Rob Roy and General Wade
The Old Pretender's Jacobite rising in 1715 might have been a spectacular failure - but it taught the Hanoverian British government that they simply couldn't afford to take the Scots for granted.
One of the best ways to bring order to the rebellious north, they decided, was to tame the still-remote Highlands once and for all by bringing in tough new laws and by improving road communications.
One of their first attempts to restrict the unruly lifestyle of the Highlanders was to introduce the Disarming Act in 1725, banning them from carrying arms and ordering that they hand in their weapons.
Like many laws aimed at taming the wild and stubborn north, it had virtually no effect. However, a new policy was to be introduced which really would begin to subdue what was still the remotest part of Britain and finally start to bring the King's influence onto the clans.
In 1726, the government appointed an Irishman called General George Wade Commander in Scotland. Wade's task was made clear - he had to bring order to the Highlands by improving communication links and strengthening government defences there.
Until then, most people had travelled to and from the remote north either on foot or by horse on simple unfinished tracks. Alternatively, they may have gone by sea.
However, Wade took to his improvement task with vigour. He surveyed the area, and then built a network of 240 miles of new road and a total of 40 new bridges. These roads and bridges linked forts such as Fort Augustus - designed to increase the pressure on the Highlanders and remind them who was in charge - together.
Wade's workrate was prodigious. He built a proper road between Perth and Inverness for the first time in a mammoth project which took 600 men three years.
His workers came from the Black Watch - a regiment made up of Highlanders who were loyal to the Crown and who could be persuaded to act for it. They also policed the Highlands and helped regular British government solders to find their way among the forbidding hills and glens.
The Highlanders, however, would not easily be subdued. For hundreds of years, they had refused to succumb to the laws which governed the rest of the country, preferring instead to run their own lives in their own traditional way.
These tough, resilient men resented attempts to make them conform to a more mainstream lifestyle. Most famous of all the rebels of the time was Rob Roy MacGregor, whose exploits and bravery became legendary.
The MacGregors were one of the most rebellious of the Highland clans - they had been outlawed in 1590 and again in 1695 for persistent lawbreaking. Rob Roy - the name means "red haired" - MacGregor was born at Glengyle near Loch Katrine in 1671.
Rob Roy certainly did not come from the heart of the Highlands - the country around Balquidder and Loch Lomond where he lived and operated is on the very edge of the area, where it meets the lowlands - but he was steeped in their traditions and history.
Born as a Protestant, he was the younger son of the 15th chief of the MacGregors, Donald MacGregor, while his mother was a daughter of Campbell of Glenfalloch, so he was hardly an ordinary Highland clansman. He owned land around Inversnaid on Loch Lomondside, and appears to have become a cattle dealer.
Rob was regarded as good at his job - Highland cattle were sold in lowland markets at places like Falkirk, and he developed a reputation as a man who could get a fair price for his clients.
All apparently went well until 1712, when Rob was cheated by one of his partners and found himself staring bankruptcy in the face. However, he did have a stock of cash - his customers had given him £1000 in cash to buy cattle for them in the Highlands.
Choosing between insolvency and a life of crime, he apparently chose the latter and made off with the cash. Unfortunately, one of the men he had swindled out of their money was the Duke of Montrose, who was meant to be his protector.
Rob was declared bankrupt and a warrant was issued for his arrest. The enraged Montrose seized his property, driving Rob's wife out of her house. From then on, until a reconciliation in 1722, the two men became bitter enemies of each other.
For his own safety, Rob placed himself under the protection of the Duke of Argyll - a sensible move, since he was linked to the family through his mother, and the Argylls and Montroses were already enemies of each other.
Armed with this level of protection, he felt able to take revenge on Montrose. Rob raised his land whenever he could, stealing his cattle and running a protection racket among lowland cattle farmers.
Rob Roy's politics are unclear. He called himself a Jacobite, and was certainly with the Old Pretender's army during the indecisive battle against the Hanoverians at Sheriffmuir in 1715, though it is unlikely he played a major role in the fighting.
However, his protector Argyll was a Whig and so a backer of the government cause - in fact, he actually commanded the Hanoverian army at Sheriffmuir. The most likely scenario is that Rob Roy acted for both sides, working as a spy for whoever was prepared to pay him. It was a dangerous game, but he evidently got away with it.
When the rebellion fell to pieces, Rob Roy was accused of high treason for his part in the fighting. He wrote to General Wade, who had been involved on the government side, to explain his actions.
Rob said he had been forced to take part in the rebellion to avoid being imprisoned because of the action Montrose took against him. He said that he had really wanted to fight on the king's behalf and had supplied Argyll with as much intelligence about the rebels as he could find. Parts of this must almost certainly have been true, because yet again he managed to escape retribution.
After the fighting, his luck stayed with him. He continued his illegal dealing, but every time he was arrested, he managed to escape. On one famous occasion in 1726, he was sent to London to be transported to the colonies, but managed to win a pardon while in Newgate Prison.
On another occasion, he was taken prisoner near Stirling, but he escaped while being taken across the River Forth by slashing the belt that held him and swimming to freedom.
After a life on the run, Rob Roy ended his days peacefully. By this time, he had become something of a hero, and tales of his exploits impressed even the English, to the point where a biography was published during his own lifetime.
His daring exploits so impressed the authorities that he eventually received a King's Pardon, and he finally passed away in 1734, shortly after converting to Roman Catholicism, at the head of the Glen of Balquidder in Perthshire.
Rob Roy MacGregor was the last of a particular type of Highlander - proud, tough, fiercely independent and perfectly happy to shun the laws of the country and to live as an outlaw.
Wade's roads, however, had changed the area irrevocably. For the first time, it was possible to bring law and order in and to orchestrate a measure of control over Britain's and Scotland's wildest outpost.
Anyone who thought that the Highlands would be subjugated on the death of Rob Roy would, however, have been very much mistaken. The union with England may have been maturing, and government forces becoming more confident. But the Jacobites continued to promote the cause of the Stewart kings over the water.
Soon, they would have their glorious moment with a military campaign which would spread out from the Highlands until even London quaked in terror before it?.
Meanwhile...
- 1712 The last execution for witchcraft in England
- 1726 Jonathan Swift writes Gulliver's Travels
- 1739 Camelias arrive in Europe from the Far East
- 1739 David Hume publishes his, Treatise on Human Nature
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You are here: Heritage | Timelines | Robert the Bruce
Robert the Bruce Period
He was the hammer of the English - the legendary Scots war hero who commanded the Flower of Scotland and sent proud Edward home to think again.
Yet the great Scottish patriot, king and fighter Robert the Bruce may well have been an Englishman himself. It is rumoured that he was born in Essex, and he was wily enough to know when to pretend to be England's friend.
But of one thing there is absolutely no doubt. Robert I, King of Scots, was the architect of our country's greatest ever victory over the English at Bannockburn, driving them out and uniting all Scotland in a burning desire for independence.
Bruce took up the reins of Scotland's freedom as the other great patriot of the age, Sir William Wallace, was forced to let them go. Robert was crowned King a year after Wallace was hung, drawn and quartered by the English in 1305, and he became determined to achieve the one feat his heroic predecessor had never managed - to free Scotland of the marauding English.
Many modern Scots do not realise that Robert spent virtually as much of his time fighting his own countrymen as he did attacking the armies of Edward I and Edward II - or that the greatest achievement of Bannockburn was not that it drove out the English, but that it finally united Scotland.
Robert the Bruce - the name comes, ironically, from the Norman surname De Brus - was the eldest son of one of the richest and most famous Scottish nobles, also called Robert, who had royal Scottish blood in his veins. Because of the Bruces' Anglo-Norman links to William the Conquerer, the family were also strongly linked to the English court.
Robert was born, possibly in Essex or in Turnberry in Ayrshire, on July 11, 1274. During his early life, the young man was well educated - he learned Latin, English, Scots and Gaelic and was also trained in the arts of warfare. He was always aware he could be a contender for the Scottish throne because of his father's royal lineage.
Robert's chance to seize the throne came after the Scots king John Balliol abdicated in 1296 following a raid on Scotland by Edward I. Edward then imprisoned Balliol and decided to rule the Scots himself.
Robert then saw his opportunity of taking the Scottish crown, but knew that in order to do so, he would have to defeat the forces of powerful Scots families such as the Comyns and McDougalls who supported the continuation of the Balliol line.
The peace between the Bruces and the Comyns was kept when Robert and John "The Red" Comyn were both appointed joint guardians of Scotland after Wallace resigned the position in 1298. Two years later Bruce gave up this title and, despite his driving desire to free Scotland, suddenly decided to submit to Edward.
"Why this happened is a mystery, although there are a number of theories", explains one historian. "It could be that Robert wanted to protect his land, his titles and his influence at the time, and felt this was the best way of going about it.
"It might also be that Robert knew that he couldn't take Edward on at that moment in time, and the best solution was to join him until an opportunity presented itself. This would also have given him the chance to spot Edward's weaknesses at close hand."
In 1304, William began to secretly work with Scottish rebels, and his desire to see Scotland free was strengthened when Wallace was executed in 1305. But the following year, John Comyn tipped off Edward about the Bruce's divided loyalties, and Robert was lucky to flee London with his life.
Furious at Comyn's treachery, Robert put together a plan for vengeance. He asked Comyn to meet him at Greyfriars Church in Dumfries on February 10 1306. There was a struggle, and Comyn ended up dead - either slain by Bruce on the altar, or killed by one of Bruce's knights after Robert left.
With Comyn dead, the way was open for Robert to take the Scottish throne. He was crowned at Scone the following months, and many of the nobles rallied to him. The Bruce then also started to openly defy Edward, who saw him as a traitor and attempted to crush him.
After defeats in battle by the English at Methven near Perth in June and then by Comyn's close colleague the Lord of Argyll at Dalry near Tyndrum in August, Robert was forced into hiding. He fled to Rathlin Island off the coast of Ulster and stayed there until February 1307, when he felt the coast was clear and returned to Ayrshire.
Years of internal bickering followed, with Robert desperate to establish his kingdom. He defeated an English force at Loudoun in 1307, and also won a battle against John Comyn, Earl of Buchan and cousin of the slain John. The Bruce's supporters steadily captured Galloway, the forest of Selkirk and the eastern Borders, and between 1310 and 1314, he swon control of northern Scotland from his enemies.
During this time of internal war within Scotland, Robert had one huge piece of luck running in his favour. In 1307, Edward I had finally died, leaving the throne for his son Edward II, who was not nearly so enthusiastic about crushing the Scots as his father. As the new English king prevaricated, so the Bruce was able to capture more and more control of Scotland and build up his forces.
