Preaching at the Court of James II, 1685–1688

Abstract

This article focuses on court sermons delivered to James II in his Catholic Chapel Royal between 1685 and 1688. It discusses James’s overtly pro-Catholic propaganda campaign, of which his Catholic court sermons were a prominent part. These court sermons, printed by royal command, were part of the campaign by which James hoped Protestants would convert to Catholicism if they had access to rational defences of the Catholic faith, and if Catholics were free from prosecution. The article also argues that court preachers continued to attack the court for its immorality, despite the conventional image we have of James successfully reforming the court’s morals after its hedonism under Charles II. It demonstrates the centrality of James’s Chapel Royal in debates on Catholicism, loyalty and morality, and shows how Restoration society closely observed, and responded to, those debates.