Proceedings of the Society, May 13, 1935. the Castles of Dunnideer and Wardhouse, in the Garioch, Aberdeenshire. by W. Douglas S

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Proceedings of the Society, May 13, 1935. the Castles of Dunnideer and Wardhouse, in the Garioch, Aberdeenshire. by W. Douglas S 460 PROCEEDING E SOCIETY , 1935TH 13 F Y .O S MA , IV. THE CASTLES OF DUNNIDEER AND WARDHOUSE, IN THE GARIOCH, ABERDEENSHIRE. BY W. DOUGLAS SIMPSON, M.A., D.LiTT., F.S.A.ScoT. Dunnideer is an elongated hogsbacked hill, with its long axis lying E.S.E. by W.N.W., about a mile west of the town of Insch, in the upper Garioch. Rising abruptly to a height of 876 feet, the hill is rendered conspicuou e singleth s y (figb ,) lofty.1 shattered an , d ancienn wala f o l t Fig. 1. Dunuideer. General view from east. castle that crown . sit Thi s wal pierces i l larga y deb ruinous window, formin strikinglga y picturesque object whic sees hi n ove wida r e extent of country. On a closer inspection, the old tower is found to stand withi vitrifiee a wal nf th o l d fort, beyond which agaiearthworn a s ni k rampart with a ditch on either side. The whole thus forms one of the most remarkable archaeological ensembles in the north of Scotland. towee s measureTh ha r ) (plan4 d dfigsd ,an aboufigan 3 . , fee8 .2 3 t t CASTLES OF DUNNIDEER AND WARDHOUSE, GAR10CH. 461 in feelengt9 breadth2 n i t y hb , within wall fee6 s inche3 t s thickn O . the outer face of the west wall, which stands to a height of over 30 feet, there is a splayed plinth about 3 feet above present ground level, carrying the face 9 inches back. Remain narroa f so w window with splayed jambs basemene existh t a t te eas wesd leveth an t tn i l walls: the latter window has its ingoing crudely arched. The great window on the upper floor on this side, already referred to, has a pointed rear- arch, well though roughly formed in small flat stones; but its original shape below the arch is obscured by modern repairs. The masonry con- sist excellenf so t well-coursed rubble facings, with a cor f pebbleo e s grouten limeru n .i d Where this masonry has been patched, pinnings are Pig. 2. Dunnideer Castle: freely employed, but on the undisturbed faces these are absent and the rounded- or subangular pebbles are closely compacted together with flat chips bringin o course—t p gu a modf o e Fig. 3. Dunnideer Castle: view of tower from east. building which with the regular coursing produces in the general effect a markedly striated e westextured nortth an tn hO .inne r sidee th s lowee facingth 9 feef r o ts have been e wallpeeledth sd an hav, e subsequently been reface a heigh o t d t varying feet6 betwee d . an 3 n 462 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, MAY 13, 1935. e broketh f o e soutn th d wes t hen A t "walld partlan , y caughy b p u t modern underpinning, are eleven courses of dressed yellow freestone at the first floor level (seen to the left in fig. 4), every alternate stone being a cloured-away tusk, while the others are set to a uniform vertical e onllineTh y . probable explanatio f thi no s tha i s t ther s beeeha a n garderob somr eo e such projecting structur t thiea s point. Fig . Dunnidee4 . r Castle: vie towerf wo from west. The appearance of the tower in 1788, when a great deal more of it was standing shows i , gooa y nb d etchin Adan gi Cardonnel'e md s Pictur- esque Antiquities f Scotland.o This towef ro e wesstandd th en tt a s the vitrified fort, which forms (plan, fig. 5) a rectangle with curved corners, measuring fee 5 abou8 feet0 y interiorlyb t23 t mosn I . t places the vitrifaction has been very thorough. The largest remaining mass norte th hn o (fig sid, 6) .e nea towere fee 2 rth length 2 n i t s