Largs. Viking Scotland

Largs is known as the last stand of the Vikings, whose King Haakon lost to Scotland's King Alexander in 1263.  The event, to the Norwegians, was but an inconclusive skirmish tangled by bad weather etc.  To the Scots, it was Battle.  Haakon planned further fights, but died in the Orkney Islands.  Both sides then negotiated rather than fight on and on, and the western Islands, Hebrides and also Argyll on the mainland, were ceded by the successor King Magnus in 1266 to the Scots. The event is commemorated annually, see http://www.largsvikingfestival.com/. By way of update, the 2013 celebration is shown at that site.  Go in September and enjoy.

A look at the geography of northern Europe shows navigable waterways, even for distances, seas, and islands that could be, and were, hopped-skipped-and sailed across by early Norse.  The Spring 2013 issue of Scottish Life, see http://www.scottishlife.org/CurrentIssue.htm; does not seem to show the article on page 22 about how and when all that happened -- migrations because of overpopulation on sparse arable lands, and later, incursions by Christian zealots intent on unifying all under the Christian Soldier Banner.  Soldier?  Really?  Who was it that turned that down in the first instance?

1.  Course began with the closest, Shetland and Orknay;
2.  The Northern and Western Isles, Hebrides;
3.  Northern areas of Caithness, Sutherland, Inverness.

In Edinburgh is an exhibition called Vikings! with artifacts and displays showing life in those days. Vikings were traders long before their anti-Christian response to the incursions of militant Christians in the late 700's - 800's and the centuries following.  But horned helmets be they none.   A fiction. So sad.

Skye - Kale Yard, Kale History, Coffee and Kale, and Peter Pan

 Great Leafy, Non-Headed Cabbage *

Hail to Kale from the Isle of Skye

On Skye some of the old walled areas we saw as parts of cottages or farms appar were for growing kale, that strong very strong vegetable in the cabbage-brussels sprouts etc family. There are no identifying signs, but we found this bit of history through serendipity.

1.  History.  Kale-type veggies have been cultivated since the Fifth Century BC, at least, see http://www.veraveg.org/Veg%20History/Veg%20History%20Kale.html.  Kale:  Scots.  Kohl: German.  It was native to the Middle East, perhaps brought to the British Isles by the Romans, a staple also of the lower classes, workers, peasants, throughout the Middle Ages.  The forced depopulation of Scotland brought about a decline in kale-demand, as the wealthier apparently preferred the more delicate cabbage.

Kale recipes as meme: In early days, preserved in salt, in barrels. Cooked down and down. It grew well on the rough ground of the Scottish Isles. More:  http://www.cookthink.com/reference/2561/Root_Source:_Kale. 
For any beleaguered family cook thinking she is unique in imagining crispy kale, not so.  It is all over.  See the added perk of kale at http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipe/crispy-kale-leaves/ 

Skip viagra.  Try kale.  Then let us know. Go out to dinner with the money saved.

2.  Kailfield.  Also a name, derogatory, for a group of Scottish writers, whose number included James M. Barrie, who wrote Peter Pan.  Veraveg site. We saw no tribute to Barrie in Scotland, but did in London, of course, at Kensington Gardens.  Tried a search for Kailfield, and came up instead with Kailyard, as the name for the group idealizing Scotland in a nostalgic way, see http://www.britannia.org/scotland/scotsdictionary/k.shtml.  Also Kail-yard.

3.  At home

• Kale recipe.  Kale in the Morning.  Coffee and Kale.

 For those whose families are gastronomically timid, fix your own kale.

Kale despite them.

• Wash, snip out the stem (put in the processor with a clove of garlic, salt, and any nuts, and drizzle in olive oil for a kind of pesto) and roughly break apart tough leaves.  
• Drizzle a little olive oil in a pan, toss in the kale, and sizzle until fragrant and crisping 
• Dump on paper towels, drain.  
• Dump on cookie sheet, add salt, and roast until crisp, about 10 minutes, say 375, watching and stirring occasionally.  Better than chips.

*  http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/publications/vegetabletravelers/kale.html

Perthshire area. Scottish Castles

Scots castles. Tall tower houses, embellished or with walls, additions, or not. They are in ruins in the glens, on the moors, in good condition some, and always evoke the need for a family's defense in isolated places. Put the windows high up, the entry an obstacle with the heaviest of reinforced doors, ditches outside, draws to raise.

Scots tower house, small castle, abandoned, near Perthshire (I think)

The glossy luxe magazine, Country Life, is a venerable British weekly that highlighted Scotland's romance heritage through its castles in August 2012.  One article, a book review, presents Scotland's Castle Culture, edited by Audrey Dakin, Miles Glendenning,  and Aongus Mackechnie.  Find the magazine not on its own website, which I could not find, but in a fine overview of its editorial and topical history at (yes) Wikipedia.  The book adds to the usual architectural history sections the overlay of changing relations with England, shifting allegiances of border families.

