Stuart Court in Exile and the Jacobites [Hardcover]

Eveline Cruickshanks (Editor), Edward Corp (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2, 2003 | ISBN-10: 1852851198 | ISBN-13: 978-1852851194

Based on original research in a wide range of contemporary sources, this collection of original essays illuminates the early development of Jacobitism, placing the movement in a coherent historical context. The volume includes a substantial introduction by Edward Corp on the Stuart court and a major essay by Eveline Cruickshanks on the importance of Jacobitism in Britain and its links with the exiled court.

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

Based on original research in a wide range of contemporary sources, this collection of original essays illuminates the early development of Jacobitism, placing the movement in a coherent historical context. The volume includes a substantial introduction by Edward Corp on the Stuart court and a major essay by Eveline Cruickshanks on the importance of Jacobitism in Britain and its links with the exiled court.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Hambledon Continuum (August 2, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1852851198
• ISBN-13: 978-1852851194
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,200,264 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting collection of stories and views; needs context, April 9, 2005

By 

Hugh Claffey (Co. Kildare Ireland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Stuart Court in Exile and the Jacobites (Hardcover)

This is a collection of papers by some of the leading experts in the study of the exile in France of James II and his Court, and of the various attempts to restore them to the throne of England.

The study of Jacobitism has been a fruitful topic in the study of English History for the last decade or so, going hand in hand with a renewed interest in the English Tory party during the decades after the Glorious Revolution. These papers show the court itself to have been beset by various factions - Irish, Scottish, English Catholic - and suffering an increasing sense of isolation, not just from Britain, but also from political reality.

Nonetheless some quite serious attempts were made at military restoration, and quite intense diplomacy ensued at the courts of France, Spain, Russia and Sweden.

There are evocative descriptions of the (unfunded) Jacobites in Paris, living in garrets, waiting for `something to turn up'; John Childs gives an excellent description of the attempted restoration of 1692; and there is the haunting story of Toby Burke, an Irishman who was Jacobite ambassador to Spain, who was ordered to Sweden to attempt to gain Swedish support for an invasion. After an arduous journey, he receives orders near the Danish border to return to Spain as the Swedes have changed allegiance. On the return Burke's wife dies and his family (travelling by ship) are kidnapped by Barbary pirates, eventually to be ransomed.

One difficulty I have with the book is that it does not give a sense of the evolution of policy in the Court - the early years 1690-93, being ones of quiet confidance of the overthow of William, 1693-97 being less assured, the 1697 accommodation between Louis XIV and William being a major reversal for the Stuarts. Thereafter the increasingly desperate search for allies among the Courts of Europe.

However for someone interested in this area, the book provides a number of interesting views and sources.