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Online museum and repository for historical and ancestral knowledge.
History of the Scottish Covenanters; part 3 🏴
Image: Covenanter flag with royalist language (“king”) and imagery (🌹).
After king Charles I’s defeat in the First English Civil War (1642-46), many Covenanters recoiled at how events had unfolded, forming a monarchist faction that took control of the movement and briefly sidelined the aforementioned Marquess of Argyll, Archibald Campbell. This was in part influenced by their Presbyterian world-view, which at that time believed in upholding the monarchy. They also mistrusted and disliked the English Puritans and Baptists, due to the latters’ having broken faith with them, apparent desire to overthrow the monarchy altogether, belief in a far more radical “separation of church and state”, as well a number of other things that Scottish Protestants viewed as heretical.
This royalist faction of the Covenanters became known as the ‘Engagers’ because they made an alliance with king Charles, known as “The Engagement”. They supported him —unsuccessfully— in the Second English Civil War (1648). They were sabotaged in this by adherents of Campbell’s newly formed Kirk Party, who sowed irreparable division in the Scottish ranks, refused to join the Scottish army on campaign, and even started a full-blown civil war by launching a coup d’état in Edinburgh, known as ‘The Whiggamore Raid’. These divisions undermined the Engagers’ war effort, contributing —alongside the incompetence of their English royalist allies— to defeat at the hands of the Puritan commander Oliver Cromwell. The 1648 Battle of Preston was more a defeat of English Royalists than it was of the Scots, and their defeat at the Battle of Winwick two days later was largely due to the inexperience of the Scottish commanders, particularly James Hamilton. The Engagers were more successful on the home-front, with the Highlander captain George Munro - 1st of Newmore defeating Argyll’s forces at the Battle of Stirling, and thwarting his attempted coup. The defeated Kirk Party bided its time and then made an alliance with Cromwell to turn the tide and overthrow the Engagers later that same year. In this way, Argyll co-opted and regained control over the Covenanter movement, betraying not only the Covenanters, but also the whole of Scotland. Meanwhile, the English executed their own king in January of 1649 and established a republic, which they called the “Commonwealth of England”.
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Gold stater of the Gallic Petrocorii; late 4th or early 3rd century B.C. ⚜️🇫🇷 Reverse side depicts a boar grazing vegetation. The Petrocorii (Gaulish: “Four Tribes”) gave their name to the Périgord region of France and to its principal city, Périgueux.
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Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all. ☘️
Image: Stained glass depiction of Patrick meeting king Óengus mac Nad Froích of Munster at Cashel; from a Roman Catholic church in Newton, Massachusetts.
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Artistic reconstruction of a viereckschanze or square/rectangular ditched enclosure found near the ancient Gallic town of Bopfingen-Flochberg in Baden-Württemberg, Germany; 2nd-1st century B.C. 🇩🇪 These structures are sometimes thought to have had a ritual/religious function, as votive offerings are frequently found deep in shafts within them.
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Some wee Hieland coos (Gaelic: Bò Ghàidhealach) grazing machair on the Isle of Hoy in Orkney. 🏴
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Battle of Covadonga; AD 722 🇪🇸⚔️🏳️🌈 Art by Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau.
After the Islamic Conquest of Spain, the Asturian and Cantabrian peoples of the north rose up in rebellion against the occupiers under the leadership of a nobleman of Visigothic origin named Pelagius. A Muslim army sent to crush them was defeated and slaughtered in the mountains, losing among others, its commander Al-Qama. The surviving Muslims were forced to take a detour around the Picos de Europa to make their way out of the mountains. Large numbers of them are said to have been killed by a rock-fall in the Liébana region of Cantabria. Pelagius was acclaimed king of the newly created Kingdom of Asturias, with his notable victory marking the beginning of the reconquista.
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Iron daggers, sheaths, spears and other miscellaneous items found among the ruins of the Cantabrian hill-fort of Monte Bernorio, in Palencia province, Spain; 4th or 3rd century B.C. 🇪🇸
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A Gallic/Galatian mercenary stops to rest while on campaign in Egypt; 3rd century B.C. 🇪🇬 Art by José Daniel Cabrera Peña.
