UILLEAM UALLAS & THE WAR OF SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE

Today, The Morgans and The Grandma have just arrived to Glasgow, where they have breakfast with some special guests: Sean Connery, Annie Lennox and Amy Macdonald.

This afternoon, the family is meeting Uilleam Uallas, an old Grandma's friend, a local hero, who has a very interesting story of bravery and honour to explain.

Sir William Wallace, in Scottish Gaelic Uilleam Uallas, is a Scottish knight who became one of the main leaders during the Wars of Scottish Independence. Along with Andrew Moray, Uallas defeated an English army at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in September 1297. He was appointed Guardian of Scotland and served until his defeat at the Battle of Falkirk in July 1298. In August 1305, Uallas was captured in Robroyston, near Glasgow, and handed over to King Edward I of England, who had him hanged, drawn, and quartered for high treason and crimes against English civilians.

 More information: BBC Scotland

Since his death, Uallas has obtained an iconic status far beyond his homeland. He is the protagonist of Blind Harry's 15th-century epic poem The Wallace and the subject of literary works by Sir Walter Scott and Jane Porter, and of the Academy Award-winning film Braveheart.

Uilleam Uallas was a member of the lesser nobility, but little is definitely known of his family history or even his parentage. When Uallas was growing up, King Alexander III ruled Scotland. His reign had seen a period of peace and economic stability. On 19 March 1286, however, Alexander died after falling from his horse.

The heir to the throne was Alexander's granddaughter, Margaret, Maid of Norway. As she was still a child and in Norway, the Scottish lords set up a government of guardians. Margaret fell ill on the voyage to Scotland and died in Orkney on 26 September 1290. The lack of a clear heir led to a period known as the Great Cause, with several families laying claim to the throne.

With Scotland threatening to descend into civil war, King Edward I of England was invited in by the Scottish nobility to arbitrate. Before the process could begin, he insisted that all of the contenders recognize him as Lord Paramount of Scotland. In early November 1292, at a great feudal court held in the castle at Berwick-upon-Tweed, judgment was given in favour of John Balliol having the strongest claim in law.

Edward proceeded to reverse the rulings of the Scottish Lords and even summoned King John Balliol to stand before the English court as a common plaintiff. John was a weak king, known as Toom Tabard or Empty Coat. John renounced his homage in March 1296 and by the end of the month Edward stormed Berwick-upon-Tweed, sacking the then-Scottish border town. In April, the Scots were defeated at the Battle of Dunbar in East Lothian and by July, Edward had forced John to abdicate. Edward then instructed his officers to receive formal homage from some 1,800 Scottish nobles, many of the rest being prisoners of war at that time.

On 11 September 1297, an army jointly led by Uallas and Andrew Moray won the Battle of Stirling Bridge. Although vastly outnumbered, the Scottish army routed the English army. John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey's feudal army of 3,000 cavalry and 8,000 to 10,000 infantry met disaster as they crossed over to the north side of the river. 

In April 1298, Edward ordered a second invasion of Scotland. Two days prior to the battle 25,781 foot soldiers were paid. More than half of them would have been Welsh. There are no clear cut sources for the presence of cavalry, but it is safe to assume that Edward had roughly 1500 horse under his command. They plundered Lothian and regained some castles, but failed to bring Uilleam Uallas to combat; the Scots shadowed the English army, intending to avoid battle until shortages of supplies and money forced Edward to withdraw, at which point the Scots would harass his retreat. 

More information: History Cooperative

The English quartermasters' failure to prepare for the expedition left morale and food supplies low, and a resulting riot within Edward's own army had to be put down by his cavalry. In July, while planning a return to Edinburgh for supplies, Edward received intelligence that the Scots were encamped nearby at Falkirk, and he moved quickly to engage them in the pitched battle he had long hoped for.

By September 1298, Wallace resigned as Guardian of Scotland in favour of Robert the Bruce, Earl of Carrick and future king, and John III Comyn, Lord of Badenoch, King John Balliol's nephew.

Uallas evaded capture by the English until 5 August 1305 when John de Menteith, a Scottish knight loyal to Edward, turned Uallas over to English soldiers at Robroyston near Glasgow. The site is commemorated by a small monument in the form of a Celtic cross. Letters of safe conduct from Haakon V of Norway, Philip IV of France, and John Balliol, along with other documents, were found in Wallace's possession and delivered to Edward by John de Segrave.

Uallaswas transported to London, lodged in the house of William de Leyrer, then taken to Westminster Hall, where he was tried for treason and for atrocities against civilians in war, sparing neither age nor sex, monk nor nun. He was crowned with a garland of oak to suggest he was the king of outlaws. He responded to the treason charge, I could not be a traitor to Edward, for I was never his subject.

More information: Scottish History

I'm Uilleam Uallas, 

and the rest of you will be spared. 
Go back to England and tell them... 
Scotland is free!

Uilleam Uallas

UILEBHEIST LOCH NIS, SCOTTISH FOLKLORE & LEGENDS

Today, The Windsors & The Grandma have visited Loch Ness to spend a good time with Nessie, an old friend, that has become a great legend.

 

Before visiting Nessie, the family has studied some English grammar with Countable & Uncountable, and they have written a recipe about a Blue Soup to invite Osama and Bridget to eat it.

