Glorious Revolution. Title given to the revolution of 1688–9, which resulted in the ‘abdication’ of James II and the succession of William III and Mary II. Participants had differing objectives. Tories and Anglican clergy wanted to stop James undermining the church. Whigs aimed to depose James and limit the powers of the crown. Ordinary people detested James for his catholicism. William needed to remove a potential ally of Louis XIV and lead England into the war against France that had just begun. Louis left James unassisted, calculating that William's army would be tied down in an English campaign.

William had earlier established clandestine connections with leading politicians and army and navy officers hostile to James's policies. In June 1688 he instigated an invitation from two Tories, four Whigs, and Bishop Compton to intervene in order to prevent James continuing to favour catholics, expand and purge the army, and manipulate elections for a parliament that was to sit in November. The birth that month of an infant prince to James had transformed the political future: he would succeed James in place of Mary (his eldest, protestant daughter, married to William). But most people were persuaded that the infant was ‘suppositious’, somebody else's baby smuggled in to give the appearance of a royal birth. William's intervention was necessitated by the size of James's professional army. However, William was promised that most of its officers would defect. When this happened soon after William landed at Torbay on 5 November James found that he could not fight a battle. William moved on London unopposed while his adherents took over provincial centres. Demoralized, James tried to fly the country but was stopped. A second successful escape to France was the direct result of William's pressure. This left a vacuum. Tories wanted his return as a limited king, or for a regent to rule for him, or for Mary to reign as queen. Instead the Bill of Rights (1689) followed the Whig formula, construing James's flight as abdication, declaring the throne vacant, and William and Mary as joint sovereigns. But the limits it imposed on the crown were less than the Whigs desired. It made illegal royal claims to suspend laws and maintain an army without parliamentary approval. It barred catholics from succeeding. In Scotland the Revolution went further. James was deposed. Bishops were abolished, presbyterianism restored. Civil war resulted.

J. R. Jones