Scottish Civil War
Encyclopedia
Between 1644 and 1651 Scotland
was involved the Wars of the Three Kingdoms
during a period when a series of civil war
s that were fought in Scotland, England (English Civil War
) and in Ireland (Irish Confederate Wars
). These civil wars followed other related conflicts: the Bishops Wars (between Scotland and England) and the Irish Rebellion of 1641
.
In Scotland itself, from 1644–45 a Scottish civil war was fought between Scottish Royalists
—supporters of Charles I
—under James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose
, and the Covenanters, who had controlled Scotland
since 1639 and allied with the English Parliament. The Scottish Royalists, aided by Irish troops, had a rapid series of victories in 1644–45, but were eventually defeated by the Covenanters.
However, the Covenanters then found themselves at odds with the English Parliament and backed the claims of Charles II
to the thrones of England and Scotland. This led to the Third English Civil War, when Scotland was invaded and occupied by the Parliamentarian New Model Army
under Oliver Cromwell
.
had helped to spark this series of civil wars in 1638, when it had risen in revolt against Charles I's religious policies. The National Covenant of Scotland was formulated to resist the King's innovations, particularly the Prayer Book. In practice, the Covenant also expressed a wider Scottish dissatisfaction with Charles's policies, especially the sidelining of Scotland since the Stuart Kings had also become monarchs of England
in 1603. The Covenanters raised a large army from the dependants of their landed class and successfully resisted Charles I's attempt to impose his will on Scotland in the so called Bishops Wars.
The Scottish uprising triggered civil war in Charles' other two Kingdoms, first in Ireland, then in England. Charles and his minister Thomas Wentworth
were unable to persuade the English Parliament, which itself was unhappy with Charles's civil and religious policies, to pay for an army to put down the Scots. As a result, they had proposed raising an army from Irish Catholics, in return for abolishing discriminatory laws against them. This prospect alarmed Charles' enemies in England and Scotland and the Covenanters threatened to invade Ireland. In response a group of Irish conspirators launched the Irish Rebellion of 1641
, which quickly degenerated into a series of massacres of English and Scottish Protestant settlers in Ireland.
This in turn sparked civil war in England, because the Long Parliament
did not trust Charles with command of an army to put down the Irish rebellion, fearing that it would also be used against them. The English Civil War
broke out in 1642.
The Scottish Covenanters sent an army to Ulster
in Ireland
in 1642 to protect the Scottish settlers there. In 1644, following the signing of a treaty — The Solemn League and Covenant — with the English Parliament, the bulk of the Covenanters armed forces were sent south to fight on the Parliamentarian
side in the English Civil War.
and north-east of Scotland. There were several factors that inclined people towards Royalism. Among them were religion, culture, clan politics and political allegiance.
The Covenanters were committed to establishing Presbyterianism
as the national religion of Scotland, but many people in the northern and Highlands regions were Protestant Episcopalian
, or Catholic
, or Roman Catholics.
Furthermore, the Highlands
was a distinct cultural, political and economic region of Scotland. It was Gaelic
in language and customs and at this time was largely outside of the control of the Scottish government. Some Highland clans preferred the more distant authority of Protestant Charles Stuart to the powerful and well organised Lowlands
based government of the Covenanters.
However, the largest Highland clan, the Campbell
s, led by their chief, Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll
, did side with the Covenanters. This meant that the Protestant Campbells' rivals in the violent world of clan politics, notably the MacDonalds
, automatically took the opposing side. It should be said that some of these factors overlap: for instance the MacDonalds were Catholics, were sworn enemies of the Campbells, and had a strong Gaelic
(Irish as well as Highland) identity.
Finally, there were those like James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose
, who were both Lowlanders and Presbyterians but who saw allegiance to the King as more important than any other religious or political principle.
uprising by 1644, when he was presented with a ready made Royalist army. The Irish Confederates
, who were loosely aligned with the Royalists, agreed in that year to send an expedition to Scotland. From their point of view, this would tie up Scottish Covenanter troops who would otherwise be used in Ireland or England. The Irish sent 1500 men to Scotland under the command of Alasdair MacColla
MacDonald, a MacDonald clansman from the Western Isles of Scotland. They included Manus O'Cahan
(an Irish cousin to MacColla) and his 500 man regiment. Shortly after landing, the Irish linked up with Montrose at Blair Atholl
and proceeded to raise forces from the MacDonalds and other anti-Campbell Highland clans.
The new Royalist army led by Montrose and MacColla was in some respects very formidable. Its Irish and Highland troops were extremely mobile, marching quickly over long distances - even over the rugged Highland terrain — and were capable of enduring very harsh conditions and poor rations. They did not fight in the conventional pike
and musket
formations used by most armies at the time, but launched rapid charges, firing their muskets at close range before closing with swords and half-pikes. This tactic swept away the poorly trained Covenanter militias that were sent against them. These locally raised levies frequently ran away when faced with a terrifying Highland charge
, and were slaughtered as they ran.
On the other hand, the clans from the west of Scotland could not be persuaded to fight for long away from their homes — seeing their principal enemy as the Campbells rather than the Covenanters. The Royalists also lacked cavalry
, leaving them vulnerable in open country. Finally, although they won a string of victories, the Scottish Royalists were unable to hold territory after they had taken it, retreating again and again to the safety of the Highlands.
In the Autumn of 1644, the Royalists marched across the Highlands to Perth
, where they smashed a Covenanter force at the battle of Tippermuir
. Shortly afterwards, another Covenanter militia met a similar fate outside Aberdeen
. Unwisely, Montrose let his men pillage Perth and Aberdeen after taking them, leading to hostility to his forces in an area where Royalist sympathies had been strong.
Following these victories, MacColla insisted on pursuing the MacDonald's war against the Campbells in Argyll
in western Scotland. In December 1644, the Royalists rampaged through the Campbells' country, killing around 900 civilian men of military age and burning their homesteads.
