.

Now, on the 21st of November, William began his march on London.

He delayed as much as possible.

He could see that troops were defecting from James to his side and he chose that moment to start making his move.

On the 23rd of November, two days later, James made the fateful decision to pull his army back.

So rather than standing and fighting in Salisbury, James wanted to retreat to a more defensible position.

Now, this display of weakness caused his support to crumble.

So key members of his government defected to William and as I've already said, those included John Churchill and also, his youngest daughter, Anne, as well.

Now, despite William's assurances that his uncle's life was not in danger, William made it plainly clear time and time again that he would not harm James.

And partly because that's his uncle, but also, that's his wife's father as well.

Royal families were very close at this point in time.

So he made it abundantly clear, "I have no intention to harm you whatsoever." James though doesn't trust that statement and he decides to flee the country.

So on the 10th of December, he made his way from London down to Kent, intending to board a ship to France.

However, he was captured by some local fishermen in Faversham in Kent, and then sent back to London.

In his absence, anti-Catholic riots had begun in London and they very soon spread across the whole country.

And now what little support James had left was gone.

And the reason being is that people hated the fact that he ran from London.

They considered him a coward and also, they thought that he was negligent.

He just wasn't doing his job properly in allowing the riots to occur in London, which then spread across the country.

So he was a coward and he was no good at his job as king.

So once again, any final support he may have had was gone with this decision to leave the country.

From William's perspective though, James' capture and return was really, really bad news.

It could have meant that blood would have to be spilled in order to gain control of the country, which William was at great pains to try and avoid.

Up to this point in William's march towards London, there'd only been a couple of very small skirmishes between scouting parties of William's and James' army.

So there hadn't been any major battles at all.

There'd barely been any bloodshed whatsoever and William was really, really keen to try and keep that the case as well.

Now, in order to try and avoid any blood being spilled, William made the seemingly odd decision to secretly communicate with James and help him to escape once again, but this time successfully.

So on the 18th of December, as William entered London to cheering crowds, James exited the city under a Dutch guard and made his way to France.

It was William's troops that helped James escape.

Right, let's have another check for understanding now.

So again, it's another true or false statement.

James II fled the country rather than facing William of Orange.

Is that true or is that false? Okay, if you chose true, then well done.

That is the correct answer.

But let's justify now why is that a true statement? Is it true because William placed a large bounty in James' head and wanted to publicly execute him? Or is it true because William helps James escape to France in order to avoid bloodshed? So choose your justification now.

Okay, if you chose B, then well done.

That is the correct answer.

Right, let's go for our next task for today.

So I've got a wheel on the screen there.

It's divided into five parts.

And what I would like you to do is to write five key features of the Glorious Revolution in the wheel.

Now, I say write but I actually want to use as few words as possible.

What I prefer you to do is to use a symbol or a drawing to support each point.

So how can you take the five, in your opinion, the five key points of the Glorious Revolution and just distil them down into just a symbol or a drawing or as few words as possible.

So if you're struggling for what you can talk about here, you could think about who fought, when it began, why it began, what happened, and the consequences.

So if you've got different ideas, it's absolutely fine.

It's your opinion as to put the five key points are.

So pause the video whilst you do this task and I'll see you again in just a moment.

Okay, welcome back.

Hopefully you got on okay with that task.

So you'll see my wheel on the screen in front of you and hopefully yours looks better than mine.

So I've gone for in my wheel, James II versus William III of Orange.

I've also got their Torbay and the 5th of November '88 and a boat there to show that that's when and where William landed.

And also how, using the boats.

I've also got one of the reasons for why the Glorious Revolution occurred was the fact that there was a Catholic king and people weren't happy about that.

So I've got a crown there with an unhappy face and also the fact that William was a Protestant and I've got him there as a kind of an orange-y face for William of Orange and also a smiling face there as well.

I've then got some of the consequences.

So I've got James II there and I've got a picture of a man running to signify him running away.

And then William III of Orange, again, it's his happy, smiling, orange face, and there's a hand waving there to signify the London crowds waving him in.

As I said, hopefully yours looks a little bit better than mine, but hopefully you got the idea there as well.

Right, let's go for our third and final learning cycle for today, which is looking at the Bill of Rights.

Now, on the 28th of December, William arranged for elections to be held for a Convention Parliament, which sat on the 22nd of January 1689.

The Convention Parliament spent several weeks debating just what to do next, which was quite frustrating from William's perspective 'cause he was worried about what was happening back in his homeland.

The French were making significant gains and he wanted to know what was happening in England so that they could deal with that situation as well.

Mary, his wife, stated that she would not be queen unless her husband was crowned alongside her.

So Mary says, "The only way you get me is if you get my husband as well." And William, from his point of view, threatened to leave unless he was appointed monarch alongside Mary.

And effectively what the couple have done here is they forced the Convention's Parliament's hand.

They don't really have many other choices.

They could go for Anne potentially as long as Anne is okay with that situation.

But then they'll be passing up James, first of all, and then also the next legal person in line to the throne, which would've been James's son.

And then following on from that, it would've been Mary.

So if they're happy to effectively kind get rid of three rightful monarchs before appointing Anne, it makes a bit of a mockery, the whole idea of monarchy.

So William and Mary, they are forced in the Convention Parliament to make a decision in their favour.

On the 13th of February, the Convention Parliament offered the couple the throne, stating that James II had abdicated, he'd given up his throne when he abandoned his people.

