Battle Cries of the Clans

In the Spiral Pathways series, there are numerous times when a character uses the Battle Cry of their clan. Clans used these cries to rattle their fighting foes and to help distinguish different sides during a battle. Traditional Battle Cries often invoke a location where Clan members would meet before marching into battle together, or will refer to an important site in the Clan's history, such as the location of the Clan's seat. In Wyldwood, both Alex and Saorsa use their clan's cries. Here are the cries, the translations, and the mottos of some of the Clans of the Spiral Pathways:

Clan Scott

Motto: "Amo" (I love)

Location: Scottish Borders

War Cry: The Scotts of Buccleuch actually have two: 'a Bellendaine! ("To Bellendaine!") Also, "The Scotts are out!" Alex uses both in the first book. Bellendaine refers to the head of the Borthwick Water in Roxburghshire, the gathering place of the clan.

Clan Stuart

Motto: "Virescit vulnere virtus" (Courage grows strong at a wound)

Location: Highlands and Lowlands

War Cry: "Creag an Sgairbh!" (“Cormorants Rock”) to commemorate first clan castle, Castle Stalker, built around 1540 by Duncan Stewart of Appin. It sits at the mouth of Loch Laich by Loch Linnhe on a rocky islet known as the Rock of the Cormorants.

Clan Bruce

Motto: "Fuimus" (We have been)

Location: Lowlands

War Cry: "Garg’n Uair Dhuisgear" (“Fierce when rosed”) Perhaps an old form of roused? -ed.

Clan MacDonald / MacDonell

Motto: "Per Mare Per Terras" (By Sea and Land), referring to the Clan's location on the Isle of Skye

Location: Highlands

War Cry: " Creagan an fhithich" (“The Rock of the Raven”) , the place of Clan’s Tower, or "Fraoch eilean" ("the Heathery Isle"), depending on Clan Branch.

Clan MacLeod

Motto: The MacLeods have an old motto: "Murus aheneus esto" (Be then a wall of brass) and a newer one: "Hold Fast"

Location: Highlands

War Cry: It appears "Hold Fast!" may also be used as the MacLeod war cry.

On of my favorite mottos belongs to Clan Kerr: "Sero sed serio" ("Late but in earnest"). As in: "Hey, guys, sorry we're late for the battle, but we're super excited for it!"

The Bonnie Prince: Charles Edward Stuart and the Stuarts in Exile

Who, exactly, was Bonnie Prince Charlie?

In brief, the Stuarts were the first kings of the United Kingdom. King James VI of Scotland became also King James I of England, which combined the two thrones for the first time.

The Stuart dynasty reigned in Scotland and England from 1603 to 1714, but they attempted to lay claim to the crown for another century afterward. The name also appears spelled Stewart, as it is believed the line began when Robert the Bruce's daughter Marjorie married Robert's friend, who acted as the Steward of Scotland. Robert the Bruce was crowned King of Scotland in 1306 and spent his life trying to free Scotland from England's grasp.

Here's a wonderful article that talks about Charles and the exiled Stuarts:

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-40258979

Charles Edward Louis John Casimir Sylvester Maria Stuart was born in Rome in 1720, around 30 years after his grandfather, James VII and II, who was also the last Roman Catholic monarch of Ireland, Scotland, and England, had been deposed from the throne.

Charles set about planning an invasion of England to regain the Crown for the family. Charles had no military experience, but is described in contemporary accounts as being wildly charismatic and shockingly good-looking, and so was able to raise support from diverse groups across the United Kingdom, including managing to land the support of experienced generals who had fought against the English before. Catholicism had been outlawed in the UK, and so many Catholics joined the cause, hoping for religious freedom with a Stuart on the throne. Charles had supporters in England as well. He raised money in both Scotland and France to finance the endeavor and somehow, against tremendous odds, managed to build an army and march towards London. He and his supporters even took Castle Carlisle for a time, the English stronghold that is discussed in Circle of Three and its sequel.

Above is a picture of James II and his family. Even if you don't know much Scottish history, you've probably heard of Mary, Queen of Scots. She was a Stuart as well.

