1.
Gaels
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The Gaels are an ethnolinguistic group native to northwestern Europe. They are associated with the Gaelic languages, a branch of the Celtic languages comprising Irish, Manx, historically, the ethnonyms Irish and Scots referred to the Gaels in general, but the scope of those nationalities is today more complex. Gaelic language and culture originated in Ireland, extending to Dál Riata in western Scotland, in antiquity the Gaels traded with the Roman Empire and also raided Roman Britain. In the Middle Ages, Gaelic culture became dominant throughout the rest of Scotland, there was also some Gaelic settlement in Wales and Cornwall. In the Viking Age, small numbers of Vikings raided and settled in Gaelic lands, in the 9th century, Dál Riata and Pictland merged to form the Gaelic Kingdom of Alba. Meanwhile, Gaelic Ireland was made up of several kingdoms, with a High King often claiming lordship over them, in the 12th century, Anglo-Normans conquered parts of Ireland, while parts of Scotland became Anglo-Normanized. However, Gaelic culture remained strong throughout Ireland, the Scottish Highlands, in the early 17th century, the last Gaelic kingdoms in Ireland fell under English control. In the following centuries most Gaels were gradually anglicized and Gaelic language mostly supplanted by English, however, it continues to be the main language in Irelands Gaeltacht and Scotlands Outer Hebrides. The modern descendants of the Gaels have spread throughout Britain, the Americas, Gaelic society traditionally centered around the clan, each with its own territory and chieftain, elected through tanistry. The Gaels were originally pagans who worshipped the Tuatha Dé Danann, venerated the ancestors and their four yearly festivals – Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane and Lughnasa – continued to be celebrated into modern times. The Gaels have an oral tradition, traditionally maintained by shanachies. Inscription in the Gaelic ogham alphabet began in the 1st century and their conversion to Christianity accompanied the introduction of writing, and Irish Gaelic has the oldest vernacular literature in western Europe. Irish mythology and Brehon law were preserved, albeit Christianized, Gaelic monasteries were renowned centres of learning and played a key role in developing Insular art, while Gaelic missionaries and scholars were highly influential in western Europe. In the Middle Ages, most Gaels lived in roundhouses and ringforts, the Gaels had their own style of dress, which became the belted plaid and kilt. They also have music, dance, and sports. Gaelic culture continues to be a component of Irish, Scottish. Throughout the centuries, Gaels and Gaelic-speakers have been known by a number of names, the most consistent of these have been Gael, Irish and Scots. The latter two have developed more ambiguous meanings, due to the modern concept of the nation state
2.
3rd century
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The 3rd century was the period from 201 to 300 A. D. In this century, the Roman Empire saw a crisis, marking the beginning of Late Antiquity, in Persia, the Parthian Empire was succeeded by the Sassanid Empire. In India, the Kushan Empire was replaced by the Gupta Empire, China was in the Three Kingdoms period. The Xiongnu formed the Tiefu state under Liu Qubei, Korea was ruled by the Three Kingdoms of Korea. At about this time in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Bantu expansion reached Southern Africa, in Pre-Columbian America, the Adena culture of the Ohio River valley declined in favor of the Hopewell culture. The Maya civilization entered its Classic Era, after the death of Commodus in the previous century the Roman Empire was plunged into a civil war. When the dust settled, Septimius Severus emerged as emperor, establishing the Severan dynasty, unlike previous emperors, he openly used the army to back his authority, and paid them well to do so. The regime he created is known as the Military Monarchy as a result, the majority of these men were assassinated, or killed in battle, and the empire almost collapsed under the weight of the political upheaval, as well as the growing Persian threat in the east. Under its new Sassanid rulers, Persia had grown into a superpower. These reforms were finally realized late in the century under the reign of Diocletian, one of them being to divide the empire into an eastern and western half, early 3rd century – Burial in catacombs becomes common place. 208, the Chinese naval Battle of Red Cliffs occurs,211 –217, Caracalla, Roman Emperor. 212, Constitutio Antoniniana grants citizenship to all free Roman men,212 –217, Baths of Caracalla. 220, The Han Dynasty comes to an end with establishment of the Three Kingdoms in ancient China,220 –280, The Three Kingdoms period. 222 –235, Alexander Severus, Roman Emperor,224, Ardashir I of the Sassanid dynasty conquers the Parthian empire at the Battle of Hormozdgān. 230 –232, Sassanid dynasty of Persia launches a war to reconquer lost lands in the Roman east,234, Zhuge Liang dies of illness at the standoff of Wuzhang Plains. 235 –284, Crisis of the Third Century shakes Roman Empire,244, Battle of Xingshi in China. 250 –538, Kofun era, the first part of the Kofun period in Japan,260, Roman Emperor Valerian I is taken captive by Shapur I of Persia. 263, Cao Wei conquers the Shu Han Kingdom,265, The Jin Dynasty is founded after the overthrow of the Cao Wei Dynasty by Sima Yan
3.
