Short History of Scotland , livre ebook

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135 pages

English

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pubOne.info thank you for your continued support and wish to present you this new edition. If we could see in a magic mirror the country now called Scotland as it was when the Romans under Agricola (81 A.D.) crossed the Border, we should recognise little but the familiar hills and mountains. The rivers, in the plains, overflowed their present banks; dense forests of oak and pine, haunted by great red deer, elks, and boars, covered land that has long been arable. There were lakes and lagoons where for centuries there have been fields of corn. On the oldest sites of our towns were groups of huts made of clay and wattle, and dominated, perhaps, by the large stockaded house of the tribal prince. In the lochs, natural islands, or artificial islets made of piles (crannogs), afforded standing-ground and protection to villages, if indeed these lake- dwellings are earlier in Scotland than the age of war that followed the withdrawal of the Romans.

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Publié par	Pub One Info
Date de parution	23 octobre 2010
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9782819911524
Langue	English

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CHAPTER I. SCOTLAND AND THE ROMANS.
If we could see in a magic mirror the country nowcalled Scotland as it was when the Romans under Agricola (81 A.D.)crossed the Border, we should recognise little but the familiarhills and mountains. The rivers, in the plains, overflowed theirpresent banks; dense forests of oak and pine, haunted by great reddeer, elks, and boars, covered land that has long been arable.There were lakes and lagoons where for centuries there have beenfields of corn. On the oldest sites of our towns were groups ofhuts made of clay and wattle, and dominated, perhaps, by the largestockaded house of the tribal prince. In the lochs, naturalislands, or artificial islets made of piles (crannogs), affordedstanding-ground and protection to villages, if indeed these lake-dwellings are earlier in Scotland than the age of war that followedthe withdrawal of the Romans.
The natives were far beyond the savage stage ofculture. They lived in an age of iron tools and weapons and ofwheeled vehicles; and were in what is called the Late Celticcondition of art and culture, familiar to us from beautiful objectsin bronze work, more commonly found in Ireland than in Scotland,and from the oldest Irish romances and poems.
In these "epics" the manners much resemble thosedescribed by Homer. Like his heroes, the men in the Cuchullainsagas fight from light chariots, drawn by two ponies, and we knowthat so fought the tribes in Scotland encountered by Agricola theRoman General (81-85 A.D.) It is even said in the Irish epics thatCuchullain learned his chariotry in Alba - that is, in ourScotland. {2} The warriors had "mighty limbs and flaming hair,"says Tacitus. Their weapons were heavy iron swords, in bronzesheaths beautifully decorated, and iron-headed spears; they hadlarge round bronze-studded shields, and battle-axes. The dressconsisted of two upper garments: first, the smock, of linen orother fabric - in battle, often of tanned hides of animals, - andthe mantle, or plaid, with its brooch. Golden torques and heavygold bracelets were worn by the chiefs; the women had bronzeornaments with brightly coloured enamelled decoration.
Agriculture was practised, and corn was ground inthe circular querns of stone, of which the use so long survived.The women span and wove the gay smocks and darker cloaks of thewarriors.
Of the religion, we only know that it was a form ofpolytheism; that sacrifices were made, and that Druids existed;they were soothsayers, magicians, perhaps priests, and wereattendant on kings.
Such were the people in Alba whom we can dimlydescry around Agricola's fortified frontier between the firths ofForth and Clyde, about 81-82 A.D. When Agricola pushed north of theForth and Tay he still met men who had considerable knowledge ofthe art of war. In his battle at Mons Graupius (perhaps at thejunction of Isla and Tay), his cavalry had the better of the nativechariotry in the plain; and the native infantry, descending fromtheir position on the heights, were attacked by his horsemen intheir attempt to assail his rear. But they were swift of foot, thewoods sheltered and the hills defended them. He made no moreeffectual pursuit than Cumberland did at Culloden.
Agricola was recalled by Domitian after seven years'warfare, and his garrisons did not long hold their forts on hislines or frontier, which stretched across the country from Forth toClyde; roughly speaking, from Graham's Dyke, east of Borrowstounnison the Firth of Forth, to Old Kilpatrick on Clyde. The region isnow full of coal-mines, foundries, and villages; but excavations atBar Hill, Castlecary, and Roughcastle disclose traces of Agricola'sworks, with their earthen ramparts. The Roman station at Camelon,north-west of Falkirk, was connected with the southern passes ofthe Highland hills by a road with a chain of forts. The remains ofRoman pottery at Camelon are of the first century.
Two generations after Agricola, about 140-145, theRoman Governor, Lollius Urbicus, refortified the line of Forth toClyde with a wall of sods and a ditch, and forts much larger thanthose constructed by Agricola. His line, "the Antonine Vallum," hadits works on commanding ridges; and fire-signals, in case of attackby the natives, flashed the news "from one sea to the other sea,"while the troops of occupation could be provisioned from the Romanfleet. Judging by the coins found by the excavators, the line wasabandoned about 190, and the forts were wrecked and dismantled,perhaps by the retreating Romans.
