Restoration (Scotland)

"Scottish Restoration" redirects here; not to be confused with the Restoration of the Scottish hierarchy of the Catholic Church.

King Charles II, the first monarch to rule after the Scottish Restoration

The Restoration period of Scottish history spanned 3 decades of the late 17th century, from 1660 until the Revolution and Convention of Estates of 1689, during the early modern period. It is usually depicted as an era of authoritarian government, profound religious division, and economic depression, with only modest signs of cultural renaissance in the 1680s.

The restoration of the monarchy occurred in 1660 when the Scottish, English and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the government of the Commonwealth that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. The term Restoration may apply both to the actual event by which the monarchy was restored, and to the period following the event.

It had been hoped by Presbyterians that Charles would implement a Presbyterian settlement for the Kirk, Charles having agreed to the Solemn League and Covenant under the Treaty of Breda (1650). However, Charles instructed his privy council to the restoration of the Scottish Episcopacy. This led to a series of conflicts between Presbyterians and the Bishops of the Episcopalian establishment, culminating in The Killing Time.

Background: civil wars and Commonwealth

Main article: Scotland under the Commonwealth

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

Having defeated Charles I's English armies in the Bishops Wars, and then aiding the Parliamentarians to victory in the First English Civil War (1642–46), the Scottish Covenanter regime supported the king in the Second Civil War (1648–49), in which their forces were defeated at the Battle of Preston. England was increasingly dominated by the New Model Army under Oliver Cromwell. The king was executed and England was declared a Commonwealth. As soon as news of Charles I's execution reached Scotland, his son was proclaimed king as Charles II. Charles accepted the offer from the Covenanters, arriving in June 1650 and signing the Covenants. The English responded with an invasion that defeated the Scots at the Battle of Dunbar. Charles was crowned at Scone on 1 January 1651 and a new army was assembled. The Scots army with the king set off for England, but there was no rising in their favour and the army was caught at Worcester on 3 September and decisively defeated, bringing the civil wars to an end. Charles escaped to the continent, an English army occupied Scotland and Cromwell emerged as the most important figure in the Commonwealth.

In 1652, the English parliament declared that Scotland was part of the Commonwealth. Various attempts were made to legitimise the union, calling representatives from the Scottish burghs and shires to negotiations and to various English parliaments, where they were always under-represented and had little opportunity for dissent. However, final ratification was delayed by Cromwell's problems with his various parliaments and the union did not become the subject of an act until 1657. The military administration in Scotland, led by General George Monck, was relatively successful. It managed to enforce law and order, suppressing the banditry of the Moss-troopers and enforcing a form of limited religious toleration, but by introducing English judges largely suspending the Scots law. In 1653–55 there was a major Royalist rising in the Highlands led by William Cunningham, 9th Earl of Glencairn and John Middleton, which was defeated at the Battle of Dalnaspidal on 19 July 1654.

End of the republic

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 Monk 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 some 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.

Charles II bestowed on Monck the title Duke of Albermarle in gratitude for his part in the Restoration, and after Monck's death in 1670, his regiment was renamed the Coldstream Guards.

Return of Charles II

Charles was proclaimed king in Edinburgh on 14 May 1660 (for the second time the first being 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". 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'.

General pardon and exceptions

Execution of Rev James Guthrie in Edinburgh; the second man, after the Duke of Argyll, to be executed for high treason after the Restoration of 1660.

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).

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 of 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". 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".

A few members of the previous regime were tried and found guilty of treason. Some were executed: 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. John Swinton (1621?–1679) was condemned to forfeiture and imprisonment in Edinburgh Castle, where he remained for some years before being released. 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. After the Glorious Revolution of 1688 the estates were restored to his son George.

Political settlement

Under the eventual political settlement Scotland regained its independent system of law, parliament and kirk, but also regained the Lords of the Articles, 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).

Religious settlement

Further information: Bishops in the Church of Scotland

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 was possible. The Restoration of episcopacy was proclaimed by the Privy Council of Scotland on 6 September 1661. 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 constructed. 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 situation or lose their livings. Up to a third, at least 270, of the ministry refused. 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 worshipers.

Politics and commissioners

Middleton (1661-63)

The king's first political action in Scotland was to appoint officers of state and members of the privy council without reference to parliament. The royalist William Cunningham, 9th Earl of Glencairn became Chancellor and John Leslie, Earl of Rothes became President of the Council. A new Scottish Council was created in London, which was headed by James Maitland, Earl of Lauderdale. Former Covernanter and royalist soldier John Middleton, newly raised to be Earl of Middleton, was appointed as Commissioner. A new parliament met on 1 January 1661, later known by its presbyterian critics as the "drunken parliament", it passed 393 Acts, particularly supporting the episcopalian structure of the church favoured by Middleton and the authority of the king over government and parliament. In 1663 Middleton attempted to pass an act that would have compelled all office holders to declare that the two covenants were unlawful and seditious. This was a direct attack on former covenanters like the king's favourite Lauderdale and as a result Middleton was recalled and replaced with Rothes.

