HISTORY OF SCOTLAND
Scotland
Political division of Great Britain (1991 pop. 4,962,152), 30,414 sq mi
(78,772 sq km), comprising the northern portion of the island of Great
Britain and many surrounding islands. Scotland is separated from England
by the Tweed River, the Cheviot Hills, the Liddell River, and Solway Firth.
It is bounded on the north and west by the Atlantic Ocean and on the east
by the North Sea. The capital is Edinburgh and the largest city is Glasgow.
Scotland, England, and Wales have been united since 1707 under the name
of the United Kingdom of Great Britain. They share one Parliament, but
Scotland retains its own system of laws (based on Roman law rather than
the common law of England) and education. Its governmental departments
are under the direction of a secretary of state for Scotland, who is a
member of the British cabinet.
Land and People
Scotland comprises nine regions (Highland, Grampian, Tayside, Fife,
Lothian, Central, Borders, Strathclyde, and Dumfries and Galloway),
which are divided into districts, and three island authorities (Orkney
Islands, Shetland Islands, and Western Isles). Because of Scotland's highly
irregular outline (its breadth ranges from 154 mi/248 km to only 26 mi/42
km) and the deeply indented arms of the sea—usually called lochs when
narrow and firths when broad—it has c.2,300 mi (3,700 km) of coastline.
The Orkney and Shetland islands lie off the northern coast of the mainland
and the Hebrides) off the western. Scotland's principal rivers are the Clyde,
the Forth, the Dee, the Tay, and the Tweed. The largest freshwater loch is
Loch Lomond.
Scotland may be divided into three main geographical areas. The southern
uplands, a region of high, rolling moorland cut by numerous valleys,
comprises the regions of Dumfries and Galloway and Borders. The central
lowlands, Scotland's most populous district and the locus of its commercial
and industrial cities, includes the regions of Central, Fife, Lothian,
Strathclyde, and Tayside. Separated from the lowlands by the Grampian
mts. are the Highlands of the north, a rough, mountainous area divided by
the Great Glen and containing Ben Nevis (4,406 ft/1,343 m) the highest
peak in Great Britain. The Highland regions are Highland and Grampian.
The island authority areas of the Shetland Islands (see under Shetland), the
Orkney Islands (see under Orkney), and the Western Isles are all north of
the central lowlands.
The Church of Scotland, which is Presbyterian, is established, but there are
no restrictions on religious liberty. English is the nearly universal language.
Fewer than 1,000 people, primarily in the far north, still speak only Gaelic,
and fewer than 80,000 speak Gaelic in addition to English. The eight
universities are Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, St. Andrews, Dundee,
Stirling, Strathclyde, and Heriot-Watt.
Economy
Most Scottish industry and commerce is concentrated in a few large cities
on the waterways of the central lowlands. Edinburgh, on the Firth of Forth,
is a cultural center, the administrative capital of Scotland, and a center of
paper production and publishing. Glasgow, one of the largest cities in Great
Britain, lies on the Clyde; it is Scotland's leading seaport and a center of
shipbuilding. Although heavy industry has declined, numerous light
industries and high-tech firms are now in Glasgow's metropolitan area.
Tourism is also very important.
The significance of coal, once Scotland's most important mineral resource,
has declined in recent years. Oil, however, gained prominence in Scotland's
economy during the 1970s, with the growth of North Sea oil extraction
companies. Natural gas is also abundant in the North Sea fields. Aberdeen
is the center of the oil industry. Other important industries are textile
production (woolens, worsteds, silks, and linens), distilling, and fishing.
Textiles, beer, and whisky, which are among Scotland's chief exports, are
produced in many towns throughout the country. Salmon is taken from the
Tay and the Dee, and numerous coastal towns and villages are supported
by the herring catch from the North Sea. Only about one fourth of the land
is under cultivation (principally in cereals and vegetables), but sheep raising
is important in the mountainous regions.
History
Early History
The Picts, of obscure origin, inhabited Scotland from prehistoric times. The
Romans attempted vainly to penetrate Scotland, and their successive lines
of forts and walls proved inadequate to contain the northern tribes of Picts
and Celts. Although the Romans had little influence on Scottish life,
Christianity had been introduced into Scotland before they left by St.
