The subject of these verses are William of Orange, ruler of the United Netherlands, who was married to Mary, the daughter of James II of England. James, the Catholic king of England, was deposed in the Glorious Revolution, which was bloodless, in contrast to the previous revolution in which Charles I was beheaded in 1649, and replaced by William and Mary. James, who combined an inability to work with Parliament with reckless Catholic appointments in what was already Protestant England, brought both the political and religious spheres of the monarchy under fire again. The situation reached its climax in 1688. James established an alliance with Catholic France; arrested Archbishop Sancroft and six other bishops for failing to proclaim the Catholic faith; tampered with private property and historic rights; and produced a male heir after abandoning Anglicanism for Catholicism, which destroyed Parliament's hopes that the crown would pass to the Protestant children of James' first marriage. Parliament appealed to William of Orange, urging him to save England from a Catholic takeover. William gathered his forces and landed in England in November of 1688. William's professional troops and the welcome they received from the English landholders intimidated James. James was captured while fleeing from London, but William ensured him safe passage to France. James, realizing his lack of popular support, abdicated and accepted exile in France. The culmination of these events was the end of Stuart rule in England. It should be noted that today there is still a Stuart claimant to the throne of England, Franz Bonaventura Adalbert Maria von Wittelsbach, recognized by his supporters as Francis II.