View site in Scots
Flickr YouTube

Scots Language Centre Centre for the Scots Leid

Fighting

  • The Braes of Killiecrankie

    In 1689 at the Pass of Killiecrankie, a Jacobite army supporting James VII met an army that supported the new government. The brave Jacobite leader, the Marquis of Dundee (Bonny Dundee), won the battle but lost his life.This satiric account of the fight … more »

  • Will Ye No Come Back Again?

    This is a sad Jacobite song.Bonnie Prince Charlie has escaped from Scotland after the 1745 Rising and is safe in France. The Highland Scots who fought for him and sheltered him in secret after the terrible battle of Culloden, even though big rewards … more »

  • The Skye Boat Song

    A Jacobite lament describing how Bonnie Prince Charlie, disguised as an Irish woman, was rowed over the Minch to the island of Skye to hide from the British soldiers.This is the best-known Jacobite song but it wasn't created at the time. The … more »

  • The Battle of Harlaw

    In 1411 Lord Donald of the Isles and his army marched across the north east of Scotland. Two miles north west of Inverurie the Highlanders met a Lowland army to resolve competing claims to the Earldom of Ross. The battle was inconclusive, but the Highlanders … more »

  • Scots Wha Hae

    This used to be considered Scotland’s national anthem; now several songs are in contention for that honour.Robert Burns called this stirring song ‘Robert Bruce’s March to Bannockburn’, using the ancient tune ‘Hey Tutti Taitie’. … more »

  • Hey Johnnie Cope

    An exciting Jacobite song about a battle in 1745.The English general John Cope challenged Bonnie Prince Charlie to fight. When the army of Highlanders met Cope’s soldiers at Prestonpans near Edinburgh, Cope’s army ran away and General Cope … more »

  • MacCrimmon's Lament

    A Jacobite song lamenting the loss of a piper during the rebellion of 1745.This melody was written by the MacLeod’s piper, Donald Ban MacCrimmon, during the Jacobite rebellion of 1745. Accompanying Chief Norman MacLeod of MacLeod on the Hanoverian … more »

  • The Flowers of the Forest

    A lament for the army of James IV, the flower of Scottish manhood, slain with their king on the field of Flodden, September 1513. The composition of this song began with a fragment of a very old ballad. Mrs Patrick Cockburn of Ormiston drew on this fragment … more »