#Jacobite.

[scotianostra]

On March 23rd 1708 a French fleet with James Francis Edward Stuart reached the Firth of Forth

where they tried to land James on the Fife shore at the head of a 5,000-strong French army. They were prevented from doing so by English warships under Admiral Byng combined with bad weather.

The French admiral in charge of the fleet called off the attempt, refusing James' pleas to be put ashore, alone if necessary. James returned had no choice but to France.

[connorphilpphotography]

The Jacobite, Glenfinnan Viaduct

[bantarleton]

A recreated trooper of Cobham’s Dragoons as he would have looked during the 1745 Jacobite Rising.

[adventuresofalgy]

[Please click on the image to see it at a reasonable size.]

Algy fluttered over the deep chasm to the highest point on the headland, just a few metres away, and gazed in awe at the panorama around him, which was so extensive that he could only see a small part of it at a time.

But a very special view lay to the north-east, for looking out in this direction Algy could not only see a wide expanse of the Sea of the Hebrides but some decisive moments in Scottish history.

Algy wondered which birds might have perched in this very spot in the years 1745 and 1746, for what they would have seen changed Scotland for centuries to come, right up until the present day. Did they see that wee boat, over there in the distance, which brought Bonnie Prince Charlie and his followers on the final stage of their journey to Scotland from France in the summer of 1745? Algy could see a boat over there now, but he thought that it was probably not the same one…

Did his fluffy ancestral cousins fly that short distance over the water to watch the young prince make his way up to Glenfinnan at the head of Loch Shiel to rally the clans (a spot now famous for a much less significant reason)? It was a route well known to Algy…

And did they, a year later, see the prince and his men, fleeing from the battlefield of Culloden and the English army, set out again from Loch nan Uamh, just over there where the mainland meets the sea? And not once, but twice: first to escape pursuit in the outer islands, and then finally, in the early hours of September 20, 1746, to sail away to France, never to return…?

And did those birds add their cries to the laments of the folk left behind to face the wrath and terror of Cumberland's army? What stories those birds could tell if only Algy could meet them now…

Here is one of those laments, which remains ever popular, performed by some young Canadian musicians including a singer with a beautiful voice.❣️ The landscape is all wrong, but the song is all right ☺️

[Will ye no come back again was written by the late 18th/early 19th Scottish songwriter Carolina Oliphant, Lady Nairne.]

[vox-anglosphere]

Loch-Shiel

[dampfloks]

The Jacobite

45 407 The Lancashire Fusilier LMS Stanier Class 5-4-6-0 ‚Black Five’ Hier auf dem Glenfinnan Viaduct, Inverness-shire (Siorrachd Inbhir Nis), Schottland.\ Der Zug fährt von Ford Williams (An Gearasdan) nach Mallaig und wurde nach den Jakobiten, deren letzter Aufstand gegen die britische Krone 1745 in Glenfinnan seinen Anfang nahm.

The Jacobite

45 407 The Lancashire Fusilier LMS Stanier Class 5-4-6-0 'Black Five' Here on the Glenfinnan Viaduct, Inverness-shire (Siorrachd Inbhir Nis), Scotland The train runs from Ford Williams (An Gearasdan) to Mallaig and was named after the Jacobites, whose last uprising against the British Crown began in Glenfinnan in 1745.

The Jacobite

45 407 Le Fusilier du Lancashire LMS Stanier Class 5-4-6-0 'Black Five' (cinq noirs) lci sur le Glenfinnan Viaduct, Inverness-shire (Siorrachd Inbhir Nis), Écosse Le train circule de Ford Williams (An Gearasdan) à Mallaig et a été baptisé du nom des Jacobites, dont la dernière révolte contre la couronne britannique a débuté à Glenfinnan en 1745.

[sgiandubh]

JAMMF, 303

James Alexander Malcolm Mackenzie Fraser is today 303. Born to both strife and greatness, on Beltane Day.

Fictional characters never die for good, their energy keeps on lingering somewhere, in a corner of our heart. So, here's a heartfelt Happy Birthday to a formidable character that one day chose to possess Herself's imagination and brought us all together, in this strange digital limbo of sorts.

Despite his rock-solid appearance, JAMMF is a real chameleon. My favorite JAMMF is perhaps the least talked about one. The Diplomat. Of course.

This guy, playing chess at Versailles (in reality, it's Prague, and a sizably different kind of Baroque, but let's not nitpick, here). A wonderful metaphor for what diplomacy was, is and always will be: a sophisticated game of chess.

While in Paris, JAMMF is acting, in plain sight, as a diplomatic agent of sorts on behalf of Bonnie Prince Charlie's embryo of a government in exile. Desperately hoping and fruitlessly waiting for more. And making a very bad, emotional job of it all, when emotions are least needed, despite all those best laid plans. Still, he does exactly what a diplomat posted abroad would do. He meets all the important honchos, he brilliantly entertains all those people at his open table, he mingles with princes and beggars alike and of course, he dutifully reports in writing about all this, back to Scotland.

