historyWhenScotlandWasJewish PDF
historyWhenScotlandWasJewish PDF
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WHEN
SCOTLAND
WAS
JEWISH
ISBN-13: 978-0-7864-2800-7
illustrated case binding 50# alkaline paper (S)
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2. Contents
3.
4.
Preface 1
.
5.
9.
Genealogies of the First Wave of Jewish
Families, 1100-1350 C.E. 44
Bibliography 247
Index 253
Preface
All research inquiries worthy of the name are voyages of discovery. Initial ventures
set sail for terra incognito, while those which follow usually must be content to map
more precisely the exact dimensions of the intellectual locale, noting minute details of
mental flora, fauna, minerals and climate. Along these latter explorations exacting meas-
urements are taken, objects and phenomena carefully categorized and labels affixed
Very commonly, these accreted Received Views are zealously guarded by their cre-
ators, because they serve important social, political and ideological agendas. Such theo-
retical edifices have become naturalized features of the cultural landscape and serve to
support and perpetuate the prevailing world-view. To challenge this knowledge struc-
ture, in whole or in part, is seen as a threat to the larger ideological narrative of “This is
the way the world is” in which it is embedded. Received views, therefore, are defended
vigorously and those challenging them do so with full awareness that they will likely be
attacked by those stakeholders vested in maintaining the status quo.
The present work, brazenly titled When Scotland Was Jewish, is a privateering jour-
ney into heavily traveled waters. We propose that much of the traditional historical
account of Scotland rests on fundamental interpretive errors. Further, we believe that
these errors have been perpetuated in order to manufacture and maintain an origin story
for Scotland that affirms its identity as a Celtic, Christian society. While pursuing Scot-
tish nationalism is likely a noble goal, the equation of Scotland with Celtic culture in the
popular (and academic) imagination has obfuscated, indeed buried, a more accurate and
profound understanding of its history.
As the title suggests, we believe that much of Scotland’s history and culture from the
1100s forward is Jewish. We believe that much of her population, including several national
heroes, villains, rulers, nobles, traders, merchants, bishops, guild members, burgesses, and
ministers were of Jewish decent. We describe how the ancestors of these persons originated
1
2 Preface
in France and Spain and then made their way to Scotland’s shores, moors, burgs and cas-
tles from the reign of Malcolm Canmore to the after-throes of the Spanish Inquisition.
We anticipate that our claims will be vigorously disputed, especially by those who
hold most dear the notion of Scotland as a Celtic heartland. We expect that anti-Semi-
tes will be incensed that we have dared to co-opt one of the principal archetypes of WASP
iconography and graft it to Judaism. We expect also that Jews and philo-Semites will be
bemused and confused — does this mean that they should stop by to reconnoiter Edin-
burgh on their next trip to Jerusalem? We hope that Muslims will be pleased to learn that
we have also identified remnants of Islamic culture in Scotland.
Our research proposals, as unlikely as they may seem, are founded upon documen-
tation available to scholars for centuries— census records, archeological artifacts, castle
carvings, cemetery inscriptions, religious seals, coinage, burgess and guild member rolls,
noble genealogies, family crests, geographic place names and oil portraits. Indeed, the
blatancy and bulk of the evidence was so overwhelming that we were amazed no one had
presented the thesis before we did.
How — or perhaps why — were surnames such as Izatt, Hyatt, Abell, Oliphant,
Elphinstone, Isaac, Sharon, Lyon, Mamluke and Yuell not recognized as Judaic and Islamic
by prior investigators? How could the presence of the Tetragrammaton — emblazoned
on the title page of a Glasgow psalter dating from 1623 — be overlooked for almost 400
years? Why did no one question the presence of Islamic crescents and stars engraved
throughout Fyvie Castle? Why was the presence of Stars of David on Scottish coins dat-
ing from the 1200s not commented upon previously? Did the fact that the Marquis of
Argylle’s castle is located in the village of Succoth (a major Jewish holiday) not seem odd
to prior historians? Were not other onlookers puzzled by the dark, Semitic and Mediter-
ranean appearances of the royal Stewart family — especially the Earl of Moray, James Stew-
art — or of John Knox, Archibald Campbell or Allen Ramsey as their portraits hung in
the National Portrait Gallery of Scotland? Put bluntly, why were these marked inconsis-
tencies with a presumed Celtic past not interrogated forcefully, or indeed at all?
Despite our drawing attention to these uncomfortable pieces of the historical record,
however, we knew that advocates of the traditional story of Scotland would remain uncon-
vinced. Thus, we also made use of an evidentiary source not available to prior scholars:
DNA testing. Beginning in 1998 commercial testing of paternal and maternal DNA hap-
lotypesbecame publicly available. In 2000, we availed ourselves of this new technology
and began examining the lineages of some of the major “clans” in Scotland which we
believed, based on historical evidence, were of Jewish descent. As is discussed in detail
in the present work, all of the lines we examined do show evidence of Mediterranean
origins and do have matches to present-day practicing Jews. Further, independent DNA
testing conducted by other researchers on Scottish populations has confirmed the pres-
ence of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern genes in Scotland’s population.
It is our great hope that readers will embark on this journey with an open mind and
a willingness to entertain the possibility that Scotland’s origins may indeed require revi-
sion. We believe that you will find, as we did, that there is ample evidence of a strong
Jewish presence in Scotland and that you will never again view Scotland — her people or
her history — as you once did.
Chapter 1
Scotland today is a country smaller than the state of South Carolina, with about 5
million inhabitants, two-thirds of whom live in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Aberdeen,
Inverness and Stirling, its Six Cities. Half the size of England, it has a higher standard of
literacy and education, and as many'urban centers and universities, as its southern neigh-
bor. Scotland is located on the same northern latitude as Labrador, Norway and Mos-
cow; the average summer temperature registers a brisk 57 degrees. It has been said, “There
ments in existence, its political standing as a part of the United Kingdom remains ambigu-
ous. “The sense of national identity seems to have emerged much earlier here than
land’s civic culture and nationhood are “not readily defined, but readily identifiable. So
the question arises of why the influence of this rather small, inclement and remote nation
should loom so large.
Significantly, the pursuit of its native history was long prohibited in Scotland. Elit-
ist English authorities excluded Scottish history from the national curriculum as a mat-
ter of educational policy. In 1949, Lord Cooper complained to the Scottish Historical
Society that it was possible for a Scottish student to take a degree in history without any
knowledge of Scottish history. “There was a subject called British History,” he said, “which
proved on examination to be English history with occasional side glances at Scotland
through English spectacles whenever Scotland crossed England’s path” (L. Kennedy 1995,
pp. 7-8).
1
If the modern history of Scotland is unsettled, there is even less agreement about
the medieval period that preceded it. As one American historian comments, “Scottish
history suffers from a profusion of very general surveys, a multitude of specialized stud-
ies and monographs, and not enough good books in between” (Herman 2001, p. 431).
This appraisal applies with particular aptness to the early period of Scottish history, where
both specialists and generalists find it difficult to come to terms with the emergence of
3
4 When Scotland Was Jewish
Scotland against the backdrop of European history. The Stewart dynasty remains partic-
ularly mystifying. Until the appearance of an “official” genealogical compilation in the
1990s (and some would say even after it), the origins of the Scottish royal family were
simply not known.
1. The Origins of Scotland 5
a very early period, the majority of the people of Scotland were, if not purely English by
blood, anglicized in language and, to a great extent, in institutions.” More riddles occur
In A.D. 78-82 Agricola, carrying the Eagles of Rome beyond the line of the historical border,
encountered tribes and confederations of tribes which, probably [emphasis added], spoke ...
varieties of the Celtic language. That the language had been imposed, in a remote age,
by
Celtic-speaking invaders, on a prior non-Celtic speaking population, is probable enough,
but is not demonstrated. There exist in Scotland a few inscriptions on stones, in Ogam,
which yield no sense in any known Indo-European language. There are also traces of the per-
family, but
sistence of descent in the female line, especially in the case of the Pictish royal
such survivals of savage institutions, or such a modification of male descent for the purpose
of ensuring the purity of the royal blood, yield no firm ground for a decision as to
whether
the Piets were Aryans or non- Aryans.
The authors conclude that it is “unnecessary here to discuss the Pictish problem,” about
which, as we shall see, no satisfactory solution has gained acceptance even to this
2
day.
Curiously, we also are informed that European scholarship, centered around the
revival of letters in the reign of Charlemagne (768-814), was, in large part, inspired by
an international elite of Irishand Scottish scholars (Moss 1998, pp. 249-50, 288; Laist-
ner 1957). Itand Scottish monks who rescued the flame of civilization from the
was Irish
collapse of Rome and carried arts and sciences to the Continent during the Dark Ages.
The Celtic Church was responsible for founding Luxeuil, Fontenelle and Corbey in France;
Bobbio and Susa in Italy; St. Gall, Fulda, Salzburg and Wurzburg in Germany, and most
of the other seats of learning that, in turn, generated the efflorescence of culture of the
Carolingian age and, later, the twelfth-century renaissance, with its “discovery of the
individual” (Southern 1961; Haskins 1957). The Scottish mathematician Michael Scot (?
1175-1234) was regarded as the most brilliant mind of his era. He studied philosophy
and Oxford, Paris, Bologna and Rome, acquired knowledge of Arabic in Spain
science at
and Italy, and produced a fresh translation and commentary on the philosophy of Aris-
totle, as well as influential works on science and medicine ( J. W. Brown 1897).
His coun-
tryman John Duns Scotus, who died in 1308, was the founder and leader of the famous
Scotist School (T. Williams 2003). Who were these Scottish culture-bearers?
Into this scholarly and historical breach arrive two researchers with purportedly
Scottish ancestry and a thesis that seems, on the face of it, absurd: Scotland was Jewish.
This assertion not only flies in the face of “received history (what little of it there is),
but also assaults two longstanding cultural stereotypes of what Scots are like and what
persons
Jews are like. In the popular imagination, Scots are large, red- or blond-haired
of fierce demeanor, who wear plaid wool kilts, brandish swords and war axes, drink
copious amounts of ale and whiskey, and eagerly seek out forums in which to exhibit
kith, and
their prowess as warriors. They are unschooled, wild marauders, loyal to clan,
kin.
Jews, on the other hand, are seen commonly as originating in shtetls in Eastern
6 When Scotland Was Jewish
Europe, timid, bookish, dark-haired, clad in dark apparel, and usually hunkered down
over ancient Hebrew manuscripts. Except for the juxtaposition of, let us say, Eskimos
and it is hard to conjure up two more opposite ethnic stereotypes.
3
Parisians,
So why are we proposing that many of Scotland’s people were Jewish? For the sim-
ple reason that is true. In the chapters that follow, we present evidence from several
empirical sources— DNA, public records, anthropological observations, architecture,
archeological excavations, family and clan genealogical records, censuses, cemetery
inscriptions, burgess and guild membership rolls, ethnographic reports, and synagogue
membership rolls. These document the seemingly incredible claim that Scotland was, and
remains, a country populated largely by persons of Jewish descent.
The evidence presented does not suggest some ancient Jewish visitation based on a
from Judea/Palestine in
“lost tribes” theory, in other words, that a Jewish tribe dispersed
antiquity and somehow wandered its way to Scotland, morphing over time into a pop-
ulation of Gaelic warriors. No; our argument is grounded upon documented historical
migrations into Scotland from various European countries, primarily France, the Low
Countries, Hungary, and Germany. These migrants, we propose, were persons of Jewish
ethnicity whose descendants now comprise the majority of the present population of
Scotland. Further, we also argue that the greater part of the estimated 4 million Scots
and Scots-Irish who immigrated to the New World were drawn from this same ethnic
ancestry.
The Melungeons
Our story begins with an ethnic group to which both authors belong. The Melun-
geons are a people who have been dwelling in the Appalachian Mountains of the south-
eastern United States for between 300 and 500 years. Their origins have been the subject
of intense speculation for at least three centuries (Ball 1984; Bible 1975; Elder 1999; Gal-
4
legos 1997, 1998; Mira 1998). Typically, they are described as having dark skin, black or
dark-brown straight hair, brown or blue eyes and European features (Ball 1984; Bible
1975). A popular culture book written by a self-identifying Melungeon (N. B. Kennedy
1996) renewed interest in investigation of the group’s origins and stimulated an abun-
dance of scholarly research. A by the present
detailed biogenetics study undertaken
authors supported what Kennedy had earlier proposed: The Melungeons were, in large
part, a Sephardic Jewishand Moorish community that began as early as 1540 with the
De Soto Expedition to the southeastern United States (Hirschman 2005). The composi-
tion of this community was augmented over the intervening centuries by incoming
Sephardic Jews and Moors who found refuge in such way stations as the Low Countries,
Germany, France, Italy, Greece, and England after fleeing the Iberian Peninsula due to
religious persecution (Hirschman 2005).
One of the factors delaying accurate ethnic identification of Melungeons was that
several carried Scottish or Scots-Irish surnames, such as Caldwell and Kennedy, and had
immigrated to the American colonies from Scotland or Northern Ireland during the 1600s
and 1700s. Since the conventional view was that there were extremely few Jews living in
1. The Origins of Scotland 7
either Scotland or Ireland prior to the early 1800s (Smout 1998), this seemed to be an
anomaly. Had their original surnames been altered or Anglicized to help the Melungeons
blend in with surrounding Scots-Irish and English settlers? This was what many Melun-
geons, as well as Melungeon researchers, believed (e.g., Elder 1999).
the Scots-Irish, Scottish and English surnames carried by Melungeons had not been
altered? What if their ancestral surnames really were Caldwell and Kennedy and Fraser
and Bruce and Campbell and Skene? What if these purportedly Scottish and Scots-Irish
and English settlers were technically from those countries of origin, but were ethnically
of Sephardic Jewish and Moorish ancestry? Eliyahu Skean was a “Scots-Irish” Appalachian
5
Given limited funds, we decided to initiate a series of tests on our thesis by obtain-
ing Y-chromosome DNA samples from (1) persons of known Melungeon roots in our
own ancestry (who may or may nothave actually emigrated from Scotland) and (2) nine
Scottish clans whose surnames are found among Melungeon populations. To do this, we
contacted a set of Melungeon relatives and posted requests on Internet genealogical
forums for male persons in a direct line of patrilineal descent from the nine Scottish
clans of interest. These were Alexander (a sept, or sub-clan, associated with MacAlister
and MacDonald), Bruce, Campbell, Douglas, Forbes, Fraser, Gordon, Leslie, and
Stewart/Stuart. We asked for and received genealogical documentation and selected two
donors from each clan.
The results stunned us. In every case where exact 12-marker matches could be
obtained for the individual, the DNA locus was found to be centered in Spain and Por-
tugal. Further, some of the Melungeon and Scottish clan donors had exact matches to
living Jews; and all of the donors had one-off or two-off matches to present-day Jews.
We became concerned that our speculations might actually be correct. Yet if it were, why
is Scotland not currently viewed as a country with a significant Jewish patrimony? How
could so many persons of ethnically Jewish descent be living there and no one, includ-
ing them, be aware of it?
The answers to these enigmas, put very simply, appear to be that, first, early Jews
who did live in Scotland practiced an underground or secret form of their religion (called
erature in the school syllabuses” (L. Kennedy 1995, p. 7). In the absence of official ver-
sions written and approved by Scots, most of us draw our notions of Scottish history from
motion pictures like Braveheart and Rob Roy— never mind that the former may have been
a “a wildly crude Hollywood distortion of the Wallace story” (Ascherson 2002, p. 41) and
the latter is based on the work of Sir Walter Scott, the romantic inventor of the histori-
cal novel and (largely discredited) promoter of the “great Highland revival” of the early
1800s (Herman 2001, pp. 291-319).
Seven famous Scotsmen are pictured here: Presbyterian reformer John Knox; scholar
George Buchanan; Marquis of
Argyle Archibald Campbell; the
Earl of Ancram, Robert Kerr; poet
Allen Ramsay; Earl of Southesk,
James Carnegie; and physician
William Gordon. As cursory in-
spection will affirm, none of these
prominent Scotsmen looks typi-
cally Scottish; in fact, they appear
rather dark and Semitic; yet, here
they are — Scottish aristocrats. The
Scottish royal Stewarts were equally
dark and Semitic in appearance. Of
Charles II’s dusky appearance his
(1512-1572) depicts him as having a full beard, covered sonages. Further, we suggest that
head and Semitic facial features. We will propose that their forbears were Mediterranean
Knox was the son or grandson of Sephardic Jewish emi-
gres to Scotland. Courtesy Scottish National Portrait
Jews from France, Spain, and Por-
Gallery. tugal. If we are to be believed,
1. The Origins of Scotland 9
was first Goidal Glas, and later Miled. According to legend, while in Spain, Miled mar-
ried an Egyptian princess, Scota, who brought with her to Ireland a black marble rock,
the Stone of Destiny, upon which were carved runes or hieroglyphics.
Williams then goes on to dismiss this romantic tale and firmly locate the origin of
the Gaels/Celts near theDanube River in central Europe, although he claims that the Celts
then expanded their domain from that center eastward to the Baltic and southward to
Italy and Spain. (Thus, the romantic origin myth and Williams’s account are not actu-
ally so far apart geographically.) What Williams seems to want to dismiss, perhaps uncon-
sciously, is the notion that the early Scots and Irish settlers may have been something
other than “pure” western European, that is, fair haired, blue-eyed, and light skinned.
There were to be no Spaniards, Italians, Greeks, or North Africans included among the
noble race claiming Ireland and Scotland. This subtle yet pervasive effort at whitewash-
a
ing Scottish history has colored (ormore properly, “uncolored,” as it were) a more valid
and inclusive accounting of its origins. For our present purposes, however, we do not
6
care whether Queen Scota and her Stone of Destiny from Egypt and Spain really existed.
That is not the origin story that we will be putting forward.
Williams’s discussion of Scottish history continues through the gradual giving way
of pagan Druidic ritual to the arrival of St. Columba (560 C.E.?) and the establishment
of the Celtic Church. Several points need to be clarified here, since we will return to
them in the reviews of other historians’ work. First, the Scottish (and Irish) churches at
thistime were not directed by, or even in contact with, the Catholic pontiff in Rome. They
were not Roman Catholic. They may not even have been fully Christian, but syncretis-
tic, like many early medieval religions. That modern observers look back after a lapse of
1,500 years and identify the early Scottish church as “Roman Catholic” during the era
following 500 C.E. is false, tendentious, and very misleading. Indeed, except for the exis-
tence of Christian artifacts such as the Book of Kells and carved Celtic crosses, there is
little evidence to suggest a strong early Christian presence in Scotland. As we
will inves-
tigate later, the so-called Scottish saints (e.g., St. Machar of Aberdeen) are not even
king Malcolm Canmore, in the mid-lOOOs. And now something very important happens
for our thesis.
[Margaret’s] story ... beginning in the earlier dynastic wars of England. On the death
had its
of Edmund Ironside in 1016, his two sons ... fled to Sweden and from thence to Hungary,
where the elder, Edward, married Agota, a daughter of King Stephen of Hungary.... Edward
—
and Agota had three children Edgar, Margaret, and Christina. Years later, Edward the
Confessor [king of England] ... sent Ailred, Bishop of York, to fetch back the refugees from
Hungary.
Edgar and his sisters ... in 1068 escaped to Scotland where Margaret became the second
wife of Malcolm Canmore. A deeply pious lady, she found Scottish society crude and
uncivilised, and conceived a mission to convert the Scots from their northern barbarism and
Celtic custom.... [Malcolm Canmore] forsook Gaelic for her language, substituted wine for
mead, and welcomed to his court the strangers of her choice. These included a number of
Hungarians who had accompanied the family to Britain and to whom Malcolm now gave
lands in Scotland.... After the conquest, the influx of foreigners was further augmented by
Norman adventurers ... not least among them a hopeful Breton called Walter Fitzalan ... who
laterbecame Steward of Scotland and ancestor of the Stewart Kings....
Donald Bane [ca. 1033-1099] was the last Celtic [monarch] worthy of the name. Those
who followed, though by blood half-Celt, were by disposition Anglo-Norman, and the grad-
ual Normanisation of Scotland
proceeded through successive
reigns. The now familiar names
emerged — de Bruce, Soulis, de
Morville, Cunningham, Hay,
Mowbray, Sinclair, Menzies,
Fraser, Grant — and others of
Norman or Breton origin.
By the middle of the ninth
century, the Hebrides and the
coastlands of ancient Dalriada
had been effectively lost [by the
Celts] to the emerging kingdom
of central Scotland, [and]
another, more terrible race of
incomers had reached the Isles
extremely large and tall, “ugly of aspect, black-haired, sharp featured and somewhat
tawny” (p. 102). Except for his enormous size, Thorfinn is not exactly the handsome,
blonde Viking warrior one might envisage.
Two additional points made by Williams require attention. The first concerns the
Beatons, 8 a hereditary family of medical doctors (p. 216). We learn that they were the tra-
ditional physicians to the Lord of the Isles. The family had come to the Isles from Ire-
land in the rule of Angus Og (1299-1330) and were famous for their exceptional learning
and knowledge. “They reportedly followed the teachings of Avicenna the Persian, whose
canon was the basis of European medical practice for over five hundred years. In a period
when it was becoming fashionable to think of the Islands as unlettered and barbaric, the
Beatons possessed a copy of Avicenna’s eleventh-century work long before it was trans-
lated into English, or faculties of medicine were established in the universities of Scot-
land and England. Members of the family also became seannachies (landed nobility) in
Mull and the Outer Hebrides. Their library was known to include the earliest transla-
tion into any European language of an account of The Fall of Troy.” Notably, the primary
centers of medical science at
that time were Persia and Iberia,
Ireland and Scotland. It is a Middle Eastern and Central Asian musical instrument, not
9
one indigenous to the British Isles.
David projected an image of the king as lawgiver. Law codes attributed by tradition to David
form the basis of medieval Scots law and the foundations of a system of sheriffdoms for the
local administration of law were laid down by the king. But David was no remote figure....
Elred wrote of the king sitting at the door of his hall to receive petitions from the humblest
of folk.... To an extent it was a cultivated image, to be seen most clearly in the portrayal of
David in the initial letter of his grandson’s great charter to Kelso Abbey. There sits David,
long-haired and bearded, presented as Solomon alongside the youthful and beardless
Malcolm IV....
The Borders,
Alistair Moffat (2002)
seeking to escape persecution for religious or political reasons. Quick dashes from one
side to the other could be made by those seeking to avoid arrest for any variety of offenses.
And as Moffat notes, the area was also one that early on was well acquainted with the
Mediterranean. In 687 c.E., monks at Lindisfarne raised up a shrine to one of their bish-
ops, Cuthbert. To commemorate him, a special text of the four gospels was created:
A gospel book of such richness was no small undertaking.... Eadfrith’s palette for the illus-
trationssometimes traveled immense distances; lapis lazuli came from Afghanistan, indigo
from the Mediterranean, kermes (carmine red) from North Africa and folium (pink) from
the south of France.... Though the other famous gospels of the period from Kells and Dur-
row in Ireland are profoundly Celtic in their look, Lindisfarne is much more influenced by
the Mediterranean; Roman lettering, Byzantine painting, and a Near-Eastern [Middle East-
ern] style of decoration [p. 125].
Obviously, Scotland of the 600s was not an isolated outpost; it had trading ties across
the Mediterranean and the Middle East. 12 There is strong archeological evidence for a
lively Atlantic and Mediterranean trade in Scotland between the fall of Rome and birth
of the Holy Roman Empire under Charlemagne, though historians are hard put to explain
it. The annals of Iona, the Holy Island, are full of references to contact with Gaul. The
widespread distribution of Mediterranean pottery from the fifth and sixth centuries
throughout the British Isles is a puzzle. “It is not possible, from the archaeological evi-
dence, to estimate the intensity and duration of this ‘trade’ with the Mediterranean,”
writes an expert on the pre-history of Europe. “The question is incapable of resolution.”
The earliest group of imports appears to have come from North Africa, the coasts of
Turkey and Egypt, via Carthage, the Straits of Gibraltar and the Portuguese ports in the
Tagus and Mondego estuaries (Cunliffe, pp. 477-79).
This connection was enhanced greatly by the entry from 1100 C.E. onward of traders,
merchants, and nobles from France, Hungary, and the Low Countries during the reign
of King David I. At Selkirk in southern Scotland, David granted lands to a group of
French monks. Signing the charter were the following noblemen: “Robert De Bevis, Robert
de Unfraville, Walter de Belebec, Robert de Painton, Cospatric brother of Dalfin, Hugh
de Moreville, Pagano de Braiosa, Robert Corbet, Reginald de Muscamp, Walter de Lind-
sey, Robert de Burneville, Cospatric the Sheriff, Cospatric son of Aldeve, Uchtred son of
Although Scotland is often depicted as being a primitive and rural country during
medieval times, this assessment rests on an inaccurate perception. As Moffat writes:
It is highly likely that there was a market at Roxburgh [Scotland] for some considerable time
before 1113.... What converted a local market ... into an international trading center was the
dynamic trade in wool and hides. The stimulus for this change came from Flanders and
1. The Origins of Scotland 17
Northern Italy where cloth and leather goods began to be produced in industrial quantities
for re-export as well as domestic consumption. What created this demand for raw wool and
hides was not new technology, but the first effective deployment of merchant capital....
The sequence was simple. Merchants from the cities of Bruges, Ghent and elsewhere
had sufficient capital to buy bulk quantities of wool and hides at the summer and autumn
markets at Roxburgh, and the abbeys of Melrose and Kelso could guarantee that these raw
materials would be available.... With 5% of the total Scottish wool clip..., the Cistercians
at Melrose could act like a corporation and wield considerable power in the marketplace....
The Melrose monks were urbane and experienced negotiators with access to information
on prices and conditions of trade in other wool-producing areas of Europe.... No one crossed
the North Sea in an empty ship.... Cargoes from Europe included sugar, pepper, cumin,
onions, garlic, currants, ginger, almonds, rice, basil, alum, dyestuffs, metal pans, cauldrons,
locks, timber and iron.
Across the North Sea, back in Flanders and Northern merchants fed the wool into
Italy,
called “The Black Hall” is listed but no particular nationality attached. Perhaps all foreigners
By 1212 c.E., Berwick’s lucrative trade had moved into private hands. Provosts and
registered guild burgesses regulated the commercial operations of the town, the guild hall
being built on land purchased from one Simon Maunsel (p. 17). That same decade a man
we have already mentioned, Michael the Scot, likely from Melrose, was at the University
of Toledo in northern Spain translating Aristotelian manuscripts written in Arabic into
Latin. Michael served as a multilingual translator in Sicily and Palermo, as well. In 1378,
a master mason, John Lewyn, was hired to refurbish the walls of Roxburgh Castle. Around
1400, a Parisian master mason, Jean Moreau (“Moor”), was commissioned to enlarge
Melrose Abbey (p. 224).
These trade patterns, capabilities, and names were most common to two ethnic
groups at the time: Spanish Moors and Sephardic Jews. Not only did Islamic mercantil-
ism far surpass that of western Europe and Christendom, but Jews were well represented
in all branches of European business and industry, with the possible exception of agri-
culture and foodstuffs preparation. Jews and Muslims came to dominate such fields as
banking, shipping, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, glass, silk and paper manufacture, the
book trade, and jewelry and precious stones during this time period.
From the middle of the fourteenth century onwards it [the Catholic Church] suffered from
the increasing decay of its corporate spiritual life, as it did everywhere else in Europe. This
was greatly accelerated in Scotland by the erosion of its own freedom: kings gained the right
to nominate bishops and abbots and abused it by appointing their own bastards to high cler-
ical office when they were still only children; nobles came to control monasteries and cathe-
drals, and took over church lands as though they were their own. By 1560 ... the church was
very largely at the mercy of unspiritual laymen, its foundations corrupt and worldly, its
parish churches empty and ruined, its bishops a byword for immorality, and its congrega-
tions often contemptuous of its services.
But to this black generalization there were several bright exceptions. Throughout the
fifteenth century there had been great clerics, like Bishop Wardlaw, who founded Scotland’s
first university at St. Andrews in 1410, Bishop Turnbull, who founded Glasgow University in
1451, and Bishop Elphinstone, who founded King’s College, Aberdeen, in 1496 and was the
first patron of printing in Scotland.
As will be described shortly, these three churchmen were likely of Jewish ancestry
and governed parishes with largely crypto-Jewish populations. None of Scotland’s “Big
Three” universities ever required students to take a religious oath, a factor that rendered
them attractive to Jews away as South Carolina. Non-Christians were excluded
from as far
from studying at Oxford or Cambridge, and most English and American universities of
the period mandated an oath on the New Testament naming Jesus Christ (Collins 1990,
[T]he Scottish monasteries had by 1559 long since ceased to be vehicles for spirituality. They
had become nothing more than property-owning corporations. Control over the property
was frequently in the hands of laymen, or sometimes of secular clerics who by hook or by
crook had secured the title of abbot or “commendator” (literally “protector”) in order to
divert the income of the monastic lands into their own pockets. The crown itself had been
the worst offender in this respect. James V, for example ... had wrung permission from the
Pope ... to appoint three baby sons, all illegitimate, to be titular abbots of Kelso and Melrose,
priors of St. Andrews and Pittenweem, and abbot of Holyrood respectively; a fourth was
later made prior of Coldingham and a fifth abbot of the Charterhouse....
The nuns, though few in number, were more scandalous than the monks. They were nor-
mally too illiterate even to write their own names.... They were frequently so undisciplined
that they no longer even bothered to live within the nunnery precincts.... If this was the state
of monks, friars and nuns, what was to be expected of the secular clergy in the parishes?
They took their tone from a hierarchy where appointments had for many years been made
on purely political grounds.... James IV had set the pace by making his illegitimate son
Archbishop of St. Andrews at the age of eleven [p. 50].
Smout then notes that the Protestant Reformation was embraced readily by the mer-
chants, burgesses and educated members of Scottish society; he attributes this to the
emphasis the new doctrine placed on a direct relationship to God. He alludes also to the
presence of a “secret church” among this segment of the population:
Protestant numbers snowballed.... By 1559 there was already an alternative church existing
in many parts of Scotland, awaiting some revolutionary stroke to bring it to power. [Protes-
tantism] succeeded by taking the right strategic bastions in society. It succeeded in the
burghs, where ... and co-operation among members of craft guilds
the traditions of secrecy
and merchant guilds, and of co-operation between the burgesses of different towns acting in
1. The Origins of Scotland 19
their common interest, made towns the ideal environment to sustain a secret and cellular
Contrary to Smout’s arguments, however, it would not have been in the financial or
political interests of this very same group to support the overthrow of the prevailing, cor-
rupt Catholic Church as a social institution. Indeed, it was these very people who were
benefiting already from the Roman church as it was currently operating. What Smout
overlooks, as do virtually all other observers, is that the crypto-Jewish society we pro-
pose was present in Scotland since 1100 had been strengthened enormously during the
previous five decades by the arrival of thousands of converso Jews fleeing the Spanish
Inquisition. 13 As we will argue in chapter 10, crypto-Jewish practice was now poised to
Russia, Poland and the Baltic, while from Glasgow and Edinburgh, she traded south and
west to England, France, Spain, the Americas, and the Caribbean. Primary export prod-
ucts were wool, hides, fish, paper, coal, salt, and linen. And in each of these industries,
specific families came to dominate the trade, often forming oligopolistic partnerships with
family members residing in ports such as Bordeaux, Rouen, Cadiz, Lisbon, Warsaw, Rot-
terdam, London, Barbados, Danzig, Stockholm, Bergen, the Canary Islands, and Riga.
Judaic scholars have often pointed to the phenomenon of “Court Jews, figures pri-
marily located in central Europe, serving kings and princes as bankers, tax collectors,
and army provisioners, but it was not until the 1980s and 90s that historians began to
revisit this subject and focus attention on the Jews who settled on the Atlantic seaboard
The designation of “Port Jews” was born. In cities ranging from
(Cesarini 2004, pp. 1-11).
Trieste to Glasgow, to Hamburg, the social type of the previously over-
from Salonika
looked Sephardim of Spain and Portugal was thrown into high relief. Of them, we learn,
for instance, that “they eschewed the traditional autonomous Jewish community and
enjoyed improved legal status which permitted voluntary affiliation to the Jewish collec-
tivity.... They questioned Jewish religious tradition, having been estranged
from it for so
long, and displayed a form of ethnic Jewish identity” (pp. 2-3). And: The distinctive
The Scottish burgess system in many ways combined the roles of court Jews and
port Jews. Smout describes it in the following terms:
In each burgh there was one basic division into burgesses and non-burgesses, and
another
within the burgess groups between merchants and craftsmen, organised into a merchant
guild and craft guild respectively. To the burgesses alone belonged the privileges of being
members of a burgh: the rest of the inhabitants were mere indwellers with no more right to
elect the magistrates, to trade or to belong to a craft than a country bumpkin
from the land-
ward parts.
A man could become a burgess in several ways: normally he had to pay some money to
the corporation and to prove that his name was upon the apprenticeship books of the town.
20 When Scotland Was Jewish
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries most new burgesses were either the sons or the
sons-in-law of existing burgesses. Sons could follow their fathers paying a smaller entry fine
and serving a shorter apprenticeship than strangers. Those who married the daughter of a
burgess ... gained the same concession: it was a way of making certain that the daughters of
merchants and craftsmen were at a premium in the marriage market.
Others, not so lucky in birth or love, had to pay a slightly higher entry-fee and wait for a
period after they had finished their apprenticeship.... Strangers and “outland men,” however,
no matter how well qualified they might already be as merchants or craftsmen in other
burghs, had to pay quite heavily for admission....
The first purpose of the merchant guild was to maintain a monopoly within a monopoly,
to preserve from ambitious craftsmen and unfreemen both within and without the burgh
the community’s right of foreign trade that only a free merchant burgess could enjoy....
The second purpose of the guild was to provide the organization by which the merchants
could dominate the town council: ... When ... the old council gained the right of electing the
new one, an even smaller elite was able to emerge from within the merchant guild and con-
solidate themselves in positions of power. Thus Dundee in the early seventeenth century was
dominated by the Wedderburnes, the Goodmans, the Haliburtons, the Clayhills and half
a dozen other families united by bonds of marriage and mutual interest [pp. 148-149].
We have included this passage from Smout to show in detail exactly how the burgh
system operated and to draw attention to the potential it offered for collaborative efforts
among the patrician families in any given Scottish city. By a pattern of endogamous mar-
riage across several generations, an economically and was
socially cohesive infrastructure
established in each burgh. Religion, political office, financial capital, credit, and trade
outlets could all be controlled securely and perpetuated in this fashion, with virtually no
supervision from outside. These conditions were ideal for the presence of crypto-Judaism.
As Smout further reports, Scotland’s young men from these leading families were
not schooled in a parochial Protestant enclave, but rather sent abroad for their educa-
tion — usually to centers where converso Jews were present and prominent on university
faculties. Many affluent Scots were educated in Rouen, Marseilles, Bordeaux, Amster-
dam, Lyon, and London, and in Venice, Padua, Rome, and Livorno (Leghorn) in Italy.
Brilliant Scots minds, such as that of John Napier (1550-1617), the inventor of logarithms,
and James Gregory (1638-1675), an astronomer and mathematician who developed the
first reflecting telescope, sprang from these sources. Gold and silver smithing, two Jew-
ish skills of long standing, were practiced brilliantly “in the second half of the sixteenth
century” by Edinburgh artisans— exactly the time period one would anticipate for con-
verso immigrants incoming from France, Holland, Italy and England.
On the southern Scottish border at Falkirk, the Carron iron works were established
in 1759, Carron being a French converso surname. By 1801 immense deposits of black-
band iron ore had been identified by David Mushet (Moshe), which would provide the
resource for Scotland’s great steelmaking industry of the nineteenth century. And as we
Glasgow merchants became rich from a triangular tobacco trade
shall see in chapter 3,
with the American colonies and the Caribbean. By the late 1700s Scotland ran a lucra-
tive import-export trading network that reached from Virginia and South Carolina to
Jamaica and Barbados, to France, Germany, and Holland, onward to Sweden, Poland,
and Russia — all locales where converso Jews had settled and opened up banks, shipping
firms and manufactories. As Smout wonderingly writes about these Scottish entrepre-
neurs, “It would be interesting to know as much about thqir religious affiliations and their
1. The Origins of Scotland 21
childhood upbringing as we do about their parentage” (p. 364). It would indeed, and so
we turn now to a review of the last historical monograph examined in this introductory
chapter.
The author of this Scottish history is HRH Prince Michael Stewart of Albany, head
of the Scottish Royal House of Stewart, a descendant of the Stuart Pretenders. The word
“pretender” did not originally have a pejorative meaning. These royals are dejure (legal)
successors of the last Stuart monarch Queen Anne, with whose death in 1714 the throne
sity” (other titles of his include, for example, Titular Prince of France and Poland, and
Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine). Why is the current heir of the Stewart dynasty of
Scotland also head of the Glasgow University Jewish student association? Because he is
of Jewish ancestry.
HRH Michael Stewart puts the circumstances in a rather straightforward manner
in his narrative: The Stewart family maternal line in France was descended “from the
Tribe of Judah”; he believes his family is of Davidic ancestry (that is, from the Jewish
King David); and he is therefore a Jew by descent. The Stewarts were among that set of
French families that came to England with William the Conqueror and his Norman army
in 1066. Originally named FitzAlan, the family took the name of Stewart after serving as
royal stewards to the Bruce dynasty of Scotland. By marrying the female heir of King
Robert Bruce in 1315, Walter Stewart (who by this time served also as regent) ensured
15
that his son Robert II eventually advanced to the throne of Scotland.
HRH Michael Stewart, it should also be noted, does give credence to the Stone of
Destiny origin story, believing that an Egyptian princess named Scota did come to Ire-
land and that the Piets and Gaels both originated near the Black Sea (Scythia) in south-
eastern Europe. As he states, “From Tamar and Eochaid (Echad) were descended most
of the royal lines of Ireland ... through which all Kings of Scots traced their succession
from the Biblical Kings of Judah” (p. 70). While HRH Michael Stewart may believe this
explanation for the ancient Jewish lineage of the Scottish kings, we do not. We could be
wrong; he could be correct; but the story is too far-fetched to support serious historical
argument. Further, we do not require these remote origins, for France in 1050 is a more
proximate — and provable — source for Judaic ancestry.
What HRH Michael Stewart’s narrative does offer us, however, is a more detailed
and nuanced version of Scottish history than we have seen previously; one with several
significant clues about a Jewish presence there. First, he notes (p. 19) that the Celtic
Stewart also writes that the Old and New Testaments were weighted equally within
the Celtic Church, and further:
allowed to be mar-
Unlike their Catholic counterparts, the priests of the Celtic Church were
ried, and their hereditary offices were passed from father to son....
16
Given that Jesus own
teachings formed the basis of the faith, the Mosaic structure from the Old
Testament was
celebrations of the
duly incorporated. Judaic marriage laws were observed, together with the
while Easter was correctly held as the traditional feast-day of the
Sabbath and Passover,
Spring goddess, Eostre... [p. 30],
Contrary to traditional belief, Emperor Constantine the Great (a.d. 274-337) did not
embrace Christianity as the religion of Rome; [rather,] he adapted Christianity into a
new form that was ... actually related to the Syrian Sol Invictus cult of sun worship. [Con-
comply with the Sun Festival on 25 December, and
stantine] redefined Jesus’ birthday to
substituted the sacred Sabbath (Saturday) with the Sun-day ... the
high-points of Judaic
Christianity were conveniently merged with the pagan tradition, and the Persian cult of
Mithras, which stressed the concept of final judgment ... [p. 31].
into
Stewart provides us with a different perspective on the arrival of the “outsiders”
Scotland during the UOOs, noting that many of these immigrants were Flemish,
rather
Stewart argues that these Flemish newcomers were attractive to King David
because
them in a series of Sheriffdoms and incorporated them into the Scottish judicial system.
17
The wife of Scottish Kind David was Maud de Lens of Boulogne, Flanders, the widow
of Simon de Senlis (St. Liz) (bearing a Jewish given name) and the wealthiest
woman in
Flanders, she was
Britain. Stewart states, “Maud was not only a cousin of the Count of
ilies related to them in France and Flanders. The cohesiyeness of these bonds of kinship
1. The Origins of Scotland 23
provided a unified political and economic network that spanned Western Europe and the
Holy Land.
The royal house of Bruce came to an end in 1371, when Robert’s son David (age 47)
died after a sudden illness in Edinburgh Castle without a male heir. Robert the Bruce’s
daughter, Marjorie, however, had married Walter, the 6th High Stewart of Scotland (ca.
1292-1326). She died giving birth to a son, Robert II, who served as regent during David’s
frequent absences and was crowned in Scone Abbey on March 26, 1371, initiating the Royal
Stewart dynasty. Stewart describes his installation procedure, which was that of a priest-
18
king, modeled after those of Israel.
Firstly, the King-to-be was passed through a ritual of purification to become an ordained
people’s priest. He would then appear at the Church Abbey of Scone, dressed in white as a
symbol of integrity.... With his hand upon the Stone [of Destiny], the King would swear his
Oath of Fealty as the people’s champion. He was duly anointed, and then sat upon the sepa-
rate and much larger Coronation Stone.... In the early days the crown was no more than a
circlet of gold, and its symbolic concept was to catch the eye of God ... [A]t that stage would
the religious ceremony begin, led by the Bishop and the seven priests. There were readings
from Old Testament scriptures, along with prayers... [pp. 75-76].
Also according to Stewart, if is frequently presumed that Robert de Brus was a Nor-
man, but this is not true. The de Brus had held lands in Normandy, but Robert carried
the azure Flemish lion of Louvain when he came to Britain.
Conclusions
So where does this discussion and review of Scottish history leave us? First, we have
found one Scot of aristocratic descent who claims Jewish ancestry. Admittedly, this is not
19
an overwhelming showing in a country of five million persons, but at least it is a start.
Second, we hope we have convinced the reader that Scotland after 1100 C.E. was no
longer peopled exclusively or even predominately by Celts. With Vikings to the north
and French, Flemings, and Hungarians to the south and center, there were few Celts left
Jews may disagree about who and what The broadest definition, that adopted
a Jew is.
To complicate matters further, Jews who were born of two practicing Jewish par-
ents, and who themselves belong to an Orthodox synagogue, may not necessarily be of
Semitic ancestry. That is, they may not carry the genes of the ancient Hebrews. Instead,
some time between 3,000 years ago and the present, their ancestors decided to become
Jews, and the family has continued to practice that faith ever since. Most Jews now liv-
ing do not have predominantly Semitic ancestry in their genetic makeup. This is partic-
ularly the case for the maternal line. As geneticist Steve Olson puts it in Mapping Human
History (2002, pp. 109-110), “The mitochondrial DNA sequences of Jewish females are
even more diverse than the Y chromosomes of males, suggesting that non-Jewish women
converted or married into the faith even more often than men.” Importantly for our pur-
24
2. DNA and Population Studies 25
poses, descendants of medieval Spanish, French and Italian Jews — that is, the Western or
Mediterranean Jews of Sefarad — are not primarily of Semitic ancestry. Rather, most
belong to what is Y chromosomal DNA haplogroup, the most common
called the Rib
paternal lineage in Europe and in countries of the New World founded by Europeans. 2
What about simply regarding as Jewish any person who now publicly “self-identifies”
as such? While seemingly reasonable, this solution will not work in the case of Crypto-
Jews (secret Jews). Though a term normally reserved for Jewish Iberian exiles after the
pogroms of 1391 and especially after the Edict of Expulsion in 1492, it can also be applied
to ancestrally Jewish Scots, ancestrally Jewish Germans, ancestrally Jewish Melungeons,
and in fact to any ancestrally Jewish persons whose forebears feared identification or detec-
tion, chose to hide their true identity, and practiced that religion in secret. For up to 600
years, Crypto-Jews had to survive without rabbis, yeshivas, torahs, or synagogues, iso-
lated from openly Jewish communities in Eastern Europe, Islam and the Mediterranean,
and subject to a kind of “double hostility” from their surrounding societies (Santos 2000).
The religious status of these Marranos, 3 conversos, Anusim (“the Forced Ones”) and New
Christians challenged some of the best rabbinical minds of the day (Netanyahu 1999).
And so, to determine if the Scottish families in question were of Jewish descent, we
used a process of inductive reasoning. We relied on clues from several different types of
bears. But in most cases we are going to have to finesse this conclusion by looking at the
overall pattern of evidence for that family, including their associated lines and marriage
preferences. The formal term for this branch of science is the statistical inference of
demography from DNA sequence data.
In this chapter, we focus on DNA samples collected from descendants bearing the sur-
names of prominent Scots in the “early/first wave” and “later/second wave” migrations from
the Continent. The first set of families included Alexander, Bruce, Campbell, Douglas, Forbes,
Fraser, Gordon, Leslie and Stewart. The second set of surnames included Caldwell, Christie,
Cowan and Kennedy. We selected these families because we believed, a priori, they had a
high likelihood of being Jewish. Why did we believe this? Because these are all Scots sur-
names found in high numbers among the Melungeon population of Appalachia. As noted
at the outset, we are of Melungeon descent; we have learned that some of our ancestors (per-
haps all) were practicing Jews at some time in their past and in some instances still are. We
have corresponded with many cousins in our various lines who have come to the same con-
clusion, namely, that their Scots (and French, German, Dutch, Portuguese, German, Swiss,
Italian, Welsh, Irish and English) ancestors practiced the Jewish faith. This fact was hidden
from most of us until just recently. But it need not remain hidden from you.
be said to go back to George Darwin, son of the founder of evolutionary science. In 1875,
Darwin fils used surnames to estimate the frequency of first-cousin marriages and cal-
culated the expected incidence of marriage between people of the same surname. He
arrived at a figure between 2.25 percent and 4.5 percent for cousin-marriage in the pop-
ulation of Great Britain (Jobling, June 2001, p. 353), with the upper classes being on the
high end and the general rural population on the low end. (Admittedly, this was a pretty
crude effort by modern scientific standards, but quite innovative for its era.) The next
stimulus toward using genetics to study family history had to wait until the 1990s, when
certain locations on the Y chromosome were identified as being useful for tracing male-
to-male inheritance.
It all began when a Canadian nephrologist of Ashkenazi parentage
attended syna-
gogue one morning and noticed that a Sephardi congregant with the same surname as
his— Cohen — seemed to have completely different physical features (Kleiman 2001;
Thomas et al. 1998; Skorecki et al. 1997). According to Jewish tradition, Cohens are
descended from the same male ancestor, the priest Aaron, brother of Moses, and as such
are regarded as the hereditary Jewish priestly caste, called upon first to come forth and
read Torah in temple services. The nephrologist reasoned that if Kohanim (plural of
Cohen) were indeed the descendants of only one man, they should have a common set
of genetic markers and should perhaps preserve some family resemblance to each other.
To test that hypothesis, he made contact with Professor Michael Hammer of the
University of Arizona, a leading researcher in molecular genetics and pioneer in Y chro-
mosome research. The publication of their study in the prestigious British science jour-
nal Nature in 1997 sent shock waves through the worlds of science and religion. A
particular marker (now known as the Cohen Modal Haplotype, or CMH) did indeed
appear in 98.5 percent of men bearing the surname Cohen (or a variation thereof such
as Cone). It was apparently true that knowledge of their priestly calling and descent from
the Biblical Aaron had been strictly preserved for thousands of years (Skorecki et al. 1997;
Thomas et al. 1998). Moreover, the data showed that there were very few “non-paternity
events,” testimony, as one Jewish scholar put it, to the faithfulness of thousands of Mrs.
4
Cohens down through the ages (Kleiman 2001).
The first to test the new methodology in general surname research was Bryan Sykes,
a molecular biologist at Oxford University (Sykes and Irven 2000). His study of the Sykes
surname obtained valid results by looking at only four markers on the male chromosome.
It pointed the way to genetics becoming a valuable assistant in the service of
genealogy
and history. Sykes went on to found the first home DNA testing firm, Oxford Ancestors,
and write the popular book The Seven Daughters of Eve (2002).
To conduct our research we identified two persons for each surname who could doc-
ument, genealogically, their exclusive male-line descent from a Scots-born male forebear
carrying that surname. Our first lab results arrived in September 2000. The laboratory
looked at twelve markers on the Y chromosome prone to genetic mutation (polymor-
phism). Taken together, the resulting scores, called short tandem repeats (STRs), or alle-
les, make up a haplotype, a unique genetic profile shared by males of the same
paternal
descent. Each test result was then compared with the Y-STR Haplotype Reference Data-
base (YHRD), a collection of over 28,000 samples taken from 249 world populations
2. DNA and Population Studies 27
(Willuweit et al. 2005). Nearly 23,000 distinct haplotypes are identified within the Euro-
pean section of YHRD; there are also Asian, African and North American sections. This
extremely informative gene bank, though it has a few underrepresented areas such as
France, serves as the final word for forensic scientists and courts of law the world over,
as well as for professional genealogical casework. Matches in the FTDNA database, Ybase,
and other available concordances were also used. 5
The raw scores for these analyses are
shown in appendix A.
logroup (common lineage, gene type) Rib. Interestingly, in addition to four Scottish
matches and twelve English matches, its one-step mutation had a match also with a Jew-
ish donor in Poland, a French male and four Belgian males. Could the Continental dis-
tribution of the haplotype be an indication of its “deep history”? In the much larger
YHRD (22,970 haplotypes), on a nine-marker basis, it elicited a single full match in Lim-
burg, Netherlands (1/50), while haplotype neighbors (one-step mutations, related far-
ther back in time) included the following:
The astounding news was that of 72 near-matches in the YHRD, 22 (nearly one-third) were
in Spain, Portugal or countries once ruled by these colonial powers, including Antioquia
(Colombia) and Madeira (Spain), both places known to have large populations of Sephardim.
