The
Eleventh Century...
Year
Event
1005
Malcolm II (r.1005-1034) kills Kenneth III and becomes King.
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1014
Battle of Mortlach, Banffshire - Scots, under Malcolm 2nd defeat the
Danish
Vikings.
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1018
Carham - King Malcolm the 2nd and Owen of Strathclyde defeated the
Northumbrian army on the Tweed.
Battle
of Carham. Scots victorius and Strathclyde is annexed by the Scots.
Malcolm II gains Lothian after defeating the Anglo-Saxon Northumbrians,
with
the help of the King of Strathclyde.
Death
of Owen-the-Bald, King of Strathclyde. Duncan, grandson of Malcolm II
made ruler of Strathclyde.
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1034
Duncan I (r.1034 - 1040)
Duncan, made King of Strathclyde after the battle of Carham, helps
kill his
grandfather Malcolm II and becomes King of a (largely) united
Scotland.
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1040
Macbeth
(r.1040 - 1057)
MacBeth slays Duncan to becomes King of Scotland after Duncan is
heavily
defeated by the English in battle. The Last of the Great Scottish
Kings
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Duncan
I of Scotland, was actually, (as opposed to the more well known
Shakespeare version), an impetuous and spoiled young man whose six
years of kingship brought glory neither to Scotland nor to his family.
Against wise advice, Duncan invaded Northumbria and attacked Durham.
The poorly planned campaign was a total disaster for the Scots and
Duncan was compelled to withdraw. News of his disasterous and
humiliating defeat had preceeded his return to Scotland and in no time
he was faced with a revolt among the lords, particularly from his
cousin MacBeth, Mormaer (or lord) of Moray. In a skirmish at
Bothgouanan, Duncan was slain by MacBeth. Duncan had come to the
throne by a strange set of claims to succession. MacBeth had a much
better claim, as far as strict descent was concerned: so had his wife,
Grauch, who was his cousin. (not unusual in those days). Both MacBeth
and his wife were descended from Kenneth MacAlpin, and the Moray party
were keen to have MacBeth the new ruler of Scotland. Again, reality is
much different from legend, and as you will see, MacBeth was not at
all the same MacBeth portrayed in fiction. Of course I refer, again to
Shakespeare's, excellent,
but inaccurate version "MacBeth" with whom most of us are
familiar. It is a beautiful work of art and fiction, but it is far
from reality and worse, gives a "good" impression of Duncan,
and bad version of MacBeth. Royality murdering each other was, almost
like a game, in all medieval history, and was quite common and even
encouraged among all countries.
Under
MacBeth, north and south Scotland were united and a stable Scottish
kingdom looked likely. MacBeth appears, contrary to popular belief, to
have been a wise monarch who ruled Scotland successfully for seventeen
properous years. Coming to power, (in a time, where differing peoples,
who were trying to adjust to unity at the same time but didn't want to
give up their own ways of life, which were not always compatibale with
those of their neighbours), he organized troops of men to patrol the
wilder countryside and enforce some kind of law and order. An example
of how stable the kingdom was under MacBeth, was that he was able to
make a pilgrimage to Rome in 1050, returned to find his kingdom quiet
and went on to enjoy seven more years of successful rule.
MacBeth
(who had just united Scotland for 17 years) was killed in the year
1057. One of Duncan's sons, Malcolm, (known as Ceanmor or Canmore,
meaning 'big head'), who was brought up in exile in England, raised an
army (with English help), invaded Scotland and reached deep into
Aberdeenshire. At the battle of Lumphanan, he defeated MacBeth, who
was slain in battle, and after some further resistance, he became king
of Scotland, calling himself Malcolm III -- with English help.
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1057 - 1058
Brief Reign of Lulach 'the Fool'.
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1057
Battle of Lumphanan - On 15 August MacBeth was defeated and killed by
Malcolm Canmore.
Malcolm III Canmore (r.1057-93), nicknamed Cean-mor or "Big
Head", slays
Macbeth to eventually become King.
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1066
Scotland
under MacBeth's Successors
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MacBeth was one of the last of the Kings of ancient Scotland. He was
Gaelic speaking as were his predecessors. They represented the old
Pictish and Scottish Kingdom of Kenneth MacAlpin, their ancestor. It
has been said that they were 'Chief of Chief's' in the Clan system.
Until the end of his reign, MacBeth's Kingdom was not involved with
English arms and influence. As mentioned at the end of chapter three,
MacBeth, had he not been defeated by Malcolm III (with English money
and arms) , Scotland almost certainly would have remained a separate
nation and gone in a totally different direction than the way it did
under the new monarch Malcolm III Canmore (big or great head).
