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The "interlude" did include some good songs, however. John Ross of Aberdeen
had been employed to write the music for "Our Bonnie Scots Lads" (a song
on the Paisley recruits) and "The Dusky Glen," and the performance of
one of these songs brought Tannahill together with another composer,
R.A. Smith, who, along with William McLaren became a close friend.
(Smith was the son of an English weaver who relocated to Paisley. Unlike
Tannahill, he had no aptitude for a weaver's life and hated the work.)
McLaren wrote an early biography of Tannahill, and described him in these
years as a staid, quiet, inoffensive man, about 5'4", with a halt in
his walk, not a fine dresser (some of his siblings were the setters of
fashion in Paisley), who spent most of his money on books, stationery,
postage, and occasional traveling expenses". He was not strong, and had a
permanent dry cough (He and the rest of his club were heavy smokers).

Tannahill's first publication was in 1804 or 1805 in a literary magazine in
Edinburgh -- its title has never (at least to 1876) been satisfactorily
identified. His next publication seems to have been in another
unidentified magazine in England. It seems logical that he must have
published more extensively than this in 1804, as 17 of his poems were
included in a pair of Glasgow publications of 1805 and 1806--"The Selector"
and "The Glena," both of which, as their names suggest, were "gleanings"
from other publications. In any case, from then on Tannahill was
published regularly, in "The Paisley Repository", "The Nightingale",
"The Caledonian Musical Repository" and other publications.

Tannahill's fame and popularity were growing. Many of his poems had
been put to music by Smith and by Ross, and their lyrics were easily
memorised. Women singers were fond of his songs, and those from
"The Soldier's Return" had an added patriotic appeal. But his first
audience remained his most cherished one, and he continued to show new
pieces to his club and to other friends--the careful saving of these
copies by his acquaintance subsequently saved many poems from oblivion.
In 1806 he was instrumental in opening a lending library for tradesmen
in Paisley (there already was one for gentlemen), and he remained a
working weaver and full member of his community.

In May 1807 an edition of his poems was published, with an advance
subscription of 900. The "interlude" and the songs received the same
reception from critics as they had in Paisley--they hated the play and
loved the songs--and once again the poet was cast into despair. The
drama was his masterpiece, he insisted again, and his songs "commonplace",
elevated to greater interest only by the music supplied by others.

Still, the book made money, at least 20 pounds, and increased his fame. It
allowed him to pursue his next desire, the collection of Irish airs--a
project that proved far more problematic than his similar use of Scottish
sources. Judging from one of his letters, he apparently collected
unpublished songs from the Irish, had them translated or just talked to
the singer about what the song was about, and then wrote verses in what he
believed to be the same vein--often using people or events around Paisley
as models for a song's situation. In 1808 a number of these new songs
were rejected by George Thomson for publication, and in 1810 two other
publishers refused a new edition of his poems. All was not discouragement
in these years--in 1808 he wrote a comic song, "Caller Herrin," to the
air of "The Cameronian Rant," and by 1810 six other new poems had been
published in "Scots Magazine"-- but economic times were hard in Paisley,
and the three major publication refusals were hard on Tannahill's spirits.

In March, 1810, just before he received the second refusal on his new
edition, Tannahill received a visit at Paisley from James Hogg. The visit
was arranged by Smith, the composer, and the three of them spent a
"convivial evening" with other friends in the club room of a tavern. This
was the last great event of Tannahill's life. Shortly afterward, friends
began to recognize symptoms of mental disturbance: he was despondent and
sometimes incoherent. On several occasions he was escorted home by friends
afraid to let him go into the streets alone. Wading through the Semple's
elevated and euphemistic language, (the only direct phrase is
"aberration of mind") one concludes that Tannahill probably suffered from
an organic mental illness. On the night of May 16, 1810, he was seen to
bed by his mother, but got up later and left the house. When his absence
was discovered, a search party was organized and his watch and other
effects were found by a canal. His body was recovered shortly thereafter.


