什麼是詹姆斯二世

James II

英國國王（1685～1688）。是哥哥查理二世的繼承人。英國內戰期間逃往尼德蘭（1648）。1660年查理二世復辟後回到英格蘭，任海軍大臣，在英荷戰爭中指揮艦隊作戰。1668年左右改信天主教，1673年因不願按宗教考查法宣誓而辭去所有職務。1678年他對天主教的支持使得人心惶惶，以致發生了一場天主教陰謀，造他企圖暗殺查理，登上王位，因此連續幾屆的國會都取消他的王位繼承權。1685年查理去世時，詹姆斯在少有人反對下即位，聖公會也強力支持他。一些叛亂的發生使他在軍隊和高官中安插了天主教徒，並延宕了充滿敵意的國會會期。他的兒子的誕生意味又是一個可能的天主教繼承者，因而導致了光榮革命，他逃往法國。1689年他率領軍隊在愛爾蘭登陸，企圖奪回王位，但在伯因河戰役中被擊敗，只好繼續在法國流亡。

1633～1701年

James II

King of Great Britain (1685-88). He was brother and successor to Charles II. In the English Civil Wars he escaped to the Netherlands (1648). After the Restoration (1660), he returned to England and became lord high admiral in the Anglo-Dutch Wars. He converted to Catholicism c. 1668, and resigned in 1673 rather than take the Test Act oath. By 1678 his Catholicism had created a climate of hysteria about a Popish Plot to assassinate Charles and put James on the throne, and successive Parliaments sought to exclude him from succession. By the time Charles died (1685), James came to the throne with little opposition and strong support from the Anglicans. Rebellions caused him to fill the army and high offices with Roman Catholics and suspend a hostile Parliament. The birth of his son, a possible Catholic heir, brought about the Glorious Revolution in 1688, and he fled to France. In 1689 he landed in Ireland to regain his throne, but his army was defeated at the Battle of the Boyne, and he returned to exile in France.