Scottish Independence Guide: Scottish History
Introduction/Overview It is important to remember that Scotland is an ancient country which has had independence in the past. We have also declared our rights to independence and the rights of the people to replace their King if they worked against their interests in 1320 with the famous Declaration of Arbroath which was influential on America's own Declaration of independence. America was at one point part of the British Empire before breaking away as many other countries have done. In 1603 the crowns of Scotland and England were united when James VI of Scotland became James I of England and Scotland. Subsequent to this few monarchs had any interest in Scotland. James called for the parliaments of Scotland and England to be united but there was little interest from either side. In the year 1707 it was decided by Scotland's parliament that Scotland would become part of a larger state united with England and now known as Britain. Many of the Scottish representatives were bribed and they ignored an enormous amount of petitions from the ordinary people of Scotland against union. When the decision was made they had to flee out the back entrance to avoid ongoing riots. A large English Army was posted on the border and this will have also had an effect on their decision because by this time Scotland population was much lower than England's and Oliver Cromwell had briefly annexed Scotland to his English republic some years before. Britain comes from the ancient word Brittannia which was the Roman's term for the area we now know as England, Wales and Cornwall. The ancient 'Britons' were Gaelic Celts who would later migrate to Cornwall and Wales during various migrations into England. Scotland was known as Caledonia by the Romans and our national language was probably some form of early Gaelic. Rome attempted to invade Caledonia/Scotland/Alba and controlled much of lowland Scotland for some time however they failed to take over the whole country. After the Union (which was opposed by the ordinary people of Scotland at the time) and was brought in under the threat of military force Britain attempted to eliminate Scottish traditions and used the excuse of the 1745 jacobite rebellion to bring in a ban on Gaelic and Tartan. Gaelic still survives in Highland areas and maintains a rich cultural heritage however most people in Scotland and the former British Colonies like Australia, Canada and USA speak English. There is also a Scots language, originally spoken in lowland Scotland (and like English, derived from the Roman language Latin) which remains popular throughout Scotland. In 1746 the renamed from English to British parliament claimed that both the town of Berwick and the country of Wales were now part of England. The British Parliament also attempted to rename Scotland as North Britain, unsuccessfully. Ever since the Treaty of Union there has been ongoing campaigns to restore sovereignty to the people of Scotland. For much of the time however Scotland was not democratic and those who argued for independence could find themselves put to death or transported in chains to Australia or other British colonies. As the vote was extended these campaigns reached higher levels of participation and in the 1950's a two million strong petition for Home Rule was signed. Mindful of the disintegration of Empire London ignored these campaigns however they began to sit up and take notice when the Scottish National Party (which is pledged to independence) began to make electoral progress. In 1979 the then British (United Kingdom) Labour Government was forced to bring in a devolution bill by the SNP. In the subsequent referendum a majority voted for Scottish Home Rule. Unfortunately a Labour MP had managed to insert a wreaking clause into the bill that meant that 40% of the entire population would have had to vote for the measure. This did not happen and the UK Government fell being replaced by the Conservative party under Margaret Thatcher. Thatcher's Government ignored all demands for Home Rule even though their former leader Edward Heath had declared his support for devolution (with his Declaration of Perth) and the fact that the Conservatives had indicated during the 1979 referendum that they would produce a stronger devolution bill if it failed. Mrs Thatcher was extremely unpopular in Scotland and many people resented the fact that she completely ignored Scottish public opinion. During these years it suited the unionist Labour party to play up the political position that the Tories (Conservatives) had no right to rule in Scotland. Labour had heavily won the election in Scotland but were defeated in England. Labour along with the Liberal Democrats held a constitutional Convention which demanded Home Rule and when Tony Blair was eventually elected as British Prime Minister he felt forced to enact a further devolution bill. There was a further referendum vote in 1997 and the Scottish devolved parliament was elected in 1999. The beginning of Scotland's History With the retreat of the glaciers at the end of the last ice age and the improvement of the climate from around 8000 BC, Mesolithic hunter-gatherer bands began to spread along the coast and islands of Scotland and into the river valleys. Caves were sometimes inhabited, and stone, flint, and bone implements were in use. The Neolithic period The first Neolithic farmers arrived around 40003500 BC, bringing pottery-making skills. Using polished stone axes some imported from the north of Ireland the Neolithic farmers began the process of clearing forest for cereal cultivation and pasture for livestock. Skara Brae, on Mainland in the Orkney Islands, is a remarkably well-preserved Neolithic settlement. Megaliths in the form of chambered tombs are found in western and northern Scotland (for example, Maes Howe in Orkney), but in eastern Scotland tombs from this period lack stone chambers in their long mounds. Megalithic tombs were built and used for two millennia. In the late Neolithic period the construction of ritual monuments began. The Bronze and Iron Ages In the ensuing Bronze Age, the ritual monuments exhibit considerable structural variety (for example, recumbent stone circles in the northeast). From around 2000 BC the Beaker people settled in Scotland, and seem to have introduced copper- and bronze-working. Beaker settlement was primarily coastal. Cairnpapple Hill in West Lothian is an important ritual site. The Bronze Age is subdivided on the basis of changing implement types, sometimes found in hoards. Gold and jet ornaments have also been found. In the 1st millennium BC there were
various settlement types, dating to the Late Bronze and Iron Ages. In the south,
timber houses, sometimes enclosed by a palisade, represent farmsteads. Farther
north, numerous stone-hut circles with field systems are recorded. Mounds of
burnt stones, for example in Orkney, indicate cooking places. Lake-edge
settlements (called crannogs) began, especially in southwest Scotland. The most
impressive sites are hill forts, for example, Traprain Law in East Lothian. Some
