Ossian

Ossian was the name given to the fictional bard created by James Macpherson. He published a cycle of supposed epic Gallic poems in 1760. The date is significant.

When you think about it - we all have a tribal past which still exerts some influence on us. Personally I am from the county of Sussex in southern England. Sussex is a contraction of South Saxons. I could just about claim therefore that I was descended in some way from the Saxon warriors who invaded Britain in the fifth century sweeping away the Roman Empire. It is a nice thought, but 15 centuries separate me from this heritage so it isn't really that great a legacy. Other people in the world are closer to their tribal origins but there aren't many people in Western Europe or America who really have strong links to whatever tribe they come from, except native Americans of course.

But there is one part of the British Isles where the tribal past is a lot closer. In the Highlands of Scotland society was effectively tribal well into the era for which we have good records. The Scottish lowlands developed socially and economically pretty much in line with England. In the seventeenth century the lowland Scots were protestant, spoke English and traded via the medium of money. If you were to turn up in Edinburgh in 1650, although you would miss motor cars and broadband, you wouldn't feel that out of place. You could make yourself understood and you would have a pretty good idea of what was going on and how to fit in. With some cash in your pocket you would get by just fine.

If you were to find yourself in the Highlands at the same period you would be in a world that was totally alien. The language would be gallic and you would walk miles before you found an English speaker. You would also find that society was organised into tribes, or as the locals would call them, clans. These were the basis of all social transactions and as an outsider to the clan system your reception would be completely arbitary. You might be welcomed as an honoured guest. But you would be more likely to be robbed. Robbery would be regarded not as a crime but as a respectable way to earn a living. The clan chief would have powers over and above that of any elected official you have ever come across.

The breakdown of the clan system in the Highlands is well documented. The clans got caught up in in the internal politics of England. The Stuart dynasty had been deposed from the throne of England as a result of political, religious and economic upheavals. Their support was very thin in England itself, but it was just conceivable that with support in catholic Ireland and the catholic Highlands, and a bit of help from the then global superpower France the Stuart dynasty could just about hope to make a comeback. Matters came to a head in 1745. Bonnie Prince Charlie, the heir to the Stuart inheritance, raised his standard in the Highlands and the clans flocked to support him. He was nowhere near as welcome in the lowlands, where despite their Scottish roots the Stuarts were even less popular than in England.

At first the clansmen, who individually were superb fighters, seemed to have it their way. They beat all the forces sent against them and got as far south as Derby, only 130 miles from London. But after this giddy initial success the advantages of an organised society with greater resources began to tell. The British army started to advance and before long the clansmen had been pushed back to their home country. Their bravery was no match for the well supplied and equipped regular army equipped with canons and plenty of bullets. The final showdown came at Culloden. It was an heroic fight. The British general, the Duke of Cumberland, at one point had to take off his wig and shake out the bullets. But at the end of the day the power of the clans was broken forever. The British moved in and imposed order on the wild territory that was so different to the rest of the kingdom. Gallic was surpressed. The tartan was outlawed. The rule of law arrived for the first time. Many of the people went. They have never come back. In some parts of the highlands population density is lower now than it would have been in 1745. The last tribes had gone from the British Isles.

But then a strange thing happened. Once the clansmen were gone and no longer a threat to the settled society of the Scottish lowlands a strange transformation took place. They became romanticised and the subject of a fascination they never exerted in their heyday. One of the first examples of this was Macpherson's amazing claim to have translated a cycle of epic poems from the Gallic. Twenty years before the clans were ignored at best, and most likely treated as potential cut-throats. By 1860 there was a market for their poetry. It still seems to me a great shame that they are a scam. I would love to have some genuine folk tales from Scotland. It seems that Macpherson was trying to give Scotland a set of myths to replace the ones that he thought had been lost. This really does sound like Tolkien, who explicitly said that he had set out to create a "mythology for England". Like Tolkien's, Macpherson was incredibly popular all around the World with such notable fans as Goethe and Napoleon. Given the parallels it is well worth having a closer look at Ossian. Was this one of Tolkien's sources for his ideas?

