DOCSLIB.ORG

109606865.23.Pdf

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
109606865.23.Pdf National Library of Scotland B000363002 ^■Al '•'cos ^ ON THE EXTINCTION OF GAELIC IN BUCHAN AND LOWER BANFFSHIRE. j.v WILLIAM BANNERMAN, A.M., M.D. BANFF: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED AT BANFFSHIRE JOURNAL OFFICE. 1895. PRICK THREEPENCE. ON THE EXTINCTION OF GAELIC BUCHAN AND LOWER BANFFSHIRE. BY WILLIAM BANNERMAN, A.M., M.D. BANFF: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED AT BANFFSHIRE JOURNAL OFFICE. 1895. These Tapers were printed in the “Banffshire Journal” in October and November 1895. 3u, Polwarth Terrace, Edinburgh, November Vh 1895. ON THE EXTINCTION OF GAELIC IN BUCHAN AND LOWER BANFFSHIRE. L —THE EVIDENCE OF THE PLACE-NAMES OF THE DISTRICT. It may be taken as beyond all dispute that at one time the North-Eastern parts of Scotland, before their colonization by their present inhabitants of Anglian or Anglo-Norman origin, were occupied by a branch of the Celtic race. The same, no doubt, is true of all the Eastern sea-board and lowlands North of the Forth, but the present communication proposes to deal only with the district lying North of the Dee, or, as old Scots writers would have said, ‘beyond the Mounth.’ It is matter of common knowledge how distinctly the former Celtic inhabitants have left their impress on the nomenclature of the country from which they have long been banished. The rising grounds are still designated by names involving such Gaelic words as Knock, Ben, Tilly, Mel: the cliffs appear as ‘Craigs;’ the valleys as ‘Glen,’ ‘Strath,’ and ‘ Lag ’ or ‘ Logie; ’ not a few of the burns re- tain the Gaelic ‘Aid,’ and the confluence of two streams is still called ‘Inver.’ A little deeper examination serves to show that this Gaelic speaking people were not mere nomads, content to take the country as they' found it, concerning themselves only with its natural features and the wild beasts of the chase. The frequent occur- rence of the words ‘Bal’ and ‘Pet,’ which mean much the same as what we now call a ‘ farm town,’ shows that the land was divided into separate agricultural holdings. ‘Ashogle,’ rye-field or rye-ford, and ‘ Tillyorn,’ her e-hillock, indicate at least two cereals that they cropped, and their modern successors testify to the sagacity of those 4 ancient farmers in the doggerel rhyme, ‘At Tillyorn grows the corn.’ In the preparation of grain for food, they had got beyond the primitive stage ot hand-grinding and built mills, doubtless of the simple type subsequently called Scots mills, of which we have evidence in ‘Auchmull’ or ‘Auch- molyn,’ mill-field. The common appearance of ‘ Bo,’cow, in such words as ‘Tillybo,’ ‘Auchinbo,’ show that cattle rearing is no new calling in the district. They had herds of goats, gobhar, witness ‘ Inchgower,’ and sheep, caora, witness ‘ Aucheries,' ‘ Tullochery,’ places that in the Merse might be designated by the Anglian ‘Hirsel.’ The herd- loon or the cattleman had his prototype in the buachaille, whose office is commemorated in the word ‘ Culbeuchly.’ They had horses, too, as appears from ‘Aucheoch’ horse-field; and the record of their barn-yards survives in such words as ‘ Auchintoul.’ That they were great road-makers is not to be supposed, but they certainly had sufficient skill to throw a bridge, drochaid, over the smaller streams, whence ‘ Kindrought,’and to make the way easier through shallow pools by stepping-stones, sdair, whence ‘ Starnamanach.’ They could work in iron and had smiths, gobhann, who have left their name in ‘Balgownie,’ and ‘Pitgavenny,’ and ‘Allacardach’ tells of a ceardach or smithy. Whether or not their actions squared with their profession, they were Christians, and devout Church men at that—though, it is to be feared in their latter days at least, Churchmen of a debased and degraded type. Hardly a small district but had its patron saint, better known in Ireland than in the Roman calendar—St Colme, St Congan, St Donan, St Sair, and many more—to enumerate whom would involve the compiling of an extensive hagio- logy. Their churches are indicated in the numerous class of names prefixed by ‘ kil,’ and their monks manach, their clergy clcirich, their priests sag art, have left their designations to such places as ‘ Ardi- mannach,’ ‘ Cocklerachy,’ and ‘ Balhaggardy.’ For defence against armed invasion, they built ‘duns’ and ‘raths,’ whose names have survived long after the structures themselves in many cases have been levelled by the ploughshare, though more than one of their rallying words, ‘ Cairnywhing ’ or ‘Tirwathie,’ might have been heard at the break up of a market not many generations ago. This and much more may be gathered from simple investigation of the Celtic nomenclature of the district surviving to the present time. But the subject is raised from the level of mere antiquarian o research to the higher platform of documentary history by that most interesting survival of Celtic literature, The Book of Deer. From the entries of the various grants and donations forming the endowment of the primitive Columban Abbey of Deer we have contemporary evidence of the organisation of society in those days. The subject is exhaustively and interestingly treated by the late Dr John Stuart in his editorial introduction when the book was issued by the old Spalding Club. It is unnecessary and would only be presumptuous to dwell on this matter after so eminent an authority, but what really concerns the present enquiry is this —that a passage in the Book of Deer supplies us with the latest known date at which the population of Buchan remained purely Celtic and their language Gaelic. It has been thus translated:—‘Gartnait, son of Cainnech, and Ete, daughter of Gille Michel, gave Pet-mec-Cobrig for the consecration of a Church of Christ and Peter the apostle, both to Columcelle and to Drostan free from all the exactions. With the gift of them to Cormac, Bishop of Dunkeld, in the eighth year of David’s reign. Testibus ipsis Ncctan, Bishop of Aberdeen, and Leot, Abbot of Brechin, and Maledoun, son of Mac Bethad, and Algune, son of Arcell, and Ruaetri, Mormaor of Mar, and Matadin, the Brehon, and Gillie Christ, son of Cormac, and Maelpetir, son of Domnall, and Domongart, fereleginn (reader) of Turbruad. and Gillecolaim, son of Muredach, and Dubni, son of Maelcolaim.’ One can hardly conceive anything more purely and thoroughly Celtic than the state of Buchan as here revealed, and this was in the eighth year of King David—that is A.D. 1131. A good many years in the historical record have to elapse before a similar view of the state of society in the north-eastern districts is presented to us by contemporary records, and then it is with the Latin charters of feudal times that we have to deal. Take one of the earliest of these, the charter of Strathisla, granted by William the Lion in 1195, with which your columns are already familiar. It defines the boundaries of Strathisla as beginning ‘ from where the Lagyne falls into the Isla, ascend- ing b}’ a deep sike in the red moss to the summit of the Easter Balloch, and by the summit of the other Balloch, to a spring,’and so ©n, till finally it reaches a place called Clochindistone, thence descending along the Laggan back again to Isla. It is necessary here to examine the signification of the names of the various places mentioned. Lagyne is without doubt the stream now known as the Burn of Millegin; but Laggan in Gaelic signifies, not a () stream, but a hollow or valley, and no Gaelic speaker would dream of calling a stream by that name, any more than a Buchan man would call a burn a ‘ howe.’ Again, Balloch does not signify a hill, but a pass between two hills, hcalach. The name must have been given by the Celtic inhabi- tants to the pass we know as the Glack of the Balloch, and to speak as we do now of the Muckle Balloch and the Little Balloch is as repugnant to a Gael as it would be to ourselves to call the hills the Muckle Glack and the Little Glack. The word Clochindistone, now curiously modified to Clovenstone, stands in a different category, but equally with the others shows the dis- appearance of Gaelic from the district. Leaving out of account the ‘ indi,5 forming the second term in its composition, it will be seen that the first term is the Gaelic clock, a stone, while the last term is merely a reduplication of the first in English. There is only one possible conclusion, viz., that at this time Strathisla had passed from Celtic to Saxon occupation ; but it is surely a strange fact, and there seems no reason to doubt that it is a fact, that within