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A groundplot of part of the Citty of Westminster [Showing the route of the Procession from the Hall to the Abbey of the Coronation of James II 23rd of April 1685]

A groundplot of part of the Citty of Westminster [Showing the route of the Procession from the Hall to the Abbey of the Coronation of James II 23rd of April 1685]

Medium: Engraving

Date: 1685

Shelfmark: Maps Crace Port. 11.30

Item number: 30

Length: 356

Width: 445

Scale: Millimetres

Genre: Plan

Map scale ratio: 1" : 76 feet (1 : 870)

Map scale description: 5" 1/4 : 400 feet

The route of the Coronation of King James II in 1685 was lined with His Majesty's Troop of Horses and Regiments of Footguards, represented on this map by groups of circles. At the time there were standing armies of nearly 20,000 men in British kingdoms. The procession moved from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey. James converted to Catholicism in 1669, but despite this he succeeded to the throne peacefully at the age of 51. Aiming for religious toleration, James issued the Declaration of Indulgence in 1687. The following year his son, James Stuart, was born to his second wife, the Catholic Mary of Modena, arousing fear that a Roman Catholic dynasty would be established. The Protestant husband of James's elder daughter, William of Orange, invaded on 5 November 1688 and the army and the navy rallied to William, precipitating James' escape to France. James was defeated at the Battle of the Boyne, in Ireland, when he tried to reclaim the throne in 1690. He spent the rest of his life in exile in France, dying there in 1701.

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