THE SCOTS CANADIAN Issue XXXIX Newsletter of the Scottish Studies Society: ISSN No. 1491-2759 Fall 2014 Dr. James Fraser appointed University of Guelph’s new Chair of Scottish Studies

We are thrilled to announce that Dr. James Iron Age to the ninth Fraser will be leading The University of century. Principal work Guelph's Centre for Scottish Studies in the to date has been in winter semester as the Scottish Studies relation to Adomnán’s Foundation Chair. Vita sancti Columbae, the James comes to us from the Department of circumstances History at the University of Edinburgh where surrounding its he is a Senior Lecturer in Early Scottish composition, and the light History. He is the author of From Caledonia shed by this magnificent to Pictland: Scotland to 795, The Roman text on the monastery of Conquest of Scotland: the Battle of Mons Iona where it was written, Graupius AD 84 and The Battle of on political geography James E. Fraser BA, MA, PhD, FSAScot Dunnichen 685. and activity in early He has extensive teaching experience at medieval Scotland, on the conversion and during this recent one shows just how much I the graduate and undergraduate level. Christianisation of Scotland, and on social have come to care about Scotland. I have Moreover, he is also a graduate of the questions such as the nature of kingship and been very happy here, and have made many University of Guelph, having finished his war. good friends. It won't be easy to leave, but I MA degree here in 1999. James will be Undergraduate teaching has included am really looking forward to my return to coming to Guelph with his wife, Dr. Bronagh courses on Medieval Scottish History, Ontario. Many familiar things have changed Ni Chonaill, and their two children. Introduction to Medieval History, Saints and in the fifteen years I have been gone, and it As an undergraduate, James specialized in Sea-Kings: early medieval Gaelic Scotland, will take some adjusting (not least with two history at the University of Toronto before Rome and the Caledonians, The Picts; small children) for the family and me. completing his masters work in the Centre postgraduate teaching includes The Dal "This is an exciting time in the history of for Scottish Studies at the University of Riata, The Life and Works of Adomnan of relations between Scotland and Canada. Guelph, writing a dissertation examining Iona, War and Society in Dark Age Scotland. Activists cited lessons and examples from medieval portrayals of William Wallace. To James is originally from Tottenham, Canadian history and politics during the support his studies, he worked for several Ontario. His Fraser ancestors were crofters referendum campaign, taking the links years as a manager and management trainer on Loch Inchard in west Sutherland, before between the countries for granted. The in the private sector. Donald Fraser (d. 1916), his great-great- present Scottish Government has published a His doctoral research was undertaken at grandfather settled near Gravenhurst, Ontario Canada Plan that identifies areas of Edinburgh University under the supervision which he still thinks of as a second connection and common interest in which of Alex Woolf, and considered the written hometown. It was his interest in family matters of heritage and education feature evidence concerning the conversion and history that sparked a general interest in prominently. The Centre for Scottish Studies christianisation of the Picts. He joined the Scottish history -- a combination of the role- shares many of the Government's aspirations, ranks of the School staff in 2002 and held a playing game Dungeons and Dragons and and I believe that the Centre can and should post jointly with Celtic and Scottish Studies some inspiring teaching at the University of participate publicly in the cultivation of until 2011. Toronto that drew him to the early Middle relations between Canada and Scotland, James has sat on a number of University, Ages. whilst maintaining its academic fascination College, School and unit management James has been in Scotland since 1999, in the historical relationship between the two committees, especially as the School’s thoroughly enjoying living in Edinburgh countries. Director of Quality from 2008 to 2011. (until 2012) and Glasgow (since 2012), cities “I am very conscious of the considerable He is a Fellow of the Society of with different spirits that have both been very achievements of the Centre under its Chairs Antiquaries of Scotland and formerly sat on comfortable places for him to live. and directors, and I aspire to safeguard its the executive committees of the Scottish "The real Scotland is quite a different already-considerable public and academic Society for Northern Studies and the Scottish country than many Canadians imagine it to standing, as well as building on its important History Society, and is currently on the be from afar, and for me it has been a relationship with the Scottish Collection and executive committee of the Scottish wonderful home away from home. I have its impressive publication and digitization Historical Review Trust. missed hockey and Canadian football, but I projects. His present research is primarily have been introduced to the delights of South “Hollywood having shown us how much concerned with the Pictish peoples of Asian food and St Johnstone FC. I have now general interest there is in medieval Scotland, northern Britain and the Dalriadic peoples of experienced three independence referenda in I intend to increase the breadth of medieval northern Britain and Ireland from the Roman my lifetime, and the strength of feeling I felt studies that are possible at the Centre without disturbing a winning formula for supporting The images contain a wealth of Scottish-centred research in all time periods ethnographic material, including that enjoys considerable academic renown in costume, vernacular architecture, Scotland. I think that the Gaelic tongue craft, popular music and creates a particularly special link between entertainment with an outstanding Scotland and Canada, and I hope to value as an educational resource. strengthen the Highland and