However, it was Malcolm III who triumphed, and now Scotland would have
the "English Party" forever, deeply placed in Lowland
beliefs and politics. Scottish, mainly lowland Scotland's, ties to
England would grow deeper and deeper with every passing generation of
Lowland Scot's, and it was from the Lowlands, that the Scots Kings
would rule.
The
Coronation Throne with the Stone of Destiny
Malcolm III Canmore (big head) was the first in a succession of kings
of Scotland, who were under heavy English pressure or favor. Malcolm
III took Scotland from MacBeth with English help, and it was the
beginning of a process whereby Scottish Lords were "bought"
or bribed with money and/or gifts (titles & lands) to promote
English causes in Scotland. As previously mentioned, Malcolm III grew
up in exile in England and spoke English as his primary tongue. He
also visited Normandy, made friends there, and was also under their
influence. The English looked upon Malcolm favorably, not for his
sake, but because it was established English policy to get Scots to
recognise the English as their Overlords by influencing the Kings of
Scotland, and their counselors -- or if that failed, by force. Once
Malcolm was 'firm' on the throne, he forgot many of his
"obligations" to England, and instead made a treaty with
Thorfinn the Mighty, leader of the Northern Vikings in Scotland, in
1059. This, of course, upset English plans greatly. Now Malcolm III
had a powerful ally to the north.
Malcom
was not a wise or consistent leader though, and the treaty dissolved
in time. Instead, he married Margaret, an English Princess who had
taken refuge in Scotland along with her brother Edgar the Aetheling,
after the Norman conquest of England begun in 1066. Most of all
Anglo-Saxon (English) Nobility fled to the Lowlands of Scotland as
safe haven from the Norman invaders. This is the beginning of the
separation of Lowland Scotland and the Highlands and the Isles of
Scotland. But, I'm getting ahead of myself....................
The
Norman Invasion and it's Effect on Scotland
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The
Norman invasion of England was almost as important for Scotland as it
was for England. Henceforth, England and her rulers (now Normans) were
in one way or another to play an even greater part in Scottish
affairs.
Saxons,
Angles from England, sought safe haven from the Normans in Lowland
Scotland. Lowland Scotland, already a mix of Scots, Britons, what was
left of Pictish culture, and now Anglo-Saxons collectively went on to
be known as Scots, but never again the same as the Highland and Isles
Scots. The Lowland and Highland gap, already there, was getting wider
with every generation. English and Norman influences were to make
themselves increasingly felt in the Lowlands.
Under
Malcolm III 'big or great head', and his successors, the foundations
of feudalism were laid, at any rate, in southern Scotland. Malcolm's
English wife Margaret, a saintly and very determined young woman, set
herself to introduce to her husband's court English fashions and
customs. She took the Scottish clergy in hand, much to their dismay,
sought to impose the religious practices prevalent in England,
(Anglo-Saxon England), celibacy, poverty, and so on. Scot's clergy
prior to this had been allowed to marry. Due directly to Margaret
Canmore's influences , Scottish court life assumed a decidely English
tinge, while in the church a system of regular diocesan episcopacy
gradually took shape. Malcolm, being educated and raised since the age
of nine in England, was inclined to share his wife's views and during
his reign shifted the cultural center of his Kingdom southwards into
was had been Anglo-Saxon territory (Lothian area) , only recently
absorbed as a Scottish region, thereby seriously offending the Celtic
north and west.
Malcolm
III, eyeing selfishly his southern neighbors lands in north England,
conducted a series of border raids into Northumberland and Cumberland.
This, of course, provoked a retaliatory response on the part of the
Normans, led by William the Conqueror himself in 1071. William I
invaded Scotland and forced the foolish Malcolm to pay homage to him.
This did quell Malcolm's raids on England........for a while. In 1093
an attack on Northumberland (again) , by Malcolm, was repulsed and
Malcolm III was killed by one of his Norman friends named Morel. Queen
Margaret, for her part, died three days later, piously uttering a
prayer of thanks that "...such sadness should have been sent, to
purify my final moments." She was in due course canonized.
Over
the next three decades, Scotland was in turmiol, ruled over by a
succession of weak, insecure kings. During this pitiful succession of
inadequate kings, the Normans found themselves more and more easy
Overlords of any and all Scots Kings. Normans began to take lands in
lowland Scotland much as they did in Ireland.
