The history of Scotland to the Middle Ages relates to the period going from dead from Domnall {{Rom|II|2}} in 900 a. J.C with that of the king Alexandre {{Romanian|III|3}} in 1286, which leads indirectly to the wars of independence of Scotland.

With the {{S|X|E}} and 11th centuries, the north of the island of Great Britain knows an increasing domination of the culture Gaelic, and kingdom seigneurial known under the name Gaélique of “Alba”, in Latin “Albania” or “Scotia”, and in English as “a Scotland”. Starting from the east of the Scotland, in an area located at the north of the river Forth, the kingdom takes possession gradually grounds extending more to the south. This kingdom, more largely making Gaelic part of the world, has a flourishing culture.

After the reign of the king David {{Romanian|I|1}} {{er}} at the 12th century, the monarchs Scot is more described like Scoto-Norman S that gaelic, preferring the French Culture with the indigenous Scottish culture. They are established and undertake a kind of “Scottish conquest Norman”. The consequence is the diffusion of institutions and French statutory values. In addition to that, the first cities, called burgh S, appear in the same area, and as they develop, the English means is established. With a certain degree, these developments are compensated by the acquisition of the little by little gaelicized part Viking of the west, and by the Gaélicisation of much of the big families of French population and Anglo-Norman origin , so that the period is closed with what was called a “rebirth Gaelic”, and a Scottish National identity marked. However, it remains much to make to remain in continuity. In 1286, economic developments, institutional, cultural, religious and legislative bring closer Scotland to its continental neighbors English or . The Royaume of Scotland has about the political borders then modern Scotland.

Historiography

The history of Scotland at this period is relatively well studied. New work is published each year (at least with the the United Kingdom), and the field of medieval Scotland is at the same time alive and in evolution. The medievists Scot can generally be gathered in two catégories : celticists and normanists. The first, like David Dumville, Thomas Owen Clancy and Dauvit Broun, carry their studies on the indigenous cultures of the country and often have a linguistic formation in the Celtic Langues. The normanists are interested in the French and Anglo-French cultures such as they were introduced in Scotland after the 11th century. Most eminent of these academics G.W is . S. Barrow, which devoted its life to study the Féodalité in Great Britain and Scotland with the Early middle ages. The debate on the change or the continuity which derives from this division between gaelic and Norman is currently prone to the more sharp discussions. During most of the 20th century, the academics accentuated the importance of the cultural change which took place in Scotland for the period Norman. However, much of historians, such as for example Cynthia Neville or Richard Oram, although not being unaware of the cultural changes, allege that continuity with the culture Gaelic was at least also important.

Origin of the kingdom of Alba

See also: Origins of the kingdom of Alba

For the period of the Roman occupation, the province of Brittany ( Britannia ) extends officially to the Hadrian's Wall. Between this wall and that of Antonin, the Romans maintain a series State-plugs by separating the occupied territory by the Romans from the territory from the Pictes. The development of the “ Pictland ” itself, according to the historical model developed by Peter Heather, is a normal answer to the Roman imperialism. Towards 400, the State-plugs become the kingdom bryttonic of Y Gogledd Hen ( Old North ), and in 900, the kingdom of Pictes is moulted in kingdom Gaelic of Alba.

History and myth of Scotland

At the 10th century, the Scottish elite starts to develop a myth of conquest to explain its gaelicisation, an often known myth under the name of Trahison of MacAlpin, in which Cináed, king of Dál Riata of first half of the 9th century is supposed to have destroyed Pictes and to have founded Alba. The oldest versions include the life of Saint Cathróe of Metz and of the royal Généalogie S make go up their origins with Fergus Mór. During the reign of Máel Coluim {{Romanian|III|3}}, the Duan Albanach ( Song of Scots ) registered the myth in the poetic tradition Gaelic. With the {{Romanian|XIII|13}} {{E}} and 14th centuries, these traditions mythical are incorporated in now called documents Manuscrit of Poppleton and declaration of Arbroath . These traditions remain anchored until the beginning of the modern period and with the delà ; even the king Jacques {{Romanian|VI|6}} of Scotland (Jacques I|1 er of England) made go up its origin with Fergus, stating in its own words, which he was “a spouted out monarch of the line of Fergus”.

