100-655: The Act 9 Geo. 1 . c. 22, commonly known as the Black Act , or the Waltham Black Act , and sometimes called the Black Act 1722 , the Black Act 1723 , the Waltham Black Act 1722 , the Criminal Law Act 1722 , or the Criminal Law Act 1723 , was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain . It was passed in 1723 in response to a series of raids against landowners by two groups of poachers , known as
200-541: A political theology shared by Non-juring , Tory elements within the Church of England, and members of the Scottish Episcopal Church . These were the divine right of kings , their accountability to God, not man or Parliament; secondly, that monarchy was a divine institution; thirdly, legitimism , the crown's descent by indefeasible dynastic right, which could not be overturned or annulled; and lastly
300-594: A Jacobite rising". The Act has been described as "severe and sanguinary", and L. Radzinowicz noted in the Cambridge Law Journal that "no other single statute passed during the eighteenth century equalled [the Black Act] in severity, and none appointed the punishment of death in so many cases". Efforts to repeal it started in 1810, with comments by William Grant as part of a wider debate on penal reform. A formal recommendation for its repeal took almost
400-578: A Jacobite rising. The ambassador wrote that the Blacks were originally a group of smugglers and that their Jacobite allegiance was the primary reason for the passing of the Black Act. Goring wrote to the Pretender on 6 May 1723: I had settled an affair with five gentlemen of that country who were each of them to raise a regiment of dragoons well mounted and well armed which I knew they could easily do for
500-567: A broader conservative current in Enlightenment thought, appealing to those attracted to a monarchist solution to perceived modern decadence. Populist songs and tracts presented the Stuarts as capable of correcting a wide range of ills and restoring social harmony, as well as contrasting Dutch and Hanoverian "foreigners" with a man who even in exile continued to consume English beef and beer. While particularly calculated to appeal to Tories,
600-477: A conscious social resentment" that distinguished them from normal poachers. In reprisal for the earlier arrests and sentences, they took 11 deer and killed many more, which led to a royal proclamation offering £100 (equivalent to £20,000 in 2023) for information that led to the arrest of the gang. More raids followed, highlighting a "fairly direct class hatred", culminating in the raid of a shipment of wine ordered for Frederick, Prince of Wales . That proved to be
700-578: A decade to appear, with the publication of the Report on Criminal Laws in 1819 that marked the first "official" suggestion that the law be removed from the statute books. Following the publication of that Report , Sir James Mackintosh introduced a law reform bill that would have repealed the Act, but although it passed through the House of Commons, it was strongly opposed in the House of Lords. In 1823, he submitted
800-658: A gamekeeper's son was killed. As a response to the apparent spread of purposeful and organized raids by groups of poachers, the government introduced the Black Act, formally "An Act for the more effectual punishing wicked and evil disposed Persons going armed in Disguise and doing Injuries and Violence to the Persons and Properties of His Majesty's Subjects, and for the more speedy bringing the Offenders to Justice", to Parliament on 26 April 1723. It came into force on 27 May. At
900-505: A government prepared to offer similar concessions. The ongoing Stuart focus on England and regaining a united British throne led to tensions with their broader-based supporters in 1745, when the primary goal of most Scots Jacobites was ending the 1707 Union. This meant that following victory at Prestonpans in September, they preferred to negotiate, rather than invade England as Charles wanted. More generally, Jacobite theorists reflected
1000-468: A later date they could be executed without delay. Villages were punished if they failed to find, prosecute and convict alleged criminals. The Act originated in the aftermath of the South Sea Bubble collapse and the ensuing economic downturn. The Blacks quickly demonstrated both "a calculated programme of action, and a conscious social resentment", and their activities led to the introduction of
1100-644: A memo to the House of Commons, again to suggest the repeal of the Act, and a few months later, Robert Peel , the Home Secretary , introduced a bill to repeal most of the Black Act, while maintaining the parts that criminalised setting fire to houses and shooting a person. That repeal passed and came into effect on 8 July 1823. The Black Act was entirely repealed by the Criminal Statutes Repeal Act 1827 . 9 Geo. 1 Interregnum (1642–1660) Rescinded (1639–1651) This
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#17327755749191200-441: A number that increased significantly after the establishment of the Scottish Episcopal Church in 1712. Episcopalian ministers, such as Professor James Garden of Aberdeen, presented the 1707 Union as one in a series of disasters to befall Scotland, provoked by "the sins [...] of rebellion, injustice, oppression, schism and perjury". Opposition was boosted by measures imposed by the post-1707 Parliament of Great Britain , including
1300-527: A reigning monarch. For most of the period from 1690 to 1714, Parliament was either controlled by the Tories, or evenly split with the Whigs; when George I succeeded Anne, most hoped to reconcile with the new regime. The Earl of Mar , who led the 1715 rising, observed "Jacobitisme, which they used to brand the Tories with, is now I presum out of doors". However, George blamed the 1710-to-1714 Tory government for
