April 11 – 1240 the Welsh prince Llywelyn the Great died. Prince of Gwynedd in north Wales and eventually de facto ruler over most of Wales. He is occasionally called Llywelyn I of Wales. Llywelyn was born about 1173, the son of Iorwerth ap Owain and the grandson of Owain Gwynedd, who had been ruler of Gwynedd until his death in 1170. Llywelyn was a descendant of the senior line of Rhodri Mawr and therefore a member of the princely house of Gwynedd.

Llywelyn the Great with his sons Gruffydd and Dafydd.

Ten to 13 children are listed for Llywelyn the Great. Among which is Elen the Younger ferch Llywelyn (born before 1230-alive after 16 Feb 1295) who married (1st) Máel Coluim II, Earl of Fife, son of Duncan Macduff of Fife & his wife Alice Corbet. Elen married (2nd after 1266) Domhnall I, Earl of Mar, son of William, Earl of Mar & his 1st wife Elizabeth Comyn of Buchan. Elen and Domhall’s daughter, Isabella of Mar, married Robert, the Bruce, King of Scots. Isabella had one child by the King of Scots, Marjorie Bruce, who was the mother of the first Stewart monarch, Robert II of Scotland. Hence Llyweln is ancestor to all Scots royalty from Robert 2nd down to the present.

1512 Battle of Ravenna (1512). major battle of the War of the League of Cambrai in the Italian Wars. Although the French drove the Spanish-Papal army from the field, French victory failed to secure northern Italy, and France would withdraw from the region entirely by August 1512. The death of Gaston de Foix during the Battle of Ravenna heralded a long period of defeats for France. France’s Queen would appeal to the King of Scots, James 4th for aid, resulting in the battle at Flodden Field.

1544 Battle of Ceresole. (or Cérisoles) was an encounter between a French army and the combined forces of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire during the Italian War of 1542–46. Scots mercenaries fight.

1583 Colin Campbell, Laird of Glenorchy.

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One of 24 Lords of the Congregation. Sir Colin Campbell of Glenorchy1 M, #109403, d. 11 April 1583. Sir Colin Campbell of Glenorchy was the son of Sir Colin Campbell of Glenorchy and Marjory Stewart. He married, firstly, Margaret Stewart, daughter of Alexander Stewart, before 16 April 1548. He married, secondly, Catherine Ruthven, daughter of William Ruthven, 2nd Lord Ruthven and Janet HalyBurton (Holy Burton), Lady Dirletoun, before 15 June 1551. He died on 11 April 1583.   Catherine was sister to Patrick 3rd Lord Ruthven, and aunt to Jean wife of Andrew Leslie 5th Lord Rothes, both Patrick and Andrew were also Lord of the Congregation. Campbell acquired lands in Perthshire, and built the Castle of Balloch (now Taymouth). He lived at Glenorchy, Argyllshire, Scotland.

Children of Sir Colin Campbell of Glenorchy and Margaret Stewart; Beatrix Campbell; Margaret Campbell

Children of Sir Colin Campbell of Glenorchy and Catherine Ruthven; Maria Campbell d. a 14 Dec 1618; Margaret Campbell; Patrick Campbell; Archibald Campbell; Katherine Campbell; Anna Campbell d. Oct 1589; Sir Duncan Campbell of Glenorchy, 1st Bt. b. c 1550, d. 23 Jun 1631; Colin Campbell b. b 22 Feb 1562, d. b 16 Jan 1610

Citations G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume VI, page 259. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Peerage. Charles Mosley, editor, Burke’s Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke’s Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 1, page 493. Hereinafter cited as Burke’s Peerage and Baronetage, 107th edition. George Edward Cokayne, editor, The Complete Baronetage, 5 volumes (no date (c. 1900); reprint, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 1983), volume II, page 282. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Baronetage. George Edward Cokayne, The Complete Baronetage, volume II, page 315.

