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141-405: Stirling ( / ˈ s t ɜːr l ɪ ŋ / ; Scots : Stirlin ; Scottish Gaelic : Sruighlea [ˈs̪t̪ɾuʝlə] ) is a city in central Scotland , 26 miles (42 km) northeast of Glasgow and 37 miles (60 km) north-west of Edinburgh . The market town , surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel , the medieval old town with its merchants and tradesmen,

282-641: A king . It names the twelve battles that Arthur fought, but, unlike the Annales Cambriae , does not give any actual dates. The reference in the Historia Brittonum to Arthur carrying the image of St. Mary on his shoulders in a battle has been interpreted by later commentators as a mistranslation of Arthur bearing the image of Mary on his shield ; the words in Welsh are very similar. The 19th-century classicist Theodor Mommsen divided

423-923: A 1996 trial before the Census, by the General Register Office for Scotland (GRO), suggested that there were around 1.5 million speakers of Scots, with 30% of Scots responding "Yes" to the question "Can you speak the Scots language?", but only 17% responding "Aye" to the question "Can you speak Scots?". It was also found that older, working-class people were more likely to answer in the affirmative. The University of Aberdeen Scots Leid Quorum performed its own research in 1995, cautiously suggesting that there were 2.7 million speakers, though with clarification as to why these figures required context. The GRO questions, as freely acknowledged by those who set them, were not as detailed and systematic as those of

564-411: A Scotis separat, crux ista remotis; Arma hic stant Bruti; stant Scoti hac sub cruce tuti." Bellenden translated this loosely as "I am free marche , as passengers may ken, To Scottis, to Britonis, and to Inglismen." It may be the stone cross was a tripoint for the three kingdom's borders or marches ; the cross functioning both as a dividing territorial marker, and as a uniting witness stone like in

705-650: A Scots language listing. The Ferret, a UK -based fact-checking service, wrote an exploratory article in December 2022 to address misconceptions about the Scots language to improve public awareness of its endangered status. In Scotland, Scots is spoken in the Scottish Lowlands , the Northern Isles , Caithness , Arran and Campbeltown . In Ulster , the northern province in Ireland , its area

846-472: A Viking retreat. This led to the wolf being adopted as a symbol of the town as is shown on the 1511 Stirling Jug. The area is today known as Wolfcraig. Even today the wolf appears with a goshawk on the council's coat of arms along with the recently chosen motto: "Steadfast as the Rock". Once the capital of Scotland, Stirling is visually dominated by Stirling Castle . Stirling also has a medieval parish church,

987-469: A collection of children's nursery rhymes and poems in Scots. The book contains a five-page glossary of contemporary Scots words and their pronunciations. Alexander Gray 's translations into Scots constitute the greater part of his work, and are the main basis for his reputation. In 1983, William Laughton Lorimer 's translation of the New Testament from the original Greek was published. Scots

1128-542: A company making baby carriages was set up. These prams were exported to Canada, South America, India and South Africa. The Princes Street drill hall was completed in 1908 and the Municipal Buildings , which formed the headquarters of Stirling Burgh Council for much of the 20th century, were completed in 1918. After the blockades of the World Wars there was some increase in the use of the port including

1269-586: A conference centre, hotel and Vue multiplex cinema, that will ultimately expand the city centre area, linking it to the River Forth, which has been cut off from the city centre area since the construction of the A9 bypass under the railway station in the 1960s. In the service sector, financial services as well as tourism are the biggest employers. The financial services and insurance company Scottish Amicable Life Assurance , now part of Prudential , established

1410-433: A continuum ranging from traditional broad Scots to Scottish Standard English . Many speakers are diglossic and may be able to code-switch along the continuum depending on the situation. Where on this continuum English-influenced Scots becomes Scots-influenced English is difficult to determine. Because standard English now generally has the role of a Dachsprache ('roofing language'), disputes often arise as to whether

1551-495: A covered booth in the centre of the bridge to collect tax from any entering the royal burgh with goods. Stirling remained the river's lowest reliable crossing point (that is, without a weather-dependent ferry or seasonal ford ) until the construction of the Alloa Swing Bridge between Throsk and Alloa in 1885. The city has two Latin mottoes, which appeared on the earliest burgh seal of which an impression of 1296

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1692-462: A dispute. In the early 19th century an "exceedingly low" cost steamboat service used to run between Stirling and Newhaven or Granton . The coming of the railways in 1848 started the decline of the river traffic, not least because the Alloa Swing Bridge downstream restricted access for shipping. The railways did provide opportunity too with one Riverside company selling their reaping machines as far afield as Syria and Australia. Similarly, in 1861,

1833-596: A dog in it. When Cabal, who was the dog of Arthur the soldier, was hunting the boar Troynt, he impressed his print in the stone, and afterwards Arthur assembled a stone mound under the stone with the print of his dog, and it is called the Carn Cabal. And men come and remove the stone in their hands for the length of a day and a night; and on the next day it is found on top of its mound. The second concerns Arthur's son Anir or Amr ( Amhar in Welsh) and his sepulchre: There

1974-542: A few marvels of Anglesey ( Menand insulae or Mona) and of Ireland. The Mirabilia section is thought to not be part of the original work, but to have been composed shortly after (early 9th cent.). Two of the marvels are Arthurian lore (Chapter 73 of the Historia ). Old editions give "Troynt" as the name of the great boar and "Anir" as the name of Arthur's tragic son in the Harleian manuscript, but Fletcher suggested

2115-541: A fragment of a story about the battle preserved in manuscript Peniarth 98B states that the battle had an alternate name, Cad Achren , which suggests a connection with the Caer Ochren raided by Arthur in the earlier poem Preiddeu Annwfn . Various writers have asserted that this chapter supports a historical basis for King Arthur and have tried to identify the twelve battles with historical feuds or locales (see Sites and places associated with Arthurian legend ). On

2256-597: A great scourge of the Saxons immediately prior. Of the other battles, only the Battle of Tribruit is generally agreed to be associated with Arthur in another early Welsh source. Tribruit appears as Tryfrwyd in the Old Welsh poem Pa Gur? , dating to perhaps the mid-ninth century. This poem follows the story of a battle against cinbin , or dogheads , whom Arthur's men fought in the mountains of Eidyn (Edinburgh); in

2397-458: A king in his own right, and also includes other characters such as Vortimer and Bishop Germanus of Auxerre . Chapter 56 discusses twelve battles fought and won by Arthur , here called dux bellorum (war leader) rather than king: At that time, the Saxons grew strong by virtue of their large number and increased in power in Britain. Hengist having died, however, his son Octha crossed from

