Wisconsin School for the Deaf - Tattler Yearbook (Delavan, WI)

Page 19 text:

The Scottish Wars for Independence By WILLIAM MUELLER The Scotch were never conquered hy Homan and Saxon during their invasions. Even after the Scotrh hud arccpted the over-lordship of Edward the Elder, non of Alfred the Great, they did not give up their old tribal organisation. During the reign of King Canute, about 1 »3 . the King of the Scots renewed the oath of homnge I ut during the reign of Edward the Confessor, the Scots raided the Borders and allied with the earl in their revolt. When William of Normandy conquered England Edgar Atheling. brother of Margaret, the wife of Malcolm. King of the Scots fled to Scotland where he was hospitably received by King Malcolm. The revolts led in his behnlf were ••tamped out later by William the Conqueror and Malcolm was forced to acknowledge him « ■ over-lord. After the death of William the Conqueror, Willium II became King of England. His tyranny was resented by the Greut Norman haron and Malcolm, King of S-otlnnd, had a chance to revolt, but with the help of the common people Willium II put down this rebellion. After the death of William II. Henry I became king. He chose for his queen Matilda, daughter of Margaret and Malcolm of Scotland. Their on, Henry I'lantagenet. became the king of England in 1154 and the Scot accepted his overlordship. In 1170 the Scotch king joined the French king and the English barons in u revolt against Henry II but the rebellion was put down in le» than a year. In 1272 Edward the fir-t, the greatest of the Hantngrnrts, came to the throne. In 1286 the Scotch King. Alexander III. was killed by the plunge of hi horse over a cliff and the next in succession wa» the late king's granddaughter, a little child four years old, known as the Maid of Norway. Edward 1 was interested In arranging a marriage between the little princess and his son Prince Edward. He thought that it would be well if the two kingdoms were ruled by one sovereign. The Scot agreed to this and King Edward sent someone to fetch the little girl from her home in Norway. But she wax a delicate child and the voyage across th. rough North Sen wo too much for her and the poor little queen died. After the death of the Maid, there was no one with a clear right to the throne of Scotland. The Scotch baron wanted Edward to say who had the best right to rule, but the English king re- fused to interfere unless the Scots would agree to recognise him os overlord. The Scot were afraid of civil war so they agreed to do this and Edward finally settled thlr quarrel in favor of John Balliol. lie wa.» crowned on the Stone of Destiny or Stone of Scone. T! I •. was a rough Hock of common lime, stone, which some belie veil wo the stone which Jnroh used us a pillow, when lu saw the ladder and the nngels in a dr.am. Upon it the Scotch kings always »:P. who i crowned When Edward commanded Tnlliol to nnawer bcfcrc him. the latter refused. So he declared war against I'nlliol and led an army over the border. They defeated the Scot and Balliol wan deponed. Edward returned home and took with him the Stone of Scone which was placed under the coronation chair of the Icings of England where it still remain . Edward meant to rule Scotland wisely and jrstly but the men whom he left to govern for him were harsh, and cruel and the people were driven to rebellion. William Wallace, a lowland knight, was ready to fight till death for Scotland’ independence. The reason for hi hatred was this: One day he luid been stopped in the street by some English soldiers who said he had no right to wear n sword. Words led to blow- and Wallace slew one of them after a short struggle and made the rest flee. He himself had to ex-enpe but the governor broke into his home and killed his wife. This filled Wallace’s heart with a de'-p and lasting hatred for the English. So he gathered together many of hi friends nnd determined to drive the English out of Scotland if he could. When the two armies met at Stirling, the English offered to make peace but Wallace answered that he and hi men didn’t come to make peace but to free their country. The Scots fought on foot against the English horsemen and it didn’t seem thnt they could win. However Wallace succeeded in cutting the English force in two and won a victory'. After thir- victory the Scottish people made Wallace governor nnd he ruled wisely and well for a year. At Falkirk the next year the Scot- were defeated, however, and Wallace fled to the highland. Finally he was be-trnyed hy n Scotchman nnd put to death in n very barbarous manner at London. At the death of William Wallace, the Scotch were helpless for a while. Later they found Robert Bruce who wax even a better leader. Edward had been afraid of him nnd had put him in prison but nfter escaping he had succeeded in — 17 — N 1 NETHEN THIRTY-SEVEN

Page 18 text:

We remembered thut it had made « grand fortress for the Scottish Kings ami their soldier . It win to this impregnable place thut Mary, Queen of Scots, when a mere baby, was taken for xicurit)'. By motor coach we left Callander and. on the way to I»och Katrine, we passed Coinontogle Kurd, the spot where according to Scott in his “Lady of the Lake ’. Sir Roderick Dhu, chief of the Highlanders and King James, who nt that time , disguiecd us a hunter, and calling himself James Fits James, hud their hand-to- hand combat. Wp al- pained Lnnrick Mead on the north shore of l-ach Venmtchcr. the muster place of Roderick's clan, after l aving been summoned by the Fi :ry Cross, for battle with the advancing Lowlnnders. After passing Loch Aclimy, another beautiful lake, we seemed to have come to the end of the road, and then suddenly we found ourselves in the thick forests of the Tro ch. . There i vented to be but one opening through which a road ran and somewhere in the midt of it. there was a hotel where we stopped for lunch and rest. After this we continued until wo came to the shore of l.och Katrine where we boarded u steamer, which took us up the Inke; passing Ellen's Isle, which was mentioned in the poem. Along the shore of this lake ran the beach culled by Scott. “The Silver Strand which was the spot where Fit Jumps, who had lost his way while hunting, and Ellen, Lady of the Lake , first met. All around us were great, bure-loppvd mountains, one »f which was Ben Vennv, looming far above us. As wo sailed along, wo seemed to see four small boats dashing up the lake, bearing bold Sir Roderick’s bannered Fine. In tlu bright sunshine, we could almost imagine that we saw the Hash of the Highlanders' spears and axes. Their plaid and plumage seemed to wave. Wo nls o seemed to hear the scream of the bag pipe. and the men loudly singing the praises of their chief. On leaving Loch Katrine, we continued by horse coach to Loch Lomond, and although the drive whs rough urn) uncomfortable, we greatly enjoyed the wonderful scenery. While on the rest of the trip, the beauty of Loch Katrine and the memories of all that had taken place there followed us. At Invorxtmid we once more embarked on a ship, and sailed the length of Ix ch Lomond, the largest lake of all, until we reached Lulmami, a small city in Scotland where we boarded n train for Glasgow. Though wc were rather weary from our long day, we were glad thut we hudn’t missed it, ai the scenes of “The I.ady of the Lake were so beautiful that we are sure they will always stay in our memories us long as we live. — If. — T 11 E TATTLER

Page 20 text:

reaching the border. The people rallied together about him and he won several victories over the English. Although the sacred stone was gone, he assumed the crown. Many of Bruec'j) followers were killed and even his wife and daughter were put into prison. Finally Bruce escaped to the mountains where he lived in hiding. Scotland was still unconquered when Edward died. Edward II was not so eager to keep Scotland as his fnther had been. There was much trouble in England and the Scots made the most of their opportunity to secure independence. The friends of Eobcrt, with Lord Douglas at their head, laid scige to English fortresses and won them back to Scotland. The Lowland wore conquered before Knglnnd stirred. Then the largest and most splendid army that ever entered Scotland was gotten together. There was n battle at Bunnock-bum near Stirling. Bruce wa- a very clever general and hia men dug pita which they hid with brush. When the English horsemen fell into these, disorder followed and the Scotch won the victory. The English fled leaving many of their noblest knights dead on the field. Edward II was obliged to acknowledge Bruce si king of Scotland and his father’s plan for the union of the two kingdoms came to nothing. Scotland was independent. The Scottish Highlanders By BEARl. GOFF The origin of the name Scotland goes hack thousands of years. You have read about Pharaoh and Moses in the Bible. A Greek married Pharaoh’s daughter, Scota. and they founded a kingdom in what is now Portugal. Later one of their decendents became king of Ireland. These people in Ireland were called Scots after Scota. Still later some of then- Scot moved to Scotland giving it its name. About fifty year before the birth of Christ the Romans invaded Britain. In the year 78 A. D. the Romans, under a general called Agri-cola, went far north into Britain overcoming the tribe that lived there until nearly the whole island belonged to Rome. The northern part of what we call Scotland in rough and mountainous. In this country, nt the time of the Roman invasion, there lived a tribe of people called Piets. The Piets were a fierce warlike people. They lived in the forested hills of Northern Scotland and raised cattle. They wore kilts, much as Scottish soldiers wear nowadays and when there was a war, they armed with spears and rode against their cr.emlea in chariot . The road were poor. Tree felled across streams served ns bridges. It wna difficult for an army like the Romans to enter the country. The Romans finally gave up their attempt to subdue the Pi eta. Afraid of a counter attack, they built a great wall across Scotland from the River Tyne to the Sol-wuy Firth to prevent the Piet from coming south into the country occupied by the Romans. The Romans were, in their time, the greatest fighters in the world so the Piets must have been good warriors to cause the Romans to build that great wall to protect themselves. Later hordes of men called barbarians came pouring out of what is now Germany and advanced to the very gates of Rome. The Roman Legions in distant countries were ordered back home to protect the city and so the Romans left Britain. After the Roman.- left Britain. the Saxon , who came of the Baltic Sea, invaded the country. Later the Saxons entered Scotland and settled in the southern purt of the country, south of the great wall which the Homans had built. So you see the Scottish people are the descendant of the Piet of the North, the Scot of Ireland, and the Saxons. The hilly northern part of Scotland is called the Highland . The southern part, much flatter, is called the Lowland . The Highlanders are the descendant of the Piet who lived in the highlands ns far hack as we know. The Highlanders, a freedom loving people, lived in villages among the hills. Though fierce fighter , they were very kind to stranger- who came to their village . During winter night the family would gather together in their hut , sitting around a fire in the middle of the room which was without a chimney. A hole in the roof served u one. They told stories and sang song . The Highlanders were divided into tribes called clans. Each clan had Its own tartan, the pattern of the cloth of which the plaid. and kilt were mndo. Each clan had a chieftain whom the other clansmen mu-t obey and follow in war. The member of a clan stuck togethm when they were in danger or trouble. The Highlanders lived in wooden hut with from the shores — 18 — THE TATTLER