Fiscal revolution and state formation in mid seventeenth-century Scotland

• Published in: Historical research : the bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research Vol. 84; no. 225; pp. 443 - 469
• Main Author: Stewart, Laura A. M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.08.2011; Oxford University Press
• Subjects: Civil war; European history; Historical analysis; Rebellions; Scotland
• ISSN: 0950-3471; 1468-2281
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2281.2010.00550.x

The rebellion against Charles I that began in Scotland in 1637 became the catalyst for a series of wars that spanned his British dominions. This article will show that the civil wars of the mid seventeenth century created the conditions for a fiscal revolution in Scotland. A preliminary analysis of the central and local government structures that enabled superior resource extraction suggests that the sixteen‐forties was a period of accelerated development in the formation of the Scottish state. Although the parliamentary regime governing the country from 1638 did not survive the English invasion of 1650–1, its financial innovations would influence subsequent regimes for the rest of the century.