| Jacobitism | |
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| Scottish Gaelic:Na Seumasaich Irish:Seacaibíteachas, Na Séamasaigh | |
 James Francis Edward Stuart, Jacobite claimant between 1701 and 1766 | |
| Leaders |
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| Military leaders | |
| Dates of operation | 1688–1780s |
| Active regions | British Isles |
| Ideology |
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| Battles and wars | |
Jacobitism[c] was a political ideology advocating the restoration of the senior line of theHouse of Stuart to theBritish throne. WhenJames II of England chose exile after the November 1688Glorious Revolution, theParliament of England ruled he had "abandoned" the English throne, which was given to hisProtestant daughterMary II of England, and his nephew, her husbandWilliam III.[1] On the same basis, in April theScottish Convention awarded Mary and William the throne of Scotland.[2]
The Revolution created the principle of a contract between monarch and people, which if violated meant the monarch could be removed. A key tenet of Jacobitism was that kings were appointed by God, making the post-1688 regime illegitimate. However, it also functioned as an outlet for popular discontent, and thus was a complex mix of ideas, many opposed by the Stuarts themselves. Conflict betweenPrince Charles and Scottish Jacobites over theActs of Union 1707 anddivine right seriously undermined the1745 rising.
Jacobitism was strongest in Ireland, the WesternScottish Highlands,Perthshire, andAberdeenshire.[3] Pockets of support were also present inWales,Northern England, theWest Midlands andSouth West England, all areas stronglyRoyalist during theWars of the Three Kingdoms. In addition, the Stuarts received intermittent backing from countries likeFrance, usually dependent on their own strategic objectives.
In addition to the 1689–1691Williamite War in Ireland andJacobite rising of 1689 inScotland, there were serious revolts in1715,1719 and 1745, French invasion attempts in1708 and1744, and numerous unsuccessful plots. While the 1745 Rising briefly seemed to threaten theHanoverian monarchy, its defeat in 1746 ended Jacobitism as a serious political movement.
Jacobite ideology originated withJames VI and I, who in 1603 became the first monarch to rule all three kingdoms ofEngland,Scotland andIreland. Its basis wasdivine right, which claimed his authority came from God, and the crown's descent by indefeasible hereditary right: James and his supporters emphasised his right to the throne by blood to forestall controversy over his appointment byElizabeth I as her successor.[4] His concept of personal rule eliminated the need for Parliaments, and required political and religious union, concepts widely unpopular in all three kingdoms, but especially England.[5]
The principle of divine right also clashed with Catholic allegiance to thePope, and with Protestantnonconformists, since both argued there was an authority above the king.[6] The 17th-century belief that 'true religion' and 'good government' were one and the same meant disputes in one area fed into the other, whileMillenarianism and belief in the imminence of theSecond Coming meant manyProtestants viewed such issues as urgent and real.[7]
As the first step towards union, James began standardising religious practices between the churches ofEngland,Scotland andIreland. After his death in 1625, this was continued by his sonCharles I, who lacked his political sensitivity; by the late 1630s, institutingPersonal Rule in 1629, enforcingLaudian reforms on the Church of England, and ruling withoutParliament led to a political crisis.[8] Similar measures in Scotland caused the 1639–1640Bishops' Wars, and installation of aCovenanter government.[9]
Organised by a small group of Catholic nobility, the October 1641Irish Rebellion was the cumulative effect of land confiscation, loss of political control, anti-Catholic measures and economic decline. The Rebellion was intended as a bloodless coup, but its leaders quickly lost control, leading to atrocities on both sides.[10] In May, a Covenanter army landed inUlster to support Scots settlers. Although Charles and Parliament both supported raising an army to suppress the Rebellion, neither trusted the other with its control; these tensions ultimately led to the outbreak of theFirst English Civil War in August 1642.[11]
In 1642, theCatholic Confederacy representing the Irish insurgents proclaimed allegiance to Charles, but the Stuarts were an unreliable ally, since concessions in Ireland cost them Protestant support in all three kingdoms. In addition, theAdventurers' Act, approved by Charles in March 1642, funded suppression of the revolt by confiscating land from Irish Catholics, much of it owned by members of the Confederacy.[12] The result was a three-way contest between the Confederacy, Royalist forces under the ProtestantDuke of Ormond, and a Covenanter-led army in Ulster. The latter were increasingly at odds with the English government; after Charles' execution in January 1649, Ormond combined these factions to resist the 1649-to-1652Cromwellian conquest of Ireland.[13]
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In 1650,Charles II repudiated his alliance with the Confederacy in return forScottish military support, and Ormond went into exile. Defeat resulted in themass confiscation of Catholic and Royalist land, and its re-distribution among Parliamentarian soldiers and Protestant settlers.[14] The three kingdoms were combined into theCommonwealth of England, only regaining their separate status following the 1660Stuart Restoration.[15]
