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23-608: William Mercer may refer to: William Mercer (poet) (c. 1605–c. 1675), Scottish poet and army officer William Thomas Mercer (1821–1879), British Colonial Secretary in Hong Kong, 1859–1868 William W. Mercer , American politician from Montana and former United States Attorney William (Rosko) Mercer (1927–2000), known as Rosko, American news announcer and disc jockey Bill Mercer (born 1926), American sportscaster William Mercer (rugby league) (born 1906), rugby league footballer of

46-464: A Poem on Robartes entry into Dublin. In 1672 he sued the family of James Mercer of Aldie for damages after the breakdown of the engagement of his eldest son to Mercer's daughter. He wrote verses praising the Scottish court of session judges and begging for their favour in his case, but to no avail as he lost the case; however, in 1675 he was awarded compensation of the cost of coming from Ireland to fight

69-637: A poorly trained Engager army of 9,000 marched into England. The Second English Civil War was intended as a series of Royalist risings in England and Wales, with the Scots providing support. By the time Hamilton's army entered Lancashire in early August, the other revolts had been suppressed and Cromwell routed the Engagers at Preston on 19 August. Hamilton was taken prisoner and executed in March 1649. Defeat at Preston led to

92-646: A position as a chorister of the Chapel Royal at Stirling, from Charles I . David Stevenson, Mercer's biographer in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , says that "This musical side to his interests makes it likely that he was the 'William Merser, musician' who was admitted a burgess of Edinburgh in 1631 (Wood, 3.95). His first poetic work, A Description of the Creation (1632), a miscellany, included fulsome praise for Edinburgh's magistrates." He fought for

115-518: A unified Church of Scotland and England governed by bishops became the first step in his vision of a centralised, Unionist state. Although both churches were nominally Episcopalian, they were very different in doctrine; even Scottish bishops viewed many Church of England practices as little better than Catholicism. Efforts by Charles I to impose uniform practices led to the 1638 National Covenant , whose signatories pledged to resist liturgical 'innovations'. In December 1638, bishops were expelled from

138-466: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages William Mercer (poet) At fifteen he ran away from school to become a soldier and fought in the 30 Years War. By the time he was twenty-four he had served six monarchs, including the King of Denmark and Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden . He returned to Scotland disillusioned by lack of pay, and in 1630 obtained

161-573: The Engagers army, probably with the rank of lieutenant-colonel , because in 1650 with that rank he repented his support for the Engagers in a petition to the commission of the general assembly of the Church of Scotland. His movements over the next decade are not known but he was in Ireland in 1659 when, in response to Lord Robartes of Truro' appointment to the position of Lord Lieutenant, Mercer wrote A Welcom in

184-700: The Kirk Party , led by Argyll saw religious union with England as the best way to preserve a Presbyterian kirk and in October 1643, the Solemn League and Covenant agreed a Presbyterian Union in return for Scottish military support. Royalists and moderates in both Scotland and England opposed union, as did the religious Independents like Oliver Cromwell , who dominated the New Model Army and opposed any state-ordered church. Both Covenanters and their English allies saw

207-409: The 1930s for England and St Helens RLFC William Mercer (cricketer) (1922–1989), English cricketer William Mercer (Australian politician) (1796–1871), British Army officer, landowner, pastoralist, and politician in colonial New South Wales Willie Mercer (1874–1932), Scottish footballer See also [ edit ] Billy Mercer (disambiguation) [REDACTED] Topics referred to by

230-680: The Covenant himself split the Scots. It was not until April 1648 the Engagers achieved a majority in the Scottish Parliament ; Argyll's Kirk Party did not trust Charles, objected to an alliance with English and Scots Royalists, and denounced the Engagement as 'sinful.' Most of the Scottish army had been demobilised and efforts to recruit new regiments were undermined when many refused to serve, including their most experienced generals, Lord Leven and David Leslie . The inexperienced Duke of Hamilton

253-560: The Independents as a bigger threat than the Royalists and when Charles surrendered in 1646, they began negotiations to restore him to the English throne. The Scots nominated three Commissioners to negotiate with Charles; Lauderdale , Lanark and Loudoun . In December 1647, Charles agreed to impose Presbyterianism in England for three years and suppress the Independents, but his refusal to take