It is, therefore, a pity and a shame that Herself did not utter a single word, in Dragonfly in Amber, about the real Jacobite meeting place in Paris: Sorbonne's Collegium Scoticum/Scots College, or Collège des Écossais, founded in 1333, by an edict of the Parliament of Paris (what we would call today the local council) and as a belated, yet important consequence of the Auld Alliance treaty between France, Scotland and Norway:

This is a place with a rich and minutely documented history, so much so that the adjoining street soon came to be known as the rue des Ecossais (Scots' Street), instead of rue des Amandiers (Almond Tree Street).

The building is still there, albeit with a different destination, a private Catholic elementary school. And a plaque inside the main building tells part of the story, in Latin:

Meaning:

In 1325, under the reigns of Charles the Fair, in France and Robert the Bruce, in Scotland, David de Moravia, bishop of Murray founded this college. In 1604, Jacques de Bethun, archbishop of Glasgow made a seminary out of it, given to the perpetual administration of the Carthusian Order's Superior of Paris [later edit, forgot to translate that properly and the French version I eventually took out is incomplete, sorry!]. In 1639, the whole was placed under the authority of the King of France and the Archbishop of Paris, their supreme authority being solemnly ratified by the Parliament of Paris. In memory of the founders, the priests and the alumni, may they rest in peace!

[Later edit]: the eight year difference in records reflects the time it took for the Parliament of Paris to acknowledge the College's existence and offer its due legal protection. So: founded by the bishop of Murray in 1325 and legally authorized by the Parliament of Paris in 1333. Both dates are legit founding landmarks and can be quoted accordingly.

[please-dont-pet-the-okapi]

Me, giving a lecture to my students: ...and he was nicknamed "The Young Pretender," but the Jacobites called him "Bonnie Prince Charlie"--

Student in the front row: ..."Barbie"? "Barbie Prince Charlie"?

Me: ..."BONNIE Prince Charlie."

My brain, the rest of the lecture:

[acrossthewavesoftime]

My textbook knows how I like Ireland:

[scotland]

Glenfinnan Viaduct, nestled in the Scottish Highlands, is a captivating railway bridge with 21 arches, weaving gracefully through the dramatic glen.

Famous for its role in the Harry Potter films, it's where the Hogwarts Express journeyed to the wizarding world.

A picturesque setting and an engineering marvel, it's a must-visit for those who appreciate natural beauty and cinematic history.

Hop aboard a steam train for a magical journey over this iconic viaduct that's sure to leave you spellbound.

[scotianostra]

The 1st of May 1690 saw Battle of the Haughs of Cromdale.

Jacobite Clansmen  were defeated by Government Forces under Sir Thomas Livingstone. Despite being a relatively minor encounter, this battle marked the effective end of this Jacobite rising.

By this point the Jacobites were led by Sir Ewen Cameron, who supported King James. The Jacobites requested aid from King James who was engaged in resisting a threatened invasion of Ireland. He sent arms, ammunition and provisions but also a few Irish officers including Major-General Thomas Buchan, who James instructed would led the Jacobite forces.

At a meeting at Keppoch of the Jacobite Clans in support of King James agreed to continue with the war but only after the spring. In the meantime Major-General Thomas Buchan and 1,200 infantry would attempt to weaken the British Government forces.

Major-General Thomas Buchan decided to march down through Strathspey in order to try to gain support from clansmen within the Duke of Gordon’s country in Moray. A number of his men deserted reducing his men to 800. A number of his Scottish officers advised him to not advance past Culnakill, however Buchan ordered his men to march down the Spey as far as Cromdale, where he encamped on the last day of April.

British Government forces and Clans in support of them, included a 600 strong contingent from Clan Grant, met the Jacobite forces at Cromdale. They were led by Sir Thomas Livingston who commanded a garrison at Inverness. As the British Government forces approached, the Jacobites made a brief stand, but on realising they were outnumbered they retreated. A mist came down from the hillside, which allowed most to make their escape resulting in 400 casualties.

James Hogg wrote about the battle in his “Jacobite Reliques” it went….

The loyal Stuarts, with Montrose, So boldly set upon their foes, And brought them down with Highland blows Upon the Haughs of Cromdale. Of twenty-thousand Cromwell’s men, a thousand fled to Aberdeen, The rest of them lie on the plain, They’re on the Haughs of Cromdale.

Of twenty-thousand of Cromwell’s men,

a-thousand fled to Aberdeen, The rest of them lie on the plain, They’re on the Haughs of Cromdale.

