Holistic methodologies in the study of Scotland’s early stone castles and landscapes (c.1050-c.1350 CE) with reference to the Earldom of Orkney and the Lordship of Galloway. William John Edmund Wyeth University of Stirling Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy July 2018 Acknowledgements The completion of this thesis was difficult, but was made more fun, engaging and rewarding thanks to the variously incidental or sustained support of many people. It is thanks to them, in the end, that it was completed, but any remaining errors are mine. My thanks to the Arts and Humanities Research Council and Historic Environment Scotland for funding this research; to the Catherine MacKichan Trust and the University of Stirling for grants to attend the St Louis Symposium on Medieval and Renaissance Studies; and to Stirling again for further small grants to attend numerous conferences. The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland gave generously to support attendance at the EAA in Glasgow in 2015, and also offered warm-hearted support and advice: thank you. The Scottish Medievalists supported papers in Croy and offered a like-minded community; the Society for Medieval Archaeology gave encouragement and fierce dedication in helping me in my first publication. I am indebted to their collegial support. I am equally indebted to the university libraries of Stirling, Edinburgh, Glasgow, St Andrews , Hull and York for access to their books. The staff at the National Library of Scotland and National Records of Scotland are also thanked. Image copyright permissions are gratefully acknowledged too. Many colleagues gave liberally of their time and expertise. Alasdair Ross, greatly missed, graciously offered his time and experience. To Hilary and Charlie Murray, Derek Alexander, Øystein Ekroll, Kieran O’Conor, Sally Foster, Barbara Crawford, my thanks. To Oliver O’Grady goes special thanks for helping a hapless PhD student recover a bag left on the roof of a car. To fellow PhDers, well done: Ben F, Kate B, Katy J, Shaun W, Vicki H and Helen Y. In the old RCAHMS, I am immensely grateful for the generosity and kindness of its most excellent surveying teams; Adam W, Alex H, Eve B, George G, Heather S, John B, John S; and superior collections officer, Dawn E. John Sinclair House was a home for me and I’m forever thankful to its kind-spirited community. To Iain, Izzie and Miriam, for countless coffees, baked goods, putting the world to rights and endless encouragement, thank you. Special thanks to my supervisors, Piers and Richard, for their patience and help, in all its forms: I thoroughly enjoyed the journey. My thanks to the good people of English Heritage in York and London for welcoming me and encouraging me in the last leg of this enterprise. My last thanks go to my friends, families and dearest; Ali McC, Dan N, Joe McA, Martin C, and Stevie G, cheers. Clarks and Moores, new and not so new, thank you too. Zoe and Hugh, your brother is back. To my parents biological, Penny and Peter, and acquired, Kate and Peter, I am grateful in so many ways: thank you. Lastly, to Ali: you know what (and how long) this has taken and have cheered me all the way. Thank you for your love and compassion above all else. 1 of 315 Abstract The historiography of Scottish castles was dominated, until the 1960s, by great works which defined the field for generations of historians and archaeologists. Since then several major excavations, intensive wide-ranging fieldwork and most recently, targeted topographic surveys, have brought a new body of evidence to the discussion. Familiar themes, however, still dominate how castles are understood: the dichotomy between ‘native’ and ‘newcomer’, the debate over function and form, for example. This thesis brings to bear the new body of evidence alongside a specific focus on castles and their landscapes for the period of c.1050-c.1350. It begins, firstly, with an examination of the full body of castle sites and contemporary secular power centres, following the typology-oriented categorisation of sites by RCAHMS (now HES). Included in this are sites in the formal typology of crannogs, brochs and duns, which evidence suggests were occupied for some or all of the period under discussion. The 12th to 13th centuries demonstrated the peak of first phase of castle occupation. There is a resultant impact on what might be expected from landscapes of lordship, borne out in the second section of the thesis, the regional studies. The first regional study examines the evidence for castles in the Earldom of Orkney, which conventional thinking suggests is home to Scotland’s earliest stone castle. Contemporary parallels are established with Norwegian and Swedish castles. Study of the landscape context suggests that the