Charles II's reign was dominated by the expansionist policies ofLouis XIV of France, seen as a threat to Protestant Europe. When his brother and heirJames announced his conversion to Catholicism in 1677, an attempt was made tobar him from the English throne.[16] Nevertheless, he became king in February 1685 with widespread support from the Protestant majorities in England and Scotland. Accepting a Catholic monarch was seen as preferable to excluding the 'natural heir', and Protestant dissident rebellions inEngland andScotland were quickly suppressed. It was also viewed as temporary, since James was 52, his second marriage was childless after 11 years, and his Protestant daughterMary was heir.[17]
His religion made James popular among Irish Catholics, whose position had not improved under his brother. Catholic land ownership had fallen from 90% in 1600 to 22% in 1685, partially due to Catholic landlords converting to the ProtestantChurch of Ireland. After 1673, a series of proclamations deprived Catholic gentry of theright to bear arms or hold public office.[18] The CatholicRichard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, was appointedLord Deputy of Ireland in 1687, and began building a Catholic establishment that could survive James. Fearing a short reign, Tyrconnell moved at a speed that destabilised all three kingdoms.[19]
When the English and Scottish Parliaments refused to remove civil restrictions on Catholics and Non-Conformists, James dismissed them and used theRoyal Prerogative to force his measures through. These actions re-opened disputes over religion, rewarded the Protestant dissidents who rebelled in 1685, and undermined his own supporters. It also ignored the impact of the 1685Edict of Fontainebleau, which revoked tolerance forFrench Protestants and created an estimated 400,000 refugees, 40,000 of whom settled in London.[20] Two events turned discontent into rebellion, the first being the birth ofJames's son on 10 June 1688, which created the prospect of a Catholic dynasty. The second was James's prosecution of theSeven Bishops, which seemed to go beyond tolerance for Catholicism into actively attacking the Church of England. Their acquittal on 30 June caused widespread rejoicing, and destroyed James's political authority.[21]
In 1685, many had feared civil war if James were bypassed. By 1688, even his chief minister, theEarl of Sunderland, felt only his removal could prevent it. Sunderland secretly coordinated anInvitation to William, assuring Mary and her husband and James's nephew,William of Orange of English support for armed intervention. William landed inBrixham on 5 November with 14,000 men; as he advanced, James's army deserted and he went into exile on 23 December.[22] In February 1689, theEnglish Parliament appointed William and Mary joint monarchs of England, while theScots followed suit in March.[23]
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Most of Ireland was still controlled by Tyrconnell, where James landed on 12 March 1689 with 6,000 French troops, but the 1689-to-1691Williamite War in Ireland highlighted two recurring trends. For James and his Stuart successors, the main prize was to regain England, while the primary French objective was to tie down British resources, rebellions in Scotland and Ireland being seen as the cheapest option.[24] Elections in May 1689 produced the firstIrish Parliament with a Catholic majority since 1613. It repealed the Cromwellian land seizures, confiscated land from Williamites, and proclaimed Ireland a 'distinct kingdom from England', measures subsequently annulled after defeat in 1691.[25]
AJacobite rising in Scotland achieved some initial success but was ultimately suppressed. Several days after the Irish Jacobites were defeated at theBattle of the Boyne in July 1690, victory atBeachy Head gave the French temporary control of theEnglish Channel. James returned to France to urge an immediate invasion of England, but the Anglo-Dutch fleet soon regained maritime supremacy and the opportunity was lost.[26]
The Irish Jacobites and their French allies were finally defeated at thebattle of Aughrim in 1691, and theTreaty of Limerick ended the war in Ireland; future risings on behalf of the exiled Stuarts were confined to England and Scotland. TheAct of Settlement 1701 barred Catholics from the English throne, and whenAnne became the last Stuart monarch in 1702, her heir was her Protestant cousinSophia of Hanover, not her Catholic half-brother James. Ireland retained a separate Parliament until 1800, but the1707 Union combined England and Scotland into theKingdom of Great Britain. Anne viewed this as the unified Protestant kingdom which her predecessors had failed to achieve.[27]
The exiled Stuarts continued to agitate for a return to power, based on the support they retained within the three kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland.[28][29][30] Doing so required external help, most consistently supplied by France, while Spain backed the1719 Rising. While talks were also held at different times withSweden,Prussia, andRussia, these never produced concrete results. Although the Stuarts were useful as a lever, their foreign backers generally had little interest in their restoration.[31]
HistorianFrank McLynn identifies seven primary drivers in Jacobitism, noting that while the movement contained "sincere men [...] who aimed solely to restore the Stuarts", it "provided a source of legitimacy for political dissent of all kinds".[32] Establishing the ideology of active participants is complicated by the fact that "by and large, those who wrote most did not act, and those who acted wrote little, if anything."[33] As a result, historians have taken different views on its primary driving force. These include being an aristocratic rejection of an increasinglyunitary state, feudal opposition to capitalism, or Scots and Irish nationalism.[34]
