I live in Scotland and enjoy wearing a variety of tartan ties with my tweed jacket at work. I had a guy tell me that I couldn’t wear “his” particular clan tartan, which I like because of the heather purple colour. My eyes rolled right to the back of my head - what a numpty!
“Jacobite fever-dreams” - brilliant phrase! 😂😂😂 I can see why they called him ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’ - that is one fancy jumpsuit he’s rocking there. Thank you for another fascinating and informative video. I’d never heard of these guys before. I always thought that most of the now cliched/touristy Scottish things were a product of Queen Victoria’s obsession with all things Scottish (e.g. John Brown 😂), but it appears that the trend began earlier. Just goes to show: you live and learn - IF you watch the right TH-cam channels. 😂😂👍
If you’re looking for one person to pin it on, look no further than Sir Walter Scott - the man who single-handedly reinvented (if not actually invented) a version of Scotland’s history and identity that stuck. The key thing was that it was “Scottland”, not the real Scotland, that influenced not only Victoria but, even more importantly, Hollywood. Scott’s works were still standard high school texts in the USA up till the 1950’s and had sold in their millions - that is what shaped the world’s view of our country. Every craggy castle in a glen, David Niven in a bonnet, misty landscape, blood feud, Bonnie lassies, valiant clans and lost causes all the way through to Braveheart and Outlander - all Hollywood’s reinvention of Scott’s reinvention.
@@davidpaterson2309 Ah yes! Sir Walter has a lot to answer for! It’s funny how these ideas persist. Australia is portrayed as “a land of sunburnt plains” where we all live on vast, isolated cattle stations in ‘the bush’ or within walking distance of a pristine tropical beach! The truth is that 85% of the population lives in perfectly unremarkable cities. Here in southern Tasmania, there’s not a plain in sight and to be honest, there’s more rain than sun. It’s all mountains and forests here and we regularly get snow in winter. 🤣🥶
Thanks for another great story that I had never heard before. I hope some of the weavers got some profit from the brothers. The weavers certainly can thank them for business today. Between the tartans, shortbread, tourism and single malts, it's a nice addition to Scotland's GDP!
Tartan has been around since Pictish times , so not recent , ancient . Different tartans being associated with different clans is more recent but still old
Here in the United States there has been an industry designed to match you with your family’s historical tartan plaid. In a store in St Louis, I gave the store clerk my wife’s mother’s family name, which happens to be Spanish, and we were informed it was a MacDonald of the Isles tartan. A coincidence certainly, since I was told my family’s plaid , for the Dickies, was the same. What’s funny is that my aunt, back in the early 1960s, spent big bucks in the highlands to clothe both her daughters in the same tartan. As well as Christmas gifts for all the family, and a hat for me. And it would seem the whole thing was a farce!
Great story. My mom loved the tartan & passed that on to me. They are allso colorful but I never thought there was such a colorful history to go along with them. Thanks for sharing.
I love all my families' tartans. It's like the unicorn being the national animal, we're a country of dreamers. So naturally having a fancy clan owned tartan, even if the thought isn't very old or tradition, fits well for Scottish pride 🏴
Haha. Yeah. There were a few people at it. The torn tartan in the shot near the end is the oldest found and dates to the 16th century, when it was probably down to individual weavers to come up with sets.
So glad I stumbled across your channel. Not only are you a brilliant storyteller, I have learned a lot and I could happily listen to your voice all day.
I've heard about this before, but couldn't remember the details. Thank you for another wonderful video telling us what's really what. ❤ Btw...the jacobite fever dreams was priceless!!!
Thanks for bursting this bubble -- even tho it hurts. So what if any design did they wear on their kilts before the brothers came along -- or are kilts an invented craze too? ;)
Hello! What a fun video! I want to have my sons create a royal dynasty line for themselves. ;) Tartans can be so controversial. There is a lovely company in America on the East Coast and they weave and sell tartan cloth and kilts. They create new ones. I tried to find our McConkey clan tartan just for fun and could not find squat. There are apparently fifteen ways to spell it or names it is descended from . Be easier just to wear our university colors! :) Blessings!
Haha. I don’t think it’s a Sobieski Stuart tartan but would have been made up by someone in the last 220 years. They’re coming up with new tartans all the time. I’m tempted to design my own 😂
A nod's as good as a wink to a blind bat, eh? We should all be so lucky to have so much creativity that our contemporaries lap it up as gospel! They certainly *were* creative though. 🏴 I have a request for a video on your channel: I believe that we would all be fascinated to hear the story of your own family clan. Parker means "park manager" or "game keeper" does it not? Since many of your fans cross over with the HGP herd (which is how many of us found you, myself among them) I think it would be fun to learn more about your family. Any chances you might consider this? Your humour would pair well with a video on this subject! Respect and love always from Seattle Washington 🇺🇸🙏🏼☮️
Just kinda curious, could you give some numbers how many tartans did they invent and how many of those would subsequently be adopted as kilts of those families?
