#Scottish Battle

[scotianostra]

On February 24th 1303 the Scots, under Simon Fraser and John Comyn beat an English force at The Battle of Roslin.

Now most of my history is self taught that I have picked up over the years, I was brought up near Roslin and my mum did take us there as bairns and told us all about the Chapel, the Apprentice Pillar and The Holy Grail, this was 30 years before Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code novel, so with all that you would think that I will have been told all about The Battle of Roslin?

Nope not a thing, I knew about Stirling Bridge, Bannockburn and Culloden, as well as other battles but I can't recall my mum ever telling me about Roslin, so what I know is all learned over the past 20 years or so.

Fought between the Scots and English during the Wars of Scottish Independence and was a Scottish victory, but it does not figure in many history books and few people up until lately have even heard of it, yet the figures involved, especially on the English side, make it one of the biggest battles ever on Scots soil.

This was during the Wars of Scottish Independence, according to the stories I have read it was more of a fight over the love of a woman rather than a pure Scotland v England "match".

Lady Margaret Ramsay of Dalhousie, who had become betrothed to the handsome Sir Henry St Clair, they of the Knights Templar folk. Enter your typical English arrogant guy in Sir John de Segrave, a seasoned campaigner in many a Scottish battle. Sir John is said to have fallen in love with oor Lady Margaret on may visits to Dalhousie Castle, on hearing of the impending marriage in a fit of jealousy decided he wanted the Lady for himself so sought out to sweep her off her feet and defeat the Scottish army all in one fell swoop.

It's a great tale and sounds like a Hollywood film, but there never was any Lady Margaret Ramsay and we know that Sinclair married one Alicia de Fenton. So that's the romance bit debunked.

What I have also read out about the battle is that Segrove split his army, of 30,000 troops, into three groups, to me this is more believable, well splitting the army, the numbers in my mind will have been a lot less. Anyone who knows the landscape of Roslin Glen will know that it lends itself to the theory that in battle on big force would find it difficult to gather there. The English army in three divisions was also common in armies at the time. The terrain in Roslin in the middle of winter would have made it very difficult for a large army to manouevre, so with that I am pretty sure the numbers have been exaggerated, put it this way, if 30,000 English were defeated at Roslin it would be bigger than Bannockburn.

This brings me to my third point about the battle, why are no accounts of it from people present at it? Well that is easily explained in the fact that one of the commanders of the Scots was John "The Red" Comyn. It's a well know fact that history favours the winners, and we all know that The Bruce and Comyn were bitter rivals so it would be natural for any records of the battle to have been erased by Bruce. Well that's my take on it.

A couple of other details often written about the battle is that William Wallace was present, Wallace by this time had given up the Guardianship and at some point was said to have been in France, when captured he was in possession of a "safe passage" letter from The King of France, so was he there? Again I refer to my local knowledge in that along the River Esk that runs through Roslin Glen, towards Hawthornden Castle is a cave we know as Wallace's Cave, so there is a connection somewhere down the ages with our favourite Scottish patriot.

One as wee story regarding The Battle of Roslin is about the Cistercian Prior Abernethy of Mount Lothian to the west of Balantradoch, the Templar headquarters in Scotland, it was about 5 miles from Roslin, Abernethy, the monk, had been a Templar, a warrior, who had off his armour and lay down his sword to spend the remainder of his life praising God. Now the warrior priest's blood rose again. The life of prayer, compilation of Gregorian chants was abandoned. God had called the Prior to the defence of Scotland. As men prepare for battle each pray to whatever God he knows "let us be victorious."

Monks on horseback were sent to raise the alarm and warn the Scots of the danger facing them, they would have said a prayer for the Scots troops before the battle, as was normal, but another legend is that as the Scottish Army grew tired during the third stage of the battle. Abernethy is said to have been crucial with his local knowledge of the Glen, he also directed the Monks to erect a huge St Andrews Cross on the Pentland Hills, as the Scots tired the Cross was set alight and the Abernethy pointed towards it, saying it was a sign from God, it rallied the troops and the Battle was won.

You will have maybe heard other versions of The Battle of Roslin, a lot of this is my own take and by no means historical.

[thunderstruck9]

Herbert James Gunn (British, 1893-1964), The Eve of the Battle of the Somme, 1916. Oil on canvas, 80 x 87 cm. The Fleming Collection, London

[illustratus]

Closing the Gates at Hougoumont, 1815 by Robert Gibb

[bantarleton]

Behold the glorious artwork of Angus McBride, depicting two scenes from the battle of Stirling Bridge, fought by Scottish and English forces on 11 September 1297.

