The Franciscans and the Scottish Wars of Independence: an Irish perspective

The intention of this paper is to examine the role of the Franciscans in the Scottish Wars of Independence. Many of the studies relating to this period have been confined to either the political or ecclesiastical arena. They also choose to treat the individual countries of the British Isles in an unconnected fashion. This paper is intended to redress the balance, using the involvement of the Franciscan friars in Ireland and Scotland to study political events on either side of the Irish Sea. By examining the actions of diverse nationalities belonging to a single order I hope to establish why the Franciscans saw fit to involve themselves in either the nativist or royalist causes and to determine it was purely race that dictated their actions when their countrymen went to war.     

Governmentality, subject-building, and the discourses and practices of devolution in the UK

This paper uses a Foucauldian governmentality framework to analyse and interrogate the discourses and strategies adopted by the state and sections of the business community in their attempts to shape and influence emerging agendas of governance in post-devolution Scotland. Much of the work on governmentality has examined the ways in which governments have developed particular techniques, rationales and mechanisms to enable the functioning of governance programmes. This paper expands upon such analyses by also looking at the ways in which particular interests may use similar procedures, discourses and practices to promote their own agendas and develop new forms of resistance, contestation and challenge to emerging policy frameworks. Using the example of business interest mobilization in post-devolution Scotland, it is argued that governments may seek to mobilize defined forms of expertise and knowledge, linking them to wider political debates. This, however, creates new opportunities for interests to shape and contest the discourses and practices of government. The governmentalization of politics can, therefore, be seen as more of a dialectical process of definition and contestation than is often apparent in existing Foucault-inspired writing.     

Contesting land,creating community,in the Highlands and Islands,Scotland

This paper draws on research in four communities in the Highlands and Islands, Scotland, to explore how the notion of community and community identity are re‐worked in the political spaces created as communities claim collective rights to land. In the cases of the Assynt Crofters’ Trust, the Bhaltos Community Trust, and Laid, this has concerned land under crofting tenure; in the case of the claim of the North Sutherland Community Forestry Trust, the land on which the Naver Forests stand is the responsibility of the Scottish Ministers and is managed by Forest Enterprise. The four case studies differ with respect to membership and institutional practices and thus provide fertile ground on which to examine, comparatively, collective struggles for the land and the search for sustainable futures.     

Doing the Doric: The institutionalization of regional language and culture in the north-east of Scotland

The focus of this paper is on the practices and processes of joint action and knowledge, the performativity of language and the tracing of how particular items of rhetoric move, solidify and change. The paper illustrates the contingent factors that give language and practice variable meanings through an examination of the Doric dialect and culture of north-eastern Scotland. Doric has, in recent years, been increasingly discussed and debated by the press and the academy. Here, it is argued that the continued reproduction of 'north-easterness' is related to the ways in which dialect and culture have been mobilized, politicized and legitimized through the erection and operation of an institutional framework. The role of 'expert' and enthusiast knowledges in the propagation of cultural trends is analysed, contrasting the existence of north-eastern tradition as an allegedly 'organic' culture, when dialect use and 'traditional' practices were unproblematic and everyday, with contemporary institutionalized 'north-easterness'. This is achieved through an exploration of the spectacularization of tradition, unpacking some of the tensions this creates with regard to the Bothy Ballad and literary traditions of the north-east.     

The role of the museum in interpretation: The problem of context

The key questions in interpreting objects in museums are: What are they doing there? and Where did they come from? National and local importance are not mutually exclusive: the critical difference is between intrinsic value, and value through context or association. Context is an integral part of interpretation. Experts can visualise an original location or environment; ordinary museum visitors need the context of people, or place, or familiar activities, to be able to relate to unfamiliar objects. Is seeing a good replica as good as seeing the original?     

Beyond the Fringe: Transfer-Printed Ceramics and the Internationalization of Celtic Myth

During the Romantic period of the nineteenth century, a wholesale invention of cultural myth and tradition took place in what we now think of as the industrialized West. One of the more interesting aspects of this invention of tradition was the development of the mythic Celtic past in Western Europe, particularly Scotland and Wales. This reinvention of the past is reflected in aspects of material culture, including contemporary transfer-print patterns, many of which contain scenes based on the themes of the mythic past. This paper surveys some of the more common Scottish- and Welsh-related patterns and attempts to place them in their appropriate cultural and historical context as well as demonstrating how they reflect certain cultural trends of the period. Some of the broader issues and implications surrounding these patterns, especially regarding their use as a vehicle for disseminating an ideological perspective internationally, are also examined.     

Pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs in organic residue from the hoard of ancient Vani (western Georgia)

An investigation of pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs in the organic material in bronze objects found in Vani provides evidence that, in the first half of the first century BC, the climate of the area was cooler and much more humid than nowadays. The local population was engaged in cattle-breeding and agriculture, and both viticulture and horticulture were also well developed. The analysis of the contents of an oil lamp showed that the lamp was in use for a long time and was filled with flax oil. Large pieces of beeswax found in the hoard provide evidence of the existence of local bronze-casting industry. The palynological studies of the recent and fossil soil of Vani have shown that only in soil spectra large quantities of spores of various fungi were found, which distinguishes them from the domestic dust spectra. On the basis of this argument it was established that most part of the studied fossil material is not contaminated by the soil where the hoard of bronze objects was buried.     

Playing with Fire: The 4th Duke of Hamilton's Jacobite Politics and the Union

James Hamilton, duke of Hamilton and the Scots jacobites are generally linked in analyses of the final years of the Scots polity. Indeed, Hamilton is often presented as the leader of the jacobite party in the Scottish parliament. Yet both contemporaries and historians have been unsure what to make of his on-again, off-again, conduct with respect to the exiled Stuarts and France. This has fuelled an ongoing debate about Hamilton's erratic and highly enigmatic behaviour during the winter of 1706–7, when the Union was passing the Scottish parliament. Was he genuinely opposing the Union? Was he duped by the court? Or was he, ‘bought and sold for English gold ’? This essay takes a fresh look at the duke and his part in the Union crisis in the light of new and previously underused jacobite sources with a view to better understanding Hamilton's aims, objectives, and influence with this crucial group. Only the jacobites and the Cameronians were potentially willing to take their opposition to the Union to God's Acre. But neither party immediately flew to arms in response to passage of a union they both believed was a betrayal of everything they held dear, and Hamilton was a major factor in their failure to do so. This essay thus takes a close look at the duke's part in preventing a major national uprising against the Union in the winter of 1706–7 and advances a new interpretation of his conduct and significance throughout the Union crisis.     

运河沿岸地名史话研究在“大运河文化带”建设中的意义——以高邮明清运河故道为例

运河沿岸地名史话研究在"大运河文化带"建设中具有重要意义。本文通过挖掘运河沿岸地名三个层次的文化,揭示运河文化民族精神。在此基础上弘扬优秀地名文化,立足运河讲好运河文化故事。既要做好运河沿岸地名文化遗产的保护传承工作,同时为运河旅游文化带建设提供文化素材。弘扬优秀地名文化,讲好运河文化故事。保护传承地名文化遗产,提供运河旅游文化素材。     

Contesting Chivalry: James II and the control of chivalric culture in the 1450s

This article focuses on the reign of James II of Scotland (1437–1460) and argues that the Scottish king deliberately attempted to gain a monopoly over chivalry as part of his assertion of royal power. In seeking to integrate the historiographies of state-building and chivalric culture in fifteenth-century Scotland, what is offered here is an account of the principal strategies employed by James II to establish royal authority throughout Scotland, and an assessment of the various means in which chivalry was being patronised and promoted by the Scottish nobility and the political challenge inherent in this activity. James's response to this challenge is examined through a series of incidents in the 1450s and, in this manner, seeks to rethink the role of chivalry in late medieval Scotland. Far from being a peripheral cultural practice, this article argues that it should be seen as an integral part of James II's state-building agenda.     

Contesting Chivalry: James II and the control of chivalric culture in the 1450s

This article focuses on the reign of James II of Scotland (1437–1460) and argues that the Scottish king deliberately attempted to gain a monopoly over chivalry as part of his assertion of royal power. In seeking to integrate the historiographies of state-building and chivalric culture in fifteenth-century Scotland, what is offered here is an account of the principal strategies employed by James II to establish royal authority throughout Scotland, and an assessment of the various means in which chivalry was being patronised and promoted by the Scottish nobility and the political challenge inherent in this activity. James's response to this challenge is examined through a series of incidents in the 1450s and, in this manner, seeks to rethink the role of chivalry in late medieval Scotland. Far from being a peripheral cultural practice, this article argues that it should be seen as an integral part of James II's state-building agenda.     

Forest transition theory and the reforesting of Scotland

During the 20th century, the forest area in Scotland expanded threefold, after many centuries of decline. Similar trends of forest expansion following deforestation have operated in many other developed countries. The passage from net deforestation to net reforestation is defined as the forest transition, and over the last few years a body of theory relating to its drivers has evolved. The case of Scotland is considered in order to contribute to this growing body of theory.     