 

More info: Countable & Uncountable

The Loch Ness Monster, in Scottish Gaelic Uilebheist Loch Nis, affectionately known as Nessie, is a mythical creature in Scottish folklore that is said to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is often described as large, long-necked, and with one or more humps protruding from the water. Popular interest and belief in the creature has varied since it was brought to worldwide attention in 1933. Evidence of its existence is anecdotal with a number of disputed photographs and sonar readings.

The scientific community explains alleged sightings of the Loch Ness Monster as hoaxes, wishful thinking, and the misidentification of mundane objects. The pseudoscience and subculture of cryptozoology has placed particular emphasis on the creature.

In August 1933, the Courier published the account of George Spicer's alleged sighting. Public interest skyrocketed, with countless letters being sent in detailing different sightings describing a monster fish, sea serpent, or dragon, with the final name ultimately settling on Loch Ness monster. Since the 1940s, the creature has been affectionately called Nessie, in Scottish Gaelic Niseag.

A number of explanations have been suggested to account for sightings of the creature. According to Ronald Binns, a former member of the Loch Ness Phenomena Investigation Bureau, there is probably no single explanation of the monster. Binns wrote two sceptical books, the 1983 The Loch Ness Mystery Solved, and his 2017 The Loch Ness Mystery Reloaded. In these he contends that an aspect of human psychology is the ability of the eye to see what it wants, and expects, to see.

They may be categorised as misidentifications of known animals, misidentifications of inanimate objects or effects, reinterpretations of Scottish folklore, hoaxes, and exotic species of large animals. A reviewer wrote that Binns had evolved into the author of the definitive, skeptical book on the subject. Binns does not call the sightings a hoax, but a myth in the true sense of the term and states that the monster is a sociological phenomenon. After 1983 the search (for the) possibility that there just might be continues to enthrall a small number for whom eye-witness evidence outweighs all other considerations".

In 1980 Swedish naturalist and author Bengt Sjögren wrote that present beliefs in lake monsters such as the Loch Ness Monster are associated with kelpie legends. According to Sjögren, accounts of loch monsters have changed over time; originally describing horse-like creatures, they were intended to keep children away from the loch. Sjögren wrote that the kelpie legends have developed into descriptions reflecting a modern awareness of plesiosaurs.

The kelpie as a water horse in Loch Ness was mentioned in an 1879 Scottish newspaper, and inspired Tim Dinsdale's Project Water Horse. A study of pre-1933 Highland folklore references to kelpies, water horses and water bulls indicated that Ness was the loch most frequently cited.

More information: The Loch Ness Centre

 Whatever is the truth, 

there is no denying that Nessie
will continue to intrigue 

the world for years to come.

Jonathan Bright

ROBERT L. STEVENSON, PSYCHOLOGICAL & GOTHIC NOVEL

Today, The Grandma is at her hotel reading one of her favourite writers, Robert Louis Stevenson, who wrote some masterpieces like Kidnapped, Treasure Island or Dr Jekill and Mr Hide. The Grandma loves his works because he's a great exponent of psychological and gothic novel, a kind of narrative who she appreciates a lot.

Robert Louis Stevenson (13 November 1850-3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, musician and travel writer.

He was a literary celebrity during his lifetime, and now ranks as the 26th most translated author in the world. His works have been admired by many other writers, including Jorge Luis Borges, Bertolt Brecht, Marcel Proust, Arthur Conan Doyle, Henry James, Cesare Pavese, Emilio Salgari, Ernest Hemingway, Rudyard Kipling, Jack London, Vladimir Nabokov, J. M. Barrie, and G. K. Chesterton, who said that Stevenson seemed to pick the right word up on the point of his pen, like a man playing spillikins.

Stevenson was born at 8 Howard Place, Edinburgh, Scotland on 13 November 1850 to Thomas Stevenson, a leading lighthouse engineer, and his wife Margaret Isabella. He was christened Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson. At about age 18, he changed the spelling of Lewis to Louis, and he dropped Balfour in 1873.

In September 1857, Stevenson went to Mr Henderson's School in India Street, Edinburgh, but because of poor health stayed only a few weeks and did not return until October 1859. During his many absences he was taught by private tutors. 

In October 1861, he went to Edinburgh Academy, an independent school for boys, and stayed there sporadically for about fifteen months. In the autumn of 1863, he spent one term at an English boarding school at Spring Grove in Isleworth in Middlesex, now an urban area of West London. 

In October 1864, following an improvement to his health, he was sent to Robert Thomson's private school in Frederick Street, Edinburgh, where he remained until he went to university. 

In November 1867, Stevenson entered the University of Edinburgh to study engineering. He showed from the start no enthusiasm for his studies and devoted much energy to avoiding lectures.

More information: Robert Louis Stevenson

Stevenson was soon active in London literary life, becoming acquainted with many of the writers of the time, including Andrew Lang, Edmund Gosse, and Leslie Stephen, the editor of the Cornhill Magazine who took an interest in Stevenson's work. Stephen took Stevenson to visit a patient at the Edinburgh Infirmary named William Ernest Henley, an energetic and talkative man with a wooden leg. Henley became a close friend and occasional literary collaborator, until a quarrel broke up the friendship in 1888, and he is often considered to be the model for Long John Silver in Treasure Island.

