"James II's prosecution of seven bishops in the summer of 1688 has often been overlooked in the accounts of the Glorious Revolution. Yet it was on the night of the bishops' acquittal, amid widespread rejoicing, that the invitation was issued to William of Orange to come and the save the nation. The book is the first modern examination of the events leading to the prosecution of the bishops, their trial and subsequent acquittal. Drawing on previously unused archival manuscripts, it shows the ways in which the bishops seized the propaganda initiative against the King and won popular support for the Church. In doing so, they created the circumstances by which the revolution of 1688 could be a bloodless one. The book also analyses the divisions between the bishops and the way in which events ran out of their control in the autumn of 1688"--Jacket.