142 



SCOTLAND (HISTORY). 



During the domination of the Picts over the 

 greater part of Scotland, then- still existed within 

 the country some tribes who tor several eeiitiiries 

 were hide pendent of their sway, and claimed a 

 prince or kin? of their own. One of the most re- 

 markable of these was the tribe of ancient Britons, 

 who held, what was called, the kingdom of Strat- 

 Clijde. Much obscurity prevails over the history 

 of this kingdom. It is supposed to have included 

 our present Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, and portions 

 of Ayrshire and Dumbartonshire. Alcluyd, called 

 afterwards Dunbriton and Dunbarton, consisting of 

 tin insulated precipitous rock, near the mouth of 

 the Clyde, is said to have been its capital or chief 

 fortress. During its more early history, this king- 

 dom included within its bounds Liddesdale, Teviot- 

 dale, Dumfries-shire, and Galloway ; but, the con- 

 stant encroachments of the Saxons limited its an- 

 cient boundaries on the south-east, and reduced it 

 to the size which we have already mentioned. The 

 names of only five princes or chiefs of this little 

 territory are mentioned in ancient annals. These 

 are Caw, Hoel, Arthur, Rederc, and Owen or 

 Hoen. The Arthur, here mentioned, is supposed 

 to be the redoubtable Arthur of old British ro- 

 mance. Of the character of the other princes no- 

 thing is known, with the exception of Rederc, who, 

 from his generosity, received the sirname of the 

 bountiful, and who is reputed to have been the 

 great patron and friend of Kentigern, the tutelar 

 saint of Glasgow. As the Strat-Clyde Britons 

 were often attacked by the Picts from the north, 

 by the Scoto-Irish from the west, and by the Saxons 

 from the south, their struggles to preserve their 

 independence as a people must have been great and 

 many. The very jealousy of their enemies may 

 have preserved them from being swallowed up by 

 any single one of their more powerful neighbours. 

 It" was not till about 972, that Kenneth IV. en- 

 tirely subdued these Britons of Strat-Clyde, and 

 their territory being annexed to the Pictish throne, 

 we find no mention of the kingdom of Strat-Clyde 

 afterwards, but the people occur in charters, &c. 

 to a later period. Innes shows that charters to 

 the see of Glasgow, by Malcolm IV. and William, 

 are addressed: Francis et Anglicis, Scotis et Gal- 

 weiensibus et Walensibus, et omnibus ecclesice S. 

 Kentigerni de Glasgo, et ejusdem episcopiparochianis. 

 The Franci et Angli are Normans and English, 

 some of whom settled in the south of Scotland ; 

 the Galweienses are the Picts of Galloway; the 

 Walenses, or Welsh, are the Britons of Strat-Clyde. 

 In 1304, the law of the Scots and Brets is men- 

 tioned in an instrument quoted by Lord Hailes in 

 his Annals. These Brets were evidently the Bri- 

 tons of Strat-Clyde, as all the northern writers 

 call the Welsh Brets and Wales Bretland. Winton 

 also uses Bret and Breton, for Briton and Britain. 

 Nay, in Clydesdale at present, if the common people 

 are asked about any ancient castle, or the like, 

 they will tell you it was erected by the Pecks, that 

 is, by the Picts. On their final defeat, the Strat- 

 clyde Britons are said to have fled to Wales. The 

 language of that part of Scotland which constituted 

 the kingdom of Strat-Clyde, still retains some words 

 common to Wales. 



Another small kingdom, which existed for several 

 centuries in Scotland independent of the Picts, and 

 the name of whose people came ultimately to be 

 bestowed on the whole country, was the kingdom 

 of Dalriad, situated in our pre=pnt Argvleshire. 

 In the early centuries of Christianity, there existed 



in Ireland a Celtic tribe, who were denominated 

 Sroti or Scots, and from them the island of Ireland 

 itself often received the appellation of Scotland. A 

 portion of this tribe, distinguished by the name of 

 Dalriadi, having been defeated by a rival tribe, ef- 

 fected a settlement in Argyleshire under Fergus, in 

 A. D. 503. Scots from Ireland, long before this, 

 appear to have visited this country on warlike 

 expeditions ; but this was the first colony which 

 permanently established themselves here. They 

 were not numerous at first, but they rapidly multi- 

 plied, as they were soon joined by kindred tribes. 

 In the eighth century, a civil war desolated tin- 

 British kingdom, and the Scots taking advantage 

 of these civil discords, harrassed the enfeebled 

 Picts. At length Kenneth the Second, king of the 

 Dalriads or Scots, secured his accession to the 

 Pictish throne, and united into one kingdom the 

 whole country north of the wall of Antoninus. 

 How the name of Picts however, came to be lost 

 in that of Scots, has never been quite satisfactorily 

 demonstrated. By one class of historians, the Picts 

 are represented to have been totally overthrown 

 and extirpated by the Scots ; but the more probable 

 view of the matter is, that Kenneth, king of the 

 Scots, either by descent or success in war, came 

 into possession of the regal government of Pictland, 

 and that, in the course of time, the name Scots 

 came to be applied to the inhabitants of the country 

 generally over which he and his successors ruled. 



II. From Kenneth II. tothedeathof Alexander III. 

 The history of Scotland, as a kingdom, properly 

 commences with the reign of Kenneth, A. D. 836. 

 About that period the union of the Picts and Scots 

 took place ; the ancient Britons of Strathclyde 

 were amalgamated with both ; the Lothians and 

 more southern portions of the country were annexed 

 to the kingdom ; and one monarch began to sway 

 that portion of territory in the island, which is still 

 comprehended under the term Scotland, but which 

 before that time had formed several principal 

 cities and kingdoms. Before the union of these 

 states or tribes under one king, and indeed for 

 about two centuries later, our knowledge of the 

 country is extremely limited, any glimpses of his- 

 tory respecting it which have reached us being 

 slight, unsatisfactory, and sometimes conflicting. 



The reigns of Kenneth's immediate successors 

 were chiefly distinguished by bloody feuds and con- 

 flicts between rival chieftains, and by repeated in- 

 vasions of the Danes, at that time a piratical 

 people, who infested the whole north of Europe. 

 Malcolm the III., surnamed Caen-more or Great 

 head, with whom well authenticated Scottish his- 

 tory is generally considered to begin, was crowned 

 at Scone, in 1057. He succeeded Macbeth, who 

 had slain his father, Duncan, and usurped the Scot- 

 tish throne. The conquest of England by William 

 of Normandy, involved Malcolm, who espoused 

 the cause of the Saxons, in many fierce wars. Ed- 

 gar Atheling, the heir of the Saxon line, and many 

 of the Saxon nobles, sought refuge in Scotland. 

 Malcolm married Margaret, the sister of the fugi- 

 tive prince, who is said to have introduced a de- 

 gree of refinement into her court remarkable for 

 that time, and to have contributed to soften the 

 rude manners of the people. Malcolm twice in- 

 vaded England with success; but William, having 

 collected a great army, in his turn invaded Scot, 

 land, and compelled Malcolm to do homage for 

 those lands which he held within what was ac- 

 counted the English territory. This was an an- 