Thank you for an excellent video. I’m an anthropologist and this just makes me all discombobulated because it makes me question reality. This is often what knowledge does.
@@scotlandunplugged IN that case could you do something on the history of Duntrune castle? :) Its where we're getting married and where my last name, albeit with different spelling than the family that has been residing there for over 200 years, comes from. That said, Im in love with Scotland and was so surreal to visit Argyll where my ancestors came from. Didnt want to leave so badly I cried. Must be something in the blood. Wonder if thats how my forefather felt when leaving to Eastern Canada? Thanks for your videos!
@@shmac96 it’s your own emotions and how you believe you are connected based on what you are told - we are all fantasist - dreamers though nothing wrong with that
I first read about that it in a John Prebble Book on the history of Scotland. Imagine that Native American culture had been all but eradicated and then reconstructed based on Hollywood movies. Or even better, German-Yugoslavian Winnetou films...
Another fascinating story about long ago and far away 😊 I've got a tartan plaid but, according to what dad said before he passed, it's Irish! I like Scotland much better! ❤Thanks ❤❤
Really interesting. I am the Turnbull tartan. My late sister was the Elliot tarten and hubby's, the Bell tarten. Wasn't it the Turnbulls and the Clan Douglas that were always fighting. Lol. 👍👍👍💯
I had heard that tartan was an invention of the Victorians and Victoria had her household at Balmoral kitted out, but even so I think they look wonderful and colourful, even if they are not strictly traditional. But let’s face it, traditions have to start somewhere and various tartans were popular as basic colourful weaves from all around the world, where clothes were made of woollens and different coloured dyes were woven into fabrics. The beauty of this means that anyone can claim their own tartan legitimately and start their own tradition. I have a tartan blanket that came with my second hand Polo, and as a forester feel obliged to wear tartan checked shirts wherever possible, even though I have only one distant Scottish relative👍
Sighing... I had a cousin pass away last summer whoo wanted to be buried in the family tartan.. kilt, tam, socks, the works... If he had only known... 🤣🙃🤪
Thank you for sharing. So, did the Highlanders wear kilts, and if so, was it more personal choice than Clan colors? I would be interested in your thoughts.
Living well on other people's money! Truly the best way to live. Any deposed government will have these characters pop up ... the TRUE heir to __whatever__ who can usually suck enough money from the exiles pining for the good old days to live quite well. Empress Carlota of Mexico grew up in the Spanish court, listening to the exiles pining about the good old days before the Mexican Revolution sent them back to Spain ... she was a major reason Maximilian took the job as emperor.
I was under the impression that the kilt was completely made up as well, and that William Wallace wore the clothing that every other medieval knight wore with no kilts.
He’d probably have worn chain mail, but definitely no kilt. The kilt dates back to around the 16th century and was worn by highlanders. It probably came about because of easier access to wool. Ironically, the thing that killed off a lot of highland culture. There’s a video on the channel from last summer. Will do another soon on the great kilt.
@@scotlandunplugged Hello! Glad to hear that you're looking at doing a video on the great kilt. I've worn one as my clothes for over a year, I've blended in to the Edinburgh landscape, just the "odd man in a blanket". Interested to see what you uncover!
Yes, all tartans were made up at some time by somebody- as is every other human device. It’s when you start peddling your invention as a centuries old tradition that it becomes a fraud. But with cultural symbols, if enough people adopt them, they become true. The clan tartan tradition has been going on now for something like 200 years. That’s not the same as a thousand years, but it’s still multiple generations of people adopting the talismans. I’d call that a tradition.
They do indeed. Tartans were more geographical in the early days, based on whatever the weavers made. The links to clans came much later, when highland culture became romanticised. I did a video on kilts last summer and that goes into the history of the kilt. 🙂 I’ll do one on tartan soon.
I'm of clan Lindsay in the US, I get that the tartans came later in time, but what about the clan mottos and clan badges did they come around the same time as the tartans or earlier?
The wearing of crests dates from around the same time, I believe. But some mottos are earlier. I think there was a Lindsay tartan produced around the end of the 18th century.
@@scotlandunplugged Thank you for your reply , I've just learned that I'm scottish and I'm trying to learn all I can of the Lindsay clan. Although my grandfather spelled it Lindsey. I enjoy your videos keep up the good work.
Can you do a video explaining how and why Scottish English is the way it is? Different from British English? And how the various accents came to be throughout Great Britain and Ireland?
