A Brief History of Scotland

Presented by Peter N. Williams, Ph.D.

Chapter I: Celtic Scotland

THE COMING OF CHRISTIANITY

In most of lowland Britain, Latin quickly became the language of administration and education, especially since Celtic writing was virtually unknown. Latin was also the language of the Church in Rome. It was not too long before the old Celtic gods were forced to give way to new ones such as Mithras, introduced by the Roman mercenaries. They were again replaced when missionaries from Gaul introduced Christianity to the islands. By 314, an organized Christian Church seems to have been established in most of Britain. For it was in that year that British bishops were summoned to the Council of Arles. By the end of the fourth century, a diocesan structure had been set up, many districts having come under the pastoral care of a bishop.

Any modern visitor to the Highlands becomes rapidly aware, not only of the harshness of life that such mountainous and barren terrain imposed on its scattered inhabitants, but also of how difficult it must have been to communicate between the various glens. It was this difficulty, however, that helped perpetuate the clan system.

By the end of the seventh century, the four kingdoms of Alban were united in the Christian faith, but not much else. As in Wales, the clergy retained some of the traditions of the early Celtic Church, which put them out of touch with Rome. Thus, the ever-prejudiced English Churchman Bede condemned them. We may be sure that "The Celtic Church gave love; the Roman Church gave law" was not one of his favorite sayings. Even the constant raids of the Norsemen, beginning in the eighth century and culminating in the conquest of Orkney, Shetland, the Western Isles, Caithness and Sutherland, (where, in many areas, the non-Celtic Pictish tongue was replaced by the Scandinavian Norn), could not bring the four kingdoms together in a common cause.

Picts and Scots, with their own separate languages, were still enemies; and the Welsh-speaking Britons of Strathclyde were desperately trying to hold on to their culture in the face of ever-increasing hostility from the Angles of Lothian and Northumbria. They were only kept from further conquest by a defeat by the Picts at the Battle of Nectansmere in 685. Even before this battle, however, the incursions of the Northumbrians had separated the Celts of Strathclyde from their kinfolk in Wales.

A semblance of unity among the warring societies of the Picts, Scots, Britons and Angles did eventually arrive, however, by the year 843, thanks to the determined efforts of Kenneth MacAlpin, King of the Scots of Dalriada, who claimed the throne of the Picts after he had defeated them in battle. He created his capital at Forteviot, in Pictish territory; moved his religious center to Dunkeld, on the River Tay, in present-day Perthshire, where he transferred the remains of St. Columba from Iona.

According to the Huntingdon Chronicle, MacAlpin "was the first of the Scots to obtain the monarchy of the whole of Albania, which is now called Scotia." From that time on, the Picts, the tattooed or painted people, have remained a shadowy, poorly documented race. It is a pity that no Pictish literature has survived. All we have are the sculptured stones with their remarkable designs incised that show warriors, huntsmen and churchmen.

At roughly the same time that the people of Wales were separated from the invading Saxons by the artificial boundary of Offa's Dyke, MacAlpin was creating a kingdom of Scotland. His successes in part were due to the threat coming from the raids of the Vikings, many of whom became settlers. The seizure of control over all Norway in 872 by Harold Fairhair caused many of the previously independent Jarls to look for new lands to establish themselves. One result of the coming of the Norsemen and Danes with their command of the sea was that Scotland became surrounded and isolated. The old link with Ireland was broken; the country was now cut off from southern England and the Continent. Thus, the kingdom of Alba established by MacAlpin was thrown in upon itself and united against a common foe.

In 1018, under MacAlpin's descendant Malcolm II, the Angles were finally defeated in this northerly part of Britain and Lothian came under Scottish rule. In the same year, the British (Celtic) King of Strathclyde died leaving no heir; his throne went to Malcolm's grandson Duncan. In 1034, Duncan became King of a much-expanded Scotland that included Pict-land, Scotland, Lothian, Cumbria and Strathclyde. It excluded large tracts in the north, the Shetlands, Orkneys and the Western Isles, which were held by the Scandinavians. There was still no established boundary between Scotland and England.

Duncan met his fate at the hands of Macbeth in 1040; himself slain by Malcolm (Ceann Mor or Bighead) who became King Malcolm III. Malcolm married his second wife the English Princess Margaret, who had fled to Scotland at the coming of the Normans. She introduced many English fashions and customs to Scotland and established a refined court life. Margaret also imposed English religious practices on the Scottish clergy and her husband moved the cultural center of his kingdom to Lothian, away from the Celtic north.

Unfortunately for the stability of Malcolm and Margaret's kingdom, however, the Scottish king's constant excursions into Northern England brought him the enmity of the Norman William who forced him to pay homage at Abernethy in 1071. On one of his attacks on Northumberland in 1093, Malcolm was killed, his sainted wife following him in death a few days later. Margaret was later canonized for her benefactions to the Church including the rebuilding of the monastery at Iona.

It was under the rule of David I, the ninth son of Malcolm III that Norman influence began to percolate through much of southern Scotland. David, King of Scotland, was also Prince of Cumbria and through marriage Earl of Northampton and Huntingdon. Brother-in-law to the King of England, he was raised and educated in England by Normans who "polished his manners from the rust of Scottish barbarity." In Scotland, he distributed large estates to his Anglo-Norman cronies who also took over important positions in the Church. Into the Lowlands he introduced a feudal system of land ownership, founded on a new, French-speaking Anglo-Norman aristocracy that remained aloof from the majority of the Gaelic-speaking Celtic population.

Though this element, mainly inhabiting the Highlands and the Western Isles, remained mainly aloof, it is to David that Scotland's future as an independent kingdom can be traced. He put a national system of justice and administration under the monarch's control. Using the lessons he had learned as a youth in England, he selected a central governing body to advise him, to carry out his orders and to deal with administrative and judicial problems. He appointed a number of justiciars and sheriffs, granted borough status to a number of towns and encouraged foreign trade. He also founded bishoprics, built and endowed churches and monasteries and succeeded in retaining a certain amount of autonomy from Rome for the Scottish Church.

When conflict arose between the new (and weak) English King Stephen and the Empress Matilda, David took the opportunity to reassert old territorial claims to the borderlands, including Cumbria. At the Treaty of Durham in 1136, he retained Carlisle (which he had earlier seized). His invasion of England took him into Yorkshire, where he was defeated in the "Battle of the Standard." However, due mainly to Stephen's troubles, the Scottish king was able to gain practically all of Northumbria at a second treaty of Durham in 1139.

When David died in 1153, the kingdom of Scotland had been extended to include the Modern English counties of Northumberland, Cumberland and Westmoreland, territories that were in future to be held by the kings of Scotland. Alas, the accession of Henry II to the English throne in 1154 changed everything.

David had been succeeded by his grandson, Malcolm IV an eleven-year old boy. He was no match for the powerful new King of England. At the Treaty of Chester, 1157 Henry's strength, "the authority of his might," forced Malcolm to give up the northern counties solely for the confirmation of his rights as Earl of Huntingdon. The Scottish border was considerably shifted northwards. And there it remained until the rash adventures of William, Malcolm's brother and successor, got him captured at Alnwich, imprisoned at Falaise in Normandy, and forced to acknowledge Henry's feudal superiority over himself and his Scottish kingdom. In addition, to add insult to injury, the strategic castles of Edinburgh, Stirling, Roxburgh, Jedburgh and Berwick were to be held by England with English garrisons at Scottish expense.

Henry II's successor was Richard I, whose main concern was the Third Crusade. Desperately needing money to finance his overseas adventures, Richard freed William from all "compacts" extorted by Henry and restored the castles of Berwick and Roxburgh for a sum of 1,000 marks of silver. Thus, the humiliation of the Falaise agreement was canceled. Richard showed little interest in running his English kingdom, less interest in Scotland and departed for the crusade in 1189. Once again, Scotland was a free and independent country.

Much work remained to be done in order to bring those parts of Scotland under Scandinavian control into the kingdom. In a series of campaigns lasting until 1202, William "The Lion" took control of Caithness, Sutherland and Ross. However, in the Western Isles, the hold of the Norwegians had been strengthened by military expeditions led by Magnus Barefoot. An alliance forged between Magnus and Scottish King Edgar in 1098 had left Magnus in control of all the islands to the west of Scotland "between which and the mainland he could go in a ship with the rudder in its place." Fifty years later, the Scandinavians were driven out of Argyll by Somerled the Viking who then defeated Godfrey the Norwegian king of the Western Isles and the Isle of Man. In 1184, Somerled, who overestimated his strength, was killed in battle by Malcolm IV of Scotland near Renfrew.

Further successes against the Norwegian's hold on the Western Isles came from Alexander II who subdued Argyll. His successor Alexander III defeated the Hakon, King of Norway at Largs, greatly aided by the destruction of the Norwegian fleet by a fierce storm. The disaster at Largs caused Magnus king of Man to submit to Alexander and Hakon's son Magnus IV convinced the Norwegian Assembly that the Western Isles were too troublesome to defend. At the Treaty of Perth, 1266, the Western Isles and the Isle of Man were ceded to Scotland (though they long enjoyed a virtually independent authority under their clan chiefs).

Orkney and Shetland remained under the control of the Norwegians until 1468 when James II of Scotland married Margaret, daughter of Christian I of Denmark. Orkney and Shetland were part of the dowry. Further, in 1470, the Earl of Orkney resigned his territories in exchange for lands in Fife, thus giving James II all the lands and rights in the northern isles. These were then annexed to the Scottish crown by Parliament in 1472. The much more vexing problems of the border with England were not settled until the time of Robert the Bruce. 3: An Independent Scotland
Earl of Carrick, Robert Bruce was born at Turnberry Castle, Ayrshire, in 1274, of both Norman and Celtic ancestry. Two years before his birth, Edward Plantagenet had become King Edward I of England. The ruthlessness of Edward, who earned the title "the Hammer of the Scots," brought forth the greatness of Bruce. Bruce's astonishing victory at Bannockburn in 1314 over the much larger and better-equipped forces of Edward II ensured Scottish freedom from the hated English.

This new struggle for control of Scotland began when Alexander III died in 1286. Alexander's heir was his grandchild Margaret, the infant daughter of the king of Norway. English King Edward, with his eye on the complete subjugation of his northern neighbors, suggested that Margaret should marry his son, a desire consummated at a treaty signed and sealed at Birgham. Under the terms, Scotland was to remain a separate and independent kingdom, though Edward wished to keep English garrisons in a number of Scottish castles. On her way to Scotland, somewhere in the Orkney, the young Norwegian princess died, unable to enjoy the consignment of sweetmeats and raisins sent by the English King. The succession was now open to many claimants, the strongest of whom were John Balliol and Robert Bruce.

For those brought up to revere Robert Bruce as one of the great Scottish heroes, it was something of a mystery to watch his portrayal in the Hollywood movie "Braveheart" which gave all the heroics to his compatriot William Wallace. The movie portrayed Bruce as nothing more than a self-serving opportunist. Yet it was the patience and cunning of Bruce that Scotland needed, not the impetuousness of Wallace, especially facing such formidable enemies as Edward I and then his son and heir Edward II. Bruce bided his time; he first had to establish his authority as king of Scotland.

King Edward supported John Balliol, who he believed was weaker and more compliant to the two Scottish claimants. At a meeting of 104 auditors, with Edward as judge, the decision went in favor of Balliol, who was declared the rightful king in November 1292. The English king's plans for a peaceful relationship with his northern neighbor now took a different turn. In exchange for his support, Edward demanded that he should have feudal superiority over Scotland, including homage from Balliol. He also demanded judicial authority over the Scottish king in any disputes brought against him by his own subjects and defrayment of costs for the defense of England as well as active support in the war against France.

Even the pathetic Balliol could not stomach these outrageous demands. Showing a hitherto unknown courage, he declared in front of the English king that he was the King of Scotland and should answer only to his own people. He refused to supply military service to Edward. Overestimating his strength, he then concluded a treaty with France prior to planning an invasion of England.

Edward was ready. He went north to receive homage from a great number of Scottish nobles, as their feudal lord, among them none other than Robert Bruce, who owned estates in England. Balliol immediately punished this treachery by seizing Bruce's lands in Scotland and giving them to his own brother-in-law, John Comyn. However, within a few months, the Scottish king was to disappear from the scene. His army was defeated by Edward at Dunbar in April 1296. Soon after at Brechin, on 10 July, he surrendered his Scottish throne to the English king, who took the stone of Scone, "the coronation stone" of the Scottish kings. At a parliament, which he summoned at Berwick, the English king received homage and the oath of fealty from over 2,000 Scots. He seemed secure in Scotland.

But, flushed with this success, Edward had gone too far. The rising tide of nationalist fervor in the face of the arrival of the English armies north of the border created the need for new Scottish leaders. With the killing of an English sheriff following a brawl with English soldiers in the market place at Lanark, a young Scottish knight, William Wallace found himself at the head of a fast-spreading movement of national resistance. At Stirling Bridge, a Scottish force, led by Wallace, won an astonishing victory. He then completely annihilated a large, lavishly equipped English army under the command of Surrey, Edward I Viceroy.

We can imagine the shock of the over confident Edward and the extent to which he sought his revenge. Yet, Wallace's great victory, successful because English cavalry were unable to maneuver on the marshy ground and because their supporting troops had been trapped on a narrow bridge, proved to be a Pyrrhic one. Bringing a large army north in 1298, and goading Wallace to forgo his successful guerrilla campaign into fighting a second pitched battle, the English king's forces were more successful. At Falkirk, they crushed the over-confident Scottish followers of Wallace. This time the English cavalry was more successful and the archers (many of whom had been recruited in Wales following that country's virtual annexation by the Statute of Rhuddlan less than 20 years before) inflicted heavy damage on the massed ranks of the Scots. Following the battle, a campaign began to ruthlessly suppress all attempts at reasserting Scottish independence.

Falkirk was a grievous loss for Wallace who never again commanded a large body of troops. After hiding out for a number of years, he was finally captured in 1305 and brought to London to die a traitor's death similar to that meted out a few years earlier by King Edward to prince Dafydd ap Gruffudd, Welsh leader of yet another fight for independence from England. With the execution of Wallace, it was time for Robert Bruce to free himself from his fealty to Edward and to lead the fight for Scotland.

At a meeting in Greyfriar's Kirk at Dumfries between the two surviving claimants for the Scottish throne, the perfidious but crafty Robert Bruce murdered John Comyn, thus earning the enmity of the many powerful supporters of the Comyn family. He was also excommunicated from the Church. His answer was to strike out boldly, raising the Royal Standard at Scone and, on March 27, 1306, he declared himself King of Scots. Edward's reply was predictable; he sent a large army north, defeated Bruce at the battle of Methven, executed many of his supporters and forced the Scottish king to become a hunted outlaw.

Again, the indefatigable Scottish leader bided his time. After a year of demoralization and widespread English terror, during which two of his brothers were killed, Bruce came out of hiding. Aided mightily by his chief lieutenant, Sir James Douglas, "The Black Douglas," he won a first victory on Palm Sunday, 1307. From all over Scotland, the clans answered the call and Bruce's forces gathered in strength to fight the English invaders, winning many encounters against cavalry with his spearmen.

Edward II, born at Caernarfon Castle in 1284 and who had been given the title Prince of Wales in 1301 was crowned King of England in 1307. Faced by too many problems at home, and completely lacking the ruthlessness and resourcefulness of his father, the young Edward had no wish to get embroiled in the affairs of Scotland. Bruce was left alone to consolidate his gains and to punish those who opposed him. A series of successful campaigns against the Comyns and their allies left him in control of most of Scotland. In 1309 he was recognized as sole ruler by the French King, and despite his earlier excommunication, he even received the support of the Scottish Church. In 1311, Bruce drove out the English garrisons in all their Scotland strongholds except Stirling and invaded northern England. King Edward bestirred himself from his dalliances at Court to respond and took a large army north.
 

BANNOCKBURN AND INDEPENDENCE
 

On Mid-Summer's Day, the 24th of June, 1314 one of the most momentous battles in British history occurred. The armies of Robert Bruce, heavily outnumbered by their English rivals, employed tactics that prevented the English army from effectively employing its strength, and won a decisive victory at Bannockburn. Scotland was wrenched from English control, its armies free to invade and harass northern England. Such was Bruce's military successes that he was able to invade Ireland, where his brother Edward had been crowned King by the exuberant Irish. A second expedition carried out by Edward II north of the border was driven back. Edward was forced to seek peace.

Robert Bruce followed up his outstanding military success with equally successful diplomatic overtures. After an appeal from the Scottish nobility, the new Pope at Rome lifted Bruce's excommunication. May, 1328 brought about a peace treaty signed at Northampton by the weary, helpless English king that recognized Scotland as an independent kingdom and Robert Bruce as king. The Declaration of Independence signed at Arbroath was the culmination of Bruce's career. All his dreams fulfilled, he died one year later. One who for years had been an Anglo-Norman vassal of the King of England had made himself into a truly national Scottish hero.

Scotland had become the first nation state in Europe, the first to have territorial unity under a single king. The Declaration of Arbroath, 1320, was a letter to the Pope, who had excommunicated everyone in Scotland unless they swore allegiance to Edward II (such were the ways of medieval popes). In the letter, signed by representatives from all classes of Scottish society, it was stated that since ancient times the Scots had been free to choose their own kings, a freedom that was a gift from God.

Under the Declaration, if Robert Bruce were to prove weak enough to acknowledge Edward as overlord, then he would be dismissed in favor of someone else. Although English kings still continued to call themselves rulers of Scotland, just as they called themselves rulers of France for centuries after being booted out of the continent, Scotland remained fully independent until 1603 (when James Stuart succeeded Elizabeth I).

Chapter 4: Turmoil After The Bruce

The outstanding military success of Robert Bruce was followed by his Scottish kingdom's diplomatic overtures. After an appeal from the Scottish nobility, the new Pope of Rome lifted Bruce's. May 1328 brought about a peace treaty signed at Northampton by the weary, helpless English king that recognized Scotland as an independent kingdom and Robert Bruce as king. The Declaration of Independence signed at Arbroath was the culmination of Bruce's career. All his dreams fulfilled, he died one year later. One who for years had been an Anglo-Norman vassal of the King of England had made himself into a truly national Scottish hero.

