Though scientists will, I imagine, continue to debate, for some time, the question of nature versus nurture and which plays a more prominent role in the development of a human being, nature must have the upper hand. For it seems, in life after life, that our environment has a profound say in who we are and what we make of ourselves. From the faiths we proclaim, to the morals we espouse, to the biases we hold, and the ideologies we advocate, the things we believe in are imprinted upon us by the society to which we belong. There's nothing inherently wrong with this; after all, there are plenty of societies that inculcate their citizens with kindness and generosity. But of course, in such a scenario, a great deal of importance rests on the quality of that inculcating society. If it is healthy and good, then its citizens are bound to follow in its footsteps. But if it is plagued by inequity and narrowmindedness, then these shortcomings will burden its people with flaws they will struggle to overcome. There can be few better examples of this principle at work than Bonnie Prince Charlie.
Christened Charles Edward Louis John Casimir Silvester Severino Maria Stuart, Bonnie Prince Charlie was born, in 1720, to the self-styled James III of England and VIII of Scotland whose Catholic father, James II, was overthrown in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. As a result, the Bonnie Prince was not born in England but at the papal court in Rome where his father James, after two miserably unsuccessful attempts to reclaim the throne for his father, came to reside, exiled from his homeland. Young Charlie was groomed, from an early age, to be the great, Catholic hope, the Stewart who would return to a Britain lost to Anglicanism, raise up the banner of the pro-papal Stewarts and win back the throne for his crownless father. As such, while his younger, more artistic brother threw himself into a pious and Romantic education, Charlie was mastered in the art of combat and infused with the arrogance necessary for a man to overcome all odds in the achievement of a difficult goal.
In 1744, the 24-year-old Charlie snuck out of Italy and relocated to France where the French king, agreed to support a Catholic invasion of England with ships and men under the Stewart banner. But when the vagaries of seasonal weather combined with general incompetence to scuttle the planned French invasion, an impulsive Charlie, believing Jacobite loyalists would rally to him the moment he raised his standard on British soil, ignored the entreaties from his father to return to Rome and boldly sailed to England where a skirmish with the British navy forced him to land in desolate Scotland. Charlie's boldness was born out, however, when, within the year, he had forged a Scottish army capable of marching on London. But when factional infighting forced a retreat at the vital moment, the dream was doomed and, in 1745, at Culloden, the dream died in a decisive and devastating English victory.
Ms. Erickson, a veteran biographer, has done justice, here, to a worthy subject. For while her reconstruction of the Jacobite rebellion is compelling and entertaining, it's her portrait of Charles Stewart himself that captivates. This is a man trained practically from birth to achieve a single, nearly impossible dream, to restore his father to his rightful throne. And so, when circumstances conspire to kill that dream, he is a failure. Without a Catholic monarchy in england, he is nothing more than a nobleman, a man trained to do the one thing he cannot achieve. It's no wonder then that he slowly became a cruel, selfish, licentious drunk, a man playing out the string of life with the knowledge that he could never actualize what he was made for. The pall that would cast over ones life beggars the imagination.
This is as much a study in character and human nature as it is a biography of the death of the Stewart dynasty. In both respects, it is a wonderful success. (5/5 Stars)
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