First off, Scotland IS part of Britain, so there is no singular 'British English'. Much of lowland Scotland (Lothians, down to Dumfries and Galloway and the border regions) were a part of Northumbria from the mid 600's to around the late 900's when these areas were annexed and became part of Scotland. Old English was spoken here until the 13th century(Middle Irish was the language spoken in the Royal Court). This was then succeeded by Middle English, which is a very early version of Scots. Around the 12 century, there was mass migration from Scandinavia to Scotland, this further influenced the Middle English being spoken and separated it from the Middle English being spoken in northern England. Scots was further influenced by languages used in the Church, namely Latin and Norman French. By the late 1400's/early 1500's, this 'Middle English' was being further influenced by the influx of Dutch and German Merchants and migrants and Scots Gaelic terms were being used around this time too. Old Brittonic words had also made their way into the lexicon. By the 1600's, thanks to King James VI taking the English Crown, Scots was becoming influenced by Standard English. Scotland and the UK as a whole is a melting pot of dialects and accents. Quite simply, this dates back to the first settlements. People lived in relative isolation, the nearest settlement might be 20 or 30 miles away, so each settlement developed their own tongue. Their word for a beaker, might be different to the next towns word for a beaker, for example. They'd develop their own accents, dialects, eventually, as other towns were built, or towns got larger, they'd attract settlers from other towns or areas, you'd then have a melting pot of accents and dialects, which would eventually merge into a new accent and dialect. As this then happens all over the country and the movement of people becomes easier and more normal, the number of accents/dialects multiplies. So today, between Edinburgh and Glasgow, there's a number of districts(City of Edinburgh, Midlothian, West Lothian, Borders, North and South Lanarkshire, Falkirk, East Dumbartonshire, City of Glasgow, East Renfrewshire). All of these districts have different accents and dialects. You're looking at around 20-30 accents and dialects amongst these districts, alone. In Scotland, there's around 350-400 different accents and dialects. That's an incredible number for such a small country
My guess is the same reason any country has different accents, dialects, etc. The United States is the same way. The West Coast sounds more like any Hollywood movie. NY has its very noticeable accent, Boston, the south, it's subtle but even the Southwest (New Mexico & Arizona)... I've heard rumors from somewhere at one time people from London sounded like what people from the American South sound like now. They didn't want to sound so classless, so the upper crust changed up the way they spoke & it filtered down. I'm not sure how true that is.
@@scottw.3258 Thanks Scott! Brilliant comment. I am originally from Chicago and we have different accents there. You can tell a person from the north side from a person from "back of the yards" for example. And then there is New York City where you had better not confuse a person from Queen with a person from Brooklyn. :) Blessings!
@@mrsteadog1313 Check out the Mid-Atlantic accent. It was created for ppl on the East Coast and ended up being used by old Hollywood actors such as Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn.
Mark McCummins here. So, it seems to me, the only real tartan is Black Watch. And it further seems that the “saffron kilt” was more widespread beyond the “Emerald Isle” than it appears. This could potentially wreck a cottage industry - and save me and others a ton of money.
Some of those outfits made from tartans are rather disturbing in a fashion sense. I'm struggling to picture someone walking down the street wearing all that....what a sight that must have been...!
All right, but where the name Sobieski comes from in all this? It was a Polish noble family. King John III Sobieski saved Vienna from Ottoman Turks in 1683.
Thank you.. I shall refer many people to this video.. as I’m sick of explaining this to American enthusiasts asking nonsensical rules and customs about if they are allowed to wear this tartan if my name is …🤦🏻♂️
Yes, he was known as "Michael of Albany." I met him in Edinburgh. He'd written several books and looked exactly like the Bonnie Prince Charlie painting in Edinburgh's Museum or was it in the castle? Can't recall now, been about 20 years ago. The Royal Family (QE2, et al.) had him thrown out of Scotland and the UK on some technicality. He lives in Belgium today. Wonderful chap!
But where did the "Sobieski" part come in ? I thought they were supposed to be a couple of Polish Jews who claimed to be related to Charles Edward Stewart...?
Eilean doesn't sound like "alien", it's more "A-lin" (so similar, but without the E). My Hebridean girlfriend corrected me when I first said eilean in front of her.
Is the black school blazer jacket with big chromed square buttons also bogus? I feel sorry for people wearing one at say a wedding, it looks horrible and has got to be a recent concoction.
How did he gain the name Sobieski a very well known and prominent 2nd name in Polish. It's a very famous line of nobility and includes what is thought Poland's last great king prior to partitioning a century later. Sobieski was a master of Military tactics used against the Ottomans. It's odd to see crop up here. I have never seen the name used as a 1st name.