Ireland
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Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest on Earth. Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, in 2011, the population of Ireland was about 6.4 million, ranking it the second-most populous island in Europe after Great Britain. Just under 4.6 million live in the Republic of Ireland, the islands geography comprises relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain, with several navigable rivers extending inland. The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild, thick woodlands covered the island until the Middle Ages. As of 2013, the amount of land that is wooded in Ireland is about 11% of the total, there are twenty-six extant mammal species native to Ireland. The Irish climate is moderate and classified as oceanic. As a result, winters are milder than expected for such a northerly area, however, summers are cooler than those in Continental Europe. Rainfall and cloud cover are abundant, the earliest evidence of human presence in Ireland is dated at 10,500 BC. Gaelic Ireland had emerged by the 1st century CE, the island was Christianised from the 5th century onward. Following the Norman invasion in the 12th century, England claimed sovereignty over Ireland, however, English rule did not extend over the whole island until the 16th–17th century Tudor conquest, which led to colonisation by settlers from Britain. In the 1690s, a system of Protestant English rule was designed to materially disadvantage the Catholic majority and Protestant dissenters, with the Acts of Union in 1801, Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland saw much civil unrest from the late 1960s until the 1990s and this subsided following a political agreement in 1998. In 1973 the Republic of Ireland joined the European Economic Community while the United Kingdom, Irish culture has had a significant influence on other cultures, especially in the fields of literature. Alongside mainstream Western culture, an indigenous culture exists, as expressed through Gaelic games, Irish music. The culture of the island shares many features with that of Great Britain, including the English language, and sports such as association football, rugby, horse racing. The name Ireland derives from Old Irish Eriu and this in turn derives from Proto-Celtic *Iveriu, which is also the source of Latin Hibernia. Iveriu derives from a root meaning fat, prosperous, during the last glacial period, and up until about 9000 years ago, most of Ireland was covered with ice, most of the time
4.
Great Britain
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Great Britain, also known as Britain, is a large island in the north Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of 209,331 km2, Great Britain is the largest European island, in 2011 the island had a population of about 61 million people, making it the worlds third-most populous island after Java in Indonesia and Honshu in Japan. The island of Ireland is situated to the west of it, the island is dominated by a maritime climate with quite narrow temperature differences between seasons. Politically, the island is part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, most of England, Scotland, and Wales are on the island. The term Great Britain often extends to surrounding islands that form part of England, Scotland, and Wales. A single Kingdom of Great Britain resulted from the union of the Kingdom of England, the archipelago has been referred to by a single name for over 2000 years, the term British Isles derives from terms used by classical geographers to describe this island group. By 50 BC Greek geographers were using equivalents of Prettanikē as a name for the British Isles. However, with the Roman conquest of Britain the Latin term Britannia was used for the island of Great Britain, the oldest mention of terms related to Great Britain was by Aristotle, or possibly by Pseudo-Aristotle, in his text On the Universe, Vol. III. To quote his works, There are two large islands in it, called the British Isles, Albion and Ierne. The name Britain descends from the Latin name for Britain, Britannia or Brittānia, Old French Bretaigne and Middle English Bretayne, Breteyne. The French form replaced the Old English Breoton, Breoten, Bryten, Breten, Britannia was used by the Romans from the 1st century BC for the British Isles taken together. It is derived from the writings of the Pytheas around 320 BC. Marcian of Heraclea, in his Periplus maris exteri, described the group as αἱ Πρεττανικαὶ νῆσοι. The peoples of these islands of Prettanike were called the Πρεττανοί, Priteni is the source of the Welsh language term Prydain, Britain, which has the same source as the Goidelic term Cruithne used to refer to the early Brythonic-speaking inhabitants of Ireland. The latter were later called Picts or Caledonians by the Romans, the Greco-Egyptian scientist Ptolemy referred to the larger island as great Britain and to Ireland as little Britain in his work Almagest. The name Albion appears to have out of use sometime after the Roman conquest of Britain. After the Anglo-Saxon period, Britain was used as a term only. It was used again in 1604, when King James VI and I styled himself King of Great Brittaine, France, Great Britain refers geographically to the island of Great Britain, politically to England, Scotland and Wales in combination
5.
