1688: The Borders of Belief and Power

The Glorious Revolution redraws the limits of power. A Bill of Rights chains the crown; Toleration lines widen for Protestants but bar Catholics. In Ireland, the Boyne and Limerick mark new frontiers of loyalty; Jacobite risings keep borderlands on edge.

Episode Narrative

In the late 17th century, a momentous shift began to reshape the very fabric of Scotland and England. The year was 1688, a time marked not just by political upheaval, but by an evolving consciousness that altered how people engaged with governance. The Glorious Revolution unfurled, and with it came the Claim of Right, a pivotal document that forever changed the landscape of political communication in Scotland. This was not merely the story of kings and crowns; it was the tale of the collective voice, of how the power of popular opinion was formally acknowledged for the first time, ushering in a new era.

By 1689, the inclinations clause of the Claim of Right had laid bare an essential truth: political culture in Scotland could no longer ignore the myriad ways people expressed their thoughts. Proclamations, sermons, kirk letters, and even Gaelic poetry emerged as vital instruments of public opinion. For the first time, these varied forms of communication were integrated into the governance structures of Scotland. It was a watershed moment, a dawning recognition that the voices of the people mattered — a significant departure from centuries of top-down rule.

In these tumultuous years, between 1688 and 1707, Scotland's political actors became adept at maneuvering through a complex web of communication strategies. Those who controlled the official narratives — the government, allied institutions, and print presses — held considerable power, but they were not unchallenged. Opposition groups emerged, finding refuge in foreign presses, manuscripts, and oral traditions. They circumvented censorship with ingenuity, becoming the undercurrents of resistance against the established order. Each pamphlet, each whispered word, was a rallying cry, a way to forge solidarity in the face of repression.

The landscape of political communication was shifting, and it wasn't confined to Scotland. On the other side of the border, England was undergoing its own metamorphosis. The political upheaval that followed the Glorious Revolution redefined property rights and Parliament’s role. A stronger Parliament emerged, spurred by the heightened needs of war and economic expansion. As Britain’s global role as a burgeoning power began to take shape, financial and administrative revolutions unfolded. New systems of finance were crafted, reshaping landed property structures and commercial practices, thus laying the groundwork for capitalism as it would evolve in the decades to come.

The medieval Palace of Westminster, once a realm where kings ruled and lived, transformed into a dedicated home for law courts and state functions. This transition was emblematic of a broader shift — a growing separation between the monarchy and daily governance. The king was increasingly absent, a reflection of the changing political culture and a burgeoning belief that power derived from the realm of politics, rather than from divine right.

As we peer deeper into this era, we find that these shifts were not occurring in isolation. Between 1500 and 1800, England and Wales witnessed rapid economic transformations. The cries of farmers and laborers echoed through the valleys and towns, echoing a decline in the male labor sector in agriculture. Rising agricultural productivity went hand in hand with the emergence of alternative employment sectors, as the landscape of work morphed beneath society's feet. These changes paved the way for a new socioeconomic order, one that affected livelihoods at every level.

Yet nature had its own narrative to tell. From 1765 to 1768, the British Isles faced a forgotten drought, an intense multi-year event that impacted both Scotland and Ireland. It was a harrowing experience, confirmed by newspaper accounts and other documents from this period, revealing the fragile interplay between climate and survival. Such environmental crises could change the course of lives and influence political opinion — reminding society that nature’s voice could assert itself amid human conflicts.

Migration patterns during this period also reflected a broader tide of change that swept through Britain. Apprentices from Wales flocked to London, seeking opportunities that the burgeoning metropolis promised. This movement was not just about labor; it encapsulated a desire for economic integration. The borders of regions were becoming fluid as individuals sought to forge their paths in an ever-changing landscape.

In the late 18th century, the thirst for knowledge and the desire to preserve history blossomed. Antiquarians like Rev. Richard Warner embarked on walking tours, driven by curiosity and a longing for connection. In 1797, Warner traversed an astonishing 469 miles across Wales. His journey highlighted the importance of direct observation — showing how the lived experience of history could provide insights as valuable as the written word. These explorations further enriched the communal understanding of regional identities, as the past and present converged on the paths they walked.

