Until the 11th century, the language and culture of Scotland were entirely Celtic. The early peoples of Scotland that were referred to as Pictii (Picts) by the Romans are thought by most scholars to have been Brythonic-Celtic speaking peoples. From the 3rd century AD onwards a steady migration of Celtic peoples from Ireland into Scotland had been taking place. By the time of the settlement of the Dalriada kingdom in Argyll, these Irish Celtic tribes were Gaelic-speaking - but the Dalriada settlement was surrounded by Brythonic-speaking Celtic tribes on all sides. The Brythonic Celts called them Gwyddell, which mutated into ‘Goidel’ and ‘Gael’. It is interesting to note that the earliest surviving Welsh poetry, Y Gododdin, was in fact written in southern Scotland by a 6th century poet named Aneurin.

From the 9th century raiding parties of Norsemen came to the western coastlands and islands of Scotland. There are accounts of many raids taking place on the early Christian monasteries in the Isles, as the pagan Norsemen went after any riches they could find. As in Ireland, though, the Norsemen eventually settled and inter-married with the Gaelic population, adopting their language and culture.

A study of place names in the Western Isles reveals that while the larger coastland settlements derive their names from Norse, the majority of smaller, inland hamlets and nearly all the natural features of the landscape have retained their Gaelic name, or at least have had their Norse name ‘re-Gaelicised’. Ultimately, the Norse made very little impact on the Gaelic language spoken in Scotland. We should remember that at this time Scotland possessed a rich Gaelic cultural heritage, which the early Christian Celtic church played no small part in. This was a time when literature, learning, the arts and philosophy flourished.

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By the 11th century Gaelic had extended over the whole country to become the language of the courts, of literature and of administration. To the south, the Brythonic Celtic place names were increasingly being Gaelicised. A study of these place names discredits the argument that Gaelic or Celtic heritage belongs only to the Highlands - it was the heritage of the whole country at this time. (See W. J. Watson’s ‘History of the Celtic Place Names of Scotland’). We know, for example, that William Wallace spoke Gaelic, and Robert the Bruce held a parliament at Ardchattan in 1308 AD in which all business was conducted in Gaelic.

From the 12th century, the process of pushing Gaelic out of southern Scotland began, with Norman-French increasingly becoming the language of the Scottish Court. James IV was the last Scottish monarch who spoke Gaelic. The language of the Scottish Court subsequently became English.

It is interesting to note that from this time we also see the rise of the ‘Lordship of the Isles’ in the Hebrides - an alliance forged between the Norse-Gaelic rulers. The time of the Lordship is acknowledged as being a Golden Age for Gaelic culture in the Hebrides, and they remained staunchly independent from the increasingly Anglicised Scottish Crown. The political aspirations of the Lords of the Isles were a thorn in the side of the embryonic Scottish state. An independent Gaelic kingdom in the Isles could not be tolerated, and it was outlawed in 1493. This ultimately ensured its downfall. From the time of the downfall of the Lordship, the Scottish State was to take steps to ensure that no repeat of the Lordship would ever be tried again. The seeds for the repression of Gaelic culture in Scotland that would follow in subsequent centuries had been sown.

Despite the Anglicisation of the Scottish Court and administration, Gaelic held on for many centuries as the everyday language of most people in southern Scotland, and did not recede from Galloway until the 18th century. Hector Boece, writing in 1527, commented that; “those of us who live on the borders of England have forsaken our mother tongue (Gaelic) and learned English”. The historian John Major, writing in 1521 confirmed that the language of the majority of people in Scotland had been Gaelic until recent times, while historian George Buchanan mentioned that Gaelic was in widespread use in southern Scotland in the 16th century. An English official, in a report (1563-66) on the town of Carrick, wrote that: “The people for the moste parte spekenht Erische” (ie. Erse, a term used for Gaelic). In 1725 the English traveller Edward Burt noted that Gaelic was still spoken in Fife until the early 18th century.

