Scota

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Scota, in Erse meethologie, Scots meethologie, an pseudohistory, is the name gien tae the Wyffe o Geytholos an tae hees Mither, twa different meethological dochters o twa different Egyptian Pharaohs tae whom the Gaels tracit their ancestry, allegedly explainin the name Scoti, applee'd bi the Romans tae Erse raiders, an later tae the Erse invaders o Argyll an Caledonie which became kent as Scotland.

History o the Scota legends[eedit | eedit soorce]

Early sources[eedit | eedit soorce]

Edward J. Cowan haes tracit the first appearance o Scota in leeteratur tae the 12t century.[1] Scota appears in the Erse chronicle Book of Leinster (conteenin a redaction o the Lebor Gabála Érenn).[2] Housomeivver a recension foond in a 11t-century manuscript o the Historia Brittonum conteens an earlier reference tae Scota.[3] The 12t-century sources state that Scota wis the dochter o a Egyptian pharaoh, a contemporar o Moses, who marriet Geytholos (Goídel Glas) an became the eponymous foonders o the Scots an Gaels Efter bein exiled frae Egyp.[4] The earliest Scots sources claim Geytholos wis "a certain keeng o the kintras o Greece, Neolus, or Heolaus, by name", while the Lebor Gabála Érenn Leinster redaction in contrast describes him as a Scythie. Ither manuscripts o the Lebor Gabála Érenn conteen a variant legend o Scota's husband, no as Goídel Glas but insteid Mil Espaine an connect him tae Auncient Iberie.[5][6]
Anither variant meeth in the redactions o the Lebor Gabála Érenn state that thare wis anither Scota who wis the dochter o a Egyptian Pharaoh namit Cingris, a name foond anerly in Erse legend. She marriet Niul, son o Fenius Farsaid, a Babylonie who travelled tae Scythie efter the collapse o the Touer o Babel. Niul wis a scholar o leids, an wis invitit bi the pharaoh tae Egyp an gien Scota's haund in marriage. They haed a son, Goídel Glas, the eponymous ancestor o the Gaels, who creatit the Gaelic leid bi combinin the best featurs o the 72 leids then in existence. See an aw Geoffrey Keating. Awtho these legends vary, they aw gree that Scota wis the eponymous foonder o the Scots an that she gave her name tae Scotland an aw.

Scota an the Stane o Scone[eedit | eedit soorce]

Baldred Bisset is first creditit tae hae fused the Stane o Scone wi the Scota foondation legends in his Processus (1301) puttin forrit an argument that it wis Scotland an no Ireland which wis the oreeginal Scoti hameland.[7]

Bisset wis keen tae legitimise a Scots (as opposed tae Inglis) accession tae the throne efter Alexander III o Scotland dee'd in 1286. Alexander hissel at his coronation in 1249 heard his ryal genealogie recitit back throu 56 generations tae Scota.[8] Bisset tharefore attemptit tae legitimise a Scots accession bi makkin Scota significant, as haein transportit the Stane o Scone frae Egyp durin the exodus o Moses tae Scotland. In 1296 the Stane itsel wis captured bi Edward I an taken tae Wastmeenster Abbey. Robert the Bruce in 1323 uised Bisset's same legend connectin Scota tae the stane in attempt tae get the stane back tae Scotland's Scone Abbey.[9]

The 15t-century Inglis chronicler John Hardyng later attemptit tae debunk Bisset's claims.[10]

Later sources[eedit | eedit soorce]

Andrew o Wyntoun's Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland an John o Fordun's Chronica Gentis Scotorum (1385) are considered major sources on the Scota legends, alangside Thomas Grey's Scalacronica (1362). Walter Bower's 15t century Scotichronicon includit the first picturs o the legends. Hector Boece in his 16t century Historia Gentis Scotorum ("History o the Scots Fowk") mentions Scota an the foondation meeth an aw.

Grave o Scota[eedit | eedit soorce]

Signpost on by-road, sooth o Tralee

The grave of Scota reputitly lees in a valley, sooth o Tralee toun, in Co. Kerry Ireland. The aurie is kent as Glenn Scoithin, "Vale o the little flouer", mair normally kent as Foley's Glen. Indicatit bi a Coonty Cooncil road signpost, a trail frae the road leads alang a stream tae a clearin whaur a circle o lairge stanes marks the grave steid.

Sources[eedit | eedit soorce]

References[eedit | eedit soorce]

  1. Myth and Identity in Early Medieval Scotland, EJ Cowan, Scottish Historical Review lxiii, No. 176 (Oct. 1984) pp.111–35.
  2. "Lebor Gabála Érenn".
  3. The Irish identity of the kingdom of the Scots in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Dauvit Broun, Boydell & Brewer Ltd, 1999, p. 78.
  4. W. Matthews, "The Egyptians in Scotland: the Political History of a Myth", Viator 1 (1970), pp.289–306.
  5. A dictionary of Celtic mythology, James MacKillop, Oxford University Press, 2004, p. 330.
  6. The dochter o the pharaoh (Scota) is namit "Nectanebus" (a name which micht be meant tae identifee either Nectanebo I or Nectanebo II), an in anither variant meeth it wis the sons o Mil an Scota that settled in Ireland.
  7. The Erse identity o the kinrick o the Scots in the twalt an thirteent centuries, Dauvit Broun, Boydell & Brewer Ltd, 1999, p. 120.
  8. Scotland: The Making of a Kingdom, AAM Duncan, (Edinburgh, 1975), p. 555; cited by DN Dumville, "Kingship, Genealogies and Regnal Lists", in Early Medieval Kingship, ed. PH Sawyer and IN Wood (Leeds, 1977), pp. 72–104 (p. 73).
  9. Reading the medieval in early modern England,Gordon McMullan, David Matthews, Cambridge University Press, 2007, p. 109.
  10. Glastonbury Abbey and the Arthurian tradition, James P. Carley, Boydell & Brewer, 2001, p. 275 ff.