 |
| "The Terrorist or the Dreamer'...Banners of William Wallace & Bobby Sands at Celtic Park |
For over a millennia, the Gaels of both
lands fought and often united against a common enemy- Vikings, Normans and
English. Foreign invasions for these indigenous peoples brought brutal
repression, famine, ethnic cleansing, colonisation, enslavement, forced
emigration and suppression of their Gaelic culture with the threat ever present since the
twelfth century of being subsumed into an imperial English society
and state.
 |
| Celtic Music Festival, Kansas, USA |
Last year's referendum on Scottish
independence did not lead to the emergence of another Celtic-influenced nation arising
from the ashes of assimilation to stand once again as an equal entity in peace
with its English neighbour. But that day will I believe happen some time in the future. Even though the Scottish National Party (SNP) lost its campaign for independence, nevertheless it has emerged re-energised, its membership dramatically increased especially appealing to a youth disillusioned with a staid London-centric political establishment, its new female leader winning hands-down in televised debates with her political British and Scottish adversaries in the lead-up to the Westminster general election. The result is that the party has caused the greatest political upheaval in centuries on the island by winning an unprecedented 56 of the 59 Westminster Scottish seats. In the process, it has wiped the Labour Party off the landscape much as Sinn Féin did to the old Irish Parliamentary Party during the 1918 Westminster elections.
There is now a political faultline separating Scotland from England. Can Saor Alba now be far off?
I personally have a deep affinity with the Scots. My maternal grandparents are Agnews, an ancient Gaelic family originally known during the Medieval period as O'Gnimh, whose ancestral homeland was in what is now county Antrim but was once part of Dál Riata (Dalriada) a Gaelic territory that included parts of western Scotland and north eastern Ireland. My maternal great grandmother was Eccles, a name associated with the Scottish borderlands. When I first travelled to Scotland I felt as if I had been there before. I love the emotive sound of the Scottish bagpipes, the Scottish accent and Scottish traditional dance. My heroes include William Wallace, the medieval Scottish liberation hero, and James Connolly, the radical republican leader.
My favourite soccer team is Glasgow Celtic and I long for the day when I can be in Celtic Park to join with the fans in singing the Fields
of Athenry.
There is now a political faultline separating Scotland from England. Can Saor Alba now be far off?
I personally have a deep affinity with the Scots. My maternal grandparents are Agnews, an ancient Gaelic family originally known during the Medieval period as O'Gnimh, whose ancestral homeland was in what is now county Antrim but was once part of Dál Riata (Dalriada) a Gaelic territory that included parts of western Scotland and north eastern Ireland. My maternal great grandmother was Eccles, a name associated with the Scottish borderlands. When I first travelled to Scotland I felt as if I had been there before. I love the emotive sound of the Scottish bagpipes, the Scottish accent and Scottish traditional dance. My heroes include William Wallace, the medieval Scottish liberation hero, and James Connolly, the radical republican leader.
 |
| Remembering An Gorta Mór (Great Famine), Emigration & Brother Walfrid. Celtic Park, Glasgow. |
So let us examine what the Irish did for
their Scottish cousins!
The
name 'Scotland' is called after an Irish tribe
 |
| Territory of Dál Riata (green) |
Irish Helped the Picts against the Romans
In the winter of 367AD what is known as the
Great Barbarian Conspiracy took place. A coordinated series of attacks across
the sea and land frontiers of Roman Britain almost led to the collapse of
imperial rule on the island. The Scots of Hibernia (Ireland), the Picts and
Attacotti from Caledonia (Scotland) and the Saxons from Germania (Holland)
overwhelmed Roman military units across Britannia. The invaders were defeated in the following year by an
imperial army commanded by Flavius Theodosius.
 |
| Pict warrior, http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk |
Irish Gaelic became Language of Scotland
During the 5th and 6th
centuries many languages where spoken in Caledonia- Gaelic, Pictish, Brittonic
(Old Welsh, Cumbric) and later Old English in the southern areas. But with the
expansion of the Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata, Gaelic language and customs began
to dominate. Gaelicisation was complete by the final absorption of the last
Cumbric kingdom (Strathclyde) into Scotland in the 11th century. But by
then many of the peoples of lower Scotland had already adopted Gaelic ways.