Book information
----------------
Get more information on the books listed here
via our books page in association with Amazon.
http://www.siliconglen.com/Scotland/books/amazon.html#[11.14]


[11.15] Robert the Bruce

I cannot recommend 'The Bruce', John Barbour annotated by A.A.M.
Duncan, highly enough. Archie Duncan was professor of Scottish
history at Glasgow University from 1962 to 1993.

Aside from modernisation of some letter styles this is an unadulterated
transcription of the 'E' (Edinburgh) m.s. the nearest to original among
extant m.s. His commentary is both rational and logically coherent. It
also has the merit of being by a Scot on Scottish history, somewhat of a
rarity.

Publisher Canongate Classics, Canongate books, Edinburgh
ISBN 0 86241 681 7  http://www.canongate.net/

The Scottish Text Society published a very nice 3 volume version
called Barbour's Bruce, edited by Matthew P. McDiarmid (1985). That
has over 60 pages of a very useful glossary in Volume I. There is a
paperback book: The Bruce by John Barbour edited by A.A.M. Duncan,
Canongate Books, Edinburgh, (1997) for about 10 pounds which has
extensive notes that point out factual errors, redundancies, etc.

See also [11.11]

The Bruce Film
--------------
The Bruce was made in 1996 and mainly funded by private investors buying
debentures that gave them certain benefits, e.g. place in the credits as
Associate Producer and right to be in the film as an extra.

The company had previously made a film called Chasing the Deer about the
1745 uprising and also produced Macbeth (with Jason Connery and Helen
Baxendale). Before that they made factual videos of many wars/battles
including a life of William Wallace.

See here for more information
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004UEYG/scottishmusiccom
the film is now available on video

Book information
----------------
Get more information on the books listed here
via our books page in association with Amazon.
http://www.siliconglen.com/Scotland/books/amazon.html#[11.15]


[11.16] Thomas Muir

An article on the Scottish Political Reformist Thomas Muir. He was
transported to Australia for 14 years for attempting to change the
political system in Britain, and was involved in political reform in
the US, France and Ireland. Thomas Muir is the subject of a song by
Adam McNaughton, sung often by Dick Gaughan.

Article sent by Charles McGregor
mailto:chic.m@zetnet.co.uk
Source: Steel's "Scotland's Story". A very good, if succinct history of
Scotland and which featured as a TV series about 10 years ago.

The first Convention of the Scottish Friends of the People opened in
Edinburgh on 11 December 1792. Over 150 delegates representing 150
societies from 35 towns and villages attended. Their aim was to draw
up a petition to send to the British Parliament in support of
electoral reform. Thomas Muir, a Glasgow barrister with a reputation
as a man of principle, had helped organise many of the societies. He
had also, before the Convention, been in contact with the United
Irishmen movement, a group of professional men in Dublin also
bent on political reform. Against the advice of his colleagues, Muir
read an address the United Irishmen had sent which urged the Edinburgh
Convention to 'openly, actively and urgently' will Parliamentary reform.

On the last day of the Convention, a Petition to Parliament was read and
approved; but it was suggested that the Convention arm itself so as to
be able to help magistrates put down riots that might occur in support
of reform. An emotional evening session ended with delegates swearing
the French oath, 'To live free or die'. The government at Westminster
misread the situation. The Home Office files bulged with reports from
spies. As informers were paid piece-rate many had put down gossip as fact,
and rumour spread that the delegates were preparing themselves for
insurrection. The government panicked and on 2 January 1793 arrested Muir.
His trial opened in Edinburgh on 30 August 1793. He was accused of making
seditious speeches, of circulating Paine's Rights of Man and of
defending as well as reading the Address from the United Irishmen. Muir
turned down an offer made by Henry Erskine, the Dean of the Faculty of
Advocates, to defend him and conducted his own defence:

"I am accused of sedition and yet can prove by thousands of witnesses that
I warned the people of that crime, exhorted them to adopt none but
measures which were constitutional, and entreated them to connect liberty
with knowledge and both with morality."

