Robbie the Pict

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Robbie the Pict, also known as Brian Robertson (born 1948) is a Scottish campaigner and former Scottish Parliamentary candidate for the Highlands and Islands.

Contents

Pictish Free State

Robertson gained exposure as the leader of the Micronation of the Pictish Free State, established in 1977 as a means of promoting awareness of the Pictish culture. He was also a leading figure in the ultimately successful campaign to abolish the toll on the Skye Bridge during which he argued that the legal paperwork for the tolls was incomplete, and that consequently the tolls themselves were illegal. The toll was finally abolished in 2004 after the government bought the bridge from its private owners. [1] Robbie the Pict also appealed unsuccessfully to Prince Charles to help overturn the criminal convictions of those who had been prosecuted for refusing to pay the toll. [2]

The Pictish Free State was a micronation initiative started by Robbie the Pict in 1977. Apparently created to further knowledge of Pictish culture, Robertson started the project with one acre of his own land on the Isle of Skye. Since then the Pictish Free State has grown to over 1,000 acres (400 hectares) through supporters donations. Robbie, under 'Pictish High Commission' auspices, has in the past been in conflict with HM Government over his use of Pictish diplomatic registration plates and non-compliance with UK laws. [3]

Asylum and EU parliament candidacy

For a time in the early 1990s Robbie was to be found in Tallinn, Estonia where he sought political asylum. Robbie ultimately felt that he had been undermined by the influence of MI6 on the serving Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Trivimi Velliste, to prevent a scenario of his being created a cause célèbre by the official granting of political asylum status - Robbie held, and still holds the belief, that Velliste's Soviet past cast a shadow on his ability to escape compromise by informed intelligence services.

Robertson was a candidate for Member of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, standing as additional member for the Highlands and Islands. He received 1,151 votes, securing 0.57% of the vote.

Speed cameras challenges

In 2006 he launched another campaign to have traffic light surveillance cameras declared illegal on the grounds that they have not been formally approved by Parliament. He was convicted in Nottingham of running through a red light. [4] In April 2009 his appeal to the High Court in London was rejected. [5]

In May 2009 he lost a test case in the Scottish Court of Criminal Appeal challenging the legality of speed cameras. [6]

Related Research Articles

Kenneth MacAlpin King of the Picts

Kenneth MacAlpin or Kenneth I was King of Dál Riada (841–850), King of the Picts (843–858), and the King of Alba (843–858). He inherited the throne of Dál Riada from his father Alpín mac Echdach, founder of the Alpínid dynasty. Kenneth I conquered the kingdom of the Picts in 843–850 and began a campaign to seize all of Scotland and assimilate the Picts, for which he was posthumously nicknamed An Ferbasach. Forteviot became the capital of his kingdom, and he also fought the Britons of the Kingdom of Strathclyde and the invading Vikings from Scandinavia. Kenneth also relocated relics including the Stone of Scone from an abandoned abbey on Iona to his new domain.

Picts Ancient and medieval tribal confederation in northern Britain

The Picts were a group of peoples who lived in what is now northern and eastern Scotland during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and what their culture was like can be inferred from early medieval texts and Pictish stones. Their Latin name, Picti, appears in written records from the 3rd to the 10th century. Early medieval sources report the existence of a distinct Pictish language, which today is believed to have been an Insular Celtic language, closely related to the Brittonic spoken by the Britons who lived to the south.

Scottish Gaelic Goidelic Celtic language of Scotland

Scottish Gaelic, also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as both Irish and Manx, developed out of Old Irish. It became a distinct spoken language sometime in the 13th century in the Middle Irish period, although a common literary language was shared by Gaels in both Ireland and Scotland down to the 16th century. Most of modern Scotland was once Gaelic-speaking, as evidenced especially by Gaelic-language place names.

Dál Riata Gaelic overkingdom that included parts of western Scotland and northeastern Ulster in Ireland

Dál Riata or Dál Riada was a Gaelic kingdom that encompassed the western seaboard of Scotland and the north-eastern corner of Ireland, on each side of the North Channel. At its height in the 6th and 7th centuries, it covered what is now Argyll in Scotland and part of County Antrim in Northern Ireland. After a period of expansion, Dál Riata eventually became associated with the Gaelic Kingdom of Alba.

Highland (council area) Council area of Scotland

Highland is a council area in the Scottish Highlands and is the largest local government area in the United Kingdom. It was the 7th most populous council area in Scotland at the 2011 census. It shares borders with the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Argyll and Bute, Moray and Perth and Kinross. Their councils, and those of Angus and Stirling, also have areas of the Scottish Highlands within their administrative boundaries.

Inner Hebrides Archipelago off the west coast of mainland Scotland

The Inner Hebrides is an archipelago off the west coast of mainland Scotland, to the south east of the Outer Hebrides. Together these two island chains form the Hebrides, which experience a mild oceanic climate. The Inner Hebrides comprise 35 inhabited islands as well as 44 uninhabited islands with an area greater than 30 hectares. Skye, Mull, and Islay are the three largest, and also have the highest populations. The main commercial activities are tourism, crofting, fishing and whisky distilling. In modern times the Inner Hebrides have formed part of two separate local government jurisdictions, one to the north and the other to the south. Together, the islands have an area of about 4,130 km2 (1,594 sq mi), and had a population of 18,948 in 2011. The population density is therefore about 4.6 inhabitants per square kilometre.

