How strong was support for Jacobitism in Scotland
... The defeat of the Jacobitie army at the battle of Culloden in 1746 has often been seen as the end of Jacobitism as a serious threat to the Hanoverian dynastic security. The Jacobite support was largely based in Scotland and all the major rebellions were to start from Scotland. Through out the years of rebellion the Jacobities were to win support from many different areas of society and it is the purpose of this essay to look at the strength of the support for the Jacobities in Scotland. This will be carried out by examining the strength of support in the two main rebellions of the 1715 and the 1745. Before the strength of the Jacobities in Scotland can be examined, it is important to understand areas of society that offered support for the Jacobitie cause. When examining who supported the Jacobites it has often been popular for historians to split the support into two main groups these are religious supporters and supporters who were influenced by socio – economic factors. ... Religion would be a very important factor and it has been argued “religious factors gave Jacobitism a stiffening of support in every rebellion”. ... The Episcopalians were a religious group that had become marginalized by the dominant Presbyterian Church of Scotland by the early 1700. ... The main areas of there support came from the North of Scotland including Perthshire, Tayside and the Highlands. ... Other areas of Jacobite religious support came from the small catholic minorities. After the incorporating union of 1707, the Jacobities were to gain a large number of supporters who were disillusioned with Scotland’s socio – economic status. ... The act of union was extremely unpopular with the public of Scotland and when the economic benefits promised did not materialize many people turned against the union. ... The different areas of support for the Jacobite cause were broad and wide ranging these different areas of support would become extremely important in attempts to restore the Stuarts to the throne in the 1715 and 1745 risings. Now that the broad area of Jacobite support has been identified it is possible to look at the strength of support for the Jacobite cause in Scotland. ... The Jacobite standard was flown by Lord Mar of Erskine at Braemar on September 1715 and was to used to rally together support for what many historians view as the Jacobities greatest chance to restore the Stuart dynast. The rising despite popular support failed when Lord Mars’s incompetence failed to defeat the government army at Sherrifmuir in November 1715.