Scots in Poland-Lithuania: Pedlars, Merchants and Settlers

Each major claim carries one of three labels. established means supported by primary records, official bodies or several independent reliable sources. shared means the core fact is sound but sources disagree on details, dates or interpretation. traditional means widely repeated but not traceable to a primary or independent source.

Population estimates are uncertain, and the most quoted figures come from travellers who may have exaggerated. Historians have also noted that the word "Scot" in Polish records was sometimes used for pedlars who were not Scottish.

Across the North Sea

established Scotland's east-coast ports had long traded with the Baltic. From the late fifteenth century onward, Scots began settling in Baltic towns such as Danzig (Gdańsk), and from there spread throughout the vast Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Poland-Lithuania offered opportunities for trade, religious toleration for Protestants and a demand for goods and skills.

Pedlars and merchants

established Many Scots worked as pedlars, travelling between villages and fairs with packs of cloth, ribbons, knives and small goods. They were so numerous that Szkot became a common word for a pedlar. Their competition sometimes provoked complaints and restrictions from local merchants. Others became settled merchants, joined town guilds and acquired citizenship.

Communities

established Scots formed brotherhoods to regulate their trade and support their members, and Protestant Scots founded or joined congregations. Some served in Polish armies. The suburbs of Gdańsk called Stare Szkoty ("Old Scotland") and Nowe Szkoty ("New Scotland") take their names from this period. Successful Scots included Aleksander Czamer, born Alexander Chalmers, who served as mayor of Warsaw in the late seventeenth century.

Soldiers and recruiters

established The historians Steve Murdoch and Alexia Grosjean, in Alexander Leslie and the Scottish Generals of the Thirty Years' War (2014), show that Poland-Lithuania also drew on Scotland for soldiers, and that the Scots there were a pool other armies tried to tap. In 1623 a Scot, Robert Stewart, was levying 8,000 men in Scotland for the king of Poland's war against Sweden. Gustav II Adolf protested to James VI and the Privy Council in Edinburgh, pointing out how many Scots lived and served in Sweden with the rights of natives. In 1632 Axel Oxenstierna sent Captain Thomas Hume to recruit 200 Scots from Poland for the Swedish army. In the 1650s Alexander Leslie, Earl of Leven, helped raise a Scottish regiment under his son-in-law William Cranstoun for Sweden's new war against Poland-Lithuania.

How many?

shared In the early seventeenth century, the Scottish traveller William Lithgow claimed there were 30,000 Scottish families in Poland. Modern historians regard this as an exaggeration. The Scottish presence was still large for a small country's emigrants, but the latest research counts thousands of migrants, not tens of thousands.

Assimilation

established By the eighteenth century, migration had slowed, and most Scottish families had become Polish, adopting Polish forms of their names and in many cases Catholicism. Some Polish families still trace their ancestry to Scottish settlers.

Revising the Numbers

shared Steve Murdoch and Esther Mijers, in the Oxford Handbook of Modern Scottish History (2012), summarise the most recent research. Contemporary estimates claimed 30,000 Scottish families in the Commonwealth in 1620–21 and 50,000 by mid-century. Peter Bajer's research revises the number of actual migrants down to five or six thousand across the whole period 1600–1800. Murdoch and Mijers suggest that figures for Poland-Lithuania may need to be cut by up to 85 per cent. The basic mistake, they argue, was to count Polish-born descendants with Scottish surnames as if they were migrants born in Scotland. Maria Bogucka's work on Danzig also suggests that many Scots were substantial merchants rather than humble pedlars.

Migration also peaked earlier than often assumed. Scottish brotherhoods and guilds were in decline by the 1640s. Waldemar Kowalski concludes that mass migration to the Polish Crown had ended by the 1660s, and the Lublin Scots were last mentioned as an identifiable "nation" in 1681. What remained was a large community of ethnic Scots born in Poland. Religion could shape where they settled. In the 1630s, as some Scottish Calvinists feared the Kirk was sliding back towards Rome, a small "plantation" of Protestant Scots settled at Kėdainiai in Lithuania, followed by chain migration. The Scottish oligarchy that ran the town later in the century, however, was largely second-generation.

• The famous claim of 30,000 Scottish families in Poland may overstate actual Scottish-born migrants roughly fivefold or more.
• In Polish, Szkot came to mean a pedlar.
• A Scot became mayor of Warsaw.
• Districts of Gdańsk are called "Old Scotland" and "New Scotland".
• The Scottish Parliament asked Scots in Poland for money in 1651.
• Many Polish families have Scottish ancestry.

• Myth: 30,000 Scottish families lived in Poland. William Lithgow's claim, and a later one of 50,000, are regarded as exaggerations. Peter Bajer's research revises the number of actual migrants down to five or six thousand across 1600–1800, because Polish-born descendants with Scottish surnames were counted as if they were born in Scotland.
• Myth: every "Szkot" in Polish records was a Scot. The word was sometimes used for pedlars who were not Scottish.
• Myth: the Scots in Poland were mostly humble pedlars. Many pedlars did cross the Commonwealth, but Maria Bogucka's work on Danzig suggests that many Scots were substantial merchants.
• Disputed: when Scottish migration peaked. It is often placed in the early seventeenth century, but Scottish brotherhoods and guilds were in decline by the 1640s and Waldemar Kowalski concludes that mass migration to the Polish Crown had ended by the 1660s.