2538-543: A large and base at Craigforth on the outskirts of Stirling in the 1970s. In terms of tourism, the presence of such historical monuments as Stirling Castle and the Wallace Monument and other nearby attractions like Blair Drummond Safari Park has bolstered Stirling's position as a significant tourist destination in Scotland. The University of Stirling and Stirling Council are two of the biggest employers in

2679-609: A late forgery, and believes that the work underwent several anonymous revisions before reaching the forms that now survive in the various families of manuscripts. Dumville's view is largely accepted by current scholarship, though not without dissent. Peter Field in particular has argued for the authenticity of the preface, suggesting that it was left out of many recensions because it was seen as derogatory to British scholarship. However, Field believes Liebermann's earlier argument for Nennius's authorship still bears consideration. Various introductory notes to this work invoke Nennius's (or

2820-493: A more phonological manner rather than following the pan-dialect conventions of modern literary Scots, especially for the northern and insular dialects of Scots. Historia Brittonum The Historia Brittonum describes the supposed settlement of Britain by Trojan settlers and says that Britain was named for Brutus , a descendant of Aeneas . The "single most important source used by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his pseudohistorical Historia Regum Britanniae " and through

2961-696: A name for the Lowland vernacular. The Gaelic of Scotland is now usually called Scottish Gaelic . Northumbrian Old English had been established in what is now southeastern Scotland as far as the River Forth by the seventh century, as the region was part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria . By the tenth century, Middle Irish was the language of the Scottish court , and the common use of Old English remained largely confined to this area until

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3102-413: A number of paradigms for distinguishing between languages and dialects exist, they often render contradictory results. Broad Scots is at one end of a bipolar linguistic continuum , with Scottish Standard English at the other. Scots is sometimes regarded as a variety of English, though it has its own distinct dialects; other scholars treat Scots as a distinct Germanic language, in the way that Norwegian

3243-480: A paragraph about the beginnings of Welsh literature At that time, Talhaiarn Cataguen was famed for poetry, and Neirin , and Taliesin and Bluchbard, and Cian, who is called Guenith Guaut, were all famous at the same time in British poetry. A number of works that are frequently associated with the Historia Brittonum , in part because some of them first appear with the Harleian manuscript, and partly because when

3384-612: A representative sample of Scotland's adult population) claim to speak Scots to varying degrees. The 2011 UK census was the first to ask residents of Scotland about Scots. A campaign called Aye Can was set up to help individuals answer the question. The specific wording used was "Which of these can you do? Tick all that apply" with options for "Understand", "Speak", "Read" and "Write" in three columns: English, Scottish Gaelic and Scots. Of approximately 5.1 million respondents, about 1.2 million (24%) could speak, read and write Scots, 3.2 million (62%) had no skills in Scots and

3525-468: A second time you will not find it to have the same length—and I myself have put this to the test. Chapters relating events in the life of Saint Germanus of Auxerre claim to be excerpts from a (now lost) biography of the saint. The document includes a collection of traditions about Saint Patrick , as well as a section describing events in the North of England in the sixth and seventh centuries, starting with

3666-476: A story of the king Vortigern , who allowed the Saxons to settle in the island of Britain in return for the hand of Hengist 's daughter. One legend about Vortigern says he tried to build a stronghold near Snowdon called Dinas Emrys , only to have his building materials disappear every time he tried. His advisers told him to sprinkle the blood of a fatherless boy on the site to lift the curse. Vortigern found such

3807-542: A strategic military role during the 18th-century Jacobite risings . In 1715 , the Earl of Mar failed to take control of the castle. In January 1746 , the army of Bonnie Prince Charlie seized control of the town but failed to take the Castle . On their consequent retreat northwards, they blew up the church of St. Ninians where they had been storing munitions; only the tower survived and can be seen to this day. The castle and

3948-506: A suitable medium of education or culture". Students reverted to Scots outside the classroom, but the reversion was not complete. What occurred, and has been occurring ever since, is a process of language attrition , whereby successive generations have adopted more and more features from Standard English. This process has accelerated rapidly since widespread access to mass media in English and increased population mobility became available after

4089-420: A tea trade with India. However, with normal shipping lanes open, the growth of the railways including The Forth Rail Bridge , left the harbour uneconomical and by the mid 20th century the port had ceased to operate. In terms of local government , the city of Stirling is a part of the wider Stirling Council area , which is based at Old Viewforth and governs on matters of local administration as set out by

4230-537: A variety of exhibitions and performances. There are many events at the Stirling Tolbooth and at The Albert Halls . Stirling has hosted the National Mòd several times: in 1909, 1961, 1971 and 1987. There are currently about 20 churches in the city. These include: Church of Scotland Roman Catholic Other churches Islam With Stirling's development as a market town and its location as

4371-420: A vulnerable language by UNESCO . In a Scottish census from 2022, over 1.5 million people in Scotland reported being able to speak Scots. Given that there are no universally accepted criteria for distinguishing a language from a dialect , scholars and other interested parties often disagree about the linguistic, historical and social status of Scots, particularly its relationship to English . Although

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4512-468: A youth in Ambrosius , who rebuked the wise men and revealed that the disturbance was caused by two dragons buried underground. The tower story is repeated and embellished by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae , though he attributes it to Merlin , saying "Ambrosius" is the sage's alternative name. Geoffrey includes Aurelius Ambrosius, another figure mentioned in the Historia , as

4653-575: Is Stirling's oldest catalogued artefact. Bones from the cist were radiocarbon dated and found to be over four millennia old, originating within the date range 2152 to 2021 BC. Nicknamed Torbrex Tam, the man, whose bones were discovered by workmen, died while still in his twenties. Other Bronze Age finds near the city come from the area around Cambusbarron . It had been thought that the Randolphfield standing stones were more than 3000 years old but recent radiocarbon dating suggests they may date from

4794-542: Is a language variety descended from Early Middle English in the West Germanic language family . Most commonly spoken in the Scottish Lowlands , the Northern Isles of Scotland , and northern Ulster in Ireland (where the local dialect is known as Ulster Scots ), it is sometimes called: Lowland Scots , to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic , the Celtic language that was historically restricted to most of

4935-477: Is a centre for local government, higher education, tourism, retail, and industry. The mid-2012 census estimate for the population of the city is 36,440; the wider Stirling council area has a population of about 93,750. One of the principal royal strongholds of the Kingdom of Scotland , Stirling was created a royal burgh by King David I in 1130. In 2002, as part of Queen Elizabeth 's Golden Jubilee , Stirling

