Union with David Olusoga BBC Review

 

While Olisoga is an informed historian, and consulted many experts and this is a highly watchable  if it times biased program.

However he at times skims over relevant sections of the 320 years of the union between Scotland and England 1707 and later of the four nations to form the United Kingdom is 1801.

For instance he focuses on the hardships in Ireland and of their being bribed to join the United kingdom union in 1801 – but does mot mention the mass murders and of the obliteration of the highland way of life in Scotland after the Jacobite 45, when the clans were disarmed. There is no mention of the Scottish Parcel of Rogues who sold Scotland for bribes.

The only way to be able to wear the kilt was to join the British highland regiments. 

Union flags designs of James VI

After the JACOBITE 45 rebellion Olusoga states “ the British state, with the help of some clan chiefs, launched a campaign to repress the Scots” –what they really did was mass murder of women and children and the destruction of the highland way of life. the huge contribution Scotland, as the workers of the empire made to the empire is ignored, while England were the rulesr is ignored. 

By the 18^th century – one in 10 lived in London – which became the centre of Printing, key port, trade artery, parliament, monarchy, finance, banking, theatre, arts and culture. Why is it good that so many had to travel to London to make their fortune?

Then there’s the episode Four on Union and Disunion – which focuses on Wales and Ireland, with only a mention of the closing of Ravenscraig steel work at Motherwell – but no mention of Scotland’s oil which was used by Westminster to increase spending on London. 

Olusoga had a chat with A professor from Oxford who stated, ‘There isn’t a long history of power being spread outside the capitol…the starting dates of universities in the north, many are just over a 100 years old. Civic buildings are not that old.” This by implication gives the strong impression that the rest of Britain, outside of London, is backward and uncultured. This is basically untrue. 

Scotland boasts 4 of the UKs oldest universities – Oxford and Cambridge were initially centres of clerical teachings late 1090s: in the 1400s it was Scottish universities which were the four leading centres of learning – St Andrews 1410, Glasgow 1451, Aberdeen 1495, Edinburgh 1583. And it wasn’t until the 1800s that England set up its universities - Manchester 1824, London 1826, Durham 1832.

Olusoga also misses the crucial point that Scotland’s self-determination is about democracy and democratic rights and NOT identity at all. 

Scots hero Ian Hamilton

So sorry to hear of the death of Scots hero Ian Hamilton – who was an early fighter for Scotland’s freedom. On Christmas Eve he and other students took the Stone of Destiny from Westminster abbey, that was used for centuries for Scots kings, and was stolen by Edward I in 1296.  It’s an incredible story of bravery and fighting for our freedoms. 

 

He’s an inspiration. Worth watching the film “Stone of Destiny” and visiting Arbroath abbey, where Hamilton recites the Declaration of Arbroath, 

"  for, as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom – for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself."

 

Submitted in Latin, the Declaration was little known until the late 17th century, and is unmentioned by any of Scotland's major 16th-century historians. In the 1680s, the Latin text was printed for the first time and translated into English in the wake of the Glorious Revolution, after which time it was sometimes described as a declaration of independence

 

The Declaration of Arbroath 

is the name usually given to a letter, dated 6 April 1320 at Arbroath, written by Scottish barons and addressed to Pope John XXII

. It constituted King Robert I response to his excommunication for disobeying the pope's demand in 1317 for a truce in the First War of Scottish Independence. The letter asserted the antiquity of the independence of the Kingdom of Scotland. denouncing English attempts to subjugate it. 

Generally believed to have been written in Arbroath abbey by Bernard of Kilwinning (or of Linton), then chancellor of Scotland and Abbot and sealed by fifty-one magnates and nobles, the letter is the sole survivor of three created at the time. The others were a letter from the King of Scots, Robert I and a letter from four Scottish bishops which all made similar points. The Declaration was intended to assert Scotland's status as an Independent, sovereign state and defend Scotland’s right to use military action when unjustly attacked.

