Lecture 14: Great Scot!
Professor Brian Cowan
Date: Oct. 5, 2011
- the British problem: multiple identities of Britishness in the Isles
- England, Wales, and Scotland and Ireland
- through its representatives in Scottish Parliament
- 1707: vote themselves out of resistance; vote to unite kingdom of Scotland with Eng-
land
- create new kingdom of Great Britain
- Scottish National Party may hold a referendum at one point in the 21st century, to see
if people want independence
- in 18th c, there was a union fever among elites; want to unify Scotland and England
- Scotland had its own king; but since 1603 same king of Scotland was king of England
(James VI of Scotland, I of England and Ireland)
- 1650s Oliver Cromwell conquered Scotland
- restored to its ancient status as an independent nation with Charles II
- through multiple kingships, were able to play one kingdom against the other
- Exclusion Crisis: Charles could manipulate Scottish Parliament to pass a succession
act allowing James to be the next king; he raised prospect of war between the kingdoms
- if exclusion bill had gone through; WAR!
- people didn't want war; prevented the exclusion crisis --> fear of going back to civil war
- when James became king, 1689 revolution if Scotland and England
- Revolution in Scotland had a different course; more violent, religious character of Scot-
land
- different religious settlement would have been made in Scotland
- Stuart kings traditionally maintained an Episcopalian Church in all of their kingdoms
- Scotland was full of Presbyterians; though bishops were ungodly, popish, invasion that
would corrupt religion
- local elders establish religious doctrine: this is the godly way
- by late 17th c, England moved away from Calvinism, and went closer to free will
- Calvinism was based on pre-destination
- when James runs for it, both Scotland and England have no king
- looks like Glorious Revolution is playing out in Scotland as well as England
- William was a Dutch Calvinist; his religious beliefs aligned closer to the religious be-
liefs of Scotland
- they were ticked off by the reintroduction of the authority of Episcopalianism in Scot-
land since Restoration
- 1689 feel there is a chance to restore the Presbyterian covenant
- 1638: signed solemn act of covenant; sworn before God to defend the Presbyterian
settlement in Scotland
- Restoration period known as killing time for Presbyterians; relentlessly persecuted and
hunted down
- Parliament agrees with the Presbyterian settlement
- 1689 onward the established church of Scotland is Presbyterian
- Glorious Revolution creates a religious rupture
- just as Protestant dissenters in England felt excluded; now in Scotland there is a mirror
image of that
- the excluded are just now the Episcopalians
- new group of disaffected Scots
- they stay loyal to James for the most part: form the core of the Jacobite movement
- international movement
- traitors to the Glorious Revolution
- great lore about Jacobite activities
- big loyalty to exiled Stuart dynasty; to a much greater degree in Scotland than Ireland
or England
- more a moment 1689-1691 when heart of movement seems to be in Ireland; but after
the Battle of the Boine, Jacobite movement finds home in Scotland as Episcopalian
church established in Ireland
- 1708 invasion of Scotland attempted with French assistance
- 1715
- 1745: Scottish troops manage to get into England, to York
- why is the most Protestant (hard-core Calvinist faction) posing the greatest Jacobite
threat
- support of Scottish Episcopalians, but also factors of language and culture
- divided between Highlands and Lowlands
- Lowlands very close culturally with England; opportunity and money is seen in a union
- Highlands was a clan-based culture; not commercial society; language of Highlands
was different from Lowlands
- Lowlands Scots was a recognizable variation on the English language
- Scots Gaelic was completely different language
- Highlands had its own cultural, social organization (feast and fast warrior-based cul-
ture)
- Jacobites and Highlanders were very close
- 1689 first uprising of Jacobites
- Vicount Dundee with army of mainly Highland warriors: failed to gain momentum, but
did win a battle in July of 1689; slaughtered later
- loyalty oaths imposed on Highland clans; December 31 1691 was deadline for alle-
giance oaths --> must recognize Mary and William