The movement was strong in Scotland and Wales, where support was primarily dynastic, and in Ireland, where it was mainly religious. Roman Catholics and Anglican Tories were natural Jacobites.
In March 1689 James II himself landed in Ireland, and a parliament summoned to Dublin acknowledged him as king. But his Irish-French army was defeated by William III’s Anglo-Dutch army at the Battle of the Boyne (July 1, 1690), and he returned to France. A second French invasion misfired completely (1708).
The third attempt, the Fifteen Rebellion, was a serious affair. In the summer of 1715 John Erskine, 6th earl of Mar, raised the Jacobite clans and the Episcopal northeast for “James III and VIII” (James Edward, the Old Pretender).
A hesitant leader, Mar advanced only as far as Perth and wasted a considerable amount of time before challenging the duke of Argyll’s smaller force. The result was the drawn Battle of Sheriffmuir (November 13, 1715), and at the same time the hopes of a southern rising melted away at Preston. James arrived too late to do anything but lead the flight of his chief supporters to France. The fourth Jacobite effort was a west Scottish Highland rising, aided by Spain, which was quickly aborted at Glenshiel (1719).
The final rebellion, the Forty-five Rebellion, has been heavily romanticized, but it was also the most formidable. The outlook in 1745 seemed hopeless, for another French invasion. The number of Scottish Highlanders prepared to turn out was smaller than in 1715, and the Lowlands were apathetic or hostile, but the charm and daring of the young prince, Charles Edward (later called the Young Pretender or Bonnie Prince Charlie), and the absence of the government troops produced a more dangerous rising.