Gaelic However, it is when the dimensions of the Centre's work. In motivations behind the paintings addition, I want to look at ways in which the featured in the book are examined Centre can play its part in supporting the in greater detail that the most family-history interests of so many interesting revelations come to Canadians. light. Just as early portraiture “The Scottish Studies Foundation enjoys a commissioned by wealthy patrons particularly close and special relationship often portrays its subjects in a with this Chair. I am keen to learn more particularly flattering light, so, too, "Kilmarnock Cross" about how the two interact in support of each do paintings of towns and cities in other, and what scope exists for building on the 18th and 19th centuries tend to Between 1834 and 1840 David Octavius Hill toured the foundations now in place. The prospect steer clear of a ‘warts-and-all’ the southwest of Scotland painting a series of of becoming involved in helping the approach. landscapes and townscapes for publication in a book Foundation achieve its aims excites me. As “A commissioned painting of an entitled "The Land of Burns." Many of the original the son of a keen genealogist and amateur urban landscape should by no paintings have been lost but it is believed that this local historian, and a long-time member of means be considered an accurate may be one of them. Dr. Lynch points out that the Clan Fraser Society of Canada, I have likeness,” Dr. Lynch warns us. whereas buildings and architectural details are genuine respect and empathy for the “Despite enormous industrial probably accurate, the fashions worn by the people Foundation and its mission.”  changes in most Scottish towns in would have spanned many decades. the first half of the 19th century, few artists chose to accurately painters, once deprived of ecclesiastical work Painting the Town portray townscapes complete with factories, after the Reformation, tended to confine Scottish Urban History in Art chimneys and commercial development. themselves to the lucrative trades of Instead they often edited their subject matter portraiture, heraldic painting and the internal xamining old photographs of our carefully to suit their requirements. decoration of country houses. As such, many villages, towns and cities can unlock “While such paintings can be scant on of the best early views of Scotland came E vital clues to the histories of our factual accuracy, their inaccuracies often from foreign artists, particularly Dutch urban landscapes and provide an insight into serve to reveal so much more about social painters. the lives of the people who walked the streets attitudes at the time, changing fashions, the Patronage was vital to the development of before us. vanity of the individuals who commissioned the art of the townscape, and artists often But what of the days before photography, them or the personal motivations of the pandered to aristocratic tastes by placing the years before the camera’s lens captured artists. noble houses at the centre of their paintings, buildings since demolished and streetscapes “There were, of course, a number of or including aristocratic figures in the since altered? At this year’s Fall notable exceptions to this. The works of foreground. Colloquium, this was the topic of Dr. John Fleming, John Clark, Thomas Carsell The artist John Clark was acutely aware of Michael Lynch’s talk based on Painting the and John Knox include many faithful his publisher’s warning that they would Town: Scottish Urban History in Art, the representations of townscapes. Clark was subject his paintings ‘to the inspection of 2013 book which he co-authored and which commissioned by a London publisher to Gentlemen of taste, resident upon the spot’, gathers together, for the first time, a visual produce a series of paintings of Scottish and as such a number of his paintings feature record of contemporary images of Scotland’s towns and the results are picturesque, but the same local gentlemen of taste and towns and townspeople before photography, accurate, depictions of towns including fashionably dressed ladies. offering key insights into its urban heritage. Dumbarton, Falkirk and Paisley. Old paintings and photographs of the The book includes more than 200 “On the other hand, an early view of towns and cities where we live and work paintings, engravings, sketches and maps – Stirling Bridge (1703-07) painted by John connect us to our past. There’s comfort and many of which have never before been Berrihill celebrates the natural features and continuity in seeing depictions of buildings published – and pairs them with commentary abundant resources of the town, revealing the and streetscapes which remain relatively from some of Scotland’s foremost experts in artist’s desire to ingratiate himself with the unchanged today. Knowing that artistic conservation, archaeology and urban history. town council. A representation of Aberdeen license has featured heavily in such The end date coincides with the popular by William Mosman, commissioned by the paintings, and that the people and places they adoption of photography in the third quarter town council and painted in 1756, has been depict may, in part, have been plucked from of the 19th century. embellished with larger-than-life people, the imagination of the artist, needn’t alter Examining Scotland’s urban past in close animals and boats. Indeed there are a that sense of connection. detail, it features images from archives, number of examples of works which have On the contrary, such information offers museums and galleries from across Scotland later been embellished with ‘staffage’ – vital clues about the lives, fashions and and beyond. Some are by prominent artists, people, animals or objects – to create a more attitudes of the people who have lived in others are by relative unknowns, but all have pleasing scene.” Scotland’s towns and cities over the last 500 been included because of the information Before the 19th century, less-than- years, and that itself is an unassailable they reveal. respectable scenes were rare. Native connection to its urban past. 