Robert Bruce's daughter had married Walter FitzAlan, the Hereditary High Steward of Scotland, also known as Walter the Steward, the later form of which became Stuart. Thrown from a horse, Marjorie was killed, but surgeons managed to deliver a son, Robert, cut from her body (in 1371, when he was 54 years old, the crippled boy became Robert II, the first of the royal line of Stuarts). Robert Bruce had then married Elizabeth de Burgh; their five-year old son, David, ascended to the throne as David II, with the Earl of Moray acting as Regent. In the meantime, in England, following the ignominious career and frightful death of Edward II, his son became King Edward III in 1327. The new king planned to intervene in the affairs of Scotland by enlisting the support of many disaffected nobles whose lands had been forfeited in their earlier fight against Bruce.

The rival Scottish army marched on Scotland and defeated the troops of the Earl of Mar, who had succeeded Moray as military commander and crowned John Balliol's son Edward as King of Scotland at Scone. This was a grievous error; Balliol was immediately sent packing by former supporters of Bruce. King Edward III's response was typical, and once again an English army was on the move in Scotland.

There was to be no Bannockburn this time. King Edward's armies captured Berwick, dispersed a French fleet that had come to aid the Scots and won a strategic battle at Halidon Hill. Worse, however, for Scotland's newly won independence was the defection of large numbers of Scottish nobles and clergy to the winning side, with the result that the Lowlands were quickly overrun and garrisoned by the English. As on the borders of Wales, these garrison towns then quickly filled up with English settlers, merchants and clergy, completely transformed the social structure (and the language). It was up to Bruce's grandson, Robert Stewart to restore the political situation.

With England now finding itself heavily engaged in the Hundred Years War with France, Stewart seized his opportunity. With French help, he drove the English out of Bute, captured Perth and cleared Scotland of invaders north of the Forth. In 1341, he brought his young Uncle David back from voluntary exile in France to reclaim his Scottish throne. Things looked promising for a while, but then disaster struck once more.

After the French army had been soundly thrashed at Crecy (where Welsh archers in the service of the English Crown had been very prominent), the King of France desperately needed Scottish intervention to relieve his forces. Accordingly, as a diversion, David II unwisely sent an army to England. His soldiers were defeated at Neville's Cross and David was captured. He spent the next 12 years of his life as a prisoner at the court of Edward III. Here the young Scot became thoroughly anglicized, preferring to live the easier life of an English court hanger-on than to endure the burdens of Scottish kingship. In the interim, Scotland was ruled once again by Robert Stewart, a much stronger, forceful leader than David.

Under Stewart, the English were defeated in a second diversionary attack by a Scottish army under Williams Douglas. Even Edward III, commanding his troops, was sent back south of the border humiliated. This time Edward signed a 10-year truce and received an enormous ransom for the weak, vacillating David. He then sat back to await developments. He did not have to wait long. English successes continued in France and many Scots had no stomach for further debilitating warfare. After all, it was their land that was continually being devastated by English armies and David went back to live his former life of comparative ease in England.

The Scots did not wish to see David's son succeed to their throne, despite an agreement he had made with King Edward. In 1371, the Scottish Parliament gave the throne to Robert Stewart, who became Robert II, the first Stuart King. However, the unfortunate country's initial hopes of restored greatness were soon dashed -- a strong and brave leader in opposition, he proved to be anything but that as King. In addition, his Norman background did not possess the authority and prestige of eight centuries of Scottish kingship. Thus, was set in motion what became the country's curse for centuries to come -- the conflict between the nobility and the Crown.

Poor old Scotland!! The heir to the throne was the unfortunate Robert's son, James, who was sent to France by his father so that he would be safe from the Regents. He never reached his intended destination. His ship was captured by pirates and taken to London where he was held hostage and remained for 18 years despite being proclaimed James I at the death of his father in 1406. The Scottish nobility took full advantage of the king's absence and built their own estates into minor, but powerful kingdoms. The Douglas family owned the strongest of these minor kingdoms. Even the monarchy could not ignore the strength of this powerful family.

So, the pattern was set for years to come. In the northwest, the MacDonald lords continued to hold sway as autonomous monarchs, ignoring the central government. They had even formed a series of alliances with the English kings that were renewed by Henry IV in 1408. The powerful MacDonalds then tried to extend their lands even further and allied with the MacLeans. They marched across Scotland to try to capture the important city of Aberdeen. However, after a battle against the forces of the Regent, they were forced to return westward.

In 1413, England's Henry IV was succeeded by his son Henry V whose glorious victories in France gave him more one half of that nation.

To help him in his fight against the all-conquering English, the Dauphin of France relied upon the auld alliance and called upon Scotland for help. It was immediately forthcoming. Under Albany's son Buchan, thousands of Scottish soldiers helped reverse the fortunes of the war. When Henry V died in 1422, he cursed the Scots nation. He is purported to have stated, "Wherever I go, I find them in my beard." What a pity for the future of the Celtic nations that the Welsh rebellion under Owain Glyndwr had ended in failure a decade earlier.

Owain had himself crowned Prince of Wales in 1404 at a parliament in Machynlleth. He received envoys from Scotland, France and Castile and had formed an alliance with powerful English Lord Henry Percy (Hotspur). The capture of James I of Scotland in 1406 and the failure of Percy dashed all hopes of the Welsh leader to capture the Crown of Britain from its English usurpers and restore it to its rightful owners. The death of Henry V would have been an ideal time for France, Scotland and Wales to join forces in a three-pronged attack upon England.

Be as that as it may, a long tradition of mutual respect and support began between the kingdoms of Scotland and France in 1422. The fighting qualities of the Scots soldiers, no less than those of the Welsh were matched by their capacity for consuming vast quantities of food and drink: they thus earned their sobriquets Sacs a vin and Mangeurs de mouton. Buchan was aided for his help to the Dauphin by becoming Constable of France and Commander-in-Chief of the French armies. For his help, Douglas was rewarded with the Duchy of Touraine.

Albany, the Regent for so many years, died in 1420. It was time for James I to return to Scotland. Conditions were favorable. Henry V was dead, James was on good terms with young Henry VI's regents who were in control of England and the English had been at with France for so long that they did not wish to get involved militarily with their northern neighbors. In 1424, after marrying Henry VI's cousin Joan, James came back home to practice the skills of statecraft he had learned during his many years at the English Court. His expertise was sorely needed because much of his country was in complete disarray.

The trouble was that Scotland had been in a state of administrative chaos for so long, that many of the nobility were not willing to surrender any of their prerogatives to a central government presided over by the new king. James had to forcibly seize property from the Regent Albany. He then ordered the Highland Chiefs to a Parliament at which he had many of them arrested and some even executed. Next, He dealt forcibly with a rebellion led by Alexander of the Isles and the Western clans, who was also in opposition to his attempts at centralizing the government. In the Lowlands, where Douglas and the Earl of March had been causing trouble, James took command of the Crown Forces himself and succeeded in restoring the situation.

Following his redress of the imbalance between Crown and Nobility, James made his principal residence at Linlithgow, which he made into a magnificent palace. In 1428, he formally renewed the Auld Alliance with France, sending a large Scottish force to fight successfully for Charles VII and Joan of Arc against the armies of England. Turning to affairs at home, James then began an ambitious program of social and legislative reform, earning the title of Rex Legifer, the Law Giver.

As James II, heir to the throne was only six years old, again a Regency came to inflict its damage upon Scotland. The litany of murder continued with the deaths of the young Earl Douglas and his brother by William Crichton who had succeeded the boys' father as Regent in 1439. The Regent's power destroyed the Douglas's and their vast estates were broken up. When James II reached the age of 19, he took command, attempting to continue the administrative reforms of his father, James l.

Unfortunately for his plans, old resentments still smoldered and an alliance had been formed between the young Earl of Douglas, the Earl of Crawford and John of the Isles who was anxious to restore the prerogatives lost by his father Alexander at the hands of the Scottish Crown. It seemed that a quick way to settle differences was becoming a Scottish Way, for at a dinner to which he was cordially invited in 1452, the young Douglas was killed by the dagger-wielding hand of the king himself.

James II then completely routed those in opposition to his reign. The rest of the Douglas's were defeated at the Battle of Arkinholm and their estates forfeited by a decree of Parliament. John of the Isles and the Earl of Crawford saw it in their best interests to make peace with the Crown. The English were having troubles of their own with the long and bitter rivalry for the throne that became known as the Wars of the Roses. For the time being, Scotland enjoyed a period of peace. However, it was shattered by a foolish decision of James to intervene in the English civil wars on behalf of Henry VI.

At the siege of Roxburgh in 1460, James stepped too close to one of his guns and was killed when it exploded. Once again, just when conditions had seemed so very ripe for progress, the country found itself ruled by a Regency. Scotland, despite its civil turmoil and constant wars, had started on the road that would eventually lead it to become the envy of Europe for its scholasticism and scientific achievements. In 1411, the University of St. Andrews had been founded as a center for learning and the arts. It was to be followed by the Universities of Glasgow (1451) and Aberdeen (1494) which, like St. Andrews benefited greatly from close contact with seats of learning in France as well as those in other parts of Europe.

Intrigue and counter-intrigue, the ambitions of greater and lesser men, and a succession of plots and counter plots mark the Regency years following the death of James II. In 1469, James III, recently wed to the daughter of the King of Norway, assumed control of Scotland. Intelligent but unsociable, uninterested in affairs of state, the new king was hardly the one to restore the confidence and strength that the monarchy sorely needed. To safeguard his throne from the ever-present plotters, James imprisoned both his brothers, Albany and Mar. However, after killing his guards, Albany made a daring rope escape. He managed to reach London where he audaciously assumed the style of King of Scots. The English welcomed the move, once more ready to cause trouble north of the border. In 1482, Albany joined an invading English army.

James III had overreached himself; he was captured by a group of his own nobles and many of his supporters were executed. Albany and Mar assumed the Regency, but when the English army returned home, Albany fled to France, eventually dying there in a tournament. A new group of conspirators then came on the scene, this time led by Archibald Douglas and Lord Home and aided by the Chief of Clan Campbell, the first Earl of Argyll.

James had no stomach to fight the rebels, but when the city of Stirling refused to give him refuge, he was forced to battle. The unfortunate king met an ignominious death after the failure of his troops at Sauchieburn. Wounded after a fall from his horse, he was stabbed to death by a passer-by claiming to be a priest. In such inauspicious circumstances, the next Stewart King now appeared on the scene.

James IV, who wore an iron chain round his body for life as penance for the misfortune that brought him to the throne in 1488, was only fifteen years old. Thus, the Regency continued with Douglas holding the reigns of power and his cronies and conspirators receiving rich rewards for their services. One of these was the minor Laird Hepburn of Hailes, who became Earl of Bothwell and Lord High Admiral. We shall read more about the Bothwells later.

In the meantime, James belied the doubts about his immaturity and proved to be an able leader. Early in his reign, at the head of his own troops, he defeated those who sought to depose him. Because of his multi-faceted abilities, he was to become the most popular of all the Stewart Kings. Even the European scholar Erasmus, for a time tutor to one of James's many bastard sons, praised the Scottish king's intellect and knowledge.

Though much of the Scottish nobility, especially in the Lowlands, was switching to English, James learned to speak Gaelic, a language described by the Ambassador of the Court of Spain as "the language of the savages who live in some parts of Scotland and the islands." (It was still widely spoken by most of the Highlanders and Islanders). In Wales, at the same time, almost one hundred percent of the population used the old Celtic language. What was left of the nobility was rapidly turning to English and the reigning monarch of the Welsh house of Tudor, unlike the more enlightened Scots King, would have no part of the language. Their Welsh background simply allowed the Tudor dynasty to claim legitimacy as rulers of Britain as heirs to the old prophecies. In most of Wales, of course, the old ways continued and life went on unchanged regardless of what was taking place in London. And so it remained in the Gaelic Highlands of Scotland.

King James IV had grand ambitions. His country enjoyed enormous prestige as holding the balance of power between constantly warring England and France. James believed that Scotland could lead the way in the glorious cause of freeing Constantinople from the Turks. As a start, he had a large fleet built, including the mighty warship the Great Michael, thus beginning a Scottish shipbuilding industry that would become the envy of the world in a later era. In order to carry out his grandiose schemes in Eastern Europe, James had to establish peaceable relations with England, his powerful neighbor to the south.

In 1501, James was 28 years old. It was time to marry. He chose Margaret Tudor, the 14 year-old daughter of Henry VII, after signing an agreement, which promised to be a treaty of perpetual peace. The Pope excommunicated whoever broke his pledged word. The ceremony took place at Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh and was attended by many dignitaries from England. All seemed well.

James continued to use his kingdom as peacemaker between England and France. His efforts gave him the title Rex Pacificator. When the Pope, the King of Spain and the Doge of Venice formed a Holy League against France, they were joined by Henry VIII of England, the father-in-law of the King of Scotland. However, James did not join the league because he was convinced that the survival of France was essential to the stability of Europe. Thus, he renewed the Auld Alliance that had begun in 1422 under the Regency of Albany.

When France appealed to Scotland for help, as it had done when Buchan responded so magnificently before, James unwisely sent an ultimatum to the English king.

Henry's response must have startled James and the whole of the Scots people: He declared himself "the very owner of Scotland" a kingdom held by the Scottish king only "by homage." This was too much for a proud Scot to bear, and James answered it by marching on England at the head of a large army. So much for the peace treaty that was "to endure forever." The result was one of the most disastrous battles in Scottish history.

FLODDEN

On 9 September 1513, Good King James IV who had been so instrumental in bringing Scotland into the councils of Europe and whose ambitions for Scotland seemed close to fulfillment was slain at Flodden Edge, southeast of Braxton Hill. In the battle, (that seemed in so many ways to presage that of Culloden, over two hundred years later) Scottish bravery proved no match for superior English generalship who used artillery and the new long English bills to great advantage against the shorter Scottish spears and swords.

James's own natural son, Alexander and thousands of the best and brightest young men, many of its bravest and strongest Highland chiefs, great Church leaders and many Earls and Lords lost their lives in the calamitous battle at Flodden. Though no one knows what happened to James's body, a legend quickly developed to match those in Wales concerning Arthur and Glyndwr. The legend goes that he was not dead at all, and that one day James would return to lead his country again. Thus, a typical Celtic myth grew out of what people saw as the refusal of a Welsh king (Henry VIII) to bury the body of a Scottish king (James IV).

Scotland now had no king and no army. As James V was still a baby, Queen Margaret assumed the Regency. In 1514, in a move that brought a surprising change of fortune for the country for which she showed little affection, she married the Earl of Angus and was succeeded as Regent by the French-educated Duke of Albany, nephew of James III. Albany continued the alliance with France, a country that had somehow extricated itself from its previous grave danger by the failure of its enemies to formulate a united front. After a series of plots against Albany (who headed the National or French Party) by Margaret and her husband were foiled, the miserable Queen was forced to flee to England (the couple had planned to kidnap young James V). This gave Margaret's brother Henry one more excuse to continue his policies of interfering in Scottish affairs. In 1524, Albany returned to France.

Chaos returned to Scotland. A series of battles between the Douglas's and the Hamilton's, including one fought in the streets of Edinburgh, had left the mighty Douglas clan in control of the young king and thus of Scotland. James, however, who had declared himself ready to rule at the age of fourteen, escaped his captors and arrived at Stirling. He vowed vengeance against Angus Douglas whom he drove out of Scotland to seek refuge with the English king. James could now begin to restore order to his suffering nation. He started by agreeing to a truce with England. In the meantime, a seemingly simple act that took place in a small town in Germany began a movement that was to turn practically all of Europe into two armed camps. Scotland was once again able to act as peacemaker.

The pious and schizophrenic monk Martin Luther did not know what he was about to unleash upon the world when he nailed his Thesis to the church door at quiet, peaceful Wittenberg that momentous day in 1517. But it was not long before Europe became enmeshed in a religious struggle that, in some areas, has not yet ended as each sovereign subsequently sought to impose his own religion on his kingdom (and often on that of his neighbor as well.)

The Reformation had a serious and long-lasting effect upon Scotland. In the struggle of Protestantism versus Catholicism, there was a mad scramble for a marriage alliance with James V. Keeping the idea of the Auld Alliance in mind, he chose Madeleine, the daughter of French king Francois I to be his bride. When she died six months later, he married another French princess, Marie de Guise-Lorraine. Sadly, for future Scottish history, she bore him no sons.

England's Henry VIII had the same seeming misfortune. He too lacked a male heir. He became more and more aggressive in his policies toward Scotland. By 1534 he had broken with Rome, was getting ready to totally absorb Wales into the English realm and had plans to turn Scotland against France by making it into a Protestant nation. When James was offered the crown of Ireland in 1542, Henry took an army north and proclaimed himself Lord Superior of Scotland. He met with and defeated the small, dispirited army of James at Solway Moss.

From his retreat at Falkland, the sad King James heard the news that his longed for heir was not to be; his wife had given him a daughter. Upon his consequent death, lamenting his fate, the young girl was proclaimed Queen of Scotland. Therefore, in 1542, Mary, Queen of Scots entered the world in much the same sad circumstances, as she was to leave it 45 years later.

The ruthless, avaricious Henry VIII was not satisfied with adding Wales to his kingdom he wanted Scotland, too. Henry planned to marry the young, sickly Prince Edward (who died in 1553) to the infant Queen of Scotland. However, there was an obstacle in his way. Marie de Guise had the girl spirited away to Scone, had her crowned Queen and repudiated the marriage treaty. Again, the typical English response was an invasion of Scotland that was ordered "to put all to fire and sword." This command was eagerly carried out by the pillaging English soldiers and engendered a Scottish hatred of its southern neighbor that lasted for centuries.

The situation worsened when Black Donald of the Isles escaped in 1545, after 40 years of captivity and formed an alliance with the English king. The islanders' love of independence manifested itself in their proud boast that they were "Auld enemies to the realm of Scotland." Inter-clan rivalry, however, after the death of Donald later in the year, brought the Western isles more in line with the rest of the Scottish kingdom.

To face the aggressive policies and forces of Henry, the Scots had turned to France for help. They would rather have Catholic France as a friend than Protestant England. Yet, in the climate of the times, with the Reformation in full swing in Northern Europe, the auld alliance could not help being fraught with difficulties and ripe with implications.

THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND

It is not too much of a surprise to find that the Reformation took hold of Scotland so readily while it failed to influence Ireland. The Scottish Lowlands was fertile ground for the spread of Protestantism. It was here where most of the wealth and power of Scotland was concentrated, where commerce thrived and where English influence was most felt.

Much has been written about the corruption of the Scottish Church, the wealth amassed by a few leading Bishops and the ignorance of most of the clergy. Suffice to say, that when the newly translated Scriptures were appearing in England, they were eagerly welcomed over the northern border. English influence and settlement had been so pervasive in the Lowlands that, unlike the situation in Wales, an English language Bible had an immediate impact in Scotland, fostering a spontaneous movement of popular dissent that can be called revolutionary.

As in many parts of Europe, the established Church answered the spread of new ideas by executing those who brought them. Patrick Hamilton thus became an early Scottish martyr when he was slowly roasted to death on the orders of the Bishop of St. Andrews in 1528. The fires that burned under Hamilton, however, spread throughout much of the country. It was up to Cardinal Bishop David Beaton, who had ordered them, to try to extinguish them. This proved to be a futile attempt in the face of a whirlwind: Father John Knox had arrived on the scene.

The young priest Knox came to Scotland in 1544 with Protestant leader George Wishart, who had sought refuge on the continent to escape the eager clutches of Bishop Beaton. In addition to his Bible, Knox managed to carry a huge, two-handed sword. He came to conquer with the Word, however, not the sword. His zeal in winning converts gave rise to a period known as The Rough Wooing. Henry VIII (still "the defender of the faith" despite the many reforms being carried out by his lieutenant Thomas Cromwell) had offered a large reward for the murder of Cardinal Beaton. On a charge of participation in Henry's plot, and for collaboration with the English, he had Wishart burned at the stake in 1546. Two months later came revenge; the last words spoken by the Cardinal were "Fie, Fie, All is gone" as he was stabbed to death and his body thrown from a window of his castle at St. Andrews by a group of Protestant leaders.

For his part in the assassination, the young John Knox, who was captured with other conspirators with the aid of a French fleet ordered by Marie de Guise, was sentenced to slave in the ships' galleys, no doubt to await further dispensation. He was released two years later with enthusiasm undimmed. In 1548, the Auld Alliance was immeasurably strengthened when little Mary, Queen of Scots ended her period of moving from place to place for safety by going to France as future bride of the Dauphin. "France and Scotland," stated the French King, (reportedly leaping 'for blitheness') are now one country."

Marie de Guise was determined to stamp out Protestantism in Scotland. She failed, for though an invading English army arrived too late to rescue the Protestant garrison holed up at St. Andrews, it crushed the Royal Scottish army at Pinkie, near Edinburgh. Further hostilities, however, were ended in 1549 by the Treaty of Boulogne between England and France that also effected the withdrawal of English troops from Scotland.

Henry VIII of England died in 1547. His son Edward VI was destined to die early. Strange as it seems in retrospect, it seemed as if the Protestant movement in Scotland would not succeed, especially since the Council of Trent had begun the Church's long-awaited, sorely needed and far-reaching reforms. More important than that, however, was the assumption of the Regency in Scotland by no other than Marie de Guise and the inauguration of a reform-minded Bishop to succeed the murdered Beaton.

Yet, in Scotland, as in many countries in Northern Europe, efforts to turn back the clock and restore the old religion were all too late. Single-minded, hard-nosed individuals, determined to end the corruption of the Church, had been inspired by the Word and John Knox was, perhaps, the most inspired of all. The Treaty of Boulogne gave him the opportunity to continue his Holy work in Scotland. Thousands flocked to his call and eagerly accepted his teachings.

It was thus to an austere, Protestant Scotland where, apart from a few exceptions, (even Christmas and Easter were no longer celebrated as being popish observances) that Catholic Mary returned as Queen in August 1561. Now widowed at age 18, she was no longer Queen of France, but thoroughly French in outlook and education. Her sprightly, impulsive (and apparently highly-sexed) nature quickly put her at odds with the austere, Puritan divines who wished to keep a tight hold on the hearts and minds of the newly-converted Scottish people.

In 1565, Mary's complete lack of foresight caused her to marry her younger cousin, Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, who had practically nothing to commend him either as husband or king. Protestants were furious. When Darnley, immature and seemingly completely lacking in wisdom and intelligence, stabbed to death Mary's Italian secretary Riccio in a fit of teenage jealousy, the fires were lit for a never-ending saga of intrigue and misfortune. In 1567, Darnley's body was found in the wreckage of his house at Kirk o Field that had been destroyed in a mysterious explosion. He had been strangled to death.

Heavily implicated in the murder was a "bold, reckless Protestant of considerable charm" James Hepburn, fourth Earl of Bothwell, Lord High Admiral of Scotland. Mary then made her second grievous error: she married Bothwell. Now it was Mary's Catholic subjects turn to be furious. The young Queen, upon whom so many hopes had depended, had managed to alienate everybody.

A Protestant army was raised to force Mary to abdicate. And at age 24, after being led in humiliation through the streets of Edinburgh, Mary Queen of Scots gave up her throne in favor of her baby son, who was immediately crowned as James VI. Bothwell's life was saved only by his escape to Norway. The Earl of Moray, James Stewart, Mary's half-brother now became Regent.

Mary, who had been held prisoner by the Scottish lords, made her escape from Lochleven Castle, but the small army she managed to raise was defeated by Moray. She then made another grievous error. She fled to England seeking refuge with the proud and easily jealous Queen Elizabeth and was promptly imprisoned. Mary should have gone to France, for her own claim to the English throne made her a potentially deadly rival to Elizabeth I.

A succession of Regents was now in charge of Scotland while James VI grew and learned his statecraft. A rebellion led by Mary's supporters, the "Queen's Lords" seized strategic Edinburgh Castle in the heart of the Scottish capital; the first two Regents were murdered and one died in office. The Castle held out bravely until recaptured by Morton, the Regent and sworn enemy of the Queen before he, too, was overthrown and executed on the fourteen year-old charge of having murdered Lord Darnley.

The turmoil continued. Morton's removal was the work of a cousin of James, Esme Stewart, now appointed by the minor King as Duke of Lennox and High Chamberlain of Scotland. Despite the overwhelming success of the Protestant Reformation, Lennox was stubbornly and foolishly determined to make a Catholic of the young king and to head a Catholic rising in Britain with the help of France and Spain. His grandiose dreams were thwarted by a group of Scottish nobles who kidnapped James in the Raid of Ruthven, forcing Lennox to flee to France.

The instability in Scotland continued. James escaped from Ruthven and had himself proclaimed King at Edinburgh. At first, he was completely unable to control the warring factions of Protestants and Catholics or to keep a tight reign on his nobles. What ultimately saved his reign, however, was a strong character that had, with so painful a result, eluded Mary, Queen of Scots, his unfortunate mother. The young James had received a sound education in England. With this shrewdness and skill he began to mature as a monarch of Scotland and to assert his right as "Universal King." It seemed that better days were ahead for the Northern Kingdom of the British Isles. However, religious differences had only just begun to interfere in Scottish affairs.

Chapter 5: The Two Crowns

James VI of Scotland had plans to become King of England upon the death of Elizabeth. In order to carry out his intentions, it was in his best interests to stay a Protestant and to remain on good terms with the English Crown. This alliance was so strong, in fact, that when his mother, Mary, was executed by Elizabeth in 1587, after nineteen years of captivity, James brought forth only a formal protest. Instead of listening to the bad advice of many of his rash Scottish nobles, ever eager to go to war with the hated English, James preferred to bide his time. Better advice came from the powerful Welshman, Robert Cecil, who had become the Queen's chief minister. Accordingly, in 1589, James married a Protestant princess, Ann of Denmark.

In the long and protracted quarrel, which now ensued with the Scottish Kirk, James was determined to have his own way. Though Protestant, he was no Presbyterian. He wished to restore the position of the Bishops and to reduce Church interference in matters of state. He was opposed by the General Assembly, at that time under the influence of Knox's successor Andrew Melville. Melville was even more radical than Knox, who had died in 1572 was. He insisted that the Church direct the affairs of state, putting divine authority before civil jurisdiction.

Though James tried to reassert the power of his Bishops and forbade convocation of ministers except by his permission, he was defeated, being forced to allow Presbyters, Synods and General Assemblies to meet without his leave. Extreme Calvinism, with its intense opposition to episcopacy, seemed to be winning the day. Archbishop Spottiswoode supported the King's side. This conflict between two uncompromising factions was to strongly influence this whole period of Scottish history.

There were other matters of great importance taking place. Elizabeth's reign finally ended. The mighty Queen was laid to rest in March 1603 with James of Scotland declared as rightful heir. James journeyed to London to claim what he had longed for all his life -- the throne of England. He returned only once to Scotland. He greatly favored a union of the two kingdoms and the new national flag, the Union Jack, bore the crosses of St. Andrew and St. George. Although the Estates passed an Act of Union in 1607, it took 100 years before a treaty was signed.

It was English prejudice against a people they considered uncivilized and warlike that probably prevented the early union. After the Elizabeth's glorious successes, they had no wish to merge their identity with what they considered to be an inferior nation, let alone one that had been allied with Spain and France for such long periods in its history.

In retrospect, we can only puzzle at this "English" attitude. After all, following the accession of Henry VII to the English throne in 1485, it was Scotland who led the way in the literary renaissance that accompanied the reigns of the early Tudors. The most vigorous English poetry of the time was written by Scotsmen, with William Dunbar's Chaucerian works giving him pride of place as a virtual poet laureate. His freshness and animated dealings with nature both human and nonhuman anticipated the later Robert Burns in so many ways. Gavin Douglas known as "Beel-the-cat" produced other works of high literary merit. His translation of the "Aeneid" is a landmark in British literary history. Lastly, the works of Sir David Lindsey who addressed much of his poetry to the young king James V complemented the small group of Scottish poets.

Whatever the English thought of their northern neighbors, the Scottish king had taken the throne of England without rancor. James VI was perfectly happy in the seat of power at Whitehall. His troubles with the Scottish Presbyterians, however, were nowhere near the end. One of the chief obstacles to his plans for Scotland was the intractable Melville. On a pretext, James summoned him to England along with a group of his followers, had him imprisoned and forbid him to return to Scotland. The King then increased the powers and numbers of Scottish bishops. In 1617, he journeyed north to further implement his religious policy.

This was a grievous error. The King should have known better. The Scots were in no mood for episcopacy, which they regarded as little better than papacy. James's attempt to impose the Five Articles, dealing with matters of worship and religious observances, was met with strong opposition. He went ahead anyway and pushed through his reforms at a General Assembly at Perth in 1618. They were systematically ignored throughout Scotland.

It is important to remember that during the reign of James as king of both Scotland and England, the two nations retained their separate parliaments and privy councils. They passed their own laws and enjoyed their own law courts; they had their own national church, their own ways of levying taxes and regulating trade, and to a certain extent, they could pursue their own foreign policies. Scotland itself was practically two distinct nations. There was a huge division between Highland and Lowland. James's attempts to persuade the clan chiefs to adopt the Protestant faith were a failure. They clung to the military habits of their ancestors and continued the Gaelic tongue when most of Scotland had abandoned it in favor of English.

James can be attributed for the sorry mess in Ireland that continues to divide Catholics and Protestants, Nationalists and Loyalists. Anxious to expand Scotland's influence overseas, the king unwisely encouraged the plantation of Ulster, in 1610. Thousands of Scots settled on lands that rightly belonged to the native Catholic population. Their influence gave Ulster that staunchly Presbyterian character that so strongly resists attempts at Irish reunification today. James also encouraged Scottish emigration to Arcadia, one of the maritime provinces of Canada, part of which became Nova Scotia (New Scotland.)

James died in 1625 and the throne passed to Charles I. The new king was born a Scot, but had very little understanding of Scottish affairs and even less of prevailing Scottish opinion. He knew nothing at all about the Highlands and not enough about the Lowlands. A devout Episcopalian, he distrusted the Kirk and Presbyterians and greatly mistrusted democratic assemblies, religious or not. He failed to try to understand his Scottish subjects; he did not wish to. As a ruler by Divine right, he had the sacred duty to bring the Scottish Kirk in line with the Church of England. It was an obligation that eventually cost him dearly.

The Act of Revocation, decreed by Charles in 1625, restored the lands and tithes to the Church, which had been distributed among the Scottish nobles during the upheavals of the Reformation. It did nothing to endure the king to those who could have given him support in Scotland. Neither did his outright, outrageous demand of 1629, in which he demanded religious practice in Scotland conform to the English model. It was as if Charles were deliberately setting out to antagonize everyone north of the border. His elaborate coronation as King of Scotland at St. Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh in 1633 was sufficiently "high church" to smack of popery to the assembled congregation. It was the wrong time to raise the question of the liturgy. Charles and Archbishop Laud went ahead anyway.

In July, 1637, the first reading of the Revised Prayer Book for Scotland was met with nothing less than a riot. Even the Privy Council had to seek refuge from the angry mob in Holyroodhouse. The Bishop of Brechin was able to conduct only with the aid of a pair of loaded pistols aimed at the congregation. Charles's answer was simply to demand punishment for those who refused to obey his orders concerning the use of the new Prayer Book. All petitioners against the Book were to be dispersed and all the nobles who had resisted its use were to be submit to the King's Will. The unwise and ill-advised King of England and Scotland had not reckoned with the strength of his opposition.

In Edinburgh, a committee of representatives from the clergy, the nobles, the gentry and the Scottish burghs drew up the National Covenant. It was known as the Tables. Briefly, the document, signed on what was called "The great marriage Day of this Nation with God," pledged to maintain the "True Religion." Copies of the Covenant were carried throughout the country; its theological implications often lost. Though it had been signed "with His Majesty's "Authority," it served almost as a declaration of independence from English rule. Let it be known that it was not Charles's representative in Scotland who made decisions, but the Lords of the Tables.

In November 1638, Charles met with the General Assembly in Glasgow. He didn't know what he was in for. The Assembly deposed or excommunicated all bishops, abolished the Prayer Book as "heathenish, Popish, Jewish and Armenian." Completely unwilling to compromise his position on the Church, Charles once again showed his naiveté by brusquely informing the Assembly that all their decisions were invalid. To enforce his commands, he decided on war. By this further example of rashness, he sealed his fate.

The Scottish Parliament wasted no time in abolishing the episcopacy and freeing itself from the King's control. When it took measures to weaken the Committee of Articles by which Charles had tried to control it, the king again foolishly took up arms and the Second Bishop's War began. Without an effective army, Charles was forced to summon the English Parliament to beg for funds. When it met, it did nothing to please the King: the famous Long Parliament impeached and executed two of his chief supporters, Strafford and Laud. Civil War threatened in England.

Charles went off to Scotland again to try to gain support against his own Parliament. In the land that he had hitherto so blatantly antagonized, he distributed titles freely and reluctantly agreed to accept the decisions of the General Assembly and the Scottish Parliament. He had no choice. In England, where he had more support from the landed gentry, his obstinacy in resisting the Long Parliament and his stubborn insistance on Divine Right created the conditions for the outbreak of Civil War in 1642.

At first, Scotland had no wish to get involved. The desires of the Covenanters were theological, not political. There was also a split developing between the extremists, who viewed practically anything at all of piety as "popery," and the moderates, led by Montrose, who reaffirmed both a belief in the Covenant and loyalty to the King. Charles, meanwhile, had gathered enough supporters to gain many early victories against the forces of Parliament, who were mainly, untrained levies from the shires. Again, Scotland was seen as a source of aid, but this time, it was the English Parliament, and not the king, that made the request.

Because the Covenanters wanted to establish presbytery in Ireland and England, the offer from the English Parliament was too good to refuse. In the agreement known as the Solemn League and Covenant, signed in the autumn of 1643, the Scottish army was to attack the forces of Charles in England. In return, they would receive not only 30,000 pounds a month, but also the agreement that there would be "a reformation of religion in the Kingdoms of England and Ireland in doctrine, worship and government." One term of the agreement was that popery and prelacy were to be completely extirpated from the whole realm.

The conditions of the agreement now had to be imposed upon the English Church. Accordingly, the Westminster Assembly was summoned to establish uniformity of worship in Scotland, England (and Wales) and Ireland. The task was much easier in Scotland, where even to this day, the Westminster Confession of Faith continues to serve as the basis for Presbyterian worship. It was not as easy to implement in England and almost impossible in Ireland. However, a good beginning was the heavy defeat of the Royalist forces at Marston Moor by the parliamentary army under Oliver Cromwell. The defeat had been greatly augmented by a large force of disciplined and well-armed Scotsmen.

Then an about face took place. Montrose had been greatly disturbed by the forces of extremism. The ancient theory of Divine Right of Kings was being severely tested. And, in the Highlands of Scotland, Presbytery did not run deep. The powerful Lord, aided by many in Ireland and a few loyalists from the Lowlands, raised an army of Highlanders to win Scotland for the King. The nationalist spirit was still beating in some Scottish hearts after all, and Montrose's army, without cavalry and with no artillery, managed to completely rout an army of Covenanters led by Lord Elcho at Tippermuir.

Montrose then marched on Aberdeen, a fat city to be plundered by the Highlanders and Irish mercenaries at will. Next, enlisting the help of the Macleans and Macdonalds, he sacked Inverary and routed the Campbells and a small force of Covenanters at Inverlochy. Writing to Charles of his successes, he then took Dundee, defeated another force at Auldearn and again at Kilsyth to occupy Glasgow.

The Royalists in England were not faring so well. Cromwell's rag-tag armies had now become the well-trained, well-armed New Model Army (nicknamed "the Roundheads"). Following their success at Marston Moor, they won a second smashing victory over Charles at Naseby. Next, they turned towards Scotland and stopped the string of successes of Montrose and his Highlanders at Philiphaugh. Then, in May 1646, news came of the King's surrender to the Scottish forces at Newark. There was little left for Montrose but to take ship for Norway and his followers went back to their homes. The victorious Scottish army, after having turned Charles over to the English Parliamentary Commissioners, also returned north of the border. Everything seemed settled.