After the retreat from the Antonine Vallum, about190, we hear of the vigorous "unrest" of the Meatae andCaledonians; the latter people are said, on very poor authority, tohave been little better than savages. Against them Severus (208)made an expedition indefinitely far to the north, but the enemyshunned a general engagement, cut off small detachments, and causedthe Romans terrible losses in this march to a non- existentMoscow.
Not till 306 do we hear of the Picts, about whomthere is infinite learning but little knowledge. They must havespoken Gaelic by Severus's time (208), whatever their originallanguage; and were long recognised in Galloway, where the hill andriver names are Gaelic.
The later years of the Romans, who abandoned Britainin 410, were perturbed by attacks of the Scoti (Scots) fromIreland, and it is to a settlement in Argyll of "Dalriadic" Scotsfrom Ireland about 500 A.D. that our country owes the name ofScotland.
Rome has left traces of her presence on Scottishsoil - vestiges of the forts and vallum wall between the firths; astation rich in antiquities under the Eildons at Newstead; another,Ardoch, near Sheriffmuir; a third near Solway Moss (Birrenswark);and others less extensive, with some roads extending towards theMoray Firth; and a villa at Musselburgh, found in the reign ofJames VI. {4}
CHAPTER II. CHRISTIANITY - THE RIVALKINGDOMS.
To the Scots, through St Columba, who, about 563,settled in Iona, and converted the Picts as far north as Inverness,we owe the introduction of Christianity, for though the RomanChurch of St Ninian (397), at Whithern in Galloway, left embers ofthe faith not extinct near Glasgow, St Kentigern's country, tillColumba's time, the rites of Christian Scotland were partly of theCeltic Irish type, even after St Wilfrid's victory at the Synod ofWhitby (664).
St Columba himself was of the royal line in Ulster,was learned, as learning was then reckoned, and, if he hadpreviously been turbulent, he now desired to spread the Gospel.With twelve companions he settled in Iona, established his cloisterof cells, and journeyed to Inverness, the capital of Pictland. Herehis miracles overcame the magic of the King's druids; and hisMajesty, Brude, came into the fold, his people following him.Columba was no less of a diplomatist than of an evangelist. In acrystal he saw revealed the name of the rightful king of theDalriad Scots in Argyll - namely, Aidan - and in 575, at Drumceatin North Ireland, he procured the recognition of Aidan, and broughtthe King of the Picts also to confess Aidan's independentroyalty.
In the 'Life of Columba,' by Adamnan, we get a clearand complete view of everyday existence in the Highlands duringthat age. We are among the red deer, and the salmon, and the cattlein the hills, among the second- sighted men, too, of whom Columbawas far the foremost. We see the saint's inkpot upset by a clumsybut enthusiastic convert; we even make acquaintance with the oldwhite pony of the monastery, who mourned when St Columba was dying;while among secular men we observe the differences in rank,measured by degrees of wealth in cattle. Many centuries elapsebefore, in Froissart, we find a picture of Scotland so distinct asthat painted by Adamnan.
The discipline of St Columba was of the monasticmodel. There were settlements of clerics in fortified villages; theclerics were a kind of monks, with more regard for abbots than fortheir many bishops, and with peculiar tonsures, and a peculiar wayof reckoning the date of Easter. Each missionary was popularlycalled a Saint, and the Kil , or cell, of many a Celticmissionary survives in hundreds of place-names.
The salt-water Loch Leven in Argyll was on the westthe south frontier of "Pictland," which, on the east, included allthe country north of the Firth of Forth. From Loch Leven south toKintyre, a large cantle, including the isles, was the land of theScots from Ireland, the Dalriadic kingdom. The south-west, fromDumbarton, including our modern Cumberland and Westmorland, wasnamed Strathclyde, and was peopled by British folk, speaking anancient form of Welsh. On the east, from Ettrick forest intoLothian, the land was part of the early English kingdom ofBernicia; here the invading Angles were already settled - thoughriver-names here remain Gaelic, and hill-names are often eitherGaelic or Welsh. The great Northern Pictland was divided into sevenprovinces, or sub-kingdoms, while there was an over-King, orArdrigh, with his capital at Inverness and, later, in Angus orForfarshire. The country about Edinburgh was partly English, partlyCymric or Welsh. The south-west corner, Galloway, was calledPictish, and was peopled by Gaelic-speaking tribes.
In the course of time and events the dynasty of theArgyll Scoti from Ireland gave its name to Scotland, while theEnglish element gave its language to the Lowlands; it was adoptedby the Celtic kings of the whole country and became dominant, whilethe Celtic speech withdrew into the hills of the north andnorthwest.
The nation was thus evolved out of alien and hostileelements, Irish, Pictish, Gaelic, Cymric, English, and on thenorthern and western shores, Scandinavian.
CHAPTER III. EARLY WARS OF RACES.
In a work of this scope, it is impossible todescribe all the wars between the petty kingdoms peopled by racesof various languages, which occupied Scotland. In 603, in the wildmoors at Degsastane, between the Liddel burn and the passes of theUpper Tyne, the Engl