2 The Scots Canadian people and fastened Mythology and Folklore of the to cattle, or hung Rowan inside over the lintel on May Eve each By Paul Kendall year. From Scotland to Cornwall similar equal-armed crosses he rowan's mythic roots go back to made from rowan classical times. Greek mythology tells twigs and bound with T of how Hebe the goddess of youth, red thread were sewn dispensed rejuvenating ambrosia to the gods into the lining of from her magical chalice. When, through coats or carried in carelessness, she lost this cup to demons, the pockets. Other gods sent an eagle to recover the cup. The permutations of the feathers and drops of blood which the eagle use of rowan's protective The “Rannoch Rowan” A familiar landmark shed in the ensuing fight with the demons fell abilities are many and at the edge of Scotland’s Rannoch Moor to earth, where each of them turned into a widespread. them. Today rowan berry jelly is still made rowan tree. Hence the rowan derived the In Scandinavia, rowan trees found growing in Scotland and is traditionally eaten with shape of its leaves from the eagle's feathers not in the ground but out of some game. and the appearance of its berries from the inaccessible cleft in a rock, or out of droplets of blood. crevasses in other trees' trunks or boughs, The rowan is also prominent in Norse possessed an even more powerful magic, and mythology as the tree from which the first such trees were known as 'flying rowan'. woman was made (the first man being made Rowan has had a wide range of popular Golden Rowan from the ash tree). It was said to have saved folk names, the most well known being the life of the god Thor by bending over a mountain ash. Its old Gaelic name from the by Bliss Carman fast flowing river in the Underworld in which ancient Ogham script was Luis from which (Canadian Poet 1861-1928) Thor was being swept away, and helping him the place name Ardlui on Loch Lomond may back to the shore. Rowan was furthermore have been derived. The more common Scots the prescribed wood on which runes were Gaelic name is caorunn (pronounced SHE lived where the mountains inscribed to make rune staves. choroon, the ch as in loch), which crops up in go down to the sea, In the British Isles the rowan has a long numerous Highland place names such as And river and tide confer. and still popular history in folklore as a tree Beinn Chaorunn in Inverness-shire and Loch Golden Rowan, in Menalowan, which protects against witchcraft and a'chaorun in Easter Ross. Rowan was also Was the name they gave to her. enchantment. The physical characteristics of the clan badge of the Malcolms and the tree may have contributed to its McLachlans. There were strong taboos in She had the soul no circumstance protective reputation, including the tiny five the Highlands against the use of any parts of Can hurry or defer. pointed star or pentagram on each berry the tree save the berries, except for ritual Golden Rowan, of Menalowan, opposite its stalk (the pentagram being an purposes. For example a Gaelic threshing How time stood still for her! ancient protective symbol). The colour red tool made of rowan and called a buaitean was was deemed to be the best protection against used on grain meant for rituals and Her playmates for their lovers grew, enchantment, and so the rowan's vibrant celebrations. The strength of these taboos But that shy wanderer, display of berries in autumn may have did not apply in other parts of Britain it Golden Rowan, of Menalowan further contributed to its protective abilities, seems, though there were sometimes rituals Knew love was not for her. as suggested in the old rhyme: "Rowan tree and timings to be observed in harvesting the and red thread / make the witches tine [lose] rowan's gifts (for example the rule against Hers was the love of wilding things; their speed." The rowan was also denoted as using knives to cut the wood, mentioned To hear a squirrel chir a tree of the Goddess or a Faerie tree by above). In the golden rowan of Menalowan virtue (like the hawthorn and elder) of its The rowan's wood is strong and resilient, Was joy enough for her. white flowers. making excellent walking sticks, and is There are several recurring themes of suitable for carving. It was often used for She sleeps on the hill with the lonely sun, protection offered by the rowan. The tree tool handles, and spindles and spinning Where in the days that were, itself was said to afford protection to the wheels were traditionally made of rowan The golden rowan of Menalowan dwelling by which it grew, pieces of the tree wood. Druids used the bark and berries to So often shadowed her. were carried by people for personal dye the garments worn during lunar protection from witchcraft, and sprigs or ceremonies black, and the bark was also used The scarlet fruit will come to fill, pieces of rowan were used to protect in the tanning process. Rowan twigs were The scarlet spring to stir especially cows and their dairy produce from used for divining, particularly for metals. The golden rowan of Menalowan, enchantment. Thus we find documented The berries can be made into or added to a And wake no dream for her. instances as late as the latter half of the variety of alcoholic drinks, and different twentieth century of people being warned Celtic peoples each seem to have had their Only the wind is over her grave, against removing or damaging the rowan tree favourites. As well as the popular wine still For mourner and comforter; growing in their newly acquired garden in made in the Highlands, the Scots made a And “Golden Rowan, of Menalowan,” the Scottish Highlands and Ireland. On the strong spirit from the berries, the Welsh Is all we know of her. Isle of Man crosses made from rowan twigs brewed an ale, the Irish used them to flavour without the use of a knife were worn by Mead, and even a cider can be made from