In the first piece, William Wallace (right) rejects two Bendictine monks sent by the English to negotiate while another Scottish noble, Andrew Moray, (left) looks on. It is likely that Moray, with higher social standing, more military experience and more men under his command, was actually the leader of the Scottish forces during the battle, and not Wallace. According to Medieval chronicler Walter of Guisborough the Scots rejected the English offers with the following statement (though he doesn't specify if it was Wallace or Moray doing the talking);

“Go back and tell your men that we come not for the good of peace, but we are ready to fight to defend ourselves and free our realm! Therefore, let them advance when they wish, and they will find us ready to fight them even into their beards!”

The English attempted to ford the river beneath Stirling Castle - crossable only via a narrow timber bridge - and were set upon by the Scots with half their force still on the opposite bank. A slaughter of the English ensued, accentuated when the bridge itself collapsed. In the lower artwork Wallace can be seen on the left and Moray on the right, leading the attack on the English knights. The slightly corpulent Englishman on foot before Moray with the three black swans as his heraldry is Hugh de Cressingham, the second-in-command of the English force and one of the men responsible for administering the English occupation of Scotland. He was killed and after the battle, according to several chroniclers, his body was flayed in revenge for the tortures he had inflicted upon the Scots. Part of him was used by Wallace to make a scabbard for his sword; "of his skin William Wallace caused a broad strip to be taken from the head to the heel, to make therewith a baldrick for his sword."

tl;dr look at this badass artwork of William Wallace being depicted historically and not in Dumbass Fantasy Mode.

[vox-anglosphere]

The Culloden battlefield at sunset feels haunted by Scottish blood

[pureclassics]

𝙃𝙄𝙂𝙃𝙇𝘼𝙉𝘿𝙎 (𝙎𝘾𝙊𝙏𝙇𝘼𝙉𝘿)

[rmsstevielol]

If u don’t want to agree to it being a colony then at least accept that they, along with the Irish and the Welsh were oppressed. If you don’t want to accept that then I don’t really know what to tell you becuase to me what im about to list right now seems an obvious example of oppression; trying to wipe out and I quote “ethnically cleanse” cultures, beating children for speaking Gaelic or Welsh right up until the late 20th century, after the battle of Culloden tartan and Gaelic was banned and if caught speaking Gaelic or wearing tartan, you were exiled, flogged or even executed, if you happened to have any ties with the Jacobites then you were literally rounded up and executed. Another example and a much more modern one is an account from my great grandma saying when she was at school you could be beat for speaking Gaelic and when my Nan was younger she was literally taught to “speak English” or more “proper”, meaning getting rid of the accent. Another example are the deep rooted stereotypes that still exist today about Scottish people, that all of them are “violent”, “angry”, “loud”, “drunk”, “savages”, “barbarians”, “not feminine” I could go on.. but these type of things are so common and they’ve been taught for so long that it is impossible not to think of the Scot’s like that and yes, some people may not be thinking of it as “not that deep” when in reality it is because they just aren’t funny and they make people look at us as if were some sort of joke, like our accents are always the butt of the joke or something. My mum has experienced things as simple as a dirty look whenever she gets a bit loud of says something in a strong accent and even on one occasion, an officer in the army telling my dad to “control his wife” after she refused to sing God save the King, as if she were “out of control” or something. All of these things are some sort of oppression and even though they aren’t as severe as they were before, they are still a thing.

I could go on about this topic for hours talking about other things like when talking about being Scottish, they always end up being the butt of the joke whether that be making fun of the accent, making fun of the bagpipes, the traditional dress. I live in England and I have a lot of friends who tend to do these things subconsciously and I wouldn’t hold it against them but I think it does need to be spoken about more and spoken about where it comes from and why it could be quite offensive. I’m so sorry to ramble on but a quick thing to point out is the fact that just becuase I want to spread the history of oppression of the Scot’s, it does not mean that I deny their involvement in the British colonialism of other countries and the involvement in the slave trade, i am aware it happened and are embarrassed and ashamed of the Scottish people who did that and I do consider them to be a “traitor” to Scotland but I just want to make my country’s history known and how they did suffer without people comparing or disregarding as something not that important or not as bad, yes some Scot’s did awful things and were involved willingly with British colonialism etc but it should not shrug off the suffering they went through as a country themselves.

I am sorry I couldn’t speak more for the Welsh or Irish but I didn’t want to then speak about their history and get it wrong. 🫶

[starz-n-stuff]

Diving into the history side of tumblr tonight. I’m writing an essay on the battle of Culloden for my War and the World class and fucking hell I don’t know how people can do this kind of shit to other people.

Slight gore warning ahead

Post Battle of Culloden, the English soldiers went through and killed the wounded jacobites laying amidst the dead and then splashed each other with the blood for amusement.

