4.30 Europe: a.d. 1601 to 1700  (Page 20/30)

In spite of everything there was some grace and beauty in England. After the Great Fire, Sir Christopher Wren erected 52 new parish churches, most of which stand today. On the economic scene, the Bank of England was formed in 1694 to consolidate some older firms and to get on an even footing with Amsterdam. (Ref. 119 ) The progressively increasing coal production, particularly at Newcastle, slowly modernized England as this fuel was used in such industries as salt manufacture from sea water, sheet glass, bricks and tile production, sugar refining, bakeries and breweries. We have mentioned before that throughout history people have tended to resist technological progress. This was even true when the first stagecoach went from Manchester to London in a day in 1669 – it would be the end of the noble art of horsemanship, it would ruin saddle and spur manufacturers and Thames boatmen. (Ref. 260 ) In 1675 10,000 silk-workers of London rose up against the introduction of French ribbon-looms, with which a single worker could weave 10 to 12 ribbons at a time. Soldiers had to be called in when the new machines were burned. But business activity continued anyway. By 1695 the Royal Exchange was handling transactions in public stocks and shares in the Indies and the Bank of England. (Ref. 292 )

(Continue on page 970)

Scotland

Scotland continued as a Protestant stronghold under the common monarchy with England, with Scotland now supplying the Royal House of Stuart for most of the century. On the death of Elizabeth, James VI of Scotland had become James I of England. This was not to say that all was peace and harmony between the two countries, for the Scots were shocked by the execution of Charles I and they were almost immediately to claim the son, Charles II, then exiled in the Netherlands, to be the rightful king of the two nations. This declaration of Charles II as king was made by the Scottish "Covenanters", a group formed to protect Scotland against "popish" practices of the preceding monarch. (Ref. 8 ) When the new Charles landed in Scotland, professing to support Presbyterianism, he started immediately for the English border, but he was met and defeated by an army led by Cromwell himself. The ultimate result was suppression of this Scottish "revolution" and the country was again subject to England, its separate Parliament dissolved, although it was allowed to send 30 delegates to the London Parliament. Scotland waited and prayed for the Stuart restoration, which came in 1660 with Cromwell's death and finally the ascension of Charles II on the English throne.

Unfortunately, Charles II still had a great tendency to Catholicism and when upon his death his Catholic brother took the throne as James II of England (James VII of Scotland) he immediately started removing Protestants from office, suspended all laws against Catholics and punished ministers who preached against Rome. When the revolution to depose James was started in England it was seconded in Scotland, as bands harried the Jesuits, destroyed the Holyroodhouse printing press and sacked the Chapel Royal. But when William of Orange took over the English throne, he was not immediately accepted by the Scots and in traditional fashion the clans squared off - some for James and some for William - and fought, killed and robbed each other for months. Episcopalians were soon as much the victims as Catholics, as Presbyterianism finally began to triumph. Rob Roy, son-in-law of Gregor Macgregor, became chief of the Macgregor clan in 1693, controlling lands from Loch Lomond to the Braes of Balquihidder. (Ref. 170 , 222 ) (Continue on page 976)