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A HISTORY OF SCOTLAND

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND
(Eibil anU Ecclesiastical
FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE
DEATH OF DAVID I, iijj

HY
DUNCAN KEITH

Folume Jtrat
CIVIL

WILLIAM PATERSON, EDINBURGH
1886

PREFACE.

The object of the author in bringing this work before
the public is to present in a popular form the history and
state of the people of Scotland during a period little
known to any but students of archaeology. Modern his
torians, with the exception of Dr Skene, have passed
lightly over it, stating what is true enough, that there
are no reliable facts to chronicle. But there is a growing
love for the investigation of the mythological and legend
ary history of peoples other than the Hebrew, Greek and
Roman, a feeling that present enigmas may be solved,
and present duties enforced by such an investigation.
The study of the mythology and legends of the peoples
named, forms an integral part of the education even of
the young : why should we neglect our own ancestors,
the Celt and the Teuton ? The boy is father to the man —
if at the present day we receive with reverence or rapture
the childish records of the great names in Literature and
Art, why should we not treasure up all that remains of
the forefathers who gave us the rude outline of our present
institutions in Church and State ?
While making free use of modern works, the author
has taken his facts entirely from the earliest authorities,
and has based his inferences on these facts and on these
alone. He trusts that his readers will treat his work as
an honest attempt to bring before them an important
period in our National History, little known and less
thought of.
Glasgow, 1886.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
THE ROMAN PERIOD. PACE
Early Notices of Britain — Discovered by the Romans — Invasion
of Csesar — Conquests of Agricola — Hadrian and the Roman
Wall— Campaign of Severus — Constantius Chlorus — Con
stantine and his Successors — Condition of the Inhabitants
— Invasion of Northern Tribes and Saxons — Repelled by
Theodosius — Province of Valentia — Renewed Invasions
— Britain abandoned by the Romans — Probable state of
Civilisation, ... . .1-26
CHAPTER II.
LEGENDARY HISTORY.
Legendary History — Origin of Races from Philology — Bede —
Nennius — Geoffrey of Monmouth — Origin of the Britons —
Origin of the Picts from Philology — Legendary Origin of
the Scots — Accounts of Bede — Chronicles of Picts and
Scots, Fordun, etc., ...... 27-44
CHAPTER III.
ORIGIN OF THE TERM SCOT.
Origin of the term Scot ; not mentioned earlier than A.D. 360 ;
originally applied to the Inhabitants of Ireland, and Colon- Is
ists from there— Scots Celts not Teutons— Origin and His-

Vlll CONTENTS. FACE
tory of the Scots— Buchanan's Remarks— Fordun's Ac
count—Irish Account— Historical Value of these Accounts
/ —Early Condition of Ireland— Political Organisation of
Ireland— Carried to Scotland— Colony of Dalriada in Scot
land—Civilisation of the Scots — Danish Invasions — Disas
trous Consequences — Civilisation of the Scots Christian —
Reflections on its Character, . . . . . 45 "^7

CHAPTER IV.
NARRATIVE — FIFTH TO SIXTH CENTURY.
Narrative — Obscurity of the History of the Period — Worthless-
ness of Contemporary Authors — Gildas and Nennius — Bede
the sole Authority — Irruption of Picts on withdrawal of the
Imperial Forces — Struggle in Valentia — Picts, Saxons —
^_ — Angles — Christianity and Heathendom — Arthurian Epic —
Ida the Flamebearer — Strathclyde — Bernicia — The British
Kingdom in Scotland — Rhydderch Hael — Struggles with
the Angles — Annexed to Scotia A.D. 945, . . 68-82
CHAPTER V.
PICTLAND.
Pictland — History unknown previous to A.D. 565 — Brude —
War with Bernicia — Continuous struggle in Northumbria,
Mercia, Deira, Penda, Csedwalla — Oswald King of Ber
nicia — Battle of Denisesburn — Csedwalla slain — Oswald
slain by Penda — Penda slain by Oswy- —Triumph of Chris
tianity — Pictland — Brude — Invasion by Ecgfrid King of
Bernicia, his Defeat and Death — Angles lose their hold of
Southern Scotland — Naitan — Religious Controversies —
Dalriada, Aidan, Columba, Dommall Breac — Battle of
Moyra — Anarchy in Dalriada — Attack by Aengus — Dis
solution of the Kingdom — Northumbria acquires most of
Strathclyde — Kingdom of Fortrenn — Danish Invasions —
Kenneth MacAlpin, ...... S3- 108

CONTENTS. ix
CHAPTER VI.
NORSE INVASIONS. PAGE
Norse Invasions — Extent and Importance of these — High
Character of the Religion, Intellect and Culture of the
Teutons — Iceland and the Sagas — Scandinavia and the
Vikings — the Vikings in Ireland — in Orkney and Shetland
— Norsemen in Scotland — Extent and Influence of the Im
migration — Narrative from Accession of Kenneth — Norse
Invasions — Death of Kenneth — Donald, Constantin—
Norse Invasions — Aed, Eocha, Gregory, . . 109-138

CHAPTER VII.
DONALD FIRST KING OF ALBAN.
Accession of Donald first King of Alban — Contest in the
Northern Districts — Danish Invasion and Death of Donald
— Constantine II. — Danish Invasion — Renovation of the ""
Church — -Cellach first Bishop of Alban — Civil Reforms —
Strathclyde ; Danish Invasions — Relations with England
— Battle of Brunanburg — Ode on the Victory of Athel-
stane — Eric of the Bloody Axe — Constantine retires from
Public Life — Accession of Malcolm, son of Donald — Ces
sion of Strathclyde to Alban— Eric, Gunhilde — Danes of
Northumbria — Indulph — Cession of Edinburgh to Alban —
Dubh's Accession — Cuilean disputes it — Is in the end suc
cessful — Kenneth II. — Cession of Lothian — Constantine —
Kenneth — Malcolm II. — Alban now called Scotia — Mal
colm attacks Bernicia — Makes affinity with the Earl of
Orkney — -Crinan Abbot of Dunkeld — Malcolm invades
England — Cnut invades Scotia — English Claims — Death of {.
Malcolm ; his Character and Policy— A.D. 889-1034, 139-177

x CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VIII.
NARRATIVE— DUNCAN. PAGE
Accession of Duncan — Unsuccessful Invasion of England —
Orkney aad Orcadian History— Turf Einar— Gunhild—
Earl Sigurd — His Conquests— Grim and Helgi — Olaf
Tryggvason conquers Orkney and imposes Christianity —
Death of Sigurd— Thorfinn the Mighty— Arnor his Poet-
King Duncan —Thorfinn — Macbeth — Death of Duncan and
Accession of Macbeth— His Character and Death— Lulach,
a.d. 1034-58, ... . ¦ 178-213

CHAPTER IX.
MALCOLM III. — CANMORE.
Malcolm III. — State of Society — Lineage and Character —
Fixes his residence at Dunfermline — First Invasion of
England — Norman Conquest of England — The Aetheling
and his Sisters take refuge in Scotia — Disturbances in
Northumbria — Malcolm invades England a second time —
He meets Edgar Aetheling and his Sisters — They visit
Scotland — Malcolm is united in Marriage to Margaret —
Her character — Turgot's Life— William invades Scotia —
Peace concluded at Abernethy — Terms of this considered
— Prince Duncan returns with William — Edgar Aetheling
— Reduction of Moray — Third invasion of England — Wil
liam Rufus retaliates — Terms of Peace — Rufus annexes
Cumberland and makes the Solway his frontier — Malcolm
visits William Rufus — Returns and invades England for
the last time — His defeat and death — His character —
Death of Margaret  214-248

CONTENTS. xi
CHAPTER X.
CALAMITOUS EFFECTS OF THE DEATH OF MALCOLM. PAGE
Malcolm's Death a heavy Calamity — Donald Bane made King
— His Title challenged — Duncan's short Reign — Is slain
by the Scots — Donald Bane King a second time — His de
feat and fate — Accession of Edgar son of Malcolm — Expe
dition of Magnus Barefoot — Character and Death of Edgar
— Accession of Alexander — His Character — Northern In
surrection promptly quelled — Death of Alexander — David
I. succeeds and re-unites Lothian and Cumbria — His
Character — Introduces the Feudal system and written
Charters — Northern Insurrection — Quelled — Death of
Henry I. and unfriendly relations with England — Prince
Henry returns with King Stephen, but is soon recalled —
David invades England — Battle of the Standard — Mar
riage of Prince Henry — His untimely Death — Death and
Character of David I. — His Innovations or Creations, 249-277

APPENDIX.

A SHORT HISTORY OF IRELAND, From a.m. 2242
TO A.D 498, . . . . . 281-327

LIST OF WORKS QUOTED OR CITED.

Adamnan's Life of St Columba, by Dr Reeves (Scottish Historians).
Vol. 6. 1874.
Ailred's, St, Life of St Ninian, by Dr Forbes (Scottish Historian).
Vol. 5. 1874.
Annals of the Four Masters. 7 vols. 1851.
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Bohn's Antiquarian Library).
Aytoun's Lays ofthe Scottish Cavaliers. 1853.
Baring-Gould's Old Testament Legends. 2 vols. 1871.
Bede's Ecclesiastical History (Bohn's Antiquarian Library).
Bede's Life of St Cuthbert. 1840.
Bower's Scotochronicon. 1759.
Bruce's Roman Wall. 1853.
Burton's History of Scotland. 9 vols. 1876.
Chronicles ofthe Picts and Scots, by Dr Skene. 1867.
Collectanea de Rebus Albanicis (Iona Club). 1834-46.
Corpus Poetarum Boreale by Vigfusson and Powell. 2 vols. 1883.
Curwen's History of Booksellers. London.
Cusack's, Miss, Life of St Brigit. 1877.
Cusack's, Miss, Life of St Columba. 1877.
Cusack's History ofthe Irish Nation. 1877.
Cusack's Trias Thaumuturga. 1877.
Fielding's Works. 5 vols. 1812.
Forbes' Calendar of Scottish Saints.
Fordun's Chronicle (Scottish Historians). 2 vols. 1872.
Freeman's Norman Conquest. 1877.
Froude's Short Studies on Great Subjects. 2 vols. 1867.
Geoffrey of Monmouth's British History (Bohn's Antiquarian
Library).
Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Bohn's Library).
Gildas' Works (Bohn's Antiquarian Library).
Giraldus Cambrensis (Bohn's Antiquarian Library).
Goethe's Faust, Martin's Translation. 1866.
Green's Short History of the English People. 1874.
Hailes', Lord, Annals. 1819.
Hallam's Literary History. 4 vols. 1864.
Henry of Huntingdon's Chronicle (Bohn's Antiquarian Library).
Herbert's Icelandic Poetry. 1806.
Hollinshead's Scottish Chronicle. 2 vols. 1805.
Innes' (Father) Critical Essay (Scottish Historians). Vol 8. 1879.
Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary. 4 vols. 1808-25.

xiv LIST OF WORKS QUOTED OR CITED.
Joceline's Life of St Kentigern (Scottish Historians. ) Vol. 5. 1874.
Keating's, Geoffrey, History of Ireland. 1841.
Keith's Historical Catalogue of Scottish Bishops. 1824.
Kenrick's Phoenicia. 1855.
Lanigan's Ecclesiastical History of Ireland. 4 vols.
Lecky's History of European Morals. 2 vols 1869.
Lecky's History of Rationalism in Europe. 2 vols. 1866.
Matthew of Westminster's Chronicle (Bohn's Antiquarian Library).
Milman's History of Christianity. 3 vols. 1867.
Milman's History of Latin Christianity. 9 vols. 1867.
Montalembert's Monks of the West. 7 vols. 1861.
Moore's, Thomas, History of Ireland. 4 vols. 1835.
Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, by Soames. 4 vols. 1845.
Miiller's, Max, Science of Language. 2 vols. 1861.
Miiller's, Max, Chips from a German Workshop. 2 vols. 1867.
MacLauchlan's Early Scottish Church. 1865.
Neander's Church History (Bohn's Library).
Nennius' History of the Britons (Bohn's Antiquarian Library).
Old Statistical Account of Scotland.
Ordericus Vitalis (Bohn's Antiquarian Library).
Palgrave's England and Normandy. 1851-57.
Petrie's Round Towers of Ireland. 1845.
Pinkerton's Enquiry into the History of Scotland. 2 vols. 1789.
Prescott's History of Philip II. 3 vols. 1855.
Rawlinson's Herodotus. 4 vols. 1875.
Rees', Cambro, British Saints. 1855.
Reeves' Culdees of the British Islands. 1864.
Rhys', Professor, Celtic Britain. 1882.
Robertson's, E. W., Scotland under her Early Kings. 2 vols.
1862.
Six old English Chronicles (Bohn's Antiquarian Library).
Skene's Celtic Scotland. 3 vols. 1876.
Skene's Four Books of Wales. 2 vols. 1868.
Soames' Anglo-Saxon Church. 1838.
Tennyson's Idylls ofthe King. 1859.
Todd's Life of St Patrick. 1864.
Turgot's Life of Queen Margaret, translated by W. F. Leith. 1884.
Wars of the Gaedhill with the Gaill. 1858.
Warton's History of English Poetry. 4 vols. 1871.
William of Malmesbury's Chronicle (Bohn's Antiquarian Library).
Wilson's Archseology of Scotland. 1851.
Worsse's, the Danes and Northmen. 1852.
Wyntoun's Cronykill (Scottish Historians). 3 vols. 1872.

CIVIL HISTORY

CHAPTER I.
THE ROMAN PERIOD.
Early Notices of Britain — Discovered by the Romans — Invasion of
Csesar — Conquests of Agricola — Hadrian and the Roman Wall —
Campaign of Severus — Constantius Chlorus — Constantine and
his Successors — Condition ofthe Inhabitants — Invasion of Nor
thern Tribes and Saxons — Repelled by Theodosius — Province
of Valentia — Renewed Invasions — Britain abandoned by the
Romans — Probable state of Civilisation.
It is as near as may be an ascertained historical fact,
that the Phoenicians, from their colonies on the west coast
of Spain, were the first to discover the British Isles.
There is no mention of them, however, in the scant litera
ture preserved, the early colonisers of the world, the
prototypes of the Anglo-Saxon, with their usual astute
ness, probably kept the knowledge to themselves. Hero
dotus is very sceptical of the existence of these isles :
'Nor do I know of any islands called the Cassiterides
(Tin Islands), whence the tin comes which we use.'1
These islands were known to the Carthaginians ; one
of whom, Himilco, in the middle of the fourth century,
B.C. 362, 350, left an account ofhis voyage to the north
west coasts of Europe, which was extant in the fourth
century of our era, and from which Festus Avienus, a
writer of that period, drew his information. In this
writer's poetical description of the world he gives the fol
lowing graphic account of the British Isles, in which
our readers will at once recognise the coracle, the well
known boat used by the early Britons and the Scots :
< Beneath this promontory (Cape Finisterre) spreads
the vast GEstrymnian gulph, in which rise out of the sea
the islands CEstrymnides, scattered with wide intervals,
rich in metal of tin and lead. The people are proud,
clever and active, and all engaged in incessant cares
of commerce. They furrow the wide rough strait, and
1 Rawlinson's Herodotus, vol. ii. p. 503.
VOL. I. A

2 THE ROMAN PERIOD.
the ocean abounding in sea monsters, with a new species
of boat. For they know not how to frame keels with
pine or maple, as others use, nor to construct their
curved backs with fir ; but, strange to tell, they always
equip their vessels with skins joined together, and often
traverse the salt sea in a hide of leather. It is two
days' sail hence to the Sacred Island, as the ancients
called it, which spreads a wide space of turf in the midst
of the waters, and is inhabited by the Hibernian people.
Near to this again is the broad island of Albion.'1 From
this and the voyage of Pytheas the Massilian Aristotle,
Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, and Pliny, derived their
knowledge of Britain. But it was7 very scanty, and what
is told us is highly tinged with the marvels of all early
travels. Publius L. Crassus, who conquered the north-west of
Spain about ioo b.c, was the first who showed the
Romans the way to the Cassiterides and Britain, and
from that time commercial intercourse was carried on
with the continent.
But though the name of Albion was known to the
ancients, and a trade in tin carried on between the
Scilly Islands and the coast of Cornwall with Gaul and
Spain, nothing definite was known of the British Isles
and their inhabitants until the invasion of Julius Csesar,
b.c. 55.
Caesar was successful in his two campaigns, but made
no attempt, as in Gaul, to preserve his conquest. As
usual, he gives a description of the country and its in
habitants. He does full justice to the valour of the
Britons ; he tells of the custom of staining their bodies
with woad, and of their use of chariots in battle. The
people of the coast he considered immigrants from Bel
gium, and that they were more civilised than those living
in the interior, who clothed themselves in the skins of
beasts, and subsisted entirely on their cattle and animals
slain in hunting. He also makes a statement which has
been much controverted — that a family of a dozen or so
had their wives in common.
1 Kenrick's Phoenicia, pp. 217, 218.

THE ROMAN PERIOD. 3
During the period of the struggle for the possession
of the empire of Rome, Britain was left to itself, and it
was not till the reign of Claudian, a.d. 43, that its con
quest was attempted and in part effected. During the
intervening period little, we may say nothing, is known ;
it is extremely probable that there would be an active
immigration from Belgic Gaul; and as in all the suc
ceeding immigrations, the strangers would take the lion's
share, and push the original settlers into the less favoured
parts of the island.
The southern portion of Britain, on the west to
the Solway, and on the east to the Tweed, or perhaps
the Forth, was conquered by the Roman arms, under
a succession of able generals, by the time that Julius
Agricola, in a.d. 78, arrived and assumed the civil
and military command. The narrative of the govern
ment and campaigns of Agricola has been told us by
the greatest of Roman, perhaps of ancient, historians.
The two modern historians of Scotland, Burton and
Skene, differ as to its value. Mr Burton thinks that
there is a good deal of the panegyric in it, everything
subservient to its hero. He evidently shares Pinkerton's
opinion : ' Tacitus is -the eagle of history, and keeps
such a sublime tract, that particulars often escape his
notice.' Mr Skene, however, has no such misgivings,
and places the highest value on the life of Agricola. It
is, however, as Mr Burton himself observes, ' the only
distinct account of the wars of the Romans in Scotland,
though they long struggled for the annexation of the
country, and were, perhaps, for 300 years in occupation
of its soil.' 1
Agricola on his arrival subdued North Wales, which
was the only part of south Britain which defied the im
perial arms. The Roman governor then turned his
attention to the internal administration of the province ;
by his wise and just reforms, combined with the institu-
1 Burton's History of Scotland, vol. i. p. 7, ed. 1876. The in
cidents related by Hector Bcece are the products of his own imagi
nation, and, though flattering to our national vanity, are of no
historical value.

4 THE ROMAN PERIOD.
tion of municipal privileges, and a more equitable ad
justment of the taxes, he gained the confidence of the
Britons, and established the Roman power on the basis
of justice and moderation.
In the following year Agricola determined to bring
into subjection the northern tribes, who had either pre
served their independence or had not come into contact
with the Roman power.
The district forming now the northern counties of
England, and the south of Scotland to the Firths of Forth
and Clyde, was inhabited by a warlike nation called
Brigantes, in which we may include the tribes named by
Roman authors, the Selgovae, whose territories were
Dumfries-shire and part of Kirkcudbright ; the Novantae,
Wigtownshire and part of Ayrshire ; the Damnonii, the
north of Ayrshire, Renfrew, Lanark, Linlithgow, and Stir
ling; the Otadeni,the Lothians, Berwickshire, Peebles, and
Northumberland. The Brigantes certainly included also
in their number the most warlike of the Britons of the
south who refused to submit to the Roman arms, and
sullenly retired to the north. In later times they are
termed Mseatas, or middle Britons, and though afterwards
their country was incorporated into a province of the
empire, they were never thoroughly Romanised, and
were the first to throw off the Roman power. This
tribe, or confederacy of tribes, had resisted hitherto the
Roman arms, in many cases successfully, and, though
conquered, in battle, owned a very precarious allegiance
to the imperial power. Pinkerton proves to his entire
satisfaction that the Brigantes were of Gothic extraction,
and that the kindred Saxons who, in a few centuries,
peopled1 their country, were of kindred blood, and spoke
a kindred language.
Agricola, in the second year of his administration,
determined to break the power of this formidable an
tagonist, and to annex the district. In this he was
successful. In a single campaign, by the force or terror
of his arms, the Brigantes were subdued and their country
incorporated into the Roman system, thus bringing the
1 Pinkerton's Inquiry, vol. i. p. 30, ed. 1789.

THE ROMAN PERIOD. 5
whole of the north of England and the south of Scotland, a.d. 78-85.
to the estuaries of the Forth and Clyde, under the im-
perial sway.
Always bent on the conciliation and civilization of
his subjects, Agricola spared no efforts for their improve
ment, and within the space of two years, his biographer
tells us, he had introduced among the natives the Roman
dress, manners, and literature ; he had initiated the
building of temples, of courts of justice, and of baths ;
their dwellings were improved, and they were fast be
coming luxurious and voluptuous Romans. Mr Burton
cynically observes, ' all within the space of two years, a
rather brief period for so great an achievement.' 1
The further north the Romans advanced, the natural
obstacles were greater, and as they found in many cases
iiisurmountable. The conquest of the level portion of
England was comparatively easy, but the whole of Scot
land was, to some extent, as difficult as the mountain
fastnesses of Wales and Cumberland, whither the unsub
dued Britons had retired. The Romans later on felt the
full force of these natural obstacles, and fixed as a bound
ary to the empire the line between the Tyne and the
Solway Firth, where the island is contracted to a space
of about seventy miles. But the Cheviot hills have
furnished a natural boundary which, in after times, became
the march between England and Scotland; the enemy
could only enter Scotland by the level route on either
side of these hills, and they, in any case, were a next to
impregnable refuge.
Agricola, in his first northern campaign, had found the
tribes who disputed his conquest much the same on both
sides of the Cheviots, the resistance that of brave war
riors, the natural obstacles great, but not insuperable.
But when he arrived at another portion of Britain where
the Firths of Forth and Clyde penetrate far into the
1 For the credit of Tacitus we give the following quotation :
' Martial, Ovid, and Propertius speak of their works as being known
all the world over ; that young and old, women and girls, in Rome
and in the provinces, in Britain, and in Gaul, read their verses.' —
Curwen's History of Booksellers, p. II.

6 THE ROMAN PERIOD.
a.d. 78-8S. interior, and the neck of land is contracted to a distance
" of thirty-five miles, he found a different country and a
different people. Their prowess he and his successors
were yet to feel ; but the vast mountain ranges to the
west and north would at once be seen from the Roman
encampment. This country the Romans termed Cale
donia ; but from what native word (if any) they derived
it, it is now impossible to say. The term is not to be
found in the chronicles earlier than the days of Bcece ;
the name of the country in the writings of that time is
Albu, Alba, Alban, Albin.
Before entering on the sketch of Agricola' s campaigns,
it will be necessary shortly to describe the physical fea
tures of the country which successfully defied the im
perial arms.
Of these features the great mountain chains dominate
all others, and give a character to the country; more even
than what is termed the Lowlands of Scotland in its
southern part, do the northern Lowlands stand out
distinct. North of the natural boundary we have referred to,
commencing near Dumbarton, rises the great mountain
chain which, running due north, terminates at the Ord
of Caithness. It is termed in Bede, Adamnan, and other
early writers, the Dorsum Britanniae (or back-bone of
Britain) and Drumalban. It separated the kingdoms of
Dalriada from Pictland, and is now the boundary of
Ayrshire and the western Highlands. From Fort-
William at the west, rises a shorter but more elevated
range, which extends right across the country to the
German Ocean near Aberdeen. At its centre and
western termination rise the two highest mountains in
Scotland. This range is termed the Month, and was the
boundary between the southern and the northern Picts.
There are thus four divisions in the north of Scotland
divided by these barriers, two western and two eastern,
two southern and two northern, — the division on the west
at Ben Nevis, on the east at Aberdeen.
The eastern divisions are watered by two great rivers
and their tributaries, the Spey to the north and the Tay

THE ROMAN PERIOD. "J
to the south. From the barrier of the Month from a.d. 78-85.
whence these rivers flow on either side, proceed also '
smaller ranges of mountains, which only terminate as the
rivers approach the sea. These ranges have been loosely
termed the Grampians, and they present the appearance,
and to all intents and purposes the reality, of a continu
ous mountain range, and form a barrier which in later
times was called the Highland line. The western divi
sion is intersected by the well-known lochs which add
so much to the picturesque scenery of this part of the
Highlands ; the mountains rise precipitately from the
very edge of the shore, and leave little space for cultiva
tion and the means of existence for a sparse population,
contrasting most unfavourably with the rich plains on
the eastern division. This country the Roman general
determined to bring under the imperial sway, and in the
language of his biographer, 'Agricola in his next cam
paign, a.d. 80, ravaged the territories of new nations as
far as the estuary of the river Tay.'
The ground thus rapidly gained was secured by forts,
of which remains have been identified. The route, so
far as we can judge by these remains and those of Roman
camps, was through Dumfries, Lanark, and Stirling-shires,
crossing the Forth at Stirling, thence by the passes of
the Ochils through Stratherne to Perth. The Roman
commander, after leaving garrisons in his out-posts, now
determined to construct a line of forts across the neck of
land between the Firths of Forth and Clyde, from Borrow-
stounness to Old Kilpatrick. This operation occupied the
fourth summer. The fifth was spent in reconnaissances,
and in endeavouring to discover the strength of the
northern tribes. Mr Skene is of opinion that he ' crossed
the Firth of Clyde with a small body of troops in one
vessel, and penetrated through the hostile district of
Cowal and Kintyre, till he saw the western ocean, with
the coast running due north, presenting in the interior
one mass of inaccessible mountains ; the five islands of
the Hebrides, and the blue shores of Ireland rising above
the western horizon.' 1
1 Skene's Celtic Scotland, vol. i. pp. 47, 48. See also note.

8 THE ROMAN PERIOD.
a d. 78-85. Meanwhile alarming reports were pouring in at head-
quarters of the movements of the Caledonians, and that
a great confederacy was being organised for the purpose
of driving out the invaders.. Agricola determined, in
stead of waiting the attack behind his line of fortifica
tions, to assume the offensive, and assail the enemy in
his own savage fastnesses. The campaign he arranged
as an attack by land and sea, the fleet and army com
bining their operations. The land forces were conveyed
across the Firth of Forth, and accompanied by the naval
armament, which crept along the coast, the peninsula of
Fife was taken possession of, and the combined forces
rendezvoused on the east bank of the Tay near Perth,
at a place called Grassy Mounts, where an entrenched
camp was formed. This had barely been completed
when a fierce assault was made by the Caledonians on
the outlying forts ; and so alarming was the progress of
the enemy, that many of his officers advised Agricola to
abandon the territory gained, and fall back on the line
of fortifications between the Forth and Clyde. The
Roman general, however, was not the man to listen to
timid counsels ; he pursued his offensive movement,
and advanced in three divisions northward, probably in
a parallel line with the river Tay. While on the march,
the weakest of these divisions, the ninth legion, was sur
prised by a night attack, which was at first successful ;
the Caledonians fought their way into the sacred pre
cincts of the Roman camp, but the legionaries, undis
mayed, made a stubborn resistance, and made known
to the commander-in-chief their desperate position. As
day dawned Agricola brought up reinforcements from the
other divisions, and after a gallant struggle, the north
ern warriors were completely routed, and driven pell-
mell out of the camp to the friendly refuge of the forests
and marshes. Tacitus seems to say that had not the
country possessed these formidable obstacles in the way
of pursuit, the war would then and there have been
brought to a close.
The invaders, now as much elated as formerly they
were cast down, with shouts demanded a further advance

THE ROMAN PERIOD. 9
into the enemy's country. Both parties made their pre- a.d. 78-85
parations for the decisive struggle, the Romans eager for
the fray, the Caledonians dauntless and determined in
their resistance.
The sixth and last campaign in Scotland (Caledonia)
was eminently successful, and the narrative is graphically
told in the pages of Tacitus ; the desperate resistance of
the brave defenders of their country is as graphically told
by Bcece, and the patriotic Scotsman makes the heroic
leader of the Caledonians contest the palm of eloquence
as well as valour with Agricola, — ' The Scots leader de
livered an address that rivalled, if -it did not excel, the
most brilliant efforts of classic oratory.' Agricola led his
army northward, and at a place called by the Roman
historian Mount Grampius,1 a decisive battle was fought,
in which the Caledonians, under their leader Galgacus,
were utterly defeated, ten thousand of the barbarians were
slain, while the Roman loss is said to have been only three
hundred and forty. On the morrow after the battle no
enemy was to be seen :
' It seem'd as if their mother earth,
Had swallowed up her warlike birth.'
Caledonia was annexed to the Roman empire. We
have not attempted to fix the locality of these two famous
battles. The criticism on the name Mount Grampius is
too severe and learned for ordinary readers. Mr Burton,
with the example of Mr Jonathan Oldbuck's unfortunate
purchase of the praetorium2 before him, does not attempt
to give the site of the last decisive engagement. General
Roy and George Chalmers make it at Ardoch ; Gordon
(the Antiquary's friend) at Dealgan Ross near Comrie ;
another favourable theory is at Urie in Kincardineshire ;
the latest authority, Mr Skene, at the peninsula formed
by the junction of the Isla and the Tay, where are the
remains of a strong and massive vallum called Cleaven
Dyke, extending from the one river to the other, with
a small Roman fort at one end, and enclosing a large
1 For locality of Grampius see Burton's Scotland, vol. i. pp.
15-18. 2 Scott s Antiquary, chap. 11.

IO THE ROMAN PERIOD.
a.d. 78-87. triangular space capable of containing Agricola's whole
— troops, guarded by the rampart in front and by a river
on each side. Before the rampart a plain of some size
extends to the foot of the Blair Hill, or the Mount of
Battle, the lowest of a succession of elevations which rise
from the plain till they attain the full height of the great
mountain range of the so-called Grampians, and on the
heights above the plain are the remains of a large native
encampment called Buzzard Dykes, capable of contain
ing upwards of 30,000 men.1 After the battle Agricola
with his army retired, and made no vigorous attempt to
preserve his conquests. Perhaps Bcece was not so far
wrong; the Caledonians were scotched, but not kilt. After
taking hostages from a tribe called the Horestii, he with
drew the Roman forces to an encampment south ofthe line
of forts situated between the Firths of Forth and Clyde.
The fleet was instructed to proceed along the coast till
it made the circuit of the island. This was safely ac
complished, and it returned to its station in the Firth of
Forth, after having passedand taken possession (nominally)
of the Orcades or Orkneys in the name of the emperor.
It is useless to speculate on the results which might
have followed had Agricola continued his vigorous ad
ministration. In the next year, a.d. 87, he was recalled
by the jealous tyrant Domitian, and the fruit of his
labours lost to Scotland. He is said to have contem
plated the conquest of Ireland, which he supposed
could have been effected with one legion and a few
auxiliaries, so small was his opinion of the valour of the
warriors of Erin. These escaped, fortunately or unfor
tunately, the yoke and the civilising influence of the
imperial power, and were left to the congenial pursuit of
fighting among themselves.
The successor of Agricola retained his command for
but a short period, when he was put to death by the
orders of Domitian. The conquered tribes threw off
their allegiance, and in a short period the Roman pro
vince of Britain was reduced to the same limits as when
Agricola assumed his government.
1 Skene's Celtic Scotland, vol. i. pp. 53, 54.

THE ROMAN PERIOD. II
Nothing definite is known of this period, a.d. 87-1 1 7, a.d. 87-138.
the year of the accession of the emperor Hadrian. Re-
ports of the incursions of the barbarians and of their
successes induced the emperor to visit Britain in person,
a.d. 120. That the whole of the south of Scotland and
the border counties of England had renounced their
allegiance is evident from the fact that this eminently
sagacious ruler, who was more anxious to preserve than
extend the frontiers of the empire, at once withdrew the
boundary line further south. Hadrian constructed his
wall of defence from the Solway to the Tyne, from
personal observation, considering this the safest limit
to the imperial rule. It is a matter of dispute whether
the whole was constructed under his reign, though it
was certainly commenced by him. The wall, upwards
of seventy miles in length, was a most formidable
barrier, comprising a stone wall and fosse to the north,
to the south an earthen mound with another ditch
covered by two earthen ramparts ; at intervals of a Roman
mile were towers, while in addition there were fortresses
or castles for the accommodation of the troops and
military stores. The work was of the most enduring
material, and constructed with a skill and care which
seems to defy the lapse of ages. It was carried over the
most rugged heights, o'er moor and fen, through forests
and across rivers. The builders seemed to court material
obstacles, if they would but add to the strength of the
position.1 After the death of Hadrian, a.d. 138, his successor,
Antoninus Pius, despatched Lollius Urbicus to quell the
incursions of the Brigantes, who had again made repeated
forays into the Roman province. Unhappily for the
fame of the imperial officer, he had no Tacitus to
chronicle his exploits; all that we know of his expedition
is contained in a few lines in a life, or rather panegyric,
of the emperor Antoninus, by Julius Capitolinus, ' Nam
et Britannos per Lollium Urbicum Legatum vicit, alio
1 For a succinct though short account, see Burton's Scotland,
chap. i. ; for an exhaustive and elaborate detail, Bruce's Roman
Wall.

12 THE ROMAN PERIOD.
a.d. 192-210. muro cespitio submiotis Barbaris ducto.' The construc-
tion of the great Roman wall and military way between
the Firths of Forth and Clyde on the lines of Agricola's
rampart, is the surest testimony to the military skill and
engineering talents of that able officer, the proof that his
work was well done, the Brigantes defeated, and their
country recovered to the empire. The line of defence
was the best possible to curb the inroads of the fierce
tribes of the north. ' Many critical battles were fought
close to it, and it became proverbial as a check on the
inroads of the northern people, by the old expression,
" the Forth bridles the wild Highlandman.'"1
Until the year a.d. 181 there is nothing chronicled ;
there would be the usual predatory incursions, but not
so serious as to disturb the peace of the province. In
that year, however, the Caledonians made a formidable
irruption ; they broke through the rampart, killed a Roman
commander, and devastated the adjacent territory. The
emperor Commodus, alarmed at the peril in which
Britain (now evidently an important province) was placed,
despatched Marcellus Ulpius, an able officer, who speedily
repelled the barbarians and restored order.
At the decease of Commodus, a.d. 192, Clodius Al-
binus was governor of Britain, and after the death of the
two puppets of the pretorian guards, who sate for a short
time on the throne of the Caesars, he determined to enter
the lists with Severus, and make a struggle for the imperial
power. Severus, who had been proclaimed emperor at
Rome, respected the talents and feared the power of Al
bums, more particularly when he had yet a competitor
(Niger) in the east to subdue. He temporised, and associ
ated Albinus with him in the government, and caused him
to be proclaimed Caesar by the senate. But the stern and
able African only waited his time. N iger was no more, and
his fellow-competitor was doomed to the same fate. He
still kept up the show of friendship, and despatched mes
sengers to convey the honours of the senate and the em
peror, and at the same time assassinate the unsuspecting
recipient. The plot was discovered, and Albinus, at the
1 Burton's Scotland, vol. i. p. 34.

THE ROMAN PERIOD. 13
head of a powerful army, in which the flower of the youth *•»¦ i9*-«<».
of Britain formed no unimportant part, crossed into Gaul,
there to contest the empire of the world with his formid
able antagonist. ' The battle of Lyons, where one hun
dred and fifty thousand Romans were engaged, was fatal
to Albinus. The valour of the British army maintained
indeed a sharp and doubtful contest with the hardy disci
pline of the Illyrian legions. The fame and person of
Severus appeared, during a few moments, irrecoverably
lost, till that warlike prince rallied his fainting troops and
led them on to a decisive victory.' * As was but natural,
on the withdrawal of the greater portion of the military
force from Britain, the native tribes rose up in arms, and
the governor, Vivius Lupus, who had been appointed on
the death of Albinus, was forced to make peace with the
Maeatae on what to a Roman were dishonourable terms.
Even this peace or truce was badly kept ; the northern
portion of the province was overrun and ravaged in every
part, and repeated messages were sent to the emperor
for assistance. In a.d. 208, Severus, notwithstanding
his advanced age and his gout, determined to proceed to
Britain in person, and settle matters there in true Roman
fashion — thorough conquest ; if necessary, extirpation.
Carried on a litter, he was transported to our shores,
accompanied by his two sons, his court, and a large
army. On his arrival he lost no time ; at the head of an
overwhelming force of legionaries and auxiliaries he
passed the walls of Hadrian and Antoninus, and entered
Caledonia by much the same route as Agricola. The
emperor is said to have fought no battle, so great was
the terror of his arms ; but the enemy hung about him,
and by their attacks, by fatigue and exposure, fifty thou
sand Romans were lost in the campaign. The results
were that he passed through Stratherne to the Tay, from
there by Aberdeen to the shores of the Moray Firth,
overcoming all resistance by making roads, building
bridges, and levelling forests, preparing the country for
military occupation. The emperor, having thus far
advanced, returned through the heart of the Highlands.
' Gibbon's Rome, vol. i. p. 152. Ed. Bohn.

14 THE ROMAN PERIOD.
a.d. 210-237. After having taken hostages, and established forts in the
territory south of the Tay, he repassed the walls and
returned to York, where he shortlv after died. His end
was embittered by the wild ambition and black passions
of his son CaracaUa, and also by the failure of his
schemes of conquest in Britain ; the Caledonians and
Maeatae were in open revolt, and had the life of Severus
been prolonged, his next war would have been one of
extermination. The two sons of the deceased emperor were more
anxious to get back to Rome than to pursue the ambitious
conquests of their father ; a peace was hastily arranged,
and the Caledonii and Maeatae were left to themselves.
The name Maeatae is now first mentioned by the his
torian Dio ; who those people were is a matter of ques
tion. Father Innes, in his critical essay, a work of no
mean authority, evidently takes them for the Britons
dwelling between the two walls, ' Midland Britons.' Mr
Skene, on the other hand, is of a very different opinion :
that the Maeatae were a nation living close to the north
ern side of the wall of Antoninus, and that the name is
Celtic, probably the word for a plain, Maes- Magh. Not
withstanding his convincing argument, the view taken
by the older author seems the most natural, and explains
the incursions of two different tribes in a much more
satisfactory manner. Why should Dio have given two
names to people whose appearance and mode of fighting
were identically the same, who previously went under the
name of Caledonii, and after this time Picti ? The terri
tory from Hadrian's wall to some distance to the north
of the wall of Antoninus, was debateable land ; the tribes
to the north and south of the latter would naturally
assist each other against the enemy. The most likely
supposition is, that it was a new term for the Brigantes,
who were now confined between the two walls, and had
doubtless received accessions from the tribes further north.1
Much information had now been obtained respecting
Scotland by the Romans; they had come in contact both
1 Innes' Critical Essay, p. 36-38 ; ed. 1879. Skene's Celtic
Scotland, vol. i. pp. 80-88. Pinkerton's Inquiry, vol. i. p. 41.

THE ROMAN PERIOD. I 5
in war and negotiation with the principal tribes, and had a d. 210-287.
explored the greater portion of the country; we natur-
ally look for some real knowledge, something tangible,
but the historian of this period, Dio, furnishes very
little. ' They have no settled towns or villages, but live
in tents a wandering life ; they do not cultivate the
ground, but subsist on the produce of the chase and the
wild fruits of the earth ; they do not even take advantage
of the fish, at hand in inexhaustible numbers. They
fight in chariots drawn by small but swift horses ; their arms
are a shield, a dagger, and a short spear, with a hollow
brazen knob or rattle, which they shake to terrify their
enemies. They have a community of wives ; the children
are reared as the joint offspring of each small community.'
The origin of the name Picti, which now supersedes the
former designation, is also given ; they paint or tatoo their
bodies, and fight naked for the purpose of adding terror to
their arms by their fierce appearance. It would add much
to the mysterious origin of this people had the chronicler
told us whether they went about in the same picturesque
manner during winter, or when not on the war-path.
The Roman fleet, we have seen, after the conquest
of Agricola, circumnavigated the island, and discovered
the Orkneys, even sighting the ever-shifting Thule ; from
the observations made then and subsequently, Ptolemy
constructed his geography and map of North Britain,
which is wonderfully accurate considering his informa
tion. The map has been often published, and apart
from the extraordinary error of turning the coast north
of the Firth of Clyde east instead of north, is pretty cor
rectly sketched from the Itunae ^Estuarium (the Solway
Firth) along the west coast to the northernmost point,
including the Ebudae, and many of the lochs round the
coast to the river Vedra (Wear), including the Moray
Firth to the estuaries of the Tay and the Forth. The
mountain ranges are not traced, but in the east centre of
his map is placed the Caledonia Sylvia.
From the death of Severus until a.d. 287, nothing is
known of Britain. At that time Carausius, who was
commander of the Roman fleet in the channel, rebelled

1 6 THE ROMAN PERIOD.
A.D.^210-287. against the Emperor Maximinian, seized on Britain, and
established himself there as an independent monarch.
Carausius ruled the island with courage and ability, and
defended the frontiers from the incursions ofthe northern
tribes. ' He invited from the continent a great number
of skilful artists ; and displayed, in a variety of coins that
are still extant, his taste and opulence. His fleets rode
triumphant in the channel, commanded the mouths of
the Seine and the Rhine, ravaged the coasts of the ocean,
and diffused beyond the columns of Hercules the terror
of his name. Under his command Britain, destined in a
future age to obtain the empire ofthe sea, already assumed
its natural and respectable station of a maritime power.' 1
Unfortunately, perhaps, for our country, the first
British monarch, after a reign of eight years, was assassi
nated by his minister Allectus, who assumed the govern
ment of the island. He did not possess the talents of
Carausius, and enjoyed the fruits of his crime for the
short period of two years.
Constantius Chlorus resolved to restore Britain to the
empire, and having caused transports to be constructed,
his lieutenant passed safely the British fleet, landed on
the shores of Kent, and in one decisive battle, in which
the usurper was slain, the province was restored to the
imperial sway. The Emperor followed in the footsteps
of his general, and when he landed on the English shores,
he was welcomed by the plaudits of obedient subjects.
Constantius, first Caesar, and latterly, after the abdication
of Diocletian, emperor of the West, was a man of emi
nent military talent, and of the most amiable character ;
and under his administration, the same prosperity which
had distinguished the last two reigns continued. Britain
was his favourite residence, and most of his time was
spent there ; he chastised the tribes who were a standing
menace to the northern frontier, and gave peace and
law to the provincials. Constantius ended his life, a.d.
306, at York, in the arms of his son Constantine, who,
on his decease, was at once saluted Imperator by the army.
The first Christian emperor did not long remain in
1 Gibbon's Rome, vol. i. p. 430.

THE ROMAN PERIOD. 1 7
Britain; but there must have been a succession of ca- a.d. 287-360.
pable governors, for the next fifty years of history is a
blank. From the expedition of Severus to a.d. 360,
Britain enjoyed comparative peace and order; and not
withstanding the woful stories of the martyrs under the
reign of Diocletian, at no period of its early history were
the inhabitants of the island so prosperous and happy.
The commercial resources of the country were developed ;
the land was cultivated, and cargoes of grain shipped to
the continent. No longer an expensive incumbrance,
it was an important source of revenue, and the loss of it
under the two usurpers was severely felt.
The Roman dominions at this time comprised four
provinces, instead of the original division of Upper and
Lower Britain ; but the most useful division to the ge
neral reader, and the one which gives the most natural
idea of the administration is that given by Innes : ' But
the most general division of the Britains in the Roman
times was into provincials and extra-provincials. The
first were those of the south, who became subject to the
Roman empire, were governed by its laws, reduced into
provinces, and civilised according to the Roman polity
and manners. The extra-provincials were those of the
north, who never submitted to the Roman yoke, but pre
served their liberty, and continued to live under their
own ancient customs, and were therefore called barbar
ous by the Romans. These were particularly the in
habitants of Caledonia on the north sides of the Firths
of Clyde and Forth. There was a third sort of Britains
that dwelt between these two, and inhabited the coun
tries betwixt the southern wall in Northumberland and
the northern at the friths. These were sometimes at
liberty, sometimes subject to the Romans, and other
times overrun by the northern inhabitants of Britain,
according as the Romans were strong in the island, and
as the limits of the empire were advanced to the nor
thern wall or confined to the southern ; and therefore I
shall call these countries betwixt the walls the Debate-
able Lands, and the people Midland Britains.' 1
1 Critical Essay, p. 26.
VOL. I. B

1 8 THE ROMAN PERIOD.
a.d. 287-360. The inhabitants of our island to the Firths of Forth
and Clyde had now been wholly or partially under
Roman law and government for nigh 300 years — a very
long period in the history of a nation — and we naturally
look for some results. The conclusion, as to be seen
from their subsequent history, is imperative — that they
were unfit or unworthy of civilisation. Caesar does
ample justice to their warlike qualities, and their de
scendants to this day are never weary of repeating the
story. But at this time, to use Mr Burton's words :
' Through the mists which conceal from us the details of
events, we can yet see the large fact that the Romanised
Britons were a debased and feeble people.' 1 The same
author says, ' Races moulded by the influence of others
generally are so.' But this simply proves the feebleness
of the races so moulded. The Anglo-Saxons in England
and Scotland were largely moulded by the Normans,
but this did not emasculate their character ; the Saxon
absorbed the Norman. The Britons, had they not been a
feeble race, should have absorbed the Roman, taking all
that was worth out of him. Individually, bravery and
aptitude for military service were not wanting, for the
armies of Rome were largely recruited from the youth of
Britain, and the military adventurers who made Britain
a stepping-stone to the empire of the west, drew from it
their best and bravest troops. But the people, as a
whole, were, to use a Scotch word, tfiowless ; they could
not defend themselves ; their energies were confined to
piteous wails for help ; they had been Romanised in all
but courage and self-respect ; they were now in readi
ness to be Teutonised or extirpated. Roman law needs
no praise ; Roman administration was essentially vicious ;
a central autocracy in state or church, supported by
trained battalions of soldiers and tax-gatherers, lay or
clerical, must always enfeeble, and, in the end, demoralise
a nation. Imperial Rome civilised, denationalised, and
then demoralised the people under her sway. Her
successor, Papal Rome, Christianised, denationalised,
and demoralised in the same manner, though not to the '
1 Burton's Scotland, vol. i. p. 43.

THE ROMAN PERIOD. 1 9
same extent, for she had hardier races to do with. The a.d. 360.41a.
Teuton, with his good sword, in the fourth and fifth cen
turies, shivered the fabric of Rome temporal. He has
been hardly so successful in his assault on Rome spirit
ual. The conflict commenced in the sixteenth century, still
continues, but the issue is not doubtful. Latin fraud and
Celtic ignorance, miscalled devotion, have had their day.
The Britons, so long accustomed to peace, in a.d.
360 were now rudety disturbed, and were filled with con
sternation by the invasion of the northern tribes, now
known under the distinctive name of Picts. The Roman
chronicler states that they consisted of two nations, the
Dicaledons and the Vecturions, and that they were ac
companied by the Attacotti, a warlike people, and the
Scoti, a new nation from Ierne or Ireland. The name
of Saxons is also frequently mentioned ; they had already
made piratical excursions on the coast, and even made
settlements pretty far inland ; but now their attacks were
more widespread and daring. The danger seemed to be
greatest from the attacks of the Picts and their allies, for
the former had taken possession of the territory between
the walls, while the Scoti had conquered part of West
Wales. The Emperor Julian, hard pressed for troops to
defend the vital parts of the empire, could furnish no
effectual assistance, but sent an officer who was enabled
to check further encroachments. Unhappily he was but
a short time in command before he was recalled on sus
picion of treasonable designs, and the barbarians were
at once in active hostility. Four years later, a.d. 364,
the confederated nations became more daring: the Saxons
ravaged the south coast ; the Scoti penetrated through
the mountains of Wales far into the heart ofthe country;
the extent of the conquests of the Picts and Attacotti in
the north was still more alarming. The Emperor Valen
tinian, thoroughly alive to the imminent danger of Britain,
and loth to lose a province so important and invaluable,
despatched Theodosius, the elder (father of the em
peror), the most able general of his day, with a numerous
army of veterans.
Theodosius landed at Richborough, defeated several

20 THE ROMAN PERIOD.
a.d. 360-410. parties of the invading Saxons, and marched upon Lon-
don, which seems to have been occupied or threatened
by the marauders. For a short time he made this city
his head-quarters, till he received further reinforcements.
In two campaigns, the brave and skilful warrior cleared
the Roman province of the invaders, drove the Picts
into their mountain fastnesses, and restored the fortified
lines of defence. He concluded his operations by re
covering the territory between the walls, and perpetuated
the memory of the deed by naming the province Valentia
after his august master. The imperial rule, however, was
fast coming to an end; the successful issue of Theodosius'
campaigns seems to have had little or no effect ; within
forty years the Romans finally abandoned the island.
The central authority was weakened both from dis
tance, and the example of Carausius and Allectus setting
up an independent monarchy. A succession of gover
nors or prefects seized the reins of power and defied
the imperial authority. Had they contented themselves
with their insular kingdom, they might have done so with
impunity, and established a powerful state. But their
ambition prompted them to grasp the empire of the
western diocese at the least — Gaul, Spain, and Britain.
Maximus, the first of these usurpers, was successful in
. repelling the Picts and Scots ; but with the best and
bravest of the youth of Britain he left our shores to find,
not a throne, but a grave. After a chequered career on
the continent, he was defeated and slain at Aquileia,
a.d. 3 88. Gildas thus pathetically describes the state
of the country at this period : ' After this, Britain is left
deprived of all her soldiery and armed bands, of her
cruel governors, and of the flower of her youth who went
with Maximus, but never again returned ; and utterly
ignorant as she was of war, groaned in amazement for
many years under the cruelty of two foreign nations —
the Scots from the north-west and the Picts from the
north.' 1 The story of the Britons is further told : ' The
Britons, impatient at the assaults of the Scots and Picts,
their hostilities and dreadful oppressions, send ambas-
1 Gildas, Bohn's Antiquarian. Lib. p. 305.

THE ROMAN PERIOD. 21
sadors to Rome with letters, entreating in piteous terms a.d. 36o-4io.
the assistance of an armed band to protect them, and
offering loyal and ready submission to the authority of
Rome, if they would only expel the invading foes. A
legion is immediately sent, forgetting their past rebellion,
and provided sufficiently with arms. When they had
crossed over the sea and landed, they came at once to
close conflict with their cruel enemies, and slew great
numbers of them. All of them were driven behind the
borders, and the humiliated natives rescued from the
bloody slavery which awaited them.' L The wall, pro
bably that of Hadrian, was repaired, and the Romans
advised the natives to man it with a proper force. ' The
Roman legion had no sooner returned home in joy and
triumph than their former foes, like hungry and ravening
wolves, rushing with greedy jaws upon the fold which is
left without a shepherd, and wafted, both by the strength
of oarsmen and the blowing wind, break through the
boundaries, and spread slaughter on every side, and,
like mowers cutting down the ripe corn, they cut up,
tread under foot, and overrun the whole country.' 2
Stilicho, the minister of the emperor, unwilling to give
up Britain without a struggle, in answer to the piteous
plaints ofthe .distressed provincials, in a.d. 406 sent a
powerful force of three legions, who speedily cleared the
country of the invaders, and to the frontier of the Firths of
Forth and Clyde theprovince was garrisoned by the former
complement of Roman troops. The ambition of Constan
tine, the Roman governor, who required all the available
military force of Britain to support his claims to the em
pire of the West, left the island again defenceless against
its fierce invaders. He, like his predecessors, crossed the
channel, and after a brilliant career, and being acknow
ledged emperor of Britain and Gaul, surrendered to the
Roman general Constantius, who had cut off any hope
of a successful defence of his capital Aries. His con
fidence in the sacred promise of his conqueror was
misplaced. 'The Roman general indeed refused to
sully his laurels with the blood of Constantine, but the
' Gildas, Bohn's Antiquarian. Lib. p. 305. 2 Ibid.

22 THE ROMAN PERIOD.
a.d. 360-410. abdicated emperor and his son Julian were sent under
a strong guard into Italy, and before they reached the
palace of Ravenna they met the ministers of death.' :
The usurpation and its consequence, the withdrawal of
the troops, were fatal to the Roman power in Britain ; no
legionaries ever again trod her shores ; the Picts, Scots,
and Saxons had their will of the island. ' The barbari
ans drive us to the sea, the sea throws us back on the
barbarians, thus two modes of death await us, we are
either slain or drowned.'
In a.d. 410 Honorius sent letters to the cities of Bri
tain acknowledging their independence, and telling them
they must no longer look to Rome for protection or armed
assistance. The empire in Britain was no more.
What stage of civilisation was reached in Britain at
this period, when the Roman government ceased, is
difficult indeed to say ; within a very few years it was
lost, and the native Britons were as barbarous as the
invading foreigners. One form peculiar to Roman occu
pation of a country seems to have survived — the munici
palities. When the Romans conquered a state, they did
it thoroughly ; they incorporated it with the parent state ;
the institutions were similar, but of course subservi
ent to the central authority. The institution of a senate
or curia to govern a city dates from the time of the
republic, and was continued under the emperors. There
were fix grades of these incorporations, of which the
municipium was the highest, and this distinction was
granted to York and Verulam. Whether the senate was
chosen by the citizens, or appointed by the governor, is
not known, — very likely the former, for a powerful despot
ism is always anxious to preserve the forms of liberty.
We do not know the rank possessed by Lundunum or
Augusta, but its senate surrendered it to Theodosius,
and its importance is proved by the fact of his making
it the basis of his operations. But there are many towns
in England, two only in Scotland, whose names end with
Chester or castra, the Roman castrum dim castellum, a for
tress with a town around it, having a corporation inferior
1 Gibbon's Rome, vol. iii. p. 463,

THE ROMAN PERIOD. 23
in rank to the municipium, but possessing similar privile- a.d. 410.
ges, just like our populous places, -with their commissioners,
performing the same duties and elected in the same man
ner, as the august complement of councillors, bailies and
provosts who represent the burghs. These institutions
undoubtedly subsisted and formed a centre of government
of some kind, and so suited were they to the political
genius of the Anglo-Saxon, that he at once adopted them.
But our history is with Britain on the Scotch side of
the border; there we find only two names ending in
Chester, one in Roxburgh beside the great north road, ancl
another near Falkirk. The province of Valentia pos
sesses Roman remains, but neither archaeology nor history
can point out stations likely to have attained the rank of
municipalities. Mr Wilson pointedly shows the futility
of searching for evidence of civilisation in Scotland dur
ing the Roman period. ' To English archaeologists the
Anglo- Roman period is one of the greatest importance ;
for the Romans conquered and colonised their country,
taught its inhabitants their religion, sepulchral rites, arts
and laws, and, after occupying the soil for centuries, left
them a totally different people than they had found them.' l
.After illustrating this he proceeds : ' The history of the \
Scoto-Roman invasion is altogether different from this. It S
is a mere episode, which might be altogether omitted with- )
out very greatly marring the integrity and completeness \
of the national annals. It was, for the most part, little \
more than a temporary military occupation of a few S
fenced stations among hostile tribes.'2
The remains of Roman stations apart from military
camps are to be found only in the province of Valentia,
chiefly on the southern shores of the Firth of Forth,
about the centre of Agricola's wall, and in Eskdale and
Annandale, sparingly in other parts.8 Edinburgh was a
1 Wilson's Archaeology of Scotland, p. 363. 2 Ibid. p. 364.
3 No notice need be taken of the province of Vespasiana, extend
ing from the Spey to the Moray Firth, with Inverness as its Roman
capital, nor of Nouvantum Chersonesus, the Rhinns of Galloway,
with the cities there ; the work in which this information may be
found, ' Richard of Cirencester on the State of Britain,' is now found
to be a palpable forgery of the eighteenth century.

24 THE ROMAN PERIOD?
Roman station, though the remains found are not numer
ous. Inveresk, on the other hand, was an important
town ; the remains of villas, with their hypocausti, flue-
tiles, pottery, and other traces of Italian luxury, have
been found at various times in its neighbourhood. A
few miles to the west, along the coast, is the little fish
ing village of Cramond, which is believed to occupy
the site of the principal Roman seaport in North Britain.
Camelon near Falkirk, and Birrens in Eskdale, were
also colonies of some importance. Candida Casa, men
tioned by Bede, may have been a Roman station, or a
name given to a town of the Selgovae. These, and
probably a few other localities, seem to be the only
places where there had been a population of Romanized
Britons and Romans, and we are next to warranted in
saying that the population consisted chiefly of the im
perial staff, civil and military, with their families and
dependents. The remains north of the wall are of the
most enduring character, but entirely military, — camps,
roads and bridges ; no permanent settlement seems to
have been attempted.
The remains of Roman sculpture in Scotland are thirty
to forty in number, of various degrees of merit. Among
them may be noticed two elaborate and nearly complete
columns or stones, found apart and at different periods.
They commemorate the services of the second legion in
the construction of the wall of Antoninus. But the most
remarkable and interesting architectural relic of the
Roman occupation in Scotland is Arthur's urn or oven,
on the banks of the Carron near Falkirk. It is mentioned
by Nennius : ' He (the emperor Carausius) built also a
round house of polished stones on the banks of the river
Carun ; he likewise erected a triumphal arch, in which he
inscribed his own name in memory of his victory.' Its
particulars have been preserved in glowing language by
the zeal of our antiquaries. It was a perfect dome of
fine hewn stones, no cement being used, twenty-two feet
in height by twenty-eight feet in diameter, according to
antiquaries of the eighteenth century ' a fac-simile of the
1 Six Old English Chronicles, p. 393, ed. Bohn.

THE ROMAN PERIOD. 25
famous Pantheon of Rome ; ' according to Mr Wilson, a
' little sacellum or stone bee-hive. For what purpose it
was intended no one can say — temple, mausoleum, or
monument simply of the glory of the raiser ? Unfortun
ately the stones of this relic were used for building pur
poses, but the sacrilegious despoiler, Sir Michael Bruce,
has been handed down to the execration of succeeding
ages by Sir John Clerk. ' He has pulled it down and
made use of all the stones for a mill-dam, and yet without
any intention of preserving his fame to posterity, as the
destroyer of the temple of Diana had. No other motive
had this Gothic knight, but to procure as many stones as
he could have purchased in his own quarries for five shil
lings ! . . . We all curse him with bell, book, and
candle.'1 The remains of art and of articles for domestic or
personal use are entirely exotic — importations ! There
are no kilns, as in England, for the manufacture of pot
tery. What have been found are of foreign manufacture
— glass vessels, cooking utensils chiefly of bronze, Samian
and other ware, personal ornaments, coins, etc. The
Romans seem to have erected for themselves substantial
and comfortable dwellings ; but there are no remains of
the fine tesselated pavements so common in the south of
Britain. Whether the hypocausts or stoves found were
used for the heating of baths, is doubted by Mr Burton
in opposition to the general belief. ' The great difference
in climate between Italy and Scotland was a matter that
had to be provided for ; and certainly a moderate heat,
radiating from the floor, would be a not disagreeable
way of warming a room, while it would admit of the
freshening of the air above to any desired extent.' 2
The Romans introduced also their religion; altars
and votive slabs were not uncommon. Mr Wilson gives
an account, with illustrations, of six altars erected in the
neighbourhood of Birrens by the Tungrian cohorts, who
formed a part of the first Roman legion which entered
Scotland. 1 Wilson's Archaeology, p. 371.
2 Burton's Scotland, vol. i. p. 55 ; see also note and p. 54.

26 THE ROMAN PERIOD.
Nor was medicine unrepresented. At Tranent parish
church, in East Lothian, was lately discovered a medi
cine stamp. ' It was found in a quantity of debris,
broken tiles and brick dust, which may not improbably
have once formed the residence and laboratory of Lucius
Vallatinus, the Roman oculist, whose name the curious
relic supplies.'1 Whether the Christian religion was in
troduced into Scotland by the Romans, is a topic which
will afterwards be more fully treated. There is every
reason to believe that previous to the time of Constan
tine, there were many Christians in the imperial forces,
and that centurions, like Cornelius and Hedley Vicars,
would not be rare. Men like these would have their
influence on the native population with whom they came
in contact, and through them the good seed of the word
may have been sown. But history shows us that armies
carry the vices, not the virtues and religion of a country,
and the armies of Christian Rome were certainly as vici
ous as those of Pagan Rome. Conversion ofthe midland
Britons and Picts would be little in their thoughts. Be
sides, the principles of Christianity, particularly in its early
stage, were diametrically opposed to the practice of war
like missionaries, even if they were to be found in the
ranks of the legionaries who occupied Scotland. Warlike
Christianity was still undeveloped. The missions of St
Ninian, St Kentigern, and others, rest on so shallow a
foundation, and their results were so transient, that we
are forced to the conclusion that all the Christianity of
Scotland sprang from St Columba and the family at Iona.
A belief in the civilisation which is claimed for the
Britons of Strathclyde, and for the poetical genius which
animated Taliessen and the other Cymric poets who are
said to have flourished in the sixth century, requires a
faith which is possessed only by Celtic enthusiasts.
1 Wilson's Archseology, p. 400.

CHAPTER II.
LEGENDARY HISTORY.
Legendary History — Origin of Races from Philology — Bede —
Nennius — Geoffrey of Monmouth — Origin of the Britons —
Origin of the Picts from Philology — Legendary Origin of the
Scots — Accounts of Bede— Chronicles of Picts and Scots,
Fordun, etc.
We have, following the footsteps of modern writers who
have treated on Scottish history, commenced our sketch
with the account of the Roman conquest and occupation.
The older annalists and historians took a different
method. Geoffrey of Monmouth begins his history at
the close of the Trojan war ; Fordun with the three sons
of Noah ; Wintoun goes back to the first progenitor of
our race. Unfortunately, at the present day, we have
not the faith in their histories which previous generations
had, and consign all their genealogies, and most of their
statements, to the limbo of myth and legend.
Yet anyone who wishes to know the history of his
country cannot altogether ignore these, if it were but to
know what our ancestors believed. Besides, there is al
ways a basis of truth in myth and legend, and, in default
of anything else, they have proved not altogether un
trustworthy guides to the ethnology and movements of
early races. For both reasons, in subsequent pages we
have given what may appear trivial and silly narratives,
but which are not so when taken in their true sense, and
estimated at their real value.
Previous to the Celtic wave which spread over Europe
from the east, and reached the British isles, archaeolo
gical research has shown us that the population was of
the Iberian or Basque type ; we need not say that it was of
a lower type in physical formation and in civilisation to
the Celtic. The people were ignorant ofthe use of metals,
and their remains found in the long burrows and cham
bered galleries, have been referred to the neolithic age.

28 LEGENDARY HISTORY.
At the period of the Roman invasion this race, or
races, were far from extinct. The community of wives
referred to as subsisting among the Britons and Cale
donians may have been a remnant of a former state of
society. It is neither Celtic nor Teutonic, but indicates
a polyandry known among less advanced peoples. The
settlers may have fallen into a custom which did not long
continue ; its survival among the Picts may help to ex
plain the peculiar succession in that monarchy, which
was vested in the mother. A legend accounting for the
custom is given by Bede, and others will be given sub
sequently, showing that polyandry had then not even
historical existence, and another reason had to be found
for the peculiarity.
Tacitus, in his account of the war with the Silures in
the southwest of Britain, describes them as resembling
the Iberians. The rest of the inhabitants of the island,
with the exception of the Caledonians, who seemed to
him a different people, he states to be of a similar race
to the Gauls.
It would, however, be unsafe from this to conclude
that all the Britons (with the exception of the Caledonii)
at this time were Celtic. As early as the time of Julius
Caesar, there was a Belgic Gaul, whose inhabitants were
Teutonic, and it is not at all improbable, that these had
crossed the channel, and that there would be already in
the island a mixture of the race which was to absorb the
others. Yet there can be no doubt that the island of Britain,
to the estuaries of the Forth and Clyde, for some time
previous to the Roman invasion, and for centuries after,
was inhabited by a Celtic-speaking population — that they
were the great majority, and the ruling class.
The origin of nations can be traced in several ways,
— by mythology, legend, history, or by the philosophical
deductions of philology.
The Celts of the British isles, Cymri and Gadheli,
have no mythology, while their legends and traditions
constitute their history, and are mostly the fervid imagi
nations of the age in which they were composed. None

PHILOLOGICAL ARGUMENT. 29
of them approach to contemporary history. The classi
cal historians on whom dependence can be placed, tell
us very little of the nations whom they term barba
rians. Their languages had no interest to the Greek and
Roman. When their deities are mentioned, it is often
under the names of those of the narrator ; peculiarities
in appearance, manners, and customs are but sparingly
noticed by historians other than Herodotus and Tacitus.
The results of the study of language give us the only
satisfactory though meagre history of the migration of
peoples. Professor Max Muller thus gives shortly, but
incisively, the history and destiny of the Celtic race :
' The Celts seem to have been the first of the Aryans to
arrive in Europe ; but the pressure of subsequent migra
tions, particularly Teutonic tribes, has driven them to
wards the westermost parts, and latterly from Ireland
across the Atlantic. At present the only remaining di
alects are the Cymric and the Gadhelic. The Cymric
comprises the Welsh, the Cornish lately extinct, and
the Armorican of Brittany. The Gadhelic comprises
the Irish, the Gaelic of the west coast of Scotland, and
the dialect of the Isle of Man. Although these dialects
are still spoken, the Celts themselves can no longer be
considered an independent nation, like the Germans or
Slavs. In former times, however, they not only enjoyed
political autonomy, but asserted it successfully against
Germans and Romans. Gaul, Belgium, and Britain were
Celtic dominions, and the north of Italy was chiefly in
habited by them. At the time of Herodotus we find
Celts in Spain ; and Switzerland, the Tyrol, and the
country south of the Danube, have once been the seats
of Celtic tribes. But after repeated inroads into the
regions of civilisation, familiarising Latin and Greek
authors with the names of their kings, they disappear
from the east of Europe. Brennus is supposed to mean
king, the Welsh brennin. A Brennus conquered Rome
(b.c. 390); another Brennus threatened Delphi (b.c. 280),
and about the same time a Celtic colony settled in Asia,
founded Galatia, where the language spoken at the time
of St Jerome was still that of the Gauls. Celtic words

30 PHILOLOGICAL ARGUMENT.
may be found in German, Slavonic, and even in Latin,
but only as foreign terms, and their amount is much
smaller than commonly supposed. A far larger number
of Latin and German words have found their way into
the modern Celtic dialects, and these have frequently
been mistaken by Celtic enthusiasts for original words,
from which German and Latin might, in their turn, be
derived.' l The broad historical fact disclosed is, that
Europe was colonised by a succession of races from the
storehouse of nations in Central Asia, the language of
all the Indo-Germanic.
The Celtic, one of the families of this language, was
a spoken and recognised language in ancient times ; but
whether it attained to the rank of a written one, previous
to the tenth century, is very uncertain. The original
writings have been lost, if they ever existed, and the
manuscripts are acknowledged to be transcripts; whether
they are true copies is a matter of faith.2
Bede's statement in his time is : ' This island at pre
sent, following the number of the books in which the
divine law was written, contains five nations — the Eng
lish, Britons, Scots, Picts, and Latins — each in its own
particular dialect cultivating the sublime study of divine
truth. The Latin tongue is, by the study of the scrip
tures, become common to all the rest' 3
The latter portion- seems to show that the Bible was
only known in Latin, and from the fact of all the early
writings being in that language, that it was the sole
medium of literature.
The father of English history gives probably the best
statement of the ancient traditions respecting the origin
of the different races in the island. Subsequent writers,
with livelier fancy, have but amplified these. The author
of the Saxon Chronicle borrows from Bede, in almost his
own words. The origin of the Britons is given very
shortly. ' At first this island had no other inhabitants
but the Britons, from whom it derived its name, and
1 Science of Language, vol. i. pp. 185-6.
2 See Burton's Scotland, p. 172, note.
3 Bede's Ecc. History, p. 6, ed. Bohn.

LEGENDARY HISTORIES. 3 1
who, coming over into Britain, as is reported, from Armo
rica, possessed themselves of the southern parts thereof.' J
The first account of the origin of the Britons given
by Nennius is substantially that of Geoffrey's ; but the
second, which professes to be ' another account learned
from the ancient books of our ancestors,' is neither better
nor worse than the ethnological theories which have ob
tained credence until within a very short period previous
to the present day. The historian says, after the deluge
Japhet extended his borders into Europe ; rather incon
sistently he states that Alanus, the eighteenth in descent
from Japhet, was the first man that dwelt in Europe ; he
had three sons; from the oldest of these, Hisicion,
sprang four sons — Francus, Romanus, Alamanus, and
Brutus — the eponymi of the Franks, the Latins, the
Germans, and the Britons. In the same manner the
other tribes in Europe known to the historian are traced
to the remaining sons of Alanus, Armenon and Neugio.2
But the history which, from its first appearance in the
twelfth century until near the close of the eighteenth,
was reckoned the standard history of the Britons, was
that of Geoffrey of Monmouth. The writer who, in a.d.
1252, was raised to the bishopric of St Asaph, professes
to give a translation of a history drawn from native
sources. Though its historical value is gone, it has fur
nished materials from which our great vernacular poets
have constructed their noblest works of fiction and
romance. The story is the same as that of other chroniclers —
that the Britons owed their origin to the distinguished
hero of the Trojan war, the pious jEneas. He, as is
well known, after having escaped from the wiles of the
artful, but tender-hearted Dido, landed in Italy, where
he founded a more illustrious kingdom than that of his
sire. He was, like most of the heroes in Celtic story —
fortunate in his marriage, for he obtained the hand of
Lavinia, the daughter of Latinus, the king of Italy.
^Eneas was succeeded by his son Ascanius, who built
1 Bede's Ecc. History, p. 6.
2 Six Old English Chronicles, p. 391.

32 LEGENDARY HISTORIES.
the city of Alba on the Tiber, and begat a son named
Sylvius, who, in pursuit of a private amour, took to wife .
a niece of Lavinia's. The damsel conceived, and accord
ing to ancient custom, Ascanius consulted his magicians
as to the sex and fortunes of the unborn child. The
wise men knew their business, and were at no loss for
an answer, like their brethren of Egypt and Chaldea;
they predicted that the child should be a boy, should
kill his father and mother, and after travelling over many
countries in banishment, should at last arrive at the
highest pitch of glory — all of which, in due time, came
to pass, and is vouched for in classic story.
The mother died in child-birth, and the boy, who was
named Brutus, when fifteen years of age was so unfor
tunate as accidentally to kill his father while they were
hunting ; the first part of the prediction was fulfilled ; the
rest was to follow. Brutus was banished from Italy by
his grandfather, and sought a refuge in Greece, where
he found cousins descended from Helenus, the brother
of his great-grandfather. He was well received by his
friends, and his military talents gained him the command
of their forces in a struggle which they determined to
make against the Greeks, who had made them captive,
and still held them in subjection.
Brutus was of course victorious ; he defeated the forces
of the Greeks, and took their King Pandarus prisoner.
Instead of taking the possessions of his captive, the young
hero took his daughter Ignoge, and with his companions
left Greece in three hundred and twenty-four ships, fur
nished by the father of the bride, which he plentifully
supplied with all kinds of provisions, and gave in addi
tion a present of gold and silver to each man, according
to his condition.
The fleet set sail, and after various stirring adventures
touched at a desert island, where, in a dream, the goddess
Diana appeared to Brutus, and in poetical language told
him to seek an island beyond the Gallic bounds, sur
rounded by the western sea, and there found a new Troy.
The adventurers set sail, and reached the mouth of
the Loire, and in spite of the dream of their leader, at-

LEGENDARY HISTORY. 33
tempted a settlement in Gaul. They ravaged Aquitaina;
but, notwithstanding prodigies of valour (one young hero
killing six hundred men with his own hand) the Trojans
had to retire to their ships. It was not on account of a
defeat sustained that this movement was made ; on the
contrary a great victory had been gained ; but the founder
of the British empire was a prudent man, and had not
the rashness and daring common to heroes. ' Brutus
though in joy for this great success was yet afflicted to
observe the number of his forces daily lessened, while
that of the enemy increased more and more. He was in
suspense for some time, whether he had better continue
the war or not, but at last he determined to return to his
ships while the greater part of his followers was yet safe
and hitherto victorious, and to go in quest of the island
which the goddess had told him of. So, without further
delay, with the consent of his company, he repaired to
the fleet, and loading it with the riches and spoils he had
taken, set sail with a fair wind towards the promised
island, and arrived on the coast of Totness.' l
The island was then called Albion, and was inhabited
by none but a few giants, who were quickly despatched,
except in Cornwall, where they survived to a compar
atively late date. Brutus called the country after his
own name, and the language, which was then Trojan or
rough Greek, was called British.
After surveying different parts of his kingdom, the
monarch fixed on the banks of the Thames as a site for
his capital, and built there a city which he called New
Troy, corrupted into Trinovantum, and afterwards known
as Kaer Lud, the city of Lud — London.
Brutus reigned, after his arrival, twenty-four years, I
leaving the island to his three sons, Locrin, Albanact,/
and Kamber. Locrin possessed the middle part, called!
afterwards from his name Loegria ; Kamber had Wales,
named after him Kambria; while Albanact, the younger;
brother, possessed the country he called Albania, now.
Scotland. 2
We spare our readers more of this fabulous narrative,
1 Six Old English Chronicles, p. 106. 2 Ibid. p. 109.
VOL. I. C

34 LEGENDARY HISTORY.
which for so long was considered genuine history. The
monarchs ofthe race from Lear and Cordelia to Arthur and
Guinevere belong to the region of romance, historically
dead but a few years ago, now resuscitated to live for ever
in the pages ofthe 'Idylls of the King.' The statement
relating to the division of the island of Britain is evidently
a crude attempt to trace three distinct peoples from the
one common ancestor. This derivation of Alban from
the son of Brutus is also given in the ' Metrical Pro
phecy,' a composition of the twelfth century,
' Ex Albanacto, trinepote potentis Enee
Dicitur Albania,"
in almost the same words as Geoffrey's, in the Welsh
' Bruts ' of the same date, and in the ' Description of
Scotland,' also of a similar date. ' Legimus in historiis
et in cronicis antiquorum Britonum, et in gestis et
annalibus antiquis Scottorum et Pictorum, quod ilia regio,
que nunc corrupte vocatur Scotia, Antiquitus appellaba-
tur Albania ab Albanecto juniore filio Bruti primi regis
Britannorum majoris Britannie.' 2
Having thus indicated the origin of the Cymri or
Britons who at one time formed the greater part of the
population of England and Lowland Scotland, and
glanced at their legendary history, the next part of our
subject is naturally the origin and race of the Caledonii
or Picts. It is unnecessary to say that the quasi-historical
accounts of the chroniclers, previously quoted, give us
no clue to this, it merely shows an attempt to explain
why the term Albania or Alban was given to Pictland,
or Scotland. In entering on the subject it is necessary to bear in
mind that the Cymri, the Picts and the Scots were not
the only peoples in Scotland after the Romans denuded
Britain of troops, and that by the time we find the
kingdoms of Pictland, Dalriada, and Strathclyde or
Cumbria, in existence, the Teutonic settlers known as
such formed no unimportant part.
It is not at all improbable that colonists of this race
settled at much earlier periods than those mentioned in
1 Chronicles ofthe Picts and Scots, p. 117. 2 Ibid. p. 135.

