THERE’S been hunners o airticles an blog posts this wik makkin mane owre the anniversary o Culloden. Fowk hae been richt dulesome aboot the deith o sae mony sodgers, an this symbolic final lest fecht o the clans agin the Brits. Flooers hae been pit at the cairns an memorial stanes. Yanks hae boardit planes an, arriving intae Inverness wi a tear in their ee, stravaiged aboot the battlefield luikin fir Clan Fraser’s stane, tae pit doon a mindin tae Jamie.

We’ve got this aa wrang. We should be celebratin Jacobitism, nae mournin it. Wioot it, we wouldnae be the country we are.

In the late siventeenth century, Scotland wasnae in sic a braw an brankie state. The ill years o the 1690s had seen tens o thoosans dee fae hunger an illness as hairsts failed an trade drapped aff a cliff. Aroon ten percent o aabdy livin in Scotland perished, wi mibbie sae mony as a quarter o aabdy in Aiberdeenshire stervin. Gin the same were tae happen the dey, ye’d hae mair nor hauf a million puir craiters sprauchlin, sterved, deein in the streets. Nae lang efter that cam the irredeemably glaikit Darien Scheme debacle, whaur as muckle as hauf o aa the liquid capital in Scotland wis tint tae a madcap attempt at colonisin central America.

Scotland hurpled intae the eichteenth century in a gey sorry state. The bogle o famine aye hauntit the minds o survivors. The economy wis doon the cludgie, an the English were luikin tae capitalise on Scottish weakness bi forcin through an incorporatin union that wad dissolve Scottish sovereignty.

Ye could hae forgien the Scots fir luikin at dissolution as a sortae blessit relief. ‘Thank big Jock Tamson that this sorry tale, at lang last, is at an enn.’ Cooryin doon intae the warm, safe oxster o wealthy, wealthy England maun hae seemed at least a bitty temptin, eh no?

Eh, no. Inteid o smoolin saftly intae the mirk o union, there tae shine nae mair, Scotland seen ane o the great cultural renaissances o the last five hunner years.

Historians hae discrievit Scotland in the early eichteenth century as a “cultural battlegrun”, whaur hunners o fragmentary groups, Episcopalians, agricultural improvers, anglophile authors, gaelic clans, Wee Frees an wha kens wha else were fechtin amang theirsels.

There wis tension in the air, an Jacobitism became the lichtenin rod that was tae channel aa this discontent intae ae single, pooerfu muivement.

Historian Daniel Szechi telt us that aboot hauf o the population in Scotland was directly involved wi the first Jacobite risin o 1715. Ye hud yer tens o thoosans o sodgers, aye, but ahint them were their mithers happin up their bags wi aits, their faithers daein extra darg tae keep the ferms warkin, ye hud fowk pittin them up, fowk hepin them oot aawye they merched. Cheils awa in the glens stertit producin pint efter pint o illicit whisky tae gie the sodgers or tae sell.

Oot fae the fragments o a dividit culture an the stervin, skint populace the phoenix o Jacobtiism had been kythed.

We aa mind wi a cheerfu smile the virr o the warld aboot us durin the last indyref. Suddenly hauf o Scotland is yer pal; wifies are stappin fir a blether in the street when they see yer Yes badge, chairmen o fitba clubs are on the news caain fir independence, the gaitherins in howffs an community centres, the muckle “Yes” signs eikit on tae hoosies in cities an clachans aa owre this wee stoater o a nation.

Weel, Jacobitism was like that but tenfauld. In the west, a Gaelic renaissance fired some o the finest makars o that leid tae wark. Alasdair screivit mony kenspeckle Gaelic verses, an gied Bonnie Prince Chairlie himself Gaelic lessons, as weels fechtin fir Chairlie at Culloden. A guid skelp ither Gaelic poets tuik up their lyres an gies vyce tae the great passions o their deys, rejuivinatin the leid an gien it a tremendous kist o riches still bein rakkit through the day.

Owre in the east ye hud Allan Ramsay, sponsored by fowk wha wantit Scotland tae retain its cultural difference, pittin oot broadside ballads, buiks o poetry, pleys. He kent the importance o scrievin in Scots, an inspired a wheen great makars efter him tae dae the same, as weels keepin Scotland literate in its ain tongue efter the loss o independence.

Sae inveigled wi the Jacobibte cause did Scots poetry an sang become that the hail careers o the north-east poets, sic as Alexander Ross o Lochlee, or John Skinner, were maistly devotit tae Jacobite propaganda in guid Scots verse. These cheils are kent the dey fir bein the first tae scrieve in North-East Scots dialects insteid o general Scots. Rabbie Fergusson an efter him Rabbie Burns baith hud strang north-east connections an were inspired bi the wark dune by the Jacobite makars. Gie tent tae that: wioot the verses poored oot owre the fifty Jacobite years, there wad likely hae been nae strang livin tradition fir Burns tae draw upon.

The fouth o sangs, Johnny Cope, Broom o the Cowdenknowes, Killiecrankie, aa thae tunes that ye hear in the howffs when the bevvy gets aheid o guid sense, they aa hae direct lineage tae this gowden cultural age nurtured unner Jacobitism.

The kilt, the bagpipe, the bunnet, an the whisky. The Gaelic an the Scots tongues. The thrawn sense o rebelliousness. These are the symbols o a separate Scottish identity. They aa acquired their pooer through Jacobitism, an wioot sic symbols we’d hae tholed three hunner years o incorporatin union wioot access tae sic lifebelts as these tae cling on tae.

Sae aye, mourn the losses at Culloden, an gie vyce tae the disgust ye maun feel when contemplatin the horrors that cam efter.

But dinnae ging in fir the auld narrative that Culloden wis the enn o a muivement, or spelt the deith o Scottish identity, nor Gaelic culture. Militarily Jacobitism wis aye a bit o a dud, an ne’er won us oor independence.

But the Jacobite muivement gied Scotland somethin aiblins mair important. It gied us a chance tae get thegither, Gael an Scot, hielan an lallan, an dae something absolutely remarkable. It gied us something tae sing aboot, tae screieve aboot, tae tell oor bairns aboot. It gied us the chance tae brak doon barriers atween us that, when we were a country o oor ain, hud kept us apairt.

The Jacobites gied us oor culture, an wrocht the nation we are the dey. Surely thon’s mair nor enough reason tae raise a dram tae the hail mad rammy o them. Slanje.