Jacobitism drew on elements of apolitical theology shared by mostlynon-juring Tory elements within the Church of England, and members of theScottish Episcopal Church.[35] These were thedivine right of kings, their accountability to God, not man or Parliament; secondly, that monarchy was a divine institution; thirdly,legitimism, the crown's descent by indefeasible dynastic right, which could not be overturned or annulled; and lastly the scriptural injunction of passive obedience and non-resistance, even towards monarchs of which the individual subject might disapprove.[36][37]
Jacobite propagandists argued such divinely sanctioned authority was the main moral safeguard of society, while its absence led toparty strife. They claimed the 1688 Revolution had enabledpolitical corruption and allowed selfish opportunists, such as Whigs, religious dissenters, and foreigners, to take control of the government and oppress the common people.[38]
However, views on the 'correct' balance of rights and duties between monarch and subject varied, and Jacobites attempted to distinguish between 'arbitrary' and 'absolute' power. Non-juringChurch of IrelandclergymanCharles Leslie was perhaps the most extreme divine right theorist, but even he argued the monarch was bound by "his oath to God, as well as his promise to his people" and "the laws of justice and honour".[39] Jacobite pamphlets often suggested domestic issues were divine punishment on the British for rejecting their rightful king, although after 1710 this was blamed specifically on theWhigs.[40]
These views were not held by all Jacobites,[41] while many Whigs argued the post 1688 succession was also "divinely ordained".[36][42] After the 1701 Act of Settlement, Jacobite propagandists deemphasised the purely legitimist elements in their writing and by 1745, active promotion of hereditary and indefeasible right was restricted largely to a few Scots Episcopalians such as LordsPitsligo andBalmerino.[43]
Instead they began to focus on populist themes such as opposition to a standing army,political corruption, and social injustice.[44] By the 1750s, Charles himself promised triennial parliaments, disbanding the army and legal guarantees onfreedom of the press.[45] Such tactics broadened Jacobite appeal but also carried risks, since they could always be effectively neutered by a government prepared to offer similar concessions; indeed, theTriennial Act and the lapse of theLicensing of the Press Act meant that regular Parliaments and (relative) press freedom were already in place after 1695.[46] The ongoing Stuart focus on England and regaining a united British throne led to tensions with their broader-based supporters in 1745, when the primary goal of most Scots Jacobites was ending the 1707 Union. This meant that following victory atPrestonpans in September, they preferred to negotiate, rather than invade England as Charles wanted.[47]
More generally, Jacobite theorists reflected a broader conservative current inEnlightenment thought, appealing to those attracted to a monarchist solution to perceived modern decadence.[48] Populist songs and tracts presented the Stuarts as capable of correcting a wide range of ills and restoring social harmony, as well as contrasting Dutch and Hanoverian "foreigners" with a man who even in exile continued to consume English beef and beer.[49] While particularly calculated to appeal to Tories, the wide range of themes adopted by Jacobite pamphleteers and agents periodically drew in disaffected Whigs and former radicals, particularly those interested in the issue ofconstitutional reform. Such "Whig-Jacobites" were highly valued by the court-in-exile, although many viewed James II as a potentially weak king from whom it would be easy to extract concessions in the event of a restoration, particularly with regard to the structure of Parliament.[50]
The role of Jacobitism in Irish political history is debated; some argue that it was a broad-based popular movement and the main driver of Irish Catholic nationalism between 1688 and 1795.[51] Others see it as part of "a pan-British movement, rooted in confessional and dynastic loyalties", very different from 19th-century Irish nationalism.[52] Historian Vincent Morely describes Irish Jacobitism as a distinctive ideology within the broader movement that "emphasised theMilesian ancestry of the Stuarts, their loyalty to Catholicism, and Ireland's status as a kingdom with a Crown of its own."[53] In the first half of the 18th century, Jacobitism was "the primary allegiance of politically conscious Catholics".[54]
Irish Catholic support for James was predicated on his religion and assumed willingness to implement (or at least inability to stop) their demands for Irish autonomy. In 1685, IrishbardDáibhí Ó Bruadair celebrated his accession as ensuring the revived supremacy of both theCatholic Church in Ireland and theIrish language. Tyrconnell's expansion of the army by the creation of Catholic regiments was welcomed by Diarmuid Mac Carthaigh, as enabling the native Irish 'Tadhg' to be armed and to assert his dominance over "John" the English Protestant.[55] Conversely, most Irish Protestants viewed his policies as designed to "utterly ruin the Protestant interest and the English interest in Ireland".[56] This restricted Protestant Jacobitism to "doctrinaire clergymen, disgruntled Tory landowners and Catholic converts", who opposed Catholicism but still viewed James' removal as unlawful.[57] A few Church of Ireland ministers refused to swear allegiance to the new regime and becameNon-Jurors, the most famous being propagandistCharles Leslie.[58]
Since regaining England was his primary objective, James viewed Ireland as a strategic dead-end butLouis XIV of France argued it was the best place to start the counter-revolution, since the administration was controlled by Tyrconnell and his cause was popular among the majority Catholic population.[59] James landed atKinsale in March 1689 and in May called the firstParliament of Ireland since 1666, primarily seeking taxes to fund the war effort. Tyrconnell ensured a predominantly Catholic electorate and candidates by issuing newborough charters, admitting Catholics into city corporations, and removing "disloyal members".[60] Since elections were not held in many northern areas, theIrish House of Commons was 70 members short, and 224 out of 230MPs were Catholic.[61]
