Hi johnfrommelbourne
The issue of Scots identity, separate from that of an English one is
not merely an academic question, as can be seen by a growing call
(from a significant minority of Scots) for complete independence of
their country from the United Kingdom, and the recent establishment of
a Scottish Parliament to go some way to appeasing that demand. To
answer your question as to when a separate Scottish culture fully
emerged, it is necessary to investigate when Scotland itself started
to appear as a nation. It is also probably worth pointing out that
relying on a Hollywood movie (featuring an Australian lead actor) is
not usually the best source for gaining historically-accurate
information!
Probably the earliest documented division between the southern and
northern halves of the main British island (see note 1 below) occurred
shortly after the Roman occupation of Britannia, when the Emperor
Hadrian built a wall to delimit and protect the northern fringes of
his Empire. Much of Hadrian's Wall still exists today and still
approximates the official political division between Scotland and
England (although it must be noted that almost all of the modern
English county of Northumberland lies north of the Wall).
History of Hadrian's Wall:
http://www.thenortheast.fsnet.co.uk/HadriansWall.htm
However the peoples who lived north of the Wall were not Scottish in
any modern sense. They were a loose grouping of predominately Celtic
tribes who often went to war amongst themselves, the largest tribes
(or at least those best documented by the Romans) being the Picts, the
Brigantes and the Caledonians.
The next big upheaval in the history of Scotland occurred some 500-800
years later, with successive waves of invaders from Europe: first the
Angles, Saxons and Jutes, who mostly settled in Southern England;
secondly the Norsemen (or Vikings) who invaded and then settled most
of the eastern and northern coastal areas. This pretty much split the
post-Roman Celtic tribes apart from each other, with different
groupings being exiled to Cornwall, Wales, and Scotland. However the
first man to claim to be King of all Scotland was Kenneth MacAlpin in
843, who defeated the Picts in battle and laid claim to their
territory.
http://www.britannia.com/celtic/scotland/scot3.html
At this point in time, however, we are still talking about a
pre-medieval, pre-feudal society. There is very little of their
culture, if any, which would tie in with what is traditionally
considered "Scottish" these days. This was not significantly changed
by William Wallace's time (late 13th Century), although the Clan
system had started to appear by then.
The Clans' origins date back to the tribal days, but can often be
identified as starting during the reign of Malcolm Ceanmore (11th
Century), and his English wife, Margaret. Ceanmore himself had spent
many years at Edward the Confessor's court in England and together
they brought many southern customs to Scotland, as well as the early
English language which then slowly began to replace Gaelic, especially
amongst the Royal court and the leaders of the tribes, whose
relationship to their King began to slowly change and the tribes
gradually became more like large multi-family groupings: the Clans.
http://members.aol.com/Heather130/ats.html
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/genhist/hist24.html
As for other things which are undoubtedly Scottish: well, they aren't!
Those paragons of Scottishness, the kilt and the tartan, are
inventions of the 19th Century *English* nobility. Before this,
traditional Scottish Highland dress would have been the "plaid", a
large and heavy blanket-like material which was wrapped round the
entire body and which served as clothing, tent, and sleeping-bag. It
would have been made of rough cloth and may or may not have had a
tartan-like pattern on it. The origins of the kilt, and its place
within both Scottish and English history, are excellently discussed
here:
http://www.majestictech.com/the-celtic-net/kilthistory.html
On to the bagpipes. Again, this is not a specifically Scottish
invention, and even today it's not exclusive to Scotland: Irish
bagpipes are very similar to the more familiar Scottish ones. Pipes
without bags (such as panpipes) are, of course, one of the more common
musical instruments found by archaeologists throughout Europe, Asia
and northern Africa and it is logical to assume that at some point the
idea of lengthening the pipes and attaching them to a pig's bladder or
other naturally inflatable object occurred to someone. Certainly
bagpipe-like instruments have been recorded in texts from the middle
east from before the time of Christ, and bagpipes were a common site
throughout Europe in the 16th and 17th Centuries.
The bagpipes' appearance in Scotland is usually dated to the first
millennium but it is very hard to be more accurate than that. It was
certainly well known by the middle of the second millennium and was
used as an instrument of war against the English, who were believed to
be scared of the pipes' sound.
http://www.electricscotland.com/music/bagpipe_history.htm
http://www.bagpiper.com/articles/history/b_originsscot.html
Finally on to the accent. Just as there is no such thing as an
"English" accent, there is no such thing as a Scottish accent. To a
trained ear (and even a not very well trained one), the distinction
between the talk of a native Glaswegian, a native Edinburger or a
Highlander is easy to hear. Britain is riddled with different accents
and they have grown up over a period of centuries. As with most things
in linguistics, it's very hard to say when an accent specifically
appeared (try working out who was the first person to speak Strine,
for example!) More pertinent is the question of whether Scots is a
true dialect of English. Scots is the form of English spoken by most
people in Scotland, and was made world-famous by the works of Robert
Burns.
http://www.bath.ac.uk/~exxdgdc/poetry/poets/rab1.html
http://www.ibiblio.org/gaelic/Scots/burns.html
http://www.tartans.com/burns/BroadScotsDictionary.html
I hope this goes some way towards satisfying your curiosity. Scotland
has a rich and varied history and culture, and one which is
inextricably tied up with those of England, Wales, and Ireland. For an
excellent academic treatment of the history of the peoples of the
British Isles, written from a non-English perspective, may I recommend
you try to find the book "The Isles" by Norman Davies (ISBN
0333692837).
Regards
iaint-ga
Note 1: It's rather hard to find a word to describe the island which
now consists of mainland England, Scotland, and Wales. "Great Britain"
is inappropriate as it implies a politically-united entity, which
didn't exist before the 18th Century. The shortened form, Britain,
carries with it some of the same overtones of unanimity, however for
the sake of brevity that's the term I'll use throughout the rest of
this answer.
Some general links for further reading:
A Brief History of Scotland:
http://www.britannia.com/celtic/scotland/history_scotland.html
Search strategies (Google)
history hadrian's wall
history scotland
william wallace
history origins bagpipes
robert burns |
