Restoration (Scotland)

The Scots holding the young Charles II's nose to the grindstone of the Engagement, from a satirical English pamphlet.

In 1638, reforms imposed by Charles I on the Church of Scotland or kirk led to the Bishop's Wars, the first in a series between 1638 and 1651 known as the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. The Covenanters took control of government and initially remained neutral when the First English Civil War began in 1642. However, many Scots were concerned by the consequences of Royalist victory for the kirk and viewed union with England as the best way to ensure its survival. In October 1643, the English Parliament signed the Solemn League and Covenant, which agreed to union in return for Scottish military support.[1]

Royalists and moderates in both countries rejected this on nationalist grounds, as did religious Independents like Oliver Cromwell, who opposed any state-ordered church. The Covenanters and their English allies considered the Independent-dominated New Model Army a bigger threat than the Royalists and when the First Civil War ended in 1647, negotiated to restore Charles to power. In return, he agreed to impose Presbyterianism in England and suppress the Independents but refused to become a Presbyterian himself. This split the Covenanters into Engagers, who were willing to accept this, and the Kirk Party or Whiggamores, who were not. After Cromwell's victory in the Second English Civil War, he installed the Kirk Party as the government of Scotland, who then expelled Engagers from the General Assembly.[2]

This alliance ended with the execution of Charles in January 1649; as Calvinists, the Engagers and Kirk Party viewed monarchy as divinely ordered, making this an act of blasphemy.[lower-alpha 1][3] In February, the Scots proclaimed Charles II, King of Scotland and Great Britain and in the Treaty of Breda, agreed to restore him to the English throne. In return, he accepted the Covenant and was forced to disown a rising by the Royalist leader Montrose, who was captured and executed; Charles never forgot this humiliation.[4]

After the Third English Civil War [lower-alpha 2] ended with defeat in 1651, Cromwell decided the only way to guarantee peace was to destroy the power of the kirk and the Scottish landed elite.[5] Part of the solution was making Scotland part of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, with Scottish representatives sitting in the London Parliament. Final ratification of the terms was delayed by Cromwell's problems with his various parliaments and the union was not legally finalised until 1657.[6] Scotland was ruled by a military administration under George Monck, which managed to enforce law and order and a degree of religious toleration. However, it did so using English judges, rather than Scots law, as well as being expensive, making it unpopular in both kingdoms.

Unlike England, 95% of Scots belonged to the kirk and shared the same Calvinist doctrine; conflict was primarily over governance, with the victors expelling their opponents. The General Assembly was split between Resolutioners, who were willing to readmit former Engagers and Royalists, and Protesters, who refused.[7] After defeating the Royalist Glencairn's rising in 1654, Monk's administration deliberately widened divisions within the kirk; the effects dominated Scottish political life during the Restoration and beyond, as those previously expelled returned to power and excluded their opponents.[8]

General George Monck, who was instrumental in the restoration of Charles II

As military commander of the Commonwealth's largest armed force, Monck was instrumental in the restoration of Charles II. After the death of Cromwell in 1658, Monck remained aloof from the political manoeuvring in London that led to the brief establishment of a regime under the protector's son Richard Cromwell and after its fall the subsequent contest for power between the army leaders. When this proved incapable of producing a stable government in 1659 Monck opened negotiations with Charles II and began a slow march south with his army. After reaching London he restored the English Long Parliament that had existed at the beginning of the civil wars. This body, having received assurances from Charles II, voted for a restoration of the monarchy in England and then dissolved itself. This created a de facto restoration of the monarchy in Scotland, but without any safeguards as to the constitutional position in the country. Scottish notables were in a weak position in negotiations with the crown as to what the settlement would be.[9] Charles II gave Monck the title Duke of Albemarle in gratitude for his part in the Restoration.[10]