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History of the Scottish Covenanters; part 1 🏴
Image: Reenactors at Tyne Riverside Country Park in England portraying the Scottish army at the 1640 Battle of Newburn Ford; 2004.
The history of the Scottish Covenanters is complicated and poorly understood. The saga began when king James VI Stuart of Scotland also acquired the throne on England in 1603. Scottish Protestants had enthroned James in 1567 after overthrowing his Catholic mother, Mary “Queen of Scots”. They couldn’t have known that their unfortunate lot was to be betrayed by him: Shortly after acquiring the English crown, James became Anglican in all but name, seeking to impose government control over the newly reformed Scottish Kirk (he had also technically betrayed the whole of Christendom by becoming a freemason in 1601; freemasonry had been corrupting people in Britain since the 10th century). Royal trespasses against the Kirk continued and intensified under James’ son, Charles I, leading Scottish Presbyterians to rebel and sign the National Covenant in 1638. These rebels became known as ‘Covenanters’, and they went on to accomplish something truly impressive: They inflicted a series of humiliating defeats on England in the Bishop’s Wars (1639-40), freeing Scotland from English control and even conquering and briefly controlling Northumberland and Durham. It was the last time Scotland would ever win a war against England. In the coming years, however, matters would take unexpected turns that none in the Covenanter movement could have ever anticipated. The Covenanters would find themselves up against forces far larger than themselves that would bitterly divide them while at the same time tragically rending Scotland apart.
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⚜️🇫🇷 Who are the French? Image: Chronological map of the Frankish Empire at its greatest extent.
As we know, the names France and “French” are derived from the Germanic Franks who dominated much of Europe during the early medieval period. But is it accurate to think of today’s French people as Franks? One problem with this idea is that as history progressed and the Frankish Empire broke up into pieces, the nation that retained the name “France” did not retain the territories where most of the original Frankish population had lived (i.e. much of the core region of Austrasia). Descendants of the original Germanic Franks are today mostly found in the Netherlands, Flanders (i.e. northern Belgium) and those parts of Germany adjoining the Lower Rhine. Modern genetic studies (like this one) paint a complex picture: Modern day French people are indeed primarily descended from the Celtic Gauls (see particularly sections 8 & 9 in the linked source), though they of course, have autosomal DNA contributed by other groups, including from Germanic peoples like the Franks and Burgundians, from Greek and Italic settlers, as well as from the pre-Celtic Neolithic (hence why in the south they cluster with Iberians). These admixtures tend to be more prevalent regionally, reflecting historical population movements and natural gene flow with neighboring countries (i.e. Brittany clusters closely with the British Isles, most Greek admixture is found in the south around Marseille, and Germanic admixture tends to be greater in the north and east).
Interestingly, the Romans seem to have made very little impact on France genetically. Moreover, the data suggests that Germanic genetic contributions were also minimal, as invaders tended to be few in number compared to the overall native population (see again section 9 of the first linked source). Germanic genetic contributions during the Roman and medieval periods are also difficult to distinguish from Celtic DNA, since the two groups were nearly indistinguishable east of the Rhine during remote prehistory. Some Germanic groups that entered Gaul, such the Alamanni and Burgundians, had also been living in areas of southern Germany where a substantial native population of Celtic descent existed, likely intermarrying with them extensively. This is why some geneticists (i.e. like the second linked source) have simplified the matter by just referring to a certain genetic profile as “French-German ancestry”.
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Bronze wheels and situla —part of what’s thought to have been a ceremonial cult wagon— discovered at La Côte-Saint-André, in the Isère department of France; 8th or 7th century B.C. ⚜️🇫🇷 The bronze situla is thought to be an import from northern Italy. More than likely, the bucket-carrying wagon was used to dispense alcoholic beverages in large-scale feasts hosted by members of royalty and nobility.
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⚜️🇫🇷🇨🇭View across a frozen Lake Geneva from the Jura mountains of France; the Swiss Alps in the distance.
