1.
Presbyterianism
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Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism which traces its origins to the British Isles, particularly Scotland. Presbyterian churches derive their name from the form of church government. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures, Presbyterian church government was ensured in Scotland by the Acts of Union in 1707 which created the Kingdom of Great Britain. In fact, most Presbyterians found in England can trace a Scottish connection, the Presbyterian denominations in Scotland hold to the theology of John Calvin and his immediate successors, although there are a range of theological views within contemporary Presbyterianism. The roots of Presbyterianism lie in the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, most Reformed churches which trace their history back to Scotland are either presbyterian or congregationalist in government. In the twentieth century, some Presbyterians played an important role in the ecumenical movement, many Presbyterian denominations have found ways of working together with other Reformed denominations and Christians of other traditions, especially in the World Communion of Reformed Churches. Some Presbyterian churches have entered into unions with other churches, such as Congregationalists, Lutherans, Anglicans, Presbyterian history is part of the history of Christianity, but the beginning of Presbyterianism as a distinct movement occurred during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. As the Catholic Church resisted the reformers, several different theological movements splintered from the Church, the Presbyterian church traces its ancestry back primarily to England and Scotland. In August 1560 the Parliament of Scotland adopted the Scots Confession as the creed of the Scottish Kingdom, Presbyterians distinguish themselves from other denominations by doctrine, institutional organization and worship, often using a Book of Order to regulate common practice and order. The origins of the Presbyterian churches are in Calvinism, many branches of Presbyterianism are remnants of previous splits from larger groups. Presbyterians place great importance upon education and lifelong learning, Presbyterian government is by councils of elders. Teaching and ruling elders are ordained and convene in the lowest council known as a session or consistory responsible for the discipline, nurture, teaching elders have responsibility for teaching, worship, and performing sacraments. Pastors are called by individual congregations, a congregation issues a call for the pastors service, but this call must be ratified by the local presbytery. Ruling elders are usually laymen who are elected by the congregation and ordained to serve with the elders, assuming responsibility for nurture. Often, especially in larger congregations, the elders delegate the practicalities of buildings, finance and this group may variously be known as a Deacon Board, Board of Deacons Diaconate, or Deacons Court. These are sometimes known as presbyters to the full congregation, above the sessions exist presbyteries, which have area responsibilities. These are composed of teaching elders and ruling elders from each of the constituent congregations, the presbytery sends representatives to a broader regional or national assembly, generally known as the General Assembly, although an intermediate level of a synod sometimes exists. The Church of Scotland abolished the Synod in 1993, Presbyterian governance is practised by Presbyterian denominations and also by many other Reformed churches
2.
Protestantism
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Protestantism is a form of Christianity which originated with the Reformation, a movement against what its followers considered to be errors in the Roman Catholic Church. It is one of the three divisions of Christendom, together with Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy. The term derives from the letter of protestation from German Lutheran princes in 1529 against an edict of the Diet of Speyer condemning the teachings of Martin Luther as heretical. Although there were earlier breaks from or attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church—notably by Peter Waldo, John Wycliffe, Protestants reject the notion of papal supremacy and deny the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, but disagree among themselves regarding the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The Five solae summarize the reformers basic differences in theological beliefs, in the 16th century, Lutheranism spread from Germany into Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Baltic states, and Iceland. Reformed churches were founded in Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Scotland, Switzerland and France by such reformers as John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, the political separation of the Church of England from Rome under King Henry VIII brought England and Wales into this broad Reformation movement. Protestants developed their own culture, which made major contributions in education, the humanities and sciences, the political and social order, the economy and the arts, some Protestant denominations do have a worldwide scope and distribution of membership, while others are confined to a single country. A majority of Protestants are members of a handful of families, Adventism, Anglicanism, Baptist churches, Reformed churches, Lutheranism, Methodism. Nondenominational, evangelical, charismatic, independent and other churches are on the rise, and constitute a significant part of Protestant Christianity. Six princes of the Holy Roman Empire and rulers of fourteen Imperial Free Cities, the edict reversed concessions made to the Lutherans with the approval of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V three years earlier. During the Reformation, the term was used outside of the German politics. The word evangelical, which refers to the gospel, was more widely used for those involved in the religious movement. Nowadays, this word is still preferred among some of the historical Protestant denominations in the Lutheran and Calvinist traditions in Europe, above all the term is used by Protestant bodies in the German-speaking area, such as the EKD. In continental Europe, an Evangelical is either a Lutheran or a Calvinist, the German word evangelisch means Protestant, and is different from the German evangelikal, which refers to churches shaped by Evangelicalism. The English word evangelical usually refers to Evangelical Protestant churches, and it traces its roots back to the Puritans in England, where Evangelicalism originated, and then was brought to the United States. Protestantism as a term is now used in contradistinction to the other major Christian traditions, i. e. Roman Catholicism. Initially, Protestant became a term to mean any adherent to the Reformation movement in Germany and was taken up by Lutherans. Even though Martin Luther himself insisted on Christian or Evangelical as the only acceptable names for individuals who professed Christ, French and Swiss Protestants preferred the word reformed, which became a popular, neutral and alternative name for Calvinists
3.
Calvinism
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Calvinism is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice of John Calvin and other Reformation-era theologians. The term Calvinism can be misleading, because the tradition which it denotes has always been diverse. The movement was first called Calvinism by Lutherans who opposed it, early influential Reformed theologians include Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin, Martin Bucer, William Farel, Heinrich Bullinger, Peter Martyr Vermigli, Theodore Beza, and John Knox. In the twentieth century, Abraham Kuyper, Herman Bavinck, B. B, Warfield, J. Gresham Machen, Karl Barth, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Cornelius Van Til, and Gordon Clark were influential. Contemporary Reformed theologians include J. I, sproul, Timothy J. Keller, John Piper, David Wells, and Michael Horton. Reformed churches may exercise several forms of polity, most are presbyterian or congregationalist. Calvinism is largely represented by Continental Reformed, Presbyterian, and Congregationalist traditions, the biggest Reformed association is the World Communion of Reformed Churches with more than 80 million members in 211 member denominations around the world. There are more conservative Reformed federations such as the World Reformed Fellowship, Calvinism is named after John Calvin. It was first used by a Lutheran theologian in 1552 and it was a common practice of the Catholic Church to name what they perceived to be heresy after its founder. Nevertheless, the term first came out of Lutheran circles, Calvin denounced the designation himself, They could attach us no greater insult than this word, Calvinism. It is not hard to guess where such a deadly hatred comes from that they hold against me, despite its negative connotation, this designation became increasingly popular in order to distinguish Calvinists from Lutherans and from newer Protestant branches that emerged later. Moreover, these churches claim to be—in accordance with John Calvins own words—renewed accordingly with the order of gospel. Since the Arminian controversy, the Reformed tradition—as a branch of Protestantism distinguished from Lutheranism—divided into two groups, Arminians and Calvinists. However, it is now rare to call Arminians a part of the Reformed tradition, some have also argued that Calvinism as a whole stresses the sovereignty or rule of God in all things including salvation. First-generation Reformed theologians include Huldrych Zwingli, Martin Bucer, Wolfgang Capito, John Oecolampadius, scripture was also viewed as a unified whole, which led to a covenantal theology of the sacraments of baptism and the Lords Supper as visible signs of the covenant of grace. Another Reformed distinctive present in these theologians was their denial of the presence of Christ in the Lords supper. Each of these also understood salvation to be by grace alone. Martin Luther and his successor Philipp Melanchthon were undoubtedly significant influences on these theologians, the doctrine of justification by faith alone was a direct inheritance from Luther
4.