The Scots Canadian 3 about family, but there is also plenty of Love & Marriage in Medieval evidence to suggest that this only applies in Scotland limited circumstances. When Lewis writes that “no ‘nonsense’ about marriage was tolerated,” he was By Dr. Heather Parker, University of Guelph generally correct about the situation in Scotland. Marriages were a matter of importance to all members of a family, and edieval historians have been they did not revolve around any notion of grappling with questions about romantic love. M marriage and family relationships In the medieval world, arranged for over a century. In particular, the question marriages were common and typically of whether ‘love’ existed in the middle ages followed Catholic marriage law. There are has been paramount. This is quite the attack some misconceptions about betrothals in on the era that gave us chivalry and courtly medieval Scotland. Misconceptions about love. The problem, then, is not that love Scottish betrothals arose partly because didn’t exist, but that it may have existed in historians in the late-eighteenth and early- different forms. In 1936 C.S. Lewis – yes, nineteenth centuries turned towards the one who wrote the Chronicles of Narnia romantic visions of the Scottish past. (he was also a medievalist) – wrote this: These works established one of the ever- present myths of medieval marriage in “Two things prevented the men of that Scotland. Thomas Pennant’s writing in A age from connecting their ideal of Tour in Scotland, (1789), although based romantic and passionate love with on little concrete evidence, gained a large “A Pair of Lovers” circa 1480 marriage. The first is, of course, the popular audience that continues to this day. actual practice of feudal society. Pennant was one of the first historians to women at their first marriage was between Marriages had nothing to do with love, record the myth that medieval Scots (either 26 and 27 years of age with one in four and no ‘nonsense’ about marriage was Celts or lowlanders depending on the women never marrying at all. tolerated. All matches were matches of source), were in the habit of entering trial It would be inappropriate to see these ages interest, and, worse still, of an interest unions, called “handfast marriages.” applying to the later medieval period. that was continually changing. When According to Pennant, after a year and a day, However, they do show that Scottish the alliance which had answered would the couple could choose to end their marriage ages after the Reformation were answer no longer, the husband’s object marriage. These ideas were adopted and very much in line with European norms. was to get rid of the lady as quickly as spread by the great Sir Walter Scott, who What is interesting here is that we know that possible. Marriages were frequently echoed Pennant’s version of handfasting in even if childhood betrothals were occurring, dissolved. The same woman who was his novel, The Monastery. Pennant’s semi- actual marriage did not take place until a bit the lady and the ‘dearest dread’ of her mythical accounts were used subsequently by later. vassals was often little better than a historians and were not seriously reassessed Anecdotal evidence does exist from earlier piece of property to her husband…Any until 1950, when A. E. Anton demonstrated periods addressing the question of age at idealization of sexual love, in a society that the word 'handfasting' was, in fact, just a marriage, and the contents of antenuptial where marriage is purely utilitarian, synonym for 'betrothal,' and nothing more. contracts provides especially interesting must begin by being an idealization of So, far from being based on romantic love, evidence of this. Generally, marriage adultery.” betrothals in medieval Scotland were contracts were intended to be carried out as

generally arranged by family members to suit soon as practicable and included phrases Twenty four years later, in 1960, Philippe the needs of the family at the time and such as, “in all gudly haste” to make this Ariès published his L'Enfant et la vie frequently included pre-arranged marriages explicit. Other contracts go against the grain familiale sous l'Ancien Régime, which for children. and include clauses requiring the bride and concluded that parents’ perceptions and It is difficult to know what a typical age groom to reach a minimum age before they treatment of their children changed for first marriage in late medieval Scotland marry. The age they must reach is drastically during the early modern period. was because there are no comprehensive sometimes the legal minimum limit for Ariès was the first historian to argue that the records of marriages. Even when marriages marriage. The 1469 contract of Margaret family had a history worth studying, and his were documented, it is often impossible to Preston and John Edmonston, required that book was well received by the general know the exact ages of the bride and groom they marry "as soon as they are of lawfull public. This reception did not last long because there are no dated birth records to age.” Others were similar. The 1545 before his work was torn apart by compare them to. contract of the daughter of Margaret medievalists (such as Jerome Kroll in 1977) What we do have is evidence of ages for Hamilton, and the earl of Arran and James resulting in a retraction of his medieval marriage in the late-sixteenth century and Montgomery, master of Eglinton stated that conclusions. later. Between 1560 and 1600, an average if the marriage did not occur within a year of These conclusions have been largely nobleman first married at the age of 22. James’s fourteenth birthday, than the contract refuted, but they raise important questions, Noblewomen entered their first marriages at should be considered null and void. and the responses they prompted are part of a an average age of 18. Noble families In 1557, when Christian Ogilvy of fascinating body of research on childhood, generally married earlier than the wider Balnagerro and Walter Ogilvy of marriage, and the history of love. And while population because there were fewer Innerquhairty were contracted to marry, their these conclusions are not entirely true, they financial concerns preventing the marriage, contract used the phrase “at thair perfect are also not entirely false. There is evidence although raising a dowry could be a struggle. age.” While the writers may have been that supports Lewis and Ariès’ conclusions At all levels of society, the median age for referring to the legal minimum, other about love not being central to decisions