99% of the stuff sold in "tartan" shops in Glasgow and Edinburgh is made in Pakistan i used to deliver the crates every couple of weeks to the shops. Complete garbage.
Of course tartan wasn't something exclusive to Scotland. If you look across the sea to Ireland, you'll notice tartans operate differently compared to Scotland. Instead of having individual tartans for individual clans, the tartan you wore was based on the county your clan originated from. For example, my surname Coughlin comes from county Cork and so the county Cork tartan would be the tartan of my family. It's likely that the tartan was used in a similar way originally in the Scottish Highlands with your tartan indicating which part of the Highlands you came from. Of course, Scotland experienced a tartan revival while Ireland didn't and so for commercial reasons, tartan patterns were rebranded in Scotland so that individual clans in Scotland had individual tartans including Lowland clans who would've never worn tartan kilts historically. Irish tartans meanwhile remained static and so never deviated from their original identity.
Of COURSE the idea of 'ancient Clan tartans' is a lie... But today, thanks in no little part to these Conmen... We have something tangible, registered, identifiable and recognized as symbol of a proud culture that, throughout the centuries, has been attempted by VERY powerful enemies to be maligned, cancelled, persecuted and (their ultimate goal...) forgotten. As an American with three Scottish bloodlines that run through my veins (Scott, Burns and Wallace) I can unequivocally state that (spoiler alert!!) IT DIDN'T WORK!!!...Was it a scam?? Yes... But LOOK how things worked out!!!.... Alba Gu Brath!!!
I live in Scotland and enjoy wearing a variety of tartan ties with my tweed jacket at work. I had a guy tell me that I couldn’t wear “his” particular clan tartan, which I like because of the heather purple colour. My eyes rolled right to the back of my head - what a numpty!
Robert, thanks for the great back stories. I've always watched movies about Scottish and Irish information. You make it real.
I always loved this story - They make Ponzi look like an amateur
“Jacobite fever-dreams” - brilliant phrase! 😂😂😂 I can see why they called him ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’ - that is one fancy jumpsuit he’s rocking there. Thank you for another fascinating and informative video. I’d never heard of these guys before. I always thought that most of the now cliched/touristy Scottish things were a product of Queen Victoria’s obsession with all things Scottish (e.g. John Brown 😂), but it appears that the trend began earlier. Just goes to show: you live and learn - IF you watch the right TH-cam channels. 😂😂👍
Queen Victoria was definitely a big part of it 🙂
If you’re looking for one person to pin it on, look no further than Sir Walter Scott - the man who single-handedly reinvented (if not actually invented) a version of Scotland’s history and identity that stuck. The key thing was that it was “Scottland”, not the real Scotland, that influenced not only Victoria but, even more importantly, Hollywood. Scott’s works were still standard high school texts in the USA up till the 1950’s and had sold in their millions - that is what shaped the world’s view of our country. Every craggy castle in a glen, David Niven in a bonnet, misty landscape, blood feud, Bonnie lassies, valiant clans and lost causes all the way through to Braveheart and Outlander - all Hollywood’s reinvention of Scott’s reinvention.
@@davidpaterson2309 Very good. A little Scott still lingers in my addled brain from so very long ago.
@@davidpaterson2309 Ah yes! Sir Walter has a lot to answer for! It’s funny how these ideas persist. Australia is portrayed as “a land of sunburnt plains” where we all live on vast, isolated cattle stations in ‘the bush’ or within walking distance of a pristine tropical beach! The truth is that 85% of the population lives in perfectly unremarkable cities. Here in southern Tasmania, there’s not a plain in sight and to be honest, there’s more rain than sun. It’s all mountains and forests here and we regularly get snow in winter. 🤣🥶
Thanks for another great story that I had never heard before. I hope some of the weavers got some profit from the brothers. The weavers certainly can thank them for business today. Between the tartans, shortbread, tourism and single malts, it's a nice addition to Scotland's GDP!
I think the weavers would have made a packet. 🙂
@@scotlandunplugged 😁😁😁
Tartan has been around since Pictish times , so not recent , ancient . Different tartans being associated with different clans is more recent but still old
Here in the United States there has been an industry designed to match you with your family’s historical tartan plaid. In a store in St Louis, I gave the store clerk my wife’s mother’s family name, which happens to be Spanish, and we were informed it was a MacDonald of the Isles tartan. A coincidence certainly, since I was told my family’s plaid , for the Dickies, was the same.
What’s funny is that my aunt, back in the early 1960s, spent big bucks in the highlands to clothe both her daughters in the same tartan. As well as Christmas gifts for all the family, and a hat for me. And it would seem the whole thing was a farce!