However, the modern historians now start to reject this conceptualization of the Scottish origins. Aucunes contemporary sources does not mention this conquest. Moreover, the gaelicisation of the Pictland was a long process former to Cináed, and is highlighted by the use of the language Gaelic by the Pictes chiefs, the royal patronage of the poets gaelic, the gaelic inscriptions, and the attribution of place names in Gaelic. Although the term king d' Alba appeared only at the beginning of the 10th century, it is possible that it is only one Gaelic translation for Pictland (kingdom of Pictes). This change of identity possibly finds its origin the extinction of the language Picte, although the supposed “scotisation” of the Church picte by Causantín II and the traumatism caused by the invasions Viking S, particularly felt in the center of the kingdom picte of Fortriu, played a part of importance there.

Apart from Alba, the Royaume of Strathclyde in the valley Clyde remains semi-indépendant, just as Gaëls of Argyll and the islands in the west of the Scottish coasts (formerly called Dál Riata). South-east is absorbed by the English Royaume of Bernicie/Northumbrie at the 7th century, while most of the Hébrides, Northern Isles , as well as the sector of Caithness pass under control Viking. The Galloway is subject to also a strong influence of the people Viking, although there no was kingdom unified in this zone.

The kingdom of Alba or Scotia

I|1 I|1 er

The king Domnall {{Romanian|II|2}}, died with the Castle of Dunnottar in 900, is the first man to be called rí Alban ( king d' Alba ) ; this meaning king de Grande-Bretagne or of Scotland, significance of Alba having been fluctuating at that time. All its predecessors indeed carried either the title of king of Pictes , or that of king de Fortriu . This change is such in the gaelic chronicles which he is sometimes regarded as marking the birth of Scotland, although there is no trace of the reign of Domnall {{Rom|II|2}} which can confirm that. Domnall had like nickname dásachtach , term which applies to insane, or, according to Irish law of the time, with a man who is not in possession of his means and consequently without legal culpability. In fact, the long reign (900-942/3) of the successor of Domnall, Causantín is more regarded as the keystone of the formation of the kingdom of the Early middle ages of Alba. In spite of some retreats, it is at the time of its one half-century reign that Scots push back any danger of enlarging of the territory Viking beyond the external Hébrides, of the Northern Isles and of the area of Caithness.

The period ranging between the accession with the throne of Máel Coluim {{Romanian|I|1}} {{er}} and that of Máel Coluim {{Romanian|II|2}} is marked by good relationships with the kings d' Angleterre (then resulting from the Wessex), an intense dynastic disunion interns and, in spite of that, of the relatively successful expansionist policies. In 945, king Máel Coluim receives the Strathclyde of an arrangement with the king Edmond {{Rom|I|1}} {{er}} of England, an event somewhat counterbalanced by a loss of control on the county of Moray. At the time of the reign of the king Idulb (954-962), Scots capture the named fortress the oppidum of Eden , which will become Edinburgh. Their control on the Lothian is reinforced by the victory of Máel Coluim II|2 on the inhabitants of Northumbrie and by the Battle of Carham in 1018. Scots probably have a strong influence on the Royaume of Strathclyde since the end of the 9th century, but the kingdom kept its own sovereigns, and it is not obvious that Scots were always sufficiently strong to impose their authority.

The reign of the king Donnchad {{Romanian|I|1}} {{er}} starting from 1034 is disturbed by military failures. It east demolishes and killed by the Mormaer of Moray, Macbeth, which becomes king in 1040. Macbeth reigns during seventeen years, period during which Scotland knows such a period peace that the king can allow to leave in pilgrimage for Rome. It nevertheless is reversed by Máel Coluim, the son of Donnchad, which eighteen months later overcomes Lulach I {{er}}, son-in-law and successor of Macbeth), to become the king Malcolm {{Rom|III|3}}}.