There was even a Scottish Alexander genetic cousin in Damascus, Syria. The modal score
(most frequent response) was central eastern Spain, the original homeland of innumerable
Crypto-Jews now living in Mexico and the American Southwest (Santos 2000). 7
Forbes
Let us examine Forbes next. In the Forbes DNA surname project of Kenneth Forbes,
Forbes I matched a David Forbes circa 1785, of Montrose, Scotland, and Forbes II a
William Forbes of South Carolina. 8 Forbes I had 40 exact matches in the Recent Ethnic
Origins section of the FTDNA database. Comparison of the scores with the extended data-
base of Dr. Hammer at FTDNA showed only one exact match (Ireland — probably our
donor), but 34 one-step and two-step mutations, including England, France, the Shet-
land Islands, Polynesia (European admixture), Ukraine (Ashkenazi), Portugal, Italy,
Philippines (European admixture), Poland and Spain (Basque), illustrating the wide dis-
semination of this genetic pattern. The presence of Polynesian and Filipino matches
underscores the fact that the bearers of this haplotype sometimes traveled by ship to dis-
tant countries. Admixture was also suspected in matches with an Inuit from Greenland,
an Indonesian, a Japanese, a Micronesian, an Arab from Israel, some native Siberians and
a Chinese Muslim of Central Asian descent on the historic trading route known as the
Silk Road.
In the YHRD, Forbes I elicited 167 matches throughout the world, weighted toward
southern Europe and the Mediterranean. The modal center was in northern Spain (Basques),
with noteworthy peaks in Colombia, the Pyrennes, Brazil, northern Portugal, Paris (France),
Valencia, Madrid and Barcelona (Spain), Poland, London, Argentina, Texas and New York
City (European and Hispanic descent). More than 50 percent of the matches were in Iberia
or Hispanic populations in the New World. If we were to project the sample size onto the
country of Colombia, 2 percent of the population, or 400,000 Colombians, could be said
to be carrying the “Forbes” haplotype (even though they would likely have different sur-
names). Further, it can be inferred with a high degree of confidence that these Colombian
males would all have a common ancestor who lived, according to estimates of average muta-
tion rates, about a thousand years ago, when the first surnames were being established. Eight
out of 224 Barcelonans also matched: in other words 3.6 percent of that population. By
9
these measures, then, this Forbes haplotype appears to be Iberian.
Forbes II differed from Forbes I on five markers, suggesting different original ances-
tors for these two donors, despite their having the same surname. Both were assigned to
10
haplogroup Rib. The pattern of matches for Forbes II yielded a worldwide distribution.
Results included multiple matches with three other surnames (Arnold, Toole, and
McQuiston). 11
We believe that both branches of Forbes came to Scotland from France or
the Spanish Peninsula sometime in the not-so-distant past. Significantly, there are Jews
by the name of Forbes buried in the Sephardic communities of Brazil (Whiznitzer 1960),
and several generations of Forbeses (along with Alexanders) were partners in the impor-
tant Pensacola-based trading house of Panton, Leslie and Co., later called John Forbes
and Co. (Sutton 1991).
Bruce
Next, let us consider the surname Bruce. Our Bruce donor 12 proved also to be Rib
and matched with the surnames Fookes (German Fuchs, English Fox, both common Jew-
ish surnames), Kent, Ferguson and Harris (2). Harris was the name of 1 in 84 patrons of
Anglo-Jewish charities in an 1884 study compiled by Jacobs, making it 13th in rank among
British Jewish surnames. Bruce had exact matches in the FTDNA Recent Ethnic Origins
database in Bohemia (1 out of 15) and England, with an additional 14 of “unknown”
30 When Scotland Was Jewish
origin. One-step (11/12) matches included Scotland (8 out of 500, or 1.6 percent), U.K.
(26 out of 2406, or about 1 percent), Germany (10 out of 576, or 1.7 percent), and France
(3 out of 165, or 1.8 percent, with Keskastel, a town in Alsace that had a noted medieval
Jewry, being 2 of those, plus an additional 1 classified as of unknown country origin).
There were also matches with a Russian Ashkenazi donor, Mexico, Denmark and the
Netherlands (2 out of 13).
A search of the YHRD database produced 38 matches. These were fairly well con-
centrated along the Rhine River between France and Germany, with Freiburg (Germany)
being the modal response (5 out of 433, or 1.2 percent), followed by London (3 out of
247, or 1.2 percent). There were also scattered matches in Brussels (Belgium), Finland,
Sicily, Norway, Sweden, Gotland, northern Poland and southern Portugal, as well as
Brazil. The sole French hit (Paris) was striking in view of the small sample set in the data-
base, only 109 total, all from Paris and Strasbourg. The Scots Bruce line, of course, claims
tocome from France, and the etymology of the name (de Brousse, Lat. bruscia “brush,
brushwood”) leads to Normandy and Flanders.
Campbell
The DNA of our Campbell donors emerged as a relatively uncommon haplotype and
though fairly pan-European, was, again, concentrated in Iberia. Our participants matched
two donors in the later-forming Campbell Surname DNA Project. Campbell matches in
the FTDNA database were in Ireland and of unknown origin, with one-step matches in
Sweden (1 out of 69), England (18 out of 2039), Germany (4 out 576), Ireland (3 out of
617), Scotland (11 out of 500) and “unknown” (23). Two-step matches were found in
Belarus (Russia, 1 out of 86), Denmark (1 o.ut of 49), France (2 out of 165), Holland (1
out 102), Wales (3 out of 76) and Iberian locations (including Andalusia and Mexico: 4
out of 254 total for these countries, or 1.6 percent).
Notable two-step Campbell matches from Hammer’s database at FTDNA included
several Ashkenazi Jews (Belarus, Holland, and Russia), plus matches in Spain, Italy, Greece
and Syria. The Ashkenazi match from the Netherlands was noted as Levite. Matches in
the YHRD database (25) yielded Colombia, Birmingham (England), London and New
York City (Latino) in a tie as modal scores and included Cantabria (in northern Spain),
central eastern Spain, central Portugal, Moscow, Paris, Southern Ireland, Belgium, Hol-
land, Sweden, Russia, and Hungary.
The bulk of the participants (12 out of 17) in the Campbell Surname Project fell into
the Rib haplogroup and had genealogies traced back to a large Campbell colony in Rock-
bridge/Augusta County, Virginia, coming from Northern Ireland via Pennsylvania. There
were numerous marriages between Campbells and Davidsons (a common Jewish surname),
McKees (Mackey, Mackie, etc., Jewish surname), Hays (Jewish surname), and Alexanders.
In American history, Campbell County, Tennessee/Kentucky, is a rocky and
inaccessible area of the southern Appalachians near the Melungeon heartland. It was
2. DNA and Population Studies 31
named after one of Daniel Boone’s right-hand men and long harbored an important
Crypto-Jewish community that was evidently gathered around Richard Muse
(born 1752,
13
a land agent. Also settling there were two branches of the Cooper
fam-
died after 1840),
ily,relatives of the scout for Boone, William Cooper (about 1725-1782).
Purrysburgh Ceme-
of 1821 and the familiar Jewish symbol of a hand pointing to a star in
tery in South Carolina, an early Crypto-Jewish religious colony
on the Savannah River.
15
Campbells were among the leading Jewish families in Jamaica, and there are 14 per-
sons surnamed Campbell listed in Rabbi Malcolm Stern s American Jewish
genealogies
Genealogical Society of Great
(1991). It is also a leading name researched by the Jewish
and Israel, were among the first settlers of the Repub-
Britain. Campbells, including Isaac
lic of Texas, and they were among founders of the Watauga Country experiment in repub-
licanism in Tennessee.
16
We hypothesize that Campbell as a surname may be related to
Campanal, a Marrano surname (see chapter 3).
Our two Douglas samples did not match each other exactly, but were very close. It
are likely dealing with branches of the same family, a Scottish clan of
would appear we
royal descent first attested as lords of the South Isles as early as the 9th century C.E. In the
haplotype. A simulation in the YHRD, inputting these scores for DYS 385 and
theparent
vary between the values for Douglas and II, produced a
allowing the other two sites to I
surnames at FTDNA.
Gordon
We obtained three Govdon DNA donors from two different sources. The first, labeled
Gordon III, came from a Clan Gordon descendant from Scotland. The second two were
32 When Scotland Was Jewish
Jewish Gordons from Russia, labeled Gordon I and II. We wanted to learn if these two
Gordon populations were related genetically.
The Gordon III donor from Scotland carried haplotype Rib and matched individ-
uals with the following surnames: Cowell, Kendrick, Nichols, Wingo, French, Day, Beck-
endorf, Brown, Sisson (11), George (2), Picklo, Hill, Mock, Shelton, Radcliffe, and Clark.
The several matches with Sisson, a version of Sasson, Sosa, Sassoon, Shushan and Ibn
Shoshan, are notable as this is the post-exilic Hebrew name for “happiness,” associated
with th efleur de lis or lily that served as a symbol of the House of David during the Mid-
dleAges (Jacobs 1901-1906). Gordon III is one step away from the extremely widespread
Lavender haplotype, which has been traced to French Jewry (Lavender 2003).
Gordon Ill’s exact matches in the REO database were either in the British Isles or
of unknown origin: Ireland (2), Scotland (2), United Kingdom (1), unknown origin (3),
and Wales (2). One-step mutations showed a thin, but consistent, distribution through-
out Europe, including Austria (2/42), Switzerland (6/69), Germany, Holland (6/40),
France (3/165), Italy, Slovakia, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, Jamaica, and Ashkenazi
matches in Poland and Russia. There were also matches by admixture with native Siberi-
ans, Inuits, Polynesians, Filipinos, Micronesians, Indonesians, Japanese, Africans, Arabs,
Chinese Muslims and Uyghurs (a Turkic people in Central Asia). In the YHRD database,
there were 73 matches. Every population in present-day Germany was covered, with the
capital, Berlin, being the modal response (6/548 or 1.1 percent). The Iberian picture was
uneven, however, with high numbers for Colombia/ Antioquia (5), and 2 hits in central
sub-haplogroup “originated in the northern portion of the Fertile Crescent where it later
spread throughout central Asia, the Mediterranean, and south into India. As with other
populations with Mediterranean ancestry, this lineage is found within Jewish popula-
tions.”
Gordon I had two exact surname matches FTDNA: Norwalk and Horn (a rela-
at
tively common Jewish surname, derived from Hebrew shofar ). An exact match was found
in the Hammer worldwide Jewry database with an Ashkenazi Jew from the land of Radzivil
(Radziwill, Belarussia). One-step matches included Ashkenazim from Austria-Hungary,
Hungary, Romania and Uzbekistan. Of the two-step matches, there were Ashkenazis from
Lithuania, Russia (3, one of whom self-identified as a Cohen), Austria-Hungary, Belarus,
Czechoslovakia, and Poland (Makov). In addition, there was one each of the following:
India (tribal), Iran (Mazandarani) and Arab. Thus, the CMH is not restricted to Jews,
but is also found among Arabs, Persians and other Middle Eastern peoples. Three-step
matches included a Greek from Australia and a Samaritan from Israel. (Extended near-
matches such as these are pertinent because we are dealing with an ancient genetic pat-
tern, said to go back three to four thousand years.) In the YHRD database, Gordon I
elicited three matches: Argentina, Netherlands and Latium (the area around Rome).
2. DNA and Population Studies 33
Gordon II matches and near-matches at FTDNA echoed the Gordon I results, and
a one-step match from Czechoslovakia listed as a self-identifying “Sephardi.” Gordon II
exactly matched persons with the last names of Kaplan (a Hebrew name formed from
KPLN — uSdd— meaning “descendant of Cohen”) 17 and Jordan (2). These Jordans com-
prise Group JG5 in the Jordan Surname DNA Project. (The surnames Jordan and Gor-
18
people descended from the ancient Biblical Hebrews settled in all these places— in Spain
from Roman times (and thence to South America after 1492), in Bulgaria and Sicily dur-
ing Hellenic and Byzantine times, in Switzerland during the High Middle Ages and early
modern period, and in Gothland, joining, respectively, the Iberian, Bulgarian, Greek,
Swiss and Gothic indigenous populations. Lausanne, for instance, in addition to being a
haven for Protestant reformers, was a favorite refuge for French, Italian and Iberian Jews.
The history of the early settlement of Jews among the Scandinavian peoples is little
investigated, but a substantial early Jewish population is suggested by the fact that in 1751
a group of Norwegians arrived in London and petitioned the Spanish and Portuguese Jews
Synagogue of Bevis-Marks to admit a large number of their countrymen who wanted to
return to the open practice of Judaism (Endelman 1979, p. 283). As we shall discuss in a
later chapter, Scottish Gordons established trading stations and manufactories through-
out the Baltic, traveled to Russia in the service of the Tsar ( and in the Appalachians with
the Melungeons), and even married into the English nobility, where the poet Byron, Lord
19
George Gordon (1788-1824), became their greatest ironic hero.
The Stewart donor scores match those of the Caldwell donors in the second wave of
immigration, so we now move to a discussion those Jews or Crypto-Jews who joined their
coreligionists in Scotland after 1300. What we term the Caldwell-Stewart haplotype is
the most frequent male haplotype on record. It is widely distributed throughout Europe.
In America, it occurs in most ethnic populations, including African-American
and His-
panic (due to admixture). Stewart and Caldwell surname matches at FTDNA included:
20
Agin, Arnold (one of the most common Colonial American Jewish surnames), Bell
(“good looking” in French), Brown, Canterbury, Carter, Cordova (Sephardic), Castano
21
(Sephardic), Chamberlain and Chambers (from Latin Camerae and cognate with
Cameron, “of the chamber”), Cooper, Cullen, Davenport (Welsh “David’s port’ ), Ellis-
ton, Etheridge/Everidge (likely formed from Osterreicher “from Austria”), Franklin (from
France), French (from France), Hooper (cognate with Cooper), Jacobs (a leading English
Jewish surname whose meaning in Hebrew is “merchant”), 22 Lovett/Lovitt (= Levite),
23
German/Jarman (from Germany), Gibbs (often Jewish, a shortened form of Gabriel),
-4
Goheen (Yiddish for “impure,” goyim), Harry (French Harre, related to Harrison),
Hutchinson, Kuchinsky (Polish form of the preceding), Mallett (French Sephardic sur-
34 When Scotland Was Jewish
type. AMH, along with its close mutational neighbors, is the genetic type of one-third
of the population of Portugal (Gusmao et al. 2003). Nearly 40 percent of the AMH
matches come from Iberian populations (Spain, Portugal, Madeira, Canary Islands, Latin
America). Further, the AMH/Caldwell-Stewart progenitor appears to have been respon-
sible for siring 8 percent of the population of the city of Barcelona, 8.3 percent of Zaragoza,
6 percent of Cantabria, and 12 percent of the Pyrenees; altogether about 6 percent of the
modern population of Spain and Portugal! Matches also occur in Turkey, Egypt, Syria
and the Philippines, as well as Polynesia and Indonesia.
Of the 5 or 6 haplotypes identified by the Stewart/Stuart DNA Project, 26
the Caldwell-
Stewart haplotype corresponds to the most common, S4235. One Stewart matched Cald-
well exactly, and the other was only a slight variation, perhaps an Irish branch to judge
from the 14 matches found in Ireland. Clearly, the Caldwell-Stewart pattern represents
a prolific lineage, one favored by historical circumstances.
Caldwell
As the distribution map shows, the Caldwell haplotype left descendants in areas
ranging from Scandinavia through central Europe and Germany, down to Italy, across to
France and Spain, and over to the British Isles. One match was also found in Turkey. As
we will see in chapter 4, according to their origin story the family actually claims to have
lived in most of these places. Their motive for migration is remembered as having been
a desire to escape religious persecution.
A glance at the distribution of the AMH Caldwell-Stewart haplotype, combined with
a knowledge of European history, suggests that the major population segment in today’s
Spain and Germany — leaving aside France for the moment — likely did not come from
Roman or Celtic DNA, two obvious candidates. Neither hypothesis would be a sufficient
causal argument for the Scandinavian matches. Both these origins would be hard pressed
to account for the Polish matches, as well as for the population density geared toward the
North and Baltic seas. The history of Europe is the history of its biggest conquerors. The
chronicling of the most frequently-occurring Y chromosomes should correspond to the
fortunes of ancient fathers who begat large numbers of sons over the generations.
2. DNA and Population Studies 35
Let us attempt to solve the origins of this haplotype by gauging the era in which this
prolific Rib father lived. Male haplotypes are believed to mutate at a constant rate. This
“genetic clock” was chosen for kinship determinations because it “ticks” about once every
thousand years and can thus be compared with written records, genealogy and histori-
cal sources of information. Usually, heteronymic matches (those between persons of
different surnames) reveal a common ancestor who lived between 1,000 and 2,000 years
ago, prior to the use of surnames. The Caldwell-Stewart allele configuration, then, likely
arose during in the Middle Ages (500-1500 C.E.) or the late Roman period (1-500 C.E.).
Since 500 C.E., some of the descendants would have moved from their ancestral home,
while some remained behind.
We believe the only people who had contact with all these relevant populations within
the appropriate time period were the Germanic tribes that originated in the far north of
Western Europe and overran the Roman Empire from the fourth to sixth centuries of the
Common Era. They came from the Baltic and harried the borders of the empire in Thrace,
Hungary and Pannonia; they are called the Goths. We pick up the Caldwell-Stewart hap-
36 When Scotland Was Jewish
lotype Wolhynia (Ukraine), the ancestral home of the Goths before their division
trail in
into Visigoths and Ostrogoths. Gothic legends tell of a migration from the mouth of the
Vistula to the Sea of Azov that took them through a vast swamp. In crossing a river,
probably the Dnieper, some of their people became separated from the main group and
were left behind. In the words of one historian:
Old songs tell the story of the trek of the Goths from Gothiscandza to Scythia.... Modern
archeology assumes a slow shift of the East Pomeranian-Masovian Wielbark culture into the
archaeological region that has been named, since the turn of the century, after the village of
Cherniakhov near Kiev. The advance of the Polish culture into the Ukrainian area thus pres-
ents itself as a process that lasted from the end of the second until far into the third cen-
tury....To this stage belongs also the early phase of the Cherniakhov culture in Wolhynia
[Wolfram 1988, p. 42],
The left-behinds stayed in an area that eventually became the medieval state of the
Ukraine. The largest group of Goths continued to travel over a thousand miles to the
“Greutungian heartland in southern Russia,” where “the peoples of the Cherniakhov
[Wolhynian] culture certainly had the military and logistical capability to enforce their
authority in the vast expanses of Russia” (p. 87). There, the Gothic king “ruled over all
peoples of Scythia and Germannia as if they were his own” (p. 88). From this farthest
eastward point, they turned west (now being termed Visigoths) and began to prey on the
2. DNA and Population Studies 11
Roman provinces of Greece, Turkey and the Balkans. Eventually, they joined the Ostro-
goths, their ancestral cousins, and descended on Italy. Still later, they established the
kingdom of Toulouse in southern France around 418 C.E. and the Visigothic kingdom of
Toledo in Spain in 568-711 (Wolfram 1988, appendix 2). There they virtually replaced
the resident Romano-Celtic-Punic population, already decimated by wars with their kin-
Itwas reserved for the Goths ... to deal the first mortal blow at the Roman state [the sack of
Rome by Alaric in 410].... The Gothic nation, or rather cluster of nations, belonged to the
great Aryan family of peoples, and to the Low German branch of that family.... The informa-
tion which fordanes [flourished about 550 C.E.] gives us as to the earliest home and first
migration of the Goths is as follows: “The island of Scanzia [peninsula of Norway and Swe-
den] lies in the Northern Ocean, opposite the mouth of the Vistula, in the shape like a
cedar-leaf. In this island [peninsula], this manufactory of nations, dwelt the Goths with
other tribes....”
The migration from Sweden to east Prussia [is supported by] Pytheas of Marseilles ... who
lived about the time of Alexander the Great [and who] speaks of a people called Guttones,
who by an estuary of the Ocean named Mentonomon, and who apparently traded in
lived
amber (Pliny, Natural History, xxxvii.2) ... and who must therefore have been settled on the
south-east coast of the Baltic at least as early as 330 before Christ.
Why do we identify the Visigoths, though, as the source of the AMH Caldwell-
Stewart haplotype and not one of the numerous other Germanic tribes— for example,
the Franks, Burgundians, Saxons, Siling or Asding Vandals, Suebi, Alamanni, Juthungi,
Distribution of Forbes DNA sample and the Visigoth settlement pattern. Map by Donald N. Yates.
38 When Scotland Was Jewish
Iazyges, Carp, Taifali, Gepids, Heruli, Alans, or even the Visigoths’ cousins, the
Ostrogoths? Suspicion might fall instead on the Suebi, who crossed the frozen Rhine
in the winter of 406-7 C.E. with the Vandal and Alan hordes and two years later were
said to number 80,000 as they crossed the Pyrenees into Iberia (Cunliffe 2001, pp. 428,
449).
With the Visigoths’ second conquest of the peninsula beginning in 455 under
Theoderic I and the end of the kingdom of Toulouse in France (507), however, the Suebi
“merged imperceptibly with the indigenous population” in the northwest, “making the
last significant contribution to the gene pool of the region” (p. 449). This left the Visig-
oths as masters of Iberia until the arrival of the Arabs two centuries later. A map of Ger-
manic settlement in the fifth and sixth centuries shows their densest concentration is a
fan-shaped crescent between Toledo and Barcelona, the exact center of the modal scores
for the AMH Caldwell-Stewart haplotype and homeland of the Sephardic Jewish popula-
tion in the cities on the Ebro and in “northeast central Spain” targeted by the Spanish
Inquisition in later centuries (p. 449). The map gives the broad picture and shows the
origin and travels of the Visigoths superimposed on the distribution map of one of our
Scottish clans, Forbes.
Kennedy
Our Kennedy donor is a one-step mutation from the AMH Caldwell-Stewart pat-
He has an allele value of 15 instead of 14 at DYS 385b, the same as Gordon IV. Sur-
tern.
name matches included Broom, Cothron, Harris, Irving, Mitchell (2), Sanches, Moore,
Briley, Grant, Stewart, Slavin, Gordon, Mock (3), Mauk (3), Elliston, Alford, Rea, Gar-
vey, Bannon, Robinson, Edstrom, Kraywinkel, Beal (2), Devine, and Dyas (Dias, Diaz) —
a mixture of names emanating from Scotland, England, Germany, Portugal, Spain,
Hungary, Wales, France, Poland and Denmark. Exact haplotype matches in the FTDNA
and Hammer databases were England (2, one from the Isle of Man), France, Iceland,
Polynesia (European admixture), Portugal and one of unknown origin. One-step muta-
tions were found in Cuba, Denmark, England (2), Finland, France, Germany, Holland
The Leslie haplotype is a two-step mutation from the AMH Caldwell-Stewart pat-
tern. (It has a repeat of 14 instead of 12 at microsatellite 439.) Clan Leslie has a reliable
tradition that the name was brought to Scotland from Hungary by one Bartolomaeus Lad-
slau (Latin Ladislaus) around 1120. Supporting this traditional story, we found numerous
2. DNA and Population Studies 39
near-matches with persons tested from the Ukraine, Hungary and Russia, as well as some
from Scandinavia and a high number of matches in the Mediterranean.
The Christie haplotype had 18 matches in YHRD, the modal response being north-
ern Portugal. One-third of the Christie matches were Portuguese (6/18), with 2 from Bel-
gium, 1 from Caceres (in Spain on the Portuguese border), 1 from Cologne, 1 from Croatia,
1 from Dusseldorf, 1 from Freiburg, 1 from London, 1 from Magdeburg, 1 from Sao Paulo
(Brazil), 1 from Sicily and 1 from Zeeland (Netherlands).
The name Christie ostensibly refers to the bearer’s status as a follower of Christian-
ity, but such a designation would only make sense if acquired in a land where Christians
were the minority (such as Arab Palestine), or else bestowed on a convert. Sometimes
converso Jews purposely adopted explicitly Christian surnames such as Cruz (cross), Santa
Maria, or Santa Cruz (Saint Cross!): in 1389 Solomon Halevi, the chief rabbi of Burgos
in Spain, took the name Pablo de Santa Maria when he converted, or pretended to con-
vert, to Christianity (Gitlitz 2002, pp. 5, 10-11, 201-2).
Fraser
matches. Lithuania had 4 matches, and in fact all the Baltic states were represented. This
Scottish Fraser also has numerous Swedish, Polish, Russian and Ukrainian cousins— not
the places one would expect to find Gaelic stock if Fraser were Celtic or Pictic.
With the second Fraser donor (Aberdeen) scores, the Polish genetic matches drop
away. We have 6 matches only: in Colombia (Antioquia), Freiburg, Liguria, Limburg,
Lombardy, and London. The closely related Richmond, Virginia, Fraser donor has a sin-
gle match, in the Pyrenees, the borderland between Spain and France.
With the Edinburgh Fraser donor we get a broader picture. Its 53 matches reveal a
wide distribution. French connections emerge, with 3 matches in Strasbourg and 1 in
Paris. Northern Poland, with 5 matches, is the modal score. At the same time, we have
heavy coverage of northern and east central Spain and all regions of Portugal, including
2 matches (out of 133) from the Pyrenees, a location that was the sole match for Rich-
mond, Virginia, Fraser donor. During the anti-Jewish riots in northern Spain in 1391,
and again after the 1492 Edict of Expulsion, Jews crossed and recrossed this mountain
chain many times, finding temporary refuge in southern French cities.
The Hastings Fraser donor is only one marker different from the Edinburgh Fraser
Swed/ah /
Brasilien
Edinburgh
Poland
Strasbourg
Cowan
It remains to examine the Cowan data. Here we are confronted with a Scottish “clan,”
some members of which carried knowledge of their Jewishness from Scotland and Ire-
land to the Appalachians, where they dwelled alongside the Melungeons. While strictly
not part of the Melungeon project, the Cowan Surname Project 29 participants were kind
enough to make available their results. To date, twenty-five Cowan surname bearers have
been tested. They may be divided into 5 haplotypes, of which Cowan IVa (Rib) is the
nan, Milligan, Parvin, Perryman (Sephardic, “pear man”), Reed, Rodgers, Shanahan,
Sinor (2, Spanish Senor, Seneor), 32 Soakell (Jewish), Stidham, Walker, Ward, and Wil-
son. It is one marker distant from four other Cowans. In the Hammer/FTDNA haplo-
type database, Cowan IVa had four exact matches: 2 in Iceland, 1 Anglo-Celt, and 1 of
unknown origin. In the YHRD database, the 9 matches were London-modal (4, nearly
half), with 3 from Southern Ireland, and 1 each from Berlin and Madeira.
With the exception of France (which is not well represented in the database), these
matches corresponded to the English, Scots, Irish, Spanish and German (Polish) sur-
names we noted above. Keeping in mind the Icelandic matches mentioned already, we
propose that this rather geographically restricted haplotype is a later formation from the
same Visigothic ancestor whose distribution we have seen in AMH Caldwell-Stewart.
Though it spread primarily in the British Isles, it is part and parcel with the same famil-
iar pattern.
Cowan III, a two-step match with Cohen IVa, matched 6 persons with the last name
Maxwell, another Scottish clan. It also matched a Stone, Koontz (Hebrew “righteous
priest”),
33
Aboy, Avery, Bell, Pope, McCarthy, and Chenault. Exact matches in the FTDNA
database included England (4), France, Ireland, Polynesia (European admixture), Scot-
land (15/520, or 2.8 percent), Spain, and unknown origin (9).From the English and Scot-
tish matches, it is again apparent that this is a family with numerous descendants in the
British Isles.
1
9 3 3
1 3 3 8 8
3 3 3 3 8 8 4 3 4 9 3 9
Control 9 9 9 9 5 5 2 8 3 1 9 1
No. Name 3 0 4 1 a b 6 8 9 1 2 2
1 . 13583 Cowan I 13 24 13 9 13 14 11 12 10 14 11 30
2. 7388 Cowan n 24 14 10 11 14 12 12 13 30
3. 11152 Cowan Ilia 13 24 14 11 11 14 12 12 12 12 13 28
4. 7375 Cowan Ilia 13 24 14 11 11 14 12 12 12 12 13 28
5. 10883 Cowan IHb 13 25 14 11 11 13 12 12 12 13 13 29
6. 11081 Cowan IV 13 25 14 11 11 13 12 13 14 29
7. 7382 Cowan IV 13 25 14 11 11 13 12 12 12 13 29
8. 7384 Cowan IV 13 25 14 11 13 12 12 13 14
9. 11178 Cowan IV 13 2 14 11 13 J2 13 14 29
|
10. 7376 Cowan IV 13 25 14 11 ! 1 13 12 12 12 13 14 29
11. 7381 Cowan IV 25 14 11 i 13 12 12 12 13 14 29
12 . 12443 Cowan IV 13 25 14 11 12 13 12 12 12 13 14 29
29
14. 7379 Cowan V 13 26 16 10 11 14 12 12 io 13 11 30
15. 9142 Cowen V 13 26 16 10 11 14 12 12 10 13 11 30
However, in the YHRD European database half of the 36 matches were in greater
Iberia, and there were 2 (out of 99) in Strasbourg, France, as well as matches in Poland,
Sweden and Italy. Projecting the Cowan III data on the total population of Scotland (esti-
mated at 8 million), we can infer that there are about 180,000 males on its sod, moors or
sidewalks carrying the Cowan III haplotype. They all likely descend from a single com-
mon ancestor who lived about 1,500 years ago, circa 500 C.E .
34
And if our hypothesis is
the village of Komi in Russia. The YHRD European matches are in Finland (2), Leipzig,
Ljubljana, London, Stuttgart, Ukraine, Warsaw and Wroclaw. This branch’s DNA matches
that of a Polish Ashkenazi Jew named Bennett Greenspan (the founder of FTDNA), and
its one-step mutations consist of 16 matches, 13 of which are identified as Ashkenazi-
Levite, from Germany (2), Austria (2), Belarus (3), Hungary, Lithuania (2), Poland (2),
Russia (3), and France.
2. DNA and Population Studies 43
Conclusions
haplotype history take us back to the early centuries of the Common Era and
imply com-
mon ancestors in France and Spain that were primarily Rib, what makes us think that
religious sense. Our presumption is that the Jews carrying Rib haplotypes converted to
Judaism sometime during the past 1,000 to 1,500 years. We will develop this thesis in depth
in chapter 5.
have seen that it corresponds to a Visigothic prototype situated today in the exact pop-
ulation center of Europe (Freiburg-modal ).
35
The two Fraser clans, on the other hand,
Ashkenazic
exhibit a “butterfly” pattern of distribution, with possible Sephardic and
wings. In the case of Clan Cowan, we will later suggest that Rib and
Rla males adopted
the Cowan/Coen surname indicative of the Jewish priestly caste when they converted to
Judaism around 750-900 c.E. Even though these Scots were not Semitic descendants of
Aaron or the priest-kings of ancient Judea, they thought of themselves as such. As
we
shall show in later chapters, the Stewarts began very early to style
themselves as Davidic
In this chapter we focus on a set of noble families entering Scotland from 1050 to
1350 which we propose were Jewish. They are Bruce, Campbell, Forbes, Leslie, Douglas,
Gordon and Stewart. We present genealogical and historical evidence to document the
Jewish ancestry of these families.
Bruce
The de Brusse family of Flanders and Normandy entered England in 1050 as part of
the entourage of Duke Richard I; the family remained in Britain subsequent to the con-
quest of England by Richard’s son, William the Conqueror, in 1066. Robert de Bruce (d.
1094) married a Norman woman, Agnes St. Clair,
1
and was the son of a Norman woman,
Emma of Brittany. Other members of the de Brusse/Brousse family in France emigrated
not only to England, but also to what are now Hungary, Germany, the Netherlands and
Poland. Some members of this family were and are practicing Jews (M. Stern 1991).
Our research question is whether the de Brusse family in England, and later Scot-
land, were practicing Jews, as well. As their genealogy shows, several Hebrew and Mediter-
ranean given names are found among the early Bruces; among Adam, Emma,
these are
Agnes, Agatha, Euphemia, David, Matilda, and Eleanor. By the early 1300s, the
Isabel,
Bruce family in Scotland had produced Robert I (the Bruce), King of Scotland, who
reigned from 1306 to 1329. Robert I, King of the Scots, married Isobel of Mar (1295), pro-
ducing a child, Marjory de Bruce. The de Mar family (i.e., “from the sea/ocean”) was also
French Mediterranean in origin. Robert subsequently married Elizabeth de Burgh (also
2
of French origin), having a daughter with her as well, Matilda (Maud). Robert I also had
a son, David (b. 1325), by either Elizabeth or a mistress, and two additional children,
Elizabeth and Robert, by mistresses.
What should draw our attention at this point are the spouses of Robert I’s children.
44
Wave of Jewish Families, 1100-1350 C.E. 45
3. Genealogies of the First
Robert de Brusse
first to use the name Robert
Robert de Brusse aka Brusi, birth date unknown, was the
the Brus” or some variation. He married Emma
of Brittany (ca. 1020) in Normandy. They
Robert de Brus
England with William the Con-
Robert de Bruce, birth date unknown, came over to
queror.He married Agnes St. Clair (d. 1080) and they had one son:
1. Adam de Bruce
Adam de Brus
unknown, went
,
1. Robert de Bruce
Robert de Bruce ,.
Robert de Bruce „
He marriedj
. •
Robert de Bruce (d. 1194), aka Robert le Meschin, was Lord of Annandale.
Euphemia and had a son:
1. William de Bruce
William de Bruce . ,
1 Robert de Bruce
46 When Scotland Was Jewish
Robert de Bruce
Robert de Bruce, 4th Baron of Annandale, was born ca. 1195. He married Isabella/Isobel
Huntington. They had two sons:
1. Robert Bruce
2. Edward le Bruce of Ireland
Robert Bruce
Robert Bruce, Lord of Annandale, was born in 1210. His firstmarriage was on (or possibly
before) 12May 1240 to Isabel (Isabella de Clare, b. 2 Nov. 1226). Sometime prior to 10 May
1275 he married Christian d’lrby.
Child by Isabel
1. Robert de Brus
Robert I, epic hero, was commonly known as “Robert the Bruce,” King of Scotland.
Robert I was born 11 July 1274 in Turnbury (Turnberry), Essex. In ca. 1295 he married Isobel
of Mar (aka Matilda; ca. 1278-ca. 1320). They had one child prior to her death,
after which
he married Elizabeth de Burgh (1280/1-26 Oct 1327). He also had children from (an)
unknown concubine(s).
Child by Isobel
1. Marjory de Bruce
Child by Elizabeth
2. Matilda or Maud (ca. 1310-20 July 1353; m. Thomas Isaac b. ca. 1300) had daughter:
a. Joanna (b. ca. 1377; m. John de Ergardia b. ca. 1317) who had daughter:
1. Isobel (ca. 1362-21 Dec 1439; m. Sir John Stewart)
Child by Elizabeth or concubine
3. David II (boy King of Scotland; b. ca. 1325; m. as infant to Princess Joan, young
sister of King Edward II of England)
Children by unknown concubine
4. Elizabeth (m. by 1329 Sir Walter Oliphant [d. after 20 Oct 1378])
5. Robert (d. 12 Aug 1332)
Robert the Bruce died (rumored from leprosy) in Cardross Castle, Firth of Clyde, Scot-
land, on 7 June 1329. He is buried at Dunfermline Abbey, Fife, Scotland.
Marjory de Bruce
Marjory de Bruce, Princess of Scotland, was born ca. 1297. She married 1314/15 Walter
Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland. Princess Marjory died 2 March 1315/6. She is
buried
at Paisley Abbey, Renfrewshire, Scotland. They had one child:
1. Robert II Stewart of Scotland, later King of Scotland
3 . Genealogies of the First Wave of Jewish Families, 1100-1350 C.E. 47
The bronze bust of Robert the Bruce’s skull on display at Dumfermline Abbey. The bones around
the right side of the mouth are deformed, likely as a result of leprosy. Photograph by Elizabeth Cald-
well Hirschman.
split sternum, where his heart was removed at death to be transported to Jerusalem by a
Douglas. Unfortunately, Douglas was slain by the Moors in Spain on his way to Jerusalem;
Bruce’s heart was recovered from the battle and is interred either at Dunfermline Cathe-
3
dral or at Rosslin Chapel.
As will be discussed in chapter 5, Bruce was very likely a Templar, through his
marriage to a Freemason symbols are present on some stones at Dunfermline
St. Clair.
Abbey churchyard. The Templars were largely transmuted into the Freemason order after
1306.
The Royal Bruce coat of arms depicts a central lion rampant (lion of Judah), a widely
recognized symbol of the Judaic royal line of David. The arms of Robert I’s brother,
Edward, not only shows a lion rampant, but also places an Islamic crescent over the lion’s
heart, suggesting perhaps Muslim or Arab ancestry in addition to Jewish. Notably, the
arms of the de Mowbray, Plantagenet, Bohun and Beaumont families also prominently
carry the Lion of Judah symbol. All these families originated in France and (we propose)
believed themselves to be of Davidic descent. Notably, arms of the Beaton/Bethune fam-
ily discussed in chapter 1 also bear the Islamic crescent.
48 When Scotland Was Jewish
The Scottish Saltire flag hangs in Dumfermline Abbey; we propose that the symbol is derived from
the Cabalistic Tau/Tough image. Photograph by Elizabeth Caldwell Hirschman.
3. Genealogies of the First Wave of Jewish Families, 1100-1350 C.E. 49
Campbell
The Campbell surname seems to have originated in the mid-to late 1300s (Smout
1969). We believe that the first members of this family arrived in Scotland as a result of
anti-Jewish pogroms in France and Spain in the middle of the fourteenth century (Ben-
bassa 1999). Below we have excerpted material taken from the Clan Campbell Web site
at http://www.tartans.com/clans/Campbell/Campbell.html to demonstrate how a process
of “Gaelicization” naturalized this family, which originated outside Scotland (Smout
1969), disguised its French and Semitic roots. As noted in chapter 2, some Scottish Camp-
bell families in Latin America considered themselves to have “always been Jewish.”
The surname Campbell, most probably derived from the Gaelic cambeul (twisted mouth), is
one of the oldest in the Highlands, and a crown charter of 1368 acknowledges Duncan Mac-
Duihbne as founder of the Campbells who were established as Lords of Loch Awe. The
founder of the Argyll line was Cailean Mor (d. 1294), whose descendent, Colin Campbell (d.
1493), 1st Earl of Argyll, married Isabel Stewart of Lome....
John Campbell (1635-1716), 11th Laird of Glenorchy, was created Earl of Breadalbane
Sir
Described as being “cunning as a fox, wise as a serpent, and supple as an eel ... [he]
in 1681.
knew mixed with interest....” His line was
neither honor nor religion, but where they are
founded by the colourful crusader “black” Colin Campbell (d. 1498), who received
Glenorchy in 1432 from his father, Sir Duncan Campbell. The Campbells of Loudoun are
descended from Sir Duncan Campbell, second son of the first MacCailean Mor, who married
a Crauford of Loudoun.
The Campbell septs include several with an apparent Hebrew connection ( itali-
cized ) 4 :
Septs: Arthur, Bannatyne, Burnes, Burness, Burnett Burns, Connochie, Conochie, Denoon,
,
Denune, Gibbon, Gibson, Harres, Harris, Hawes, Haws, Hawson, Isaac, Isaacs, Iverson,
Keilar, Keller, Kissack, Kissock, Lome, MacArtair, MacArthur, MacColm, MacColmbe, Mac-
Conachie, MacConchie, MacEller, MacElvie, MacGibbon, MacEver, MacGlasrich, MacGub-
bin, MacGure, Maclsaac, Maclver, Maclvor, MacKellar, MacKelvie, MacKerlie, MacKerlich,
MacKessack, MacKessock, MacKissoch, MacLaws, MacLehose, MacNochol, MacNocaird,
MacOran, MacOwen, MacPhedran, MacPhun, MacTause, MacTavish, MacThomas, MacUre,
Moore, Muir, Ochiltree, Orr, Pinkerton, Taweson, Tawesson, Thomas, Thomason, Thompson,
Thomson, Ure.
The Gaelic word duibne means “black” or “dark.” Such a designation probably
referred to a dark skin or complexion, as early portraits of the Campbells show them to
have olive or tawny skin and dark hair and eyes. Material gathered from Melungeon
genealogies illustrates that several Campbell lines in the American colonies had Hebrew
naming patterns, for example, using Israel, Orra, and Tabitha as given names.
An ancestor of the Marquise of Argyll Archibald Campbell (chapter 1) was closely
allied to the Royal Stewart house, even marrying a Stewart. Yet in the late 1500s he dra-
matically broke with the Stewarts, who had become ardent Catholics (despite believing
themselves Jewish by descent), and supported the Protestant Reformation. The Protes-
tants’ principal spokesman in Scotland, John Knox (chapter 10), came to Castle Camp-
bell and preached to the Campbells and other supporters. The Campbellite denomination
mentioned in chapter 2 seems to have been the fruit of the Campbells’ abhorrence of
Catholicism and partial embrace of Knox’s Presbyterianism. We believe their early and
3. Genealogies of the First Wave of Jewish Families, 1100-1350 C.E. 51
strong support for Knox was founded on a Crypto-Judaic orientation, which found
Protestantism more congenial than Catholicism.
The Campbell coat of arms does not bear a lion rampant. Thus they do not see them-
selves as having Davidic ancestry. It does carry an oared sailing ship with furled sails, not
a Viking or Celtic type of vessel, but a Mediterranean-style merchantman. The iconog-
raphy suggests they arrived in Scotland from the Mediterranean and chose to settle there.
Forbes
The surnames Forbush, Fawbush and Fawbus all appear to be alternate spellings of
Forbes. 5 We believe that the family name originally was derived from the Moroccan
Sephardic surname Farrabas, which is related to Phoebus. Several colonial members of
the Forbes family living in Charleston, S.C., and Savannah, Ga., were openly Jewish,
belonging to the Spanish-Portuguese synagogues there and being buried in Sephardic
cemeteries (M. Stern 1991). Given below is an informative GenForum posting from a
Forbes/Forbush/Farrabas descendent
Daniel Forbes/Forbush
By Michael Forbush
The first record of Daniel Forbes, or Forbush, or Farrabas, that I can find in this country is in
Cambridge, Mass. He married, March 26, 1660, Rebecca Perriman, who is supposed to be
the sister of Thomas Perriman, Weymouth, 1652.... Their son, Isaac b. 1656, m. Jane Rutter
and resided in Marlborough.... February 27, 1664 and March 27, 1665 Daniel Farrabas was
granted by the town of Cambridge these several lots....
Daniel’s wife, Rebecca, died May 3, 1677 and he married second May 23, 1679 Deborah
Rediat 6 of Concord, who was the daughter of John Rediat of Sudbury, who was a freeman in
1645. By his wife Ann ... he had John b. April 19, 1644; Samuel b. October 22, 1653; Eliza b. 12
Aug. 1657; Deborah, b. 1652; Mehitable, who m. Nathaniel Oaks and d.s.p. Nov. 25, 1702.
John Rediat was probably born in England in 1612 and came to America in the good ship
“Confidence” of London, of which John Jobson was master; Daniel Farrabas was a resident
of Cambridge, Concord, and Marlborough, Mass. He had the following children with
Rebecca (Perriman):
Hebrew and Mediterranean given names, e.g., Hannah, Jonathan, Dorcas, Daniel, and
Deborah.
Septs allied with Clan Forbes are listed below. Notice the several permutations of
the surname and also its linkage with the Berry (Sephardic), Walters and Watts names.
Fraser
The Frasers of Scotland acknowledge their medieval ancestral origins in France, the
Lady Saltoun recently clarifying that the name “probably came from Anjou” (Fraser 1997,
p. 1). Their associated septs, as listed below, include several Sephardic Jewish surnames.
Among these are Bissett, Frizell, Frew, Olivier, Sim, Simon, Simpson and variations
thereof.
It is generally believed that the name Fraser traces its origins to the French provinces of
Anjou and Normandy. The French word for strawberry is /raise and growers are called
The Fraser arms are silver strawberry flowers on a field of blue. The Frasers first
fraisiers.
appear in Scotland around 1160 when Simon Fraser made a gift of a church at Keith in East
Lothian to the monks at Kelso Abbey. The Frasers moved into Tweeddale in the 12th and
13th centuries and from there into the counties of Stirling, Angus, Inverness and Aberdeen.
About five generations later, Sir Simon Fraser was captured fighting for Robert the Bruce and
executed with great cruelty by Edward I in 1306....
Frasers ofPhilorth [Lord Saltoun], The senior line is descended from Sir Alexander Fraser,
3. Genealogies of the First Wave of Jewish Families, 1100-1350 c.E.
who married Robert the Bruce’s widowed sister, Lady Mary. His grandson, Sir Alexander
Fraser of Cowie, acquired the castle and lands of Philorth by marriage with Lady Joanna,
younger daughter and co-heiress of the Earl of Ross in 1375. Eight generations later, Sir
Alexander Fraser, 8th laird of Philorth, founded Fraser’s Burgh by royal charters obtained in
1592 and also built Fraserburgh Castle. His son, the 9th laird, married the heiress of the
Abernethies, becoming Lord Saltoun, and in 1669 their son, Alexander Fraser, became the
8
10th Lord Saltoun. The present Chief of the Name of Fraser is Flora Marjory Fraser,
20th
Lady Saltoun, who is an active member of the House of Lords. The family seat is Fraser-
burgh, Aberdeenshire.
Frasers ofLovat [Lords Lovat]. The Frasers of Lovat descend from Sir Simon Fraser who
9
married Lady Margaret Sinclair. Documents dated 12th September 1367, connect a Fraser
with the lands ofLovat and the Aird.... Beauly was founded in about 1320 by John Bisset,
who also built Lovat Castle. About 1460 Hugh Fraser, 6th Laird of Lovat, became the 1st
Lord Lovat.
The seal of William Fraser, bishop of St. Andrews (1279), shows a man in a central
Tau position flanked by an Islamic crescent and six-pointed star. The line of bishops of
St. Andrews included some persons we believe are likely of Judaic
descent, including,
David battling lions. We will argue in chapter 5 that it was during this time period that
a Jewish holy man, Machir of Narbonne (France), either in person or through represen-
tatives, visited Scotland and proselytized its inhabitants for the Jewish faith.
Leslie
The Leslies are one of the very few Scottish landed families to acknowledge an ances-
try other than Celtic or French. According to both clan history records and our DNA
results, their ancestor was a man named Bartholomew Ladslau from Hungary who ven-
tured to Scotland with Queen Margaret’s entourage (Klieforth 1993). Bartholomew later
became chamberlain to Queen Margaret (Smout 1969). The role of chamberlain or stew-
ard was one performed often by Sephardic Jews in England, France, Portugal and Spain,
as they were well educated, multi-lingual and traveled internationally
(Benbassa 1999;
Benbassa and Rodrique 1995; Stern 1950). Historically, the origins of “chamberlain,” like
many courtly titles of European royalty, lie in Persian, or “Oriental,” ideas of high rank
and luxurious palace life, notably continued by the caliphs and other rulers of Islam. The
Leslies became the Earls of Leven and Rothes, both of which are Jewish/Hebrew
appel-
lations.
As is the case with our other families, Scottish-originating Leslies exhibited Judaic
naming practices in the American colonies, and members of the Scottish-based family
group openly practiced Judaism in Charleston, S.C. and Savannah, Ga., where males were
also leading figures in the Freemasons’ temples (Stern 1991). Charleston was the
port of
54 When Scotland Was Jewish
Above and opposite: Tombs with Templar symbols in St. Andrews churchyard cemetery. Photographs
by Elizabeth Caldwell Hirschman.
3. Genealogies of the First Wave of Jewish Families, 1100-1350 C.E. 55
56 When Scotland Was Jewish
Top: Grave marker with Cabalist symbols, St. Andrews churchyard. Bottom: Freemason tomb, St.
Andrews churchyard. Both photographs by Elizabeth Caldwell Hirschman.
3. Genealogies of the First Wave of Jewish Families, 1100-1350 C.E. 57
v \ <#
, V V.
Top: Judaic “Book of Life” motif gravemarker, St. Andrews cemetery. Bottom: David sarcophagus
at St. Andrews Cathedral Museum, ca. 900 c.e. Note the presence of leopards, gazelles and lions —
all symbols of Israel. Both photographs by Elizabeth Caldwell Hirschman.
Templar sarcophagus, St. Andrews Cathedral Museum. Photograph by Elizabeth Caldwell Hirschman.
3. Genealogies of the First Wave of Jewish Families, 1100-1350 c.e. 59
entry for what was called Scottish Rite Masonry, and Savannah’s chapter was established
as Solomon’s Lodge #1 (Roberts 1985).
Panton, Leslie and Company
in Pensacola, Fla., was at one time the largest trading
firm in the Western Hemisphere.It was founded by Sephardic Scotsmen who had all been
and from Cadiz, Lisbon, Glasgow, London, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Le Havre, and even
Turkish, Moroccan and Barbary ports. Indian chiefs placed orders for French wine and
Scots whiskey; hatters and furriers in Hamburg and London received skins and pelts;
ducted under Spanish, Napoleonic, American, British equity, admiralty, and interna-
tional law (Coker 1986). 10
Douglas
This noble Scots family first appeared in Britain around 1300 and settled on the
Scottish border (Brown 1998). One standard reference book observes that the “Douglases
were one of Scotland’s most powerful families [and] it is therefore remarkable that their
origins remain obscure” (Way and Squire 1998, p. 384). We have seen in chapter 2 that
the Douglases have many branches, but all seem to agree in being originally Gothic, with
means “dark stranger” and may have originated from the Mediterranean com-
in Gaelic
plexions of the family’s founders (M. Brown 1998).“ The Black Douglases (so named for
their dark coloring) were the dominant force on the borders between England and Scot-
land from 1300 to 1455 (M. Brown 1998). Family portraits attest to their ancestral Mediter-
ranean physiognomy.
