Scottish Northerners in Alba Amicorum, c. 1540–c. 1720

Abstract

The present article draws together two seemingly irreconcilable threads: firstly, the perceived and stereotyped violent, retrograde and inward-looking northern Scot and, secondly, the lettered world of humanist Europeans on the move as encapsulated in the tradition of alba amicorum (friendship albums). By reconciling these seemingly antinomic worlds of northern Scotland and humanist, scholarly culture, alba help redefine and nuance these Highlanders' and northern Scots' identity, culture, and character, which are more in line with these qualities associated with the world of alba, attesting to this group of Scottish northerners' integration into the intellectual and humanist networks then present in Europe. For these individuals, theirs was a Gaelic and/or Scots culture and its appreciation which was complemented with an awareness of and a thirst for a Latinate and Classical culture and an openness to a European and word culture, by playing tourist on the Continent and being receptive to this new and foreign environment. Far from being impervious to other cultures, they opened themselves to these and welcomed foreign visitors. The roles were reversed and, in turn, they acted as guides to these tourists visiting Scotland and their communities. Through alba, it is possible to gain a better understanding of early tourism in Scotland and of tourist sites in northern Scotland, putting them not only in a national context but also an international framework.