The Scottish Intellect
The two most influential books I have read in my life have been Sunset Song by and The Democratic Intellect by . Most of you have probably read Gibbon's classic novel of life in the Howe o the Mearns, but I would guess that very few of you have come across Davie's book. Yet while Sunset Song drew me emotionally into a lifetime love of Scottish literature, Davie's work was even more fundamental as for the first time I was confronted with a compelling account of Scotland's intellectual history through the story of its university tradition.
In The Scottish Intellect, my latest seven part series for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio Scotland, I hope to engage you the listener in the way that Davie's work engaged me - for what at first glance could appear as a dry subject, turns into a fascinating account of over 600 years of Scottish cultural history at home and abroad. If it is dry, it is only in the way a noble Sauvignon Blanc from Sancerre or Cloudy Bay is dry...replete with intense citric flavours that burst on the palate and last long in the memory!
Here are a few brief examples of what you will discover. Even before the was founded between 1410 and 1413, Scottish students and regents had established a formidable reputation from Bologna to Orléans, from Paris to Cologne. The first three Scottish universities - St Andrews, and were all ecclesiastical institutions founded by Bishops. Before the 1720's Latin was the language of instruction in all our universities - fortunately we were good at it and our great Latin writers like enjoyed greater renown across Europe than did Shakespeare.
After the Reformation, three new universities were established..., , Aberdeen and Fraserburgh....yes, Fraserburgh! Meanwhile Scots catholic colleges sprung up from Rome to Madrid and Paris, while we also took over old monastic education centres in places like Ratisbon and Erfurt, in German these were known as Schottenklöster or Scottish cloisters. Tom McInally author of the book The Sixth Scottish University, The Scots Colleges Abroad: 1575 to 1799 asserts that until the turn of the 18th century, these Catholic colleges were providing a better education than the universities in Scotland!
What is certainly the case is that many Scottish students still found it necessary to top up their education by attending Dutch universities like and - I visit both in the company of Dr Esther Mijers who reveals how the Scots studied Medicine and Law especially.....and when they went back to Scotland these subjects soared at the time of the Enlightenment and acted as catalysts for the take off of the reputation of Scottish universities. By the middle of the 18th century, Benjamin Franklin would write to a fellow American...."You have great Advantage in going to study at Edinburgh at this Time, where there happens to be collected a Set of truly great Men, Professors of the several Branches of Knowledge, as have ever appeared in any Age or any country."
A number of early American universities were modeled on Scottish lines, with in particular having huge Scottish input through its greatest presidents John Wiltherspoon and James McCosh. It was just amazing to stand outside Princeton's oldest building, the iconic , and muse on the fact that the money to pay for it had been raised by Scottish congregations of the Church of Scotland on one Sunday in 1740.
Recently, for the latest Brad Pitt movie, well for the series I visited the and heard how it and all the early American medical schools were modeled on Scottish examples. The very building that houses the college today was provided by funds from , who also contributed hugely to grants for students here at home at the beginning of the 20th century. Also relating to the streets of urban America, later in the series we'll hear how the seminal video game Grand Theft Auto was born in Dundee and the talent that produced it nurtured at the ! I hope you can join me on a 600 year journey which I promise will enrich your experience as a Scot.
Billy Kay
Here's a short clip from this week's programme where a University of St Andrews student talks about some of her fellow students...
For more detailed information about The Scottish Intellect series, visit
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