Submitted in Latin, the Declaration was little known until the late 17th century, and is unmentioned by any of Scotland's major 16th-century historians. In the 1680s, the Latin text was printed for the first time and translated into English in the wake of the Glorious Revolution after which time it was sometimes described as a declaration of independence, the Declaration was little known until the late 17th century, and is unmentioned by any of Scotland's major 16th-century historians. In the 1680s, the Latin text was printed for the first time and translated into English in the wake of the Glorious Revolution, after which time it was sometimes described as a Declaration of Independence. 

 

 

**Ian Hamilton KC  (1925 – 2022) was a Scottish lawyer and nationalist, best known for his part in the  return of the Stone fo Destiny from Westminster Abbey to Arbroath Abbey in 1950. Hamilton was born in Paisley Scotland, on 13 September 1925, the son of a tailor. He attended the John Neilson Institution in Paisley before going on to the University of Glasgow to study law, after having served in the British army. National activism It was at University where Hamilton became politically active. A participant in debates at the Glasgow university, he was a member of the Glasgow University Nationalist Association and Scottish Covenant Association. He was also the campaign manager for the successful bid to have John MacCormick elected rector fo the university. 

 

 

***Stone of Destiny[

On Christmas Eve 1950, Hamilton, along with three other student Scottish nationalists including Kay Matheson removed the Stone of Destiny from its place under the Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey. London. Originally used for the coronation of Scottish monarchs, the Stone had been removed to England by Edward I in 1296 to bolster his claim to the throne of Scotland. After the Acts of Union 1707 between Scotland and England, it was used for the coronation of British monarchs. 

As such, Hamilton's action in returning the Stone to Scotland was applauded as a symbolic triumph for Scottish nationalism. The Stone was turned over to the Church of Scotland, which passed it to the authorities in April 1951. Hamilton and his accomplices were charged, but never prosecuted. The Stone was eventually returned 

 

Queen Elizabeth's Respect for the Scottish Nation

 

Professor Tom Devine was commenting on the radio on this historic week after Queen Elizabeth’s death, as her cortege left Balmoral’s estates. He said the Queen showed a deep affection for Scotland and recognised the distinctive Scottish nationhood - perhaps reminiscent of past generations that we appear to have lost in our modern times.

 As Scotland pre-eminent historian, he was knighted by the Queen a few years ago. At this ceremony, the queen said that she was pleased to be honouring a Scots scholar and historian and she raised her voice – “who has written extensively on Scottish history.“  

 Devine said, “Its  a shame some UK politicians can’t speak of Scotland with the same level of respect. “

I notice the Welsh language had pride of place in the Welsh ascension ceremony today for new King Charles. So why is the Scots language still treated as an embarrassment? Its shocking that Scots history and culture have been so deliberately suppressed over the past century in Scotland. Children were belted in schools for speaking in Scots and teachers were told they would sound ignorant if they spoke in Scots! 

 

In Maori schools in New Zealand, Maori children are taught  Maori words and culture and to be proud of their heritage. So why on earth must Scots be embarrassed of their wonderful Scots culture? Many Scots are totally ignorant of Scots history and have been taught only English culture. 

 

The Welsh also sang the Welsh national anthem. We in Scotland urgently need new words to Flower of Scotland OR a new Scots national anthem!! Hint, hint Proclaimers, Dougie MacLean…etc.

 

I would like to emphasize to those who like the union with England, Wales and Northern Ireland – 

Scotland’s independence is NOT in any way about not having “unity” here in the UK. In fact I hope we can have much better and more successful unity after indy – its about how Scotland is best governed in the best interests of all those who live in Scotland.

I lived many years in the United States – the states are united, but also independently run their own affairs. For instance, each state organises their own trade deals, vat rates, immigration, laws, and other economic levers. So I firmly believe that Scotland needs their own self governing levers to best address the needs and best interests of the people of Scotland. I would be for a slimmed down monarchy, and I don’t like the term ‘subject’ and would much prefer ‘citizen.

I hope the recant services and ceremonies around the Queen’s death, show any doubters that Scotland is its own distinct nation, one of the oldest in Europe. I hope all those who dislike Scottish traditions, were able to appreciate the beauty of Karen Matheson’s Gaelic song at the St Giles service. It was highly significant that the ancient Scots crown of James IV was placed on the queens coffin, as Queen of Scots. 

