001, Deckblatt Band I

961 Pages·2005·12 MB·English

Travels to terra incognita:
The Scottish Highlands and Hebrides in early modern
travellers’ accounts
c. 1600 to 1800

Dissertation
zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades
der Philosophischen Fakultät
der Christian-Albrechts-Universität
zu Kiel

vorgelegt von
Martin Rackwitz

Kiel
2004

Band I
Erstgutachter: Prof. Dr. Thomas Riis
Zweitgutachter: Prof. Dr. Allan I. Macinnes
Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 08.12.2004
Durch den zweiten Prodekan, Prof. Dr. Norbert Nübler,
zum Druck genehmigt am: 14.02.2005
‘Wenn jemand eine Reise thut,
So kann er was verzählen.’

Matthias Claudius
(1740-1815)

‘The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of
thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.’

Samuel Johnson
(1709-1784)
i
Abstract

In the early modern period, Scotland and particularly the Highlands were among the
least-known regions of Europe. Their image was overshadowed by myths and
stereotypes that often dated back to the late Middle Ages. Chroniclers such as Hector
Boece provided Scotland with a history that dated back to the times of ancient Egypt
and Greece and created an image of it as a country where miracles actually took
place. This thesis examines the stereotyping of Scotland and the Scots and its
reflection in the late medieval and early modern travellers’ accounts. It analyses the
opening up of the country to foreign visitors in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries. Special emphasis is put on the discovery of the Highlands and Hebrides.
This region kept its distinctive Gaelic tradition and identity until far into the
nineteenth century. The accounts of foreign visitors offer a unique insight into
Highland life and culture and cover all aspects ranging from the social organisation
of the people in clans and their different agricultural techniques to their distinctive
customs and manners. In the course of the eighteenth century the Highlands
underwent radical economic and social changes. This thesis analyses the
restructuring of the Highland economy and its impact on Highland society. It also
deals with the attempts of the various public and private bodies to halt the economic
decline of the region and to prevent the people from emigrating in large numbers to
North America. Special consideration is paid to the promotion of the fishing industry
and the development of kelp production on the western seaboard. The seventeenth-
and eighteenth-century travellers’ accounts that are dealt with in this thesis are
valuable sources on the social and economic history of the Highlands and Hebrides.
They illustrate the discovery of this hitherto unknown region and reflect its painful
integration into Great Britain. The appendix includes 120 short biographies of
travellers and 115 maps showing their individual routes.
ii
Acknowledgements

During the course of my research I have received the kind assistance of numerous
people, archives and libraries. First of all, I should like to thank Professor Thomas
Riis for his supervision of this thesis and Professor Allan I. Macinnes for his
assistance as second supervisor. Secondly, I should like to express my great gratitude
to Dr Thorsten Altena, Dr Douglas Barker, Dr Stephen I. Boardman, Miss Helen
Brown, Dr Ewen A. Cameron, Dr Wolfgang Griep, Mr Colm McLaughlin, Mr
Johannes E. Nischelsky, Dr Domhnall Uilleam Stiùbhart, Dr Stuart Wallace and Mrs
Isabelle Willand for their kind assistance and advice. Thirdly, I should like to thank
the staff of the following archives and libraries for all their assistance during the
course of my research: Bedfordshire and Luton Archives, British Library, Cornwall
Record Office, East Sussex Record Office, Edinburgh Central Library, Edinburgh
University Library, Essex Record Office, Herzog-August-Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel,
Huntingdon County Record Office, National Archives of Scotland, National
Museums of Scotland, Norfolk Record Office, Northumberland Record Office,
Somerset Record Office, Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen, Suffolk
Record Office, Surrey Record Office, Universitätsbibliothek Kiel, and Warwickshire
Record Office. I owe particular gratitude to the staff of the Forschungsstelle zur
historischen Reisekultur, Eutiner Landesbibliothek, and the National Library of
Scotland, whose marvellous support I deeply appreciated. Acknowledgement is also
due to the Trustees of the National Library of Scotland for providing me with
illustrations from the accounts of Edmund Burt, John Knox, Martin Martin, Thomas
Pennant and William Thomson. I would also like to thank Sir Robert Clerk of
Penicuik for his permission to quote from the Clerk of Penicuik Muniments, and
Norman Scarfe and Boydell Press for their permission to reproduce Alexandre de La
Rochefoucauld’s sketch “The ordinary tools they make use of”. Special thanks are
also due to the staff and postgraduate students of the Department of Scottish History,
University of Edinburgh. Their generous hospitality and kind support in academic as
well as social matters contributed greatly to my decision to extend my research stay
in Scotland from initially one year to nearly four years. Fourthly, I should like to
acknowledge the financial assistance provided to me by the Land Schleswig-Holstein
iii
and the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, whose research grants enabled me
to follow the traces of travellers to the Highlands of Scotland in archives and
libraries all over Germany and Great Britain.
Last but not least, I would like to thank my parents for their immense patience
and their moral and financial support, particularly when the research grants ran out.
Without their unreserved support this work would never have been completed.