Septs associated with the Douglas clan include Blackstock, Blalock, Brown, Drys-
dale, Forrest, Inglis, Kilgore, Kirkpatrick, Lockerbie, McGuiffie, Morton, Sandilands,
Soule, Symington, Troup and Young. The following genealogy is based on The Black Dou-
glases (1998):
William of Douglas is the “first of [the Douglas name] for which any certain record
has been found.” He is thought to have been born in or before 1174. “William was surely
60 When Scotland Was Jewish
related to [probably brother-in-law of] Freskin the Fleming, who came to Scotland before
the end of the reign of David I.” It is believed that both William of Douglas and Freskin
the Fleming came with their families from Flanders, “perhaps connected with the Flouse
of Boulogne.”
1.
Other than the possible connection with the Fleming, the wife of William of Doug-
las is unknown. He did however have one known son:
Archibald of Douglas was born sometime prior to 1198 and died ca. 1240. While his mar-
riages are unknown, he had two known sons:
1. Sir James Douglas, “the Good,” by Elizabeth Stewart. James was a lifelong friend
and supporter of Robert the Bruce, King of Scots. After the Bruce’s death, Sir James
was the Black Douglas charged to take the heart of Robert the Bruce to Jerusalem.
Sir James died in battle in Spain during the crusade against the Moors. He had one
known (illegitimate) son:
a. Archibald Douglas, “the Grim,” who
fought in the defense of Edinburgh castle
against English King Henry IV in 1400, and achieved the rank of Lieutenant Gen-
eral of Scotland. Was killed in action along with his son while fighting the English
in France.
2. Sir Archibald of Douglas, child by Eleanor de Louvaine
3. Hugh Douglas (Lord of Douglas)
Sir Archibald of Douglas was born ca. 1297. He married ca. 1328 Beatrice Lindsay, and
they had two known children:
1. Eleanor Douglas
2. William of Douglas
Sir Archibald of Douglas defeated Edward de Baliol, King of Scotland, in 1332 and was
appointed Regent of Scotland during the minority of King David II. He was killed on 19 July
1333.
William of Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas, was born ca. 1323. His first marriage was
to Margaret, Countess of Mar (daughter of Donald, 8th Earl of Mar). Whether through
death, affair, or divorce, either before or after Margaret of Mar, he was also associated
with and possibly married to Margaret Stewart. He also had at least one other child by
marriage or affair. Children by Margaret of Mar:
3.
3. George Douglas
Child by unknown:
George Douglas, 1st Earl of Angus, and born ca. 1376, is credited with being the found of
the “Red Douglas” branch of the Douglas family. He married on 24 May 1387 Lady Mary
Stewart (daughter of King Robert III of Scotland). They had three children:
Sir William Douglas, 2nd Earl of Angus, was born ca. 1399. In 1425 he married Margaret
1. George Douglas
2. Helen Douglas, m. by 1460 William Graham (ca. 1448-1472)
George Douglas, 4th Earl of Angus, was born after 1425. He was married to Isabel Sib-
1. Archibald Douglas
2. Jane Douglas, m. David “the Younger” Scott, who d. 1492
Archibald Douglas was born ca. 1454, and was the 5th Earl of Angus. He married on 4
Mar. 1467/8 Elizabeth Boyd and had three children:
1. George Douglas
2. Sir William Douglas
3. Lady Marjory Douglas (b. after 1467/8, m. Cuthbert Cunningham)
George Douglas, Master of Angus, was born ca. 1469. He was married by March of 1487/8
to ElizabethDrummond (b. ca. 1460) and had five children:
1. Alison Douglas
2. Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, b. after 1488, m. 1. Margaret Hepburn, affair
name unknown), m. Princess Margaret Tudor, m. 3. Margaret
with Stewart (first 2.
Maxwell
3. Elizabeth Douglas, b. ca. 1489, m. John Hay
4. George Douglas, ca. 1490-Aug. 1522, m. Elizabeth (Isabella) Douglas
5. Janet Douglas, ca. 1495-17 Jul. 1537, m. John Lyon
Notable in this genealogy are the relatively frequent marriages with the Royal Stew-
art family(which regarded itself as being of Jewish ancestry), marriage to cousins of the
same name (Douglas), and alliances with other families believed to be of Jewish descent
(for instance, Forbes, Hay and Lyon). We might also draw attention to the perpetuation
of the Greek name George, a name drawn from the orbit of late antiquity and the Byzan-
tine world.
62 When Scotland Was Jewish
Gordon
The Gordons first distinguished themselves in south central Scotland during the
1300s; the family then moved to Aberdeen on the northeast coast of Scotland (Smout
1969). Here they entered several guilds normally occupied by persons of Jewish ancestry,
e.g., gold and silver smithing, banking, international trading, tin working and leather
tanning (McDonnell 1998). The Gordons seem to have originated in France, where the
name was probably Jardine, meaning “garden” or “gardener,” which was perhaps later
name Jordan. 12
conflated with the
However, there is a strong family tradition of origination in Macedonia (northern
Greece), a sojourn in Spain and subsequent immigration to southern France. If this is
the case, then the family probably came to Britain with William the Conqueror in 1066.
Their clan septs include the surnames Jardine, Gardner, and Gardener in addition to Gor-
don. Additional surnames associated with this clan are given below. Several of these are
common to Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jews (e.g., Blair, Davidson, Hay, Lyon, Napier,
Hebron, Pollack).
Aiken Henderson
Bisset Hepburn/Hebron
Blair Jardine
Broun/Brown Lyon/Leon
Burnett MacBean/Bean
Carnegie Mhoir
Chisholm Moubray
Davidson Muir
Eaken Napier
Fleming Oliphant
Gardyne Pollock/Pollack
Glass Wemyss
Hay Wier/Weir
As with the other families we have studied, Gordon portraits show them to be dark-
skinned with Mediterranean features. Moreover, we have remarked on the fact that poet
Lord (George Gordon) Byron’s uncle openly practiced Judaism in England during the
1700s (see chapter 2, note 18).
Stewart
We have already discussed the Stewart family in some detail in chapter 1. The Clan
Stewart (Stuart) Web site states the following 13 :
The Stewarts descend from the seneschals of Dol They came to England
in Brittany (France).
with William the Conquerer; Walter the Steward came to Scotland with King David I. Walter
3. Genealogies of the First Wave of Jewish Families, 1100-1350 c.E. 63
was created Steward of Scotland and given estates in Renfrewshire and East Lothian....
joined William Wal-
James, 5th High Steward, swore fealty to Edward I of England, but later
in his quest for Scottish Independence. On Wallace s death, he joined the
cause of The
lace
Kingship
Bruce. Walter Steward married the Bruce’s daughter, Marjorie, thus securing the
for his son on the death of Bruce’s only son, David II. Sir Walter s
son and Bruce s grandson,
Robert Stewart, became King Robert II.... The Royal line continued with male heirs until
Mary, Queen of Scots. The Stewarts held the Scottish (and later the English) throne
from
Robert II until 1714.
the septs allied with the Stewarts are several having Sephardic these
Among ties,
include Lombard/Lumbard, Lyle, DonLevy, Leay, Levack, Lay, Lea, Lew, Lewis, Robb,
Mitchell, Glass, Jameson, and Jamieson. The Lev surnames derive from the
Hebrew tribe
Glass from
of Levi, Robb from Rueben, Mitchell from Michal, Jameson from Chaim, and
glass-production, a Sephardic skill. Lombard/Lumbard (from Langobardi, the 6th cen-
tury invaders of Italy) was an early medieval name for money-changers from Italy,
many,
Figure 4, Hungarian Descent of the Kings of the Scots, shows the descent to
Mar-
garet, the wife of Malcolm Canmore (1058-1093), who became King of Scots at the time
of the Norman conquest of England. Notably, Margaret descends from several persons
who would appear to be Jews: among them Zoltan, his consort, the daughter of Maroth,
Prince of Bihar, Geza, Prince of the Magyars, whose first daughter was named Judith
(= female form of Judah) and whose second daughter married a king of Hungary
named
Samuel Aba (Fig. 5).
The genealogy of Maud (Matilda) de Lens shows that Malcolm and Margaret s son,
David I of Scots, also appeared to marry a woman of Jewish descent, Maud de Lens. Her
ancestors included Louis the Pious, King of the Franks (d. 840), who was married to a
Judith. The same genealogy also indicates that the grandmother of William the Con-
queror was a French woman named Judith — and further, that Maud de Lens mother was
also named Judith. Although it may seem odd to place so much emphasis on the female
given name Judith, keep in mind that this was the Middle Ages, a time when the ethnic
identity of given names was of critical importance. It is very unlikely that a woman of
noble birth would be named Yehudah unless she was, indeed, a Jewess, and it was wished
by her parents that she be recognized as such.
The degree of consanguinity in the family of the Conqueror also becomes apparent
from this genealogy. The Vatican tried to prevent his marriage to Matilda of Flanders,
8th cousin twice removed, related to him within a forbidden eleven degrees
of canon
his
II
Geza
Yates.
N.
Donald
by
Figure
Scots.
the
Hungevy
of
of
Prince
Kings
First
the
of
Descent
Hungarian
4.
Figure
Yates.
N.
Donald
by
Figure
Jerusalem.
of
Kings
the
to
Charlemagne
from
Descent
Davidic
5.
Figure
d
1282 Badenoch
Llewelyn II (the Last) Prince of Wales mistress William Great Chancellor of Marjorie Countess of
1246-82 Scotland Buchan
r~
Helen widow of Malcolm 7th Earl of Donald 6th Earl of
Fife Mar
1 r~
1
I
- r~
Christiane Bruce sister of Marjorie Walter 6th High Steward of Isabel Edward Bruce brother of
Robert 1 Bruce Scotland Robert
Robert II
Stewart
Figure 6. Descent from Iago (Jacob), King of Wales, to Isobel of Mar. Figure by Donald N. Yates.
3 . Genealogies of the First Wave of Jewish Families, 1100-1350 C.E. 67
law. Maud de Lens was also his cousin, within the same degree. His children went even
farther: Henry Beauclerc’s second wife was Adelicia, daughter of Ida and Geoffrey of Bra-
bant. She was a 3rd cousin through one parent and a 4th cousin through the other. 16
Albert II of Namur and his wife Princess Regulinde were 4th cousins, clearly illegal (hav-
And finally we arrive at figure 8, the piece de resistance. It shows the ancestry of the
House of Boulogne and kings of Jerusalem, to which many of our Scottish clans are
linked. We start out with Dagobert I, King of the Franks and a Merovingian (rumored
by various Biblical conspiracy theorists to be of Jewish ancestry, possibly Davidic). We
follow this line down to Theodoric, named Makir Theodoric, whom we will discuss
presently when we turn to St. Machar of Scotland in chapter 5. In the same line, just below
him, we find William de Toulouse de Gellone, the Davidic-descended head of the Jew-
ish state of Septimania in southern France and founder of the Judaic Academy at Gel-
lone (791-828 c.E. ). We will also discuss him at some length, in a future chapter.
Significantly we see Judaic naming patterns among the Merovingians and Carolin-
gians. Charlemagne names one of his daughters Dhuada (= Davida, feminine form of
David), 17 and one of his sons, Louis the Pious (d. 840), as we have already noticed, mar-
ried Judith of Bavaria. Poignantly, these lineages continue onward until they reach the
Bouillons and Baudouins (Baldwins) who served as the kings of Jerusalem during the
Crusades.
daughter
= Oshin I
Prince of Lambron
Rita
dc 1210 Maria Theodora = Andronikus I Comnenos
= Stephen of Armenia = Amuary I (Amalric) Eastern Emperor
son of King Leo I King of Jerusalem d 1174 1183-5
Amalric I
Isabella I of Cyprus
of Jerusalem dc 1208 Amuary II
Isabel ________
= Guy d’llelin Wenzel IV (Vaclav II)
Seneschal Jean I of Cyprus Guy of Cyprus King of Bohemia
of Cyprus Jean II of Jerusalem d 1303 1278-1305
1284-5 King Waclaw I
sL * 4/ 4/
of Poland
1296-1305
= Jutta, dau of
Rudolf of Habsburg
Henri of Jerusalem
1285-91
Henri II of Cyprus
1291-1324 Elizabeth d 1330
Alice = Hugues IV = John (Jan) of Luxembourg
King of Cyprus King of Bohemia 1310-46
1324-59
Catherine de Valois
Charlotte Anne 1401- 37
Queen of Cyprus =Louis = (2) Owen Tudor of Wales
1458-60 Due de Savoy d 1461
d 1465
Edmund Tudor (Illegit)
Figure 8. Ancestry of the House of Boulogne and Kings of Jerusalem. Figure by Donald N. Yates.
Chapter 4
The families discussed in this chapter are known to have arrived in Scotland after
1350.Most came from the Mediterranean and have been found to have Sephardic-
matching DNA.
Caldwell
The Caldwells are believed to have arrived in southwestern Scotland from France
around 1550. Their somewhat jumbled origin story is given below. Despite some obvi-
ous inaccuracies, what is instructive about it is the report of long-term religious harass-
ment by the Catholic Church in Spain and of the dark, Mediterranean complexions of
the Caldwells upon their arrival in Scotland.
Before the name Caldwell came into existence, our ancestors were part of two groups of peo-
ple living in Italy who and Waldenses. Both these groups
called themselves the Albigenses
were Protestant in and are mentioned often in historical accounts. At this time
their beliefs
(i.e., early 1200s), those of Protestant belief were being subjected to heavy persecution by
1
the Roman Catholic Church. Eventually, because of these persecutions, they were forced over
the mountainous border that separates Italy from France and settled in a small village called
Toulon, near the foot of Mt. Aud (also called Mt. Arid in some accounts). It was here that
three brothers, John, Alexander, and Oliver, were born....
The three brothers were originally aligned with the Barbarossa brothers, generally
considered pirates of much note at the time. The Barbarossas were of Algerian birth and
became the dominant power in Algeria. The name “Barabarossa” is a European one mean-
ing “red beard,” which the leader of these pirates (Khaii-ed-din by his Algerian name,
who died in 1546) apparently had. Nonetheless, these pirates were themselves defeated
by the Governor of Aran when he made a massive effort to end the dominance of the Bar-
barossas. John, Alexander and Oliver escaped without being captured by the Aranian
Governor and returned to Toulon for a short time....
71
72 When Scotland Was Jewish
[The Caldwell brothers] put their years of experience on the sea to good use and
amassed a naval fleet of their own, one rivaling the defeated Barbarossa’s in force. Now,
however, Spanish merchants hired John, Alexander and Oliver to do away with
the remaining pirates on the Mediterranean. Though hired by the Spanish, King Francis
I of France was so pleased with their success that he rewarded the brothers, as well. They
decided from that time forward to abandon the high seas and returned to their home
in Mt. Aud, France. But on their return there, they found France in a state of turm-
oil as a result of the persecutions suffered by the Huguenots and Piedmontese, as the
Protestants in France were called. They, being Protestant themselves, returned at once to
2
Spain.
From Spain, they took a merchant ship bound for the coast of Scotland. They landed at a
place called Solway Firth. And finding the country (Scotland) in peace under the Protestant
reign of King James VI (approx. 1567-1603) who then became King James I, King of England
(1603-1625), they determined to settle there. After finding a large landholder, he being a
wealthy bishop of the place, they purchased from him a large estate. [They then] sent back to
their native land for other relatives and friends and in a few years became numerous and
prosperous. But in order to acquire full title to this land, it was necessary that they should
gain the consent and signature of the King to their purchase.... The King, upon signing their
titles, imposed the following condition; that the three brothers should, when the King
required it, each send a son with a troop of twenty men to aid in the wars of the King.
Our forefathers were ... of dark skin, with deep penetrating eyes, [and] high ... foreheads.
Although naturally of dark complexion, in mingling with the blue-eyed belles of Scotland
through thirteen generations, the younger generations have shown many instances of the fair
hair and blue eyes of the mother’s family. Thus the blue eyes and the black eyes appear in
almost every family. 3
a basically credible story of a French-Iberian family fleeing the Inquisition across Italy
and France, becoming pirates during the mid-1500s, and then seeking safe haven with
other Iberian refugees in the southwest of Scotland. The story takes pains to portray the
family’s founders as Protestants, which is possible, yet unlikely. Few Iberian Protestants
served as pirates in the Mediterranean during the 1500s, while many Sephardic Jews and
Moors did (Benbassa and Rodrique 1995; Fletcher 1992). It also omits mention that at
least one branch of the Caldwell line settling in Philadelphia prior to the American Rev-
olution opened a goldsmith and silversmith shop. These skills were usually passed from
father to son through apprenticeships and were almost exclusively controlled by Jews and
Moors (Fletcher 1992).
Further, paternal DNA tests have matched the Caldwells with known Sephardic fam-
ilies, such as Rodriguez and Cooper. This fact, coupled with the prevalence of Caldwells
in Melungeon settlements in the Appalachians, suggests that they were most probably of
French-Iberian Jewish, not French-Iberian Protestant, origin.
The entire territory over which the Caldwells purportedly roamed was the same as
the land awarded after the fall of Rome to the Visigoths
4
in 419 C.E. It became the Reg-
num Tolosanum and later the Kingdom of Toulouse (Gibbon II, p. 214). At its center,
Toulon is an important naval port on the Cote d’Azur between Marseilles and St. Tropez
with the Monts de Maures (Moorish Mountains) looming behind it on the French Riv-
iera. Until the Spanish secured Lombardy and the Duchy of Milan, this area belonged,
4. Genealogies of the Second Wave of Jewish Families, 1350-1700 C.E. 73
variously, to Provence, Languedoc, Anjou, and the German Empire. At different times,
it also was part of Savoy, Lorraine, Aquitaine, and the Papal State of Avignon.
Significantly, an edict of expulsion against the Jews of Provence was first issued in
1500. Jews in the Kingdom of Naples (which included the duchy of Milan) were partially
exiled in 1510. Wealthy Jews in Spanish-ruled Italy were expelled again in 1541. Begin-
ning in 1555, Jews in Italy were ghettoized, a situation that was to last until Napoleon’s
invasion in 1796. The expulsions of 1515, 1550, and 1575, were to the interior of Italy. In
1572, the Duke of Savoy attempted to give Jews special permission to settle in Nice, but
renounced the plan under pressure from Spain and the Pope. Phillip II of Spain ordered
the expulsion of Jews from the Duchy of Milan again in 1597, and many took refuge in
Protestant Switzerland (Barnavi 1992). From these bare facts it is obvious that Jews liv-
ing in Toulouse had to keep moving to stay ahead of the changing jurisdictions and poli-
cies.
Many anomalies formed in this ambiguous, ever-shifting territory. The Jewish state
of Leghorn was established by Portuguese conversos in 1593, and the Jewish community
of Marseilles managed to maintain a continuous existence until Hitler. The Piedmon-
tese Jews were not relegated to ghettos until the 1730s and 1740s. A splendid Rococo syn-
agogue located between Genoa, Turin and Milan, dating back to 1598, survives as
5
testimony to the past glories of Piedmontese Jewry.
Kennedy/Canaday/Canady
The Kennedys first appear in southwest Scottish history around 1360, shortly after
an anti-Jewish pogrom in France (Smout 1969). Their lands were named “Cassilis,” which
may be derived from the Sephardic name Cassell, and, indeed, Cassell is listed as one of
the Kennedy septs.
6
Other Kennedy sept names are Cassilis, Ulrich, Canady/Canaday,
and Carrick (because Kennedys married into the Carrick family). DNA analyses have sug-
gested that the Scottish Kennedys and their American descendents are likely of Sephardic
ancestry, and name may have been Candiani (“from Candy”). One of
that their original
7
the primary Melungeon researchers in recent years is N. Brent Kennedy (1997). Genealo-
gies of the Kennedy family of Hyannisport, Massachusetts, do not go farther back than
Alexander
The Alexanders arrived in Scotland in the late 1400s or early 1500s, concurrent with
the Spanish and Portuguese inquisitions (Roth 1937). Further, both as a given name and
surname, Alexander is not indigenous to the British Isles. Rather it is Greek in origin and
74 When Scotland Was Jewish
was one of the most widely used names among Mediterranean Jews in the Middle Ages
(Roth 1937). 9 The Alexander family settled in the southwestern portion of Scotland, near
Stirling on the English border — a locale with easy access to France and the ports of the
Mediterranean. The lineage of the Alexander Earls of Stirling is instructive in showing a
Forbes, Douglas). 10
3. William ALEXANDER was born between 1613 and 1656 in Menstrie, Sterling.
f. Frances ALEXANDER was born about 1654 in Raphoe, Donegal, Ulster, Ireland. He
died about 1701 in Somerset Co., Md.
g. Samuel ALEXANDER was born about 1657/58 in Raphoe, Donegal, Ulster, Ireland. He
was buried in 1733 in Bethel (Chesapeake City) cemetery. He died on 14 Jun. 1733 in
Cecil Co., Md.
h. Jane ALEXANDER was born about 1659 in Raphoe, Donegal, Ulstger, Ireland. She
died on 28 Mar. 1692/93 in Manokin Hundred, Somerset Co., Md.
*
i. John ALEXANDER was born about 1662 in Raphoe, Donegal, Ulster, Ireland. He died
after 1718 in Cecil Co., Md.
j. Thomas ALEXANDER was born in 1676 in Donegal, Donegal Co., Ireland. He died in
Note that the Alexander family immigrated to Baltimore, Maryland — the arrival
point for many immigrants of Sephardic origin due to Maryland’s relatively lax religious
constraints. The burial of Samuel Alexander occurred in Bethel Cemetery, likely a Judaic
burial ground and not a Presbyterian or Anglican churchyard. Finally, Thomas Alexan-
der, born in Donegal, Ireland, is recorded as having died (1749) in Virginia’s Augusta
County, believed to be a Melungeon/Crypto-Jewish community (Kennedy 1996).
Additional support for the Alexander’s Sephardic and Crypto-Jewish status comes
from genealogical information on the family once it had reached the American colonies.
Inquiries taken from the Alexander Genealogical Forum on the Internet show a naming
pattern for the children which markedly Hebrew. There was frequent intermarriage
is
with the Houston and Kennedy families, both believed to be of Sephardic descent through
DNA testing.
Before leaving Alexander, let us present some additional statistics. According to the U.S.
Census for 1990, Alexander is the 96th most common surname in America. If you add the
variants Sanders (75th) and Saunders (421st), the frequency climbs to 0.2 percent, rather
high in the scheme of things. However, Alexander is even more common as a specifically
Jewish surname. It is among the top ten researched surnames at the Jewish Genealogical Soci-
ety of Great Britain, and it figures prominently in Rabbi Malcolm
Americans ofJew- Stern’s
ish Descent (1991), as well as in studies of Jewish tombstones in Barbados and Jamaica by
Barnett (1959) and Wright (1976). The Alexander genealogical manuscripts of the Ameri-
can Jewish Historical Society are voluminous. For example, Abraham Alexander, born in
London in 1743, came to Charleston, S.C. in 1760 and was hazan for that city’s Beth Elohim
congregation 1764-1784. Several generations of Scottish Alexanders came to the Shenan-
doah valley from Glasgow, via northern Ireland, to “escape religious persecution” and along
with the McKees, Davidsons and Houstons were benefactors of a stone “temple” built near
Lexington in Rockbridge County in the mid-eighteenth century. Finally, it was an Alexan-
11
der who presented Glasgow’s Jewish community with an ark (Torah receptacle) for the new
synagogue in South Portland Street, the largest in Scotland in 1901 (Collins 1987, p. 104).
The somewhat surprising popularity of the Alexander name among Jews is explained
by a legend enshrined in the writings of the Roman Jewish author Josephus (27-95 C.E.;
According to Josephus, when Alexander [the Great] came to Jerusalem at the outset of his
Eastern conquests [winter of 332 B.C.E.], he refrained from sacking the Temple but bowed
down and adored the Tetragrammaton [the four Hebrew letters for God’s name] on the High
Priest’s golden frontlet. His astonished companion Parmenio asked why in the world he had
behaved in this unkingly way. Alexander answered: “I did not adore the High Priest himself,
but the God who has honoured him with office. The case is this: that I saw this very person
dream, dressed exactly as now, while I was at Dios in Macedonia.
in a
my dream I was debating with myself how I might conquer Asia, and this man
“In
exhortedme not to delay. I was to pass boldly with my army across the narrow sea, for his
God would march before me and help me to defeat the Persians. So I am now convinced that
76 When Scotland Was Jewish
Jehovah is with me and will lead my armies to victory.” The High Priest then further encour-
aged Alexander by showing him the prophecy in the Book of Daniel which promised him the
dominion of the East; and he went up to the Temple, sacrificed to Jehovah and made a gen-
erous peace-treaty with the Jewish nation. The prophecy referred to Alexander as the “two-
horned King” and he subsequently pictured himself on his coins with two horns. He appears
in the Koran as Dhul Karnain, “the two-horned.”
The surname Alexander was often shortened to Sanders or Saunders and also took
the forms Sender, Sand, Andrus, Andros, and Anderson. 12 Numerous surnames begin-
ning with Sand- (e.g., Sandford) are thought to be related (Jacobs 1906-1911).
Cowan/Cowen
Alexander McCown, Sr. VA in 1715. His six sons came to America in 1728.
was shown in
Alexander Sr. was and his son, George, was a ruling
a distinguished Presbyterian minister
They were Scotch-Irish and suffered religious persecution
elder of the Presbyterian church.
in Ireland. Alexander McCown’s ancestors came tp Ireland [from Scotland] in the 1600’s....
John McCown, with five brothers, George, James, Malcolm, Alexander, and Moses, emi-
grated from County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1728. John McCown settled in Calf Pasture, Augusta
County, Virginia. James, Moses and Alexander settled in Catawba County, South Carolina,
and George in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania U. S. Biographical Dictionary — 1876 — Mis-
[
Despite being Presbyterian by the 1600s, Clan Cowan members were, we argue,
Kohanim/Cohens of Sephardic Jewish ancestry. Below is the Colonial American geneal-
ogy of a Clan Cowan descendant whose DNA scores were Ashkenazi-Levite:
John Walker III, b. prob. in Wigton (Scotland), married Anne Houston in about 1734, and d.
1778 on the Clinch River, Southwest Territories. They had nine children:
1. Mary, m. Andrew Cowan
5. John, m. A. Long
6. Samuel
7. Margaret, m. John Judy (= Yehudi/Jew)
8. Anne, m. Samuel Cowan
9. Martha, m. A. Montgomery
3. William
4. Samuel
7. Anne
8. Elizabeth
James Cowan, b. 1761, d. 1801, m. Margaret Chrystie Russell 1795. Graves at 1st Presbyter-
dren:
1. Margaret McClung, b. 1876, d. 1879
2. Eleanor Rhea, b. 5/11/1885, d. 1972
Notably, the gravestone of the wife of James Cowan, also in the Presbyterian Church
graveyard in Knoxville, declares her to be “a mother in Israel.” 13 We will discuss in chap-
ter 10 the possibility that Presbyterianism served as a haven for Crypto-Jews from Scot-
land and Northern Ireland who settled in Appalachia and became known as Melungeons.
Finally, we must consider the coats of arms for the various branches of Clan Cowan.
The symbolism in them is quite revelatory. First, all carry the Tau Cabalistic symbol
(“X”) discussed earlier. Three carry the French fleur-de-lis, derived from the Judaic lily
indicates the bearers were Jacobite in their sympathies and supporters of the Royal Stew-
art (Judaic) monarchy. And one carries the “centered circle” symbol, another Cabalistic
sign, standing for the Deity.
With John Cowane of Stirling, founder of the Merchant Guild Hospital in 1639, we
have the first readily identifiable figure of a second wave of French and Iberian Jewish
families that began to arrive in the sixteenth century, at the time persecutions and expul-
sions of Jews were stepped up on the Continent. Cowane was a money lender, tax farmer
and international trader who owned ships going to Danzig, Hamburg, Sweden and Rus-
sia. It is said that his family first arrived in Scotland around 1517. We will have more to
Until the recent appearance of a detailed study of Anglo-Norman Jewry, few people
suspected that the Norman capital of Rouen served as a major center of Judaic culture
during the High Middle Ages (1000-1300 C.E.). Golb’s study in 1998 brought to life the
extraordinary story of how Jacob bar Jequthiel, a Jew of Rouen, defied Duke Richard, the
grandfather of William the Conqueror, traveled to Rome, secured the protection of the
pope for French Jews, and in 1022, at the invitation of Baldwin count of Flanders, migrated
with 30 other Rouen Jews to Arras. With ties to Lyon, Paris, Flanders, the Rhineland and
places as far away as Cairo, Jerusalem and Babylon, the Jews of Normandy and Flanders
had their own schools, cemeteries, properties, privileges, and even a head rabbi, an office
transferred to England with the Norman conquest (Golb 1998).
Although several sources state that “Jews came to England with the Norman Invasion”
or something akin to this,
1
we have been unable to locate a list of names of these Jewish
families, exceptby inference from the work of Golb and earlier writers such as Adler (1939).
Renan most Jews of late antiquity and the early Middle Ages
(1943, pp. 22-23) writes that
in Italyand Gaul were converts and non-Semitic. It was these Frenchmen who peopled the
Jewries of England and Germany. A paper by ha-Levi (1976) lists the names of Jews living
2
in England prior to their expulsion in 1290 by Edward I (see appendix C). However, this
list, while useful, shows many Jews identified only by the towns in which they resided in
England, e.g., Jacob of London, Isaac of Lincoln, David of York, and because of this it is
likely that their original French names were lost. Further, the families we would most like
to have listings of are those who came from Europe to England in the Norman entourage
of 1100 C.E. It is these families, we believe, who introduced Judaism to Scotland.
Our primary source for this chapter is Esther Benbassa’s The Jews of France (1999).
Benbassa is a Jewish historian, and her book is the most complete and well-documented
available on French Jewry. Benbassa describes the Jewish communities known to be pres-
ent in France prior to 1500 C.E., the time period of most interest to us. This era corre-
sponds most closely to the “first wave” of Jewish arrivals into Scotland. After 1500, we
79
80 When Scotland Was Jewish
have the “second wave” of Jews coming to Scotland — the Sephardim fleeing the Inqui-
sition — and we will discuss these as well.
As Benbassa notes, Jews from Palestine arrived in Gaul (France) as early as 135 C.E.,
following the unsuccessful revolt by Bar Kokhba against Roman Emperor Hadrian. At
this time, Jews were Roman citizens, and not labeled as “Jews” per se; they could travel
freely throughout the Roman Empire, which stretched from Britain to Central Asia.
Benbassa (p. 4) makes several important points on which we will comment:
(1) The Jews there [in France] did not all come from Palestine; many of them belonged to the
diaspora, made up in part by populations converted to Judaism. (2) The Christianization of
the Roman Empire under Constantine the Great ... and the restrictions that gradually came
to be imposed on the Jews, favored their emigration, particularly to Gaul, which was slower
to become Christianized.... (3) The settlement of Jews along an axis following the valley of
the Rhone and extending from that of the Saone to its juncture with the Rhine corresponds
to the route taken by the Roman legions, which Jews followed as soldiers, tradesmen, or
merchants in search of a better life and more favorable economic conditions.
Importantly, Jews were settled where they would have had contact with the Normans,
who arrived in Gaul from Scandinavia around 900 c.E. Jews functioned in Gaul and else-
where as full-fledged Roman citizens, without religious or ethnic hindrance, and were
active traders and merchants. Further, they would not necessarily have had Semitic DNA.
As we shall argue shortly, many, perhaps most, were converts to Judaism from the French
or German regions, so they would have carried primarily Rib DNA. As Benbassa (p. 4)
notes, the Jews
... dressed like the rest of the population, bore arms, and spoke the local language; even in
the synagogue. Hebrew was not the only language used for rituals. Their ancestral names—
biblical, Roman, and Gallo-Roman — did not differentiate them from other inhabitants.
During the fifth century, just as Columba was converting the Irish and Scottish Celts
to a Christianity that closely followed Jewish practice, Benbassa writes that Jews in France
“lacking the Talmud, adhered closely to the text of the Bible and to certain oral tradi-
tions. There existed a religious confusion between Judaism and Christianity, both with
regard to prescriptions and to worship” (p. 5).
Thus we have a loose compatibility between two monotheistic faiths — Christianity
and Judaism — and persons moving back and forth between them up until the early 600s
(Benbassa, p. 6). With the establishment of the Carolingian Empire under Charlemagne
in 800 c.E., the Jews of France were well treated and socially mobile. Especially in their
community in Narbonne, they enjoyed self-governance and moved into the highest polit-
ical and economic advisory positions.
Very shortly one finds Jews at the royal court entrusted with diplomatic missions, such as the
one carried out by Isaac the Jew on behalf of Charlemagne to the Abbassid Caliph Harun-al-
Rashid in Baghdad. Polyglot, and having extensive connections throughout the Jewish com-
munities of the Diaspora, they were in a position to provide indispensable contacts within
the young empire. Charlemagne also needed them for economic reasons [p. 6].
Together with the Byzantines and Syrians, Jews in France and elsewhere established
international overland and maritime trading routes, controlling the bulk of Mediter-
ranean commerce.
5. The Early Jews of France, 700-1200 c.E. 81
They exported slaves, furs, and silk manufactures to Italy, Spain, and the Levant, and
imported to Gaul spices, balsam, garum, dates, brocades, and precious metals. The cross-
roads of this luxury trade were located in the Meuse and at Narbonne. These traders could
3
be found even in Paris, on the lie de la Cite, near the forecourt of Notre Dame today [p. 6].
By the 800s in France, contemporaneous with the first incursions of the Normans,
the Jews constituted an indispensable part of the economy and culture. Benbassa (p. 11)
writes:
They did possessbuildings, fields, orchards and vineyards, garden farms, and mills. They
devoted themselves to agriculture and, in particular, winegrowing in the valleys of the
Rhone, the Saone, and in the Paris region. Jewish wine production seems to have been still
larger in the ninth century, to the point that it supplied foreign markets....
In addition to being accomplished vintners and wine merchants, the Jews of Gaul
also excelled in finance, estate management, medicine, and manufacturing.
A certain number of Jews managed the assets of bishops and abbots. Others were in the
service of kings. They played an important role in East- West trade. They also practiced med-
icine. They were found, too, in trades such as the dyeing of fabric, and the tanning and cur-
rying of leather [p. 12].
By 1066, when the Normans conquered England taking several of these French Jew-
ish families with them to establish the new civil administration, the Western world had
embarked upon a capitalist economy.
Among undergone by the West since 1000 [c.E.] was the development of
the transformations
a monetary economy.... Economic development ... made the nobles dependent on cash
income. Jews were in a position to meet their demands for liquidity, either through profits
made from trade by those among them who practiced it or through recourse to credit [Ben-
bassa, p. 14],
In 1306, for a variety of political, religious and economic reasons, the Jews
were expelled from France. (And not coincidentally, we see families such as the “Black”
Douglases arriving in Scotland.) This expulsion followed close on the heels of Edward
I’sbanishment of Jews from England and Gascony in 1290, and there were smaller
banishings of Jews from cities in Germany and Italy. However, as Benbassa writes (p. 15):
The expulsion in France affected a greater number of Jews (almost 50,000 persons).... Exiles
found refuge in Lorraine, Alsace, the Rhine valley, even Poland and Hungary, in the duchy of
Burgundy, the Dauphine, Savoy, Provence, the Comtat Venaissin, and Spain.
We propose that several of these Jewish families made their way, as well, to Scot-
land, a possibility we will discuss in detail in chapters 7 and 9.
Below we present various texts regarding the Babylonian scholar Makhir/Machar and
the principality of Narbonne in France during the period 700-900 C.E. It was this Davidic
descendant of the Hebrew tribes, carried into captivity by the Babylonians in Biblical
times, we suggest, who traveled to Scotland, where he became known as “St.” Machar,
82 When Scotland Was Jewish
and likely pioneered the way for some of the earliest Jews to make their way to the north-
eastern part of Scotland. From Benbassa’s account (p. 7) we learn that
[t]he Muslim advance into France was checked in 732 at Poitiers by Charles Martel.... His
son, Pepin the Short, founded the Carolingian dynasty in 751.... From this moment, the pol-
icy of the Carolingian sovereigns was marked by alliance with Rome and indulgence with
regard to the Jews.
Pepin’s son, Charlemagne, is said to have been assisted by Jews in his conquest of
Narbonne, the former Visigothic kingdom, which housed a large Jewish community.
Because of their assistance, Pepin made their leader, Makhir (Machar), lord of the new
buffer state, and Charlemagne granted additional privileges to the French Jews, especially
those of Narbonne. The French Jews, including those of Narbonne, were largely secular-
ized; that is, they had little knowledge of Hebrew or Jewish religious texts. Though the
Babylonian Talmud arrived, belatedly, in France,
even then the Jews did not scrupulously observe its teachings.... Contacts between the Orient
[Babylonia] and the Carolingian Empire led a doctor of law named Mahir to leave Babylonia
and settle in Narbonne, where he founded a Talmudic school that helped establish Jewish
studies in France.... Influences reached France also from Italy and Muslim Spain, where
important Jewish cultural centers developed [Benbassa, p. 11],
An Internet site provides another account of Mahir and Narbonne, though this one
is substantially more embellished.
married with the aristocracy and royal line of France and [subsequently] with that of Nor-
mandy, Scotland, and England.... The first Jewish ruler of the House of David in Narbonne
was called Machir. Machir and his sons were probably practising Jews, but most (though
not all) of his family quickly assimilated and became Christians.... Machir gave his sister
to Pepin and took the sister of Pepin as one of his wives.... William (the son of Machir)
ruled over the area of Septimania [an area in southern France where Narbonne is located].
He was made Duke of Aquitaine and is referred to as “King of the Goths,” since the area
of southern France was a place of Gothic settlement. At one stage many Goths converted
to Judaism and the terms “Goth” and “Jew” in southern France were used synonymously....
The wife of William the Conqueror was Matilda of Flanders [and] was descended from
Machir. The Dukes of Aquitaine (in western France) were also possibly descended from
William, son of Machir [www.kuhnslagoon.net/whitepages/tea_telphi/machir.html].
Here is yet another version of the same narrative:
The institution of the Babylonian Exilarchate began when King Nebuchadnezzar took
Jehoiachin, King of Judah, captive to Babylon in c. 597 B.C.... From Jehoiachin arose a royal
5. The Early Jews of France, 700-1200 c.E. 83
Davidic dynasty in Babylon reigning from their own palace and court over the Jewish com-
munities of the East. They reigned in regal splendor until the beginning of the fifteenth cen-
tury,when Tamerlane deposed them in 1401, and a branch of the family transferred to
Baghdad to lead the Jewish community until 1700.
Gershom and Machir went to Narbonne and founded the Western Dynasty of Exilarchs
there. Pepin (king of France) installed Machir, son of the Babylonian Exilarch, as the Jewish
King of Narbonne. Machir married a sister of Pepin called Alda. His son Guillame [William] ...
was nicknamed “Hook Nosed.” He was fluent in Arabic and Hebrew. The heraldic device on
his shield was the same as that of the Eastern Exilarchs— the Lion of Judah. Guillame observed
the Sabbath and Sukkot during his campaigns. Machir’s sister married Pepin and became the
mother of Charlemagne [www.kuhnslagoon.net/whitepages/tea_telphi/machir.html].
From these two garbled accounts we glimpse an origin story that, if true, could
help account for three unusual circumstances we encountered during our research.
First, it would help better explain why HRH Prince Michael Stewart of Scotland
so strongly believes he is descended from Davidic Jews, when all the Stewart/Stuart
DNA tested thus far has not been Semitic, but rather Sephardic Rib. We believe it is
possible that the Babylonian scholar Machir, arriving to instruct the Jews of south-
ern France in the teachings of the Talmud, converted several persons in the surround-
ing population (as Benbassa noted), which would have been primarily of Gothic Rib
DNA.
If Machir also informed these new Rib converts that they were now of Davidic
lineage (as he, in fact, was), thiswould explain Michael Stewart’s ancestral French
Jewish forebears having this belief.It would also be the likely cause for the enormous
(and otherwise inexplicable) number of persons settling in Scotland from 1400 onward
surnamed Davidson, Davis, Dawes, Davies, Davison, Davie, Dow, Dowd and the
like (for King David), as well for those surnamed Lewis, Low, Law, Lawrey, Lovett
and similar forms, based on the Levite tribe from which King David sprang. And, it
would help explain the presence of two King Davids in Scotland between 1160 and 1290,
making it the only country in history, besides ancient Israel, to have a monarch named
David.
Further, it could provide an important clue to the identity of the mysterious “St.”
Machar in Aberdeen, Scotland (exact date and exact religion unknown) and substanti-
ate why the graveyard at St. Machar ’s church in Aberdeen is typically Crypto-Jewish in
style. Is it possible the Davidic Jewish scholar Machir of Narbonne could have visited a
Jewish congregation already situated in that city, or perhaps sent an envoy to instruct
them? 4 And finally, such a connection could account for why the granddaughter of William
the Conqueror through the female line was, in fact, named Judith (Yehudi, “female Jew”),
a name used exclusively at that time by persons of the Jewish faith. However, these fore-
going accounts were not deemed sufficiently cogent for us to draw support from, except
in an anecdotal and circumstantial sense.
Most fortuitously, the authors then stumbled across the following entry in the Jew-
ish Encyclopedia regarding France (2003, online version). According to this account, dur-
ing the period 300 to 650 C.E., the Jews residing in France were periodically subjected to
fines, restrictions and efforts to convert them to Christianity, with some very interesting
consequences (p. 10):
84 When Scotland Was Jewish
In order to insure the public triumph of the Church, the clergy endeavored to bring the Jews
to the acceptance of baptism.... Avitus, bishop of Clermont, strove long but vainly to make
converts. At length in 576 a Jew sought to be baptized. [In anger,] one of [the Jew’s] former
coreligionistspoured fetid oil over his head. The following Sunday the [Christian] mob that
accompanied the bishop razed the synagogue to the ground. Afterward the bishop told the
Jews that unless they were willing to embrace Christianity they must withdraw, since he as
bishop could have but one flock. It is said that five hundred Jews then accepted baptism, and
the rest withdrew to Marseilles.
By 689 c.E., however, the situation was altered dramatically for Jews in France (p.
11 ):
But at the south of France, which was then known as “Septimania” and was a dependency of
the Visigothic kings of Spain, the Jews continued to dwell and to prosper. From this epoch
(689) dates the earliest known Jewish inscription relating to France, that of Narbonne. The
Jews of Narbonne, chiefly merchants, were popular among the people, who often rebelled
against the Visigothic kings. noteworthy that Julian of Toledo accuses Gaul of being
It is
Judaized. Wamba decreed the Jews of his realm should either embrace Christianity or
that all
quit his dominions. This edict, which “threatened the interests of the country,” provoked a
general uprising.The Count of Nimes, Hilderic, the abbot Ramire, and Guimaldus, Bishop
5
of Maguelon, took the Jews under their protection and even compelled their neighbors to
follow their example. But the insurrection was crushed, and the edict of expulsion was put
into force in 673. Still, the exile of the Jews was not of long duration....
From a letter of Pope Stephen III (768-772) to bishop Aribert of Narbonne, it is seen that
in his time the Jews still dwelt in Provence, and even in the territory of Narbonne.... This
concession is probably connected with a curious episode in the struggle with the Arabs. The
“Roman de Philomene” recounts how Charlemagne, after a fabulous siege of Narbonne,
rewarded the Jews for the part they had taken in the surrender of the city; he yielded to
them, for their own use, a part of the city, and granted them the right to live under a “Jewish
king,” as the Saracens lived under a Saracen king. Me'ir, son of Simon of Narbonne (1240), in
his “Milemet Miwah” refers to the same story.... A tradition that Charles granted to them a
third part of the town and of its suburbs is partly confirmed by a document which once
existed in the abbey of Grasse, and which showed that under the emperor Charlemagne, a
“king of the Jews” owned a section of the city of Narbonne, a possession which Charlemagne
confirmed in 791.
In the Royal letters of 1364 it is also stated that there were two kings at Narbonne, a Jew
and a Saracen, and that one-third of the city was given to the Jews. A tradition preserved by
Abraham ibn Daud 6 and agreeing in part with the statement of Benjamin of Tudela, his con-
temporary, attributes these favors to R. Makir, whom Charlemagne summoned from Baby-
lon, and who The Jewish quarter of Narbonne was
called himself a descendant of David.
called “New City,” and the “Great Jewry.” The Makir family bore, in fact, the name “Nasi”
(prince), and lived in a building known as the “Cortada Regis Judaeorum.”
The granting of such privileges would certainly seem to be connected with some particu-
lar event, but more probably under Charles Martel or Pepin the Short than under Charle-
magne.... It is certain that the Jews were again numerous in France under Charlemagne,
their position being regulated by law... They engaged in export trade, an instance of this
being found in the Jew whom Charlemagne employed to go to Palestine and bring back pre-
cious merchandise.... Isaac the Jew, who was sent by Charlemagne in 797 with two ambassa-
dors to Harun al-Rashid, was probably one of these merchants.... It was said that the Jews,
far from being objects of hatred to the emperor, were better loved and considered than the
Christians.
The Christians celebrate the Sabbath with the Jews, desecrate Sunday, and transgress the reg-
ular fasts. Because the Jews boast of being the race of the Patriarchs, the Nation of the Right-
eous, the Children of the Prophets, the ignorant think that they are the only people of God
and that the Jewish religion is better than their own.
relationship between the Jews of France and the French monarchy; that the French Jews
had a very widespread trading network stretching to Central Asia, and beyond; and per-
haps most profoundly, that the French citizenry generally liked and respected Jews. Else-
where in the article it is noted that there were several instances of conversion to Judaism,
even among high-ranking church members.
We believe that it is certainly within the realm of possibility that segments of the
French population, especially in the southern and eastern sections of the country, con-
verted to Judaism and adopted surnames consistent with the belief that they were now
of the House of David, and of the Tribes of Judah and Levi. These newly-minted, Rib-
pedigree Davidsons and Levys would carry their new identities onward to England and
Scotland when joining the Norman entourage.
Before leaving France to accompany our new French converts to England with
William the Conqueror, we wish to reiterate one point. Most of these persons, though
practicing Judaism, were not Semitic. Rather, they were for the most part Rib Mediter-
ranean, not Middle Eastern in their dominant ancestry. We believe this is why the Scot-
tish clan DNA (e.g., Gordon, Campbell, Forbes) collected and tested in our study is
strongly concentrated in the Iberian peninsula and southern France, and why it is not
classically Semitic and centered in Palestine or Judea.
If we reexamine the genealogy used by Prince Michael Stewart to establish his descent
from the tribe of Judah and compare it to the overview given in the Jewish Encyclopedia,
we see where a critical error has been made. In the Stewart genealogical chart, a line of
descent is drawn from Theodoric IV (720-732) to Guilhelm de Toulouse de Bellone, who
is the Davidic sovereign of Septimania (Narbonne). However, there are two mistakes
here. First, it was Guilhelm (William) who was given the honorary title Makir (teacher),
and not Theodoric. Second, Guilhelm was not a son of Theodoric, but rather a foreigner
who had been dispatched from the Jewish center at Babylon to Narbonne to establish a
shut (academy). Thus, the lineage of Pepin, Charlemagne, Louis I, Charles I and their
the Carolingian dynasty. First, the given name Dhuada means Davida. It is the feminine
86 When Scotland Was Jewish
form of David. To have named a daughter Dhuada and married her to a known Jew
strongly suggests that Charlemagne believed himself to be of Davidic, or at least Jewish,
ancestry. Second, Charlemagne’s son, Louis I (814-840), who became king and emperor,
married as his second wife a woman named Judith of Bavaria, and from that union came
Charles II (emperor 867-877). This line continued onward to some of the kings of
7
Jerusalem during the Crusades.
lrmengarde=Count Boso of
Vienne
1
r
Kunigund=Sigebert of
Verdun
It was also within this Carolingian lineage that the Lion of Judah heraldic device
came to be adopted by French, Flemish and Norman nobles. They carried the device to
Scotland (for instance, William the Lyon, the Bruces, the Stewarts) and reintroduced it
to England with the Plantagenets. We do not infer any genuine genealogical support for
the presumption among the Bruces, Stewarts and Plantagenets that they were biological
descendants of David, nor has DNA conducted to date shown any evidence of
testing
this. A more feasible conclusion is that among their ancestors during the years between
750 and 900 c.E. were converts to Judaism who instilled in family members a commit-
ment to the mitzvot of the faith along with the (erroneous) belief that they were of Davidic
descent.
Lest this “We are Davidic” scenario seem farfetched to the reader, we have included
in appendix D excerpts from the genealogies of families that also originated in France
8
and believed themselves to be Davidic, but also are not carrying Semitic genes.
Chapter 6
Several sources posit that persons from the Levant, North Africa, and even Italy had
visited southwestern England near Cornwall before the Common Era (Cunliffe 2001, pp.
302ff.;Finn 1937, pp. 10-11). There were rich tin mines in this region that were exploited
by the early Phoenicians (800 b.c.e.), who traded with ports from France and Northern
Africa to Italy and Greece (Cunliffe 2001, pp. 302ff.; Thompson 1994, pp. 137-87; Gor-
don 1971; Casson 1971). Because the Judeans (Jews) often worked with the Phoenicians
as trading partners, some could have reached Britain as early as this time. The demog-
raphy of Cornwall still attests to a significant incidence of J and E3 genes in the region. 1
88
6. When Did Jews Arrive in Scotland? 89
There were few Jews in England.... Provincial Jewry remained small and although Jewish
communities were formed in Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and some smaller English
provincial towns during the eighteenth century, no such development took place in Glasgow
or anywhere else in Scotland [Collins 1990, pp. 15, 17].
