LL-L "History" 2003.01.03 (04) [E/S]

[Lowlands-L]

======================================================================
 L O W L A N D S - L * 03.JAN.2003 (04) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
 http://www.lowlands-l.net * admin at lowlands-l.net * Encoding: Unicode UTF-8
 Rules & Guidelines: http://www.lowlands-l.net/rules.htm
 Posting Address: lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org
 Server Manual: http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8c/userindex.html
 Archive: http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/lowlands-l.html
=======================================================================
 You have received this because you have been subscribed upon request.
 To unsubscribe, please send the command "signoff lowlands-l" as message
 text from the same account to <listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org> or
 sign off at <http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html>.
=======================================================================
 A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
 L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic
                  V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
=======================================================================

From: Sandy Fleming <sandy at fleemin.fsnet.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "History" 2003.01.02 (07) [E/S]

> From: Colin Wilson <lcwilson at btinternet.com>
> Subject: LL-L "Identity" 2002.12.31 (12) [E]
>
> History is more complicated than "goodies" and "baddies". I wonder

I thought it might be interesting to give a sort of "potted history" of the
troubles between Scotland and England, though with the warning that
history isn't my strong point - dates and suchlike should be checked
from more reliable sources if you're interested. I''ve sometimes even
left off the numbers after the names of monarchs, because I always
get them wrong - at least it makes for easy reading!

A good starting point is with the death of King Alexander, as mentioned
the anonynmous Scots lamentation, "When Alysandyr our King Was Deid":

      When Alysandyr our King was dede
            That Scotland led in luve and le,
      Away was sonse of ale and brede,
            Of wine and wax, of gamyn and gle;
      Our gold was changyd into lede.
            Christ born into Virginitie
      Succour Scotland and remede
            That stayed is in perplexytie.

The reign of King Alexander III was a time of plenty for Scotland. In
1285 he celeberated his wedding night in drunken revelry at Edinburgh
Castle while his new Queen awaited him across the River Forth. Roaring
drunk, and against the wishes of his nobles, he set out on horseback in
the pitch dark and pouring rain to tryst with her. On reaching the Fife
shore his horse had difficulty scaling the muddy embankments, and
slithered all the way down into the turbulent waters of the Forth, where
the King was drowned, leaving no heir.

King Edward of England, having recently subjugated Wales and Ireland,
saw this as a God-given opportunity to conquer the rest of the islands.
He started by setting up John Balliol as a puppet king, but English armies
moving into Scotland were stalled by the unexpected triumph of Sir William
Wallace (a sort of seven-foot version of Mel Gibson, meticulously described
by the poet Blin Harry, though if Harry was "blin", one wonders if this can
be
a first-hand description). One of the most interesting things for me about
the
film "Braveheart" was discovering that many English people had never heard
of The Wallace or The Bruce - those were the sort of heroes that we, as
children, chose to be when playing "Cowboys and Indians" style games. Still,
we didn't know of any English heroes to be, so maybe there was mutual
ignorance on both sides of the border.

Something about the film that left the English arguing was whether Robert
the Bruce was a traitor to his country. The truth is that the film is mostly
nonsense - in fact the term "Braveheart" refers correctly to Robert the
Bruce, not William Wallace. The Bruce led a pitched battle against King
Edward's army at Bannockburn, where with a relatively small Scottish
army, a knowledge of local topography an his own superior fighting skills
as a knight, he quickly demolished the biggest army Edward had ever
been able to muster. The Bruce then had himself crowned King of
Scotland and Edward's hopes for a united island were dashed.

(Pause while I stop to ask my dad, "What came first, Culloden or Flodden?"
 "Flodden," he replies, scunnert at my ignorance!).

OK, Flodden, which is a place in the north of England. This involves the
"Auld Alliance" between Scotland and France against England, that started
out much earlier (12th century, I think) as a religious schism about the
popes of Rome and the popes of Avignon, although looking at some of the
French behaviour I sometimes think "With allies like that, who needs
enemies?"