I had heard from several sources that Operation Unicorn was well planned ahead of time. I hope we can have unity as well as the best of self government. As Succession actor Brian Cox recently said in his chat with Nicola Sturgeon at the Edinburgh book festival, " Its not about personalities but about country and democracy." 

“Its time to be free!”

Tom Devine and Ciaran Martin: 'Our Nation’s Future', at Edinburgh International book festival 2021

With Clare English. Where next for the UK’s future? English said, “Since union 1707, 300 years ago, there has been a largely stable relationship?” (Mmm really? Apart from riots, rebellion, hangings, clearances, deportations, battles, 

“In 2014, Scots rejected indy by 55.3%. what now is the settle will? Scots have little affinity with Johnson’s government.” Questions: between votes and the law; what is the UK? Move away from union; control over indy vote; Constitutional chess.

 

Ciaran Martin: Civil servant, Oxford Professor, constitutional director for the Referendum 2014 and from Northern Ireland. We need trusted and impartial government. progressive unionism.  

Tom Devine – Eminent Scottish historian asked, How has the nation changed; concede nationalists? Is threat of nationalism receding. We need cool heads and rational thinking.

 

*Ciaran Martin – ‘Remaking the British State,’  He said there is now a lull but there will be soon be constitutional chess games. Holyrood will request a Section 30 request which will be refused and end up in court. Scottish government will loose. There will be stalemate and a clash of mandate and law, an existential crisis. Something has to give.

 

He asked, what is the union? There is a lack of consensus and understanding, and a lack of any constitution. He recommended Michael Keatings book, State and Nation in the UK. There is two competing sovereignties, and a contested Scottish narrative – one the source of authority; the other multi-national with Scottish nationalism considered self-indulgent.

 

With union, Martin claims Scotland retained a strong sense as a nation, and never became a region. After Ireland left, Britain has allowed itself to break up. Northern Ireland agreement 1998 allowed to vote to leave. Most “countries” will not allow any break up. (BUT is Britain a country, surely it is a state?) Serious ministers will block any meaningful path to break up and the union will be based on force of law. Still unclear, struggle between mandate and law. The stakes will then be tested in the court of pubic opinion. Union an imagined construct: a political construct first. 

 

Poll supporting Scottish indy show 48% support is a serious threat. Over the decade 2011-2021 shows an increase of 10-15% in indy support.  Long way to go, but there will be an existential reckoning. Votes not laws. He discussed the health of the nation and how to expand support for the union. George Osborne and his Project Fear treated  Scotland as a possession and worried about loosing face on the world stage, is not an enduring policy. 

 

1. Muscular unionism – British nationalism, cultural pageantry, views devolution as a disaster. The internal market bill and taking back devolved powers and the Scottish hubs, means a marginalization of Scottish voices. But don’t forget who is paying for the UK.

 

2. Federalism -  Is not achievable with the dominance of England. After Brexit there is no desire to spate into smaller pieces.

 

3. Progressive unionism - The English want to preserve status quo. Best of both worlds slogan 2014 – is devolution settlement still viable - BBC, NHS - ways of dealing with tensions. Does Westminster support devolution? Even Wales feels London is hostile to devolution settlement.  A British state remade?

 

*Tom Devine

May Elections 2021 – “The union is in greater peril than at any time in my life time,” Gordon Brown. Devine says, “ The union is in greater peril since Prince Charles Edward Stuart and his Jacobite army invaded England to remove Hanoverians and to break the union!”

 

August 2021. London press and media’s conventional wisdom is that Scottish nationalism is on the ebb. That the Scottish government is parochial and incompetent, on ferries to drugs, so how can they run a sovereign nation? There has been a slight decline in the Pro indy polls (vaccine bounce?)

 

There is a state of Armistice at present with no battle going on, a truce – no judgement. What is the long term for the constituent parts. I'm not sure this is entirely true, as the Unionist are plotting heavily how to undermine Scotland Devolution settlement of 1997. Scotland has always retained control of its education, health, laws and kirk.

 The UK, under the spotlight. Historians look at the long term view, the demographic one, shows 2020, those under 40, 70% regard the union as over. 