Palaeoenvironmental and chronological investigations of the Magdalenian sites of Goyet Cave and Trou de Chaleux (Belgium), via stable isotope and radiocarbon analyses of horse skeletal remains

Trou de Chaleux and Goyet are caves situated less than 30 km apart in Belgium that contain stratified Magdalenian artefacts and butchered faunal remains. Published radiocarbon dates suggest that both sites were contemporaneously occupied during to the Late-glacial interstadial. It has previously been suggested that the Trou de Chaleux Late-glacial faunal remains might be slightly older than those at Goyet Cave, and that Trou de Chaleux has two phases of occupation during the Late-glacial interstadial. However, the limited number of radiocarbon dates currently available makes it impossible to determine whether the sites are truly contemporaneous, and the assessment of their absolute chronologies is complicated by a plateau in the calibration curve. In this paper, bone collagen δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N signatures of horse bones from the two sites are used to reconstruct local palaeoenvironments. We hypothesise that if occupations at the two sites were contemporaneous, the horse collagen δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N isotope signatures from both sites will be similar, since comparable carbon and nitrogen isotopic values would reflect similar diets, ecologies and environments. To provide clear dating parameters, new AMS radiocarbon determinations are also presented. Results show that horse collagen δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N isotope signatures at the two sites are different, indicating that the populations were not subject to similar diets, ecologies and environments. The new radiocarbon dates confirm that the horse bones from Trou de Chaleux date to the Late-glacial interstadial, but they also show that in Goyet Cave Horizons 1 and 2, older horse remains dating to ca. 32?000–27?000 ¹⁴C yr BP are mixed with Late-glacial horse remains. The δ¹⁵N values of the Goyet Cave horse bones radiocarbon dated to the Pleniglacial are substantially higher than those that have Late-glacial radiocarbon dates. Therefore, we now hypothesise that the majority of the horse bones isotopically analysed from Goyet Cave Horizon 1 are Pleniglacial in age. Statistical analysis of the radiocarbon dates indicates that the Late-glacial occupation at the two sites was contemporaneous, and that while there may appear to be two phases of occupation at Trou de Chaleux, this may be an artefact of the radiocarbon calibration curve.     

Between a principled and a consequentialist logic: theory and practice of secession in Catalonia and Scotland

This paper inquires into whether the three types of arguments usually formulated in the normative literature on the legitimacy of secession – i.e. communitarian, choice, and remedial arguments – are articulated (or not) by separatist parties in Catalonia and Scotland. It concludes that these actors do use such arguments, but they tend to merge them in different combinations making a pluralist case for independence rather than developing monist reasoning as most political philosophers do. Furthermore, it finds a fourth type of argument which is under‐theorised in the relevant literature. This is an instrumental argument whereby independence is depicted not as an end in itself, but as a means to achieve better welfare and governance for the national population. It further proposes a fourfold theoretical scheme that links communitarian and choice arguments to a principled logic based on the belief in the existence of an absolute right to self‐determination and remedial and instrumental arguments to a consequentialist logic that legitimates secession on the condition that it serves the achievement of specific ends.     

Tourism and Sustainable Development on the Isle of Eigg,Scotland

Although the concept of sustainability has long permeated the literature on tourism and its development, the research on sustainability in tourism rarely reaches beyond the industry level to examine how tourism contributes to the sustainable development of a given destination in wider terms and how effective such processes can be in different economic, environmental and socio-cultural settings. The aim of this paper is to contribute to this important, yet under-developed, research agenda. The paper focuses on the Isle of Eigg – a remote community-owned Scottish island that has recently committed itself to becoming more sustainable and that seeks to rely on inbound tourism as the most important means to this end. It is demonstrated that tourism plays a key role in enhancing the economic stature of Eigg residents and that, rather than undermining, it strengthens the community cohesion on the island. Despite this, its contribution to the island's environmental sustainability cannot always be taken for granted and some trade-offs between these three kinds of sustainability cannot therefore be avoided. Moreover, economic sustainability on Eigg should not be considered synonymous with economic self-sufficiency.     

The taphonomy and palaeoenvironmental implications of the small mammals from Karain Cave,Turkey

The small mammal accumulations in the Pleistocene deposits of Karain Cave are investigated to identify the predators and possible biases in the fossil assemblages. Seven small mammal assemblages are studied in chronological order from two chambers of the cave, the main chamber E and the side chamber B. The lowermost level within the whole sequence is Proto-Charentien, which corresponds to an early stage of the Middle Palaeolithic. The main part of the material belongs to Middle Palaeolithic layers. The most important aspect of the fossil record in the cave is the human occupation without any interruption through the Pleistocene to Holocene. The small mammal fossil evidence in the cave denotes the presence of opportunistic predators throughout the sequence with one exception, and these produce balanced samples of small mammal faunas in the habitat. The lack of bias in the small mammal faunas allow the interpretation of local environments, showing that partial steppe and arid conditions existed during deposition of the lowermost levels of the Middle Palaeolithic in Karain Cave and that these shifted into more temperate and wooded habitat in the upper levels. Evidence from the side chamber indicates some differences, with a more open grassy environment. In the Mediterranean part of Anatolia the temperate and moist conditions in the Middle Palaeolithic were superseded by more arid conditions in the Upper Palaeolithic, followed by a decrease in steppe conditions during the Epi-Palaeolithic period.