It is Malcolm {{Rom|III|3}}, and not his/her Donnchad father, who works more to create the dynasty which directs Scotland during the two following centuries. Part of this success lies in the great number of children whom it had - perhaps a dozen at the time of its marriage with Ingebjørg Finnsdottir, resulting from the nobility norroise, then with the princess anglo-Hungarian woman Margaret. However, although his wife is Anglo-Saxon, Malcolm passes the major part of its reign to practice raids of slaves against the English, being added to misfortunes of these people after the conquests Normans. Marianus Scotus tells that “ Gaëls and the French embanked Anglais ; and English were dispersed and died of faim ; and were constrained to eat human flesh ”.

The raids and the attempts at Malcolm to make continue with its descent its claims for the Crown of England cause the interference of the Norman lords of England in the kingdom of Scotland. It Marie thus with the sister of the English applicant to the throne of England, Edgar Ætheling, and gives Anglo-Saxon names to the majority of the newborns of this marriage. In 1080, the king Guillaume {{Romanian|I|1}} {{er}} of England sends his/her son to invade Scotland. Malcolm must be subjected to its authority, giving his/her Donnchad oldest son as an hostage. Malcolm III|3 itself dies at the time of a raid in 1093.

The natural successor of Malcolm is Domnall Bán, his brother, the wire of Malcolm being too young. However, the Norman State sends the son of Malcolm, Donnchad, to direct the kingdom. At the time of the conflict which follows, Donnchad seizes the throne, but according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronique, its English and French partisans are massacred, and Donnchad II|2 itself is killed later in the same year (1094) by the ally of Domnall, Máel Petair de Mearns. However, in 1097, the king d' Angleterre sends another son of Malcolm, Edgar, to seize the kingdom of Scotland again. The death of Domnall Bán follows, which makes safe the access to the throne of Edgar, and follows a period of relative peace then. Reigns of Edgar and its successor Alexandre {{Romanian|I|1}} {{er}} is less known than those their successors. The most notable act of Edgar is to send a camel (or perhaps an elephant) to Muirchertach Ua Briain, then Grand king d' Irlande. When Edgar dies, Alexandre reaches the throne, while his/her young David brother becomes prince of Cumbrie and lord of Lothian.

III|3 III|3

The period going of the accession to the throne of David {{Romanian|I|1}} {{er}} with died of Alexandre {{Romanian|III|3}} is marked by a dependancy of Scotland with respect to England and the relatively good relations with the English kings. The period can also be regarded as that of a great historical transformation falling under a broader phenomenon of “Europeanization of Europe”. In relation with that, this period sees the royal authority being essential successfully through the country. After David I|1 er, and particularly at the time of the reign of Guillaume {{Romanian|I|1}} {{er}}, the kings of Scotland becomes more distant culture of their subjects. As Walter de Coventry brings it back, “the modern kings of Scotland regard as French, by the race, the manners, the language and the culture ; keep only of the French among their guards and their partisans, and reduce Scots to a complete constraint”.

This ambivalence of the kings is, to a certain extent, identical at Scots themselves. Following the capture of Guillaume I|1 er with Alnwick in 1174, Scots are caught some with the small number of French-speaking people and english-speaking among them. Guillaume de Newburgh tells that Scots attack Anglo-Scottish initially within their own army, and Newburgh brings back a repetition of these acts within the Scottish civil sphere. Walter Bower writes a few centuries later on these same events and confirms that “there be pitiful and broad persecution of the English at the same time in Scotland and Galloway”.

The opposition to the kings Scot of the time is sharp. After the revolt of Óengus de Moray, the other resistant ones to the expansion of the kings Scot like Somairle mac Gillai Brigte, Fergus de Galloway, Gilla Brigte de Galloway and Harald Maddadson, shouldered by two other groups called today the MacHeths and the MacWilliams appeared. The latter claim to go down from Donnchad II|2 , by his/her son William fitz Duncan. MacWilliams seem to be rebelled for null another reason that the throne itself. The threat appears so serious that after the defeat of MacWilliams in 1230, the Scottish Crown orders the public execution of the downward last of this line. Here how the Chroniques of Lanerscot described the fate of the last of MacWilliams:

1= the same girl of Mac-Williams, who had left the center of his mother only recently, innocent who it was, was put at death, in the borough of Forfar, on the place of the market, after proclamation of the town crier. Its head was struck against the column of the cross of the market and its brain left there.

