Tulsa Tartan

3 yrs

THE TREATY OF FALAISE - SCOTLAND & ENGLAND
1174 AD

The Treaty of Falaise was a forced written agreement made in December 1174 between the captive William I, King of Scots, and Henry II, King of England.

During the Revolt of 1173-1174, William joined the rebels and was captured at the Battle of Alnwick during an invasion of Northumbria. He was transported to Falaise in Normandy while Henry prosecuted the war against his sons and their allies. Left with little choice, William agreed to the Treaty and therefore England’s dominion over Scotland. For the first time, the relationship between the king of Scots and the king of England was to be set down in writing. The Treaty’s provisions affected the Scottish king, nobles, and clergy; their heirs; judicial proceedings, and transferred the castles of Roxburgh, Berwick, Jedburgh, Edinburgh, and Stirling over to English soldiers; in short, where previously the king of Scots was supreme, now England was the ultimate authority in Scotland.

During the next 15 years, William was forced to observe Henry's overlordship, such as needing to obtain permission from the English crown before putting down local uprisings. The humiliation for William caused domestic trouble for him in Scotland, and Henry’s authority extended as far as picking William’s bride.

The treaty was annulled in 1189 when Richard I, Henry's successor, was distracted by his interest in joining the Third Crusade, and William's offer of 10,000 marks sterling. More pre-disposed to William than his father, Richard drew up a new charter on 5 December 1189, known as the Quitclaim of Canterbury, that nullified the Treaty of Falaise in its entirety. This new written agreement restored Scottish sovereignty, reverting back to the previously vague and ill-defined personal traditions of fealty and homage between Scottish and English kings, rather than the direct subjugation that Henry demanded.

PICTURED: Chateau de Falaise, where William was held while the Treaty was negotiated.

3 yrs

SCOTLAND'S ANTONINE WALL
124 AD - The Roman Empire Arrives

Scotland’s recorded history began with the arrival of the Roman Empire. Despite building two impressive fortifications – Hadrian’s Wall to defend the northern border, and the Antonine Wall across Central Scotland to advance it forward – the Romans never truly conquered Caledonia. Unable to defeat the Caledonians and Picts, the Romans eventually withdrew and over time retreated away from Britain. Much of the 60 km (37 miles) Antonine Wall survives and it was inscribed as a World Heritage Site, one of six in Scotland, since 2004.

The Antonine wall, often running through suburbs and sprawl, lacks the romance of its southern cousin (Hadrian's Wall)– and is less obviously well-preserved. (Built in turf rather than stone, the wall's surviving trace is most frequently its accompanying ditch. Though often it's no more than a dip in a field, it has many moments of beauty and drama at spots such as at Bar Hill and Rough Castle.)

3 yrs

SCOTLAND'S EARLIEST HISTORY
Archaeologists discover 10,000 year-old home - and reveal residents were partial to hazelnuts

A large oval pit measuring nearly seven metres and studded with post holes was all that remained standing of the home from the Mesolithic period. The dwelling was found in the path of the new Forth bridge and has been dated to around 8240 BC.

The holes would have held wooden posts supporting the walls and roof, which experts believe would have been covered with turf. Remains of several fireplace hearths were also discovered.

The ancient people who lived in the area were hunter gatherers and charred bone fragments on the site suggest they ate birds, fish, wild boar and possible deer. Large quantities of charred hazelnut shells were also found. The residents were among the first settlers in Scotland after the last glacial period (a time within an ice age marked by colder temperatures).

Archaeologists also recovered more than 1,000 flint artefacts including stone tools that would have been used for tasks including hunting, skinning and food processing.

Ed Bailey, Project Manager for Headland Archaeology, the company that carried out the works, said:
'The discovery of this previously unknown, and rare type of site has provided us with a unique opportunity to further develop our understanding of how early prehistoric people lived along the Forth.

'Specialist analysis of archaeological and paleo environmental evidence recovered in the field is ongoing. This will allow us to put the pieces together and build a detailed picture of Mesolithic lifestyle.'

Historic Scotland Senior Archaeologist, Rod McCullagh, said: 'This discovery and, especially, the information from the laboratory analyses adds valuable information to our understanding of a small but growing list of buildings erected by Scotland’s first settlers after the last glaciation, 10,000 year ago.

'The radiocarbon dates that have been taken from this site show it to be the oldest of its type found in Scotland which adds to its significance.'

3 yrs

SCOTLAND'S DUNNOTTAR CASTLE

Scotland's Dunnottar Castle is just south of Stonehaven. It played an important role in Scottish history – and was also the inspiration for the castle in Disney’s animated film Brave.

3 yrs

The Scottish Spy Who Stole China's Tea Empire

In the mid-19th century, Britain was an almost unchallenged empire. It controlled about a fifth of the world's surface, and yet its weakness had everything to do with tiny leaves soaked in hot water: tea. By 1800, it was easily the most popular drink among Britons.

The problem? All the tea in the world came from China, and Britain couldn't control the quality or the price. So around 1850, a group of British businessmen set out to create a tea industry in a place they did control: India.

For All the Tea In China: How England Stole the World's Favorite Drink and Changed History is writer Sarah Rose's account of the effort to control the tea market, what she calls the "greatest single act of corporate espionage in history."

"The task required a plant hunter, a gardener, a thief, a spy. The man Britain needed was Robert Fortune," Rose writes. Fortune was the agent sent to sneak out of China the plants and secrets of tea production.

Before Fortune, England engaged in trade with China, sending opium in exchange for tea.

But "the Chinese emperor hated that opium was the medium of exchange, because a nation of drug addicts was being created. So the emperor confiscated all the opium [and] destroyed it all. England sent warships. And at the end of the day, they realized that if they were going to keep pace with the British tea consumption and not deal with the Chinese, they had to own it themselves."

Enter Robert Fortune, a botanist in an era when the natural sciences were on the ascent in Britain. At the time, many botanists had university degrees and were trained as doctors, but Fortune, who was Scottish, grew up poor.

"He kind of worked his way up through the ranks of professional botany, learning with hands-on training instead of book training," Rose said.

Around 1845, when the botanist was in his early 30s, he took a two-year trip to China in search of plants. Upon his return, he published a travelogue in which he described his adventures.

"He was attacked by pirates, he was attacked by bandits, he encountered all kinds of disease and storms, and he also goes in Chinese disguise, dressed up as if he were a wealthy Chinese merchant," Rose said.

His memoir captured the imagination of Victorian society, and Fortune was approached by a representative of the East India Trading Company — at the time, one of the most important (if not the most important) multinational corporations in the world. The company recruited Fortune to return to China — this time, to smuggle tea out of the country.

"They wanted really good tea stock from the very best gardens in China, and they also needed experts. They needed the Chinese to go to India to teach the British planters, as well as the Indian gardeners," Rose explained.

Fortune succeeded. He managed to get seeds from China to India, and the impact on the tea trade was immense. Within his lifetime, India surpassed China as the world's largest tea grower.

"It astonishes me," Rose said. "China has pretty much never really come back from that, certainly not in the Western markets. Now that Asia has such a booming economy, the Chinese are again pretty fierce tea producers. But it took a hundred-plus years."

So was Fortune history's greatest corporate thief, or the man we can thank for the tea we drink?

"I think he thought of himself as a China expert and a gardener," Rose said. "He didn't see himself as stealing something that didn't belong to him. He thought plants belonged to everybody."