Fitzroy Maclean: Scotland

Polished from the rust of Scottish barbarity

The first written records of Scottish history are to be found in the works of Tacitus, whose father-in-law, Craeus Julius Agricola, invaded what is now southern Scotland with the Ninth Legion in the year ad 81. He established headquarters in Stirling.

Agricola encountered and heavily defeated the native Caledonians under their chieftain Calgacus in a battle at Mons Grapius in eastern Scotland.

But the Romans didn’t really control Scotland. They built the Hadrian Wall. Hadrian itself was in Britain in 121. They also built another wall – Antoine wall. It was built by Lollius Urbicus. The wall was from Forth to Clyde.

Romans left Britain by about 430. Soon barbaric Teuton invaders from across the North Sea, the Angles and Saxsons, had taken over most of what is now England, driving the native Britons westwards into Wales and Cornwall and northwards into Cumbria and Strathclyde.

Scotland was divided between four races. Picts were the strongest. There were also Teutonic Anglo-Saxsons, Britons and the Scots – Celtic race.

Scotland was known as Alba or Alban at the time.

All the races were converted to Christianity. In 562 St. Columba arrived from Ireland and had an important part in Scotland’s history.

From the end of the eighth century onwards the Norsemen began their attack on Scotland.

In the year 843 Kenneth MacAlpin, King of Scots of Dalriada, made himself King of everything north of the Forth. In 1018 his descendant Malcom II’s victory over the Angles at Carham finally brought the Lothians under Scottish rule. Sixteen years later, in 1034, Duncan succeeded his grandfather as King of Scotland.

Malcom III was forced to pay homage to William the Conqueror after the Norman invasion. But the situation was never calm.

After some turbulent time, David, the ninth son of Malcolm III, took the throne. Lowlands were under his rule more controlled, and he introduced some kind of feudal system. Highlands were more independent. And the northern islands were closely connected with Norway.

On David’s death, the throne passed to his eldest grandson, Malcolm IV, a boy of eleven, known to history as the Maiden. King Henry II, Plantagenet, who had finally come to the English throne in 1154, seized the opportunity to send for little Malcolm and force him to return Northumbria to England.

Malcolm was succeeded by his brother Willaim the Lion. He launched an invasion of England and lost. He was placed under feudal subjection to England. On the west and north, the independent chieftains were still fighting against the central government.

William’s son Alexander II succeeded him in 1214. He was a capable ruler. After him came his son Alexander III. He started with raids to the Hebrides. Norway’s king Hakon decided to retaliate in the summer of 1263. After that Hebrides were part of Scotland, and Orkney and Shetland were left for the time being in Norwegian hands. Alexander married Margaret, the daughter of English King Henry III and their daughter Margaret married King Eric of Norway.

Alexander died in 1286. His heir was his grandchild Margaret, the infant daughter of the King of Norway. Edward I Plantagenet of England proposed that Margaret marry his son. Little Queen died in Orkney. The succession was now open to fight for it. Two claimants Robert de Brus or Bruce and John de Bailleul or Balliol.

Edward supported Balliol. He took the throne but at one moment decided to fight against Edward. He lost.

Not for glory, nor riches, nor honour, but only for that liberty

Independence wars in Scotland started. William Wallace was part of that story. Robert Bruce take it over after Wallace death. First, he killed Red John Comyn, other candidates for the throne.

At first, Bruce was defeated. But Edward I died in 1307 and his son Edward II was not the same man as his father.

On the 24^th of June 1314 Bruce won at Bannockburn.

In May 1328 a Treaty of Peace was signed between two countries at Northampton. Scotland was now an independent kingdom.

Bruce died in 1329, his son David was only five. He took the throne as David II. During that time Robert Stewart was the Regent. In David died in 1371, Robert took the throne as Robert II.

Stewarts were not strong kings. During that time strong families like the Douglases in the lowlands, Macdonalds in the north-west, and Macleans their neighbors. James I spent a lot of time in England and his uncle Old Albany ruled as regent. In 1424 James returned to Scotland and in 1425 Albany and his two sons were arrested and executed.

James III was next in line, but Scotland was still ruled mainly by regents.

They spend all their time in wars and when there is no war, they fight one another

James IV was to prove the ablest and most popular of all the Stewart kings.

In the Highlands, the clans were still strong. In Gaelic clan meant children.

Buachaille nan Eileanan was the Gaelic title of the Macdonald chiefs, the Sheperd of the Isles.

The clans did not only fight the king, they fought between themselves even more. One such battle was the Battle of the Bloody Bay of Mull in 1480. In the beginning of the 16^th century James was finally able to win over the clans.

James was also married to Margaret Tudor, daughter of Henry VII.