4 The Scots Canadian contracts in the following twenty years use marriages. Two of the women were married 1554, Archbishop Hamilton wrote to the this kind of language to refer to older and the third was a widow. The widow took pope that it was nearly impossible to avoid children. the lead as a questioner and asked the blood related marriages in Scotland and still A 1569 contract between Sir William Scott married women about their husbands: “gif ye remain within the gentrified strata of society. of Balweiry and Christian Douglas of think, had ye chois, that ye wald cheis Annulment requests existed because Lochleven stated that they should marry better?” polygamy was unlawful, and so if one when the bride “beis of fourteine yeirs of Each of the married women was unhappy wanted a legitimate heir from a different age” and that if either of them were to die with her husband. The first wife lamented woman, annulment was the only option short before this time, he or she was to be replaced her fate in marriage and wished that marriage of offing one’s wife. It was routine for men by any other sons or daughters, yet to be were not a lifetime commitment. The second to keep mistresses; the only thing separating born. Grizel Hay and Robert Hume were wife, showing her fickle nature, declared that those women from wives was their legal entered into a marriage contract by their she wished she could have chosen her own status and that of their children. There is parents in 1576 that specified that they husband, thereby demonstrating that evidence, though, that in some places in should not be married until they reached the although the idea of choice in marriage Gaelic Scotland, there wasn’t as much of a age of eighteen. A later contract even existed, it was often overshadowed by more concern about legitimacy. In fact, the fourth defines “compleit age” as fifteen. mundane concerns. She also declared that Macdonald Lord of the Isles, Angus Og, was These documents indicate that even those she detested her husband, finding him illegitimate but still able to inherit the parents who chose to enter their children into grotesque and disgusting. The second wife lordship without much fuss. This raises early betrothals were not always eager for described her husband as a lecher who questions about how marriage and polygamy their children to marry as young as legally selected her as his wife. When she answered are defined when that legal status is blurred. possible. Instead, they had a wider range of the question of choice she declared: “Hed I There is copious evidence of men keeping opinions on what age was considered that plesand prevelege, to part quhen me mistresses, but much less evidence of women appropriate. Further still, it must be pointed likit,/ To change and ay to cheise agane, than committing adultery. One example of this is out that the contracts that do specify an age chastite adew!” Instead of chastity, she Isabella Campbell, also known as Iseabail Ní at which the families should proceed with the wished for a new partner of her own Mheic Cailéin, and possibly the countess of marriage are not representative of average choosing. Marriage was a "cockfight," and Argyll herself, wrote sexualized poems in ages of first marriages, but instead of the the second wife even complained about being Gaelic that described love and lust outside of absolute minimum that was acceptable. forced into her marriage by “wekit kyn.” marriage. Isabella’s most vivid poem, and There were notable exceptions to these Although this poem is full of jests and one that has somehow escaped translation mores, especially among royalty and ironic statements, Dunbar did reveal certain and publication until quite recently, describes magnates, but these only rarely extended into aspects of society that reflected reality. The in detail “the tale of the powerful penis” of noble families. widow then proceeded to tell the women her household priest. In this poem, she Childhood betrothals are a very clear-cut about how she bettered her husbands and mocked the institution of clerical celibacy, case of bride and groom being vulnerable to gained wealth and happiness without them. writing that it has “made my heart greedy.” persuasion concerning their marriage The widow was pleased with her second She goes on to say, among other things, that arrangements. The type of persuasion here is husband’s wealth but not with his “although many beautiful tree-like penises subtle – and certainly modern parents try to illegitimacy and his role as a merchant, since have been in the time before, the man of the exert this kind of influence on their children she was, in fact, of nobler blood. The widow religious order has a penis so big and rigid.” to different ends – but there were other levels clearly uses property law and written Isabella had a good sense of humour, but her of coercion that existed as well, even if they contracts to maximize her wealth through a approach to sexuality and especially chastity were not in the mainstream. series of marriages. The real point of within marriage is well outside the bounds of In 1425 a gang of men kidnapped Jonet Dunbar's poem, however, comes at the end, what people typically think of in the Jardin and forced her to marry James de when he asks the audience to choose between medieval period steeped in church tradition. Arnot, who imprisoned her for four and a the women: "Quhilk wald ye waill to you wif, Marriage vows in the middle ages were, half years and had a child by her. Jonet gif ye suld wed one?" – Which would you like today, routinely undermined by adultery, appealed to the pope for a divorce and, have as your wife, if you should wed one? – resulting in the breakdown of marital although successful, was excommunicated in certainly a poem meant to show the uglier relationships, sometimes leading to the process. James subsequently died, but side of marriage for husbands and wives annulment and remarriage. not before Jonet had contracted to marry both. One of the most famous of these divorces another man. This bizarre story is recorded Now, one of the other observations Lewis involved Archibald Campbell, the 5th earl of in a petition sent to the pope to legitimize her had about marriage was that…“When the Argyll, who was