Questions tagged [scotland]
A country occupying the northern third of the isle of Great Britain, and one of the countries of the United Kingdom. Existed as an independent nation called the Kingdom of Scotland from the 9th century AD to 1707 AD.
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What is the earliest known example of triplets?
I have just come across the case of a woman who had triplets (a boy and two girls) baptised in Edinburgh on 9th April 1709. How long they survived after this, I don't know, but they survived to ...
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Is there any historical evidence of Picts originating from Scythia? [closed]
I am reading the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles which states early on, this passage:
The island Britain (1) is 800 miles long, and 200 miles broad. And there are in the island five nations; English, Welsh (...
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Which Scottish regiment is the Queen inspecting in this photo?
Among some photos & newspaper cuttings found in a relative's study after he died, was the photo below, which seems to show the late Queen inspecting a guard of honour wearing Scottish uniforms.
Is ...
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Was Mary Stuart's execution not accompanied by attainder?
James VI and I, of Scotland and England respectively, was Mary Stuart's son. Given that Mary was executed for treason and an attainder (which resulted in corruption of blood) was automatic in cases of ...
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Where were the early kings of Scotland buried?
According to tradition and to most historians until recently, many of the early Scottish kings were buried on the island of Iona. For example, the 2004 Oxford Dictionary of National Biographypaywall ...
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Is there an English translation of Nicolas de la Mare's 1722 work "Traité de la Police"?
Most places on the Internet (or maybe just the sites with the best SEO) put the origins of Western policing with Scotland Yard. For example, this article says policing came to the U.S. via England, ...
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What was the "high Commissioner of the Police in Scotland" in 1777?
I was reading old newspapers, and I came across this mention of what I believe to be "high Commissioner of the Police in Scotland". I am sure of all of the words but "high", it ...
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Where and when did the legend that the Auld Alliance dates back to 809 AD begin?
The Auld Alliance
Apparently there is a legend that the treaty of 1295 named the Auld Alliance actually dates back to an agreement made between Achaius, a legendary king of Scots, and Charlemagne, ...
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What was the role of Scotland during the Hundred Years War?
Scotland was the enemy of England, as they had regained their independence. It made sense for them to join hands with the French forces. And I heard something like that in an Extra Credits video. But ...
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Were any prominent people exiled from France during the Hundred years war? Especially between 1390-1397
Were any notable figures (such as noblemen, or mercenaries, politician [idk what they called them back then] etc. ) that were exiled from France during Hundred Years War between 1390 to 1397. Or any ...
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Was Ireland really England's first colony? [closed]
I have a vaguely decent knowledge of Irish history, but I know relatively little of the history of England.
I've often heard Ireland spoken of as England's first colony, but surely that 'title' would ...
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Did James I link the divine right of kings to apostolic succession in his writings? If so, where?
According to a Wikipedia article, King James VI of Scotland (later King James I of England) justified the theory of the divine right of kings in his famous essay The True Law of Free Monarchies by ...
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How likely was an enlisted man to have fought at both Falkirk and Bannockburn?
A heroic Scottish song begins, "Scots who have with Wallace bled, Scots whom Bruce has often led..."
William Wallace's most famous battle was Falkirk (1298). Robert Bruce's was Bannockburn (...
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Is there a Welsh or Irish equivalent to the Declaration of Arbroath or Magna Carta?
Are there any pre-modern documents (or were there any, if they didn't survive) in Welsh or Irish history, which are broadly equivalent in intention and purpose to the Declaration of Arbroath or the ...
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Was it possible for an 11-year old boy to travel from the north of Scotland to Paris in 1777? [closed]
I'm researching a musical scholar called John Gunn, born 1766 near Golspie, north of Inverness in the far north of Scotland. He describes a musical performance in Paris that he witnessed in 1777 (and ...
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When was Donald Trump's first visit to his mother's birthplace, the Isle of Lewis?
