Doing some research into remote Scottish islands (for a horror screenplay I've just begun), I discovered the people of the Orkney Islands have similar relationship to Scotland as the Scots do to Britain - they consider themselves Orcadians first and Scots second. There's even something of an independence movement.
They were annexed by the Scottish crown in 1472, the nasty bullies (I don't remember that being mentioned in Braveheart). Since then, Orcadians have viewed the Scots with the same kind of contempt as the Scots have the English.
So, when the independently-minded Scots get their way, I assume they won't begrudge the Orkneys their freedom too. Who knows, they might want to join the United Kingdom (and bring their North Sea oil with them).
Check out the Northern Constabulary's Orkneys News & Alerts page. This is how desperate they are for crimes to report:
"Clothing Stolen from Washing Line
27 February 2008
Between 0830 hours on 19th February 2008, an item of clothing was stolen from a washing line in the housing scheme at Hamnavoe, Stromness. Police are appealing for anyone who may have information about this theft to contact them on the usual numbers."
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Goblins & Orkneys
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4 comments:
'They were annexed by the Scottish crown in 1472, the nasty bullies (I don't remember that being mentioned in Braveheart).
This contains an inference that an act of force was involved - nothing could be further from the truth. Orkney and Shetland were obtained through the Treaty of Perth in 1468 for the marriage of James iii of Scotland to the daughter of king Christian of Denmark -
SOURCE: 'Scottish Historical Documents' by Professor Gordon Donaldson, '1468-9 ACQUISITION OF ORKNEY AND SHETLAND',pp 85-87, ISBN 1 897784 41 4.
'Under James III the lordship of Kilmarnock, formerly the property of the Boyds, was acquired; the earldom of Orkney and lordship of Shetland were annexed to the crown in 1471, the earldom of Ross and the southern territories of the lordship of the Isles in 1476...It was an advantage that fifteenth-century kings, unlike Robert II, had few offspring clamouring for earldoms and lordships; in the whole century not a single king's son founded a new comital family which endured.'
SOURCE: 'Scotland: The Shaping of a Nation' by Gordon Donaldson, pp 84-85, ISBN 0 7153 6904 0.
These events occurred AFTER the events depicted in 'Braveheart'.
Doesn't (the modern re-writing of)Scottish history contain an inference that the act of Union between Scotland and England was an act of force?
I read recently that ethnic minorities were happy to accept racial abuse in Scotland because they perceived the Scots as a race of people subjucated by the Imperial agressors, like their own. Ironic, as Scot's colonists were some of the harshest inflictors of salvery.
The point is, the islands of Orkney were handed to the Scots without any consulation with the peoples of those islands.
Whether it was doen by force or not, it was done in a way in which the people had no say. And those people, to this day, consider themselves Orcadians first and Scots second, in the same way the Scots consider themselves British second (and resent the English for some reason).
The truth is, Scotland was a bit like Northern Rock today - in a bit of financial bother and the Bank of England rescued it.
My Braveheart point is - Scots like to see themselves as this put upon people struggling against the big bully boy England, ignoring the fact they are bullies themselves.
Simon,
You write:
'Doesn't (the modern re-writing of) Scottish history contain an inference that the act of Union between Scotland and England was an act of force?'
In the 'Concise Oxford Dictionary' one of the definitions of force is -
'coercion backed by the use or threat of violence'.
1. 'England, in 1701, had settled the succession on the Hanoverian line, but no such provision had been made in Scotland...The Scottish Parliament which met in 1703...passed acts which contained threats that Scotland would pursue an independent foreign policy and might appoint a different successor from the successor to the English throne. England retaliated in 1705 with the Alien Act,'
SOURCE: 'Scottish Historical Documents' by Professor Gordon Donaldson, pp. 265-266, ISBN 1 897784 41 4
2. 'The draft of the Treaty was presented to the Scots Parliament on October 12. During the three months it was under debate Scotland was in ferment, and English regiments were marched to the Border, to be called across it should the Queen's Commissioner believe there was a need for them.'
SOURCE: 'The Lion in the North' by James Prebble, p.284, ISBN 0 1400 3652 0
3. All of the Scottish commissioners to negotiate the Treaty of Union were appointed by Queen Anne and all were supporters of union with England.
4. 'But the theories of English constitutional lawyers prevailed, and the union has proved to have no more sanctity than any other statute. From time to time attempts have been made to appeal to the terms of union, but always without success. The list of violations of the treaty is already a long one and always growing longer...The fact is that contrary to the beliefs and hopes of those who framed it, the treaty of union has proved to be a mere scrap of paper, to be torn up at the whim of any British government.'
SOURCE: 'Scotland: The Shaping of a Nation' by Gordon Donaldson, pp. 58-59, ISBN 0 7153 6904 0
6. There were two Acts of Union, one by the English Parliament and one by the Scottish Parliament. They were the ratifying instruments of the Treaty of Union of 1707.
7. The point you make about no consultation with the people of the Orkney Islands is rather irrelevant - democracy as we understand it today did not exist at that time. It was the prerogative of monarchs to determine the fate of the people over whom they ruled and the land on which they lived.
What do you mean by '(the modern re-writing of) Scottish history'.
What I mean is this: that the popular consensus now is that Scotland was (and still is) in some way like areas of the old British empire, such as India or African colonies, ie: that England used force to bring a defenceless peoples into its dominion.
The truth is that Scotland was an enthusiastic co-creator of the British Empire (who now wishes to try to feign victimhood).
The failure of the Darien scheme has been cited as one of the motivations for the 1707 Acts of Union. The Scottish establishment realized that it could never be a major power on its own and that if it wanted to share the benefits of England's international trade, then its future would have to lie in unity with England.
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