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MONMOUTH, JAMES SCOTT

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 727 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MONMOUTH, See also:JAMES See also:SCOTT , Dunx OF (1649–1685), See also:leader of his abortive insurrection against James II. in 1685, was the son of See also:Lucy Walters, " a See also:brown, beautiful, bold but insipid creature," who became the See also:mistress of See also:Charles II. during his See also:exile at the See also:Hague. He was See also:born at See also:Rotterdam on the 9th of See also:April 1649. That Charles was his See also:father is more than doubtful, for Lucy Walters had previously lived with See also:Robert See also:Sidney (son of the See also:earl of See also:Leicester), See also:brother of Algernon, and the boy resembled him very closely. Charles, however, always recognized him as his son, and lavished on him an almost doting See also:affection. Until the Restoration he was placed under the care, first of See also:Lord Crofts, by whose name he was known, and then of the See also:queen-See also:dowager, receiving his See also:education to the See also:age of nine from See also:Roman Catholics, but thenceforward from See also:Protestant tutors. In See also:July 1662 he was sent for by Charles, and at thirteen was placed under the See also:protection of See also:Lady See also:Castlemaine and in the full See also:tide of the worst influences of the See also:court. No formal See also:acknowledgment of his relation to the See also:king was made until his See also:betrothal to See also:Anne Scott, countess of See also:Buccleuch, the wealthiest heiress of See also:Scotland, whom he married in 1665. During 1663 he was made See also:duke of See also:Orkney, duke of Monmouth and See also:knight of the Garter, and received honorary degrees at both See also:universities; and on his See also:marriage he and his wife were created duke and duchessof Buccleuch, and he took the surname of Scott. At court he was treated as a See also:prince of the See also:blood. In 1665 he served with See also:credit under the duke of See also:York in the sanguinary See also:naval See also:battle off See also:Lowestoft. A captaincy in the See also:Life See also:Guards was given him, and in 167o, on the See also:death of See also:Monk, he was made See also:captain-See also:general of the king's forces. In 1670 Monmouth was with the court at See also:Dover, and it is affirmed by Reresby that the mysterious death of Charles's See also:sister, Henrietta, duchess of See also:Orleans, was due to her See also:husband's revenge on the See also:discovery of her intrigue with the duke.

It is certain, from an entry by See also:

Pepys, that as See also:early as 1666 he had established a See also:character for See also:vice and profligacy. He was the See also:direct author of the attack in See also:December 1670 on See also:Sir See also:John See also:Coventry, and only a few months later received the royal See also:pardon for his See also:share in the wanton See also:murder of a See also:street watchman. Hitherto Monmouth had been but the spoiled See also:child of a wicked court. Now, however, by no See also:act or will of his own, he began to be a See also:person politically important. As early as 1662 the king's excessive fondness for him had caused anxiety. Even then the fear of a " difference " between Monmouth and James, duke of York, exercised men's minds, and every caress or promotion kept the fear alive. Who could tell but that, in See also:default of legitimate issue from his queen, Charles might declare Monmouth himself his lawful See also:sou? A See also:civil See also:war would be the certain consequence. Soon after 167o the See also:matter took a more serious aspect. The See also:anti-popery spirit was rapidly becoming a frenzy, and the See also:succession of James a See also:probability and a terror. Charles was urged to legitimize Monmouth by a See also:declaration of his marriage with Lucy Walters. He returned See also:answer that, much as he loved the duke, he would rather see him hanged at See also:Tyburn than own him for his legitimate son.

Every See also:

attempt, however, was hence-forth made, especially by See also:Shaftesbury, to accustom See also:people to this See also:idea, and his position was emphasized by James's second marriage, with the Roman See also:Catholic princess See also:Mary of See also:Modena. From this See also:time his popular See also:title was " the Protestant duke." In 1674 he was made " See also:commander-in-See also:chief "; and in connexion with this another unsuccessful attempt, graphically described in See also:Clarke's Life of James, was made to gain from Charles a tacit See also:admission of his See also:legitimacy. At Shaftesbury's instance he was placed in command of the See also:army employed in 1675 against the Scottish See also:Covenanters, and was See also:present at See also:Bothwell See also:Bridge (See also:June 22, 1679). In 1678, when Charles was driven into war with See also:Louis, Monmouth took the command of the See also:English contingent, and again gained credit for See also:personal courage at the battle of St See also:Denis. On his return to See also:London See also:England was in the throes of the popish terror. The idea of securing the Protestant 'succession by legitimizing Monmouth again took shape and was eagerly pressed on by Shaftesbury; at the time it seemed possible that success would wait on the audacity. The See also:pensionary See also:parliament was dissolved in See also:January 1678 1679, and was succeeded by one still more determined in its anti-popery spirit. To avoid the See also:storm, and to See also:save, if possible, his brother's interests, Charles instructed him to leave the See also:country. James retired to See also:Brussels, the king having previously signed a declaration that he " never was married, nor gave See also:contract to any woman whatsoever but to my wife Queen See also:Catherine." In the summer of 1679 the king suddenly See also:fell See also:ill, and the dangers of a disputed succession became terribly apparent. The party opposed to Monmouth, or rather to Shaftesbury, easily prevailed upon Charles to consent to his brother's temporary return. When, after the king's recovery, James went back to Brussels, he received a promise that Monmouth too should be removed from favour and ordered to leave the country. Accordingly, in See also:September 1679, the latter repaired to See also:Utrecht, while shortly afterwards James's See also:friends so far gained ground as to obtain for him permission to reside at See also:Edinburgh instead of at Brussels.

