Overnight switch

In one day in 1066, 5,000 Norman knights and freebooters, men of Viking and French stock, led by a duke of bastard origins, conquered England.

The conquerors displaced the Anglo-Saxon ruling elite, and for the next two centuries the language in the English court was French. Anglo-Saxon disappeared as a living language.

In one day, during the proposed plebiscite, Scotland could regain her freedom. Although I am not a Scot – I am an American whose grandparents were from Italy and Poland – I fell in love with Scotland while earning a PhD in history from the venerable University of Glasgow.

May the Scots choose freedom. To paraphrase a medieval emperor, if God had seen Scotland, he would have chosen a different holy land.

Mark Mirabello PhD

Professor of History

Shawnee State University

USA