have very complex defences, and internal evidence of industry. On the northern
and west coasts, brochs (defensive stone towers) began to be built in the later
Iron Age. The Celts probably arrived in the last few centuries BC, and a few
fine pieces of decorated Celtic metalwork, perhaps belonging to the nobility,
have been found. The first historical connection between
Scotland (known as Caledonia to the Romans) and Roman Britain to the south was
in AD "The Romans make a desert and call it Peace!" Calgacus (Pictish King) as recorded by Roman Historian Tacitus
The spread of Christianity
For a time the kingdom of Northumbria
exercised an overlordship over all the kingdoms of the north. But its power
waned after the annihilation of its armies by the Picts at the Battle of
Nechtansmere (685), north of the River Tay, and the northern kingdoms were free
to quarrel amongst themselves. The unity of their religion had prepared the way,
as it had in England, for ultimate national unity; however, for some
considerable time constant struggles took place between the Picts and Scots,
ending with the Picts extending their rule over the Scots. Malcolm's victory foreshadowed what became a major thread of Scottish history for the next thousand years. He had relied on Northumbrian assistance to return to the throne, and from then on Scotland at no time remained very far from the thoughts of England's rulers. The reciprocal condition equally applied. In 1066 the Norman Conquest shook England to its foundations and one of the claimants of the English throne opposing William the Conqueror, Edgar, eventually fled to Scotland. Malcolm married Edgar's sister Margaret, and thus came into opposition to William who had already disputed Scotland's southern borders. William invaded Scotland in 1072, riding through Lothian and past Stirling on to the Firth of Tay where he met up with his fleet of ships. Malcolm submitted, paid homage to William, and surrendered his son Duncan as a hostage.
When Malcolm died in 1093, his brother Donald III and Malcolm's eldest son by Margaret Edmund I succeeded him to rule Scotland jointly. However, William II of England backed Malcolm's son by his first marriage, Duncan, as a pretender to the throne. With the English behind him Duncan briefly seized power as Duncan II. His murder within a few months saw Donald and Edmund restored to joint rule. The two ruled Scotland until two of Edmund's younger brothers returned from exile in England with English military backing. Victorious, the two younger brothers imprisoned Donald III and Edmund I for life, and the older of the two became King Edgar in 1097. Shortly afterwards King Magnus Bare Leg of Norway forced King Edgar into ceding the Hebrides and Kintyre to Norway, creating the conditions for the independence of the Lords of the Isles from the Scottish Crown. Cambuskenneth Abbey, built around 1140, derived much of its importance from its proximity to sometime-capital Stirling.When Edgar died in 1107, Margaret's third son Alexander became king, and when he in turn passed away in 1124, the crown passed to her fourth son David I. During David's reign Lowland Scots (known as Inglis then) began to grow in south east Scotland, although Gaelic would continue to be spoken in many parts of what would become the Lowlands for centuries more. The governmental and cultural innovations introduced by the Norman conquerors of England impressed David greatly, and he arranged for several notables to come north and take up places within the Scottish aristocracy. The Normans effectively militarised large sections of Scotland, building strong stone castles, and imposing the feudal system upon the peasantry; they came into frequent conflict with the native nobility, especially in the north east and south west of the country. Like his successors, he planted a number of towns or "burghs", which were colonised by Normans, Flemish merchants and Englishmen. In a mirror of the invitation of the Normans northwards, David received lands south of the border in fee from the English kings. This meant that the Kings of Scotland also functioned as Earls of Huntingdon, and that the Earls paid ceremonial homage to the English kings for the lands received. This homage proved problematic, however, as Malcolm Canmore as the King of Scotland had paid homage to the new Norman Kings of England twice after defeats during his various campaigns against the Normans in support of his Anglo-Saxon brother-in-law Edgar Atheling's claim to the English throne. The English maintained that this meant Scotland had become subordinate to England. David himself during his reign fended off this claim, but Henry II defeated David's grandson, William the Lion and hauled him off to the English holdings in Normandy. There William had to swear fealty in 1174, not as Earl but as King. For the first time, Scotland became nominally unified with England. The vow was nullified in 1189 when Richard I accepted a payment from William, needed for Richard's crusade to the Middle East, but the submission hung over the Scottish kings for some time afterwards. In 1263 Scotland and Norway fought the Battle of Largs for control over the Western Isles. The battle proved a success for the Scots, and in 1266 the Norwegian king Magnus VI of Norway signed the Treaty of Perth, which acknowledged Scottish suzerainty over the islands. Despite the treaty the practical independence of the Lord of the Isles continued. A series of deaths in the line of succession in the 1280s, followed by King Alexander III's death in 1286 left the Scottish crown in disarray. His grand-daughter Margaret, the "Maid of Norway", a four-year old girl, became Queen of Scots. Edward I of England, as Margaret's great-uncle, suggested that his son (also a child) and Margaret should marry, stabilising the Scottish line of succession. In 1290 Margaret's guardians agreed to this, but Margaret herself died in Orkney on her voyage from Norway to Scotland before either her coronation or her marriage could take place. War with England Margaret's death (1290) now left the Scottish throne with no clear successor, and Edward became the arbitrator between the various claimants to the crown. He immediately stated that any claimant to the throne would have to acknowledge him as overlord. With a large number of claimants (14), it was not difficult to find a plausible one who would accept this condition: Edward selected him, and John Balliol became king (17 November 1292). Balliol had the strongest claim to the throne, and was in fact one of the latter Claimants to accept Edward II's demands-he accepted it several days after Robert Bruce (whose grandson later seized Balliol's throne and became Robert I). Balliol soon tried to back out of the arrangement, largely because Edward put considerable ingenuity into ways of emphasising his alleged position as the Scottish king's formal overlord. In 1295 John renounced his allegiance and entered into an alliance with France. This renewed the Auld Alliance first arranged by William the Lion.
