The British Revolution 1629-1660

Abstract

During the mid-seventeenth century, the Stuart dynasty faced revolution in their three kingdoms - Scotland, Ireland and England - which was marked by constitutional defiance, civil war, regecide, republicanism and the eventual restoration of monarchy. Opposition in all three kingdoms to the Stuarts as an imperial dynasty drew upon and shaped different perceptions of Britain. Allan Macinnes’ wider contextualising of a British revolution - which challenges the anglocentric dominance of British History – takes account of apocalyptic visions, baronial politics and commercial networks, as well as confessional allegiances, representative images and written texts. This comprehensive survey is essential reading for all those studying this period of political crisis, which ultimately contributed to the definition of both the national interest of England and the national survival of Scotland and Ireland.

Scotland, Europe and the English ‘Missing Link’

“…76 Such observations are particularly pertinent in light of recent research detailing the positive reception to Scottish intervention in the English Civil War by several sections of English society, at least in the opening years of the conflict and possibly as late as 1646. 77 Throughout the 1650s, and notwithstanding the Cromwellian occupation of Scotland, we find commentators discussing London-based Scots with no hint of malice or surprise at their presence in the English capital. Samuel Hartlib recorded the merits of Scottish brewer women in London, going about their business at a time when the English New Model Army was moving north to fight the Scottish Army of Covenant.…”

“…They did not want to see their endeavours on behalf of 'the Protestant cause' abroad overturned at home by Charles foisting what they viewed as crypto-Catholic Anglican uniformity upon the Scottish Presbyterian Kirk. 29 After the failure of a royalist rising in the middle of the 1640s, individual officers travelled across Europe with commissions from the king. They sought enlistment in countries friendly to the Stuart monarchy where they could await the better fortune of their king at home.…”

Scots in the English Atlantic from 1603 to 1660: Policy, Patronage, and Subjecthood

“…47 He was likely willing to grant a dispensation to Scots because of the minimal impact they had on the Virginia tobacco trade at the time and, perhaps, as a minor concession in the face of rising resentment of his policies in Scotland. 48 The charters and letters patent acquired by Scots from the early Stuarts also speak to their access to the Atlantic world and the role royal patronage played in that access. First, individual Scots could acquire personal colonial grants under both the Great Seal of Scotland and the Great Seal of England.…”