Bonnie Prince Charlie had one brother, so his older sister Maria is an entirely fictional character in the Spiral Pathways series. But everything else about the Bonnie Prince mentioned in Wyldwood is real. Bonnie Prince Charlie's flight towards the Isle of Skye after his crushing defeat at Culloden Moor had been enshrined in the famous Skye Boat Song, a slightly altered version of which has recently made much more famous by the series Outlander.

Here's a link to a great, quick guide to the royal dynasties of Scotland:

https://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/scottish_kings.htm

And if you like art history, here is a link to the first of a series of 4 videos on the hunt for Bonnie Prince Charlie's missing portrait. You'll learn a ton about him and his supporters along the way:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhUwLReQrlc

Who Were the Border Reivers?

The starting point for Wyldwood came with the pandemic. Everyone suddenly had time at home they normally wouldn't have, and I decided to use mine to load several family trees that had been passed on to me into Ancestry.com.

I had grown up thinking that the majority of my ancestors were German. And while there were a lot of Germans in my tree, I was also delighted to find that I had a lot of Irish ancestors as well. Having always felt very connected to Celtic art, music, and mythology, I began diving into my Irish history. And as my search continued, I found that I had a large amount of ancestors from Scotland as well.

Full confession: I realized I knew NOTHING about Scottish history. Zero. Zilch. And as I went backwards in my tree, I ran into three massive clans: Scott, Stuart, and MacDonald. As I started looking into them, and other clans that had married into them as well, such as the Kerrs and Bruces, I ran across a name: Sir William "Boltfoot" Scott, 1st Laird of Harden, 1529-1563.

"Boltfoot"? Where'd the nickname come from? And why did his male relatives all seem to have nicknames as well? One of these interestingly-named gentleman listed a profession: Border Reiver.

Okay, I thought, what the heck is a Border Reiver? Well, to sum up (As Alex does in Wyldwood,) a Border Reiver is a sort of "pirate on land". With the English-Scottish border often in turmoil with armies marching through and destroying everything in their wake, it became hard to earn a living farming or herding in the Scottish borders. So families on both sides, Scottish and English, did what they needed to do to survive; they stole everything that wasn't nailed down to provide for their families. They weren't political about it, either; they'd steal from England and Scotland equally. Cattle, sheep, and horses were herded off into the night, and the larger families started building fortresses and gaining power and hoo, boy did they squabble among themselves. Huge feuds broke out as various clans gained power. The existence of the Reivers drove England absolutely bonkers, and the Crown tried to both ally with and imprison them, depending on the day and mood.

A map of some of the most powerful Reiver clans for your consideration:

On this map you'll see names you'll recognize if you're reading The Spiral Pathways series. There's the Armstrongs, (Rhona Armstrong and Toran Armstrong from Circle of Three) the Kerrs (Old Man Kerr from both books and Donovan Kerr from Circle of Three), and you can see the Selbys (Oliver Selby from Wyldwood) up there on the east coast. The Burn or Burns Clan was a frequent associate of the Kerrs. I've got a few Kerrs in my family tree as well.

And of course, you can see the Scotts have spread themselves all over the place, smack in the middle of things. The character of Alexander Scott draws his name, as many of the characters do, from my family tree. I have two Alexander Scotts, although they were alive well before Alex's time; Alexander Scott (1500-1539) of Balwearie and Sir Alexander Scott, 2nd Laird of Fingask, 1497-1547, who died at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh (a battle known as "Black Saturday" in Scottish History). Both of my real-life Alexanders were from the Balweary /Fife branch of the Clan a bit further north, which births a major character in Circle of Three, although I have a massive amount of relatives from Buccleuch as well.

I started thinking: what if I took a Border Reiver and instead of putting him in the 1500s, moved him up to the 1700s and had him reive supplies and prisoners after the Jacobite Rebellion? And POOF! Alex was born. He's been making me type ferociously ever since, the rascal.

Several of the Scott Reivers made themselves rather famous, and this is touched on in the first two book of the series and will become a major point in Book Three. For more on the Reivers. check out this video by Bruce Fummey on Youtube. He does a whole series on Scottish History and is an absolute delight to watch and listen to. He'll be popping up on this blog a lot (check out his other videos!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_olF0TEWKWs