Waverley

In 1534, King Henry VIII passed several laws that separated England from the dominion of the Roman Catholic Church, creating the Protestant Church of England and naming the English monarch as its leader. During this time and over the centuries that followed, Protestants and Catholics battled for control over England and its religious identity, leading to significant anti-Catholic sentiment. In 1688, the events known as the Glorious Revolution led to the dethroning of the Catholic King James II of the House of Stuart. James II was also King James VII of Scotland; the thrones had been merged by his grandfather, James I and VI, in 1603. Once James was forced to step down, a series of Protestant Stuart monarchs occupied the throne, beginning with James’s daughter Mary II. In 1701, the Act of Settlement was passed, which legally disinherited any non-Protestant members of the royal family from their place in the line of succession. When Queen Anne died without a living heir in 1714, the crown went to a very distant German relative, George I, the Elector of Hanover. While many British people supported the Hanoverians and their claim to the throne, some continued to recognize the Stuart line as the rightful successors to the throne.