In response to the attack on his clansmen, Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll
assembled the Campbell clansmen to repel the invaders. In February 1645, the Campbells met the Royalist and Highland force at the battle of Inverlochy
, close to Ben Nevis
in Lochaber
. The Campbells were crushed, taking heavy casualties.
Montrose's troops, in particular the Clan Donald
clansmen and Irish Confederates, gained a very bad reputation among the general Scottish population. They committed a series of atrocities against enemy civilians, especially when campaigning in the Campbell territory of Argyll.
, who provided the Royalists with cavalry
for the first time.
Inverlochy was an important strategic victory for the Royalists, because the Scottish Covenanter army in England was ordered to send proportion of their force north to help bolster the Covenanter forces in Scotland. This significantly weakened the Scottish army in England and it was only the lack of Royalist infantry and artillery in the north of England that prevented Prince Rupert from attacking them. In April 1645, to hinder the northwards movement of English Royalist field artillery Oliver Cromwell
lead a cavalry raid into the English Midlands. The raid was the first active operation carried out by the newly formed New Model Army
.
Another Covenanter army under John Urry
was hastily assembled and sent against the Royalists but was defeated at Auldearn
, near Nairn
. Yet another Covenanter levy was crushed by Montrose's men at Alford
, and another at Kilsyth
when it tried to block the victorious Royalists' advance into the Lowlands. This string of battles showed the dangers of sending half-trained, or even untrained, troops into battle and resulted in giving Montrose temporary control over almost all of Scotland. In late 1645, such prominent towns as Dundee
and Glasgow
fell to his forces.
However, whereas Montrose wanted to further Royalist objectives by raising troops in the south east of Scotland and marching on England, MacColla showed that his priorities lay with war of the MacDonalds against the Campbells and occupied Argyll. The Gordons also returned home, to defend their own lands in the north-east. Montrose, his forces having split up, was routed by the Covenanters at the battle of Philiphaugh
. MacColla retreated to Kintyre
, where he held out until the following year.
The Royalist victories in Scotland therefore evaporated almost overnight owing to the disunited nature of their forces.
had ended in May 1646, when Charles I
surrendered to the Scottish Covenanter army in England. After failing to persuade the King to take the Covenant, the Scots finally handed him over to the commissioners of Parliament in early 1647. At the same time they received part payment for the service of their army in England, which then returned north. In 1646, Montrose left for Norway
, while MacColla returned to Ireland with his remaining Irish and Highland troops to re-join the Confederates
. Those who had fought for Montrose, particularly the Irish, were massacred by the Covenanters whenever they were captured, in reprisal for the atrocities the Royalists had committed in Argyll.
s defeated the Royalist
s at home than they were negotiating with Charles I against the English Parliament. The Covenanters could not get their erstwhile allies to agree on a political and religious settlement to the wars, failing to get Presbyterianism
established as the official religion in the Three Kingdoms and fearing that the Parliamentarians
would threaten Scottish independence. Many Covenanters feared that under Parliament, "our poor country should be made a province of England." A faction of the Covenanters known as the Engagers
, led by the Duke of Hamilton
, therefore sent an army to England to try to restore Charles I in 1648. However it was routed by Oliver Cromwell
's New Model Army
at the Battle of Preston
. This intervention on behalf of the King caused a brief civil war within the Covenanting movement. The most hardline Presbyterians under the Earl of Argyll rebelled against the main Scottish army under David Leslie. The two factions came to blows at the Battle of Stirling
in September 1648, before a peace was hastily negotiated.
Charles was executed by the Rump Parliament
in 1649, and Hamilton, who had been captured after Preston, was executed soon after. This left the extreme covenanters, still led by Argyll, as the main force in the Kingdom.
In June 1649, Montrose
was restored by the exiled Charles II
to the now nominal lieutenancy of Scotland. Charles also opened negotiations with the Covenanters, now dominated by the radical Presbyterian "Kirk Party
" or "Whigs
". Because Montrose had very little support in the lowlands, Charles was willing to disavow his most consistent supporter in order to become a king on terms dictated by the Covenanters. In March 1650 Montrose landed in Orkney to take the command of a small force, composed mainly of continental mercenaries, which he had sent on before him. Crossing to the mainland, Montrose tried in vain to raise the clans, and on 27 April he was surprised and routed at the Battle of Carbisdale
in Ross-shire. After wandering for some time he was surrendered by Neil Macleod of Assynt, to whose protection, in ignorance of Macleod's political enmity, he had entrusted himself. He was brought a prisoner to Edinburgh
, and on 20 May sentenced to death by the Parliament. He was hanged
on the 21st, with Wishart's laudatory biography of him put round his neck. To the last he protested that he was a real Covenanter and a loyal subject.
with him in the hope of securing an independent Presbyterian Scotland free of English Parliamentary interference. Charles landed in Scotland at Garmouth in Moray
on June 23, 1650 and signed the 1638 Covenant and the 1643 Solemn League immediately after coming ashore.
The threat posed by King Charles II with his new Covenanter allies was considered to be the greatest facing the new English Republic so Oliver Cromwell
left some of his lieutenants in Ireland to continue the suppression of the Irish Royalists
and returned to England in May. He arrived in Scotland on July 22 1650, advancing along the east coast towards Edinburgh. By the end of August, his army was reduced by disease and running out of supplies, so he was forced to order a retreat towards his base at the port of Dunbar. A Scottish Covenanter army under the command of David Leslie had been shadowing his progress. Seeing some of Cromwell's sick troops being taken on board the waiting ships, Leslie made ready to attack what he believed was a weakened remnant (though some historians report that he was ordered to fight against his better judgment by the Covenanter General Assembly). Cromwell seized the opportunity, and the New Model Army
inflicted a crushing defeat on the Scots at the subsequent Battle of Dunbar
on September 3. Leslie's army, which had strong ideological ties to the radical Kirk Party
, was destroyed, losing over 14,000 men killed, wounded and taken prisoner. Cromwell's army then took Edinburgh
and by the end of the year his army had occupied much of southern Scotland.
