Barbara Allan (Historical Context)

Historical Context

“Barbara Allan” is a piece of Scotland’s history, having been a traditional folk ballad at least through the 1600s (although it did not actually appear in print until 1740). During that time, Scotland and England, which had been linked throughout much of their history, became even more closely united. In 1603, when Queen Elizabeth I of England died, she was followed on the throne by her cousin James, who was the son of the infamous Mary, Queen of Scots. James had been king of Scotland since 1576, when he was ten years old, and he had actively ruled the country since 1581: with his ascension to the English throne, he was, simultaneously, James VI of Scotland and James I of England. At the time, Scotland was a small, poor country in comparison to England. Though it had four major universities, as compared with only two in England, Scotland had no major urban center that could even remotely compare with London, which was arguably the most important center of commerce in the world. Scotland was mostly agricultural, although its land was not entirely suited for growing crops: the most fertile area was the middle valley, where whole harvests were often lost due to a lack of knowledge about crop rotation. In the hills, known as the Highlands, the farming was even worse, and one of the main sources of income was robbery. The average income in Scotland was a fraction of what it was in England. At first, the Scots were happy to see their king going to rule England, believing that it would give them a greater voice in English/Scottish affairs. They found out, however, that James, who had been their king for a quarter of a century, quickly lost interest in them. He only went back to Scotland once between his coronation in England and his death in 1625. In the meantime, he did much to aggravate the Scots. One of their main grievances with him was about religion. Scotland was heavily Presbyterian, and the people resented James’ attempts to make the Church of England the required religion of their country. When James’ son Charles I tried, in 1637, to require that a new prayer book be used throughout Scotland, there was rioting in the streets and violence against ministers as they tried to conduct services using the new book. Influential Scots signed a National Covenant to assert Scotland’s rights, and in 1640, a Scottish Army invaded and occupied several northern counties of England. It was Charles I’s dealings with Parliament to raise money to fight the Scots that brought tensions between the English monarchy and the elected government to a head: the result was the English Revolution, which spanned from 1640-1660. At first, the Scots were allied with the Parliament against the king’s forces. In 1646 Charles surrendered to the Scots, who turned him over to the Parliamentary forces, but he soon escaped. A second civil war began in 1648, when the king promised to stand behind the rights of Presbyterians. This time the Scots were on his side. Parliament’s troops defeated them, though, and England was declared a Commonwealth. The leader of the revolution, Oliver Cromwell, proved just as intolerant of Presbyterianism as the king had been, and Scotland was once again put in the position of being subjected to English rule. Soon after Cromwell died in 1658, the monarchy was restored, and Charles II became king of England and Scotland.

In 1707, the Scottish government voted itself out of existence. Scotland became part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain. Lowland Scots, from the urban areas, supported the merger, because it would give the country representation in Parliament and assure Scotland the freedom to determine its own religion and legal system. Highland Scots resented what they perceived to be the loss of their freedom to England, and they led several violent rebellions, including major uprisings in 1708, 1715, and 1745. Following the 1745 rebellion, the British government forced the breakup of the clan system.

When “Barbara Allan” was published, there were many poets writing about death. Known today as the Graveyard School, these poets used imagery that came to be associated in the next century with Gothic writers such as Edgar Allan Poe: graves, churchyards, night, death, crumbling ruins, and ghosts. One of the most familiar poems from this era is Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.” Other poets who sometimes worked in this vein include Mark Akenside, William Cowper, William Shenstone, and Joseph Warton. During the last half of the eighteenth century, Scotland became one of the world’s great centers of intellectual thought. Edinburgh was home to a movement that came to be referred to as the Scottish Enlightenment. Outstanding thinkers who had roots in Scotland and who came out of that time period include philosopher David Hume, novelist Tobias Smollett, biographer James Boswell, and Scotland’s most honored poet, Robert Burns.

Compare & Contrast

• 1740: The third and last volume of Scottish philosopher David Hume’s three volume A Treatise of Human Nature was published. The public was indifferent, and Hume himself admitted that his work was “dead-born.”
   
  Today: Hume is considered one of the greatest philosophers in history, and A Treatise of Human Nature is regarded as his most lofty achievement.
• 1740: America consisted of thirteen states that were ruled by the government of Great Britain. The British government fought a series of wars against France and Germany in North America to determine who would rule the colonies.
   
  1776: The United States of America declared independence from Great Britain and fought the Revolutionary War in order to sever relationships.
   
  Today: Although maintaining a good relationship with Great Britain, the United States is recognized as the world’s superpower.
• 1740: The city of Philadelphia was the only city in the New England colonies to have firefighting capabilities: three years earlier, Benjamin Franklin organized a bucket brigade of men who handed buckets of water from one to another to reach the source of a fire.
   
  Today: Even the smallest municipalities have fire response vehicles. Most areas have water available via underground pipes.
• 1740: A series of roads connected the New England colonies from Charleston, South Carolina, to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The roads were built to facilitate the growing postal system.
   
  Today: The federal interstate highway system, inaugurated in 1956, links the forty-eight continuous states.