Description
The English revolution is one of the most intensely-debated events in history; parallel events in Scotland have never attracted the same degree of interest. Rethinking the Scottish Revolution argues for a new interpretation of the seventeenth-century Scottish revolution that goes beyond questions about its radicalism, and reconsiders its place within an overarching 'British' narrative. Laura Stewart analyses how interactions between print and manuscript polemic, crowds, and political performances enabled protestors against a Prayer Book to destroy Charles I's Scottish government. Particular attention is given to the way in which debate in Scotland was affected by the emergence of London as a major publishing centre. The subscription of the 1638 National Covenant occurred within this context and further politicized subordinate social groups that included women. Unlike in England, however, public debate was contained. A remodelled constitution revivified the institutions of civil and ecclesiastical governance, enabling Covenanted Scotland to pursue interventionist policies in Ireland and England - albeit at terrible cost to the Scottish people. War transformed the nature of state power in Scotland, but this achievement was contentious and fragile. A key weakness lay in the separation of ecclesiastical and civil authority, which justified for some a strictly conditional understanding of obedience to temporal authority. Rethinking the Scottish Revolution explores challenges to legitimacy of the Covenanted constitution, but qualifies the idea that Scotland was set on a course to destruction as a result. Covenanted government was overthrown by the new model army in 1651, but its ideals persisted. In Scotland as well as England, the language of liberty, true religion, and the public interest had justified resistance to Charles I. The Scottish revolution embedded a distinctive and durable political culture that ultimately proved resistant to assimilation into the nascent British state.
About the Author
Laura A.M. Stewart is Professor of early modern British history, University of York. After completing her PhD at Edinburgh University (2003), she was awarded a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (2005), before taking up a lectureship at Birkbeck, University of London. Her first book, Urban Politics and the British Civil Wars: Edinburgh, 1617-53 was published in 2006. She has written many articles on Scottish and Anglo-Scottish history, and led a special edition of the Journal of British Studies on the theme of 'Publics and Participation in early modern Britain (Oct. 2016). A textbook on early modern Scotland, Union, Revolution and Empire, co-authored with Dr Janay Nugent, will be published by Edinburgh University Press for the New History of Scotland series in 2019. Rethinking the Scottish Revolution was nominated for the 2017 Longman-History Today prize and won the American Historical Association Morris D. Forkosch prize in 2017.
Reviews
[T]his is a most informative book. Stewart has done a great deal of research in both primary and secondary sources--there are almost 1000 footnotes, many of them overstuffed, in a 340-page text. There is a lot of new information about the attitudes of the citizenry, including women, and their role in the triumph of the king's opponents... [A]n important piece of scholarship; the future historians of the period will have to take Stewart's findings and arguments into account. * Maurice Lee. Jr, Scotia: Interdisciplinary Journal of Scottish Studies *
Laura Stewart offers an intelligent and insightful account of a national religious culture within the broader context of the three kingdoms during their mid seventeenth- century crisis. * Crawford Gribben, Queen's University, Belfast, Journal of Ecclesiastical History *
In her new book, Laura Stewart offers a major reinterpretation of the mid-seventeenth century Scottish revolution based on a reconceptualising of early modern Scottish politics ... The book is grounded in an impressive array of manuscript records, printed works and secondary literature, with its strength lying in the many constructive comparisons made with contemporary events in England ... The author has undoubtedly produced a work of remarkable scope and quality. It has not only nuanced our understanding of the period, but also opened up several avenues for future study and further debate. * Neil McIntyre, University of Glasgow *
The complex strands of revolution and reaction are deftly teased out by Stewart. * Patrick J. Murray, History Today *
[an] excellent book ... Laura Stewart has succeeded resulting book serves to open up the whole subject in a multitude of exciting new ways. * Nicholas Tyacke, History *
This is an excellent book, tackling with great assurance complex issues on the origins, impact and legacies of the Scottish revolution in the mid-seventeenth century ... Stewart's endeavours will undoubtedly (and deservedly) inspire renewed interest in covenanted Scotland. The conclusion, reflecting on the historical legacy of the Covenant right up to and including the recent referendum on independence makes a convincing case for further engagement with this fascinating period in Scottish history. Stewart has thrown down the gauntlet and let others now take up the challenge. * Michael O'Siochru, Scottish History Review *
An excellent, deeply researched book that forces one to reexamine a critical, seldom detailed pivot point in Scottish history ... Essential. * CHOICE *
Rethinking the Scottish Revolution successfully reconceptualises the Covenanting era as a vital episode in the evolution of early modern state power and public political engagement, which had long-term consequences for Scotland, and lays the foundation for all future studies of the period. * Paul Goatman, Sehepunkte *
[A] bold study of Scotland's revolutionary politics of the mid-seventeenth century ... Stewart's careful unfolding of the great crises of the National Covenant of 1638 and the Engagement of 1648, crises that made Scottish politicians and readers alike ever more observant of what was being said and produced in London, is a model of interdisciplinary and even at times transnational scholarship. * Derek Hirst, Renaissance Quarterly *
Awards
Winner of Winner of the 2017 AHA Morris D. Forkosch Prize in the field of British, British imperial, or British Commonwealth history since 1485. Shortlisted for the 2017 Longman-^IHistory Today^R Book Prize..