Theory is interesting,  but riveting is considering life in these structures, as a family.  The husband off to warring or governing, the lady at home, the retainers, the hunting and fishing culture that meant sustenance then.  Defense against marauding neighbors or invaders.  England's castles look brittle and purposeful.  Scotland's hold echoes of people inside.

Stirling Castle, William Wallace and Robert the Bruce.

William Wallace, a la Braveheart, at Memorial, Stirling, Scotland

Attention should be paid to the swords of famous battle leaders.   Robert the Bruce, who led the victory of the Scots over the British at Bannockburn in 1314, see http://www.britishbattles.com/scottish/battle-bannockburn.htm apparentlyearlier (later?)  received the sword of William Wallace, see http://www.forthstimeline.com/downloads/wallace_leaflet.pdf .  Scroll down the sites for representations of medieval swords.  Wallace may not have been a pivotal figure at all for Bruce, but the two later get linked by the proximity of their memorials. See, e.g., http://www.hotelsinscotland.org/scotland/bannockburn-stirling-scotland.php/ Wallace was tortured and killed by the English in 1305 when they finally overcame him by betrayal, capture, butchery.  Wallace was known for his own victory over the British at Stirling Bridge in 1297.

What happened to that particular sword is not known, but the sword attributed to Robert the Bruce in Stirling, is so long and heavy that it is hard to imagine anyone able to lift it. I understand that a young man began with increasingly heavy and long swords so that by the time he was grown, he could wield such a one handily.  Like lifting a cow by beginning as a child with a calf. 

Robert the Bruce, Equestrian Statue, Stirling Castle, Scotland

Stirling. Norman Impact on Scotland. Violent Transition of Governments.

Norman Impact on Scotland

Why the Wars

King David.  1124-1153.  Dabid mac Mail Choluim in the Scots Gaelic.  In 1066, William the Conqueror defeated England's King Harold at the Battle of Hastings.  His control moved to all parts of the British Isles, more slowly into Scotland, but areas soon showed the influence, including Stirling. David was educated in England, and became a strong proponent of the new Norman ways, including the Reforms of the Roman Catholic Church in the British Isles. See http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Counties_of_Scotland

Thane to sheriff. A difficult transition.

The Norman displaced Celtic forms.  The Celtic did not go down easy.

All this displaced the earlier Celtic ways, the tradition, the tribes, the Christians who had followed a more flexible, individualized and a less institutionalized regimentation than had been in effect on the Continent.

Do these changes, from the Celtic to the Norman, explain the antipathy of even Robin Hood in England, at Notttingham, to the sheriff. What did the sheriff represent?  We were looking for England sources, and found this Scots one. David founded the continent's big monasteries, all answerable to Rome and not anyone local, or any founding local Christian family.  David followed the Norman feudal land-grant system,  and where there had been Celtic "thanes" there now emerged Norman "sheriffs" in sheriffdoms, or shires.  Think of the Hobbits in their shire.  Same thing, is that so?

The border shires, and the eastern coast shires soon came under royal (British-English) control.  The western shires took a little longer.  By 1305, the list was nearly complete.

After 1305, some larger shires had been subdivided, others merged, and an emerging county system was on its way.

Norse influence waned.  By 1266, Norwegian claims to Argyll were erased.

1707 -- Union of Scotland and England.  No more sheriffdoms, counties instead. And those, long with a tradition of being inherited as to who is sheriff, were abolished as to inheritability.

Normans in Scotland.  Changing the face of culture, introducing bureaucracy, and new forms of land ownership. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/immig_emig/scotland/borders/article_1.shtml

Skarfskerry. Norse Surname - Skarf, Skarfr, Scharfe

Skarfskerry

North, on the flatland north of the Highlands, farming country, near Orkney.

1.  The Norse were in Scotland early, the 9th Century or so.  Their surnames and place names remain, but are eclipsed in modern times by all the tartan-related clan names.

For a history-chronology of Norse settlements-invasions of the British Isles, see page 2 at Scandinavian Influence on Southern Lowland Scotch, by George Tobias Flom back in 1900, reprint 1966:  see page 59, at http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14604/14604-h/ScandLatin.html/

2.  Norsemen moved in later years also from Ireland and Man to Scotland and the Western Isles, the Hebrides (Harris, Lewis, others) in about the 852 AD (how can they be so precise? This from the Cleasby Introduction to the Dictionary, see below.  The work by the Late Richard Cleasby, completed by Gudbrud Vigfusson, MA,, introduction by others, here the Cleasby Dictionary, from 1874.  It, can be downloaded from http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~kurisuto/germanic/oi_cleasbyvigfusson_about.html .  Also find there manuscripts and specific references, pages given by first entry to last on that page.


3.  Specific word -- skarfr, or variations.

For the Cleasby dictionary, you need the page to go directly to the Skarfr - Do a search either for Cleasby Icelandic Dictionary, or try the address at http://books.google.com/books?id=RnEJAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=English+Icelandic+dictionary&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&as_brr=0&cd=3#v=onepage&q&f=false
For the Cleasby dictionary, you need the page to go directly to the Skarfr - Do a search either for Cleasby Icelandic Dictionary, or try the address at http://books.google.com/books?id=RnEJAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=English+Icelandic+dictionary&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&as_brr=0&cd=3#v=onepage&q&f=false


Find Norse words skarf or skarfeor at page 539 of the dictionary. In Orkney, skarf as cormorant.  