the short space of sixty years Gaelic, from being the living spoken language of gentle and simple, should have become as utterly dead and forgotten as it is at the present day. It is interesting in this connection to compare with the names in the Book of Deer the names of the witnesses to the charter of Strathisla, which was given at the town of Elgin. After orthodox Roman bishops and feudal earls, instead of Celtic abbots and Mormaors, come 'William de Morville, the constable ; Robert de Quincey; Philip deValous, the chamberlain ; William, son of Freskin; William Cuming; William de Ha}’; Roger de Mortimer; Philip Durward; Walter Murdoch; and Herbert the Marshal. No doubt these were members of the court and attached to the King’s person, for their names appear in connection with his charters in other places ; but William, son of Freskin at least belonged to a family already settled in Moray, his father having acquired the land of Duffus in King David’s time.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Later Posthumous Coinage of William the Lion
    SHORT ARTICLES AND NOTES 241 THE LATER POSTHUMOUS COINAGE OF WILLIAM THE LION IAN JONES AND KEITH SUGDEN Introduction ON 4 December 1214, at the age of seventy, William the Lion died at Stirling Castle, having been ill for some months. His son Alexander, a boy of sixteen, was inaugurated as King Alexander II of Scotland at Scone the following day, and only after a delay of a further four days was the old king buried at Arbroath. The haste to establish Alexander as king hints at the uncertainty in the succession: the principle of male primogeniture was still recent in Scotland, and William’s younger brother David, as well as the McWilliam family in the North, were potential rivals for the throne. It is all the more surprising, therefore, that coins in William’s name appear to have been issued for some twenty years after his death (though of course this parallels the situation in England, where neither Richard nor John felt the need to remove their father’s name from their coins). The Short Cross coinage issued by William the Lion commenced in 1195, and has been divided by Ian Stewart (Lord Stewartby) into five phases.1 In Stewart phase (a), coins identify- ing both moneyer and the mint of issue were struck by Hue at Edinburgh, by Walter at Perth and by Raul at Roxburgh. Phase (b) is a large series in the names of Hue, Walter, and Henri le Rus, but without mint names; at the end of phase (b) Hue is replaced by Adam. In phase (c), all struck at Roxburgh, Adam continued, but Walter is replaced by Peris, Aimer, and then Adam, the latter being joined in phases (d) and (e) (coins in the name of King Alexander II) by other moneyers.
    [Show full text]
  • Scottish Society at the Time of William Wallace
    46 Scottish Society at the time of William Wallace That the Scots were identified as separate people by the late tenth and early eleventh century can be seen from the chronicles of Durham which record their passage and both successful and failed attempts at conquest. I Whether they were independent or vassal kings was not a matter of major significance at the time. Some of them looked to England for support. Malcolm Canmore in 1072 was forced to submit to William the Conqueror at Abernethy. This did not stop him raiding southwards later. His son Edgar said in a charter that he was king "by the grant of my lord, William, king of the English and by paternal inheritance"2 and he bore a sword at William Rufus's coronation. Henry I took to wife a Scottish princess. Later kings of Scotland took English queens. The Scottish kings did homage to the English for English lands such as the earldom of Huntingdon, but then the English kings did homage to the French for some of the lands they held in France.3 More interesting perhaps is the question 'What was Scotland in Wallace's time?' It was an area which lacked the cultural homogeneity of Ireland or Wales. The Islands and the West Coast were part of the Scandinavian kingdom down to 1100, spoke Norse and used Odal law. The kingdom ruled by the descendants of Kenneth MacApline (died c.858) who called themselves kings of the Scots, which had held sway over Gaels and Picts in the west, had by Wallace's time spread to the south and east which was 'English' speaking.
