1.
John Barbour (poet)
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John Barbour was a Scottish poet and the first major named literary figure to write in Scots. He is known to have written a number of other works, Barbour was latterly Archdeacon of the Kirk of St Machar in Aberdeen. He also studied in Oxford and Paris, although he was a man of the church, his surviving writing is strongly secular in both tone and themes. His principal patron was Robert II and evidence of his promotion and he died in 1395, probably in Aberdeen. John Barbour may have been born around 1320 if the record of his age in 1375 as 55 is correct and his birthplace is not known, though Aberdeenshire and Galloway have made rival claims. Barbours first appearance in the record comes in 1356 with promotion to the archdeaconry of Aberdeen from a post he had held for less than a year in Dunkeld Cathedral. It is inferred from this that he was present in Avignon in 1355. In 1357, when David II returned to Scotland from exile and was restored to active kingship and he subsequently appears to have left the country in other years coincidental with periods when David II was active king. After the death of David II in 1371, Barbour served in the court of Robert II in a number of capacities. It was during this time that he composed, The Brus, receiving for this in 1377 the gift of ten pounds Scots and he held various posts in the kings household. In 1372 he was one of the auditors of exchequer and in 1373 a clerk of audit, the only biographical evidence for his closing years is his signature as a witness to sindry deeds in the Register of Aberdeen in 1392. According to the obit-book of St Machars Cathedral, Aberdeen he died on 13 March 1395, Barbour made provision for a mass to be sung for himself and his parents, an instruction that was observed in the Kirk of St Machar until the Reformation. The Brus, Barbours major surviving work, is a narrative poem written while he was a member of the kings household in the 1370s. Its subject is the success of the prosecution of the First War of Scottish Independence. Its principal focus is Robert the Bruce and Sir James Douglas, Barbours purpose in the poem was partly historical and partly patriotic. He celebrates The Bruce and Douglas throughout as the flowers of Scottish chivalry, the poem opens with a description of the state of Scotland at the death of Alexander III and concludes with the death of Douglas and the burial of the Bruces heart. Its central episode is the Battle of Bannockburn, patriotic as the sentiment is, this is expressed in more general terms than is found in later Scottish literature. Barbours style in the poem is vigorous, his line generally fluid and quick, the most quoted part is Book 1, lines 225-228, A. fredome is a noble thing
2.
Chivalry
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Chivalry, or the chivalric code, is a code of conduct associated with the medieval institution of knighthood which developed between 1170 and 1220. The code of chivalry that developed in medieval Europe had its roots in earlier centuries, the term chivalry derives from the Old French term chevalerie, which can be translated to horse soldiery. Gautier states that emerged from the Moors as well as the Teutonic forests and was nurtured into civilization. Over time, its meaning in Europe has been refined to emphasise social and moral virtues more generally, in origin, the term chivalry means horsemanship, formed in Old French, in the 11th century, from chevalier, from Medieval Latin caballārius. In English, the term appears from 1292, thus, chivalry has hierarchical meanings from simply a heavily armed horseman to a code of conduct. Based on the three treatises, initially chivalry was defined as a way of life in which three essential aspects fused together, the military, the nobility, the religion. Gautiers Ten Commandments of chivalry are, Thou shalt believe all that the Church teaches, Thou shalt respect all weaknesses, and shalt constitute thyself the defender of them. Thou shalt love the country in which thou wast born, Thou shalt not recoil before thine enemy. Thou shalt make war against the infidel without cessation and without mercy, Thou shalt perform scrupulously thy feudal duties, if they be not contrary to the laws of God. Thou shalt never lie, and shalt remain faithful to thy pledged word, Thou shalt be generous, and give largesse to everyone. Thou shalt be everywhere and always the champion of the Right, though these ten commandments are often accepted to be what knights would use, these would not necessarily be what a knight actually followed in the medieval era. This code was created by Leon Gautier in 1883, long after the knight had ceased to exist in its traditional form. Chivalry in a sense was more of a subjective term. It is a version of the myth of the Golden Age, from Jean Charles Léonard de Sismondi, We must not confound chivalry with the feudal system. The feudal system may be called the life of the period of which we are treating, possessing its advantages and inconveniences, its virtues. Chivalry, on the contrary, is the world, such as it existed in the imaginations of the Romance writers. Its essential character is devotion to woman and to honour, Sismondi alludes to the fictitious Arthurian romances about the imaginary Court of King Arthur, which were usually taken as factual presentations of a historical age of chivalry. He continues, The more closely we look into history, the more clearly shall we perceive that the system of chivalry is an invention almost entirely poetical and it is impossible to distinguish the countries in which it is said to have prevailed
3.
