Anglo-Scottish War, 1650

A.) Pre-History of the War

During the English Civil War, Cromwell and the Scots fought on the same side. King Charles I. had surrendered to the Scots, and they turned him over to Cromwell.
After the execution of King Charles I. in 1649, King Charles II. (in exile) reconciled himself with the Scots by signing the National Covenant of Scotland.


B.) The Course of Events

The Marquis of Montrose, in the name of the Stuarts, landed in Scotland in March 1650, with a small Royalist force accompanied by Swedish mercenaries (in total 1,500 men); enforced by inexperienced volunteers, he was defeated in the Battle of Carbisdale April 27th and publicly executed in Edinburgh May 21st. On June 24th 1650, Charles II. arrived in Scotland; on Sept. 3th 1650, the Scots, 25,000 strong, at the hands of the English (Oliver Cromwell, General Monck, 16,000 men), suffered a defeat in the Battle of Dunbar. Edinburgh castle surrendered to Oliver Cromwell Dec. 24th 1650. On January 1st 1651, Charles II was crowned King of Scots at Scone, the last coronation on Scottish soil.


C.) Legacy

The Battle at Dunbar hat been decisive; On Dec. 16th, Oliver Cromwell was proclaimed Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland. King Charles fled to the continent; in 1651 he landed another force in England, where he was defeated by Cromwell in the Battle of Worcester. Again he went into exile.

EXTERNAL FILES

Biography of General Monk, from ScotWars The History of the British Army : The English Civil War, 1642-1651, from National Army Museum, scroll down for Third Civil War, 1650 Brief biography of James Graham, Marquis of Montrose, from Historiske Slag, in Danish; from Spartacus Schoolnet Chronology of Scottish History 1600-1899, from Rampant Scotland The Battle of Dunbar, from The Great Battles, posted anonymously; Dunbar 2, from Historiske Slag, in Danish Battle of Carbiesdale, 1650, from Historiske Slag, in Danish

DOCUMENTS

The National Covenant, or the Confession of Faith, from Homepage of the Reformed Presbyterian Church The Execution of James Graham, Marquis of Montrose, from McGonagall Online The Scots Armie at Dunbar 1650, from The Strathbogie Regiment, list of participants Map : Battle of Dunbar, 1650, from Gardiner's Atlas of English History, 1892

REFERENCE

This page is part of World History at KMLA First posted on June 13th 2003, last revised on November 18th 2004 Click here to go Home Click here to go to Information about KMLA, WHKMLA, the author and webmaster Click here to go to Statistics