4.  Also at that site, are Grammar outlines, signs, wonderful for International Scrabble or the worst crossword puzzle you could imagine.  Memorize this book and you WIN.

 There is also a list of the Sagas (our family is represented, at least by name, in the Icelandic Burnt Njall Saga, http://omacl.org/Njal/, with Otkell, son of Skarf, and Otkell was not a generous person).  There are poetries, laws and histories. Icelandic was spoken by the four main branches of the Scandinavians, see Introduction at iii, and was called Old Norse. Is that so?

Kindle can never compare to holding this old book. I need that book.

5.  Browsing:

In the Shetland Islands, skarf
In Scotland, scart

the green pelican
pelicanus grandus
topp-skarfr   that is the crested cormorant
dila-skarfr     that is the common cormorant (what is that?)

Local names: Skarfakletter
Skarfaholl

Plant: Skarfakal, or "scurvy-grass" - a plant growing on rocky shores, "good against scorbutic diseases" (like citrus?)

6.  Spelling - many variations as the word eased into the Gaelic with Norse plundering and settling. Or just  repeated contacts.

Scarth, sb. the cormorant. Dunbar, T.M.W., 92; F., 194; Douglas, I, 46, 15. O. N. skarfr, Norse skarv, cormorant. Shetland, scarf.  People of the Settiscarth

And later, at page 81, another spelling - : O. N. f > th in scarth (O. N. skarfr).

Find the Scandinavian origin of Gaelic names in the Gaelic sgarbh ("SKAR-av") and the Norse scarf, at The Nature of Scotland, at http://www.snh.gov.uk/docs/A317496.pdf / -- scroll down to Seabird Names, cormorant.

The name "Skarf" or a variant such as Skarfr, scarff, occurs in Orkney, and Shetland, and in Skarfskerry, Scotland; near John o'Groats, in Caithness, near Thurso.  See it at http://www.donaldfordimages.com/gallery/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=453054895/  In the Gaelic, it is Sgarbh Sgeir.  In Old Norse, it means Cormorant's Rock, see http://about.qkport.com/s/skarfskerry

Norse roots: Norway itself.

 Skarfjellet is a mountain in Norway, above Innerdalen in Nordmere, and rock climbers flock there, see http://about.qkport.com/s/skarfjell/ and on a map and also a photo at http://exviking.net/highlands/innerdalen.htm

Caledonia - Scotia; and Scotland before Scotland. Scota. Women Warriors; Thistle

 The Ship-Wrecked Brig, The Caledonia

and Queen Scotia; Scota

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Clue from a Figurehead

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A thumbnail is fair use of a photograph.  Here, from arbroathtimeline.moonfruit.com is a copy of the figurehead of the wrecked ship, the Caledonia, showing Queen Scota of the Milesians. 
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1.  Caledonia.  The Romans called this area that is now Scotland, north of their Britannia, by the Latin, Caledonia.  It lay beyond their wall, their armies, their provinces.  As "Caledonia" evolved, look at the legends of women warrior there:  we found this on.  Meet this figurehead from the Scottish ship, "The Caledonia", that wrecked between Falmouth and Gloucester, in 1842, see http://www.submerged.co.uk/caledonia.php/ 

• Looking at a map, Falmouth is down at Cornwall, England; on the underside of the peninsula, toward Plymouth; and Gloucester is around the water 'way  northeast, where Wales meets England.  Vet everything.  Where was this ship wrecked? But the point here is the figurehead.  And the site does specify "Morwenstow."  That puts it on the Cornwall coast, about midway between Bude and Hartland Point.  Better. Not Gloucester at all.

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The figurehead has come to be known as The Last Virgin of Morwenstow, and shows a woman warrior in Scottish garb, complete with tam o'shanter, sporran, sword, and large swath of kilt.  Morwenstow:  village on the coast at north Cornwall.
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This review by Ann Skea for a book written about the wreck, The Wreck at Sharpnose Point, by Jeremy Seal 2003, says this lady with the sword is an identifiable figure: fair use quote --
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"But the woman is Scotia, "national emblem of Burns and Scott," and she is an old wooden figurehead, salvaged from the Caledonia, which was wrecked in 1843 on the rocks below this graveyard at Morwenstow in Cornwall. "

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If so, she is far more than the national emblem.  She is a Queen, who led her troops into battle. Must all women warriors be deemed "Amazons?"  Amazons were tribes of women, whose battle leaders were women leading other women.  That is specialized as a culture:  Scotia instead led troops of men, and - why not - women.
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"Queen Scotia had led her troops in a well-fought field, and when the day was won retired to the rear to rest from her toils." 

