Tag: History of Scotland

A rich and multifaceted heritage

Before becoming one of the largest regions of Europe, prospering in science, commerce and industry, the country in the north of Great Britain had to “turn over” many “pages” on which the history of Scotland is now imprinted. Ethnographers say that people started living here almost immediately after the Last Ice Age.

Indeed direct and indirect evidence suggests that the modern territory of Scotland began to be inhabited 13,000 years ago. The first Scots apparently lived in dugouts because scientific evidence points to permanent above-ground construction (probably in Orkney, the Outer Hebrides and Shetland) that is no more than 9,500 years old – earlier construction in Scotland has been denied by scientists.

It is noteworthy that settlers built their houses from wild stone. There was plenty of it on the islands, but not as many trees as one would like. So the great-great-great-grandfathers of modern Scots had only cold grey stone in abundance – that is why so many man-made historical monuments made of boulders have been preserved here.

Ancient Scotland

Latin script and new names for regions came to Britain after Rome had conquered it. For example, it was then that the word “Britain” appeared – it began to be used to refer to the territories that are now Wales and England.

Rome took indirect control of a small part of southern Scotland, but the Caledonians from neighbouring Caledonia who were free of Roman hegemony organised such a powerful armed resistance that the Roman legions were almost completely routed. However, in 84AD fortune turned its face to Rome and the general Agricola defeated the brave Caledonians.

Rome drew the right conclusions about the power of a people who “did not know the shackles of slavery.” Numerous forts were built on the borders of the empire in the southern Scottish Highlands and the famous Hadrian and Antonine Walls.

Although Rome ruled Scotland for only 40 years the influence of Hellenic culture can still be felt today.

Mediaeval Scotland

This is the era of numerous kingdoms with castles as a memory. The largest kingdom of Mediaeval Scotland was, of course, Fortriu – the patrimony of the descendants of the Caledonians, the Picts (a union of peoples who spoke a Celtic language).

The Scottish Kingdom emerged in 843 after the coronation of Kenneth MacAlpin who united the Picts and Scots.

Scotland became English-speaking with the arrival of the Anglo-Saxon crusaders.

By the end of the middle ages two distinct cultural zones emerged in Scotland:

• mountainous – a specific clan system with a Gaelic-speaking population;
• lowland (similarities with Europe can be traced) – Anglo-Scottish dialects were in use.

The end of the middle ages in Scotland was marked by the conclusion of military, political and cultural alliances between kings Philip the Fair and John Balliol. The “Old Alliance” of the Scots with the French lasted 265 years (formalised in 1295).