User:Angusmclellan/Scotland in the Early Middle Ages

In the Early Middle Ages Scotland was

Early Historic Scotland is the period from the fifth to the tenth centuries. This is from the end of Roman Britain until the end of the first Viking Age, 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 or Scandinavia than with Romanised regions such as southern Britain 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.

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 ...)

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. 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.

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. . The lowest estimates have the Pictish population at around 40,000 in the earliest part of the period, 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. 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. . 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.

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.

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.

Languages
The toponymic evidence, although less than complete, and that of contemporary writers, 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. 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. 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. 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, while names drawn from Old Norse were given to two kings in the 10th century.

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.

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.

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. 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. 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.

Cunedda (Alcock, but controversial). 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 ?

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. The Pictish lands had previously been described as the home of the Caledonii. 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. . 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 !

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. The last is the older model, and is not generally favoured today. The earliest kingdoms, Bernicia and Deira, are both British names 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. 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. However, almost all of the later cultural and political centers bore British names, from York, to Yeavering, Lindisfarne, Milfield, Dunbar, Melrose and Edinburgh. The only notable exception was Bamburgh, Din Guarai; however we know from Bede that Æthelfrith renamed it Bebbanburh after the his queen, Bebba. (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", 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 ?

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). 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. Norse was introduced to Scotland in the last century of this period.

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

Outlines

 * Harding
 * 1) Framework
 * 2) Earlier Iron Age
 * 3) RIA
 * 4) Romanisation to the northern frontier - Definition - Britain on the eve of the Conquest - Establishment of Roman control in southern England - Stanwick and north-eastern England - Lancashire and Cumbria - The frontier zone - Romanisation and insular Celtic art
 * 5) Romanisation between and beyond the frontiers - The northern frontier: nature and purpose - Rural settlement in Northumberland and the Cheviots - South-west Scotland - Lowland brochs - The Antonine frontier - Traprain Law - Material culture: native and Roman - Burial and ritual - Souterrains
 * 6) Later Iron Age
 * 7) The Borders and southern Scotland - Hillforts and homesteads in south-east Scotland - South-west Scotland and the kingdom of Rheged - Nuclear and citadel forts - Crannogs - Long-distance trade - The archaeology of early Christianity - Timber halls and rectangular buildings - Sunken buildings - Archaeology and Anglian expansion
 * 8) Central and eastern Scotland - Burials: long cists, cairns and ditched-barrow cemeteries - Hillforts and citadels - Nuclear citadels - Promonotory forts - Ring-forts and circular homesteads - Settlements and domestic buildings - Symbol-stones and symbol-ornamented artefacts - A Pictish postscript
 * 9) Argyll and Atlantic Scotland - Wheelhouses - Post-broch settlement in the Western Isles - Argyll and the Inner Hebrides - Dunadd and nuclear forts in the west - Crannogs in Argyll and the Inner Hebrides - Iona and Celtic Christianity - Caithness, Sutherland and the Northern Isles - Material culture of the later Iron Age
 * 10) Settlement and society, continuity and change - Settlement and enclosure - Houses and households - Domestic structures: recognition and interpretation - Social structure - Ritual, ceremonial and the archaeology of death - Culture contact and culture change - Romanisation - Archaeology and the historical paradigm - Northern Britain in the Iron Age: a community of diversity?


 * Alcock
 * 1) Introductory
 * 2) Defining the themes - Defining northern Britain  - Chronological scope - Heroic Age
 * 3) Witnesses - Introduction -  Classes of written evidence - Chronological evidence - General considerations
 * 4) Setting - Shape of the land - Products and resources of the land - Environment
 * 5) Structures of society
 * 6) Warfare
 * 7) Physical structures of society
 * 8) Arts, crafts and peaceful pursuits