United States President Donald Trump's mother Mary Anne MacLeod was a Gaelic-speaking Scotswoman from the Isle of Lewis in Scotland. After emigrating to the US she frequently visited the island of her ...
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What was the effect of the Disannexation Act of 1784?
I am trying to find more specific information on the effect of the Disannexation Act of 1784 which provided means for those whose property had been confiscated after the ‘45 to regain it after paying ...
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Was Queen Henrietta Maria (of England) known for scratching her initials into things?
C. S. Lewis's novel That Hideous Strength contains the following passage:
“Look out! Look out!” said a dozen voices at once as a splintering of glass became audible and a shower of stones fell onto ...
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Can anyone identify the regiment and rank from this WWI photograph?
I am trying to identify the person in this WWI era photograph. I believe it may be my great great uncle John Hunt Marshall born Dec 29 1893 in Motherwell, Scotland. He graduated with a BSc from the ...
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How was the linen weaving trade learnt in 18th century Scotland?
In the 18th century, the linen weaving industry began to form a significant part of Scotland's economy and workforce, with towns like Forfar employing 500 hand loom weavers at the end of the century, ...
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Significance of division of Caledonia by Northumbrian Advance
In Chapter 4 of The Isles by Norman Davies, he writes:
One effect of the Northumbrian advance was to split British territory
in Caledonia into two. By the eighth century at the latest, the
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What did it mean to be a "Jacobite" at the turn of the 20th Century?
I'm currently reading the Ursula Buchan's biography of John Buchan, the Scottish writer and politician. (Buchan, U, 2019, "Beyond the Thirty-Nine Steps: A Life of John Buchan", Bloomsbury, London)
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Why was Ormond Castle in Scotland so called?
There was a castle in Scotland known as Ormond Castle which had existed since at least the beginning of the 13th century. It sat upon Ormond hill in the Black Isle.
Why was it called Ormond Castle? ...
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What were the motivating factors in the Scottish Highland Clearances?
Here we read of the Scottish Highland Clearances:
A young journalist sent by the “Scotsman” to the Highlands exhibited the same racism, writing in 1847 that the Highlanders were “an inferior race ...
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What evidence is there of Asians and Africans in medieval Britain other than Moors in the 7th century?
According to the National Archives website:
..in the Middle Ages, Moors arrived in Britain. They probably came,
directly or indirectly, from Spain, which had been conquered by
Muslims from ...
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What was life like for Victorian linen weavers in Scotland?
I'm doing my family history and have found people who worked as linen weavers in Angus, Scotland.
I'd like to know more about what life was like for them. Were linen weavers well-off? How much money ...
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Can anyone explain why the Scottish flag on this map from 1504 has a red cross on a white background?
The section of the map below is from a nautical chart by the Portuguese cartographer Pedro Reinel (c.1462 – c.1542). On it, Scotland is shown with a red St. Andrew's Cross on a white background.
Upon ...
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What were levels of insular migration like in pre-Industrial Britain (1650-1780)?
I'm looking into my family history, and I'm gradually working my way through the 19th century. The levels of migration up and down the country during this time, at least in my family and from my ...
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Did Hitler spare Dundee from bombing because it "rejected" Churchill as MP?
A persistent rumour in Dundee, Scotland holds that Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe not to bomb the city because of the fact that Dundee had "rejected" Churchill in the 1922 election, when Churchill lost ...
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How did John Duns Scotus live in England during the Scottish Wars of Independence?
Apologies, this might be a very niche question, but I recently discovered that the theologian John Duns Scotus - a Scotsman, unsurprisingly - lived in England in the late 1200s/early 1300s - during ...
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If the Union Jack joins the flag of England and Scotland, why does it have a different shade of blue than the Scottish flag?
This chart (public domain from Wikimedia Commons) illustrates the question. Is there an explanation for why the Union Jack have a darker shade of blue than the original Scottish flag that it's based ...
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Why were bows referred to as "Indian Artillery"?
So, I recently asked a question about dueling with bows.
