Dear Dr. _____,
After just reading Alexander Nesbit's A
System of Heraldry for James
Francis Edward Stuart (in two volumes), I believe I have finally
found the root of a Classical and medieval emphasis among Scottish
nobility. This will form the underlying theme for my thesis, and will
work well with the epic The Grameid and
primary accounts of the 1745 revolt I have read in which the
Highlander troops seem to be the emphasis of battle. The underlying
current for my work will be to link the ancient heraldic orders of
power among the Scottish and English nobles vested in the Stuart
dynastic right with the concepts of Classical empire and Western
nationhood.
Nesbit notates the
science of heraldry as the queen of liberal knowledge, being a way to
separate the “worthy” from the “vulgar” and “plebeian.”
Its beauty as an art lies with its connection to ancestry, and its
heritage is one of Classical and medieval honor. Whereas the Romans
used statuary and masks, the knights of Europe and particularly
France invented heraldic embellishments of arms. France gave Scotland
this tradition (a Franco-Scottish connection). Nesbit introduces the
medieval conflict of the “Savage Knight” (the Highlander) and its
recognition as a legitimate knight of Christendom (I will have pages
on this). He discusses the origins of the oak tree symbol among the
many noble families of Scotland (which will eventually become a
Jacobite symbol), and the Stuart peerage of nobility across Britain
for centuries (he has hundreds of pages devoted to all of this). He
links the original line of kings (Bruce's line) with the stewards
(eventually Stuarts) and claims the Stuart line the rightful heir.
Classical and Biblical references abound; lending pageantric support
to his arguments. Many of the figures and emblems representing the
noble legitimacy of Britain within Christendom are linked with the
Stuart line (the interaction between the Garter and Thistle play
prominently). Nesbit's two volumes will saturate my commentary of
Jacobite pageantry with the cultural and political/intellectual
meanings I need to pull in order to link the Jacobite hope with an
older form of European Classicalism.
Respectfully,
Wesley
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