    [Show full text]
  • Erin and Alban
    A READY REFERENCE SKETCH OF ERIN AND ALBAN WITH SOME ANNALS OF A BRANCH OF A WEST HIGHLAND FAMILY SARAH A. McCANDLESS CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. PART I CHAPTER I PRE-HISTORIC PEOPLE OF BRITAIN 1. The Stone Age--Periods 2. The Bronze Age 3. The Iron Age 4. The Turanians 5. The Aryans and Branches 6. The Celto CHAPTER II FIRST HISTORICAL MENTION OF BRITAIN 1. Greeks 2. Phoenicians 3. Romans CHAPTER III COLONIZATION PE}RIODS OF ERIN, TRADITIONS 1. British 2. Irish: 1. Partholon 2. Nemhidh 3. Firbolg 4. Tuatha de Danan 5. Miledh 6. Creuthnigh 7. Physical CharacteriEtics of the Colonists 8. Period of Ollaimh Fodhla n ·'· Cadroc's Tradition 10. Pictish Tradition CHAPTER IV ERIN FROM THE 5TH TO 15TH CENTURY 1. 5th to 8th, Christianity-Results 2. 9th to 12th, Danish Invasions :0. 12th. Tribes and Families 4. 1169-1175, Anglo-Norman Conquest 5. Condition under Anglo-Norman Rule CHAPTER V LEGENDARY HISTORY OF ALBAN 1. Irish sources 2. Nemedians in Alban 3. Firbolg and Tuatha de Danan 4. Milesians in Alban 5. Creuthnigh in Alban 6. Two Landmarks 7. Three pagan kings of Erin in Alban II CONTENTS CHAPTER VI AUTHENTIC HISTORY BEGINS 1. Battle of Ocha, 478 A. D. 2. Dalaradia, 498 A. D. 3. Connection between Erin and Alban CHAPTER VII ROMAN CAMPAIGNS IN BRITAIN (55 B.C.-410 A.D.) 1. Caesar's Campaigns, 54-55 B.C. 2. Agricola's Campaigns, 78-86 A.D. 3. Hadrian's Campaigns, 120 A.D. 4. Severus' Campaigns, 208 A.D. 5. State of Britain During 150 Years after SeveTus 6.
    [Show full text]
  • Breeding Cattle G & CSE Parker Salties Sanday Orkney
    Aberdeen & Northern Marts A member of ANM GROUP LTD. THAINSTONE CENTRE, INVERURIE TELEPHONE : 01467 623710 WEEKLY SALE OF YOUNG & WEANED CALVES YOUNG BULLS & STORE CATTLE FRIDAY 14th DECEMBER 2018 SALE ARRANGEMENTS Sale Ring 2 at 10.00am Young and Weaned Calves Young Bulls Store Cattle TERMS OF SALE - CASH PASS PEN NO CONSIGNOR FA NO. Young & Weaned Calves G 111 5 Emslie Partners 006706 Little Barras Fordoun Laurencekirk G 112 1 J D Lyon Lower Wanford Banff 014656 Young Bulls G 113 3 W B Howie Nether Burnside Sauchen Inverurie 010196 G 114 3 G & C S E Parker Salties Sanday Orkney 018247 G 115 2 R Leggat Mormond Prop New Pitsligo 007708 BVD Accredited G 116-117 7 A D & H A Dent Douglashead Tarves Ellon 007607 BVD Accredited G 118-120 18 J Grant Higher Tullochgribban Dulnain Bridge Grantown on Spey Store Cattle F 100 4 B Wainwright Aquhorthies Farming No 1 Aquhorthies Inverurie F 101 1 Hfr B Miskelly Boulintogue Scotscalder Halkirk 015048 F 101 2 F Sleigh 25 Pringle Avenue Tarves Ellon 017793 F 102-103 7 J & W Keiro Netherton Glenlivet Ballindalloch 018115 F 104-105 8 I W Hair Barnhill Laurencekirk 009216 F 106 1 M & C Fotheringham Sauchentree Methlick 016310 BVD Accredited F 106 1 Hfr J M & JA Brown Howally Twatt Orkney 008590 F 106 2 Str East Comalegy Ltd 009086 East Comalegy Drumblade Huntly F 107-109 18 R & S Kinghorn Strathellie Fraserburgh 006194 F 110 2 K Kinghorn Strathellie Fraserburgh 006194 F 93 3 Str Messrs Cumming Lower Cook Crudie Turriff 008933 F 94 4 Hfr A Thomson Garvelside New Pitsligo 012102 F 95-97 14 Hfr West Brough
    [Show full text]
  • The ALEXANDERS of INVERKEITHNY LOCHABER and CLAN DONALD© Compiled by Robert Alexander, 1926 Updated by Michael Outram, Starting 1984 Printed 6 March 2009
    The ALEXANDERS of INVERKEITHNY LOCHABER and CLAN DONALD© Compiled by Robert Alexander, 1926 Updated by Michael Outram, starting 1984 Printed 6 March 2009 This narrative deals primarily with the family of Alexander of Auchininna, Inverkeithny, Banffshire, who are branch of the family of Alexander (or Alastair Carrach) Lord of Lochaber, and a Sept of the ancient Clan Donald. The narrative also deals in some degree with the history of Clan Donald and has been compiled from written records and traditions of the family which have been handed down through many generations and which have, as far as possible, been checked with Parish records of Inverkeithny, the history of Clan Donald, the Clans, Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands, the House of Alexander, the Scottish Clans and their tartans, and other works on the history of the Highlands of Scotland. Additional searches have been made in the Mormon Church Library, graveyard records of Banffshire, Scotland1 and other records that Michael Outram has collected through difference genealogical societies in the United States, England and Scotland. A description of the arms and crest of the head of the family of Alexander of Auchininna is as follows: "Parted per pale Argent and Gules, a Chevron counterchanged, on a Canton Azure interchanged, on a Canton Azure a galley sail furled of the first. Crest a dexter arm embowed vambraced holding a sword all proper, hilted and pomelled Or. Motto, Per mare per terras." The above description applies to the arms of the head of the family only, a sketch of which is given on a separate page of this book (missing).