 

1534 to 1607 to 1641 circa. The Act of Uniformity, the Test Acts and Penal Laws of England, Ireland and Scotland were, according to Edmund Burke “a machine of wise and elaborate contrivance, as well fitted for the oppression, impoverishment and degradation of a people, and the debasement in them of human nature itself, as ever proceeded from the perverted ingenuity of man.” Savage, John (1869). Fenian Heroes and Martyrs. Patrick Donahoe. pp. 16. Bans on Catholics, Dissenters from the Established Church Presbyterians. Upon a death of a Catholic deceased, his legatee (heir to the estate or property) could benefit (avoid fees, escheats, taxes) by religious conversion (baptism, oath, and participation in the mass services) to the state established Church of Ireland. Repealed circa 1829.

1603 Jsmes VI left for London as King of England. pp. 370 April. A History of Epidemics in Britain from A.D. 664 to the Extinction of Plague Charles Creighton, M.A. M.D. Demonstrator of Anatomy University of Cambridge. 1891

1689 Edinburgh. From 11 April 1689—when the Estates of Scotland recognized the Prince and Princess of Orange, as Sovereigns—the royal couple used the style “William and Mary, by the Grace of God, King and Queen of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, Defenders of the Faith, etc.’’

William and Mary depicted on the ceiling of the Painted Hall. The convention parliament re-established Presbyterianism, and restored the honors and estates of Argyle. Tytler’s Britannica.

1713 Treaty of Utrecht 1713.

first edition of the Treaty of Utrecht, 1713, in Spanish (left), and a later edition in Latin and English.

The flag of Scotland features St Andrew’s saltire cross. The British Conquest of Acadia took place in 1710 and was formally recognized in 1713 by the Treaty of Utrecht. Cape Breton Island (Île Royale) was returned to the French in the Treaty of Utrecht. What is now New Brunswick was still a part of the French colony of Acadia. The name of the capital was changed from Port Royal to Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, so named after Anne. The capital of Nova Scotia was changed from Annapolis Royal to the newly established Halifax in 1749.

 The former flag of Nova Scotia (1868-1929). In 1710 Acadia fell from French hands. An Acadian settlement at the mouth of Allains Creek, ten kilometres upriver from Port Royal, was renamed Annapolis Royal, in honour of the reigning monarch, Queen Anne (clan Stewart).

The eventual Capitol of the North American station Province of Maryland (named for Queen Henrietta Marie of France mother of Charles 2nd, James (7th of Scotland) 2nd, who was father to Mary 2nd (wife of William 3rd), and Anne. From 1649 was named “Town at Proctor’s”, then “Town at the Severn”, and later “Anne Arundel’s Towne” (after the wife of Lord Baltimore who died soon afterwards). In 1694 Anne Arundel’s Towne renamed the town Annapolis after Princess Anne of Denmark and Norway, after 1702 Queen of Great Britain.

Anne by Portrait by Michael Dahl, 1705

1775 Middlesex County Massachusetts. Gun control by the English who have a secret plan to disarm the colonials, by confiscating the Colonials personal pistols and muskets. It was not about crime, but power. Robbery did not exist in Middlesex, nor murders. The Massachusetts Government Act (14 Geo. 3 c. 45) was passed by the Parliament of Great Britain, receiving royal assent on 20 May 1774. The act abrogated the Massachusetts Charter of 1691. Across the ocean from Scotland, hundreds of thousands of Scots and their descendants are scattered 2,000 miles up and down the Atlantic coast of the colonies, many having been forced out by the Highland Clearances after the ‘45. The English occupied Boston 3 years earlier, and have identified different caches of colonial arms, particularly those at Lexington and Concord. Gun control will be the spark for the American Revolution. The shot heard round the world.

1809 Battle of the Basque Roads. Lord Cochrane’ (Scot clan Cochrane) commanded the attack by a flotilla of fire ships on Rochefort, The Basque Roads are a sheltered bay on the Biscay shore of France, bounded by the Île d’Oléron to the west and the Île de Ré to the north. The port of La Rochelle stands at the northeast corner of the roads, and the important town of Rochefort is near the mouth of the Charente River to the south.

