Scottish History and Clan Henderson
80 Julius Agricola is sent from Rome in to be governor of Britain. He and his Roman soldiers push into the north, advancing to the valley crossing Scotland from the River Clyde to the Forth.
84 Calgacus unites the Celtic tribes to fight the advancing Romans, but he and some 10,000 Celts are killed in a battle at Ardoch.
296 For the first time, Romans mention the Picts in their literature. The word was derived either from a Latin word meaning “painted ones” or another meaning “fighter.”
360 Romans describe the marauding tribes who come over from northern Ireland as “Scotti,” meaning raider.
368 Tribes of Picts, Scots and Saxons attack Romans in what is now London and plunder the area.
503 Some of the Scotti leave Ireland and establish the kingdom of Dalriada on the west coast of Scotland, in Argyll.
597 St. Columba, the great Christian missionary who left his native Ireland to minister to the Scots and establish monasteries, dies on the Inner Hebrides island of Iona.
794 The Norsemen begin raiding Scotland and western Europe.
843 Cinead (Kenneth) MacAlpin unites the Picts and the Scots as one nation. The significance of his ascent to the throne is that it marks the end of the first stage of Scottish unification. (The use of ‘Mac’ in his name shows that the prefix in use at this time.)
900 Orkney is now a Norse earldom and includes Caithness.
1005 Malcolm II kills Kenneth III and becomes king.
1011 Eanruig Mor Mac Righ Neachtan (Big Henry, son of King Nectan) arrives in Kinlochleven, the beginning of the Hendersons in Glencoe.
1018 Malcolm II defeats the Saxons at the Battle of Carham, acquiring Lothian.
1034 Duncan, ruler of Strathclyde, kills his grandfather, Malcolm II, and becomes King of Scotland.
1057 Malcolm III, also known as Malcolm Canmore (the latter name meaning “Great Head” or “Chief”), rules Scotland for 35 years.
1066 The Norman conquest of England introduces a new language and feudalism to Scotland. The Normans force many fugitives into southeastern Scotland.
1097 Edgar becomes king, ushering in a period of two centuries of peace between Scotland and England. Although feudalism becomes prevalent during this time, it never really takes widespread root in the Highlands. The clan system by this time is evolving and supercedes it in the north and the west of Scotland.
1107 With the death of Edgar, Scotland becomes disunited again. Alexander I becomes King of the Scots, while David I becomes King in Lothian and Strathclyde.
1124 With the death of Alexander, David becomes King of the Scots and the country enjoys unity again. Under David, Scotland undertakes major extensions of its borders.
1221 The name of Fordell is first mentioned when Hugh de Camera gives a homestead and additional property of his lands to the monastery of Inchcolm, in gratitude for his safe return from the Crusade.
1295 Scotland and France sign the “Auld Alliance,” one of the world’s oldest mutual defense treaties.
1296 England annexes Scotland. Subsequently, King Edward I of England removes the Stone of Scone (also known as the Stone of Destiny), the coronation stone for Scotland’s monarchs, and installs it in London’s Westminster Abbey. Temporarily returned to Scotland in 1950, the stone was permanently returned in 1996.
1287 Alexander III, the last of the Irish royal line, dies, leading to the Wars of Succession among the Lowland families of the Bruces and the Balliols.
1305 William Wallace, the leader of the Scots’ efforts to defy English rule, is put to death in London.
1314 The Scots, led by Robert the Bruce, rout the English, led by Edward II, at Bannockburn, resulting in the establishment of Scotland as a sovereign nation.
1320 Scotland’s lords and bishops sign the Declaration of Arbroath, a petition to the Pope urging him to recognize Scotland’s independence from England.
1450 Hendrich Hendrichson arrives in the Shetlands, the beginning of the Hendersons there.
1468 James III marries Margaret, daughter of Christian I, King of Denmark. This union adds Orkney and Shetland to the realm of Scotland.
1488 James III is murdered after being accused of surrounding himself with advisors who encouraged him to bring Englishmen into Scottish affairs of state.
1494 The first evidence of distilled Scots Whisky
1502 King Henry VII of England gives his daughter in marriage to James IV of Scotland. This eventually leads to the Union of Crowns in 1603.
1508 Robert Henryson dies. A schoolmaster in Dunfermline, he used poetry to provide the most enduring record of Scottish life during the reign of James IV. His work was written in English, although the version spoken where he lived was known as “Scots” or “Middle Scots.”
1512 By treaty, all Scottish citizens become French, and vice versa.
1528 The Scottish General Assembly formally accepts Presbyterianism.
1547 The Battle of Pinkie occurs. On Saturday, September 10, known as “Black Saturday,” Somerset crosses the border at the head of an English army advancing on Edinburgh, meeting the Scots at Pinkie. The result of this period of warfare is to convince the Scots that the best way to gain the support of the French in their struggles against the English is to have their queen leave for France to marry the Dauphin.
1559 John Knox gives a sermon at Perth, regarded as the start of the Protestant Reformation in Scotland.
1582 The University of Edingburgh is founded. Scotland now has four universities to England’s two. Students work and play in Latin.
1584 Episcopacy is reaffirmed.
1592 Act is passed to authorize the Presbyterian Government.
1594 The Hendersons are recorded as living in the so-called Middle Marches during this time, although the 1594 Act of the Scottish Parliament does not list them as one of the Border Clans.