Ninian and his disciples in the 5th century. In the century and a half after the
Roman evacuation (mid-5th century), four Scottish kingdoms came into
being—that of the Picts in the north; that of the Scots who came from
Ireland and founded Dalriada in what is now Argyllshire and the island of
Iona; that of the Britains in Strathclyde; and that of Northumbria (which
also included northern England), founded by the Angles and settled largely
by Germanic immigrants.
The mission of St. Columba (563) from Ireland reintroduced Christianity to
Scotland. The usages of the Celtic Church differed in various details from
those of Rome, introduced in the south of Britain by St. Augustine. Conflict
between the two was settled in favor of Roman usage decided at the
Synod of Whitby in 663, but Scottish Christianity only slowly adopted the
Roman forms. After the decline of the Northumbrian power in Scotland
began the raids of the Norsemen, who harried the country from the 8th to
the 12th century. In 794 they attacked the islands off Scotland and soon
returned to live in the Hebrides; by 870 they were established in what is
now Caithness and Sutherlandshire. In the mid-9th century Kenneth I
established his rule over nearly all the land N of the Firth of Forth. His
descendants pushed into Northumbria and by the 11th century ruled all of
present Scotland except N Pictland and the islands.
Under Malcolm III, who married St. Margaret of Scotland (an English
princess), there began a reorganization of the Scottish church and a gradual
anglicization of the Lowland peoples. Malcolm invaded England after
rejecting the claim of William II of England to sovereignty over Scotland,
but peace followed the marriage of Malcolm's daughter to Henry I of
England and allowed the process of feudalization in Scotland to continue.
Although the clan system, based on blood relationships and personal
loyalty to a chieftain, survived in the Highlands, feudal property laws were
generally adopted in the Lowlands in the 11th and 12th centuries. David I
(1124–53) supported feudalism with land grants from the crown,
encouraged the growth of self-governing burghs, and backed his bishops in
their refusal to recognize the supremacy of the archbishop of York.
The Struggle with England
In the reign of William the Lion Scotland became a fief of England by a
treaty extorted (1174) from William by Henry II. In 1189 Richard I sold
the Scots their freedom, but he couched the agreement in ambiguous terms
that allowed later English kings to revive the claim. The Norsemen were
gradually pushed out of Scotland and finally defeated in 1263; only Orkney
and Shetland remained in Norse hands until the 15th century. When
Alexander III died in 1286, his heiress was the infant Margaret Maid of
Norway; she was betrothed to the son of Edward I of England but died
(1290) as a child. In the ensuing struggle among many claimants to the
throne, Edward I declared for John de Baliol (1249–1315), who was
crowned (1292), with Edward acknowledged as overlord of Scotland.
In Edward's war (late 13th century), with Philip IV of France, the Scots
allied with Philip, thus beginning the long relationship with France that
characterizes much of Scottish history. Edward won Scottish submission,
but Scotland rose in revolt, first under Sir William Wallace, then under
Robert the Bruce (later Robert I). Robert was crowned king at Scone in
1306, recaptured Scottish castles and raided across the English border,
and finally defeated Edward II at Bannockburn in 1314. Edward III in
1328 signed a treaty acknowledging Scotland's independence, but during
the troubled minority (1329–41) of David II he supported the pretender,
Edward de Baliol, and invaded Scotland.
The reigns of David II and his successors (of the royal house of Stuart)
were years of dissension and turbulence among the nobles and royal heirs
and of repeated attacks from England. Social chaos was compounded by
the scourge of the Black Death plague epidemic, which killed nearly a third
of the population. In 1424 James I, who had spent his youth a prisoner at
the English court, returned to Scotland. James vigorously attempted to
revamp the laws and to establish control over his nobles. His murder in
1437 threw Scotland back into the old pattern of civil conflict during long
royal minorities over the next century (see James II, James III, and James
V). A brief respite of internal peace in this period of strife was provided by
the reign of James IV, who perished with the flower of Scottish nobility at
the battle of Flodden Field (1513).
James V perpetuated the French alliance by marrying Mary of Guise, who
brought a large French contingent to Scotland with her. The Reformation
came to Scotland primarily through the efforts of John Knox (1505–1572;
see also Presbyterianism and Scotland, Church of). The religious issue was
inextricably connected with opposition to the French Roman Catholic party
of Mary of Guise (queen regent after James's death in 1542) and of her
daughter Mary Queen of Scots, who lived in France as dauphine and then
as queen.
