Charles II (King of England, Scotland and Ireland, 1630-85) His Ma:ties declaration touching the Succession [docket title], manuscript, 4 lines, docket and old bookseller's description on verso, fold, browned, 145 x 192mm., 3rd March 1[6]78/9 [c. 1700].
⁂ "For avoid[ance] of any disp[ute] that may happen in time to come in the succession of the Crown I do hereby declare before Almighty God that I never gave any contract nor was married to any wom[an] whatsoever but to my present Wife Queen Kat. now being dat[ed] 3 March 1678/9." - Charles II.
A document, in which the king denies under oath that he has ever been married to any woman apart from his queen, Catherine of Braganza. The emergence of the Exclusion movement to remove the king's brother, James Duke of York from the succession in the wake of the Popish Plot compelled Charles II to declare unambiguously the illegitimacy of the Duke of Monmouth's claim to the throne.
The manuscript written in cursive is probably a near contemporary copy dated about 1700, hence the mistake in dating.
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