The trial lasted sixteen hours, the evidence heard by five judges and a
jury. But the proceedings were dominated bv Lord Braxfield, of whom Lord
Cockburn wrote:

"Strong built and dark, with rough eyebrows, powerful eyes, threatening
lips, and a low growling voice, he was like a formidable blacksmith. His
accent and his dialect were exaggerated Scotch; his language, like his
thoughts, short, strong, and conclusive. He was the Jeffreys of Scotland.
'Let them bring me prisoners, and I'll find them law', used to be openly
stated as his suggestion, when an intended political prosecution was
marred by anticipated difficulties."

Muir's flowery address to the jury lasted three hours but fell upon
deaf ears.

"I have devoted myself to the cause of the people. It is a good cause, it
shall ultimately prevail, it shall ultimately triumph."

Braxfield, who had arrogantly dismissed the evidence of Muir's twenty one
witnesses, summed up:

"Government in this country is made up of the landed interest, which alone
has a right to be represented; as for the rabble, who have nothing but
personal property, what hold has the nation of them? what security for
the payment of their taxes? They may pack up all their property on their
backs, and leave the country in the twinkling of an eye."

The jury found Muir guilty, and Braxfield sentenced him to fourteen years
transportation to Botany Bay, a novel sentence then tantamount to the
death penalty. After 1783 Britain had looked to Australia as a substitute
for the American colonies to take the overflow from Britain's prisons.
The first fleet of eleven vessels had carried nearly 800 convicts, and
had arrived at Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788. Many subsequent ships sank
before reaching Australia; many convicts died of dysentery or typhoid
en route, and by the time of Muir's sentence horror stories about
Britain's embryo prison colony abounded. Scots were shocked by the
sentence. Robert Burns was moved to write, 'Scots Wha Hae' in protest,
a song which was immediately banned as seditious. 'The newspapers gave
Muir's trial enormous coverage and three editions of the court's proceedings
were published, two of them in America. After sentence, Muir was taken
to the Tolbooth and on 14 November put on board the Royal George bound
for London. His mother and father presented him with a pocket Bible
with the inscription, 'To Thomas Muir from his Afflicted Parents'.

The question of his sentence was raised five times in Parliament; but
on 13 February, Muir, together with Skirving, Gerrald and Margarot, set
sail for Botany Bay. The filthy, stinking, mutinous voyage took nearly six
months. Because they were political prisoners Muir and the Edinburgh
Martyrs were not obliged to work like the other convicts. Thomas
Muir purchased a small farm near Sydney Cove and called it Huntershill,
after his father's Scottish home.

On 24 January 1796, the Otter, an American ship from Boston, visited the
colony and the night before she set sail Thomas Muir managed to board
her. His escape, after just sixteen months in the colony, proved a
timely one. Within a month of Muir's bid for freedom, Gerrald died at
the age of thirty-six and Skining succumbed to dysentery. After many
adventures Muir eventually reached France, where he was given a hero's
welcome at Bordeaux, and thence conveyed to Paris where the Revolutionary
government held a banquet in his honour. But his last years were marked
by sad decline, both physical and intellectual. Although he had not seen
Britain's shores for four years, he set himself up as an expert on his
country's affairs. Talleyrand, the French Foreign Secretary, allowed him
a small pension; but once the French had exhausted Muir's propaganda
value he became an irrelevance. He died at Chantilly outside Paris
in 1798, more extreme in his views and more full of his own importance
than ever.

I heard one anecdote from Muir's trial recently. Some woolly minded
liberal member of the Scottish establishment pleaded with Braxfield:
"But rememberber, my Lord, Jesus Christ was a reformer too."
"Muckle he made o' that. He was hanget," was Braxfield's retort.

In Edinburgh Library there are many accounts of Scotland's links with
Australia. Not all the Scots who found themselves on the other side of
the world went as prisoners. The second governor of New South Wales,
John Hunter, responsible for consolidating the colony, was a Leith man.
There is a memorial to him by the Leith dock gates, near the Malmaison Hotel.

