The Seven Bishops were members of the Church of England tried and acquitted for seditious libel in the Court of Kings Bench in June 1688. The very unpopular prosecution of the bishops is viewed as a significant event contributing to the November 1688 Glorious Revolution and deposition of James II.
The Seven Bishops
James II; attempts to impose the Declaration of Indulgence destroyed his support base
Henry Compton, Bishop of London; already suspended by James, he was not one of the Seven but played a significant role in the petition
Lord Jeffreys, the Lord Chancellor, who urged James not to prosecute
The Glorious Revolution is the sequence of events that led to the deposition of James II and VII in November 1688. He was replaced by his daughter Mary II and her Dutch husband, William III of Orange, who was also his nephew. The two ruled as joint monarchs of England, Scotland, and Ireland until Mary's death in 1694. The Revolution itself was relatively bloodless, but pro-Stuart revolts between 1689 and 1746 caused significant casualties, while the political movement known as Jacobitism persisted into the late 18th century. William's invasion was the last successful invasion of England.
The Prince of Orange landing at Torbay as depicted in an illustration by Jan Hoynck van Papendrecht
James II & VII, King of England, Scotland and Ireland, by Godfrey Kneller, National Portrait Gallery, London
James's attempts to allow tolerance for English Catholics coincided with the October 1685 Edict of Fontainebleau revoking it for Huguenots.
The Seven Bishops prosecuted for seditious libel in 1688