ANCIENT DENOMINATION F AGRICULTURAO S L LAND9 3 . IV. ANCIENT DENOMINATIONS OF AGRICULTURAL LAND IN SCOTLAND A SUMMAR: F RECORDEO Y D OPINIONS, WITH SOME NOTES, OBSERVATIONS, AND REFERENCES. BY A. McKERRAL, C.I.E., M.A., B.Sc., F.S.A.ScoT. Read February 1944.26, Writin yeae th rn g i 183 4 Donald Gregory historiae ,th Westere th f no n Highlands, make followine sth g commen chartea Abbe e n th o t f o ry lands of lon Macleao at f Dowar no e datth ef o t1588 : "Nothin s mori g e per- plexing in Highland charters and rentals than the various denominations of land whic meee h w presen e t th with n I t . charter instancer fo , have w , e pennylands and their fractional parts, quarter lands, cow lands or vaccates of land, and mark lands. The pennylands in the Isles are believed to have received that denomination durin e occupatioe gth th e Isle y th b sf o n Scandinavians t appea no thed o an o hav,yd t r referency an e e whatever e propeth o t r Scottish denominations. Thu e landth s n Rosi s f Mullo s , conveye thiy b ds charter d denominatean , d pennylands, amoune th n i t whole only to fifty-six penny and three-farthing lands whilst, by the usual Scottish denominations, they were rated to the Crown as the twenty pound r thirtyo merk lands f Rosso " (1). This observation states clearl antiquariae yth n problem presented then, somo t d e an extent still thiy b , s subject indeey Wh d. shoul dpieca f eo land be referred to at one and the same time as a fifty-six penny land and a twenty-poun s a d land e subject unimportante Th no ? th s i tn o r fo , solutio e probleth f no m must depen greaa o dt t exten r understandinou t g of past agrarian conditions in Scotland and, for that matter, of a good dea f politicao l l histor therefors i wells ya t I . t surprisineno g that, since Gregory wrote ,r mossomou f t o edistinguishe d Scottish historiand an s antiquaries should have given it their attention. Dr Cosmo Innes devotes som s Legale hi attentio n i Antiquities,t i o nt publishes wa 1872n di d an , able to throw some light on at least one of its aspects—the relation between •what Gregory calle Scottisth s h denomination e Merklandth ,e th d an , Saxon denomination Ploughgatee th , same th en I yea. r there appeared e Historicalth . RobertsonW . EssaysE f o , containin a gver y learned dissertatio ancienn no t weight measuresd san . Robertson, .however, appears to have been mostly interested in Teutonic denominations and his book, while containing much very valuable material, leaves some of Gregory's problems still unsolved. A more satisfactory discussion, from the point of view of the Scottish student, is that given in the third volume of 40 PROCEEDING E SOCIETYTH F O S , 1943-44. W . Skene'F . s Celtic Scotland, publishe thin i 1880n di sd matteran , n i s a , all that pertains to Celtic Scotland, Skene is a valuable and trustworthy guide. Perhaps the fullest and most determined attempt to clear up the whole subjec. ThomasL s tha. Capty W wa b t . ,F . R.N. articlen i , s con- tribute e Proceedingsth o t d Societye >>bm th hi yf f o Antiquarieso f Scotlando yearw fe sa after Skene's book appeared title Thomas'f eTh o . s papes wa r "Wha Pennyland?, a throwe h s i t t i valuablsa n i d "an erelae lighth -n o t tions between the various systems of nomenclature employed in connection with the land in Scotland (2). The perplexitie whico t s h Gregor ascribee yb referre o t e d ar dmainl y to failure to consider the subject in historical perspective and to a tendency to regard the various denominations as belonging to one scale of values, whereas they were quite separate. This tendency is exhibited by some of the above writers, perhaps unintentionally. Thus in Legal Antiquities we find the'words "the western half of Scotland, the wildest shores of our Highlands wildese th d tan , islands, were measure marklandsn di , shilling- lands, pennylands, farthinglands, long before money—coined silver—was generally used or known as an element of rent, on the other side," and again the author speaks of '' the memory of an ancient measure and valuation n monei y values—poundlands, shillinglands, down penno t d farthinyan g lands." Whether the author meant to convey it or not the reader, and especiall amateure yth reader, gets her impressioe