Scottish Blog

Recently at Scottish Heirloom Jewelry I have been writing about a number of Famous Scotts. Whilst trying to bring you closer to your heritage, ancestral ties and Clans, I forgot to mention one thing about these Famous Scotts. The outstanding figures were brought into the world spotlight, at a time when Scotland was amongst the greatest countries of the time. This age is commonly called “The Scottish Enlightenment”.

In fact at one point in time Winston Churchill was quoted saying,

“Of all the small nations of this earth, perhaps only the ancient Greeks surpass the Scots in their contribution to mankind”.

Whilst some might find this a curious statement, others would whole heartedly agree with this and would say that much of this credit must be given to the great people of the Scottish Enlightenment.

In strict historic terms, the Scottish Enlightenment refers to the period of Scotland’s history from roughly around 1707 (the year of the Scottish Union with England) until the end of the 19th century. Although this span of time is often disputed, with some academics claiming it lasted only a hundred years, and some going so far as it having ended a mere 50 years ago. Beyond a simple time period, the Scottish Enlightenment refers to a great age in Scottish society, during which it enjoyed an unfathomable development of culture, literature and science.

The original “members” of the Scottish Enlightenment came into fame before 1707, many of them such as Andrew Fletcher of Saltuon, David Hume, William Robertson and Henry Dundas were strong political figures ( although there talents were never restricted to just politics). Others influenced the Scottish Enlightenment through business and economic thought, the most famous of these being Adam Smith and William Paterson. These men became influential thinkers and innovators in not only Scottish Society, but that of the world.

In a broad sense, these figures were followed in the Scottish Enlightenment by Men of Science. It is said that the experiment based way of learning of Scottish Universities, was one of the main aspects in its strong intellectual success. Some of the key figures amongst these were, Joseph Black, James Watt, William Symington, Patrick Miller and Henry Bell.

Of course this great age was not limited to Science and money, there were also renowned writers. Some of which were Robert Burns, James McPherson, Sir Walter Scott, Francis Jeffrey, Thomas Carlyle and Robert Louis Stevenson.

The Scottish Enlightenment, was a time when Scotland and its people seemed to rise above there immediate problems and take their place in amongst the top countries of the world. It was a time when Scotland was able to fulfill its true potential.

The cause of the Scottish Enlightenment can not be pinpointed to single event, year or person. Although it is widely believed that the Act of Union between Scotland and England was a strong element in Scotland’s eminent rise to fame. This is due to the economic benefits the Act had, whilst keeping many of Scotland’s important aspects like religion and education independent. But no matter the reasons behind it, the Scottish Enlightenment was turning point for the country, one from which Scotland came out inarguable better off.