Jacobite Songs and Prose
- A careful examination of Gaelic poetry and prose, composed during Bliadhna Thearlaich (‘Charlie’s Year’), 1745, shows that support of the Jacobites was very widespread and crossed lines of class, gender, religion, and even region in some cases.
- Storytelling and oral history were extremely important aspects of Gaelic culture. Poets played an important role in Highland society – they often guided public opinion on important matters.
- Those who transmitted pro-Jacobite poems included the educated elite, traditional Gaelic bards, the common people, and women.
- In terms of composition, Gaelic songs of the ‘45 were very traditional and followed well-understood conventions.
- One famouse Jacobite poet was Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair, or Alexander MacDonald, of Clan Ranald, another branch of Clan Donald. Examples of his poems are shown below:
Is fuar, fearthainneach gach lo,
gach oidhche dorcha, doinionnach;
‘s tursach, donn gach lo,
murtach, trom le ceo;
ach mosglaibh suas, a shloigh,
‘s ur n-airsteal trusaibh uaibh air chairteal,
‘s cartaibh uiabh ur bron:
tha leug ri muir ‘s ri speur
ri bhith aig Aeolus ‘s aig Neptun,
‘s thig gach tlachd ‘na deidh.
Thig soinionn leis an Righ,
teichidh scneachd is eighre uainn;
fograr doruinn shion,
thig solas, falbhaidh pian…*
* Every day is cold and raining, every night dark and stormy. Miserable and grim is every day, oppressive and heavy with mist. But waken up, people, and banish your dejection. Cart away your sorrow; Aeolus and Neptune are about to make a pact covering sea andsky, and every sort of ease will attend it. Fair weather will come with the [rightful] King, snow and ice will retreat from us; hurtful storms will be proscribed, solace will come and pain will go.
O, hi-ri-ri, tha e tighinn,
o, hi-ri-ri, ‘n Righ tha uainn,
ghebheamaid ar n-airm ‘s ar n-eideadh,
‘s breacan an fheilidh an cuaich.
‘S eibhinn leam fhin, tha e tighinn,
mac an Righ dhlighich tha uainn,
slios mor rioghail d’an tig armachd,
claidheamh is targaid nan dual.
‘S ann a’ tighinn thar an t-saile
tha ‘m fear ard as aille snuadh,
marcaich sunndach nan steud-each
rachadh gu h-eutrom ‘san ruaig. *
* O hi ri ri, he is coming, o hi ri ri, the king we desire, let us take our weapons and battle dress and the tartan kilt plaided up.
I rejoice, he is coming, the son of the rightful king we desire, a great kingly frame well-suited to weaponry, the broadsword and patterned targe.
He is coming over the sea, the tall man most handsome in appearance, the high-spirited rider of the chargers, who would go lightly in the pursuit.
- While certain poets, like Alexander MacDonald, came from clans that openly supported the Jacobite cause, many others were not as lucky. Poets such as Rob Donn Mackay came from clans which supported the ruling Protestant House of Hanover.
- Poets like Mackay defied their lairds by composing pro-Jacobite songs, which shows the risks Jacobites were willing to take for their cause.
- An example of Mackay's prose is shown below:
Tha cupall mhios is raithe
o’n la thainig thu do dh’ Alba so,
‘s bu shoilleir dhuinn o’n trath bha sin
an fhailte chuir an aimsir oirnn;
bha daoine measail, miadhail oirnn,
‘s bha arach ni a sealbhach oirnn,
bha barran troma tir’ againn,
bha toradh frith is fairg’ againn. *
* It’s now five months since you came over to Scotland, and since that time the weather’s welcome to you has been obvious to us. People have been appreciative and well-disposed towards us; stock-rearing has prospered with us, the crops have been heavy, and the deer-forest and the sea have done us proud
o’n la thainig thu do dh’ Alba so,
‘s bu shoilleir dhuinn o’n trath bha sin
an fhailte chuir an aimsir oirnn;
bha daoine measail, miadhail oirnn,
‘s bha arach ni a sealbhach oirnn,
bha barran troma tir’ againn,
bha toradh frith is fairg’ againn. *
* It’s now five months since you came over to Scotland, and since that time the weather’s welcome to you has been obvious to us. People have been appreciative and well-disposed towards us; stock-rearing has prospered with us, the crops have been heavy, and the deer-forest and the sea have done us proud
- With the exception of Alexander MacDonald, who had his works printed in 1751, all other Jacobite poets had their songs transmitted orally. And even in the case of MacDonald, his songs would have been spread verbally leading up to the Rising of '45.
- The fact that these poems have survived to this day shows how widespread and cherished they were. They remained a part of Highlanders' memories, enough so that they were all eventually committed to the page years after Culloden.
- There is also evidence that the poets created a "high" and "low" style of their poems, that is a version for the upper class and a more vernacular version for the common people, which shows that Jacobitism was not only for the elite few, but for the common man as well.
Waulking Songs and Women
- It was not only men who were instrumental in spreading the Jacobite message among the people.
- Working class women sang songs of the Stuarts in the waulking song tradition. Waulking songs were traditional Gaelic folk songs, which peasant women sang to one another while waulking cloth.
- Waulking was the final step in the process of creating homespun: woven tweed was soaked in hot urine and beaten against a hard surface to shrink and soften it. Women who performed this duty sang songs to keep the rhythm and to keep themselves entertained.
- Waulking songs are an example of the involvement of women in the Jacobite cause.
- One famous Jacobite waulking song is An Fhideag Airgid (‘The Silver Whistle’) which, in English, goes as follows:
Who would sound the silver whistle? The son of my king coming to Scotland, on a great ship over the sea, on the ship of the mariner he has set sail, on the ship of the handsome mariner. She has a golden helm and two silver masts and a well of wine down in her hold, shrouds of the French silk, with golden pulleys at each end of them. Whoever would deny it, he would sound it: who would sound it but Ewen Cameron? Whoever would deny it, he would sound it: MacLeod would sound it, and MacKenzie.
- This waulking song shows that women were very much aware of the politics of the Highlands and were also Jacobites in their own right, though they did not physically serve in the Jacobite army.
- Women knew which clans were involved in the rebellion and knew the manner in which Prince Charles was arriving in Scotland.
- By referring to Bonnie Prince Charlie as “the son of my king,” the women were taking ownership of their own Jacobite leanings.
- Featured below is an example of a Gaelic waulking song from the STARZ original series Outlander.