Jacobite, In British history, a supporter of the exiled Stuart king James II (in Latin, Jacobus) and his descendants after the Glorious Revolution of 1688. The movement was strong in Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, and it included Catholics and Anglican Tories. The Jacobites, especially under William III and Queen Anne, could offer a feasible alternative title to the crown, and several attempts were made to restore the Stuarts. In 1689 James II landed in Ireland, but his army was defeated at the Battle of the Boyne. In the Fifteen Rebellion (1715), led by John Erskine, 6th earl of Mar (1675–1732), Jacobites tried to seize the crown for James Edward, the Old Pretender. In the Forty-five Rebellion (1745) Charles Edward, the Young Pretender, took Scotland, but the Jacobite army was crushed at the Battle of Culloden (1746).
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