Scotland's Relations with England

Scotland's Relations with England
Author: William Ferguson
Publisher: The Saltire Society
Total Pages: 334
Release: 1994
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780854110582

Two national identities had established themselves by the end of the 11th century in, respectively, the north and south of Britain. The larger southern nation made several attempts on the independence of the smaller and more dynastically-troubled northern state but, after the time of Edward I of England, Scotland held its own. Then in 1603, with the accession of James VI of Scotland to the English throne, an incorporating union seemed to be in prospect, but more than a century passed before a lasting parliamentary union was achieved amid a flurry of intrigue, corruption and power-broking.

Union and Empire

Union and Empire
Author: Allan I. Macinnes
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 317
Release: 2007-12-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 0521850797

A major interpretation of the 1707 Act of Union and the making of the United Kingdom.

The Cambridge Edition of the Correspondence of Daniel Defoe

The Cambridge Edition of the Correspondence of Daniel Defoe
Author: Daniel Defoe
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 1018
Release: 2022-09-30
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1009301969

This comprehensive and authoritative edition of the correspondence of Daniel Defoe situates each letter in its biographical, literary, and historical contexts. A unique source for a turbulent period of British history, Defoe's correspondence spans topics including the first age of party marked by Tory and Whig rivalry, religious tensions between the Church and Dissenters, the uncertainty of the monarchical succession, the birth of Great Britain and its establishment as a global empire, and the use of the press to mould public opinion. As well as an introduction discussing Defoe's epistolary habits and the distinctive features of his letters, headnotes and annotations explain each document's occasion, beginning in 1703 with Defoe hunted by the government for sedition, and ending in 1730 with him again in hiding, fleeing creditors months before his death. The volume is illustrated with examples of Defoe's letters, offering a fresh window onto Defoe's manuscript habits.

Scottish Parliament under Charles II, 1660-1685

Scottish Parliament under Charles II, 1660-1685
Author: Gillian MacIntosh
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2007-03-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 0748630538

On 14 May 1660, Charles II, restored to the throne of his father, was proclaimed king of Great Britain and Ireland at the market-cross of Edinburgh, bringing to an end over twenty years of internal upheaval. At the subsequent meeting of the Scottish parliament in January 1661, the ascendant royalist administration sought to abolish all constitutional innovations introduced during the revolutionary period in an attempt to secure the royal prerogative and prevent a repeat of rebellion from below. This book traces the background to the restoration of the monarchy in Scotland, explains why the Scottish political elite were so willing to relinquish power back to the king and assesses the impact of the restrictive Restoration constitutional settlement on subsequent parliamentary sessions in the reign of Charles II. It provides for the first time a detailed account of Charles II's Scottish parliament - who attended and why, what they did and parliament's role under an increasingly authoritarian crown. Tracing the path from the widespread popular royalism that marked the beginning of Charles II's reign to the increasing violence and resistance which the attempted reassertion of the royal prerogative provoked, each session of parliament is set within the political and historical context of the time in which it sat, to provide a fresh perspective on a previously neglected area of Scottish history.

A Higher World

A Higher World
Author: Michael Fry
Publisher: Birlinn
Total Pages: 430
Release: 2014-11-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0857908324

This new and compelling history of eighteenth-century Scotland paints a rich and detailed portrait of the country at a time when it was of truly global significance. This journey from the Union of 1707 to its centenary and beyond takes in vivid scenes from all over the country, and ranges up and down the social scale from peeresses to prostitutes, from lairds to lunatics, and covers every major aspect of national life from agriculture to philosophy. Whilst most other Scottish histories published in recent times concentrate on social and economic history, Michael Fry demonstrates that any true understanding of the nation, in the past as in the present, needs to pay at least as much attention to politics and culture. The social and the economic history show us how Scotland was integrated into Britain, whilst the political history and the cultural history show us why the integration was never complete. In this book both sides are surveyed, offering new perspectives on Scotland's experience within the Union.

England's Insular Imagining

England's Insular Imagining
Author: Lorna Hutson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2023-09-30
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1009253557

England's Insular Imagining is vital reading for anyone interested in British nationhood. It shows how the English used Geoffrey of Monmouth's mythical 'British History' (1137) first to justify an attempted Scottish conquest, then to make Scotland's nationhood vanish in new literary, legal and cartographic figurations of English sea-sovereignty.