The Invention of Scotland: Myth and History

by Hugh Trevor-Roper

This book argues that while Anglo-Saxon culture has given rise to virtually no myths at all, myth has played a central role in the historical development of Scottish identity. Hugh Trevor-Roper explores three myths across 400 years of Scottish history: the political myth of the “ancient constitution” of Scotland; the literary myth, including Walter Scott as well as Ossian and ancient poetry; and the sartorial myth of tartan and the kilt, invented—ironically, by Englishmen—in quite modern times. 

Trevor-Roper reveals myth as an often deliberate cultural construction used to enshrine a people’s identity. While his treatment of Scottish myth is highly critical, indeed debunking, he shows how the ritualization and domestication of Scotland’s myths as local color diverted the Scottish intelligentsia from the path that led German intellectuals to a dangerous myth of racial supremacy. 

This compelling manuscript was left unpublished on Trevor-Roper’s death in 2003 and is now made available for the first time. Written with characteristic elegance, lucidity, and wit, and containing defiant and challenging opinions, it will absorb and provoke Scottish readers while intriguing many others. 

“I believe that the whole history of Scotland has been coloured by myth; and that myth, in Scotland, is never driven out by reality, or by reason, but lingers on until another myth has been discovered, or elaborated, to replace it.”–Hugh Trevor-Roper

Genres: History, Scotland, Nonfiction

282 pages, Hardcover

First published July 16, 2008

About the author

Hugh Redwald Trevor-Roper, Baron Dacre of Glanton, was an English historian. He was Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford.
Trevor-Roper was a polemicist and essayist on a range of historical topics, but particularly England in the 16th and 17th centuries and Nazi Germany. In the view of John Philipps Kenyon, "some of [Trevor-Roper's] short essays have affected the way we think about the past more than other men's books". This is echoed by Richard Davenport-Hines and Adam Sisman in the introduction to One Hundred Letters from Hugh Trevor-Roper (2014): "The bulk of his publications is formidable ... Some of his essays are of Victorian length. All of them reduce large subjects to their essence. Many of them ... have lastingly transformed their fields." On the other hand, his biographer Adam Sisman also writes that "the mark of a great historian is that he writes great books, on the subject which he has made his own. By this exacting standard Hugh failed."
Trevor-Roper's most commercially successful book was titled The Last Days of Hitler (1947). It emerged from his assignment as a British intelligence officer in 1945 to discover what happened in the last days of Hitler's bunker. From interviews with a range of witnesses and study of surviving documents, he demonstrated that Hitler was dead and had not escaped from Berlin. He also showed that Hitler's dictatorship was not an efficient unified machine but a hodge-podge of overlapping rivalries.
Trevor-Roper's reputation was "severely damaged" in 1983 when he authenticated the Hitler Diaries shortly before they were shown to be forgeries.

Reviews

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writer of the introduction claims Hugh Trevor-Roper loved all things Scottish, but I find that hard to believe. The tone throughout is a bit disparaging, and he continually refers to the people as Scotch. (Scotch is a beverage. A Scot is a person.)

Trevor-Roper's motives are also suspect. According to the editor, he wrote this book to prove Scotland should stay part of the U.K. because their history and traditions were made up anyway. Well, my country has existed for less than 300 years, so excuse me if I don't find antiquity of your traditions as the benchmark for right to sovereignty.

The first section is pretty interesting, and mostly moved at a good pace. The second part drags and is very tedious, going into painful detail about political careers that have nothing to do with the supposed topic (Scotland's literary myth).

The third section is downright misleading. He claims the kilt is an entirely modern fabrication while describing the earlier belted plaid, which clearly indicates that the modern kilt is an update of an earlier garment. He even claims tartans themseves are of modern origin, and came to Scotland from Flanders in the 1500s, when the oldest evidence of tartan in Scotland dates back to the 3rd or 4th century A.D. He also downplays the Highland Clearances, claiming their impact was more imagined than real, a claim that is basically unforgivable.