1400-526: A separate Parliament until 1800, but the 1707 Union combined England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain . Anne viewed this as the unified Protestant kingdom which her predecessors had failed to achieve. The exiled Stuarts continued to agitate for a return to power, based on the support they retained within the three kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland. Doing so required external help, most consistently supplied by France, while Spain backed
1500-567: A series of proclamations deprived Catholic gentry of the right to bear arms or hold public office. The Catholic Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell , was appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland in 1687, and began building a Catholic establishment that could survive James. Fearing a short reign, Tyrconnell moved at a speed that destabilised all three kingdoms. James dismissed the English and Scottish Parliaments when they refused to approve his measures of religious tolerance , which he enforced using
1600-555: Is a complete list of acts of the Parliament of Great Britain for the year 1722 . For acts passed until 1707, see the list of acts of the Parliament of England and the list of acts of the Parliament of Scotland . See also the list of acts of the Parliament of Ireland . For acts passed from 1801 onwards, see the list of acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . For acts of the devolved parliaments and assemblies in
1700-642: Is after 1691, for various reasons disarmed and disenfranchised Irish Jacobites looked to European allies or the return of the Wild Geese, rather than planning a domestic revolt. From the 1720s on, many upwardly mobile Catholics were willing to swear loyalty to the Hanoverian regime, but balked at the Oath of Abjuration , which required denouncing the authority of the Pope and the doctrines of Transubstantiation and
1800-484: The 1719 Rising . While talks were also held at different times with Sweden , Prussia , and Russia , these never produced concrete results. Although the Stuarts were useful as a lever, their foreign backers generally had little interest in their restoration. Historian Frank McLynn identifies seven primary drivers in Jacobitism, noting that while the movement contained "sincere men [..] who aimed solely to restore
1900-945: The Acts of Union 1707 and divine right seriously undermined the 1745 rising . Jacobitism was strongest in Ireland, the Western Scottish Highlands , Perthshire , and Aberdeenshire . Pockets of support were also present in Wales , Northern England , the West Midlands and South West England , all areas strongly Royalist during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms . In addition, the Stuarts received intermittent backing from countries like France , usually dependent on their own strategic objectives. In addition to
2000-718: The Catholic Confederacy representing the Irish insurgents proclaimed allegiance to Charles, but the Stuarts were an unreliable ally, since concessions in Ireland cost them Protestant support in all three kingdoms. In addition, the Adventurers' Act , approved by Charles in March 1642, funded suppression of the revolt by confiscating land from Irish Catholics, much of it owned by members of the Confederacy. The result
2100-613: The Duke of Norfolk , head of the English Catholic community, sentenced to death for his role in 1715 but pardoned. Even so, sympathies were complex; Norfolk's agent Andrew Blood joined the Manchester Regiment , and he later employed another ex-officer, John Sanderson, as his master of horse. English Catholics continued to provide the exiles with financial support well into the 1770s. In 1689, around 2% of clergy in
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#17327755749192200-519: The Earl of Sunderland , his chief minister, felt only his removal could prevent it. Sunderland secretly co-ordinated an Invitation to William , assuring Mary and her husband, and James's nephew, William of Orange of English support for armed intervention. William landed in Brixham on 5 November with 14,000 men; as he advanced, James's army deserted and he went into exile on 23 December. In February 1689,
2300-544: The English Parliament appointed William and Mary joint monarchs of England, while the Scots followed suit in March. Most of Ireland was still controlled by Tyrconnell, where James landed on 12 March 1689 with 6,000 French troops. The 1689-to-1691 Williamite War in Ireland highlighted two recurring trends; for James and his successors, the main prize was England, with Ireland and Scotland secondary to that, while
2400-658: The French First Republic , Napoleon Bonaparte and Daniel O'Connell . Jacobite ideology has since influenced the Gaelic revival and much of traditional Irish nationalism . In England and Wales, Jacobitism was often associated with the Tories , many of whom supported James's right to the throne during the Exclusion Crisis . Tory ideology implied that neither "time nor statute law [...] could ameliorate
2500-773: The Old Pretender 's health in the home of the latter's former nurse in Portsea, Portsmouth . An innkeeper of Horndean testified that Caryll held meetings at his inn with the former Tory MP Sir Henry Goring , who fled to France after the Jacobite Atterbury Plot had been discovered in August 1722. It quickly became known to the Dutch ambassador that Goring had requested the Waltham Blacks' support for
