Fear of Catholicism in England during the 1670s

From the early 1670s onwards, there was growingfear of Catholicism, absolutism and French ambitions in England, and this was only intensified by the obvious Catholicism of James, Duke o f York, as well as his marriage to the Catholic Mary of Modena, which had been arranged by Louis XIV. W ithout this strong fear of French-style Catholic absolutism the Glorious Revolution o f1688-89 would have been impossible. For almost three hundred years, the Glorious Revolution was seen as a quintessentially English event. The causes of the Revolution, however, should not be confined to England and the short reign o f James II (1685-88). The remote causes of the Glorious Revolution can only be understood within the context of European events, which should be traced back to the second half of the 1660s. The paper explores the causes and consequences o f the third Anglo-Dutch war (1672-74), which was of crucial importance in this respect.