Professor Geoffrey Barrow, Emeritus Professor of Scottish History at the University of Edinburgh and Bruce's biographer, says Robert played a clever strategy against his Scottish enemies, picking them off one by one. "These people were strong in their own areas of the country, but they were never able to get together and fight him as a single unit. It is also clear that Bruce had a fairly sizeable force of troops."
By 1314, Robert had captured control of all of Scotland's main castles except Berwick - not yet an English town, as it is today - Bothwell and Stirling. But Edward II was finally stirring against Scotland, and a clash was inevitable. It came when the Bruce and his forces laid siege to Stirling Castle, which was under the governorship of the pro-Balliol Scot Philip Mowbray, and a massive English army was sent north to relieve it.
Both sides knew that the clash which would certainly follow was about far, far more than the capture of the castle. For Edward, it was a last ditch, all-out attempt to finally seize control of all Scotland and subjugate its troublesome people once and for all. For The Bruce, it represented the opportunity to give the English a hiding they would never forget.
Edward came north with the cream of his cavalry and infantry in a force of up to 30,000 men, and the two sides finally squared up to each other on June 24, 1314. Bruce, who had only between 5000 and 10,000 men, positioned his soldiers in a spot south of the town where he knew trees would hamper an attack by the well trained English horsemen.
As a genius at guerilla warfare, The Bruce knew how to make best use of the terrain. The English found themselves confined in a small and marshy area between the River Forth and the Bannock Burn. Their cavalrymen and infantrymen could not manoevere and Robert took advantage of their confusion and launched an attack.
The Scots forced the English back into the burn, where self defence proved almost impossible. A charge of about 2000 Scots came down from the nearby hills then sent Edward's army reeling. Many of those English who were not put to the sword perished in the Bannock Burn or died in their attempts to escape.
Seeing the writing on the wall, Edward attempted to flee to the safety of the castle along with 500 of his best knights. However, by this time Philip Mowbray had seen the way the tide had turned and refused to open the gates. The deeply dejected English king then tried to escape across country with the Scots at his heels. He finally found safety at Dunbar, where a ship was waiting to take him back to England.
Bannockburn was Scotland's greatest ever military victory against the English. Edward's army was completely smashed and he had to abandon hopes of conquering Scotland, though the English did not then recognise Robert as king of Scots and it was not until 1328 that they finally conceded the independence of Scotland.
While the Bruce's victory as Bannockburn was important in terms of disposing of the threat from England, it was even more important in neutralising the threat against Robert from the Scottish nobles who still despised him. Says Geoffrey Barrow: "The victory absolutely silenced Bruce's enemies completely. They either fled to England or came over to his side."
From then on, King Robert could finally devote his energies to the affairs of his kingdom. All, though, was not yet well. One immensely powerful figure who refused to recognise Scotland's nationhood was the Pope. Robert and his nobles saw that they had another crucially important battle to fight - this time not with the sword, but with the pen?..
Meanwhile around the world ...
- 1296 Construction of Florence Cathedral begins
- 1306 Jewish people are expelled from France by Philip IV
- 1307 Dante composes his work, "Divina Commedia"
- 1309 Orleans University is founded
- 1311 The Order of the Knights Templar is abolished
- 1290 Expulsion of the Jews from England.
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The Romans in Scotland
Period Years 43 AD — 411 AD
43 AD Romans reach Britain.
79 AD Romans first invade southern Scotland.
84 AD Battle of Mons Graupius.
98 AD Cornelius Tacitus first writes down his account of the Roman invasion.
122 AD Start of the construction of Hadrian's Wall.
142 AD Antonine Wall constructed.
185 AD Antonine Wall abandoned.
211 AD Scotland abandoned again by the Romans.
305 AD New Roman campaigns against the Caledonians.
350 AD Ninian born.
411 AD The Romans finally abandon Britain.
Scotland's reputation as a warlike, fierce and independent nation was carved out from its earliest days. Until the coming of the Romans nearly 2000 years ago, the country was home to a series of disparate tribes. However, the arrival of the greatest military force the ancient world has ever seen brought these tribes together in a fight against a single common enemy. The Caledonians could not easily beat the Romans in battle, but they caused them enough trouble to ensure that Scotland never really became part of the empire.
THE ROMANS may have established the greatest empire the ancient world had ever seen - but they never really managed to conquer Scotland.
They won a critical battle to capture the whole country, but had neither the nerve nor the resources to see their victory through.
The result was that Scotland managed to hold on to its independence - a feat which instilled a national pride which remains to this day.
The Romans first arrived in Britain in AD43, but it wasn't until 36 years later that the governor, Julius Agricola, decided to try and bring the north of the island under the empire's control.
His plans were thwarted from the very start. The Caledonians, as the people of Scotland were called at that time, were determined that they would not be conquered.
They were not barbarians, as subsequent history has painted them, but a proud, highly civilised and resistant people who were not prepared to simply fall under the yoke of Rome.
Even then, centuries before the clan system was fully established, Scotland was dominated by tribes with fierce rivalries. However, they had the sense to put their differences aside and join together again the common invading enemy.
Agricola first sent his fleet north to survey suitable harbours for potential landings but at the same time, he alerted the Caledonians to his military strength. They began armed resistance against the invaders, challenging their forts and causing huge concern among the Romans.
