Restoration to Revolution

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0:01:53 > 0:01:56It was said of Charles II that he took the Covenants,

0:01:56 > 0:01:58though in his heart he hated them.

0:01:58 > 0:02:03So there's never any question that these were things he believed in.

0:02:03 > 0:02:06They were an expedient, to try and win over support in Scotland.

0:02:06 > 0:02:08Charles doesn't want to be king of Scotland,

0:02:08 > 0:02:11he wants to be king of all his kingdoms.

0:02:11 > 0:02:14But Scotland, he reckons, is the best route to that victory.

0:02:14 > 0:02:16So if the price to be paid in 1651

0:02:16 > 0:02:18is taking the Covenants,

0:02:18 > 0:02:19he's prepared to do it.

0:02:19 > 0:02:22But it's never something he wants to see implemented.

0:02:45 > 0:02:49"The crown being put upon Charles' head, a great shout begun,

0:02:49 > 0:02:53"and he came forth to the throne and there passed more ceremonies,

0:02:53 > 0:02:57"as taking the oath and having things read to him by the bishop.

0:02:57 > 0:02:59"And his lords, who put on their caps

0:02:59 > 0:03:01"as soon as the King put on his crown,

0:03:01 > 0:03:04"and bishops came and kneeled before him."

0:04:53 > 0:04:56For those who're sitting in the Convention in Dublin,

0:04:56 > 0:05:00they're very clear that they want a Protestant establishment.

0:05:00 > 0:05:04A lot of them will be fairly open as to quite exactly what form that will take.

0:05:04 > 0:05:07And once it becomes clear that the mood in London is very much

0:05:07 > 0:05:11towards a restoration of the pre-war system within the church,

0:05:11 > 0:05:14then you see a lot of opinions swinging in that direction.

0:05:14 > 0:05:16With the Restoration of the monarchy

0:05:16 > 0:05:20came the purging of the Church of Ireland, of Presbyterian elements.

0:05:20 > 0:05:24Under John Bramhall, who now became Archbishop of Armagh

0:05:24 > 0:05:27and also under Jeremy Taylor, who's the Bishop of Down,

0:05:27 > 0:05:29around 70 Presbyterian ministers

0:05:29 > 0:05:32were expelled from the Church of Ireland.

0:05:32 > 0:05:36So Presbyterianism becomes an underground or clandestine movement.

0:05:52 > 0:05:57When our grandees gained intelligence of the pulse of the court,

0:05:57 > 0:06:01they began to court the few old bishops that were in Ireland.

0:06:01 > 0:06:04They allowed them considerable salaries

0:06:04 > 0:06:07and began to give them their titles.

0:06:07 > 0:06:09All things then turned

0:06:09 > 0:06:12as the inclination of the King was observed to be.

0:06:13 > 0:06:17The Convention sent commissioners to the King,

0:06:17 > 0:06:23desiring the restoring of former laws and Church government and worship.

0:06:56 > 0:07:01The honest brethren were thus put to great straits what to do,

0:07:01 > 0:07:05having instruction from their brethren

0:07:05 > 0:07:09to offer nothing else but that address.

0:07:09 > 0:07:12And from their friends, on the other hand,

0:07:12 > 0:07:15telling them that it would not be acceptable.

0:07:15 > 0:07:18Neither would the great persons procure them

0:07:18 > 0:07:23access to His Majesty, except that they alter some expressions in it.

0:08:57 > 0:09:01It's very clear by the '50s that those Presbyterian ministers

0:09:01 > 0:09:06who are co-operating closely are in Scottish communities.

0:09:06 > 0:09:07Their goal is never to be

0:09:07 > 0:09:10just a church for the Scottish people in Ireland.

0:09:10 > 0:09:13But largely in the '50s, that's what they've become.

0:09:13 > 0:09:17At the same time, the State becomes suspicious of Scottish people

0:09:17 > 0:09:23and tries to keep Scottish people out of particular towns,

0:09:23 > 0:09:25and keep Presbyterian ministers out of particular towns.

0:09:25 > 0:09:29So it's reinforcing a sense of solidarity among the Scottish communities.

0:09:29 > 0:09:33And it's reinforcing the connection between Presbyterianism

0:09:33 > 0:09:34and Scottishness in Ulster.

0:11:55 > 0:11:59"As long as those ministers are permitted amongst us,

0:11:59 > 0:12:03"there shall be a perpetual seminary of schism and discontent."