Between 1621 and 2019, the British Library catalogued over 24,000 titles of Scottish, Irish, and British newspapers, offering a documentary treasure trove. This impressive catalog revealed the complex networks of communication that linked regions and reflected national sentiments. Such documentation allowed historians and researchers to unearth the rhythms of everyday life, weaving the narrative quilt of a society built on both newsprint and oral tradition.

As we delve further, a fascinating tapestry of maritime trade emerges. The history of ports and coastal routes in England and Wales tells us about the interconnectedness of regions during the age of sail. From 1540 to 1700, a range of primary and secondary sources illuminated how these waterways facilitated commerce, giving life and breath to communities far and wide. Ships carried not just goods, but also ideas and cultural exchanges, blurring the borders of identity.

Looking back to the foundations of urban governance, we discover the emergence of civic administrative literacy. Between 1272 and 1307, York began formalizing record-keeping practices, influencing not just local governance but resonating throughout English cities. These practices marked a monumental shift in how communities documented their own histories, offering a framework for future societies to engage with their past.

The sixteenth century marked a controversial point of intervention in Britain’s historical narrative. Linguistic evidence suggests varied scenarios of ethnic contact — extermination, expulsion, enslavement, or assimilation. Each of these paths played a critical role in shaping regional identities and borders. The complexities of human interaction create a mosaic of histories, blurring the lines of allegiance and belonging.

Between 1560 and 1760, the voracious appetite for news defined Early Modern English society. The circulation of newspapers and other documents transformed the landscape of information, traversing social strata and altering perceptions of reality. This burgeoning obsession with news reflected the dark clouds of political strife and the ever-present tension between rulers and the ruled.

As the long nineteenth century unfolded, the thousands of petitions to the House of Commons reveal significant transformations in the public’s perception of governance. Over a million petitions marked a shift in how individuals interrelated with the structures of power. The relationship between the crown and Parliament was reshaped through this ongoing dialogue, manifesting the evolving cultural attitudes toward authority and representation.

In this intricate historical tapestry from 1470 to 1800, the trends of publication reveal deep currents within intellectual and cultural production. The digitized library catalogues flesh out macroscopic patterns that historians can now uncover, guiding us to explore the interplay between communication and public sentiment. The materiality of writing transformed, moving from hand-produced artifacts to mass-produced forms, reflecting a society that craved knowledge and connection.

As we look back on this time between 1500 and 1800, it becomes evident that the physicality of writing changed not just how people communicated, but also how they understood their world. Inscriptions on surfaces and documents became a mirror reflecting daily life and administrative culture, illustrating broader shifts in literacy practices.

The year 1688, thus, stands not merely as a date but as a threshold — a moment of transformation from which flows a new understanding of power and belief in society. As Scotland sought to define its own voice and place in history, it was part of a larger story shared with England, as both kingdoms grappled with what it meant to be governed.

Today, we find ourselves pondering the lessons learned from that revolutionary period. In an era rife with polarization and contention, the importance of diverse voices and the need for collective engagement ring truer than ever. The changes spurred by the Glorious Revolution and the Claim of Right resonate through the corridors of time, reminding us of the struggles fought for recognition and acknowledgment.

What does it mean to have a voice in the cacophony of power? How do we navigate the storm of differing opinions, and how do we ensure that our collective beliefs find their place in the annals of history? In the faces of adversity, we must look not only at the outcomes but also at the pathways paved by those who dared to speak. The borders of belief and power may continue to shift, but the quest for legitimacy and the right to be heard remains an unyielding journey.