Some of Agricola's commanders wanted to retreat back south of the River Forth, but their boss wouldn't hear of it. He pushed forward, narrowly averting serious trouble when he was tipped off about a night attack on his Ninth Legion.
It was a lucky escape, and it became clear that it would only be a matter of time before the two sides met in full combat.
Despite its fearsome reputation, the Roman army in Britain was not as powerful as it looked. Only a small proportion of its membership was composed of Roman troops: most of the soldiers were much less experienced auxiliary troops from conquered lands such as present day Germany, Holland and Belgium.
In the summer of AD84, Agricola mounted a major push north, his army reinforced by soldiers from the south of Britain who he felt could be trusted. But the Caledonians were waiting for them. They were determined to challenge Roman authority once and for all, and had amassed a huge force of their own to take the invaders on.
The battle finally took place at Mons Graupius in North East Scotland. It is estimated that the Caledonian forces had 30,000 men - a huge number and far more bodies than the Romans could muster.
The Caledonians were well prepared. As well as having more soldiers, they knew the landscape intimately and their morale was high. They were fighting for their freedom, while the Roman troops were merely fighting to try and subdue a land they cared little for.
However, the Romans had other advantages. Their army was technically more efficient, meaning it could compensate for its numerical disadvantage. Their troops were also tremendously disciplined.
As the battle raged, the Romans eventually managed to win the upper hand. The bravery of the Caledonians was no match for their superior expertise and their skill in close combat.
The Caledonians, realising that the skirmish was being lost, started to flee the field. They were pursued by their opponents and either hunted down and driven away. By the time the battle had finished, it is estimated that 10,000 natives had died compared to less than 400 Roman troops.
Having secured his authority and reputation, Agricola moved to consolidate his hold on Scotland by sailing his fleet round into the Pentland Firth, seizing control as far north as Orkney and proving for the first time that Britain was an island.
Despite their victory, however, the Romans had little appetite for conquering Scotland on a long-term basis. It was too far north and too troublesome to be of much real value to the empire.
Later that year, Agricola was recalled to Rome, where he retired in comfort. There was little real will to capitalise on his great military success in Scotland. The troops were thought to be needed on continental Europe, so they were withdrawn south. A giant fort at Inchtuthill on the Tay was abandoned even before it had been completed.
It was not, however, the end of Roman influence over Scotland. Some 40 years after Mons Graupius, they began to build Hadrian's Wall, stretching right across the country from the Solway to Wallsend on the Tyne and named after the emperor of the time. The aim was to keep the Caledonians both out of the empire and under surveillance.
The building of the wall - large parts of which can still be seen today - was a major feat of engineering. In 138AD Hadrian's successor as emperor, Antoninus Pius, ordered the troops forward again and a new wall was built across central Scotland from Bo'ness on the Forth to Old Kilpatrick on the Clyde.
The new structure - named the Antonine Wall - was not as impressive as Hadrian's wall - it was probably only about 10 feet high - but it was well fortified, with forts every two miles.
Instead of repelling attacks, however, the new wall just seemed to encourage them. Worn down by constant assaults from the northern tribes, the Romans began to abandon the wall again in 158AD, finally pulling out altogether in 185 and retreating back to Hadrian's Wall.
Eve, this, though, did not calm the Caledonians. In 208, the Roman emperor himself, Septimus Severus, was forced to come to Scotland to quell constant guerrilla attacks.
He pushed as far north as the Moray Firth but failed to win any battles and retreated, leaving his son Caracalla to make a grudged peace with the local tribes and to head back south again.
Once again, Hadrian's Wall became the northern frontier of the empire. Things stayed mostly quiet until there was another attempt against the northern frontier in 367. It was repelled, but pressure continued right up until the time the Roman empire started to crumble and troops were completely withdrawn from Britain in 411.
Scotland, then, was the land the Romans never really managed to subjugate. However, their presence over centuries did have one marked effect. It gradually pulled together the disparate tribes into just one - the Picts.
Others - Angles, Britons and Scots - were also to inhabit Scotland in the coming centuries, and the battles these ancient people fought with each other as well as against the English would last for the better part of 1000 years.
There was something else, too, which still had to come to Scotland. While the Romans were busy subduing the northern tribes, one man was causing a huge stir at the other side of their giant empire.
He called himself the Messiah, and claimed he was the son of God. Eventually he was put to death, but his legacy would have a huge and lasting impact on Scotland as an emerging country.
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The Beginning of Scotland before 500 BC
Dates: 3,000,000,000 BC — 500 BC
3,000,000,000 BC Lewisian gneiss rocks, thought to be some of the oldest in existence, first formed.
400,000,000 BC Scotland is first formed when fragments of another continent meld together.
300,000,000 BC Scotland lies on the equator covered by rainforests, and with coral reefs offshore.
200,000,000 BC Dinosaurs roam the lands.
9,500 BC Last ice age.
8,000 BC First humans believed to have arrived in Scotland.
6,000 BC Land link between Britain and Europe finally broken.
3,000 BC Skara Brae on Orkney populated; Callanish erected.
500 BC Age of crannogs and brochs.
Scotland's history stretches back to the beginning of the Earth itself. It contains some of the oldest, most varied and most interesting rocks on the planet, and its astonishing geological history can still be seen all around us today. Man came late, but when he arrived, he quickly captured the land for himself, learning to grow crops and building sophisticated settlements for security and defence
EVER since the dawn of time, Scotland has been separate from the rest of the UK. It has drifted around the planet since the world was formed - but only relatively recently has it become physically linked to England.