I’m not sure what Hogg was on when he wrote this as Montrose was long dead, having been hung in  Edinburgh in May 1650, Cromwell also died in 1658.  That aside it is a cracking song, if historically incorrect. Roy Williamson of the Corries tries to explain this before their rendition

[connorphilpphotography]

The Jacobite at Glenfinnan Viaduct

[ripplefactor]

If you're wanting to go over the sea to Skye, take The Jacobite from Fort William to Mallaig .. Photographer unknown ..

[bantarleton]

An absolutely brilliant reenactment of the 23rd Foot - Royal Welsh Fusiliers - during the 1745 Jacobite Rising/War of the Austrian Succession.

[adventuresofalgy]

Algy flew over to a point on the far side of the headland where the rough moorland suddenly fell away vertically to the wild ocean below. It posed no danger to a fluffy bird who could launch himself into the sky at a moment's notice, but for an unwary human who took a step too far this spot could potentially be fatal, for the edge of the cliffs was concealed by the lush growth of grass and heather, and there was nothing but jagged rocks below and the endless pounding of the surf.

Of course on such a beautiful autumn day as this the ocean looked just as meek and innocent as a newborn lamb, but Algy knew only too well that when the winds got up it would rage and crash on those hidden rocks beneath him with a tremendous roar that could be heard a mile inland, and huge white horses would gallop across the surface of the sea in enormous numbers. Woe betide anyone who tried to cross it then!

Making himself comfortable among the long autumn grasses on a cushion of soft moss, Algy gazed out across the beautiful Sea of the Hebrides. On a clear day he could see many of the islands of the Inner Hebrides from this spot, and on the far western horizon it was often possible to make out the shadowy forms of the southernmost of the outer islands too.

Inevitably he began to sing a song which he had learned long ago, when he was just a tiny wee fluffy chick. For there in front of him, just behind the low lying island of Muck, was the Isle of Rum on the left, Eigg on the right and, just visible in the gap between them, the mountains of the Isle of Skye. And quite close behind him, although out of sight from the headland, lay the rather less romantic island of Mull:

Sing me a song of a lad that is gone,  Say, could that lad be I?  Merry of soul he sailed on a day  Over the sea to Skye.  Mull was astern, Rum on the port,  Eigg on the starboard bow;  Glory of youth glowed in his soul;  Where is that glory now?  Sing me a song of a lad that is gone,  Say, could that lad be I?  Merry of soul he sailed on a day  Over the sea to Skye.  Give me again all that was there,  Give me the sun that shone!  Give me the eyes, give me the soul,  Give me the lad that's gone!  Sing me a song of a lad that is gone,  Say, could that lad be I?  Merry of soul he sailed on a day  Over the sea to Skye.  Billow and breeze, islands and seas, Mountains of rain and sun, All that was good, all that was fair,  All that was me is gone.

Algy is singing the version of the lyrics he learned as a chick, written by the 19th century Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, and usually titled Sing me a song of a lad that is gone (N.B. that's lad, not lass!). Algy doesn't watch television, but he understands that it is the Stevenson lyrics which were adapted to become the theme song of the popular TV series Outlander.

In fact, if this is a description of the final Hebridean voyage of Bonnie Prince Charlie "over the sea to Skye" in August 1746 it is quite wrong, for the Young Pretender actually crossed from the outer Hebribdean island of Benbecula to a north-western point on the Isle of Skye before he left for France, and could not have come anywhere near the islands of Rum, Eigg or Mull. But if Stevenson was referring to the prince's initial flight from the mainland to the islands in April 1746, after the Battle of Culloden, it might make more sense, as on that occasion he sailed from a point close to Arisaig (just out of sight on the right horizon of Algy's photo) and could well have passed the islands in that way. On that occasion, however, the prince did not land in Skye as the boat was blown off course in stormy weather. There seems to be some confusion!

The "original" version of the lyrics of the Skye Boat Song, as it is usually called, does not mention the islands at all. This was written slightly earlier, by an English baronet, Sir Harold Boulton. Although it is often assumed that this is a traditional Scottish song it is not, except in the melody, which is said to be taken from a Gaelic rowing song (which had nothing to do with Bonnie Prince Charlie), which a mid-19th century collector heard on a trip to Skye and set down as best she could remember it. However, the song was very popular from the outset and was quickly adopted as a Scottish song both in Scotland and elsewhere. Over time it has gone through many versions, sometimes a "mashup" of the two originals, and sometimes with entirely new lyrics.

It is said that Stevenson, who was indeed a Scot, didn't like Boulton's lyrics, considering them insufficiently plaintive. But Boulton's lyrics do convey much more of the context of Bonnie Prince Charlie's flight [here is one account, though there are many others], so Algy thought you might enjoy the version below, although with the caveat that you should ignore the YouTube channel on which it appears unless you sympathize with its purpose. It was the only place he could find a complete copy of this very atmospheric, illustrated version sung by the Scottish musician Alastair McDonald: