Scots pioneered Druid-megalith connection in 1520s through French scholarship. By the 1520s, Scots had developed a tradition that prehistoric stone rings were pagan temples This connection came through Scottish students studying in Paris in the 15th and 16th centuries Around 1500, the French began promoting Druids after the Germans claimed them as ancestors
19th-century Welsh nationalists claimed Druids practiced the true original religion of Britain, linking them to Joseph of Arimathea & Glastonbury—while the English divided, many darkening the Druid image. Modern scholarship traces how Druid identity was largely constructed in the 16th-17th centuries, with French antiquarians promoting Druids after German scholars claimed them as ancestors, and Scottish students in Paris bringing these concepts north by the 1520s-1530s.
Key Facts
- By the 1520s, Scots had developed a tradition that prehistoric stone rings were pagan temples
- This connection came through Scottish students studying in Paris in the 15th and 16th centuries
- Around 1500, the French began promoting Druids after the Germans claimed them as ancestors
- In 1525, Scottish students returning from Paris brought the Druid concept to Scotland
- Hector Boisey at University of Aberdeen linked recumbent stone circles to Druids by the 1530s
- Scots continued making this connection for the next 200 years
Related site: Stanton Drew Stone Circles — view location, images, and history on the Ancient Nerds map.
Source: Prof. Ronald Hutton | A History of Megaliths | Megalithomania Conference 2007 | Audio by MegalithomaniaUK