2600-870: The Peace of Utrecht , which he viewed as damaging to his home state of Hanover . His isolation of former Tory ministers like Lord Bolingbroke and the Earl of Mar drove them first into opposition, then exile. Their exclusion from power between 1714 and 1742 led many Tories to remain in contact with the Jacobite court, which they saw as a potential tool for changing or pressuring the existing government. In 1715, there were co-ordinated celebrations on 29 May, Restoration Day , and 10 June, James Stuart's birthday, especially in Tory-dominated towns like Bristol , Oxford , Manchester and Norwich , although they remained quiet in
2700-544: The Real Presence as "base and idolatrous". After the effective demise of the Jacobite cause in the 1750s and '60s, many Catholic gentry withdrew support from the Stuarts. Instead, they created organisations like the Catholic Convention , which worked within the existing state for redress of Catholic grievances. When Charles died in 1788, Irish nationalists looked for alternative liberators, among them
2800-520: The Royal Prerogative . Doing so threatened to re-open disputes over religion, reward those who rebelled in 1685 and undermine his own supporters. It also ignored the impact of the 1685 Edict of Fontainebleau , which revoked tolerance for French Protestants and created an estimated 400,000 refugees, 40,000 of whom settled in London. Two events turned discontent into rebellion, the first being
2900-542: The Third English Civil War , and Ormond went into exile in 1650. Defeat in 1652 led to the mass confiscation of Catholic and Royalist land, and its re-distribution among English Parliamentary soldiers and Protestant settlers. The three kingdoms were combined into the Commonwealth of England , regaining their separate status when the monarchy was restored in 1660. Charles's reign was dominated by
3000-523: The Treason Act 1708 , the 1711 ruling that barred Scots peers with English or British peerages from their seats in the House of Lords , and tax increases. Despite their own preferences, the Stuarts tried to appeal to this group; in 1745, Charles issued declarations dissolving the "pretended Union", despite concerns this would alienate his English supporters. However, opposition to post-Union legislation
3100-514: The battle of Aughrim in 1691, and the Treaty of Limerick ended the war in Ireland; future risings on behalf of the exiled Stuarts were confined to England and Scotland. The Act of Settlement 1701 barred Catholics from the English throne, and when Anne became the last Stuart monarch in 1702, her heir was her Protestant cousin Sophia of Hanover , not her Catholic half-brother James. Ireland retained
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3200-543: The 1689 Parliament were annulled, penal laws criminalized the practice of Catholicism and barred Catholics from public life, while the Act of Attainder was used to justify further land confiscations. 12,000 Jacobite soldiers went into exile in the diaspora known as the Flight of the Wild Geese , the majority of whom were later absorbed into the French Royal Army 's Irish Brigade . About 1,000 men were recruited for
3300-552: The 1689–1691 Williamite War in Ireland and Jacobite rising of 1689 in Scotland , there were serious revolts in 1715 , 1719 and 1745, French invasion attempts in 1708 and 1744 , and numerous unsuccessful plots. While the 1745 Rising briefly seemed to threaten the Hanoverian monarchy, its defeat in 1746 ended Jacobitism as a serious political movement. Jacobite ideology originated with James VI and I , who in 1603 became
3400-523: The 1715 Rising. In the 1730s many 'Jacobite' demonstrations in Wales and elsewhere were driven by local tensions, especially hostility to Methodism , and featured attacks on Nonconformist chapels. Most English participants in 1715 came from traditionally Catholic areas in the northwest, such as Lancashire . By 1720 there were fewer than 115,000 in England and Wales, and most remained loyal in 1745, including
3500-528: The 17th century, the close connection between Scottish politics and religion meant regime changes were accompanied by the losers being expelled from the Church of Scotland . In 1690 , over 200 clergymen lost their parishes, mostly in Aberdeenshire and Banffshire , a strongly Episcopalian area since the 1620s. In 1745, around 25% of Jacobite recruits came from this part of the country. Episcopalianism
3600-465: The Act introduced the death penalty for over 350 criminal acts. Three of the Blacks' leaders had already been captured during the passage of the Act although one later escaped, and a series of government raids captured a total of 32 Blacks who were tried after the Act's passage in Reading . Four were sentenced to death for the killing of the gamekeeper's son, and were executed on 15 June 1723. Trials for
3700-407: The Black Act to Parliament on 26 April 1723. The Act came into force on 27 May and introduced the death penalty for over 350 criminal offences, including being found disguised in a forest and carrying a weapon; "no other single statute passed during the eighteenth century equalled [the Black Act] in severity, and none appointed the punishment of death in so many cases". A criminal law reform campaign in
3800-594: The Blacks from their habit of blacking their faces when they undertook the raids. The Act was expanded over the years and greatly strengthened the criminal code by specifying over 200 capital crimes, many with intensified punishment. Arson, for example, had its definition expanded to include the new crime of burning (or threatening to burn) haystacks. The legal rights of suspects and defendants under this Act were strictly limited. For example, suspects who did not surrender within 40 days could be summarily judged guilty and sentenced to execution, so that if they were apprehended at