TEUTONIC ORIGIN OF THE PICTS. 35
the Saxon Chronicle and other records. At the time of
Julius Caesar, and even earlier, swarms of Germans were
pressing westward, and had penetrated into Gaul. When,
the tribes known under the name of Saxons settled in
lower Germany is unknown, but the traditions of the
Scandinavians point to a fixed time, B.C. 40, when the
historical or legendary Odin led his people from the
Caucasus and founded the Scandinavian empire of Den
mark, Norway, and Sweden. From the earliest known
records, historical and mythical, the Saxons and Scan
dinavians were bold and reckless seamen, possessed of
large vessels, in which they fearlessly braved the wild seas
of the German Ocean, and navigated the recesses of the
Baltic and the fiords of Norway. The strong probability
is, that they were no sooner settled in their new homes
than they set forth in search of others, and that many
would find their way across to the island of Britain. The
conclusion of Pinkerton, that the great nation in the
north, the Brigantes, was Teutonic, may not be far from
the truth.
In any case, hy the year a.d. 600, a heathen popula
tion, speaking a Teutonic language, was in possession of
the greater portion of Lowland Scotland, and also the
level portion north of the Firth of Forth. The most
ardent Gadhelic scholar can give no proof when that
language was spoken in these districts.
Whether this Teutonic element met with a kindred
race in the Picts, or slowly absorbed an alien one so
entirely as to show no trace in language, person, or
character, it is now for us to inquire.
To those who have even looked into the discussions
on the subject, the line will at once start to their lips,
' Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.'
Yet the subject is important; it involves the question,
whether Scotchmen are of the race which has produced
poets, historians, and philosophers worthy to rank with
the illustrious dead of Greece and Rome, and whose
language and literature are world-wide ? Or are they of
that race which for centuries has not been able to pre-

36 TEUTONIC ORIGIN OF THE PICTS.
serve an independent existence, whose scanty literature
is unintelligible to any one but a Celt, and even then
useless, whose language is a sickly plant, which droops
and dies away from its own soil ? Are Scotchmen of the
Gadhelic branch of the Celtic family, which to the present
day has defied civilization, and has been ever famed for
its lawlessness and barbarity? It is a matter of little
importance indeed in a history of the English people, the
investigation of the origin and race of the inhabitants of
England previous to the Anglo-Saxon conquest' The
district of Britain termed England, exclusive of Wales,
was not only conquered by the Teutonic tribes who in
vaded it, but the original population was either massacred,
made serfs of, or driven into the mountain fastnesses,
where to this day it has preserved its nationality. No
one has ever attempted to impose the name, the laws,
the literature, the language, the dress of the subject race
on the English. For a short period Celtic Christianity
found a home in the northern portion of the country; the
home was not congenial, and was soon abandoned. With
Scotland it is altogether different, the very name suggests
an untruth, it is not the land of the Scots, as England is
the land of the Angles. The Scots were Celts, their
country was Ireland, they spoke the language of their
country, the Gadhelic ; for some time they were a vassal
state to the parent one. The Christianity in its character
and organisation was peculiarly Celtic, and after the
enthusiasm of its first teachers had died out, we shall
endeavour to show, was inimical to church and state.
It successfully, from the seventh to the eleventh cen
tury, smothered alike civilization and piety. 'Tribal
quarrels and ecclesiastical controversies became inextric
ably confounded, and the clergy, robbed of all spiritual
influence, contributed no element save that of disorder to
the state.'1 The district now called Scotland, with the
exception, as in England, of the mountain fastnesses, is
inhabited by a Teutonic people, speaking the tongue and
displaying all the characteristics, mentally and bodily, of
the race. The civilization and literature are peculiarly
1 Green's Short History of the English People, p. 28.

TEUTONIC ORIGIN OF THE PICTS. 37
that of the Teuton, the religion is of the same advanced
type. The sacredness of the marriage tie and of the
family relationship, the proud independence of the in
dividual, are as characteristic of the misnamed Scotchman
as they are of the German pourtrayed by the pen of
Tacitus. Scotland's hero king was a Norman knight, her
best king an accomplished Anglo-Saxon scholar. On the
other hand, till within a few generations the language and
person of the race who imposed the name of Scots, were
regarded with mingled fear and contempt. The same
race was the chief source from which the supporters of
arbitrary power in the seventeenth and eighteenth cen
turies drew their supplies of men, who were ignorant
enough to support the faithless race of tyrants who traded
on the name of loyalty and trampled on liberty.
Nothing that a Scotsman can be proud of is Celtic :
a pseudo-halo of glory has been thrown over the High
landers since the great Chatham turned them from
caterans into soldiers. But the style of warfare of the
Highland regiments is not that of their ancestors. The
dogged determination, which more than the fierce on
slaught, has gained them their well-won laurels, was not in
them till they became English soldiers, though disguised
in a Celtic garb. Besides, it is a question whether, ex
cept at the first formation of these regiments, one-fifth part
of the men composing them were Gaels, or ever spoke a
word of Gaelic.
Before proceeding further, it may be as well to say
that the names Pictland and Picts are arbitrary terms,
given first by Roman authors and by later chroniclers.
Albion is the usual name given to the kingdom whose
territory varied in extent, till the present boundaries of
England and Scotland were settled. The people known
to the Romans as Picts, comprised two, perhaps three,
principal tribes — the Decaledones, the Vecturiones, and
the Maeatae — i.e., those north of the Month, those south
of this boundary to the northern wall, and those adjacent
to the wall, and extending to the district known as
Manann, and further south to the confines of Northum
bria. The term Picts simply means people who paint

38 TEUTONIC ORIGIN OF THE PICTS.
or tatoo their bodies, and the term Cruithnigh applied to
the Picts of Ireland, is said by Celtic scholars to mean
the same thing, the eponymus ofthe race of the first king
is Cruithne or Cruithnechan.
This king is said to have come across from Ireland
and conquered the country —
' The Cruithnigh took it afterwards
After coming from the plain of Erin
Seventy noble kings of them
Possessed the Cruithnian plain.'1
This simply appears to mean a tradition of a Celtic
migration from Ireland, and accounts for a Gaelic-speak
ing people other than the Scots in Dalriada; every
chronicle or poem is Scoto-Irish, its object (uninten
tionally, perhaps) to exalt the Gael.
Neither tradition or philology, we think, can success
fully impugn the statement, that in historic times the
people in Scotland who speak a Teutonic language now
spoke it then ; it was not evolved from a mixture of
Cymric, Gadhelic, and Anglo-Saxon. Gaelic stubbornly
resists Lowland Scotch at the present, preferring a mincing
English, and is not likely that it was more yielding in
those early days. That there was a Celtic or Gadhelic
population in what is termed the country of the Picts is,
we may say, certain. It also possessed at this period a
higher civilisation of a kind to be noted afterwards, and
thus became a power in church and state. So far did
this extend, that a Dalriadic Scot was raised to the throne,
a rather uncommon circumstance, for the Teutons were
more in the habit of giving rulers to the Celts than ac
cepting them. But after all it need not surprise us.
Kingship is an institution which transcends all ordinary
ideas ; a connection by marriage, or a do no better, has
been often the passport to a crown. The history of the
United Kingdom has shown us that the physical, mental,
and moral qualifications of a monarch are secondary con
siderations. The Gadhelic language on and after the
accession of Kenneth MacAlpine would be the language
of the court. If the nation possessed laws or literature
1 Duan Albanach, Chronicles of Picts and Scots, p. 58.

TEUTONIC ORIGIN OF THE PICTS. 39
in Gadhelic, both have been lost — the solitary authentic
document remaining, ' The Pictish Chronicle,' is written
in Latin. Another, however, written in Gadhelic, claims
authenticity and an early date — ' The Duan Albanach.'
An eminent Celtic scholar states that it is ' said to have
been sung by the royal seanachaidh or genealogist at
the coronation of Malcolm Ceanmor in 1057, and that
its historical statements have much to entitle them to
respect'1 A more eminent Celtic scholar is of opinion
' that it is the work of Gillacaemhin, the Irish transla
tor of Nennius.' 2 It may have been recited in the inter
esting manner stated, but it was not the composition
of Malcolm's high officer of state. It contains the Irish
form of the traditions of Alban. The philological
argument as to the race of the Picts is built on nothing,
as there are no remains of the dialect from which Low
land Scots was evolved (five contested words indeed are
supposed to survive, of really no value in an investiga
tion). The proof lies entirely in the names of places,
mountains, rivers, etc. That these prove a Cymric
origin was held by Camden, George Chalmers, and
Innes. Pinkerton, victoriously against all comers, proves
the names to be Teutonic, but candidly admits the pro
blem insoluble. Burton inclines to this opinion, but
humourously declines to enter into the controversy.
Mr Skene, Professor Rhys, and we suppose all Celtic
scholars, prove as trenchantly, but more courteously than
Pinkerton, that the Picts were Gadheli. In opposition
to this latter view we may place the arguments of Dr
Jamieson in his introduction to his Scottish Dictionary.
Any one who values Lowland Scotch, and the literature
which it enshrines, will be very loth to believe it a dialect
produced by the intercourse of Angles and Saxons with
Gaels, at a comparatively late period in history. It is
next to incredible to suppose that the Anglo-Saxon and
Norman settlers who accompanied the gentle Queen
Margaret, in the course of a few years, introduced and
spread a language in a Celtic-speaking population, when
1 M'Lauchlan's Early Scottish Church, p. 141.
2 Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, preface, p. xxxvii.

40 TEUTONIC ORIGIN OF THE PICTS.
we consider that up to this day a similar introduction has
successfully been resisted. ' Can it be supposed, then,
without directly contradicting universal experience, that a
few Saxons, who were not conquerors but refugees, could
give language to the nation that afforded them protection?
Has any change similar to this, taken place among the
Welsh, who are viewed as the same people with the Picts,
notwithstanding their intercourse with the English, during
several centuries, since the cessation of national hostili
ties ? Have the Celts of Ireland renounced their lan
guage, in compliment to the English of the Pale, as they
have been called, who, in proportion, were certainly far
more numerous than the Saxons, belonging to the court
of Canmore ? Few nations have been more tenacious of
the customs and language of their ancestors than the
Celtic inhabitants of Scotland. We know how little pro
gress has been made for more than half a century past,
in diffusing the English tongue through the Highlands ;
although not only the arm of power has been employed
to dissolve the feudal attachments, but the aid of learning
and religion has been called in. The young are indeed
taught to read English, but often they read without
understanding, and still prefer speaking Gaelic. Had
the Saxon found its way into Scotland in the manner
supposed, it would necessarily have been superinduced
on the Gaelic. This has always been the case when one
language prevailed over another; unless the people, who
spoke the original language, were either completely or
nearly exterminated. Thus was the Norman gradually in
corporated with the Saxon, as the Frankish had been with
the Latinized Celtic of France. But the number of Gaelic
words to be found in what is called the Broad Scots,
bears a very small proportion to the body ofthe language.' :
But in addition, Lowland Scotch is Teutonic, but is
not English. It certainly shares with its kinsman many
identical words, but these have been gained by centuries
of intercourse, just as many purely Scotch words have
been naturalised in England : the language is a dialect
of the Scandinavian branch of the Teutonic family.
1 Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary, dissertation, p. 21.

TEUTONIC ORIGIN OF THE PICTS. 41
On the supposition that the Picts spoke a Scandina
vian dialect, the language spoken in the south of Scot
land is at once satisfactorily accounted for. It cannot
be denied, that previous to the time of Ida, the people
called Picts made successful forays into England even,
and settled as far south as Berwick. What more natural
than that two branches of the Teutonic class — the Scan
dinavian and the low German — should coalesce and
form a language, which to this day preserves a marked
resemblance, nay, affinity to its parents, eschewing care
fully all Celtic words, Cymric and Gadhelic alike ?
The same may be said of the Lowlands to the north
of the Forth. Danes and Norwegians, along with Angles
and Saxons, found a home there. They met with a
kindred race and language, and a similar result followed.
By way of contrast to this, where the Danes and Nor
wegians conquered and formed a kingdom in the Western
Isles, they found a Gaelic-speaking people, and like their
kinsmen, the Normans in France and England, adopted
the language of their subjects.
The whole of Dr Jamieson's elaborate proof may not
be satisfactory, but his second argument seems based on
the soundest principles of analogy, viz., ' that the north
ern parts of Scotland were immediately peopled from the
north of Europe by a Gothic (Teutonic) race, otherwise
no satisfactory account can be given of the introduction
ofthe vulgar language.'1 Further discussion would he
fruitless, and though Mr Skene says2 that Burton's History
of the early period of Scottish History possesses neither
completeness nor accuracy, yet most people will think
that the notice in his work on the great Pictish contro
versy is both piquant and philosophical.3
There remains now to give the legendary or historical
account ofthe origin ofthe Picts, and in passing we may
say that it favours the view we have taken. So accom
plished an advocate of the Celtic (Gadhelic) origin as
Mr Skene, says : ' The argument for the Pictish being a
1 Jamieson's Dictionary, vol. i. p. 20.
* Skene's Celtic Scoltand, vol. i. p. 21.
3 Burton's Scotland, vol. i. pp. 188-201.

42 LEGENDARY HISTORY OF THE PICTS.
Teutonic language is mainly historic, and is at first sight
very plausible.'
To call any of the chronicles history is absurd : there
is no history till the time of Adamnan and Bede ; even
the statements of events previous to the time of King
Brude are simply a true account of current traditions.
Bede's short but succinct statement contains probably
all that is really known, but as every Scotchman is bound
to know the origin of the people whose name he bears,
still more should he know — something ofthe people whose
name he should bear. Whatever historical value these
chronicles have, they certainly show that a kingdom or
confederacy, presided over by hereditary rulers, existed
from some time previous to the Christian era, until the
ninth century. That it was known as the kingdom of
the Picts, and embraced the whole of Scotland north
of the Forth to the Orkneys, with the exception of Ar
gyleshire and the adjacent isles, after this district had
been colonised by the Dalriadic Scots.1 There is also
shown that a kindred people had settled in the north
of Ireland, with whom they had a close connection.
The ancestry is quite equal to the Scotch, as Innes
shows : ' For those Irish authors who assert the anti
quity of their own country and monarchy in the Milesian
line, maintain also that of the Pictish, the one and the
other being equally attested, as they assure us, by all
those ancient books on which the credit of their own
remote antiquities is grounded, Psaltair Cashell, etc., all
which agree, according to the most learned of their mo
dern writers, that the Pictish monarchy in North Britain
began at the time of their King Herimon, son to Milesius,
whom they place in the eleventh or twelfth, and some of
them in the thirteenth century before the birth of Christ,
and that the Picts had seventy kings of their own nation
from Cathluan (so the Irish call the first king of the
Picts) to Constantine, who reigned about the end of the
eighth age, about whose time it is probable the Irish
received this account of the Pictish monarchy whilst it
1 In later years a large portion of Lowland Scotland was
added.

LEGENDARY HISTORY OF THE PICTS. 43
subsisted yet in splendour.'1 The Pictish chronicle de
rives Picts and Scots alike from Albania in Asia, and
after recounting sundry wanderings of the race says : —
' Cruidne, the son of Cinge, the father ofthe Picts, inhabit
ing this island, reigned one hundred years.'2 He left
seven sons with Celtic names; five of them Mr Skene
identifies as names of provinces in the country ; the list
is continued with apparently no interregnum to the acces
sion of Kenneth MacAlpin, but it is simply a chronicle ;
no events are narrated. The eponymus of the race is
Cruithne, who acquires the Orkneys, and from these takes
possession of the northern part of Britain, and divides
the land into seven portions, which he gives to his sons ;
from thence some of them went to France, and founded
a city which they named Pictavia (Poitiers) ; driven from
their settlement they sailed for Erin, but on landing were
inhospitably sent to rejoin their brethren in Alban.3
Another tradition is, that the Cruithneach came from
the land of Thraeia. Six brothers of them came first ;
they passed across the Roman territory into France, and
built a city there, viz. Pictavia, a pictis, from their arms.
On the death of the sixth brother they put to sea, and took
possession of a part of Ireland. By assistance given to
the King of Leinster, the Picts, under ' Gub and his son
Cathluan, acquired great power in Erin, until Herimon
drove them out, and gave them wives of the men who
had been drowned along with Donn.'4
Cathluan, as in all the traditions, sailed and colonised
Scotland, but in consideration of getting the wives (the
number varies from twelve to three hundred), ' Cruith-
nechan swore by heaven and by earth, and the sun and
the moon, by the dew and the elements, by the sea and
the land, that the regal succession among them for ever
should be on the mother's side.' 6
This peculiarity in the Pictish succession is accounted
for in other traditions ; in the following the Irish ladies
get the credit of it —
1 Innes' Essay, p. 73.
2 Chronicle of the Picts and Scots, p. 2. 3 Ibid. pp. 23-25.
* Ibid. pp. 30, 31. s Hid. p. 45-

44 LEGENDARY HISTORY OF THE PICTS.
' Three hundred women were given
To them, they were agreeable,
But they were most cunning
Each woman with her brother.
' There were oaths imposed on them
By the stars, by the earth,
That from the nobility of the mother
Should always be the right to the sovereignty.' '
We give in conclusion Bede's account, which probably
embraces all that was really known of the legendary origin
of the nation.
' When they (the Britons), beginning at the south,
had made themselves masters of the greatest part of the
island, it happened that the nation of the Picts from
Scythia, as is reported, putting to sea in a few long ships,
were driven by the winds beyond the shores of Britain,
and arrived on the northern coasts of Ireland, where
finding the nation of the Scots, they begged to be allowed
to settle among them, but could not succeed in obtaining
their request . . . The Picts, as has been said, arriv
ing in this island by sea, desired to have a place granted
them in which they might settle. The Scots answered
that the island could not contain them both, " but we
can give you good advice," said they, " what to do;" we
know there is another island, not far from ours to the east
ward, which we often see at a distance when the days are
clear. If you will go thither you will obtain settlements ;
or, if they should oppose you, you shall have our assist
ance. The Picts accordingly sailing over into Britain,
began to inhabit the northern parts thereof, for the Britons
were possessed of the southern. Now the Picts had no
wives, and asked them of the Scots, who would not con
sent to grant them upon any other terms than that when
any difficulty should arise, they should choose a king
from the female royal race rather than from the male ;
which custom, as is well known, has been observed among
the Picts to this day.'2
1 Chronicles of Picts and Scots, pp. 39, 40.
2 Bede's Eccl. History, p. 6.

CHAPTER III.
ORIGIN OF THE TERM SCOT.
Origin of the term Scot ; not mentioned earlier than A.D. 360 ; ori
ginally applied to Inhabitants of Ireland, and Colonists from
there — Scots Celts not Teutons — Origin and History of the
Scots — Buchanan's Remarks — F'ordun's Account — Irish Ac
count — Historical Value of these Accounts — Early Condition
of Ireland — Political Organisation of Ireland — Carried to Scot
land — Colony of Dalriada in Scotland — Civilisation of the
Scots — Danish Invasions — Disastrous Consequences — Civilisa
tion of the Scots Christian — Reflections on its Character.
' Many etymologies have been given of the word Scot.
All the more ancient writers concur in representing it as
the same with Scyth or Scythian, an opinion which pre
vailed to the present century. Of the late, Dr M'Pherson
supposes Scuit or Scot to signify a small body of men ;
Mr Whitaker, wanderers or refugees. Others more
plausibly derive it from Coit, a wood, or from Schut, a
boat or small vessel, as Ireland abounded with woods,
and the Scots attacked Britain in such vessels. Others
from Scattun, to shoot.' 1 The patriotic and legendary
etymology is that the name is derived from Scota, the
daughter of Pharaoh, King of Egypt, the wife of Milesius,
King of Spain, the founder and ancestor of the nation
who conquered Ireland and established a dynasty whose
rule expired only at the period of the English conquest.
Mr Burton says, ' All that can be said of the term Scot
or Scotus is, that the Roman writers fell upon it in some
way, and it became their name for the inhabitants of
Ireland, and the colonies which had migrated from Ire
land to Scotland. Neither the word itself, nor anything
from which it has been obviously Latinised, is found in
the old Celtic writers about Ireland.' 2 The name Scot
1 Pinkerton's Inquiry, vol. ii. p. 44.
2 Burton's Scotland, vol. i. p. 203.

46 ORIGIN OF THE TERM SCOT.
is not mentioned in the writings of any author earlier than
Ammianus Marcellinus, a.d. 360. They are described
( as a fierce and warlike people, who, proceeding from
I Ireland in concert with the Picts, or on their own ac-
I count, made incursions into the Roman province of
Britain. The name of Scotia, for centuries after, given to Ire
land, was not then applied, nor were the inhabitants,
previous to this time, known by the name of Scots. Ali
ancient authors who notice Ireland — Caesar, Diodorus,
Strabo, Ptolemy, and Tacitus — call its people Hyberni,
and the island Hybernia, Ierne, Iris, or Britannia Minor.
This points to the conclusion that the race called
Scoti were a late immigration, certainly not previous to
the Christian era.
Whether the race was Celtic or Teutonic has been
a matter of dispute. If the term Scot could be proved
to be derived from Scythia, no further argument would
be needed, for at the period when the term came into
use Scythia meant Scandinavia. Pinkerton takes this
view of the origin of the Scots, and further attempts to
prove the race Teutonic by a statement which, to say the
least, is questionable : ' The Celts of Gaul and of Britain
were easily subdued by the Romans, and gave them no
further disturbance. The Scots of Ireland were ever
making incursions into the Roman provinces, a conduct
not all according with the Celtic character.' 1 This, we
need not say, is not a fair reading of history; Mr Pinker
ton must have forgot the sack of Rome and the Galatian
colony. But there are two arguments against the Teutonic,
and in favour of the Celtic, origin of the Scots.
First, that the traditions and legends of both Irish
and Scottish writers represent the Scoti as coming from
Spain and landing in the south of Ireland, as Celts
speaking the Gadhelic language, the same as the people
they conquered.
Second, that the Scots of Ireland and Scotland have
always spoken, and have handed down to posterity, a
1 Pinkerton's Inquiry, vol. ii. p. 45.

ORIGIN OF THE TERM SCOT. 47
purely Celtic language and literature, in this, as in
their personal appearance and manners, in marked con
trast to the Teutonic inhabitants of Great Britain. The
parallel of the Normans losing their language and religion
in France is not applicable here. When Rollo and his
followers gained a kingdom there, the Celtic element
was nigh to absorbed in the Latin ; the Romaic language,
now known as the French, was in course of formation ;
the Normans adopted the language and religion of their
vassals, but took none of their habits and customs. They
struck out a new course, utterly un-Celtic, in literature,
architecture, war, and politics.
The Scots, on the other hand, from the time that we I
first hear of them to the present day, display all that i? '
Celtic in manners, customs, language, and literature. If
they are of Teutonic descent they have never shown the
distinguishing characteristics of that race.
The history of the Scots can, then, only commence
at a.d. 360, and all previous to this (and indeed most
of it for many centuries later) can only be treated as
fables existing in the imagination of the compilers. But
the Scots of Ireland and Scotland stand alone among all
races in their early literature ; it is not only different,
but different in kind. There is no blending of myth and
legend, no admixture of gods and men, no melting, by
insensible degrees, of the hero into the demi-god ; their
golden age is of the earth, earthy; their contests are
those of savage chiefs at the head of savage kerne. The
powers of nature are not individualised, and legends,
which in their origin were but the vivid pourtrayal of
natural phenomena, made to assume the form of poetical
narrative. It is the strongest proof of the late origin of
these fabulous histories that, to a certain extent, they are
but travesties of the Biblical narratives ; that the persons
who composed them were ignorant of all but the monk
ish literature of the dark ages, and reckoned this the
limit of human knowledge.
The absence of all mythology and mythological tales
in Gadhelic literature, as distinctly proves, that the Irish
previous to the introduction of Christianity, were in the

48 ORIGIN OF THE TERM SCOT.
lowest stage of religious culture, the absence of all nature
myths is in striking contrast to all other races, the
Indian, the Persian, the Phoenician, the Greek, the
Teutonic. It is quite a sufficient answer to the theories
proposed by Irish historians, of early intercourse with the
Phoenicians and Carthaginians, that Gadhelic literature
is absolutely destitute of myth. It may be said that
Christianity destroyed all that was pagan, but this is
utterly against historical fact ; the new religion, after its
first fervour was spent, readily adopted much of the my
thology it came in contact with ; even Protestant litera
ture carefully gathers up and uses for sacred purposes,
the nature myths of a byegone faith. Baal and Herakles,
Zeus and Apollon, Odin and Baldur, are of the race of
the immortals.
Two accounts are given of the origin of the Scot :
one from the Scotch, the other from the Irish side ; they
both agree in giving a high antiquity to the settlement
in Ireland, but differ as to the time when a kingdom was
established in Scotland. The chronicles of the Scotch
historians — of Fordun, Wyntoun, Bcece, and Buchanan
vary little among themselves in the account of the
period previous to the reign of Fergus, son of Ere, a.d.
498-501. How little of historical worth is in them is
pithily put by Buchanan himself. He first proves that
the oldest British author Gildas knew nothing of the
origin or early history of the Scots, and that any informa
tion must have been got from the bards or sennachies.
But this desperate refuge he is careful to take away also ;
he ' tells us plainly that it were ridiculous to expect any
certainty of history from them ; and for a proof of it, he
gives us this description of them : that the bards were
altogether ignorant of letters, and left no record of
ancient transactions behind them; that the sennachies
were maintained in every clan, on purpose to chant out
by heart rhymes composed in the praises of their patrons,
having no learning at all, and their subsistence depend
ing on their flattering great men, no credit could be
given to them.' l
1 Innes' Critical Essay, p. 211.

FORDUN'S CHRONICLE. 49
Fordun's account (which may be taken as the germ
of the others) is, that Gaythelos, the son of Niolaus, king
of Greece, was driven out by his father from his native
country, and fled to Egypt about the time of the Exodus
of the children of Israel. On his arrival there, being
distinguished by his courage and daring, and being of
royal birth, he received the hand of Scota, the daughter
of Pharaoh, and from her his posterity derived their name.
Gaythelos disapproved ofthe oppression ofthe chosen
race, and with his people was not involved in the catas
trophe at the Red Sea. After this disastrous occurrence
the Egyptians, irritated rather than subdued, drove the
sympathisers with the Hebrews, out of the country.
Gaythelos left, and after forty years wandering by
sea and land, arrived in Spain, and acquired a settlement
there. Differing here from the Irish accounts, who re
present the race of Scota as victorious in all their enter
prises, and as having established a powerful monarchy
in Spain, Fordun represents the fugitives as struggling
for existence. Gaythelos on landing gained a victory
over the natives, and having fortified himself, ' he built
by degrees a very strong town, by name Brigancia, in
the middle of which he erected a tower of exceeding
height, surrounded by a deep ditch, which is still to be
seen.' 1
But he seems to have despaired of his fortunes in
Spain, and ' since he was unacceptable to the inhabitants,
looking forth one clear day from Brigancia, and seeing
land far out at sea, arms some active and warlike youths,
and directs them to explore it in three boats ; and they
commit themselves to the high seas.' 2 The island of
Ireland was reached, explored, and the party returned
and made a favourable report to the king, who was at
the time seized with his last illness. He, with his dying
breath, exhorted his sons gratefully to accept the gift the
gods offered them, to go without delay to the island pre
pared for them, where they should be able to live noble
and free.
The sons obeyed the injunctions of the dying mon-
1 Fordun's Chronicle, vol. ii. p. 12, ed. 1872. 2 Ibid. p. 13.
VOL. I. D

So fordun's chronicle.
arch ; prepared a fleet, and under the command of
Hyber, the heir and successor of Gaythelos, sailed and
took possession of Ireland, which was then untenanted,
though some authors say that like Britain there were a
few giants. From this prince the country was called
Hybernia, though the legend of St Brandan says that he
named it Scotia, after his mother.
Hyber did not carry out his father's instructions, but
returned to Spain, where he and his successor exercised
a very precarious sovereignty.
' At length the supreme authority came to a man
equally energetic and industrious, that is, King Mycelius
Espayn, one of whose ancestors had won for himself
and his tribe, with their liberty, a place of abode ; free,
indeed, but too small for tribes so strong in numbers.' a
This prince sent his three sons to Ireland with a
numerous army, and easily obtained possession of the
country. Hermonius, the eldest, returned to Spain, while
his two brothers with their tribes remained in the island ;
but of their history there, the chronicler leaves us in
ignorance. The final settlement of the Scots is then given.
Smonbret (Simon Breac) was, though not the eldest, the
best beloved of a king of the Scots in Spain. This mon
arch sent his favourite son with ' an army to Ireland, and
gave him a marble chair, sculptured in very antique
workmanship by a careful artist, whereon were wont to
sit the Scottish kings of Spain : whence it was diligently
preserved in their territory as the anchor of the national
existence.'2 Simon Breac subdued Ireland, fixed his royal
seat at Themor (Tara), and there in the most honoured
spot in the kingdom he placed the chair, in which he aud
his successors were invested with the insignia of royalty.
From Ireland the Scots spread themselves first into
some isles of Britain.: that of Rothsay was so-called
from Rothay or Rothsay, who was one of the earliest
immigrants. Others came gradually over, and in 330
B.C., Fergus, son of Ferchar or Feradac, made himself
the first king of the Scots in Britain.
1 Fordun's Chronicle, vol. ii. p. 18. ! Ibid. p. 23.

fordun's chronicle. ¦ 5 1
The historians mentioned give the names of the
monarchs of this kingdom from the founder to Fergus,
son of Ere, whom they make the second of that name.
Fordun makes the period of his accession a.d. 403,
about a hundred years earlier than the true historical
date. Nothing but the genealogy of these kings has
been given ; but those who believe in the antiquity of
the race can study their features in the gallery in Holy-
rood. The Scottish account, therefore, claims for the Scots
in Alban a thoroughly independent existence, having no
connection with Ireland beyond consanguinity.
The influence of the absurd pride of race, tracing
back their descent in endless genealogies, was fostered
by the bards or poets, and to them in their origin we are
indebted for those fabulous accounts, and as every petty
chief kept at least one of those idle parasites who earned
his living by flattering his patron, the mass of imposture
grew and was put into shape. The character of the
bards or sennachies is very bad, even in the Irish re
cords where they occupy the most distinguished position,
three times they were voted a nuisance, and were in
danger of banishment. Their influence existed to the
time of father Innes, who gives what even then was a
laughable illustration of Celtic genealogy : ' There was
in our time a Scottish gentleman of ancient family
(Urquhart of Cromarty) who took a fancy to draw up
his pedigree from age to age, up to Adam and Noah,
and caused it to be printed by the title of Pantochrono-
canon, or pedigree of the name of Urquhart of Cromarty,
from the creation of the world until the present year of
Christ 1652.' 1 The antiquity of the Scottish race and
monarchy became a part of the national creed, and
fanned the flame of patriotism during the war of inde
pendence. Its rise and influence is thus admirably put
by Innes, who, in his Critical Essay, was the first to dis
sipate these fabulous narratives, and place early Scottish
history in its true light : ' And if an emulation not to be
behind in the antiquity of monarchy with the kings of
1 Innes' Essay, p. 288.

52 fordun's chronicle.
England, particularly with King Edward I., who valued
himself upon a succession of- kings in the British race
down from Brutus, Locrinus, etc., contributed not a little,
to raise in the Scots, in the beginning of the fourteenth
age, the first notions of ancient kings of the Scottish line,
before the times of the incarnation, it is very likely that
the like emulation with the Picts, or a view not to be
inferior to them, in so honourable a privilege, as that of
an ancient establishment or ancient possession, gave oc
casion to the Scottish bards about the seventh age to
advance the antiquity of the settlement of the Scots in
Britain beyond the time of the incarnation. That this
emulation or vieing with the Picti contributed to it, is
the more likely, that, the Scots at last, after they became
masters of the Pictish kingdom, caused this emulation so
far as to pretend to have been established in Britain as
early as, or even before, the Picts themselves.' 1
The Irish account of the settlement of the Scoti or
Milesians in Ireland, is the most wonderful production
in literature ; for details of it we refer our readers to
Appendix. According to it Ireland was peopled before
the Deluge. One survived this dread calamity, and
lived on to the time of St Patrick, by whom he was con
verted to Christianity. In return the antediluvian im
parted to the saint a knowledge of the historical events
during the intervening period. St Patrick was thus able
to supplement and correct the ancient chronicles of the
nation, which at his time were collected and revised by
a select committee of the notables, of which he was a
member. After the deluge, the island was colonised by three
different peoples, the Partholanians, the Firbolgs, and
the Tuath de Danans. The Milesians in the meantime,
after having played a conspicuous part in the history of
Egypt, two of their leaders, Niul and Milesius, having
been honoured with the hand of princesses bearing the
name of Scota, settled in Spain and founded there a
powerful kingdom : ' But haunted, however, in the midst
of their glory by the remembrance of a prophecy, which
1 Innes' Essay, p. 292.

LEGENDARY IRISH HISTORY. 53
had declared that an island in the western sea was to be
their ultimate place of rest, the two sons of their great
leader Milesius, at length fitted out a grand martial ex
pedition, and set sail in thirty ships from the coast of
Gallicia for Ireland. According to the bardic chrono
logy, thirteen hundred years before the birth of Christ,
but according to Nennius, ^Engus and others, near five
centuries later, this "lettered and martial colony" (to use
the language of one of its most zealous champions) ar
rived, under the command of the sons of Milesius, on the
Irish coast; and having effected a landing at Inbher
Sceine, the present Ban try Bay, on Thursday, the first
of May a.m. 2934, achieved that great and memorable
victory over the Tuatha-de-Danaan, which secured to
them and their princely descendants, for more than
two thousand years, the supreme dominion over all
Ireland.' 1
This ' lettered and martial ' colony possessed leaders
who built palaces and reared fortresses ; they had states
men who administered wise and equitable laws ; bards
who composed true history in immortal verse ; musicians
who, in the power of appealing to the emotional nature,
have never been surpassed ; heroes who fought with a
bravery and ferocity unknown to other countries and
races. The only drawback to this picture is the con
tinual occurrence in the annals, of battles and massacres,
and the significant fact that few of the kings died a
natural death, the succession was always open to the
member of the royal family who was powerful enough to
seize it by force. The manner is thus given by two Irish
historians : ' Lugdad Luagny, the son of king Inatmar,'
says O'Flaherty, ' cut Bresal's throat, and got the crown.'
' His reign,' says O'Halloran of another monarch, ' lasted
but five years, when the sword of his successor cut his
way through him to the Irish throne.' 2
No mention is made in the Irish annals of the col
onisation of the western part of Scotland until the
middle of the third century, when Cairbre Riada is said
to have led over a party from Dalriada in Ulster. That
1 Moore's History of Ireland, vol. i. p. 79. * Ibid. p. 113, note,

54 LEGENDARY IRISH HISTORY.
there was frequent and friendly communication is ex
tremely probable, but no permanent settlement in force
is mentioned until the period formerly stated, a.d. 498.
The little kingdom founded at this time by Fergus the
son of Ere, was closely connected with, and tributary
to Ireland. It will thus be seen that the legendary
accounts of the two countries give a high antiquity to the
Scoto-Milesian race ; the Scotch get back only the length
of the Exodus, the Irish a few centuries earlier. The
two accounts differ in the date of the settlement in Scot
land, and some trifling particulars. The Scotch, on quite
as good a foundation as the Irish, made their kingdom
a venerable one, but they lacked the imaginative facul
ties to fill in the details. There is no reason why they
should not have had monarchs as illustrious as Achy,
Ollamh Fodhla, Hugony the Great, or Feidlim the
Legislator. It must be apparent from these accounts that little
or nothing can be gathered as to the period when the
Scots conquered Ireland, and as little of the character of
the same people, who colonised Argyllshire at the end
of the fifth century; they tell us more of the character of
the people who, a few centuries later, were the model
taken by the poet historians and annalists ; the his
tories are but a reproduction of a present state of
society. The condition of Ireland previous to the introduction
of Christianity has been given by authors other than
bards and annalists, and a high antiquity claimed for its
history and civilisation. Moore is of opinion that the
Phoenicians and Carthaginians had stations there, and
established not only their commerce but their religion.
Pinkerton sarcastically observes, that as the Irish had
only hides to sell, so enterprising traders would hardly
go so far for that commodity. A more decisive argu
ment against the notion is, that Kenrick, the historian of
Phoenicia, is of opinion that the Phoenicians had no
stations in the British isles ; that they may have called
at the Scilly islands for cargoes of tin, but that this was
the only intercourse. Moore's idea that Ireland was a

EARLY CONDITION OF IRELAND. 55
kind of Samothrace, where the Cabiric and other mys
teries were practised and taught, is so exquisitely impro
bable that it hardly requires refutation ; wherever the
Phoenicians carried their commerce, they carried their
religion, but they left traces of it ; and when the smallest
vestige of it is to be found in anything Irish, it will be
time enough to enter into the validity of the claim. How
Festus Avienus gave the name of ' Sacred Island ' for
Hibernia, it is impossible to say. Kenrick states that it
is not from the narrative of Himilco, the Carthaginian ;
probably from the same source and for as satisfactory
reasons as the ' Islands of the Blest,' because it was
veiled in obscurity and nothing known.
The population of Ireland has remained so essentially
Celtic, and all through its history has presented the ele
ments of that race, that it is difficult to believe that there
has been much admixture of other races on the original
population of a lower type, which in the lapse of cen
turies has not become extinct. The Firbolgs seem, from
the name, to have been immigrants from Belgic Gaul,
and the Tuath de Danans from the north of Europe, but
they must soon have become Celticised, for they left no
trace of their Teutonic origin. In the absence of all
proof, it may be said that some centuries previous to the
Christian era, Ireland was colonised by a Celtic race from
Britain, Gaul and the north of Spain, the last to arrive
being the Scoti, who by their marked energy of char
acter became the ruling class.
The political organisation of Ireland was that of other
Celtic races, and was carried to Dalriada and Alban by
the Scots ; its character gave the tone to society in Scot
land until the accession of Malcolm Canmore, a.d. 1057,
and may be shortly indicated.
In early times two points have been established as ex
isting : first, that there was no private property in land,
it belonged to the community ; second, that the social
unit was not the individual or family, but the community
or tribe. At this time the relations between the sexes
were loose, and the sanction of marriage was unknown.
The Teutonic races soon advanced to the family rela-

56 IRELAND AND ITS COLONIES.
tionship, the individual being the groundwork of all
society, and in this present a marked contrast to the
most cultivated nation of antiquity, whose most gifted
author makes, in his Utopia, all subservient to the state
— the community.
That this primeval state was that of the Celtic po
pulation of Great Britain and Ireland previous to the
Roman period is verified by the classical authors, and
also from the peculiar succession in the Pictish mon
archy, indicating a period when the succession by
female descent was considered the more certain link.
It is curious and important to note that this custom
is said to have been imposed on the Picts by the Scots
ladies. This early state of the tribe soon became modified
by internal changes, as well as by external influences,
perhaps before the introduction of Christianity. But in
Ireland there was no Roman influence at work, and it is
extremely probable that the first civilising force was the
Christian church, which indeed adapted itself to the tribal
system. Whatever were the lax relations between the
sexes, they would be condemned, and the sanction of
marriage enforced when it could be done without danger
to the welfare of the church ; i the old right of succession
through the mother would be retained only in exceptional
cases, where the parties possessed rank or influence.
The members of the tribe were divided into two classes
— the freemen and the serfs ; the former were again di
vided into the chiefs or leaders and their descendants,
and those who had not attained to this rank. The Ri, or
King, who was at the head of the tribe, held his position
by election, but also as one ofthe descendants in heredi
tary right from the common ancestor, the Eponymus of
the race. He was both king and judge, though he might
appoint, and generally did appoint, an official who exer
cised the judicial functions. The succession lay in the
family, not in the individual ; and from a first necessity of
having the best man at the head of affairs, the one sup
posed to be most capable was elected King. So anxious
1 Charlemagne was permitted to keep a harem.

IRELAND AND ITS COLONIES. S7
was the tribe never to be without a head, that another
member of the family was elected Tannist or successor to
the King in the event of his death (as it turned out, an
admirable method for shortening the lives ofthe reigning
monarchs). The Christian church adopted this primi
tive method in their government; the abbot or head
of the monastery was always chosen from a particular
family, and exercised all the functions ofthe Ri, or King.
The King at first had no separate possessions of lands,
but latterly they were assigned for his maintenance, and
also for that of the church. The territory belonging to a
tribe was called Tuath, the tribe itself Ciniol, as implying
a race of men sprung from a common ancestor. Ireland
in early times was divided into numerous tribes, each
under its Ri, Tannist, and inferior chiefs, and these were
united into a federation under an Ardri or high-king as
occasion required. But latterly three or seven Tuaths
formed a Mortuath, over whom presided a Ri-mortuath.
Again, several of these mortuaths formed a province called
in Irish, ' Cuadh or a fifth,' i.e. the five provinces, Meath,
Leinster, Munster, Connaught, and Ulster, each ruled
over by a provincial king. Over all was the Ardri or
monarch of all Ireland, the succession to which was regu
lated in the same system as that of the inferior kings.
' The tie which bound these communities together was
the same which linked the smaller chiefs to their depend
ants — a gift or subsidy in kind, or personal service from
the inferior to the superior.'
A peculiar feature in the election of the Ardri was,
that while he was chosen from the most powerful branch
of the royal house, to balance matters, his Tannist or suc
cessor was chosen from the branch next in power and
influence. Whatever may have been the merits of this
form of government, it would be difficult to find one
better adapted to promote internal jealousies and dissen
sions ; there must have been many ' uneasy heads ' in
those halycon days, when kings were plenty, and succes
sors, like Prince Henry, were waiting to try the effects of
how a crown would become them. Unfortunately all
history is little more than a chronicle of wars and fight-

58 SCOTTISH DALRIADA.
ings, and the history of Ireland is peculiarly so ; but it
must be evident that no form of government could be
better adapted to engender strife and retard civilisation.
Every petty chief was a Ri who prided himself on the
purity and length of his pedigree ; his immediate fol
lowers looked up to him and to him alone, and obeyed
his commands above all others ; interest or danger only
impelled the humbler Ri to ally himself with one of a
larger following, or the Ardri himself. To say that any
code of laws could have been agreed on, much less en
forced, is an absurdity. Nothing but the introduction of
foreign masters, stern but just, could give peace and civi
lisation to the Celtic race. It has found them in Scot
land and Wales, and though the friction has been severe
and prolonged, the issue is what we have stated. In
Ireland, from many causes, the same result has not fol
lowed, yet the worst scenes of violence and crime
under the rule of the Saxon are out-paralleled in the
' Annals of Ireland ' before a foreign foe set foot on her
shores, and no surer way to perpetuate her history of strife
and dissension would be, than to leave the descendants
of the ' lettered and martial colony ' to govern the island.
' The Scottish kingdom of Dalriada, even at the time
of St Columba, was confined within very narrow limits,
and could hardly claim a higher position than that of a
Mortuath, as we find that it consisted of three tribes,
termed in the tract "Of the History of the Men of Alban"
the three powerfuls in Dalriada. There were the Cinel
Gabran, the Cinel Angus, and the Cinel Loarn, who traced
their descent from the three sons of Eochaidh — Fergus,
Angus, and Loarn — who led the colony from Irish Dal
riada. The Cinel Gabran occupied Kintyre in its old
extent, including Knapdale, the district of Cowall, and
the islands, that is, of Bute and Arran, and consisted of
560 houses. The Cinel Angusa possessed Isla and Jura,
and consisted of 430 houses. The Cinel Loarn possessed
the extensive district of that name, extending from Loch
Leven to the point of Ashnish, and part of the opposite
coast of Morven, and consisted of 420 houses.'1 The
1 Skene's Celtic Scotland, vol. iii. p. 213.

CIVILISATION OF THE SCOTI IN IRELAND. 59
districts thus occupied by these tribes surrounded an
inner region, consisting of the two districts of Lochaw
and Ardskeodnish. It bore the name of Airgialla, and
was subject to Dalriada, furnishing its quota to the armed
muster ofthe nation, which is stated as 1500 men.1
From this source was developed the clan system,
which, to all intents and purposes was a subdivision of
the tribe. It proved to be in Scotland what it must have
been in Ireland, a formidable obstacle to the exercise of
any central authority. Each chieftain was the real head
of his circle or following, and to whom alone they owned
obedience. In what is known as the Highlands and
Islands of Scotland, till within a very late period, the
power of the crown was more nominal than real ; the
Celtic organization remained intact and successfully de
fied law and culture.
Having indicated the political organization of the
Dalriadic colony, we must look again to Scotia (Ire
land) for the state of civilisation to which it had attained.
It is evident from the statement of Tacitus that Agricola,
in a.d. 87, thought a single legion and its auxiliaries
sufficient for the conquest of Ireland, and that the arms
and prowess of its warriors were not reckoned of much
account. That the inhabitants at a later period were in
the lowest state of barbarism, some have inferred from a
passage in the writings of St Jerome. The holy man
states that ' when a little boy in Gaul he saw the Scots,
a people from Britain, eating human flesh, and though
they were surrounded by swine, cattle, and sheep, yet
would they cut off the buttocks of the herdsmen or the
breasts of women, and eat them as special luxuries.'
How the Gauls allowed the Scots to prey upon their
herdsmen and women it is not easy to fathom, and how
the little boy (who would be toothsome) escaped, is a
still greater mystery. All that the story shows is, that in
the opinion of St Jerome and the Romans of the time,
the Scots were regarded as a barbarous people, in the
lowest stage of civilisation. There is reason to suppose,
however, that the Scots came among a people who had
1 Chronicles of Picts and Scots, pp. 308, 14.

60 CIVILISATION OF THE SCOTI IN IRELAND.
attained to a higher state of civilisation than themselves,
and that their Egyptian experiences, and their inter
course with the Phoenicians in Spain, had not raised
them to a level with the people in Hybernia, whom they
found on their arrival there. The legends point to this
when they tell of the Nemedians employing ' skilled
master builders ' in the construction of their palaces, of
the Tuath de Danaans in their splended residences,
surrounded by enchanted guards, of their skill in metal
work, and even in medicine and surgery. The conquest
of the country by the Milesians reads, like that of
Mexico, where the invaders are startled by the presence
of a civilisation, a luxury and a magnificence, differing
in kind but rivalling, in many cases excelling, their own.
The Milesians, like the Spaniards, were made of sterner
stuff than the race they dispossessed of their country, but
the result in both cases has not been essentially different.
The one civilisation neutralised the other, and apart from
the hideous ritual of the Mexican war god, it is a question
whether the Aztec of the sixteenth century was not a
better man than the half-breed of the nineteenth. If we
knew as much of Ireland previous to the invasion of the
Scoti as we do of Mexico, perhaps the feeling in many
minds would be the same, that the pious peasant of the
west of Ireland, who goes to mass before he shoots his
landlord, is no improvement on his pagan ancestor.
Nothing certain is known of Ireland during the pagan
period; there are no remains which can truly be identified,
Christian art and literature pervade all. We know, how
ever, that at the time of St Columba buildings were con
structed of wood and wattles, boats of covered hides, and
great excellence had been attained in the construction of
these, but the probability is, that no further advance had
been made in house and naval architecture. The ves
tiges of ancient fire worship and of Druidical rites and
ceremonies will not bear either historical or archaeo
logical criticism.
The only remains of writing are what Mr Burton calls,
'scratchings on stones,' but what Celtic experts term, ' in
scriptions in the Ogham character.' These are supposed,

CIVILISATION OF THE SCOTI IN IRELAND. 6 1
by those who believe in them, to be the secret writings
in which the Druids concealed their mysteries, corres
ponding indeed to the Scandinavian runes. Whether
the Druids had any mysteries to conceal, is very doubtful,
and whether there have been found any Druidical remains
in Ireland or Scotland is as doubtful, but until something
is made out of the Ogham inscriptions, approaching in
value and interest to what has been taken from the nor
thern runes, a very slight value must be put on them.
The Ogham writing must be very mysterious indeed when
only the skill of experts of the nineteenth century has
been able to decypher it. Saemund Sigfussen in the
twelfth, and Snorri Storlassan in the thirteenth century,
were able to make something of the Runic rhymes, and
from them to give us the wondrous mythology of the
Eddas, and the key has never been lost ; may we hope
now that the key to the Irish runes has been found, that
the results will be as productive.
The classical writers tell us nothing of Ireland, but
that some kind of traffic was carried on between it and
Britain and Gaul, and that there were some stations on
the coast which might be dignified with the name of
seaports. They also give the names of certain tribes,
which names have furnished a fruitful source of profitless
inquiry. The earliest description of the country which may be
called historical, is given by Bede : —
' Ireland in breadth, and for wholesomeness and
serenity of climate, far surpasses Britain, for the snow
scarcely ever lies there above three days ; no man makes
hay in the summer for winter's provision, or builds stables
for his beasts of burden. No reptiles are found there ;
for though often carried thither out of Britain, as soon
as the ship comes near the shore, and the scent of air
reaches them they die. On the contrary, almost all the
things in the island are good against poison. In short
we have known that when some persons have been bitten .
by serpents, the scrapings of leaves of books that were
brought from Ireland, being put into water and given
them to drink, have immediately expelled the spreading

62 CIVILISATION OF THE SCOTI IN IRELAND.
poison and assuaged the swelling. The island abounds
in milk and honey, nor is there any want of wines, fish
or fowl, and it is remarkable for deer and goats.' 1
This statement is corroborated by Giraldus Cam
brensis, five hundred years later, but having visited the
island he corrects the older author in some points. The
non-existence of poisonous reptiles must be taken as a
historical fact, but Giraldus says, ' It seems a flattering
fiction, that St Patrick and the other saints of that country
cleared the island of all pestiferous animals ; but history
asserts, with more probability, that from the earliest ages,
and long before it was favoured with the light of revealed
truth, this was one of the things which never existed here,
from some natural deficiency in the produce of the is
land.' 2 Bede, he says, is in error in his statements as
to the serenity of the atmosphere and the cultivation of
the vine. The humidity of the air of Ireland is well
known, and Giraldus give us true history when he says,
'vines it never possessed, nor any cultivators of them.
Still foreign commerce supplies it with wine in such
plenty that the growth of vines and their natural produc
tion is scarcely felt. Poitou, out of its superabundance,
exports vast quantities of wine to Ireland, which willingly
gives in return its ox-hides and the skins of cattle and
wild beasts.' 3 The same author's account of the cultiva
tion of the soil is wonderfully like that of the present
day. 'The tillage land is exuberantly rich, the fields
yielding large crops of corn, and herds of cattle are fed
on the mountains, but the island is more productive in
pasture than in corn, in grass than in grain.'4
But the statements of Giraldus, the Norman priest,
are undoubtedly coloured by prejudice ; besides, no ac
count of the Irish people after the Danish invasion can
be a fair statement of what they probably were before
that disastrous time. Ireland, of all countries, seems
never to have improved under foreign influence; the
Danes and Norwegians perpetrated many cruelties in
1 Bede's Ecclesiastical History, p. 7.
2 Giraldus Cambrensis, p. 48, ed. Bohn.
3 Ibid. p. 20. * Ibid. p. 21.

CIVILISATION OF THE SCOTI IN IRELAND. 63
England and Scotland, both countries gained in the long
run by visitations which at the time seemed like the pes
tilence, a judgment sent from heaven. In Ireland it
was different ; the two races never coalesced, each kept
the lower qualities of its nature, the Danes were driven
out, but not before they had destroyed most of the
Christianity and civilization of the people.
The invaders spread ruin and desolation everywhere ;
plunder was their object, the church, so far from being
an object of respect, was the grand quarry of the heathen.
As is well known, it had become a wealthy and powerful
corporation, absorbing much of the wealth and land of
the country ; it numbered amongst its ministers and
officials the highest in rank; an abbot was as powerful
as a king. Naturally learning and culture centered in
the clergy ; it was composed of all who had a taste for
letters and leisure, and the number of monks, bishops,
and saints would stagger belief, were we not to take into
account the advantages peculiar to the early Irish church.
Ecclesiastics mixed freely in secular affairs ; they were
not denied the privilege of fighting, and with their
followers were simply the educated portion of the nation,
and the best paid.
There is little doubt that all this was broken up by
the Danes ; the shrines were plundered, the altars cast
down, the priests slain with the sword, the darkness and
cruelty of the dark ages settled there as nowhere else,
civilisation and culture fled, nothing was left but what
Montalambert says have been the two great passions of
the Irish, ' war and religion,' passions which have acted
and reacted on each other to such an extent that it is
difficult to say which has been the greatest curse to that
unhappy country. But previous to the eighth century
the state of Ireland was very different to what it has been
since. Christianity and, to all intents and purposes,
letters were introduced centuries earlier than in Britain,
and, in addition, Ireland was free to develop all that
could result from either. From the time of the last im
migration of the Scoti to the end of the eighth century,
no foreign foe set foot on her shores; while Great Britain,

64 CIVILISATION OF THE SCOTI IN IRELAND.
from Alcluith to the isle of Thanet was the scene of
deadly conflict, the native population struggling fiercely
but vainly for existence. Ireland was indeed the sacred
isle, the refuge of the religion and learning of Europe ;
there was not even a disputed succession, the power of
the Hy-Nial family was supreme.
There is no doubt that religion and learning did pro
gress ; fighting there was, and plenty of it, but we must
think that a good deal of this was confined to the last
immigrants, the Scots. Though the standing army or mi
litia talked of by the legendary historians is an absurdity,
yet there is great reason to suppose that the kings and
chieftains would have a large following of their own
lineage, and that the most of the internecine strife
would be done by them ; then, as now, fighting would be
reckoned the most honourable employment. The pea
santry, however, would tend their cattle and sow their
crops in spite of the constant hostilities going on about
them. The character, then, of the Scots who settled in
Dalriada must be taken, not from the Irish, whom we
know now after centuries of degradation, religious and
secular ; an enigma in which is presented the anomaly
of a people writhing under any foreign interference in
secular affairs, and meekly bowing the neck in religious
matters to the most despotic of foreign despots ; but from
a people whose kings and warriors, whose saints and
priests, owned no superior out of the sacred isle.
The civilisation of the Scots in Ireland and Scot
land previous to the northern inroads, was derived chiefly
from Christianity, the remains found in both countries
cannot be satisfactorily traced to the period when the
countries were pagan. What this civilisation was is an
obscure subject, and archaeology alone can throw any
light on it. The traits which may be gleaned from the
legendary chronicles and lives of saints are faint indeed,
the former tell of battles fought, the latter of miracles
performed. The labours of Scotch and Irish antiquaries have
brought to light many interesting remains, which pieced

CIVILISATION OF THE SCOTI IN IRELAND. 65
together with legend and hagiography, may give us some
idea of the Scot from the sixth to the ninth century.
The Scots of Dalriada were a brave, high-spirited race,
lithe and active, with small hands and feet, what we con
sider a mark of high breeding, and in striking contrast to
the Teutonic type, coarse but masculine. The position
of woman was undoubtedly high ; the remains of monu
ments, and the legends of female rulers and saints, amply
corroborate this.
Their skill as metal workers was immeasurably su
perior to what it is at the present day.1 The gold, silver,
and' ivory ornaments for the person, the swords and
dirks, and other weapons, would do no discredit to the
workshops of Birmingham and Sheffield. ' In Islay is
still shown the spot where stood the forge of its once
celebrated smiths, and the rocks from whence the iron
was dug which they fabricated into the renowned Lann-
Ila or Islay blades.' 2
They were far from destitute of art, the sculptured
stones of Scotland and Ireland are, in many ways,
wonderful specimens of this, and are so remarkable that
they have engaged the attention of the best art critics
here and on the continent They have been much struck
with the beauty and variety of the geometric patterns,
and with the precision and firmness with which each
design is carried out to its ultimate conclusion. Passing
from these formulas, they expand with a sort of floral
freedom, dealing in the arrangement of branches, leaves,
flowers and clusters, indicating not only technical skill
but high imaginative faculties. There can also be traced
a higher development in the bindings of ancient Irish
psalters, and in the illumination of the MS. themselves,
the features and specialities of the sculptured stones be
ing distinctly apparent. Yet in all there was little of art
proper, no command over perspective anatomy, the dis
tribution of light and shade, or the transcript of natural
colours, the human figure is always out of drawing.
The dwellings were rude, and we have no remains of
1 Wilson's Archseology of Scotland, pp. 232-3.
2 Ibid. p. 407.
VOL. I. E

66 CIVILISATION OF THE SCOTI IN IRELAND.
what can be called architecture : churches even were not
built of stone but of wattles. Bede says, ' that bishop
Finan, ordained and sent by the Scots, a.d. 652, to the
See of Lindisfarne, built a church there, ' nevertheless,
after the manner of the Scots, he made it, not of stone,
but of hewn oak, and covered it with reeds.'1 There
must have been skill and beauty in the structure, for it
is spoken of with every mark of respect.
Mr Burton's remarks on the position of the Scots of
Ireland and Dalriada almost exhaust the subject.
It was a comparatively high standard of civilisation,
higher than that of the other inhabitants of the British
isles : ' It was as yet a waxing civilisation, bringing
with it continual increase of political influence. It was
naturally enhanced by the insufficiency of the Britons to
retain their Roman civilisation, and their consequent
lapse into barbarism. We are accustomed to speak of
the Roman civilisation, of the Norman, which took it
up and adapted it to the habits of Christian Europe,
and of the later Saxon civilisation, the highest of all.
But all associations of recent times are so inconsistent
with the notion of deriving civilisation from the Celts of
Ireland, as to bring it into the region of the paradoxical.
We have no conspicuous memorials of such a social con
dition, such as the great buildings left by the Romans and
the Normans. Celtic civilisation took another and subt
ler, perhaps a feebler shape. It came out emphatically
in dress and decoration.' Among relics of this civilisa
tion are numerous exquisite and expensive ornaments for
the person, and those found in later times belong in so
preponderating a portion to Scotland, as to point to the
centre of fashion whence they radiated as being there.
' There seems to have been a good deal of what may be
called elegant luxury ; the great folks, lay or ecclesiastic,
had their carriages and their yachts. Especially the shrines,
the ecclesiastical vestments, and all the decorations de
voted to religion, were rich and beautiful' This civilisa
tion was acknowledged with respect, and even the
patriotic Bede traces one of the greatest contributions
1 Bede's Ecclesiastical History, p. 153.

CIVILISATION OF THE SCOTI IN IRELAND. 67
towards their civilisation which the Saxons received di
rectly to choose. There is indeed reason to suppose that
the Picts, instead of mourning their independence, felt
their position raised by counting the Dalriadic sovereigns
as their own too. The historian sums up by saying,
' There are symptoms that this civilisation had a com
pleteness about it which is perhaps inconsistent with
progress. It resembled that of some oriental countries
which, when undisturbed by others, have remained long
stationary. There appears to have been much form and
etiquette, what it is usual now to call conventionalism.
There was a rigid principle of nepotism, all ranks, powers,
and emoluments dwelling in a limited number of families.
No new blood seems to have been admitted into the
castes that predominated in church or state.' 1 All this
civilisation existed amidst not a semi but a profound
barbarism, as at the present day the education of the
upper class is but tinsel, the dress the absorbing passion
of the lower. The character of the first is admirably
drawn by Sir Walter Scott in his picture of Fergus
M'lvor — an accomplished French courtier, suave a la
mode, a squire of dames, and able to hum a chanson, but
underlying all, as Edward Waverley soon found, the savage
Vich Ian Vohr — a captain of banditti. The unadulter
ated modern descendant of the Scots is well represented
in an exhibition peculiarly his own, ' The best dressed
Highlandman at his own expense;' the profound ignor
ance and latent savageness are skillfully concealed by a
pride and self-conceit which, saying nothing, invite you
to look at the spectacle before you.
1 Burton's History of Scotland, vol. i. pp. 294-298.

CHAPTER IV.
NARRATIVE — FIFTH TO SIXTH CENTURY.
Narrative — Obscurity of the History of the Period — Worthlessness
of Contemporary Authors — Gildas and Nennius — Bede the sole
Authority — Irruption of Picts on withdrawal of the Imperial
Forces — Struggle in Valentia — Picts, Saxons — Angles — Chris
tianity and Heathendom — Arthurian Epic — Ida the Flame-
bearer — Strathclyde — Bernicia — The British Kingdom in Scot
land — Rhydderch Hael — Struggles with the Angles — Annexed
to Scotia A.D. 945.
a.d.^it-4j9. Having thus indicated the origin and state of the inhabit
ants of Scotland at the period of the collapse of the
Roman power, gathered from the quasi-historical and
legendary sources quoted, we return to the narrative of
events from the beginning of the fifth century.
The darkness which envelops the history of Britain
during the fifth and sixth centuries is intense, and cannot
be better expressed than in the words of the historian of
the Roman empire : ' Since Britain was already separated
from the Roman empire, I might, without reproach, de
cline a story familiar to the most illiterate, and obscure
to the most learned, of my readers. The Saxons, who
excelled in the use of the oar or the battle-axe, were
ignorant of the art which could alone perpetuate the fame
of their exploits : the provincials, relapsing into barbar
ism, neglected to describe the ruin of their country ; and
the doubtful tradition was almost extinguished before the
missionaries of Rome restored the light of science and
Christianity.' r Our guides are Bede's Ecclesiastical
History, and the fragments of Gildas and Nennius. -
Bede was born a.d. 673-677, and died a.d. 735. He
was the first great English scholar, and, in the words of Mr
Green, ' Baeda was at once the founder of medieval his
tory and the first English historian, his scanty memoranda
of this period are of incalculable value, and all that we
1 Gibbon's Rome, vol. iv. p. 212.

NARRATIVE — FIFTH TO SIXTH CENTURY. 69
really do know of the seventh and the early part of the a.d. 411-419.
eighth century, is from his history.' Gildas lived nearer
the times we narrate. It is next to certain he was a native
Briton, and that his epistle or history was written about
a.d. 560. Mr Stevenson, the editor of his works, in his
preface says : ' We are unable to speak with certainty as to
his parentage, his country, or even his name, the period
when he lived, or the works of which he was the author.'
His writings should find more readers than they do, being
eminently suited for admirers of the past, and detrac
tors ofthe present, for the greater portion consist of jere
miads over the sins of his people : ' drunkenness, luxury,
licentiousness, confused estimate of right and wrong,
Arian heresy, etc., and he, like most clerics in every age,
looked with reverence and respect to the past — "the old
paths." '
Nennius was a Briton also, but who he was, and when
he lived, is about as uncertain as the previous author :
the conjectures vary from the middle of the eighth to the
same period in the tenth century. We cannot agree
with Gibbon's contempt for ' the ecclesiastical tales of
the venerable Bede,' but sympathise in his opinion of
' the declamation of Gildas, and the fragments or fables
of Nennius.' No information can be obtained from Roman writers.
The island of Britain, for so many years an integral part
of the kingdom, was cut off from all connection with
Rome, civilisation, and even Christianity. Up to this
time despatches, many of them taking the shape of
memoirs and itineraries, would be continually reaching
the government, and savants and historians would and
did make use of them. But even if it had not been so,
British oysters and pearls would have been the chief
commodities which would have passed. Learning and
literature had given place in Rome to luxury, frivolity, and
asceticism, which, coupled with savage ferocity, formed
the normal state of society in Italy for centuries to come.
How little is known in the civilised east is shown from
the following extract : — ' One hundred and fifty years
after the reign of Honorius, the gravest historian of the

70 NARRATIVE — FIFTH TO SIXTH CENTURY.
a.d. 411-449. times (Procopius) describes the wonders of a remote
isle, whose eastern and western parts are divided by an
antique wall, the boundary of life and death, or more
properly of truth and fiction. The east is a fair country,
inhabited by a civilised people : the air is healthy, the
waters are pure and plentiful, and the earth yields her
regular and fruitful increase. In the west, beyond the
wall, the air is infectious and mortal; the ground is
covered with serpents, and this dreary solitude is the
region of departed spirits, who are transported from the
opposite shores in substantial boats, and by living rowers.
Some families of fishermen, the subjects of the Franks,
are excused from tribute in consideration of the mysteri
ous office which is performed by these Charons of the
ocean. Each in his turn is summoned, at the hour of
midnight, to hear the voices, and even the names of the
ghosts ! He is sensible of their weight, and he feels
himself impelled by an unknown but irresistible power.' x
Such, the historian says, is Brittia possessed by three
nations, the Frisians, the Angles, and the Britons. The
ignorance was reciprocated. Bede was intimate with the
Greek and Latin classical writers, but copies must have
been scarce, as St Cadoc had to perform a miracle to
recover his copy of Virgil. By the time of King Alfred
the works of the great authors of antiquity were un
known, he, with his great love for learning had to take
what he could get, ' The Consolations of Boethius,' ' The
Pastorals of Pope Gregory,' 'the History of Orosius.'
The works of the classic authors, which must have been
common enough in Britain, got lost with the Latin
tongue, which was preserved as a sacred language. The
teaching ofthe early church encouraged no learning which
was not useful for salvation.
When the dim light of history breaks again about
a.d. 550, we find the disposition of the inhabitants to be :
The native Britons or Cymri occupied territory from
Lands-end to Alcluyd including Cornwall, to Devon, the
breadth rather less than the half of England and Low
land Scotland ; the remainder of the southern and eastern
1 Gibbon's Rome, vol. iv. p. 230.

NARRATIVE — FIFTH TO SIXTH CENTURY. 7 1
coast was occupied by the Jutes, Saxons, and Angles, a.d. 449-537-
The Scots, a people from Ireland, had colonised Argyll-
shire and the western isles. The remainder of Scotland
formed the great and venerable kingdom of the Picts.
After a.d. 411 the Roman government had more
than enough to do to defend the empire from the assaults
of Goth, Hun, and Vandal. Numerous requests were
sent from Britain for assistance. The last, in 446, was
made to ^Etius, a powerful Roman citizen, in the follow
ing terms : ' To ^Etius, now consul for the third time, the
groans of the Britons ; ' and again a little further thus :
' The barbarians drive us to the sea ; the sea throws us
back on the barbarians ; thus two modes of death await
us, we are either slain or drowned.' The Roman consul
could do nothing for them, and according to Gildas,
famine or despair gave them courage, and ' they over
threw their enemies who had for so many years been
living in their country.'
We do not attempt an account of the Saxon conquest.
In a.d. 449 Vortigern called in the assistance of the
Saxons who, with Hengist and Horsa, landed, and in
spite of their determined opposition, forced the Britons,
within the next hundred years, into the limits we have
described. But we have anticipated matters in order to keep the
history of North Britain distinct. The first consequence of
the withdrawal of the imperial troops was the usual irrup
tion of the Scots and Picts. If not on a more formidable
scale, it had a more successful issue, for the Picts pene
trated as far south as Stamford, and we have every
reason to believe made settlements and fraternised with
the Saxons, and more particularly with the Angles, both
of whom were on the same errand as themselves. The
only trace of their occupation identified, is the district
called Lodonea or Lothian, comprehending not only the
Lothians but the counties of Roxburgh and Berwick.
The name Pentland, corrupted from Petland or Pictland,
has preserved a record of the settlement. From what we
can see it is evident they became a homogeneous people
with the Teutonic settlers, from whom indeed they differed

72 STRUGGLE IN VALENTIA.
a.d. 449-537. but slightly in race, language, and religion. The name
Picts was also applied to the inhabitants of Galloway.
Whether they were a colony from the northern Picts in
Scotland, or from the Cruithne in Ireland, or were simply
the Novantae mentioned by Ptolemy, we cannot pretend
to say, there are authorities for all. Pinkerton calls
them a colony of Scots from Ireland of a later date than
their Dalriadic brethren. They were probably Gaelic
Celts, as the Irish language was spoken to the borders of
Carrick at a comparatively late period. Notwithstanding
their early reception of the Christian faith from St
Ninian, and their long connection with the kingdom of
the Angles and the diocese of York, they were the last
inhabitants of Lowland Scotland to throw off their bar
barism. At the battle of the Standard they are termed
the wild Picts of Galloway ; and, like the other unarmed
and undisciplined kerne who composed a large portion
of King David's motley force, were slaughtered like sheep
by the Norman mail-clad chivalry. Innes, however,
gives them the high distinction of being the ancestors
of the Stuart line of kings. He says that many of
the leading Picts dissatisfied with the accession of the
Scot Kenneth to the Pictish kingdom, retired into
Galloway, and that Alan, son to Walter, proprietor in
Galwellan (Galloway), is the true ancestor of the Stuart
kings.1 The Roman province of Valentia being left defence
less, the government fell naturally to the Romanised
Britons who were in a manner associated with the im
perial officers. There seems to have been a family
which assumed the kingly power, and the seat of govern
ment was established at Alcluyd, the modern Dumbarton,
and from which the state for some time derived its name.
The sway over Valentia must have lasted for a very
short time ; the Picts were at the heels of the Roman
soldiery, while the Saxons were advancing from the south,
and the Angles no doubt were making incursions in their
long keels from their native shores, and settling where
they landed. The struggle all through the island was a
1 See Innes' Critical Essay, pp. 104-5.

ARTHURIAN EPIC. 73
long and severe one ; the Britons could not or would not, a.d. 537-573-
like the Gauls and the Italians, make peace and coalesce
with their fierce foes. The Saxons found England and
Lowland Scotland, Celtic and Christian, after the con
quest, with the exception of Cumbria and Wales, it was
Teutonic and heathen. It is impossible that the whole
population could have been massacred or driven into the
fastnesses of Wales and the wilds of the southwest of
Scotland ; like the Picts, who readily amalgamated, a
considerable portion of the population would be reduced
to servitude or overlordship, and gradually be lost in the
more vigorous race.
The war between the two nations is immortalised in
the Arthurian Epic ; whether there were one or a dozen
of Arthurs, whether he or they were native chiefs, or of
Roman descent like Ambrosius Aurelius we do not ven
ture to say. Professor Rhys, in his work on Celtic
Britain, gives an eminently fair and sensible view of the
contest from which was developed the Arthurian myth.
A struggle for existence had taken place, not without
heroic deeds and temporary success of the conquered
race. The achievements of many warriors became cen
tred in one : ' Arthur became the ideal champion of the
race, and when that race became Christian he must needs
don the armour of a Christian general, leading the Bry-
thons to war against the pagan invaders, whether Picts or
Germans. The fortunes of the Brythons were his con
cern, and their wars were his wars, so that great battles
were believed to have been fought under his command ;
nay, he was related to have with his own hand slain in
each a marvellous number of foes.'1 His deeds belong to
the whole race whether, in Brittany, Cornwall, Wales, Eng
land or Scotland, ' Arthur belongs to them all, wherever
Celts have spoken a Brythonic language from the Morbi-
han to the Caledonian forest' 2 The historical ground
for the existence of the British hero might be taken from
Nennius, and the following extract seems to guide to the
conclusion of Mr Rhys, that victories in so many quarters
of the island were gained by different leaders. ' Then
1 Rhys' Celtic Britain, pp. 231-2. 2 Ibid. p. 233.

74 ARTHURIAN EPIC.
a.d. 537-573. it was that the magnanimous Arthur, with all the kings
and military force of Britain, fought against the Saxons.
The first battle in which he was engaged was at the
mouth of the river Gleni (the Glen in the northern part
of Northumberland). The second, third, fourth, and
fifth on the Duglas or Dubglas (the little river Dunglas
which forms the southern boundary of Lothian, or ac
cording to Whittaker, the Duglas near Wigan). The
sixth on the river Bassas (not a river but the Bass Rock ;
others think it intended for the river Lusas in Hamp
shire). The seventh in the wood Celidon (the forest of
Englewood extending from Penrith to Carlisle). The
eighth near Gurnion Castle (variously supposed to be in
Cornwall, Binchester in Durham, most probably at a
Roman station near Yarmouth). The ninth was at the
city of Legion, which is called Cair Lion (Exeter). The
tenth on the banks of the river Trat Treuroit (the Brue in
Somerset or the Ribble in Lancashire). The eleventh
was on the mountain Breguoin (Cadbury, Somersetshire).
The last was a most severe contest, when Arthur pene
trated to the hill of Badon (Bath). In this engagement
nine hundred and forty fell by his hand alone ; no one
but the Lord afforded him assistance.' T
There is, however, a different reading of this fragment
of history given by Mr Skene in his ' Four Books of
Wales,' and though he is the only historian who takes
the same view, his knowledge of Celtic literature and
acquaintance with early records, may have given him the
true key to the exploits of the Arthur whom most writers
relegate to the region of myth or fable. From the His
toria Brittanorum ascribed to Nennius, some additional
fragments printed in the chronicles of the Picts and
Scots, and from the Welsh poems, he has constructed a
campaign or campaigns carried on in Lowland Scotland
and the Lennox by the veritable Arthur. The battle of
Badon Hill, erroneously supposed by previous writers to
have taken place at Bath, by a careful criticism is proved
to have been fought at Linlithgow. The contest which.
Mr Green says, was with the ' West Saxons, and was fol-
' Six Old English Chronicles, pp. 408-9.

ARTHURIAN EPIC. 75
lowed by a general pause in the English advance,' was a.d. 537-573.
not with them at all but with the Picts allied with the
Saxons, who, it seems, long before Ida had landed in
Northumbria, had made settlements under Octa, son,
and Ebissa, nephew to Hengest They are said to have
been in possession of the district now represented by
Dumbarton and Stirling, and perhaps more extensive
territory. The great chief determined to wrest this valu
able portion of the country, and also that seized by the
Picts, leaving, we suppose, the defence of England to
less redoubtable champions. He advanced by the west
through friendly territory to the Glen, a small stream
which falls into the Irvine in Ayrshire, where his first
battle was fought. Advancing northward, passing Dum
barton, which must have been then in friendly hands, for
so skilful a general would not have left so strong a for
tress in his rear, he defeated the enemy in four battles
on the Upper and Lower Douglas, streams which fall into
Lochlomond. Proceeding eastward, on the banks of the
Carron at Dunipace, another engagement took place.
The seventh and eighth were fought in the south of Scot
land in or about Selkirk. Dumbarton must have been
taken by the enemy or fallen from its allegiance, for the
ninth battle was fought there, and the fortress recovered.
The northern part seems to have been the hardest to
conquer, for the tenth was at Stirling, the eleventh at
Edinburgh, and the twelfth at Linlithgow. These dis
tricts, wrested from the Picts and Saxons, he divided
among three British chiefs : one of them, Llew, who was
invested with Lothiana, is a well-known personage, no
other than Loth, the cruel father of Thenew, the mother
of St Kentigern. It seems bad policy for the Christian
hero to have thus promoted a man who, if not then, was
soon a pagan or half pagan. His son Medraut proved
ungrateful to the man who had raised his father to a
throne, for he was the commander of the combined force
in which the Britons were defeated at the battle of Cam-
Ian, a.d. 537, and in which both leaders perished. Mr
Skene observes, ' It is surprising that historians should
have endeavoured to place this battle in the south.' It

y6 ARTHURIAN EPIC.
a.d. 537-573- took place on the banks of the Carron near Falkirk, and
the mysterious ' Island valley of Avilion,
Where falls not hail, or rain, or any dew,
Nor ever wind blows loudly,'
must be sought in the vicinity of Camelon and the site
of Arthur's Oon.
That the Arthurian romance had its origin in tradi
tions of the contest in Britain between British Christians
and heathen invaders, may be taken for granted. That
there really was a historical Arthur is more difficult of
proof. He is unknown to Bede and the Saxon Chronicle ;
and if his exploits took place in the north, it seems
strange indeed that the author ofthe Ecclesiastical His
tory of England, himself a north countryman, should
have been ignorant of them, or should have omitted such
important events.
There are two inferences to be drawn, if Mr Skene
has unearthed the true Arthur and the sites of his twelve
battles. Either the great romance has been founded on
twelve petty skirmishes, with an enemy easily repelled
in former times by trained troops, or the best and bravest
of the Cymri had been driven northward, and in Low
land Scotland and the borders of the Highland line,
struggled for the possession of a new home. The issue
shows also that the Picts and their allies had profited by
defeat, for the Cymri are said to have adopted Roman
discipline and tactics in their campaigns ; numerous al
lusions are made to these in the poems of the bards.
The traditions of the Arthurian and succeeding con
tests were preserved in the poems of Aneurin and Ta
liessin, writers of the sixth century. These poems show
the authors to have been men, not only of high poeti
cal genius, but also to have been orthodox Christians and
classical scholars. This learning and culture could only
have been the remains of Roman teaching, inherited cul
ture from cultured forefathers.
Valentia, as a whole for some time, and afterwards
that portion of it which formed the kingdom of Cumbria,

ARTHURIAN EPIC. JJ
was thus the last refuge of Roman civilisation and Chris- a.d. 537-573-
tianity. The poetry and its kindred associations must
have had the strongest root, for St Kentigern had to
convert the most of the inhabitants of the district, and
after his death they relapsed ; the poetical literature
lived, for, according to Mr Skene, ' a large proportion of
the historical poems of Wales are, in point of fact, the
literature of the Cymric inhabitants of Cumbria before
that kingdom was subjugated by the Saxon king in 946.' 1
After this period it seems these poems found their way
to Wales, and form part of the Welsh literature, of which
they form a distinct portion, easily to be distinguished
in matter, language, and style from the modern portion
which sprung into being when the Welsh came into con
tact with the Normans.2
If the battle of Camlan, a.d. 537, can be accepted
as a fact in history, it is evident, that even in the Cymri
of the province of Valentia, the Roman civilisation and
Christianity were fast dying out. Mordred, Modred, or
Medraut, the son of that ' vir semipaganus' Llew or Loth,
headed a formidable portion of the relapsed Britons, and,
with the assistance of his Pictish and Saxon allies, on
the fatal field of the battle mentioned, crushed the Chris
tian hosts headed by their redoubtable champion. Med
raut or Morken, as he is called by Joceline in his
biography of St Kentigern, must have held sway over a
large territory, his father's dominions were Lodoniana, but
he is represented in the life of the saint as holding his
court near Glasgow. In a.d. 547 a more formidable
enemy than any hitherto encountered, invaded the terri
tory of the northern Britons, and an attack was made in
force, of the Teutonic tribe, which was to give a name to
the country and its language. The Saxon Chronicle thus
states the event, ' a.d. 547 — This year Ida began to reign,
from whom arose the royal race of Northumbria, and he
reigned twelve years, and built Bamborough, which was
at first enclosed by a hedge and afterwards by a wall.' 3
1 Skene's Four Books of Wales, vol. i. p. 242.
2 See Warton's English Poetry, vol. i. pp. 141-2.
3 Saxon Chronicle, Bohn's ed., p. 312.

