Memory &
History
On the 1st of September 1651 Oliver Cromwell's forces were
bombarding the walls of Dundee with heavy cannons. The walls were
breached and the troops entered. Over 500 people were killed in the
ensuing mayhem. The fatalities included troops who were garrisoning
the town but also included innocent civilian inhabitants. The
commander of Cromwell's forces in Scotland was General Monk. He had
officially permitted 24 hours for the victors to indulge in
pillaging. In the event, the violence and theft lasted for a
further fortnight! Two years earlier, Cromwell's troops had entered
the Irish town of Drogheda after a short but strenuously resisted
siege. The fall of the town was accompanied by slaughter. Over
three hundred years later, Drogheda holds a prominent position in
the memory of the Irish people. Exactly what happened that day is
still the subject of heated controversy. In contrast, the tragic
events at Dundee during the same period seem to have been wiped
from the collective memory of Scotland. And, even in the vicinity
of Dundee, these events hold no place in local
folklore.
The national loss of memory with regard to Cromwell's involvement
in Scotland during the 17th Century, applies not just to a single
dramatic event but to a period of several years, during which an
army led by Oliver Cromwell and representing the will of the
English parliament, exercised an authority throughout Scotland
which no English based regime had ever achieved before. Cromwell
had risen to a position of power and influence during a conflict
which is generally described as the 'English Civil War'. In fact
the hostilities, which began in England, developed into a war which
involved the three kingdoms - England, Ireland and Scotland. During
this period of strife, English armies invaded Ireland and Scotland.
Irish troops landed in Scotland, and Scottish forces launched
invasions of both Ireland and England. At the same time, the
settled inhabitants of all three countries engaged in conflict with
each other. The complex military manoeuvrings during this period
took place against an equally complex background of political and
religious struggle.
The roots of this conflict lie at the beginning of the 17th
Century, when the ancient Scottish dynasty of
the Stuarts inherited the throne of England. James VI of
Scotland became James I of England. In 1603 his court transferred
to London and he found himself king of England, Ireland and
Scotland. The question with which he found himself faced, was how
these three very different countries could be welded together into
a stable political and economic unity. James was deemed to be a
suitable candidate for the English throne because, in religion, he
was a Protestant. But, the form of Protestantism which he assumed
as an English monarch was critically different from the religious
ideology of the Scottish noblemen who had exercised control over
his upbringing back in Scotland. The English Reformation placed the
monarch at the head of the church, giving him authority over all
matters of worship. James and his Stuart successors would attempt,
where they considered it possible, to pull together the many
disparate parts of their realm by establishing uniformity in
religious practice. In doing so, they sought to impose the
Episcopalian Anglican model instituted by Henry VIII when he first
broke away from the Roman Church. The monarch was at the head as
God's appointed, with ultimate authority over church affairs and
beneath him archbishops and bishops.
King & Covenant
Charles 1st followed his father James on the throne and like his
father, as far as his Scottish subjects were concerned, was an
absentee monarch. When he did intervene in his Scottish kingdom it
had catastrophic results. In 1637 a new book of common prayer was
introduced in a service in St Giles church in Edinburgh. The book
was intended to standardise the manner of worship along Anglican
lines. The independence of the Scottish Church was being
threatened. A nation wide religious revolt ensued. A document was
framed which asserted the right of the nation to religious
self-determination. This was termed the 'National Covenant'. It was
signed by representatives of a wide section of the populace. The
king threatened to impose his will by coercive military action but
was unable to move against a nation which was by now organised to
resist the King's authority with force. In Scotland, the tension
between the monarch and church culminated in open confrontation. In
England, tension between parliament and monarch, flared into
violent conflict. The English Civil War began in 1642. Initially
Scotland stood on the sidelines, but in 1644, a Scottish army
entered England and joined forces with Parliamentary troops. King
Charles and his royalist forces were defeated by this combined
force at the Battle of Marston Moor.
By 1648 the king was in the custody of Parliamentarian forces. The
position of the Covenanting Scots (i.e. those who adhered to the
terms of the National Covenant) was not hostile to the institution
of kingship, but sought a three way relationship between nation and
king under God. Accordingly, the king was not seen as an
intermediary between God and people. His authority was conditional
upon his guaranteeing religious freedom. With the king now in a
position of weakness, moderates among the Scots secretly negotiated
with Charles for his acceptance of the terms of the National
Covenant in return for Scottish support. A partial agreement was
reached and a Scottish force entered England with the intention of
freeing the king. This force got as far as Preston, where it met
with heavy defeat. This defeat brought about the collapse of
moderate Covenanting opinion in Scotland. John Nevay was minister
of Newmilns and Chaplain to John Campbell, the 1st Earl of Loudoun.
In an action known as the 'Whiggamore raid' he led a large band of
radical Covenanters from Galloway, Ayrshire and Clydesdale in a
march on Edinburgh. The most radical wing of the Covenanting
movement now held power in the capital.