By the time Mary Queen of Scots arrived (1561) in Scotland, Catholicism
had almost disappeared from the Lowlands. The turbulent career of the
young queen hinged primarily on her personal involvements and on the
conflict between the crown and the nobility, now divided into pro-French
(Catholic) and pro-English (Protestant) parties. Elizabeth I of England
maintained the Protestant party with money and arms. Mary's struggle
ended in her loss of the throne (1567), imprisonment in England, and
execution (1587). Her son, James VI, broke away from his guardians in
1583 and accomplished the difficult task of subduing the nobility and
establishing once and for all the supremacy of royal authority. In 1603, on
Elizabeth's death, he succeeded to the English throne as James I of
England. United under one crown, Scotland and England were finally at
peace.
Scotland to the Union
Scotland enjoyed comparative peace for a few years, as many of the
nobility followed the court to England. Presbyterianism and its maintenance
now became the great question. The desire to bar episcopacy (governance
of the church by bishops), which was favored by the Stuarts, shaped every
political move of the Scottish Parliament (Estates). The Covenanters
declared their opposition to the liturgical forms imposed by Charles I and
stoutly resisted his attempt to bring them to heel in the Bishops' Wars
(1639–40). These wars led directly to the English civil war.
Although Scotland, like England, was somewhat divided in opinion, the
great majority opposed the king, and Charles's efforts to win the Scots by
yielding rights to Presbyterianism in 1641 came too late to sway the 8th
earl of Argyll and his Covenanters. Yet James Graham, earl of Montrose,
almost succeeded, with his wild Highlander troops, in winning Scotland for
the king in 1644–45. Meanwhile, the Covenanters sought to force
Presbyterianism on England, and the English Parliament proclaimed that
form of religion in 1643. But the English army under Oliver Cromwell
ultimately prevailed over Parliament, and the Scottish religion gained only
toleration, not supremacy, in England.
Charles I surrendered to the Scots, who handed him over to the English
Parliament. Scottish sympathies shifted to Charles, however, and their army
fought for him in 1648. The execution of the king in 1649 caused a
revulsion of feeling in Scotland, and the junction with England imposed by
Cromwell (see Protectorate) was extremely unpopular. Many Scots rallied
to Charles II, who was crowned at Scone in 1651, and the Restoration
(1660) was cause for great rejoicing. The Stuarts, however, sought once
more to restore episcopacy, and the Covenanters were, for many decades,
subjected to severe persecution.
The Scots hated the Roman Catholic James II even more bitterly than the
English did, and the accession in 1689 of William III and Mary II was met
with widespread support, if not enthusiasm. With the Glorious Revolution
(1688–89) Presbyterianism once more became the national church. But the
Jacobites, supporters of the exiled Stuarts, caused great disruption,
particularly in the Highlands, and the massacre of a Highland clan at
Glencoe (1692) tended to discredit the new government. Scotland's
commercial interests nursed economic grievances against William, primarily
for his failure to support the Darien Scheme and for the discriminatory
Navigation Acts.
Constitutional union of England and Scotland, which had been considered
ever since the junction of the crowns, was rejected at this time by the
English, but its desirability became increasingly apparent. The question of
succession to the throne was a burning issue in the reign of Queen Anne
(1702–14), whose children predeceased her, in face of assiduous Jacobite
activity in both kingdoms. Finally, in order to assure the Hanoverian
succession (provided in the Act of Settlement, 1701) after Anne's death,
the union was voted by both Parliaments in 1707, providing for Scottish
representatives in a Parliament of Great Britain. Equality of trading
privileges and toleration of episcopacy, along with recognition of a
Presbyterian Established Church of Scotland, were among the terms of the
union. The Jacobites attempted in 1715 and again in 1745 to destroy the
union, but without success, and Scotland had peace at last.
18th and 19th Centuries
In the 18th century Scotsmen such as David Hume and Adam Smith stood
in the forefront of the European Enlightenment. Educational standards, from
elementary to university level, were high, and many English religious
dissenters, barred from Oxford and Cambridge, received excellent
educations in Scotland. From its intellectually vibrant atmosphere came
many practical inventions to further the Industrial Revolution, including the
work of James Watt. The economic results of the union eventually proved
wholly favorable to Scotland, and the people gradually enjoyed a higher
standard of living. Feudal land tenure slowly gave way to modern leases.
Thriving commerce within the British Empire led to expansion of shipping
and shipbuilding, and Glasgow achieved eminence as a commercial center.