Highlights

In 1688–1690, the Glorious Revolution fundamentally transformed Scotland's political communication landscape, with the Claim of Right's inclinations clause demonstrating a shift in how collective political opinion was formally recognized and incorporated into governance structures. - By 1689, the inclinations clause of the Claim of Right established that political culture in Scotland now accepted and incorporated all forms of communication — proclamations, kirk letters, sermons, manuscript tracts, Gaelic poetry, and pamphlets — to demonstrate collective opinions, marking a watershed in the legitimacy of public voice. - Between 1688–1707, Scotland's political actors employed competing communication strategies: those controlling official narratives held a monopoly over printing presses, while opposition groups organized resistance through foreign presses, manuscripts, and oral communications to circumvent censorship. - In 1707, the Union of Scotland and England formally redrew the political borders of Britain, consolidating two previously distinct kingdoms under a single Parliament and crown, though regional identities and communication practices persisted. - Post-1688, property rights in England underwent significant reform guided by an enhanced Parliament, stimulating financial and commercial expansion that would underpin Britain's emerging global role and capitalist development. - Between the 1680s–1700s, the post-1688 Financial and Administrative Revolutions, pressured by enhanced needs of war and Britain's expanding global role, created new financial systems that reformed landed property structures and commercial practices. - In the sixteenth century, the medieval Palace of Westminster transitioned from being the primary royal residence where the king lived and worked alongside his administration to becoming solely the home of law-courts, Parliament, and state offices, reflecting shifting political culture and the increasing absence of the English monarch from the palace. - Between 1500–1800, England and Wales experienced rapid structural economic transformation, with male labor sectoral shares in agriculture declining sharply between the early seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, associated with rising agricultural productivity and the emergence of alternative employment sectors. - In 1765–1768, a major "forgotten" drought affected the British–Irish Isles, ranking as the most intense multi-year drought event across regional series for Ireland and Scotland and representing the most extreme accumulated deficits across all three regional series, with impacts confirmed by newspaper accounts and documentary sources. - Between 1600–1800, apprentice migration from Wales to London intensified, reflecting labor mobility and economic integration across regional borders within Britain during the early modern period. - In the late eighteenth century (c. 1797), antiquaries such as Rev. Richard Warner conducted embodied historical research through pedestrian tours — Warner's 469-mile walking tour of Wales in August 1797 exemplified how on-foot observation provided evidence as important as written sources and stimulated historical imagination. - Between 1621–2019, the British Library catalogued over 24,000 British, Irish, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies newspapers, with the earliest titles appearing in 1621, providing a documentary record of regional and national communication networks across the early modern period. - In 1540–1700, historic ports and coastal sailing routes in England and Wales were reconstructed from twenty different sources including geographical data, primary documents, and secondary literature, revealing the maritime infrastructure that connected regions and facilitated trade during the age of sail. - Between 1272–1307, York's civic administrative literacy emerged significantly influenced by royal government policies and archival activities, marking the commencement of urban archives and the formalization of record-keeping practices in English cities. - In the sixteenth century, the English intervention in Britain became chronologically controversial among population historians, with linguistic evidence from Old English suggesting diverse historical scenarios of ethnic contact — extermination, expulsion, enslavement, or assimilation — that shaped regional identities and borders. - Between 1560–1760, Early Modern English society demonstrated a voracity for news that characterized Tudor and Stuart England, mapped through analysis of the Corpus of English Dialogues and the word "NEW(E)S" in spoken discourse, revealing how information circulated across social strata and regions. - In 1780–1918, over 1 million petitions to the House of Commons and surviving data from the House of Lords reveal shifting perceptions of the crown, Parliament, the administrative state, and local government, with subscriptional cultures transforming across the long nineteenth century from medieval and early modern origins. - Between 1470–1800, publication trends in history recorded in the English Short-Title Catalogue (ESTC) demonstrate how digitized library catalogues reveal macroscopic patterns of intellectual and cultural production in early modern Britain and North America, enabling reproducible historical research. - In the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, antiquarian historical practice became closely tied to embodied experience of places, with on-foot observation providing evidence complementary to written sources and stimulating historical imagination about regional landscapes and their significance. - Between 1500–1800, the materiality of writing in Britain — including inscriptions on objects, documents, and surfaces — underwent transformation from hand-produced to mass-produced forms, reflecting broader shifts in communication technologies, literacy practices, and the physical evidence available to historians studying daily life and administrative culture.

1688: The Borders of Belief and Power

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