betrothed as a child to Jane new marriage and may very well have been alliance which had answered would answer Stewart, an illegitimate daughter of king fabricated or embellished in order to support no longer, the husband’s object was to get rid James V. No doubt the Campbell clan had her petition for annulment. of the lady as quickly as possible. Marriages been eager to solidify the details of such as Some of the bawdiest portrayals of were frequently dissolved.” advantageous marriage as one into the royal Scottish marriage came from the 'makar' and He is certainly correct on this front, as family, albeit an illegitimate branch. Jane courtier, William Dunbar, who was an active well. When a couple no longer wished to be provided Argyll with a link to both the courts poet around the turn of the sixteenth century. married, they had to apply to the pope for an of the regent Mary of Guise, and eventually Some scholars have portrayed Dunbar as a annulment, and they had to supply a good Mary, Queen of Scots, herself but their moralist with a perception that the world reason for this. Many claimed they had marriage resulted in a clash of personalities contained “eternal values and ultimate married without knowing they had existing and eventually soured, with neither party truths.” Dunbar’s “The Tretis of the Tua connections to their spouses. Perhaps they agreeing to relax their positions; Argyll Mariit Wemen and the Wedo” provided a were distant cousins, or that their spouse had refused a physical separation that would cynical view of marriage. In this poem, a had sex with one of their relatives in the past mean he had no chance at a legitimate heir, spy accidentally came upon three young, – a situation so common in medieval and Jane initially refused to return to her well-to-do women, who were discussing their Scotland’s small aristocratic circles that in husband. The resulting dispute included

The Scots Canadian 5 such dramatic actions as flight, claimed was with a maidservant, probably to my bed / Beating my two hands. / Far better imprisonment, and a ground-breaking court avoid restrictions on his remarriage. James to be married to Gregor / Roaming the wood case. The couple did not, however, receive simultaneously tried to have the marriage and heather, / Than married to the little baron an immediate, official separation, as others annulled based on consanguinity, despite the of the river-meadow / In a house of stone and had done before them, and, instead, their fact that the couple had obtained lime." Although Marion meets with her personal friendships with Mary, Queen of dispensations in 1565 from the archbishop of beloved, in another poem attributed to her Scots, and Protestant reformer John Kno St Andrews. Jane hid these records from the she declares, "Do not let yourself be acting as marriage counsellors for the couple. officials to facilitate the divorce. In the end, displeased / Although I failed to keep the This duo is particularly improbable because the couple received a divorce based on Jane’s tryst, . . . If it were not for the strength of the John Knox despised not only Mary, Queen of case, followed soon after by the annulment castles / and of the great gates, / And the Scots’ persistent Catholicism after the James demanded from the same Catholic restraint of the locks / Which I cannot escape reformation – his reformation – but also her archbishop who had issued the dispensations without hammers!" Marion thus presents the existence as a women. He had just written in the first place. James and Queen Mary conflict between personal choice and his treatise, The First Blast of the Trumpet married two weeks later in a Protestant parental control, and shows the extent to Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women wedding. which parents were able to physically control partly in her honour. The foursome All of these cases demonstrate a cynical their children. Marion even described the eventually agreed on a reconciliation, which side to arranged marriages, but the story does Glenorchy couple, Katherine and Colin: “A broke down over the following four years not end there. There is copius evidence of pity my father was not diseased and Grey and led to the seemingly inevitable plea for parents demonstrating care and affection for Colin stricken with plague, / even though divorce. their children. In the sixteenth century, the Ruthven’s daughter / would wring her hands The difficulties Argyll faced included a matriarch of the Campbells of Glenorchy, dismayed.” The last line sheds light on the wife who insisted on physical separation but Katherine Ruthven, through her letter marriage of Katherine and Colin, and refused outright divorce, an earldom in need writing, was personally responsible for perhaps on the sympathy of Marion for the of an heir, and a system of marital law that gathering intelligence on potential marriage plight of another wife. relied on Church courts that had become partners for her children to ensure that the Marion’s poetry gives us examples of defunct since the Protestant Reformation. final decisions she made were sound. She distasteful arranged marriages – like her own The right of an adulterer to remarry was also was interested in the availability and – elopement for love, and, in her assessment under debate, and the existence of this temperaments of potential matches for her of Katherine Ruthven and Colin Campbell, obstacle created the possible consequences children, and used networks of relatives and an arranged marriage that was happy. for Argyll’s ability to produce a legitimate friends to discover these things. William Marion raises important questions about the heir. Although the old church courts, and the Maitland, in response to a request from his relationship between arranged marriage and new Kirk Session of St Andrews, had tried to friend Katherine that his wife inquire about happiness. The answer to this question is step into the role of regulating divorce, the her sister’s stepdaughter, informed her, “as still evident today, for instance in some Kirk was hesitant to allow any but the towart the gentill woman quhilk ye persavit regions of India where arranged marriages highest officials to hold such power. cume to spy and gett