How do you even do that to another person? I just— I’m kinda at a loss for words. Lost all faith in humanity in the span of two sentences yippee

[zaiaam]

The Conductor doesn't know what a kilogram is.

[imogenkol]

— OCS AS HISTORICAL ROMANCE HERO ARCHETYPES

tagged by @corvosattano @jackiesarch @inafieldofdaisies to do this uquiz and I found it way too entertaining to do it for my she/her fuckbois (+ a token Boy boy) thank you lovelies 💕💕💕

tagging: @jillvalentinesday @marivenah @kyber-infinitygems @chuckhansen @adelaidedrubman @voidika @queennymeria @shegetsburned @risingsh0t @shellibisshe @indorilnerevarine @socially-awkward-skeleton @florbelles @aceghosts @simonxriley @v0idbuggy @unholymilf @roofgeese @shallow-gravy

GENTLEMAN IN THE STREETS, FREAK IN THE SHEETS

He's a GENTLEMAN. He has STANDARDS. He will not abide by a single WRINKLE in his trousers. But he willlllll fuck you from behind while fish-hooking your mouth and leaving bruises. That's just how he rolls. A coveted type, this gentleman puts on a stern facade and doesn't have a lot of patience for nonsense--but he's also solicitous, polite, and seemingly respectful. Until you give him a bit of lip in the garden. Never go with him to the garden. Or DEFINITELY go with him to the garden, if you want to get defiled. Which, let's be real, you absolutely do. This hero will wipe cum off your tits with the most expensive handkerchief known to man, fold it and place it in his pocket, and be like, "I apologize; I was quite overwhelmed by your charms. Gentleman recs: "The Duke Gets Even" by Joanna Shupe, "The Duke Who Knew Too Much" by Grace Callaway, "Waking Up with the Duke" by Lorraine Heath, "The Earl I Ruined" by Scarlett Peckham, "The Truth About Cads and Dukes" by Elisa Braden

THE SCOT

"Get on your (yer) hands and knees lass" is something you have a 60% chance of reading in a Scottish historical, and honestly? Bless. These heroes are from Scotland, which is in historical romances, "England but with an autumnal vibe" or "England but they do manual labor while also being rich and titled". They're usually (always) FUCKIN' GIGANTIC, a bit rougher around the edges, and more down to earth. Is this all stereotyping? Yes. Are they probably going to deliver a baby animal, go "look at its wee legs" and then fuck you in a stable? Yeah for sure. Scot recs: "When A Scot Ties the Knot" by Tessa Dare, "When A Girl Loves an Earl" by Elisa Braden ("put yer filthy Scot inside ye"), "The Taming a Highlander" by Elisa Braden, the entire Highland Guard series by Monica McCarty, "The Madness of Lord lan Mackenzie" by Jennifer Ashley, "When A Girl Loves an Earl" by Stacy Reid

THE TORTURED HERO

Look--he just doesn't wanna talk about it. The tortured hero has a dark past, which probably involves his childhood, may involve one or both of his parents dying (or a dead wife), and will be withheld from you for at least the first half of the book. He fucks like an absolute demon (usually to make you forget about the questions you asked regarding his scars; it's effective), he may have nightmares where he says what you think is his old lover's name so you steam about it for 20-50 pages and he's like "no, that's my childhood dog, which I had to eat when food became scarce", maybe his dad didn't love him, and he is more likely to be self made than some other heroes. Though he may also be a duke whose actions had consequences. There's a *distinct* possibility that he's mentally unwell, but everyone needs love. Your one big issue is that he... may not think he's worthy of touching you with his filthy hands. Somehow, you must overcome this. Tortured recs: "My Darling Duke" by Stacy Reid, "Dreaming of You" by Lisa Kleypas, "A Lady for a Duke" by Alexis Hall, "Pippa and the Prince of Secrets" by Grace Callaway, "Duke of Midnight" by Elizabeth Hoyt, "The Duke I Tempted" by Scarlett Peckham, "A Rogue by Any Other Name" by Sarah MacLean

THE GOOD GUY

Isn't that great for you? The good guy isn't a NICE guy. He doesn't expect sexual favors because he's nice to you; and he's so charming, he can probably get laid elsewhere. He may have a tragic backstory and a fatal flaw, but that's not going to get him down. He doesn't play at alpha male bullshit, and he may not be a duke, or a lord, or the owner of the world's first department store. But he's a Solid Guy. He will love, honor, and obey, and he will NOT! Do a nonsense. He will, however, eat pussy. He's a good guy. Good guy recs: "Unclaimed" by Courtney Milan, "Scandal in Spring" by Lisa Kleypas, "My Fake Rake" by Eva Leigh, "Unmasked by the Marquess" by Cat Sebastian

[skitskatdacat63]

I was looking for boot ref pics and then came across this painting

Oh my fucking god???????????????? Putting this one in the ref folder bcs oh my god??????????? They did not have to serve this hard?????????