Rothes (1663-66)

Rothes acted as a client of Lauderdale. In 1663 parliament passed an "Act Against Separation and Disobedience to Ecclesiastical Authority", popularly known as the "Bishop's Dragnet". It declared dissenting minsters as seditious persons and allowed the imposition of heavy fines on those who failed to attend the parish churches. Soon after parliament was dismissed and would not be recalled for six years. In 1666 a group of dissenters from Galloway captured the government's local military commander, Sir James Turner, and marched on Edinburgh. They probably numbered at the most 3,000 men and by the time they were defeated at the Battle of Rullion Green, they had dwindled to less than a third of that number. Of fifty prisoners, thirty-three were executed, two after torture, and the rest were transported to Barbados. There were then a series of arrests of suspected persons. The rising resulted in the fall of Rothes as Commissioner and Lauderdale now returned from London to take up the role.

Lauderdale (1666-79)

Lauderdale attempted a more conciliatory policy, issuing Letters of Indulgence in 1669, 1672 and 1679. These allowed evicted ministers to return to their parishes, if they would avoid political dissent. One-hundred and fifty refused to accept the offer and some episcopalians were alienated by the compromise. The failure to reach an accommodation led to a return to severity. Preaching at a conventicle was made punishable by death and attendance was punishable by severe sanctions. In 1674 heritors and masters were made responsible for their tenants and servants and from 1677 they had to enter bonds for the conduct of everyone living on their land. In 1678 3,000 Lowland militia and 6,000 Highlanders, known as the "Highland Host", were billeted in the Covenanting shires as a form of punishment.

The Covenanter's Prison in St Giles Kirkyard, Edinburgh, where prisoners were held after the Battle of Bothwell Bridge in 1679

In 1679 a group of Covenanters killed Archbishop Sharp. The incident led to a rising that grew to 5,000 men. They were defeated by forces under James, Duke of Monmouth, the king's illegitimate son, at the Battle of Bothwell Bridge on 22 June. Two ministers were executed and 250 followers shipped to Barbados, 200 drowning when their ship went down off Orkney. The rebellion eventually led to the fall of Lauderdale, who was replaced by the king's brother, James, Duke of York, known in Scotland as the Duke of Albany.

Duke of Albany (1679-85)

The king sent his brother and heir to Edinburgh largely to remove him from London as a result of the Exclusion Crisis of 1679-81, during which the English "Country Party" attempted to exclude the openly Catholic James from the three British thrones. He took up residency in Holyrood Palace the early 1680s, running what was in effect a small court.

The dissenters, led by Donald Cargill and Richard Cameron called themselves the Society People, but would be become known after their leader as the Cameronians. Reduced in number, hiding out in the moors, they became increasingly radical. On 22 June 1680 the Sanquhar Declaration was posted in Sanquhar, renouncing Charles II as king. Cameron was killed the next month. Cargill excommunicated the king, Duke of Albany and other royalists at the Torwood Conventicle and his followers now separated themselves from all other Presbyterian ministers. Cargill was captured and executed in May 1681. The government passed a Test Act, forcing every holder of public office to take an oath of non-resistance. Eight Episcopal clergy and James Dalrymple, Lord President of the Court of Session resigned and the leading nobleman Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll was forced into exile.

In 1684 the remaining Society People posted an Apologetical Declaration on several market crosses, which informed servants of the government that they pursued the lives of its members at the risk of their own. In response to this new element of outright political sedition, the Scottish Privy Council authorised extrajudicial field executions of those caught in arms or those who refused to swear loyalty to the king. This more intense phase of persecution, later known in Protestant historiography as "the Killing Time", led to dissenters being summarily executed by the dragoons of James Graham, Laird of Claverhouse, or sentenced to transportation or death by Sir George Mackenzie, the Lord Advocate.

James VII and the Glorious Revolution

Main article: Glorious Revolution in Scotland

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.

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. 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. 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.

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. 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.

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.

Culture

Main articles: Theatre in Scotland and Estate houses in Scotland

The loss of a royal court when James VI inherited the English and Irish thrones in 1603 and the hostility of kirk, meant that theatre had struggled to survive in Scotland. After the Restoration there were some attempts to revive Scottish drama. In 1663 Edinburgh lawyer William Clerke wrote Marciano or the Discovery, a play about the restoration of a legitimate dynasty in Florence after many years of civil war. It was performed at the Tennis-Court Theatre at Holyrood Palace before commissioner Rothes. Thomas Sydsurf's Tarugo's Wiles or the Coffee House, was first performed in London in 1667 and then in Edinburgh the year after and drew on Spanish comedy.

