The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
THE STUARTS AND THE JACOBITES
A cataclysmic chapter in Scottish history
It was one of the most turbulent periods in Scottish history, a time when the power of the throne faced down the threat of rebellion with devastating consequences and worlds collided in a shattering impact. Even today, more than 270 years after the Battle of Culloden in 1746, many people remain fascinated by the Stuarts and the Jacobites. The success of TV series Outlander highlights how the Machiavellian intrigue and internecine warfare which was prevalent throughout the 18th Century continues to cast a haunting spell.
That helps explain why there has been such excitement at the launch of a major digitisation programme which will provide unparalleled insight into the social, military and personal worlds of the exiled Stuart dynasty and their Jacobite followers as they fought to regain the thrones of Scotland, England and Ireland between the late 17th and early 19th centuries.
The Stuart and Cumberland Papers project has made accessible online a total of 245,000 documents from the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle, and they are not stuffy relics from a bygone age.
The language used in these items might appear archaic to modern audiences, but the passion between the main protagonists is heartfelt – occasionally heartbreaking – and tears away the mask of inscrutability which often surrounds those involved in affairs of state.
The Stuart claimants to the throne were the descendants of James II (James VII of Scotland), who was forcibly replaced by his Protestant daughter Mary II and her husband William of Orange during the Glorious Revolution of 1688.
From that point, until the death of the last Stuart heir in 1807, they were exiles in Europe, a group of complex individuals at the head of a labyrinthine network of Jacobite supporters at home and abroad.
The Stuart Papers bring together the private and diplomatic correspondence of James II; his son James Francis Edward Stuart, who was nicknamed the Old Pretender; and his grandson Charles Edward Stuart, better known as Bonnie Prince Charlie. They do so with remarkable candour, such as when the seven-year-old prince wrote to his father in 1728.
The correspondence read: “Dear Papa, I thank you mightily for your kind letter. I shall strive to obey you in all things and I will be very dutifull to Mamma and not jump too near her.
“I shall be much obliged to the Cardinal for his animals. I long to see you soon and in good health.”
The documents also recount the story of the royals’ wives, mistresses and loyal followers, and illustrate the impact of courtiers and spies in a manner which might have inspired Outlander author Diana Gabaldon.
A significant proportion of the papers are wholly or partly in cipher, often with the translation written above each line of text. But it adds up to a treasure trove for those interested in Scottish history.
In July 1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie sailed from France to Scotland with plans to raise a Jacobite army against the Hanoverians and regain the throne for his father fuelled by a combination of ambition and romance.
By April 1746 the two sides were preparing to meet at Culloden Moor outside Inverness.
One poignant memorandum in the Stuart Papers, written by General Lord George Murray, details the combat orders issued to the Jacobite troops as they prepared for their ill-fated date with destiny.
This read: “It is required & expected that each indeviduall in the Armie as well officer as Souldier keeps their posts that shall be alotted to them, & if any man turn his back to Runaway the nixt behind such man is to shoot him.
“No body on Pain of Death is to Strip the slain or Plunder till the Batle be over. The Highlanders all to be in Kilts, & no body to throw away their Guns; by HRH Command.’”
The Jacobites suffered a catastrophic defeat, and Bonnie Prince Charlie famously – or infamously – fled to France, assisted by Flora MacDonald, the redoubtable woman from South Uist, whose name has become synonymous with supporting those in need on the Jacobite side.
But he was grief-stricken at how matters unfolded and the fact he had been forced to leave his associates behind him, as can be discerned from a missive he wrote on April 28 1746 when he justified his reasons for departing Scotland and asked his loyal chiefs to conceal the news of his exile for as long as possible.
“When I came into this Country, it was my only view to do all in my power for your good and safety, This I will allways do as long as life is in me.
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ONLINE INSIGHT INTO FAMED CHAPTER IN SCOTTISH HISTORY
“But alas! I see with grief, I can at present do little for you on this side the water, for the only thing that can now be done, is to defend your selves, ’till the French assist you…”
It was a forlorn quest on his part, one which was destined to end in frustration and failure, and the sense of recherché du temps perdu is evident in many of the newlydigitised pieces of correspondence among the collection.