The Grim reaper is on the side of Scottish national party. Two major issues, one is the Brexit vote – the first time Scottish opinion on major issues was denied. The other is a demographic one 2020 – because of the under 40s, 70% regard the union as over.

Sadly Devine’s time was cut short, while he did cover other issues in the Q & A session and he was keen to allow time for that. Martin asked, what other country allows itself to be broken up? What does this statement mean? Ireland considers itself a nation with a long history and distinct culture – as does Scotland and England. But Britain is a state much like Scandinavia and not a nation! 

Tom Devine and Ciaran Martin: Our Nation’s Future EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL BOOK FESTIVAL 2021 - https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival/whats-on/ciaran-martin-with-tom-devine-where-next-for-the-united-kingdom

Tom Devine 'Rewriting Scottish History', at Edinburgh International book festival 2021

 

In conversation with Alan Little:  “A deeper sense of Scottishness” - Tom Devine Rewriting Scottish History at Edinburgh International book festival 2021

 

Devine commented that Scottish history was hardly studied and shockingly the history of Scotland is less developed than Yorkshire’s. At the ancient universities, any department on Scots history was small, peculiar, introverted, inward looking. A Cinderella project. Wheras British history was considered outward-looking. Alan Little commented that at Primary school it was all Wallace and Bruce - and with no teaching of the evolution of the nation. 

 

Devine said, that today there has been a sea change, with a resurgence in Scottish scholarship, the first time since 18^th century. Scotland has now developed a Constitutive history. A deeper sense of Scottishness. Which came first though? – does the explosion in scholarship predates political development, until 1970s?

He mentioned Canadian historian Rodger Smith, who wrote – “Political constitutive story is crucial – where do people come from, a sense our past, or our mooring threatened with loss. “

 

Devine also discussed the emerging crisis of Britishness with loss of Empire, and that once the union was never challenged. 

 

*The British Empire - “England ruled the empire and the Scots ran it” - came at a time of crisis and cultural revolution, industrialisation, agricultural revolution. Scotland became a place of heavy industry.

 

Scotland was 10% of the UK population but it was around a third of the Empire. Scotland was the world’s second richest country – with immigration from Ireland, Lithuania, Italy, Poland and also the paradox of a great deal of emigration. 

 “no nation has been more connected to the wider world than Scotland’

 

Book What is a nation? Ernest Waldon – Sorbonne, wrote that Nations are based on language, ethnic solidarity, product of imagination, relationship to the past. Scotland’s ties with overseas is very unusual. 

 

*Walter Scott 

Scott reconnected Scotland to its past and what makes Scotland Scotland? Scott began writing poetry to preserve the Border ballads.His writing has Influenced drama, fiction, poetry. At the time the Scots nation was in crisis – identity, sense of self, linkage to the past. Scotland was thought of as parochial, of no value and did not appeal to academics. Scott mixed fact with fiction. At the time 30% of the books being read in France were by Scott. 

“To be literate and civilized you have to read Scott.” 

 

These were crisis times. The enormity of the 5 revolutions in Scotland and the assimilation into England. A hybrid identity of Scottish and British and there was a catatonic shift from peasant life to industrialization. 

History as tragedy, based on the highlands – Scots were perceived as noble, brave and doomed, and  preordained to fail. Like the lament, or the durg…

The poet Edwin Muir 1930 claimed “Scott and other writers were false bards of a false nation.”

 

*Questions.

Devine was asked a few question by the live audience. He was asked if it was a mistake to come out in favour of Scotland’s independence in 2014. His answer was cautious – which included a number of factors and his views would be clear soon. He hoped there would be close connections to the rest of the UK and an amiable relationship with the UK government back in 2014. He said that every historian is biased but that he has kept his impartiality. 

EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL BOOK FESTIVAL 2021, Tom Devine with Allan Little: Rewriting Scotland’s History -

https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival/whats-on/tom-devine-with-allan-little-rewriting-scotland-s-history

During the 20th century, Scotland commonly depicted its own history through the lens of a kind of colourful, tragicomic victimhood. This amounted to a tartan-clad story set against a Highland backdrop and a sense of national self-doubt that has sometimes been described as ‘the Scottish cringe’. Since the 1980s, however, that characterisation has changed, and Scotland has developed a more confident, modernised sense of its history and roots. 

