Jacobites
(jăk`əbīts'), adherents of the exiled branch of the house of StuartStuart
or Stewart,
royal family that ruled Scotland and England. The Stuart lineage began in a family of hereditary stewards of Scotland, the earliest of whom was Walter (d. 1177), grandson of a Norman adventurer.
..... Click the link for more information. who sought to restore James IIJames II,
1633–1701, king of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1685–88); second son of Charles I, brother and successor of Charles II. Early Life
..... Click the link for more information. and his descendants to the English and Scottish thrones after the Glorious RevolutionGlorious Revolution,
in English history, the events of 1688–89 that resulted in the deposition of James II and the accession of William III and Mary II to the English throne. It is also called the Bloodless Revolution.
..... Click the link for more information. of 1688. They take their name from the Latin form (Jacobus) of the name James. Theoretical justification for the Stuart claim was found in the writings of the nonjurorsnonjurors
[Lat.,=not swearing], those English and Scottish clergymen who refused to break their oath of allegiance to James II and take the oath to William III after the Glorious Revolution of 1688.
..... Click the link for more information. , who maintained the principles of hereditary succession and the divine right of kings. But the Stuarts' continued adherence to Roman Catholicism, the rash and incompetent leadership of their military ventures, and the duplicity of foreign courts cost the Jacobite cause much support. After James II's Ouster
When William IIIWilliam III,
1650–1702, king of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1689–1702); son of William II, prince of Orange, stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, and of Mary, oldest daughter of King Charles I of England.
..... Click the link for more information. and Mary IIMary II,
1662–94, queen of England, wife of William III. The daughter of James II by his first wife, Anne Hyde, she was brought up a Protestant despite her father's adoption of Roman Catholicism. In 1677 she married her cousin William of Orange and went with him to Holland.
..... Click the link for more information. ascended the throne after the flight of James II to France, strong Stuart partisans remained to offer rebellion. However, the death (1689) of John Graham, Viscount DundeeDundee, John Graham of Claverhouse, 1st Viscount
, 1649?–1689, Scottish soldier, known as Bonnie Dundee.
..... Click the link for more information. , at Killiecrankie ended armed resistance in Scotland, and William III quashed Jacobite hopes in Ireland by his victory over James's forces at the battle of the BoyneBoyne,
river, c.70 mi (110 km) long, rising in the Bog of Allen, Co. Kildare, E Republic of Ireland, and flowing NE through Co. Meath, past Trim, to the Irish Sea near Drogheda. Salmon is caught in the river.
..... Click the link for more information. (1690). Thereafter the exiled English court in France became a center of intrigue for men like Henry St. JohnSt. John, Henry, Viscount Bolingbroke
, 1678–1751, English statesman. Political Rise
Although he was one of England's great orators, Bolingbroke was also an unstable profligate, and he was generally distrusted.
..... Click the link for more information. , Viscount Bolingbroke, and others like him who were out of favor in London. At home many Roman Catholics, high churchmen, and extreme Tories adhered to the Stuart cause.
Under the Old Pretender
At the death (1701) of James II his son James Francis Edward StuartStuart or Stewart, James Francis Edward,
1688–1766, claimant to the British throne, son of James II and Mary of Modena; called the Old Pretender.
..... Click the link for more information. , the Old Pretender, was recognized as James III by the courts of France and Spain and proclaimed by the Jacobites. An invasion of Scotland in 1708 by the new claimant proved totally abortive. Each subsequent attempt also failed, and in each the Jacobites were the dupes of French or Spanish policy. After the death (1714) of Queen Anne and the accession of the Hanoverian George I, there was the rising known by its date as "the '15." Led by the incompetent John Erskine, 6th earl of MarMar, John Erskine, 6th (or 11th) earl of,
1675–1732, Scottish nobleman, leader of the Jacobites. He was nicknamed "Bobbing John," probably because of his political vacillation.
..... Click the link for more information. , it ended in the disastrous battles of Preston and Sheriffmuir. The Old Pretender, discredited by failure, retired first to Avignon and finally to Rome. Spain supported another Jacobite invasion of Scotland in 1719.
Under Bonnie Prince Charlie (the Young Pretender)
After the failure of the 1719 invasion of Scotland, hope lay dormant until the Old Pretender's son Charles Edward StuartStuart or Stewart, Charles Edward,
1720–88, claimant to the British throne, b. Rome. First son of James Francis Edward Stuart (the Old Pretender), he was known as Bonnie Prince Charlie and as the Young Pretender.
..... Click the link for more information. (the Young Pretender or Bonnie Prince Charlie) reached manhood. Acting on the assumption that renewed French hostility toward England would bring support for a Jacobite invasion, the prince rashly sailed for Scotland, raised the clans in what was called "the '45," and won an initial victory at Prestonpans in Sept., 1745. An advance into England stalled at Derby for lack of support from English Jacobites and French allies.
Despite Charles's objections, his council of war voted to retreat, an action skillfully managed by Lord George MurrayMurray, Lord George,
1694–1760, Scottish general. He took part in the risings of the Jacobites in 1715, 1719, and 1745. Although he foresaw the hopelessness of the 1745 uprising, he was one of Charles Edward Stuart's ablest commanders in the rebellion, serving him in the
..... Click the link for more information. . Disaster followed for the Jacobites at the battle of Culloden Moor (1746). Charles escaped to France, and Stuart hopes were extinguished, although a claimant to the throne lived on until 1807, in the person of Henry StuartStuart or Stewart, Henry Benedict Maria Clement,
known as Cardinal York,
1725–1807, claimant to the British throne, b. Rome.
..... Click the link for more information. , Cardinal York. Jacobite sympathies lingered, particularly in Scotland and Ireland, where Jacobitism had been practically synonymous with national discontent, but the movement ceased to be a serious political force.
Bibliography
Jacobite activities gave rise to much ballad literature and were the theme of such later literary works as Sir Walter Scott's Rob Roy, Waverley, and Redgauntlet, W. Thackeray's Henry Esmond, and R. L. Stevenson's Kidnapped. See also studies by G. P. Insh (1952), G. H. Jones (1954), J. C. M. Baynes (1970), F. McLynn (1981, 1985, and 1998), and C. Petrie (rev. ed. 1988).