Questions about the Jacobites

Remember that a civil war was within living memory whereby Parliament was very protestant and the Royalists not terribly roman catholic so where is the impetus to support a catholic king in England? James II could only get support in Ireland.

When his grandson raised a Scots army he got no support in England and his Scots army melted away when they saw the English people refused to join them. Even in the Lowlands of Scotland he had trouble recruiting.

England was not France. The English Civil War had shown that the support of the common people was necessary and they were not usually Jacobite nor catholic.
 
Yes but there is a LEGITIMIST sentiment that is not looking forward to impending Germanisation. Jacobites don't equal Catholics.

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 
The Jacobite problem (they are only legitimist if you disregard the act of settlement) , especially given that they are pensioners of the catholic Louis, bringer of Draggonades and revoker of the Edict of Nantes aka the enemy, is that their history is that they do try to catholicise a fundamentally anti catholic country.
 
And that is the biggest problem - Had James VIII and III made some formal renunciation of Catholicism he still would be viewed with suspicion by many Anglicans (and even more suspicion by the various protestant dissenting sects) - the earlier he does it in Anne's reign the more likely he is to succeed though.
I can't see a Catholic monarch (however gifted) successfully taking control and bringing enough people (no matter how High Anglican) on board on mere sentiment alone and surviving.
To most George of Hannover is a foreigner but then so is James Francis Edward who has been brought up in France by an Italian mother.
It isn't just the Act of Settlement that is a block but the Bill of Rights (claim of right in Scotland) - it is inconsistent with the Safety and Welfaire of this Protestant Kingdome to be governed by a Popish Prince or by any King or Queene marrying a Papist and so on.
The idea of a moderate, liberal Roman Catholic just didn't exist.
Whilst you might get a number of high anglicans being willing to tolerate James as a Catholic King I doubt you'd find many in the Scots Kirk willing to be so tolerant.
 
Yeah Scotland will be more troublesome, or rather the lowlands will be more troublesome, the Highlands as always will split based not on religious or political sentiment but clan rivalries, i.e. you're never going to Campbells and MacDonalds on the same side.
 
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