The 5th governor of New South Wales and Australia's greatest Governor
Major-General was also Scottish: Major-General Lachlan Macquarie.
Macquarie was a Scottish soldier and Governor of the colony of New South
Wales from 1810-1821, whose term of office was noted for humanitarian
treatment of ex-convicts, encouragement of public works programmes, inland
exploration and the creation of new towns. Lachlan Macquarie was born on
the tiny island of Ulva, in the Inner Hebrides, Scotland and grew up on the
nearby larger island of Mull.

As with other other expatriate communities, these links are much better
remembered in Australia than they are in Scotland. The excellent
Mitchell Library in New South Wales, for example, has a fine collection
of material about Muir.

Later on in the same book...

1820 is the year of the so-called Scottish Insurrection. The events, which
were to culminate in the execution of three weavers for high treason,
were, however, in large part the expression of the resentment many in
Scotland felt for having fought for Britain against Napoleon only to
return home and find themselves treated as seditious rabble and
industrial scrap.

Attempts had been made by the authorities, after the Napoleonic War, to
relieve the hardship caused by unemployment. The Town Council of Glasgow,
for instance, employed 324 workless to restyle Glasgow Green. Relief
centres were also opened up in the town; but charity did little to
ameliorate what was seen as the root of the problem. If the disaffected,
as the government called them, were to continue to be intransigent, there
was but one solution, namely to create a head-on collision that would put
the radical movement in its place.

In 1820, government spies once again were ordered to infiltrate the
radical ranks. They encouraged the radicals to form a Committee of
Organisation for Forming a Provisional Government, and on 1 April
placards appeared on the streets of Glasgow, calling for an immediate
national strike and a rising on 5 April:

"To show the world that we are not that lawless, sanguinary' rabble which
our oppressors would persuade the higher circles we are but a brave and
generous people determined to be free."

The Proclamation, making reference, as it did, to the Magna Carta and the
English Bill of Rights, was probably written by a government spy.
Throughout Scotland some 60,000 stopped work on 1 April. Yet unknown to the
rank and file of the radical movement, twenty-eight members of the
so-called provisional government were in Glasgow jail and had been
since 21 March when they had been quietly arrested. On April Fool's Day
1820, the streets of Glasgow were lined with troops. The government had
called out the Rifle Brigade and the 83rd Regiment of Foot, together with
the 7th and 10th Hussars, under the command of Sir Richard Hussey Vivian,
the government's leading expert in cavalry tactics and expressly sent
north by the Duke of York in case of disturbances. Samuel Hunter's
Glasgow Sharpshooters were also on hand, under his personal command.
There was a brief encounter in the evening when three hundred radicals
skirmished with a party 'of cavalry', but no one came to harm that day.
At Fir Park, now Glasgow's Necropolis, seventy radicals had been directed by
government agents to go to Falkirk, where English sympathisers, it was
said, would join up with them and help take the Carron Iron Works. When
the small band got there, they found nobody and half of them dispersed.
Thirty radicals were resting at Bonnymuir, near Castlecary, when a troop
of the 7th Hussars advanced towards them. Andrew Hardie, one of the
radicals, recalled the scene:

"Some of our men were wounded in a most shocking manner, and it is truly
unbecoming the character of a soldier to wound, or try and kill any man
whom he has it in his power to take prisoner, and when we had no arms to
make any defence."

Forty-seven radicals were ultimately rounded up and taken to the military
prison at Stirling Castle. Twenty-four were tried and sentenced to death.
One of the three hanged was a sixty-year-old weaver, James Wilson.
A special English Court of Oyer and Terminer, a royal commission court with
power to hear and determine criminal causes, was set up in Glasgow. Wilson
made an impassioned speech to the court:

"You may condemn me to immolation on the scaffold, but you cannot degrade
me. If I have appeared as a pioneer in the van of freedom's battles - if I
have attempted to free my country from political degradation - my
conscience tells me that I have only done my duty. Your brief authority will
soon cease, but the vindictive proceedings this day shall be recorded in
history".

