This work compiles dozens of letters between the Protestant English monarch King William III and the Catholic Louis XIV and many of their prominent statesman during the latter part of King Louis' reign. The letters give fascinating insight into a religiously-charged but relatively little-known period of history.

William III (1650-1702) was Stadholder in the United Provinces and King of England, Scotland and Ireland. His reign has always intrigued historians, as it encompassed such defining events as the Dutch year of Disaster (1672), the Glorious Revolution (1688) and the ensuing wars against France. Although William has played a pivotal role in the political and religious history of his countries, the significance and international impact of his reign is still not very well understood. This volume contains a number of innovative essays from specialists in the field, which have evolved from papers delivered to an international conference held at the University of Utrecht in December 2002. By focusing on the entire period 1650-1702 from an international perspective, the volume moves historical discussion away from the traditional analysis of single events to encompass William's entire reign from a variety of political, religious, intellectual and cultural positions. In so doing it offers a new perspective on the British and Dutch reigns of William III, as well as the wider European milieu.

Originally published in 1974. In her study of primary materials in England and the United States, Schwoerer traces the origin, development, and articulation in both Parliament and in the popular press of the attitude opposing standing armies in seventeenth-century England and the American colonies. Central to the criticism of armies at that time was the conviction that ultimate military power should be vested in Parliament, not the Crown. Schwoerer shows how the many diverse elements of England's antimilitarism, including political principle, propaganda, parliamentary tactics, parochialism, and partisanship, hardened with every confrontation between the Crown or Protector and Parliament. The author finds a general predisposition to distrust professional soldiers early in the century, and from the 1620s onward she notes opposition to a standing army in times of peace. Highlighting the growth of the antimilitary tradition, Schwoerer traces the development of this attitude from the Petition of Right in 1628 to the 1641–1642 crisis over the Militia Bill/Ordinance, the military settlements of 1660 and 1689, and the climactic events of 1667–1699. Schwoerer shows how the anti-standing-army ideology affected the constitutional thinking of the American colonists and manifested itself in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. She addresses timeless questions of how to provide for a nation's defense while preserving individual liberty, citizen responsibility for military service, and the relationship of executive and legislative authority over the army.