For billions of years, the two countries have been separated from each other by thousands of miles. It is only in the last 400 million years or so that Scotland and England have become a single geographical unit.
In the early days of the planet, what is now Scotland was joined with present-day North America in a huge prehistoric landmass called Laurentia.
Parts of the Western Isles, the Highlands, Iona, Coll and Tiree are made up of a rock called Lewisian gneiss, which is one of the oldest forms of rock in the world.
As the world gradually formed over hundreds of millions of years, Scotland roamed around the planet, finally joining up with what would become England some 410 million years ago.
Over the course of its long history, Scotland has found itself exposed to a massive variety of different climates. It has been a tropical swamp, a barren desert, and a hot, equatorial land surrounded by beautiful coral seas.
Unfortunately for us, it eventually moved northwards, settling at the north west fringe of what would eventually become Europe on the edge of what we would come to call the Atlantic Ocean. It is this position which gives us the cool and wet climate we have today.
There is plenty of evidence that Scotland was home to a rich variety of prehistoric creatures - including, of course, dinosaurs.
The Isle of Skye in particular has proved to be a rich hunting ground for fossilised remains of creatures from this era. No less than five sets of dinosaur remains have been found, all of them hugely important to geologists.
The famous Bearsden Shark (link to pdf) - discovered by the fossil hunter Stan Wood near Glasgow in 1982 - is the world's most perfectly preserved shark of its kind and dates back 330 million years, providing us with a valuable insight into life on Earth at that time.
During these periods, Scotland was a warm place - certainly much warmer than it is today. But during its history, it has also been through periods of intense cold. In the last million years or so, for instance, it has been through an ice age about six times.
Each time, the landscape would have been covered in ice hundreds of feet thick - so thick, in fact, that only the highest mountains would have stuck through the top of it.
This process, which lasted until about 10,000 years ago, helped to shape the Scotland we see around us today. The freezing and melting of the ice cut channels in the rock and deposited silt and rock, forming areas such as the terraces around Inverness, the low-lying land around Glasgow, and the bleak expanse of present-day Rannoch Moor.
Yet as all this happened, the shape of the land itself was continuing to change. By now Scotland was firmly joined to England, but the whole was still attached to the Continent. As the land masses continued to shift, Britain only became an island around 6000BC.
Perhaps 2000 years before then, however, another remarkable event had occurred - people had arrived for the first time. We obviously know very little about these first Scots, though they would have been primitive hunter-gatherers, probably originating from the Mediterranean.
There would have been plenty of food to eat - meat and fish as well as fruits, vegetables and nuts - but life would have been extremely harsh and tough. For a start, they would have had to compete for food and existence with creatures which do not exist here today, such as the bear and the wolf.
We have firm evidence of human settlement as far back as 8000BC from an ancient refuse pit discovered near Biggar in Lanarkshire (archeology group website). It's thought that these first Scots would have lived together in tiny colonies of perhaps just a few people to start with, although we believe that the population of the nation as a whole grew after 5000BC.
Around 1000 years after that, there is evidence that cereal started to be grown here. By then, a primitive system of barter had also probably been established.
Most of the land was very different to the way we see it today. With the exception of the highest mountains, it would have been covered with forest - not the best sort of landscape for crop cultivation.
For the first time, man started to manage his environment, clearing the woodland by burning it down and then planting crops. He also continued to hunt and fish, of course, but this new type of cultivation proved to be highly successful, helping the population to grow further.
As the years passed, so societies became more sophisticated and complex. Settlements such as Skara Brae on Orkney - the best preserved Neolithic village in northern Europe - were populated for hundreds of years up until about 2500BC.
They consisted of small, squat but solid houses made of stone. Inside was a constantly burning fire, box beds and a dresser containing ornaments which indicated a family's importance. |t certainly appears that people lived in family groups rather than communally.
The residents would probably have eaten well - beef, venison, lamb and perhaps pork or boar as well as cereals such as barley and a variety of fish. They may have used oil from stranded whales for fuel as well as driftwood.
As Scotland's people evolved, so they started to ascribe to a new set of beliefs, erecting mysterious stone circles, earthworks and burial mounds. They also started to carve strange cup and ring symbols on rocks which we can still see today.
We don't understand the meaning of these symbols, though the sites chosen appear to be sacred and may well have strong links with some form of pre-Christian religion.
Scotland's stone circles in particular are some of Britain's most impressive ancient structures, with Callanish on Lewis in particular rivalling Stonehenge in terms of size and impact.
As circles such as Callanish are precisely aligned to the sun, moon and stars, we can speculate that they were used for some form of exact astronomical calculation - though what, of course, remains a baffling mystery.
However, these early Scots didn't just make their mark on land - they did so on the water, too, building lake dwelling settlements known as crannogs on lochs in places such as Perthshire, the Highlands and the Western Isles.
Why should they go to the trouble of doing this? Probably because they felt under threat - perhaps from other tribal groups - and living on water gave them a feeling of defence and security.
Certainly these complex wooden structures, which date from around 500BC, were formidable and would have been difficult to attack. A rebuilt example of a crannog is now in existence at Kenmore in Perthshire, where it can be visited during summer months.
Another type of building dating from this period was the broch - large round wood or stone Iron Age towers apparently used as farmhouses.
