Editing Glorious Revolution (section)

===The political background in England===
[[File:Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|James's attempts to allow tolerance for English Catholics coincided with the October 1685 [[Edict of Fontainebleau]] revoking it for [[Huguenots]].]]

While James's supporters viewed hereditary succession as more important than his personal Catholicism, they opposed his policies of 'Tolerance' under which Catholics would be allowed to hold public office and engage in public life. Opposition was led by devout [[Anglicanism|Anglicans]]{{Sfn|Harris|1993|p=124}} who argued that the measures he proposed were incompatible with the oath he had sworn as king to uphold the supremacy of the Church of England. According to opponents, demanding that Parliament approve his measures James was not only to be breaking his own word but requiring others to do the same. Parliament refused to comply, despite being "the most [[Loyal Parliament]] a [[House of Stuart|Stuart]] ever had".{{Sfn|Wakeling|1896|p=91}}

Although historians generally accept James wished to promote Catholicism, not establish an [[absolute monarchy]], his stubborn and inflexible reaction to opposition had the same result. When the English and Scottish Parliaments refused to repeal the 1678 and 1681 [[Test Act]]s, he suspended them in November 1685 and ruled by decree. Attempts to form a 'King's party' of Catholics, [[English Dissenters]] and dissident Scottish Presbyterians was politically short-sighted, since it rewarded those who joined the 1685 rebellions and undermined his supporters.{{Sfn|Harris|2006|pp=179–181}}

Demanding tolerance for Catholics was also badly timed. In October 1685 [[Louis XIV of France]] issued the [[Edict of Fontainebleau]] revoking the 1598 [[Edict of Nantes]] which had given [[Huguenots|French Protestants]] the right to practise their religion; over the next four years, an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 went into exile, 40,000 of whom settled in London.{{Sfn|Spielvogel|1980|p=410}} Combined with Louis's expansionist policies and the killing of 2,000 [[Savoyard-Waldensian Wars|Vaudois Protestants]] in 1686, it led to fears Protestant Europe was threatened by a Catholic counter-reformation.{{Sfn|Bosher|1994|pp=6–8}} These concerns were reinforced by events in Ireland; the [[Lord Deputy of Ireland|Lord Deputy]], the [[Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell|Earl of Tyrconnell]], wanted to create a Catholic establishment able to survive James's death, which meant replacing Protestant officials at a pace that was inherently destabilising.{{Sfn|Harris|2006|p=103}}