First King of Scotland was from Irish 'Dál Riata'
Some historians refer to Fergus Mór Mac
Eirc, a 5th century king
of Dál Riata and descendant of Irish kings, as the first king of Scotland. Most
experts though refer to the ninth century Cináed mac Ailpín (anglicised as
Kenneth MacAlpin) son of Alpin king of Dal Riata, as the first King of the
Scots as well as the King of the Picts (Alba). This amalgamation of the
kingdoms of the Scots and of the Picts (Alba) may have occurred as a reaction against
the onslaughts by Viking raiders who devastated these territories from the late
8th century onwards.
Coronation Stone of Scottish Kings came
from Ireland
 |
| Lia Fáil in Coronation Chair |
According to legend it was the (or part of)
coronation stone of the ancient High Kings of Ireland who lived at Tara in
county Meath which was taken by Fergus Mac Erc a 5th century king of
Dál Riata to Argyll where he was crowned.
In 1296 the Stone was seized by Edward 1 of
England and taken to Westminster Abbey where it was fitted into a wooden chair
and on which subsequent English
sovereigns have been crowned. It was used for the coronation of the present
Queen Elizabeth 11 in 1953.
Scottish Kings were buried at an Irish Monastery(Iona)
Kenneth MacAlpin was the first of 48 kings
of Scotland to be buried on the island of Iona located in the Inner Hebrides.
Legendary Irish macho Warrior helped make Scottish Women famous for their fighting skills
Cú Chulainn, the greatest of Irish
mythology warriors, learnt his weaponry and martial arts skills from the famed female
teacher Scáthach who lived in the fortress of Dun Scáthach (fort of the shadows) on the Isle of
Skye off the north-west of Scotland.
After their military training was near
completed, Scáthach then upskilled her young male protégés in the art of
lovemaking!
According to legend, Aífe (or Aoife,) a
rival female warrior launched an attack on Scáthach’s fort. As her champion, Cuchulainn took her on
in single combat. Aife though
shattered his sword and just before she delivered the killing blow, he cried
out that her horses and chariot (her most treasured possessions) were falling
over a cliff. Temporarily distracted by this ploy, she was overpowered and
imprisoned by Cuchulainn. The story goes that he spared her life on condition
that she ceased hostilities against Scáthach and spent a night of passion with
him. She duly obliged.
Loch Ness Monster- First written account came from an Irishman
In his ‘Life of Columba’ the 7th
century Irish-born Saint Adomnán and abbot of Iona gave the first written account of the Loch Ness Monster. Whilst
undertaking missionary work in the land of the Picts, Columba and his companions came across a group of
local people burying a man who had been attacked by a water monster while
swimming in Lock Ness. He ordered one of his followers to swim across the
lake. The creature appeared and went after the swimmer. Columba raised his
hand, made the sign of the cross and called out, "You will go no further,
and won't touch the man; go back at once." At once the monster fled.
Hard-working Irish spider inspire Robert the Bruce
 |
| Robert the Bruce and the spider. Illustration from Picture Lives of the Great Heroes (Thomas Nelson, c 1880). |
The legend goes that whilst hiding out in a cave, he observed a little spider spinning a web, trying to make a connection
from one section of the cave's roof to another. Each time the spider failed, it
began again until it finally succeeded. Bruce was so inspired and reinvigorated
by this that he returned to Scotland to renew the war against the Normans which
culminated in his great victory at Bannockburn and independence for Scotland.
Gaelic Irish fought with the Scots at Bannockburn
Gaelic clansmen from northern Ireland fought
with the Scots at the decisive Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Opposing them in
the army of Edward 11 were their enemies in Ireland, namely the Anglo-Normans
led by Walter de Burgh, 1st Earl of Ulster, whose daughter Elizabeth was actually married
to Bruce.
Robert and his only living brother Edward
(the three other brothers had been executed by the English) envisioned a great
Celtic alliance of Scots, Irish and the Welsh against the Norman-English. They also wanted to curtail the supply
of food and men to the Norman armies of northern England bordering Scotland. So
in May 1315, Edward landed with a Scottish army near Larne. Some historians speculate that Edward
had lived in Ulster previously, fostered as a child to one of the Ulster clans,
possibly the O’Neills. Proclaimed High King of Ireland, securing the support of
many of the Gaelic clans he initially won a series of resounding victories against
the Anglo-Normans. But the Irish campaign coincided with a European wide famine
that made it almost impossible to keep armies in the field and it ended in
failure in 1318 at the Battle of Faughart when Edward was killed.