Kingdom of Scotland
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The Kingdom of Scotland was a state in northwest Europe traditionally said to have been founded in 843, which joined with the Kingdom of England to form a unified Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. Its territories expanded and shrank, but it came to occupy the third of the island of Great Britain. It suffered many invasions by the English, but under Robert I it fought a war of independence. In 1603, James VI of Scotland became King of England, in 1707, the two kingdoms were united to form the Kingdom of Great Britain under the terms of the Acts of Union. The Crown was the most important element of government, the Scottish monarchy in the Middle Ages was a largely itinerant institution, before Edinburgh developed as a capital city in the second half of the 15th century. The Scottish Crown adopted the conventional offices of western European courts, Parliament also emerged as a major legal institution, gaining an oversight of taxation and policy, but was never as central to the national life as its counterpart in England. In the 17th century, the creation of Justices of Peace, the continued existence of courts baron and the introduction of kirk sessions helped consolidate the power of local lairds. Scots law developed into a system in the Middle Ages and was reformed and codified in the 16th and 17th centuries. Under James IV the legal functions of the council were rationalised, in 1532, the College of Justice was founded, leading to the training and professionalisation of lawyers. David I is the first Scottish king known to have produced his own coinage, Early Scottish coins were virtually identical in silver content to English ones, but from about 1300 their silver content began to depreciate more rapidly than the English coins. At the union of the Crowns in 1603 the Scottish pound was fixed at only one-twelfth the value of the English pound, the Bank of Scotland issued pound notes from 1704. Scottish currency was abolished by the Act of Union, Scotland is half the size of England and Wales in area, but has roughly the same length of coastline. Geographically Scotland is divided between the Highlands and Islands and the Lowlands, the Highlands had a relatively short growing season, which was further shortened during the Little Ice Age. From Scotlands foundation to the inception of the Black Death, the population had grown to a million, following the plague and it expanded in the first half of the 16th century, reaching roughly 1.2 million by the 1690s. Significant languages in the kingdom included Gaelic, Old English, Norse and French. Christianity was introduced into Scotland from the 6th century, in the Norman period the Scottish church underwent a series of changes that led to new monastic orders and organisation. During the 16th century, Scotland underwent a Protestant Reformation that created a predominately Calvinist national kirk, there were a series of religious controversies that resulted in divisions and persecutions. The Scottish Crown developed naval forces at various points in its history, Land forces centred around the large common army, but adopted European innovations from the 16th century, and many Scots took service as mercenaries and as soldiers for the English Crown
6.