Known to 19th-century Irish historians as the "Patriot Parliament", it opened by proclaiming James as the rightful king and condemning the "treasonous subjects" who had ousted him. There were some divisions among Irish Jacobites on the issue of returning all Catholic lands confiscatedin 1652 after theCromwellian conquest of Ireland. The majority of the Irish House of Commons wanted the1652 Cromwellian Act of Settlement repealed in its entirety, with ownership returned to that prevailing in 1641. This was opposed by a minority within the Catholic elite who had benefited from the1662 Act of Settlement, a group that included James himself, Tyrconnell and other members of theIrish House of Lords. Instead, they suggested those dispossessed in the 1650s should be restored to half their estates and paid compensation for the remainder.[62] However, with the Commons overwhelmingly in favour of complete restoration, Tyrconnell persuaded the Lords to approve the bill.[63]
More serious was the fact James was unwilling to do anything that might jeopardise potential support from Protestants in England and Scotland.[63] These conflicted with the demands of the Irish Parliament, which in addition to land restoration included toleration for Catholicism and Irish autonomy.[64] When it became clear Parliament would only vote war taxes if he met their minimum demands, James reluctantly gave his assent to Tyrconnell's land bill and passed abill of attainder, confiscating estates from 2,000 mostly Protestant "rebels".[65] Although he also approved Parliament's resolution that Ireland was a "distinct kingdom" and laws passed in England did not apply there (this was already true), he refused to abolishPoynings' Law, which denied the Irish Parliament theright of initiative.[66]
Despite his own Catholicism, James viewed the Protestant Church of Ireland as an important part of his support base; he insisted on retaining its legal pre-eminence, although agreeing landowners would only have to paytithes to clergy of their own religion.[65] However, the price of these concessions was that Irish Jacobitism became almost entirely confined to Catholics, who after 1690 split between Tyrconnell's 'peace party', who sought a negotiated solution, and a 'war party' led byPatrick Sarsfield who favoured fighting on to the end.[67]
James left Ireland after defeat atthe Boyne in 1690, telling his supporters to "shift for themselves".[68] This led some to depict him asSéamus an chaca, "James the shit", who had deserted his loyal followers.[69] However, Gaelic scholarBreandán Ó Buachalla claims his reputation subsequently recovered as "the rightful king ... destined to return', while upper-class Irish Jacobites likeCharles O'Kelly and Nicholas Plunkett blamed "corrupt English and Scottish advisors" for his apparent desertion.[70]
After 1691, measures passed by the 1689 Parliament were annulled,penal laws criminalized the practice of Catholicism and barred Catholics from public life, while the Act of Attainder was used to justify further land confiscations. 12,000 Jacobite soldiers went into exile in the diaspora known as theFlight of the Wild Geese, the majority of whom were later absorbed into theFrench Army'sIrish Brigade. About 1,000 men were recruited for the French and Spanish armies annually, many with a "tangible commitment to the Stuart cause".[71] Elements of the French Irish Brigade participated in the Scottish Jacobite rising of 1745.
Irish-language poets, especially inMunster, continued to champion the cause after James' death; in 1715, Eoin O Callanain described his son PrinceJames Francis Edward Stuart astaoiseach na nGaoidheal or "chieftain of the Gaels".[72] As in England, throughout the 1720s, Prince James' birthday on 10 June was marked by celebrations in Dublin, and towns likeKilkenny andGalway. These were often accompanied by rioting, suggested as proof of popular pro-Jacobite sympathies.[73] Others argue riots were common in 18th-century urban areas and see them as a "series of ritualised clashes".[74]
Some historians claim Jacobite rhetoric and symbolism in the many works ofAisling poetry composed in theIrish language and support forrapparees likeÉamonn an Chnoic,John Hurley, andGalloping Hogan, is proof of popular backing for a Stuart restoration.[75] Others, however, argue it is hard to discern "how far rhetorical Jacobitism reflected support for the Stuarts, as opposed to discontent with the status quo".[76] Nevertheless, fears of resurgent Jacobitism among the ruling Protestant minority meant anti-Catholic Penal Laws remained in place for most of the eighteenth century.[77]
In both 1715 and 1745, there were no Irish risings to accompany those in England and Scotland. One suggestion is that for various reasons, post 1691 Irish Jacobites looked to European allies, rather than a domestic revolt.[69] From the 1720s on, many middle-class Catholics were willing to swear loyalty to the Hanoverian regime, but balked at theOath of Abjuration, which required them to reject the authority of the Pope, and doctrines ofTransubstantiation and theReal Presence.[78] After the effective demise of the Jacobite cause in the 1750s and '60s, organisations like theCatholic Convention were established to agitate for the redress of Catholic grievances before Parliament, detachingCatholic emancipation from Jacobitism, which was by then moribund as a cause.[79] WhenCharles died in 1788, Irish nationalists looked for alternative liberators, among them theFrench First Republic,Napoleon Bonaparte andDaniel O'Connell.[80]
