Presbyterian Strathspey in the Jacobite Era

Examines correlations between religious allegiance in Highland Scotland and resistance to the Jacobite rebellions.

This book explores the significance of religious faith in forming the personal choices, the course of events and the structure of society in Highland Strathspey in the Jacobite era. Combining study of the Presbyterian establishment in Strathspey’s parishes with an account of the Jacobite wars in the region, it challenges misconceptions about the lack of Presbyterian reach north of the Tay in the early eighteenth century. Frank D. Bardgett studies church records to account for the Revolutionary settlement as a veneer imposed by proprietorial authority on traditional Gaelic culture. He also shows that the acceptance of parish ministries was achieved through interaction with communal aspirations. With a chronological structure focusing on the period 1689 to 1746, the book interweaves ecclesiastical developments with political and military activities and traces the significance of both religion and clan to personal and communal identity in this area of the Scottish Highlands.