When Scotland Was Jewish: DNA Evidence, Archeology, Analysis of Migrations, and Public and Family Records Show Twelfth Century Semitic Roots »

Elizabeth Caldwell Hirschman is a professor of marketing at Rutgers University. Donald N. Yates is the founder of DNA Consulting, a company that specializes in correlating genetic and genealogical information. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The popular image of Scotland is dominated by widely recognized elements of Celtic culture. But could it be that a significant non-Celtic influence on Scotland's history has been largely ignored or unknown for centuries? This book argues just such a case, maintaining that much of Scotland's history and culture from 1100 forward is Jewish. The authors provide evidence that much of the population, including several national heroes, villains, rulers, nobles, traders, merchants, bishops, guild members, burgesses, and ministers, was of Jewish descent. They describe how the ancestors of these persons originated in France and Spain and then made their way to Scotland's shores, moors, burgs and castles from the reign of Malcolm Canmore to the aftermath of the Spanish Inquisition.
It is proposed here that much of the traditional historical account of Scotland rests on fundamental interpretive errors, and that these errors have been perpetuated in order to manufacture and maintain an origin for Scotland that affirms its identity as a Celtic, Christian society. This equation of Scotland with Celtic culture in the popular (and academic) imagination has buried a more accurate and profound understanding of its history.
The authors' wide-ranging research includes examination of census records, archaeological artifacts, castle carvings, cemetery inscriptions, religious seals, coinage, burgess and guild member rolls, noble genealogies, family crests, portraiture, and geographic place names.

Preface     1
The Origins of Scotland     3
DNA and Population Studies: "But Why Do You Think They Were Jewish?"     24
Genealogies of the First Wave of Jewish Families, 1100-1350 C.E.     44
Genealogies of the Second Wave of Jewish Families, 1350-1700 C.E.     71
The Early Jews of France, 700-1200 C.E.     79
When Did Jews Arrive in Scotland?     88
To Scotland's Stirling, Ayr, and Glasgow     97
The Knights Templar, Freemasons and Cabala in Scotland     131
The Judaic Colony at Aberdeen     152
The Religions of Scotland: Did Presbyterianism Have Crypto-Jewish Origins?     192
Jews in the National Consciousness of Scotland: Scott's Ivanhoe     205
Raw Scores for Participants in Melungeon DNA Surname Project     215
Naming and Jewish Priest-Kings     218
Early Jewish Names in France and England     220
Davidic Jewish Genealogies     229
Border Reiver DNA     232
Chapter Notes     233
Bibliography     247
Index     253