Hehe! Your story is hilarious!
Total farce mate. Another one to avoid is the whisky industry. If you pay anymore than £50 on a bottle you’ve been “bumped “ .
Great story. My mom loved the tartan & passed that on to me. They are allso colorful but I never thought there was such a colorful history to go along with them. Thanks for sharing.
Great video Robbie about the tartan and as you say all tartans are different ,and you look great in your own tartan
Thanks Cameron!
Thanks for another fascinating story, Robert. Wonderful storytelling as always. Love your humour 💙
Thank you!
I love all my families' tartans. It's like the unicorn being the national animal, we're a country of dreamers. So naturally having a fancy clan owned tartan, even if the thought isn't very old or tradition, fits well for Scottish pride 🏴
Great story. Nice to know who "invented" the tartans. There is always some shady character looking to make a fortune.
Haha. Yeah. There were a few people at it. The torn tartan in the shot near the end is the oldest found and dates to the 16th century, when it was probably down to individual weavers to come up with sets.
wonderful insight to the tartans, thank you!
Another wonderful story of Scotland history. It's so enjoyable to listen to your stories Robert.
So glad I stumbled across your channel. Not only are you a brilliant storyteller, I have learned a lot and I could happily listen to your voice all day.
Fabulous story! Told so well, as always. 👏❤
Thank you!
Love your dry humor!😄 And as a "certified" Wallace, am looking at the rather strong "Wallace tartan" with a wink and a grin now😉😏
And despite being known as frauds, they are still cited as authoritative regarding “official clan tartans”
You got to have a gimmick. 😄
Great video ! Very fasanating ! Seems to me that they inadvertently did Scotland a great service !!!
I thoroughly enjoyed this. Your videos always entertain and inform!
Thank you!
Well then, weavers of their own imaginations. 😂🤣 Loved the story. ❤❤
😂
I have a Forever Scotland kilt. I love wearing it even tough I am a Scouser.
I love you guys!
Excellent! Consummate con artists! 😂 Love it!
Love your storytelling! A great way to share history, facts and myths.
I've heard about this before, but couldn't remember the details. Thank you for another wonderful video telling us what's really what. ❤ Btw...the jacobite fever dreams was priceless!!!
Fascinating story. Another job well done..... excellent!!
Thanks for bursting this bubble -- even tho it hurts. So what if any design did they wear on their kilts before the brothers came along -- or are kilts an invented craze too? ;)
Hello!
What a fun video! I want to have my sons create a royal dynasty line for themselves. ;)
Tartans can be so controversial. There is a lovely company in America on the East Coast and they weave and sell tartan cloth and kilts. They create new ones. I tried to find our McConkey clan tartan just for fun and could not find squat. There are apparently fifteen ways to spell it or names it is descended from . Be easier just to wear our university colors! :)
Blessings!
Wonderfully woven and delightfully dispensed. Just subscribed and looking forward to catching up.
Tartan mania ! Thanks Robert. 🙂❤️
Now there’s a good name for a band 😂
👍 Great story as always Robert but.... Are you saying your tartan isn't legitimate! 😢😮😬😜
Haha. I don’t think it’s a Sobieski Stuart tartan but would have been made up by someone in the last 220 years. They’re coming up with new tartans all the time. I’m tempted to design my own 😂
@@scotlandunplugged Go for it!
A nod's as good as a wink to a blind bat, eh? We should all be so lucky to have so much creativity that our contemporaries lap it up as gospel! They certainly *were* creative though. 🏴
I have a request for a video on your channel: I believe that we would all be fascinated to hear the story of your own family clan. Parker means "park manager" or "game keeper" does it not? Since many of your fans cross over with the HGP herd (which is how many of us found you, myself among them) I think it would be fun to learn more about your family. Any chances you might consider this? Your humour would pair well with a video on this subject! Respect and love always from Seattle Washington 🇺🇸🙏🏼☮️
Loved you video as always.. ❤
Brilliant! Indeed “who cares!” I don’t. I love all tartan flavours because they’re gorgeous ❤
Could definitely build up a collection. 😂
@@scotlandunplugged bahahaha yup! Lots and lots of wee kilties 🤣
Just kinda curious, could you give some numbers how many tartans did they invent and how many of those would subsequently be adopted as kilts of those families?
There were 75 in the Vestiarium Scoticum. 12 are thought to have been taken from other sources, probably weavers’ lists.
Did I hear at 1.41, Glamorgan in Oxfordshire??
Bad annunciation. Glamorgan and Oxfordshire (respectively)
Important that more people know this!
Robert: "Wink wink, nudge nudge"
Me : "Say no more, say no more"? 😂
"Give it a go. Know what I Mean".