Scotland
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Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It shares a border with England to the south, and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east. In addition to the mainland, the country is made up of more than 790 islands, including the Northern Isles, the Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the Early Middle Ages and continued to exist until 1707. By inheritance in 1603, James VI, King of Scots, became King of England and King of Ireland, Scotland subsequently entered into a political union with the Kingdom of England on 1 May 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain. The union also created a new Parliament of Great Britain, which succeeded both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England. Within Scotland, the monarchy of the United Kingdom has continued to use a variety of styles, titles, the legal system within Scotland has also remained separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland, Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in both public and private law. Glasgow, Scotlands largest city, was one of the worlds leading industrial cities. Other major urban areas are Aberdeen and Dundee, Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third-largest city in Scotland, the title of Europes oil capital, following a referendum in 1997, a Scottish Parliament was re-established, in the form of a devolved unicameral legislature comprising 129 members, having authority over many areas of domestic policy. Scotland is represented in the UK Parliament by 59 MPs and in the European Parliament by 6 MEPs, Scotland is also a member nation of the British–Irish Council, and the British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly. Scotland comes from Scoti, the Latin name for the Gaels, the Late Latin word Scotia was initially used to refer to Ireland. By the 11th century at the latest, Scotia was being used to refer to Scotland north of the River Forth, alongside Albania or Albany, the use of the words Scots and Scotland to encompass all of what is now Scotland became common in the Late Middle Ages. Repeated glaciations, which covered the land mass of modern Scotland. It is believed the first post-glacial groups of hunter-gatherers arrived in Scotland around 12,800 years ago, the groups of settlers began building the first known permanent houses on Scottish soil around 9,500 years ago, and the first villages around 6,000 years ago. The well-preserved village of Skara Brae on the mainland of Orkney dates from this period and it contains the remains of an early Bronze Age ruler laid out on white quartz pebbles and birch bark. It was also discovered for the first time that early Bronze Age people placed flowers in their graves, in the winter of 1850, a severe storm hit Scotland, causing widespread damage and over 200 deaths. In the Bay of Skaill, the storm stripped the earth from a large irregular knoll, when the storm cleared, local villagers found the outline of a village, consisting of a number of small houses without roofs. William Watt of Skaill, the laird, began an amateur excavation of the site, but after uncovering four houses
7.
Late Latin
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Late Latin is the scholarly name for the written Latin of Late Antiquity. The English dictionary definition of Late Latin dates this period from the 3rd to the 6th centuries AD and this somewhat ambiguously defined period fits between Classical Latin and Medieval Latin. Although there is no consensus about exactly when Classical Latin should end, nor exactly when Medieval Latin should begin. Being a written language, Late Latin is not identical with Vulgar Latin, the latter during those centuries served as proto-Romance, a reconstructed ancestor of the Romance languages. Although Late Latin reflects an upsurge of the use of Vulgar Latin vocabulary and constructs, it remains to a large extent classical in overall features, some are more literary and classical, some more inclined to the vernacular. Nor is Late Latin identical to Christian or patristic Latin, the writings of the early Christian fathers. While Christian writings are considered a subset of Late Latin, pagans wrote much Late Latin, serving as some sort of lingua franca to a large empire, Latin tended to become simpler, to keep above all what it had of the ordinary. Neither Late Latin nor Late Antiquity are modern terms or concepts, instances of English vernacular use of the term may also be found from the 18th century. The term Late Antiquity meaning post-classical and pre-medieval had currency in English well before then, Imperial Latin went on into English literature, Fowlers History of Roman Literature mentions it in 1903. There are, however, insoluble problems with the beginning and end of Imperial Latin, politically the excluded Augustan Period is the paradigm of imperiality, and yet the style cannot be bundled with either the Silver Age or with Late Latin. Moreover, in 6th century Italy, the Roman Empire no longer existed, subsequently the term Imperial Latin was dropped by historians of Latin literature, although it may be seen in marginal works. The Silver Age was extended a century and the four centuries represent Late Latin. Low Latin is a vague and often pejorative term that might refer to any post-classical Latin from Late Latin through Renaissance Latin depending on the author. Its origins are obscure but the Latin expression media et infima Latinitas sprang into public notice in 1678 in the title of a Glossary by Charles du Fresne, the multi-volume set had many editions and expansions by other authors subsequently. The title varies somewhat, most commonly used was Glossarium Mediae et Infimae Latinitatis and it has been translated by expressions of widely different meanings. The uncertainty is understanding what media, middle, and infima, low, the media is securely connected to Medieval Latin by Canges own terminology expounded in the Praefatio, such as scriptores mediae aetatis, writers of the middle age. Canges Glossary takes words from authors ranging from the Christian period to the Renaissance, in the former case the infimae appears extraneous, it recognizes the corruptio of the corrupta Latinitas Cange said his Glossary covered. The two-period case postulates a second unity of style, infima Latinitas, Cange in the glossarial part of his Glossary identifies some words as being used by purioris Latinitatis scriptores, such as Cicero
8.