i , fee9 , t thick, and 7 feet in height. I found a fine piece of the melted stone showing CASTLE F DUNNIDEEO S WARDHOUSED RAN , GARIOCH3 46 . seven distinct impression f charreso d wood, severa t ends whicf cu o l e . har The vitrified materia s chemicallwa l y examine r CharleM y db s Proctor, who pronounce composee b o same t th t d i f e do granitwhicf o t e hth eou bana hilease d formed.s kth i len tt seemA mar o s t positioe kth a f no cross-wal1 l cuttin fore gt whetheth tofcurvebu e f ;o fth d rden this cross- wal prehistoris i l r connecteco d wit mediaevae hth l castl impossibls i t ei e a distanc t fee6 A 3 tsayo f t eo beyon. d thi sa curve easd en td cross- ditch is drawn athwart the hogsback; it measures 29 feet broad and is now abou fee3 t t deeappeard traversee pan b o a t causewas y db f yo access. The earthwork fortification (plan, fig. 5) encircles the hill at a distance DUNNIDEER """'""''iiimiuwiiiiimmiiiiiiiiimiimi '""'Hlliliii """"""""""MfllllUllllllllllllllllllllin™"1""""",',';,',,,.^'^" ,o """"""/in """"""'""""WWWWIIIIIIIIIIillMIIM"1""""""""""" ,,inu\»'wv>1> ItSO foo J5O GOO Afo 7OO TsO Pig. 5. Dunnideer. General plan showing mediaeval tower, vitrified fort, and earthworks. (The line of the vitrified rampart is shown hy cross-hatching ; portions of vitrifaction cropping out situn tintee i ar d black.) of roughly one-third below its summit, and encloses an egg-shaped area measuring aboufee 0 feegreates 0 n lengti n t36 i t 60 t d han t breadtht I . consist a centra f o s l bank betwee ditcheso ntw . These earthworke ar s most conspicuous at the two ends (fig. 7), and on the north side they are now reduced to a mere track along the hill. So far as surface appearances chiegoe th , f dimensions follows(takes wese a th e t n ar a end : )— Se . MacdonaldeJ , Place Names Strathbogie,n i . 52 . p CASTLE F DUNNIDEEO S WARDHOUSED AN R , GARIOCH5 46 . Basal breadth of rampart, 28 feet. Height of rampart above present solum of outer ditch, 8 feet. Breadt innef ho r ditch feet9 , . Breadt outef ho r ditch feet4 1 , . The earliest scientific description of Dunnideer occurs in a remarkable pape vitrifien o r d forts publishe y Jameb d s Anderso f Monkshilo n n i l SLOPE TO BARTHOLOMEW SHEVACK BURN THE FLEMING'S CASTLE OF WEREOORS Pig. 8. Plan of moated homestead at Wardhouse. Archceologia, vol. vi (1792), pp. 88-95.J In this account, which is illus- trated by a sketch plan and three drawings, reference is made to a still lower line of circumvallation, of which no trace appears now to be visible, though ther sligha s ei t terracnorte th n heo flank whic havy hma e given rise to the idea of a lower rampart. The large hollow marked G on Anderson's plan, outside the west end of the earthwork rampart, still exists. Possibly it is a quarry out of which stone for the tower was dug. At the western foot of the hill are the earthwork remains of the old castl Wardhousf eo e (fig. 8). They for mtypicaa l exampl Normaa f eo n motte——or rather perhaps a homestead moat, as there is no indication of the area within the ditch having been much mounded up above the Auderson republished this account, with the plans and engravings poorly reproduced on a reduce1 d s scaleperiodicahi n i , Bee,e Literaryr Th lo Weekly Intelligencer, . 