The Jacobites and Culloden
Supporters of the exiled Stuart kings rise repeatedly against the new order; the last rising, led by Bonnie Prince Charlie, ends in slaughter at Culloden in 1746 and a crackdown on Highland society.
- Culloden — Murray Pittock, Oxford University Press (2016)
- The Scottish Nation 1700–2000 — T. M. Devine, Allen Lane (1999)
- Scotland: A New History — Michael Lynch, Pimlico (1992)
- The Oxford Companion to Scottish History — Michael Lynch (ed.), Oxford University Press (2001)
A rival dynasty
In 1688–89 the Catholic James VII and II was driven out and replaced by the Protestant William of Orange and Mary. Those who stayed loyal to James and his heirs became known as Jacobites, from Jacobus, Latin for James. Their support was strongest among Episcopalian and Catholic Highland clans and in the north-east, but the cause also drew on resentment of the Union after 1707.
- Culloden — Murray Pittock, Oxford University Press (2016)
- Scotland: A New History — Michael Lynch, Pimlico (1992)
A first rising in 1689 won at Killiecrankie but faded after its leader, Viscount Dundee, was killed. In February 1692 government troops billeted with the MacDonalds of Glencoe massacred their hosts, killing more than thirty, because their chief had been late in swearing loyalty to William. The breach of Highland hospitality made the Massacre of Glencoe a lasting symbol of betrayal. A larger rising in 1715 ended inconclusively at Sheriffmuir and collapsed.
- Scotland: A New History — Michael Lynch, Pimlico (1992)
- The Oxford Companion to Scottish History — Michael Lynch (ed.), Oxford University Press (2001)
The ‘45
In July 1745 Charles Edward Stuart, grandson of James VII, landed in the Hebrides with a handful of companions. Several Highland chiefs reluctantly rallied to him, and on 19 August he raised his standard at Glenfinnan. His army took Edinburgh, routed a government army at Prestonpans and marched into England, reaching Derby, about 125 miles from London, in December. Promised English and French support did not appear, and his commanders insisted on turning back.
- Culloden — Murray Pittock, Oxford University Press (2016)
- Scotland: A New History — Michael Lynch, Pimlico (1992)
Culloden
On 16 April 1746, on Drummossie Moor near Inverness, the exhausted and hungry Jacobite army faced a well-supplied government army under the Duke of Cumberland. In under an hour, artillery and disciplined musket fire broke the Highland charge. Estimates suggest some 1,500 to 2,000 Jacobites were killed or wounded, against perhaps 50 government dead, and many wounded were killed afterwards. Scots served on both sides, including several government regiments.
- Culloden — Murray Pittock, Oxford University Press (2016)
- The Oxford Companion to Scottish History — Michael Lynch (ed.), Oxford University Press (2001)
Charles escaped after months on the run, helped by Flora MacDonald, and lived out his life in exile. Cumberland, nicknamed “Butcher” by his enemies, sent troops through the Highlands burning homes and seizing cattle.
- Culloden — Murray Pittock, Oxford University Press (2016)
- Scotland: A New History — Michael Lynch, Pimlico (1992)
The aftermath
Parliament set out to break the clans as a military force. The Disarming Act of 1746 banned weapons and, for ordinary men, Highland dress, a ban not lifted until 1782. The Heritable Jurisdictions Act of 1747 abolished the chiefs’ private courts. Over the following decades many chiefs turned from leaders of men into commercial landlords, which helped pave the way for the Clearances.
- The Scottish Clearances: A History of the Dispossessed, 1600–1900 — T. M. Devine, Allen Lane (2018)
- The Scottish Nation 1700–2000 — T. M. Devine, Allen Lane (1999)
Within a couple of generations the defeated Highlands were romanticised. Highland regiments became the pride of the British army; Walter Scott’s novels and George IV’s tartan-clad visit to Edinburgh in 1822 turned tartan, kilts and pipes into symbols of all Scotland. The battlefield, cared for by the National Trust for Scotland, is a place of quiet pilgrimage, and visitors from around the world look for their clan’s stone.
- Culloden — Murray Pittock, Oxford University Press (2016)
- The Scottish Nation 1700–2000 — T. M. Devine, Allen Lane (1999)
A noble lost cause: the clans' last stand for their rightful king, followed by a brutal campaign to destroy their culture, from the burning of glens to the banning of tartan and the bagpipes' martial use.
- Culloden — Murray Pittock, Oxford University Press (2016)
- The Scottish Clearances: A History of the Dispossessed, 1600–1900 — T. M. Devine, Allen Lane (2018)
To most Lowland Presbyterians at the time the Jacobites threatened to bring back a Catholic, absolutist monarchy, and they welcomed their defeat. Culloden was a battle between Scots as well as a British civil war, and the Jacobite cause also attracted English, Irish and French support.
- Culloden — Murray Pittock, Oxford University Press (2016)
- The Scottish Nation 1700–2000 — T. M. Devine, Allen Lane (1999)
Why it matters today
Culloden is the most emotionally charged battlefield in Scotland, and the Jacobites, through Walter Scott, songs like "The Skye Boat Song" and the TV series Outlander, became the heart of romantic Scottish identity worldwide. Many Scots feel the aftermath as the beginning of the end for Gaelic Highland life. Historians push back on a simple Scotland-versus-England reading: more Scots fought against the Jacobites than for them.