James 11, in shadow of Charles II

Press, 12 May 1979, Page 17

James 11, in shadow of Charles II

lames If. By Maurice Ashley. Hutchinson, 1978. 295 pp. Bibliography, notes, index. $19.75. (Reviewed by Joan Curry) Poor James. When he succeeded to the throne in 1685 at the age of 52, England had within living memory experienced civil war, regicide, the republic of Oliver Cromwell, and the restoration of the monarchy under Charles 11. James must have seemed a grinding bore to the people of England after all that.

He was 13 years old when his father, Charles I, was beheaded and he was 27 when his brother was recalled from exile to occupy the throne. James therefore had plenty of time in which to learn the necessary lessons for successful kingship and, on the face of it, learn them he did. His tragedy was that he did not apply his knowledge when the time came. Against the background of Stuart England and the complicated web of European wars, alliances and treaties, Maurice Ashley has examined the life

of James II who reigned for less than four years and who was then deposed, to become the focus for Jacobite plots. How the popular and successful James, Duke of York, became the despised King James II is one of the questions that Mr Ashley has attempted to answer. James was apparently determined not to make the same 'mistakes that his father and brother had made. Charles I was aloof and indecisive, with an invincible belief in his divine right to rule. His mistakes cost him his head. Charles II could be devious and fickle, he ran up towering debts and presided over one of the bawdier courts in English history, but he was beloved by the people as few monarchs have been before or since. James tried hard, but he was obstinate where he should have been strong; he tried to be fair, but succeeded only in being misunderstood; he shared his brother’s devotion to the ladies, but lacked Charles’ panache. He ended his life

repenting of “that excessive and indiscriminate love of women which in the end he came to think of as a black form of immoralitv a commission of sins which made God take his thrones away from him as a punishment.” James did not lose his head, but neither did the people love him. He merely suffered the humiliation of being deposed in favour of his daughter and her Dutch husband, William of Orange. Maurice Ashley was able to draw on the memoirs of James himself as well as on other material for this extremely detailed biography. The book contains some prosy and indigestible lumps of facts and figures but it is a thoroughly researched study of a disappointed man.

“It was his weakness in times of crisis and his habitual stupidity, not his bigotry or tyranny or sycophancy, which explain why he was One of the least successful or effective of English monarchs.” He had no sense of humour and no style, and in the end he had no throne. Poor James.