During medieval times the great formative forces of the Roman Empire, Christianity, and the Renaissance, for example, failed to have much impact upon Scotland. By the time their influence reached Scotland, it was with a greatly diminished vigor. These forces had, in most cases, enriched the life of England before they reached Scotland and, when England strove to subjugate her northern neighbor, she came armed, not only with superior might, but with some of the values which go with the development of civilization.
Scotland did not receive all her immigrants through England. In very early times she received a population which may have come originally from the Mediterranean by way of her western coast from France and Spain. From the north-east Scotland was open to access by Scandanavians who crossed open sea to Shetland, Orkney, and Caithness.
Four groups of people composed the inhabitants of ancient Scotland: the Picts, Scots, Britons, and Angles. The union of these four groups took centuries to accomplish. The main factors which promoted this union were:
I. Common background:
- Inhabitants of ancient Scotland:
- Picts: Original inhabitants of the land, an amalgam of people inhabiting extreme north & north-east; mentioned by Rome in 297 AD; spoke P-Celtic, the mother of Welsh, Cornish and Breton tongues, with traces of Gaulish forms.
- Scots: Gaelic-speaking people established in the north of Ireland; they filtered across to the Southern Hebrides and to the mainland from the country that now bears their name; by the 4th century were assailing the Roman province in Britain. Established by the year 500, with a settlement made by Fergus Mor and his two brothers. Fergus Mor's kingdom divided between two grandsons:
- Comgall
- Gabhran: from whom the royal house of Scotland descends. The rock fortress of Dunadd was their capital. They possessed a rudimentary form of Christianity. By the year 843, their king, Kenneth MacAlpin had ascended the throne.
- Britons: Were of Celtic origins and inhabited the Lowlands. They had Roman names in the pedigrees of their chiefs, and some of the people were professedly Christians. They were part of the Romano-Celtic world which survived after the province had lost touch with Rome. To their west was the kingdom of Coel Hen, the original 'Old King Cole'. From him, several princes claim descent. They also claimed a Roman ancestor, Maximus, who took the troops from Britain in 383 to support his bid for the imperial title.
- Angles: Anglo-Saxon, they had established themselves at Bamburgh about the middle of the 6th century, and rapidly extended their power. One of their early kings, Aethelfirth, crushed the southern Princes and opened a way to Solway. Under his successors the Angles continued to push north along the river valleys.
- Political and social structures of Pict, Scot, and Briton were the same:
- tribal kingdoms
- small homesteads inhabited by a kinship group
- Political and social structure of the Angle was basically the same as that of their northern neighbors. They too were organized in small kingdoms; they lived in villages of kin groups.
II. Christianity: The advent of Christianity gave a new cohesion. This came from two sources:
- Romans-Mission of St. Nynia to the Picts. He was a Briton, a Bishop regularly instructed at Rome, who built a church at Candida Casa and from there conducted a mission to the Southern Picts, circa 400 AD.
- Second infusion came from Ireland in 563 by Columba, a churchman of princely descent and founder of two religious houses. His excessive zeal led to civil war and a bloody battle at Cooldrevny. He was exiled along with 12 companions to the Island of Hy. Columba reawakened the dormant Christianity of the Scots, and eventually 'Columban' Christianity spread it's influence through the Western Islands to with the return of the sons of Aethelfrith into Northumbria. The Scottish church did not conform entirely to the Roman way.
III. Rise of Pictland to a position of prominence
IV. Scandinavian attacks:
- Black "Gentiles"...the Danes
- White "Gentiles"...the Norse
V. English pressure
Eventually the system of government became a feudal system. This was based upon the concept that all land belongs to the king, and he leases large provinces to his leading noblemen as 'tenants-in-chief' in return for oath of fealty and a pledge to bring his aid in wartime a stipulated number of knights. The noblemen's land, in turn was divided into smaller estates leased to Knights and Gentlemen in return for service in times of war. Because a Knight was a fighting specialist, he had no time to earn a living, so he was allotted land from which he could draw rent in form of money or kind to defray expenses. He was both the mailed fist of the King and a shield of his subjects. Those lowest on the division of land would also be expected to aid in wartime with shield and spear.
The feudal system was originated among the Franks and perfected in England under William the Conqueror. It was introduced into Scotland by David I in 1124.
The king was the head of the state; and they carefully preserved their genealogies. The actual government of the kingdom fell under the jurisdiction of various officials. Those within the Royal Household were:
- Constable: the chief military officer.
- Marischal: in charge of the cavalry.
- Chamberlain: provided administrative costs from royal rents and feudal dues.
- Chancellor: keeper of royal seal and Crown records; presided over King's chapel.
- Steward: managed the Royal household.
Outside the Royal Household were 'Officers of the Crown' appointed by the king from Earls or Barons:
- Justiciars were local administrative and judicial authorities
- Sheriffs acted as 'Royal Agents' in local districts.
In accordance with customs of their ancestors, a Scottish King was not crowned at the beginning of the reign, but was 'set upon the stone' which, though it came to be at Scone, was alleged to have accompanied the Scots in all their mystical journeying. This stone was sometimes called the 'Fatal Stone' or the 'Stone of Destiny'.
In 1296, after putting down the Scottish rebellion led by John Balliol, the Vassal king, often referred to as toom tabard or "empty coat", the 'Stone of Destiny' upon which generations of Scottish kings had been enthroned, was taken from the abbey church at Scone and delivered to Westminster Abbey. On 28 August 1296 the landowners in Scotland were summoned to Berwick to sign fealty to King Edward I, which was sealed and dubbed the 'Ragmen Roll'. Edward I had achieved his objective by moving cunningly step-by-step to subjugate Scotland and Wales into one kingdom. By removing the Stone of Destiny from Scottish soil, and placing it in the heart of London, he had psychologically removed their royal authority. (Note: The stone was recently returned).
The independence of Scotland was continually under assault by outside forces. Because of the fierceness of the inhabitants of Scotland, the Romans created Hadrian's Wall to hold the Picts to the north. The Norse, Danes and English were constant threats. In 1300 in the Papal bull 'Scimus Fili' delivered to Edward I at Sweetheart Abbey, Pope Boniface admonished him that the kingdom of Scotland was not subject feudally to your ancestors...nor is it to you, acknowledging Scotland's independence from English rule by Rome.
In 1136 David I gave the office of Steward to Walter Fitz-Alan. William I, David's grandson, made this hereditary; thereafter, the Fitz-Alans were known as 'Stewart'. The 6th High Steward married Marjorie, daughter of Robert Bruce, thus began the Stewart succession to the throne.
Bibliography
I A History of Scotland; by JD Mackie; Second Edition-1978, revised and edited by Bruce Lenman and Geoffrey Parker; Dorset Press, New York
II Robert the Bruce, King of the Scots; by Ronald McNair Scott; First American edition-1989; Peter Bedrick Books, New York, by agreement with Canongate Publishing Ltd., Edinburgh
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