The top answer for that included an account in The Scottish Journal which described bows and arrows as "Indian Artillery", which is a ...
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What made the English the dominant power of the British Isles?
Recently, I've been searching a lot about Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and England. One after the other, England vassalized its neighbors and became the head of Great Britain.
I can understand that ...
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Why does Edinburgh Castle's one o'clock gun fire at 1pm instead of, say, noon?
Curious to know if there is a specific reason they fire it at 1pm. Noon would make more sense to me!
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What is that gold plaque Scottish soldiers wore around their necks?
If you see pictures of Scottish officers in traditional dress, sometimes they are wearing a gold plaque hanging from a chain around their neck. It is usually kind of kidney shaped. Does anyone know ...
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In which places of the UK did the Vikings/Scandinavians have most frequent contact or colonies?
I was in York, England and there was a museum called Jorvik Viking Centre, which spoke about the Vikings who lived there. It said that the area back then was mostly populated by the Vikings. Since ...
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Is the Scot referendum the biggest one of its type in modern history? And other questions [closed]
Also I know a lot of regions that are fighting/claiming independence. What convinced the union to come to this decision. What are the Scots woes that drove them to ask for it?
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Where does George Buchanan say in “The History of Scotland” that Macbeth used (specifically) Belladonna to poison the Danes?
In reading this passage on page 196 on Belladonna from The farmer's Encyclopædia, and Dictionary of Rural Affairs By Cuthbert William Johnson on Google books:
http://books.google.com/books?id=pFe9R-...
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What is the origin of the first dynasty in Scotland?
Who gave anyone the authority to appoint themselves and hence start a royal line? I assume today's royalty come from this royal line The standard answer is Kenneth Macalpine as far as I can see with ...
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What language does this look like?
I was hoping someone here could help tell me what language this is?
The hint for this is Mary Queen of Scots, but I have no background in historical languages, and was hoping maybe someone here does.
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How did the Scottish lowlands get their Gaelic name?
According to the Wiki page the Gaelic name for the Scottish Lowlands can be translated as, "the place of the foreigner". I'm wondering which foreigners they are referring to. Also, if this actually ...
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Who is the banished Scottish King? (before 1560)
I've done some genealogy research in my family and found a man named "Simon Skragge".
I've been searching information about this "Simon Skragge" online, and found this: Adl. ätten Skraggensköld (...
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What is this strange uniform?
Colonel John Tiltman wears a very strange uniform in this picture, dated 1919.
The original webpage where I saw the picture is http://www.colossus-computer.com/colossus1.html.
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Where would I find Graham Bell's kite experiment data?
I'm looking for experimental data (lift, drag, pull, etc...) of Graham Bell's tetrahedral kite. As he was a scientist and inventor I thought that he might have written some quantitative data down on ...
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Why did the kingdoms of Scotland and England merge?
I'm from the states, so I'm not so sharp on the history of various European monarchs. Having been told as a child that my ancestors emigrated from Scotland, I've always had an interest in the country. ...
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Medieval Scottish clan society and legal structure
What was the basic structure of a Scottish clan in the medieval times?
What was the role of the clan chief?
What was the role of the elders?
Were there any other prominent roles in the society such ...
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Why is Musselburgh considered the first golf course, when St. Andrews was where golf was first played?
As the title states, Musselburgh Links is widely considered to be the first golf course, but it's also widely acknowledged that the game was invented at St. Andrews.
This disparity doesn't quite make ...
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What was the natural population growth of Scotland between 1600 and 1900?
By natural, I mean as a result of births and deaths, rather than emmigration and immigration. I can find data for the total population size (e.g. here) but not for natural population moves and I ...
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Why did William Wallace lose while Robert Bruce won?
At the battle of Falkirk in 1298, William Wallace (aka "Brave Heart") abandoned the guerrilla tactics that served him so well at Stirling Bridge, and adopted a strong, but "conventional" defensive ...
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