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INTRODUCTION.

PAGE Name of Scotia, or Scotland 1 Ancient extent of the kingdom 2 Physical features of the country 7 Mountain chains 9 The Cheviots 9 The Mounth 10 Drumalban 10 The Grampians 11 The Debateable lands 14 Periods of its history 16 Celtic Scotland 17 Critical examination of authorities necessary 17 Spurious authorities 21 Plan of the work 26

ADVANCE OF THE ROMANS TO THE FIRTHS OF FORTH AND CLYDE.

Early notices of the British Isles 29 B.C. 55. Invasion of Julius Caesar 31 A.D. 43. Formation of province in reign of Claudius 33 A.D. 50. War with the Brigantes 36 A.D. 69. War with the Brigantes renewed 39 A.D. 78. Arrival of Julius Agricola as governor 41 A.D. 79. Second Campaign of Agricola; overruns districts on 43 the Solway A.D. 80. Third summer; ravages to the Tay 45 A.D. 81. Fourth summer; fortifies the isthmus between Forth 46 and Clyde A.D. 82. Fifth summer; visits Argyll and Kintyre 47 A.D. 83-86. Three years' war north of the Forth 48 A.D. 86. Battle of 'Mons Granpius' 52 A.D. 120. Arrival of the Emperor Hadrian, and first Roman 60 wall between the Tyne and the Solway

THE ROMAN PROVINCE IN SCOTLAND.

Ptolemy's description of North Britain 62 The coast 65 The Ebudae 68 The tribes and their towns 70 A.D. 139. First Roman wall between the Forth and Clyde. 76 Establishment of the Roman province in Scotland A.D. 162. Attempt on the province by the natives 79 A.D. 182. Formidable irruption of tribes north of wall 79 repelled by Marcellus Ulpius A.D. 201. Revolt of Caledonii and Maeatae 80 A.D. 204. Division of Roman Britain into two Provinces 81 A.D. 208. Campaign of the Emperor Severus in Britain. 82 Situation of the hostile tribes Roman roads in Scotland 86 Severus's wall 89 A.D. 287. Revolt of Carausius; Britain for ten years 91 independent A.D. 289. Carausius admitted Emperor 92 A.D. 294. Carausius slain by Allectus 93 A.D. 296. Constantius Chlorus recovers Britain 93 A.D. 306. War of Constantius Chlorus against Caledonians and 94 other Picts Division of Roman Britain into four provinces 96 A.D. 360. Province invaded by Picts and Scots 97 A.D. 364. Ravaged by Picts, Scots, Saxons, and Attacotts 98 A.D. 369. Province restored by Theodosius 100 A.D. 383. Revolt by Maximus 104 A.D. 387. Withdrawal of Roman troops from Britain; first 105 devastation of province by Picts and Scots A.D. 396. Repelled by Stilicho, who sends a legion to guard 105 the northern wall A.D. 402. Roman legion withdrawn; second devastation of 106 province A.D. 406. Again repelled by Stilicho, and army restored 107 A.D. 407. Constantine proclaimed Emperor. Withdraws the army 108 from Britain; third devastation by Picts and Scots A.D. 409. Gerontius invites Barbarians to invade empire. 111 Termination of Roman Empire in Britain

BRITAIN AFTER THE ROMANS.

Obscurity of history of Britain after the departure of the 114 Romans Settlement of barbaric tribes in Britain 114 Ignorance of Britain by writers of the sixth century 115 Position of Britain at this time as viewed from Rome 117 The four races in Britain 119 The Britons 120 The Picts 123 The Scots 137 The Saxons 144 War with Octa and Ebissa's colony 152 Kingdom of Bernicia 155 A.D. 573. Battle of Ardderyd 157 A.D. 603. Battle of Degsastane or Dawstane 162

ETHNOLOGY OF BRITAIN

Inquiry into Ethnology of Britain proper at this stage 164 An Iberian or Basque people preceded the Celtic race in 164 Britain and Ireland Ethnologic traditions 170 British traditions 171 Irish traditions 172 Dalriadic legend 184 Pictish legends 185 Saxon legends 189 Languages of Britain 192 Anglic language 193 British language 193 Language of the Scots 193 The Pictish language 194 Evidence derived from topography 212

THE FOUR KINGDOMS.

