Medieval Scotland: The Making of an Identity

180 Pages·1997·15.811 MB·English

by  Bruce Webster (auth.)

British History in Perspective
General Editor: Jeremy Black
PUBLISHED TITLES
Rodney Barker Politics, Peoples and Government
C. J. Bartlett British Foreign Policy in the Twentieth Century
Jeremy Black Robert Walpole and the Nature of Politics in Early
Eighteenth-Century Britain
Anne Curry The Hundred Years War
John W. Derry British Politics in the Age of Fox, Pitt and
Liverpool
William Gibson Church, State and Society, 1760-1850
Brian Golding Conquest and Colonisation: the Normans in
Britain, 1066-1100
J.
S. Gunn Early Tudor Government, 1485-1558
Richard Harding The Evolution of the Sailing Navy, 1509-1815
Ann Hughes The Causes of the English Civil War
Ronald Hutton The British Republic, 1649-1660
KevinJefferys The Labour Party since 1945
T. A Jenkins Disraeli and Victorian Conservatism
D. M. Loades The Mid-Tudor Crisis, 1545-1565
Diarmaid MacCulloch The Later Reformation in England,
1547-1603
A P. Martinich Thomas Hobbes
W. M. Ormrod Political Life in Medieval England, 1300-1450
Keith Perry British Politics and the American Revolution
J.
A Pollard The Wars of the Roses
David Powell British Politics and the Labour Question, 1868--1990
David Powell The Edwardian Crisis
Richard Rex Henry VIII and the English Reformation
G. R Searle The Liberal Party: Triumph and Disintegration,
1886-1929
Paul Seaward The Restoration, 1660-1668
W. M. Spellman John Locke
Robert Stewart Party and Politics, 1830-1852
John W. Young Britain and European Unity, 1945-92
Michael B. Young Charles I
mSTORY OF IRElAND
D. G. Boyce The Irish Question and British Politics, 1868-1996 (2nd edn)
Sean Duffy Ireland in the Middle Ages
David Harkness Ireland in the Twentieth Century: Divided Island
mSTORY OF SCOTLAND
Keith M. Brown Kingdom or Province? Scotland and the Regal
Union, 1603-1715
Bruce Webster Medieval Scotland
HISTORY OF WALES
A. D. Carr Medieval Wales
J. Gwynfor Jones Early Modern Wales, c.1525-1640
Further titles are in preparation
MEDIEVAL SCOTlAND
THE MAKING OF AN IDENTI1Y
BRUCE WEBSTER
First published in Great Britain 1997 by
MACMILLAN PRESS LID
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS
and London
Companies and representatives throughout the world
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-0-333-56761-6 ISBN 978-1-349-25402-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-25402-6
First published in the United States of America 1997 by
ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC.,
Scholarly and Reference Division,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010
ISBN 978-0-312-16519-2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Webster, Bruce.
Medieval Scotland: the making of an identity / Bruce Webster.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-312-16519-2 (cloth)
I. Scotland-History-1057-1603. 2. Scotland-History-Warof
Independence, 1285-1371. 3. National characteristics, Scottish.
4. Nationalism-Scotland-History. 5. Civilization, Medieval.
I. Title.
DA779.W43 1997
941.1-dc20 96-30739
CIP
© Bruce Webster 1997
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made
without written permission.
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written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and
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Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to
criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The author has asserted his rights to be identified as the author of this work in accordance
with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and
sustained forest sources.
10 9 8 7 6 5 432 I
06 05 04 03 02 01 00 99 98 97
For Maddy
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements Vlll
M~s x
Genealogical Tables XIV
Introduction: The Problem of a Scottish Identity 1
1 The Identity of Place 9
2 The Identity of Order 21
3 The Identity of Faith 50
4 The Wars of Independence 71
5 The National Identity 94
6 Scotland and Christendom 113
Epilogue: A New Age? 132
Notes and References 138
Select Bibliography 151
Index 157
VU
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
An essay on such a wide subject as this involves many
obligations. I hope my debts to the publications of others are
acknowledged in the references which follow the text. I would
like, however, particularly to thank the Historical Association
for its very ready permission to make use of passages from the
translation of the Declaration of Arbroath by Professor A. A. M.
Duncan, which originally appeared in the Historical Asso
ciation pamphlet The Nation of Scots and the Declaration of
Arbroath.
Beyond these specific debts, I have received help from very
many friends who have shared their thoughts on the problems
of Scottish history. The annual meetings of the Scottish
Medievalists at Pitlochry over the years have given me many
ideas which I have worked on, almost unconsciously, without
being able to make individual attributions or acknowl
edgements. Norman Macdougall and Roger Mason, at the
University of St Andrews where I acted for four years as
external examiner, and the students whose exam papers and
dissertations I read, have given me many ideas, and corrected
many others which I previously held. As one who has never
taught Scottish history, I found the experience of examining it
not only very pleasant but one from which I learned a great
deal.
In addition, Roger Mason has read the entire typescript and
has made very helpful suggestions for its improvement, of
which I hope I have taken full advantage. I must also thank
my colleague AIf Smyth at the University of Kent, for the many
Vlll
Acknowledgements
talks he has given over the years on early Scottish history, and
for the chance to discuss its problems. The period is basic to
my theme, but not one that I know at first hand, and I am very
grateful for his guidance. Neither he nor Roger Mason,
however, has any responsibility for what I have eventually
written!
Finally, without the help of my wife this book would never
have been completed. She has read draft after draft, clarifYing
what I was trying to say, pointing out where I was assuming
knowledge of facts that should have been in the text, and
helping to tidy up the style. My readers will hardly realise how
much they owe to her. The dedication has been very
thoroughly earned.
IX
MAPs
Map 1 The historic regions of Scotland
x