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Ireland 1685–1714

James II's pro-Catholic policies in England

  • 3 things to know
  • A2 Unit 2

Overview

Dispensing power, decided in Godden v Hales and ecclesiastical Commission.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Numbers

What happened at Magdalen College, Oxford?

Key term

What were the three questions of 1687–88?

Key term

What was the dispensing power?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What was the dispensing power?

    Model answer

    The dispensing power was the claimed royal right to excuse a named individual from the operation of a statute, and James II used it to place Catholics in offices the Test Act closed to them.

  2. 2

    What was decided in Godden v Hales?

    Model answer

    In Godden v Hales in 1686 the judges ruled by eleven to one that the King could dispense individuals from the Test Act, a verdict obtained after James II had removed judges who would not agree.

  3. 3

    What was the Ecclesiastical Commission?

    Model answer

    The Ecclesiastical Commission was a body James II created in 1686 to exercise his authority over the Church of England, and critics said it revived the Court of High Commission that statute had abolished in 1641.

  4. 4

    What happened to Henry Compton, Bishop of London?

    Model answer

    Compton refused to suspend a clergyman who had preached against Catholicism and was himself suspended by the Ecclesiastical Commission in 1686, which showed that bishops could be disciplined for resisting royal policy.

  5. 5

    Which Catholics did James II bring into central government?

    Model answer

    James II admitted Catholic peers such as Lords Powis, Arundell, Bellasyse and Dover to the Privy Council in 1686, and in 1687 added the Jesuit Edward Petre, which Protestants regarded as a deliberate provocation.

  6. 6

    What happened at Magdalen College, Oxford?

    Model answer

    The fellows of Magdalen refused to elect the King's nominee as president in 1687 and were expelled from their fellowships, and the college was filled with Catholics, which convinced Anglicans that no corporation's property was safe.

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