Stevenson searched in vain between 1880 and 1887 for a residence suitable to his health. He spent his summers at various places in Scotland and England, including Westbourne, Dorset, a residential area in Bournemouth. It was during his time in Bournemouth that he wrote the story Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, naming the character Mr. Poole after the town of Poole which is situated next to Bournemouth. 

In Westbourne, he named his house Skerryvore after the tallest lighthouse in Scotland, which his uncle Alan had built (1838–44). In the wintertime, Stevenson travelled to France and lived at Davos Platz and the Chalet de Solitude at Hyères, where he was very happy for a time.

In spite of his ill health, he produced the bulk of his best-known work during these years. Treasure Island was published under the pseudonym Captain George North and became his first widely popular book; he wrote it during this time, along with Kidnapped, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, which established his wider reputation, The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses, A Child's Garden of Verses, and Underwoods. He gave a copy of Kidnapped to his friend and frequent Skerryvore visitor Henry James.

Stevenson believed in Conservatism for most of his life. His cousin and biographer Sir Graham Balfour said that he probably throughout life would, if compelled to vote, have always supported the Conservative candidate. During his college years, he briefly identified himself as a red-hot socialist. He wrote at age 26: I look back to the time when I was a Socialist with something like regret… Now I know that in thus turning Conservative with years, I am going through the normal cycle of change and travelling in the common orbit of men's opinions.

 Download Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson

In 1890, Stevenson purchased a tract of about 1.6 km² in Upolu, an island in Samoa where he established himself on his estate in the village of Vailima after two aborted attempts to visit Scotland. He took the native name Tusitala, Samoan for Teller of Tales. 

His influence spread among the Samoans, who consulted him for advice, and he soon became involved in local politics. He was convinced that the European officials who had been appointed to rule the Samoans were incompetent, and he published A Footnote to History after many futile attempts to resolve the matter. This was such a stinging protest against existing conditions that it resulted in the recall of two officials, and Stevenson feared for a time that it would result in his own deportation. He wrote to Colvin, I used to think meanly of the plumber; but how he shines beside the politician!

 

Download Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

He also found time to work at his writing, although he felt that there was never any man had so many irons in the fire. He wrote The Beach of Falesa, Catriona, titled David Balfour in the US, The Ebb-Tide, and the Vailima Letters during this period.

On 3 December 1894, Stevenson was talking to his wife and straining to open a bottle of wine when he suddenly exclaimed, What's that?, asked his wife does my face look strange?, and collapsed. He died within a few hours, probably of a cerebral haemorrhage. He was 44 years old.

The Samoans insisted on surrounding his body with a watch-guard during the night and on bearing him on their shoulders to nearby Mount Vaea, where they buried him on a spot overlooking the sea on land donated by British Acting Vice Consul Thomas Trood.

Download Strange Case of Dr Jekill and Mr Hide

 

 

The difficulty of literature is not to write, 

but to write what you mean; 

not to affect your reader, 

but to affect him precisely as you wish. 

Robert Louis Stevenson

WALES VS ENGLAND, THE SIX NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP

After reading the complete Arthurian saga, The Grandma wants to visit Wales, where all the Arthurian legend began.

She has decided to visit Cardiff, the capital of Wales to assist to The Six Nations Championship in Stadiwm y Mileniwm.

Wales vs England is one of the best rugby matches that you can enjoy nowadays.

The Six Nations Championship (known as the Six Nations, branded as Guinness M6N) is an annual international rugby union competition between the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. 

It is the oldest sports tournament contested by the Home Nations. The championship holders are Ireland, who won the 2024 tournament.

The tournament is organised by the unions of the six participating nations under the banner of Six Nations Rugby, which is responsible for the promotion and operation of the men's, women's and under-20s tournaments, and the Autumn International Series, as well as the negotiation and management of their centralised commercial rights.

The Six Nations is the successor to the Home Nations Championship (1883-1909 and 1932-39), played between teams from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, which was the first international rugby union tournament. With the addition of France, this became the Five Nations Championship (1910-31 and 1947-99), which in turn became the Six Nations Championship with the addition of Italy in 2000.

England and Wales have won the championship the most times, both with 39 titles, but England have won the most outright titles with 29 (28 for Wales). Since the Six Nations era started in 2000, only Italy and Scotland have failed to win the Six Nations title.

The women's tournament started as the Women's Home Nations in the 1996 season. The men's Six Nations Under 20s Championship is the successor to the Under 21s tournament which began in 2004.

The tournament was first played in 1883 as the Home Nations Championship among the then four Home Nations of the United Kingdom -England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. However, England was excluded from the 1888 and 1889 tournaments due to their refusal to join the International Rugby Football Board. The tournament then became the Five Nations Championship in 1910 with the addition of France. The tournament was expanded in 2000 to become the Six Nations Championship with the addition of Italy.

Following the relative success of the Tier 2 nations in the 2015 Rugby World Cup, there were calls by Octavian Morariu, the president of Rugby Europe, to let Georgia and Romania join the Six Nations due to their consistent success in the European Nations Cup and ability to compete in the Rugby World Cup.

The tournament begins on the first weekend in February and culminates on the second or third Saturday in March. Each team plays every other team once (a total of 15 matches), with home ground advantage alternating from one year to the next. Before the 2017 tournament, two points were awarded for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss. Unlike many other rugby union competitions, a bonus point system had not previously been used.

