TRP Advent Calendar 10 - Traditional Song: Ye Jacobites by Name

10

Today we present another traditional song which originates in Scotland this time. The theme of the song Ye Jacobites by Name deals with a painful period in Scottish history: The Jacobite revolts in the first half of the 18th century. As a diatribe against the followers of King Jacob II of England, known as Jacobites, it took the view of the Protestant bourgeoisie in the Lowlands. The cities there benefited greatly from the rise of capitalism and progress.

In the version of the Scottish poet Robert Burns from 1791, the text refers to both parties to the conflict. On the one hand, it can be interpreted as an outcry against English foreign rule and at the same time as a warning to adopt a positive, republican attitude instead of sentimentally clinging to the past.

Burns‘ Text ist jedoch bis heute Gegenstand unterschiedlicher Deutungen.