Who made Scotland

sir – Today’s standards of medieval history teaching (Letters, July 21) are exemplified by “Brand Scotland”, a partnership including the Scottish Government, which “tells the authentic story of Scotland as a bold and positive country, rich in history”. It adds: “While Vikings began to settle in the west, the Picts were forging a new kingdom; the Kingdom of Alba.”

This ignores the Britons of the west and south-west of present-day Scotland, the Scots (somewhat incredibly, even if their Irish origins are now discounted by some medieval historians) and the Anglo-saxons.

Scottish pupils do not learn about the origins of Lowland Scots, which springs from Old English, or of the many peoples whose languages and origins are shared with the rest of Britain, including the Romans, the Normans, and the kingdoms of Strathclyde and Northumbria, which lay between the kingdoms of the Scots and Wessex before AD 1000.

The history taught in Scottish schools seems to begin with the wars of independence. This reinforces ideas of antagonism created by Edward I, King of England, who was of Norman descent, as was his opponent, Robert de Brus, who became King of Scots.

Scotland is indeed rich in history – but most of it is hidden from pupils, as it shows what unites Scotland’s people with those of the rest of Britain. Andrew HN Gray

Edinburgh