A bonus point system was first used in the 2017 Championship. The system is similar to the one used in most rugby championships (0 points for a loss, 2 for a draw, 4 for a win, 1 for scoring four or more tries in a match, and 1 for losing by 7 points or fewer). The only difference is that a team that wins all their games (a Grand Slam) are automatically awarded 3 extra points -to ensure they cannot be overtaken by a defeated team on bonus points.

Before 1994, teams equal on match points shared the championship. Since then, ties have been broken by considering the points difference (total points scored minus total points conceded) of the teams. The rules of the championship further provide that if teams tie on both match points and points difference, the team that scored the most tries wins the championship. Were this decider to be a tie, the tying teams would share the championship. To date, however, match points and points difference have been sufficient to decide the championship.

The Wooden Spoon is a metaphorical award given to the team that finishes in last place; a team which loses all their matches is said to have been whitewashed. Since the inaugural Six Nations tournament in 2000, only England and Ireland have avoided finishing last. Italy have finished last 18 times in the Six Nations era, and have lost all their matches in 12 tournaments.

More information: Six Nations Rugby

Rugby is a game that's constant.
If you are not growing with it, you get left behind.

Owen Farrell

UILEBHEIST LOCH NIS, SCOTTISH FOLKLORE & LEGENDS

Today, The Grandma has visited Loch Ness to spend a good time with Nessie, an old friend, that has become a great legend.

The Loch Ness Monster, in Scottish Gaelic Uilebheist Loch Nis, affectionately known as Nessie, is a mythical creature in Scottish folklore that is said to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is often described as large, long-necked, and with one or more humps protruding from the water. Popular interest and belief in the creature has varied since it was brought to worldwide attention in 1933. Evidence of its existence is anecdotal with a number of disputed photographs and sonar readings.

The scientific community explains alleged sightings of the Loch Ness Monster as hoaxes, wishful thinking, and the misidentification of mundane objects. The pseudoscience and subculture of cryptozoology has placed particular emphasis on the creature.

In August 1933, the Courier published the account of George Spicer's alleged sighting. Public interest skyrocketed, with countless letters being sent in detailing different sightings describing a monster fish, sea serpent, or dragon, with the final name ultimately settling on Loch Ness monster. Since the 1940s, the creature has been affectionately called Nessie, in Scottish Gaelic Niseag.

A number of explanations have been suggested to account for sightings of the creature. According to Ronald Binns, a former member of the Loch Ness Phenomena Investigation Bureau, there is probably no single explanation of the monster. Binns wrote two sceptical books, the 1983 The Loch Ness Mystery Solved, and his 2017 The Loch Ness Mystery Reloaded. In these he contends that an aspect of human psychology is the ability of the eye to see what it wants, and expects, to see.

They may be categorised as misidentifications of known animals, misidentifications of inanimate objects or effects, reinterpretations of Scottish folklore, hoaxes, and exotic species of large animals. A reviewer wrote that Binns had evolved into the author of the definitive, skeptical book on the subject. Binns does not call the sightings a hoax, but a myth in the true sense of the term and states that the monster is a sociological phenomenon. After 1983 the search (for the) possibility that there just might be continues to enthrall a small number for whom eye-witness evidence outweighs all other considerations".

In 1980 Swedish naturalist and author Bengt Sjögren wrote that present beliefs in lake monsters such as the Loch Ness Monster are associated with kelpie legends. According to Sjögren, accounts of loch monsters have changed over time; originally describing horse-like creatures, they were intended to keep children away from the loch. Sjögren wrote that the kelpie legends have developed into descriptions reflecting a modern awareness of plesiosaurs.

The kelpie as a water horse in Loch Ness was mentioned in an 1879 Scottish newspaper, and inspired Tim Dinsdale's Project Water Horse. A study of pre-1933 Highland folklore references to kelpies, water horses and water bulls indicated that Ness was the loch most frequently cited.

More information: The Loch Ness Centre

 Whatever is the truth, 

there is no denying that Nessie
will continue to intrigue 

the world for years to come.

Jonathan Bright

A' GHÀIDHEALTACHD OR HIELANDS, PLACE OF THE GAELS

The Grandma continues enjoying her weekend in Scotland. She has visited the Highlands, the northern historical region of Scotland.

The Highlands, in Scots the Hielands, in Scottish Gaelic a' Ghàidhealtachd, the place of the Gaels is a historical region of Scotland. 

Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands. The term is also used for the area north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, although the exact boundaries are not clearly defined, particularly to the east.

The Great Glen divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands. The Scottish Gaelic name of A' Ghàidhealtachd literally means the place of the Gaels and traditionally, from a Gaelic-speaking point of view, includes both the Western Isles and the Highlands.

The area is very sparsely populated, with many mountain ranges dominating the region, and includes the highest mountain in the British Isles, Ben Nevis. During the 18th and early 19th centuries the population of the Highlands rose to around 300,000, but from c. 1841 and for the next 160 years, the natural increase in population was exceeded by emigration (mostly to Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and migration to the industrial cities of Scotland and England.)

