Trynkina D.A. Gothicism as Scotland National Myth, 18th – early 19th century

Abstract: This article is focused on Gothicism – historical myth, according to which all nations of the Northern Europe are of Goth descendance. The myth takes its origin in the 15th century Scandinavia. Two centuries later it was adopted by the English and in the 17th century – by the Scots. The subject of this research is the concept of Gothism in Scotland. According to this concept, the Scots were proclaimed as the ancestors of the Piñts – a nation, whose ethnogenesis is still a subject of wider debate. They were assigned to have German origins, and therefore – the Scottish nation supposed to be of the same origin. The aim of this article is to broaden the concept of Gothicism in Russian historical science that has mostly worked with German and Scandinavian sources and has used the infamous Norman theory. This article follows the development of Gothicism concept in Scotland. Due to specific character of this research, the author used the historism methodology, which in this case meant the learning of Gothicism’s role and place in its historical context. Nevertheless, the author explored the value of Scottish Gothicism for modern science, – as an idea of Picts’ German origin. This article states that the concept of Gothicism had demonstrated the consequences of country’s separation into Lowlanders and Highlanders-Gaels. In order to avoid comparisons with the Irish and “the wild Celts” (whose image was extremely popular among the English), representatives of Scottish intellectual circles created a new identity, borrowing the concept of Gothicism from the English. This article also makes the case that Gothicism, as a version of Scottish national myth, had existed for a hundred years and was later succeeded by the concept of Teutonism, in terms of which the german origin theory was developed.

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