The Seven Bishops Church of England Bishop of Chichester Lloyd St Asaph Trelawny Bristol Turner Ely imprisoned 1688
The Seven Bishops of the Church of England were those imprisoned and tried for seditious libel over their opposition to the second Declaration of Indulgence issued by James II in 1688. They were found not guilty. The Declaration granted broad religious freedom in England by suspending penal laws enforcing conformity to the Church of England and allowing persons to worship in their homes or chapels as they saw fit, and it ended the requirement of affirming religious oaths before gaining employment in government office. The Declaration of Indulgence had originally been given out on April 4, 1687. The King republished it, with some new prefatory matter, on April 25, 1688. On May 4, the King and his Council ordered the Bishops that the Declaration should be read in all the (Anglican) churches - those of London on May 20, and outside London on the 27th and the two following Sundays. This was the only way, in those days, of making the document swiftly and generally known, which was James's straightforward object; the Anglican Clergy, however, felt it a challenge to themselves, for many of them were opposed to the toleration of Catholics and Nonconformists, as were very many of the population of England at that time. Nine days passed with no objection; then, on May 13, at Lambeth Palace, Compton (the Bishop of London), Sancroft (Archbishop of Canterbury), Turner (Bishop of Ely), and White (Bishop of Peterborough), resolved to defy James's order. They summoned seven others; the four who actually came were Lake (Bishop of Chichester), Lloyd (St Asaph), Trelawny (Bristol), and Turner (Ely). It will be noticed that this (ignoring the three who did not come) makes a total of eight bishops, counting the Archbishop of Canterbury. Compton is not counted in the reckoning of the seven. These seven Bishops signed a Memorial requesting the King that they might be excused; they claimed that the King did not have the legal right to make exemptions from statutes (which was false).
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