intellegence of I haif by are still important to the social structure. Confusion reigned in determining my wyff . . .and sundry uther meanes speirrit Interviews with the mothers in these families jurisdiction of the courts and by 1564 both and inquiret . . .upon my honour and credit.” shows that although the mothers themselves the civil and ecclesiastical courts claimed the Katherine is arranging betrothals for her experienced the hardships associated with an right to regulate marriage. In the end, it was children, but she isn’t doing it callously. arranged marriage, they also saw all the Argyll’s actions in Parliament that caused Instead, she is taking great care to ensure that benefits of economic and social stability that lawmakers to pass an act that resolved the the personality of any potential wife be more come with these marriages, and they want the case and allowed for divorce on the grounds than adequate. best for their own daughters. As C.S. Lewis of desertion so that the commissary court Not only are parents involved in making wrote, “Marriages had nothing to do with could provide the couple with a divorce, sure some marriages are happy, but we do love, and no ‘nonsense’ about marriage was allowing Argyll to remarry. Jane continued have evidence of a smaller number of tolerated.” to fight this after the death of her erstwhile marriages that are based on this idea of Medieval historians are pulled back and husband, and was eventually rewarded with ‘love.’ forth between two major conclusions. The her title and land from the marriage. Marion Campbell of Glenlyon, wrote a first is that medieval people must have been Even though the Protestant reformation poem that referred both to her own marriage just like us, with the same breadth of emotion changed some of the outlook on marriage, and to that of Katherine Ruthven, and Colin as we have today. The second possible the medieval laws of marriage and divorce Campbell of Glenorchy. Marion wrote in conclusion is that they couldn’t have been had never been formally re-examined, and so detail about the circumstances of her own just like us, because the circumstances were many people, including Mary Queen of marriage and the murder of her husband by fundamentally different. Scots’ third husband, the earl of Bothwell, Colin Campbell of Glenorchy. She had Relationships within Scottish families ended up in precarious marital situations eloped rather than marry the man chosen for show us that medieval people were real. governed by parallel sets of Protestant and her by her father and ended up watching the They lived real, complicated lives, and they Catholic marriage laws. death of her husband at the hands of her had complicated and varied emotions. Much like the famous divorce cases of father and uncle Colin. Marion wrote about Because their world was different, because Henry VIII of England, annulments could be the love she felt for her husband, MacGregor they had different priorities, we cannot demanded in order to facilitate political of Glenstrae: “I was sporting with my love, / assume that their family relationships were changes. Before Mary, Queen of Scots and but before noon came upon us / my heart had identical to ours. Even when they were not James Hepburn, the earl of Bothwell, been crushed.” She continues to write that concerned with ‘love,’ they were often able married, he was married to Jane Gordon. arranged marriages are far less favourable to to find some sort of happiness in the harsh After James had fled with Mary (willing or her than this romance: "Although the wives realities of medieval life.  not), his wife Jane tried to obtain a divorce of other men are at home / Lying and on account of his adultery, which she peacefully sleeping, I shall be at the edge of

6 The Scots Canadian to the interests of trade or of the King's coming to Glasgow, making the Virginia The Rise and Fall of revenue.” merchants the most prosperous traders in Glasgow's Tobacco Lords Nevertheless, there were further Scotland; Glasgow's share of the import was representations and a chain of expensive 49,000 hogsheads out of a total import of By Charles Campbell lawsuits before the Glasgow traders got rid 90,000. In the preceding year Smollett wrote of the last of various vexatious restrictions in Humphry Clinker that Mr. John Glassford hey were mighty men in their day, the imposed upon them. had 25 vessels engaged in the Virginia "tobacco lords" of 18th-century It has been romantically written that “trade traffic, with trade running to half-a-million. T Glasgow. In their scarlet cloaks, in those days was a matter of golden guineas It all looked like a marvellous example of cocked hats and powdered wigs, carrying and ships of sail, and adventures in strange “Nothing succeeding like success.” But who their gold-headed canes like rods of office, lands, and those who succeeded in it was to foretell that in a few short years it they strutted on the cobblestones of the conducted themselves with the braggadocio would collapse like a pricked bubble? The Trongate holding “the croon o' the causey,” and full-blooded vulgarity of successful outbreak of the American War of the use of which they arrogated to pirates.” But apart from the braggadocio, it Independence in 1776 was to ruin the great themselves. A citizen of substance such as a is a description that does not apply to the Virginia trade. minister, a doctor or a University professor canny merchants we write of, who knew Some attempts were made by Scottish might accost one of these aristocrats of the nothing personally of either adventure or farmers at Melrose and elsewhere in the Saltmarket without rebuff; but for other risk. Borders to introduce tobacco as a field crop, “lesser breeds” to address them was a liberty Glasgow Past and Present gives us an some 100 acres being under cultivation in the not to be permitted, and for common feet to illuminating picture of the way the tobacco neighbourhood of Kelso alone. For a time tread these stones was almost sacrilegious. If traders ran their lucrative business: this home-produced contribution to the trade a shopkeeper wished to confer with a “At this period (about 1746) and for many was welcomed by the Glasgow merchants, Virginia tobacco