Jacobitism

This article is not about the Jacobite Orthodox Church, nor is it about Jacobinism or the earlier Jacobean period.

Outcome

What began with the English parliament asserting a new authority and William looking to expand alliances against France quickly developed into a major distraction, with William being forced to focus attention on Ireland and Scotland, and parliament having to fund the mercenaries needed to overcome the Jacobites. This distraction helped keep Britain from intervening on the continent and contributed to twenty years of peace in Europe, while continuing unrest forced the British state to develop repressive strategies with networks of spies and informers as well as increasing its standing army. Nationalism was bolstered in both Ireland and Scotland, but was then set back by association with the catastrophic failure of Jacobitism. While it increasingly appealed to the disaffected, Jacobitism inherently bowed to higher authority and thus reinforced the social order. It left the British state strengthened to deal with the more revolutionary movements that developed later in the 18th century.

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Romantic revival

Jacobitism became a remnant of hidden relics. It was remembered in folk songs and became the subject of romantic poetry and literature, notably the work of Robert Burns and Walter Scott.

Related Topics:
Robert Burns - Walter Scott

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Walter Scott combined romantic Jacobitism with an appreciation of the practical benefits of the Hanoverian government, and in 1822 he arranged a pageantry of reinvented Scottish traditions for the visit of King George IV to Scotland when George IV visited Edinburgh and dressed as a tubby kilted successor to his distant relative Bonnie Prince Charlie. The tartan pageantry was immensely popular and the kilt became Scotland's National Dress.

Related Topics:
Hanoverian - 1822 - Visit of King George IV to Scotland - George IV - Edinburgh - Kilt - Bonnie Prince Charlie - Tartan

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