Presbyterian polity
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Presbyterian polity is a method of church governance typified by the rule of assemblies of presbyters, or elders. Each local church is governed by a body of elected elders usually called the session or consistory, though other terms, such as church board, may apply. Responsibility for conduct of services is reserved to an ordained minister or pastor known as a teaching elder, or a minister of the word. Presbyterian polity was developed as a rejection of governance by hierarchies of single bishops, in contrast to the other two forms, authority in the presbyterian polity flows both from the top down and from the bottom up. This theory of governance developed in Geneva under John Calvin and was introduced to Scotland by John Knox after his period of exile in Geneva and it is strongly associated with French, Dutch, Swiss and Scottish Reformation movements, and the Reformed and Presbyterian churches. St. Jerome In Epistle Titus, vol, decreed throughout the world that one chosen from among the presbyters should be placed over the others. This observation was made by Chrysostom in Homilia i, in Phil. I,1 and Theodoret in Interpret ad, Presbyterianism was first described in detail by Martin Bucer of Strasbourg, who believed that the early Christian church implemented presbyterian polity. The first modern implementation was by the Geneva church under the leadership of John Calvin in 1541, Presbyterian polity is constructed on specific assumptions about the form of the government intended by the Bible, Bishop and elder are synonymous terms. Episcopos means literally overseer and describes the function of the elder, rather than the maturity of the officer, a bishop holds the highest office of the church. In addition to these ministers, there are also others … with gifts for government … commonly call elders or ruling elders. Pastoral care, church discipline, leadership and legislation are committed to the care of ruling assemblies of presbyters among whom the ministers, all Christian people together are the priesthood, on behalf of whom the elders are called to serve by the consent of the congregation. Presbyterianism uses a method of church government. Thus, the presbyters and elders govern together as a group, the elders together exercise oversight over the local congregation, with superior groups of elders gathered on a regional basis exercising wider oversight. Presbyterians typically have viewed this method of government as approximating that of the New Testament, however, sometimes it is admitted that episcopacy was a form of government that was used very early in the church for practical reasons. Presbyterianism is also distinct from congregationalism, in that individual congregations are not independent, moreover, the ordained ministry possesses a distinct responsibility for preaching and sacraments. Thus, these are ruled by only at the level of the congregations. Reformed Baptist churches are organized to be governed by elders, on the congregationalist model, there are two types of elder, the teaching elder and the ruling elder
5.
World Communion of Reformed Churches
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It has 229 member denominations in 108 countries, together claiming 80 million people. This ecumenical Christian body was formed in June 2010 by the union of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, the WCRC traces its origins to 1875, with several unifying Reformed organizations emerging in London, England. After first calling the potential body World Reformed Communion, this was modified into World Communion of Reformed Churches, a Uniting General Council of the WCRC, bringing the organization into existence, took place from 18–26 June 2010 at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States. The 2010 Uniting General Council stated that the WCRC should be called to communion and its two main program offices are thus focused on these aspects, with theological work included with communion. The WCRC also has a General Secretariat which includes the general secretarys office, the current general secretary is Chris Ferguson, a minister from the United Church of Canada. Through the General Secretariat, the WCRC is able to dialogue between churches, advocate for causes on a global scale and support the activities of its member churches through various means. The global headquarters of the WCRC are located in Hanover, Germany, with a North American non-profit subsidiary based in Grand Rapids, rev. Chris Ferguson is a pastor, theologian and social justice advocate from the United Church of Canada. R. /Iglesia Nacional Presbiteriana de México, A. R
6.
James VI and I
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James VI and I was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until his death. The kingdoms of Scotland and England were individual sovereign states, with their own parliaments, judiciary, and laws, though both were ruled by James in personal union. James was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, James succeeded to the Scottish throne at the age of thirteen months, after his mother Mary was compelled to abdicate in his favour. Four different regents governed during his minority, which ended officially in 1578, in 1603, he succeeded the last Tudor monarch of England and Ireland, Elizabeth I, who died without issue. He continued to reign in all three kingdoms for 22 years, a period known after him as the Jacobean era, until his death in 1625 at the age of 58. After the Union of the Crowns, he based himself in England from 1603, only returning to Scotland once in 1617 and he was a major advocate of a single parliament for England and Scotland. In his reign, the Plantation of Ulster and British colonization of the Americas began, at 57 years and 246 days, Jamess reign in Scotland was longer than those of any of his predecessors. He achieved most of his aims in Scotland but faced difficulties in England, including the Gunpowder Plot in 1605. James himself was a scholar, the author of works such as Daemonologie, The True Law of Free Monarchies. He sponsored the translation of the Bible that would later be named after him, Sir Anthony Weldon claimed that James had been termed the wisest fool in Christendom, an epithet associated with his character ever since. Since the latter half of the 20th century, historians have tended to revise Jamess reputation and treat him as a serious, James was the only son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and her second husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. Both Mary and Darnley were great-grandchildren of Henry VII of England through Margaret Tudor, Marys rule over Scotland was insecure, and she and her husband, being Roman Catholics, faced a rebellion by Protestant noblemen. James was born on 19 June 1566 at Edinburgh Castle, and as the eldest son and heir apparent of the monarch automatically became Duke of Rothesay and Prince and he was baptised Charles James or James Charles on 17 December 1566 in a Catholic ceremony held at Stirling Castle. His godparents were Charles IX of France, Elizabeth I of England, Mary refused to let the Archbishop of St Andrews, whom she referred to as a pocky priest, spit in the childs mouth, as was then the custom. The subsequent entertainment, devised by Frenchman Bastian Pagez, featured men dressed as satyrs and sporting tails, Jamess father, Darnley, was murdered on 10 February 1567 at Kirk o Field, Edinburgh, perhaps in revenge for Rizzios death. James inherited his fathers titles of Duke of Albany and Earl of Ross, Mary was already unpopular, and her marriage on 15 May 1567 to James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, who was widely suspected of murdering Darnley, heightened widespread bad feeling towards her. In June 1567, Protestant rebels arrested Mary and imprisoned her in Loch Leven Castle and she was forced to abdicate on 24 July 1567 in favour of the infant James and to appoint her illegitimate half-brother, James Stewart, Earl of Moray, as regent. The care of James was entrusted to the Earl and Countess of Mar, to be conserved, nursed, and upbrought in the security of Stirling Castle
7.
Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster
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Doctrinally, the church describes itself as fundamentalist, evangelical, and separatist. Most of its members live in Northern Ireland, where the church is headquartered, the church has additional congregations in the Republic of Ireland, Great Britain and Australia, and a sister denomination in North America that has congregations in Canada and the United States. The Presbytery met with the Lissara Session 90 minutes before the mission was due to begin on 3 February with an Opening Witness March, when two elders refused to accept the Presbytery decision, they were immediately suspended. College lecturers of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland have suggested that the above story, while the Gospel Mission was a reason for the breakaway church forming, the Presbytery objection was not to the Mission or to the Gospel, but to the invited preacher, Ian Paisley. The Lissara Mission went ahead with a different preacher and Lissara Presbyterian Church continued to exist, however Free Presbyterians from Crossgar dispute that there ever was such a mission. In that year, under the leadership of Paisley, four new congregations joined together to form the Presbytery of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster. Sydney Lince served as Moderator of the new church for a few months, one of the inaugural elders of the new church, George Gibson, was expelled for his views on the doctrines of holiness and subsequently rejoined Lissara Presbyterian Church in 1958. The appointment of Paisley as First Minister of Northern Ireland in May 2007 led to a deal of controversy within the Free Presbyterian Church. Many members of the claimed that such an appointment put Paisley, as Moderator. The church had declared some years previously that it would be unbiblical to have terrorists or ex-terrorists in the government of Northern Ireland, the church is also strongly opposed to homosexuality, yet the First Ministers office is responsible for protecting LGBT rights in Northern Ireland. One of Paisleys strongest critics was his ally and former prison cellmate Ivan Foster. A stormy meeting of the Presbytery of the church in September 2007 resolved the crisis by agreeing that Paisley would step down as Moderator in January 2008. The Presbytery met in Dungannon on 18 January 2008 to elect a new Moderator and selected Ron Johnstone, Paisley was therefore replaced as Moderator after more than 50 years in the post. The decision was overturned and the church cleared of all wrongdoing. The church adheres to Calvinist doctrines and it also self-describes as fundamentalist which it sees as an appropriate term to describe its stance of being anti-liberal. At the start of Paisleys ministry this separatism was focused heavily on the Presbyterian Church in Ireland a denomination from which it drew many of its initial members. For the FPC the main target of its doctrinal ire, however, has always been and this message has been on the front page since at least June 2011 Baptism and the Lords Supper are recognised as sacraments of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster. Members are allowed to determine the mode and subjects that they prefer
8.
Evangelical Presbyterian Church (Ireland)
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The Evangelical Presbyterian Church is a Calvinist, Christian evangelical denomination that is found only in Northern Ireland, where it is the smallest of the Presbyterian churches. It was formed on 15 October 1927 by Rev. James Hunter, former minister of Knock Presbyterian Church, and James Grier and they were joined by others who seceded from the Irish Presbyterian Church. The breakaway was prompted by the acquittal in a Presbytery trial of Professor James E. Davey of the Assemblys College on charges brought by Hunter, a month after the Presbyterian General Assembly upheld the trial verdict by 707 votes to 82, the anti-Davey group seceded. Soon after the Irish Evangelical Church was constituted in October 1927, it had six congregations in Belfast and it adopted its present name in 1964. In 2013 the EPC had nine congregations, all in Counties Antrim and Down apart from one in Richhill, County Armagh and one in Omagh, the churchs monthly magazine, The Irish Evangelical, was first issued in June 1928. Grier remained its editor for 50 years, with the change of the churchs name in 1964, the magazine became The Evangelical Presbyterian, and now appears every three months. The Evangelical Presbyterian Church is among a number of evangelical denominations represented in a creationist and socially conservative pressure group. EPC member Wallace Thompson, who had been the Foundations treasurer since 1998, in 2011-12 the EPC Public Morals Committee supported a campaign by the Christian Institute, an evangelical pressure group, against funding of the London Pride festival by Tesco. The church allied from its days with the Free Church of Scotland and has co-operated with it in missionary work, focussing since 1932 on India, South Africa. Also from 1987 an EPC minister has served in Nigeria and it then joined the International Conference of Reformed Churches. The EPC has played a part in the development of, and continues in close fellowship with, relations with other evangelical churches in the UK and Ireland are conducted through membership of Affinity. In developing its theological subordinate standards, the new church at first adopted eight Articles of Faith based on the Westminster Standards. In common with some other Reformed churches, the EPC in its Code has amended three clauses in the Confession, namely, those concerning the Antichrist, consanguinity, and the civil magistrate. The EPC encourages its members to exercise their right to vote in elections and it does not have links to any political parties. All EPC churches normally hold two services on Sundays, and a meeting for prayer and Bible study. Recent speakers have included Achille Blaize, Geoff Thomas, Edward Donnelly, the EPC is closely linked to the Evangelical Book Shop, a separate charity, at 15 College Square East, Belfast, and online at http, //www. evangelicalbookshop. co. uk. In 2016 the Bookshop published a history of the EPC by Ernest C, brown, entitled By Honour and Dishonour. Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster Non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland Presbyterian Church in Ireland Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland Official website Stranmillis EPC - About us
9.
Irish language
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Irish, also referred to as Gaelic or Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people. Irish enjoys constitutional status as the national and first official language of the Republic of Ireland and it is also among the official languages of the European Union. The public body Foras na Gaeilge is responsible for the promotion of the language throughout the island of Ireland and it has the oldest vernacular literature in Western Europe. The fate of the language was influenced by the power of the English state in Ireland. Elizabethan officials viewed the use of Irish unfavourably, as being a threat to all things English in Ireland and its decline began under English rule in the 17th century. In the latter part of the 19th century, there was a decrease in the number of speakers. Irish-speaking areas were hit especially hard, by the end of British rule, the language was spoken by less than 15% of the national population. Since then, Irish speakers have been in the minority, efforts have been made by the state, individuals and organisations to preserve, promote and revive the language, but with mixed results. Around the turn of the 21st century, estimates of native speakers ranged from 20,000 to 80,000 people. In the 2011 Census, these numbers had increased to 94,000 and 1.3 million, there are several thousand Irish speakers in Northern Ireland. It has been estimated that the active Irish-language scene probably comprises 5 to 10 per cent of Irelands population, there has been a significant increase in the number of urban Irish speakers, particularly in Dublin. In Gaeltacht areas, however, there has been a decline of the use of Irish. Údarás na Gaeltachta predicted that, by 2025, Irish will no longer be the language in any of the designated Gaeltacht areas. Survey data suggest that most Irish people think highly of Irish as a marker of identity. It has also argued that newer urban groups of Irish speakers are a disruptive force in this respect. In An Caighdeán Oifigiúil the name of the language is Gaeilge, before the spelling reform of 1948, this form was spelled Gaedhilge, originally this was the genitive of Gaedhealg, the form used in Classical Irish. Older spellings of this include Gaoidhealg in Classical Irish and Goídelc in Old Irish, the modern spelling results from the deletion of the silent dh in the middle of Gaedhilge, whereas Goidelic languages, used to refer to the language family including Irish, comes from Old Irish
10.
