Division between the Scottish Highlands and Lowlands - Essay Example

How significant was the division between the Scottish Highlands and Lowlands The of the present work is history of Scotland, and will discuss the significance of the division between the Highlands and the Lowlands. It is not under argument, that this division, though being not physical, but more cultural and attitudinal, has created serious impact on the whole Scottish history and attitudes between people. However, it is necessary to describe the situation through the prism of history, making closer look at the events which took place at that time, and then to define the impact of those events on the Scottish history. Introduction The division between the Scottish Highlands and Lowlands was not an unexpected event, and has become the cause of the major impact on the Scottish history and the human attitudes. It is interesting to note, that the topic of Highlands-Lowlands division is closely connected with the discussion of the British imperialism and its impact on the development of Scottish nationalism (or national identity), as it is a historical fact, that the development of imperialism had already reached rather significant level, but its spreading onto the Highlands territory was prevented by the division between Highlands and Lowlands; although the connection between the division and the Scottish nationalism is seen, the work will not make special accent on this topic, but we will here look at the general impact on people, their culture and the whole future history of Scotland which was made by this division. The division of the Highlands and Lowlands has created a major impact on the fact that Scottish people didn't feel like entire nation and the notion of nation has ceased to exist for them. However, this impact was created through the number of factors, which are to be considered separately in this work. Highlands and Lowlands The feudal movement, which existed in Scotland, was one of the major engines, making the division of the Scotland closer. The roots of the division lay in the fact, that King David, being active supporter of the feudalism and making everything possible to spread it over the country, has unconsciously divided Scotland into two parts: the estates, which he often granted to his lords, were mainly situated in the southern part of the country, making it more bourgeois and developed, and thus closer to Britain - not physically, but in economic development and culture. It is already by that time, that Scottish nation was characterized by two different languages spoken, and two different political preferences - while the Highlands was closer to Ireland, the Lowlands at the moment tended to speak Teutonic (modern English) and thus culturally to be closer to England. The manners and customs of the Scots vary with the diversity of their speech. For two languages spoken amongst them, the Scottish and Teutonic, the latter of which is the language of those who occupy the seaboard and plains, while the race of Scottish speech inhabits the Highlands and outlying islands. The people of the coast are of domestic civilized habits; the Highlanders and people of the islands, on the other hand, are savage and untamed race, rude and independent, given to rapine, ease-loving, hostile to English people and language - and exceedingly cruel.'1 This extract makes it evident, that though the division between Highlands and Lowlands is mostly discussed through the period, starting with the 17th century, the roots of the problems were already apparent in the 14th century. Knowledge and understanding of these roots is essential for defining the significance of this division both for the history and for the people. Though the later period became a mark of more equal feudal development of both Scottish parts, but the discrepancies, planted earlier, remained to grow into more serious forms, which later turned into huge cultural, religious and attitudinal division between the people of one state. Closer to the beginning of the 18th century, it has become apparent that the division between the two parts of the same country had become too large. With this period of Scottish history being integral to the history of Britain as a whole, and assuming this division brought serious influence on Scotland becoming the stateless nation, or a nation without nation, it is of course necessary to define its significance through separate factors. The significance of the division between the Scottish highlands and Lowlands 'The Highlanders regarded the Lowlanders as a very inferior mongrel race of intruders, sons of little men, without heroism, without ancestry, or genius, who could neither sleep upon the snow, compose extempore songs, recite long tales of wonder or of woe, or live without bread and without shelter for weeks together, following the chace. Whatever was mean of effeminate, whatever was dull, slow, mechanical or torpid, was in the Highlands imputed to the Lowlanders, and exemplified by allusions to them'.2 This was the situation at the beginning of the 18th century. Though the Lowlands were feudally more developed, there was no significant difference between the Highlands and the Lowlands in their economic development. Instead, the cultures developed by the two parts of nation, caused constant suspicion, with which each of the two cultures considered another one. The significance of this division could probably be smoother, if not for the hostility and hatred, which at the time were usual between the representatives of these two country's parts. Some authors state the roots for such hatred lay in the development of clans, which was characteristic of that period3, but in fact I may also agree with Davidson4, who wrote that different religions, languages and attitudes towards law were the real causes for the situation described. The significance of the division has first of all influenced the attitudes towards law between these two parts of the Scottish society. While the Highlanders had been previously characterized as savage and cruel people, the division put a tint of permissiveness on them. The period of the 17th century was characterized by the disregard to order and law, and frequent attacks on the Lowlanders and their property. Which is more interesting, that in this hunting for profits, even other Highland communities became the victims of such marauding. However, this impact is not the major one in the division between the Highlands and the Lowlands - the middle of the 18th century has witnessed the decrease of criminality among Highlanders.5 This impact should be viewed from these points of view - the attitudes towards disorder and the following criminality decrease; though knowing that the Lowlanders were hardly opposing to such state of affairs, it may be concluded that they hardly gave the fact of their herds driven off, much consideration. The significance of the division in this aspect is seen not only through the disorders, but also through the forming attitudes between people - while Highlanders have acquired an opportunity to maraud the Lowlanders as the 'inferior' nation, they have only supported their image as 'savage and cruel' in the eyes of those who inhabited the Lowland part of the country. Thus, the country being divided geographically has also become divided by attitudes. 