Charles was proclaimed king in Edinburgh on 14 May 1660 (for the second time: the first having been more than ten years earlier on 6 February 1649). He was not crowned again in Scotland (having been previously crowned at Scone in 1651). The Restoration "presented an occasion of universal celebration and rejoicing throughout Scotland".[11] Charles II summoned his parliament on 1 January 1661, which began to undo all that been forced on his father Charles I. The Rescissory Act 1661 made all legislation back to 1633 "void and null".[12]

Execution of James Guthrie in Edinburgh, one of four exceptions to the general pardon

On 9 September 1662 the Scottish parliament passed the Act of indemnity and oblivion. It was a general pardon for most types of crime that may have been committed by Scots, between 1 January 1637 and before 1 September 1660, during what the Act calls "the late troubles" (the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and the Interregnum).[13] The act was structured in a similar way to the English Indemnity and Oblivion Act 1660, it legislated for a general pardon with exceptions, but (like Cromwell's Act of Grace) it contained many more exceptions than the English act. The act did not reverse the provisions of any previous act passed by the same Scottish Parliament or the provisions of the Committee of Estates passed since August 1660. It explicitly mentions the forfeitures of "Archibald Campbell, late marquis of Argyll, Archibald Johnston, sometime called Sir Archibald Johnston of Wariston, John Swinton, sometime called of Swinton, James Guthrie, William Govan, John Home and William Dundas, James Campbell, sometime called of Ardkinglas and James Campbell, sometime called of Orinsay".[13][14] An additional act called the Act containing some exceptions from the act of indemnity was passed that included heavy fines for about 700 former adherents to the Covenant. The exceptions act specified that if an excluded person did not pay the fines by the date specified he (they were all men) would lose the benefit of the general pardon, but on timely payment he would "enjoy the benefit of his majesty's pardon and indemnity to all intents and purposes".[15][16]

A few members of the previous regime were tried and found guilty of treason. Archibald Campbell (8th Earl of Argyll), beheaded 27 May 1661, James Guthrie and Captain William Govan hanged 1 June 1661, and Archibald Johnston (Lord Warriston) hanged 22 July 1663.[16][17][18][19][20] John Swinton (1621?–1679) was condemned to forfeiture and imprisonment in Edinburgh Castle, where he remained for some years before being released.[21] In 1661 John Home of Kelloe had his estates sequestrated for being with the English army against the King's army at the battle of Worcester in 1651.[14][22] After the Glorious Revolution of 1688 the estates were restored to his son George.[23]

Under the eventual political settlement Scotland regained its independent system of law, parliament and kirk, but also regained the Lords of the Articles and bishops, and it now had a king who did not visit the country and ruled largely without reference to Parliament through a series of commissioners. These began with Earl of Middleton and ended with the King's brother and heir, James, Duke of York (known in Scotland as the Duke of Albany).[24]

Restoration Episcopate

James Sharp, a Resolutioner and then archbishop, who was murdered in 1679

Presbyterians had hoped that Charles would implement a Presbyterian settlement for the kirk, as Charles had agreed to the Solemn League and Covenant under the Treaty of Breda (1650). The "Act Recissory" that revoked legislation back to 1633 removed the Covenanter gains of the Bishops' Wars, but an Act passed later the same day renewed the discipline of kirk sessions, presbyteries and synods, suggesting that a compromise between the crown and the Presbyterians was possible.[25] The Restoration of episcopacy was proclaimed by the Privy Council of Scotland on 6 September 1661.[26] James Sharp, minister of Crail, who was in London to represent the interests of the Resolutioners, changed sides and accepted the position of Archbishop of St Andrews. Soon an entire bench of bishops had been assembled. During the parliamentary session of 1662 the Church of Scotland was restored as the national church and all office-holders were required to renounce the Covenants. Church ministers were forced to accept the new circumstances or lose their livings. Up to a third, at least 270, of the ministry refused.[25] Most of the vacancies occurred in the south-west of Scotland, an area particularly strong in its Covenanting sympathies. Some of the ministers also took to preaching in the open fields in conventicles, often attracting thousands of worshippers.[27]

The Earl of Argyll, who was a major supporter of the regime under Charles II but was executed after a rebellion in 1685.