This military disaster discredited the radical Covenanters known as the Kirk Party
and caused the Covenanters and Scottish Royalists to bury their differences (at least temporarily) to try and repel the English parliamentarian invasion of Scotland. The Scottish Parliament passed the Act of Levy in December 1650, requiring every burgh and shire to raise a quota of soldiers. A new round of conscription was undertaken, both in the Highlands and the Lowlands, to form a truly national army named the Army of the Kingdom, that was put under the command of Charles II himself. Although this was actually the largest force put into the field by the Scots during the Wars, it was badly trained and its morale was low as many of its constituent Royalist and Covenanter parts had until recently been killing each other.
In July 1651, under the command of General John Lambert, part of Cromwell's force crossed the Firth of Forth
into Fife
and defeated the Scots at the Battle of Inverkeithing
. The New Model Army advanced towards the royal base at Perth
. In danger of being outflanked, Charles ordered his army south into England in a desperate last ditch attempt to evade Cromwell and spark a Royalist uprising there. Cromwell followed Charles into England leaving George Monck to finish the campaign in Scotland. Meanwhile, Monck took Stirling
on the August 14 and Dundee
on September 1, reportedly killing up to 2,000 of its 12,000 population and destroying every ship in the city's harbour, 60 in total.
The Scottish Army of the Kingdom marched towards the west of England because it was in that area that English Royalist sympathies were strongest. However, although some English Royalists joined the army, they came in far fewer numbers than Charles and his Scottish supporters had hoped. Cromwell finally engaged the new king at Worcester
on September 3, 1651, and beat him — in the process all but wiping out his army, killing 3,000 and taking 10,000 more prisoners. Many of the Scottish prisoners taken by Cromwell were sold into indentured labour in the West Indies, Virginia and Berwick, Maine. This defeat marked the real end of the Scottish war effort. Charles escaped to the European continent and with his flight the Covenanters' hopes for political independence from the Commonwealth of England
were dashed.
Between 1651 and 1654 a royalist rising took place in Scotland. Dunnottar Castle
was the last stronghold to fall to the English Parliament's troops in May 1652. Under the terms of the Tender of Union
, the Scots were given 30 seats in a united Parliament in London, with General Monck appointed as the military governor of Scotland. During the Interregnum, Scotland
was kept under the military occupation of an English army under George Monck. Sporadic Royalist rebellions continued throughout the Commonwealth period in Scotland, particularly in western Highlands, where Alasdair MacColla
had raised his forces in the 1640s. The north west Highlands was the scene of another pro-royalist uprising in 1653-55, which was only put down with deployment of 6,000 English troops there. Monck garrisoned forts all over the Highlands — for example at Inverness
, and finally put an end to Royalist resistance when he began deporting prisoners to the West Indies as indentured labourers. However, lawlessness remained a problem, with bandits known as mosstroopers, very often former Royalist or Covenanter soldiers, plundering both the English troops and the civilian population.
After the death of Oliver Cromwell in 1658, the factions and divisions which had struggled for supremacy during the early years of the interregnum reemerged. Monck, who had served Cromwell and the English Parliament throughout the civil wars, judged that his best interests and those of his country lay in the Restoration of Charles II. In 1660, he marched his troops south from Scotland to ensure the monarchy's reinstatement. Scotland's Parliament and legislative autonomy were restored under The Restoration
though many issues that had led to the wars; religion, Scotland's form of government and the status of the Highlands, remained unresolved. After the Glorious Revolution
of 1688, many more Scots would die over the same disputes in Jacobite rebellions.
in Scotland between 1645 and 1649, a disease that was partly spread by the movement of armies throughout the country. If we also take into account the thousands of Scottish troops who died in the civil wars in England
and Ireland
(another 20,000 soldiers at least), the Wars of the Three Kingdoms
certainly represents one of the bloodiest episodes in Scottish history.
Kingdom of Scotland
The Kingdom of Scotland was a Sovereign state in North-West Europe that existed from 843 until 1707. It occupied the northern third of the island of Great Britain and shared a land border to the south with the Kingdom of England...
was involved the Wars of the Three Kingdoms
Wars of the Three Kingdoms
The Wars of the Three Kingdoms formed an intertwined series of conflicts that took place in England, Ireland, and Scotland between 1639 and 1651 after these three countries had come under the "Personal Rule" of the same monarch...
during a period when a series of civil war
Civil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
s that were fought in Scotland, England (English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
) and in Ireland (Irish Confederate Wars
Irish Confederate Wars
This article is concerned with the military history of Ireland from 1641-53. For the political context of this conflict, see Confederate Ireland....
). These civil wars followed other related conflicts: the Bishops Wars (between Scotland and England) and the Irish Rebellion of 1641
Irish Rebellion of 1641
The Irish Rebellion of 1641 began as an attempted coup d'état by Irish Catholic gentry, who tried to seize control of the English administration in Ireland to force concessions for the Catholics living under English rule...
.
In Scotland itself, from 1644–45 a Scottish civil war was fought between Scottish Royalists
Cavalier
Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...
—supporters of Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
—under James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose
James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose
James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose was a Scottish nobleman and soldier, who initially joined the Covenanters in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, but subsequently supported King Charles I as the English Civil War developed...
, and the Covenanters, who had controlled Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
since 1639 and allied with the English Parliament. The Scottish Royalists, aided by Irish troops, had a rapid series of victories in 1644–45, but were eventually defeated by the Covenanters.
However, the Covenanters then found themselves at odds with the English Parliament and backed the claims of Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
to the thrones of England and Scotland. This led to the Third English Civil War, when Scotland was invaded and occupied by the Parliamentarian New Model Army
New Model Army
The New Model Army of England was formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War, and was disbanded in 1660 after the Restoration...
under Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
.
Origins of the war — wars in three kingdoms
ScotlandScotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
had helped to spark this series of civil wars in 1638, when it had risen in revolt against Charles I's religious policies. The National Covenant of Scotland was formulated to resist the King's innovations, particularly the Prayer Book. In practice, the Covenant also expressed a wider Scottish dissatisfaction with Charles's policies, especially the sidelining of Scotland since the Stuart Kings had also become monarchs of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1603. The Covenanters raised a large army from the dependants of their landed class and successfully resisted Charles I's attempt to impose his will on Scotland in the so called Bishops Wars.