Sentence was passed by Lord President Hope. Wilson was to be drawn on a
hurdle to the place of execution, hanged, then his head severed from his
body and his corpse quartered. Twenty thousand people witnessed
James Wilson's execution on Glasgow Green. His remains were spared
quartering and were ultimately allowed to rest in Strathaven, the village of
his birth, where in his younger days, it is said, he had invented the purl
stitch.

Two other radicals, John Baird a thirty-two-year-old weaver from Condorrat,
and Andrew Hardie, a weaver from Glasgow aged twenty-eight were executed in
Stirling, watched by a crowd of 2000. The night before Hardie wrote to his
girlfriend:

"I shall die firm to the cause in which I embarked, and although we were
outwitted and betrayed, yet I protest, as a dying man, it was done with
good intention on my part... No person could have induced me to take up
arms to rob or plunder; no, my dear Margaret, I took them for the
restoration of those rights for which our forefathers bled, and which
we have allowed shamefully to be wrested from us."

(I find these words especially moving....chic)

The authorities had trouble in finding someone who would chop off the heads
of the two radicals at Stirling. Nine days before the ex-ecution two town
clerks were sent to 'engage an executioner'. One went to Glasgow, where he
witnessed James Wilson's execution and noticed he was first hanged by an
executioner and then had his head severed by another masked man 'in a long
robe'. Glasgow's hangman demanded ten guineas per victim and, grudgingly,
the Stirling Town Clerk agreed to pay it. The decapitator was found in
Edinburgh. He demanded twenty guineas per victim for what was regarded
as a more dangerous job as the crowd would almost certainly react to
his gory task. The sentences of nineteen other radicals captured after
Bonnymuir were commuted to transportation to New South Wales, seven for
life and twelve for fourteen years. Peter Mackenzie, a Glasgow journalist,
campaigned to have them pardoned. He published a small book en-titled,
"The Spy System, including the exploits of Mr Alex. Richmond, the
notorious Government Spy of Sidmouth and Castlereagh........"


[11.17] John Paul Jones

This Scot went on to found the US Navy. There is a museum in Scotland
about him. More info at
http://www.open.gov.uk/nithsdal/


[11.18] The Auld Alliance

See here for more info
http://www.franco-ecossaise.asso.fr/


[11.19] The Clearances

A new fully-moderated version of the Highland Clearances mailing list
is now up and running. To subscribe, please send a message to:

mailto:majordomo@list.sirius.com with the command:

   subscribe fuadach-nan-gaidheal

in the body of the message.

See also
http://members.aol.com/skyewrites/menu9.html


[11.20] Battle of Culloden

http://www.queenofscots.co.uk/culloden/cull.html


[11.21] Knights Templar

Article by Alan Clayton mailto:Alan1314@aol.com
-----------------------------------------------
The Knights Templar were a military Religious Order, to put it somewhat
simplictically 'fighting monks' as there was a vow of chastity. They were
founded in 1119AD to protect Christian pilgrims visiting the Holy Land
and in particular the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, hence the name.

They were first established in Scotland by King David 1st. Their main
base in Scotland was at Maryculter in Kincardineshire, founded by one
of their members, Walter Bisset in 1221AD. The place name Temple is of
course a definate indication of their presence and influence in an
area (e.g. Temple, Midlothian)

By the 14th century they were so wealthy and powerful they had
become Europe's bankers, one of history's paradoxes since their
secondary name was The Poor Knights of Christ. Due to this they were
alleged to have become heretics and King Philip 4th of France induced
Pope Clement 5th at Avignon in southern France (another story) to
expel them in 1307.