Charles died in 1685 and his brother succeeded him as James VII of Scotland (and II of England). James put Catholics in key positions in the government and even attendance at a conventicle was made punishable by death. He disregarded parliament, purged the council and forced through religious toleration for Roman Catholics, alienating his Protestant subjects. The failure of an invasion, led by the Earl of Argyll and timed to co-ordinate with the Duke of Monmouth's rebellion in England, demonstrated the strength of the regime. However a riot in response to Louis XIV's Revocation of the Edict of Nantes indicated the strength of anti-Catholic feeling. The king's attempts to obtain toleration for Catholics led to the issuing of Letters of Indulgence in 1687, which also allowed freedom of worship to dissident Protestants, allowing "outed" Presbyterian ministers to return to their parishes. This did not extend to field conventicles and the Society People continued to endure hardship, with their last minister, James Renwick, being captured and executed in 1688.[9]

It was believed that the king would be succeeded by his daughter Mary, a Protestant and the wife of William of Orange, Stadtholder of the Netherlands, but when in 1688, James produced a male heir, James Francis Edward Stuart, it was clear that his policies would outlive him. An invitation by seven leading Englishmen led William to land in England with 40,000 men on 5 November.[9] In Edinburgh there were rumours of Orange plots and on 10 December the Lord Chancellor of Scotland, the Earl of Perth, quit the capital for Drummond Castle, planning an abortive escape to Ireland (he was later captured as he embarked for France). As rioters approached Holyrood Abbey they were fired on by soldiers, resulting in some deaths. The city guard was called out, but the Abbey was stormed by a large mob. The Catholic furnishings placed there when it was restored as a chapel for James were torn down and the tombs of the Stuart kings desecrated. A crowd of students burnt the Pope in effigy and took down the heads of executed Covenanters that were hanging above the city gates.[36] The crisis was resolved when James fled from England on 23 December, leading to an almost bloodless revolution. Although there had been no significant Scottish involvement in the coup, most members of the Scottish Privy Council went to London to offer their services to William. On 7 January 1689, they asked William to take over the responsibilities of government.[9]

William III and Mary II depicted on the ceiling of the Painted Hall, Greenwich

William called a Scottish Convention, which convened on 14 March in Edinburgh. It was dominated by the Presbyterians. There was a faction that supported James, including many episcopalians, but these were divided by James' attempts to achieve tolerance for Roman Catholics. A letter from James, received on 16 March, contained a threat to punish all who rebelled against him and declaring the assembly illegal, resulted in his followers to abandon the convention, leaving the Williamites dominant.[37] On 4 April the Convention formulated the Claim of Right and the Articles of Grievances. These suggested that James had forfeited the crown by his actions (in contrast to England, which relied on the legal fiction of an abdication) and offered it to William and Mary, which William accepted, along with limitations on royal power. On 11 May William and Mary accepted the Crown of Scotland as co-regents, as William II and Mary II.[9]

The final settlement, completed by William's Second parliament in 1690, restored Presbyterianism and abolished the bishops, who had generally supported James. Remaining ministers outed in 1662 were restored, bringing an end to the persecution of the Cameronians, and leaving only a remnant outside of the church. The General Assembly of 1692 refused to reinstate even those Episcopalian ministers who pledged to accept Presbyterianism. However, the king issued two acts of indulgence in 1693 and 1695, allowing those who accepted him as king to return to the church and around a hundred took advantage of the offer. All but the hardened Jacobites would be given toleration in 1707, leaving only a small remnant of Jacobite episcopalians.[38]

