seven bishops, trial of the

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seven bishops, trial of the, 1688. Seven bishops, including Archbishop Sancroft, arrested for petitioning against the public reading of James II's second Declaration of Indulgence (1688), were tried for ‘seditious libel’. The cheering which broke out among James's soldiers on Hounslow Heath when the verdict of acquittal was known was an ominous sign for the king. The trial contributed, with the birth of James II's male heir, to James's overthrow and the succession of William III and Mary II. Five of the seven subsequently refused the oath to William.

Revd Dr William M. Marshall