The Restoration saw the introduction of a style of country house among the Scottish nobility that encouraged a move towards a more leisure-oriented architecture already adopted in continental Europe. Its pioneer was Sir William Bruce (c. 1630–1710) who was the key figure in introducing the Palladian style to the country. Bruce's architectural style incorporated Palladian elements and was influenced by English architects Inigo Jones and Christopher Wren's (1632–1723) interpretation of the Baroque. Bruce built and remodelled country houses, including Thirlestane Castle and Prestonfield House. Among his most significant work was his own Palladian mansion at Kinross, built on the Loch Leven estate he had purchased in 1675. As the Surveyor and Overseer of the Royal Works Bruce undertook the rebuilding of the Royal Palace of Holyroodhouse in the 1670s, giving the palace its present appearance. After the death of Charles II in 1685, Bruce lost political favour. James Smith (c. 1645–1731) worked as a mason on Bruce's rebuilding of Holyrood Palace. In 1683 he was appointed Surveyor and Overseer of the Royal Works, responsible for the palace's maintenance. With his father-in-law, the master mason Robert Mylne (1633–1710), Smith worked on Caroline Park in Edinburgh (1685), and Drumlanrig Castle (1680s). Smith's country houses followed the pattern established by Bruce, with hipped roofs and pedimented fronts, in a plain but handsome Palladian style.

See also

• Restoration (1660)

References

• Aikman, James (1842). Annals of the persecution in Scotland: from the restoration to the revolution. Hugh Paton. pp. 50–51. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Brown, K.M.; et al., eds. (2007–2012). "Decreet of forfeiture against John Home of Kello (NAS. PA6/16, 21 May 1661)". The Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707. University of St Andrews. Retrieved 29 May 2012. {{cite book}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |editor2= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link) CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Brown, Keith M. (2007–2012a). "Restoration, Revolution and Union, 1660-1707". The Scottish Parliament: An Historical Introduction. St Andrews: The Records of the Parliaments of Scotland, University of St Andrews. Retrieved November 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
• Brown, I. (2011), '"Public and private performance: 1650-1800" in I. Brown, ed., The Edinburgh Companion to Scottish Drama, Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 0748641076 {{citation}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Colvin, H. (1995), A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600–1840, Yale University Press, ISBN 0748641076 {{citation}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Crooks, Gordon (ed.). "Covenanter Martyrs". Allison-Antrim Museum. Retrieved August 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Edinburgh Magazine staff (July–December 1819). "December 1819". The Edinburgh magazine, and literary miscellany, a new series of The Scots magazine. Printed for Archibald Constable and Co. p. 582. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Fencwick, H. (1989). Architect Royal: the Life and Work of Sir William Bruce. Roundwood Press. pp. 73–8. ISBN 0-8390-0156-8. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Gifford, J. (1989). William Adam 1689–1748. Mainstream Publishing/RIAS. pp. 57–58. ISBN 85158-295-9. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: length (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Gordon, Alexander (1890). "Guthrie, James" . In Stephen, Leslie; Lee, Sidney (eds.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 23. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 237–239. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Harris, Tim (2005). Restoration:Charles II and His Kingdoms 1660-1685. Allen Lane. pp. 111, 113–114. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Howie, John; M'Gavin, William (1830). "IV. William Govan". The Scots Worthies: In two volumes. Vol. 2. MacPhun. pp. 73–75. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Jackson, Clare (2003). Restoration Scotland, 1660-1690: Royalist Politics, Religion and Ideas. Boydell Press. p. 14. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Lynch, James (1992). Scotland: a New History. Pimlico. ISBN 0-7126-9893-0. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Mackie, J. D.; Lenman, B.; Parker, G. (1991). A History of Scotland. Penguin. ISBN 0-14-013649-5. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• McCoy, F. N. (1974). Robert Baillie and the Second Scots Reformation. Berkeley CA: University of California Press. ISBN 0520024478. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Mitchison, Rosalind (1983). Lordship to Patronage, Scotland 1603–1745. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 0-7486-0233-X. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Mitchison, Rosalind (2002). A History of Scotland (3 ed.). Routledge. ISBN 0-415-27880-5. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Morison, William Maxwell (1803). The decisions of the Court of Session: from its first institution to the present time: digested under proper heads, in the form of a dictionary. Vol. 13. Scotland: Bell. p. 42. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |coauthor= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Scottish Parliament (9 September 1662). The king's majesty's gracious and free pardon, act of indemnity and oblivion. The Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707, University of St Andrews. {{cite book}}: External link in |publisher= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Scottish Parliament (September 1662b). Act containing some exceptions from the act of indemnity. The Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707, University of St Andrews. {{cite book}}: External link in |publisher= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Smith, D. J. (2007). "Keyboard music in Scotland: genre, gender, context", in J. Porter, ed., Defining Strains: The Musical Life of Scots in the Seventeenth Century. Peter Laing. ISBN 3039109480. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Summerson, J. (1993). Architecture of Britain, 1530–1830 (9 ed.). Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-05886-1. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Swinton, Robert Blair (1898). "Swinton, John (1621?-1679)" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 55. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 237–239. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Tobin, T. The Assembly. ISBN 091119830X. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

Further reading

• Browning, Andrew (1996). "228. Order of Council for the Restoration of Episcopacy, 1661". English Historical Documents: 1660-1714. Early modern. Vol. 6 (2, illustrated, reprint, reissue ed.). Routledge. p. 608. ISBN 9780415143714. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)