James II of England

James II of England was the Catholic king of England, Scotland and Ireland deposed in the Glorious Revolution. His efforts to expand toleration and royal authority alarmed Protestant elites, and the birth of a son helped trigger William of Orange’s invasion in 1688.

In Neal Stephenson’s The System of the World, in 1714, Daniel Waterhouse returns to England and joins Isaac Newton in investigating attacks on natural philosophers and a counterfeiting operation that threatens the Royal Mint. In Angus Donald’s Blood’s Revolution, Holcroft is drawn towards the conspiracy inviting William of Orange to intervene while the French agent Narrey pursues him across England. Other novels featuring James II of England include Jean Plaidy’s The Three Crowns, Neal Stephenson’s Quicksilver, Jean Plaidy’s The Murder in the Tower, Angus Donald’s Blood’s Campaign, and Rafael Sabatini’s Captain Blood.

In non-fiction, James II of England is discussed in Linda Porter’s Mistresses and Linda Porter’s Royal Renegades. In Linda Porter’s Mistresses, the book treats the women as individual actors whose households, patronage and international connections helped define Restoration England.