Waverley

In 1534, King Henry VIII passed several laws that separated England from the dominion of the Roman Catholic Church, creating the Protestant Church of England and naming the English monarch as its leader. During this time and over the centuries that followed, Protestants and Catholics battled for control over England and its religious identity, leading to significant anti-Catholic sentiment. In 1688, the events known as the Glorious Revolution led to the dethroning of the Catholic King James II of the House of Stuart. James II was also King James VII of Scotland; the thrones had been merged by his grandfather, James I and VI, in 1603. Once James was forced to step down, a series of Protestant Stuart monarchs occupied the throne, beginning with James’s daughter Mary II. In 1701, the Act of Settlement was passed, which legally disinherited any non-Protestant members of the royal family from their place in the line of succession. When Queen Anne died without a living heir in 1714, the crown went to a very distant German relative, George I, the Elector of Hanover. While many British people supported the Hanoverians and their claim to the throne, some continued to recognize the Stuart line as the rightful successors to the throne. The Jacobites—named after Jacobus, the Latin version of the name James—rallied behind James II’s son James, and then his grandson, Charles Edward Stuart.

The Jacobite uprising of 1745 was the climactic confrontation of the Jacobites and the Hanoverians. While the Hanoverians had reigned for three decades by 1745 and a Stuart had not been on the throne since the previous century, many people, particularly in Scotland, believed that the Stuarts were the rightful monarchs and needed to retake the throne. Skirmishes and battles had occurred since the 1680s, but Charles Edward Stuart’s leadership and organization meant that the 1745 battles took on a greater scope and significance. Other factors contributed to the scale of the 1745 uprising among Scots, as well. In 1707, the Parliaments of England and Scotland combined to form the United Kingdom, which many Scottish people opposed. Many Scots wanted self-determination, especially after the Scottish Stuart family was dethroned, and they felt that merging Parliaments eroded Scottish independence. The 1701 Act of Settlement also increased religious sectarianism in the British Isles, and the Jacobites’ and Hanoverians’ religious beliefs and practices often blended with their politics.

Though there were many Jacobites across Britain, those who were most involved in the 1745 uprising and who suffered the most were the Scottish Highlanders. After the Jacobites’ defeat at the Battle of Culloden in 1746, many strict impositions were placed on Scottish communities that particularly targeted Highland culture, outlawing important practices like wearing tartan and speaking Gaelic. Though Waverley is set during the 1745 uprising, Scott continually underscores how Scotland’s history impacted this moment as well as how Scotland’s future would be affected.