The area is now one of the most sparsely populated in Europe. At 9.1/km2 in 2012, the population density in the Highlands and Islands is less than one seventh of Scotland's as a whole.

The Highlands lie to the north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which runs from Arran to Stonehaven. This part of Scotland is largely composed of ancient rocks from the Cambrian and Precambrian periods which were uplifted during the later Caledonian Orogeny. Smaller formations of Lewisian gneiss in the northwest are up to 3 billion years old. The overlying rocks of the Torridon Sandstone form mountains in the Torridon Hills such as Liathach and Beinn Eighe in Wester Ross.

More information: Scotland

The Highland Council is the administrative body for much of the Highlands, with its administrative centre at Inverness. However, the Highlands also includes parts of the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Moray, North Ayrshire, Perth and Kinross, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire.

The Scottish Highlands is the only area in the British Isles to have the taiga biome as it features concentrated populations of Scots pine forest: see Caledonian Forest. It is the most mountainous part of the United Kingdom.

Between the 15th century and the mid-20th century, the area differed from most of the Lowlands in terms of language. In Scottish Gaelic, the region is known as the Gàidhealtachd, because it was traditionally the Gaelic-speaking part of Scotland, although the language is now largely confined to The Hebrides. The terms are sometimes used interchangeably but have different meanings in their respective languages.

Scottish English (in its Highland form) is the predominant language of the area today, though Highland English has been influenced by Gaelic speech to a significant extent.

Historically, the Highland line distinguished the two Scottish cultures. While the Highland line broadly followed the geography of the Grampians in the south, it continued in the north, cutting off the north-eastern areas, that is Eastern Caithness, Orkney and Shetland, from the more Gaelic Highlands and Hebrides.

Today, the Highlands are the largest of Scotland's whisky producing regions; the relevant area runs from Orkney to the Isle of Arran in the south and includes the northern isles and much of Inner and Outer Hebrides, Argyll, Stirlingshire, Arran, as well as sections of Perthshire and Aberdeenshire. Other sources treat The Islands, except Islay, as a separate whisky producing region.

This massive area has over 30 distilleries, or 47 when the Islands sub-region is included in the count. According to one source, the top five are The Macallan, Glenfiddich, Aberlour, Glenfarclas and Balvenie. While Speyside is geographically within the Highlands, that region is specified as distinct in terms of whisky productions. Speyside single malt whiskies are produced by about 50 distilleries.

More information: Highland Titles

 There are few places in my life
that I've found more ruggedly beautiful
than the Highlands of Scotland.
The place is magical -it's so far north, so remote,
that sometimes it feels like you've left this world
and gone to another.

Julia London

MINERVA MCGONAGALL, REAL PRAGMATISM IN MAGIC

Today, the Weasleys and The Grandma have met Minerva McGonagall, one of the most popular and beloved teachers of Hogwarts.

Before this meeting, the family has studied Second Conditional, Some/Any/No Compounds and Since/For.

More info: Some/Any/No

More information: Since/For

Minerva McGonagall was the first child, and only daughter, of a Scottish Presbyterian minister and a Hogwarts-educated witch. She grew up in the Highlands of Scotland in the early twentieth century, and only gradually became aware that there was something strange, both about her own abilities, and her parents’ marriage.

Minerva’s father, the Reverend Robert McGonagall, had become captivated by the high-spirited Isobel Ross, who lived in the same village. Like his neighbours, Robert believed that Isobel attended a select ladies' boarding school in England. In fact, when Isobel vanished from her home for months at a time, it was to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry that she went.

Aware that her parent, a witch and wizard, would frown on a connection with the serious young Muggle, Isobel kept their burgeoning relationship a secret. By the time she was eighteen, she had fallen in love with Robert. Unfortunately, she had not found the courage to tell him what she was.

More information: Harry Potter Wikia

The couple eloped, to the fury of both sets of parents. Now estranged from her family, Isobel could not bring herself to mar the bliss of the honeymoon by telling her smitten new husband that she had graduated top of her class in Charms at Hogwarts, nor that she had been Captain of the school Quidditch team. Isobel and Robert moved into a manse, minister’s house, on the outskirts of Caithness, where the beautiful Isobel proved surprisingly adept at making the most of the minister’s tiny salary.

The birth of the young couple's first child, Minerva, proved both a joy and a crisis. Missing her family, and the magical community she had given up for love, Isobel insisted on naming her newborn daughter after her own grandmother, an immensely talented witch.

The outlandish name raised eyebrows in the community in which she lived, and the Reverend Robert McGonagall found it difficult to explain his wife’s choice to his parishioners. Furthermore, he was alarmed by his wife’s moodiness. Friends assured him that women were often emotional after the birth of a baby, and that Isobel would soon be herself again.

Isobel, however, became more and more withdrawn, often secluding herself with Minerva for days at a time. Isobel later told her daughter that she had displayed small, but unmistakable, signs of magic from her earliest hours. Toys that had been left on upper shelves were found in her cot. The family cat appeared to do her bidding before she could talk. Her father’s bagpipes were occasionally heard to play themselves from distant rooms, a phenomenon that made the infant Minerva chuckle.

More information: Pottermore (I)

Isobel was torn between pride and fear. She knew that she must confess the truth to Robert before he witnessed something that would alarm him. At last, in response to Robert’s patient questioning, Isobel burst into tears, retrieved her wand from the locked box under her bed and showed him what she was.