3900-576: The Boyne in 1690, telling his supporters to "shift for themselves". This led some to depict him as ( Irish : "Séamus an chaca" , "James of the shit"), who had deserted his loyal followers. However, Gaelic scholar Breandán Ó Buachalla claims his reputation subsequently recovered as "the rightful king...destined to return' and upper-class Irish Jacobite writers like Charles O'Kelly and Nicholas Plunkett blamed "corrupt English and Scottish advisors" for his apparent desertion. After 1691, measures passed by
4000-531: The British for rejecting their rightful king, although post 1710 this was blamed specifically on the Whigs . These views were not held by all Jacobites, while many Whigs argued the post 1688 succession was also "divinely ordained". After the 1701 Act of Settlement, Jacobite propagandists deemphasised the purely legitimist elements in their writing and by 1745, active promotion of hereditary and indefeasible right
4100-400: The Church of England refused to take the oath of allegiance to William and Mary; one list identifies a total of 584 clergy, schoolmasters and university dons as Non Jurors . This almost certainly understates their numbers, for many sympathisers remained within the Church of England, but Non Jurors were disproportionately represented in Jacobite risings and riots, and provided many "martyrs". By
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4200-528: The Church of England, and ruling without Parliament led to a political crisis. Similar measures in Scotland caused the 1639–1640 Bishops' Wars , and installation of a Covenanter government. Organised by a small group of Catholic nobility, the October 1641 Irish Rebellion was the cumulative effect of land confiscation, loss of political control, anti-Catholic measures and economic decline. The Rebellion
4300-654: The Electors of Hanover". While Jacobite agents continued in their attempts to recruit the disaffected, the most committed Jacobites were often linked by relatively small family networks, particularly in Scotland; Jacobite activities in areas like Perthshire and Aberdeenshire centred on a limited number of influential families heavily involved in 1715 and 1745. Some of the most powerful landowning families preserved their establishment loyalties, but maintained traditions of Stuart allegiance by permitting younger sons to become involved in active Jacobitism; in 1745, Lewis Gordon
4400-530: The English.' He therefore resisted measures that might "dissatisfy his Protestant subjects" in England and Scotland, complaining "he was fallen into the hands of a people who would ram many hard things down his throat". When it became clear Parliament would only vote war taxes if he met their minimum demands, James reluctantly gave his assent to Tyrconnell's land bill and passed a Bill of attainder , confiscating estates from 2,000 mostly Protestant "rebels". Although he also approved Parliament's resolution that Ireland
4500-716: The French and Spanish armies annually, many with a "tangible commitment to the Stuart cause". Elements of the French Irish Brigade participated in the Scottish Jacobite rising of 1745. Irish-language poets, especially in Munster , continued to champion the cause after James' death; in 1715, Eoin O Callanain described his son Prince James Francis Edward Stuart as " taoiseach na nGaoidheal " or "chieftain of
4600-524: The Gaels". As in England, throughout the 1720s, Prince James' birthday on 10 June was marked by celebrations in Dublin, and towns like Kilkenny and Galway . These were often accompanied by rioting, suggested as proof of popular pro-Jacobite sympathies. Others argue riots were common in 18th-century urban areas and see them as a "series of ritualised clashes". Combined with Jacobite rhetoric and symbolism in
4700-527: The Jacobites in 1715, compared to 11,000 who joined the government army, and were the majority of the 9,000 to 14,000 who served in 1745. One reason was the persistence of feudalism in parts of rural Scotland, where tenants could be compelled to provide their landlords with military service. Many of the Highland clansmen who were a feature of Jacobite armies were raised this way: in all three major risings,
4800-435: The Lords to approve the bill. More serious were differences between Parliament and James, who resisted any measures that might "dissatisfy his Protestant subjects" in England and Scotland. These conflicted with the demands of the Irish Parliament, which in addition to land restoration included toleration for Catholicism and Irish autonomy. A French diplomat observed James had 'a heart too English to do anything that might vex
4900-443: The Parliament of Great Britain were deemed to have come into effect on the first day of the session in which they were passed. Because of this, the years given in the list below may in fact be the year before a particular act was passed. The first session of the 6th Parliament of Great Britain , which met from 9 October 1722 until 27 May 1723. This session was also traditionally cited as 9 G. 1 . Jacobitism Jacobitism
5000-434: The Protestant interest and the English interest in Ireland". This restricted Protestant Jacobitism to "doctrinaire clergymen, disgruntled Tory landowners and Catholic converts", who opposed Catholicism but still viewed James' removal as unlawful. A few Church of Ireland ministers refused to swear allegiance to the new regime and became Non-Jurors , the most famous being propagandist Charles Leslie . Since regaining England