In Edinburgh, the story goes, “Scotland never bore the problems or tested the advan-
tages of a Jewish community within its borders until the year 1816 when twenty Jewish
families then living in Edinburgh founded a ‘Kehillah’ or Congregation of Jews, the first
ever to be seen in Scotland” (Phillips 1979, p. 1). Mentions of a “Mr. Wolf or Benjamin
of Edinburgh under date 1750,” of Masonic Jews in the Lodge of St. David, and of Jew-
ish burials in Edinburgh have been ignored (Phillips 1979, pp. 1-2).
Let us, however, pick up the trail with a group of Jewish emigres who accompanied
William, Duke of Normandy, to Britain in the latter half of the eleventh century. One
English historian (Ludovici 1938, p. 2) states:
The first mention of Jews [in England] is to be found in the “Liber Poenitentialis” of
Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, a.d. 669. There are also references to Jews in the days
of Whitgaf or Wiglaf, King of Mercia, and Edward the Confessor. There can be little doubt,
therefore, that long before the [Norman] Conquest, Jews were established over here, though
probably not in large numbers. There is, however, no doubt whatsoever that William I was
responsible for the influx of a largecrowd of Jews into England. They came from Rouen, and
the fact that he no doubt granted them extraordinary privileges, which were more or less
extended to them by every monarch of the Norman and Plantagenet lines up to the time of
Edward, is most significant. It indicates the explanation of a phenomenon otherwise inexpli-
cable — namely, that the crowned head of the land could have held under his protecting wing
for over two centuries a community of foreigners.
To this we would add that an even stronger explanation for William’s congeniality (and
that of subsequent Norman and Plantagenet English monarchs) towards the Jews was the
belief that the royal lineage itself carried Davidic Jewish ancestry. 2
Intriguingly, Ludovici raises, and then abruptly dismisses, the possibility that the
majority of these French Jews were converts to Judaism — i.e., that they were not ethni-
cally Semites, but rather European (p. 3):
Renan, pursuing his customary tactics, tries to imply that since the Jews of the early Middle
Ages in England and Germany came from France, and a high percentage of Gallic Jews were
converts, a large proportion of the alleged Jews of England and Germany may not have been
true Semites at all. The facts, however, are not in harmony with this hypothesis. Neither do
Hyamson, Goldschmidt, nor Abrahams— all of them Jewish historians and authors of books
on the Jews in England — ever hint at anything of the kind.
We, of course, do propose (and hopefully have shown the reader) that most of the
French Jews accompanying William were, in fact, likely carrying Rib DNA, and only a few
were genetically Semitic. Ludovici (1938) continues his discussion by noting that these
now-English Jews primarily were employed in international trade, banking and medi-
cine,
3
which corresponds with the accounts of other chroniclers (Barnavi 1992). Despite
their affluence, the Jews of England lived a precarious existence, primarily serving at the
caprice and pleasure of the reigning monarch. Two centuries after they first journeyed to
England, the first attacksupon them began. This likely caused an initial movement by some
Jewish families across the border into Scotland. As Ludovici (1938, p. 10) says:
90 When Scotland Was Jewish
It is very likely, we believe, that this 1189 pogrom was the origin of a Crypto-Jewish
expulsion of all Jews who would not convert to Christianity (Tovey 1967). Likely at this
of English Crypto-Jews was created. Ludovici (1938, p. 16) writes:
time yet another set
England in the
Not only were there Crypto-Jews (Jews who merely posed as Christians)
in
also ... there were Jews openly liv-
three hundred and fifty years following the expulsion, but
ing as such.... Jews as physicians, as philosophers, and
men learned in various departments
were admitted almost in every reign from the 14th century onwards. Jews are
of knowledge
6. When Did Jews Arrive in Scotland? 91
mentioned in public life under Henry VI; Spanish Jews as having taken refuge in England
under Henry VII; eastern Jews as being favoured by Henry VIII; under Elizabeth, Houns-
ditch was already inhabited by Jews, and two or three Jewish doctors came into prominence,
one being physician to the Queen. Jews inhabited England under James I and Charles I, and
there was a large influx of them in the latter years of Charles I’s reign.
of England 1485-1850 (1996) by David S. Katz. Katz’s research focuses on the period sub-
sequent to the Sephardic Expulsion from Spain and Portugal, which provided the pri-
mary impetus for the second wave of Jewish emigres to Scotland. It was during this
period, for example, that the Caldwells are believed to have journeyed from France and
Spain to Scotland to find refuge.
Examining Katz’s work will also help provide us with some very important clues to
the psychological and sociological aspects of Crypto-Judaism. For instance, what reli-
gions did Crypto-Jews pretend to practice? What occupations did they follow? Whom
did they marry? And perhaps, most compelling, why did the descendants of Crypto-Jews
not rush forward and identify themselves as Jews once restrictions regarding Judaizing
were removed? We will argue that the patterns observable in England are analogous to
those found in Scotland and in most other Crypto-Jewish communities around the globe,
namely, the Melungeons in Appalachia and the conversos in New Mexico, Cuba, Puerto
Rico, and South America.
Presumably the Crypto-Jews who remained in England after the Expulsion in 1290
presented themselves as practicing Christians, which at that time would have meant
Roman Catholicism, the prevailing religion in England. They would have “switched” to
Anglicanism under the reign of Henry VIII (1509-1547), in order, once again, to con-
form to external norms.
When Crypto-Jews entered England from Iberia at the time of the Inquisition (1492),
they were readily recognizable as Spaniards or Portuguese; hence pretending to be Angli-
can would not have been a credible cover. Thus, as Katz (1996) reports, these Crypto-
Jewish arrivals pretended to be Roman Catholic, the state religion of Spain and Portugal.
“The Spanish Jews who had come to London undoubtedly continued as they had done
athome, worshipping according to the Roman Catholic rite and behaving outwardly in
every respect like any Iberian merchant” (p. 2). By the 1530s, Katz writes, “In the Jewish
world, at least, it was possible to speak of a secret Jewish community in London” (p. 4).
What we do not know is whether the original English Crypto-Jews— those dating
from 1290 — were in contact with their Iberian brethren. It is our belief that some Scots
were in touch with foreign branches of their family or with trade correspondents and per-
haps even attempted to assist these new arrivals using their solid standing in British soci-
ety. They may have chosen husbands or wives from among the immigrants. A very fruitful
path for future research would be to trace public communications on behalf of the new
6
of the Carolinas, a member of Charles II’s original “Cabal,” and author of the Habeas
Corpus right in English civil law (1621-1683). What we know of his background, which
is rather mysterious, or his life, which was full of intrigues, makes Shaftesbury a very
suspect player in our drama.
Simon Cooper was the first of the name to become noted in official affairs in England,
being appointed sheriff of London in 1310, shortly after the expulsion of the Jews. This
was in the fourth year of the reign of King Edward II. His son, Robert Cooper, became
groom of the bedchamber to King Henry V. Descending through several generations,
variousmembers of the family held high positions in official life. Sir John Cooper was
member of Parliament from the Borough of Whitechurch, Hampshire, in 1586. One of
his daughters married Robert Baker, envoy of King James to the Spanish throne. His son,
John, was created a baronet on July 4, 1622. John married Anne, daughter of Sir Anthony
Ashley, and through her acquired practically all of the vast estates of the Ashley family.
The Ashleys were likely also Jewish in origin (Heb. Asher, “Assyrian”). American descen-
dants of Sir John Cooper (1598-1630/31) include Daniel Boone’s guide, William Cooper,
and the name is a familiar one among Melungeon surnames. 7
A Freemason in the days before this order was openly recognized, Shaftesbury had
important connections in Spain, Holland, France, the Caribbean and Scotland. His sec-
retary, John Locke, wrote the first colonial constitution that specifically gave rights of
citizenship to Jews (Charter for Carolinas, 1670). Like the Stuart monarch Charles II,
Shaftesbury had difficulty producing an heir of his body and rather greater facility in
forming scandalous relationships. And like “Old Rowley” and the other Cavaliers, Shaftes-
bury remained true to his main mistress, after a fashion, and acknowledged the more
attractive and ambitious of his bastards. His Nell Gwyn was Lucretia Massey. The ille-
gitimate offspring of this teen-age liaison, evidently his first love, all made brilliant mar-
riages and founded long lines that blended with the F.irst Families of Virginia, specifically
Bollings (Boleyn), Howards, Johnstons, Walkers and “Pocahontas’ people.” 8 Of his first
wife, who miscarried four potential heirs, Shaftesbury wrote in his journal, “She was a
lovely beautiful fair woman, a religious devout Christian ... yet [emphasis added] the
most sweet, affectionate, and observant wife in the world.”
In a pronouncement later admired by Benjamin Franklin, and enshrined by Benjamin
Disraeli in one of his novels, Shaftesbury once answered his critics with a defense that
might have been more than just a bon mot. After one of his characteristic alterations of
conscience during the Religious Wars, a lady of rank asked him what he actually believed.
“Madame,” he said, urbanely, “people differ in their discourse and profession about these
matters, but men of sense are really but of one religion.” So the lady asked, “Pray, my Lord,
what religion is that in which men of sense agree?” Shaftesbury replied, “Madame, men
These three men may serve to some extent for us as prototypes of Jewish experi-
ence in the mid-1500s in England. One, Hector Nunez, was so skilled as a doctor as to
be allowed to enter the College of Physicians— a pattern we shall see followed in Scot-
land. Dunstan Anes (Ames) was a merchant in foodstuffs, another typical Jewish profes-
sion, and Dr. Henrique Nunes, the Crypto-rabbi of Bristol, England, pretended to be a
Calvinist (Protestant) minister, before fleeing to France. What we will find in Scotland
is very similar: Crypto-Jews in the merchant professions, as leading doctors and apothe-
caries, and as Protestant ministers. What is missing from this list are the several craft
skills which the Crypto-Jews possessed — silver smithing, leather tanning, tailoring, weav-
ing, iron mining and smelting, and an orientation toward intellectual pursuits, such as
mathematics, chemistry and astronomy.
Meanwhile, the conversos 10 outside of England had established an international trad-
ing network that linked Eastern Europe, Turkey, Palestine, Holland, Iberia, France and
England. The prime movers of this network were Joseph Nasi and his mother, Eva Gar-
cia Mendes Nasi. Joseph also held the titles of Duke of Naxos and Count of Andros and
was endeavoring to establish not only a commercial center but also a Jewish homeland
at Tiberias in Israel (Katz 1996).
in London that by race they are all Jews, and it is notorious that in their own homes they
live as such observing their Jewish rites; but publicly they attend Lutheran Churches, and
listen to the sermons, and take the bread and wine.”
In 1649 c.E., under Oliver Cromwell (whom, incidentally, Dutch Jews believed to
have Jewish ancestry from the tribe of Judah), the Jews gained quasi-official entry to
England, though they were still not enabled to hold office, own land or become citizens.
It isvery likely the continuation of these restrictions on Jewish social and economic
mobility that encouraged the resident Crypto-Jews dating from 1290 forward to remain
hidden. For why should they suddenly spring forth at that time and lose their lands, titles,
and political and clerical offices? Perhaps they also felt that they could better assist their
newly-arrived co-religionists by remaining as they were and had been for centuries—
secret Jews, public Christians.
They must also have felt an enormous psychological chasm between themselves and
the “real” Jews now immigrating to England. These latter Jews read and spoke Hebrew
and Ladino; they knew the appropriate prayers; they attended synagogue, had a rabbi
and circumcised their sons. The long-hidden secret Jews of England must have felt both
pride and shame regarding their new, public brethren — pride at these newcomers’ pres-
ence and economic success, yet shame about their own seeming cowardice in hiding and
choosing to remain in hiding. Secrets so long kept are excruciatingly difficult to divulge.
To our knowledge, none of the hidden Jews of England chose to expose their ancestry at
this time. Indeed, if their bloodlines were, as is evident from modern genealogical
research, deeply embedded in England’s aristocratic peerage and country gentry, they
had only to consider the hysteria sweeping Spain and Portugal over “purity of blood” dur-
ing the 1500s to resolve to remain as they were.
94 When Scotland Was Jewish
And yet their existence, and that of their fellow Crypto-Jews in Scotland, Switzer-
land and France (particularly in the last English foothold around Calais, forfeited only
in 1556), was having a transformational impact on the religious world. We will argue in
chapter 10 that some of the principle architects of the Protestant Reformation, in partic-
ular John Calvin of France and John Knox of Scotland, were descendants of Sephardic
Jews. However, we will focus now only on the impact that the Protestant Reformation
had on the Western European perception of Jews, particularly in England.
One of the primary tenets of Protestantism is the possibility of a direct relationship
between the individual and God. The priests, bishops, cardinals and Pope of the Roman
Church are no longer needed as intermediaries. Yet with this possibility of direct con-
tact comes the responsibility of individuals to educate themselves according to God’s laws,
as these are revealed in the Bible. This has been viewed by historians (including Katz) as
the primary motivation for the Protestant clergy to learn Hebrew, namely, as an entree
to the holy scriptures. To us, however, it is pretty flimsy reasoning. We propose that the
reason so many leading Protestant clergy “suddenly” began advocating reading in Hebrew
and poring over the Old Testament during the 1500s is because they were, in fact, either
Crypto-Jews themselves or the sons of Crypto-Jews, and believed that the Old Testament
(Torah) in Hebrew was, indeed, the Word of God.
Katz, however, does not share our suspicions and states the traditional view (pp. 110-111):
“As was the case everywhere that Hebrew studies flourished, Christian interest in the Old
Testament inevitably created a climate of theological opinion that attracted Jews, converted
or otherwise.... Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century English religious life was characterized
... by the intense emphasis placed on reading and understanding the Word of God as
expressed in Scripture.... [The] “language of Canaan” spoken by God to the Israelites became
a tool of biblical scholarship much in demand.”
In our view, the reemergence of the Old Testament was actually a “return to the Torah,”
with recently “Christianized” Jews simply using Protestantism as a guise to practice their
traditional faith. (Indeed, in the Melungeon Appalachian Presbyterian church in which
one of the authors was raised, Sunday school teachers spent eleven months of the year
on the Old Testament [Torah] and only one month on the New Testament [Christian
gospels].) Further, by 1535, Thomas Cromwell had required both Oxford and Cambridge
to provide public lectures in either Hebrew or Greek. This was ratified by an act of Par-
liament in 1530 (Katz 1996).
Notably, Greek was the most common religious language used by Jewish commu-
nities in the Diaspora. The Septuagint, a translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek from
the ancient world that remains in use in Greek Orthodox Christianity, still reigned
supreme among Jews. Much of the rabbinical literature of Judea during Greco-Roman
times had been composed in Greek. The Greek-speaking Romaniot Jews of the Turkish
East were still strong, fusing their culture with that of Ladino Jews of Spain and Portu-
gal who brought their Judeo-Spanish language to major cultural centers in the Ottoman
Empire such as Thessaloniki, Istanbul (Constantinople), Izmir (Smyrna), Rhodes and
Crete (Biale 2001, pp. 80-81, 160-61, 328, 864-66). 11
To understand Crypto-Jews in England and Scotland, we must look at the so-called
Marranos of Spain and Portugal. The origin and meaning of the term is disputed, and
6. When Did Jews Arrive in Scotland 95
its use is only sporadic before about 1380, but it appears to have gained great currency
in the mid-fourteenth century anti-Jewish riots in Toledo and Cordova that immedi-
ately preceded the Spanish Inquisition. heyday was the sixteenth century, when Mar-
12
Its
ranos became “Judaizers” outside Spain and Portugal, hounded by the Inquisition through
all Europe and the Americas. “The wealthy Maranos, who engaged extensively in com-
merce, industries, and agriculture, intermarried with families of the old nobility; impov-
erished counts and marquises unhesitatingly wedded wealthy Jewesses; and it also
happened that counts or nobles of the blood royal became infatuated with handsome
Jewish Beginning with the second generation, the Neo-Christians usually inter-
girls.
married with women of their own sect. They became very influential through their wealth
and intelligence, and were called to important positions at the palace, in government cir-
cles, and in the Cortes; they practised medicine and law and taught at the universities;
while their children frequently achieved high ecclesiastical honors” (Jacobs and Meyer-
ling in Jewish Encyclopaedia 1906-1911 s.v. Mutatis mutandis). The same description holds
1674 the chief contractors for provisioning the Republic’s land forces were the Jewish
firm of Machado and Pereira. “Vous avez sauve l’etat,” (You have saved the state), William
III wrote to Antonio-Moses Alvarez Machado, and there was probably a good deal of truth
in his praise....”
Once Prince William entered England, the Sephardim continued to be instrumen-
tal in assisting his military campaign, including even the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland
in 1690. As Katz (1996, p. 158) reports, “Isaac Pereira was assisted by Alfonso Rodriguez
alias Isaac Israel de Sequeira, son of a man long associated with London Jewry. He in turn
was joined by his relative, David Machado de Sequeira, and Jacob do Porto, his grand-
son. The contribution made by these four men to the success of the Glorious Revolution
was outstanding....”
By the 1700s English Sephardim were involved in the transport of diamonds, coral,
and along a trade route spanning from India to Italy, Amsterdam, London, and
silver
Brazil (Yogev 1978). The Sephardim were becoming recognized as valuable members of
English society. Defenders of their rights now began to come forward in greater num-
bers. Sir Josiah Child (perhaps a Crypto-Jew himself) advocated their full assimilation
into British society (Katz, p. 176). Another to which we should attend closely is John
Toland 14 (Katz, p. 234), who published
“A Defence of the Jews against All vulgar Prejudices in all Countries” (1714), Toland’s
treatise addressed Britain’s bishops and archbishops. He stated, “as by your Learning you
further know a considerable part of the British inhabitants are the undoubted offspring
of the Jews ... and as you are the advocates of the Jews at the Throne of Heaven, so you
will be their friends and protectors in the British Parliament.”
Toland also put forth Jews in England, noting their misfortunes under the Norman
96 When Scotland Was Jewish
Most notably for our purposes, Toland expressed the belief that at the time of their
expulsion from England (1290) a “great number of ’em fled to Scotland, which is the rea-
son so many in that part of the Island have such a remarkable aversion to pork and black-
puddings to this day, not to insist on some other resemblances easily observable.”
We, of course, agree fully with Toland’s arguments and observations. Yes, there were
many offspring of Jews dwelling in England; yes, many Jews had escaped to Scotland after
the 1290 expulsion from England. And yes, many Scots do and did have “easily observ-
able” physical resemblances to Jews. A quick visual inspection of the portraits of promi-
nent Scots presented in chapter 1 will confirm this.
To Scotland’s Stirling,
Ayr, and Glasgow
We focus in this chapter on the western portion of Scotland. Our first task will be
to take a look at who was living in this area between 1500 and 1750. It would be very use-
ful to have earlier records, but to our knowledge these do not exist.
1
Therefore, we are
going to rely upon lists of burgesses, cemetery inscriptions, lists of guild members, and
Cemetery Records
Lists 1 through 8 the persons we believe may be of Sephardic ancestry who are buried
in local cemeteries in western Scotland. (A complete listing of all persons buried in these
cemeteries is available in the original works.) Starting with the Cluny Cemetery (list 1),
we find several surnames that are either linked with clans already discussed as having
names, one would hardly expect to find these names lurking around a Scottish grave-
yard.
97
98 When Scotland Was Jewish
Nearby is the Symington Cemetery (list 2), which was founded in 1160 by Simon
Loccard, a French emigre, whose name (“family of Lock”) became Anglicized to Lock-
2
hart. This graveyard contains some names that are strikingly Jewish or Sephardic: for
example, Arbell, Pirie (Hebrew “pear tree”; cf. Perry, Perez), Yuille (Hebrew Jehuqiel),
Samson, Cown (Cohen), Gemmell (Gamiel, or Gammel, the Hebrew letter), Corseina,
Rose, Wharrie, Orr (= gold), Pollock (“from Poland”), Speirs (= a town in Germany
from which the Jews were driven in 1180), Currie (Arabic), Hornal, Sangster (Cantor),
Akers (fr. Acre, the Crusader capital in the Levant). And again we also see persons from
clans discussed earlier as likely to be Jewish: Campbell, Douglas, Kennedy, Fraser, McDou-
gal, and Stewart/Stuart, as well as surnames known to have originated in Flanders or
France: Ritchie (“enriched”), Ramage (“branch of vine”), Galt (“money”), Fleming (“from
Flanders”), Moffatt (Hebrew for “excellent” and Arabic for “counselor”), Wallace (de
Walys, i.e. from Gaul, Wales or Brittany, or possibly Arabic, too, as noted above), Nisket,
Colville, Heneage, Bannatine and Kilgour.
The Girvan Cemetery (list 3) is southwards and has some names found in the other
two, but some additional ones as well. We find Brown, Davidson, Campbell, Law, Mur-
ray, Stewart, Orr and Bissett, and also some new French and Sephardic surnames. Among
these are Paton, Alexander (see chapter 4), Muir, Lees, Donell, Lamb (as in Passover),
Diamond (a Jewish trademonopoly from antiquity to the present day), McKissock (Isaac-
son), Caruths, Niven, Bone (French “Good”), Laurie, Tarbett, Hasack, Wasson, Hart (cf.
Hirsch in German), Sinclair, 3 Hannah (Hebrew for Ann), Waddell, Ryrie, Jardine, Robin-
son (“son of Rueben”), Austin, Marshall/Marischal, Cotes (French for Costa, an ancient
Jewish family), and Gardiner.
Monkton Cemetery (list 4) is named for the Monck/Mank/Monk/Mock family which
is Jewish and has offshoots in Eastern Europe; there were numerous matches of this sur-
name with Caldwell and Kennedy; the name may be a French rendering of Mag, the com-
mon designation for “Hungarian.” Familiar associated clan names here include Kennedy,
Gordon, Stewart, Campbell and The French/Sephardic names show a mixture
Sinclair.
of new and old: Brown, Muir, Moore, Gray, Law, Blackly, Cowan, Dalmahoy (“from
Almohad,” the name for a Berber dynasty in Spain), Bone (“good,” a common Sephardic
Spanish surname as Buen), Purdie, Goldie, Porteous, Hannah, Legge, Gemmell, Tinnion,
Alexander, Marr, Lees, Weylie, Howie, Highet (= Hyatt, “life” in Arabic), Nisbet, Bis-
sett, Harvey, Wallace, Dalziel, Frew (“early” in Flemish), Darroch, Currie (Arabic
Khoury), Currans, Seaton, Rae, McHarrie, Smellie (I’smaeli), Smee and Howat.
If we move northward to the cemeteries of Geddes (Cadiz) (list 5), Lochaber, and
Skye (list 6) we find many of the same surnames: Fraser, Cameron, Sinclair, Garden,
Campbell, Davidson, Morice (Maurice, the French form of Moses), but with some novel
French/Sephardic entries: Falconer, Rose (an adaptation of Hebrew Rosh “head”),
McGlashan, de Moynes, de Glastalich, de Morenge, de Boath, Dollas (D’Allas), de Badzet
and Ellis (= Elias). This cemetery was established by one Hugh Rose in 1473 and though
located in northern Scotland, it has flat stones and table stones indicative of Jewish bur-
ial practices.
The farthest north of our cemeteries, Skye and Lochaber, has not only our Jewish
clans Fraser, Cameron, Kennedy, Stewart, Gordon, but also the following remarkable set
7. To Scotland’s Stirling, Ayr, and Glasgow 99
of Sephardic surnames: McTurk, McMartine, Dow (— Dau, David), Rankin, Rose, Parr
(pear), Barnet (“son of Nat”), Fleming, Hannah, Scobie, Matheson, Dallas (= d’ Allas,
likelyMuslim), Davidson, Sansoury, Imry and Tolmie (Egyptian). And, as if to drive home
4
the point, there is a 1699 pyramid tombstone dedicated to Simon, Lord Fraser of Lovat.
Returning to Ayr in the southwest (lists 7 and 8), we find three of the same Sephardic
clan names, Kennedy, Caldwell and Stewart. However, what impresses one here is the
5
sheer number and diversity of French/Sephardic Jewish names. Consider these: Black,
6
Ross, Semple, Currie, Vass, Steele (Castille), Givans,Armour, Brown, Hannay, Gouldie,
Norvall, Orr, Stobo, Alexander, Jamieson, Wharrie, Cowan, Wise (cf. German Weis
“sage”), Savage, Love (Lowe, “lion”), Izat (Arabic), Meikle, Bone, Frew, Hazle, Adams,
Doustie, Goudie, Cossar, Affleck (French “with spots/freckles”), Mair, Templeton, Nor-
ris (= Noor, “light” in Arabic), Hague (Dutch town), Eccles, Ritchie, Kilgour, Pringle,
Samson, Spiers, Peddie, Beaton, Fogo, Purdie, Nimmo (“from Nimes, in southern
France), Lamb, Porteous, Eaton (= Eitan, Hebrew), Wyllie, Dawson, Lash, Bantine, Telfer
(“blacksmith”), Gemmell, Highet, Simson, Span (“Spain”), Fleck, Boag, Belfon, Greage
(= gray), Pollock (“from Poland”), Adam, Bone, Paton, Gross (German “tall, large”),
Arbuckle (Hebrew), Noble, Herkes, Vine, Wharrie, Laurie (= Lurie, Luria, a famous
Rabbinic line), 7 Lammie, Imrie, Napier, Goldie, Bowie, Kelso, Guild, Law, Tannock
(Hebrew), Lowrie, Beveridge, Muirhead (Moorhead), Parrot (Perrot), Corsane, Ratter
and Ferriel (“iron worker”).
(“advisor”), Tarbet, Smellie (Ismailie)
The frequent occurrence of names ending in-el cannot help but strike us and deserves
Hebrew names usually incor-
to be addressed. Jacobs (1906-1911) remarks that the earliest
porate the name of God, as in Samuel, Nathaniel, Daniel, and the like. Most of our Scot-
tish-el names seem to belong to Norman retainers who came over with the Conqueror.
Before becoming concentrated in Flanders and Normandy, these families probably lived
in the southern part of France, either in the regions of Narbonne, Toulouse or
Aquitaine,
at a time when the whole southern frontier had just with difficulty been won back from
the Arabs. We believe the-el suffix is a sign of southern French Judeo- Arabic roots. In Islam,
theword alah or Al- is added to names, indifferently designating “man” and “God.”
Thus, as far as burials are concerned and on the basis of male family names, we
would seem to have significant coverage by persons of Jewish (and likely also Moorish)
ancestry from north to south in western Scotland.
But a sampling of cemetery inscriptions can take us only so far. Many persons liv-
ing in western Scotland may not have been buried in one of these graveyards and not all
inscriptions are decipherable. Thus, lists 9, 10, and 11 show names taken from burgess
listings in Stirling and Tron. A burgess was originally an inhabitant of a burgh who
held a piece of land there from the Crown (or other superior). Later, a burgess was a
merchant or craftsman influential in burgh affairs. Here we find even more surnames
from the 1600-1799 time period that appear to indicate Jewish descent. For example,
in Stirling between 1600 and 1699, we find persons named Arral, Ana, Bachop,
Cassilis,
100 When Scotland Was Jewish
Gaston, Jak (Jacques, Jacob), Lyoum, Lyon, Mushet (Moses), Orrock, Reoch (“wind” in
Arabic), Savin, Shirray (Arabic; cf. shi’ir, Shiraz, a town in Persia), Touch (a Hebrew
letter), and Yaire (Hebrew), along with many others previously encountered, are serv-
ing as burgesses of this small city. By the period 1700-1799, the list includes Corbet, Cor-
sar, Clugstone, Cassels (Kassel, a town in Germany), Hosie (Hosiah), Hassock, Jaffray
(Geoffrey), Oliphant (from “elephant”), Peacock, Runciman, Rattray, Salmond (Solo-
man) and Yoole (Hebrew Yehuiel).
In nearby Tron Parish in the year 1694 (the first year a census was taken), taxpay-
ers included a Basilly (Greek “king”), Veatch, Berrie, Pouries, Chartres (city in central
France), Pyot, Smellum, Mannas (Hebrew Manasse), Hackets, Dejet (de Jette, Yates),
8
Rouart (“from Rouen”), Tarras, Arnot (Hebrew Aaron), Lune (Luna, the family of Dona
Gracia of the House of Nasi, 1510-1569), Cave, Scougall, Baptie, Antous, Cubie, Bemeny,
9
Lendo, Elphinstone (from Elephantine, a Jewish colony in Egypt), Moncrief, Jolly (French
“happy, pleasant”), Montray (Royal Mountain: Spanish), Cant, Buris (Hebrew: Baruch),
10
Riddell (from Arabic ridda “warrior”), Scrimjours (Clan Scrymgeour), 11
Eizat (Arabic
related to Izod, Izot), Blau (“blue”), Tailfer (Spanish Talliaferro, “blacksmith”), and
Picaris (from Picardy) — not names one usually associates with Scotland!
Jews coming to Scotland from Iberia during the 1400s and 1500s (and later) carried
with them an ample store of what sociologists term “cultural capital” (Bourdieu 1993).
They had valuable knowledge and skills that were incalculable assets to the countries
where they settled, notably medical, metallurgical, mining, sailing, leather working, glass-
making and mercantile expertise. Unlike their Christian cohorts, European and Middle
Eastern Jews of even modest means in the early modern period also possessed literacy
and “numeracy,” the two requirements for running a business. Some of the craft guilds
in western Scotland kept records of these specialties beginning in the 1600s, and it is to
an examination of these that we now turn.
Goldsmiths
Virtually all goldsmiths from the Middle Ages onward were either Jews or Moors.
Indeed, the surname Goldsmith or Goldschmidt almost always belonged to a person of
Jewish ancestry. In Victorian England, Isaac Lyon Goldsmid was the first Jew to receive
a hereditary title in 1841; he was made a baronet. When we examine the list of Scottish
goldsmiths (list 12) we are struck by the number that are prima facie of Jewish origin:
Aitken (“from Aix”), Aldcorne, Annand, Argo, Arnot, Bannerman, Bogie (Ottoman Turk-
ish), Burrell, Davidson, Dalzell, Falconer, Gillett, Green, Hector, Houre, Izat, Low, Moss-
man, Orrock, Pollock, Symonds, Vogil (“bird” in Yiddish), and Zieglar (“sailor” in
Yiddish), among many others. 12
We also see surnames from several of the clans previ-
ously identified as Jewish in ancestry: Campbell, Christie, Douglas, Gardyne, Gordon,
7 . To Scotland’s Stirling, Ayr, and Glasgow 101
Leslie, and Stewart. We believe that members of these clans either possessed goldsmithing
skills when they first migrated from France and Flanders, or they “adopted-in” persons
having these skills, who then took the clan surname.
industry in Scotland (list 13) prove also to suggest a Sephardic or French Jewish back-
ground: Adams, Alexander, Corrie, Currie, Davidson, Gardiner, Given, Jamieson, Low,
Muir, Orr, Saveli, Seiffert, Sim and Yuill. Early glassmakers (list 14) show the same pat-
tern: Davidson, Dow, Barrat, Wothersponn, Rowan, Gardner and Waddell.
Although printing was developed in Europe only in the latter half of the 1400s and
did not spread to many regions until the 1500s, by 1507 King James of Scotland had set
up Andro Myllar and Walter Chepman as printers in Edinburgh. In 1520 Thomas David-
son (from Aberdeen) set up a second printing press in Edinburgh. We believe that all
List 15 shows the names and dates of persons granted trade incorporation permits
in central Scotland. There are several Jewish (and Moorish) names: Alison, Boyack, Fer-
rier, Leuchars, Syme, Annal, Balmanno, Corsar, Cowan, Norrie, Patie, Sabez, Beaucher,
Deas, Davidson, Bruce, Coventrie, Nobel, Balcase, Forbes, Muir and Rennie.
Fife is in east central Scotland, so we are moving toward Aberdeen a bit here, yet
we still find much the same pattern. Lists 16 and 17 document the surnames of some of
the figures to whom trade incorporation and apprenticeship permits were issued. These
include Arnot, Lessels, Davidson, Eizatt, Flukour, Simers, Martyne, Angell, Porteous,
Douglas, Annan, Bone, Hannah, Riddell, Macara, Balmanno, Pigot, Low, Yule, Salmond
and Scobie. Thus, we see that a relatively common set of French and Sephardic surnames
was found across central Scotland.
Another valuable skill that the French and Spanish Jews brought to Scotland was
their navigational andacumen. From the Clyde River near Glasgow, Scottish
sailing
vessels traded with Mediterranean ports, the Caribbean, and the American colonies. A
102 When Scotland Was Jewish
partial listing of Scottish sailors from 1600 to 1800 (list 18) shows many names recogniz-
able as stemming from French, Spanish, Jewish, Moorish, Hebrew or Arabic: Alexander,
Allason, Bisset, Davidson, Dougall, Gemmell, Hammill, Landells, Moor, Pollock, Paltoun,
Yoole, Sleiman, Spainzea, Caldwell, Cowan, Glaister (glazier), Gordon, Jargon, Lyon,
Nimmo, Sheron (Hebrew: Sharon), Sabaston (Sebastian) and Ure (gold).
Glasgow
Glasgow was founded as early as the sixth century and became a royal burgh in the
twelfth century under King David I. The University of Glasgow was chartered in 1451 as
the fourth oldest university in the British Isles and counts among its intellectual lumi-
naries the economist Adam Smith, novelist-physician Tobias Smollett, and chemist Joseph
Black. Our focus in Glasgow is upon the small set of merchant families who, beginning
in the mid-1600s, made vast fortunes in international trade and banking. In particular,
they traded with the southeastern American colonies, purchasing tobacco, brokering it
to France and Holland, and setting up a series of Tidewater and frontier stores that
reached from Maryland to Florida.
Around Glasgow, the merchant shipping trade was an oligopoly highly concen-
trated (50 percent-80 percent) in the hands of a few families. Among these were the
Cunninghames, Glassfords, Dunlops, Oswalds, Donalds, Murdochs, Ritchies, Bogles
(Turkish), Speirs, Nisbets and Riddells. As Devine (1975) notes in his detailed work
The Tobacco Lords, these men were all the sons of Glasgow merchants, not its landed
gentry. Most had been sent by their families to live and work for some period of time
in the Colonies in order to establish business ties there. In due course, they incorporated
themselves into partnerships that in turn formed .networks, trading in wine from Lis-
bon and Madeira, rice and flaxseed from South Carolina, wheat, fish, and tobacco
from Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina, and later sugar and cotton from the
Caribbean.
To establish such a trading empire required not only large sources of capital, but
also contacts who would honor letters of credit, insurance notes, and customs declara-
tions in Portugal, Spain, the Caribbean and Dutch, Danish, French and British colonies,
as well as Scotland. Not all of this activity was above board or even legal. The Board of
Trade and enfranchised merchants in London and Liverpool alternately turned
officially
a blind eye on and descried such hugely profitable operations, especially the repeated
undercutting of prices to captive planters and the winning by the Bogle Company of the
large annual French state contract for tobacco at Le Havre. The canny Scots traders obvi-
ously drew on the Auld Alliance with France, but we feel confident that another likely
reason for the success of such a network were the blood ties, and shared Jewish ethnic-
ity, of the principles in these Glasgow firms.
This same set of merchant partners formed the Glasgow Arms and Ship Bank in the
early 1750s, and around a decade later the Scottish Thistle Bank. In this way, their ven-
tures could be more firmly capitalized and protected from competition. The banks per-
mitted the tobacco lords of the Clyde to loan out money, as well. One bank owner, George
7. To Scotland’s Stirling, Ayr, and Glasgow 103
Boyle, extended loans to John Shaw, Lord Cathcart, John Napier and Lady Pollock, among
others (Devine 1975).
As was typical of both French and Spanish Jewish families, marriages were almost
exclusively endogamous; they occurred only between group members. In-marriage helped
to consolidate capital, preserve political power, and maintain cultural ties and identity.
By the mid-1700s, most of these merchant families had acquired enough money to buy
large tracts of land in the surrounding countryside. Once they became landowners, they
were able to select their own church ministers and schoolteachers. This likely proved very
useful in perpetuating their Crypto-Judaic heritage, as ministers and teachers could be
chosen who were of Jewish descent or sympathy.
Once the American Revolution began, the tobacco trade was disrupted. The Glaswe-
gian merchants hence began to turn to manufacturing. One group, consisting of Andrew
Buchanan, William French, John Campbell and George Coats, organized and operated
several successful mining ventures, including coal, iron ore and pottery clay — all three
of which had been originally perfected by Sephardic Jews and Moors in Muslim Spain.
This same group, now including James Milliken, later ventured successfully into leather
tanning and sugar refining. Apparently, no great efforts were made to hide their religious
identity: a town in the countryside near some of the manufactories was named Succoth —
a major Jewish holiday. This town is the ancestral home of the Campbells of Argyll. A
portrait of Archibald Campbell, Duke of Argyll, is shown in chapter 1. Also known as
the Feast of the Tabernacles, Succoth celebrates the Jews’ wandering in the desert; it was
the perfect emblem for a migratory waystation a great distance from Israel.
An excerpt from Devine (p. 37) below describes the complexity of these financial
partnerships:
Of the three malleable ironworks in eighteenth century Scotland, the two situated in the
Glasgow area were financed by tobacco merchants. The first of these was founded in 1734
...
when a number of traders erected a slitting mill on the banks of the River Kelvin to manu-
facture nails; this early venture subsequently developed into a major concern producing
“nails, adzes, axes, hoes, spades, shovels, chisels, hammers, bellows and anvils” for the colo-
nial market. Thirty-five years after the Smithfield Company was established, Islay Campbell
of Succoth, Advocate and M.P. for Glasgow Burghs, feued parts of the lands of Dalnottar to
three wealthy merchants, the brothers Peter and George Murdoch and William Cunning-
hame, all of whom were already fellow partners in a Virginia firm.... Throughout its forty-
four years of existence until 1813 it was sold to William Dunn, a leading cottonmaster, the
Dalnottar Co. was financed by a series of tobacco merchants....
In 1781, the Muirkirk 13 Iron Co. was set up by the merchants who controlled Smithfield
and Dalnottar, together with the partners of Cramond Iron Co. in order to maintain a safe
supply of cheap bar-iron at a time when Swedish and Russian prices were rising. It was by a
similar process of integration that in the last thirty years of the eighteenth century a tight-
knit group of tobacco importers obtained control of almost the entire West of Scotland glass
industry and a sizeable proportion of its coal extraction developments.
All of this oligopolistic activity was supported in part by a triangle trade network
through the heavily Sephardic Caribbean:
The West Indies trade was a necessary corollary to the tobacco trade. Most Glasgow houses
had correspondents there who supplied sugar, rum and molasses for their North American
outlets. Sometimes vessels outward bound from the Clyde were directed firstly to the
104 When Scotland Was Jewish
Just as remarkable was the fact that the primary market for all the Sephardic Scot-
tish tobacco was none other than their original homeland, France. This lucrative market
and their own financial contacts provided the Scottish Jewish tobacco lords not only with
wealth, but also stability over an extended period of time.
Undoubtedly a major element in providing this was the bulk sales to the French Farmers
General, the most important single purchasers in the trade.... Significantly, in the credit crisis
of 1772, Sir Robert Herries, the French buyer “was received with open arms” by the great
Clyde traders ... [and] in 1762, when it was difficult to procure credit and sales were sluggish,
William Alexander and Sons, acting for the French, advanced cash for customs duties to
Lawson, Semple and Co....
Perhaps the most valuable asset possessed by the eighteenth century businessman was not
his capital, but rather his reputation and his connexions. The prestige and influence of the
well-known families in the Glasgow tobacco trade meant that they ... had little difficulty in
securing credit from contacts in other parts of the United Kingdom or Europe. One of the
Bogles borrowed freely in London in the 1720’s because his father’s credit “was as good as
ever” and consequently his son “can never want money when you think to borrow it and that
without paying Interest on it.” James Lawson secured sums of varying amounts from fellow
merchants in Bristol, Liverpool and London by drawing bills for between six and twelve
months [p. 96].
List 19 (see end of chapter) and the three tables show business dealings and genealo-
gies for the Glasgow merchants.
people, call them to worship, and remind them of who they are and who their God is. It
is in perfect keeping with these traditions that a Jewish house of worship would be named
for the ram’s horn. Ramshorn Kirk (church) on Ingram Street in the old merchant city of
Glasgow represents just such a Crypto-Jewish meeting house. First established in 1720, it
was the place of worship for the merchants of the city. Its pastors were drawn from among
their own kind, and members of the congregation lie buried around its exterior yard.
We took photos of the Ramshorn Kirk during the summer of 2002. The original
building was replaced by a new structure in 1828, most unfortunately, and was heavily
rebuilt after the dying out of its congregants and eventual acquisition by the university,
but even the new stained glass windows are primarily of Old Testament scenes; Abra-
ham and Isaac, Jeremiah, David and Solomon.
However, it is the cemetery that is most remarkable: as the photographs show, it is
7. To Scotland’s Stirling, Ayr, and Glasgow 105
unlike most cemeteries the reader has probably encountered: there are no upright head-
stones (a Christian custom), no crosses of any kind, no citations from the New Testa-
ment, and no invocations of Jesus. Instead we see rows and walls of flat tablets stating
austerely the names and occupations of the deceased. Significantly, the only images used
c 1
7Wrr>shorft kirk-
6 lassoed ,
Cmtkxkd
Ramshorn Kirk was rebuilt in the 1800s, but stained glass windows still show primarily Old Testa-
ment scenes. Photograph by Elizabeth Caldwell Hirschman.
106 When Scotland Was Jewish
The Ramshorn Kirk cemetery is remarkable; it contains only flat Judaic-style grave markers. There
are no Christian symbols. Photograph by Elizabeth Caldwell Hirschman.
on any of the markers are the Book of Life and the Tree of Life, both Hebrew insignia.
The names of those interred in the Ramshorn Kirk grounds overlap with those mentioned
above, with the addition of explicitly Jewish surnames like Pirie and Davidson.
The town of Stirling was ruled by the Alexander family, which we have argued to be
of Jewish ancestry. On a trip in the summer of 2002 we visited Stirling town and Stirling
Castle and made two notable discoveries. The first was Cowane’s Hospital, founded in
1637 with money left by the Stirling merchant and guild dean John Cowane. As discussed
in chapter 2, the name Cowane is analogous to Kohane, the surname carried by mem-
bers of the Jewish priestly caste traced to Aaron, brother of Moses. Very probably Mr.
Cowane was a Kohane. Second, the hospital was actually used as a charity home for indi-
gent guild members, providing them with free room and board. Such an endowment was
not common in England at the time, but was de rigueur for Jewish communities, which
always sought to provide for widows, orphans, unmarried women, pensioners, and other
needy members. Examples abound from Bayonne, Bayeux, Amsterdam, Bremen, Copen-
hagen, Curacao, Hamburg, Barbados, and elsewhere during the Sephardic Diaspora. The
custom is grounded on several mitzvoth (commandments) concerning almsgiving and
halakic conduct ( zedeka ) and later became a cornerstone of the Scottish Presbyterian
Church, 14 as noted by Herman (2001, p. 17):
7. To Scotland’s Stirling, Ayr, and Glasgow
The congregation was the center of everything. It elected its own board of elders or
presbyters; it even chose its minister. The congregation’s board of elders, the consistory,
cared for the poor and the sick; it fed and clothed the community’s orphans. Girls who were
too poor to have a dowry to tempt a prospective husband got one from the consistory.
This Ramshorn Kirk grave marker shows an open “Book of Life” motif— a Judaic practice. Photo-
graph by Elizabeth Caldwell Hirschman.
When Scotland Was Jewish
This gravemarker for Jane Freeland states that she is the wife of William Gemmell. Gemmell is a
Hebrew letter. Photograph by Elizabeth Caldwell Hirschman.
7. To Scotland’s Stirling, Ayr, and Glasgow 109
Cowane’s Hospital in Stirling, Scotland, was built in 1637 suing a bequest from the Dean of the Guild,
John Coawane. He is depicted by the statue above the entry door. Photograph by Elizabeth Caldwell
Hirschman.
The Sephardic Orphan Asylum had been established as early as 1703, and a composite soci-
ety, whose title commenced with “Honen Dalim,” was founded in 1704 to aid lying-in
women, support the poor, and to give marriage portions to fatherless girls. In 1736 a Mar-
riage Portion Society was founded, and eleven years later the Beth Holim, or hospital, came
110 When Scotland Was Jewish
This chair within the hospital’s main hall carries Cabalah mathematical images and a Ten Com-
mandments motif on the chair back. Note the several forms of triangles and the Tao/Tough symbol.
The number 4 was sacred to the Jews. Photograph by Elizabeth Caldwell Hirschman.
into existence, this in turn being followed in 1749 by the institution known as “Mahesim
Tobim.” Thanks to these and other minor institutions, the life of a Sephardic Jew in London
was assisted at every stage from birth, through circumcision, to marriage, and onward to
death, while even the girls of the community were assisted with dowries.
The third feature that struck us upon entering the building was that it appeared to
have been designed much more as a worship center and Masonic hall than as a hospital
7. To Scotland’s Stirling, Ayr, and Glasgow 111
Cowane’s grave marker near the hospital (1570-1633) displays the same Cabalistic imagery seen in
the building. Photograph by Elizabeth Caldwell Hirschman.
112 When Scotland Was Jewish
or charity ward. The was arched and there were few windows to the interior; thus
ceiling
services could have been held without being visible from outside. Fourth, the interior of
the building and its original chairs were marked with Masonic emblems. Cowane’s grave
itself was inscribed with the same Masonic emblems, forming a Star of David symbol.
A Stirling guidebook ( Stirling’s Talking Stones, 2002) provides the following infor-
mation on John Cowane (1570-1633):
benefactor was born in 1570, a contemporary of William Shakespeare....
Stirling’s greatest
His father was a merchant, burgess and indweller in Stirling and a prominent man. He and
goods and their premises would have been
his wife supplied the Royal Palace in Stirling with
the Harrods of the day. John was in business with his father until the latter’s death in 1617,
when John took over all of his father’s business, including running his booth or shop in what
is now Broad Street.
Records also show that John Cowane was involved in more than simply selling goods in
his booth. He was a substantial landlord in the town and was not averse to evicting non-
paying tenants, if the rent was not paid. He was a member of the Town Council and on more
than one occasion Dean of Guild, the real source of power in the burgh at that time.... He
was also the main banker/money lender in the town....
was a member of the old Scots Parliament), John
In addition to his political activities (he
Cowane was [It] was always necessary for a merchant to reach
heavily involved in shipping.
the main Scots export markets of the Low Countries. He could not always rely on trading to
make him rich and with empty ships he also acted as a privateer — essentially a pirate with a
license.... Kirk records show he did have at least one child by a maid servant.
Even more interesting, however, than John Cowane’s seeming litany of Jewish-related
business and charitable activities was the kirk altar at which he and the Stirling guild
brothers worshiped (Morris 1919, p. 132):
It was usual for each Incorporation to have a special altar in the Parish church, at which
masses were said for behoof of the members, and the maintenance of which was their special
duty.... We venture to suggest that the members of the Stirling Merchant Gild [sic] consti-
tuted the Fraternity of the Holy Blood and were responsible for the upkeep of that altar in
the Parish Church. In the published Extracts from the Stirling Town Council Records, there
are a good many references to the altar of the Holy Blood. That there was a Fraternity of the
Holy Blood is shown by the ... entries [from] 14th February, 1521-2 (Extracts Vol. I., pp.
13-19), 2nd October, 1524 (Trans. Stirling Nat. Hist, and Arch. Socy. 1905-1906, p. 54), 3rd
July, 1530, 24th January, 1549-50 (Extracts Vol. I pp. 266, 58, 70).
There is no proof that the Stirling Fraternity of the Holy Blood were the Merchant Gild,
but the following facts warrant the suggestion: (1) There was an Altar of the Holy Blood in
Stirling Parish Church, and such altars were in Stirling, as elsewhere, supported by Gild Fra-
ternities. (2) There was a Fraternity of the Holy Blood in Stirling. (3) From the analogy of
other towns, it is to be presumed that the Stirling Merchant Guild maintained an altar in the
Parish Church. (4) On 12th October, 1556, the Town Council of Stirling directed the rev-
enues of the altar of the Holy Blood to be gathered by the Dean of Gild. (Extracts. Vol. I., p.
70). (5) In Dundee the Merchant Gild constituted the Fraternity of the Holy Blood and
maintained the altar of that name in the Parish Kirk, their written obligation to do so being
stillpreserved. ( Old Dundee, Alexander Maxwell, pp. 25, 127). (6) In Edinburgh, also, the
Merchants were the Fraternity of the Holy Blood, and were patrons of, and upheld the Holy
Blood altar in St. Giles. (Extracts from Edinburgh Records. 10th Dec., 1518, 25th April, 1561.)
(7) There were altars of the Holy Blood in the Parish Kirks, with corresponding Fraternities
in the following towns, where there were also Merchant Gilds, although the connection in
each case is only inferred: Dunfermline (Chalmers, p. 126), Linlithgow ( Ecclesia Antiqua,
Ferguson, pp. 156, 320), Haddington ( Lamp of Lothian, Miller, p. 177), Lanark (Extracts,
7. To Scotland’s Stirling, Ayr, and Glasgow 113
Lanark Records, pp. 15, 16, 326), Peebles (Chaters, Peebles, pp. 73, 300, 348), Aberdeen
(Chartulary of St. Nicholas, numerous entries). (8) In Letters of Reversion by Androw Cow-
ane, merchant, father of John Cowane, Stirling’s benefactor, granted in 1580 (Fraser Papers,
H.M. Gen. Register House), the grant was declared to be redeemable in the “Holy Bluid lie,”
situated in the Parish Kirk of Striveling [Stirling], The fact that Androw Cowane was a mer-
chant and chose Holy Blood aisle as the place for redeeming the debt suggests an association
between the merchants and the Holy Blood alter.