Overall, it is a so-so book. Admittedly, it may have been more engaging if the author had lived to polish it up a bit.

[Matt Kelland · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read the two essays on kilts as part of The Invention of Tradition in my university days. It's no lie to say that they were key to changing my view on the world. For the first time I understood how people's culture defines them, and how they choose to define their culture. It was a breakthrough moment in my academic life. This book expands on that theme, and shows how the Scots also attempted to invent a literary and political history that plays to their romantic and glorious ideals. Trevor-Roper tells the story of the creation (or forgery, if you prefer) of these cultural narratives, and the way they were subsequently propagated, debunked, and repeatedly resurrected. Still today, many Scots, particularly the more nationalist ones, believe these myths, and treat them as central to Scottish culture.

The fact is that early Scotland - prior to roughly Macbeth in about 1066 - was not a sophisticated kingdom. It was made up of squabbling Irish, Pictish, Norse, Celtic & Saxon tribes who lived in mud huts. There were no great early epic Scottish poets - Ossian, if he existed, was Irish. Kilts and tartans are not traditional Scottish dress. They're a Victorian invention. Scottish nationalists, going back to the 14th century, made all this stuff up in order to legitimize various total lines or to make Scotland look like it had a more exciting past.

A fascinating and enjoyable book, certain to offend many Scots, but which has a lot to say about the role of history, nationalist myth, fiction and culture in defining how we see ourselves and who we like to think we are.

[Richard Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a very enjoyable, readable and learned polemic partially on the myth making before the 19th century on the origins of Scotland, kilts and tartans but primarily on the farrago of nonsense surrounding Ossian. He thoroughly dissects the 'discovery' of the sagas and exposes James MacPherson's work in the invention of the cycle. It was a sensation for perhaps 50 years but faded when sceptics (or realists) exposed the fraudulent basis of the poetry. Hugh Trevor-Roper recounts the saga with a great deal of relish and elegant prose.

[Andrea Maisano · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Myth and history", il sottotitolo del libro chiarisce in maniera esemplare i termini principali di questo studio - pubblicato postumo - del nostro studioso britannico. Tre parti dedicate a tre miti relativi alla Scozia - il primo relativo alla storia, il secondo alla letteratura, il terzo all'abbigliamento - che affrontano tre capisaldi dell'identità scozzese. Un'ulteriore conferma che la storia, e soprattutto come la storia viene raccontata, se non addirittura creata, racconta non solo il nostro passato ma è parte integrante e fondamentale della costruzione della nostra attualità.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting and well written book, but I couldn't help but wonder: what's the point? If people in 16th and 18th century Scotland were fooled, so what? Why does it matter?

While I think it's important for historians to debunk historical myths, the author goes too far and seems to look down his nose on Scottish people. The author quotes anti-Scottish bigots without complaint and casually claims Scots had no literature or history so they had to invent one.

[Shomeret · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book entertaining. I enjoyed Trevor-Roper's moments of sarcasm such as his comment that the campaign against Napoleon was no doubt won because the Highlander regiments wore kilts. I envisioned Hugh Laurie speaking lines such as that one and chortled.

On the other hand, I'd imagine that many readers would not be best pleased by an English author debunking Scottish history and culture. Like most Englishmen, he fails to distinguish between an inhabitant of Scotland and a bottle of whiskey which annoys most Scots. So even though it's well recognized in Scotland that the supposed works of Ossian were a forgery and that the kilt as we know it today is a modern invention, Trevor-Roper's reflections on these topics come across as patronizing.

[Patty · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to enjoy this book more than I did and ended up skimming large portions of it. The premise of how three mythical origins of Scotland and Scottish history--the ancient constitution, the ancient epic poetry of Ossian and the authentic kilts of the various clans--were not based in fact but invented over the years to promote national pride and heritage was intriguing, but the writing is very dry and pedantic. I did not realize this book was published posthumously. Perhaps if the author had finished it on his own, he may have done it differently.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good history book. I enjoyed the read and learned alot. Recommended