The Jacobite Claimants
England 1603-1714
Upon his succession to the throne of England King James VI of Scotland became King James I of England thereby peacefully combining the two kingdoms for the first time in history and making the Stuarts were the first kings of the United Kingdom.
The Stuart dynasty reigned in England and Scotland from 1603 to 1714, during which time culture flourished at court, but it was also a time of war, plague, and fire. Intense religious debate and radical politics were hot topics of the day, and this contributed to a bloody civil war in the mid-seventeenth century between Crown and Parliament. The civil war ended with a victory for the Roundheads lead by Oliver Cromwell and resulted in the execution of King Charles I On 10 June 1688, James’s second wife who was a Catholic gave birth to a son, James Stuart, and it seemed that the grounds for a Catholic dynasty had once again found purchase in England and Scotland. The English people lived in fear of Catholicism, and in 1688, they welcomed the invasion of William of Orange and his wife Mary, the oldest daughter of James II in what was to known as the “Glorious” Revolution. King James II, his wife and their 6-month-old son fled to France, and Parliament declared that he had abdicated, therefore William and Mary ascended to the English throne as joint monarchs and defenders of Protestantism. In 1701 the Act of Settlement was signed, declaring that only Protestants could be rulers of England. William and Mary died without heirs and they were succeeded by Queen Anne, the second of James II's daughters of his first marriage, who was to be the last of the Stuart line. |
Following the civil war, England was a republic but not a very successful one. In 1653 Parliament was dissolved and Oliver Cromwell became Lord Protector until his death in 1658, at which point Charles II was invited back to England as its King. Charles II failed to father an heir and his brother James became king after Charles’s death in 1685. James II grew up in exile in France and converted to Catholicism in 1665, but he still ascended the throne peacefully. However, the peace did not last – James’s illegitimate son, The Duke of Monmouth, led a rebellion against the Crown and lost. This resulted in many disagreements between Parliament and King James in regards to religion, and finally in 1685 he suspended Parliament and ruled without it. Following the death of Queen Anne in 1714 George of Hanover became King of England and Scotland, yet Stuart princes would remain in the wings in the form of the Jacobite Claimants for another century.
The Pretenders 1688-1720When James II died in exile in 1701, his only surviving legitimate son James Stuart, also known as the “Old Pretender” claimed the throne of England, Scotland and Ireland. The pope and the French king formally recognized him as the Catholic monarch and twice he attempted to take back the throne he thought was rightfully his.
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Sources:
Battle of Culloden, The Jacobite Claimants, James VI and I, James II of England, Jacobitism, Preclearances - Culloden aftermath
Film: BBC’s ‘A History of Scotland’
Battle of Culloden, The Jacobite Claimants, James VI and I, James II of England, Jacobitism, Preclearances - Culloden aftermath
Film: BBC’s ‘A History of Scotland’