5100-528: The Stuarts", it "provided a source of legitimacy for political dissent of all kinds". Establishing the ideology of active participants is complicated by the fact that "by and large, those who wrote most did not act, and those who acted wrote little, if anything." As a result, historians have taken different views on its primary driving force. These include being an aristocratic rejection of an increasingly Unitary state , feudal opposition to capitalism, or Scots and Irish nationalism. Jacobitism drew on elements of
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#17327755749195200-414: The Stuarts, their loyalty to Catholicism, and Ireland's status as a kingdom with a Crown of its own." In the first half of the 18th century, Jacobitism was "the primary allegiance of politically conscious Catholics". Irish Catholic support for James was predicated on his religion and assumed willingness to deliver their demands. In 1685, Irish bard Dáibhí Ó Bruadair celebrated his accession as ensuring
5300-428: The United Kingdom, see the list of acts of the Scottish Parliament , the list of acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly , and the list of acts and measures of Senedd Cymru ; see also the list of acts of the Parliament of Northern Ireland . The number shown after each act's title is its chapter number. Acts are cited using this number, preceded by the year(s) of the reign during which the relevant parliamentary session
5400-449: The birth of James's son on 10 June 1688, which created the prospect of a Catholic dynasty. The second was James' prosecution of the Seven Bishops , which seemed to go beyond tolerance for Catholicism and actively attack the Church of England; their acquittal on 30 June caused widespread rejoicing throughout England and Scotland, and destroyed James's political authority. In 1685, many feared civil war if James were bypassed; by 1688, even
5500-496: The bulk of the rank and file were supplied by a small number of north-western clans whose leaders joined the rebellion. Despite this, many Jacobites were Protestant Lowlanders, rather than the Catholic, Gaelic-speaking Highlanders of legend. By 1745, fewer than 1% of Scots were Catholic, restricted to the far north-west and a few noble families. The majority of the rank and file, as well as many Jacobite leaders, belonged to Protestant non-juring Episcopalian congregations. Throughout
5600-448: The destruction of fish-ponds, the destruction of trees and the killing of cattle in those locations, the last of which also punishable by death. An offender could also be executed for setting fire to corn, hay, straw, wood, houses or barns or shooting another person. The same penalties applied to attempting to rescue anyone imprisoned under the Black Act or attempting to solicit other people to participate in crimes that violated it. In total,
5700-411: The early 19th century caused it to be largely repealed on 8 July 1823, when a reform bill introduced by Robert Peel came into force. The Building Act 1774 , which imposed restrictions on exterior decoration, was also known as the Black Act. Following the 1720 South Sea Bubble collapse, Britain suffered an economic downturn that led to heightened social tensions. A small element of the social unrest
5800-457: The expansionist policies of Louis XIV of France, seen as a threat to Protestant Europe. When his brother and heir James announced his conversion to Catholicism in 1677, an attempt was made to bar him from the English throne . Nevertheless, he became king in February 1685 with widespread support in England and Scotland; a Catholic monarch was preferable to excluding the 'natural heir', and rebellions by Protestant dissidents quickly suppressed. It
5900-401: The fact or "any other person or persons". Anyone in one of the above categories found in a forest, chase , down or Royal Park could be sentenced to death. Similarly, it was an offence to hunt, kill, wound or steal deer in those locations, with the first offence punishable by a fine and the second by penal transportation . Other criminalised activities included fishing, the hunting of hares,
6000-419: The final straw, with Sir Francis Page , a "notorious hanging judge", sent to the Winchester Assizes to preside over any prosecutions; this forced the Hampshire Blacks underground. The Windsor Blacks then began their activities, copying the Hampshire group. Their main target was Caversham Park , owned by the Earl of Cadogan , with a series of increasingly-audacious raids in 1722 and 1723, including one in which
6100-406: The first monarch to rule all three kingdoms of England , Scotland and Ireland . Its basis was divine right , which claimed his authority came from God, and the crown's descent by indefeasible hereditary right: James and his supporters emphasised his right to the throne by blood to forestall controversy over his appointment by Elizabeth I as her successor. Personal rule by the monarch eliminated
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#17327755749196200-431: The first session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom are both cited as "41 Geo. 3". Acts passed by the Parliament of Great Britain did not have a short title ; however, some of these acts have subsequently been given a short title by acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (such as the Short Titles Act 1896 ). Before the Acts of Parliament (Commencement) Act 1793 came into force on 8 April 1793, acts passed by
