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The
Declaration of Arbroath,
6th April 1320
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"They
journeyed from Greater
Scythia by way of the Tyrrhenian Sea and the
Pillars of Hercules, and dwelt for a long course
of time in Spain among the most savage tribes,
but nowhere could they be subdued by any race,
however barbarous. Thence they came, twelve
hundred years after the people of Israel crossed
the Red Sea, to their home in the west where
they still live today."
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The
reference to the journeys of the Scots people in the
Declaration
of Arbroath refer to the legend of Prince Gathelus
and his wife Scota.
Gathelus
was a Greek prince, exiled after incurring his father's
displeasure, he and his followers found refuge in
Egypt where their military prowess earned them the
Pharaoh's favour and ultimately the hand of his daughter
Scota in marriage. To honour their princess his
people were known as the "Scots". It is
said that they took their leave of Egypy when Pharaoh
began persecuting the Israelites , and it is further
suggested that it was at this time they gained
possession of the
Stone
of Destiny, thought to have been the Prophet Jacob's
pillow, a
saddle
shaped stone of black basalt. The "Stone of
Destiny" was seized by Edward I in 1296 during
Scotland's Wars of Independence. Many say the stone that
sat for years in Westminster Abbey, and returned to
Edinburgh only recently is the stopper from a bottle
dungeon that the English were persuaded was the
treasured stone on which Scotland's kings had been
crowned. (The True Stone is lost or hidden, many claim
to know its resting place but that is another story.)
After
Gathelus and Scota their people left Egypt, they sailed
west across the Mediterranean and on into Spain.
There, Scota bore two sons, Hiberus and Himecus.
In time they became too succesful and made too many
enemies, and so searched for a new land, finding and
settling in Ireland. Hiberus became popular and
for a long time Ireland bore his name, Hibernia.
Gathelus died in Ireland, and many years later, his
descendant Rothsay lead his people to the Islands off
the West Coast of Scotland where on the Isle of Bute the
town of Rothesay still bears his name, and finally to
the mainland of Scotland, the country that finally took
their name after they defeated the Picts.
Sources
include: 1968 Revised edition of "Scotland's
Story" by H E Marshall, (first published 1906)
Thomas Nelson (Printers) Ltd, London and Edinburgh
See
also
Jeremiah in Ireland, Fact or Fabrication? which disproves
one theory but refers to sources for the story of
Gathelus, Scota and the Stone of Destiny. |