The Scottish uprising triggered civil war in Charles' other two Kingdoms, first in Ireland, then in England. Charles and his minister Thomas Wentworth
Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford
Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford was an English statesman and a major figure in the period leading up to the English Civil War. He served in Parliament and was a supporter of King Charles I. From 1632 to 1639 he instituted a harsh rule as Lord Deputy of Ireland...
were unable to persuade the English Parliament, which itself was unhappy with Charles's civil and religious policies, to pay for an army to put down the Scots. As a result, they had proposed raising an army from Irish Catholics, in return for abolishing discriminatory laws against them. This prospect alarmed Charles' enemies in England and Scotland and the Covenanters threatened to invade Ireland. In response a group of Irish conspirators launched the Irish Rebellion of 1641
Irish Rebellion of 1641
The Irish Rebellion of 1641 began as an attempted coup d'état by Irish Catholic gentry, who tried to seize control of the English administration in Ireland to force concessions for the Catholics living under English rule...
, which quickly degenerated into a series of massacres of English and Scottish Protestant settlers in Ireland.
This in turn sparked civil war in England, because the Long Parliament
Long Parliament
The Long Parliament was made on 3 November 1640, following the Bishops' Wars. It received its name from the fact that through an Act of Parliament, it could only be dissolved with the agreement of the members, and those members did not agree to its dissolution until after the English Civil War and...
did not trust Charles with command of an army to put down the Irish rebellion, fearing that it would also be used against them. The English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
broke out in 1642.
The Scottish Covenanters sent an army to Ulster
Ulster
Ulster is one of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island. In ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial...
in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
in 1642 to protect the Scottish settlers there. In 1644, following the signing of a treaty — The Solemn League and Covenant — with the English Parliament, the bulk of the Covenanters armed forces were sent south to fight on the Parliamentarian
Parliament of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. In 1066, William of Normandy introduced a feudal system, by which he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws...
side in the English Civil War.
Scottish Royalists
However, some in Scotland continued to side with the King. These were most prominent in the HighlandsScottish Highlands
The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...
and north-east of Scotland. There were several factors that inclined people towards Royalism. Among them were religion, culture, clan politics and political allegiance.
The Covenanters were committed to establishing Presbyterianism
Presbyterianism
Presbyterianism refers to a number of Christian churches adhering to the Calvinist theological tradition within Protestantism, which are organized according to a characteristic Presbyterian polity. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures,...
as the national religion of Scotland, but many people in the northern and Highlands regions were Protestant Episcopalian
Scottish Episcopal Church
The Scottish Episcopal Church is a Christian church in Scotland, consisting of seven dioceses. Since the 17th century, it has had an identity distinct from the presbyterian Church of Scotland....
, or Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
, or Roman Catholics.
Furthermore, the Highlands
Gàidhealtachd
The Gàidhealtachd , sometimes known as A' Ghàidhealtachd , usually refers to the Scottish highlands and islands, and especially the Scottish Gaelic culture of the area. The corresponding Irish word Gaeltacht however refers strictly to an Irish speaking area...
was a distinct cultural, political and economic region of Scotland. It was Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic language
Scottish Gaelic is a Celtic language native to Scotland. A member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages, Scottish Gaelic, like Modern Irish and Manx, developed out of Middle Irish, and thus descends ultimately from Primitive Irish....
in language and customs and at this time was largely outside of the control of the Scottish government. Some Highland clans preferred the more distant authority of Protestant Charles Stuart to the powerful and well organised Lowlands
Scottish Lowlands
The Scottish Lowlands is a name given to the Southern half of Scotland.The area is called a' Ghalldachd in Scottish Gaelic, and the Lawlands ....
based government of the Covenanters.
However, the largest Highland clan, the Campbell
Campbell
-Places:In Australia:* Campbell, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra, AustraliaIn Canada:* Campbell, Nova Scotia, on Cape Breton Island Nova Scotia* Campbell Road, Edmonton, AlbertaIn New Zealand:...
s, led by their chief, Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll
Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll
Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll, 8th Earl of Argyll, chief of Clan Campbell, was the de facto head of government in Scotland during most of the conflict known as the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, also known as the British Civil War...
, did side with the Covenanters. This meant that the Protestant Campbells' rivals in the violent world of clan politics, notably the MacDonalds
Clan Donald
Clan Donald is one of the largest Scottish clans. There are numerous branches to the clan. Several of these have chiefs recognised by the Lord Lyon King of Arms; these are: Clan Macdonald of Sleat, Clan Macdonald of Clanranald, Clan MacDonell of Glengarry, Clan MacDonald of Keppoch, and Clan...
, automatically took the opposing side. It should be said that some of these factors overlap: for instance the MacDonalds were Catholics, were sworn enemies of the Campbells, and had a strong Gaelic
Gaels
The Gaels or Goidels are speakers of one of the Goidelic Celtic languages: Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx. Goidelic speech originated in Ireland and subsequently spread to western and northern Scotland and the Isle of Man....
(Irish as well as Highland) identity.
Finally, there were those like James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose
James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose
James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose was a Scottish nobleman and soldier, who initially joined the Covenanters in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, but subsequently supported King Charles I as the English Civil War developed...
, who were both Lowlanders and Presbyterians but who saw allegiance to the King as more important than any other religious or political principle.
The Irish intervention
Montrose had already tried and failed to lead a RoyalistCavalier
Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...
uprising by 1644, when he was presented with a ready made Royalist army. The Irish Confederates
Confederate Ireland
Confederate Ireland refers to the period of Irish self-government between the Rebellion of 1641 and the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in 1649. During this time, two-thirds of Ireland was governed by the Irish Catholic Confederation, also known as the "Confederation of Kilkenny"...
