Restoration (Scotland)
The Restoration was the return of the monarchy to Scotland in 1660 after the period of the Commonwealth, and the subsequent three decades of Scottish history until the Revolution and Convention of Estates of 1689. It was part of a wider Restoration in the British Isles that included the return of the Stuart dynasty to the thrones of England and Ireland in the person of Charles II.
As military commander of the Commonwealth's largest armed force, George Monck, governor-general in Scotland, was instrumental in the restoration of Charles II, who was proclaimed king in Edinburgh on 14 May 1660. There was a general pardon for offences during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, but four individuals were excepted and executed. Under the eventual political settlement Scotland regained its independent system of law, parliament and kirk, but also regained the Lords of the Articles and bishops, and it now had a king who did not visit the country and ruled largely without reference to Parliament through a series of commissioners. These began with the Earl of Middleton and ended with the King's brother and heir, James, Duke of York. The restoration of the Scottish Episcopacy led to a series of conflicts between Presbyterians and the Bishops of the Episcopalian establishment, culminating in the persecution of The Killing Time.
Charles died in 1685 and his brother the Duke of York succeeded him as James VII of Scotland and II of England. He survived attempted rebellions, but alienated much of the political nation by his Catholicism and policies. When William of Orange of the Netherlands, James' Protestant son-in-law, invaded England in 1688, James fled and William and his wife took over the throne as William II and Mary II. William called a Scottish Convention, which was dominated by the Presbyterians. It offered William and Mary the crown, and after the defeat of James' supporters the bishops were abolished and a Presbyterian system reinstated in the kirk.
The economic conditions of the period were generally favourable, although the restoration of Scottish independence reinstated the economic border with England and English tariffs. The restoration of the monarchy also saw the restoration of the nobility to political power, although they may have exercised their power with more caution. It also saw the rise of the lairds, who continued to gain new local political powers. There was an attempt to restore the theatre to Scotland, which had suffered from the lack of a court and the hostility of the kirk. The Restoration saw the introduction of a style of country house among the Scottish nobility that encouraged a move towards a more leisure-oriented architecture. As in England, sculpture was dominated by foreign professionals. Scotland produced notable artists and was also visited by many important continental artists. The period between 1679 and 1689 saw the foundation of many institutions that would be important in Scottish cultural and intellectual life.
Background: civil wars and Commonwealth
In 1638, reforms imposed by Charles I on the Church of Scotland led to the Bishop's Wars, the first in a series between 1638 and 1651 known as the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. The Covenanters took control of government and initially remained neutral when the First English Civil War began in 1642. However, many Scots were concerned by the consequences of Royalist victory for the Kirk and viewed union with England as the best way to ensure its survival. In October 1643, the English Parliament signed the Solemn League and Covenant, which agreed to union in return for Scottish military support.Royalists and moderates in both countries rejected this on nationalist grounds, as did religious Independents like Oliver Cromwell, who opposed any state-ordered church. The Covenanters and their English allies considered the Independent-dominated New Model Army a bigger threat than the Royalists and when the First Civil War ended in 1647, negotiated to restore Charles to power. In return, he agreed to impose Presbyterianism in England and suppress the Independents but refused to become a Presbyterian himself. This split the Covenanters into Engagers, who were willing to accept this, and the Kirk Party or Whiggamores, who were not. After Cromwell's victory in the Second English Civil War, he installed the Kirk Party as the government of Scotland, who then expelled Engagers from the General Assembly.
This alliance ended with the execution of Charles in January 1649; as Calvinists, the Engagers and Kirk Party viewed monarchy as divinely ordered, making this an act of blasphemy. In February, the Scots proclaimed Charles II, King of Scotland and Great Britain and in the Treaty of Breda, agreed to restore him to the English throne. In return, he accepted the Covenant and was forced to disown a rising by the Royalist leader Montrose, who was captured and executed; Charles never forgot this humiliation.
