| James Francis Edward Stuart | |
|---|---|
| Prince of Wales | |
 Portrait from the studio ofAlexis Simon Belle,c. 1712 | |
| Jacobite pretender | |
| Pretence | 16 September 1701 – 1 January 1766 |
| Predecessor | James VII and II |
| Successor | Charles Edward Stuart |
| Born | (1688-06-10)10 June 1688 St. James's Palace, London, England |
| Died | 1 January 1766(1766-01-01) (aged 77) Palazzo Muti, Rome,Papal States |
| Burial | St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City |
| Spouse | |
| Issue | |
| House | Stuart |
| Father | James II of England |
| Mother | Mary of Modena |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
| Signature |  |
James Francis Edward Stuart also known as theOld Pretender (10 June 1688 – 1 January 1766) was the seniorHouse of Stuart claimant to the thrones ofEngland,Ireland andScotland from 1701 until his death in 1766. The only son ofJames II of England and his second wife,Mary of Modena, he wasPrince of Wales and heir until hisCatholic father was deposed and exiled in theGlorious Revolution of 1688. HisProtestant half-sisterMary II and her husbandWilliam III and II became co-monarchs. As a Catholic, he was subsequently excluded from the succession by theAct of Settlement 1701.
James claimed the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland when his father died in September 1701. As part of theWar of the Spanish Succession, in 1708Louis XIV of France backed alanding in Scotland on his behalf. This failed, as did further attempts in1715 and1719, after which James lived quietly inRome. Led by his elder sonCharles Edward Stuart, the1745 Rising was the last serious effort to restore the Stuart line.
James Francis Edward Stuart was born on 10 June 1688, atSt. James's Palace, first and only son ofJames II of England and his second wife,Mary of Modena, bothCatholics.[1] As the eldest surviving son of the reigning monarch he was automaticallyDuke of Cornwall andDuke of Rothesay at birth, and was createdPrince of Wales in July 1688.[2]
His birth was unexpected, coming five years after his mother's tenth and last pregnancy, none of which produced a child that survived more than a few days.[3] The birth reignited controversies of religion, as the new son would be raised Catholic. Wild rumours spread among British Anglicans: that the child had diedstillborn, and that the baby feted as the new prince was an impostor smuggled into the royal birth chamber in awarming pan.[4] Protestants found it suspicious that everyone attending the birth was supposedly Catholic,[5] although the ProtestantLady Bellasyse testified that she "saw the child taken out of the bed with the navel string hanging to its belly".[6] Another rumour was that James II had not been the father; he was said to be impotent after a bout withvenereal disease years earlier. In an attempt to quash these rumours, James published the testimonies of over seventy witnesses to the birth.[7][8]
The line of succession to the throne was thrust into doubt. James II's eldest legitimate daughters,Mary andAnne, had been raised as Protestants.[5] British Protestants had expected Mary, from his father's first marriage, to succeed their father.[9] This possibility had kept Protestants somewhat content, with his rule a temporary inconvenience. Now that Mary or Anne's succession was in doubt with this new Catholic son and heir, discontent grew, already stoked by James II's actions which had alienated Tory Anglicans who had previously been inclined to honour him as sovereign even if they differed in religion. This movement would become theGlorious Revolution; Mary's husbandWilliam of Orange landed in England, backed by an army of English and Scottish exiles, as well as Dutch soldiers. Much of the English army promptly defected to William's cause, causing James II and his family to flee rather than stay and fight.[5]
On 9 December, Mary of Modena disguised herself as a laundress and escaped with the infant James to France. Young James was brought up at theChâteau de Saint-Germain-en-Laye,[1] which Louis XIV had turned over to the exiled James II. Both the ex-king and his family were held in great consideration by the French king (who was his first cousin), and they were frequent visitors at Versailles where Louis XIV and his court treated them as ruling monarchs.[10] In June 1692 James's sisterLouisa Maria was born.[11]
He later received a military education overseen byRichard Hamilton andDominic Sheldon, two veterans of theIrish Army.[12]
On his father's death in 1701, James was proclaimed as rightful king byLouis XIV of France, despite having previously recognised the legitimacy ofWilliam III and II under the 1697Treaty of Ryswick. Spain, thePapal States, andModena also recognised him as king ofEngland,Ireland andScotland and refused to recognise William III and II,Mary II, orAnne as legitimate sovereigns. As a result of his claiming his father's lost thrones, James wasattainted for treason in London on 2 March 1702, and his titles were forfeited under English law.[13]
