Poland had the largest Scottish Diaspora

[Tomenable]

David Worthington from the University of the Highlands and Islands in Inverness, in his 2015 article "... Historians and the Scots in the Commonwealth of Poland-Lithuania (1569–1795)", wrote:

"The burgeoning of a historiography of the Scots in the PLC has been hindered by either the unavailability to scholars of, or their unwillingness to tackle, secondary sources in the relevant foreign languages. Despite this ethnic group having comprised, at one time, the largest representation of the Scottish diaspora in a foreign state, this article demonstrates that, since Poland–Lithuania’s partition, historiographical coverage has been compartmentalised along linguistic and national lines. The article is tripartite, outlining work in the German, Polish and English languages, albeit highlighting the detrimental effects caused, until recently, by the frequent isolation of these, and other linguistic traditions of historiographical significance, from one another."

According to Rosalind Mitchison, at the turns of the 16th and 17th centuries at least 100,000 people emigrated from Scotland - nearly half of them to Ulster. However, she did not include emigration to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and admitted that her estimate was probably too low.

Scottish Diaspora in Poland-Lithuania was even larger than that in Ulster.

Estimates for years 1600-1650 range from 7,400 to 30,000 families (the latter figure was given by William Lightgow in 1616). These numbers have to be multiplied by an average family size of 3 to 5 or even more people. If you multiply 30,000 x 3 you get 90,000 Scots, or about 1% of all inhabitants of the PLC (around 9 million). More moderate estimates say about 40,000 - 50,000 Scots in Poland. Scottish inhabitants were recorded by sources in at least 120-130 cities, towns and villages throughout Poland.

Both Catholic and Protestant Scots immigrated to Poland, Protestants for the most part converted to Catholicism throughout the 2nd half of the 17th and the 18th century. It also seems that many of them adopted genuinely Polish surnames (instead of just Polonizing their surnames phonetically). I personally had no idea about my Scottish roots, until I took DNA tests. I'm still not 100% sure about it, but I guess that further genealogical research and more advanced DNA tests will give me final answers.

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"Great numbers of our countrymen settled in Poland and it would almost seem, that there is a mysterious link connecting the two distant countries. If in those bygone days Scotsmen sought and found a home and sanctuary in Poland, in our own times a warm and brotherly sympathy for the suffering and exiled Poles has been manifested in Scotland."
- The Scotsman, 3 February 1864​

 

[KasiaG]

There is large literature about Scots in Poland. I am not of Scottish descent but researching both Irish-Polish and Scottish-Polish historical contacts. There are digitised books online, can be found on Archive, cannot post links, from Steauart A.S., Papers relating to the Scots in Poland,1576-1793 (1915) to a single family study, Bulloch's Gordons in Poland. Peter Bajer produced a very interesting book on the Scots in Poland, can be found in some Polish libraries I cannot remember everything now but also do not wish to overload with bibliography.

For some years, there are Scottish conferences in the University of Warsaw organised by prof. Aniela Korzeniowska (had a Scottish mother...) that produce postconference volumes in English, usually published by the Semper publishers, with articles by such names like David Worthington or Waldemar Kowalski, on the old Scottish diaspora.

There are even studies about the Scots language in Poland (Joanna Kopaczyk, now in the University of Glasgow), as found in old municipal books and other documents of Leszno, Krakow or Lublin - so many Scots were there.

I remember examples of Scottish names, Polonised, sometimes easy to guess like Moryson/Morrison, sometimes more confusing like Guttry/Guthrie, even harder, Machldejd/MacLeod, probably borrowed from Gaelic Mac Leoid [Pron. Machkleid] not from Anglicised MacLeod, or completely difficult to guess like a Makalienski, probably from MacLean or MacAilean?? So this is not that easy. Some Lowland Scottish surnames are Germanic in origin and sound German to people who think they must be of German stock, like probably the abovementioned Moryson, Fisher, Czamer/Chalmers. The knowledge of Polish people about this is higher than it used to be some 50 years ago, but still not very high and I suspect also Scots not always know, though people like David Worthington do a lot to change this.