Within two months of his arrival at Utrecht Monmouth secretly returned to England, arriving in London on the 27th of See also:

November. Shaftesbury had assiduously kept alive the anti-popery agitation, and Monmouth, as the See also:champion of Protestantism, was received with every sign of popular delight. The king appeared to be greatly incensed, deprived him of all his offices, and ordered him to leave the See also:kingdom at once. This he refused to do, and the only See also:notice taken of the disobedience was that Charles forbade him to appear at court. It was at this time that the See also:Appeal from the Country to the See also:City, written by See also:Ferguson, was published, in which the legitimacy was tacitly given up, and in which it was urged that " he that hath the worst title will make the best king." Now it was, too, that the exclusionists, who in the See also:absence of parliament were deprived of their best basis for agitation, See also:developed the See also:system of petitioning. So promptly and successfully was this answered by the " See also:abhorrers " that Charles, feeling the ground safer under him, recalled James to London—a step immediately followed by the resignation of the chief Whigs in the See also:council. Once more, however, a desperate attempt was made, by the See also:fable of the " See also:black See also:box," to establish Monmouth's claims; and once more these claims were met by Charles's public declarations in the See also:Gazette that he had never been married but to the queen. Still acting under Shaftesbury's See also:advice, Monmouth now went upon the first of his progresses in the See also:west of England, visiting the chief members of the country party, and gaining by his open and engaging manner much popularity among the people. In See also:August 168o James returned to Edinburgh, his right to the succession being again formally acknowledged by Charles. Monmouth at once threw himself more vehemently than ever into the plans of the exclusionists. He spoke and voted for exclusion in the See also:House of Lords, and used See also:language not likely to be for-gotten by James when an opportunity should come for resenting it. He was ostentatiously feasted by the city, the stronghold of Shaftesbury's See also:influence; and it was observed as he drove to See also:dinner that the See also:mark of See also:illegitimacy had been removed from the arms on his See also:coach.

The See also:

year 1681 seemed likely .to See also:witness another civil war. The parliament finished a session of hysterical See also:passion by passing a See also:series of resolutions of extreme violence, of which one was that Monmouth should be restored to all his offices and commands; and when Charles summoned a fresh parliament to meet at See also:Oxford the leaders of the exclusionists went thither with troops of armed men. Not until the See also:dissolution of this last parliament, on the 27th of See also:March 1681, did the weakness of Monmouth's cause appear. The deep-seated respect for legitimate descent asserted itself, and a See also:great reaction took See also:place. In November See also:Dryden published See also:Absalom and Achitophel. Shaftesbury was attacked, but was saved for the time by a favouring See also:jury. Monmouth himself did not See also:escape insult in the street and from the See also:pulpit. He was forbidden to hold communication with the court; and when he went, in September 1682, on a second progress through the western and See also:north-western counties his proceedings were narrowly watched, and he was at length arrested at See also:Stafford. Severity and extreme lenity were strangely mingled in the treatment he received. He was released on See also:bail, and in See also:February 1683, after the See also:flight and death of Shaftesbury, he openly See also:broke the implied conditions of his bail by paying a third visit to See also:Chichester with Lord See also:Grey and others on pretence of a See also:hunting expedition. It is probable that Monmouth never went so far as to think of armed See also:rebellion; but there is little doubt that he had talked over schemes likely to See also:lead to this, and that Shaftesbury had gone farther still. The See also:Rye House See also:plot gave an excuse for arresting the Whig leaders; See also:Russell and Sidney were judicially murdered; Monmouth retired to Toddington, in See also:Bedfordshire, and was See also:left untouched.

Court intrigue favouring him, he succeeded, by the betrayal of his comrades and by two submissive letters, in reconciling himself with the help of See also:

Halifax both to the king and to James, though he had the humiliation of seeing his confessions and declarations of penitence published at length in the Gazette. His character for pettishness and folly was thus amply illustrated. Charles heartily despised him, and yet appears to have retained affection for him. His partial return to favour raised the hopes of his partisans; to check these, Algernon Sidney was executed. Monmouth was now subpoenaed to give See also:evidence at the trial of See also:young See also:Hampden. To escape from the difficulties thus opened before him he fled to See also:Holland, probably with Charles's connivance, and though he once more,in November 1684, visited England, it is doubtful whether he ever again saw the king. The quiet See also:accession of James II. soon brought Monmouth to the crisis of his See also:fate. Within two months of Charles's death he had yielded to the impetuosity of See also:Argyll and others of the exiles and to vague invitations from England. It is curious, as showing the See also:light in which his claims were viewed by his See also:fellow-conspirators, that one of the terms of the compact between them was that, though Monmouth should lead the expedition, he should not assume the title of ding without their consent, and should, if the rebellion were successful, resign it and accept whatever See also:rank the nation might offer. Now, as always, he was but a puppet in other men's hands. On the 2nd of May Argyll sailed with three See also:ships to raise the west of Scotland; and three See also:weeks later, with a following of only eighty-two persons—of whom Lord Grey, See also:Fletcher of Saltoun, See also:Wade, and Ferguson, the author of the Appeal from the Country to the City, were the chief—Monmouth himself set out for the west of England, where, as the stronghold of Protestant dissent and as the See also:scene of his former progresses, he could alone See also:hope for immediate support. Even here, however, there was no See also:movement; and when on the zlth of June Monmouth's three ships, having eluded the royal See also:fleet, arrived off Lyme Regis, he landed amid the curiosity rather than the sympathy of the inhabitants.