Result of ethnological inquiry 226 The four kingdoms 227 Scottish kingdom of Dalriada 229 Kingdom of the Picts 230 Kingdom of the Britons of Alclyde 235 Kingdom of Bernicia 236 The Debateable lands 237 Galloway 238 A.D. 606. Death of Aidan, king of Dalriada; Aedilfrid 239 conquers Deira, and expels Aeduin A.D. 617. Battle between Aeduin and Aedilfrid 239 A.D. 627. Battle of Ardcorann between Dalriads and Cruithnigh 241 A.D. 629. Domnall Breac becomes king of Dalriada 242 A.D. 631. Garnaid, son of Wid, succeeds Cinaeth mac Luchtren 242 as king of the Picts A.D. 633. Battle of Haethfeld. Aeduin slain by Caedwalla and 243 Penda A.D. 634. Battle of Hefenfeld. Osuald becomes king of 244 Northumbria A.D. 635. Battle of Seguise, between Garnait, son of Foith, 246 and the family of Nectan A.D. 634. Battle of Calathros, in which Domnall Breac was 247 defeated A.D. 638. Battle of Glenmairison, and siege of Edinburgh 249 A.D. 642. Domnall Breac slain in Strathcarron 250 A.D. 642. Osuald slain in battle by Penda 252 A.D. 642-670. Osuiu, his brother, reigns twenty-eight years 253 Dominion of Angles over Britons, Scots, and Picts 256 A.D. 670. Death of Osuiu, and accession of Ecgfrid his son 260 A.D. 672. Revolt of the Picts 260 A.D. 678. Wilfrid expelled from his diocese 262 Expulsion of Drost, king of the Picts, and accession of 262 Brude, son of Bile A.D. 684. Ireland ravaged by Ecgfrid 264 A.D. 685. Invasion of kingdom of Picts by Ecgfrid; defeat and 265 death at Dunnichen Effect of defeat and death of Ecgfrid 267 Position of Angles and Picts 267 Position of Scots and Britons 271 Contest between Cinel Loarn and Cinel Gabhran 271 Conflict between Dalriads and Britons 273

THE KINGDOM OF SCONE.

State of the four kingdoms in 731 275 Alteration in their relative position 276 Legend of St. Bonifacius 277 A.D. 710. Nectan, son of Derili, conforms to Rome 278 Establishment of Scone as capital 280 The Seven provinces 280 The Coronation Stone 281 A.D. 717. Expulsion of Columban clergy 283 Simultaneous revolution in Dalriada and kingdom of the Picts 286 A.D. 731-761. Aengus mac Fergus, king of the Picts 289 Suppressed century of Dalriadic history 292 Foundation of St. Andrews 296 A.D. 761-763. Bruide mac Fergusa, king of the Picts 299 A.D. 763-775. Ciniod, son of Wredech, king of the Picts 300 A.D. 775-780. Alpin, son of Wroid, king of the Picts 301 A.D. 789-820. Constantin, son of Fergus, king of the Picts 302 Norwegian and Danish pirates 302 A.D. 820-832. Aengus, son of Fergus, king of Fortrenn 305 A.D. 832. Alpin the Scot attacks the Picts, and is slain 306 A.D. 836-839. Eoganan, son of Aengus 307 A.D. 839. Kenneth mac Alpin invades Pictavia 308 A.D. 844. Kenneth mac Alpin becomes king of the Picts 309 The Gallgaidhel 311 Obscurity of this period of the history 314 Causes and nature of revolution which placed Kenneth on the 314 throne of the Picts Where did the Scots come from? 316 What was Kenneth mac Alpin's paternal descent? 321 A.D. 860-864. Donald, son of Alpin, king of the Picts 322 A.D. 863. Constantin, son of Kenneth, king of the Picts 323 A.D. 877-878. Aedh, son of Kenneth, king of the Picts 328 A.D. 878-889. Girig mac Dungaile and Eochodius, son of Run 329

THE KINGDOM OF ALBAN.