Ulster Scots dialects
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Ulster Scots or Ulster-Scots, also known as Ullans, generally refers to the dialects of Scots spoken in parts of Ulster in Ireland. Some definitions of Ulster Scots may also include Standard English spoken with an Ulster Scots accent and this is a situation like that of Lowland Scots and Scottish Standard English with words pronounced using the Ulster Scots phonemes closest to those of Standard English. Ulster Scots has been influenced by Hiberno-English, particularly Mid-Ulster English, as a result of the competing influences of English and Scots, varieties of Ulster Scots can be described as more English or more Scots. The earliest Scots writing in Ulster dates from time, and until the late 20th century. While once referred to as Scotch-Irish by several researchers, that has now superseded by the term Ulster Scots. Speakers usually refer to their vernacular as Braid Scots, Scotch or the hamely tongue, occasionally, the term Hiberno-Scots is used, but it is usually used for the ethnic group rather than the vernacular. During the middle of the 20th century, the linguist R. J. Gregg established the boundaries of Ulsters Scots-speaking areas based on information gathered from native speakers. Ulster Scots is spoken in east Antrim, north Down, north-east County Londonderry and it is also spoken in the Laggan district and parts of the Finn Valley in east Donegal and in the south of Inishowen in north Donegal. Other estimates range from 35,000 in Northern Ireland, to a total of 100,000 including the Republic of Ireland. In the 2011 census of Northern Ireland,16,373 people stated that they can speak, read, write and understand Ulster Scots and 140,204 people reported having some ability in Ulster Scots. Enthusiasts such as Philip Robinson, the Ulster-Scots Language Society and supporters of an Ulster-Scots Academy are of the opinion that Ulster Scots is a language in its own right. That position has been criticised by the Ulster-Scots Agency, a BBC report stating, other linguists treat it as a variety of the Scots language, Caroline Macafee, for example, writes that Ulster Scots is clearly a dialect of Central Scots. The Concise Ulster Dictionary writes that Ulster Scots is one dialect of Lowland Scots, the Northern Ireland Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure considers Ulster Scots to be the local variety of the Scots language. It has been said that its status varies between dialect and language, the North/South Co-operation Northern Ireland Order 1999, which gave effect to the implementation bodies incorporated the text of the agreement in its Schedule 1. The Good Friday Agreement recognises Ulster Scots as part of the wealth of the island of Ireland. This reflects the wording used in the St Andrews Agreement to refer to the enhancement and development of the Ulster Scots language, heritage, there is still controversy on the status of Ulster Scots. In the core areas of Scots settlement, Scots outnumbered English settlers by five or six to one, literature from shortly before the end of the unselfconscious tradition at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries is almost identical with contemporary writing from Scotland. W. G. Lyttle, writing in Paddy McQuillans Trip Tae Glesco, uses the typically Scots forms kent and begood, now replaced in Ulster by the more mainstream Anglic forms knew, knowed or knawed and begun
11.
Northern Ireland
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Northern Ireland is a constituent unit of the United Kingdom in the north-east of Ireland. It is variously described as a country, province, region, or part of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland shares a border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. In 2011, its population was 1,810,863, constituting about 30% of the total population. Northern Ireland was created in 1921, when Ireland was partitioned between Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland by an act of the British parliament, Northern Ireland has historically been the most industrialised region of Ireland. After declining as a result of the political and social turmoil of the Troubles, its economy has grown significantly since the late 1990s. Unemployment in Northern Ireland peaked at 17. 2% in 1986, dropping to 6. 1% for June–August 2014,58. 2% of those unemployed had been unemployed for over a year. Prominent artists and sports persons from Northern Ireland include Van Morrison, Rory McIlroy, Joey Dunlop, Wayne McCullough, some people from Northern Ireland prefer to identify as Irish while others prefer to identify as British. Cultural links between Northern Ireland, the rest of Ireland, and the rest of the UK are complex, in many sports, the island of Ireland fields a single team, a notable exception being association football. Northern Ireland competes separately at the Commonwealth Games, and people from Northern Ireland may compete for either Great Britain or Ireland at the Olympic Games. The region that is now Northern Ireland was the bedrock of the Irish war of resistance against English programmes of colonialism in the late 16th century, the English-controlled Kingdom of Ireland had been declared by the English king Henry VIII in 1542, but Irish resistance made English control fragmentary. Victories by English forces in war and further Protestant victories in the Williamite War in Ireland toward the close of the 17th century solidified Anglican rule in Ireland. In Northern Ireland, the victories of the Siege of Derry and their intention was to materially disadvantage the Catholic community and, to a lesser extent, the Presbyterian community. In the context of open institutional discrimination, the 18th century saw secret, militant societies develop in communities in the region and act on sectarian tensions in violent attacks. Following this, in an attempt to quell sectarianism and force the removal of discriminatory laws, the new state, formed in 1801, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was governed from a single government and parliament based in London. Between 1717 and 1775 some 250,000 people from Ulster emigrated to the British North American colonies and it is estimated that there are more than 27 million Scotch-Irish Americans now living in the US. By the close of the century, autonomy for Ireland within the United Kingdom, in 1912, after decades of obstruction from the House of Lords, Home Rule became a near-certainty. A clash between the House of Commons and House of Lords over a controversial budget produced the Parliament Act 1911, which enabled the veto of the Lords to be overturned. The House of Lords veto had been the unionists main guarantee that Home Rule would not be enacted, in 1914, they smuggled thousands of rifles and rounds of ammunition from Imperial Germany for use by the Ulster Volunteers, a paramilitary organisation opposed to the implementation of Home Rule
12.
