User:Angusmclellan/Scotland in the Early Middle Ages
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Early Historic Scotland is the period of the history of Scotland which spans the years from 400 to 900. This is from the end of Roman Britain until the birth of the kingdom of Alba, although both events were of limited contemporary significance. Peripheral to the Roman world, much of Scotland's history in this period has more in common with that of Ireland than with Romanised regions such as southern England or Gaul.
As the first two hundred years of the period are largely prehistoric, archaeology plays an important part in studies. From around 600 onwards, written sources become more common. Other aids to understanding in this period include onomastics (the study of names) - divided into toponymy (place-names), showing the movement of languages, and the sequence in which different languages were spoken in an area, and anthroponymy (personal names), which can offer clues to relationships and origins. As well as studying fossilised remains, paleobotany addresses land use, forest cover, and environmental change in more recent times.
One key event in the early part of the period is the expansion of Christianity from the margins of Scotland to become the religion of almost all inhabitants. The appearance in Scotland of the Anglo-Saxons in the middle of the period, and Vikings towards the end, provoked considerable change. In the east and north-east, the advance of Goidelic languages created new identities, beginning the process which created Scotland during the High Middle Ages.
Contents |
[edit] Historiography
(This would not be included in version 1)
Recent work ? Changes in views (continuity/change, local causes/"invasionist" ideas). Scotland as Anachronism: "North Britain", "Norse/Atlantic world" and the "Irish Sea province" as subjects for study ? Name names (Forsyth, Alex Woolf, James E. Fraser, David Dumville, Foster, Dauvit Broun, Alan Orr Anderson, Marjorie Ogilvie Anderson , William Forbes Skene, Leslie Alcock, Driscoll, Campbell ...)
[edit] Geography
Scotland in this period is a geographical expression, without political unity, and without any meaning to contemporaries. Political entities straddled later boundaries throughout the period. The west coast of Scotland was part of the Irish and Atlantic world. The south-east of Scotland was, for most of the period, part of Anglo-Saxon England. The south-west was partly of the Brythonic (Welsh) world, partly of Anglo-Saxon England, and always linked to the Irish Sea world. The VikingAge attached the north, west and the Northern Isles to the Scandinavian world.
Physically, the interior of Scotland is largely mountainous, and outwith the Great Glen and certain southerly routes, passing from the north-east coast to the west is not easy. The Forth and Clyde came close to dividing Scotland at the waist as much of the land between them was either mountainous or marshland. None the less, most of the land area is suitable for summer grazing and coastal regions are, subject to soil conditions, at elevations suitable for cereal cultivation.
In this period, settlement was mainly confined to the coastal plains and valleys, with the largest areas of fertile land being along the south-east, east and north-east coasts. Pastoralism played a large part in agriculture, so that population densities were unlikely to be high. Romanisation in Scotland was very limited, and did not extend to the creation of cities, nor did indigenous developments create the large multi-focal settlements seen in late pre-Roman times in Gaul and southern England. In some parts of the formerly Romanised world, the Early Middle Ages saw a considerable increase in forests in the early centuries, followed by clearances from the 8th century.[1] This pattern is not seen in Scotland, where, after increases in woodland cover and a climactic decline in the late Bronze Age, the Iron Age saw a final phase of clearance which results in the disappearance of most wild woods from habitable areas by around 500 BC. Extensive forests remained, even into historical times, in areas unsuited for habitation or transhumance, but the assarting seen in former Britannia, Gaul and Germany cannot have been common in Scotland.[2]
[edit] Demographics
(Not for v1) The population of Scotland in this period is unknown. Not until 1755 do we get reliable information about the population of Scotland, when it was 1,265,380.[3]. The lowest estimates have the Pictish population at around 40,000 in the earliest part of the period,[4] but this is certainly nowhere near the real size. A number of around 100,000 is probably the minimum acceptable figure. Lesley Alcock has suggested around 180,000.[5] Such figures are based on surmise about the ratio between military hostings and the rest of the population, extrapolating from the numbers given in the Míniugud Senchasa Fher nAlban.
The usual figure given for Ireland in this period is around half a million, a figure based on the detailed information we have about Irish tribal structures and comparison with the Domesday Book.[6]. As there is no obvious reason why the populations of Ireland and Scotland should differ greatly, the maximum figure for Scotland may be of the same order.[7]
[edit] Economy
The economy of Scotland in this period was dominated by farming and short distance trade. The mechanics of agricultural are poorly understood, as is true for later periods. The economy was essentially a subsistence one, based on small-scale farming.
