DATES IN
HISTORY
9 March 1649
James 3rd Marquis and 1st Duke of Hamilton was
executed in London. He was commander of the Royalist army in support of the
Engagement which was defeated at Preston in 1648 and resulted in his capture
by Oliver Cromwell’s forces.
9 March 1874
Birth of John Duncan Fergusson, artist, one of the leading figures in the
development of art in 20th century Scotland, in Leith.
10 March 1995
The Scottish Labour Party Conference backed British leader Tony Blair’s
proposal to scrap Clause 4 on common ownership by a large majority.
12 March 1424
Poor Advocate was appointed by the Scottish Parliament, The Three Estates.
“Gif that
be ony pur creatur that for defalt of cunnyng or dispense can nocht or
may nocht follow his cause, the king for the lufe of God sall ordaine
that the juge before quham the cause suld be determyt purvey and get a
lele and a wyse advocate to follow sic pur creatures cause and gif sic
cause be obtenyt the wranger sall assyth bath the party scathit and the
advocates costis and travale.”
Acts of Parliament, 2 James 1, c. 45.
14 March 1313
Edinburgh Castle was recaptured from English control by Sir Thomas Randolph
and William Francis, when they scaled the walls with 30 men. The Scots razed
the defences to prevent its use to the enemy.
14 March 1689
Meeting of the Convention of Estates of the Scottish Parliament commenced in
Edinburgh with the proclamation of the Claim of Right.
“Therefore
the Estates of the Kingdom of Scotland find and declaire that King James
the Seventh being a profest papist did assume the Regall power and acted
as king without ever taking the oath required by law, and hath by the
advice of evill and wicked counsellors invaded the fundamentall
constitution of the Kingdom and altered it from a legall limited
monarchy to ane arbitrary despotick power and hath exercised the same to
the subversione of the protestant religion and the violation of the laws
and liberties of the Kingdome, inverting all the ends of government,
whereby he hath forfaulted the right to the croune and throne is become
vacant.”
From the proclamation of the Convention of
Estates.
15 March 1921
Women jury members sat at Glasgow Sheriff Court for the first time.
15 March 2006
Shooter and cancer survivor Ian Marsden, carrying The Saltire, led the
Scottish team at the opening ceremony of the 18th Commonwealth
Games in front of a crowd of 80,000 in the Melbourne Cricket Ground,
Melbourne, Australia.
See Dates in History in our
Features Section
SCOTTISH QUOTATIONS
I like to have quotations ready for every occasions - they give
one's ideas so pat and save one the trouble of finding
expression adequate to one's feeling.
Robert Burns
We continue our new Feature in this section of the Flag -
Scottish Quotations - statements in prose and verse which reflect all
aspects of Scottish life and outlook from the 1st century to the
present day. New quotes added every week. The quotations are not
restricted to native Scots but include observations from abroad which help
us, in the words of our National Bard, Robert Burns, "To see oursels as
others see us"
|
This
week’s quotations come from four 20th century poets who
were resident in Edinburgh.
All apart from George Campbell Hay (born Elderslie and raised in
tarbert)
were born and bred in Scotland’s capital. |
George
Campbell Hay, Deòrsa Mac Iain Deòrsa (1915-1984)
Na tréig
do thaalmh duthcais,
Air fearann no air chuinneadh,
Air onair no air siursachd,
Do not
forsake your native land
For lands or for wealth
For honour or for harlotry.
(Do Not
Forsake Your Native Land)
Norman MacCaig
(1910-1997)
My only
country
Is six feet high
And whether I love it or not
I’ll die
For its independence.
(Patriot 1973)
Neil R
MacCallum (1954-2002)
Our Gods
we worship wershlie
For Scots can aye scent failure
Find pleisur in the pain.
(Scotch
Heroes)
Robert Garioch
Sutherland, “Robert Garioch” (1909-1981)
Oor
Scottish claes are fine for deevil’s tricks;
the feck o folk wha daur ti wear the kilt
maun be the kind wi shanks like parritch-sticks
while wycelike wichts gang breekt, the Deil’s intillt.
(The Masque of
Edinburgh)
See
Scottish Quotations in our Features Section
THE BLUE
TOON SONG BOOK
A selection of popular Scottish songs compiled by Anne Fowler and
published by Peterhead branch of the Scottish National Party in
September 2000.
SHOALS O' HERRING
Ewan MacColl
Oh, it was a fine and a pleasant day,
Out of Yarmouth harbour I was faring,
As a cabin boy on a sailing lugger,
For to go and hunt the shoals o’ herring.
