The History of Civilisation in Scotland

This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design. This sweeping history follows Scotland from the Union of the Crowns to the aftermath of the Jacobite risings, where kings, parliaments, and churches collide in a struggle over authority, faith, and national identity. It opens with James VI's attempt to strengthen Episcopacy and royal prerogative, then traces the resistance that grows under Charles I, the rise of the Covenanting movement, the Solemn League and Covenant, Montrose's campaigns, and the execution of the king. The story continues through Charles II, Cromwell, the Restoration, and the long persecution of Covenanters, before reaching the Revolution of 1688, the return of Presbyterianism, the Darien disaster, and the first steps toward union with England. Alongside this political drama, the book paints vivid scenes of Scottish society: harsh civic discipline in Glasgow and Aberdeen, poverty, lawlessness, witchcraft fears, and the slow improvement of roads, shipping, and trade. It also charts economic growth in cloth, linen, tobacco, banking, and paper currency, while celebrating ballads, Jacobite songs, literature, education, and the arts. A final philosophical survey brings in Bacon, Hobbes, Locke, Berkeley, Descartes, Spinoza, and others, linking Scotland's turbulent history to the wider transformation of European thought.