I wish you be successful, tracing your Scottish roots!

 

[Rethel]

If the population growing of Shots, would be the same as Poles,
then today should be some 1-2 mln Shots, 2/3 in the country.
If the grow would be higher, then more.

 

[Tomenable]

There is large literature about Scots in Poland. I am not of Scottish descent but researching both Irish-Polish and Scottish-Polish historical contacts. There are digitised books online, can be found on Archive, cannot post links, from Steauart A.S., Papers relating to the Scots in Poland,1576-1793 (1915) to a single family study, Bulloch's Gordons in Poland. Peter Bajer produced a very interesting book on the Scots in Poland, can be found in some Polish libraries I cannot remember everything now but also do not wish to overload with bibliography.

For some years, there are Scottish conferences in the University of Warsaw organised by prof. Aniela Korzeniowska (had a Scottish mother...) that produce postconference volumes in English, usually published by the Semper publishers, with articles by such names like David Worthington or Waldemar Kowalski, on the old Scottish diaspora.

There are even studies about the Scots language in Poland (Joanna Kopaczyk, now in the University of Glasgow), as found in old municipal books and other documents of Leszno, Krakow or Lublin - so many Scots were there.

I remember examples of Scottish names, Polonised, sometimes easy to guess like Moryson/Morrison, sometimes more confusing like Guttry/Guthrie, even harder, Machldejd/MacLeod, probably borrowed from Gaelic Mac Leoid [Pron. Machkleid] not from Anglicised MacLeod, or completely difficult to guess like a Makalienski, probably from MacLean or MacAilean?? So this is not that easy. Some Lowland Scottish surnames are Germanic in origin and sound German to people who think they must be of German stock, like probably the abovementioned Moryson, Fisher, Czamer/Chalmers. The knowledge of Polish people about this is higher than it used to be some 50 years ago, but still not very high and I suspect also Scots not always know, though people like David Worthington do a lot to change this.

I wish you be successful, tracing your Scottish roots!

Thank you for all this interesting information Kasia!

I ordered Big-Y test for my father, so hopefully this will help in determining whether our Y-DNA is of Scottish origin or not.

But nothing can replace classical genealogy, so we will also try to trace our 'paper trail' tree back into the 1700s and 1600s.

 

[Rethel]

Thank you for all this interesting information Kasia!

I ordered Big-Y test for my father, so hopefully this will help in determining whether our Y-DNA is of Scottish origin or not.

But nothing can replace classical genealogy, so we will also try to trace our 'paper trail' tree back into the 1700s and 1600s.

Yet there is a need for confirmation of the genetic result.
Papers are not enaugh. One DNA result is not enaugh. The
Papers plus confirmed DNA result = surity & modern minimum.

 

[Tomenable]

More about the Scottish Diaspora in Poland:

"Appreciating the bravery of Scottish infantry, King Stefan Batory invited immigrants of this nationality to Poland. With a decree from 1577, he gave them the right to settle in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, to have their own self-governments and judiciary.

He did the same thing as King Casimir III before him in regard to Jews.

Mass emigration of Scottish people to Poland since the 16th century, and especially in the 2nd half of the 16th century and during the 17th century, was caused by many factors - especially of economic and religious nature - writes Waldemar Kowalski in his book "Wielka Imigracja". Overpopulated cities and shortage of fertile soils in their homeland encouraged Scottish people to look for happiness in Poland.

When Scotland was affected by religious wars, many Scottish Catholics took refuge Poland.

At the beginning, mass immigration of Scots to Poland caused hostility of the local population. During the session of the Polish Parliament in 1637, deputy Andrzej Rej demanded immediate deportation of 40,000 Scottish immigrants from Poland.

However, other deputies ignored his demands. (...) Today we no longer remember about that large group of foreigners, comparable in size to the Jewish Diaspora in Poland at that time. Memory faded, because just two generations were enough for the Scots to fully assimilate and melt into the Polish society. It was possible thanks to lack of religious and cultural barriers."

Translated from:

http://wiadomosci.dziennik.pl/histo...polska-demografia-historia-rzad-osadnicy.html