Summary:

Esko Nevalainen, Anglo-Scottish Relations during the British Civil Wars from the Perspective of Core versus Periphery

In this representation the concepts of core and periphery are used in consideration of the relationship between England and Scotland during the Civil War period of the 1630’s and 1640’s. These two monarchies became united in the personal union of 1603, but this did not produce either a cultural or a political unity between the two countries.

The Scottish Covenanters rose against the personal rule of Charles I and especially the innovations in Church policy presented by the Monarch to defend their threatened religio-national identity. The Scottish army subsequently defeated the English in the Second Bishops’ War in 1640 and invaded two Northern English counties. This invasion by the periphery instigated the main political changes in the core in the course of the English Long Parliament, which ultimately lead to the Civil Wars.

In his book Sociology of Religion Max Weber referred to the concept of “inner-worldly asceticism”. This aspect is here proposed as a hypothetical explanation for the Covenanters´ insistence on gaining power and their consequent effect on the revolution in the British Isles in the 1640s. This can also help us to understand better the aspirations behind the Scottish political involvement in England.

It is also vitally important to put forth the concept of interdependence when discussing the relationship of England as core and Scotland as periphery. If the Scots wanted to secure their religio-political autonomy they had to export their revolution and aspire to some kind of political union with England. Unfortunately for the Covenanters, they were not able to fulfill these aspirations. Ultimately it would appear that the main problems the Covenanters had to deal with were with the English Independents. It seemed that the new enemy that was standing in the way of Scottish aspirations was even more difficult to defeat than the papist archenemy.

The problematic nature of the British multinational state can be regarded as one of the primary reasons behind the turbulent events in the British Isles from the late 1630’s to the early 1650’s. Following the execution of Charles I, Oliver Cromwell, having first suppressed the rebellion in Ireland, finally defeated the Scots in 1651 by invading Scotland. In the end, England – the core - conquered Scotland - the expansionist periphery.