During this period, no-one thought of Scotland as a separate country. It was principally a peaceful, highly evolved farming nation where people's main concern was looking after their families and surviving as best they could.
And that was the way it was to remain - at least, until the Romans arrived.
Q1: Is the any evidence of Scotland's early geological formation left?
Answer: Plenty - it's all around you. Look at the buildings, for instance. The granite structures of Aberdeen, warm red tenements of Glasgow and blonde sandstone of Edinburgh's New Town all contain stone from various periods in Scotland's ancient past.
Q2: How have we managed to find so much evidence of our history?
Answer: Often, by nothing more than pure chance and accident. Over the course of history, explorers and scientists have stumbled on some remarkable treasures. Many fossils have been found in this way, as have precious artefacts from periods such as the bronze and iron ages. You can see many of the finds in Scotland's national museums
Q3: Presumably, after moving all over the globe hundreds of millions of years ago, Scotland has now finally come to a standstill?
Answer: Actually, it hasn't. It's still shifting away from North America at about seven or eight centimetres every year. That's about the rate at which your nails grow.
Q4: Can we be sure that humans arrived about 8000BC?
Answer: Not really - in fact, there is some evidence they may have been living in Scotland thousands of years before this. A flint scraper was found in seawater off Shetland in an area which was dry land 18,000 years ago. The big question is: does it date from then, or was it dropped overboard later?
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Second World War & Scotland
No event in modern history has caused as much upheaval in Scotland as the Second World War.
The battle against Hitler once again saw Scots in the front line of the fighting - only this time, civilians at home suffered as much as the soldiers, sailors and airmen who were confronting the enemy directly.
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You are here: Heritage | Timelines | Thirteenth Century
Thirteenth Century Scotland
William I dies and is succeeded by Alexander II.
Pope Innocent IV declares Margaret a saint. Her remains, along with Malcolm's, are moved to a shrine outside Dunfermline Abbey.
William Wallace born.
Edward I becomes King of England.
Robert the Bruce born, in either Essex or Ayrshire.
Wallace declared an outlaw.
John Balliol becomes King of Scots.
Bruce becomes Earl of Carrick.
Edward invades Scotland. Balliol abdicates and is captured by the English. Edward becomes overlord.
Wallace sacks Lanark.
Bruce is believed to have knighted William Wallace after the battle of Stirling Bridge.
Battle of Stirling Bridge.
Wallace slips away to France.
Bruce appointed Guardian of Scotland, along with John "The Red" Comyn.
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You are here: Heritage | Timelines | Time of Macbeth
Time of Macbeth
Period: 997 AD — 1070
997 AD Kenneth III begins his reign as King of Alba. He is known as the brown haired one, and is thought to have been the grandfather of Macbeth's wife Gruoch.
1000 The end of the first millennium. Scotland, like the rest of Europe, is gripped by fears that the world will end. It doesn't, so everyone goes back to killing each other again.
1005 Macbeth born, most probably in the North east of Scotland. His father is Finnleach, High Steward of Moray.
1005 Kenneth III murdered by his cousin Malcolm at Monzievaird, who then takes the throne of Alba (Scotland) as King Malcolm II.
1020 Macbeth's father, Finnleach, is murdered by his nephew's, Malcolm (a different one to the King) and Gillacomgain. Malcolm then succeeds to the throne of Moray. The young Macbeth swears to get his revenge.
1029 Malcolm dies, and his position as High Steward of Moray is taken by Gillacomgain.
1032 Macbeth seizes his chance. Helped by his allies, he rounds up Gillacomgain along with 50 others and burns them all to death.
1034 King Malcolm II of Scotland is murdered at Glamis. It is said that the so-called Malcolm Stone in the manse garden there is his grave slab. He is succeeded by Duncan I - the Duncan of Shakespeare's Macbeth.
1039 Duncan mounts a raid on Durham, but it is a disaster and he is chased by the Northumbrians back into Scotland.
1040 Duncan marches on Macbeth, but is killed in battle against him near Elgin. The story in Shakespeare's version that Macbeth invited Duncan to his castle and then murdered him in bed is totally fictitious. Macbeth then assumes the throne of Scotland.
1046 Margaret, who is to become Scotland's first female saint, is born in southern Hungary. As a child, she moves to England and settles into the English court.
1050 Macbeth goes on pilgrimage to Rome along with Thorfinn, Earl of Orkney. He returns to find his kingdom intact.
1054 Earl Siward of Northumberland invades Scotland. He defeats Macbeth at the battle of Birnam Wood in Perthshire. Most of Macbeth's army are slaughtered, but Macbeth himself escapes and continues to rule.
1057 Macbeth is finally killed in a battle at Lumphanen in Aberdeenshire by Duncan's son Malcolm. The throne is then taken by his stepson Lulach.
1058 Lulach survives only a few months before being defeated and killed by Malcolm at Strathbogie. Malcolm then takes the throne as Malcolm III or Canmore.
1070 Malcolm III (Canmore) marries Margaret at Dunfermline. He meets her when she arrived in Scotland as a refugee and is instantly besotted with her. Their marriage is said to be an extremely happy one. Margaret introduces many of the customs of England to Scotland and carries out many acts of piety and charity. She dies in 1093 and is canonised in 1250.
Over the course of history, Scotland has had many kings. Some have been heroes, some have been villains, and some have been so useless and weak that we've forgotten everything about them.
