Scotland

The Royal Arms of England, a national coat of arms featuring three lions, originated with its adoption by Richard the Lionheart in 1198. It is blazoned as gules, three lions passant guardant or and it provides one of the most prominent symbols of England; it is similar to the traditional arms of Normandy. England does not have an official designated national anthem, as the United Kingdom as a whole has God Save the Queen. However, the following are often considered unofficial English national anthems: Jerusalem, Land of Hope and Glory (used for England during the 2002 Commonwealth Games), and I Vow to Thee, My Country. England's National Day is 23 April which is St George's Day: St George is the patron saint of England.

National costume of England

 

Although England is a country with rich cultural traditions, it is, strictly speaking, does not have a national costume. The best-known folk costumes are costumes of dancers performing the dance Morris. His dancing in the summer in the countryside. In the past it was considered a ritual dance, and he attributed the magic value associated with the awakening of the earth. Various dance groups allow variations in the classic costume, which consists of white trousers, white shirt, bells around the legs and felt or straw hats decorated with ribbons and flowers. Bells and flowers are designed to protect from harm and bring fertility. Originally, this dance is performed only by men, but for now, and it involves women. However, in the UK, there are some differences in the clothing trade, in its detail. For example, workers wear caps and dockers port cities tied colorful scarf around his neck, and many older farmers prefer to wear long out of fashion three-piece suit and felt hat. Even now, in downtown City clerks can be seen, dressed in a long tradition in the same way: narrow striped trousers, black jacket, a high white collar, bowler hat on his head, and in the hands of the permanent black umbrella.

  
Interestingly, in some cases even used the medieval clothes. For example, wearing ancient costumes, members of the royal family during the coronation ceremony, and officials of Parliament during the opening session. Judges and lawyers at the meetings of the court sitting in robes and head covering medieval powdered wig. The black robes lined in scarlet and black square cap is worn professors and students of the oldest English universities. Royal Guard still wears the form of the XVI century.

The union of Scotland and England.

 

 

England and Scotland were separate states for several centuries before eventual union, and English attempts to take over Scotland by military force in the late 13th and early 14th centuries were ultimately unsuccessful (see the Wars of Scottish Independence). The first attempts at Union surrounded the foreseen unification[clarification needed] of the Royal lines of Scotland and England. In pursuing the English throne in the 1560s, Mary, Queen of Scots pledged herself to a peaceful union between the two kingdoms.

England and Scotland were ruled by the same king for the first time in 1603 when James VI of Scotland also became the king of England. However they remained two separate states until 1 May 1707.

 

The first Union flag, created by James VI and I, symbolising the uniting of England and Scotland under one Crown

The first attempt to unite the parliaments of England and Scotland was by Mary's son, King James VI and I. On his accession to the English throne in 1603 King James announced his intention to unite his two realms so that he would not be "guilty of bigamy". James used his Royal prerogative powers to take the style of 'King of Great Britain and to give an explicitly British character to his court and person. Whilst James assumed the creation of a full union was a foregone conclusion, the Parliament of England was concerned that the formation of a new state would deprive England of its ancient liberties, taking on the more absolutist monarchical structure which James had previously enjoyed in Scotland. In the meantime, James declared that Great Britain be viewed 'as presently united, and as one realm and kingdom, and the subjects of both realms as one people'.

The Scottish and English parliaments established a commission to negotiate a union, formulating an instrument of union between the two countries. However, the idea of political union was unpopular, and when James dropped his policy of a speedy union, the topic quietly disappeared from the legislative agenda. When the House of Commons attempted to revive the proposal in 1610, it was met with a more open hostility.

Treaty of alliance.

 

Negotiations on the terms of association began between the delegations of the two parliaments in London in April 1706 Details of association were agreed upon by July 22, 1706 in the form of the Treaty (Treaty of Union), and formed the basis of the draft of the Act of Union, which over the next few months has been approved by the parliaments of both countries. The contract included the following provisions: 
Chapter 1: England and Scotland merged into a single kingdom under the name "Britain";

Chapter 2: The inheritance of the throne of the new kingdom will be based on the English Act of Succession in 1701;

Chapter 3: The new kingdom will have a single Parliament (in fact it will be English Parliament);

Chapters 4-18: establish common rules on trade, taxes, currencies and other aspects of economic activity. 
Chapter 19: The retained special legal system in Scotland;

  

Chapter 20: retained ancestral state and judicial offices; 
Chapter 21: The royal towns retain the rights (Burgov); 
Chapter 22: The Parliament of Scotland in the same pose 16 Scottish peers in the House of Lords, 45 representatives of Scotland in the House of Commons); 
Chapter 23: The Scottish peers have equal rights with the British during the trials of peers; 
Chapter 24: Creating a new Great Seal of the kingdom; 
Chapter 25: any laws of England and Scotland, contrary to the terms of the Agreement shall be declared null and void. 
Additionally, the Act solidified the dominant position in the Presbyterian Church of Scotland.

