September 6th , 1715
Jacobitism was the political movement dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England and Scotland (and after 1707, Great Britain). The movement took its name from the Latin form Jacobus of the name of King James II and VII.
Jacobitism was a response to the deposition of James II and VII in 1688 when he was replaced by his daughter Mary II jointly with her husband William of Orange. The Stuarts lived on the European continent after that, occasionally attempting to regain the throne with the aid of France or Spain. Within the British Isles, the primary seats of Jacobitism were Ireland and (especially Highland) Scotland. There was also some support in England and Wales, particularly in the North of England. Royalists supported Jacobitism because they believed that Parliament had no authority to interfere with the Royal succession, and many Catholics looked to it to restore their preeminence, but people became involved in the military campaigns for all sorts of allegiances and motives. In Scotland the Jacobite cause became entangled in the last throes of the warrior Clan system, and became a lasting romantic memory.
The emblem of the Jacobites is the White Rose of York; white rose day is celebrated on June 10, the anniversary of the birth of James VIII and III in 1688.
James Francis corresponded with Mar from France, as part of widespread Jacobite plotting, and in the summer of 1715 he called on Mar to raise the Clans without further delay. Mar, realising that the government had found out about his part in the conspiracy, rushed from London to Braemar and summoned clan leaders to a grand hunting-match on August 27, 1715 where he announced his change of allegiance. On September 6 he proclaimed James as their lawful sovereign and raised the old Scottish standard, whereupon (ominously) the gold ball fell off the top of the flagpole. Mars proclamation called on men to fight for the relief of our native country from oppression and a foreign yoke too heavy for us or our posterity to bear.
