Synopses & Reviews
This revisionist account of a controversial figure provides a reappraisal of James' career prior to 1685, examining his roles as soldier, administrator, imperialist and entrepreneur. It shows how he held many of the most important positions in the kingdom
Synopsis
This revisionist account undermines the traditional contrast seen between James as Duke and James as King by examining his career prior to his coronation in 1685. James held many of the most important positions in the kingdom, including Governor and Proprietor of New York and Governor of the Hudson Bay Company, and exercised a degree of power and patronage second only to that of the king. However, his failure to harness political support, or to present an acceptable public image to his brother's subjects, effectively destabilized English politics for a generation. Callow shows how his obstinacy and authoritarianism rendered him, as one contemporary pamphleteer had it, "an impolitick prince".