Many of these resistant collaborate together and find one supports not only in the gaelic areas of Galloway, Moray, Ross and of Argyll, but also in the East of Scotland. However, at the end of the 12th century, the kings of Scotland acquired the authority and the capacity to attract the lords gaelic outside their control fields in order to do their work, more the most known examples being those of Lochlann de Galloway and Ferchar mac in tSagairt. Moreover, under the reign of Alexandre {{Romanian|III|3}}, Scots are in position to annex the remainder of the Western coast, which they do in 1265 with the Traité of Perth. The conquest of the West, the creation of the Mormaerdom off Carrick in 1186 and the absorption of the seigniory of Galloway after the revolt galwegienne of 1235 indicate that the gaelic number and the proportion of speakers under the authority of the Scottish king increase largely even double during this period known as Normande . They are the Scots and the gaelicized warriors of the new grounds of the west, and the force which they offer, which allow the king Robert {{Rom|I|1}} {{er}} (itself Scoto-Norman gaelicized of Carrick) to gain the Guerres of independence which follow the death of Alexandre III|3 .

Other kingdoms

Geography

During the Early middle ages, the theoretical or political borders of Alba or Scotia do not correspond to those of modern Scotland. The approximation nearest occurs at the end of this period, after the treated of York (1237) and of Perth (1266), which fix the limits of the kingdom of the Scot with respectively England and Norway. However, to in no case these borders do not correspond to the limits actuelles ; the town of Berwick and the island of Man will be lost with the profit of England, whereas the the Orkneys and the the Shetland are regained on Norway.

Until the 13th century, the Scotland term indicates the territory in the north of the river Forth. This is why the historians employ sometimes the term “true Scotland” ( Scotland-proper in English). In the middle of the 13th century, Scotland included then the whole of the territories directed by the kings of Scots, but the old concept of Scotland remains throughout the period.

At legislative and administrative ends, the kingdom of Scots is divided into three, four or five zones : Scotland ( Scotland-proper ) in the north and the south of the Grampians, Lothian, Galloway and later Strathclyde. Just like Scotland, neither Lothian nor Galloway have their current direction. Lothian refers to all the area south-eastern, whose language was the Middle English, and included later a major part of Strathclyde ; it was separated from Scotland by the river Forth. Galloway indicates at the time all the south-western area, and the spoken language was Gaelic there.

To quote the text of the 13th century Of Situ Albania ,

1=Le river which is called as a Scot the Froth , as a British the “Werid” and Romance language the “Scottewatre” which means the water of Scots, which separates the kingdom from Scots of that of the English , and which runs close to Stirling.

In this passage, the Scottish language to which it is refers is in fact of the Moyen Irish, the British being Welsh and the Romance language of the Vieux French, which borrowed the term Scottewatre from the Middle English.

At that time, only a restricted portion of the country is controlled by the crown of Scotland. Much Scot remains under the control of lords gaelic, then, after the 12th century, lords speaking French.

Economy

See also: Economy of Scotland to the Middle Ages

The Scottish saving in then is dominated by the Agriculture and of the exchanges over short distances. One notes an increase in the foreign trade during this period, as well as the realization of exchanges by means of spoils of war. With, the currency replaces the Troc, whereas before the majority of the exchanges are done without the use of metal coins. The majority of the agricultural richnesses of Scotland come from the Pastoralisme rather than of the exploitation of the arable lands. The latter becomes extensive at the time of the period Norman, with disparities géographiques : the plains of south-east are concerned with this change than the heights of the Highlands, the Galloway or the Southern Uplands. According to G.W.S. Barrow, Galloway, “already famous for its breedings, exerted such a pastoralism that it is not obvious that grounds of this area were cultivated durably, except for the coast along Solway”. The average surface used by a stockbreeder was approximately of 26 acres . There exist many evidence showing that the Scot support the pastoralism insofar as the lords gaelic prefer to yield more grounds to the colonists speaking French or means-English, clinging with eagerness to more raised areas, which could have contributed to the division between Highlands and Galloway which takes place at the end of the Middle Ages.