Pastoralism was certainly important. Cattle represented status and wealth, and their remains are very common in those high-status sites which have been excavated. Nonetheless, cereal production was the main focus of agricultural activity. It may be misleading to rely too heavily on Irish customs, but it would appear that the use of an intensively worked and manured infield and an outfield serving as grazing land and for very occasional crops dates from at least this period. The major cereals in this period, as in later ones, were oats and barley, with wheat being more common in the extensive coastal plain of Lothian.[8]
With the exception of hides, agricultural products are unlikely to have played any part in long-distance trade. Deposits of gold and copper are common enough in Scotland, and furs, slaves and semi-precious stones are among like exports. The import trade, mainly with Gaul, is attested from remains found at Dunadd, Whithorn and Dumbarton Rock, and appears to have been associated with wine and related items such as glassware and ceramics. Local production of gold- and silver-work, as well pottery, and perhaps glassware, is attested from archaeological remains at élite sites.
[edit] Languages
The toponymic evidence,[9] although less than complete, and that of contemporary writers,[10] tells us that four languages, or groups of dialects, were spoken in Scotland in the 8th century. These were Old English, which spread to Scotland from the 7th century, and three earlier groups, all Celtic languages, namely the Goidelic Old Irish and two Brythonic languages, Cumbric and Pictish.[11] The matter of how the Celtic languages came to Scotland, with the exception of Old Irish, lies outwith this period. As for Old Irish, it was presumed, like Old English, to have arrived with migrants.[12] More recent studies argue for the presence of Goidelic languages in western Scotland, and indeed in West Wales and elsewhere on the Irish Sea coast of Great Britain, from very early times.[13] The final language group to appear in Scotland, towards the end of the period, was the Old Norse language, brought by settlers from Scandinavia to the north and west.
This simple picture is less than the whole truth. There is considerable anthroponymic evidence for the spread of names between languages. The best known Early Medieval king, Cináed mac Ailpín, bore a Pictish forename and a patronym imported into Pictish, and perhaps Old Irish, from the Old English name Ælfwine. As for Latin, two kings in Scotland in the 9th century bore the name of the Emperor Constantine,[14] while names drawn from Old Norse were given to two kings in the 10th century.[15]
The major event, indeed the event which created Scotland, was the spread of the Old Irish language into Pictland, replacing Pictish. The mechanics of this event, previously assumed to have been the result of conquest by Gaels from the west, are obscure, but there is ample evidence of the Gaelicisation of Pictish rulers such as Nechtan mac Der-Ilei and Óengus mac Fergusa by the 8th century, if not earlier. Of the two known Pictish stones which carry inscriptions which are believed to name Pictish kings, the Dupplin Cross, dating from the decades around 800, uses a clearly Old Irish derived Latin rather than a Pictish one. The origins of the Kingdom of Alba lie in this adoption of Old Irish language and Gaelic identity.[16]
[edit] Scotland and the Roman Empire
The Roman Empire occupied parts of southern Scotland for some 300 years, and controlled most or all of the areas south of the Forth and Clyde line on the Antonine Wall for perhaps a generation. Two major campaigns, under Agricola and Septimius Severus, were undertaken in northern parts. A number of other significant campaigns are known. However, for reasons which cannot be determined, but which are more likely to be related to Roman priorities than to any inherent difficulties, Scotland was not entirely conquered.[17]
The extent of Romanisation in Britannia is debated, but whatever influence Roman culture had in Wales, or northern England, it must have been greater than was the case in any part of Scotland.[18] None the less, Rome loomed large in the affairs of tribes beyond the frontier. While war was undoubtedly frequent, it is unlikely to be the case that the relationship between the Roman Empire and the tribes of Scotland was entirely hostile. Roman lands did serve as a target of tribal raiding, but Rome offered trade and subsidies to friendly tribes, and, as is well-known in the case of German tribes, Roman authorities regularly interfered in matters of succession to ensure outcomes favourable to Rome.[19] Roman silver ingots, of types issued to the army as donatives on the accession of new Emperors, have been found at Traprain Law, as also in Ireland, and this is presumably a subsidy to an ally rather than booty from raiding.[20]
Cunedda (Alcock, but controversial).[21] Onomastics (and the danger of fake genealogies).