Of course, what is remarkable about this testimony is that, when added to the his-
torical record that Cowane supplied the Royal Stewart family with goods, it reveals a close
connection between the Cowane family and Stewart monarchy, which claimed to be
descended from “the holy blood” ( Sange Real ) of King David. Thus, rather than Christ-
ian, we suggest that the Holy Blood altar and fraternity of merchants and guildsmen
were, in fact, Crypto-Jewish. The guild hall at Cowane’s Hospital has three large scallop
shell carvings on the inside above its entryways that strongly hint we are entering a place
that was Jacobite, one frequented by supporters of the Stewarts and of the Davidic blood-
line the Stewarts embodied. As shall become clear in the next chapter, the cult of the Holy
Blood ( Sange Real) was originally a Templar and later a Masonic practice, with roots in
the Cabala. In passing, let us also observe that the Cowanes of Stirling frequently mar-
ried Alexanders, and that two of the daughters of such unions were named Maisie, the
feminine form of Moses.
Venturing up the hill from Cowane’s Hospital to Stirling Castle, a Royal Stewart
holding, also proved enlightening. In the main building, a similar large sanctuary dat-
The mural on the sanctuary wall inside Stirling Castle, a Royal Stewart residence, is replete with
Cabalistic images. The window is designed in a Ten Commandments motif. Photograph by Eliza-
beth Caldwell Hirschman.
114 When Scotland Was Jewish
ing from 1628 was found. Around the ceiling border were murals with Old Testament
and Mediterranean scenes painted by Valentine Jenkins. While looking at these, it
occurred to us that the construction of the “matching” or twin windows at either end of
the gallery, unlike windows in churches which typically have three divisions with a cen-
tral high arch (to symbolize the Holy Trinity) instead consisted of two wide, arched dip-
tyches. The windows on the left had geometrical stained glass panels cross-cut by
horizontal lines. As the photograph illustrates, both sets of windows, particularly the
ones with the colored glass (perhaps replaced, originally rendering a Hebrew text), seem
to represent the Ten Commandments that Moses received from hand of God at Mount
Sinai. To all and purposes, this could have been a synagogue.
intents
List 1
Cluny Cemetery
List 2
Symington Cemetery
Founded by a Norman, Simon Loccard (Lockhart), 1160
List 3
Girvan Cemetery
List 4
Monkton Cemetery
Brown
Jessie Jessie Muir Alex Manson Margaret Smellie
Henry Gordon William Weylie Jean Dalziel James Chalmers
J.M. Cowan Bessie Barr John Frew John Cuthell
Harriet DalMaboy William Howie Andrew Guthrie Archibald Ramsay
Robert Bone David Dunlop Elizabeth O’Hare Bessie Morland
Jane Purdie Mary Joan Highet Isa Darroch Ellen Gray
Moses McFall Robert Pettigrew John Currans Mary Ralston
Mary Hyslop Goldie David Campbell Andrew Tait David Campbell
James Porteous Isabella Hutchison John Currie Abigail Langlands
Agnes Hannah Mary Blyth Hector Manson Robert Law
Elizabeth Black William Queen Margaret Goudie Kate Smee
Henry Legge James Nisbet William Heirs Susan Adamson
James Dow John Jamieson Johann Given Jane Mair
Agnes Muir William Meikle David Hendry Annas Howat
Mary Bryant Rachel Bissett George Buyers James Knox
Janet Gemmell Mary Wardrobe Sarah Morrison Thomas Murray
James Tinnion William Wallace George Blackly John Bicket
Hugh Sillars Isaac Harvey John Seaton William Weir
Jessica Alexander Charles Gray Elizabeth Rae James Hay
James Breckinridge Jeannie Templeton Milligan McHarrie James Edie
Jane Marr Alex Gardiner Peter Dallas Joanna Snodgrass
George Collie James Kennedy Samuel Pitt James Sinclair
Sophia Lees Sarah Moore Lilias Drinnon John Bell
List 5
List 6
List 7
Ayr Old Kirk
List 8
*In “Padanaran,” the name of a nearby building, graves are also found.
List 9
Stirling Burgess List, 1600-1699
List 10
Stirling Burgess List, 1700-1799
David I, 1124-1153, introduced the idea of Royal Burghs to Scotland.
Stirling received its charter in 1226.
List 11
Tron Parish Poll Tax, 1694
List 12
Scottish Goldsmiths, 1600-1800*
List 13
Clock- and Watchmakers of S-W Scotland, 1576-1900
(Donald Whyte)
List 14
Scottish Glassmakers 38
List 15
List 16
List 17
Fife Apprenticeships
List 18
List 19
receivable: £13.0.0.
—
John Yuill, Shoemaker in Glasgow 600 1772
John Wilson, Town Clerk of Glasgow 600 1772
Marquis of Annandale 1,500
Chapter 8
land in perspective. Shortly after the Normans invaded England in 1066 C.E., bringing
scores of French Jewish families to that country to assist with the civil administration, a
holy war was declared throughout western Christendom to regain Palestine from the
Muslims. Over the next 300 years, from Pope Urban’s bull of 1095 until the close of the
14th century, there was a series of Crusades to the Holy Land.
Prominent French, Scottish and English knights, as well as several of their princes
and kings, fought in the Crusades and established fiefdoms throughout the lands we
think of as the Levant, or Middle East, stretching from Sicily, Tripoli and Malta to Cypress,
Rhodes, Antioch, Tyre and Macedonia. Called Outremer (“Beyond the Sea”), the Norman-
French-Scottish domain was ruled by free-standing noblemen and controlled militarily
by distinctive “Christian” fighting forces that included the Knights of the Temple of
Solomon, or Templars, and the Knights of the Hospital of St. John, or Hospitalers.
Although both these military orders began as Christian-soldiered militias, they soon
evolved into enormous, profit-making enterprises that owned vast tracts of land, castles,
and the Middle East (Selwood 1999). The persons who managed the vast wealth from
this trading empire were not themselves knights, but rather seneschals (retainers), and
though the individual knights themselves may have taken Christian vows of chastity or
poverty, no such requirements were placed upon the majority of those associated with
the order — its estate managers, clerical employees and administrators:
[I] t should not be imagined that armored warriors, largely illiterate, spent their odd hours
131
132 When Scotland Was Jewish
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were the literate faction, and far more likely to be assigned duties of a managerial or
accounting nature, including the drafting of letters in code. Other administrators, supervi-
sors, and scribes were simply employees, and in later years a number were Arabic-speaking
[Robinson 1989, pp. 77-78]. 1
Men from several Scottish (and English and French) Jewish families enlisted in the
ranks of the Knights Templar, including Bruces, Douglases and Sinclairs. Countless oth-
ers were involved in the administration of the Templar wealth. Thus, to understand this
period of time in Scotland, we must examine the Knights Templar, the Crusades and Out-
remer.
on the way to Jerusalem. At the time, “Mussulmen” (Muslims) controlled the Holy Land
and would frequently attack and rob Christian pilgrims. By 1118, King Baldwin II, a
French aristocrat who ruled Jerusalem, 2 granted the knights a headquarters on the Tem-
ple Mount. The site was believed to be the location where the Temple of Solomon had
stood in remote antiquity; hence the knights came to be known as the Knighthood of
the Temple of Solomon. Each knight took a vow of chastity and poverty, yet the order,
itself, was permitted to accumulate communal property of unlimited magnitude. On this
very site was the ancient Moslem mosque, the Dome of the Rock, dedicated to King
8. The Knights Templar, Freemasons and Cabala in Scotland 133
David/Daoud and Allah. Over the centuries, Jews, Muslims and Christians had alter-
nated in tearing down each other’s sanctuaries on this holy place and erecting their own.
By 1 1 30 c.E., the Knights Templar order had begun to amass huge amounts of money
as well as large estates (Selwood 1999). They were granted holdings by the rulers of
Barcelona, Provence, Navarre and Aragon. St. Bernard of Clairvaux, one of the most
powerful Christian clerics of the time, promoted their interests with his preaching and
writing and swelled the number of knights serving in the order (Selwood 1999). In 1 129,
Hugh de Payens, 3 the leader of the order, returned to Palestine with a large troop of Tem-
plars to battle the Muslim army under its general, Nour-ed-deen (Light of Religion). 4
The Balliol and Barres families of France and Scotland contributed land and money to
the Templar cause, as did William de Warrenne, Roger de Mowbray, Ralph de Hastings,
with 40,000 soldiers had retaken the Holy Land. Pope Alexander in 1171 issued a bull
granting the Templars exemption from prosecution in any religious or civil court of law
in return for their support in winning back Jerusalem. The order was now not only fan-
tastically wealthy, but free of any external control over its activities. The only law mem-
bers werebound by was that of the Master Templar. By this time also, a large part of the
Templar force was composed of horsemen called Turcopoles, of Turkish, Syrian and
Palestinian descent. These were mercenaries who followed a Middle Eastern lifestyle;
they were not Christian, but Moslem or Jewish. Further, the Templars themselves had
started to become morally corrupt. When one of their members, Walter du Mesnil, mur-
dered a Muslim aristocrat who had converted to Christianity, he fled for refuge to a Tem-
plar priory and the order refused to give him over to the civil authorities.
By this time the resources of the order had become phenomenal. Addington com-
piles the following (selective and incomplete) list in his History (pp. 85-102), which we
have tabularized:
St. Jean d’Acre Palestine City “where they erected their temple”
Antioch Palestine Temple Antioch ranked as a principality
(princedom)
Aleppo Palestine Temple
Haram Palestine Temple
Tripoli Tripoli Principality One of the eastern provinces
Tortosa, anc. Antaradus Tripoli House Italy, under the Preceptor of Tripoli
Castel-blanc Tripoli House Italy, under the Preceptor of Tripoli
Laodicea Tripoli House Greece, under the Preceptor of Tripoli
Beirut Tripoli House Lebanon, under the Preceptor of Tripol
Palermo Sicily House
Syracuse Sicily House
Lentini Sicily House
Butera Sicily House
Trapani Sicily House
Piazza, Calatagirone Sicily Land
Messina Sicily Priory Residence of the Grand Prior
Lucca Italy House
Milan Italy House
Perugia Italy House
Placentia Italy Convent Santa Maria del Tempio
Bologna Italy House
Rome Italy Priory Residence of the Grand Preceptor
Monsento Portugal Castle
Idanha Portugal Castle
Tomar Portugal Castle
Lagrovia Portugal Citadel In the province of Beira
Miravel Portugal Castle In Estremadura, taken from Moors
Castromarin Portugal Estates In the Algarve in southern Portugal
Almural Portugal Estates In the Algarve in southern Portugal
Tavira Portugal Estates In the Algarve in southern Portugal
Tomar Portugal Priory Residence of the Grand Preceptor
Cuenca Spain House In kingdom of Castile and Leon
Guadalfagiara Spain House In Oviedo
Tine Spain House In Oviedo
Aviles Spain House In Oviedo
Castile Spain Estates 24 bailiwicks
Dumbel Spain Castle In Aragon
Cabanos Spain Castle In Aragon
Azuda Spain Castle In Aragon
Granuena Spain Castle In Aragon
Chalonere Spain Castle In Aragon
Remelins Spain Castle In Aragon
Corgins Spain Castle In Aragon
Lo Mas de Barbaran Spain Castle In Aragon
Moncon Spain Castle In Aragon
Montgausi Spain Castle In Aragon
Borgia Spain City
Tortosa Spain City
Huesca Spain City
Saragossa Spain City
Majorca (Balearic Isles) Spain Priory Subject to Grand Preceptor of Aragon
Hamburg Germany House
Mainz Germany House
Assenheim Germany House
Rotgen Germany House
8. The Knights Templar, Freemasons and Cabala in Scotland 135
In addition to the stunning list given above, there were also several preceptories in Scot-
land and Ireland, which were dependent on the Temple at London .
5
Addington summarizes:
The annual income of the order in Europe has been roughly estimated at six millions ster-
ling! According to Matthew Paris, the Templars possessed nine thousand manors or lord-
ships in Christendom, besides a large revenue and immense riches arising from the constant
charitable bequests and donations of sums of money from pious persons.,..
8. The Knights Templar, Freemasons and Cabala in Scotland 137
principal benefactors to the Templars amongst the nobility were William Marshall 6
The ,
Pembroke, and his sons William and Gilbert; Robert, Lord de Ross 7 the Earl of Here-
Earl of ;
ford; William, Earl of Devon; the King of Scotland; William, Archbishop of York; Philip
Harcourt, dean of Lincoln; the Earl of Cornwall; Philip, Bishop of Bayeux; Simon de Senlis,
Earl of Northampton; Leticia and William, Count and Countess of Ferrara; Margaret,
Countess of Warwick 8 Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester; Robert de Harecourt, Lord of
;
As the reader gathers from this lengthy enumeration of holdings and privileges, the
Knights Templar were an enormous, extraordinarily rich and very powerful organiza-
tion. In essence, they were the first multinational corporation — one over which no court
or tribunal had jurisdiction. The seal of the brotherhood featured “a man’s head, deco-
rated with a long beard, and surmounted by a small cap, and around it are the letters
Testis V. Magi” (Addington 1892, p. 106). At this time, Templar masters in England
included persons named William de La More and Amadeus de Morestello. Clearly, Mus-
lims, as well as Jews, were in England.
From Addison’s (1892) account, we now turn to that of Piers Paul Read, who wrote
a critically acclaimed history of the Templars in 1999. Read’s work is very well researched,
and he delves into the ancient origin of the group, predating the Crusades. He starts by
recounting the history of the Jewish people. At the point when King David reconquers
Palestine from the Jebusites, we are given great detail concerning David’s assembling of
materials for a Jewish worship center, the First Temple, built by David’s son Solomon
around 950 b.c.e.
After Solomon’s death, the Jewish state went into decline and was conquered by sev-
eral eastern nations in succession. In 586 b.c.e., King Nebuchadnezzar, a Chaldean,
destroyed the Temple of Solomon and enslaved the Jewish population, taking many of
them (including those of Davidic descent) to Babylon. However, by 515 b.c.e., the Per-
sians under their king Cyrus had defeated the Chaldeans and permitted the Jews to return
to Judea, where they rebuilt their temple. By the fourth century b.c.e., the Macedonian
Greeks under Alexander the Great had swept through the Persian empire and conquered
Judea. Upon Alexander’s death, his empire was divided, and the Jews were permitted a
hereditary high priest, who served both as a secular and spiritual ruler.
In 167 b.c.e, Jews under three Maccabean brothers successfully revolted against the
Seleucid government that controlled Judea and founded the Hasmonean dynasty in the
land of Israel. The Romans then conquered Jerusalem and the Roman emperor declared
Herod Antipas, an Arab who had converted to Judaism, king of Judea, now a semi-
independent client state of the Roman Empire. Herod not only rebuilt the holy Temple of
Jerusalem into a larger and more magnificent structure, but also extended the state of
Israel’s influence to cities as distant as Beirut, Damascus, Antioch and Rhodes. Unfortu-
nately, in his later years he became insane (quite likely he was paranoid schizophrenic) and
murdered many of own family members. In 70 c.e, the Jews of Judea again rebelled
his
against Roman rule. The Romans brutally put down the revolt, killing one million persons
in Jerusalem and enslaving the rest. To obliterate the memory of a Jewish state, they changed
the name of the country, now reduced to the status of being a province, to Palestine.
Concurrent with this turmoil between Jews and Romans over control of the land of
138 When Scotland Was Jewish
Israel, Jesus, aJew of Nazareth, was born, preached and was crucified. His band of fol-
lowers, afterwards known as Christians because they deemed him the Annointed One,
started out as heretical Jews, but evolved over the ensuing decades and under Paul of Tar-
sus into an independent religious sect, by at least 67 C.E. Over time, Rome itself con-
verted to Christianity and began sending missionaries to convert the pagan tribes. Roman
dominance began waning rapidly after 200 C.E., resulting in a patchwork of weak city-
states across Europe. The European courts of the time period from 200 c.e to the 800s
were violent, corrupt and treacherous. There was no law or order that prevailed for any
distance or for any length of time.
The papacy in Rome was similarly corrupt and decadent as reported by Read (1999).
,
Following the last and most devastating invasion of the Langobards in Italy, whole cities
were wiped out, and it is thought the population of the Roman capital itself sank to as
low as a few hundred people. Powerful Roman families selected popes who would do their
bidding; often those chosen were not only mentally incompetent, but also sexually per-
verted. Some died violent deaths, strangled or stabbed by their bodyguards (Read 1999,
p. 58). Priories and bishoprics were usually controlled by powerful local families, who
placed their younger sons, or illegitimate sons, into holy offices. The income from these
churches and other benefices was diverted to the noble families controlling them, much
as we learned to be the case in Scotland.
It was into such a political context that the Normans and their allies entered when
they advanced into Italy and the Holy Land in 1060 C.E. A shocking but probably realis-
tic sociological picture of the Crusaders is drawn by Charles Mackay (1841, p. 360):
The only religion they felt was the religion of fear.... They lived with their hand against every
man and with no law but their own passions.... War was the business and the delight of their
existence.... Fanaticism and the love of battle alike impelled them to the war, while the kings
and princes of Europe had still another motive for encouraging their zeal. Policy opened
their eyes to the great advantages which would accrue tc> themselves by the absence of so
many restless, intriguing, and bloodthirsty men, whose insolence it required more than the
small power of royalty to restrain within due bounds.
That religious motives were largely a pretext for winning the glory and booty of war
became the subject of innumerable satires in France, Italy and England. Moreover, the
outcome of the Crusades, especially the ill-fated second one, made them increasingly
unpopular and rendered most people back home in Christendom deeply cynical. Over
time, the Normans and their Templar Knights developed a congenial living arrangement
with the Muslim “foes.” As Read (1999, pp. 128-129) describes these events:
The disillusion in Europe that followed the fiasco of the Second Crusade obliged the Chris-
tians in the Holy Land to reach the kind of accommodation with the infidel that would have
seemed sacrilegious to the previous generation of crusaders.... The early crusaders had
expected to encounter wild savages and depraved pagans in Syria and Palestine; but those
who had remained in the Middle East had been obliged to recognize that the culture of Arab
Palestine — Muslim, Christian, and Jewish — was more evolved and sophisticated than that at
home.
Some had quickly adopted Eastern customs. Baldwin of Le Bourg, having married an
Armenian wife, took to wearing an Eastern kaftan and dined squatting on a carpet; while the
coins minted by Tancred showed him with the head-dress of an Arab. The Damascene
chronicler and diplomat, Usamah Ibn-Munqidh, describes a Frankish knight reassuring a
8. The Knights Templar, Freemasons and Cabala in Scotland 139
Muslim guest that he never allowed pork to enter his kitchen and that he employed an
Egyptian cook.
By the latter decades of the twelfth century, joining the Templars had become no
longer a sacred calling, but rather a career choice of an entirely lay nature (Read 1999,
p. 153). The established nobles in the Holy Land resented the newly arrived knights
from
Europe who strove to incite warfare with the Muslims in order to carve out their own
fiefdoms. For example, Raymond, the Templar master of Tripoli, spoke fluent Arabic and
avidly read Muslim texts. To counteract the ambitions of newly-arrived Guy of Lusig-
naw, Raymond approached Saladin and suggested a collaboration — obviously, the notion
of Christian versus Muslim was no longer the operative force in the Holy Land, but rather
one power bloc versus another. By the time Richard the Lion-Hearted arrived in the Holy
Land in 1 191, this fraternization had progressed to the point that the English king offered
his sister, Joan, in marriage to the Muslim king, Saladin, suggesting they were both bet-
than fighting one another. Saladin rejected the offer (Read
ter off jointly ruling Palestine
1999, p. 173). However, by 1192 C.E., an accommodation had been reached and Muslims
and Christians halted combat, leaving the French, English and other European nobles
the opportunity to squabble among themselves.
Although subsequent Crusades were mounted by later popes, they had turned essen-
into business enterprises and were no longer holy wars. Suppliers of horses, arma-
tially
ments, food, and apparel made fortunes equipping both sets of warriors; alms were
collected across Europe for each effort and diverted to both ecclesiastical and private cof-
Meanwhile, in Spain, the Templars had reached such a level of accommodation with
the Moors that Muslims were allowed to use Temple estates as places of worship (Read 1999,
p. 201). Acre became a major trade center, on a par with Constantinople and Alexandria.
The 250,000 European-descended inhabitants of the Holy Land purchased exports from
both Europe and Asia. In turn, they sold slaves, sugar, dyes and spices to European and
Asian markets. By 1250, there were an estimated 7,000 fully initiated Templars, with a cor-
responding number of associates and dependents that was seven or eight times as large.
140 When Scotland Was Jewish
Shift in Religion
Remarkably, also by 1250, the Templars had altered their religious creed. Though
established initially as Christian soldiers, they now read from the Book of Judges in the
Hebrew Bible, or Torah, and had formed a new identity binding themselves to the ancient
At the same time, a new Muslim people swept through the Holy
Israelites (Read, p. 216).
Land. The Mongols under Kublai Khan poured in from the East, while the Mameluks in
Egypt attacked from the South. European control of the Holy Land began to collapse.
Meanwhile in Europe, the pope, Martin IV, called for a crusade not against the Moslem
onslaught in Palestine, but rather against his Christian political adversaries in Aragon,
and Sicily. By 1290, the Europeans had lost the Holy Land to the Muslims, never to be
regained. And at this point, many of the remaining European inhabitants, exhausted by
the corruption of Christianity, converted to Islam (Read, p. 248).
In October 1307 c.E., King Philip of France, who had expelled the kingdom’s Jews
the year before in order to confiscate their possessions, turned his attention to the French
Templars. In collaboration with the Pope, he ordered all French Templars arrested, tried
for heresy, and executed; he then promptly appropriated
their immense wealth and hold-
Some of the members of the French Temple became aware of Philip’s plan
ings in France.
and escaped with a large portion of their treasure (Read 1999). At the same time, a Mus-
lim colony in southern Italy was evicted by Philip’s brother King Charles II and appears
to have formed something akin to an alliance with the fleeing French Templars and trav-
eled with them to Christendom (Read, p. 272).
A St. Clair tomb at Roslyn Chapel with Ten Commandments motif. Photograph by Elizabeth Cald-
well Hirschman.
,®W
The French Templar treasure, loaded upon 18 galleys, made its way to Scotland,
reportedly to the Isle of Mull. From here, the Templars and their treasure took refuge
with the St. Clair family at Rosslyn Castle. Nearby Rosslyn Chapel, built in the 1400s,
was, and is, an edifice filled with images and icons drawn from three faiths— Christian-
ity, Judaism and Islam. It contains ample testimony to the “sacred geometry” of the
Jewish Cabala, as well as architectural reflections of the St. Clair family’s travels and
Ten Commandments motif window at Roslyn Chapel. Photograph by Elizabeth Caldwell Hirschman.
8. The Knights Templar, Freemasons and Cabala in Scotland 143
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Templar tomb at Roslyn Chapel with Tau/Tough symbol. Photograph by Elizabeth Caldwell
Hirschman.
144 When Scotland Was Jewish
4
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Top: Templar sarcophagus at Roslyn Chapel. Bottom: Templar tomb at Roslyn chapel with Lion of
Judah motif. Both photographs by Elizabeth Caldwell Hirschman.
8. The Knights Templar, Freemasons and Cabala in Scotland 145
Tau/Tough carvings on Roslyn Chapel interior. Bottom: Cabalah image of triangle with tetragram-
maton inscribed within, in Roslyn Chapel Museum. Both photographs by Elizabeth Caldwell
Hirschman.
146 When Scotland Was Jewish
trade throughout the world, including images of a kangaroo, pineapple, maize, tobacco
and other wonders.
Of course, by the time the Templars arrived, additional Jewish immigrants had already made
their way to Scotland. Recall that in 1290 C.E., King Edward I had ordered all Jews to leave
England, causing many to flee across the border to Scotland and overseas to France and the Low
Countries. Others went underground in England and became Crypto-Jews. It is likely that the
subsequent expulsion and proscription of Jews in the French kingdom (1306) caused families
with hidden Jewish roots to become even more secretive, if they remained, or else to flee in
advance of exposure, as occurred in Nazi Germany. The important Jewish community in Nor-
mandy, still an English possession and not yet part of France, must have been in a particularly
At this point, many English and French Jews doubtless joined relatives already
stressful position.
in Scotland.The emigres could not fail to have included those schooled in the mystical strain of
Judaism knownas the Cabala, which had been flourishing in Narbonne since the 1100s. As Jews
were harried from one country to the next, Scotland emerged as one of the few safe-havens.
Thus, by the early 1300s, Templars, Jews and Muslims had likely all sought refuge in Scotland.
Before discussing the Cabala, let us turn to additional testimony concerning the his-
toric reality of the Jews in Scotland. The current claimant to the throne of Scotland and
holder of the title of Prince of Albany, Michael Stewart, has written extensively about
Stuart genealogy and early Scottish history. He discusses the close ties between certain
members of the Catholic hierarchy, specifically St. Bernard, the Templars and the Scot-
tish Celtic Church (p. 32):
St. Bernard [a Cistercian monk] had been appointed Patron and Protector of the Knights
Templars at the French “Council of Troyes” in 1128. At that time, he had drawn up the
Order’s Constitution and had since translated the Sacred Geometry of the [Jewish] masons
who built King Solomon’s Jerusalem Temple.... Also in 1128, Saint Bernard’s cousin, Hughes
de Payens, founder and Grand Master of the Templars, met with King David I in Scotland,
and the Order established a seat on the South Esk.... Both David and his sister mere mari-
tally attached to the Flemish House of Boulogne, so there were direct family ties between
Thus, by the early 1 100s a substantial amount of Middle Eastern knowledge, learn-
ing and mysticism had been transferred to Scotland. It was little surprise, then, that
the Knights Templar, Jews, and Muslims would have chosen to cooperate in seeking
refuge in Scotland, once they were exiled from Christian countries. Stewart (p. 33) also
writes:
8. The Knights Templar, Freemasons and Cabala in Scotland 147
Scotland was the perfect haven for the Knights Templar of Jerusalem. The Stewart kings, the
Setons, and the Sinclairs were all hereditary Knights Templar, and Scottish Rite Freemasonry
was later created as a sub-structure of the organization. The hereditary right of the Stewarts
came by virtue of Robert the Bruce having granted the Knights asylum in Scotland. The Sin-
clairs gained their privilege because they had afforded half the Templar Fleet safe anchorage at
Orkney, and the Setons had given valuable financial assistance during the Order’s hour of need.
Stewart also traces the origins of the St. Clair/Sinclair family from France to Scot-
land, specifically mentioning their role in the Templar Order (p. 102):
One of Scotland’s most prominent families of the early Stewart era was the old Norman fam-
ily of St. Clair, who had arrived in the 11th century, sometime before the Norman Conquest
of England. In 1057, they had received the Barony of Roslin, south of Edinburgh, from Mal-
colm III Canmore.... William Sinclair, [St. Clair] Earl of Caithness and Grand Admiral of
Scotland, was appointed Hereditary Patron and Protector of the Scottish Masons by King
James in 1441....
The masons of William Sinclair were not the speculative freemasons that we know today,
but operative stonemasons privy to the Sacred Geometry held by the Knights Templar.
Because of William was enabled to build the now famous Rosslyn Chapel; the overall
this,
work, with its abundance of intricate carvings, was begun in about 1446. In 1475 a Charter
... was ratified, and Rosslyn became known as “Lodge Number One” in Edinburgh. The
magnificent Chapel —
still used by Knights Templar of the Scottish Grand Priory, and by the
In respect of the Masonic patronage granted to Sir William Sinclair in 1475, ... there were
trade and craft Guilds in Scotland at that time.... King James III had granted numerous
Charters in Edinburgh that year, as did his successors thereafter:
From the ranks of the newly created, operative Guilds, the Knights Templars selected certain
members who were keen to extend their minds to matters of science, geometry, history and
148 When Scotland Was Jewish
philosophy, as detailed in the ancient manuscripts which the original Order had brought out
of Jerusalem and the Holy Land.... Scotland became a beacon of enlightenment. The new
brotherhood of “Free” Masons supported their less fortunate neighbours, and their respec-
tive Guilds set money aside for the poorer members of society, thereby beginning the estab-
lishment of charitable organizations in Britain. 9 King James VI became a speculative
Freemason at the Lodge of Perth and Scone in 1601, and on becoming James I of England
two years later, he introduced the concept south of the Border.
Stewart further reports that the Scottish Guilds were given access to the Templar
banking system, which enabled them to construct and maintain their international trade
network. Aberdeen, with its very broad-based trade channels, founded Freemason Guilds
on the French model in 1361, according to Stewart (p. 117-118):
[Further,] quite apart from the Guilds, the Knights also received lay-people into their allied
confraternities and, for a small annual subscription of a few pence, men and women alike were
afforded numerous by way of personal and family support in times of need. This
privileges
was, in fact, the beginning of the insurance and life assurance industry, and it is the reason why
so many of today’s leading British underwriting institutions emanated from Scotland.
The Cabala
We will close this chapter with a section designed to segue between what has been
presented about the Templars and what will be covered in chapter 9, on Aberdeen and
northeast Scotland. This has to do with a branch of Judaism termed the Cabala. The
Cabala originated in the Holy Land around 70 C.E. and incorporated Judaic religious
ideas together with geometric principles developed much earlier, very likely at the time
of the building of the pyramids of Egypt. The same architectural and mathematical prin-
ciples were applied to the construction of the Temple of Solomon in Israel.
As we shall see, the theorems behind both the pyramids and the First Temple are
based on the discovery of pi, phi, a number of Pythagorean theorems, and other geo-
metric principles emanating from Eastern learning. They are not magical or mystical,
per se. Yet, to the human minds capable of grasping them, they must have seemed God-
given and divinely- inspired. Their perfection, symmetry and consistency would have
produced awe and amazement among those gifted enough to comprehend and use them.
This same set of mathematical principles also had enormous pragmatic utility in fields
had been the subject of earlier philosophical, scientific and religious speculation in Greece,
Rome and Moorish Spain, and it became one of the spoils of conquest when they seized
control of the ancient civilizations of the East. In medieval Palestine, the principles had
been combined with a mystical numerical system which assigned each letter in the Hebrew
alphabet to a number or digit. By recasting Torah texts as numerical sequences, the Jews
created elaborate mathematical metaphors that were used to give additional levels of
meaning and correspondences to their sacred scripture. In the Diaspora after 100 c.E.,
8. The Knights Templar, Freemasons and Cabala in Scotland 149
these notions were elaborated and embroidered in Cabalistic centers of learning, first in
Provence in southern France, then in Spain, and by the 1500s, cycling back to the Holy
Land and other Levantine centers such as Alexandria, Istanbul and Salonica.
As Benbassa (1999, p. 38) notes, the spread of Cabalistic doctrines occurred within
the larger context of the cross-translation of important philosophical and scientific trea-
tises in the Mediterranean area:
The [French-Jewish] Kimhi and Ibn Tibbon families distinguished themselves in the domain
of translation. In the one, Joseph Kimhi (1105-70) and his son David ( 1 160?— 1 235), and in
the other, Judah ibn Tibbon (1120-90) and his son Samuel (1150-1230), translated the great
classics of Judeo-Arabic thought from Arabic into Hebrew, including the works of Saadya
Gaon (882-942), Ibn Gabiron (10201-1057?), Judah Halevi (before 1075-1141), and Bahya
ibn Pakuda (second half of the eleventh century).... They also devoted themselves to the
translation of Greek and Arabic scientific works, particularly in medicine. The texts of the
Muslim physician, philosopher, and mystic Avicenna (980-1037) and, especially, of the
10
philosopher Averroes (1126-98) were translated from Arabic into Hebrew. Spanish Jews
trained in their homeland in Arabic astronomy brought it with them to Provence; some
invented astronomical instruments, others translated works from Latin.... Samuel ibn Tib-
bon produced a translation of Maimonides’ Guide for the Perplexed (1200) that appeared
before the author’s death in 1204.... Indeed, Provence was also the homeland of Levi ben
Gershom, commonly known as Gersonides (1288-1344).... At once a philosopher and the-
ologian, commentator on Averroes and biblical exegete, talmudist, mathematician and logi-
cian, he was also the inventor of an astronomical instrument....
Provence, land of philosophy, was also a land of mysticism. It is there that the Sefer-ha-
Bahir (Book of Brightness), the first document of theosophic kabbalism, was compiled on
the basis of oriental sources between 1150 and 1200.... Abrah ben Isaac, president of the rab-
binical court of Narbonne (d. 1180), and especially Isaac the Blind ( 1 160?— 1235) — grandson
of Abraham ben Isaac ... developed a contemplative mysticism. Born in Provence and along
the coast of Languedoc, the kabbalah was rapidly transplanted to Catalonia, which main-
tained close political and cultural ties with these regions.
The earliest known mention of the Cabala comes from the first century of the Com-
mon Era, in Judea. Here, four of the classical texts were written: (1) Heikalot Books, (2)
Sepher Yetzirah (Book of Formation), (3) the Zohar (Book of Splendor), and (4) the Bahir
(Book of Brilliance) (Bernstein 1984). The Heikalot Books are based on the biblical Book
of Ezekial, which uses the Throne of Glory and the Heavenly Chariot (Merkabah) as cen-
tral symbolic devices. The Book of Ezekial and the Book of Genesis both were popular
religious texts within Judea from 538 b.c.e. to 70 C.E., that is, during the Second Temple
period. Commonly, the wheels of the heavenly chariot are drawn to incorporate the
Pythagorean theorem; metaphorically, this means that mathematical wisdom could raise
mankind to a perfected state (Bernstein 1984).
The Sepher Yetzirah (Book of Formation) is the oldest non-Biblical treatise of
Judaism, having been written down in the second century (Bernstein 1984). This book
develops the theme of the ten Sephiroth or primordial numbers and the 22 letters of the
Hebrew alphabet. Some of its main images are the ladder of wisdom, with each step lead-
ing to a higher level of knowledge, and the tree of life, which combines aspects of the
ladder going upward from Earth to Heaven with the additional symbolism of “above
ground tree, below ground roots,” or, “As Above, So Below.” The tree metaphor posits 11
that activities on Earth are reflections of actions in Heaven. An important theme through-
150 When Scotland Was Jewish
out is the perfectibility of the world through human endeavor, often expressed in Judaic
tradition as Tikkun Olam (“perfecting the universe”).
The Zohar (Book of Splendor) is a collection of many different writings on various
religious topics. Possibly authored by Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai (160 c.E.), it is the most
influential of the Cabalistic writings. It was first published in its entirety by Rabbi Moses
de Leon of Guadalajara, Spain, around 1290 C.E. (Bernstein 1984). Rabbi Simeon was
known as “the Sacred Light,” and we see this name carried forward to the Saint Clair/ Sin-
clair/Sanctus Clarus family of France and Scotland. Further, we will find in Aberdeen
many persons having the surname of Norrie/Noory/Nory/Norris, which is Arabic for
“light” or “illumination.” The Zohar proposes that the Torah is actually a series of numer-
ical codes that reveal a much deeper level of divine meaning than the “surface” letters,
The Bahir (Book of Brilliance) was also produced in the early Talmudic period (ca.
100 C.E.) and almost lost as a text, only to reappear in Provence, France, during the 1200s.
The Bahir introduces metaphors of reincarnation and the masculine-feminine nature of
God. The Jewish scholar most closely associated with the tradition of the Bahir is Rabbi
Isaac Luria, known as the Ari, who led the Safed school of Cabala in the Holy Land,
1534-1572. Luria was the descendant of Sephardic Jews who had been expelled from Spain
in 1492. Prominent in the symbolism of the Bahir is the iconography of Light and Dark-
ness. Within Moorish Spain were two other major figures of Cabalism: Rabbi Abraham
Abulafia (flourished 1240 c.E.) and one of his students, Rabbi Joseph Gikatilla of Castile.
8. The Knights Templar, Freemasons and Cabala in Scotland 151
We turn now to a discussion of the mathematics of the Cabala. The ancient Hebrews
used anagrams, termed Temura, and Gematria, a system whereby each letter of the alpha-
bet was assigned a number or digit, creating secret codes and metaphors. Under Cabal-
ism, these codes and metaphors became very highly refined and were communicated
only to those initiated into the traditions. Similarly, within the Templar Order, the same
set of codes and metaphors was used and it was relayed only to initiates into the order.
Hence the intersecting triangles of the Star of David, standing for God’s heavenly and
earthly presence (above and below).
The Cabala also developed a series of images and calculations based on what is
termed “sacred geometry”: the principles of Pi ( tt ), Phi d (the base of natural log-
arithms), and i ( -1). It is very likely that the Jews of ancient Judea originally acquired
this knowledge from the Greeks when they were conquered by Alexander the Great in
the 4th century B.C.E.,though some may have been acquired from the Egyptians. After
the Greek conquest and during the rule of the Antiochene successors to Alexander’s
empire, many Jews became Hellenized, even adopting Greek names, customs, language
and literary conventions (Biale 2002, pp. 77-134).
Also incorporated within the Cabala were Fibonacci numbers, the geometric pro-
gressions that govern the natural growth of populations, for instance, cell division. The
Cabala also featured geometric figures such as the pentagram, pentagon, and “golden”
isosceles triangles, which make use of phi mathematics. The decagon, or ten-sided fig-
ure, also adhered to the phi principle. Further, the Pythagorean theorem, the Golden Mean
and the Golden Right Triangle of Phi were well known by the Cabalists and favored in
their designs. From these were developed what are perhaps the most profound Cabalis-
tic symbols: the Pyramid/Tree of Fife and the Sephirotic Tree. These symbols were
of this symbolism appears in them. In the next chapter we will find several more exam-
ples of Cabalistic emblems and designs, including the ceiling at Fyvie Castle outside
Aberdeen.
Chapter 9
As seen on the accompanying map, Aberdeen is bordered by the North Sea and has direct
shipping channels to Norway, Sweden, France, Denmark, Russia, the Baltic Sea, Ger-
many and Poland. From the 1100s onward — and perhaps even before — Aberdeen was
trading with all of these countries and had established companies, even factories, in each.
By 1200 c.E., it was the third wealthiest city in Scotland, despite its northern location,
relative isolation from the rest of Scotland, and having only the eighth rank in popula-
tion. Why?
We propose that Aberdeen’s phenomenal growth as a trading center and financial
capital was due to the fact that it was a Crypto- Jewish burgh. It is very likely that all the
dominant families in the city, from 1100 to the 1800s, were of Jewish descent, originat-
ing early on from southern France, then from England after the 1290 expulsion, and
finally, 1492 onward, from the Iberian peninsula and shifting safe-havens of the Sephardic
Diaspora. The DNA results from prominent Aberdeen families discussed in chapter 2
already support this proposition, but we will now develop a different line of evidence,
one based on religious practices, marriage patterns and burial customs. This evidence,
we believe, will document conclusively that Aberdeen and its environs were solidly Judaic
in culture.
Let us begin with the mysterious “St. Machar,” to whom not one, but two, parishes
were dedicated in the dawn of Aberdeen history (Morgan 2000). As Morgan cogently
observes, there is no written or archeological record of a saint named Machar, at least no
Roman Catholic St. Machar, ever setting foot in Aberdeen, or Scotland for that matter.
What does exist, however, is a church in Old Aberdeen dedicated to a “St. Machar”
around which prominent members of the citizenry have been buried since its founding,
this despite the fact that “we can never know exactly how, when or by whom St. Machar ’s
Cathedral was established” (p. 13). We can only make educated guesses.
The candidate we would like to examine is the Davidic-descended master teacher
of the Jewish community in Provence in southern France whose title was, in fact,
Machar (Benbassa 1999) and who was active there during the appropriate timeframe.
152
9. The Judaic Colony at Aberdeen 153
This spiritual leader, Machar, would have been the central figure to persons practicing
Judaism in France in the time just before the migration by Jews to Britain with William
the Conqueror in 1060 C.E. To dedicate a religious center to this man would be very much
in keeping with contemporaneous Talmudic practice of naming religious sites after their
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Aberdeen, Scotland, probably had a strong Crypto-Jewish presence. Map by Donald N. Yates.
9. The Judaic Colony at Aberdeen 155
founders. The sole remaining artifact from the original place of worship (ca. 1100) is a
section of stone from the top of a column carved in a “dog-tooth” pattern (Morgan 2000,
p. 16). This pattern is consistent with contemporaneous images found in Islamic and
Jewish manuscripts and mosaics.
We will next present a series of images found in and around Aberdeen and place
them in a context of Judaic/Islamic aesthetics. We believe a compelling case can be made
that Aberdeen did serve as a center of Jewish worship and culture during the time period
1100-1750 c.E., in other words, from Norman to Georgian times, when the status and num-
ber of Jews in the British Isles was first brought into the open and they began to be inte-
grated into a “desacralized” British state (Endelman 1979).
At the time the “Jew Bill” was debated in England around 1750, many Scottish
Crypto-Jews must have preferred to remain underground, especially as they already
enjoyed not only full rights as citizens, but an active engagement in politics and nation-
alism denied to their counterparts in other countries. Others undoubtedly lapsed or con-
verted, without ever becoming labeled “ex-Jews.” In Spain and Portugal, on the other
hand, Jewish origins had long become enshrined in the caste system. Jews were branded
as conversos or remembered as coming from “New Christian” families for more than 400
years.
as a “conservation cross,” but it is in fact a Cabalistic image. Also within Kings College
Chapel are other carvings on wooden panels in prominent Judaic and Islamic motifs
(Morgan 2000, pp. 93, 96). Similarly, the Findour Panel from the Great Hall at Kings Col-
lege(now in the Chapel) has an Islamic/Judaic motif, together with a Templar geomet-
ricsymbol on the heraldic shield.
Within St. Machar’s Church nearby is a heraldic ceiling with geometric squares, tri-
angles and rectangles which is also Judaic and Islamic in inspiration. A patterned ceiling
closely resembling it was constructed by the same craftsman, believed to be from the
Netherlands, John Fendour or Ferdour, in St. Nicholas Kirk in Aberdeen around 1510.
Keith (1988, p. 53) reports that in 1740 the grave at St. Nicholas Kirk of a Sir Robert
Davidson, who died in 1411, was opened during construction “and his remains found,
with a small silk skull cap that had been on his head when he was buried. The cap, unfor-
Opposite top: “Dog-tooth” column fragment from St. Machar Cathedral, ca. 1100 c.E. Sketch by Eliz-
abeth Caldwell Hirschman. Bottom: Contemporaneous “dog tooth” mosaic patterns from the Moor-
ish Real Alcazar, Granada, Spain. Photograph by Elizabeth Caldwell Hirschman.
156 When Scotland Was Jewish
tunately, was given away.” The cap’s description corresponds to that of a kipah, the Jew-
ish male’s headgear worn in temple visits, during prayer and upon his death. The kirk
apparently was being used for Jewish burials.
Fyvie Castle
Fyvie Castle, just outside Aberdeen, was owned by the Gordon and Seaton families
dating from the 1300s. We found it to be a virtual trove of Judaic, Cabalistic and Islamic
imagery. Several Islamic crescents were carved or painted at prominent places in the cas-
tle, including on coats of arms, above stairways, and on wooden divider panels and screens.
The ceilings at Fyvie were also remarkable for their geometric and floral Islamic and Judaic
designs. But the most intriguing of the ceilings is in the entrance hall. Inside a set of inter-
locking equilateral triangles are clearly depicted symbols of the Cabalah Sephirotic Tree.
Compare these with the Cabalistic adaptation of the same image (chapter 6).
The Stewart monarchs, said by the latest claimant, Michael Stewart (2000), to be of
Davidic descent, use as their principal symbols the “Lion rampant” and “St. Andrew’s
Cross.” We have argued that the latter represents the Judaic or Templar X mark, used to
9. The Judaic Colony at Aberdeen 159
tional resonances with a Judaic heritage. The banner displays six five-petaled strawberry
160 When Scotland Was Jewish
flowers in a triangular pattern — a rebus or pictorial pun on the French meaning of the
Fraser surname, “strawberry grower.” Related floral designs are found on an Italian
Hebrew Bible, also from 1300, and on a Hebrew prayer book from Germany, ca. 1380.
The arms of the chief of Clan Fraser, a centered square with three strawberry flowers in
another triangular pattern, bolstered by two angels, also resembles contemporaneous
Judaic images.
9. The Judaic Colony at Aberdeen 161
We now want to take a look at the intellectual and educational activities of Aberdeen
and focus on Kings College and its founder, Bishop William Elphinstone. The surname
itself was a common Medieval Jewish surname meaning “ivory”: most dealers in “ele-
phant stone” in the Middle Ages were either Jews or Arabs. Morgan (2000, pp. 42-42)
gives us some excellent insight into Elphinstone’s origins and career:
In April 1488, William Elphinstone, then fifty-seven years of age, was consecrated Bishop of
Aberdeen at St Machar’s Cathedral, in the presence of King James III. Unlike many of his prede-
cessors and his successor Gavin Dunbar, he was not a member of a mighty or powerful family,
but was the leading civil and canon lawyer in the kingdom and one of the monarch’s most
skilled ambassadors. He was dogged, hard-working and ambitious.... Born in Glasgow in 1431....
His mother is something of a mystery, though she is thought to have been Margaret Douglas,
daughter of a Laird of Drumlanrig. Elphinstone was subsequently dispensed from illegitimacy
by the pope in 1454 to allow him to take holy orders....
His career was not typical of an ambitious churchman. He ran the family estate for a
.
Title page from psalter printed by Edward Raban in 1629 for the City of Aberdeen. The tetragram-
maton uses Torah-style lettering forms. Courtesy of University of Aberdeen.
9. The Judaic Colony at Aberdeen 163
Arabesque motifs from Jewish and Moorish Andalusia. Photographs by Elizabeth Caldwell
Hirschman.
time, graduated in arts at Glasgow University in 1462 at the age of thirty-one, then went on
to study canon law there and pled in the consistorial court.... Elphinstone pled especially for
the poor, the personae miserabiles, “not for a fee but for the sake of equity and justice,” wrote
Hector Boece in his Lives of the Bishops....
[W]ith a little persuading from his uncle, Laurence Elphinstone, [he] set off for the Uni-
versity of Paris to resume his studies in canon law. His aptitude for legal argument caught the
attention of his masters and after graduating he was made reader (lecturer) in that subject.
Next Elphinstone passed to Orleans to study civil law.... He returned home in 1471 after less
than a year at Orleans, possibly alerted by his father, still a canon of Glasgow Cathedral, that
the post of official of that diocese was about to fall vacant. He was duly appointed, then fol-
lowing in his father’s footsteps, was elected Dean of Faculty of Arts at Glasgow University.
164 When Scotland Was Jewish
Elphinstone next turned his attention to Aberdeen and decided to establish a uni-
versity there. Aberdeen had been a royal burgh since the 1100s and a commercial trading
partner with Danzig, Poland and the Netherlands; by the 1500s, it had a population of
4,000.As Morgan (p. 47) writes, “A university would add to the burgh’s prestige and there
was no reason to suppose that the burgesses ... would not assist financially in its fund-
ing.”
At its founding, Keith notes (p. 128) that Kings College employed
besides the Chancellor (Elphinstone) and the Rector, who were unpaid, thirty-six persons
[who] were to reside within the college and receive emoluments of some kind from its
endowments. The Principal, who had to be a master of theology, was the administrative
head, lectured on theology and preached.... The Mediciner was the first professor of Medi-
cine to be appointed in Britain. Cambridge did not have one until 1540, Oxford till 1546. The
Sub-Principal, a Master of Arts, deputized for the Principal and lectured on the liberal arts;
the Grammarian, also a Master of Arts, instructed in grammar.... The subjects were: First
Year: Logic; Second year: Physics and Natural Philosophy; Last year and half: Arithmetic,
Geometry, Cosmography and Moral Philosophy.... The Grammarian taught Latin, and at a
remarkably early date ... he or one of his colleagues instructed in Greek.
The headmaster, or principal, of Kings College was a man named Hector Boece (i.e.
Boethius, a commonly adopted Roman surname equivalent to Ezra among Jews of the
Hellenistic and Roman periods). Morgan (p. 67) notes:
Elphinstone had head-hunted Hector Boece, of whom he had good reports from his conti-
nental contacts, as a potential principal. A St Andrews graduate in his early thirties, a Christ-
ian humanist with Boece was teaching
a reputation as a skilled writer of Latin prose,
philosophy in Paris at that time. He had a minus point had no degree in theology,
in that he
the latter a requisite for the principalship, but a plus in that he had begun the study of medi-
cine in Paris, the very subject that Elphinstone and King James sought to promote.
With learned doctors of divinity on his doorstep, why did Elphinstone lure this stranger, not
yet even a bachelor of theology, from Paris? It was, perhaps, part of his aim to distance his
new university from the Chanonry and its “college of canons,” which was purely a theologi-
cal college. Within a few years it seems that Boece had not only gained his first degree in
theology, but was running the university.... In spite of a heavy workload, Boece found time
to continue his study of medicine and to write two works, both in Latin, which were famous
in their day....
By the mid-1500s, Kings [University] was teaching not only Greek and Latin, but also
Hebrew, Syriac and Chaldean.... The inclusion of Hebrew, as well as the Mid-Eastern lan-
guages of Syriac and Chaldean, suggests a preoccupation with scientific rather than theologi-
cal texts, since Syriac and Chaldean (non-Biblical languages) were the threads by which a
large part of the corpus of Aristotle’s works, as well as unique Platonic and Neo-Platonic
treatises, were preserved, entering Western thought and learning through the stream of
“Averroeism,” a materialistic philosophy created by Jews and Moors in northern Spain.