Irish troops & funds for Rebellion of 1746 & Bonnie Prince
Charlie
In 1688 Prince William of Orange and his wife Mary Stuart were declared
co-regents of England, Scotland and Ireland by the Westminster Parliament after
deposing James II who had converted to Catholicism. Many Scot and Irish Gaels
on Catholicism took the side of
the James and his Stuart family against their Anglican Protestant opponents. They
were known as Jacobeans (after the Latin for James).
The largest Jacobean revolt began in 1745 with the landing of Bonnie
Prince Charlie (grandson of James 11) in Scotland. The ships that brought the prince and his followers to the
country were provided by Irish exiles based in France. Military aid for the rebels
was secured by Irishman Lord Charles O’Brien, Viscount
Clare, commander of the Irish Brigade in the army of King Louis XV and later
Marshal of France.
300 volunteers from the Lally, Dillon and
Ruth regiments of the Irish Brigade arrived in Scotland along with 500 soldiers
of the French 'Royal Scots' regiment. Hundreds more Irish troops were onboard
ships bound for Scotland but, intercepted by the English fleet, they were
unable to get to their destination. Later elements of an Irish cavalry unit the
Fitzjames' Horse got through from France to join the rebels.
Of the Prince’s famous inner council known
as the Seven Men of Moidart, four were Irish.
All these Irishmen were eager to defeat the
English King George (of the German Hanoverian dynasty) and in so doing hoped to
liberate their homeland from the British Protestant colonists.
Whilst the Stuart army primarily comprised Highland
irregulars, it was the professional presence of the Irish (Picquets) and Royal
Scots soldiery that played a large part in the Jacobeans initially securing a
string of victories and advancing as far as Derby in the English midlands.
At the battle of Culloden Moor it was the
Irish regular troops who bravely covered the Highlanders retreat and prevented
a full scale massacre.
Irish Maid disguise saved Bonnie Prince Charlie
19th & 20th
Century Irish Emigration provided workers for Scottish industry
 |
| From www.educationscotland.gov.uk |
Because of its geographical proximity and cultural similarities,
Scotland was an obvious destination for destitute Irish seeking paid work.
From the early 19th century, thousands of Irish undertook
temporary seasonal work in Scottish farms picking potatoes and other crops. In the summer of 1841, 57,651 Irish labourers, crossed to England
and Scotland to work on the harvest. These men travelling back and forth every year
were a feature of life in rural Donegal and other Ulster counties up until the
late 1950s. But as a result of the Great Famine,
there was from the 1840s an exodus of Irish leaving for Scotland and elsewhere
in Britain who were looking to settle permanently. They primarily settled in the
industrial areas of the west of Scotland especially Glasgow, as well as in Dundee,
in the
mining communities of the Lothians and in Airdrie, Coatbridge and Motherwell.
Between 1841
and 1851 the Irish population of Scotland increased by 90% giving a total
Irish-born population in the year of 207,367, or 7.2%, out of a total of
2,888,742. It was estimated that in
1851, somewhere between a half to three-quarters of all dock-labourers and
two-thirds of miners in Great Britain were Irish. In the same year Irish women
constituted 44.3% of female textile workers in Greenock. Because Scotland was largely a
Protestant country at this time and the majority of the Irish immigrants were
Catholics, racism and sectarianism was on the increase. This was reinforced by
the arrival of skilled Protestant textile workers from eastern Ulster who
brought with them their anti-Catholic of the Orange Order. Discrimination and
hostility against the Irish increased. They were looked on as stealing the jobs
of the indigenous working classes, bringing in disease and followers of a
superstitious religion.
In Dumfriesshire and
Galloway there are plenty of Irishmen ready to take the bread out of the mouths
of our own poor. An Irishman who lives in a hovel, feeds on potatoes and
neither clothes or educates his children, can always work for less than a Scot.
There are too many people who employ only the cheapest workers and do not think
of the consequences.
