It took place during the War of the Austrian Succession , when the bulk of the British Army was fighting in mainland Europe, and proved to be the last in a series of revolts that began in March , with major outbreaks in and Charles launched the rebellion on 19 August at Glenfinnan in the Scottish Highlands , capturing Edinburgh and winning the Battle of Prestonpans in September. At a council in October, the Scots agreed to invade England after Charles assured them of substantial support from English Jacobites and a simultaneous French landing in Southern England.
On that basis, the Jacobite army entered England in early November, but neither of these assurances proved accurate. On reaching Derby on 4 December, they halted to discuss future strategy. Similar discussions had taken place at Carlisle , Preston and Manchester and many felt they had gone too far already. The invasion route had been selected to cross areas considered strongly Jacobite in sympathy, but the promised English support failed to materialise.
With several government armies marching on their position, they were outnumbered and in danger of being cut off. The decision to retreat was supported by the vast majority, but caused an irretrievable split between Charles and his Scots supporters.
Charles escaped to France, but was unable to win support for another attempt, and died in Rome in Neither Mary, who died in , nor her sister Anne , had surviving children, leaving their Catholic half-brother James Francis Edward as the closest natural heir.
Since the Act of Settlement excluded Catholics from the succession, when Anne became queen in , her heir was the distantly related but Protestant Electress Sophia of Hanover. Louis XIV of France , the primary source of support for the exiled Stuarts, died in and his successors needed peace with Britain in order to rebuild their economy. The birth of his sons Charles and Henry helped maintain public interest in the Stuarts, but by , James was "living tranquilly in Rome, having abandoned all hope of a restoration.
