Back to the Stuarts calendar
With all these illegitimate children and no legitimate ones, people were getting a bit worried as Charles’ brother, James,
was a Catholic. So, in1673 Charles agreed a new law that said no Catholics could hold public office. This was a bit of a bummer for James, who was not only a
Catholic but also the Lord High Admiral. After the law he was only a Catholic as he wouldn’t swear the oath required but, as we will see, when Charles died in
1685 with no children, James became a Catholic and a King. Now, in a protestant country this was a bit of a worry and you will see how it all panned out soon.
The law, called the Test Act, required all public office holders to accept communion in the Protestant form and swear an oath of allegiance
recognising the monarch as the head of the Church of England.
At this point I should tell you, for reasons you will see later, that James’s daughter, Mary Stuart, got married to the Dutch Protestant Prince
William of Orange in 1677. Although both her mother and father had converted to Catholicism, Mary was brought up a Protestant and this was good news for her
in about 10 years’ time.
Forward to 1678AD