, who were loosely aligned with the Royalists, agreed in that year to send an expedition to Scotland. From their point of view, this would tie up Scottish Covenanter troops who would otherwise be used in Ireland or England. The Irish sent 1500 men to Scotland under the command of Alasdair MacColla
Alasdair MacColla
Alasdair Mac Colla was a Scottish soldier. His full name in Scottish Gaelic was Alasdair Mac Colla Chiotaich Mac Domhnuill . He is sometimes mistakenly referred to in English as "Collkitto", a nickname that properly belongs to his father. He fought in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, most notably...
MacDonald, a MacDonald clansman from the Western Isles of Scotland. They included Manus O'Cahan
Manus O'Cahan's Regiment (English Civil War)
Manus O'Cahan's Regiment of Foot was a Scots Irish regiment which served during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms in the mid-1640s.- History :Manus O’Cahan’s Regiment of Foot was a body of Scots-Irish soldiers, many of who had fought in Europe in the early years of the Thirty Years War. Some...
(an Irish cousin to MacColla) and his 500 man regiment. Shortly after landing, the Irish linked up with Montrose at Blair Atholl
Blair Atholl
Blair Atholl is a small town in Perthshire, Scotland, built about the confluence of the Rivers Tilt and Garry in one of the few areas of flat land in the midst of the Grampian Mountains. The Gaelic place-name Blair, from blàr, 'field, plain', refers to this location...
and proceeded to raise forces from the MacDonalds and other anti-Campbell Highland clans.
The new Royalist army led by Montrose and MacColla was in some respects very formidable. Its Irish and Highland troops were extremely mobile, marching quickly over long distances - even over the rugged Highland terrain — and were capable of enduring very harsh conditions and poor rations. They did not fight in the conventional pike
Pike (weapon)
A pike is a pole weapon, a very long thrusting spear used extensively by infantry both for attacks on enemy foot soldiers and as a counter-measure against cavalry assaults. Unlike many similar weapons, the pike is not intended to be thrown. Pikes were used regularly in European warfare from the...
and musket
Musket
A musket is a muzzle-loaded, smooth bore long gun, fired from the shoulder. Muskets were designed for use by infantry. A soldier armed with a musket had the designation musketman or musketeer....
formations used by most armies at the time, but launched rapid charges, firing their muskets at close range before closing with swords and half-pikes. This tactic swept away the poorly trained Covenanter militias that were sent against them. These locally raised levies frequently ran away when faced with a terrifying Highland charge
Highland charge
The Highland charge was a battlefield shock tactic used by the clans of the Scottish Highlands which incorporated the use of firearms.-Historical Development :...
, and were slaughtered as they ran.
On the other hand, the clans from the west of Scotland could not be persuaded to fight for long away from their homes — seeing their principal enemy as the Campbells rather than the Covenanters. The Royalists also lacked cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
, leaving them vulnerable in open country. Finally, although they won a string of victories, the Scottish Royalists were unable to hold territory after they had taken it, retreating again and again to the safety of the Highlands.
Tippermuir, Aberdeen and Inverlochy
Perth, Scotland
Perth is a town and former city and royal burgh in central Scotland. Located on the banks of the River Tay, it is the administrative centre of Perth and Kinross council area and the historic county town of Perthshire...
, where they smashed a Covenanter force at the battle of Tippermuir
Battle of Tippermuir
The Battle of Tippermuir was the first battle James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose fought for the king during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms....
. Shortly afterwards, another Covenanter militia met a similar fate outside Aberdeen
Battle of Aberdeen
The Battle of Aberdeen was an engagement in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms which took place between Royalist and Covenanter forces outside the city of Aberdeen on 13 September 1644....
. Unwisely, Montrose let his men pillage Perth and Aberdeen after taking them, leading to hostility to his forces in an area where Royalist sympathies had been strong.
Following these victories, MacColla insisted on pursuing the MacDonald's war against the Campbells in Argyll
Argyll
Argyll , archaically Argyle , is a region of western Scotland corresponding with most of the part of ancient Dál Riata that was located on the island of Great Britain, and in a historical context can be used to mean the entire western coast between the Mull of Kintyre and Cape Wrath...
in western Scotland. In December 1644, the Royalists rampaged through the Campbells' country, killing around 900 civilian men of military age and burning their homesteads.
In response to the attack on his clansmen, Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll
Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll
Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll, 8th Earl of Argyll, chief of Clan Campbell, was the de facto head of government in Scotland during most of the conflict known as the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, also known as the British Civil War...
assembled the Campbell clansmen to repel the invaders. In February 1645, the Campbells met the Royalist and Highland force at the battle of Inverlochy
Battle of Inverlochy (1645)
The Battle of Inverlochy was a battle of the Scottish Civil War in which Montrose routed the pursuing forces of the Marquess of Argyll....
, close to Ben Nevis
Ben Nevis
Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in the British Isles. It is located at the western end of the Grampian Mountains in the Lochaber area of the Scottish Highlands, close to the town of Fort William....
in Lochaber
Lochaber
District of Lochaber 1975 to 1996Highland council area shown as one of the council areas of ScotlandLochaber is one of the 16 ward management areas of the Highland Council of Scotland and one of eight former local government districts of the two-tier Highland region...
. The Campbells were crushed, taking heavy casualties.
Montrose's troops, in particular the Clan Donald
Clan Donald
Clan Donald is one of the largest Scottish clans. There are numerous branches to the clan. Several of these have chiefs recognised by the Lord Lyon King of Arms; these are: Clan Macdonald of Sleat, Clan Macdonald of Clanranald, Clan MacDonell of Glengarry, Clan MacDonald of Keppoch, and Clan...
clansmen and Irish Confederates, gained a very bad reputation among the general Scottish population. They committed a series of atrocities against enemy civilians, especially when campaigning in the Campbell territory of Argyll.
Triumph and disaster for the Royalists
Their victory at Inverlochy gave the Royalists control over the western Highlands and attracted other clans and noblemen to their cause. The most important of these were the GordonsLewis Gordon, 3rd Marquess of Huntly
Lewis Gordon, 3rd Marquess of Huntly was a Scottish nobleman.He was the third son of George Gordon, 2nd Marquess of Huntly.-Biography:...