While the English king was busy with the French in the south, the Scottish
King James decided this was a good time for an attack. He had bigger guns
and more modern weaponry (in the form of pikes, in skilled hands a very
effective weapon used by footmen in continental Europe). Having carted
his guns from Edinburgh down through the borders, he dug them in above
Flodden Field and waited for the small English detachment that the English
king could spare to come up and get shot to pieces. The English general
was no chump, however, and manoeuvered his army round to the north,
so that all the huge Scottish guns were pointing the wrong way. King James
sent down his pikemen, but since they'd only had a few weeks to practice
with the difficult new weapon they were soon wiped out. By the end of the
day the rest of the Scottish army lay dead, including the king.

This was recorded in a lengthy (and rather fantastic) ballad, from which
Jean Elliot extracted and adapted verses to create the well-known song
"The Flouers o the Forest" ("The Forest" being a local name for
Selkirkshire) which concentrates on the aftermath of the battle - the
depletion of young men from the population of the Forest:

I've heard the liltin at oor yowe-milkin,
    Lasses a-liltin before the dawn o day;
But nou they are moanin on ilka green loanin-
    The Flouers o the Forest is aa wede away.

At buchts, in the mornin, nae blythe lads is scornin,
    The lasses is lanely, an dowie, an wae;
Nae daffin, nae gabbin, but sichin an sabbin,
    Ilk ane lifts her leglen an hies her away.

In hairst, at the shearin, nae youths nou is jeerin,
    The bandsters is lyart, an runkled, an gray;
At fair, or at preachin, nae wooin, nae fleetchin-
    The Flouers o the Forest is aa wede away.

At e'en, at the gloamin, nae swankies is roamin,
    'boot stacks wi the lasses at bogle to play;
But ilk ane sits drearie, lamentin her dearie-
    The Flouers o the Forest is aa wede away.

Duil an wae for the order, sent oor lads to the Border!
    The English, for ance, bi guile wan the day;
The Flouers o the Forest, that focht aye the foremaist,
    The prime o oor land, is cauld in the cley.

We hear nae mair liltin at oor yowe-milkin,
    Weemen an bairns is hertless an wae;
Sichin an moanin on ilka green loanin-
    The Flouers o the Forest is aa wede away.

The French were alarmed at the rise of Protestantism in Great Britain
("Grand Bretagne" being a Norman name for the island, to distinguish
it from "Bretagne" to the west of Normandy). They found a scion of
Scottish monarchy amongst their own in the form of Charles Stewart,
or Bonny Prince Charlie as he's popularly known, and sent him to the
Highlands of Scotland to rouse the Catholic clansmen to launch an
attack on King George in London. They also promised Charlie they'd
send a French regiment to the Highlands to support him, but in the end,
they didn't bother with that.

The clansmen were divided. The Campbells had never liked the
Stewarts and signed up to fight for King George, while other chieftains,
hedging their bets, sent some sons to fight for King George and some
to fight for Charles Stewart. Charlie made his way down to Perth and
had himself crowned, but met with a lukewarm reception in Edinburgh.

The trouble was that it was all too clear that he was atempting to set
himself up as king in London, he didn't have Scottish interests at heart,
just Roman Catholic interests. Colin Maclaurin (professor of
mathematics at Edinburgh, well-known for his discovery
of Maclaurin's Series and the youngest person ever to have been
appointed as a professor) started trying to raise an army against
Charlie, but the first battle came when Charlie reached Dunbar,
according to the song, and the English general John Cope challenged
him to meet him at the salt and coal pans at Prestonpans:

Cope sent a challenge frae Dunbar,
Charlie meet me an ye daur,
An I'll learn you the art o war
     Gin ye'll meet me at the coals in the mornin.

     Hey, Johnnie Cope, ar ye waukin yit,
     Or ar yer drums a-dinnlin yit?
     Or ye war waukin I was set
     Tae gang the coals in the mornin.