Though delayed in France by an attack ofmeasles,[citation needed] Jamesattempted invasion, trying to land at theFirth of Forth on 23 March 1708. The fleet of Admiral SirGeorge Byng intercepted the French ships, which, combined with bad weather,[citation needed] prevented a landing.[14]
James served for a time as a volunteer in the French army, as his father had done during the interregnum.[15] Between August and September 1710, Queen Anne appointed a newTory administration led byRobert Harley, who entered into a secret correspondence withde Torcy, theFrench Minister of Foreign Affairs, in which he claimed to desire James's accession to the throne should James convert to Protestantism.[7] A year later, however, the British government pushed for James's expulsion from France as a precondition for a peace treaty with France. In accordance with theTreaty of Utrecht (1713), Harley andLord Bolingbroke, the Secretary of State, colluded with the French in exiling James to theDuchy of Lorraine.[7]
Queen Anne became severely ill at Christmas 1713 and seemed close to death. In January 1714, she recovered but clearly had little time to live.[16][page needed] Through de Torcy and his London agent, Abbé François Gaultier, Harley maintained the correspondence with James and Bolingbroke entered into a separate correspondence with him. They both stated to James that his conversion to Protestantism would facilitate his accession. However, James, a devout Catholic, replied to Torcy: "I have chosen my own course, therefore it is for others to change their sentiments."[7] In March came James's refusal to convert, following which Harley and Bolingbroke reached the opinion that James's accession was not feasible, though they maintained their correspondence with him.[citation needed]
As a result, in August 1714, James's second cousin,[citation needed] theElector of Hanover,George Louis, a German-speaking Lutheran[citation needed] who was the closest Protestant relative of the now-deceased Queen Anne, became king of the recently createdKingdom of Great Britain as George I.[14] James denounced him, noting "we have beheld a foreign family, aliens to our country, distant in blood, and strangers even to our language, ascend the throne".[17][page needed] Following George's coronation in October 1714,major riots broke out in provincial England.[18]
In the following year, Jacobites started uprisingsin Scotland andCornwall aimed at putting "James III and VIII" on the throne. On 22 December 1715, James reached Scotland after the Jacobite defeats at theBattle of Sheriffmuir (13 November 1715) andBattle of Preston (1715).[14] He landed atPeterhead and soon fell ill with fever, his illness made more severe by the icy Scottish winter.[citation needed] In January 1716, he set up court atScone Palace. ReputedlyJane Stuart, a half-sister, came fromWisbech in England to visit him.[19] Learning of the approach of government forces, he returned to France, sailing fromMontrose on 5 February 1716. The abandonment of his rebel allies caused ill-feeling against him in Scotland;[14] nor was he welcomed on his return to France. His patron,Louis XIV, had died on 1 September 1715, and the French government found him a political embarrassment.[citation needed] When France, hitherto his main protector,allied with Britain, this effectively secured theHanoverian dynasty's monarchy over theKingdom of Great Britain.[citation needed]
After the unsuccessful invasion of 1715, James lived inPapal territory, first atAvignon (April 1716 – February 1717),[20] then atPesaro (1717)[21] andUrbino (July 1717 – November 1718).[22] PopeClement XI offered James thePalazzo Muti or Palazzo del Re[23] in Rome as his residence, which he accepted. PopeInnocent XIII, like his predecessor, showed much support. Thanks to his friend CardinalFilippo Antonio Gualterio, James was granted a life annuity of 12,000[24] Romanscudi. Such help enabled him to organise a Jacobite court at Rome, where, although he lived in splendour, he continued to suffer from fits of melancholy.[citation needed]
Further efforts to restore the Stuarts to the British throne were planned. In 1719 a major expedition left Spain but was forced to turn back due to weather. A small landing took place in the Scottish Highlands, but theJacobite rising of 1719 was defeated at theBattle of Glen Shiel. James had gone to Spain in the hope he could take part in the invasion, but following its abandonment was forced to return to Italy.[citation needed] A further attempt was planned in 1722,[9] but following the exposure of theAtterbury Plot it came to nothing.[citation needed]
In exercise of his pretended position, James purported to create titles of nobility, referred to asJacobite peerages, for his British supporters and members of his court, none of which have ever been recognised in Britain.[citation needed]