Tom Devine can take considerable credit for this change: the most influential historian of our times, he has been instrumental in helping reframe the nation’s sense of itself. The Edinburgh University Professor of History and Paleogeography speaks to BBC journalist Allan Little about the changing nature of Scottish history. Using some of the most significant moments in Scotland’s story, from the ill-fated Darien Project of the late 17th century to the arrival of the Scottish Parliament two decades ago, Devine and Little discuss the ways in which Scottish history can be revisited to help us find a new sense of self.

 

BOOKS:

TOM DEVINE The Scottish Nation, from Union to Modern day; The Lowland Clearances,

Tom Devine’s Revelations on the Lowland Clearances

Silence of the dispossessed: Give them back their voice.

No peasant happily gives up his land…

Was there protest, what happened?

Lack of lasting folk tradition of removal, no trace of what went before….

An Elegy for those who’ve gone, reconstruct world no longer there…

The aching beauty, the autumn when the bracken is down,

Devine spoke of the dispossession and social changes of the early 19^thcentury. The connections to the land was severed and the cottar, the tenant farmer vanished. He claims these Clearances were more thorough in the Scottish Lowlands. Devine has been pursuing research on the devastation of the Lowlands for many years with his team of researchers. They searched in the kirk sessions records for notice of removals. 

From the mid 18^thcentury onwards, land improvement meant there was the transition to the - one industrialisation and, two urbanization revolution and three a corrosive transformation of the countryside. The old farm toons were swept aside for centres of farm settlements. Instead now there were landless farm servants, and wage labourers. The will of the landowners ruled and no newspapers reported these Lowland clearances.  In 1720 Galloway lairds set up large ranches parks for cattle and sheep. There was severe dislodgement. Scotland became a grossly unequal society.

He spoke of the resistance of the Levellers revolt who knocked down stone dykes. In 1724, huge numbers of armed gangs, of men, women & children roamed the Galloway countryside levelling dykes built around the expanding number of cattle fields. These cattle fields were introduced by landlords as far back as a century earlier in a bid to make the land more profitable to them, but it was only in the 1720s that the revolt, later named the ‘Leveller’s Revolt’, became widespread and worrisome enough that armed guards were called in to protect the fields and quell dissent. The revolt gained national attention from the church, state and even the King. In this extract, taken from The Scottish Clearances, author Tom Devine looks at the factors that contributed to this very specific armed resistance. 

The clan chiefs lived in fine houses in Edinburgh. Later the sheep ranchers moved into the Highlands. The lawyer Thomas Muir attempted constitution reform, when only 0.12% had the vote (1832 Reform Act) and he was tried and deported for these views.

*The Scottish Tourist board markets Scotland for its solitude and tranquillity. He spoke of the false “victimhood in a kilt” put forward by the Prebble books: of the decline of Scotland over the past centuries and the scale of emigration. All the film, drama, literature is on the highlands as the soul of Scottish identity. Many Scots moved out to try to run the world. There were those many Scots on the make!

There were several interesting questions – one about how the Scots immigrants to Australia badly treated the aborigines there. Devine’s answer was that the Scots immigrants were middle rank Highland society. At that time there were several centres of excellence which supported racism and Darwin’s theory of the fittest. 

Devine spoke passionately about how important it is to understand the truths about our past stories. “A mature, democratic nation recognises its real history with critical and uncomfortable questions.” 

“We must face the past, and not politicise or mythologize it. Social memory makes us who we are and to understand modern nations if we know where it came from. There are real scholars out there, with clear thinking and good research.” Devine is clearly one of them!

Devine was interviewed by journalist Alan Little. 

Sir Tom Devine is Scotland’s leading historian and he came out in support of Scottish Independence in 2014. Devine lectures and publishes books to address the widespread ignorance of most Scots of their recent histories, heritage and past stories. 

