James Duncan article in History Scotland vol.19 no.4

FROM THE EDITOR

Historians and archaeologists are often working against

Lewis chessman fetches RECORD PRICE AT AUCTION

A newly-discovered warder attributed to the Lewis Chessmen workshop has sold at Sotheby’s London to an anonymous buyer for £735,000, a record for a medieval chess piece at auction

New proposal to transform John Knox House into a new Literature House

The City of Literature Trust has unveiled a proposal for John Knox House on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile to become the Literature House for Scotland, as part of an expanded ‘literary quarter’ in the Netherbow area of the historic thoroughfare

Century-old letter on display in East Lothian

A letter written 100 years ago and dropped over Nova Scotia from the R.34 airship during its recordbreaking double transatlantic crossing is now on display at the National Museum of Flight to mark the centenary of the R.34’s departure from its East Fortune base

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our brand new newsletter, exclusively for History Scotland

Glory days of Finlaggan revealed IN NEW DIGITAL RECONSTRUCTION

The lost medieval home of the lords of the isles has been reconstructed virtually by experts at the University of St Andrews, showing the isle of Islay settlement when it was the administrative and ceremonial centre of the lordship of the isles

THE SOBIESKI STUARTS AND THE GARDE-ROBE OF SCOTLAND

Julie Holder provides a new assessment of the celebrity brothers John and Charles Edward Sobieski Stuart, whose assertion of descent from Prince Charles Edward Stuart has tended to overshadow their important work in the study of tartan and the history of Gaelic culture

A century of Roman silver – new views on the Traprain Treasure

Dr Fraser Hunter provides a timely reassessment of the Traprain Treasure with the results of a ten-year research project that invites us to reassess why this treasure was ‘hacked’ and what this can tell us about Roman links to Scotland

ONE OF ROME’S LEGIONS IS MISSING

Duncan B Campbell investigates an old legend that a Roman legion was destroyed by the ancestors of the Scots – and discovers a strange tale that has its roots in 19th-century excavations in Silchester

ALEXANDER CAMERON SIM Japan’s ‘Father of Modern Sport’

Dr Darren Swanson presents his research on an Aberdour businessman who forged a successful career in Japan, integrating into what was, at the time, a closed and secretive society

ORKNEY’S ITALIAN CHAPEL

The Italian chapel in Orkney, one of the greatest symbols of peace to emerge from the second world war, celebrates its 75th anniversary this summer. Philip Paris refl ects on how the building brought former enemies together and how it still reaches out to us today with messages of hope and love

Kinauld Tannery: Excavating one of the last paper mills on the Water of Leith

Diana Sproat presents the results of recent excavations on the Water of Leith, where the remains of an 18th-century paper mill were uncovered, allowing the mill buildings to give up their secrets

NEW EVIDENCE UNCOVERED FROM ROMAN CONQUEST OF SCOTLAND

GUARD archaeologists have discovered a hitherto unknown Roman marching camp that was constructed during the Roman conquest of Scotland, alongside a west coast route from which Ireland can be glimpsed

THE BUZZART DYKES PARK LANDSCAPE

A view into Scotland’s medieval environment

The Aberdeen doctors and resistance to the national covenant

Karie Schultz recounts the story of the six ministers and scholars of Aberdeen who publicly opposed the national covenant of 1638, suggesting that they should be understood as symbols of a much more fractious theological landscape than the traditional picture of a monolithic covenanting movement tends to allow

Arbroath’s mariners, shipbuilders, merchants and manufacturers

Dr D.C. McWhannell explores the economic fortunes of modern Arbroath, discovering that the effects of Scotland’s mercantile and industrial expansion since the mid-18th century made themselves felt even in this small Angus town

The politics of population

Understanding Scottish emigration in a post-war, post-imperial context (part 2)

THE ‘BLACK DINNER’ OF 1440

History Scotland’s consultant editor, Dr Allan Kennedy, explores the infamous murder of the young earl of Douglas during a dinner at Edinburgh castle

THE PRINCE, THE POETS AND THE COMPOSER IMPROVING THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Neil McLennan explores Ayrshire history and how multiple perspectives of our past have common themes: improvement, innovation and inspiration

Mapping the nation

Nicola Martin explores a celebration of the legacy of Scottish military mapping, and how the maps produced in this volume tell the story of Scotland’s uniquely important military history

DIARY DATES The Jacobites

The coming weeks see three exhibitions on the Jacobites and their struggle for the throne

THE SCUTTLING OF THE FLEET

Archivist Veronica Schreuder shares unique eyewitness accounts from the scuttling of the German High Seas Fleet, as seen through the eyes of a teenage midshipman writing home to his family

THE HALKETT FAMILY

In this David Allan painting, Sir John Halkett and his second wife Mary are shown with his daughter by his first wife, and his thirteen younger children, in the grounds of their Fifeshire estate

Spotlight on…

Strathglass Heritage Association

What happened to my wartime maritime ancestor?

In his regular column, Ken Nisbet demonstrates how to research an ancestor who was lost at sea during one of the two world wars

WILD AND MAJESTIC?

Dr Annie Tindley showcases a travel writing volume that presents Scotland as seen through the eyes of 17th- and 18th-century tourists

FINAL WORD

Pauline Cairns Speitel, Senior Editor, Scottish Language Dictionaries (SLD), talks to History Scotland about SLD’s role in monitoring and documenting the Scots language for all