A section of drover's road at Cotkerse near Blairlogie, Scotland

Under the Commonwealth, the country had been relatively highly taxed, but gained access to English markets.[39] After the Restoration the formal frontier with England was re-established, along with its customs duties. Economic conditions were generally favourable from 1660 to 1688, as land owners promoted better tillage and cattle-raising. The monopoly of royal burghs over foreign trade was partially ended by and Act of 1672, leaving them with the old luxuries of wines, silk, spices and dyes and opening up trade of increasingly significant salt, coal, corn and hides and imports from the Americas. The English Navigation Acts limited the ability of the Scots to engage in what would have been lucrative trading with England's growing colonies, but these were often circumvented, with Glasgow becoming an increasingly important commercial centre, opening up trade with the American colonies: importing sugar from the West Indies and tobacco from Virginia and Maryland. Exports across the Atlantic included linen, woollen goods, coal and grindstones.[40] The English protective tariffs on salt and cattle were harder to disregard and probably placed greater limitations on the Scottish economy, despite attempts of the King to have them overturned.[41] Scottish attempts to counter this with tariffs of their own, were largely unsuccessful as Scotland had relatively few vital exports to protect. Attempts by the Privy Council to build up luxury industries in cloth mills, soap works, sugar boiling houses, gunpowder and paper works, proved largely unsuccessful. However, by the end of the century the drovers roads, stretching down from the Highlands through south-west Scotland to north-east England, had become firmly established.[41] Famine had become relatively rare in the second half of the seventeenth century, with only one year of dearth in 1674.[42]

Reprint of the title page of George Sinclair's Satans Invisible World (1685), one of the many tracts published in Scotland arguing against sceptical views of witchcraft

The nobility had been dominant in the politics of Scotland in the first half of the seventeenth century, culminating in their triumph in the period of the Bishops' Wars. However, they lost this status in the Commonwealth period, as the Protectorate regime largely ruled without them. They were restored to authority along with the monarchy and the traditional institutions of the Privy Council and Parliament. However, Rosalind Mitchison argues that their authority was used much more cautiously due to the events of the civil war period.[43] As feudal distinctions declined the barons and tenants-in-chief merged to form the lairds. Under the Commonwealth they had supplied the Justices of the Peace, a post that had enjoyed an expanded role that was only partly reversed at the Restoration. They also gained authority through becoming Commissioner of Supply, a post created in 1667, and which was gave them responsibilities for collecting what became the local cess tax.[44] The passing of a series of improving statues, that allowed landholders to move boundaries, roads and carry out enclosures also benefited this group, as did legislation that returned virtual serfdom for groups such as miners and saltworkers.[44]

Scotland had a much higher rate of witchcraft prosecutions for its population than either England[45] or the European average.[46] The overwhelming majority were in the Lowlands,[47] where the kirk had more control, despite the evidence that basic magical beliefs were very widespread in the Highlands.[48] Under the Commonwealth the English judges who took over the running of the legal system were hostile to the use of torture and often sceptical of the evidence it produced, resulting in a decline in witchcraft prosecutions.[49] In an attempt to gain support among the landholding orders, Sheriff's courts were re-established and Justices of the Peace returned in 1656. The result was a wave of witchcraft cases, with 102 in the period 1657–1659. The limitations on prosecutions were fully reversed with the Restoration, and there was a flood of over 600 cases, thought to be the largest outbreak in Scottish history.[50] This alarmed the restored Privy Council, leading it to insist on the necessity of its commission for an arrest or prosecution, and the banning of judicial torture.[48] Prosecutions began to decline as trials were more tightly controlled by the judiciary and government, torture was more sparingly used and standards of evidence were raised.[49] The exposure of prickers as frauds in 1662 removed a major form of evidence.[51] The Lord Advocate George Mackenzie made efforts to make prosecutions ineffective.[48] There may also have been a growing popular scepticism, and, with relative peace and stability, the economic and social tensions that may have contributed to accusations were reduced, although there were occasional local outbreaks until the statute supporting prosecutions was repealed in 1736.[49]

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