Oh, the work was hard and the hours were long,
And the treatment sure it took some bearing,
There was little kindness and the kicks were many,
As we hunted fort he shoals o’ herring.
Oh. We fished the swarth and the broken bank,
I was cook and I’d a quarter sharing,
And I used to sleep standing on my feet,
And I’d dream about the shoals o’ herring.
Oh, we left the home grounds in the month of June,
And for the canny Shields we soon were bearing,
Wi’ a hundred cran o’ the silver darlings,
That we’d taken from the shoals o’ herring.
Now you’re up on deck, you’re a fisherman,
You can swear and show a manly bearing,
Take your turn on watch with the other fellows,
While you’re searching for the shoals o’ herring.
In
the stormy seas and the living gales,
Just to earn our daily bread you’re daring,
From the Dover Staits to the Faroe Islands,
As you’re following the shoals o’ herring.
Oh, I earned my keep and I paid my way,
And I earned the gear that I was wearing,
Sailed a million miles, caught ten million fishes,
We were ailing after shoals o’ herring.
Flagnote:
This song was written for the popular BBC programme ‘Singing The Fishing’
which was one of the famous radio-ballad series (1957-1964) made for the BBC
by Ewan MacCool, Peggy Seeger and Charles Parker. Based on the east coast
herring fishing communities in Scotland and England, ‘Singing The Fishing’
was first broadcast on the BBC Home Service on 16 August 1960. In October
1960 it won the Prix d’Italia (the prestigious “Academy Award” of the day
for the radio medium) and was eventually transmitted in 86 countries. The
eight radio-ballads were released on CD by Topic (c1999). This song along
with Come A’ Ye Fisher Lassies from the programme quickly entered the folk
tradition. Indeed ‘The Blue Toon Song Book’ listed the song as tradititional.
See the
THE BLUE TOON SONG BOOK in our
Features section
SCOTTISH FOOD, TRADITIONS
AND CUSTOMS
Alexander III Memorial,
Pettycur,
Kinghorn
This week, as
we approach the 721st anniversary of the death of Alexander III,
King of Scots and the end of the period known as ‘The Golden Age’, we
reprint an article which appeared on Electric Scotland. We also extend
congratulations to Alistair McIntyre on reaching the tenth anniversary of
his splendid Electric Scotland website.
In Scotland the 19th of March 1286, after a stormy night, gave way to a Spring-like day with no sign of any further storm. At Dunbar Castle, Earl Patrick and his household dismissed the prophesy, made the previous evening by Thomas of Erchildoun, Thomas the Rhymer, that –
“Alas for the morrow, day of misery and calamity! Before the hour of noon there will assuredly be felt such a mighty storm in Scotland that its like has not been known for long ages past. The blast of it will cause nations to tremble, will make those who hear it dumb, and will humble the high, and lay the strong level with the ground.”
As noon approached Earl Patrick and his household, having watched the sky all morning for the prophesied storm, dismissed Thomas the Rhymer’s warning and went in to dinner. They had barely sat down as the clock pointed to noon when a messenger knocked on the Castle gate demanding entrance to see the Earl. He was admitted and gave his urgent news –
“News”, he said,” I have indeed, and evil news, which the whole realm of Scotland will mourn; for alas! its noble King ended his life yesternight at Kinghorn: and this I am come to tell you.”
The Earl Patrick rose and smote his breast, acknowledging that indeed Thomas of Erchildoun was all too true a prophet. Indeed as the messenger said all Scotland would mourn the loss of Alexander
III, whose death marked the end of the direct line of Scottish Kings descended from Kenneth MacAlpine. His death marked a turning point in Scottish History and his reign was to be seen by future generations, poets and historians, as ‘The Golden Age’.
Alexander III had succeeded his father, Alexander
II, in 1249 at the age of seven. At fifteen he took over the reins of government from his Regents and proved to be a wise and capable King. He acted, much in the way of a modern President or Prime Minister, in binding the Nation together, building upon the foundations laid by his father. He presided over a Scotland largely at peace, and with peace came prosperity and an expansion of the Burghs and trade. Indeed Berwick alone, the chief Scottish Burgh of Alexander’s day, had customs equal to a quarter of all the customs of England. The whole Nation prospered as never before.
No King of Scots, before or since, ever did more for the welfare of his realm. He was known as ‘The Peaceable’ because apart from freeing the Hebrides from Norse rule he led his people into no war. Thanks to Alexander peace with Scotland’s larger and more powerful neighbour England was maintained.
