February is one of the darkest months in the Scottish calendar — not just in weather, but in history. It opens with the shadow of Glencoe, where government troops were already billeted with the MacDonalds, the massacre just days away. By the 13th, thirty-eight men,...
August opens with Lughnasaidh, the ancient harvest festival, and rarely lets up from there. It is one of the most event-packed months in the Scottish calendar — spanning two thousand years of history, from the death of Duncan I to the evacuation of St Kilda in 1930....
September is a month of crownings and collapses, victories and vanishings. It opens in the medieval period with the coronation of a nine-month-old queen and closes with Cromwell's forces besieging the last Scottish stronghold to hold out against them. William Wallace...
November is a month that carries the weight of endings. Kings die, queens grieve themselves to death, and great ambitions collapse in cold and rain. It opens with the Darien settlers landing in Central America, full of hope, and barely pauses for breath before the...
March is a month of crownings and killings, martyrdoms and massacres. It opens with the burning of George Wishart at St Andrews — an act that accelerated the Scottish Reformation and signed Cardinal Beaton's own death warrant. It closes with a witch-pricker working...
October is a month of omens, executions, and endings. It opens with Deacon William Brodie hanging on gallows of his own design and closes with Burke and Hare's final victim discovered, their year-long killing spree brought to an abrupt end. Edinburgh casts a long...