Scotland

[Celtic Gifts & Treasures] [Scottish Gifts & Treasures] [Scottish Wedding Traditions]

Welcome to our Scottish Specific Pages.  Click on any of the links above to access a wide variety of Gifts, Jewellery and Treasures.

• Scots Parking Sign
  • $6.00US
  • 12" x 18".  Perfect for any Scotsman or Scotswoman.

• Scottish Glass Stein
  • $55.00US
  • This stein pays tribute to Scotland. It is decorated with a wrap-around blue knotwork motif that frames two thistles. The main subject is a pewter medallion with the word “Scotland” incised on a banner above a shield blazoned with the St. Andrew Cross and the rampant lion of Scotland. On the lid is a precisely detailed representation of the Royal Arms of the Kings of Scotland. Volume: 0.5L.  Dimensions: 7-1/4"

• Some Historical Fact about SCOTLAND:  

  • The Unification of Scotland
    In 685 Pictish territory north of the Firth of Forth was invaded by a large Northumbrian army. An overwhelming Pictish victory permanently weakened Northumbrian power in Caledonia. About 730 Angus MacFergus, king of the Picts, subjugated Strathclyde and Dalriada. Relative peace followed until the late 8th century, when Vikings from Scandinavia began to raid the Caledonian coasts. Taking advantage of Pictish preoccupation with the invaders, the Scots and Britons soon regained their independence. In 844 Kenneth MacAlpine, king of Dalriada, and later king of Scotland, who was a descendant of the Pictish royal family, obtained the crown of Pictland, probably with the assent of the harassed Picts. The united kingdoms, officially known as Alban, comprised all the territory north of the firths of Forth and Clyde. Kenneth and several of his successors vainly attempted to subdue the remaining Northumbrian possessions in Caledonia and, in alliance with Strathclyde, tried to halt the raids of the Vikings. Although, with the help of the Northumbrians, the Vikings were prevented from securing a foothold in Dalriada, they seized various coastal areas in the north, east, and west and occupied the Orkney and Shetland islands and the Hebrides. In later times the rulers of England claimed the Scottish domain on the basis of the aid their forebears had given to Alban. In the 10th century the Alban kings, having repulsed the Vikings, repeatedly attacked the Northumbrian strongholds south of the Firth of Clyde. All these attacks ended in failure. During the reign (1005-34) of Malcolm II Mackenneth, the Northumbrians were decisively defeated in the Battle of Carham (1018). With this event and as a result of the inheritance of the crown of Strathclyde by Malcolm's grandson and successor, Duncan I, the Scottish domains, thereafter known as Scotland, embraced all the territory north of Solway Firth and the Tweed River. Duncan's reign, a period of disastrous wars and internal strife, was ended in 1040 with his assassination by Macbeth, mormaor (great steward) of Ross and Moray, who then became king of Scotland. Macbeth, according to history a successful king, held the throne until 1057, when he was defeated and killed by Duncan's son Malcolm Canmore. The

  • Anglicization of Scotland
    The accession in 1057 of Malcolm Canmore, as Malcolm III MacDuncan, introduced a new era in Scotland, an era marked by fundamental transformations of the ancient Celtic culture and institutions. Long an exile among the English, Malcolm had acquired a profound interest in their customs and affairs. The consequent trend toward Anglicization of his realm was sharply accelerated when, in 1067, he married Margaret, an English princess later canonized as Saint Margaret, who had been forced into exile in Scotland by the Norman Conquest in 1066. Under the influence of Margaret, a devout communicant of the church of Rome, many of the teachings of the Celtic church were brought into harmony with the Roman ritual.  The War for Independence
    Many Scottish nobles and the overwhelming majority of the Scottish people bitterly resented English interference in their national affairs. Acceding to popular demand for termination of English control, Baliol in 1295 formed an alliance with France, which was then at war with England, and summoned his people to revolt. The first phase of the Scottish war of independence ended victoriously for Edward, who crushed Baliol's army at Dunbar in April 1296 and decreed the annexation of Scotland to England. Baliol was deposed, and his kingdom was placed under military occupation. 

  • William Wallace
    The Scottish struggle against England was resumed in 1297, under the leadership of the Scottish patriot Sir William Wallace. With soldiers recruited from all sections of the nation, Wallace destroyed an English army at Sterling in September and, acting as the agent of John de Baliol, reinstituted Scottish rule. The following year Edward led a huge army into Scotland and in July won a decisive victory at Falkirk. After this setback Wallace waged incessant guerrilla warfare against the English. He was outlawed by Edward in 1304, following another large-scale English invasion. The year after, Wallace was betrayed to the English, convicted of treason, and executed. 

  • Robert Bruce
    After Wallace's death, Robert Bruce, a descendant of David I, assumed the leadership of the resistance movement. Although Bruce had opposed Wallace, most of the Scottish nobility and clergy rallied to his support. He was crowned Robert I, king of Scotland, in March 1306. During the first year of his reign Bruce suffered several reverses at the hands of the English. In 1307, on the accession to the English throne of Edward II, who abandoned his father's plan to subjugate Scotland, Bruce began a systematic guerrilla campaign against the pro-English section of the Scottish nobility and against English garrisons in Scotland. Between 1307 and 1314 he won numerous battles against his enemies and, on a number of occasions, even invaded northern England. Edward II finally led a punitive expedition into Scotland in the spring of 1314. Meeting this invasion force at Bannockburn on June 24, the Scottish army inflicted on it one of the most disastrous defeats in the military annals of England . Edward II refused to grant independence to Scotland, however, and the war between the two nations continued for more than a decade. During this phase of the struggle, the common people of Scotland secured representation, for the first time, in the Scottish Parliament in 1326. The war against England ended victoriously in 1328, when the regents of the young Edward III of England approved the Treaty of Northampton. By the terms of this document, Scotland obtained recognition as an independent kingdom.

    • This information was just emailed to us.  A couple of points:
      Some of the Scottish history is a little "one-eyed". MacFergus could not be Pict as the Mac names were brought to Caledonia by the "Scots" from Eire. The Picts spoke and were Brithonic Celtic (as were the Britons: Wales, Rheged etc)  Much of "Scotland" is Nordic and Angle.   To speak of the people of Strathclyde as almost non celtic is incorrect.  It isn't only the Gaelic immigrants from Ireland to the Highlands who are Celts.  The original celtic language of "Scotland" was Brithonic Akin to Welsh and not Erse or Gaelic, which for long periods was referred to as Irish.  Wallace means Welshman.  He wasn't so much betrayed TO the English but BY the Scots nobility.

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• Scottish Language Links:

  • Beag air Bheag

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