Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 9 on 20/7/2003.

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Shaping the modern world

JAMES IRVINE-ROBERTSON EXAMINES THE PROLIFERATION OF GREAT MINDS AND IDEAS DURING THE 18TH-CENTURY ‘SCOTTISH ENLIGHTENMENT’, WHICH HELPED SHAPE THE MODERN WORLD

The 17th century was grim in Scotland. Civil wars racked the nation, and it ended with religious fundamentalism, mass starvation, a Dutch king on the throne and virtual bankruptcy. In 1696, an 18 year-old student, Thomas Aitkenhead, declared that theology was “a rhapsody of feigned and ill-invented nonsense”. The young man apologised, but he was hanged for blasphemy.

The next century started no better, and, after the Union in 1707, parliament closed down and government moved to London.

The Treaty seemed to bring new taxes but no benefits, and the country became little more than an impoverished backwater.

But there were foundations for progress. The law, the church and education remained separate from those of England and were focuses for national improvement.

Literacy was the highest in Europe; parish schools were long established, and the Scots had a long tradition of respect for learning. No less than 17 rectors of the University of Paris up to the Reformation were Scots.

The universities were teaching the rising generation reason and tolerance. And the Kirk’s power was curtailed and the extremists marginalised by the Toleration Act in 1712 which permitted the Anglican liturgy.

In addition, the Patronage Act reasserted the right of local landowners to appoint ministers, and they favoured moderates.

By the 1720s prosperity began to flow from the Union, mostly spectacularly in Glasgow, whose tobacco lords dominated the trade with North America. The landed and merchant .....

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By James Irvine Robertson

Section : Scottish History

Page number : 20