Paraphrasing Hanson, northern England and souther Scotland: Roman occupation:
The Roman occupation north of the Tyne and Solway was incomplete and intermittent. Agricola's (dab ?) campaigns last but six years and are followed by a withdrawal to the Southern Uplands. Hadrian's Wall system included forts in southern Scotland. Antonine Wall in use for around 20 years. Septimius Severus's campaigns (punitive ?). Roman "clientage" of Votadini, Venicones ? Trade ? Main impact: indirect, formation of larger tribal groups. Scotland in "Roman World" or not ? (Yes and no.)
Refs: Hanson, W., "Northern England and southern Scotland: Roman occupation". Salway, P., Roman Britain ?
[edit] Cultures of Scotland
Peoples being rather Victorian. Replaces society.
Heroic societies. "Celtic", "Dark Age", stereotypes ?
Common features: Tribal, Christianity, Heroic kingship/Individuals -> Hereditary kingship/Dynasties, Pastoralism.
Refs: Kingship, Nobilitity ex Lynch. Alcock.
Picts
The Picts appear as a confederation of tribes during the Roman period, probably in the 3rd century.[22] The Pictish lands had previously been described as the home of the Caledonii.[23] The Picts appear not to have been the major power in north Britain until the reign of Bridei map Beli, when the Anglians suffered a defeat at the battle of Dunnichen which halted their expansion northwards.
In Pictland, the kings of Fortriu appear to be the dominant force in Scotland, until the Viking Age. ...
In terms of culture, Pictish artwork is readily distinguished from neighbouring styles.[24]. Pictish stones display naturalistic artwork, and include Latin and ogham inscriptions, with only their enigmatic symbols to distance them from other monumental stones of north Britain. Otherwise, the Picts appear to have been typical of Early Medieval Britain, and very far from being a mysterious people.
Gaels
Gaels in Galloway ? Nicolaisen says yes: maps 14 to 16 baile achadh and cill names, and map 1 sliabh names. Caution !
[edit] Old North: Britons and the English
"Britons" is the name given to the indigenous inhabitants of Britain south of the river Forth. No-one really knows how Germanic people found their way into the north of Britain.
In general, there are three models used by historians to understand the process. Firstly, that the Romans gave power to the English when they left. Secondly, that the Romans left power with the Britons, but that the Britons gave power over to the English. Thirdly, that the English arrived and simply created entirely new kingdoms.[25] The last is the older model, and is not generally favoured today. The earliest kingdoms, Bernicia and Deira, are both British names [26] and are located around regions which were militarily active in the Roman period. The heart of Bernicia is just north of the eastern edge of Hadrian's Wall, with Bamburgh and Yeavering at either side of a Roman road; and Deira was around the Roman provincial capital and legionary base of York.[27] If Britain was like any other province in the Western Roman Empire, then there would have been Germanic foederati located in both of these regions. There is some evidence, albeit problematic, of Germanic burials in the neighbourhood of York and Hadrians Wall from the later Roman period.[28] However, almost all of the later cultural and political centers bore British names, from York, to Yeavering, Lindisfarne, Milfield, Dunbar, Melrose and Edinburgh. [29] The only notable exception was Bamburgh, Din Guarai; however we know from Bede that Æthelfrith renamed it Bebbanburh after the his queen, Bebba.[30] (Someone - who ? - Bebba is a British name, it doesn't look that way to me.)
It is likely that the key period for understanding the transition between British and Welsh dominance was the period between the reigns of Æthelfrith (593-616) and Oswiu (642-70). As Barbara Yorke comments, "Bernician history begins with Æthelfrith",[31] and the likewise, in Deira, in the words of the same historian, the first ruler "whose existence we can be satisfied is Ælle", roughly comtemporary with Æthelfrith.[32] Using both the Historia Britonum and the poetic tradition of the northern Britons, we can tell that the rulers Urien and Gwallawg were able to excerice power all over the area which became Northumbria in the decades before Æthelfrith, besieging Theodoric in Lindisfarne and attacking York. According to the Historia Brittonum, it was Rhun, son of Urien, and not Paulinus who carried out the baptism and conversion of Edwin to christianity.[33] Edwin himself was deposed and killed by a British king, Caedualla, who led a group of sub-kings and allies, one of whom was Penda of Mercia against the Deiran king. Alex Woolf has recently located the dominions of Caedualla in northern England, rather than in Gwynedd as later Gwynedd tradition attempted to make out.[34] In essence, even in Edwin's time, it is not possible to say that the balance between the English and Briton had swung in favour of the former.