206—12 pp vol . x . , 274-8 (August 15 and 29, 1792). VOL. LXIX. 30 466 PROCEEDING E SOCIETY, 193513 TH Y F . O S MA , surrounding level. The area is roughly oval, measuring about 176 feet fee0 breadthn lengti n 14 ti s enclose i d d ditca han an ,y db h abou0 6 t feet wide, with an outer rampart. On the east side both ditch and rampar e obliteratedar t . Immediately north-eas e far th f Mainm o s i t s of Wardhouse, representing the old demesne or mensal lands of the castle, from whic lord'e hth s tabl supplieds ewa . The earliest referenc Dunnideeo t e r Castla en i tha s i I havtt me e note of an agreement, dated 1260, which is preserved in the Chartulary of Lindores. That great Tironensian abbey "was founde n 117i d y 8b David, Earl of Huntingdon and of the Gtarioch, brother of William the s endowewa t i dm wit hi e revenue Liony hth B . f eigho s t parishen i s s northerhi n earldom, including Insch whicn i , h Dunnidee s situatedi r . agreemene Th t referremads wa eo t dbetwee e Abbo nth d Conven an t t of Lindore r GoceliSi d r Joscelinno an s e Balliold e , lor f Dunnideero d , and brother of Sir John de Balliol, husband of Dervorgilla, lady of Gallo- way, the founder of Balliol College, Oxford, and of Sweetheart Abbey domainn withiow r .nhe Dervorgill a granddaughte s wa a f Davido r , Ear f Gariocho l thid s clearlan i s, e Ballio e reasoth yth y l nwh famil y obtained ha interesn da t agreementhere.e Th t mentions that Gocelin held "his lands i1 n Garviach ... of the gift of Sir John de Balliol, his brother. t narrateI " s that "the aforesai r GocelinSi d r himselfo , f s heirs hi s give granted d ha , nan an perpetuad fren di an e l alm frea s e intercourse from the Ouri [River Ury], measuring four feet and a half in breadth, as far as the mill of Inchemabani [Insch], by the middle of the land which he has on the east of his castle of Donidor," on condition that "the aforesaid Abbot and convent shall give to the aforesaid Sir Gocelin and his heirs a pair of white gloves every year at Whitsunday at his castle of Donidor l service al lien i ,f uo , exaction, suitseculad an , r demand."- Somewhat earliee samth en i r centur meete yw e Lindore, alsth n oi s Chartulary, with our first mention of Wardhouse, in a deed whereby Bartholome Flemine wth g '' grantchurce t Drostath S o f st ho Inchef no - maban acreo arabltw f so d tofa i an et land adjoinin vils hi ltofe n gth i t of Rauengille between the great road and the moor towards Gillandres- ton 3 .
Recommended publications
  • Chap 2 Broun
    222 Attitudes of Gall to Gaedhel in Scotland before John of Fordun DAUVIT BROUN It is generally held that the idea of Scotland’s division between Gaelic ‘Highlands’ and Scots or English ‘Lowlands’ can be traced no further back than the mid- to late fourteenth century. One example of the association of the Gaelic language with the highlands from this period is found in Scalacronica (‘Ladder Chronicle’), a chronicle in French by the Northumbrian knight, Sir Thomas Grey. Grey and his father had close associations with Scotland, and so he cannot be treated simply as representing an outsider’s point of view. 1 His Scottish material is likely to have been written sometime between October 1355 and October 1359.2 He described how the Picts had no wives and so acquired them from Ireland, ‘on condition that their offspring would speak Irish, which language remains to this day in the highlands among those who are called Scots’. 3 There is also an example from the ‘Highlands’ themselves. In January 1366 the papacy at Avignon issued a mandate to the bishop of Argyll granting Eoin Caimbeul a dispensation to marry his cousin, Mariota Chaimbeul. It was explained (in words which, it might be expected, 1See especially Alexander Grant, ‘The death of John Comyn: what was going on?’, SHR 86 (2007) 176–224, at 207–9. 2He began to work sometime in or after 1355 while he was a prisoner in Edinburgh Castle, and finished the text sometime after David II’s second marriage in April 1363 (the latest event noted in the work); but he had almost certainly finished this part of the chronicle before departing for France in 1359: see Sir Thomas Gray, Scalacronica, 1272–1363 , ed.
