19th January The life of Lady Lucy Herbert a prominent Roman Catholic during the reign of James II and at the time of The Glorious Revolution Lady Lucy Herbert (1669 – 19 January 1744) was probably born at Powis Castle near Welshpool. Background; After 1685 King James IIs policies of religious tolerance met with increasing opposition by members of leading political circles, who were troubled by the kings Catholicism and his close ties with France. The crisis facing the king came to a head in 1688, with the birth of the Kings son, James Francis Edward Stuart. This changed the existing line of succession by displacing the heir presumptive, his daughter Mary, a Protestant and the wife of William of Orange, with young James as heir apparent. The establishment of a Roman Catholic dynasty in the kingdoms now seemed likely. However at the invitation of influential Protestant leaders, William of Orange led a large invasion fleet in 1688, which resulted in Jamess regime collapsing. James fled to France and with French assistance landed in Ireland in 1689 in an attempt to regain his throne, however he was defeated at the Battle of the Boyne on 1 July 1690 when William arrived, personally leading an army to defeat James and reassert English control. James fled to France once more, never to return to any of his former kingdoms. Lucys father was William Herbert, 1st Marquess of Powis, viscount Montgomery and steward of the royal manors in the counties of Cardigan , Carmarthen , Denbigh and Radnor, best remembered for his suffering during the Popish Plot (Catholic conspiracy to assassinate Charles II), for which he suffered imprisonment from 1678 to 1685. He was perhaps the countries leading Catholic of the time and accompanied James II to both France and Ireland. When Roman Catholic institutions became illegal in Britain, parents who could afford it and wanted their daughters brought up as Catholics often shipped them off to convents in France or the Low Countries. This was the case with Lucy Herbert, who was sent to the English Augustinians at Bruges, where she wrote a series of books recording her life at the convent, which have become valuable historical texts. She was also was elected Mother Superior in 1690.
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 00:10:00 +0000
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