However, the perverse tides of Scottish history have never flowed that smoothly. Despite their military successes, the Covenanters were not happy with the situation. There was little likelihood that Cromwell would establish Presbytery in England. Perhaps Charles would have been their best chance after all. So, at the end of 1647, an agreement was made between the Scottish Parliament and the king, whereby he would give Presbyterianism a three-year trial in England in return for an army to help him fight against the Parliamentarians. Charles's joy at this unexpected help soon turned to grief. The army, led by the Duke of Hamilton, duly came south. It was utterly defeated by Cromwell at Preston, its leader executed and its followers dispersed.

Events then heated up in Scotland. The more extreme Covenanters, dissatisfied at lack of progress in furthering their ambitions in England, marched on Edinburgh and overthrew the more moderate government, leaving their leader Argyll as virtual master of the country. Cromwell came to Edinburgh to receive a hero's welcome, but the news of the unprecedented execution of Charles, a few days later, sent a tidal wave of dismay over much of Scotland. After all, the unfortunate man had been king of their country, too. And regicide was still an act against God. Taking immediate action, Argyll continued the strange alliance of King and Covenanter by having the 18 year-old Prince Charles proclaimed King at Edinburgh.

To further complicate matters, Montrose returned from exile to raise another army in support of the new king. He should have left things alone, for with his band of local recruits and Irish mercenaries, he was betrayed by "one of his auld acqeuntance" and easily defeated. Such was the complicated state of affairs in the mish-mash of divided loyalties in Scotland. Montrose was hanged and quartered as a traitor to the King he had served so loyally.

In 1650, Charles II duly arrived in Scotland to claim his Kingdom. He must have known that this was totally unacceptable to Oliver Cromwell, who had assumed the title of Lord Protector. Cromwell invaded Scotland, defeated the Scots under General Leslie and marched on Edinburgh. The Covenanters, no doubt trusting that God would preserve their cause would not admit defeat and on New Year's Day, 1651 they crowned Charles II at Scone and raised a sizable army to defend him.

Again, it was the Highlanders who composed the bulk of this army and it was the Highlanders who were again slaughtered. At Inverkeithing, after the Lowland cavalry had fled, the MacLeans stood and fought the English army to the last man. They lost 760 out of 800 clansmen in another lost cause. Cromwell now occupied all of Scotland south of the Firth of Forth. He then departed to deal with the Scottish army that been looking for support in England, leaving General Monk in charge. Cromwell caught up with the Scottish army at Worcester on September 3, 1651. He destroyed it. A few days earlier, Monk had captured the Committee of the Estates, (the remnant of the Scottish Parliament and had occupied Dundee). The continent now became a refuge for yet another Scottish monarch, as Charles II fled to France. He returned nine years later.

While the king in exile "went on his travels," as he put it, Cromwell was setting up an efficient system of government in both kingdoms. A Treaty of Union in 1652 had united Scotland with England and made it part of the Commonwealth. It had also abolished the monarchy. Though he established an efficient and orderly regime, the unpopular, Puritanical Cromwell was a harsh and ruthless ruler. When he died in 1658, the country was ready for a return to good old-fashioned monarchy.

At the request of General Monk, Charles II came back to claim his throne. Alas, like his father before him, he had little interest in Scotland, preferring to govern it through a Privy Council situated in Edinburgh and a Secretary at London. He also considered Presbytery "not a religion for gentlemen." It is a constant source of astonishment to the modern reader that Charles knew so little about how deeply the roots of Presbyterianism had been planted in Scotland and how strongly the Covenanters would fight attempts to return Scotland to the episcopacy. His years in exile had taught him very little.

In 1649, as King of Scotland, Charles signed two Covenants merely to secure his own coronation. When he restored James VI's method of himself choosing the Committee of Articles, he had the intention, not only of strengthening his position in relation to Parliament, but also of bringing back the bishops and restoring the system of patronage that chose ministers. All ministers chosen since 1649 were required to resign and to reapply for their posts from the bishops and lairds. One third of all Scottish ministers refused and held services in defiance of the law. Troops were sent to enforce the regulations but made the Calvinist Covenanters even more eager to serve their God in their own way. In 1679, claiming to be obeying a command from on high, they murdered Archbishop Sharp.

The government intervened to bring the rebels to heel. An army was sent to deal with them under the command of James, Duke of Monmouth (an illegitimate son of the King). He defeated the Covenanters at Bothwell Brig and dealt severely with the survivors. The reactions and counter-reactions that followed gave the 1680's the title "The Killing Time." The troubles continued when Charles died in 1685 to be succeeded by his brother James VII (James II of England) an openly avowed Catholic. He was welcomed in the Highlands, ever true to the legitimate monarch. Thus, the seeds were sown for the Jacobite opposition that blossomed under the next king, the Dutchman William of Orange.

Showing all the signs that he was infected with "the Scottish curse," James VII showed that he had learned nothing from the unfortunate experiences of his predecessors in trying to turn back the clock in matters of religion. His attempts at using the royal prerogative to accord complete toleration to all his subjects, Catholics, Covenanters and Quakers alike may sound like enlightened policy to us, but at the time, in an age of intolerance, it only deepened suspicion of his motives. Opposition to his rule grew rapidly. It was aided by Protestant forces in Holland, where his son-in-law, William of Orange, had his eyes on the thrones of England and Scotland.

Chapter 6: The Stuart Cause

The events that led up to the 1745 disaster at Culloden had been triggered in 1688. The inevitable invasion against the rule of James took place, led by Charles's illegitimate (and Protestant) son, James, Duke of Monmouth. He proclaimed himself king at Taunton, but was defeated in the crucial battle of Sedgemoor. His chief Scottish supporter, Archibald Campbell, Earl of Argyll, was executed for his part in the rebellion. King James, however, continued to make himself unpopular; in particular, his support for Catholic initiatives challenged existing privileges and property rights; it especially challenged that strong coalition that had built up between the Crown and the Anglican establishment. Charles II had done his best to keep this alliance alive; it had ensured that his last years were peaceful ones.

James, on the other hand, was too anxious to incite change and he did not take into account the anti-Catholic sentiments of much of the British nation. Constant wars with continental powers, (i.e. Catholic) had built a strong, nationalistic British (and Protestant) state. James's plans for equal civil and religious rights for Catholics were out of the question; his efforts to win widespread support for his policies were totally unsuccessful.

On the continent, the Protestant ruler, the Dutch King William III of Orange was engaged in a duel with the French King Louis XIV for military success and diplomatic influence in Western Europe. Charles of England had fought against the Dutch in a series of skirmishes for commercial hegemony, but a rapprochement followed the marriage of William and his first cousin Mary, James's eldest daughter in 1677. William made his decision to intervene in England in early 1688, hoping to be seen as a liberator, not as a conqueror. However, his first invasion attempt in mid-October was easily defeated, mainly because of the English weather, which destroyed most of his supplies.

Yet, it was precisely this weather and the strong northeasterly wind that prevented the British fleet from intercepting the Dutch armies of William landing at Brixham on 5 November. King James, despite having numerical strength in soldiers was forced on the defensive. His weak resolve, poor judgment and ill health caused him to retreat to London, instead of attacking William's vulnerable army.

In the meantime, a series of provincial uprisings did nothing to bolster the morale of James's forces. Derby, Nottingham, York, Hull and Durham declared for William whose army marched towards London. Showing a complete failure of nerve, James fled to France in mid-December; his forces, twice the size of those of William, rapidly disintegrated. William and Mary, in a joint monarchy, became rulers of Britain. James II and his baby son were debarred from the succession, as were all Catholics. The events of 1688-9 were far from conclusive; they were simply the first stages in the War of the British Succession, a conflict that was soon to heavily involve Scotland.

It was quickly apparent that William's success in England did nothing to ensure the compliance of Ireland and Scotland. The cause of the exiled Stuarts became known as Jacobitism, from the Latin for James, Jacobus. During the years 1689-91, James and his supporters controlled part of Britain including most of Ireland. In a series of strategically sound campaigns, William succeeded in having the Jacobites driven from Ireland and Scotland, thus forcing them to become reliant on foreign support. The campaigns against his rule in Ireland began a period of close cooperation with France, both militarily and politically that continued right up the '45 rebellion.

KILLIECRANKIE

In 1689, the first battle was fought against the new King William in Scotland. At Killiecrankie, a pass that controlled a vital route through the Highlands, the forces of the most active of James's supporters, Viscount Dundee, defeated a much larger Royal Army led by General Mackay. Sadly, "Bonnie Dundee" was killed in the battle, but the Highlanders' success led the hesitant clans to flock to James's standard. This success that gave them false hopes; without Dundee in command, they failed to exploit the victory at Killiecrankie. A consequent series of losing skirmishes including Dunkeld, which was facilitated by offers of indemnity and healthy bribes, resulted in most of the Highland chiefs swearing allegiance to William in late 1691. Those who did not submit included the MacDonalds, whose fate at the hands of the dastardly Campbells at Glencoe led to a deep and abiding resentment of the Sassennach, the Saxon and his treacherous Lowland companions.

DERRY

The decisive battles involving the Jacobite cause were not fought in Scotland, but in Ireland which was more accessible to French naval power, and thus troops and supplies. In March 1689, James II left France for Ireland in an attempt to regain his throne. His armies soon won most of the country, but a prolonged resistance was put up by the people of Derry, who were eventually relieved by an English fleet in July 1689, a day still celebrated with much pomp and pageantry in Northern Ireland. In August, mainly as a consequence of the resistance of Derry, William's army, mostly Danish and Dutch mercenaries, occupied Belfast.

THE BOYNE

In June 1690 William marched on Dublin. His way was blocked by the Jacobite forces on the banks of the River Boyne which became the site of the battle so vividly remembered and celebrated by Ulster's Protestant majority today. James's outnumbered forces were cast aside; once more showing a failure of nerve, in time-honored fashion for a Scottish ruler, he fled to France, and William easily took Dublin. At Limerick, what was left of the Jacobite cause suffered another catastrophic defeat; all their forces in Ireland surrendered, with about 11,000 Irishmen, the so-called Wild Geese, going over to continue the fight for James in France.

James had not given up hope of regaining his kingdom, however. He still enjoyed the strong support of Louis XIV, and in June 1690, his hopes were raised when a large French force defeated an Anglo-Dutch fleet. As so often in the past, however, the Jacobite victory was not followed up. French control of the Channel was not exploited and the initiative was soon lost. When Louis finally decided to invade England in May 1692, it was too late; his fleet was sent packing.

In 1697, Louis, having had enough for the time being, made peace with William at Rijswijk. However, the period of peace between France and England, ended when Louis recognized the prince born in 1688 as the future King James III. Prospects for the Jacobites, however, were not helped by the War of the Spanish Succession which tied up Catholic forces in the Netherlands and forced France to withdraw to its own borders. In the meantime, the Union of England and Scotland took place in 1707.
 

Chapter 7: The Union of 1707

There were advantages for both countries in the Union, seen in retrospect as an act of policy, not affection. James II's youngest daughter was Anne, whose last surviving child, princess Anne did not survive. Thus, there was no direct successor to the throne. London was afraid that unless there was a formal, political union with Scotland firmly in place, the country might choose James Edward Stuart, Anne's exiled Catholic half-brother, instead of a new Protestant king from Hanover. Parliament had passed the Act of Settlement in 1701 to ensure that Anne's heir was to be the Electress Sophia of Hanover, granddaughter of James I. Thus, when William died in 1702, Queen Anne succeeded him; on his deathbed, he recommended a union with Scotland.

In 1703, the Scottish Parliament passed an Act of Security that provided for a Protestant Stuart succession upon Anne's death, unless the Scottish government was freed from "English or any foreign influence." The English Parliament responded with an Alien's Act that prohibited all Scottish imports to England unless the Scots accepted the Hanoverian succession. The Scots reluctantly succumbed in order to gain the advantage of free trade with the new British common market. In 1707, the Act of Union cemented what had been a growing interdependence between the two countries.

Sometimes overlooked when discussing the reasons for Scotland's acquiescence in the union of the two nations, was the terrible beating taken by that unfortunate nation in the Darien affair. The Scottish Parliament's grandiose scheme to finance a rival to the East Indian Company and their attempt to found a colony on the isthmus of Darien, or Panama, was met with hostility by the English Parliament. Disease and Spanish interference brought a quick, sad end to the scheme in which practically the whole Scottish nation had shown interest. Much of the blame was cast upon "Dutch William" and his English advisors. Scottish mercantile interests were forced by the experience to find a workable solution by abandoning a separate and divergent economic policy in favor of a merger that would be of equal benefit to both Parliaments.

Neither side was completely happy with the Union that many historians view as "judicious bribery." The Scottish people, in particular, had to balance the loss of their ancient independence against the need to open themselves up to a wider world and greater opportunities than their own country could provide. The English gained needed security, for no longer could European powers use Scotland as a base for an attack on its southern neighbor.

Scotland kept its legal system and the Presbyterian Kirk, but gave up its Parliament in exchange for 45 seats in the House of Commons and 16 seats in the House of Lords. The act proclaimed that there would be "one United Kingdom by the name of Great Britain" with one Protestant ruler, one legislature and one system of free trade. When Anne died in 1714, George I, a Lutheran, became king of Great Britain and Ireland under the Act of Settlement.

Because it was an island nation, too, Britain had clearly defined borders. Trying to restore the Stuarts would have meant replacing a Protestant monarchy with a Roman Catholic dynasty and it was far too late for that. In addition, the restoration would have had to be accomplished by a foreign (and Catholic) army of occupation. The Stuarts were backed by France, Britain's most obvious and strongest enemy, a Popish enemy at that. The British press wrote of the horrors of life in the Catholic states of Europe and the blessings that the island nation enjoyed under its Protestant rulers.

Despite the nostalgia and the romance attached to the exiled Stuarts, and their wide support in Scotland, it was unthinkable for most Britons to contemplate their return. The majority of the nation's people were not in the mood for what surely would be a bloody and prolonged civil war. They certainly did not welcome the idea of a Jacobite army that would be mainly composed of French troops marauding through their land. The Act of Union had settled the boundaries of a state known as Great Britain whose people, despite their differences in traditions, cultures and languages, were held together simply because they felt different from people in other countries.

Progress in the arts and material well being had helped foster this feeling of Britishness throughout the land. Despite continued religious struggles and political changes, the Scottish universities managed to hang on to their existence. The three Catholic foundations of the Middle Ages, St. Andrews, Glasgow and King's College, Old Aberdeen had been joined by the secular institutions of Edinburgh and Marischal College, New Aberdeen, all helping to create a highly literate class of Scotsmen whose influence spread throughout Europe.

That was not all. Many other Scottish graduates contributed to the intellectual and cultural life of Britain. All the various Scottish regions were depicted in detail for the first time thanks to the work of Scottish cartographers. In 1682, Sir George Mackenzie founded the Advocates' Library, later to become the National Library of Scotland. Law was taught at the Faculty of Procurators in Glasgow as well as at that city's university. During the later part of the century, the scarce, spasmodic progress in literature and art (severely hampered by what was happening in the religious sphere) was more than compensated for by the creative talents displayed in Scottish architecture. Scots Baronial represented "the most remarkable cultural achievement of the century" (Pryde, 44).

It is in the use of the English language, however, that the people of Scotland were drawn irrevocably closer to their English neighbors, loving them or not. The provision of a network of elementary schools put into place by acts of the General Assembly had made it a Christian duty of instruct the youth of every parish in "godliness and knowledge," to teach them to read and write in English, and thereby, abolish the "Irish" (or Gaelic) language--the chief cause of the continued "barbaritie and incivilitie" of the people of the Highlands and Islands. (The policies of the later Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge founded in 1699, continued the hostile policy of Gaelic in its Scottish schools though a similar society condoned the use of Welsh in its schools in Wales).

Following this decision of the Privy Council taken as early as 1616, the act was ratified in 1633 giving the bishops authority to raise a land tax in each parish to establish and maintain such schools. The Covenanters continued this proposed system of universal elementary education as a religious obligation. It is doubtful, at this time, that they made much progress in the Highlands.

The network of schools that taught their subjects in English effectively got rid of the Gaelic language and the culture that went with it throughout Scotland outside the Western Isles. English was the language of the universities. It was helped by the fact that there was not that much material printed in Gaelic. Apart from the "Book of Deer", containing the Gospels that has an 11th century account of St. Columba's foundation of the monastery and a notitiae, or lists of Church rights that gives us clues as to the nature of Celtic society. We have only the 16th century "Book of the Dean of Lismire" with its 60 or more Gaelic poems. Even the Scots dialect of the Lowland regions was beginning to go out of fashion, as Standard English became the norm. In addition, and of crucial importance to the future use of the of the English language, even in remote areas, the King James or Authorized Version of the Bible was published in 1611. It was used by all Scots Protestants as was, the English-language confession of Faith, the Shorter Catechism and the metrical version of the Psalms.

There was no need to publish the Bible in the Gaelic Language, as the common speech of most of Scotland had become English. Contrast this with the situation in Wales where a Welsh Bible was essential if the English monarchs were to Protestantize that possession: it was not until 1801 that a Gaelic version of the Bible was be grudgingly made available in Scotland.

In 1725, a disarming act forced many Highlanders to abandon their age-old practice of always carrying arms in public. Their decision was prudent if they wished to survive, for their mountain homelands had been invaded by a system of road and bridge building entrusted to General Wade, the British Commander in Chief for Scotland. Wade's plan was to penetrate the more important regions of the Highlands with his roads and to link the strategic strong points of Fort William, Fort Augustus and Fort George. His monumental work was continued by his successor, Colonel Caulfield.

Like the old Roman roads, the new highways facilitated the rapid movement of troops and supplies. These roads enabled the central government to gain a great measure of control over these hitherto practically inaccessible regions and to deny the Highlanders their places of refuge. At the same time, a number of Independent Highland Companies recruited from the "loyal "clans (i.e. those sympathetic to England) were raised by General Wade to help him carry the law into the region. These later formed the highly regarded regiment of the British regular army known as the Black Watch.

Yet, in this period of rapid Anglicization and acceptance of the political and economic situation that prevailed in Protestant England, the Stuarts were not yet finished. In 1708, their hopes were raised again when an invasion of Scotland, launched from France managed to avoid the British fleet. Unfortunately, and by now predictably, the opportunity was lost; the troops landed too far north to be effective in taking Edinburgh. Then, in 1715, James II's son, James Edward Stuart, who was James III to his supporters, was persuaded to undertake an invasion of England -- "the fifteen."