    [Show full text]
  • Aberdeen and St Andrews Nicola Royan
    St Andrews and Aberdeen 20: Aberdeen and St Andrews Nicola Royan (University of Nottingham) Introduction A thousand thre hundreth fourty and nyne Fra lichtare was þe suet Virgyne, lichtare – delivered of a child In Scotland þe first pestilens Begouth, of sa gret violens That it wes said of liffand men liffand - living The third part it distroyit þen; And eftir þat in to Scotland A зere or mare it wes wedand. wedand - raging Before þat tyme wes neuer sene In Scotland pestilens sa keyne: keyne- keen For men, and barnis and wemen, It sparit nocht for to quell then.1 Thus Andrew of Wyntoun (c.1350-c.1422) recorded the first outbreak of the Black Death in Scotland. Modern commentators set the death toll at between a quarter and a third of the population, speculating that Scotland may not have suffered as badly as some other regions of Europe.2 Nevertheless, it had a significant effect. Fordun’s Gesta discusses its symptoms, but its full impact on St Andrews comes to us through Walter Bower’s lament on the high loss among the cathedral’s canons.3 In Aberdeen, in contrast, there survive detailed burgh records regarding the process of isolating sufferers: that these relate to the outbreak of 1498 indicates that the burgesses had learned some epidemiological lessons from previous outbreaks and were willing to act on corporate responsibility.4 These responses nicely differentiate the burghs. On the north-east coast of Fife, St Andrews was a small episcopal burgh. From the top of St Rule’s tower (see above), it is easy to see to the north, the bishops’ castle substantially rebuilt by Bishop Walter Traill (1385-1401), the mouth of the river Eden, and beyond that the Firth of Tay; to the west, away from the sea, the good farmland in the rolling hills and valley of the Howe of Fife; to the east, the present harbour.
    [Show full text]
  • BURROUGHS, Jeremiah, 1599-1646 I 656 a Sermon Preached Before the Right Honourable the House of Peeres in the Abbey at Westminster, the 26
    BURROUGHS, Jeremiah, 1599-1646 I 656 A sermon preached before the Right Honourable the House of Peeres in the Abbey at Westminster, the 26. of November, 1645 / by Jer.Burroughus. - London : printed for R.Dawlman, 1646. -[6],48p.; 4to, dedn. - Final leaf lacking. Bound with r the author's Moses his choice. London, 1650. 1S. SERMONS BURROUGHS, Jeremiah, 1599-1646 I 438 Sions joy : a sermon preached to the honourable House of Commons assembled in Parliament at their publique thanksgiving September 7 1641 for the peace concluded between England and Scotland / by Jeremiah Burroughs. London : printed by T.P. and M.S. for R.Dawlman, 1641. - [8],64p.; 4to, dedn. - Bound with : Gauden, J. The love of truth and peace. London, 1641. 1S.SERMONS BURROUGHS, Jeremiah, 1599-1646 I 656 Sions joy : a sermon preached to the honourable House of Commons, September 7.1641, for the peace concluded between England and Scotland / by Jeremiah Burroughs. - London : printed by T.P. and M.S. for R.Dawlman, 1641. -[8],54p.; 4to, dedn. - Bound with : the author's Moses his choice. London, 1650. 1S.SERMONS BURT, Edward, fl.1755 D 695-6 Letters from a gentleman in the north of Scotland to his friend in London : containing the description of a capital town in that northern country, likewise an account of the Highlands. - A new edition, with notes. - London : Gale, Curtis & Fenner, 1815. - 2v. (xxviii, 273p. : xii,321p.); 22cm. - Inscribed "Caledonian Literary Society." 2.A GENTLEMAN in the north of Scotland. 3S.SCOTLAND - Description and travel I BURTON, Henry, 1578-1648 K 140 The bateing of the Popes bull] / [by HenRy Burton], - [London?], [ 164-?].
