Year of Award

2026

Document Type

Professional Paper

Degree Type

Master of Arts (MA)

Degree Name

History

Department or School/College

History

Committee Chair

John Eglin

Commitee Members

Claire Arcenas, Traolach O'Riordain

Keywords

Jacobitism, Culture, Gaelic, English, 18th century, Rebellion

Subject Categories

European History | European Languages and Societies | History

Abstract

This study investigates how Jacobites and Hanoverians constructed competing forms of nostalgia, identity, and political meaning in the decades after the rebellion of 1745. Although the defeat of Prince Charles Edward Stuart at Culloden ended any realistic hope of a Stuart restoration, it sparked a cultural struggle in which both supporters and opponents of the Stuarts depicted the Highlander as a symbol of heroic resistance or barbarism. A psychic struggle emerged as a result, and the Highlander became beloved by Jacobites and loathed by Hanoverians. These representations circulated through paintings, engravings, clothing, glassware, newspapers, pamphlets, and verse, which became central to the fabrication of competing sociopolitical values within Britain. The origins of the romanticization of the Highlander began earlier than the nineteenth-century. The guns of Culloden had barely cooled before the rehabilitation and manipulation of the Highlander’s image began. Jacobite poets, artists, and commemorators employed their trades to support a narrative of cultural legitimacy in an era when Suart political power was decidedly waning. At the same time, Hanoverian commentators conflated “Highlander” and “Jacobite,” deploying satire and caricature to portray Scots as barbaric and backward. By placing these visual and written sources in dialogue, this work demonstrates that Jacobitism was not a monolithic ideology. Material culture reveals a spectrum of Jacobite expression ranging from refined art and odes to common mudslinging. Hanoverian propaganda likewise ranged from sentimental drama to cruel satire. Together, these artifacts illuminate how Britons on both sides used material culture and writing to fabricate nostalgia in eighteenth century Britain.

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© Copyright 2026 Jacob Louis Shropshire