Two months later, in one of the most personal letters to be found in the Stuart Papers, Charles’s father James Francis Edward wrote to him to discuss the failure of the 1745 rebellion.
He urged his son: “Do not for God’s sake drive things too far, but think of your own safety, on which so much depends.
“Tho’ your Enterprize should miscarry, the honor you have gaind by it will always stick by you, it will make you be respected & considerd abroad.”
While most of the missive was dictated to his secretary, the evocative last sentence was added in his own handwriting.
It declared: “Adieu my dearest Child I tenderly embrace you & am all yours once more God bless and protect you, James R.”
The works which have been digitised alongside the Stuart Papers are those of William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, the second surviving son of George II, who was a key figure in the Hanoverian monarchy and captain general of the British Army between 1745 and 1757.
To this day he remains a hated figure among many clan members in Scotland for the ruthless fashion in which he treated those who had joined up to the Jacobite cause.
He made a detour to Aberdeen at the start of April 1746, where he spent time training the well-equipped forces now under his command for the next stage of the conflict in which they were about to engage.
His strategy was relentless, even after the battle had been won and his rivals has been routed. Cumberland ordered his troops to show no quarter against any remaining Jacobite rebels.
When he learned a wounded soldier lying at his feet belonged to the opposing cause, he instructed a major to shoot him. The major – James Wolfe – refused, and Cumberland commanded a private soldier to complete the required duty.
His army then embarked on the so-called “pacification” of Jacobite areas of the Highlands. All those the troops believed to be “rebels” were killed, “rebellious” settlements were burned and livestock was confiscated.
He was denounced as “Butcher Cumberland” by many sympathetic to the Jacobite cause.
His appearance in these two distinct but historically related collections provides a unique perspective into the uprisings and the methods deployed by the ruling Hanoverian monarchy to suppress them.
An account by Lord Charles Cathcart, aidede-camp to the Duke of Cumberland, rejoiced in the British victory at Culloden and included sketches showing the order of the battle.
He described how the Hanoverian forces, “after leaving 1,000 dead” on the battlefield, pursued the fleeing Jacobites and “cut 1,000 to pieces”, as well as taking several hundreds of French prisoners.
Oliver Urquhart Irvine, the librarian and deputy keeper of the Queen’s Archives, said: “The Stuart and Cumberland Papers project forms part of our ongoing commitment to make the historic treasures of the Royal Archives as widely accessible as possible through digital technology.
“We are grateful to our partners at Gale for enabling us to make this invaluable resource available online, giving students and scholars from around the world the opportunity to explore these original documents first-hand.”
Seth Cayley, the vice-president of Gale Primary Sources, which has been instrumental in bringing the initiative to fruition, is delighted with the results of the venture.
He said: “The history of the exiled Stuart Court, with all of its intrigues, larger-than-life personalities and thwarted ambition, is revealed in intricate detail through these documents and papers of court life and politics.
“The digital availability of the Stuart and Cumberland Papers in State Papers Online will enrich 18th Century research around the world. We would like to thank the Royal Archives for collaborating on this milestone project.”
The contents take us back to another time and place.
They project us into a Scotland in which there was nobility and high-mindedness, but also backbiting, plotting and vengeful righting of wrongs by two diametrically opposed sides.
Perhaps a cynic would conclude that not that much has changed after all.
State Papers Online offers researchers a groundbreaking online resource for understanding 300 years of British and European history – from the reign of Henry VIII to George III – which notably includes the period of James II and his heirs living in exile in Europe.
The largest digital manuscript archive of its kind, State Papers Online gathers 16th, 17th and 18th century British state papers as well as the Stuart and Cumberland Papers from the Royal Archives and links these rare historical manuscripts to their fully text-searchable calendars.
THE HISTORY OF THE EXILED STUART COURT, WITH ALL OF ITS INTRIGUES, IS REVEALED IN INTRICATE DETAIL