5076-591: Is also used, though this is more often taken to mean the Lallans literary form . Scots in Ireland is known in official circles as Ulster-Scots ( Ulstèr-Scotch in revivalist Ulster-Scots) or "Ullans", a recent neologism merging Ulster and Lallans. Scots is a contraction of Scottis , the Older Scots and northern version of late Old English : Scottisc (modern English "Scottish"), which replaced

5217-487: Is another wonder in the region which is called Ercing . A tomb is located there next to a spring which is called Licat Amr; and the name of the man who is buried in the tomb was called thus: Amr (←Anir). He was the son of Arthur the soldier, and Arthur himself killed and buried him in that very place. And men come to measure the grave and find it sometimes six feet in length, sometimes nine, sometimes twelve, sometimes fifteen. At whatever length you might measure it at one time,

5358-604: Is closely linked to but distinct from Danish . Native speakers sometimes refer to their vernacular as braid Scots (or "broad Scots" in English) or use a dialect name such as the " Doric " or the " Buchan Claik ". The old-fashioned Scotch , an English loan, occurs occasionally, especially in Ulster. The term Lallans , a variant of the Modern Scots word lawlands [ˈlo̜ːlən(d)z, ˈlɑːlənz] ,

5499-562: Is in Scots, for example. Scott introduced vernacular dialogue to his novels. Other well-known authors like Robert Louis Stevenson , William Alexander, George MacDonald , J. M. Barrie and other members of the Kailyard school like Ian Maclaren also wrote in Scots or used it in dialogue. In the Victorian era popular Scottish newspapers regularly included articles and commentary in the vernacular, often of unprecedented proportions. In

5640-400: Is in the region of Linnuis . The sixth battle was above the river which is called Bassas. The seventh battle was in the forest of Celidon, that is Cat Coit Celidon. The eighth battle was at the fortress of Guinnion, in which Arthur carried the image of Holy Mary ever virgin on his shoulders; and the pagans were put to flight on that day. And through the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and through

5781-677: Is later than the Gillies Hill fort and is related in form to brochs, these appear to coincide with the Roman period and there are around 40 or so in the wider area. South of the city, the King's Park prehistoric carvings can still be found. Its other notable geographic feature is its proximity to the lowest site of subjugation of the River Forth. Control of the bridge brought military advantage in times of unrest and excise duty, or pontage dues, in peacetime. Unsurprisingly excise men were installed in

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5922-767: Is lykest to our language..." ( For though several have written of (the subject) in English, which is the language most similar to ours... ). However, with the increasing influence and availability of books printed in England, most writing in Scotland came to be done in the English fashion. In his first speech to the English Parliament in March 1603, King James VI and I declared, "Hath not God first united these two Kingdomes both in Language, Religion, and similitude of maners?" . Following James VI's move to London,

6063-705: Is mentioned with that city in Stirling Council's minutes of 1560. Around John Cowane 's time there is an account which states there were about 30,000 Scots families living in Poland although that was possibly an exaggeration. Trade with the Baltic also took place such as a timber trade with Norway. After the Jacobite threat had faded but before the railways were established, the Highland cattle drovers would use

6204-526: Is on record. The first alludes to the story as recorded by Boece who relates that in 855 Scotland was invaded by two Northumbrian princes, Osbrecht and Ella . They united their forces with the Cumbrian Britons in order to defeat the Scots. Having secured Stirling castle, they built the first stone bridge over the Forth. On the top they reportedly raised a crucifix with the inscription: "Anglos,

6345-532: Is sometimes attributed to Robert the Bruce . Stirling's key position as the lowest bridging point of the River Forth before it broadens towards the Firth of Forth made it a focal point for travel north or south. When Stirling was temporarily under Anglo-Saxon sway, according to a 9th-century legend, it was attacked by Danish invaders. The sound of a wolf roused a sentry, however, who alerted his garrison, which forced

6486-591: Is sometimes used in contemporary fiction, such as the Edinburgh dialect of Scots in Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh (later made into a motion picture of the same name ). But'n'Ben A-Go-Go by Matthew Fitt is a cyberpunk novel written entirely in what Wir Ain Leed ("Our Own Language") calls "General Scots". Like all cyberpunk work, it contains imaginative neologisms . The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

6627-484: Is the location of urbs Giudi favoured by most scholars", and itself supported this identification. This name is thought etymologically to be Celtic. The ninth-century Historia Brittonum mentions a similar-looking battle-site called urbs Iudeu , which many scholars have assumed was the same as Bede's urbs Giudi , but this identification is uncertain. A stone cist , found in Coneypark Nursery in 1879,

6768-567: Is used to describe the Scots language after 1700. A seminal study of Scots was undertaken by JAH Murray and published as Dialect of the Southern Counties of Scotland . Murray's results were given further publicity by being included in Alexander John Ellis 's book On Early English Pronunciation, Part V alongside results from Orkney and Shetland, as well as the whole of England. Murray and Ellis differed slightly on

6909-540: Is usually defined through the works of Robert John Gregg to include the counties of Down , Antrim , Londonderry and Donegal (especially in East Donegal and Inishowen ). More recently, the Fintona -born linguist Warren Maguire has argued that some of the criteria that Gregg used as distinctive of Ulster-Scots are common in south-west Tyrone and were found in other sites across Northern Ireland investigated by

7050-472: The Annales Cambriae ; here, Arthur is described as carrying "the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ on his shoulders for three days and three nights…", though here the battle is said to be Badon rather than Guinnion. T. M. Charles-Edwards argues that these accounts both refer to a single source. Other scholars, however, such as Thomas Jones and N. J. Higham , argue that the Annales account is based directly on

7191-700: The Church of the Holy Rude , where, on 29 July 1567, the infant James VI was anointed King of Scots by Adam Bothwell , the Bishop of Orkney , with the service concluding after a sermon by John Knox . The poet King was educated by George Buchanan and grew up in Stirling. He was later also crowned King of England and Ireland on 25 July 1603, bringing closer the countries of the United Kingdom. Modern Stirling

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7332-481: The English Dialect Dictionary , edited by Joseph Wright . Wright had great difficulty in recruiting volunteers from Scotland, as many refused to cooperate with a venture that regarded Scots as a dialect of English, and he obtained enough help only through the assistance from a Professor Shearer in Scotland. Wright himself rejected the argument that Scots was a separate language, saying that this

7473-654: The Gateway to the Highlands and is generally regarded as occupying a strategic position at the point where the flatter, largely undulating Scottish Lowlands meet the rugged slopes of the Highlands along the Highland Boundary Fault . The starkness of this contrast is evidenced by the many hills and mountains of the lower Highlands such as Ben Vorlich and Ben Ledi which can be seen to the northwest of

