ABSTRACT
This chapter explores situating Mary II's importance firmly within the new history of religion and, more particularly, within the history of the Church of England. It also finds the designation of Mary as a Latitudinarian queen', pure and simple, problematic, as is the term latitudinarian' itself. Through Queen Mary's guidance, patronage and leadership, the Church of England was set on something of a new trajectory after the Glorious Revolution. William and Mary made several of their most crucial appointments by 1689. Naturally, as newcomers to the turbulent political and religious milieu of London, they depended on those whom they knew and trusted for advice. Tillotson's liberal theology with its emphasis on practical spirituality and ethical behaviour appealed to Mary's desire for a moral reformation. Tillotson had read the manuscript of Burnet's History of the Reformation of the Church of England in the late 1670s and Burnet later wrote that he learned the best part' of what he knew from Tillotson.
