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The Welsh Response to the Glorious Revolution of 1688 Craig D. Wood The final months of 1688 and the early months of 1689 witnessed a series of events which have collectively been termed the 'Glorious Revolution'. King James II, a Roman Catholic committed to easing the restrictions of worship imposed upon his brethren, ascended the throne in 1685. In 1687 he had is- sued, independently of his advisors, a Declaration of Indulgence which re- lieved Nonconformists of their obligation to attend service and receive the sacrament within the established Anglican church. Fearing the growth of dis- senting churches, Anglican churchmen were horrified, and politicians urged James to call a parliament. His refusal to do so, and the birth of his Roman Catholic son and heir who would perpetuate a Roman Catholic monarchy, prompted the Earl of Shrewsbury, the Lords Danby and Lumley, the Ambas- sador to the Hague, Henry Sidney and the Bishop of London, Henry Compton, to write to the Protestant Prince William of Orange, husband of James's daugh- ter Mary. They urged him to come to England to maintain the Protestant reli- gion and the laws and liberties of the country. William arrived at Torbay in Devon in November 1688, and with James's flight to France in the following month the throne was declared vacant. At the insistence of Mary, she and William were crowned as King William III and Queen Mary II in joint sover- eignty in February 1689.1 Across the composite kingdoms of the United Kingdom the 'Glorious Revolution' sparked a considerable response. In Scotland, every single bishop within the Scottish Kirk refused to swear allegiance to William, and he was forced to accept the formation of a Presbyterian church. In Ireland, allegiance to James II and resistance to William opened a chapter in Irish history that continues to be controversial to the present day.2 In England, and more spe- cifically in London, debate raged as to the legality of the revolution. Mary's legitimacy was doubted because she had usurped her own father, and the manner of his departure also proved controversial as politicians and clerics alike debated whether James's flight constituted desertion, or whether he had been compelled to leave. For the Anglican church, the enforced removal of a monarch evoked passionate, prolonged and often public discussion on the