What is Reddit's opinion of SCOTLAND: A NEW HISTORY?

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The problem with books on Scottish history is that there is a lot of romanticisation which has resulted in a fair amount of poor and misleading literature. There has however been a bit of a renaissance in Scottish history writing since the end of the last century. As a starting point, I'd recommend Michael Lynch's 'Scotland: A New History'. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Scotland-New-History-Michael-Lynch/dp/0712698930/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1477865425&sr=8-1&keywords=michael+lynch+scotland

Hi! This sounds super interesting! Which game are you modding, sounds like something like Total War? I used to love that back in the day, I would definitely play a mod with some more realistic Scottish historical context!

You're right that this is a difficult area to research - the thing about this era is that the sources for Scotland are very sketchy - very few written records from this period survive, and a lot of it is translated through later witnesses. A lot of it is also apocryphal and not all of it ends up in the history books (though I added some links at the bottom to some good books if that's useful!).

That being said, there are definitely some colourful events that you could draw on in this period, one of huge upheaval and change in Scotland. And using a bit of license is totally OK - as long as you don't just make things up! - some of the best films about Medieval Scotland, like Braveheart, aren't 100% accurate.

So here are a couple of events off the top of my head you might be able to use, adapt, refer to etc. Hopefully other people in the sub can add details if I've forgotten any or got something incorrect!

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1. The Fànne v. Dòbber Wars

The Fànne - Dòbber Wars was a period of major conflict and violence between two tribes (the clans came a bit later) in Scottish history that marked an important early phase in the rise of Kenneth MacAlpin, sometimes seen as the first King of Scots. He was also a member of the Fànne tribe, and in fact is thought to have become Chief of the Fànnes while still quite young due to his military skill. At some point however, before Kenneth was born, the Fànne tribe split due to a dispute over heritage (very important in those days!), which saw one faction claiming rightful heritage of the lineage - known as the Pure Fànnes - whereas a second faction claimed feudal overlordship over all of the tribe. They have come to be known by historians as the Total Fànnes because of the breadth of their claim. Eventually the Pure Fànnes were successful in driving out their rivals, and so the Total Fànnes left the tribe and founded a new one, the Dòbbers (from the old Pictish words Dòb and Ur - 'glorious' and 'exile'). Because they never gave up their claims to their kinship, they came to be called the 'kin Dòbbers'.

If we jump back to Kenneth MacAlpin, by the time he assumed leadership of the tribe these two tribes were basically at war. The 830s saw repeated, bloodthirsty clashes between the Pure Fànnes and the Kin Dòbbers without any resolution, until finally both sides, exhausted, decided to make peace. This was done at the foot of a mountain called Cúl Beag in the northwest Highlands, near modern-day Ullapool. You might have heard of a medieval tradition called the Kiss of Peace. Well Scotland had its own version of that, which was used at this occasion, called the 'Té' in Gaelic, so bearing in mind the location, the peace treaty between the Pure Fànnes and the Kin Dòbbers was known as the Tè Beag.

Because the sources are very unclear we don't know exactly what this looked like, but it involved King Kenneth and the Chief of the Dòbbers, Avon Four Sail (a moniker which evidently refers to his maritime skills and mercantile wealth). The Té Beag is described in much later sources as 'an intimate gesture' (so perhaps not unlike the Kiss of Peace) that was 'performed in a squatting position close to the fundament'. It was followed by both sides breaking open several ritual casks of whisky (booze features in a lot of this history!) known as B'aw, from the Gaelic 'special' and 'drink'. Although we don't know exactly when this event took place, it's still said that 'B'aws were tasted that day'.

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1. The Pumping of the Maws

This isn't really a historical event per se, more of a kind of cultural anecdote that you might be able to use - hope it's still useful!

So I'm sure you've heard the word 'maw' before, which usually refers to something like an opening, e.g. the mouth of a cave, but in Scotland it has several meanings. One of these is a kind of container or skin with a narrow opening (so a bit like the other definitions). It was mainly used to store alcohol - especially whisky, back in the day (told you there was a lot of booze! We Scots sure love to drink!). To give you an idea, the modern bagpipe is also built using a maw, so you can see the kind of dimensions I mean.

Now you'll know already that although whisky has been made in Scotland for hundreds of years, it wasn't always done legally. Back in Medieval Scotland, the Crown used to try and tax whisky production in every household, so a lot of people used to make it secretly using their own equipment rather than a big, central still. And it was stored in maws - because they're flexible, they were easier to hide away than a big barrel or cask. This is a much later source, but it gives you an idea: illicit distilling.

