Stuart England · 1688-1689

The Glorious Revolution of 1688

A Dutch prince sails to England with a large fleet and an army, and the king flees. Students follow William of Orange from Hellevoetsluis to Torbay and discuss the Bill of Rights, which limited royal power for good.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
13–16
On the map
3 steps, AD 1690
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

A Dutch prince sails to England with a large fleet and an army, and the king flees. Students follow William of Orange from Hellevoetsluis to Torbay and discuss the Bill of Rights, which limited royal power for good.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Explain why leading English politicians invited William of Orange in 1688.
  • Trace William's invasion route on the map.
  • Name three things the Bill of Rights of 1689 decided and explain why they still matter.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1690

Across the North Sea

Open the map in 1690 and zoom in on the North Sea. Find the Dutch Republic and England. Why might the Dutch want England on their side against Louis XIV's France?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1690

The landing

Follow the English south coast west to Torbay in Devon, where William landed on 5 November 1688. Why do you think he did not land closer to London?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1690

Three kingdoms

Zoom out to the whole of the British Isles. The change of king was almost bloodless in England, but not in Ireland and Scotland. Find the river Boyne north of Dublin, where William beat James in 1690.

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Why did the birth of a son to James II in 1688 turn worry into action?
  2. Was it an invasion or a rescue? How would an English Catholic and a Dutch Protestant answer?
  3. The Bill of Rights said Parliament must agree to taxes and to an army in peacetime. Why do these rules matter?
  4. Why do some historians say the revolution was "glorious" only for some people?
  5. How did the ideas of 1688-1689 influence American ideas about rights a century later?
4

Game round

9 min

Play a round of Rule History as Peter the Great, who met William III in the Dutch Republic and England in 1697-1698. Discuss: William accepted limits on his power to win a throne. Would an all-powerful tsar ever have done the same?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.