JAMES II & VII: (1633-1701) King of England & Ireland and King of Scotland (as James VII) 1685-88.

D.S., James R, as King, at the head, one page, folio, Court at Whitehall, London, 11th April 1685. The manuscript Warrant is addressed to Francis, Lord Guilford, Keeper of the Great Seal, and states, in part, 'Whereas Our Most Deare Brother the late King deceased did by his Letters Patents bearing date the 12th day of January last past grant the Deanary and Church of Bristoll with all its Rights and Priviledges unto Richard Thompson ... who was instituted thereunto, but the Mandate for his Instalment becoming voyd by the Demise of Our said Most Deare Brother, the said Dr Thompson hath humbly besought Us to direct a New Mandate', further requesting Lord Guilford to direct 'the Canons of the said Church to install the said Deane ... in pursuance of Our said most Deare Brothers Royall Intention…' so as 'the same might have been done & compleated if the Demise ... had not hapned ...' Countersigned ('Sunderland') at the foot Robert Spencer (1641-1702) 2nd Earl of Sunderland. English Nobleman and Statesman, Secretary of State for the Southern Department 1682-88. With blind embossed seal at the head. With blank integral leaf. An attractive, clean document. VGA fine, early document signed by King James just two months into his reign.Francis North (1637-1685) 1st Baron Guilford. British Lawyer, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal 1682-85, succeeding Lord Nottingham.Richard Thompson, English Vicar of St. Mary Redcliffe in Bristol. King Charles II had presented him to the Deanery of Bristol on 12th May 1684, and again on 7th January 1685 owing to a clerical error. He was instituted on 2nd February (that is, to the temporalities of his post) but King Charles died on the 6th February 1685, just four days later. Thompson was re-instituted by the present document, and installed by the Cathedral Chapter on 24th May 1685, but himself died the following 29th November 1685.James II and VII was the last Roman Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland. King James is remembered for his struggles with the English Parliament and his attempts to create religious liberty for English Roman Catholics and Protestant nonconformists, against the wishes of the Anglican establishment. Parliament, opposed to the growth of absolutism that was occurring in other European countries, as well as to the loss of legal supremacy of the Church of England, saw their opposition as a way to preserve what they regarded as traditional English liberties. This tension made King James's four-year reign a struggle for supremacy between the English Parliament and the Crown, resulting in his deposition in the Glorious Revolution of 1688, and the passage of the Bill of Rights (1689).