The history of civilisation in Scotland, Vol 3 (of 4)

In Short

This volume examines the turbulent transformation of Scottish society from the Union of the Crowns under James VI through the early eighteenth century. It details the bitter conflicts triggered by royal attempts to impose episcopacy, the rise of the Covenanters, the violence of the civil wars, and the harsh years of political suppression under the later Stuarts. Following the Revolution of 1688 and the parliamentary Union of 1707, the focus shifts toward internal pacification and structural modernization. Mackintosh tracks how central government authority gradually superseded feudal jurisdictions, clan loyalties, and regional feuds. Alongside this political narrative, the book explores social, intellectual, and economic conditions, documenting witch trials, educational initiatives, currency troubles, emerging industries, public works like General Wade’s Highland roads, and the philosophical developments of the era. It has survived as an essential historical study due to its thorough grounding in primary records, Parliamentary acts, and local burgh registers.

The Story

The narrative opens in the early seventeenth century following the Union of the Crowns in 1603. Operating from London, King James VI attempts to bring the Reformed Church of Scotland into conformity with English Episcopacy. When Scottish presbyteries resist, royal authority intervenes directly: General Assemblies are forcibly dissolved, prominent leaders such as Andrew Melville are imprisoned or banished, and absolute royal power is recognized by a compliant Parliament. At the Perth Assembly of 1618, the King forces the adoption of five controversial liturgical articles. At the same time, joint Anglo-Scottish commissions struggle to suppress deep-seated border feuds and establish basic legal order.

Discontent turns into open rebellion under Charles I. The King’s attempt to enforce uniform religious practices across both realms pushes Scottish opponents to organize systematic resistance. In Edinburgh, leaders assemble four representative committees known as the "Tables"—drawn from nobles, county delegates, ministers, and burgh deputies—which quickly assume effective control of the nation's governance. The Covenanters enlist experienced officers returned from Continental wars, led by General Alexander Leslie, capture strategic strongholds, and prepare for war. Simultaneous political tension in England links the Scottish movement to the wider English Parliamentary struggle.

A period of intense military and political conflict follows. The Covenanters sign treaties with English Parliamentarians and adopt the Westminster Confession of Faith as their religious standard. However, internal divisions quickly surface. Royalist resistance flares up under the Earl of Montrose, who leads a campaign using Highland and Irish troops before being suppressed. Following the execution of Charles I, the Scots negotiate with the young prince Charles II at Breda. Upon landing in Scotland, Charles II signs the Covenant and is subjected to strict Presbyterian discipline, including endless daily sermons and strict Sabbath enforcement. The entry of Oliver Cromwell’s forces and the defeat of Scottish armies at Dunbar and Worcester bring Scotland under Commonwealth military control.

The Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 brings rapid retaliation rather than stability. The government re-establishes episcopacy by parliamentary act, repeals presbyterian legislation, and reinstates bishops with full royal authority. Uncompromising presbyterians, particularly in the western counties, hold illegal outdoor conventicles. The government responds with severe suppression, deploying troops, issuing commissions of "fire and sword," and executing radical leaders. Armed uprisings at Drumclog and Bothwell Bridge highlight the severity of the conflict. The arrival of the Duke of York (later James VII) to manage Scottish affairs introduces even harsher measures against political and religious dissent.

The Revolution of 1688 marks a major structural shift. Presbyterian ministers petition the Prince of Orange, and a Convention of Estates meets in Edinburgh to transfer the Crown to William and Mary. However, pacification brings new atrocities, notably the state-directed massacre of the Macdonalds of Glencoe, planned by Secretary of State Sir John Dalrymple. To secure long-term political stability, negotiations begin for a formal legislative union. Despite deep popular suspicion, thirty-one commissioners from each kingdom negotiate the Treaty of Union, which preserves the Presbyterian Church structure while merging the parliaments in 1707.