A.D. 889-900. Donald, son of Constantin, king of Alban 335 A.D. 900-942. Constantin, son of Aedh, king of Alban 339 A.D. 937. Battle of Brunanburg 352 A.D. 942-954. Malcolm, son of Donald, king of Alban 360 A.D. 945. Cumbria ceded to the Scots 362 A.D. 954-962. Indulph, son of Constantin, king of Alban 365 A.D. 962-967. Dubh, son of Malcolm, king of Alban 366 A.D. 967-971. Cuilean, son of Indulph, king of Alban 367 A.D. 971-995. Kenneth, son of Malcolm, king of Alban 368 A.D. 995-997. Constantin, son of Cuilean, king of Alban 381 A.D. 997-1004. Kenneth, son of Dubh, king of Alban 382

THE KINGDOM OF SCOTIA.

A.D. 1005-1034. Malcolm, son of Kenneth, king of Scotia 384 A.D. 1018. Battle of Carham, and cession of Lothian to the 393 Scots A.D. 1034-1040. Duncan, son of Crinan, and grandson of 399 Malcolm, king of Scotia A.D. 1040-1057. Macbeth, son of Finnlaec, king of Scotia 405 A.D. 1054. Siward, Earl of Northumbria, invades Scotland, 408 and puts Malcolm, son of King Duncan, in possession of Cumbria A.D. 1057-8. Lulach, son of Gilcomgan, king of Scotia 411 A.D. 1057-8-1093. Malcolm, eldest son of King Duncan, king 411 of Scotia Malcolm invades Northumbria five times 417 A.D. 1092. Cumbria south of the Solway Firth wrested from 429 the Scots State of Scotland at King Malcolm's death 432

THE KINGDOM OF SCOTIA PASSES INTO FEUDAL SCOTLAND.

Remains of the Pictish Language 501

ILLUSTRATIVE MAPS.

INTRODUCTION.

The name of Scotia, or Scotland, whether in its Latin or its Saxon form, was not applied to any part of the territory forming the modern kingdom of Scotland till towards the end of the tenth century.

Prior to that period it was comprised in the general appellation of Britannia, or Britain, by which the whole island was designated in contradistinction to that of Hibernia, or Ireland. That part of the island of Britain which is situated to the north of the Firths of Forth and Clyde seems indeed to have been known to the Romans as early as the first century by the distinctive name of Caledonia, and it also appears to have borne from an early period another appellation, the Celtic form of which was Albu, Alba, or Alban, and its Latin form Albania.

The name of Scotia, however, was exclusively appropriated to the island of Ireland, which was emphatically Scotia, the 'patria,' or mother country, of the Scots; and although a colony of that people had established themselves as early as the beginning of the sixth century in the western districts of Scotland, it was not till the tenth century that any part of the present country of Scotland came to be known under that name, nor did it extend over the whole of those districts which formed the later kingdom of the Scots till after the twelfth century.

From the tenth to the twelfth or thirteenth centuries the name of Scotia, gradually superseding the older name of Alban, or Albania, was confined to a district nearly corresponding with that part of the Lowlands of Scotland which is situated on the north of the Firth of Forth. The Scotia of these centuries was bounded on the south by the Firth of Forth; on the north by the Moray Firth and river Spey; on the east by the German Ocean; and on the west by the range of mountains which divides the modern county of Perth from that of Argyll. It excluded Lothian, Strathclyde, and Galloway, on the south; the great province of Moravia, or Moray, and that of Cathanesia, or Caithness, on the north; and the region of Argathelia, or Argyll, on the west.

Subsequently the name of Scotia extended over these districts also, and the kingdom by degrees assumed that compact and united form which it ever afterwards exhibited.

The three propositions--1st, That Scotia, prior to the tenth century, was Ireland, and Ireland alone; 2d, That when applied to Scotland it was considered a new name superinduced upon the older designation of Alban or Albania; and 3d, That the Scotia of the three succeeding centuries was limited to the districts between the Forth, the Spey, and Drumalban,--lie at the very threshold of Scottish history.

