EXCLUDING Gaelic from the history of 1745 (“Protests over lack of Gaelic in exhibition on Jacobite uprisings”,The Herald, 24 June) is nothing new.
John Lorne Campbell, the Gaelic scholar and land campaigner who was the subject of my book The Man Who Gave Away His Island, was railing against it 80 years ago.
In his first book Highland Songs of the Forty-Five published in 1933, he criticised leading historians of the day, including the Historiographer-Royal for Scotland, for ignoring Gaelic sources.
The excuse for this was that there were no surviving written accounts in Gaelic.
As a result the Jacobite Highland army was portrayed as a mindless rabble out only for the plunder they could steal along the way.
The Highlanders may not have been able to read and write, but they composed and sang songs, many of which were transcribed and preserved. John Campbell found 70 from the period in collections of Gaelic poetry and manuscripts in the Bodleian Library in Oxford and the British Museum in London.
These he analysed for political content, reducing them to 32 for publication.
By studying these songs John Campbell sought to prove that the Jacobite army understood the cause it was fighting for, had a sophisticated knowledge of the political issues of the day (such as the Act of Settlement, which prohibited a Catholic from succeeding to the throne) and was less ignorant than was commonly supposed.
Many knew the Bible, some Latin and Greek words and had a considerable knowledge of Gaelic lore.
His work made little impression on the academic establishment, which continued its disdain for Gaelic. Including a copy of John Lorne Campbell’s pioneering book in the exhibition now on at the National Museum of Scotland would at least acknowledge that Gaelic sources exist and can throw a new light on the episode.
Ray Perman,
14 East Claremont Street,
WILSON McLeod and Anja Gunderloch (“Gaels deserve a bigger place in display of Jacobiter risings”, Agenda, The Herald, June 23) make a strong plea for the equal treatment of Gaelic speakers in the exhibition on the Jacobites in National Museum of Scotland.
All that is required in this situation is an additional script to be read alongside the English version.
In contrast to that, we English speakers are subjected to a Gaelic commentary on many Glasgow Warriors rugby games which for some reason usually appears on Alba.
What proportion of Glasgow Warriors supporters actually speak Gaelic?
I suspect this is a pretty small proportion.
Those of us without red-button facilities have to endure the Gaelic commentary but all the interviews have to be in English.
Surely the emphasis should be the other way round as the commentary should be for the majority, not for a tiny minority.
All Gaelic speakers do also speak English so it is quite perverse to have the commentary in Gaelic.
I suspect the only reason the BBC put the rugby on Alba is to try and increase the viewing figures for Alba in an attempt to justify the amount of money spent.
Rob Smith,
2 Windsor Place,
Stirling.
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