Christianity in Ireland
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Christianity is and has been the largest religion in Ireland. Most Christian churches are organized on a basis, including both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. In the Republic of Ireland,84. 2% of the population adheres to the Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholicism in Ireland is part of the worldwide Catholic Church. The Catholic Church in Ireland serves Catholics in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland under the leadership of Pope Francis and the Conference of Irish Bishops. In the Republic of Ireland,87. 4% of the citizens were baptised Catholic as infants while the figure for Northern Ireland is 43. 8%. Christianity had arrived in Ireland by the early 5th century, and spread through the works of early missionaries such as Palladius, the Church is organised into four provinces, however, these are not coterminous with the modern civil provincial divisions. The church is led by four archbishops and twenty-three bishops, however, because there have been amalgamations and absorptions, for instance, the diocese of Cashel has been joined with the diocese of Emly, Waterford with Lismore, and Ardagh with Clonmacnoise. The bishop of Galway is also the Apostolic Administrator of Kilfenora, there are 1,087 parishes, a few of which are governed by administrators, the remainder by parish priests. There about 3,000 secular clergy—parish priests, administrators, curates, chaplains, the total number of the regular clergy is about 700. They are engaged either in teaching or in giving missions, Irish travellers have traditionally adopted a very particular attitude to the Catholic church, with a focus on figures such as healing priests. More generally a tradition of visions continues, often outside of Church sanction, the majority of the people of Northern Ireland are recorded as members of the various Protestant churches such as the Presbyterian Church, Church of Ireland, Methodist Church and several others. While the Roman Catholic Church is the largest single denomination in either jurisdiction, in the Republic of Ireland, approximately 3% were recorded as members of various Protestant. The proportion was more than 10% in 1891 – a drop to less than a third of the previous percentage, the percentage in 2011 is almost 5%. In 1861, only the west coast and Kilkenny had less than 6% Protestant population, Dublin and two of the border counties had over 20% Protestant. By 1991, however, all counties had fewer than 6% Protestants, there are no counties in the Republic of Ireland which have experienced a rise in the relative Protestant population over the period 1861 to 1991. The counties which retain the highest proportion of Protestants tend to be those which started off with a large proportion, in Northern Ireland, only counties Londonderry, Tyrone and Armagh have experienced a significant loss of relative Protestant population, though at a lesser rate than in the Republic. The Church of Ireland is a province of the Anglican Communion, operating across the island of Ireland. The reformed Church in Ireland then became the church, assuming possession of most church property
13.
Republic of Ireland
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Ireland, also known as the Republic of Ireland, is a sovereign state in north-western Europe occupying about five-sixths of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, which is located on the part of the island. The state shares its land border with Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom. It is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the Celtic Sea to the south, Saint Georges Channel to the south-east, and it is a unitary, parliamentary republic. The head of government is the Taoiseach, who is elected by the Dáil and appointed by the President, the state was created as the Irish Free State in 1922 as a result of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. It was officially declared a republic in 1949, following the Republic of Ireland Act 1948, Ireland became a member of the United Nations in December 1955. It joined the European Economic Community, the predecessor of the European Union, after joining the EEC, Ireland enacted a series of liberal economic policies that resulted in rapid economic growth. The country achieved considerable prosperity between the years of 1995 and 2007, which known as the Celtic Tiger period. This was halted by a financial crisis that began in 2008. However, as the Irish economy was the fastest growing in the EU in 2015, Ireland is again quickly ascending league tables comparing wealth and prosperity internationally. For example, in 2015, Ireland was ranked as the joint sixth most developed country in the world by the United Nations Human Development Index and it also performs well in several national performance metrics, including freedom of the press, economic freedom and civil liberties. Ireland is a member of the European Union and is a member of the Council of Europe. The 1922 state, comprising 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland, was styled, the Constitution of Ireland, adopted in 1937, provides that the name of the State is Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland. Section 2 of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 states, It is hereby declared that the description of the State shall be the Republic of Ireland. The 1948 Act does not name the state as Republic of Ireland, because to have done so would have put it in conflict with the Constitution. The government of the United Kingdom used the name Eire, and, from 1949, Republic of Ireland, for the state, as well as Ireland, Éire or the Republic of Ireland, the state is also referred to as the Republic, Southern Ireland or the South. In an Irish republican context it is referred to as the Free State or the 26 Counties. From the Act of Union on 1 January 1801, until 6 December 1922, during the Great Famine, from 1845 to 1849, the islands population of over 8 million fell by 30%
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Church of Ireland
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The Church of Ireland is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on a basis and is the second-largest Christian church on the island after the Catholic Church in Ireland. Like other Anglican churches, it has retained elements of pre-Reformation practice, notably its episcopal polity, nevertheless, in theological and liturgical matters, it incorporates many principles of the Reformation, particularly those espoused during the English Reformation. The church self identifies as being both Catholic and Reformed, within the church, differences exist between those members who are more Catholic-leaning and those who are more Protestant-leaning. For historical and cultural reasons, the Church of Ireland is generally identified as a Protestant church, the Church of Ireland is the second-largest in the Republic of Ireland, with around 130,000 members, and the third-largest in Northern Ireland, with around 260,000 members. The Church of Ireland describes itself as part of the Irish Church which was influenced by the Reformation. However, the Church of Ireland is also Protestant, or Reformed, since it opposes doctrines and ways of worshiping that it considers contrary to scripture and which led to the Reformation. When the Church of England broke communion with the Holy See, all, the church then became the established church of Ireland, assuming possession of most church property. This church-state link was vigorously applied when the Normans came to Ireland in the 12th century, Bishops were required to do homage to the king for their lands, just like earls and barons, who were vassals of the crown. It was therefore accepted, both during and after the Reformation, that the crown should continue to exercise authority over the church. In this way, church property that existed at the time of the Reformation, in Ireland, the substantial majority of the population continued to adhere to Roman Catholicism, despite the political and economic advantages of membership in the state church. Legitimacy for the Norman invasion of Ireland was derived from a Papal Bull of 1155 – Laudabiliter, the bull gave King Henry II of England authority to invade Ireland ostensibly as a means of reforming the church in Ireland more directly under the control of the Holy See. The authorisation from the Holy See was based upon the Donation of Constantine which made every Christian island in the western Roman Empire the property of the Papacy. The Church of Ireland is the second largest church in Ireland, the Church of Ireland began as a reformed church independent of the Catholic Church in 1536 when the Irish Parliament declared King Henry VIII to be the Supreme Head of the Church on earth. He would not legally become king of Ireland until 1541, adrian granted Henry II the Lordship of Ireland, thus, Henrys assumption of the title of King had less to do with dispossessing the native Irish kings than with confronting the Pope. The reformation commenced mainly in Dublin under the auspices of George Browne during Henrys reign, when the Church of England was reformed under King Edward VI of England, so too was the Church of Ireland. All but two of the Irish bishops appointed by Queen Mary accepted the Elizabethan Settlement, although the vast majority of priests, the Church of Ireland claims Apostolic succession because of the unbroken continuity of the episcopal hierarchy, however, this is disputed by the Roman Catholic Church. In this way, they were able to conform to the established church whilst at the same time continuing to worship. in the traditional
