Show notes
How did the union of England and Scotland come to fruition? From failed Scottish colonies to anti-independence espionage, Marc Mierowsky's book A Spy Amongst Us reveals how union wasn't inevitable, and how many Scottish people tried to choose their own future. In this episode of the HistoryExtra podcast, Marc joins Isabel King to explore the complicated journey towards the Acts of Union 1707.
Highlighted moments
in Scotland, because the parliament there has to sort of sanction it a bit later, they say he for-faulted the crown. So it might sound like, you know, a little bit squabbling over small differences, but it's quite crucial. So that for-faulting, because they've declared that, the balance of sovereignty shifts even more to the Scottish parliament than it does to the English parliament.
“He also wrote the first history of the Union, which he used when he was a spy as a cover story. He's like, I'm going to write the history of the Union. And because of that, he got access to all these sort of parliamentary negotiations and internal minutes and material that he used as espionage sources.”
“I don't think it's as inevitable as it has been presented, as a sort of a glorious triumph of fate accompli. Nor do I think it was something of a completely political job, a parcel of rogues in a nation bribed by the 20,000 pounds that Queensbury had to distribute. It's somewhere between that.”
“There's a historian in the 20th century who says Defoe is the founder of MI5 for all this work. And I don't think so, because so much of intelligence gathering in this period was attached to the particular secretary of state.”
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