Constantinople and Minas Tirith

There have been surprisingly few really epic sieges in history. Rome was sacked by the Goths in 410 and the Vandals in 455 but neither siege was long or particularly glorious to either attackers or defenders. Carthage was besieged by the Romans and was heroically defended, but the Carthaginians were traders more than soldiers. The destruction of Nineveh was a major event but hasn't really resonated through history so I don't think that J.R.R.Tolkien had it in mind when he came to draft his account of the siege of Minas Tirith. I think that there is one, and only one, siege that really compares with that of Minas Tirith. In 1453, after over a thousand years as the major city of Christianity Constantinople was besieged by the Ottoman Turks. Constantinople had taken over from Rome as the centre of the Empire and had changed so much that it is now referred to as the Byzantine Empire. It was by the standards of the time a huge city and maintained history and culture from a previous age that had been lost and forgotten in the world outside. Its huge walls and defensive ditches had never before been taken. Only once in its history had it been attacked successfully. That had been by the 5th Crusade where there had been a large element of deception involved in the attack. The Byzantine Eastern Roman Empire had been under attack by the Turks for centuries and had almost always come off worst. The conflict was so ingrained that it had become almost ritualistic. In fact often, cities would not be contested militarily. The Byzantines The Turks attacked the walls by land and maintained a fleet outside. The defenders were hopelessly outnumbered and cut off from all help. The Turks had a large cannon fired - one of the first times that artillery was used against a city. The huge chain across the harbour entrance prevented the Turkish fleet from attacking directly. This was a key defence and when some Christian ships managed to break the blockade and reach the city, it became clear that the Turks could still be resisted. To counter this they transported ships overland on greased logs to get round the boom and block the port itself. Once they had achieved this all hope for relief vanished. The canon continued to pound the walls during the day, but the defenders repaired the breeches during the night. Turkish attempts to build tunnels to undermine the walls were beaten by counter tunnels. (The chief of sappers on the Byzantine side was a Scot called John Grant.) The walls, first built by the Emperor Theodosius, continued to stand between the Turks and their prize. But they had overwhelming superiority in numbers and could hope to simply outfight the defenders. On May 22 the city experienced an eclipse of the moon. This was an evil omen for the superstitious Byzantines. When I first read about that I was instantly put in mind of Minas Tirith in its unnatural gloom during the siege by Sauron. And a few days later there was another omen. The whole city was covered with a dense fog. This is almost unknown in that part of the world. As the fog cleared people noticed that the church of Hagia Sofia was wreathed in a strange light. Hagia Sofia had been founded some 900 years before by the Emperor Justinian and was the religious and symbolic heart of the city. Some said it was the Holy Sprit leaving the city. It recalls the lights seen in the tower of Denethor as Minas Tirith was under attack. But unlike Minas Tirith, Constantinople was not to be saved by a rescue from the North. Some defenders believed that they saw the campfires of a Christian army come to rescue them in the distance, but it was in vain. By the end of May it was obvious that the Turks were preparing for an all out assault. A last service was held in the Hagia Sofia - the last Christian service to take place there attended by the last emperor, Constantine XI. A last call to surrender was rejected. Hopeless as it might be, Constantine could not give up the last stronghold of the Christian Empire without a fight. At midnight the assault began. The defenders were overwhelmed . Constantine himself was killed defending his city. His courage at this last hour and willingness to fight to the end have justly made him a hero to the Greeks ever since. The fall of Constntinople sent a shock through Western Europe. It was the largest and the oldest Christian city. It was the last link with the empire of the Romans. The Moslems now controlled all but one of the great patriarchies of the early church. A messenger walked into the council at Venice without following and without waiting to be announced or acknowledged interrupted whatever business was being conducted and said simply " I bring the worst news that there could be, the worst news that there will ever be. Constantinople has fallen."