REVISIONIST HISTORY—WILLIAM AND MARY.

REVISIONIST HISTORY—WILLIAM AND MARY. I think of “revisionist history” as history that makes me change my mind. (I don’t include the many instances where I have no previous impression at all). I have associated the historical William and Mary with the impeccable reputation of the university, at which my brother Elmer and his wife Margo taught for many years, and from which my niece Molly graduated. William and Mary came to the throne in the Glorious Revolution, and there are recent books arguing that the changes in government in their reign, such as the founding of the Bank of England, had an enormous impact on English government. (Here is an article by an economic historian on EH.Net which says that: “The fiscal credibility of the English government created by the Glorious Revolution unleashed a revolution in public finance.” and that “…the Financial Revolution … was essential for Britain’s emergence as a Great Power in the eighteenth century.” In short, I have thought of William and Mary as respectable people (putting aside their role in religious and colonial wars). So I was surprised to read Jonathan Ree in the London Review of Books (January 20) say: “William, Prince of Orange was a mousy, middle-aged sociophobe, famous for combining blatant adultery and sanctimonious piety, and loved by no one except, maybe, his docile wife, Mary. But he was a skilful practitioner of the political arts…..” Who knew?