[scotianostra]

21st September 1745 saw The Battle of Prestonpans.

The Battle of Prestonpans was the first significant conflict in the Jacobite Rising commonly known as the ‘45.

The subject of my earlier post, Walter Scott made the Battle of Prestonpans the centrepiece of his first novel Waverley, and another Edinburgh literary giant, Robert Louis Stevenson looks back on its importance in Kidnapped. The national bard Robert Burns also wrote about it and has connections with the area, his brother worked in Prestonpans and he is remembered around the town to this day.

The battle later reached the big screen with David Niven’s Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1948, and more recently Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander novels and TV series have brought the Battle of Prestonpans to audiences all around the world.

The victory became a symbol of Scottish resistance to British government rule, and of the negligence of Hanoverian military commanders.

Thanks to local knowledge and a thick haar that drifted in from the Firth of Forth, the Jacobite army filed along a narrow path during the wee small hours giving them the element of surprise over the redcoat army and General “Johnny Cope”

At 6am around 2,000 men drawn to the cause of Prince Charles Edward Stuart clashed with a larger force of some 3,000 government troops under the command of Sir John Cope close to the Firth of Forth in East Lothian.

Cope’s men, originally facing South, were forced to rapidly wheel around to face the Jacobites, who charged unexpectedly from the East.

British dragoon regiments, stationed on either flank of Cope’s infantry, abandoned their posts soon after fighting began, leaving the foot soldiers dangerously exposed.

Surrounded on three sides, the remaining Hanoverian force was swept aside in a little over ten minutes.

Hundreds of government troops were killed or wounded, and a further 1,500 taken prisoner by the Prince’s men, Jacobite casualties were light.

But while the rout took just a few minutes, Jacobite commanders had been far less confident about victory in the days leading up to it. There had been a few skirmishes, including at High Bridge in Lochaber in August, but this was the first large-scale confrontation with a sizeable Hanoverian force.

The Hanoverians were professional soldiers, infantry and dragoons, the forces at Cope's disposal were - or should have been - competent.

In contrast, contemporary accounts emphasise the role of poor Highlanders, who marched south with Prince Charles, in the Jacobite force. If the Jacobites had lost it would have been game over, especially since there was much dissension among the senior Jacobite commanders in the hours before the battle.

Several accounts of the battle emphasise how spooked Cope’s men were by the Highlanders, as well as their struggle to deploy heavy cannon and cavalry that should have given them an advantage. Cope is said to have been so frustrated by his artillery units that he dismissed them and sent word to Edinburgh for replacements. They did not arrive in time.

Despite being cleared of any negligence at a court martial in 1746, Sir John Cope’s reputation as a military commander was destroyed by Prestonpans, and never recovered.

Immortalised in Adam Skirving’s famous Scots song “Hey, Johnnie Cope, Are Ye Waking Yet?, Cope was characterised in contemporary accounts as a coward and a buffoon.

Fye now Johnnie, get up and run,

The Highland bagpipes mak a din,

It's better tae sleep in a hale skin.

For 'twill be a bloody morning.

When Johnnie Cope tae Dunbar came,

They spiered at him, 'where's a' your men?'

'The Deil confound me gin I ken,

For I left them a this morning.'

Skirving's song did much of the damage, but Burns also published a version and there wasn't much of a counter-narrative in his favour.

The site of Cope’s defeat - and the Jacobite’s surprise victory - has been listed in the Scottish Government’s national inventory of significant battle sites when that was established in 2009, and re-enactments of the fighting regularly take place.

A cairn in memory of the battle was erected in 1953 and others have been added throughout the years. A visitor centre is planned.

The illustration is from the hand of the late Andrew Hillhouse depicting the night march. https://www.andrewhillhouseprints.co.uk/gallery_660173.html

[eiraeths]

YALL

WHAT PUNK BANDS WOULD SOAP LISTEN TO

[illustratus]

An Incident of Waterloo by Charles Achille d'Hardiviller

[bantarleton]

Poignant images of the recent re-burial of 14 Revolutionary War bodies discovered at Camden, including one redcoat highlander. Members of the present-day Royal Regiment of Scotland were in attendance along with the reenactors. Research is currently being conducted to find any living relatives of the deceased. Images from the 71st Regiment of Foot Facebook page.

[vox-anglosphere]

All that remains of the bloodiest battle on British soil is a simple cross