“And so you’re a Jacobite?” said I, as I set meat before him.
“Ay,” said he, beginning to eat. “And you, by your long face, should be a Whig?”
—Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped
Being a fansite for D. K. Broster’s The Flight of the Heron, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped and other excellent old books about the Jacobites.
Welcome to Ye Jacobites By Name, a fansite for old fiction about the Jacobites!
The Jacobites were a political movement in eighteenth-century Britain and Ireland who, following the deposition of the Stuart King James II and VII in 1688 and the accession of the Hanoverian King George I in 1714, fought for the restoration of the Stuart family to their throne. While there was a Jacobite presence throughout Britain, the movement had its stronghold in Scotland, particularly the Highlands, and is most closely associated with this region in historical memory. Its most memorable contribution to history is surely the Rising of 1745, in which Prince Charles Edward ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’ Stuart, grandson of James II and VII, landed in Scotland and led an uprising which came close to succeeding in toppling the Hanoverian monarchy. Bonnie Prince Charlie was tragically defeated, and the Stuarts never did regain their throne; but their efforts live on in romantic memory, and have been a rich source for authors of historical fiction ever since.
I became interested in Jacobite fiction after reading D. K. Broster’s brilliant novel The Flight of the Heron a few years ago. I am also very fond of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped, one of the best-known Jacobite novels and a classic of Scottish historical fiction (and very deservedly so). Most of the site is devoted to these two books and material related thereto: this includes my fanfiction, other writing about the books and some biographical and literary background on Broster, who is an intriguingly obscure figure (Stevenson is much more famous and better-researched, so there’s less left for me to do!). But there are many more Jacobite novels, and others may appear here from time to time.
So have a look round, raise a toast to the King over the Water, and enjoy the site!
I write fanfiction for The Flight of the Heron, Kidnapped and some other related books, and record podfics of my own and other Flight of the Heron fics. Here they are!
Various stuff under the broad heading of fannish meta, about The Flight of the Heron and Kidnapped. For The Flight of the Heron this currently includes an article about the geography of the book (including location photos!), a timeline of events, some analysis of Broster’s use of language and some intriguing unresolved mysteries; for Kidnapped there’s an investigation of the book’s textual history and revisions made by Stevenson, and some notes on how the book and its characters use names.
This section contains more external stuff about the books: information on background and publication history, contemporary reviews and responses, later literary writings and adaptations.
Other things, fictional and non-fictional, which may be of interest to fans of The Flight of the Heron, Kidnapped and other Jacobite fiction. This includes a brief introduction to the history of the Jacobites and the ’45, and a list of fiction involving the Jacobites.
My main online home is on Dreamwidth, where much of the material on this site was originally posted. Do come and say hi there!
I can be contacted by email at regshoe@fastmail.com.
My fanfic and podfic are archived on AO3 here.
I’m occasionally on Discord and have a largely inactive Tumblr, both also under the name regshoe.
I’m on Wikipedia under the name Lochnahiolaire (my usual username was taken, so I went for a new FotH reference), where I edit and write articles largely on subjects related to my favourite Jacobite books.
Many very grateful thanks are due to all the friends and fellow fans who’ve contributed to the substance of this website—by offering their own work to be used here, sending me things I didn’t otherwise have access to, drawing my attention to things I wouldn’t otherwise have known about, or just being, through fanworks and discussions, part of the general milieu of fannish activity and reciprocal inspiration which keeps me doing this kind of thing. :) Thanks especially to Luzula, Hyarrowen, theseatheseatheopensea, Sanguinity, Garonne, Muccamukk and scintilla10.