😂
Always fascinating!
The colors the pretty colors, 👍😎🇺🇸?
Thank you for an excellent video. I’m an anthropologist and this just makes me all discombobulated because it makes me question reality. This is often what knowledge does.
Interesting-thanks!
So interesting.
Or you could say "highly creative liars". Great video, thank you 👍
So I just put a down payment on my 'wedding' kilt for nothing? :( Darn!
Not at all. If the tartan is accepted by the clan then it’s official 🙂
@@scotlandunplugged IN that case could you do something on the history of Duntrune castle? :) Its where we're getting married and where my last name, albeit with different spelling than the family that has been residing there for over 200 years, comes from.
That said, Im in love with Scotland and was so surreal to visit Argyll where my ancestors came from. Didnt want to leave so badly I cried. Must be something in the blood. Wonder if thats how my forefather felt when leaving to Eastern Canada?
Thanks for your videos!
@@shmac96 it’s your own emotions and how you believe you are connected based on what you are told - we are all fantasist - dreamers though nothing wrong with that
These vids are interesting, would love to see one on the Somerville that killed the last dragon!
Brilliant.
What is Royalty anyway? Scammers who got away with it.
True! 🙂
We are herd animals desperate to be led. The fault lies more in our genes than in our stars.
I first read about that it in a John Prebble Book on the history of Scotland. Imagine that Native American culture had been all but eradicated and then reconstructed based on Hollywood movies. Or even better, German-Yugoslavian Winnetou films...
Another fascinating story about long ago and far away 😊 I've got a tartan plaid but, according to what dad said before he passed, it's Irish! I like Scotland much better! ❤Thanks ❤❤
Really interesting. I am the Turnbull tartan. My late sister was the Elliot tarten and hubby's, the Bell tarten. Wasn't it the Turnbulls and the Clan Douglas that were always fighting. Lol. 👍👍👍💯
I had heard that tartan was an invention of the Victorians and Victoria had her household at Balmoral kitted out, but even so I think they look wonderful and colourful, even if they are not strictly traditional. But let’s face it, traditions have to start somewhere and various tartans were popular as basic colourful weaves from all around the world, where clothes were made of woollens and different coloured dyes were woven into fabrics. The beauty of this means that anyone can claim their own tartan legitimately and start their own tradition. I have a tartan blanket that came with my second hand Polo, and as a forester feel obliged to wear tartan checked shirts wherever possible, even though I have only one distant Scottish relative👍
Sighing... I had a cousin pass away last summer whoo wanted to be buried in the family tartan.. kilt, tam, socks, the works... If he had only known... 🤣🙃🤪
I suppose 200 years is a good length of history 🙂
@@scotlandunplugged 🙃🤪🤣. Definitely!
2:28 isn't that Maria Clementina Sobieska??? I'm confused
Don't tell the Yanks!!!
😂😂😂😂👍
🤣😂🤣
😂😂😂 Too late! 😉
Thank you for sharing. So, did the Highlanders wear kilts, and if so, was it more personal choice than Clan colors? I would be interested in your thoughts.
Living well on other people's money! Truly the best way to live.
Any deposed government will have these characters pop up ... the TRUE heir to __whatever__ who can usually suck enough money from the exiles pining for the good old days to live quite well.
Empress Carlota of Mexico grew up in the Spanish court, listening to the exiles pining about the good old days before the Mexican Revolution sent them back to Spain ... she was a major reason Maximilian took the job as emperor.
I was under the impression that the kilt was completely made up as well, and that William Wallace wore the clothing that every other medieval knight wore with no kilts.
He’d probably have worn chain mail, but definitely no kilt. The kilt dates back to around the 16th century and was worn by highlanders. It probably came about because of easier access to wool. Ironically, the thing that killed off a lot of highland culture. There’s a video on the channel from last summer. Will do another soon on the great kilt.
@@scotlandunplugged Hello! Glad to hear that you're looking at doing a video on the great kilt. I've worn one as my clothes for over a year, I've blended in to the Edinburgh landscape, just the "odd man in a blanket". Interested to see what you uncover!
What a funny story! Our traditions are invented by scoundrels- seems about right 😅
A docudrama of this story was proposed for the launch of the BBC Scotland channel a few years ago but the BBC didn't want it.
That would have been worth seeing. Think they’re all about cheap reality stuff these days.
1:53 _"not the best start in life"_
It was that of Charles Dickens, though.
Yes, all tartans were made up at some time by somebody- as is every other human device. It’s when you start peddling your invention as a centuries old tradition that it becomes a fraud.
But with cultural symbols, if enough people adopt them, they become true. The clan tartan tradition has been going on now for something like 200 years. That’s not the same as a thousand years, but it’s still multiple generations of people adopting the talismans. I’d call that a tradition.