Another
weak king took over after the death of King Donald Ban or Bane. This
new king was named Alexander, son of Malcolm III and Margaret. His
sister married the English King, Henry the first, while Alexander I
had himself married to Henry I's daughter, Sibylla. Finally, after an
uneventful reign, Alexander I died and in 1124 his brother David
became King of Scots and had an eventful 30 year reign. David I had
received a Norman education and grew to love Normans and Anglo-Norman
culture. He may have thought they were his friends, but a quote from
Anglo-Norman Noble William of Malmesbury, reveals much; "His
manners were polished from the rust of Scottish barbarity".
On
David I's return to Scotland as king he proceeded to distribute large
estates there amongst his Anglo-Norman friends, such as the de Brus
(the Bruce family), Walter Fitz-Alan, a Breton who became his high
Steward (the ancestor of the Stewart Clan), de Bailleul (the Balliol
family), de Comines (the Comyn family) and many others who thus became
landholders on both sides of the border.
David
I also introduced into the Lowlands a fuedal system of ownership,
founded on a new, French speaking Anglo-Norman aristocracy. Although
they intermarried and eventually merged with the old and rapidly
disappearing, Celtic aristocracy, these new Scots remained for a time
partially Gaelic, save for the south and east of Scotland which now
spoke a primitive form of English, (Lothian English) .
Meanwhile,
in the Highlands of Scotland, a different more patriarchal system
prevailed (based on the ancient clan system), and the King of Scots
writ counted for very little, while in the Isles of western Scotland
and parts of the west mainland, whose Norse-Scot clans, paid no
attention to the King of Scotland, if anyone it was to the king of
Norway.
Norman
Conquest of England begins.
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1069
Marriage of Malcolm Ceanmore (Malcolm III) to Margaret.
(Anglo-Saxon princess
that sought refuge in Scotland).
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1073
Malcolm III Pays homage to William I, after defeat in battle.
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1093
Battle of Alnwick - King Malcolm III or Canmore is killed during
battle on the
13 November. Deaths of both Malcolm and Margaret. Much English
influence
brought to Lowland Scotland by Margaret. (later St. Margaret).
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1093 - 1094
First Reign of Donald Ban or Bane I
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1094 - 1094
Reign of Duncan II
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1094 - 1097
Second Reign of Donald Ban
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1097 - 1107
Reign of Edgar
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1098
Magnus Barefoot claims the Western Isles.
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The Twelfth Century...
_______________________________
Year
Event
1107
Alexander I (r.1107-24)
On the death of Edgar, Scotland becomes disunited. Alexander I becomes
King of Scots, but David I becomes King in Lothian and Strathclyde.
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1124
David
I (r.1124-53)
Unity was restored when, on Alexander's death, David becomes King of
Scots.
His reign is one of the most important in Scotland's history,
extending Scottish
borders to the River Tees, including all of Northumberland. David I
institutes
many administrative changes into Scotland including laws, early
schools and
gives much Scottish land to his Norman friends.
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c.1134
Province of Moray forfeited to (annexed by) the Crown.
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1138
English victory at the Battle of the Standard at Northallerton. The
'Battle of the
Standard', King David I of Scotland defeated and 10,000 Scots killed
by the
Normans.
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1153
Malcolm IV (r.1153-65) crowned.
Rise of Somerled. (Scot-Viking Lord of the Isles and progenitor of
Clan Donald)
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1160
Galloway subjected to the Scottish crown.
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1164
Death of Somerled. (Lord of the Isles).
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1165-1214
Reign of William
I 'The Lion of Scotland'
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1174
William the Lion defeated at Alnwick.
Treaty of Falaise is signed by William
the Lion after losing to the English. Under this treaty, Scotland
would be in debt to England for years.
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1179
Province of Ross subdued by William the Lion (1143-1214).
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1180
Inverness received Charter from William the Lion.
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1189
The Quitclaim of Canterbury.
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1192
Scottish Church becomes a special 'daughter' of the Roman See.
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The
Thirteenth Century...
___________________________
Year
Event
1214
Alexander II (1198-1249) raised to the throne by the Seven Earls of
Scotland.
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1222
Alexander II (1198-1249) conquers Argyll.
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1237
Treaty of York
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1238
Glenmasan MS. written.
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1249
Alexander II dies at Kerrera.
Alexander III crowned (r.1249-86)
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1263
King
Haaken of Norway and his fleet beaten by the Scots at the Battle of
Largs.
Scots win decisive victory and obtain the Hebrides from Norway.