In 1513 a European war was on. James faced Henry VIII. Scots lost at the Battle near Flodden Edge. James V new king was still young. Regent Queen Margaret married Earl of Angus and he took over regency.

When James finally took over, it was not easy or without opposition. He lost the battle against England at Solway Moss.

His daughter was Marry Queen of Scots. She took the throne in 1542. Henry VIII invade Scotland. He was supported by Angus Og’s son, Donald Dubh, Black Donald of the Isles.

In Scotland, the Church was immensely rich, controlling considerably more than half the national wealth.

One of the protagonists of Protestantism in Scotland was Patrick Hamilton. Even more important was Father John Knox. Young priest with a black beard and a two-handed sword.

Henry VIII supported the protestants, and he offered money to kill Cardinal Beaton. He was murdered in 1546.

John Knox came back to Scotland from France in 1559. The Protestant movement in Scotland was gaining ground.

The year 1560 marked a turning point in Scottish history. In June, Marie de Guise died. Her death removed from the scene a powerful influence on affairs. Early in July the Treaty of Edinburgh recognized Elizabeth as Queen of England and provided for the withdrawal from Scotland, not only of all English, but of all French troops. It also ensured the ultimate victory of Protestantism in Scotland. It also marked the first step toward ultimate union with England.

Mary the Queen returned to Scotland in 1561. She was forced to abdicate in 1567 in favor of her baby son James VI. She was imprisoned by Elizabeth.

The great marriage day of this nation with god

Until 1583 Scotland was again ruled by regents. James was on good terms with Elizabeth (he didn’t protest too strongly when in 1585 Elizabeth executed Mary) and her secretary Robert Cecil. He was still thinking of succeeding her on the English throne.

In 1589 he married Anne of Denmark.

In 1603 Elizabeth died and James was her heir. He was now James I of England. He was now strong enough to even take care of the clans.

He died in 1625, and Charles, son of the Duke of Buckingham, became Charles I the king.

Charles came back to Scotland in 1633 to be crowned. He supported the introduction of the English Prayer Book. He fought Bishop wars in Scotland and he also learned of the fight between King’s forces and those of Parliament in England.

The final result was that Cromwell who was leading parliament forces came to Edinburgh and received a hero’s welcome.

Charles II was the son of Charles I and in his name Scots especially from Highlands tried to fight against England. Cromwell again went to Scotland and both armies met at Worcester in 1651.

Ane end of ane auld sang

Scotland was formally united with England by a Treaty of Union and became part of Cromwell’s Commonwealth. The resulting regime was probably the most efficient and orderly the country had ever experienced.

In 1685 Charles II died and was succeeded by his brother James VII.

In 1688 William of Orange landed in England with an army.

There were those in the Highlands who still remained true to their legitimate monarch. They were known as Jacobites. In 1689 Jacobites won at Killecrankie.

William wanted to push the clans to sign allegiance to him. Two clans didn’t sign. MacDonell of Glengarry and Maclan MacDonald of Glencoe. That led to the massacre of Glencoe.

After William’s death, there was political fighting between the two parliaments, but Scotland lost.

The king over the water

Anne, the daughter of William was succeeded by George of Hanover. He was proclaimed King in Edinburgh in 1714. But the Jacobite now supported James Edward, James VIII and III, son of James VII.

The fighting was on.

George II succeeded George I in 1727, but the situation in Scotland was still tense.

Jacobites now supported the claim of Prince Charles, James VIII’s son. He came to Scotland in 1744. He started his journey to Edinburgh in Glenfinnan. He was successful in winning some battles until 1746. But eventually, he met Cumberland’s army at Culloden. He lost and then went into hiding. From South Uist to Skye. He finally fled to France.

For a that

After Culloden government took care of the Highlands, even pipes were banned.

Union brought some benefits to Scotland. Like infrastructure. Time to build some roads, railways, and canals. Like the one at Forth and Clyde.

At the end of the 18^th century, Scotland had great literature and art life. Rober Burns, Walter Scott, David Hume, Adam Smith, and others.

Scots also took some interest in politics. Scottish Labour Party was established in 1888 by Keir Hardie and R.B. Cunninghame Graham. It was later merged into the British Labour Party.

But there was also the Scottish National Party, created by the merging of two other parties in 1934.

Gaelic speaking dropped to only 95.000 people in 1951.

Scotland has not always been the peaceful, relatively unified country it is now. Nor are the interests of the Highlands and Island, the Central Belt, and the Lowlands necessarily always identical even today.

The settled will of the Scottish people

A new Secretary of State Michael Forsyth brought back the Stone of Destiny, the symbol of Scottish power which had been removed to England by Edward I in 1296.

In 1997 referendum vote for the Scottish parliament was cast.

A new parliament palace was built at Holyrood.

In 1999 the parliament was set up again, the first time after 1707.