However, as early as 616, King Æthelfrith was able to attack British bases as far away as Chester.[35] Edwin, before he was killed, was able to claim imperium, overlordship, over Mevania (Isle of Man). (Perhaps aided by the absence of Irish opposition ?) When Caedualla was toppled, it was Bernicians exiles among the Picts and the Scots, and perhaps assisted by them, who took control of the Old North. The process was certainly a mixture of violence and accomodation. Oswald, for instance, got the British nickname Lamnguin ("Flashing Sword"). However, the fact that Oswiu married Urien's daughter, Rhianfellt, and is recorded as distributing gifts to British chiefs should make us wary of exaggerating the violance involved. (Irishing of Northumbria, see Koch, "The place of Y Gododdin, Bede HE, III, 1, 5 & 25.)
Expansion of North ... cont. english, whithorn and ninian ... vikings
- Having read Brooke in PSAS, still none to clear, but assume mixed Anglian/British settlement in SW.
- East Lothian and the "Borders" more Anglianised.
Norse and Gall-Gaedheal ?
Or deal with in Norse/Gaels ?
[edit] Combine Demographics and Economy
Economy: Not that much that can be said ? Crop types, settlement, trade. Technological advances (mills ? and ?)
Demographics
By the end of the period, almost all the inhabitants of Scotland were Christians. The exceptions were the newly arrived Scandinavians. Bede tells us that in the Britain of his day, there were five languages spoken by the five linguistic peoples (gentium linguis) of the island, i.e. the languages of the English (Anglorum), the Welsh (Brettonum), the Gaels (Scottorum), the Picts (Pictorum) and the Latins (et Latinorum).[36] Bede's desciption is all the more relevant because all five were used in Scotland. Pictish was presumably the most widespread in the period, making way for Gaelic towards the end of the period.[37] Norse was introduced to Scotland in the last century of this period.
[edit] Religion
Conversion Distinctiveness of Irish model. Relevant to Scotland. Cf. Roman & Early Medieval continental conversions. Bede & the ASC.
Saints Columba, Adomnán, Ninian, Serf, Palladius. Cult of Saints. Patronage.
Links to the wider Church
[edit] Origins of Alba
[edit] Notes
- ^ Duby, Landscape of A-S England
- ^ Tipping, "The form and fate of Scotland's woodland", something on assarts, and check place-name stuff.
- ^ R.E. Tyson, "Population Patterns", (2001), pp. 487–488.
- ^ See, A. Charles Thomas, "The Interpretation of Pictish Symbols" in Archaeology Journal 120 (1963), pp. 31–97.
- ^ Alcock, p. 115
- ^ This was Liam de Paor's estimate, and has been followed by Francis J. Byrne, "Tribes and tribalism in early Ireland", in Ériu 22 (1971), pp. 128–66; see Kelly 1988, p. 4, n. 15.
- ^ Dyer, p. 101, estimates one million for 1300, but given the different experiences of Scotland and England, Ireland provides the better analogy.
- ^ Foster, pp.52–55; Kelly 2000, pp. 229–230 & 368–372.
- ^ Forsyth; Nicolaisen; Taylor.
- ^ Bede, I, i.
- ^ Forsyth; Taylor.
- ^ Foster, pp. 9–10; Nicolaisen, p.156.
- ^ Campbell, Were the Scots Irish; Foster, pp. 9–10.
- ^ Caustantín mac Fergusa and Causantín mac Cináeda.
- ^ Idulb, from Hildulfr and Amlaíb from Olafr.
- ^ Broun, "National identity"; Foster, pp. 107–111.
- ^ Breeze, "Why did the Romans fail to conquer Scotland ?"
- ^ If debated, give examples
- ^ Wanted.
- ^ Who says
- ^ Alcock, Cunedda.
- ^ Pict first appears in a panegyric written by Eumenius in AD 297.
- ^ e.g. by Tacitus, Ptolemy, and as the Dicalydonii by Ammianus Marcellinus. Note that Ptolemy refers to the sea to the west of Scotland as the Oceanus Duecaledonius.