This is a good story but where does the connection of the Sobieski name originate?
I thought tartan and kilts dated back further and the wearing of such was prohibited after the ‘45?
They do indeed. Tartans were more geographical in the early days, based on whatever the weavers made. The links to clans came much later, when highland culture became romanticised. I did a video on kilts last summer and that goes into the history of the kilt. 🙂 I’ll do one on tartan soon.
I'm of clan Lindsay in the US, I get that the tartans came later in time, but what about the clan mottos and clan badges did they come around the same time as the tartans or earlier?
The wearing of crests dates from around the same time, I believe. But some mottos are earlier. I think there was a Lindsay tartan produced around the end of the 18th century.
@@scotlandunplugged Thank you for your reply , I've just learned that I'm scottish and I'm trying to learn all I can of the Lindsay clan. Although my grandfather spelled it Lindsey.
I enjoy your videos keep up the good work.
Can you do a video explaining how and why Scottish English is the way it is? Different from British English? And how the various accents came to be throughout Great Britain and Ireland?
Now that’s complicated. 🙂
First off, Scotland IS part of Britain, so there is no singular 'British English'.
Much of lowland Scotland (Lothians, down to Dumfries and Galloway and the border regions) were a part of Northumbria from the mid 600's to around the late 900's when these areas were annexed and became part of Scotland. Old English was spoken here until the 13th century(Middle Irish was the language spoken in the Royal Court). This was then succeeded by Middle English, which is a very early version of Scots. Around the 12 century, there was mass migration from Scandinavia to Scotland, this further influenced the Middle English being spoken and separated it from the Middle English being spoken in northern England.
Scots was further influenced by languages used in the Church, namely Latin and Norman French. By the late 1400's/early 1500's, this 'Middle English' was being further influenced by the influx of Dutch and German Merchants and migrants and Scots Gaelic terms were being used around this time too. Old Brittonic words had also made their way into the lexicon. By the 1600's, thanks to King James VI taking the English Crown, Scots was becoming influenced by Standard English.
Scotland and the UK as a whole is a melting pot of dialects and accents. Quite simply, this dates back to the first settlements. People lived in relative isolation, the nearest settlement might be 20 or 30 miles away, so each settlement developed their own tongue. Their word for a beaker, might be different to the next towns word for a beaker, for example. They'd develop their own accents, dialects, eventually, as other towns were built, or towns got larger, they'd attract settlers from other towns or areas, you'd then have a melting pot of accents and dialects, which would eventually merge into a new accent and dialect. As this then happens all over the country and the movement of people becomes easier and more normal, the number of accents/dialects multiplies.
So today, between Edinburgh and Glasgow, there's a number of districts(City of Edinburgh, Midlothian, West Lothian, Borders, North and South Lanarkshire, Falkirk, East Dumbartonshire, City of Glasgow, East Renfrewshire). All of these districts have different accents and dialects. You're looking at around 20-30 accents and dialects amongst these districts, alone. In Scotland, there's around 350-400 different accents and dialects. That's an incredible number for such a small country
My guess is the same reason any country has different accents, dialects, etc. The United States is the same way. The West Coast sounds more like any Hollywood movie. NY has its very noticeable accent, Boston, the south, it's subtle but even the Southwest (New Mexico & Arizona)... I've heard rumors from somewhere at one time people from London sounded like what people from the American South sound like now. They didn't want to sound so classless, so the upper crust changed up the way they spoke & it filtered down. I'm not sure how true that is.
@@scottw.3258 Thanks Scott! Brilliant comment. I am originally from Chicago and we have different accents there. You can tell a person from the north side from a person from "back of the yards" for example. And then there is New York City where you had better not confuse a person from Queen with a person from Brooklyn. :)
Blessings!
@@mrsteadog1313 Check out the Mid-Atlantic accent. It was created for ppl on the East Coast and ended up being used by old Hollywood actors such as Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn.
Mark McCummins here.
So, it seems to me, the only real tartan is Black Watch. And it further seems that the “saffron kilt” was more widespread beyond the “Emerald Isle” than it appears. This could potentially wreck a cottage industry - and save me and others a ton of money.
Some of those outfits made from tartans are rather disturbing in a fashion sense. I'm struggling to picture someone walking down the street wearing all that....what a sight that must have been...!
Saw a US video the other day of a modern female scam artist who was needing funds to help claim her inheritance. Plus ça change. 😂
Was she yet another Nigerian princess/prince?
I'm sorry but Charles Edward Stewart is looking like he's sexy and he knows it! Hah! Love it. Excellent video
Who cares if tartans were made up. They are still beautiful.