Attacotti
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The Attacotti were a people who despoiled Roman Britain between 364 and 368, along with Scotti, Picts, Saxons, Roman military deserters, and the indigenous Britons themselves. The marauders were defeated by Count Theodosius in 368, units of Attacotti are recorded about 400 AD in the Notitia Dignitatum, and one tombstone of a soldier of the Atecutti is known. Their existence as a people is given additional credence by two incidental references to them, as cannibals and as having wives in common, in the writings of Saint Jerome. Ammianus describes the marauders as bands moving from place to place in search of loot, nevertheless, one Roman commander was killed in a pitched battle and another was taken prisoner in an ambush and killed. As there was no longer a military force in the province, a substantial one was sent from Gaul under Count Theodosius. Theodosius then focused his efforts on the repair of political problems within the province, the Notitia Dignitatum is a list of offices of the early 5th century Roman Empire, and includes the locations of the offices and the staff assigned to them. St. Jerome was a Christian apologist whose writings contain two incidental references to the Attacotti. His account is particularly noteworthy because he was in Roman Gaul c. 365-369/70, while the Attacotti were known to be in Britain until 368, thus it is credible that Jerome had seen Attacotti soldiers and had heard Roman accounts of the recent fighting in Britain. In his treatise Against Jovinianus he describes the habits of several peoples and includes a statement that he had heard that the Attacotti ate human flesh. Earlier in the passage he describes a different people as eating fat white worms with blackish heads. Ancient writers sometimes ascribed exotic habits to far-away peoples in their works, strabo, for example, said in passing that some Sarmatians and Scythians were cannibals, while others ate no meat at all. De Situ Britanniae was an account of the peoples and places of Roman Britain. It was published in 1757, after having made available in London in 1749. The Attacotti were mentioned in De Situ Britanniae, and their homeland was specified as just north of the Firth of Clyde, near southern Loch Lomond and this information was combined with legitimate historical mentions of the Attacotti to produce inaccurate histories and to make baseless conjectures. Perhaps as early as the 17th century, and certainly in the 18th and 19th centuries, the thesis was given impetus when historian Charles OConor promoted it in the late 18th century. However, this remained controversial among scholars into the late 19th century, later scholarship has diminished the notability of these early arguments by criticising the possible connection between Latin Attacotti and aithechthúatha on etymological grounds. He hypothesised that Attacotti and aithechthúatha are unconnected, and that the Primitive Irish equivalent to aithechthúatha would be *Ateûiācotōtās and this, in his opinion, is too far removed from the Latin form Attacotti in Ammianus
9.
Jacobite risings
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The series of conflicts takes its name Jacobitism, from Jacobus, the Latin form of James. The major Jacobite risings were called the Jacobite rebellions by the ruling governments, the first Jacobite rebellion and second Jacobite rebellion were also known respectively as the Fifteen and the Forty-five, after the years in which they occurred. Although each Jacobite rising had unique features, they were part of a series of military campaigns by Jacobites attempting to restore the Stuart kings to the thrones of Scotland and England. James II was deposed in 1688 and the thrones were claimed by his daughter Mary II jointly with her husband, after the House of Hanover succeeded to the British throne in 1714, the risings continued and intensified. They continued until the last Jacobite rebellion, led by Charles Edward Stuart, was defeated at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. This ended any hope of a Stuart restoration. During the 17th century, the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland suffered political, the Commonwealth ended with the Restoration of Charles II, re-establishment of the Church of England and the imposition of an Episcopalian church government. In 1685, Charles II was succeeded by his Roman Catholic brother, James saw Covenanters as troublemakers and initially tried to end their influence in Scotland. Jamess half-hearted attempts to woo the Presbyterians seemingly did not win him popularity among that section of society either. They remembered his earlier suppression of them and did not believe him to be sincere in his recognition of Presbyterianism. Although these actions were unpopular, at first the majority of his subjects tolerated these acts because James was in his 50s. It seemed that Jamess reign would be short and the throne would soon return to Protestant hands, in 1688, however, Jamess young second wife, Mary of Modena, gave birth to a boy, Prince James, who was promptly baptized a Roman Catholic. Due to English and Scottish succession laws, Prince James immediately supplanted his older sisters as heir to the throne. Now the prospect of a Catholic dynasty on the English, Scottish and Irish thrones seemed all, the Immortal Seven invited Jamess daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange to depose James and jointly rule in his place. On 4 November 1688, William arrived at Torbay, England, after he landed, James fled London, returned and finally left for France on 23 December. In February 1689, the Glorious Revolution formally changed Englands monarch, Scotland was slow to accept William, who summoned a Convention of the Estates which met on 14 March 1689 in Edinburgh. It reviewed a conciliatory letter from William and a haughty one from James, on Jamess side, a modest force of 50 horsemen gathered by John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee was in town. Graham attended the convention at the start but withdrew four days later when its support for William became evident, the convention set out its terms and William and Mary were proclaimed monarchs at Edinburgh on 11 April 1689
10.