    [Show full text]
  • Christina Bruce and Her Defence of Kildrummy Castle
    2020 VII Christina Bruce and Her Defence of Kildrummy Castle Morvern French Article: Christina Bruce and Her Defence of Kildrummy Castle Christina Bruce and Her Defence of Kildrummy Castle Morvern French HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT SCOTLAND Abstract: In 1335, Christina Bruce “maid stout and manly resistens” against a Disinherited force besieging Kildrummy Castle during the Second War of Scottish Independence. Her successful defence led to the critical battle of Culblean at which the Bruce faction scored a notable victory. The actions of her contemporaries Black Agnes and Lady Seton have received a deal of scholarly attention, but Christina has remained curiously understudied. Most chroniclers neglected to mention her and minimised her achievement, except for Andrew Wyntoun, who provided the principal and most reliable evidence for her active formulation of the castle’s defence strategy. This article outlines the development of Christina’s story from her own lifetime to the sixteenth century, considering the sources used by different chroniclers. As a member of the aristocratic class, her role as military leader sat alongside her roles as political prisoner, landholder and granter of land, trade negotiator, and royal host. Yet, she was prevented from crossing into established history and national memory by a combination of factors that included the lack of importance attached to female actions. By offering a new perspective on Christina, this article injects a degree of gender balance into the history of the Wars of Scottish Independence. Keywords: Wars of Scottish Independence; Bruce; women’s history; military history; chronicles ncreasingly, scholarship recognises medieval women’s engagement with, and participation in, war, moving on from the idea that they were limited to acting as passive bystanders in their roles as mothers, sisters, daughters, and wives affected by I male actions and loss.1 In a European context, Megan McLaughlin defined a woman warrior as “someone who participated personally in a military action ..
    [Show full text]
  • Fourteenth-Century Scottish Royal Women 1306-1371: Pawns, Players and Prisoners
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by The University of Sydney: Sydney eScholarship Journals... FOURTEENTH-CENTURY SCOTTISH ROYAL WOMEN 1306-1371: PAWNS, PLAYERS AND PRISONERS Lorna G Barrow The kings of Scotland in the fourteenth century, with the exception of David II, did not initially marry the daughters of kings. Their wives were Scottish and were drawn in the main from the level of earls and lairds. Furthermore, unlike most Scottish princesses in the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, who went out of the realm to marry, those in the fourteenth century were on the whole stay at home princesses. These women were married into the ranks of the nobility thereby strengthening the political position of any given monarch within the realm. However, the possible claims to the throne through the highly fertile female lines proliferated. After the crown had passed to the house of Stewart through a female, Marjory, daughter of Robert the Bruce, the possibility of such claims probably served to maintain the royal status as primus inter pares or ‘first among equals’. This paper will attempt to examine the nature of the royal court to which queens came and at which their daughters were brought up. The experiences of the royal women involved were varied. They were often pawns, moved about by male relatives and other authoritarian figures on the board of domestic and foreign politics that plagued Scotland in the fourteenth century. At other times they were active players in the running of the realm, and in trying to preserve it.
    [Show full text]
  • Historical Literature of Early Scotland Benjamin T
    Studies in Scottish Literature Volume 26 | Issue 1 Article 10 1991 Historical Literature of Early Scotland Benjamin T. Hudson Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/ssl Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Hudson, Benjamin T. (1991) "Historical Literature of Early Scotland," Studies in Scottish Literature: Vol. 26: Iss. 1. Available at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/ssl/vol26/iss1/10 This Article is brought to you by the Scottish Literature Collections at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Studies in Scottish Literature by an authorized editor of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact dillarda@mailbox.sc.edu. Benjamin T. Hudson Historical Literature of Early Scotland As the birds gather at their feast in Sir Richard Holland I s The Buke of the Howlat, they are joined by the Rook, representing a Gaelic bard, who ir­ ritates the company with his monologue of genealogies, lists of kings and constant demands for food.! Finally he is driven away by popular demand, but not before "making many lies." The student of early Scottish history can sympathize with the Rook's audience as the records of Gaelic Scotland occa­ sionally resemble productions from the Tower of Babel. Otherwise sober historical documents are embellished with myths, legends and literary allu­ sions. They suggest a flourishing tradition of historical and pseudo-historical writing in early Scotland that would continue to, and fmd expression in, the historical writings of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Yet there has been little effort to identify extant pieces of the earlier Scottish secular literature and less consideration of the influence of those writings on later medieval, or even Renaissance, Scottish literature.
    [Show full text]
  • Who Was Malcolm, King of the Cumbrians?