78 ARTHURIAN EPIC.
a.d- 537-573- The terrible Ida, who in bardic story bears the ominous
title of the ' Flamebearer,' with ' his men of fifty keels '
rapidly overran the country from the Humber to the
Forth, and the district which was the principal seat of
the Roman government, civil and military, became the
heathen kingdom of Bernicia.
It is extremely probable that the resistance to the
arms of the invader was chiefly from the Britons ; the
Picts, who had colonised the country, owed as yet no
allegiance to a king on the northern side, and being a
people kindred in race, language, and religion with the
Angles, a mutual feeling would unite them under the
banner of such a distinguished leader against the Britons,
Christians, and Romans. The strife was ever between
Christianity and paganism, culture and barbarism.
Though the Bernician dynasty was firmly established
in the lifetime of Ida, yet the contest was very severe,
and the native Cymric authors represent Ida as slain in
battle ' by Owen ofReged, the son of Urien, the favourite
hero of the bards, and a warrior from whom many a
laurel has been stolen to adorn the chaplet of the fabul
ous Arthur.' x Urien is said to have arrested the advance
of the sons of Ida, and his exploits and that of other
heroes have been sung by the bards, but, in the moment
of victory, the bravest champion of his race was slain by
' Llovan of the accursed hand ; ' the loss to the Britons
was irreparable, the Angles recovered their ascendancy
and consolidated their conquests.
Probably at this time the British kingdom of Strath
clyde had its origin, existing previously as a confederacy
of tribes, occasionally acting in concert under a leader,
as danger or circumstances gave occasion.
But in a.d. 573, fourteen years after the death of Ida,
a king of Strathclyde appears who has been generally
accepted as an historical personage, Rydderch, the friend
and patron of St Kentigern. His kingdom comprised
the western portion of the Lowlands of Scotland and
Cumberland on the English side of the border.
Before narrating the events of his reign, we may in-
1 Robertson's Scotland under her early Kings, vol. i. p. 4.

KINGDOM OF STRATHCLYDE. 79
dicate the state of parties in what we may still call for a.d. 573-603.
convenience, Valentia.
The territory ofthe King of Bernicia, consisting ofthe
middle and eastern lowlands to the Firth of Forth, was
termed Saxonia by old chroniclers, and was inhabited
by a mixed population of Angles, Picts, Saxons, Cymri,
and other races. The Picts had been either thoroughly
subdued or were in close amity with the Anglic settlers ;
they had apostatised from the Christian faith if they ever
had embraced it, and were, as we have stated, homogene
ous with their rulers in manners and religion. On the
other hand the Britons were not at one among them
selves, there was a Christian and a heathen party. The
latter flung off Christianity as a badge of slavery to the
Roman influence, and fostered by the bards, made a
successful appeal to the national feelings. Medraut, the
successful opponent of Arthur, was ofthis party, and 'vir
nequissimus et sceleratissimus,' for he despised St Kenti-
gern's preaching, and even kicked the holy man. The
other party was composed of those who adhered to the
Christian religion, and in some degree to the Roman cul
ture, and in the new monarch they found an able and
victorious leader. A conflict was inevitable, and in a.d.
573, the year of King Rederech's accession, a battle was
fought at Ardderyd (Arthuret), on the west bank of the
river Esk, eight miles north of Carlisle, where the hosts
of heathenesse were scattered before the arms of the
Christians. What was the composition of the defeated
army, commanded by Guendolin, is uncertain, probably
the Picts and Angles would form part of it, but there is
no mention made of the assistance of the King of Ber
nicia. The power of the King of Cumbria was firmly
established, and with it the profession of the Christian
religion. The Christianity of King Rederech was sin
cere ; one of his first acts was to prevail on St Kenti
gern to return from Wales and to take up his abode
with him. If we are to believe Jocelyn, the biographer
of the saint, the Cumbrian monarch was a devoted son
of the church, a pattern to all rulers, a worthy prede
cessor of the pious David, Prince of Cumbria and King

80 KINGDOM OF STRATHCLYDE.
a.d. 573-603. of Scotland. Rederech, who is better known as Rhyd-
derch Hael (the bountiful), by his own talents and by the
friendship of SS. Kentigern and Columba, had a pros
perous reign, and died peacefully in his bed, in accord
ance with the prophecy of St Columba,1 a rather uncom
mon circumstance for kings in those days.
In the same year Aidan, king of the Scots, with the
combined forces of his own country and Cumbria, in
vaded Bernicia, to measure his strength with the king oi
the Angles. At a place called by Bede, Degsastan,
identified as Dawstane in Lidderdale, a decisive battle
was fought a.d. 603, in which the army of Aidan was
annihilated, and the power of Bernicia enormously in
creased. Bede says, ' he (Ethelfrid, king of the Northum
brians) conquered more territories from the Britons, either
making them tributary or driving the inhabitants clean
out, and planting English in their places, than any other
king or tribune,' after the battle of Degsastan. ' From
that time no king of the Scots durst come into Britain
to make war on the English to this day.' 2
The history of the British kingdom in Scotland forms
no important part of it, and though anticipating the
course of events we shall shortly trace its narrative to
its close. After the death of Rhydderch another branch suc
ceeded to the throne, and from this or some other cause
the Britons and Dalriadic Scots ceased to be on friendly
terms. In a hostile encounter between the forces of the
two nations at Strathcarron, on the river Carron, the
Scots were defeated and their king slain, a.d. 642. It
would almost seem that the pagan party had now the
1 ' Prophecy of the blessed man regarding King Roderc Son of
Tothal, who reigned on the Rock of Cluaith (Alcluith) or Dumbar
ton.' ' This same king being on friendly terms with the holy man,
sent a messenger to ask him "whether he would be killed by his
enemies or not." The saint replied, "he shall never be delivered
into the hands of his enemies, he will die at home on his own
pillow." And the prophecy of the saint regarding King Roderc
was fully accomplished ; for, according to his word, he died quietly
in his own house.' — Reeves' Adamnan, p. 15, ed. 1874.
2 Bede's Ecclesiastical History, p. 61, ed. Bohn's Lib.

KINGDOM OF STRATHCLYDE. 8 1
upper hand, for we find the Britons in alliance with the a 0.642-945.
terrible heathen Penda, king of the Mercians, who had
so long been a thorn to Northumbria and Christianity.
Oswy, the king of Bernicia, was in the end successful in
defeating his savage and perfidious enemy, a.d. 654, he
and thirty royal commanders being among the slain. The
Cumbrian allies of Mercia shared its fate ; Oswy overran
the country, and for thirty years it was a part of Bernicia.
The defeat of Ecgfrid in a.d. 685 released the Britons
from the rule of the Angles ; but the latter still kept
possession of the Pictish territory of Galloway, and the
district from the Derwent in Cumberland to the Solway
Firth, with Carlisle as its capital, which had lately been
bestowed to the See of Lindisfarne. It is likely also the
northern shores of the Solway to Dumfries would be
occupied, otherwise the Angles would have been entirely
cut off from Galloway. The British kingdom, now much
curtailed, is hardly mentioned for long in the scanty
annals of the time, but it again appears in a.d. 872,
under the name of Strathclyde. With varying fortunes,
in conflicts with the Scots and Picts, the Angles and the
Danes, the little kingdom survived under its native
princes until a.d. 908, when, on the death of Donald, the
last of the family claiming descent from the Romanised
Britons, the succession passed amicably to Donald,
brother to Constantine, king of Alban.
The monarchs of this race seem to have enlarged
their territory to something like the old limits, from the
Clyde to the Derwent, and to have been in close alliance
with the kingdom of Alban. But coming into contact
with the power of Northumbria proved, as on former
occasions, its ruin. The Danes of Ireland at that time
made many fierce onslaughts on the English kingdom,
and their route was uniformly by Cumbria. Eadmund,
the king of Northumbria, having expelled these mar
auders, determined to block their way for the future, and
punish their abettors. In a.d. 945 he ravaged the coun
try, and thinking it better to have only one power to do
with on his northern frontier, he granted it to Malcolm
king of the Scots.
VOL. I. F

A.D.
945-«57-

82 KINGDOM OF STRATHCLYDE.
Cumbria thus became subject to the Scottish throne,
the district south of the Solway held on a very loose
tenure, until a.d. 1157, when Malcolm IV. surrendered
any claims to Northumberland and Cumberland. The
district of Galloway preserved a kind of independence
until the termination of the war of the Succession, the rule
of Northumbria nominal but slight. It preserved its
barbarism and also its special laws to a very late period,
the privileges of the Galwegians are mentioned in the
Regiam Majestatem. The Celtic nature and barbarism
are long extinct, but to this day it is the least frequented
portion of Lowland Scotland, though there is no fairer
or more romantic scenery to be found. It is the birth
place of the Christianity of our country, as it was also the
refuge and home of the piety and patriotism of apostate
Scotland in a later age.

CHAPTER V.
PICTLAND.
Pictland — History unknown previous to a.d. 565 — Brude — War
with Bernicia — Continuous struggle in Northumbria, Mercia,
Deira, Penda, Csedwalla — Oswald King of Bernicia — Battle of
Denisesbum — Csedwalla slain — Oswald slain by Penda — Penda
slain by Oswy — Triumph of Christianity — Pictland — Brude —
Invasion by Ecgfrid King of Bernicia, his Defeat and Death —
Angles lose their hold of Southern Scotland — Naitan — Re
ligious Controversies — Dalriada, Aidan, Columba, Dommall
Breac — Battle of Moyra — Anarchy in Dalriada — Attack by
Aengus — Dissolution of the Kingdom — Northumbria acquires
most of Strathclyde — Kingdom of Fortrenn — Danish Invasions
— Kenneth MacAlpine.
The history of Pictland, previous to the time of St a.d. £60-556.
Columba a.d. 565, is practically unknown. The account
of the campaigns of Agricola against the Caledonians tell
us nothing ; the accounts of the expeditions against the
Picts in later ages tell us little. All that can be said is,
that there existed a confederacy of two powerful tribes
known under the name of Dicaledons and Vecturions, i.e.
Northern and Southern Picts, who, when danger assailed
them, were under the command of a single chieftain.
Their arms and mode of fighting were of the rudest and
most primitive kind ; their manners, customs, and mode
of life were of the same character.
Yet withal they inspired respect in their powerful
assailants ; their military tactics were far from contempt
ible, their attack was formidable, their retreat skilful and
courageous. In later days they were not slow to pick up
the arts of peace and war, and it is not improbable that
by the time they appear in history, under the reign of
Brude, they were no longer the naked painted savages
of a.d. 360, when they acquired their name, but had
made some progress in the arts and civilisation.
The Picts, not to be behind their neighbours, had a

84 PICTLAND.
a.d. 360-556. list of kings from a respectable antiquity, though their
portraits have unfortunately not been preserved like those
of the Scots. The first on the list is the eponymus ofthe
race Cruithne, who, according to the legendary writers,
commenced his reign somewhere about three hundred
years before the Christian era. Mr Skene, with much
probability, in his preface to ' Chronicles of the Picts and
Scots,' fixes a year between a.d. 442 and 476 for the
commencement of the Pictish monarchy, a much more
probable time than the remote date previously mentioned.
The peculiar mode of succession to the Pictish throne
need not further be noticed, after all that has been written
on the subject. Pinkerton's remarks contain the gist of
all that is really known ; why the custom existed, or how
it originated, will probably remain an unsolved question:
' Among the Piks, he of the royal race, who was strong,
valiant, and wise, would be chosen ; but when two can
didates of equal worth appeared, and the balance was
doubtful, he was chosen who, descending of the royal
race by the female line, was thought to have a surer
claim to royal blood than him who descended by the
male line. Of this rule of elective succession, Beda thus
instructs us, " that when any difficulty should arise, they
should choose (eligerent) a king from the female royal
race rather than from the male, which custom, as is well
known, has been observed among the Piks to this day." 1
Of the number of royal race we may judge from the
charter of Ungust IL, published by Sibbald in his ac
count of Fife, where no less than twelve witnesses are
given, all sons of different fathers, with this addition :
" All these witnesses are born of the Royal Race." '
The distinguishing names of the monarchs which, in
many cases, are supposed to indicate the names of par
ticular districts, furnish merely a topic for fruitless
speculation. At this time the Pictish territory proper consisted of
all Scotland north of the wall, with the exception of
Dalriada ; there was a sort of debateable ground imme
diately to the south of this, in the district called Manann,
' Pinkerton's Inquiry, vol. i. p. 261.

KING BRUDE OR BRIDEI. 85
struggled for by Picts, Angles, Britons, and Scots ; further a.d. 55«-s85.
south were numerous colonies subject to and friendly
with the Angles, but not averse to revolt and a connec
tion with the parent country.
According to the Pictish Chronicle and the corrobora
tory evidence in Adamnan's Life of St Columba, and
Bede's History, Bridei, son of Mailcu, ascended the
throne in a.d. 556, and reigned thirty years. In the
eighth year of his reign, a.d. 565, he was baptised by St
Columba.1 Nothing whatever except his relations with
the apostle of his country is known. He is represented
as holding his court, attended by Druids and other high
functionaries, at his capital, situated ' at some distance,
but not far from the river Ness.' 2 Dr Reeves, whose
critical judgment is beyond question, fixes the site on
Craig Phadrick, situate about two miles S.W. of Inver
ness across the river, a natural eminence of considerable
height and well defined, commanding a most beautiful
and extensive prospect, having a large tract of Ross-shire
on the north, Inverness on the east, Beauly on the
west, and Loch Ness on the south.2 Brude seems to
have been on friendly terms with his neighbours. It is a
question whether Iona was a grant from the king of the
Picts or the king of the Scots, probably from both, and
the saint to whom it was granted preserved friendly rela
tions between the two states. Even the savage inhabitants
of Orkney were on good terms with the Pictish king.
Columba received from him letters which ensured a
welcome to the missionary Cormac when he visited these
distant shores.
It would be interesting to know how the kings of
Pictland regarded the conquests of Ida and his suc
cessors, whether they were on friendly terms, or whether
they suspiciously watched the rising power which in a
short time was to menace the independence of their
country. Though nominally converted to Christianity,
the Picts gave no assistance to the Christian Cymri in
their contests with the heathen ; as a nation they seem
1 Chronicles of Picts and Scots, p. 7.
2 Reeves' Adamnan, p. 277. Ed. 1874.

86 PICTLAND— NARRATIVE.
a.d. 586-623. to have kept aloof from the fierce strife which raged in
the south ; their kinsmen in these localities were, how
ever, willing subjects to the Angles, and auxiliaries in
their conflicts.
A series of events changed the aspect of affairs,
and brought Pictland into contact with Bernicia. In
a.d. 606 Aedilfrid, king of that country, succeeded in
dethroning the youthful Aedwin, king of Deira, thus
adding this province to his own kingdom. Aedilfrid was
a very powerful prince, and not only extended but con
solidated the rule of Bernicia on the north to the shores
ofthe Firth of Forth. But in the year a.d. 617 Aedwin,
after eleven years of wandering, seeking shelter as kings
have done since, enlisted the sympathies of Redwald,
king of the east Angles. With his assistance he suc
ceeded in defeating his successful rival in a battle on the
banks of the river Idlae, a tributary of the Trent, the
issue of which was the possession not only of his patri
mony, but of Bernicia.
The sons of Aedilfrid (who perished in the action),
with many of the young nobles who clung to the losing
side, took refuge with the Picts and Scots. Eanfrid the
elder found a protector in the king of the Picts, while
the younger Oswald sought an asylum in Iona, where he
was hospitably received, and, according to Bede, ' was
instructed in the faith of Christ, and received the grace
of baptism.' Though it was through the instrumentality of Oswald
that Bernicia received the Christianity preached by the.
missionaries of the Celtic church, yet the successful
opponent of his family received, with his people, the
same message from Paulinus, a missionary of the Roman
church. The success was nominally great, but the words
of Bede soon proved to be true : ' Though he laboured
long in the word, the god of this world blinded the
minds of them that believed not, lest the light of the
glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them.1 '
Within a few years king and people were pagans.
Aedwin was eminently successful ; he is classed by Bede
1 Bede, p. 84.

BERNICIA — MERCIA — CUMBRIA. 87
as one of the seven kings who possessed the greater part a.d. 633-642.
of Britain to the Firths of Forth and Clyde.1 He is
generally supposed to have been the founder of Edin
burgh (Aedwinsburgh), and though from its command
ing position it was a fortress in earlier times, yet to him
it owes its name and subsequent position as the capital
and the stronghold of Lowland Scotland.
Within six years after his conversion to the Christian
faith Aedwin was slain and his army annihilated in a
battle at Hatfield in Yorkshire, by the combined forces of
Caedwalla, king of the Britons, and Penda, king of Mer
cia. The consequences were most disastrous to the new
faith and to Northumbria. ' Penda, with all the nation
of the Mercians, was an idolater, and a stranger to the
name of Christ ; but Caedwalla, though he bore the
name and professed himself a Christian, was so barbarous
in his disposition and behaviour that he neither spared
the female sex nor the innocent age of children, but with
savage cruelty put them to tormenting deaths, ravaging
all their country for a long time, and resolving to cut off
all the race of the English within the borders of Britain.
Nor did he pay any respect to the Christian religion,
which had newly taken root among them, it being to this
day the custom of the Britons not to pay any respect to
the faith and religion of the English, nor to correspond
with them any more than pagans.' 2 .
In the confusion consequent to these events, Osric,
the son of an uncle of Aedwin, was made king of Deira,
while Eanfrid, who had fled for refuge to the king of the
Picts, regained the throne of Bernicia. But ' both these
kings, as soon as they obtained the government of their
earthly kingdom, renounced and lost the faith of the
heavenly kingdom, and again delivered themselves up to
be defiled by the abominations of their former idols.'
This was probably done to gain the favour of Penda,
through whose connivance they probably gained their
position. The conversion raised the ire of Caedwalla, king of
the Britons, who indeed hardly required a ground of
1 Bede, p. 76. * Ibid. pp. 106-7.

88 BERNICIA — MERCIA— CUMBRIA.
a.d. 623-642. quarrel, for the savage or patriotic monarch (there are
always two lights in which a great hero may be viewed)
had resolved on the extirpation of the Angles, be they
Christians or pagans. Caedwalla first slew Osric, with all
his forces, then having overrun Northumbria, he at
length brought to the same end Eanfrid, who unad
visedly came to him with only twelve chosen soldiers to
sue for peace.
Though the British Christian hero was a principal
actor in these dreadful scenes, there is but little doubt
that the real struggle was between heathendom and
Christianity; the parties had changed sides, the Britons
forgetting the very peculiar Christianity they possessed,
joined the ranks ofthe pagans against the very men who,
not so long ago, strove to extinguish their Christianity.
The faith in Odin and Valhalla died hard, and the
struggle was still to continue. In the person of Oswald,
the exiled son of Aedilfrid, the new faith regained an
ascendency which was never totally lost.
From the scanty information we possess, we must
consider Oswald not only of a pious and amiable dis
position, but an energetic commander and able admin
istrator. Bede says, ' He brought under his dominion
all the nations and provinces of Britain, which are divided
into four languages, viz., the Britons, the Picts, the Scots,
and the English. When raised to that height of do
minion, wonderful to relate, he always continued humble,
affable, and generous to the poor and strangers.' x
This accomplished prince, in his sanctuary at Iona,
determined to wrest from the spoilers the kingdom of
his fathers. At the head of a force raised probably from
the northern portion of Bernicia, and, we should suppose,
accompanied by men of action as well as men of prayer
from his friends in Dalriada, 'he advanced with an army,
small indeed in number, but strengthened with the faith
of Christ, and the impious commander of the Britons
was slain, though he had most numerous forces, which
he boasted nothing could withstand, at a place in the
English tongue called Denisesburn, that is, Denis's Brook.'2
1 Bede, p. 1 18. * Ibid. p. 109.

BERNICIA — MERCIA — CUMBRIA. 89
The historian does not give the name of the commander, a.d. 642-670.
as on other occasions, which is somewhat strange. ' It
is therefore not impossible that the impious commander
of Bede may not have been Caedwalla himself, and that
there may be some truth in the account given in the
Welsh Bruts, that the Caedwalla who slew Aedwin sur
vived for many years after.' x The miraculous part of
this engagement and the conversion of the Northum
brians by the Celtic missionaries form part of another
portion of this work, and will there be told.
But the end of the able and pious monarch was not
to be peace, nor was Christianity to triumph in his do
minions without further tribulation and suffering. After
a reign of nine years ' Oswald was killed in a great battle
by the same pagan nation and pagan king of the Mer
cians who had slain his predecessor Aedwin, at a place
called in the English tongue Maserfield, in the thirty-
eighth year of his age, on the fifth day of the month of
August, a.d. 642.' 2
The venerable chronicler, with fond affection, but we
should say with strong assurance of faith, thus continues
the narrative : ' Oswald being translated to the heavenly
kingdom, his brother Oswy succeeded him on the throne
of his earthly kingdom, and held it twenty-eight years
with much trouble, being harassed by the pagan king
Penda, and by the pagan nation of the Mercians that
had slain his brother.' 3 Having embraced the cross,
king and people had to bear it. Penda seems to have
held Deira and Bernicia in his iron grasp; the whole
country from the Humber to the Forth was at the mercy
of the savage and perfidious warrior. Oswy seems to have
taken refuge in the northern part of his dominions, al
most within the borders of the Perthshire Highlands,
whither he was pursued by his relentless foe, who num
bered among his allies all the native British princes, in
cluding the king of Strathclyde. Oswy despairing of
further resistance, attempted to pacify the enemy by
gifts; but these were scornfully rejected, and only the
1 Skene's Celtic Scotland, vol. i. p. 246.
2 Bede, p. 123. 3 Ibid. p. 131.

90 BERNICIA — MERCIA — CUMBRIA.
a.d. 642-670. last extremity was left to the baited monarch. Like his
sainted brother he cast his burthen on the God whose
faith he had embraced. ' If the pagan will not accept
of our gifts let us offer them to Him that will — the Lord
our God.' He vowed that if he should come off victo
rious, he would dedicate his daughter to the Lord in
holy virginity, and give twelve farms to build monas
teries. A small army was raised, strong in the favour of
heaven and confident in their leader. By a series of
skilful manoeuvres the army of Penda was surprised, and
though the pagans numbered three to one, the soldiers
of the cross were victorious at every point. Penda and,
with him, thirty royal commanders were among the slain ;
the hosts of heathendom were scattered to the winds. Ac
cording to most writers this battle took place near Leeds.
Mr Skene, with much plausibility, fixes the site on the
banks of the river Avon, at Manuel near Falkirk. The
argument in favour of this is, that Penda had invaded
and occupied Bernicia on the Scottish side, and that it
is very unlikely tbat he could have so far retired as to
Loidis (Leeds) in Deira, and there been surprised by
Oswy.1 The additional proof from the names of localities,
and the narrative in the ' Historia Brittonum,' we do not
give.2 In this defeat perished the last great enemy of
the cross. Penda was the last of the Teuton invaders
who clung to the faith of his forefathers, and despised
the cowled missionaries of the gospel of peace, whose
converts ' he saw not doing the works of the faith they
had received.' With a ' certain grand sincerity of nature,'
it seemed to him that Odin and Thor were the gods for
times like his, Valhalla the goal for one whose life had
been spent in the breaking of spears.
For thirty years after there was a profound peace;
the Christian religion made extensive conquests, and re
vived where it had previously taken root ; it is to be
hoped that civilisation and the practice of its precepts
increased in an equal ratio. The power of Oswy and
Northumbria was enormously increased. Deira and
1 Skene's Celtic Scotland, vol. i. pp. 253-6.
2 Chronicles ofthe Picts and Scots, p. 13.

BERNICIA — MERCIA — CUMBRIA. 9 1
Bernicia extending to the Firth of Tay, were integral a.d. 642-670.
parts of the kingdom, while an overlordship was claimed
and exercised in England over the Mercians, in Scotland
over the Britons, Picts and Scots. After his struggle
with Penda, the king of the Angles was engaged in a
protracted and bitter contest, not with carnal but spiritual
weapons. The important controversy respecting Easter
and the tonsure, which agitated priest and layman in
every part where the Columban church held sway, will
be subsequently told. It was terminated at the Synod
of Whitby, a.d. 664, and the distracted monarch and his
people had their consciences set at rest on this vital
subject On the decease of Oswy, a.d. 670, he was suceeded
by his son Ecgfrid, under whom Northumbria attained its
zenith of power, and whose fate it was to lose all in the at
tempt to grasp distant territory hardly worth the conquest.
Such a lengthened notice of Northumbrian affairs
may seem foreign to a history of Scotland, but the con
nection at this period was very close. All Lowland
Scotland was either incorporated into or dependent on
Bernicia ; the eastern portion was thoroughly Anglicised,
and indeed the whole territory of the southern Picts was
rapidly becoming so also. Manners and religion united
them when heathen; the same tie now subsisted, for
both were nominally Christian; missionaries followed in
the wake of occupation (for it can hardly be called con
quest), and a bishop was seated at his See at Abercorn.
Returning to the affairs of Pictland, it will be remem
bered that Eanfrid, the son of Aedilfrid, was a refugee
at the Pictish court ; there he was fortunate to secure the
hand of a princess of the royal race; by her he had issue
a son named Talorcan, who succeeded in right of his
mother to the Pictish throne. It is therefore probable
that Oswy, the first of the Bernician monarchs who en
croached on the territory of the Picts, as cousin and heir
claimed on the decease of Talorcan the kingdom, and
as kings usually do, enforced his claim by the sword.
The Picts naturally resisted the claim as contrary to their
laws ; and in order to put Oswy in a thoroughly false

92 ECGFRID — WAR WITH BERNICIA.
a.d. 670-685. position, and to raise to the throne the true successor of
" Talorcan, they deposed Drust, the king they had chosen,
and elected Bridei, the son of Bile by a daughter of
Talorcan, to the vacant seat. Bile was of the royal
house of Alclyde, so we have the curious spectacle within
a few years of an Angle and a Briton seated on the Pict
ish throne, and the last-named contesting it, not with a
Piet but an Angle. In Brude the nation found a brave
and skilful leader, and from him may really be dated the
existence of Pictland as a state — danger and peril welded
it into one. On the accession of Ecgfrid an abortive
attempt was made by the southern Picts to throw off the
allegiance to Northumbria, which was sternly suppressed.
In the meantime Brude fearing the power of his formid
able rival, withdrew to the north, raised troops, and
gradually felt his way farther south. In concert with a
Dalriadic chief of the Cinel Loarn, he was successful in
taking Dunaadd and Dunduirn. The first was the prin
cipal seat of the Scots ; the latter was a fortress which
crowned an eminence at the east end of Loch Earn, and
was the principal stronghold of the district of Fortrenn.
It shows how extended was the grasp of the king of
Northumbria, when we find him in possession of what
may be called the capitals of the Picts and Scots. These
successes roused Ecgfrid to action, and he determined
on the course which proved fatal to him.
Both Picts and Scots seem to have irritated the
temper of Ecgfrid, by their attempts to preserve the
independence of their country, and the expedition to
Ireland in 684 can only be accounted for on the supposi
tion that he wished to punish the abettors of his rebelli
ous subjects, and paralyse further assistance. 'In the year
of our Lord's incarnation, a.d. 684, Ecgfrid, king of the
Northumbrians, sending Beort, his general, with an army
into Ireland, miserably wasted that harmless nation,
which had always been most friendly to the English ;
insomuch that in their hostile rage they spared not even
the churches or monasteries.' x The expedition, and the
manner in which it was conducted, did not find favour
1 Bede, p. 223.

ECGFRID — WAR WITH BERNICIA. 93
with priests, nobles, or people; they abhorred the useless a.d. 67C-585.
carnage and the sacrilege which accompanied it. When
the expedition against the Picts was resolved on, a sense
of coming evil weighed on the minds of all, his friends,
and particularly Cuthbert of blessed memory, implored
the infuriated monarch to pause, but all in vain. In the
year after the Irish raid Ecgfrid led a gallant army,
victorious in many a field, to defeat and nigh to annihila
tion. Passing northwards till he came nigh to the Sidlaw
Hills on the borders of Forfarshire, he there met with
the forces of the Picts. Bede, in his simple way, is the
best narrator: 'The enemy made show as if they fled, and
the king was drawn into the straits of inaccessible moun
tains, and slain with the greatest part of his forces, on
the 20th of May, in the fortieth year of his age and the
fifteenth of his reign.' The site of the battle is variously
named Nechtan's Mere, Duin Nechtain, and Dunnichen.
The latter is still a known locality. 'There was a lake,
now drained, called the Mire of Dunnichen, where the
battle was fought, and has left its record in the numer
ous stone coffins which have been found in the neigh
bourhood.' l
The defeat of the Angles caused the collapse of their
power in Scotland. Mr Burton says that ' the frontier
of the Forth, was abandoned, and the kingdom of North
umbria taking its limits at the Tweed, fore-shadowed the
boundary line between the England and Scotland of
later times.' This is undoubtedly an exaggeration; all
that was really lost was the territory north of the Forth,
which had been annexed by Oswy, the previous bound
aries were retained nominally, and Bede says that
Ecgfrid's successor, Alfrid, ' nobly retrieved the ruined
state of the kingdom, though within narrower bounds.'
But the sway over the Scottish portion of the kingdom
was relaxed, and the tendency was to relations with the
Picts rather than the Angles. As soon as a stable mon
archy was established in that country, their kings found
no difficulty in annexing this portion of Bernicia. In
addition to the loss of Pictish territory, the Scots re-
1 Skene's Celtic Scotland, vol. i. p. 266.

94 ECGFRID — WAR WITH BERNICIA.
a.d. 670-685. covered their lands and liberty, while the territory wrung
from the Britons of Strathclyde, with the exception of
Galloway, was again recovered by that nation.
The consequences in religious matters were, that
Trumwine, the missionary bishop who had established his
See, in all probability at Abercorn near to Queensferry,
at once withdrew with his staff of devoted labourers.
The Picts lost the services of that learned and noble
Church which shed such a lustre over the north of Eng
land and the borders, a Church which produced Bede,
the father of English history, and Caedmon, the earliest
vernacular poet of our country. The ultimate results
to religion and culture were disastrous ; great national
victories are not unmixed benefits ; in many cases they
separate, for centuries, nations whose interests are iden
tical, and throw them into a groove fatal to their best
interests. In this case it was so ; had the Angles and
their monarchs bided their time, similarity in everything
would have amalgamated their nation and the Picts;
marriage with the royal race readily granted would have
sealed the union. But the ill-judged policy of Oswy and
Ecgfrid forestalled all this, the tie was severed, and the
Picts were forced into the arms of the Scots, who though
small in number had their powerful church organisation,
and were forward in the civilisation of the times, in
politics and in military skill. It may, however, occur to
our minds, that really after all it was a matter of very
little consequence whether a people in so rude a state of
society as the Picts received their culture and religion
from Celt or Saxon. But if we have carried our readers
with us in our estimate of the two races, it will not appear
so. The Angles, though rude and barbarous, had in them
the seeds of a civilisation and literature, which even yet
seems but in the vigour of youth ; they had cast aside
the Celtic Church, enthusiastic and pious, but bearing
in it the seeds of disorder and dissolution ; in accepting
the Roman system they had entered into the brother
hood of nations. Nearly four centuries elapsed before
the Picts accepted the boon lost by the rude wooing of
Nechtan's Mere, centuries of deepest darkness, unillumin-

PICTLAND NARRATIVE. 95
ated by a single ray to show that religion and culture a.d. 670-685
were alive. In the person of Queen Margaret, the gentle —
Saxon Queen of Malcolm Canmore, Scotland was once
more united to civilisation and religion, such as the
Teuton could impart. The progress made in the next
two centuries may be a gauge of what might have been
attained during the preceding four, had the same in
fluences been at work.
Seven years after the battle of Nechtan's Mere, Brude,
son of Bile, died, his body was carried to Iona and in
terred there with every mark of respect, showing that he
was on friendly terms with the Abbot of Hy, the real
head of the Scots.
For the long period of forty-six years peace was
maintained between the four nations, with the exception
of internal conflicts, inseparable from such a state of
society, and a few battles between the Scots and the
Britons of Strathclyde. The influence of the Columban
Church, and with it that ofthe Dalriadic Scots, progressed,
and at this time most of its foundations were made, many
laymen also as well as clerics would, we imagine, find
their way over the frontier of Drumalban.
But in a.d. 710 a check was given to the influence
of the Columban Church and clergy. Naitan or Nectan,
the reigning monarch, was troubled with scruples of
conscience as to the orthodoxy of that church on the
great Easter and tonsure question, which had so agitated
Northumbria during the reign of Oswy. He seems also
to have been dissatisfied with the churches made of
wattles peculiar to the early Scottish Church on both
sides of the channel. Nectan, we should think, much
to the chagrin of his spiritual guides at home, applied to
Ceolfrid, the venerable Abbot of Jarrow, for advice and
information on the ghostly subject, and also for architects
who could build a church in the Roman manner. Both
were courteously sent, advice and architects. The King
called an assembly of his notables, and laid before them
the letter of Ceolfrid; the arguments in it convinced King
and notables. It was solemnly decreed that the Pictish
Church should conform to the English (Roman) in the

96 PICTLAND — NARRATIVE.
a.d. 685-710. time as to the observance of Easter, and the cut of the
tonsure. The king naively declared, ' I knew indeed
before, that this was the true celebration of Easter, but
now I so fully know the reason for observing of this time
that I seem convinced that I knew little of it before.' 1
Mr Skene is of opinion that the scene of this, the first
act in the Erastianism which has agitated the minds of
Scotchmen ever since, was enacted at Scone, which had
then become, as it was afterwards, the principal seat of
the kingdom,2 and where its monarchs were crowned,
seated on the coronation stone, until its removal by
Edward I. The history of this wonderful relic has been
noticed previously, that it existed at a very early period,
and still exists, are facts, though how and when it found
its way to Scone, and who was the first monarch who was
crowned on it are unfathomable mysteries still unsolved.
a.d. 717. The Columban clergy, like their brethren in later
times, refused to conform to the royal decree, whether
they took the high grounds so dear to Scotchmen of a
later date, that it was an Erastian invasion of the rights
of the church, or simply that the king had taken a wrong
view, one in which they could not and would not concur,
are of course unknown to us, but they were true to their
principles. Finding them obdurate, Nectan in a.d. 717, expelled
them from their charges, and banished them the kingdom.
Their places had to be filled by clergy of that part of the
Scotch (Irish) Church who had conformed to Rome, or
those of the Anglican Church who were willing to venture
so far north. The king seems to have found no difficulty
in filling the places of the dispossessed Nonconformists,
and the labours of the new occupants were rewarded in
the way peculiar to the times, men left their civil functions
and entered into the sacred order. This may be inferred
from the fact of Nectan resigning his crown and becoming
a cleric, he would not want companions and imitators.
a.d. 724-844. From this time a.d. 724, until the accession of
— Kenneth MacAlpin the narrative is so confused that the
1 Bede, p. 289.
2 Skene's Celtic Scotland, vol. i. pp. 279-83.

DALRIADA — NARRATIVE. 97
author of this work candidly confesses that any account a.d. 724-944.
he can give will probably make confusion more con-
founded, and that Mr Burton has shown his good sense
when he confines his notice of this period to a paragraph
of a few lines. But having already entered the labyrinth,
he is of opinion that he cannot make matters worse in
the attempt to give something like a connected narra
tive. The history of the Dalriadic Scots now forms an in
tegral portion of the Pictish monarchy, with whom they
were constantly in contact. Previous to the time of
Brude, son of Bile, the Scots had little or no political
connection with the Picts, their alliances and quarrels
were with the Britons of Strathclyde and their kinsmen
in Ireland. Yet the silent influence of their higher
civilisation and religion would have its effect, and many
of their number would doubtless find their way over the
frontier of Drumalban, leavening the minds of the Picts.
But from the time when both were united in the death
struggle with Northumbria, their political status was
recognised, and the intercourse, lay and clerical, was of
the most cordial description. Again a change took place,
and from the time of the expulsion of the Columban
clergy until the time when they were restored, the rela
tions were constrained. But a footing had been gained,
and in the numerous contests as to the succession of the
Pictish kings, they were always engaged on one side or
other. For more than a century, Northern and Southern
Picts, Scots, and latterly Danes, are inextricably blended,
so much so indeed, that we are inclined to think that
Scotland was like Israel in the days of the Judges : ' In
those days there was no king in Israel, every man did
that which was right in his own eyes.'
From this chaos arose something approaching to a
settled government The Scots, we have said, had a
share in every dispute, married (evidently a very easy
matter) into the royal race, and in the end gained the
crown for one of themselves ; their history in this respect
is not unlike that of the Normans in England and Scot
land. If we had the history of the time, we would find
vol. 1. G

98 DALRIADA — NARRATIVE.
a.d. 724-844- that the kings of Pictland, like Edward the Confessor,
would have plenty of foreigners hanging about him,
picking up the good things, in wives and lands.
a.d 488-574. We have now to take up the narrative of this people
from their arrival in Argyllshire.
As we have previously stated, the Scots, a people
from Dalriada in Antrim, somewhere about the end of
the fifth century, left the shores of Ireland and founded
a colony on the western shores of Scotland. The colony
consisted of three tribes, under the leadership of Loarn
and Fergus, the two sons of the king of Irish Dalriada,
the names of their tribes and the localities where they
settled we have also stated. Loarn, the eldest, was the
chief of the confederacy ; nothing is known of him, but
his younger brother Fergus seems to have succeeded to
his position in a.d. 503, and he is reckoned the first Ri
or King of Dalriada, who has a historical existence. It
must be borne in mind that according to the legendary
historians this monarch Fergus, was the second of the
name, and the fortieth in descent from Fergus I.1 The
Scots, so far as we know, encountered no opposition in
making their settlement ; and under their first four kings,
they extended themselves over a considerable portion of
territory, in what is now known as the Western High
lands, in fact, with all their efforts they never gained
more. But Brude, the King of Pictland (the first historical
monarch of that name), alarmed at their acquisitions, or
thinking them less formidable opponents than the Angles
or Britons, drove them into Kintyre and slew their king.
He was succeeded by Conall, the friend and kinsman of
St Columba; and as the connection between Dalriada
and Scotia (Ireland) was that of the child to the parent,
it is not at all improbable that one of the objects of the
missionary saint was to mediate in favour of the Dalriads.
It is certain that his presence in Scotland was of the
utmost importance to the Scots, and that from his time
may be dated their influence on Pictland. We have
seen that they were much further advanced in civilisation
1 Innes' Essay, List of Scottish Kings.

DALRIADA NARRATIVE. 99
than their neighbours, but the mere fact of being Christ- a.d.
ians, and of having among them men who could read
and write, was sufficient of itself to command this influ
ence. According to Bede, the island of Hy (Iona) was
granted to Columba by the Pictish monarch, though
Conall is said also to have made the gift, probably to
keep up the fiction of possession, as many landless
potentates have done since.
The mission of St Columba does not find a place
here, but it may be stated, that in a way peculiar to him
self and the Celtic apostles of the time, he forced wel
come and recognition from the king of the Picts, and as
long as the saint lived, his friends were the friends of
Brude. On the death of Conall, the suzerainty of the Abbot
of Hy was at once apparent ; according to the law of
Tanistry, Eoganan was the rightful successor, but Columba,
in accordance with instructions he had received from
a higher power, preferred the youthful Aidan, whom he
crowned with due solemnity a.d. 574.
Much of the success of Aidan was owing to the friend
ship and advice of Columba, who to the most enthusiastic
devotion added an amount of worldly shrewdness seldom
united in the same character. One of the saint's pro
phecies sounds remarkably like a homily delivered on the
occasion of the king's coronation; and in it the reader
will at once recognise the wisdom of the advice contained
in it ; the parent state would always prove a useful ally,
quarrels with and conquests over it would be equally
fruitless : ' Believe me unhesitatingly, O Aidan,' said he,
' none of thine enemies shall be able to resist thee, unless
thou first act unjustly towards me and my successors.
Wherefore direct thou thy children to commend to their
children, their grandchildren and their posterity, not to
let the sceptre pass out of their hands through evil coun
sels. For at whatever time they turn against me or my
relatives who are in Hibernia, the scourge which I
suffered on thy account from the angel, shall bring great
disgrace upon them by the hand of God, and the hearts
of men shall be turned away from them, and their foes

IOO DALRIADA — NARRATIVE.
a.d. 438-s;4. shall be greatly strengthened against them. Now this
prophecy hath been fulfilled in our own times, in the
battle of Roth (Magh Rath, fought 637), in which Dom-
nal Brecc, the grandson of Aidan, ravaged without the
slightest provocation the territory of Domnall, the grand
son of Ainmuireg. And from that day to this they have
been trodden down by strangers — a fate which pierces
the heart with sighs and grief.' 1
Columba, naturally interested in the welfare of his
and heaven's protegee, and also in that of his adopted
country, was able, early in the reign of Aidan, to render
king and country substantial service. Dalriada previous
to this time was merely a colony, owning from Scotia
(Ireland), and subject in every respect to the mother
tribe ; but the Abbot of Hy, through his personal influ
ence and connection with Ireland, gained it the position
of an independent kingdom.
a.d. 575. Along with Aidan, a.d. 575, he proceeded to Ireland
to prosecute the claim to independence which the king
demanded in form from the parent state in Antrim. St
Columba was requested to adjudicate; unwilling to offend
either party, he hit on what seems at once an ingenious yet
simple device, fitted only for a very simple people. He
declined the office, but laid it on a youth whom, there is
little doubt, he had tutored : ' It is not I that shall give
judgment, said he (Columba), but yonder youth, point
ing to Colman MacComgellain. Colman then gave judg
ment, and the decision that he gave was : Their expedi
tions and hosting, to be with the men of Erin always,
for hostings, always belong to the parent stock. Their
tributes and gains and shipping to be with the men of
Alba. And when one of the men of Erin or Alba should
come from the east, the Dal Riada to entertain them,
whether few or many, and the Dal Riada to convey
them on if they require it.' 2
a.d. 575. In other words, an offensive and defensive alliance,
— but no tribute or over-lordship was entered into. Aidan
proved himself worthy of being the chosen of heaven
and of heaven's vicegerent; he was grateful and obedient
1 Reeves' Adamnan, pp. 81, 82. 2 Ibid, notes, p. 265.

DALRIADA — NARRATIVE. IOI
to his benefactor, and at the same time brave and enter
prising. He extended his territories in all directions,
encountering the Picts, the Britons of Strathclyde, and
even the terrible Angles, He is said to have held pos
session of the district of Manann for some time, and one
of his battles there forms the subject of a vision of St
Columba. Though not averse to the aggrandisement
of his kingdom at the expense of his fellow-Christians,
Aidan at once and always ranked himself among the
defenders of the Cross, and came to the assistance of the
Britons in their conflicts with the heathen. He held the
command of the combined forces of the western and
Christian nations against the Angles on the fatal field of
Degsastan, and was fortunate enough to escape with his
life on that day of carnage.
Three years afterwards, a.d. 606, at the ripe age of
eighty years, Aidan died peacefully on his bed, leaving
his throne to his son Eocha Buidhe, whom St Columba
had already named as his successor. Many years pre
vious the venerable Abbot of Ply, with truly Papal as
sumption, but at the same time with a kindly and patri
archal simplicity, had called Aidan to his island home,
that the succession to the throne might be arranged.
The story is thus told by Adamnan : 'At another time,
before the above-mentioned battle, the saint asked King
Aidan about his successor to the crown. The king
answered, that of his three sons, Artur, Eochoid Find,
and Domingart, he knew not which should have the
kingdom after him. Then at once the saint prophesied
on this wise : " None of these three shall be king, for
they shall fall in battle, slain by their enemies ; but now,
if thou hast any younger sons, let them come to me, and
that one of them whom the Lord has chosen to be king
will at once rush into my lap." When they were called
in, Eochoid Buide, according to the word of the saint,
advanced and rested in his bosom. Immediately the
saint kissed him, and, giving him his blessing, said to his
father, " This one shall survive and reign as king after
thee, and his sons shall reign after him." And so were
all these things fully accomplished afterwards in their

102 DALRIADA — NARRATIVE.
a.d. 606. time, for Artur and Eochoid Find were not long after
killed in the above mentioned battle of the Miathi;
Domingart was also defeated and slain in battle in
Saxonia, while Eochoid Buide succeeded his father on
the throne.'1
Eochoid ascended the throne of Dalriada a.d. 606,
and it is probable that the capital of the country then
and afterwards was at Dunadd, a fortified hill, situate in
the moss of Crinan. The records of his reign are very
confused : he by conquest or marriage became king of
the Picts of Galloway, and through this connection was
involved in conflicts in the north of Ireland. The
annals here are peculiarly perplexing ; whether he took
the side of the Scots or Cruithnigh (Picts) it is impos
sible to say, the first is the most probable, otherwise the
prediction of Columba would have been there and then
fulfilled ; the connection with the Picts would lead to an
opposite conclusion.
Eochoid passed to his grave in peace, and no event
of importance is chronicled until a.d. 637, the seventh
year of his son, Domnall Brecc, who seems to have been
of a turbulent and warlike character, insensible to pacific
counsels from St Columba or anybody else. Early in
his reign, either on his own account or in conjunction
with the Britons of Strathclyde, he made an attempt to
wrest from the Angles the territory situated between the
Avon and the Pentlands, but was defeated in a battle
near Callander, and was compelled to retire.
a.d. 637. Disappointed in this adventure against the formid-
able power of the Angles, and like most military heroes
anxious for employment, Domnall Brecc, in the year pre
viously mentioned, a.d. 637, impiously rushed upon his
fate, and accepted the command of a force which was
to sweep the Scots of the Hy-Nial family from Ireland.
His army is said to have been composed of Scots, Picts,
Strathclyde Britons, and even Angles ; in short, the ad
venturous heroes of North Briton, formidable in numbers
and equipment. The ostensible object ofthe expedition
was to assist the Cruithnigh of Irish Dalriada, in a dis-
1 Reeve's Adamnan, pp. 12, 13.

PERIOD OF ANARCHY. 103
pure between them and the Scots of that country, the a.d. 637
ulterior one, perhaps to reverse the position of the Scots —
a century ago, and to make Ireland a subject province.
A great battle was fought at Magh Rath, now known
as Moyra in county Down, in which the Cruithnigh,
with their invading allies, were defeated with great slaugh
ter. It is described as lasting seven days.1' The Irish
annals simply mention the fact. Geoffrey Keating calls
it a terrible conflict.
The consequences of this mad enterprise were fatal a.d. 642-736.
to Domnall Brecc and his country; the king himself, —
however, made his escape from the fatal field, and suc
ceeded in reaching Dalriada. Shortly after his return
he renewed his attempts on the territory of the Angles,
but, as on former occasions, unsuccessfully. At last, one
would think, tempted by fate, he provoked hostilities
with the Britons of Strathclyde, the old and approved
allies of himself and his family. In the fifteenth year of
his reign, a.d. 642, he was slain by the king of the
Britons in a battle fought in the upper valley of the
river Carron, known afterwards as the forest of Strath-
carron. On the death of this warlike monarch Dalriada fell
into a state of anarchy, the nation became demoralised,
a prey to tribal quarrels and foreign invasion, thus was
St Columba's prophecy fulfilled, ' the fate which pierces
the heart with sighs and grief had at length come. The
little kingdom in the confused mass of nationalities strug
gling for existence was, to all intents and purposes, extinct,
for though some chiefs claimed the title, and perhaps
exercised the powers of king, there was no regular head
for any length of time, or over anything like the limits
of the former dominion. The true principle of Celtic
government, so well shown by Mr E. W. Robertson,2 —
disintegration — was now at work without let or hind
rance ; the chief power was alternately wielded by the
head of one of the three tribes, or even by less high and
mighty chieftains. In the end the family of Kintyre
1 See Burtoa's Scotland, vol. i. p. 291, and note.
2 Robertson's Scotland under her Early Kings, vol. i. chap. ii.

104 PICTLAND AND DALRIADA.
a.d 642-736. were fortunate enough in some way or other to grasp the
crown of Dalriada and Pictland.
It were useless to detail the names of the different
so-called kings during this period, the list, and the num
ber of the years they reigned. Are they not to be found
in the ' Chronicles of the Picts and Scots ? '
The time of both kings and people seems to have
been spent in the congenial pursuits of devotion and
fighting, the two passions of the Gael in Ireland, immor
talised by Montalembert, were reproduced in Scotland.
Their wars were fierce and cruel ; but kings and chiefs
left their royal pomp and bloody broils to cleanse their
souls in the cell of the anchorite. Unlike the devotees
of the east and of medieval Europe, they did not alto
gether exclude worldly affairs, and not unfrequently re
turned to the arena of war and politics.
Up to the time of Ecgfrid the Scots were left to these
pursuits all to themselves, no foreign enemy intruding,
just like their Irish brethren ; but the great monarch of
the Angles, as we have seen, made them tributary, more
probably annexed the most of their territory. The vic
tory at Nectan's Mere gave freedom to Dalriada, and the
Scots were participants in the peace which prevailed for
so many years after. But they did not allow their
arms to rust for lack of foreign foes ; the strife between
the Cinel Loarn and the Cinel Gahbran never inter
mitted, and numerous battles by land and sea are re
corded in the Annals of Tighernac.
a.d. 736. This state of things continued until a.d. 736, when
Aengus, the Pictish king, made an attack in force on
Dalriada, which he harried from one end to another.
The rival tribes were driven to extremity, even to unity
for the time being ; so much so, that in despair they left
their own soil, and burst on the plains of Manann, but
only to be slaughtered there by the troops of Aengus,
under the command of his brother Talorgan.
The history of the two kingdoms now marches to
gether, or rather, the doings of the chiefs of Picts and
Scots are inextricably mingled.
a.d. 731-761. The victorious occupant of the throne of Pictland

PICTLAND AND DALRIADA. 1 05
and Dalriada had attained to this position after a pro- a.d. 731-761.
longed internecine struggle, in which half-a-dozen or
more phantom kings flit before us, slain in battle, bound
in fetters, or thrust into the cell of the anchorite. Aengus
MacFergus was firmly established in his position a.d.
731, and is said to have reigned thirty years, during
which time he was constantly engaged in hostilities; bent
on acquiring territory, his contests were with Scots,
Angles, and Britons of Strathclyde, varied with a few
battles between the Picts themselves on their own soil.
Latterly, in alliance with Northumbria, in the early part
of his reign, the relations were unfriendly, for in a.d. 740
Eadberct is said to have been occupied with his army
against the Picts when his presence was urgently needed
in Northumbria.1 Aengus had, or was supposed to have,
instigated the Picts of Lothian and Galloway to revolt;
the first -were probably supported by the Pictish power,
but no record of any conflict is known. To punish or
subdue the Picts of Galloway, Eadberct invited the Dal-
riadic Scots to occupy that district, which they did under
their king Alpin, who, after a successful harrying of the
province, was assassinated in the midst of his victorious
army. ' The scene of his death must have been on the
east side of Loch Ryan, where a stream falls into the
loch, on the north side of which is the farm of Laight,
and on this farm is a large upright pillar stone, to which
the name of Laight Alpin, or the grave of Alpin, is
given.' 2 Alpin would perhaps have been better at home,
for the Annals of Ulster record, in the same year, 741, in
short but pithy language, ' 741, Percussio Dalriatai la
Aengus macFerguso.'
The kings of the Picts and the Northumbrians now
managed to arrange matters, and not unlike their suc
cessors in modern times, the compact was for mutual
spoliation. The two nations united, as in earlier times,
for the purpose of crushing the Britons of Strathclyde.
Several battles were fought, Alclyde taken, and the
Britons thoroughly subdued. The net results to North
umbria were the acquisition of Ayrshire to their province
1 Bede, p. 300. 2 Skene's Celtic Scotland, vol. i. p. 292.

106 PICTLAND AND DALRIADA.
a.d. 731-761. of Galloway, the overlordship over the nation ; in short
the yoke of the Angles was again rivetted on the Cymric
kingdom. What reward fell to Aengus we have been un
able to discover. Tighernac records his death in 761 ;
his reign seems to have been a brilliant and successful
one ; no domestic troubles after he was firmly seated on
his throne, except perhaps the record of a battle between
the Picts themselves in 752 may indicate a collision be
tween the two opposing elements, the northern and the
southern tribes, and in which a rival may have contested
his sway.
a.d. 761-780. Aengus was succeeded by his brother Bruide, who is
termed by Tighernac king of Fortrenn, showing that the
seat of government was now permanently transferred to
that locality — in short, gravitating farther south. He
reigned but two years, dying in 763, his successor being
Ciniod, son of Wredech, whose rule extended to 755.
In 768 a battle is recorded between his forces and those
of Aedh, who seems to have been a Scot who attempted
to revive the Dalriadic kingdom, and in which the Picts
were probably victorious. The death of the Scot took
place in 778 ; he seems to have created some stir in his
time, as he is termed by Flann Mainistrech ' the plun
derer,' and by the Albanic Duan ' the high lord,' though
whether he was an Irish or Scotch Dalriad is uncertain.
Ciniod kept on the same friendly terms with the North
umbrians as his predecessors ; he courteously received
Alcred, the exiled monarch of the Angles, and though
not in his time, yet in that of his successor, the reward
came of a considerable cession of territory north of the
Tweed. Alpin, who attained the throne in 775 and died
in 780, is termed king of Saxonia.1 Ciniod has the fame
of being a pious man ; the fame extended to Northum
bria, for Simeon of Durham, in recording his death says :
' Cynoth, king of the Picts, was taken from the whirl of
this polluted life.'
a.d. ^780-839. The dimness and confusion of our history now reaches
its climax ; in Pictland we have the names of various
kings, but whether they exercised sway over the whole
1 Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, p. 358.

KENNETH MACALPIN. 107
of Scotland north of the Firths, or were only monarchs of a.d. 780-839.
the district of Fortrenn, it is impossible to say. The
succession was invariably a disputed one, and claimants
by the modern form of primogeniture entered the lists,
adding another element to the already complicated mode.
In this war of successions the Scots entered, and as there
has never been wanting among their descendants a cer
tain amount of ability, and an acute perception of the
right way to get on, the chiefs of that time, not less acute,
intermarried with Pictish princesses, and so became eli
gible claimants of the throne.
In the midst of these civil broils, and the consequent
weakening of the central authority, a foreign element was
introduced, the horrors of a barbarian invasion. In the
Saxon Chronicle we have the significant entry, a.d. 787 :
' In his (king Bertric) days first came three ships of
Northmen out of Haeretha-land (Denmark).' x Since
that time swarms of these fierce invaders had found their
way to almost every part of Great Britain and Ireland,
spreading ruin and desolation in their track. Pictland
suffered severely; Dalriada still more; Iona was sacked;
settlements made for convenient eyries, from which the
adventurous sea-kings issued to plunder ; communication
with Ireland was cut off. Out of this chaos emerges, in
a.d. 844, Kenneth MacAlpin, umquhil king of Dalriada,
now king of that country and Pictland — Alban. The old
chroniclers say that he conquered the Picts, in fact, extir
pated them, so that no trace of the language even was left.
The statement carries its own contradiction, and the de
tails do not find a place in sober history. There is very
little doubt but that Kenneth, a Scot by paternal descent,
had claims on the Pictish throne through his mother's
family ; but whether he was peaceably elected, or gained
his position by force, it is impossible to say. Mr Skene
is of opinion that there was a strong party among the
Picts who adhered to the Columban Church, and would
be in favour of that competitor, who would restore it.
Availing himself of this sympathy, and seizing the oppor
tunity of the crushing defeat of the Picts of Fortrenn by
1 Saxon Chronicle, p. 341.

108 KENNETH MACALPIN.
a.d. 780-839 the Danes in a.d. 839, Kenneth in some way or other
became the accepted of the nation and the founder of
the kingdom of Scotland. If the restoration ofthe Col
umban Church was part of his programme, he certainly
fulfilled this portion of it; the relics of the saint were
transferred from Hy to Dunkeld, and its Abbot made the
head of the Church in Alban.

CHAPTER VI.
NORSE INVASIONS.
Norse Invasions — Extent and Importance of these — High Character
of the Religion, Intellect and Culture of the Teutons — Iceland
and the Sagas — Scandinavia and the Vikings — the Vikings in
Ireland — in Orkney and Shetland — Norsemen in Scotland —
Extent and Influence of the Immigration — Narrative from Ac
cession of Kenneth — Norse Invasions — Death of Kenneth —
Donald, Constantin — Norse Invasions — Aed, Eocha, Gregory.
The Danish, or more correctly speaking, the Norse in
vasions of Great Britain and Ireland, during the ninth
and tenth centuries, form an integral, and in many ways
the most important portion of the history of these coun
tries. Indeed the Norse invasions are by no means the
least important part of the history of every European
country from the Pentland Firth to the Black Sea, and
now fall to be noticed.
In the beginning of the fifth century the various
Teutonic tribes poured forth from central Europe and
overwhelmed the imperial power in Gaul, Italy, Spain,
and Britain. There, they in part adopted the language,
religion, and manners, of the Romans, and the Gothic
rule in Italy and Spain contrasts not unfavourably with
the best periods of the imperial sway.
In Gaul, after a brilliant and useful career, the Mero
vingian dynasty lapsed, only to be followed by one more
famous ; and under Charlemagne the empire of ' the fair-
haired and blue-eyed Franks' extended between east
and west from the Ebro to the Elbe or Vistula, between
the north and south from the Duchy of Beneventum to
the river Eyder, the perpetual boundary of Germany and
Denmark.'1 The empire of Charlemagne had been
fiercely assailed by the Allemanni, and as fiercely had
they been driven back. In thirty campaigns the emperor
1 Gibbon's Rome, vol. v. p. 411.

1 10 THE NORSEMEN.
had forced them into the swamps of Denmark and the
rugged fastnesses of Norway and Sweden. But the bold
and daring spirit which had burned in the ancestors of
Charlemagne, was the same which animated the kinsmen
he had repelled ; the tumultuous torrent of life and action
cooped up inland found an outlet — the sea became the
highway to fame and fortune. The great successor to
the majesty of imperial Rome, wept when he saw the
white sails of the Vikings covering the waters of the
Mediterranean, the presage ofthe downfall ofhis empire,
gained by carnage and maintained by terror.
Gibbon says, that the fiercest of the Saxon idolaters
escaped to theingurethren of the north. Had the gifted
historian studied more carefully the sacred books of the
Scandinavians, he would have said, that the truest and
best of the Saxons preferred a faith suited to their lives,
to that faith which tolerated the laxest morality and con
nived at the most unnatural crimes. The followers of
Odin and Thor were not idolaters, they led purer lives
than the followers ofthe 'white Christ;' x the banner of
the Cross covered deeds as atrocious as those executed
under the flag on which was depicted the raven, the bird
of Odin, ' fell god of slaughter.' The religion of Scan
dinavia was no unworthy antagonist of Christianity ;
chastity and truthfulness were integral parts of it; the
sanctity of the marriage tie and the family relations, which
are the truest safeguards of national life, are its products.
Indeed Christianity, in conquering the religion of the
Eddas, adopted much of its teaching ; there have been
few meek men in church or state since that time. Nemo
me impune lacessit has been more the practice of Christ
ians than the pusillanimous conduct recommended in
the gospel. War is still the most honourable calling, and
the heart of the minister of the gospel of peace thrills,
his voice trembles, when he illustrates Christian duties
by the recital of some desperate deed at arms. The imme
diate and natural outcome of the blending of the faith
of Odin and Christ was the militant bishop and the
1 An epithet applied by the Northmen to our Saviour. Worsae's
The Danes and the Northmen, p. 56.

THE NORSEMEN. Ill
Christian knight, the principal occupation of both —
fighting. We can hardly conclude that the different tribes of
Teutons who in the fifth century invaded England, were
actuated by a spirit similar to that of their kinsmen in
the north. Heathendom we have seen, however, died
hard there, and Penda was no unworthy representative
of the believers in Odin and Valhalla. But there is little
doubt that the Norsemen who swept the coasts and ra
vaged the shrines of Great Britain and Ireland in later
days, were actuated by more than the desire for plunder ;
there was a religious feeling underlying this, such as ac
tuated the soldiers of Islam. The stories told by their
kinsmen who had fled from the tyranny of Charlemagne,
would steel their hearts when prayers were made for
mercy from men who numbered him among their saints.
A saint, who caused four thousand Saxons to be beheaded
in one day; whose laws were not less sanguinary than his
arms ; whose edicts pronounced the penalty of death on
those who refused baptism or even ate flesh during Lent.
The people thus cooped up in the north of Europe
were of the Scandinavian branch of the Teutonic family,
and were probably the latest arrival from the primeval
east. Their religion was chiefly a deification of the powers
of nature, but there is also strong ground for supposing
that their principal god Odin was no other than the chief
who led them from the shores of the Euxine to the
Baltic, and that they brought with them somewhat of the
arts and culture known to exist there. Their barbarity
has been taken for granted, chiefly through accounts by
chroniclers who were little more advanced in civilisation
than themselves, but who having embraced Christianity,
thought all outside of its pale thieves and robbers. The
same character was given to the chivalrous Saracens of
Palestine and the accomplished Moors of Spain, and on
much the same grounds. The Norsemen had indeed
much that we now consider civilisation — their arms and
accoutrements, the excellence of their ships, far surpas
sing in build and sea-worthiness those of antiquity, their
use of coined money, and their combining commerce

112 ICELAND AND THE SAGAS.
with war — all prove them to have been no barbarians as
we understand the word. But above all their intellectual
life was stronger and fresher than that of the Latinised
nations with whom they came in contact ; the early and
medieval church, while sowing the seed of ' peace on
earth and good-will towards men,' did little to elevate
the minds of its members, spiritual not intellectual life
was its goal. This life of the intellect, without which
spiritual life is but a trance, a state of coma, the Norse
men embodied in what are termed the Eddas and Sagas
of the Icelandic literature ; its origin, character, and im
portance we give in the words of Mr Worsae : ' In Ice
land, where a great number of the most powerful and
shrewdest of the heathen of Norway sought, after the
year a.d. 870, a refuge against spiritual and political op
pression, and where they founded a republic which re
tained its independence for centuries, the Scandinavian
spirit obtained a free field. Not only did the old bardic
lays, and the remembrance of the deeds of former times,
continue to live among the Icelandic people, but new
bards arose in numbers, who, spreading themselves over
the whole north of Europe, returned " with their breasts
full of Sagas." There also speedily arose in Iceland im
mediately after the Viking expeditions, and altogether
independently of any external influence, an historical
Saga literature in the old Scandinavian tongue, which,
viewed by itself, is, from its simplicity and elevation, ex
tremely remarkable, but which, when compared with the
contemporary dry Latin monkish chronicles and annals
in the rest of Europe, is truly astonishing. The Edda
songs, the purely historical Sagas, the historical novels,
and other peculiarly bold and original productions of the
Icelandic literature, in an age when the European mind
was singularly contracted, form, in the intellectual world,
manifestations of the thorough individual freedom which
stamped itself on the arms, endeavours, and whole life of
the Northmen.' 1 Modern criticism seems to point to
the conclusion, that the Jewish religion was systematised
and spiritualised when the nation was exiled. The same
1 Worsae's The Danes and Northmen, p. 127.

SCANDINAVIA AND THE VIKINGS. 113
seems to have been the case with the Scandinavian ; in
the Voluspa or prophecy of the Seeress it reached its
highest spiritual manifestation ; its closing strophes where
' a new world appears fair in verdant beauty, where only
virtuous folk may dwell,' display an insight and a faith
in the good, the true, and the beautiful, which has per
haps been equalled, never excelled.
The countries of Denmark and Norway at the present
day do not afford the means of subsistence to a large
population, still less would they do so in earlier ages,
and we are apt to be incredulous as to the accounts of
the numbers who swarmed from them in these times.
But during several centuries Scandinavia was but the
headquarters and the refuge of maritime adventurers,
whose field was the world, who either settled where
they conquered, or returned home with their plunder.
For such men it was admirably suited, a refuge and
shelter to the reapers of the sea ; for several centuries
the kings of Denmark were the most powerful monarchs
of Europe, and by commerce, combined with what we
would call piracy, the wealthiest. Both Danes and Nor
wegians bore the name of Vikings, i.e., Isl. Vikingr, a sea
rover, pirate, so-called from the Icelandic Vik, Danish Vig,
a bay of the sea, or from Vig, battle, slaughter.
Denmark formed the seat of government when the
rovers were united under one head, and then, as now,
no better nursery for seamen could be found ; split up
into innumerable fissures by the waves of the German
Ocean and the currents of the Baltic, the dwellers on it
found the sea their only highway. But Norway was the
true home of the Vikings, and no better base for their
operations, no more secure refuge could be found.
' Norway stretches her broad and rocky bosom towards
the ocean,' the wide waves of the Atlantic have split its
western side into numberless gulphs, the well-known
Fiords, which bear considerable resemblance to the sea
lochs of Scotland, and some are of much greater extent.
They seem designed by nature for harbours of defence,
and could shelter the navies of the world, the entrances
are in many cases narrow, thus affording an easy means
vol. 1. H

114 SCANDINAVIA AND THE VIKINGS.
of defence, close into the wall of precipitous rock the
depth of water in the smallest bay is sufficient for ships
of any tonnage. What was wanted the Vikings found
in abundance, timber, pitch and iron, cultivating his
little patch of level ground was never thought of when
the sea was open, and the harvest from it plenteous.
From an early period, even from the time of Caesar,
the inhabitants of the coast of the German Ocean were
bold sailors and successful freebooters, and the imperial
navy did not gain much renown in its conflicts with
them ; but from the end of the eighth, and during the
ninth and tenth centuries, a new and vigorous life seems
to have taken possession of the inhabitants of the
countries bordering on the northern seas. The Norse
men poured forth in countless numbers from their secure
and inaccessible eyries, and from the English Channel to
the Bosphorus their white sails were seen. The storms
ofthe Atlantic had no terrors for them; they discovered
and colonised the Faroe Islands and Iceland ; they were
the first Europeans who set foot in Greenland, and in all
probability in America.
The expedition of Rolfe, and his acquirement of the
Dukedom of Normandy, is perhaps the most important
event, looking to results, in modern history ; the de
scendants of the fierce Vikings were in England and
Scotland the initiators of that civilisation which has
raised Great Britain, her colonies, and the United States,
to their present position.
Another daring spirit from the same fount of heroes
and statesmen wrested Sicily from the grasp of the
Moslem, and founded a kingdom which for long was
the most polished and learned in Christian Europe, the
only representative of reason and culture, in opposition
to faith and its ghostly concomitants, ignorance and
credulity. The expeditions of the Vikings to the British isles
have each their separate interest, similar in many re
spects, the result seems to have been the same, an infu
sion of new energy, a quickening of national life in a
population who, from various causes, was rapidly de-

SCANDINAVIA AND THE VIKINGS. 1 1 5
teriorating in all the qualities which give strength and
vitality to a community. These invasions were made
by different adventurers nearly simultaneously, no por
tion of the country was secure where an arm of the
sea or a navigable river afforded a pieans of ingress.
The manner of their attack, and the terror which they
inspired, can be best told in the words of Henry of
Huntingdon, though, like other contemporary chroniclers,
he does not do justice to the motives of the invaders,
and exaggerates their cruelties. ' It was wonderful how,
when the English kings were hastening to encounter
them in the eastern districts, before they could fall in
with the enemy's bands, a hurried messenger would
arrive and say, " Sir king, whither are you marching ?
The heathens have disembarked from a countless fleet
on the southern coast, and are ravaging the towns and
villages, carrying fire and slaughter into every quarter."
The same day another messenger would come running,
and say, "Sir king, whither are you retreating? a formid
able army has landed in the west of England, and if you
do not quickly turn your face towards them, they will
think you are fleeing, and follow in your rear with fire
and sword." Again the same day, or on the morrow,
another messenger would arrive, saying, "What place,
O noble chiefs, are you making for ? The Danes have
made a descent in the north ; already they have burnt
your mansions, even now they are sweeping away your
goods, they are tossing your young children raised on
the points of their spears, your wives, some they have
forcibly dishonoured, others they have carried off with
them." Bewildered by such various tidings of bitter
woe, both kings and people lost their vigour both of
mind and body, and were utterly prostrated ; so that
even when they defeated the enemy, victory was not
attended with its wonted triumphs, and supplied no
confidence of safety for the future.'1 Similar, though
not so lively, are the reports of the Scotch (Irish)
Chroniclers, as to the doings in Scotland and Ireland.
The Danish invasions, and in the end conquest of
1 Henry of Huntingdon's Chronicle, pp. 147-9. Ed, Bohn,

Il6 SCANDINAVIA AND THE VIKINGS.
England, does not form a part of our history, and needs
but a passing notice. It was to some extent a repetition
of the struggle between heathendom and Christianity,
and in it, all established institutions were overturned.
But the fierce conflict purified the combatants, and pre
pared England for the kindred race who were to be the
latest formers of the English people. The Anglo-Saxons,
even in the north, had deteriorated in many ways since
the fifth and sixth centuries, they were no longer the
energetic though fierce and barbarous colonists of that
period. Explain it as we may, degeneracy and weak
ness were the first results of the conversion of barbarous
nations previous to the Norse invasions, and nowhere
more so than in England. The same authority we have
just quoted proves the statement: 'The reason why
the anger of God was inflamed against them (the English)
with such fury was this. In the early days of the English
Church religion flourished with so much lustre, that
kings and queens, nobles and bishops, resigned their
dignities and entered into the monastic life. But in
process of time, all piety became extinct, so that no
other nation equalled them for impiety and licentious
ness, as especially appears in the history of the North
umbrian kings. This impiety was not only manifest in
the royal annals, but extended to every rank and order
of men. Nothing was held disgraceful except devotion,
and innocence was the surest road to destruction.' x
The Christianity of the time, when sincere, was one of
asceticism, a man was either ascetic or lawless and pro
fane, the ordinary business and cares of life were
unworthy the attention of a religious man, to save his
soul he must retire from a hateful and godless world.
The stern realities of a heathen invasion put an end to
this, and Alfred was the outcome, the noblest example
of a truly pious man, yet a soldier, a statesman, and a
laborious student. Retiring from the throne to a convent
went out of fashion with kings and nobles, a pilgrimage
to Rome quieted their consciences about as well, and
enlarged their experiences at the same time.
1 Henry of Huntingdon, p. 148.

SCANDINAVIA AND THE VIKINGS. 117
But the Danes did more than rub out this ascetic
form of Christianity, they introduced navigation and
commerce, from their time may be dated the rise of the
naval power of Great Britain. With the exception of
the Angles of the north, the inhabitants of England, in
the ninth century, were not a seafaring people ; from the
time of the long keels in which they arrived, no mention
is made of ships, and how little the people knew of
seamanship is shown by the feeble resistance offered
to the Vikings. Britannia had then 'no bulwarks, no
towers along the deep.' Even the big ships built by
Alfred had to be manned by Frisians, and offered an
ineffectual resistance to the invaders. The settlements
made by the Danes and Norwegians gave to England
and Scotland from the Isle of Thanet to the Orkneys,
a race of sailors and fishermen, who have made Great
Britain the mistress of the seas, and the carrier of the
commerce of the world.
In addition, the Norsemen planted an independent
class of freemen, who would not be browbeat by prince,
lay or clerical, and who enforced their right in the mak
ing and administration of the law.1 It is admitted that
they brought to England the institution of the Thing,
the assembly where they arranged their disputes and
public affairs, and also trial by jury. It is a matter of
dispute whether there were any legislative assemblies in
the early English kingdoms, or whether trial by jury is
a Saxon institution, but it is certain that the Danes
exercised both in the five Danish counties called the
Danelag, England owes her initiatory legislative to
Alfred, but, at the sametime is under immense obliga
tions to her Danish kings. All of them, particularly
the great Canute, seem to have been excellent law
givers, his 'laws respecting the limitation of capital
punishment, the right of every man to hunt on his own
land, and others, evince a mildness and humanity
scarcely to be expected in these rude times.'2
The Irish invasion, as has been previously noticed,
produced no such results, though it would be far from
1 See Worsae, The Danes in England, Lecture xiii. 2 Ibid. p. 166.

Il8 THE VIKINGS IN IRELAND.
the truth to say that it was an unmixed evil, the com
merce which that country possesses owes its origin
entirely to the Vikings, who settled there, and survived
the slaughter of the most of their race.
The Danish and Norwegian incursions are volumin
ously told in the Irish Annals and in the ' Wars of the
Gaedhill with the Gaill,' a comparatively modern version
of an undoubtedly ancient original. The narrative is
told after the manner of the Scandinavian Sagas, with
poems and fragments of poems introduced into the
prose narrative. The editor, Dr Todd, is of opinion
that the 'literature of the Sagas was an imitation on
the part of the Northmen of the historical tales and
poems which they found in Ireland,' an opinion which
will be shared by few who are not what Max Miiller
calls 'Celtic enthusiasts.' The Sagas bear few marks
of this so-called original. The style of the ' Wars of
the Gaedhill with the Gaill ' is described by Dr Todd
' as inflated and bombastic' Whatever may be the
demerits of the Sagas their style is neither the one nor
the other.
The conquests of the Vikings in Ireland were at
tended with much rapine and devastation, but we can
hardly credit the monstrous atrocities detailed by the
old chroniclers ' Jugalatio ' ' Vastatio.' ' People were
everywhere killed or maltreated : churches and convents
plundered, burnt and desecrated. The number of the
invaders, their arms and accoutrements, their valour
were magnified, to add to the lustre of the heroic de
fenders of the Sacred Isle. The Scandinavian accounts,
on the other hand, are much more prosaic, and accord
ing to Mr Worsae, are in general shorter than the Irish,
and confine themselves merely to the relation of single
events. With them the Irish expeditions were only a
part, and a small part, of their schemes of conquest;
Ireland is usually treated of incidentally, nay, almost
accidentally. The distinction between the Danes and Norwegians
assumed greater proportions in their Scotch and Irish
expeditions, or the Gael made a distinction where the

THE VIKINGS IN IRELAND. 119
Saxon did not. The Vikings in Ireland are termed by
the native writers the Dubhgaill and the Fingaill, the
black and the white strangers ; the first are supposed to
be the Danes, the other the fair-haired Norwegians,
who are also termed Lochlanns, or people of the Lake
land. By some the distinction is supposed to refer to
the colour of the armour worn, and not to the com
plexion. That there were two different sets among the
Vikings is certain, generally in alliance, they occasion
ally turned their arms against one another, showing the
peculiar effects of a residence in Ireland, and an accom
modation to the habits of a people with whom internecine
war was the normal state of matters. The Northmen
made extensive conquests in Ireland; the only misfortune
was, that they were not numerous enough to absorb the
native population, and that there was no territory further
west into which it could be driven. The power of the
Danes was chiefly of a naval and commercial character,
and was never united under one head, they commenced
by settling on the coast, and endeavoured by war or
diplomacy to extend their possessions into the interior,
but in many cases the territory called a kingdom con
sisted only of a town with an adjacent tract of land, such
as might be called a township. The most considerable
settlements were at Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, Cork
and Limerick ; at Dublin a powerful state was formed,
the sway of its monarchs extending to the Isle of Man
and the southern portion of the western islands of Scot
land. The kings of Dublin held also extensive territory
in Ireland, and entered into matrimonial and other alli
ances with the native princes, the celebrated Gormflaith,
termed the Messalina of Ireland, was the wife of Brian
Boroimha, and the mother of Sitriyg, the king of the Ost-
men in Dublin, who received in marriage a daughter of
Brian's by a previous wife.
The battle of Clontarf, a.d. T014, proved ruinous to
Ostmen and Irishmen alike. Colgan, the author of the
Acta Sanctorum, an author whose opinions even an
Irishman will not controvert, thus remarks on it : ' In
a great battle fought on the plains of Clontarf, near

120 THE VIKINGS IN IRELAND.
Dublin, with very great slaughter on both sides, the
strength of each was so irreparably weakened, that
neither people has since been able, even to the present
day, to recover its original strength and power. For
there fell in that battle the principal chieftains and
nobles, both of the Irish and Northmen, with the far
famed king of Ireland, Brian Boroimha or Bowmocus,
who, says Marianus Scotus, on Good Friday of Kal.
Maii, was slain, his hands and mind intent on prayer to
God.'1 Though, according to Irish Annalists, the battle
resulted in a decided victory, it does not seem to have
affected the power of the Norsemen to any great extent ;
they still retained possession of the seaports they had
acquired, and for some time, the usual conflicts between
them and the native tribes are recorded. But from this
time heathendom was extinct, no fresh arrivals came
from Scandinavia, and Christianity such as it was, be
came the profession of both of the contending parties.
The Norsemen, it would seem, thought that their deities
were beaten in the last conflict, for the issue of the
battle of Clontarf was believed to be owing to the
prayers of Brian, who before and during the fight, re
peated the whole of the Psalter, one hundred and fifty
collects, and the same number of Paternosters.2 In
any case, about twenty-five years later, Sigtryg, king
of Dublin, and Donald his bishop, built the church ot
the Holy Trinity called also Christ's Church, and also
the chapel of St Michael; about fifty years later the
cathedral in Waterford, dedicated to the Holy Trinity,
was founded and erected by the Ostmen there.3 Mr
Worsae gives the Norsemen the credit of being the first
to introduce coined money into Ireland, a silver coin
having been discovered which must have been struck
in the ninth century, later on we have even the name
of the Dublin coiner, Faeremin, who minted the exten
sive issue of king Sigtryg.4
1 Wars of the Gaedhill with the Gaill, preface p. xxii.
2 Ibid. p. 197.
3 Worsae's, the Danes in Ireland, p. 343.
1 Ibid. Section V.