Great Famine (Ireland)
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The Great Famine or the Great Hunger was a period of mass starvation, disease, and emigration in Ireland between 1845 and 1852. It is sometimes referred to, mostly outside Ireland, as the Irish Potato Famine, during the famine, approximately one million people died and a million more emigrated from Ireland, causing the islands population to fall by between 20% and 25%. The proximate cause of famine was potato blight, which ravaged potato crops throughout Europe during the 1840s, the famine was a watershed in the history of Ireland, which was then part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The famine and its effects permanently changed the demographic, political. For both the native Irish and those in the diaspora, the famine entered folk memory. Ireland sent 105 members of parliament to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, between 1832 and 1859, 70% of Irish representatives were landowners or the sons of landowners. The laws had largely been reformed by 1793, and the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 allowed Irish Catholics to again sit in parliament, during the 18th century, the middleman system for managing landed property was introduced. Rent collection was left in the hands of the landlords agents and this assured the landlord of a regular income, and relieved them of direct responsibility, while leaving tenants open to exploitation by the middlemen. Catholics, the bulk of whom lived in conditions of poverty and insecurity despite Catholic emancipation in 1829, made up 80% of the population. At the top of the pyramid was the ascendancy class, the English and Anglo-Irish families who owned most of the land. Some of their estates were vast, for example, the Earl of Lucan owned over 60,000 acres, many of these landlords lived in England and were known as absentee landlords. The rent revenue—collected from impoverished tenants who were paid wages to raise crops. In 1843, the British Government considered that the question in Ireland was the root cause of disaffection in the country. They established a Royal Commission, chaired by the Earl of Devon, Daniel OConnell described this commission as perfectly one-sided, being composed of landlords, with no tenant representation. In February 1845, Devon reported, It would be impossible adequately to describe the privations which they habitually and silently endure, in many districts their only food is the potato, their only beverage water. Their cabins are seldom a protection against the weather, a bed or a blanket is a rare luxury. And nearly in all their pig and a manure heap constitute their only property, the Commission stated that bad relations between landlord and tenant were principally responsible. There was no loyalty, feudal tie, or mitigating tradition of paternalism as existed in England
11.
Irish diaspora
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The Irish diaspora refers to Irish people and their descendants who live outside Ireland. This is more than the population of Ireland at its peak in the 1840s of 8.5 million. The poorest of them went to Great Britain, especially Liverpool, after 1840, emigration from Ireland became a massive, relentless, and efficiently managed national enterprise. In 1890 40% of Irish-born people were living abroad, by the 21st century, an estimated 80 million people worldwide claimed some Irish descent, which includes more than 36 million Americans who claim Irish as their primary ethnicity. As recently as the half of the nineteenth century, the majority of Irish emigrants spoke Irish as their first language. This had social and cultural consequences for the cultivation of the language abroad, the language continues to be cultivated abroad by a small minority as a literary and social medium. Joe McHugh is the Republic of Irelands Minister of State for the Diaspora, the term Irish diaspora is open to many interpretations. It has been argued the idea of an Irish diaspora, as distinct from the old identification of Irishness with Ireland itself, was influenced by the advent of global mobility and modernity. Irishness could now be identified with dispersed individuals and groups of Irish descent, but many of those individuals were the product of complex ethnic intermarriage in America and elsewhere, complicating the idea of a single line of descent. Irishness might then rely primarily on identification with an Irish diaspora. The Government of Ireland defines the Irish diaspora as all persons of Irish nationality who habitually reside outside of the island of Ireland and this includes Irish citizens who have emigrated abroad and their children, who are Irish citizens by descent under Irish law. It also includes their grandchildren in cases where they were registered as Irish citizens in the Foreign Births Register held in every Irish diplomatic mission, under this legal