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In England and Wales, Jacobitism was often associated with theTories, many of whom supported James's right to the throne during theExclusion Crisis. Tory positions on constitutional matters gave rise to the belief that neither "time nor statute law [...] could ameliorate the sin of usurpation",[81] while shared Tory and Jacobite themes of divine right and sacred kingship may have provided an alternative toWhig concepts of "liberty and property".[82] A minority of academics, includingEveline Cruickshanks, have argued that until the late 1750s the Tories were a crypto-Jacobite party; others, that Jacobitism was a "limb of Toryism".[83] However, the supremacy of the Church of England was also central to Tory ideology, and James lost their support when his policies seemed to threaten that primacy. TheAct of Settlement 1701 excluding Catholics from the English throne was passed by a Tory administration; for most Tories, Stuart Catholicism was an insuperable barrier to active support, while the Tory doctrine of non-resistance also discouraged them from supporting the exiles against a reigning monarch, even one of dubious legitimacy.[84]
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For most of the period from 1690 to 1714, Parliament was either controlled by the Tories, or evenly split with the Whigs; whenGeorge I succeeded Anne, most hoped to reconcile with the new regime. TheEarl of Mar, who led the 1715 rising, observed "Jacobitisme, which they used to brand the Tories with, is now I presum out of doors".[85] However, George blamed the Tory ministry for thePeace of Utrecht, which he viewed as damaging to his home state ofHanover. His isolation of former Tory ministers likeLord Bolingbroke and the Earl of Mar drove them first into opposition, then exile. Their exclusion from power between 1714 and 1742 led many Tories to get into or remain in contact with the Jacobite court, which they saw as a tool to put pressure on the Whig government, and a last resort if campaigning by peaceable means failed.[86]
In 1715, there were co-ordinated celebrations on 29 May,Restoration Day, and 10 June, James Stuart's birthday, especially in Tory-dominated towns likeBristol,Oxford,Manchester andNorwich, although they remained quiet in the 1715 Rising. In the 1730s many 'Jacobite' demonstrations in Wales and elsewhere were driven by local sectarian tensions, especially hostility toMethodism, and featured attacks on Nonconformist chapels.[87] Most English participants in 1715 came from traditionally Catholic areas in theNorthwest, such asLancashire.[88] By 1720 there were fewer than 115,000 in England and Wales, and most remained loyal in 1745, including theDuke of Norfolk, the acknowledged leader of the English Catholics, who was sentenced to death for his role in 1715, but later pardoned.[89] Even so, sympathies were complex; Norfolk's agent Andrew Blood joined theManchester Regiment, and he later employed another ex-officer, John Sanderson, as his master of horse.[90] Some English Catholics continued to provide the exiles with financial support well into the 1770s.[91]
In 1689, around 2% of clergy in the Church of England refused to take the oath of allegiance to William and Mary; one list identifies a total of 584 clergy, schoolmasters and university dons asnonjurors.[92] This understates their numbers, insofar as many sympathisers remained within the Church of England, but the small population of nonjurors were over-represented in Jacobite risings and riots, and provided many "martyrs". By the late 1720s arguments over doctrine and the death of much of its leadership reduced the nonjuring church to a handful of scattered congregations, but several of those executed in 1745 came from Manchester, the last significant nonjuring centre in England.[93]
Support also came from quarters less obviously in tune with conservative monarchism;Quaker leaderWilliam Penn was a prominentNonconformist supporter of James, although this was based on their personal relationship and did not survive his deposition. Another element in English Jacobitism was a handful of disaffectedRadicals, whoseleft-wing (for the time) ideology was at face value incompatible with Jacobite conservatism, but who saw the possibility of extractingParliamentary reform from a new and weak dynasty, and possibly replacing the (presumably) displaced Whigs as amajor political party; John Matthews, a Jacobite printer executed in 1719; his pamphletVox Populi vox Dei emphasised theLockean theory of thesocial contract, a doctrine very few Tories of the period would have supported.[44]
Scottish Jacobitism had wider and more extensive roots than in England. 20,000 Scots fought for the Jacobites in 1715, compared to 11,000 who joined the government army, and were the majority of the 9,000 to 14,000 who served in 1745.[94] One reason was the persistence of feudalism in parts of rural Scotland, where tenants could be compelled to provide their landlords with military service. Many of the Highlandclansmen who were a feature of Jacobite armies were raised this way: in all three major risings, the bulk of the rank and file were supplied by a small number of north-western clans whose leaders joined the rebellion.[95]
Despite this, many Jacobites were Protestant Lowlanders, rather than the Catholic, Gaelic-speaking Highlanders of legend.[96] By 1745, fewer than 1% of Scots were Catholic, restricted to the far north-west and a few noble families.[97] The majority of the rank and file, as well as many Jacobite leaders, belonged to Protestant non-juring Episcopalian congregations.[98] Throughout the 17th century, the close connection between Scottish politics and religion meantregime changes were accompanied by the losers being expelled from theChurch of Scotland. In1690, over 200 clergymen lost their parishes, mostly inAberdeenshire andBanffshire, a strongly Episcopalian area since the 1620s. In 1745, around 25% of Jacobite recruits came from this part of the country.[99]
