Convention of Estates of Scotland

The Convention of Estates of Scotland sat between 16 March 1689 and 5 June 1689 to determine the settlement of the Scottish throne following the invasion of William, Prince of Orange. Whilst comparable to the English Convention of that time it was far more revolutionary and sought to undo most of the Restoration Settlement.

Presbyterians through the means of 'rabblings' and other means of intimidation and violence against Episcopalians ensured that the Convention was dominated by the view of the south west ^[1]and by Williamites, and was not representative of Scotland as a whole.

The Convention declared the throne vacant but did not accept that King James VII had abdicated. James VII was deemed to have lost the throne by forfaulture^[2], a fedual term similar to forfeit, because of alleged misgovernment. The throne was offered to William and Mary, with regal power residing with William II, by reason that William held the throne de facto, by right of conquest^[3]. Not all members of the Convention were for replacing James VII with William II and the dubious proceedings of the Convention were challenged by such as John Paterson, Archbishop of Glasgow^[4].

The Convention sought the extirpation of episcopacy and the reduction of the Scottish Monarchy from an Absolute monarchy to a Limited monarchy as part of the revolutionary constitutional change. The Convention considered Union with England ^[5] but the Presbyterians were wary of English episcopacy and the matter was deferred.

The Convention drew up two documents, the Claim of Right, which listed the alleged misdoings of James VII and indicating what they expected from William II, and the Article of Grievances, which sought to reduce the powers of the monarchy. It is not clear if the offer of the crown to William and Mary was conditional upon acceptances of the Claim of Right and Articles of Grievances. The coronation oath was changed to accept the new position of a Presbyterian Kirk. William was reluctant to consider the Grievances but accepted both documents at his admission to power in Scotland on 11 May 1689.

King William II turned the Convention into a parliament on 5 June. King James VII declared all those assembled in the parliament to be rebels. The Established Church was subsequently overthrown and replaced by the Presbyterian Kirk, likewise the Lords of the Articles was abolished^[6]. The first estate was abolished and the barons were divided into two estates^[7]. The devisive nature of the Convention and its changes to the Scottish constitution left many dissafffected. A significant number would become Jacobites.

See also: Glorious Revolution

References

1. ^ Harris, Tim Revolution: The Great Crisis of the British Monarchy 1685-1720 Allen Lane (2006) pp389-390
2. ^ Harris, Tim Revolution: The Great Crisis of the British Monarchy 1685-1720 Allen Lane (2006) pp392-394
3. ^ Jackson, Clare Restoration Scotland, 1660-1690: royalist politics, religion and ideas Boydell Press (2003) pp202-203
4. ^ Jackson, Clare Restoration Scotland, 1660-1690: royalist politics, religion and ideas Boydell Press (2003) pp210-211
5. ^ Ferguson, William Scotland's relations with England: a survey to 1707 Saltire Society; New edition (1994) pp170-172
6. ^ Ferguson, William Scotland's relations with England: a survey to 1707 Saltire Society; New edition (1994) p173
7. ^ Kidd, ColinSubverting Scotland's Past: Scottish Whig Historians and the Creation of an Anglo-British Identity 1689-1830 Cambridge Univesity Press (2003) pp133

Further reading

R. S. Rait, The Parliaments of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1920).

K. M. Brown, R. J. Tanner and A. J. Mann (eds), The History of the Scottish Parliament, volumes 1 and 2 (Edinburgh, 2004-6)