Robert the Bruce
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Robert I, popularly known as Robert the Bruce, was King of Scots from 1306 until his death in 1329. Robert was one of the most famous warriors of his generation and he fought successfully during his reign to regain Scotlands place as an independent country and is today revered in Scotland as a national hero. As Earl of Carrick, Robert the Bruce supported his familys claim to the Scottish throne, after submitting to Edward I in 1302 and returning to the kings peace, Robert inherited his familys claim to the Scottish throne upon his fathers death. In February 1306, Robert the Bruce killed Comyn following an argument, Bruce moved quickly to seize the throne and was crowned king of Scots on 25 March 1306. Bruce defeated his other Scots enemies, destroying their strongholds and devastating their lands, despite Bannockburn and the capture of the final English stronghold at Berwick in 1318, Edward II refused to renounce his claim to the overlordship of Scotland. In 1320, the Scottish nobility submitted the Declaration of Arbroath to Pope John XXII, declaring Robert as their rightful monarch and asserting Scotlands status as an independent kingdom. In 1324, the Pope recognised Robert I as king of an independent Scotland, and in 1326, Robert I died in June 1329. His body is buried in Dunfermline Abbey, while his heart was interred in Melrose Abbey. Robert de Brus, 1st Lord of Annandale, the first of the Bruce, or de Brus, line arrived in Scotland with David I in 1124 and was given the lands of Annandale in Dumfries and Galloway. His mother was by all accounts a formidable woman who, legend would have it, from his mother, he inherited the Earldom of Carrick, and through his father, a royal lineage that would give him a claim to the Scottish throne. The Bruces also held estates in Aberdeenshire, County Antrim, County Durham, Essex, Middlesex. Although Robert the Bruces date of birth is known, his place of birth is less certain, although it is most likely to have been Turnberry Castle in Ayrshire, very little is known of his youth. Annandale was thoroughly feudalised and the form of Northern Middle English that would develop into the Scots language was spoken throughout the region. Robert the Bruce would most probably have become trilingual at an early age and he would have been schooled to speak, read and possibly write in the Anglo-Norman language of his Scots-Norman peers and his fathers family. He would also have both the Gaelic language of his Carrick birthplace and his mothers family, and the early Scots language. As the heir to an estate and a pious layman, Robert would also have been given working knowledge of Latin. This would have afforded Robert and his brothers access to education in the law, politics, scripture, saints Lives, philosophy, history and chivalric instruction. That Robert took personal pleasure in such learning and leisure is suggested in a number of ways, as king, Robert certainly commissioned verse to commemorate Bannockburn and his subjects military deeds
4.
James Douglas, Lord of Douglas
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Sir James Douglas was a Scottish knight and feudal lord. He was one of the commanders during the Wars of Scottish Independence. He was the eldest son of Sir William Douglas, known as le Hardi or the bold and his mother was Elizabeth Stewart, the daughter of Alexander Stewart, 4th High Steward of Scotland, who died circa 1287 or early 1288. His father remarried in late 1288 so Douglas birth had to be prior to that, however, Douglas was sent to France for safety in the early days of the Wars of Independence, and was educated in Paris. There he met William Lamberton, Bishop of St. Andrews and he returned to Scotland with Lamberton. His lands had seized and awarded to Robert Clifford. The English, since he slew that man, Are keen to him if they can. Now, therefore, if it be your will, With him will I take good or ill, through him I hope my land to win Despite the Clifford and his kin. This was a dramatic moment in Scottish history, Robert Bruce, earl of Carrick had slain John Comyn. Bruce immediately claimed the crown of Scotland, in defiance of the English king, less than seven weeks after the killing in Dumfries, Bruce was crowned King on 25 March. It was while he was on his way to Glasgow to meet with Bishop Wishart, and then to Scone, the site of Scottish coronations. Riding on a horse borrowed from Bishop Lamberton, the site is traditionally believed to be the summit of a hill in Dumfries and Galloway, that is now known as the Crown of Scotland. Douglas explained his circumstances and immediately offered his services, And thus began their friendship true That no mischance could eer undo Nor lessen while they were alive and their friendship more and more would thrive. Douglas was set to share in Bruces early misfortunes, being present at the defeats at Methven and he soon created a formidable reputation for himself as a soldier and a tactician. While Bruce was campaigning in the north against his domestic enemies and he also showed himself to be utterly ruthless, particularly in his relentless attacks on the English garrison in his own Douglas Castle, the most famous of which quickly passed into popular history. Barbour dates this incident to Palm Sunday 1307, which fell on 19 March, some question whether this date is too early as Bruce and his small army were not yet established in south-west Scotland, suggesting Palm Sunday 1308 –17 April – as a more accurate date. Barbour says that the Larder was the first act toward becoming established in part of Scotland. Gathering local support he entered the church and the war-cry Douglas, went up for the first time
5.