6300-555: The government and oppress the common people. However, views on the 'correct' balance of rights and duties between monarch and subject varied, and Jacobites attempted to distinguish between 'arbitrary' and 'absolute' power. Non-juring Church of Ireland clergyman Charles Leslie was perhaps the most extreme divine right theorist, but even he argued the monarch was bound by "his oath to God, as well as his promise to his people" and "the laws of justice and honour". Jacobite pamphlets often suggested domestic issues were divine punishment on
6400-447: The late 1720s arguments over doctrine and the death of its originators reduced the church to a handful of scattered congregations, but several of those executed in 1745 came from Manchester, the last significant assembly in England. Quaker leader William Penn was a prominent non-conformist supporter of James, although this was based on their personal relationship and did not survive his deposition. Another element in English Jacobitism
6500-507: The links between the Blacks and the Jacobites were "fantasies" and that the Blacks were "simply a mixed group of foresters: labourers, yeomen and some gentry defending their customary rights". Others, however, have claimed that the Blacks were closely connected with Jacobitism and that the Black Act was designed to combat that political threat. Sir Geoffrey Elton claimed that the Act was "passed not in order to suppress legitimate protest but because organized gangs were destroying deer and planning
6600-439: The many works of Aisling poetry composed in the Irish language and widespread popular support for rapparees , or Jacobite guerrillas , like Éamonn an Chnoic , John Hurley , and Galloping Hogan , provides, some historians now claim, proof of popular support for a Stuart restoration. Others, however, argue that it is hard to discern "how far rhetorical Jacobitism reflected support for the Stuarts, as opposed to discontent with
6700-451: The men had horses and homes of their own, and were, to say the truth most of them, the persons who some time since robbed the late Bishop of Winchester's Park, and have increased in their number ever since. They go by the name of the Waltham Blacks (tho few of them live there) which is a most loyal little town. ... I once saw two hundred and upwards of these Blacks in a body within half a mile of my house. They had been running brandy. There
6800-407: The need for Parliaments, and required political and religious union, concepts widely unpopular in all three kingdoms. Divine right also clashed with Catholic allegiance to the Pope and with Protestant nonconformists , since both argued there was an authority above the king. The 17th-century belief that 'true religion' and 'good government' were one and the same meant disputes in one area fed into
6900-478: The other; Millenarianism and belief in the imminence of the Second Coming meant many Protestants viewed such issues as urgent and real. As the first step towards union, James began standardising religious practices between the churches of England , Scotland and Ireland . After his death in 1625, this was continued by his son Charles I , who lacked his political sensitivity; by the late 1630s, instituting Personal Rule in 1629, enforcing Laudian reforms on
7000-403: The others pilloried and sentenced to a year and a day in prison. The poachers became known as the "Blacks", because of their practice of blackening their faces to prevent identification; most famously, a Hampshire group became known as the " Waltham Blacks". After the convictions, the poachers decided to attack the Bishop's property again, which demonstrated "a calculated programme of action, and
7100-411: The others continued into 1724, and seven more were captured and tried on 7 December. That marked the effective end of the Blacks as an organised group. As late as the Jacobite rising of 1745–46 , newspapers reported that the Blacks had reappeared in Hampshire , where they had stolen deer and robbed parks. Modern scholars have differed in their view of whether the Blacks were Jacobites. Some argue that
7200-458: The price for these concessions was to largely remove the Anglican element from Irish Jacobitism, which thereafter became almost entirely a Catholic ideology. After 1690, Irish Jacobites were also split between Tyrconnell's 'Peace party' who continued to seek a negotiated solution, and a 'War party' led by Patrick Sarsfield who favoured fighting on to the end. James left Ireland after defeat at
7300-550: The primary French objective was to absorb British resources, not necessarily restore the Stuarts. Elections in May 1689 produced the first Irish Parliament with a Catholic majority since 1613. It repealed the Cromwellian land seizures, confiscated land from Williamites, and proclaimed Ireland a 'distinct kingdom from England', measures annulled after defeat in 1691. A Jacobite rising in Scotland achieved some initial success but
7400-583: The revived supremacy of both the Catholic Church in Ireland and the Irish language . Tyrconnell's expansion of the army by the creation of Catholic regiments was welcomed by Diarmuid Mac Carthaigh, as enabling the native Irish 'Tadhg' to be armed and to assert his dominance over "John" the English Protestant. Conversely, most Irish Protestants viewed his policies as designed to "utterly ruin
7500-531: The rightful king and condemning the "treasonous subjects" who had ousted him. There were some divisions among Irish Jacobites on the issue of returning all Catholic lands confiscated in 1652 after the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland . The majority of the Irish House of Commons wanted the 1652 Cromwellian Act of Settlement repealed in its entirety, with ownership returned to that prevailing in 1641. This