The principal measuring unit in Scotland is the davoch , called arachor in the Lennox. This unit is sometimes known under the name of Scottish ploughgate . In English language of Lothian, that becomes simply the Ploughgate . It is worth 104 acres divided into 4 raths . The cattle, the pig and the cheeses are the foodstuffs most produced, among many others and in particular of the sheep, honey and it beeswax, fish, rye or barley.

Scotland of before David {{Romanian|I|1}} {{er}} does not have really a city, although concentrations of population higher than the average exist around the large monasteries, as with Dunkeld and Saint Andrews, or around the large fortifications. Scotland, Lothian put aside, consists of dispersed hamlets, and does not have villages made up around a core as on the remainder of the continent of Europe. David I|1 er establishes the first burgh S of Scotland, initially in Lothian, zone of the Middle English. David I|1 er recopies almost word for word the charters and the Leges Burgorum (rules defining all the aspects of the life and work in a borough) of the English habits of Newcastle upon the Tyne. The first burghs are Flemish, English, French, and Germains rather than Scottish gaelic. The vocabulary of the burghs is entirely composed of French and Germanic terms. The councils governing each burgh thus called binds doussane , the dozen.

Demography

The number of inhabitants whom Scotland with the Early middle ages counted is unknown. There is no reliable information on this subject before 1755, date on which 1 265 380 people are listed. The estimates give a report on a population ranging between 500 000 and 1 000 000 inhabitants, who is then even more scattered than currently. One can estimate that approximately 60 at 80 % of the population live in the north of the river Forth, and that the remainder is divided between Galloway, Strathclyde and Lothian. The distribution of évêchés and the judges lets suggest a relatively equal distribution of the population between these three zones.

On the linguistic level, the majority of the people living then in Scotland speaks then simply the Gaélique, called “Scottish”, or in Latin, lingua Scotica . The other spoken languages at this times are the Norrois and the English, as well as the cambrien, which disappears at the 10th century. The Picte could survive during this period, but it is not certain. Starting from the accession with the throne of David {{Romanian|I|1}} {{er}}, and perhaps even front, Gaelic ceases being the language used at the royal court.

Starting from its reign and until the wars of independence, the monarchs Scot prefer French with the Scot as prove it the texts of the chronicles of the time, the literature and the translations of administrative documents in French language. English, with French and Flemish becomes the principal languages of the burgh S, which are created under David I|1 er. However, the burghs are according to C.S.W. Barrow “hardly more than of the villages rising with the number of the hundreds more than to that of the thousands” ; the Norman knights are also extremely minority within the population speaking Gaelic, out of Lothian.

Company

Legislation and government

See also: legal Institutions of Scotland to the Middle Ages

The first gaelic treaties of law, which date from the 9th century, reveal a company very attached to the family ties, the statute, the honor and the payment of the fights between the families. The Scottish Common law starts to take form at the end of this period, by mixing the Celtic and gaelic laws with the practices with Anglo-Norman England and the continent. With 12th and 13th centuries a strong continental influence as regards laws is made feel through in particular the Canon law and a certain number of Anglo-Norman practices. The existence of laws at the Gaëls before the 14th century is not always well attested. However, our wide knowledge of the first gaelic laws makes it possible to have an idea of the Scottish laws former to the 14th century. In the first known Scottish legal manuscript, one finds a document named Leges inter Brettos and Scottos which survived in Vieux French, and constitutes almost certainly a translation of a text Gaelic, which however preserves, without translating them, a certain number of legal terms gaelic. Of another more recent medieval texts, written at the same time in Latin and average English, contain a greater number of these terms which are for example slains (old Irish slán or sláinte which means " exemption") and cumherba (of comarba meaning " successor ecclésiastique").

The Judex (pl. judices ) from which the word " comes; juge" in French, represents a continuity post-Norman of old the gaelic loads of the men of law called in English Brehons . The members of the office almost always carried of the names gaelic to north of Forth or in the south-western. The Judices were often royal civils servant who supervised the " cours" baronniales, abbey or others of less importance. However, the principal man of law of the Kingdom of Scots of the period preceding the reign by David was the Justiciar . He has an Anglo-Norman origin, but represented probably a continuity with a former function in Scotland located at the north of Forth. Thus, Mormaer Causantín off Fife is called judex magnus (i.e large Brehon), and it seems that the Justiciarship of Scotia was right an additional Latinization/normanisation of this load. This one resided in the responsibility to supervise the activity and the behavior of the Sheriff royal S and sergeants, to chair the court and to give an account of these activities to the king. There were mainly two Justiciarships , organized according to linguistic borders: the Justiciar of Scotia and that of the Lothian, although Galloway in have also one per periods.