7614-516: The Historia , suggesting the name of the battle was switched from the unknown Guinnion to the famous Badon, and that the icon Arthur carries was replaced with a more common one. The Battle of Mount Badon is associated with Arthur in several later texts, but not in any that predate the Historia . It was clearly a historical battle described by Gildas , who does not mention the name of the Britons' leader. He does however mention Aurelius Ambrosius as

7755-559: The House of Commons of the parliament of the United Kingdom by first past the post system. Chris Kane of the Labour Party has been the MP for Stirling and Strathallan since the 2024 general election , when the seat was first contested - prior to this, Stirling was part of the constituency of Stirling . Historical voting records can be found in online databases. Stirling is renowned as

7896-509: The Linguistic Survey of Scotland . Dialects of Scots include Insular Scots , Northern Scots , Central Scots , Southern Scots and Ulster Scots . It has been difficult to determine the number of speakers of Scots via census, because many respondents might interpret the question "Do you speak Scots?" in different ways. Campaigners for Scots pressed for this question to be included in the 2001 UK National Census . The results from

8037-679: The Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994 . The current members of the Council were voted in 2017 for a term of office of 5 years. The May 2017 local government election resulted in the Scottish Conservative party and Scottish National Party each winning nine councillors, while the Labour Party won four seats and the Scottish Green Party won one. However, subsequently one Conservative councillor left

8178-545: The Old Bridge and the port. Located on the River Forth , Stirling is the administrative centre for the Stirling council area, and is traditionally the county town and historic county of Stirlingshire . Proverbially it is the strategically important "Gateway to the Highlands". It has been said that "Stirling, like a huge brooch clasps Highlands and Lowlands together". Similarly "he who holds Stirling, holds Scotland"

8319-681: The Protestant Church of Scotland adopted the 1611 Authorized King James Version of the Bible; subsequently, the Acts of Union 1707 led to Scotland joining England to form the Kingdom of Great Britain , having a single Parliament of Great Britain based in London. After the Union and the shift of political power to England, the use of Scots was discouraged by many in authority and education, as

8460-613: The Romance languages via ecclesiastical and legal Latin , Norman French , and later Parisian French , due to the Auld Alliance . Additionally, there were Dutch and Middle Low German influences due to trade with and immigration from the Low Countries . Scots also includes loan words in the legal and administrative fields resulting from contact with Middle Irish , and reflected in early medieval legal documents. Contemporary Scottish Gaelic loans are mainly for geographical and cultural features, such as cèilidh , loch , whisky , glen and clan . Cumbric and Pictish ,

8601-418: The Scottish Highlands , the Hebrides , and Galloway after the sixteenth century; or Broad Scots , to distinguish it from Scottish Standard English . Modern Scots is a sister language of Modern English , as the two diverged from the same medieval form of English. Scots is recognised as an indigenous language of Scotland by the Scottish government, a regional or minority language of Europe, and

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8742-403: The Second World War . It has recently taken on the nature of wholesale language shift , sometimes also termed language change , convergence or merger . By the end of the twentieth century, Scots was at an advanced stage of language death over much of Lowland Scotland . Residual features of Scots are often regarded as slang. A 2010 Scottish Government study of "public attitudes towards

8883-468: The Stirling Old Bridge in 1297 and at the nearby village of Bannockburn in 1314 involving Andrew Moray and William Wallace , and Robert the Bruce respectively. After the Battle of Stirling Bridge , Moray and Wallace wrote to Hanseatic League leaders in Lübeck and Hamburg to encourage trade between Scottish and German ports. There were also several Sieges of Stirling Castle in the conflict, notably in 1304. Another important historical site in

9024-413: The Stirling Sill , a major defensive position which was at the lowest crossing point on the River Forth. Stirling stands on the Forth at the point where the river widens and becomes tidal . To the east of the city the Ochil Hills dominate the skyline with the highest peak in the range being Ben Cleuch , although Dumyat is more noticeable from Stirling. The Ochils meet the flat carse ( floodplain ) of

9165-465: The University of Aberdeen , and only included reared speakers (people raised speaking Scots), not those who had learned the language. Part of the difference resulted from the central question posed by surveys: "Do you speak Scots?". In the Aberdeen University study, the question was augmented with the further clause "... or a dialect of Scots such as Border etc.", which resulted in greater recognition from respondents. The GRO concluded that there simply

9306-403: The Wars of the Three Kingdoms are clearly visible on the tower and apse of the church. Economically, the city's port supported foreign trade, historically doing significant trade in the Low Countries , particularly with Bruges in Belgium and Veere in the Netherlands. In the 16th century there were so many Scots in Danzig in Prussia that they had their own church congregation and trade

9447-401: The Auld Brig on their way to market at Falkirk or Stenhousemuir . Three times a year, tens of thousands of cattle, sheep and ponies were moved together to the trysts in the south with some drovers going as far as Carlisle or even London's Smithfield . There is a record of a four-mile long tailback (of livestock) developing from St. Ninians to Bridge of Allan after a St. Ninians tollman had

9588-406: The Bible story in Joshua 22. " Angles and Scots here demarked, By this cross kept apart. Brits and Scots armed stand near, By this cross stand safe here." This would make the cross on the centre of the first stone bridge the Heart of Scotland . The Stirling seal has only the second part, in a slightly different form: Apparently the Latin is not first rate having four syllables in "cruce tuti" but

9729-435: The Crowns in 1603, the Standard English of England came to have an increasing influence on the spelling of Scots through the increasing influence and availability of books printed in England. After the Acts of Union in 1707 the emerging Scottish form of Standard English replaced Scots for most formal writing in Scotland. The eighteenth-century Scots revival saw the introduction of a new literary language descended from

9870-409: The Guildry and Council. In 2014 the tradition was revived after an official abeyance of several years. There are about sixteen libraries and two mobile libraries in Stirling. The Smith Art Gallery and Museum is now free to tourists and residents alike. Shearer's 1895 Penny Guide to Stirling and Neighbourhood used to list it under "How to spend a few hours on a wet day". The Macrobert Arts Centre has

10011-399: The Kingdom of Great Britain, there is ample evidence that Scots was widely held to be an independent sister language forming a pluricentric diasystem with English. German linguist Heinz Kloss considered Modern Scots a Halbsprache ('half language') in terms of an abstand and ausbau languages framework, although today in Scotland most people's speech is somewhere on

10152-520: The Philosopher's Stane , a Scots translation of the first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone , was published by Matthew Fitt . The vowel system of Modern Scots: Vowel length is usually conditioned by the Scottish vowel length rule . The orthography of Early Scots had become more or less standardised by the middle to late sixteenth century. After the Union of