Pictish is the extinct language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited number of geographical and personal names found on monuments and the contemporary records in the area controlled by the kingdoms of the Picts, dating to the early medieval period. Such evidence, however, may point to the language being an Insular Celtic language related to the Brittonic language spoken prior to Anglo-Saxon settlement in what is now southern Scotland, England, and Wales, but this is contested.

Lochaber

Lochaber is a name applied to areas of the Scottish Highlands. Historically, it was a provincial lordship consisting of the parishes of Kilmallie and Kilmonivaig, as they were before being reduced in extent by the creation of Quoad Sacra parishes in the 19th century; this Lochaber extended from the Northern shore of Loch Leven, a district called Nether Lochaber, to beyond Spean Bridge and Roybridge, which area is known as Brae Lochaber or Braigh Loch Abar in Gaelic. Lochaber is now also used to refer to a much wider area, one of the 16 ward management areas of the Highland Council of Scotland and one of eight former local government districts of the two-tier Highland region. The main town of Lochaber is Fort William.

Atholl

Atholl or Athole is a large historical division in the Scottish Highlands, bordering Marr, Badenoch, Lochaber, Breadalbane, Strathearn, Perth, and Gowrie. Historically it was a Pictish kingdom, becoming one of the original provinces of the Kingdom of Alba before being incorporated into the sheriffdom and later county of Perthshire. Today it forms the northern part of Perth and Kinross, Scotland.

Skye Bridge Bridge connecting the Isle of Skye to the island of Eilean Bàn, Scotland

The Skye Bridge is a road bridge over Loch Alsh, Scotland, connecting the Isle of Skye to the island of Eilean Bàn. The name is also used for the whole Skye Crossing, which further connects Eilean Bàn to the mainland across the Carrich Viaduct. The crossing forms part of the A87.

Kyle of Lochalsh Human settlement in Scotland

Kyle of Lochalsh is a village in the historic county of Ross-shire on the northwest coast of Scotland, located around 55 miles (90 km) west-southwest of Inverness. It is located on the Lochalsh peninsula, at the entrance to Loch Alsh, opposite the village of Kyleakin on the Isle of Skye. A ferry used to connect the two villages until it was replaced by the Skye Bridge, about a mile (2 km) to the west, in 1995.

John Farquhar Munro

John Farquhar Munro was a Scottish Liberal Democrat politician. He was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Ross, Skye and Inverness West from 1999 until his retirement in 2011.

Pictish stone Monuments erected by early Scottish tribes

A Pictish stone is a type of monumental stele, generally carved or incised with symbols or designs. A few have ogham inscriptions. Located in Scotland, mostly north of the Clyde-Forth line and on the Eastern side of the country, these stones are the most visible remaining evidence of the Picts and are thought to date from the 6th to 9th century, a period during which the Picts became Christianized. The earlier stones have no parallels from the rest of the British Isles, but the later forms are variations within a wider Insular tradition of monumental stones such as high crosses. About 350 objects classified as Pictish stones have survived, the earlier examples of which holding by far the greatest number of surviving examples of the mysterious symbols, which have long intrigued scholars.

Bridei III King of the Picts from 672 to 693

King Bridei III (616/628?–693) was king of the Picts from 672 until 693.

Scotland in the Early Middle Ages Overview of Scotland in the Early Middle Ages

Scotland was divided into a series of kingdoms in the early Middle Ages, i.e. between the end of Roman authority in southern and central Britain from around 400 CE and the rise of the kingdom of Alba in 900 CE. Of these, the four most important to emerge were the Picts, the Gaels of Dál Riata, the Britons of Alt Clut, and the Anglian kingdom of Bernicia. After the arrival of the Vikings in the late 8th century, Scandinavian rulers and colonies were established on the islands and along parts of the coasts. In the 9th century, the House of Alpin combined the lands of the Scots and Picts to form a single kingdom which constituted the basis of the kingdom of Scotland.

Dunnichen Village in Angus, Scotland

Dunnichen is a small village in Angus, Scotland, situated between Letham and Forfar. It is close to Dunnichen Hill, at which the Battle of Dun Nechtain is popularly believed to have been fought. The church is part of the parish of Letham, Dunnichen and Kirkden.

Isle of Skye Island of the Inner Hebrides, Scotland

The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye, is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated by the Cuillin, the rocky slopes of which provide some of the most dramatic mountain scenery in the country. Although Sgitheanach has been suggested to describe a winged shape, no definitive agreement exists as to the name's origins.

Dunachton Human settlement in Scotland

Dunachton is an estate on the north-west shore of Loch Insh in Badenoch and Strathspey, in the Highlands of Scotland. It occupies land immediately to the north of the A9 road and General Wade's Military Road.

Lochalsh

Lochalsh is a district of mainland Scotland that is currently part of the Highland council area. It is a hilly peninsula that lies between Loch Carron and Loch Alsh. The main settlement is Kyle of Lochalsh, located at the entrance to Loch Alsh, opposite the village of Kyleakin on the adjacent island of Skye. A ferry used to connect the two settlements but was replaced by the Skye Bridge in 1995.

References

  1. Tolls abolished for Skye Bridge, BBC News 21 December 2004
  2. Anti-tolls veteran in prince plea, BBC News 7 January 2009
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 18 January 2010. Retrieved 22 January 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. Campaigner takes on road cameras, BBC News 24 April 2009
  5. Robbie the Pict, R (on the application of) v. Crown Prosecution Service, [2009] EWHC 1176 (Admin), 24 April 2009
  6. 'Robbie the Pict' loses speed camera test case, The Scotsman, 15 May 2009