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"Scotia is so named after the Scottish tribes by which it is inhabited. At first, it began from the Scottish firth on the south, and, later on, from the river Humber, where Albania also began. Afterwards, however, it commenced at the wall Thirlwal, which Severus had built to the river Tyne. But now it begins at the river Tweed, the northern boundary of England, and, stretching rather less than four hundred miles in length, in a north-westerly direction, is bounded by the Pentland Firth, where a fearfully dangerous whirlpool sucks in and belches back the waters every hour. It is a country strong by nature, and difficult and toilsome of access. In some parts, it towers into mountains, in others it sinks down into plains. For lofty mountains stretch through the midst of it, from end to end, as do the tall Alps through Europe; and these mountains formerly separated the Scots from the Picts, and their kingdoms from each other. Impassable as they are on horseback, save in very few places, they can hardly be crossed even on foot, both on account of the snow always lying on them, except in summer time only; and by reason of the boulders torn off the beetling crags, and the deep hollows in their midst. Along the foot of these mountains are vast woods, full of stags, roe-deer, and other wild animals and beasts of various kinds; and these forests oftentimes afford a strong and safe protection to the cattle of the inhabitants against the depredations of their enemies; for the herds in those parts, they say, are accustomed, from use, whenever they hear the shouts of men or women, and if suddenly attacked by dogs to flock hastily into the woods. Numberless springs also well up, and burst forth from the hills and the sloping ridges of the mountains, and, trickling down with sweetest sound, in crystal rivulets between flowery banks, flow together through the level vales, and give birth to many streams; and these again to large rivers, in which Scotia marvellously abounds, beyond any other country; and at their mouths, where they rejoin the sea, she has noble and secure harbours. Scotia, also, has tracts of land bordering on the sea, pretty level and rich, with green meadows, and fertile and productive fields of corn and barley, and well adapted for growing beans, pease, and all other produce; destitute, however, of wine and oil, though by no means so of honey and wax. But in the upland districts, and along the highlands, the fields are less productive, except only in oats and barley. The country is, there, very hideous, interspersed with moors and marshy fields, muddy and dirty; it is, however, full of pasturage grass for cattle, and comely with verdure in the glens, along the watercourses. This region abounds in wool-bearing sheep, and in horses; and its soil is grassy, feeds cattle and wild beasts, is rich in milk and wool, and manifold in its wealth of fish, in sea, river, and lake. It is also noted for birds of many sorts. There noble falcons, of soaring flight and boundless courage, are to be found, and hawks of matchless daring. Marble of two or three colours, that is, black, variegated, and white, as well as alabaster, is also found there. It also produces a good deal of iron and lead, and nearly all metals. 'The land of the Scots', says Erodotus, 'in the fertility of its soil, in its pleasant groves, in the rivers and springs by which it is watered, in the number of its flocks of all kinds, and its horses, where its shore rejoices in inhabitants, is not inferior to the soil of even Britain itself'. Isidore tells us: 'Scotia, with respect to the wholesomeness of its air and climate, is a very mild country; there is little or no excessive heat in summer, or cold in winter'- and he has written of Scotia in nearly the same terms as of Hibernia. In Scotland, the longest days, at midsummer, are of eighteen hours, or more; and, in midwinter, the shortest are of not fully six; while in the island of Meroe, the capital of the Ethiopians, the longest day is of twelve hours; in Alexandria, in Egypt, of thirteen; and in Italy, of fifteen. In the island of Thule again, the day lasts all through the six summer months, and the night, likewise, all through the six winter months. The manners and customs of the Scots vary with the diversity of their speech. For two languages are spoken amongst them, the Scottish and the Teutonic; the latter of which is the language of those who occupy the seaboard and plains, while the race of Scottish speech inhabits the highlands and outlying islands. The people of the coast are of domestic and civilized habits, trusty, patient, and urbane, decent in their attire, affable, and peaceful, devout in Divine worship, yet always prone to resist a wrong at the hand of their enemies. The highlanders and people of the islands, on the other hand, are a savage and untamed nation, rude and independent, given to rapine, ease-loving, of a docile and warm disposition, comely in person, but unsightly in dress, hostile to the English people and language, and, owing to diversity of speech, even to their own nation, and exceedingly cruel. They are, however, faithful and obedient to their king and country, and easily made to submit to law, if properly governed. Solinus, the historian, in describing the manners and customs of the Scottish nation of olden time, says:- 'In its social observances, the Scottish nation was always rugged and warlike. For when males were born to them, the fathers were wont to offer them their first food on the point of a word, so that they should desire to die not otherwise than under arms, in battle for liberty; and when, afterwards, they are grown up and able to fight, the victors, after drinking of the blood of the slain, besmear their faces with it. For they are a high-spirited race, of sparing diet, of a fierce mettle, of a wild and stern countenance, rugged in address, but affable and kind to their own people, given to sports and hunting, and to ease rather than toil'. 'The Scottish nation,' writes Isidore, 'is that, originally, which was once in Ireland, and resembles the Irish in all things- in language, manners, and character. For the Scots are a light-minded nation, fierce in spirit, savage towards their foes, who would almost as soon die as be enslaved, and account it sloth to die in bed, deeming it glorious and manly to slay or be slain by, the foe in the field; a nation of sparing diet, sustaining hunger very long, and rarely indulging in food before sunset; contenting themselves, moreover, with meat, and food prepared from milk. And though they are, by nature, a people of generally rather graceful figure, and goodly face, yet their peculiar dress much disfigures them.'"