10293-475: The River Forth to the east of the distinctive geographical feature of Abbey Craig , a crag and tail hill upon which stands the 220 ft (67 m) high National Wallace Monument . Top of the Town consists of Broad Street, Castle Wynd, Ballengeich Pass, Lower Castle Hill Road, Darnley Street, Baker Street (formerly Baxters St), St John Street and St Mary's Wynd. These streets all lead up to Stirling Castle and are

10434-480: The Scots language was also featured. It was found that 1,508,540 people reported that they could speak Scots, with 2,444,659 reporting that they could speak, read, write or understand Scots, approximately 45% of Scotland's 2022 population. The Scottish Government set its first Scots Language Policy in 2015, in which it pledged to support its preservation and encourage respect, recognition and use of Scots. The Scottish Parliament website also offers some information on

10575-471: The Scots language" found that 64% of respondents (around 1,000 individuals in a representative sample of Scotland's adult population) "don't really think of Scots as a language", also finding "the most frequent speakers are least likely to agree that it is not a language (58%) and those never speaking Scots most likely to do so (72%)". Before the Treaty of Union 1707 , when Scotland and England joined to form

10716-581: The Scottish Executive recognises and respects Scots (in all its forms) as a distinct language, and does not consider the use of Scots to be an indication of poor competence in English. Evidence for its existence as a separate language lies in the extensive body of Scots literature, its independent – if somewhat fluid – orthographic conventions , and in its former use as the language of the original Parliament of Scotland . Because Scotland retained distinct political, legal, and religious systems after

10857-610: The Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post system of election, and the region elects seven additional members to produce a form of proportional representation. The constituency's Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) is Evelyn Tweed of the Scottish National Party (SNP). In terms of national government, the city of Stirling forms part of the county constituency of Stirling and Strathallan , electing one Member of Parliament (MP) to

10998-624: The Scottish average of 18.6%. Historical records also exist both in book form and in online databases. Walking the Marches is a custom probably started in the 12th century. The only way the town's boundaries could be protected was to walk round inspecting them annually. The walk was followed by a dinner. This was traditionally done by the Birlaw men made up from members of the Seven Trades,

11139-638: The Standard English cognate . This Written Scots drew not only on the vernacular, but also on the King James Bible , and was heavily influenced by the norms and conventions of Augustan English poetry . Consequently, this written Scots looked very similar to contemporary Standard English, suggesting a somewhat modified version of that, rather than a distinct speech form with a phonological system which had been developing independently for many centuries. This modern literary dialect, "Scots of

11280-680: The Tryfrwyd battle they spar with a character named Garwlwyd (Rough-Gray), who is likely the Gwrgi Garwlwyd (Man-Dog Rough-Grey) who appears in one of the Welsh Triads . Arthur's main protagonist in the fight is Bedwyr , later known as Sir Bedivere, and the poem also mentions the euhemerized god Manawydan . "The City of the Legion" may be a reference to Caerleon , whose name translates as such, but it might also refer to Chester ,

11421-497: The Union, many Scots terms passed into Scottish English. During the 2010s, increased interest was expressed in the language. The status of the language was raised in Scottish schools, with Scots being included in the new national school curriculum . Previously in Scotland's schools there had been little education taking place through the medium of Scots, although it may have been covered superficially in English lessons, which could entail reading some Scots literature and observing

11562-704: The activities of those such as Thomas Sheridan , who in 1761 gave a series of lectures on English elocution . Charging a guinea at a time (about £200 in today's money ), they were attended by over 300 men, and he was made a freeman of the City of Edinburgh . Following this, some of the city's intellectuals formed the Select Society for Promoting the Reading and Speaking of the English Language in Scotland. These eighteenth-century activities would lead to

11703-641: The anonymous compiler's) words from the Prefatio that "I heaped together ( coacervavi ) all I could find" from various sources, not only concrete works in writing but "our ancient traditions" (i.e. oral sources) as well. This is quoted from the Apologia version of the preface. Giles's translation rendered this as "I put together", obscuring the fact that this is indeed a quote from the work and not from some commentator (See Morris's more recent translation as given in wikiquote: Historia Brittonum ) . Leslie Alcock

11844-574: The area is the ruins of Cambuskenneth Abbey , the resting place of King James III of Scotland and his queen, Margaret of Denmark . The king died at the Battle of Sauchieburn by forces nominally led by his son and successor James IV . During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms , the Battle of Stirling also took place in the centre of Stirling on 12 September 1648. The fortifications continued to play

11985-574: The area. Knowledge related industries, research and development as well as life sciences have clustered around the university in the Stirling University Innovation Park, close to its main campus. Mauchline ware started producing wooden snuff-boxes in 1790 in Mauchline , Ayrshire. They were produced of the wood from the trees from the Castle craig. Today they are highly collectible. Scots language Scots

12126-644: The author incorporated the list from a now-lost Old Welsh poem, based on the fact that some of the names appear to rhyme, The odd description of Arthur bearing the image of the Virgin Mary on his shoulders at Guinnion might stem from a conflation of the Welsh word iscuit (shield) with iscuid (shoulders). Others reject this as untenable, arguing that the author included battles not previously associated with Arthur, perhaps even made them up entirely. A similar story to that attached to Guinnion also appears in

12267-521: The book" or Standard Scots, once again gave Scots an orthography of its own, lacking neither "authority nor author". This literary language used throughout Lowland Scotland and Ulster, embodied by writers such as Allan Ramsay, Robert Fergusson, Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, Charles Murray , David Herbison , James Orr, James Hogg and William Laidlaw among others, is well described in the 1921 Manual of Modern Scots . Other authors developed dialect writing, preferring to represent their own speech in

12408-633: The border between English and Scots dialects. Scots was studied alongside English and Scots Gaelic in the Linguistic Survey of Scotland at the University of Edinburgh , which began in 1949 and began to publish results in the 1970s. Also beginning in the 1970s, the Atlas Linguarum Europae studied the Scots language used at 15 sites in Scotland, each with its own dialect. From the mid-sixteenth century, written Scots

12549-400: The church are shown on Blaeu 's map of 1654 which was derived from Pont 's earlier map. Standing near the castle, the Church of the Holy Rude is one of the town's most historically important buildings. Founded in 1129 it is the second oldest building in the city after Stirling castle. It was rebuilt in the 15th-century after Stirling suffered a catastrophic fire in 1405, and is reputed to be