BOOKS - 

The Scottish Nation: A Modern History 1707 - present

The Scottish Clearances: A History of the Dispossessed, 1600-1900

The Lowland Clearances were one of the results of the Scottish Agricultural Revolution which changed the traditional system of agriculture which had existed in Lowland Scotland, in the seventeenth century. Thousands of cottars and tenant farmers from the southern counties (Lowlands) of Scotland migrated from farms and small holdings they had occupied to the new industrial centres of Glasgow, Edinburgh and northern England or abroad, or remaining upon land though adapting to the Scottish Agricultural Revolution.

Extract taken from The Scottish Clearances: A History of the Dispossessed, 1600-1900By Tom Devine
Published by Allen Lane

Part of the answer might be found in the economic sphere. By the early eighteenth century the big cattle farms were beginning to encroach on, and enclose, open or common grazing grounds, the ‘commonties’ referred to earlier in the chapter. That process would have proven a serious threat to peasant communities which were not subject to direct eviction. They would have experienced profound problems from strategies which menaced the tight margins of their household economies.

The slender balance between subsistence and shortage might have been squeezed by the annexation of common lands. Again, there is evidence that not only landowners but tenant farmers had tried to exploit the new post-Union market opportunities in the cattle trade. Some had invested in more stock because of those possibilities. Now, however, as ‘parking’ intensified, they stood to lose the vitally important access to the common grazings for the livestock they had purchased at great risk. For them and their families, descent into penury and beggary might follow.

There was also the economic context of the Galloway clearances to be considered. As argued in Chapter 4, in parts of the central and eastern Borders, the dispossession of small tenants and cottars to make way for larger sheep runs was paralleled by the growth of cottage industry and employment opportunities for the displaced in the towns of Kelso, Hawick, Selkirk and Jedburgh. 

But these alternatives were not available to anything like the same extent in Galloway, where woollen working and other manufactures were much less developed. It is likely, therefore, that the poorer rural communities in the western Borders were faced with a much narrower set of options: acceptance of ‘parking’ and eventual likely eviction, or violent resistance in an attempt to reverse the transformation of the old agrarian society. . .

In addition, however, we also need to probe the complex world of west Border political and religious history in order to provide a comprehensive explanation for the Levellers’ Revolt. Arguably it is there that the distinctive origins of the disturbances can be found. Several aspects of the recent Galloway past are relevant to the analysis. 

The long Covenanting tradition of south-west Scotland was important. The restoration of King Charles II in 1660 led once again to the rule of bishops in the Presbyterian church. This action was thought heretical and oppressive by many pious communities and their ministers, and in open conflict with the sacred Covenants between Christ and his church established during the civil wars of the 1640s. As a result, many clergymen left their parishes and held alternative open-air services or conventicles. These were soon outlawed by the state as treason and the army then enforced the will of the King, often in a particularly brutal fashion. This period, known as the ‘Killing Times’, is still marked in the countryside around Wigtown, Kirkcudbright and Dumfries by the many memorials to the martyrs who defied the civil authorities and faithfully clung to their ideals despite savage state oppression. Galloway remained a hotbed of Covenanting activity despite the draconian policies of the monarchy.

Not surprisingly, the majority of the population were therefore enthusiastic about the removal of the Stuart king, James VII and II, in the ‘Glorious Revolution’ of 1688–9. But then the Jacobite Rising of 1715 rekindled the old fears of a Stuart counter-revolution. Bitter memories were revived, not simply of the Killing Times, but also of the many years of Presbyterian struggle between the signing of the National Covenant in 1638 and the Revolution of 1688.

Tom Devine:The English in Scotland talk Edinburgh book festival 2018

Scotland's leading historian looked at the nation's main migrant group, who have outnumbered all other immigrants combined over the last fifty years — the English. 

Devine has co-authored a book on Immigrant communities –  New Scots: Scotland's Immigrant Communities Since 1945. He spoke of one of the most salient issues of our time - English people in Scotland.  

For centuries the Scots have travelled extensively and in France they spoke of “Rats and Scotchmen, you find them everywhere.” There has been Scots mobility into England, America, Caribbean, India, Australasia. There has been a great loss of skills and young for a very long time. A net emigration.  

He commented that the English have contributed a great deal to our universities and that many English people have moved here to avoid the marketization in England. 

