Battles are still making history after 700 years

Published on Friday 1 December 2006 00:10

WILLIAM Wallace and Robert the Bruce triumphed again last night - this time in a television poll to find Scotland's most significant historical moments.

The Wars of Independence, in which both played a dominant role, came top of a ten-strong list chosen by BBC viewers.

The fight to establish Scotland's nation status came ahead of other landmark episodes including the Declaration of Arbroath, the Enlightenment, the Reformation and the Highland Clearances.

The choice of viewers in Scotland's History: The Top Ten differed sharply from a list of ten key moments picked by a panel of academics for the show. Its choices included the First World War, the Scottish Empire and the 1707 Act of Union.

Professor Tom Devine, Edinburgh University's Sir William Fraser Chair of Scottish History, said it was significant that the viewers' choice had only one episode post-1800 - the life of the scientist James Clerk Maxwell.

Prof Devine, who led the panel of academics, said: "Scotland has traditionally for its identity looked to pre-Union Scotland, particularly to the period of the shaping of the nation.

"Undoubtedly Braveheart-ism in the 1990s has had an effect."

He also believed an upsurge in nationalism in the past three or four months had played a part. "People with an SNP sympathy might be likely to be more interested in the Scottish historical past", he said.

Professor Ted Cowan, an expert in Scottish history at Glasgow University, said: "I think the Scottish people have always had a great attraction to the period of the Wars of Independence. It's recognised as an iconic moment that secures the freedom of the nation."

The author Ian Rankin, the creator of Rebus, suggested viewers had not picked more modern episodes in Scottish history because they were not felt to be "historical". He said: "People might think history has got to be historical. For a lot of people, the opening of the Scottish Parliament would be far too recent an event."

The academics on the BBC show chose their top ten from a potential list of 30 historical contenders. Subjects they rejected included football, tartanry and the influence of Margaret Thatcher on Scotland.