OK so in Medieval Scotland, a lot of villages were very remote, so the Royal Tax Collector used to visit only once a year - and as soon as he was gone, they knew they were in the clear for another 12 months! This led to a custom where everyone in the village would gather after the Royal Tax Collector had gone, put the whisky into casks (important for the maturing process) and clean out the maws with rudimentary pumping devices, ready for next time. This was a collective activity and became known as The Pumping of the Maws - basically, everyone in the village would bring their maw to the common grazing lands, see that each maw was properly pumped, and there would be inspections to make sure it was done correctly. Often clansmen would pump each others' maws for a measure of accountability, but it was common enough to pump one's own maw, too. Really skilful clansmen could actually pump numerous maws in one session - in some villages the one who got through the most would be ritually crowned the 'Méad Shaggháir' (from the Gaelic words Méad and Sheág, meaning 'enthusiastic' and 'efficient'). After all this, there would be a giant party where some of the whisky from the previous year would be cracked open and drunk while the freshly-pumped maws would dry out in the sun - great stuff!

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Sorry if that's a bit much detail, I can get a bit carried away with my enthusiasm for history sometimes! I hope it's useful anyway and that you might be able to use one or two details, even if the whole stories don't make it in.

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Finally some literature that you might find useful if you want to do some more research!

Scotland: A New History by Michael Lynch - quite an old book now but it holds up well

Scotland: The Story of a Nation by Magnus Magnusson

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I'd love to see some of these details make it into the mod - keep us posted!

I really enjoyed Scotland: A New History, you can get it on Amazon for pennies.

It goes from the Scottish Wars of Independence to modern day Scotland.

> I'm soryy, but in no way did England force Scotland to join the union. Scotland had every chance and right to refuse but the nobles who signed the treaty wanted their money back and signed it.

That's just pure revisionism, it's an established historical reality and not even something that's up for debate.

The choice was either join the union or England would start a trade embargo on Scottish imports with the intention of deliberately destroying the Scottish economy, that's hardly a free choice.

The Alien Act 1705 was specifically written with a clause essentially stating that the English Government wouldn't destroy the Scottish economy if they entered into a union.

Also, people didn't just get given get their money back like you claim, The Equivalent (£398,000) was given in return for taking on the £14 million English national debt and primarily only went to those that would be responsible for voting on the matter. (i.e. a bribe) - Bought and sold for English gold and all that.

I recommend reading Scotland: A New History, it covers it all pretty well and you can pick it up from Amazon for quite literally pennies next time you order something.

Since the referendum was announced there's been a deliberate attempt to push a bizarre narrative in that Scotland and England were best of friends and both wanted to join with one another after valiant England came to the rescue of poor, hapless Scotland but the historical reality simply doesn't align with that despite how uncomfortable it makes some people.

> if the treaty of union wasn't signed then a similar treaty would have been signed later. After all the monarchs were united.

This was the case for over 100 years and multiple attempts to force a union on Scotland were rebuked.

> Scotland doesn't have the means to support herself independently. Apart from oil, there hasn't been a time when Scotland could have prospered. Certainly Scotland couldn't be independent today. I really don't buy into this idea that Westminster want to keep Scotland in the dark,it's just silly.

Hardly a ringing endorsement for the union, is it?

We've been part of the UK for 300 years and throughout that time despite having full control over the Scottish economy they've been unable to build anything a healthy economy.

> In the end it was poor planning and the Spanish empire that caused the fate of the Darien Scheme. England didn't help but they aren't responsible for it's inevitable failure.

They didn't help?

They pulled out at the last second and ordered English colonies that they knew the Scots colonists would be trading with to turn them away.

The colonists undeniably made some poor choices but the English Government did everything in their power to ensure the failure of the scheme.

> GERS are only bad because they put Scotland in a bad light. Like I say, I doubt Westminster would go to all this effort against Scotland and tbh if Scotland went independent then 30% of their defecit would be wiped out. So if anything they should be pushing for it.

The Scottish Secretary at the time, Ian Lang, the guy who created GERS literally admitted in a leaked memo that it was created to show Scotland in a poor light in order to undermine Labour and the SNP who were pushing for the Scottish Parliament at the time.

It's even stated quite plainly on a BBC article here:

> Today's exercise, GERS, ostensibly deals with economic statistics: with facts or, at least, estimated facts. However, it might also be recognised that GERS has been a political initiative from the outset. > > Formally introduced in 1992 by the then Scottish Secretary Ian Lang, it was designed - as the minister acknowledged in a leaked document - to "undermine" the UK government's rivals. > > It was intended, in part, to demonstrate to the public that devolved self-government was A Bad Thing.

Knowing that the UK Government was and is deliberately undermining and downplaying Scottish finances for political purposes might make you feel uncomfortable, but it's the reality of the situation.