Episcopalianism was popular among social conservatives, as it emphasised indefeasible hereditary right, absolute obedience, and implied deposition of the senior Stuart line was a breach of natural order.[100] The church continued to offer prayers for the Stuarts until 1788, while many refused to swear allegiance to the Hanoverians in 1714.[101] However, even in 1690, a substantial minority accommodated to the new regime, a number that increased significantly after the establishment of theScottish Episcopal Church in 1712.[102]
Episcopalian ministers, such as Professor James Garden of Aberdeen, presented the 1707 Union as one in a series of disasters to befall Scotland, provoked by "the sins [...] of rebellion, injustice, oppression, schism and perjury".[103] Opposition was boosted by measures imposed by the post-1707Parliament of Great Britain, including theTreason Act 1708, the 1711 ruling that barred Scots peers with English or British peerages from their seats in theHouse of Lords, and tax increases.[104] Despite their own preferences, the Stuarts tried to appeal to this group; in 1745, Charles issued declarations dissolving the "pretended Union", despite concerns this would alienate his English supporters.[105]
However, opposition to post-Union legislation was not restricted to Jacobites. Many Presbyterians opposed the establishment of the Episcopal Church in 1712 and other measures of indulgence, while the worsttax riots took place inGlasgow, a town noted for its antipathy to the Stuarts.[106] As in England, some objected less to the Union than the Hanoverian connection;Lord George Murray, a senior Jacobite commander in 1745, was a Unionist who repeatedly disagreed with Charles, but opposed "wars [...] on account of the Electors of Hanover".[107]
While Jacobite agents continued in their attempts to recruit the disaffected, the most committed Jacobites were often linked by relatively small family networks, particularly in Scotland; Jacobite activities in areas likePerthshire andAberdeenshire centred on a limited number of influential families heavily involved in 1715 and 1745.[108]
Some of the most powerful landowning families preserved their establishment loyalties, but maintained traditions of Stuart allegiance by permitting younger sons to become involved in active Jacobitism; in 1745,Lewis Gordon was widely believed to be a proxy for his brother, theDuke of Gordon.[109] Many Jacobite leaders were closely linked to each other and the exile community by marriage or blood. This has led some historians, notablyBruce Lenman, to characterise the Jacobite risings as French-backedcoup attempts by a small network drawn from the elite, though this view is not universally accepted.[110]
Family traditions of Jacobite sympathy were reinforced through objects such as inscribed glassware or rings with hidden symbols, although many of those that survive are in fact 19th-century neo-Jacobite creations. Other family heirlooms contained reference to executed Jacobite martyrs, for which the movement preserved an unusual level of veneration.[111]Tartan cloth, widely adopted by theJacobite army in 1745, was used in portraiture as a symbol of Stuart sympathies, even before the Rising. Outside elite social circles, the Jacobite community circulated propaganda and symbolic objects through a network of clubs, print-sellers and pedlars, aimed at the provincial gentry and middling sort. In 1745, Prince Charles ordered commemorative medals and miniature pictures for clandestine distribution.[112]
Among the more visible elements of the Jacobite community were drinking clubs established in the early 18th century, such as the Scottish Bucks Club or the "Cycle of the White Rose", led by Welsh TorySir Watkin Williams-Wynn.[113] Others included the "Sea Serjeants", largely composed of South Wales gentry or the "Independent Electors of Westminster" led by theGlamorganshire lawyerDavid Morgan, executed for his role in 1745.[114] Other than Morgan, the vast majority of their members took no part in the 1745 Rising; Charles later said "I will do for the Welsh Jacobites what they did for me. I will drink their health".[115]
Oak Apple Day on 29 May commemorated Charles II and was an occasion for displays of Stuart sympathy, as was "White Rose Day",the Old Pretender's birthday on 10 June.[116] Symbols were commonly employed by Jacobites, given that they could not be prosecuted for their use; the most common of these was theWhite rose of York, adopted after 1688 for reasons now unclear. Various origins have been suggested, including its use as an ancient Scottish royal device, its association with James II asDuke of York, or Charles I being styled as the "White King".[117] Jacobite military units often used plain white standards orcockades, while green ribbons were another recognised Stuart symbol despite their association with the WhigGreen Ribbon Club.[118]
Despite being greeted as a hero on his return to Paris, Charles' reception behind the scenes was more muted.D'Éguilles, unofficial French envoy to the Jacobites, had a low opinion of him and other senior Jacobites, describing Lochgarry as "a bandit", and suggesting George Murray was a British spy. For their part, the Scots were disillusioned by lack of meaningful English or French support, despite constant assurances of both.[119] Events also highlighted the reality that a low level, ongoing insurgency was far more cost-effective for the French than a restoration, a form of warfare potentially devastating to the local populace.[d] By exposing the divergence between Scottish, French and Stuart objectives, as well as the lack of support in England, the 1745 Rising ended Jacobitism as a viable political alternative in England and Scotland.[44]