He firmly believed in the Independence of Scotland and of the Scots. He successfully withstood false claims of sovereignty by England, both by his father-in-law Henry
III and his brother-in-law Edward I.
The years of peace and rising prosperity gave Scotland, a foundation of unity, and a feeling of Scottishness and a spirit that she never had before. If after his untimely death, William Wallace and Andrew de Moray rallied a Nation against English oppressors, and Robert
I was able to regain Scottish Independence, it was Alexander III who had made that Nation and made his fellow Scots realise the need for a separate Scotland.
On the 18th of March 1286 that Independence was not threatened. Alexander was in good health and firmly in control. That fateful day he held council in Edinburgh Castle, debating a reply to an embassy from the English King Edward
I, a debate that went on until late in the afternoon. Alexander was said to be in good humour at the conclusion of the meeting and after eating he set off in the evening to return to Fife where his second wife, of six months, Yolande, awaited his return.
His nobles tried to persuade him to stay in Edinburgh, as it was an evening of stormy weather, bitterly cold with a strong wind from the north bearing rain and snow. But the King was determined to return to Kinghorn and rode to Queensferry. There the Ferryman tried to persuade him not to cross the gurlie waters of the Forth but to no avail. In an eight-oar ferry Alexander made a slow crossing of the Firth of Forth, as the oarsmen struggled against the elements. Eventually Alexander
III and three esquires arrived at the Fife Burgh of Inverkeithing.
In a pit-mirk night, which was so dark that the Inverkeithing Saltmaster only recognised his King by his voice, his pleas to travel no further were rejected by Alexander. The King was determined to finish his journey and asked for two guides. Off they rode but in the darkness the King and his companions were separated and as he pressed onwards alone, and almost at his destination, Alexander’s horse stumbled in the sand and threw him to his death.
His body was found in the morning and messengers dispatched with the sad news .His death was indeed mourned all over his Kingdom, as Alexander the Peaceable was held in such high esteem and love by his fellow Scots.
With the long and bloody Wars of Independence which followed his death, it is little wonder that Scots would look back on Alexander’s reign as ‘The Golden Age’ and remember the canto, by an unknown hand, recorded in Wynton’s Chronicle –
Quhen Alysandyr oure Kyng wes
dede,
That Scotland led in luve and le,
Away wes sons off ale and brede,
Off wyne and wax, off gamyn and gle;
Oure gold wes changyd in to
lede.
Cryst, borne in to Vyrgynyte,
Succoure Scotland and remede,
That stad [is in] perplexyte.
Seven hundred years on, Scots still look back for inspiration to Alexander’s Golden Age, when Scotland was Independent and prosperous, for as the Historian James Halliday has written “Scotland’s luck died with Alexander at Kinghorn and never the slightest whiff of good fortune was to come the way of the Scottish people for the next seven centuries.”
The Golden Age is still remembered. Every March Scots gather at the memorial to Alexander
III, which stands between Burntisland and Kinghorn in Fife, to pay tribute to his achievements.
The 2007
commemoration and wreath-laying will be held on Sunday 25 March at 3pm – all
welcome.
Dates play a
major part in the cultural section of The Flag as it starts with the
ever-expanding Scottish History time-line under ‘Notable Dates’. Our recipe
this week concerns a totally different kind of date – one that you can chew
rather than try to remember!
Date Chews
Ingredients:
6 oz plain flour; 3oz coconut; 6 oz chopped dates; 6 oz caster sugar; 1
egg; 3 oz margarine; 1 rounded dessertspoon syrup
Method:
Preheat oven Gas Mark 3. Sift flour then stir in coconut and dates. Melt
sugar, margarine and syrup in a pan, stirring over a gentle heat. Beat into
dry ingredients with beaten egg. Bake for 45 minutes in a Swiss roll tin,
Cut into squares when still warm.
A KIST O
FERLIES
A Keek at the Guid Scots
Tung
By Peter & Marilyn Wright
(Note: All words underlined in
this section are RealAudio links)
kist: box; coffin;
corn bin; the thorax
ferlie: marvel; novelty; wonderful; strange
frae: from
auld: old
Nae ferlie: No wonder
Auld i the horn: Wise, astute
'I ken a thing
that's like a kist of ferlies gif ye read.
Frae Jamison's muckle buik the words tak wing,
auld douce or ramstam, lown or virrfu words,
for musardry o thocht or grame o dirds,
our forebears uisd to flyte or scryve or sing'
frae 'Thesaurus
Paleo-Scoticus' - Douglas Young
Gordon
Wright’s Scottish Photo
Library