The Stuarts: A Bloody Reign

King James II succeeded his brother King Charles II in 1685. He was a Catholic monarch of a Protestant nation and attempts had already been made to prevent him from claiming the throne. The last of the Stuart Kings would reign for only three years and it would be his own daughter, Mary, who would cause his downfall. She, along with her husband William of Orange, would overthrow the House Of Stuart and see King James II sent into exile. It was also the end of the powerful Wynn family of North Wales. Their status would rise and fall with the Stuart Kings that they served.

Oliver Cromwell’s Commonwealth comes to an end soon after his death and in 1660 an exiled King returns to London with enormous fanfare. King Charles II’s reign is a dramatic shift away from the rule of the Puritans that preceded him but the dual tragedies of the worst outbreak of plague in generations and the Great Fire Of London strike the nation’s heart. The Wynn family of North Wales, having suffered under Cromwell, return to royal favour.

King Charles I succeeds his father King James I in 1625. The ties between the Wynn family and the ruling Stuarts grows ever closer as Sir Richard Wynn joins his King on an ill-fated voyage intended to gain the Infanta of Spain’s hand in marriage. Having failed, Charles marries the daughter of the King Of France instead, putting a Catholic Queen back on the throne. Religious upheaval along with Charles’ dismissal of Parliament and authoritarian rule eventually leads to a civil war. In the end, a king is beheaded and a commoner named Oliver Cromwell seizes power.

Following the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603, King James VI of Scotland claims her throne along with a new title of King James I of England. He faces numerous attempts on his life, including the notorious Gunpowder Plot, and the threat of the terrifying Thirty Years War raging on the continent. For the aristocratic Wynn family of North Wales though, this new reign of the Stuarts would provide great opportunities but also terrible dangers.