The Declaration of Arbroath, 1320 In 1320 a remonstrance to the Pope from the nobles of Scotland (the Declaration of Arbroath) finally convinced Pope John XXII to overturn the earlier excommunication and nullify the various acts of submission by Scottish kings to English ones so that Scotland's sovereignty could be recognised by the major European dynasties. The Declaration of Arbroath is without doubt the most famous document in Scottish history. Like the American Declaration of Independence, which is partially based on it, it is seen by many as the founding document of the Scottish nation. It was drafted on the 6th April 1320 - a day the United States of America has declared to be Tartan Day. The Declaration is a Latin letter which was sent to Pope John XXII in April/May 1320. It was most likely drafted in the scriptorium of Arbroath Abbey by Abbot Bernard on behalf of the nobles and barons of Scotland. It was one of three letters sent to the Pope in Avignon, the other two being from King Robert Bruce himself and from four Scottish bishops, attempting to abate papal hostility. The document received the seals of several Scottish barons and it then was taken to the papal court at Avignon in France by Sir Adam Gordon. "Yet if he (Bruce) should give up what he has begun, and agree to make us or our kingdom subject to the King of England or the English, we should exert ourselves at once to drive him out as our enemy and a subverter of his own rights and ours, and make some other man who was well able to defend us our King for, as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom - for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself." - The Declaration of Arbroath In 1326, the first full Parliament of Scotland met. The parliament had evolved from an earlier council of nobility and clergy, the colloquium, constituted around 1235, but in 1326 representatives of the burghs the burgh commissioners joined them to form the Three Estates. In 1328, Edward III signed the Treaty of Northampton acknowledging Scottish independence under the rule of Robert the Bruce. After Robert's death in 1329, however, England once more invaded on the pretext of restoring the "Rightful King" Edward Balliol, son of John Balliol to the Scottish throne, thus starting the Second War of Independence. In the absence of a leader with the military competence of Wallace or of The Bruce, Scotland remained under English control, directly or indirectly, for over thirty years, and only fully regained its independence under David II after Balliol's death, mainly because Edward III's attention had by then turned to France and to the Hundred Years War. Late Mediaeval events After David's death, Robert II, the first of the Stewart (later Stuart) kings, came to the throne in 1371. There followed in 1390 his ailing son John, who, due to the hatred inspired by the previous King John (Balliol), took the regnal name Robert III. During Robert III's reign (1390 1406), actual power rested largely in the hands of his brother, also named Robert, the Duke of Albany. In 1396 during this king's reign, the last trial by combat in Europe, the Battle of the Clans took place before the King in Perth. However problems with England continued. After the suspicious death (possibly on the orders of the Duke of Albany) of his elder son, David, Duke of Rothesay in 1406, Robert III sent his son James (the future James I) to France for safety. Unfortunately the English captured him en route and he spent the next 18 years as a prisoner held for ransom. As a result, after the death of Robert III, regents ruled Scotland: firstly, the Duke of Albany; and later his son, during whose office the country fell into near anarchy. When Scotland finally paid the ransom in 1424, James returned at the age of 32, with his English bride. He determined to restore justice and the rule of law and to deal with his enemies. He set about this immediately and ruthlessly, using military measures, reforming the parliamentary and court systems, and killing anyone who threatened his authority, including his cousin Albany. This resulted in a much greater amount of power in the hands of the Scottish government than at any time preceding, but the process led to great unpopularity for James and finally to his assassination in 1437. His son James II (reigned 14371460), when he came of age in 1449, continued his father's policy of weakening the great noble families, most notably taking on the great House of Douglas that had come to prominence at the time of the Bruce. Scotland advanced markedly in educational terms during the fifteenth century with the founding of the University of St Andrews in 1413, the University of Glasgow in 1450 and the University of Aberdeen in 1494, and with the passing of the Education Act 1496. In 1468 the last great acquisition of Scottish territory occurred when James III married Margaret of Denmark, receiving the Orkney Islands and the Shetland Islands in payment of her dowry. After the death of James III (1488), again by assassination, his successor James IV successfully ended the quasi-independent rule of the Lord of the Isles, bringing the Western Isles under effective Royal control for the first time. In 1503, he married Henry VII's daughter, Margaret Tudor, thus laying the foundation for the 17th century Union of the Crowns. James IV's reign is often considered to be a period of cultural flourishing, and it was around this period that the European Renaissance began to infiltrate Scotland. James IV was the last known Scottish king known to be able to speak Gaelic, although some suggest his son could also. In 1512 under