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William King and the threats to the Church of Ireland during the reign of James II

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

Andrew Carpenter
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Extract

During the latter part of the reign of James II, the Church of Ireland was in a position of considerable delicacy. On the one hand, there was a real fear that the church would face annihilation at the hands of the ruling administration; if the threats of the catholic population had come to fruition, if the statutes passed by the Jacobite parliament of 1689 had been put into effect or if the Tyrconnell administration had remained in power any longer than it did, this fear would almost certainly have been realized. On the other hand, by the spring of 1689, Anglican churchmen could see that a Williamite victory might spell for them—as it did for the Church of Scotland—summary disestablishment. Most Irish Anglicans had already fled to England, thereby lending support to the Williamites; the northern presbyterians had actually taken up arms on the Williamite side. Only the remnant of the Church of Ireland left in Dublin seemed to be disloyal to the protestant king: and this remnant, to save its skin, had to continue outwardly loyal to its de jure and de facto monarch, James II. Whatever the outcome of the war which they all foresaw, the leaders of the remnant of the Church of Ireland can have held little hope for the future. A Jacobite victory would almost certainly mean the triumph of the catholic church and the despoiling of the Church of Ireland: a Williamite victory might well mean the triumph of the presbyterians and a partial disestablishment. In either case the Church of Ireland, dependent for its very existence on a firm establishment, would founder.

Type
Articles
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 18 , Issue 69 , March 1972 , pp. 22 - 28
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 1972

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References

1 For evidence of King’s Williamite sympathies, see George Toilet to King, 22 Feb. 1689, T.C.D., Lyons MS 67. In this letter Toilet, King’s unofficial representative in London and at this time a clerk in the navy office, thanks King for sending earlier information which Toilet has passed to ‘ministers of the greatest interest, amongst the rest, Mareschal Schömberg.’ Tollet asks for details of‘the quarters of all troops and companies, the number of protestants in Dublin and what houses are made garrisons.’ It was probably because letters such as this had been found in his study that King was imprisoned by the Tyrconnell administration during 1689. For evidence of Dopping’s Williamite sympathies, see Armagh Public Library, Dopping papers, MS 139.

2 T.C.D., MS F 1.22. King and Foley were appointed to administer the diocese when the archbishop, Francis Marsh, fled to England in February 1689.

3 For an analysis of these entries and a transcription and fuller discussion of King’s ‘Principles of church government’, see Andrew Isdell Carpenter, ‘Archbishop King and Dean Swift’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, U.C.D., 1970), pp 157–79 and appendix I.

4 T.C.D., MS F. 1.22, f. 268.

5 Ibid., f. 267.

6 Ibid., f. 266.

7 Ibid., f. 265v; answer to question io.

8 Ibid, f. 259v

9 T.C.D., Lyons MS 69a. The dating 1688 assigns the manuscript to the period 25 Mar. 1688-24 Mar. 1689. The most likely date for its composition is towards the end of February or during March 1689.

10 Sykes, Norman, Old priest and new presbyter (Cambridge, 1956), p. 134.Google Scholar

11 Sykes, pp 130–32.

12 King, William, An answer to the considerations which obliged Peter Manby . . to embrace … the catholick religion (Dublin, 1687), pp 6, 29, 72.Google Scholar

13 Manuscript account of King’s life, T.C.D, MS T. 2.7, p. 66. The attack was [ Boyse, Joseph] Some impartial reflections on D. Manby’s considerations & c and Mr King’s answer … (Dublin, 1687).Google Scholar This pamphlet was also published with the title Vindiciae Calvanisticae …

14 i.e., the power of ordination.

15 T.C.D, Lyons MS 69a, ff 13–14.

16 Ibid., f. H.

17 Ibid, ff 11–I2.

18 Sykes, p. 132.

19 [ Leslie, Charles], An answer to a book, intituled the state of the protestants of Ireland… (London, 1692).Google Scholar