The rising was to begin in southwest England, but was quickly extinguished by Jacobite indecision and government intelligence. In Scotland, as preparation for what was hoped to be a general insurrection, John Erksine, Earl of Mar, led a premature rising. Failing to exploit his advantage in a battle against the heavily outnumbered Duke of Argyll, he retreated even before the Pretender arrived with his forces.

One month later after failure to take Newcastle, a forced surrender at Preston, and complete indifference to the cause in the English counties, the rebellion completely faded out. James Edward, who had planned to be crowned at Scone, fled back to France where Louis XIV had and the French government was unwilling to risk war with Britain. An Anglo-French alliance meant no further support for James from France, at least for the time being. In 1718, the Spanish government, in conflict with Britain for control of the Mediterranean, sponsored an abortive raid on Scotland which ended in defeat for the Highlanders at Glenshiel. In 1745 began the greatest rebellion of all, the cause of Charles Edward Stuart, "Bonnie Prince Charlie," the grandson of James II.
 

Chapter 8: Charles Edward and the 45

Despite having endured so many years of ill fortune, the Jacobite cause was still powerful enough to be considered the greatest threat to Britain in mid-century. In 1723, an English newspaper had argued that the people of the Scottish Highlands "will never fail to join with foreign Popish powers, to advance the interests they have espoused; so they always have been, and infallibly will be instruments and tools in the hands of those who have a design to enslave or embroil the British nation. Notwithstanding the pains taken. . . to disarm them, they are still well armed by supplies from abroad, sent them on purpose ... to encourage and support foreign invasions, which it is not possible to prevent by any naval power, because of the wildness of their country, and the many convenient harbors and landing places that are on their coasts."

As if to fulfill this prophesy, Charles Edward seized his opportunity. At a time when George II was away in Hanover and the bulk of the British Army was fighting in Flanders and Germany, the Stuart prince landed in the Hebrides in July 1745. He was encouraged by promise of support from France, and indeed some ships did reach Scotland with supplies and artillery. By September, Charles had rallied thousands of Highlanders. Aided by the Provost's who secretly left a gate open, they had taken the city of Edinburgh (where he assured the Presbyterian clergy of religious toleration), captured Carlisle and defeated a small British force at Prestonpans where his soldiers employed their broadswords in the famous Highland charge.

Flushed with victory over the obviously ill-trained and ill-prepared British force of General Cope, the Scottish army marched south to England, hoping to rally support all along the way. At Manchester, the Prince informed them that the French would invade on 9 December. Encouraged, they continued their march to London, the capture of which was essential to their cause. They reached as far as Derby in the Midlands.

Notwithstanding the success of the Highland charge at Prestonpans, it was generally recognized by the more practical Jacobite commanders that their only real chance of victory lay with the securing of substantial military aid from abroad. In future engagements, the Highlanders were going to have face a disciplined army whose officers and men had been tested time and time again on European battlefields. It was also understood that, in times of peace, foreign governments were unlikely to launch a massive invasion of Britain on behalf of the Stuarts.

The Duke of Cumberland, George II's youngest son was Commander-in-chief of British forces on the continent. Whenever necessary, he was prepared to send troops to England immediately. In September, he sent ten of his best battalions, supported by a contingent of Dutch troops. England then undertook emergency measures to counter the threat from Charles Edward; those who refused to take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and the Test Act Declaration had their arms and horses confiscated. The Lords Lieutenant of the various counties were instructed to raise troops for the defense of the realm.

As the Jacobite army marched southward through England, it became apparent that Charles Edward was not going to be successful in raising the men and money necessary to sustain the invasion. Even in the Scottish Lowlands, support had not been forthcoming. Interests of commerce overrode those of patriotism. Even at Derby, where they were received favorably, the Jacobite army managed to gain only three recruits. In addition, fear of a return to a Catholic monarchy was allied to a general indifference. On a number of occasions, without success, English Jacobites had urged the conversion of James or Charles to Anglicanism. We can only speculate as to the support he would have received in a country ruled by a unpopular German-speaking king had he done so.

The astute Dr. Johnson, no lover of Scotland, but who was not too fond of the Hanoverian dynasty either, commented that "If England were fairly polled, the present king would be sent away to-night." He then added that the English people "would not risk anything to restore the exiled family. They would not give twenty shillings of a piece to bring it about." On their way south, the Jacobites perceived that the counties through which their armies passed seemed to contain many more enemies than friends, a perception that decided a retreat from Derby rather than an advance to London.

Despite Charles Edward's bold plans to advance on London and thereby undermine the regime, Lord Murray argued for a return to Scotland. The Prince admitted the lack of support from English Jacobites. The very speed of the advance into England had caught the French by surprise they were still preparing the invasion that never came about. Misleading reports about the strength of the English forces convinced the majority of the Council to return to Scotland when perhaps further advances may have created panic in the Government, and when additional successes would have certainly won over the doubters in England and made possible the invasion from France. It was this decision at Derby, much more than the defeat at Culloden that doomed the Jacobite cause and signaled the end of the '45. Without French help, the forces of Charles Edward had to fight on alone.

An English force that caught up with the rebels was soundly defeated at Clifton, the last battle to be fought on English soil. Once again, a concentrated Highland charge managed to dislodged British dragoons. Scottish success, however, only strengthened the resolve of the pursuing troops under Cumberland, who was determined to use his superior firepower and strength of numbers to his advantage the next time. The battle also led to a feeling among the Highlanders that they were invincible in a charge involving hand-to-hand fighting.

They were almost correct. They should have realized that their success at Clifton had only come about because they had so little distance to cover to bring their claymores into action against an enemy unfamiliar with the terrain in the half-light and unable to bring their superior firepower into effect. On the bumpy, uneven pasture lands of Culloden with a considerable distance to cover under fire before they could reach the ranks of the English troops, the bravery of the charging Highlanders would not be enough.

The small Scottish garrison left to defend Carlisle to assist Charles Edward's return to England was quickly subdued under the guns of Cumberland. The Duke opposed any quarter to the defenders. His cruel and savage discipline was in direct contrast to the policy of Prince Charles who frequently intervened mercifully on behalf of civilians. Cumberland's acts revealed the fear and hatred of the Hanoverian regime and his own uncompromising attitude toward those who he considered enemies of Britain.

For the Duke, cruelty was policy. Following the capture of Carlisle, the Highlanders won a victory at Falkirk, but their lack of discipline and professional soldiership prevented them from completely following up and annihilating the troops of the seasoned veteran General Hawley. In the battle, the British troops had been driven from the field and the cavalry, severely hampered by the terrain, had been completely unable to handle the Scottish ranks. Because of the defeat, Hawley was replaced by Cumberland.

Jacobite rejoicing at the victory of Falkirk was premature. As so many times in the past, the opportunity was lost. Once again, in the history of the Celtic peoples of Britain, another brave attempt to hang on to their lands, their culture and their heritage was ultimately defeated. Failure to take Stirling Castle did nothing to foster Jacobite morale, further weakened by Charles Edward's absence from his troops and his indecision over attacking Edinburgh. Desertion from the ranks had now also become a serious problem. The men of the clans had business to attend to at home.

It became harder to keep the Scottish army together. Not only that, but the Highlanders did not compensate for changes in tactics effected in the British army that attached the bayonet to the muzzle, allowing their rifles to be simultaneously fired (thus taking away the advantages of the Highlanders had enjoyed at Prestonpans and Falkirk). English soldiers were also trained to meet frontal charges by having their bayonets aimed at the opponent to the left, whose raised broadsword would leave his right side open. It was a tactic hardly used at Culloden.

Much has been written about the killing field of Culloden that took place in April 1745. Any advantages the Highlanders enjoyed in earlier battles had been won by a fast attack upon a line unable to use its firepower. Culloden was different. It was firepower alone that decided that outcome, well-disciplined firepower against a clearly visible target. The enormous casualties suffered by the Highlanders in their futile charges against the entrenched infantry and the slaughter of their wounded was followed by a brutal aftermath.

The Scottish clans were regarded as nothing more than barbarians. Their property was plundered by Cumberland's men with the Duke's approval. Punitive expeditions were undertaken to kill as many Jacobites as possible "if not all," and destroy their property. Systematic killings, rapes and devastation became the norm. Sad to say, many of those who delighted most in the rape of the Highlands were themselves Scots; the Royal Scots Fusiliers had been in the front line of Cumberland's troops on Culloden Moor.

Bliadna Thearlaich, Charlie's Year to the Gaelic-speaking Highlanders, was finished. The Prince, declining to die at the head of his gallant soldiers, escaped to France after being spirited away into hiding on Skye with the aid of Flora MacDonald. Despite a huge reward (30,000 pounds) offered for his capture, he was never betrayed. The Jacobites were left without any hope of reorganizing, though they still hoped for support from the Bourbons in Spain and France. This was not forthcoming. Because of the movement away from the struggles in Europe to those for control of North America, Prince Charles Edward, left without a purpose, wandered around Europe, drinking heavily.

The no-longer Bonnie Prince died in January 1788, long after his sacred Jacobitism had been exhausted. The butcher who went by the name Duke of Cumberland was greatly honored for his victory, but also reviled for his treatment of what after all were British subjects. He was later disgraced for his failure to defeat the French armies in the final years of the War of the Austrian Succession and died in 1765.

Great relief at the suppression of the rebellion found expression in the first public appearance of the new British anthem "God Save the King." Just four months after Culloden (the old song, often used by supporters of the Stuarts had now been appropriated to lustily praise the Hanoverian king). Fears about future rebellions and the inadequacy of Britain's security were now instrumental in the measures taken to control the Highlands.

The trials held after the '45 showed that the government not only wanted to punish those responsible -- those who held the power within Highland society -- but wanted to prevent a recurrence of the revolt by destroying any social and governmental basis it possessed. The absolute will of the Scottish lairds was to be replaced by the execution of the king's laws. Legislation of 1746 and 1747 was passed to weaken the independence of the Highlands. Public executions of those loyal to the Jacobite cause impressed upon the Scottish people the need to toe the line.

The lands of the Jacobite chiefs were forfeited and a determined effort was made to end the clan system once and for all. Yet, as more than one historian has pointed out, the great lords on the fringes of the Highlands such as Argyll, Montrose, Gordon, Atholl and others lost their baronial rights, in the more remote regions, the power of the chiefs had been patriarchal rather than feudal, personal rather than legal and territorial. It was the inexorable advance of a money economy into the Highlands that followed the rebellion, and not the effects of any royal statute that finally ended their supremacy.

The Disarming Act of 1746 forbade the carrying and concealing of arms, made broadsword illegal and the search for them legal. The wearing of Highland clothes or plaid was prohibited to all except serving soldiers of the Crown. Another act was passed to suppress nonjuring, meeting houses, considered "seminaries of Jacobitism" and "nurseries and schools" of rebellion.

In 1747 the principal heritable jurisdictions were abolished as were regalities, with the latter's jurisdictions assumed by the royal courts. Heritable sheriffdoms were abrogated and their powers transferred to the Crown. In Edinburgh, in 1746, a publication made clear the government's belief that legislation would extinguish the Jacobite menace: "Superiorities display'd: or Scotland's grievance, by reason of the slavish dependence of the people upon their great men; upon account of holdings or tenures of their lands, and of the many and the hereditary jurisdictions over them. Wherein is shown, that these have been the handles of rebellion in preceding ages, especially in the year 1715: and that, upon their removal, and putting the people of Scotland on the footing of those in England, the seeds of rebellion will be plucked for ever."

The great Civil war that had taken place in Britain in the middle of the 18th century, resulting in the defeat of the Highland clans at Culloden, brought to an abrupt end centuries of a way of life that we can call Celtic, for after Culloden and the defeat of Jacobitism, a social system we can simply call British was imposed on the Highlands. For British, we can substitute English, for all hopes of wresting back control of Scotland from Westminster were now effectively ended. Welsh hopes for eventual independence had died in 1536 with the Act of Union. Thus the successful referenda of the 1990's that will bring back limited control of their own affairs to these two Celtic nations is all the more remarkable. After all, even the pipes had been prohibited after Culloden.

Chapter 10: Scotland Resurgent

The old spirit did not die completely when Charles went off to the continent, never to return. How could it? The Highlanders had a long history of fighting, winning some, losing some and then coming back for more. Many of the leading clans, despite their severe losses, still hoped for help from France. Even as late as it was it was reported that the Macleans were anxious to renew the fight. Charles Edward, however, their "Bonnie Prince," preferred to spend his time in idleness in Rome or Florence, often hopelessly drunk as a pathetic "King over the Water." When he died in 1788, his successor was his young brother Henry, Cardinal York, who assumed the rather ambitious title Henry IX. He did not claim the throne of Britain. Upon his death in 1808, the Stuarts were no more.

Scotland now was now fully accepted in, and for its own part, fully accepted the Union. It was ready to play a major role in the expansion of the British Empire. In particular, the fighting qualities and heroic traditions of the Highlanders were put to good use in British armies sent to fight in Europe and further afield. The Seven Years War (1756-63) that closely followed the failure of the Jacobite Rebellion was the most dramatically successful war ever fought by Britain. Success followed success (mostly at the expense of France) in Canada, India, West Africa and the West Indies. The tiny North Atlantic island of Britain found itself at the head of a vast, world empire in which the Scots played a leading role.

The Crown provided the strongest link between Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom. For one reason or another unknown to this author, perhaps to assuage guilt, King George III of England erected a grand marble tomb in Rome to the memory of the unfortunate Stuarts. His son, George IV, dressed in the Royal Stuart tartan, or a reasonable facsimile thereof, made a state visit to Scotland in 1822, the first by a reigning monarch in 172 years. After being greeted by Sir Walter Scott (in Campbell tartan), he was then entertained lavishly by Lord Hopetoun, whose own father had welcomed the Butcher Cumberland shortly after Culloden. It was Queen Victoria however; who was most anxious to make amends for the grievous harm suffered by her northern neighbors. Even Albert, her German consort, took to wearing a kilt on their frequent visits to the Highlands, where he praised the inhabitants' "good-breeding, simplicity and intelligence."

Royal interest in the traditions of the Highlands apart, however, the peculiar situation that had created the Union did nothing to promote Scotland's political self-expression. Here the situation was one of stagnancy. Real power in Scotland, for the most part, resided in the hands of a political manager. His personal influence and power of patronage allowed him to manipulate the votes of the 45 Scottish members that, after the dissolution of the Scottish Parliament in 1707, perfidious England had so graciously allowed to attend its own Parliament at Westminster. Thirty of these members represented the counties and 15 the 65 royal burghs.

This was hardly a democracy at work. The system of franchise meant that in 1788 the whole country possessed fewer than 3,000 voters. Large new population centers were not royal burghs, and therefore had no representation at all. No wonder corruption prevailed; it was so easy for the London Government to manipulate the all too-few voters through appointments, benefits and preferment's.

In the early part of the 18th century, Scotland was governed by a succession of Lord Advocates, including two Dukes of Argyll and later by Henry Dundas, Viscount Melville. For his efforts at keeping the majority of Scottish Members loyal to the Government, he was rewarded handsomely, progressing from Lord Advocate, through President of the Board of Control for India, Treasurer of the Navy, to Home Secretary and Secretary of War. To his credit, in a position of authority lasting thirty years, Dundas attempted to put right some of the grievous wrongs suffered by the Highlands at the hands of the Hanoverians. His efforts led to the repeal of the nefarious Act of 1746 that had forbidden Highland dress "the garb of sedition," and the playing of the pipes. In 1784, he was able to have many of the forfeited Jacobite estates returned to their rightful owners.

Apart from the occasional riot, usually occurring then as now, at the imposition of some new tax or other, political apathy was the norm in Scotland. The 45 Scottish M.P.'s seemed to be content with their lot; after all, they were sharing the largesse of what was becoming the largest and wealthiest empire on earth. It was convenient as well as lucrative for them to largely ignore the desperate needs of the constituencies of their own country. The native Scottish spirit of independence, however, broke through with the widespread support of the American cause in the War of Independence, a sympathy for basic political rights that was repeated during the French Revolution.

The authorities responded with cruel reprisals. Two outspoken Scots, Thomas Palmer and Thomas Muir were exiled to many years of servitude in Botany Bay for their support of what they considered the natural rights of man. In Parliament, anti-Scots feeling was stirred up by the notorious and nasty fop, John Wilkes, whose Scottophobia was based on his conviction that the English were a superior race. The spoils of victory in the Seven Years War, he preached, were for England. His invective and the winning of the war in America by the patriots had the effect of once more stirring up feelings for Scottish independence.

Wilkes no doubt felt his scurrilous attacks on his northern neighbors were justified. There were many attempts on the life of this arrogant, chauvinistic Englishman. In many Scottish cities, he was burned in effigy. In England, on the other hand, he was popular as an exemplar of "little English patriotism" with all its bigotry and narrow-mindedness. Such were the convictions of the scoundrel Wilkes, former felon, that he defended frequent death sentences and public executions in his own country as helping accustom brave Englishmen to a contempt for death.

For Wilkes, the Scots were inherently, unchangeable aliens "never, ever to be confused or integrated with the English." He insisted on using the term England to describe the entire island (a fault of many ignorant Americans to this day); and he gave his unqualified support to those who would warn the great Scottish Lords and even the King himself, of "melting the English name down to Briton." I do not know what he thought of the Welsh (who continued to think of themselves as the true "Britons"), but I can imagine that his complete lack of knowledge of their Cymric language put them completely out of reach of his and most Englishman's ken.

Naturally, there was a strong reaction in Scotland to the scandalous charges of Wilkes and his ilk, especially since the culmination of his attacks came in his assertion that the American rebellion had been fomented in Scotland. "The ruin of the British Empire," he complained, "is merely a Scotch quarrel with English liberty, a Scotch scramble for English property." Alien men and alien attitudes from North Britain, he said, had infected those in the seat of power in London, forcing other Englishmen in North America into rebellion.

On one hand, Wilkes was expressing long-felt English contempt of Scottish civilization. On the other, he was expressing the very great fears of increasing Scottish influence, especially in the seats of power. George III, in particular, had welcomed the Scots as loyal Britons. He intervened in a case involving the mistreatment of a family of Scottish tollgate keepers by a party of English dragoons. He insisted the culprits be tried in a Scottish court and be severely reprimanded. In official eyes, particularly those of the King, Scotland was no longer the old enemy but a useful, loyal and British domain. More important, perhaps, in view of Britain's overseas commitments, the Highland regiments of the army constituted the bulk of Britain's arsenal. Such loyalty had to be rewarded. London had to open itself up to increasing Scottish participation in its affairs.