THE VIKINGS IN IRELAND. 121
The Ostmen remained a distinct body even after the
Anglo-Norman occupation of the country; but unlike
their Celtic brethren, they failed to -preserve a distinct
position in the face of the rapidly advancing nationality
with whom they had so much in common. The remarks
of the learned Dane from whose work we have quoted,
on the importance of the Northmen to Ireland, are
singularly suggestive; he gives a quotation from a dis
tinguished repealer, Mr Holmes, who says, ' that it would
have been no detriment to Ireland if the Danes had
remained and settled there,' and concludes his sixth
section in words pregnant and true. After having shown
that the Norwegians opened up the way for peaceful
connections between Ireland and the rest of Europe,
he opposes the arguments of those who would say that
they only facilitated the English conquest, the bane and
curse of Ireland. ' It may possibly be said that the
Norwegians in Ireland, by thus preparing the way for
the Norman or English conquest, rendered a far greater
service to England than to subjugated Ireland. But
all the chronicles, it must be recollected, bear witness
that the Irish were neither strong enough to govern
their own country independently, nor capable of keep
ing pace with the advance of European civilisation by
means of an active commerce. We have seen that even
in later times the same baleful and sanguinary spirit of
dissension which weakened Ireland in ancient days is
yet scarcely extinct among the original Irish race. It
is manifest, therefore, that Ireland, which would other
wise have been divided from the rest of Europe, and
devastated by terrible intestine contentions, has been
much benefited by being united to so great and power
ful a country as England, which has both the ability
and the will to promote the true welfare of the Irish
people.'1 The Shetland islands are but 200 miles from the
coast of Norway, it was but natural then that the Vikings
would touch at them in their adventurous voyages to the
west. This we find to be the case, and that they made
1 Worsae's Norwegians in Ireland, p. 352.

122 THE NORSEMEN IN SCOTLAND.
them a point from which they could take the Faroe
Isles on the one side, the British Isles on the other.
Sometime before the reign of Harald Harfraga, a foot
ing had been obtained, and Rolfe, when banished by
the relentless master of Scandinavia, retired thither,
where he found numerous sympathisers who accom
panied him to the banks of the Seine.
From these islands, the Vikings made their incur
sions into the mainland and islands of Scotland ; in the
latter they found sea lochs resembling their own fiords,
secure refuges, where plunder was safe and wassail
undisturbed. So successful were they, that by the
beginning of the tenth century the Jarls of Orkney held
sway over Shetland, the Orkneys, the Hebrides, and the
counties of Caithness, Sutherland, Ross and Moray.
The Danes and Norwegians were a menace to Scotland
till the battle of Largs a.d. 1263. The Celto-Norwegian
prince, the Lord of the Isles, was an independent
potentate until 141 1. The Orkneys and Shetland were
provinces of Norway until a.d. 1449. The incursions
and forays into Scotland as in Ireland, are said by
the chroniclers to have been made by two different
peoples, the Fingaill and the Dubhgaill, though many
of the expeditions may have comprised both, the north
ern and western coasts, the Norwegians ; the eastern
south of the Moray Firth, the Danes. The atrocities of
the Vikings do not loom so largely in Scottish as in
English and Irish history, perhaps on account of the
paucity of native writers to chronicle, or that there were
fewer shrines and mansions to plunder. Another reason
may be, that the arrival of the Norsemen added but
another element to the disorganised state of Scotland
at the time ; from what can be gathered of its history
during the latter half of the eighth and most of the ninth
century, it was a time of chaotic fighting, the two
divisions of northern and southern Picts, striving for
the supremacy, and assisted in the strife by sympathisers
from Dalriada, Strathclyde and Saxonia, the Vikings
make their appearance, and add but little to the mad
imbroglio. Though Hy was devastated and the family

THE NORSEMEN IN SCOTLAND. 1 23
slain or expelled, though Dunkeld was plundered and
other shrines violated, yet there does not seem in the
accounts the same fierce strife between Christianity and
paganism. The reason for this we trust to make appar
ent in the second part of this work — there was little or
no Christianity to destroy. Kings, and perhaps a few
notables turned monks, but except in the first burst
of the enthusiastic Celtic Church, Christianity made
no converts except among those who embraced the
clerical life. Expelled from their western home the
very brethren of Hy lost the distinguishing character
istics of ministers of religion except the material adjuncts;
they lived by, but did not minister at the altar; the
abbots became lay impropriators, the monks service
able men at arms, or sturdy labourers. Mr Burton
cynically but truly remarks — ' there are no Pictish
saints.' But the true reason why there was no friction, apart
from the armed conflict, between the Picts and the
Norsemen was, that it was but an influx of kinsmen, in
greater force and numbers, than on previous occasions,
and as in England, a harmonious people was the result,
united in a detestation of everything Celtic. The Low-
landers, northern as well as southern, when the strife
was over, commenced to be what they now are, hardy
sailors and fishermen, agriculturalists and artisans, the
Celts and Celtic ways, picturesque idleness enjoyed by
theft from industry, were confined to the Highlands and
Islands. How this state of things, which at present
awakens such fond regret among people who should
know better, was felt by Lowland Scotland at the time
ofthe battle of Harlaw, ad. 141 1, is expressed in terms
scathing but just by Mr Burton, the unprejudiced reader
will cordially endorse his views. ' It will be difficult to
make those not familiar with the tone of feeling in Low
land Scotland at that time, believe that the defeat of
Donald of the Isles was felt as a more memorable de
liverance even than that of Bannockburn. What it was
to be subject to England the country knew, and know
ing did not like. But to be subdued by their savage.

124 THE NORSEMEN IN SCOTLAND.
enemies of the mountains, opened to them sources of
terror of unknown character and extent. Hence of the
many men of mark and local rank, who fell on that field,
the people of the northern Lowlands long retained affec
tionate recollection, and they particularly selected for
this tribute the Provost of Aberdeen and Sir Alexander
Irvine, whose domains almost touched the field of
battle.' x In another part of this work we have insisted
on the Scandinavian origin of the inhabitants of the
northern Lowlands, and that the most convincing proof
of this is the similarity of their language. Mr Worsae
holds the opinion that the Caledonians were extermi-
ated or expelled from their ancient territory,2 and that
the language known as Lowland Scotch is entirely that
of immigrants of Teutonic race. This is of course unten
able, but it by no means invalidates the argument
against the origin of the language, and his statements as
to the similarity, command our favourable judgment.
The learned scholar and antiquary says : 'To enumerate
all the Scandinavian words in the English popular tongue
would, from their quantity, be both a tedious and super
fluous labour.' He then gives a selection of one hun
dred words, and in a foot note he says, ' many of these
words are Scotch.3 Again, speaking more particularly
of the Norwegians in Scotland, after remarking on the
similarity in appearance and character of the Southern
Lowlanders to the Scandinavians, he says : ' According
to a very common saying here, even the language of the
Lowlands is so much like that of Scandinavia, that Low
land seamen wrecked on the coasts of Scotland and
Norway, have been able to converse without difficulty
in their mother tongue with the common people there.
This is undoubtedly a great exaggeration ; but this much
is certain, that the popular language in the Lowlands
contains a still greater number of Scandinavian words
and phrases than even the dialect of the north of
England.'3 All pointing to the conclusion that the
1 Burton's History of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 394.
2 Worsae's Danes in Scotland, p. 197. Ibid. pp. 84-86.
3 Worsae's The Norwegians in Scotland, p. 201.

THE NORSEMEN IN SCOTLAND. 1 25
Norsemen instead of imposing a language, on a people
speaking a different one, found in the Lowlands of
Scotland, a people of the same race and speech as them
selves. Thrusting aside all theories as to the origin of
the Picts, and what their language was, Mr Burton in
cisively states the facts : ' We cannot say when it was
that the first man of Teutonic northern race set foot in
Scotland, and whether he found the land empty or
inhabited by Celts. But we knew pretty well that from
the fourth century to the tenth, this race spread over
the land that is now Lowland Scotland, and that if they
found Celts there, these were pressed westwards to join
the community of their fellow Celts that had crossed
over from Ireland.'
The influence of the Norsemen on the islands of
Scotland is in marked contrast to that exercised on
the mainland, and on England, showing at once the
preponderance of the Celtic population, which absorbed
the sparse Teutonic element If the Vikings made any
change in the Celtic life, it was evanescent. This was
owing chiefly to the character of the country, possessing
in itself few of the resources, without which civilisation is
nigh to impossible. When the successful pirate had ex
hausted his victories, or had been driven back to his eyrie,
he either fell into the habits of the people he had sub
jugated, or left for a more congenial home, few of the
daring spirits who from there had carried the raven flag
to the remotest parts of Britain, would remain when
driven back, the flag but a winding-sheet for the baffled
warrior. The Norsemen who remained were lost in the
Celts in all save the physique, which a millennium of
ignorance and idleness has failed to eradicate. The dis
tinction between the two races is marked, and is particu
larly noticed by Mr Worsae, who was struck by the
difference obviously between two races in the Island of
Lewis. His remarks on the personal appearance of what
he considered the Celtic population are not compliment
ary ; but in a district called Ness, he found the men
and women of a different complexion, taller and much
handsomer. He almost fancied himself in Scandinavia,

126 KENNETH MACALPIN.
if the Gaelic language and the wretched dwellings, where
family and cattle occupy the same apartment, had not
reminded him that he was in one of the districts where
the Gael has been driven by the relentless force of
Teutonic civilisation.1
It may seem that we have exaggerated the import
ance and the beneficial effects of the Norse colonists
and invaders, for there are comparatively few remains
out of Orkney and Shetland that can be satisfactorily
traced to them, their influence lay not on the surface.
The Danes and Norwegians prepared the way for the
Norman, who was to give to the country institutions,
civil and sacred, capable of expansion to the wants of a
people always advancing in civilisation and culture.
Had the Celtic influence not received this check, the
people of Lowland Scotland could never have become a
homogeneous nation, united in weal or woe, native feuds,
and disintegration the normal Celtic state, must have
resulted. The people, lowered in all that could elevate
them to the rank of an independent state, would have
sunk deeper and deeper, till they became like their
compatriots in Ireland, hewers of wood and drawers of
water, to masters whom they alternately fawn on or
throttle.
a.d. 845-860. We now resume the tangled thread of our narrative,
from the accession of Kenneth MacAlpin, and from the
frequent notices of the Norse invasions, it will be seen
that our digression is not superfluous.
The kingdom which had been won by Kenneth for
himself and his family, consisted of that portion of Scot
land north of the Forth to the barrier of the Month, or
perhaps to the Spey; to the west of Drumalban it includ
ed the mainland of Argyllshire and the islands of Bute
and Arran, the other islands had been seized and occu
pied by the Norwegians.
The materials from which our history is derived are
either wholly or in part ecclesiastical, the chroniclers, as
indeed ought to be expected, are clerics, the only bardic
narrative is the Albanic Duan, which we have seen was
1 Worsae's Norwegians in Scotland, p. 268.

KENNETH MACALPIN. 1 27
not the composition of the picturesque individual who a.d 845-860
recited it. From the peculiar character of Celtic, indeed
of all early Christianity, the affairs of the church are the
absorbing topics, mundane matters are only alluded to
in connection with that body, the prominent members
of it, and the actions which militated against or favoured
it, the condition of the people, physical and mental, can
only be inferred. As will be seen in our second part, a
large ecclesiastical and educational establishment was
formed at Hy (Iona), from which issued devoted and
learned men to preach and teach. But the best of them
were ascetics or enthusiastic visionaries, whose aim was
to keep themselves pure from the world and the fashion
thereof, the remainder from the importance attached to
the miserable Easter and tonsure controversy, seemingly
attached more value to these fetichs than to education
and culture. There were numerous cells, which might
be called monasteries, but there is no evidence to show
that the Celtic monks laboured at agriculture like the
Benedictines, and that a population of peaceful workers
clustered round their retreats. We hear only of about
half a dozen towns, the principal are repeatedly sacked
by the Danes ; if there was a defence it is not recorded,
the people had gained a knowledge of military tactics,
and retained their daring courage, but they had not
attained to the art of throwing up fortifications which
could withstand the assault of a daring foe. The Christ
ianity of three centuries had produced nought but men
at arms and recluses. Kenneth's accession to the throne
of Pictland is said to have been in 844, but according
to the Pictish Chronicle the true date is 850. Previ
ous to his name, there occur those of three kings who
reigned six years, probably, though he may have assumed
the nominal title of sovereignty, his right was disputed
by those, who, one after another, were defeated and
slain. The first monarch of the new dynasty possessed
qualities which gained him the title of ' the hardy,' quali
ties which were needed to gain and preserve his throne ;
the period imperiously required them. Previous to his

128 NORSE INVASIONS.
a.d. 845-360. time, only one year after the sacrilegious spoliation of
Lindisfarne, in 794, the Annals of Innisfallen and the
Annals of Ulster record an attack of the Norsemen on
the Western Isles. 'Vastatio omnium insularum Brit
annia a gentibus.' 1 In 798 another invasion was made,
and great spoil taken.
a.d. 794-839. In 802 Hy, evidently for the first time, attracted the
- — : notice of the spoilers, for in that year the monastery and
buildings were burnt. In 806 the storm burst in fury on
the brotherhood, 'the family of Hy, sixty-eight in number,
were slain by the Gentiles.' 2 The solitude and apparent
security, combined with the proximity to both Ireland
and Scotland, were ruthlessly disturbed, and the Colum
ban Church had to find a safer spot from which to con
duct its affairs. A centre for the church convenient for
both countries was no longer possible, jurisdiction in
Scotland was fixed at Dunkeld, in Ireland at Cennanus
in Meath, now Kells. It is still in connection with Hy
that we have the next account of the ravages of the
Norsemen. Though the supremacy was jointly trans
ferred to the two seats in Scotland and Ireland previously
mentioned, the establishment was still kept up, and the
relics of St Columba, in part at any rate, were still in the
hallowed spot. The relics or shrine of a saint or saints
constituted a large portion of the wealth of a monastery,
and were enclosed in costly caskets, richly adorned,
those at Hy particularly so. Their sanctity was nought to
the followers of Odin, and they naturally excited the
cupidity of the Vikings. In 825 the Sacred Isle was
visited, the occurrence is briefly described in the Annals
of Ulster: 'a.d. 825, the martyrdom of Blaimec, son of
Flann, by the Gentiles in Hi Columcille.' Dr Reeves
gives an account of the death of the martyr, who was
acting superior of the monastery at the time. ' Having
become a monk Blaithmaic, " agmina multorum rexit
veneranda virorum," he coveted the crown of martyrdom,
and betook himself to the island Eo, whither the pagan
Danes had already on more than one occasion come.
Expecting their return he counselled the members of the
1 794, Annals of Ulster, 806. 2 Ibid.

NORSE INVASIONS. 1 29
fraternity to save themselves by flight ! Whereupon some a.d. 794-839-
departed, while others remained with him. The precious
shrine containing St Columba's relics he deposited in the
earth, and when on the arrival of the plunderers he
refused to make known the place of its concealment,
they slew both him and his companions,' 2 the holy
treasures were saved, and subsequently transferred to
Dunkeld. No other notice of the Vikings is to be found until
839, when their actions form a vital part of the history
of Scotland. Previous to this period the assaults had
been made on the islands only, these, to the Isle of
Man, were now under their dominion, but now an attack
was made in force on the mainland. According to Mr
Skene's interpretation of a passage from the ' Wars of
the Gaedhill with the Gaill,' taken in connection with
another from the ' Annals of Ulster,' the events thus
took place : In the year mentioned three score and five
ships came and plundered Dublin, thereafter they set
sail, and proceeding northwards, invaded Scotland by
way of Dalriada. Somewhere in the interior (Fortrenn)
they inflicted a crushing defeat on the combined forces
of the Picts and Dalriads, who — so disorganized was the
state of the two nations — were looked upon as one
people, and commanded by Eogannan, the son of Angus,
a Dalriad. This defeat, in which the king or commander was
slain, seems to have completely crushed the Picts of
Fortrenn, and left the reins of power open to any one
who could grasp them. Kenneth MacAlpin, previously
noticed, who seems to have ruled over the Dalriads for
some years previous, was probably present at the battle,
and so far from being down-hearted at the defeat, col
lected the scattered forces of both nations, and succeeded
in slaying or expelling the invaders from a large portion
of the territory they had gained. Such, at any rate, may
be gathered from a rather vain glorious passage in the
Chronicle of Huntingdon : ' Kynadius succeeded to
1 Reeves' Columba, p. clxxiv.
VOL. I. I

I30 KENNETH MACALPIN.
a.d. 794-860. his father's kingdom ; in the seventh year of his reign,
while the Danish pirates occupied the Pictish shores,
and had crushed the Picts who were defending them
selves, with great slaughter, he (Kynadius) turned his
arms against them, and having slain many, compelled
them to flee. He reigned over the whole of Alban,
which is now called Scotia, he was the first king of the
Scots who ruled in it over the Scots.'1
a.d. 845-860. Kenneth's career, from his earliest days, was a stormy
one ; it is supposed that his father Alpin, at the head of
a party of Scots, forced a settlement in Galloway, at the
time when Dalriada was harried by Angus MacFergus.
He thus succeeded to little more than the leadership of
a band of outlaws. Favoured by the intestine divisions
and consequent weakness of the Pictish kingdom, he by
his own talents and courage conquered the southern
portion of Dalriada, became the chief and resuscitator
of the race, and in 850, as we have seen, became sole
monarch of Pictland and Dalriada. The new king found
himself surrounded by enemies on every side; the Britons
burnt Dumblane, the Danes penetrated as far as Dunkeld
and Cluny.2 Kenneth bravely and successfully resisted
these formidable foes; and as it is not improbable that the
great Viking, Regner Lodbrok led the Danes, his ability
and courage are unquestionable. He further proved his
ability to maintain and extend the power of his kingdom
by repeated invasions of Saxonia, and is said to have
burnt Dunbar and Melrose. His life was spent in war ;
but there is one peaceful action recorded, he caused to
be rebuilt the monastery and church of Dunkeld, within
whose hallowed walls he placed all the relics of St
Columba which could be obtained. In 869 Kenneth
died at his palace at Forteviot, the victim of a disease
(fistula) probably at that time little understood, and
unskilfully treated.2
a.d. 860-77 He was succeeded by his brother Donald, who
reigned four years ; the only event recorded in his reign
is, that at Forteviot the Gaedhill, with their king, con-
1 Chronicles of Picts and Scots, p. 209.
2 Ibid. p. 8.

NORSE INVASIONS. 131
firmed the laws of Edus, son of Eekdach. Like his a.d. 86o-77.
brother he was not slain in battle, but died in his palace
at Forteviot,1 but according to another authority he met
with the usual fate of kings in those days, and was
slain at Scone.
Donald's successor was another brother who bore the
Pictish name of Constantine, and whose reign extended
to fourteen years, 863-877, every moment of it spent in
defending his kingdom from the attacks of the Danes
and Norwegians.
Previous to the time of Harald Harfager attempts
had been made to form into one kingdom the petty
states of Scandinavia, each under the rule of its chief,
these attempts were more or less unsuccessful until the
reign of this monarch, who, dispossessed of their lands
and expelled the country the chiefs who refused to
submit to his sway ; they were consequently thrown on
the coasts of Britain and France, necessity urging them
to spoil and plunder. They thus added to the number
of adventurous spirits, who had already found their way
there, and for the remainder of the ninth century the
invaders were in greater force. Before 850 strangers of
the ' royal race of Lochlann,' Norwegians, had estab
lished themselves in Ireland, but in 852 a fleet of
Danes, Dubhgaill, appeared there to contest the suprem
acy with their kinsmen. A battle was fought in which
the latter were victorious, ' the Black-Gentiles killed five
thousand of the Fair-Gentiles at Snamh Ergda.'2 A
year later came Olave the White, ' son of the king of
Lochlann (Norway), with a prodigious fleet, and he
assumed the sovereignty of the Gaill of Erin.'3 Olave,
not satisfied with his conquests in Ireland, at the head
of a powerful force of the now united Danes and Nor
wegians invaded Scotland, and despite the efforts of its
defenders spread devastation far and wide. Nothing,
evidently, could withstand the furious onslaughts of the
Norsemen ; but Constantine bided his time, and in the
1 Chronicles of Picts and Scots, p. 8.
2 Wars of the Gaedhill with the Gaill, p. 19.
3 Ibid. p. 23.

132 NORSE INVASIONS.
following year, when they were withdrawing with their
booty, he attacked and defeated them with great loss,
' Olave himself being among the slain.' l The wish,
however, had been father to the thought in the mind of
the Pictish Chronicler, for Olave was not among the slain.
In 870 he, in concert with the Danes of Northumbria,
under their chief Ivar, made the most formidable attack
yet experienced, on the dominions of the king of Alban.
Angles, Britons, Picts, and Scots were exposed to the
fierce onslaught. Saxonia, Strathclyde, Galloway, Alban,
were for the time overrifn and ravaged by the North
men. Alclyde was laid siege to by Olave and Ivar,
but the strong natural position of the ancient Dun,
resisted the unskilled efforts of headlong valour, and it
did not surrender until after a blockade of four months.
' In this year 870 the king of Lochlann laid siege to
Strathclyde in Britain, and they continued the siege for
four months. At length, however, having wasted the
people who were in it by hunger and thirst, having
wonderfully drawn off the well they had within, they
entered upon them. At first they carried off all the
riches that were within it, and afterwards a great host of
prisoners were brought into captivity.' 2 In the following
year the territory gained was evacuated, only after im
partially ravaging in their southward course the posses
sions of Angles, Britons, and Scots. The allies returned
to Dublin with their spoil. '871, Amtebh and Ivar
came again to Athcliath from Alban with two hundred
ships and great booty of men, Angles, Britons, and
Picts, was led by them to Ireland in captivity.'3 Olave
the White did not again trouble the inhabitants of Scot
land ; he is said shortly afterwards to have been slain in
an obscure skirmish in Ireland. Ivar died in 873,
' after surviving his confederate for only a few months,
thus relieving the Saxon ancl Scottish princes from the
ablest and most ruthless of their foes.' 4
There was, however, little rest for Constantine and his
1 Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, p. 8.
2 Ibid. p. 405. 3 Ibid. p. 361.
4 Robertson's Early Kings, vol. i. p. 44 ; see also note.

NORSE INVASIONS. 1 33
kingdom, though the attack this time was on a part over a.d. 860-77.
which he held very little sway — the northern provinces
and the Hebrides. Olave left a son named Thorstein,
the issue of his marriage with Auda, a daughter of Caititll
the Fair, a Viking who exercised the rule of an independ
ent prince over the now mixed population of Scandin
avians and Gaels in the Western Islands ; the son proved
himself a worthy scion from such parents. Thorstein
sailed from Dublin northwards, and gathering accessions
from the subjects of his grandfather, and the ever ready
colonists of Orkney and Shetland, burst in overwhelming
force on the northern provinces.1 Thorstein was success
ful in his operations, the chiefs of the northern Picts
were defeated, and in a short time he was master of their
territory. The Sagas say he reigned over the counties
of Caithness and Sutherland, and that the half of Scotland
was subject to his sway. The victorious Viking here
paused, arrested by the diplomacy of Constantine, for
the same authorities say that he became reconciled to
the king of the Scots. Mr Skene's remarks thoroughly
explain the situation : ' It is hardly to be supposed that
Constantine could have any real authority over these
northern regions, or that the power of the kings of
Kenneth MacAlpin's race could have, at this time, ex
tended beyond the province of the southern Picts. He
therefore probably merely permitted what he could not
prevent, and indeed may have viewed a Norwegian
conquest of the northern Picts as favourable to his cause,
as the Danish defeat of the men of Fortrenn had been
to his father.' 2 The difficulties of the Scottish monarch
were also aggravated by a near to simultaneous invasion
by the Danes of Northumbria, under Halfdene, who is
1 Mr E. W. Robertson, in his account of this invasion, makes
Sigurd, Earl of Orkney, the confederate of Thorstein, but Mr Skene
separates the two invasions : ' These were the same districts which
had been overrun by Thorstein the Red, and these Sagas confound
the two invasions, and join Sigurd with Thorstein in their acquisi
tion ; but the inexorable logic of dates shows that the two invasions
were different, and that the one was subsequent to the other. ' See
Skene's Celtic Scotland, vol. i. p. 336, and note.
2 Skene's Celtic Scotland, vol. i. p. 327.

134 NORSE INVASIONS.
a.d. 860-77. said by Henry of Huntingdon to have ' made predatory
excursions against the Picts,' 1 and by the Saxon Chron
icle 875 : 'And the army subdued the land, and oft-
times spoiled the Picts, and the Strathclyde Britons.'2
Constantine was speedily relieved from the Norse Viking.
Thorstein did not live long to enjoy, and probably ex
tend his kingdom; within the year which sufficed for
conquest, the youthful hero was treacherously slain.
The Landnmabok says, ' He was betrayed by the Scots,
and slain in battle.' The Annals of Ulster, ' per dolum
occisus est' The most of the Norwegians would retire
with their plunder, and the country relapse into its former
state, chiefs and people of a mixed race, many of the
invaders settling and forming alliances with the occupants
they had conquered.
Little respite was left to the baited monarch of Alban,
whose reign presents a series of nought but contest for
the possession of his kingdom, with one foe or another.
In 877 a conflict again took place in Ireland between
the Black and the White Gentiles, in which the latter were
victorious. The Danes, the defeated party, left Ireland
and invaded Scotland, by way of the Firth of Clyde;
landing on its shores, they crossed over the country and
entered the province of Fife. The Scots encountered
the enemy at Dollar, but were defeated with great
slaughter. Pursued by the Danes, Constantine made a
last stand at a place called Inverdafatha (Inverdovet) in
the parish of Forgan, when a more bloody defeat was
inflicted, and the king himself slain. 'The Black Gen
tiles, after this, were driven out of Erin, and went to
Alba, where they gained a battle over the men of Alba,
in which were slain Constantine, son of Cinaeth, chief
king of Alba, and a great multitude with him. It was
then the earth burst open under the men of Alba.' 3
Fordun and Wyntoun state that he was treacherously
slain, after successfully repelling the enemy, and Mr
Robertson, that 'tradition has hinted at a darker tale,
1 Henry of Huntingdon, p. 154.
2 Saxon Chronicle, p. 319.
a Chronicles of the Gaedhill with the Gaill, p. 232.

NARRATIVE — DISPUTED SUCCESSION. 135
that after repelling with success the enemy's attack, he a.d. 860-77.
was captured by a party of the retreating Norsemen, and
sacrificed by a lingering and cruel death — " the spread
eagle," — in the gloomy recesses of the. Black Cave, near
Crail.'1 The tradition is both patriotic and romantic,
but irreconcilable with the facts, and indeed with the
character of the Danes.
These decisive and bloody victories must have seri
ously weakened the power of the Scottish line of kings,
though it is beyond question that they presented a
bolder front to their fierce invaders, and displayed
greater courage and aptitude of resource under defeat,
than the kings of England and Ireland ; had it been
otherwise, a Danish line of kings might have been
seated on the Scotch as well as on the English throne. The
people also, as in later times, must have been true to
the monarchs of their choice, they must have had the
hearts and sympathies of their subjects; that sturdy
independence which can brook no foreign interference,
now first became the proud privilege of a Scotchman.
The ill-starred Constantine was succeeded by his
brother Aed, 877, who reigned but one year, when he
was slain by his own people,2 or in a conflict with the
northern Picts ; from the events of the preceding reign,
the last is the most probable.
On the death of Aed, 878, according to the Scotch AD- 877-589
law of Tanistry, Donald, the son of Constantine and
grandson of Kenneth, was the rightful heir to the throne,
but by the strict Pictish rule of female descent, the suc
cession passed to Eocha, the son of Run, king of the
Britons of Strathclyde, whose mother was a daughter of
Kenneth MacAlpin. There was a conflict between the
parties supporting each mode ; and either by force of
arms or compromise the Pictish party prevailed, and
Eocha was raised to the throne. Like his competitor,
Eocha was under age, and the wisdom of his supporters
prompted them to associate with the youthful prince, as
governor with equal rank and authority, a man of more
1 Robertson's Early Scottish Kings, vol. i. p. 48.
2 Chronicles of Picts and Scots, p. 362.

136 NARRATIVE — DISPUTED SUCCESSION.
.d 877-889. mature years and experience. The person thus ap-
pointed is variously named Ciricius, Cyric, Carus, Giric,
Grig, and Gregory ; he was probably of the race of the
northern Picts, the Maormor of the district between the
Dee and the Spey, and must be reckoned an intruder in
the line of Kenneth MacAlpin. According to some ac
counts he slew Aed, the brother of Constantine, and to
smooth matters with the people of Fortrenn, associated
with him the young prince Eocha, giving him only the
semblance of sovereignty. More recent verbal criticism
has made Grig a Briton, a relation of Eocha, and the
joint rule a family arrangement. Grig is a celebrated
name in what is now reckoned fabulous Scottish his
tory ; but all that is really known of him does not con
firm the name attributed to him of Gregory the Great.
In 878, along with Eocha, he ascended the throne : 'in
889 Eocha, with his tutor, is expelled the kingdom.1 For
dun and Wintoun give him a reign of eighteen years; and
as Eocha disappears after a reign of eleven years, and
Donald succeeds as the next king, Grig is, for the second
time, joint-monarch, and is made to reign seven years
more till 896, when he dies peacefully at Dunadeer, en
shrined in the memory of his country. This account
may be trustworthy; but the incidents ofthe period have
been filled up chiefly from fancy. In the pages of the
legendary historians Gregory is the legitimate successor
of the last three pagan kings of Ireland, who extended
their conquests not only over the British Isles, but into
Gaul and Italy ; in addition, he is gifted with a mag
nanimity far excelling that of Alexander and Scipio; he
subdues kingdoms, but at once restores the defeated
monarchs on the simple condition that they will hence
forth rule with justice. Like his predecessor in the line
of Dalriadic kings, Auchy, the friend and adviser of
Charlemagne, he is the friend and patron of learning,
and the benefactor of the church, which he frees from all
the exactions to which it had been subjected. He is
the Gregorius Magnus of George Buchanan, whose
sketch of him awakens the enthusiasm of a mind like
1 Chronicles of Picts and Scots, p. 9.

NARRATIVE — DISPUTED SUCCESSION. 1 37
Mr Burton's.1 Fordun says : ' When the ceremony of a.d. s77->
his coronation was over, he forthwith firmly established
peace throughout all the ends of his kingdom; and
granting full forgiveness to all who, he knew, had with
stood him in battle, he brought them round to true
friendship with him. Neither was he from the beginning
of his reign neglectful of shrine worship ; nay, he even,
with the consent of the chiefs, granted the Church of
God and churchmen their freedom forever. . . .
For, until then, the church had been subject to servi
tude according to the custom of the Picts. Moreover,
he brought the whole of Ireland, and nearly the whole of
England, under his yoke.' The Danes and other foreign
ers are then subdued, their conquered subjects welcom
ing their deliverer. ' For they deemed it a more blissful
lot, and more advantageous, willingly to be subject to
the Scots who held the Catholic faith though they were
their enemies, than unwillingly to unbelieving heathens.
. . . But this glorious King Gregory, after a vigorous
reign of eighteen years, all but a few months, closed the
last of his days at Donedoure, and lies buried in the
Island of Iona.' 2 Nothing approaching to this is found
in the older annalists, the reign is barren of incidents,
but there is reason to suppose that there is a small sub
stratum of truth in the glowing account we have given.
The very fact of no invasions being chronicled prove
that Gregory presented a strong front to his enemies,
and there is reason to suppose that he led an expedition
into England. Simeon of Durham tells of an invasion of
the Scots during the reign of Guthred, about 883, in
'which they advanced as far as Lindisfarne, which they
plundered. To reach so far, Saxonia must have been
harried, and the force defending it put to flight The
distracted state of Bernicia and Northumbria at this
time, and the utter prostration of the Angles before the
Danes, may have encouraged Gregory to undertake this
foray; besides, it was the best defence of his own terri
tory to carry the war into that of the enemy. On the
1 Burton's Scotland, vol. i. p. 331.
2 Fordun's Chronicle, vol. ii. pp. 150-152.

I38 NARRATIVE — DISPUTED SUCCESSION.
d. 877-889. northern side of his dominions, his own connection
would give him an influence, and the absence of a cap
able leader after the death of Thorstein, would naturally
throw the Maormors into friendly alliance with one who,
not so long ago, was one of themselves. It is generally
supposed that his services to the Scottish Church have
not been exaggerated, and that they have a historical
foundation. From whatever motives, either from a
desire to conciliate the Scottish clergy, or from others
more praiseworthy, he freed the church from secular
exactions and services which were demanded in those
days from the clergy, not only by the Picts, but by the
kings in England and Ireland. The boon was perhaps
not an unmixed benefit ; the spare time of the monies
might have been as well spent in tilling the ground and
defending it, as in any other duties they were likely to
perform. But they were not ungrateful ; it is to them
Gregory owes his fame and reputation, which would
otherwise have been confined to six lines in the Pictish
Chronicle.

CHAPTER VII.
DONALD FIRST KING OF ALBAN.
Accession of Donald first King of Alban — Contest in the Northern
Districts — Danish Invasion and Death of Donald — Constantine
II. — Danish Invasion — Renovation of the Church — Cellach
first Bishop of Alban — Civil Reforms — Strathclyde ; Danish
Invasions — Relations with England — Battle of Brananburg —
Ode on the Victory of Athelstane — Eric of the Bloody Axe —
Constantine retires from public life — Accession of Malcolm,
son of Donald — Cession of Strathclyde to Alban — Eric, Gun-
hilde — Danes of Northumbria — Indulph — Cession of Edin
burgh to Alban — Dubh's Accession — Cuilean disputes it — Is in
the end successful — Kenneth II. — Cession of Lothian — Con
stantine — Kenneth — Malcolm II. — Alban now called Scotia —
Malcolm attacks Bernicia — Makes affinity with the Earl of
Orkney — Crinan Abbot of Dunkeld — Malcolm invades Eng
land — Cnut invades Scotia — English Claims — Death of Mal
colm ; his Character and Policy — a.d. 889-1034.
The Scottish party, on the decease or expulsion of a.d. 889-900.
Eocha and Grig, who may be deemed intruders, were '
successful in placing Donald, the son of Constantine,
and the heir according to Tanistry, on the throne, and
from this time the succession became permanent in
the heirs male of Kenneth MacAlpin. Previously the
monarchs are named by the chroniclers Kings of the
Picts, and their territory Cruithentuath or Pictaria; now
they are designated Kings of Alban, and the country
Alban or Albania.
Though not affecting to any extent the fortunes of
the new king of Alban, for the fierce and bloody con
test was fought out in the district to the north of the
Spey, a series of incidents, in which the Norwegians were
the actors, claim our notice. The islands of the Orkneys
we have seen had, previous to this time, been colonised
by many of the Norwegian nobles who had fled from the
sway of Harold Harfraga, there they had for some time

140 DONALD FIRST KING OF ALBAN.
j-9oo. remained as independent Vikings, defied, and even
menaced, the power of Norway. This induced Harald
to send out an expedition, which was successful in
subjugating, not only the northern but the western
islands of Scotland. The Orkneys he bestowed as an
earldom under the crown of Norway, to the family of
Ragnvald More Jarl. Ragnvald preferred to remain in
his native country, and, with the consent of his superior,
bestowed it on his brother Sigurd some years after 883.
Shortly after the accession of Donald, the Earl of Orkney
invaded the north of Scotland, the chiefs there having
probably thrown off their allegiance to the Danes after
the death of Thorstein. Like his predecessor, Sigurd was
successful in regaining the territory then acquired, and,
like him, lost his life in the enterprise. The wild story
which records his death, illustrates in vivid light the
manner of the times, treacherous and savage. ' Mal-
bride with the "buck tooth," a Scottish chief, arranged
to meet for conference with Sigurd in a certain place,
with forty men on each side, and there settle matters.
Sigurd, suspecting treachery, caused eighty men to be
mounted on forty horses. When the Scottish chief saw
this he determined on battle, not conference, and cour
ageously addressed his men : ' Let us be brave and kill
each his man before we die.' Sigurd dismounted one
half of his men, and then attacked the Scots both on
foot and horseback. The unequal conflict did not last
long ; Malbride fell and all his men with him. In inso
lent bravado the savage Viking cut off the head of his
fallen rival, and fastened it to his saddle-bow. Proceed
ing in triumph he struck his leg against the protruding
tooth which gained Malbride his soubriquet The wound
seemed at first slight, but soon became swollen and pain
ful, and in a short time fatal. The Sagas contain many
similar stories, as indeed the names of the heroes indi
cate — ' Hausaklyfur the skull-splitter,' Eric with the
bloody axe, the latter appropriately mated with the
atrocious Gunhilde who, with her daughter Ragnhilde,
fanned the fierce passions of their savage spouses and
associates. After the death of Sigurd the country in-

DONALD FIRST KING OF ALBAN. 141
vaded relapsed into its former state, chiefs and people A-p 889-900
of mixed race owing no particular allegiance to anyone.
It is not likely that these contests, principally to the
north of the Moray Firth, disturbed the peace of Alban ;
the powers of its kings were slight to the north of the
Month, and indeed it might have been an advantage
that the northern Picts were compelled to defend them
selves, instead of making frays against their kinsmen of
the south.
For a considerable period, considering the times,
Alban suffered nothing from foreign invasion ; but in the
first year of the tenth century, the peace was broken,
an invasion of the Danes of Ireland took place, and
though the enemy was repulsed, King Donald was among
the slain.
About the end of the ninth century a host of Danes,
under the command of the descendants of Ivar, landed
in Ireland, and for four years devastated the country
far and wide. ' After this came the prodigious royal
fleet of the children of Imhar to Ath Cliath, and the
greater part of all Erinn was plundered by them. . . .
Four years after this the foreigners left Erinn and went
to Alba under Sitriuc, son of Imhar.' 1 The Danes were
successful in overrunning the whole of the south of Alban,
until they came in contact with the Scottish army under
Donald at Dunottar. The battle was fiercely contested,
neither party gaining much advantage over the other ; the
Scots claimed the victory, and the advance of their foes
was arrested, but they had to deplore the loss of their
king. His death is recorded in the Annals of Ulster as
occurring in the year 900. It may be mentioned, that
Mr E. W. Robertson places this invasion in the begin
ning of Donald's reign, that he was victorious, and lost
his life in the town of Forres, where he was attempting to
re-establish the royal authority over the revolted district
of the north.
Constantine, the son of Aedh, cousin of the deceased
monarch, was now raised to the throne, either according
to the law of Tanistry, or because he was the most cap-
1 Wars of the Gaedhill with the Gaill, p. 29.

142 DANISH INVASIONS.
..p. 900-9(0. able person among the heirs male. A capable man was
needed in these perilous times, and Constantine, the
second of the name, proved himself fit for the occasion ;
he governed the country for the long period of forty
years, during which time the kingdom was consolidated
and strengthened in a manner hitherto unknown. The
new monarch was soon called to exercise his skill and
bravery as a leader against the ubiquitous Danes. In
903 a formidable body of these, under the command of
Ivar, a grandson of the famous Viking of that name,
landed, and spreading themselves over the country, plun
dered Dunkeld, and laid waste the whole district of
Fortrenn. For the space of a year their ravages were
unchecked, but in 904 Constantine encountered his
enemies somewhere in Stratherne, and gained a complete
victory. Ivar was slain and his followers put to flight.1
Religious feeling was strongly developed in the Scottish
king, which he no doubt imparted to his followers, and
we find it notably displayed in this battle. The following
extract is really an important item in Scottish history :
' About the same time the Fortrenns and Lochlanns fought
a battle. Bravely indeed the men of Alba fought this
battle, for Columcille was aiding them ; for they had
prayed to him most fervently, because he was their
apostle, and it was through him that they received the
faith. One time, when Imhar Conungwas a young man,
he came to Alba, with three great battalions, to plunder
it. The men of Alba, both lay and clerics, fasted and
prayed till morning to God and Columcille ; they made
earnest entreaty to the Lord ; they gave great alms of
food and raiment to the churches and the poor, received
the body of the Lord at the hands of their priests, and
promised to do all kinds of good works, as their clergy
would order them, and that their standard in going forth
to any battle should be the crosier of Columcille. There
fore it is called the Cath-bhuaidh from that day to this.
And this is a befitting name for it, for they have often
gained victory in battle by it, as they did at that time,
when they placed their hope in Columcille. They did
1 Chronicles ofthe Picts and Scots, pp. 9-362.

RENOVATION OF THE CHURCH. 143
the same on this occasion. The battle was bravely fought a.d. 500-940
at once. The Albanians gained victory and triumph,
killed many of the Lochlanns after their defeat, and their
king was slain on the occasion, namely, Ottir, son of
Jarngna. It was long after until either the Danes or
Lochlanns attacked them, but they were at peace and
harmony with them.' a
Freed by this providential interposition from these
formidable enemies, Constantine lost no time in en
deavouring to bring into union the discordant elements
in his kingdom ; and in accordance with the vows made
by both king and people, the first good work attempted
was the renovation of the church and the solemn re
newal of its privileges. The Columban Church, outside
of Iona, did little, and had but little opportunity to
spread religion and education throughout the people of
Scotland ; the disturbed state of the country was such,
that even the rites and ceremonies of the Church could
with difficulty be dispensed. But ecclesiastical privileges
could be preserved ; exemption from tribute or service in
time of war, conservation of lands, and other temporal
benefits, were of the most extreme importance. No vital
controversy, such as that which agitated the minds of
king and people in the time of Nectan, troubled the ec
clesiastical world at present ; the Roman tonsure and
time for observing Easter had been for years the ortho
dox mode. More important business imperiously re
quired attention, and the manner of transacting it was
perhaps the most important part, for in the council called
to transact it, the King and Cellach the bishop appear on
equal terms; the decrees issued are in their joint names :
' And in the sixth year Constantine the king and Cellach
the bishop (of St Andrews) devoted themselves to guard
the laws and discipline of the faith and rights of the
church and the evangel on a footing of equality with the
Scots.' 2 Bede's account of Nectan's council in the same
place, the Mote Hill of Scone, makes no mention of
bishops or even clerics, and the king gives no authority
1 Reeves' Adamnan, p. xcix.
2 Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, p. 9.

144 RENOVATION OF THE CHURCH.
a.d 900-940. but his own. ' I do decree that . . . shall be re
ceived by all the clergy in my kingdom.' 1 No mention
is made here of a primate, bishops, or superior clergy ;
the King judges for himself ' among his great men that
sat about him,' and decrees accordingly.
The Scottish (Dalriadic) clergy, from the time of their
founder St Columba, had great power, and it is more
than probable possessed great privileges ; they now, for
the first time, became a power in the state, and got their
Pictish brethren under their rule — for, I think, this must
be the true meaning of equality with the Scots. The two
churches were united under one head with equal privi
leges and exemptions; the primacy was transferred from
Dunkeld to Kilrymont, and the bishop of St Andrews
became metropolitan of Alban. Civil matters were not,
however, neglected; and it is probable that in this reign,
the kingdom was divided into seven provinces, governed
in a primitive way, no doubt, but still governed, by a
noble appointed by the crown, or accepted in virtue of
some hereditary right. As has been previously stated,
the earlier state of Pictland was that of a very loosely
cemented conglomeration of tribes, presided over by a
king as circumstances required, sometimes a chief of the
northern, sometimes one of the southern Picts, holding
that position. But gradually the latter formed really a
homogeneous state, and the invasions of the Danes com
pressed it into a smaller but more compact body. Under
the reign of Constantine the country is, for the first time
in the Pictish chronicle, called Alban ; it consisted of
the territory between the Forth and the Spey, also the
Dalriadic territory on the mainland, including the im
portant islands of Bute and Arran and the peninsula of
Kintyre. Constantine is said to have divided Alban into seven
provinces, viz., first, Fortrenn, embracing the greater
part of Perthshire, the central part of the kingdom con
taining the capital, Scone, and the royal residence of
Forteviot ; the second, Athran, included the peninsula,
of Fyfe, not only the modern county, but Clackmannan
1 Bede, p. 289.

RENOVATION OF THE CHURCH. 1 45
Kinross, and the Carse of Gowrie. The third province a d. 900-940.
contained the counties of Forfar and Kincardine; the
fourth Mar and Buchan, now known as the counties of
Aberdeen and Banff; the fifth was that tract of country
in Perth and Inverness which lies between the Spey and
the mountains of Breadalbane (Athol) ; the sixth Moray
and Ross (nominal only); the seventh Arregaithil (Ar
gyllshire).1 In the earlier description of tlie country
given in the tract from which this is taken, Caithness is
included ; it was now part of the Jarldom of Orkney.
Moray and Ross had been overrun by Thorstein and
Sigurd, and though included in the kingdom of Alba,
were ruled by chiefs in alliance by turns with the Scotch
and Norwegian powers, but claiming the rank of inde
pendent princes. It is not a matter of certainty, that in
these provinces, as in Ireland and Dalriada, were tribes
presided over by hereditary chiefs, the Ri-tuath and the
Ri-mortuath ; but we find the Toisech, the head of a
tribe — a small following, and the Maormor the chief of
the province. Either from the lack of details, or more
probably from the system not being so thoroughly or
ganised as in Ireland, the names of even the Maormors
are rarely mentioned. From the time of the Danish in
vasion, however, the Maormors seem to have gained
power and influence. Macbeth, Maormor of Moray, be
came king of Scotland.
Constantine did not attempt to extend his authority
over these inaccessible regions, but wisely kept on good
terms with the chiefs, leaving them as barriers against
the Norwegian power ; his aim in life was to extend his
boundaries to the south.
After the first incursions of the Picts into the southern
Lowlands and England on the withdrawal of the Roman
troops, they, as a nation, had kept within their own
boundary. Bruide and Angus MacFergus had harried
and conquered Dalriada, but no serious attempts are re
corded to have been made on Saxonia or Strathclyde ;
the latter, indeed, had been left to the tender mercy of
the Angles, who so long exercised a lordship over it.
1 De Situ Albania, Chronicles ofthe Picts and Scots, p. 136.
VOL. I. K

146 KINGDOM OF STRATHCLYDE.
a.d. 900-946. But Northumbria had been long torn by intestine divi-
' sions, and this, accelerated by the Danish occupation,
weakened its influence, and left Strathclyde open to the
advances of the Scottish king. The Britons themselves
were thoroughly disorganised by the departure of a con
siderable portion of the bravest and most high-spirited of
the nation, who forced a passage through the ranks of
their foes and joined their countrymen in Wales, and
from whence they never returned. We have seen that
they carried with them the poetry of the sixth century,
and the glorious traditions of the race, and thus, weakened
in numbers and national spirit, the Britons of Strathclyde
were ready to put themselves under the protection of any
power other than that of the hated Angles. The social
condition of the Cumri must at this time have been very
low : the See of St Kentigern lapsed on his decease ; the
Episcopate founded by St Ninian struggled for a century
longer ; the Christian religion was extinct ; and the loss
of the national traditions and literature completed the
degradation : the time is well described as ' omnibus
bonis exterminatio.' 1
It is supposed that Kenneth MacAlpin, in giving his
daughter in marriage to the king of Strathclyde, had the
hope that this might be a preparation for the annexation
or union of the two kingdoms, and in the end his policy
had the desired effect. Since his time the two courts had
been on what are called friendly terms in politics ; the
stronger power ever intriguing without going to war, but
continually gaining influence and partisans. In 908
Donald, king of the Britons of Strathclyde, died, the last
in descent from the Romanised race of the Cumri ; and
so powerful was the interest ofthe king of Alban, that he
had no difficulty in procuring the election of his brother
Donald to the vacant throne. From this time a scion of
the house of Kenneth MacAlpin was monarch of Strath
clyde until it was formally incorporated with Scotland, 945.
Little time was left to Constantine for the peaceful
pursuits of religion and diplomacy ; another invasion of
the Danes took place in 912 under the same redoubtable
1 Life of SS. Kentigern and Ninian, p. xci.

DANISH INVASIONS. 147
leaders of the race of Ivar. Regnvald, the brother of *¦*> 900-340.
Sitriuc, who had slain the last king, in company with two
other chiefs, with a strong force, entered the country in
the usual manner and took Dumblane. The movements
of the Danish chiefs seem rather erratic; there is no
defeat in Alban chronicled, but the next notice we have
of them is the record of a naval battle at the Isle of Man,
between Regnvald and Barid, the son of Ottir, in which
the latter is slain, 913. The victorious party, who were
seemingly on their route to Ireland, pursued their way,
landed, ravaged the country in the usual manner, and
re-established the power of the Ostmen in Dublin and
Waterford. Their further movements are thus told : The
Annals of Ulster, 918, say, 'The Galls of Lochdacsech
expelled from Erin, viz., Ranald, king ofthe Dugalls, and
the two earls, Ottir and Gragabai, and afterwards they
invade the people of Alba.' The Wars of the Gaedhill
with the Gaill simply record, ' the foreigners left Ireland
and went to Alba.' It is probable that Regnvald was
not driven out of Ireland, but left it for the purpose of
prosecuting his claims to the crown of Northumbria, now
open to him as the heir of his kinsman, Halfdan, lately
deceased. Through Scotland seems to have been the
route chosen, and so formidable did the danger appear
to the king of Alba, that he joined his forces to those of
Eldred, lord of Bamborough and king of Bernicia, in the
attempt to stem the torrent of remorseless foes. The
rival forces joined issue, and a great battle was fought on
a moor near the mouth of the river Tyne in East Lothian,
Tyne-moor,1 or at Corbridge-on-Tyne in Northumbria.2
The battle is recorded in the Pictish Chronicle, and in
that of Simeon of Durham, in the usual dry matter of
fact style, but the Annals of Ulster depart from this, and
give some lively details. 'The men of Alban, however,
prepared to meet them (the Danes) with the assistance
of the northern Saxons. The Gentiles divided them
selves into four battalions. The first battalion under
Gotbrith O'lvor; the second under the two earls; the
' Skene's Celtic Scotland, vol. i. p. 347, and note 348.
2 Robertson's Early Scottish Kings, vol. i. p. 59.

148 RELATIONS WITH ENGLAND.
a.d. 900-940. third under the young lords ; and a battalion under
Ranald, in ambuscade, which, however, the men of
Alban did not see. The three battalions which they
saw were routed by the men of Alban, and there was
great slaughter of the Gentiles round Ottir and Gragabai.
Ranald, however, made an attack upon the men of Alban
from behind, and slew many of them ; but neither their
King nor any of their Maormors fell by him.' 1 The same
sacred talisman used on a former occasion, the Crozier of
St Columba, proved of signal service in the early part of
this engagement, but either was not put into requisition
against the rear attack, or failed to resist the fierce on
slaught of Regnvald. The Scots claimed the victory,
and as we have seen, neither King nor Maormor were
among the slain, but the Northumbrian loss was severe,
the Lord of Bamborough was slain, along with many of
his followers and principal men. Night put an end to
what seems an indecisive engagement, though all the
advantages accrued to the Danes ; the son of Ivar regained
possession ofhis patrimony, the men of Alban retired with
honour, which perhaps reconciled them to the loss ot
more substantial benefits. This battle was the termina
tion of the long series of the invasions of the Norsemen ;
for more than a century the land had a respite from its
restless foes, a few trifling forays on the coast alone
testified their existence. The Danish power, which
seemed likely to embrace Great Britain and Ireland in
its grasp, and which, in the next century, did annex
England to the crown of Denmark, seemed to suffer a
collapse. Yet it was only in political ascendency, there
is every reason to believe, that the Scandinavian element
increased day by day in the middle and eastern districts
of England and Scotland, from the Wash to the Pentland
Firth. The subsequent events in Scottish history are in
timately connected with those of England, and necessitate
a slight digression. The Danish power in England, at
the beginning of the century, extended over Northumbria
and Bernicia, while the ancient kingdom of Penda was
1 Chronicles of Picts and Scots, p. 363.

RELATIONS WITH ENGLAND. 149
largely peopled by Danes, and though Alfred is said to a.d. 900-940.
have ruled over all England, this can only apply to his
own kingdom of Wessex and an overlordship over the
midland counties. His power and that of his lieutenant,
^Ethelred, was slight over Mercia. ^Ethelfleda, the lady of
Mercia, the daughter of Alfred, on the decease of her
husband .^Ethelred, succeeded him as an independent
ruler, and proved the most formidable antagonist the
Danes had yet experienced. Wise in council and ener
getic in action, she broke up the confederacy of the
' Boroughs,' each with its earl, who administered Danish
law, and made them her liege subjects. On her death,
918, her brother Eadward, at once annexed her dominion s,
and became the real monarch of England south of the
Humber. English historians say that he was arrested in
his further conquests to the north, at Manchester, by
deputations from the Danes of Northumberland, the
Scots, and the Britons of Strathclyde, ' who chose him for
father and lord.' 1 The language here bears the mark ol
feudal times, and except in the light of future claims
made by the kings of England, would carry no further
weight, than that the Danes, Scots, and Britons, dreading
a contest, sued for peace. Mr Burton, whose judicial
mind has given us, in his History of Scotland, perhaps
the fairest and most unbiassed statement of the English
claims on Scotland, thus comments on this, the first
transaction on which the claims were founded : ' These
brief memorials, which, in words, carry the supremacy of
an English monarch over the north, would have been of
no more moment than those which balance his renown
in a Gregory the Great or other northern hero, had they
stood by themselves. Later events, however, gave an
opportunity to the more recent chroniclers to further a
political cause by amplifying the brief notices of their
predecessors, and putting them into the legal phraseology
of their own day, for the purpose of showing when and
how the earliest feudal homage was paid to the line of
monarchs whose dominions and privileges were possessed
by the house of Plantagenet in right of the great Con-
1 Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 924.

150 RELATIONS WITH ENGLAND.
a d. 900-940. quest' x We are apt to wonder how, for ten centuries,
we have fought with words and weapons over such
arguments, when through all it can be perceived, that
strength of body and mind was the only secure ground
for feudal rights. It is only in later times that a parch
ment title gave possession of lands and rights. Sharing
these liberally with those who have not, can alone secure
their possession ; the feudal chiefs in Great Britain have,
to a small extent, acted on this principle, and they are still
an established institution of the country, their brethren
in France did not do so, and title, chief, manors, and
rights are things of the past.
In the same year, 924, in which Eadward raised the
power of Wessex to so high a pinnacle, he died, and was
succeeded by his son Athelstan, under whom the Saxon
kingdom in England attained its highest pitch of power and
influence. In the year after his succession, on the death
of Sitriuc, to whom he had given his sister in marriage,
Athelstan summarily annexed the Danish kingdom of
Northumbria. In the same year a general peace was con
cluded, described in the same glowing terms as the previ
ous one, a.d. 926, 'and he ruled all the kings who were in
this island : first, Howel, king of the West- Welsh ; and
Constantine, king of the Scots ; and Owen, king of
the Monmouth people ; and Aldred, son of Eadulph of
Bamborough, and they confirmed the peace by pledge and
by oaths, at the place which is called Eamot, on the 4th,
before the ides of July, and they renounced all idolatry,
and after that submitted to him in peace.' 2 The Danes
were yet hardened pagans, but it is too bad to speak ofthe
pious followers of St Columba, St Cuthbert, and St David
renouncing idolatry ; yet the cool superiority is still carried
out by the scribes of the metropolis, to their less favoured
brethren of the north, who do not bask in the sunshine
of the heads of church and state.
This overweening power seems to have seriously
alarmed Constantine, the king of Alban, and he con
cluded that an alliance with the Danes of Northumbria
1 Burton's History of Scotland, vol. i. pp. 332-334.
2 Saxon Chronicle, p. 375.

RELATIONS WITH ENGLAND. 151
would strengthen his forces in the event of a contest with a.d. 900-940..
his '¦father and lord,' which now seemed inevitable. With
this view a marriage was arranged and consummated be
tween his daughter and Olave, the son of the late Danish
ruler of Northumbria, who was at the time (933) a re
fugee at the Scottish court.
Athelstan at once took this for a declaration of war;
and anticipating any measures which Constantine might
take to regain Northumbria for his son-in-law, he assumed
the offensive, and invaded Alban by sea and land. The
Saxon Chronicle says, ' This year king Athelstan went
to Scotland, as well with a land army as with a fleet, and
ravaged a great part of it.' Henry of Huntingdon : ' He
pillaged it (Scotland) at his will, and then returned in
triumph.' Simeon of Durham : ' That with his army he
penetrated as far as Kirriemuir in Forfarshire, and with
his navy as far as Caithness, and in a great measure de
populated it.' Athelstan retired without any attempt to
incorporate his conquests ; but the parties who had suf
fered felt that it was but a question of time when the
march of the Saxon kingdom on the north would be the
Firths of Forth and Clyde, and that even the existence of
Alban as an independent state was in danger. In 937 a
league was formed to guard against this danger, between
Constantine and the sons of Ivar ; his son-in-law Olave,
and his kinsman of the same name king of the Ostmen
in Ireland ; the Britons of Strathclyde and North Wales,
prayed to be admitted to the league, and to join their
forces to the army which was to contest the supremacy
of the king of Wessex. All the children so lately im
pressed into the family circle most unfilially defied their
'father and lord.'
The plan of the campaign was, that Constantine and
his son-in-law should proceed with their contingent by
sea, and enter Deira by the Humber ; another portion of
the Scottish forces, supported by the Britons of Strathclyde,
were to advance by land into Northumbria; while the
Danes of Dublin, their ranks swelled by the Welsh Britons,
were to enter by the west Athelstan, nothing dismayed, at
once raised levies from all parts of his domains. His rule

152 RELATIONS WITH ENGLAND.
a.d. 9oo-9)c. must have been acceptable even to his newly-conquered
subjects, for he was supported by the Danes of Guthrum
and other Vikings, whose valour formed no unimportant
part in the impending contest. After some preliminary
skirmishing, in which Olave repeated the role of king
Alfred when he entered the enemy's camp in the dis
guise of a harper,1 the armies met in the field of Brunnan-
burg.2 After a contest which lasted the entire day, the forces
of Athelstan were completely victorious. The carnage
seemed fearful even to the chroniclers of the times ; five
kings, seven jarls, a son of Constantine, and two brothers
of Athelstan, were among the slain. Constantine and
Olave were driven back to the refuge of their ships ; the
land force of the Scottish king and his allies retreated
slowly and sorrowfully before the victors.
The battle, after all, was not productive of any great
results, but the ode on it marks a period in Anglo-Saxon
literature. Previous to it the scant literature, with the
exception of the Beowulph, is Christian ; and though
gleams of poetic fancy, and the bold imagery of the skald
are to be found, yet the main feature is the pious inanity
common to monkish writings. In the ' Ode on the vic
tory of Athelstan,' a departure is made from this ; there
are no scriptural allusions, no mention of the saints ; it
is as if Bragi had inspired the poet The action is rapid
and continuous ; the imagery varied and striking ; the
tone that of a chivalrous admirer of bravery, either in
friend or foe. The ode is inserted in, and was probably
composed for the Saxon Chronicle. Warton' s remark on
it is that, ' As a whole, it is a noble poem, and stands
alone in our literature.' There are many versions or
translations of it ; that given in prose by the author
quoted, so thoroughly gives the spirit of the rough Saxon,
1 The fact of Olave being able to enter the Saxon camp in this
disguise, shows the partial adoption of Scandinavian manners ; and
the same reception is given, and the same respect paid, by the
Anglo-Saxon as had been paid by the Dane, to the profession of the
bard or skald.
2 Mr Skene, with much probability, fixes the site of the battle
at Oldborough, near to Knaresborough, in Yorkshire.

RELATIONS WITH ENGLAND. 1 53
and at the same time best describes the battle, that we *.d. 900-940.
give it to our readers entire :
' King Athelstan, the glory of leaders, the giver
of gold chains to his nobles, and his brother Eadmund,
both shining with the brightness of a long train of
ancestors, struck (the adversary) in war at Brunenburgh,
with the edge of the sword, they clove the wall of
shields. The high banners fell. The earls of the de
parted Edward fell, for it was born within them, even
from the loins of their kindred, to defend the treasures
and the houses of their country, and their gifts, against
the hatred of strangers. The nation of the Scots and the
fatal inhabitants of ships fell. The hills resounded, and
the armed men were covered with sweat. From the
time the sun, the king of stars, the torch of the Eternal
One, rose cheerful above the hills, till he returned to his
habitation. There lay many of the northern men pierced
with lances ; they lay wounded with their shields pierced
through, and also the Scots, the hateful harvest of battle.
The chosen bands of the West Saxons, going out to battle,
pressed on the steps of the detested nations, and slew
their flying rear with sharp and bloody swords. The
soft effeminate men yielded up their spears. The Mer
cians did not fear or fly the rough game of the hand.
There was no safety to them who fought the land with
Anlaff, in the bosom of the ship to die in fight. Five
youthful kings fell in the place of fight, slain with swords,
and seven captains of Anlaff, with the innumerable army
of Scottish mariners ; there the lord ofthe (Northern men)
was chased, and their army, now made small, was driven
to the prow of the ship. The ship sounded with the
waves ; and the king, marching into the yellow sea,
escaped alive. And so it was, the wise northern king
Constantine, a veteran chief, returning by flight to his
own army, bowed down in the camp, left his own son
worn out with wounds in the place of slaughter ; in vain
did he lament his earls, in vain his lost friends. Nor
less did Anlaff, the yellow-haired leader, the battle axe
of slaughter, a youth in war, but an old man in under-

154 RELATIONS WITH ENGLAND.
a.d. 900-940. standing, boast himself a conqueror in fight, when the
darts flew against Edward's earls, and their banners met.
Then those northern soldiers covered with shame, the
sad refuse of darts in the resounding whirlpool of Hum-
ber, departed in their ships with rudders, to seek through
the deep the Irish city and their own land. While both
the brothers, the king and Clito, lamenting even their own
victory, together returned home, leaving behind them
the flesh-devouring raven, the dark blue toad, greedy of
slaughter, the black crow with horny bill, and the hoarse
toad, the eagle a companion of battles, with the devouring
kite, and that brindled savage beast the wolf of the wood,
to be glutted with the white food of the slain. Never
was so great a slaughter in this island since the Angles
and Saxons, the fierce beginners of war coming hither
from the east, and seeking Britain through the wide sea,
overcame the Britons excelling in honour, and gained
possession of their land.' 1
The result of the battle shows the indomitable pluck
of the defeated party. Constantine and his people sad
dened and disheartened, retraced their footsteps over the
country they had advanced with such brilliant hopes, but
their spirit was unbroken, and in the end the friends who
had stood side by side with them in the fell strife, proved
their friendship by becoming the barrier to the menacing
power of the kings of Wessex. The Danes no more
invaded Alban from the south, except in a peaceful
manner, as refugees or friendly colonists, bringing with
them their seamanship and kindred arts, receiving in
return all that the Scots could give, the small remnant
of Christianity left in the church of St Columba. From
this time also the kings of Alban steadily received acces
sions of territory south of the firths, incorporating those
regions which now form the southern counties of Scot
land and in part the north of England ; the Norman
conquest alone prevented a further extension. Athelstan
gained no new territory by his victory. Northumbria
seemed to him so entirely Danish, that he despaired of
1 Warton's History of English Poetry, vol. i. pp. 123-24, ed. 1871.

RELATIONS WITH ENGLAND. 1 55
ruling it successfully, except through a king or jarl of a.d. goo-940.
that race. He had succeeded in dispossessing the house
of Hy Ivar, with its powerful Irish connection, fortune
threw in his way Eric, a Viking, of as distinguished an
ancestry, whom he supposed would satisfy the Danes of
Northumbria. Eric of the bloody axe, the son and
successor of Harald Harfraga, had so alienated the affec
tions of his subjects, that they dethroned him in favour
of his half brother Hakon, and set him adrift to find
another theatre on which to exercise those qualities
which had gained him his sobriquet and lost him a throne.
' The divinity which doth hedge a king,' retains followers
even though he be as cruel as a Domitian or as ungrate
ful as a Stewart. Eric left Norway with a considerable
force, which was largely increased by the fierce Vikings
of Orkney, whither he had first sailed. Thus re-inforced,
he departed on a general plundering expedition. Sailing
by the east coast of Scotland he ravaged it impartially.
On arriving on the coast of Northumbria with a numerous
fleet, either unwilling to hazard another conflict, or, more
probably from the feeling previously mentioned, Athel
stan welcomed the wandering pirate, and offered him a
settlement in Northumbria if he would defend it against
the Anlaffs, and be baptised. Eric readily consented,
and with his followers were admitted into the pale of the
Christian church, he himself took up his residence at
York. Athelstan's life was a short one. After the battle
which has immortalised his name, he died in 940, and
was succeeded by his brother Eadmund, who had shared
with him its glories.
The aged Constantine returned with his shattered
forces, and for five years we are ignorant of his doings,
he then, 942, worn out, as much by disappointment and
care, as by the infirmities of advancing years, resigned
the crown, and entered the peaceful calm of the cloister.
' Afterwards God did call him to the monastery on the
brink of the waves. In the house of the apostle he
came to death. Undefiled was the pilgrim.' 1 Ten years
of life were spared to the aged monarch in his sacred
1 Chronicles of Picts and Scots : ' The Prophecy of St Berchan, ' p. 92.

156 NARRATIVE — MALCOLM I.
a.d. 943-954- retreat, during which period it would seem that worldly
cares were not entirely thrown aside, for some authorities
say that in the attempt of his son-in-law to recover his
kingdom, the recluse left his cell and led the Scots
against the son of his dreaded foeman. Strange anomaly
in Christian writers, when patriotism clashes with the
gospel of universal brotherhood, ' they (his countrymen)
long recounted, with exultation and pride, how royally
their veteran leader (the then Abbot of St Andrews)
swept the patrimony of St Cuthbert' 1 Whether Con
stantine re-entered the arena of war and politics or no,
this may be inferred, that he took a lively interest in the
affairs of his son-in-law, and instigated his successor to
strike a blow in his favour. If details of the life in St
Andrews had been preserved, we might have found that
Constantine, like Charles V., would pay considerable
attention to his equipage and his table, be greedy of
news and tenacious of ceremony; like 'Charles, he was
not master of that ignoble philosophy, which enabled
Diocletian to turn with contentment from the cares of an
empire to those of a cabbage garden.' 2
Malcolm, the son of Donald, the predecessor of Con
stantine, was raised to the throne on its demission by
the latter, 942, and his enterprising character may be
gathered from the name given to him by St Berchan,
' Bodhbhdearg, dangerous red man.' 3 Dreading the
power of the king of Wessex, but like an enterprising
monarch bent on acquisitions somewhere, Malcolm
turned his arms against the tribes north of the Spey.
He was successful in his operations, the forces of the
men of Moray were put to flight, and their Maormor
slain, but the solitary record in the Pictish Chronicle
which tells us this, is all we know of the matter ; the
king would harry the country, retire with his army, and
another Maormor would succeed.
Shortly after this, 945, Malcolm was fortunate enough
to secure a most important addition to his kingdom, an
1 Robertson's Scotland under her Early Kings, vol. i. p. 73.
2 Prescott's Philip II., vol. i. p. 23.
3 Chronicles of Picts and Scots, p. 93.

NARRATIVE — MALCOLM I. 1 57
addition which was, in point of fact, the first permanent a.d 942-954
acquisition of territory to the south of Pictland. This —
acquisition, the kingdom of Strathclyde, from the Clyde
to the Derwent, was granted to Malcolm by king Ead-
mund. 'This year, a.d. 945, king Eadmund ravaged all
Cumberland, and granted it all to Malcolm, king of the
Scots, on the condition that he should be his fellow-
worker as well by sea as by land.' The circumstances
which caused this grant require us again to take up
Northumbrian history, and show that in one way or
another the Danish power proved of great service to the
rising power of Alban.
On the death of Athelstan, the Northumbrian Danes,
true to the house of Ivar, expelled the monarch imposed
on them. 'a.d. 941, this year the Northumbrians were
false to their plighted troth, and chose Olave of Ireland
to be their king.' Eric, who seems more an adept at
acquiring a crown than in preserving one, does not
appear to have offered much resistance, but departed
with his usual retinue of roving pirates. Returning to
his filibustering career, he, in the course of it, found
himself in the Hebrides, from the throne of which he
expelled a son of Regnvald Hy Ivar, and reigned in his
stead. The hero of the bloody axe, either got tired of
his island home, or his subjects got tired of him, for he
turns up in Northumbria in 948, is expelled in the same
year, restored in 952, and is finally ejected in 954.
Eric made no further attempts to regain the kingdom
of Northumbria, but took up the life for which he was so
admirably qualified. Where his headquarters were is
uncertain, but his vocation is pretty clear : ' King Eric
had many people about him, for he kept many Northmen
who had come with him from the east, and also many
of his friends had joined him from Norway. But as he
had little land he went on a cruise every summer, and
plundered in Shetland, the Sudreys, Iceland and Bret-
land, by which he gathered property.' His sons trode
Jn the footsteps of their sire ; they settled in Orkney,
and their ravages form part of our subsequent narrative,
their deeds of lust and bloodshed there form the darkest

158 NARRATIVE — MALCOLM I.
a.d. 943-954. page in Norse history. It is not only in the pages of
fiction that religious sentiment and romantic attachment
are found in the most atrocious characters. Eric's title
and life tell us what he was, a hero, only to desperadoes,
nothing in his character could make him acceptable to
those who wished to have some respite from war and
orgie. Gunhild, his wife, who survived him, cherished
the memory of her fierce lord, and in immortal verse
followed his departed spirit. To her we owe nearly the
oldest northern dirge, on which was modelled the ' death
song of Hakon.' 1 ' After Eric's death, Gunhild (his
wife) had a poem made on him, telling how Woden
welcomed him to Walhall. Gundhild, Mother of Kings,
to whom we owe this noble dirge, is a famous figure in
northern tradition, she is drawn as a Jezebel or a
Catherine of Medici, lustful, cruel, and greedy of
power. The miseries of Norway under her son's rule
may have coloured this picture.' 2
On the expulsion of Eric, 941, the two Olaves, the
king of Dublin and the son-in-law of Constantine, were
chosen joint-kings of Northumbria; the first, named
Olave Godfreyson, soon died (942), and his place seems
to have been filled by Regnvald, son of Guthfrith. The sur
viving Olave, with characteristic courage, at once entered
into hostilities with the king of Wessex. ' a.d. 943 Anlaf
stormed Tamworth, and great carnage was on either
hand ; and the Danes had the victory, and much booty
they led away with them.'3 They seem to have carried
their conquests far into Mercia, for, in the same year,
King Eadmund besieged King Anlaf and Archbishop
Wolfstan in Liecester, and he would have taken them,
were it not that they broke out by night from the tower.' 3
This in some way or other brought matters to a favour
able issue, for, in the same eventful year, peace was con
cluded between the two powers. ' And after that .Anlaf
acquired King Eadmund's friendship, and King Eadmund
then received King Anlaf at baptism, and he royally
1 Herbert's Icelandic Poetry, part v. pp. 109- 114.
2 Corpus Poetarum Boreale, vol. i., p. 259.
3 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, p. 378.

NARRATIVE— MALCOLM I. 159
gifted him, And that same year, after a good long time, a.d. 942-954.
he received King Regnvald at the bishop's hands.'1 A
significant entry follows : ' This year King Eadmund de
livered Glastonbury to St Dunstan, where he afterwards
became the first abbot' 1 The hand of the first of the
long line in the series of gifted priest-statesmen is cer
tainly shown in the transaction. The peace was, how
ever, short-lived, for in the next year hostilities were
renewed, and the two Danish kings expelled.
Passing for the present the important transaction of
the King of Wessex with the King of Alban, 945, we nar
rate the close of the Danish kingdom of Northumbria.
In 946 Eadmund was assassinated, and was succeeded
by his brother Eadred, who inherited the talents and
valour of the family. In 947 the Danes pledged their
allegiance to him. ' This year King Eadred came to
Tadden's-cliff, and there Wolfstan, the Archbishop, and
all the Northumbrian " Witan " plighted their troth to the
king, and within a little while they belied it all, both
pledge and also oaths.'2 'a.d. 948, this year King Eadred
ravaged all Northumberland, because they had taken
Eric to be their king ; and then during the pillage, was
the great minster burned at Ripon, that St Wilfrid built'2
In the course of this conflict the Danes inflicted a pretty
severe loss ('they made great slaughter') on the rear of
the Saxon forces. Eadred, exasperated by this, turned
with the intention of making the severest reprisal : ' Then
was the king so wroth that he would have marched his
forces in again, and wholly destroyed the land.' 3 Alarmed
at the demonstration, ' the Northumbrians forsook Eric,
and made compensation for the deed with King Eadred.'3
Next year (949) Olave was successful in gaining the suf
frages of his countrymen in the north of England, and
establishing his power there. There is no record of the
conflict between him and the Saxon king ; but there is
every reason to believe that hostilities never intermitted.
We find, in 952, ' King Eadred commanding Archbishop
Wolfstan to be brought into the fortress at Jedburgh, be
cause he had been oft accused to the king.'3 This
1 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, p. 378. 2 Ibid. p. 379. 3 Ibid. p. 374.