7600-464: The scriptural injunction of passive obedience and non-resistance, even towards monarchs of which the individual subject might disapprove. Jacobite propagandists argued such divinely sanctioned authority was the main moral safeguard of society, while its absence led to party strife. They claimed the 1688 Revolution had enabled political corruption and allowed selfish opportunists, such as Whigs, religious dissenters, and foreigners, to take control of
7700-414: The sin of usurpation", while shared Tory and Jacobite themes of divine right and sacred kingship may have provided an alternative to Whig concepts of "liberty and property". A minority of academics, including Eveline Cruickshanks , have argued that until the late 1750s the Tories were a crypto-Jacobite party; others, that Jacobitism was a "limb of Toryism". However, the supremacy of the Church of England
7800-462: The status quo". Nevertheless, fears of resurgent Catholic Jacobitism among the ruling Protestant minority meant anti-Catholic Penal Laws remained in place for most of the eighteenth century. As the Penal Laws forbade Irish Catholics to have military training or even to own or carry arms, there were no Irish risings in either 1715 or 1745 to accompany those in England and Scotland; one suggestion
7900-468: The throne of Scotland. The Revolution created the principle of a contract between monarch and people, which if violated meant the monarch could be removed. A key tenet of Jacobitism was that kings were appointed by God, making the post-1688 regime illegitimate. However, it also functioned as an outlet for popular discontent and thus was a complex mix of ideas, many opposed by the Stuarts themselves. Conflict between Prince Charles and Scottish Jacobites over
8000-403: The time, it was thought that the Blacks were Jacobites , and Sir Robert Walpole encouraged the spread of that idea to advance his own interests. The rationale for the Act has been described as "at least as much to do with the hysteria induced by Walpole ... as with any need for new powers to fight deer-stealing". In March 1723, Philip Caryll was arrested by the government for drinking to
8100-509: The war effort. Tyrconnell ensured a predominantly Catholic electorate and candidates by issuing new borough charters, admitting Catholics into city corporations, and removing "disloyal members". Since elections were not held in many northern areas, the Irish House of Commons was 70 members short, and 224 out of 230 MPs were Catholic. Known to 19th-century Irish historians as the " Patriot Parliament ", it opened by proclaiming James as
8200-412: The wide range of themes adopted by Jacobite pamphleteers and agents periodically drew in disaffected Whigs and former radicals. Such "Whig-Jacobites" were highly valued by the exiled court, although many viewed James II as a potentially weak king from whom it would be easy to extract concessions in the event of a restoration. The role of Jacobitism in Irish political history is debated; some argue that it
8300-401: Was 24 customs officers following them who they abused heartily and carried off their cargo. I am told there is no less than a thousand of them and indeed I believe they have now taken loyalty into their heads, and will I hope prove very useful. The Act dealt with any offender who was armed and with a blacked face, armed and otherwise disguised, merely blacked, merely disguised, accessories after
8400-596: Was a "distinct kingdom" and laws passed in England did not apply there, he refused to abolish Poynings' Law , which required Irish legislation to be approved by the English Parliament. Despite his own Catholicism, James viewed the Protestant Church of Ireland as an important part of his support base; he insisted on retaining its legal pre-eminence, although agreeing landowners would only have to pay tithes to clergy of their own religion. However,
8500-464: Was a broad-based popular movement and the main driver of Irish Catholic nationalism between 1688 and 1795. Others see it as part of "a pan-British movement, rooted in confessional and dynastic loyalties", very different from 19th-century Irish nationalism. Historian Vincent Morely describes Irish Jacobitism as a distinctive ideology within the broader movement that "emphasised the Milesian ancestry of
8600-552: Was a handful of disaffected radicals, for whom the exiled Stuarts provided a potential alternative to the Whig establishment. An example was John Matthews, a Jacobite printer executed in 1719; his pamphlet Vox Populi vox Dei emphasised the Lockean theory of the social contract , a doctrine very few Tories of the period would have supported. Scottish Jacobitism had wider and more extensive roots than in England. 20,000 Scots fought for
8700-744: Was a political ideology advocating the restoration of the Catholic House of Stuart to the British throne . When James II of England chose exile after the November 1688 Glorious Revolution , the Parliament of England ruled he had "abandoned" the English throne, which was given to his Protestant daughter Mary II of England , and her husband William III . On the same basis, in April the Scottish Convention awarded Mary and William
8800-610: Was a three-way contest between the Confederacy, Royalist forces under the Protestant Duke of Ormond , and a Covenanter-led army in Ulster. The latter were increasingly at odds with the English government; after Charles' execution in January 1649, Ormond combined these factions to resist the 1649-to-1652 Cromwellian conquest of Ireland . Charles II repudiated his alliance with the Confederacy, in return for Scottish support in