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See The Thistle for Scotland, November 25, 1888 -- fair use quote here from http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F00EEDA1E38E533A25756C2A9679D94699FD7CF/.
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"She then lay down to rest, but unfortunately did so upon a thistle, prickers and all, and rapidly leaped up, tore it out, and was about to cast it off.  But she thought she would never forget it anyway so put a sprig in her casque and it became the national symbol."
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The lady, as well-dressed as she is, and clearly in charge of her own sword, well-balanced, cap not even askew, is called a "wild woman"  at http://curiousexpeditions.org/historical/   Not so wild.  Just good at what she does.
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Women in war.  At least as far back as the Scythians of the Caucasus, as far as records go. See Studying Wars:  Women in War.

See also details of the wreck at http://www.submerged.co.uk/caledonia.php/  Women have long been participants in the bloodiest aspects of war. See http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/amazons/Amazons_Women_Warriors.htm.  See also http://azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/ai131_folder/131_articles/131_amazons.html/

2.  Is this Scotia? 
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The BBC does not make that connection, see its report on the 166th anniversary off the disaster, at http://www.bbc.co.uk/cornwall/content/articles/2008/08/28/history_caledonia_feature.shtml/
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Who is Scotia? If she is as ancient as this story suggests, then her garb is not appropriate, is it? Or is it.

Ireland-Scotland-Ireland-Scotland-Ireland.
It looks like Ireland was first, with its Scotti people then going to "Scotland", 
then back and forth for centuries? Scotti. Queen Scota. Milesians. Were they Celts from the central-east Europe? Or what?

Scotia the woman warrior.

Queen Scota, see http://www.danann.org/library/arch/mil.html

This stems from the mists when Irish "Scotties" settled parts of Scotland, so we understand, and from a legend in 1700 BC. Scotia, or Scota, was a queen, the wife of Milesius (the same or of the same tribe as those who raced Ui Niall to the shore of Ulster to claim it, when Ui Niall hacked off his hand and hurled it to the beach just in time, and won the land?) and mother of 6 sons.  The red hand of Ulster, now coopted in American political-economic maneuverings, see http://kngdv.blogspot.com/2010/03/red-hand-family-jp-morgan-chase-code.html
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The Milesian invasion.  Part of Irish history-mythology. See http://homepage.eircom.net/~seanjmurphy/irhismys/milesians.htm
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She was killed, say some, in battle at Slieve Mish Mountain, in Ireland, fighting with the legendary Tuatha de Denaan (who are we to say this is only legend?) (read further here to find the Tuatha-de as originally a Hebrew tribe).
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Read the overly-romanticized but enjoyable Scotia's Grave, by Nell Sullivan, at http://danmahony.com/nellstories7.htm/  She had come in vengeance, as her husband had been killed in an ambush earlier in South Kerry.  Her sons went on to defeat the Tuatha de Denaan to rule Ireland, it goes on.
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For those who enjoy connecting legends, Scotia is said to be was the daughter of a pharaoh, and there are hieroglyphics on her grave. That idea of an ancient Egyptian liaison is echoed in some of the legends of migrations of Hebrews (yes, Hebrews) from Palestine through Egypt, to Hiberia (Spain) and to Hibernia (Ireland).  There are other ancient connections people find, or want to find, with Egypt and western religion or groups.  See, for example, the Black Madonna traditions, one of which (at least) cites the blackness as designating Mary Madonna's color, as a person from Egypt, see that  at http://denmarkroadways.blogspot.com/2011/07/bjernede-inside-round-church-rundkirke.html
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This migration route and origin is supported at an early source: The British Chronicles Vol I by at David Hughes, at page 46. See http://books.google.com/books?id=QnDtohOe8-QC&pg=PA46&lpg=PA46&dq=scotia+milesians&source=bl&ots=NSFqVAwcKD&sig=4kc_qwckfgwkpuBDLSoqJBvbszQ&hl=en&ei=TY6aS-fGBMGB8gb3x9H7DQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CBUQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=scotia%20milesians&f=false/

But the role of Scotia is downplayed; the role of the sons of Milesius (whose origin is unknown, but who fought in Egypt and Spain, and one of the sons is named Heber) is set up as the main event.  Milesians could have been Scythians or Iberians, or "Gaelicized" descendants of the original Irish Tuath-de who were - here we are - Jews. It would be more accurate to call them Hebrews, designating the tribe -- at that early time they were not "Jews". Hebrew migration.
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But the Brits focus on them as Gaels, which actually is less likely but fits the Brit mythology better.
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The Scotti were the first Irish; who were pressed into the northeast corner, Ulster, and from there launched their raids against the Picts of then-Scotland, also settled and joined in with the Picts against the Romans, and ultimately the Scotti in Scotland surpassed the Scotti in Ireland in influence.  Is that so?
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An Egyptian or Milesian arriving in Spain, and from there to Ireland? Recall that ancient Carthage and ancient Egypt were great empires before Rome, navigators, and took over Spain as well as the Mediterranean coastal areas, and tips of other places.  See legends from the time of the Flood, through the Old Testament, at After the Flood:  Irish Biblical Roots and Egypt.

