History and Culture
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HISTORY AND CULTURE HISTORY AND CULTURE Scotland is known to have been inhabited for about 6-8,000 years, with successive waves of settlers and invaders. Celts from north-west Europe arrived about 500BC. They were called Britons by the later invading Romans. Although these temporary conquerors referred to the northern lands above the line of the Forth and Clyde as Caledonia, they alternatively named the northern tribes Picts and all of these terms are used today in describing the early history of Scotland. The name Scotland derives from the Scoti, another Celtic tribe, who came from Ireland and in the 5th and 6th centuries and settled on the western seaboard in present-day Argyll in sufficient numbers to form the Kingdom of Dalriada. They spoke Gaelic. The first thousand years AD is a story of warfare in which the peoples of Scotland – Scot, Pict, Briton and Anglian – gradually came together. By 843AD a united Scottish/Pictish kingdom had emerged. In 1018, the Northern English were defeated at the Battle of Carham and the border came to be fixed along the River Tweed. By 1034, the Strathclyde Britons were added to the larger kingdom, making it much the same shape as Scotland today POLITICAL SCOTLAND Wars of Independence In 1070, King Malcolm III married Margaret, grand-daughter of Edward the Confessor of England – one of many occasions when the Royal Houses of England and Scotland were interlinked by marriage. Norman influences (following the Norman Conquest of England) gradually spread to Scotland. Anglo Norman families, with names like Graham and Bruce, settled. In 1286 the death of King Alexander III precipitated a crisis of succession in what had been a trouble-free and prosperous time for Scotland. With close marriage ties between England and Scotland, King Edward I of England was Scotland asked to mediate in the dispute. He chose a puppet-king, but later invaded in 1295. William Wallace, the first of Scotland’s freedom fighters, defeated occupying English forces at Stirling Bridge in 1297, but his army was defeated the next year. Robert the Bruce (King Robert I) was defiantly crowned at Scone in 1306. His campaign eventually led to the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, when English forces were cleared from Scotland. In 1320 the Scots drew up the Declaration of Independence at Arbroath Abbey. The Stewart Kings In the Treaty of Northampton in 1328, England finally accepted Scotland’s independence, but the death of King Robert I in1329 led to another crisis of succession – a theme which is repeatedly found in Scotland’s story. The Stewart dynasty which eventually followed were characterised by either dying too young, being too weak or making fatal military errors. For the next two hundred years, the Scots kingdom was torn by powerful factions and damaged by defeats by English forces – at Dupplin Moor in 1332, Halidon Hill in 1332 and in consequence of a French alliance, Neville’s Cross, 1346. Scottish kings David II and James I both spent time captive in England. James II was involved in internal struggles with the powerful Douglas family, then was killed at the siege of Roxburghe Castle in 1460. James III subdued the Lords of the Isles (Clan Donald) but was killed by rebellious nobles in 1488. James IV, often reckoned to be the best of the Stewart kings, ruled wisely, but revived a French alliance, took up arms in their cause against England and, in consequence, Scotland suffered her worst defeat against England in 1513 at Flodden. Franco-Scottish links continued in the 16th century, with James V making two French marriages, continuing to support France and in consequence causing the nation to suffer defeat once more at Solway Moss in 1542. The last battle of the national armies was in 1547 when the Scots lost again at Pinkie Discover – the culmination of a bloody campaign known as ‘the Rough Wooing’. This was the English King Henry VIII’s attempt to marry off his young son to the even younger Mary, Queen of Scots, and hence to unite the kingdoms. Mary, Queen of Scots was perhaps Scotland’s most controversial historical figure, caught in the centre of a troubled religious period known as the Reformation. John Knox was one of the leading Reformers, taking part in the anti-French and anti-Papal revolution and later becoming the minister of Edinburgh. Mary was the mother of King James VI. Through the continuing blood-links with the English Royal Family over the centuries – for example, King James IV had married Margaret Tudor, sister of King Henry VIII of England – James inherited the English Crown in 1603. He became King James I of England and, finding the office more rewarding, moved south, to return only once to Scotland, in 1617. Both Scotland and England were troubled by religious wars in the 17th century. After an attempt to introduce Episcopalian practices to the Presbyterian Church in 1637 by King Charles I, many Scots signed the National Covenant