William III

Ever since he came to the Stuart throne, William III has been a controversial monarch.  Having usurped his uncle in the 'Glorious Revolution', having surrendered the core of monarchical power, having excluded Catholics from political influence, and having engaged his new realms in their first sustained war in Europe for a century, this king has provoked intense reactions and debates. This history offers a full, but succinct, account of William's life and influence.  It outlines his career in the Netherlands before he came to the Stuart crown; it describes how a continental objective - the defeat of Louis XIV of France - became his central obsession; and it shows how the new king applied lessons and priorities learned abroad to his rule in London.  The book does more than this, however.  It argues William was the key to solving the chronic instability of seventeenth-century Britain and Ireland.  It suggests that it took someone from beyond the island shores, with a European vision and foreign experience of handling a free political system, to end the stand-off between ruler and people which had marred the Stuart world.  It argues that William was a crucial factor in Britain's emergence as a world power, and as a model of open government. Tony Claydon is Senior Lecturer in History, University of Wales, Bangor.  He is the author of William III and the Godly Revolution (1996).