In the See also:

market-place his " declaration," See also:drawn up by Ferguson, was read aloud. In this document James was painted in the blackest See also:colours. Not only was he declared to be the murderer of See also:Essex, but he was directly charged with having poisoned Charles to obtain his See also:crown. Monmouth soon collected an undisciplined See also:body of some 1500 men, with whom he seized See also:Axminster, and entered See also:Taunton. Meanwhile the parliament had declared it See also:treason to assert Monmouth's legitimacy, or his title to the crown; a See also:reward of £5000 was offered for him dead or alive, and an act of See also:attainder was passed in unusual haste. Troops had been hurriedly sent to meet him, and when he reached See also:Bridgwater See also:Albemarle was already in his See also:rear. From Bridgwater the army marched through See also:Glastonbury to attack See also:Bristol, into which Lord Feversham had hastily thrown a See also:regiment of See also:foot-guards. The attempt, however, miscarried; and, after summoning See also:Bath in vain, Monmouth, with a disordered force, began his See also:retrograde march through See also:Philips See also:Norton and See also:Frome, continually harassed by Feversham's soldiers. At the latter place he heard of Argyll's See also:total rout in the western See also:Highlands. He was now anxious to give up the enterprise, but was overruled by Grey, Wade and others. On the 3rd of July he reached Bridgwater again, with an army little better than a See also:rabble, living at See also:free quarters and behaving with reckless violence. On See also:Sunday, the 5th, Feversham entered Sedgemoor in pursuit; Monmouth the same See also:night attempted a surprise, but his troops were hopelessly routed.

He himself, with Grey and a few others, fled over the Mendip Hills to the New See also:

Forest, hoping to reach the See also:coast and escape by See also:sea. The whole country, however, was on the alert, and at midnight on the 8th, within a See also:month of their landing, James heard that the revolt, desperate from the first, was over and that his See also:rival had been captured See also:close to See also:Ringwood in See also:Hampshire. On the See also:day of his See also:capture Monmouth wrote to James in terms of the most unmanly contrition, ascribing his wrong-doings to the See also:action of others, and imploring an interview. On the 13th the prisoners reached the See also:Tower, and on the next day Monmouth was allowed to see James. No See also:mercy was shown him, nor did he in the least deserve mercy; he had wantonly attacked the See also:peace of the country, and had cruelly libelled James. The king had not, even in his own mind, any See also:family tie to restrain him from exercising just severity, for he had never believed Monmouth to be the son of any one but Robert Sidney. Two painful interviews followed with the wife for whom he See also:bore no love, and who for him could feel no respect; another imploring See also:letter was sent to the king, and abject protestations and beseechings were made to all whom he saw. He offered, as the last hope, to become a Roman Catholic, and this might possibly have proved successful, but the priests sent by James to ascertain the sincerity of his " See also:conversion " declared that he cared only for his life and not for his soul. He met his death on the See also:scaffold with calmness and dignity. In the See also:paper which he left signed, and to which he referred in answer to the questions wherewith the busy bishops plied him, he expressed his sorrow for having assumed the royal See also:style, and at the last moment confessed that Charles had denied to him privately, as he had publicly, that he was ever married to Lucy Walters. He died at the age of See also:thirty-six, on the 15th of July 1685. Monmouth had four sons and two daughters by his wife, who in 1688 married the 3rd Lord See also:Cornwallis and died in 1732.

The See also:

elder of the two surviving sons, James, earl of See also:Dalkeith (1674-1705) had a son See also:Francis (1695-1751), who through his grandmother inherited the title of duke of Buccleuch in 1732, and was the ancestor of the later See also:dukes. The younger son, See also:Henry (1676-1730), was created earl of Deloraine in 1706, and See also:rose to be a See also:major-general in the army. The best accounts of Monmouth's career, apart from the See also:modern histories, are G. See also:Roberts's detailed Life (1844), the articles in the Dict. Nat. Biog. (by A. W. See also:Ward) and in See also:Collins's See also:Peerage, and the See also:Correspondence of Lord See also:Clarendon with James, earl of See also:Abingdon, 1683—1685 (Clarendon See also:Press, 1896). For the rebellion, Lord Grey's See also:Secret See also:History (1754) should be consulted. See also See also:Evelyn's and Pepys's Diaries, &c.

End of Article: MONMOUTH, JAMES SCOTT

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