Balmoral, Castle, ScotlandSlavery and Europe
The Scots? Enslaved? This land of castles and monarchies - how did that happen.
History hides. Here, Balmoral Castle, a favored vacation place for Queen Elizabeth II, dates only from the 1850's - an earlier, smaller "regular" castle having been torn down for this nice granite one. See://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/50812/Balmoral-Castle/. We would like to know about the earlier one. Where to go? Here we are - earlier one was built in 1380, as a mere home for Sir William Drummond, see ://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/50812/Balmoral-Castle/
What does history say about slavery and the Scots? Also benign?
Among the oldest enslaved peoples on earth are, says this site, the Pics (same as the Picts from our school days?), the Irish and the Scots, and then a group named the "Alba," see://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/white_slavery.htm/
Here is more about the Alba - connected to Albania? Not sure. See the BBC on the Alba at ://www.bbc.co.uk/history/scottishhistory/darkages/intro_darkages.shtml / Since the 1st Century BC, see White Slavery: What the Scots Already Know, at ://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/white_slavery.htm/
We were told of the slave trade at Dunvegan, the castle on Skye that is the home seat of the MacLeod clan - a favored group for us, as we fantasize about a strained, ancient connection - probably stemming from ignored black sheep, and bastards, rather than the honored first sons.
See this site for names and events related to the enslavement and sale of Scots in the New World, including judges in Edinburgh regularly shipping the less savory rogues off to the North American colonies, and Rouen, France, as a favored shipping point, at the White Slavery site.
See the castle at Scotland Road Ways, Dunvegan. There, at the water line, is where the boats would glide up at night to pick up the captives, and haul them away to the ships to the colonies.
Stirling, Scotland, traditional wedding

