160 NARRATIVE— MALCOLM I.
a.d. 942-954. indicates the possession, temporarily at anyrate, of a fort
in Bernicia. Either bestead by the Saxon power, or
forsaken by his fickle subjects, who in this year are
said to have received Eric, Olave gave up the contest
for the throne of Northumbria, and went to Ireland,
where he became the king of the Ostmen in Dublin, and
the head of the Danes in Ireland. After thirty years
of incessant warfare, with no decisive result, he was
defeated in 980 at the battle of Tara, with enormous loss.
This disaster, in which the aged chief had to mourn the
death of his son, so affected him, that the old Viking spirit
fairly gave way, and he retired to the island of Hy :
' The battle of Teamhair (was gained) over the foreigners
of Ath-cliath and of the islands, and over the sons of
Amhlaeibh in particular, where many were slain, together
with Raghnall, son of Amhlaibh, heir to the sovereignty
of the foreigners, and a dredful slaughter ofthe foreigners.
. . . After this, Amhlaibh went across the sea and
died at I-Coluim-Cille.' 1 Was it old age and defeat
which produced the lack of faith in the gods of his youth,
or had the carnage of his life sufficed, and the broken
hearted man turned to the faith of the gospel of peace.
After the expulsion of Eric, 954, the kingdom of
Northumbria was nominally annexed to that of Wessex.
' Edmund obtained the kingdom of the Northumbrians,' 2
and it was divided into two earldoms.
The cession of Cumbria or Cumberland to Malcolm,
and the terms on which it was granted, have provoked
much criticism; even the extent of the district ceded.
Without going further into the subject, it may be said
that the most probable view is, that the whole of Strath
clyde, from the Clyde to the Derwent, was the district
which King Eadmund meant in the term used. The
only contemporary authority for the transaction is that
previously quoted from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. The
motives which led to the cession, if it was really a cession,
are stated by Fordun, who is probably just as good an
authority as any since : ' The Northumbrians, indeed,
1 Annals of the Four Masters, vol. i. p. 709.
2 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, p. 379.

NARRATIVE — MALCOLM I. l6l
determined to call back Analaf from Ireland, and set a.d. 042.954.
him up as king again. When, therefore, this came to
Eadmund's ears, being afraid that perchance the people
of Cumbria would cleave to the Scots, as the Northum
brians had cleaved to Analaf, he preferred winning a
friend in exchange for that country, to a cruel enemy's
holding it, perhaps for ever, in spite of him. So, desirous
of having King Malcolm's help against the Danes, and
of conciliating his spirit into close sympathy with his
own, he made over to him, for his oath of fealty, the
whole of Cumbria in possession for ever.'1 Mr Green,
with a true appreciation of the statesman-like views of St
Dunstan, bent on augmenting the power of his king and
through him the claims of the church, credits him with
the whole of the arrangement of the northern frontier ;
the arrangement, though it might be futile, established a
claim temporal and spiritual ; the See of Canterbury
claimed jurisdiction over York and Kilrymont. All that
can be gathered from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is, that
Eadmund, irritated at the facilities afforded to the Danes,
in their invasions of Northumbria, by the Britons of Cum
bria, determined to punish them, and, as far as he could,
bar the way to future inroads. Investing himself with
the overlordship so long exercised by the kings of Ber
nicia, and which he would reckon his by right of con
quest, Eadmund transferred this, to Malcolm, on the con
ditions specified — friendly alliance, knowing perfectly
well that the Scottish king had the hearts of a people
whose allegiance he could not calculate on retaining.
If our ancestors could but have seen, it was imma
terial whether the country was held on oath of fealty
to Eadmund or no ; he had no right to the fief beyond
that of conquest ; his right could only be maintained by
possession. How little the gift was appreciated, and
how little the fealty was regarded, is shown from the cir
cumstance, that in 949 either Malcolm in person, or his
aged predecessor, supported Olave in his attack on
Northumbria. Malcolm does not again appear in col
lision with Dane or Saxon ; in 954 he met with the fate
1 Fordun, vol. ii. p. 158.
VOL. I. L

1 62 NARRATIVE — INDULPH.
a d. 952-964. of his father, and in the same locality. He was slain by
the men of Moerne at Fetteresso in the parish of Fordun,
Kincardineshire. ' Nine years to his reign, traversing the
borders, on the brink of Dun Fother, at last, will shout
the Gael around his grave.' l
According to the principle of alternate succession
Indulph the son of Constantine succeeded, whose reign
extended to eight years. Little is known of his times,
but one important event stands out, — the surrender and
evacuation of Dunedin or Edinburgh. This gave the
Scots their first footing on the south side of the Forth,
and the possession of a stronghold, which, so long the
menace of the Southron, was to become their bulwark
in retreat, their rallying point in attack, the heart of Scot
land. Though the bare fact of the evacuation of Edinburgh
is all that is told in the Pictish Chronicle, yet this speaks
of a successful career of war and diplomacy, it would
certainly not be without a struggle, that the Angles would
yield so important a stronghold, to what must now have
been felt as a powerful and encroaching rival power.
The reign of Indulph was disturbed by the incursions of
the sons of Eric Blood-axe, who with their mother had
made Orkney their head-quarters. Worthy sons of a
worthy sire, they pursued his avocations assiduously,
devoting the summer months (Sumarlidi) to piracy and
rapine, the winter to the wild orgies which have made
their name infamous. Fordun and the later chroniclers
state that Indulph, 'at a place called Collyn ' (Inver-
culen) was slain by a dart from one of their ships, while
in excess of valour he, alone, pursued the flying enemy.
The Pictish Chronicle makes no mention of this, and
St Berchan expressly states that Indulph died at St An
drews after having successfully repelled the invaders. Mr
Skene with much probability suggests that like his father
Constantine, he retired to the monastery of Kilrymont,
and resigned the throne to Dubh or Duff, the son of his
predecessor Malcolm, who according to Tanistic usage
1 Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, Prophecy of St Berchan
P- 93-

DISPUTED SUCCESSIONS. 1 63
was the heir apparent. From the slight sketch we possess a.d. 962-9;!.
of the reign of Indulph, there is ample grounds for the
paneygric pronounced on him by St Berchan :
' No severance will he sever
Of Alban of ships of long territories ;
It is an addition to his kingdom he will take
From a foreign land by force.
Nine years and a half of bright fame
P'or him over Alban in the sovereignty.
In the house of the same pure apostle
He died, where died his father?' '
Dubh's accession, 962, does not seem to have given a.d 963-971
satisfaction ; the intestine divisions which had gone to
sleep now revived; the wonder indeed is that every
succession was not a disputed one. The sceptre had
been but three years in the grasp of the reigning monarch,
when the heart-burning took the form of open hostilities,
and Cuilean the son of Indulph, who found supporters
in the Abbot of Dunkeld and the Maormor of Athol, took
the field against him. A battle between the forces of
the two contending claimants was fought in Stratherne,
in which Cuilean was defeated, and his two supporters
slain. Two years later, 967, the tables were turned,
Cuilean was victorious, Dubh fell in the action, and
his rival obtained the crown.
Fordun gives so quaint an account of the reign of
King Duff, that we transfer it to our pages : ' He was a
man of dove-like simplicity towards those who loved quiet
and peace ; but a cruel, terrible, and bloody avenger
towards rebels, plunderers and thieves.' Nothing is told
of the contest with his rival : ' he passed the years of his
reign at peace with foreign nations, though the inhabit
ants of the north of his kingdom were molested by
plunderers of their own kin, whose wickedness he had
before repeatedly quelled by the rigour of the law.' In
one of his expeditions to restore law and order, he
happened to be at the town of Forres with only a small
retinue, the most of his forces being sent to scour the
1 Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, p. 94.

164 DISPUTED SUCCESSIONS.
. d. 962-971 country. His small body-guard spent their time in
games, plays, and feasting, never thinking of their pre
cious charge. The wicked robbers (the rebels) taking
advantage of their culpable carelessness, surprise the
king in bed, seize him, drag him through their secret
haunts, and slay him. ' They then put the body of the
murdered king into a ditch under the shadow of a
certain bridge near Kinloss, and covered it lightly with
green turf without leaving any trace at all of blood.
But the wonder was, that from that hour forwards, until
it was found, no ray of sunlight gleamed within the whole
kingdom, nay, as long as it lay hidden under the bridge,
continual darkness miraculously shrouded the whole land,
to the amazement of all. But as soon as the body was
afterwards found, the sun shone forth more brightly, it
seemed, than ever, to reveal the crime of the traitors.' :
Mr Skene's explanation of the tradition, that the king
escaped from the field of action, took refuge in the
country beyond the Spey, and was there slain, is extremely
probable ; but his explanation of the miraculous part of
the story is on a par with the rationalising theories which
would rob us of all the incidents which give life to the
history of the saints of the early and middle ages. ' An
eclipse of the sun was visible at Kynloss on the 10th of
July 967, which circumstance may have given rise to the
tradition.' 2
Cuilean's reign, 967-971, is comprehended in the re
cord of his death ' Culen (son of) Illuilb, King of Alban,
slain by the Britons in battle.' 3 ' Culen and his brother
Eocha were slain by the Britons.'4 How his death occur
red is given by Fordun; the narrative is not improbable,
mal-administration of some kind must have brought him
into collision with the subjects of the territory lately
acquired. ' Culen was useless and slack in the government
of the kingdom; he cleaved to the paths of the young,
being sore given to violating maids, and other unlawful
deeds, an imitator of King Edwy, who bore a very bad
1 Fordun, vol. ii. p. 161. 2 Skene's Celtic Scotland, vol. 1. p. 367.
3 Annals of Ulster, a.d. 971.
* Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, p. 10.

NARRATIVE — KENNETH II. 1 65
name with the clergy.1 Among his other deeds of shame a.d 96J-971.
he violated the person of the lovely daughter of a chief
named Radhard. On account of which he was shortly
afterwards slain by the father, to the great joy of many
and the grief of very few.' 2
The brother of the deceased monarch Kenneth, the
second of the name, was raised to the throne, 971, and
his first act was to avenge his death, but according to
the Pictish Chronicle he did not effect this without severe
loss : ' The first soldiers of Kenneth were cut off with
great loss in the Moss of Cornar.'3 The cession of
Strathclyde seems as yet to have been only in name, for
immediately after this Kenneth fortified the fords of the
Forth to protect what was still considered the frontier
of his dominions. In the same year he invaded North
umbria and harried the country as far as Stanmore,
Cleveland, and the Pools of Deira.4 In the following
year the invasion was repeated, and the Scots are re
ported to have carried off the son of a Saxon Prince,
probably Eadulph, the earl placed over the northern
division of Northumbria, extending from the Tees to
the Firth of Forth. The next event chronicled in the
reign of Kenneth II. is the establishment of a monas
tery or bishopric at Brechin ; this we take to be the
meaning of the entry in the Pictish Chronicle : ' This
is he who gave the great city of Brechin to the Lord.' 5
It is also the last sentence in the old document so fre
quently quoted, and which was probably compiled in
Kenneth's reign. It must ever be the most trustworthy
guide we possess from the time of the Dalriadic suc
cession, and in the terseness of its statements contrasts
most favourably with the English and Irish Chronicles
1 Fordun says that the English king ' burst suddenly from the
midst of a full assemble of nobles, and darted wantonly into his
chamber to sink into the arms of a harlot.' The harlot was Edwy's
espoused wife Elgiva, whom though within the degrees of affinity
prohibited by the canon law, he had dared to marry against the ¦
wish ofhis master St Dunstan. Perhaps Culen was no worse than the
unfortunate Edwy.
2 Fordun, pp. 161-2. 3 Wyntoun's Chronicle, vol. ii. p. 93.
' Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, p. 10. 5 Ibid. pp. 3, 4, 5.

1 66 NARRATIVE— KENNETH II.
a.d. 971-995. of the same events, it is manifestly a state document,
the church is only mentioned in connection with the
state, miracles and saints were conspicuous by their ab
sence. Another interesting circumstance is noted in the
reign of Domnall, son of Eoain, who is still spoken of
as King of the Britons, went on a pilgrimage to Rome.
It would be interesting to know what the British prince
thought of Roman society; there would certainly be more
polish, and he would meet with plenty of magnificently
attired ecclesiastics, but he could only bring home stories
of deeds as atrocious as any perpetrated in Strathclyde.
He by a year missed the opportunity of seeing Bonifazio
Francone on the Papal throne, who had won his tiara
by strangling his predecessor ; he would hear of the in
famous John XII., whose career of cruelty, lust, and
incest was closed ten years before by the poignard of an
injured husband. The postponement of the visit for a
year was indeed a sad loss, for his eyes could not even
feast on the sacred vessels of St Peter's, for Bonifazio had
carried them off to Constantinople. The amount of faith
which must have been in the pious pilgrims to the seat of
the Prince of the Apostles, and which survived a visit, is
one ofthe most incomprehensible problems in history; the
wonder is, that instead of one solitary Luther, the atmos
phere of Rome had not changed every earnest pilgrim
into a proto-reformer.
Kenneth did not fail to encounter opposition from
the rival branch of his family; it apparently slumbered
or smouldered for six years, but came to a head in 977,
when a conflict took place in which Olave, the son of
Indulph, was slain.2 The Scotch and Irish Chroniclers
tell of no further events connected with England during
the remainder ofthe long reign of Kenneth II. ; but the
English Chroniclers of a later date give circumstantial
details of the cession of Lothian under an oath of fealty
to King Aedgar. Wallingford indeed makes the Scot
tish king undertake a journey to London where, in the
presence of men well instructed in the wisdom of their
1 Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, Annals of Tighernac, p. 77
2 Ibid.

NARRATIVE — KENNETH II. 1 67
ancestors, he does homage to the King of England, and a.d. 971-9
gives pledges for the territory of Lothian. Besides being
evidently a repetition of the former transaction between
Malcolm and Eadmund, couched in more advanced
feudal terms to aid present claims, it is worthy of note
that Kenneth was not in formal possession of any part ot
the country said to be ceded. The Saxon kings were yet
only in name kings of England; they had very little power
north of the Humber; though the Anglic and Danish
kingdoms were nominally extinct, and in feudal language
the kings of Wessex lords paramount, yet the territory
was a debateable land, which eventually was divided be
tween the two kingdoms of Scotland and England.
The Kings of Pictland had made nighto as formid
able invasions into Bernicia as the Kings of Wessex, and
neither of them had much control over the disputed terri
tory until a much later period. The consolidation of it
into England and Scotland was a matter of time, and the
independent chiefs who exercised sway under the Earls
of Northumbria and the Lords of Bernicia, were the
parties to consult or subdue ; they alone could give
possession to either potentate, those next to the Saxon
kingdom fell to it and became English, those next to
Pictland fell to it and became Scotch. The similarity is
striking at the present day, even in stolidity of character
and religious feeling; Presbyterianism and the Scotch
mode of observing Sunday do not find favour south of
the Humber, still less south of the Tyne, north of that
they do not seem so much a foreign element.
Though little is known of the events which occurred
during the long reign of Kenneth IL, and though he is
not credited with having made any substantial additions
to his kingdom, yet it is evident that he did much to
consolidate it, and bring the independent chiefs under
the control of the central power. In one of these at
tempts, so fatal to more than one of his ancestors, he
lost his life. He was slain by the men of Moerne, near
the foot of the Month (the Grampians), 995. Kenneth's
death is attributed by Fordun to treachery, and forms
the subject of a curious tale. The Scottish monarch

1 68 NARRATIVE — KENNETH II.
571-995- had incurred the hatred of Finele, the daughter of the
Earl of Angus, whose only son had been executed by
his orders, whether for some breach of the law or other
cause the chronicler 'knows not'1 Finele adopts what
appears rather a childish stratagem, she constructs a trap
which should cause the death of the king, and then with
feminine wiles allures her victim to destruction. The
trap was constructed in a little cottage nigh to the king's
hunting seat, and where she was likely to meet him.
' The trap, such as had never before been seen, had
attached to it on all sides, cross bows always kept bent
by their several strings, and fitted with very sharp arrows;
and in the middle thereof stood a statue fashioned like a
boy, and cunningly attached to the cross-bows ; so that if
any one were to touch it and move it ever so little, the
bow-strings of the cross-bows would suddenly give way,
and the arrows would straightway be shot forth, and pierce
him through.' Having thus completed the preparations
for perpetrating the crime, the wretched woman, always
presenting a cheerful countenance to the king, at length
beguiled him by flattery and treacherous words. We
need not detail the particulars, everything happened as
the traitress had planned, the unsuspecting victim when
desired touched the spring in the statue, the arrows were
shot forth, and the king was slain. Finele and Kenneth
were alone in the cottage, she hurriedly left it, and escaped
pursuit. Like the courtiers of Eglon in Holy Writ, those
of the king of the Scots tarried till they were ashamed,
and then broke open the door only to find their murdered
lord.' They raised a great outcry, and ran about in all
directions looking for the guilty woman — but in vain ;
they found her not : and not knowing what to do, they
consumed the town with fire, and reduced it to ashes.
Then taking with them the king's blood-stained body,
they shortly afterwards buried it with his father's in Iona,
as was the custom with the kings.' 2 Kenneth II. seems
to have been a favourite with the later historians of Scot
land : there is no record in the older annals of any Danish
1 Chronicles of Picts and Scots, pp. 96, 174, 175, 2S9.
2 Fordun's Chronicles, pp. 166, 167.

CONSTANTINE — KENNETH. 1 69
invasions, though certainly there must have been frequent a.d. 971-995-
bickerings in the north with the Vikings of Orkney. Bcece "
and Buchanan are therefore supposed by Mr Burton to
have invented the story of the invasion which terminated
so gloriously in the battle of Luncarty. It is a pity that
the ancestor of the noble family of the Hays of Errol,
who stemmed the tide of battle and led his countrymen
to victory, should turn out to be but a creation of the
vivid fancy of a patriot Scot ; it is no slight distinction
for a baron to be able to trace his descent to an ancestor
who gained his living by the plough}
Kenneth's successor was Constantine, the son of his A.n.
predecessor Cuilean (a.d. 995) ; his reign lasted but two 995-1004-
years, when he was slain by Kenneth the son of Malcolm,
997. This must have been the issue of a disputed suc
cession, as is indicated by Fordun, who says that Con
stantine usurped the throne, and that ' during his time
things came to such a pass — massacres of the people
and troubles of the clergy — that many thought the final
overthrow of the kingdom was to happen.' The chief
opponent of Constantine was a personage of the name
of Kenneth, who is supposed to have been an illegitimate
brother of the deceased monarch, and who is described
as a ' soldier of renowned prowess.' A battle was fought
in West Lothian or Perthshire (authorities differ), in which
both leaders were killed.
Kenneth, son of Dubh, was now raised to, or seized
the vacant throne, though Fordun says it was his son
Gryme who succeeded. The critical historians of our
day make Gryme a title of Kenneth's, indicating strength
and sternness of character. He is termed by St Berchan
' The Donn, or brown,' from strong, Duncath. During
the reign of this king the death is recorded of Malcolm
king of the Britons of Strathclyde, the last of their kings
who held the title and partly the power of a reigning
prince. Three years later the Saxon King of England,
Aethelred, attempted to wrest Strathclyde from the Scot
tish king, who had probably taken formal possession
a.d. 1000. 'In this year the king went into Cumbra-
1 See Burton's Scotland, vol. i. pp. 358-9, and note.

A.O.
995-1004.

170 NARRATIVE — MALCOLM II.
land and ravaged it well nigh all.' r Like many future
invasions, ravaging was the sum total, not a foot of land
was gained. St Berchan indeed implies that Kenneth
made an effectual resistance, ' He will scatter hosts of
the Saxons. After the day of battle he will possess.' 2
After a troubled but not inglorious reign of eight years
and a half, Kenneth's career was cut short by a rival
competitor of the royal house, Malcolm son of Kenneth
II. The scene where the final struggle took place is laid
in Monzievaird in Stratherne, and the men of Moerne
who have played so important a part in previous inter
necine strife were the supporters of the victor.3
A.„. Malcolm IL, when he ascended the throne in 1005,
1 005-1034. was nigh t0 fifty years of age, and had probably taken
part in the stirring scenes previously noticed. He brought
to the counsels of the nation not only experience gained
in open fight and dark intrigue, but also a mind and
person which endeared him to the hearts of his subjects.
Such, at any rate, may be gathered from the eulogium
passed on him by Fordun and St Berchan. The former
says, ' In all knightly deeds, both mimic and in earnest,
he was second in renown to hardly any one in the king
dom . . . Moreover, the common people who knew him
to be endowed with many good qualities, and distinguished
for his stalwart and shapely figure, began with one accord
to extol his name and fame with praises, and declared
even openly that he was more worthy of the kingship
than the rest of men, seeing that he was the strongest' 4
St Berchan thus describes him —
' Afterwards shall possess high Alban
A warrior, fortunate praised of bards,
A wrathful heart which fights the battle
Whose name is the Forrannach (the oppressor or destroyer).
The men of the world were full of good of him,
Angels are prophesying of him,
Heavy warrior of a strong people,
A good king who will redden red spears. ' 5
1 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, p. 335.
2 Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, p. 98. 3 Ibid. pp. 175, 289, 366.
* Fordun, vol. ii. p. 172. 5 Chronicles of Picts and Scots, p. 99.

NARRATIVE — MALCOLM II. 171
Malcolm thus strengthened by the favour of the a.d.
people, and supported by the most powerful of the chiefs, IOO£^34,
commenced his long reign of thirty years under the most
favourable auspices, and notwithstanding some reverses
consolidated his kingdom, extended its influence, and
the last of the male descendants of Kenneth MacAlpin
passed it on to his grandson, the ill-fated Duncan, under
the historic name of Scotia. Mr Skene, whose authority
on such points is undoubted, calls attention to the cir
cumstance that Marianus Scotus in his chronicle uses
the name Scotia not Alban : ' The kings of Alban
occasionally appear as kings of the Scots, but this is the
first instance in which the name of Scotia is applied in
a territorial designation of their kingdom. Used by a
contemporary writer, who was himself a native of Ireland,
it is evident that the name of Scotia had now been trans
ferred from Ireland, the proper Scotia of the previous
centuries, and become adopted for the kingdom of the
Scots in Britain in the reign of Malcolm, son of Kenneth,
which ushers in the eleventh century, superseding the
previous name of Alban.' 1 It by no means follows from
this that the Dalriadic Scots formed the principal part
of the population, or that their language had superseded
the Pictish or even the Brythonic. It is much more
probable that, like the Franks in Gaul who gave their
name to that country, that the Gadhelic would be in a
state of absorption into the Lowland Scotch, which in a
short time was to appear as the language of Scotia. The
king and court, with perhaps those shadowy personages
the bards, might keep up the speech of the Scotia of the
west, but the mass of the people, and the adventurers who
intermarried with Pictish, Saxon, and Norse heiresses,
would know little of the tongue in which Milesius wooed
the fair daughter of Pharaoh on the banks of the Nile.
Malcolm's first enterprise was an attack on Bernicia,
1006; though it may seem unprovoked, yet it was per
haps the best way to preserve Cumbria and the other
portions of the southern Lowlands now claimed by the
Scottish crown, to anticipate the invasion of the Anglo-
1 Skene's Celtic Scotland, vol. i. p. 398.

172 NARRATIVE — MALCOLM II.

A.D.

Saxon power. In this his first campaign, the king of Scots
ioo£io34. wag unsuccessfui jn an engagement near Durham with the
Anglo-Saxon forces commanded by Uchtred, Earl of
Northumbria, his army cut to pieces, and many of his
nobles slain. ' 1006, Battle between the men of Alban
and Saxony, the Albanich were overcome, and great
slaughter made of their nobles.' r Such is the curt notice
in the Annals of Ulster; it is amplified in other accounts,
and as even modern English historians never lose an
opportunity of expatiating on the barbarities of the Scots
in their raids, it is worth noticing the gentle manners of
the Anglo-Saxons on this occasion ; the best translation
or paraphrase ofthe words of Simeon of Durham are given
by Mr E. W. Robertson : ' Severing from the bodies of the
fallen Scots a sufficient number of the best-looking heads,
Uchtred committed them to the charge of four women,
each of whom was to receive a cow in payment for plat
ting the hair, and arranging to the best advantage these
grim relics of the foe, which were then placed on stakes
at equal intervals around the walls of Durham, to answer
the double purpose of striking terror into any futute
• band of marauding Scots, and of recalling to the grateful
townsmen the services of their brave deliverer.' 2
Malcolm thus foiled in the attempt to defend or ex
tend his southern frontier, turned his attention to the
northern, but the rival potentates there, were about as
formidable ; the power of the Earl of Orkney and the
Maormor of Ross and Moray was not easily shaken.
Fordun speaks of numerous conflicts between the Scots
and the Norwegians, but the contemporary accounts are
silent on the subject. These districts demand our notice
shortly; in the meantime we only state the events in which
Malcolm appears as an actor. The king evidently thought
that alliance with Orkney was preferable to war, for in
1008 he bestowed his daughter in marriage to Sigurd,
Earl of Orkney, the issue of which was Thorfinn, who
succeeded his father in his island domain, and received
1 Chronicles of Picts and Scots, p. 366.
2 Scotland under her Early Kings, vol. i. p. 93 ; Freeman's
Norman Conquest, vol. i. p. 357.

A.D.

NARRATIVE — MALCOLM II. 1 73
from Malcolm the counties of Caithness and Sutherland
with the title of Earl. From default of male issue, and a IO°5'1034-
desire to strengthen his connection outside of the royal
house, Malcolm had already disposed ofhis elder daughter
Beatrice to Crinan or Cronan, Abbot of Dunkeld, who
seems from his position to have been one of the most
powerful men in the kingdom, somewhat like the Bishop
of Durham in later days, equally familiar with the mace
and the crosier. He is termed by Fordun 'Athbane
of Dul,' which the chronicler explains to signify ' superior
of the Thanes, or their lord under the king,' consequently
he is termed by Mr Skene, 'lay Abbot,' possessed only
of the temporalities, but exercising none of the clerical
functions. To John of Fordun a married abbot would
be an abomination and a slur on his order, so he had
to invent an office unknown in his time, but at the time
a married, and a well-married priest, would be the rule
not the exception. Most of the clergy were married,
and their clerical duties sate very lightly on them, in com
parison of the cares attending the advancement of them
selves and those of their own household. St Columba
insisted on celibacy, and called the wives of clerics by
the opprobrious name of ' courtesan ' (meretrix),1 but his
time was long past, and it is more than probable that the
state of affairs in Scotia was no better than those in Eng
land, where the most moral of the clergy were married,
and who thought, from the example of the celibates who
visited them from Rome, that marriage was preferable to
fornication. As late as 1123 Henry of Huntingdon tells
of a cardinal who was sent to reform the clergy, and in
duce them to celibacy ; the holy man, in a Synod at Lon
don, bitterly inveighed against clerical unchastity, and
the same night was surprised in the arms of a courtesan.
We need not repeat the words of the chronicler, 'the
legate turned his steps homeward in confusion and dis
honour.' 2 Neither marriage nor unchastity would have
hurt Crinan's position as Abbot of Dunkeld ; his morals
would be no better and no worse than the Mormaors with
whom he would rank in power and influence. Crinan
Adamnan's Columba, p. 128. 2 Henry of Huntingdon, p. 252.

A.D.
3OO5-IO34.

174 NARRATIVE — MALCOLM II.
probably held his position by a hereditary right granted
or enforced ; but this, so far from proving the position to
have been that of a lay impropriator, simply shows that
in Scotland had actually arisen an evil spoken of by
Mr Lecky in his History of Morals, and which was only
checked by Queen Margaret and her sons : ' Barbarian
chieftains married at an early age, and, totally incapable
of restraint, occupied the leading positions in the church,
and gross irregularities speedily became general. . .
The evil acquired such magnitude, that a great feudal
clergy, bequeathing the ecclesiastical benefices from
father to son, appeared more than once likely to arise.' 1
In the meanwhile the state of affairs in England was
such as to afford Malcolm an opportunity of wiping out
the remembrance of his former defeat in Northumbria.
The gallant young earl who had so gallantly repulsed
the Scottish arms was no more, and his place was filled
by his brother, a man of an entirely different stamp.
Uchtred despairing of successful resistance to the Danish
power so long as the contemptible Aethelred was the
leader of the Anglo-Saxons, made his submission to
Cnut But by the order or permission of the Danish
conqueror, he, along with fifty of his companions, were
foully murdered while on their way to render homage
to their new lord, 1016. The government in chief of
Northumbria was bestowed on Eric, brother-in-law to
Cnut ; but Eadulph, the brother of the late earl, was en
trusted with the rule of the northern portion. Malcolm
resolved to take advantage of these circumstances, and
of the distracted state of England, not yet reconciled
to the beneficent rule of Cnut the Great, and also of
the incapacity of the man to whom was committed the de
fence of the northern frontier.
Earl Eadulf was a very different man from his brother,
Simeon of Durham describes him as 'indolent and cow
ardly — ignavus valde et timidus' who surrendered Lothian
to the Scots, fearing that they would avenge on himself
personally the death of those whom his brother had killed.
Defeat had perhaps a good deal to do with the ill name
1 Lecky's Morals, vol. ii. p. 349.

CNUTS INVASION — ENGLISH CLAIMS. 175
attached by the chronicler to Eadulf; he certainly did a.d.
not succumb without a struggle, and that evidently a I°°5'1°34-'
severe one. In 1018 Malcolm collected a powerful army,
drawn from every portion of his dominions, and along
with him marched at the head of his contingent Eugenius
the Bald, the last sub-king of the Strathclyde Britons.
The English force was encountered at Carham on the
Tweed, two miles above Coldstream, and defeated with
great slaughter, including an unusual number of the Eng
lish nobility. Signs and wonders attended the event, a
comet appeared for thirty nights to the people of North
umbria, a terrible presage of the calamities by which the
province was to be desolated. In addition, the Bishop
of Durham fell sick on hearing ofthe battle, and died in
a few days. The See was vacant for three years.
The results of the victory at Carham were most im
portant. Lothian was annexed, and the frontier of Scotia
advanced from the Forth to the Tweed ; to say that it
was ceded is absurd; it was gained at the point of the
sword, and held in the same way. The great monarch
who had now been but lately chosen King of England,
had at this period sufficient work there, and for the
time took no measures to retrieve the loss suffered by
his lieutenant. In 103 1, however, Cnut having plenty
of leisure on his hands, his enemies subdued, and his
qualms of conscience quieted by a pilgrimage to Rome,
determined to settle matters on his northern frontier.
According to the Saxon Chronicle, in the year mentioned,
' This year King Cnut went to Rome, and so soon as
he came home, then went he into Scotland ; and the
King of the Scots, Malcolm II. , submitted to him, and
became his man, but that he held only a little while, and
two other kings, Macbeth and Jehmar.' J This has been
interpreted by the English Chroniclers, and in our own
times by Mr Freeman, to mean that those kings acknow
ledged Cnut as their over-lord, did him homage, in short
became his vassal. The facts of history do not bear out
this view, or that the Danish or Saxon kings ever exer
cised an imperial sway over all the kings of Great Britain.
1 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, p. 412,

176 CNUT'S INVASION — ENGLISH CLAIMS.
a. d. Mr Freeman's imperial theory is as untenable as that of the
100^1034. jr-sh a^ Scotch Chroniclers, who make Crimthan Mor,
Niall Mor, and Dathi, Emperors of the British Isles and
Gaul to boot, of Gregorius Maximus, who brings under
his yoke the whole of Ireland and nearly the whole of
England. A king of Bernicia, a king of Mercia, a king
of Wessex, a king of Alban, made successful forays, spread
ruin and slaughter, and after having received humble
enough submission, returned home, the unfortunate vic
tims cowed for the time being. Later chroniclers imparted
their own ideas into their accounts, shaped the campaigns
and arranged the terms and words of the submission.
The expression ' became his man,' has been held to
mean that a feudal homage was paid, some authors con
tend for Cumbria and Lothian only, others, that the three
kings became vassals for the whole of their domains.
An unbiased historical criticism will carry no such mean
ing ; the claim of a superior exacting homage from his
acknowledged inferior is as baseless as the former ones
we have noticed. A fair reading of the passage is that
Cnut, unwilling to continue a conflict in England, was
quite open to come to terms, viz. : that the boundary
line of the King of Scotland should be the Tweed, and
that he should make no further encroachments. Com
pliments and professions of friendship would be inter
changed, and all would return satisfied with an arrange
ment which was to last as long as it suited. How the
Mormaor of Ross and the Lord of Argyllshire were
present, is inexplicable, they had nothing to fear from
the power of England ; if they were present at all it was
likely the desire to be present at a pageant in which the
greatest potentate of their time played a part. It is,
however, very problematical whether the high personages,
the kings mentioned, ever met at all, much more likely
the treaty was made by deputy, and that the chronicler
included all the powers north of the Tweed, as submitting
to the power of the invincible King of England.
Malcolm, as successful in diplomacy as in the field,
returned to his capital, and in three years was gathered
to his fathers. Fordun says that he was slain by treach-

DEATH OF MALCOLM. 1 77
erous hands at Glammis, but this is quite inconsistent a.d.
with the accounts given in the Annals of Ulster and by IOOS"'°34,
Marianus Scotus, and indeed with the absence of all
intestine feuds during his reign. Mr E. W. Robertson,
with much probability and acuteness gives us his opinion
' that Malcolm II. may be looked upon as the originator
of that change through which the Scottish King ceasing
gradually to migrate from one province to another, en
hanced the dignity of personal attendance upon the
sovereign, and assembled his nobility in his own "palace"
of Scone.'1 He is said by Fordun 'to have been so
open-handed, or rather prodigal, that, while according to
ancient custom, he held, as his own property, all the
lands, districts, and provinces of the whole kingdom, he
kept nothing thereof in his possession but the Moothill
of Scone.' 2 Mr Robertson thus remarks : 'Lurking under
this singular statement there are probably some grains of
truth, thoroughly misunderstood by the chronicler ; and,
as in the partition of Scotland into Thanages, a tradition
may be recognised of its ancient divisions into Triocha-
ceds and Bailes, or Baronies and Townlands — institutions
of a character inseparable from the very existence of a
settled community — so the reduction of the kingdom of
Scotland as it then existed, to a mere direct dependence
upon the royal authority, entailing land tax, merchet, and
other Celtic mulcts, in quarters hitherto exempt from
such exactions, seems to be shadowed out under the
feudal grant of the whole kingdom, and the feudal return
made by the gratitude of the Scottish King.' 3 Previously
the crown lands, that is the private property of the
monarch, were administered by officers who accounted
to him for the rents and dues collected, the remainder
was held by chiefs who gave service when called on.
Malcolm assimilated the tenure of the whole kingdom,
making every one hold direct from the crown, on pay
ment in some kind, the King was no longer the Ardri and
his chiefs Ris, he was the Lord, and they were his vassals.
1 Scotland under her Early Kings, vol, i. p. 109.
2 Fordun, vol, ii. p. 177-
* Scotland under her Early Kings, vol. i. p. 107.
VOL. I. M

CHAPTER VIII.
NARRATIVE — D U NCAN.
Accession of Duncan — Unsuccessful Invasion of England — Orkney
and Orcadian History— Turf Einar— Gunhild— Earl Sigurd—
His Conquests— Grim and Helgi— Olaf Tryggvason conquers
Orkney and imposes Christianity — Death of Sigurd — Thorfinn
the Mighty — Amor his Poet — King Duncan— Thorfinn — Mac
beth — Death of Duncan and Accession of Macbeth — His Char
acter and Death — Lulach, a.d. 1034-58.
a d. iN Malcolm II. the male issue of the MacAlpin family
1034-1040. kecame extinct, the surviving representative having been
slain by his order in 1033, one year previous to his
decease. ' The son of the son of Bcete, son of Cinsed,
slain by Malcolm, son of Cinaed.' 1 The way was thus
left clear to the succession of the direct descendants of
the deceased monarch, and Duncan, the son of the Abbot
of Dunkeld, seems to have ascended the throne of his
grandsire without a dissentient voice.
No event is chronicled in the reign of Duncan until
1038, when Aldred, who had succeeded his uncle as Earl
of the northern division of Northumbria, invaded Strath
clyde and devastated the whole country. The King of
Scots seems to have tamely offered no resistance, and it
was not till 1040 that he took retaliatory steps. In that
year he advanced with a large army, and swept the
northern border of England with fire and sword as far as
Durham, which he laid siege to. The valour of the
citizens offered a stubborn defence, and they not only
arrested the victorious career of the invading army, but
annihilated the army itself. Simeon of Durham credits
the citizens of the small town with this great victory ; but
from the extent of the loss it is more than probable they
were assisted by a relieving army. The chronicler says,
the greater part of the cavalry were slain, a few escaping
1 Annals of Ulster, Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, p. 368.

ORKNEY AND ORCADIAN HISTORY. 1 79
by the speed of their horses, in the pursuit the slaughter a.d.
of the main body was very great, and there was a re- I03£^4°-
petition of the same inhuman spectacle, 'a garland of
Scottish heads again adorned the battlements and market
place of the Episcopal city.'
The character of Duncan, as depicted in history, is
very unlike what Shakespeare puts into the mouth of
his murderer — ' This Duncan
Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels, trumpet tongued.'
The contrary seems to be the fact, and that it was an a.d. 850-980.
unprovoked attack on the undoubted rights of his cousin,
the Earl of Orkney and Caithness, which lost him his
life and crown. Before we enter on these events, which
are to be found only from Norwegian sources, it will not
be out of place to take up the thread of Orcadian history
at the death of Earl Sigurd, somewhere about the close
of the ninth century.1
The history of the Orkneys and Hebrides during the
Norwegian occupation is little known, and we should
say, as little appreciated, yet the light thrown upon it by
the Sagas is sufficient to invest it with undying interest,
there is a life-like and personal action unknown in that
of England and Scotland. The short and fragmentary
accounts given there, throw a light on the character of
the race who quickened the sluggish life of European
society, they were the true originators of the romance
which enters so largely into the inner nature of the Teu
tonic inhabitants of Great Britain. The ballads of the
two countries, ' which stir the heart like a trumpet,' are
but reproductions of the lays which, in the tenth and
eleventh centuries, were told round the wassail board of
the Vikings, who in the shelter of their eyries, recounted
their exploits from the burning plains of Syria to the
savage shores of Labrador. Another feature of still greater
importance may be added. The poetry of the old north
ern tongue has, until the publication of ' Corpus Poetic.
1 Ante, p. 140.

180 ORKNEY AND ORCADIAN HISTORY.
a.d. 850-980. um Boreale,' l been a sealed book, but by the labours of
the two learned editors of this work, we have now a com
plete collection with English translation of the Eddie and
Court poetry, from the earliest times to the thirteenth
century, in which is depicted, the thoughts, life, and
aspirations of this wonderful branch of the Teutonic
family. The editor of this great work has shown the
fallacy of ascribing this mass of literature to Iceland alone,
and in an eloquent passage, too long for extract, he shows
from the vocabulary of words used foreign to the Ice
landic, from the conditions of life depicted in the poems,
and above all from the composite fancies, half mythologic
half Christian, which enter into the very soul of many of
the lays, that Iceland could not have been the birth-place
of all. To the question, 'Where were the poemscomposed?'
he answers : ' Where but in the Western Isles.' 2 The
action and reaction of the Danes and Norwegians on the
inhabitants of England, we have seen was very great, and
the centre from which it flowed was the Orkneys, there
the daring and adventurous spirits held high carnival and
planned new expeditions, at the court of the Earl of
Orkney must have assembled men who, like Harold Har-
drada, had served the savage Muscovite and the luxuri
ous Byzantine, and preferred to spend their blood-won
treasure, among kinsmen, to whom they could chant their
tales in the old northern tongue. The imagination must
fill up much of the picture, but there is here a canvass
ready to be filled up, it is a pity that it has been left un
touched by the masters of fiction. Finally, ' the Earls of
Orkney were many of them poets, and we cannot but
believe that many of the finest northern poems were
composed in their domains ' 3
On the death of Sigurd he was succeeded by his son
Guthorm, who survived but for one year, and leaving no
issue, the earldom was vacant. Hearing of this, Rogn-
vald the mighty and wise, despatched his son Halladr,
who, with the title of Earl bestowed by King Harald,
1 Corpus Poeticum Boreale, by Gudbrand Vigfusson and T.
York Powell, 2 vols., Oxford 1883,
2 Ibid, vol. i. pp. lvi. -lxiv. 3 Ibid. vol. ii. p. 180.

ORKNEY AND ORCADIAN HISTORY. l8l
took possession of the islands. Halladr ' had a great a.d. 850-980.
army,' and seems to have met with no opposition; but
he soon found he had most troublesome subjects (save
the mark) to deal with. ' In autumn and spring the Vi
kings made promontory plunders, and hewed strand
hewing (drove the cattle of the country down to the
shore, and slaughtered them for victualling their ships).'1
In the simple language of the Saga, ' Earl Halladr got
weary of this, resigned the Earl's dignity, and received a
farmer's right (contented himself with the rank of a
farmer) and then went back to Norway.' 2 The old Jarl
who had received the Orkneys as the weregild for the
death of his son, bitterly reproached this degenerate scion
for his pusilanimity, and said that the whole brood of his
thrall wife were unworthy of their sire. Einar, a brother
by the same mother, hitherto undistinguished, and held
in little esteem,3 answered his angry sire with spirit : ' I
have as little love to thee as thou hast shown to me ; I
have nothing to expect from you here, give me a chance
and I shall soon rid you of my presence ; give me but
some aid and I will go west to the islands ; of this be sure
Norway shall see me no more.' The father grimly re
plied : ' I like well that thou comest not back; I have little
hope that thy relatives will have honour of thee, for all
thy maternal kindred is thrall born.' Einar got one long
ship tolerably well-manned, and this proved quite suf
ficient for the successful issue of his enterprise. Turf
Einar landed in Orkney, routed and subdued the Vikings,
consolidated his power, and was readily acknowledged
Earl. ' He became a great and wealthy chieftain. Einar
may be considered the founder of the Earldom of Orkney,
previous to his time it was more a rendevous and victual
ling port for the roving Vikings, under him agriculture and
commerce emerged and prospered, even the buccaneering
and other expediditions were conducted according to rule
and order. He is said to have been very hard featured,
1 Collectanea de Rebus Albanicis Olaf Tryggvason Saga, p.
328. 2 Ibid.
3 Halladr and Einar were sons by a female slave.

l8i ORKNEY AND ORCADIAN HISTORY.
a.d. 850-980. Ugly; but Mr Vigfusson describes him as ' a goodly
husbandman, poet and peat-digger, who taught his Norse
men in the wood-lorn islands to dig and use turf fuel,
his memory should be ever green in the islands he ruled
so long ago.'1 The despised bastard proved himself,
not only the bold and successful adventurer, but also the
wise and beneficent administrator, in addition he was
destined to avenge the death of his father. The Saga
says, ' the sons of King Harald Harfagre became men of
great violence when they grew up.' None of them, with
the exception of the foster son of ^Ethelstan, inherited
the virtues of their sire, whatever he had that was base
and cruel, was reproduced in them. ' They deprived of
life, the kings, earls, or other rich men. One spring
they, viz. : Haldan Haleggr and Guthrodr Liomi went
with a great number of men northward to Maeri. They
came on Earl Rognvald unawares, broke down the house
above him, set fire to it, and burnt him within with sixty
men.' The atrocious deed, we need not say, was not exe
cuted with the sanction of Harald, but he had to make
the best of it. Thorer, the son of the murdered earl, was
put in possession of his father's estate, and received in
marriage the king's daughter, the young princes were re
conciled to their father, and spared to commit further
outrages. Guthrodr had occupied Earl Rognvald's estate for
some time, but immediately after the outrage Haldan
manned two long ships, and sailed westward. Arriving
at the Orkneys, Einar was taken by surprise, could offer
no resistance, and took to flight, but in the same autumn
he returned at the head of his faithful followers, came
upon ' Haldan unawares, and the result was, that the Earl
took Haldan Hallegr's life, as is related in the Saga of
the Earls of Orkney.' The conflict is sung by the victor
himself in five powerful strophes, in which he justifies the
deed as one of filial duty, even though it should arouse
the wrath of ' the proud-hearted ruler.' Harald did not
attempt to avenge the death of his son, but contented
' Corpus Poeticum Boreale, vol. ii. p. 181.

ORKNEY AND ORCADIAN HISTORY. 1 83
himself with a penalty of ' six merks in gold.' Einar a.d. 850-980.
offered to pay the money himself, but that in return, he
should have all the allodial possessions in Orkney. ' The
Bonde consented to this, and that the more readily, as
all the poorer men had but small lands, while those
who were wealthy, said they would redeem their allorial
possessions when they pleased.' The money was paid,
Harald retired, Earl Einar was left in peace, 'he governed
Orkney a long time, and died of sickness/ probably
about 936.
Einar left three sons, two of whom followed the
fortunes of Eric Blood-axe, and lost their lives in his ser
vice. The third, Thorfinn, the skull-cleaver, succeeded
his father, and though he must have done something to
have earned his ominous title, was a wise and peaceful
ruler, cultivating pacific relations with his neighbours, so
far as that was possible. He married Grelauga, daughter
of Duncan, Mormaor of Caithness, and with her seems
to gave gained possession of that district, and brought it
under Norwegian rule. The Saga says : ' Thorfinn was a
long time Earl in Orkney. He was a great chieftain, and
unfriendly to war, and died of sickness. His sons were
five : Arnfin, Havard, Liotr, Skuli, and Lodver.'1
Their rule was in marked contrast to that of their
father, wild and reckless, fratricidal strife, murder, and
lust, the striking, almost the only incidents. We have
seen that there was a close connection with King Eric,
and this was sealed by the marriage of Arnfin, the eldest
son, to Ragnhild, the fair and ruthless daughter of the
ferocious son of Harald Harfagra. Ragnhild inherited
the qualities of mind and person of her mother Gunhild,
who is celebrated in Norse story as being the most
beautiful and treacherous of her kind. On the small
scale of the Orkneys, were enacted the tragic dramas
which have rendered the close of the Merovingian dy
nasty so infamous. Gunhild and Ragnhild were worthy
successors to Fredegonde and Brunehaut The society
being pagan, did not reach such a depth of degradation
in the far north as in the sunny south, and the ladies had
1 Collectanea de Rebus Albanicis, p. 329.

184 ORKNEY AND ORCADIAN HISTORY.
a.d. 850.980. not the advantage of corresponding with a Pope and a
saint.1 Ragnhild soon got tired of her first husband,
' she contrived his death at Myrkhol in Katanes.' Her
fatal charms immediately after gained the hand of the
second brother, Havard, the prosperous, who took the
earldom. Possession soon palled on the Norse Messalina,
and at a banquet held in the hall of her husband, she
cast the net round Einar, a nephew of the Earl. ' She
said, that such a man was well suited to be a chief, and
much more fit for the earldom than Havard his relation ;
and she said that that woman would be well married who
had such a man. Einar requested her not to make such
speeches, said that he was the noblest man in the island,
and she quite well married.'2 But he still listened to
the wiles of the temptress, and once in her meshes, lust
and ambition got the better of Einar, even the warnings
of an acute and friendly soothsayer were of no avail, the
charm worked, and Havard fell by the hands of his
nephew. Relieved from her husband, Ragnhild had no
wish to reward his slayer with her hand, the bait being
offered by inuendo only. She was the first to exclaim
against the atrocious deed, and as his widow to call for
vengeance against the slayer of her murdered lord. She
indignantly denied complicity in the crime, ' she said it
was nothing but a lie that she had made any promise to
Einar.' Such were the powers of the fell enchantress,
that in the same way in which she had cajoled her former
dupe, she induced another nephew of her husband's, of
the same name, to avenge his death. He evidently did
not trust the dame too much, Einar said, ' It is said,
lady, that you sometimes speak other things than you
harbour in your mind, but he who does this work will
likely have that in return, that you shall keep the do
minions in subjection to him, and along therewith, other
things which will appear of no less importance.' 3 Thus
it appeared to Einar that the lady and the earldom were
1 The Pope, St Gregory the Great, was an ardent flatterer of
Brunehaut. See his very curious correspondence with her. Lecky's
History of Morals, vol. ii. p. 251.
1 Collectanea de Rebus Albanicis, pp. 330, 31. 3 Ibid. 332.

ORKNEY AND ORCADIAN HISTORY. 1 85
worth the risk of a conflict. 'Einar, the hard-chopped a.d. 850-980
attacked Einar the Besmearer, and killed him. But he
was baulked of the fair body for whom he had ventured
all, and also the Earldom. ' Ragnhild sent for Liotr, the
third brother, and married him ; ' the earldom was as far
away as ever ; the Saga says, ' Liotr took the earldom and
became a great chieftain.' Goaded no doubt by his
savage and fickle helpmate, he did not allow Einar time
to make much headway, but took the field at once ; the
Orkney men were faithful to the sons of Thorfinn, and in
a short time Einar was slain. Skuli, the fourth son, now
disputed the title of his elder brother ; ingratiating him
self with the Scottish King, Kenneth IL, he was invested
by the latter with the title of Earl of Caithness, and seems
to have been favourably received by the mixed popula
tion there, and having raised an army, crossed the Pent-
land Firth with the determination to wrest the Orkneys
from his brother. In this he was unsuccessful, and was
driven back to the mainland pursued by the forces of
the islands, and after a severe struggle defeated and
slain. Caithness was again restored to the Norwegian
power. But either on his own account, or with the con
nivance and assistance of the King of Scots, Malbride
MacRory, the Earl or native chief of Moray, disputed the
conquest. A battle was fought at Skidda Moor, in which,
though the Scots greatly out-numbered the Orkney men
(two to one), the latter were victorious. The victory was
dearly bought with the life of the Earl of Orkney. ' Liotr
advanced so boldly, that the Scots yielded before him,
and the battle was short ere they fled who wished to
save their life. But many were slain. Earl Liotr got
the victory, but received such wounds as brought him
to his end.'
The surviving brother was now unanimously acknow
ledged Earl of Orkney and its dependencies ; no record of
his acts has been preserved, the Sagas only say, ' he was a
great chieftain, and died of sickness.' Previous to his ac
cession he was married to Edna or Audur, daughter of
Kiarval, an Irish King, by whom he had a son Sigurd,
worthy of that name, so famed in Scandinavian story.

1 86 SIGURD, EARL OF ORKNEY.
a.d 85o-;8o. His domestic relations must have been of the most cor
dial character, or he must have been less accessible than
his brother to the charms of women, for we hear no more
of the captivating Ragnhild. Beauty and charms pos
sessed by women like her, outlast the bloom of youth,
and are often most dangerous in the ripe maturity, we
can hardly imagine that the fair temptress who had en
snared so many ' knights that were so great of hand,'
would not make the attempt to bring another within her
fatal embrace. We know not whether she spent the
remainder of her years in abortive embroglios in Orkney,
or joined her savage and reckless brethren, adding to the
society which disgraced the annals and trampled on the
liberties of Norway.
a d. Sigurd, in a.d. 980, succeeded his father, and at once
9 0-1014. toQk Up jjjg commanding position which he retained
through life. ' Sigurd became a rich earl and wide lauded.
He kept with violence Katanes from the Scotch, and
had every summer an army ready for service. He made
war in the Sudreys, in Scotland and Ireland.' x Almost
immediately on his accession, his right to Caithness was
challenged by a chief named Finlay, who is termed a
Scottish Earl. ' He was no doubt the Finlay, son of
Ruaidhri, Mormaor of Moreb or Moray, whose death
Tighernae records in the year 1020, and Magbiodr was
probably the Maelbrigdi who is mentioned as his brother,
and had been the previous Mormaor.' 2 This powerful
and independent chief, the father of Macbeth, in some
what of the spirit of a later chivalry, challenged the
Earl of Orkney to maintain his cause at the sword's
point.' Finlay marked out a battlefield to Earl Sigurd in
Skidda Myre in Katanes, and fixed a day for the battle.' s
Like a dutiful son, he went to consult his surviving
parent how he should meet the challenge. His mother
was wise in many things (a magician), and brave as the
bravest of her ancestors. Sigurd said the enemy num
bered seven to one. She answered, I would long have
1 Coll. de Rebus Alb. p. 333.
2 Skene's Celtic Scotland, vol. i. p. 375.
3 Coll. de Rebus, Alb. p. 330.

SIGURD, EARL OF ORKNEY. 1 87
fostered thee in my wool-basket, if I had known that a d.
thou wouldst live for ever, and fortune decides as to a 9 °"ro'4'
man's life and not circumstances. It is better to die
with honour than live with dishonour.' l She offered
him a magic standard which should ensure victory to
him before whom it was carried, but death to the bearer.
Sigurd was very sceptical as to all this, in fact, it is said
he got angry with the words of his mother, he determined
not to throw away the lives of himself and his men in an
unequal contest, to risk his honour and wait for rein
forcements. These had to be obtained at a sacrifice, the
restoration to the Bonde of the allodial rights granted to
Earl Eeinar. These were at once conceded, and the
Orkney men loyally responded to the call of their lord,
who soon found himself at the head of a force which
warranted him in at once assuming the offensive. Finlay,
strangely enough, seems to have been patiently waiting
at Skida Myre, the appointed place of battle. Sigurd,
in addition to his reinforcements, thought he would try
the effects of the magic standard ; three different bearers
were killed, but the Earl of Orkney was victorious, the
Mormaor of Moray was defeated and driven back with
great loss, the combination of magic with numbers and
bravery having proved successful.2
The victory was followed up by vigorous and suc
cessful action, all the country north of the Spey was
overrun and added to the domains of the Earl of Orkney.
' The Earl had these Rikis in Scotland, Ross and Moray,
Sunderland and Dali,' the district last-named must mean
the western portion of Scotland formerly called Dalriada,
of which it seems a diminutive. This acquisition and
his enterprising character brought Sigurd into collision
with the rulers of these islands, the Hebrides or Sudreys.
Soon after, or simultaneously with the colonisation of the
Orkneys, they had been visited and taken possession of
by the Vikings, the chiefs or kings were by turns Nor-
1 Coll. de Rebus, Alb. p. 333.
2 It was wrought with much manual art and exquisite elegance ;
it was made in the likeness of a raven, and when the wind blew on
the standard it appeared as if the raven was hastening on its flight.

1 88 SIGURD, EARL OF ORKNEY.
a.d. wegians and Danes, owning allegiance and paying tribute
.80-1014. alternately to the crown of Norway and the Danish power
in Dublin. The population was composed of these ele
ments, but the Celtic strain was still present, and in time
absorbed the intrusive Teutonic. The Isle of Man was
a disputed ground between the kings of Dublin and those
of the Western Islands, and it is from an account of a
contest between Sigurd and Godred, King of Man, that
we are in possession of the details of his conquest of the
Western Isles. Shortly before Finlay's invasion of Caith
ness, in 986, Godred in three ships made an attempt on
the coast lands of Dalriada, which was successfully re
sisted ; barbarities were retaliated, one hundred and forty
of the Danes were hung, and the rest run through. An
other party in the same year were more fortunate, Iona
was plundered, the Abbot and fifteen of the brethren
slain, probably in defence of their treasures. In the fol
lowing year, 987, a battle was fought at the Isle of Man
with Godred, in which the latter was defeated, and a
thousand of the Danes slain ; in the same year the sacri
legious slaughter at Iona was expiated by the butchery
of three hundred and sixty "of the perpetrators.1 These
bloody conflicts form perhaps part of the ordinary life
of the parties engaged, but the succeeding ones gain
interest from the foreign element introduced, and from
the interesting details preserved in the Niala Saga, of
which we give the outline.2
The narrative details the adventures of Grim and
Helgi, the sons of Nial an Icelander, and incidentally
we have the account of the war by which Earl Sigurd
extended his rule over the western part of Scotland
to Galloway and the Isle of Man. Grim and Helgi,
with many brave companions, including Olaf Ketilson
of Elda, and Bardi the White, set sail in the summer
time on a voyage, the object of which is primarily
commercial, when attacked, they describe themselves as
merchants, they are driven far to the south by a strong
north wind, ' and so great a darkness came over them,
1 Annals of Ulster Annis, 986-7.
2 Collectanea de Rebus Albanicis, pp. 334-8.

SIGURD, EARL OF ORKNEY. 1 89
that they knew not which way they went ;' the voyage is a.d
long, and finding themselves in 'great shallows,' conclude 98tH14-
they must be near land. Two nights later they see land
on both sides, and a large breaker within the fiord, which
Mr Skene identifies as Loch Broom, in the north-west
of Ross-shire. The weather is now calm, but a new
danger is at hand — they perceive a fleet of thirteen ships
coming out to meet them, evidently with hostile intentions.
They consult what is to be done in case of attack, but
before any decision could be come to the fleet was upon
them. Their enemies turn out to be two Scottish nobles
from Caithness, relations of King Malcolm, who offer
only the most degrading terms of surrender. ' We offer
you two conditions/ says Griotgardr, ' that you go on
land while we will take your money ! the other is, that
we will attack you, and kill every man whom we get.'
The bravery of the leaders overcame the coward fears
of the merchants, who thought to save their lives at
the expense of their wares ; the last appeal of Bardi
and Olaf was, what will they say in Iceland ? they took
to their arms and prepared to sell theii lives dearly.
The battle commenced, and in spite of the desperate
valour displayed by the Icelanders, death or capture
seemed inevitable, when a fleet of ten vessels is seen
approaching. The contest is suspended while the strange
fleet is seen rapidly approaching. ' They rowed fast, and
directed their course thitherward. There was in them
shield on shield, but in that vessel which went foremost,
a man stood at the mast. He was in a silken jacket,
and had a golden helmet, but the hair was both long
and fair. This man had a gold-studded spear in his
hand. He asked who have here such an equal play.
The brilliant warrior was Kari Solmundson, the trusted
lieutenant of Earl Sigurd. On being informed who were
the actors in the fray, he at once joined his forces to those
of his Icelandic kinsmen, and the tide of battle was at
once turned. Snaekolfr met his death by the sword
of Kari, Griotgardr fell by the spear of Helgi ; the fall
of the leaders determined the fate of the action.' Along
both boards the men (the Scotch) asked for quarter. They

190 SIGURD, EARL OF ORKNEY.
a.d. then gave quarter to all, but took all the money. After
*-LlH' that they lay all the ships out under the islands.' 1 Olaf
fell in the early part of the engagement, but the two sons
of Nial and Bardi accompanied Kari to Orkney, and were
cordially welcomed by Earl Sigurd, who was only too glad
to add to his retainers three such gallant warriors.
The services of his guests were soon called into requi
sition. Intelligence was received that the brother-in-law
of Sigurd, Havard of Threswick had been slain, and the
provinces in the mainland invaded by the two Scottish
Earls, Hundi (the Abbot of Dunkeld) and Melsnati.
Sigurd, with 'a vast army drawn from all the islands,'
accompanied by Kari and the sons of Nial, landed in
Caithness, and an engagement immediately took place
at Dungallsnip (Duncansness) between the Scotch and
Norwegian forces. The latter were victorious, owing
largely to the efforts of the two sons of Nial, who per
formed prodigies of valour, and retrieved the fortunes
of the day ; Earl Melsnati fell by the spear of Kari, and
Hundi with his broken army was put to flight. The loss
of the victors must have been severe, as the pursuit was
at once arrested by the news of a formidable force ad
vancing under the command of Earl Melkoff A council
of war was held, and it was deemed prudent to ' return
and not fight against so great a mainland army.' Sigurd,
who seems to have been as cautious as he was enter
prising, returned to Orkney with his army, and 'there
divided the booty.' The Earl made a great banquet to
the heroes of the fight. ' At that banquet the Earl gave
to Kari a good sword and a gold-studded spear, but to
Helgi a golden ring and a tunic ; but to Grim a shield
and a sword. After that he made Grim and Helgi his
courtiers, and thanked them for their prowess.'
The friends who had been thrown together at Loch
Broom paused not in their adventurous and victorious
career ; the next summer they made war in many places,
and were everywhere successful : ' Godred, King of Man,
vanquished, and much money got' After having passed
the winter in Orkney, the brothers expressed a wish to
1 Collectanea de Rebus Albanicis, p. 337.

SIGURD, EARL OF ORKNEY. 191
visit Norway, to which Earl Sigurd courteously responded, a.d.
and provided for them a good ship and valiant followers. 98°-ror4-
Kari, loth to part with his companions-in-arms, comforts
himself and them by saying that they would not be long
separated, as he would follow them with the tribute due
to Earl Hakon. Returning after twelve months residence
in Norway, they, along with Kari, set forth on a kind of
roving expedition, in which they harried all the Sudreys,
landed in Kintyre, and carried off much plunder. Pro
ceeding southward they made for the Isle of Man, again
encountered Godred, defeated him, and slew his son
Dungall. Returning from the scene of battle and spoil,
they visited Earl Gilli (from his name evidently a Gael)
at Colonsay, who accompanied them to the Orkneys.
After being present at the nuptials of Gilli to Nereide,
the sister of Earl Sigurd, the two valiant brothers leave
for Iceland, and their names pass into oblivion. No Saga
tells of their future life. We can hardly suppose that
they settled down long to the quiet life of the Scandi
navian Thule ; but we look in vain for their names in the
records of the stormy years that followed.
The conclusion ofthe war by which Sigurd obtained the
possession of the Western Isles, which had for some time
been subject to the Danish power in Dublin, is chronicled
in the year 989. ' Gofraigh, son of Aralt, King of Inchegall,
slain in Dalriata.' x The narrative thus given from Norse
sources details a gap in Scottish history, and throws light
on what were most undoubtedly more important parts
of the country than we are apt to take them for, and
quite as much advanced in civilisation as the domain
proper of the King of Scots. It is evident that north
of the Spey the mainland of Scotland was held by chiefs
who only owned allegiance to the two great potentates,
the King of Scots and the Earl of Orkney, as either had
the power to enforce it. Whether until a much later
period there was an Earl, King, or Lord of the Isles, it
is impossible to say. Iona was evidently looked on as
a possession of the Scottish crown, though exposed to
continuous ravages from Vikings of every nationality ; a
1 Chronicles of Picts and Scots, p. 365.

192 OLAF TRYGGVASON — CHRISTIANITY.
a.d. Scottish fleet is in possession of the coast, and cruising
H^.14' at Loch Broom. The King of Man is termed Lord of
the Isles. A Gaelic Earl is a chief, subject to and paying
tribute to the Earl of Orkney. Scot, Dane, Gael, Nor
wegian, all seem to have had a share, and fight and
plunder indiscriminately.
.d. 997. The next event in the history of Orkney is of supreme
importance, and must have exercised a marked influence
on the western and northern portions of Scotland. In
997 'Olaf Tryggvason returned from a western expe
dition with his army, and landed in Orkney. He took
captive Earl Sigurd in Rorvik, lying there before him in
one ship. King Olaf offered his life's redemption to the
Earl, if he should receive the right faith and baptism,
and become his man, and propagate Christianity through
out all Orkney. King Olave took as hostage his son
Hundi ; from thence Olaf went to Norway and became
king there, and Hundi was with him some winters, and
died there ; but after that Earl Sigurd paid no allegiance
to King Olave.' * Even during the short period of St Olaf's
reign, we cannot but believe that Christianity made some
progress in the islands of Orkney and Shetland, and also
in the Hebrides or Sudrey, where it could not have entirely
died out, and that the fierce enthusiasm of its warlike
apostle, perhaps had some effect on the effete Celtic
Church on the mainland. St Olaf was not the man to leave
his life-work to die out for want of care, the infant church
in the colonies would not languish for want of solicitude
on his part. It will not be out of place to quote the
glowing sketch given of him by a living author. ' Olaf
Tryggvason (995-1000), the greatest of all the northren
kings, his life is an epic of extraordinary interest. Com
ing out of the darkness, he reigns for five short years,
during which he accomplishes his great design, the
Christianising of Norway and all her colonies ; and then
in the height of his glory, with the halo of holiness and
heroism undimmed on his head, he vanishes again. But
his works do not perish with him. He had done his
work, and though maybe his ideal of a great Christian
1 Coll de Rebus, Alb. pp. 339-40.

DEATH OF SIGURD. 1 93
empire of the Baltic was unfulfilled, he had, single-
handed, wrought the deepest change that has ever affected
Norway. His noble presence brightens the Sagas where-
ever it appears, like a ray of sunshine gleaming across
the dark shadowy depths of a northern firth. All bear
witness to the wonderful charm which his personality
exercised over all that were near him, so that, like the
holy King Lewis (who, however, falls far short of Olaf),
he was felt to be an unearthly superhuman being by those
who knew him. His singular beauty, his lofty stature,
golden hair, and peerless skill in bodily feats, make
him the typical Norseman of the old heroic times, a
model king.' 1 The same authority is inclined to think
that the youthful Viking imbibed his Christianity from
those of his own race who, in the north of England, were
under the ' fresh impulse of that revival which manifested
itself in such men as Odo, and Oswald, and Dunstan.' 2
Olaf was for some time in the Western Islands, where he
seems to have married ; his missionary zeal never slept,
there he must have made converts, and it is not too much
to expect that he met with kindred spirits, the fruit ol
the labours of those pious souls who, in the seventh cen
tury made sacred ground, the loneliest of the Hebrides.
Certainly he laid the foundation of a faith which was
never obliterated, and of which we hear of no relapses.
In Olaf's reign, along with Norway, Iceland, Greenland,
and the Faroe Isles, Orkney became the See of a suffra
gan bishop. The fierce faith of Odin no longer existed
in name, in practice it is far from extinct at the present
day. The death of Olaf relieved Sigurd from his obligations,
and, as we have seen, he entered into relations of the
most cordial character with the King of Scots, and re
ceived his daughter in marriage. In 1014 the eminently
sagacious and hitherto fortunate Earl of Orkney, and
master of the half of Scotland, joined the confeder
acy of Norsemen, who contested with the native kings
the rule of Ireland, at the battle of Clontarf. Most of
the Norse leaders perished in the action. Earl Sigurd
1 Corpus Poeticum Boreale, vol. ii. p. 83. 2 Ibid. p. 84.
VOL. I. N

194 THORFINN THE MIGHTY.
AD- _ was among the slain. He left issue, Thorfinn, Su-
ioijjos,. jjj^jj^ £rusj( an(j Einar; the first the sole fruit of his
Scottish connection, the other children by a previous
marriage. On the receipt of the disastrous news of the death of
Sigurd, the family by the first marriage ' were made earls
and divided the lands between them in thirds.' They do
not seem to have laid claim to Caithness and Sutherland,
leaving these to their younger brother as his inheritance
through his mother. Very probably Malcolm at once
occupied the country on behalf of his grandson. The
late Earl of Orkney, previous to his setting out on his
ill-starred expedition, had intrusted Thorfinn to the care
of his relative the King of Scots, who showed a lively
interest in his young charge, then but ' five winters old.'
The rule of the brothers in Orkney did not last long.
Sumerlidi was soon cut off by sickness. Einar, in spite
of the remonstrances of Thorfinn, attached his lands to
his own ; but he made himself so obnoxious to the Bonde,
that he was got quit of in some way or other. Brusi
was a quiet peaceable man, and is said to have been
clever and eloquent, he had no wish to contest the earl
dom with his young brother, but resigned in his favour
and retired into private life.
Thorfinn the Mighty, the greatest of his race, is de
scribed ' as precocious in his education and in every
improvement;' the grandfather acted loyally to the
fatherless child, in every way from his infancy upwards
' he had great assistance from the King of Scots.' The
Saga then gives his physique, character and early history.
' Now Thorfinn became a great chieftain, one of the
largest men in point of stature, ugly of aspect, blaek-
haired, sharp-featured, and somewhat tawny, and the
most martial-looking man ; he was a contentious man,
and covetous both of money and dignity ; victorious
and clever in battle, and a bold attacker. He was then
five winters old when Malcolm King of the Scots, his
mother's father, gave him an earl's title and Caithness
to rule over ; but he was fourteen winters when he
prepared maritime expeditions from his country, and

1014-1057-

THORFINN THE MIGHTY. 195
made war on the domains of other princes. So says a.d.
Arnold Jarla Skald.
' In the storm of the helmets
The prince reduced the edge of the sword
Before he was fifteen winters old
Boldly he went.
He considered himself mature
To protect the land,
And to attack others ;
None under the canopy of heaven
Is more bold than Einar's brother, ' >
From prudence or a more praiseworthy feeling, Thor
finn did not attempt to enforce his claim to the Orkneys
by arms, but flushed his maiden steel in expeditions
probably against the chiefs of the Sudreys and adjoining
coasts. The Saga says that ' The King of Scots died
when the brothers had reconciled themselves ; ' but it is
probable that some time previous to this Thorfinn was
firmly established as Earl of Orkney and the islands,
with the districts of Caithness and Sutherland.
1 Collectanea de Rebus Albinicis, p. 340. Arnthor or Arnor
the Skald referred to is stated in the Corpus Poeticum Boreale,
vol. ii. pp. 184-5, ' t° have been the son of Earl Eric's poet. Like
Sighvat, he combined poetry and trade.' His first patron was
Rognwald the son of Brusi, afterwards Thorfinn, and whose rela
tive he seems to have married. ' As a poet he was magniloquent
as Marlowe in Tamburlaine, nor does he lack the true fire in his
verses. His remains are considerable, scattered though Hulda and
the Orkney Saga, and a few are also cited in Edda. Arnor is re
markable as the only court poet who quotes from the early poems
citing Volospa in one line. Upon our theory his close connection
with the west would account for this. Amor's poems have been
spared to a greater extent than any other man's save Sighat only.
There is a magnificence and dash about them which no doubt won
him many admirers, and his perfect form and rich metre pleased
even the later critics, like Snorri and Olaf. The sea and the golden-
headed galleys, marching like God's bright angels over the waves,
the savage triumph over the 'roasted heathen,' the horrors of the
Day of Doom (where he is inspired by Volospa), these are his themes,
tricked out in glittering if somewhat borrowed sheen. The dirge
on Thorfinn, his kinsman by marriage, shows feeling and loyalty
that are to be admired.' Arnor is supposed 'to have kept house,
and died in the Orkneys.' It would be interesting to know how
he got on with the teachers of the new faith, which he must have
nominally embraced.

I96 KING DUNCAN — THORFINN— MACBETH.
In Malcolm's time, there seems to have been friendly
if not cordial relationship between the King of Scots
and the rulers north of the Spey, the Mormaors of Ross
and Moray, and the Earl of Orkney. The Mormaorate
of Moravia had lapsed on the death of Sigurd to the
Finleikr whom he had defeated, and under his successor,
the celebrated Macbeth, it attained to a power hitherto
unknown, owing to the talents of its ruler, the distracted
state of Orkney, and the pacific tactics of Malcolm on
his northern frontier. On his death relations became
constrained, the attitude of the King of Scots was changed,
and immediately after his unsuccessful campaign in Eng
land, Duncan appears as the aggressor, and the disturber
of the harmony which had previously subsisted between
the three potentates.
Before narrating the war between the two cousins,
the King of Scots and the Earl of Orkney, it may be
stated that the Sagas know nothing of Macbeth, and, on
the other hand, the authorities who name Macbeth know
nothing of the war with Earl Thorfinn and its results.
It is only matter of surmise that Duncan was supported
by the forces of the Mormaor of Moray in his conflict
with the Earl of Orkney, and that on his defeat the un
fortunate king was treacherously slain by Macbeth his
general. The Sagas must tell their story before we place
before our readers the short extracts which connect
Macbeth with the death of Duncan.
In the Orkneyinga Saga the King of Scotland appears
under the contemptuous name of Kali-Hundason, the
son of Hundi, or the hound, this allusion to his paternal
descent, next to certifying the fact that the Earl Hundi
who waged war with Thorfinn's father was no other
than Crinan, the warlike Abbot of Dunkeld, who, like
the Bishop of Bayeux and Earl of Kent, was equally at
home in the camp and the cloister. Kali-Hundason or
Duncan, almost as soon as he grasped the reins of power,
demanded tribute from the Earl of Orkney for the dis
trict of Caithness, contending that it was part of the
territory of the Scottish crown, and that the grant of his
predecessor was invalid. ' Now from this arose great

KING DUNCAN — THORFINN — MACBETH. I97
enmity, and the one made war upon the other.' The
King of Scots must have been of a most sanguine or
enterprising disposition, the attack on Northumbria and
Caithness would seem to be nigh to simultaneous. While
the king went south, he dispatched his sister's son Mod-
dan, with an army to enforce his claims in the north,
bestowing on him the earldom. ' Then Moddan rode
down from Scotland, and strengthened himself as to
forces in Sudraland.' Thorfinn lost no time; he collected
his forces in Caithness, and before his opponent could
take active measures, was joined by an army from the
islands commanded by Thorkell Fostri. The combined
forces greatly out-numbered those of the Scotch Earl,
who, recognising the disparity, retired without striking a
blow. ' Thorfinn subjected to himself Sutherland and
Ross, and made war far and wide in Scotland.' He
then returned to Caithness and dismissed the contingent
from the islands. ' Thorkell and the conscript forces
returned home.' Moddan made the best of his way to
Berwick, where he met his lord, who, retiring from his
unsuccessful campaign in Northumbria, would not be in
the best of humours.' King Kali got very wroth on
hearing the issue of the campaign of his protegee, and
the doleful accounts of the widespread ravages of the
Earl of Orkney. He displayed, however, no want of
spirit or aptitude of resource. The plan of the cam
paign was, that the King should embark with the flower
of the army in eleven long ships, and make for the north
of Caithness, while Moddan should proceed by land,
and enter the country from the south. By this means
Duncan thought to enclose the Earl of Orkney between
the two armies, and by his fleet in the Pentland Firth
prevent the reinforcements from the islands joining their
friends on the mainland. Earl Thorfinn undoubtedly
expected an attack, for after his success in the south he
took up his residence in ' Caithness in Dungalsbae, and
had five long ships, and frequently inspected his forces
to see that they were well manned.' The plans of the
King of Scots, however, were so energetically carried
out, that his opponent was either surprised, or the time

198 KING DUNCAN — THORFINN — MACBETH.
was too short to collect his scattered levies. Thorfinn
in one ship saw the sails of the enemy, he was soon joined
by his small fleet, and the usual council of war was held,
and the usual conclusion come to — fight to the death.
The odds were greatly in favour of the Scots in men and
ships, and the contest was a long and a close one, but
either the superior seamanship or desperate valour, orboth,
of the Norsemen, gained the day. Earl Thorfinn, like
Nelson, led the fight, laid his ship alongside the King's,
and boarded it ; Duncan, after a gallant stand, was forced
to flee, and only escaped by leaping into another ship
and making off as best he could. ' The Scotch did not
make much stand before the mast on the King's ship.
Then Earl Thorfinn leapt up behind on the quarter-deck,
and forward on the ship, and fought most valiantly, and
when he saw that the King's crew was thinned, he ex
horted his men to come on board ; and when King Kali
saw that, he desired them to cut the joining ropes, and
be off with all the ships as quick as possible. Then Earl
Thorfinn got boarding hooks on the King's ship. Then
Thorfinn desired them to bring up the standard, and
with it followed a great multitude of men. Then King
Kali ran off his ship with such men as were still standing,
but the greatest part were fallen on that ship. King
Kali leapt into another ship, and desired them to lay
hold on their oars. Then the Scotch fled, but Thorfinn
pursued them.'
The Earl of Orkney was now joined by Thorkell
Fostri with ' a great army ' from the islands ; the com
bined forces hotly pursued the Scottish fleet, which made
for the coast of Norway. The Norse forces landed
on the southern shores of the firth, and plundered at
their will, collecting at the same time reinforcements for
the impending conflict. In the meanwhile Earl Moddan,
who had encountered no opposition, established himself
in Caithness, and took up his headquarters at Thurso,
where he expected to be joined by reinforcements from
Ireland. Thorfinn determined not to leave this enemy
in his rear, and took his measures with the skill of a
consummate general. While he watched the movements

KING DUNCAN— THORFINN — MACBETH. 199
of the King of Scots, he detached Thorkell with a division
of his army to surprise Moddan. The movement was
executed with celerity and skill, everything went as it
was planned. 'Thorkell went concealedly, for all the
people in Caithness were true and faithful to him. There
came no news of him before he arrived in Thurso at
night, and broke down the house on Earl Moddan and
brought fire to it' The twice unfortunate Scottish Earl
fell by the sword of the fierce Viking while he attempted
to make his escape from the blazing pile. On the fall
of Moddan, his army surrendered, but the narrative
seems to show that a struggle was maintained for some
time ; ' a great number were killed, but quarter was given
to some.' The victor did his work well and thoroughly,
yet wasted no time, but promptly rejoined his chief, who
warmly congratulated him on his prowess and generalship.
King Duncan now endeavoured to bring together the
whole strength of his kingdom and his connection, in a
final attempt to crush his warlike and powerful cousin.
1 He drew an army together from the south of Scotland,
from the west and from the east, and all the way from
Satiri (Kintyre). Then there also came to meet him
that force from Ireland, which Earl Moddan had sent for.
He then sent far and wide to chieftains for assistance,
and brought all this army against Earl Thorfinn.' The
Earl of Orkney awaited the attack of this formidable host
at Torfness or Burghead, and from the character of the
man, the position would be skilfully chosen, and very
likely fortifications thrown up. The Saga says that the
Scotch were superior in numbers, but the result of the
battle showed that this was more than made up by the
prestige of success, and the daring gallantry of the Norse
men and their leader. Thorfinn first attacked the Irish
division, which seems to have had the honour of leading
off the contest. ' He had a gilt helmet on his head, and
was girt with a sword, a spear in his hand, and he hewed
and cut on both sides, he was the foremost of all his men.'
The onslaught was so fierce that the Irish broke, and
fled pell mell, ' they never got righted again.' Nothing
daunted by the untoward defeat of his leading division,

200 EARL THORFINN.
a.d. ro4o. the King of Scots brought up the main body of his troops,
and strove with desperate valour to turn the fortunes
of the day. ' King Duncan had his standard borne for
ward,' and the Scots men-at-arms fought long and fiercely
round the person of their prince, but the raven flag was
borne victorious over the prostrate bodies of the Scots,
perhaps over that of the King himself. ' There was a
severe battle for a while, and the conclusion of it was,
that the King fled, but some say he was slain.' Thorfinn
followed up his victory with characteristic energy, 'he
drove the fugitives all the way upon Scotland, and laid
the land under him wherever he went all the way to Fife.'
Thorfinn had left Thorkell with part of his army, and
had pursued the flying enemy with the remainder, the
smallness of his following seems to have encouraged the
inhabitants of the districts which had submitted, to make a
new effort to throw off the yoke. A surprise was attempted,
but Thorfinn was not to be caught unprepared, the Scotch
were again defeated with great loss, and the most savage
reprisals were made for what was considered an act of
treachery. The conduct of the Great Earl on this occa
sion is a lasting blot on his name, it is a piteous account
given in the Saga, ' then the Earl's men went over hamlets
and farms, and burnt everywhere so that not a cot re
mained. They killed such men as they found, but women
and old men crept away into deserts and woods with
howling and whining — some they whipt before them and
made captives.'
a.d. Before we return to the fate of Duncan, it may be as
io4o-k,57. wel, t0 trace the further career 0f the Earl of Orkney.
The Saga says : ' After this Earl Thorfinn went north
along Scotland to his ships, and subdued the country
wherever he went. Then he went north to Caithness,
and resided there during the winter, but every summer
after that he fitted out an expedition, and made war
during the summer with his army.' He was the richest
of all the Earls of Orkney, and possessed of nine earl
doms in Scotland, the whole of the Sudreys and a large
Riki in Ireland, in fact he left very little north of the Tay
to the Mormaor of Moray, who succeeded Duncan as

EARL THORFINN. 201

A.D.