Oliver Cromwell &
Scotland
In 1649 King Charles I was condemned to death and executed by
order of the English parliament. In the past, English and Scottish
kings had been removed from the position of power by violence but
the process, however brutal involved the replacement of one monarch
by another. The English parliament was now replacing a monarchy
with a republic - a state without a king. This radically new state
came to be called the 'Commonwealth'. In response to the death of
Charles 1, the Scottish parliament declared Charles's son, King
Charles II. On the 23rd of June 1650, while aboard a ship anchored
off the north-east coast of Scotland, the new king signed the
Covenant. In doing so he accepted limitations on his power where
religious matters were concerned which his Scottish subjects
desired.
The Scottish parliament's action was seen by the English
Parliamentarians as equivalent to a declaration of war. On June
22nd, Oliver Cromwell's army crossed the border into southern
Scotland. The Scottish army which confronted the advancing English
at Dunbar had been weakened by the removal of many good soldiers on
grounds of religious inclination. Religious opinion rather than
military skill was the primary qualification for inclusion in this
'purified' army. In the battle which took place, the Scottish army
collapsed. In December 1650, Edinburgh surrendered to Cromwell's
army. Cromwell's health lapsed and the momentum of the English
advance was broken. This was a momentary pause. The advance
recommenced with the Parliamentarian force crossing the Forth and
attacking Inverkeithing in July 1651. Perth was reached in August
and Stirling surrendered on the 14th of August. Before Cromwell
reached Stirling, King Charles II with his army responded by
launching a lightening counter invasion of England. This force
reached as far south as Worcester, but here met with defeat.
Charles escaped to the continent. In September, Dundee was taken by
storm. The royalist supporters of the king in the north-east of
Scotland were now surrendering. In February of 1652, at Edinburgh's
Mercat Cross with trumpets blaring, the incorporation of Scotland
into the Commonwealth, was announced. In 1653, Oliver Cromwell was
appointed Lord Protector of the Commonwealth.
Cromwell consolidated his grip on Scotland. A system of
fortifications was eventually established, encompassing the entire
country, including the Highlands and Islands.
From Roman times, armies invading Scotland took steps to
ensure the re-supply of their armies from the sea as they moved
north. To this end, Cromwell had three citadels built, at Perth,
Leith and Ayr. The citadel at Ayr was completed in 1654 and was
manned by over one thousand troops. The army as a whole maintained
forces of over ten thousand strong throughout the occupation.
Sporadic unrest continued to occur during the period of Cromwellian
occupation, particularly in the Highlands. In 1653, resistance
escalated during what is known as the 'Glencairn Uprising'. Charles
II had set up a court in exile in Holland. As tensions between
England and Holland boiled over into open war, Charles saw an
opportunity to give encouragement to those who may be inclined to
engage in open action against the English occupation. William
Cunningham, the 9th Earl of Glencairn was despatched by the king in
order to take over the leadership of a developing revolt. As with
the later military activities of the Jacobites, the heartland
of the uprising was in the Highlands. But, Glencairn belonged to an
old Lowland, Ayrshire family. Other Ayrshire noblemen felt
sufficiently aggrieved by the Cromwellian occupation to identify
themselves with the mounting resistance. The cause also attracted
members of the old nobility of Galloway. One of these, the 4th
Viscount Kenmure was among the leaders of the uprising. Raids were
made from the security of the far north-west. One of these
penetrated Dumfries and Galloway, reaching as far as Carlisle.
Local uprisings took place across Scotland in an unpredictable
manner which the occupying forces found difficult to contain.
Colonel Robert Lilburne, acting commander in chief of Cromwell's
forces in Scotland at the time, complained to the English
parliament about lack of resources. Many Scots, including those in
the Highlands found it difficult to commit themselves
wholeheartedly to a struggle whose outcome was so uncertain. The
hopes of the Royalists hinged on the direct support of Holland with
a commitment of troops and supplies. This external intervention did
not come about. Although there was widespread discontent with the
regard to the English occupation, attempts by Royalist forces to
secure revenue and commandeer resources from the populace,
alienated an increasing section of Lowland Scotland. The irksome
burden of high taxation under the Cromwellian administration was
offset by the stability and law and order maintained by a large
occupying force. In April 1654, General Monk returned to command in
Scotland after the distraction of the war with Holland. Extra
resources were directed north. By the middle of 1655, the uprising
had petered out. Sympathisers and supporters of the uprising were
penalised in a variety of ways. In Galloway, Viscount Kenmore lost
his ancestral estates while the Earl of Galloway was subject to a
fine. McDowell of French was imprisoned in England.
The Cromwellian administration consolidated itself. Civic
'normallity' was gradually reinstated with local government at
Burgh level re-established and local dispensation of law
reintroduced with appointment of Justices of the Peace. The
Scottish nobility had proved themselves, in the eyes of the
occupying administration, to be dangerous opponents of the
republican Commonwealth. The traditional rights and privileges of
this class were eroded by legislation. Oliver Cromwell died in
1658. His regime was maintained with his son in command but this
government crumbled in the following year. In 1659, General Monk,
the arch-opponent of the Royalist cause in Scotland, marched south
to London in order to recommend the return of Charles II to the
throne of the three kingdoms. On the 14th of May 1660, eight years
after the absorption of Scotland into the republican Commonwealth
had been formally announced, Charles II was proclaimed King at
Edinburgh's Mercat Cross with bells ringing, trumpets playing and
cannons firing.