a treaty extending the Auld Alliance, all nationals of Scotland and France also became nationals of each other's countries, a status not repealed in France until 1903 and which may never have been repealed in Scotland. However a year later, the Auld Alliance had more disastrous effects when James IV was required to launch an invasion of England to support the French when they were attacked by the English under Henry VIII. The invasion was stopped decisively at the battle of Flodden Field during which the King, many of his nobles, and over 10,000 troops The Flowers of the Forest were killed. The extent of the disaster impacted throughout Scotland because of the large numbers killed, and once again Scotland's government lay in the hands of regents. The song The Flooers o' the Forest commemorated this, an echo of the poem Y Gododdin on a similar tragedy in about 600. When James V finally managed to escape from the custody of the regents with the aid of his redoubtable mother in 1528, he once again set about subduing the rebellious Highlands, Western and Northern isles, as his father had had to do. He married the French noblewoman Marie de Guise. His reign was fairly successful, until another disastrous campaign against England led to defeat at the battle of Solway Moss(1542). James returned, broken, to die a short time later. The day before his death, he was brought news of the birth of an heir: a daughter, who became Mary I of Scotland (or 'Mary, Queen of Scots'). James is supposed to have remarked in Scots that "it cam wi a lass, it will gang wi a lass"- referring to the House of Stewart which began with Walter Stewart's marriage to the daughter of Robert the Bruce. Once again, Scotland was in the hands of a regent, James Hamilton, Earl of Arran. Mary, Queen of Scots
In 1547, after the death of Henry VIII, forces under the English regent Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset were victorious at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh, the climax of the Rough Wooing and followed up by occupying Edinburgh. However it was to no avail since Queen Mary was in France and Marie de Guise called on French reinforcements who helped stiffen resistance to the English occupation. By 1550, after a change of regent in England, the English withdrew from Scotland completely. From 1554, Mary's mother, Marie, took over the regency and continued to advance French interests in Scotland. French cultural influence resulted in a large influx of French vocabulary into Scots, for example. But anti-French sentiment also grew, particularly among Protestants, who saw the English as their natural allies. In 1560 Marie died, and with her death the Auld Alliance also died at the Treaty of Edinburgh. Mary, now nineteen and recently widowed, returned to take up the government of Scotland in a hostile environment. She did not do well and after only seven turbulent years, at the end of which Protestants had gained complete control of Scotland, she had perforce to abdicate and flee to England, leaving her young son, James VI, in the hands of regents. Protestant Reformation
The eventual Reformation of the Scottish Church, was carried out by Parliament from 1560 (during the minority of Mary Queen of Scots). The most influential figure was that of John Knox, who had been a disciple of both John Calvin and George Wishart. Roman Catholicism was not totally eliminated, and remained strong particularly in parts of the highlands. "The independent Presbyterian church of Scotland took over Scotland because English rulers wanted it to. Elizabeth I disliked Knox but she financed and supported him in Scotland because he would destroy it's links with France by destroying the Catholic church there." "John Knox's English helpers and supporters were well known to his Scottish clerical opponents who said he was no true Scotsman and even wrote in a language like his English masters." - Alasdair Gray 'Why Scots Should Rule Scotland' (1992) The Reformation remained somewhat precarious through the reign of Queen Mary, who remained Roman Catholic, her son James VI, however, was raised as a Protestant. Union of Crowns
In a 1607 speech by James I Scotland was portrayed not as a nation, but as a distant county of little interest. Scotland would: "with time become but as Cumberland and Northumberland, and those other remote and Northern Shires" "they as other Northerne Countreys will be seldome seen and saluted by their King, and that as it were but in a posting or hunting journey" - James VI and I Scotland's status would be reduced beyond that of a conquered partner to that of an inconsequential outpost rarely visited. Despite the English fears of a Scottish invasion at the union, Scotland appeared, to the new King, to be less the coloniser than the colonised. More information about James VI's attitude to Scotland and England can be found here. One of the primary differences between the two countries was religious. While both had national churches that were Protestant, they were quite distinct. The Church of England had broken with the Roman Pontiff but had not adopted Calvinism as the Scots. England retained her Episcopal form of Church government, whilst Scots, for the greater part, favoured Presbyterian. Subsequent Stuart monarchs tried to enforce bishops upon the Scottish Church, but with limited success. The National Covenant Shortly after his reign began, an attempt by Charles I to impose English-style prayer books on the Scottish church resulted in anger and widespread rioting. (The story goes that it was initiated by a certain Jenny Geddes who threw a stool in St Giles Cathedral.) Representatives