More opportunities for Scots meant fewer perks for Wilkes and his Englishmen. In fact, only one year after Culloden, the Prime Minister, Henry Pelham had conceded that "Every Scotch man who had zeal and abilities to serve the King should have the same admission with the administration as the subject of England had." Thus Scots were allowed to compete for advancement in the state on favorable terms with the English (and Welsh, who had been flocking into London in such great numbers since the time of Elizabeth to pick many a juicy plum from the veritable forest of lucrative government positions). Wilkes' very invective was a sure sign that the old barriers between Scotland and England were no longer extant, power and influence within Great Britain was no longer confined to the English.

The tail was beginning to wag the dog. One sure sign of this was the choice of Scotsman John Stuart, the Earl of Bute as the principal architect of King George III's plan to rule as well as reign. Bute's determination to end the war with France led to the resignation of William Pitt. Under Bute's guidance, the Treaty of Paris (1763) gave Britain possession of Canada, many island colonies and Florida, as well as strengthening its hold in India. Sad to relate, many Englishmen then reviled Lord Bute as not gaining more from defeated France and loyal Scots were treated with mistrust (ever contempt and derision) in the streets of London. The reasons are not hard to find.
 

A prime reason for English mistrust and dislike of the Scots was envy (unlike their mistrust of the Welsh that was based on total bewilderment at hearing and seeing their strange language). By the middle of the 18th century, Scotland had begun its transformation into a great industrial power. Glasgow began a period of phenomenal growth, fueled enormously by the flourishing tobacco trade with the American colonies.

 

When the successful American Revolution ended the tobacco trade, linen took its place dominating the Scottish economy for a century. Many Scottish tobacco merchants had made huge fortunes, but equal wealth now came from the rapid expansion of the new linen industry. Aided by grants of Parliament bounties and grants of assistance from the British Linen Company, established in 1746, linen became Scotland's chief export.

 

A newer and more promising source of profit was cotton, and by 1786, the New Lanark Mills were the largest in the world and cotton had become Scotland's largest industry. Another war in America, the Civil War of the 1860's that ended slavery, put an end to the import of cotton from the southern states and brought still further change. Money made in cotton was transferred to heavy industries. At the end of the century, Scotland led the world in engineering and shipbuilding and had invested enormously in iron, steel and coal.

The rapid growth in Scottish industry had been set in motion as early as 1757. For this was the year that James Watt of Greenock, at age 22, was accepted as mathematical instrument maker to the University of Glasgow where he was given a workshop to try out his experiments. His discovery of the separate condenser for the steam engine in 1765 changed the world forever. To the illustrious name of James Watt, we can add that of bridge and road building genius, Thomas Telford to attest to the enormous influence that Scotland's finest had on the Industrial Revolution that was to so quickly transform the world.

On rainy days, how many of us have not blessed the name of Charles Macintosh for helping keep us dry? Born in Glasgow in 1766, chemist Charles invented a method for waterproofing garments. He was one of many to whom the world owes a debt of gratitude. In an age where rapid progress in industry could be so easily obstructed by poor communications between workplace and store, between factory and port, it was the work of another Scotsman John Loudon McAdam that made the crucial difference. McAdam's name is known throughout the world as the father of modern road building; he invented the Macadam road surface that facilitated travel and communications and opened up so many areas to so many influences.

After making a fortune in New York City, John had returned to Scotland, where his attention was arrested by the poor conditions of the roads in Ayrshire. It was there he began his experiments that would transform the ancient, inefficient methods of road building worldwide. In 1815, he put his theories to the test as surveyor general of the roads at Bristol. His methods seem simple enough in retrospect: roads were to be raised above the adjacent ground for good drainage. They were first covered with large rocks, then layers of smaller stones, the whole to be covered with gravel or slag. The success of his road building program in Scotland led to his methods being adopted in many other countries, most notably, the USA.

It was another Scot, James Neilson, in 1828 who invented the process of heating the air before it was blown into a blast furnace, an idea that was adopted by Welshman David Thomas and taken to the United States in 1839 to completely revolutionize that country's anthracite iron industry. In Scotland, it led to a 30-fold increase in the production of pig iron in the same number of years. One of the most famous iron works was the Carron Works whose light cannon or "carronades" became a standard weapon of armies worldwide. The Carron Works also produced everything from pots and pans, ploughs and spades, grates and stoves, railings and gates, thus freeing countless thousands of consumers from reliance on their local blacksmith or forge master for basic household needs.

Fueled by locally produced iron, the shipbuilding industries of the Clyde soon became the envy of the world. Watt's great invention, among other things, led to steam replacing sail, from time immemorial the capricious and cumbersome method of propelling ships. Perhaps the definite moment came in 1812 when Henry Bell 's Comet used steam power on its experimental run on the River Clyde (forerunners such as Fulton's Clermont in 1807 had showed the way). By 1823, Scotland had built 95 steamships. Even before the general adaptation of the steam engine to marine engineering, however, the dredging of the Clyde had allowed Glasgow to accept ocean-going vessels and to quickly rise to preeminence as Scotland's leading port.

Improvements in road building aided in the growth of the towns. In 1803, working for the Highland Commission for Roads and Bridges, Thomas Telford began to supervise the building of the new "parliamentary roads" that, with the necessary bridges, were to provide stagecoach links between almost inaccessible parts of the country. Feverish activity in road building was matched by progress in the construction of canals, though the hilly nature of most of the terrain prohibited such successful developments such as were taking place in England. Nevertheless, canals linked the major industrial centers, proving their worth in securing large profits from freight and passenger traffic.

In 1767, James Craig designed his great showpiece, Edinburgh New Town, as a center of British patriotism and an assertion of that city's (and Scotland's) place in the Union. St. Andrew's Square had its counterpart in St. George's Square; the principal streets were named Princes, George, Queen, Hanover and Frederick. Only 22 years after Culloden, the erection of such fine buildings showed Scotland's greatly increased prosperity in a country whose economy was expanding faster than that of any other part of Great Britain. They showed a proud and tasteful opulence matched in many other Scottish towns, made fat on commerce. With the benefits brought about by imperial trade came the Scottish enlightenment, a movement unparalleled for its achievements in so many intellectual and artistic endeavors.

While Glasgow was getting rich from trade, (its Chamber of Commerce, founded in 1783, was the first in Britain) Edinburgh was moving in another direction. In the second half of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th, Edinburgh, no longer the capital of an independent state, was also booming. It shucked off its loss of stature by becoming one of the great literary, intellectual and artistic centers of Europe.

In 1757, David Hume, one of the world's greatest philosophers in that or any age, marveled that, "at a time when we have lost our Princes, our Parliaments, our independent Government, even the presence of our chief nobility, are unhappy in our accent and pronunciation, speak a very corrupt dialect of the tongue in which we make use of; is it not strange, I say, that, in these circumstances, we should really be the people most distinguished for literature in Europe."

It was not an idle boast. Hume's outstanding work in philosophy (in which he conceived of the discipline as the inductive, experimental science of human nature, which had a profound influence on European thought) was matched by that of William Robertson in history, Joseph Black in science, John Millar in social theory and the towering Adam Smith in economics. Smith's 1776 publication of his Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations proved to be one of the greatest, certainly one of the most influential classics of all time. And it was Scotsmen Colin Macfarquhar and Andrew Bell, who founded the "Encyclopedia Britannica" in 1768.

By the beginning of the 19th century, Scotland's universities, with their "open-door policies" of accepting poor but talented students, were turning out far more, and far-better educated graduates than their counterparts in Oxford and Cambridge, both of which were mired in their medieval curricula in which Latin and Greek predominated. Scotland's universities were more in tune with what was required to sustain a growing economy and population.

As early as 1726, Edinburgh had created a full Faculty of Medicine with Chairs of Botany, Medicine, Anatomy, Chemistry and Midwifery. Medicine became a particularly strong discipline in all the Scottish universities and Scottish doctors began to fill English practices (they still do). In 1729, Edinburgh's famous infirmary, far ahead of its time in its approach to treatment of the sick opened. Another innovation was the substitution of English instead of Latin as the language of the lecture room. This not only greatly facilitated the study of Isaac Newton in physics and John Locke in philosophy, but also made their works available to a much wider audience.

David Hume published his "Treatise of Human Nature" in 1739-40; it was the first series of his books on philosophy. In 1754, he published the first volume of his "History of England", a book to be re-issued countless times. The book was followed by William Robertson's "History of Scotland" in 1759, also an instantaneous success. At Edinburgh in 1764, Allan Ramsay founded a literary society. At the same time, there was a surprising revival of interest in Scots dialect verse, including the publication of James Watson's "Choice Collection of Comic and Serious Scots Poems"; William Hamilton's edition of Blind Harry's "Wallace," (which greatly influenced Robert Burns); and the anthologies of Allan Ramsay, including "The Gentle Shepherd," the "Evergreen" and "Tea-table Miscellany."

In this explosion of arts and letters, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen became centers of a lively press. Papers such as the Edinburgh "Evening Courant" and the "Caledonian Mercury" were matched by the "Aberdeen Journal", begun in 1747 and surviving still as the "Press and Journal". They were eagerly sought by, and had a tremendous effect on, the general reading public. In 1771, the first edition of the "Encyclopedia Britannica" began a tradition that has lasted for centuries and which has had an incalculable effect on generation after generation of scholar, pupil, teacher and inquirer of knowledge.

In 1791, an immense leap forward in the difficult art of biography was achieved by James Boswell, whose "Life of Samuel Johnson" remains the standard by which all subsequent biographies have been judged. The discipline of architecture too, was superbly represented by Scotsmen Robert Adam and Sir William Chambers, both of whom were directly employed (and heavily favored) by George III.

The Highland poets were also busy. The great failure of the Jacobite Rebellion provided lots of material for a continuation of the Celtic literary tradition. By this time, Scots Gaelic had evolved very differently from Irish and was beginning to assert its cultural independence by producing its own literature. In 1751, Alexander MacDonald published his patriotic and martial verse, the first literary work to appear in Scots Gaelic. Traditional Highland love songs and paeans to the mountain scenery then appeared in 1768 in the works of Duncan Ban MacIntyre.

In 1763, the "translations" of James MacPherson of the Gaelic epic poet Ossian ("Fingal" and "Temora") caused a sensation throughout literary Europe. Though subsequently denounced by Dr. Samuel Johnson as the work of an impostor, the poems whetted the appetite for more Celtic lore. They helped grow a mythology of popular Scottish romantic heroes such as Robert Bruce, Mary Queen of Scots, Rob Roy MacGregor, Bonnie Prince Charlie and Flora MacDonald. Of more importance, however for the survival of the Gaelic language was the publication of Dugald Buchanan's hymns in 1767.

In a remarkably short time after Culloden, Edinburgh had become known throughout Europe and North America as the "Athens of the North." Its literary achievements were remarkable. A short list of what was produced there includes Tobias Smollett's "Humphrey Clinker"; Henry Mackenzie's "The Man of Feeling", Elizabeth Hamilton's "The Cottagers of Glenburnie" and three novels by Susan Ferrier. All these before Walter Scott and Robert Burns appeared on the scene to put a cap on this remarkable period of Scottish imaginative writing. If this were not enough, Sir Henry Raeburn and Sir David Wilkie made their own glorious contributions on their canvases. The former in his portraits of those who mattered--the viscounts, chiefs, judges and high-society women; the latter of those who didn't--the simple country folk about their everyday business.

Yet, not everything was well in Scotland, this long-neglected area of the New Britain. Destruction of the powerful clans meant the disappearance of old traditions and a loss of identity for many of the Highland people. The government in London sought to break the patriarchal links between the chief and his clan. Through legislation, they reduced the old powerful chiefs to nothing more than landed proprietors, more interested in making their estates pay than in the welfare of their clansmen.

Thus, a stroke of the pen in London was able to transform a way of life that had existed from time immemorable. To make an estate pay meant clearing land and clearing land meant dispossessing tenants. Hence, the infamous Highland clearances took place. The old English complaint that "sheep do eateth up people" could now be aptly applied to the Highlands if we add cattle to sheep.

It wasn't just the political scene that was affected by union with England. The Act of Union gave a great stimulus to the traditional Scottish industry of cattle rearing which took advantage of the revolutionary advances made in English farming in the early part of the 18th century. When "Turnip" Townsend showed how cattle could be kept fat and healthy even during winter, it was inevitable that Scottish farmers would take notice. The adoption of the simple turnip and the introduction of crop rotation worked wonders. There was a lucrative market for Scottish cattle south of the border. From huge cattle markets such as at Crieff, a flow of capital back to the farms helped transform Scottish agriculture enormously; making it a highly profitable business.

The great Scottish lairds quickly took advantage of what was going on in England and set about making improvements to their vast and hitherto often wasted land holdings. In 1723, they formed the Society of Improvers in the Knowledge of Agriculture in Scotland. In 1764, James Small invented a light, easily manageable plough that was to become an enormous benefit on the improved estates. In 1786, Andrew Meikle invented the threshing machine that quickly replaced the hand-operated and wasteful flail that had been used since the beginnings of agriculture.

The notorious Corn Laws, which artificially kept the price of wheat high and did so much damage to Ireland, were passed in 1815. Many of its beneficiaries were the owners of the huge landed estates in Scotland, where enclosures brought unwelcome social change and led to further displacement of those who had worked their little subsistence farms for centuries. Despite the introduction in the late 18th century of potato cultivation, which provided a cheap and easily grown food, the displacement of the people of the Highlands, continued unabated.

So, it came to pass that while Scotland as a whole was being completely transformed economically and socially, the Highlands regressed. The loss of lands, population and language continued unabated. It wasn't just Culloden that destroyed the Gaelic culture. Thousands of Highlanders, landless and homeless, now found themselves "clanless" with no option but to join the armed services, or add to the numbers of dispossessed in the rapidly growing cities in the economic transfiguration of the Clyde Valley, or simply to emigrate. There just weren't enough opportunities for everyone to become a fisherman or a crofter. The notorious Sutherland clearances, depriving thousands of tenants of their holdings, lasted well into the reign of Victoria, regardless of the sympathy for and identification with the country the Queen loved to visit. In the 1840's, the situation wasn't helped any by the forced absorption of countless thousands of Irish, forced to flee their native land in an even worse plight brought on by the potato famine.
 

Chapter 12: Scots Wha Hae

One of the most noticeable and surprising features of the unsuccessful referenda of the 1970's in both Scotland and Wales was the lack of confidence in both people's assessment of their futures as independent nations. The Acts of Union of 1536 and 1707 must have been devastating blows to those who saw Wales and Scotland as separate cultural entities with different histories, traditions, values and political aspirations from those of England. Many in Wales continue to this day to view the English race as the "Sais," a term matched by the Scottish use of "Sassenach." Both terms mean "Saxon," with all its negative connotations. In Scotland, with all that went on following the 1707 Act, when so much self-confidence and self-respect was lost, it is remarkable that a resurgence of patriotic pride took place at all. That it did, in a movement that finally came to full fruition in the Referendum of 1997, is due, in no small part, to three of the country's finest writers, Robert Burns, Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson.

Robbie Burns was born in 1759 in Alloway in Ayrshire, an area that provided so much of his inspiration. Like that of most poets, his influence seems to have been far greater outside his native country than at home. His poetry consists of a small part of the curriculum of countless high schools in the USA today. To Scots, Burns above all is the one who restored pride and a sense of worth to a people sadly treated by history. For all that they had endured, "for a'that," the Scots remained a warm-hearted, open-handed, trusting people, who by fighting for their own rights, had also fought for the rights of man everywhere; and if Burns portrayed them as great drinkers and lovers, well, so much the better.

Burns continued the tradition of writing verse in Scottish dialect that had been one of the surprising features of earlier Scottish literature as practiced by James Watson, William Hamilton, Alan Ramsay and Robert Fergusson. The depth of his reading is astonishing, as is his ability to turn this knowledge into poems that describe so adequately the joys and sorrows of country life, the pleasures of love, drink, the hypocrisy of so many religious leaders and of the ambiguities of nature. Above all, Burns was the poet of the common man, sharing the everyday experiences that we all can identify with.

Sir Walter Scott was born in 1771 into an age that had begun the transformation of Britain into the world's leading industrial power. Social changes were part of his boyhood and youth. The Scottish enlightenment was part of his manhood and old age. In addition, the memories of the glorious failure of the Jacobite cause had not yet faded into distant memory. There must have been many an old soldier telling the story of what might have been. Thus, the imaginative Scott had a fertile field upon which to draw his inspiration.

Toiling feverishly during the last few years of his life to pay off his creditors, Scott produced works that rank him with the world's greatest authors. He excelled in three main areas: bringing to light and refining age-old ballad with tender, loving care; producing moving, imaginative narratives in original verse form; and authoring the series of the Waverley noves, known throughout the English-speaking world as tales of chivalry par excellence.

Scott gave back to the Scottish people their history; to the world, he gave a picture of a romantic, exciting and patriotic Scotland. The culmination of his career came in 1822, when as Scottish patriot loyal to George IV he presided over the wildly popular majestic ceremonies that welcomed an English king to Edinburgh for the first time in 171 years. Burns reminded his readers that this was another country, though part of Britain, true, but certainly not another England.

Brilliant historian Thomas Carlisle was also a Scot. Born in Ecclefechan in the Lowlands, avid reader and schoolmaster, Carlisle had an influence on later historians that was enormous. It certainly impressed upon the literary world the need for scrupulous care and meticulous scholarship if histories were to be credible. He also made history eminently readable. Establishing his position among the top living writers with "The French Revolution: A History." Carlisle remains a giant of world literature.

However, literary men can do only so much to influence the course of events. The vicissitudes of economics and their consequent effects upon political affairs usually have a much greater effect upon the minds and hearts of men. The Scottish Reform Bill of 1832 followed a similar one that had finally been passed in England after years of social protest and bloody riots.

By the creation of eight new burghs, and an increase in the number of Scottish Members in the House of Commons to 53, the Bill gave the new population centers representation in Parliament. Overnight, the number of voting electors in Edinburgh went from 39 to over 9,000. The political complexion of M. P.'s changed too, from overwhelmingly Tory to overwhelmingly Liberal, a tradition that was to last for a century, eventually losing its place to Labour in the affections of the Scottish worker.

