The story of the Jacobite Rebellions really began in 1534, when King Henry VIII changed the official religion of England from Catholic to Protestant. The narrative then continued through turbulent times of civil war and religious and political strife, leading to tensions and discontent boiling over when the Catholic King James II came to the throne in 1685; whereupon he was immediately beset by a Protestant rebellion led by the Duke of Monmouth, which set a chain of events in motion, resulting in William III and Mary II being crowned as Joint Monarchs after a bloodless coup.It was James- removal from the throne which created the spark for his supporters to orchestrate a series of revolts, known as the Jacobite Rebellions; the name coming from the Latin for James - Jacobus. These uprisings, which included the rebellions from the Highlands of Scotland, and the Williamite Wars in Ireland, also formed part of the wider picture of a European war, known as the Nine Years War; the War of the