    [Show full text]
  • The Counties of Nairnshire, Moray and Banffshire in the Bronze Age, Part
    The counties of Nairnshire, Moray and Banffshire Bronze inth e Age, Par* tII by lain C Walker INTRODUCTION dealinn I g wit bronzee hth s from these three countie traditionae sth l term Earlyf so , Middle, Latd an e Bronz have eAg e been used, though adapte prehistore th aree o dt th outlines aa f yo d thin i s paper span. A Brieflyperioe EB sth e dth , betwee introductioe nth d en e bronzf no th d ean of trade connections betwee aree Ireland nth aan Scandinaviad dan LBe th ; Amarkes i e th y db reappearance of contacts via the Great Glen with Ireland; and the MBA is the intervening period. Metallurgical analyses for Scottish Bronze Age material are in progress and their results, when integrated wit Europeae hth n evidence, necessitaty 1ma emajoa r reappraisa origine th f o ls r metallurgyoou f . However, pendin availabilite gth f thiyo s evidence, this study doe t consno - sider the ore groups found by recent analyses.2 BACKGROUND Hawkes,3 elaborating on the work of Coghlan and Case,4 has suggested that 'Classic' bell beaker folk from the Middle Rhine, arriving in S Ireland and mixing there with the settlers who had introduced the megalithic wedge-shaped tombs from France, were those who initially introduce a copper-usind g economy. Bronze came wit e arrivahth Irelann i l f battle-axo d e people fro Elbe mth e regio woulo nwh d have know rice th h f depositcoppen o ti e d th an rn si Upper Elbe and Saale valleys.
    [Show full text]
  • The Ancient Origins of the Scottish House of Bruce
    The Ancient Origins of the Scottish House of Bruce Malcolm King of Scots Earl Lödver Bethoc Unknown (1) married Earl Sigurt (2) married Olith (Alice) Finn Arneson died, 1014 died, 1014 Somerled Brusee Eynor Whelp Torphin (1) married Ingiobiorge (2) married Malcolm III Canmore died, 1015 died, 1033 Earl of Caithness died, 1070 1009 - 64 Rognvald married Ostrida 1012 - 46 daughter of Earl of Gothland Rognvald Walfsen 1033 Felicia de Hastings married Eyliff Ulf married Emma Ingreda married Turbrand Margrita married Thorbrand Hamilliana married Ottalo Ariogia married Thurstan de Beck (Regenvald) (Robert) of Brittany (ancestor of the DeLaVals) of Denmark of Russia (came to England, 1066) died, 1066 at Brix William de Brus Agnes married Alan Adelme married Emma Philena married Woolstan Hortolina married Henry de Ferrars Amicia married St. Aymer of Tours Lord of Brember; Sussex daughter of Lord of Brix (Adam) daughter of Lord of Paston (came to England in 1066) Simon de Monfort Lord of Skelton Sir William Ramsey died, 1094 Philip de Braose Robert married Agnes William Duncan Rossilina married Waiter de Morville Lord of Cleveland daughter of 1st Prior of Guisborough Great Constable of Scotland died, 1141 Fulke de Paganell died, 1155 William Philip Adam married Ivetta Robert le Meschin married Euphemia Agatha married Ralph of Middleham heir to English Estates daughter of heir to Scottish Estates died, 1172 William de Arches 1124 - 71 William Giles Reginald Adam married Johanna Robert married Isabel William married Christina died, 1214 died, 1215
    [Show full text]
  • King Robert the Bruce