King of Scotland. Thorfinn held his allegiance to Nor
way very lightly, but submitted to Olaf Haroldson, and '°4°''°57'
acknowledged his suzerainty, giving him his nephew,
Rognwald, the son of Brusi, as a hostage. Thorfinn's sub
mission, however, was entirely nominal, he neither paid
tribute nor gave assistance in hour of need to his liege
lord. When Magnus had recovered the throne of his
father, an attempt was made to bring the powerful vassal
of Norway under its sway. Rognwald had been the foster
brother of the King of Norway, had been with him at the
battle of Sticklestad, where his father Olaf had been slain,
and had shared the young prince's exile in Russia, he
was now the willing agent to carry out the policy of his
benefactor, and at the same time benefit himself. Rogn
wald was sent to the islands to share Thorfinn's power,
as the liege man of the King of Norway. It was not to
be expected that the mighty Earl would brook a rival,
even though a near kinsman, a conflict took place at
Redburgh (Rattasborough, east of Dunnett Head), in
which Thorfinn was victorious and Rognwald driven back
to Norway. The Earl's poet, Arnor, who was deeply
attached to each of the combatants, gives a graphic ac
count of the battle and of his own emotions.
' Battle of Redburgh, I am grieved to tell what hap
pened. I know after men broke the peace between the
earls (Rognwald and his brothers), the prince struck his
awnings and put to sea, outside the Islands (Hebrides)
. . . ice cold . . (it was still winter). A dire fate
was ruling when the earls fought of yore, their great feud
brought many a man low that morning. My beloved
patrons fought at Redburgh. I saw them both, my patrons,
hewing down each others men in Pentland Firth. Very
great was my sorrow. The sea was stained, the dark
gore was dashed on to the fine strakes, the blood flew on
to the rim of the shields (round the waist of the war
galleys), the hull was splashed with all. The prince
(Rognwald) would have won all the ancient land for him
self (he lost far fewer men) if he, the scion of Endil (the
sea-king) had had the help of the islanders (Hebrides
people), the people betrayed the lord of the Shetlanders.

202 FATE OF KING DUNCAN.
a.d. Prayer, O true King of the Sun's awnings (heaven) help
10^057. thou the gallant Rognwald.'1
The aspirer to a share in the Earldom of Orkney made
another attempt which was nearly successful, but in the
end he fell into the hands of his uncle, by whose orders
he was put to death, 1046. The Sagas give a reign of
sixty or seventy years to Thorfinn, reckoning from his
nominal accession when five years of age, his decease
thus taking place in 1074 or 1084. Mr Skene, however,
by a careful collection of events, is inclined to place his
death in 1057 ; this view is not contradicted in the Sagas,
and serves materially to explain the state of affairs in
Scotland at that time.2
a.d. 1040. To return to the fate of the King of Scotland, the
Norwegian account seem to indicate that Duncan fell on
the field of Burghead, or in the flight, but makes no mention
of Macbeth in connection with the event. A contem
porary chronicler, Marianus Scotus, informs us that ' in
1040 Donnchad, King of Scotia, was slain in autumn on
the 14th of August (19 Kal. Sep.) by his general Mac-
bethad, son of Finnloech, who succeeded him in the king
dom for seventeen years.' 3 His death is also recorded
in the Annals of Tighernac, but the hand of Macbeth
does not appear, he is simply ' slain.' 4 The Register of
the Priory of St Andrews, a later authority, states that
' Donchath was killed by Macbeth.' 5 From these state
ments, and from the fair inference that tradition has
always some foundation in fact, it is next to certain that
Macbeth was the perpetrator of the ruthless deed, to
which his name is attached, and that the scene of the
tragedy was the ' Smiths bothy,' Bothgouanan, near Elgin.
How the Mormaor of Moray was instigated to the deed
there is nothing to show ; the conflict between the rival
powers lay in his territory, and it is probable enough that
he was at the head of his contingent in the army of the
1 Corpus Poeticum Boreale, vol. ii. pp. 193, 194.
2 Skene's Celtic Scotlund, vol. i. pp. 412-13.
3 Chronicles of Picts and Scots, p. 65.
' Ibid. p. 78.
6 Innes' Critical Essay, App., p. 424.

FATE OF KING DUNCAN. 203
King of Scots, he could hardly have been neutral, why
he turned against him can only be inferred. The alle
giance of the Mormaor of Moray was divided between the
Kings of Alban and the Earls of Orkney, as either had
the power to enforce it, to turn to the side of the victor
when resistance was hopeless, was but natural. But an
additional motive to the slaughter of Duncan is easily
supplied. Macbeth had a connection with the royal house
by the female side, his wife was Gruoch, the daughter of
Boete or Bode, son of Kenneth, whose son or grandson
had been slain by Malcolm in 1032. Why not aspire
to a throne under these circumstances, and as for the
means, killing a rival was the rule, not the exception in
such a case.
There is of course another history of these events
known wherever the English tongue is ; the source from
which the great dramatist derived his plot and character
was the Chronicle of Hollinshead, and which we need
not recount. It is more than likely that there was some
slight foundation for Macbeth being looked upon as a
regicide and a usurper, and his failure to establish a
dynasty would help to strengthen the evil odour of his
name, long possession of the crown establishes the jus
divinum. It was not, however, till the fourteenth cen
tury that the legendary history with which we are so
familiar took place. Fordun, the historian of that period,
says indeed very little of King Machabeus previous to
his accession ; his account is, that Duncan was too easy
going a king, and that ' he was privily wounded to death
by Machabeus, who was the head of a family which had
murdered his grandfather and great grandfather;' a de
plorable but far from unusual circumstance in the struggle
for possession of the Scottish crown by rival branches of
the royal house. In the next century Wyntoun must
have collected and put into shape some of the floating
legends, for he tells of the weird sisters appearing in a
dream to the future monarch of Scotland, and predicting
his rise. A little further on in his Cronykill the poet
Prior of Lochleven gives an account of the birth of Mac
beth, and credits him with an exalted pedigree. His

204 MACBETH AND HIS REIGN.
a.d. ,o4o. mother had a liaison with a gallant who is described
as ' Off bewte pleasand, and of heycht
Proportyownd wele in all measoure
Off lym and lyth a fayre fygoure.' '
The lady was not left in ignorance of the paternity of
the fruit of affection, the father declared it in explicit
enough terms, and like the weird sisters gave a forecast
of the fate of his son.
' That he had gottyn on hyr a sone,
And he the dewill was that hym gat,
And bade hyr noucht fleyd to be off that,
Bot sayd that hyr sone suld be
A man off gret state and bownte,
And na man suld be borne off wyff
Off powere to rewe hym hys lyff.
And off that dede in taknyng,
He gave his lemman thare a ryng,
And bade hyr that scho suld kepe that welle,
And hald for his luve that jowele.
Efftyr that oft oysyd he,
Till cum till her in prewate,
And tauld hyr mony thyngis to fall
Set trowyd thai suld noucht hawe bene all.'2
This and other material was sufficient for the fertile
imagination of Bcece, who wrought it into his narrative
copied byHollinshed; it attracted the notice ofthe master
mind who has stamped the fiction with immortality.
a.d. Withall there is no reason for any other supposition,
1040-1057- but that Macbeth ascended the Scottish throne with no
more stain on his character than any of his predecessors.
He was looked on simply as one connected with the
royal house who had been strong enough to oust another
member of the family ; his adherents were in sufficient
force to support his claim, and the nation acquiesced
without more ado.
The kingdom of the new monarch could by no means
be so extensive as that of his predecessors. It is more
than probable that Cumbria and Lothian remained faith
ful to the children of Duncan, or rather that they pre
served a kind of semi-independence, acknowledging
' Wyntoun's Cronykill, vol. ii. p. 129. 3 Ibid. vol. ii. p. 130.

MACBETH AND HIS REIGN. 205
neither the Scotch or Danish (latterly the Anglo-Saxon)
power, reserving their allegiance to either party. To
the north Macbeth's territory was contracted, his own
Mormaorate of Moray was in the possession of the Earl
of Orkney, and though it is hardly probable that Thor
finn would actually incorporate with his own territory the
districts of Buchan, Mar, Angus, and Mearns, yet the
statement in the Sagas that he possessed these earldoms
cannot be without foundation. Macbeth, however, was
strong in the compact territory round Scone, which up
to this time had been the seat of government and the
heart of Scotia. Whether his kingdom was great or
small, he appears in history as a powerful, wise, and even
pious prince as piety went in those days, and found in
his wife a worthy coadjutor. He is the first King of
Scotland since the great Achaius (Auchy) who had re
lations with the continent ; the details are wanting, but
the fact rests on surer foundations than the letters which
passed between the Dalriadic chief and the Emperor
Charlemagne. That Macbeth was not the tyrant repre
sented by the later chroniclers is certain, no contempo
rary writer speaks of him but with respect, and he appears
in the ' Nomina Regum Scotorum et Pictorum ' as the
fortieth in the second list of kings, with no other remark
than the usnal one, ' he was killed by Malcolm, and
buried in Iona.' 1 The account in the prophecy of St
Berchan (whatever it may be worth) sounds very like a
panegyric — ' Afterwards the red king will possess
The kingdom of high slope-faced Alban
After slaughter of Gael after slaughter of Galls,
The liberal king will possess Fortrenn.
The red one was fair, yellow, tall ;
Pleasant was the youth to me.
Brimful was Alban east and west
During the reign of Dearg the fierce.' 2
Veneration for the church and its ministers was then,
and should perhaps yet, be considered a most essential ele
ment in all rulers worthy to guide the reins of government,
1 Innes' Critical Essay, App. p. 424.
* Chronicles of Picts and Scots, p. 102.

A.D.
1040-1057.

A.D.
IO4O- IO57.

206 MACBETH AND HIS REIGN.
and who have the good of their subjects at heart, it has
covered a multitude of shortcomings, and has changed
the name of tyrant into saint. Macbeth and his Queen
set the example so worthily followed by his successors.
one of whom indeed was ' a sair saunt to the crown.'
In the Register of the Priory of St Andrews, Macbeth
and Gruoch, King and Queen of Scots, are chronicled
as granting to the society the lands of Kyrkness from
motives of piety and benefit of the prayers ofthe brethren.
At a subsequent period the lands of Bolgyne are granted
to the same society of Culdees, ' cum summa veneratione
et devotione.' 1
No domestic trouble or foreign invasion (apart from
those invented by later writers) disturbed the peace of
Scotland until 1045, when Crinan, the Abbot of Dun
keld, headed an insurrection which was quelled by the
death in battle of its leader and his principal supporters.
The Annals of Tighernac, in a brief notice, would lead
to the supposition that the struggle was a severe one.
' Battle between the Albanich on both sides, in which
Crinan, Abbot of Dunkeld, was slain there, and many
with him, viz., nine times twenty heroes.'2 The reign
of Macbeth, with this exception, was one of peace ; and
if we are to trust the tradition in the prophecy of St
Berchan, one of unexampled fertility and prosperity ;
this must have been owing largely to the personal char
acter of the monarch, but also to the intimate and friendly
connection with Orkney, and the immunity from the at
tacks of the Southron. The latter was due to the fact
that the children of Duncan were in early childhood at
the death of their father, and the sympathising friends in
England bided their time, besides Macbeth provoked no
hostility, there is no record of any attempt on his part
to extend his power south of the Forth.
Five years had now passed, 1050, since the power
of the house of Athol had been broken by the defeat and
death of the Abbot of Dunkeld, when we find contempo
rary writers stating that the two potentates who bore sway
' Chronicle of St Andrew, p. 1 14.
* Chronicles of Picts and Scots, p. 78.

MACBETH AND HIS REIGN. 207
over Scotland went to Rome. Marianus Scotus tells us a.d
that in this year Macbeth distributed money to the poor I°4°'I°S7,
of Rome, and the Orkneyinga Saga that Thorfinn, Earl
of Orkney, went to Rome ' and saw the Pope, from whom
he obtained absolution of all his sins.' The mere state
ment that money from Scotland was distributed in Rome,
would not be sufficient in itself to prove that its king
made the donation in person ; it however shows that re
lations were opened with the Papal court. Taking the
two events from different sources, it is not at all impro
bable that the two friends made their pilgrimage together.
Thorfinn had certainly plenty of sins to confess in the
way of killing, and Macbeth's conscience may have been
more tender than those of his predecessors, who never
thought of absolution from the sin of putting a rival out
of the way. Besides, pilgrimages of kings were fashion
able in those days — something like making the ' Grand
Tour ' — and not only fashionable, but improving, foreign
travel enlarges the area of ideas essentially insular. Cnut
the Great had set an example of penitence, and had taken
this fashionable and orthodox way of showing it to the
world. Thorfinn and Macbeth ruled not over so large a
territory as the illustrious Dane, but there are numerous
points of resemblance ; and the glowing words of Mr
Freeman are not inapplicable to the Scottish princes :
' The throne of Cnut, established by devastating wars,
by unrighteous executions, perhaps even by treacherous
assasinations, was, when once established, emphatically
the throne of righteousness and peace.' 1 Mr Burton's
pungent observation, ' To hold that Macbeth was a
mirror of sanctity in a graceless age, would not be
among the most untenable of historical paradoxes.' 2
Not a whit more paradoxical than the graceful pose of
the Danish conqueror as the penitent father, so patheti
cally told in the pages of the author previously quoted.
If either the King of Scots or the Earl of Orkney paid a
visit to the continent, it is evident that a state of affairs
1 Freeman's Norman Conquest, vol. i. p. 479.
2 Burton's Scotland, vol. i. p. 349 ; Freeman's Norman Con
quest, vol. i. p. 479-88.

A.D
IO4O-TO57.

208 MACBETH AND HIS REIGN.
existed altogether new in Scotland ; a stable government
administered by officials who could be entrusted with the
reins of power, while the hand of the state was furth of
the kingdom.
Four years of peace were yet to be left to Macbeth
and his people. In 1054 this was rudely broken, and in
the end the usurper, if so he can be called, had to suc
cumb to the rightful heir, whose blood now flows in the
veins of our beloved monarch. The late king, at his
death, left two children, both in infancy, by the sister or
cousin of Siward Earl of Northumberland, who was other
wise connected with the family of Athol, his aunt Aldgitha
being married to Maldred, son of Crinan, Abbot of Dun
keld. The supposition that they found refuge with so
powerful, and as it proved so sympathetic a relation is in
itself extremely probable. Fordun says that Macbeth,
on the death of Duncan, sought to slay his two sons,
Malcolm and Donald, that they made resistance for two
years, and then finding their cause hopeless, the first fled
to Cumbria the second to the Isles.1 Mr Skene does
not attempt to fix their locale while children, but Mr E.
W. Robertson treats as a fiction Fordun's account, and
' that they probably remained amongst their hereditary
partisans in Atholl and the southern provinces.'2 Wher
ever Donald was in youth, subsequent events would lead
us to think that Malcolm found a refuge with his uncle
Siward, that he learned the accomplishments of a stalwart
knight, and if his literary education was neglected, he at
least was taught the language in which to woo his Saxon
wife. Siward in due time proved himself a supporter of
the rights of his nephew, so soon as he was of an age to
claim his inheritance.
Macbeth had been tacitly acknowledged King of
Scotia by the Anglo-Saxon power, but as he had given no
cause of offence on the borders, a pretext was needed
before an invasion of his territory and his rights could be
entered on. It was soon found; in 1052 some of the
Norman favourites of Edward the Confessor, who took
1 Fordun, vol. ii. p. 180.
2 Robertson's Early Kings, vol. i. p. 122, note.

MACBETH AND HIS REIGN. 209
such a hurried departure on the return of Earl Godwin, a.d.
found their way north, and were hospitably received at 10*^^-
the court of the King of Scotland. This naturally gave
umbrage to the patriotic party in England, and gave a
pretext for interference, but whether this was made the
ground or no, in 1054 Earl Siward, in the interest of his
nephew, invaded Scotland at the head of a formidable
force, by sea and land. The army of the Earl was
largely composed of the Housecarles of the King and
the Earl, picked and tried soldiers, Danish and English,
' the terrible heroes ' who loom so largely in the pages of
Mr Freeman, prototypes of the ' Old Guard of Napoleon
in their deeds of daring and in their fate.'1 Macbeth,
in addition to the united support of the people of Scotia,
had in his ranks no unworthy antagonists to theS'e re
doubtable warriors ; he was supported by the fierce Vi
kings of the north, under the command of Dolfinn, the
son of the Earl of Orkney, and their kinsmen the Nor
man exiles, few in number but formidable in skill, courage
and equipments. Siward advanced without opposition,
crossing the Forth at Stirling, through Stratherne until
he came somewhere near to Scone, where he would have
the support of his fleet, which had entered the Firth of
Tay. The site of the battle is unknown, but it was probably
in the vicinity of the capital, there, on ' the day of the
Seven Sleepers,' 27th July 1054, the two armies met in
conflict. The struggle was severe, and although the
Saxon Chronicle, and all English writers since, claim the
victory for Siward, yet the fair inference from the ac
counts seem to show that it was a drawn battle. Siward
retired without placing his nephew on the throne of Scot
land, but his cause was so far advanced that the young
prince was acknowledged King of Lothian and Cumbria,
districts over which Macbeth exercised no sway.
Nothing can be farther from historical fact than Mr
Freeman's statement as to the result of the battle : ' The
English victory was complete, but Macbeth himself
escaped. Malcolm was, as King Eadward had com-
1 Freeman's Norman Conquest, vol. ii. p. 354.
VOL. I. O

2IO MACBETH AND HIS REIGN.
* D- manded, proclaimed King of Scots, and a King of Scots
1040^57- wj1Q was pUt jnt0 possession 0f his crown by an invading
English force, most undoubtedly held that crown as the
service man of the English Basileus.' x The author, in
his next sentence, contradicts himself. ' It took, how
ever, four years before Malcolm obtained full possession
of his kingdom,' x and this possession was gained with
out help from England, so far as can be known from
contemporary chroniclers. It is much more likely that
Siward undertook the enterprise on his own account ;
what between devotion and hunting, interrupted by the
broils of his turbulent earls with his Norman kinsfolk,
the English Basileus was the most unlikely monarch of
his race to assert his own dignity or assist an aspirant to
a crown.2 The slaughter on both sides in this battle was very
great ; the strength of the King of Scots was irreparably
weakened by the loss of three thousand of his bravest
followers. Dolfinn, the son of his best friend the Earl
of Orkney, was among the slain, and the whole of the
Norman exiles, who repaid his hospitality with desperate
but unavailing courage, are said to have been cut off to
a man. The English army had to deplore the loss of
fifteen hundred of their best troops, a large proportion
of the ' Housecarles,' the corps d'elite were among the
slain, the Earl's son Osbeorn and his sister's son Siward
perished on the field. The plunder, unprecedented even
in those days, in some measure atoned for this loss, it
struck the minds of contemporary authors with more
amazement than the carnage.
Siward, at that time the aged Earl of Northumber
land, has formed the subject of fiction and even of art;
he has been in both the embodiment of the Scandinavian
hero, the child of Odin. When told of the death of
his son, with great composure he inquired, 'Was his
1 Freeman's Norman Conquest, vol. ii. p. 365.
2 Skene's Celtic Scotland, vol. ii. p. 410, note. Much turns on
the assumption that Macbeth was a usurper, an assumption entirely
gratuitous, if we are to take the statements of contemporary chron
iclers as representing the views of the times when they wrote.

MACBETH AND HIS REIGN. 211
death wound received before or behind ? ' The messen- a.d.
gers replied, ' Before.' Then said he, ' I greatly rejoice ; I0*LL1S7'
no other death was fitting either for him or me.' The
same chronicler depicts the scene of Siward's death a
year later : ' The stout Earl Siward being seized with
dysentery, perceived that his end was approaching, upon
which he said, ' Shame on me that I did not die in one
of the many battles I have fought, but am reserved to
die with disgrace the death of a sick cow; at least put
on my armour of proof, gird the sword by my side, place
the helmet on my head, let me have my shield in my
left hand, and my gold inlaid battle-axe in my right hand,
that the bravest of soldiers may die in a soldier's garb.'
Thus he spoke ; and when armed according to his desire,
he gave up the ghost.' l
It is uncertain, or rather it is not stated, whether
Malcolm accompanied his uncle, and was present at the
battle in Perthshire ; but he kept up his friendly relations
with Northumberland, and on the death of Siward gained
the friendship of his successor Tostig, the fierce and ill-
fated son of Earl Godwin. Three years passed before
Malcolm felt himself strong enough, supported as he
was by the English Basileus and his cousin, to make
another effort for the crown of his ancestors. Whether
Macbeth was left in peace, or futile but harassing at
tempts were made on his territory, is not known. But
in 1057 we are informed ofthe bare fact, that Malcolm
invaded Alban, drove Macbeth and his forces across the
barrier ofthe Mounth in Aberdeenshire, and on the 15th
August, at Lumphanan, in Mar, defeated and slew him.2
' Malcolm, however, unexpectedly followed after him, at
a quick pace, across the hills, and even as far as Lun-
fanan, and engaging there suddenly in a slight battle
1 Henry of Huntingdon, p. 205.
2 Macfinlaeg occidur in Augusto. Lulag successit et occiditur in
Martio. Chronicles of Picts and Scots, p. 65.
Macbeth, son of Finlay, supreme King of Alban, slain by
Malcolm, son of Duncan. Chronicles of Picts and Scots, p. 78.
Macbethad, son of Finlaech, Sovereign of Alban, slain by
Malcolm, son of Duncan, in battle. Chronicles of Picts and Scots,
P- 3^9-

i&57-i°58.

212 LULACH MADE KING.
a.d. with him, he slew him, with a few who stood their
1040-1057. gj-ouu^ on the 5th of December 1056. ^
The supporters of the slain monarch did not
acquiesce in the defeat, but set upon his nephew Lulach,
the son of the MaormOr of Moray, whose claims to the
Crown through his mother, a grand-daughter of Boete,
were identical with those of Macbeth.
ad. o The new king, for he is called so in contemporary
writers, was a different man from his predecessor, he is
described as ' Lulach fatuous — the simple,' he maintained
an unavailing struggle for seven months, but on the 17 th
March 1058, he was slain at Essie, in Strathbogie,
accordihg to the Annals of Tighernac ' per dolum ' by
treachery, perhaps stratagem is meant2
How Malcolm, a young and inexperienced leader,
unaided, defeated the man who had successfully with
stood the attack of the Earl of Northumberland, sup
ported by the flower of the English ahd Danish troops,
is difficult to fathom. That he was not supported in
person by his English friends, is in the highest degree
probable, their chroniclers would not have omitted the
record of such an obligation, and their successors from
Henry of Huntingdon to Mr Freeman would have made
the most of it. The most probable reason is, that
Malcolm found active partisans in the tnen of Athol, the
followers of his ancestors, and the men of Moerne
(Angus and Mearns), always ripe for revolt. As we
have seen, it is not improbable that at this time Earl
Thorfinn was no more, and that his strong hand being
withdrawn, the eastern counties, from the Firth bf Tay to
the Moray Firth, would throw off their allegiance, and
transfer it to Malcolm instead of Macbeth, the friend of
their deceased superior. The Orkneyinga Saga says that
after Earl Thorfinn's death ' many Rikis which the Earl
had subjected fell off, and their inhabitants sought the
protection of those native chiefs who were territorially
born to rule over them ! so that the loss arising from the
1 Fordun, vol. ii. p. 192.
2 Chronicles of Picts and Scots, pp. 65, 78, 369.

LULACH MADE KING. 21 3
death of Earl Thorfinn was quickly apparent.' l The loss a.d.
of the support of the Earl of Orkney, and the active I057"1058,
hostility of those who were previously allies, alone gives
a key to the easy victory over the man who, three years
ago, presented so stout a front, but was now left to make
what stand he could with little more than his own re
tainers. 1 Collectanea de Rebus Albanicis, p. 346.

CHAPTER IX.
MALCOLM III. — CANMORE.
Malcolm III. — State of Society — Lineage and Character — Fixes his
residence at Dunfermline — First Invasion of England — Norman
Conquest of England — The Aetheling and his Sisters take refuge
in Scotia — Disturbances in Northumbria — Malcolm invades Eng
land a second time — He meets Edgar Atheling and his Sisters
— They visit Scotland — Malcolm is united in marriage to Mar
garet — Her character — Turgot's Life — William invades Scotia
— Peace concluded at Abernethy — Terms of this considered —
Prince Duncan returns with William — Edgar Aetheling — Reduc
tion of Moray — Third invasion of England — Death of the Con
queror — Fourth invasion of England — William Rufus retaliates
— Terms of Peace — Rufus annexes Cumberland and makes the
Solway his frontier — Malcolm visits William Rufus — Returns
and invades England for the last time — His defeat and death —
His character — Death of Margaret.
a d The reign of Malcolm Canmore marks a most important
103^1093 perjocj jn ^g hjst0Iy 0f Scotland ; under him it emerges
from the incubus of Celtic rule in Church and State, the
institutions which culminated in feudalism and Roman
Catholicism received from him their first impulse, institu
tions now effete and mischievous, were then, so far as we
can see, preparations for the civilisation and culture of to
day. The Scotland over which he was called to rule was
eminently Teutonic, what element there was in it of Gad
helic or Brythonic was nigh to extinct The Gadhelic lan
guage may have been, and probably was, that of the court
and the higher clergy, but the admixture of Danes and
Saxons from the south, and of Norwegians from the north,
even if they had not found a kindred race, would warrant
us in the concluson that the people and the language
were then what they are now. Scotland had benefitted
little indeed from its Dalriadic kings, Nectan and Angus
Macfergus were more powerful, the first a more enlight-

MALCOLM III. — CANMORE. 21 5
ened monarch than any of the race. The polish, what a.d.
we may call the civilisation of barbarism which character- '°58"°93-
ised the Scots of the sixth and seventh centuries, was
effectually rubbed out by the rough warfare with the
Norsemen, there is nothing to indicate any advance in
civilisation. The Church, as we shall endeavour to show
in the second part of this history, had fallen still more
from its pristine state, the elements of dissolution were
in it, and from the time of Kenneth Macalpin, no longer
in communion or sympathy with the Northumbrian
church, it sunk deeper and deeper, so that all the clergy,
from bishop and abbot to the lowly scoloc, might equally
be termed ' lay.'
The first advance in religion and civilisation appears
in the reign of Macbeth, his connection with Rome, and
through the Norman refugees with the continent, gave
Scotland a footing in Europe, she entered appearance in
the brotherhood of nations.
Malcolm united within himself, so far as descent
went, all that was required to combine the mixed ele
ments in the population of the country he was called to
rule over. In the female line he was the direct descendant
of Kenneth MacAlpin, in the male he was the grandson
ofthe powerful Abbot of Dunkeld, the head of the Athol
family ; his mother was the sister of the Danish Earl
Siward of Northumbria ; and as if to combine all the dis
cordant elements in the island, he wedded first the widow
of the Earl of Orkney, and afterwards the sister of the
Aetheling, the heir to the throne of Alfred and Cerdic.
Malcolm III., surnamed Canmore, or the Great
Head, succeeded to the throne 17th March 1057-8, and
reigned till 13th November 1093, thirty-five years and
eight months.1 There is, however, no authentic account of
his coronation or that of any King of Scotland until that of
Malcolm IV, 1 154. Mr Burton accepts Fordun's account,
who says, ' Malcolm was set on the king's throne at Scone
in the presence of the chiefs of the kingdom, and crowned
25th April 1057. '2 The Rev. Dr M'Lauchlan gives us a
1 Skene's Celtic Scotland, vol. i. p. 431, note.
2 Fordun, vol. ii. p. 194.

2l6 MALCOLM III. — CAN MORE.
a.d. part ofthe ceremony, 'the Albanic Duan is said to have
1058-1093. k£en gung ^ the royal seanachaid or genealogist, at the
coronation of Malcolm Canmore in 1058.' x Solemnly
crowned or no, Malcolm proved himself at once a man
of courage and action ; he certainly fulfilled the hopes of
his people, he mirrored the age in which he lived, and
at the same time largely influenced it. Exercising bound
less hospitality, and bearing in his heart the highest
chivalrous feelings, he sullied his fair fame and belied
his own nature by savage reprisals, by cruel deeds on
friend and foe. Loving learning in the person of his
beloved Queen and her associates, he had no knowledge
of letters, and could have made no effort to gain that
knowledge from his earliest youth, spent either at the
court of Siward or the sainted Edward. His religion,
the religion of the age, perhaps the only religion then
possible, was sincere, and Malcolm's conduct goes far to
prove that devotion may be the child of ignorance ; ' he
kept the vigils of the night in constant prayer; he with
the Queen washed the feet of poor persons, waited on
them, and served them with food and drink' 2 Little is
known of the history of his time beyond the record of his
forays into England, and his successes in the north, but
there can be little doubt that the laws of the country,
such as they were, would be equitably and firmly ad
ministered, his rule is that of a vigorous and successful
monarch, strong in the confidence and support of his
subjects, from the Spey to the Tweed. In person and
personal valour Malcolm was the beau ideal ofthe Hero
King of the age. Wintoun says,
' In the Crystyndome, I trow, than
Wes nocht in deid a bettyr man,
Na lyvand a bettyr Knycht
Na mare manly, stout, and wycht,' 3
In addition he had the chivalrous gallantry which was
so soon to form an important part in the civilisation of
' M'Lauchlan's Early Scottish Church, p. 143.
2 Life of Margaret, ed. 1884, pp. 39, 61-93.
" Wyntoun's Cronykil, vol. ii. p. 154.

MALCOLM III. — CAN MORE. 217

A.D.

Europe, as the following anecdote, reported by various
chroniclers, amply testifies : ' Once upon a time it was I°58"I°93-
reported to him that one of his greatest nobles had agreed
with his enemies to slay him. Silence was enjoined on
the informant, and the traitor was received at court with
the pleasant countenance he and his followers had been
used to. They were invited to join in a hunt, under
some pretext the King withdrew the noble to a retired
spot apart from the rest of the company. The King then
charged the traitor with his guilt. ' Here we are,' said
he, ' thou and I, man to man, with like weapons to pro
tect us . . Act like a man, not like a woman. Meet
me as mail to man, that thy treachery may seem to be
free, at least, from meanness, for, disloyalty, it never can
be free frorn.' The sequel may be imagined, the traitor
was disarmed by other weapons than the sword. ' I
promise,' said he, ' before God and His mother that for
the future I shall be most faithful to thee against all men.'
They returned to the party, nothing was said, and for the
future Malcolm had no more faithful retainer.' l In all
this Malcolm represents and mirrors his age in Scotland ;
it did not produce gallant knights (of the Froissart type),
pious priests or learned clerks, so far as we know, but it
gave birth to feelings which in a short time produced
all these, by welcoming whatever influences or persons
would further the cause of religion and culture.
Duncan, the father of the King of Scots, had for a
long period of years been the viceroy of his grandsire in
Lothian and Cumbria, and a portion of Malcolm's youth
may likely have been spent there, he would be much
better known to the inhabitants of these districts than to
his subjects in the north, they would look upon him as
their own king. Yet we do not find that he made any
of the towns in these localities his favourite seats, perhaps
the openness to invasion from the south, and the absence
of anything approaching to fortified stations, with the ex
ception of Alclyde and Edinburgh, may to some extent
account for this. The most populous and important
part of Scotland now, was then possessed of neither towns
1 Fordun and Wyntoun.

2l8 FIRST INVASION OF ENGLAND.
a.d. nor fortresses, at Melrose a few houses may have clustered
jc58-io93. rounc[ ^e monastery, and Berwick was already a seaport,
but we hear of no others Almost on the Highland line
we hear of Falkirk, but the famous and wealthy cities in
the mysterious district of Manaan, who furnished a ran
som to the rapacious Penda, have all disappeared. On
the other hand, to the north of the Forth, it is evident
that towns and fortresses were not uncommon, that all
the wSy to Caithness and Orkney they had sprung up,
and that commercial intercourse, even with the continent,
was brisk and lively.
Malcolm fixed his residence in Scotia proper, north
of the Forth, and while Scone was the capital, Dunferm
line was his favourite seat, and according to Fordun, its
natural position amply justified the choice of the King.
' It was of itself most strongly fortified by nature, being
begirt by very thick woods, and protected by steep crags.
In the midst thereof was a fair plain, likewise protected
by crags and streams ; so that we might think that was
the spot whereof it was said : —
' Scarce man or beast may tread its pathless wilds.' '
The King of Scots, by his victory over Macbeth, had
obtained armed possession over the country to the south
of the Spey, and his connection with the Athol family
would at once strengthen and preserve his power. But
there remained the eastern districts, turbulent and danger
ous to previous monarchs, now largely leavened we must
consider by Scandinavian immigrants, this element and
the friendship of Orkney, Malcolm gained, by an alliance
with Ingioborg, the widow of the late Earl Thorfinn.
The Maormor of Moray, in the confusion, seems to have
regained his independence, and it was some years before
it also was brought under the dominion of the Scottish
crown. In 1 06 1 Malcolm commenced his life work, the ex
tension and consolidation of his kingdom to the south ;
in that year his first invasion of England took place.
Taking, one would say, a mean advantage of the absence
1 Fordun's Chronicle, p. 202.

NORMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND. 219
in Rome of Earl Tostig, 'his sworn friend and brother,' a.d.
he ferociously ravaged Northumbria, and violated the ">56"'°93
' peace of St Cuthbert in the island of Lindisfarne. ' L What
motive Malcolm had in this foray (for it was evidently
no more) the chronicler gives no clue to, his statement
is, like all the rest of the Scots invasions, highly coloured ;
in any case it did not mar the friendship of the two sworn
brothers. Yet when we consider that this was the first
of five different invasions, differing only in extent and
ferociousness, it is evident that it was part of a settled'
policy on the part of the King of Scots. Malcolm was
the first to appreciate the value of the district south of
the firths, and his life's work was to extend in that direc
tion, to carry fire and sword into the adjoining districts
seemed to him and succeeding monarchs the best way to
preserve what they had already. He also initiated the
Scottish policy, always to take advantage of the weakness
of her powerful sister. England's calamity was Scotland's
opportunity. An admirable policy devised by and carried
out for the benefit of kings and fighting men, it kept
separate people speaking the same language and wor
shipping the same God, it preserved the proud independ
ence in which a Scotchman is still wrapt, but whether
this was worth the centuries of bloodshed and misery it
entailed, might be questioned even by a patriot Scot who
has studied the history of his country, and also the New
Testament. The history of the contest which terminated so glo
riously for King Harold at Stamford Bridge, needs no
further mention. But it is more than probable that Mal
colm, though not in person, yet in men and ships, assisted
Harald Hardrada and Tostig. The latter, driven out of
Northumbria by the execration ofhis subjects, had vainly
and foolishly struggled against his brother, and after
making his name infamous by his ravages on the coasts
of England had taken refuge in Scotland. From his
shelter there the traitor joined Harald in his last cam
paign, both to find a warrior's grave, and prepare the way
for the Norman Conquerer. Mr Freeman fails to see
1 Simeon of Durham.

A.D.
I058-IO93.

22Q THE AETHELING AND HIS SISTERS.
what motive of sound policy could have induced Malcolm
to have given assistance to Harald and Tostig.1 The
motive is not far from the surface, something might be
picked up irj the scramble, and England, north of the
Humber, was as yet unappropriated.
The news of the fall of Harold, and the collapse of
the Saxon power would, no doubt, agitate the minds ofthe
King of Scots and his nobles, but there is no evidence to
show that any assistance was given to the sons of Harold,
or even to the northern earls in their vain attempt to
place Edgar on the throne of his ancestors. On the
authority of Ordericus Vitalis Mr Freeman says : 'That a
powerful Scottish army was summoned for an English
expedition. But either Malcolm lingered in his prepara
tions, or else the whole movement had fallen through
before his troops could be got together.'2 If Malcolm
failed Jn promptitude, it is the only instance recorded ; it
is much more probable the Norman chronicler took it
for granted that the turbulent King of Scotland would
not let such an opportunity slip, but which, after all he
did. But in misfortune the King of Scotland showed the
kindly and hospitable spirit so characteristic of him
through life. Eadwine and Morkere made their peace
with the conquerer, but Cospatric, taken with a patriotic
fit which did not last long, sought a refuge in Scotland.
With him went more distinguished exiles who did not
repay benefits with ingratitude, the Aetheling Edgar, his
mother Agatha, and his sisters Margaret and Christina.
The company, a large one evidently, including the Sheriff
Maerleswegen and many others of the best men in the
north set sail and reached Dunfermline in safety.
All were received with genuine kindness, if we could
believe that Malcolm was a Gael we should say with
Highland hospitality, lands and honours were liberally
bestowed, and many of the exiles cast in their lot with
the Scottish King, and became the ancestors of the
proudest names in the Scottish aristocracy.3 Malcolm
1 Freeman's Norman Conquest, vol. iii. p. 345.
7 Freeman's Norman Conquest, vol. iv. p. 1S6.
3 Compare Palgrave's England and Normandy, Hailes Annals, etc.

DISTURBANCES IN NORTHUMBRIA. 221
now met for the first tirrie the woman who was to be the a.d.
guiding star of his life, the lode Star of all that was true I058"1093,
and good in Scotland, loving wife arid faithful partner
of his fortunes, guide and counsellor alike to king and
noble, priest and peasant. The lady with her relatives
did not make a lengthened visit, but followed the fortunes
of the wandering head of the house, but her charms made
an impression on the heart of the King of Scots which
was never effaced, and two years later Margaret yielded
to his pressing suit, and they were united in marriage.1
The vacant earldom of Northumbria was bestowed
by William on Robert de Comines, one of the adven
turous spirits from Flanders who had followed the for
tunes of the Conqueror, but whose name in later times
was to be peculiarly identified with Scottish history;
Comines nominally took possession of his earldom, and
proceeded to administer affairs with the insolence attri
buted to the intruders by contemporary chroniclers.
Durham however Still held out, and was yet a stronghold
of Anglo-Saxon power, but by the help of the Bishop,
the Normans were admitted within the walls, and the
rude soldiery, encouraged by the Earl, inflicted on the
citizens the outrages incidental to a place taken by
storm. But Comines had miscalculated the spirit and
strength of the Northumbrians, he had roused men who
were soldiers, every man of them trained in the fierce
northern feuds and forays. Next morning the gates were
burst open, the city entered by an overwhelming force,
and the Normans massacred, all save one solitary fugitive
who survived to tell the tale. The Earl and his imme
diate followers made a brave but ineffectual stand in the
Bishop's palace or castle ; it was set fire to, and the de
fenders perished in the flames or by the sword. This
blow was immediately followed Up by the revolt of the
citizens of York, who slew the commander of the garrison
with many of his followers ; the residue made good their
way to the castle, which they held out for the Norman
power. Northumberland was in a blaze, the Aetheling,
Earl Cospatric, Earl Waltheof, the Sheriff Maerleswegen,
1 See page 228.

222 DISTURBANCES IN NORTHUMBRIA.
a.d and the patriot band of Anglo-Saxons returned at once
1058-1093. tQ the gcene of action, and put themselves at the head
of the movement, which was to sweep the hated foreigner
from the shores of Britain. William Malet, the com
mander of the garrison of the beleaguered fortress, con
veyed at once intelligence to William of their desperate
position, encompassed by the whole power of northern
England, headed by the Aetheling in person. The Con
queror, alive to the danger, in person at once set out at
the head of an overwhelming force, he ' came from the
south with all his troops, and sacked the town, and slew
many hundred persons. He also profaned St Peter's
Minster, and all other places,1 and the Aetheling went
back to Scotland.' 2 William buil-t another castle on the
right bank of the Ouse, so as more effectually to control
the mutinous citizens, and entrusted the command to
William Fitzosbern, Earl of Hereford. The King having
thus regained York, sent a force to capture Durham, but
St Cuthbert interfered to preserve his own city, a great
darkness fell upon them in the way, and they wandered
whither they knew not, one whom they met informed
them that this was done by St Cuthbert, who was ever
the protector of his own city, the pious invaders when
they heard this turned back.3 The supporters of the
national movement seem to have held their ground,
though dispersed for the while, and were soon enabled
to take the field. In the autumn of the same year a
Danish fleet, under the command of the three sons of
the King of Denmark, and the Jarls Asbiorn and Thor
kell, appeared in the Humber, and landed there in the
interest of the Aetheling. They were instantly joined
by the national forces and the Aetheling. Headed by
Waltheof, the son of the great Siward, Cospatric and the
chief Thegns, who had joined the movement, they
marched straight on York. It was at once attacked,
taken by them, and three thousand of the defenders slain,
a hundred of the chiefest by the hands of Waltheof, the
1 Did not respect the right of sanctuary.
2 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, p. 446.
3 Simeon of Durham, Hist. Eccl. Dun. iii. 15.

DISTURBANCES IN NORTHUMBRIA. 223
two castles levelled with the ground. The victors liter- a.d.
ally threw away all the advantages resulting from their IOS_f^93-
success, the two badges of Norman servitude destroyed,
the Northumbrian levies considering the work of libera
tion done, returned home, the Danes retired to their
ships with their booty. The cause of Edgar was lost as
soon as gained ; his supporters had only incurred further
store of vengeance at the hands of William. The loss
was sufficient indeed to tax the power of the Conqueror,
and it was only by a mixture of diplomacy, combined
with military skill and valour, that he was able to exact
the vengeance which he had sworn to inflict on the
authors of the revolt and all concerned in it. The
Danes, as we have seen, rejoined their fleet, and in their
usual manner made incursions all along the coast, intent
on plunder, in many cases penetrating well into the
interior. While thus engaged, they were surprised by
the cavalry of William, who carefully watched their move
ments, many of them cut down, and the remainder driven
back to the refuge of their ships. This, the King of
England seems to have thought, sufficient punishment
.for the invaders, who retired to the Humber. Negotia
tions were opened, and the curious bargain was made,
that for a consideration in money, the Danes were not to
assist the Northumbrian rebels, that they should leave
the shores of England in spring, but in the meanwhile,
they might do a little plundering on the coast, but not
go far into the interior. The terms agreed on were
badly kept on the part of the Danes, they did a good
deal of plundering, and did not go away at the time
agreed on.
But the bargain, ill-kept though it was, was sufficient
for William's purpose ; it isolated the northern chiefs and
the Aetheling from their formidable allies. The Con
queror was now free to deal with Northumbria single-
handed, and he determined to do so in a manner which
would not require a repetition of the operation. He
entered York seemingly without a struggle, the North
umbrian forces had melted like snow, or like a Highland
army after a victory. William first took measures for

224 DISTURBANCES IN NORTHUMBRIA.
ad. the security of York, by leaving a large force to rebuild
.058-1093- and 0CCUpy the castles, and form a garrison sufficient to
overawe the turbulent people of the north. Mr Freeman,
iii words scathing but true, describes the sequel : 'And
now came that fearful deed, half of policy, half of ven
geance, which has stamped the name of William with
infamy, and which forms a clearly marked stage in the
downward course of his moral being.1 He determined
to make Northumbria a desert' Waste is the term
ominously affixed in Domesday to all the possessions of
Edwin; Morkar, and the northern prelates, as well as to
the lands of Waltheof and Cospatric, of Siward Beorn,
and Merlesweyne ; and a province once flourishing and
prosperous became the haunt of beasts of prey, wild
cattle, and outlaws.2 The details are sickening, and are
corroborated from the Saxon chronicler of the time to
William of Malmesbury. The King superintended the
work himself; all who resisted were mercilessly cut down,
no quarter was given to men taken with arms in their
hands ; houses, corn, goods, and property of every kind
were given to the flames, even the domestic animals were
doomed to destruction by fire. For a generation the
country between York and Durham, sixty miles, was a
desert, men, women, and children died of hunger, the
extremities resorted to in shipwreck were not uncommon.
' Others,' in the emphatic words of our old records, 'bowed
their necks for meat in the evil days. They became
slaves to any one who would feed them, sometimes, when
happier days had come, to be Set free by the charity of
their masters.' 3
This devastation did not extend beyond the Tyne,
but the inhabitants of the district to the north of this
boundary had soon little ground to congratulate them
selves on their escape. In the spring of 1070, in fact,
so soon almost as William's back was turned, Malcolm,
the King of Scots, at the head of a large and well-appointed
army, ' a countless multitude of Scots,' entered by Cum-
1 Freeman's Norman Conquest, vol. iv. p. 288.
2 Robertson's Scotland, vol. i. p. 134.
3 Freeman's Norman Conquest, vol. 4, pp. 293-4.

MALCOLMS SECOND INVASION. 225
berland into Teesdale, which he devastated with fire and a.d.
sword. He pursued his course into Cleveland, seized Ios8"1093'
Holderness, and then turning sharply to the north,
savagely overrun the territory of St Cuthbert. On a
former occasion St John of Beverley had appeared in
person to protect his church and lands, and the fierce
Normans had retired appalled, but the prince of the apos
tles did not appear to preserve his church at Wearmouth,
the burning of which Malcolm superintended in person.
It is to be hoped for the memory of so pious a prince as
the King of Scots that the Monk of Durham has exag
gerated his statements, but he says, ' Malcolm burnt also
other churches, with those who had taken shelter in them.'
If Malcolm had for his object in this expedition ought
but plunder, he was disappointed, he could be of no
assistance to the Aetheling and his followers, who, we
have seen, had given up the conflict, some fled to Flan
ders and elsewhere, others, among the rest Waltheof and
Cospatric made their peace with William.
While Malcolm was engaged in this inhuman and
sacrilegious work two incidents are reported to have
taken place. The first, which coloured his whole life,
we reserve until the issue of the campaign is told. The
second was the receipt of news which seems to have
goaded him to madness. Cospatric, who had repeatedly
found a shelter at the Scottish court, who had been
hospitably received, and whose interests formed a part
of the object of this expedition, had lifted up the heel
against his host and benefactor. Waltheof and Cospatric
had made their peace with William as we have seen, and
sworn fealty to him. The latter anxious to evince his
loyalty in the service of his new lord, thought fit to show
it by an attack on the dominions of his late host. Simeon
says: 'Summoning bold auxiliaries he invaded and fiercely
ravaged Cumberland. Having done this with fire and
sword, he returned with great spoil, and with his allies
he firmly established himself in the fortress of Bambo-
rough, from which making frequent sallies he weakened
his enemies.' The chronicler continues, ' He (Malcolm)
having heard (while he still beheld the burning of the
vol. 1. P

226 MALCOLM'S SECOND INVASION.
a.d. church of St Peter) of what Cospatric had done on his
1058-1093. pe0piej hardly able to contain himself for fury, ordered
his men no longer to spare any of the English nation,
but to hurl all to the earth or kill all, or carry them off
captives under the yoke of perpetual servitude.'1 The
account of the manner in which these orders were carried
out is given by the same author ; 2 but it is to be hoped,
for the credit of our common humanity, that it is exag
gerated, in fact the character of Malcolm throws strong
doubts on it ; he was a man of strong passions, and likely
enough to give free vent to these under provocation, but
his was not the remorseless cruelty of a politician like
his fellow-devastator William. In the first outbreak of
his fury Malcolm and his followers may have perpetrated
the cruelties mentioned by Simeon, but the usual fate of
the vanquished in war, captivity in a foreign land would
be the most of it. The multitude of captives was im
mense : ' Scotland was therefore full of English slaves,
male and female, so that even to this day, I do not say no
little village, but no house however small, can be found
without one of them.' A fact which proves that the
first part of the order of the Scotch King was but spar
ingly exercised. It is a piteous tale the devastations of
the north of England by the two monarchs, and would
lead us to curse all kings and conquerors. But some
good came out of the dire calamity to Scotland, many
Anglic refugees found their way there after the devastation
of the southern part of Northumbria, infusing a welcome
element into the population, even among Malcolm's cap
tives there may have been some like the little Syrian maid
who would bring new life to their masters in a foreign
land. The news of the treachery of Cospatric seems to have
reached Malcolm simultaneously with, or immediately
after the incident now to be told, an incident fraught
1 Simeon of Durham de Gestis Rebus anno 1070.
2 They tore the young children from the breasts of their mothers,
threw them high into the air and received them on the points of
their lances ; the cruel Scottish beasts beheld as a sport the spec
tacle of this cruelty. — Ibid.

MEETING WITH EADGAR AETHELING. 227

A.D.

with momentous consequences to himself and his country.
Mr Freeman pins his faith on Simeon of Durham; -but io5^93-
with all due deference to the pious and patriotic monk,
he seems in his detestation of the sacrilegious spoiler of
the patrimony of St Cuthbert, to pile up the agony too
much, when he describes the meeting of Malcolm with
the Aetheling and his family : ' When riding on the
borders of the river (Wear), beholding from an eminence
the cruel deeds of his followers on the wretched English,
and feasting his eyes on such a spectacle, it was told him
(Malcolm) that Eadgar Aetheling with his sisters, beautiful
girls of the royal blood, and many other rich persons,
fugitives from their homes, lay out in their ships in that
harbour.' Where the wandering prince had been for a
couple of years it is hard to say, either in Flanders or
with the Danish fleet ; he now begged the protection of
his former host. In singular contrast to the savage occu
pation in which he is said to have been engaged, Malcolm
in person cordially welcomed the whole party, and assured
them of a refuge in his dominions. They sailed towards
the north, landed at Dunfermline, and were joined by
the King of the Scots, so soon as he had finished his
work in England.
Whether he now met Margaret for the first time,
or was then betrothed or even married to her, is a
matter involved in a maze of contradictory statements
and dates. Eadgar and his retinue certainly visited
Scotland, and were the guests of the king in 1068 :
the Saxon Chronicle, under the year 1067 (which Mr
Skene, in a note, shows in reality was 1068) gives
the following account, which Florence corroborates -} —
' This summer the child Eadgar with his mother Agatha,
his sisters Margaret and Christina, Merlesweyne, and
several good men went to Scotland under the protection
of King Malcolm, who received them all. Then it was
that King Malcolm desired to have Margaret to wife ;
but the child Eadgar and all his men refused for a long
time, and she herself was unwilling, saying that she would
have neither him nor any other person, if God would allow
1 Skene's Celtic Scotland, vol i. p. 414.

228 MALCOLM'S MARRIAGE WITH MARGARET.

A.D.

her to serve Him with her carnal heart in strict continence,
105^-1093. jurjng thjs short life. But the King urged her brother
until he said yes ; and indeed he did not dare to refuse,
for they were now in Malcolm's kingdom, so that the
marriage was now fulfilled, as God had foreordained, and
it could not be otherwise, as He says in the gospel that
not a sparrow falls to the ground without His foreshowing.
The prescient Creator knew long before what He would
do with her, namely, that she should increase the glory of
God in this land, lead the King out of the wrong into
the right path, bring him and his people to a better way,
and suppress all the bad customs which the nation, for
merly followed. These things she afterwards accom
plished. The King therefore married her though against
her will, and was pleased with her manners, and thanked
God who had given him such a wife, and being a pru
dent man he turned himself to God and forsook all im
purity of conduct, as St Paul the apostle of the Gentiles
says, ' Salvabitur vir,' etc., which means in our language,
' Full oft the unbelieving husband is sanctified and healed
through the believing wife, and so belike the wife through
the believing husband.' r Mr Skene contends that this
was the true date, and the true account of the marriage,
and how it was brought about, and that Simeon's story,
' if it bears any foundation at all, appears to be misplaced,
and the marriage which followed it had already taken
place.' 2 Mr Freeman, on the other hand, in an elaborate
note written before Mr Skene's work appeared, proves
that the marriage did not take place earlier than the time
narrated by Simeon, 1070 ; that it took two years to over
come the scruples ofthe fair devotee, and that she with her
sister shared the perils by sea and land of her wandering
brother. Whether in 1068 or 1070 Malcolm was married to
the English princess whose ancestry on the father's side
went back to Woden, on the mother's to the imperial
line who still claimed the empire of Rome. Whether
1 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, pp. 444, 445.
2 Skene's Celtic Scotland, vol. i. p. 422; Freeman's Norman
Conquest, vol. iv. p. 782.

TURGOT'S LIFE OF QUEEN MARGARET. 229
Ingioborg was dead or divorced is a matter of dispute, a.d.
the most probable opinion is that she did not long sur- ios^°93-
vive the birth of her son, who was named Duncan after
his grandsire. We have the authority of the life of Mar
garet, by her confessor Turgot, that her marriage took
place at Dunfermline, ' she built an eternal memorial
of her name and devotion in the place where the nuptials
had been held.' The match was a love match, if ever
there was one, and attended with the happiest results ;
but it was also a sound political alliance, it at once placed
the King of Scots in a position that he and his successors
never lost; that of the peers of the crowned heads of
Europe it was the first of those alliances which eventually
united the island of Great Britain under one monarch.
The two Saxon princesses seemed born with a deep
religious nature, which took the form of the highest ideal
Christianity of the age, yet both were conscious of their
high position and its requirements, the younger followed
the fortunes of her brother till all hope of his ever being
advanced to the throne of England was lost, then only
she renounced the world and its vanities, and became
the stern abbess of a famed English monastery ; her
sister Margaret, at the call of duty, remained in the
world, though not of the world, her life was pure and
holy, her mission to bless and purify her husband and
her adopted country. Much has been said of her un
willingness to marry Malcolm, and that it was not his
earnest devotion, and vehement professions of love which
overcame her scruples. But no maiden ever accepted
suitor, and entered into the close relationship of marriage
with greater cordiality, no truer wife could be found, no
more wise or affectionate mother to his children, no better
guide through life than the saintly woman to whom he
had plighted his troth. Margaret's history is contained
in her life by her confessor Turgot, Bishop of St Andrews,1
it is a charming piece of biography, and tells all that we
really know of her, while incidentally we gain the first
1 Life of St Margaret, Queen of Scotland, by Turgot, Bishop of
St Andrews. Translated from the Latin by William Forbes-Leith,
S.J. Edinburgh, 1884.

230 TURGOT'S LIFE OF QUEEN MARGARET.

A.D.

real insight into Scottish life and manners. Religion,
1058^093. seif.dedication and purification by penances and deeds
of charity, from the evil nature she imagined was a part
of herself, was the grand aim of Queen Margaret's life,
and the story would almost tempt one to pin his faith
to the debasing dogma with its miserable train of con
sequences. But in spite of this selfishness in the motive,
more apparent than real, she wrought positive good and
purified all she came in contact with, which in a person
who believed herself so very evil, was very wonderful.
The reforms in religious matters do not find a place
here, we only allude to her influence on mundane affairs,
in which she was the trusted counsellor of her husband.
Her biographer describes her as engaged 'amidst the
distractions of law suits, amidst the countless cares of
state.'1 She was far from unmindful of the position of
her husband and herself, theoretically ' miserable sinners,'
Practically King and Queen ; under her, the forms, cere
monies, extravagancies, which are essential to a well-con
ducted Court were introduced. ' The Queen on her side,
herself a noble gem of royal race, much more enobled
the splendour of her husband's kingly magnificence, and
contributed no little glory and grace to the entire nobility
of the realm and their retainers. It was due to her that
the merchants who came by land and sea from various
countries, brought along with them for sale different kinds
of precious wares, which until then were unknown in Scot
land. And it was at her instigation that the natives of
Scotland purchased from these traders clothing of various
colours,2 with ornaments to wear, so that from this period,
through her suggestion, new costumes of different fashions
were adopted, the elegance of which made the wearers
appear like a new race of beings. She also arranged that
a higher class of attendants should wait upon the king,
by a large body of whom he should be accompanied in
1 Life, p. 37.
2 Hence Lord Hailes conjectures that perhaps we owe to her
the introduction of what we call Tartan. Rather hard on the Celt
that a Saxon should have introduced the gaudy costume peculiarly
his own. But perish the base inuendo, Margaret must have had
quieter tastes.

TURGOT'S LIFE OF QUEEN MARGARET. 23 1
great state whenever he either walked or rode abroad. a.d.
This was carried out with such discipline that, wherever I058"1093'
they came, none of them was suffered to take anything
from any one, nor did they dare in any way to oppress or
injure country people or the poor. Further, she added
to the state of the royal palace, so that not only was it
brightened by the many coloured apparel worn in it, but
the whole dwelling blazed with gold and silver, since the
vessels employed for serving the food and drink to the
king, and the nobles of the realm, were of gold and sil
ver, or at least were gilt and plated.' 1 On her husband
personally Margaret exercised a marked influence, soften
ing his manners by precept and example : ' By the help
of God she made him most attentive to the works of
justice, mercy, almsgiving and other virtues.' 2 What time
could be spared from state ceremony and the more con
genial pursuit of fighting, was given to devotion, and
though ignorant himself, he did not despise the learning
of his wife. ' Although he could not read, he would turn
over and examine books which she used, either for her
devotions or her study ; and whenever he heard her say
that she was fonder of one of them than the others, this
one he too used to look at with special affection, kissing
it, and often taking it into his hands. Sometimes he
sent for a worker in precious metals, whom he commanded
to ornament that volume with gold and gems, and when
the work was finished the King himself used to carry the
volume to the Queen as a kind proof of his devotion.' 3
But with all due respect to the holiness and learning of
St Margaret, her conduct as a mother seems the crowning
point in her character, so true is it that nature asserts her
power, even under the unnatural forms which superstition,
miscalled religion, strives to. smother. ' Nor was she less
careful about her children than she was about herself.
She took all heed that they should be well brought up,
and especially that they should be trained in virtue.
Knowing that it is written, "He that spareth the rod
hateth his son," she charged the governor who had the
care of the nursery to curb the children, to scold them,
1 Life, pp. 40, 41. 2 Ibid. p. 38. 3 Ibid. pp. 39, 40.

232 ENGLISH INVASION.

A.D.

and to whip them whenever they were naughty, as frolic-
r°5f^o93- some chiidhood will often be. Thanks to their mother's
religious care, her children surpassed in good behaviour
many who were their elders ; they were always affectionate
and peaceable among themselves, and everywhere the
younger paid due respect to the elder.' 1 The next part
of the paragraph tells us as to their behaviour at church,
which should form a model to boys and girls in all time
coming. The biography stripped of the exaggeration
common to all such compositions, where the subject is a
well-to-do saint, and the author a recipient ofthe bounty
of the saint, gives as near as may be a true history of
Queen Margaret, and the only account of Scottish life
and character of the time. It shows the Queen a mis
sionary in every sense of the word, a teacher, a civiliser,
a humaniser of the Scottish King, his court and people.
Her three younger sons showed how much they had
benefitted by her piety and learning; to the Church, as we
shall hereafter attempt to show, she was as life to the dead.
Malcolm had short time to enjoy the society of his
bride, and to be initiated in the ceremonies of the Court
and the Church, before he was brought into contact with
the Norman power in England. The marriage of the
King of Scots with a near heir to the English crown, to
one with the clear title of hereditary right, was a menace
to William's shadowy claim; in the event of the death
of the Aetheling without issue, the children of the King
of Scots would be looked upon by the patriotic party as
the rightful heirs to the English throne. There can be
no doubt that so astute a politician as William fully ap
preciated the grave consequences resulting from the
marriage of Malcolm, and it needed not the devastation
of Tynedale, to rouse the Conqueror to the necessity of
punishing or curbing his neighbour, in any case to come
to some arrangement. But there was more to call him
to the north; three times had the King of Scots sheltered
the Aetheling, he was even now at his court, and he had
also given refuge and substantial help to all who refused
to submit to the Norman power, to the mutinous earls
1 Life, p. 33.

ENGLISH INVASION. 233
and chieftains north of the Humber, many of whom had a.d.
settled and became liege subjects of the Scottish King. I058"'°93,
The King of England tarried only because his presence
was imperiously required elsewhere, and the business was
much too important to be transacted by deputy. But to
suppose that the Conquerer had then England at his
feet, and now had the leisure to make himself master of
the island of Great Britain, and to enforce his claim as
lord paramount over the King of Scots, the Maormor of
Moray, the Jarl of Orkney and the rulers of the Sudreys,
is almost too absurd to waste argument on, were it not
boldly put forward by so great an authority as Mr Freeman.
In 1072 King William, at the head of an imposing
force, invaded Scotland by land and sea, in much the
same manner as Earl Siward had previously done. An
account of the expedition is given in the extract from the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and the fair inference from it
seems to be, that neither party wished to push matters to
extremities, and that terms were agreed on. 'a.d. 1072.
This year King William led an army and a fleet against
Scotland, and he stationed the ships along the coast,
and crossed the Tweed with his army, but he found
nothing to reward his pains. And King Malcolm came
and treated with King William, and delivered hostages
and became his liege-man ; and King William returned
home with his forces.' 1 Florence gives the name of the
place where the Kings met — Abernethy, on the banks
of the Tay, and this is likely enough to have been the
case, as William's object would be to march at once
on the capital, and there dictate his terms or enforce
them by fire and sword. The reader may judge for him
self from the words in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle what
the terms were, his proclivities and nationality will in
fluence to a large extent his decision. If he is an English
man and believes in Mr Freeman's theory, that the Anglo-
Saxon monarchs were, and considered themselves to be,
Emperors of Great Britain, insular Charlemagnes, and
that the Conquerer took up the role, he will endorse this
view : ' The King of Scots came to Abernethy, and under
1 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, p. 453.

234 ENGLISH INVASION.
the shadow of the old Scottish tower, he became the man
of the Conqueror, now, like the kings who had gone
before him, not only King of the Angles and Saxons, but
Lord of the whole Empire of the Isle of Albion. As the
elder Malcolm had bowed to Cnut, so the younger Mal
colm bowed to William. The vassal was received into the
peace ofhis lord, and he gave hostages for his good faith,
the young Donald, his son by the dead or forsaken Ingio-
borg being now one of them.' l If, on the other hand, the
reader is unbiassed by nationality or theory, he will con
sider Mr Burton's view as the fair and impartial statement
of the transaction : ' A passage like this (what we have
quoted from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle) would of course
be seized upon as an acknowledgment of feudal super
iority; and in the later English Chronicles it was described
in the proper feudal technicalities. Some patriotic Scotch
men have inferred from this that Malcolm, like several of
his successors, did homage for lands south of the Border.
I cannot concur in this, not believing that the grades and
ceremonies of homage were then so far advanced as to
admit of one of these complicated transactions. The
general historical conditions seems more important, and
they give us a transaction between two powerful monarchs
— the one, it is true, with by far the greater and richer
dominion, and greater power of aggression, but the other
with greater resources of defence. If William could have
achieved the actual subjugation of his neighbour's king
dom as a fief, we may depend on it that he would have
carried out his authority so practically and fully that
history never could have been in doubt of its existence,
if he had achieved this, it could not have been said that
in his march to Scotland his force 'found naught for
which they were the better.' 2
Nothing can add to the cogency of Mr Burton's re
marks ; but we may be permitted to call the attention of
our readers to one fact transparent in the history of the
two countries, so far as we have detailed it ; that up to
this time there was no England and no Scotland in the
1 Freeman's Norman Conquest, vol. iv. p. 517.
2 Burton's Scotland, vol. i. p. 376.

ENGLISH INVASION. 235
modern sense of the words. Saxon, Angle, Piet, Scot, a.d.
Dane had each capable monarchs, or even short dynasties I05_^w-
who in their turn ravaged the territories of their neigh
bours, and were acknowledged victors in the strife. In
the fond language of the different chroniclers they were
represented as kings or emperors over all the districts
they had overrun, but their empires were like houses of
cards, continually toppling over, and being rebuilt, until
the Normans in England under William and his successors,
and Malcolm and his sons in Scotland, constructed edi
fices other than the previous frail structures, kingdoms
which stood the lapse of ages. In addition, though it is
difficult to exaggerate the talents and the accomplish
ments of the early Norman invaders, even though they
may have had law as well as courage in their blood, it is
hard to believe that a little more than a century should
have converted pagan Vikings into accomplished legal
practitioners. That they soon became so, is evident, but
it seems to us that all claims and disputes of this nature
were only when there were people to understand and
appreciate them, law and legal subtleties as to titles to
estates or kingdoms were introduced by the Normans,
and it required their presence in both England and Scot
land before they were even thought of.
William returned with Duncan the eldest son of
Malcolm in his train, as one of the hostages that his
father would keep the peace on the borders, and no
longer afford shelter to the Aetheling and his adherents.
This of course is only conjecture, but is extremely pro
bable from the fact that Eadgar left the Scottish court
and crossed over to Flanders previous to the invasion of
the kingdom of his son-in-law.
Both conditions would very likely be solemnly sworn
to ; William had already made good use of the oath ex
torted from Harold, but if there was an oath in the case,
it was not sworn on ' old bones and relics,' or we should
have heard of it. It would sit, however, very lightly on
the consciences of Malcolm, and his retainers, as similar
oaths have since sate on the elastic consciences of kings
and statesmen.

236 EDGAR AETHELING.
a.d. William had, however, further work to do in his north-
1058^093- ern frontier, which, so far from extending to the Tweed,
barely reached the Humber. Perceiving too late for his
fame that devastation and alien rule would not make
Northumbria loyal and serviceable to his cause, he de
prived Cospatric of the earldom and bestowed it on
Waltheof, the descendant of the hereditary Danish rulers,
the son of Earl Siward by Elfleda, daughter of Earl
Aldred. Cospatric fled to Scotland, and from thence to
Flanders, where he abode but for a short time and re
turned to his former refuge. He was favourably received
by the King of Scots, who must have been either a man
of the most forgiving disposition, or a politician who
sacrificed his natural causes of offence to the necessities
of the State. Malcolm forgetting, wilfully or no, all old
animosities, bestowed on the ravager of Cumberland,
Dunbar and other lands in Lothian. Cospatric seems
always to have fallen on his feet ; he is alternately the
friend of the King of England and the King of Scotland ;
subsequent to this his lands in Yorkshire were in part
restored, and his sons' names appear in the local history
of the north of England.1
The Aetheling, we have seen, had thought it prudent
to visit the court of Flanders, which at the time was a
refuge for noble unfortunates of every nationality; but in
1074 he took advantage ofthe absence ofthe Conqueror
in Normandy to pay a visit to Scotland. The Anglo-
Saxon Chronicle tells the history of the royal wanderer
at this time, and the issue shows the sagacity and also
the humanity of William, who, except in the heat of pas
sion or from stern political necessity, never stooped to
trample on a fallen foe. 'a.d. 1074: This year King
William went over sea to Normandy, and child Eadgar
came to Scotland from Flanders on St Grimbald's mass-
day. King Malcolm and Margaret his sister received
him there with much pomp. Also Philip King of
France, sent him a letter inviting him to come, and offer
ing to give him the castle of Montreuil as a place to
annoy his enemies from. After this, King Malcolm and
1 Freeman's Norman Conquest, vol. iv. p. 524.

REDUCTION OF MORAY. 237
his sister Margaret gave great presents and much trea- a d.
sure to him and his men — skins adorned with purple, 105^93-
sable-skin, grey-skin, and ermine-skin, pelisses, mantles,
gold and silver vessels, and escorted them out of his do
minions with much ceremony. But evil befell them at
sea; for they had hardly left the shore, when such rough
weather came on, and the sea and the wind drove them
with such force upon the land, that their ships went to
pieces, and they saved their lives with much difficulty.
They lost nearly all their riches, and some of their men
were taken by the French; but the boldest of them es
caped back to Scotland, some on foot and some mounted
on wretched horses. King Malcolm advised Eadgar to
send to King William beyond the sea, and request his
friendship. Eadgar did so, and the King acceded to his
request and sent to fetch him. Again King Malcolm
and his sister made them handsome presents, and escorted
them with honour out of their dominions. The Sheriff
of York met him at Durham, and went all the way with
him, ordering him to be provided with meat and fodder
at all the castles which they came to, until they reached
the king beyond the sea. There King William received
him with much pomp, and he remained at the court,
enjoying such privileges as the king granted him.' x
The course of our narrative now carries us to the dis
trict north of the Spey. On the death of Lulach the
short-lived successor of Macbeth, his son Maelsnectan,
in the confusion of Scottish affairs, and the collapse of
the Orcadian power, managed to secure the hereditary
Maormorate ofhis ancestors. He seems to have reigned
as an independent prince until 1078, when either from
some umbrage given to the Scottish king, or from a na
tural desire on the part of the latter to extend his domin
ions, a rupture took place. Malcolm invaded Moray,
and defeated the Maormor, who escaped with his life,
but lost all; his domains were for the time incorporated
with Scotland': 'Also in this year King Malcolm won
the mother of Malslaythe and all his best men and all his
treasure, and his oxen and himself hardly escaped.' 2 He
1 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, pp. 453, 454. 2 Ibid. p. 456.

238 THIRD INVASION OF ENGLAND.
a.d. survived until 1085. ' Maelsnectan, son of Lulach, King
.05^093. of Moray; ended his life happily.' r
The continued absence of William on the continent
now emboldened his rival in the north to make another
raid into Northumbria. Like his predecessors and suc
cessors, the King of Scots seems to have thought that, so
far from the ancient kingdoms of Bernicia and Northum
bria forming an integral portion of England, both were
fair subjects of division. Scotia first extended its bound
ary to the Tweed and then strove for a further extension
to the Tyne — in fact England north of the Humber was
not unlike Scotland north of the Spey, so far as the power
of the crown went. Malcolm conducted the expedition
in person and in the usual savage way. 'a.d. 1079, this
year, between the two festivals of St Mary, King Malcolm
invaded England with a large army, and laid waste North
umberland as far as the Tyne; and he slew many hundred
men, and carried home much money and treasure and
many prisoners.' 2 William, though no doubt exasperated
at the breach of the treaty between the two countries, so
far as we can see without cause, did not immediately take
measures to resent the injury. In 1080, however, he sent
his eldest son Robert with a powerful army well found in
every department, advisers lay and clerical were not
omitted.3 The usual policy of the Scottish kings was
followed, no opposition was made to the advance through
the Lothians, which were devastated and pillaged; but
this repayment of the treatment inflicted in Northumber
land seems to have satisfied the English leader. Robert
advanced as far as Falkirk and then retired, driven to
this course by failure of supplies, the natural difficulties
which now presented themselves, or the bold front shown
by his adversary. At Monkchester a halt was made, and
there, on the site of what is now Newcastle-on-Tyne, a
strong fortress was erected as a barrier against the in
vaders from the north, and to protect the portion of
1 Chronicles of Picts and Scots, p. 370.
2 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, p. 456.
3 See Freeman's Norman Conquest, vol. iv. p. 675 ; E. W.
Robertson's Scotland, vol. i. p. 142.

DEATH OF THE CONQUEROR. 239
Northumbria south of the Tyne, thus leaving the unfor- a.d.
tunate subjects of his father in the north open to the I05j^93'
raids of the Scots, in fact virtually surrendering the coun
try for the time.
In 1085 Malcolm suffered a domestic calamity in the
death of a son probably by his first marriage ; in the
Annals of Ulster for that year is recorded, ' Donald, son
of Malcolm, King of Alban, ended his life unhappily
(infeliciter).' x
The years of the great Conqueror of England whose
history we cannot altogether omit from our narrative, were
now well nigh spent; the bright noon tide of his days
was over, and the sunset was gloomy and lowering. In
1086 the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle tells us ofhis last act of
fiscal oppression. Before he left England for the last
time he extorted immense sums from his subjects, upon
every pretext he could find, whether just or otherwise.2
Arrived in Normandy irritated and soured, he seems to
have treated the Aetheling and his sister in so churlish
a manner that they left his court : ' Then he went over
to Normandy, and King Edward's kinsman Eadgar
Aetheling left him because he received no great honour
from him ; may Almighty God give him glory hereafter.
And the Aetheling's sister Christina went into the monas
tery of Romsey, and took the holy veil.3 The year
closed in England 'very disastrous and sorrowful,' God's
judgments were abroad in the land, pestilence, famine,
many consumed by the fire of heaven, things ever grew
worse and worse with the people.8 In the autumn of
the next year (August) 1087 William received his death-
wound, while superintending the destruction of Mantes ;
in less than a month he was no more. The stern soul
of the Conqueror relented on his death-bed, the generous
aspirations so long a stranger to him re-asserted their
sway, and he gave orders for the release of all state
prisoners and hostages. Among these were Ulf the son
of Harold, and Malcolm's eldest born Duncan ; on both
the honour of knighthood was conferred, and they were
1 Chronicle of the Picts and Scots, p. 370.
2 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, p. 459. 3 Ibid,

24O FOURTH INVASION OF ENGLAND.
a.d. free to depart, but the Scottish Prince elected to re-
1058-1093- main w;th his friend Robert the Earl of Normandy.
Afterwards willingly or no he remained as a guest or
hostage with William Rufus who succeeded his father in
England. Four years later 109 1 Eadgar, who seems to have
returned to the court of Rouen, was dispossessed of his
estates in Normandy, and again sought refuge and assist
ance from his never failing friend the King of Scots.
Malcolm nothing loth, at once espoused anew the cause
of Eadgar, and invaded England in the usual way, but
with no satisfactory results. The power of the new
dynasty was tightening on the English people, even in
the north, the Scottish King found no sympathisers, but
a well organised resistance : ' Whilst King William was
out of England, Malcolm, King of Scotland, invaded this
country, and ravaged great part of it, till the good men
to whom the keeping of the land was entrusted, sent their
troops against him and drove him back,' William Rufus
with all his faults, was a brave and skilful commander.
and certainly not the man to suffer an invasion of his
territories to pass unquestioned. He promptly left Nor
mandy, landed in England, and took measures to retaliate
on his ruthless neighbour who would not let well alone.
The campaign and its results as told in the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle can be our only real authority, all the later
writers have undoubtedly copied from it, adding their
own views highly coloured with national prejudice, and
made to serve a purpose, the subordination of the crown
of Scotland to England. Simeon and Florence indeed
make Malcolm speak feudal Luting ' When King William
heard this (the invasion previously mentioned) in Nor
mandy he hastened to return, and his brother Earl
Robert with him. And they called out a fleet and army,
but almost all the ships were lost, a few days before
Michaelmas, ere they reached Scotland. And the King
and his brother proceeded with the army ; and when
King Malcolm heard that they sought to attack him he
marched with his array out of Scotland into Lothian in
1 E. W. Robertson's Scotland, vol. i. p. 145, note.

