History MA candidate Owen McAllister will defend his thesis on Thursday, July 9, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The defence will take place both in person, in Room 601C of the Plaza building on the Brock University campus, and on Teams. Interested members of the public are welcome to attend.
Owen’s thesis is entitled, “A War of Words: Jacobitism as a Language of Dissent in England during the Reign of William III, 1688-1702.”
Thesis abstract
This thesis explores how Jacobitism became a significant framework for those opposed to the political settlement following the Glorious Revolution and how this movement functioned as a language of dissent utilized by those opposed to the new Williamite regime. In doing so, this thesis challenges the Whiggish historical narrative that William III’s Glorious Revolution enjoyed overwhelming popular support, was bloodless, and that the Jacobite movement had little support in England.
The thesis explores this topic through deep biographical case studies to highlight the material and interpersonal interconnectedness of those involved in the Jacobite print trade: authors, printers, distributors, verbal supporters, and those who took part in censoring the movement. This thesis reveals a network of Jacobite supporters active in London who wrote and printed Jacobite works, as well as those who demonstrated support by distributing them or through verbal expressions. The censorship apparatus of the Williamite regime also features prominently, revealing connections between informers, spies, messengers of the press, common people who took the suppression of the Jacobite movement upon themselves, and the supporters of the Jacobite movement who they suppressed or attempted to suppress.
In doing so, the thesis explores how the state weaponized sectarianism and the legal system to stabilize its rule and maintain its grip on power during the years of instability in William III’s reign. England, unlike Scotland and Ireland, had no popular revolt against William’s rule; rather, this thesis highlights a war of words raging in England following the Glorious Revolution.