, who provided the Royalists with cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
for the first time.
Inverlochy was an important strategic victory for the Royalists, because the Scottish Covenanter army in England was ordered to send proportion of their force north to help bolster the Covenanter forces in Scotland. This significantly weakened the Scottish army in England and it was only the lack of Royalist infantry and artillery in the north of England that prevented Prince Rupert from attacking them. In April 1645, to hinder the northwards movement of English Royalist field artillery Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
lead a cavalry raid into the English Midlands. The raid was the first active operation carried out by the newly formed New Model Army
New Model Army
The New Model Army of England was formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War, and was disbanded in 1660 after the Restoration...
.
Another Covenanter army under John Urry
John Hurry
Sir John Hurry was a Scottish soldier.He was born in Aberdeenshire, and saw military service as a young man in Germany.In 1641 he returned home and became Lieutenant-Colonel in a Scottish regiment. At the end of the same year he was involved in the plot known as the "Incident"...
was hastily assembled and sent against the Royalists but was defeated at Auldearn
Battle of Auldearn
The Battle of Auldearn was an engagement of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It took place on 9 May 1645, in and around the village of Auldearn in Nairn. It resulted in a victory for the royalists led by the Earl of Montrose and Alasdair MacColla over a Covenanter army under the command of Sir John...
, near Nairn
Nairn
Nairn is a town and former burgh in the Highland council area of Scotland. It is an ancient fishing port and market town around east of Inverness...
. Yet another Covenanter levy was crushed by Montrose's men at Alford
Battle of Alford
The Battle of Alford was an engagement of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, which took place near the village of Alford, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, on 2 July 1645....
, and another at Kilsyth
Battle of Kilsyth
The Battle of Kilsyth was an engagement of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms which took place on 15 August 1645 at Kilsyth. Despite the numerical disadvantage, the battle was another victory for Royalist forces over the Covenanters, and marked the end of William Baillie's pursuit of the...
when it tried to block the victorious Royalists' advance into the Lowlands. This string of battles showed the dangers of sending half-trained, or even untrained, troops into battle and resulted in giving Montrose temporary control over almost all of Scotland. In late 1645, such prominent towns as Dundee
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
and Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
fell to his forces.
However, whereas Montrose wanted to further Royalist objectives by raising troops in the south east of Scotland and marching on England, MacColla showed that his priorities lay with war of the MacDonalds against the Campbells and occupied Argyll. The Gordons also returned home, to defend their own lands in the north-east. Montrose, his forces having split up, was routed by the Covenanters at the battle of Philiphaugh
Battle of Philiphaugh
The Battle of Philiphaugh was fought on 13 September 1645 during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms near Selkirk in the Scottish Borders. The Royalist army of the Marquess of Montrose was destroyed by the Covenanter army of Sir David Leslie, restoring the power of the Committee of Estates.-Prelude:When...
. MacColla retreated to Kintyre
Kintyre
Kintyre is a peninsula in western Scotland, in the southwest of Argyll and Bute. The region stretches approximately 30 miles , from the Mull of Kintyre in the south, to East Loch Tarbert in the north...
, where he held out until the following year.
The Royalist victories in Scotland therefore evaporated almost overnight owing to the disunited nature of their forces.
The end of the civil war in Scotland
The first English Civil WarEnglish Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
had ended in May 1646, when Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
surrendered to the Scottish Covenanter army in England. After failing to persuade the King to take the Covenant, the Scots finally handed him over to the commissioners of Parliament in early 1647. At the same time they received part payment for the service of their army in England, which then returned north. In 1646, Montrose left for Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, while MacColla returned to Ireland with his remaining Irish and Highland troops to re-join the Confederates
Confederate Ireland
Confederate Ireland refers to the period of Irish self-government between the Rebellion of 1641 and the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in 1649. During this time, two-thirds of Ireland was governed by the Irish Catholic Confederation, also known as the "Confederation of Kilkenny"...
. Those who had fought for Montrose, particularly the Irish, were massacred by the Covenanters whenever they were captured, in reprisal for the atrocities the Royalists had committed in Argyll.
Scotland and the Second and Third English Civil Wars
Second Civil War
Ironically, no sooner had the CovenanterCovenanter
The Covenanters were a Scottish Presbyterian movement that played an important part in the history of Scotland, and to a lesser extent in that of England and Ireland, during the 17th century...
s defeated the Royalist
Cavalier
Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...
s at home than they were negotiating with Charles I against the English Parliament. The Covenanters could not get their erstwhile allies to agree on a political and religious settlement to the wars, failing to get Presbyterianism
Presbyterianism
Presbyterianism refers to a number of Christian churches adhering to the Calvinist theological tradition within Protestantism, which are organized according to a characteristic Presbyterian polity. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures,...
established as the official religion in the Three Kingdoms and fearing that the Parliamentarians
Roundhead
"Roundhead" was the nickname given to the supporters of the Parliament during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I and his supporters, the Cavaliers , who claimed absolute power and the divine right of kings...
would threaten Scottish independence. Many Covenanters feared that under Parliament, "our poor country should be made a province of England." A faction of the Covenanters known as the Engagers
Engagers
The Engagers were a faction of the Scottish Covenanters, who made "The Engagement" with King Charles I in December 1647 while he was imprisoned in Carisbrooke Castle by the English Parliamenterians after his defeat in the First Civil War....
, led by the Duke of Hamilton
James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton
General Sir James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton KG was a Scottish nobleman and influential Civil war military leader.-Young Arran:...
, therefore sent an army to England to try to restore Charles I in 1648. However it was routed by Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
's New Model Army
New Model Army
The New Model Army of England was formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War, and was disbanded in 1660 after the Restoration...
at the Battle of Preston
Battle of Preston (1648)
The Battle of Preston , fought largely at Walton-le-Dale near Preston in Lancashire, resulted in a victory by the troops of Oliver Cromwell over the Royalists and Scots commanded by the Duke of Hamilton...
