Antiquarianism, religion and the Scottish Enlightenment

Abstract

One of the most dramatic changes in Scottish culture during the era of Enlightenment was the abandonment of a patriotic myth of national origins for a more detached and sceptical mode of 'philosophical history. According to the legend which was debunked, the Scottish kingdom had enjoyed an almost uninterrupted existence since its foundation in 330 BC by Fergus MacFerquhard, the military leader of a colony of Scots from Ireland who had settled in the west Highlands. This myth had served a number of useful purposes. It upheld the claim that Scotland had always been a sovereign independent monarchy. Moreover, in the influential version of the foundation story retailed by the Protestant monarchomach George Buchanan (1506-82), Fergus had been elected king, which meant that Scotland had an ancient constitution under the auspices of which kings were accountable to the nation. This function was of the utmost importance after 1689 in justifying the deposition of James VII. Therefore it is substantially to the credit of the enlightened whig historians of eighteenth-century Scotland that they came to reject their precious historical totems, and, disenchanted, attempted to legitimise their political preferences by other means. However, it is not so clear that Scottish whig historical culture