The lead in quote: Of the crown of Scotland, on learning of the birth of Mary Queen of Scots–6 days before his death
Featured PICTURE OF THE DAY…another lovely lady from the Scottish Games with a little help from mom.
Robert Bruce 1554 – 1631
“Now, God be with you, my children: I have breakfasted with you and shall sup with my Lord Jesus Christ this night.”
HONORABLE MENTION
ARTIST KEVIN DYER
Artist Dyer: Seen here with one of his beautiful Art Works.
The highlanders take pleasure in clothing of various colours, especially striped, and their favorite colours are purple and blue. Their forbears wore plaids of many colours, and numbers still in keeping with this custom, but most now prefer to wear a dark brown, matching the leaves of the heather, so that, while lying among it in the day-time, they may not be revealed by a sight of their clothing. In these, wrapped, rather than covered, they face the worst storms of the open, and at times will lie down and sleep, even in snow.” –Nicholas d’Afreville, Cosmographer to the King of France, circa 1580’s
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More of the ladies of Clan Outlander which is closely associated with the Fraser Clan.
what Outlander is and isn’t…
And my all time “I never thought I’d hear a hot hero say” lines:
The site of Edinburgh Castle is where Scotland truly began. The castle sits on a high, rocky hill with a narrow ridge running east above the Old Town of Edinburgh. There has been a fortification of some kind here for thousands of years. The castle has existed through layers of time and history, and it is indeed magnificent
YBOR CITY HISTORIC LATIN QUARTER
TAMPA, FL.
An exotic blend of aromas, flavors, sights and sounds. From the scent of roasting Cuban coffee in the morning to the rhythms of Latin music late into the night Ybor City has much to offer
Cuisine: Spanish, Cuban, Italian, Greek, and Asian are all aong La Setima–7th Ave. Try tapas and Sangria in a place in Florida and yet not quite.
Lots of shops, art galleries even a museum. See cigars hand rolled, or set in a cafe with some café con leche and people watch
Listen to jazz, blues, salsa, reggae, even hip hop at the clubs and pubs some of Florida’s most active night spots.
And if you like to sight see there is Vincente Martinez Ybor’s historic city found as a cigar manufacturing center with its red brick buildings, wrought iron balconies and narrow brick street–old world charm in a new world city.
Upon her high and windy ridge old Edinburgh has watched the march of Scottish history, and every ebb and flow of that often-stormy ride has left its mark on the ancient stones.
(Alan Hamilton, Essential Edinburgh, 1978)
(Alan Hamilton, Essential Edinburgh, 1978)
,Since Elizabeth I is soon to enter Mary’s story and since I always intended it to be a story of the 3 queens I decided today I would tell you about Elizabeth up to the time of Mary’s return to England and Elizabeth’s offer of a husband.
Elizabeth like Mary knew the depths of despair. Born in 1533 (she was over 11 years Mary’s senior but like Mary she was a girl child in a Royal world that only valued the male. Her father, one of the best known (now) and most infamous majesties in history, he had already married and divorced his brother’s widow, a divorce heard round the Christian world as it resulted in his break with the Catholic Church and the making of the English monarch forever head of the Church of England (at least till this day and time). It also resulted in making his first child, another girl and a Mary too, of questionable legitimacy. Within 3 years of her birth (1536) her mother’s marriage ewas done away with as he had had an affair with her sister (a third Mary) prior to marry her and her mother was beheaded in the Tower as she had been convicted of adultery, a group of highly suspect charges and men, especially as one of them was her brother.
Unlike Mary Elizabeth had no strong mother to protect her and no friendly, royal court to be petted and kept well in. She was declared a bastard–abet a royal one–and put in charge of staff that kept her far from court and the sight of her father and most especially the Royal court and when her brother (child of wife # 3 (Jane) who died from the complications of childbirth) Edward VI took the throne after their father’s death (after annulling a 4th marriage, executing a 5th wife who at 17 may well have been guilty of the adultery charges as she was a lively girl married to an old man with serious health problems including a foul ulcer on one leg but who was reportedly deeply devoted to her when her family’s enemies discovered her infidelity and finally dying allowing the 6th to move on to her 3rd husband–note the 1st, 5th and 6th wives were all Katherines and 2 Annes–2nd and 4th), which left her in a good place as they seemed to get along and they were both Protestant.
In the heart of Scotland stands one of Europe’s oldest trees, the Fortingall Yew. Experts speculate that the tree may be 5,000 years old. It is named for the small village in which it is found—Fortingall, in Perthshire. The land surrounding Fortingall contains some of the most amazing archaeological sites in Scotland, from plague burial grounds to the remains of a 1,300-year-old monastery. While the Yew first sprouted long after the first people moved to Scotland over 12,000 years ago, it’s probably as old as the first settlements at Fortingall.
Edward VI Henry’s much anticipated son was born 4 years after Elizabeth and like Mary became a monarch at an early age–at 10 years (3,644 days more than Mary) but his health was not good, some have speculated TB, while I’m feel it might more likely have been a birth defect of his heart–whatever the cause he was dead by 1553 at age 16. This was followed by a short lived rebellion involving some Protestant lords and a young woman with good blood lines but that only lasted in the young woman (another Jane) meeting a terrible end on Tower Green.
Mary who we discussed before then took the throne with a swift return to Roman religion and mores —she only ruled for 5 years but during this time Elizabeth walked a fine line between continuing her life or leaving her blood on the green. In fact at one time she was taken to the tower through Traitor’s Gate (very few persons ever entered this way and were ever seen without its’ confine again with their head attached). But somehow she managed to survive Mary and mount the throne a return to the Church of England status and all.
So she was finally queen, a young woman who might well have been killed by her sister for her religion, her right to the throne and all manner of things. Her mother executed through her father’s manipulations if not directly by his hand and her status coming and going while she hit away in country estates for years. There is much rumor that her step mother Katherine Parr’s (she lived with Henry’s last wife after his death) husband Thomas Seymoure (Her brother’s uncle) was inappropriate with the young girl and the relationship may have gone much farther). There are also rumors of persons claiming to be her children and years ago I read of a church which legend has it is the final resting place of two of her (presumably still-born) infants.
Scots is directly descended from Northern English, which displaced Scots Gaelic in portions of Scotland in the 11th–14th centuries as a consequence of Anglo-Norman rule there. By the early 14th century, Northern English had become the spoken tongue of many Scottish people east and south of the Highlands (with Scots Gaelic continuing to be used in the southwest). Sometime in the late 15th century, the spoken language became known as “Scottis,” or Scots, a term that was used interchangeably with “Inglis” for some time thereafter.
Scots, wha hae wi Wallace bled,
Scots, wham Bruce has aften led,
Welcome to your gory bed
Or to victorie!
Scots, wham Bruce has aften led,
Welcome to your gory bed
Or to victorie!
Robert Burns
