History of England, from the Accession of James II - (Volume 2, Chapter 08)

Thomas Babington Macaulay brings his formidable prose to bear on one of English history's most combustible moments: a Catholic king ruling a fiercely Protestant nation. This chapter chronicles James II's relentless campaign to lift restrictions on Catholic worship, a campaign that pits royal prerogative against the marrow-deep convictions of his subjects. We witness the king's confrontation with England's greatest institutions: Oxford's stubborn refusal to bow to his will at Magdalen College, Cambridge's quiet resistance, and the Church of England clergy who found themselves caught between their oath of allegiance and their fear of Rome. Macaulay captures the claustrophobic tension of 1687 and 1688, as a king grows more isolated and his Protestant subjects grow more defiant. The stage is being set for the explosive events that will reshape the English throne forever.