WILLIAM RUFUS RETALIATES. 24 1
England, and remained there. And when King William a.d.
approached, Earl Robert and Eadgar Atheling mediated I05^93-
a peace between the kings on condition that King Mal
colm should repair to our King, and become his vassal,
and in all the like subjection as to his father before
him ; and this he confirmed by oath. And King William
promised him all the lands and possessions that he held
under his father. By this peace Eadgar Aetheling
was reconciled to the King. And the kings separat
ed in great friendship ; but this lasted during a short
time only. Earl Robert abode here with the King till
Christmas drew near, and in this time he found little
good faith as to the fulfilment of the treaty, and two days
before the Feast, he took ship from the Isle of Wight and
sailed to Normandy, and Eadgar Aetheling with him.1
There are two phrases peculiarly deserving of notice in
the foregoing, the fast Lothian in England bearing on the
question, Did Malcolm do homage for this as an English
fief, preserving his rank as an independent prince, King
of Scotia proper north of the Forth ? Mr Burton, on
the authority of the editor of the Rolls edition of the
Chronicle translates the Saxon word ' Lothene,' Leeds,
by which the difficulty is avoided, no claim being thus
made that Lothian was considered as a part of England.2
Mr Skene, however, scouts this interpretation, and apart
from philological grounds is we apprehend right ; the
English army would very probably advance much further
north than Leeds before they were confronted by the
Scotch (it must be noted the English are represented as
the attacking force). Mr Skene is therefore inclined to
think that Malcolm gave way on this point, and acknow
ledged the supremacy of William over Lothian and be
came the King's man, but that homage for Scotia proper
was neither asked or given.8 This however seems an
evasion of the difficulty, and, in fact, surrenders the
matter in dispute. The words in the chronicle fairly
interpreted mean, that if Malcolm did homage at all he
' Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, pp. 467-8.
2 Burton's Scotland, vol. i. p. 379,. note.
' Skene's Celtic Scotland, vol. i. p. 429.
VOL. I. Q

242 WILLIAM RUFUS RETALIATES.
a.d. did for all his domains, it was but a repetition of that
1058-1093. given t0 the Conqueror.
We now call attention to another phrase used in the
same document, ' that Malcolm should become the vas
sal.'1 Malcolm II. 'becomes the man'2of CnUt Malcolm
Ceanmor ' the liege-man ' 3 of William I. the vassal of
William II. , there is an ascending scale in the assumed
dependence, the man in 1031 became the vassal in 1091.
The only fair view we can take of these transactions is
that they were precisely alike, treaties of peace, each
party retaining what they were in possession of. The
nomenclature had changed and was changing ; Lothian
was no longer Saxonia, but was claimed as part of Eng
land in order to justify the new term vassal, by which
English authorities chose to think Malcolm held it. The
view which may be fairly taken is, that Rufus advanced
into Scotland with his army, and was confronted by a
force capable of disputing further progress ; the Aetheling
well-known to all concerned, and a personal friend of the
brother of the King of England, acted the part of medi
ator, the two kings mutually respected each other's
power, and neither cared to risk an engagement ; a treaty
was made on the footing of the status quo. The re
marks of Mr Burton previously quoted are as applicable
to William II. as to William I.4 The chroniclers who
narrate the circumstances are English, and would natu
rally consider the King of England the stronger party,
and the one who would dictate the terms of peace.
That the treaty was little more than a suspension of
arms was soon shown, and also that when the Red Prince
wished to annex a fief he did it thoroughly. Previous
to this time the ancient kingdom of Strathclyde from the
Clyde to the Derwent, was held, and looked on by the
English monarchs as an appanage of the Scottish crown,
the modern county of Cumberland had no existence.
Rufus determined to square his frontier on the west, and
advance it to the Solway, thus annexing what was con
sidered at the time a part of Scotland, and a portion of
1 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, p. 468. 2 Ibid. p. 412.
3 Ibid. p. 453. 4 See ante, p. 234.

WILLIAM RUFUS RETALIATES. 243
the fief of his so-called vassal, a.d. 1092 — 'This year a.d.
King William went northward to Carlisle with a large '°58'1093'
army, and he repaired the city, and built the castle.
And he drove out Dolfin, who had before governed that
country ; and having placed a garrison in the castle, he
returned into the south, and sent a great number of rustic
Englishmen thither, with their wives and cattle, that they
might settle there and cultivate the land.' J The devastat
ing nature of the warfare of the borders may be inferred
from this notice, ' a fruitful land made barren,' if not for
the wickedness of them that dwelt therein, certainly by
the Wickedness of them that passed through it. This
was a flagrant violation of the treaty lately made, even if
Malcolm had sworn homage, the lord had outraged the
lands of his vassal. By the influence of the Aetheling
probably, the King of Scots did not retaliate in the usual
way with fire and sword, but attempted negotiations.
These may have been kept open during the time when
Rufus was sick nigh unto death, when he was going to
reform his life and live cleanly, when he was very peni
tent, and if he was only spared what would he not be
and what would he not do. He was spared, but he
returned ' like the sow that was washed to its wallowing
in the mire,' more truculent and unclean than ever. Yet
hostile proceedings were averted, and through the good
offices of the Aetheling a meeting between the two
monarchs was arranged to take place at Gloucester,
where Rufus had been laid up, was still sick, penitent,
and pacific. Hostages for the personal safety of the
King of Scots were sent, and Malcolm set out on his last
journey to England, in a manner very different from his
previous ones. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, our only
genuine authority, must tell the story. ' 1093 — This
year, in Lent, King William was very sick at Gloucester,
insomuch that he was universally reported to be dead ;
and he made many good promises in his illness ; that
he would lead his future life in righteousness — that the
churches of God he would guard and free — and never
more sell them for money — and that he would have all
1 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, p. 468.

244 DEFEAT AND DEATH OF MALCOLM.
a.d- just laws in his kingdom. And he gave the Archbishopric
1058-1093. of. canterbury, which he had hitherto kept in his own
hands, to Anselm, who was before this Abbat of Bee, and
the Bishopric of Lincoln to his Chancellor Robert, and
he granted lands to many monasteries ; but afterwards
when recovered, he took them back, and he neglected
all the good laws that he had promised us. . After this the
King of Scotland sent desiring that the stipulated con
ditions might be performed; and King William summoned
him to Gloucester, and sent hostages to him in Scotland,
and afterwards Eadgar Aetheling and others met him, and
brought him with much honour to the court. But when
he came there, he could neither obtain a conference with
our King, nor the performance of the conditions formerly
promised him, and therefore they departed in great
enmity; and King Malcolm returned home to Scotland,
and as soon as he came thither, he assembled his troops
and invaded England, ravaging the country with more
fury than behoved him ; and Robert, Earl of North
umberland, with his men, lay in wait for him, and slew
him unawares. He was killed by Morsel of Bamborough,
the Earl's steward, and King Malcolm's own God-father,
' Godsib,' his son Edward, who, had he lived, would have
been King after his father was killed with him.1 The
chroniclers from Simeon to M. Paris add little or nothing
to our information.
Margaret seems to have foreboded the worst issue to
the enterprise, and Malcolm departed with her sad warn
ings ringing in his ears. They were too soon fulfilled ;
on the 13th November, a very short time after their
parting, the King was killed on the banks of the Alne,
near the town of Alnwick, and though the details are
involved in obscurity, there can be little doubt that the
bold and hitherto successful freebooter met his death
and defeat by treachery.2 Edward, his son and heir,
was fatally wounded, and survived only to die a few days
later on Scottish ground in the forest of Jedwood, known
long as ' Edward's Isle.' The defeat terminated in a rout,
1 Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, p. 408-9.
2 E. W. Robertson's Scotland, vol. i. p. 146, note.

DEFEAT AND DEATH OF MALCOLM. 245
part falling by the sword, those who escaped perishing a.d.
in attempting to ford the river, more than usually swollen I0s_^f33-
by the winter floods. None of Malcolm's faithful re
tainers were left to pay the last rites of sepulture to their
lord ; we cannot think it was abandoned, but in any case
the body was found and interred. Two peasants found
it on the field of battle, and placing it in a cart, conveyed
it to Tynemouth, and there committed it to the ground.
The filial piety of his son Alexander restored the body
to Scottish soil, and the ashes of Malcolm were laid side
by side with those of his faithful partner in Dunfermline.
Thus perished Malcolm Canmore in the thirty-sixth
year of his reign, not with the shout of victory ringing in
his ears; but his death was no inglorious one, he fell with
his face to the foe, and, looking at his previous life, we
cannot but think that it might be said of him, as of the
gallant and unfortunate James, that in his death he was
guarded by a rampart
' Which the boldest dared not scale,
Every stone a Scottish body,
Every step a corse in mail.' '
The belief in the foul character of the attack by which
Malcolm lost his life gathered weight until the name of
the noble family of Percy was associated with it. ' King
Malcolm coming into Northumberland besieged the said
castell of Alnwicke. And now when the keepers of the
hold, were at point to have made surrender, a certaine
English knight conceiving in his mind an hardie and
dangerous interprize, mounted on a swift horse without
armor or weapon, saving a speare in his hand, upon the
point whereof he bare the keies of the castell, and so
issued forth at the gates, riding directlie towards the
Scottish campe. They that warded, mistrusting no harme,
brought him with great noise and clamour into the king's
tent ; who, hearing the noise, came forth of his pavilion
to understand what the matter ment. The Englishman
herewith couched his staffe, as though it had beene to
the end that the King might receive the keies which he
had brought. And whilest all men's eies were earnest
1 Ayton's Lays, p. 25.

246 DEFEAT AND DEATH OF MALCOLM.
a.d. in beholding the keies, the Englishman ran the king
k 58-1093. through the left eie, and suddenlie dashing his spurs to
his horse, escaped to the next wood out of all danger.
The point of the speare entered so far into the king's
head that immediatelie falling down amongst his men,
he yielded up the ghost. This was the end of King
Malcolme in the midst of his armie. It is said that
King William changed the name of his adventurous
knight, and called him Perseeie, for that he stroke King
Malcolme so right in the eie, and in recompense of his
service gave him certeine lands in Northumberland ; of
whom those Pierces are descended, which in oqr days have
injoied the honourable title of Earls of Northumberland.' '
St Columba, who gave life to, and nursed the infant
colony from Dalriada, is the first Scot whom we can
realise as a living breathing man, with the passions, faults,
and virtues of his race. Until Malcolm III. no other
Scot, king or priest, stands out as a real person — a man,
not a name or a figment of the imagination. Celtic
government and Celtic Christianity were introduced into
Scotland by the first ; the other took the first steps to
initiate the movement by which both were eradicated.
Viewed in this light the fierce and warlike monarch must
be deemed no mean benefactor to his country and to
civilisation and religion ; however little he did personally,
he originated what may be termed the Scottish renaissance.
Malcolm's personal character we have previously sketched,
and his life, we think, does not belie it. There is one
point in it which he shares, with his great compeer the
Bastard of Normandy; the morals of both were unstained
by the laxity of the age, the conjugal relationships of both
were of the happiest nature ; in the case of Malcolm no
cloud ever obscured the serene atmosphere of mutual
love which surrounded him and his wife. The King of
Scots made war like a ruthless savage, but it was the
fashion of the age, and it was for long the fashion of the
gallant and tender-hearted knights of both countries.
The one blot on his escutcheon — the massacre in North
umbria on the receipt of the news of the treason of
1 Hollinshead's Scottish Chronicles, vol. i. pp. 358-9, ed. 1805.

DEATH OF MARGARET. 247
Cospatric — was ordered in the heat of passion, not as a.d
part of a cold-blooded policy like that pursued by his '°58"'°93'
contemporary William. Malcolm was generous and for
giving in his disposition, hospitable to all and sundry ;
the generous weakness cost him his life, for Morel of
Bamborough who dealt him his death-stroke was bound
to him by the closest ties of friendship, hallowed by the
sacred rites of the church. In our days we can hardly
imagine a man of war and bloodshed a truly religious
man, yet such are our anomalies in our ideas of religion,
that from the time of Charlemagne and St Louis to
Collingwood and Havelock, we perceive no incongruity.
Why deny Malcolm the title to both characters ? That
Malcolm Canmore was respected by his subjects, and that
he was looked on as a wise and fortunate ruler of the
country, is evident from the testimony of St Berchan,
who says —
' A King, the best who possessed Alban ;
He was a King of kings fortunate ;
He was the vigilant crusher of enemies.
No woman bore or will bring forth in the East
A King whose rule will be greater over Alban ;
And there shall not be born for ever
One who had more fortune and greatness.' '
During his reign the southern border, previously a shift
ing and undefined line, was fixed ; the Tweed and the
Solway became the limits of England. The only portions
of Scotland not under his sway were Caithness and the
Orkneys. Margaret did not long survive her husband ; in her
life it is stated that previous to the last fatal expedition
' she was attacked by an infirmity of unusual severity,' 2
from the bed of sickness from which she was never to
rise, ' as if forseeing the future she was most urgent with
the King not to go with the army.' 2 On the fourth day
preceding her death, her foreboding became more con
firmed, and she said to her confessor, ' Perhaps on this
very day such a heavy calamity may befall the realm of
1 Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, p. 103. 2 Life, p. 72.

248 DEATH OF MARGARET.
a.d. Scotland as has not been for many ages past.' x On the
1058-1093. fourth (jay from this the lamentable news of the death
of his father and brother was conveyed to her by her son
Edgar, when the saintly queen, wife, and mother, after
one short agonising struggle, resigned herself to the will
of heaven, and breathed out her pure and broken spirit.
' Her departure was so calm, so tranquil, that we conclude
her soul passed to the land of eternal rest and peace.
Her corpse was shrouded as became a queen, and we
carried her to the Church of the Holy Trinity, which she
had built. There, as she herself had directed, we com
mitted it to the grave, opposite the altar and the vener
able sign of the Holy Cross which she had erected. And
thus her body at length rests in that place in which, when
alive, she used to humble herself with vigils, prayers,
and tears.' 2
Malcolm and Margaret left issue six sons and two
daughters. Edward, the eldest, perished with his father ;
Ethelred, who was created Abbot of Dunkeld, did not
long survive his parents ; Edmund retired to an English
monastery, and became lost to the world ; Edgar, Alex
ander, and David each in their turn sate on the Scottish
throne ; Matilda or Maud, became the wife of Henry I,
of England ; Mary, the younger, married Eustace, Count
of Boulogne; their only child Matilda, married Count
Stephen of Blois, afterwards King of England.
' Life, p. 73. 2 Ibid. pp. 80, 81.

CHAPTER X.
CALAMITOUS EFFECTS OF THE DEATH OF
MALCOLM.
Malcolm's Death a heavy Calamity — Donald Bane made King — •
His Title challenged — Duncan's short Reign — Is slain by the
Scots — Donald Bane King a second time — His defeat and fate
— Accession of Edgar son of Malcolm — Expedition of Magnus
Barefoot — Character and Death of Edgar — Accession of
Alexander — His Character — Northern Insurrection promptly
quelled, Death of Alexander — David I. succeeds and re-unites
Lothian and Cumbria — His Character — Introduces the Feudal
system and written Charters — Northern Insurrection — Is quelled
— Death of Henry I. and unfriendly relations with England —
Prince Henry returns with King Stephen — but is soon recalled
— David invades England — Battle of the Standard — Marriage
of Prince Henry — His untimely Death — Death and Character
of David I. — His Innovations or Creations-,

A.D.

The death of Malcolm proved, as Queen Margaret had
on her death-bed predicted, ' a heavy calamity such as 1093"'°a7'
had not been for many ages past.' The reforms in church
and state and in the manners of the people were checked ;
for a quarter of a century Scotland was in a state of an
archy, the tone of society was lowered, from the prince
to the peasant. There were in Scotland as at present
the two races antagonistic to one another, the Gaelic and
the Teutonic. But in the eleventh century the weaker
race had for long possessed the ruling power in Church
and State, it had the right of prescription ; on the other
hand, the Teutonic element was divided, each part had
apparently separate interests, it was not yet welded into
a harmonious whole. The mixed population originally
Pictish, but that element now lost in the crowd of Norse
and Saxon immigrants possessed Ihe real power of deter
mining the succession, and on what lines the sovereign
was to rule, naturally enough they clung to the rule of
the Gael which stretched so far back, the new influences

A.D.

250 ACCESSION OF DONALD BANE.
had not sufficient time to work, old fashions, freedom and
1093^97- anarchy were attractive. The Norwegian element and
power which under Earl Thorfinn had influenced Scot
land were neutralised ; Magnus Barefoot had in the year
of Malcolm's death added nominally, at least, the Orkneys
and the Western Isles to the crown of Norway. The
Saxon, or properly speaking, the English element, had
not gathered the strength which in a short time over
powered the others, and made Scotland more English
and Norman than England itself; Lothian and Cumbria
might almost be looked on as a distinct nationality, whether
the district was to become England or Scotland a matter
of uncertainty. Indeed, had it not been for the unfor
tunate capture of William the Lion in 11 74, it looked
very like as if the frontier of Scotland was to be advanced
to the Humber, the south of Scotland and the north of
England were one in race and feeling. Taking the cir
cumstances narrated into consideration, nothing appears
more natural than the events which followed the death
of Malcolm, 'And then the Scots chose Dufenal, the
brother of Malcolm, for their King, and drove out all the
English who had been with King Malcolm.' x
Fordun, who is now accepted by experts as an autho
rity, gives fuller details. According to him Queen Mar
garet, previous to her death, was with her young family
in the castle of Maidens (Edinburgh), and her motions
were evidently carefully observed by Donald Bane, the
brother of the King, who now for the first time since his
infancy turns up. Whether he was a help or a menace to
his brother is unknown, but from his subsequent conduct
he did not share in Malcolm's love for English men and
English ways. Immediately on the news of the death of
the King and Queen he attempted to gain possession of
the royal family for a sinister purpose no doubt. ' Donald
the Red invaded the kingdom at the head of a numerous
band, and in hostilewise besieged the aforesaid castle,
where he knew the King's rightful and lawful heirs were.'
Edinburgh has always been ' strongly fortified by nature,'
the castle was not thoroughly invested, the gates alone
1 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, p. 469.

DUNCAN'S SHORT REIGN. 251
being guarded, so the remains of Queen Margaret, along
with the children, were safely conveyed out by a postern
on the western side, a providential mist, which sceptics
of this age say is not uncommon now in the locality,
miraculously shrouded the party, they embarked, crossed
the Forth, and reached in safety the church of Dunferm
line, where, as we have seen, the body of the saintly
Queen was interred. Eadgar Aetheling shortly afterwards
came to the rescue of the family in their by no means
secure sanctuary, and safely conveyed all the members
to the protection of 'his kinsmen and acquaintances in
England.' x
Donald, according to the law of Tanistry, was the
rightful heir to the throne, and seems to have been at
once accepted by the country north of the Firths, and
we have no doubt would be joyfully welcomed by the
old party, whose civil and religious rights and ceremonies
had been outraged by the new-fangled notions of the
}ate King and Queen. There has always been an old
party in most countries, notably in Scotland, whose
dearest feelings have been outraged by innovations. But
there were too many claimants to the crown, too many
conflicting interests at work, and in six months' tjme the
title of the new monarch was challenged by Duncan, thp
son of his predecessor by his first wife. He, given as a
hostage to the Conqueror in his early youth, had been a
resident at the courts of Normandy and England, was a
Norman knight, and readily enlisted the sympathies and
obtained the assistance of William Rufus. The Anglo-
Saxon Chronicle gives an account ofthe enterprise against
Donald: 'When Duncan, the son of King Malcolm, heard
all this, for he was in King William's court, and had re
mained here from the time that his father gave him as a
hostage to our King's father, he came to the King, and
did such homage as the King required ; and thus, with
his consent, he departed for Scotland with the aid that
he could muster, both English and French, and he de
prived his kinsman Dufenal of the throne, and was re
ceived as King. But then some of the Scotch gathered
1 Fordun's Chronicle, vol. ii. p. 209.

A.D.

252 DEATH OF DUNCAN.
themselves together and slew nearly all his men, and he
himself escaped with few others. They were afterwards
reconciled on this condition, that Duncan should never
more bring English or Frenchmen into that country.' J
It is probable enough that Duncan did homage to Rufus,
though Fordun simply says he was ' backed up his help,'
it is Certain that the homage was not acquiesced in by
the subjects of Duncan, the holocaust of the retainers of
the over-lord is a convincing enough proof. The new
monarch reigned but six months, but in that time he
exercised the functions of one : ' There are two charters
by him preserved ; one is a grant by Duncan of the lands
of Tiningham, and others in East Lothian to St Cuthbert,
that is the church at Durham, in which he styles himself
' son of King Malcolm, and by hereditary right, King of
Scotland. He appears also to have granted lands in Fife
to the church at Dunfermline.' 2
In 1094 — 'This year also the Scots conspired against
their King Duncan, and slew him, and they afterwards
took his uncle Dufenal a second time for their King ;
through whose instructions and instigations Duncan had
been betrayed to his death.'3 Donald Bane seems to
have been assisted by his nephew Eadmund, whose help
he probably purchased by the offer of Lothian and Cum
bria, which offer was accepted, and the result was their
joint reign for three years. The men of Moerne, con
spicuous in former times, were the instruments in the
hands of Donald by whom the young prince, deprived of
his southern friends, was ensnared and done to death,
the Maormor or Earl, as he was called, of Moerne was
the perpetrator the ruthless deed.4 Eadmund was un
doubtedly accessory to the murder, subsequent events
prove it, though the direct evidence is unsatisfactory and
rests on the authority of William of Malmesbury, from
whom Fordun copies when he says : ' Of the sons and
1 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, p. 469.
2 Skene's Celtic Scotland, vol. i. p. 438.
3 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, p. 471.
* Skene's Celtic Scotland, vol. i. p. 439 ; E. W. Robertson's
Scotland, vol. i. p. 158.

DONALD BANE KING A SECOND TIME. 253.
daughters ofthe King (Malcolm) and Margaret, Eadmund
was the only one who fell away from goodness. Par
taking of his uncle Donald's wickedness, he was privy to
his brother Duncan's death, having, forsooth, bargained
with his uncle for half of the kingdom.' J
1097 : We now find the Aetheling for once on the win
ning side, interfering in the Scotch succession, and repay
ing with interest the hospitality he had so generously
and repeatedly received from his friend the late King of
Scots. By his influence a large and well equipped force
was organised in England for the purpose of placing on
the throne of Scotland Edgar, the eldest of the trio of
Scottish princes resident there. The terms on which
assistance was granted by the King of England were in
the current language of the time similar to those exacted
from Duncan — homage to the English crown. Fordun
gives the credit of the expedition to the young prince,
and its success to the interposition of St Cuthbert,
who favoured Edgar with an interview, while he hast
ened to the scene of conflict : ' While, therefore, young
Edgar was hastening towards his native soil, and was
in fear of the turbulence of his foes, St Cuthbert stood
before him in the stillness of night and said, Fear not,
my son ! for God has been pleased to give thee the
kingdom.'-2 He was commanded to take the saint's
standard from his monastery at Durham, advance it
against the foe, and fear not the result. The young man
told the vision to his uncle, who, like a pious man, be
lieved it, and, like a sensible man, turned it to good
account. The holy standard was carried in the front,
the battle skilfully and bravely fought, and ' by the favour
of God and the merits of St Cuthbert, Edgar happily
achieved a bloodless victory.'3 Eadmund was taken
prisoner. His fate is thus described : ' But being taken
and kept in fetters for ever, he sincerely repented, and
when at death's door, he bade them bury him in his
chains, confessing that he was worthily punished for the
crime of fratricide.'4 Another milder version is, that he
1 Fordun's Chronicle, vol. i. p. 213. 2 Ibid. vol. ii. p. 214.
3 Ibid. p. 215. l Ibid. p. 213.

254 ACCESSION OF EDGAR.
a.b. was permitted to assume the habit of a Cluniac monk —
1093-1097. ^gj j^ i;veoi a hfe 0f extreme austerity, and became
celebrated for his sanctity — that on his death-bed, still
feeling the pangs of guilt, he desired to be buried in the
manner stated above.
a.d. Donald Bane escaped from the field of battle, and
1 097-1107. after living a wandering life for two years, was taken
prisoner, deprived of sight, and condemned to perpetual
imprisonment at Roscolpie or Roscobie, in Forfarshire.
A curious tale is told by Wyntoun how Donald, in after
years, murdered a child of King David's named Henry.
The child must have come to an untimely end, as an
other version of the story is given by Ordericus Vitalis,
who makes the murderer an outcast priest1
Edgar by this victory, and the successful capture of
his rivals, once more united the territory south of the
Forth to the Scottish crown, and for nine years governed
the kingdom so peacefully and successfully that, with the
exception of the invasion of the Western Isles by Magnus
Barefoot, there is absolutely nothing to chronicle. Though
the invasion Was fraught with important enough results to
the portion Of the country he overrun and devasted, it
had no effect on what was then the kingdom of Scotland;
The Western Isles could hardly be said to have been at
any time under the sway of the Scottish crown, though
the magnates there may have at times acknowledged it as
superior. Edgar wisely enough left Magnus to pursue
his schemes of conquest over a part of the country which
was to him inaccessible and worthless.
The expedition of Magnus Barefoot in 1093 was but
a prelude to the more formidable one of 1098. In the
first he left things pretty much as he found them. With
out disturbing the ruling powers, the sons of Earl Thor
finn in Orkney and Godred Crovan in the Isles, he con
tented himself with asserting his suzerainty. Godred was
a powerful and enterprising prince, who from the Isle oi
Man, by the power of his fleet, was the acknowledged
ruler from Dublin to Lewis. He did not venture on a
1 Wyntoun's Chronicle, vol. ii. pp. 193-5 > E. W. Robertson's
Scotland, vol. i. p. 160.

EXPEDITION OF MAGNUS BAREFOOT. 255
cbhtfest with the King of Norway in 1091, and was left a.d.
in undisturbed possession ofhis dominions in 1095. He io9]LL1°7
died of a pestilence in Islay,1 and either from default of
issue of some other cause, Magnus sent one of his no
bles, named Ingemund, as his successor. He proved ob
noxious to the Isles men, was not even acknowledged
king by the chiefs, and at the Island of Lewis, his lodg
ing was set fire to, and he and his company destroyed.2
This act, coupled perhaps with the ambition to emulate
the fame of Harald Harfager, determined the second
expedition, which in numbers and equipment challenged
comparison with any previous. The Orkneys were first
visited, the two sons of the late Earl Paul and Erlend
taken captive ahd sent to Norway, Sigurd the son of
Magnus left as Jarl, with a council to advise him. The
Sudreys were then plundered and devastated (a visitor
now-a-days wonders how they could stand so much
plundering, and how a desert could be devastated), all
who offered resistance were put to the sword. But the
people of the country fled to various places — some up
to Scotland, or into the fiords or sea lochs; Some south
ward to Satiri or Kintyre ; some submitted to King
Magnus, and received pardon.8 Iona alone escaped.
On entering the door of the chapel, there the King sud
denly drew back, and forbade any of his attendants to
enter, at the same time orders were given to respect the
property and persons of all on the island. It was gene
rally supposed St Columba had appeared in person to
the King and stayed his hand. Magnus pursued his
conquering course, took possession of Man and then of
Anglesea, afterwards returning to the Sudreys. He then
came to terms with the King of Scots, who made the
cheap cession to him of whatever rights he had over the
Western Isles, and also the peninsula of Kintyre, which
in these early days seems to have been a valuable and
coveted territory, though Campbeltown and whisky were
in the future. King Magnus is said to have been drawn
1 Annals of Four Masters, vol. ii. p. 951.
2 Skene's Celtic Scotland, vol. i. p. 441.
3 Coll. de Rebus Alb., p. 347.

256 CHARACTER AND DEATH OF EDGAR.
across the isthmus at Tarbet in a ship with his hand on
the tiller, and thus by a pleasant fiction made Kintyre
an island. The King of Norway then returned home,
but in 1 1 02 he came back, got involved in a contest in
the north of Ireland, and in the following year perished
by cowardice or treachery on the part of his own people
in an obscure skirmish there.1 The fleet deprived of their
leader made the best of its way to Norway. Sigurd, who
had married an Irish princess, relinquished both her and
his island kingdom, and returned with it The Islands
and the Orkneys at once threw off their allegiance ; the
Jarls of Orkney and the Lords of the Isles became in
dependent princes, though in future conflicts, when it
suited their purpose, they claimed protection as vassals
of Norway. Edgar seems to have inherited all the best qualities
of his parents, and while not deficient in courage and
manly accomplishments, he was of a gentle disposition,
cultivating friendly relations with all who came in contact
with him. Fordun says, ' King Eadgar was a sweet and
amiable man, like his kinsman the holy King Edward in
every way, using no harshness, no tyrannical or bitter
treatment towards his subjects, but ruling and correcting
them with the greatest charity, goodness, and loving
kindness.' 2 He emulated the piety of his mother, and
was not forgetful of the share St Cuthbert had in the
issue of the battle which gained him a crown. ' He gave,
granted, and confirmed to the monks of Durham, in
perpetuity, his estate of Coldingham, with all the perti
nents thereof. This princely man and bountiful king
likewise heaped gift upon gift, for he gave and confirmed
in possession to the Bishop of Durham and his successors
the whole village of Berwick, with its appurtenances.'3
There can be little doubt that the authority of the
King of Scots was largely strengthened by his close
relations with England, and the influx of Saxons and
Normans who accompanied him, or were drawn to his
court, and became naturalised in Scotland. Edgar must
1 Annals of Four Masters, vol. ii. p. 977.
2 Fordun's Chronicle, vol. ii. p. 216. 3 Ibid. p. 215.

ACCESSION OF ALEXANDER. 257
have felt that they, with the inhabitants of Lothian, a.d.
were his true support and bulwark against retrogression io9J^°'
or relapse. The court was removed from Scone or
Dunfermline, and ' Edina, Scotia's darling seat,' now first
appears as the residence of the Scottish monarchs. An
other circumstance which strengthened Edgar's power was
the marriage, in noo, of his sister, Matilda or Maud
to Henry I., the youngest son of the Conqueror — a
union fraught with the happiest results, cementing by
the holiest and closest of relations the Normans and the
Saxons, and maintaining, for a time at least, peace be
tween England and Scotland. Edgar did not long en
joy the regards of his subjects; in 1107 he sank into
an early grave, bequeathing the kingdom proper to his
brother Alexander, and the territory south of the Forth,
Lothian and Cumbria to David, who seems to have been
endeared to him by the closest ties of love and respect
Alexander, the fifth son of Malcolm Canmore and
Margaret, who now succeeded to the throne of Scotia,
inherited the piety of his mother without her gentleness,
with all the martial qualities of his father aggravated.
His character is well-drawn by his contemporary Ailred,
from whom John of Fordun evidently borrows when he
says : ' Alexander, surnamed Fers (fierce), was a lettered
and godly man ; very humble and amiable towards the
clerics and regulars, but terrible beyond measure to the
rest of his subjects; a man of large heart, exerting him
self in all things beyond his strength. He was most
zealous in building churches, in searching for relics of
saints, in providing and arranging priestly vestments and
sacred books ; most open-handed, even beyond his'
means, to all new comers, and so devoted to the poor
that he seemed to delight in nothing so much as in sup
porting them, washing, nourishing, and clothing them.
For following in his mother's footsteps, he vied with her
in pious acts.' 1 These pious acts were so important, in
volving a contest with the English Metropolitans of York
and Canterbury, that we reserve notice of them to the
ecclesiastical portion of our work. Fanatically religious,
1 Fordun's Chronicle, vol. ii. pp. 217-18.
VOL. I. R

A.D.
IIO7-H34.

258 NORTHERN INSURRECTION.
ad- the King of Scots was an accomplished knight, as is
1107-1134. gyj^gjjj. from his employment of cavalry in his northern
expedition, and from the chivalrous or reckless way in
which he exposed his own person; in fact he seems the
type of the ideal Norman of the time, pious to credulity,
brave to temerity. On his accession he was not more
than half-pleased to resign so important a part of his
dominions to his brother, and it was only the fear of the
powerful auxiliaries the Earl of Huntingdon could bring
to support the validity of the bequest, which extorted its
recognition. Alexander so far stood on his right as to
grant David the title of Earl only, but it will always be
a matter of dispute, incapable of solution, whether he
owed superiority for Lothian and Cumbria to the King
of England or King of Scotland. Very probably both
Henry and Alexander claimed the paramouncy; but
David was a prudent man, a friend to both, and the
claim would not come above board, he held sufficient
rank in England as Earl of Northampton and Hunting
don, and at the court of Henry could easily waive his
Scottish title.
Alexander in the early part ofhis reign was called on
to curb the Celtic portion of his dominions. There can
be little doubt that the infusion of Saxon, and particularly
Norman ways in Church and State, the administration of
high-handed justice would be distasteful to men as yet
strangers to law. The men of Moray lately subdued,
and the men of Moerne chronically rebellious, thought to
bring matters back to their former state, practical inde
pendence, with perhaps a scion of the house of Moray as
King. Their measures were taken with secrecy, and a
large force took its way south in the hope of surprising
Alexander, and repeating the regicides of former days.
The King of Scots was at the time at Invergowrie, and
fortunately received timeous notice of the advance of the
rebel force. So far from being taken by surprise, he, with
his small but formidable band of mail-clad knights with
their retainers, presented so bold a front, that his adver
saries broke and fled. But Alexander was not the man
to be content with this success, he fiercely pursued the

1107-1124.

DEATH OF ALEXANDER. 259
fugitives, who never paused in their flight until they *•*>•
reached the northern snores of the Moray Firth, where a
stand was made with the intention of disputing the pass
age of the King and his army. The pursuit and its sequel
are picturesquely told by Wyntoun :
' The Kyng wytht hys court symply
Folowyd on thame rycht fersly
Oure the Stockford into Ros.' '
Though it was high tide when the ford was reached,
Alexander, with his mounted chivalry, boldly swam the
stream, charged the disorganised and affrighted Kerne,
who offered little or no resistance, and fell an easy prey.
No mercy was shown to the foe, and the refuge of the
mountains and morasses was the alone shelter from the
vengeful arm of Alexander, who by this exploit earned
his title of the Fierce.
' The Kyng rad oure it in that tyde
And with his court apertly
On thame he chasyd, and cowartly
Hys fays turnyd the bak, and fled.
Efftyr thame he fast hym spede
Quhill he owre-tuok thame at the last
And tuk, and slwe thame, or he past
Owt off that land, that fewe he lefft
To tak on hand swylk purpos efft.
Fra that day hys l£gys all
Oysid hym Alysandyr the Fers to call.' 2
No other event of political importance apart from
church affairs disturbed the reign of Alexander. In 1 122
he lost his wife Sybylla, a natural daughter of King Henry,
who died suddenly at Loch Tay : two years later he
himself ' paid the debt of nature at Strivelin (Stirling), in
full health of body and faculties, on the 24th of April
1 1 24, and being taken away from this life, gave up the
ghost to heaven, and his body to the ground. He was
buried in state at Dunfermline on the day of St Mark
the evangelist, near his father, in front of the great altar,
after having completed seventeen years and twenty-one
days on the throne.' 3
1 Wyntoun's Cronykill, vol. ii. p. 174- 2 lhid- vo1- "• PP- '74-5-
3 Fordun's Chronicle, vol. ii. p. 221.

260 ACCESSION OF DAVID I.
a d. On the death of Alexander, his brother David, the
i"4_L-53. youngest son of Malcolm and Margaret, quietly took his
place as King of Scotland. The district to the south of
the Firths of Forth and Clyde was once more united to
Scotia or Alban, and under his reign became, not a no
minal but a real possession of the crown, and the barrier
which in future ages preserved the independence of the
country ; the heart of Scotland. The Saxon Chronicle
thus narrates the succession: 'After this, 1124, died
Alexander King of Scotland, on the 9th, before the
Kalends of May, and his brother David, then Earl of
Northamptonshire, succeeded him, and held at the same
time both the kingdom of Scotland and the English
earldom.' x
David had for long been an English Baron in high
favour at the court of Henry his brother-in-law. William
of Malmesbury, his contemporary, thus describes him as
' a youth more courtly than the rest (of Malcolm's sons), and
who, polished from a boy, by intercourse and familiarity
with us, had rubbed off all the rust of Scottish barbarism.
Finally, when he obtained the kingdom, he released from
the payment of taxes, for three years, all such ofhis country
men as would pay more attention to their dwellings, dress
more elegantly, and feed more nicely. No history has ever
recorded three kings, and at the same time brothers, who
were of equal sanctity, or savoured so much of their
mother's piety ; for, independently of their abstemiousness,
their extensive charity, and their frequency in prayer, they
so completely subdued the domestic vice of kings, that
no report, even, prevailed, that any entered their bed
except their legitimate wives, or that either of them had
ever been guilty of any unlawful intercourse.' 2 David was
united in marriage early in life to Matilda, the widow of
Simon de St Liz, Earl of Northampton, and heiress of
Waltheof, the great Earl of Northumberland. In addition
to the lady's portion as the heiress of her husband and
father, the Honor of Huntingdon was bestowed on the
Scottish prince, the crown reserved only the Earldom of
1 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, p. 493.
2 William of Malmesbury, pp. 434-35.

INTRODUCTION OF THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 26 1
Northumberland out of Earl Waltheof 's immense posses
sions. The union was a happy one, both during the long
period spent at the English court, and as King and Queen
of Scotland, Matilda was a worthy help-meet to her ami
able spouse; the only issue was a son named Henry, bom
ten years previous to David's accession to the Scottish
throne. For seventeen years David had occupied the anomal
ous position of a Norman-English Baron, under feudal
obligations to the King of England, and an independent
prince ruling over a portion of Scotland. It was fortunate
for all parties, that the friendliest feelings were preserved,
and it says much for the three potentates, Alexander,
Henry, and David, that the relations between the two,
or truly speaking, the three countries, never became even
strained. How much of David's time was spent at the
English court we have no means of knowing, but it is
next to certain, no small portion of it was devoted to his
Scottish principality, it was welded into one harmonious
whole, not even excepting the wild province of Galloway,
which in need furnished, if not his most redoubtable, his
noisiest warriors. Feudalism first obtained a footing here,
he gathered around him the knights and barons from
whom sprung the Norman chivalry of Scotland, and who
introduced the usages, and manners ofthe system, which,
with all its faults, was the first attempt at law and order
since the fall of the Roman system.
Previous to this time ' charters were unknown ; ' a
shake of the hand before a witness settled a common
bargain, the thirstier southrons concluded such compacts
with a drink,1 whilst the delivery of a stick, a straw, or a
clod of earth, in the presence of a greater number of
witnesses apparently conveyed a more permanent grant
of land, though length of occupancy alone conferred he
reditary right.'2 David's charters are granted 'by his
royal authority and power,' the bishops, earls, and barons
1 A custom still surviving in the north as well as the south, as
many of my readers may testify, and call to recollection the cost to
purse and head.
2 Robertson's Early Kings, vol. i. p. 249.

A.D.
I124-II53.

262 NORTHERN INSURRECTION.
a.d. formally confirm the deed, the clergy and people acquiesce,
24-1153. t^e charters 0f Alexander are granted with the assent and
concurrence of the seven Earls or Mormaors of Scotland
and the two Bishops, the witnesses, the few Saxons who
formed the personal attendants of the King.1 From the
reign of David truly commences the history ofthe kingdom
of Scotland ; previous to his time North Britain was an ag
glomeration of peoples loosely cemented together, under
the nominal sway of a Ri or King, according to his per
sonal qualities or connections, with a large or a small
territory. Gadhelic law in Church and State to any one
not a Gael means the absence of what a Saxon considers
Law, any one who studies the history of the Celt in inde
pendence, will endorse the statement. Justice may have
been administered, and protection given, but the first was
of the rudest kind, and as it suited the judge ; the latter
was determined by kinship only. David I. found his
kingdom Celtic and lawless, he left it Teutonic and con
stitutional. For six years David pursued his reforms in Church
and State, without any material disturbance in any part
ofhis dominions, but in 1130 a determined attempt was
made by the northern magnates, to restore the ancient
order of things, and to drive the Anglo-Norman ruler
with his followers, furth of the kingdom of ancient Alban.
Whether the inhabitants north of the Firths were chiefly
Celts previous to this, is a hotly contested point; in a
previous part of this work we have attempted to show
that they were not, and that the Gaelic element was
small. But from the time of the accession of Kenneth
Macalpin, 844, there can be no doubt that the Gaelic
language, manners and customs would be the mode
among the ruling class and their retainers. The reforms
in Church and State attempted to be carried out from
the time of St Margaret and her sons, would be exceed
ingly distasteful to the old party, all interfered largely
with the turbulence and licence so dear to the Celt, then,
as in later times, perhaps even now, the district was ripe
1 Skene's Celtic Scotland, vol. i. p. 459, where authorities are
quoted.

UNFRIENDLY RELATIONS WITH ENGLAND. 263
for a revolt against any settled form of government with a.d
a strong executive. At the head of this movement was I,2H!53'
Angus, Mormaor or Earl of Moray, a lineal descendant
of Macbeth, and his brother Malcolm. With a force of
five thousand men, they descended into the lowlands,
encountering no opposition until they came to Strath-
cathro in Fifeshire,1 where they were met by Edward the
Constable of Scotland, probably at the head of a body
of mail clad knights, and totally defeated, with the loss
of four-fifths of their number. Angus was among the
slain, but Malcolm escaped to prolong an unavailing
contest in another part of the country for four years ;
betrayed by his own followers, he was delivered up to
the King, who confined him a close prisoner for life in
the castle of Roxburgh.2 The Constable followed up his
victory with vigour and success, the Mormaorate or Earl
dom of Moray was forfeited to the crown, and portioned
out in feudal fiefs to knights from England, or to natives
on whose fidelity the King could rely.
In 1135 died King Henry I., and Great Britain, for
so many years in a state of comparative peace, was at
once plunged into anarchy. David naturally enough
supported the cause of his niece Matilda, Empress of
Germany, whom her father with his dying breath had
named as his successor. In 11 36 he invaded England
to support her claim against Stephen, who had been
crowned King of England, and to whom fealty had been
sworn by the Baronage of the kingdom. The King of
Scots advanced as far as Newcastle, the most of the
1 Fordun, p. 224.
2 Annals of Ulster, Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, pp. 170,
371. The narrative of the chroniclers of the insurrection in Moray
is conflicting. I have followed Mr E. W. Robertson, but Dr Skene
thinks that 'his usual sound judgment has deserted him on this
occasion.' He, Dr Skene, considers Malcolm to have been a
natural son of Alexander, who allied himself to the Thane of Moray,
but leaves us in the dark whether he fell at Strathcathro or escaped.
Mr Robertson, he says, has confounded the insurrection and person
of a monk named Wymund with Malcolm. Dr Skene makes the
date of this insurrection 1134-37, Mr Robertson near the close
of King David's reign. See Skene's Celtic Scotland, vol i. pp.
460-64; Robertson's Early Kings, vol. i. pp. 189-91, 219-221.

264 DAVID'S ENGLISH INVASION.
a.d. border fortresses having opened their gates to him.
"4-^53- jjere he was confronted by Stephen and his forces, but
neither of the two monarchs cared at the time to push
matters to extremity. Neither were prepared for a con
flict, and terms of peace after a short preliminary nego
tiation were agreed on. William of Malmesbury best
describes the campaign : ' King Stephen went into North
umberland, that he might have a conference with David,
King of Scotland, who was said to entertain hostile
sentiments towards him. From David he readily ob
tained what he wished ; because, being softened by the
natural gentleness of his manners, or by the approach of
old age, he willingly embraced the tranquillity of peace,
real or pretended.' 1 The terms were, that David refused
to acknowledge Stephen as his feudal lord, but had no
objections to his son Henry doing so ; all the fortresses
taken by the Scots, with the exception of Carlisle, were
restored, and the combatants parted. At York Prince
Henry performed homage for his fiefs in England, and
departed south in the train of his feudal lord. Henry
seems to have made a most favourable impression on
Stephen, and either on account of this, or out of respect
or fear of his father, while at court in London he
assigned the place of honour on his right hand to his
guest. This was resented by the proud Norman barons,
the masters of ' good King Stephen,' they gave vent to
fierce expressions of disapproval, and left the court in a
body. Stephen had to put up with this insult to his
guest ; but David was neither so meek nor so gentle, he
recalled his son, and though the latter was repeatedly
summoned by his feudal lord to perform his obligations,
he was not permitted by his father to do so.
A very short time elapsed before David determined
to strike another blow in favour of his niece the Empress
and at the same time avenge the insult offered to his son.
The absence of King Stephen in Normandy, and the
distracted state of England, afforded an opportunity,
which was too much for the saint, who was also a King
and a politician, not altogether divested of the passions
1 William of Malmesbury, p. 491.

DAVID'S ENGLISH INVASION. 265
appertaining to both. In 1 138 he invaded England at
the head of a force, for it could hardly be called an army,
drawn from every part of his dominions, and composed
of the most discordant elements. From Orkney, from
the Western Isles, from Moravia, from Scotia proper,
from Lodonea, from Cumbria, from the wilds of Gallo
way, a contingent was sent. But the real strength which
had given him the victory in his contest with the Mor
maor of Moray was wanting. The feudal force of Eng
lish and Norman knights disciplined and armed was
averse to the undertaking, all were half-hearted, and
many renounced their allegiance and retired with their
retainers. An incident occurred some time before the
final contest, which shows the anomalous state of parties,
and the close connection between the Norman rulers of
both countries; it required near two centuries of inter
necine warfare to make the one English and the other
Scotch. It grates against our proud national feeling of
independence, but the candid mind almost regrets that
some matrimonial arrangement was not effected, by which
people identical in race, in feeling, and religion, should
have been united under one head ; it mattered little
indeed to the Celt, in both countries he found alike a
master in the Norman. Robert de Brus was a Norman
noble who possessed vast estates in Yorkshire and
Annandale, held respectively of his feudal lord in both
countries. He had followed the fortunes of his friend
the King of Scots, was his trusted retainer, and a sup
porter of his policy and measures in Scotland ; in Eng
land he supported the claims of Stephen. In presence
of David he arraigned his English policy, telling him
plainly, that by it he alienated his best friends, the true
supporters of his kingdom. Ailred, Abbot of Rivaux,
makes him deliver a telling speech,1 tersely condensed
by Mr Burton. ' Bruce before renouncing his allegiance,
cried shame on him for leading that ruffianly band of
mixed savages against the gentle Norman chivalry who
had ever befriended him.'2 But other influences and
other warriors were at work, Malise of Stratherne made
1 Fordun, vol. i. p. 445. 2 Burton, vol. i. p. 437.

A.D.
1124-1153-

266 DAVID'S ENGLISH INVASION.
a.d. his appeal like a patriotic savage, and was successful.
"24^53- «why,' said he, 'O King, should you trust to these
Frenchmen, those mail-clad men, unarmed you shall
find that I shall outstrip them on the field of fight'
The story of the invasion is so well told by Mr E. W.
Robertson,1 and so picturesquely depicted by Mr Bur
ton,2 that we can only refer our readers to these ac
counts. David, at the head of the host we have described,
plundering by the way, advanced into England as far as
Northallerton in Yorkshire, where he was met by a small
but compact body of knights and men-at-arms, com
manded by the veteran Walter of Espec, and completely
defeated. The engagement, known as the battle of the
Standard, was fiercely contested, but the valour of Malise
of Stratherne, and the wild Picts of Galloway, was un
availing, the solid mass of Norman chivalry again and
again drove back the undisciplined charge of the north
ern braves. The King of Scots during the action showed
courage and personal bravery of no mean order, and
withdrew his broken and dispirited troops towards
Carlisle, more like a baffled than a beaten general. He
had a formidable force still in hand, and in order to give
it some better occupation than plundering, laid siege to
Werk Castle. Operations were in progress, when the
Papal legate Alberic of Ostia, in the true spirit of a
minister of the gospel of peace, attempted to mediate
between the two potentates. A truce was agreed on,
the garrison of Werk alone excepted, the horrors of a
barbarian invasion mitigated. Werk surrendered to the
Scots, after a gallant and desperate defence, and imme
diately thereafter, negotiations were opened, and by the
friendly zeal of the Papal legate, peace was concluded
much to the advantage of David. Carlisle was retained
by the Scots. Prince Henry received the great earldom
of Northumberland as a fief from the King of England,
he reserving only the fortresses of Newcastle and Durham.
In the same year the Scottish Prince was united in mar-
1 Robertson's Early Scottish Kings, vol. i. pp. 194-209.
2 Burton, vol. i. pp. 435-40.

DEATH AND CHARACTER OF PRINCE HENRY 267
riage to Ada, youngest daughter of the Earl of Warenne. a.d.
He won golden opinions from all by his lavish muni- I"4'"53'
ficence, courteous manner, and chivalrous bearing alike
in mimic fight and tented field, the beau-ideal of a Nor
man knight.
David and his son, in the mad imbroglio in England
during the reign of Stephen, seem to have played their
part well ; the King did not involve his realm in war, the
son preserved his fiefs. The remainder of King David's
reign was peaceful ; he maintained law and order in most
parts of his realm in a manner unknown in the good old
days. The northern and western portion, the last to
acknowledge his authority, was the most troublesome,
and, according to Mr W. E. Robertson and Mr Burton,1
a monk of the name of Wimund, who represented him
self as a son of the Mormaor of Moray, drew many of
the wild spirits of these parts to him, and raised the
standard of revolt against the royal authority. After a
protracted contest, which we do not detail, the warrior
monk and titular bishop was betrayed, deprived of sight,
and cruelly maimed by his captors ; afterwards he was
confined a close prisoner for the remainder of his days.
While David's rule was thus extended and consoli
dated over the northern portion of Scotland, the district
south of the Firths was peculiarly his care, and to it was
added in reality, if not in name, a large portion of the
north of England. Indeed all the country north of the
Humber was held either by David himself or his son
Henry ; the distracted state of England during the reign
of Stephen prevented any attempt to bring it under his
authority. Pious and humble though the saintly king is
represented by his biographers, his actions show him an
acute diplomatist, thoroughly alive to the aggrandisement
of his kin and country. His sanguine hopes, and natural
pride in the success of his efforts, centered in his gallant
son, were however doomed to disappointment. In 115 2
Prince Henry, the heir-apparent to the throne, was sud
denly cut off by an untimely death. From the elaborate
and highly-coloured panegyrics on his virtues, it may be
1 See ante, p. 263.

268 DEATH AND CHARACTER OF DAVID I.
ad. gathered that he was in every way a son worthy ofhis
1 24-1153- sire, and that the blow which stunned Scotland — monarch
and people alike — was no light one. Henry left issue —
three sons, Malcolm and William, both of whom became
Kings of Scotland, David, who for long enjoyed the.
Honor and title of Earl of Huntingdon, and three
daughters, two of whom formed influential alliances ; the
youngest died unmarried during the reign of her brother
Malcolm. The aged and bereaved King so far roused himself
from his deep grief as to take measures for the quiet
succession of his young grandson, now eleven years of
age ; he arranged that in company with Duncan, Earl of
Fife, the premier Earl of Scotland, Malcolm should make
a tour through the kingdom, and be acknowledged the
rightful heir to the Scottish throne. This being done,
King David of Scotland, in the language of holy writ,
' gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the
ghost, and was gathered unto his people,' May 24th, 1 153.
The death of David must have been sincerely
mourned throughout not only Scotland but England,
alike by peer and peasant; but he died in a ripe old
age, and it can truly be said, that ' his works did follow
him.' His name and character are not sufficiently ap
preciated by the most of historians ; even his title of
saint, and the tedious recital of his virtues and holiness
by the Abbot of Rivaux x have dimmed the character of
the man. There can be little doubt of the exalted nature
of his piety ; but a fair reading of his civil history, in its
home and foreign relations, shows that he was much more
than a saint. The most of the Lament must be gross
panegyric ; Earl David was a busy man, flitting between
the court of Henry and his Scottish principality, King
David was no less engaged in the multifarious affairs of
state ; he was his own general in his English wars. It is
very difficult for a man in a high position in life to be an
ascetic, though it is very easy for him to get the credit of
being one. It will be seen that even St Kentigern re
laxed his teetotal and vegetarian principles when he went
' Fordun, Book v. cap. 35-49.

INNOVATIONS OR CREATIONS OF DAVID. 269
to court; so it is no stretch of imagination to suppose a.d.
that the Prince of Cumbria and the King of Scotland, ' "*-""¦
while strictly attentive to religious duties when at leisure,
mixed freely in the cares, the sports, the entertainments
of his people. His mother, St Margaret, looked after
even the dresses and ornaments of her ladies. Why
should not the son follow her example ? In short
David was much more than a saint, he was a patriotic
monarch, bent on extending the boundaries of his king
dom ; the originator of law and order in his dominions ;
if there was any approach to religion and culture in his
day, he was the author. The verdict of Mr E. W.
Robertson must be endorsed : ' Of feudal and historical
Scotland ; of the Scotland which counts Edinburgh
amongst her fairest cities, and Glasgow as well as Perth
and Aberdeen ; of the familiar Scotland of Bruce and of
the Stewarts, David was unquestionably the creator.
With the close of the eleventh century ancient Gaelic
Alban gradually fades into the background, and before
the middle of the twelfth, modern Scotland has already
risen into existence.' L
A short notice of the innovations, or creations, of King
David will now bring this part of our sketch of Early
Scotland to a close. What he did, shows emphatically,
what was not in existence before his time ; incidentally,
what Scotia, Alban, was, in the olden times.
Previous to the reign of Malcolm Canmore, the king
dom of Alban was more an agglomeration of independent
peoples, presided over by the head of a family, than a
consolidated state ; the extent varied according to the
energetic character of the king, or the weakness of his
rivals. The anomaly was ever present, that the nominal
head of the state was sprung from an intruding race,
with none of the sympathies, and not even speaking the
language of the large majority of his subjects, The Scot
land of modern, of historic times was not in existence ;
south of the Forth and Clyde was Lothian and Cumbria,
annexed indeed to the Scottish crown, but possessing in
Lothian and possibly in Cumbria a thoroughly Anglo-
1 Robertson's Scotland, vol. i. pp. 319, 320.

270 INNOVATIONS OR CREATIONS OF DAVID.
a d. Saxon character, while Galloway was more of an inde-
"24""53' pendent principality acknowledging allegiance and pay
ing tribute as it suited. Northwards was Scotia proper,
embracing the central and eastern districts to the Spey,
and Moravia, loosely speaking, the remainder of the
mainland ; the Western Highlands and Islands were
until long subsequent an independent power. Scotia
proper included the seven earldoms often referred to,
viz., Mar, Buchan and Angus, Fife, Atholl, Strathearn
and Menteith, with Gowrie and Stormont ; the Merns and
some other districts were retained by the king, practically
speaking it was his earldom and means of support. The
earl was simply a new name for the Mormaor, who was
the chosen leader and judge of the confederacy, and
whose office and emoluments, like kings and earls of to
day, had by some inscrutable dispensation of providence
become hereditary. Ignorant of Jewish or any other
history, no divine right was thought of, originally the
office was purely elective, every free member of the kin
dred possessing the right to choose his Senior, and at the
same time his Tanist or successor. The tenure was the
Gavel, which was a right of joint occupancy of the tribe
land, the chief was the head of the freemen, neither posi
tion or land were personal or hereditary. Apart from
the slaves or serfs, there were two classes, the freemen
and the gentry ; the latter were composed ofthe Mormaor
and judge, their kindred, and the lesser chiefs who formed
the Duine-uasal, they in later times became the gentry or
freeholders of the district ; the former were all who could
prove their kindred to the gentry. There was thus an
ascending scale, admirably adapted for a lawless and
independent state of matters, combined with idleness
for the few, and servile labour for the many, the freeman
was kin to the Duine-uasal, he was equal in birth to the
Og-tiernach or lesser lord, who was equal in birth to the
Mormaor, who was in the same degree to the king. No
settled form of law and order was possible; the ties of
kindred influenced the decision of the judge, fighting was
the only occupation worthy of a Duine-uasal, who with
his retainers were separated from the agricultural, the

INNOVATIONS OR CREATIONS OF DAVID. 27 1
working population, by a wide, almost an impassable, a. o.
barrier. He quartered his retainers and levied his rents II34""53,
from this class, the extent ofthe extortion was measured
only by the ability of the victim to bear it.1
As far as possible to remedy this state of affairs,
David's first care was to increase the power ofthe Crown
— the executive, to preserve peace and prevent private
feuds, to punish thefts and misdemeanours, by officers
holding their authority from and appointed by the crown.
This he attempted to carry out by instituting the office
of the Sheriff, vicecomes, or royal deputy, who was en
trusted with the task of collecting the crown-dues, and
administering justice. In this he was only partially suc
cessful, in the outlying districts of ancient Moravia, in
Argyll, Cantyre, and Cowal, the duties of the Sheriff had
to be committed to the native chiefs ; even in Fife he
was unsuccessful. The modes of trial are interesting,
but our limits forbid us entering into details. The prin
cipal object of the reforming king -was, practically to put
an end to the private administration of justice, in most
cases revenge and oppression, a uniform administration
of the laws of the realm, to place all under the royal
authority, and to give every man according to degree a
fair trial by his equals. The trial by compurgation, by
ordeal, and by wager of battle, were certainly rude at
tempts in this direction, but infinitely superior to what
was in use, a higher tribunal than that of force was
initiated. Another innovation was the introduction of a written
charter to attest the right to freehold property. Pre
viously as we have seen, there was absolutely no right
in land, the district, large or small, belonged collectively
to the Mormaor or Thane and his kin ; the agriculturist
and the cattle-breeder had so many landlords, that he
could not possibly have any security for his produce. In
addition to the peculiarities in the law of Celtic inherit
ance, the absolute ignorance of letters prevented the use
of written charters, while the consciousness of physical
prowess tempted not only the Celt but the Frank and
1 Robertson's Scotland, pp. 237, 247.

272 INNOVATIONS OR CREATIONS OF DAVID.
a.d. the Saxon to despise their use. David was of another
112^1153. opinion, but had to adapt himself to the rude age in
which he lived ; he introduced written charters, and secure
tenures, but in consideration of military or ecclesiastical
services rendered. The idea that the land should be
portioned out and secured to those who cultivate it,
is even yet so thoroughly Utopian that we can hardly
suppose the idea crossed the mind of the kindly and
well-intentioned reformer. Montalembert has said, 'that
war and religion have ever been the strongest passions
of the Irish ; ' he might have included the inhabitants
of Great Britain and the Continent from the time they
embraced the Christian faith. Up to the time of the
Reformation, the land, the dignities, most of the good
things of this life were partitioned between their ministers.
The soldier and the priest have got on remarkably well
together, each supporting the craft of the other, and amid
all the changes of religious thought and government they
still continue fast friends, except perhaps in theory.
David, in his principality of Cumbria and Lothian,
would have little or no difficulty in allocating lands
among his Norman and English friends ; the probability
is, that there were no great chiefs there, corresponding
to the Gaelic and Pictish Mormaors, or English Earls, if
there were they do not appear in history. Besides the
great Norman nobles who founded historic dynasties and
who received the grant of territories corresponding to their
rank, David instituted a holding by knight service, the
possessors of it were the men who grew into the Lairds or
Barons of a future age. The smallest of these holdings
was half a plough land, fifty-two Scotch acres, which was
held by free service to, and by charter from, the crown.
When he became King of Scotland, the same system
slightly modified, was introduced north of the Scot's Water.
If we are to accept Fordun as an authority, King Mal
colm, 1004-24, initiated a kind of feudal holding direct
from the crown, he says, ' Of old, indeed, the kings were
accustomed to grant their soldiers, in feu-farm, more or
less of their own lands — a portion of any province or
thanage ; for at that time almost the whole kingdom was

INNOVATIONS OR CREATIONS OF DAVID. 273
divided into thanages.'1 Malcolm, in the picturesque a.d.
manner depicted bythe chronicler, granted lands to three II24""S3'
classes ; the lowest agricolae, tillers of the ground, ten
ants at will, or in lease by the year ; the next for ten or
twenty years, or in life-rent, with remainder to one or two
heirs, as to free and kindly tenants ; the third kinghts,
thanes, chiefs, who though few in number, held their land
in perpetuity — not, however, so freely, but each of them
paid a certain annual feu-duty to their lord the king.' x
As the cultivation, and cultivators of the ground existed
only in Fordun's imagination, the first and second classes
may, or ought to have existed previous to the time when
the word feud or feudal came into being, but they would
be thoroughly dependant on the higher class, few in num
ber but strong in prescriptive right, and whose proper
title is miles; besides the distracted state of the country
during the eleventh century effectually nullified all legis
lation. If Malcolm divested himself of all ' but the moot-
hill of the royal seat of Scone,' his household would be
small and his table scanty, he would require most accom
plished officers to collect his feu-duties.
David took advantage of these institutions, such as
they were ; the third class, the milites, were converted
into the earls and barons of a future age, holding their
lands by charter direct from the crown in virtue of mili
tary service to the king as their feudal superior. The
second class may have been the holders of land by knight-
service, as introduced further south ; the holding was,
however, smaller, one-half, or twenty-six Scotch acres,
and originally gave no claim to freehold right. The
claims of the last, the workers, the agricolae, have still
to be considered by the Reformed Parliament of Great
Britain in the year of grace 1886 !
But King David has even greater claims to the grati
tude ofthe ages which succeeded him; he was the re
storer of what little commerce and manufacture had been
introduced into North Britain by the Romans. On the
collapse of the imperial power, the different stations
where a settled population had clustered, merchants and
1 Fordun, vol. ii. p. 177. 2 Ibid. p. 178.
VOL. I. S

274 INNOVATIONS OR CREATIONS OF DAVID.
a.d. artizans, had been abandoned, and not a trace of station
1124^1153. or population left. The Picts, the Gaels, the Angles,
the Danes, all seem for long to have been essentially
nomadic. ' An intramural population was an anomaly
amongst the people of the north, and in their older codes
no provision was made for a free proprietary dwelling in
towns, land and land only, being connected with free
dom and hereditary right.'1 Under Pictish and Gaelic
rule, there was absolutely no urban population in Scot
land ; at the capitals of Inverness, Abernethy, and Scone
there would probably be a stationary following, sufficient
to minister to the wants and luxuries of the court, while
round the great monasteries there would be the same,
with the addition of a few adventurous traders from Eng
land and the continent; but towns or burghs in the
modern sense of the word, were unknown. From the
accession of Malcolm Canmore, perhaps even from the
time of Macbeth, who is said to have visited Rome, a
stimulus may have been given to a settled life, as the
names of Dunfermline, Stirling, Edinburgh, and Rox
burgh appear in the chronicles. Margaret did much for
her adopted country, but it was left to her youngest son
to bring into existence the third estate, the workers, the
producers, the distributors, which now in all civilised
countries has taken the first position, and has ever been
identified with liberty and culture. David took for his
model what he was familiar with, and the best to be had,
the Anglo-Norman burgh, with its feudal castle and its
civic population, distinct and separate from the garrison.
On the lines of these he constituted into royal burghs,
holding direct from, and responsible only to the crown,
Roxburgh, Berwick, Edinburgh, and Stirling. Each
burgh was divided into four wards, presided over by a
baillie, with the addition of the provost, who, with their
officers or bedells, were annually chosen by the com
munity of burghers. ' Every burgher was bound to pos
sess at least one rood of land in the burgh, for which he
paid fivepence yearly to the king, and to swear fealty
to the sovereign, the magistrates, and the community of
1 Robertson's Scotland, vol. i. p. 293.

INNOVATIONS OR CREATIONS OF DAVID. 275
the burgh ;n he could be judged only by his peers, ' the a.d.
good men and true of the community.' No burgh was "24""53"
complete without an hospital, no royal burgh without a
castle. The first was a necessary appendage then and
for long afterwards, where men did congregate, on ac
count of the prevalence of leprosy, caused by unwhole
some food — dried meat and fish ; above all by dirt and
sordid dwellings. This disease, we need not say, was
during the early and middle ages the scourge of Europe,
and shows the miserable and uncleanly mode of living,
and the debased state of the population ; the ages of
faith were the ages of ignorance and disease. The castle
was a still more important appendage, in the times in
which the burghs were formed, to protect the burghers
from wandering freebooters ; in later times, to protect
and secure the royal authority from the assaults of the
burghers. The fortress was under the charge of the Con
stable, an officer appointed by the crown, and in many
cases this office became hereditary; the burghers were
compelled to take their turn on castleguard, as part of
the service due for the tenure of their land, but gradually
this was compounded for by a payment in money to the
Constable, whose retainers undertook the duty. The
castellan and the provost had separate jurisdictions ; if
the former had a grievance against the burghers, he had
to carry it to the Provost ; if the latter had one against
any of the garrison, he carried it to the Constable. Rude
and elementary though these regulations were, they were
the germs from which sprung the present state of things,
and were satisfactory enough to attract a crowd of settlers
from England and the Continent, who introduced the
commerce and manufactures, which have done quite as
much for the well-being of the population of Scotland as
the prowess of its fighting men, and the orthodoxy of its
clergy. King David's reforms were extended to his court, to
the administration of justice through his dominions, and
to the orderly collection of revenue. We do not enter
into details, and have to apologise for the previous im-
1 Robertson's Scotland, vol. i. p. 299.

276 INNOVATIONS OR CREATIONS OF DAVID.
a-d. perfect sketch borrowed from Mr E. W. Robertson,
024-1153. ^here the subject is thoroughly treated, both in the his
torical portion and in the appendix. The subject be
longs to the history of modern Teutonic Scotland, and is
introduced only by way of contrast to what the country was
under Gaelic rule. In spite ofthe advantages derived from
the introduction of Christianity in the sixth century or
earlier, and the advent of teachers not altogether uncivil
ised, no progression was made in either Church or State.
The inhabitants of Scotland were as barbarous and as
ignorant, in the tenth century, as they were in the sixth,
as lawless as the fierce hordes of painted savages, who
threw themselves on the massed legions of Rome. They
never advanced to the length of building edifices of stone;
the palaces of their kings, their monasteries, and schools of
learning, were constructed of wood and wattles. Their
culture consisted of a knowledge of Latin by the clergy,
which probably expired after the time of Adamnan ; the
dialect of the Scoti did not attain to the dignity of a
written language ; if it did, no remains are left but the
' Duan Albanach,' a composition of the eleventh cen
tury ; within a few years after the death of David, the
language was extinct, save in those parts where it is re
tained to this day. Nothing testifies more to the non-
Celtic character of the greater part of the Scottish people,
than the absence of the Celtic language, manners and
character, when the light of history breaks in and legend
fails. There was absolutely no education for the people,
even for the upper classes ;] if Malcolm Canmore was able
to read, the accomplishment must have been a rare one, as
for writing the highest nobles for long afterwards affixed
crosses as the signature to their deeds; most of them
would feel with the Earl of Angus —
' Thanks to Saint Bothan, son of mine
Save Gawin, ne'er could pen a line.' '
What little education existed, was confined to the clergy.
Even so firm a Celtic advocate as Dr Skene, says that the
scolocs or scholars, for whom provision was made, seem
1 Marmion, canto vi.

INNOVATIONS OR CREATIONS OF DAVID. 277
1 to have been clerics who were undergoing a course of A d.
training and instruction to fit them for the Church.'1 II2i^S3'
The scanty writings of these clerics, both in Ireland and
Scotland, are entirely hagiological ; their value may be
judged, in the second part of this work. The instruc
tions of these men may have had some effect on the
people — their orthodoxy, their freedom from Romish
superstition, their non-celibacy, has been vaunted by
patriotic and Presbyterian writers ; but so far as the
scant records inform us, there was no perceptible differ
ence between the heathen Dane and the Christian Piet
and Scot. Why it should have been so is a problem
perhaps insoluble; but it remains an indubitable fact,
that when Scotland cast off all that was Celtic-Gadhelic
in Church and State, progression was made. Since then
no nation has done more to civilise, to Christianise the
world. 1 Skene's Celtic Scotland, vol. ii. p. 446.

APPENDIX.

A SHORT HISTORY OF IRELAND,
From a.m. 2242 to a.d. 498.

ANTEDILUVIAN PERIOD.
There are various opinions concerning the first mortal a.m. 2242.
that set foot on the green sod of Erin. It is held by
some that three daughters of Cain, arrived several hundred
years before the Deluge ; the eldest of these sisters, named
Bamba, gave a name to the whole kingdom. After this
three men and fifty women followed, who, after forty years'
residence, died from a certain distemper in a week's time.
Another account is, that three fishermen from Spain
landed, and were so pleased with the country, that they
resolved to go back for their wives. On their return
they were unfortunately drowned by the waters of the
Flood.1 But the recognised account2 is, that Caesair,
daughter of Bith, an antediluvian patriarch, applied to
Noah for apartments in the ark, and met with a churlish
refusal. Bith, Fiontan the husband of Caesair, and her
brother Ladhra, nothing daunted, built an ark for them
selves, which was launched, and, after having been tossed
about for seven years, the voyagers, consisting of three
men and fifty women, landed on the shores of Ireland.
(The voyage ought to have been a little more protracted,
as within forty days the flood came.) Ladhra died shortly
after arrival, and left his seventeen wives to Bith and
Fiontan. Within a few days Bith also departed this
life, and the whole community of wives was thrown on
the unfortunate survivor. It was too much for him ; he
ran away, and his fate is uncertain. Some authors be
lieve he survived to the time of St Patrick, and was con
verted to Christianity. Ceasair, upon the loss of her
husband, retired to Conacht, where, out of grief she
broke her heart and died there six days before the de
luge ; the remainder of the colony was swept away by the
waters ofthe flood, Anno Mundi 2242.
1 Keating's History of Ireland, vol. i. p. 78, Ed. 1841.
2 Annals of the Four Masters, vol. i. p. 3.

282 PARTHOLANIAN DYNASTY.
a.m. i978. The kingdom of Ireland after this lay wild and unin-
habited for three hundred years, till Partholanus, the fifth
in descent from Magog, the son of Japhet, arrived there
with his people a.m. 1978, : twenty years before the birth
of Abraham. He began his voyage from Greece, and
landed on 14th May at a place called Inbher Sceine, on
the coast of Munster. The colony consisted of himself,
his three sons with their wives, and one hundred soldiers.
Partholanus at his death divided the country among his
four sons. The dynasty lasted three hundred years, when
the whole of the inhabitants, to the number of nine thou
sand persons, were destroyed by the plague at the Hill
of Howth. During this period two well-known customs
were introduced. Samailiath invented the use of cups for
the conveniency of drinking at hospitable entertainments.
Breagha recommended the pernicious practice of duel-
a.m. 2308. ling and single combat. The pages of Lever testify to
the manner in which these customs have been preserved.
It was a highly advanced state of society previous to this,
though they lacked the conveniences of drinking. Par
tholanus brought over with him in his expedition four
learned men, four principal Druids, three generals, and
two merchants.
Ireland continued without inhabitants for thirty years
after the death of the Partholanus, until Nemedius, an
other scion of the house of Japhet, arrived on the coast.
He established himself and his followers in the country,
and built two royal seats. There must have been a
colony of another race at the time in the island, or it
must have arrived before these stately edifices were reared,
as the following narrative shows : — ' These places were
erected by the four sons of Madain Muinreamhair, who
were called Fomhoraicc. These master builders, and
their countrymen, were distinguished by this name, be
cause they were a sort of pirates or sea-robbers, that came
originally from Africa, and settled from that time in the
1 The chronology of the Annals of the Four Masters is the com
putation of the Septuagint, as given by St Jerome in his Cronicon
of Eusebius. In a narrative like the present, any scheme of chrono
logy is equally satisfactory.

NEMEDIUS AND THE NEMEDIANS. 283
north of Ireland. The next morning after these palaces a.m. 2308.
were finished, Nemedius commanded the four builders to
be slain, out of jealousy, lest they should afterwards erect
other structures that should exceed his in state and mag
nificence.'1 Following up this, Nemedius engaged the
African settlers in three bloody battles, in which he was
conqueror; in a fourth, however, he was defeated, and the
most of his men cut to pieces. ' This misfortune broke
the heart of Nemedius, who died soon afterwards, with two
thousand ofhis subjects, men and women, at a place in the
county of Cork .' 2 The vagabond Africans entirely subdued
the Nemedians, and made them tributary. The resistance
was, as in all Irish accounts of these struggles, desperate
and heroic ; but, in a last bloody battle the Nemedians
were defeated, and the three grandsons of the founder of
the state, Simon Breac, Jobbath, and Briotan Moi, had to
flee the country. The account in the Annals of the Four
Masters of this last conflict is much terser than this :
' They nearly all mutually fell by each other ; thirty per
sons alone of the race of Neimhidh, escaped to different
quarters of the world, and they came to Ireland some
time afterwards as Firbolgs.' 8
Simon Breac fled to Greece, Jobbath to the north of
Europe, and Briotan Moi to Scotland. Keating thinks
that the name of Britain must be derived from that of
the last-mentioned prince. ' The account (of Briotan
proceeding to Scotland) from the authentic records of the
Irish nation, gives a great light to the name of Britain, and
deserves our belief, rather than the fabulous relations of
partial and romantic writers (Geoffrey of Monmouth), who
have been the bane and distraction of true history.' 4
Simon Breac landed in Greece, and his followers be
came a numerous people ; so much so that the Grecians,
out of fear that they should become dangerous to the
State, put them to the most degrading labour. The Ne
medians sighed by reason of the bondage ; they resolved
1 Keating's History, vol. i. p. 91.
2 There is no mention of a battle or pestilence, so the reader is
bound to suppose monarch and subjects died from the same cause.
3 Annals, vol. i. p. 13. * Keating's History, p. 95.

