for Catholics and Presbyterian dissidents. In 1686, Melfort was created Earl of Melfort and appointed to the Privy Council of England, causing deep resentment among English Tories; it also meant James' closest advisor was isolated from the political class in Scotland and England. He was also the driving force behind the Order of the Thistle, a body intended to reward James' Scottish supporters, whose members included Catholics like Melfort, his elder brother the Earl of Perth, the Earl of Dumbarton, plus Protestants like the Earl of Arran. Two events in June 1688 turned opposition into open revolt; the birth of James Francis Edward on 10th created a Catholic heir, excluding James' Protestant daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange. By prosecuting the Seven Bishops for seditious libel, James appeared to be going beyond tolerance for Catholicism and into an assault on the Church of England; their acquittal on 30 June destroyed his political authority, in Scotland as well as England. In 1685, many feared civil war if James were bypassed; by 1688, anti-Catholic riots made that it seem only his removal could prevent one. Representatives from across the political class invited William to assume the English throne, and he landed in Brixham on 5 November. Melfort urged a mass arrest of influential Whigs in response but James' army deserted him and he went into exile on 23 December. Jacobite Exile; 1688-1714 Those who remained loyal to James became known as 'Jacobites,' after the Latin Jacobus, and the political ideology behind it as Jacobitism. Melfort left London on 3 December 1688 with his wife Euphemia and the seven children of his second marriage; a few days later, he arrived at Saint-Germain-en-Laye outside Paris, location of the exiled court for the next 25 years. The English Parliament offered William and Mary the throne of England in February, with elections in Scotland for a Convention to decide the fate of the Scottish throne. France was engaged in the 1688-1697 Nine Years' War against the Grand Alliance, Austria, the Dutch Republic and England. In order to weaken his opponents, Louis provided James military support to regain his kingdoms and in March 1689, he landed in Ireland, with Melfort as Secretary of State. The Scottish Convention was meeting in Edinburgh and when it opened on 16 March, a letter drafted by Melfort was read out, demanding obedience and threatening punishment for noncompliance. Although committed