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276-528: The Kirk Party as the government of Scotland. However, the execution of Charles in January 1649 was viewed by Covenanters as an offence against God; they proclaimed his son Charles II King of Scotland and Great Britain. In the 1650 Treaty of Breda , they agreed to restore Charles to the English throne; in return he accepted the Covenant. Defeats at Dunbar and Worcester resulted with Scotland being incorporated into

299-787: The Protestant cause in the Irish Rebellion of 1641 , a conflict in which his brother Robert, a Presbyterian minister, and his family were killed, but left Ireland to join the Parliamentary side in the First English Civil War . He was commissioned as a captain in the parliamentarian army of the Earl of Essex , and he witnessed the Battle of Edgehill . By 1646 he had discovered that the English parliament were no more likely to pay their soldiers than

322-467: The case. Before his death he had been working on a "big book" chronicling events since 1638. But it was not completed by his death and David Stevenson says "That this never appeared need be little lamented, for 'Mercer's writings are mainly valuable for their autobiographical details. The majority of his verses are mere doggerel, and display an inordinate self-conceit' (DNB). But his conceit did at least ensure that enough information survived to reconstruct

345-507: The collapse of the Engager regime; the Kirk Party took control of Edinburgh and although repulsed at Stirling in September, a new civil war seemed imminent. However, with Cromwell's support, Argyll took control and expelled his Engager opponents, with English troops being withdrawn. The 1649 Act of Classes banned Engagers and Royalists from holding political or military office and established

368-507: The king held supreme authority, but that did not necessarily mean they supported bishops and individual motives were very complex. Many fought for both Covenant and king at different times, including Montrose . When the First English Civil War began in 1642, Scotland initially remained neutral, but became involved in the Irish Rebellion ; the bitterness of this conflict radicalised views in Scotland and Ireland. The Covenanter faction known as

391-488: The kirk; when Charles attempted to use military force, he was defeated in the 1639 and 1640 Bishops' Wars , which left the Covenanter party in control of Scotland. Calvinists believed a 'well-ordered' monarchy was part of God's plan; as a result, the vast majority of Covenanters agreed monarchy itself was divinely ordered but disagreed on who held ultimate authority in clerical affairs. Royalists and Engagers tended to argue

414-518: The monarch; Presbyterian structures were controlled by Elders , nominated by their congregations. Arguments over structure or governance of the church were as much about politics and the power of the monarch as religious practice; political divisions often centred on different interpretations of this. The Protestant Reformation created a Church of Scotland , or 'kirk', Presbyterian in structure and governance, but predominantly Calvinist in doctrine. When James VI and I became king of England in 1603,

437-402: The monarchs of Europe. His campaign to be paid culminated in the verse Angliae speculum, or, England's Looking-Glasse (1646). It was addressed to Essex and pleaded for payment of his back pay of £900 from parliament. In the same year that Mercer wrote Angliae speculum he also wrote an elegy for his father-in-law Sir Henry Mervyn and later the same year one for Essex. By 1648 Mercer was in

460-663: The outline of his life." Mercer has been mistakenly credited by some with writing The Moderate Cavalier, or, The Soldier's Description of Ireland which was published in 1675, but the William Mercer who wrote it had served as a Royalist in the English Civil War . Engagers The Engagers were a faction of the Scottish Covenanters , who made " The Engagement " with King Charles I in December 1647 while he

483-408: The same term This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Mercer&oldid=1047646874 " Category : Human name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

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506-518: Was given command, with the Earl of Callendar as his subordinate. When deputy to Leven, Callendar's overestimation of his military abilities had led to constant conflict and this was repeated with Hamilton. His commander of infantry, William Baillie , had direct experience of the New Model Army and doubted their ability to defeat it. After dispersing Kirk Party dissidents at Mauchline Muir in June 1648,

529-669: Was imprisoned in Carisbrooke Castle by the English Parliamentarians after his defeat in the First Civil War . In the 17th and 18th centuries, politics and religion were closely linked; it is impossible to understand differences between Engagers, Royalists or Kirk Party political views without an appreciation of these distinctions. ' Presbyterian ' versus ' Episcopalian ' implied differences in governance, not doctrine . Episcopalian meant rule by bishops, appointed by

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