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Flora MacDonald [who became famous for helping Bonnie Prince Charlie escape to France after he was beaten at the battle of Culloden, the final confrontation of the 1745 Jacobite Rising] died a Unionist and Hanoverian
MacDonald was and is a Scottish icon ever associated with the romantic but essentially doomed attempt by the Stuart dynasty to reclaim the throne of Great Britain in 1745. After the adventure collapsed following defeat at Culloden in 1746, Charles Stuart took refuge on the island of Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides. Dressed as Flora’s Irish maid, Betty Burke, Charles made his escape.
MacDonald was arrested for her part in the escape and spent some time in the Tower of London, but it was only temporary. Under the amnesty of 1747 she was released from captivity as a prisoner on parole, and lived with Lady Primrose in London. She became a celebrity, and among the many fashionable people who visited her was Frederick Prince of Wales, eldest son of George II.
At the age of 28 Flora married Allan MacDonald of Kingsburgh and moved to the Isle of Skye. Difficult economic times saw the couple emigrate to North Carolina in 1774. When the American Wars of Independence broke out in 1776, her husband and five sons fought not on the side of the rebels but for George III’s royal British army! This gives some credence to MacDonald’s claim that she had helped Charles Stuart out of compassion rather than politics.
Her husband was taken prisoner and she left for Scotland. He joined her two years later, and the family took up residence on Skye once more where she died in 1790 a British patriot.
There is no genetically pure or original Scot
There is no common ancestral or genetic heritage that links the peoples of Scotland. The country was a patchwork quilt of various peoples grouped together in tribes who certainly never thought of themselves as Scottish. They owed allegiance only to their kith and kin, but in the campaigns against Roman imperialism they built federations that laid the basis of kingdoms.
Ancient Scotland was made up of four separate groups: Angles, Britons, Picts and Gaels (or Scoti), who each spoke a different language. Latin became the common language of the whole country only after the Christianisation of Scotland in the 6th century AD.
Sectarianism was not just a west coast phenomenon
Most people would identify Catholic and Protestant rivalry with Glasgow and its satellite towns. But the bitterest conflicts in the 20th century took place not in Glasgow, but in middle-class Edinburgh in the 1930s.
Led by rabble-rouser John Cormack, leader of the Protestant Action Society, Catholics faced harassment and violence. Employers were pressurised into sacking Catholic employees, priests were spat on in the streets, and Sunday congregations were subject to verbal and physical assault.
On top of this, huge demonstrations were held to disrupt important events in the Catholic Church’s calendar. The high water mark was the riot of 1935, when Cormack led a mob of 20,000 Protestants baying for blood against the Eucharist Congress that was taking place at the Catholic priory in Morningside.
The activism was rewarded with seats on the Edinburgh Town Council; indeed, Protestant Action in the municipal elections of 1936 won 31.97 per cent of the Edinburgh vote, pushed Labour into third place and returned nine councillors.
But the popularity of Cormack and Protestant Action was short-lived, as the outbreak of war in 1939 pushed sectarianism on to the sidelines of politics in Edinburgh. In spite of this, Cormack held his seat on the Town Council until his death in the 1960s.
There is no genetically pure or original Scot
There is no common ancestral or genetic heritage that links the peoples of Scotland. The country was a patchwork quilt of various peoples grouped together in tribes who certainly never thought of themselves as Scottish. They owed allegiance only to their kith and kin, but in the campaigns against Roman imperialism they built federations that laid the basis of kingdoms.
Ancient Scotland was made up of four separate groups: Angles, Britons, Picts and Gaels (or Scoti), who each spoke a different language. Latin became the common language of the whole country only after the Christianisation of Scotland in the 6th century AD.
Dizz, I've tried to sort through the info on the Picts over the years, and there's conflicting info. Some say they spoke Gaelic, and were a tribe of Celts. Others say they were the pre-Celtic inhabitants of Britain, or parts of Britain. What say you?
Dizz, I've tried to sort through the info on the Picts over the years, and there's conflicting info. Some say they spoke Gaelic, and were a tribe of Celts. Others say they were the pre-Celtic inhabitants of Britain, or parts of Britain. What say you?
There is no genetically pure or original Scot
There is no common ancestral or genetic heritage that links the peoples of Scotland. The country was a patchwork quilt of various peoples grouped together in tribes who certainly never thought of themselves as Scottish. They owed allegiance only to their kith and kin, but in the campaigns against Roman imperialism they built federations that laid the basis of kingdoms.
Ancient Scotland was made up of four separate groups: Angles, Britons, Picts and Gaels (or Scoti), who each spoke a different language. Latin became the common language of the whole country only after the Christianisation of Scotland in the 6th century AD.
I'm always intrigued by Scots who have a strong resemblance to the indigenous people of the north... like from Iceland, or like the Sami people. People travelled more around the coasts of northern Europe centuries ago than we're really aware of now.
Wonder how many Scots fishermen made it to the north eastern edge of North America before the "official" explorers made the trip?
Well, and some people portray them as red-haired and blond-haired, but others portray them as looking like the "black Welsh" (Cath. Zeta-Jones), i.e. with black hair. I have no idea what to make of it all.
I'm always intrigued by Scots who have a strong resemblance to the indigenous people of the north... like from Iceland, or like the Sami people. People travelled more around the coasts of northern Europe centuries ago than we're really aware of now.
Wonder how many Scots fishermen made it to the north eastern edge of North America before the "official" explorers made the trip?
Iceland didn't have any Indigenous inhabitants, before Irish monks arrived, and later--Scandinavians. But you make a very interesting point. Archaeologists and geneticists are finding that one of Siberia's most ancient northern tribes, the Yukaghirs, migrated a LOT farther from their current home around Yakutia's Kolyma River, than had previously been thought. A researcher at the U of Copenhagen found some of their artifacts and their DNA in proto-Saami peoples on islands by the Kola Peninsula, and their DNA has been found among Alaska Natives. Turns out they cruised the Arctic coast way back in the day, WAY back, in log canoes, obviously the most efficient way to travel.
However, although the Saami are fisherpeople, as well as reindeerherders, they're not known for fishing off the coast. They fish the rivers. So it's not likely that they made it to the north islands off Scotland. Keep thinking outside the box, though; that's what's needed in a field that's prone to being dominated (and censored) by established orthodoxies.
Well, and some people portray them as red-haired and blond-haired, but others portray them as looking like the "black Welsh" (Cath. Zeta-Jones), i.e. with black hair. I have no idea what to make of it all.
Like all Britons the Scots have every kind of hair/eye colours, as Dizzy points out being 'British' means that your genetics are a mix of many historical peoples.
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