Scottish Flotsam from the Shetland Islands - People, Scottish Kings, Quotes, and Proverbs

I imagine the first question anyone will ask is what is a column called "Scottish Flotsam". I guess we will have to begin with what is "flotsam". Among the definitions of the word are "things washed ashore" or "miscellaneous trifles". Well, we believe you can find some great treasure on the ocean shore. But -- you will never know what you will find or its value. So we decided that is what this column is - flotsam. We wanted a place to put things that didn't fit anywhere else and might be of interest. Each item could be a column itself and might be some day but for now it will be the flotsam, which washes our way.

Now lets look at a Scottish King:

ALEXANDER I (the Fierce) (1107-1124) Alexander I was the son of Malcolm III and St. Margaret of Scotland. He was married to Sybilla, an illegitimate daughter of Henry I. At that time it was called a natural child. Henry I in turn was married to Alexander's sister Maud. Everything was so interrelational by marriage. Henry and Maud had no legitimate children. He succeeded his brother Edgar, who had divided the kingdom so that Alexander ruled only N of the Forth and Clyde rivers, while his brother David ruled in the south. He was called the Fierce after dealing with an uprising in Moray. Although he was technically an English vassal, he dissuaded Scottish bishops from accepting the authority of York and appointed his mother's biographer Rugot to the see of St. Andrews. He was described as a lettered and godly man but was nicknamed "the Fierce" after dealing ruthlessly with an uprising. Like his mother, Alexander encouraged ecclesiastical conformity with English ways and established several monasteries, including the abbeys at Inchcolm and Scone. He died leaving no issue.

It is time to stop combing the library but we can not quit without some quotes from The Pocket Book of Scottish Quotations another great History bookshelf resident. Let's see what quotes we can find. This month the subject is biography and memoirs.

...a well-written life is almost as rare as a well-spent one
Thomas Carlyel (1795-1881) - Essays on Jean Paul Richter

The great and good do not die even in this world. Embalmed in books, their spirits walk abroad. Samuel Smiles (1816 - 1904) - Character

Every person of importance ought to write his own memoirs, provided he has honesty enough to tell the truth.
Tobias Smollett (1722 - 1771)

These deathless names by this dead snake defiled
Bid memory spit upon him for their sake.
Algernon Swinburne (1837 - 1909) - After Looking into Carlyle's Reminiscences

Now for a Gaelic Proverb for this month.

Chan e an ro-chabhag as fheàrr. Great haste is not best.

You can find more articles in the archive under Scottish Flotsam.

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