Although Minerva was too young to remember that night, its aftermath left her with a bitter understanding of the complications of growing up with magic in a Muggle world. Although Robert McGonagall loved his wife no less upon discovering that she was a witch, he was profoundly shocked by her revelation, and by the fact that she had kept such a secret from him for so long.

What was more, he, who prided himself on being an upright and honest man, was now drawn into a life of secrecy that was quite foreign to his nature. Isobel explained, through her sobs, that she (and their daughter) were bound by the International Statute of Secrecy, and that they must conceal the truth about themselves, or face the fury of the Ministry of Magic. Robert also quailed at the thought of how the locals, in the main, an austere, straight-laced and conventional breed – would feel about having a witch as their minister’s wife.

More information: Pottermore (II)

Love endured, but trust had been broken between her parents, and Minerva, a clever and observant child, saw this with sadness. Two more children, both sons, were born to the McGonagalls, and both, in due course, revealed magical ability. Minerva helped her mother explain to Malcolm and Robert Junior that they must not flaunt their magic, and aided her mother in concealing from their father the accidents and embarrassments their magic sometimes caused.

Minerva was very close to her Muggle father, whom in temperament she resembled more than her mother. She saw with pain how much he struggled with the family’s strange situation.

She sensed, too, how much of a strain it was for her mother to fit in with the all-Muggle village, and how much she missed the freedom of being with her kind, and of exercising her considerable talents. Minerva never forgot how much her mother cried, when the letter of admittance into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry arrived on Minerva's eleventh birthday; she knew that Isobel was sobbing, not only out of pride, but also out of envy.

As is often the case where the young witch or wizard comes from a family who has struggled with its magical identity, Hogwarts was, for Minerva McGonagall, a place of joyful release and freedom.

Minerva drew unusual attention to herself on her very first evening, when she was revealed to be a Hatstall. After five and a half minutes, the Sorting Hat, which had been vacillating between the houses of Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, placed Minerva in the latter. In later years, this circumstance was a subject of gentle humour between Minerva and her colleague Filius Flitwick, over whom the Sorting Hat suffered the same confusion, but reached the opposite conclusion. The two Heads of house were amused to think that they might, but for those crucial moments in their youths, have exchanged positions.

Minerva was quickly recognised as the most outstanding student of her year, with a particular talent for Transfiguration. As she progressed through the school, she demonstrated that she had inherited both her mother’s talents and her father’s cast-iron moral sense. Minerva's school career overlapped by two years with that of Pomona Sprout, later Head of Hufflepuff House, and the two women enjoyed an excellent relationship both then, and in later years.

By the end of her education at Hogwarts, Minerva McGonagall had achieved an impressive record: top grades in O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s, Prefect, Head Girl, and winner of the Transfiguration Today Most Promising Newcomer award. Under the guidance of her inspirational Transfiguration teacher, Albus Dumbledore, she had managed to become an Animagus; her animal form, with its distinctive markings -tabby cat, square spectacles markings around eyes- were duly logged in the Ministry of Magic’s Animagus Registry. 

More information: Chronicle

Minerva was also, like her mother, a gifted Quidditch player, although a nasty fall in her final year -a foul during the Gryffindor versus Slytherin game which would decide the Cup winner- left her with concussion, several broken ribs and a lifelong desire to see Slytherin crushed on the Quidditch pitch. Though she gave up Quidditch on leaving Hogwarts, the innately competitive Professor McGonagall later took a keen interest in the fortunes of her house team, and retained a keen eye for Quidditch talent.

Upon graduation from Hogwarts, Minerva returned to the manse to enjoy one last summer with her family before setting out for London, where she had been offered a position at the Ministry of Magic -Department of Magical Law Enforcement-. These months were to prove some of the most difficult of Minerva's life, for it was then, aged only eighteen, that she proved herself truly her mother's daughter, by falling head-over-heels in love with a Muggle boy.

It was the first and only time in Minerva McGonagall’s life that she might have been said to lose her head. Dougal McGregor was the handsome, clever and funny son of a local farmer. Though less beautiful than Isobel, Minerva was clever and witty. Dougal and Minerva shared a sense of humour, argued fiercely, and suspected mysterious depths in each other. Before either of them knew it, Dougal was on one knee in a ploughed field, proposing, and Minerva was accepting him.

More information: Vancouver Sun

She went home, intending to tell her parents of her engagement, yet found herself unable to do so. All that night she lay awake, thinking about her future. Dougal did not know what she, Minerva, truly was, any more than her father had known the truth about Isobel before they had married. Minerva had witnessed at close quarters the kind of marriage she might have if she wed Dougal. It would be the end of all her ambitions; it would mean a wand locked away, and children taught to lie, perhaps even to their own father. She did not fool herself that Dougal McGregor would accompany her to London, while she went to work every day at the Ministry. He was looking forward to inheriting his father’s farm.

Early next morning, Minerva slipped from her parents’ house and went to tell Dougal that she had changed her mind, and could not marry him. Mindful of the fact that if she broke the International Statute of Secrecy she would lose the job at the Ministry for which she was giving him up, she could give him no good reason for her change of heart. She left him devastated, and set out for London three days later.