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🏴 The story of king Malcolm II of Scotland’s victory over the Danish Vikings at the Battle of Barry, while false, may have been derived from a confusion of memories about other similar conflicts.
Scottish historian John of Fordun reported in his Chronica Gentis Scotorum (1360) that Malcolm defeated a Norse invasion force “in almost the first days of his coronation” (year AD 1005) near Dufftown, in Moray, Scotland. Malcolm is said to have elevated the local church at Mortlach (pictured above) to an episcopal see in gratitude to God for the victory. This historical account is regarded as more likely to be true, because the Aberdeen Registrum contains a charter issued by Malcolm to the first ever bishop of Mortlach, Beóán, granting him some lands and churches around Forfar. Beóán’s confirmed existence suggests that the bishopric of Mortlach was indeed created at around this time, which in turn gives some credence to Fordun’s story of a battle occurring nearby. But there were other events that occurred during the reign of Malcolm’s father, Kenneth II, that may also have generated confused memories about conflicts with Danish Vikings; to be discussed at a later time...
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Peoples of pre-Roman central Iberia: The Vaccaei. 🇪🇸
In the vast plains of north-central Spain, the Romans documented the existence of a unique people whom they called ‘Vaccaei’. What most stands out about their culture is its heavily agricultural character. The Vacceans inhabited some of the most fertile lands in Iberia, some of which later became a favorite location for the Visigothic nobility to build their estates, hence why much of this region, the Tierra de Campos (“land of fields”) was formerly known as Campos Góticos (“Gothic fields”). The Vacceans were noted not merely for their agricultural wealth, but also for practicing a primitive form of communism, in which crops were gathered and distributed equally among all people each year (per Diodorus Siculus).
The culture of the Vaccaei evolved from the same Cogotas I culture as their neighbors, the Indo-European Vettones people. The place-names of the region indicate that they spoke an Indo-European language akin to Lusitanian. In the 8th century B.C; the originally pastoral culture was modified, apparently by importing people from southern Spain who introduced agriculture and round huts as dwellings. This modified culture is known as the ‘Soto de Medinilla’ tradition by archaeologists. It was again modified in the 6th or 5th century B.C; becoming part of the larger Monte Bernorio-Miraveche tradition, a heavily Celtiberianized culture with an emphasis on warrior ideologies that spanned the territories of several later-recorded peoples, such as the Celtiberian Autrigones and Arevaci, the Cantabrians, Vaccaei, and also the Vettones. By the time the Romans encountered the Vaccaei, they were heavily Celtiberianized. They also seem to have dominated central Iberia in alliance with the Arevaci, Carpetani, Cantabrians, and Vettones. Roman descriptions of them as a “harmless and submissive nation” (per Paulus Orosius) aren’t supported by the historical record or archaeology. The Vaccaei battled both Carthage and Rome, even defeating the legions on several occasions. Burials with horse-gear, weapons and other rich trappings evidence a warrior aristocracy closely tied to their Celtiberian neighbors. This also challenges the claims of a primitive communism. If such a social order existed, the Vaccean nation seems to have had a privileged military aristocracy —possibly of foreign mercenary origin— that was exempted from such exactions by the necessities of warfare.
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Me watching the Anglo-Saxons destroy the world economy by fighting the Edomites’ wars for them (they killed Ali Khamenei and close to 200 Persian school-girls but haven’t arrested a single perp from the Epstein files).
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Castle an Dinas hill-fort, near St. Columb Major in Cornwall. 🏴🏴
Castle an Dinas is said by local tradition to have been a hunting lodge used by the legendary King Arthur; a nearby stone is said to have four hoof-prints made by his horse. 15th century English historian William of Worcester also recorded a tradition according to which Castle an Dinas was the “Dimilioc” where the “duke of Cornwall” Gorlois was killed by the forces of Arthur’s father, Uthyr Pendragon, on the same night when Uthyr raped Gorlois’ wife Eigyr at Tintagel (thus conceiving Arthur).