The history of the name of a country is generally found to afford a very important clue to the leading features in the history of its population. This is remarkably the case with regard to the history of Scotland, and the facts just indicated in connection with the application of its name at different periods throw light upon the corresponding changes in the race and position of its inhabitants. They point to the fact that, prior to the tenth century, none of the small and independent tribes which originally occupied the country, and are ever the characteristic of an early period in their social history, or of the petty kingdoms which succeeded them, were sufficiently powerful and extended, or predominated sufficiently over the others, to give a general name to the country; and they point to a great change in the population of the country and the relative position of these kingdoms to each other in the tenth century, and to the elevation, by some important revolution, of the race of the Scots over the others, whose territory formed a centre round which the formerly independent petty kingdoms now assumed the form of dependent provinces, and from which an influence and authority proceeded that gradually extended the name of Scotia over the whole of the country, and incorporated its provinces into one compact and co-extensive monarchy.

The great natural features of a country so mountainous and intersected by so many arms of the sea as that of Scotland, seem at all times to have influenced its political divisions and the distribution of the various races in its occupation. The original territories of the savage tribes of Caledonia appear to have differed little from those of the petty kingdoms which succeeded them, and the latter as little from the subsequent provinces of the monarchy. The same great leading boundaries, the same natural defences, are throughout found occupying a similar position and exercising a similar influence upon the internal history of the country, while, amidst the numerous fluctuations and changes which affected the position of the northern tribes towards the southern and more civilised kingdoms of Britain, the two ever showed a tendency to settle down upon the great natural bulwarks of the south of Scotland as their mutual boundary, to which, indeed, the independent position of the northern monarchy in no slight degree owed its existence.

Where the great arm of the western sea forming the Solway Firth contracts the island to a comparatively narrow breadth, not exceeding seventy miles, a natural boundary was thus partially formed, which had its influence at the very dawn of Scottish history; but, if during the occupation of the island by the Romans, who placed their trust more in the artificial protection of a rampart guarded by troops, the comparatively level ground in this contracted part of the country presented facilities for such a construction, the great physical bulwark of the Cheviot Hills had an irresistible attraction to fix the boundary eventually between the Solway and the Tweed, where that chain of hills extending between them proved so effectual a defence to the country along the whole of its range, that every hostile entrance into it was made either at the eastern or the western termination of that mountain chain.

Farther north is the still more remarkable natural boundary where the Eastern and the Western Seas penetrate into the country in the Firths of Forth and Clyde, and approach within a comparatively short distance of each other, separating the northern from the southern regions of Scotland by an isthmus not exceeding thirty-five miles in breadth. This was remarked as early as the first Roman invasion of Scotland, when the historian Tacitus observes that these estuaries almost intersect the country, leaving only a narrow neck of land, and that the northern part formed, as it were, another island.

Proceeding farther north, the great series of the mountain ranges, stretching from the south-west to the north-east, present one continuous barrier, intersected indeed by rivers forming narrow and easily defended passes, but exhibiting the appearance of a mighty wall, which separates a wild and mountainous region from the well-watered and fertile plains and straths on the south and east; and, while the latter have been at all times exposed to the vicissitudes of external revolution, and the greatly more important and radical change from the silent progress of natural colonisation, the recesses of the Highlands have ever proved the shelter and protection of the descendants of the older tribes of the country, and the limit to the advance of a stranger population.

The territory which forms the modern kingdom of Scotland is thus thrown by its leading physical features into three great compartments. First, the districts extending from the Solway, the Cheviots, and the Tweed, on the south, to the Firths of Forth and Clyde on the north; secondly, the low country extending along the east coast from the Forth as far as the Moray Firth, and lying between the sea and the great barrier of the Grampians; and thirdly, the Highland or mountainous region on the north-west.

In each of these great districts natural boundaries are again found exercising their influence on the subordinate political divisions. In the first of these great compartments, the lofty range of the Cheviots, which forms the southern boundary and presents a steep face to the north, extends from the Cheviot Hill on the north-east by Carter Fell to Peel Fell on the south-west; and from thence a range of hills, sometimes included in the general name of the Cheviots, separates the district of Liddesdale from that of Teviotdale, and has its highest point in the centre of this part of the island, in a group of hills termed the Lowthers, where the four great rivers of the Tweed, the Clyde, the Annan, and the Nith, take their rise. From thence it extends westward to Loch Ryan, separating the waters which pour their streams into the Solway Firth from those which flow to the north. From the centre of this range a smaller and less remarkable chain of hills branches off, which, running eastward by Soutra and Lammermoor, end at St. Abb's Head, at the entrance to the Firth of Forth, separating the tributaries of the Tweed from the streams which flow into the Firth of Forth. In the centre of the island, a barren and hilly region divides the districts watered by the rivers flowing into the east sea from those on the west coast.