definition, the Irish diaspora is considerably smaller—some 3 million persons, of whom 1.2 million are Irish-born emigrants. This is still a large ratio for any country, however, the usage of Irish diaspora is generally not limited by citizenship status, thus leading to an estimated membership of up to 80 million persons—the second and more emotive definition. The right to register as an Irish citizen terminates at the third generation and this contrasts with citizenship law in Italy, Israel, Japan and other countries which practice jus sanguinis or otherwise permit members of the diaspora to register as citizens. There are people of Irish descent abroad who reject inclusion in an Irish diaspora and they may see the diasporic label as something used by the Irish government for its own purposes. The Attacotti, who were recruited into the Roman army. Following the withdrawal of the Roman army, the Irish began increasing their footholds in Britain, in time, the Irish colonies became independent, merged with the Pictish kingdom, and formed the basis of modern Scotland. The traditionally Gaelic-speaking areas of Scotland are still referred to in the Gaelic language as a Ghàidhealtachd, Irish monks, and the Celtic church, pioneered a wave of Irish emigration into Great Britain, and continental Europe
12.
Highland Clearances
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The Highland Clearances was the eviction, mostly during the 18th and 19th centuries, of a significant number of tenants in the Scottish Highlands. It resulted from enclosures of common lands and a change from farming to sheep raising, the Clearances were a complex series of events occurring over more than a hundred years. A Highland Clearance has been defined as an enforced simultaneous eviction of all living in a given area such as an entire glen. The Clearances relied on the insecurity of tenure of most tenants under the Scottish legal system, there was no equivalent of the English system of copyhold, which provided a heritable tenancy for many English counterparts of the Scots who were cleared from their farms. The Clearances resulted in significant emigration of Highlanders to the coast, the Scottish Lowlands, in the early 21st century, many times more descendants of Highlanders are found in these diaspora destinations than in Scotland. The enclosures in rural England in the British Agricultural Revolution started much earlier, similar developments in Scotland have lately been called the Lowland Clearances by historians such as Tom Devine. But in the Highlands, the impact on a Goidelic -speaking semi-feudal culture, there has been a lingering bitterness among the descendants of those forced to emigrate or to remain in crofting townships on very small areas of poor farming land. From the late 16th century, laws required clan leaders to appear in Edinburgh regularly to provide bonds for the conduct of anyone in their territory and this created a tendency among chiefs to identify as landlords, rather than leaders of men. The lesser clan-gentry increasingly took up droving, taking cattle along the old unpaved drove roads to sell in the Lowlands and this brought wealth and land ownership within the clan, though the Highlands continued to be overpopulated and poor. The Jacobite Risings brought repeated government efforts to curb those clans who supported James VII of Scotland and II of England and James Francis Edward Stuart and Charles Edward Stuart. The government of the day responded with repression after the 1746 Battle of Culloden, the 1746 Act of Proscription, incorporating the Dress Act, required all swords to be surrendered to the government, it prohibited the traditional wearing of clan tartans and kilts. The Heritable Jurisdictions Act 1746 removed the virtually sovereign power which the chiefs held over their clans, the governments enforcement of the prohibitions varied and often related to the degree of a clans support during the rebellion. But, overall these actions led to the destruction of the clan system. From about 1725, in the aftermath of the first Jacobite Rising, under the Disarming Act of 1746 and the Clan Act of 1715, the Crown made ineffectual attempts to subdue the Scottish Highlands, and eventually sent in troops. These had the effect of limiting organisational travel and choking off news, but, social conditions remained unsettled for the whole decade. What became known as the Clearances were regarded by the landlords as necessary improvements to make agriculture viable and they are thought to have been begun by Admiral John Ross of Balnagowan Castle in 1762. MacLeod of MacLeod began experimental work on Skye in 1732, chiefs hired Lowland, or sometimes English, factors with expertise in more profitable sheep farming. They encouraged, sometimes forcibly, the population to move off land judged suitable for raising sheep, to landlords, improvement and clearance did not initially mean depopulation