Though undoubtedly her feelings for the Ministry of Magic were coloured by the fact that she had recently suffered an emotional crisis, Minerva McGonagall did not much enjoy her new home and workplace. Some of her co-workers had an engrained anti-Muggle bias which, given her adoration of her Muggle father, and her continuing love for Dougal McGregor, she deplored. Though a most efficient and gifted employee, and fond of her much older boss, Elphinstone Urquart, Minerva was unhappy in London, and found that she missed Scotland. Finally, after two years at the Ministry, she was offered a prestigious promotion, yet found herself turning it down. She sent an owl to Hogwarts, asking whether she might be considered for a teaching post. The owl returned within hours, offering her a job in the Transfiguration department, under Head of Department, Albus Dumbledore.

More information: Wizards and Whatnot

The school greeted Minerva McGonagall's return with delight. Minerva threw herself into her work, proving herself a strict but inspirational teacher. If she kept letters from Dougal McGregor locked in a box under her bed, this was, she told herself firmly, better than keeping her wand locked there. Nevertheless, it was a shock to learn from the oblivious Isobel, in the middle of a chatty letter of local news, that Dougal had married the daughter of another farmer.

Dumbledore discovered Minerva in tears in her classroom late that evening, and she confessed the whole story to him. Albus Dumbledore offered both comfort and wisdom, and told Minerva some of his own family history, previously unknown to her. The confidences exchanged that night between two intensely private and reserved characters were to form the basis of a lasting mutual esteem and friendship.

Through all her early years at Hogwarts, Minerva McGonagall remained on terms of friendship with her old boss at the Ministry, Elphinstone Urquart. He came to visit her while on holiday to Scotland, and to her great surprise and embarrassment, proposed marriage in Madam Puddifoot’s teashop. Still in love with Dougal McGregor, Minerva turned him down.

More information: Pinterest

Elphinstone, however, had never ceased to love her, nor to propose every now and then, even though she continued to refuse him. The death of Dougal McGregor, however, although traumatic, seemed to free Minerva. Shortly after Voldemort's first defeat, Elphinstone, now white-haired, proposed again during a summertime stroll around the lake in the Hogwarts grounds. This time Minerva accepted. Elphinstone, now retired, was beside himself with joy, and purchased a small cottage in Hogsmeade for the pair of them, whence Minerva could travel easily to work every day.

Known to successive generations of students as ‘Professor McGonagall’, Minerva –always something of a feminist– announced that she would be keeping her own name upon marriage. Traditionalists sniffed –why was Minerva refusing to accept a pure-blood name, and keeping that of her Muggle father?

The marriage, cut tragically short, though it was destined to be, was a very happy one. Though they had no children of their own, Minerva's nieces and nephews, children of her brothers Malcolm and Robert, were frequent visitors to their home. This was a period of great fulfillment for Minerva.

The accidental death of Elphinstone from a Venomous Tentacula bite, three years into their marriage, was an enormous sorrow to all who knew the couple. Minerva could not bear to remain alone in their cottage, but packed her things after Elphinstone's funeral and returned to her sparse stone-floored bedroom in Hogwarts Castle, accessible through a concealed door in the wall of her first-floor study. Always a very brave and private person, she poured all her energies into her work, and few people –excepting perhaps Albus Dumbledore– ever realised how much she suffered.

More information: SciFi Stack Exchange

 

I've always wanted to use that spell...

Minerva McGonagall

JOHN COR, THE FIRST KNOWN BATCH OF SCOTCH WHISKY

Today, The Grandma has been reading about the origins of one of her favourite drinks, Scotch Whisky and about the figure of John Cor, the  first monk who is the first known written reference to a batch of Scotch Whisky on a day like today in 1494.

John Cor is the name of the monk referred to in the first known written reference to a batch of Scotch Whisky on 1 June 1494.

The Latin entry in the Exchequer Rolls can be translated as: To Brother John Cor, by order of the King, to make aqua vitae VIII bolls of malt.

Brother John Cor (Johanni Cor/John Kawe) was a Tironensian monk based at Lindores Abbey in Fife. He was a servant at the court of James IV. The King gave him a gift of 14 shillings on Christmas Day in 1488, and at Christmastime in 1494, Cor was given black cloth from Lille in Flanders for his livery clothes as a clerk in royal service. He was probably an apothecary.

Scotch whisky (Scottish Gaelic: uisge-beatha; Scots: Scots whisky/whiskie, whusk(e)y;often simply called whisky or Scotch) is malt whisky or grain whisky (or a blend of the two), made in Scotland.

All Scotch whisky was originally made from malted barley. Commercial distilleries began introducing whisky made from wheat and rye in the late 18th century. As of 2018, there were 133 Scotch whisky distilleries operating in Scotland.

More information: The Scotch Whisky Experience

All Scotch whisky must be aged in oak barrels for at least three years. Any age statement on a bottle of Scotch whisky, expressed in numerical form, must reflect the age of the youngest whisky used to produce that product. A whisky with an age statement is known as guaranteed-age whisky. A whisky without an age statement is known as a no age statement (NAS) whisky, the only guarantee being that all whisky contained in that bottle is at least three years old.

The minimum bottling strength according to the regulation is 40% alcohol by volume.

