THERE are not too many events in Scottish history that you can describe as a complete turning point in the long story of our nation. There are even fewer that were seen as such at the time, and it’s often only with hindsight that we recognise the transformative nature of events.

It was 375 years ago tomorrow that one such event took place, and those who participated in that turning point realised its huge importance and what it meant for Scotland. I am amazed that so many Scots know little or nothing about it, not least because ultimately it would lead to the Union of 1707.

Those nobles and other members who gathered in the Scottish Parliament on February 5, 1649 knew exactly what they were being asked to do, and for the most part, they were acting out of patriotic conscience, Scotland’s traditional adherence to the Stuart dynasty, and revulsion at the acts of the English Parliament and its army led by Oliver Cromwell.

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On January 30, 1649, King Charles I was executed by beheading, having been found guilty of high treason by Parliament in a show trial that Stalin or Hitler would have been proud of. Try as I might, I could find no-one of any standing commemorating the 375th anniversary of the regicide … The problem for the Scottish Parliament was that Charles Stuart, though never popular in his native land – he was born at Dunfermline in 1600, three years before his father James VI became James I of England – was the true king of Scotland, crowned at Holyrood Abbey on June 18, 1633 in an Anglican service.

Note that detail – that he was even then picking fights with the Presbyterian leaders of the Church of Scotland would be a constant problem in Charles’s reign and directly led to the National Covenant of 1638 which changed Scotland utterly.

After the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, he paid the ultimate price for his strident belief in the divine right of kings. Even though the Scottish Covenanter leadership sold him to England’s Parliamentary forces – not Scotland’s finest hour – they assumed Charles would continue as king albeit denuded of his power.

When he was instead put on trial facing the capital crime of treason, the Scottish authorities protested – as did several European monarchs and princes – but to no avail. England’s Parliament wanted Charles dead, and the Scots could go raffle themselves.

The Scottish Parliament reacted quickly, with members summoned to Edinburgh less than a week later. Ironically, it met at the same time as the English Parliament was meeting to pass a law to abolish the monarchy. Charles’s son – who would become Charles II – was hiding in the Netherlands, but had been in touch with his supporters in Scotland and knew he needed Scotland to act independently of England.

Thanks to that brilliant resource created by St Andrews University – The Records Of The Parliament of Scotland To 1707 – we know what was said and agreed in Edinburgh on that fateful day.

This was the opening preamble: “Forasmuch as the king’s majesty who lately reigned is, contrary to the dissent and protestation of this kingdom, now removed by a violent death, and that by the Lord’s blessing there is left to us a righteous heir and lawful successor, Charles, prince of Scotland and Wales etc., now king of Great Britain, France and Ireland, we, the estates of parliament of the kingdom of Scotland, do therefore most unanimously and cheerfully, in recognisance and acknowledgement of his just right, title and succession to the crown of these kingdoms, hereby proclaim and declare to all the world that the said lord and prince Charles is by the providence of God and by the lawful right of undoubted succession and descent king of Great Britain, France and Ireland, whom all the subjects of this kingdom are bound humbly and faithfully to obey, maintain and defend according to the National Covenant and the Solemn League and Covenant between the kingdoms with their lives and goods against all persons as their only righteous sovereign lord and king.”

They continued: “For the testification of all which we, the parliament of the kingdom of Scotland, publish this our due acknowledgement of his just right, title and succession to the crown of these kingdoms at the market cross of Edinburgh with all usual solemnities in similar cases, and ordain his royal name, portrait and seal to be used in the public writings and judicatories of the kingdom and in the mint-house as was usually done to his royal predecessors.”

Three weeks later, the Scottish Parliament designated commissioners to go and meet Charles II to negotiate with him the terms for his return to Scotland as king of this country. They wanted his commitment to making Presbyterianism the state religion once he had returned to Britain and taken his rightful throne.

That decision of the Scottish Parliament to proclaim Charles king was to have huge consequences for Scotland. It led directly to Cromwell’s decision to invade Scotland. After Charles agreed to the Covenanters’ terms, he came to Scotland in June 1650 and was allowed to set up court.

Cromwell was incensed and marched his troops north. His formidable and highly experienced New Model Army, assisted by the poor leadership shown by the Covenanters, routed the untrained and ill-prepared Scots army at Dunbar on September 3, 1650. Cromwell’s commander George Monck completed the subjugation of Scotland and as lord protector of the whole island of Great Britain, Cromwell subsumed Scotland into his Commonwealth.

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That first “union” is rarely referred to by modern-day Unionists – no wonder, as it was a conquest and not a merger, though one that I believe sowed the seeds of Unionism in many minds on both sides of the Border.

Charles II’s attempt to take back his kingdom by force ended in the defeat of his largely Scottish royalist army at Worcester exactly a year after Dunbar and the king barely escaped with his life, taking refuge on the continent until the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. That’s a whole other story.