    MALCOLM, KING OF THE CUMBRIANS -193- WHO WAS MALCOLM, KING OF THE CUMBRIANS? A STUDY OF THE KINGS OF STRATHCLYDE AND CUMBRIA AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO KING DUBH’S DESCENDANTS IN THE WORK OF FORDUN AND THE EARLY CHRONICLES. By Michael Anne Guido 1 ABSTRACT John of Fordun has been cited as the source of errors on the descendants of King Dubh by supposedly creating Malcolm mac Dubh, his eldest son, stated to be King of the Cumbrians. Was this really a fabrication or a mistake? This article proposes a solution to some of the problems in Fordun’s work by showing that the tanists were actually governors of Strathclyde based on an analysis of the early chronicles. Foundations (2007) 2 (3): 193-213 © Copyright FMG and the author The kingdom of Strathclyde (Fig.1) originated in the 5th century with the rise of many smaller kingdoms after the withdrawal of the Romans from the island of Britain. The inhabitants of Strathclyde were probably descendants of the native people called Damnonii who were first recorded on Ptolemy’s map in the second century2 (MacQuarrie, 1993, p.2; Duncan, 1975, p.17). These Britons were akin to the Welsh3 (MacQuarrie, p.2) and known in the Welsh chronicles as Gwyr y Gogledd (Men of the North). The inhabitants of Strathclyde shared the same root language with Welsh as they spoke Cumbrian which was one of the four dialects of Brythonic Gaelic, the others being Cornish and Breton. These languages form a group called P-Celtic as opposed to Q-Celtic which is the Gaelic language cluster of Irish, Scottish and Manx.
    [Show full text]
  • Neville on Trevor-Roper, 'The Invention of Scotland: Myth and History'
    H-Albion Neville on Trevor-Roper, 'The Invention of Scotland: Myth and History' Review published on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 Hugh Trevor-Roper. The Invention of Scotland: Myth and History. Edited by Jeremy J. Cater. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008. xxi + 282 pp. $30.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-300-13686-9. Reviewed by Cynthia Neville Published on H-Albion (November, 2008)Commissioned by Margaret McGlynn Hugh Trevor-Roper’s Take on Scottish History The figure of Hugh Trevor-Roper, in later life Lord Dacre, looms large over the historiography of early modern England and Europe. His influential essays and book-length studies remain essential reading material in many postgraduate history programs, in some instances more than fifty years after their appearance in print. Trevor-Roper’s reach was, moreover, broad and eclectic: notwithstanding the damaging consequences of his confidence in the authenticity of the so-called Hitler diaries, he also succeeded in forging a name for himself in the field of twentieth-century European history. He is perhaps less well known as an authority on the Scottish past, but as Jeremy J. Cater, the editor of this posthumous collection of essays, reminds his readers here, in the later 1970s he played an important role in shaping scholarly debate on the antecedents of the Scottish Enlightenment. According to Cater, Trevor-Roper always intended to publish this collection of conference presentations, journal articles, and editorial pieces as a single volume; that he failed to do so was an accident of circumstance.[1] Cater’s efforts to assemble a fair copy of several manuscripts at various stages of completion lend the book a greater coherence than Trevor-Roper was able to bestow on it, but in most respects the latter’s authorship is readily apparent in its pages.
    [Show full text]
  • The Real Macbeth
    ‘My father what? Had a duel? He’s in his seventies! Silly man!’ so might antiquarian, James Byres of Tonley have exclaimed when he was brought word about the unseemly quarrel occasioned by Byres Snr. Patrick Byres was an Irish Jacobite, born in Dublin, 1713. In 1741 he married Janet Moir of Stoneywood and became a Burgess of Guild in Aberdeen, yet his political leanings and hot Celtic temper seem to have constantly landed Patrick in trouble. His first problem was his involvement in the Forty-Five Rebellion, fighting on Bonnie Prince Charlie’s side as Major Byres in Stoneywood’s regiment. Escaping Culloden, Patrick’s ally, Gordon of Cluny hid him in his castle until he and his family escaped to France. He managed to hang on to Tonley by the clever suggestion that his English name was Peter, thus he was not Patrick Byres the rebel. While his youngest sons, William and John developed military careers in the Navy and Royal Engineers respectively and second son, Robert took up merchant interests in Prussia, the eldest, James, became something of a tour guide. He embraced antiquarian studies in Rome and became the go-to ex-pat for visiting Scots gentlefolk on their ‘grand tours’ of Europe. Meanwhile, his father returned to Tonley, Mrs Byres hoping her husband’s adventures were over. But, due to Janet’s nephew, James Abernethy of Mayen, Patrick was to be the centre of unwanted attention once more in 1763. A traditional ballad is dedicated to the incident in which John Leith of Leith Hall, Rhynie was murdered by Abernethy after an argument in the New Inn, Aberdeen.