of various sections of Scottish society drew up the National Covenant, asserting Presbyterian practice. Charles gathered a military force, but lost his nerve on the eve of his invasion, settling for negotiations. When the Scots notables held their ground, he again sought a military solution, but his troops were turned back after inconclusive fighting. As a result of these "Bishops' Wars" Charles tried to raise an army of Irish Catholics, but was forced to back down after a storm of protest in Scotland and England. The backlash from this venture provoked a rebellion in Ireland and Charles was forced to summon the English Parliament to appeal for funds. The summoning of this parliament led to demands for reform in England, and eventually resulted in the English Civil War). This series of civil wars that engulfed Britain in the 1640s and 50s is known to modern historians as the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. The Covenanters meanwhile, were left governing Scotland, where they raised a large army of their own and tried to impose their religious settlement on Episcopalians and Roman Catholics in the north of the country. Civil War in England and Scotland As the civil wars developed, the English Parliamentarians appealed to the Scots Covenanters for military aid against the King. The Scots agreed in return for substantial religious and political concessions. Scottish troops played a major part in the defeat of Charles I, notably at the battle of Marston Moor. An army under the Earl of Leven occupied the North of England for some time. However, not all Scots supported the Covenanter's taking arms against their King. In 1645, James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose attempted to raise the Highlands for the King. In truth, few Scots would follow him, but, aided by 1,000 Irish, Highland and Islesmen troops sent by the Irish Confederates under Alasdair MacColla, and an instinctive genius for mobile warfare, he was stunningly successful. A Scottish Civil War began in September 1644 with his victory at battle of Tippermuir. After a series of victories over poorly trained Covenanter militias, the lowlands were at his mercy. However, at this high point, his army melted away as MacColla and the Irish and Highland men fell out with Montrose, who shortly after was defeated at the battle of Philiphaugh. In July 1646, his army was disbanded on the King's orders as Charles tried to find an accommodation with moderate Scots Presbyterians. In this secret 'engagement', the Scots promised military aid in return for Charles promising Presbyterianism. When the English parliamentarians refuse to release the King, the Duke of Hamilton then led an invasion of England, but it came too late to save the King, and was defeated by Oliver Cromwell in August 1647. Cromwellian Occupation and Restoration The battle of Dunbar was a crushing defeat for the Scottish Covenanters. The Covenanters objected to the English Parliament's arrest and execution of Charles I in 1649. The Stuarts after all were of Scottish descent and more importantly, had promised to take the Covenant themselves in return for an alliance against the English Parliament. After Charles' execution in 1649, his eldest son was proclaimed King Charles II in Edinburgh. Oliver Cromwell then invaded Scotland in 1650, and defeated the Scottish army in a series of battles at Dunbar and Worcester. Scotland was then occupied by an English force under George Monck throughout the Interregnum and indeed annexed by the Puritan-governed Commonwealth.
Charles largely ignored Scotland for the next two decades, concentrating on extending his power in England, though his brother James as Duke of York instituted the Commission for Pacifying the Highlands which worked in co-operation with the clan chiefs and built up goodwill. Charles did, however, continue his father's policy of re-introducing Episcopalian government into the Scottish Church. Whilst this was not without some support in Scotland, in 1679 it provoked another Presbyterian rebellion in the south. Charles contained the rebellion and brutally suppressed the Covenanters, in what became known as "the Killing Time". When he died in 1685 and his brother, a Roman Catholic, succeeded him as James VII of Scotland (and II of England), matters came to a head. The 'Glorious' Revolution James's attempt to introduce religious toleration to England's Roman Catholics alienated his Protestant subjects. Neither this, nor his moves towards absolutism, provoked outright rebellion, as it was believed that he would be succeeded by his daughter Mary, a Protestant and future wife of William of Orange. When, in 1688, James produced a male heir, everything changed. At the invitation of seven Englishmen, William landed in England with 40,000 men, and James fled. Whilst this was primarily an English event, the "Glorious Revolution" had a great impact on Scottish history. Whilst William accepted limits on royal power, under the Bill of Rights (a contract between himself and the English parliament, Scotland had an equivalent document in the Claim of Rights. This is an important document in the evolution of the rule of law and the rights of subjects. Some Scots supported William of Orange, but many (particularly in the Highlands) remained sympathetic to James VII. His cause, which became known as Jacobitism, spawned a series of uprisings. An initial Jacobite rising under John Graham, 1st Viscount Dundee (Bonnie Dundee) defeated William's forces at the Battle of Killiecrankie in 1689, but Dundee was slain in the fighting, and the leaderless army was soon defeated at