Whispered toasts in darkened rooms. A white rose worn on a coat lapel. The secret symbol of a seashell. For almost a century, a shadow war of loyalty, rebellion, and intrigue simmered beneath the surface of British life. This was the world of the Jacobites, a passionate movement whose name and ultimate goal—to restore the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland—would echo through history, culminating in blood-soaked battles on the Scottish moors. But who were they, and what truly drove their desperate, romantic cause?
The name ‘Jacobite’ itself provides the first clue. It derives from Jacobus, the Latin for James. Their story begins not with a battle, but with a revolution. In 1688, the Catholic King James II of England and VII of Scotland was overthrown in the “Glorious Revolution” by his Protestant son-in-law, William of Orange. To a large portion of the British establishment, a Catholic monarch was an intolerable threat to the Protestant constitution of the country. James fled to exile in France, but for his supporters, he remained the rightful, God-anointed king. They became known as Jacobites—the followers of James.
This was far more than a simple political disagreement; it was a fundamental clash of principles that cut to the very heart of what gave a monarch the right to rule. The Jacobites championed the Divine Right of Kings: the belief that a monarch’s authority came directly from God, not from Parliament or the will of the people. To remove a king, therefore, was not just illegal; it was a sacrilegious act. In contrast, the new regime upheld the principle of Parliamentary Sovereignty, established in the Bill of Rights of 1689, which made Parliament the ultimate source of power. The Jacobite cause was, in essence, a counter-revolution against this modernising concept.
What Did the Jacobites Want?
At its simplest, the Jacobite goal was the restoration of the Stuart line. But to understand their support, we must look beyond the kings themselves and see the myriad hopes and grievances they represented. The movement was not a monolith; it was a complex coalition of disaffected groups, each projecting its own desires onto the figure of a Stuart king.
1. A Religious Cause: For many, especially in the early years, Jacobitism was fundamentally about faith. England, Scotland, and Ireland were deeply fractured along religious lines. The Jacobite cause became a beacon for Catholics, who faced severe legal persecution under the new Penal Laws, which barred them from voting, holding office, owning land, or even practising their faith openly. A restored Stuart king, they hoped, would bring religious toleration. But it wasn’t just Catholics; many high church Anglican Tories also supported the Stuarts, uneasy with the new Protestant settlement and feeling marginalised by the growing power of the Whig party.
2. A Scottish National Cause: This is the most potent and romanticised aspect of Jacobitism, particularly after the 1707 Act of Union between England and Scotland. The Union was deeply unpopular among many Scots, who saw it as a sell-out that eroded their national identity and economic prospects. The Stuarts were originally a Scottish royal house (the House of Stuart was descended from Robert the Bruce), and for many Highland clans and Lowland nobles, the Jacobite cause became a powerful vehicle for Scottish nationalism and discontent with the Union. Restoring a Stuart king to the throne in London was seen as a way to renegotiate or even dissolve the Union, restoring Scotland’s independence and honour.
3. A Political Cause: Jacobitism also attracted those on the losing side of politics. As the Whig party consolidated power, representing the interests of commerce, the bank of England, and the Protestant succession, traditional landowning Tories often found themselves shut out. Supporting the Stuarts was a way to express opposition to the ruling Whig oligarchy. For them, the cause was about restoring a older, more organic social order.
The Faces of the Movement: Beyond the Bonnie Prince
The Jacobites were not a faceless mass. They were a diverse group, from kings in exile to impoverished crofters.
- The Exiled Court: James II and his heirs, James Francis Edward Stuart (the ‘Old Pretender’) and Charles Edward Stuart (the ‘Young Pretender’ or Bonnie Prince Charlie), were the figureheads. From their courts in France and later Rome, they plotted, secured promises of support from European powers like France and Spain (who saw Jacobitism as a useful tool to weaken Britain), and issued declarations.
- The Highland Clans: The image of the kilted Highland warrior charging into battle is central to Jacobite mythology. For clan chiefs like the charismatic Earl of Clanranald or the strategic Lord George Murray, rebellion was a calculated risk. Loyalty to the Stuarts was intertwined with clan politics, rivalry with neighbouring pro-Union clans, and a desire to protect their traditional Gaelic way of life, which was already under threat.
- Lowland Nobles and Intellectuals: Support was not confined to the Highlands. Powerful Lowland families like the Dukes of Gordon and Earls of Wemyss were staunch Jacobites, as were poets and intellectuals like William Hamilton of Bangour, whose works helped create the romantic aura that still surrounds the cause.
The Rising and the Fall: From Hope to Culloden
The Jacobites launched a series of rebellions—in 1689, 1708, 1715, 1719, and most famously, in 1745.
The ’45 Rising, led by the charismatic Bonnie Prince Charlie, was the final, dramatic act. For a thrilling moment, it seemed possible. Charles landed in Scotland, raised his father’s standard, and marched south. His army of Highlanders, a formidable force armed with broadsword and targe, captured Edinburgh and routed a government army at Prestonpans. They marched as far south as Derby, just 125 miles from London, sending panic through the capital.
But the promised English support never materialised in significant numbers. The Jacobite army was a Scottish force in an English land. Faced with superior government forces and crumbling morale, the commanders made the fateful decision to retreat back to Scotland. The dream ended on a cold, rainy morning on 16 April 1746, on Culloden Moor.
There, the Jacobite army was systematically destroyed by the Duke of Cumberland’s government troops. The Highland charge broke against disciplined musketry and artillery. It was over in less than an hour. Cumberland’s brutal aftermath—the mass executions, the persecution, the systematic dismantling of the clan system through the Act of Proscription (which banned the kilt and the bearing of arms) and the Heritable Jurisdictions Act—earned him the nickname “Butcher” and extinguished the flame of Jacobitism forever.
A Legacy Etched in Romance and Reality
The Jacobites ultimately failed. Their core principle, the Divine Right of Kings, was an idea whose time had passed. But their legacy is immense. They left behind a powerful cultural footprint: the haunting melodies of songs like “Skye Boat Song,” the tragic romance of Bonnie Prince Charlie, and a potent symbol of Scottish identity and resistance.
In the end, the Jacobites were more than just rebels fighting for a king. They were the defiant voice of a world in transition, representing the old order—Catholic, feudal, and aristocratic—as it was being swept away by the forces of the modern, Protestant, and parliamentary Britain we know today. They fought not just for a man, but for an idea of a world that was already vanishing, and in their glorious, tragic failure, they achieved an immortality that victory could never have bestowed.