The Jacobite Rising of 1715 (Ella Stettner)
Jacobite: a supporter of the exiled Stuart King James II who
was replaced by William III and Mary II after the Glorious Revolution because,
among other things, he was Roman Catholic.
The Jacobites in England were devoted to trying to restore
James II to the throne and they worked hard to do so especially under the rule
of William and Mary. The rebellion was
particularly strong in Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, where it took on a
particularly religious bent. There were
five attempts to restore James II over the following half a century; this
presentation will focus on the third and first serious attempt.
The third attempt to restore James II is known as the 1715
rising, or the Fifteen Rebellion because it took place in 1715. This date is significant because it was the
year after Anne, the daughter of James died and was succeeded by George I, son
of Queen Sophia of Hanover. In 1715
there were two equally unsuccessful groups of Jacobites who attempted to carry
out rebellions. The first was led by the
Earl of Mar, who launched a rebellion in the name of James VIII, the son of
King James II who the Jacobites considered to be the legitimate ruler of
Britain. This rebellion initially had
success, but it eventually met English troops led by the Duke of Argyle and was
defeated in the Battle of Sheriffmuir.
The other rebellion was comprised of Highland supporters and Border
Jacobites. They also met English troops
and were defeated after fighting for two days in the Battle of Preston.
One of the consequences of the First Jacobite Rebellion was
that it made the government aware of the need to better manage the Scottish
Highlands and break up some of the Jacobite groups. They succeeded in building roads and forts
across the area so that troops could more easily move through it.
As it relates to this class, many of the writers we have
studied or will study secretly supported the Jacobite cause, including John
Dryden and Aphra Behn.
After the final defeat of the last Jacobite rising in 1745,
the cause largely died out and lived on only in sentiment.
Sources:
Image: https://bonniedundee1689.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/earl-of-mar-raises-the-standard-1715.jpg
Greenblatt, Stephen. Introduction. The Norton Anthology of English Literature,
9th ed, vol. C, W.W. Norton, 2013, p. 2179.
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