Ruth & Pete :: Scotland

"Of all the small nations of this earth, perhaps only the ancient Greeks surpass the Scots in their contribution to mankind" - Winston Churchill

"If it's not Scottish, it's crap!" - Mike Myers

Scotland is one of four constituent nations which form the United Kingdom (the other three being England, Wales and Northern Ireland). It's a relatively small country of about 30,000 square miles and a population of 5 million, of whom the vast majority live in the built-up corridor between Glasgow (the largest city, 750,000 population) and Edinburgh (the capital, 500,000 population).

Until 1707, Scotland was a separate kingdom and its national identity is still very strong. (Do not make the mistake of treating Scotland as though it were a part of England - it won't go down well!) Scotland has its own customs, cuisine, established Church, political traditions, legal system, separate dialect and literature. Scotland has its own national anthem (Scotland the Brave) and its own national flag, the St. Andrew's Cross (above - diagonal white cross against a blue background). Only a small proportion of the population, mostly in the far north and some of the western isles, still speak Gaelic.

The Celts were divided into two tribes, Picts and Scots. The Scots in the mountains plundered the Picts in the Lowlands, while the Picts in the Lowlands plundered Roman communities in England. The name "Scot" comes from an old Celtic word meaning wanderer or vagrant.

The Romans never conquered Scotland, or Caledonia as they called it. General Antoninus built a mud wall between what is now Edinburgh and Glasgow, but the Scots kept breaking through. Emperor Hadrian wrote off Scotland and built the stone wall, separating Scotland from the Roman province of Britannia (120 AD). The current English border roughly follows the wall.

King David I of Scotland (1124-1153) invited Norman knights who had settled in England to come north. These knights brought with them the social and economic framework of their feudal system. King William the Lion of Scotland (1165-1189) continued this system but didn't see the need for an alliance. He made frequent raids into England and was eventually captured. This pattern was repeated by subsequent generations of Scottish kings and nobles. The Scots raided English farms, carrying off their cattle and women.

King Edward I of England appointed John Balliol as a puppet King of Scotland - but he rebelled. Edward marched north and captured the Scottish Stone of Destiny or Stone of Scone in 1297, bringing it down to Westminster Abbey in London. The Stone had been used for Scottish kings to sit on during their coronations and served the same purpose for English kings.

William Wallace, one of Scotland's national heroes, led a guerilla war against the governors of Edward I. He defeated the English army twice enjoying a great victory at Stirling Bridge, but was then defeated at Falkirk. Wallace fled to the hills and was captured seven years later and was executed in London. Out of this comes the famous Scottish battle cry, immortalised by Robert Burns: Scots wha hae (wi' Wallace bled) - Scots who have with Wallace bled.

After Wallace's defeat, Robert the Bruce continued the resistance movement and proclaimed himself King of Scotland in 1306. Bruce's famous victory against Edward II's troops at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 led eventually to the Treaty of Northampton and independence for Scotland.

After the Bruce dynasty died out, it was followed by the Stuart line. A great name from their early history was Mary Queen of Scots. She married her cousin, Lord Darnley, and their son became the future James VI of Scotland and (in 1603) James I of England. In 1567 she was accused of Darnley's murder and when she re-married just two months later, the accusations turned to rebellion and she was forced to abdicate. Queen Elizabeth accused her of plotting with the King of Spain to assassinate her and had Mary tried, imprisoned for twenty years and beheaded.

In 1603 when King James VI of Scotland succeeded Queen Elizabeth I to the English throne as James I, the seeds of union were planted. Formal union of the two parliaments came a century later in 1707 with the Act of Union. In a last effort to restore the Scottish line, Bonnie Prince Charlie invaded England in 1745 but was finally driven back to Scotland by the forces of King George until he was defeated at the Battle of Culloden. After the battle, Bonnie Prince Charlie fled through the Highlands where he was unsuccessfully pursued for five months. Finally he reached the Isle of Skye where he was given shelter by a woman called Flora MacDonald. The Prince disguised himself as her maidservant and escaped on a boat to France.

The word clan means children, and the members of a clan were thus all children of a common ancestor. Each clan occupied a distinct territory, but wars between clans often altered the boundaries of these territories. The clan chief held the power of life or death as supreme judge, and was the holder of the clan's lands. After the rising of 1745 under Bonnie Prince Charlie, the British government tried to eliminate the clan system and forbade the wearing of clan coats-of-arms.

Each clan is identified by its own tartans and emblems. Scots have worn tartan or plaid from at least the 13th century, but the identification of specific plaids with clans is much more recent. After the rising of 1745, tartan was banned by the British government as a symbol of Scottish rebellion and until the ban was lifted in 1782, ignoring the ban could result in exile for up to seven years. The tartan bordering these pages is (Ancient) Gunn, the clan on the Wilsons.

Kilts and Highland dress are no longer the ordinary dress of the Highlander and its use is generally confined to occasions of national ceremony, international sports matches, weddings etc. The other elements of traditional Scottish highland dress are the sporran (a pouch made of badger's skin), the bonnet with eagle's feathers mentioned above and the dirk or dagger. Here's a bagpiper in the full ensemble.

Whisky is necessarily Scotch (only when discussing whisky should this word be used, otherwise it's Scottish) as the Irish variant is spelt whiskey (with an e). The name comes from the Gaelic words uisge beathe, meaning water of life. A great source of information is The Scotch Malt Whisky Society.

Haggis is a savoury dish made from the internal organs of a sheep (minced) mixed with oatmeal, spices, salt, pepper and boiled in a sheep's stomach. The sheep is normally dead and the stomach removed prior to boiling. This is the ancient equivalent of a 'boil in the bag' meal. Seemingly this concoction was a popular meal in Greece before arriving on Scottish shores. Haggis is normally served with mashed neeps (turnip) and mashed tatties (potatoes).