Scotch whisky is divided into five distinct categories: single malt Scotch whisky, single grain Scotch whisky, blended malt Scotch whisky (formerly called vatted malt or pure malt), blended grain Scotch whisky, and blended Scotch whisky.

The first known written mention of Scotch whisky is in the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland of 1494.

Many Scotch whisky drinkers refer to a unit of drinking as a dram.

According to the Scotch Whisky Association, the word whisky comes from the Gaelic uisge beatha or usquebaugh, which means water of life.

The earliest record of distillation in Scotland is in the Exchequer Rolls for 1494.

The Exchequer Rolls were records of royal income and expenditure and the quote records eight bolls of malt given to Friar John Cor to make aqua vitae over the previous year.

More information: Inside the Cask

Aqua vitae is Latin for water of life and was the general term for distilled spirits. This would be enough for 1,500 bottles, which suggests that distillation was well-established by the late 15th century. However, it's probable that whisky was introduced to Scotland from Ireland as evidence of Irish whiskey dating back to 1405, which is nearly 100 years before it shows up in any Scottish context. Considering the abundance of Scottish records during the 15th century and the lack of mention of whisky, it therefore stands to reason that it was recently introduced sometime in the mid to late 15th century from Ireland.

Aqua vitae, in the form of wine or spirits, was used when making gunpowder to moisten the slurry of saltpetre, charcoal and sulphur. As a drink, Scotch whisky was a favourite of King James IV of Scotland.

Whisky production was first taxed in 1644, causing a rise in illicit whisky distilling in the country. Between the 1760s and the 1830s a substantial unlicensed trade originated from the Highlands, forming a significant part of the region's export economy.

In 1782, more than 1,000 illegal stills were seized in the Highlands: these can only have been a fraction of those in operation. The Lowland distillers, who had no opportunity to avoid taxation, complained that untaxed Highland whisky made up more than half the market.

The heavy taxation during the Napoleonic Wars gave the illicit trade a big advantage, but their product was also considered better quality, commanding a higher price in the Lowlands. This was due to the method of taxation: malt was subject to tax at a rate that climbed substantially between the 1790s and 1822. The licensed distillers therefore used more raw grain in an effort to reduce their tax bill.

The Highland magistrates, themselves members of the landowning classes, had a lenient attitude to unlicensed distillers -all of whom would be tenants in the local area. They understood that the trade supported the rents paid. Imprisoned tenants would not be able to pay any rent.

In 1823, Parliament eased restrictions on licensed distilleries with the Excise Act, while at the same time making it harder for the illegal stills to operate. Magistrates found counsel for the Crown appearing in their courts, so forcing the maximum penalties to be applied, with some cases removed to the Court of Exchequer in Edinburgh for tougher sentences.

Highland landowners were now happy to remove tenants who were distillers in clearances on their estates. These changes ushered in the modern era of Scotch production: in 1823 2,232,000 gallons of whisky had duty paid on it; in 1824 this increased to 4,350,000 gallons.

A farmer, George Smith, working under landlord the Duke of Gordon, was the first person in Scotland to take out a licence for a distillery under the new Act, founding the Glenlivet Distillery in 1824, to make single malt Scotch. Some of the distilleries which started legal operations in the next few years included Bowmore, Strathisla, Balblair, and Glenmorangie; all remain in business today.

More information: The Manual

Two events helped to increase whisky's popularity:

First, the introduction in 1831 of the column still. Aeneas Coffey patented a refined version of a design originally created by Robert Stein, based on early innovations by Sir Anthony Perrier, for the new type of still which produced whisky much more efficiently than the traditional pot stills.

The column still allowed for continuous distillation, without the need for cleaning after each batch was made. This process made manufacturing more affordable by performing the equivalent of multiple distillation steps. The new still dramatically increased production; the whisky was less intense and smoother, making it more popular.

Second, there was a shortage of wine, brandy and cognac in France, significant by 1880, due to the phylloxera bug, a parasitic insect, destroying many of the wine vines; that shortage increased the demand for whisky. By the 1890s, almost forty new distilleries had opened in Scotland. The boom years continued until the industry was significantly affected by World War I and, later, by the Great Depression; many of the companies closed and never re-opened.

There are two basic types of Scotch whisky, from which all blends are made:

-Single malt Scotch must have been distilled at a single distillery using a pot still distillation process and made from a mash of malted barley.

-Single grain Scotch whisky is a Scotch whisky distilled at a single distillery but, in addition to water and malted barley, may involve whole grains of other malted or unmalted cereals.

Nearly 90% of the bottles of Scotch sold per year are blended whiskies. Three types of blends are defined for Scotch whisky:

-Blended malt Scotch whisky means a blend of two or more single malt Scotch whiskies from different distilleries.

-Blended grain Scotch whisky means a blend of two or more single grain Scotch whiskies from different distilleries.

-Blended Scotch whisky means a blend of one or more single malt Scotch whiskies with one or more single grain Scotch whiskies.

The Scotch Whisky Association estimated that Scotland's whisky industry supported 40,000 jobs and accounted for £4.37 billion in exports in 2017. Of that total, single malt Scotch accounted for £1.17 billion in exports, a 14% increase over 2016.

More information: Visit Scotland

A glass of whisky in Scotland in the thirties
cost less than a cup of tea.

Catherine Helen Spence