Roots. Surname Roots, Exodus. Campbell, McConaghy - Maconochie. Ireland to Scotland and Back:

Family Exodus.  
Maconochie - Maconachie -McConaghy

1.  The Exodus

2.  Maconochie's in Burke's General Armory 1844

3.  Atholl Highlanders

4.  Family Miscellany

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For Irish "Scotti" roots to Scots clans, see Irish (Scotti) raiders from Ulster making their incursions into Wales and England and what is now Scotland, soon after if not before the fall of Rome.  See http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsBritain/GaelsHighKings.htmWhat image fits our forebears' migrations around the globe, our silly sense of rootedness, to places where originated people of our name, that we never knew.

 1.  The Exodus

First, the oldest "Scotties" went from Ireland to Scotland, we understand, see gaggle of information at http://www.naciente.com/essay55.htm/; then the Scots went to Ireland again, and to parts everywhere after that. Find the Irish side at Ireland Road Ways, McConaghy: Ireland Roots in addition to the http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsBritain/GaelsHighKings.htm site. 
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McConaghy, MacConaghie, Maconochie, McConnaghy, McConaghey, and other spellings.  Here:  a family's exodus. Exodus. A human concept, a going forth. Where to start on a geneology, and absent specific names, a heritage.
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We lay out here our family copy of a 1944 letter tracing the Maconachies, using John Burke's Encycloped a of Heraldry or General Armory of England, Scotland and Ireland from 1844, FN 1, Scotland.  Campbelltown.  Visit there and find McConaghy's still there. Our family exodus.  Or, some of it. A connection with the Atholl Highlanders, FN 3.  On the other hand, others find the link with Robertson, not Campbell, to be checked out.
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A start on our Exodus:

"MACONOCHIE (Meadowbank, co. Edinburgh; originally Campbell, of Inverawe, co, Argyll, being descended from Duncan Campbell, of Inverawe, living temp. David II, eldest son of Sir Neil Camphell, of Lochow, by his second wife, a daughter of Sir John Cameron of Locheil.  Duncan's eldest son was named Dougal, after his mother's family; and his eldest son Duncan, who, according to the Celtic custom, was patronymically M'Dowill Vic Conachie (sic); and thus the appellation, Maconochie, came to be adopted by each succeeding chieftan of the family of Campbell of Inverawe, while the cadets still bore the name of Campbell.  The present representative of this ancient line is ALEXANDER MACONOCHIE (sic), of Meadowbank, one of the Senators of the College of Justice, as Lord Meadowbank, only son of the late eminent and scientific Judge, Allan, Lord Meadowbank.

"The ARMS, according to the Charter recorded in the Register of the Lyon Office, are, azure three dexter hands couped fesseways in chief, each holding a bunch of arrows, ppr. and in base a royal crown gold, all within a bordure gyronny of eight, gold and black.  But the family have lately returned to the older form of the armorial ensigns, which instead of having the gyronny of eight as a bordure, places it in chief on the dexter side party per pale from the three hands holding arrows on the sinister.

"CREST -- A demi Highlandman holding in the dexter hand a bunch of arrows, all ppr.; above, an imperial crown.

"SUPPORTERS -- Two Highlanders attired ppr. in old Campbell tartan, each holding in the exterior hand a bow and arrow, also ppr.

"MOTTO -- His nitimur et munotor.  ("We rely on these and are strengthened by them.")

"(Copied from the Encyclopedia of Heraldry or General Armory of England, Scotland, and Ireland by John Burke, Esq.)

"To Harold McConaghy
Christmas 1944

"The Motto -- Pax cum ustitia et acquitate ("Peace with justice and righteousness") chosen during these days of the Second World War."
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In Art and Religion, Exodus is an important concept. Appreciate with us one Helen Siegl print on the topic.  Helen Siegl was an artist, printmaker, prolific in Philadelphia in the 1960's.

She made this "Exodus" woodcut, and we bought and cherish it. FN 1. Here is our fair use of it.

This to us represents the sojourn to parts unknown. See this improbable beast, the guy leading has his eyes shut, for heaven's sakes.  How do you lead that way.  And the beast is holding out the lure of some fruit or something.  It is not the reins-holder to the beast, holding out the lure; but the beast to the dozing one, with the useless reins, drooping around the beast's neck.  The so-called leader is not even able to steer if he wanted to, while the passenger muses, thinking plus ca change.

Whatever, she says.

"Exodus", Helen Siegl. Woodcut. From our small collection, see FN 1.

It is an allegory of marriage in an ironic way, but it can be any migration, or children heading out.

Diaspora.

Groups, individuals from family trees. Maconochie - McConaghy - McConaghey - or Mc's or Mac's,  do your own spelling.  The original historic Maconochie Clan nonetheless, evolved into those that are recorded at "Meadowbank, Co. Edinburgh; originally Campbell, or Inverawe, Co. Argyll" and as set out in a letter to my uncle, Harold McConaghy, Christmas 1944. FN 2; and in Burke's Geneology of the Landed Gentry. See below.

2.  Tracing an Exodus Through Burke's Geneological and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry

Now we find the source of that family letter, the book now online::

• Burke's Geneological and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, at page 814.