in opposition. They were known as Covenanters. However, the Scots support for King Charles II led to invasion and occupation by Oliver Cromwell’s parliamentary forces 1650-60. Opposition and brutality towards Covenanters continued 1660-90, during the time of King James VII (II of England). The Jacobites The brutality against the Covenanters only ended following the English revolution against James VII/II when his daughterMary and her Protestant husbandWilliam of Orange were invited to take the British throne because of James VII/II Catholic principles. The reign of William and Mary established a new religious tolerance and the last Stewart opposition came to an end at the Battle of Killiecrankie in 1689 when their general Graham of Claverhouse (Bonnie Dundee) was killed.When James VII/II fled to Europe, his supporters became known as Jacobites (Latin: Jacobus – James). Scotland The Highland clans, many of whom were Catholic like the deposed king, were seen as a potential source of instability, a hotbed of Jacobitism. (This was not just a Scottish movement – Catholic nations such as France and Spain were involved in the Europe-wide political game). Clans were forced to swear an oath of allegiance – and the slowness with which one branch of the MacDonalds responded led to the Massacre of Glencoe in 1692. The first major Jacobite rebellion was in 1715, indecisively led by the Earl ofMar (called ‘Bobbin John’ from his habit of bobbing, i.e. changing sides in his political career). Then came the minor rebellion of 1719, during which time Eilean Donan Castle was destroyed by bombardment by the British Navy and a party of Spanish troops was defeated by government forces in nearby Glen Shiel. Finally, came the most disastrous rising, for the Highlands in 1745. The ’45 was led by Prince Charles Edward Stuart, grandson of King James VII. During these Jacobite episodes, Scotland moved into a more mercantile age. Inspired by England’s trading successes overseas, the Scots decided to found an overseas colony, thereby incurring the displeasure of England, anxious about competition. This was the ill-fated Darien Scheme on the isthmus of Panama. When severe difficulties were encountered by the expedition in 1698, England forbade any of its colonies nearby to help and also allowed Spanish forces to attack. The colony was abandoned. Both small merchants and grand nobility had sunk money in the scheme which reduced Scotland to virtual bankruptcy.Meanwhile, the arrangement of onemonarch (in London) and two parliaments (London and Edinburgh) was proving unstable. The Scots disagreed with English parliamentary decisions about the crown’s succession. They threatened to recall the Stewart king, waiting in Europe. England responded with economic sanctions. Poverty stricken Scotland needed free trade. England, involved in a French war, could not afford a pro-Jacobite neighbour (i.e. sympathetic to France) on her northern border. The result Discover was the Treaty of Union, reinforced by an English army under GeneralWade placed at Newcastle near the Scottish border, should the Scots be reluctant to accept it. Scotland thus lost its independence in 1707. The Scots Parliament ceased to meet. For the English Parliament, business continued as usual, except there was now a Scottish representation. As noted above, Jacobite rebellions did flare up during this period, even after the two nations were united. However, by the time Prince Charles Edward Stuart or Bonnie Prince Charlie – landed in Scotland in 1745, gathered a mainly Highland army and took it as far south as Derby in England, Scotland was becoming more concerned with commerce and many Scots may have regarded the Prince’s cause as a sideshow. Nevertheless, after his defeat at the Battle of Culloden, 1746 – a battle fought between the British Government army (for whom many Scots fought) and mainly Highland Jacobites, the authorities decided that the Highland way of life should be changed forever. Towards Modern Scotland In consequence of Culloden, the wearing of Highland dress and the carrying of weapons was forbidden for several years afterwards. With the breakdown of the clan systemmany new landlords and landowners took over in theHighlands, introducing new economicmeasures, including widespread sheep grazing.Many clansmen emigrated to the NewWorld. Around the beginning of the 19th century, the Romantic Movement in the arts began to rate picturesque scenery very highly. The image of the wild Highlander underwent a ‘rehabilitation’ further encouraged by the works of writers such as Sir Walter Scott, then gaining a seal of approval when Queen Victoria chose the Highlands for her summer home at Balmoral on Deeside. The Highlands became fashionable as a sporting playground, with large areas given over to deer. This was one important factor in the Highland Clearances, a brutal series Scotland of evictions carried out widely in the Highlands, from Perthshire to Sutherland as well as Skye, theWestern Isles and also Shetland.