The same natural boundary which separated the eastern from the western tribes afterwards divided the kingdom of the Strathclyde Britons from that of the Angles; at a subsequent period, the province of Galweia from that of Lodoneia in their most extended sense; and now separates the counties of Lanark, Ayr, and Dumfries from the Lothians and the Merse. Galloway in its limited sense was not more clearly separated by its mountain barrier on the north from Strathclyde, than were the Pictish from the British races by the same chain, and the earlier tribes of the Selgovae and Novantae from the Damnii.

In the other two great compartments situated on the north of the Firths of Forth and Clyde, two great mountain chains and two large rivers formed the principal landmarks in the early history of the social occupation of these districts. These two principal mountain chains were in fact the great central ridges from which the numerous minor chains proceed, and the rivers flow in opposite directions, forming that aggregate of well-watered glens and rocky defiles which characterise the mountain region of Scotland, till its streams, uniting their waters into larger channels, burst forth through the mountain passes, and flow through the more fertile plains of the Lowlands into the German Ocean.

The first of these two great mountain chains was known by the name of the Mounth, and extends in nearly a straight line across the island from the Eastern Sea near Aberdeen to the Western Sea at Fort-William, having in its centre and at its western termination the two highest mountains in Great Britain--Ben-na-muich-dubh and Ben Nevis.

The second great chain, less elevated and massive in its character, but presenting the more picturesque feature of sharp conical summits, crosses the other at right angles, running north and south, and forming the backbone of Scotland--the great wind and water shear, which separates the eastern from the western districts, and the rivers flowing into the German Ocean from those which pour their waters into the Western Sea. It is termed in the early records of Scottish history Dorsum Britanniae, or Drumalban--the dorsal ridge or backbone of Scotland. It commences in Dumbartonshire, and forms the great separating ridge between the eastern and western waters from south to north, till it terminates in the Ord of Caithness.

These two mountain chains--the Mounth and Drumalban, the one running east and west, the other south and north, and intersecting each other--thus divided the country north of the Firths of Forth and Clyde into four great districts, two extending along the east coast, and two along the west, while each of the two eastern and western divisions were separated from each other by the Mounth. The two eastern divisions are watered by the two great rivers of the Tay and the Spey and their tributaries, the one flowing south and the other north from these mountain chains. The two western divisions are intersected by those arms of the sea or lochs, which form so peculiar a feature in the West Highlands.

The lesser mountain ridges which proceed on either side of the Mounth, and separate the various streams which flow into the two great rivers from each other, terminate as the waters enter the plains of the Lowlands, and present the appearance of a great barrier stretching obliquely across each of the two eastern districts and separating the mountain region from the plain; but, although this great barrier has an appearance as if it were a continuous mountain range, and is usually so considered, it is not so in reality, but is formed by the termination of these numerous lesser ridges, and is intersected by the great rivers and their tributaries. This great barrier forms what was subsequently termed the Highland line, and that part of it which extends across the south-eastern district from Loch Lomond to the eastern termination of the Mounth was known under the general but loosely applied name of the Grampians.

Within is a wild and mountainous region full of the most picturesque beauty which the ever-varied combination of mountain, rock, and stream can afford, but adapted only for pasture and hunting, and for the occupation of a people still in the early stage of pastoral and warlike life; while every stream which forces its way from its recesses through this terminating range forms a pass into the interior capable of being easily defended.

Throughout the early history of Scotland these great mountain chains and rivers have always formed important landmarks of the country. If the Mounth is now known as the range of hills which separate the more southern counties of Kincardine, Forfar, and Perth from those of Aberdeen and Inverness on the north, it was not less known to the Venerable Bede, in the eighth century, as the steep and rugged mountains which separate the provinces of the southern from those of the northern Picts. If Drumalban now separates the county of Argyll from that of Perth, it formed equally in the eleventh century the mountain range which separated Arregaithel from Scotia, and at an earlier period the boundary between the Picts and the Scots of Dalriada.

