The King Over the Water: A Complete History of the Jacobites

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Excluded from the succession by law because of their Roman Catholicism, James's Stuart descendants pursued their claims to the crowns as pretenders. But a definite memorial of Charles’s stay is his granting, in 1666, of the Privilegie der Visscherie, which allowed fifty Bruges ships to catch herring and other fish in British waters in perpetuity. Following the death of Henry in 1807, the Jacobite claim passed to those excluded by the 1701 Act of Settlement. Throughout the 17th century, the close connection between Scottish politics and religion meant changes of regime were accompanied by the losers being expelled from the kirk.

Desmond Seward has been shortlisted for a Military History Matters Book of the Year Award for The King Over The Water.Relatively few of the surviving songs, however, actually date from the time of the risings; one of the best known is the Irish song " Mo Ghile Mear", which although a more recent composition is based on the contemporary lyric "Buan ar Buairt Gach Ló" by Seán Clárach Mac Domhnaill. For the Irish, it was Catholic emancipation; for the Scots, it was an end to the new, but widely hated, union with England.

This book fills the gap, telling the whole saga in England, Scotland and Ireland (through Jacobite eyes), from James II's flight in 1688 until his grandson Henry IX's death in 1807.

For most of the period from 1690 to 1714, Parliament was either controlled by the Tories, or evenly split with the Whigs; when George I succeeded Anne, most hoped to reconcile with the new regime. Instead, have a look at this large plaque, which we came across near the centre of Brugge on our recent jaunt, but had never seen before. The revival largely came to an end with the First World War, and the various societies of the time are now represented by the Royal Stuart Society. Jacobitism [c] was a political movement that supported the restoration of the senior line of the House of Stuart to the British throne.