The loads of Justiciar and Judex represent only one mode of justice which the Scottish company knew. In the previous period, the king " déléguait" its capacity with hereditary civils servant such as Mormaers/Earls and Toísechs/Thanes. They were a Gouvernement resting on the gifts (and them loads) which it offered like on an oral law. There existed also popular courts, the comhdhail , as testify some to tens of locality of the east of Scotland. For the period Norman, the sheriffs and to a lesser extent the bishops ( to see low ) became increasingly important. The first made it possible to the king to really manage the royal territory. Under the reign of king David Ier, the royal sheriffs had been established in the middle same of the personal territories of this one with knowing Roxburgh, Scone, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Stirling and Perth. Then, under that of Guillaume Ier, there had to be approximately thirty royal sheriffs, including those of Ayr and Dumfries, key places located on the borders of Galloway - Carrick. Royal control progressed with the increase in the number of sheriffs. Towards the end of the 13th century, sheriffs were established in the west in the vast ones extended such as Wigtown, Kintyre, Skye and Lorne . Thanks to that, the kings Scot of the thirteenth century exerted more control on Scotland than never did it none of their successors of the Middle Ages. The king himself moved, not having a real capital. However, by tradition, all the kings Scot were crowned in Scone by the Mormaers off Strathearn and particularly those of Fife. Although David Ier tried to make of Roxburgh his capital. At the beginning of this period, Forres and Dunkeld seem to have been of the royal residences.

Military organization

After the “conquest Norman” of David Ier, the warriors Scot are divided into two categories. On the one hand those originating in the exercitus Scoticanus (reads. “armed Gaelic”); and in addition those of the exercitus militaris (reads. " army féodale"). The army Gaelic then forms the major part of all the Scottish armies having preceded the time by the Stuart, but in the broader context of the European knighthood (actually French) the feudal part is most prestigious. Scots of origin, like all Europeans of the beginning of the Middle Ages, practice raids of slaves, probably between them. However, the independent source treating of these practices speaks about them only against their neighbors Normands and Anglo-Saxon according to the conquest of England. John Gillingham explains that it is this type of habits which reveals Scots as particularly cruel with the eyes of the French who gave up this type of war for a long time.

As for much of changes having taken place lasting this period, one can make go up the creation of the feudal army to the reign of David Ier, although the French and English knights were somewhat used by its predecessors. The contemporary sources testify well to the pressure that these knights produced. To the Battle of the Standard, Gaels are opposed to the placement of French soldiers in the avant-garde of the royal army. Ailred of Rievaulx allots this opposition to Galwegiens, but it is established that they are especially Scottish Gaèls in a general way, whose spokesperson is Máel Ísu, then the Mormaer de Strathearn and of noble of high ranking within the army.

The advantages of the French military culture are numerous. The French knights use expensive complete armours, while the Scot are “naked” (of armor more than of clothes). They have a heavy cavalry, many weapons such as crossbows and machines of seat, and techniques of fortifications much more sophisticated than those of the Scot. Moreover, their culture, particularly the feudal ideology, made them of vassal faithful, much more dependant on the king because of their foreign origin. In the course of time, the Scot themselves become like the French knights, and those adopt a great number of gaelic practices, so much and so that at the end of the period a syncretic military culture exists in the kingdom. When the feudal army is destroyed with the Bataille of Dunbar (1296), the Scot are once again dependant on the army Gaelic. However, thanks to two centuries of adaptation and to the domination of the Scoto-Norman Robert Bruce, which speaks Gaelic, this army manages to resist the attempts at seizure of the crown of England.