As many as three centuries later, when the Scotsman Adam Smith published The
Wealth of Nations, Hebrew still was not part of a common university education in England,
yet the Scots had pioneered its place in the curriculum. We would argue that in addition
to permitting the study of Judaic and Islamic scientific texts, the teaching of Hebrew, Syr-
iac and Chaldean also opened access to Palestinian and Babylonian philosophical and reli-
gious writings, a desirable skill for persons of Jewish and Muslim heritage.
9. The Judaic Colony at Aberdeen 165
Tellingly, when Elphinstone first became bishop of Aberdeen in 1488, he halted use
of the traditional Roman Catholic breviary in that city. In its place, and with the support
new breviary printed in Edinburgh by a “wealthy merchant
of King James IV, he had a
burgess,” Walter Chapman, and Andrew Myllar, a bookseller. Concurrently, James IV
banned the use of the Roman Catholic breviary throughout Scotland. Unfortunately,
only four partial copies of this work survive. We believe that it too would prove to be a
Crypto-Jewish devotional text, akin to Raban’s Davidic Psalm book. From this overview,
we see that a university education in Aberdeen during the 1500s certainly did not follow
a Christian, Catholic or even theological tradition. Rather, it resembled the “open” schol-
arship of the Babylonian Talmudic academy in Provence and of centers of secular learn-
ing in Muslim Spain and the more tolerant northern Christian kingdoms of Aragon and
Catalonia.
As is well known, many intellectual Jews in the anti-Semitic climate of Spain and
France following the pogrom of 1389 nominally or genuinely converted to Christianity
and became clerics, monks and even bishops, so they could retain access to Hebrew
books, which were otherwise forbidden. For instance, according to Gitlitz (2002, p. 475),
“The converso Pedro Alfonso was so well known as a Jewish scholar in Valencia in the
1480s that ‘when a Jew who was carrying a Hebrew book was asked who in Valencia could
read it, he answered, Pedro Alfonso.’ Alfonso was even reputed to speak Hebrew at home
with his wife (Haliczer 1990, 212).”
As we did for the western region of Scotland in chapter 5, we now examine who was
living around Aberdeen from 1200 onward. Several aristocratic families whose ancestral
homes are near Aberdeen we have already identified as being of probable Jewish ances-
try. Among these are the Gordons, Frasers, Forbeses, and Feslies. They arrived in Scot-
land during the first Jewish in-migration, 1066-1250 C.E. The 1400s and 1500s brought
a new and French Jewish surnames, such as Men-
influx of families bearing Sephardic
zies/Menezes (originally from Hebrew Menachem), Davidson, Arnot (from Aaron),
2
and Perry (from “pear” in Spanish [Jacobs 1911]). Perhaps most blatantly, some of
the incoming families had surnames that were actually the names of letters in the
Hebrew alphabet: Gemmell (representing a camel), Hay (life) and Taw (tau, cross or
saltire).
Elgin
The earliest records available for Northeast Scotland are for Elgin 3 (“God’s spirit”
in Aramaic). A list of provosts (mayors) of the town begins with a Wisman in 1261 and
goes forward to a series of Douglases from 1488 to 1530. The Douglas family we already
have proposed to be Jewish. A new surname, Gaderer, then enters the list and alternates
166 When Scotland Was Jewish
with Douglas and Innes (Gaelic for “isles”) and Annand (Hebrew). 4 By the 1600s the
Pringill (Pringle) family appears on the list, together with several occurrences of Hays
and Seton. We believe the Hay surname (which is common even today among Jews) to
be derived from the name of the Hebrew letter Heh (pronounced “hay”), which corre-
sponds to the numeral 5 and symbolizes life ( hayyinv, hayat in Arabic). 5 The Seton fam-
ily is the one we encountered earlier at Fyvie Castle: the Seton coat of arms displays three
orange crescent moons.
Provosts of Elgin
Elgin’s Burgess Roll is similarly expressive of a strong Jewish presence and also
hints at some Islamic origins. It includes Sephardic surnames such as Arnot, Baron, Braco,
168 When Scotland Was Jewish
7
Cadell, Livie (Levy, Levi), Martine, Masson, Morrice (Morris, a form of Moses), Pirie
(Perry), Tarris and Troupe.
These four towns are also in northeast Scotland, and their cemetery inscriptions pro-
vide additional evidence of a large French/Sephardic Jewish (and possibly Islamic) popu-
lation. Indeed, Alves is the name of a city in Spain from which many Sephardic exiles
departed in 1492. Alvah is Hebrew and Arabic for “sublime.” In Aberdour, we find a woman
named Bassilia Cameron, also Davidsons, Riddells, Addan, Clyne (Klein), Peirie, and Gall
(Gaul). In Alford are buried persons named Imlah, Tawse (Hebrew letter Tau = 400),
Morrice (= Moses), Benzie (= Ben Zion), and Bandeen (Ben Din = “Son of Religion” in
Arabic). There are seven Templar tombs listed for the Farquarson family. Presumably, this
surname is derived from the common Arabic occupation name Al-Fakhkhar, “potter.” In
Alvah are found gravestones for Sherres (Sheretz), Ferrier (“iron worker”), Caies, Dow
(David), Davie (David), Massie and an Abram Syme (Simon). And in Alves we find stones
for persons surnamed Hosack, Aster (“one from Asturias in Spain”), Gilzean and Mallies.
9 . The Judaic Colony at Aberdeen 169
Aberdour Cemetery
Gardiner
Alford Churchyard
Alvah Churchyard
Alves Cemetery
At the Cowie cemetery we find some new Sephardic surnames. These include Lees,
Neper (Napier), Lyon (= Judah), Dallas, and Perrin (= Perone). The Daviot churchyard
takes its name from the French form of David; it has stones for Pape (Avignonese Jews
belonged to the Pope and often bore that name, as English and Italian Jews employed by
royalty often took the name King or Re, Reyes), Ritie, Valentine, Diack, Chesser (= Hezer)
and Kellas, among others. Dyce cemetery has several Sephardic surnames; among them
9. The Judaic Colony at Aberdeen 171
are Reiach (“wind” in Arabic), Low (an Askenazic form for Joseph), Raffan, Abel, For-
bas, Annan, Dalgarno and Jolly (French jolie, “happy”).
Echt cemetery includes surnames such as Russel, Achnach, Lyell, Norrie, Ferries and
Shewan ( schon is German and Yiddish for “beautiful,” for which the Arabic popular name
was Jafeh). And Fyvie has the surnames Barrack, 15 Rainie, Joss, Florance (Florance, Italy),
Castel (from Castille), Gamack, Gabriel and Cassie. We also notice the popularity of
Alexander — in Gaelic, Alistair. 16
Cowie Cemetery
Daviot Churchyard
Shepherd Diack
Bruce Cruikshank
Paul Fraser
Topp Carr
Keith Christie
Coutts Seton
Pape Phillip
Moir Kynock
Gray Pierie
Kennedy Muray
Rothnie Kemp
Singer (2, Latin Cantor) Valentine
Mailand Davidson
Hardie Benzie
Chesser Kellas
Stewart Marr
Law (cp. Low, Lau) Falconer
Lyon Gray
172 When Scotland Was Jewish
Dyce Cemetery
Echt Churchyard
These four cemeteries are all named either for families of proposed Jewish paternal
descent (e.g., Leslie/Ladislau) or utilize Hebrew/Jewish surnames, i.e., Machar, Rathen,
and Rhynie. In Leslie cemetery we find Riddells, Toughs (Tow), Benzie (Benzion), Hay
174 When Scotland Was Jewish
and Norrie. New Machar has tombstones carrying surnames such as Gill, Catto (Italian
and Spanish for “cat”: the German form, Katz, though actually formed from a Hebrew
anagram, is the most common Jewish surname today), Singer, Kiloti, Argo and Sherrilf
(= Arab, sherif). Rathen is smaller, but has several Sephardic surnames including Cheves,
Lunan, Shirras, Yool and Esslemont. Rhynie, smaller still, has Symon, Castell, Tocher,
Jessieman and Riach.
Leslie Churchyard
Rathen Churchyard
Rhynie Churchyard
Again, these are cemeteries whose names are strongly redolent of the Mediterranean
world. Tyrie is likely named for Tyre, the ancient capital of Phoenicia (now Lebanon),
and Tarves invokes Tarshish, referred to in the Bible, located by some in southern Spain,
25
the homeland of the Sephardim. Buried at Skene, just north of Aberdeen, are persons
named Low, Massey, Hector, Davnie, Kellas, Menzies, Gammie and Tawse (Thow). An
unusual feature of many of these names is their evident Greek origin. One might specu-
late that so much Greek in one place bears testimony to the vestiges of a colony of Roman-
iots (Greek Jews), perhaps displaced to faraway Scotland by the fall of Byzantium in 1453. 26
At Tarves cemetery several graves had flat stones and “open book” designs indica-
tive of Jewish burial practice. Names found here were Tough (= Thow), Godsman, Perry,
Norrie, Luias, Argo, Cassie, and Cheyne (= Hebrew letter Shin, with a pun on schon,
“beautiful”). Turriff cemetery also had several flat stones and names such as Chessar
(Hezar), Imlach, Taws, Shirof (Sharif), Grassie (- Grassi, Garcia, Gracia, the ancestral
village of a famous noble Sephardic family from the area of Barcelona), Chivas, and Loban
(perhaps from Lobbes, a commercial center in the Low Countries). Finally, Tyrie
graveyard had several Semitic surnames: Pirie, Lyon, Lee, Lovie, 27 Lowe (indicative of
lion/Loewe, for the tribe of Judah), Shirran, Lunan (Sp. de Luna) and Chivas.
Skene Churchyard
Low Law Poison
Massey Davidson Hardie
Hector (Gr.) Sim Booth
Leslie Bathia Rae Mensal
Davnie Black Barron
Ruddiman Fraser Lobban
Moir Lyon Stewart
Brebner Milne 28 Pirie
Christie Wisely Kilgour
Menzies Kellas 29 Kennedy
Abel Brechen Kemp
Jamieson Valentine Watt
Daniel Sangster Gellon
Norie Imray Vass
Lyall Gammie Mellis (Greek “honey”)
Chalmers Kiloh (Greek “thousand”) Wyness
Kynoch Malcolm Gill
Esson Riddell Tawse
Tarves Cemetery
Tarriff Cemetery
(several flat stones)
Tyrie Churchyard
Aberdeen
We now turn to the population of Aberdeen proper, the earliest useful record for
which is the list of merchant and trade burgesses, beginning 1600-1620. To become a
burgess required social, political and economic standing in the community. It was a
hereditary status, passed from father to son and not granted to outsiders unless they mar-
ried the daughter of a burgess. The names of several burgesses in Aberdeen from 1600 to
1620, 1631 to 1639 and 1640 to 1659 are listed below. As the reader will see, they include
a great many names that are, prima facie, Sephardic, French Jewish and even Islamic.
From 1600 to 1620, for example, we find Allies (= Ali, Arabic for “man”), Balmanno,
Frachar, Gareauche, Horne (cp. Hebrew shofar), Menzies, Pantoune and Zutche. From
1621 to 1639, names such as Alshinor, Ezatt, Goldman, Omay, and Zuill appear on the
list. The time period of the 1640s and 1650s sees Arrat, Daniell, Dovie, Izods, Pittullo and
Yair added. By the time of the first Scottish national census in 1696, additional Jewish
and Islamic surnames had made their home in Aberdeen, including Deuran (cp. the rab-
binical family of Duran), Orem, Lucas, Scrimgeor, Monyman, Aeson, de Pamaer, and
Lorimer. By the late 1700s (1751-1796) a list of apprentices in Aberdeen included Chillas,
Gillet, Kemlo, Silver, and Tilleray.
The 1696 census also sheds light on who was living in the areas around Aberdeen.
For example, in Belkelvie and New Machar we find Barok, Brockie, Salmon, Talzor, Cow-
ane, Hervie, Wysehart, Pyet and Essell (Heb. Assael). And in nearby Daviot, Bethelnie
and Bourtie, there are the surnames Hebron, Gammie, Lunan, Shivas, Shirres, Argoe,
Currie, Yool, Benzie and Japp.
Although we have not listed all the surnames in the northeast section of Scotland,
we have given a representative sampling in the lists published here. What is striking is
the very low incidence of “traditional” Scottish surnames (once the origin of aristocratic
Jewish families like Gordon, Fraser, Leslie and their ilk is factored in). The candidate pop-
ulation for a significant paternal genetic legacy in Aberdeen strongly resembles the
Sephardic Jewish contribution to the founders of Colombia, a Spanish colony established
in South America at about the same time.
The male and female lines of the Colombian population were genetically mapped
in exacting detail by Carvajal-Carmona and his team of geneticists at the University of
Antioquia (2000). They found an unusually large (16 percent) frequency of paternal
9. The Judaic Colony at Aberdeen 179
Semitic ancestry, including the Cohen modal haplotype of Jewish priests (p. 1290). Sim-
ilarly, the correspondence between Jewish names mentioned in the records of the Span-
ish Inquisition and reflected in the Aberdeen burgess and merchant lists is much too high
to be coincidental. In both records one can trace the path of Jewish refugees fleeing the
Iberian Peninsula in order to escape the long arm of the Holy Office. If readers were to
tabulate the complete listings in the original documents we cite using the surname touch-
stones we have argued around 50 percent of the surnames would fall
for in these pages,
31
into the French-Jewish/Sephardic/Islamic column. Those marked with an asterisk appear
in the same form in a contemporaneous record of Jewish surnames compiled by the Span-
32
ish Inquisition.
Further, thereis also surname evidence that this exotic population extended north
to the Orkney Islands. The Orkneys were ruled by the Sinclair family — of Templar fame —
and thus it would make sense that they would permit Templar-linked refugees to settle
on their lands. In the Yell Cemetery on Orkney, likely named after the Hebrew Jehiel
(“God lives”) — there is also a Yell County, Arkansas, incidentally — we find, for exam-
ple, a Hosea Hoseason, a Basil Pole, a Jemima Jeromson and a Janet Tarel — all domi-
ciled there quite recently.
The Orkney Island surname genealogy listings include Annal, Arnot, Esson, Gor-
rie, Lyon, Davie, Gullion, Holland, Hourie and Omand as “native born.” Patterns such
as these call into serious question the presumption that even these northernmost por-
tions of Scotland were inhabited by persons primarily of Viking/Scandinavian descent.
Indeed, genetic investigations of the population in the remote north of Scotland have
found the gene pool there surprisingly low in “Viking genes,” though how much of the
dominant Atlantic Modal Haplotype (AMH) is Celtic and how much is Iberian has not
yet been reliably determined; see, for instance, Wilson et al. 2001, also Helgason et al.
2000.
186 When Scotland Was Jewish
Source: http://www.cursiter.com/pages/origins.htm
We believe that it was this Judaic community that provided Aberdeen its large role
as an international center of trade from the 1200s onward. Keith (1974, p. 46-47) writes:
As commerce went Aberdeen plied a busy trade in the fifteenth century with
in those days,
both the Netherlands and the Baltic ports, Danzig and Poland particularly. The Danzig busi-
ness developed sharply after 1500 [when additional Sephardim would have arrived there
from Iberia], and during the next 200 years the number of Scotsmen trading in Poland was
so large as to become proverbial. Several observers put them at 40,000.... After 1500 there
were Aberdonians of the name of Skene with cloth mills and sugar refineries in Poland....
The older and steadier commerce was with the Low Countries. Bruges, Middleburg, and
Campvere were in turn the Scottish staple there — the clearing-house for all Scottish
imports....
There were about half a dozen great Aberdonian shipping families— the Cullens, Blindse-
les, Rattrays, Fiddeses and Pratts. Greatest of all the town’s merchants were Andrew Cullen
and Andrew Buk. Cullen was Provost in 1506 and 1535.... Even Bishop Elphinstone engaged
in the overseas trade, though as a priest he must have procured a special licence to do so (!).
When he was building King’s College he sent abroad wool, salmon, trout, and money, receiv-
ing in exchange carts, wheelbarrows, and gunpowder —
to quarry and transport the freestone
from Elgin which he was using in Old Aberdeen.
Royalty also was closely aligned with Aberdeen. David II had opened a mint there
for the making of coins and his sister Matilda was married to Thomas Isaac (obviously
Jewish), a clerk and burgess of the city. By the early 1400s, a Sephardic family, the
Menezes/Menzies, had arrived. Keith (1974, p. 67) comments:
In the first half of the fifteenth century, a new family appears upon the scene. The
Chalmerses [from de Camera, Cameron, Chambers, meaning “chamberlain”] were still at the
height of their influence when the first member of this house, which was to rule the destinies
of Aberdeen for 200 years, made his appearance in the provost’s seat. This was Gilbert Men-
zies, surmised to have been a son of Sir Robert Menzies of Wemyss. Gilbert came from
Perthshire 40 to Aberdeen about 1408.... No more brilliant autocratic family than the Menzies
ever resided in Aberdeen. They held their heads high before royalty; they lived side by side
Also prominent among Aberdeen’s leading families were the Bannermans, one of
whom, Alexander Bannerman, was physician to David II. Yet another was Robert David-
son. John Barbour (= Berber) became archdeacon of Aberdeen in 1357. Keith (1974, p.
95) notes he “was a scholar and a man of business, as well as a priest and a poet ... and
above all, he was a historian.... He several times audited the King’s household accounts
and those of the Exchequer.... He twice traveled in France. Both David II and Robert II
188 When Scotland Was Jewish
gave him pensions.” Another Aberdeen provost, in 1416, was Thomas Roull (= Raoul),
mentioned by Keith (p. 97).
Keith also records (p. 104) that an Andrew Schivas was the “Master of Schools” for
Aberdeen. And the same Skene family that was operating linen factories and sugar mills
in Poland also produced Gilbert Skene, who held the chair of medicine at Kings College
in 1556 and became physician to King James IV. Skene also authored the first book on
medicine in Scotland. Even earlier, Bernard Gordon had written an excellent treatise on
the subject (1305 c.E.), and this text was still in use at the renowned medical school of
Salerno (Italy) in 1480.
Another Gordon, one named Patrick, held the Hebrew chair at Marischal Univer-
sity in Aberdeen in 1642. Keith (p. 176) informs us he “learned Hebrew from a Jew”: most
likely, he already knew it. And yet another Gordon, Thomas, was making regular trips
to the island of Leghorn in Italy during the early 1600s. At this time, Leghorn, or Livorno,
had a large and prosperous Jewish population, thanks to licenses and special dispensa-
tions by the de Medici rulers of Florence; it was also the center of the coral export trade
with India (gems and metals were the import goods). John Burnet, another Aberdonian,
was already engaged in the tobacco trade with Maryland and Virginia. In English eyes,
the Scottish tobacco trade was illegal. It was carried out behind the backs of the mer-
chants of the Royal Exchange in London, becoming enormously profitable in years when
Aberdonian and Glaswegian traders managed to undercut the state contract with France.
A wealthy Scottish merchant and financier in Danzig, Robert Gordon, left £10,000
for the establishment of a school for indigent boys in Aberdeen. Another Gordon from
London, William, was the doctor of medicine at Kings College from 1632 to 1640. He had
been educated at Padua in Italy and studied dissection, which he introduced into the
medical curriculum. He also served as the business manager for the college (Keith, pp.
306, 339).
Not all the scions of Jewish-descended families in the North of Scotland, however,
were pillars of polite society. Several were smugglers (Wilkins 1995). In France, an Alexan-
der Gordon of St. Martins and a Robert Gordon of Bordeaux supplied John Stewart of
Inverness, Scotland, with contraband salt and liquor. Similarly, Andrew Cruikshank,
John Sutherland, and Alexander Brodie smuggled tobacco from Port Hampton, Virginia,
to their factory in Gourdon during the American War of Independence, proving perhaps
once again that money outbids politics when it comes to power.
Finally we must ask the question: Did these Aberdonian families still maintain social
and economic ties with their ancestral families in France and with other Crypto-Jews in
that country or elsewhere? We believe the answer is a resounding Yes and will use the
overseas suppliers of Stewart et al. shown as a case in point. First, the reader is invited
to take at look at the list of cities with which these Scots had trading relationships. They
range from Scandinavia (Copenhagen, Stockholm, Bergen) to Holland (Rotterdam), to
France (Rouen, Boulogne), to Spain (Barcelona), to Italy (Livorno)— all places of
Sephardic Crypto-Jewish settlement after the Inquisition. Further, the trading partners
used in these cities included not only persons with relatives or ancestors now in Aberdeen
(e.g., Robert Gordon and John McLeod in Bordeaux; Campbell in Stockholm; Farquhar
in Bergen, Norway), but — very importantly — Jewish trading houses which would usu-
9 . The Judaic Colony at Aberdeen 189
ally only trade with other Jewish companies. For example, Jacob Ferray in Le Havre;
Shalet, Vonder and Ferrant in Barcelona; and Rosenmeyer, Flor and Co. in Frederick-
swaag. This, we posit, is strong evidence of a common Judaic awareness and ethnic iden-
tity recognized on an international level.
Equally eloquent of Scottish Jews’ ties to other countries are the names of Scots who
served in the Russian military or operated businesses in Russia during the 1600s and
1700s. Russia at this time was extremely accommodating to Jews from a variety of coun-
tries, Poland, Germany, Pomerania and Hungary among them, in an effort to interna-
tionalize its economy. Virtually all of Scotland’s leading families sent members to Russia.
Among most noteworthy were the Gordons and Davidsons. The latter became
the
Davidoffs/Davidovs, and both of them have Russian (and doubtless also Israeli) descen-
dants recognized as Jewish. Indeed the two Russian Jewish Gordons whose DNA we tested
both carried the Kohanim gene.
190 When Scotland Was Jewish
Sir Robert Adair 1791 James Duncan 1630 Alexander Hamilton 1670
James Adamson 1600s John Elphinston 1769 Andrey Hamilton 1647
John Adie 1632 Gabriel Elphinstone 1500s Ivan Hamilton 1705
James Afflech 1632 Robert Erskine 1704 Johan Hamilton 1660s
Adam Aikman 1600s Henry Farquharson 1698 John Hamilton 1629
James Alexander 1690s Robert Fleck 1632 (Ger. for John Hamilton 1678
Alexander Annan 1631 Fr. moir “spotted”) Mary Hamilton 1690s
John Annand 1660 George Forbes 1675 Peter Hamilton 1715
Andrew Arbuthnot 1606 James Forbes 1633 Thomas Hamilton 1542
John Arnot 1600s William Freer 1768 David Hay 1630
James Balfour 1770 Andrew Gardyne 1650 Gelenus Hay 1784
James Bannatine 1632 Thomas Garvine 1690 John Hay 1725
Bannerman 1661 Charles Gascoigne 1737 Thomas Hay 1650s
Peter Barclay 1664 Isaac Geddes 1630s William Hay 1661
Achilles Beaton 1632 Hay George 1763 William Hay 1718
John Bell 1691 David Gilbert 1625 L. Isaac 1784
fServed Tsar Peter the Great, Jacobite, left many sons and kinsmen in Russia.
9. The 'Judaic Colony at Aberdeen 191
This book began with a provocative idea: Scotland is, or was, Jewish. The previous
chapters have explored the Jewish ancestry and culture of some of Scotland’s leading fam-
ilies and much of her population. We now present an equally unlikely thesis, which we
nonetheless believe is correct: that the origins of the Protestant Reformation and espe-
cially the particular form it took in Scotland — Presbyterianism —also lie in Judaic
influences. Both authors of this investigation were not only told growing up that we were
of Scottish origin, but we were also raised in the Protestant faith. Just as we subsequently
discovered that our “Scottish” roots were not Celtic, but Sephardic and French Jewish,
so also were we led to question the traditional origins of Scottish Protestantism.
As was the case with us, most readers probably “learned” that Scotland began as a
pagan country, Druidic, worshiping nature and the sun. And then, around 560 C.E. St.
Columba (Columcille, born around 521, died 597) arrived from Ireland, established the
1
first Christian monastery at Iona and began converting the surrounding countryside to
Christianity. Ostensibly, the entire land was then won over to Roman Catholicism and
remained loyal to that form of Christianity until John Knox and other reformers led
Scotland to Protestantism in the 1560s.
As we saw in chapter 1, however, the actual history of religion in Scotland is much
more equivocal and unsettled. Modern-day pilgrims who visit “St. Columba’s abbey
church” on the remote island of Iona to revel in its Celtic past usually do not stop to
think that the cruciform structure actually dates from the ninth century, four hundred
years after Columba lived, and was built as a monument to mark the triumph of Roman
Catholicism over the Celtic religion, which was then consigned to oblivion. There are
very few artifacts preserved of the original Celtic church, and almost no texts that have
not been overlaid with subsequent (and suspect) traditions of orthodoxy. The oldest
authentic symbols that can be tied to the Columban church occur on the Monymusk reli-
192
10. The Religions of Scotland 193
quary, which lacks any depiction of a cross, Chi-Ro, or other Christian iconography,
exhibiting only a zoomorphic form of decoration similar to that of the surrounding
“pagan” population.
Indeed, Donald Meek, professor of Celtic Studies at the University of Aberdeen, has
suggested that the great bulk of what we think we know about the Celtic church is a
romantic construction, the creation of poets like the eighteenth-century “Ossian” and,
more recently, of “feel-good Celticists” and New Age enthusiasts (2000, chapters 1-6).
Moreover, the term “Celtic” lay dormant from antiquity until it was revived by the
humanist George Buchanan, the tutor to Mary Queen of Scots and later to her son, the
future James I of England (Atherton 2002, pp. 24-28). The label itself is a misconcep-
tion, and recent critics have even withdrawn the use of the word “church” from the phrase
“Celtic church” on the grounds that it implies a hierarchy and organization that never
existed (pp. 51-52).
There are glimmers of Judaism as a precursor and companion to Christianity in the
British Isles. Deansley (1963) notes that the earliest Roman-era saints were named Alban,
Aaron and Julius, though they do not appear in official martyrologies (p. 6), while we
have remarked previously on the unique status of Wales’s St. David. We have also seen
that the earliest saint of the Irish church, Ninyas, was perhaps so named because he came,
via Gaul, from Ninevah in the Middle East. There is some evidence of relations with
Mediterranean Greeks, Jews and Syrians in the Roman period, increasingly so in the sixth
century and later. Moreover, the greatest point of difference between the old-style “Celtic”
monks and those of Anglo-Saxon England revolved around the celebration of Easter: the
Scots “reckoning like Jews ... [even though] they knew that Christians always celebrate
the Resurrection on the first day of the week” (p. 85). The Scots and “northern Irish” long
clung to their custom of celebrating Easter (Latin Paschua, “Passover”) on the same day
as Jews, even after the Synod of Whitby attempted to settle the controversy in 664 C.E.
(pp. 85-90). Finally, we should raise the possibility that the second point of divergence
often emphasized by scholars, the “Celtic” tonsure in which the front of the head, rather
than top, was shaved, may have been inspired by a literal adherence to the injunction of
the Torah to signal one’s Jewish identity to other nations by ensuring that the Shema
(creed) and Commandments “serve as a symbol (frontlet) on your forehead” (Ex. 6:8).
This peculiar badge of faith and ethnicity also persisted in Scotland, down to the age of
2
the Templars, and nowhere else in all of Christendom.
As for the underlying paganism that both Judaism and Christianity fought, forms
of nature worship such as the Green Man fertility cult can be found in castles and kirks
across Scotland. Indeed, paganism died a hard, slow death in Celtic lands, which devel-
oped a religious identity of their own and often proved immune to the militant Chris-
tianity on the continent, according to Jones and Pennick (1995, pp. 96-110):
In Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Brittany, the old gods, worshipped sometimes under the
guise of Celtic saints (i.e. those not canonized by the Pope), were revered in truly Pagan
fashion.... In 1589, John Ansers reported that bullocks were sacrificed “the half to God and to
Beino” in the churchyard at Clynog, Lleyn, Wales.... Such cattle were ... sold for slaughter by
the churchwarden on Trinity Sunday. The custom fell into disuse in the nineteenth cen-
tury.... Pagan observances continue in the twentieth century in Celtic countries. A Pagan
prayer, collected around 1910 by W.Y. Evans- Wentz from an old Manx woman, invokes the
194 When Scotland Was Jewish
Celtic god of the In the Scottish Highlands, libations of milk are poured on a special
sea....
hollowed stone ... in honour of the Gruagach, a goddess who watches over the cows.... Until
modern times in Iona similar libations were poured to a god corresponding to Neptune....
Paganism flourished in Scotland after the break-up of the Catholic Church. In the region
of Gaerloch, Wester Ross, the “old rites” of the divinity Mhor-Ri, the Great King, trans-
formed into St Maree, Mourie or Maelrubha, were observed until the nineteenth century. In
1656, the Dingwall Presbytery, “findeing amongst uther abhominable and heathenishe prac-
tices, that the people in that place were accustomed to sacrifice bulls at a certaine tyme upon
the 25 of August, which day is dedicate, as they conceive, to St Mourie, as they call him ...
and withal adoring of wells and uther superstitious monuments and stones,” attempted
their
to suppress the observances of Mhor-Ri, which, according to the Presbytery Records, Ding-
wall, included “sacrificing at certain times at the Loch of Mourie ... quherein [wherein] ar
monuments of Idolatrie,” also “pouring of milk upon hills as oblationes.” Strangers and
“thease that comes from forren countreyes” participated in the “old rites” of Mhor-Ri.
The attempted suppression failed. Twenty years later, in 1678, members of the Mackenzie
clan weresummoned by the Church at Dingwall for “sacrificing a bull in ane heathenish
man was arraigned before the Kirk Sessions at Elgin, Morayshire,
manner.” ... In 1699, a
charged with idolatry.
Such belated eradication of idolatry, much of it rooted in Roman, pre-Roman, and matri-
archal Middle Eastern customs such as the worship of the Triple Goddess (Graves 1975),
speaks to Scotland’s general record of religious tolerance, as well as to the diversity and
amalgamation of its religions over the course of centuries.
When Malcom Canmore, the Scottish king, and his Hungarian-born consort, Mar-
3
were married in 1069, the ceremony was performed by a Culdee, or Celtic, priest,
garet,
named Fothad. The Celtic church had its own priests and religious practices, which, as
we discussed in chapter 1, corresponded more closely to Judaic customs and beliefs than
to the Roman rite. Culdean priests continued to officiate in Scotland at most churches
well into the 1200s (Howie 1981, pp. 4-8), at which time, we maintain, a large contin-
gaps caused by the destruction of records in the age of iconoclasm under the Tudor kings.
But take a look at the names that do survive. The first prior was named Adam (1296), a
Hebrew name rather than a saint’s name or one coming from the New Testament; the
second was named Maurice, a common French Jewish version of Moses. From 1419 to
1469 we find surnames listed in the French, or Norman, style (e.g., de Port). A second
Maurice/Moses appears in 1445, a Gilbert de Camera (Sephardic) in 1450-1469, and a
David Noble (Nobel, also French Jewish), in 1468.
Adam 1296
Maurice 1297-1309
Cristin 1309-1319
Patrick de Port 1419
10. The Religions of Scotland 195
The known bishops and archbishops of St. Andrews Cathedral, where several Tem-
plar tombs and the famous David sarcophagus were found, appear below. Among them
we see a series of Chuldee/Celtic religious leaders: Maeldwin, Tuthald, Fothad, Turgon,
a gap, then a Robert, an Arnold, a Richard, a John Scot, and another Roger. But in 1202
something very interesting happens: William Malvoisin (1202-1238) succeeds, and his
surname is French. He is followed by David de Bernham (with a Hebrew given name),
Abel de Colin (Hebrew again), Gamelin (Hebrew), a Wishart, a Fraser (Crypto- Jewish
family), and, in 1328-1332, James Ben (Jewish surname). In 1478-1497, for nearly 20
years, the see was ruled by William Scheves (Jewish surname). He was followed by sev-
eral Stewarts, Beatons, a Douglas, and an Adamson. With the arrival of the Reformation,
we find a George Gledstanes (Gladstone, often Jewish). The Spottswood family, which
follows, included more than one physician and had ties to Morocco; a lieutenant gover-
nor of Virginia of the same name settled countless of his countrymen and co-religion-
4
ists in that colony to explore for precious metals and develop trade and industry.
Robert 1123-1159
Arnold 1160-1162
Richard 1163-1178
John Scot 1178-1188
Roger 1189-1202
William Malvoisin 1202-1238
David de Bernham 1239-1253
Abel de Golin 1254
Gamelin 1255-1271
William Wishart 1271-1279
William Fraser 1279-1297
William Lamberton 1297-1328
196 When Scotland Was Jewish
Equally remarkable are the names of the bishops of Dunblane Cathedral, situated
just above Stirling. We find the usual early entries of Culdee/Celtic names (S. Blane,
Colum), but then, incongruously, a Daniel appears in 640-659, followed by a Ronan
(689-737), a Maelmanach (possibly Aramaic or Arabic, 737-776) and Noe (Portuguese
Sephardic, 776-790). A large 300-year-plus hiatus occurs next, when the list resumes with
a Lawrence (French) succeeded, remarkably, by a Symon (Hebrew), a W , a
Jonathan (Hebrew), and an Abraham (1212-1225). The latter would certainly seem to be
S. Blane 602-?
Colum 640
Daniel 640-659
Iolan 659-689
S. Ronan 689-737
Maelmanach 737-776
Noe 776-798
M ? 1155—?
Lawrence 1160-1178
Symon 1178-1196
W ? 1196-1197
Jonathan 1198-1210
Abraham 1212-1225
Ralph 1225-1226
10. The Religions of Scotland 197
Osbert 1227-1230
St. Clement 1233-1258
Robert de Prebenda 1258-1284
William 1284-1296
Alpin 1296-1300
Nicolas 1301-1307
Nicolas de Balmyle 1307-1319
Maurice 1322-1347
William 1347-1361
Walter de Coventre 1361-1371
Andrew 1312-1380
Dougal 1380-1403
Finlay Dermoch 1403-1419
William Stephan 1419-1429
Michael Ochiltree 1429-1447
Robert Lawder 1447-1466
John Hepburn 1466-1486
James Chisholm 1487-1526
William Chisholm 1526-1564
William Chisholm 1561-1573
Robert Pont (du Pont) 1562
Thomas Drummond 1564
Adam Bellenden 1615-1635
William Fogo 5 1619-1623
Keep in mind these patterns of office holding predate the enormous out-migration
of Iberian Jews due to the Inquisition. Indeed, religious scholars have pointed out that
it would be foolhardy to assume that the estimated 200,000 Jews expelled from Spain and
Portugal after 1492, added to the millions of others who had already converted, genuinely
or not, to Catholicism, had no impact upon the religious practice in the countries to
which they migrated (see Lavender 2003, p. 1). How could they fail to have a rather large
one? They were well educated, in many cases more steeped in learning and better trained
in the professions than the Christian majority. They were multilingual, well traveled, and
socially active, often holding key positions in government, finance and civil administra-
tion. (For instance, John Mossman was royal treasurer to James IV of Scotland, and an
architect-master mason named Moise Martyne designed the East Range facade of Falk-
land Palace for James V.) Their numbers included a high proportion of physicians, pro-
fessors, artists, philosophers, international traders, astronomers, manufacturers,
craftsmen, cartographers, ship builders, architects, bankers, brokers, metallurgists, jew-
elers, smiths, glaziers and chemists. Some moved in the upper ranks of society, becom-
ing counselors to kings and emperors, popes and princes; indeed, not a few had careers
within the Catholic Church (Gitlitz 2002, pp. 563-69).
In all must have influenced their dis-
these social roles, their private religious beliefs
course, actions and counsel. Lavender (2003), who recently uncovered the Sephardic
198 When Scotland Was Jewish
ancestry behind his family’s French Huguenot roots in Charleston, S.C., draws attention
to the fact that the Huguenot Seal of 1559 has the same four Cabalistic Hebrew letters,
YHVH (the Tetragrammaton), 6 engraved upon it — within a burning bush, no less— as
we found emblazoned on the title page of the Edward Raban psalter in Aberdeen in 1623.
Many of the Huguenots were formerly Jews and Moors (Roth 1932), and in France, the
persecution of Jews and Huguenots went hand in hand. The King’s dragonnards came
after both with equal ferocity, and often the same legislation was used to condemn them
This headstone from the Dunblane Cathedral cemetery has a Judaic Ten Commandments motif.
Photograph by Elizabeth Caldwell Hirschman.
10. The Religions of Scotland 199
This headstone, also from Dunblane Cathedral cemetery, displays the Judaic dove and olive branch
symbol. Photograph by Elizabeth Caldwell Hirschman.
200 When Scotland Was Jewish
in the courts and seize their assets. Could it not be more than merely fortuitous that the
Protestant Reformation sprang from those very countries to which Sephardim fled —
France, Switzerland, Germany, Holland, England and Scotland?
Remarking on the main difference between the Reformation in Scotland and in
England ... retained many of the ceremonies, the habits, and almost all the frame-work, of the
previous [Catholic] establishment. In Scotland, these were generally swept away; and an order
was established, simple and unostentatious, having more of a spiritual kingdom, and much
less of the splendour of this world, than our neighbour in the south [Howie 1981, p. xi].
Curiously, few scholars have actively pursued this angle of investigation in explor-
ing the origins of Protestantism. We suspect it is for the same reasons Scottish history is
normally told as a monothematic battle for independence from the British “elephant”
that one popular writer finds himself “in bed with” (Kennedy 1995) — told with such par-
tisan zeal, in fact, that “Scots” and “Scottish” come to be defined only as a counterfoil to
“British,” eclipsing all other strains of nationality and culture that went into the making
of modern Scotland. We propose that the Reformation, beyond being a movement against
Catholicism, should also be seen as a movement toward Judaism.
John (Jean) Calvin was born in 1509 in Picardy, France; the family name was per-
haps actually Cauvin. John’s father, Gerard, was employed as an attorney by the Lord of
Noyon. Of John’s youth we know only that he served the noble family of deMontmor and
studied for the priesthood. In early adulthood, Calvin moved to Paris, where he became
friends with the two sons of the French king’s physician. Given their surname and their
father’s occupation, Nicholas and Michael Cop were likely of Crypto-Jewish descent.
Calvin’s father persuaded him
abandon training for an ecclesiastical career and instead
to
pursue an education in the law. However, in 1529 Calvin decided instead to seek an edu-
cation in the humanities under scholar Andrea Aciate in Bourges, France. Calvin was
8
joined there by a friend from Orleans, Melchior Wolmar. Wolmar instructed Calvin in
Greek and later in Paris, Calvin became proficient in Hebrew, as well.
From 1532 to 1534, Calvin experienced a religious epiphany, turning to Protes-
tantism. Concurrently, his friend Nicolas Cop was elected rector of the University of
Paris. Calvin helped prepare Cop’s inaugural address which was strongly Protestant in
tone. As a result, Cop was ordered to appear before the Parisian Parliament, but fled
instead to Basel, Switzerland — a Protestant stronghold.
At the time, a war was in progress between Francis I and Charles V, so Calvin was
9
forced to make his own way to Switzerland through Geneva. In Geneva, William Farel
(bearing a Sephardic surname), founder of the Reformed Church in Geneva, convinced
Calvin to stay and help preach the new Protestant theology. Calvin obliged and set up
several Protestant religious schools in the city.
However, theology within the new Protestant movement was in flux; a diversity of
theological positions was present even from the earliest days, perhaps due to the desire
10. The Religions of Scotland 201
to overthrow the strict orthodoxy of the Catholic doctrine. Thus Calvin’s views were
shared by some but not by all Reform theologians of the time period. Calvin next moved
on to Strasbourg where he married a widow, Idelette de Burre, in 1540. He continued to
preach, write and teach in Strasbourg, establishing himself as one of the prime movers
of the new theology.
From this capsule biography we learn that Calvin’s father was an attorney in Picardy,
time a flourishing Marrano colony. Obviously his father was
10
which contained at the lit-
erate and well-educated; he was also an advisor to nobility— common traits of Crypto-
Jews. Gerard Cauvin was clearly ambitious for his son, guiding his career with an eye
toward social and economic advancement. He was not a force of Catholic religious fer-
dently of possible Sephardic descent. A surviving sketch of John Calvin shows him with
leather head covering, full beard and dark features. While we do not presume to judge
the sincerity or Christian orientation of his beliefs, we do hold that he was of Crypto-
Jewish descent, that he moved in circles that included Marranos, and that his theology
would naturally have been influenced by these ancestral and communal ties.
Details of John Knox’s childhood and even his birth date are unknown. Historians
believe he was born around 1513 or 1514 in Haddington, Scotland. It is known that Knox
attended a university, but unknown whether it was St Andrews or the University of Glas-
gow. 12
It appears unlikely that Knox graduated, choosing instead to take up the priest-
hood as a career around 1540. By the early 1540s he was serving as a theological lecturer
and by 1545 had come under the influence of George Wishart, a Lutheran-oriented min-
ister.
In March 1546, Catholic Cardinal Beaton ordered Wishart burned at the stake for
heresy and Scotland entered the bloody throes of the Reformation. The Cardinal him-
self was killed by an angry mob of Protestants, among them John Knox, who stormed
his castle at St. Andrews.
The Protestant radicals were soon defeated, however, and Knox was sent in chains
to serve as a galley slave in France for 19 months. When pro-Protestant King Edward VI
of England obtained his release, Knox made his way back to the Scottish borders, serv-
ing as a royal minister in Berwick and New Castle. Sickly Edward soon died, however,
bringing the staunchly Catholic Mary Tudor (“Bloody Mary”) to the throne of England.
Knox fled to Europe, first to Frankfurt, Germany, and then on to Geneva, Switzerland,
where he joined forces with John Calvin and also assisted in the translation of the Bible
from Latin to English, resulting in the Geneva Bible. It was also in Geneva that Knox
202 When Scotland Was Jewish
“godless rulers” by the populace. He became pastor of the English Reformed Church in
Geneva (1556-1558) and subsequently published his tract “First Blast of the Trumpet
against the Monstrous Regiment of Women,” which attacked the policies and right to
rule of Catholic monarchs Mary of Guise (Scotland) and Mary Tudor (England).
In 1557, several Protestant Scottish noblemen, including James Stewart, the Earl of
Moray (see chapter 1), signed a covenant declaring Protestantism the national religion of
Scotland. Knox had been
in correspondence with them and returned to Scotland at their
request in May With Knox’s leadership, the Scottish Parliament declared itself a
1559.
Protestant nation and adopted the “Scots Confession”; Catholicism was banned from
Scotland.
In 1560, a general assembly was held to assist the reformation of the Scottish church.
By 1561, the “Book of Discipline” was adopted by the Scottish Parliament, placing Calvin-
ist Presbyterian structure at the center of church governance. In this treatise, Knox out-
lined a system of education and welfare covering the entire Scottish population that was
to be financed by the sale of former Catholic properties. 13 Knox also re-designed the con-
tent of the worship service itself, determining that all rites and practices must be based
in scripture.
To go a little more deeply into Knox’s theology, let us have a look at the recent biog-
raphy by Rosalind Marshall (2000). While Marshall never doubts that Knox was a whole-
hearted Christian, she characterizes him as modeled largely after the Old Testament
prophets. In her narrative, Knox emerges as a Biblical purist, much like the Jewish
Karaites. He word of God and that only the scriptures
believed that the Bible was the
should serve as a religious guide. Among his favorite texts were the Book of Daniel,
Psalms (especially Psalm 6), Exodus and passages describing David and Moses. He was
virulently anti-Catholic and anti-Spanish, viewing both Mary Stuart Queen of Scots and
Queen Mary of England as “idolatrous harlots” and “Jezebels.” He advocated that “God
should send ajehu to slay Mary Stuart.” 14 He once threw a painting of the Virgin Mary
into the river saying (p. 25), “Such an idol is accursed and therefore I will not touch it.”
He railed against women as monarchs, especially Mary of England, stating that under
her rule the English were “compelled to bow their necks under the yoke of Satan and of
his proud mistress, pestilent Papists and proud Spaniards” (Marshall 2000, p. 107).
15
His
exhortations to his congregants were likewise rooted in the Old Testament (p. 145). For
instance, he applied Psalm 80 (“Turn us again, O Lord God of Hosts, cause thy face to
shine and we shall be saved”) to current events, equating his present congregation to the
ancient Israelites.
Knox also urged the adoption of Mosaic law as the governing rule of Scotland.
Under
it, “certain crimes [including] murder, blasphemy, adultery, perjury and idolatry” (Mar-
shall 2000, p. 67) would be punishable by death. He further proposed that Scotland cre-
ate a universal system of education so that every individual in the population would be
literate and able to read the scriptures; he also envisaged a universal charity system to care
for the indigent, ill and disabled. All three of these concepts are rooted in Judaic tradi-
tion, not in Christianity. Knox described the resulting society as one in which events on
Earth would mirror those in Heaven— a metaphor which Marshall attributes to St. Augus-
10. The Religions of Scotland 203
tine, but which could just as easily, and more immediately, be derived from the Cabalis-
tic tradition in France. In Knox’s view, Scotland was “a new Israel dedicated to uphold-
ing God’s law” (Smout 1969).
By 1656 the Scottish Parliament had institutionalized Sabbatarianism, “forbidding
anyone to frequent taverns, dance, hear profane music, wash, brew ale or bake bread,
profanely walk or travel or do any other worldly business” on the Sabbath (Smout, p.
79). Also forbidden on the Sabbath were “carrying in water or casting out ashes,” a pro-
vision that had been in effect in Aberdeen as early as 1603, according to Smout (p. 79).
These restrictions echo in remarkable detail the Jewish mitzvoth regarding the keeping
of the Sabbath (Gitlitz 2003, pp. 317-354).
Knox also developed very detailed guidelines for the religious training of ministers.
“Trainee ministers would study not only theology, but Hebrew, mathematics, physics,
economics, ethics, and moral philosophy” (Marshall 2000, p. 153), a curriculum that
appears to be patterned more on the Islamic and Jewish ideals emanating from Spain and
southern France than on any prior Christian educational scheme.
Knox advocated that every household have its members instructed in the principles
of the Reform religion, so they could sing the psalms at Sabbath services and hold house-
hold prayer services morning and evening in their homes (Marshall 2000, p. 153). Both
parents were to “instruct their children in God’s law” (p. 29); highly reminiscent of the
familial worship practices of Orthodox Jews. Virtually the only exceptions to the Judaic
nature of his religious ideology were the absence of dietary rules, or kashrut (for instance,
a prohibition of pork); and the requirement that males be circumcised.
Examining Knox’s family and friends helps shed some additional light on his think-
ing and sympathies. Among his most ardent supporters was Thomas Lever, formerly mas-
ter of St. Johns College in Cambridge and later a Protestant minister living in Zurich.
Lever is a surname of Semitic origin. Descendants of this same family afterwards immi-
grated to the American colonies and established the Lever Brothers Corporation; they
were practicing Jews. Also among the early Protestants in Frankfurt, Germany, with one
of the largest Jewish communities in Europe, were Thomas Parry (a common Sephardic
surname) and John Foxe (= Fuchs, an Ashkenazic surname). When Knox returned to
Scotland, he lodged in the house of a “well-known Protestant merchant, James Syme”
(Marshall 2000, p. 89), and had for his assistant another Scot, James Barron (both, of
course, are Sephardic surnames).
In 1652, Knox performed the wedding ceremony uniting Lord James Stewart and
Lady Agnes Keith, the former a man who was self-consciously of Jewish descent and the
latter a woman from an Aberdonian family that we have suggested was also of Jewish ori-
gin. Knox himself had married Marjorie Bowes (the surname Bovee is French Jewish),
and the couple named their two children Nathaniel and Eleazer, Old Testament Hebrew
names uncommon among Christians at the time. When Marjorie died in 1560, she gave
her sons her blessing, “praying that they would always be as true worshippers of God as
any that ever sprang out of Abraham’s loins” (Marshall 2000, p. 155) — a strange injunc-
tion for a Christian mother.
In 1564Knox remarried at the age of 50 to Margaret Stewart, age 17, a member of
the royal Stewart family. Of course, because of its linking of a noblewoman with a com-
204 When Scotland Was Jewish
moner (especially one who had presided over Catholic Mary Stewart’s downfall), and
because of the pairing of a young woman with an elderly man, this marriage makes lit-
tle sense — unless it is viewed from a Judaic perspective. As Marshall (2000, p. 199)
explains, Knox was the “leading minister” in Scotland at that time. If we recognize Knox
as the Head Rabbi, then his marriage to a woman of the ruling house, and of Davidic
descent, makes imminent sense.
16
we prove that either John Calvin or John Knox were of Marrano descent?
So, can
No. But we can sum up our case by pointing to the preponderance of the evidence, which
suggests that their ancestors were Jewish and that they, themselves, were aware of this. If
we are correct in this inference, then perhaps the ultimate irony is that the Spanish Inqui-
sition — intended to crush Judaism and send Spain’s Sephardim into ignominious exile —
actually had the opposite effect. The displaced Jews, like so many tiny floating seeds from
a milkweed pod, landed on fertile ground in Holland, France, Scotland, Germany, Switzer-
land, and England, where they grew into the Protestant Reformation.
Chapter 11
Significantly, it was a Scottish lawyer and antiquary who fired the first salvo in the
public debate over Jews in Britain; this debate intensified with the Reform Movement in
national politics and eventually led to their emancipation in the 1830s. And just as
to mention the American writers Irving, Hawthorne, Melville, Cooper, Twain, and Wal-
lace.
The debt author Washington Irving owed to Scott, and vice versa, is especially note-
worthy, for Scott’s Rebecca of York was apparently inspired by Rebecca Gratz, a member
of Philadelphia’s elite and widely regarded as the foremost American Jewess of her day
(1781-1869). 3 The story is told by Stephen Birmingham in The Grandees (1971, pp. 160-62):
A particularly close friend of Rebecca Gratz’s was Matilda Hoffman. It was in the office of
Matilda’s father, Judge Ogden Hoffman, that Washington Irving studied law, and presently
Miss Hoffman and Washington Irving became engaged. But before the pair could marry.