Martin Rackwitz
iv
Editorial note

Wherever possible I make use of printed editions of travellers’ accounts. Manuscript
accounts are used only where there is no printed edition available or the printed
edition does not include the full text of the original manuscript. Not all of the
accounts that are dealt with in this thesis were originally written in English, but for
convenience I make use of English editions as far as possible. In a very limited
number of cases, however, the English translation differs considerably from the
original. In these cases the text of the original account is given in the notes.
Wherever possible I make use of the first edition or an improved, enlarged or
corrected second edition that was published in the author’s lifetime. In case a later
edition or reprint is used, the date of the original publication is given in square
brackets after the entry in the bibliography. The dates given in the text with regard to
travellers’ observations and comments refer to the year or years of their tour or tours.
They do not refer to the date of publication of the account, which was often several
years after the tour. The date of publication is given in the first reference in the
footnotes. In quotes and titles the author’s spelling, italicisation, emphasis and
capitalisation of words are strictly adhered to. Place names in the Highlands have
undergone frequent changes of spelling over recent centuries. In order to obviate
confusion all place names apart from those included in quotes are given the spellings
found on modern Ordnance Survey maps. In quotations where necessary the modern
spelling is inserted in square brackets. Parish names are given in accordance with the
Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae. Appendix no. 1 includes biographical entries for most
travellers who receive three or more references in the text or notes. The [map] in the
heading of the biographical entry denotes that a map showing the individual
traveller’s route is given in appendix no. 12 on the attached CD-ROM.
v
Abbreviations

ADB Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, 55 vols. (Leipzig, 1875-1910)
APS The Acts Of The Parliaments Of Scotland, 11 vols. ([Edinburgh],
1814-1844)
BL British Library, London
d. penny/pence (of pre-decimal currency)
DNB Dictionary of National Biography, 22 vols. (London, 1908-1909)
ECL Edinburgh Central Library
EUL Edinburgh University Library
fo./fos. folio/folios
HMC Historical Manuscripts Commission
MS./MSS. manuscript/manuscripts
NAS National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh
NBG Nouvelle Biographie Générale, 46 vols. (Paris, 1855-1866)
NLS National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh
NMS National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh
NSA The New Statistical Account Of Scotland, 15 vols. (Edinburgh, 1845)
OSA The Statistical Account Of Scotland, 20 vols., D.J. Withrington and
I.R. Grant general eds. (Wakefield, 1973-1983)
p./pp. page/pages
PRO Public Record Office, London
RCAHM Royal Commission On The Ancient And Historical Monuments Of
Scotland
s. shilling(s)
SHR Scottish Historical Review
SHS Scottish History Society
SND Scottish National Dictionary, 10 vols., W. Grant ed. (Edinburgh,
[1931]-1976)
SSPCK Scottish Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge
TGSI Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness

Note on coinage: If not stated otherwise, all values prior to 1707 are in £-Scots,
thereafter in £-sterling. From 1603, the exchange rates between Scotland and
England were standardised at 12:1 – thus, £12 Scots was equivalent to £1 sterling.
The merk is two-thirds of a £: thus, 1 merk Scots amounted to 13s. 4d.; 100 merks
amounted to £66 13s. 4d.
vi
Contents

Abstract i
Acknowledgements ii
Editorial note iv
Abbreviations v
Contents vi

Introduction 1

1. The image of Scotland in the late Middle Ages and early modern
age 8
1.1. The mapping of Scotland in the late Middle Ages and early modern age 9
1.2. The image of Scotland in the historical and geographical descriptions
from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century 15
1.2.1. The supposed origin of the Scottish people 17
1.2.2. The supposed customs of the Scottish people 27
1.2.3. The image and the supposed customs of the Highlanders 35
1.2.4. Scotland’s image as a land of myth and miracles 55
1.3. Summary 68

2. Medieval and early modern travellers to Scotland until about
1600 69
2.1. Medieval travellers to Scotland before 1500 70
2.1.1. King Edward I’s campaign in Scotland in 1295 70
2.1.2. Jean Froissart’s accounts of Scotland (fourteenth century) 71
2.1.3. John Hardyng’s account of Scotland 75
2.1.4. Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini’s visit to Scotland in 1435 76
2.1.5. The knightly visits by Ghillebert de Lannoy in 1431, Jacques de
Lalain in 1449, Georg von Ehingen in 1458, and Regnault Girard
in 1434-36 80
2.1.6. Don Pedro de Ayala’s stay in Scotland in 1496-97 83
vii
2.1.7. Andrea Trevisano’s account of Scotland 89
2.1.8. Summary of the visitors to Scotland before 1500 90
2.2. Sixteenth-century travellers to Scotland 92
2.2.1. Peder Svave’s visit to Scotland in 1535 93
2.2.2. Nicander Nucius’s account of Britain in 1545 95
2.2.3. Jean de Beaugué’s and Estienne Perlin’s accounts of Scotland in
1548-49 and 1551-52 96
2.2.4. Lupold von Wedel’s journey to Scotland in 1584 101
2.2.5. Hainzel von Degerstein’s and Waser’s tour to Scotland in 1592 107
2.2.6. Fynes Moryson’s travel to Scotland in 1598 109
2.2.7. Henri, Duc de Rohan’s, tour to Scotland in 1600 112
2.2.8. A German count’s visit to Scotland in 1609 113
2.2.9. Ferdinand Geizkofler’s tour to Scotland in 1611 116
2.2.10. Summary of the sixteenth-century visitors to Scotland 118

3. Satirical and fictitious accounts of Scotland 120
3.1. Sir Anthony Weldon’s A Perfect Description Of The People and
Country Of Scotland 120
3.2. Thomas Kirk’s A Modern Account Of Scotland; Being, An exact
Description of the Country, And a True Character Of The People
and their Manners 123
3.3. Satirical and fictitious letters about Scotland 129
3.4. John English’s fictitious travels through Scotland 131
3.5. Tobias Smollett’s The Expedition Of Humphry Clinker 134
3.6. Conclusion of the satirical and fictitious accounts of Scotland 137

4. From drove road to mail-coach service: the development of the
infrastructure and travelling conditions in seventeenth- and
eighteenth-century Scotland 140
4.1. Travelling in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Scotland 141
4.1.1. Horse hire and travelling on horseback 141
4.1.2. Travelling by coach 147