the Battle of Dunkeld. The complete defeat of James in Ireland by William at the Battle of the Boyne (1690), ended matters for a time. (Ironically, the protestant William had also enjoyed the support of the Pope and the Catholic Habsburg monarchy against the aggressive foreign policy of Louis XIV of France.) The late 17th century was economically difficult for Scotland. The bad harvests of the seven ill years in the 1690s led to severe famine and depopulation. English protectionism kept Scots traders out of the new colonies, and English foreign policy disrupted trade with France. James VI and the British State encouraged Scots to emigrate to Ulster. Two thirds of Northern Ireland was confiscated by the British crown and their land was given to protestant settlers from Britain (most of whom were Scots). The natives were ordered to leave or stay as servants. The Parliament of Scotland of 1695 enacted a number of remedies for the desperate economic situation, including setting up the Bank of Scotland. The Act for the Settling of Schools established a parish-based system of public education throughout Scotland. The Company of Scotland received a charter to raise capital through public subscription to trade with Africa and the Indies. Scottish overseas colonies In attempts to expand the Scots had earlier sent settlers to the English colony of New Jersey and had established an abortive colony at Stuart's Town in what is now South Carolina. The Company of Scotland soon became involved with the Dariιn Scheme, an ambitious plan devised by William Paterson to establish a colony on the Isthmus of Panama in the hope of establishing trade with the Far East the principle that led to the construction of the Panama Canal much later. The Company of Scotland easily raised subscriptions in London for the scheme. But the English government opposed the idea: involved in the War of the Grand Alliance from 1689 to 1697 against France, it did not want to offend Spain, which claimed the territory as part of New Granada. The English investors had perforce to withdraw. Returning to Edinburgh, the Company raised 400,000 pounds in a few weeks. Three small fleets with a total of 3000 men eventually set out for Panama in 1698. The exercise proved a disaster. Poorly equipped; beset by incessant rain; under attack by the Spanish from nearby Cartagena; and refused aid by the English in the West Indies, the colonists abandoned their project in 1700. Only 1000 survived and only one ship managed to return to Scotland. A desperate ship from the colony which called at Port Royal received no assistanceon the orders of the English government and the supposed king of Scotland and England, William of Orange. The amount lost on the Darien expedition would later be paid out in bribes during the Treaty of Union. Union, the Hanoverians and the Jacobites "The Young Pretender" Bonnie Prince Charlie began his campaign on Scotland's west coast. His hopes to gain the Scottish and English thrones died at the Battle of Culloden. By 1700, the Protestant monarchy seemed in danger of coming to an end with the childless Stuart Queen Anne. Rather than return to her Roman Catholic brother James Francis Edward Stuart, the English Parliament enacted that Sophia of Hanover and her descendants should succeed (Act of Settlement 1701). However, the Scottish counterpart, the Act of Security, merely prohibited a Roman Catholic successor, leaving open the possibility that the crowns would diverge. Rather than risk the possible return of James Francis Edward Stuart, then living in France, the English parliament pressed for full union of the two countries. In 1707, despite much opposition in Scotland, the Treaty of Union was concluded. The treaty, which became the Act of Union 1707, confirmed the Hanoverian succession. It abolished both the Parliaments of England and Scotland, and established the Parliament of Great Britain. Scotland was to have 45 seats in the House of Commons, and a representation in the House of Lords. The act also created a common citizenship, giving Scots free access to English markets. The position of the Church of Scotland and separate Scottish law and courts was also enshrined. This union was highly controversial among Scots, and increasingly so as the hoped-for economic revival was not immediately forthcoming. When it did come, in the second half of the century, it was Lowland Scotland that received the benefits. Jacobitism, however, was not yet a spent force. Indeed it was revived by the unpopularity of the union. In 1708 James Francis Edward Stuart attempted an invasion with a French fleet, but the Royal Navy prevented any from landing. A more serious attempt occurred in 1715. This rising (known as The 'Fifteen) envisaged simultaneous uprisings in Wales, Devon and Scotland. However, government arrests forestalled the southern ventures. In Scotland, John Erskine, Earl of Mar, nicknamed Bobbin' John, raised the Jacobite clans and led them bravely but indecisively. Mar captured Perth, but let a smaller government force under the Duke of Argyll hold the Stirling plain. Part of Mar's army joined up with risings in northern England and southern Scotland, and the Jacobites fought their way into England before being defeated at the Battle of Preston, surrendering on 14 November 1715. The day before, Mar failed to defeat Argyll at the Battle of Sheriffmuir. At this point, James belatedly landed in Scotland, but was advised that the cause was hopeless. He fled back to France. An attempted Jacobite invasion with Spanish assistance in 1719 met with little support from the clans and ended at the Battle of Glen Shiel.