From the 15th century a change in linguistic thinking took place - creating the idea of the ‘Highland / Lowland’ division in Scotland (which had not existed prior to this). Until the 15th century, the language of the ruling class and the growing merchant class in southern Scotland was called ‘Inglis’ or English (referring to what we now call ‘Scots’). The Gaelic language, still spoken by the majority of the population, was called ‘Scottish’. However, the idea of speaking ‘Inglis’ began to conflict with the political and military aspirations of the Inglis-speaking ruling class who led the fight against the English in the wars of independence. Inglis was the language of the enemy. Therefore, the Anglicised Scots and descendants of the Norman and English settlers began to refer to the Scottish (Gaelic) language as Ersch, or Irish, while their own language began to be called ‘Scots’ or Lallans. This reinforced further the cultural divide between the Gaelic-speaking Scot and the Anglicised Scot.

The Scottish Parliament continued its anti-Gaelic policies after the Union of the Crowns in 1603. King James I of the new United Kingdom (formerly James VI of Scotland) set about making sure that his kingdom would be united in language, religion and manners, and any ‘enemies’ of the Union would be attacked. The ‘enemies’ of the Union were identified as ‘papists, Irish, Borderers and Highlanders’. Attempts to occupy and conquer the Highlands were planned. In 1609, by the Statutes of Iona, the suppression of bards was enforced (outlawing the old Celtic system of patronage) and chieftains had to send their children to English-speaking schools. Throughout the 17th century Acts were passed in 1631, 1649 and 1696 which sought to totally repress Gaelic.

In the 18th century various attempts were made to restore the Stuart monarchy to the Scottish crown. The first major Jacobite rising of 1715 was crushed. Another rising, the most famous, took place in 1745 and was similarly put down by government forces. After the ‘45 rebellion various measures were to suppress the Gaelic language and crush the social structure of the Celtic clan system. In 1777 the Gaelic Society of London was formed and was successful in getting some of the acts repealed.

The Reformation in Scotland dealt a great blow to Gaelic language and culture. The government at this time openly declared that its aim was to extirpate Gaelic entirely from Scotland. Since the majority of the Gaelic speaking population were Catholic, Gaelic was seen as being an obstacle to the spread of Protestant ideas. A wealth of Gaelic literature from the pre-Reformation era was destroyed, with only afew remnants remaining to bear testimony that this Gaelic literary heritage did indeed exist. We have ‘The Book of Deer’, containing an 11th century poem and Gaelic notations from the 9th century. The Islay Charter of 1408 proves that Gaelic was still used as the language of administration. The Celtic scholar Edward Lhuyd catalogued a complete library of Gaelic works in existence in 1699 - but the library was destroyed. How many other Gaelic documents must have existed we shall never know. It is a great loss to our heritage.

The complete Gaelic Bible had already been printed in 1690. The Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge (SPCK) opted for using Gaelic as a means of instruction as the only way to ensure that Protestant doctrines were instilled. In 1824 Gaelic text books were introduced in SPCK schools. At this time there were two weekly Gaelic newspapers - An Gaidheal (The Gael) and Mac Talla (The Echo) - an import from Nova Scotia.

The 1881 census revealed that 254,415 people spoke Gaelic. This represented 6.84% of the population. By 1901 there were 230,813 Gaelic speakers, of which 28,106 were monoglots. By the time of the 1961 census the number of Gaelic speakers had declined drastically to 80,978, or 1.6% of the population. Incredibly, the 1971 census showed an increase to 88,415 speakers - the only Celtic language to show such an increase in numbers of speakers at that time. We do not know the number of Gaelic speakers that resided outwith Scotland at these times.

The 19th century saw the rise of Comunn an Fhearainn, the Highland Land League, which was active between 1883 and 1895. The League eventually managed to secure basic rights of tenure for crofters, but for many this came too late. The Highland Clearances of the 19th century (although they began much earlier in places such as Sutherland) dealt the most devastating blow yet to the Gaelic language. Highland landlords (many of whom were clan chieftains) cleared the inhabitants of large areas of their estates in order to make way for a more profitable commodity - sheep. Many thousands of people were faced with the bitter choice of starvation or emigration to the new world.