    [Show full text]
  • Text of Popular Romantic Notions of Celtic Twilight
    Hammond, Matthew H (2006) Ethnicity and the Writing of Medieval Scottish history. The Scottish Historical Review 85(1):pp. 1-27. http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/2916/ Glasgow ePrints Service http://eprints.gla.ac.uk Ethnicity and the Writing of Medieval Scottish history1 Matthew H . Hammond Abstract Historians have long tended to define medieval Scottish society in terms of interactions between ethnic groups. This approach was developed over the course of the long nineteenth century, a formative period for the study of medieval Scotland. At that time, many scholars based their analysis upon scientific principles, long since debunked, which held that medieval 'peoples' could only be understood in terms of 'full ethnic packages'. This approach was combined with a positivist historical narrative that defined Germanic Anglo-Saxons and Normans as the harbingers of advances in Civilisation. While the prejudices of that era have largely faded away, the modern discipline still relies all too often on a dualistic ethnic framework. This is particularly evident in a structure of periodisation that draws a clear line between the 'Celtic' eleventh century and the 'Norman' twelfth. Furthermore, dualistic oppositions based on ethnicity continue, particularly in discussions of law, kingship, lordship and religion. Geoffrey Barrow's Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland, first published in 1965 and now available in the fourth edition, is probably the most widely read book ever written by a professional historian on the Middle Ages in Scotland.2 In seeking to introduce the thirteenth century to such a broad audience, Barrow depicted Alexander III's Scotland as fundamentally 'a Celtic country', albeit with some important 'non-Celtic elements'.
    [Show full text]
  • William Wallace in Scottish Literature
    30 William Wallace in Scottish Literature The life of William Wallace has been one of the great themes of Scottish Literature since the Middle Ages. No pretence is made of offering a comprehensive catalogue of works on him which would be both boring and incomplete. Instead, it is proposed to examine and compare how different writers at different times have developed and contributed to the theme. The relationship between Literature and History is like a difficult marriage: the two cannot agree, yet they cannot live apart. In earlier society there was no distinction between Literature and History: the bard was the singer and the chronicler, he wrote, or recited rather, with an immediate and practical purpose, the glorification of his patron and his family. The skills were those of rhetoric, versification, imagery, declamation and memory. Today the purposes of the literary writer and the historiographer are totally different. One wishes to ascertain facts and interpret them, the other is often reluctant to let the facts as they are known get in the way of a good story. A passage which demonstrates the relationship between the two is from Bush who writing of the early sixteenth century said: For us the persistence of Medievalism is more of a virtue than a defect. Clio was still in possession of her throne. The historian was a man, often a man of action, with a temperament, not a cloistered and impersonal card-index. The conception of history as epic story and drama, not as scientific diagnosis, of individual men rather than social and economic forces as the causes of events, of God working His will in human and especially English affairs, all this meant that history had not yet been entirely robbed of its traditional poetry.
    [Show full text]
  • David II, King of Scotland (1329-1371): a Political Biography Bruce Robert Homann Iowa State University
    Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2001 David II, King of Scotland (1329-1371): a political biography Bruce Robert Homann Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the European History Commons, and the Medieval History Commons Recommended Citation Homann, Bruce Robert, "David II, King of Scotland (1329-1371): a political biography " (2001). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 1045. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/1045 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact digirep@iastate.edu. INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI fiims the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction.. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand corner and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps.
    [Show full text]