[ Home ]

Scotland - A Brief History

            Scotland was previously called Caledonia by the Romans who fought early Celtic tribes and occupied the southern areas from the 1st to the 4th centuries. Missionaries from Britain introduced Christianity in the 4th century and St. Columba, an Irish monk, converted most of Scotland in the 6th century.

            The Kingdom of Scotland was founded in 1018. Scottish monarchy was centered in the Lowlands, and the Highland lairds were left to run their own affairs. Some early famous Scottish figures were William Wallace and Robert the Bruce, both of whom both defeated English armies in 1297 and 1314, respectively.

            In 1603 James VI of Scotland, son of Mary, Queen of Scots, succeeded to the throne of England as James I, and effected the Union of the Crowns. In 1707 Scotland received representation in the British Parliament by the passing of the Act of Union, which was the joining of several former separate Parliaments. That act joined Scotland with England and Wales under one kingdom -- The United Kingdom of Great Britain. …After the union many Highland Scots, unhappy with the union, remained loyal to the House of Stuart. They were called “Jacobites", taking their name from the Latin form (Jacobus) of James. The first rebellion of Jacobites against English rule was against George I in 1715. Henry St. John and the 6th earl of Mar attempted a rising known as “the '15”(1715) to crown the Old Pretender (to the British throne), James Edward Stuart. They were defeated in the disastrous battles of Preston and Sheriffmuir, where the English crushed the Jacobites and James then fled to France.

            This most recent map shows (not too clearly) Scotland, along with the area north of the Highlands. Also included is Inverness in the lower left, Moray Firth in the middle, and in-between Culloden Moor (ke-lòd'n, -lôd'n).

            The Highlanders revolted again in 1745. This time led by Charles Edward “Bonnie Prince Charlie” Stuart, James Edward Stuart’s son. The British monarch's son William Augustus, duke of Cumberland, had stopped at Nairn to celebrate his 25th birthday. Bonnie Prince Charlie had marched his 7,000 starving Highlanders across the moors by night to surprise the British. Cumberland’s 9,000-man army arrived and opened fire with 10 guns to Stuart’s nine. The Scots found themselves surrounded and fled, leaving 1,000 dead on the battlefield, and the dragoons hunted down and massacred those who survived the carnage. Afterwards as a result of the revolt the English executed many clan chiefs. The Battle of Culloden Moor on April 16, 1745 effectively ended Stuart efforts to regain the British throne.

            We are thankful to the Internet for an account of the Battle of Culloden by eye-witness Donald Mackay of Acmonie, Glen Urquhart, translated from the Gaelic. The writer was transported to the West Indies for his part in the uprising, but later returned to the Highlands. He wrote:

   “The morning was cold and stormy as we stood on the battlefield - snow and rain blowing against us. Before long we saw the red soldiers, in battle formation, in front of us and although the day was wild and wet we could see the red coats of the soldiers and the blue tartan of the Campbells in our presence. The battle began and the pellets came at us like hail-stones. The big guns were thundering and causing frightful break up among us, but we ran forward and - oh dear!, oh dear! - what cutting and slicing there was and many the brave deeds performed by the Gaels. I saw Iain Mor MacGilliosa (Big Iain Gillies) cutting down the English as if he was cutting corn and Iain Breac Shiosallach (Freckled Iain Chisholm) killing them as though they were flies. But the English were numerous and we were few and a large number of our friends fell. The dead lay on all sides and the cries of pain of the wounded rang in our ears. You could see a riderless horse running and jumping as if mad.

   “When I saw that the battle was lost, I thought it best to leave and make for home. I said this to my brother who was near me and we made in the direction of Inverness as quickly as we could. When we reached Culcabock we stopped, feeling faint with hunger. I had some oatcakes in my bag and we got a drink of milk from an old lady who was beside the road. "How did the day go? she asked. Badly for the Prince," we replied, and left in haste.

   “We went through the river near the islands above the town of Inverness and arrived home during the night. My father arrived safely in the morning and boundless was my mother's joy at having us back home safe and well.”

          The tribal social system of the ancient Scots (as the Romans named them) was eventually replaced by the Norman feudal system, which survived in the Scottish Highlands long after it had disappeared elsewhere in Europe. It was a system of connection to a feudatory lord (laird) or chieftain from whom all benefits flowed and to whom allegiance and military service was owed. The same system had flourished in the Scottish Lowlands, Borders and Southern Uplands earlier, from and after the times of Robert the Bruce and William Wallace (whose story was highly fictionalized, but enjoyably so, in "Braveheart"). Between them these two are like the George Washington & Nathan Hale of Scotland.

          Clansmen identified themselves and potential enemies by various badges and signs, the original form of which was easily obtained sprigs of local plants stuck in the bonnet or (if you were lucky enough to have one) a steel helmet. Later, patterns woven into clothing, called tartans, served the same purpose. Though used in some areas for centuries, other clans didn't actually adopt a tartan until Victorian times, when the young Queen Victoria, descended from Stewarts, caught the Scottish bug. Prince Albert bought her Balmoral (still the Royal Highland residence), and all mid-19th century English society suddenly discovered they had Scottish bloodlines.

Home