Despite centuries of persecution, a wealth of Gaelic literature continued to be produced from the 17th century onwards by poets such as Iain Lom, Rob Donn MacAoidh, Mairi Nighean Alastair Ruadh, Alasdair mac Mhaighistir Alastair, Donnchadh Ban Mac an t-Saor and many others.

Another factor that significantly contributed to the decline of Gaelic was the introduction of a national system of education after 1870. Gaelic was not allowed to be used in schools, and there are many instances of children being punished for speaking Gaelic at school. In the wake of this, the Gaelic Society An Comunn Gaidhealach was formed in 1899, with the aim of promoting the use of the language and getting it accepted for teaching purposes in Gaelic-speaking areas. An Comunn Gaidhealach founded the Royal National Mod - an annual event of Gaelic music and singing which is still held every year. Earlier this year (1998) An Comunn Gaidhealach also launched a new monthly all-Gaelic newspaper An Gaidheal Ur.

The 1918 Education Act made some amends by instructing local authorities to make “adequate provision for teaching Gaelic in Gaelic-speaking areas”. However, repressive measures continued. Even up to the 1960s the Maidhe crochaidh (hanging stick) was still being used. This was a stick that was hung around the neck of any child caught speaking Gaelic; all the children who had worn the stick each day were beaten by the teacher.

In 1969 another language movement was formed - Comunn na Canain Albannaich (CNCA) which was more radical than An Comunn Gaidhealach in that it carried out a series of campaigns to get Gaelic used in more areas of public life. The movement did not have widespread support, but protests were held against the Post Office in the 1970s for refusing to deliver letters addressed in Gaelic. CNCA managed to get bilingual road signs used in some areas and more hours of radio broadcasting for Gaelic.

Another important development in the 1970s was the decision by the Western Isles local government (Comhairle nan Eilean) to adopt a bilingual policy in all its official business. In 1973 a significant development occurred on the Isle of Skye with the founding of the first Gaelic college in Scotland - Sabhal Mor Ostaig. The work of both these institutions aims to stem the decline of the language in the Gaidhealtachd areas. We have also had eleven years of Gaelic medium primary education in Scotland, although progress in secondary education has been very slow, and there is a critical lack of provision for training bilingual teachers.

The first local Gaelic music festival, or feis, was held on the Isle of Barra in 1982. Since then the Feisean nan Gaidheal movement has spread all over the country, with local feisean being held in all areas, offering tuition to children and young people in Gaelic music, arts and song. There is also now a national Gaelic arts agency - Proiseact nan Ealan - which runs training courses for artists working in the Gaelic medium. Gaelic broadcasting has developed significantly in recent years with documentaries, short films, learners’ programmes, children’s’ programmes, chat shows, music shows and a major soap opera ‘Machair’ (which has now ceased). Radio nan Gaidheal now broadcasts a national Gaelic radio service for several hours every day on FM, which can be received around most of the country.

There is an organisation dedicated to helping Gaelic learners - Comunn an Luchd Ionnsachaidh (‘CLI’ - The Gaelic Learners Society). CLI also campaigns to get Gaelic recognised as being significant to the heritage of the whole of Scotland. Last year (1997) the government-funded Gaelic development body Comunn na Gaidhlig put forward a proposal document calling for ‘Secure Status’ for the Gaelic language. The document was backed by all the Gaelic bodies and signed by many thousands of people. Also last year the government signed up to the European charter on Lesser Used Languages. Signatories promise to give basic rights and more recognition to speakers of lesser used languages in the European community. As with all the Celtic languages, the developments over the last 10 to 20 years give much hope for the future of Gaelic in Scotland, but there still remains much work to be done.