Chapters 7-9 of the fourteenth century ‘Chronica Gentis Scotorum’ by John of Fordun, edited by W.F. Skene and translated by Felix J.H. Skene, 1872.

There is a reason I have quoted these chapters at some length, and it is not just for their interesting description of the mediaeval Scottish landscape. The last paragraph (Chapter 9) in particular is an infamous passage, and it has frequently been used to summarise the so-called ‘Highland/Lowland divide’ even in the modern day. In fact, it is a passage with a complex history and should be taken with a large pinch of salt, especially since Skene’s translation, though the most famous and widely used, is itself very much a product of its Victorian context.

John of Fordun was probably a priest who hailed, as his name suggests, from the village of Fordoun in the old county of Kincardineshire (now Aberdeenshire). His ‘Chronica Gentis Scotorum’ (’The Chronicle of the Scottish People’) is perhaps the earliest surviving example of an attempt to write a comprehensive history of Scotland from its mythical origins. Traditionally the entirety of the work edited and translated by the two Skenes in the nineteenth century was thought to have been composed by John of Fordun some time in the late 1300s, but recent research suggests that he only composed the first five books, covering the history of Scotland from its earliest times to the death of David I in 1153...

John of Fordun’s views on Scotland would be interesting because of his status as the country’s earliest surviving ‘historian’ alone, but chapter 9 (the last paragraph quoted above) in particular has a long history of its own. This firsthand description of Scotland by a fourteenth century Scot, who grew up in the Mearns only a few miles from the Mounth, is invaluable. Many have taken John of Fordun’s words in Chapter 9 at face value, and the first half of the chapter is frequently quoted in modern history books, though historians have often then reinterpreted the passage to fit their own preconceptions. For Victorian historians, his depiction of linguistically distinct, mutually antagonistic, peoples with markedly different dress and lifestyle seemed to confirm their heavily racialised view of Scottish history, with “Noble Savage” Highlanders and canny Lowlanders locked in an eternal struggle. More recent historians, less concerned with simplistic ethnic categories but still seeking to establish the roots of the so-called Highland/Lowland divide, have taken the account as evidence that the fourteenth century witnessed the birth of the Highlander as a distinct entity to be reviled by the ‘Lowlander’.

However some have argued that Fordun’s account might not have been entirely original. He references several Classical authors, which is not particularly unusual, but in some sections he seems to rely more on the accounts of these authors than the experience we might assume he had as a Scot himself. It has therefore been suggested that this part of John of Fordun’s history may have drawn on an earlier account, perhaps one composed by the author of Gesta Annalia I- this was possibly Richard Vairement, a thirteenth century Frenchman who acted as chancellor to Alexander II’s queen Marie de Coucy, and who would certainly have had cause to rely on classical accounts of Scotland. This raises further questions about whether the views of Scotland expressed in John of Fordun’s chronicle really reflect his own fourteenth century experience, or if they perhaps reflect an older viewpoint, perhaps that of a French immigrant in the 1260s.

Even if the account is John of Fordun’s original work, there are issues with both his viewpoint and the way it has been interpreted in the modern era. It is worth pointing out that the chronicle never uses the terms ‘Highland’ and ‘Lowland’- Skene’s use of the term ‘highlanders’ above is actually his own interpretation of the original Latin which seems to refer instead to the people who inhabit the islands and mountains. Instead of ‘Lowlanders’ we have the ‘people of the coast’, who speak the ‘Teutonic’ language- probably to be identified with what we now call the Scots language, which, like its close relative English, is a Germanic language. The people of the mountains are said to speak the “Scottish” language, presumably Gaelic. However despite first impressions, the people of the coastal plain and the people of the mountains cannot be easily equated with the modern concepts of Lowlanders and Highlanders. If we are to see the divide between the two peoples as linguistic, then it must be pointed out that, during the fourteenth century, Gaelic was widely spoken in many areas which are not generally considered to be the ‘Highlands’- notably Galloway and Carrick in the south-west of Scotland, but also parts of Fife and other areas.