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Plantation of Ulster
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The Plantation of Ulster was the organised colonisation of Ulster – a province of Ireland – by people from Great Britain during the reign of King James I. Most of the came from Scotland and England. Small private plantation by wealthy landowners began in 1606, while the plantation began in 1609. Most of counties Antrim and Down were privately colonised, colonising Ulster with loyal settlers was seen as a way to prevent further rebellion, as it had been the region most resistant to English control during the preceding century. King James wanted the Plantation to be an enterprise that would settle Protestants in Ulster. The Lord Deputy of Ireland, Arthur Chichester, also saw the Plantation as a scheme to anglicise the Irish, accordingly, the colonists were required to be English-speaking and Protestant. Some of the undertakers and colonists however were Catholic and it has suggested that a significant number of the Scots spoke Gaelic. The Scottish colonists were mostly Presbyterian and the English mostly members of the Church of England, the Plantation of Ulster was the biggest of the Plantations of Ireland. Prior to its conquest in the Nine Years War of the 1590s, Ulster had been the most Gaelic part of Ireland, the area was underdeveloped by mainland European standards of the time, and it possessed few towns or villages. Throughout the 16th century, Ulster was viewed by the English as being underpopulated and undeveloped, an early attempt at plantation of the north of Ireland in the 1570s on the east coast of Ulster by Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex, had failed. Many of the Gaelic Irish lived by creaghting and, as a result, the wars fought among Gaelic clans and between the Gaelic and English undoubtedly contributed to depopulation. By 1600 Ulsters total adult population according to Perceval-Maxwell was only 25,000 to 40,000 people. The 16th century English conquest of Ireland was made piece by piece starting in the reign of Henry VIII, during these wars the force of the semi-independent chieftains was broken. The Nine Years War of 1594–1603 provided the background to the Plantation. A confederation of northern Gaelic Chieftains, led by Hugh ONeill, the terms of surrender granted to the rebels were generous, with the principal condition that lands formerly contested by feudal right and Brehon law be held under English law. This would have included grants of land to native Irish lords who had sided with the English during the war. However, the plan was interrupted by the rebellion in 1608 of Sir Cahir ODoherty of Inishowen, the brief rebellion was suppressed by Sir Richard Wingfield at the Battle of Kilmacrennan. After ODohertys death his lands in Inishowen were granted out by the state and this episode prompted Chichester to expand his plans to expropriate the legal titles of all native landowners in the province
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Church of Scotland
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The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is the national church of Scotland. Protestant and Presbyterian, its decision to respect liberty of opinion in points which do not enter into the substance of the Faith. Means it is tolerant of a variety of theological positions, including those who would term themselves conservative and liberal in their doctrine, ethics. The Church of Scotland traces its roots back to the beginnings of Christianity in Scotland, while the Church of Scotland traces its roots back to the earliest Christians in Scotland, its identity was principally shaped by the Scottish Reformation of 1560. At that point, many in the church in Scotland broke with Rome, in a process of Protestant reform led, among others. It reformed its doctrines and government, drawing on the principles of John Calvin which Knox had been exposed to living in Geneva. The 1560 Reformation Settlement was not ratified by the crown, as the monarch, Mary, Queen of Scots, a Catholic, refused to do so, and the question of church government also remained unresolved. In 1572 the acts of 1560 were finally approved by the young King James VI, the son of Queen Mary, melville and his supporters enjoyed some temporary successes—most notably in the Golden Act of 1592, which gave parliamentary approval to Presbyterian courts. By the time he died in 1625, the Church of Scotland had a panel of bishops and archbishops. General Assemblies met only at times and places approved by the Crown, Charles I inherited a settlement in Scotland based on a balanced compromise between Calvinist doctrine and episcopal practice. Lacking the political judgement of his father, he began to upset this by moving into dangerous areas. Disapproving of the plainness of the Scottish service he, together with his Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud, the centrepiece of this new strategy was the Prayer Book of 1637, a slightly modified version of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. Although this was devised by a panel of Scottish bishops, Charles insistence that it be drawn up in secret, when the Prayer Book was finally introduced at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh in mid-1637 it caused an outbreak of rioting, which spread across Scotland. In November 1638, the General Assembly in Glasgow, the first to meet for twenty years, not only declared the Prayer Book unlawful, the Church of Scotland was then established on a Presbyterian basis. Charles attempt at resistance to these developments led to the outbreak of the Bishops Wars, in the ensuing civil wars, the Scots Covenanters at one point made common cause with the English parliamentarians—resulting in the Westminster Confession of Faith being agreed by both. This document remains the standard of the Church of Scotland. Episcopacy was reintroduced to Scotland after the Restoration, the cause of discontent, especially in the south-west of the country. To reduce their influence the Scots Parliament guaranteed Presbyterian governance of the Church by law, controversy still surrounded the relationship between the Church of Scotlands independence and the civil law of Scotland
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Covenanter
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The Covenanters were a Scottish Presbyterian movement that played an important part in the history of Scotland, and to a lesser extent that of England and Ireland, during the 17th century. Presbyterian denominations tracing their history to the Covenanters and often incorporating the name continue the ideas and traditions in Scotland and internationally. They derived their name from the word covenant meaning a band, legal document or agreement, there were two important covenants in Scottish history, the National Covenant and the Solemn League and Covenant. Based on the Scots Confession of Faith of 1560, this document denounced the Pope, in 1637, Scotland was in a state of turmoil. King Charles I and William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, met with a reverse in their efforts to impose a new liturgy on the Scots. Fearing further measures on the part of the King, it occurred to Archibald Johnston to revive the Negative Confession of 1581 in a suited to the times. Together with the cooperation of Alexander Henderson, this National Covenant was finalized in early 1638, the Covenant was adopted and signed by a large gathering in the kirkyard of Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh, on 28 February 1638, after which copies were sent throughout the country for signing. The subscribers engaged by oath to maintain religion in the form that it existed in 1580 and it did not specifically reject episcopacy but in effect undermined it. The year 1638 marked an apex of events for the Covenanters, confrontations occurred in several parts of Scotland, such as the one with the Bishops of Aberdeen by a high level assembly of Covenanters staging their operations from Muchalls Castle. The General Assembly of 1638 was composed of ardent Covenanters, and in 1640 the Covenant was adopted by the Scottish parliament, before this date, the Covenanters were usually referred to as Supplicants, but from about this time the former designation began to prevail. The Covenanters raised an army to resist Charles Is religious reforms, the crisis that this caused to the Stuart monarchy helped bring about the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, which included the English Civil War, the Scottish Civil War and Irish Confederate Wars. For the following ten years of war in Britain, the Covenanters were the de facto government of Scotland. In 1642, they sent an army to Ulster in Ireland to protect the Scottish settlers there from the Irish Catholic rebels who had attacked them in the Irish Rebellion of 1641. The Scottish army remained in Ireland until the end of the civil wars, a further Covenanter military intervention began in 1643. Following considerable debate, a document called the Solemn League and Covenant was drawn up and it did not explicitly mention Presbyterianism and included some ambiguous formulations that left the door open to Independency. It was subscribed to by many in both kingdoms and also in Ireland, and was approved by the English Parliament, and with slight modifications by the Westminster Assembly of Divines. This agreement meant that the Covenanters sent another army south to England to fight on the Parliamentarian side in the First English Civil War, the Scottish armies in England were instrumental in bringing about the victory of the English Parliament over the King. In turn, this sparked the outbreak of war in Scotland in 1644–47
18.
