Seven Bishops

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.

In November 1685, James II dismissed the Parliament of England for refusing to pass measures removing legal restrictions on Catholics and Protestant Nonconformists. In August 1686, the Parliament of Scotland suffered the same fate and neither body met again until 1689. James nevertheless imposed the measures in April 1687 though a royal Declaration of Indulgence which was widely opposed in both countries, including by Nonconformists who feared this would jeopardise their hopes of readmission to the Church of England.

The Declaration was reissued in April 1688, and James ordered the English bishops to have it read in every church. The seven signed a petition to be excused from this duty, arguing it relied on an interpretation of Royal authority declared illegal by Parliament. After the petition was printed and publicly distributed, the bishops were charged with seditious libel and held in the Tower of London. They were tried and found not guilty on 30 June.

Most Protestants had been willing to tolerate James' personal Catholicism, since he seemed unlikely to produce more children and the heir was his Protestant daughter Mary II of England. The unexpected birth of his son James Francis on 10 June meant the prospect of a Catholic dynasty, and the indictment of the bishops seen as part of a wider attack on the Church of England. The trial led to anti-Catholic riots throughout England and Scotland and ultimately the deposition of James in November 1688, although five of the seven bishops were subsequently removed from office for refusing to swear allegiance to his successors.