Lord Cochrane described this attack (Autobiography of a Seaman). “On the 11th of April, it blew hard, with a high sea. As all preparations were complete, I did not consider the state of the weather a justifiable impediment to the attack; so that, after nightfall, the officers who volunteered to command the fireships were assembled on board the Caledonia, and supplied with instructions according to the plan previously laid down by myself. The Imperieuse had proceeded to the edge of the Boyart Shoal, close to which she anchored with an explosion-vessel made fast to her stern, it being my intention, after firing the one of which I was about to take charge, to return to her for the other, to be employed as circumstances might require. At a short distance from the Imperieuse were anchored the frigates Aigle, Unicorn, and Pallas, for the purpose of receiving the crews of the fireships on their return, as well as to support the boats of the fleet assembled alongside the Caesar, to assist the fireships. The boats of the fleet were not, however, for some reason or other made use of at all.

“Having myself embarked on board the largest explosion-vessel, accompanied by Lieut. Bissel and a volunteer crew of four men only, we led the way to the attack. The night was dark, and, as the wind was fair, though blowing hard, we soon neared the estimated position of the advanced French ships, for it was too dark to discern them. Judging our distance, therefore, as well as we could, with regard to the time the fuse was calculated to burn, the crew of four men entered the gig, under the direction of Lieut. Bissel, whilst I kindled the portfires, and then, descending into the boat, urged the men to pull for their lives, which they did with a will, though, as wind and sea were strong against us, without making the expected progress.

“To our consternation, the fuses, which had been constructed to burn fifteen minutes, lasted little more than half that time, when the vessel blew up, filling the air with shells, grenades, and rockets; whilst the downward and lateral force of the explosion raised a solitary mountain of water, from the breaking of which in all directions our little boat narrowly escaped being swamped. The explosion-vessel did her work well, the effect constituting one of the grandest artificial spectacles imaginable. For a moment, the sky was red with the lurid glare arising from the simultaneous ignition of fifteen hundred barrels of powder. On this gigantic flash subsiding, the air seemed alive with shells, grenades, rockets, and masses of timber, the wreck of the shattered vessel. The sea was convulsed as by an earthquake, rising, as has been said, in a huge wave, on whose crest our boat was lifted like a cork, and as suddenly dropped into a vast trough, out of which as it closed upon us with the rush of a whirlpool, none expected to emerge. In a few minutes nothing but a heavy rolling sea had to be encountered, all having again become silence and darkness.”

The French Régulus under attack by British fireships, during the evening of 11 April 1809. Drawing by Louis-Philippe Crépin

1814 Bonaparte abdicates. Two Hundredth anniversary. French allies with United States of America in War of 1812. The emperor of Russia and King of Prussia, with troops had previously entered Paris, the French capital. Talleyrand formed a provincial government, and Louis XVIII was appointed king of France, restoring the exiled family. Tytler’s History of Scotland from Britannica. The British turn from French assaults to attack allies. The British prepare to launch a major naval attack and invasion against the North American Station, to wit, the United States, and will land and burn Washington District of Columbia, invade the Chesapeake, attack Baltimore and Fort McHenry ( Sept 14th with its Star Spangled Banner) and invade the Mississippi and New Orleans (January 1815).

1951 – The Stone of Scone, the stone upon which Scottish monarchs were traditionally crowned, is found on the site of the altar of Arbroath Abbey. It had been taken by Scottish nationalist students from its place in Westminster Abbey

2012 Utah is ranked 2nd highest (4.6% of the state population) among the 50 United States with the top percentages of Scottish residents (Wikipedia 26 March 2017) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Americans#Scottish_Americans_by_state ).   How are the Scots in Utah doing? United Health Foundation America’s health rankings 2012 Youth smoking – Utah ranked 1st, http://www.americashealthrankings.org/UT-OK/2012

2013 dressed to Kilt in New York morphs out of From Scotland with love to union with Tartan Week 2013 of the “Tartan Week Alliance” a new group formed with the expressed goal of making Tartan Week in New York City considerably better organized, more cooperative and consumer friendly, with National Tartan Day New York Committee.

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