Irish Rebellion of 1641
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The Irish Rebellion of 1641 began as an attempted coup détat by Irish Catholic gentry, who tried to seize control of the English administration in Ireland to force concessions for Catholics. The coup failed and the rebellion developed into a conflict between native Irish Catholics on one side, and English and Scottish Protestant settlers on the other. This began a conflict known as the Irish Confederate Wars, in turn, the rebels suspected association with Charles helped start the English Civil War. The English and Scottish Parliaments refused to raise an army to put down the rebellion unless it was under their command rather than the Kings. The Confederation became a de facto government of most of Ireland, free from the control of the English administration, the subsequent Irish Confederate Wars continued in Ireland until the 1650s, when Oliver Cromwells New Model Army decisively defeated the Irish Catholics and Royalists, and re-conquered the country. The roots of the 1641 rebellion lay in the failure of the English State in Ireland to assimilate the native Irish elite in the wake of the Elizabethan conquest and plantation of the country. The pre-Elizabethan Irish population is divided into the Old Irish. These groups were historically antagonistic, with English settled areas such as the Pale around Dublin, south Wexford, by the seventeenth century, the cultural divide between these groups, especially at elite social levels, was declining. Many English lords not only spoke the Irish language, but extensively patronised Irish poetry and music, the 16th and early 17th century English conquest of Ireland was marked by large scale confiscation and colonisation of land, known as the Plantations, notably in Ulster and Munster. These were mass dispossessions of Irish landowners who had rebelled against the crown, and sometimes their workers, and the granting of their land to colonists from England and Scotland. The main effect of this was the dispossession of formerly powerful Irish clan leaders, such as the ONeills and the ODonnells, other Catholic lords, such as the Magennis clan in County Down, sold much of their land to new settlers by the 1630s. Many of the exiles found service as mercenaries in the Catholic armies of Spain, in Ireland itself, though the resentment caused by the plantations was one of the principal causes for the outbreak and spread of the rebellion. In 1641 60% of land belonged to Catholics. This was prevented by two factors, firstly their religious dissidence, and secondly the threat posed to them by the extension of the Plantations, the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605 curtailed the rights of wealthy Irish Catholics, who had not been involved in the plot. Anglicanism was the only approved form of worship of the Three Kingdoms, non-attendance at Protestant church services was punishable by recusant fines and the public practice of unapproved faiths by arrest. Catholics could not hold senior offices of state, or serve above a rank in the army. The Irish privy council was dominated by English Protestants, the constituencies of the Irish House of Commons were increased, giving Protestants a majority of 108–102 in it, from the session of 1613. The Irish House of Lords still had a considerable Catholic majority that enabled it to block most, moreover, the Irish Parliaments legislation had to be approved by the English Parliament under a 15th-century ordinance known as Poynings Law
19.
Oliver Cromwell
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Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader and later Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Cromwell was born into the gentry, albeit to a family descended from the sister of King Henry VIIIs minister Thomas Cromwell. Little is known of the first 40 years of his life as only four of his letters survive alongside a summary of a speech he delivered in 1628. He became an Independent Puritan after undergoing a conversion in the 1630s. He was a religious man, a self-styled Puritan Moses. He was elected Member of Parliament for Huntingdon in 1628 and for Cambridge in the Short and he entered the English Civil War on the side of the Roundheads or Parliamentarians. Cromwell was one of the signatories of King Charles Is death warrant in 1649 and he was selected to take command of the English campaign in Ireland in 1649–1650. Cromwells forces defeated the Confederate and Royalist coalition in Ireland and occupied the country, during this period, a series of Penal Laws were passed against Roman Catholics, and a substantial amount of their land was confiscated. Cromwell also led a campaign against the Scottish army between 1650 and 1651, as a ruler, he executed an aggressive and effective foreign policy. He died from natural causes in 1658 and was buried in Westminster Abbey, the Royalists returned to power in 1660, and they had his corpse dug up, hung in chains, and beheaded. In a 2002 BBC poll in Britain, Cromwell, sponsored by military historian Richard Holmes was selected as one of the ten greatest Britons of all time. However, his measures against Catholics in Scotland and Ireland have been characterised as genocidal or near-genocidal, Cromwell was born in Huntingdon on 25 April 1599 to Robert Cromwell and Elizabeth Steward. Katherine married Morgan ap William, son of William ap Yevan of Wales, Henry suggested to Sir Richard Williams, who was the first to use a surname in his family, that he use Cromwell, in honour of his uncle Thomas Cromwell. They had ten children, but Oliver, the child, was the only boy to survive infancy. Jasper was the uncle of Henry VII and great uncle of Henry VIII, Cromwells paternal grandfather Sir Henry Williams was one of the two wealthiest landowners in Huntingdonshire. Cromwells father Robert was of modest means but still a part of the gentry class, as a younger son with many siblings, Robert inherited only a house at Huntingdon and a small amount of land. This land would have generated an income of up to £300 a year, near the bottom of the range of gentry incomes, Cromwell himself in 1654 said, I was by birth a gentleman, living neither in considerable height, nor yet in obscurity. He was baptised on 29 April 1599 at St Johns Church and he went on to study at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, then a recently founded college with a strong Puritan ethos
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State religion
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A state religion is a religious body or creed officially endorsed by the state. A state with a religion, while not secular, is not necessarily a theocracy – a country whose rulers have in their hands both secular and spiritual authority. Official religions have been known throughout history in almost all types of cultures. They were adopted by most ancient states, both monoethnic and polyethnic, and observing them was a requirement made to all citizens, official religions justified and reinforced the type of government existing in a society. Sanctifying it as the most, or the only, correct one, they put forward and/or supported ideas of its expansion to other lands. Closely related to churches are what sociologists call ecclesiae, though the two are slightly different. The institution of state-sponsored religious cults is ancient, reaching into the Ancient Near East, the relation of religious cult and the state was discussed by Varro, under the term of theologia civilis. The first state-sponsored Christian church was the Armenian Apostolic Church, established in 301 AD, rulers of Saudi Arabia use both secular and religious power, while Irans secular presidents are supposed to follow the decisions of religious authorities since the revolution of 1979. The degree and nature of state backing for denomination or creed designated as a religion can vary. It can range from mere endorsement with freedom for other faiths to practice, to prohibiting any competing religious body from operating, in these cases, state religions are widely seen as efforts by the state to prevent alternate sources of authority. There is also a difference between a church and the broader term of state religion. A state church is a state created by a state for use exclusively by that state. In either case, the state religion has some influence over the ruling of the state. As of 2012, there are five state churches left. Disestablishment is the process of repealing a churchs status as an organ of the state, opponents of disestablishment of the Church of England were known as antidisestablishmentarians. Currently, the following religions have established as state religions in some countries. All are versions of Christianity, Islam or Buddhism, Liechtenstein, the constitution of Liechtenstein describes the Catholic Church as the state religion and enjoying the full protection of the State. The constitution does however ensure that people of other faiths shall be entitled to practise their creeds and to religious services to the extent consistent with morality
21.