James has obviously denied that situation, but this is the legal basis for allowing William and Mary to become the monarchs of England.

William III and Mary II were crowned on the 11th of April.

Right, let's have a quick check for understanding now then.

So who did the Convention Parliament offer the crown to on the 13th of February 1689? Was it William III of Orange, Mary II, or James II? Okay, welcome back.

Hopefully you got on okay with this one.

So the correct answer is A, William III of Orange and B, Mary II as well.

So hopefully you realise a bit of a tricky question that one that's actually looking for two correct answers for that question.

Now, the Convention Parliament worked hard to establish new rules for these new Stuart monarchs to prevent any more upheaval from this family.

So just give an idea of about what was going on with the Stuarts.

So James I introduced the whole idea of the divine right of kings, this whole idea that kings are appointed by God and they only have to answer to God and nobody should question anything that a king says or does because in so doing or effectively what you're doing is questioning God's.

That was a very unpopular idea in England.

It was perfectly acceptable in somewhere like France that had an absolutist monarch.

But in England, a lot of people were very uncomfortable with that idea.

His son, Charles I, started the English Civil War 'cause he was just so unwilling to work with Parliament.

After the Civil War, there was the Commonwealth and then the Stuarts came back again and we had Charles II whose reign was a bit of a mixed bag.

There was definitely some good bits about it, but there were also some bad bits as well.

People were unhappy with the whole idea that he, on his deathbed, became a Catholic and of course, left no legitimate heirs, which meant that his brother, a Catholic, was now king of England, and had created this whole new situation as well.

So from the perspective of Parliament, the Stuarts as a ruling family, they spelt trouble.

So it was understandable that they are now putting in place some measures to prevent any more Stuart monarchs from causing any more issues.

A new coronation oath was provided, which made the monarchs swear to uphold laws created by Parliament rather than by previous kings.

In December 1689, Parliament passed a series of laws increasing their own power whilst diminishing that of the monarchs.

And this was the Bill of Rights.

and this stated that Parliament should assemble frequently as opposed to just whenever the king quite fancied it, which sometimes there were years in between Parliaments.

It also made free elections to Parliament necessary.

So the king was unable to choose who could be elected to Parliament.

And it also provided members of Parliament with freedom of speech whilst debating in Parliament.

It's something called parliamentary privilege, which we still use today, and it prevented them from being arrested for what they debated.

So effectively, if the king doesn't like what certain members of Parliament are arguing for, they can't just be arrested or thrown in prison.

It also prevented the monarch from suspending laws, levying taxes and keeping a standing army during peace time without Parliament's consent.

So Parliament effectively now controls what the monarch can and cannot do to some extent.

Finally, the Bill of Rights banned Catholics from becoming kings or queens of England, which is an understandable move in this situation as it was the fact that James was a Catholic king that created the situation whereby the Glorious Revolution was allowed to occur.

William and Mary agreed to this reduction of their power and in doing so, assisted in turning England into a constitutional monarchy,l which still exists to this day.

Rights, let's have a quick check for understanding now.

So I'd like you to choose two ways the Bill of Rights affected the power of the monarch and Parliament.

Did it increase the power of the monarch? Did it decrease the power of the monarch? Did it increase the power of Parliament or did it decrease the power of Parliament? So choose two of those options now.

All right, if you chose B and C, then well done.

Those are the correct answers.

Another quick check for understanding.

I'd like you to choose two changes the Bill of Rights made to Parliament.

Did it allow freedom of speech within Parliament? Did it enable the king to choose members of Parliament? Did it establish frequent Parliaments or did it increase the number of members of Parliament? So choose two of those options now.

All right, if you chose A and C, then well done.

Those are the correct answers.

Right, let's go for our next task now then.

So I'd like you to have a little think, how significant was the Bill of Rights in increasing the power of Parliament? So because it's your opinion, there's not necessarily a right or wrong answer, but you need to be able to justify what your opinion is.

So you need to support your answer with at least two pieces of evidence.

So pause the video whilst you do that task, and I'll see you again in just a moment.

Okay, welcome back.

Hopefully you got on okay with that task.

Let's think what you could have said then.

So you could have said the Bill of Rights was incredibly important in increasing the power of Parliament.

The Bill prevented monarchs from being able to rule without Parliament by making them unable to raise taxes or an army without the approval of Parliament.

This created a constitutional monarchy and would prevent a situation like the English Civil War from being able to happen again.

It also stated that Parliament should meet frequently, which meant that Parliament would always be able to debate and act upon what was happening at the time.

If you have a different opinion to me, that's absolutely fine.

If you've got a different bit of evidence to me, again, that's absolutely fine as well, as long as you've supported your opinion with two pieces of evidence and explain how they support your opinion, that's all I'm looking for there.

Right, let's summarise today's lesson now then.

So William III of Orange was concerned that Catholic France was preparing a military alliance against the Dutch Republic.

With the help of the Catholic king of England, James II, William III invaded England, although he was careful to arrange an invitation from the English before doing so.

James fled rather than facing William, allowing the Convention Parliament to make William and his wife Mary joint rulers.

Parliament created the Bill of Rights, which placed significant restrictions on the power of the monarchs and increased the power of Parliament to create a constitutional monarchy.

Thank you very much for joining me today.

Hopefully you've enjoyed yourself.

Hopefully you've learned something and hopefully I'll see you again next time.

Bye-Bye.