7 October 2024
Colin Fraser
The Jacobite Uprising - or Rebellion, depending on perspective - is often associated solely with the dramatic events of 1745 and the final defeat at Culloden in 1746 explains consultant specialist Colin Fraser. However, this was merely the culmination of a broader movement that spanned decades, with roots reaching back to the Glorious Revolution of 1688.
Illustrated: National Library of Scotland, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Following the deposition of King James II of England and VII of Scotland during the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the throne was offered to his Protestant daughter Mary and her husband, the Dutch prince William of Orange. Their joint rule as William III and Mary II marked a profound turning point in British political and religious history, ushering in a constitutional monarchy that curtailed the power of the Crown in favour of Parliament.
To cement their authority and distance themselves from the ousted Stuart dynasty, William and Mary quickly set about reinforcing their rule through visual and cultural symbols. They issued new royal proclamations, revised state documents, and - most notably - reformed the nation’s coinage. In a time when coins were not just currency but potent tools of statecraft and symbolism, this was a powerful statement. The imagery used on currency served to legitimise their reign and reinforce their presence across both England and Scotland.
One particularly striking example of this is the silver forty shilling coin minted during their reign, which features conjoined busts of William and Mary. This dual portrait was more than a decorative flourish, it was a calculated political image, representing unity of rule and divine legitimacy. For Jacobite supporters, who remained loyal to the exiled James II and his heirs, such symbols served as painful reminders of what they considered an illegitimate and foreign-imposed regime.
Before the famed ’45, several failed attempts were made to restore the Stuarts, including the Battle of Cromdale and Battle of the Boyne. The first truly promising effort came in 1715, when the Earl of Mar raised the standard for King James III and VIII at Braemar, assembling an army of nearly 12,000. One fascinating relic of the ’15 is a contemporary pamphlet, pictured below, capturing the rhetoric and urgency of the movement.
Despite their early success in the Highlands, the Jacobites were met with fierce resistance. The Battle of Preston (1715), regarded as one of the last battles fought on English soil, ended in surrender. A rare blunderbuss seized from a Highlander, still loaded with 17 balls, survives as a dramatic piece of history. . Inscribed to the 17th century barrel, (the stock later mounted), “This was taken from a Highlander at Preston 1715 loaded 17 balls".
Almost simultaneously with the Battle of Preston in England, Scotland became the backdrop for another pivotal confrontation in the 1715 Jacobite Rising: the Battle of Sheriffmuir. Fought on 13 November 1715 near Dunblane, this clash pitted the Jacobite army led by John Erskine, 6th Earl of Mar against Hanoverian forces under John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll.
Though both sides claimed victory, the battle was largely inconclusive - Mar failed to press a numerical advantage, and Argyll succeeded in preventing the Jacobites from advancing south. Nevertheless, Sheriffmuir proved significant in stalling the momentum of the rising, effectively halting Jacobite ambitions for the time being.
Despite the lack of a decisive outcome, the battle has left its mark through a handful of surviving relics. Among these is a powder flask, believed to have been carried by a Jacobite soldier through the campaign. Objects like this are rare and valuable, not only for their historical significance but also for their personal connection to those who took part in the fighting.
In the aftermath, King George I moved quickly to shape the public perception of the battle. Though the result on the field was ambiguous, he declared it a Hanoverian victory and commissioned a series of commemorative medals to celebrate the supposed triumph. These medals, adorned with Latin inscriptions and royal imagery, served a crucial role in medallic propaganda - an artform both the Hanoverians and the Jacobites used throughout the 18th century to stake claims of legitimacy, divine right, and military success.
These medals were distributed to loyal supporters, worn proudly, and circulated throughout the country as physical proof of royal strength and control.
Though the battle may have been inconclusive in a military sense, it was a decisive moment in the propaganda war between the Houses of Hanover and Stuart - one where medals and memory would do as much as muskets and manoeuvres to shape the legacy of the ’15.
The failure of the 1715 Rising did not extinguish the Jacobite dream, far from it. Though the immediate campaign had faltered, the movement itself remained very much alive, sustained by a combination of enduring loyalty, dynastic ambition, and the strategic use of symbolism. The decades that followed saw Jacobite efforts shift away from open conflict and towards the quieter, calculated work of diplomacy, alliance-building, and securing the Stuart succession.
A turning point in this process came with the marriage of James Francis Edward Stuart - known to supporters as James III and VIII, and to opponents as the Old Pretender - to Maria Clementina Sobieska in 1719. Maria Clementina was no ordinary bride: she was the granddaughter of King John III Sobieski of Poland, famed for his role in defeating the Ottomans at the Siege of Vienna. Her Catholic royal lineage and continental connections brought both prestige and renewed European interest to the Stuart cause.
The marriage, however, was not without drama. En route to the ceremony, Maria Clementina was arrested by agents loyal to the Habsburgs, who sought to block the alliance. Her subsequent escape and daring journey to join James in exile was a propaganda gift for Jacobite supporters, portrayed as an act of devotion and political defiance. It wasn’t long before her image - and that of the Stuart dynasty - was immortalised in commemorative medals and engravings, celebrating both her courage and her dynastic significance.
In 1720, the birth of their son, Charles Edward Stuart, better known to history as Bonnie Prince Charlie, added fresh impetus to the movement. The arrival of an heir not only secured the Stuart bloodline but reinvigorated the long-term strategy of restoration. His birth was immediately seized upon as a moment for celebration and symbolism, marked once again through medallic art. These medals, often produced in France, Italy, and the Papal States, featured Latin inscriptions and allegorical imagery proclaiming the child’s royal legitimacy and divine favour.
For the Jacobite diaspora scattered across Britain and continental Europe, such medals were more than mementoes - they were statements of belief. Worn, displayed, and passed down through families, they served as silent declarations of loyalty to the exiled Stuarts. They also reinforced the idea that the cause was not lost but simply biding its time, awaiting the right moment and leader to rise again.