merchant, he did not years afterwards, the mode of transacting who, in their dire need, were prepared to pay venture to come up to speak, but stood at the business by our great Glasgow merchants as much as £50 for an acre's produce. But side of the street or in the gutter, meekly was very different from what it is at present. they soon came to resent this encroachment waiting to catch the great man's eye and In making purchases for shipments to the on their profits by the home crop and deferentially indicate his desire for a word colonies by the Virginia merchants, no fixed denounced the growers to the Government as with his lordship. term of payment was agreed upon; but there being in breach of the law. One unfortunate The rise of the tobacco trade dates from was a tacit understanding between the buyer minister who sought to turn an honest the Union of 1707, before which there was and the seller that the vessel on board of bawbee on the side by using his glebe for no scope for commercial energy or enterprise which the goods were shipped should return, tobacco growing ruefully saw his crop seized for Glasgow. The city could not compete in and the return cargo be disposed of, before and burned at Leith by the Customs men, foreign trade with towns on the East Coast, the sellers were to receive payment for the who gave him a paltry fourpence a pound in and on the other hand English laws had goods furnished; and if any seller should dare compensation. prohibited all Scots trading with America and to demand payment of his account before he The trade was tottering to a fall. Disastrous the Indies. The removal of this obstacle at received a circular letter from the great failures followed fast, princely fortunes were the Union was naturally greeted with howls merchant that the latter was prepared to pay lost, and many who by astute marriages and of English indignation and prophecies of for the goods shipped, the poor seller could otherwise had dominated Glasgow society bankruptcy. never expect to be afterwards favoured with for 35 to 40 years had to warstle along as But a few Glasgow businessmen put their the merchant's custom.” best they might on shrunken incomes and capital together, got goods for barter, and On this same theme in Social Life of sink into civic obscurity. There were others, chartering a small vessel from Whitehaven, Scotland in the 18th century, the author however, who weathered the economic Cumberland, sent her forth across the writes tartly: “By this ingenious arrangement storm, and found new activity and new Atlantic. The captain, acting as supercargo, they who furnished the goods ran most of the success in the other trades that had been set his course for Virginia, where he stayed risk, while the astute traders got most of the established. until his cargo was disposed of. He came profits, and paced the Trongate with easy Sugar from the West Indies, cotton for the back home with a load of rum and tobacco, mind till the ships they did not own, and the mills, calico printing, muslin weaving and along with some money, which, according to cargoes for which others had paid, returned cotton spinning were employing thousands, tradition, he handed to his employers in a safely home.” and manufacturers all around the city brought stocking. In the earlier years of the tobacco trade new wealth to new men, and fortunes were Before long, the Glasgow tobacco houses Whitehaven supplied most of the required not found only in a small set, but diffused not only secured the lion's share of the vessels by charter, and it was not until 1718 widely; the old exclusiveness of society foreign export trade but undersold the that the first vessel owned by a Glasgow disappeared, and time-honoured distinctions English merchants in their own home merchant crossed the Atlantic. She was built and purseproud prejudices passed away that markets. This led to a combination against in Greenock, and registered only 60 tons. had severed foreign merchants and home them by the dealers of London, Liverpool, Even up to 1735 the merchants could only manufacturers and tradesmen into distinct Bristol and Whitehaven, and a complaint to boast of 15 vessels of their own, engaged in ranks. the Government that Glasgow traders the Virginia trade. But by this time activity New men and new ways, indeed! But the conducted their business upon, and reaped was increasing rapidly, year by year. Ships tobacco trade was for Glasgow a golden their profits from, a system of fraud on the were now going out laden with home memory of great days gone, and now no public revenue. manufactures of all kinds--wool, linen, more. After the American War was over the A searching investigation, held in 1721, carpets, dried herrings and salmon, glass, new States, as was to be expected, in the first resulted in the Lords of the Treasury finding shoes, ropes, pottery--and coming home with flush of their new won independence, largely that “the complaints of the merchants of rich cargoes of colonial products. exported the tobacco of Maryland and London, etc., are groundless, and proceed By 1772 more than half of all the tobacco Virginia direct to the various European from a spirit of envy, and not from a regard imported into the United Kingdom was markets. 

The Scots Canadian 7 Directors of the Scottish Hal Jackman Hon. Edwin A. Goodman Q.C., P.C., Mr. Don McVicar Studies Foundation: Roger Alexander Lindsay of Craighall O.C. Douglas A. McWhirter President: Maggie McEwan FSA Scot William A. Goodfellow Mary Elizabeth Mick Vice President: David A Y Campbell James M. Main Alan P. Gordon Peter Montgomery Treasurer: David H. Thompson Dr. William Ross McEachern James M. Grant, Clan Grant Society William & Audrey Montgomery Secretary: John B. McMillan Joan and Don McGeachy of Canada Allan D. Morrison William H. Davidson Alan McKenzie Mary Gregor Madelein Muntz Douglas Gibson C. Douglas Reekie Jane Grier David and Una Murray David Hunter T. Iain Ronald James Haliburton Catherine O’May Dr. Heather Parker Sir Neil Shaw M. Gen. (Ret) James E. Hanna Margaret Nightingale J Douglas Ross FSA Scot Donald A. Stewart Hall of Names (Brampton) Orangeville Scottish Dancers Robert J. Smart Alexander K. Stuart C.M. 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