After the Third English Civil War ended with defeat in 1651, Cromwell decided the only way to guarantee peace was to destroy the power of the Kirk and the Scottish landed elite. Part of the solution was making Scotland part of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, with Scottish representatives sitting in the London Parliament. Final ratification of the terms was delayed by Cromwell's problems with his various parliaments and the union was not legally finalised until 1657. Scotland was ruled by a military administration under George Monck, which managed to enforce law and order and a degree of religious toleration. However, it did so using English judges, rather than Scots law, as well as being expensive, making it unpopular in both kingdoms.
Unlike England, 95% of Scots belonged to the Kirk and shared the same Calvinist doctrine; conflict was primarily over governance, with the victors expelling their opponents. The General Assembly was split between Resolutioners, who were willing to readmit former Engagers and Royalists, and Protesters, who refused. After defeating the Royalist Glencairn's rising in 1654, Monk's administration deliberately widened divisions within the Kirk; the effects dominated Scottish political life during the Restoration and beyond, as those previously expelled returned to power and excluded their opponents.
End of the republic and return of Charles II
As military commander of the Commonwealth's largest armed force, Monck was instrumental in the restoration of Charles II. After the death of Cromwell in 1658, Monck remained aloof from the political manoeuvring in London that led to the brief establishment of a regime under the protector's son Richard Cromwell and after its fall the subsequent contest for power between the army leaders. When this proved incapable of producing a stable government in 1659 Monck opened negotiations with Charles II and began a slow march south with his army. After reaching London he restored the English Long Parliament that had existed at the beginning of the civil wars. This body, having received assurances from Charles II, voted for a restoration of the monarchy in England and then dissolved itself. This created a de facto restoration of the monarchy in Scotland, but without any safeguards as to the constitutional position in the country. Scottish notables were in a weak position in negotiations with the crown as to what the settlement would be. Charles II gave Monck the title Duke of Albemarle in gratitude for his part in the Restoration.Charles was proclaimed king in Edinburgh on 14 May 1660. He was not crowned again in Scotland. The Restoration "presented an occasion of universal celebration and rejoicing throughout Scotland". Charles II summoned his parliament on 1 January 1661, which began to undo all that been forced on his father Charles I. The Rescissory Act 1661 made all legislation back to 1633 "void and null".
General pardon and exceptions
On 9 September 1662 the Scottish parliament passed the , the Act of indemnity and oblivion. It was a general pardon for most types of crime that may have been committed by Scots, between 1 January 1637 and before 1 September 1660, during what the Act calls "the late troubles". The act was structured in a similar way to the English Indemnity and Oblivion Act 1660, it legislated for a general pardon with exceptions, but it contained many more exceptions than the English act. The act did not reverse the provisions of any previous act passed by the same Scottish Parliament or the provisions of the Committee of Estates passed since August 1660. It explicitly mentions the forfeitures of "Archibald Campbell, late marquis of Argyll, Archibald Johnston, sometime called Sir Archibald Johnston of Wariston, John Swinton, sometime called of Swinton, James Guthrie, William Govan, John Home and William Dundas, James Campbell, sometime called of Ardkinglas and James Campbell, sometime called of Orinsay". An additional act called the Act containing some exceptions from the act of indemnity was passed that included heavy fines for about 700 former adherents to the Covenant. The exceptions act specified that if an excluded person did not pay the fines by the date specified he would lose the benefit of the general pardon, but on timely payment he would "enjoy the benefit of his majesty's pardon and indemnity to all intents and purposes".A few members of the previous regime were tried and found guilty of treason. Archibald Campbell, beheaded 27 May 1661, James Guthrie and Captain William Govan hanged 1 June 1661, and Archibald Johnston hanged 22 July 1663. John Swinton was condemned to forfeiture and imprisonment in Edinburgh Castle, where he remained for some years before being released. In 1661 John Home of Kelloe had his estates sequestrated for being with the English army against the King's army at the battle of Worcester in 1651. After the Glorious Revolution of 1688 the estates were restored to his son George.