The nine of diamonds it's a damn letter, at least for the Scots . The stories that explain why this is the case refer to the turbulent history of Scotland in the British crown. Below we list the two most well-known legends about it:
- John Dalrymple he allegedly wrote the order that originated the Glencoe Massacre on a card with the 9 of diamonds.
- The order to give no quarter to the Scottish soldiers at the Battle of Culloden Moor was written by the Duke of Cumberland about a 9 of diamonds.
- Other interpretations .
John Dalrymple and the Glencoe Massacre
Thirty-eight members of the MacDonald clan were murdered in cold blood on February 13, 1692 in the Glen Coe Valley area in the Highland or Scottish Highlands. The episode stars John Dalrymple, a Scottish politician who held the post of Secretary of State at the time. On the occasion of the Jacobite Rising advocating the restoration of the House of Stuart, the government of William III of England maintained a policy of surveillance and repression in the Highlands, the pacification of which seemed fundamental for the House of Orange enemy of the Stuarts.
The MacDonald clan was one of the traditionally rebellious in those lands. Under the apology of not having pledged allegiance to King William a total of 38 clan members were killed by guests who had accepted their hospitality . More than forty women and children also died in the open after their homes were burned by crown troops.
It seems that the murders had been planned at the highest political level. John Dalrymple was a loyal servant of the House of Orange and his desire was to secure for King William the throne of Scotland at all costs. The Dalrymple family coat of arms consists of a blue St. Andrew's cross on a yellow background decorated with 9 rhombuses reminiscent of the 9 of diamonds from the French deck.
As Secretary of State Dalrymple had political and military control over affairs in the Highlands and his contempt for the clans that still supported the House of Stuart was known . Although the order for the murders was never written on the back of a letter with the 9th of diamonds. Part of the legend, the design of the Dalrymple family coat of arms and the role of the first Earl in the massacre may be the reason why the 9 of Diamonds is popularly known as the Curse of Scotland.
John Dalrymple resigned from his post in 1695 for his role in the massacre , but remained involved in British politics. His participation in the negotiations on the Treaty of Union between England and Scotland that gave rise to the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 was decisive. Although he died before the Treaty became a reality.
The Battle of Culloden and the Duke of Cumberland
Again a Jacobite rising in 1745 serves as the background to this story. The Battle of Culloden, on April 16, 1746, was the definitive defeat of the Jacobite cause that defended the restoration of the House of Stuart against the supporters of the House of Hanover, the ruling dynasty from 1714 until 1901, when Queen Victoria I died. The Jacobites were mostly Highland Scots. The British army was commanded by Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland and son of the monarch George II. After the battle the duke earned the nickname “the Butcher” .
Once the contest was won the Duke of Cumberland ordered not to give quarter to the Jacobite soldiers, wounded and prisoners who were executed. The repression lasted even weeks after the battle , chasing the survivors. It is said that the Duke came to defiantly enter the city of Inverness, the headquarters of the Jacobites, mounted on horseback and brandishing his bloody sword. Many defenders and sympathizers of the cause were taken prisoner and sent to York and London where indiscriminate executions were carried out.
The Duke of Cumberland did not consider Jacobite soldiers as members of an enemy army but simply as traitors to the crown, for which they deserved the greatest punishment. We are not certain whether the order to execute the Jacobite soldiers was written in a letter with the 9th of diamonds , but has become part of the legend.
Other interpretations
The popular Brewer dictionary of phrases and sayings mentions the game “Pope Joan” which in the nineteenth century was quite popular in Scotland . The name of the game alludes to Pope John VIII, who may actually have been a Pope, who would have hidden her sex to reach the pontificate. Its origin lies in the French card game Nain Jaune , the yellow dwarf. The name may have been mispronounced in English as "Nun Joan" giving rise to the name “Pope Joan”. In the game the card called Pope was the nine of diamonds. The Scottish Presbyterians detested the pope whom they considered the antichrist, hence the name given to the letter.
Other interpretations allude to the fact that the English word curse , damn, it may have actually arisen as corruption of the word cross in reference to the apparent similarity between the rhomboid shape of the diamonds and the St. Andrew's cross that appears on the Scottish flag. During the reign of Mary I of Scotland, Mary Stuart, in the second half of the sixteenth century, nine diamonds were stolen from the royal crown . The Queen then decided that the whole of Scotland would pay for the theft with a special tax, hence the curse
The truth is that it is difficult to know which of the interpretations is the true , for none has been proved beyond a reasonable doubt. However, it is most likely that the denomination contains some kind of historical resentment. Sometimes it is simply referred to the curse of Scotland when you have a bad hand at cards.