The strength of the Scottish Liberal Party lay mainly in the growing urban middle classes that had received the vote in the 1832 Reform Act. Liberals supported free trade and the non-conformist chapels, while the Scottish Tories, now out of power, were the landlords and farmers, rapidly decreasing in strength and numbers. The influence of the Scottish M.P.'s at Westminster can be shown by the results of the General Election that followed the death of William IV in 1837. The Tories carried England and Wales with a majority of 20 seats, but the Scottish and Irish M.P.'s were overwhelmingly Liberal and thus helped constitute the majority party in Parliament. Thus, a party was in power that was heedful of the need for further political reform.

In the meantime, in Scotland as in Wales, one industrial area of the country had come to dominate all others. The central lowland belt, with rich coal and iron ore deposits, good harbors and early established industries attracted most of Scotland's heavy industry which began to rapidly replace the older traditional cotton mills and weaving sheds. Heavy machinery dislodged such fine, creative craftsmen as the Paisley weavers who had so lovingly produced the world-famous cashmere shawl. As in Wales, in contrast to Ireland, the industrial region of Scotland provided an outlet for the disposed, landless peasants. Conditions in the mines and factories may have been grim indeed, but they at least provided a place to work, thus avoiding the need to emigrate.

The frenzied rush into industrialization reached its peak during the years 1896-1913, when the Scottish economy was booming. Scottish shipyards were turning out products in record numbers, equaling over one third of all British output and matching those of Germany in the race to furnish merchant ships, ocean liners and the huge new battleships of the Dreadnaught class. Shipbuilding created jobs in so many other areas including the mines, the factories, the iron and steel works and the engineering shops, just to name a few of its ancillaries. The trouble was, of course, that so much of the industry depended upon imported ores for the making of steel and the continued need for foreign orders to sell its products, including heavy machinery.

In India, clever entrepreneurs, with an adequate supply of Scottish models, if not manufacturing heavy machinery of their own, began to match Scottish numbers in the output of their machines. The Jute industry of Dundee found itself in serious trouble. Tremendous industrial progress in the United States (with its vast wealth of natural resources) and in Germany (with its great pool of highly talented, motivated work force and skillful, inventive leadership) soon overshadowed the conservative, hide-bound unimaginative Scottish industries. This process was exacerbated when king coal began to be replaced by oil as a source of fuel for the World's navies and factories. Severe repercussions followed in the industrial belts of central Scotland and South Wales. World War I did nothing but hasten this process.

Chapter 13: The High Road to Independence

"The War to end all Wars" certainly had the effect of uniting all the disparate parts of Britain in a concerted effort against a common enemy. Yet the movement that would culminate in Scotland's winning back its own Parliament in the referendum of 1997 did not completely grind to a halt: even during the war it continued its slow, but steady pace.

In the second half of the 19th century, events in Scottish politics, moribund under the Liberals for so long, had paralleled those in the rest of Britain. Further widespread social discontent led to the need for increased worker participation in the way they wished the country to be governed. In a debate in the House of Lords as early as 1840, the Bishop of Essex warned his fellow peers of the dangers coming to Britain of Socialism. The Church also took a dim view of attempts to revive the idea of trade unions that were resurfacing all over the land.

One of the great names in the early history of the "evil" that the learned Bishop so vehemently preached against was Welsh-born Robert Owen whose "lunatic " vision encompassed such revolutionary ideas as the improvement of factory conditions, the shortening of work hours and the education of factory children. Owen had set up an infant school as Glasgow in 1820, where an adjunct later became the first "normal school" for the training of teachers. His dream of setting up a system of "villages of cooperation" was first tried in New Lanark before being transplanted overseas to New Harmony, Indiana.

Owen's Grand Consolidated Trade Union was begun in 1834 as the culmination of his attempts to organize labor by providing a peaceable outlet for the aspirations of the workers. Though brought to a premature end by the fear caused by the deportation of the English Toldpuddle Martyrs in April, the union became a major influence upon the future development of the trade union in both Britain (and its dominions) and the United States.

The 1830's produced turmoil all over Britain. Industry had developed far too quickly for accompanying social progress. Both Scotland and Wales became centers of British radicalism; fertile breeding grounds for the working-class movement called Chartism. The Chartists were named after a London reformer William Levett who drafted a bill known as The People's Charter in May 1838. As earlier attempts to form unions had failed, much of the workers' energy was thus channeled in the Chartists, who sincerely believed that they could bring about a democratic parliament and an enfranchised working class to redress their grievances.

When the great Merthyr Riots broke out in South Wales in 1831, it was a source of great irony that the troops who broke up the crowds and killed many protesters were Scots Highlanders. The pattern was repeated in the equally bloody Newport Rising of May 1839, when the rifles of soldiers recruited in Ireland dispersed the rioters. Authorities everywhere were severely troubled by the agitation for better working conditions and the great appeal of the Chartists, many of whose leaders came from Ireland, traditionally not as reticent to challenge the existing hierarchy.

The Scottish Chartists were less influenced by the fiery radicalism of these Irish leaders than were the Welsh. There were no such risings in Scotland as took place in South Wales, where revolutionary activity followed the government's complete refusal to consider the six points of the Charter (universal male suffrage, vote by ballot, equal electoral districts, annual parliaments, abolition of the property qualifications, and payment for members). Not wishing for a violent government overthrow, the Scottish Chartists in addition to supporting the political aims of the Charter were willing to settle for temperance, pacifism, the abolition of capital punishment and non-intrusion in ecclesiastical affairs.

By the late 1850's the year of the final National Chartist Convention, the movement had begun to fade rapidly. That year saw the passage of an Act declaring that property qualifications were no longer necessary for a seat in Parliament. Thus, the Government had conceded the first great democratizing point of the Charter. Just as Chartism had channeled the voices of the desperate working classes, so the Anti-Corn Law League did the same for the urban middle-class.

The efforts of the latter were far more successful: the notorious Corn Laws, vigorously supported by the landed gentry and farming classes, were repealed in 1846. With bread and other basic foodstuffs a little cheaper, people were less inclined to an armed revolt. In 1867, the Great Reform Bill finally ended the Chartist movement, for it added nearly one million voters to the register, almost doubling the electorate. It also broke the control of the Scottish landlords. One year later, the increased numbers of Scottish voters meant the addition of seven additional seats being granted in Parliament.

Thanks mainly to Scottish and Irish votes, the Liberal leader Gladstone was swept into power later in the year. In 1872, as Prime Minister, he introduced the secret ballot for all parliamentary and municipal elections. Scotland finally achieved equal representation with England in the third Reform Act, passed in 1885, that granted manhood suffrage in town and country alike, based on the distribution of population.

The same year saw the creation of a cabinet post - secretary for Scotland. His ministry became "the Scottish Office," responsible for many departments, including that of education. An act that year also made education compulsory to the age of thirteen, the setting up of school boards in each parish and the admission of all the Presbyterian schools into the national system. As a serious sidelight, in Scotland, as in Wales, such "reforms," while making the general population more literate helped further the decline of the surviving Celtic languages of Welsh and Gaelic. That was of little concern to the Government.

It was up to concerned individuals to keep the ancient traditions alive. An Comunn Gaidhealach was founded in 1891 in an attempt to preserve Gaelic language and literature, art and music. Its activities included an annual Mod, similar to the Welsh Eisteddfod, which encouraged friendly competition in dancing, singing, recitation, and of course, piping. The Mod continues to play an active role in Scottish cultural activities, and like the Irish Feile is attracting more and more visitors from the other Celtic nations.

In the late 1890's, when William Ewart Gladstone (who had married a girl from the Glynne family of Flintshire, North Wales) endorsed the concept of home rule for Ireland, there were many in Scotland who felt betrayed. After all, it was they who deserved home rule because of their loyalty, not the Irish, who were being rewarded for just the opposite. In 1886, the Scottish Home Rule Association was formed to campaign for a Scottish Parliament to be set up in Edinburgh. One of its aims was "to maintain the integrity of the Empire, and secure that the voice of Scotland shall be heard in the Imperial Parliament as fully as at present when discussing Imperial Affairs."

In the House of Commons in 1889, the matter was put to the vote, but only 79 of 279 M.P.'s were in favor (of the Scots M.P.'s, there were l9 for and 22 against). Similar bills received greater support in the Commons but were never acted upon. In fact, the subject of Home Rule for Scotland was brought up 13 times without progressing any further. The outbreak of World War I ended discussion on the matter.

In the meantime, the workers of Scotland were more interested in bettering their conditions than they were in home rule. They had been steadily gaining ground in their reconstituted attempts to form unions. They were encouraged by the first British union to achieve any success in the fight for better working conditions and a decent wage that had been formed in Lancashire in 1869 -- the Amalgamated Association of Miners. Fierce resistance from the mine owners and a failed strike, however, led to the union's dissolution. Other efforts in South Wales had been defeated in 1873 by a united front formed against them by the Monmouthshire and South Wales Coal Owner's Association.

Attempts to form unions persisted. Founded in 1886, with Keir Hardie as its secretary, the Scottish Miner's Federation had over 150,000 members by 1892 and had become a strong force in the direction the labor movement was to take. In 1888, Hardie helped form the Scottish Labour Party aided by R. B. Cunningham Grahame, a wealthy landowner and romantic author. One year later the Miner's Federation of Great Britain was formed at Newport, South Wales to argue for the creation of a Board of Arbitration to replace the sliding scale and to restrict work hours.

In 1893, in response to poor working conditions and the intransigence of the coal owners, the Independent Labour Party (ILP) was born. Five years later, the Voice of Labour was begun in South Wales, where Keir Hardie who had become the chairman of the ILP, visited the striking miners. Things began to snowball. In 1900, Hardie won the election for Merthyr, becoming the first socialist to sit in Parliament. The author's grandfather, a die-hard socialist of the old school who had worked as a coal miner, remembered the consternation in the House of Commons when Hardie, showing his solidarity with the workers, took his seat wearing his cloth deerstalker hat in place of the usual shiny "topper."

During the same year, again in South Wales, a decision in favor of the Taff Railway Company against the striking workers, who had formed the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, was instrumental in the formation of a new party in British politics. The unions saw that their rights would only be guaranteed through legislation. Consequently, the Labour Representative Committee (LRC) was founded in London to promote their interests. In 1906, it became known as the Labour Party.

With the outbreak of the World War in 1914, it was time to put aside the major industrial grievances. In the common cause against the enemy, Scots played a full share in the struggle for survival and victory. We can only imagine the results for subsequent British history had the 27 battalions each raised by the great Scottish regiments, the Black Watch, the Cameronians and the Highland Light Infantry, along with the 35 battalions of the Royal Scots combined in a fight for independence. Be as that may, all ranks of Scottish society were imbued with patriotism for Britain as a whole, and in Parliament, even the long-standing and troublesome "Irish Question" was laid aside in the common cause taken up by a coalition government.

Chapter 14:Scotland between the Wars

The War was over, and one thing seemed inevitable in the midst of all the patriotic fervor: the continued success of Scottish schools, colleges and universities had been slowly strengthening latent feelings of nationalism. These went hand in hand with the reemergence of those cultural activities viewed as particularly Scottish. We have mentioned the revival of the "Mod" and the activities of "An Comunn Gaidhealach." To these, we can add the works published by the Scottish History Society and the "Scottish Historical Review." National pride was continually reinforced by the activities of the world-class Glasgow Orpheus Choir (founded in 1905) and the Scottish National Players (founded in 1921). Another great impetus came in 1936 when the Saltire Society was established, with branches in all the main towns to preserve the distinctive Scottish tradition in literature and the arts.

Not all artists painted rosy or romantic pictures. In 1901, George Douglas Brown published a savage counter blast against the pretty sentiments of the so-called "Kailyard School" in which he emphasized all that was so unlovely in Scottish life and character (he predated by a few years, the savage attack on the unsavory aspects of Welsh nonconformity presented by Caradoc Evans). A.J. Cronin also explored the grittiness of much of Scottish urban life in his "Hatter's Castle" (1931); a theme matched by "No Mean City: a Story of the Glasgow Slums " (1935) an unrelenting tale of squalor that so shocked this author when he first read it as a young boy living in the green and relatively unspoiled countryside of Clwyd.

The Scots vernacular was explored by Lewis Grassic Gibbons in three novels, "Sunset Song, Cloud House and Grey Granite", all written between 1932 and 1934. All the world has heard of, loved and identified with the story of "Peter Pan", written by Scots writer J. M. Barrie in 1904. He was also responsible for "The Admirable Crichton " (1902), "What Every Woman Knows " (1908), "Dear Brutus " (1917) and other well-received and constantly revived plays. Barrie's plays were matched in dramatic quality by those of James Bridie ("The Anatomist, Tobias and the Angel, Jonah and the Whale" and "A Sleeping Clergyman", all written between 1931 and 1933.

The same period also saw the collection of surviving Gaelic folk songs "Songs of the Hebrides," lovingly preserved by Marjorie Kennedy Fraser. It was high time. Mendelssohn's overture, "The Hebrides", inspired by the awe-inspiring Fingal's Cave, written after the composer's visit to Scotland in 1829, had certainly put the country on the map. From the mid-19th century on, Scotland's majestic scenery had become a magnet for hordes of tourists that would arrive in the vogue for travel to "romantic, wild places."

All these efforts were certainly promoting Scots literature and music (as well as its Highland and island scenery) in Europe. Indeed, Scotland was enjoying a cultural revival that closely matched events in the political and economic spheres of the time. Writings in the Scots dialect continued with the works of Charles Murray ("Hamewith", 1900); Violet Jacob ("Songs of Angus," 1915 and later); John Buchan ("Poems in Scots and English," 1917) and Sir Alexander Gray (in his collection of ballads compiled and translated from 1920 on).

Of particular interest is the creation, in the 1920's, of a new "language" derived from a mixture of archaic words and Scots vernacular that is called "Lallans." Writings in this new medium were considered the hallmark of the "Scottish Renaissance" of the first half of the century. It became especially known in the works of Hugh McDiarmid.

McDiarmid and others were very concerned with the integrity of Scottish culture, with the revival of an authentic Scottish language both Lowland Scots and Gaelic, in short, with the rediscovery of a genuine national identity. For these writers, it wasn't economics or politics that concerned them, but culture and ideology. However, economic hardship was more instrumental in the formation of The Scottish Nationalist Party in 1928. Perhaps Scotland was paying too much into the national Exchequer and receiving too little back. The argument continued up to September 1939. In any case, Westminster had too much say in the allocation of the money.

At the end of the War, so much loss of life made many question just what Scotland's role was to be in the preservation of an empire in which they had done so much to build. An urgent need for parliamentary reform created the Representation of the People Act (the Fourth Reform Act) that greatly enlarged the electorate. Women from the age of 30 could now add their votes to those of men of 21. Ten years later, the voting age for both genders was set at the earlier figure. Thirty-eight seats were added to the Scottish counties and the number for Glasgow and Edinburgh was greatly extended by virtue of their large populations.

Progress towards home rule had been slow, much slower than had been anticipated at the outbreak of the World War. Paradoxically, however, greater control from London had the effect of convincing home rulers it was time to push for action again. They were quietly confident; as radical Liberal J. M. Hogg expressed in the House of Commons:

The experience of war, particularly of the control of the various government departments over Scottish business itself, has probably made more converts to a system of Scottish home rule than all the speeches that have ever been made on Scottish platforms; or by decisions we have taken here.

At Versailles, whatever was prevented by the stubbornness of the conferees, some of their more prudent decisions showed that small nations could have more control over their own affairs. In addition, home rule for Scotland had been one of the staple policies of the labour movement before the war and Labour was getting stronger all the time. Some union activity had persisted in Scotland as in other industrial areas of Britain even during the war when high employment and the need to unite in the common cause suspended most union activities and made people feel joining them was unpatriotic.

Many irregular labor practices that were adopted during the rush to produce war munitions had eroded hard-won rights. Thus, committees were formed to oversee any revision of work schedules and other infringements. The old-fashioned trade unions were not radical enough for many, and the "Clyde Workers" Committee, that survived until the early 1920's was a precursor of that particular brand of left-wing, socialist fervor that created what is now termed "Red Clydeside." These committees were to form the backbone of Labour in Scotland.

The industrial unrest of the 1920's has received adequate coverage elsewhere, as has its effects upon Scotland. Even when Bonar Law, a Canadian Scot, led the Conservatives to a clear victory in 1922, his party did poorly in Scotland, where Labour continued its steady progress against the Liberals. The situation in 1924 was the same, with the majority of the Scottish electorate keeping to the left. The great general strike of 1926 affected the whole of Britain. In Scotland, the Scottish Trades Union Congress, who exercised remarkable control and restraint (as compared to the violence that occurred in South Wales) managed affairs.

In a further move towards Labour and away from the ideas and policies of the Liberals, Roland Muirhead reorganized the Scottish Home Rule Association in 1918, giving it a stable base and making home rule a serious political priority. Labour continued its advocacy of home rule; many of its Scottish members wanted to see the establishment of a free Socialistic Commonwealth freed from "aristocratic, English ridden" influences. The idea of home rule also temporarily united the disparate factions of left-wing politics.

When the minority Labour Government acceded in 1924, it seemed that the time had come. The Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald (who like fellow Scot Keir Hardie was elected from a Welsh constituency), had been president of the London branch of the SHRA before the War. Expectations were high for passage of the Private Member's Bill on Scottish home rule introduced by George Buchanan of Glasgow. Unfortunately, no enthusiasm was shown by Scottish Secretary William Anderson who could have done so much more to ensure passage. Ramsey MacDonald himself worked tirelessly to bring his Labour Party to the forefront of British politics. Like Lloyd George of Wales, however, any enthusiasm he might have expressed for Scotland home rule was lost in his greater concern for the political life of the United Kingdom.

The House Speaker refused to move the motion to a vote and entreaties to have the debate and motion rescheduled fell on deaf ears. Another problem had surfaced; many Scottish M.P.'s regarded themselves as socialists first and nationalists second (a problem that bedeviled Welsh hopes for home rule during the same period). Labour would not have home rulers dictating their policies!! The golden chance was lost in Labour's fear that the best interests of their party were being impeded by home-rule advocates.