The Dumfries Courier, 1845.
The immigration of such a number of people from the
lowest class and with no education will have a bad effect on the population. So
far, living among the Scots does not seem to have improved the Irish, but the
native Scots who live among the Irish have got worse. It is difficult to
imagine the effect the Irish immigrants will have upon the morals and habits of
the Scottish people."
Report from the Scottish Census of 1871 on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish-Scots
Report from the Scottish Census of 1871 on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish-Scots
(Note: Thanks to Irish Genealogy Toolkit and the educationscotland.gov.uk
website for statistics and facts included in the above paragraph).
So from the mid-19th century, Irish expat religious and
community leaders began to put in place programmes and policies designed to
improve the lives of the people living in the predominantly poor Irish urban
neighbourhoods.
Glasgow
Celtic was founded by Irish emigrants
Celtic Football Club, the most famous club
in the history of Scottish soccer, was founded in 1887 by Brother Walfrid of
the Catholic Marist order with the purpose of alleviating poverty amongst the
Irish immigrant population of the east end of Glasgow by raising money for the
charity he had established,
the Poor
Children's Dinner Table. The name 'Celtic', the logo of the Celtic Cross
and its green and white colours all testify to the club's strong Irish and
Scottish roots. Walfrid, whose original name was Andrew Kerins, was born on May
18th 1840 in the village of Ballymote in county Sligo.
In 1892, the
club moved to a new location at a disused brickyard at Janefield Street, just
200 yards from the old site. The first turf, which had been transported from county
Donegal was laid by the famous Irish republican leader Michael Davitt and
planted with shamrocks, the symbol of Ireland.
Today in the
year 2014 one can witness on a match day in Celtic Park hundreds of Irish tricolour
flags held aloof by supporters dressed in green still proudly singing traditional
Irish rebel songs.
Hibernian FC was founded by Irish emigrants
The name comes from the ancient Roman name for Ireland meaning the land of the winters. The Irish heritage of Hibernian is still reflected, however, in its name, colours and badge (featuring an Irish harp).
The club
were supporters of the Irish Home Rule party. James Connolly, son of Irish immigrants, one of the founders
of Irish republicanism and a leader of the 1916 Easter Rising against British
rule in Ireland, was a fan of the club when he lived in the Cowgate district of
Edinburgh which was known at the time as Little Ireland.
Dundee
United was founded by the Irish community in the industrial town of Dundee in
1909.
Up until 1923 the club was known as Dundee Hibernian and wore the traditional Irish colours of green and white.
Up until 1923 the club was known as Dundee Hibernian and wore the traditional Irish colours of green and white.
Irish Mother's republicanism influenced George Galloway's anti-imperialism
Irish republicanism inspired modern Scottish nationalism
The revival of Scottish nationalism in the
early 20th century was heavily influenced by what was happening in
Ireland, particularly Sinn Féin’s overwhelming victory in the December 1918
general election that was recognised as a key milestone in Irish history.
Author Patrick Witt, in his study “Connections across the North Channel: Ruaraidh Erskine and Irish Influence in Scottish Discontent, 1906-1920", outlines how Ruairidh Erskine (Ruairaidh Arascain) the founding father of militant Scottish republicanism was an admirer of Arthur Griffith and Padráig Pearse whom he had met and corresponded with on reviving Gaelic culture. He evenly appealed in 1920/1921 to the IRA to support a Scottish uprising. His request was turned down by IRA commander Michael Collins who felt such an military action would not succeed. But Ruairidh went on to help establish the Scots National League in 1921 which was the direct predecessor of the National Party of Scotland the first political party to campaign for Scottish self-determination that eventually metamorphosed into the Scottish National Party, which today forms the government and largest party at the parliament in Edinburgh.
Highly Influential 1995 film Braveheart was made in Ireland
Gibson portrays William Wallace a 13th-century Scottish warrior who led the Scots in the First War of Scottish Independence against the English king, Edward 1.
The film is recognised as having played a significant role in generating popular interest in Scottish history across the world and in support within Scotland and amongst the Scottish Diaspora for national independence.
Much of the film was shot in Ireland, many of the leading actors were Irish and the opposing armies were made up of 1,600 Irish Army reservists.
