Scotland: A History

What is an American reader who is neither a Scot nor a scholar of Scotland likely to know about that country? That there are highlanders who wear kilts and eat haggis. That Shakespeare's Macbeth was once Scotlands's king. That Robert the Bruce learned patience watching a spider weave its web. That John Knox brought a dour Calvinism to the Kingdom, at the same time putting the skids under Mary Queen of Scots. That Walter Scott and George Gordon Lord Byron (who had a titled Scottish mother) wove long narrative poems and Scott also wrote IVANHOE and other novels about the past of England and Scotland. Maybe an American reader has also seen movies such as KIDNAPPED, ROB ROY, BRAVEHEART and the TV series THE HIGHLANDER. That seems very little to know about a country but is enough to assure that a reader will both enjoy and benefit from SCOTLAND: A HISTORY. MacBeth is in its pages as well as the murdered Duncan and his sons and the beginning of the three-century plus Stewart/Stuart dynasty. King Robert the Bruce and the initially obscure William Wallace contend for the mythic soul of Scots both high and low. John Calvin's Kirk definitively colors Scotland's religion and politics for over 400 years. Professor Richard B. Sher of Rutgers University concludes his dazzling Chapter 6, "Scotland Transformed: The Eighteenth Century," this way: "By the end of the eighteenth century, Burns was dead and Ferguson, Mackenzie, and Blair in retirement, but the age of Walter Scott was about to begin" (p. 208). *** Throughout, the eleven authors narrate with color and precision. That John Knox wrote in the vernacular is no surprise. Much earlier in the same 16th century Gavin Douglas in his ENEADOS had translated Vergil's AENEID into Scots, even before anyone did it in southern English (p. 319). It is striking that in their "diaspora" (Chapter 9) Scots appeared in some numbers in Prussia, Poland, Russia Sweden and South Africa. Scots also left their mark as military and civil officers in British India. There is a consensus among the editor and authors that for too long Scottish history was almost a monopoly of Presbyterian writers. Their slants were important but tended to obscure the case for other persuasions and values, such as the more fun-loving English and their taste for "cakes and ale." Scots are also great story tellers and chroniclers and it is important that 21st century scholars have revisited critically and displayed anew the old sources. This they do convincingly in SCOTLAND: A HISTORY. -OOO-

Having been published very recently, this book with many contributors synthesizes the latest scholarship. I have just finished the second chapter, AD 1100-1300. This period of Scotland becoming a nation seems to pivot on the reign of David I (1124-53), although later monarchs' of Scots achievements are detailed too, such as the bringing of the Western Isles into the realm. It is worthwhile reading, but occasionally the author's grammar or an obscure reference is confusing. I was most interested in the first chapter, written by University of Glasgow's Katherine Forsyth. "Origins: Scotland to 1100" is the period I have been reading about the most over several years. Obviously 39 pages cannot contain exceptional detail (compared to an entire book on the subject, such as Smyth's 'Warlords and Holy Men: Scotland AD 80-1000', which, by the way, also gives great insight into the eleventh century, besides the whole first millenium,) but I found it to be a suitable introduction to this period for such as a single-volume of Scottish history might offer. The author's speciality in epigraphy allows for some intriguing insights, while not hindering a thorough overall impression of the period.