The greatest of them all, however, was Macbeth - a figure so powerful and larger than life that even now, 1000 years after his reign on the throne, we all still instantly recognise his name.
Macbeth was a towering, dashing figure who managed to keep a grip on Scotland for a remarkable 17 years at a time when kings were deceived, betrayed and slaughtered more often than most nobles ate wild boar for dinner.
Because he combined utter brutality with real compassion, and because ordinary people saw him as a ruler who was firm but fair, he outshines even William Wallace or Robert the Bruce in terms of romantic appeal.
Like Wallace, Macbeth ends up as an ultimately tragic figure, dying a heroes' death on the field of battle. Yet, like Bruce, his reputation as a fighter meant that he ultimately won the respect of Scotland's great enemies, the English.
Of course, most of our modern awareness of Macbeth comes from Shakespeare's famous play, which made him a legend not by showing his strengths, but by painting him as the bad guy.
In the play, Macbeth begins as a trusted and brave soldier in King Duncan's army. But he is gripped by blind ambition and egged on by his equally ambitious wife, Lady Macbeth, murders Duncan. She later dies, Macbeth is killed in battle by his rival Macduff, and Malcolm becomes the rightful king.
Shakespeare's play is wonderful drama - it was by far one of his most successful works, and Elizabethan crowds flocked to see it - but it bears little resemblance to historical reality.
The real Macbeth was undoubtedly a plotter and had no scruples about murdering opponents, but then you had to be tough and ruthless to survive in those days. However, he was also clever, confident, just and deeply religious, taking care to look after his subjects and giving away some of his wealth to the poor.
In fact, he was so settled as King of Scots and loved by his subjects that he left Scotland for the better part of a year to go on a pilgrimage to Rome - the only Scottish ruler to this day to do so. If there had been any question of anyone seeking to overthrow him, he wouldn't have dared step outside the country.
Sadly, there is an awful lot about Macbeth which we simply don't know. At the time of his reign, which was from AD1040 to 1057, only the most rudimentary details about the way Scotland was ruled was written down. It wasn't until the time of David I, after 1124, that proper records and documents began to be kept.
Some journals and chronicles of that time have survived, however - many of them originating in Ireland, which had a close affinity with Scotland. They tell of Macbeth's legendary capacity for keeping the peace at home, of his compassion, and of his desires to help the poor.
Macbeth is thought to have been born around the year 1005, probably in the north east, His father Findlaech was High Steward - ruler - of Moray, which at the time was a semi autonomous kingdom.
It probably looked after its own affairs, though it may well have had an agreement with the rest of Scotland, known then as Alba, to share foreign policy. In fact, the arrangement may have been similar to Scotland's relationship with the rest of Britain under the devolved Scottish parliament to be established later this year!
Macbeth's mother's name is unknown, though she was almost certainly a royal and may have been the daughter of King Kenneth II or Malcolm II. In 1020, when Macbeth was 15, his father was murdered by his nephews Gillacomgain and Malcolm. Malcolm then succeeded to the throne of Moray until the year 1029, when he died and in turn was succeeded by Gillacomgain.
As Macbeth grew older, however, he swore revenge for the murder of his father. His chance finally came in 1032, when he is believed to have rounded up Gillacomgain along with 50 others and burned them all to death.
Having carried out this barbarous act of mass murder, he then assumed the throne of Moray himself. At the same time, he married Gillacomgain's widow. Shakespeare, of course, calls her Lady Macbeth, though in reality, she wasn't - her real name was Gruoch.
There is absolutely no evidence that Gruoch was the scheming, plotting, fearsome woman that the bard painted her to be - though she is thought to have had royal blood and must have been pretty feisty to consider marrying a character as single minded as Macbeth.
She also brought her son from her first marriage, Lulach, with her. Incredibly, despite having slaughtered his father, Macbeth seems to have taken to the boy, adopting him as stepson even though he was nicknamed Lulach the Simple - in other words, he wasn't very bright.
By all accounts, Macbeth was a good King of Moray. He is said to have been fair, and to have looked after his subjects - though, like most rulers and politicians of the time, the thought of having to kill someone to retain power didn't bother him at all.
His chance to seize the throne of all Scotland (or Alba, as it was then known) came when Duncan I, who held the throne, mounted a raid on Durham in Northumbria in 1039.
The battle turned out to be a disaster, and Duncan was quickly driven back over the border and into Scotland. The next year - perhaps in an attempt to assert his authority, or perhaps because his counterpart in Moray was laughing at him - he decided to march north and mount an attack on Macbeth.
The two armies clashed near Elgin and this time, Duncan failed to escape with his life. He was killed in the battle and Macbeth, who had a legitimate claim to the Scottish throne through his mother's line, assumed rulership of all Scotland.
Once king, Macbeth and Gruoch would have adopted all the traits of monarchy. Rather than having one palace, They would have moved around Scotland with their court and armed retinue - probably amounting to at least some dozens of people - and stayed in one place until they had exhausted the food supplies of the long suffering locals. Then they would have moved on, probably constantly travelling between places such as Scone, Dunkeld, St Andrews and Forteviot in Perthshire.
David Brown, a lecturer in Scottish history at Glasgow University and an expert on the period, says that Macbeth's court would have been a fairly impressive sight. "It would have been a pretty grand affair, and the size of the gathering would have been pretty substantial. On special days such as feast days, others would have arrived and it would have been even greater."