12690-452: The city bypass to the east of Stirling. A major new regeneration project on the site of the former port area and the 40-acre (160,000 m) former Ministry of Defence site, adjacent to Stirling Railway Station , is currently underway. Known as Forthside, it has the aim of developing a new waterfront district linked to the railway station via Forthside Bridge . The development comprises retail, residential and commercial elements, including

12831-455: The city. On the other hand, the Carse of Stirling , stretching to the west and east of the city, is one of the flattest and most agriculturally productive expanses of land in the whole of Scotland. The land surrounding Stirling has been most affected by glacial erosion and deposition . The city itself has grown up around its castle which stands atop an ancient quartz-dolerite sill , known as

12972-566: The complementary decline of French made Scots the prestige dialect of most of eastern Scotland. By the sixteenth century, Middle Scots had established orthographic and literary norms largely independent of those developing in England. From 1610 to the 1690s during the Plantation of Ulster , some 200,000 Scots-speaking Lowlanders settled as colonists in Ulster in Ireland. In the core areas of Scots settlement, Scots outnumbered English settlers by five or six to one. The name Modern Scots

13113-455: The cooling effects of the North Sea and the Firth of Clyde . The settlement of Stirling had a population of 48,440 in 2012. According to the 2001 census, 52.7% of the population was female compared to 47.2% male. Stirling had both a smaller proportion of under 16s, at 16.7% compared to the Scottish average of 19.2%, and a smaller proportion of those of pensionable age: 17.8% – compared to

13254-403: The creation of Scottish Standard English . Scots remained the vernacular of many rural communities and the growing number of urban working-class Scots. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the use of Scots as a literary language was revived by several prominent Scotsmen such as Robert Burns . Such writers established a new cross-dialect literary norm. Scots terms were included in

13395-434: The earlier i-mutated version Scyttisc . Before the end of the fifteenth century, English speech in Scotland was known as "English" (written Ynglis or Inglis at the time), whereas "Scottish" ( Scottis ) referred to Gaelic . By the beginning of the fifteenth century, the English language used in Scotland had arguably become a distinct language, albeit one lacking a name which clearly distinguished it from all

13536-749: The early twentieth century, a renaissance in the use of Scots occurred, its most vocal figure being Hugh MacDiarmid whose benchmark poem " A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle " (1926) did much to demonstrate the power of Scots as a modern idiom. Other contemporaries were Douglas Young , John Buchan , Sydney Goodsir Smith , Robert Garioch , Edith Anne Robertson and Robert McLellan . The revival extended to verse and other literature. In 1955, three Ayrshire men – Sandy MacMillan, an English teacher at Ayr Academy ; Thomas Limond, noted town chamberlain of Ayr ; and A. L. "Ross" Taylor, rector of Cumnock Academy – collaborated to write Bairnsangs ("Child Songs"),

13677-593: The enormous popularity of the latter work, this version of the early history of Britain, including the Trojan origin tradition, was incorporated into subsequent chronicles of the long-running history of the land, such as the Middle English Brut of England , also known as The Chronicles of England . The work was the first source to portray King Arthur , who is described as a dux bellorum ('military leader') or miles ('warrior, soldier') and not as

13818-485: The evidence in 2017, Thomas Owen Clancy showed that a Brittonic etymology is unlikely, and derived the name from Gaelic srib-linn , meaning "pool in the river". A geographical survey of Britain in the eighth-century Ecclesiastical History of the English People by Bede also mentions a place called urbs Giudi ("the town of Giudi "). Although its location is not certain, a 2023 study found that "Stirling

13959-552: The favourite haunt of tourists who stop off at the Old Town Jail, Mar's Wark , Argyll's Lodging and the castle. Ballengeich Pass leads to the graveyard at Ballengeich and the Castle Wynd winds past the old graveyard. The Top of the Town from Broad Street upwards is renowned for its cobblestoned roads, and cars can be heard rattling over the cobblestones on the way down. Craft shops and tourist-focused shops are evident on

14100-516: The fifteenth century, much literature based on the Royal Court in Edinburgh and the University of St Andrews was produced by writers such as Robert Henryson , William Dunbar , Gavin Douglas and David Lyndsay . The Complaynt of Scotland was an early printed work in Scots. The Eneados is a Middle Scots translation of Virgil 's Aeneid , completed by Gavin Douglas in 1513. After

14241-534: The focus of transport and communications in the region, it has developed a substantial retail sector serving a wide range of surrounding communities as well as the city itself. Primarily centred on the city centre, there are a large number of chain stores, as well as the Thistles shopping centre . However this has been augmented by out-of-town developments such as the Springkerse Retail Park on

14382-475: The land controlled by the King of Scots. The second motto is: It has been claimed that the "Bridge" seal was regarded as the Burgh seal proper, the "Castle" seal being simply a reverse, used when the seal was affixed by a lace to a charter. This agrees with a description in an official publication (which spells Bruti with only one letter t). Clearer images are available with different lettering. Sibbald conflated

14523-622: The language in Scots. In September 2024, experts of the Council of Europe called on the UK Government to "boost support for regional and minority languages", including the Scots Language. The serious use of the Scots language for news, encyclopaediae, documentaries, etc., remains rare. It is reportedly reserved for niches where it is deemed acceptable, e.g. comedy, Burns Night or traditions' representations. Since 2016,

14664-574: The language used in different situations. Such an approach would be inappropriate for a Census." Thus, although it was acknowledged that the "inclusion of such a Census question would undoubtedly raise the profile of Scots", no question about Scots was, in the end, included in the 2001 Census. The Scottish Government's Pupils in Scotland Census 2008 found that 306 pupils spoke Scots as their main home language. A Scottish Government study in 2010 found that 85% of around 1000 respondents (being

14805-571: The local dialect. Much of the material used was often Standard English disguised as Scots, which caused upset among proponents of Standard English and proponents of Scots alike. One example of the educational establishment's approach to Scots is, "Write a poem in Scots. (It is important not to be worried about spelling in this – write as you hear the sounds in your head.)", whereas guidelines for English require teaching pupils to be "writing fluently and legibly with accurate spelling and punctuation". A course in Scots language and culture delivered through

14946-564: The meaning seems to be that the Lowland Strathclyde Britons on the southern shore and the Highland Pictish Scots on the northern shore stand protected from each other by their common Christianity. A more modern translation suggests that rather than Briton, bruit might be better read as brute, i.e. brute Scots, implying a non-Scots identity was retained in Stirling for some time after inclusion into

15087-493: The medieval Brittonic languages of Northern England and Scotland, are the suspected source of a small number of Scots words, such as lum (derived from Cumbric) meaning "chimney". From the thirteenth century, the Early Scots language spread further into Scotland via the burghs , which were proto-urban institutions first established by King David I . In fourteenth-century Scotland, the growth in prestige of Early Scots and