    King Robert the Bruce By A. F. Murison KING ROBERT THE BRUCE CHAPTER I THE ANCESTRY OF BRUCE When Sir William Wallace, the sole apparent hope of Scottish independence, died at the foot of the gallows in Smithfield, and was torn limb from limb, it seemed that at last 'the accursed nation' would quietly submit to the English yoke. The spectacle of the bleaching bones of the heroic Patriot would, it was anticipated, overawe such of his countrymen as might yet cherish perverse aspirations after national freedom. It was a delusive anticipation. In fifteen years of arduous diplomacy and warfare, with an astounding expenditure of blood and treasure, Edward I. had crushed the leaders and crippled the resources of Scotland, but he had inadequately estimated the spirit of the nation. Only six months, and Scotland was again in arms. It is of the irony of fate that the very man destined to bring Edward's calculations to naught had been his most zealous officer in his last campaign, and had, in all probability, been present at the trial—it may be at the execution—of Wallace, silently consenting to his death. That man of destiny was Sir Robert de Brus, Lord of Annandale and Earl of Carrick. The Bruces came over with the Conqueror. The theory of a Norse origin in a follower of Rollo the Ganger, who established himself in the diocese of Coutances in Manche, Normandy, though not improbable, is but vaguely supported. The name is territorial; and the better opinion is inclined to connect it with Brix, between Cherbourg and Valognes.
    [Show full text]
  • Copper Parchment & Stone
    COPPER PARCHMENT & STONE Edited by John Reuben Davies & Swapna Bhattacharya Copper, Parchment, and Stone Studies in the sources for landholding and lordship in early medieval Bengal and medieval Scotland edited by John Reuben Davies and Swapna Bhattacharya University of Glasgow Ionad Eòlas na h-Alba is na Ceiltis| Centre for Scottish and Celtic Studies GLASGOW 2019 © The Contributors 2019 All rights reserved The moral rights of the authors have been asserted ISBN-10: 085261957X ISBN-13: 9780852619575 Published by Centre for Scottish and Celtic Studies, University of Glasgow, 1 University Gardens, Glasgow, G12 8QQ Contibutors Swapna Bhattacharya Professor, Department of South and South East Asian History, University of Calcutta (retired 2017) Dauvit Broun Professor of Scottish History, School of Humanities, University of Glasgow John Reuben Davies Research Fellow in Scottish History, School of Humanities, University of Glasgow Suchandra Ghosh Professor, Department of Ancient Indian History and Culture, University of Calcutta Sayantani Pal Associate Professor, Department of Ancient Indian History and Culture, University of Calcutta Rajat Sanyal Assistant Professor, Department of Archaeology, University of Calcutta Joanna Tucker Arts and Humanities Innovation Researcher (History), School of Humanities, University of Glasgow Contents Foreword 1 I Comparative diplomatic in the Latin West and early medieval Bengal: a brief overview Swapna Bhattacharya 15 II The forms and format of the copper-plate inscriptions of early Bengal Sayantani Pal 53 III The development of the charter in Scotland John Reuben Davies 69 IV Boundary clauses in Bengal inscriptions: revisiting sources Rajat Sanyal & Suchandra Ghosh 99 V Recording boundaries in Scottish charters in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries Joanna Tucker 151 VI Praśastis or panegyrics in early India: case studies from Bengal Suchandra Ghosh & Sayantani Pal 193 VII The genealogy of the king of Scots as charter and panegyric Dauvit Broun 209 Foreword When I was at sea last August, on my voyage to this country ..