Very Interesting , does this just apply to Scottish Tartans or Irish as well? Would be interesting to know how much influence they had.
What makes you think there was Irish tartans?? Confused 😕 No Irish tartans. 😂
My Surname is Irish and there a clan Tartan for my name @@doratheexplorer1184
I wonder if Leelee is related?
i watched the whole video and i DO speak some english, but i did not understand what this video is about
😮tartan plaids 1000 years old?
🧐No. Only 200 years, maybe.
All right, but where the name Sobieski comes from in all this? It was a Polish noble family. King John III Sobieski saved Vienna from Ottoman Turks in 1683.
Thank you.. I shall refer many people to this video.. as I’m sick of explaining this to American enthusiasts asking nonsensical rules and customs about if they are allowed to wear this tartan if my name is …🤦🏻♂️
There was another fake Stuart pretender about 20 years ago
Yes, he was known as "Michael of Albany." I met him in Edinburgh. He'd written several books and looked exactly like the Bonnie Prince Charlie painting in Edinburgh's Museum or was it in the castle? Can't recall now, been about 20 years ago. The Royal Family (QE2, et al.) had him thrown out of Scotland and the UK on some technicality. He lives in Belgium today. Wonderful chap!
All things are invented... LoL 😂
People even buy coats of arms for every possible Scottish name, people back then were lucky to have a coat on their back.
But where did the "Sobieski" part come in ? I thought they were supposed to be a couple of Polish Jews who claimed to be related to Charles Edward Stewart...?
Eilean doesn't sound like "alien", it's more "A-lin" (so similar, but without the E). My Hebridean girlfriend corrected me when I first said eilean in front of her.
What does Sobieski mean in Polish?
Polish: habitational name for someone from Sobieszyn or Sobieska Wola in Lublin Voivodeship.
still scotland owes them a lot for giving them a strong global identity.
So what I'm hearing is that their tartan was bought and plaid for.
🤣
Is the black school blazer jacket with big chromed square buttons also bogus? I feel sorry for people wearing one at say a wedding, it looks horrible and has got to be a recent concoction.
Wonderful ✨
How did he gain the name Sobieski a very well known and prominent 2nd name in Polish. It's a very famous line of nobility and includes what is thought Poland's last great king prior to partitioning a century later.
Sobieski was a master of Military tactics used against the Ottomans.
It's odd to see crop up here.
I have never seen the name used as a 1st name.
Plaid .
I have never worn plaid .
Tartans, okay - but I won't hear a word said against shortbread - no matter what's on the tin!!
99% of the stuff sold in "tartan" shops in Glasgow and Edinburgh is made in Pakistan i used to deliver the crates every couple of weeks to the shops.
Complete garbage.
Islamic tartan
islamic tartan
So is Edinburgh Rock not . . . . . . . and shortbread ? . . . . . . . . .? Say it isn't so !!
It isn’t so 😂
@@scotlandunplugged I release intestinal gas with pure relief .
Of course tartan wasn't something exclusive to Scotland. If you look across the sea to Ireland, you'll notice tartans operate differently compared to Scotland. Instead of having individual tartans for individual clans, the tartan you wore was based on the county your clan originated from. For example, my surname Coughlin comes from county Cork and so the county Cork tartan would be the tartan of my family. It's likely that the tartan was used in a similar way originally in the Scottish Highlands with your tartan indicating which part of the Highlands you came from. Of course, Scotland experienced a tartan revival while Ireland didn't and so for commercial reasons, tartan patterns were rebranded in Scotland so that individual clans in Scotland had individual tartans including Lowland clans who would've never worn tartan kilts historically. Irish tartans meanwhile remained static and so never deviated from their original identity.
Of COURSE the idea of 'ancient Clan tartans' is a lie... But today, thanks in no little part to these Conmen... We have something tangible, registered, identifiable and recognized as symbol of a proud culture that, throughout the centuries, has been attempted by VERY powerful enemies to be maligned, cancelled, persecuted and (their ultimate goal...) forgotten. As an American with three Scottish bloodlines that run through my veins (Scott, Burns and Wallace) I can unequivocally state that (spoiler alert!!) IT DIDN'T WORK!!!...Was it a scam?? Yes... But LOOK how things worked out!!!.... Alba Gu Brath!!!
The brothers were born at the start of the eighteenth AND nineteenth century, you say? 😒
“Turn of the 18th and 19th centuries…” but yeah wrong terminology
sobieski sounds polish or russian
John the 3rd Sobieski of Poland was Bonnie Prince Charlie’s grandad 🙂
1
Naw, this is just more Polish immigrant libel…
Nihilism is the only answer.
Jacobite=Jesuit