Blaeu Atlas of Scotland, 1654
Field | Content |
---|---|
Name: | Blaeu, Joan, 1596-1673 |
Title: | Scotiae (Regni Scotiae Descriptio) |
Pagination: | 24-25 |
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Translation of text:
deliberately that Embricho was the first among the Princes who founded monasteries for the Scots, because, if we speak about monasteries of the Scots founded whether by Princes or by others who were not Princes, the first and oldest of the Scots founded by Germans, was that monastery of the Scots at Erfurt founded by Walter of Glisberg, A.D.1032. This Walter was a noble, whose descendants are today Counts of Papenheim; after his death he was buried in the same church founded by himself, and his tomb may be seen there. This monastery along with two others, viz. at Regensburg and Würzburg, we Scots still possess. But the revenues of this monastery are so slight and small, that they are scarcely suffient to keep one person. But who knows what the late evening may bring? Perhaps better things will follow the miserable men. In next place follows the monastery of the Scots at Vienna, which was founded by Henry Duke of Austria about the year 1167. In what way this monastery was against all justice and equity snatched from the Scots, I shall relate fully in my history; Pope Urban VIII rightly complains about it in his letter to the Emperor Ferdinand II. This monastery could indeed be recovered in an easy transaction, if poverty, debts and straits did not press us on all sides, so that we do not have the income for a competent number of persons to be kept in the monasteries which we now have, far from being equal to so to speak colonising new ones.
Not long after the monastery of the Scots at Constance was founded by the Bishop of that place, whose name (as I do not have now to hand books or manuscripts) does not now occur to me. This monastery too we have lost by the fraud and deceit of the Germans. At almost the same time, that is about A.D.1180, the monastery of the Scots at Memmingen was founded by Welfon Duke of Swabia; we Scots possessed it down to the time of Luther; then however the citizens of Memmingen abandoned the Catholic Religion and embraced the Augustan Confession; therefore the monks and others who did not accept that new profession were forced to leave there. About the same time the monastery of the Scots at Aichstadium, in the vernacular Eichstadt, which is three German miles from the city of Ingolstadt, was founded by a Bavarian noble (whose name too escapes me). This monastery we lost in the same way as the others above mentioned. Finally in the year 1240, or thereabout, the monastery of the Scots at Kelhamium, in the vernacular Kelheim[?], which is only three German miles distant from Regensburg, was founded by the Duke of Bavaria. But by the injury of time and wars it is so impoverished that apart from a small house, a vineyard and a wood, nothing is tody left to us. The administration and rule of this tiny monastery is in the hands of the Abbot of the Scots at Regensburg, who is accustomed to put in charge of this place either one of his Scots, or some German (in the case that there are no Scots), who is obliged to pay each year a pension to the monastery of Regensburg. Add to these the monastery of the Scots at Paderborn, founded by the Scot St Paternus about the year 900, which was later burned in a fire. There were also other monasteries of the Scots in Germany, all of which I shall deal with at length in my history, whose title is such, ‘Christian Germany, or The Planation and Propagation of the Christian Faith in Germany by Scots.’ And there will be edited the chronicles of all our monasteries, with a series and catalogue of the Abbots of each monastery, and with the privileges and confirmations of the Supreme Pontiffs and Emperors, and also Electors and other Princes; all of which will treated in our second Volume. In the first we shall deal with the conversion of the individual Provinces of Germany to the Christian faith.
These few points have been written hastily and with confused pen by me, Robert Strachan, a Scot of Montrose, otherwise Father Boniface of the Order of St Benedict, to be handed to the noble and magnificent Hero, Lord John Scot, Baron of Scotstarvit, Director of the Chancery of the Kingdom of Scotland, Knight, and Royal Councillor.
At Vienna 20 Novemb. 1641.
[K p.25] DESCRIPTION
OF THE
KINGDOM
OF SCOTLAND
The
whole northern part of the island of Britain was in antiquity settled by the
Picts, who were divided into two races, viz. Dicalidonii and Victuriones; these
are discussed by Camden in his description of Britain from Ammianus
Marcellinus. Now when the Scots took power in this area, it was divided into
seven parts among seven Princes, as is said in an ancient pamphlet on the
division of Scotland in these words:
The first part contained Angus
and the Mearns.
The second Atholl and Gowrie.
The third Strathearn with
Menteith.
The fourth was Forfar.
The fifth Mar with Buchan.
The sixth Moray and Ross.
The seventh Caithness, which
Mt Mounth divides in the middle, running from Western to Eastern sea.
Then the same author reports from the report of Andrew
Bishop of Caithness, that the whole kingdom was partitioned into seven
territories:
First from Fryth (in British, Worid in Roman, now
Scottwade) to the R. Tay.
Second to Hiles as the sea
goes round to a mountain in the northern part of Stirling called Athran.
Third from Hiles to Dee.
Fourth from Dee to R. Spey.
Fifth from Spey to Mt
Brunalban.
Sixth Moray and Ross.
Seventh the kingdom of Argyll,
as the edge of the Scots, who were so called from their leader Gathelgas.
But these divisions are
scarcely known to the Scots of today.
According to the appearance of the peoples, Scotland
was divided into Highlanders, Lowlanders, and Borderers. The Highlanders are
those who live in higher places and mountains, towards the northern and western
parts; they are less civilised and fiercer, and use the language and dress of
the Irish. The Lowlanders, who lives on the plains and low areas, are more
civilised than the Highlanders and use the speech and clothing of the English.
The Borderers are situated on the borders of England, from the town of Carlisle
to Berwick; they could rightfully be excluded in future from this division, for
as peace has dawned on all sides from the fortunate and happy union, they are
to be classed in the middle of the British empire, and tired of war they have
begun to accustom themselves from that time to the studies of peace and to be
numbered among the Lowlanders.
According to the appearance of places again the whole
kingdom is separated into two parts, the Southern as far as the River Tay, the
Northern beyond the Tay, apart from the numerous islands that lie around.
In
the Southern part these are the more notable regions.
ìTeviotdale ü ìArran
ü
| Merse |
| Clydesdale |
| Lothian |
| Lennox |
| Liddesdale |
| Stirling |
| Eskdale |
| Fife |
{Annandale
} { Strathearn }
| Nithsdale |
| Menteith |
| Galloway |
| Argyll |
| Carrick |
| Kintyre |
| Kyle |
| Lorne |
îCunningham þ î þ
In the Northern part these regions are listed:
ìLochaber ü ìBuchan
ü
| Breadalbane |
| Moray |
| Perth | | Ross |
{Atholl } { Sutherland }
| Angus |
| Caithness |
| Mearns |
| Strathnaver |
îMar þ î þ
This division was used in courts, and persisted up to
the time of James IV. For four men were chosen from the nobles, four from the
ecclesiastics, four from the lesser barons; they were called the Lords of
Council and Session, and were accustomed to sit for the whole winter in
Edinburgh, to declare justice for the southern part of the kingdom, and in
summer in Aberdeen for the northern part. But when James V had married in
France Magdalene, daughter of King Francis I and had seen the government of
that kingdom well carried on through the rule of Parliament, on returning home,
he did away with these elected judges and set up a Senate on the model of the
French Parliament; on this later.