Because the campaign for a Scottish parliament was now in direct competition with British national political priorities, another avenue of approach became necessary. The National Party of Scotland was formed to press for some form of devolution from England that would satisfy the majority of its members. These members had come from the Scottish National league, the Scottish National Movement, the Glasgow University Nationalist Association and the Scottish Home Rule Association, all of whom had different aims and different ways of achieving them.

For many years, the party simply existed as a way to spoil the candidacy of Labour hopefuls, having no successes of its own. In the economic and social upheavals of the Great Depression, the Labour Party argued that the aspirations of nationalists (in Wales as well as Scotland) were far removed from the interests of the working class. Accordingly, the NPS had to convince the electorate that it was not just a "spoiler" party, but that it was carefully and judiciously formulating policies that could raise their standard of living in an independent Scotland and address the chronic problems of poor housing, inadequate health services, lack of educational opportunities and high unemployment. In 1932, it was jolted by the formation of a more moderate, right-wing home rule movement, the Scottish Party.

Extremism was out. Scotland had been part of the United Kingdom and had contributed so much to its empire for too long. The SNP was forced to moderate its views and to state publicly that it did not seek separation but "self-government with the British group of nations." Parties had to appeal to the majority of the Scottish electorate to which, considering their loyalty to the British Crown, republicanism was anathema. By 1933, the fundamentalists had been purged from the NPS and it was ready to join with the Scottish Party to further more moderate aims.

The Scottish National Party thus came into being in August 1934. For many years after, it was plagued by internal squabblings (in true Celtic fashion) and failed to make any noticeable impact on Scottish electoral politics. Only after 1945 did the SNP attain the necessary degree of internal discipline and coherence to create an effective political organization.

There were other efforts, however, that had begun to pay off. One significant gain in the march towards the overwhelming decision of 1997 was the creation of a Secretary of State for Scotland in 1926 by the Baldwin administration out of the former, much weaker position of Scottish Secretary. (A similar position for Wales had to wait until 1964). In 1939, these powers were extended when the Secretary took over the functions in Scotland of the Department for Home Affairs, Health, Agriculture and Education with offices in Edinburgh. In 1951, a Minister of State, based in Scotland, was created to act as deputy to the Secretary. As had happened in 1914, however, further measures of political independence came to a complete halt with the outbreak of the World War II in September 1939.

Chapter 15: After the War, Steps towards Independence

In April 1945, at Motherwell, Scottish Nationalist Robert MacIntyre was elected to Parliament, and though he was defeated shortly after in the General Election, it was clear that a new spirit was afoot in Scotland. A reaction to the vast increase in the central power of the State that had accumulated during the war was inevitable now that peace had returned. By 1948, there was a resurgence of Scottish Nationalist feeling. A Scottish Covenant of that year containing hundreds of thousands of signatures called for a Scottish Parliament.

Two years later, in a daring midnight raid, the Stone of Scone, the ancient symbol of Scottish royalty (upon which the medieval kings of Scotland had been crowned) found itself kidnapped from under the Coronation Chair at Westminster Abbey, where it had rested uncomfortably since 1297. The daring deed, student prank or not, showed only too well that it was high time the Government at Westminster paid more attention to the needs of the Scottish people.

Following the interruption caused by World War II, in which all areas of Britain once again united in the face of a common, slow resentment at the strengthening of Westminster's grip on Scottish affairs continued to smolder. After the bloodletting and economic hardships of the war, it was taking too long for things to return to normal.

The loss of Empire that followed the heady victory celebrations, and the period of austerity and gloom that lasted for years in the so-called Welfare State created by the Socialist government did much to cancel the general euphoria created and sustained by the very idea of "Britishness." The Labour Government of Clement Attlee came into power mainly because of war weariness. All areas of the country, including Scotland (where the Liberals did not gain a single seat) supported it, at the expense of the Conservatives. During its tenure, in which thousands of Britons sought for a better life overseas, the nation was forced inwards, to re-examine both its own role in history and its role in the future. It had been the Empire, under its portraits of a benevolent monarch, as often as not weaning the tartan, that had welded Britain into a nation state. However, the Empire was disintegrating rapidly.

All over the globe, former colonies were seeking and gaining independence. Maps that showed almost one third of the world colored red for British now had to be redrawn and recolored and countries renamed. The birth of new nation states overseas now raised the question of nation states at home. At first this was subdued, even hidden, in the carrying out of the generally well-supported socialist revolution of the Labour Government in which "the Welfare State" replaced much that had been traditional in all areas of British life. In these times, socialist leaders from both Wales and Scotland abhorred the thought of separation.

Gradually, the struggles of the war years began to dim into distant memory, but the promised Utopia of the Labour Government did not come about. As a university student looking for hard-to-find lodgings, the author remembers having to produce his ration book in the mid-fifties and walking through rubble in towns such as Swansea and Liverpool which were so slow in rebuilding. There was much greater progress on the Continent, and though the rebuilding of Europe meant an initial boom for British, and particularly Scottish industries, "real" prosperity was an awfully long time in coming, especially when one compared progress in Britain with what was happening in West Germany. Yet in retrospect, the relatively affluent fifties were no time to push for devolution. Scotland was sharing in Britain's wealth and memories of the pre-war Depression were still strong.

Westminster's promises began to fade rapidly in the light of harsh economic competition from abroad; nationalist feelings and the accompanying demands for recognition began to emerge once more. In Parliament, some heed was taken of these demands when the powers of the Scottish Standing Committee, practically moribund since 1907, were greatly enhanced, giving Scotland something like a parliament within a parliament.

The idea of a separate Scottish Parliament, after centuries of being incorporated in that of Britain, did not seem so far-fetched after all. A great impetus to the growing nationalistic feelings of many Scots had come with the outstanding success of the Edinburgh Festival of Music and Drama founded in 1947. It did much to revive links with Scotland's glorious history as a country of enlightenment in so many different spheres. Though economics seemed to rule most of the time, literature and the arts played powerful parts in reminding the people of Scotland that they had once formed a powerful, independent nation. Perhaps they could do so again.

When the Conservative Churchill Government replaced Labour in 1951, denationalization of major industries took place. Several constitutional changes affected Scotland. To serve under the secretary of state, a minister of state was added who was free from parliamentary duties at Westminster. A year later a third under-secretary of state gave Scotland even more autonomy, but continued successes by the Conservative party, an arch-foe of devolution in any shape or form, meant that both major parties were officially opposed to a separate parliament for Scotland. It was as if the government was doing everything it could to keep the Scots happy, but the idea of devolution wasn't even considered. The British Union remained unchallenged.

One problem was the attachment of many Scottish M.P.'s (and their Welsh colleagues) to "the best club in London," the Parliament at Westminster. To leave such cozy surroundings and such convivial company to return to work in their own constituencies was a horror not worth contemplating. It would mean relearning the knack of self-government, lost for centuries and being directly responsible to the wishes of those who elected them in the first place. As James l had realized centuries ago and Henry VIII before him, it was much easier to rule Scotland and Wales from London. The Capital had been skimming off the cream of both countries without too much protest.

Yet, Scotland and Wales remained Celtic countries in many ways. Old resentments continued and winds of change were beginning to blow strongly north of the border. Though very much a minority party, and still suffering from the stigma attached to the very idea of nationalism during the war years, the SNP began to build its organizational skills and to work on political strategy; its share of the vote steadily grew. This also was a period of intense activity in Wales by members of Plaid Cymru, and by the fervent, and some say overzealous and destructive activities of the Welsh Language Society (Cymdeithas yr Iaith Cymraeg). In any case, discontent in both areas of Britain led to a feverish proliferation of committees soon at work in Westminster looking at further measures of devolution for Scotland and Wales.

Defenders of the status quo were a small minority; nine out of ten Scots were in favor of some form of constitutional change. Ambivalence as to the nature of this change, meant that the overwhelming vote in favor of devolution in 1997 and the desire of the Scots to have their own parliament once more reflects a sea change over the situation that prevailed in the 1960's and 70's. However, the seeds had been deeply planted. Again, we can use a favorite American expression to justify the changes: "it's the economy, stupid!"

Support for the SNP was greatly increased by the British government's failure to fulfill the aspirations of the Scottish people. As succinctly expressed by historian Richard J. Finlay, "the economic history of Scotland in the sixties is a woeful tale of missed opportunities, bad management, poor productivity and under achievement." "It is the under achievement, I believe, that needs more emphasis." Overlooked by many chroniclers of the period is the stranglehold that trade unions began to exert on their members and the self-defeating practices in which they engaged.

Britain began to lose, lose, lose, in competition with the rest of the world, especially with the newly industrialized nations of Asia. In efforts to protect their members, unions resisted any attempts at modernization. At British dockyards, attempts to introduce containers (rapidly being adopted by all other major industrial powers) led to vicious strikes that helped cripple the industry. In the shipyards, union practices led to senseless waste and inefficiency and eventually led to precipitous decline in Britain's foremost place in the world's shipbuilding industry.

The pattern was repeated in other industries. The once thriving cotton industries of Britain, the envy of the world, could not compete with those employing cheap labor in Southeast Asia and the loss of the colonies meant that supplies of cheap raw materials were no longer available. The newly emerging nations could make their own products from now on, thank you very much.

All these changes greatly affected Scotland. The country relied on too few industries which created havoc when the markets for coal, heavy engineering, steel and shipbuilding began to disappear. There was one ironic result of the British government's plans to rectify the situation. To compensate for job losses in the traditional heavy industries and to attract new industries north of the border, it was necessary to create a vibrant domestic economy.

In order to accomplish this, a social infrastructure was to be built up through a program of schools, hospitals, road and public housing construction. Full employment and prosperous markets would result. British state economic policy would result in Scottish economic well being, and this meant, of course, a massive investment in the construction of a state apparatus to bring about the proposed schemes.

Following a vast increase in government workers in Scotland, (the Scottish Office expanded from 2,400 pre-war civil servants to over 8,000 by 1970), the Balfour Report of 1953 recommended that the handling of government functions in Scotland be undertaken by the Scottish Office. A separate and distinctive arm of government was thus created which allowed the Scottish Secretary to wield even greater powers without direct account to the Scottish electorate. There was bound to be a reaction.

However, it was something else that forced the change that was again connected to the economy. In 1967, smoldering resentment began to burst into flame. The successful exploration and exploitation of the oil and gas deposits in the North Sea, off the Scottish coast, raised the question as to whom the economic benefits should belong. As usual, apart from the dubious benefits of the proliferation of fast food restaurants and U.S. style nightclubs in such cities as Aberdeen, all the advantages (especially the income derived from the sale of oil) seemed to be flowing south, to London.

Quite rightly, most Scots wanted more share for themselves and saw devolution as the only way to secure it. Thus, it came to pass that the days of political obscurity for the Scottish Nationalists were over. The SNP broke through with its astonishing victory over Labour at Hamilton, a "safe" Labour stronghold. Mrs. Ewing, a Scottish Nationalist who stated she wished to see her country seated at the U.N. between Saudi Arabia and Senegal was elected. More than one commentator has noted the youthful vigor of the SNP compared to the run-down Labour machine whose blinkered visions were confined to the social clubs or town councils attended by old and proud, but inflexible war veterans. Following Mrs. Ewing's success, the SNP received a massive influx of new members and seemed on the verge of capturing many other seats.

Alas, the victory caused premature celebrations; the successes were unsustainable. It was as if the party had peaked, for the 1970's saw no repeat of Hamilton. Yet, the warning bells had sounded in Westminster, and in 1968, at the party conference in Perth, Conservative leader Ted Heath announced his support of a Scottish Assembly. The astute politician realized that Scottish nationalism would continue to grow as a political force and that steps had to be taken to counteract it. Whatever his motives, Heath's statement, dubbed "The Declaration of Perth," however vaguely expressed, offered a ray of hope to the ever-patient school of nationalists. They could always refer back to a leading British politician's espousal of a Scottish Parliament.

The response of the Labour Party, in power at Westminster, was that Scottish nationalism was motivated purely by short-term economic difficulties that could be alleviated. Prime Minister Harold Wilson should have read his history books. Irish independence, for example, was not just motivated by economic hardships but by national pride, and it would be national pride that would eventually turn the tide in Scotland. But not yet. Wilson's appointment of a commission on the constitution in 1969 only wasted time; it was not designed to promulgate any action.

Prospects for the SNP in the General Election of 1970 looked excellent; the party contested 65 seats, the largest number to date. Alas, it lost Hamilton and gained only the Western Isles. The burst of enthusiasm that had so electrified Scotland's nationalists in the sixties seemed inexplicably spent. It wasn't. The huge problems facing Britain's leaders only got worse; spending public money to alleviate them did not work. The miner's strike of 1973 and the oil crises initiated by the Arab-Israeli conflict brought matters to a head, and Labour found itself back in power. In Scotland, the nationalists were able to take advantage of the turmoil to find their party once more a major force in Scottish politics.

The oil crisis turned the attention of the Scottish people back to the juicy prospect of becoming an independent nation that could draw on its own plentiful reserves of oil. In October 1973, the Kilbrandon Commission recommended that at a Scottish Assembly be set up. At the same time, the SNP quickly launched its almost irresistible campaign of "It's Scotland's Oil." This immeasurably helped to lay to rest the age old fears of so many that Scotland could not exist economically free from England.

In November, SNP candidate Margo MacDonald was elected at Govan, another "safe" Labour constituency. The following year marked the high point of the party's success, winning eleven seats in the October election, nine from the Conservatives. Though many would argue that the victories were mainly due to protest votes, not as marks of approval for independence, the fact remains that the SNP attained over thirty percent of the Scottish vote. Once again, despite the deep divisions in the majority Labour Party over the issue, things looked promising for those Scots who had embarked on the high road to independence.

After a period of waffling and indecision, the government published its proposals for a devolved Scottish Assembly in November 1975. It would have no revenue raising powers and sovereignty would be retained in Westminster. Though prospects for passage looked good, the wide range of conflicting government priorities left the Callaghan government little time to devote to the issue. Labour, fearing loss of its support in Scotland to the SNP, was also still deeply divided on the question and the extent of devolution. The government's program was bound to fail.

The Callaghan government's lack of commitment was made manifest in the Cunningham amendment of January 1978 which stipulated that the Bill (for devolution) would not be implemented unless more than forty percent of the total electorate voted in favor of an assembly. In addition, Orkney and Shetland Island would be excluded from the scheme if they returned a No vote. The North Sea oil reserves, upon which so much of Scotland's economic future depended, were off the shores of these islands.

All these factors combined with signs of a revival of the economy early in 1978, left the Bill headed for defeat. Like the voters in Wales, who were completely confusion as to what would result from limited devolution with lukewarm governmental support, Scottish voters found themselves in a quandary. The ambiguity of the Yes campaign was completely canceled out by the well-organized, well-run and well-financed campaign of the other side.

Big business was not interested in romantic notions of Scottish independence or Celtic national integrity. Their sentiments lay with the British Union. In the March 1979 referendum, over forty percent of the Scottish people did not even bother to vote, which resulted in 51.6 in favor and 48.4 against. The same situation prevailed in Wales, where even die-hard nationalists of the Welsh-speaking areas turned down the ambiguous measure as worthless. In both countries, people were asking who would want yet another layer of bureaucracy that would only serve to create more jobs for "the fat cats?"

Eighteen years later, results were completely reversed. It wasn't all to do with the astounding success of "Braveheart," the Hollywood movie that reminded the Scots of their past glories as an independent nation and of the bravery of those who had fought to ensure independence against almost insurmountable odds. The success of a form of artistic expression, however, does tend to remind us that Scotland and Wales are still Celtic nations in spirit. Centuries of watering down have not erased a state of mind where economics plays second fiddle to the arts, where business is second to literature, where music and those who play it, poetry and those who write it, good stories and those who tell them, and good songs and those who sing them all have a high place in society.

The fortuitous arrival of "Braveheart" was good for business, tourism especially. It was also good for the SNP who cannily set up booths outside the theatres where the movie was playing to packed houses that cheered lustily at Wallace's triumphs and booed the English armies on screen. Winnie Ewing confessed that "we all used it -- it was a wee bonus that came along."

It was more than a wee bonus. More and more Scots began to look at William Wallace as a role model and proclaim "We're not free. We need a William Wallace." The leader of the SNP, Alex Salmond took advantage of the movie's success to exhort his followers "to come out from under the control of London." "Independence," he added, "is the process by which we fulfill our potential as a nation."

On September 11, 1997, four days after the trauma of Princess Diana's funeral, the referendum was passed by a 3:1 margin. Scotland would agin have a Parliament. British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose Labour Party had actively campaigned for passage of the devolution bill, called the results a step in the process of "modernizing Britain." Hollywood movie star and Scotsman, Sean Connery (who did not appear in "Braveheart") campaigned hard and contributed a great deal of cash to the campaign. He invoked the 1370 Declaration of Arbroath, "It is not for glory, riches or honors we fight, but only for liberty, which no good man loses but with his life."

The referendum followed thirty abortive attempts to raise the issue of home rule in Parliament. For the sober, historically informed Scottish citizen, the result was simply an act of common sense -- Scotland had been the only modern nation state in the world to renounce its sovereignty voluntarily when it had entered the Union in 1707 (though, to put it in its proper perspective, the vast majority of its people had not been consulted on the matter).

The decision would give Scotland an Assembly with tax-levying powers, unlike the much weaker "talking-shop" that the Welsh would be saddled with as the result of their own (barely) successful referendum. It would also be given the broad authority to legislate in a host of sectors, but Westminster would "reserve" or "withhold" many powers: constitutional matters, foreign policy, defense, national security, border controls, monetary and fiscal matters, common markets for goods and services, employment law and social security.

The 129-member Scottish Assembly, we hope, will not assume the status of "a glorified Parish Council" as Tony Blair put it. However, it is expected that New Labour will try to run the show from London. Encouraging, however, is the well considered hope that the brightest and best of the Scottish M.P.'s will shift their allegiance from Westminster to Edinburgh (or, at least temporarily, to Glasgow). Scots will have the right to democratically choose (unlike 1707) whether they want full independence. Whatever the future brings, all Scots the world over, are mighty proud of the September 11, 1997 referendum to restore dignity and pride to their nation by allowing them to make their own decisions in so many of their own, purely Scottish affairs.