This source lays out the information in the 1944 letter, and clears up some ambiguities in the later transcription about the sons, Duncan and Dougal, and more -- find also a land grant from Robert the Bruce to forbears of the Maconachies, via other clans and marriage, going back to 1330 -, at ://books.google.com/books?id=0NEKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA814&dq=heraldry+maconochie#v=onepage&q=&f=false/

I am not a geneology-focused person. I like finding clues, but not putting it all together.  And all these names are so diluted and spread about by now that there is arguably not a single full drop of a hypothetical bloodline left in anybody.  But this sleuthing gets interesting for its own sake.  Try it for your family name, if you are fortunate to know.  Do go there for the precise wording of the Mc Conochie Vc Conochie (not "Vic").

Of special interest:  Some pre-1800 data that our family archivist, VP, had been looking for, may be there. Find executions of a Maconochie father and son for participation in the Revolution of Argyll (what?), whose 9-year old son received compensation later, and a residence in Edinburgh.  See who bought and sold which residences and married whom.

This becomes our personal filing cabinet of information, not organized, just collected for ourselves: From The Scottish Nation, by William Anderson (Surnames, Family, Literature, Vol 3), google book, at ://books.google.com/books?id=WoNmAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA59&lpg=PA60&ots=gcILhJOCdP&dq=Revolution+of+Argyll+Maconochie&output=text/.  A fair use of tiny portion of huge work, not retyped:

" Macosochir, a surname derived from the Gaelic Macdonochie, the son of Duncan. The Maconoohies of Meadowhank, Mid Lothian, the princ,pal family of the name, ure descendants of the Camphells of Inverawe, Argyleshire, the first of whom was Duncan Camphell, eldest son of Sir Neil Camphell of Lochow, ancestor of the ducal house of Argyle, hy his 2d wife, a daughter of Sir John Cameron of Lochiel. The eldest son of that marriage, Duncan Camphell, ohtained a grant of Inverawe and Crnachun from David IL in 1330. His eldest son was named Dougal, after his mother's family, and Dongal's eldest son Duncan was called in the Highlands Mac Douill Vic Conochie. He named his son also Duncan, who was thus Maconochie Vic Conochie, the son and grandson of Conochie, or Duncan. Maconochie, from that period, hecame the patronymic appellation of each succeeding Camphell of Inverawe, while the cadets of the family still hore the name of Camphell.

From the Camphells of Inverawe sprnng the Camphells of Shirwun, Kilmartin, and Crnachan.

In 1660, l,.m .. 1 Camphell, or, as he was called, the Maconochie of Invernugh, engaged in the rehellion of the marquis of Argyle, in whose armament of the clan Camphell he held the rank of major. He was tried with the marquis in 1661 and attainted. He was soon afterwards executed at Carlisle.

After the Revolution of 1688, Dougall's son, James Maconochie, who, at his father's death, was little more than nine years old, applied to goverument for the restoration of the Argyleshire property, which had got into the possession of an uncle, hut was unsuccessful. From King William IIL, however, he ohtained a grant in compensation, which he invested in the purchase of the lands of Kirknewton, in the muir now called Meadowhank, Mid Lothian, which his descendant still possesses, and, adopting Lowland customs, all the family took the name of Maconochie. His ouly son, Alexander Maconochie, was a writer in Edinhurgh. The son of the latter, Allan Maconochie, a celehrated lawyer, horu January 26, 1748, died June 14, 1816, was a lord of session and justiciary, under the title of Lord Meadowhank, heing appointed to the former in 1796, and to the latter in 1804. While attending the university of Edinhurgh, he was one of the five students who originated the Speculative Society, and was afterwards for some time Professor of the Laws of Nature and Nations in that university. He was the author of a pamphlet entitled ' ConsideraDons on the Introduction of Trial hy Jury in Scotland,' and in 1815, when the Scottish jury court was instituted, he was appointed one of the lords commissioners. He is said to have heen the inventor of moss manure, now extensively employed in various counties of Scotland, and printed for private distrihution a tract on the suhject. He married Elizaheth, third daughter of H"hert Wellwood, Esq., of Garvock, hy whom he had issue.

His eldest son, Alexander Maconochie, passed advocate in 1799, and after heing sheriff-depute of the county of Haddington 1810, solicitor-general 1813, and lord-advocate 1816, was appointed a lord of session and justiciary in 1819, when he also took the title of Lord Meadowhank. He resigned in 1841, and died Nov. 30, 1861. On the death of his cousin, Rohert Scott Wellwood, he succeeded to the entailed estates of Garvock and Pitliver, in the county of Fife, and assumed the name of Wellwood of Garvock (see Welwood). He married Aune, eldest daughter of Lord-president Blair; issne, with 5 daughters, 4 sons, viz.—1. Allan Alexander Maconochie, LL.D., horn in 1806. passed advocate in 1829, and in 1842 appointed professor of civil law and the law of Scotland in the university of Glasgow. 2. Rohert Blair, writer to the signet. 3. William Maximilian George. 4. Heury Dunda«,