The site has also been alleged to be haunted: In 1671 a local man named John Trehenban was executed there for the murder of two young girls (he confessed after being sniffed out by tracking hounds). He was locked in a cage and left to starve to death. Locals used to claim that if one ran around the rock where the cage sat, the sound of his chains rattling would be heard. A Cornish Methodist theologian named Samuel Drew also claimed that at the end of the 18th century, a ghost army was sighted in the sky above the ruined hill-fort. Cornish language scholar and revivalist Henry Jenner recorded the same legend, which he claimed to have heard in 1867 from a local man from the nearby village of Quoit.
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This is a very good book; I highly recommend.
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Uh oh… Did I “accidentally” use the gay flag to represent Islam? Oops. 😬
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Leacanabuaile (Irish: Leaca na Buaile; “Hill-side of the Milking Place”) ring-fort, near Kimego West, in County Kerry, Ireland; 9th & 10th centuries AD. 🇮🇪 In the 3rd image can be seen an entrance to a souterrain, as well as the neighboring ring-fort of Cahergall in the distance. These were likely farmsteads belonging to important nobles of the Corca Dhuibhne people, who at the time were vassals of the Eóghanacht Locha Léin.
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History of the Scottish Covenanters; part 2 🏴
Image: Scottish soldiers in England as part of the army of the Solemn League and Covenant; 1644. Art by Angus McBride.
Shortly after the Covenanters’ victory over England in the Bishops’ Wars, things took an unorthodox turn for them. The 1641 Treaty of London had secured peace between England and Scotland, with the Covenanters accepting Charles’ continued kingship. But the Covenanters were then persuaded in 1643 to aid the English Parliament in resisting the king through military force in yet another war. One of their number, Archibald Campbell - 1st Marquess of Argyll, was instrumental in negotiating this alliance, known formally as the Solemn League and Covenant. This move began to sow division among the Covenanters, and would bring adverse consequences to them in the long run.
Campbell began taking control of the movement, while dissenters among them began to recoil at the apparently anti-royalist turn things had taken. One such Covenanter was James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, whose convictions and personal enmity with Campbell drove him to switch sides and support the royalists. During the ensuing 1st English Civil War (1642-46), Montrose joined Catholic Irish and Scottish royalists led by the renowned Highland captain Alasdair mac Colla MacDonald in a campaign to support king Charles in his enemies’ rear. Montrose and McDonald inflicted stinging defeats on Campbell and the Covenanters in Scotland, but their success was not matched by their allies in England. News of defeats there caused many Highlanders to desert, and Montrose was eventually defeated at the Battle of Philiphaugh (1645) by the Covenanter captain David Leslie. The same Leslie then went back to the English theatre and captured king Charles during the Siege of Newark, practically ending the war. As the dust settled, many Covenanters began to see an enormous gulf between their aims and ways of thinking, and those of the English Parliamentarians. Division grew in their ranks as many began to take a decidedly royalist position, just as Montrose had.
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Silver stater coin of the Gallic Redones tribe, found near Rennes in Brittany; 1st century B.C. 🇫🇷 The reverse side of the coin features a chariot and driver. The name of this tribe actually means “(Horse/Chariot) Riders”. The city of Rennes (Roazhon in Breton) still bears their name (In Roman times: Condate Redonum; “Confluence of the Redones”).
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St. Malo, Brittany. 🇫🇷
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Digital Reconstruction of the Norse settlement (built on top of the ruins of a Pictish predecessor) at Jarlshof in Shetland. 🇳🇴🏴
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Danish Vikings operating around the Scottish coast. 🏴⚔️🇩🇰
During the reign of king Kenneth II of Scotland (AD 971-995), a series of raids and battles involving Danish Vikings were recorded by the Annals of Ulster as occurring in what had once been the Gaelic Kingdom of Dál Riata (i.e. the region of Argyll). Interestingly, Adam of Bremen recorded that the future king of Denmark Sweyn Forkbeard was exiled to Scotland from the years 986 to 1000, so those affrays may have involved him. A large group of Danish Vikings appears to have been staying long-term in the Hebrides, as guests and allies of the Norse king Gofraid mac Arailt. They plundered Iona in the year 986 and helped Gofraid win a naval battle against the Manx the following year. The Brut y Tywysogion also records that Gofraid led a large-scale raid on Anglesey in Wales, taking 2,000 people captive. Encounters with the Scots were less successful: A Danish raiding party that landed in Argyll with three ships was captured in the year 986; 140 of them were executed and the others sold. The following year the Danes who’d plundered Iona came looking for revenge, only to be defeated in battle by the natives with the loss of 360 men. In spite of these losses, the Danish grouping in the Hebrides still had enough men to help Gofraid win his battle against the Manx and plunder Anglesey later that year. Two years later, Gofraid was defeated and killed by the men of Argyll in yet another battle. The laconic source doesn’t mention whether his Danish allies were along with him during the encounter, but it’s likely, since the campaign seems to have been motivated by a desire for revenge for the previous defeats. Argyll was not part of the Kingdom of Scotland at this time, nor did Dál Riata exist as a kingdom anymore. The local clans that repelled the Vikings seem to have been acting independently and in an ad hoc manner.