&c &c.

What's being sung about here, is that when Charlie arrived at
"The Pans", Cope's men were still asleep, and there was an
easy massacre. What the triumphant, gloating song fails to
mention, however, is that most of the men in Cope's army
were Scottish. It's just one of many Scottish songs which
romanticise the idea of a prince coming back to reclaim his
throne and ignore the ugly truth. After Charlie's victory at
Prestonpans, Colin Maclaurin had to flee to England, but
his health never recovered from the ordeal and he died at
the age of twenty-six.

Charlie, however, went down through England, gathering
support from English Catholic sympathisers the whole time.
He got quite close to London, and probably would have
taken the throne, except that a spy amongst them set about
the false rumour that there was a vast army awaiting them in
London. Charlie chickened out and fled with his army back
to the Highlands. The English caught up with them at Culloden
and defeated them, although Charlie himself, dressed as a
woman, was smuggled back to France with a lot of help from
Flora MacDonald. Flora herself ended up in Maryland and
spent the rest of her life recruiting British soldiers to fight
against the Americans (or were they still British then? :) in the
wars of independence.

The end of this affair was the start of the persecution of the
Highland clans, but eventually London had a better idea and
channelled the Highlander's battling lifestyle into their own
army in the form of Highland Regiments.

The usual lament of Scottish nationalists these days is not about
the wars, however, it's that after all that, everything was lost due
to political machinations leading to the union of the crowns and
eventually the union of parliaments. What's really behind this is
that Scottish noblemen attempted to fill their own pockets by
investing the money from the country's coffers in attempts
at making a quick buck through lucrative investments in South
American interests. These turned out disastrous and the
impoverished country accepted a union with England as a solution.

Remember it's only a potted history, skimming the surface of a
much more complex reality!

Sandy Fleming
http://scotstext.org/

----------

From: R. F. Hahn <admin at lowlands-l.net>
Subject: History

Sandy:

> This was recorded in a lengthy (and rather fantastic) ballad, from which
> Jean Elliot extracted and adapted verses to create the well-known song
> "The Flouers o the Forest" ("The Forest" being a local name for
> Selkirkshire) which concentrates on the aftermath of the battle - the
> depletion of young men from the population of the Forest:

Is this sung to the wellknown tune "The Flouers o the Forest" often played
by a lone piper on solemn (particularly mourning) occasions?
http://www.world-wide-whisky.de/Scottish/flowers2.mid
http://www.whitestick.co.uk/midi/flowers.mid

I have slightly different lyrics:

Scottish I've heard them liltin',
At the ewe milkin,'
Lasses a-liltin' before dawn of day.
Now there's a moanin',
On ilka green loanin'.
The flowers of the forest are a' wede away.

As boughts in the mornin',
Nae blithe lads are scornin',
Lasses are lonely and dowie and wae.
Nae daffin', nae gabbin',
But sighin' and sobbin',
Ilk ane lifts her leglin, and hies her away.

At e'en in the gloamin',
Nae swankies are roamin',
'Mang stacks wi' the lasses at bogle to play.
But ilk maid sits drearie,
Lamentin' her dearie,
The flowers of the forest are a' wede away.

In har'st at the shearin'
Nae youths now are jeerin'
Bandsters are runkled, and lyart, or grey.
At fair or at preachin',
Nae wooin', nae fleecin',
The flowers of the forest are a' wede away.

Dool for the order
Sent our lads to the Border,
The English for ance by guile wan the day.
The flowers of the forest,
That fought aye the foremost,
The prime of our land lie cauld in the clay.

We'll hae nae mair liltin',
At the ewe milkin',
Women and bairns are dowie and wae.
Sighin' and moanin'
On ilka green loanin',
The flowers of the forest are all wede away.

Cheers,
Reinhard/Ron

----------

From: ntl <shoogly at ntlworld.com>
Subject: LL-L "History" 2003.01.02 (07) [E/S]

I follow this debate with interest - as a Gaelic speaker the issues are of
some concern to me.  I have a copy of Charles Withers "Gaelic in Scotland
1698-1981" beside me ( it has a chapter concern the history of events before
these dates- with details of anti-Gaelic actions prior to these dates ).
I'll read through it and see if it elicits any further points.

In referring to "mì-run nan Gall" ( or "mì-run mòr nan Gall" ) - this means
"the hatred ( or great hatred - if you use "mòr" ) of the "Gall" - now Gall
literary means a stranger - ( or in this context strangers -as the spelling
is the same in the genitive plural )- but Gall is normally used for a
lowlander  - whereas Gael is used for a Gaelic speaker / highlander ( at one
time the two were synonymous - but with the decline in Gaelic - the two no
longer can be equated ).

It is certainly true that the Scots parliament enacted several anti-Gaelic
acts most notoriously in the statute of Incolmkill in 1609 by James VI. I
have heard it often said that the use of Gaelic was prohibited after the
Jacobite "rebellion" , in 1746 - and to this day I am lead to believe that
it is still illegal to address a letter in Scottish Gaelic -in these isles -
though you can address it in any other language you choose - but I will try
and look up these details - as I have never bothered much about them - and I
and other Gaelic speakers quite happily address mail to other Gaelic
speakers or Gaelic organisation in Gaelic deliberately because of this
point - but the only problems we have had so far is the postal service not
"being able to post it" because they did not understand the address -even
though a post code was on any mail - but this seems an inadequacy of the
postal service - rather than enacting anti Gaelic legislation!!!!  But I
shall look the laws of prohibition laws following 1746.  But I do not know
prior to the act of union of 1707 - of any English influence on Scotland -
in fact I doubt there was any - and the English inability to influence The
Scots due to their separate Parliament etc - actually caused much friction -
especially in relation to succession of the Monarch.

So I feel Colin is right  -there was no anti- Scottish influence by the
English prior to the Union of Parliaments in 1707 - and even though the
statue of Incolmkill were enacted in 1609 - post the union of crowns in
1603 - it was enacted by the Scottish parliament with James VI as crown -
many people outwith Scotland do not seem to be able to comprehend that post
union of crowns - when James the VI of Scotland became James I of
ngland  -that we shared a monarch - but were totally independent countries.
Any anti-Gaelic legislation prior to 1707 would have been from the Scottish
parliament - not the English parliament.

There is reference to an 1695 act - I can not find on in my readings. I can
find a 1696 act -"act for settling of schools" - this was from the Scottish
parliament - and was to partly to discourage the use of Gaelic. It was most
forcefully enacted by the SSPCK ( Society in Scotland for Propagating
Christian Knowledge ) - founded in Edinburgh in 1709.  They set up many
schools in the Highland and Islands ( i.e the Gaelic speaking areas ) -
where the use of Gaelic was prohibited in the schools and not taught.  I
shall read further to see if I can find an act of 1695.

I wont even start to go into the massacre of Glencoe just now as it is far
to complicated -but basically it was all due to the succession issues
alluded to above - i.e the Hanoverian monarchy wanted to be sure of
allegiance -and that you weren't Jacobite - the Mac Donalds of Glencoe were
"notorious" Jacobites - and an example was wanted to be made of Jacobite
sympathisers - so they were used.

I did a talk a few years ago at the Welsh centre in London on the political
situation of Gaelic - in there I outlined the reasons for its decline -and
how its fortunes have changed in the last few years.  It was later printed.
If I can dig out a copy - if it is of any further help - I will post if
here - but it was a while ago - and I've moved since there and new p.c- so
I'd have to hope it was on disc.

Chris Ferguson

==================================END===================================
* Please submit postings to <lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org>.
* Postings will be displayed unedited in digest form.
* Please display only the relevant parts of quotes in your replies.
* Commands for automated functions (including "signoff lowlands-l") are
  to be sent to <listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org> or at
  <http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html>.
 =======================================================================