"I hereby declare the union between Scotland and England DISSOLVED" - Bonnie Prince Charlie At the outset he was successful, taking Edinburgh and then defeating the only government army in Scotland at the Battle of Prestonpans. They marched into England and got as far as Derby. Then it became evident that, as unpopular as the Hanoverians were, England would not support a Roman Catholic Stuart monarch. The Jacobite leadership had a crisis of confidence and retreated to Scotland. The Duke of Cumberland crushed the "Forty-Five" and the hopes of the Jacobites at the Battle of Culloden on April 16th 1746. It is now recognised that the Scots fought considerably harder than has been historically recognised see article here. Afterwards Cumberland showed no mercy to
the wounded and prisoners, killing battlefield survivors. Determined to stam Charles hid in Scotland with the aid of Highlanders (including Flora MacDonald, see picture right) until September 1746, when he escaped back to France with the help of Flora Macdonald. France expelled him in accordance with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748). He died a broken man, and his cause died with him. While historians have traditionally described the '45 as a British civil war over the throne it is obvious that the British state of the time didn't see it that way and indeed added the following verse to the British National Anthem 'God Save the Queen'. God grant that Marshall Wade May by thy Mighty Aid Victory Bring May he sedition hush And like a torrent rush Rebellious Scots to Crush God Save the King Industrial Revolution and Highland Clearances After 1745, British authorities acted to suppress Scottish identity in the Highlands. The wearing of tartan and the playing of bagpipes were both forbidden for a time. The warrior culture of the Highlands was re-diverted as Highlanders were recruited as soldiers to serve in the wider British Empire. Clan Chiefs were encouraged to consider themselves as owners of the land in their control, in the English manner - it was previously considered common to the clan. As these new landowners converted land to more profitable sheep pasture, many were dispossessed, some even faced forcible removal. In what became known as the "Highland Clearances", the population fell significantly. Large numbers of Highlanders relocated to the lowland cities, becoming the labour force for the emerging industrial revolution, many emigrated to other parts of the British Empire, particularly Nova Scotia, the Eastern Townships of Quebec, and Upper Canada (later known as Ontario). At the same time, the Scottish Agricultural Revolution changed the face of the Scottish Lowlands and transformed the traditional system of subsistence farming into a stable and productive agricultural system. This also had effects on population and precipitated a migration of Lowlanders, now recognised as the "Lowland Clearances". Scots contributed to culture and science with such visionaries as the father of modern Economics, Adam Smith. Internationally, Scotland's fate was tied to that of the United Kingdom as a whole. Shortly after Culloden, Britain successfully fought the Seven Years' War (1756 1763), demonstrating its rising significance as a great power. As the memory of the Jacobite rebellion faded away, the 1770s and 80s saw the repeal of much of the draconian laws passed earlier. Most were repealed by 1792 as the Episcopalian and Catholic clergy no longer refused to pray for the reigning monarch, although Unitarians were still affected. Radicalism and Revolution The radicalism that swept America and the European Continent reached Scotland. Many Scots had taken part in the American revolution and their influence was coming home. America's first navy Admiral John Paul Jones (1747-1792) was Scottish-born. After winning a particular sea victory he declared "I have not yet begun to fight". Another Scot, John Witherspoon signed the American Declaration of Independence in 1776. He declared that the time to break away from Britain was "not only ripe but rotting". Of George Washington's 22 brigadier-generals, nine were of Scots descent. Economically, Glasgow and Edinburgh began to grow at a tremendous rate at the end of the 18th century. The Scottish Renaissance was one of philosophy and science. The Scottish Enlightenment involved names such as Adam Smith, David Hume and James Boswell. Scientific progress was led by James Hutton and William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin and James Watt (instrument maker to the University of Glasgow). Most significantly the French Revolution (1789-1799) offered encouragement to the labouring poor and the radical literati. People could see that it was possible to rise up against the ruling class and change the style of Government. In 1792 the Friends of the People were founded organising for universal adult suffrage (including women's votes) more frequent general elections and a home rule parliament for Scotland. Although the Friends of the People merely sought moderate democratic reform the ruling classes of the day saw them as subversive and revolutionary. Among the leaders was a young lawyer from Glasgow, Thomas Muir. Muir had contacted and joined the United Irishmen led by Theobald Wolfe Tone. On Tone's advice Muir organised the FOTP into a dynamic force. Addressing meetings he told his comrades 'we must act openly, actively and urgently' and also urged 'live free or die!'. Ignoring 21 defence witnesses a notorious judge, Judge Braxfield sentenced Muir and others to fourteen years transportation to the penal colony at Botany Bay in Australia. Muir later escaped with the help of American and Spanish captains and was eventually lived in the French Republic. Muir's transportation inspired Robert Burns (1759-1796) the Ayrshire poet, to write the patriotic song 'Scots Wha Hae' commemorating Bannockburn which was banned as seditious. The successors to the Friends of the people were the revolutionary United Scotsmen (who were allied to groups in England and Ireland called the United Englishmen and United Irishmen). One of the leaders, George Mealmaker also received 14 years transportation for 'writing and publishing subversive pamphlets'. His prosecutors gave reluctant compliments amazed that a 'mere' weaver was capable of such intelligent literary talent. The 1820 Rising In the early nineteenth century following Britain's wars against revolutionary France civil unrest started up again with strikes and riots as Scots faced unemployment, low wages and the continued lack of democratic representation. This came to a head in 1820 with an insurrection which was ultimately brought down by underground government spys and infiltrators. A provisional government was set up whose policies included separate parliaments for Scotland and England. At least 60,000 people rebelled in support of this, some under the banner 'Scotland, Free or a Desert'. Three leaders of the uprising were executed, James Wilson, John Baird and Andrew Hardie. At his trial James Wilson said "you may condemn me to immolation on the scaffold but you cannot degrade me. If I have appeared as a pioneer in the van of freedom's battles, if I have attempted to free my country from political degradation, my conscience tells me that I have done my duty." Pre-eminent in contemporary literature were the aforementioned Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott, a prolific writer of ballads, poems and the historical novels. His romantic portrayals of Scottish life in centuries past still continue to have a disproportionate effect on the public perception of "authentic Scottish culture," and the pageantry he organised for the Visit of King George IV to Scotland made tartan and kilts into national symbols. George MacDonald also influenced views of Scotland in the latter parts of the 19th century. As the 19th century wore on, Lowland Scotland turned more and more towards heavy industry. Glasgow and River Clyde became a major ship-building centre. Glasgow became one of the largest cities in the world, and known as "the Second City of Empire" after London. 20th Century Scotland Charles Rennie Mackintosh gained international architectural fame with his 1909 design of the Glasgow School of Art building.Tied as it was to the health of the British Empire, Scotland suffered after the First World War as it had gained beforehand. In the Highlands, which had provided a disproportionate number of recruits for the army, a whole generation of young men were lost, and many villages and communities suffered greatly. In the Lowlands, particularly Glasgow, poor working and living conditions led to industrial and political unrest.
