If scotland had remained Gaelic speaking

I was wondering earlier today, how different British politics would have been if the Gaelic language had survived the normanization/Davidian revolution of scotland and the burghs of the high middle ages; if the Gaelic language had become the language of prestige in the Scottish Burghs as opposed to middle english, and if it had survived as basically the national language of all Scotland. In short, no Highland Lowland divide.
The situation above was in no way impossible I think, as the languages of Estonia, the Baltic, Finland and Scandinavia survived the arrival of foreign (German speaking) urban institutions unscaved. Anyway if Scotland had remained thoroughly Gaelic/Scottish speaking:

How would that have affected Anglo-Scottish relations throughout the High and Late Middle ages?

What would the relation be between the languages of Scotland and England during the union of crowns and later in a united kingdom? Also how would it have affected the act of union and all that?

How would the language situation in Ireland (taking into account the colonization of Ulster) and Wales be different? What knock on affects would this have?

Would Scotland play a different role in the British Empire? Would the nature of the Empire be very different?

Would Scottish Nationalism have emerged earlier, maybe in the 19th century with a Scottish equivalent of the Irish Parliamentary Party? Would scottish independence have happened earlier?

Any other points?

Didn't the Lowlands speak a separate language again? Ersc or Lallans? Would that have created a divide between a lowland and High/western Scotland?

I think for this to work Scotland would have to not take control of Lothian/the Borders so they have no Angles within the Kingdom of Scotland, not moving the capital to Edinburgh would also help. The problem is the King of Scots will want to expand south, especially when Northumbria is being weakened by the Vikings.

You could have Scotland loose the Lowlands with the King of Scots having a bad run of luck with the Lowland Brition kingdoms and Northumbria. This could lead to the English or the Kingdom of the Isles/an equivalent dominating the area, although the Isles wouldn't be able to project much power to the east coast.
This leaves Scotland in the north-east corner of Scotland with the Central Belt as an excellent defensive position, although the kings would still try and expand south. This Scotland would keep its Celtic institutions and with them the disunity especially between Moray in the north and Scotland in the south. I can see this Scotland fighting internally throughout the middle ages whilst they fight the Vikings/Foreign Gaels in the west allot. Norway would be a big player in Scotland. It could also fall victim to English expansion but integration into England wouldn't happen until later.

England benefits from this reduced Scotland's geography with narrow areas of flat land by the sea (except Fife and the extreme north-east). The geography would allow England to build a chain of castles up the coast (like what the Romans did) which would restrict the rebellions to the Grampians which would die out.
Scotland's coastal towns would be part of North Sea trade networks with an economy based on fish and probably many trips south to England. You'd find that English would be spoken in the coast (like OTL spread of Scots against Gaelic) whilst there would be more Gaelic speakers the further inland you go. If Gaelic speakers are lucky then their language could survive in a similar fashion to Welsh. A big change for Northern Britain in the modern era would be "Glasgow" and the general industrialization of the Central Belt which previously was border territory between England and Scotland. Due to this there might be quite a difference between northern/Moray and southern Scotland.


This would lead to some very interesting differences in language. The most interesting i'd say is Gaelic which would now be divided in three. There would be Scottish Gaelic, Irish Gaelic and Innse Gall. I don't know how much of a difference there would be between them, in OTL Scottish and Irish Gaelic became separate because Irish changed their spellings. Innse Gall would be the most different with its Norse influences. Caithness and Sutherland would be interesting as they would of went from speaking Norn to speaking English despite being far from England. In this scenario i doubt England would get the Northern Isles, they would develop similar to the Faroe Islands. The Norn language would then survive and may continue to be spoken in Caithness and Sutherland considering how close they are to Orkney.

Fairdowner said:

Didn't the Lowlands speak a separate language again? Ersc or Lallans? Would that have created a divide between a lowland and High/western Scotland?

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When "Scotland" came about, there were provinces speaking Welsh (Cumbrian) and English (Scots/Lallans) and Irish (Gaelic), and also Pictish, but that one might be close to Welsh. Later on, Scandinavian (Norn) was added, and French. The name Scot originally referred to the Gaelic speakers who had immigrated from Ireland and taken over parts of the country.

From time to time, one or another became the dominant language of the country, so Gaelic was dominant up until 1300, Lallans until 1600, and England-English thereafter. Having Gaelic continue as national language would not be that much of a stretch, but the question at hand is what effects it would have, and there I am lost at guessing.

That it continues to be dominant implies that it is a high-status language, and therefore it might have other non-English languages (Welsh/Irish/Cornish/Manx) also appear as less backward and uncivilised in the 1700s and 1800s, and give them better prospects for survival. No "Welsh not" and similar campaigns in this timeline, I hope.

The medieval relations would not be altered that much, I suppose, especially before 1300. After 1600 there would be more to do, but English would be dominant in larger matters, while Gaelic would hold in Scotland, so outside Scotland the changes are smaller. The Ulster plantations being entirely Gaelic-speaking would make a huge difference, and perhaps Ireland and Scotland could converge language-wise into using one standard Gaelic and regard themselves as two parts of the same country.

Someone might reply that the differences between Scots Gaelic and Irish Gaelic are too large, but that is today, in OTL. Consider that the dialectal differences of other countries have been very wide, but that most of the population today have adopted the Standard Language. Here we have several centuries of growing together, say, after 1603, when the Scottish King became ruler of Ireland along with England.

Scottish nationalism

Do you think that Scotland would have been more nationalist from earlier on, if so, when?

Abdominalz said:

Do you think that Scotland would have been more nationalist from earlier on, if so, when?

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The Scots have ALWAYS been nationalistic and proud of being Scottish. It has if nothing else been a way to separate themselves from us sassenachs. At least they are proud to be Scottish I can't say the same for us English. We seem to be Northern, west country, Yorkie, Brummie or Geordie first (oh and some do come from west of the pennines), and then its a toss up between British and English depending on the sporting event!

I think AllActionMan sums it up well. Scotland was never wholly Gaelic speaking but a reduced Gaelic Scotland would probably forge stronger links with Ireland. I mean if in the 14th century Robert the Bruce's brother was attempting to become King of Ireland, its quite possible in this ATL!

Language wise, it'd be amazing. I've spoken Irish with Scot Gaels and its like puzzling out a riddle, something thats so similar yet different. More so than Czech and Slovak I'd say. Written down it seems badly spelt but more comprehensible. A greater link between the two tongues would be amazing (and one we should encourage in OTL!)

Lindseyman said:

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The Scots have ALWAYS been nationalistic and proud of being Scottish. It has if nothing else been a way to separate themselves from us sassenachs. At least they are proud to be Scottish I can't say the same for us English. We seem to be Northern, west country, Yorkie, Brummie or Geordie first (oh and some do come from west of the pennines), and then its a toss up between British and English depending on the sporting event!

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I do wonder what would of happened if the Highlands hadn't been romanticized and integrated into the Scots culture, it seems almost like a knee jerk reaction to being absorbed into English culture since with the Scots language no longer in official use the Lowland culture was quite similar to English.

Perhaps, an earlier introduction of radio and television broadcasting in Scots Gaelic.