15228-614: The medium of Standard English and produced by the Open University (OU) in Scotland, the Open University's School of Languages and Applied Linguistics as well as Education Scotland became available online for the first time in December 2019. In the 2011 Scottish census , a question on Scots language ability was featured In the 2022 census conducted by the Scottish Government , a question in relation to

15369-420: The newspaper The National has regularly published articles in the language. The 2010s also saw an increasing number of English books translated in Scots and becoming widely available, particularly those in popular children's fiction series such as The Gruffalo , Harry Potter , Diary of a Wimpy Kid , and several by Roald Dahl and David Walliams . In 2021, the music streaming service Spotify created

15510-410: The northern part of Britain to the kingdom of Kent and from him are descended the kings of Kent. Then Arthur along with the kings of Britain fought against them in those days, but Arthur himself was the military commander ["dux bellorum"]. His first battle was at the mouth of the river which is called Glein . His second, third, fourth, and fifth battles were above another river which is called Dubglas and

15651-401: The old court Scots, but with an orthography that had abandoned some of the more distinctive old Scots spellings and adopted many standard English spellings. Despite the updated spelling, however, the rhymes make it clear that a Scots pronunciation was intended. These writings also introduced what came to be known as the apologetic apostrophe , generally occurring where a consonant exists in

15792-457: The only surviving church in the United Kingdom apart from Westminster Abbey to have held a coronation. On 29 July 1567 the infant son of Mary, Queen of Scots , was anointed James VI of Scotland in the church. James' bride, Anne of Denmark was crowned in the church at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh. The Holy Rude congregation still meet and some 19th century parish records survive. Musket shot marks that may come from Cromwell 's troops during

15933-403: The other English variants and dialects spoken in Britain. From 1495, the term Scottis was increasingly used to refer to the Lowland vernacular and Erse , meaning "Irish", was used as a name for Gaelic. For example, towards the end of the fifteenth century, William Dunbar was using Erse to refer to Gaelic and, in the early sixteenth century, Gavin Douglas was using Scottis as

16074-493: The other hand, Caitlin Green argues that the only identifiable battles linked explicitly with Arthur in Old Welsh sources are mythological, undermining any claims that the battles had a basis in history. Attached to the Historia is a section called De mirabilibus Britanniae (or simply Mirabilia for short, a Latin word meaning 'marvels, miracles'). It gives a list of 13 topographical marvels, or wonders of Britain, followed by

16215-556: The party to sit as an Independent. The Provost of Stirling is Cllr Christine Simpson. For the purposes of the Scottish Parliament , the city of Stirling forms part of the Stirling constituency of the Scottish Parliament constituency. The Stirling Scottish Parliament (or Holyrood ) constituency created in 1999 is one of nine within the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region. Each constituency elects one Member of

16356-497: The past (e.g. Corby or the former mining areas of Kent ). In the 2022 census conducted by the Scottish Government , it was found that 1,508,540 people reported that they could speak Scots, with 2,444,659 reporting that they could speak, read, write or understand Scots, approximately 45% of Scotland's 2022 population. Among the earliest Scots literature is John Barbour's Brus (fourteenth century), Wyntoun 's Cronykil and Blind Harry 's The Wallace (fifteenth century). From

16497-557: The power of the blessed Virgin Mary his mother there was great slaughter among them. The ninth battle was waged in the City of the Legion . The tenth battle was waged on the banks of a river which is called Tribruit. The eleventh battle was fought on the mountain which is called Agnet. The twelfth battle was on Mount Badon in which there fell in one day 960 men from one charge by Arthur; and no one struck them down except Arthur himself, and in all

16638-413: The remainder had some degree of skill, such as understanding Scots (0.27 million, 5.2%) or being able to speak it but not read or write it (0.18 million, 3.5%). There were also small numbers of Scots speakers recorded in England and Wales on the 2011 Census, with the largest numbers being either in bordering areas (e.g. Carlisle ) or in areas that had recruited large numbers of Scottish workers in

16779-521: The seventeenth century, anglicisation increased. At the time, many of the oral ballads from the borders and the North East were written down. Writers of the period were Robert Sempill , Robert Sempill the younger , Francis Sempill , Lady Wardlaw and Lady Grizel Baillie . In the eighteenth century, writers such as Allan Ramsay , Robert Burns , James Orr , Robert Fergusson and Walter Scott continued to use Scots – Burns's " Auld Lang Syne "

16920-653: The site of a large Roman base. Cat Coit Celidon is probably a reference to the Caledonian Forest ( Coed Celyddon ) which once covered the Southern Uplands of Scotland. Scholar Marged Haycock has suggested that this battle can be identified with the Cad Goddeu , the "Battle of the Trees", best known from the tenth-century poem Cad Goddeu . Arthur is mentioned towards the end of this poem, and

17061-516: The text as anonymously written would be the best approach as theories attributing authorship to Nennius have since been disputed by subsequent scholars. Repudiating the so-called vindication of Nennius in 1890 by the Celtic scholar Heinrich Zimmer , Mommsen returned to the earlier view of a ninth-century Nennius merely building on a seventh-century original, which he dated to around 680. The historian Ferdinand Lot swiftly challenged Mommsen; but it

17202-536: The thirteenth century. The succeeding variety of Northern Early Middle English spoken in southeastern Scotland is also known as Early Scots . It began to further diverge from the Middle English of Northumbria due to twelfth- and thirteenth-century immigration of Scandinavian-influenced Middle English–speakers from the North and Midlands of England . Later influences on the development of Scots came from

17343-491: The time of Bruce. The earliest known structures in Stirling are now destroyed but comprised two Neolithic Cursus in Bannockburn. The earliest known surviving structure is a fort on Gillies Hill built by Iron Age people over 2000 years ago. Two structures are known: what is currently called Wallstale Dun on the southern end of Touchadam Craig, and Gillies Hill fort on the northwest end of the craig. The Wallstale structure

17484-820: The twentieth-century biographer of James Boswell (1740–1795), described James's view of the use of Scots by his father Alexander Boswell (1706–1782) in the eighteenth century while serving as a judge of the Supreme Courts of Scotland : He scorned modern literature, spoke broad Scots from the bench, and even in writing took no pains to avoid the Scotticisms which most of his colleagues were coming to regard as vulgar. However, others did scorn Scots, such as Scottish Enlightenment intellectuals David Hume and Adam Smith , who went to great lengths to get rid of every Scotticism from their writings. Following such examples, many well-off Scots took to learning English through