The final chapters move from political narratives to broad thematic surveys of Scottish civilization. Mackintosh traces the pacification of the Highlands, highlighted by General Wade’s decade-long construction of military roads and forts. He examines the persistence of feudal regality jurisdictions and the semi-slavery of colliers and salt-workers, who remained bound to industrial estates. The volume concludes with an assessment of civic administration, witch trials, burgh schools, early manufacturing incentives, monetary reforms, popular ballads, and the philosophical ideas of European thinkers like Descartes, Spinoza, Hobbes, and Locke as they began to influence Scottish thought.

How It Unfolds

The royal overreach begins James VI uses absolute authority to force episcopal governance upon the Church of Scotland, imprisoning outspoken presbyterian leaders and threatening reluctant ministers with the loss of their stipends to secure obedience.

The nation organizes resistance Opponents of Charles I establish four permanent representative committees in Parliament House, known as the "Tables," which effectively usurp royal executive power and coordinate military preparations under General Alexander Leslie.

The kingdom splits into civil war While the Covenanting leadership aligns with the English Parliament and adopts a unified creed, the Marquis of Montrose raises a Royalist army in the Highlands, initiating a destructive internal war.

The prince submits to strict terms Young Charles II arrives at the mouth of the Spey, signs the Covenant, and lands in a country where Presbyterian authorities subject him to rigorous religious instruction, lengthy sermons, and strict moral supervision.

The restoration triggers harsh suppression Charles II dismantles presbyterian legislation, restores bishops to full parliamentary authority, and unleashes armed forces to disperse illegal field conventicles, leading to violent clashes at Drumclog and Bothwell Bridge.

The throne turns to radical measures The Duke of York takes control of Scottish administration, winning the praise of the Privy Council while directing intense crackdowns on western Whigs and political dissenters.

The revolution changes the state A Convention of Estates meets in Edinburgh in 1689 to settle the Crown on William of Orange, resulting in the re-establishment of the Presbyterian polity and the official exclusion of Roman Catholics from civic voting.

State violence strikes the glens Secretary of State Sir John Dalrymple leverages Highland reluctance to take the oath of allegiance to orchestrate the systematic destruction of the Glencoe clan, viewing it as a necessary act of state discipline.

The parliaments negotiate a union Sixty-two commissioners deliberate the terms of an complete political merger, reserving the established Church of Scotland while opening up wider trade channels for an impoverished nation.

The military builds the infrastructure General Wade spends ten years constructing a network of military roads and strategic forts across the Highlands to eliminate remote outlaw havens and integrate the regions into the central authority.

The law enforces moral discipline Parliament and local magistrates repeatedly renew acts against Sabbath-breaking, profanity, and drunkenness, while justiciary courts try and execute accused witches across the burghs.

Industry operates under old servitude Colliers and salt-workers remain bound as property to their industrial sites, while early manufacturing acts attempt to spur Scottish weaving and trade by strictly banning foreign imports.

The People

• James VI & I: The ambitious monarch who views absolute royal power as the only check on civil disorder. He treats presbyterian governance as a threat to his crown, using exile, threats of financial ruin, and packed assemblies to force episcopacy upon Scotland.
• Charles I: The unyielding king whose insistence on extending Tudor-style principles of church government to Scotland provokes organized rebellion, leading directly to the rise of the Covenanters and the outbreak of civil war.
• General Alexander Leslie: A veteran commander of the Continental wars who returns to Scotland to organize, equip, and lead the Covenanters' military forces against royal armies.
• The Earl of Montrose: A former ardent Covenanter who switches allegiance to Charles I, raising a Royalist force of Highland clansmen and Irish troops to launch a dramatic, temporary campaign across Scotland.
• Charles II: The exile prince who accepts strict Covenanting conditions and constant religious oversight to claim the Scottish throne, only to dismantle Presbyterian governance and suppress his former hosts upon his eventual restoration.
• Archbishop Spottiswood: A key instrument of royal policy who argues at the Perth Assembly that subjects must defer to the King's authority in religious matters, as the monarch understands divinity better than the clergy.
• Bishop Gilbert Burnet: An episcopal scholar and preacher who travels through western counties trying to convince resistant commoners to accept royal church policy, only to be amazed by the theological knowledge and stubbornness of simple cottagers.
• Sir John Dalrymple of Stair: The Secretary of State for Scotland whose hostility toward the Highland clans leads him to welcome the failure of Glencoe to meet an oath deadline as an opportunity for total eradication.
• Sir George Lockhart of Carnwath: The lone Jacobite leader appointed to the thirty-one-member Scottish Union Commission, who stays on the panel at his party's request to secretly monitor and report on the proceedings.
• Margaret Wallace: A Glasgow clothier's wife executed for witchcraft after being accused of casting unnatural sweating sicknesses on her neighbors and attempting to cure sick children through sorcery.
• General Wade: The military engineer commissioned by the Crown who spends a decade building forts and an extensive network of roads across the Highlands to dismantle clan isolation and extend central government control.