Book Information
ISBN 9780198828655
Author Laura A. M. Stewart
Format Paperback
Page Count 416
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 1g
Dimensions(mm) 236mm * 162mm * 22mm
About the Author
Laura A.M. Stewart is Professor of early modern British history, University of York. After completing her PhD at Edinburgh University (2003), she was awarded a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (2005), before taking up a lectureship at Birkbeck, University of London. Her first book, Urban Politics and the British Civil Wars: Edinburgh, 1617-53 was published in 2006. She has written many articles on Scottish and Anglo-Scottish history, and led a special edition of the Journal of British Studies on the theme of 'Publics and Participation in early modern Britain (Oct. 2016). A textbook on early modern Scotland, Union, Revolution and Empire, co-authored with Dr Janay Nugent, will be published by Edinburgh University Press for the New History of Scotland series in 2019. Rethinking the Scottish Revolution was nominated for the 2017 Longman-History Today prize and won the American Historical Association Morris D. Forkosch prize in 2017.
Reviews
[T]his is a most informative book. Stewart has done a great deal of research in both primary and secondary sources--there are almost 1000 footnotes, many of them overstuffed, in a 340-page text. There is a lot of new information about the attitudes of the citizenry, including women, and their role in the triumph of the king's opponents... [A]n important piece of scholarship; the future historians of the period will have to take Stewart's findings and arguments into account. * Maurice Lee. Jr, Scotia: Interdisciplinary Journal of Scottish Studies *
Laura Stewart offers an intelligent and insightful account of a national religious culture within the broader context of the three kingdoms during their mid seventeenth- century crisis. * Crawford Gribben, Queen's University, Belfast, Journal of Ecclesiastical History *
In her new book, Laura Stewart offers a major reinterpretation of the mid-seventeenth century Scottish revolution based on a reconceptualising of early modern Scottish politics ... The book is grounded in an impressive array of manuscript records, printed works and secondary literature, with its strength lying in the many constructive comparisons made with contemporary events in England ... The author has undoubtedly produced a work of remarkable scope and quality. It has not only nuanced our understanding of the period, but also opened up several avenues for future study and further debate. * Neil McIntyre, University of Glasgow *
The complex strands of revolution and reaction are deftly teased out by Stewart. * Patrick J. Murray, History Today *
[an] excellent book ... Laura Stewart has succeeded resulting book serves to open up the whole subject in a multitude of exciting new ways. * Nicholas Tyacke, History *
This is an excellent book, tackling with great assurance complex issues on the origins, impact and legacies of the Scottish revolution in the mid-seventeenth century ... Stewart's endeavours will undoubtedly (and deservedly) inspire renewed interest in covenanted Scotland. The conclusion, reflecting on the historical legacy of the Covenant right up to and including the recent referendum on independence makes a convincing case for further engagement with this fascinating period in Scottish history. Stewart has thrown down the gauntlet and let others now take up the challenge. * Michael O'Siochru, Scottish History Review *
An excellent, deeply researched book that forces one to reexamine a critical, seldom detailed pivot point in Scottish history ... Essential. * CHOICE *
Rethinking the Scottish Revolution successfully reconceptualises the Covenanting era as a vital episode in the evolution of early modern state power and public political engagement, which had long-term consequences for Scotland, and lays the foundation for all future studies of the period. * Paul Goatman, Sehepunkte *
[A] bold study of Scotland's revolutionary politics of the mid-seventeenth century ... Stewart's careful unfolding of the great crises of the National Covenant of 1638 and the Engagement of 1648, crises that made Scottish politicians and readers alike ever more observant of what was being said and produced in London, is a model of interdisciplinary and even at times transnational scholarship. * Derek Hirst, Renaissance Quarterly *
Awards
Winner of Winner of the 2017 AHA Morris D. Forkosch Prize in the field of British, British imperial, or British Commonwealth history since 1485. Shortlisted for the 2017 Longman-^IHistory Today^R Book Prize..
Book Information
ISBN 9780198828655
Author Laura A. M. Stewart
Format Paperback
Page Count 416
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 1g
Dimensions(mm) 236mm * 162mm * 22mm
