Why did bonnie prince charlie take Scotsmen to war against the English?

Answer 1

Charles Stuart did not take scotsmen to war against the english.

He took scotsmen to war against scotsmen, and englishmen to war against english alike. It was a sectarian civil war, fuelled by conflict of Catholicism and protestant faiths alike; not a war of Scots vs English.

A basic summary of the reason is as follows:

Charles Stuart's grandfather was King of Scotland and England: James the VIIth of scotland, and IInd of England respectively. A staunch catholic, he believed in the "divine right of kings", a philosophy which was greatly opposed by the government in Parliament, causing tension, as well as conflict with the Anglican Church, which he attempted to direct in certain matters.

The conflict between crown and parliament reached a climax in 1688, with revolution, during which James II/VII was deposed and fled into exile, while his protestant daughter, Mary, and her dutch husband, William of Orange, were asked by parliament to take the throne.

As James VII was also king of Scotland, his exile and replacement with William of Orange was particularly resented by Scots.

James II/VII opposed his exile from France, and attempted to regain the throne by military action by landing forces in Ireland. However, they were defeated in 1690 at the Battle of the Boyne.

On his death in 1701, his claim to the throne passed to his son, James Francis Edward Stuart, who became known as the "pretender" to the throne. He attempted to raise forces in scotland in 1715, which were unsuccessful.

His son in turn, Charles Edward Stuart, the "bonnie prince charlie" In turn became known as the "Young Pretender", and his father "the Old Pretender".

Charles attempted to raise catholic forces who would support his campaign to seize the throne, with the many of his supporters coming from the west highland clans and some lowlander scots, who either supported him for sectarian reasons of wanting a catholic king, or who supported him due to the old resentment of his grandfather's loss of the scots throne. However, Stuart's forces also included significant numbers from northern England, particularly Carlisle and Cumbria.

Those forces marched against the predominantly Protestant forces of the government and the crown, which also comprised of scots and english alike.