. This intervention on behalf of the King caused a brief civil war within the Covenanting movement. The most hardline Presbyterians under the Earl of Argyll rebelled against the main Scottish army under David Leslie. The two factions came to blows at the Battle of Stirling
Battle of Stirling (1648)
The second Battle of Stirling was fought on the 12 September 1648 during the Scottish Civil War of the 17th century.-Background:The Battle of Stirling in 1648 was part of the War of the Three Kingdoms. By this time, the Presbyterian Covenanter movement had defeated the Scottish Royalists, who...
in September 1648, before a peace was hastily negotiated.
Charles was executed by the Rump Parliament
Rump Parliament
The Rump Parliament is the name of the English Parliament after Colonel Pride purged the Long Parliament on 6 December 1648 of those members hostile to the Grandees' intention to try King Charles I for high treason....
in 1649, and Hamilton, who had been captured after Preston, was executed soon after. This left the extreme covenanters, still led by Argyll, as the main force in the Kingdom.
Montrose's defeat and death
James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose
James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose was a Scottish nobleman and soldier, who initially joined the Covenanters in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, but subsequently supported King Charles I as the English Civil War developed...
was restored by the exiled Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
to the now nominal lieutenancy of Scotland. Charles also opened negotiations with the Covenanters, now dominated by the radical Presbyterian "Kirk Party
Kirk Party
The Kirk Party were a radical Presbyterian faction of the Scottish Covenanters during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. They came to the fore after the defeat of the Engagers faction in 1648 at the hands of Oliver Cromwell and the English Parliament...
" or "Whigs
British Whig Party
The Whigs were a party in the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain, and Parliament of the United Kingdom, who contested power with the rival Tories from the 1680s to the 1850s. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule...
". Because Montrose had very little support in the lowlands, Charles was willing to disavow his most consistent supporter in order to become a king on terms dictated by the Covenanters. In March 1650 Montrose landed in Orkney to take the command of a small force, composed mainly of continental mercenaries, which he had sent on before him. Crossing to the mainland, Montrose tried in vain to raise the clans, and on 27 April he was surprised and routed at the Battle of Carbisdale
Battle of Carbisdale
The Battle of Carbisdale took place close to the Village of Culrain on 27 April 1650 and was part of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
in Ross-shire. After wandering for some time he was surrendered by Neil Macleod of Assynt, to whose protection, in ignorance of Macleod's political enmity, he had entrusted himself. He was brought a prisoner to Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, and on 20 May sentenced to death by the Parliament. He was hanged
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
on the 21st, with Wishart's laudatory biography of him put round his neck. To the last he protested that he was a real Covenanter and a loyal subject.
Third Civil War
In spite of their conflict with the Scottish Royalists, the Covenanters then committed themselves to the cause of Charles II, signing the Treaty of Breda (1650)Treaty of Breda (1650)
The Treaty of Breda was signed on 1 May 1650 between Charles II and the Scottish Covenanters during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.-Background:...
with him in the hope of securing an independent Presbyterian Scotland free of English Parliamentary interference. Charles landed in Scotland at Garmouth in Moray
Moray
Moray is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland.- History :...
on June 23, 1650 and signed the 1638 Covenant and the 1643 Solemn League immediately after coming ashore.
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
left some of his lieutenants in Ireland to continue the suppression of the Irish Royalists
Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland refers to the conquest of Ireland by the forces of the English Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Cromwell landed in Ireland with his New Model Army on behalf of England's Rump Parliament in 1649...
and returned to England in May. He arrived in Scotland on July 22 1650, advancing along the east coast towards Edinburgh. By the end of August, his army was reduced by disease and running out of supplies, so he was forced to order a retreat towards his base at the port of Dunbar. A Scottish Covenanter army under the command of David Leslie had been shadowing his progress. Seeing some of Cromwell's sick troops being taken on board the waiting ships, Leslie made ready to attack what he believed was a weakened remnant (though some historians report that he was ordered to fight against his better judgment by the Covenanter General Assembly). Cromwell seized the opportunity, and the New Model Army
New Model Army
The New Model Army of England was formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War, and was disbanded in 1660 after the Restoration...
inflicted a crushing defeat on the Scots at the subsequent Battle of Dunbar
Battle of Dunbar (1650)
The Battle of Dunbar was a battle of the Third English Civil War. The English Parliamentarian forces under Oliver Cromwell defeated a Scottish army commanded by David Leslie which was loyal to King Charles II, who had been proclaimed King of Scots on 5 February 1649.-Background:The English...
on September 3. Leslie's army, which had strong ideological ties to the radical Kirk Party
Kirk Party
The Kirk Party were a radical Presbyterian faction of the Scottish Covenanters during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. They came to the fore after the defeat of the Engagers faction in 1648 at the hands of Oliver Cromwell and the English Parliament...
, was destroyed, losing over 14,000 men killed, wounded and taken prisoner. Cromwell's army then took Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
and by the end of the year his army had occupied much of southern Scotland.
This military disaster discredited the radical Covenanters known as the Kirk Party
Kirk Party
The Kirk Party were a radical Presbyterian faction of the Scottish Covenanters during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. They came to the fore after the defeat of the Engagers faction in 1648 at the hands of Oliver Cromwell and the English Parliament...
and caused the Covenanters and Scottish Royalists to bury their differences (at least temporarily) to try and repel the English parliamentarian invasion of Scotland. The Scottish Parliament passed the Act of Levy in December 1650, requiring every burgh and shire to raise a quota of soldiers. A new round of conscription was undertaken, both in the Highlands and the Lowlands, to form a truly national army named the Army of the Kingdom, that was put under the command of Charles II himself. Although this was actually the largest force put into the field by the Scots during the Wars, it was badly trained and its morale was low as many of its constituent Royalist and Covenanter parts had until recently been killing each other.
