When Charles II died without any children in 1685, the Duke of York became King as James II in England and Ireland. He also became James VII in Scotland. He tried to give freedom of religion to non-Anglicans. He did this by making the acts of Parliament invalid by Royal Decree. The public did not like this. Several Protestant politicians and noblemen entered into negotiations (trying to reach agreements through discussion) with Mary's husband as early as 1687. In May 1688, James forced Anglican clergymen to read the Declaration of Indulgence. The Declaration of Indulgence was a statement that gave religious freedom to those who did not agree with the Church of England. This made him much less popular. Protestants became even more fearful when his wife, Mary of Modena, gave birth to a son–James Francis Edward–in June 1688. They were fearful because the son would, unlike Mary and Anne, be raised a Roman Catholic. Some said that the boy had been secretly carried into the Queen's room in a bed-warming pan instead of her stillborn baby. There was no strong proof to support this story, but Mary publicly doubted the boy's legitimacy. She sent a list of suspicious questions to her sister, Anne, about the boy's birth.