Christianity and the Church

See also: Christianity in medieval Scotland

It is established that at least the north of Great Britain is Christian at the 10th century, except extreme north and Scandinavian west. The independent factors of this conversion of Scotland were the proximity of the Roman province of Britannia already evangelized in the south, and later the diffusion of the church known as Gaelic or Colomba, in which monasteries and seigniories maintained the close links. It is it which propagated at the same time Christianity and Gaelic among the pictes.

Saints

As in all the other Christian countries, one of principal milks Scottish Christendom is the worship of the saints. The saints are the intermediaries between the faithful ordinary one and God. In Scotland located at the north of the Forth, the local saints are either Pictes or Gaéliques. Patron saint of Scottish Gaëls is ColumCille or Colomba (in Latin, reads. dove ). In Strathclyde it is about Saint Kentigern (in Gaelic, reads. Chief of the Lord ) and in Lothian, Holy Cuthbert. Later, because of a confusion between the Latin words Scotia and Scythia, the kings Scot adopt Saint Andrew, a saint who attracts more the Norman newcomers and which related to ambitious are évêché knew under the name of the saint. However, the devotion with Colomba saint is always central at the beginning of the 14th century, when the king Robert Ier at the head advances his armies with the battle of Bannockburn carrying the brecbennoch (or reliquary of Monymusk). Around this same period, a clerk of Inchcolm writes the following Latin poem:

This poem illustrates at the same time the role of the saints, here like representatives of the Scot (or perhaps only of gaelic) to the paradise, and the importance of Colomba saint for the Scottish people.

Monachism

The characteristics of Scottish Christianity lie in a slackened design of the celibacy of the clerks, an intense secularization of the ecclesiastical institutions, and misses it structures diocésaines. In the place of those of bishop and archbishop, the most important loads of the Scottish Church are those of the Abbé S (or coarbs ). Scotland does not know the continental forms of the Monachisme before the end of the 11th century. In the place, the monachism is dominated by the monks called Céli Dé (reads. " vassal of Dieu"), anglicized in Culdees. In a general way these monks are not replaced by new continental monks at the time Norman, but survive, gaining even the protection of the queen Marguerite, however often regarded as hostile with the culture Gaelic. In the diocese of Saint Andre, the foundation of the Céli Die perdure through the period and acquires rights on the election of its bishops. Actually, the monachism Gaelic is alive and develops throughout these Early middle ages. In tens of monasteries, often called testify Schottenklöster, which are based by the monks gaelic on the Scottish continent, and the many monks who are locally regarded as saints, such as Saint Cathróe of Metz.

The monachism of the continental type is introduced for the first time in Scotland by the king Máel Coluim III when he persuades Lanfranc to provide some monks of Canterbury to found a new abbey Bénédictine with Dunfermline (towards 1070). However, the monasteries traditional Benedictines met little success in Scotland vis-a-vis the Augustins or to the orders resulting from the reform from the order Benedictine such as the Cisterciens, Tironiens, Prémontrés and even the monks about Vallis Caulium.

The Ecclesia Scoticana

The Ecclesia Scoticana (reads. Scottish church ) as a system does not have a known starting point, although supposed the Scoticisation of the Church “picte” by Causantín II can constitute one of them. Before the period Norman, Scotland has a structure diocésaine very weak, mainly monastic according to the example of Ireland. But after the Conquest of England, the Archbishop S of Canterbury and York proclaim each one their superiority on the Scottish Church. One needs the pontifical Bulle of Célestin III ( Cum universi ) in 1192 so that it obtains an independent statute, each Scottish archbishop's palace, except Galloway, being indeed declared independent of those of York and Canterbury. However contrary to Ireland which is equipped with four archbishops during this century, Scotland receives any no and all the Ecclesia Scoticana , with the évêchés Scottish one (except Whithorn/Galloway), becomes the “very particular girl of Rome”. The list which follows that of is évêchés of Scotland at the 13th century:

Out of Scotland as such, Glasgow manages to guarantee its existence at the 12th century thanks to a dynamic ecclesiastical community which gains the favors of the kings Scot. Évêché of Whithorn is ressuscity by Fergus, king de Galloway, and Thurstan, Archevêque of York. The islands, under the jurisdiction symbolic system of Trondheim (or sometimes of York), have to them episcopal see with Peel on the island of Man. Lothian does not have a bishop. Their natural suzerain is the bishop of Durham, and this évêché remained important for Lothian, particularly through the worship of Saint Cuthbert.