In July 1651, under the command of General John Lambert, part of Cromwell's force crossed the Firth of Forth
Firth of Forth
The Firth of Forth is the estuary or firth of Scotland's River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea, between Fife to the north, and West Lothian, the City of Edinburgh and East Lothian to the south...
into Fife
Fife
Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...
and defeated the Scots at the Battle of Inverkeithing
Battle of Inverkeithing
The Battle of Inverkeithing was a battle of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It was fought on 20 July 1651 between an English Parliamentarian army under John Lambert and a Scottish Covenanter army acting on behalf of Charles II, led by Sir John Brown of Fordell. Lambert's force was a seaborne...
. The New Model Army advanced towards the royal base at Perth
Perth, Scotland
Perth is a town and former city and royal burgh in central Scotland. Located on the banks of the River Tay, it is the administrative centre of Perth and Kinross council area and the historic county town of Perthshire...
. In danger of being outflanked, Charles ordered his army south into England in a desperate last ditch attempt to evade Cromwell and spark a Royalist uprising there. Cromwell followed Charles into England leaving George Monck to finish the campaign in Scotland. Meanwhile, Monck took Stirling
Stirling
Stirling is a city and former ancient burgh in Scotland, and is at the heart of the wider Stirling council area. The city is clustered around a large fortress and medieval old-town beside the River Forth...
on the August 14 and Dundee
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
on September 1, reportedly killing up to 2,000 of its 12,000 population and destroying every ship in the city's harbour, 60 in total.
The Scottish Army of the Kingdom marched towards the west of England because it was in that area that English Royalist sympathies were strongest. However, although some English Royalists joined the army, they came in far fewer numbers than Charles and his Scottish supporters had hoped. Cromwell finally engaged the new king at Worcester
Battle of Worcester
The Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651 at Worcester, England and was the final battle of the English Civil War. Oliver Cromwell and the Parliamentarians defeated the Royalist, predominantly Scottish, forces of King Charles II...
on September 3, 1651, and beat him — in the process all but wiping out his army, killing 3,000 and taking 10,000 more prisoners. Many of the Scottish prisoners taken by Cromwell were sold into indentured labour in the West Indies, Virginia and Berwick, Maine. This defeat marked the real end of the Scottish war effort. Charles escaped to the European continent and with his flight the Covenanters' hopes for political independence from the Commonwealth of England
Commonwealth of England
The Commonwealth of England was the republic which ruled first England, and then Ireland and Scotland from 1649 to 1660. Between 1653–1659 it was known as the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland...
were dashed.
From occupation to restoration
Dunnottar Castle
Dunnottar Castle is a ruined medieval fortress located upon a rocky headland on the north-east coast of Scotland, about two miles south of Stonehaven. The surviving buildings are largely of the 15th–16th centuries, but the site is believed to have been an early fortress of the Dark Ages...
was the last stronghold to fall to the English Parliament's troops in May 1652. Under the terms of the Tender of Union
Tender of Union
The Tender of Union was a declaration of the Parliament of England during the Interregnum following the War of the Three Kingdoms stating that Scotland would cease to have an independent parliament and would join England in its emerging Commonwealth republic....
, the Scots were given 30 seats in a united Parliament in London, with General Monck appointed as the military governor of Scotland. During the Interregnum, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
was kept under the military occupation of an English army under George Monck. Sporadic Royalist rebellions continued throughout the Commonwealth period in Scotland, particularly in western Highlands, where Alasdair MacColla
Alasdair MacColla
Alasdair Mac Colla was a Scottish soldier. His full name in Scottish Gaelic was Alasdair Mac Colla Chiotaich Mac Domhnuill . He is sometimes mistakenly referred to in English as "Collkitto", a nickname that properly belongs to his father. He fought in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, most notably...
had raised his forces in the 1640s. The north west Highlands was the scene of another pro-royalist uprising in 1653-55, which was only put down with deployment of 6,000 English troops there. Monck garrisoned forts all over the Highlands — for example at Inverness
Inverness
Inverness is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for the Highland council area, and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland...
, and finally put an end to Royalist resistance when he began deporting prisoners to the West Indies as indentured labourers. However, lawlessness remained a problem, with bandits known as mosstroopers, very often former Royalist or Covenanter soldiers, plundering both the English troops and the civilian population.
After the death of Oliver Cromwell in 1658, the factions and divisions which had struggled for supremacy during the early years of the interregnum reemerged. Monck, who had served Cromwell and the English Parliament throughout the civil wars, judged that his best interests and those of his country lay in the Restoration of Charles II. In 1660, he marched his troops south from Scotland to ensure the monarchy's reinstatement. Scotland's Parliament and legislative autonomy were restored under The Restoration
Restoration (Scotland)
The Restoration of the monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the government of occupation that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
though many issues that had led to the wars; religion, Scotland's form of government and the status of the Highlands, remained unresolved. After the Glorious Revolution
Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, is the overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau...
of 1688, many more Scots would die over the same disputes in Jacobite rebellions.
The cost
Its is estimated that roughly 28,000 men were killed in combat in Scotland itself during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. More soldiers usually died of disease than in action at this time (the ratio was often 3-1), so it is reasonable to speculate that the true military death toll is higher than this figure. In addition, it is estimated that around 15,000 civilians died as direct result of the war — either through massacres or by disease. More indirectly, another 30,000 people died of the plaguePandemic
A pandemic is an epidemic of infectious disease that is spreading through human populations across a large region; for instance multiple continents, or even worldwide. A widespread endemic disease that is stable in terms of how many people are getting sick from it is not a pandemic...
in Scotland between 1645 and 1649, a disease that was partly spread by the movement of armies throughout the country. If we also take into account the thousands of Scottish troops who died in the civil wars in England
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
and Ireland
Irish Confederate Wars
This article is concerned with the military history of Ireland from 1641-53. For the political context of this conflict, see Confederate Ireland....
(another 20,000 soldiers at least), the Wars of the Three Kingdoms
Wars of the Three Kingdoms
The Wars of the Three Kingdoms formed an intertwined series of conflicts that took place in England, Ireland, and Scotland between 1639 and 1651 after these three countries had come under the "Personal Rule" of the same monarch...
certainly represents one of the bloodiest episodes in Scottish history.