The British authorities enacted a series of measures designed to prevent the Scottish Highlands being used for another rising. New forts were built, themilitary road network finally completed andWilliam Roy made the first comprehensive survey of the Highlands.[120] Much of the power held by the Highland chiefs derived from their ability to require military service from their clansmen and even before 1745 the clan system had been under severe stress due to changing economic conditions; theHeritable Jurisdictions Act removed such feudal controls by Highland chiefs.[121] This was far more significant than the better-knownAct of Proscription which outlawed Highland dress unless worn in military service: its impact is debated and the law was repealed in 1782.[121]
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As early as 1745, the French were struggling with the costs of theWar of the Austrian Succession, and in June 1746, they began peace negotiations with Britain atBreda. Victories inFlanders in 1747 and 1748 actually worsened their position by drawing in the previously neutralDutch Republic, whose shipping they relied on to avoid the British naval blockade.[122] By 1748, food shortages among the French population made peace a matter of urgency, but the British refused to sign theTreaty of Aix-la-Chapelle while Charles remained in France. After he ignored requests to leave, the French lost patience; in December 1748, he was briefly jailed before being deported.[123]
In June 1747, his brotherHenry became a Catholic priest; given that Charles had no legitimate heir, this was seen as tacit acceptance by their father James that the Jacobite cause was finished. Charles continued to explore options for a rising in England, including his conversion to Anglicanism, a proposal that had outraged his father James when previously suggested.[124] He "secretly" visited London in 1750 to meet supporters, and was inducted into theNon Juror church.[125] However, the decline of Jacobitism is demonstrated by the fact that KingGeorge II and his government were well aware of Charles's presence and did nothing to intervene. The English Jacobites made it clear they would do nothing without foreign backing, which despite Charles's overtures toFrederick II of Prussia seemed unlikely.[126]
A plot to capture or assassinate George II, headed byAlexander Murray of Elibank, was betrayed to the government byAlastair Ruadh MacDonnell, or "Pickle the Spy", but not before Charles had sent two exiles as agents. One wasArchibald Cameron, responsible for recruiting the Cameron regiment in 1745, who was allegedly betrayed by his own clansmen and executed on 7 June 1753.[127] In a 1754 dispute with the English conspirators, a drunken and increasingly desperate Charles threatened to publish their names for having "betrayed" him; most remaining English sympathisers now left the cause.[128]
During theSeven Years' War in 1759, Charles metChoiseul, thenChief minister of France to discussanother invasion, but Choiseul dismissed him as "incapacitated by drink".[129] The Jacobite cause was abandoned by the French, while British supporters stopped providing funds; Charles, who had returned to Catholicism, now relied on the Papacy to fund his lifestyle. However, with the death of Charles's father in 1766, the Hanoverians received the Pope'sde facto recognition.[130] Despite Henry's urgings,Clement XIII refused to recognise his brother as Charles III; Charles died of a stroke in Rome in January 1788, a disappointed and embittered man.[131]
Following Charles's death, Scottish Catholics swore allegiance to the House of Hanover, and resolved two years later to pray for King George by name. The Stuart claim passed to Henry, now a Cardinal, who styled himself King Henry IX of England. After he fell into financial difficulty during theFrench Revolution, he was granted a stipend byGeorge III. However, his refusal to renounce his claim to be 'Henry IX' prevented a full reconciliation with the House of Hanover.[132]
During theIrish Rebellion of 1798, headed by theUnited Irishmen with French support, theDirectory suggested making HenryKing of the Irish.[133][134] They hoped this would attract support from the Catholic Irish and lead to the creation of a stable pro-French client state.Wolfe Tone, the Protestant republican leader, rejected the suggestion, and a short-livedIrish Republic was proclaimed instead.[134]
Following the death of Henry in 1807, the Jacobite claim passed to those excluded by the 1701 Act of Settlement. From 1807 to 1840, it was held by theHouse of Savoy, then theHouse of Habsburg-Lorraine until 1919, while the current Jacobite heir isFranz, Duke of Bavaria, from theHouse of Wittelsbach. However, neither he nor any of his predecessors since 1807 have pursued their claim. Henry, Charles and James are memorialised in theMonument to the Royal Stuarts in the Vatican.[135]
TraditionalWhig historiography viewed Jacobitism as a marginal threat to the progression towards present-day Parliamentary democracy, taking the view that as it was defeated, it could never have won.[136] Representing "pre-industrial paternalism" and "mystical loyalism" against forward-thinking individualism, this conception of Jacobitism was reinforced byMacaulay's stereotype of the typical "Tory-Jacobite squire" as a "bigoted, ignorant, drunken philistine".[136]
More recent analyses, such as that ofJ. C. D. Clark, suggest that Jacobitism can instead be regarded as part of a "deep vein of social and political conservatism running throughout British history", arguing that the Whig settlement was not as stable as has been depicted.[137] Further interest in Jacobite studies has been prompted by a reassessment of the nationalist aspirations of Scots Jacobites in particular, emphasising their place as part of an ongoing political debate.