If we are to see the split as geographic, with Lowlanders inhabiting the coastal plain-then it must be pointed out that areas which some people now consider to be ‘Highland’, such as Easter Ross, fall into this category, while many areas of southern, Scots-speaking Scotland, such as the Southern Uplands, are hilly and remote. And even if we decide to abandon the somewhat anachronistic terms ‘Highlander’ and ‘Lowlander’ when referring to Fordun’s account, I would argue that the ‘division’ of Scotland between two separate peoples was a lot less distinct, and a lot more fluid and complex in the fourteenth century than the chronicler suggests. Thus, although a fascinating source, we should beware of stereotyping ‘Highland’ and ‘Lowland’ Scotland during this period, especially if these stereotypes look rather like a Romantic fantasy of Barbarian Highlanders and Civilised Lowlanders.

Some additional notes:

- It seems that John of Fordun means Hadrian’s Wall when he says ‘Thirlwall’, and it looks like he associates the wall of Septimius Severus with Hadrian’s Wall as well, though the location of Severus’ wall is actually a bit of a mystery.

- The Northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland were not officially part of the kingdom of Scotland during the fourteenth century, which is why John of Fordun says that Scotland stretches as far north as the Pentland Firth, which is the strait between Caithness and Orkney. The whirlpool he refers to may be the Swilkie.

- Since Fordoun is only around ten miles from the Cairn O’ Mounth, a well-known pass through the Grampian mountains which was used by several armies in history, it is interesting to note that John of Fordun describes the mountains that “formerly separated the Scots from the Picts” as “Impassable (...) on horseback, save in very few places, they can hardly be crossed even on foot, both on account of the snow always lying on them, except in summer time only”.

- John of Fordun’s description of the upland parts of Scotland as "very hideous, interspersed with moors and marshy fields, muddy and dirty; it is, however, full of pasturage grass for cattle, and comely with verdure in the glens, along the watercourses” is intriguing. The ‘romantic’ appeal of Scotland’s upland scenery does not seem to have been widely appreciated in the Middle Ages, and although the first part of John of Fordun’s description, regarding the ‘hideous moors’, reflects this, his other comments are not wholly negative.

- The account of Scottish diet and agriculture seems to be accurate- peas, barley, and oats were common crops, while wool was an extremely important export. Certainly the country was rich in fish and, although the Scots were not able to exploit the herring to the extent that others did (the Dutch for example), Scottish salmon was a notable export. Highland hawks were also much sought after by the nobility.

- ‘Thule’ is a mysterious location often mentioned by mediaeval and early modern writers- theories as to its identity include Iceland, Shetland, Orkney, and Greenland.

- When John of Fordun states that the people of the mountains are ‘unsightly in dress’ we cannot necessarily assume that they wore what we consider to be ‘Highland’ dress nowadays- kilt, plaid, e.t.c. Kilts came into use in the later Middle Ages (it’s worth noting they are not likely to have been in use in William Wallace’s time) and even then they looked very different from the neat modern version.

- The statement that the people of the mountains are “hostile to the English people and language” raises a couple of questions. For a start, late mediaeval Scots speakers often used the term ‘Inglis’ (English) to refer to their language, rather than the Middle English spoken in the south of Britain, which was sometimes called southron instead. However Middle English and Old Scots were still often seen as being the same or similar languages, so should we assume that, by the ‘English people and language’, John of Fordun is stating that the people of the mountains hate the people of the coastal plain (i.e., that so-called Highland/Lowland divide?). Or should we interpret this as meaning English in the modern sense, and that the people of the mountains hate the English even more than their fellow Scots on the coastal plain? Since the next phrase talks about how they don’t like people of their own ‘nation’ either, this might be the case, but in the aftermath of the Wars of Independence, there was no shortage of anti-English sentiment among the people of the coastal plain either.

- “They are, however, faithful and obedient to their king and country, and easily made to submit to law, if properly governed.” - this is a sentiment which would not have been out of place in the eighteenth or nineteenth century, but it must be remembered that it comes from a very different, mediaeval context, not a time of kilted Highland regiments fighting for the Empire. There was some feeling in late mediaeval Scotland, however, that one of Robert Bruce’s successes had been his understanding of the west.

- The last part of chapter 9 is taken up by two passages from the ancient authors Solinus and Isidore and, although they are used to prop up John of Fordun’s own account, it would be wise to remember this before they are used to draw conclusions about the behaviour of fourteenth century Scots.

All in all, these chapters, and especially chapter 9, are an important and well-known source. Even though I would caution against taking the whole work at face value, it is certainly worth becoming familiar with, since it has influenced so many subsequent accounts of Scotland, for better or worse. For further reading, I would also recommend perusing Martin McGregor’s article “Gaelic Barbarity and Scottish Identity in the Later Middle Ages”, and Dauvit Broun’s “Attitudes of Gall to Gaedhel in Scotland in Scotland before John of Fordun”, both published in the book “Mìorun Mòr nan Gall: 'The great ill-will of the Lowlander'? Lowland perceptions of the Highlands, Medieval and Modern”, ed. McGregor and Broun.

If anyone has any questions about any of the statements made here, please feel free to fire them my way!

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