- ^ Henderson for artwork
- ^ David Rollason, Northumbria, 500-1100: Creation and Destruction of a Kingdom, (Cambridge, 2003), pp. 65-6.
- ^ e.g. David Rollason, (2003), p. 81.
- ^ David Rollason, (2003), pp. 46, 49.
- ^ David Rollason, (2003), pp. 76-9. Check Early Deira when it arrives.
- ^ For York, see O.J. Padel, s.v. "Place-names, Celtic" in Michael Lapidge et al. (eds.), The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England, (Oxford, 1999), pp. 367-8; for Yeavering, Milfield, Dunbar, see Lesley Alcock, Kings & Warriors, Craftsmen & Priests in Northern Britain AD 550-850, (Edinburgh, 2003), p. 45. For Yeavering, see Alcock, loc. cit., but note also that the Irish word for Lindisfarne was borrowed from the British one; the English-sounding Milfield is not the Dark Age form, occuring as Maelmin (Bede, HE, II. 14). For a more exhaustive list of English borrowings from British, see Watson, W.J., The Celtic Place-Names of Scotland, (Edinburgh, 1926) reprinted, with an Introduction, full Watson bibliography and corrigenda by Simon Taylor (Edinburgh, 2004), pp. 339-88, which covers names like Edinburgh and Melrose; see also W.F.H. Nicolaisen, Scottish Place-Names, (Edinburgh, 1976), 2nd ed. (2001), pp. 88-108
- ^ Bede, HE, III. 6.
- ^ Barbara Yorke, Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England, (Abingdon, 1990), p. 27.
- ^ loc. cit.
- ^ For discussion of this, and its conflict with Bede, see Caitlin Corning, “The Baptism of Edwin, King of Northumbria: A New Analysis of the British Tradition”, in Northern History, 36, 2000, pp. 5-15, where it is suggested that Rhun patronized Edwin as his godfather.
- ^ Alex Woolf, “Caedualla, Rex Brettonum”, in Northern History, 36, 2004, pp. 5-24
- ^ Bede, HE II.2
- ^ HE I.1
- ^ Katherine Forsyth, "Scotland to 1100" (2005), p. 32 states that Pictish had "the greatest number of speakers" in the ninth century, but of course she has not a shread of evidence. However, whatever Pictish was, it must have been the majority language at the beginning of the period if we are to equate Pictish with Pictland.
[edit] References
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[edit] Further reading
The relevant works in the new Edinburgh history of Scotland — Fraser, From Caledonia to Pictland, and Woolf, From Pictland to Alba — are expected in 2007–2008. Of earlier series, the relevant works are Smyth (1984), which is widely cited, but is unlikely to be suitable reading for a beginner, and Duncan (1975), which is altogether less controversial. Publications by Historic Scotland in cooperation with Batsford — i.e. Foster (2004), Ritchie (1993) — and the series The Making of Scotland in cooperation with Canongate & latterly Birlinn — i.e. Campbell (1999), Carver (2005), Driscoll (2002), et cetera — are generally of a high standard and easily accessible.
Alcock (2003) provides comprehensive coverage of Dark Age northern Britain from an archaeologist's perspective. Marjorie Anderson (1973; 1980) provides the landmark and most authoritative guide to the historical sources of the period. Higham (1993), Ó Cróinín (1995) & (2005), Charles-Edwards (2000), Crawford (1987) and Graham-Campbell & Batey (2001) may be useful for coverage of Northumbrian, Irish and Scandinavian influences. The Britons of southern Scotland are very much the poor relations in terms of publications. Snyder (1998) & (2003) are not entirely successful, and Alcock (1971; 1989) may well remain the best introduction to the subject. Lynch (2001) contains various useful short articles, but this is not referenced and may be best read in conjunction with another work.
[edit] External links
- CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts at University College Cork
- The Corpus of Electronic Texts includes the Annals of Ulster, Tigernach, the Four Masters and Innisfallen, the Chronicon Scotorum, the Lebor Bretnach, Genealogies, and various Saints' Lives. Most are translated into English, or translations are in progress
- Annals of Clonmacnoise at Cornell
- The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba
- Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum and its Continuation (pdf), at CCEL, translated by A.M. Sellar, Latin edition at the Latin Library
- XML Edition of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle by Tony Jebson.
- Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (PSAS) through 1999 (pdf).