King Robert 1st of Scots, The Bruce, offered them sanctuary in
return for support in his struggle with England. Although primary
source material has not been found (Scottish state documents were
destroyed by both Edward 1st of England and Cromwell in attempts to
eliminate the existence of a Scottish state from human history) there
is strong circumstantial evidence that it was they who led the charge
of Sma' folk at Bannockburn and it was the Knights in cavalry charge,
with their distinctive white crosses on their shields, rather than
the Sma' folk per se that led the English troops to finally break and
run in terror. Certainly if they were coming in only when Scottish
victory seemed likely there was some 'bet hedging' deal with Bruce.

King Edward 2nd of England confiscated all their property in England in
1315AD, another strong circumstantial indication that they were at
Bannockburn. From Bannockburn till the Rerformation in 1560AD they
acted as parish clergy in a number of Scottish parishes including
the collegiate church called Rosslyn Chapel
http://www.rosslynchapel.org.uk/

They also acted as parish clergy at Inchinnan in Renfrewshire and
several are buried at the Renfrew end of the runway of Glasgow Airport
where All Hallows Church of Scotland had to be demolished when the
runway was built, as it was in the direct flight path. Several Templar
tombstones were removed at that time to the replacement church,
St Conval's Church of Scotland, Inchinnan, and are in the Church grounds.

The present Minister, Rev Marlyn Maclane would I am sure be delighted to
answer any questions that may be asked of her. Entry to the Templar
cemetery requires the permission of Glasgow Airport security and can
only be accessed with security present.


Article by Charles McGregor mailto:chic.m@zetnet.co.uk
------------------------------------------------------
The Knights Templars were formed in 1118 AD (mildly disputed) in
Jerusalem, after the crusaders had captured the Holy Land. Ostensibly
their task was to protect pilgrims from the still frequent Islamic
attacks, however some claim that this was a cover, right from the
start. They were a highly secretive organisation and therefore have
necessitated and indeed positively invited, much and frequently wild,
speculation. Amongst the more famous speculations are those regarding
devil worship, worshiping heads and other non-christian
practices(Baphomet), the occult, a world control judaic conspiracy,
retention of the treasures of Jerusalem, retention of the Holy Grail,
knowledge of astonishing secrets (e.g.s Jesus survived the cross and
had descendants in Europe. Secret of total power. etc.).
All weird and wonderful stuff. Fortunately, the elements of the
Templar's story relevant to the voracity of the 'Prince Henry claim'
are amongst the least contentious. The following is I believe
accepted by certainly the great majority of historians.

The Templars had a rule that they could acquire wealth as a body,
through their Templar activities, but not individually. Over the
years, for services rendered, and possibly with the Jerusalem
treasure as a starting fund, the group became very rich. Rather than
just have the money sit there, since they couldn't split it up amongst
themselves, they loaned it out, at interest of course, to various
people (usually kings) all over Europe. This meant that the fund grew
at an accelerated rate, and the favours granted by grateful monarchs
meant that they became ever more powerful and even richer as a body.
Effectively, they became the World's first international banking
system.

Their services too, developed from the purely marshal and financial,
to things like arbitration in all kinds of disputes.

The Order spread and grew in number, all over Europe.

Eventually, they became extremely arrogant and considered themselves
even superior to monarchy or at least, outside it's control and
anwerable only to the Pope.

Phillipe IV of France (La Belle) became jealous of their power and
riches and conspired by papal manipulation to have the order declared
heretical aided and abetted by the Templars own predeliction for
secrecy.

In 1307 the arrests and burnings began across Europe.

Here is where Scotland takes centre stage in the story. Because
Robert the Bruce was currently excommunicated, Scotland became one of
the very few havens in Europe for Templar Knights. The Templars were
never proscribed in Scotland, even after the excommunication was
lifted. It is believed that refugee Templars even fought at
Bannockburn (as of course did Scotland's resident Templars like the
Sinclairs), but the number and extent is once more clouded by the
secrecy that so characterises Templar history.

Some Templars in Scotland are believed to have joined with the
Hospitallers there and formed a proto-freemason association [11.22].