Battle of Bannockburn
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The Battle of Bannockburn was a significant Scottish victory in the First War of Scottish Independence, and a landmark in Scottish history. Stirling Castle, a Scots royal fortress, occupied by the English, was under siege by the Scottish army, the English king, Edward II, assembled a formidable force to relieve it. This attempt failed, and his army was defeated in a battle by a smaller army commanded by the King of Scots. The removal of John Balliol from the Scottish throne also contributed to the English success, the Scots had been victorious in defeating the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297, however this was countered by Edward Is victory at the Battle of Falkirk. By 1304 Scotland had been conquered, but in 1306 Robert the Bruce seized the Scottish throne, Stirling Castle was one of the most important castles that was held by the English as it commanded the route north into the Scottish Highlands. It was besieged in 1314 by Robert the Bruces brother, Edward Bruce, the Scottish army probably numbered between 7,000 and 10,000 men, of whom no more than 500 would have been mounted. Unlike the heavily armoured English cavalry, the Scottish cavalry would have been light horsemen who were good for skirmishing, the Scottish infantry would have had axes, swords and pikes, with few bowmen among them. The English appear to have advanced in four divisions whereas the Scots were in three divisions, known as schiltrons which were strong defensive circles of men bristling with pikes and his brother Edward led the third division. According to Barbour, there was a fourth division nominally under the youthful Walter the Steward and these archers played little part in the battle. There is firsthand evidence in a poem by the captured Carmelite friar Robert Baston, written just after the battle, most medieval battles were short-lived, lasting only a few hours, therefore the Battle of Bannockburn is unusual in that it lasted for two days. On 23 June 1314 two of the English cavalry formations advanced, the first commanded by the Earl of Gloucester and they encountered a body of Scots, among them Robert the Bruce himself. A celebrated single combat then took place between Bruce and Henry de Bohun who was the nephew of the Earl of Hereford, Bohun charged at Bruce and when the two passed side by side, Bruce split Bohuns head with his axe. The Scots then rushed upon the English under Gloucester and Hereford who struggled back over the Bannockburn, so saying he spurred in between Beaumont and Sir William Deyncourt, and charged into the thick of the enemy. Under nightfall the English forces crossed the stream that is known as the Bannock Burn, establishing their position on the plain beyond it. A Scottish knight, Alexander Seton, who was fighting in the service of Edward II of England, deserted the English camp and told Bruce of the low English morale, in the morning the Scots then advanced from New Park. Not long after daybreak, the Scots spearmen began to move towards the English, Edward was surprised to see Roberts army emerge from the cover of the woods. As Bruces army drew nearer, they paused and knelt in prayer, Edward is supposed to have said in surprise They pray for mercy. For mercy, yes, one of his attendants replied, But from God and these men will conquer or die
6.
Keystone (architecture)
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A keystone is the wedge-shaped stone piece at the apex of a masonry arch, or the generally round one at the apex of a vault. In both cases it is the piece placed during construction and locks all the stones into position. In both arches and vaults, keystones are often enlarged beyond the requirements, and often decorated in some way. Keystones are often placed in the centre of the top of openings such as doors and windows. Although a masonry arch or vault cannot be self-supporting until the keystone is placed, old keystones can decay due to vibration, a condition known as bald arch. In a rib-vaulted ceiling, keystones may mark the intersections of two or more arched ribs, for aesthetic purposes, the keystone is sometimes larger than the other voussoirs, or embellished with a boss. Mannerist architects of the 16th century often designed arches with enlarged and slightly dropped keystones, numerous examples are found in the work of Sebastiano Serlio, a 16th-century Italian Mannerist architect. Architectural sculpture Coping List of classical architecture terms Oculus compression ring Media related to keystones at Wikimedia Commons
7.