And this:  Note the different spellings found in acts of parliament and old deeds -- here from The History of the Descendants of Elder John Strong, 1339-1343, ye gods, that seven generations later and longer, angles ultimately over to a US branch (not us) of McConihe's.  See http://books.google.com/books?pg=PA1340&lpg=PA1340&dq=Revolution%20of%20Argyll%20Maconochie&sig=hhF5V4CawZj6VzRW-qBO282D1GU&ei=uv_mSsiJK5TKlAf6yPiNCA&ct=result&id=YBxWAAAAMAAJ&ots=TBS_DDSPIL&output=text/

"[In 1369, Sir Neil Campbell of Lockawe, Ar¡ryleshiro, chief of the powerful clan of Campbell, married the sister of Robert Bruce, and from them the Campbells of Argyleshire descended. Duncan Campbell, grandson of Sir Niel, the founder of the clan of the Campbells of Inverawe, assumed, according to a Highland custom the name of Donaohie or " The Macdonachie," that is, " the son of Duncan," his father's name. Some of his descendante dropped the name of Campbell, and others took the patronymic Maconochie which is spelled variously afterwards in the acts of parliament and in old title deeds, Maconochy, McConahy and McConihe. In 1661, Maconochy of Inverawe was second in command in the Earl of Argyle's army against the reigning house of Stuart. In the same year his estate and family titles were attainted and sold by the crown : but in 1668, after the Revolution, the attainder of the Earl of Argyle and of his adherents was reversed and Maconochy of Inverawe was paid by the government for his lost estate there, and he purchased with the money given him the estate ever since held by his family called Meadowbank in Mid-Lothian. The present chief or representative of the clan of the ancient line of Campbells and Maconochies is Alexander Maconochie, with the title of Lord Meadowbauk, residing on his estate near Edinburgh.]"

So:  A forebear married the sister of Robert the Bruce.  Is that how the land grants came about?  Lore tells us that each generation has a Robert Bruce, and that is true of mine as well.

Have to get all this to VP. Oh, dear. How old is she now?   More at ://books.google.com/books?id=gzMwAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA277&dq=heraldry+maconochie#v=onepage&q=&f=false/ including Orkney connections. 

• Comment on dependency on old texts for any belief:  With transcription errors in peripheral geneology issues, and spellings all over the map, that matter to no one else, even in our own day, what to believe about the important stuff:  people relying on Bibles and monks in solariums etc.  Hate to think. What if the words people rely on for their faith are just errors.

• Maconochie Hotpot - Meet another side of the Maconochie clan.  They made stews put in cans and served to people in the trenches, and also in WWII.   Maconochie's was WWI slang for (an apparently dreadful)  chewey stew served at the front - see http://www.iwm.org.uk/upload/package/95/images/exhibitions/maconochie-hotpot-600.jpg /  This was based on something called Maconochie rations, or a tinned stew. Could be beans and pork, could be turnip and carrot, or those with other mystery meet. 

It keep people alive, but was it appreciated. Look up WWI Maconochie's stew. Made of sliced turnips and carrots, some meat in some versions, and made by the Aberdeen Maconochies. See ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maconochie  Buy a ration label for two pounds. See  ://www.tommyspackfillers.com/showitem.asp?itemRef=RL003/  They also ate it at Monte Casino WWII and hated it. See ://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/14/a3197414.shtml

• Alexander Maconochie.  Meet a star. Born in Edinburgh 1787, died 1860 was a penal reformer, and notable as a naval officer and geographer, and he also fought for the British in the American Revolution, see ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Maconochie_(penal_reformer)/ VP, this gets to be enjoyable. All speculation as to real connections, but fun. There is a long biography at ://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A020160b.htm/  Penal reform:  tie to tasks, not time; with credit if job well done; not punishment but rehab. Ahead of his time.

Spellings. Anything goes and means little. Much had been transcribed from the Gaelic, and mixes of Gaelic and English with all its spellings. Add an e, change a sound to fit the pronunciation, still the same root. We had one group in 1900+ who added an e somewhere just to distinguish themselves from the others for the convenience of the postman.

3.   Atholl Highlanders.

We had found a connection to the Atholl Highlanders, see Atholl Highlanders, Blair Castle; but I am retyping the full letter here because it is illegible scanned. Typing it out, we keep the mis-capitals and mis-punctuation and all.

Meet the roots of the Maconochie's, part of which later ended up in Ireland (not the English Plantation group, but still in the north).

We added space between paragraphs, and note another format adjustment: that the last sentence about a different motto chosen during World II is actually typed and indented beside the "To Harold McConaghy" section, but we had to put it below.

4.  Family Miscellany

Also not presented here yet.  There follow, in the stapled 3 page packet, a reproduction of the new Maconochie motto, and a photograph of grandfather Robert McClure McConaghy and his wife, Louise Lucinda (or Lucinda Louise) Hilliard or Brien, from Trillich and that is a tale in itself; with their first son, Robert. Photo taken in the Bronx, NY where they lived? Both Robert and Louise had migrated, but separately, to New York in about 1900?

Now to find out what all the heraldry means.
..................................