The river Spey, which now separates the counties of Aberdeen and Banff from those of Moray and Nairn, was for three centuries the boundary between Scotia, or Scotland proper, and Moravia, or the great province of Moray. The Tay, which separates the districts of Stratherne and Gowry, formed for half a century the limit of the Anglic conquests in the territory of the Picts, and at the very dawn of our history interposed as formidable a barrier to the progress of the Roman arms. The Forth, which for three centuries was the southern boundary of Scotia, or Scotland proper, during the previous centuries separated the Pictish from the British population.

The tract of country in which the frontiers of several independent kingdoms, or the territories in the occupation of tribes of different race, meet, usually forms a species of debateable land, and the transactions which take place within its limits afford in general a key to much of their relative history. Such were the districts extending from the river Tay to the minor range of the Pentland hills and the river Esk, which flows into the Firth of Forth on the south. These districts fall naturally into three divisions. The region extending from the Tay to the river Forth, and containing part of Perthshire, was included in that part of the country to which the name of Alban, and afterwards that of Scotia, was given. The central district between the rivers Forth and Carron consisted of the whole of Stirlingshire and part of Dumbartonshire, and belonged more properly to Strathclyde. The region extending from the Carron to the Pentlands and the river Esk on the south comprised the counties of West and Mid Lothian, and was attached to Northumbria; but all three may be viewed as outlying districts, having a mixed population contributed by the neighbouring races.

Situated in the heart of Scotland, and having around it tribes of different races, and subsequently the four kingdoms of the Picts, the Scots, the Angles, and the Britons, surpassing the other districts in fertility, and possessing those rich carses which are still distinguished as the finest agricultural districts of Scotland, this region was coveted as the chief prize alike by the invaders and the native tribes. The scene of the principal Roman campaigns, it appears throughout the entire course of Scottish history as the main battlefield of contending races and struggling influences. Roman and Barbarian, Gael and Cymry, Scot and Angle, contended for its occupation, and within its limits is formed the ever-shifting boundary between the petty northern kingdoms, till in the memorable ninth century a monarchy was established, of which the founder was a Scot, the chief seat Scone, and that revolution was accomplished, which it is difficult to say whether it was more civil or ecclesiastical in its character, but which finally established the supremacy of the Scottish people over the different races in the country, and led to their gradual combination and more intimate union in the subsequent kingdom of Scotland. The kingdom of the Scots soon extended itself over these central plains. Its monarchs usually had their residence within its limits, and the capital, which had at first been Scone, on the left bank of the Tay, eventually became established at Edinburgh, within a few miles of its southern boundary.

During the few succeeding centuries of Scottish rule, after the establishment of the Scottish monarchy in the ninth century, it remained limited to the districts bounded by the Forth on the south, the mountain chain called Drumalban on the west, and the Spey on the north. The Scots had rapidly extended their power and influence over the native tribes within these limits; but beyond them they held an uncertain authority over wild and semi-independent nations, nominally dependencies of the kingdom, but in reality neither owning its authority nor adopting its name.

It was by slow degrees that the peoples beyond these limits were first subjugated and then amalgamated with the original Scottish kingdom; and it was not till the middle of the thirteenth century, when the annexation of the Western Isles by Alexander the Third finally completed the territorial acquisitions of the monarchy, that its name and authority became co-extensive with the utmost limits of the country, and Scotland was consolidated in its utmost extent of territory into one kingdom.

The early history of Scotland thus presents itself to the historian in five distinct periods, each possessing a character peculiar to itself.

During the first period of three centuries and a half the native tribes of Scotland were under the influence of the Roman power, at one time struggling for independent existence, at another subject to their authority, and awaking to those impressions of civilisation and of social organisation, the fruits of which they subsequently displayed.

A period of rather longer duration succeeded to the Roman rule, in which the native and foreign races in the country first struggled for the succession to their dominant authority in the island, and then contended among themselves for the possession of its fairest portions.

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