It’s not known what happened to the Danes who survived these battles, if any of them did. If Sweyn Forkbeard was indeed among them, he eventually turned those failures into successes. Upon returning from exile, he was part of the coalition that killed king Olaf Tryggvason of Norway at the Battle of Svolder in the year 1000. He became king of Denmark and of a part of Norway, and eventually returned to the British Isles. His adventures in England were more successful, as he defeated the Anglo-Saxons in one campaign after another, eventually managing to make himself king of all England in the year 1013. He reigned there for a mere five weeks and died early the following year, leaving England to his son Cnut and Denmark to his son Harald II.
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I recently did an interview with channel 12 news. 😎
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🏴🇫🇷 One of the many heroes who’s been the subject of legends about a future return to destroy the Anglo-Saxons is of course, none other than the much celebrated Arthur (you can read some of his story here, here, and here).
As early as AD 1125, William of Malmesbury reported that there was no known grave of Arthur’s, and that very ancient lore existed among the common folk that assured of his return at a date in the far future. French cleric Hériman de Tournai wrote in his 1145 treatise De Miraculis Sanctae Mariae Laudunensis that many people in Cornwall and Brittany even believed that Arthur wasn’t dead at all (although the historical sources all agree that he was killed fighting other Britons at the Battle of Camlann in the early 500s). It appears some local churchmen attempted to quash these popular myths in 1191 by staging a fake discovery of Arthur’s supposed tomb at Glastonbury. Dag Øistein Endsjø argues that they did this is because the belief in the return of a human hero is contrary to Christian theology. But as a matter of fact, he couldn’t be more off base with this conjecture. Quite the contrary, these folklores were most likely based on exactly that: Christian eschatology. Christianity teaches that believers will resurrect at an appointed time and actively partake in the judgment and punishment of a wicked world (i.e. they themselves will be the angelic army). This is implied not merely in the scripture (see, for example Colossians 3:4, Jude 1:14-15, and Revelation 17:14 & 19:14), but was also taught as early as the early 2nd century by church fathers such as Polycarp of Smyrna (see his Epistle to the Philippians 11:2). Thus, the staged discovery of a supposed tomb in AD 1191 by the local clergy was more likely to have had one or both of these two motives: (1) Increase the prestige of Glastonbury, or (2) get the local people to stop hoping (and praying) for the destruction of England.
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The Camus Cross, Picto-Scottish carved stone near Carnoustie in Angus, Scotland; 10th century AD. 🏴
The stone was thought by historian Hector Boethius to have marked the gravesite of a Danish warlord named Camus. In his Historia Gentis Scotorum (1527), Boethius claimed that in the year AD 1010, a Danish invasion force was defeated by king Malcolm II of Scotland in the Battle of Barry. The Danish warlord attempted to escape but was hunted down and killed at the spot where the cross now stands. This story has been thoroughly debunked by historians and archaeologists, and it appears that the battle of Barry never happened. There is no record of the battle prior to Boethius’ account and burials found in the area that were once thought to have been Danes slain in combat have been shown to be natives from various time periods from the early Christian back even to the Bronze Age.
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River Moy; Tirawley, Ireland. 🇮🇪
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