    [Show full text]
  • Traditions of King Duncan I Benjamin T
    Studies in Scottish Literature Volume 25 | Issue 1 Article 8 1990 From Senchus to histore: Traditions of King Duncan I 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. (1990) "From Senchus to histore: Traditions of King Duncan I," Studies in Scottish Literature: Vol. 25: Iss. 1. Available at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/ssl/vol25/iss1/8 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 From Senchus to histore: Traditions of King Duncan I The kings of Scotland prior to the reign of Malcolm III, popularly known as Malcolm Carunore (Malcolm "Bighead") have rarely been con­ sidered in connection with Scottish historical literature. Macbeth, largely due to Shakespeare's drama, has been the exception. For the medieval period alone, Nora Chadwick's examination of the Macbeth legend showed that a number of literary traditions, both native and foreign, can be detected in later medieval literature. 1 Macbeth was not alone in hav­ ing a variety of legends cluster about his memory; his historical and liter­ ary contemporary Duncan earned his share of legends too. This can be seen in a comparison of the accounts about Duncan preserved in historical literature, such as the Chroniea Gentis Seotorum of John of Fordun and the Original Chronicle of Scotland by Andrew of Wyntoun.2 Such a com- INora Chadwick, "The Story of Macbeth," Scottish Gaelic Studies (1949), 187-221; 7 (1951), 1-25.
    [Show full text]
  • Britain and the Beginning of Scotland
    Journal of the British Academy, 3, 107–137. DOI 10.5871/jba/003.107 Posted 7 August 2015. © The British Academy 2015 Britain and the beginning of Scotland Sir John Rhyˆs Memorial Lecture Read 5 December 2013 DAUVIT BROUN Abstract: A British dimension is crucial for understanding the earliest stage in the emergence in the late 12th century of an idea of Scotland, in its most basic sense, as the country we recognise today. It is also lies at the heart of the origins of the earliest idea of Scotland that can be detected: the notion of Scotland as the country north of the Forth, an idea that can be traced back to the Picts. In both cases, the overriding concern was to accentuate Scotland’s separateness from the south. Being British may be an essential element of any explanation of Scotland’s beginnings, but only in a way that suggests that Scotland’s place in Britain has from the beginning been inherently uneasy. Keywords: Cinaed mac Ailpín, charters, royal/baronial justice, Henry II, Alba, Britons, Forth, Pictish symbols, Pictish king-list. Until recently it was generally held that Scotland first began to take shape with a union of Picts and Scots under Cinaed mac Ailpín, who died in 858. For example, Edward James in his Britain in the First Millennium, published in 2001, describes how ‘a king of Dál Riata, Cinaed mac Ailpín (Kenneth mac Alpine), definitively united the Picts and the Scots into a new kingdom’, so that ‘in the middle of the ninth century the kingdom of Scotland is unified, under Cinaed mac Ailpín (840/2–858), a Gaelic rather than a Pictish king’.1 Cinaed was the common ancestor in the male line of kings of Scots from around 890 until 1034.
    [Show full text]
  • Scottish Witchcraft Survey Database Documentation and Description File
    1 Survey of Scottish Witchcraft Database Documentation and Description Contents of this Document I. Database Description (pp. 2-14) A. Description B. Database field types C. Miscellaneous database information D. Entity Models 1. Overview 2. Case attributes 3. Trial attributes II. List of tables and fields (pp. 15-29) III. Data Value Descriptions (pp. 30-41) IV. Database Provenance (pp. 42-54) A. Descriptions of sources used B. Full bibliography of primary, printed primary and secondary sources V. Methodology (pp. 55-58) VI. Appendices (pp. 59-78) A. Modernised/Standardised Last Names B. Modernised/Standardised First Names C. Parish List – all parishes in seventeenth century Scotland D. Burgh List – Royal burghs in 1707 E. Presbytery List – Presbyteries used in the database F. County List – Counties used in the database G. Copyright and citation protocol 2 Database Documents I. DATABASE DESCRIPTION A. DESCRIPTION (in text form) DESCRIPTION OF SURVEY OF SCOTTISH WITCHCRAFT DATABASE INTRODUCTION The following document is a description and guide to the layout and design of the ‘Survey of Scottish Witchcraft’ database. It is divided into two sections. In the first section appropriate terms and concepts are defined in order to afford accuracy and precision in the discussion of complicated relationships encompassed by the database. This includes relationships between accused witches and their accusers, different accused witches, people and prosecutorial processes, and cultural elements of witchcraft belief and the processes through which they were documented. The second section is a general description of how the database is organised. Please see the document ‘Description of Database Fields’ for a full discussion of every field in the database, including its meaning, use and relationships to other fields and/or tables.
    [Show full text]