The increasing market for meat and wool spurred new developments in
agriculture and cattle breeding but unfortunately led also to the
dispossession of a large part of the population in the Highland grazing lands
during the inclosure actions of the later 18th and early 19th century. The
resultant emigration of Highlanders to Canada, the United States, and
Australia nearly depopulated parts of Scotland. Early in the 18th century
linen manufacture and, to a lesser extent, woolcloth manufacture, came to
be of major importance in the Lowland towns. Toward the end of the 18th
century cotton spinning and weaving on the new power machinery of the
Industrial Revolution became Scotland's leading industries.
By the end of the 19th century, metallurgical industry had come to
dominate the economy; the exploitation of rich coal and iron fields resulted
in a concentration of heavy industry in a central belt running from Ayrshire
to Fife. The rise of a new middle class and an urban working class
necessitated the same reform of corrupt and outmoded local institutions
that occurred in England. Industrialization also produced severe social and
economic distress, for which traditional private philanthropy proved
inadequate, and led to outbreaks of unrest in city and countryside
alike—such as the Crofters' War of hard-pressed tenant farmers in the
1880s. From Scotland emerged some of the first leaders of the British
labor movement. Under Alexander MacDonald a powerful miners union
developed in the 1860s. The first labor representatives in Parliament came
from Scottish mining areas. James Keir Hardie, founder of the Independent
Labour party, and James Ramsay MacDonald, first Labour prime minister,
were Scotsmen.
Modern Scotland
Concentration on heavy industry meant that Scotland was an important
arsenal in World War I. It also meant that Scotland suffered heavily in the
depression between the wars. In World War II, despite the fact that its
industry supplied a great deal of the British war material, Scotland was not
extensively damaged by bombing. After the war the steady exodus of
population from the Highlands continued; in an effort to make the Highlands
again profitably habitable, a program of reforestation and hydroelectric
development, begun in a small way as early as 1922, was increased.
Immigration from Ireland added to Scotland's urban population. Many new
diversified industries, especially high-tech industries, were started to relieve
the strong emphasis on heavy industry that had unbalanced the Scottish
economy. Efforts to attract tourists led to the construction of many modern
hotels and the development of the Edinburgh festival of arts.
Scotland's participation in the benefits of the modern British welfare state
has not lessened a persistent nationalist movement that urges greater
autonomy for Scotland in the determination of local affairs. The nationalist
movement became prominent with the discovery of North Sea oil. A
compromise reached in the late 1970s that allowed for the formation of a
Scottish assembly was abandoned in the 1980s. There are several
pro-nationalist groups that have become fairly prominent in Scotland during
the late 1980s and early 1990s, including the Common Cause, advocating
a Scottish parliament; Scotland United, a coalition of Labourites and
Socialist nationalists; and Democracy for Scotland. The oldest established
pro-nationalist party, the Scottish Nationalist party (SNP), was prominent
in the early 1970s, but declined greatly in the 1980s. In the face of this
resurgent Scottish nationalism, the British government has refused to
entertain a Scottish parliament. See also Great Britain.
Bibliography
The oldest detailed history of Scotland is William Robertson, The History
of Scotland during the Reigns of Queen Mary and of King James VI
(1759). Two standard general histories are by P. Hume Brown (3 vol.,
1900–09) and Andrew Lang (4 vol., 1900–07). Invaluable also are four
studies by W. L. Mathieson—Politics and Religion: A Study in Scottish
History (1902), Scotland and the Union (1905), The Awakening of
Scotland (1910), and Church and Reform in Scotland (1916). Six
self-contained volumes (1935–41) by A. M. Mackenzie make up a history
of Scotland to 1939. There are several good short histories, among them
those by A. M. Mackenzie (rev. ed. 1957), J. D. Mackie (1964), Eric
Linklater (1968), and Rosalind Murchison (1970).
See also V. G. Childe, Prehistoric Scotland (1940); Gordon Donaldson,
The Scottish Reformation (1960); W. C. Dickinson and G. S. Pryde, A
New History of Scotland (2 vol., 2d ed. 1965); Gordon Donaldson,
Scottish Kings (1967); T. C. Smout, The History of the Scottish People,
1560–1830 (1969); N. T. Phillipson, ed., Scotland in the Age of
Improvement (1970); E. G. Grant, Scotland (1982).
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition Copyright ©1993, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Inso
Corporation. All rights reserved.
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