So in the 1390's it is highly likely, indeed consensually so, that
there would still be a significant number of 'foreign' Templars
in Scotland (or at least 1st and 2nd descendants thereof).
Furthermore, although some of them may have acquired a degree of
wealth and status by dint of marshal rewards, it is probable that,
due to their own code, their treasure(which eluded Phillipe's men)
could still not be used to deliver them from penury on an individual
basis.


So what does this have to do with the Prince Henry story?

If you recall, I said that the more astute may have noticed a couple
of genuine problems with the Prince Henry claim. These are best
illustrated by the following questions.

Why would Henry undergo the expense and hazard of such a venture?

Why, if he had found America, did he not make his fame and fortune by
bringing back maize, potatoes, tobacco etc. and seek funding for mass
colonization?

Why, did he go to all that trouble and not even return there himself?

Remember, the Sinclairs were Templars. Amongst the other things
discussed above, they had a vow to help other Templars.
They also provided two of the Grand Masters of the Templars during
their near 200 years of 'legality'. (there is only one at any one
time)

In Scotland, there were probably still many Templar refugees, although
they may have had access to certain funds on a communal basis, many
of them were likely to be less well off personally than they would
like, neither could they return to their homeland.

I think it should be fairly immediately obvious from the above that
Templar involvement, in the motivation, the funding and the secrecy of
the entire operation, would answer all of the above questions.

Henry may well have had a strong desire to help his fellow Templars.
They could easily have called upon their communal funding.(12 ships
don't come cheap) and he didn't return to the New World because the
Sinclairs were quite happily situated in Scotland, he in fact had done
it on behalf of others.

In fact the Henry expedition may well have been establishing the
escape route for what was to be the first of many flights from
religious persecution in Europe, to the New World, albeit of a
particularily secretive nature.

It is not difficult to imagine that Henry was also aware, via his
Scandinavian ancestory and the folklore of his principality, of the
legend of previous visitations to Vinland (Greenland).

Once again, I hasten to add that, the above theory is not of my
construction, and the Rosslyn guidebook refers to this fact.

For those acquainted with Templar history, the lack of hype, or
secrecy surrounding the Prince Henry expedition, is no more than would
be expected.

More info here
http://www.rosslyntemplars.org.uk/


[11.22] Freemasonry

Scotland has the oldest Masonic records in the world, dating back to
January 1598. The first lodge in Scotland was founded in 1105.

See here for history and information
http://www.grandlodgescotland.com/

Freemasonry Today publication - an independent magazine for everyone
with an interest in Freemasonry
http://www.freemasonrytoday.co.uk/

Kilwinning Lodge, the oldest in the world - dates from early 12th C
http://thelonious.mit.edu/Masons/Reports/kilw.html


[11.23] Vikings

The end of the Viking threat to Scotland.

In 1263, King Haakon led his great Viking battle fleet to subdue the
Scottish resistance. Leaving his base in the Western Isles, he sailed
south to the Clyde estuary. His fleet was anchored on the western
shores of the Firth and a recce was made by a smaller group on the
eastern shore at Largs.

The Scots gave but a tiny view of their presence whilst their king
called to arms all those who would join him to repulse the Vikings.He
managed to stall the Viking emissaries until his countrymen could
assemble. His proposals had to be referred to Haakon. The Vikings
decided to attack the Scots even though bad weather over the Clyde was
playing havoc with their much-vaunted fleet. When the assault boats
beached at Largs and the Vikings advanced from the beach the latter were
beset by a great Scottish army which trounced them. The living Vikings
escaped to their boats, sailed to their fleet, but it had been greatly
abused by the gales and the Scots on the water repeated their thrashing
of the Viking battle fleet. Haakon scuttled off to the Hebrides and
made pact with the Scots to assualt Scotland no more. Haakon died in
Orkney before he could return to Norway.

(1263 was the year that the Grammar School of Glasgow was founded, the
precursor of the University of Glasgow.)


[11.24] Scots emigration/immigration to the US

When did the Scottish come to the US?
-------------------------------------
The first Scots began coming to the New World in the early 1600's,

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