The court-in-exile became a popular stop for English travellers making aGrand Tour, regardless of political affiliation.[25] For many, it functioned as an unofficial consulate. Those in need of medical attention preferred being treated by one of their own countrymen. In 1735 court physicians tended toEdmund Sheffield, 2nd Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, and thirty years later toJames Boswell.[26][failed verification]
James remained well-treated in Rome until his death. He was allowed to hold Protestant services at Court, and was given land where his Protestant adherents could receive a public burial.[26][failed verification]
Louise Adélaïde d'Orléans (Mademoiselle d'Orléans), daughter ofPhilippe II, Duke of Orléans, was at one time suggested as a wife for James, but nothing came of it.[citation needed] In March 1717, while James was visitingModena, he became engaged to his cousinBenedetta d'Este, but her father DukeRinaldo put an end to the engagement to preserve his relations with Hanover and Great Britain.[27]
.jpg)
On 3 September 1719, James marriedMaria Clementina Sobieska (1702–1735), granddaughter of KingJohn III Sobieski of Poland. The wedding was held in the chapel of the Episcopal Palace inMontefiascone, nearViterbo. By his wife he had two sons:[citation needed]
Following James's failure, attention turned to his son Charles, "the Young Pretender", who led themajor uprising of 1745. With the failure of this second rebellion, the Stuart hopes of regaining the British throne were effectively destroyed.[28] James and Charles later clashed repeatedly, and relations between them broke down completely when James played a role in the appointment of his sonHenry as a cardinal. Henry then took holy orders, which required him to maintaincelibacy, ending the possibility that he would produce a legitimate heir, infuriating Charles, who had not been consulted.[citation needed]
After the 1745 rising, there were no other plots to restore the Stuart dynasty except for when, in 1759, the French government briefly considered a scheme to have James (then aged 70) crowned King of Ireland as part oftheir plans to invade Britain, but the offer was never formally made to James. Several separate plans also involved Charles being given control of a French-backed independent Ireland, though that too was aborted after Charles showed up at a meeting with the French to discuss the plan late, argumentative, and idealistic in expectations, so that the French dismissed the possibility of Jacobite assistance.[29][full citation needed]
After a lingering illness, James died aged 77 on 1 January 1766, at his home, the Palazzo Muti in Rome,[9][30] and was buried in the crypt ofSt. Peter's Basilica in present-dayVatican City. His grave is marked by theMonument to the Royal Stuarts. His claimed reign had lasted for 64 years, 3 months and 16 days, longer than any British monarch until QueenElizabeth II's reign surpassed it on 23 May 2016.[31]
Following James's death the pope refused to recognise the claim to the British and Irish thrones of his elder son Charles, which had severely exacerbated the hostility between England and the Catholic Church. Instead, from 14 January 1766, in stages over the following decade, Rome accepted theHanoverian dynasty as the legitimate rulers of Britain and Ireland; this was accompanied by a gradual relaxation and reform of the anti-Catholic"penal laws" in Britain and Ireland.[citation needed] Two months after James's death, on 14 March, the royal arms of England were removed from the doorway of the Palazzo Muti.[30] In 1792, the papacy specifically referred toGeorge III as the "King of Great Britain and Ireland", which elicited a protest from James's younger sonHenry, who was by then the Jacobite claimant.[32]
.svg)
James wasDuke of Cornwall from birth.[33] He was createdPrince of Wales on 4 July 1688.[34] He lost his titles on hisattainder for treason in 1702.
As Prince of Wales, James bore acoat of arms consisting of those of the kingdom, differenced by alabel argent of three points.[35]
| Ancestors of James Francis Edward Stuart | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Media related toJames Francis Edward Stuart at Wikimedia Commons
James Francis Edward Stuart Born: 10 June 1688 Died: 1 January 1766 | ||
| British royalty | ||
|---|---|---|
| Vacant Title last held by Charles(later Charles II) | Prince of Wales Duke of Cornwall Duke of Rothesay 1688 | Vacant Title next held by George(later George II) |
| Titles in pretence | ||
| Preceded by | — TITULAR — King of England,Scotland,France andIreland Jacobite succession 1701–1766 | Succeeded by |
| ||||||||||||
| Jacobite risings |
|  a Jacobite banner | ||||||||||
| Consequences and later events |
| |||||||||||
| Jacobite succession | ||||||||||||
|  | |
See also:Principality of Wales | ||
|  | |
|  | |