In Its Own Voice

When Archbishop Spottiswood opened the Perth Assembly of 1618, he insisted that the King’s authority in matters of worship was absolute:

"If it cannot be shown that they are repugnant to the written Word, I see not with what conscience we can refuse them, being urged as they are by our sovereign lord and King; a King who is not a stranger to divinity, but has such acquaintance with it, as Rome never found, in the confession of all men, a more potent adversary..."

During his tour of the western counties to win over nonconforming Presbyterians, Bishop Gilbert Burnet noted the unexpected intellectual independence of ordinary laborers:

"We were indeed amazed to see a poor commonalty so capable of arguing upon points of government, and on the bounds to be set to the power of princes in matters of religion. Upon all these topics they had texts of scripture at hand; and were ready with their answers to anything that was said to them."

As Secretary of State, Sir John Dalrymple expressed an unsparing hostility toward the unsubmitted Highland clans in late 1691:

"The King, by the offer of mercy, has sufficiently shown his good intentions, and by their ruin he will rid himself of a suspicious crew."

What It's Really About

The central conflict of this volume is the struggle between centralizing state authority and local, religious, and legal independence. Mackintosh demonstrates how the crown's attempt to enforce ideological uniformity—first through the divine right of kings and later through episcopacy—clashed directly with a population that believed ultimate authority rested in religious conscience and popular consent. He traces how political opposition moved from church leadership into structured, representative bodies like the "Tables," establishing early models of constitutional resistance.

Beneath the narrative of religious wars lies a broader thesis about the modernization of a society. Mackintosh shows that true economic and intellectual development could not occur while power remained fragmented among feudal regalities, lawless border clans, and unchecked private jurisdictions. The transition from local feuds to central statutory law was often brutal—as seen in the Highland pacifications and the Glencoe massacre—but it slowly created the stability necessary for industrial growth, higher education, and broader intellectual inquiry. Ultimately, the book details how a impoverished, divided nation moved from religious fanaticism and feudal servitude toward integration within a broader constitutional state.

Why Read It Today

This work offers an unvarnished, highly detailed account of a pivotal century in British history. Modern readers will appreciate Mackintosh’s reliance on original historical records—such as Privy Council minutes, parliamentary statutes, local court records, and contemporary letters—rather than retrospective romanticism. He avoids sentimentalizing figures like Montrose or the Covenanters, evaluating them strictly through their actions, published writings, and historical outcomes.

The book provides a clear view of how ordinary citizens engaged in political and theological debate. Readers interested in the history of civil liberties, constitutional governance, and church-state relations will find the period's debates remarkably relevant. Furthermore, the volume's wide-ranging interest in social history—documenting everything from coal miner servitude and witch trials to schoolmaster salaries and General Wade's engineering feats—ensures that the narrative extends beyond royal courts into everyday life.

The primary difficulty for contemporary readers lies in the author's precise, academic style and the dense presentation of historical detail. Mackintosh frequently quotes long legal documents, parliamentary statutes, and old Scots dialect without modernizing the language. The text assumes a general familiarity with seventeenth-century political geography and does not pause to dramatize events. However, for those seeking a thorough, evidence-based history of how early modern Scotland transformed into a unified, modern state, this volume remains an invaluable resource.

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