The Flowers of the Forest

On the ninth of September of 1513, was the day when the protestant, so called, reformation won Scotland. The event did not happen in Scotland, neither lollardy or Luther were involved; it was the Battle of Flodden Field, near Branxton, England. It was a critical moment, that, changed the future, in ways that one could not see at the time.

The King of the Scots, James IV Stewart, invaded Northumberland, England, while, the future heresiarch, Henry VIII was at war, against France, on the continent. The english were led by Thomas Howard, the Earl of Surrey. It was the largest confrontation between the two nations. It was a wet and windy day, that had men battle in mud, so muddy, that many men unshod themselves, so as to have some control of mobility. The scot army was reduced by desertions, but still greater. Scot heavy cannon and pike, were outdone by the english light cannon, bill and longbowmen and better command.

Jamie had position, Jamie had numbers, Jamie had bravery. Jamie had two hours. The engagement began at 4 in the afternoon, it stopped with the fall of darkness. It was not seen until day broke, the extent of the english victory.

Jamie was dead, his son Alexander, the Archbishop of Saint Andrews and Lord Chancellor was dead, many men of high social rank were dead, ten thousand scots were dead; seven times greater than the english dead. The scots remembered the event with the song and tune, The Flowers of the Forest.*

I’ve heard the lilting, at the yowe-milking,
Lassies a-lilting before dawn o’ day;
But now they are moaning on ilka green loaning;
“The Flowers of the Forest are a’ wede† away”.

Dool and wae for the order sent oor lads tae the Border!
The English for ance, by guile wan the day,
The Flooers o’ the Forest, that fought aye the foremost,
The pride o’ oor land lie cauld in the clay.

I’ve heard the lilting, at the yowe-milking,
Lassies a-lilting before dawn o’ day;
But now they are moaning on ilka green loaning;
“The Flowers of the Forest are a’ wede away”.

So many scots were dead, that the nation could not hold against the Tudors and heresy, when they challenged during the next generation. English gold bought the Douglas family and other nobles. The next Jamie was king at 17 months, and a prisoner, as a child, to his Douglas stepfather. Henry invaded and Solway Moss was another scottish defeat, James V Stewart died soon after that battle in 1542. His daughter, Mary Stuart, was Queen of Scots at six days of age. Edinburgh was burned in1544. John Knox was supported by the english. Cardinal Beaton was murdered in 1546. The english, had at this point, made Scotland a protestant client state.

“It came wi’ a lass, it’ll gang wi’ a lass.” — James V

________________________
*Jean Elliot’s mid-eighteenth century version. The tune is a mediæval pentatonic modal tune.
†withered

Sound the pibroch

On the 16th of April 1746, at Drummossie Moor, Culloden, the Jacobite army was defeated by the Hanoverians. The Jacobites were pre-dominately catholic Highland Scots, who fought for the Stuart cause, the clan system and a free Scotland. This was to be the last battle fought on the isle of Britain. They were met by english cannon and William Augustus, the Duke of Cumberland, captain-general, younger son of George II and a ruthless butcher.

Surviving scots, who had been loyal to the auld cause, were hunted down without mercy. This went beyond the men at arms, to their families: brutal killing, pauperisation, loss of land and animals, deportation and enslavement. As Cromwell had done to the Irish, the previous century, the Butcher Cumberland did do to the Highlanders. The possession of items, that were symbols of the highlands and the scots, became capital offenses: the tartan, the pipes, claymores. A cultural genocide of sorts was implemented, but not fully achieved. Scotland as an independent nation died that day. The Stuart cause was lost, and the Stuarts had not done their supporters well again. Catholicism was reduced. The use, and especially the written use, of the auld tongue was suppressed.The clan system was destroyed. Such was the harrying of the glens and the highland clearances. Of course those who sided with the english prospered. What had been Scotland, became the north of Britain.

Saint Andrew Day

The Oxford English Dictionary's word of the day is saltire:

An ordinary in the form of a St. Andrew's cross, formed by a bend and a bend sinister, crossing each other; also, a cross having this shape. Hence, in saltire: crossed like the limbs of a St. Andrew's cross.

While that definition is in terms of heraldry, in religious terms it is the crux decussata. Sanctus Andreas ad crucem decussatam crucifixus est. May Andrew's standard fly over all Scotland. The flag of the russian navy is also a saltire of Saint Andrew. When communism fell in Russia, and Yeltsin defended democracy, of the flags in the crowds, you could see the old tricolor and this one. Saint Andrew is a russian patron, since his ministry was carried out on the shores of the Black Sea.

He was the first of the apostles of Jesus. Andrew had been a disciple of John the Baptist, he recognised Jesus as the Messias. He brought his brother, Simon (Peter), to Jesus. They fished and lived together. They went with Jesus; and as Jesus, they too, were crucified. Jesus on some sort of T, Peter on an upside down T, and Andrew on an X, hence the shape of his flag. The date of his martyrdom was 30 November 60, in Patrae, Achaia, Greece.

In the last few years, there has been some controversy, concerning the advocacy of a greater public celebration of the day in Scotland, some nationalistic, some religious. It is of some political posturing of which flag is flown: Andy’s saltire, the scot’s ancient national flag vis-à-vis the british Union Jack.

Of all the european countries, it seems, Scotland has the fewest holidays. Some want Saint Andrew’s day as a full legal holiday. Some want a national celebration, in honor of the saint. But, how did the scots develop an affection for Andrew? Well, in the eighth century, some* of the relics (bones) of Andrew made it to the pictish lands. A town developed around the monastery and church there. Not long after, the picts and the scots coalesced into a combined kingdom and nation. The primacy, of the scottish church, was transferred to Abernethy from Dunkeld, and finally to Saint Andrews.

In the late middle ages, the cathedral of Saint Andrew became the largest building in Scotland. The university also came and slowly grew from 1411. Then John Knox inspired a mob to wreck and sack the cathedral and other buildings, in 1559. Here the relics were lost, probably destroyed in the glee of vandalism and sacrilege. The stones of the building were scavenged for other projects, and a great deal of the town was in ruins.
_________________________
* Often relics have been divided and dispersed. Most of Andy’s bones are in the Duomo (Cathedral) of Saint Andrew in Amalfi, Italy.