0:12:26 > 0:12:30There's an awareness across the 1660s, 1670s, 1680s,

0:12:30 > 0:12:35that you're creating trouble for yourself if you clamp down too hard.

0:12:35 > 0:12:38So there are many years in which you get complaints going

0:12:38 > 0:12:41from people on the ground, saying,

0:12:41 > 0:12:44"Presbyterians are meeting openly. They're building meeting houses.

0:12:44 > 0:12:48"They're operating even at a regional level.

0:12:48 > 0:12:51"Something should be done about this."

0:12:51 > 0:12:53The State's reluctant to do too much,

0:12:53 > 0:12:56because it doesn't want the trouble that might ensue.

0:13:13 > 0:13:16The regium donum came about because a man called Forbes,

0:13:16 > 0:13:19who was the Commander of the Irish Army, a Scotsman,

0:13:19 > 0:13:21who understood the Presbyterian psyche...

0:13:21 > 0:13:24My theory is he saw the lie of the land in Ireland

0:13:24 > 0:13:27and understood the Presbyterians are here to stay,

0:13:27 > 0:13:31the Church of Ireland are here to stay - we need some sort of accommodation.

0:13:31 > 0:13:34If we can tie them into loyalty to the Government,

0:13:34 > 0:13:36and a civil set-up, all to the good.

0:13:36 > 0:13:39And so the first regium donum payment of £600

0:13:39 > 0:13:43is going to pay a quarter of the stipend of Christian ministers.

0:13:43 > 0:13:46The theory behind that system is that if you're paying a quarter

0:13:46 > 0:13:50of their stipend, they're unlikely to preach sedition or rebellion.

0:18:07 > 0:18:09Protestants moved fairly rapidly

0:18:09 > 0:18:12to create their own, unofficial armed associations.

0:18:12 > 0:18:14And this is happening in Ulster

0:18:14 > 0:18:18long before James is being actively opposed as King,

0:18:18 > 0:18:21so these organisations are coming into being

0:18:21 > 0:18:24supposedly still loyal to the King, but for protective purposes.

0:18:24 > 0:18:29And what you begin to see, not on the same scale as 1641,

0:18:29 > 0:18:31but you begin to see some evidence

0:18:31 > 0:18:35of that same incidence of violence on the ground.

0:19:16 > 0:19:18It's the birth of a son and an heir,

0:19:18 > 0:19:23and a Catholic succession, that sealed James II's fate.

0:19:23 > 0:19:27The Protestant side is looking at Catholicism with suspicion -

0:19:27 > 0:19:29Gunpowder Plot and all of that is now in the psyche.

0:19:29 > 0:19:32To have a Catholic succession, a Catholic monarchy,

0:19:32 > 0:19:34and all the European dimension comes in there,

0:19:34 > 0:19:36with Spain and France and all of that...

0:19:36 > 0:19:40Well, "No, we want our Protestant Reformation values," if you like.

0:19:40 > 0:19:42That was the point of no return, I think.

0:21:23 > 0:21:28"Good my Lord, I have written to let you know that all our Irishmen

0:21:28 > 0:21:31"through Ireland is sworn that on the ninth day of this month,

0:21:31 > 0:21:37"they are to fall on, to kill and murder man, wife and child.

0:21:37 > 0:21:41"And I desire Your Lordship to take care of yourself,

0:21:41 > 0:21:43"for whosoever of them can kill any of you,

0:21:43 > 0:21:46"they are to have a captain's place."

0:24:21 > 0:24:24In the established Church, in the Presbyterians,

0:24:24 > 0:24:26there is still an element of a common Protestantism,

0:24:26 > 0:24:29particularly when it's placed under threat.

0:24:29 > 0:24:31And they do see James as that kind of threat.

0:24:31 > 0:24:34They see James as someone who has departed from the way

0:24:34 > 0:24:36a King should be.

0:24:36 > 0:24:39So, rather than rebelling against a king,

0:24:39 > 0:24:43it's the King who's departed from the way he should have acted,

0:24:43 > 0:24:44to be a proper King.

0:26:11 > 0:26:15COMMANDER GIVES ORDERS TO OPEN FIRE

0:28:16 > 0:28:21It says everything about relations at the time that the one church

0:28:21 > 0:28:23was used for two services.

0:28:23 > 0:28:25And never the twain could meet.

0:28:25 > 0:28:27The Anglicans worshipped in the morning

0:28:27 > 0:28:30and the Presbyterians in the afternoon.