284 THE FIRBOLGS.
2308. to escape, and by surprise seized upon some ofthe Grecian
shipping, in which, to the number of five thousand, they
put to sea and sailed until they arrived on the coast of
Ireland. These descendants of Simon Breac were named
Firbolgs, from the fact of their being compelled, while in
Greece, to carry leathern bags of earth; for the word
Bolg signifies bag, and Fir signifies men, which com
pounded makes Firbolgs. They were commanded by
five princes, who divided the island into five provinces,
over which they respectively ruled. We hear of no re
sistance being made ; the remaining Africans must have
been exterminated by a pestilence like the Partholanians,
or killed each other till none were left. The Annals
quoted state that, after Simon Breac was driven out, Ire
land was a wilderness for two hundred years.
The eight kings of this race ruled Ireland fifty-six
years, in which time no important event is chronicled ;
two died a natural death, one was drowned, the re
mainder were slain in battle.
It will be remembered that Jobbath, the grandson of
Nemedius, is said to have fled to the north of Europe ;
but the geography is a little confused, for we find him
and his followers settled in Achaia, which at that time
was invaded by the Assyrians. Ancient Greece was not
so large but one would have thought they could hardly
help hearing of, or meeting with, their expatriated breth
ren ; but such was not the case. In Achaia it was that
the Tuatha de Danans (for by this name the descendants
of Jobbath are known) gained their knowledge of necro
mancy and enchantment, and they became so expert in
magical knowledge that they had a power of working
magical feats, so far as seemingly to raise the dead. This
power they exercised for the benefit of the Athenians in
various conflicts with the Assyrians, but the latter, by the
advice of a Druid of great learning, found a means of
foiling their diabolical adversaries. The Athenians were
defeated, and their allies thought it time that they should
beat a retreat, and carry their skill to some country where
no learned Druids were to be got.
The Tuath de Danans left Greece, and found their

TUATH DE DANANS. 285
way to Norway and Denmark, where they were received A-M- 23°8-
with great hospitality by the inhabitants, who admired
them for their learning and skill in magic, and the won
derful effects of their enchantments. The Danes being
a barbarous and illiterate people, entertained such a re
gard for these strangers that they gave them four cities to
inhabit, where they should erect schools to instruct the
youth of the country in their diabolical learning. This
wonderful people, after some time, determined to seek a
new settlement. There is no reason given for their wish
to leave the hardy, but ignorant, Norsemen, and they
evidently left with the good wishes of the people who
had sheltered them, and brought with them from the four
cities they occupied four curiosities or monuments of great
antiquity. The first was the Fatal Stone or Lia-fail : it
had many virtues derived from diabolic sources, which it
possessed till the birth of Christ, who contracted the
power of the devil, and in a great measure put an end to
his delusions. This stone, called Lia-fail, had likewise
the name of Fatal Stone, or Stone of Destiny, because of
a very ancient prophecy belonging to it, which foretold
that in whatever country this stone should be preserved,
a prince of the Scythian race, that is, of the family of
Milesius, King of Spain, should undoubtedly govern, as
Hector Boece gives it —
' Unless the fix'd decrees of fate give way,
The Scots shall govern, and the sceptre sway,
Where'er this stone they find, and its dread sound obey.'
Another legend of this is, that it was brought by the
Gadelians from Egypt to Spain, and by the sons of Mile
sius to Ireland, and that it was the identical stone on which
the patriarch Jacob pillowed his head, when he saw the
wondrous vision of the angels descending and ascending
the heavenly ladder. The father and mother of Gadelas
were on intimate terms with Moses and Aaron, and this
may guide the reader in his judgment as to which ac
count is the true one. Fergus, the first of the Dalriadic
kings, brought the wondrous talisman to Scotland with
him, the monarchs of his race were crowned on it, without

286 TUATH DE DANANS.
a.m. 2308. interruption until the time of Alexander III. This vener-
able and national relic was removed by Edward I. from
its sanctuary at Scone, and placed in the coronation chair
in Westminster Abbey, where it may still be seen. The
prophecy was in the end accomplished, for, as we all
know, Her most gracious Majesty is a descendant of that
illustrious family whose lineage can be traced back to the
great Milesius, and, as we shall see, from him to the ac
complished Feniusa Farsa, professor and king, the fourth
in descent from Noah. The other three relics brought
from the north of Europe were a sword, a spear, and a
cauldron, but unfortunately (perhaps from being articles
in daily use) they have not been preserved.
The Tuath de Danans landed in the north of Scot
land, where they remained seven years, and then they
removed to Ireland.1 They arrived there on the first
Monday in the month of May, a.m. 3303, and imme
diately set fire to their shipping. By the aid of enchant
ments they formed a mist about them for three days and
three nights, and in this undescerned manner they marched
through the land without being discovered by the Firbolgs.
Being now in the centre of the country, the invaders sent
ambassadors, demanding the surrender of the kingdom,
or to try the issue by one decisive struggle. The Fir
bolgs accepted the challenge, a bloody battle was fought,
in which their King, Eochaidh, was slain, and with him ten
thousand ofhis troops, 'other histories with more proba
bility informs us that an hundred thousand men perished
on the spot.' The Firbolgs, who escaped this defeat, retired
to the Isle of Arran, Eilie, Rachruin, Innis-Gall and other
places for safety, where they remained till the provincial
times, when every one of the provinces of Ireland was
governed by its own king. This unfortunate race were
then driven out of this part of the country by the Picts ;
they found another refuge in Leinster, but the King of
that country so rack-rented them that they had to remove
to Conacht. The historian says that the possessions
they enjoyed there are known to this day by some ofthe
names of that people, and that there are three families in
1 Annals ofthe Four Masters, vol. i. p. 17.

FENIUSA FARSA. 287
Ireland who are lineal descendants of the Firbolgs, and a.m. 2308.
are not Gadelians.
Very little is known or mentioned of the Tuath de
Danans, their first king was named Nuadha, the silver-
handed. In the great battle with the Firbolgs he lost
his hand, the wound was seven years under cure. Danecht,
the Irish ^Esculapius, formed a silver hand which answered
all the purposes of the natural one. According to the
Master of Cashel this dynasty lasted one hundred and
ninety-seven years.
But Ireland, on the expiry of this period,1 was at last b.c 2247-
to receive the race of kings and heroes which was to add ~
the true lustre to her annals, and to give her, according
to those annals, the foremost place in the world's history.
We have now to tell the history of the Gadelians, Mile
sians or Scoti, who trace their ancestry from the present
day back in unbroken descent to Feniusa Farsa, grandson
of Magog, King and law-giver ofthe great Scythian nation.
The Scythians, according to a passage in Epiphanius
quoted by Keating, were much further advanced in civi
lisation in early times than is generally supposed. ' The
Scythian monarchy began soon after the flood, and con
tinued to the captivity of Babylon ; the laws, customs,
and manners of the Scythians, were received by other
nations as the standards of policy, civility, and polite
learning, they were the first after the flood who attempted
to reform mankind into notions of courtesy, into the art
of government and the practice of good manners.'2
The great Feniusa Farsa, King of the Scythian nation,
was a prince who applied himself to the study of letters,
and made it his business to understand the several lan
guages of the world, which began from the general con
fusion of tongues at the tower of Babel. It is supposed
that seventy-two tongues arose, besides the original speech,
Hebrew, with which the faithful Heber was rewarded for
his piety.Feniusa Farsa, with a laudable ambition determined
to make himself master not only of this sacred language
1 Chronology in margin from Bagster's Bible.
2 Keating's History, vol. i. p. no.

288 FENIUSA FARSA.
but of the others, and took measures accordingly. He
despatched seventy-two persons of learning, who were
commanded to study the different tongues for seven years,
and then return to teach the youth of Scythia. The King
himself left the government of his dominions to his son,
and after a long and laborious course of study, founded
a university at Magh Seanair, but where this was, the
historian leaves us in doubt. In one paragraph he says,
it was near the place where Hebrew was the common
language of the inhabitants, in another it is said to be
near the city called Athens. The institution was intended
for the attainment of the knowledge of the universal lan
guage as the poet observes :
' In Magh Seanair, after the lofty tower
Of Babel was erected, the first school
At Athens was erected, where the languages
Were taught with care, and the industrious
Youth instructed.'
The Principal of the University was its learned and
indefatigable founder; but besides the seventy-two pro
fessors, he associated with himself two celebrated linguists,
Gadel, a Grecian, and Caoih Saoin Shreathach, a Hebrew.
These three Principals first invented the alphabet in three
principal languages, in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, which
they inscribed on tables of wood, as the learned Cionf-
haola, who wrote in the time of St Columbanus, justly
observed. This University was opened 242 years after
the flood, and for a period of twenty years was presided
over by Feniusa Farsa. On the expiry of this period he
returned to his dominions, opened seminaries for learning,
and appointed Gadel president over them.
Gadel was now appointed to a most important task, no
less than the formation of a language which has survived
to the present day, and bears the name of its author, ' the
Gadhelic branch ofthe Celtic language.' Gadel was com
manded to digest the Irish language into form and regula
tion, and to divide it into five several dialects. The first
was the Fenian dialect, which was spoken by the militia and
soldiery ofthe island, the second was the poetical, the third
the historical, the fourth was the dialect of the physicians ;

NIUL AND SCOTA. 289
the fifth was the common idiom, or the vulgar Irish, used
in general by the people of the country, this dialect re
ceived its name from Gadel, the master of the schools,
and was called Gaoidhealg, that is, Irish, and not from
Gadelas, as others imagine.'
When Feniusa, had thus finished his great work twenty-
two years after he had assumed the government of his
native country, he fell sick and at the point of death, he
then demised the kingdom of Scythia to his eldest son
Nenual, and left nothing to Niul the younger brother, but
the advantage arising from the public schools he had erect
ed, and the benefit of instructing the youth of the country
in the learned languages. We hear nothing more in the
Irish Annals of the great institution at Magh Seanair,
whether it languished and expired after the departure of
its founder ; unaccountably no mention is made of it by
either the sacred or classical writers.
Niul was a scion worthy of such, a sire, the fame of
his accomplishments spread far and wide, even to what
is generally considered the birth-place of civilisation.
Pharaoh Cingeris, King of Egypt, sent messengers de
siring" him to carry his talents there. Niul complied, and
his patron was so pleased with his learning and modest
behaviour, that he bestowed on him his daughter Scota,
and with her an appanage of the lands of Capacirunt, on
the coast of the Red Sea. The Pharaoh on the throne
of Egypt was the wicked king who oppressed the child
ren of Israel, but Niul, though connected with royalty
disapproved of those infamous proceedings, he sympath
ised with the oppressed people, and in their sore distress
supplied them with provisions. In this way he became
intimate with Aaron, and as a historian of the present day
Cusack, gravely remarks, he became acquainted with the
Mosaic law, and through this intercourse his descendants
became possessed of it and conveyed it to Ireland,
A difficulty strikes even an Irish historian here, but
only to be satisfactorily explained : ' It may seem strange,
perhaps, that Niul, who was the fifth descendant from
Japhet, should be contemporary with Moses, especially
considering that it was the space of 997 years from the
vol. 1. T

B.C 3247.

290 NIUL AND SCOTA.
Deluge, till Moses took upon him the command of the
Israelites. This difficulty will be answered, if we observe,
that, it was not impossible for Niul to live some hundred
years ; for in these ages of the world the lives of man
kind were very long, as may be proved from the testi
mony of Scripture. Shem lived six hundred years, Heber
four hundred and sixty-four years ; why not Niul a like
period.' l
To Niul and Scota was born a son whom they named
Gadelas, after Gadel the celebrated linguist. This young
Prince had the misfortune to be bitten by a serpent, and
was at the point of death, to the great consternation of
his parents, but Niul having seen or heard of the miracles
performed by Moses with his wonder-working rod, be
thought himself of his friendship with the brother of the
prophet. He lost no time, but took the child to the
Hebrew camp, and Aaron at once interested Moses on
its behalf, he laid his rod on the wound, and a cure was
instantaneously effected. ' When Moses had so miracul
ously cured this bite of the serpent, he prophesied, that
wherever that young prince or his posterity should in
habit, the country should never be infested with any
venomous creature.' It is well known that in the island
of Crete, now Candia, where there are at the present day
descendants of this illustrious prince, no venomous crea
ture can live ; it dies immediately on its arrival, as it does
in Ireland. The general opinion is that St Patrick ex
pelled these creatures, but Keating is of opinion that this
is a figurative expression, the saint expelled the devils
and infernal spirits, who very properly may be called
serpents. There were no real serpents, as no mention is
made of them by any of the Irish annalists or historians.
In England dragons were not uncommon, and in Scot
land, so late as the time of St Servanus, a dragon was
slain at Dunning by that blessed man ; if there had been
similar events like these to chronicle in Ireland, they
would surely have been noticed. From this Prince
Gadelas, the Gadelians derive their name, and the Irish
from him are called Clana Gaodhal.
1 Keating's History, vol. i. p. 118.

THE GADELIANS. 29 1
Niul did not accompany his father-in-law in his pur- b.c 1533-
suit of the Israelites, he disapproved of it, and by the
help of Moses who despatched a thousand well-armed
men on the service, the Egyptian fleet was seized, and
Niul, with his people, embarked and put to sea, to await
the result. On hearing of the destruction of the Egyp
tians, he returned with his people, to his possessions on
the Red Sea, administered his affairs wisely, and in a full
old age died, leaving his kingdom to his son Gadelas,
who associated his mother Scota with him in the govern
ment. The descendants of Niul were not suffered to remain
long in Egypt, for the successor of the Pharaoh who
perished at the Red Sea expelled them from Egypt.
After sundry wanderings by sea and land which confound
all physics and geography, quite as much as the preceding
narrative confounds all history, sacred and profane, the
Gadelians arrived in Spain. Bratha was the name of the
leader under whom they arrived in that country, and by
whom a settlement was effected after many desperate
engagements, with the inhabitants the descendants of
Tubal the son of Japhet. To Bratha was born a son
named Breogan, who eclipsed the fame of his father, and
by the terror of his arms spread the fame of the bold
Gadelians over the whole of the peninsula. He built
the city of Bragantia, named after himself, and it is his
name which still survives in the royal house of Braganza.
He left issue ten sons, one of whom, Bille, had the honour
of being the father of the great Milesius, the name so
dear to every son of Erin.
This hero, while yet a youth, after having shown his
ability and gallantry in Spain, resolved to visit his re
lations in Scythia, . and with a powerful force set sail,
arrived there, and was hospitably welcomed. His own
skill, and the bravery of his companions naturally gained
him employment, and he was raised to the rank of prime
minister and generalissimo of the forces. But as in later
times the Milesians, though the darlings of the people,
became objects of suspicion to the ruling power. Trea
chery, of course, was tried ; the King of Scythia deter-

292 MILESIUS.
mined to despatch his minister, but Milesius, informed of
the atrocious design, frustrated it by despatching the
monarch, a thoroughly Irish expedient, unfortunately co
pied at the present day. With his followers he escaped
to his ships, and sailed through the Euxine and the. Helle
spont till they arrived on the coast of Egypt.
As the fame of the learning of his ancestor had
reached the ears of the Egyptian King, so the military
fame of Milesius had preceded him. The reigning
Pharaoh was more in need of a general than a professor,
he welcomed the bold adventurer and his companions,
and engaged their immediate assistance in a war of life
and death he was engaged in with the Ethiopians. Mile
sius was made general of the Egyptian forces, and the
tide of battle which had set strong against them was
turned. By reducing his troops to strict military discip
line, and by his own bravery and skill, Milesius soon
broke the power of the Ethiopians, and made them tribut
ary to the crown of Egypt. The victorious general was
rewarded with the hand of Pharaoh's daughter, a lady
called Scota, which seems to have been a common name
among the princesses of Egypt, the reader will remember
that the wife of the learned Niul, the ancestor of Mile
sius, bore the same name. Though Milesius was chiefly
renowned as a warrior, he was not forgetful of the im
portance of learning, as might be looked for in a descend
ant of Feninsa Farsa. While in Egypt 'he appointed
twelve of the most ingenious youths that came over with
him to be instructed in the curious arts and sciences of
Egypt, with a design, when they were perfect masters of
their several professions, to teach his own countrymen
the trades and mysteries of the Egyptians.'
Milesius did not settle in the land of the Pharaohs ;
when seven years had elapsed he remembered the re
markable prediction of Caicer the principal Druid, who
foretold that the posterity of Gadelas should obtain pos
session of a western island, which was Ireland, and there
inhabit Confiding in the truth of the prophecy, with his wife,
family, and followers, Milesius set sail in sixty ships, and

MILESIUS. 293
after a most remarkable voyage, in which he passed b.c
through Thrace, and came to an island in the British sea IS3£24'-
called Gothiana. After some time spent there, the ad
venturers stumbled on the kingdom of the Picts, landed
there, plundered all the country that lay on the coast,
and conveyed the booty to their ships. Setting out for
the promised island they were unfortunate enough to
miss it, and landed on the coast of Biscay, in Spain.
Milesius on his arrival found things in a very bad state
indeed ; during his absence the Goths had overrun and
ransacked the whole country, an invasion unaccountably
passed over by Greek and Latin historians, indeed,
strange to say, the Gothic invasion of Spain, according to
other authorities, did not take place till the middle of the
fifth century of our era. However, Milesius soon put
matters right, he summoned the whole of the Gadhelians,
brought them under strict military discipline, and formed
them into regular troops. With this force and his own
veterans who had seen so much service, he engaged the
enemy, and after defeating them in fifty-four battles,
drove them out of the kingdom. Milesius and his rela
tions became masters of almost the whole kingdom of
Spain. But the prophecy as to the future home of the race
remained to be fulfilled, and an expedition in search of
the promised land was organised. Ith, the son of Breo-
gan, was appointed to the command. With a small force
he set sail, lands in Ireland, and found a people speaking
his own language, for the Tuath de Danans, then in pos
session, were Scythians, and Irish in its five different
dialects, we have seen, was the language of that people.
Ith found Ireland governed by three kings, and in
the normal condition of Irish kings, quarrelling. The
dispute was about some crown jewels, and it ran so high,
that no other means than the sword seemed likely to
settle it. The arrival of the distinguished stranger who
spoke their own language, suggested a more peaceable
settlement. Ith was appointed umpire ; and after hearing
parties, he gave what would seem a fair decision ; that
the articles in dispute should be equally divided.

294 DEATH OF MILESIUS.
b.c. The parties expressed their satisfaction, and acquiesced
1533^342- jn the judgment Ith, whose expedition was simply to
examine the country, made his adieux, and prepared to
return, but was treacherously attacked on his way to his
ships. After a heroic resistance, in which their leader
was mortally wounded, the Gadhelians gained the shelter
of their fleet, with the senseless body of their chief, who
expired before the Spanish coast was reached.
Before the return of this expedition, that incomparable
prince Milesius, the deliverer and father of his people,
died, after he had reigned in Spain thirty-six years. He
left issue, as the poet testifies in this manner,
' Milesius the warlike Spanish King
Had two and thirty sons, and heroes all,
But only eight born from the marriage bed
Arrived in Ireland.'
We now come to the account of the most important
colonisation of Ireland, and certainly the one which
occupies the foremost place in its annals, and which has
influenced its fortunes more than any other. Previous
to commencing his narrative Dr Keating disposes of the
peevish objections of those who assert that the Gadhe
lians were ignorant of the art of navigation, and could not
have undertaken so long a voyage. He disposes of those
objections, by showing that other nations of antiquity
made long voyages, and why not the Gadhelians, who
were ever a people esteemed the most ingenious and
enterprising of any in the world ? ' Let me for once re
commend them to the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth
chapters of the Acts ofthe Apostles, where the holy writer
gives a relation of St Paul's voyage from Jerusalem to
Rome, with these memorable circumstances, that the
ship was of a large size, and able to contain two hundred
and seventy-six persons ; that she had sails and anchors,
and that the mariners steered by the stars, long before
the chart or compass was discovered, so that this objec
tion is of no manner of force, but designed only to de
stroy the authority of the Irish Records, which give an
account of the voyage of the Gadelians from Spain into
Ireland ; and to impose upon the world with a fiction,

MILESIAN CONQUEST OF IRELAND. 295
that the Gadhelians came from some other country, and
were accidentally driven upon the Irish coast, and for no
other reason but because they could not steer by the
compass, which at that time was undiscovered. But the
ancient chronicles of Ireland shall ever be a guide to me,
and unless we depend on their authority, it is impossible
to arrive at any certainty of the antiquities, and the re
ligious or political state of that kingdom.' x The author
unconsciously fully accounts for the history of Ireland
and its religion and politics, past and present ; a belief in
such a farrago of vain and insipid inanity gives a true
key to the character of the Scoto-Celt wherever he is to
be found. The unfortunate result of the expedition to Ireland
naturally aroused the feelings of the relatives of the slaugh
tered chief, and Scota determined to avenge his death, and
at the same time fulfill the ancient prophecy previously
referred to. This time the expedition was to be in force
not for the purpose of exploration but for conquest.
The Princess Scota was the moving spirit, she em
barked with her sons and nine hundred and fifty men,
under the command of forty brave and skilful generals.
The armament consisted of thirty transports, and the
armed force were accompanied by their wives and fami
lies ; many others also followed them out of a prospect of
obtaining possessions in the new plantation, whether on
board the transports or in other vessels, we are not in
formed. The Milesian fleet set sail, and made the coast of Ire
land according to the Annals of the Four Masters, in the
year 1700 B.C. (in a note in the same work the date is
1342 B.C.) The Annals of Clonmacoise give a later date
and are precise, the day is given 17th May 1029 B.C.
The invaders attempted a landing in Leinster and Wex
ford, but unsuccessfully ; the Tuath de Danans, alarmed
at the appearance of such a formidable armament, flocked
towards the shore, and by the power of their enchant
ments and diabolical arts cast such a cloud over the
whole island, that the Milesians were confounded, and
1 Keating, History, vol. i. pp. 138, 139.

296 MILESIAN CONQUEST OF IRELAND.
o.c thought they saw nothing but the resemblance of a hog,
.700-1029. anci for this reason the island was called Muicinis. Nothing
daunted, the fleet put to sea, and after sailing about the
island for some time, a landing was effected in the west
of Munster. The resistance at first was not formidable, they met
with no armed force, but were saluted in turn by the
wives of the three kings of the island, who were accom
panied by a beautiful train of ladies, followed by Druids
and soothsayers. Neither the charms of the ladies nor
the glamour of the magicians hindered the march of the
Milesians, they passed through the country until they
arrived at the royal palace of Teamair, where the sons
of Cearmada kept their court, and appeared in great
grandeur and magnificence, encompassed with their en
chanted guards.
Nothing daunted by this display, the leaders of the
Milesians boldly demanded possession of the kingdom
of Ireland ; the modest request, we need not say, was
refused. The invaders, though few in numbers, must have
presented a most formidable appearance, for the Tuath
de Danans entered into negotiations, which came to
nothing. Treachery and enchantments were tried, which
proved more successful ; the Milesians were induced to
go on board their ships. A storm was raised by enchant
ment, many valuable lives lost, and the fleet driven off
the coast. A landing was again effected at Drocheda,
but the Milesians had been only three days on shore,
when they were attacked by Eire the wife of MacBreine,
one of the princes of the country, at the head of a strong
body of troops. A desperate battle ensued, in which the
invading force were victorious, but with the loss of the
Princess Scota, the Lady Fais, two principal Druids, and
three hundred rank and file — the grave of Scota is still
pointed out in the valley of Gleann Scoithin, Co. Kerry.
The three kings of the Tuath de Danans then concen
trated their forces, and the decisive battle which gave
Ireland to the Milesians was fought at Tailton in Meath.
They were completely victorious, the enemy put to the
route with great slaughter, the three kings with their

MILESIAN CONQUEST OF IRELAND. 297
queens slain on the field of battle. The ladies seem to b c
have followed their lords to the tented field, and on I7°^39'
occasion to have taken command, but they were modest
as well as brave, as the following extract shows : ' Fiall,
the wife of Lughaidh, was a lady of strict virtue and un
common modesty, for she was so confounded with shame,
because her husband had seen her naked as she was
swimming in the river Feil, that she languished and died
with grief. The stream received the name of Inbher Feile,
from this fair Milesian, and so is called to this time.' 1
The Milesians were soon in possession of the whole
island, but it had cost the sons of Milesius dear, their
mother and five of their brethren were among the slain,
there survived only Amergin, Heber, Fionn, and Here-
mon. Amergin was more like his ancestor Niul, he was
a learned man, a poet, and possessed of singular judg
ment and ability; after the conquest, he fell into a second
ary position, and left the chief power to his brothers
Heremon and Heber, who divided the country between
them, the first taking the northern part, the other the
southern, the river Boyne being the boundary. They
assigned lands to the principal officers, where each
of them erected a castle on his own estate ; these
are described as very stately structures. Heremon
himself built a magnificent palace where he kept his
court. The brothers administered their governments wisely,
and for the space of a year were on most affectionate
terms, but at the end of this period a dispute arose con
cerning the possession of three celebrated hills, according
to the Annals of the Four Masters, or according to Keat
ing, a fruitful valley. The dispute was fomented by the
wives ofthe two kings ; the one is represented as a woman
of great pride and ambition, the other as a lady of mas
culine spirit. Neither the ties of blood, nor the recol
lection of their common perils by flood and field, could
prevent a contest, a battle was fought at Geisiol in Lein
ster, in which Heber and three of his principal officers
were slain. Not only the disputed territory, but the share
1 Keating, History, vol. i. p. 154.

298 KING HEREMON.
of his brother fell to Heremon, the fratricide was monarch
of Ireland. The Milesians brought over with them from Spain a
very skilful musician and an eminent poet ; the musician
was assigned to Heber and the poet to Heremon ; after
the death of Heber, both would likely attend the court
of Heremon, but the south of Ireland must have felt the
influence of the great master, for 'that division of the
island is observed to be more particularly delighted with
music as an old poet observes,'
' Heber, with music first his southern subjects bless'd,
And music flourished in the southern coasts.'
There came over also twenty mechanics and a number
of labouring men fit only for servile work ; mechanics,
musicians, and even poets and warriors, have not taken
so kindly to the soil as this latter class, it even seems to
raise a breed of them for the use of the Saxon here and
in America. The arrival ofthe Picts formerly alluded to, is reported
to have taken place during the reign of Heremon. After
a prosperous reign of fourteen years, the first monarch of
the Milesian race died a natural death, a most unusual
circumstance, of the kings of the two former dynasties
only three were so fortunate. No event of importance is
recorded until the reign of Tighermas, who is said to have
been the first who introduced idolatry into Ireland. By
the judgment of heaven, he and three parts of his sub
jects were cut off in one night as he was worshipping his
idol Crom-cruadh. During his reign gold was first dis
covered in Ireland. ' It was by Tighearnmas also that
gold was first smelted in Ireland. It was Uchadan an
artificer that smelted it. It was by him that goblets and
brooches were first covered with gold and silver in Ire
land. It was by him that clothes were dyed purple, blue
and green.' 1 The next King in the order of succession
is one of the most important in the Annals of the Gad
helic branch of the Celtic family. Eochaidh, more famil
iarly known as Achy, surnamed Eadghadbach, ' because
1 Annals of the Four Masters, vol. i. p. 43.

ACHY — OLLAMH FODHLA. 299
it was by him the variety of colour was first put on clothes b.c
in Ireland, to distinguish the honour of each by his rai- 's^00-
ment from the highest to the lowest. Thus was the dis
tinction made between them ; one colour in the clothes
of slaves, two in the clothes of soldiers, three in the clothes
of goodly heroes, or young, lords of territories, six in the
clothes of ollavs, seven in the clothes of kings and
queens. J From the party coloured garments worn by the
ancient Scots or Irish, Moore derives the national fashion
of the plaid, still prevailing among their descendants in
Scotland. Most of the clan tartans show that the Gaels
in Scotland were entitled to wear the clothes appropriate
to goodly heroes, many of those pertaining to royalty itself.
The great legislator of Ireland, Ollamh Fodhla, is the
next monarch entitled to notice, and it is like an oasis in
the desert to find that he reigned forty years and died a
natural death. If he is an historical personage Irish chron-
olgers differ widely as to the period when he lived ; the
dates vary from 1316 B.C. to 600 B.C. In the Annals of
the Four Masters, he is stated to have instituted the feast
of Tara, whereunto all the King's friends and dutiful sub
jects came yearly, and such as came not were taken for
the King's enemies. He also appointed a chieftain over
every cantred or barony, and a Bruighaidh or farmer over
every townland. Keating amplifies this short statement,
and to show the effect which these fables have had on
the national mind, it is sufficient to quote the words of
Thomas Moore, whom Hallam quotes as a creditable his
torian.2 The author of the ' Lives of the Angels,' the
' Veiled Prophet of Khorasan,' and the ' History of Ire
land,' says : ' This Triennial Convention at Tara was an
approach so far to representative government, that in these
periodical assemblies the leading persons of the three
orders of whom the political community consisted — that
is to say, the Monarch, the Druids or Ollamhs, and the
Plebeians — were convened for the purpose of passing
such laws and regulations as the public good seemed to
require.' 3
1 Annals of the Four Masters, vol. i. p. 45.
2 Moore's Ireland, vol. i. p. 119. 3 Ibid. vol. i. p. in.

1316-600.

300 OLLAMH FODHLA.
Keating's account is certainly a wonderful statement,
and to any human being but an Irish Celt would seem an
admirable burlesque : ' This illustrious assembly was called
by the name of Feis Feamhrach, which signifies a general
meeting ofthe nobility, gentry, priests, historians, and men
of learning, distinguished by their abilities in all arts and
professions ; they met by a royal summons, in a parlia
mentary manner, once every three years, at the palace of
Tara, to debate upon the most important concerns of
State ; where they enacted new laws, and repealed such
as were useless and burdensome to the subject, and con
sulted nothing but the public benefit in all their resolu
tions. In this assembly the ancient records and chronicles
of the island were perused and examined, and if any false
hoods were detected they were instantly erased, that
posterity might not be imposed upon by false history ; and
the author who had the insolence to abuse the world by
his relation, either by perverting matters of fact, and re
presenting them in improper colours, or by fancies and
inventions of his own, was solemnly degraded from the
honour of sitting in that assembly, and was dismissed
with a mark of infamy upon him ; his works likewise were
destroyed, as unworthy of credit, and were not to be ad
mitted into the archives, or received among the records
of the kingdom. Nor was this expulsion the whole of his
punishment, for he was liable to a fine, or imprisonment,
or whatever sentence the justice of the parliament thought
proper to inflict. By these methods, either out of fear of
scandal or disgrace, or of losing their estates, their pen
sions and endowments, and of suffering some corporal
correction, the historians of those ages were induced to
be very exact in their relations, and to transmit nothing
to after times but what had passed this solemn test and
examination, and was recommended by the sanction and
authority of this learned assembly.' x The only legisla
tion mentioned is a strange commentary on the state of
society in this highly civilised nation : ' He made very
strict and wholesome laws for the government of his sub
jects, and particularly expressed his severity against the
Keating's Ireland, vol. i. pp. 174-5.

OLLAMH FODHLA. 301
ravishment of women, which, it seems, was a piece of b.c.
gallantry and a common vice in those days; for the I3l6"6°°'
offender was to suffer death without mercy, and the King
thought fit to give up so much of his prerogative, as to
put it out of his power either to extend his pardon or
even to reprieve the criminal.' The same sentence
was to be in force for all attempts on the person or pro
perty of a member of parliament during the time of its
sessions. That nothing should be wanting to produce that cor
diality and kindliness of feeling which still characterises
the representatives of the Irish people, the members of
the parliament of Tara were expected to be there six
days before the opening of the assembly. This time was
employed in mutual returns of friendship and civility, and
paying their compliments one to another. The proceed
ings were inaugurated on the seventh day by a solemn
feast held ' in a convenient room in the palace of Tara ;
the apartment was very long but narrow, with a table
fixed in the middle, and seats on both sides.' The mem
bers were summoned by three blasts of the trumpet, and
entered according to their rank in the State. The Grand
Marshall, assisted by the King of Arms, ranged all in
their places, each man sitting under his own shield or
target, which was easily distinguished by the coat of arms
that was curiously emblazoned on the out-side of it. This
gives us a very early date to the science of Heraldry,
which is generally supposed to have been a product of
the middle ages. Dinner being over, business was com
menced, but ' care was particularly taken, that their de
bates should be kept secret, for which reason no woman
was ever to be admitted.'
Literary men had a fine time of it in those days, and
the authors of the present day may apply to the days of
Ollamh Fodla, what has been poetically said of another
celebrated monarch :
' Such times as his were too good to last,
And we sigh without control,
When we work all day for too little pay
Alas for good King Cole.'

1316-600.

302 OLLAMH FODHLA.
There were above two hundred principal annalists and
historians in the kingdom who had a handsome revenue
and a large estate in land assigned to them, to support
themselves in the study of heraldry and chronology, and
to gain a perfect knowledge in those useful professions.
Besides these public servants of the State, every noble
man of any quality retained a number of those learned
men, to preserve a record of the actions of himself and
his family. The same generosity was extended to physi
cians, poets, and harp-players, estates and honours were
reckoned but their due.
Dr Keating gives us, under his accounts of this reign,
some account of the discipline of the Irish forces. The
common soldiers were always perfect in their exercise,
whatever that was, and they advanced to fight with great
bravery in close order of companies, the formation four
to eight deep according to circumstances. They antici
pated a modern custom, which many of our generals don't
think much of, ' the Special Correspondent.' They were
always attended in their marches, and when they were
engaged, by their antiquaries and annalists, who were
employed to take notice and report on the behaviour of
b c. 460— every officer.
' A long series of kings, with scarcely a single event
worthy of commemoration, fills up the interval between the
reign ofthis monarch and that of Kimboath. If the Bardic
historians, in describing the glory and magnificence of
some of these reigns, have shown no ordinary powers of
flourish and exaggeration, it is to be hoped, for the credit
of human nature, that they have also far outstripped the
truth in their accounts ofthe discord, treachery and blood
shed, by which almost every one of these brief paroxysms
of sovereignty was disgraced. Out of some two-and-thirty
kings, who are said to have reigned during the interval
between Ollamh Fodhla and Kimboath, not more than
three are represented as having died a natural death, and
the great majority of the remainder fell by the hands of
their successors.'1 During this period the central power
seems to have diminished, and no wonder, the kings of
1 Moore's Ireland, vol. i. p. 113,

A.D. 106.

KIMBOATH. 303
the pentarchy would be practically independent. Ulster b.c 460-
is represented as taking the lead. The history here is A' Al '
very confused, three rival houses are represented as go
verning Ireland alternately, the usual quarrels and blood
shed ensue. After being for the third time King of Ire
land, Kimboath was asked by a Princess Macha to resign
in favour of her father's house, he declined, but the hero
ine was victorious in battle, and by a stratagem too in
decorous to tell, she gained possession of the person of
her rival. The lady was of a kindly disposition, though
a terrible warrior, she pardoned the princes and married
Kimboath. The pair reigned jointly for seven years,
when the husband died, and his masculine helpmate was
left sole monarch. She occupied the throne for other
seven years, and then met the usual fate, she was slain
in battle. The palace of Emania is said to have been built
by this Queen, or by Kimboath. The building of this
palace forms a prominent era in Irish Annals, and from it
Tighernach dates the dawn of authentic history. The
date of this splendid epoch in the Annals of Ulster is
about 450 B.C.
The next monarch of any note is Ugaine Mor, or
Hugony the Great. He is said to have succeeded in
annulling the pentarchy and establishing himself sole
monarch. He divided the country into twenty-five
districts, and though the provincial kings attempted to
regain their position, this system lasted to near the
commencement of the Christian era, when, under the
monarch, Achy Fedloch, it was rescinded, and the an
cient form restored.
After the reign of Hugony there succeeds a long sterile
period, extending, according to the Bardic chronology, to
three hundred years. With the exception of a most im
probable account of one of the kings proceeding to France,
and returning with a French princess and a formidable body
of retainers, nothing is recorded but murder, incest, and un
natural crimes. The reign of Lahbra seems to be a sort
of interpolation, intended to relieve the horrid picture of
discord and bloodshed. In it Keating introduces two

A.D.

304 ANARCHY.
b c. 460- romantic stories, one of them resembling the fabulous ad-
I°6- venture of Richard Cceur de Lion and Blondel, and the
other the story of Midas' ears, and the miraculous reveal-
ment of his secret.
Nothing breaks the uniformity of the Irish Annals of
this period but the oft-repeated tale that a king reigned
a few years and was slain by another who reigned in his
stead. The great shadowy warrior, the young Cuchullin
of Ossian and the bards, passes before us. We read of
Feidlim the legislator, and Conn of the hundred battles,
of savage fights and massacres, but little else. During
this period also, the horrors of the normal fighting be
tween the kings themselves, was heightened by servile
insurrections. The plebians, for so they are termed, were
so far successful as to massacre a principal portion of the
nobility, and seat one of themselves, Cairbre, the cat-
headed, on the throne. These people are termed Aith-
each Tuatha, usually Latinised Attacotti, and are supposed
to have been the descendants of the Firbolgs. They
were treated by the dominant Scoti as a servile or helot
class. The Milesian dynasty soon recovered the throne ; but
there were numerous risings, and the chiefs of the Atta
cotti seem to have held their own with the dominant race.
Later on they are met with in the west of Scotland, adding
their fierce valour to the forces ofthe Picts in their assaults
on the majesty of Rome. Subsequently, either voluntarily
or as captives, they are found in the ranks of the Roman
armies, and commanding respect for their undaunted
courage and valour.
106. These wars were terminated by the accession of
Tuathal, a.d. 106, who found no difficulty in inducing
the states of the kingdom to renew their oath of allegi
ance to the ancient line. This monarch, besides the
Triennial Council at Tara, instituted their annual assem
blies in different parts of the country. He also imposed
an enormous mulct on the kingdom of Leicester, the
exaction of which caused much confusion and blood
shed. It was remitted a.d. 993, through the intercession
of St Moling.

CORMAC. 305
From the family of Conn of the hundred battles was
descended Cairbre Muse, whose son, Cairbre Riada,
established his sept in Ulster, and which from him was
called Dalriada. About the middle of the third century
they are said to have sent a colony to Argyllshire. This
is far, however, from an established fact. Though vouch
ed for by Irish Annalists, there is no evidence that any
permanent settlement was made there until the children
of Ere passed over into Alban a.d. 498-501. Yet there
is nothing improbable in the belief that numerous in
dividuals, singly or in parties, passed over in very early
times from Erin to Alban. The connection between the
Cruithnigh of the two countries was intimate, and dis
contented parties on both sides would find a refuge with
their relatives.
But the expeditions, with the names of their leaders,
now so conspicuous in the Irish Annals, in which Alban
was conquered, are all fabulous. The Irish bards of a
later age, heedless of the stern command not to manu
facture history, took the exploits of contemporaries in
any part of the world, and transferred them to their own
country and countrymen. One monarch indeed rivalled
Solomon. 'Fothadh Canann obtained the government
of the whole world, from the rising to the setting sun,
and took hostages of the streams, the birds and the lan
guages, and that from him descended the tribe of Mac-
Cailin, or the Campbells, in Scotland.'1
We now come to the reign of Cormac, the son of Art,
who, according to the Annals of the Four Masters, assum
ed the sovereignty of Ireland a.d. 227. He is described
by Moore as ' the most accomplished of the Milesian
princes, whether as legislator, soldier, or scholar, and was
the only one of the few sensible princes whom the line of
Milesius produced that was able to inspire enough of
respect for his institutions to secure their existence be
yond his own lifetime.' 2 ' He was a famous author in
laws, synchronisms and history, for it was he that estab
lished law, rule and direction for each science, and for
1 Skene's Celtic Scotland, vol. iii. p. 113.
2 Moore's Ireland, vol. i. p. 130.
VOL. I. U

306 CORMAC.
each covenant according to propriety ; and it is his laws
that governed all that adhered to them to the present
time.1 This Irish Charlemagne and Alfred rolled into one
wrote a book, entitled Princely Institutions, which ' con
tains as goodly precepts and moral documents as Cato
or Aristotle did ever write.'2 He was also the author,
through his chroniclers, of the celebrated and often
quoted Psalter of Teamhair. It is almost superfluous
to say that no fragment of these great works has been
discovered, or even identified, in writings of a later date,
and now extant.
The period was one of the most glorious in the
Annals of Erin. Cormac's son-in-law was the great Fin-
MacCumhall, the Fingal of the Epic of Macpherson,
who, in addition to the exploits narrated there and in the
Irish poems, was one of the contributors to the wise
monarch's great legislative work. There is no mention
made, even in Keating, of his formation of the Giant's
Causeway, though the fact is vouched for by the intelli
gent guides there, who probably repeat a tradition handed
down from father to son from this period.
Cormac, with the assistance we should suppose of
Fin-MacCumhall, who was commander-in-chief, was vic
torious in thirty-nine battles. He carried his arms across
the channel, and in a.d. 240 obtained the sovereignty of
Alba (Scotland). According to Moore this monarch ab
dicated in the full vigour of his age and faculties, on
account of a wound in his eye, which, being a personal
blemish incapacitated him from exercising the supreme
power. This gives the historian an opportunity of drawing
a parallel between this incident and one related in Persian
history of a similar nature. One would think the Irish
kings were singularly fortunate in their battles, or the most
of them would have had to abdicate on account of scars
received in action.
The Annals of the Four Masters state that 'Forty
years was Cormac, son of Art, in the sovereignty of Ire
land, when he died at Cleiteach, the bone of a salmon
' Annals of the Four Masters, vol. i. p. 117.
2 Ibid. p. 116, note.

CORMAC. 307
sticking in his throat, on account of the siabhradh (genii)
which Maelgenn the Druid, incited at him, after Cormac
had turned against the Druids, on account of his adora
tion of God in preference to -them.' x This narrative sup
ports the opinion that Cormac was a convert to Chris
tianity (held by some), and that by becoming so, he in
curred the resentment of the priestly class. Cormac, the
accomplished scholar, legislator, and soldier, may therefore
claim our sympathy as the first and almost the only Chris
tian martyr in Ireland.
A considerable portion of the pages of Keating are
occupied with the history of this monarch. The narra
tive is of the most incongruous character. Law, license,
civilisation and barbarity jostling one another.
Cormac was an illegimitate son, and the account of
his birth shows, perhaps, not the low state of morality at
the time, but the low opinion that the chronicler of the
assumed events had. ' Art, the father of Cormac, was
charmed with the beauty of a young plebian lady named
Eachtach, whom he used as a concubine. For it was a
custom in these times that a king's son might lay his
commands upon any poor mechanic to deliver up his
daughter, and it was thought honourable to the family
to have a child admitted within the embraces of a prince ;
but the father might refuse to give up his daughter, un
less the prince engaged to endow her with a handsome
portion.' 2
Cormac's own wife, the beautiful Eithne, was woed and
won in a most romantic way & la Cophetua and the beggar
maid. She became the mother of a great figure in Irish
history, Cairbre Leffeachalr ; but, like the most of queens
up to a very recent period, she had to put up with the
infidelities of her husband. Cormac got into his posses
sion Ciarnuit, daughter of the King of the Picts, and
fitted up an apartment for her in his palace. Eithne,
like Queen Eleanor, was a lady of great spirit, but, fortu
nately for the fair Piet, not of so bloodthirsty a character.
She threatened to separate herself from her lord for ever,
> Annals ofthe Four Masters, vol i. pp. 115-117.
* Keating's Ireland, vol. i. p. 274.

308 CORMAC.
unless he gave up his mistress to her. Cormac was not
prepared for so dreadful an alternative, and resigned poor
Ciarnuit into the Queen's hands. She was used with
great severity, and as a punishment was obliged every
day to grind with a quern or hand-mill, nine quarters of
corn. Cormac, however, did not forget the captive ; he
sent over to Scotland for one of the most expert carpen
ters there, who constructed a mill by means of which the
stated tale was completed with little or no labour. She
is said to have been enceinte at the time ; but whether
she escaped from her bondage and became the mother
of a race of heroes, the poet who records her history
sayeth not.
A fearful tragedy is recorded in this reign, Dunlug,
son of the King of Leinster, in one of his forays, surprised
Tara, and massacred thirty females, forming a sort of col
lege of vestals. The massacre of the girls at Cleanfearta.
Thirty royal girls was the number, and a hundred maids
with each of them. ' Twelve princes of the Leinstermen,
did Cormac put to death together, in revenge of that
massacre, together with an exaction ofthe Borumha' (the
tribute which seems often not to have exacted).
Cormac, in addition to his other accomplishments,
was 'a great proficient in divination and soothsaying,'
and had beside him ' a great number of Scottish Druids
and enchanters.' He made use of their powers in a cam
paign against the King of Munster. At first their magic
skill was completely successful, by it all the springs of
water in the camp were dried up, men and cattle were
ready to expire with thirst. The King of Munster was
in despair, till he bethought himself of a native Druid,
who was sent for, and soon changed the aspect of affairs.
' The counter-charm which he used was an enchanted
dart, which he flung into the air, and wherever it fell a
fountain of the purest water sprung up.' Refreshed they
offered battle to Cormac, who distrusting the courage of
his troops surrendered without a blow. Where was the
hero Finn MacCumhall and the invincible Irish militia
embodied by him at this time, and in the highest state
of discipline ?

CAIRBRE LIFFEACHAIR. 309
We can only notice this celebrated body of troops,
which are said to have been organised by Finn into a
standing army, probably a rude imitation of the Roman
legion, whose composition may have reached Ireland by
this time. The necessary qualifications for every member
of it are stated by Keating, they are ten in number, and
are about as amusing as they are absurd, the second pe
culiarly so. 'That no one should be received unless
he had a poetical genius, and could compose verses, and
was well acquainted with the twelve books of poetry.'
Lever's Mickey Free would be the most distinguished re
presentative during the peninsular war, of this illustrious
corps. According to the Annals of the Four Masters, after
the death of Cormac a usurper occupied the throne for
a year, at the expiry of which Cairbre Liffeachair suc
ceeded to the throne of his father ; he reigned seventeen
years, and was then killed in battle. His reign is ce
lebrated as the time when the celebrated militia of Ire
land, torn by dissensions, were summarily put down
by force. How they kept together for a single campaign,
when every man was a poet, will be a matter of sur
prise to military men of the present day. The army
was divided between two septs, the Clanna Boisgne
commanded by Ossian the son of Finn, and the Clan-
namorna. The first claimed precedence, and the right
not been granted, they had the audacity to defy the
power of Cairbre. This led to the bloody battle of
Gabhra, in which the two military tribes slaughtered
each other almost to extermination. Osgar the son
of Ossian fell by the hand of the king, slain in single
combat, but the monarch severely wounded met with his
death from another warrior, immediately after. ' The fame
of this fatal battle of Gabhras and the brave warriors
who fell in it, continued long to be a favourite theme
of the Irish bards and romancers ; and upon no other
foundation than the old songs respecting the heroes of
this combat, mixed up with others relating to chieftains
of a still more ancient date, has been raised that splen
did fabric of imposture which, under the assumed name

3IO HUAS COLLA.
a d. 327-405. of Ossian, has for a long period dazzled and deceived
' the world.' J
Nothing remarkable occurred in the course of Irish
affairs till about the beginning of the fourth century, when
the violent usurpation of the throne by Huas Coila, one
of three brothers, produced a long series of sanguinary
conflicts. After a reign of five years the usurper was
compelled to abdicate, and flee to Alban, with three
hundred of his followers. They returned in the course
of a year, a.d. 327, and Coila managed to conciliate
Muredach, the reigning monarch. He even obtained
his assistance to make war on the King of Ulster. In
the course of the struggle consequent on this invasion,
the princely palace of Emania, was destroyed, ' and
not a trace of its long celebrated glories left behind.'
It was perhaps as well for its fame that such should
have happened, we are approaching true history, and
it might not have appeared so very magnificent to eye
witnesses. An interval of nearly half a century now elapses, and
we come to the last three pagan kings of Erin whose
achievements eclipse all that has been previously narrated.
'Crimhthann, a.d. 366, sat next on the throne of
Ireland. This monarch carried his arms into foreign na
tions, and overcame the Scots (Picts), the Britons, and
the French in several engagements, and made them
tributary.' 2
He was succeeded, a.d. 379, by Niall of the nine
hostages, so called because he had received hostages
from nine nations he had conquered and made tributary.
He is said to have commanded the expedition which,
passing through the mountains of Wales in the fourth
century, spread ruin and devastation in the Roman pro
vince. Theodosius, we have seen, had not much diffi
culty in chasing the Scoti back to their curachs.
But King Dathy, who succeeded a.d. 405, fairly over
shadowed his predecessors in the extent of his conquests.
He carried his arms into France, but while pursuing his
1 Moore's Ireland, vol. i. p. 136.
2 Keating's Ireland, vol. i. p. 315.

LAOGHAIRE. 3 I I
victorious career he was killed by a thunderbolt at the a.d. .23.
foot of the Alps.
The chronology now approaches to certainty; the date
of St Patrick's arrival in Ireland has been fixed on reason
able grounds a.d. 430, certainly about the middle of the
fifth century. The Irish Annals give the date of the acces
sion of Laoghaire, the reigning monarch of the time, as A. d.
428. His period is interesting only from the conversion
of the people, and many ofthe petty kings to Christianity,
though it was nearly a century later before a Christian mon
arch sate on the throne of Tara a.d. 5 13. The conversion
seems to have had some little effect on their fighting pro
pensities ; but the change was short-lived, the saints and
monks became more belligerent than the Druids, mixed
freely in the contests, and in addition to their fleshly arms,
used with great effect curses and imprecations.
Any notice of St Patrick and his labours would un
duly swell this short sketch ; but it is interesting and
curious to observe how the pride of race, the genealogies
of the kings and .nobles, and the history of the famous
deeds of bye-gone days are brought forward whenever a
prominent character turns up. St Patrick, as will be seen
by the following extract, was very much interested in
these, and gave his valuable assistance, in compiling a
new edition of them revised and corrected. One would
think from the Confession of the saint, that like his Arian
brother Ulphilas, the apostle of the Huns, who suppressed
the fighting portion of the Old Testament in his transla
tion of the Bible, that he would rather have left in obli
vion these annals of bloodshed. ' The tenth year of Laog
haire, the Seanchus and Fenechus, i.e. the History and
Laws of Ireland were purified and written, the writings
and old books of Ireland having been collected and
brought to one place, at the request of St Patrick. These
were the nine supporting props by whom this was done,
Laoghaire, i.e. King of Ireland, Core and Daire, the three
kings ; Patrick, Benen and Cairneach, the three saints,
Ross, Dubthach, and Feargus, the three antiquaries.' 1
1 Annals ofthe Four Masters, vol. i. p. 133, see also interesting
note on the subject.

312 EARLY IRISH HISTORY.
This collection was called the Seanchus Mor. Keating
amplifies this statement from valuable manuscripts extant
in his time, but not now. He is very particular about the
genealogies, and says in support of Irish history in general :
' We have the same evidence to prove the authority ofthe
Irish Annals and public manuscripts, as is esteemed suf
ficient to confirm the histories of other nations, and
perhaps it would be no more than truth to affirm that
no people except the Jews, whose writers are divinely
inspired, have more genuine or earlier accounts of the
concerns of their ancestors, than the chronicles and re
cords that give being to the present history; and for
this reason, among many others, because no nation in
the world could possibly be more exact in preserving
their records, and transmitting them uncorrupt to pos
terity, than the ancient Irish, especially considering they
were corrected and confirmed by the most pious and
learned prelates of the Christian Church in that king
dom.'1 If these statements were accepted at the present day
as romance, as the histories of Geoffrey of Boece and
Buchanan are accepted by Englishmen and Scotchmen,
the genius and character of the Irish would not suffer,
but unfortunately this is not the case ; in a work pub
lished at the present day, and from the pen of an able
and learned litterateur, all this so-called ancient history
is swallowed and its authenticity defended.
The question of the early, if not the pre-Noahacian
colonisation of Ireland, though distinctly asserted in our
Annals, has been met with the ready scepticism which
men so freely use to cover ignorance or indifference. It
has been taken for granted that the dispersion, after the
confusion of tongues at Babel, was the first dispersion of
the human race ; but it has been overlooked that, on the
lowest computation, a number of centuries equal, if not
exceeding, those of the Christian era, elapsed between
the creation of man and the flood; that man had multi
plied exceedingly upon the earth; and that the age of
stone had already given place to that of brass and iron,
1 Keating's History of Ireland, vol. ii. pp. 19, 20.

EARLY IRISH HISTORY. 313
which, no doubt, facilitated commerce and colonisation,
even at this early period of the world's history.
Let us again conclude an apology for our antiquity,
if not a proof of it, in the words of our last poet historian :
' We believe that henceforth no wise person will be found
who will not acknowledge that it is possible to bring the
genealogies of the Gaedhels to their origin, to Noah and
Adam ; and if he does not believe that, he may not be-'
lieve that he himself is the son of his own father. For
there is no error in the genealogical history, but as it
was left from father to son in succession, one after
another. ' Surely every one believes the Divine Scriptures, which
give a similar genealogy to the men of the world, from
Adam down to Noah j1 and the genealogy of Christ and of
the holy fathers, as may be seen in the Church (writings).
Let him believe this, or let him deny God. And if he
does believe this, why should he not believe another
history, of which there has been truthful preservation,
like the history of Erinn ? I say truthful preservation,
for it is not only that they (the preservers of it) were
very numerous, as we said, preserving the same, but there
was an order and a law with them and upon them, out
of which they could not, without great injury, tell lies or
falsehood, as may be seen in the Books of Fenechus
(Law) of Fodhla (Erinn), and in the degrees of the
poets themselves, their order and their laws.' 2
The Annals of Ireland from the time that Christianity
was introduced, and when the light of history feebly
illuminates it, present a marked contrast to the pagan
time. The magnificent palaces and halls of law and
justice, the grand feudal militia, the foreign conquests,
are not spoken of, poets only survive and are found to
be a nuisance. The record of events is a strange and
incongruous mixture of monastic asceticism, miracles
1 This is a clear argument. The names of pre-Noahacian patri
archs must have been preserved by tradition, with their date of suc
cession and history. Why should not other genealogies'.have been
preserved in a similar manner, and even the names of individuals
transmitted to posterity. Cusack's Note.
2 Cusack's Irish Nation, p. 70.

314 DALRIADA.
and free fights, in which priest and layman take their
share equally. The combination of these elements
largely influenced the character of the colony, which
under Feargus the son of Ere, left the shores of Erin
and founded the little kingdom of Dalriada in Scotland.
St Columba cannot be reckoned an unfair representative
of his countrymen, and his life shows, that while a man
of the highest talent and of the most exalted piety, he
was also as hot-headed a Celt as ever lived, ready to
strike and curse in the fashion of the age, all who in
curred his resentment. St Columba, as will be seen
further on in the narrative, added to all this a respect
for the poets of his country, and would probably give his
countenance to those who found their way to his island
home. The character of the Dalriadic kingdom and its
inhabitants, cannot be more forcibly drawn than in the
words of the historian of Ireland. It is not pleasant to
think on what would have been the state of Scotland
to-day had this noble race peopled the country and
absorbed the Teutonic element. ' On the small stage of
this miniature realm (Dalriada) we find acted over again
most of the dark and troubled scenes of the Irish pen
tarchy, the same lawlessness and turbulence, redeemed
sometimes by the same romantic heroism ; a similar
reverence for all that was sanctioned by the past, com
bined with as light and daring a recklessness of the future.
That rooted attachment to old laws and usages which
marked the natives of the mother country, was here
transmitted in full force to their descendants — the an
cient language, and all the numerous traditions of which
it was the vehicle ; the system of clanship, and laws of
succession ; even the old parti-coloured dress, worn by
the ancient Scots — all continued to be retained in North
Britain to a much later period than among the original
Irish themselves.' J
Characteristically enough, the approximate date of
the departure of the Scots for Argyllshire, is gained by
the record of a battle. The Synchronisms of Flann
Mainistreach were compiled in the eleventh century, and
1 jMoore's History of Ireland, vol. ii. p. 40.

IRISH BARDS. 315
possess real historical value ; it is there stated ' Twenty a.d. 4tf.
years from the battle of Ocha, till the children of Ere, ~~
son of Echach Muindremhar, passed over into Alban.' 1
The battle was fought in a.d. 478, and is an era in the
annals of Irish history well authenticated. The date of
the formation of the Dalriadic monarchy in Scotland
may thus be fixed at a.d. 498.
We thus conclude our sketch ofthe history, real or
fictitious, of Ireland, previous to the emigration to Scot
land, our object being to show, what was, and in fact is,
the character of the people who gave a name to North
Britain, and for a period of several centuries influenced
the civilisation and religion (if the terms are not mis
nomers) of Scotland. During this time the connection
between the two countries in affairs of Church and State
was intimate, and though there were many redeeming
points in the Celtic rule, it left the country quite as bar
barous, and nearly as heathenish as when St Columba
and his twelve disciples landed at Iona.
The poets of Ireland, we have seen, formed a dis
tinctive and most important class, ranking with the most
distinguished minstrels of the Scandinavian Vikings and
the mediaeval monarchs. The kings of Ireland seem to
have appreciated their calling, like Rene King of Pro
vence, and to have showered honours upon them. These
privileges and honours seem to have turned their heads,
so much leisure to meditate on and record in flowing mea
sure the heroic exploits of kings and heroes was too much
for them. In the year a.d. 40 their insolence and preten
sions rose to such a height, that king and people deter
mined to get rid of them, and they were about to be ex
pelled the kingdom. Their numbers were formidable, no
less than one thousand principal bards, who are classed
in two orders. Those of the first degree retained thirty
poets of inferior note as his attendants, those of the
second degree had a similar retinue of fifteen. This
body found a friend in Conquovar, King of Ulster, who
counselled reformation, instead of expatriation. The
bards were allowed seven years of probation; and if
1 Chronicles of the Ticls and Scots, p. 18.

316 IRISH BARDS.
they did not reform their way of life in that time, they
would certainly be banished.
Like many other individuals and corporations, they
lived softly and behaved themselves discreetly for some
time ; yet on two other occasions a persecution, as it is
called, and a reformation was made. But under the
reign of Hugh in the time of St Columba, they became
insupportable, and Hugh, like his predecessors, deter
mined to get rid of them. In this crisis St Columba
came to the rescue ; he besought the King to retract his
purpose of banishing the poets. ' The King said in an
swer that it would be of infinite prejudice to his govern
ment to give any protection to the poets, for they were a
lazy, covetous, and insatiable body, and an insupportable
grievance to the people. ... He was obliged, for the
ease of his subjects and his own safety, to purge the
island of them, and transplant them into new settle
ments.' St Columba acknowledged the justice of the
King's remarks, but suggested reformation, not suppres
sion. The King demanded to what extent did he pro
pose to carry this reformation ? St Columba, in answer,
proposed a sweeping measure, viz., that the King, every
provincial prince, and every lord of a cantred should alone
have the privilege of maintaining a poet, but no others.
This regulation was the standard by which the society of
poets was regulated in future ages. If the story was
worthy of belief, one would think that the saint was of
the opinion that the monks and saints who were now
numerous, constituted quite a sufficient body of idle men
in the country. There can be little doubt, however, that
there is a basis of historical truth in the statements as
to the numbers of the Irish bards and the estimation in
which they were held, their pretentions and emoluments.
The earliest form of composition was probably in
poetic numbers ; history, philosophy, and religion found
thus an expression. The character of a race may be
very fairly estimated from its poetry, and the apprecia
tion of it by other races. If produced in the infancy of
the race, does it still commend itself to the culture of
later times ? Another and more crucial test is, Can it

IRISH BARDS. 317
bear translation into other languages, and still preserve a.d.
its vitality? Though the peculiar characteristics inse
parable from an original be lost, are the thoughts, the
incidents, the description for all men and all time ?
In comparing Celtic poetry (its only literature almost)
with that of other races, it would be unfair to contrast it
with those other than in the earliest stage of culture.
When the Celts had passed this stage, their language
had become an exotic ; in fact to gain any culture they
had to learn another language or languages. The poems
are but feeble echoes of the past, framed on a bygone
model, but savouring strongly of the present.
We can hardly contrast the early Hebrew and Greek
poetry with the Irish, it would be profane to do so, yet
it is perfectly fair to say, that the Milesians did not
improve the advantages derived from the educational
foundations of the gifted Feniusa Farsa, and his ines
timable gift of letters, long before the time assigned by
linguists to the formation of the Phoenician, Hebrew, and
Greek alphabets. But to speak seriously, if possible,
can anyone not an Irishman or Scotch Celt, compare for
a moment the Scandinavian Eddas and Sagas, the Anglo-
Saxon odes, the Norman romances, with early Irish
literature. The first even in the rude idiom of a half-
formed language, stir the heart and enlarge the con
ception, they strike chords which vibrate through the
innermost being of the advanced thinker of to-day, and
tell him of kindred thoughts ; the latter is a weariness
to the flesh, a collection of tedious records and childish
fables. Pinkerton, in his vehement manner, says, ' The whole
tale of the Milesians and the history of monarchs of that
time is the most deplorable piece of nonsense that ever
stained the annals of mankind. The fables of the other
grand Celtic race, the Welch, are sober and sapient com
pared to the Irish fictions. In the page of Geoffrey
may be found an Imogene, a Locrine and Guendolen
with their daughter Sabra ; a Bladud, a Lear and his
daughters ; a Gordobuc, a Belinus, a Lud, an Arthur; all
non-existences, yet well known in the regions of poetry

3 I 8 IRISH HISTORY.
and romance. But the whole Irish historic fictions, are
not only beneath contempt as history, but beneath con
tempt as fictions. Destitute of the smallest charm of
fiction, they are not only lies, but nauseous and disgusting
lies. Boyce, Buchanan, and the other Scottish forgers,
made their fictions lessons to monarchs, and it is to their
falsehoods that we owe the death of Charles I. and abdi
cation of James II. The tales of the Welch and Scottish
forgers had an influence on the whole history of Europe ;
those of the Irish never had nor can have any effect,
being wholly contemptible even to imagination.'1 In
comparing further with the Scandinavian literature he
says, ' The Gothic tales are often ingenious, always vigo
rous, sometimes sublime. Even the wildest of them has
always strong marks of note, of thought, of sense. The
mythology, and well-known unconquerable character of
the people, live and breathe in them all. The Irish
legends are in all points the reverse. The Milesian
fable is connected with Pharaoh, and bears other pal
pable marks of being invented long after Christianity
was established in Ireland.' r
It is highly improbable that any literary matter, other
than barren lists, was compiled before the eleventh or
twelfth centuries, or, like the Cymric poets of the sixth,
some remains would have been preserved. When the
Gadhelic poets did compose other than chronological
lists, the classical and Christian culture of the sixth,
seventh, and eighth centuries was extinct ; the Danish
and Norwegian skalds had taught them nothing, their
fables were a travestie of what little they knew of sacred
and profane history, filtered, through monasticism, an
archy, and bloodshed.
The author previously quoted gives a parting advice
well worthy the careful consideration of Irishmen, and we
should say also of Scottish Gaels who believe in the dig
nity of their ancestry : ' The point is utterly to give up
these abominable fables ; and till this be done the Irish
antiquaries will have them all to themselves, without one
rival. For how can the literati of Europe converse with
' Pinkerton's Inquiry, vol. ii. pp. 13, 14.

IRISH HISTORY. 319
those who give evident signs of madness, of a madness
unknown to any other nation ?' J
Many and the best of Irish antiquaries have taken
this advice, but unfortunately the mass of the people of
Ireland are still afflicted with the disease.
The cruel and unjust laws, and merciless administra
tion of an alien race have for centuries kept the country
in a chronic state of anarchy and destitution, and may
justly be blamed for the misery prevalent there. But no
laws and no administration, however just and merciful,
can ever satisfy a people who look back to such a period
as we have described, with feelings of pride, and who
will be content with nothing else than the recognition
of a State based on the Celtic notions of many cen
turies ago. The egregious fiction, that Ireland was a com
pact monarchy, ruled for two thousand years by native
princes of the grand Milesian stock, and that laws were
made by a representative parliament, is still, to a genuine
Irishman, a part of his national creed, a return to that, the
only cure for his country's woes. He can not lower his
dignity to accept, like the Scotchman, a Norman for his
hero king, still less like the citizens of the United King
dom be thankful for 'a wee bit German lairdie.' Still
less can the Celt accept his fate, absorption in the Latin
or the Teuton, he has no other alternative but servitude
or extermination. The kindred art of music, was cultivated to a high
degree, and of this we have ample proof at the present
day, in the unmistakeable character of the airs which could
only have been composed at a period long anterior to
modern times. The Celtic melodies are replete with a
beauty and pathos far above all others, with the exception
of the Lowland Scotch, which in exquisite tenderness of
feeling transcend the production of the muse to whom
they owe their origin. There can be little doubt that the
Scottish settlers introduced the art, and till within a few-
years, the ballad, reel, or strathspey was the sole music
of the country. Whatever benefit Scotland has received
from its adoption of English Puritanism, its genius and
' Pinkerton's Inquiry, vol. ii. p. 16.

320 MUSIC.
"° ritual stamped out musical cultivation in its higher walks,
and if it could, would have destroyed even the little gained
from the early efforts of its Celtic professors. The state
ments respecting the proficiency in music of the Celtic
race in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, are fortunately of
no inconsiderable value, and we can have little hesitation
in accepting Giraldus' account as worthy of credence,
cum grano sails. This historian was a native of Wales
though a Norman, or Anglo-Norman by birth and educa
tion ; a learned man for his day, at the same time acute
and credulous, his statements must be accepted with
caution and discretion. When he speaks favourably of
Ireland and the Irish, their writers quote him as a trust
worthy authority and eye-witness, when the reverse, his
narrative is ' an inexhaustible mine of falsehood.' We
give his account of Irish music, which is generally accepted
as authentic. ' The only thing to which I find that this people apply
a commendable industry is playing upon musical instru
ments, in which they are incomparably more skilful than
any other nation I have ever seen. For their modulation
on these instruments, unlike that of the Britons to which
I am accustomed, is not slow and harsh, but lively and
rapid, while the harmony is both sweet and gay. It is
astonishing that in so complex and rapid a movement of
the fingers the musical proportions can be preserved, and
that throughout the difficult modulations on their various
instruments, the harmony is completed with such a sweet
velocity, so unequal an equality, so discordant a concord,
as if the chords sounded together fourths or fifths. They
always begin from B flat, and return to the same, that the
whole may be completed under the sweetness of a pleas
ing sound.1 They enter into a movement, and conclude
it in so delicate a manner, and play the little notes so
sportively under the blunter sounds of the base strings,
1 This description savours so much of the critic of a few centuries
later, that we would hardly think it genuine matter of the twelfth
century ; it was only in the eleventh century that the monk Guido of
Arezzo invented the present system of musical notation ; modern
harmonies were of a still later date, we should think musical criticism
much later.

MUSIC. 321
enlivening with wanton levity, or communicating a deeper -
internal sensation of pleasure, so that the perfection of
their art appears in the concealment of it. From this
cause those very strains which afford deep and unspeak
able mental delight to those who have skilfully penetrated
into the mysteries of the art, fatigue rather than gratify
the ears of others, who seeing do not perceive, and hear
ing do not understand, and by whom the finest music is
esteemed no better than a confused and disorderly noise,
and will be heard with unwillingness and disgust1 It
must he remarked, however, that both Scotland and
Wales strive to rival Ireland in the art of music; the
former from its community of race, the latter from its
contiguity and facility of communication. Ireland only
uses and delights in two instruments, the harp and the
tabor. Scotland has three, the harp, the tabor, and the
crowth or crowd, and Wales the harp, the pipes, and
the crowd.2 The Irish also used strings of brass instead
of leather. Scotland at the present day, in the opinion of
many persons, is not only equal to Ireland her teacher,
in musical skill, but excels her, so that they now look to
that country as the fountain head ofthis science.'3
But, granted this early cultivation of music, how little
it proves the advancement of the people or the musicians
in civilisation, is forcibly put by the only Irish poet, and
not only a poet but a man gifted with musical taste and
feeling of a high order : ' How little music, though so
powerful in its influence on the feelings, either springs
from, or is dependent upon intellect, appears from the
fact, that some of the most exquisite effusions of this art
1 History repeats itself, many persons of the present day who,
by fashion are condemned to Wagner and Berlioz, and regard their
compositions with the same feelings.
2 Choro, the crowth or crowd, which was played upon by a sort
of bow and is supposed to have been the origin of the violin, which
was not commonly known in England till the time of Charles I.
Before this time the crowth was most probably confined to Wales.
From the name of Crowderoin (Hudibras) ; as also from a fiddler
being still called a crmvder in some parts of England, though he uses
the modern instrument.
3 Giraldus Cambrensis. Bohn s Lib., pp. 136-7.
VOL. I. X

322 MUSIC.
have had their origin among the simplest and most un
cultivated people; nor can all that taste and science
bring afterwards to the task do more, in general, than
diversify, by new combinations, those first wild strains of
gaiety or passion, into which nature had infused her
original inspiration.' x
The latter part ofthis paragraph contains a half-truth.
No doubt melody is an inspiration, and is common to the
man of culture and the savage. Harmony is not ; it was
very late in the world's history before it was even dis
covered, and no harmonised music earlier than the be
ginning of the seventeenth century is acceptable to mo
dern ears. Man is a creature of complex faculties, the
possession of which, in the individual, distinguishes him
from the lower animals. The distinction is almost as
great between the different races of mankind ; some seem
to be in the possession of more faculties than others, or
in any case they are developed, and not allowed to lie
dormant. These faculties thus developed act and react
on the emotion and the intellect ; wants are experienced
which must be supplied. Music, from the sixteenth cen
tury, demanded from man, what to all intents and pur
poses was a new faculty, which in its turn had to satisfy
a new want in man's nature. A knowledge of thorough
bass and counter-point could not be gained without in
tellectual effort; the compositions, which were the result
of this knowledge, could not be appreciated without a
similar exercise of the intellect. The sages of antiquity,
especially the Greeks, attached a very high value to the
educative influence of music ; but as we know absolutely
nothing whatever about it, it is useless to speculate on it.
It is supposed to have consisted entirely of melodies or
recitatives sung or played in unison, and would appear to
us monotonous in the highest degree.
Of the music so much vaunted by Giraldus Cam
brensis and many others since, we have specimens.
Those of the earliest and the latest date are of the rudest
construction. To a musician their only distinguishing
characteristic is, that they are unlike anything else. They
1 Moore's History of Ireland, vol. i. p. 314.

MUSIC. 323
are not capable of bearing any harmony but that of a
ground bass. An example of this is furnished in the
drone of the bagpipes, which, though not originally a
Celtic instrument, has been greedily seized by the Scotch
Highlander as the one best suited to the musical require
ments of his race.
The harp, so dear to the Welsh and Irish, being made
the leading instrument, shows how little music could pos
sibly progress ; it is but sparingly used in an orchestra ;
and though the effects from its introduction are striking
and natural, it would be no great loss were it eliminated.
The Celtic music is of a kind that can only affect the
emotions, it can never satisfy the educated ear. It belongs
to the infancy of art, and though the man in the prime of
life, who cannot at times enjoy the books of his childhood
is not to be envied, yet he is still a child if he is satisfied
with no more advanced literature. Similarly, the musical
dilettanti is to be despised or pitied who will not listen to
a simple air, yet he is but a Squire Western after all who
will listen to nothing else.1
In music as in everything else, the Celt becomes
stationary at a certain point ; in the divine art he has
never passed the first stage.
In the eleventh century the practice of singing in
parts, and combining several distinct notes into a single
strain, which is the basis of modern harmonies, first ap
peared in the service of the church. It was many cen
turies later before the world borrowed from its ghostly
instructor, and secular music in the form of the opera,
entered into competition with ecclesiastical. But the
higher class of music, sacred and secular, which lays siege
to the intellect as well as the emotions, was ever pro
gressing in Teutonic and Latin Europe; in this progression
1 It was Mr Western's custom every afternoon as soon as he was
drunk to hear his daughter play on the harpischord ; for he was a
great lover of music, and, perhaps, had he lived in town might have
passed for a connoisseur ; for he always excepted against the finest
compositions of Mr Handel. He never relished any music but what
was light and airy, and indeed his most favourite tunes were Sir
Simon the King, St George he was for England, Bobbing Joan, and
some others. Tom Jones, Book iv. chap. v.

324 LITERATURE.
— the Celt has taken no part. To this day neither Ireland,
Scotland, nor Wales have produced a composer of emi
nence, and but few executants, vocal or instrumental,
above mediocrity.
It is, as usual, a matter of dispute whether the use of
letters was known to the pagan Irish, and the argument
in favour of the affirmative, only attempts to prove that
it was known to the Druids or learned men.
Mr Burton, in his caustic manner, disposes very sum
marily ofthe so-called ancient IrisJi literature; most people
will agree with him, though Mr Skene ' thinks it incredible
that he could give so uncandid an opinion.'
' It would be deemed by some unpardonable, not to
note that some scratching on these (the sculptured) stones
have been set down as inscriptions in the Ogham or
Ogam character. This professes to be a method of secret
writing, being, indeed, no other than that in which the
Druids concealed their mysteries. Its avowed qualities
are simplicity and flexibility. These qualities are vouched
to us on the faith of experiments made chiefly in Ireland,
and especially of one, in which two antiquaries had read
an inscription to pretty nearly the same result, and after
wards found, on comparison of notes, that the one had
read from .left to right, the other from right to left. This
phenomenon seems not to have created much surprise
among the learned body who received the reports of the
decipherers ; that the inscription could be read either
way was only a testimony to the power and simplicity of
the Ogham character, which has also the faculty, that by
shifting the places of the letters or ciphers, a long story
may be made out of a few straight lines. What those
who profess to own the keys of such mysteries may yet
bring out of them, it were rash to determine ; but in the
meantime the Ogham character, and its representations
on the sculptured stones, can hardly be admitted within
the pale of ascertained facts.' l The supposition that St
Patrick introduced letters as well as Christianity is much
more probable, and also that all Irish literature is of a
date posterior to that period. ' That the Irish had letters
1 Burton's History of Scotland, vol. i. pp. 148, 149.

LAW. 325
so early, and many writers soon after is surely enough ; a.d^
and more than several great nations of Europe can pre
tend to. In the name of heaven what would those Celtic
gentry have ? But, like the dog in the fable, by grasping
at the shadow they loose the substance ; and the fictions
of early Irish history bring contempt on the whole.' J But
to those who believe in the great linguist Feniusa Farsa,
the Ogham character ought certainly to be recognised as
the vehicle in which the poets and statesmen of Erin con
veyed their burning words and wise maxims to an in
genuous and sympathetic people.
Had the Irish ever any written code of laws, an un
prejudiced student of their history will at once answer the
question in the negative.
That they had customs which had the force of laws is
nigh to certain, no nation, however barbarous, when formed
into a community has been without these, but after the
English conquest, the fond imagination of a people who
were deprived of the power of making their own laws, in
vested those customs with the dignity of laws made and
sanctioned by national authority.
The poet Spenser declares the Brehon Law to be 'a
rule of right unwritten.' Sir John Davies asserts that 'its
rules were learned rather by tradition than writing.' The
arguments to the contrary do not carry much weight in
proving their statements. Irish writers uniformly com
mence with ' we are told,' ' are said to have been com
piled,' ' in the numerous commentaries on,' authentic MS.
containing these laws are non-existent. The Danes and
the English get the discredit of the destruction of all this
and much more, but it is hardly possible that this was so
complete that not a trace has been left. The fact is, the
internal divisions, the murderous fights, and the slight
control of the central authority, forbid the idea that any
code could be formed which could be called national.
In this sketch of the early history of Ireland, following
the lines of her annals and histories, we have spoken of
the Kings of Ireland as monarchs of the whole island
holding their court at Teamhair or Tara, and we are in-
1 Pinkerton's Inquiry, vol. ii. p. 19.

326 ANNALS.
a.d. — vited to suppose that they exercised a sway similar to a
feudal monarch of the middle ages. Even granting that
there is some vestige of fact in these Annals and poetical
histories, nothing can be further from what was the real
state of matters. The German Emperors in the darkest
days of the Empire, never held as impotent a sway over
turbulent princes ; the King of Ireland was simply the
Ardrigh of the nation who was chosen to that position
according to Celtic custom. In Celtic Gaul a solemn
convention was annually held to elect a Vergobreith or
high king to rule over the whole Gallic race. ' A similar
convention is traceable in Ireland under the name of the
' Feas Temora,' or ' Feast of Tara,' a place chosen pro
bably for its centrical situation, and he ' who held the
feast' was the acknowledged Ardrigh of the whole nation,
'the tribes of Tara' originally holding their lands on con
dition of quartering the king and his followers on the
occasion of the great festival.1 ' On this basis have the
long accounts of the Parliament of Tara been raised. In
addition to the Ardrigh, there were four or five provincial
kings, and many chieftains besides assumed the august
title and exercised a petty sovereignty over smaller por
tions of territory.
The Annals of Tighernac commence with the reign
of Cimboath two or three centuries B.C., all history pre
vious to this the annalist (who flourished in the eleventh
century) considers untrustworthy. At this period is to
be traced a dualism common in all the Celtic tribes in
Gaul ; two powerful combinations divide the country,
quarrel, as a matter of course, and the weaker has to go
to the wall. On the continent the process is repeated
again and again, it seems the normal state of Celtic rule
that one family should rise to power only to be replaced
in a short time by another.
At this period then, the island is found governed by
two Ardrighs, the northern monarch holding his seat at
Emania in Ulster, the other bearing rule over the southern
half at Tara. This is exactly what the fabulists tell us
of the division of the island between the two sons of
1 Robertson's Scotland under her Early Kings, vol. i. p. 30.

ANNALS. 327
Milesius, Heber and Heremon, though they place it many a.d^
centuries earlier, and give it, as we have seen, a short
lifetime. Heremon gained the victory over his rival in
a single campaign, and possessed the whole country, but
the hostilities between the monarchs of Emania and Tara
were interminable, and lasted for centuries. The northern
Ardrigh seems to have attained the chief power latterly,
to have deserted Emania, which indeed was in ruins and
to have 'held the feast of Tara.'
A period supervened of great anarchy and internal
troubles; the time of what was called the Plebian Wars,
revolt of the Attacotti and others previously mentioned,
from this sea of troubles arose the dynasty of the Hy
Nials in the person of Niall of the nine hostages.
The real supremacy of this race, until the Danish in
vasions, is an unquestionable fact, and there is no doubt
that the Ardrighs of Ireland for five hundred years, from
the dawn of authentic history until a century and a half
before the English conquest, were of the race of the Hy
Nials. At this time the Kings of Munster and Connaught
disputed the throne with the Lords of Ulster and Meath,
and the royalty of Ireland, no longer the prerogative of a
single family, became attainable by any of the provincial
kings.

END OF VOL. I.

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