This is a critical study of the astonishing friendship between William Penn and James II—"two cardinal personalities of the modern era, authoritative men who deflected the political current of their time and left lasting influences that still can be felt on both sides of the Atlantic." Their friendship is no mere sidelight to seventeenth-century English history; indeed, it is not so much the friendship of a Quaker and a Catholic that intrigues us but, rather, the closeness of a Quaker leader and a Catholic monarch, standing together at the center of power in England for three decisive years. Vincent Buranelli introduces his problem thus: "Nothing else in the life of William Penn has puzzled the biographers and historians so much as his persistent loyalty to James II. The antithesis between Catholic monarch and Quaker subject would seem to make any real understanding between the two men improbable; their presumed inability to speak to one another is compounded by the customary interpretation of James as a would-be tyrant and of Penn as an apostle of religious liberty; and yet Penn was not only a courtier throughout his reign but also a friend, possibly the best friend, of the King. . . . James II is one of the most reviled figures of modern history. William Penn is one of the most revered. How is their steadfast friendship to be explained?" "Penn was loyal to James II, and he was right," argues Buranelli. His book texts this hypothesis and, in doing so, makes sense of a hitherto baffling side of William Penn.

This work presents an incredible history of the colonial age of the eastern part of North America. It serves as the story of the Quaker foundation of three American colonies: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. It further explains the background in which the colonies found their ground, the politics around the foundations, the personalities involved, and the life and environment of the inhabitants. This short, practical, detailed profile of the three colonies' pasts is a must-read for history enthusiasts.

William Penn is justly famous for his part in the political development of colonial America. Yet he was also one of the leading Quaker theologians of the seventeenth century and the most important translator of Quaker religious thought into social and political reality, and his life and works cannot be fully understood without a knowledge of his religious hopes and ideals. Melvin Endy goes beyond the political histories, biographies, and histories of Quakerism to provide a comprehensive account of Penn's religious thought, its influence on his political thought and activity, and the significance of his life and thought to the Quaker movement. His assessment of Penn's place in the Quaker movement and his discussion of Penn's thought in relation to Puritan, Spiritualist. Anglican, and pre-Enlightenment developments has led to an understanding of Quakerism that differs from the recent tendency to stress strongly its Puritan origins and affinities. Because of the revisionist nature of this interpretation and the author's conviction that early Quaker thought has never been adequately related to its intellectual milieu, this study of Penn has been developed into a vehicle for a new analysis of aspects of early Quaker thought. Finally, the Pennsylvania venture is examined and assessed as a laboratory in which the vision of a society run according to the principles of a spiritual religion was put to the test. Originally published in 1973. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.