1600 Scotland abolishes the Norse laws in Orkney and the Shetlands.
1603 James VI of Scotland becomes James I of England as well, which brings about the Union of the Crowns.
1607 James I initiates the Plantation of Ulster in northern Ireland, hoping to provide a Presbyterian barrier between the Irish Celts and their Hebridean cousins by transplanting fellow Lowlanders. These transplanted Scots are successful in their new homes, and some take their industrious nature with them to the New World as well. From the stock of well-to-do in Edinburgh and the Lowlands comes the establishment of Henderson of Fordell.
1611 James I publishes the Authorized Version of the Bible.
1621 Attempting to create jobs and opportunity for Scots, Sir William Alexander plans the colony of Nova Scotia (New Scotland) in the New World. In 1632, however, the colony passes into the hands of the French.
1625 Charles I is crowned. He alienates most Scottish landowners by an Act of Revocation, which cancels all grants of crown property since 1540 and all dispositions of church property. Sometime during Charles’ reign, Ninian Magnusson in the Shetlands becomes the first there to assume the Henderson name.
1633 Charles I visits Scotland for the first time. This is a tumultuous period in the church because of Charles’ requirement to use the English Book of Common Prayer.
1637 Charles I regards protests against his prayer book as treason. A riot had occured in Edinburgh the year before over the prayer book, but was quelled by the Lord Advocate, who suggests the formation of a committee to come up with a suitable response. As a result, the National League and Covenant is created, which binds all who sign it to defend the king with their lives, but to have nothing to do with his new ideas for the church (Episcopalianism) until they have been approved by the General Assembly and by Parliament. Subsequently, during the General Assembly, in November at Greyfriars’ Church in Glasgow, the Presbyterians abolish Episcopacy. Alexander Henderson is the moderator of the Assembly and author of the National Covenant.
1639 Charles calls a General Assembly, effectively abolishing the Scottish Bishops, which leads to the First Bishops’ War. The conflict is temporarily quieted when an agreement is reached through the Treaty of Berwick.
1640 The Second Bishops’ War occurs when the peace created the year before collapses. Civil war breaks out in England. The Scottish Covenanters side with the English rebels, who take power.
1651 England’s Parliament passes the Navigation Act, which, at varying times, either helps or hurts Scottish merchants.
1685 When Covenanters fail to accept Charles II, they are transported to the American colonies.
1688 James VII (and II of Scotland) escapes to France. William of Orange ascends to the throne of England. When he is invited to rule Scotland as well, the Viscount of Dundee (Graham of Claverhouse) leads armed opposition in the support of James. James’ supporters now become known as Jacobites, from Jacobus, the Latin word for James.
1692 William of Orange issues a proclamation directing all Highland chiefs to take an oath of allegiance, to be signed prior to Jan. 1, 1693. MacIain of Glencoe, a MacDonald, is one of only two who fail to meet the deadline. He was delayed, possibly by inclement weather, and William sought to make an example of him. William ordered troops, under the command of a Campbell of Glenlyon, to dispose of MacIan and his Clan. Captain Campbell, however, is a relative (by marriage), so there is no alarm at the sight of him and his men. On the morning of February 13, Campbell and his men massacre approximately 38 people, including MacIan, his wife and 22 Hendersons. Many more are hunted down in subsequent days. The Campbell’s treachery inflames both the English and Scottish folk.
1707 The Treaty of Union reunites Scotland and England, creating the United Kingdom. The Scottish Parliament meets on March 25 for the last time.
1715 The Jacobites rise up in force in support of James VIII, “The Old Pretender.” Jacobite forces include those clans aligned against the Campbells, such as the Stewarts, MacDonalds, Camerons, MacPhersons and Robertsons.
1739 Ten companies of Highlanders are formed to combat lawlessness in Scotland. They are known as the Black Watch.
1745 The Jacobites, led by Charles Edward (the son of James VIII and more popularly known as “Bonny Prince Charlie”), make an adventurous attempt to reclaim the Scottish throne. At first the uprising is successful. More Scots are a part of the government army, however, than are in support of Charles. The Jacobite dream of reestablishing a free and independent Scotland comes to an end at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. As a result of the defeat, a new Disarming Act is passed in the English Parlament, further disarming the Clans. In addition, the wearing of the kilt, the plaid or the tartan, and the playing of bagpipes are outlawed. One-third of the Highland population is transported to the United States, Ireland and Australia.
1763 The Highland Clearances begin and continue to 1850. As the Industrial Revolution begins, the Highlanders find themselves at a disadvantage, and many landowners sell their property. Many Scots leave to find better economic opportunity in foreign lands.
1814 The ban on the wearing of Highland dress and the tartan is lifted.
1839 John Henderson, who traced his ancestry back to Sir John Henderson, 5th of Fordell, emigrates from Scotland to Australia.
1840 The Scottish government encourages and organizes immigration. Throughout the next half century, there was another wave of evictions and clearances.
1845 The Potato Famine in Ireland occurs. Many Irish come to live in Scotland, while many Scots emigrate to the United States and other parts of the British Commonwealth.
1870 Samuel M. Henderson, the tenth child and seventh son (considered to be a gifted birth order by the Scots-Irish) of Samuel and Anne Henderson, emigrates to America from Ireland with his sister, Anna Eliza.
1918 After World War I, many of the large estates in Scotland are sold and many mansions become institutions.
1988 Having been authorized to formally organize two years before, the Clan Henderson Society of the United States and Canada is officially established.
1996 The English government formally returns the Stone of Scone (or Stone of Destiny) Scotland’s coronation stone, 700 years after its theft by Edward I.
1997 In a landmark vote, Scots vote to re-establish their own Parliament again.
2009 Clan Henderson Society convenes at The Gathering 2009 in Holyrood Park, Edinburgh, Scotland.