In Second World War naval bases and infrastructure in Scotland were primary German targets. Attacks on Scapa Flow and Rosyth gave RAF fighters their first successes downing bombers in Firth of Forth and East Lothian. The shipyards and heavy engineering factories in Glasgow and Clydeside played a key part in the war effort, and suffered attacks from the Luftwaffe. Clydebank endured great destruction and loss of life. The Highlands again provided a large number of troops for the war effort. Commandos and resistance fighters received training in the harsh conditions of the Lochaber mountains. As transatlantic voyages involved negotiating the north-west, Scotland played a key part in the battle of the North Atlantic. As in World War I, Scapa Flow in Orkney served as an important Royal Navy base. Shetland's relative proximity to occupied Norway, resulted in the Shetland Bus fishing boats helping Norwegians flee the Nazis, and expeditions across the North Sea to assist resistance. Perhaps Scotland's most bizarre wartime episode occurred in 1941 when Rudolf Hess flew to Renfrewshire, possibly to broker a peace deal through the Duke of Hamilton. Clydeside built ships for World War II and later pleasure, launching the QE2 in 1967.After World War II, Scotland's economic situation became progressively worse due to overseas competition, inefficient industry, and industrial disputes. This only began to change in the 1970's, partly due to the discovery and development of North Sea oil and gas and partly as Scotland moved towards a more service-based economy. This period saw the emergence of the Scottish National Party and movements for both Scottish independence and more popularly devolution. However, a referendum on devolution in 1979 was unsuccessful. As the Cold War intensified, the United States deployed Polaris ballistic missiles, and submarines, in the Firth of Clyde's Holy Loch (1961). This was despite opposition from CND campaigners. A Royal Navy nuclear submarine base followed for Resolution class Polaris submarines at the expanded Faslane Naval Base on the Gare Loch. The first patrol of a Trident-armed submarine occurred in 1994, although the US base was closed at the end of the Cold War.
Jim Sillars explains the SNP's anti poll tax campaign In 1988 Jim Sillars was chosen as the SNP candidate for the Glasgow Govan by-election. Govan was a Labour seat (although Sillars' wife Margo MacDonald had won it for the SNP in a by-election previously, in 1973), but Sillars proved an inspired choice. His sound use of oratory and his street campaigning style brought life to the SNP and they won a dramatic victory. Shortly after Labour and the Liberal Democrats launched a Constitutional Convention (which specifically excluded the option of independence). Sillars would become the SNP's deputy leader, with many surprised he didn't stand for the party leadership when it became available in 1990. The 1992 General Election proved a disappointing one for Sillars personally as he lost his Govan seat, however it was also one of the most exciting elections of recent times and the SNP's powerful 'free by '93' campaign had a lasting effect, putting the wind right up Labour on the home rule issue. Devolution After much fudging of the issue, eventually In 1997, the Blair Labour government felt forced to hold a further referendum on the issue of devolution. A positive outcome led to the establishment of a devolved Scottish Parliament which now stands next to Holyrood House in Edinburgh. Labour stuck in an extra question on taxation powers which they hoped would be defeated however this was passed also. Unfortunately no party in the devolved set up has yet had the temerity to use these powers, or even to threaten to use them. The Future Since devolution, a number of opinion polls are now suggesting that the favoured constitutional position of the majority (who express a preference) is independence. At the last Scottish Parliament Elections (2003) although the SNP's support fell, the amount of independence supporting MSP's went up as the SSP and Greens increased their seats from one each to six and seven respectively. After this success a number of new pro-independence parties have been set up and also two new umbrella groupings have been formed, the referendum campaign, Independence First and the new Independence Convention. In 2007 the union (on it's 300th anniversary) will come under the political microscope, and a judgement will be made by the Scottish people whether to continue with the devolved status quo or move on to independence. Interesting Scottish history links: |
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