This dissertation explores the significance of law and religion to the Scottish Revolution through the career of Archibald Johnston of Wariston. As a lawyer committed to the defense of Scottish Presbyterianism against the Anglicanism of Charles I, Wariston epitomized the legal and religious objectives of the Revolution. While his importance to the Revolution is marked in the historiography, Wariston has received little specialized study. This work draws on manuscript collections from Edinburgh University Library, the National Archives of Scotland and the National Library of Scotland to reconstruct his vision of the Scottish constitution. As the most intimate source of his religious life, his diary is explored in a social and political context to construct a composite view of his private piety and his public policy. / Wariston joined visceral opposition to innovations in religious worship imposed by Charles I. He rose in prominence because his legal expertise was indispensable to a Revolution predicated on a constitutional challenge of the authority of the Crown. The Revolution was a nationalist revolt against an alleged English imperialism. Wariston's religious experience in the Revolution revealed that the Church was the touchstone for a revival of national consciousness of Scottish laws, courts, customs and history. Wariston participated in the rediscovery and reinterpretation of Scottish law to undo decades of Anglicized Crown reform in Church and State. / When war began in 1639 Wariston became central to intelligence gathering and the forging of a loose alliance with English opponents of Charles I. This intelligence network informed Scottish propaganda to England and proved decisive in turning English popular opinion against the King. In 1640 Charles was forced to abandon war and enter into the negotiations which led to the London Treaty of 1641. Wariston pursued two main objectives---Scottish independence and permanent institutions of Anglo-Scottish cooperation---to ensure Scottish influence in English policy. While the latter initiatives were deferred in the Treaty, the Revolution achieved independence and the preservation of Scottish Presbyterianism. This study finds that ideas of religion and law in the Revolution were shaped by the overarching imperative of independence and a renewed Scottish nationalism.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.84498 |
| Date | January 2003 |
| Creators | Cookson, Robert J. |
| Contributors | Maxwell, Michael (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of History.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002083147, proquestno: AAINQ98231, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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