builders of castle sites in the 12th-century Earldom relied not on terrestrial, landed wealth but political authority and kinship with the comital family. Substantial wealth, derived from maritime exploitation, is also likely. The second regional study, of the Lordship of Galloway, looks at the emergence of stone castles there in connection to the political developments within the polity. Landscape assessment hints at a function of castle sites in the Lordship in relation to transhumance practice and fishing. The diversity of architectural expression of lordship is discussed. Study of the place-name context, useful in determining the status of farms or townships, reveals the unparalleled linguistic (and cultural) complexity of south- west Scotland, with resultant impact on underlying structures of local lordship. In the cases of Orkney and Galloway, trends are apparent which argue for the early stone castles of Scotland to be considered within highly contingent personal, political and social terms. Though they represent evidence for larger historical and architectural trends, the most compelling interpretation of these monuments frames their appearance in relation to their builders’ histories, connections, ambitions and preferences. Where physical evidence is lacking for castles, landscapes around known castle sites provide the material to understand lost monuments by their imprint on their surroundings. 2 of 315 Abbreviations Canmore Computer Application for National Monument Record Enquiries CDS J. Bain (ed.), Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland (Edinburgh, 1881) Crossraguel Chrs. F.C. Hunter Blair (ed.), Charters of the Abbey of Crossraguel (Edinburgh, 1886) ER G. Burnett, G.P. McNeill, J. Stuart (eds), Rotuli Scaccari Regum Scottorum (Edinburgh, 1878-1908) DES Discovery and Excavation Scotland G Scottish Gaelic HER Historic Environment Record HES Historic Environment Scotland HLA Historic Land-use Assessment map, Historic Environment Scotland, <http://map.hlamap.org.uk/>, 2015 HMSO Her Majesty’s Stationary Office Kelso Liber C. Innes (ed.), Liber S. Marie de Calchou: registrum abbacie Tironensis de Kelso (Edinburgh, 1846) ME or OScot Middle English or Older Scots (interchangeable) Melrose Liber C. Innes, Liber Sancte Marie de Melros (Edinburgh, 1837) MS/MSS Manuscript/s NLS National Library of Scotland NMRS National Monuments Record of Scotland NMS National Museum of Scotland NRS National Records of Scotland NSA New Statistical Account OE Old English ON Old Norse OrkSag H. Pálsson, P. Edwards (eds), Orkneyinga Saga: The history of the Earls of Orkney (London, 1981) OS Ordinance Survey OScand Old Scandinavian (label for sites of ON or Old Danish linguistic origin) PSAS Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland RCAHMS Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Scotland Reg. Morton C. Innes (ed.), Registrum Honoris de Morton (Edinburgh, 1853) Reg. Pais. Anon., Registrum Monasterii de Passelet (Edinburgh, 1832) RMS J.M. Thomson, J.B. Paul (eds.), Registrum Magni Sigilli (Edinburgh, 1814- 1914) RRS G.W.S. Barrow, G.G. Simpson, C.J. Neville, A.A.M. Duncan, B. Webster (eds), Regesta Regum Scottorum (Edinburgh, 1960-2012) RSSRS M. Livingstone (ed.), Registrum Secreti Sigili Regum Scottorum (Edinburgh, 1908-21) SHR Scottish Historical Review St. Bees J. Wilson (ed.), Registrum Prioratus de Sancta Bega (London, 1915) SSNS Scottish Society for Northern Studies TDGNHAS Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society TH Tower house Compass points: Cardinal points of the compass are represented by their first letter, capitalised; NNE means north-north-east, for example. Measurements: all are metric. 3 of 315 List of figures Figure 1: Sites visited during thesis ......................................................................................................... 22 Figure 2: Thesarus labels of sites examined in the sift process ............................................................... 57 Figure 3: Summary of selection criteria for sites ..................................................................................... 58 Figure 4: Simplified sample entry of database, formatted from Excel to Word ..................................... 61 Figure 5: Table of sift results ................................................................................................................... 62 Figure 6: Table of sift results by century and grade ................................................................................ 64 Figure 7: Bar chart of discrete century-by-century numbers of sites evidencing medieval occupation . 64 Figure 8: Table of changes in volume of currency in circulation in Scotland, c.1250-c.1290 .................. 65 Figure 9: Line graph of cumulative