| الوصف: |
This thesis examines the political, ecclesiastical and social structures of south-west Scotland - Ayrshire, Dumfriesshire and Galloway - between 1600 and 1650, covering the latter part of the reign of James VI, the reign of Charles I and the covenanting revolution. This is the period in which the south-west was closely associated with the radical religious and political agenda, which would lead to the revolt against Charles I, a decade of war, and the development of the covenanting administration. Consequently, this study assesses the response to crown policy in the locality and the development of discontent prior to 1637, charts the south-west's involvement in the covenanting movement, maps the patterns of allegiance to the king or the Covenants and offers some thoughts on the factors which affected these allegiances. Chapter one focuses on the geography and topography of the south-west, the local economy, settlement patterns, and the extent to which its proximity to Ulster, the north of England and Argyll had any political significance. Chapter two provides an account of the key events of the period, placing the radical south-west in the context of the wider events of the period and, in the light of this, considering what constituted radicalism in Scotland in the first half of the seventeenth century. Chapter three looks at the relationship between centre and locality and the nature and impact of the policies of James, Charles and the covenanting administration in the region. Chapter four deals with the church in the south-west: the parishes and ministers of the region; the nature of the episcopate in the south-west; the development and expression of opposition to royal policies and the importance of the networks of the religiously disaffected which developed prior to 1637 and were utilised in the organisation of the covenanting revolution. Chapters five and six concentrate on individual allegiances. Chapter five covers the peerage and their families, a group in which the royalist peers outnumbered their covenanting colleagues, but whose activities were dominated by a number of leading covenanting nobles. Chapter six focuses on the important reservoir of non-noble covenanters - who played an increasingly important role in national politics as well as administering the locality for the covenanters - by analysing the activities of a number of groups across the locality: burgesses, parliamentary representatives, networks of lairds, the members of the shire committee of war for Kirkcudbright and the participants in the Mauchline Rising. Chapter seven looks in more detail at the period between the surrender of the king in 1646 and the defeat of the Army of the Western Association in 1650. This is a key period for the history of the south-west, during which the region was notable for its opposition to the Engagement, provided a crucial source of support for the radical covenanting regime which seized power in 1648 and when a section of opinion in the south-west took a distinctive approach to the events which followed the execution of Charles I in the creation of the Western Association. Chapter eight, the conclusion, evaluates the different factors which had a bearing on allegiances, in particular religious beliefs, economic factors, attitudes towards monarchy and the pursuit of power and influence. |