As well as being a good king, Macbeth was also a clever politician. He quickly formed an alliance with a Norseman, Thorfinn of Orkney and the son of the wonderfully named Sigurd the Fat, who was otherwise known as Thorfinn Skullsmasher. The two men often formed a common front, and in 1050 decided to go on a pilgrimage to Rome together.
It is this pilgrimage - a journey of more than 3000 miles which took nearly a year to compete - which tells us about Macbeth's compassion and concern for his fellow man. According to one of the writers of the time, the Irish hermit Marianus Scotus, when Macbeth arrived in Rome he "scattered money to the poor like seed."
This visit is thought to have been hugely important. Macbeth would almost certainly have met the Pope and told him all about Scotland. It was probably the first time that a reigning Pontiff had learned much about this small and wild country at the far north of Europe - and about which subsequent Popes were to hear much in the coming centuries.
Alex Woolf, a lecturer in Celtic and early Scottish history at the University of Edinburgh, believes that Macbeth may have gone to Rome as a penance for killing Duncan.
"In England, King Canute had been there about 15 years before, and it was beginning to get quite popular. Macbeth may have felt that killing Duncan was a sin", he says. "The Bishops may have suggested the trip to him as a form of repentance."
Four years later, Macbeth suffered a serious challenge to his kingdom when Earl Siward of Northumberland - with which Scotland was almost perpetually at war - invaded Scotland. He defeated Macbeth at the battle of Birnam Wood near Dunkeld in Perthshire - again, mythologised by Shakespeare in his version.
The truth, though, is that Macbeth was not slain during this encounter. He suffered a heavy defeat and most of his army were slaughtered, but he slipped away and continued to rule.
By this stage, though, the writing was on the wall. After another three years, Macbeth was finally killed in a battle at Lumphanen in Aberdeenshire by Duncan's son Malcolm, and his rule was over.
Strangely, though, Malcolm didn't take the throne. Instead it went to Macbeth's stepson Lulach, though he survived only a few months before being ambushed and killed by Malcolm at Strathbogie. Malcolm then took the throne as Malcolm III or Canmore.
Isn't this a bit odd? David Brown believes there may be a plausible explanation. "It may be that Lulach and Malcolm had done a deal whereby Lulach got the throne but Malcolm followed him. However, one contemporary account describes Lulach's death as treachery, which perhaps means Malcolm did the dirty on him too.
"You have to remember that these were bloodthirsty times, and that politics often involved murdering your opponent. When they talked about stabbing someone in the back in those days, they really meant it."
Meanwhile around the world...
*1020 The Shetlands, Orkneys and Faroes recognise Olaf Haraldsson as their king
- 1027 Omar Khayyam, Persian scientist and poet - writer of the Rubaiyat - is born
- 1035 King Canute divides his kingdom between his three sons, giving England to Harold
- 1016 King Canute takes the throne of England
- 1041 The Lombards and the Normans defeat the Greeks at the Battle of Montemaggiore
- 1045 One of Spain's national heroes, El Cid, is born
- 1050 The astrolabe arrives in Europe from the East
- 1053 The Normans conquer Southern Italy and found an empire there
- 1054 There is no Pope during this year, and there is a permanent schism between the Roman and Eastern churches
- 1066 William of Normandy invades and conquers England, taking the throne from King Harold who is killed at the Battle of Hastings
- 1070 The Order of St. John is founded in Jerusalem
*1000 Around this time artistic and literary expression in Japan was at its peak.
- 1054 Orthodox and Catholic Churches split apart.
- 0997 St Stephen, King of Hungary began his reign.
- 1013 The Danes conquer all of England.
- 0997 From 0976-1026, Basil II rebuilds the Byzantine Empire.
*1000 Southwestern and Mississipi cultures begin to peak in North America.
- 1056 Henry IV begins conflict with the Pope.
- 1000 Tiahuanaco and Huari abandoned in the Americas.
- 1038 Seljuks conquer Khorasan (Afghanistan).
- 1055 Seljuks conquer Baghdad.
- 1000 Culture and economy thrive in China (Song dynasty begins in 0960).
- 1068 Wang Ashi's reforms begin (1068-1086).
- 1071 Seljuks defeat the Byzantines at Manzikert.
- 1081 Founding of the Seljuk sultanate of Rum.
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- 1100 - Beginning of formation of the clans.
- 1120 - Alexander II founds St. Giles Cathedral.
- 1124 - David I takes the Scottish throne. Period of strong ties with England begins.
- 1128 - David I founds Holyrood Abbey.
- 1130 - Edinburgh becomes a burgh.
- 1153 - David dies at Carlisle. The new king is Malcolm IV.
- 1156 - Somerled wins a naval victory against the ruling Norsemen off Islay.
- 1157 - Henry II of England reclaims Northumberland and Cumberland.
- 1158 - Malcolm goes to France to fight for Henry.
- 1164 - Somerled dies. His land is broken up between his three sons.
- 1165 - William I "The Lion" takes the Scottish throne.
- 1174 - William forced by the Treaty of Falaise to accept Henry II's overlordship of Scotland.
- 1178 - William founds Arbroath Abbey.
- 1189 - He buys back Scottish sovereignty from Richard the Lionheart at the so-called Quitclaim of Canterbury for the sum of £6600. The Quitclaim is the oldest public record in Scotland.
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