Miss Hoffman became ill with “wasting disease,” a common affliction of the day, and
Rebecca went to live at the Hoffmans’ to help nurse her friend. Rebecca was there to close
Matilda’s eyes at the end.
The devotion of one young woman to another impressed Irving. When he went to
England to try to forget his sweetheart’s death, Rebecca Gratz and her kindness to Matilda
became almost an obsession with him.... One of the people he told the story to was Sir Wal-
205
206 When Scotland Was Jewish
ter Scott.... [W]hen Ivanhoe was published ... Scott wrote Irving a letter saying ...”How do
you like your Rebecca? Does the Rebecca I have pictured compare well with the pattern
given?”
Thus a vivacious and emancipated Sephardic Jewish American served as the model for
Ivanhoe’s Rebecca, infusing contemporary meaning and life into the ancient tale.
It is counter-intuitive for many of us to realize that Scotland at that time was far
more literate and literary than England. In 1696, Scotland’s parliament had passed the
country’s progressive School Act calling for the establishment of a school in every parish
nationwide.
In 1790 nearly every eight-year-old in Cleish, Kinross-shire, could read,and read well. By one
estimate male literacy stood at around 55 percent, compared with only 53 percent in England.
Itwould not be until the 1880s that the English would finally catch up with their northern
neighbors. Scotland became Europe’s first modern literate society [Herman 2001, p. 23].
While intellectuals such as Adam Smith and David Hume held sway in the seats of
learning, townspeople flocked to public lectures at the universities and Scotland’s work-
ing classes read avidly. Patrons of lending libraries included bakers, blacksmiths, coop-
ers, dyer’s apprentices, farmers, stonemasons, tailors and servants (Herman, p. 23). “An
official national survey in 1795 showed that out of a total population of 1.5 million, nearly
twenty thousand Scots depended for their livelihood on writing and publishing — and
10,500 on teaching” (p. 25). With its passion for education and high literacy rate (not
neglecting its mathematical counterpart, computational ability), Scotland was uniquely
prepared to inform the literary tastes of the masses and set the tone for public discourse.
No one was better positioned to lead the popular groundswell that blended nostalgia with
progressiveness than Sir Walter Scott, whose family came of the same background as the
Stewarts, Leslies, Frasers, and Campbells.
In 1819, Scott published the first of his novels in which he adopted a purely English
4
subject. Ivanhoe introduced a set of characters based on a defining moment in English
history, the late twelfth century, and its protagonists and antagonists were all English,
from Richard Lionheart to Robin Hood. 5 Saxons and Jews represented the “other” in this
sweeping book about cultural conflict, while Scots were conspicuously absent. With its
pathos-laden figures of Rebecca the Jewess and her father Isaac, Ivanhoe attacked the
prevailing stereotypes of English history at a time when the experiment in government
called Great Britain was going through “a crisis of acculturation and assimilation ...
[when] the fabrication of the (Scottish or Jewish or Irish) Briton through parliamentary
legislation led to a variety of reactions: the attempt by these minorities to reinvent them-
selves, or their rejection of their new identity, or their rejection by so-called true-born
Englishmen” (Ragussis 2000, p. 775). Moreover, in Ivanhoe’s climactic scene, “Scott
rewrites English history as Anglo-Jewish history” (Ragussis 1995, p. 113). Scott also accords
a central role to Templars in the national consciousness and sets his tale in York, about
as close to Scotland as one can get without being in the Borders. Did he know something?
A recent writer on collective memory and cultural “forgetting” has demonstrated
that ancestry, pedigrees, dynasties, genealogies and ethnic origins are social constructs.
Like time periods, these notions take shape through a process of collective cognition,
the organization of unrelated and discontinuous events into coherent and meaningful
10. The Religions of Scotland 207
narratives (Zerubavel 2003). Many people, for instance, conceive that the Roman Empire
ended in 476 C.E., even though its Eastern part, known as Byzantium, continued for
another thousand years. Nationalities are constructed around the genealogies of their
ruling families (Zerubavel, pp. 32-43). Sometimes the dynastic pedigrees have to be rein-
vented or refashioned, as was the case with Saxon England’s Norman invaders, who had
to be recast as British and Celtic in the historiography of Geoffrey of Monmouth and
6
William de Newbury. To take a modern example, the House of Saxe-Coburg that occu-
pied the British throne was converted into the House of Windsor in short order at the
beginning of hostilities between Great Britain and the German Empire in 1914. A simi-
lar process erased the dynasty’s Scottish links under the Hanoverians in the eighteenth
century. In this spirit, we can appreciate Scott as one of the inventors of British culture.
Notably, it is a culture that includes Jews and is not born in London, the capital, but rather
in a northern province.
The city of York was long associated in the minds of Jew and non-Jew with the
pogrom that took place there in the year 1190, the precise timeframe of Scott’s Ivanhoe;
in the words of Joseph Jacobs, a pivotal year that brought “the first proof that the Jews
of England had of any popular ill-will against them” (1911, s.v. “London”). While King
Richard (a philosemite) was away at the Crusades, a number of local Crusaders under
Sir Richard Malebis seized the opportunity to erase their debts by murdering Jews. Those
who escaped took refuge in the King’s castle, where, inspired by one of their celebrated
poets, the visiting French rabbi Yom Tob of Joigny, they committed collective suicide (Bar-
navi 1992, p. 98). Before that disaster, York Jewry enjoyed a high degree of prosperity.
Unlike Jewish communities in the rest of England, there was no Jewish quarter in York;
rather, Jews lived betwixtand between the Christian inhabitants (Adler 1939, p. 132).
Knights, fair maidens in distress, bloodthirsty Templars who say things like “Back,
dog!” and dark heroines whose “long silken eyelashes ... a minstrel would have compared
to the evening star darting its rays through a bower of jessamine” (Scott 1988, p. 249)
are apparently no longer in the step of literary fashion. Though generations of Southern
bellesand beaus may have been nursed on The Lady of the Lake, our local libraries could
not produce one copy of the works of the author credited with inventing historical
romance and reviving clans and tartans. Assuming our readers would face some of the
same difficulties, we will save them the trouble both of tracking down this classic and
actually reading it. We provide here a plot summary of Ivanhoe. We will then be able to
look at some of the scenes and characters which hark back to a time “when Scotland was
Jewish.”
Wilfred of Ivanhoe, son of Cedric, a noble Saxon, loves his father’s ward, the lady
Rowena, who also traces her descent to Saxon King Alfred. Cedric is intent on restoring
the Saxon line to the throne of England, now occupied by Norman King Richard the
Lionheart, and he hopes to accomplish this by marrying his daughter Rowena to Athel-
stane of Coningsburgh. He has banished his own son, Ivanhoe, who has joined King
Richard on the Crusades. In Richard’s absence, his brother Prince John rallies the law-
less, dissolute Norman vassals to his own cause, intending to depose Richard. Among the
knights in John’s party are the fierce Templar Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert and Sir Regi-
nald Front-de-Boeuf.
208 When Scotland Was Jewish
point, more than halfway through the novel, that Scott introduces Rebecca the Jewess,
who will upstage Rowena as the love interest for both Saxons and Normans and become
the intrinsic heroine of the tale. The Templars carry off Cedric, Rowena, the wounded
Ivanhoe, Rebecca and her father Isaac to the castle of Torquilstone, where, after an excit-
ing assault by King Richard and a band of Saxon outlaws led by Locksley (Robin Hood),
the prisoners are rescued — all except for Rebecca, with whom Bois-Guilbert falls in love
and carries off to the Templar Preceptory of Templestowe.
We relate the rest of the story in the words of The Oxford Companion to English Lit-
erature (Drabble 1985, p. 499):
Here the unexpected arrival of the Grand Master of the order, while relieving Rebecca from
the dishonourable advances of Bois-Guilbert, exposes her to the charge of witchcraft, and
she escapes sentence of death only by demanding trial by combat. Ivanhoe, whose gratitude
she has earned by nursing him when wounded at the tournament of Ashby, appears as her
champion, and in the encounter between him and Bois-Guilbert (on whom has been thrust
the unwelcome duty of appearing as the accuser), the latter falls dead, untouched by his
opponent’s lance, the victim of his own contending passions. Ivanhoe and Rowena 7 by the ,
intervention of Richard, are united; the more interesting Rebecca, suppressing her love for
Ivanhoe, leaves England [for Spain] with her father.
When the book first appeared in 1819, many criticized its author’s sense of history
as wrong-headed. He should not have pitted the indigenous Saxons against the Norman
invaders at so late a period, for by the twelfth century both peoples were well assimilated
with each other. There was no rear-guard Saxon resistance, and Robin Hood belonged
to another era entirely, the fourteenth century and later. Scott anticipated his detractors
with a mock dedicatory epistle humbly addressed to the lofty antiquary “the Reverend
Dr. Dryasdust” and back-dated to 1817. He also fitted later editions of Ivanhoe with a
long introduction, defending his theme and fictional mode of operation (p. vii):
The period of the narrative adopted was the reign of Richard I, not only as abounding with
characters whose very names were sure to attract general attention, but as affording a strik-
ing contrast betwixt the Saxons, by whom the soil was cultivated, and the Normans, who still
reigned in it as conquerors, reluctant to mix with the vanquished, or acknowledge them-
selves of the same stock.
It is clear then that Ivanhoe is about national identity and the ethnic “Other.” Lest
the point be lost, Scott has his author, in the plodding and subservient persona of Lau-
rence Templeton, apologize for deserting the easy fables of Scotland to venture into the
more treacherous ground of English myth-making:
In England civilization has been so long complete, that our ideas of our ancestors are only to
be gleaned from musty records and chronicles, the authors of which seem perversely to have
conspired to suppress in their narratives all interesting details, in order to find room for
flowers of monkish eloquence, or trite reflections upon morals. To match an English and a
Scottish author in the rival task of embodying and reviving the traditions of their respective
countries would be ... in the highest degree unequal and unjust [p. xvii],
Scott, therefore, will tell the real story of English nationhood, which is not found in any
of the history books. His tale includes not only the noble yet “homely” Saxons along with
10. The Religions of Scotland 209
the merry band of Robin and his thieves, but also usurious Jews, good and bad Templars,
indifferent kings, and learned Jewesses.
Virginia Woolf remarked that there was more originality to Scott’s novels than met
the eye. “Part of their astonishing freshness, their perennial vitality, is that you may
read
them over and over again, and never know for certain what Scott himself was or what
Scott himself thought” (Herman 2001, p. 310). The man himself was a bundle of para-
doxes, a Tory among the Whig heirs to the Scottish Enlightenment then getting their sec-
ond wind, a painstaking antiquarian and confirmed reactionary with a flare for modernity,
“the last minstrel” and first promoter of the Edinburgh municipal gas company.
He called
himself “half-lawyer, half-sportsman ... half crazy ... half-everything” (p. 291).
Of all Scott’s ethnic types, it is Rebecca, a woman and a Jew, who is at once “most
Other,” yet at the same time, the quintessential ingredient. When she sails away to
Spain
at the end of the novel, suppressing her love at the moment of its requital by the hero Ivan-
hoe, we sense the departure of Jews from English shores and experience a void that can
only be filled with nostalgia, wonder and guilt. Scott’s readers did not like this ending:
The character of the fair Jewess found so much favour in the eyes of some [female] readers,
that the writer was censured because, when arranging the fates of the
characters of the drama,
he had not assigned the hand of Wilfred to Rebecca, rather than the less interesting
Rowena.
But, not to mention that the prejudices of the age rendered such a union almost impossible,
highly virtuous and
the Author may, in passing, observe, that he thinks a character of [such] a
lofty stamp is degraded rather than exalted by an attempt to reward virtue
with temporal
self-denial, and
prosperity.... A glance on the great picture of life will show that the duties of
the sacrifice of passion to principle, are seldom thus remunerated [ Ivanhoe pp.
xiii-xiv].,
interesting to see what kind of prejudice against Jews Scott thought his char-
It is
acters and readers had. As we have already noticed, he reserves the appearance of Rebecca
until the middle of the book. Even then, her identity as a Jewess is hidden from the hero
until she declares herself. At first, recuperating from wounds after the battle with the
Templars, awaking from sleep, Wilfred looks upon the figure who attends his sick-bed
as a dream from Palestine, a “fair apparition” of Eastern exoticism:
tume that he began to doubt whether he had not, during his sleep, been transported back
again to the land of Palestine. The impression was increased when, the tapestry being
drawn
aside, a female form, dressed in a rich habit,which partook more of the Eastern taste than
that of Europe, glided through the door, which it concealed, and was followed by a swarthy
domestic.... Sheperformed her task with a graceful and dignified simplicity and modesty,
which might, even in more civilised days, have served to redeem it from whatever might
seem repugnant to female delicacy. The idea of so young and beautiful a person engaged in
attendance on a sick-bed, or in dressing the wound of one of a different sex, was melted
away and lost in that of a beneficent being contributing her effectual aid to relieve pain, and
to avert the stroke of death [pp. 247-48].
Wilfred goes so far as to call Rebecca “noble damsel” in Arabic before she dispels his illu-
“Bestow not on me, Sir Knight,” she said, “the epithet of noble. It is well you should speedily
know that your handmaiden is a poor Jewess, the daughter of that Isaac of York to
whom you
were so lately a good and kind lord.”
210 When Scotland Was Jewish
Now the scales fall from Wilfred’s eyes. At the mere word “Jewess,” all his preju-
dices come tumbling out:
Ivanhoe was too good a Catholic to retain the same class of feelings towards a Jewess. This
Rebecca had foreseen, and for this very purpose she had hastened to mention her father’s
name and lineage; yet —for the fair and wise daughter of Isaac was not without a touch of
female weakness— she could not but sigh internally when the glance of respectful admira-
unmixed with tenderness, with which Ivanhoe had hitherto regarded his
tion, not altogether
unknown benefactress, was exchanged at once for a manner cold, composed, and collected,
and fraught with no deeper which expressed a grateful sense of courtesy
feeling than that
received from an unexpected quarter, and from one of an inferior race. It was not that Ivan-
hoe’s former carriage expressed more than that general devotional homage which youth
always pays to beauty; yet it was mortifying that one word should operate as a spell to
remove poor Rebecca, who could not be supposed altogether ignorant of her title to such
homage, into a degraded class, to whom it could not be honourably rendered.
In this confrontation between ethnic types, Scott strikes the emotional quick with his
choice of words: epithet, class, race, title, respect, inferiority, degradation. That his
descriptions of Ivanhoe and Rebecca were intended for modern readers (and indeed for
all time) is evident from his ironic remark about “more civilized days.”
Let us glance briefly at Scott’s portrayal of Templars, another theme of When
Scotland Was Jewish, before drawing some conclusions about his notion of British his-
tory and Judaism. These characters tend to fall either into the “good Templar” or
“bad Templar” mold, with a few tortured souls in between. The Grand Master Lucas
Beaumanoir, for instance, is described as an “ascetic bigot” (p. 325). Front-de-Boeuf is
a man “more willing to swallow three manors ... than disgorge one of them” (p. 117). He
tortures Isaac with all the grisly instruments of the Inquisition, attended by “black slaves
... stripped of their gorgeous apparel, and attired in jerkins and trowsers of coarse linen,
their sleeves being tucked up above the elbow, like those of butchers when about to exer-
cise their function in the slaughter-house” (pp. 187-88). He utters speeches like this
(P- 193)
—
“Dog of an with sparkling eyes, and not sorry, perhaps, to seize
infidel,” said Front-de-Boeuf,
a pretext for working himself into a passion, “blaspheme not the Holy Order of the Temple
of Zion, but take thought instead to pay me the ransom thou hast promised, or woe betide
thy Jewish throat!”
— only to meet his just deserts, on page 274, when he is sealed into a fiery tomb by Ulrica
the witch and dragged off to hell.
Bois-Guilbert, Rebecca’s captor, alone has any redeeming qualities. Yielding to her
sophisticated arguments, which are based on subtleties in the Templar rule and the Latin
law of the land as well as the Cabala, alchemy, and Muslim logicians, he does not rape
her. Instead, he straps her across his horse and takes her to Templestow, where he con-
ots whom we condemn ... thou shalt be a queen, Rebecca: on Mount Carmel shall we pitch
the throne which my valour will gain for you [p. 368],
10. The Religions of Scotland 211
with pride
Her Christian lover, of course, attempts to convert her, but Rebecca insists
We have quoted Rebecca’s apologia at length in order to capture some of its double mean-
ings. It cannot have been lost on Scott s readers that the children of Israel described in
her passionate apologia bore the same name as the Jacobites of popular parlance, the
Scots, with their Davidic kings, the Stuarts. “Sons of Jacob thus reinforces the novel s
a witch. Rebecca’s response to the Grand Master’s question, “Who will be the champion
of a Jewess?,” is ironic:
so many
“Itcannot be that in merry England, the hospitable, the generous, the free, where
are ready to peril their lives for honour, there will not be found one
to fight for justice’
[p. 423-24],
Then that the wounded Ivanhoe finds a horse, rides to the lists and
it is
becomes her cham-
hoe is excused from killing him, thus preserving the moral integrity of both men, and
King Richard comes on stage as the Black Knight and restores order out of chaos. All is
kisses the hem of her gown and offers thanks for her champion. She blesses the marriage
of Rowena and Wilfred. But when she says, in effect, “I’ll be going now,” Rowena attempts
to change her mind. Rowena tells Rebecca how well protected her people are in England.
“Lady,” said Rebecca, “I doubt it not; but the people of England are a fierce race, quarrelling
ever with their neighbours or among themselves, and ready to plunge the sword into the
bowels of each other. Such is no safe abode for the children of my people.
Rowena then tries to tempt the Jewess to conversion, but Rebecca answers that she may
not change the faith of my fathers like a garment unsuited to the climate in which I seek
to dwell; and unhappy, lady, I will not be” (p. 431). Rebecca then departs, nearly missing
his lady live hap-
the boat that conveys her to relatives in Moorish Spain. Ivanhoe and
pily ever after, though “it would be inquiring too curiously to
ask whether the recollec-
tion of Rebecca’s beauty and magnanimity did not recur to his mind more frequently
than the descendant of Alfred [Rowena] might altogether have approved” (p. 432).
fair
We see that the figure of Rebecca the Jewess corresponds to an element of resolu-
tion in the ethnic conflict of the novel. “Scott’s history of happily
mixed racial origins
212 When Scotland Was Jewish
[cannot] be entirely congenial, if English Jews such as Rebecca and her father are left out
of the game of national belonging” (Wee 1997, p. 203). Jewish culture (not necessarily
the same as the religion) is thus presented as Britain’s secret gift; it is also the country’s
secret shame, its national guilt.
As for the Jewish characters, Isaac teeters between love of his shekels and love of his
daughter; he is a latter-day Shylock. We have already noted how Rebecca is the surprise
heroine. She heals Ivanhoe, brings peace, and even softens the hard heart of a proud
Templar. But she cannot prevail as long as the “one word” clings to her. In the reading
of critics, Scott raises “the Jewish question” as one of conversion and resistance to con-
version. “The trope of conversion becomes a crucial figure used by writers of English his-
tory to construct, regulate, maintain, and erase different racial and national identities”
(Ragussis 1995, p. 93). In the rhetoric of Imperial England over the course of the nine-
teenth century, it was to become an absorbing and ultimately futile mission.
Closing Thoughts
Too often, it seems, the story of the Jews has been told solely in terms of their per-
secution. From this myopic perspective, Jewish history becomes nothing more than the
barren chronicle of anti-Semitism (a word only invented in Victorian times). Following
the extermination of German Jewry under Hitler, there was a rush to demonstrate that
this or that British author — Matthew Arnold, Shakespeare, Dickens, Joyce, Eliot, even
Chaucer — was anti-Semitic. A up the hue and cry, and
spate of academic articles took
the poor figure of Shylock was hounded through the canon of English and American lit-
erature. Disagreements became rancorous. Some claimed Eliot was more anti-Semitic
than Pound; others the opposite. An apt parallel is Native American studies, where the
plight of the Indian is the central issue. The main events in the background are a series
of treaties, removals, and extinctions. The subject is treated more like an involved legal
docket than the biography of a people.
If Judaic studies have turned into the nearly exclusive preserve of what Scott once
called the Reverend Dr. Dryasdusts, it is not surprising that “no one noticed” Scots Jews.
They weren’t on the cultural agenda. In the past 1,500 years, the only religious conflicts
in Scotland have been between Christians. Anti-Semitism is not to be found in either
Scots history or literature. On the contrary, philo-Semitism is a strong theme, as we have
seen in Ivanhoe— its characters are a sublimated vision of the national pedigree.
As recent anthropological studies remind us in the case of the Jewish African Lemba
tribe and other “rediscovered” ancestries (Hall and du Gay 1996, Brodwin 2002, Elliott
and Brodwin 2002), ethnic identity in public discourse often provokes a debate between
the essentialists and the existentialists— between those who believe that ethnicity is a
fixed attribute largely deterministic of our behavior and our predispositions, on the one
hand, and those who would argue that it derives rather from individuals’ crafting of their
own identity through social performance, from group belonging, and from the political
and economic struggle of classes. Emerging knowledge of a people’s roots can cut both
ways, just as tracing genetic identity can lead to more problems than it solves (Elliott and
10. The Religions of Scotland 213
Brodwin). It can confirm or dispel differences, unite and divide. One controversy turns
on the question of who gets to decide who is Jewish, who is African, who is Native Amer-
ican, and for what purposes? Who gets to determine new claims of nationality
or eth-
nicity? How authoritative is the voice of science, and how binding are government
rules
or religious guidelines? What are the stakes and vested interests involved, and who benefits
ing,and without developing an intellectual justification for their break with the past.
Many others came to adopt an attitude toward the mitzvot that was casual and selective,
continuing to observe some mitzvot and ignoring others. An individual might close his
business on the Sabbath, but eat nonkosher food when visiting Christian friends. He
might attend synagogue on one Sabbath and stay at home on the next. No doubt the
vagaries of personality ... were among the decisive factors in each case (Endelman 1979,
p. 132). The case of a Scottish butcher in London is particularly poignant:
In 1783, John Watson, a Jewish butcher, astonished an English judge by being sworn
on a
New Testament and then, when resworn on a Hebrew Bible, by not covering his head. The
judge found his behavior incomprehensible, as the following exchange reveals:
Court: Pray friend, do not you know when people of your profession take an oath they
always put on their hats?
J.W.: I work among Englishmen, and I was always among Christians.
Court: Do you mean to take the oath as a Jew or as a Christian?
J.W.: I can call myself a Christian, because I am never among the Jews.
J.W.: I do not know, please your honour; whatever you please to call me.
Court: I wish you would understand that it is an exceeding indecent thing in you, or any
man, to come here to trifle with any religion in the sort of way you do.
J.W.: I follow more the Christian ways, than I do the Jews.
Court: You are a good-for-nothing fellow, I dare say, whatever you are. Stand down
[Endelman 1979, pp. 141-42].
porary judicial officers could not determine the affiliation of a Crypto-Jew, as Watson
certainly appears to have been, how are we to decide at a remove of hundreds of years?
The answer lies in assembling and evaluating all the evidence, including genetic
clues, as well as crediting vestiges of living traditions that do survive, however under-
214 When Scotland Was Jewish
ground. “The rediscovery of the breadth and depth of the English interest in the Jews is
now generating a rewriting of English literary and cultural history from the early mod-
ern period through the beginning of the twentieth century,” says one critic (Ragussis
1997, p. 289). “This rediscovery is first and foremost an act of recovery — that is, an
archival recovery of documents and events that have been neglected in understanding
the development of English history, culture, and literature.” We hope that our book has
contributed to this recovery and rediscovery for Scotland and her Jews.
Appendix A
215
216 Appendix A
3
9 3 3
4 3 3 8 8
3 3 1
3 8 8 4 3 4 9 3 9
Control 9 9 1 9 5 5 2 8 3 1
9 1
*Yates was previously misreported as Cooper (and vice versa). Because of an undetected error at the original lab, Yates
was retested a number of times and his scores confirmed by three other laboratories. It was also the only sample that was
actually SNP tested, being reported as R by Trace Genetics. In the YHRD, Yates had 5 exact matches, with Switzerland
being the modal response (2 —
the others were Ireland, Central Portugal and Greenland ). At Ysearch, Yates produced an
18/25 marker match with a descendant of Henry Whitney ( 1621-1673, England).
Raw Scores for Participants in Melungeon DNA Surname Project 217
3
9 3 3
4 3 3 8 8
3 3 3 8 8 4 3 4 9 3 9
1
Control 9 9 1 9 5 5 2 8 3 1
9 1
Source: Family Tree DNA, Houston, Texas. Note that the markers labeled 385a, 385b and 439 are considered
fast-mutating. Matching on these sites is not essential and close matches may indicate branches of the same
other things being equal. Shaded portion shows one-off and two-off matches with
Caldwell-Cooper-
family, all
When Bernard of Clairvaux integrated the Celtic church into the Cistercian order and
Scotland got its first Templar king, David I (1124-1153), a peculiar tradition became fixed in
the royal genealogies: the eldest son was invariably named after his grandfather. The pattern
can also be seen in the house of William the Conqueror, where Robert and William alternate
in the lineage of the dukes of Normandy. By alternating Malcolms and Davids, David of Scot-
land clearly wanted to put the stamp of a dynasty on his house.
David’s first-born, Malcolm, was murdered, and his second son, Henry, died before he
could assume the throne. Thus Henry’s son Malcolm (known as “the Maiden”) became king
at the age of eleven. That preserved the rules of primogeniture and also ensured the succes-
sion of a prince with the right name.
With the Stewarts we see a careful preservation of this tradition, all the way down to
King James I of England, who named his heir-apparent, Henry, after his father, Henry Stew-
art,Lord Darnley, husband of Mary Queen of Scots (the name Frederick came from Henry’s
other grandfather, Frederick II of Denmark):
1. James I d. 1437
. 2. James II d. 1460
.... 3. James III d. 1488
4. James IV d. 1513
5. James V d. 1542
6.Mary Queen of Scots d. 1587
+Henry Stewart Lord Darnley
7. James VI (James I of England) d. 1625
8. Henry Frederick Prince of Wales
Note: Died of typhoid 1612
This pattern had been established before the Stewarts had come to Scotland, when they
were known as Stewards (Lat. Dapifer, Flemish Flaald) of Dol in Brittany. For centuries we
can trace the alternation of Walters and Alans, Fitz- Walters and Fitz-Alans, until King Robert
IIStewart, 7th High Steward of Scotland, grandson of Robert I Bruce, founded the royal
House of Stewart with his coronation in Scone Abbey in 1371.
218
Naming and Jewish Priest-Kings 219
high-
The practice of alternating names goes back to the ancient Jewish custom of the
priestly family of Zadok in Jerusalem, whose members were named alternately Onias and
Simon from 332 to 165 b.c.e. This signature of spiritual sovereignty was imitated by the Has-
monaean rulers that followed them, as well as by the heirs of Herod (37-4 b.c.e.). Later, it
other (with
was used by the Hillelites, with the names Gamaliel and Judah succeeding each
an occasional occurrence of Simon and Hillel [Jacobs 1906-1911]). About
this time, the prac-
According to Eleazar ha-Levi,* three rules were applied in naming Jewish children
throughout the medieval period and, even, up to the present time: the Talmud, kinnui
(secular) versus shem ha kadosh (sacred) names, and the role of the female in Jewish ritual
practice.
He goes on to list the basic progression of a Jewish name:
According to Jacobs (1893), the most frequent male names are Isaac (59 men), Joseph
(55), Abraham (49), Berachiyah and its Latinized form Benedict (45), Jacob (40), Moses (38),
Samuel (37), Hayyim and its Latin equivalent Vives (23), Elias (19), Aaron (18), Deulecresse
(Solomon or Gedaliah) (17), Manesser (17), Samson (16), and Solomon (15). Place-names
appear in the records to be the most common descriptions and were used alone (e.g., Joseph
of London) about as often as “son” or “daughter” of. Some forty-eight separate towns are
included in the “master lists” in The Jews of Angevin England, with London (110 names),
Lincoln (82), Norwich (42), Gloucester (40), Northampton (39), Winchester (36), Cam-
bridge (32), Oxford (22), Bristol (18), Colchester (16), Chichester (14) Bedford and York
(13 each), Canterbury and Worchester (12 each), and Hertford (11) all having ten or more
entries.
In some cases, a male is listed with his mother’s rather than his father’s name; e.g. Moysses
fil Sarae (Moses ben Sarah). The most likely explanation is that the mother was simply bet-
ter known. As is well known, Jewish women were allowed to own property and enter into
business on their own. Several became well-known financiers, such as Licoricia, widow of
Isaac of York, who maintained the business after his death, and Mildegod of Oxford, who
was a prominent innkeeper (ha-Levi).
*“Jewish Naming Convention in Angevin England,” Society for Creative Anachronism, <http://www.sca. org/heraldry/lau-
rel/names/jewish.html. >
220
Early Jewish Names in France and England 221
Berwick
Scottish last March O upon-
Tweed
Under Greenlaw*
Lanark
* ^Peelbes
Coldstm
Innerleithen
Gaiashels
Melrose
Selkirk OVVoolet
ScottisivMiddle
Harwu
IlT Moffat
johns^e
i tons
rrnstro"? (
Scottish West March <%Of
Bflls \L
Ciirl' s
^s
5
irvtti*
lochmaben / S
^
Dumfries
Annan
rSl A..*'
Gretna Q*
Cobrend
English Middle March
Carlisle
English West At
INLAND
WigtOHQ
If PfNNINES
Scottish Borders area exhibiting high modern-day levels of Mediterranean and Semitic DNA halo-
types. Map by Donald N. Yates.
As evidenced in Roth (1937), two other descriptors used by medieval (and modern) Jews
are ha-Levi and ha-Kohane, denoting descent from the class of Levites and priestly caste of
the ancient Hebrews.
Since the word rabbi means “teacher,” it was sometimes translated as Magister or Master.
“Cantor” may appear as le Prestre (the priest). Parnas, the head of the synagogue or of the com-
munity, and gabbai, synagogue (or community) treasurer are also found. Throughout much
of medieval Europe, the Jews had a great deal of autonomy over their own affairs, even to hav-
ing their own local courts of Jewish law. Jacobs (1893) explains the descriptor Episcopi (“of the
bishop”) which occurs several times as referring to the judge of one of these courts. The Hebrew
term is dyan, which has become a modern Jewish family name.
222 Appendix C
Several kings, starting with Richard appointed what amounted to a “King’s Minister or
I,
Liaison for Jewish Affairs,” a prominent member of the community and often a rabbi; these
are remembered as the Judeus Presbyter. The term was first translated as a sort of high priest,
although the role was secular. The term “presbyter” appears several times on the [Roth] list
and may well refer to these men (there were about a half dozen). One of the assistants, the
chirographer [scribe, or clerk], is also mentioned on the list [ha-Levi].
not exempt. Deulecresse, the translation given for both Gadaliah and Solomon, is often abbre-
viated to Crease.
Sometimes, a name that in some way referred to shem ha-kodesh (or the individual) could
be used. A common practice was to take the references made by Jacob on his deathbed (Gen-
esis 49) or Moses in his final oration to the Children of Israel (Deuteronomy 33). Thus, Judah
became Leon (‘Judah is a lion’s whelp,’ Genesis 49.9). Other times, a more obscure reference
was used. Jacobs suggests that Jornet, coming from the word ‘jerkin’ (jacket) was a kinnui for
Joseph. And, in what seems to be a rare instance, the name Belaset was derived from bella
assez (fair to look upon) and applied to Rachel (Genesis 29:17, ‘Rachel was fair to look upon’)
Bonevent (good day) referred to a child born on a holiday, especially Passover (ha-Levi) ....
Parents of Jewish girls, says ha-Levi, had more leeway in naming them. Some Biblical
or Hebrew names were used — Abigail, Zipporah, Esther, Anna or Hanna, Judith, Miriam and
Sarah. More common, however, were vernacular names: flowers (Fleur de liz, Fleur, Rose);
things of value (Almonda, Chera (Greek: Iekara, precious stone), Licoricia); desirable traits:
Bona (good), Belia (pretty), Genta (gentle), or terms of endearment: Columbia (dove),
Comitessa (countess), Pucella (little girl); or simply the names their neighbors used (Elfid,
Auntera, Margaret, Sweetecote).
Sex Origin
Name Variant(s)
Belaset Belasset, Belassez, Bella Assez, (=Rachel) Female Norman French transl.
Sex Origin
Name Variant(s)
Male Uncertain
Benleveng
Bonafy of Bonavie, Bonavy, Bonefei, Bonavy Male Norman French
(1 2)
Deulegard (??? of G-d = ???) [God guard him] Male Norman French
Elhanan Male English equivalent
Elchanan
Male English equivalent
Eleasar Elie, Eliezar
226 Appendix C
Jornet (1 of 2) may be from “coat (of colors)” = Joseph Male Hebrew nickname?
Jornet (2 of 2) Jurnin, Jurnet Male Hebrew nickname?
Joseph (1 of 2) Gosee, Gotsche, Joce, Jocepin, Joppin Male English equivalent
Kanonimos (from Kalonymos = “Shem Tov” = Good Name) Male English equivalent
Moses Mosey, Moss, Mosse, Mosseus, Mossy, Moyses Male English equivalent
Natroni Natronai Male Uncertain
Nahemiah Naemia Male English equivalent
Nichol Male Uncertain
Obediah (trans to French “Serfdeu”) Male English equivalent
Peitevin Peytevin, Pictavin [Picard] Male French placename
Peretz Perez Male Uncertain
Peter Petri, Piers Male Greek
Potelin Male Uncertain
Pucel Male Uncertain
Rahama [caravan merchant?] Male Uncertain
Sabecoe (from Sabbattai?) Male Uncertain
Sadekin Sad ike Male Uncertain
Early Jewish Names in France and England 227
Vives Vivard, Vivelot, Vivo, Vivus (see Hayyim) Male English equivalent
Yom Tov Yom Tob (or either spelled as one word) Male English equivalent
two years after the expulsion of the Jews from Angevin England, and shortly
In 1292, just
before their banishment from the He de France and French-ruled areas, a census was made
by the royal authorities in Paris. Jews were marked with the letter J. These entries are shown
below, with our comments.
Name Comment
Bone- Vie de Chartres [un mari] From Chartres, a university town, husband
Cressin qui porte les chaperons He who carries around cloaks (old clothes peddler)
Name Comment
Hanna [une] fille
Haquin Cohen
Hava [une] fame
Helie Doucet
Pricion
At the time was made, France was at war with England (and would be for another
this list
hundred years). Many Jews
in Paris were clearly regarded as ex-nationals of England. Their
association with Jews from Brabant, Brugges, Ghent, Soissons and Meux can be read as a sign
that some Jews expelled by Edward I took refuge with Flemish relatives and business part-
ners, likely retracing their steps in coming to England with the Normans. Here they also min-
gled with Jews from the Rhineland, Iberia and southern France, Prague, Palestine and Babylon.
Appendix D
Stud
Arthur Benveniste is one of the founders of America s Society for Crypto Judaic
ies. traces his Ladino family back to twelfth century Catalonia and
He Narbonne and ties it
to the Shealtiel, Gracian and Luna families of Sephardic Spain, all of whom claim Davidic
descent. Of the name itself, he writes that it belongs to an old, rich,
and scholarly family of
Narbonne, the numerous branches of which were found all over Spain and the
Provence, as
well as at various places in the Orient.” It is still borne, he notes, by certain families in Bul-
garia, Serbia, and Vienna, and until World War II it was also found in Salonika, Izmir and
discusses ShealtielFamily Davidic Descent.t He responds to the article “Can We Prove Descent
from King David?” by David Einsiedler, who points out that whereas a great many
families
others have gone
claim descent legitimately from Rashi, the most famous Talmudic scholar,
King David. According to these authors, one
farther and claimed descent through Rashi to t
Mishpachat Luna,
of the earliest claims to descent from King David is found in the genealogy
discussed by Abraham Epstein (Vienna, 1901). This source states that before his death, Yehiel
scroll) going back
Luria told his nephew, Moses Enosh, that he had a yichus brief (pedigree
to Johanan Ha-Sandlar. Johanan Ha-Sandlar lived in the second
century c.e., was a Tannah
this record “was lost in the Swiss War, and Johanan Luria
mourned the loss of his yichus brief
more than the material goods he was robbed of. Einsiedler notes, moreover,
Heilprin claims
In Seder Ha-Dorot (The Order of Generations) (Zhitomir, 1867), R. Jehiel
descent from Jehiel, the father of Solomon Luria (MaHaRaSHaL),§ from Rashi,
and from the
under
Tannah Johanan Ha-Sandlar. This claim is made on the title page; in Part II, page 201,
the entry “Rabbi Johanan Ha-Sandlar” and again in the section on
books under “Lulaot
Ha-Shir” (page 60). He gives no details. More detailed references are found in
Maalot
(Lemberg,
Ha-Yuchsin (Degrees of Descent), by R. Ephraim Zalman Margolioth of Brody
Ha-Sandlar to Rashi to
1900). It includes a fractional genealogy “from the Tannah Johanan
229
230 Appendix D
Rabbi Solomon Luria to the author of Seder Ha-Dorot.” (Heilprin) The part relevant to this
article shows a succession of about a dozen generations from Johanan Ha-Sandlar to Rashi
with a few gaps between them. (See Avotaynu, Vol. VII, No. 2, page 20.)
Both authors cast doubt on these genealogies, however, because of a gap of about 900
years. As they point out, moreover, in none of his writings did Rashi mention anything about
descent from King David or from the Tannah Johanan Ha-Sandlar, the claimed link. Ein-
siedler maintains that similar arguments from the Karo and Yahia-Charlap families can also
be dismissed, though Shaltiel is not so sure.
The Sassoon family is often also referred to as being of Davidic descent. In The Sassoons
(New York, 1968) Stanley Jackson writes:
Small colonies (of Jews) have settled from antiquity in India and China, but Baghdad
remained the nerve center of the exiled. Over 40,000 were living in the city by the 12th
century, and the Sassoons were among an elite who claimed their pedigree from King David
himself.... Among their ancestors were the Ibn Shoshans, princes of the community in
Toledo, Spain.... As early as the 17th century, a scholar and mystic of Venice, Abraham
Sason, proudly claimed descent from Shephatiah, the fifth son of King David.... The first
member of the family of whom there is any significant documentary evidence was Sason
ben Saleh, born in Baghdad in 1750, who was the Chief Banker and had the honorary title
of Sheikh, and became in 1778 Nassi (Prince of the Captivity) of the Jewish community.
However, as Einsiedler remarks (qtd. in Shaltiel), Davidic descent is not mentioned in either
Chaim Bermant’s The Cousinhood (MC, 1972) or Cecil Roth’s The Sassoon Dynasty (London,
1941).
The Abravanel/ Abarbanel family of Spain is frequently characterized as of Davidic
descent. The Encyclopaedia Judaica (Jerusalem, 1972) reports that
the family, first mentioned in 1300, attained distinction in Spain in the 15th century.... Don
Isaac Abravanel (1437-1509), finance minister to the Kings of Portugal, then Spain, then
Naples, wrote in his memoirs: “All my forebears,
descended from King David, son of Jesse
of Bethlehem, were worthy leaders of our people” [Volume II, page 102].
But Shaltiel quotes Einsiedler as rejecting these claims, for the latter says, “I have not
found sources going far enough back to support the claim of Davidic descent.” Shaltiel
concludes,
The bottom line is: King David had a number of wives and concubines, and about two
dozen children are mentioned in the Bible. King Solomon “had seven hundred royal wives
and three hundred concubines” (I Kings 11:3). One can only imagine how many children
he had. After nearly 3,000 years, there may be an untold number of their descendants.
There is a fair possibility that you and I may be among them. All we need is good evidence
and records that go back that far and [to] give convincing proof of our claim. So far, avail-
able records cannot do it. Some individuals rely on tradition and faith to back their claim.
More power to them. The rest of us may have to wait for that promised descendant — the
Messiah.
We agree with this rebuttal and propose that these Sephardic families very likely con-
verted to Judaism around 750-900 c.e. in France, together with several families who subse-
quently moved to Scotland (e.g., the Stewarts, Davidsons). In all these cases, we suggest that
231
tiavidic Jewish Genealogies
*
Tentatively we note Carruthers, Carr/Kerr (swordsman), Carnaby, Darby (D’Arby), Armstrong, Strange, Strong, Brown
;
(through translations of Hungarian words like kar, nagy and barnaj. Bell (Bela?), Selby fcsel “deceive”), Taggart (mem-
ber) and perhaps Heron (white, blonde), Irvin/Erwin and Beatty (fearless). Carnegie (“big czar”) has already been dis-
cussed.
t About this lineage, the author of the Clan “The top five hits in YHRDfell in Gotland, China,
Elliott subsheet speculates:
Iran, Spain, Venice and among the Iraqi Kurds.... this haplotype may be Hunnish or Indo-Iranian in origin, and could
have come to Britain with the Sarmatians in the Roman Army, or with Norman invaders of Alanic or Visigothic [empha-
sis added] descent.... these Elliotts (or Eliots) were reputedly descended from a Norman knight surnamed ‘Aliot.’” We
have suggested above that Elliot comes from Judeo-Arabic and means “those who go up” (i.e., who are called up for serv-
ice, or make an aliyah, who become distinguished). The famous poet and man of letters, Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888-
1965), has Anglo-French Jewish ancestry in both his maternal and paternal lines, a fact which sheds light on his efforts
to help Jewish refuges and alleged anti-Semitism; see R.F. Fleissner, “T.S. Eliot and Anti-Semitism,” Contemporary
Review (Dec. 1999).
232
Chapter Notes
its place-names. As has been pointed out, its land- specimen of then-current Phoenician into the mouth
scape, glacial and volcanic at once, with marine fos- of one of his characters. The similarity between the
sils in the Grampian Mountains, and some of the Phoenician of Plautus and early Irish-Celtic was first
deepest lakes in the world, was so bewildering that proposed by Thomas Moore in his History of Ireland
the modern science of geology had to be created to and accepted by scholars such as Charles Valiancy,
explain it (by James Hutton and Sir Charles Lyell; Lord Rosse, and Sir William Betham (Brooks 2001).
see Magnusson 2000, pp. 2-3). Two archeological Modern language scholars have confirmed the link,
marvels are distinctively Scottish, the brochs (stone which tends to support an early settlement of
towers) and crannogs (lake fortresses), while all England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland by a Mediter-
Scotland’s major rivers and firths show evidence of ranean and Semitic-Hamitic people, the “Phoeni-
having been bridged with a network of highways cians.” “Therefore we can say that in ... a multitude
prior to the Roman arrival. Modern-day attempts to ... of ways, the Celts and Hebrews bear a remarkable
etymologize many of Scotland’s oldest place-names, relationship. Since the Celts were spread over most
however, are conflicting because no consensus has of Europe, the cultural, historical, and [religious]
emerged on the country’s underlying chronology of implications ... are immensely significant” (Brooks
settlement. Does the name Douglas derive from 2001, p. 90).
“dark stranger,” “black water,” or “one from Gaul”? 3. While stereotypes are often exaggerations or
It depends on what you believe was the original lan- untruths, they do have value as social constructs,
guage —Scottish Gaelic, some other Gaelic: English, playing as legitimate a part in the study and writing
or French. Does the name for Tiree, one of the islands of history as in the practice of marketing, anthropol-
of the Inner Hebrides, come from Gaelic Tir-iodh ogy, and government.
“Land of Corn,” or Tir fo Thuinn “Land Below the 4. Melungeons are sometimes also referred to as
Waves”? Or was the original name something else, in Black Dutch. On the beginnings of the use of this
a different language? Curiously, most of Scotland’s term in U.S. history to refer to Hollanders of dark
names that were apparently given in the
islands bear appearance (with mention neither of Melungeons
Greek language: Hebrides = Hebrew Islands; nor Jews), see Mary Bondurant Warren, editor,
Orkneys = Islands of the Whales; Skye = Island of Family Puzzlers (July 22, 1976, No. 457; reproduced
the Scythians; Iona = Jonah’s Island; Tiree = Island on USGenNet, <http://www.tngenweb.org/cherokee
of the Phoenician Sea Goddess Tyre; Mull = Island _by_blood/dutch.htm>). Warren is a reputable
of Black Lead (Greek ^oXu^dop. Yet no Greek-speak- source, as she served as historian of the state of Geor-
ing inhabitants have ever been documented, much gia. The same people were often called Portuguese
less proposed, in Scotland’s entire history. in colonial Virginia and Carolina records (Gallegos
2. “Piets” (“painted people”) was the name given 1997). A connection between the two lies in the
by Romans to the indigenous people they found Sephardic Jewish merchants who settled in the Dutch
when they conquered Britain in the first century. Republic following its independence from Spain,
Their language is presumed to have been Celtic, a who called themselves, ambiguously, gente del linaje,
distant cousin of Latin and major branch of the or homens da nafao, or “Hebrews of the Portuguese
Indo-European language group. In the 18th century, Nation” (on which, Bodian 1997, without reference
historians discovered evidence of a link between to Melungeons). They streamed into Britain, and
Celtic and Phoenician, the Semitic language of thence to America, beginning with the mission of
233
234 Notes— Chapter 1
Amsterdam chief rabbi Menasseh Ben Israel to read- Blaque) was a subject of King James V, the son of
mit Jews to England under Cromwell (Wall 1987). William Blake and Agnes Mowat, who joined the
The first known use of the word Melungeon in U.S. Coronado Expedition in 1540 to explore what is now
records (“Melungin”) occurs in the minutes of the Arizona and New Mexico (Hewitson 1993, pp. 11-13).
Primitive Baptist Church of Stony Creek, Tennessee, 6. The sandstone trophy that was “returned” to
in 1813 (Goins 2000, p. 9), where it is applied to cer- Scotland by the English amid much fanfare in 1996
tain “irregular” members with the surnames Minor, (Ascherson 2002, pp. 1-24) is held by many not to
Gibson, and Collins who fraternized with the Size- be the real Stone of Destiny (Saxum Fatale) but a
mores (Cismar), a mixed Portuguese Jewish and decoy that was allowed to go to England with the
American Indian family, on Blackwater Creek (see armies of Edward I in 1296 (see, for instance, Gar-
Horton n.d.; appendix A for Sizemore DNA). Mere diner 2001, pp. 246-48). The original ancient sym-
knowledge of such a rare term, thought to be Ara- bol of Scottish nationality is thought to have been
bic (“cursed souls”), must have come from the smaller and of basalt.
Collinses, Goinses, Sizemores, and others, who 7. Perhaps Chaldees, Babylonians?
moved in a Caribbean and Spanish-Portuguese orbit. 8. The name has been traced to Bethune, the
Many years later, these and other families who clus- town in Flanders, but perhaps the town was named
tered on Newmans Ridge were labeled as Melungeon for “Beatons,” not vice versa.
by a Nashville journalist named Drumgoole (1890), 9. The Scottish bagpipe is attested as early as the
and the term has stuck. She was a descendant of 5th century. Of the Old Irish bagpipe, “very little is
Alexander Drumgoole (d. 1837), a Scots trader known of this instrument,” although “there is rea-
among the Cherokee, whose mixed-blood daughter son to believe that the origin of the bag-pipe must
Nannie
5. married Cherokee chief Doublehead (d. Aug. be sought in remote antiquity. No instrument in any
9, 1807). This journalist is credited with populariz- degree similar to it is represented on any of the mon-
ing many elements of the Melungeon legend at a time uments of Egypt or Assyria known at the present
when her cohorts among New York travel writers day; we are, nevertheless, able to trace it in ancient
were inventing “hillbillies” (Benjamin Albert Botkin, Persia and by inference in Egypt, in Chaldaea and in
A Treasury of Southern Folklore [New York: Crown ancient Greece” ( Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911).
Publishers, 1949], pp. 85-86). The term Melungeon 10. It is interesting to note that when Charle-
is also used in Brazilian history to refer to settle- magne gathered about him a select academy of bards
ments by Portuguese Jews and Moorish adventurers and scholars at his capital Aachen, he chose the secret
among Amerindians of the Wild Coast (the great name King David (Einhard, Vita Karoli). His fea-
bulk of Brazil’s African slaves came from Angola and tures were used in Carolingian illuminated psalters
were Malungin-speaking). Obviously, it is not re- for the portrait of King David, believed at that time
stricted to people of Newmans Ridge and surround- to be the author of the Psalms.
ing area, any more than the term Black Dutch is 11. The founder of the order was Bernard of
confined to Virginians or North Carolinians. Clairvaux (1090-1153), the son of Tescelin Sorrel and
A Scots presence among Melungeons must be Aleth, the daughter of the Lord of Montbard. Born
seen in the larger context of Scottish mercantilism, on the family estates of Fontaines de Dijon, Bur-
exploration, colonization, and emigration. Scots gundy, he became the instigator of the Second Cru-
clearly preceded English, Spanish, and French to sade, a revered figure in the Templar Order, and
North America (Thompson 1994, pp. 303-31). Parts target of one of the major masterpieces of medieval
of the New World were known throughout the Mid- literature, Isengrimus. This long satire written about
dle Ages as Albany, the traditional designation for 1150 is attributed to a figure known as Simon of
the realm of Scotland and the British Isles (in Norse, Ghent, who wove Hebrew and Arabic fables into his
Vitramannaland, or “Glass-man Country,” perhaps analysis of contemporary events and may have been
a rendering of Glasvegiana “New Glasgow”). Viking a Jewish convert (Yates 1979).
colonists used Scotsmen as guides and interpreters, 12. Nearly all Western European manuscript illu-
as did also the Spanish conquistadors. Thorfinn mination (painting on parchment leaves of books)
Karlsefni, who established the first settlement in during the period 500-800 c.e. came from Ireland,
Vinland after explorations by Eric the Red and Leif Scotland or scriptoria (writing schools in monaster-
Ericsson around the year 1000 C.E., put two Scots ies)founded by Irish and Scottish monks, such as
ashore in the new land, probably the southern coast Dublin, Iona, Jarrow, Wearmouth, Bobbio, Fulda,
of Labrador, with instructions to explore the coun- Wurzburg or Luxeuil. The only other regions where
tryside, and they returned with cranberries and an sumptuous books were still produced after the fall
ear of wild barley (Mallery and Harrison 1979, pp. of Rome were Byzantium, Egypt, the Middle East,
75, 80, 124). At this time, the Orkneys were ruled by and to a small degree, isolated monasteries in Visig-
the Thorfinn dynasty, which owed allegiance to the othic Spain and Southern Italy.
