Gellera: James Dundas (c.1620−1679) and Charles II Title Page James Dundas (c.1620−1679) and Charles II: Religious Tolerance, Freedom of Conscience, and the Limits of the Sovereign Giovanni Gellera ORCID IDENTIFIER 0000-0002-8403-3170 Section de philosophie, Université de Lausanne
[email protected] The Version of Scholarly Record of this article (in French) is published in: “James Dundas (c. 1620-1679) et Charles II. Tolérance religieuse, liberté de conscience et limites de la souveraineté”, dans Yves Krumenacker, Noémie Recous (dir.), Le Protestant et l'Hétérodoxe. Entre Eglises et Etats (XVIe- XVIIIe siècles), Paris, Classiques Garnier, 2019, pp. 39−58. 1 Gellera: James Dundas (c.1620−1679) and Charles II JAMES DUNDAS (C.1620−1679) AND CHARLES II: RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE, FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE, AND THE LIMITS OF THE SOVEREIGN1 INTRODUCTION “Mitchel knew that [his prison wardens] thought him embittered, even deranged. But he saw through their weakness: he had only carried the principles that they all upheld − the right of God’s people to resist unholy rule, the duty of God’s Scotland to defend the Covenant against prelatic blasphemy − to their logical conclusion. What they shied away from was their own fear: they were afraid to strike the righteous blow, to be the sword of the Lord and of Gideon.”2 These words refer to the fictional character James Mitchel in the historical novel The Fanatic by the contemporary Scottish author James Robertson. The novel narrates the incarceration of the “justified sinner” Mitchel after he attempted to assassinate one of the great enemies of the Covenanters, archbishop James Sharp, in 1668.