William III of England
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It is a coincidence that his regnal number was the same for both Orange and England. As King of Scotland, he is known as William II and he is informally known by sections of the population in Northern Ireland and Scotland as King Billy. William inherited the principality of Orange from his father, William II and his mother Mary, Princess Royal, was the daughter of King Charles I of England. In 1677, he married his fifteen-year-old first cousin, Mary, a Protestant, William participated in several wars against the powerful Catholic king of France, Louis XIV, in coalition with Protestant and Catholic powers in Europe. Many Protestants heralded him as a champion of their faith, in 1685, his Catholic father-in-law, James, Duke of York, became king of England, Ireland and Scotland. Jamess reign was unpopular with the Protestant majority in Britain, William, supported by a group of influential British political and religious leaders, invaded England in what became known as the Glorious Revolution. On 5 November 1688, he landed at the southern English port of Brixham, James was deposed and William and Mary became joint sovereigns in his place. They reigned together until her death on 28 December 1694, after which William ruled as sole monarch, Williams reputation as a staunch Protestant enabled him to take the British crowns when many were fearful of a revival of Catholicism under James. Williams victory at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 is still commemorated by the Orange Order and his reign in Britain marked the beginning of the transition from the personal rule of the Stuarts to the more Parliament-centred rule of the House of Hanover. William III was born in The Hague in the Dutch Republic on 4 November 1650, baptised William Henry, he was the only child of stadtholder William II, Prince of Orange, and Mary, Princess Royal. Mary was the eldest daughter of King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland, eight days before William was born, his father died of smallpox, thus William was the Sovereign Prince of Orange from the moment of his birth. Immediately, a conflict ensued between his mother the Princess Royal and William IIs mother, Amalia of Solms-Braunfels, over the name to be given to the infant. Mary wanted to name him Charles after her brother, but her mother-in-law insisted on giving him the name William or Willem to bolster his prospects of becoming stadtholder. William II had appointed his wife as his sons guardian in his will, however, Williams mother showed little personal interest in her son, sometimes being absent for years, and had always deliberately kept herself apart from Dutch society. Williams education was first laid in the hands of several Dutch governesses, some of English descent, including Walburg Howard, from April 1656, the prince received daily instruction in the Reformed religion from the Calvinist preacher Cornelis Trigland, a follower of the Contra-Remonstrant theologian Gisbertus Voetius. The ideal education for William was described in Discours sur la nourriture de S. H. Monseigneur le Prince dOrange, in these lessons, the prince was taught that he was predestined to become an instrument of Divine Providence, fulfilling the historical destiny of the House of Orange. From early 1659, William spent seven years at the University of Leiden for a formal education, under the guidance of ethics professor Hendrik Bornius. While residing in the Prinsenhof at Delft, William had a personal retinue including Hans Willem Bentinck, and a new governor, Frederick Nassau de Zuylenstein
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James II of England
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James II and VII was King of England and Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685 until he was deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. He was the last Roman Catholic monarch of England, Scotland and Ireland, the second surviving son of Charles I, he ascended the throne upon the death of his brother, Charles II. Members of Britains Protestant political elite increasingly suspected him of being pro-French and pro-Catholic and he was replaced by his eldest, Protestant daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange. James made one attempt to recover his crowns from William. After the defeat of the Jacobite forces by the Williamites at the Battle of the Boyne in July 1690 and he lived out the rest of his life as a pretender at a court sponsored by his cousin and ally, King Louis XIV. James, the surviving son of King Charles I and his wife. Later that same year, he was baptised by William Laud and he was educated by private tutors, along with his brother, the future King Charles II, and the two sons of the Duke of Buckingham, George and Francis Villiers. At the age of three, James was appointed Lord High Admiral, the position was honorary, but would become a substantive office after the Restoration. He was designated Duke of York at birth, invested with the Order of the Garter in 1642, as the Kings disputes with the English Parliament grew into the English Civil War, James stayed in Oxford, a Royalist stronghold. When the city surrendered after the siege of Oxford in 1646, in 1648, he escaped from the Palace, aided by Joseph Bampfield, and from there he went to The Hague in disguise. When Charles I was executed by the rebels in 1649, monarchists proclaimed Jamess older brother as Charles II of England, Charles II was recognised as king by the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of Ireland, and was crowned King of Scotland at Scone in 1651. Although he was proclaimed King in Jersey, Charles was unable to secure the crown of England and consequently fled to France, like his brother, James sought refuge in France, serving in the French army under Turenne against the Fronde, and later against their Spanish allies. In the French army James had his first true experience of battle where, according to one observer, he ventures himself, in the meantime, Charles was attempting to reclaim his throne, but France, although hosting the exiles, had allied itself with Oliver Cromwell. In 1656, Charles turned instead to Spain – an enemy of France – for support, in consequence, James was expelled from France and forced to leave Turennes army. James quarrelled with his brother over the choice of Spain over France. In 1659, the French and Spanish made peace, James, doubtful of his brothers chances of regaining the throne, considered taking a Spanish offer to be an admiral in their navy. Ultimately, he declined the position, by the year the situation in England had changed. After Richard Cromwells resignation as Lord Protector in 1659 and the subsequent collapse of the Commonwealth in 1660, although James was the heir presumptive, it seemed unlikely that he would inherit the Crown, as Charles was still a young man capable of fathering children
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