Free will
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Free will is the ability to choose between different possible courses of action. It is closely linked to the concepts of responsibility, praise, guilt, sin and it is also connected with the concepts of advice, persuasion, deliberation, and prohibition. Traditionally, only actions that are freely willed are seen as deserving credit or blame, There are numerous different concerns about threats to the possibility of free will, varying by how exactly it is conceived, which is a matter of some debate. Some conceive free will to be the capacity to make choices in which the outcome has not been determined by past events, determinism suggests that only one course of events is possible, which is inconsistent with the existence of such free will. This problem has been identified in ancient Greek philosophy, and remains a focus of philosophical debate. In contrast, compatibilists hold that free will is compatible with determinism, compatibilists thus consider the debate between libertarians and hard determinists over free will vs determinism a false dilemma. Different compatibilists offer very different definitions of free will even means. Contemporary compatibilists instead identify free will as a capacity, such as to direct ones behavior in a way responsive to reason. The underlying questions are whether we have control over our actions, and if so, what sort of control and these questions predate the early Greek stoics, and some modern philosophers lament the lack of progress over all these millennia. On one hand, humans have a sense of freedom. On the other hand, a feeling of free will could be mistaken. The conflict between intuitively felt freedom and natural law arises when either causal closure or physical determinism is asserted, with causal closure, no physical event has a cause outside the physical domain, and with physical determinism, the future is determined entirely by preceding events. The puzzle of reconciling free will with a universe is known as the problem of free will or sometimes referred to as the dilemma of determinism. This dilemma leads to a dilemma as well, How are we to assign responsibility for our actions if they are caused entirely by past events. Compatibilists maintain that mental reality is not of itself causally effective, classical compatibilists have addressed the dilemma of free will by arguing that free will holds as long as we are not externally constrained or coerced. Modern compatibilists make a distinction between freedom of will and freedom of action, that is, separating freedom of choice from the freedom to enact it, given that humans all experience a sense of free will, some modern compatibilists think it is necessary to accommodate this intuition. Compatibilists often associate freedom of will with the ability to make rational decisions, a different approach to the dilemma is that of incompatibilists, namely, that if the world is deterministic then, our feeling that we are free to choose an action is simply an illusion. Metaphysical libertarianism is the form of incompatibilism which posits that determinism is false, yet even with physical indeterminism, arguments have been made against libertarianism in that it is difficult to assign Origination
8.
Perth, Scotland
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Perth is a city in central Scotland, located on the banks of the River Tay. It is the centre of Perth and Kinross council area. According to the preliminary 2011 census results Perth, including its suburbs, has a population of 50,000. Perth has been known as The Fair City since the publication of the story Fair Maid of Perth by Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott in 1828. During the later period the city was also called St Johns Toun or Saint Johnstoun by its inhabitants in reference to the main church dedicated to St John the Baptist. This name is preserved by the football team, St Johnstone F. C. The name Perth comes from a Pictish word for wood or copse, there has been a settlement at Perth since prehistoric times, on a natural mound raised slightly above the flood plain of the Tay, where the river could be crossed at low tide. The area surrounding the city is known to have been occupied since Mesolithic hunter-gatherers arrived more than 8000 years ago. Nearby Neolithic standing stones and circles also exist, dating from about 4000 BC, the presence of Scone Abbey, home of the Stone of Destiny where the King of Scots was crowned, enhanced the early importance of the city. Perth became known as a capital of Scotland, due to the frequent residence of the royal court, Royal Burgh status was soon given to the city by King William the Lion in the early 12th century. The city became one of the richest burghs in the country, doing trade with France, the Low Countries and Baltic Countries for goods such as Spanish silk and French wine. The Scottish Reformation also played a big role in the city with the sacking of the Houses of the Greyfriars and Blackfriars, the Act of Settlement later brought about Jacobite uprisings. The city was occupied by Jacobite supporters on three occasions, the founding of Perth Academy in 1760 helped to bring major industries, such as linen, leather, bleach and whisky, to the city. Given its location, Perth was perfectly placed to become a key transport centre with the coming of the railways, today, Perth serves as a retail centre for the surrounding area. Following the decline of the industry locally, the citys economy has now diversified to include insurance. Due to its location, the city is referred to as the Gateway to the Highlands. The Australian metropolis Perth took its name from the Scottish city, Perth is also twinned with Aschaffenburg in the German state of Bavaria. The name Perth derives from a Pictish-Gaelic word for wood or copse, Perth was referred to as St Johns ton up until the mid-1600s with the name Perthia being reserved for the wider area
9.