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1266
Treaty of Perth.
The Western Isles (Hebrides) officially annexed by the crown.
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1272
William
Wallace born (approx) in Ellerslie.
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1274
Robert the Bruce born.
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1286
Death of Alexander III by a fall from his horse over a cliff. Scottish
Throne open to
only one child heir.
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1290
Treaty of Birgham: arranges for marriage of Edward I of England's
son to the
"Maid of Norway". Margaret the "Maid of Norway",
Alexander's only heir dies.
Scottish crown is opened to over a dozen claimants.
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1292
John Balliol (r.1292-96)
Edward I of England selects John Balliol as King of Scotland.
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1295
Balliol renews ties with France, leading to the "Auld
Alliance" between Scotland
and France - one of the world's oldest mutual defence treaties.
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1296
Annexation of Scotland by England. Edward I invades Scotland. Scotland's
Coronation Stone - the "Stone
of Destiny" - is stolen by Edward I and taken to Westminster
Abbey
(in London) by the English. Scots are killed in thousands by Edwards
30,000
troops and 5,000 cavalry in Berwick and Dunbar.
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1297
The Emergence of William Wallace - Scottish War of Independence
begins.
William Wallace kills sheriff of Lanark, Hazelrig, and a revoltunder
his command
is begun. In September, Wallace defeats the English forces atStirling
Bridge
and becomes the "Gaurdian of Scotland".
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1298
Battle of Falkirk(I), William Wallace and his army of 12,000 are
defeated by
Edward I of England and his army of 2,500 Heavy horse and about 20,000
foot.
Wallace resigns Gaurdianship, but Scotland now has a sense of
self-identity
apart and distinct from that of England.
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Fourteenth Century...
_____________________________
Year
Event
1305
Edward I's Ordinance for the government of Scotland.
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1305
William Wallace, Scottish Patriot, betrayed and captured by the
English is "hung,
drawn and quartered in a barbarous execution. Wallace's head is
mounted on
London Bridge.
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1306
Robert Bruce murders the John "Red" Comyn at Greyfriar
Abbey, Dumfries.
Coronation of Robert the Bruce at Scone. Reign of Robert I (r.1306-29)
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1307
Three of the Bruce's brothers, Alexander, Nigel and Thomas are
"hanged, drawn
and quartered" by Edward I, exactly as Wallace had been executed
two years
earlier.
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1307
10 May, 1307 Bruce
and Douglas defeat de Valence, the Earl of Pembroke, at
Louden Hill, his first major victory over the English.
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1308
Battle of the pass of Brander.
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1308
Inverurie - King Robert the Bruce defeated Comyn of Buchan and the
English.
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1314
Battle
of Bannockburn (Scots under Robert the Bruce routed the English
led
by Edward II) resulting in Scottish Independence. The Scots with only
500
mounted men, 2,500 spearmen and 5,000 warriors defeat the English and
their army of 25-30,000. It was Englands most severe loss to any army
in their
medieval history.
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1320
The Declaration
of Arbroath is drawn up to recognise Scottish independence
from England. The Pope accepts the Declaration.
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1325
Tarbert Castle (Loch Fyne) built.
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1326
First Scottish Parliament met.
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1328
Treaty
of Northhampton signed between Edward III and Robert I
officially recognising Scottish independence and Robert Bruce as
it's king.
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1329
King Robert the Bruce (Robert I) dies, possibly of leprosy.
Accession of David II. (r.1329-71)
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1332
Second Scottish War of Independence begins.
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1332 Dupplin Moor - Edward Balliol, son of John Balliol, invades
Scotland with English backing. Scots defeated by Edward Balliol.
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1333
Battle of Halidon Hill. Edward the III of England defeats Scots.
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1346
Battle of Neville's Cross. King David II is defeated and captured
by the English.
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1349-50
The Black Death, (Bubonic Plague) begins in Scotland.
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1371
Accession of Robert II, the first of the Stewart Kings to the throne.
Robert II
(the Stewart) reigns (1371-90).
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1388
Battle of Otterburn. Henry Percy "Hotspur" and the English
defeated by the
Scots under James, 2nd earl of Douglas. Henry and Ralph Percy
captured.
Douglas was killed at the battle.
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1390-1406
Reign of Robert III.
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1396
Hugh clan battle at Perth of Chattens, watched by king Robert III
as "entertainment".
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©
1997/98, RMG *
Author/Medieval Historian:
Skyelander@scotlandmail.com
Robert MacCorkill Gunn, HWA