Scotland is a country in the United Kingdom. It covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain, shares a border with England to the south, and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. In addition to the mainland, the country is made up of more than 790 islands, including the Northern Isles and the Hebrides.
History[]
- For more information about the history of Scotland, see the Wikipedia article on Scotland.
The Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the Early Middle Ages and continued to exist until 1707. By inheritance in 1603, James VI, King of Scots, became King of England and King of Ireland, thus forming a personal union of the three kingdoms. Scotland subsequently entered into a political union with the Kingdom of England on 1 May 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain.
The deposed Jacobite Stuart claimants had remained popular in the Highlands and north-east, particularly among non-Presbyterians, including Roman Catholics and Episcopalian Protestants. However, two major Jacobite Risings launched in 1715 and 1745 failed to remove the House of Hanover from the British throne. The threat of the Jacobite movement to the United Kingdom and its monarchs effectively ended at the Battle of Culloden, Great Britain's last pitched battle. This defeat paved the way for large-scale removals of the indigenous populations of the Highlands and Islands, known as the Highland Clearances.
Outlander series[]
Outlander[]
While on holiday in the Scottish Highlands with her husband in 1945, Claire Randall comes upon a circle of standing stones and accidentally travels two hundred years into the past. While trying to find her way back to her own time, she finds herself the unwilling guest of the MacKenzie clan, and is later forced to marry Jamie Fraser for her own protection. She falls in love with Jamie and decides to stay with him in the past, and they travel to his family home at Lallybroch, an estate located west of Inverness.
When Jamie is captured, Claire travels the Scottish countryside, first with Jenny and then with Murtagh, hoping to hear word of Jamie's whereabouts. They eventually hear that Jamie is imprisoned at Wentworth, located in the Scottish Borders region. They rescue him and escape by ship to France.
Dragonfly in Amber[]
After spending nearly a year in France, Jamie and Claire return to Scotland in late 1744 and live at Lallybroch with Jamie's sister, Jenny, his brother-in-law, Ian, and their family.
Once Charles Stuart has declared his intent to fight for the throne in 1745, the Frasers find themselves ineluctably drawn into joining the cause. They travel with Charles Stuart's army throughout Scotland and England, finally arriving at the site of the imminent Battle of Culloden in April 1746. In order to save Claire and their unborn child, Jamie sends her back through the stones at Craigh na Dun, and turns back to the battle, ready to die.
Voyager[]
In 1968, Claire and her daughter, Brianna, travel to Inverness to consult with Roger Wakefield, a young historian and adopted son of an old friend of Claire and Frank Randall. Together the three spend months searching for Jamie through historical records.
Jamie takes on various identities over the course of twenty years: after the Rising, he lives in hiding for seven years near Lallybroch, before turning himself in and being imprisoned at Ardsmuir in the far north of Scotland for four years. From there he is paroled to an estate in the Lake District of England, working as a groom for six years. He then returns to the Scottish Highlands, and his sister convinces him to marry Laoghaire MacKenzie, but the marriage is a failure and Jamie soon relocates to Edinburgh, alone.
Eventually, Claire, Roger, and Brianna find evidence that Jamie was working as a printer in Edinburgh in 1765, and they theorize that Claire could go through the stones once more to 1766. Claire does decide to go back, and reunites with Jamie in Edinburgh.
After Jamie's printshop burns down, Claire goes with Jamie to a planned rendezvous at Arbroath in connection with Jamie's smuggling enterprise. From there they return to Lallybroch, where Claire's return clashes with the presence of Jamie's erstwhile second wife, Laoghaire MacKenzie. Jamie negotiates a legal settlement with Laoghaire, which necessitates a journey to the far north of Scotland, to a small island off the coast of Coigach. There, Jamie's nephew Young Ian is nominated to swim out to the Silkies' Isle to retrieve a gemstone from a small cache of treasure there, which they intend to convert into cash. However, Young Ian is abducted by pirates, and Jamie and Claire arrange passage to the West Indies in hopes of finding and rescuing Young Ian.
Drums of Autumn[]
In 1969, Brianna visits Roger in Inverness for Christmas.
In 1971, Brianna goes through the stones to 1769 and travels to Lallybroch to find her parents. She meets her aunt's family, but discovers that Jamie and Claire are living in the colony of North Carolina. With the help of her relatives, she takes ship to Wilmington. A few months later, Roger also goes through the stones in pursuit of Brianna, and takes ship to the colonies.
An Echo in the Bone[]
After years away, Jamie, Claire, and Young Ian return to Scotland in custody of the body of a British Army general who is distantly related to Jamie. They retrieve Jamie's printing press in Edinburgh, and continue on to Lallybroch, where they discover that Jenny's husband Ian is dying. Although Claire is called back to the colonies to attend to their grandson's deteriorating health, Jamie remains and stays by Ian's side until he dies. Jamie then leaves Scotland, and Jenny accompanies him to Philadelphia.
In 1980, Roger and Brianna have reestablished themselves in Inverness, living at Lallybroch after renovating the manor house.
Written in My Own Heart's Blood[]
In 1739, Roger and Buck travel around Scotland in search of Roger's son, Jem, who has been kidnapped. Roger stops at Lallybroch, thinking that perhaps Jem would try to get there in search of refuge. Expecting to find Jamie's sister and brother-in-law, Roger is stunned to meet Brian Fraser, making it clear he has gone much further back in time than he intended.
In 1980, Brianna faces off with Rob Cameron at Lallybroch, and escapes to Inverness with children after finding Jem. She leaves them with Fiona Buchan, a family friend, while she goes back to Lallybroch to stake out her own house to see if any more intruders arrive. After a series of harrowing events, Brianna takes the children to the United States. When they return to Scotland, she and children go to the stone circle on Craigh na Dun and travel back to 1739 to find Roger.