0:28:30 > 0:28:32That speaks volumes about relations even in a time of siege

0:28:32 > 0:28:35when life is on the line, they couldn't work together

0:28:35 > 0:28:37and they couldn't accommodate each other.

0:28:37 > 0:28:40Presbyterians were very proud of the role

0:28:40 > 0:28:42they played in the siege of Derry.

0:28:42 > 0:28:44Contemporary sources tell us

0:28:44 > 0:28:47they made up the majority of those who were within the walls.

0:28:47 > 0:28:50The problem was that a... difference of opinion

0:28:50 > 0:28:53developed amongst Anglicans and Presbyterians

0:28:53 > 0:28:57about who were the true heroes of the Siege of Derry.

0:28:57 > 0:28:59We had George Walker on the one hand

0:28:59 > 0:29:03who went on a propaganda campaign fairly soon after the siege,

0:29:03 > 0:29:07saying he was the guy who saved Derry from the Jacobite forces.

0:29:07 > 0:29:10Presbyterians, particularly John Mackenzie and other people,

0:29:10 > 0:29:14said it was Presbyterians that had saved Derry.

0:29:14 > 0:29:18For them, the hero was Adam Murray rather than George Walker.

0:30:14 > 0:30:16"Your Majesty's most obliged,

0:30:16 > 0:30:20"most faithful, most obedient subject and servant."

0:31:04 > 0:31:07The injustices of the past are burning away

0:31:07 > 0:31:10and they want to impress upon the King their loyalty

0:31:10 > 0:31:13and their force for good, and their numbers in the community.

0:31:13 > 0:31:17They are a key clientele and William responded to that.

0:33:54 > 0:33:57The most significant migration was the 1690s.

0:33:57 > 0:33:59This was the last time in Scottish history

0:33:59 > 0:34:02that people in the Lowlands starved to death.

0:34:02 > 0:34:06People who migrated from Scotland to the north of Ireland

0:34:06 > 0:34:09in the 1690s were actually famine victims.

0:34:10 > 0:34:15And, you know, given the politics of Ireland and the Irish famine,

0:34:15 > 0:34:17there's no supremacy over people

0:34:17 > 0:34:23in the sense that a famine victim is a famine victim.

0:34:23 > 0:34:26So, perhaps as opposed to a migrant from Scotland to Ulster

0:34:26 > 0:34:31being a sturdy, hardy, hard-working Ulster Scot...

0:34:31 > 0:34:37In fact, many of them were people who were in a pretty perilous position.

0:35:30 > 0:35:32Probably the thing that bothers them most

0:35:32 > 0:35:36is that their marriages are not accepted as valid,

0:35:36 > 0:35:38where Catholic marriages are.

0:35:38 > 0:35:42But marriages conducted by a Presbyterian minister are not valid.

0:35:42 > 0:35:46That has all sorts of implications for the legitimacy of children,

0:35:46 > 0:35:48the inheritance of property.

0:35:48 > 0:35:50So it's those kind of practical problems -

0:35:50 > 0:35:53we're not talking large-scale repression

0:35:53 > 0:35:56but things that affect people's everyday life -

0:35:56 > 0:36:00that creates frustration and tension even in the '90s.

0:36:14 > 0:36:17Presbyterians found themselves in the situation in Ireland

0:36:17 > 0:36:20where a confessional state had been set up,

0:36:20 > 0:36:22where your access to political and social power

0:36:22 > 0:36:24was based on the religion you confessed.

0:36:24 > 0:36:29In other words, being a member of the established Church of Ireland.

0:36:29 > 0:36:33And those who weren't members of the established Church of Ireland -

0:36:33 > 0:36:34the Catholic majority

0:36:34 > 0:36:39and the Presbyterian community in the north of Ireland -

0:36:39 > 0:36:41were excluded by penal laws

0:36:41 > 0:36:45from access to full political and social power.

0:36:45 > 0:36:49And the best example of that was the so-called Sacramental Test

0:36:49 > 0:36:53that was tacked on to the 1704 Popery Act.

0:36:53 > 0:36:56Presbyterians took grave offence to this, because they said,

0:36:56 > 0:36:59"Here we are defending the Protestant constitution

0:36:59 > 0:37:03"at the Siege of Derry, and in 1704, we're being treated

0:37:03 > 0:37:06"the exact same as the Catholics we were fighting against."

0:37:06 > 0:37:08So Presbyterians found themselves

0:37:08 > 0:37:13in a second-class if not third-class status by the early 18th century.