Norwegian Crown (see MS p. 10 above). The name, 13. At the end of the fifteenth century there may
however, came from France, and with the widow of have been up to 300,000 conversos in Spain and Por-
the last Orkney ruler the line merged with Scotland’s. tugal. They constituted the educated urban bour-
In 1398, Templars under Henry Sinclair, Earl of the geoisie of Spain, and the richer families frequently
Orkneys, mounted an expedition to Greenland intermarried with the Spanish aristocracy and even
and beyond, one of his men dying on the voyage transmitted their bloodlines to the royal family itself.
and being entombed in the future state of Massachu- 14. The authors are aware of the controversy and
setts (Thompson 1994, p. 302). Tam Blake (Tamas even dismissal that first greeted Stewart’s claims.
Notes — Chapter 2 235
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Master of the Mint, scribed as “Ashkenazi” (a study of Spanish exiles or
Sephardi Jews is hoped to be added).
Keeper of the Great Seal (Lord Ashley under Charles our
Robert 6. We had two Alexander donors, following
II), Groom of the Bedchamber (held by
Cooper under Henry V), Lyon King of Arms, Lord protocol, but the other sample matched with three
High Constable of Scotland, and King’s Remem- persons having another surname, seeming to point
brancer (instituted by Henry II). “Bailiff is popu- to a “non-paternity event,” and was accordingly not
from shah “emperor,” Wallace/ Walys from wali as our Scots-Melungeon Alexander. If Alexanders
“friend, saint,” Mofatt/Mowat/Mouawad/Muffat/ were Gaelic or Celtic, these Spanish and Portuguese
Muphat from mufti “jurisconsult, barrister, attor- cousins would be hard to account for. In historical
payiti “infidel,” Elliot/Eliot times, Scotland did not send any colonists to the
ney,” Payne/Paine from
Iberian peninsula. However, as we will demonstrate,
from eyelet “administrative province, tax farmer” (cf.
pi. aliyot “rising, going up, honor”). Iberia did send colonists, in several stages, to Scot-
Hebrew aliyah ,
land.
See appendix B, “Naming and Jewish Priest-
18.
8. <http://www.familytreedna.com/public/
Kings.”
19. We can add a second Scottish Jew, Fogo, the
forbes/>. As of this writing, there were nine donors
name of one of the Scots bishops in the 1600s. The and only two participants matched each other exactly.
9. A search for the “extended” haplotype,
adding
family name derives from a mountain in the Cape
Verde Islands off the coast of Africa, settled by the markers DYS438 and DYS439, yielded one match in
Portuguese in the 1500s. Northern Portugal, seeming to indicate that this was
236 Notes— Chapter 2
as a patronymic “from Gaul.” Both MacDougall and Portugal. For instance, Henri II issued letters patent
Douglas arms show ships arriving from foreign lands, in August 1550 for Portuguese New Christians to set-
and lions, usually an association with the East. tlein France (renewed in 1574 by Henri III). And
12. The etymologies of the name are contradic- Charles V, who ruled both Spain and the Holy
tory, some taking it back to the Pontic king Gordius Roman Empire, granted the “Great Privilege” to the
and the Gordian knot famously cut by Alexander the Jews of the German Empire in 1544. Between 1506
Great (Graves 1996, pp. 263-64), others to the river and 1531 there was a “period of grace” during which
Jordan, often adopted as a surname by Jews in exile. New Christians were allowed to leave Portugal and
Perhaps significant is the fact that the best-known many immigrants chose to resettle in the Ottoman
chronicler of the origins and deeds of the Goths, Empire (Barnavi 1992).
around 550 C.E., was Jordanes, or Jornandes, an Arian 3. “Origin of the Caldwell Name,” <http://www.
Scythian of a foreign family of court officials who geocities.com/Heartland/Estates/6455/history.html>.
adopted his name in honor of the river Jordan when 4. The name of a synagogue in Wolhynia, Kah-
he converted to Christianity (Hodgkin 2000, pp. wel (in the Ukraine), appears on a metal Jewish col-
577-583). He may have been Jewish by origin. In lection vessel which Joseph, son of the Paris rabbi
France, the name seems to have become confused Jechiel, offered for a Zionist movement in 12th cen-
with Jarden (“garden”), based on the root *gards, a tury England (Tovey 1738, pp. 248-51). “The famous
Visigothic word for “yard,” also a term for territory Bodleian Bowl found in a Norfolk marsh [about
and administrative units. In Spanish, G and / have 1698], with a long Hebrew inscription, was probably
the same value, and Jordan became a common name the gift of R. Joseph b. Yechiel, who had intended to
for medieval Jews and later Crypto-Jews. In Italian, emigrate to Palestine, but, on his appointment in
the name also starts with a G, i.e. Giordano. 1209 as Archpresbyter of the English Jews, had to
13. Available at <http://www.tartans.com>. abandon his intention. The purpose of the bowl was
14. In addition to Lombard Hall, there was also a probably for the collection of subscriptions for the
Jacob Hall and a Moses Hall. The Jewish mercantile pilgrims. The pilgrimage may have been inspired
quarter in Philadelphia was also named Lombard by the messianic hopes of the Jews of the time, who,
Street. The Lumbee Tribe of American Indians was by a calculation based on Daniel, had been led to
named after the town in Robeson County, N.C., that expect the advent of the Messiah in 1211 or 1216. Of
was their center, now Lumberton, perhaps originally the three hundred pilgrims, many settled in Pales-
Lumbard-ton. This county today is about one-third tine,and we meet with their descendants for gener-
Indian in its population. It received its name from ations later” (Adler 1987, p. xv). This may be the
the Scots Robinson (“son of Rueben”) family that source of the Caldwell name and a record of the pre-
also produced Maj. James Robertson, a trustee of the vious emigrations of this family. If so Caldwell has
Watauga Association and founder of Nashville in nothing to do with Cold Well, as suggested by some,
Tennessee (1742-1814). Locklear and Newberry are and was not English in its origin, but ultimately
Lumbee names (see appendix A). derives from Kahwel. Going further, the origin of
15. See also appendix B, “Naming and Jewish the Albigensian and Waldensian communities in
Priest-Kings.” northern Italy lay among the Cathars and Bulgari-
16. The utter silence about Jews in the records of ans, leading us, again, to the Eastern Visigothic cul-
Henry I is strange (Tovey 1738, pp. 10-11). There tural area. Thus, the German word for “heretic” is
seems to have been an official obliteratio memoriae kertzer “Khazar.” The Khazars were a large, central
in his reign. His brother and predecessor William Asian convert population that significantly swelled
Rufus “was said to have set up a debate between the the numbers of Ashkenazic Jews from the 12th cen-
scholars of the London Jewry and his bishops, and tury onward.
joked that if the Jews had the better of the argument, 5. “Communita Ebraica di Casale Monferrato,”
he would convert” (Crouch 2002, p. 139). <http://www.menorah.it/qqcasale/indice. htm>.
1 7. Douai, a medieval capital of Flanders, may be 6. Perhaps originally Casale (an important Pied-
a locative form of “David” (“David’s Town”). montese Jewish community), filtered through French.
7. There is a Portuguese Jewish merchant fam-
Jews were established in Piedmont 1390-1430, join- Find the Truth,” online article archived at Melun-
ing Jews from Rome (Barnavi 1992, p. 126). geons.com, <http://www.melungeons.com/articles/
This portion of the story is difficult to under-
2. march2003a.htm>.
stand, as returning to Spain in the midst of the 12. And perhaps even Anders and Andrews.
Inquisition would have meant death for Jews, Protes- 13. The term was used of the Temple Sisterhood
tant “heretics,” or Muslims. Perhaps the Caldwells in Primitive Baptist Churches of the Holston Asso-
were granted special status as foreigners. There were ciation in Tennessee (Denton n.d., p. 51).
windows of opportunity for Jews from Spain and 14. On which, see chapter 2.
Notes — Chapter 5 239
chondrial DNA) line of Marie Antoinette, queen of Hananiah ben David fl. c. 760
France, who traced her female ancestry back to the d. before 771
Zakkai Judah ben Ahunai
?
France) goes back to the wife or concubine of Theo- Judah II ben David 940 ?
surnlist.htm>).
Stewart theory *Mar Zutra established a rebel state in the Lower Euphrates in
8. Since formulating the Machir-
opposition to the anti-Semitic Shah Kobad. Relations
were again
presented above, we were pleasantly surprised to
normalized upon the ascension of Shah Khusrau the Just in
531.
encounter a Web page titled “The House of David,
Pepin of the Franks, and soon
Evidence of the Davidic Dynasty.” Darren Michael tMakhir Natronai was sent to
in Narbonne,
thereafter established the reign of the Resh Galuta
not only traces his maternal line back to Machir and under Jewish rule.
it had become its own principality
the line of Davidic princes in Narbonne, but
links after
240 Notes— Chapter 6
pean languages are common Jewish surnames even 10. Converso is another term for a Jew who had
today. publicly accepted Christianity, but who privately
3. Recall the Bethune/Beaton family, which was a remained Jewish.
hereditary dynasty of physicians serving the kings 1 1 . And we encounter yet another likely Crypto-
of Scotland. Jew: letters of Lady Jane Grey, “the Nine Days Queen”
4. For example, from examining the family gene- (1536-54), contain three (beautifully executed)
alogy we believe that the ancestors of Sir Walter Hebrew words: Lady Jane Grey to Bullinger, 12 July
Raleigh were likely originally Jewish and then con- 1551: Zurich, Zentralbibliothek, MS RP 17; same to
verted to Christianity (remaining secretly Jewish). same, 7 July 1552: MS RP 18; same to same, before
Raleigh established the first English colony in Amer- June 1553: MS RP 19. These letters are printed as nos.
ica in 1587 near Roanoke, Virginia. DNA analysis of IV-VI in Original Letters Relative to the English
these colonists’ descendants, as well as genealogical Reformation, ed. H. Robinson (Cambridge: Parker
and historical documents, suggest that they were Soc., 1846/7), i. 4-7, 7-8, 9-11. On 29 May 1551 John
Sephardic Jews (Hirschman 2005). Ab Ulmis even suggested to Conrad Pellican that he
5. Though Ludovici was a reactionary, and rather should “honourably consecrate to her name your
obviously anti-Semitic, he was fastidious in his Latin translation of the Jewish Talmud” (ibid., ii.
scholarship. He left his fortune to the University of 432). See also the three letters from Ulmis to
Edinburgh to study “miscegenation.” Edinburgh Bullinger between Nov. 1551 and July 1552 (ibid., 437,
refused the gift. 451-2, 452-3).
6. We assume the private ones were destroyed. 12. As frequently noted by students of Judaica,
7. The DNA of William’s descendants is different none of the explanations suggested for the origin of
from all but one of the participants in the online Marrano seems very compelling, least of all the sug-
Cooper Surname DNA Project. Our specimen comes gestion that the word is derived from Spanish mar-
from a male cousin of both our mothers (each rano “wild pig.” Rather too ingenious, to our mind,
descended from William Cooper, the guide for is one author’s claim that the word comes from “a
Daniel Boone). William’s father is thought to be haplologic contraction of the Hebrew mumar-anus
James Cooper, a James River plantation owner who (which caused the omission of the first syllable),
died in Southwark, Surry County, Virginia, in 1734. effecting the transformation: mumaranus, maranus,
James’s father, in turn, is held to be Reuben Cooper, marano, marrano” (Netanyahu 1999, p. 59). In both
identified as Robert Cooper, a London goldsmith, the civil jurisprudence and canonical law of the
later a ship’s surgeon, who married Elizabeth Gis- period, as well as in popular currency, the sense of
lingham in London in 1674 and died at sea in 1691, maranus (Lat.) is “privileged Jewish administrator
Notes — Chapter 7 241
worthy allies” against invading Persians, according to the Kennedys and Caldwells when they arrived in
Scotland.
the Elephantine Papyri. The word was introduced
6. Perhaps a shortening of Modern Greek
into the Egyptian language from the Aramaic
BatriXevq “King,” (b-sounds being pronounced as v).
Mareinu, meaning “noblemen, and applied to the
Semitic “princes” who garrisoned a Jewish military In 1519, the Marrano Adam Vas was arrested in
Catholic Antwerp (Belgium) on grounds of Judaiz-
town in Elephantine, an island in the Nile opposite
Aswan. This important colony maintained several ing and corresponding with heretics (Goris 1925,
Portuguese Jews spread to Antwerp from
synagogues, along with a “temple in exile” that sub- p. 651).
Florence. Another branch settled in Ballagilley on the 28. German Rind “beef, bull.”
Isle of Man and emigrated to Virginia, where they 29. From French Reine, as in the part of Queen
became prominent in frontier affairs, producing, for Esther played by prominent male members of the
instance, Capt. John Looney (1744-1819) and Chero- community in Purim plays (Jacobs).
kee Chief John Looney (1776-1846). A thorough 30. Possibly from Hebrew kos “cup,” hence “cup
book on the Looneys of America is Madge Looney bearer or maker.”
Crane and Philip L. Crane’s Most Distinguished 31. “Little Moses.”
Characters on the American Frontier. Robert Looney 32. “Clockstone.”
(b. 1692-1702, d. 1770) of Augusta (now Botetourt) 33. “Man from Hainaut.”
County, Virginia, and Some of his Descendants, with 34. = Haag, “one from the Hague.”
Histories of the Great Road, Looney’s Ferry, Crow’s 35. =de Yet, “Yates.”
Ferry, Anderson’s Ferry, Boyd’s Ferry &
Beale’s 36. = “Baker” in Yiddish.
Bridge, vol. I (Apollo, Pa.: Closson Press, 1998). 37. Greek “treasure ship.”
10. “Gervase Ridale was a witness to a charter of 38. Diana Connell (n.d.), The Glass Workers of
David I in 1116.... Sir John Riddell was created a Scotland.
Baronet of Nova Scotia ... [and] his third son, 39. This and Tullas refer to the kingdom of
William, was knighted by Charles I and later served Toulose in southern France.
in the wars in the Netherlands.... John Riddel, a
prominent seventeenth-century Edinburgh mer-
chant, claimed descent from Galfridus de Ridel. He Chapter 8
amassed great wealth from the trade across the Baltic,
particularly with Poland.... he is said to have 1. Which we take as implying they were Jews or
intrigued with the forces of Oliver Cromwell, Muslims from the Holy Land.
becoming a close friend of General Monck” (Way 2. And who, according to the genealogy dis-
and Squire 1999, pp. 451-2). cussed in chapter 3, was of Davidic Jewish descent.
11. The Scrymgeours were hereditary standard 3. Patrick Payne started an ambitious, and
bearers of the Scottish kingdom, officially holding exemplary, Payne Family DNA
Project in 2002, even-
the Honourable Office of Bearer for the Sovereign of tually enrolling 23 members; available at <http://
the Royal Banner of Scotland; their arms show a home, earthlink.net/~ppaynel203/>. Painstaking in-
scimitar, lion and royal purple. vestigation of allele mutations in the multiple, mostly
12. Notably, one James Mossman/Mosman mercantile lines that entered the American colonies
(“Moses”) and his father John were officials of the around 1650 revealed that the Paynes of the British
Royal Scottish Mint, and also treasurers to the Stew- Isles, Channel Islands and France seem to form a sin-
art monarchs. The goldsmiths in Edinburgh wor- gle, though ancient lineage, somewhat in the same
shiped at St. Giles Church where they had set up a mold as a Scottish clan. On the face of it, the sur-
special altar to “St. Eloi,” one of the Hebrew names name itself, form of payin (“pagan”) suggests a dis-
a
for God. Mosman also created the Royal Stewart tinctly foreign and eastern origin. In a separate
crown. project, Marshall Payn of Sarasota, Fla., a descen-
13. “Moors’ Church.” dent of the Payne family of Long Island that pro-
14. We argue in chapter 10 that the Presbyterian duced John Howard Payne, was found to match an
Church in Scotland originated with Crypto-Jews. individual in Tibet. Payne (1791-1852) was the son
15. “Prior,” an office of the Templars; see chap- of Sarah Isaacs, of a prominent New York and New-
ter 8. port Sephardic family (Stern 1991, p. 92). He is
16. “Son of Kay,” used, we suggest, as a patro- remembered as an indefatigable tract writer and
nymic for the family of any Scotsman adopting the author of “Home Sweet Home” (Marcus 1973, vol.
letter K for his original name, including Kohanes; cf. 1, p. 93). He was also an adopted Cherokee tribe
Mackay, Mackey. member and perhaps the foremost early defender of
17. From Arabic waqf “benefice, tax district.” Native American rights. Payne served as the Amer-
18. From Barthenia, a popular medieval French ican consul to Tunis in the latter years of his life.
given name patterned on Parthenia, a name for the 4. Note that Noor/Norrie is a surname we fre-
“maiden” goddess Minerva. quently found in Scotland.
19. Hyssop was a bitter herb used in the purifi- “There were also several smaller administra-
5.
catory rites, especially at Passover, by the ancient tions established ... for the management of the farms
8. For Murray, see note in chapter 7. the roots of this belief are earlier), Jews were popu-
9. Lat. procurator, “administrator.” larly blamed for the death of Jesus and forced, by
10. French Bonhomme, Bonham, English Good- law, to wear various emblems of “shame,” the best-
man, German Gutmann. known being probably a yellow star sewn on their
11. Also Lurie. Sephardic: Luria, a rabbinical clothing.
family. The same as Lowrey. 21. It is well known that Jews were identified
12. “One from Lobbes,” an important mercantile with the glass, crystal and mirror trade: the night
city. when Nazis smashed Jewish storekeepers’ windows
13. Perhaps from Khar Nagi, Hungarian and in Germany and began to deport Jews to con-
Ottoman Turkish for “Great Ruler.” centration camps is commemorated as Kristall-
14. “One from Castile,” Spain. nacht.
15. =Heb. Barak, “lightning,” cognate with 22. “Merchant vessel of the largest size, especially
baruch “blessing,” also “baroque,” a type of pearl one from Ragusa-Dubrovnik, whence the name”
whose trade was dominated by Jews and thus so- (Eterovich 2003, p. 75). Many of the seamen and
named, becoming synonymous with an extravagant most of the Ottoman admirals came from Croatia
style of architecture. (p. 29). “In the years 1544 to 1612, nine grand viziers
16. Legend declares the high priest in Jerusalem came from Bosnia, and Bosnia gave to the Empire
promised Alexander the Great that all the children most of the twenty-four grand viziers of Croatian
of priestly families following his visit would be ancestry in addition to many pashas, sandiak-begs,
named Alexander, after him; the name has been beger-begs, and other dignitaries” (p. 23). Moreover,
favored by Jews throughout the ages. As a surname “[A] majority of the mariners and pilots on the
it was often rendered Sand, Sander, Zander, Sanders, [English] king’s ships at this period were foreign-
Saunders, Sandison, Sandford and the like. ers— Ragusans (listed first), Venetians, Genovese,
17. “One from Brabant,” a medieval Flemish Normans and Bretons ... [as] noted by French
duchy spanned most of eastern Belgium and
that Ambassador Marillac, writing in 1540” (p. 62). Many
bordered on Normandy, with important ties to the of the ship’s captains were also Jewish, e.g. Nikola
cloth, weaving and woolen, and banking industries Gucetich (Gozzi, Gast, Gass, Goss, Gist, Guest, and
of Lombardy. Before the mid-sixteenth century, Guess in English [Daitch-Mokotoff s.v.] ), who came
when it was replaced by Antwerp, it was also the cen- from the Sephardic Da Costa family and lived in
ter of the diamond trade. A 1292 census of Paris by Tower Ward, later the home of Samuel Gist, the busi-
Lord Colm Dubh lists numerous wealthy Jews from ness partner of George Washington.
Brabant (de Brabant, Brebois) (<http://www.sca.org/ 23. Gaelic kynochs “dark.”
heraldry/laurel/names/paris.html>). Bradby, a fam- 24. Jews were often selected as heralds because of
ily that supplied multiple chiefs to the Pamunkey their literacyand foreign language abilities.
Indians of Virginia, is probably a corruption. A pho- 25. “For the king [sc. Solomon] had a Tarshish
tograph of Chief William Bradby, 1899, appears in fleet on the
sea, along with Hiram’s fleet. Once
Kennedy 2000, p. 159. every three years, the Tarshish fleet came in, bear-
18. Priscilla is a Roman name favored by the Jews ing gold and silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks” (I
of antiquity (Jacobs 1911). “Reva” is Heb. for “Re- Kings 10:22).
becca.” 26. The Spanish called the Greek-speaking Byzan-
19.The earliest form of this surname was prob- tine Jews (Romaniots) Gregos, which apparently gives
ably Old French Coupard, a common Ashkenazic us the surnames Greig and Gregg. But the name
name meaning “copper-worker” or “cup person.” could also be interpreted to mean “Gray,” and per-
The occupation was a loftier one than barrel haps was understood this way. Beginning in the
maker (tonnelier) and was at times a title (Lat. eleventh century, residence of Jews in Christian
cupifer) signifying, variously, “minter,” “locksmith,” Byzantium was restricted to Constantinople and
or “ark keeper/bearer.” The earliest Jewish Cooper Salonika. Spanish Jews settled in Constantinople in
can probably be placed in Carolingian times, if not the late fourteenth century, heavily so after 1492, and
earlier.The trail leads to Speyer, as some Cooper Ottoman-ruled Salonika developed one of the great-
families, both in England and Russia, have the est centers of Jewish learning in the East (Barnavi
surname Shapiro (“from Speyer” [Daitch-Mokotoff 1992, p. 70).
Soundex System]). The surname evidently came 27. Jewish families teased this name into a hun-
over to England from Rouen in the train of Wil- dred fanciful forms. A sampling of girls’ names from
liam the Conqueror and branches of it continued to the authors’ own family histories includes Lovina,
practice Judaism in an underground fashion with Louisa, Luetta, Luida, Louhanna, Lovida, Lovisa,
the expulsion of the Jews by Edward I in 1290. Louah, Ludella, Luverna, Lavona, LaVera, Lutilla,
Both authors are descended from Isaac Cooper of Lula, Louina, Levicy, Vicy, and Viny. Lovie was fur-
Granger Co. (Tenn. /Wayne Co., Ky.; abt. 1770-aft. ther turned into Dovie and Dicy, especially in the
1838), a grandson of William Cooper the scout, American South. It was said that any name begin-
who married a daughter of Cherokee Chief Black ning with Lu- or Lou- was acknowledgment of the
Fox (d. 1811) and acted as a hazzan (functionary for family’s origin as “Lusitanians,” i.e. Portuguese.
life-change events like weddings and funerals) in Male equivalents were Lewis, Lodovic, Lawson,
the Watauga Country. See Panther-Yates (June Lovis, Lovice, etc. Lovice Looney, for instance, was
2002 ). born about 1743 in Virginia and came from the De
20. Beginning in the late 12th century (although Luna family of Spain and Portugal, via the Isle of
Notes — Chapter 10 245
may be the root of the name Raney, French Reine, as 8. An Italo- Arabic surname.
well as Ray/Reyes.
9. A Sephardic French surname.
Sects highly monotheistic and consequently
10.
37. Jacobs 1911.
French Mercer, German Kauf- quite compatible, theologically, with Judaism.
38. Jacobs 1911; cf.
Goris (1925) gives lists of Marranos arrested
11.
mann.
1519-1570, some accused of Judaizing, others of
Aramaic “palm tree” (with its sweet fruit); the
39.
Calvinism; one, Marcus Perez, was banished, and
French form is Demarice. 651-
contains Alfonso Rubero fled to England in 1540 (pp.
40. As we saw in chapter 2, Perthshire
in the 654).
the densest concentration of haplotype J
1 2. Howie states that Knox was sent to St. Andrews
British Isles.
246 Notes— Chapter 11
to study under John Mair or Major, and M’Gavin in the equivalent of MacBeth, a founder of Scotland
his note attempts to reconcile this fact with a record (pp. 25-26).
at Glasgow of 1520. 2. Scott earned close to ten thousand pounds a
1 3. We have seen above how consistent this vision year in royalties and advances in his heyday (Her-
is to the Jewish ideal of Zedakah. man 2001, p. 309).
14. Compare the description of Marrano attitudes 3. This rabbinical family traces its ancestry to
toward Mary in Gitlitz (2002), pp. 142-144. Often Rabbi Zev Wolf. The reigning matriarch in living
couched in mock theological arguments or told in memory was Mrs. Godfrey S. (Helen Gratz) Rocke-
the style of ribald miracle stories, this Marrano trait feller (Birmingham 1971, pp. 162-63).
might be termed “Marioclasm,” the angry ridicule of 4. Not many of his readers noticed, but in his
Mariology and all Catholic superstition connected first Waverley novel Scott made its hero an English-
with it. man, not a Scot at all, but an officer in the British
1 5. In the absence of Marrano ancestry, Knox’s army who is garrisoned in Scotland on the eve of the
antipathy toward Spain is virtually inexplicable. No doomed Stuart comeback under Bonnie Prince
histories of his life mention his traveling to Spain or Charles in 1745.
even actually known any Spaniards. Thus there do 5. Although the figure of Robin Hood in English
seem to be any negative personal experiences to
not 1. literature and history is a problematical and much
account for his hatred of Spain. debated subject, the weight of historical evidence
16. With Margaret, Knox had three daughters, now inclines to identify the first personification of
Martha, Margaret and Elizabeth; again, all Biblical the outlaw from the north with Robin Deakyne, a
names. Martha married Alexander Fairlie/Fairleigh; Norman from York, son of William, ca. 1175 (His-
Margaret married Alexander Fairlie/Fairleigh; Mar- tory Channel TV special 1999; see Deakyne Family
garet married Zachary (du) Pont; and Elizabeth mar- Genealogy Forum, <http://genforum. genealogy.
ried John Welsh. com>.) A contender for the title remains David, Earl
of Huntingdon (1152-1219), the nephew of William
the Lyon, King of Scotland (“The Search for the Real
Chapter 11 Robin Hood,” <http://www.geocities.com/ puck-
robin/rh/realrob2.html>; K.J. Stringer, Earl David of
The first synagogue was established in Scot- Huntingdon, Edinburgh University Press, 1985). We
land in 1816, but it was of the Ashkenazic rite and have studied the earl’s genealogy and note that his
records were kept in Yiddish (Phillips 1979, p. 10). daughter Isabella married Robert Bruce, ancestor of
It is interesting, however, to note the French and Robert I the Bruce. The name Deakyne (also ren-
Flemish Sephardic names associated with the Braid dered Deakin) comes from “of Aix/ Aachen” (Charle-
Place cemetery and early Richmond Court syna- magne’s capital). The family originated in Flanders,
gogue, including Lyon, Davis, Symons, David, as did the Bruces and Stewarts. Deakynes immi-
Mosely, Chalmers, Laurier, Prince, Hart, and Vallery grated to Maryland and at least one branch today
(pp. 4-9). Also, the first Scotsman to be circumcised continues to be Jewish. Robin derives from the
in Glasgow, in 1824, was Edward Davis, son of David Hebrew Rueben.
Davis, a name, as we have seen, often borne by 6. Interestingly, the “Saxe” part of this once
French Crypto-Jews in Scotland (Lionel Levy n.d., obscure Luxemburgish line, which occupied virtu-
pp. 12—13). Among the dead in the Glaswegian ally every throne in Europe during the nineteenth
Necropolis we find (Semion Philippa) Burns, Frazer, century, came from the Spanish-Portuguese Jewish
Davi(e)s, Michael, and Rubens (pp. 28-30). Its gates Seixas family (Birmingham 1971, pp. 29-32). It is the
were inscribed with twelve lines of poetry by Byron, same name found in the New York department store
followed by the initials M.K.B.I. (’330), standing for Saks Fifth Avenue.
the Hebrew prayer “Who among the Mighty is like 7. Something conveniently happens to Athelstane
unto thee, Jehovah” (Mi cha-mo-cha ba-ei-lim, to remove him: “he was a cock that would not fight”
A-do-ttai), which Blair, the cemetery’s historian, (p. 428).
explains as the origin of the name Maccabeus,
Bibliography
247
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Index
census 184; bishop’s emblems apprenticeship records 101, 126— British Isles, Judaism before Chris-
Echt, Fyvie (towns) 170-175; archbishops of St. Andrews Cathe- Bruce (de Brus or de Brusse) sur-
Crypto-Jews in 152; Elgin family dral 195-196 name 29-30; biological descent
165-168; Fraser coat of arms Argylle,Marquis de 4 from David 87; genealogy of
158-159; freedom lands census arms see coats of arms 44-47; King Robert II 23; Rob-
182-183; Fyvie Castle 157-158; Ashkenazi ancestry 26, 42; Fraser ert the Bruce (Robert I) 21, 23,
155; as international center of 26; surnames 31, 62, 203 Buchanan, George 193
trade 187-191; Jewish ancestry Ashley-Cooper, Sir Anthony 91-92 burgess system/records 19-20,
among aristocrats in 165; Judaic Asian trading 85 99-100, 168, 178, 179-182
community in 187; Kings Col- Atlantic Modal Haplotype (AMH) Byzantium 207
lege/Aberdeen University 161, 34, 185
163-165; Kings College Chapel Ayr Old Kirk 99, 117-118 Cabala 142, 146-148, 148-151
155, 157; Leslie, New Machar, Cabalistic images 155, 157, 158
Rathen, Rhynie (towns) 173— Babylon, House of David in 82-83 Cabalistic traditions 203
175; population of 178; royal bagpipes 12-13 Caldwell clan, genealogy 71-73
images and coins 158-159; 1696 Bahir (Book of Brilliance) 149,150 Caldwell-Stewart surname 33-34,
census 178-187; Skene, Tarves, Bane, Donald 11 43
Turriff, Tyrie (towns) 175-178 banishments see exiles/banish- Calvin, John (Jean Cauvin) 200-
Aberdour 168-170 ments 201, 204
Abravanel surname 230-231 banks/banking 102-103, 130, 139 Calvinist Protestantism 202
Addington’s Templar List 133-136 Bannerman surname 187-188 Campbell Surname Project 30-31,
Agobard, Bishop 84-85 baptisms 84, 90 50-51
Alexander I 13 Beaton surname 12 Canmore surname 4, 11, 13-15, 63,
253
254 Index
Alford Churchyard 168, 169; trading 16; merchant families of databases, DNA 26-27
Alvah Churchyard 168, 169- Glasgow 102-104; overseas sup- David, King (of Jerusalem) 13,113,
170; Alves Cemetery 168, 170; pliers toAberdeen businesses 132-133, 137
categories of interest 97-99; seamen
189; privateers 112; David, St. 193
Cluny Cemetery 97, 114; Cowie 101-102; smuggling 188; tobacco David I, King 13-15, 16, 22, 41, 102
Cemetery 170, 171; Daviot trade 104, 129-130, 188; trade David II, King 187-191
Churchyard 170, 171, 185; Dyce and craft guilds 147-148; trade Davidic ancestry 21, 47, 51, 63,
Cemetery 170-171, 172; Echt charters 16, 20; trade incorpora- 81-82, 83, 85
Churchyard 171, 172-173; Fyvie tion records 101, 125-126; trade Daviot Churchyard 170, 171, 185
Churchyard 173; Geddes (Cadiz) partnerships 19, 29, 85, 88; trade de Brusse (or de Brus) see Bruce
Cemetery 98, 116; Girvan Ceme- skills 81; trading centers 17; trad- (de Brus or de Brusse) surname
tery 98, 115; Leslie Churchyard ing network of converso Jews “A Defence of the Jews against All
173, 174; Lochaber and Skye 93; West Indies trade 103-104 vulgar Prejudices in all Coun-
Cemetery 117; Lochaber Ceme- Common Era 43, 88, 149 tries” (Toland) 95-96
tery 98-99; Monkton Cemetery congregations/community 106-107 demography from DNA sequence
98, 116; New Machar Church- Constantine the Great, Emperor data 25
yard 173, 174; Orkney Cemetery 22, 80 derivations of names see name
186; Ramshorn Kirk 104-106; converso Jews/conversion 19, 25, origins
Rathen Churchyard 173, 175; 39, 155; to Catholicism 197; Diaspora communities 80, 94, 148—
Rhynie Churchyard 173, 175; DNA sequencing indicating 149
Symington Cemetery 98, 114— 27-
24-25; English banishments and Disraeli, Benjamin 92
115; Tarriff Cemetery 175, 177; 90; French Jews 83-84, 89; in distributions of names: Bruce sur-
Tarves Cemetery 175, 176; Tyrie Ivanhoe 211, 212; Portuguese 73; name 29-30; Caldwell-Stewart
Churchyard 175, 177-178 Spanish 165; trading network of surname 33-34; Campbell 30-31;
28-
census records 178-187, 222-227 93; world-wide 91 Cowan 41-42; Forbes DNA 28-
centered circle symbol 78 Cooper, Lord Thomas 3 29; Fraser 39-41; Gordon 31-33;
charity system 202-203 Cooper, Simon 92 Kennedy 38; Leslie/Christie
Charlemagne 5, 80, 82, 84, 85 Cooper surname 31 haplotypes 38-39; patterns of 43
charters 16, 147-148 corruption, of Roman Catholic DNA haplotypes Alexander
2;
Christian-origin surnames 39 Church 18 Border Reiver Families
28;
Christian symbolism 158 Court Jews 19 DNA Study 232; Bruce 29-30;
Christianity 22, 131, 132 cousin marriages 26 Caldwell-Stewart 33-34; Camp-
Christianized Jews 94 Cowan surname 41; coats of arms bell 30-31; Cowan 41-42, 76-78;
Christie surname 39 78; Cowan Surname Project Fookes (Fuchs, Fox) 29; Forbes
churchyard records see cemetery/ 41-42; genealogy 76-78; haplo- 29; Fraser 39-41; French/
churchyard records type 41, 43 Flemish 22-23; Gordon 31-33;
Cistercian order 15 Cowane, John 78, 112 Kennedy 38; Leslie/Christie
Clans: bonds holding 23; Border Cowane surname 106-114 38-39; mutation of male 35; Rib
15-17; with Jewish ancestry 100- Cowane’s Hospital 112-113 27-28; Sykes 26; Y-STR Haplo-
101; patrilinear descendants of 7; Cowie Cemetery 170, 171 type Reference Database
Web sites, 50, 52-53; see also by craft guilds (or gilds) 18-19 (YHRD) 26-27
family name Cromwell, Oliver 90, 93, 96 DNA studies 24-25, 25-27
class structure, British 26 Cromwell, Thomas 94 documentation, evidence for re-
clockmakers 101, 124 crucifixion imagery/icons 21 search proposals 4
Cluny Cemetery 97, 114 Crusades to the Holy Land 131, Dome of the Rock 132-133
coats of arms: Campbell 51; 137, 138 Donald clan 9
Cowan 78; de Brus 23; Fraser Cruz surname 39 Douglas surname 59-61
158-159; Lion of Judah (Lion Crypto-Jews: in Aberdeen 152; Dunblane Cathedral, bishops of
rampant) 86-87; Royal Bruce application of term 25; causes 196-197
47; see also seals; symbols/icons/ for becoming 146; choices made Dyce Cemetery 170-171, 172
images by 213; definition of 7; English DYS 385 31
Cohen Modal Haplotype (CMH) 90-91, 93; French 200-201; land
26, 32 ownership by 103; merchants and Easter 193
coinage 15, 158-159; seealso sym- guildsmen 113; original presence Echt Churchyard 171, 172-173
bols/icons/images in Scotland of 19; Protestantism education system 202-203, 206
collective memory 206-207 among 51; psychological/social Edward I, King 90, 146
colonial merchant records 128-129 aspects of 91; social/economic Einsiedler, David 229
Columba, St. 10, 192 ties with ancestral families of Elgin surname 165-168
commerce 93; Aberdeen as center 188-189; styles of churches 83; Elliot clan 232
of world trade 187-191; Asian symbols on grave markers 31; Elphinstone, Bishop William 161,
trading 85; craftsmen’s skills worldwide 94 163-165, 187
100; Crypto-Jews in merchant Culdee sect 10, 194 England: commerce of English
professions 93; of English Jews cultural forgetting 206-207 Jews 89, 95; Crypto-Jews in
89; English Sephardim 95; Cuthbert, Bishop 16 90-91, 93; English nationhood
financial partnerships 103; 208-209; English Reformed
imports/exports 139; Mediter- Dalriadic settlers, origin myth of 9 Church 202; exiles/banishments
ranean 80-81; Mediterranean Darwin, George 26 from 88-89, 90, 96, 146; Jewish
Index 255
name origins 220-228; Jews in 71-73; Campbell 50-51; Cowan/ History of the Knights Templar
the History of England 1485-1850 Cowen 76—78; Davidic descent (Addison) 132
(Katz) 91; London Jewry 109- 229-231; Davidic descent Jeru- Hoffman, Matilda 205-206
110; Maryof England 201, 202;
I salem 65, 86; descent from Iago Holy Land, pilgrimages to 131
physical appearance of English to Isobel 65;Douglas 59-61; hospitalers see Knights of the
Jews 96; separation from Scot- Forbes 51-52; Hungarian de- Hospital of St. John (Hospi-
land of 5 scent of Kings of the Scots 64; talers)
England 146; English Jewry 88- geographical links 88 immigrants see migrations
89, 90, 96; Jews from France 81; geometric theorems of Cabala 148, imports see commerce
see also Diaspora communities 151 In Bed with an Elephant (Kennedy)
exports see commerce Germanic tribes 37-38 8-9
expulsions see exiles/banishments ghettoization 73 Inchmaholme Abbey 194-195
Girvan Cemetery 98, 115 inheritance, tracing male-to-male
“Faithful Admonition” 202 given names: Bruce family 44; in 26
Feast of the Tabernacles 103 Canmore dynasty 13-15; David intercourse between Jews and
females: DNAsequencing in 83; Jewish women’s 22; Judith Christians 90
Jewish 24-25; medieval Jewish 63, 86; Maisie 113; see also name investments of Glasgow tobacco
names of 222-227 origins; surnames merchants 129-130
feudal period 23 Glasgow 102-104, 128-129 Ireland 9, 21
256 Index
Kehillahs 89 Mary of Guise 67-70, 202 171, 203; town names 168; tradi-
Kennedy surname 38, 73 Mary, Queen of Scots 193, 202, tional names 17; see also given
Kings College/ Aberdeen University 203-204 names; surnames
161, 163-165 Masonry 47, 53-54, 59, 89, 112, names see distributions of names;
Kings College Chapel 155, 157 148 given names; name origins;
kings of France 83-85 mathematics of Cabala 148, 151 naming patterns; surnames
kings of Jerusalem 67-70, 86 matriarchal customs 194 naming patterns 50, 218-219
knights: vows of 131-132 medieval Scotland 16-17 Napier, John 20
Knights of the Hospital of St. John Mediterranean trading 16 Nebuchadnezzar, King 137
(Hospitalers) 131 Meek, Donald 193 New Christians 25, 95
Knights of the Temple of Solomon Melungeon DNA Surname Project New Machar Churchyard 173, 174
(Templars) 131, 132-139, 141, 6-7, 25, 30-31, 215-217; see also New Testament (gospels) 22, 94
142, 146-148; Addington’s Tem- DNA haplotypes Newbury, William de 207
plar List 133-136; in Ivanhoe merchant families, Glasgow 102- Ninyas 193
207-208, 210; of Jerusalem 104 non-paternity events 26
146-147; symbols/images of 158; Merchant Guild Hospital 78 non-Semitic Jews, France 85, 89
Templar images 53; tomb list- merchant guilds (or gilds) 18-19, Norman conquest 79, 131, 138
ings of 168 20, 112-113 Northern Italy 17
Knox, John 50, 201-204 Mid Yell 186 nuns 18
Kohane surname 106-114 Middle Ages, French Judaic cul-
Kublai Khan 140 ture in 79 Og, Angus 12
Middle Eastern populations, Old Testament (Torah) 22, 24-25,
land holdings/holders 103, 133, Cohen Modal Haplotype in 32 94, 148, 201
182-183 migrations: to America during oligopolies 19, 103-104
land purchases 17 persecutions 75; Flemish/French open book symbol 175
language, Middle English 23 immigrants to Scotland 22; fol- oral traditions 80
leather industry records 129 lowing expulsion from England Oram, Richard 13-15
Leghorn 73 146; Macedonia to France 62; Order of the Temple see Knights
lending records 130 perspectives on Jewish 131-132; of the Temple of Solomon
Lens of Boulogne, Maud de 22, 63 Pyrenees to Iberia 38; Sweden to (Templars)
LeslieChurchyard 173, 174 East Prussia 37 originmyth of Dalriadic settlers 9
Lesliesurname 38-39, 53, 59 Miled (Goidal Glas) 9 Orkney Cemetery 186
Lev surnames 63 ministers, training of 203 Orkney Islands 185
Lever surname 203 Mithras 22 Orthodox Jews 24-25, 203
Levy tribe 43 Moffat, Alistair 15-17 Ottoman Empire 94
lineage see genealogies monarchies, Stewart 21-23; see Outremer 131
Lion of Judah (Lion rampant) 47, also Stewart surname Oxford Companion to English Lit-
86-87, 158 monasteries, as corporations 18 erature (Drabble) 208
literacy206 monks 18
Lochaber and Skye Cemetery 117 Monkton Cemetery 98, 116 •
paganism 10, 22, 192, 193-194
Lochaber Cemetery 98-99 Mosaic law 202-203 papacy, corruption of 138
Locke, John 92 Moses 113, 114 Passover 193
Lords of the Isles 9-13 mosques 132-133 patrilineal ancestry 13, 173
lost tribes theory 6 Mushet (Moshe), David 20 Paul of Tarsus 138
Muslims (Musselmen) 131, Pepin the Short 82, 83, 85
Maccabees 137 132-133, 137, 138-139 persecutions 72, 75, 207
Machar of Scotland, St. 67, 83, mutations 27-28 Philip of France, King 140
152-153, 155 physical appearance: Ashkenazi
Makhir (or Machar) 81-82 name Aberdeen burgesses
origins: ancestry 26; Caldwell clan 72;
Malcolm, King 4, 11, 13-15, 63, 178;Alexander 73; Ashkenazic English Jews 96; ethnic stereo-
194 surnames 203; Barbarossa 71; types 5-6; Mediterranean 59;
Malcolm King 22
III, Campbell 50; Canmore dynasty Semitic features 7, 8-9; Vikings
male-to-male inheritance 26 given names 13-15; Catto 174; 12; western European 9
males, medieval Jewish names of Chamberlain 53; Christie 39; Piets, origins of 21
222-227 Cowan/Cowen 76; Dhuada Piedmontese Jewry 72, 73
manufacturing, Glasgow 103 Davida 85-86; Elgin 165; Elliott/ Plantagenets, biological descent
Mapping Human History (Olson) Eliot 232; Elphinstone 161; from David 87
24-25 English 220-228; Forbes 51-52; pogroms 50, 90, 207
Margaret, Queen 10-11 French-derived 97, 220-228; polymorphism 26
mariners records 127-128 French Jewish surnames 165; popes 18, 84, 94, 139, 140
Marranos 25, 94-95, 204 geographical place names 88; Port Jews 19
marriages: Darwin’s studies of 26; Gordon 62; Horn 32; Hungarian post-Reformation Scotland 17-21
endogamous patterns of 20, 103; 232; Kennedy 73; Lombard/ preceptories 136-137
intermarriages 75; Judaic laws Lumbard 63; Marrano 94-95; Presbyterianism 7, 50, 78, 106
22; to relatives 63, 67 names assigned by color 97; printers 101
Martel, Charles 82 Sand- surnames 76; Semitic 175; priors of Inchmaholme Abbey
Mary I of England 201, 202 Sephardic surnames 165, 170- 194-195
Index 257
privateers 112 seals 53, 137; see also coats of arms; Stirling Castle 113-114
property, monasteries’ control of symbols/icons/ images Stirling Merchant Gild (Guild)
18 Seaton surname 157 112
Protestant Reformation 18-19, 192, seats of learning 5 Stirling Parish 99-100, 106-114
200 Secessionist Graveyard at Ayr 99, Stone of Destiny 9, 23
Protestantism 93, 94, 201 117-118 Stuart Pretenders, descendants of
provosts of Elgin 166-167 Second Temple period 149 21
secret churches 18-19; see also Succoth (village) 2, 103
Rib DNA haplotypes 27-28, 83 Crypto-Jews Suebi 38
Rib Y chromosomal DNA haplo- self-identification as Jewish 25 sugar industry records 128-129
group 25, 29, 32 Senlis (St. Liz), Simon de 22 sun worship 22
Ramshorn Kirk 104-106 Sephardic ancestry 19, 72, 97; surnames: Aberdeen aristocracies
Rathen Churchyard 173, 175 English Sephardim 95; Fraser 165; American 75; Ashkenazi 31;
Read, Piers Paul 137 family 158; French Huguenot of bishops and archbishops
Reform Judaism 7, 24-25 198; genetic descent 13; names/ 195-197; Christian-origin 39;
Reform religion (Protestant) 203 surnames 51, 62, 99, 165, 167-168, common ancestry prior to use
religious shifts 140, 142, 146 170-171, 200, 203; Sephardic Rib of 35; DNA studies and 25-27;
religious symbols/icons see sym- 83; ties to Stewart clan 63 ending in -el 99; French/Flemish
bols/ icons/images Sephardic communities 38; Brazil 22-23; French Jewish 83; French
Religious Wars 92 29; in England 95; role of cham- Sephardic 99; House of David/
Rhynie Churchyard 173, 175 berlain/steward 53; in Spain 204 Judah and Levi tribes 85; male
Rhys, John 88 Sephardic Orphan Asylum 109 family names 99; marriages
Richard the Lionhearted (Richard I) Sepher Yetzirah (Book of Forma- between people with same 26;
139, 207 tion) 149-150 Mediterranean-Sephardic 51;
Robert the Bruce (Robert I) see Septimania 67, 84, 85 Melungeon 93; most common
under Bruce (de Brus or de septs: Campbell 50; Douglas 59; 174; recognition as Jewish 2;
Brusse) surname Forbes 52; Gordon 62; Kennedy Roman 164; Semitic 203; Se-
“Roman de Philomene” 84 73; Stewart 63 phardic 99, 167-168, 170, 200;
Roman Empire 80, 207 Septuagint 94 Sephardic/ Ashkenazic 62; see
Roman rule, conquest of Jerusalem The Seven Daughters of the Eve also by specific name; DNA hap-
137 (Sykes) 26 lotypes; name origins
Rome, fall of 72 Shaftsbury, 1st Lord 91-92 Sykes, Bryan 26
Royal Letters of 1364 84 Shealtiel Family Davidic Descent Sykes surname 26
Royal Stewart dynasty 23, 61, 78; 229 symbols/icons/images, 15, 21;
see also Stewart surname Shetland Islands 31 bishop’s emblems 158; Cabalis-
royal succession 21 shofar 32, 104 tic 151, 155, 157, 158; Celtic cross
Russia 189, 190-191 short tandem repeats (STRs) 26 10; centered circle symbol 78;
Temple of Solomon 137 lost tribes theory 6; see also dis- Western Dynasty of Exilarchs 83
Ten Commandments 114 tributions of names; surnames William, Duke of Normandy 89
Tetragrammaton 2, 198 Tron Parish 100 William of Orange, Prince 95
Theoderic 38
I Tron Parish Poll Tax 120-123 William the Conqueror 13, 21, 62,
Theoderic IV 85 Turcopoles 133 79
Theodoric, Makir 67 Tyrie Churchyard 175, 177-178 William Watt Jr. 8c Co. 189
Thorfinn II the Black 11-12 Williams, Ronald 9-13
tobacco trade 103, 104, 129-130, Ukraine 36 Windsor, House of 207
188 University of Glasgow 102 women as monarchs 202
Toland, John 95-96 Woolf, Virginia 209
tonsures 193 Vikings 185 worship service practices 202
Toulouse de Gellone, William de Visigoths 36-38, 41, 72, 84 writing skills 164
67, 85
trade incorporation records 101, Wallace, William 8 X image 158-159
125-126 watchmakers 101, 124
trade skills 20, 81; see also com- Watson, John 213 Yohai, Rabbi Simeon ben 150
merce Web sites: Clan Campbell 50; York,pogrom in 207
training of ministers 203 Clan Fraser 52-53; Machir Y-STR Haplotype Reference Data-
of Israel: Germanic 37-38;
tribes descendants 82 base (YHRD) 26,31,42
Judah 21, 85, 93; Levy 43, 85; West Indies trade 103-104
T
he popular image of Scotland is dominated by widely recognized
elements of Celtic culture. But a significant non-Celtic influence
on Scotland’s history has perhaps been largely ignored for
centuries. This book argues that much of Scotland’s history and culture
from 1100 forward is Jewish. The authors provide evidence that many of
the national heroes, villains, rulers, nobles, traders, merchants, bishops,
guild members, burgesses, and ministers of Scodand were of Jewish
descent, their ancestors originating in France and Spain.
On the cover:
Scotland Highlands
©2007 Photodisc;
thistle graphic In
9 780786 428007 Mark Durr