At the 2014 Referendum, the English voted 70% no, which compared to the International group, who voted 42% yes. This did not significantly effect the vote he feels, as the English are less then 10% of the population. He says that any abrasiveness between the English and Scottish has more to do with class than ethnicity - or being in bed with an elephant! 

Devine spoke of history education in schools and he recommended to teach Scotland, Britain and world. He was asked about the teaching of history in Scotland. He replied that the history of Scotland has been spotty, pop-up and dysfunctional and not good enough to teach. There has been a revolution in the last ten decades however. 

 Scotland is the earliest state in Europe and went into a partnership with a bigger state. But since 1707 there has been the evolution of a dual identity, both British and Scots since the18^thcentury. However there has been integration, but not assimilation. 

Historians use representative evidence, to get to the norm. 

Devine’s new Book in 2018 is on the Clearances - The Scottish Clearnces: A History of the Dispossessed 1600 - 1900: which discusses the clearances of the Cottars in the Scottish lowlands.  (October 2018)

George Buchanan Father of Democracy

A short distance from my home there is a monument in the small town of KiIlearn to one of the most important writers on democracy, reformer George Buchanan. 

He was one of the most significant literary and political figures of the 16^th century -  poet, playwright, historian, humanist scholar, and teacher to the great French essayist Michel de Montagne, Mary Queen of Scots and later to her son James VI of Scotland and I of England (United Kingdom.)

Buchanan was a native Gaelic speaker from lower loch Lomond. He was deeply impressed that the Gael had held on to their language and culture for more than two thousand years. He was a Catholic, who was committed himself to the Reformation, and he joined the Reformed Protestant church in 1560s and published

In his article, The birth of the Democratic Intellect, professor Alan Raich, (National July 2017) discussed the importance of Buchanan’s writings. Buchanan wrote De Jure Regni apud Scotos, published in 1579 - one of the most important books in all British (or European) literature on democracy for all. It is originally the most essential text in our understanding of the constitution and the state. (how many of us have heard of it?)

“His book follows the Declaration of Arbroath (1320) in saying that all political power resides in the people, and it must reside in the people: and that it is lawful and necessary to resist kings (or queens, or we might say all rulers) if (or when) they become tyrants.

Buchannan was basing his argument at least partly on his understanding of the clan system. There were many attempts to suppress his work, in the century following – particularly by the king he tutored and he foresaw where stupid Stewart vanity would lead. He was a major player  in the European cultural context.”

 

monument to George buchanan at Killearn

**

George Buchanan 1508 - 1582 was a Scottish historian and humanist

Buchanan was "the most profound intellectual sixteenth century Scotland produced." His ideology of resistance to royal usurpation gained widespread acceptance during the Scottish Reformation. Keith Brown says the ease with which King James VII was deposed in 1689 shows the power of Buchananite ideas.

His father, a Highlander and a younger son of an old family, owned the farm of Moss, in the parish of Killearn but he died young, leaving his widow, five sons, and three daughters in poverty. George's mother, Agnes Heriot, was of the family of the Heriots of Trabroun, of which George Heriot, founder of Heriots hospital was also a member. Buchanan, a native speaker of Gaelic. In 1520 he went to the university of Paris and studied logic under John Mair.

In 1528 Buchanan graduated M.A. at Scots college, University of Paris. The next year he was appointed regent or professor, in the, College of Sainte-Barbe and taught there for over three years. Sainte-Barbe was one of the most prestigious and advanced colleges at that time. George added to that prestige by creating new reforms in teaching Latin. In 1529 he was elected "Procurator of the German Nation" in the University of Paris, and was re-elected four times in four successive months. He resigned his regentship in 1531, and in 1532 became tutor to Gilbert Kennedy, 3^rd Earl of Cassilis with whom he returned to Scotland early in 1537. Though a layman, he was made Moderator of the General assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1567. He had sat in the assemblies from 1563.

The importance of the work is proved by the persistent efforts of the legislature to suppress it during the century following its publication. It was condemned by and act of parliament in 1584

In the lead-up to the anniversary Professor Roger Mason of the University of St Andrews has published A Dialogue on the Law of Kingship among the Scots, a critical edition and translation of George Buchanan's 'De Iure Regni apud Scotos Dialogus.