Culture

Scotland seen from abroad

The Irishmen regard Scotland as a province. Other people see it like an even barbarian absurd place. For Frederic {{Romanian|II|2}} of the Holy roman Empire, Scotland is a ground with the many lakes, and for the Arab , an uninhabited peninsula of the north of the England.

“Which would deny that the Scot are of Barbares ? ” was a question put by the author of Of expugnatione Lyxbonensi ( On the conquest of Lisbon ). One century later, holy Louis would have said to his fils : “I would prefer that Shelled comes from Scotland and control surface the people well, rather than you, my son, does not control it badly”.

For their French or English neighbors speaking, Scots, and especially the Galwégiens, become the barbarians par excellence. After the reign of David I|1 er, this is not true any more for the sovereigns, but the term barbarus is used to describe the Scot, as well as for much of other people of Europe, and this throughout the medieval time. This name of Scots often has fine policies, and much of the most hostile writers are located in zones prone to the raids scots. The French and English accounts on the Bataille of the Standard announce atrocity many made by Scots. For example, Henri de Huntingdon, tells that ils :

1=ouvrirent the expectant mothers, and took the babies not yet born there, they threw the children at the end of their lances, and decapitated the priests on the autels : they cut the head of the crucifixes, and placed them on the trunks of dead at the combat ; and placed the head of dead on the crucifixes. Thus, everywhere where Scots arrived, it was only horror and brutality.

A less hostile image is given by Guibert de Nogent at the time of the First Crusade, when it meets of Scots and that it écrit :

1=Vous would have to see a crowd of Scots, wild on their grounds, but not very quarrelsome people elsewhere, to go down from their marshy grounds, with their naked legs, their capes with long hairs, their purses during their épaules ; their abundant weapons appeared ridiculous to us, but they offered their faith and their devotion as an assistance.

Of many ways, these writings report to us that in the cultural medium frankly, Scots are perceived like foreigners. Moreover, the fact that extravagance does not apply to the new feudal elite means that at the end of the period, the aristocrat scot is regarded as hardly different from the English or French aristocrats.

A popular belief wanted that Scotland was an island, or at least a Péninsule, known under the name of Scotia , Alba ( denied ), or, on the chart of Matthew Paris, called Scotia ultra marina . In fact, it is in this way that the country is drawn in the middle of the 13th century by Matthew Paris. An Italian chart later bracket also this conceptualization in Scotland. The Arab geographer Al-Idrisi division this vision. He says that Scotland est :

1=Contiguë in the island of England and is a long peninsula in the north of the largest island. It is uninhabited and neither city nor village has. Its length is of 150 miles.

Such an observation shows the manner with which Scotland, located at the end of the world, is imagined in the world of the Eurasian Early middle ages.

National identity

During this period, the word Scot is not the term more used by Scots to describe themselves. They employ this word only to be described near foreigners, for whom this word is common. The Scot are called Albanach or Gaidel . They use an ethnic word which connects them in the majority of the inhabitants of Ireland. As pays the author of Of Situ Albania at the beginning of the 13th century:

1=Le name Arregathel means margin of the Scot or Irishman, because all the Scot and the Irishmen are generally called “ Gattheli ”.

Same manner, the English inhabitants or those of the zones speaking the Norrois are dependant on the ethnic level on other areas of Europe. For example, with Melrose, people can recite religious literature in English language. Towards the end of the 12th century, the writer of Lothian Adam off Dryburgh reports that Lothian is “the ground of the English within the kingdom of Scots”.

However, if Scotland has broad ethnic differences, it also has a certain unit exceeding the gaelic, French or Germanic differences. At the end of the period, the Latin, French word or English Scot can indicate any subject of king d' Écosse. The scoto-Norman monarchs and the aristocracy at the same time Gaelic and scoto-Norman belong to what the academics call the “Community of the kingdom” ( Community off the Realm ), in which these ethnic differences are largely of no importance.

See too

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