As the political danger of Jacobitism receded, the movement was increasingly viewed as a romantic symbol of the past, particularly the final rebellion. Relics and mementoes of 1745 were preserved, and Charles himself celebrated in "increasingly emotional language". This memorialising tendency was reinforced by the publication in the 1830s of selections fromThe Lyon in Mourning byRobert Forbes (1708–1775), a collection of source material and interviews with Jacobite participants in the 1745 rising.[138]
19th-century historiography often presented Scottish Jacobites as primarily driven by a romantic attachment to the Stuarts, rather than the reality of individuals with disparate motives. This suited the Victorian depiction of Highlanders as a "martial race", distinguished by a tradition of a "misplaced loyalism" since transferred to the British crown.[139] The participation of the Lowland Scots and north-eastern gentry was less emphasised, while his Irish Jacobite advisors like CaptainFélix O'Neille y O'Neille [es],[140] were, until very recently, inaccurately presented as worthless individuals who were solely a negative influence on Charles Stuart in 1745.[141]
Walter Scott, author ofWaverley, a story of the 1745 rebellion, combined a romantic view of Jacobitism with a belief in what he says as the practical benefits ofWhiggism. In 1822 he arranged a pageantry of reinvented Scottish traditions for thevisit of King George IV to Scotland. The displays oftartan proved immensely popular, and Highland clothing, previously associated with rebellion and regime change, became emblems ofScottish national identity. Some descendants of those attained for rebellion had their titles restored in 1824, while persecutory and discriminatory laws against Catholics wererepealed through the efforts ofDaniel O'Connell in 1829. With political and military Jacobitism now safely confined to an "earlier era", the hitherto largely ignored site of their final defeat at Culloden began to be celebrated.[142]
There was a brief revival of political Jacobitism in the late 1880s and into the 1890s.[143] A number of Jacobite clubs and societies were formed, starting with theOrder of the White Rose founded byBertram Ashburnham in 1886.[citation needed] In 1890,Herbert Vivian andRuaraidh Erskine co-founded a weekly newspaper,The Whirlwind, that espoused a Jacobite political view.[dead link] Vivian, Erskine andMelville Henry Massue formed theLegitimist Jacobite League of Great Britain and Ireland in 1891, which lasted for several years. Vivian went on to stand for Parliament four times on a Jacobite platform – though he failed to be elected each time.[144] The revival largely came to an end with theFirst World War, and the various societies of the time are now represented by theRoyal Stuart Society.
Many Jacobite folk songs emerged in Scotland in theRomantic era; a number of examples were collected by Scott's colleagueJames Hogg in hisJacobite Reliques, including several he likely composed himself. Scots poets such asSir Walter Scott,Robert Burns,Alicia Ann Spottiswoode,Agnes Maxwell MacLeod, andCarolina Nairne, Lady Nairne (whose "Bonnie Charlie" remains popular) added further examples. Many of these songs have seen a renewed popularity since the beginning of theBritish folk revival in the 1950s.
Relatively few of the most famous surviving songs, except for those byWilliam Hamilton andJames Robson, actually date from the time of the risings and the majority of those that do are in other languages than English or Scots.
As demonstrated in 1924 byDaniel Corkery, inModern literature in Irish, Jacobitism inspired the enormously influentialAisling ordream vision genre ofIrish bardic poetry. One of the most widely known isMo Ghile Mear bySeán Clárach Mac Domhnaill. Other important Jacobite poets who composed immortal verse inMunster Irish during the 18th-century includedAogán Ó Rathaille,Éamonn an Chnoic,Tadhg Gaelach Ó Súilleabháin,Eoghan Rua Ó Súilleabháin, andDonnchadh Ruadh Mac Conmara. TheAisling poetic genre has also remained a living tradition and has been adapted, by poets such asMáire Bhuidhe Ní Laoghaire,Pádraig Phiarais Cúndún, andSeán Gaelach Ó Súilleabháin to more recent causes and struggles by theIrish people. Since 1976, an Aisling poem by Liam mac Uistín in honour of "those who gave their lives for Irish freedom" has been permanently displayed at theGarden of Remembrance inDublin.
By 1933,John Lorne Campbell published the groundbreaking bookHighland Songs of the Forty-Five, consisting of 32 Gaelic song-poems, which were analyzed for political content, annotated, and published with facing translations into Englishblank verse, or unrhymediambic pentameter; the real cultural, political, and religious reasons for theJacobite rising of 1745 had been obscured by the novels of SirWalter Scott andRobert Louis Stevenson, who both depicted, "the Highlander as aromantic hero fighting for a lost cause."[145] In response, Campbell set out to give, "a voice to the voiceless - ordinary men who had never been allowed to speak for themselves".[146]
As Campbell's volume and his later published writings revealed to theEnglish-speaking world, withinScottish Gaelic literature, Jacobite ideology and the events of the risings inspired the immortal poetry ofIain Lom,Sìleas na Ceapaich,Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair,Iain Mac Fhearchair,Catriona Nic Fhearghais,Iain Ruadh Stùibhart, andWilliam Ross. Despite also composing immortal poetry of his own about fighting for the government in theCampbell of Argyll Militia during theBattle of Falkirk Muir in 1746,[147] their contemporary,Duncan Ban MacIntyre, offers in his later poetry, according to Campbell, "an interesting testimony to the bitter disillusionment of the Highlanders who had come to the aid of the Government, to be in the end treated no better that those who had rebelled against it."[148]
Since Henry's death, none of the Jacobite heirs have claimed the English or Scottish thrones.Franz, Duke of Bavaria (born 1933), a direct descendant ofCharles I, is the current legitimate heir of the house of Stuart. It has been suggested that a repeal of theAct of Settlement 1701 could allow him to claim the throne, although he has expressed no interest in doing so.[149]
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