Scribe
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A scribe is a person who writes books or documents by hand in hieratics, cuneiform or other scripts and may help keep track of records for priests and government. The profession, previously found in all cultures in some form, lost most of its importance. Later the profession developed into public servants, journalists, accountants, typists, in societies with low literacy rates, street-corner letter-writers may still be found providing a service. The most important was a person educated in the arts of writing, sons of scribes were brought up in the same scribal tradition, sent to school and, upon entering the civil service, inherited their fathers positions. Much of what is known about ancient Egypt is due to the activities of its scribes, scribes were also considered part of the royal court, were not conscripted and did not have to pay taxes. The scribal profession had companion professions, the painters and artisans who decorated reliefs and other relics with scenes, personages, a scribe was exempt from the heavy manual labor required of the lower classes, or corvee labor. Thoth was a god associated by the Ancient Egyptians with the invention of writing, being the scribe of the gods, besides the scribal profession for accountancy and governmental politicking, the scribal professions immediately branched out into the socio-cultural areas of literature. The first stories probably related to religious stories, and gods. In ancient Egypt, an example of this is the Dispute between a man and his Ba, an example from the small list of Sumerian disputations is the debate between bird and fish. In the other Sumerian disputes, in the Debate between Summer and Winter, Winter wins, the other disputes are, cattle and grain, the tree and the reed, Silver and Copper, the pickax and the plough, and millstone and the gul-gul stone. Some scribes also copied documents, but this was not necessarily part of their job, the Jewish scribes used the following process for creating copies of the Torah and eventually other books in the Tanakh. They could only use animal skins, both to write on, and even to bind manuscripts. Each column of writing could have no less than forty-eight, the ink must be black, and of a special recipe. They must say each word aloud while they were writing and they must wipe the pen and wash their entire bodies before writing the most Holy Name of God, YHVH, every time they wrote it. There must be a review within thirty days, and if as many as three pages required corrections, the manuscript had to be redone. The letters, words, and paragraphs had to be counted, the middle paragraph, word and letter must correspond to those of the original document. The documents could be stored only in sacred places, as no document containing Gods Word could be destroyed, they were stored, or buried, in a genizah. Sofers are among the few scribes that still ply their trade by hand, renowned calligraphers, they produce the Hebrew Torah scrolls and other holy texts by hand to this day
10.
St John's College, Cambridge
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St Johns College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded by Lady Margaret Beaufort, in constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511. The aims of the college, as specified by its Statutes, are the promotion of education, religion, learning, the colleges alumni include the winners of ten Nobel Prizes, seven prime ministers and twelve archbishops of various countries, at least two princes, and three Saints. HRH Prince William was affiliated with St Johns while undertaking a course in 2014. St Johns College is also known for its choir, its members success in a wide variety of inter-collegiate sporting competitions. In 2011 the college celebrated its quincentenary, an event marked by a visit of HM Queen Elizabeth II and HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. The college was founded on the site of the 13th-century Hospital of St John in Cambridge at the suggestion of Saint John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester and chaplain to Lady Margaret Beaufort. However, Lady Margaret died without having mentioned the foundation of St Johns in her will, and it was largely the work of Fisher that ensured that the college was founded. He had to obtain the approval of King Henry VIII of England, the Pope through the intermediary Polydore Vergil, the college received its charter on 9 April 1511. In November 1512 the Court of Chancery allowed Lady Margarets executors to pay for the foundation of the college from her estates, when Lady Margarets executors took over they found most of the old Hospital buildings beyond repair, but repaired and incorporated the Chapel into the new college. A kitchen and hall were added, and a gate tower was constructed for the College Treasury. The doors were to be closed each day at dusk, sealing the monastic community from the outside world. Over the course of the five hundred years, the college expanded westwards towards the River Cam, and now has eleven courts. The first three courts are arranged in enfilade, St Johns College first admitted women in October 1981, when K. M. Wheeler was admitted to the fellowship, along with nine female graduate students. The first women undergraduates arrived a year later, St Johns distinctive Great Gate follows the standard contemporary pattern employed previously at Christs College and Queens College. The gatehouse is crenelated and adorned with the arms of the foundress Lady Margaret Beaufort, above these are displayed her ensigns, the Red Rose of Lancaster and Portcullis. The college arms are flanked by curious creatures known as yales, mythical beasts with elephants tails, antelopes bodies, goats heads, and swivelling horns. Above them is a tabernacle containing a figure of St John the Evangelist