17625-435: The two mottos into a single rhyme; he gave no indication that he was aware of Boece's work. Stirling was first declared a royal burgh by King David in the 12th century, with later charters reaffirmed by subsequent monarchs. A ferry, and later bridge, on the River Forth at Stirling brought wealth and strategic influence, as did its tidal port at Riverside. Major battles during the Wars of Scottish Independence took place at

17766-406: The variant readings "Troit" and "Amr" be preferred since they are closer to the Welsh forms of those names. The first concerns Arthur's dog, Cabal ( Cavall in Welsh) and the footprint it left while chasing the boar Troynt (→Troit) Twrch Trwyth : There is another marvel in the region which is called Buelt . There is a mound of stones there and one stone placed above the pile with the pawprint of

17907-604: The varieties of Scots are dialects of Scottish English or constitute a separate language in their own right. The UK government now accepts Scots as a regional language and has recognised it as such under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . Notwithstanding the UK government's and the Scottish Executive's obligations under part II of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages,

18048-405: The veracity of the text challenging to evaluate. Various specious causal connections and attempts to synchronize material from different sources and traditions also contribute to undermining the reliability of the chronicle. The question of the nature of the text of the Historia Brittonum is one that has caused intense debate over the centuries. Some scholars have taken the position that treating

18189-740: The wars he emerged as victor. And while they were being defeated in all the battles, they were seeking assistance from Germany and their numbers were being augmented many times over without interruption. And they brought over kings from Germany that they might reign over them in Britain, right down to the time in which Ida reigned, who was son of Eobba . He was the first king in Bernicia , i.e., in Berneich. Many of these battle sites are obscure and cannot be identified with any certitude. Some appear in other Welsh literature, though not necessarily explicitly connected to Arthur. Some scholars have proposed that

18330-477: The way up and once at the top, panoramic views are available across Stirling and beyond. All areas Historical place names for Stirling town in 1858–61 were compiled by O.S. map makers. Like most of the United Kingdom , Stirling has an oceanic climate ( Köppen Cfb ) with mild summers and cool, wet winters. Stirling has some of the warmest summers in all of Scotland, being relatively far away from

18471-559: The work into seven parts: Preface ( Prefatio Nennii Britonum ); I. The Six Ages of the World ( de sex aetatibus mundi ) (§1-6); II. History of the Britons ( historia Brittonum ) (§7-49); III. Life of Patrick ( vita Patricii ) (§50-55); IV. Arthuriana (§ 56); V. Genealogies ( regum genealogiae cum computo ) (§c. 57–66); VI. Cities of Britain ( civitates Britanniae ) (§66 ); VII. Wonders of Britain ( de mirabilibus Britanniae ) (§67—76). The Historia Brittonum can be dated to about 829. The work

18612-489: Was a "quite modern mistake". During the first half of the twentieth century, knowledge of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century literary norms waned, and as of 2006 , there is no institutionalised standard literary form. By the 1940s, the Scottish Education Department 's language policy was that Scots had no value: "it is not the language of 'educated' people anywhere, and could not be described as

18753-413: Was granted city status . Stirling's name appears as Strivelin(g) in early sources, later becoming Stirveling and finally Stirling . Its meaning, and even its language of origin, are a matter of debate. In 1930, J. B. Johnston's Place-Names of Scotland suggested a Brittonic origin, and the name was thought likely to be Brittonic by most commentators thereafter. However, in a comprehensive survey of

18894-659: Was increasingly influenced by the developing Standard English of Southern England due to developments in royal and political interactions with England. When William Flower , an English herald , spoke with Mary of Guise and her councillors in 1560, they first used the "Scottyshe toung" . As he found this hard to understand, they switched into her native French. King James VI , who in 1603 became James I of England , observed in his work Some Reulis and Cautelis to Be Observit and Eschewit in Scottis Poesie that "For albeit sindrie hes written of it in English, quhilk

19035-415: Was not enough linguistic self-awareness amongst the Scottish populace, with people still thinking of themselves as speaking badly pronounced, grammatically inferior English rather than Scots, for an accurate census to be taken. The GRO research concluded that "[a] more precise estimate of genuine Scots language ability would require a more in-depth interview survey and may involve asking various questions about

19176-424: Was not the first to draw attention to the phrase though he may have started the recent spate of interest. The Historia Brittonum has drawn attention because of its role in influencing the legends and myths surrounding King Arthur . It is the earliest source that presents Arthur as a historical figure, and is the source of several stories which were repeated and amplified by later authors. The Historia contains

19317-605: Was not until 1925 that the Anglo-Saxon scholar Felix Liebermann offered a major reconstruction of the Mommsen view, arguing that Nennius in fact first put the whole work into shape in the ninth century. Re-analysing the eleven manuscript variants of Mommsen, he produced a two-stemma analysis of their hypothetical descent, noting however that “Only one branch, viz. C2d2 of the second stem, preserves Nennius's name”. His overall conclusion (based on uniform particularities of style)

19458-531: Was that “The whole work...belongs to Nennius alone”, but this did not prevent him from recognising that “we must lower Nennius's rank as a historian...[but] praise his patriotic heart. The Nennius question was re-opened in the 1970s by Professor David Dumville . Dumville revisited the stemmatics of the various recensions and published the Vatican version. Dumville called the Nennian preface ( Prefatio Nennii )

19599-432: Was the notion of "Scottishness" itself. Many leading Scots of the period, such as David Hume , defined themselves as Northern British rather than Scottish. They attempted to rid themselves of their Scots in a bid to establish standard English as the official language of the newly formed union. Nevertheless, Scots was still spoken across a wide range of domains until the end of the eighteenth century. Frederick Pottle ,

19740-497: Was translated into Scots by Rab Wilson and published in 2004. Alexander Hutchison has translated the poetry of Catullus into Scots, and in the 1980s, Liz Lochhead produced a Scots translation of Tartuffe by Molière . J. K. Annand translated poetry and fiction from German and Medieval Latin into Scots. The strip cartoons Oor Wullie and The Broons in the Sunday Post use some Scots. In 2018, Harry Potter and

19881-669: Was written no earlier than the "fourth year of [the reign of] king Mermenus" (who has been identified as Merfyn Frych ap Gwriad , king of Gwynedd ). Historians have conservatively assigned 828 to the earliest date for the work, which is consistent with the statement in chapter 4 that "from the Passion of Christ 796 years have passed. But from his Incarnation are 831 years". The text makes use of two narrative techniques that are generally considered not reliable by modern academic standards: synthesizing and synchronizing history. Synthetic history combines legendary elements with fact, which makes

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