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Showing posts from January, 2019

The Union of Parliaments 1707

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THE HISTORICAL TRUTHS BEHIND THE UNION 1.Two Unions There were in  fact  two Unions , the Union of the Crowns in 1603 and the Union of the Parliaments in 1707. The   former occurred when Elizabeth 1  died  childless and  was succeeded  by James  Vl of Scotland (a second  cousin ) who became James 1 of the United Kingdoms of Scotland and England . Both  countries continued  to have their own Parliaments and separate legal systems . 2. The Darien Scheme   Darien is a rainforest  In 1632 Scotland lost Nova Scotia – her only colony – as a result of the English war against France. England’s Dutch wars subsequently compromised valuable trading privileges upon which Scottish merchants had previously relied. Scottish over...

Who were the Picts ?

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Who were the Picts ? Picts , Gaels and Scots ( Foster, SM, 1996) Who were the Picts ? Picts , Gaels and Scots ( Foster, SM, 1996) Classical and later historic sources use a variety of evolving terms to signify the people who inhabited Scotland and /or their territorial divisions prior to the late eighth century. Of these terms Picti , first recorded in 297 and derived from the Picts’ own name for themselves , or possibly a Roman nickname meaning ” the painted ones” , has been the most enduring . Then as in later Classical sources, the Picts were referred to as assailants of the Roman frontier in Britain. Much ink has been spilt over what the ancient writers meant by Picts, but it seems to be a generic term for people living north of the Forth - Clyde isthmus who raided the Roman Empire. There is a distinction in archaeological remains to north and south of the Forth- Clyde isthmus in the early centuries w...