8900-462: Was also central to Tory ideology, and James lost their support when his policies seemed to threaten that primacy. The Act of Settlement 1701 excluding Catholics from the English throne was passed by a Tory administration; for the vast majority, Stuart Catholicism was an insuperable barrier to active support, while the Tory doctrine of non-resistance also discouraged them from supporting the exiles against
9000-467: Was also viewed as temporary; James was 52, his second marriage was childless after 11 years, and his Protestant daughter Mary was heir. His religion made James popular among Irish Catholics, whose position had not improved under his brother. By 1685, Catholic land ownership had fallen to 22%, from 90% in 1600, not least through Catholic landlords converting to the Anglican Church. After 1673,
9100-479: Was held; thus the Union with Ireland Act 1800 is cited as "39 & 40 Geo. 3. c. 67", meaning the 67th act passed during the session that started in the 39th year of the reign of George III and which finished in the 40th year of that reign. Note that the modern convention is to use Arabic numerals in citations (thus "41 Geo. 3" rather than "41 Geo. III"). Acts of the last session of the Parliament of Great Britain and
9200-416: Was his primary objective, James viewed Ireland as a strategic dead-end but Louis XIV of France argued it was the best place to launch a regime change war, since the administration was controlled by Tyrconnell and his cause was popular among the majority Catholic population. James landed at Kinsale in March 1689 and in May called the first Parliament of Ireland since 1666, primarily seeking taxes to fund
9300-606: Was intended as a bloodless coup, but its leaders quickly lost control, leading to atrocities on both sides. In May, a Covenanter army landed in Ulster to support Scots settlers. Although Charles and Parliament both supported raising an army to suppress the Rebellion, neither trusted the other with its control; these tensions ultimately led to the outbreak of the First English Civil War in August 1642. In 1642,
9400-647: Was not restricted to Jacobites. Many Presbyterians opposed the establishment of the Episcopal Church in 1712 and other measures of indulgence, while the worst tax riots took place in Glasgow , a town noted for its antipathy to the Stuarts. As in England, some objected less to the Union than the Hanoverian connection; Lord George Murray , a senior Jacobite commander in 1745, was a Unionist who repeatedly disagreed with Charles, but opposed "wars [...] on account of
9500-548: Was opposed by a minority within the Catholic elite who had benefited from the 1662 Act of Settlement , a group that included James himself, Tyrconnell and other members of the Irish House of Lords . Instead, they suggested those dispossessed in the 1650s should be restored to half their estates and paid compensation for the remainder. However, with the Commons overwhelmingly in favour of complete restoration, Tyrconnell persuaded
9600-460: Was popular among social conservatives, as it emphasised indefeasible hereditary right, absolute obedience, and implied deposition of the senior Stuart line was a breach of natural order. The church continued to offer prayers for the Stuarts until 1788, while many refused to swear allegiance to the Hanoverians in 1714. However, even in 1690, a substantial minority accommodated to the new regime,
9700-458: Was restricted largely to a few Scots Episcopalians such as Lords Pitsligo and Balmerino . Instead they began to focus on populist themes such as opposition to a standing army, political corruption , and social injustice. By the 1750s, Charles himself promised triennial parliaments, disbanding the army and legal guarantees on freedom of the press . Such tactics broadened their appeal but also carried risks, since they could always be coopted by
9800-636: Was the activity of two groups of poachers that were based in Hampshire and Windsor Forest respectively. The first flurry of activity came from the Hampshire group and began in October 1721 when 16 poachers assembled in Farnham to raid the park of the Bishop of Winchester . Three deer were carried off and two others killed. Four of the poachers were later caught, with two released for lack of evidence and
9900-676: Was ultimately suppressed. Several days after the Irish Jacobites were defeated at The Battle of the Boyne in July 1690, victory at Beachy Head gave the French temporary control of the English Channel . James returned to France to urge an immediate invasion of England, but the Anglo-Dutch fleet soon regained maritime supremacy, and the opportunity was lost. The Irish Jacobites and their French allies were finally defeated at
10000-684: Was widely believed to be a proxy for his brother, the Duke of Gordon . Many Jacobite leaders were closely linked to each other and the exile community by marriage or blood. This has led some historians, notably Bruce Lenman, to characterise the Jacobite risings as French-backed coup attempts by a small network drawn from the elite, though this view is not universally accepted. Family traditions of Jacobite sympathy were reinforced through objects such as inscribed glassware or rings with hidden symbols, although many of those that survive are in fact 19th-century neo-Jacobite creations. Other family heirlooms contained reference to executed Jacobite martyrs, for which
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