'The seventeenth century, from the Scottish entry into the War of the Three Kingdoms, was the watershed during which attitudes on the Lowland side of the Highland Line hardened into a hostility whose full and terrible consequence would only become apparent at the climax of the revolution in 1746. Two events in particular were crucial in consolidating this hostility.' 6 One of the events mentioned was the battle of Aberdeen in 1644, when the Lowland Scots came under attack of the Irish and Highland inhabitants. The second one took place during the period of Restoration, when the population of the Scottish southwest was quartered in attempt to impose the order - the bigger part of those, who performed these actions were coming of Highlanders. These events, as a part of the Highland/ Lowland division have created major impact on the general history of the country - the two populations were by the time supposed not to belong to one nation. The significance of this division is even more evident if looking at the situation with languages and religion. While the bigger portion of Scottish inhabitants used to speak Gaelic (Scottish) with the simultaneous use of other dialects (as Bythronic, which was in fact Welsh ancestor), the division of Highlands and Lowlands has become the driver of the major division between the English and the Scottish language, with the former 'the language of those who occupy the seaboard and plains, while the race of Scottish speech inhabits the highlands and outlying islands'.7 The end of the fifteenth century was marked by the development of the 'Scots' language among the Lowlanders, which was dictated by the need and desire for the ruling class to have a separate language. Highlands have kept their Gaelic language, which was at the time supposed to be closer to Irish. Thus, through the division between the Highlands and the Lowlands the two distinctive impacts may be traced: first, they disregarded the laws adopted by the central state; second, they appeared to be unable to speak the language which was by the end of the seventeenth century spoken by most Scots. It was another contribution into the situation, when the Lowlanders supposed Highlanders not to be their natives, but rather to be close to Irish settlers. The division has caused the incomprehensibility of the two languages spoken by one nation, and has created even great discrepancies between the two cultures. Despite the widely spread opinion that the Highland Scots were Catholic, in fact they were mostly Protestants and attempts of Reformation to turn them into Catholic religion have failed. Moreover, speaking other language, incomprehensible for Lowlanders, this task was almost impossible. Highlanders hardly recognized the Scottish Catholic Church. For this reason Highlanders were mostly perceived by the Lowlanders as 'Irish'. This has only contributed into disagreement, which had already existed between the representatives of both parts of the state by that time. 'Lowland Kirk ministers constantly complained of the failure of the Reformation to make permanent inroads beyond the Highland line. One of their key preoccupations was that the perpetuation of the Gaelic language was preventing the Highlanders from being converted to the Calvinist version of Christianity practised by the Church of Scotland. We are dealing here with the effect of perceptions, not their relationship to reality.'8 Conclusion: Scotland the stateless nation The division between the Highlands and the Lowlands may be seen in general as a serious contribution into the fact that the nation was in fact divided into two different societies, which in its turn has become the cause of the situation, when both parts of society didn't view the notion of 'nation' as central and necessary for them to be united. The division started from the economic factors, being heated by the discrepancies on cultural, religious and ideological grounds. The Lowlanders got accustomed to perceiving the Highlanders as 'Irish' for their close links with Ulster. The stateless nation - or, better, the nation without nation - this is how Scotland could be called at that period, and the division between the Highlands and the Lowlands was the principal driver of these changes in the life of Scottish society; the society, which has been divided into two different parts, having nothing in common and regarding each other with hostility and even cruelty. This division has prevented the creation of the solid basis for the Scottish nation as a whole, and made it possible only centuries later. Bibliography Davidson, Neil. The Origins of Scottish Nationhood. Edinburgh: Pluto press, 2004 Dickinson, William Croft. Scotland from the Earliest Times to 1603. London: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1961 Ferguson, William. The Identity of the Scottish Nation: An Historic Quest. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University press, 1998 Fry, Fiona Somerset. The History of Scotland. London: Routledge, 1992 Grant, Anne. Essays on Superstitions of the Highlanders of Scotland. London, 1811. Harvie, Christopher. Scotland and Nationalism: Scottish Society and Politics, 1707 to the Present. London: Routledge, 1998. Mackenzie, W.C. The Highlands and Isles of Scotland. A Historical Review. London, 1924. Mitchinson, Rosalind. Why Scottish History Matters. Edinburgh: Saltire Society, 1991. Mitchinson, Rosalind. A History of Scotland. London: Routledge, 2002 Williamson, A. Scottish National Consciousness in the Age of James I. Edinburgh, 1973 Read More