FN 1   More on Helen Siegl.

Looking up Helen Siegl on Images, we see that an entire book with some of her woodcuts, Clip Art of the Old Testament, is selling for $3.95, see ://www.litpress.org/Sales.aspx/ As Clip Art, are the pictures public domain? We think so, but will continue to research. Bread for the World, see ://www.bread.org/ reproduces her work freely, see ://www.bread.org/get-involved/at-church/resources/bfw9-aa-tbltnt-12-9.pdf/; as does this church group - "woodcuts were created by Helen Siegl, a long time Bread for the World member", see 4th week in Lent entry at ://www.westcharltonupc.org/uploads/March2009Beacon.pdf/); and that came up with a search for "Helen Siegl". So does this violate anything? Ye gods, who knows. Speak up, somebody authoritative, and we will take it down, with sadness.

Here she is! A website, at ://www.helensiegl.com/   She was Austrian, 1924-2009.  She just died. Oh, my. Cropped portions of Exodus appear there at ://www.helensiegl.com/collections.html/  Do we have to crop ours? I have emailed the website to see.  Stay tuned.

FN 2  More on the letter.

My mother was Harold McConaghy's youngest sister, Marjorie McConaghy, and we have a copy of that letter - purporting to include hand-typed copy from The Encyclopedia of Heraldry or General Armory of England, Scotland and Ireland by John Burke, Esq."  Looking that up, we find Burke's General Armory from 1844 selling for $62.00 at ://www.gould.com.au/Burke-s-General-Armory-of-Eng-Scot-Ire-p/sna018.htmBack in 1944, when the letter was typed, there was no photocopying, so it may contain errors.

.........................................................

Addendum:  family legends - Truth is beyond us. Believe, then!

• Family is descended from Robert the Bruce (aren't we all) through Clan Robertson.  That line, the MacConachies by then,  had to leave because they were sheep-thieves. Were they moved as part of King James "Protestant Plantation" policy? 
• Family members were in the Siege of Londonderry in 1688 (this from the same family archivist, letter to my brother February 9, 1977)
• 1700's. Stories move to Ireland - see Ireland Road Ways.
  

History. White Slavery, Picts, Scots, the Caribbean, Skye

Slavery and Europe

The Scots? Enslaved? This land of castles and monarchies - how did that happen.

History hides. What does history say about slavery and the Scots? Among the oldest enslaved peoples on earth are, says this site, the Pics (same as the Picts from our school days?), the Irish and the Scots, and then a group named the "Alba," see http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/white_slavery.htm/  Where does that term originate. From the word meaning white, more likely than merely Albania?  See the BBC on the Alba at http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/scottishhistory/darkages/intro_darkages.shtml/ The history of the Scots as a group aggregated now, is the history of separate tribal groups, and migrations, Roman Empire incursions and withdrawals.  Since the 1st Century BC, for a chronology of human trafficking as it relates to Scots, see White Slavery: What the Scots Already Know, at the Electric Scotland site.  Find names and events related to the enslavement and sale of Scots in the New World, including judges in Edinburgh regularly shipping the less savory rogues off to the North American colonies, and Rouen, France, as a favored shipping point, at the White Slavery site.

We had been told of the slave trade at Dunvegan, the castle on Skye that is the home seat of the MacLeod clan - a distant name-related connection, although probably no actual people directly derived.

See the castle at Scotland Road Ways, Dunvegan. There, at the water line, is where the boats would glide up at night to pick up the captives, and haul them away to the ships to the colonies.

Stirling. A Wedding and Stirling Castle; History of Stirling

Stirling, Scotland, traditional wedding

Love around the world. Enjoy this happenstance photo of a couple, kilts and all in the family, and the bagpiped processing up the cobblestones to their reception at Stirling Castle.

Stirling, like so many castles, rents itself out to banquets and special events. See its formidable location here, at http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/stirling/stirlingcastle/. In 1299, Robert the Bruce reclaimed it from the English. Short-lived. See its timeline at http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/stirling/stirlingcastle/timeline.html, and history at ://www.instirling.com/sight/castle.htm

Stirling Castle, on its high outcrop of rock, stands vigil over the lowest point for crossing the River Forth. Records are paltry for prior to 1100 AD. Then, things begin. A Chapel is dedicated there, Cambuskenneth Abbey is built on the grounds below, by the river, and William the Lion sets up a hunting park at Stirling.

British hunting parks were an early land-management idea, geared, however, for the benefit of the local lord. A monarch or ruler would set aside lands for fostering herds of game animals, but included in the concept were laws governing forest management, and restricting access by common people, see Encyclopedia of World Environmental History at page 979 here, at this Google book. The book also describes and compares uses of "commons" and later public parks.

Then William I was captured, and his release was conditioned upon the English getting Stirling. Then the British give it back, and William ultimately dies there. See Timeline at http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/stirling/stirlingcastle/timeline.html/ Read there of the series of building programs, murders, sieges, all the stuff of England vs. Scotland and aspiring ruler vs. aspiring ruler at that site. Use these sites that offer timelines - quick reference for an overview.