eth n tha poundlande th t , markland d pennylarian , d were descending value a singl n i s e congruent scale of land values, whereas, as -we hope to show, the pennyland, if by that ter mmeans i e Norsth t e pennyland quita d eha , separate historical origin to the poundland and markland with which it was to some extent, and in some aspects at least, incommensurable and incongruent. e presenth n I t papes proposei t i r o givt d a eshor t summare th f o y subject, embodying in it the conclusions of the authorities just quoted d addinan g some observation pointn o s f detaio s l which still continuo et present difficulties to the student of ancient charters and rentals. These latter, of course, provide practically all the known data for a study of the subject. They can be studied in the original MSS. if necessary, but the path of the student is made easier by the fact that all the important charters have been printed e Seaeitheth l n i e rChartularieRegister th n i r o s f o s religious houses and that an admirable summary of many of these is given e Originesth n i Parochiales publishe Bannatyne th y db e subjecClube Th . t naturally lends itself to treatment along the lines of historical sequence, fo r racee havo eacth turf n swh ehi o n colonised Scotland have made their own contributio lanr ou d o ndenominationst . These wer turn ei Celtse nth , the Saxons, the Norsemen, and finally the Scots themselves, regarded as a blend of the first three. We therefore propose to consider in turn the Celtic, Saxon, Norse, and Feudal or Scottish land denominations. ANCIENT DENOMINATIONS OF AGRICULTURAL LAND. 41 CELTIC DENOMINATIONS. The ancient Celt f Irelano s d Scotlandan d , abld gifte an es the a d y wer mann ei y notablo matterstw d eha , defect thein i s r economy. They do not appear to have had anything that could be described as a measure of land in the sense of an accurately denned superficies based on a fixed standar e seconth f n lengthi do d d placan , e they never attainea o t d currenc coiner yo . Robertsod W firse money . th E tf O n. remarks: "There is not a trace of any standard of agricultural measurement in Ireland before the English invasion. The firstlings of the flock, and herd, the baptismal pinginnanointine th d an g screapal wer prerogativee eth s claimed e Cowarbsth y b ; cattle, horses screapald an , s were collecte Maere th y sdb of the greater dignitaries on their circuits; scaith or a measure in every brewing of ale or mead was exacted from the tenants of the vill; and Roderick 0'Connor acknowledged the superiority of the English king by payment of a tribute in cattle or cornage" (3). The same may be taken to have held in ancient Celtic Scotland, and the lack of any measure such as the acre or hide of Saxon England was probably due to the fact that bot n Irelanhi d Scotlandan d grazin r mors regarde- fa gwa f im e o s da portance than arable farminge measureth d an , s adoptede b f the i , n yca called such, were those derived from the numbers of live stock that could be pasture particulaa n do ro piectw e seconf grounde eo th th n f do O . defect n Celtii s c economy—the absenc a currency—Prof f o e . S . A . R . Macalister remarks as follows: "So far as we know, the Scandinavian king f Irelano s d e countrwer th e firs en th i tstriko yt ea coinage e Th . slownes e nativth f o se Iris o adopht t this convenienc s veri e y singular. Notwithstanding the high organisation of society, which is abundantly legae e pageth testifieth f l n o stractsi o althougd t d an , e occasionahth l discover f Saxoyo n e tentcointh f ho s century shows tha e naturth t f o e t unknownmoneno s ywa l estimate al , f valuo s e basea standarear n do d of cattle or slaves, and all pecuniary transactions take the form of barter based on such valuation. The Scandinavian kings issued silver pennies, resembling in character those of the contemporary Anglo-Saxon kings, and evidently based upon their model. After the Scandinavians had show waye nth practice th , f coinineo g money seem havo st e been followed native somy th b f eo e authorities subjece th t stils i bu t; l obscur calld ean s for further research. Accordin Annalse th o gf t Clonmacnois, o mones ywa coined at that important ecclesiastical establishment in the year 1170" (4).