May 1, 1707, in the reign of Queen Anne's Act of Union came into force, the parliaments of England and Scotland united in a common parliament of Great Britain, because of this in English historiography sometimes Act of Union is referred to as "Union of Parliaments." 
Following the adoption of the Act of Union was an attempt to rename the England and Scotland in the South and North Britain, but this idea has not found wide application, particularly with regard to South United Kingdom (England), although in Scotland the term of North Britain, in some British institutions still use what- at the time. 
The act of union was hateful numerous adherents of the exiled Stuart dynasty. Taking advantage of this mood, James III Stuart, pretender to the throne, supported by a detachment of French major, made in March 1708 attempt to land on the Scottish coast. The landing was unsuccessful due to the vigilance of English Admiral Byng. 
After Anna's death in 1714 passed the crown of Great Britain, according to the Act of Succession, Elector of Hanover to George, the son of Sophia, granddaughter of James I. This was followed by a major uprising of the Jacobites in Scotland in 1715-1716 years., During which arrived in Scotland, James Stewart, was crowned as King of Scotland under the name of James VIII. Soon, however, the uprising was suppressed, and Scotland remained in the UK. 
Established by Act of Union of 1707 continued to the present time, while Scottish Scotland Act 1998 provided certain internal autonomy in 1999 and again in Scotland, the Scottish Parliament works recreated.

Union during the interregnum

 

Flag of the Commonwealth (1651–58) showing the 'perfected' union between England and Scotland

The Solemn League and Covenant 1643 sought a forced union of the Church of England into the Church of Scotland, and although the covenant referred repeatedly to union between the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland, a political union was not spelled out.

In the aftermath of the Civil War, in which the Covenanters had fought for the King, Oliver Cromwell occupied Scotland and began a process of creating a 'Godly Britannic' Union between the former Kingdoms. In 1651, the Parliament of England issued the Tender of Union declaration supporting Scotland's incorporation into the Commonwealth and sent Commissioners to Scotland with the express purpose of securing support for Union, which was assented to by the Commissioners (Members of Parliament) in Scotland. On 12 April 1654, Cromwell – styling himself Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland – enacted An Ordinance by the Protector for the Union of England and Scotland which created 'one Commonwealth and under one Government' to be known as the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland. The ordinance was ratified by the Second Protectorate Parliament, as an Act of Union, on 26 June 1657. One united Parliament sat in Westminster, with 30 representatives from Scotland and 30 from Ireland joining the existing members from England. Whilst free trade was brought about amongst the new Commonwealth, the economic benefits were generally not felt as a result of heavy taxation used to fund Cromwell's New Model Army.

This republican union was dissolved automatically with the restoration of King Charles II to the thrones of England and Scotland. Scottish members expelled from the Commonwealth Parliament petitioned unsuccessfully for a continuance of the union. Cromwell's union had simultaneously raised interest in and suspicion of the concept of union and when Charles II attempted to recreate the union and fulfil the work of his grandfather in 1669, negotiations between Commissioners ground to a halt.

 

Carl II

 

 

The English and Scottish parliaments had evolved along different lines, and for example the former Parliament of Scotland was unicameral, not bicameral. Most of the pre-Union traditions of Westminster continued unchanged by becoming the Parliament of Great Britain.[citation needed]

Defoe drew upon his Scottish experience to write his Tour thro' the whole Island of Great Britain, published in 1726, where he actually admitted that the increase of trade and population in Scotland, which he had predicted as a consequence of the Union, was "not the case, but rather the contrary."

Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun, a vehement critic of the Union, said in An Account of a Conversation, that Scotland suffered "... the miserable and languishing condition of all places that depend upon a remote seat of government."

However by the time Samuel Johnson and James Boswell made their tour in 1773, recorded in A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland Johnson noted that Scotland was: “a nation of which the commerce is hourly extending, and the wealth increasing”, and Glasgow in particular had become one of the greatest cities of Britain.

 

Criticisms  

 

In 1999, after almost three centuries, a devolved Scottish Parliament was opened after a referendum in Scotland. The opening of the new parliament was presided over by Winifred Ewing MSP, SNP regional list member for the Highlands and Islands, in her role as the oldest member and de facto Mother of the House, being first to take the parliamentary oath to Her Majesty the Queen. During the opening address which she delivered, she concluded with the words "the Scottish Parliament, adjourned on the 25th of March in the year 1707 is hereby reconvened."

As a devolved institution, the new Scottish Parliament does not affect the powers and authority of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to make laws for Scotland, which remains a constituent country of the UK. Whilst it has power to make laws in Scotland – in addition to the UK Parliament – over many home affairs issues, there are other reserved powers such as defence and foreign affairs over which it has no power.

The SNP government, recently elected in a historic landslide victory, has promised a referendum on independence during the lifetime of the current Scottish Parliament. There are questions on whether such a referendum is constitutional under the Acts of Union and Act of Settlement.

 

A new Scottish Parliament  
 

 

The £2 coin issued in the United Kingdom in 2007 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the Acts of Union

A commemorative two-pound coin was issued to mark the tercentennial—300th anniversary—of the Union, which occurred two days before the Scottish Parliament general election on 3 May 2007.

The then-current Scottish Executive held a number of commemorative events through the year including an education project led by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, an exhibition of Union-related objects and documents at the National Museums of Scotland and an exhibition of portraits of people associated with the Union at the National Galleries of Scotland.

 

300th anniversary

sources used

 

 

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Scotland

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England

3. http://investuk.ru/scotland/symbols/

4. http://www.uk4you.ru/

5. http://www.uk4you.ru/story2.html

6. http://log.toeoda.com/Countries/scot.html

7. http://www.yandex.ru/

8. http://www.google.ru/

 

 

Thank you for your attention